and watch the executions. Those who refused to help identify people on the lists and take part in the killings risked being branded communists themselves.

The massacres helped to sweep Suharto, a major general at the time, into power and under his authoritarian rule hundreds of thousands were imprisoned without trial. Over the following three decades all public discussion of the killings was forbidden and that period of Indonesia's history was carefully rewritten.

Twelve years after Suharto was deposed and 40 years since the killings, Indonesia is still struggling to come to terms with this period of its history. There has been no official acknowledgment of the killings. No one has been brought to account and no redress or restitution has been offered to the victims and their families.

In 2004,Sense of coherence and sense of community as coping resources of religious adolescents before and after the disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
In August 2005, all of the Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip were permanently evacuated, implementing a political decision of the Israeli government. Employing the salutogenic approach, this study explores individual and community coping resources - sense of coherence and sense of community - among adolescents who were displaced from their homes. We examined the way these coping resources operated in three stages: before the disengagement from Gaza, a few months after the event, and five years after the disengagement. Data were gathered among religious adolescents who had grown up in small Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip. Adolescents aged 12-18 filled out self-reported questionnaires, evaluating state


percent of national income.

President Nixon closed the gold window in 1971, ushering in our present era of fiat money. As inflation rose and became more variable, people began acquiring gold and silver coins and bullion for hedging against fiat money regimes. Friedman to his credit was alert to the resource costs of the gold and silver acquisition that emerged. In a note on "The Resource Costs of Irredeemable Paper Money" he observed (Friedman 1986, p. 644):

Real resources are employed … in the production of the gold and silver absorbed into the hoards accumulated by [individuals] who have come to regard gold or silver as a prudent component of their asset portfolios. Since the end of Bretton Woods, even the direct resource cost of the gold and silver accumulatedindustrial inventories (26,921 tonnes). Data on the Council's website go back to 2006. If we contrast 2018 figures with 2006 figures, we find that of the estimated 35,473 tonnes of gold produced overall during the period, 15,479 tonnes or 43.6 percent went into private investment holdings. Meanwhile, the stock of jewelry grew 12.7 percent, and official holdings grew 16.6 percent. (Curiously, some countries have been adding to their official gold holdings despite being on fiat standards.)

The purchasing power of gold has risen substantially the US left the Bretton Woods dollar-gold-exchange standard for the fiat dollar. When President Richard Nixon "closed the gold window" to end what remained of gold redemption of the US dollar on August 15, 1971, the official par value was $35 per ounce, while the


Sheryl Crow's On Why Her Song Lyrics Predicted Ties Between President and Russia

Sheryl Crow tells Stephen Colbert why her song lyrics, which was recorded last summer, predicted ties between the US President and Russia.

"You bet the president is sweating while Russia's blowing up the phone. Deny, deny everything," she sang.

Crow tells Colbert: "It started out as a sinister espionage song in the tone of 'Gimme Shelter' and I just started thinking 'What's the craziest thing you can imagine?' and I was like 'Russia hacking'. That'd be crazy."

"And the president being involved with Russia. That'd be so f--ked up. And so we wrote it."methcathinone.  They also found Kenneth Cattani, who admitted his part in the conspiracy, and Donald Rock Hooper, a guest at the home.  Cattani told police he had assisted Youngberg and Couch in producing methcathinone, which was made for personal use and for sale to third parties.

10
In a subsequent interview, Cattani told police that he and Couch had learned to make methcathinone from a Douglas Hooper in 1990 and that they had produced the drug since then in various locales in Michigan and Wisconsin.  Youngberg corroborated that information and added that he ordered the ephedrine from Nationwide Purveyors and had it shipped by UPS to friends via arrangements made on occasion by Couch.  Youngberg also told police that prior to his arrest in January 1993,


he had gone to Couch's grandfather's residence to pick up 300 dollars that had been left there for him by Couch to pay for a shipment of ephedrine.

11
At trial, Youngberg and Cattani testified against Couch.  In addition, the evidence showed that Couch purchased fifteen gallons of toluene, a necessary precursor to the production of methcathinone, on April 22, 1992, and that a shipment from Nationwide Purveyors was received at Couch's grandfather's farm on April 29, 1992.  Couch's grandfather testified that Couch had given him 300 dollars on January 6, 1993, with instructions to give it to Rock, Ken, or Quinn and that he gave the envelope to Quinn Youngberg that evening.

12
The superseding indictment charged that "between on or about April 22, 1992 and January 7, 1993,"Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Hip Fracture Incidence in Older Men and Women: The CHANCES Project.
The role of fruit and vegetable intake in relation to fracture prevention during adulthood and beyond is not adequately understood. We investigated the potential association between fruit and vegetable intake and hip fracture incidence in a large sample of older adults from Europe and the United States. A total of 142,018 individuals (116,509 women) aged ≥60 years, from five cohorts, were followed up prospectively for 1,911,482 person-years, accumulating 5552 hip fractures. Fruit and vegetable intake was assessed by validated, cohort-specific, food-frequency questionnaires (FFQ). Ηip fractures were ascertained through national patient registers or telephone interviews/questionnaires. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) derived by Cox proportional hazards regression were estimated for each cohort and subsequently pooled using


can't start overlooking us now that the storm passed, because the danger lurks."

Puerto Ricans living on the mainland held fundraisers and had donation drives across the country. San Juan native and tennis star Monica Puig recorded a tearful plea to help her homeland. Ricky Martin launched an online fundraiser. Trucks were packed with clothing, detergent, food, medicine and even pet supplies.

And that kind of effort — in Washington, a cargo truck was parked right outside the Hawk 'n' Dove on Friday night, people dancing to reggaeton as they loaded it up with donations — was the most noise heard on Capitol Hill about the disaster unfolding.

Late Sunday, folks on the Hill made it clear that the Federal Emergency Management Agency isn't going to ask for more money until14 percent supported Trump. Hillary Clinton got 61 percent of the Democratic vote.

Puerto Rico, like the District, has a nonvoting delegate in Washington. But Rubio is seen as the island's quiet champion. This year's statehood bid ended up going nowhere.

Congress not only ignored the vote of a territory with a staggering poverty rate and aging infrastructure, but Trump also slapped down the island's efforts to close a Medicaid shortfall.

"Democrats are trying to bail out insurance companies from disastrous #ObamaCare, and Puerto Rico with your tax dollars. Sad!" he tweeted in April. And then, "The Democrats want to shut government if we don't bail out Puerto Rico and give billions to their insurance companies for OCare failure. NO!"

He addressed Puerto Rico in one tweet Wednesday:

"Governor @RicardoRossello- We are with


the eventual progress made by Northern Ireland. A successful 1982 World Cup had seen the team make the second group stage, their win with 10 men over hosts Spain in Valencia the finest example of the Irish ability to punch above their weight and defy the odds.

However, it would take an upset of David versus Goliath proportions for manager Billy Bingham to lead his country to Euro 1984. Reigning European champions and 1982 World Cup finalists West Germany had been drawn in Group Six, and realistically it looked like a straight fight between Northern Ireland and Austria for the runner-up position. And as Northern Ireland would sadly discover, the so-called minnows of the group in Turkey and Albania would also provide stern tests at various stages.

Not a goodmost aspects of the game. Hardly the ideal start.

Bingham had made two big calls before the defeat, leaving out the experienced duo of Pat Jennings and Chris Nicholl. The Jennings decision caused quite a stir, Bingham insisting that the keeper needed first team football – George Wood was keeping him out of the Arsenal side at the time – and for a while it looked as if the man who had made his debut back in 1964 would be forever stuck on 95 caps. Some felt that Jennings’ replacement, Jim Platt, could have done better with Austria’s second goal, but Bingham remained firm in his stance. Eventually though, both Wood and Platt would discover that when it came to Jennings, class was definitely permanent.

Austria 2-0 Northern Ireland

West Germany


defeated: Part I

At least Northern Ireland could take one positive from their disappointing opening defeat. The encouraging first start of 21-year-old Ian Stewart was a silver lining for the team, the winger constantly threatening and beating Austria defenders, to such an extent that the youngster was fouled throughout the match, and left the field towards the end after one assault too many.

Stewart’s rise to fame was as heartwarming as the Northern Ireland story. Rejected by Everton as a 17-year-old, it was reported in the Times that Stewart had at one point turned to playing his guitar to earn a bit of money. He had also been a ballboy at Windsor Park, something the press were quick to pick up on after Northern Ireland’s shock victory over West Germany.

Althoughthe West Germany side was overflowing with talent – Harald Schumacher, Uli Stielike, Karlheinz Förster, Pierre Littbarski, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge – Bingham chose an adventurous formation involving two wingers (Stewart and Noel Brotherston), who would both drop deeper when West Germany had possession, but provide the ammunition for Norman Whiteside and Billy Hamilton when attacking. The tactics worked a treat on a night where the visitors simply could not cope with the “furious devils in green shirts”, as Clive White described the Northern Ireland players.

Littbarski may have gone close early on, but from the moment John O’Neill hit the post after six minutes it became clear that an upset was on the cards. The decisive goal arrived after 17 minutes, Stewart cutting in from the left and unleashing a


shot from the edge of the area past Schumacher before wheeling away in delight, celebrating his first goal in senior football. He would later leave with the match ball signed by both teams, and the shirt of Manfred Kaltz, the full-back he gave such a torrid time to on the evening. Kaltz must have been happy to see the back of him.

Strangely, West Germany did not have much of an answer, although Littbarski was a constant threat, testing Platt and later having a goal ruled out (correctly). “That was one of our best performances in years, possibly surpassing last summer’s victory over Spain in Valencia,” said a delighted Bingham. On the Monday before the match there had been a parade to belatedly celebrate the achievements of the squadan Albania team that had lost their previous nine World Cup and European Championship qualifiers. The Albanians fully deserved their point and were unfortunate not to win the match.

The dropped points would be crucial for Northern Ireland. Albania would only gain one more point in the group – a home draw against Turkey – and come the final reckoning, the poor display in Tirana would come back to bite Bingham’s side hard.

Goal difference

Having said that, the lack of Irish goals was also a factor. Whereas the West Germans would end the group with a goal difference of plus seven against Turkey and Albania, Northern Ireland’s return of plus one was damaging. The side was built on solid foundations – with the likes of Martin O’Neill and Sammy McIlroy


confident, which morphed into arrogance when they announced a pre-championship tour of Spain before France 84. Their forward planning would be justified but only after two almighty scares.

A midfield crisis beforehand did little to help the Northern Ireland cause. McIlroy and David McCreery were both injured, meaning just a second start for Leicester City’s Paul Ramsey, who had made his debut against Austria in Belfast at right-back. Bingham also chose the away match in Hamburg to drop Chris Nicholl and draft in Bolton’s Gerry McElhinney for the most daunting of debuts. Armstrong was back to win his 50th cap and provide vital experience in front of 61,418 fans at the Volksparkstadion.

The crowd were soon to become a hindrance for the home side though, as the whistles and howlsfans were chanting for Northern Ireland. A simply stunning victory – the first time West Germany had lost at home to a European team for over nine years – gave Northern Ireland a barely believable double over the current European champions. Qualification was still looking extremely unlikely but the memories of those victories would last forever.

West Germany 0-1 Northern Ireland

So near...

From the ecstasy to the agony. No one thought Albania were capable of holding West Germany to a draw in Saarbrucken. Bingham later revealed that he had spent the afternoon gardening rather than putting himself through the pain of watching the match, but with only 10 minutes to go in the group, Northern Ireland were heading to France.

Albania had taken the lead through Genc Tomori after 23 minutes,


after more heroics in Romania and England. Things may have been a struggle from 1986 onwards but Bingham’s reign in the 1980s and the achievements of his teams are still cherished to this day.

West Germany failed to make it out of their group at the European Championship in France, manager Jupp Derwall resigning shortly afterwards, as the defence of their trophy ended with an uncharacteristic whimper. A rather appropriate end to a campaign that was hardly full of usual German success, as Northern Ireland proved with their two famous victories in Belfast and Hamburg.

• This blog first appeared on That 1980s Sports Blog

• Follow Steven Pye on Twitter

• Follow Guardian Sport on FacebookBox Canyon around 2:30 p.m.

RCMP spokeswoman Const. Melissa Wutke was unable to say how many vehicles were involved, but police anticipate it will take some time for the route to re-open.

Witness Norm Draeger says it appears that a semi-truck lost its brakes and barrelled down the hill in the southbound lanes, hitting as many as two dozen vehicles. He says vehicles had been stopped on the highway because of construction.

"There was wrecked vehicles all over, people all over the road. It was just a mess," Draeger says.

The provincial government says Highway 5 southbound is closed at the Box Canyon chain-up area and alternate routes are available via Highway 8 and Highway 97C. The next update is expected at 7:30 p.m.

UPDATE: 4:25 p.m.

Witnesses say dozens of vehicles were in


David Moyes was handed a six-year contract to become manager of Manchester United on Thursday, showing the deep belief the club have in naming the Scot as Sir Alex Ferguson's successor. Moyes was personally chosen for the job by Ferguson, with his recommendation being "unanimously" approved by the United board, an indication of how the outgoing manager will continue to be a strong influence on the direction of the club.

His first task will be dealing with the future of one of his star players, his old protege Wayne Rooney. The striker, who came through the ranks under Moyes at Everton, held showdown talks with Ferguson two weeks ago and told him that he wanted to leave in the summer due to his disgruntlement at being played out ofposition and being dropped for the Champions League last-16 second leg against Real Madrid at Old Trafford in February.

However, it is understood that Rooney's position may now have cooled following Moyes's appointment. If Rooney does decide that his future remains at Old Trafford, it would be the second time the 27-year-old has done a U-turn over his future – after his transfer request in 2010 – and he would face a struggle to win back support from United's fans.

Officially, the club are adamant that Rooney, who has two years left on his contract, is not for sale. Yet according to a highly placed source at the club the striker is valued in the £40m region, so if a serious offer is lodged it would be considered.

Moyes was Rooney's


first manager when the Liverpudlian broke into Everton's first team in 2002. After the Scot sued Rooney over allegations in a biography the pair reconciled but whether Moyes would want him to stay at United is not yet clear, though he will have the final say on the striker's future.

Paris Saint-Germain retain a desire to sign Rooney, while Bayern Munich may wish to take him to Germany. Rooney has interested Chelsea in the past but there is an acceptance at Stamford Bridge that, as a No10, he would not fit easily into the current side. However, José Mourinho, who is likely to take over from Rafael Benítez, is an admirer of the 27-year-old and could still push for a move for him.

Moyes, who accepted replacing British football's mostsuccessful manager presents a sizeable challenge, was preferred over Mourinho due to the longevity of his 11-year tenure at Everton during which he rebuilt the club.

Ferguson said: "When we discussed the candidates that we felt had the right attributes we unanimously agreed on David Moyes. David is a man of great integrity with a strong work ethic. I've admired his work for a long time and approached him as far back as 1998 to discuss the position of assistant manager here. He was a young man then at the start of his career and has since gone on to do a magnificent job at Everton. There is no question he has all the qualities we expect of a manager at this club."

Moyes currently earns £80,000 a week –


£4m a year – at Everton, which makes him better paid than any of the first-team squad and he will receive a hefty increase in these terms. The 50-year-old, who starts his tenure on 1 July, is free to bring in his own backroom staff at United, which puts the futures of Mike Phelan, the assistant manager, and first-team coach René Meulensteen in doubt.

While the Scot has yet to make any decisions in this area, Moyes is an admirer of Steve Round, his assistant at Everton, who he views as an innovative coach. Moyes had also wanted to add Phil Neville, his captain at Everton, to his support team at the Merseyside club. Although the 36-year-old declined due to his wish to play on, Neville has since registeredHe offered an even-handed acknowledgement of the causes of the mistrust between the US and Iran, saying: "Iranians have long complained of a history of US interference in their affairs and of America's role in overthrowing an Iranian government during the Cold War. On the other hand, Americans see an Iranian government that has declared the United States an enemy and, directly or through proxies, taken American hostages, killed US troops and civilians and threatened our ally, Israel, with destruction."


Ethical and methodological issues in qualitative health research involving children: A systematic review.
The right of children to have their voice heard has been accepted by researchers, and there are increasing numbers of qualitative health studies involving children. The ethical and methodological issues of including children in research have caused worldwide concerns, and many researchers have published articles sharing their own experiences. To systematically review and synthesise experts' opinions and experiences about ethical and methodological issues of including children in research, as well as related solution strategies. The research design was a systematic review of opinion-based evidence, based on the guidelines by Joanna Briggs Institute. A search of five computerised databases has been conducted in April 2014 and 2271 articles were found. After screening the titles, abstracts, full textswith a college football game matching a team ineligible for bowl games (USC) and a team unqualified for almost any game (UCLA).

In the Rose Bowl, with a capacity of more than 90,000, attendance Saturday night was only 71,105 as USC gleefully whipped the Bruins 28-14.

Ohio State-Michigan or Alabama-Auburn would have people begging for tickets no matter what, but that isn't the case in SoCal the region, even if SoCal the school is involved.

When for the first time in 10 years neither the Trojans nor Bruins were ranked nationally, the game simply didn't register, even with the alums. When there are nearly 20,000 empty seats, as the saying goes in Tinseltown, you've laid an egg.

A letter writer to the Los Angeles Times called the game "a classic struggle between


a movable force and a resistible object. May the worse team lose.'' And UCLA, the worse team, playing at home, did lose. Again.

Something Andy Roddick said after dropping yet another Wimbledon final to Roger Federer comes to mind: "How can you call it a rivalry when one side wins all the time?'' Something like that was Roddick's observation.

How really can you call this a rivalry? USC has won four straight and 11 of the last 12. This is a one-team town. Pete Carroll may have fled to Seattle. The NCAA may have put the Trojans on probation this year and next for all that Reggie Bush hanky-panky. But USC, now coached by Lane Kiffin, keeps rolling along.

The Trojans, despite some whining from the fan base, despite the losshas control. What it didn't have Saturday was the full house of past years.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.


as having irregularities may be formed at the peripheral portion of the GaN thin film after completion of the LLO process. Also, during the LLO process, many poor bonding portions may be observed on the thin film.
Thus, the nitrogen gas generated during the LLO process damages the semiconductor layer arranged in the vicinity of the nitrogen gas. There may also be a phenomenon that cracks formed at poor-quality portions of the GaN thin film are propagated to other portions of the GaN thin film.
As apparent from the above description, a prolonged process is required in fabricating a desired device using a GaN thin film to form an LED layer. Furthermore, there are many difficulties in implementing this process. In particular, where separation of a substrate is carried outreleased on the iTunes Store later that day. It spans 34 minutes and features eight untitled tracks, each dated. These dates indicate that the songs were written and recorded at various points between 2013 and 2016. Later  that day, Lamar confirmed that the tracks were unfinished demos from To Pimp a Butterfly. In an interview with Spin, vocalist Anna Wise, while recalling the demos that appear on Untitled Unmastered, claims she knew of the compilation album's existence for an undisclosed amount of time, and was asked to keep it a secret until its release. Untitled Unmastered was released to digital retailers and streaming services on March 4. The physical CD release of its explicit edition followed on March 11 and an edited version was released on March


Trace the power of an impactful pop hook in a song, measuring the way our brains and bodies react, down to the responses in our fingertips.

June 4 – August 5th, 2011
Clifton Benevento is proud to present the New York solo debut of Los Angeles based visual and performance artist Wu Tsang, featuring video, collage and site-specific installation.
Central to the exhibition is DAMELO TODO (Give Me Everything), 2010, a hybrid narrative-documentary installation incorporating elements of Tsang’s lived experience organizing WILDNESS, a party/performance night for two years at the Los Angeles bar Silver Platter. The film depicts a fictional protagonist, Teódulo Mejía, a 15 year-old Salvadorian civil war refugee arriving to Los Angeles in 1985, who discovers community support among trans women at the bar. Based on a short storyof comics will collide with the content and form of theater to create strange new hybrids across both media. (READ MORE.)

Although not officially open until Fall 2011, ROULETTE BROOKLYN will open its doors this June for a two day John Cage MUSICIRCUS as part of the Atlantic Avenue Art Walk!

A carnival of all things experimental, the Roulette Brooklyn MUSICIRCUS brings a cornucopia of musicians, dancers, video artists, and performance artists from all corners of New York City’s artistic community together for a celebration of chaos and and the harmonies of simultaneity. (READ MORE.)

Tony Bennett unsuspectingly coined a new term of surprising relevance when he once said he liked what Oskar Kokoschka did “along the peripheter.” Though meaning the perimeter and periphery in the painting itself, he innocently zeroed


The Answer is Never – A Skateboarder’s History of the World (Grove Press, 2002) and has written for Thrasher, The New York Times, Cabinet, Apartamento and other publications, and is also the creator of Elk magazine, books and gallery.

SCHISMISM: NATURAL LAW: Lisa Karrer’s multi-media performance is inspired by the life of Charles Darwin. Karrer’s collaboration with composer and multi-instrumentalist, David Simons, features an arresting assortment of sonic and visual backdrops, including video sequences linked with original soundtracks, voice, triggered theremin, and live acoustic and electronic compositions. These combined elements illuminate an interwoven collection of concepts, associations and stories that mirror Darwin’s complex exploration of evolution and universal connectedness. In the spirit of natural selection, audience members choose the sequence of onstage events during the performance.

CHANGING SKINS: Compiled andperformed by Milbre Burch and directed by Emily Rollie, featuring photographs from “Meta-Genesis,” (above) an exhibit of portraits of transgender folk by Columbia, MO-based photographer, Jane Lavender.Changing Skins interweaves gender-bending folktales from cultures spanning the globe with musings on the construction of gender and identity. Compelling storytelling for grownups!

A smoking monkey dressed as a Marquis, a Wild West scalping scene created in beeswax, a cemetery scene made from the deceased’s hair, and stuffed pug dog puppies, all under glass domes!!!!!

The bell jar, or glass parlor dome, is synonymous with our memory of the Victorian Age (1837 – 1901). During the 19th century, these blown glass forms were referred to not as domes but as shades, and graced nearly every parlor, protecting a broad variety of treasures–including miniature tableaux,


As an atavistic response to the landscape, my images engage ‘land’ as a site of indifferent natural forces. Seen through a texture of skin, ash and the blackened fuzz of a violent guitar, each work is subsequently a nostalgic articulation of our histories, new histories made impossible by memory and mythology”. Jeremy Dyer lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

NoMAA is pleased to announce the arrival of the Uptown Arts Stroll 2011, the most anticipated annual community arts festival in Washington Heights and Inwood. The Stroll will showcase the outstanding painters, photographers, writers, musicians, actors, dancers, and other creative people and arts groups that are contributing to the cultural life of Northern Manhattan. These artists will exhibit and perform in local businesses and institutions, open spaces, parks and otherWhale Belly is slated to perform in, Post Plastic Project at Littlefield in Brooklyn, plans to remedy just such ignorance through a feast of artists, musicians and comedians curated to raise money, and awareness for the environmental organization, Project Kaisei.

Discovered by chance in 1997 by oceanographer Charles Moore, the North Pacific Gyre is Project Kaisei’s main focus. Kaisei itself began in late 2008 when co-founders, Doug Woodring, George Orbelian, and Mary T. Crowley, found a need to bring attention and research to the growing problem of plastic pollution. In 2009 Kaisei launched its brigantine vessel (the namesake of Kaisei, meaning “Ocean Planet”) and an oceanography vessel called “New Horizon,” donated from partnering organization Scripps Institute of Oceanography. The mission was to collect and calculate data on the amount,


News earlier this year the closure was bittersweet.But other clinics aren't closing for lack of need. They simply can't find enough donors since many who had been opening their wallets are now under the impression that universal coverage exists."As soon as there was the perception of universal healthcare, the likelihood of receiving donations goes down," Colin McRae, a board member for Savannah Georgia's Community Health Mission, which closed Oct. 30. The clinic still had people on a waiting list to be treated when it shut down.Patients in states that didn't expand Medicaid, though, still need their free or low-cost healthcare, and are finding it increasingly hard to find.And some who are not covered by Medicaid aren't happy. Sixty-year-old Ella Relford told the Journal she would have preferred toSupply Chain Innovation

Prana Assessment for Accreditation

Publication date:

Viernes, Marzo 13, 2015

prAna Living LLC is an owned subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear Company, and FLA-affiliated Category B Licensee. prAna’s headquarters is in Carlsbad, California and the company manufactures yoga, hiking, swim, and climbing apparel and accessories for men and women. prAna was founded in 1993 and was acquired by Columbia in 2014. The company has 160 employees in the United States, including five retail locations. prAna joined the FLA as a Participating Company in February 2010, and the FLA Board of Directors voted to approve the accreditation of prAna’s compliance program on February 4, 2015 based on proven adherence to FLA's Workplace Code of Conduct and the Principles of Fair Labor and Responsible Sourcing. Details on FLA's accreditation methodology can be


sciences. His positions on abortion, sexuality, and contraception have alienated vast numbers of Catholics and non-Catholics. Many people had seen his tenure in the Vatican as an opportunity for progressive leadership on issues ranging from AIDS in Africa to the reproductive rights of women. They have been disappointed. But his staunch orthodoxy has had one unexpected, and some would say beneficial, consequence - a decisive opposition to the commercial exploitation of science.

In a letter to the apostolic nuncio in Poland on March 25, 2002, John Paul II condemned the "overriding financial interests" that operate in biomedical and pharmaceutical research. These forces, he wrote, prompted "decisions and products which are contrary to truly human values and to the demands of justice." His particular target was "the medicine of desires,"by which he meant those drugs and procedures that are "contrary to the moral good," serving as they do the pursuit of pleasure rather than the eradication of poverty. In an especially thoughtful passage, he wrote that

"the pre-eminence of the profit motive in conducting scientific research ultimately means that science is deprived of its epistemological character, according to which its primary goal is discovery of the truth. The risk is that when research takes a utilitarian turn, its speculative dimension, which is the inner dynamic of man's intellectual journey, will be diminished or stifled."

Sheldon Krimsky, a physicist, philosopher, and policy analyst now at the Tufts University School of Medicine, puts it more bluntly. In 'Science in the Private Interest', a strongly argued polemic against the commercial conditions in


taking one type of antidepressant, his new appointment as clinical director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health was immediately revoked. Universities have reinvented themselves as corporations. Scientists are coming to accept, and in many cases enjoy, their enhanced status as entrepreneurs. But these subtle yet insidious changes to the rules of engagement between science and commerce are causing, in Krimsky's view, incalculable injury to society, as well as to science.

This escalating corrosion of values derives from a sharp change in the political climate during the 1970s. University administrators came to see their faculties as an undervalued resource. To counter what was seen as a culture of financial passivity, the Patent and Trademark Amendments (Bayh-Dole) Act of 1980 enabled universities to claim entitlement toon trust. In constructing a body of reliable individual knowledge, trustworthy people are crucial. In the seventeenth century, the concept of the gentleman embodied these notions of trust. "Honor" was the key to believing someone's testimony. Lying was seen as incompatible with a civilized society. A series of social conventions followed from this claim - the importance of face-to-face conversation, the centrality of "epistemological decorum."

In view of these conditions for truth, an opposition was bound to emerge between gentlemen and the trading classes. The merchant sought private advantages that created strong motives for lying. Deceit was pervasive in mercantile activities. Shapin quotes Erasmus: "their lies, perjury, thefts, frauds, and deceptions are everywhere to be found." And Robert Boyle, who discovered fundamental laws on the behavior of gases, "found


case documented by Krimsky shows these difficulties all too clearly. In the 1990s, Nancy Olivieri worked at the University of Toronto and at the city's Hospital for Sick Children on a drug to treat a rare blood disorder called thalassemia. Her work was sponsored by the Canadian Medical Research Council and a pharmaceutical company called Apotex. She discovered that the drug was not as effective as the company had originally hoped. Worse, the drug appeared to have very serious adverse effects. When Olivieri indicated her wish to publish her findings and inform the patients in her care of the drug's potential dangers, the company threatened her with legal action.

Krimsky describes how the hospital and university, which should have been the first to offer her protection from this outrageousintimidation, were the last to defend both her freedom to report her findings and her duty to act in the best interests of the patients under her care. Indeed, the hospital began an inquiry that failed to give Olivieri a fair hearing and other protections of due process. Astonishingly, she was fired. All this went on while the university was itself engaged in discussions with Apotex about a $12.7 million donation by the company to the University of Toronto. The president of the university was lobbying the Canadian government on behalf of Apotex. As Krimsky points out, a gift of this size "would make any university exquisitely attentive to the interests of the donor."

After a further long and acrimonious investigation, Dr. Olivieri was cleared of any alleged wrongdoing.


producing people who can contribute to a "knowledge economy."

The problem is not only institutional. An extraordinary culture of gift giving now exists within scientific research, a culture that has altered the way in which new discoveries are shared and debated. Take virtually any major medical conference - for example, the three annual gatherings of cardiologists hosted separately by the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association. It is now entirely usual, among the many thousands of participants, for air fares, hotel costs, registration fees, and evening entertainment (dinner, theater, music) to be paid for by corporate sponsors, usually the pharmaceutical industry.[12]

In return for this largesse, the conference organizers will hire space for an enormous trade exhibition at which the sponsors aremedical journals have become an important but underrecognized obstacle to scientific truth-telling. Journals have devolved into information-laundering operations for the pharmaceutical industry. Here is how it works. A pharmaceutical company will sponsor a scientific meeting. Speakers will be invited to talk about a product, and they will be paid a hefty fee (several thousand dollars) for doing so. They are chosen for their known views about a particular drug or because they have a reputation for being adaptable in attitude toward the needs of the company paying their fee. The meeting takes place and the speaker delivers a talk. A pharmaceutical communications company will record this lecture and convert it into an article for publication, usually as part of a collection of papers emanating from the symposium. This


collection will be offered to a medical publisher for an amount that can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The publisher will then seek a reputable journal to publish the papers based on the symposium, commonly as a supplement to the main journal. The peer-review process will be minimal or nonexistent, and is sometimes not even the responsibility of the editor-in-chief of the parent journal. Publication of the supplement appears to benefit all parties. The sponsor obtains a publication whose content it has largely if not wholly influenced, but which now appears under the imprint of a journal that confers on the work a valuable credibility that the company has bought, not earned. The publisher receives a tidy high-margin revenue from the deal.

Why is this practice wrong andthe public. Secrecy disrupts a productive collegiality among scientists, leading to waste and inefficiency as investigators are forced to duplicate the hidden work of others. Opinions are rented out to the highest bidder. A nefarious web of incentives is introduced into research. And, most worrying of all, public confidence in medicine, science, and the academy is undermined. Knowledge is just one more commodity to be traded.

The short-term effects of introducing a business culture into the academy may be so subtle that they will go unnoticed until it is too late to reverse their long-term consequences. As Bok writes, bit by bit

"commercialization threatens to change the character of the university in ways that limit its freedom, sap its effectiveness, and lower its standing in the society.... The problems come


organizations whose funding decisions are determined by disinterested scientists themselves, whether in university departments, charitable foundations, or government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.

While Ziman's partial solution to the threat posed by private-interest science certainly sounds more practical than Krimsky's desire to turn back the entire tide of commerce, it also poses its own dangers. In a brief and tantalizing epilogue to his social history of truth, Steven Shapin speculates about the way trust and credibility are manipulated in the modern era. He notes that

"we are told things about the world [today] by people whom we do not know, working in places we have not been. Trust is no longer bestowed on familiar individuals; it is accorded to institutions and abstract capacities thought to reside inwaste as the fertilizer for vacant lots, thereby turning decay and blight into blossoming Urban Farms.

A documentary made for the heritage project by the young filmaker, Joe Dickie.

By the late 60’s some people were taking over vacant properties and doing the repairs themselves. The squatting movement was born, and with it, the roots of Kentish Town City Farm.

In 1972, a local organization called Inter-Action rented a house, a cottage and part of the disused timber yard known as Gloster Parquet – now the site of Kentish Town City Farm. They found, tucked behind the terrace houses, the remains of a complex of buildings surrounded by yards of overgrown weeds that backed onto the railway. The buildings included stables, a workshop, a store house and steel framed hangars. Local


urban farming project aimed at addressing the issue of homeless U.S. deportees.

By Miguel Marshall
Huffington Post
July 21

Excerpt:

The Tijuana Global Shapers Community (a diverse group of young leaders affiliated to World Economic Forum), proposed a project focused on building technology based vertical farms along the edge of the Tijuana River — a project similar to the New York highline but with a productive twist. The idea was inspired by an experience with Angel Ventures Mexico where we invested, through an Angel Group, in Home Town Farms; a startup doing vertical farming in the neighboring San Diego area.

Bettada Budada Thota”, an 18-acre farm in Malavalli taluk, 75 km away from Bengaluru is the culmination of dreams and desires of 11 families with diverse interests.

Two local farmer families take care of theCalvin

The most funny thing of the comics is Calvin's character. He is cynical, weird, greed...

Megalomania

(from The Essential Calvin and Hobbes)

Selfishness

(from The Essential Calvin and Hobbes)

Cupidity

(from Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons)

Sexism

(from The Days are just packed)

Morbidity

(from The Essential Calvin and Hobbes)

Silly things

(from The Essential Calvin and Hobbes)

Weirdness

(from The Essential Calvin and Hobbes)

So...

(from The Essential Calvin and Hobbes)


The car was built by the American Car and Foundry Company. It was first used on the IND line and was moved to the BMT line in the 1960s before being taken out of service in 1975. The design is rare: there were a total of 500 R6 subway cars built for New York in 1935 and 1936.end of an era for the Delta 2 as nostalgic rocket engineers take in the workhorse booster's final flight.

Making its maiden flight 1989, the medium-lift Delta 2 rocket, originally built by McDonnell Douglas, then Boeing and now United Launch Alliance, put the first of more than two dozen Global Positioning System navigation satellites into orbit, changing the way transportation operates in America and around the world.

Since then, Delta 2s have launched scores of satellite telephone relay stations, seven Mars missions, including the Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and numerous Earth observation satellites and science spacecraft, including the Spitzer Space Telescope and the planet-hunting Kepler telescope.

United Launch Alliance engineers "stack" the company's final Delta 2 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Launch Saturday to boost NASA's ICESat-2 satellite


            |
| ``pigsty rm <glob>``     | Removes signatures that match with the supplied glob pattern              |
| ``pigsty clear``         | Removes all pigsties from the memory                                      |
| ``flood  [<n>]``         | Sends random loaded signatures             Fresh from two tours each in Iraq, decorated former Marines Sean O'Neill and Mike Ergo give antiwar speeches at Northern California high schools.

Although their numbers are still small compared with the draft-fueled Vietnam veterans' movement four decades ago, California's Iraq veterans are gaining a voice in opposition to America's continued military presence in Iraq. Recent antiwar demonstrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities have seen the first sizable contingents of veterans from the conflict.

The protesters even include some soldiers - like Cantu, of Los Angeles - who are still on active duty. "I've taken a public antiwar stance," Cantu, 29, recently e-mailed from Baghdad, where he serves in intelligence with the 1st Cavalry Division, "but I didn't shirk my responsibilities."

O'Neill, a 24-year-old Marine veteran from Fremont,


was charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer" for antiwar statements he made before Veterans for Peace and other organizations and for refusing to deploy with his unit to Iraq. A new court-martial is set for July.

Cantu belongs to an organization called Iraq Veterans Against the War and is an active antiwar blogger. Except for a letter of admonishment he was given for his largely antiwar website http://www.soldiervoices.net , he said, "the Army has respected my rights."

After he registered his website and promised not to post pictures of himself in uniform, he was left alone.

"A lot of soldiers have the belief that freedom of speech doesn't apply to us, but that couldn't be further from the truth," Cantu said. "Since speaking out, I've been part of two Army briefingswhere we were explicitly told that freedom of speech applies to us."

Legal scholars sense a softening on the part of the military on free-speech issues since the discordant Vietnam era.

"There is a much more nuanced idea of what it means to 'support the troops.' Both sides now use that slogan," said Diane Amann, a constitutional law professor at UC Davis.

"It is a very different atmosphere from the last time around. It is much easier to see those in uniform as part of the great circle of society."

Iraq Veterans Against the War is modeled on Vietnam Veterans Against the War, which was founded in 1967 and played a high-profile role in the antiwar movement of that era. But the Iraq group does not yet have the same political traction


as its predecessor, which had the concurrent anti-draft movement to help fill its ranks.

With an estimated 700 active members nationwide, the organization has a simple platform: the immediate withdrawal of all troops, improved treatment for soldiers upon their return and a national contribution to the reconstruction of postwar Iraq.

Sgt. Jabbar Magruder, 24, served in Iraq in 2005 and is still a member of the California National Guard while he attends Cal State Northridge as a pre-med major.

In his civilian mode, he serves as secretary of the Los Angeles chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, attends antiwar demonstrations and meets with students on college campuses. He recently traveled to Hawaii to speak to potential military recruits about the Iraq war and was one of nearly 1,000 regular military,National Guard and Reserve members who signed an Appeal for Redress that was delivered to Congress in January.

The three-sentence appeal reads: "As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases in Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home."

Like most members of his organization, Magruder is not a pacifist but is opposed to the U.S. policy in Iraq. "For me, it was all about the weapons of mass destruction. When we didn't find any, that was the final straw," he said.

But during weekend and summer training drills with the National Guard, Magruder


said, he is all soldier. "I can't go to drill and all of a sudden shout I'm against the war. When I'm in uniform, I have to play that role. I don't like people who proselytize anyway."

Magruder, who was posted at a U.S. airbase near Tikrit, Iraq, said he gets along well with his Guard colleagues, even those who still support the war. "I don't have any trouble in my unit," he said, "because I went with them to Iraq and they respect me for that."

Mike Ergo, a 24-year-old former Marine who served two tours in Iraq, participated in the bloody assault on Fallouja in November 2004. "I lost my best friend," Ergo said. "My battalion lost 21 people."

The solidly built Ergo, an honors student at a BayArea community college, has a large, colorful tattoo on his right shoulder that reads "Born to Fight." His left forearm bears a tattoo of a sword-wielding St. Michael carrying the scales of justice and standing on a vanquished enemy. Ergo said he got that tattoo after he killed his first insurgent in Iraq.

Sitting at a Starbucks near his Walnut Creek home, Ergo explained how his views changed from being gung-ho on Iraq to being against the war.

"When I got back and had time to sort out Sept. 11 and the events that led to Iraq, I began to question things," said Ergo, a jazz saxophonist who gave up a college music scholarship to join the Marines.

"At first, I didn't understand that you could be proud of military service


and still be opposed to a specific war. All of us are ready to die if necessary for a noble cause. I was just mad that this cause wasn't worth dying for."

Like Magruder, Ergo said his fellow Marines have responded mostly positively to his activities: "My former executive officer wrote me an e-mail saying he was proud of what I was doing."

At demonstrations, the physically fit, buzz-cut veterans stand out among protesters drawn largely from the extreme left or special-interest causes.

"A lot of us were America's poster boys," said former Air Force Sgt. Tim Goodrich, 26, president of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

O'Neill, who now studies political science at UC Berkeley, sees his mission as providing credibility and legitimacy to the antiwar movement.

"Our job," said O'Neill, the sonA Lindt Cafe employee calmed gunman Man Haron Monis down so he would not shoot someone in retaliation after three hostages escaped, an inquest into the Sydney siege has been told.

Key points: Employee deceived Monis, allowing hostages escape to go unnoticed

Employee deceived Monis, allowing hostages escape to go unnoticed The 19yo was given "a lot of responsibility" by Monis

The 19yo was given "a lot of responsibility" by Monis Toilet trips were used to discuss possible escape plans

Jarrod Morton-Hoffman told the hearing Monis was "in a state of shock" and thought police had come in and rescued the three escaped hostages.

Mr Morton-Hoffman, who was a 19-year-old student and employee of the cafe at the time, told the inquest he was covering a shift for a colleague on the day


of the siege.

He was one of 18 hostages held by Monis during the 17-hour ordeal in December 2014.

The gunman then tried to use remaining hostages as a human shield, following the escape.

"[Monis] was muttering to himself that now he needed to shoot someone in retaliation," Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest.

"I wanted to try to stop him thinking police came in so he wouldn't have to shoot someone.

"He was highly emotional, I felt that if I didn't say something at the time he might just pull the trigger."

After Mr Morton-Hoffman calmed Monis down, the gunman said "everyone thank Jarrod — I would have shot somebody".

The worker also slipped cards under the door with hand-drawn maps to help police know the layout of the cafe and where Monis was inside.

Theinquest was told by counsel assisting last week that Mr Morton-Hoffman allowed the escape of two further hostages go unnoticed by muffling the sound of their escape, and convincing Monis media reports about the escapes were wrong.

On Tuesday, Mr Morton-Hoffman explained he moved some signage inside the cafe to give the escaping hostages Jieun Bae (also known as April) and Elly Chen "some degree of cover".

He confirmed that while reading media reports for Monis, he told the gunman that the total number of escapees was three, not five as reported, and persuaded Monis that the media were lying.

Mr Morton-Hoffman also said he attempted to bargain with Monis, telling the gunman: "if you let the pregnant lady go, I'll print you a flag."

He said he also concluded that Monis


did not really have a bomb in his backpack, as he had claimed, because he so was rough with the bag.

Worker scared if he 'screwed up, someone would have died'

Monis was described by Mr Morton-Hoffman as emotional and "a very dangerous toddler" whose demands would "change with the wind".

The inquest was told hostages placated Monis by pandering to his ideology and criticising then prime minister Tony Abbott — with whom he had requested a live radio debate.

Earlier, Mr Morton-Hoffman told the hearing he was given "a lot of responsibility" by Monis and was scared that "if [he] screwed up someone would have died".

Mr Morton-Hoffman said Monis "freaked out" when he saw police and "pointed his gun at one of the hostages".

In a phone call played to the hearing,side door, and vomited in the bathroom about 8:00pm because he was stressed.

"Monis was becoming more volatile so I wanted longer trips in case he opened fire," the 20-year-old said.

Cafe employee thought RBA was being robbed

Earlier, Mr Morton-Hoffman said he thought the nearby Reserve Bank of Australia was being robbed when Mr Johnson asked him to lock the doors.

The inquest also heard that after Mr Johnson made a triple-0 call, Monis told everyone he had two bombs on him and demanded everyone put their phones and IDs on the table and close their eyes.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said today he did not believe Monis really had bombs across the city.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said Monis did not seem to like Mr Johnson due to his "position of authority" and his "tone was


more aggressive" towards the cafe manager.

Monis then forced hostage Ms Hope to make calls to the media and called her his "secretary", Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said also he made media calls but Monis then removed Mr Morton-Hoffman from making calls after a radio announcer described him as "calm".

"[Monis said] the media would respond better to someone who was crying [on the phone]," Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest.

Towards the end of the siege, Mr Morton-Hoffman led the escape of six hostages — including himself — from the cafe as Monis fired a shot after them.

Shortly after, Monis shot dead cafe manager Mr Johnson, prompting the storming of the Lindt Cafe by Tactical Operation Unit (TOU) officers, killing Monis and ending the siege.

The final stage of the inquest, whichbeing tapped as chief of staff for Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general, in September 2017. Mr. Whitaker became acting attorney general this month after Mr. Sessions was forced out.

The group provided the overwhelming majority of his income since at least 2016, according to the filings released Tuesday by the Justice Department.


a colorful life of poverty and opulence. A burgeoning young writer’s life is followed from orphaned infancy to adulthood as he befriends a collection of eccentric characters on a journey of love, acceptance and self-discovery in Victorian England. Ianucci co-wrote with his In the Loop pal Simon Blackwell.

Already, Personal History has racked up 11 noms at the British Independent Film Awards including Best Independent Film, Best Actor for Patel, Best Supporting Actress for Swinton and Supporting Actor for Laurie.– It was revealed that Joey Yung's intimate Christmas date with boyfriend Wilfred Lau was ruined by paparazzi capturing their every move.

According to Popular Asians, the couple was captured on camera after the paparazzi spotted Joey Yung, who was wearing cap at the time, with her friend Wyman Wong shopping at Causeway Bay. They were then followed to a hotel and were seen hopping into the car owned by a mutual friend.

The photographers did not fail to notice that Wilfred Lau was also in the car with them.

Joey and Wilfred, who were wearing masks, eventually arrived at another mall's parking lot, walked closely together but split up immediately as soon as they entered the mall.

Shortly after, they went to the cinema to watch "Les Misérables". The couple tried


Monday, October 31, 2011

I love scenic byways and whenever there is an opportunity to take one, I do. Therefore, I could not resist the opportunity to drive along the Historic ColumbiaRiver Highway, an approximately 75-mile (120 km) scenic highway through the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. The highway was built between 1913 and 1922 and it was the first planned scenic roadway in the United States. From the very beginning, the highway was envisioned not just as means of traveling, but designed to take full advantage of all the natural beauty along the route. As such it was recognized in several historic registries, e.g., as a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

The highway indeed runs extremely close to many beautiful sights, including several waterfalls.hunting for food, building their nests, and defending their territory. Some of them flew so close to us that we could almost feel the air¬¬–moved by their wings–bounce off our faces.

I would definitely recommend this hike if you are in or around Portland. It is only 30 miles away from the city and can be accessed via the beautiful Historic Columbia River Highway, which is also worth seeing.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The first hike we did in Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was a short, 2-mile loop hike in Lava Canyon. This hike begins with a wide, paved, wheelchair accessible Lava Canyon Interpretive Trail, which leads to a viewing platform overlooking the canyon and the Muddy River that cuts through it. From the viewing area, the trail loops


hike in Mt. Rainier National Park, we decided to head to Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and try to go hiking there. To our surprise, the upper part of Mt. St. Helens was also under the snow. So instead of one longer hike at a higher elevation, we decided to go for several shorter hikes at a lower elevation.

First we went for a hike in Lava Canyon, to which I dedicated a separate post (it will appear here in two days).

Afterward, we hiked the interpretive "Trail of Two Forests", a 1-mile long boardwalk loop trail through the lava flow from Mount St. Helens' eruption that took place around two thousands years ago. One interesting part of the trail was a small, maybe 2.5 to 3 feet wide,after some of the snow melts away. Let's hope we will manage to revisit it before this year's winter arrives.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle and it is where his music career started. To commemorate him and his music, Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft), founded the Experience Music Project Museum. After a few years the focus of the museum has changed, and it started displaying memorabilia and artifacts commemorating other Seattle-based artists as well (e.g. Nirvana). A part of the museum is also dedicated to science fiction and technology, especially those technical elements behind some of the recent famous movies/TV series (like Avatar and Battlestar Galactica).

We enjoyed the exhibits dedicated to Nirvana and Avatar, but we were not at all interested in the exhibit dedicated


to Battlestar Galactica. I guess you have to be a fan of the movie to enjoy it. We also had a lot of fun exploring the Guitar Gallery which documents the history of electric guitar development, and an interactive Sound Lab, where one can have fun learning the basics of playing various instruments and mixing music.

The building in which museum is located is also quite a sight, thanks to its architect Frank Gehry:

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Space Needle is a major landmark of Seattle. I would estimate that 99% of visitors to the city go up the Space Needle, so normally that would not be a place that we would visit. However, as the day was gorgeous, we decided to follow the standard touristy route and take anCalifornia School Accused of 'Purging' Christian Books

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It's hard to imagine that any school would have a problem with a book about a Christian family that helped Jews escape the Holocaust.

But Springs Charter Schools in Temecula, Calif., not only had a problem with "The Hiding Place," they also took issue with any other book that was written by a Christian author or included a Christian message.

"We do not purchase sectarian educational materials and do not allow sectarian materials on our state-authorized lending shelves," Superintendent Kathleen Hermsmeyer wrote in a letter to attorneys at the Pacific Justice Institute.

Pacific Justice Institute is representing a parent who discovered what they called a "Christian purging" of the charter school's library.

"She was told


by one of the library attendants that the library has been instructed to remove all books with a Christian message, authored by Christians, or published by a Christian publishing company," read a letter PJI sent to the public charter school. "The attendant advised that the library would no longer be carrying those books. Indeed, our client was told that the library was giving those books away, and she actually took some."

Among the books deemed inappropriate, the PJI said, was "The Hiding Place" the biography of Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who was imprisoned by the Germans for helping Jews escape the Holocaust.

"It is alarming that a school library would attempt to purge books from religious authors," said Brad Dacus, president of the religious advocacy group. "This is8.03.2016

RABBI MEIR KAHANE ON THE EREV RAV

B"H

The erev rav is that part of the Jewish People intent on war against G-d and against the truth and credibility of His Torah. With them we face an uncompromising battle to the finish, and the Gra emphasized this in his call to holy war against them. When he says that whoever does not actively fight the erev rav becomes their partner and is better off never having been born, he means to warn against the distorted tolerance and groundless love which are the main impediments in this war. Rather, says the Gra, our task is to assist our Messiahs in their task, and the task of Mashiach ben Yosef is once more emphasized there (Chapter 1:6): "The general purpose of Mashiach


of internal leads 17 are regularly spaced on the upper portion of the semiconductor chip 16 while being arranged toward the upper and lower directions of the semiconductor chip 16. A plurality of wires 18 respectively connect the bonding pads formed on the semiconductor chip 16 to the internal leads 17. A reference numeral 19 designates a protective envelope of the semiconductor package for encapsulating the internal leads 17 and the semiconductor chip 16. A plurality of external leads 20 project outwardly on one side of the envelope 19 of the package. Support leads 21 of an open square shape bent in opposite directions are installed for supporting the vertically surface-mounted package 15 outside of the external leads 20. This vertically surface-mounted package 15 has a relatively smalleliminate the revenue deficit. This committee recommended the single GST in place of Excise duty, Service Tax, sales tax etc. with tax credit across goods and services.2007In 2007 first report on GST was given by the Advisor to Finance Minister and he recommend to conceptualizing a GST model. On the basis of recommendation given by the finance advisor, a Joint Working Group (JWG) was constituted in 2007 by Empowered committee of State Finance Ministers to suggest a model framework of GST and structure of GST rate. Apart from other roles and responsibilities JWG was also given the responsibility to study the globally existing GST models and identify the Central and State Taxes which are required to be subsumed in GST. JWG submitted its report in November 2007, recommended


a central tax and a uniform state tax across the country. State may levy tax over and above the GST on tobacco and keep Petroleum, liquor, stamp duty, levies on minerals, petroleum products outside the GST purview. The 13th Finance commission was constituted in 2007 under article 280(1) of the Constitution was required to study the impact of the GST. Apart from other recommendations, the key recommendations of the 13th Finance commission was that a there should be a single rate on goods and services, export should be zero rated, seamless tax credit across the states and 50000 crores grant to be provided to all states in aggregate to compensate the adversely affected states.

2009 A comprehensive structure of the GST model was given in First discussion paper onGST release in November 2009 by Empowered Committee.

2014-15 122nd constitutional amendment bill was introduced in Parliament in December 2014 to give the constitutional validity and it was passed by Lok Sabha in May 2015 and referred to select committee of Rajya Sabha. The select committee of Rajya Sabha submited its report on 122nd constitutional amendment bill on 22nd July 2015.2016 Finally idea of GST became a reality when the 122nd constitutional amendment bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on 3rd August 2016 and Lok Sabha on 8th August 2016 and got assent of president in September 2016. As per Article 279A of the amended Constitution, the GST council was formed.

2017Finally Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017, Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, UnionTerritory Goods and Services


reform.

Required Legislative AmendmentsThe Constitution of India divides the power of taxation between Centre and States. While the Centre has the power to levy taxes on services and goods upto the production stage, the States have the power to levy taxes on sale of goods. The States do not have power to levy taxes on services and goods at the stage of production. Considering the federal structure of India and fiscal autonomy of states, various committees and task forces suggest the dual GST model. Hence to give the constitutional validity to GST, the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Second Amendments) Bill, 2014 was passed where both Centre and States have been given the concurrent power to levy taxes on supply of goods and services. A Joint working group isin Europe at that time was around 90 million around the 15th century.
I'm not interested on a debate between Catholics vs Protestants, just looking for historic reliable sources.
I want to add some notes to this question:

I'm deeply interested in Catholic and Protestants source since both sides hold major antagonistic views to the events and have corroborated with varied of sources, but I'm not interested in theirs exclusively;

I want Protestant Sources;
I want Catholic source;
I also want any other possible sources.

A:

Henry Kamen was a historian attacking the Spanish inquisition. His views changed after in 1960s he started to work on his 'Spanish Inquisition' book. Based on historical evidence he concluded that the inquisition was not made up of fanatics who rejoiced in torture and executions and that, for example, Inquisition


in the first place.
It should be made clear from the outset that claims of tens of millions of deaths as a result of the Inquisition - even over a period of several centuries - is simply mathematically untenable. For example, Spain had a population of about 7.5 million at the height of the Spanish Inquisition in the sixteenth century [Elliott, 1989, p223].
To place those numbers into further context, the Black Death killed an estimated 20 million people in Europe, or just under half the population, in the period from 1348 to 1352.

The first Inquisition was temporarily established in Languedoc (south of France) in 1184 by the Papal Bull Ad abolendam. This would lead directly to the Albigensian Crusade, which lasted from 1209 to 1244 and resulted in atleast 200,000 Cathar deaths, and probably many more.
The Inquisition was permanently established in 1229, and run largely by the Dominican order until its abolition in the early 19th century (although part of the institution survived as part of the Roman Curia, and is known today as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith).

Many of the excesses of the Albigensian Crusade are well known. For example, the massacre at Béziers, where the Cistercian Abbot and Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric allegedly told his men:

"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius."
("Kill them all. God will know his own").

Amalric may, or may not, have spoken those exact words. However, he did confirm the broad details of the massacre (while effectively denying that he had any part in it) in a


letter to the Pope in August 1209:

...while discussions were still going on with the barons about the
  release of those in the city who were deemed to be Catholics, the
  servants and other persons of low rank and unarmed attacked the city
  without waiting for orders from their leaders. To our amazement,
  crying "to arms, to arms!", within the space of two or three hours
  they crossed the ditches and the walls and Béziers was taken. Our men
  spared no one, irrespective of rank, sex or age, and put to the sword
  almost 20,000 people. After this great slaughter the whole city was
  despoiled and burnt...

Other contemporary writers put the death toll at up to sixty-thousand. Now, personally, I alwaysfind numbers like this in medieval documents a little suspect. They often seem unrealistically large and suspiciously round numbers. In this case, the true figure probably lies somewhere between the two extremes.
The massacre at Béziers serves to illustrate one major problem that will be faced if we try to estimate the death toll during the medieval Inquisition. Many of those killed simply do not appear in the official records of "the Inquisition". Of course, the massacre at Béziers was far from the only atrocity committed during the Albigensian Crusade. Malcolm Barber's brief overview The Albigensian Crusades: Wars Like Any Other? is well worth reading in this context.

Perhaps the best known manifestation of the Inquisition in the popular mind is the Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478. One of the


earliest accounts came from a former Spanish secretary to the Inquisition named Juan Antonio Llorente (1756–1823). According to Llorente, nearly 32,000 “heretics” were burned at the stake during the Spanish Inquisition, and another 300,000 were put on trial and forced to do penance [Roth, 1964; p123].
Now, Llorente was an outspoken critic of the Spanish Inquisition and, although there are some who have argued that he actually underestimated the total number of deaths, there has been a tendency for modern historians to assume that his 32,000 figure is an exaggeration. The currently accepted view was set out by William Rubinstein in his 2004 book Genocide:

Juan Antonio Llorente (1756–1823), a fierce enemy of the Inquisition,
  whose Critical History of the Inquisition of 1817–19 remains the most
  famous earlywork attacking everything connected with it, estimated
  the number of executions carried out during the whole of the period
  that the Spanish Inquisition existed, from 1483 until its abolition by
  Napoleon, at 31,912, with 291,450 “condemned to serve penances.” ...
  Most recent historians regard even this figure as far too high.

[Rubinstein, 2004, p34]
So, if we limit the discussion to official executions during the Spanish Inquisition, experts today seem to place the total number in a range between about 3,000 and 10,000. A further 100,000 to 125,000 probably died in prison as a result of torture and maltreatment, but these went largely unrecorded in the records of the Inquisition. (The separate Inquisition in neighbouring Portugal resulted in fewer deaths) [Pérez, 2006, p173 and Rummel, 2009,


attempts to arrive at an estimate including figures for deaths resulting from forms of torture and killing that did not involve a formal trial, religious wars, and other forms of Catholic violence enacted against Protestants and other non-Catholics. This text also includes some useful links to further source material.
If the discussion includes this wider context, then it certainly is possible to talk about death tolls potentially measured in the millions.

A different perspective on the history of the Inquisition can be seen in this article in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Sources:

Barber, Malcolm: The Albigensian Crusades: Wars Like Any Other?,
Ashgate, 2001
Kamen, Henry: The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision,
Yale, 1999
Elliott, John Huxtable: Spain and Its World, 1500–1700, Yale,
1989
Pérez, Joseph: The Spanish Inquisition: A History, Profile
Books, 2006
Peters, Edward: Inquisition, University of California, 1989
Plaisted, David:The Associated General
Contractors of America (AGC) is the leading association for the
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A naked man covered in blood terrorized a Victorville neighborhood when he broke into an apartment and tried to carjack three vehicles, including a sheriff’s patrol cruiser, before he was finally arrested, authorities said Tuesday.

Deputies say Daniel Anglin, 19, of San Bernardino was likely under the influence of a controlled substance Monday when he began a rampage on the streets of Victorville.

The nude man was first spotted in the middle of the intersection of El Evado Road and Seneca Road, where he tried to forcibly take two separate vehicles from their drivers, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Cellphone video shows at least one of the drivers pushing and yelling at the man.

At some point, he broke into an apartment, where he was confronted by the ownerHappy trails in Draper with opening of tunnel

Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County and Draper City get ready to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
A mountain biker makes his way down the trail in Little Valley as Salt Lake County anFrancisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County and Draper City celebrate the opening of trails that connect thousanFrancisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County and Draper City get ready to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
A mountain biker makes his way down the trail in Little Valley as Salt Lake County anFrancisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, center left, looks out


over Little Valley along

Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County and Draper City get ready to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the new Little Valley Trail at Traverse Ridge on Monday, April 30, 2012, where Little Valley and Corner Canyon are now connected through a tunnel under Traverse Ridge Road.Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
A mountain biker makes his way down the trail in Little Valley as Salt Lake County and Draper City get ready to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the new Little Valley Trail at Traverse Ridge on Monday, April 30, 2012. Little Valley and Corner Canyon are now connected through a tunnel under Traverse Ridge Road with 88 miles of trails accessible by bikers,hikers and runners with plans to expand the trail systems above Draper.Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County and Draper City celebrate the opening of trails that connect thousands of acres in Corner Canyon and Little Valley through a tunnel under Traverse Ridge Road. The new parcel of land called "Ann's Trail", is named for Ann Parr, a champion of the trails above Draper, which currently has a network of 88 miles of trails with plans to build more.Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County and Draper City get ready to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the new Little Valley Trail at Traverse Ridge on Monday, April 30, 2012, where Little Valley and Corner Canyon are now connected through a


tunnel under Traverse Ridge Road.Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
A mountain biker makes his way down the trail in Little Valley as Salt Lake County and Draper City get ready to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the new Little Valley Trail at Traverse Ridge on Monday, April 30, 2012. Little Valley and Corner Canyon are now connected through a tunnel under Traverse Ridge Road with 88 miles of trails accessible by bikers, hikers and runners with plans to expand the trail systems above Draper.Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, center left, looks out over Little Valley alongside Draper City Mayor Darrell Smith with his wife, Launi, as they join other public and city and county officials whoattended the ribbon-cutting on Monday, April 30, 2012, which officially connects thousands of acres in Corner Canyon and Traverse Ridge Open Space. The 88 miles of trails are now connected through a tunnel under Traverse Ridge road in Draper and there are plans for more trails to be built.

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Draper • Ann Parr might not have been there in person, but her spirit permeated Monday's dedication of a tunnel unifying two prize pieces of open space in the Salt Lake Valley's southeastern foothills.

Speaker after speaker lauded the vision and perseverance of the trails enthusiast, equestrian and longtime


Draper planning commissioner who, until sidelined recently by failing health, was instrumental in leading the drive for a trail system linking 633 acres in Little Valley with 1,000 in Corner Canyon.

"She's Mrs. Trail," said Draper Mayor Darrell Smith at a ribbon-cutting ceremony formally opening the tunnel beneath Traverse Ridge Road. Its construction  and the purchase of Little Valley's brush-covered slopes and spring-fed pond  was paid for with $2.75 million from the Open Space Trust Fund bond approved by county voters in 2006.

County Mayor Peter Corroon said it was money well spent, preserving prime parcels of countryside linked by trails that afford hikers, bikers and horseback riders stunning views of the valley.

"It's neat to look down on the [Draper LDS] temple," said Jenny Murdock, a friend andby Ann Parr" in his 10 years as a city planning commissioner.

While initially skeptical that her vision of a trail system ever could come to pass, Rappleye said he has been won over. "It took a buy-in to see how important this is," he said, "making usable space and not just something to look at."

That has paid economic dividends for Draper, Rappleye added, the recreational opportunities flowing from these lands helping to entice companies such as eBay to do business in the city.

Besides buying the land, Salt Lake County has a conservation easement on the open space. Draper owns and manages the land.


has two World Series rings, to 32-year-old Jon Daniels in Texas. Yankees G.M. Brian Cashman has said he incorporates stathead insights into his decision-making.

The question of how to study baseball has been settled, although no one has tried to replace scouts with robots—every team now evaluates players with a combination of statistical analysis and firsthand observation. But there is still much to be determined. Can statistical analysis and video breakdown of throwing form help figure out which flamethrowing college pitchers are less likely to get injured after they’re drafted? Can it tell you exactly which players on your team should hit and run in the seventh inning of a one-run game? What proportion of its budget should a mid-market team spend on minor-league coaching relative to high-school scoutingin order to maximize profits? There are a million questions to choose from, but right now the most cutting-edge research is in the mysterious, ethereal, and, most maddeningly, subjective world of defense. And that quest to objectify the subjective has opened a new front in the battle between the Yankees and their eternal enemies, the Red Sox.

John Dewan is the former president and CEO of Stats—the company that provides statistical services for every major American sports league, including Major League Baseball—who in 2002 founded Baseball Info Solutions, which “specializes in collecting, interpreting, and disseminating in-depth baseball statistics.” Each season, the company pays fifteen to twenty video scouts whose lone job is to watch every single Major League Baseball game and notate everything that happens. Every. Single. Thing. “Each


(with the bat) equals one win. With one position switch, the Red Sox might have made a four-game improvement before Beltre takes a single swing of the bat. You can do the same math in center field: Cameron saved three runs last year with the Brewers, while Jacoby Ellsbury, who is moving from center to left this year, cost his team nine: a twelve-run difference, one win. Ellsbury’s shift to left? As a left-fielder two years ago, he saved his team five runs in only 36 games started; 2009 left-fielder (and new Met) Jason Bay cost the Sox two last year. There’s at least another win right there. At shortstop, Scutaro saved twelve runs for the Blue Jays last year; the Sox’ revolving shortstops cost their team nineteen.Sign in toNOLA.com

Southern University official has been with Cooperative Extension for 50 years

williams final .jpg

As the Cooperative Extension service celebrates 100 years, the LSU Agricultural Center is recognizing Leodrey Williams, who has been working with Southern University, LSU and serving at the national level as it relates to extension. (Olivia McClure)

Leodrey Williams, chancellor of Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center, has been working for the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, for 50 years, half the time the Cooperative Extension has been in existence, according to a news release from the LSU Agricultural Center.

In 1914, the passage of the Smith-Lever Act, created a partnership between agricultural colleges and the United States Department of Agriculture in efforts to support agricultural extension work.

Extension work in Louisiana had only took place through


LSU but in 1971, Southern University created its own extension office.

Williams was hired as an agriculture specialist.Five years later, Williams went LSU to serve as associate state agent, director of Equal Employment Opportunity and associate professor in the Department of Extension and International Education, positions he held for four years. In 1980, Wilson became extension director at Southern University.Soon after, Williams would serve as the national director of the Cooperative Extension Service, making him responsible for funding extension programs of 104 land-grant universities around the country.

Williams would return to SU to take on his previous role on extension director in 1995.

Then, in 2001 Williams was asked to head the newly-formed Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center, in which he has been the center's only chancellor.

"No matter what777, 780 (Wyo. 2008). Whether a sentence is illegal is a question of law, which we review de novo. Id.

DISCUSSION
[¶8] Mr. Simmons asserts that he was entitled to credit against his Wyoming sentence for the time he was incarcerated in Nevada. He relies on language from the Nevada order stating that his sentence in that state was to be served concurrently to any other sentence he was then serving. He argues that while he was in prison in Nevada, he was also on probation in Wyoming and so, upon revocation of his probation, the Wyoming court was required to count his time in the Nevada prison against his sentence in Wyoming.
[¶9] The State responds that Mr. Simmons was not entitled to credit in Wyoming for time he served


to serve his Washington sentence regardless of the existence of his Wyoming sentence. "That period of confinement has absolutely nothing to do with his imposed Wyoming sentence." Id.
[¶12] Similarly, in Jennings v. State, 4 P.3d 915, 923 (Wyo. 2000), we stated that the defendant was entitled to credit for time served in Washington if he was being held solely because of his financial inability to post bond on the Wyoming charge; however, he was not entitled to credit for time served in Washington if he would have remained in custody regardless of his ability to post bond on the Wyoming charge. Because the record established that a portion of his Washington confinement was due solely to an unrelated Washington offense, we held the defendant was not entitled tocredit on the Wyoming sentence for the time served in Washington. However, the record also established that the defendant was confined in Washington for a time due solely to the Wyoming charge. We held that he was entitled to credit against his Wyoming sentence for that time.
[¶13] Mr. Simmons was incarcerated in Nevada solely because of the offense he committed in Nevada. He would have remained in prison in that state regardless of any offense committed in Wyoming. The district court properly denied him credit against his Wyoming sentence for the time he served in Nevada.
[¶14] Affirmed.


win an election.

In fact, it was the Republican National Convention that hosted a black pastor, a single mother, an openly gay entrepreneur, and a guy whom the Democrats will try to paint as a racist for the next four days.

True character is what you do when no one is looking, and we have thousands of examples of the Democrats character thanks to WikiLeaks and other hacking groups that expose the truth.

How can Democrats choose and elevate a candidate as corrupt as Hillary Clinton? Remember, they rigged the election in favor of Hillary over Sanders. They chose her. It is unimaginable to take someone like Hillary, that has been involved in this much corruption — which, again, has put every single American at risk — and then give her241: Narrated 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud: Once the Prophet was offering prayers at the Ka'ba. Abu Jahl was sitting with some of his companions. One of them said to the others, "Who amongst you will bring the abdominal contents (intestines, etc.) of a camel of Bani so and so and put it on the back of Muhammad, when he prostrates?" The most unfortunate of them got up and brought it. He waited till the Prophet prostrated and then placed it on his back between his shoulders. I was watching but could not do any thing. I wish I had some people with me to hold out against them. They started laughing and falling on one another. Allah's Apostle was in prostration and he did not lift his head up


till Fatima (Prophet's daughter) came and threw that (camel's abdominal contents) away from his back. He raised his head and said thrice, "O Allah! Punish Quraish." So it was hard for Abu Jahl and his companions when the Prophet invoked Allah against them as they had a conviction that the prayers and invocations were accepted in this city (Mecca). The Prophet said, "O Allah! Punish Abu Jahl, 'Utba bin Rabi'a, Shaiba bin Rabi'a, Al-Walid bin 'Utba, Umaiya bin Khalaf, and 'Uqba bin Al Mu'it (and he mentioned the seventh whose name I cannot recall). By Allah in Whose Hands my life is, I saw the dead bodies of those persons who were counted by Allah's Apostle in the Qalib (one of the wells) of Badr.

This incident is alsonarrated by others. See Sahih Bukhari 1.9.499; 4.52.185 and 5.58.193

Abu Jahl however, was not alone in his persecution. The worst attack on Muhammad was done by ‘Uqba, the man who previously said that he would fight Muhammad and who also participated in the above incident

Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 339:I asked 'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al-'As to inform me of the worst thing the pagans had done to Allah's Apostle. He said: "While Allah's Apostle was praying in the courtyard of the ka'ba, 'Uqba bin Abi Mu'ait came and seized Allah's Apostle by the shoulder and twisted his garment round his neck and throttled him severely. Abu Bakr came and seized 'Uqba's shoulder and threw him away from Allah's Apostle and said, "Would you kill a man


be maltreated at home, or to flee the country, some to Abyssinia [Ethiopia], others to Medina. (p. 212)

Also, we find that several slaves were tortured. From Ishaq:

Bilal, a black Ethiopian slave who converted to islam was severely tortured:The followers of Muhammad were often subjected to torture and some gave up their belief through weakness, some because of their great sufferings; but others were protected and strength¬ened by Allah so that they remained steadfast.Bilal, a slave to one of the Banu Jumah, was of a pure heart and sincere in his profession of Islam. He was dragged out by Ummaya when the midday sun was hot and thrown on his back out in the valley of Mecca. A great stone was placed on his breast, and he was told,be paradise." They killed his mother, for she refused to abandon Islam ( p. 206)

So according to Ishaq, Summayah, the first martyr of islam, was killed here. The reason for this has been disputed, it seems as if she died under torture (being forced to walk in the sun) where later reports suggests she was stabbed with a spear in the vagina. Whatever it was, it’s a fact that Summayah died because she was a muslim. There are also reports that her husband, Yasir was killed, however there doesn’t seem to be anything concrete so I’ll leave it for now. Their son, Ammar, managed to survive, unlike his parents, by concealing his muslim faith. It was for him the following ayah was revealed:

Those who disbelieve in GOD, after


Kathir, in his tafisr of this verse, also reports another horrible story of torture:Similarly, when the Liar Musaylimah asked Habib bin Zayd Al-Ansari, "Do you bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah'' He said, "Yes.'' Then Musaylimah asked, "Do you bear witness that I am the messenger of Allah'' Habib said, "I do not hear you.'' Musaylimah kept cutting him, piece by piece, but he remained steadfast insisting on his words.

Prior to his conversion, Umar bin khattab was also quite the persecutor. It is reported in Ibn Ishaq that he was an enemy of Muhammad:Another valuable convert at this time was Umar, hitherto a vociferous enemy of the apostle.

We read from his biography, Tareekh 'Umar bin Al-Khattab, that he actually intented to kill Muhammad at oneThe Companions of the Prophet [pbuh] turned to see who the intruder was. One of them peeped through a chink in the door and reeled back exclaiming: "It is ‘Umar with his sword." Hamzah, dispelling the fears of his friends, said: "Let him in. As a friend he is welcome. As a foe, he will have his head cut off with his own sword." The Prophet [pbuh] asked his Companions to open the door. In came the son of Khattab. The Prophet [pbuh] advanced to receive the dreadful visitor, caught him by his garment and scabbard, and asked him the reason of his visit. At that ‘Umar replied: "O Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] , I come to you in order to believe in Allâh and his Messenger and


and when he came, they said, "We have given Abu Bakr protection on condition that he will worship his Lord in his house, but he has transgressed that condition and has built a mosque in the court yard of his house and offered his prayer and recited Qur'an in public. We are afraid lest he mislead our women and offspring. So, go to him and tell him that if he wishes he can worship his Lord in his house only, and if not, then tell him to return your pledge of protection as we do not like to betray you by revoking your pledge, nor can we tolerate Abu Bakr's public declaration of Islam (his worshipping)."

The meccans were however extremely upset at this, and went to Ethiopia tomonotheism natually entails renouncing polytheism. So while there may have been other monotheists in Meccah, did they preach publicly, and manage to gain a somewhat large following? I believe the Quraysh were worried about Muhammad gaining a bigger and bigger follow. The sources tell us that religion was a rather large part of the meccan society, this new religion would be problem for their identity, especially as the ones converting were from the Quraysh, both slaves and more influental people such as Hamza, Umar, Abu Bakr and Uthman.

Lets have a look at one of the reports in Ibn IshaqBilal, a slave to one of the Banu Jumah, was of a pure heart and sincere in his profession of Islam. He was dragged out by Ummaya when the midday


sun was hot and thrown on his back out in the valley of Mecca. A great stone was placed on his breast, and he was told, 'Remain thus until you expire, or until you re¬nounce Muhammad and worship al Lat and al Uzza.' But during all this pain he merely repeated, 'One God! One!'

So not only did the slave master want his slave to abandon the religion of Muhammad, but also belief the same as him. This doesn't seem to fit the claim that the torture was only because of their hatred of Muhammad.

Muhammad was able to preach openly in Meccah for 10 years because of his powerful uncle and the protecton of his tribe. We've seen what happended to the slaves who had no such protection, otheris Quraish knew of the violent nature of Muhammad’s preaching. He was preaching something in which there is no choice for polytheists other than embracing what Muhammad preached or being killed. It was the reason Abu Jahl proposed to end up Muhammad’s life before he is getting enough followers in Medina.

Truthsayer wrote: So there was a representative from every tribe who tried to murder him when he agreed to come to Medinah. And by "the father of wisdom's" own admission, the muslims were in their good right to wage war against every single tribe and every single pagan (but they didn't) He just hoped they were to weak to seek justice. And you cry because the muslims raided a caravan...

But why was it Meccans turned towards Muhammad so


of persecutions from the part of Quraish to Muhammad. If to quote Ibn Ishaq:

Yahya b Urwa bin Al-Zubair on the authority of his father from Abdullah b. Amr al-As bin al-As told me that the latter was asked what was the worst way in which Quraish showed their enmity to the apostle. He replied: I was with them one day when the notables had gathered in the Hijr and the apostle was mentioned. They said that they had never anything like the trouble they had endured from this fellow (Muhammad). He had declared their mode of life foolish, insulted their forefathers, reviled their religion, divided the community, and cursed their gods. What they had borne was past all bearing or words to that effect. While they were thusdiscussing him the apostle came towards them and kissed the black stone, then he passed them as he walked round the temple. As he passed they said some injurious things about him. This I could see from his expression. He went on and as he passed them the second time they attacked him similarly. This I could see from his expression. Then he passed the third time and they did the same. He (Muhammad) stopped and said. Will you listen to me O Quraish? By him who holds my life in his hand, I bring you SLAUGHTER

This word struck the people that not one of them but stood silent and still; even one who had hitherto been most violent spoke to him in the kindest way possible, saying


followers are for bringing them slaughter).

Abu Talib's Protection and How Muhammad thanked it

Muslims will defend this on the account ‘Muhammad was under the protection of Abu Talib’. But who was this Abu Talib? He was none other than one among the polytheists of Mecca. If there was an Abu Talib to protect Muhammad, that would again emphasize the point, there was not any systematic persecution of Muhammad. Not to say, Muhammad was not even grateful to the man who protected him. Allah, Muhammad’s alter ego did not let Muhammad to pray for the man who protected him. This is evident in Sahih Bukhari:

Narrated Said bin Al-Musaiyab from his father: When the time of the death of Abu Talib approached, Allah's Apostle went to him and found Abu Jahlwas sitting with some of his companions. One of them said to the others, "Who amongst you will bring the abdominal contents (intestines, etc.) of a camel of Bani so and so and put it on the back of Muhammad, when he prostrates?" The most unfortunate of them got up and brought it. He waited till the Prophet prostrated and then placed it on his back between his shoulders. I was watching but could not do any thing. I wish I had some people with me to hold out against them. They started laughing and falling on one another. Allah's Apostle was in prostration and he did not lift his head up till Fatima (Prophet's daughter) came and threw that (camel's abdominal contents) away from his back. He


hadith. Too convenient or?(skynightblaze has already quoted the relevant hadith in the comment section of this debate. It is Sahih Bukhari: book 59, Hadith: 314)

Truthsayer wrote: Abu Jahl however, was not alone in his persecution. The worst attack on Muhammad was done by ‘Uqba, the man who previously said that he would fight Muhammad and who also participated in the above incident

Bukhari Volume 6, Book 60, Number 339:I asked 'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al-'As to inform me of the worst thing the pagans had done to Allah's Apostle. He said: "While Allah's Apostle was praying in the courtyard of the ka'ba, 'Uqba bin Abi Mu'ait came and seized Allah's Apostle by the shoulder and twisted his garment round his neck and throttled him severely. Abu Bakr came andfrom the Quraysh, both slaves and more influental people such as Hamza, Umar, Abu Bakr and Uthman.

LOL…, then what made Quraish allow very influential persons like Waraqa bin Naufal Ubaidulla bins Jahsh, Uthman b. Al-Huwayrith live as monotheists? Who was Waraqa b Naufal? He was Cousin of Khadija, Muhammad's first wife.

Truthsayer wrote: Lets have a look at one of the reports in Ibn IshaqBilal, a slave to one of the Banu Jumah, was of a pure heart and sincere in his profession of Islam. He was dragged out by Ummaya when the midday sun was hot and thrown on his back out in the valley of Mecca. A great stone was placed on his breast, and he was told, 'Remain thus until you expire, or until you re¬nounce