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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|English name||The Party of Wales|
|Leader||Leanne Wood AM|
|President||Jill Evans MEP|
|Chairman||Helen Mary Jones|
|Chief Executive||Rhuanedd Richards|
|Honorary President||Dafydd Wigley|
|Vice President||Jonathan Clark|
|Founded||5 August 1925|
|Headquarters||Tŷ Gwynfor, Marine chambers, Anson Court, Atlantic Wharf
|Youth wing||Plaid Cymru Youth|
|Membership (2011)||7,863 |
|European affiliation||European Free Alliance|
|European Parliament group||The Greens–European Free Alliance|
|House of Commons (Welsh seats)|
|House of Lords|
|European Parliament (Welsh seats)|
|National Assembly for Wales|
|Local government in Wales|
Plaid Cymru (Welsh pronunciation: [plaɪd ˈkəmrɨ], English: The Party of Wales; often referred to simply as Plaid) is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state.
Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966. Plaid Cymru by 2012 had 1 of 4 Welsh seats in the European Parliament, 3 of 40 Welsh seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 11 of 60 seats in the National Assembly for Wales, and 206 of 1,264 principal local authority councillors.
Plaid Cymru's goals as set out in its constitution are:
- To promote the constitutional advancement of Wales with a view to attaining independence within the European Union;
- To ensure economic prosperity, social justice and the health of the natural environment, based on decentralist socialism;
- To build a national community based on equal citizenship, respect for different traditions and cultures and the equal worth of all individuals, whatever their race, nationality, gender, colour, creed, sexuality, age, ability or social background;
- To create a bilingual society by promoting the revival of the Welsh language;
- To promote Wales's contribution to the global community and to attain membership of the United Nations.
In September 2008, a senior Plaid Cymru assembly member spelled out her party's continuing support for an independent Wales. The Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, kicked off Plaid's annual conference by pledging to uphold the goal of making Wales a European Union member state. She told the delegates in Aberystwyth that the party would continue its commitment to independence under the coalition with Labour.
While both the Labour and Liberal parties of the early 20th century had accommodated demands for Welsh home rule, no political party existed for the purpose of establishing a Welsh government. Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (English: National Party of Wales) was formed on 5 August 1925, by Moses Gruffydd, Fred Jones and Lewis Valentine, members of Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru (Home Rule Army of Wales; literally, Self-Rulers' Army of Wales); and H. R. Jones, Saunders Lewis and David John Williams of Y Mudiad Cymreig (The Welsh Movement). Initially, home rule for Wales was not an explicit aim of the new movement; keeping Wales Welsh-speaking took primacy, with the aim of making Welsh the only official language of Wales.
In the general election of 1929 the party contested its first parliamentary constituency, Caernarvonshire, polling 609 votes, or 1.6% of the vote for that seat. The party contested few such elections in its early years, partly due to its ambivalence towards Westminster politics. Indeed the candidate Lewis Valentine, the party’s first president, offered himself in Caernarvonshire on a platform of demonstrating Welsh people's rejection of English dominion.
By 1932 the aims of self-government and Welsh representation at the League of Nations had been added to that of preserving Welsh language and culture. However this move, and the party's early attempts to develop an economic critique, did not broaden its appeal beyond that of an intellectual and socially conservative Welsh language pressure group. The alleged sympathy the party's leading members (including President Saunders Lewis) towards Europe's totalitarian regimes compromised its early appeal further.
In 1936 Lewis, David John Williams and Lewis Valentine attacked and set fire to the newly constructed RAF Penyberth air base on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd in protest at its siting in the Welsh-speaking heartland. The leaders' treatment, including the trial judge's dismissal of the use of Welsh and their subsequent imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs, led to "The Three" becoming a cause célèbre. This heightened the profile of the party dramatically and its membership had doubled to nearly 2,000 by 1939.
Penyberth, and Plaid Cymru’s neutral stance during the Second World War, prompted concerns within the UK Government that it might be used by Germany to insert spies or carry out other covert operations. In fact, the party adopted a neutral standpoint and urged (with only limited success) conscientious objection to war service.
In 1943 Saunders Lewis contested the University of Wales parliamentary seat at a by-election, gaining 1,330 votes, or 22%. In the 1945 general election, with party membership at around 2,500, Plaid Cymru contested 7 seats, as many as it had in the preceding 20 years, including constituencies in south Wales for the first time. At this time Gwynfor Evans was elected president.
Gwynfor Evans' presidency coincided with the maturation of Plaid Cymru (as it now began to refer to itself) into a more recognisable political party. Its share of the vote increased from 0.7% in the 1951 general election to 3.1% in 1955 and 5.2% in 1959. In the 1959 election, the party contested a majority of Welsh seats for the first time. Proposals to drown the village of Capel Celyn in the Tryweryn valley in Gwynedd in 1957 to supply the city of Liverpool with water played a part in Plaid Cymru's growth. The fact that the parliamentary bill authorising the drowning went through without support from any Welsh MPs showed that the MPs' votes in Westminster were not enough to prevent such bills from passing.
Support for the party declined slightly in the early 1960s, particularly as support for the Liberal Party began to stabilise from its long-term decline. In 1962 Saunders Lewis gave a radio talk entitled Tynged yr Iaith (The fate of the language) in which he predicted the extinction of the Welsh language unless action was taken. This led to the formation of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) the same year.
Labour's return to power in 1964 and the creation of the post of Secretary of State for Wales appeared to represent a continuation of the incremental evolution of a distinctive Welsh polity, following the Conservative government's appointment of a Minister of Welsh Affairs in the mid-1950s and the establishment of Cardiff as Wales's capital in 1955.
However in 1966, less than four months after coming third in the constituency of Carmarthen, Gwynfor Evans sensationally captured the seat from Labour at a by-election. This was followed by two further by-elections in Rhondda West in 1967 and Caerphilly in 1968 in which the party achieved massive swings of 30% and 40% respectively, coming within a whisker of victory. The results were caused partly by an anti-Labour backlash. Expectations in coal mining communities that the Wilson government would halt the long-term decline in their industry had been dashed by a significant downward revision of coal production estimates. However — in Carmarthen particularly — Plaid Cymru also successfully depicted Labour's policies as a threat to the viability of small Welsh communities.
In the 1970 general election Plaid Cymru contested every seat in Wales for the first time and its vote share surged from 4.5% in 1966 to 11.5%. Gwynfor Evans lost Carmarthen to Labour, but regained the seat in October 1974, by which time the party had gained a further two MPs, representing the constituencies of Caernarfon and Merionethshire.
Plaid Cymru's emergence (along with the Scottish National Party) prompted the Wilson government to establish the Kilbrandon Commission on the constitution. The subsequent proposals for a Welsh Assembly were, however, heavily defeated in a referendum in 1979. Despite Plaid Cymru's ambivalence toward home rule (as opposed to outright independence) the referendum result led many in the party to question its direction.
At the 1979 general election the party's vote share declined from 10.8% to 8.1% and Carmarthen was again lost to Labour.
Caernarfon MP Dafydd Wigley succeeded Gwynfor Evans as president in 1981, inheriting a party whose morale was at an all-time low. In 1981 the party adopted "community socialism" as a constitutional aim. While the party embarked on a wide-ranging review of its priorities and goals, Gwynfor Evans fought a successful campaign (including the threat of a hunger strike) to oblige the Conservative government to fulfill its promise to establish S4C, a Welsh-language television station. In 1984 Dafydd Elis-Thomas was elected president, defeating Dafydd Iwan, a move that saw the party shift to the left. Ieuan Wyn Jones (later Plaid Cymru leader) captured Ynys Môn from the Conservatives in 1987. In 1989 Dafydd Wigley once again assumed the presidency of the party.
In the 1992 general election the party added a fourth MP, Cynog Dafis, when he gained Ceredigion and Pembroke North from the Liberal Democrats. Dafis was endorsed by the local branch of the Green Party. The party's vote share recovered to 9.9% by the 1997 general election.
In 1997, following the election of a Labour government committed to devolution for Wales, a further referendum was narrowly won, establishing the National Assembly for Wales. Plaid Cymru became the main opposition to the ruling Labour Party, with 17 seats to Labour's 28. In doing so, it appeared to have broken out of its rural Welsh-speaking heartland, and captured traditionally strong Labour areas in industrial south Wales.
Plaid Cymru in the Assembly era
First Welsh Assembly, 1999–2003
In the 1999 election Plaid Cymru gained seats in traditional Labour areas such as Rhondda, Islwyn and Llanelli, achieving by far its highest share of the vote in any Wales-wide election. While Plaid Cymru regarded itself as the natural beneficiary of devolution, others attributed its performance in large part to the travails of the Labour Party[who?], whose nomination for Assembly First Secretary, Ron Davies, was forced to stand down in an alleged sex scandal. The ensuing leadership battle, won by Alun Michael, did much to damage Labour, and thus aided Plaid Cymru, whose leader was the more popular and higher profile Dafydd Wigley. The Labour Party's UK national leadership was seen to interfere in the contest and deny the popular Rhodri Morgan victory. Less than two months later, in elections to the European parliament, Labour support slumped further, and Plaid Cymru came within 2.5% of achieving the largest share of the vote in Wales. Under the new system of proportional representation, the party also gained two MEPs.
Plaid Cymru then developed political problems of its own. Dafydd Wigley resigned, citing health problems but amid rumours of a plot against him. His successor, Ieuan Wyn Jones, struggled to impose his authority, particularly over controversial remarks made by a senior councillor, Seimon Glyn. At the same time, Labour leader and First Minister Alun Michael was replaced by Rhodri Morgan.
In the 2001 general election, Plaid Cymru lost Wyn Jones's former seat of Ynys Môn to Albert Owen, but gained Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, where Adam Price was elected. Notwithstanding these mixed results, the party recorded its highest-ever vote share in a general election, 14.3%.
Second Welsh Assembly, 2003–07
The Assembly elections of May 2003 saw the party's representation drop from 17 to 12, with the gains of the 1999 election falling again to Labour and the party's share of the vote declining to 21%. Plaid Cymru narrowly remained the second-largest party in the National Assembly ahead of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Forward Wales.
On 15 September 2003 folk-singer and county councillor Dafydd Iwan was elected as Plaid Cymru's president. Ieuan Wyn Jones, who had resigned from his dual role as president and Assembly group leader following the losses in the 2003 Assembly election, was re-elected in the latter role. Elfyn Llwyd remained the Plaid Cymru leader in the Westminster Parliament. Under Iwan's presidency the party formally adopted a policy of independence for Wales in Europe.
The 2004 local election saw the party lose control of the two south Wales councils it gained in 1999, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Caerphilly, while retaining its stronghold of Gwynedd in the north-west. However, the results led the party to claim a greater number of ethnic minority councillors than all the other political parties in Wales combined, along with gains in authorities such as Cardiff and Swansea, where Plaid Cymru representation had been minimal. In the European Parliament elections of the same year, the party's vote share fell to 17.4%, and the reduction in the number of Welsh MEPs saw its representation reduced to one.
In the general election of 5 May 2005, Plaid Cymru lost the Ceredigion seat to the Liberal Democrats, the result was a disappointment to Plaid, who had hoped to gain Ynys Môn. Overall therefore, the party's Parliamentary representation fell to three seats, the lowest level for Plaid Cymru since 1992. The party's share of the vote fell to 12.6%.
In 2006, the party voted constitutional changes to formally designate the party's leader in the assembly as its overall leader, with Ieuan Wyn Jones being restored to the full leadership and Dafydd Iwan becoming head of the voluntary wing of the party. 2006 also saw the party unveil a radical change of image, opting to use "Plaid" as the party's name, although "Plaid Cymru — The Party of Wales" would remain the official title. The party's colours were changed to yellow from the traditional green and red, while the party logo was changed from the 'triban' (three peaks) used since 1933 to a yellow Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cambrica).
Third Welsh Assembly, 2007–11
In the Welsh Assembly election of 3 May 2007, Plaid Cymru increased its number of seats from 12 to 15, regaining Llanelli, gaining one additional list seat and winning the newly created constituency of Aberconwy. The 2007 election also saw Plaid Cymru's Mohammad Asghar become the first ethnic minority candidate elected to the Welsh Assembly. The party's share of the vote increased to 22.4%.
After weeks of negotiations involving all four parties in the Assembly, Plaid Cymru and Labour agreed to form a coalition government. Their agreed "One Wales" programme included a commitment for both parties to campaign for a 'Yes' vote in a referendum on full law-making powers for the Assembly, to be held at a time of the Welsh Assembly Government's choosing. Ieuan Wyn Jones was subsequently confirmed as Deputy First Minister of Wales and Minister for the Economy and Transport. Rhodri Glyn Thomas was appointed Heritage Minister. He later stood down, and Alun Ffred Jones took over. Ceredigion AM Elin Jones appointed to the Rural Affairs brief in the new 10-member cabinet. Jocelyn Davies became Deputy Minister for Housing, and later, Regeneration.
Fourth Assembly, 2011–
In the 2011 Assembly election Plaid slipped from 2nd place to third, being overtaken by the Conservative Party and losing its deputy leader Helen Mary Jones. The party has since begun an inquiry into the reasons for the failure to capitalise on its time in government. In May 2011, Ieuan Wyn Jones announced that he will stand down as leader within the first half of the Assembly term. A new leader was to be elected on 15 March 2012, a week before the party's spring conference.
Following the election, an internal investigation suggested a solution to the party's reduced performance might be found in changing its official name to the English-language "Welsh National Party". In 2012, Plaid Cymru elected Leanne Wood as the new leader. She is the first female, and the first non-fluent Welsh speaker.
||This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2012)|
|Name and Portrait||Party Office||Constituency
|Party Leader since 2012
and Welsh Assembly Group Leader
|South Wales Central|
|Former Party President|
|MEP for Wales||Member of the European Parliament|
|MP Dwyfor Meirionnydd|
|Chief Executive||Appointed June 2011 |
- Jonathan Edwards, MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
- Elfyn Llwyd, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd
- Hywel Williams, MP for Arfon
- Jocelyn Davies, AM for South Wales East electoral region
- Dafydd Elis-Thomas, AM for Dwyfor Meirionnydd
- Llyr Huws Gruffydd, AM for North Wales electoral region
- Bethan Jenkins, AM for South Wales West electoral region
- Alun Ffred Jones, AM for Arfon
- Elin Jones, AM for Ceredigion
- Ieuan Wyn Jones, AM for Ynys Môn
- Rhodri Glyn Thomas, AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
- Simon Thomas, AM for Mid and West Wales electoral region
- Lindsay Whittle, AM for South Wales East electoral region
- Leanne Wood, AM for South Wales Central electoral region
European Parliament elections
|Year||Percentage of vote in Wales||Seats won|
|1979||11.7% (83,399)||0 (of 4)|
|1984||12.2% (103,031)||0 (of 4)|
|1989||12.9% (115,062)||0 (of 4)|
|1994||17.1% (162,478)||0 (of 5)|
|1999||29.6% (185,235)||2 (of 5)|
|2004||17.1% (159,888)||1 (of 4)|
|2009||18.5% (126,702)||1 (of 4)|
UK general elections
|Year||Percentage of vote in Wales||Seats won|
|1929||< 0.1% (609)||0 (of 36)|
|1931||0.2% (2,050)||0 (of 36)|
|1935||0.3% (2,534)||0 (of 36)|
|1945||1.2% (16,017)||0 (of 36)|
|1950||1.2% (17,580)||0 (of 36)|
|1951||0.7% (10,920)||0 (of 36)|
|1955||3.1% (45,119)||0 (of 36)|
|1959||5.2% (77,571)||0 (of 36)|
|1964||4.8% (69,507)||0 (of 36)|
|1966||4.3% (61,071)||0 (of 36)|
|1970||11.5% (175,016)||0 (of 36)|
|1974 (Feb)||10.8% (171,374)||2 (of 36)|
|1974 (Oct)||10.8% (166,321)||3 (of 36)|
|1979||8.1% (132,544)||2 (of 36)|
|1983||7.8% (125,309)||2 (of 38)|
|1987||7.3% (123,599)||3 (of 38)|
|1992*||9% (156,796)||4 (of 38)|
|1997||9.9% (161,030)||4 (of 40)|
|2001||14.3% (195,893)||4 (of 40)|
|2005||12.6% (174,838)||3 (of 40)|
|2010||11.3% (165,394)||3 (of 40)|
- Six seats contested on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket
Welsh Assembly elections
|Year||Percentage of vote (constituency)||Percentage of vote (regional)||Seats won (constituency)||Seats won (regional)|
|1999||28.4% (290,572)||30.6% (312,048)||9 (of 40)||8 (of 20)|
|2003||21.2% (180,185)||19.7% (167,653)||5 (of 40)||7 (of 20)|
|2007||22.4% (219,121)||21.0% (204,757)||7 (of 40)||8 (of 20)|
|2011||19.3% (182,907)||17.9% (169,799)||5 (of 40)||6 (of 20)|
European Free Alliance
|Wales in the EU|
Plaid retains close links with the Scottish National Party, with both parties' MPs co-operating closely with one another. They work as a single group within Westminster, and were involved in joint campaigning during the 2005 general election campaign. Both Plaid and the SNP are part of the European Free Alliance party in the European Parliament, a nationalist and regionalist bloc of parties. The EFA works with the European Green Party in order to form a joint group in the European Parliament: the The Greens–European Free Alliance.
See also↑Jump back a section
- Plaid Cymru says membership up 23% as party readies for leader vote at walesonline.co.uk, 27 January 2012. Accessed 1 March 2012
- Schrijver, Frans (2006), Regionalism After Regionalisation: Spain, France and the United Kingdom, Amsterdam University Press, p. 330
- Driver, Stephen (2011), Understanding British Party Politics, Polity Press, p. 176
- Siaroff, Alan (2000), Comparative European Party Systems: An Analysis of Parliamentary Elections Since 1945, Garland, p. 467
- Elias, Anwen (2006), "From ‘full national status’ to ‘independence’ in Europe: The case of Plaid Cymru — the Party of Wales", European Integration and the Nationalities Question (Routledge): 194
- Hamilton, Paul (2008), "Nationalism and Environmentalism", Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview (ABC-CLIO) 3: 881
- Dunphy, Richard (2004), Contesting capitalism?: Left parties and European integration, Manchester University Press, p. 157
- McEwen, Nicola; Parry, Richard (2005), "Devolution and the preservation of the United Kingdom welfare state", The Territorial Politics of Welfare (Routledge): 53
- "Lords by party and type of peerage". UK Parliament. June 11, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
- Edkins, Keith Local Council Political Compositions at Gwydir.demon.co.uk, 18 February 2012. Accessed 1 March 2012
- Plaid Cymru - What is Plaid's international vision? Retrieved 16 March 2012
- "Plaid Cymru want independent Wales". Thisissouthwales.co.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
- Morgan, Kenneth O. (1981). Rebirth of a nation: Wales, 1880-1980. History of Wales 6 (reprint 2002 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 206. ISBN 0-19-821760-9. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
- Philip, Alan Butt (1975). The Welsh Question: Nationalism in Welsh Politics, 1945–1970. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0537-7.
- McAllister, Laura (2001). Plaid Cymru: the Emergence of a Political Party. Bridgend: Seren. ISBN 1-85411-310-0.
- McAllister, L, Plaid Cymru: the Emergence of a Political Party (Seren, 2001), "The tentative moves towards elaborating and broadening Plaid's policy portfolio did not allow it to shake off its early identity as a language movement or a cultural pressure group." See also Philip, A. B., The Welsh Question (University of Wales Press, 1975), "It is clear that the Welsh Nationalist Party was at the outset essentially intellectual and moral in outlook and socially conservative."
- Morgan, K O, Welsh Devolution: the Past and the Future in Scotland and Wales: Nations Again? (Ed. Taylor, B and Thomson, K), (1999), University of Wales Press. Williams, G. A. When Was Wales?, (1985), Penguin. Davies, J., A History of Wales, (1990, rev. 2007), Penguin. Davies, D. H., The Welsh Nationalist Party 1925–1945 (1983), St. Martin's Press. Morgan, K. O., Rebirth of a Nation, (1981), OUP.
- Jones, R. Merfyn (2003). In Wrigley, Chris. A companion to early twentieth-century Britain. Blackwell's Companion to British History. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 99. ISBN 0-631-21790-8. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
- Inspector Williams the Spy Catcher[dead link] at South Wales Police website. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
- Davies, J, A History of Wales, (1990, rev. 2007), Penguin: "Saunders Lewis ... hoped that a substantial number of Welshmen would refuse to be conscripted on the grounds that they were Welsh. He was disappointed by their response."
- Davies, J, A History of Wales, (1990, rev. 2007), Penguin
- Morgan, K. O., Rebirth of a Nation, (1981), OUP
- Francis, H. and Smith, D., The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century, (1980), University of Wales
- Tanner, D., Facing the New Challenge: Labour and Politics 1970–2000 in The Labour Party in Wales 1900-2000 (Ed. Tanner, D., Williams, C. and Hopkin, D.), (2000), University of Wales Press
- "Plaid pioneer Gwynfor Evans dies". BBC News Online. 21 April 2005. Retrieved 31 July 2008. "Mr Evans changed the face of British politics when he became Plaid's first MP in the 1966 Carmarthen by-election. Fourteen years later he threatened to starve himself to death in the cause of Welsh language television, leading to the foundation of S4C."
- "Morgan is more popular — Michael". BBC News Online. 17 February 1999. Retrieved 31 July 2008. "Mr Michael, who has Prime Minister Tony Blair's backing, has been widely predicted to come first due to the form of electoral system used. An electoral college composed of three groups — politicians, trade unions and party members — will determined the winner. Large unions such as AEEU that have made their choice after a ballot of a small number of delegates are backing Mr Michael, but Mr Morgan has won every union member vote, including the shopworkers' union Usdaw on Tuesday night. Mr Morgan, a left-wing backbencher, has also repeatedly topped opinion polls taken among Labour Party members in Wales."
- "'Wigley downfall' plot denied". BBC News Online. 14 July 2000. Retrieved 31 July 2008. "Mr Wigley's announcement that he was to give up the presidency of Plaid Cymru in May came as a shock. Although he had been in hospital undergoing heart surgery, he was expected to resume his career. Some Assembly members said privately that he had taken on too much — being an MP, AM, party president and also group leader in the National Assembly. But there was also the suggestion that there was a conspiracy to oust him."
- "Moderate with a hard act to follow". BBC News Online. 4 April 2003. Retrieved 31 July 2008. "But Mr Jones was soon facing questions about his credentials for the job. Seimon Glyn, until then a fairly obscure Plaid Cymru councillor from Gwynedd, had made controversial comments on BBC Radio Wales about inward migration into Welsh-speaking communities. The issue was raised when Mr Jones appeared on the BBC's Question Time in Caernarfon, and he was criticised for his response, in which he at first denied that Mr Glyn had referred to English as a foreign language. There were more problems when Plaid's then chief executive said that Mr Jones was on a learning curve in the job."
- "Elfyn Llwyd — Plaid Cymru parliamentary leader ePolitix interview". Epolitix.com. 6 September 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
- "Election 2005 results, Wales". BBC News Online. 1 June 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
- "First ethnic minority AM elected". BBC News Online. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2007. "The assembly has its first ethnic minority member with the election of Plaid Cymru's Mohammad Asghar on the regional list. Mr Asghar, who was second on the Plaid list, was the fourth and final AM to be elected in South Wales East."
- "Details of Labour–Plaid agreement". BBC News Online. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2008. "On the sensitive issue of giving the Welsh assembly full law-making powers, a referendum on the issue is promised "as soon as practicable, at or before the end of the assembly term (in 2011)". According to the document "both parties will then take account of the success of the bedding down of the use of the new legislative powers (which came in after last May's election) already available and, by monitoring the state of public opinion, will need to assess the levels of support for full law-making powers necessary to trigger the referendum"."
- "Jones confirmed as deputy leader". BBC News Online. 11 July 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2008. "Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said it was a "great honour" to become the Welsh assembly's Deputy First Minister. He is Plaid's first government minister in the party's 82-year history. In accepting the post as part of the coalition deal with Labour, Mr Jones said it was an "historic statement" personally and for his party."
- Plaid plans review of election catastrophe. Wales Online. 2011-05-10
- "Ieuan Wyn Jones to stand down as Plaid Cymru leader". BBC News (UK). 13 May 2011.
- "New Plaid Cymru leader will take over on 15 March". BBC News. 17 October 2011.
- Plaid Cymru review suggests English name change to Welsh National Party BBC News
- Plaid: 'Ystyried newid enw Saesneg' BBC Newyddion
- "Plaid Cymru elect Leanne Wood as new leader". BBC News. 15 March 2012.
- Updated 2:44am 23 March 2012 (2012-03-23). "Leanne Wood becomes first female leader of Plaid Cymru - Wales News - News". WalesOnline. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
- Williamson, David (23 June 2011). "Plaid Cymru’s new chief executive reveals her vision for the party". Western Mail (Wales) (Cardiff: Media Wales Ltd). Retrieved 23 June 2011. More than one of
- "Jill Evans MEP". Plaid Cymru website. Plaid Cymru. 2 November 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2012. | <urn:uuid:f50d7269-32bd-448a-9179-0a90f5f038e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.mobile.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaid_Cymru | 2013-05-25T19:40:59Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934073 | 6,891 |
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Impeachment and tenure
As I continue to try to think through where I stand on the John Yoo question, I find myself thinking of the standards for impeaching the only other people in contemporary American society who have lifetime tenure--i.e., federal judges. I take it that we all agree that it is illegitimate to advocate impeachment because we disagree with a judge's opinions and, indeed, believe they adopt a pernicious view of the law. If there is an exception to this rule, it is presumably if (and only if) we believe the judge's decision was truly "corrupt" in the sense of self-consciously rejecting what he/she believed, in all sincerity, the law requires in favor of a position that will help his/her political party or worse (such as responding to a bribe). Thus the controversy, for some, about Bush v. Gore, a decision I will loathe until my dying day. But how many of us would impeach the "Bush five," rather than settle for denouncing them? So, to bring this to the central matter under discussion:
1. Impeachment is a different standard. Professional dishonesty (faking research, plagiarism) is not a "high crime or misdemeanor" that gets a judge removed, but it gets a tenured professor removed, for instance.
2. A bad decision of a judge is protected by absolute judicial immunity. A lawyer who participates in a conspiracy to commit war crimes is not protected by absolute immunity.
3. The right analogy would be a judge that is part of the conspiracy, say, by taking bribes or agreeing to decide cases a certain way to benefit organized crime. And such judges certainly would be impeachable.
Why aren't we talking about the Impeachment of those who we know perpetrated these crimes? You dance around it, but war crimes is war crimes, and conspiracy is conspiracy.
If what most of us believe is true, is true, then these people must answer for their crimes against humanity.
Our first step would be Impeachment, which would then leave all the perpetrators of these crimes vulnerable to criminal and civil prosecution.
Why aren't we talking about this? What is wrong with America that we are allowing this treason against the U.S. Constitution, and us all, to go unchallenged?
These people took oaths to us, and they betrayed their oaths to us. Am I the only one this infuriates and saddens?
Bring on prosecutions! These people must pay!
Yeah, Sandy you keep doing the moral equivocation thing. And it's an easy game to make come out the way you want.
You're not making a list of other cases involving war crimes and alleged war crimes and comparing Yoo to that. And then saying: should we follow those examples?
You're finding other cases where the only similarity is potential removal. In fact, you're only listing cases where action wasn't taken and then saying: why should we take action about this?
I'm afraid you're in a bit of a logical fallacy.
You could just as easily make a list of cases where judges have been removed and say: why not do that?
One really has nothing to do with the other.
This is a case potentially about war crimes and, not surprisingly, these cases have had many parameters and results which are very rare in our history, particularly in international and global law and politics.
With the exception of the question about Bybee, the questions you ask are completely beside the point. The relevant questions are these:
Should we live up to our treaty obligations?
Should war criminals be prosecuted?
Do you believe in the rule of law?
Do you believe that the President of the United States of America has the right to secretly and unilaterally declare that I am an enemy combatant, kidnap me and my family, detain us indefinitely, torture me, my wife, and our children, and then illegally transfer us to the custody of a foreign government to be tortured, raped, and murdered?
John Yoo's answers to those questions were no, no, no, and yes. A U.S. government based on those principles is a far greater threat to the world than al Qaeda will ever be. Yoo and his compatriots have laid the foundation for a reign of terror like nothing that has gone before. I can do nothing about Justices Taney or Story, but I have a moral duty to oppose the evil that John Yoo represents.
Oh, and yes, Bybee should be impeached and then prosecuted for his part in the war crimes perpetrated by Bush, et. al.
John Yoo did not believe himself to be writing opinion at the OLC, he described his memos as "statute". In other words, he was writing laws on behalf of the Bush administration, and one of those was requested in order to make torture legal.
Had any judge used his position to create law in order to make torture legal, that judge would rightfully face impeachment.
The Bush administration was well aware that internationally such 'statute' was illegal, that is why they were simultaneously unsigning the Rome Statute. John Yoo has made quite a point that he was not engaged in a theoretical exercise. They were even more aware later when John Paul Stevens wrote that their obligations to international humanitarian law precluded the lawlessness they were trying to push with their military commissions.
The only impeachments that need to be contemplated right now, are those of the President and his remaining "Principals".
I have been following the debate about John Yoo on some legal and academic/legal blogs (mostly Obsidian Wings and here at Balkinization) and it seems as if the consensus view of academics is that the great principle of lifetime tenure trumps all others. I strongly disagree. Setting to one side the broader question of the merits of lifetime tenure, I am curious how you would reconcile the limits which you place on removing tenured professors with the limits on professional activities established in the Nazi Judges Cases at The Nuremberg Trials.
The various reasons for refusing to remove Yoo from his tenured position at Bolt Hall (or to impeach strike me as highly artificial and quite similar to the various excuses offered by defense counsel in United States of America v. Alstötter et al. ("The Justice Case") 3 T.W.C. 1 (1948), 6 L.R.T.W.C. 1 (1948), 14 Ann. Dig. 278 (1948)
Just as Yoo’s academic defenders point to the “principle” of lifetime tenure, the defenders of the Nazi Judges spoke (correctly, I believe) about legal positivism and the correct role of judicial review in German society. Many highly respected German scholars were very clear that in the German legal system, the responsibility of the judge is to carry out the laws of his country when those laws were adopted by competent authorities, even if the judge disagrees with the law. In short, they behaved “correctly” in judging in much the same way as you imply that John Yoo acted within acceptable limits in the giving of legal advise. Yet the German judges were removed from their positions and stood trial for crimes against humanity. Why can’t Yoo be removed?
So, why is this principle (lifetime tenure) so much more important than any other principle such as,say, the duty of judges and lawyers not to facilitate war crimes and crimes against humanity?
Moreover, does not the UC Academic Senate have the moral obligation to determine for itself whether one of its members was instrumental in facilitating the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity?
If he did it we both think he did, he really ought to be bounced right out of the UC system. Right is right, wrong is wrong and tenure be dammed.
There is a large and very vocal segment of the population who would add Roe v Wade to your list of bad decisions. Then they would get just as incensed about "killing innocent babies" as you are about "war crimes". Then they would want to dismiss or impeach most of the faculty at most of the law schools.
The problem is that they are just as sincere in their believe that this decision and its consequences are indefensible as you are. If you accept their starting premise, the rest of their argument makes perfect sense.
This is why it is a really bad idea to confuse a political position, no matter how deeply felt and no matter how morally obvious you think it is, with an objective basis for private action by a university or professional organization. What some see with absolute moral certainty is not accepted by everyone, and government action should be reviewed only the government and the voters. You can't go shopping for a professional venue that creates a like minded subset of the population to punish such action simply because you are so damn certain of yourself.
Perhaps racism would explain why everyone is so eager to enforce all sorts of existing ethical/criminal/honor code laws on Yoo.
I'm not saying he doesn't deserve the book (very heavy treatise) thrown at him. But I agree that others have done as egregious legal analysis and just gotten off with criticisms in legal annals.
The man is a war criminal.
He deserves trial, disgrace, imprisonment-- not tenure.
Justice, in the formal sense, is unlikely ever to be done to the members of the Bush regime. Stripping him of tenure is a sort of emotional proxy for what we'd actually like to see done.
Probably it's not legitimate-- tenure is, after all, intended to protect even fringe viewpoints within one's field of academic endeavor-- but it's so much less than the prosecution he deserves.
Just a fast observation.
John Yoo is a professor teaching at a STATE university. Consequently, he had to swear a loyalty oath to uphold and defend BOTH the US and California constitutions.
Looks to me like he failed on point one.
It would be ironic if a legacy of anti-Commie hysteria actually was able to bite him....
Being neither American nor a lawyer, I still dare to comment on the ongoing debate:
(1) As much as I hate to say it, I do not think that Bush/Cheney should be compared however implicitely to Hitler and the Nazis.
(2) Rather, I see their grieveous transgressions in line of many presidential actions from early on, just to name FDR, RFK, LBJ, shining Ronnie and, yes, Clinton. But they seem to have pushed the envelope considerably more.
(3) During the War of the Balkans - an action, incidentally, I agreed upon - elder statesmen in my country like Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher thought the actions of NATO violated international law.
(4) But I do think that Professor Yoo's action should be prosecuted in court, (only) whereafter the University should take appropriate action.
(5) I am extremely wary of institutions other than the courts taking it upon them to double or substitute the courts' action.
(6) You might want to doubt the courts' impartiality in the current political climate but how about the impartiality of university institutions acting in a politically charged-up atmosphere?
(7) I think Glenn Greenwald hit it in his Salon blog right on point: Yoo is not the principal in this whole affair. It goes a lot deeper - and don't get me wrong, I am far from crowing about the necessity for soul-searching GG is advocating. But there is some element of vicarious lynching in this Yoo-business. As we will never get the principals, let's at least get the Lyndie Englands of Bush/Cheney's America.
(8) Having observed all this, I would like to commend all sides of this thoughtful and stimulating discussion for honestly searching the truth. Thank You all!
Howard, you are in the same logical fallacy as Sandy.
You are in essence saying: Hey, if you do that, then we'll try it too for other decisions.
And... what does that have to do with whether or not Yoo might be convicted of war crimes? Abso-lute-ly nothing. People are free to pursue any legal remedies they wish for any decision.
You will find, though, that society at large presently puts war crimes at top of the list as a greater violation than almost any crime against humanity.
What you're really saying is some people we'll say "no fair we want to pursue this also." As I said, they're free to try and do that. But ultimately, I believe you're saying if they can't have what they want, why should we pursue other cases like war crimes?
You're arguing for legal paralysis as a solution to making everyone satisfied. Unfortunately, a legal system where everyone gets their personal views worked out... does not work.
Yikes. I don't know if you read this far down in the comments, but to actually respond to your question:
I think the real difference between judging and the memo is that we think of judging as retrospective, passing judgment on things that have already happened. If Yoo have been writing his memo to justify the decision not to prosecute agents who had engaged in torture ("Well, looking into it, we've decided they didn't break the law after all..."), we might not feel as we do. He'd at most be an accessory after the fact, ratifying otherwise faits accomplis.
But Yoo's memo was prospective. While certain practices were already being performed, Yoo's memo was designed to immunize those prosecutions that happen in the future. He is therefore a but-for cause of these actions.
Now, it's true that judging is not always retrospective. Even formally retrospective opinions can create precedent with prospective effect. But it doesn't involve the judge quite the same way in the specific acts. The more troubling case is this: imagine the opinion were of a judge lifting an injunction forbidding torture.
I don't know if this is ultimately a defensible position, but I think it best describes my intuitive reasons for distinguishing those cases.
PS: With Bybee--can you be impeached for something you did while holding a different office?
Having Prof. Yoo teach a full schedule, and participate in all of the usual duties of a law school faculty member at Boalt Hall, would seem to be, if not fitting punishment, nonetheless, a measure of punishment for his misdeeds.
41 years old.... 24 years till retirement. Nine months a year, five days a week, eight hours a day....that will be a difficult tour.
Yoo should have his tenure revoked for participating in a conspiacy to commit war crimes and for his specific role in providing legal cover for that conspiracy.
I think Dilan got the basic points in the first post. I'll just add that even if I accepted the validity of all your examples (I don't), the existence of multiple other wrongs would not justify Yoo.
Many of your examples depend on the application of modern standards to previous eras. That's fine for moral judgments, but it doesn't work for laws. Slavery certainly should have been a crime in 1857, but it wasn't. Torture certainly is a crime today and has been for hundreds of years.
If we had applied your suggested standard, the Nuremberg Trials would have been impossible. Albert Speer spent years in prison for using slave labor, yet the US, of all nations, was in no position to judge that conduct if it had been bound by past wrongs.
I also agree with others that John Yoo is a target, but should not be the only one. He's a good start, though.
I am reluctant to opine on the requirements for removing a tenured professor as this is hardly my area.
However, I would ask our professors if they know of any example of a school of law removing a tenured professor of law merely for drafting an opinion of law with which the school disagreed?
In short, is there any precedent at all for removing Professor Yoo from his position at Berkeley?
Thanks in advance.
Somewhat further to Bart DePalma's comment, but do any of the proponents of depriving Prof. Yoo of his tenured position really believe that such an action would be upheld in court? And if not, what does that say about the ethical standards of those who urge a public institution to violate its legal obligations? And if so, what does that say about the professional competence of those who cannot predict the rather obvious outcome to the resulting litigation?
Bart, that's a strange construction of words since you're putting your own opinion into the question ("merely drafting an opinion of law").
I know you believe that Yoo was "merely drafting an opionion of law". And there are others that believe he actively engaged in war crimes.
In my opinion, I think you're asking questions to get the answer you'd like - clearly if you asked almost anyone "If someone was merely drafting an opinion of law, should they be removed?" you're always going to get the answer "no."
But first, if the university did begin an inquiry, they would need to investigate and decide what Mr. Yoo did or not do.
Instead of asking questions to get answers you want, I think it's better to ask questions to reveal something new.
Some, I think, better questions:
Have other tenured professors ever been investigated at a law school? Are there any notable examples of a tenured professor in a university setting being removed for non-criminal behavior?
I think the answers to these questions would probably add credibility to those who might feel it is uncharted territory. Personally, I don't think that's relevant, but I think you would find it helpful.
Those who have slandered Professor Yoo with accusations of criminal conspiracy and war crimes have yet to offer even prima facie evidence of the elements of those crimes. Thus, I could care less what they think.
The only evidence we have if any crime or malfeasance is the fact that Yoo drafted legal opinions with which many disagree with as a matter of policy and against which very little contrary legal authority has been offered.
Thus, I believe the form of my question was correct.
As I said, you're essentially asking: If someone is innocent, should their tenure be revoked?
It's a fallacious question. I'm not even sure why you want to hear the answer to it. In fact, why do you want to hear the answer to it?
I know you don't care what they think. That's kind of the problem. You think only what you think matters. And we have a form of democracy where things don't work that way.
Regardless, if the university did an inquiry, they will not be starting will a question that already has conclusions in it. That is unethical. If the university did begin an inquiry, they will need to investigate and decide what Mr. Yoo did or not do... before deciding on any action to take.
I am not arguing a position at all as to whether Berkeley can or should remove Yoo. I am simply asking those with far better knowledge than I whether a school of law has removed a tenured professor under facts even remotely similar to this, regardless of how one might characterize those facts.
". . . . I think there is . . . reason to believe that [Yoo] genuinely, if for many of us wrongly, believed that the highest security interests of the United States were involved."
I find it impossible to believe that intellectual honesty is instead good faith. And I find it impossible to believe that good faith, and actual concern for the security of the United States, were the reasons for suppressing the Yoo memo instead of releasing it with suitable caveats as to "necessity".
We have a thoughly dishonest -- and criminal -- "administration, motivated before all else by a drive to establish its anti-American idiological view as the "norm" for the US and the world. The claims for the illegal wiretapping are premised upon 9/11 and "necessity," though in fact the illegal wirtapping began in Februrary, 2001, at least 6 months prior to 9/11.
Nope: Bart notwithstanding, there are no excuses to be had by the Bushit criminal enterprise and its activists in the bowels of the gov't.
"PS: With Bybee--can you be impeached for something you did while holding a different office?
"# posted by Andrew"
Why not? Suppose Bybee had worked in the Gonzales/Yoo DOJ and as consequences was in part directly responsible for the flatly illegal torture, maiming, and death of a hundred of so persons not legally adjudicated of anything whatsoever including guilt?
Um -- I rest my case.
"Those who have slandered Professor Yoo with accusations of criminal conspiracy and war crimes . . . ."
Yoo hasn't been slandered by those making the allegations based upon the abundant evidence, which includes Yoo's own near-boastful statements on the issue. He has simply been accused based upon the abundant evidence, which includes Yoo's own near-boastful statements on the issue.
"have yet to offer even prima facie evidence of the elements of those crimes. Thus, I could care less what they think."
In fact, that prima facie case has been repeatedly made, often in direct response to and refuting of your constant lying against the facts and law.
And you have as often rejected and lied about that fact precisely because you "don't care" not only what "they think," but also don't care what the law is when one of your ilk voluntarily puts his balls into the legal meat grinder of actual law and puts himself at risk of being prosecuted for being the war criminal that Yoo is.
"The only evidence we have if any crime or malfeasance is the fact that Yoo drafted legal opinions with which many disagree with as a matter of policy and against which very little contrary legal authority has been offered."
The Geneva Conventions are sufficient legal authority against it, Bart. The fact that torture cannot under any circumstances be made legal are sufficient legal autority against it, Bart. And you know it, except that your dishonesty knows no bounds when it comes to defending the criminal anti-Americanism which is nearly every action taken by the Bushit criminal enterprise with the wholehearted and enthusiastic criminal support of such as Yoo.
"Thus, I believe the form of my question was correct."
The form of your question is the form usde by a wheedling child who endeavors to ensure the outcome of his demand, which demand is transformed into polite-appearing but intellectually dishonest request.
Ethicality prohibits your assertions being anything other than hypotheticals.
Do the majority here care what you think, Bart? No. But then again, the majority here already know what the lie will be before you open your mouth so it can crawl out.
Dear Professor Levinson,
Since the last UK invocation of impeachment as a remedy was that of Lord Melville in 1806, I rather suspect that we can safely say that this remedy has fallen into disuse in the Mother of Parliaments, although there was an “impeach Blair” movement which, alas, never developed sufficient momentum.
I understand that things are done differently in Texas and that a Governor was successfully impeached there as recently as 1917 and that a bill for impeachment of Governor Clements was introduced quite recently on some matter connected with what Americans think is football, so I will defer to you on all matters related to impeachment.
I understand that even in Texas the usual remedy against a judicial decision is by way of appeal and that while Texans are still happy with judicial murder they do not customarily murder their judiciary – but simply refuse to re-elect them.
I think that Academia in the USA has a lot to answer for in this matter.
By taking the considerably more than 30 pieces of silver from extreme right foundations on terms that off the wall fruitcakes like Robert Bork were allowed to teach, heretical doctrines like originalism have been allowed to take root and flourish in the USA – with dire consequences, the peverted works of Messrs Yoo and Bybee being just an example.
On another thread, I drew attention to the Speech of Lord Hoffman in A & Ors v. Secretary of State for the Home Department UKHL 71, 1 All ER 575, 2 AC 221 which began:
"On 23 August 1628 George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham and Lord High Admiral of England, was stabbed to death by John Felton, a naval officer, in a house in Portsmouth. 35-year-old Duke had been the favourite of King James I and was the intimate friend of the new King Charles I, who asked the judges whether Felton could be put to the rack to discover his accomplices. All the judges met in Serjeants' Inn. Many years later Blackstone recorded their historic decision:
'The judges, being consulted, declared unanimously, to their own honour and the honour of the English law, that no such proceeding was allowable by the laws of England'.
That word honour, the deep note which Blackstone strikes twice in one sentence, is what underlies the legal technicalities of this appeal. The use of torture is dishonourable. It corrupts and degrades the state which uses it and the legal system which accepts it. When judicial torture was routine all over Europe, its rejection by the common law was a source of national pride and the admiration of enlightened foreign writers such as Voltaire and Beccaria.”
If a university in the USA is so unconcerned with the honour of the state and the law that it considers it acceptable that one of its teachers can write a memorandum the purpose and effect of which was to “corrupt and degrade” the state and the US legal system AND then, with knowledge of that fact, permit him to continue to teach constitutional law to those who will be the future lawyers and judges of your country, then I weep for the future of your nation.
This is the next step on the primrose path which led German lawyers of my father’s generation to trial and conviction at the hands of the United States of America – see America v. Alstötter et al. cited by Mitch above.
When considering what to do with Professor Yoo, it would therefore be apposite for the academic authorities to have well in mind the words of Edmund Burke : "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
And perhaps also the words of Pastor Niemöller:
"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Bart, twisting in the wind while hoisted on his own petard, screams as if being tortured by actual reality:
"I am not arguing a position at all as to whether Berkeley can or should remove Yoo."
True. You want to avoid the issue entirely, in behalf of war criminal Yoo. Short of that, you'll tell any lie against the facts, in behalf of Yoo, and the war crime of torture so long as used on brown people who have a "wrong" "religion," and who you are istructed to hate simply because the instructors are of the political party to which you adhere.
Party before not only country but also before rule of law. Anything goes, so long as not done by a Democrat.
"I am simply asking those with far better knowledge than I whether a school of law has removed a tenured professor under facts even remotely similar to this, regardless of how one might characterize those facts."
You mean, like, has there been a law professor whose tenure was revoked because he participated in a conspiracy to commit the war crime of torture, and wrote a legal memo rejecting the rule of law in order to cover for those -- including himself -- who were and are committing that war crime?
Probably not, Bart. Even most of the worst of lawyers would probably be opposed to the use of torture (other than that suffered by their clients), and perhaps even opposed to lying against the law in order to falsely make it appear legal, as Yoo did and doubtless still does.
But the proper question is whether Yoo -- not everybody else but Yoo -- should be subject to revocation of tenure for being a war criminal.
I say yes, based upon thorough above-board invetigation, and all the evidence, including relevant memoes he authored and which continue to be suppressed. Do you think the Bushit criminal enterprise will cooperate with that investigation by providing relevant evidence -- or will it again obstruct justice as quid pro quo "thank you" for Yoo's falsely legitimating the war crime of torture??
I really don't see what the issue is. There is certainly prima facie evidence that Yoo committed a crime. If instead of sending the memo up the chain of command, he had published it in the Harvard Law Review, it would have been neither a crime nor a reason to revoke tenure. If he had been a judge and published the memo as a legal opinion, he might have been very wrong (and been overturned) or been very wrong (and not been overturned ) but it would not have been a crime because we do not define badly reasoned judicial opinions, or even wrong ones (see Bush v Gore) as crimes.
Even if you believe Dredd Scott or Roe v Wade were immoral or caused innocent death they were not crimes under US law.
But the criminal nature of Yoo's act in writing the memo as a member of the government to justify torture does not require any novel legal reasoning
But the criminal nature of Yoo's act in writing the memo as a member of the government to justify torture does not require any novel legal reasoning
# posted by David
Bingo! Which is precisely why all we get from Bart is novel legal "reasoning".
I suspect he hopes it will get him appointed to the US SC.
Off-topic but I have long believed (and continue to believe) that Congress has the power to set standards of good behavior and procedures for removing judges without going through the impeachment process.
Anyway, I have no idea how one can set a standard for when it would be appropriate to remove a judge for a judicial decision, unless it involved commission of a crime or violation of the special rules of judicial ethics.
Bingo! Which is precisely why all we get from Bart is novel legal "reasoning".
I suspect he hopes it will get him appointed to the US SC.
He's on another planet. I suspect he fancies a stint as Solicitor General in a McCain maladministration. Surely enough, he's paid his dues in full on Greenwald's blog (where he got booted for his antics) and here....
I'm with Seth. I also am a just a wee bit tired about this "oh this is so hard" tone of some of the discussions.
Yes, I think it is not THAT hard too explain how Yoo's briefs were much worse than Marbury et. al. And, for various reasons, akin to the reply in one thread that noted the FDR's advisors openly made their case.
Alan D., he of the "torture warrant" fame along with the Vincent B. of Helter Skelter fame both wrote books that suggested Bush v. Gore was a conspiracy of sorts.
If so, especially since the five directly benefited and it involved an eminently "political" matter, impeachment very well could have been correct there.
Inertia is sooo easy. I'm sorry to say, this sort of thing really underlines the point of how this has gone on so long ... people are so afraid to take harsh action since hey it's sorta like what happened before, so maybe it's not right to do so.
Dear Prof. Levinson:
I respect your knowledge as a legal scholar. Further, I appreciate that you are living in the artificial, cloistered, hothouse environment of the academy -- if U.T. is anything like the U of Washington was 30 years ago, so that you end up, even if not intentionally, treating this as a sterile intellectual exercise.
But those of us in the real world of the law see it much more clearly, for exactly what it is.
You have examined this as though Yoo's memo was the run-of-the-mill intellectual twaddle that comprises all too many law review articles. Since such has no effect on the real world, we let law professors say anything they want.
But this was not a mere theoretical exercise. Yoo was deeply enough involved in this matter to know exactly what his memorandum was going to be used for -- to justify and facilitate the torture of human beings.
Despite full knowledge of that, he produced a legal memo which made no attempt to indicate that there was a wealth of legal scholarship that was directly opposed to his ludicrous analysis.
He went so far as to make the claim that international treaties signed by presidents, and ratified by the Senate, could not bind a president. And so what if the Constitution makes treaties part of the supreme law of the land.
As I wrote in a letter published in the San Franciso Chronicle about two years ago, there is no real difference between what Yoo did and what a "Mafia mouthpiece" does. Both are deliberately advising their clients on ways that they might get away with violating the law.
This has absolutely nothing to do with academic freedom, despite the words of the Boalt Hall dean to the contrary. This has everything to do with a man who willingly disregarded the law, to help violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Undeed, under your reasoing, a Nazi lawyer advising on the legalities of gas chambers would be entitled to every bit as much "academic freedom."
As the political right is so fond of pointing out, there are lines between good and evil. And people must take the consequences of their actions. There are several enlisted people currently in military prison for carrying out Yoo's legal advice.
On what possible moral or ethical grounds should a public institution allow this to continue. YHour analysis has transformed "academic freedom" as a license to commit any number of crimes, so long as you have a good law school record behind you.
Please, professor, come out to the real world once in a while. It would help your analysis.
Ross Taylor, Attorney
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Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julian. Book 2 (beginning)
1. We thought that it was by no means unjustified, that it was even useful and necessary to say before all what is the chronological sequence of the characters, and also what idea each has of God: therefore we have carried out with much precision the exposition of these details.
We could be reproached for this by saying: "Why then, having undertaken to defend Christian doctrines and taking in mind to oppose a victorious argumentation to the blasphemies of Julian, did you not decide to engage from the start in that way? Why on the contrary have you diverted the energy which began your exposition into a different goal, to launch into genealogies and to undertake a study of Hebraic and Greek doctrines?"
So let us remove the objections that have been made to us about this choice, by affirming that we intentionally directed our matter towards this digression. Indeed, (Julian), following the example of the Babylonian Rhapsaces, doesn't hesitate to utter in unrestrained language his mocking remarks against the glory of God, and after tossing impious vociferations against our holy religion he quotes the wise ones of Greece unceasingly, crowns their condemnable opinions with all possible praise, desperate to attack the crowned teachings of the Church, to smile at the books of Moses and to put in the dock all these holy people; therefore we were fully justified in accumulating, before passing to the refutation, material which enables us to show in a clear way that the works of the greatest of all, Moses, were prior to those of the wise Greeks, and, moreover, that the Christian faith as it has been transmitted, appears incomparably superior to their dogmatic positions. It was thus, and not differently, that next books could avoid too long digressions and avoid appearing to deviate sometimes very far from the the subject. But enough now on this point.
2. It is now necessary to come to (Julian's) own book. We will reproduce his text word for word, and will oppose our own arguments to his lies in the appropriate order, because we realize that it is necessary to firmly neutralize them. But, as I said, from his open mouth without reserve he spreads every kind of calumny against our common Saviour Christ, and pours against him ill-sounding remarks: I will abstain from responding with similar details, and, advising the wise party to ignore that in his words which risks dirtying the spirit by simple contact, I will endeavour to combat this (method of) 'combat', by denouncing on all occasions his habit of scoffing which speaks wrongly and irrelevantly without ever being able to arrive at saying a true thing.
It also should be known that in his first book he handles a great mass of ideas and does not cease turning and turning over the same arguments in every direction; some developments which are found at the beginning of his work, he also advances in the body of the book and at the end: he thus reveals a kind of disorder in the articulation of his discussion, and, fatally, those who want to argue against what he says seem constantly to be repeating themselves instead of finishing them once for all. We will thus divide his text according to an appropriate classification, we will gather his ideas by categories and will face each of them not on several occasions, but only once, the with appropriate explanations and following the rules of the art (of speaking). Thus, at the beginning of his book against us, he says:
It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I was convinced that the fabrication of the Galilaeans is a fiction of men composed by wickedness. Though it has in it nothing divine, by making full use of that part of the soul which loves fable and is childish and foolish, it has induced men to believe that the monstrous tale is truth.
3. By 'Galilaeans', he means the Holy Apostles, I think, and by a 'fantastic account' the writings of Moses, the predictions of the holy saints and their declarations inspired by God. However, without his knowledge --- let us say rather: not without intervention of the divinity --- he has made this idea the basis of his own superstition!
In fact there are two Galilees, one in Judaea, the other on the borders of the Phoenician country; and it is written indeed in the Gospels about our common Saviour Christ that it is while walking on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, of Lake Tiberias, that he recruited his disciples. However God said by means of one of the holy prophets: "What are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and you Galilee, entirely populated with foreigners?" In the same way the divine Isaiah exclaims: "Country of Zabulon, land of Nephtalim, and all you others who live by the edge of the sea, Galilee of the Gentiles! The people sitting in shadow saw a great light..."
So in Judaea, one cannot just imagine the presence of Galilaeans, since there are also all the Gentiles there: 'Galilee of the Gentiles', says Isaiah. It cannot well or clearly be seen which adversaries the book of Julian aims at in all suitability and veracity: is it us, or himself in company with the believers in the stupid superstition that he loves? Because this is also Galilaean! Well indeed, it can't be doubted for one moment that the direction of the expressions employed by Julian agrees with the nonsense of the Greeks.
4. Where indeed to find all such an apparatus of fables, those vain words, this tasteless and irresponsible jumble of fads of every kind, if not among them and them only, who, twisting their subtle inventions, try to give to falsehood the colours of truth? So strong, so widespread among them is the turpitude that the elite of their spirits, the men cracked to philosophize extremely appropriately on the world which surrounded them, have raised loud cries against the undivine transports of their poets, and affirmed openly that they should abandon their charlatanism. In fact, Plato does not approve those poems, i.e. the homeric poems, which display the gods and goddesses convicted of libidinous passions, abused by quite human cupidities, and in addition prone to tears, deploring the death of those of their blood and breaking out like pansies in 'Woe is me!' because they want to save someone from death and are unable to do so, humbling themselves on the contrary before the fates, and yielding to Destiny, apparently more powerful than the Master of the gods, he that they call 'supreme Zeus'!
But I will not delay in saying all that I could still say on this subject; not wanting to appear to allow myself to be diverted from what is suitable, I will return to the point which my subject designates.
5. If there is a plot, it is a plot of the Greeks: it is they who undertook to use the fantastic to guarantee the truth, and not in all simplicity of spirit, but indeed with impious intentions and the satisfaction of wrongdoing! It is they who gathered against the inexpressible glory of all-powerful God this hateful 'fiction', which set up this 'deception', like some trap aimed at simple souls.
They have in effect mislaid the whole earth by pretending that the sky and the elements in general were God. As the very wise Paul writes: "While calling themselves wise, they fell into madness, and altered the glory of imperishable God by giving him the appearance of perishable man, birds, quadrupeds, and animals."
However, to run with his ideas, we will not throw against others the criticisms which he formulated and will indeed let them attack the Holy Apostles, even the very wise Moses himself and the holy prophets; but when he comes to the bar, will he clearly show what is this 'fiction implemented by malice', of what nature is this 'fantastic account' about which he speaks, in what consists the 'fondness for a fable, the puerile side' of the Christian religion! Did Moses write for us tales, when he professed one God by nature and in truth, unbegotten, eternal, imperishable, without quantity, invisible, immutable, imperceptible, God who is life and who gives life, who is science and power, creator, King and Lord of the universe? Did he deviate from the truth, the word of the holy prophets, who stick step by step to the doctrines of Moses? Will we find a teaching different in the holy Apostles? Certainly not!
6. And then, how can he affirm that the beliefs of Galilaeans do not have in them anything divine, that they are in addition hazardous fables, monstrous fictions? Who would refuse to admit that there can nothing better for men than to know clearly and without error the Craftsman and Lord of the world, one in nature and in truth? Our adversaries themselves, I know, would affirm that the most beautiful remarkable part of philosophy is contemplative philosophy: thanks to it, the spirits which their wisdom considers the best even to see go to great pains, and as much as is possible for men to do, to grasp the divine nature. Since he says that he himself is persuaded of this, would he teach us from where and from whom he obtains this certainty? Because finally it is not necessary that he flatters himself to be the only one with knowledge. If he was convinced of it himself, if that is enough for him to show without possible dispute — as at least he thinks and affirms --- that Christianity is not worth anything, I will not hesitate to say that this is pure drivel in him, and that he just amuses himself to attack us alone! We will not submit ourselves to such a hostile judge! If on the other hand he considers that the declarations of the critics against anyone must be founded in truth and without lies, then, that he does not say that this is just his conviction; he argues with facts!
However it is indeed he himself, and not us, who he must hand over to justice for the invention of fables, and he is extremely likely to be convicted! What he said will persuade some of us: let us let him speak:
7. Now since I intend to treat of all their first dogmas, as they call them, I wish to say in the first place that if my readers desire to try to refute me they must proceed as if they were in a court of law and not drag in irrelevant matter, or, as the saying is, bring counter-charges until they have defended their own views. For thus it will be better and clearer if, when they wish to censure any views of mine, they undertake that as a separate task, but when they are defending themselves against my censure, they bring no counter-charges.
So it is necessary for those who you put on trial to be dumb? You require that the defendant be condemned without being able to break silence, and, without saying a word about your arguments, agrees to confirm the charge against himself! However, to refuse us the right to say anything of your theses is the act of a man who fears the controversy and is not unaware of the unpleasant weakness of his position. If our man, in examining the Christian religion, does not approve it on all points and decrees the crown of the supreme honours to the Greek superstition, I admit that he treats both equally; but if he takes pleasure in the speeches which he allows against us and gives the palm to his erroneous designs while opposing to us, as higher than ours, the Greek religion, how can he ask us to keep silence on and not to make any allusion to this religion, when, in our desire to defend the cause of our own beliefs, it is of that subject precisely that we speak?
8. If, renouncing the right to attack what you write, I had adopted the intention to mention only Greek realities, I could affirm: "His book on this subject is acceptable, and remains within the limits of probability"; but when would we defend ourselves, when we make a point of answering each one of its declarations, how does he still have the right to reproach us for our efforts to plead the cause of our religion while exposing the infamous impiety of the Greeks? Colours can be seen more clearly when there is contrast. "The light is seen in darkness", it is written, and in the same way, I believe, the beauty attached to the virtues appears to simple souls only through the ugliness of their opposites. What inclines to me to give to the Good the palm of victory is the hideousness of the Evil: and for this reason (Julian) has indeed reason to fear the arguments of his own camp, and refuses shamefully the right to produce it on the day, going so far as to impose silence on those which he puts on trial in this lawsuit! Here now is how he opposes other objections to us:
9. It is worth while to recall in a few words whence and how we first arrived at a conception of God; next to compare what is said about the divine among the Hellenes and Hebrews; and finally to enquire of those who are neither Hellenes nor Jews, but belong to the sect of the Galilaeans, why they preferred the belief of the Jews to ours; and what, further, can be the reason why they do not even adhere to the Jewish beliefs but have abandoned them also and followed a way of their own. For they have not accepted a single admirable or important doctrine of those that are held either by us Hellenes or by the Hebrews who derived them from Moses; but from both religions they have gathered what has been engrafted like powers of evil, as it were, on these nations----atheism from the Jewish levity, and a sordid and slovenly way of living from our indolence and vulgarity; and they desire that this should be called the noblest worship of the gods.
The same man who poured out his smear against us to the readers, that if they wanted to contradict him, they must "must proceed as if they were in a court of law and not drag in irrelevant matter, or, as the saying is, bring counter-charges" promptly sets himself to compare the views of the Greeks and the Hebrews on the divine! But this technique of comparing and opposing, at what does it aim? What can be Julian's aim, when he brings together the disagreements between the Hebraic or Christian beliefs and the Greek ones?
10. We can't pretend that he is giving up his accusation, and his need to smear, in order to submit himself to the equitable judgement of his readers, so far as to want to take from them the definition of the best and the worst! In his position, it seems, the only way to find partisans for his ideas about the divinity is to abuse the Christian religion by giving it the worst of it in a confrontation with Greek religion. But such a defeat is impossible for those who know the weakness of error and the force of truth. But we must be on our guard: in telling the legislators to impose silence on us, and to prohibit the least remark about his own cause when we speak about ours, he falls victim to his own prohibitions.
Since he cross-examines us, and wants to know what on earth made us give up the Greek religion for that of the Hebrews, well then, let's ask him back the same question! "Why have you yourself given up the Christian religion, and run away from the truth to embrace a lie? Why did you stupidly give preference to the most appalling superstition -- I mean that of idol-worshippers -- over a precise and certain teaching, and then think that you decided well when you have in fact drawn on yourself the final infamy? Does he want to know the real reason which made us give the Greek religion in order to hold in honour that of the Hebrews? We will borrow his own words to reply to him. Here's what he actually writes:
11. Now it is true that the Greeks invented their myths about the gods, incredible and monstrous stories. For they said that Kronos swallowed his children and then vomited them forth; and they even told of lawless unions, how Zeus had intercourse with his mother, and after having a child by her, married his own daughter, or rather did not even marry her, but simply deflowered her and then handed her over in marriage to another. Then too there is the legend that Dionysus was rent asunder and his limbs joined together again.... This is the sort of thing described in the myths of the Greeks!
What a defense to present! So what's the point of making a lot of noise and pretending to correct us when we have almost kicked out of existence the babbling of the Greeks, so ugly and improbable, and accorded preference to the truth? The divine Moses and after him the chorus of the holy prophets, the Apostles and the Evangelists, they sing the glory of God, one by nature and in truth; they invite us to imitate them by ripping away the myths from ourselves --- all the unbelievable forms and sleazy ideas -- and involving us in a way of life which attracts admiration. Nothing of what they say is invented, nothing in their ideas demands an incredible explanation. It is a fact that our beliefs agree with the preaching of Moses and with those of the holy prophets, and that the direction of the evangelical and apostolic teaching coincides with the ideas of our predecessors: at the proper time we will give some plain proofs of this.
12. But since (Julian) asserts -- on what head I don't know! ... -- that there is nothing serious or useful in our beliefs, well! let him prove it! Surely he isn't going to leave his assertion bare and without proof? Because anyway, how can there NOT be something serious in our beliefs? Don't we find precision and meticulousness in how Christians talk about God and the creation of the world? Don't the holy scriptures supply us with impeccable and irreproachable morality? Moreover, how can we not be struck by this obvious truth, that no other way, to my knowledge, is able to rightly address the supreme philosophy? Whether it is contemplative or even practical, our philosophical reflection can claim every kind of praise, and the followers of Greek wisdom themselves admire it. It is thus not true that "the Hebraic doctrines taught us atheism" -- that's exactly what he wrote! --- what is true to say, is that the Scripture inspired by God has enabled us to condemn Greek ignorance. Moreover atheism is rather more a description of their beliefs, which do not know the God who is one by nature and in truth: how isn't this evidence on both sides? He also claims that "we took with Greek unconcern to a way of dissolute and nonchalant life", by calling our custom to eat of all without prohibition and to abstain from no food the "careless insouciance" of the Greeks. So these people present as the supreme act of piety, and compare it to the perfection of all virtues, the refusal to consume this or that food!
13. Well! how can they make these things the criterion of purity? Everything comes from God; is perforce good which has its Being from kindness, and he that is most holy and pure could not have created anything that would soil us. And in fact what effect could a food have on those who consume it? What sort of stain could it introduce in them? I believe that what we need to condemn is that which is likely to contaminate someone -- and, very generally, the things that can produce such an effect are the things that we must condemn; adulteries, fornications, scandalmongerings, lies, smears, greed, etc. But the Greeks -- who didn't take any notice of vice of this sort, however -- affect temperance at the table, sometimes renouncing this meat or that, without denying themselves any extravagance! Further, they enjoy honouring sovereign Zeus by voluntarily giving themselves the same appetites as his, and they honour the sovereignty of Aphrodite.
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD
(Julian) reproaches us for innumerable things, but mainly he has a go at the most wise Moses, by attacking his writings without moderation. He affirms that when composing the book about the creation of the world, everything he said was untrue and that he was satisfied just to gather old fairystories, that he paid no attention to things that seemed to deserve full attention, and finally that he just wrote poor centos, while imagining that he was saying things which were wise and good to hear. Yet Julian is paralysed with amazement before the ideas of the learned Greeks in this field, and, more than very other, he crowns with acclamations and applause the doctrines of Plato.
14. He throws about insults immoderately, but still let's pass over that for the moment! On the other hand, I will try to establish, as much as I can, that he is badly wrong to take up such grand airs in connection with Greek chatterings.
It is necessary, I believe, to present afresh, by extracting them from the works of the Greeks, the various doctrines which they have judged good to profess about the creation of the world, and to oppose the cosmogony of Moses to them: the readers will thus see the verbose subtlety and drivel of these thinkers, as well as the pure source of truth which is in the writings of Moses.
Plutarch, who had some fame in his own time, speaks thus about the universe in book 2 of his collection of Theories on Nature: "Pythagoras was the first to name the mass of the universe the 'Cosmos', according to the order which rules in it. Thales and those who hold his doctrines profess that the universe is unique; Democritus, Epicurus and his master Metrodorus say that there is an infinity of worlds within infinity, completely by chance; Empedocles that the circle of the sun defines the limits of the cosmos; Seleucus believes in an unlimited universe, while for Diogenes the Whole is infinite, but the universe is limited. The Stoics set out a difference between the Whole and the universe: the Whole is that which includes the infinite vacuum, while the universe is the cosmos without the vacuum - so that the universe and the cosmos are one and the same thing."
15. Later the same author continues thus about the form of the cosmos: "The Stoics believe that it is spherical, others conical, others still ovoid. Epicurus opines that some worlds are spherical, and others of a different shape." On the question of knowing if the universe has or not a soul, Plutarch expresses himself thus, again by giving the theories of the Greek philosophers: "In general all have claimed that the universe has a soul and is governed by providence; but Democritus, Epicurus and those who hold to ideas about the atoms and the vacuum deny it a soul and assert that it is governed not by providence but by an irrational nature. For Aristotle, it is completely excluded that the universe has a soul, reason or thought, or even that it is governed by providence: in fact there are actually celestial regions with these qualities, because they contain spheres endowed with soul and life, while the regions close to the ground are stripped of it; they take part in an established order, but by accident and not by nature."
Enough on this chapter. But as these thinkers had it in mind to work out at the end of it all whether the cosmos was or was not perishable by nature, they also gave their conclusions on this point: Pythagoras and the stoics held that the universe, created by God, was however corruptible insofar as its own nature went; indeed, perceptible by the senses because likewise corporeal, it was nevertheless to be preserved from destruction thanks to providence and to the safeguard exerted by God. For Epicurus, the universe is perishable because it is also subjected to birth, like an animal or a plant. For Xenophanes, it has no birth but is eternal and imperishable. Aristotle regards the sublunary part of the universe as subjected to external influences: it is in these areas that terrestrial things are perishable.
16. Readers, now you have heard and understood what drivel all this is! Opposing their opinions one to another, vociferating this or that, mixed up anyhow, without nuances, self-reflection, just at their pleasure; how can this avoid the impression that they are just guessing at the truth rather than knowing it? Indeed, some prefer just one universe, others a plurality; some of them believe that this universe is subject to creation, but others are opposed totally to this and opine on the contrary that the universe is imperishable and was not created; some say it is governed by a divine providence, others do without providence and allot the harmonious movements of the elements to automatic mechanisms and accidents; some say that the universe has a soul, others deny that it has a soul or a spirit. In short you could imagine that their theories on each detail are just tossed together, like mixed drinks!
But our man has put Plato apart from the others, and he especially likes to linger over his doctrines. However I will say at once that Plato and Pythagoras offer more reasonable ideas about God and the cosmos than the others, because they collected their teaching or rather their knowledge during their stays in Egypt, where the very wise Moses is held in great regard, and where his doctrines are held in reverence and admiration. It is however claimed that Plato contradicted himself in his opinions, and that Aristotle, who was his disciple, not chose to adhere to the ideas of his Master, but to attack him thoroughly and to contradict him! Porphyry tells us that in expressing his ideas on the sky, Plato professed that the material part of it was composed of the four elements, the bond between them being a soul. "Also," Porphyry continues, "it is still today of a mixed nature, and it has received its name by misuse of terminology".
17. Porphyry speaks here, I believe, as an etymologist, and affirms that the sky is called 'ouranos' because it is visible [in Greek: 'oratos']: i.e. the sky was so-called because it is 'seen'. Aristotle had a different opinion on this subject ---- and how could he not, since he does not regard the sky as a compound, still less containing four elements, but considers it like a fifth type of body, independent of the first four and without anything in common with them? Plato himself, professes that the world has a soul and that it is a living being endowed with intelligence; he subordinates it to providence. But his disciple, to return to him, did not think so. He rejects completely the idea that the universe has a soul, is intelligent, or is governed by providence. Under one scheme, it is defined as created and corruptible by nature at least; the other treats the idea of birth as ignorant, and says on the contrary that it is imperishable and uncreated. Another divergence: the skilful and illustrious Plato defines three principles of Everything: God, matter and Idea; God is a creator, matter is substance, Idea is the model of any thing created. Aristotle, once again, is opposed to him, without any point of agreement. To start with, he refuses to regard Idea as a principle, in his thought and writings, and supposes two principles: God and matter. Still let us say that if Plato supports the theory that there are three principles which make up Everything, God, matter and Idea, he also introduces a fourth which he names the 'universal soul'. Moreover, after having said that the matter is uncreated, he claims that it is thereafter subjected to creation; as for the definition of Idea, after having presented it as a substance itself, he starts to battle against his own theories, since he affirms that it exists in the thought of God, and that it thus does not have a separate existence, i.e. subsistence.
18. So which one do we give our approval to, when we seek the truth, when we seek to start along on the irreproachable way from which every error is banished? Which of the thinkers quoted can we declare innocent of the wrong of telling a lie? Which do we reward as not having stumbled in some detail? Or rather how can we grant a right to teach others, to those who have traveled so far from the truth that they disagree not only with each other but even with themselves?
The very wise Julian approves and admires this state of affairs! He scoffs at the writings of Moses and, throwing reason aside, he dares to oppose those of Plato to them, while speaking as follows:
At this point of our study, if you please, we will compare the utterance of Plato. Observe then what this philosopher says about the creator, and what words he makes him speak at the time of the generation of the universe, in order that we may compare the cosmogony of Plato with that of Moses. Thus we can perceive who was the better and who more worthy of God, Plato the idolater, or he of whom the Scripture says that God spoke with him face to face:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And God called the firmament Heaven. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass for fodder, and the fruit tree yielding fruit. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven that they may be for a light upon the earth. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to rule over the day and over the night."
19. In all this, you observe, Moses does not say that the deep was created by God, or the darkness or the waters. And yet, after saying concerning light that God ordered it to be, and it was, surely he ought to have gone on to speak of night also, and the deep and the waters. But of them he says not a word to imply that they were not already existing at all, though he often mentions them. Furthermore, he does not mention the birth or creation of the angels or in what manner they were brought into being, but deals only with the heavenly and earthly bodies. It follows that, according to Moses, God is the creator of nothing that is incorporeal, but is only the disposer of matter that already existed. For the words, "And the earth was invisible and without form" can only mean that he regards the wet and dry substance as the original matter and that he introduces God as the disposer of this matter.
About Moses there might be many things to say and lengthy expositions made to he who wants to safeguard our reverence for him. He heard God say to him without ambiguity, "I know you out of all humanity, and you have found grace in my eyes!" The manifold virtue that was in him, and the power of the miracles that he worked in Egypt, make a shining demonstration. Indeed he was shown submitted to God almighty, and assisted him in the revolt which He brought about in his servants against the blindness of the Egyptians. What kind of man Plato was, even in the absence of direct testimony, is proclaimed enough by his passage from Athens in Sicily. It is claimed that, not appreciating his flatteries, Dionysius sold him, inflicting on him, as if he wasn't a free man, the most suitable punishment for a slave. But let us give up this argument for a moment, to return to the main subject.
20. The divine Moses does not appear before our eyes as one who composed doubtful stories, nor one who launched himself out on this road from simple ambition. He had in mind primarily to contribute to making lives led better. And in fact he did not attempt to discourse subtly on the nature of the things, by speaking about what the first principles are named, or about the elements which proceed from it; these things are, in my opinion, too obscure, and inaccessible to some minds. His goal was to form the spirits of his contemporaries with the doctrines of the truth: because they were being misled and had taken to worshipping each according to his imagination. Their extreme ignorance made them ignore the one God, God by nature, and to worship his creations. Some thought that the sky was god, others the disc of the sun; there were even some wretched enough to allot the glory of the supreme nature to the moon, the stars, the earth, to plants, to the watery element, birds, or to brute animals! They had come to this, and such a terrible sickness had affected all the inhabitants of the earth, when Moses came to their help and revealed himself as the initiator into knowledge of great value for all. He proclaimed clearly that there exists by nature only one Creator of the universe, and radically distinguished Him from all other realities which He had merely brought into being and existence. Considering what was useful, and as clearly as possible, neglecting every excessively subtle point, he restricted himself to deal only with that which was strictly essential.
21. How was it useful to him to say what is the nature of the waters, and how they were present at the beginning, or to probe the deeps and the nature of the heavens, to detour into the mode of existence of the angels? It would be difficult for anyone to cover such subjects, which I think that no one understands anyway! Would anyone even be able to do it (thanks to a knowledge lent by God, who had been there tell him), or been able to understand a so subtle speech - or rather one so inaccessible to the spirit? In fact, we find among men, at the time when the book of the very wise Moses was written, an ignorance which exceeds even that of the Greeks. That which should have made possible for those people to understand fully the glory of God was lost, it is obvious from the account, in the pit of the deepest stupidity. As the Scripture inspired by God says, the men of that time should have had some idea of the Creator and maker of the universe from the beauty of things created. But they reached such a degree of wrong thinking that the things that should have led them to the knowledge of the truth shows that they were disposed instead to follow a lie. The very wise Paul bears a witness worthy of trust to this idea by writing, "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their linking and their senseless minds were darkened."
22. This declaration could touch those who invented the vulgar superstitions, coarse and completely unreasonable; the men, for example, to which as I said the book of Moses was addressed. They are revealed as filled up full of stupidity, as we will realize easily by studying the body of doctrines of their successors.
Plutarch, an extremely subtle man, wrote on this subject in book I of his collection of Theories on nature:
"See from where they drew their idea of God: unceasingly the sun, the moon and the other stars, following courses which pass under the earth, rise with always the same colors and identical dimensions, at the same places."
And further in the same book:
"The concept of God is defined thus: an intelligent and fiery breath, lacking form but changing at will and making themselves resemble any thing. Men, in the beginning, conceived an idea like this starting from the beauty of the spectacle which they had before their eyes, because no beautiful thing is born randomly and fortuitously; it needs art to create it!"
I will add to this quotation that which Hermes Trismegistes has written To his spirit (that's the title of the book):
"Thus, do you say, God is invisible? What a heap of blasphemies! Who is more visible than Him? If He created, it is so that this is seen in everything. The excellence of God, his virtue, it is to be visible in everything!"
23. We will find agreement on this point from the accuser of our pious religion, Julian! He professes that the knowledge of God is not taught, that man acquires it by himself; here what he writes:
Our first proof that this is not learned, that it is innate to mankind is the devotion to the divine, a general characteristic of mankind, in private life and in public life, in the individual and in the community. In fact we have faith in something divine, however vague. But to give specific details on this something is a difficult thing for anyone, and even those who know it cannot do so fully.
To this idea, common to all mankind, is added another: we all have a nature so dependent on the heavens and the gods that are seen there that, even if someone imagines a different god to ours, he always assigns him the heavens as his residence: it is not that he banishes him from earth; but he so to speak establishes the King of the All in the heavens as in the most honourable place of all, and conceives of him as overseeing from there the affairs of this world.
So we see how those pagans who can't endure the crasser errors (worthy of charlatans, and if I might say so, of serfs) and who have abandoned the popular way of looking at things, have not been entirely deprived of the true concept of God. They have worked out what must be the superiority of power of Him who can bring so vast and wonderful a creation under the control of harmonious laws.
24. As for the rest under discussion here, they didn't recognise God through his creation. They were lured away, losing all human common sense. Not content just to worship the heavens, the earth, the moon and the others stars, they also installed in sacred enclosures representations (of them) in varied forms. They engraved there the silhouettes, not only of men, but even of unintelligent animals, of birds and other beasts, and they gave these idols the titles of 'gods' and 'saviours'!
How can we not admire the wisdom of Moses? He concealed from the men of that time everything that was complicated, deep, difficult to assimilate, in order to reveal to them instead what would enable them to recover sane ideas, and something which had the virtue to put them on the right road to an irreproachable teaching -- I mean a teaching of an all-powerful God. In the same way we would congratulate for very good reasons the schoolmaster who puts himself at the intellectual level of his pupils, in order to lead them by the hand, step by step, towards discovering sacred truths, without putting to them, at the very beginning, any too elaborate ideas, or any very hard to grasp. At the same time we would refuse to recognise Moses as worthy of praise, who acted in the same way? But Julian, if Moses doesn't seem to you to have said anything worth hearing, do you want us to look at the teaching which is dearest to you? Let's see rely as best we can on the meticulous Theogony of Hesiod!
25. This poet indeed pretends to hear the voice of the gods and makes as if he were possessed by the Muses (as if that were a significant or desirable thing!)
"Tell me (he writes) how at first the gods and the earth were born,
The rivers, the infinite sea which swells and foams,
The sparklings stars, and the immense sky over all."
Further, he tells of the birth of chaos and night, without saying how it occurred:
"First the earth gave birth to the starry sky, its equal,
Able to entirely cover it..."
After revealing that the sky was the son of the earth, he adds that the latter, married to the sky, gave birth to the seas, then
"Koeos, Krios, Hyperion, Japet... "
and also Theia, Rheia, Themis and Mnemosyne. He adds Phoebus to this list, 'golden-crowned', as he calls him, then Tethys. In his opinion, the last of all these children was Kronos. On top of this he piles up a complete hotchpotch of whimsical and incoherent stories.
Perhaps Julian will claim that Hesiod has made up all these fairy-tales as a poet does: in fact maybe he blushes at the fables of Hesiod! But then why did these take some of it from the hierophant Moses, who composed a clear and accurate work, based on real facts? In fact he affirmed that God created the sky and the earth, the sun and the moon, the stars, light, animals which fly and those which swim, various brute beasts, the splendour of vegetation, edible fruit and the grass of the meadows.
26. See how the text of Moses very wisely cuts short the error which the ancients fell into: don't they name the heavens Zeus, the earth Demeter, the sun Apollo, and the moon 'the noisy goddess with the rod of gold', i.e. Artemis? In a word, allotting according to their imagination a share of glory to each creature of God, they adored these creatures as divinities.
However the description made by Moses of the creation of the world was clear, easily comprehensible, without anything lacking in its great exactitude. And that's what we're going to have to show. "In the beginning," he writes, "God created the heavens and the earth." So he denies that matter shared with God the time before the beginning, eternity; or that it was uncreated, as some say. He doesn't present something that didn't exist at one time as coinciding with and coexistant with the eternal; he doesn't confuse the temporary, something which was brought into existence with difficulty, with that which is from time immemorial; something that changes to something which is always itself; nor something which is corruptible with that which is incorruptible! On the contrary, he makes creation happen in a moment, the principle that refers to things brought into existence, because starting from nothing it was brought to be what it is according to the divine will. What he certainly does not say, is that matter existed already, had already been invented, and that God limited himself to being its director and workman, giving form to what was amorphous, and only imposing on matter different qualities, dimensions and volumes. On the contrary he says that, thanks to a secret and unutterable power, in the beginning God brought into being what was not and did not exist in any way whatever!
27. As for the way in which he made creation happen, we do not have the means to say. I affirm that it is beyond any way of expression known to us: how indeed could what exceeds understanding be explained? In my opinion, the approach imagined by the supreme Being and the way that leads to an understanding of his enterprise will be always as inaccessible to our human condition as we are by nature lower than this Being himself. When Moses said, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth", understand that he condenses and summarizes in some way all the details in a single word, when he describes the genesis of all creation. Then, he attempts to say somehow how this creation was put in order and how all the things created were assigned the role in life which they have.
Moses also states that that God created through the all-powerful Word: in fact his creator-Word of the universe is God himself and proceeds from God by nature. "God said," Moses continues, "Let there be a firmament!" and this firmament instantaneously becomes real by the operation of the Word, and God gives it the name of 'heaven'. "God said: Let the dry land appear!" and the waters gather in a single body. God said moreover: 'Let the sun be!' and it was; and so for the moon, the stars, the day, the terrestrial and aquatic animals, and the birds. But by nature the elements themselves cannot draw from their own resources the possibility of escaping corruption, on the contrary, they need the hand of He that maintains them in good condition: this is the sense of the words of Moses: "the breath of God was moving over the waters." Indeed the breath of God vivifies anything, because He is life also by nature, as He proceeds from the life of the Father; everything needs Him, and there is no other means for anything to obtain existence in order to be what it is.
28. So contemplate, as I have just said, the firmament firmly established by the Word and the firm ground emerging after the gathering of the waters in a single body; contemplate the green earth full of grass and trees, and the vital forces included in them which makes possible for them to conceal their transitory nature with the virtue of eternity, to last and remain; see the luminaries of the firmament, created by God only for the purpose of lighting what is on earth, to mark the moments of time, the days, the years! Moses adds that the earth accepted the order to give rise to the brute animals, the Creator on his side distributing to each its form, size and conditions of existence.
And when everything in the world had finally been created, when nothing for lacking to supply the needs of man, then, and only then, did the Creator begin to think of the way in which He was going to realise man himself. Because the creation of man, unlike the other creative acts, could not be improvised. The supreme being, in the conception of some and actually, is just grandeur and perfection -- some even say that it is the loss of any spirit, any language, any admiration: however He decided to form the animal in His own image, as much as could be made. Also, having every reason to ensure that this, which must be in His image and resemblance, namely man, did not appear weak, contemptible or different enough from the other animals, He chose to create him only after serious reflection.
29. However, it will be said without inaccuracy, that nothing could escape the divine spirit, since He knows everything indeed before it is born; why then did God reflect, even though He knew in advance the nature of man? The incomparable Moses, as I said, affirms that it was in conformity with the divine economy that man was to some extent honoured by the deliberation of the Creator; he shows that his creation was not done quite simply, might one say, not just like any other: everything happens as if God had taken a particular care of this action. The expression is undoubtedly forced --- but I grant that it appears quite sensible; we affirm that the man is most important of the animals, and was made to resemble He that created him.
The irresistible will of God brought into existence the whole of creation: it is not difficult, I think, to convince ourselves of this, even if we only read what Julian's Masters of Superstition wrote. All of them believed that it was right to think and say that everything was somehow created by God, spiritual realities or physical realities, invisible things or visible things. They were unanimous in confessing that everything is in the hands of the King and Lord of the universe; Plato even ascribes these words to him:
"Gods of the gods, works of which I am the Creator and the Father..."
[Extract from the Timaeus; see ch. 33 below].
But we have already quoted the Greeks on this point, and I want to avoid repetition. I will however mention the words of Hermes Trismegistus in his book To Asclepius.
30. This says: "Osiris exclaimed: Then, O very great Good Genius, how did all the earth appear? And the great Good Genius answered: According to a preconceived plan and, as I said, by draining; the body of water received from the Lord the order to draw itself together, the whole earth appeared, muddy and shaken by tremors; the sun then began to shine, spreading its heat without pause, and made the earth dry, which stood within water, surrounded by water." Another passage reads: "the Creator and Lord of the universe shouted: Let the earth be, let a firmament appear! and all at once the earth was, the first element of creation. " So much for the earth; about the sun Hermes speaks as follows: "Osiris said: Thrice great Good Genius, from where did this large sun appear? and the other answered: Osiris, do you wish us to relate the birth of the sun, the way in which it appeared? It appeared by the providence of the supreme Master! The creation of the sun by the supreme Master was done by the operation of his holy and creative Word."
In a similar way, Hermes writes in book I of his Detailed Commentary to Tat: "the Lord of the universe shouted at once by his holy, spiritual and creative Word: Let the sun be! and, at the very moment he said it, the fire which proceeds from an ascended nature --- I understand by this, the unmixed fire, the brightest, most effective and fertile that may be --- was attracted to Nature thanks to the breath which animated it, and was gathered by his care towards the high parts, far from water."
31. Everything was created on the orders of God and by the operation of the creative Word: that, man must think, and it is in conformity with the truth to say it. But how, and by what means it was so, God alone knows!
God distributes to each thing created this or that type of being according to His good pleasure. He determines the mode of existence of each. To be convinced of this, it is only necessary to listen to Moses: "Let there be a firmament! and it was so", and again: "Let the waters gather in one place and let the dry ground appear!" Such formulas determine the exact nature of each thing which is brought into being.
However, once again, Hermes Trismegistus the Greek raises the subject; he puts into his work God saying to the creatures:
"I will impose to you as an obligation, you who are subject to me, this commandment which was given to you by my Word; make it your law!"
Indeed, as I have just said it, the Creator allotted a natural law to each creature, and those appear, at the discretion of God, to have received some arbitrary type of existence, or to have not received it.
This would be the direct and sincere way to present things, but Julian is dazzled beyond reason by the views of Plato and writes:
Now hear what Plato says about the universe : "Now the whole heaven or the universe,----or whatever other name would be most acceptable to it, so let it be named by us,----did it exist eternally, having no beginning, or did it come into being, and had some beginning? It has come into being, because it can be seen and handled and has a body. All such things are things we can touch, and such things can be understood by thought based on using our senses."
And further on
"So, according to reason and probability, we must say that this universe is an animal possessing a soul and intelligence, and in very truth, it owes its beginning to the providence of God."
32. We see then clearly what he -- who, for Julian is the "divine and very wise Plato" -- says: the whole world -- his words -- is submitted to begin sometime, to have a beginning. It can be handled, seen, and has a body, and can be understood by thought based on using our senses, and was created by the providence of God!
Julian depends entirely on Platonic tricks of speech, and he spins crowns of praise unceasingly to Plato. But he was mistaken just like Plato; none of his ideas is beyond criticism, and it could be said that he turns around with any wind. We'll go without delay and highlight an example, thanks to a new quotation of his, here:
Let us compare one thing with another, and no more: what kind of creation does the God of Moses do, what kind that of Plato? "God said: Let us create man in our image and our resemblance; and to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals, and of all the earth, and all the animals which walk on the earth. And God created man, He created him in the image of God; male and female He created them, and God blesses them, saying: Grow and multiply, fill up the ground, bring it under control, rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, over all the beasts and all the earth."
33. Listen now to the speech which Plato gives to the Creator of the universe: "Gods of the gods, the works of which I am the Creator and Father will be indissoluble as long as it be my will; because if all that was made can be unmake, to want to unmake what was well arranged and which is in good condition is the deed of the malicious! Also, since you were created, let you be neither immortal nor very indestructible: however, you will not be destroyed, you will not fall under the blow of a mortal destiny, since your lot is to depend on my will, a bond stronger and more sovereign still than those which bound you to your birth. However learn the instructions that I give you. There remain still three mortal races to be created; as long as they do not exist, the heavens will be imperfect, because it will not contain all the races of living beings. However, if I created them myself and communicated life to them, they would be like gods; so in order that they are just mortals and that this All is truly the All, devote yourselves according to your nature to the creation of living beings, by imitating my power as I showed it at the time of your creation. And, those of them whom it is advisable for them to bear the same name as the immortals, which is called 'divine' and which guides those among them who always agree to obey justice, and to you others, I will give you the seed and the principle. For the remainder, mixing the mortal with the immortal, manufacture and generate living beings, give them food to make them grow, and at their death receive them back again!"
34. So this brave man, full of ardour in his attacks against us, derides the creation of man --- i.e. that which the incomparable Moses has revealed --- and regards as negligible the idea that human nature is created with the image and resemblance of God!
But what sensible person would disagree that this is one of those ideas which best constitute an embellishment? Is there anything better than to say that we are marked with the divine image? And don't we affirm that the divine substance is that which is most elevated, most sublime in the refulgence of its inexpressible glory, that this truly constitutes the whole of the forms and beauties of virtue? Who would not be struck with the obviousness of what I have just said? So why does Julian sneer at such exceptional realities? Why does he deride that right to dominate the universe with which the thinking and reasoning animal, the one most similar to God of all those which populate the earth, i.e. man, was honoured?
Moreover nature itself agrees with the accounts of Moses; but Julian makes no argument from probabilities, and purely and simply denies this view of things, holding only to the words of Plato! He also expresses his admiration, and that in a quite ill-considered way, before the harangue which the philosopher made up, I don't know how, and in which the supreme God is supposed to address himself to created 'divinities' who do not deserve such a name.
35. It is necessary, I think, also to answer him on this point.
If Plato is inventing some fiction and, as is the habit of poets, lends to the character of God the words which he considers appropriate to him, he badly missed the mark, and we could sharply scold him for not knowing how to handle a prosopopy appropriately! If on the other hand he claims to have heard the voice of God, then to hell with his drivel! It is impious to claim that God the master of the universe allowed false divinities to share a glory which is his, and his alone, since He said: "I will not give my glory to another, nor my virtues to graven images!"
Come! in few wordslet's oppose the truth to the writings of Plato, as follows.
I wish indeed that we could agree that the spiritual powers On High, born of God, were honoured with the name of 'god', since we say that there are in heaven those who bear the names of 'gods' and 'lords'; and besides we ourselves received the honour of such a title, when God spoke thus to us:
"I said: You are gods, and you are all the sons of the Almighty."
But, in this case, there is an explanation which is essential, and this declaration of God on this subject could be well the most obvious proof of his benevolence.
In fact, when the Creator of the world had made the thinking and reasonable creature, according to His own image and His own semblance, in His great kindness He honoured it with the name of 'god': and there was nothing wrong with this, since we also are accustomed to giving, say for example to a portrait of a man, this same name of 'man'!
36. Therefore the thinking and reasonable creature, because God holds it in greater regard than those lacking reason and thought, seems to have received in part a higher glory since the denomination of 'god' haloed it with gold; in any case, absolutely no other creature was named 'god'. In fact, like the universe, the sky is not a living being in the true sense of the expression, it is not even endowed with a soul.
Even if none of our writers went so far as to guarantee these positions, it would be enough to support them, in the absence of others considered 'sages', to refer to the disciple of Plato in person, Aristotle. This last said, as we have already affirmed, that the universe is in no way endowed with a soul, nor reason, nor thought. In these cirumstances, the force of truth has prevented Julian from claiming that the universe --- or the Whole, as it could be, to employ the proper term of Plato --- is endowed at all with a soul or even thought, since there are in his camp, as I said, a group of those who touch him more closely on this point than his most resolute contradictors!
It is not likely that God gave the mission of creation to gods completely stripped of soul or thought: this arises from the nature of the problem itself, if it is subjected to suitable examination. Who can imagine the Creator of the world entrusting to other divinities the creation of the three races? Would one speak of hesitation on his side, or of total contempt for our destiny? Such attitudes are in my opinion completely foreign to the supreme Essence!
37. Because, if the Creator is good, how could he express hesitation towards some task?
"It was --- Plato also affirms this --- actually a kindness; however a good being does not nourish ill will towards nothing."
As for claiming that God showed scorn, that would amount to allotting vanity and attributing arrogance to Him.
However, how could he allow himself to reign over beings whom he judged as unworthy for him to create? Or how is it that he takes pleasure from our worship if he couldn't be bothered to create us in the first place?
That He demands that we honour Him, that He requires obedience and understands that human nature is like his in every kind of virtue, it would be the easiest thing in the world for me to bring a thousand veracious testimonies drawn from the inspired Scripture. But as Julian grants especially his confidence to those of his own kind, I recall that Porphyry wrote in book II of his work On Abstinence from animal flesh:
"Let us also therefore sacrifice, but let us sacrifice as appropriate, to God who rules the whole universe, as a sage has said. No material offerings, no clouds of incense, no formulas of consecration! Because there is no material body which does not appear from the start impure with respect to the immaterial one. Therefore the word itself, when it passes by words, is inappropriate for God, nor the interior word, when soiled by the evil of the soul: let us adore him through the purity of silence, the purity of thoughts which we form on him! Thus uniting ourselves to God and assimilating ourselves to him, we must offer to him the holy sacrifice of our intellect, which will be at the same time a hymn to his glory and the path of our safety. However it is in the absence of passions and the contemplation of God that achieves this sacrifice."
38. So God wants us to honour him, and that by the holiness of our life, we will conform ourselves to him on the spiritual level, by engraving his beauty in our souls.
But then, tell me Julian, how can he demand this attitude of us, if he has almost abandoned us to other creators, and stripped us of the privilege of being made by him which he gave to all other creatures? What leads him to provide for things here below if they are, as Plato says, given as playthings to other divinities?
Because he exercises his providence, and his care and benevolence extend to the smallest things; to learn this we can listen to one who knew God as his father:
"Are not two sparrows sold for an as? However not one of them will fall to the ground without the consent of our Father."
Perhaps Julian will declare the formula inadmissible because false --- because he contorts himself furiously against God! --- but will this receive a good reception from people of his group, I mean people as deceived as him? Thus Alexander, the disciple of Aristotle, has written in his treatise On Providence:
"To say that God refuses to grant his providence to things here below, is to go resolutely against the concept of God: because one needs a certain ill will and a nature completely perverted not to do good when one can do it; both one and the other ideas are foreign to God, in him is found neither both nor either of them. So it remains that God can and will exercise his providence on the things here below; however it is obvious that he exercises this providence if he can and wishes to do so. Nothing then, among things fortuitious, could in good logic exist without the divine decision and will."
39. Some claim that Plato himself shared this thesis, and it is public knowledge that Zeno of Citium and the Stoics assert it. So from their testimony it results that human things are the object of providence on the part of the Almighty, the single and natural God of the universe. --- "And then, will someone say, what can we conclude from that?" --- well, it is appropriate for a God, exercising of his own wish his providence, not to deprive the human race of his most precious gift, which is to be created by Him, and not to see the job allotted to creators themselves created and which are divine only in name and not by any other measure --- if it is true that it will always be repugnant to the divine glory to allow others the power to create and invite nothing-beings to do it. Because it is impious to claim that the appropriate and privileged character of the divine and unutterable nature can belong naturally to such or such of the creatures which it created. In fact these features are indeed appropriate only to the divine nature and to it alone, and display its glory to a supreme degree. Inaccessible to a creature --- I mentioned this above --- are the exclusive privileges of being single and supreme, and we affirm that one of these privileges is to be able to act as creator and to bring beings from nothing into existence. Under these conditions, how could a nature resulting from birth and creation, destined inevitably for corruption by the same laws which are its being, hold the active role of God?
40. In fact, if to create is regarded as a form of knowledge in God, one cannot present as irrational the gift of the creative capacity made by God to his creature: doesn't it sometimes happen to us that we create things starting from something already made, while using suitable know-how? If on the other hand, as I said, the fact of creating in the way that God does constitutes an ability and capacity pertaining only to an exceptional nature, and exceeds the measure of a creature, why do those people belittle the privilege of the supreme nature, and grant according to their good pleasure to beings created and promised to corruption? After which, persuaded that they have in their heads an idea of genius, they denature instead the words of God, by claiming that the Uncreated has confided to created beings the power to bring into existence what is specific to him only. --- OK, they say, but then it follows that a thing created by God should be stronger than death and corruption! --- Thus, friends, it is from jealousy towards certain beings that the Creator refused to give them the best part, that on the contrary He condemned them to a worse, one could say, by not being willing to create them! Apparently, He has avoided the fate which prohibited Him from creating mortal beings --- perhaps even He was unaware of this fate completely?
If they claim that God was in ignorance, the creature knows more than Him: the creators, they affirm themselves, were perishable beings! If on the other hand, giving up this position, they accept that God knew, how then would a good being refuse to do what he knows to be good? Because in the end it is quite true that the immortal one is preferable to the mortal!
[To be continued]
This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, Ipswich, UK, 2006, 2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.
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In response to:
Sphinx Without a Secret from the May 30, 1985 issue
To the Editors:
M.F. Burnyeat’s review of Leo Strauss’s Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy [NYR, May 30] bears the same relation to Mr. Strauss’s thought that the accompanying caricature bears to Strauss’s person. Whoever knows or knew the original must be offended by a travesty generated apparently between levity and a gift for deforming the normal. By his deed Mr. Burnyeat vindicates what in words he denounces, namely, Strauss’s view that a serious thought needs to be veiled against ill-natured levity, and Strauss’s insistence that the student (a fortiori the critic) take the trouble to grasp the author’s meaning, i.e. to understand him as he understood himself, before undertaking to discuss that author’s work. By the method of parading elaborated reflections as adages jejune and assertoric, Mr. Burnyeat holds them up to ridicule, as he does Mr. Strauss’s references to gentlemen and philosophers, unworthily lampooning those words by putting them in quotation marks as if they cannot be used without the apology implicit in that tendentious punctuation.
The advice that a reader of a worthy (indeed of any) writing start by clearing his mind of resistance to the author’s purpose is generally reasonable and fair, is obviously repugnant to the principles that guide Mr. Burnyeat’s critical activity, and certainly has nothing to do with the abandoning of self into which Mr. Burnyeat translates it. That objection can safely be left to collapse by itself.
Mr. Burnyeat deduces Mr. Strauss’s influence from the physical presence of the latter before his students in the classroom—a tacit appeal to the hypothesis of charisma voiced some time ago. One knows that Strauss’s books have little influence because “Strauss has no discernible influence in Britain at all.” But books and articles by Strauss have appeared in Polish, Serbo-Croat, Italian, French, Spanish and of course German, both before and since his death. Report used to be made of the British headline: “Storm in Channel: Continent Isolated.” Mr. Burnyeat does nothing to dispel a presumption that the report is apocryphal. In any case, however correct he may be in assessing Strauss’s influence in Britain, nothing may be concluded about Strauss or Britain in the absence of another premise for the syllogism.
Mr. Burnyeat weakens his depreciation of Strauss by providing a quite remarkable demonstration, albeit offered as a mockery, of what Burnyeat might be capable of were he to restrain his ill-will from hindering his judgment. In the last half dozen paragraphs of his section 3, he affects to expose the mechanical simplicity of the Straussian hermeneutic: “You start, always, by taking note of the arrangement of the work.” Mr. Burnyeat is out to show what a simple thing it is to anatomize the organization of a book, and incidentally how useless is the product. Instead, he shows how difficult it is, how well he was himself compelled to think about the contents in their relation to the author’s intention, and how helpful to his—and our—understanding of Strauss’s purpose is the fruit of his derisive effort. Without having been exposed to Mr. Strauss’s charisma, Mr. Burnyeat has been induced to afford his own evidence of the plausibility of a Straussian advice—try to understand a book as the author meant it. (Would Mr. Burnyeat’s intended satire have been amusing, to say nothing of useful, if someone hadn’t let him know that the order of chapters originated with Strauss and not with some editor?)
This would be a thoughtless and in one more respect an incomplete response to Burnyeat’s regrettable article if it failed to try to understand Burnyeat as he might understand himself. Without a great deal to go on—and I know how much that confession subtracts—I surmise that he is uncritically devoted to the intellectually received and the academically authenticated, perhaps because there must indeed be something valid in what has earned the cachet of professionals, and perhaps because there is safety in numbers. His objections to Strauss are not new, as he admits, and in fact are the tediously familiar budget of recriminations coming from a conventional establishment, which is as precisian in scrutinizing the orthodoxy of “rebarbatives” as any coven of philistines sniffing out a bohemian.
It can never do Straussians any harm to look within under the stimulation of such a rebuke as Mr. Burnyeat’s. One could wish that the critics would treat themselves occasionally to the same purification.
University of Chicago
To the Editors:
I would like, if I may, to comment on M.F. Burnyeat’s review of Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy, by Leo Strauss. Burnyeat’s opinion of Strauss was sufficiently indicated by the cartoonist, who gave Strauss two right hands—neither of which, one presumes, knew what the other was doing.
Burnyeat declares that “There is no doubt that Strauss was an inspiring teacher.” But Burnyeat can find nothing in Strauss’s writings—which he calls “remote and rebarbative”—to explain Strauss’s extraordinary influence on nearly everyone who came into contact with him. What went on in Strauss’s classes was remarkable and powerful, but as far as Burnyeat is concerned, it remains utterly mysterious.
This is neither the time nor the place for me to offer my own critique of Strauss’s work. It is a subject on which I have written with increasing frequency since Strauss’s death. (See for example “The Legacy of Leo Strauss,” Claremont Review of Books, Fall 1984, and “The Legacy of Leo Strauss’ Defended,” Ibid., Spring 1985.) I would like, however, to offer a few words of personal testimony as to how Strauss differed in my experience from other teachers, and why so many sat so spellbound in his classes.
I might mention that I took my first course with Strauss in the fall of 1944. For the next seven years, in both New York and Chicago, I attended virtually every class he taught, including those in summer sessions. During this period I believe I spent nearly as much time alone with him as in class. But whether in class or alone, every minute was a vital learning experience. Today, I return again and again to his writings. Contrary to Burnyeat, Strauss was a great writer, and his works abound with passages of eloquence and beauty. But he always warned us, when writing, not to sacrifice precision of meaning for mere effect.
My own books, particularly my writings on Lincoln, are often outgrowths of conversations I originally had with Strauss. In the Preface to the 1982 reprinting (by the University of Chicago Press) of Crisis of the House Divided, my book on the Lincoln–Douglas debates (first published in 1959), I wrote that the work had been born in my mind
When I discovered—at a time when I was studying the Republic with Leo Strauss—that the issue between Lincoln and Douglas was in substance, and very nearly in form, identical with the issue between Socrates and Thrasymachus. Douglas’s doctrine of “popular sovereignty” meant no more than that: in a democracy justice is the interest of the majority, which is “the stronger.” Lincoln, however, insisted that the case for popular government depended upon a standard of right and wrong independent of mere opinion and one which was not justified merely by the counting of heads.
Lincoln once described the central proposition of the Declaration of Independence—to which, at Gettysburg, he said the nation at its birth had been dedicated—as “an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.” This is a perfect example of what Leo Strauss meant by natural right. And Strauss believed—as did Lincoln—that it was possible to have sufficient knowledge of natural right to guide our lives, in the decisive respects, both individually and politically.
Lincoln once declared that he had “never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.” For Lincoln, the Declaration was a timeless source of political wisdom. It was a source of such wisdom for the American people as much as were the tablets of the law brought down by Moses from Sinai for the children of Israel. If we however turn to Carl Becker’s The Declaration of Independence, a book perfectly characteristic of non-Straussian scholarship in political philosophy, we find the following:
To ask whether the natural rights philosophy of the Declaration of Independence is true or false is essentially a meaningless question.
What Becker meant—and he spoke for nearly every historian and social scientist of our time—was that to ask what is just or unjust, right or wrong, is a “value judgment,” and as such “subjective” and not susceptible to rational analysis, which can deal only with “facts.”
Before I met Strauss this is what I had been taught, and had never been given any reason to question. I had spent five years at Yale in the 1930s, as undergraduate and graduate student, where no one, so far as I knew, had ever doubted this orthodoxy. To study the Declaration of Independence—or Plato’s Republic—meant to study the “climate of opinion,” “the spirit of the times,” the “weltanschauung” out of which the work came. Strauss however declared that we must understand the great works of the human mind as their authors understood them, before we try to understand them differently or better (although—contrary to Burnyeat—Strauss never hesitated to make such judgments when he believed he had sufficient grounds for doing so). None of the great writers of the past had believed, either in the fact-value distinction, or in the historicist fallacy that the genesis of an idea was the key to the truth about it.
Lincoln’s reading of the Declaration—as embodying an eternal, and eternally applicable truth—was precisely the kind of reading that I had learned from Strauss. Thus Strauss taught me to read with ever growing wonder and gratitude, both Lincoln and the tradition of political philosophy within which Lincoln had his life and being.
It is difficult to convey to anyone who has not shared such an experience the excitement I felt—now nearly forty years ago—when I realized that I had been emancipated from the dungeon of historicism, from that dark place of the soul in which the great questions, the only questions that make life ultimately worth living, are treated as “essentially meaningless.” That excitement has however never left me, and I can have only pity for those—like Professor Burnyeat—who seem likely never to know it.
Harry V. Jaffa
Claremont McKenna College and
Claremont Graduate School
To the Editors:
M.F. Burnyeat’s attempt to wake a sleeping America to the political threat posed to it by the late Leo Strauss is McCarthyite in the precise sense of the term. His calumny culminates in disgraceful innuendo about Carnes Lord, whose service on the National Security Council staff he takes as evidence of lack of scholarly integrity. With standard paranoid logic, Burnyeat concludes that this corrupt “pupil of a pupil” is proof that Strauss intentionally distorted classical texts as part of a political conspiracy. Contempt is the only appropriate response to such an ugly project of arousing political passion against the legacy of a serious thinker.
It is worthy of note that Burnyeat’s attack on Strauss follows hard on the heels of a similarly malicious one from the other extreme of the political spectrum (“Is Conservatism Un-American?” National Review, March 22, 1985). Its title indicates the kind of suspicion it casts on “Straussians.” This union of Far Right and Far Left in enmity to Strauss and his influence should encourage those who incline to think that truth and democracy reside somewhere near the center to have another look at the writings of Leo Strauss.
University of Chicago
To the Editors:
In his polemic against Leo Strauss, Professor Myles Burnyeat inadvertently confirms the interpretive standpoint which he labors to discredit.
Strauss’ reading of Plato probed beyond the surface impression to a deeper meaning—an exercise which Burnyeat paradoxically dismisses as an “insult to the critical intelligence.” For instance, early in the Republic Socrates attacks the equation of justice with the helping of one’s friends and the harming of one’s enemies, and Burnyeat ridicules Strauss’ suggestion that the dialogue thereafter preserves this apparently refuted definition. Similarly, Strauss’ perplexity about the absence of any philosophic reason for the philosophers to rule draws from Burnyeat the response that they will wish to requite the debt they owe the ideal city for providing them with their education.
But under what definition of justice is public education to be repaid through public service? Surely this reciprocation of benefit for benefit falls under the principle of helping one’s friends, which thus remains decisive despite Socrates’ earlier criticism. What Burnyeat ridicules in one paragraph he requires in another.
Burnyeat’s observation that “Strauss turns upside down the meaning of the Republic” incorporates an innocently dogmatic assumption about “the meaning” of a Platonic text. The Phaedrus and the Seventh Letter indicate that Plato himself did not share this assumption. Of course, Burnyeat can point to what is explicit in Plato’s text. But the significance of the explicit is precisely what Strauss has put at issue.
A thoughtful assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Strauss’ work by a scholar of Burnyeat’s stature and acumen is an urgent desideratum. Evidently, the unpalatable conservative implications of Strauss’ position elicited Burnyeat’s disappointing effort. He especially seems to resent—again paradoxically given his account of the motivation of Plato’s philosophers—the willingness of Strauss’ pupils to serve their country under the present administration. Burnyeat’s dogmatic vilification, however, does liberalism no credit. He should have given readers the benefit of his thinking and left the vicious caricaturing to David Levine.
Ernest J. Weinrib
Yale Law School
New Haven, Connecticut
To the Editors:
Although one of us is the author of the introduction to the book by the late Leo Strauss which M.S. Burnyeat recently discussed in your pages, we do not wish to attempt in a brief letter a comprehensive reply to the review. In particular, we will refrain from responding to the various suggestions or innuendos concerning the character of Strauss’ appeal and its supposed political implications. We restrict ourselves to addressing what Burnyeat says about the substance of Strauss’ thought.
Mr. Burnyeat is to be commended for having read a number of Strauss’ writings, but in our judgment he has missed or misunderstood the fundamental theme of Strauss’ life-work: the painstaking analysis of the dialogue or debate between Reason and Revelation. Although Burnyeat alludes casually to this central issue, he never tries to explain what Strauss means by calling it “the theological–political problem” much less attempts to deal with Strauss’ treatment of the issue, expressed and understood in this unconventional or highly original way.
Instead, Burnyeat contends that it is on the interpretation of a single major text, Plato’s Republic, that everything Strauss taught stands or falls. But the purported refutation of Strauss’ interpretation, a refutation which Burnyeat hinges on the elucidation of a single crucial passage (Republic 520), is not only manifestly inadequate, it depends upon a logical blunder.
The question at issue between Strauss and Burnyeat is whether, as conventional interpreters like Burnyeat claim, Socrates seriously teaches the possibility of philosopher-kings coming into being. Against the conventional view, Strauss points out that the philosophers, who would have to persuade or compel the non-philosophers to let them take over a city and rule, are themselves described by Socrates as being so far from wishing to rule that they would have to be compelled to do so.
Burnyeat does not deny that according to Socrates philosophers are deeply unwilling to rule for of course Socrates emphasizes that it is just this disinclination that would assure their reliability as rulers. Burnyeat argues, however, that philosophers would agree to begin to rule in obedience to “the requirements of impartial justice” expressed by “the force of reasoned argument.” What argument?
“The argument is” (Burnyeat claims) “that the philosophers owe a debt to the ideal city for providing the liberal education in mathematics and philosophy that teaches them to know and love justice.” This is Burnyeat’s extraordinarily loose paraphrase of the argument Socrates says he would use for the following purpose: to try to reconcile philosophers nurtured in a city already ruled by philosophers to their having to take their turn at ruling rather than pursue philosophy. Socrates indicates emphatically that this argument, from indebtedness, can be made only to philosphers who are indebted—i.e., who have been nurtured by a city already dedicated to philosophy. What is more, Socrates explicitly declares that a philosopher in any other city (e.g., himself, in Athens) would rightly, according to impartial justice, refuse to participate in ruling:
…when such men come to be in the other cities they quite reasonably do not participate in the labors in those cities. For they grow up spontaneously against the will of the regime in each city; and a nature that grows by itself and doesn’t owe its rearing to anyone has justice on its side when it is not eager to pay off the price of rearing to anyone.
This declaration accords perfectly with the whole of Socrates’ own life as depicted by Plato. Socrates consistently fled involvement in political life (Apology 31c–33b) and never made the slightest effort to erect in deed the city explored in speech in the Republic. According to the Republic, the philosopher is under no obligation to rule, in the sense of founding the best city; and he would have no inclination to do so, preferring to devote all his time to philosophy—as may be possible in certain defective cities like Athens. For the philosopher, giving up time spent in philosophy and entering politics—even in the best city—is like descending from the sunlight into a caveprison, or like descending from the Isles of the Blessed into Hades. The Socrates whom we encounter in the drama of the Republic is not someone who aspires to rule, but a philosophic teacher, using the themes of politics to introduce his young companions to philosophy. As he explicitly says near the end of the work, with regard to the city that has been under discussion, “it makes no difference whether it exists or will ever exist somewhere” (Republic 592b).
Burnyeat’s position is logically absurd, because if it is true, as he concedes, that the rule of philosophers depends upon their agreement and if they would agree to rule only out of indebtedness for their philosophic education to a city already ruled by philosophers (in Burnyeat’s words, “they will rule for justice’s sake and that alone, to requite a debt”), then such a city, or the rule of philosopher-kings, could never come into being for the first time. On the basis of this passage selected by Burnyeat, for Plato’s Socrates the coming into being of the philosopher-king is, as Strauss maintained, a kind of ironic impossibility.
Thomas L. Pangle
University of Toronto
To the Editors:
In his review-essay, “Sphinx Without a Secret.” M.F. Burnyeat has written a penetrating analysis of the sources and the techniques employed by Leo Strauss. He points out that the Chicago political thinker believed that the great “ancient books” are the repositories of “the truth,” and that their authors consciously obfuscated their meaning, primarily to avoid persecution, and wrote the opposite of what they really believed.
In the course of his skillful dissection of Leo Strauss, Professor Burnyeat has, inadvertently, I believe, done a grave injustice to Maimonides. Relying on Strauss’s reading of Maimonides, Burnyeat writes: “It was Maimonides who started it. It was from him that Strauss drew his idea of ‘esoteric literature.’ In the introduction to the first part of The Guide of the Perplexed Maimonides states. ‘It is not the purpose of this Treatise to make its totality understandable to the vulgar,’ and he goes on to instruct the learned reader how to gather his meaning from hints, indications, and deliberate contradictions.”
Burnyeat has truncated the passage in Maimonides and in the process, his meaning. Maimonides is outstanding for his clarity and does not indulge in “double-talk.” He is writing for “the perplexed” of his day, who were deeply committed to traditional religion and who found it in conflict with the ideas derived from their study of science and philosophy.
The passage is too lengthy to quote here, but Maimonides makes it clear that he is writing neither for simple-minded believers nor for those who have surrendered their religious faith. He believes there is no necessary conflict between faith and reason and seeks to prove their compatibility in his philosophical masterpiece.
Maimonides’s solution is to demonstrate that the classical texts of biblical and rabbinical Judaism seem to contradict philosophy and science only because they make use of the limited vocabulary available to human beings for the expression of transcendent truths. Hence, these sacred sources use metaphors and other concrete idioms that untutored and simple-minded believers take literally. Maimonides devotes the bulk of The Guide to expounding the true, deeper meaning behind such biblical metaphors as God’s face, eyes or hands, or such locutions as God’s speaking, repenting or being angry.
Though Maimonides believes that the Bible properly understood, is in harmony with philosophic truth as exemplified for him primarily by Aristotle, he is not over-awed by the great Stagirite. Thus, in one crucial instance he maintains the biblical view of creation in time as philosophically more tenable than the Greek conception of pre-existent, eternal matter.
To understand Maimonides aright, it must be kept in mind that The Guide of the Perplexed was one of his two great masterpieces; the other, far greater in extent, was his massive Code of Jewish Law, his Mishneh Torah, a magisterial presentation and reorganization of fourteen books of the vast expanse of rabbinic law.
There have been some medieval pietists who believed that Maimonides was really a heretic masquerading as a pious and observant Jew and denounced his writings to the Dominican Fathers, who obligingly burned The Guide at the stake in Paris with other Jewish classics. In more recent times, some have ventured to suggest that The Guide was the “real” Maimonides, and the Mishneh Torah is either an aberration or a cover to shield him against the fanatics, a position apparently close to that of Strauss. In view of the sheer size of the Mishneh Torah, the complexity of the material, the brilliance of the presentation, the encyclopedic knowledge, and above all, the independence of views he manifested throughout the work, the latter view can hardly commend itself to anyone who examines his great Code.
The final proof of the view that the “real” Maimonides speaks to us, not either in The Guide or in the Code, but in both, is to be found in “The Book of Knowledge,” the first of the fourteen books of the Mishneh Torah. Here he presents his philosophical and theological system as the indispensable introduction to the detailed presentation of Jewish law in the following thirteen books.
As Burnyeat notes, Strauss undoubtedly experienced a conflict between reason and religion himself. Failing to find a solution, Strauss evidently projected his frustration upon Maimonides by “discovering that Maimonides said that they—philosophy and the Jewish religion—were compatible, but meant that they were not.” (Italics mine.) Strauss may have thought them irreconcilable; Maimonides did not.
New York City
M.F Burnyeat replies:
Glad as I am to have helped Professor Cropsey understand the book he edited, I beg to remind him that not everything written in code deserves the effort, be it large or small, of deciphering the author’s meaning. The intention of being profound is not the same as a profound intention.
Likewise, while the effort which has been devoted to translating Strauss into various languages is evident from the (incomplete) listing in the bibliography to Studies in Platonic Philosophy, this effort has not been rewarded by the emergence of a following, let alone a cult like that which Strauss and Straussian teachers have managed to create in the US. For example, Strauss in Italian has been received with sustained and often hostile criticism, which is documented by P. Taboni in Studi Urbinati 48 (1974), pp. 191–220, and G. Giorgini in Il Mulino 33 (1984), pp. 396–416. In fact, the hypothesis of “Mr. Strauss’s charisma” (a phrase to be appreciated by initiates who have read Strauss on Weber) seems to be amply confirmed by Professor Jaffa’s letter.
Let me then assure Professor Jaffa that, whatever the historical genesis of his belief in the meaningfulness of the great questions, there are lots of non-Straussians who dispute the fact-value dichotomy and who have never even been tempted by the historicist fallacy as he describes it. What has Jaffa been reading for the past forty years? He illustrates non-Straussian political philosophy by quoting one statement from a book published in 1922 and inventing for it a positivistic meaning which, in its context (p. 277), it does not have. He surely has had time to catch up with the 1942 reprint of Becker’s book, whose preface states that the brutalities of Nazism have enabled men once more to believe that “liberty, equality, fraternity” and “inalienable rights of men” are phrases that denote realities.
Becker was interested in the conditions which make certain beliefs possible (a worthwhile and important inquiry, which need not lead to relativism). He meant that in 1942 it had become possible to return to a faith that the nineteenth century had lost. In his humane, gentlemanly way he would perhaps have wondered at the intellectual environment and educational influences which enabled Jaffa in 1959 to write that the differences between Lincoln and Aristotle on the justice of slavery are more apparent than real, on this basis commending to his twentieth-century readers the proposition that in circumstances of economic scarcity it could be just to sanction the ownership of slaves (Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the House Divided, Doubleday, 1959, pp. 342–346). So much for Jaffa on natural right as “an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.”
The manner in which Jaffa commends his proposition about slavery can be compared to the manner in which Strauss commends to his readers the proposition that the just citizen is one who helps his friends and harms his enemies: by exegetical pleading rather than by independent argument. We are not given reasons why we should believe these propositions true, only reasons why Lincoln/Aristotle/Xenophon’s Socrates should be thought to have believed them true. Disturbing recommendations with far-reaching political consequences are to be accepted on the strength of nothing more than a systematic misreading of “old books” (Jaffa’s understanding of Aristotle is abysmal). No wonder Jaffa appeals to the tablets of law brought down by Moses from Sinai. But no wonder also that my review, when considering the enormous influence of Strauss and his ideas in the US, should call attention to the presence of a Straussian on the National Security Council, which directs the work of the CIA and advises the President on his dealings with “enemies.”
The point, as I expressed it, was that “something more than an academic quarrel is taking place” when Strauss defends his eccentric views. His misreadings of old books are not merely influential. They could have consequences in the real world of politics. If I had been writing a critique of monetarism, showing it to be an ill-conceived theory derived by special pleading from data inadequately grasped, it would not, I submit, be McCarthyite to note the presence of a leading monetarist among the President’s economic advisers.
We need not debate “the precise sense” of the term McCarthyite (that rhetorical flourish merely reveals the imprecision of the writer’s sense). For Professor Bloom’s letter is itself a prime example of Straussian hermeneutics. The idea of a Straussian political conspiracy was hatched in Bloom’s mind; it appears nowhere in the text of my review. Nor did I argue, “Carnes Lord served in the National Security Council, therefore he lacks scholarly integrity.” (For the record, Lord’s published work shows him to be a better scholar in the field of ancient political philosophy than either Strauss or Bloom.) Would it be McCarthyite to add that Bloom’s systematic misreading of my text is designed to have practical consequences?
The saddest feature of Bloom’s response is his apparent inability to distinguish between criticism and persecution, irony and malice. Rather than give a reasoned reply either to my essay or to Charles R. Kesler’s calmly argued critique in the National Review, he immediately divides the world into friends and enemies of the Straussian truth. The same “paranoid logic” (to borrow Bloom’s precise phrase) is evident in Professor Cropsey’s letter. Never mind that my review was gentleness itself compared to the scorn and derision with which Strauss reviewed Collingwood, for example, or Eric Havelock. The Master must be sacrosanct; he is too serious a thinker for reasoned discussion, not to mention David Levine’s cartoon.
It is all so unlike Strauss’s hero (and mine) Plato, who believed that the essence of philosophy is to be found in argument and discussion infused with irony and playful levity, and who surrounded himself, in the Academy he created, with men who disagreed with his ideas and did their best to refute them. That is why I put quotation marks round the word “philosopher” as it occurs in Straussian writings. Cropsey may be indignant but Strauss’s conception of what a philosopher is stands so far from Plato’s that it would be misleading to appear to accept that they are talking about the same thing. For the same reason I am happy to acknowledge that I belong to the “conventional establishment” consisting of readers of Plato since the fourth century BC who have found in the expressed meanings of Plato’s dialogues the paradigm of great philosophy.
This brings me to the arguments of Professors Weinrib, Pangle, and Orwin—and all honor to them for replying with arguments, at least on questions of interpretation—about the role of the philosopher in Plato’s Republic.
Weinrib’s argument supposes that one can derive or discern a general principle or definition of justice from a single example of just action. This is a mistake; a mistake, moreover, of a type which Plato’s Socrates is constantly correcting (e.g., at the beginning of the Euthyphro). The philosophers’ undertaking to rule the ideal city does fall under the principle of helping one’s friends and harming one’s enemies, but it also falls under thirty-one other principles, including Thrasymachus’s definition of justice as serving the interests of the stronger. Thus the nonphilosophical majority is the largest and so the strongest group in the city, and Socrates has already shown how their interests will be best looked after if they are governed by philosophers. By parity of reasoning Weinrib should conclude that Thrasymachus’s definition “remains decisive” despite being the main target of Socrates’ criticism both in Book I and in the remainder of the Republic.
The truth is that to discover what principle of justice motivates the philosophers to rule it is necessary to read Plato rather than Strauss. In the context we are considering Socrates does not simply say that it is just for the philosophers to undertake the tasks of government. He explains why it is just, as follows:
It’s not the concern of law that any one class in the city fare exceptionally well, but it contrives to bring this about in the entire city, harmonizing the citizens by persuasion and compulsion, making them share with one another the benefit which each person is able to bring to the community. And it produces such men in the city not in order to let them turn whichever way each wants, but in order that it may use them in binding the city together.
(Republic, 519e–520a; Bloom’s translation, with corrections)
This implies that the claim on the philosophers arises from the impartial justice of a set of social arrangements which requires everyone, without exception, to contribute what they are able to contribute to the good of everyone else. (If the philosophers are able to contribute more than other people; so be it: they will be the first to recognize that it is only just that they do so.) This principle of everyone doing what they are best suited to do to the benefit of everyone else is the principle established in Book IV of the Republic as constitutive of the justice of the ideal city. We have no alternative but to accept it as Plato’s answer to Weinrib’s question “Under what principle of justice is it just for the philosophers to rule?”
Besides, from Plato’s point of view Weinrib’s answer has the priorities the wrong way round. The citizens of the ideal city do not benefit each other because they are friends; rather, they are friends because they benefit each other (Republic 462a ff.)
So much for the question whether the philosophers can be induced to rule in the ideal city itself. Professors Pangle and Orwin are quite right that the passage under discussion presupposes the ideally just city already in existence. In a state which is not run for the benefit of all but only for the mutual advantage of some group of “friends,” there is no social justice to make claims on the philosopher to participate. Accordingly, I did not argue, as Pangle and Orwin imagine, that the passage shows that the ideal city can come into existence. I argued that, when correctly understood, the passage does not show, as Strauss imagined (The City and Man, p.124), that the ideal city cannot come into existence. I was rebutting Strauss’s contention that the ideal city is intrinsically impossible, because the philosophers could not be induced to rule. Pangle and Orwin appear to agree with me, against Strauss, that they could be induced to rule if the ideal city is already in existence. In which case we have to look elsewhere in the Republic to decide whether Plato means us to think that the ideal city could not come into being.
Socrates says emphatically at 499d that it is not impossible that somewhere, sometime, a divine inspiration should give those in power a passion for philosophy or that some necessity should constrain one or more philosophers to take charge of a city; perhaps it has already happened far away or in the distant past. As in the passage discussed above, Socrates insists that a philosopher will take part in politics only with reluctance and from necessity, i.e., because he sees compelling reasons to do so. The compelling argument will be different from the argument from social justice which constrains the philosophers who have been educated within the ideal city, but that difference provides no basis for impugning Socrates’ sincerity when he asserts here, as elsewhere, that it is possible for Utopia to get started. The ideal city will get started by one argument and continued by another: there is no logical absurdity in that, merely the difference between an argument about preserving justice and an argument about bringing it into being.
If Pangle and Orwin reply that the passage they quote implies that it would actually be unjust for philosophers who have not been educated in the ideal city to take part in the launching of Utopia, the answer is that the original Greek implies no such thing. There is a difference between the philosophers’ not having a duty to take part in politics and their having a duty not to take part. Bloom’s translation, used by Pangle and Orwin for the second sentence of their quotation, may suggest the latter, but the former would be more adequate to Plato’s Greek. This is not the place to discuss the nuances of a translation (where Bloom writes “has justice on its side,” Plato is not using his normal word for justice but a more archaic one, appropriate to the situation he is describing in which social justice does not yet exist), but the substance of the point I am making is confirmed at 496d, where Socrates gives as the reason why a philosopher will keep out of the present-day politics of actual cities the lack of “an ally with whose aid one could safely champion the cause of justice.” The consideration is conditional. It would lapse if an ally was found with enough power to help make justice real. (I wonder whether Weinrib believes that a Platonic philosopher would find many such allies in the present administration of the US.)
Weinrib, however, has a more general argument for supposing that Plato does not mean what Socrates explicitly says in the various passages we have now examined. He appeals to Plato’s Phaedrus and to the Seventh Letter as favoring Strauss’s approach to “the meaning” of a Platonic text rather than mine. Strauss had the same thought (The City and Man, pp. 52–54), though he wisely refrained from mentioning the Seventh Letter, which may be a forgery. But Strauss had to use Straussian hermeneutics on the Phaedrus to get that dialogue to justify using Straussian hermeneutics on other Platonic texts. An appeal to the Phaedrus does nothing to extricate the Straussian approach from the vicious circularity with which I charged it.
Platonic scholarship urgently needs a decent understanding of what the Phaedrus means to say about writing. But that understanding will require literary methods more sophisticated than any that Strauss purveyed. Nor can it be assumed in advance that the Phaedrus aims to tell us how to read the Republic. One of the many objectionable features of the Straussian approach is the blunderbuss way it treats all dialogues alike. In place of the scintillating variety which Plato’s artistry created, Strauss puts “the Platonic dialogue” and a uniform Maimonidean recipe for decoding its hidden meaning. And yet, if Professor Gordis is right, this whole saga of misreading began with a misreading of Maimonides.
In considering this, the last but certainly not the least important letter, we should distinguish two Straussian claims:
(1)The Guide of the Perplexed is an example of “esoteric literature,” whose message is “written between the lines.”
(2) The message between its lines is that philosophy and religion cannot be reconciled.
I did not endorse claim (2), but wrote of Strauss “having, as he thought, discovered” that Maimonides meant the opposite of what he said; Gordis truncates the relevant passage in my review, omitting “as he thought.” Nevertheless, Gordis’s confirmation of my skepticism about claim (2) is a sufficient answer to Pangle and Orwin’s complaint that I neglected Strauss’s treatment of “the theological-political problem.” There is a limit to the number of confusions one can tackle in a single review.
As regards claim (1), however, I plead guilty. I was impressed with the fact that Maimonides does—Gordis seems not to deny this—instruct the learned reader how to gather his meaning from hints, indications, and deliberate contradictions. For example, the seventh cause of contradiction is the following:
In speaking about very obscure matters it is necessary to conceal some parts and to disclose others. Sometimes in the case of certain dicta this necessity requires that the discussion proceed on the basis of a certain premise, whereas in another place necessity requires that the discussion proceed on the basis of another premise contradicting the first one. In such cases the vulgar must in no way be aware of the contradiction; the author accordingly uses some device to conceal it by all means.
(p. 18 in the Pines translation)
Two pages later Maimonides tells us that contradictions from this seventh cause are to be found in The Guide of the Perplexed. Strauss certainly has more to go on here than he has with Plato. But I should be only too happy to have a critic like Gordis take me through the Guide explaining in detail how and where Strauss has got it wrong.
Meanwhile, readers who have found much of this polemic distasteful can recover their good humor by reading a short story by Oscar Wilde entitled “The Sphinx Without a Secret.” | <urn:uuid:7a233c26-4817-44b0-8041-e42a83e565e4> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1985/oct/10/the-studies-of-leo-strauss-an-exchange/?insrc=toc | 2015-03-28T23:59:11Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298015.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00250-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961719 | 8,904 |
Exploring Kurdish Origins
The question of Kurdish origins, i.e., who the Kurds are and where they come from, has for too long remained an enigma. Doubtless in a few words one can respond, for example, that Kurds are the end-product of numerous layers of cultural and genetic material superimposed over thousands of years of internal migrations, immigrations, cultural innovations and importations. But identifying the roots and the course of evolution of present Kurdish ethnic identity calls for a greater effort. It calls for the study of each of the many layers of these human movements and cultural influences, as many and as early in time as is currently possible. And to achieve this, one needs to delve deep into antiquity, and debate notions as diverse as anthropology, linguistics, genetics, theology, economics and demography, not to mention simple old narrative history.
Presently, at least 5 distinct layers can be identified with various degrees of certainty.
Halaf Cultural Period
The earliest evidence thus far of a unified and distinct culture shared by the people inhabiting the Kurdish mountains relates to the period of the ‘Halaf Culture’ that began around 8000 years ago. Named after the ancient mound of Tell Halaf west of the town of Qamishli in what is now the Syrian Kurdistan, this culture is best-known for its easily recognizable style of pottery which, fortunately, was produced in abundance. Exquisitely painted, delicately designed Halaf pottery are easily distinguishable from earlier and later productions. Judging from the pottery remains alone, Halaf culture appears to have been extant between 6000 to 5400 BC, a period of about 600 years.
In fact taking Halaf pottery as a prime example, many archaeologists now point out by that shared pottery style is a simple but crucial tool in helping to classify prehistoric cultures in the Middle East. Yet, while shared pottery can imply shared culture, it can no more imply shared ethnicity for the people who produced them than shared rug designs can now. Today, for example, the Turkic Qashqai, Luric Mamasani and the Arab Baseri peoples of southern Iran all share similar rug designs. Ethno-linguistically, however, these three peoples share virtually nothing else. This fact should serve as a clear warning to those who would use shared artistic styles and plastic arts as an indication of shared ethnicity. Pottery styles must be taken in tandem with other evidence in order to make a case for shared culture and ethnicity. But, wide-spread Halafian excavation sites have much more in common than styles of pottery.
Solid evidence has now emerged indicating striking similarities in food, technology, architecture, ritual practices and ornaments, all of which merge to suggest something more substantive. Archaeologist Julian Reade, now a curator at the British Museum’s Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities thus states: "While we really know little about how the inhabitants of a Halaf village thought, let alone what languages or languages they used for thinking, and what levels of abstraction could be expressed verbally, it seems likely they had comparable social structures, sharing many of the same implicit values, and that even those who did not travel regularly many have met from time to time in a religious or administrative centers." (footnote 1)
With the aid of these archaeological criteria, J. Reade as well as M. Roaf (archaeologist and former director of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, now at the University of California, Berkeley) have determined the boundaries of the Halaf culture. They coincide almost exactly with the area the ethnic Kurds still call home: from Kirmanshah to Adyaman, and from Afrin near the Mediterranean Sea to northern areas of Lake Van. The distribution of the Halaf pottery and the distribution of ethnic Kurds today are a near-perfect match. The single exception is the Mosul-Tikrit region of the Mesopotamian lowlands. (footnote 2) James Mellaart, better known for his excavation at Catal Hüyük, meanwhile, has found many of the motifs and composite designs present on the Halaf pottery and figurines still extant in the textile and decorative designs of the modern Kurds who now inhabit the same excavated Halafian sites. (footnote 3)
It is highly unlikely that the Halaf people constituted an immigrant population. According to several demographic studies, the Zagros mountains were the site of perennial population surplus and pressure from 12000 to 5000 years ago, which must have resulted in many episodes of emigration. (footnote 4) This population pressure in the Zagros-Taurus folds was a consequence of successive technological advances in domestication of common crops and animals, and resulted in a prosperous agricultural economy and trade, ergo high population density. The Halafian phenomenon is likely the result of a massive internal migration which succeeded to culturally unify the population in Kurdistan.
The fact that the Halaf Culture spread so rapidly over such a considerable distance across the rugged Kurdish mountains is thought to have been the result of the development of a new life-style and economic activity necessitating mobility, namely nomadic herding. All the pre-requisite technologies had been developed and the necessary animals, particularly the dog, had now been domesticated by the settled agriculturists. The Halafian figurines of dogs (with jaunty upcurled tails uncharacteristic of any wolf), excavated from Jarmo in central Kurdistan is the earliest definitive evidence of the development of "man’s best friend" and the herder’s most prized protection. (footnote 5) Nomadic herding has since been a very mobile cornerstone of the Zagros-Taurus cultures and societies.
Ubaid Cultural Period
The Halaf Cultural period ends with the arrival, circa 5300 BC of a new culture and, quite likely a new people: the so-called Ubaidians.
Named after the archaeological mound of al-Ubaid in modern Iraq, where their remains first excavated, the people of Ubaid culture expanded in time from the plains of Mesopotamia into the mountains. The culture of the Ubaidians, or the proto-Euphratians, as they are sometimes called, caused a hybrid culture to emerge in the mountains. This new cultural phase in Kurdistan comprised of the earlier Halafian heritage, superimposed by this new, but foreign influence. The Ubaid cultural ascendance predominated in most of Kurdistan and Mesopotamia for the ensuing 1000 years.
Of the language and ethnic affiliation of the Ubaidians we know nothing beyond the barest conjecture. However, it is they who gave the names ‘Tigris’ and ‘Euphrates’ to the primary rivers of Kurdistan and Mesopotamia. (footnote 6)
Personally, I have come to suspect that the Ubaidian people may be identical or related to the enigmatic "Khaldi." The Khaldi are well represented in ancient Kurdistan, and were time Kurdicized to survive today as many Kurdish clans and tribes bearing variations of the old name, such as the modern Khallikan.(footnote 7) The modern survivors are found precisely were the classical Graeco-Roman sources recorded the Khaldi around 2000 years ago: mainly in northern and western Kurdistan. In support of this one may note the important fact that as the Ubaidians were found in lowland Mesopotamia as also in highland Kurdistan, the same is true of the Khaldi who were found in large numbers in both regions. Like their highland branch, the lowland Khaldi were also in time assimilated. In Mesopotamia, the Ubaidians were Semitized, becoming known as the celebrated Chaldeans.
The cultural impact of the Ubaidians on the mountain communities, nonetheless, was vast, although apparently it was not particularly deep.
Hurrian Cultural Period.
By approximately 4300 BC, a new culture, and possibly a new people, came to dominate the mountains: the Hurrians.
Of the Hurrians we know much more, and the volume of our knowledge becomes greater as the time becomes more recent. We know, for example, that the Hurrians spread far and wide into the Zagros-Taurus-Pontus mountain systems, and intruded for a time also on the neighboring plains of Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau. However, they never expanded too far from the mountains. Their economy was surprisingly integrated and focused, along with their political bonds, which runs largely parallel with the Zagros-Taurus-Pontus mountains, rather than radiating out to the lowlands, as was the case during the preceding Ubaid cultural period. Mountain-plain economic exchanges remained secondary in importance, judging by the archaeological remains of goods and their origin.
The Hurrians spoke a language, or properly, languages, of the north-eastern group of the Caucasic family of languages, distantly related to modern Chechen, Lezgian and Lakz. Their direction of Hurrian expansion is not yet understood, and by no means should be taken as having been north-south, i.e., an expansion out of the Caucasus, as often is presumed without any evidence. It may well be that it was the prolific Hurrians who introduced Northeast Caucasian languages into the Caucasus, instead of having originated from that tiny, sparsely-populated region.
For a long time the states founded by the Hurrians remained small, until around 2500 BC when larger political-military entities evolved out of the older, Hurrian city-states. Six polities are of special note: Urartu, Mushq/Mushku, Urkish, Subar/Saubar, Baini, Guti/Qutil and Manna. The kingdom of Mushku is now believed to have brought about the final downfall of the Hittites in Anatolia. Their name survives in the city of Mush/Mus in north-central Kurdistan of Turkey. The Subaru who operated from the areas north of modern Arbil in central Kurdistan have left their name in the populous and historic Kurdish tribal confederacy of Zubari, who still inhabit the areas north of Arbil.
The Guti/Qutils of central and southern Kurdistan, after gradually unifying the smaller mountain principalities, became strong enough in 2250 BC to actually annex Sumeria and the rest of lowland Mesopotamia. A Guti/Qutil dynasty ruled Sumeria for 130 years until 2120 BC.
Four legendary emporia, Arrap’ha, Melidi Washukani and Aratta served the Hurrians in their inter-regional trade with the economies outside the mountains. With certainty, Arrap’ha is to be identified with modern Kirkuk, Melidi with Malatya, while Washukani and Aratta are probably to be identified, respectively, with the rich archaeological sites of Godin Teppa (near Kangawar in southeastern Kurdistan, Iran) and Tell Fakhariya (west of Qamishli, in west-central Kurdistan, Syria). By the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the culture and people of Kurdistan appear to have been unified under a Hurrian identity.
The legacy of the Hurrians to the present culture of the Kurds is fundamental. It is manifest in the realm of Kurdish religion, mythology, material and martial arts, and even the genetics. Nearly three-quarters of Kurdish clan names and roughly half of topographical and urban names are also of Hurrian origin, e.g., the names of the clans of Bukhti, Tirikan, Bazayni, Bakran, Mand; rivers Murad, Balik and Khabur, lake Van; the towns of Mardin, Ziwiya and Dinawar. Mythological and religious symbols present in the art of the later Hurrian dynasties, such as the Mannaeans and Kassites of eastern Kurdistan, and the Lullus of the southeast, present in part what can still be observed in the Kurdish ancient religion of Yazdanism, better-known today by its various denominations as Alevism, Yezidism, and Yarisanism (Ahl-i Haqq).
It is fascinating to recognize the origin of many tattooing motifs still used by the traditional Kurds on their bodies as replicas of those which appear on the Hurrian figurines. One such is the combination that incorporates serpent, sun disc, dog and comb/rain motifs. In fact some of these Hurrian tattoo motifs are also present in the religious decorative arts of the Yezidi Kurds, as found most prominently at the great shrine at Lalish.
By the end of the Hurrian period, Kurdistan seem to have been culturally and ethnically homogenized to form a single civilization which was identified as such by the neighboring cultures and peoples. Sumerians, for example, called everybody in the Kurdish mountains as "Subaru," while the Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians used the term "Guti/Qutil." To the ancient Jews, they were are all the "Qarduim." All these ancient appellations have modern representatives in the names of major Kurdish clans, and were by no means the artifacts of the imagination of those early Mesopotamians. The lowlanders of Mesopotamia must have seen the uniformity of the culture (and presumably the ethnicity) of the peoples of the Kurdish mountains, prompting them to call these mountaineers by a single native ethnic/tribal name that was most familiar to them at any given time. Likewise, today we know all of these same mountain people as Kurds. This portrait of a culturally homogenized Kurdistan was not to last.
The Aryan Period
As early as 2000 BC, the vanguards of the Indo-European speaking tribal immigrants, such as the Hittites and the Mittanis (Sindis), had arrived in southwestern Asia. While the Hittites only marginally affected the mountain communities in Kurdistan, the Mittanis settled inside Kurdistan around modern Diyarbakir, and influenced the natives in several fields worthy of note, in particular the introduction of knotted rug weaving. Even rug designs introduced by the Mittanis and recognized by the replication in the Assyrian floor carvings, remain the hallmark of the Kurdish rugs and kelims. The modern mina khâni and chwar such styles are basically the same today as those the Assyrians copied and depicted nearly 3000 years ago.
The name ‘Mittani’ survives today in the Kurdish clans of Mattini and Motikan/Moti who inhabit the exact same geographical areas of Kurdistan as the ancient Mittani. The name "Mittan," however, is a Hurrian name rather than Aryan. At the onset of Aryan immigration into Kurdistan, only the aristocracy of the high-ranking warrior groups were Aryans, while the bulk of the people were still Hurrian in all manners. The Mittani aristocratic house almost certainly was from the immigrant Sindis, who survive today in the populous Kurdish clan of Sindi—again—in the same area where the Mittani kingdom once existed. These ancient Sindi seem to have been an Indic, and not Iranic group of people, and in fact a branch of the better known Sindis of India-Pakistan, that has imparted its name to the River Indus and in fact, India itself. (footnote 8) While the bulk of the Sindis moved on to India, some wondered into Kurdistan to give rise to the Mittani royal house and the modern Sindi Kurds. Others, still, remained in Europe, and are recorded in the 1st century AD inhabiting the Taiman Peninsula on the Sea of Azov between Russia and Ukraine.
Expectedly, the Mittani pantheon includes names like Indra, Varuna, Suriya and Nasatya is typically Indic. The Mittanis could have introduced during this early period some of the Indic/Vedic tradition that appears to be manifest in the Kurdish religion of Yazdanism.
The avalanche of the Indo-European tribes, however, was to come about 1200 BC, raining havoc on the economy and settled culture in the mountains and lowlands alike. The north was settled by the Haigs who are known to us now as the Armenians, while the rest of the mountains became targets of settlement of various Iranic peoples, such as the Medes, Persian, Scythians, Sarmatians, and Sagarthians (whose name survives in the name of the Zagros mountains).
By 850 BC, the last Hurrian states had been extinguished by the invading Aryans, whose sheer number of immigrants must have been considerable. These succeeded over time to change the Hurrian language(s) of the people in Kurdistan, as well as their genetic make-up. By about the 3rd century BC, the Aryanization of the mountain communities was virtually complete.
Since the star of the Mittani shown brightest in 1500 BC, Aryan dynasties of various size and influence continued their appearance in various corners of Kurdistan. None, however, was to match, and in fact surpass the Mittanis as the Medians. The rise of the Medes from their capital at Ecbatana (modern Hamadan) in 727 coincided with the fall of the last major Hurrian kingdom: the Mannaeans. Ignoring the proud legacy of the Hurrian states and even the Aryan empire of the Mittanis which can squarely be claimed by on every ground by modern Kurds, it is the Medes that the Kurds have grown most fund of. Medes are claimed regularly by the Kurds and pronounced by others to be the ancestors of them. This is strange, when realizing how many millennia of cultural and ethnic evolution preceded the rise of Medes into Kurdistan. In reality, Medes are no more the ancestors of the modern Kurds as all other Halafian, Hurrian and Mittani who came before them or the legion of other peoples and states that came after them. Nonetheless, today, even the first Kurdish satellite television transmitter is given the name "Med TV" (Kurdish for "Median TV"). Fascination of the Kurds with the Median Federation (a.k.a., Empire) that ended in 549 BC remains supreme, indeed.
It is surprising to most that among the Kurds the Aryan cultural was and still remains secondary to that of the Hurrians. Culturally, Aryan nomads brought very little with to add to what they found already present in the Zagros-Taurus region. As has been the case, cultural sophistication and civilization are not what nomads are known for. On the contrary, nomads are inclined to annihilate what settled life and culture they find in their path as adversaries for possession of land and political dominance. We have no ample evidence, including a bona fide economic dark age lasting for roughly 500 years in the areas touched by the Aryans, that they behaved much the same barbarian way.
The Aryan influence on the local Hurrian Kurdish people must have been very similar to what transpired in Anatolia 2,500 years later when the Turkic nomads broke in after the battle of Manzikert in AD 1071. Much insight can be learned from this more recent nomadic dislocation for the older, murkier Aryan episode. Following the Manzikert, the Turkic nomads gradually imparted their language to all the millions of civilized, sophisticated Anatolians whom they converted from Christianity to their own religion of Hanafi Sunni Islam. Almost everyone in Anatolia gradually assumed a new Turkish identity when converted to Islam. But, this did not mean that the old cultural, human and genetic legacy ceased to exist. On the contrary, the rich and ancient Anatolian cultures and peoples continued their existence under the new Turkish identity, albeit, with the addition of some genetic and cultural material brought over by the nomads.
Architecture, domestic and monumental, decorative arts, farming techniques, herding practices, and religion remained much the same in Kurdistan following Aryan settlement, while the people progressively came to speak the Indo-European, Iranic language of these Aryan immigrants, admit new deities into their earlier Hurrian pantheon, and become lighter in their complexion. No abrupt change is encountered in the culture of Kurdistan while this linguistic and genetic shift was taking place under the Aryan pressure, barring the appearance of the so-call, "gray ware" pottery.
Near every thing in the contemporary culture of the Kurds can be traced to this massive Hurrian substructure, with the Aryan superstructure generally quite superficial and "skin deep"—to use a pun, in many fundamental ways. Even the time-honored Kurdish tactic of guerrilla warfare finds its roots among the Hurrian Gutis long before its was put into good use as a well-tested and developed tactic by the Median Cyaxares in this Assyrian campaigns in 612 BC. In the Bisitun inscription, the Persian king Darius I also makes note of this battle tactic used by the mountaineers against his forces, calling the guerrillas the kara (a lexical cognate of the term, "guerrilla"). Eight hundred years later, King Ardasher, founder of the Persian Sasanian dynasty, faces the same defensive tactics by the Kurds. The term he uses for them is jan-spâr, which means almost identical with the modern term Kurds give their guerrilla warriors: the peshmerga.
So far the victory cylinder of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I (r. 1114-1076 BC) is the oldest record of the incidence of the ethnic name of the Kurds. It records the "Kurti" or "Qurtie" among the peoples whom the king conquered in his mountain campaigns south of the Lake Van region. The more exact location of these "Kurti" is given by the same document as Mt. Azu/Hazu. We are extraordinarily lucky that this "address" was still current until about sixty years ago—over 3100 years after Tiglath-pileser I. The town of Kurti in the Mt. Hizan region south of Lake Van is the same as the "Kurti in the Mt. Azu" of the Assyrians. The town of Kurti was still serving as a seat of a Kurdish princely house when the Kurdish historian Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi added the dynasty’s history into his celebrated history, the Sharafnâma, in 1597. This "birthplace" of the Kurds continued to be known with the archaic name until the Turkish government changed its name and that of its eponymous river, respectively, to Aksar (at 38.30 N, 42.49 E) and Büyük river in the 1930s. The oldest Kurdish place name—its "birth place" thus joined history so recent in history.
The Akkadian term "Kurti" denoted vaguely and indeterminate portion or groups of inhabitants of the Zagros (and eastern Taurus) mountains. To their very end in the 6th century BC, on the other hand, the Babylonians loosely (and apparently pejoratively) called most every body who lived in the Zagros-Taurus system a "Guti", including the Medes! But Babylonian records also attest to many more specific subdivisional names such as the Mardi, Kardaka, Lullubi and Qardu, the last three of which have all been used frequently in the needless controversy over the roots and antiquity of the ethnic term ‘Kurd,’ and the question of the presence of a general ethnic designator.
By the 3rd century BC, at any rate, the very term Kurd (or rather "Kurti") had been conclusively established. Polybius (d. ca. 133 BC) in his history when reporting on the events of 221-220 BC, (footnote 9) and Strabo (d. ca. AD 48) in his geography (footnote 10) are the earliest Western sources I am aware of to have made mention of the Kurds with their present ethnic name, albeit, in latinized form Cyrtii, "the Kurti." Historians Livy, Pliny, Plutarch, and much later, Procopius also mention this ethnic name for the native population of Media and parts of Anatolia for the classical times. Ptolemy inadvertently provides us with an array of Kurdish tribal names, when he records them as they appear as toponyms for where the tribe resided. Bagraoandene for the Bagrawands or Bakrans of Diyarbakir, Belcanea for the Belikans of Antep, Tigranoandene for the Tirigans of Hakkari, Sophene for the Subhans of Elazig, Derzene for the Dersimis and Bokhtanoi for the Bokhti (Bohtans) etc. These tribes are still with us today.
When the Aryan Medes and Persians arrived on the eastern flanks of the Zagros around 1000 BC, a massive internal migration from the eastern Taurus and northern and central Zagros toward the southern Zagros was in progress. By the 6th century BC, many large tribes which we now find among the Kurds were also present in southern Zagros, in Fars and even Kirman. As early as the 3rd century BC, the "Kurtioi" are reported by the Greek, and later Roman authors (in the Latin form of "Cyrtii") to inhabit as much the southern Zagros (Persis or Pars/Fars) as the central and northern Zagros (Kurdistan proper). This was to continue for another millennium, by which time, the ethnic name of "Kurd" had become established for nearly all if not all inhabitants of the mountains, from the Straits of Hormuz to the heart of Anatolia. Northern Zagros and Anatolia once teamed with various and related groups of people speaking Iranic tongue(s). By about 2000 years ago, many of these, such as the Iranic Pontians, Commagenes, Cappadocians, the western Medes and the Indic Mitannis, like the earlier Hurrian Mannas, Lullus, Saubarus, Kardakas, and Qutils, had been totally absorbed into a new Kurdish ethnic pool. These are among many mountain-inhabiting peoples whose assimilation has formed genetically, culturally, socially and linguistically the contemporary Kurds. The Kurdish diversity of race, tradition and spoken dialects encountered today point to the direction of this compound identity.
Reflecting on the gradual and organic assimilation of one of these groups into the larger Kurdish ethnic pool, Pliny the Elder (d. AD 79) tries to reconcile what appeared to him to be rather a name-change for a familiar people. Enumerating the nations of the known world, he states, "Joining on to Adiabene [central Kurdistan centered on Arbil] are the people formerly called the Carduchi [the Kardukh] and now the Cordueni past whom flows the river Tigris…" (footnote 11)
These Carduchi mentioned by Pliny are the same people whom Xenophon and his fellow ten thousand Greek troops had encountered nearly three centuries earlier when retreating through Kurdistan in 401 BC. Xenophon called them the “Kardukhoi” The name is likely the same as that of ‘Kardaka,’ (the people who provided a part of the Babylonian royal guards before 530 bc), and the ‘Qarduim’ (mentioned frequently in the Talmud). (footnote 12)
The early Islamic sources enumerate tens of Kurdish tribes and family clans outside Kurdistan proper in the southern Zagros, the Caucasus, Elburz, Taurus and Amanus mountains. In time, however, all of these assimilated into the local. This fact has been an unwarranted source of puzzlement for many modern writers on Kurdish history. Unaware of the history and extent of early Kurdish migrations and finding, at present, very few Kurds in these other mountain areas, they have often drawn the wrong conclusion that the term "Kurd" could not have been an ethnic name but rather a designator for all mountain nomads in general. This facile hypothesis is hardly worthy of refutation, realizing that no such doubt is cast on any other mobile nations such as the Turks and that Arabs who have spread and contracted periodically over thousands of miles of territory. (footnote 13)
From the time the Kurds are Aryanized until the 16th century of our era, the Kurdish culture remained basically unchanged, despite introduction of new empires, religions, and immigrants. The Kurds remained primarily followers of the ancient, Hurrian religion of Yazdanism, spoke an Iranic language that the medieval Islamic sources termed Pahlawani. Pahlawani survives today in the dialects of Gurani and Dimili (Zaza) on the peripheries of Kurdistan. Only the loss of Kurds of the southern Zagros through their metamorphosis into Lurs and a fresh expansion of Kurds into Elbruz and Pontus mountains that are noteworthy events.
Semitic and Turkic Periods
After the Aryan settlement, Kurdistan continued to receive new peoples and cultural influences, none however, strong enough to alter the Kurdish cultural and ethnic identity as did the Aryans. Large numbers of Aramaic-speaking people seem to have only settled in more accessible valleys of western Kurdistan. Through the introduction of Judaism, and later Christianity, some Kurds, however, came to relinquish Kurdish and spoke Aramaic instead despite the paucity of the Aramaic demographic element. It is fascinating to note through examining contemporary Kurdish culture that Judaism appear to have exercised a much deeper and more lasting influence on the Kurdish indigenous culture and religion than Christianity, despite the fact that most ethnic neighbors of the Kurds between 5th and 12th centuries were Christians.
The role of the Arabs and the impact of Islam on the Kurdish society and culture is less difficult to survey. The Arabian peninsula was experiencing a runaway population explosion when the advent of Islam translated that pressure into a massive outburst of Arabian nomads and brought about their settlement of foreign lands. In Kurdistan Arab tribes settled near almost every major town and agricultural center. By the 10th century, the Islamic historians and geographers report Arabian populations living among the Kurds from northern shores of Lake Van to Dinawar and from Hamadan to Malatya. These eventually assimilated, living behind only their genetic imprint (as the darker-complected city Kurds), and bequeathing of two exotic Semitic sounds into the speech of many Kurds: glottal a and h.
The same fleeting influence was true of the Turkic settlement of Kurdistan and its cultural impact. Several centuries of Turkic nomadic passage through Kurdistan beginning with the 12th century, wrecked havoc with the settled Kurds and their economy, as the Aryan migrations had done so 2500 years earlier. The Turkic cultural legacy was in itself nil, but the forces of internal change it unleashed within the Kurdish society turned out to be nearly as decisive as the Aryan invasion and settlement. Kurdistan would surely have turkified under this tremendous nomadic pressure and destructiveness, had it not been for one group of Kurdish nomads, the energetic Kurmanj, who emerged from the Hakkari highlands to fill nearly every niche left vacant by the agriculturist Kurds and less energetic nomads under the Turkic pressure. The Turkic nomads were primarily steppe nomads, and proved less of a match for the Kurmanj mountain nomads in the rough terrain of Kurdistan. Some Kurds were Turkified to be sure; e.g., the populous tribes of Dimbuli, Sheqaqi, Barani and Jewanshir. Conversely, many Kurdish tribes with Turkic names (e.g., Karachul, Chol, Oghaz, Jambul, Devalu, Ivä, Karaqich and Chichak) are in fact assimilated Turkish and Turcoman tribes who have left behind only their names and were in every other respect kurdicized.
This massive tribal dislocation that could have subsided over time took a new and more destructive turn by the advent of a century-long holocaust in Kurdish and Armenian territories in eastern Anatolia in the 16th century. The decisive turn for massive nomadization of the Kurdish was made by the long Perso-Ottoman wars and particularly the Safavids’ "scorched-earth" policy. More importantly still was the deadly economic blow brought about by the shift for the sea transport of the East-West commerce which also commenced at the turn of the 16th century. Together they heralded the beginning of the end for much of the social fabric and sophisticated culture of Kurdistan as it had existed since the time of the Medes. The agriculturist, urban-based Kurdish culture and society was to shift to a nomadic economy under a newly assumed identity. The nomadized Kurdish farmers eventually accepted the Shafiite Sunni Islam from the Kurmanj nomads and began speaking the vernacular of Kurmanji, a close kin to the old Pahlawani. In time, the older Kurdish society—religion and language notwithstanding—was marginalized and physically pushed to the peripheries of Kurdistan. At present, over three-quarters of the Kurds speak various dialects of Kurmanji and similar numbers practice Shafiite Sunni Islam. In a sense, the "Kurmanj" assimilated the "Kurds," and in the process they assumed the old ethnic name and inherited all that was left of the older culture. Until only 50 years ago, a vast majority of the "Kurds" would identify themselves as Kurmanj and their language as Kurmanji. It was the outsiders and the educated that continued to uniformly call them Kurds, regardless of the dialect they spoke, religion they practiced, or the economic life style they followed. In the past 50 years, however, the term Kurmanj as an ethnic designator has been ruthlessly suppressed by the native population themselves and their leadership in favor of the time-honored term, "Kurd." Only in the most remote areas in the mountains and the detached but populous Kurdish exclave in Khurasan and Turkmenistan is the term "Kurmanj" given routinely by the common people for their ethnic affiliation. This too is disappearing fast under the influence of the educated Kurds.
There is, as should be expected, a strong correlation between practice of ancient Yazdani religion and the speaking of Pahlawani, as there is also a close connection between being a Muslim and speaking Kurmanji. The shift from the former to the latter identity in Kurdistan is accelerating, and seems destined to totally submerge the residual Pahlawani-Yazdani identity of the older Kurdistan. Only a shrinking number of Kurds still speak Pahlawani in the form of the dialects of Dimili (Zaza) in far northwestern Kurdistan in Turkey, and as Gurani, Laki and Hewrami (Awramani) in southeastern Kurdistan in Iran and Iraq. The old religion of Yazdanism is still practiced as Alevism, Yezidism and Yarisanism (the Ahl-i Haqq) denominations, but these too are shrinking in number and import.
With introduction of modern age communication systems into the Kurdish society, the process of cultural and ethnic homogenization of the Kurds has inevitably accelerated. The last step in the evolution of Kurdish cultural and ethnic identity is near completion today. The Kurdish ethnic identity is thus destined to comprise Kurmanji-speaking, Shafiite Muslim people, the last layer to be added to the many former layers which, in combination, render the Kurds what and who they are today: the heirs to millennia of cultural and genetic evolution of the native inhabitants of the Zagros-Taurus mountain systems.
(From a Lecture given at Harvard University, 10 March 1993.)
01. Julian Reade, Mesopotamia (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), 17.
02. Michael Roaf,Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (New York: Equinox-Oxford, 1990), 49.
03. James Mellaart, The Neolithic of the Near East (New York: Scribner, 1975).
04. E.g., T. Cuyler Young, T., "The Iranian Migration into the Zagros," Iran V (1967); ); Cuyler Young, T., "Population Dynamics and Philosophical Dichotomies," in L.D. Levine and T.C. Young, Jr., eds., Mountains and Lowlands: Essays in the Archaeology of Greater Mesopotamia (Malibu, California: Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, vol. 7, 1977); Smith, P., "Iran 9000-4000 BC," Expedition 13 (1971 Bridsell, J.B., "Some Population Problems Involving Pleistocene Man," Population Studies: Animal Ecology and Demography, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia in Quantitative Biology 22 (Cold Spring, Colorado, 1957; and particularly, Smith, P. and T. Cuyler Young, "The Force of Numbers: Population Pressure in the Central Zagros 12000-4500 BC," The Hilly Flanks, Essays on the Prehistory of Southwestern Asia (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1982).
05. Charles Reed, "A Review of the Archaeological Evidence on Animal Domestication in the Prehistoric Near East," in R. Braidwood and B. Howe, eds., Prehistoric Inveestigation in Iraqi Kurdistan (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1960), 128.
06. As well as the names of almost all the cities that we now recognize as Sumerian.
07. Khaldi>Kalli+the clan suffix, kan>Khallikan.
08. What is known to the west as River Indus, is River Sindh to the natives of the Indian Subcontinent. Southern third of Pakistan is still the realm of the Sindhi people and is knwon by that name. The name "India" is, meanwhile, derived from Sindh through the Old Persian conversion of the initial letter s to h (a common practice in that language), to produce Hind. The ancient Greeks, meanwhile, took up this Persian rendition of the name (i.e., Hind), and dropped the initial letter h (as is common in that language), coming up with name "Ind," plus the Greek suffix us, to get "Indus".
09. Polybius.Histories, V.52.
10. Strabo, Geography, V.xi.13.2-3; VII.xv.15.1.
11. Pliny. Natural History VI.xviii.46.
12. In the 20th century, many hypotheses have been advanced to connect the name Kurd to that of the ancient Hurrian Guti (Hallo, 1971) or the "Kardukhoi" of the Greek historian Xenophon (Cawkwell, 1979), none of which can any longer be maintained in light of discovery of the aformentioned Assyrian stele. The name Guti, at any rate, survives today clearly in the name of the Kurdish clan of Judikan, inhabiting the heartland of the ancient Gutis in southeatern Kurdistan. The "Kardukhoi" who come to subsequently be known as the Gordyene to the classical authors, are none other than the predecessors of modern Girdi clan of Kurds who still reside exactaly where the ancient Kardukhoi/Godyene were found. The name "Kurti/Kurd" seem likely to be of Aryan origin—one of the first, in fact, in Kurdistan—instead of the far more common Hurrian clan names encountered at all periods until today and including the Khardukhoi and Guti.
13. No "proof" beyond a single, vague phrase by a medieval Persian writer, Hamza Isfahani, has ever been produced to support the idea that "Kurd" was not an ethnic designator. Hamza states that "The Persians call the Daylamites the ‘Kurds of Tabaristan’, and the Badouin the ‘Kurds of Assyria’." What some medieval Persian did or did not according to Hamza is hardly material to the Kurds and their ethnic history. Other, far more respected medieval historian such as Tabari, Ya’qubi, Mas’udi, Yaqut, Jayhani, Juwayni, Rawandi, Miskiwayh and Mustawfi, arry the Kurds alongside the Arabs and Turks as bona finde ethnic groups. | <urn:uuid:9b49cf5c-c696-4b22-9edd-8b7033a7c323> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://en.kurdland.com/history.asp?id=1027 | 2015-03-29T06:02:55Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298228.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00082-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955557 | 8,500 |
Ronald J. Riley is threatening to close down this blogspot:
"I could bring a lawsuit and force each of the service providers to give up their server logs. Or I can pass your communications to law enforcement at no personal cost :-)"
Disclaimer: The following information has simply been collected from other blogs and websites. If you have been threatened by Ronald J. Riley or his alias "Inventor Ed", please send all information to: [email protected]
9/6/10: "Dozier Sues College Dropout for Trademark Infringement"
"The lawsuit alleges that Ronald J. Riley has "perpetrated one of the most successful business credential frauds
ever committed upon the inventor and entrepreneur community." "Around 1990, Riley was an unemployed
community college dropout living in a mobile home. Using the Internet, he developed an elaborate scheme that
grew in sophistication over the years to portray himself as a renowned and successful inventor. He made money
as a consultant, offering his “feigned expertise” to help inventors and entrepreneurs commercialize their ideas and
Blog Postings & Opinions:
From UT Blog:
Capitalist said... Ronald J Riley is a nutcase. He posted literally thousands of hate-filled accusations against American
Express,including these comments:
"I was implying that the Amex family was in-breeding."
“If I am in the mood for a bit of fun I stick the phone between my legs and pass gas.”
“I have the ear of tens of thousands of people in the inventor community.”
"I have been kicking the tar out of NWA for about eight years and they have been totally powerless to stop me. I estimate that the negative PR has cost NWA millions of dollars.""Is it true that American Express has a breeding program where they are crossbreeding their most obnoxious and ignorant staff to produce a superior race of Amex shills?"
"I am willing to bet that all three of them can't figure out when theyneed to wipe unless head stooge tells them." "I believe that this is their form of foreplay, and that they are getting ready to mate. I surmise that they are planning to produce genetically tailored offspring for American Express."
“The top dogs are most full of dodo and as the dodo spreads out each successively lower tier gets covered.” “To be blunt, I make my living by eating CEO's lunches. I am very good at it.”
“The way you conduct yourself comes across as a young male with raging hormones. Either that or you have one of the worse cases of thingy envy I have ever seen in a women."
"I am a credentialed investigative journalist." This is a SMALL sample of what this idiot posted. To see it all first-hand, just look on amexsux dot com.
There is a search function available. Here's the kicker....someone found out that his claim against American Express was completely bogus!
Riley's response: Capitalist is one of American Expresses' infamous financial advisors. Apparently Amex pays people to try to obscure the issue that their advice leads to high commissions, great Amex profits, and very low returns for the poor slobs who bought them. One of the worst mistakes any new business can make is to get credit from Amex. Stories abound about how Amex suddenly pulls credit lines even when all bills have been paid on time. This often drives the young company into a crisis. And that is then a good excuse for Amex to balloon the interest. Companies go broke as a result of dealing with American Express. Amex commercials about being the choice for small business is all hype and no performance. Ronald J Riley, President
About Riley and his telepathic associate:
From PC ADVISOR: http wwwpcadvisor.co.uk/blogs/index.cfmentryid = 394&blodid=4
Ronald J. Riley Unmasked: "Ronald J. Riley has fleeced inventors for thousands of dollars by using Internet sites and free time to prey
upon the unsuspecting. Claiming to rub elbows with politicians, no politician claims knowledge of Riley.
He co-owns InventorEd & Professional Inventors Alliance (PIA) with the infamous Penny Ballou. A self-
proclaimed scientologist with the ability to communicate telepathically over 1000’s of miles.Together they generate insufficient income to file taxes and have been unwilling to disclose the use of
donated funds. We have never found Riley claims to be true and no source political or otherwise claim to
have received funds from Riley for the purpose of furthering any inventor cause. Based upon their income
levels it is now suspected that both Riley and Bellou use funds for personal bills in hopes of perpetuating
the scam and finding a wealthy unsuspecting inventor who will donate large sums."
From: UT Blog
I know Riley. All day long he sits at his computer spewing nonsense on on every blog that will allow him to
participate. Even a former Director of his "Board" thinks he's a fool (and has posted his comments about how
'pig-headed' Riley is). His good friend Penny Ballou, is a 'telepathic Scientologist' who has been involved with
Riley's schemes for years. Riley is a genius at exaggerating and convincing others that he has accomplished great
things. This is how he rakes in donations and fees. In reality, he hasn't sold one invention that anyone can verify.
All he talks about is his great success with Grandma Tibbetts and how much he hates Skippy Peanut Butter
(among a hundred other companies). He has no verifiable success as an inventor. He doesn't seem to know
anymore about the patent system than anyone who has read the Patent Office's free booklets. There is no one
better at faking the part of a patent expert than Riley. But, the people who know him, understand
what an awful human being he truly is.
Ronald J. Riley & Bob Lougher by Alice B.
Ronald J. Riley's ineffective (bogus) companies had close ties with Bob Lougher and UIAUSA.org. Lougher is a
former employee of an invention marketing scam (the type of company Riley claims to despise). Yet, there
appears to be a close relationship between Riley and Lougher. Riley describes his relationship with Lougher on
his website "InventorEd". So, the question must be asked, does UIAUSA.org take money from inventor's in the
same way that Riley's organizations appear to? The Attorney General of Michigan (Riley's State) and Attorney
General of New York (UIAUSA's Domicile) should launch an inquiry into the questionable activities of
PIAUSA. org (Riley's group) and UIAUSA.org. and their very clever practice of accepting huge "donations"
from inventors and others. What the heck are all these donations being used for? Is the money being reported to
the IRS as income or chartible donations? I would guess that Bob Lougher did what Riley has done: taking the
name of a formerly reputable organization, and using its prior reputation to front as a new legitimate entity (but,
with very different intentions). By hiding behind the name of a defunct - once reputable organization - the new
administrators (usually high-pressure salesman) can prey on the innocent inventor and extract thousands of
dollars from him. How is this possible? Let's look at the type of "donations" UIAUSA wants you to donate to
Corporate Sponsor Gold:
More than $10,000.00
Bronze: $ 5,000.00 - $9,000.00
Patron: $2,000.00 per YEAR
Banner ads: $500.00 every (3) months or $1500.00 per year.
And this is just the beginning. UIAUSA offers patent searches, marketing evaluations, and all kinds of invention
marketing services - just like the invention-scam artists they are denouncing! So much for taking the moral high-
ground, and warning inventors about all the scams out there!They are also trying to circumvent the invention
development laws by claiming to be a non-profit organization. Meanwhile, PIAUSA and UIAUSA should
not be exempt from State & Federal regulations, and should be pursued by the FTC.
UIAUSA claims to have (5) success stories about successful inventions that no one has heard of. The FTC
should investigate whether any of these people ever made a dime as a result of buying UIAUSA's services.
UIAUSA is selling patent searches for $550 with the disclaimer that they can renegotiate this price if they want
to. Usually non-profit organizations do not sell patent searches to the public - and if they do, they are not allowed
to split fees with patent attornys performing the patent search. If UIAUSA is "fee-splitting" with patent lawyers;
The US Patent and Trademark office (Dept. OED) should be notified immediately.
For $312 they will sell you a marketing evaluation which tells you about your possible chances of
commercializing your invention. However, instead of calling your payment - 'a fee'; they call it "an investment".
This investment buys you worthless written material and some guesswork about your possibility of success(in
percentages!). Considering the fact that 98% of all patents fail (that's 2% out of approx. 6M) - your chances of
success are not very good. In fact, your chances of success are much better if you try to market your invention
yourself. Just hire a legitimate patent lawyer and a find company to build a prototype. Next, identify companies
that could manufacture your product, and contact them to see if they'll set-up a meeting with you (most large
companies have strict policies about NOT accepting outside inventions). If you're fortunate enough to find a
company who will meet with you, ask them to sign a confidentiality (non-disclosure) agreement (which your
patent attorney will provide for you). After the company signs this non-disclosure form - you can meet with the
company (along with your attorney) and disclose the details of your invention (bring your working prototype with
you). If the company is interested, let your patent attorney negotiate with the company (you always have the right
to accept or reject any deal). But, don't be greedy, and listen to your attorney's advice.
Now - THAT's HOW YOU DO IT. Anyone - who tells you otherwise, is either a fool, or is trying to rip you
off!!!! So, you certainly don't need UIAUSA to take your hard-earned money. All you'll be buying is the old
invention-development model that is preying on your hopes and dreams. It's the oldest trick in the 'invention-
marketing scam' book!
Now - what the heck is UIAUSA doing with all these donations of $10,000, 5,000, 2,000 per annum? and what
about all these other "investments" that they are lining their pockets with? Does it cost 'hundreds of thousands' of
dollars to run a non-profit website? No, it costs about $20 a month for web-hosting these days. WHERE IS
THE REST OF THE MONEY GOING? "The simplest answer is usually the correct one" (Occam's Razor).
And finally, the public needs to understand that this age-old invention marketing scam has taken a new form.
Now, the game (for former invention-marketing salesmen) is to form a non-profit organization, work with a
retired oddball patent lawyer, and offer the same old one-two punch: $300 for a boilerplate invention evaluation,
and then $3,000 - $30,000 for a marketing program (leading to a guaranteed failure).
Now listen: these invention marketing programs do not work -they have never worked - and they will never
work. And now - unfortuantely - a new, sad day has dawned in the invention-development world. These
huxsters have figured-out a way to gain the inventor's trust and collect huge donations from the unsuspecting
inventor. And, so here are the state-of-the-art deceptions: PIAUSA.org and UIAUSA.org
This is only my opinion - you decide for yourself.
Charlie Henderson said... "After reading this blog I wanted to do my own research into Ronald J. Riley and/or InventorED. I found something interesting information at: www.JustGive.org where he is asking for contributions to InventorED.
Also, when he is asking for money for his other group, PIAUSA, he says his direct telephone number is in Washington, DC, but here he says his direct phone number is in Grand Blanc, Micigan. So, where is this guy?
Notice that Ronald J. Riley does not disclose how much money he collects from people each year. In fact, he doesn't want to disclose any finanicial information about his organization to anybody. What is he trying to hide? " From: justgive dot org Fiscal Year: Information not available
Assets: Information not available (from IRS BMF)
Income: $0 (from the IRS BMF) No. of Board Members: 3 No. of Full-Time Employees: 0
No. of Part-Time Employees: 0 'This organization is seeking funds from contributions and grants. These funds will be used for unrestricted operating expenses, special projects and endowments.' "The whole thing sounds fishy to me."
From various blogs where Riley posts his opinions:
Don't Join PIAUSA
Reader post by: williamscottesq
Watch your wallet. Hold onto your credit card. Ronald J. Riley's organization wants your money. That's why he wants the unsuspecting public to "donate" to "PIAUSA".
After reading his posts over the last several years, the reader will be able to judge the motives and intentions of this individual. Mr. Ronald Riley has a very creative imagination. He's copied information from the public domain onto his websites and makes unsubstantiated claims about how he fights for individual inventor. The only problem is, there's no verifiable proof that any of his claims are true!
It seems that the only area in which he excels is posting his verbiage on all the patent blogs trying to solicit "donations" from the naive inventor. He does this by constantly promoting his organization PIAUSA.
Mr. Riley has a long history of constantly trying to collect money for his websites and organizations. Please ask Mr Riley how your money will be spent, and have him send you an email stating that none of your funds will be spent on his personal expenses.
Also, ask how he has spent past "donations". Please do not give any money to Riley until you check him out thoroughly. Mr. Riley should disclose exactly how much money he's collected from the public, and how the money is spent.
Any legitamate non-profit group will give you this information. Riley is a very clever fellow and he's very good at playing the part of "patent advocate", but don't be fooled - there's no track record here of licensing patents, backing individual inventors or earning royalties.
From Engadget.com blog:
Ronald J. Riley is your A-Typical Inventor who is a complete moron and has no idea how to deal with the real world. He claims to have helped people secure license agreements, because they have the best idea. BULL. Ron Riley and "InventorEd" is a joke to all but 1% of inventors and patent holders. Do yourself a favor and hire someone to help you get your product or patent to market, not Ronald J. Riley.
From Techdirt by Mike:
If you read the comments on this site regularly -- especially concerning posts having to do with patents or the patent system -- you're probably quite familiar with a guy named Ronald J. Riley. He's quite the character. He's also quite the fan of the existing patent system. He's started a bunch of different "organizations" supposedly to protect the patent system, though there are plenty of accusations that Riley's main focus in life is getting unsuspecting inventors to give him money. Someone has even created a site cataloguing Riley's ridiculous statements. It's not clear what Riley has actually done in his life, but he has been effective over the years in using his made up organizations to give himself an air of legitimacy, which often gets him quoted in the press on patent issues, despite showing a consistently poor understanding of the process of innovation, technology and the patent system itself.
Techdirt: Arnold Kempler:
Riley is a Cyber-Bully if ever there was one. He could be the poster child. IMO here are the issues that Riley must overcome:
1) commercial disparagement;
2) slander & libel;
3) copyright & trademark infringement;
4) misrepresentation of invention services;
5) offering patent advice without a law license;
6) offering to help inventors market their inventions without complying with State & Federal law.
7) not disclosing all income received;
8) misrepresentation as a non-profit organization;
9) Cyber-Bullying and;
10) misrepresentation of his credentials to Federal & State authorities.In my opinion, Dozier is not suing Riley because he is a pest. There's so much more information you need to be aware of.
Riley has been accepting 'donations' of sizeable amounts (some believe in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars) for the last 15 years. These 'contributions' come from unsuspecting inventors and others, who truly believe in his expertise as a successful inventor. Riley has no financial success as an inventor, and no true expertise in the field. He's not a lobbyist and not a graduate of MIT. In other words, anyone could create a website with publicily available patent information, and pretend to be a patent expert (and rake in 'donations').
Mr Riley has 5 patents pertaining to rail transportation (4892980, 4919057, 4924164, 48984521, 553260) four of which were assigned to J. N. Fauver Company in Michigan. This is the only deal Riley ever had and it was scrapped by the company. This is also where his hatred for corporations began. Riley believed that he cornered the market for highspeed rail technology. The truth is that this frist-semister, jr. college drop-out couldn't engineer a highspeed rail improvement if it was a divine gift. Obviously these patents were never produced and they were never brought to market. Riley has no experience, no success and no credentials. He is an incompetent loser that could not live with his failure so he lashes-out at everything. He is an angry little man who finds revenge bullying while he hides behind his keyboard. Legislation needs to be enacted against Nut-cases like Riley. His neurosis has no place in IP, invention or the business environment.
Blog postings about Ronald J. Riley (with replies):
It’s one thing to be an advocate for a cause, and another thing to use deceptive tactics. He makes false accusations to make himself appear as a hero. Ronald J. Riley has posted his web addresses here for his own self promotion, and even though he says he’s a succesful inventor, he offers no proof that he’s ever made a penny in royalties. Basically, this man is deceptive and can’t blog here truthfully. Ronald J. Riley asks for donations on his websites and encourages people to send him money. It is obvious that Ronald J. Riley is always trying to get attention and he’ll say and do anything to get it. Someone should audit the amount money he’s received in donations over the last few years to see what he’s done with this money. Comment by Penny Rogers — March 29, 2006
TechnologyReview.com: Re: Ronald J. Riley
Guest Marcus Anderson: The comment above by Ronald Riley explains why he, and most small inventors, never get anywhere with their inventions. "Inventors have big egos, and I'm no exception" says Riley. "I know inventors who are flat out incapable of working with other people." At least Mr. Riley is being honest when he says he's an egotist. My question is, how does Mr. Riley expect to work with patent lawyers, marketing specialists and possible licensees if he and other small inventors can't get along with anyone? Another question I have is, "why would anyone get a patent in the first palce if they can't work with other people who could help them market it?""After reading Ronald Riley's comments, I agree with him that he has a tremendous ego problem. But with this kind of self grandizement, along comes paranoia, fear and greed. Maybe that's why most small inventors fail. Maybe that's why Mr. Riley will always fail too.
Guest (Arnold Van Kemp):
I agree with your comments about Ronald Riley. He has a very high opinion of himself, but he seems to have nothing to show for it. I have not seen any proof of his expertise in licensing patents or earning royalties for inventors. He certainly believes that he is an expert on patent matters, but where's the proof? After reading his articles, I'm not convinced that he's had any success in this field, even though he wants others to believe otherwise. The most disturbing part of his "work" comes in the form of many "sux.com" websites that would cause any rational person to question Ronald J. Riley's credibility. No one has to be an egotist to be successful. Being proud to be an egotist is Mr. Ronald Riley's downfall and one day he will receive back what is coming to him.
1) There is a delicate balance between exercising an appropriate degree of caution and taking steps to protect one’s interests and being too paranoid. Most certainly I have known inventors who were unable to succeed do to paranoia. Conversely, those who did not recognize that producing an invention of value will draw the attention of patent pirates generally get blind sided and fail. There is a balance which leads to success while being too trusting or being excessively distrustful clearly leads to failure. 2) Ego is not unique to inventors. All one has to do is spend some time lobbying government or working with entrepreneurs to recognize that ego abounds. The lesson is that it takes incredible determination to succeed in any high stakes venture and ego plays a big role in such success. Ego can also be the cause of failure. Once again it is balance which determines if ego helps or hinders.
Ronald J. Riley
From U. T. Blog:
Ronald J. Riley is one of the meanest, irrational and intensely bitter human beings that you'll ever encounter. He has nothing better to do than to harass people and companies on the internet. He's never made a single penny from his "inventions". He lies, twists, manipulates, needles, harrasses, and purposely attacks people for the just for the thrill of it. He recently posted malicious comments all over the internet about a well-respected school teacher that he didn't like. He maintains many websites that attack amex, skippy, northwest air, ameriprise and countless numbers of people who don't agree with him. Mr. Riley seriously needs medication for his delirium. Just look at any of his websites and you'll be able to tell right away, that this is one angry, insecure, petty, insignificant, whimpy, little man who's trying to make himself feel important.
Franklin Willimas said...
You probably won't be hearing from Ronald J. Riley anymore because you called his bluff. He's moved on to other blogs where people don't question his "authority". You've raised some excellent points and he doesn't want to admit that he's altered the language of the law on his website. But, I've read his other posts, and this is his typical modus operendi. I don't think you're dealing with a stable individual here. Have you seen his amexsux, inventored, northworstair and skippy-scam websites? He's a real piece of work.
Riley admits taking $ from Inventors:
"InventorEd.org does take donations from individual inventors but such donations only supply about 10% of our operating budget. No I am not a patent practioner. But I am a commercially successful independent inventor. I do depend on a multitude of patent practioners for expert advice. And when it comes to public policy issues I have depended on recently deceased former patent commissioner Don Banner and top IP law experts Irving Kayton and James Chandler. In addition Pat Choate is deeply involved in the public policy aspects of both InventorEd.org and PIAUSA.org.My bio is available at www.rjriley.com/about-rjriley. I am listed in a multitude of Marquis Who's Who publications. I do highly value First Amendment rights."
Ronald J. Riley
William Scott Esq. said...
Here is reply to Mr. Ronald J. Riley's post on CircleID's blog after he read my post about criticizing his lack of qualifications for offering patent advice:"
In response to Ronald J. Riley, I'm sorry to say that the real "stooge" here is you. But, I'm not surprised by your response. Once again, your natural tendency is to attack and belittle those who try to tell the truth about you. You may be able to fool the naive inventor as well as the novice reporter, but you can't fool patent attorneys or anyone else who has a true understanding of the patent system.On invention-related blogs your tactics are several.
Sometimes, you pose as an innocent inventor who has been taken advantage of. Sometimes, you play the part of the successful inventor who never states the amount of royalties he's received. Other times, you offer baseless predictions about the outcome of selected patent infringement lawsuits.
Other times, you're the vigilant patent reformer who is going to "kill" legislation single handedly. And then, there's the egotistical Ronald J. Riley who knows everything about every patent related issue, and who ceaselessly touts his great accomplishments of which I've seen no proof of whatsoever. I've also seen your contradictory posts on different blogs, your constant pleas for donations, and your tireless attempts at self-promotion.
I've seen your amateurish websites, and have read your inflammatory language and personal biases. I've seen your "amexsux, northworstair, taubman sucks comments, skippy-scam" and other "sux" websites that make you feel important. I can't imagine that anyone takes you seriously. In fact, Mr. Riley, you are your own worst enemy by participating in such pursuits.
When you offer information about invention scams under your fake name "inventor ed", that is actually somewhat of a noble endeavor, but when Ronald J. Riley offers his opinions on patent law, patent infringement, confident predictions on who will prevail in patent infringement cases and advice on licensing matters, you are so far out of your league that sometimes I laugh out loud when I read your posts. I will say this much, you are very entertaining.
You should be careful about offering any patent related advice to anyone. Only registered patent attorneys and patent agents can offer legal advice to individuals on many of the matters that you prattle on about.
If you want to protect small inventors so badly against all the big, bad corporations, why don't you go to law school and become a patent lawyer? Instead of preaching, editorializing and spreading propaganda, you could ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING instead of just writing about what you “know” is going to happen in the future.
Judging from the amount of time you spend promoting yourself and your websites, it appears that you certainly have the time to go to law school. On the other hand, if your blogs are any indication of your reasoning ability, then I seriously doubt you'd make it past the first year.I truly feel sorry for you Mr. Ronald Riley.
If your legacy turns out to be the person whose patent rhetoric never accomplished anything, then you've wasted your life by trying to sound like a patent attorney, but not having the credentials or the knowledge to offer any credible patent advice." From: Business2.0
The above referenced Blog does not belong to me. It was created William Scott Esq. William Scott Esq. is not a registered patent attorney and the only information I could find on him is that he is a disbarred attorney and was also a lobbyist. Perhaps he could be a bit more forth right and tell us who is employing him. This person is also posting under several other aliases. In spite of numerous requests on a number of forums William Scott Esq. has failed to provide any facts to support his claim to have expertise about inventors, patents, or the realities of the trials and tribulations which inventors face.I am the Executive Director of www.InventorEd.org and the President of the Professional Inventors Alliance. I also own several commercial enterprises. InventorEd is a nonprofit with over 500 web pages which exceed 3000 printed pages. It delivers web content to inventors in nearly 80 countries. InventorEd helps aspiring inventors become entrepreneurs.The Professional Inventors Alliance is a trade organization which represents the interests of those inventors who do achieve economic success. We educate and lobby government and work with media to help keep the patent system and other laws and regulations friendly to startup companies.Also, on the issue of rather or not I have expertise. I do speak a many inventor and business associations, and about the time William Scott Esq.was conducting this defamatory campaign I spoke on a panel at Harvard. It would seem that Harvard law school staff thought I had something to offer. A bio is posted at RJRiley.com
Reply by William Scott, Esq.
Dear Mr. Riley,
You constantly amuse me. I had an especially good hardy chuckle when you spoke of your website InventorED. You are quite skillful at stealing information from other websites and compiling thousands of pages of general information which are readily available in the public domain.
Your conceit is also quite comical as you fake the part of playing the successful inventor who has earned royalties from his patents. To date, you have NOT named one of your products that pay you a royalty. I must therefore assume that you are NOT a successful inventor.
If this is the case, then all your self-promotion as a patent expert and all your self-appointed titles such as President, Executive Director, etc. are but a sham to cover up your lack of legal credentials and lack of true financial success. You may be able to convince "Mom & Pop inventors" that you are their savior and a super-hero advocate for change, but you are just fooling these novices as well as yourself.
The fact is, you're doing more harm than good by offering quasi-legal advice when you're not licensed to practice patent law. If one of these novice inventors is foolish enough to follow your layman's advice about patent matters, you shouldn't be surprised if one day they hold you personally responsible for having lost their life savings.
Mr. Riley, you are treading into treacherous waters when you hold yourself out to be an authentic patent expert. One day this approach will backfire and you will surely suffer the consequences.Aside from all your blabber about how everyone's out to get you, I'd like to know what function you think you're providing with all your internet rhetoric?
But - I have to give you credit for being one of the greatest exaggerators I've ever encountered. I'm sure you've convinced reporters, small inventors and inventor clubs that you really know what you're talking about. And, I can see how you're able to fool many people - but, you don't fool me.
Mr. Riley, you should be ashamed of yourself and your useless chatter. You're nothing but a slick spin-doctor as evidenced by your other websites (your Skippy-scam website is a masterpiece of sheer, egotistical propaganda). And now, you say you were busy speaking at Harvard. Ok, that's impressive.
What was the name of the seminar at which you were speaking? What was the exact date? Was it the real Harvard University that sponsored your presentation? What did you speak about? How many people were in attendance? What was the specific topic on which you were speaking? What kind of "panel" did you participate in? Who, on the Harvard law school staff, can attest to actually requesting your presence at this event?
I know you're a very, very busy advocate whose always defending truth, justice and the American inventor, but maybe you could find the time in your busy schedule to answer the questions above. Posted by: William Scott Esq.
From Zdnet blog:
Name: Ronald J Riley
Comment: Patent quality is in the eye of the beholder. Those who prey on inventors portray all patents which they have infringed upon as being poor quality while the patent holders view those patents as being valid. What grinds Intellectual Property Owners ( IPO ) members is that they are predators who get caught filching others property. It is a fact that they settle most of those cases even as they whine that the patents are not valid. And when they do take such cases to trial IPO members often find that they must pay out tens or in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a reason that they lose these cases, and the reason is that many if not most of Intellectual Property Owners members are thieves who have been caught red handed taking others property. There is another side to the so called "patent reform" story. The real story is that what IPO and their predatory corporate members are doing is nothing less than a bald faced attempt to mitigate the consequences of their unethical conduct. I suggest that reading our web site may open everyone's eyes as to what the truth is about the patent deform battle. We are the same group of innovation based small business persons who successfully battled the last attempt to warp our patent system during the 1990's. We expect to hand IPO and their unsavory members another defeat. Also, IPO was founded by former Patent Commissioner Don Banner of Washington, DC based Banner and Witcoff. Don Banner has a long history of defending individual inventors rights. He founded IPO to represent ALL inventors rights and after IPO was taken over by big business Mr. Banner quit the organization in disgust. Today it is important to note that IPO only represents the biggest OWNERS of intellectual property and has a long history of doing it's best to undermine the interests of the creators. Ronald J Riley
Mr. Ronlad J. Riley,
There you go again. In your make-believe world of patent reform you love to blame the big bad "patent pirates", and refuse to understand the real issues at hand.
You continue to parade yourself as a patent expert with no apparent financial success in this field. You are not, therefore, a successful inventor, but rather an unsuccessful inventor who is angry at the system instead of looking in the mirrorJust because your patents are failures, it doesn't mean that corporations are to blame for rejecting you.
In fact, the blame doesn't fall on most corporartions, but rather on The USPTO itself with its infamous track record of issuing almost identical patents. You are so busy belly-aching about the big bad corporations, that you fail to see the root of the problem. The root of the problem is the archaic method in which patent examiners grant patents.
Welcome to the real world Mr. Ronald J. Riley. When the small inventor hires a patent attorney to assist them through the process, they have a much better chance of receiving a patent of value. But, when there are patent impersonaters like yourself misguiding them at every turn, they'll end up broke and miserably disappointed.
How can you claim to be a patent expert without having successfully licensed your patents? And, I'm speaking of authentic royalty agreements, not the kind that someone might forge in their basement.
Why don't you and all your unknown patent organizations concentrate on the real issues. If you were so passionate about your cause, you would start a Foundation that would finance the small inventor and hire true professionals to help them through this complex and perilous process.
My guess is, that you wouldn't want to participate in a such a legitimate venture, because that wouldn't leave you enough time to post ridiculous propaganda on the internet.
William Scott ESQ.
Riley wants to sue the US Patent and Trademark Office
promotetheprogress.com/ original post; Ronald J. Riley wrote:
It is ironic that the memo below had been sent out to our members and media this morning.PIAUSA.org has received credible intelligence that the USPTO has issued internal memos to implement restrictions they proposed limiting claims and continuations in spite of the fact that these rules are overwhelmingly opposed by a broad spectrum of small and large entities. In addition the USPTO has implemented similar restrictions for applications to make special. uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/notices/71fr36323.htm We are seeking collaborators, both those willing to play a public roll and those who will remain anonymous to bring a lawsuit against the USPTO for failure to comply with the regulatory flexibility act. The implications of a successful lawsuit could be to strike down all rulemaking which has been made one calendar year back from the date of filing and to effectively cast a cloud over all rule making made after the date of filing the lawsuit. The agency has failed to comply with the act in a meaningful way since its inception. The agency's conduct regarding rule making, reexaminations, and an increasing tendency to be inappropriately politically influenced has become unbearable and they must be taken to task or they will destroy the essence of what has made both our patent system and America.We are seeking volunteers and contributions to cover legal fees. We are happy to either bring the lawsuit or to be part of a coalition bringing the lawsuit. We do have lawyer volunteers with regulatory flexibility act expertise. Recipients of this memo are free to circulate it.Ronald J Riley #2 At 11:38 AM on July 29, 2006,
William Scott replied:
Once again, Ronald J. Riley is threatening a lawsuit. This time it's against The United States Patent Office. Ronald Riley says he has "credible intelligence", and has gained access to internal memos issued from The Patent Office.
What exactly do these memos say? How did he gain access to them? Is it legal to obtain classified documents from a government agency? Under what circumstances were these documents obtained? Shouldn't "leaks" at The Patent Office be reported to The Department of Commerce? Secondly, Ronald J. Riley says that his organization has "lawyer volunteers" to bring a lawsuit against The Patent Office. In the next sentence, he asks for monetary contributions to cover legal fees. So, which is it? Are the lawyers really volunteers or are they charging legal fees?Another question - and I would truly appreciate an answer - what in heaven's name is your legal basis for such a lawsuit against The USPTO?
Do you and your "volunteer lawyers" think you have even a 1% chance of winning such a case?Why do you send out pleas to collect money from gullible individuals who are being led to believe that such a case can actually be won?
Mr. Ronald J. Riley, or InventorEd, or who ever you are, I know that your first inclination is to sue, threaten, harass and attempt to torture your perceived opponent, but you know that this type of lawsuit is a waste of everyone's time and money.
You should be ashamed of yourself as you constantly solicit donations for your own misguided attempts to find "Ronald Riley styled justice." (ie. let's smoke 'em out of their caves).You continually brag about your organization's lobbying power in Congress and your close relationship with Senators and those in power. If this were truly the case, then your organization's "powerful" lobbying influence would have had some positive effect on the writing of these new Patent regulations. Most people know that this is a political issue that involves influence at the legislative level. Mr. Ronald Riley and his organization have obviously failed at this level, and so he's ready to fight through the judiciary (using other people's money, of course).
Maybe one day, you'll focus in on the root of your problem and sincerely attempt to fix it. And - you won't find it in a court room.
Riley says he has secret sources giving him information:
Response To Ronald J. Riley about Dell Computers:
Well, there you go again. This time it’s Dell who’s the "patent pirate" according Ronald Riley who supplies no evidence or proof of this allegation.
His only "proofs" are his unidentified secret sources who give him unsubstantiated and unverifiable "tips". On one hand, Mr. Ronald J. Riley says that Dell is "pirating" the patent rights of the individual patent holder, and yet on the other hand, he says that the patents that Dell is pirating have resulted in the making of, "shoddy products and that it is a miracle that people have not been maimed or killed by these notebooks."
So, in other words, Dell has pirated patents that cause the making of shoddy and dangerous products? Mr. Riley, I’d like to know something: who are these individual patent holders that have been infringed upon by Dell? What are their patent numbers? What cases has Dell lost in patent infringement lawsuits as a result of "pirating"? I know that you’ll never answer these questions, because verifiable specifics are not part of the admitted "guerilla tactics" used by Ronald J. Riley.
So, let me see if I understand your complaint. You’re saying that Dell "pirates" patents that could cause injury; resulting in lawsuits, stock price decline and a plunge in overall market share. Now, that’s a logical theory, Mr. Riley - do you also believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth?
When you, Mr. Riley have accomplished 1% of what Michael Dell has accomplished over the past ten years, maybe you’ll have a tiny bit of credibility. But, when you and your little known organization, (who’ve had no effect on the re-writing of the new patent rules), stop acting like cry babies and offer some constructive and credible leadership that leads to positive change, maybe you’ll actually do some good. But, as long as you continue to accuse practically every technology company of being, "a patent pirate", it makes one wonder what your true agenda really is.
And then there’s another classic Ronald J. Riley statement in your post, "In fact Dell is a member of the Coalition for Patent Fairness :), a misnomer if I ever saw one. PIAUSA.org (Riley’s group) refers to the group as the Coalition for Patent Piracy. We received a tip some time ago that members of the Coalition for Patent Piracy each kicked in $250,000, creating a public relations war chest of two to three million dollars...." Well, there’s another one of your infamous "tips" again from somewhere, nowhere or in-between. So, now you’re accusing Dell of giving $250K to an organization that purposely sabatoges the rights of the individual patent holder. Once again, where’s the proof? Ah, yes, tips, tips and more tips.
Mr. Ronald, if you don’t want to be taken as a joke, stop acting like a jokester - say something intelligent for a change. William Scott Director Alumni Association
Riley's original post about Dell:
Dells pyrotechnic notebook. I am not at all surprised to see the scandal unfolding over Dells pyrotechnic notebook computers. And I doubt that Dell is only aware of three incidences and think it far more likely that they failed to report the hazardous computers to the CPSC. I very much believe that CPSC should initiate an investigation into Dell’s conduct. Personally I have always thought that it is a very poor business practice to foist products on consumers which can maim or kill. Yet over the years there has been an endless stream of such cases.One of the reason that I am skeptical of Dell’s only reporting three notebooks to the CPSC is that the company has acquired a reputation in the inventor community for pirating inventor’s work and then brutalizing the inventors with abusive litigation. We have found that companies who have ethical problems in their dealings with our community generally have many other issues in the way they do business.In fact Dell is a member of the Coalition for Patent Fairness :), a misnomer if I ever saw one. PIAUSA.org refers to the group as the Coalition for Patent Piracy. We received a tip some time ago that members of the Coalition for Patent Piracy each kicked in $250,000, creating a public relations war chest of two to three million dollars whose sole purpose is to paint the inventors whom coalition members have victimized as bad players, and in large part media swallowed this propaganda without question. Isn’t it time that the public learns the truth about Dell? I think they are a parasite who produces shoddy products and that it is a miracle that people have not been maimed or killed by these notebooks. But then again maybe there have been fires and injuries where no one recognized that incendiary computers were the cause? Ronald J Riley
Riley creates a website about his daughter's teacher: The headline, "Angry parent puts his opinions about school district on the Web", page A10 is perhaps too strong, for as the author of QualitySchoolsNow dot org, I have to say that disgust is better term, disgust coupled with a determination to see some accountability returned to public schools.
John Sharpe made the following comments in the Flint Journal:
"I'm a little disappointed (about the Web site)," said John Sharpe, Lake Fenton Board of Education president. "(Riley) appears to be witch-hunting more than anything else." "If I were him, I'd be careful about slandering somebody."
"Sharpe said he is worried the site will become a vehicle for spreading misinformation." "I'm concerned things will be written that are untrue," he said. "People will only hear one side of the story - (teachers and administrators) won't be there to defend themselves."
Like John Sharpe, I am also disappointed that it takes something like this web site to get a dialog going. If Mr. Sharpe and the rest of the board had been doing their jobs this would never have happened. I am disappointed but not surprised that John Sharpe did not have the sense to at least act like he was concerned about the issues I am raising, for public relations reasons if nothing else.
In fact, I sent two letters to the Lake Fenton school board. The board members failed to respond to either. So three weeks after writing the second letter, I called John Sharpe and asked him if he had seen my letter. His answer was telling, in that he replied "was it that really long letter". We then discussed the issues at length, and it was obvious that John Sharpe had not read the letter. Apparently some school board members eyes glaze over when confronted with more than a page at a time.
And then John Sharpe rattles his saber about slander. Perhaps John Sharpe should review what slander and libel are, so that he can at least chose the proper term. It sure sounds like John Sharpe is threatening me. Is he trying to chill my First Amendment right to speak about the important public policy issues? If that is the case, I suggest that he look at one of my web sites, skippy-scam.org. Look at what happened to CPC-Bestfoods when they bullied grandma Tibbetts, whom I barely knew at the time. Another example is Taubman-sucks.com . A well healed bully was picking on Hank Mishkoff, and kicking the tar out of him. I referred him to Paul Levy at the Public Citizen Litigation Group. Paul Levy gave the Taubman's a rather serious attitude adjustment. Then carefully consider how I might react to any attempt to abridge my own First Amendment rights.
I am sure that John Sharpe is worried that parents and concerned citizens will have another source of information which he has little control over. He and the rest of Lake Fenton staff are welcome to defend themselves. I will post their responses to complaints, allowing the public to judge the merits of their position. That is the whole point of the web site, to force them to PUBLICLY address a host of issues that they have swept under the rug for many years. I suggest that he address the issue of why the whole board has failed to respond to my letters first. I will post his response to the site just as soon as he writes one.
In conclusion, John Sharpe and the rest of the school board members need to become part of the solution, or face a solution where they suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs. A recall of the board just might be the best place to start this process. Ronald J. Riley
Parents of children from his daughter's school respond:
Subject: Lake Fenton Hall of (email)
I would personally like to nominate Ronald Riley for the Hall of Shame in the idiot advocate category. Mr. Riley, you are nothing more than a bully who is trying to use the internet as your device of intimidation. If you truly care about making public schools better than why do you seek to go after individuals.
How do you presume to rate teachers? Do you really have all the needed knowledge to do such a chore? You seem to have some serious unresolved issues to deal with. Were you picked on by some jock when you were a student?
Your comments tend to make me laugh more than anything else. Apparently you weren't one of the people in the 60's who decided to go into education to avoid the draft. Were you one of the people who avoided life by going on drugs.
Cause man, you still 'trippin.' I sincerely hope that you lose this case and I pray that your children don't feel the brunt of what you are about to receive in the public back lashing that I guarantee you will receive. They don't deserve this anymore than any teacher or administrator who you happened to disagree with. Sincerely, Tim (Parent, student, educator, and activist)
Riley's reply to above email:
Subject: Lake Fenton Hall of Shame You are welcome to your point of view, just as I am. This is what makes America a great country. I disagree. I spent years working through the Lake Fenton system. First I took the issues to teachers, and then to Principals, and then to the Superintendent, followed by writing and calling the school board members. This is documented on the web site. Only after all else failed did I go public with my concerns. Public schools are accountable to the public, or at least they should be. If they perform well we reward them with ongoing funding, and if they do not the public has the right to punish them by opposing funding. The very character of public schools is determined by the nature of the teachers. Many are dedicated and responsible professionals. I have listed some of the more exceptional Lake Fenton teachers at qualityschoolsnowdotorg/lakefenton/honorable/. In other words those who were the best are being recognized, just as those who are not so good are receiving appropriate criticism. The problem with the public school system is that administrators find it easier to stonewall parents then to address the issues surrounding bad teachers. In the end our children are short changed by leaving poorly motivated teachers in the system. I have extensive experience managing people, both as an employee and as an employer. I come from a family of teachers. But even if I did not, I am a taxpayer and all public employees are answerable to their employers, namely the taxpayer. Actually I saw many people who were picked on by jocks when I was a student. But that is only part of the story, in that if any child finishes school lacking basic skills, and we all know that many are graduating in that condition, then allocating resources to sports is a very poor use of limited funds. Rather those funds should be used to see that those children enter life with basic skills. I have never liked the effects of any mind altering substance, including alcohol. But your acknowledgment that many people used the education profession to avoid the draft is the type of dialog the QSN web site is meant to encourage. Those teachers are some of the worst offenders and many should be removed from the educational system. Actually, the whole point of the QSN web site is to protect children from being further victimized by poor teachers. And yes, both my children were victims of such teachers. Update, case won. Something we both agree on. That the children do not deserve what they are getting. For that matter, those teachers who are well motivated do not deserve to be straddled with those who are duds. Tim, isn't it interesting that many people in the teaching profession are so sensitive about the profession being criticized, even when such criticism is justified? Ronald J. Riley
Who Has Time for this? blog
8:00 AM Lincoln Artes said...
For Ronald J. Riley,
I would never speculate on the number of patent infringement lawsuits that Miicrosoft has pending. Why? Because I don't know. Neither do you. You said that "looking at the current cases", "Microsoft has liabilities in the range of $20B - $200B."
Where are you "looking" to find these cases? Do you have access to international databases that give you the total number of cases pending against Microsoft in Federal and International Patent Courts? Of course you don't. You say that "Microsoft has a reputation for running fast and loose with others intellectual property". Well, Mr. Ronald Riley, I think you have a reputation for running fast and loose with your mouth.
Next time you start throwing around a range of liabilities with a $180 billion dollar differential, have some SPECIFIC facts on your side, so you won't look so foolish. It's one thing, if you want to lambast Microsoft for stealing patent rights, but it's another thing to try to convince folks that you have expert knowledge about this situation when you really don't.
3:18 PM Ronald J Riley said... Actually I do have specific knowledge in that Microsoft publicly acknowledged that they have about forty pending cases in their press release demanding that the patent system be reformed in ways which would mitigate their liabilities. Also, I hear from many of the inventors who have had their patents pirated, including those who are going head to head with Microsoft. Now I would be the first to admit that I do not have as clear a picture of the scope of Microsoft's pirating activities as they do. And that is why there is such a large range. I do believe that I have a better handle on the issue than you do, that is unless you work for Microsoft in a capacity which makes you privy to the scope of their patent pirating liabilities. By the way, did you know that both Microsoft and Research in Motion (RIM-Blackberry) were caught committing fraud on the courts? Ronald J Riley, President | <urn:uuid:5c7965db-d6d7-49b0-8984-48d0407c2a9c> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://ronaldjriley.blogspot.com/ | 2015-03-29T06:05:46Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298228.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00082-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970909 | 11,776 |
Return to Transcripts main page
CNN RELIABLE SOURCES
Media Declares Bush a Lame Duck, Says Obama Campaign Faltering; Will Fox Business Network Succeed?
Aired October 21, 2007 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST (voice-over): A question of relevance. Is the press declaring the president a lame duck? Are journalists writing off Barack Obama as a dead duck? And are they more enamored of this president candidate?
A time to cringe. Larry Craig dissects his bathroom bust with Matt Lauer.
Wall Street war. FOX News takes on CNBC with a new business channel.
Plus, extreme makeover. Do women have to look sexy to make it in TV news?
KURTZ: A presidential news conference is usually big news, but this week not so much. In fact, while President Bush touched on issues from Turkey and Russia, to housing and children's health insurance, and said Iran must be stopped from getting nuclear weapons to avoid World War III, many journalists jumped on a single word uttered by the president.
It was a word that fit the emerging media narrative that, with 15 months left in his term, Bush is an increasingly marginal figure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And that's why when I tell you I'm going to sprint to the finish, and finish this job strong, that's one way to ensure that I am relevant. It's one way to ensure that I am in the process.
JOE CURL, "THE WASHINGTON TIMES": Do you feel as if you're losing leverage and that you're becoming increasingly irrelevant? And what can you do about that...
BUSH: Quite the contrary. I've never felt more engaged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: Joining us now to talk about coverage of the president and the race to succeed him, Jill Zuckman, national correspondent for "The Chicago Tribune"; Perry Bacon, political reporter for "The Washington Post"; and Julie Mason, White House correspondent for "The Houston Chronicle".
Jill Zuckman, let me play a little tape showing some of the news analysis that followed the president's news conference on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: This was the president's declaration that "I am not a lame duck." When he says that he's going to use the veto to show that he is still relevant, that shows you someone that really doesn't have a lot to brag about at this point.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The president is saying he's trying to show that he's relevant, and he won't back down either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: Do journalists believe, except for occasional vetoes and, of course, the war in Iraq, that Bush is now largely irrelevant?
JILL ZUCKMAN, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Well, I think journalists are more interested in the presidential campaign, and they're more interested in some of the fighting that's going on with the new Democratic Congress and their attempts to get things done on Capitol Hill.
KURTZ: Because these are sexier stories?
ZUCKMAN: Sexier stories, and he's fading to the background, because he is a lame duck. He's -- you know, he's going to be leaving. He's not -- nothing he does is for political gain to run for reelection. I mean, it's over for him unless there's a terrorist attack or something really big like that.
KURTZ: We get some quacking right here on the set in the first minute.
Julie Mason, you're stationed at the White House. Is there less for reporters to do, now that Bush isn't the No. 1 newsmaker?
JULIE MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "HOUSTON CHRONICLE": There really is. And part of the problem is that, other than the World War III thing, which you mentioned, we don't hear much new rhetoric from Bush. He doesn't say anything that's new or fresh. It's the same talking points over and over. And just -- he doesn't give journalists much to work with.
KURTZ: Are fewer reporters going on out of town trips with the president?
MASON: Much fewer. I mean, it's a skeleton screw on those charters now.
KURTZ: Perry Bacon, I can just imagine folks out there saying, you know, "You reporters, you never liked Bush, and now you can't wait to push him off the stage." He's still the president. PERRY BACON JR., POLITICAL REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": I think he's still the president. And people wrote a lot of stories about the press conference and we said something (ph) about Iraq, some people are engaged on his words on Iraq and his rhetoric about Iraq. So I think he's still very relevant on that issue.
And this -- the fight they're having with the Congress and the president over funding for children's health care has been covered extensively, as well. So I do not think we've, like, stopped covering him fully at all.
KURTZ: Right. That's where president is playing defense. When it comes to playing offense, I mean, now that the immigration bill went down, there really aren't any major new domestic initiatives for people like you to write about.
BACON: Yes. He hasn't offered a whole lot of us to talk about. Yes, in terms of as you just (ph) mentioned.
KURTZ: Barack Obama -- this is fascinating. We put together some tape showing what various reporters and pundits were saying about the senator from Illinois last December when he was on the verge of running and what's being said more recently. Let's roll.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obama, the rising rock star.
BILL PRESS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: It's about Barack Obama, the rock star.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: His rock star popularity.
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, MSNBC'S "TUCKER CARLSON": Barack Obama, treated like a rock star.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Huge crowds. Literally, they would make a rock star envious.
CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: For his part it was a rock star's performance.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the problem he's got is he's too ethereal; he's too cerebral.
CARLSON: Didn't Obama edge himself in by talking all this nonsense about hope?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: No -- no longer a rock star?
ZUCKMAN: Hey, we -- not a single voter has cast a ballot yet. I think everybody is getting a little too focused on, maybe, the current polls and where he is and not remembering what every politician has ever said to you, which is the only poll that matters is on election day.
KURTZ: But it seems that reporters are so frustrated by Obama's rather cool style, that they're practically begging him, "Attack Hillary already so we can have something to write about."
MASON: Right. And he responded. He just hired a rapid response guy who's going to mix it up a little more for him. But it's true. This is a natural trajectory of politics: build them up, tear them down. But it doesn't mean what's been said about Obama is also untrue.
KURTZ: Here's the media indictment: Obama is too cerebral; he doesn't connect; he doesn't feel voters' pain. It sounds an awful lot like editorializing.
BACON: I think if Obama's poll -- and I Jill is right, it's all about the poll numbers. The poll numbers.
I mean, first of all, the covers can have never been as good as it was in December, because you know, once he runs people find things. You have critics and things are different, but the poll numbers are really driving this. He stalled in the polls behind Hillary Clinton. I think that surprised reporters; it surprised his supports. And that's where we are now.
KURTZ: So it's like covering a baseball team. If you're the equivalent of 25 to 30 percentage points down, I guess if you were ten runs down in the game, everybody blames the coach or everybody blames the star player.
ZUCKMAN: Well, you know what? He started off so high. If you come into a campaign and everybody thinks you're God, it's hard to live up to those expectations.
So I think that there have been some voters who have gone to his events and said, "Oh, it wasn't as good as I expected it to be." Well, you know, that's pretty tough if everybody is calling you from a rock star from the very beginning of your campaign.
KURTZ: But what I hear is a sense of disappointment among journalists that he he's not mixing it up more, that he hasn't made it more of a race to this point. We do have to emphasize -- remember President Howard Dean -- that it's early in the process.
And it does seem like -- like journalists are asking like frustrated campaign managers, giving him an awful lot of advice.
MASON: That's very true. We love it when they mix it up, but that's also an important part of a campaign, to see how a candidate responds to negative things being said about them. So that's part of the testing process that journalists want to see.
KURTZ: OK. But now you have a front page story this morning. You went out to Colorado. You basically asked voters what they think of Hillary Clinton.
KURTZ: Why did you do that story?
ZUCKMAN: Well, because the big issue these days that Senator Edwards has been raising and the Obama campaign has been raising is this question of whether she could get elected in a general election. Whether other voters, not Democrats, but whether independents and Republicans would vote for her.
I went to Colorado. It's a swing state. You have to get -- you have to get voters in the middle in order to win that state, and I think it's still an open question.
KURTZ: Is there a self-fulfilling prophecy here? Where if the press, having abandoned the rock star praise of the early days, is saying Obama is just really not cutting it on the campaign trail; he can't win; Hillary is inevitable, that it becomes harder and harder for him to change that perception?
BACON: It's harder to change the perception. But remember that John Kerry was getting much worse press this time in 2003.
KURTZ: He was declared to be toast.
BACON: Toast. Exactly. So we tend to be wrong here and there. So I think that -- you know, I don't think it's becoming self- fulfilling. If Obama does well in Iowa, which is, like, where voters -- a place where voters tend to ignore what we think, or ignore what the press is going in, I think he'll be fine if he does well in Iowa. I think that's still the case.
KURTZ: Do you -- do any of you hear from the Obama campaign? Are they frustrated by this negative coverage?
BACON: They are very frustrated by the negative coverage. You know, they -- I was talking to them. And there have been two pieces in "The Post" they were critical of. And they are very frustrated by that.
KURTZ: There was a front page headline that said, "Does Obama's message match the moment?" The implicit answer was, well, obviously not or we wouldn't be doing that.
MASON: If you have to ask, the answer is no.
KURTZ: All right. Now there's one other person who seems to be throwing his hat partially in the ring and getting some favorable attention, and that is the star of Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE COLBERT REPORT": Nearly 15 minutes of soul searching, I have heard the call. Nation, I shall seek the office of the president of the United States! I am doing it!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: Colbert says he's going to run in both parties as a favorite son in his native South Carolina.
OK. So you have a choice. You can go to South Carolina. You can cover Mitt Romney, John Edwards or Stephen Colbert.
ZUCKMAN: Well, I think everybody is going to cover Stephen Colbert to a certain extent, because it's going to be fun. But I think there's a real -- I think there's a real serious implication for what he's doing, which is especially on the Republican side.
When so many voters don't seem to be happy with any of the candidates, he could wind up being the protest vote and drawing enough votes that it affects the rest of the election.
KURTZ: One of the guests on "Meet the Press" this morning was Stephen Colbert...
ZUCKMAN: Stephen Colbert.
KURTZ: ... him being interviewed by Tim Russert. And it kind of goes to my point, which is regardless of how many protest votes he does or does not get, he could -- in fact he already is drawing precious media coverage away from a lot of these second tier candidates who would love to be on "Meet the Press" and programs like that.
MASON: He is -- but I think that he doesn't necessarily steal too many votes away from the other candidates. I think he brings new voters into the process, you know, the -- the sort of white, beer drinking college student who are his fan base. I don't see serious voters actually going for Colbert.
KURTZ: But you do see some 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-old beer drinkers going for Colbert?
MASON: That's his audience. God bless those kids. They should be voting.
KURTZ: I interviewed Colbert about his candidacy this week, and I asked him, "So now, are you going to be giving up your show as a result?"
And he said, "Do you think I'm a fool?"
But, you know, he actually -- he is kind of a hero on the left for -- over the skewering, the comedic skewering of President Bush last year at the White House correspondents' dinner. A lot of people thought he stuck it to the president in a way that other Democrats are not.
BACON: People think he's sort of a truth teller. He talks about "truthiness", and that's a thing that appeals to him. I'm actually curious if, like, Hillary Clinton won the first three states and it was in South Carolina and it was clear she was winning, I would be curious how many votes Colbert would get at that point. Sort of protest votes: I don't like Hillary. She's winning. Actually I'd be curious whether -- to see if that -- what would happen at that point.
KURTZ: So all of you are taking him a little bit seriously. You're not just saying this is a joke. You think that he could be at least a minor factor in the race?
MASON: Well, kind of both. I think he could be a minor factor. I don't -- I don't know that it's necessarily appropriate. He may not be a newscaster, but he is part of the media business, and it raises a lot of questions about what he's doing.
KURTZ: Including whether or not promoting himself on his show will be considered a corporate contribution. We'll see if that ends up derailing the Colbert band wagon.
Julie Mason, Jill Zuckman, Perry Bacon, thanks very much for joining us.
When we come back, Rupert Murdoch's new financial channel takes on CNBC. How exactly is The Naked Cowboy a business story?
KURTZ: Rupert Murdoch doesn't do things in a small way. First he bought the "Wall Street Journal", and this week he launched the FOX Business Network, which is taking aim at the established leader, CNBC.
FOX has been touting this spin-off channel as a breezier, more entertaining, more populist look at financial news. And well, on day one, anchor Alexis Glick found an overlooked business story, interviewing the Naked Cowboy, a guy who stands in Times Square wearing little more than a guitar. And that set the tone for the week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man from Oregon is $9,000 richer today. Thad Starr grew a 1,524-pound pumpkin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now what's the line you're supposed to use at this point?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually how about this? Let's saddle up, because it's time for the first round!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Google, you know, there was this study out or this article out that's saying the top terms that are Googled across the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is fascinating!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really funny. "Sex", of course. Everybody Googles the term -- the word "sex".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never Googled the word "sex." UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you're an expert; you don't need to find out anything. But anyway, the -- these are the countries where the term "sex" was Googled most.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so excited you two are together. This is so much fun! Right?
How come I don't have this job? You get to move the morning show to a bar.
KURTZ: So does the new Murdoch venture have a shot at succeeding? Joining us now, Ali Velshi, CNN's senior business correspondent and the host of "YOUR MONEY". And in Chicago, Phil Rosenthal, television critic for the "Chicago Tribune".
So, Ali Velshi, from what you've seen so far, what do you make of FOX Business Network?
ALI VELSHI, HOST, "YOUR MONEY": Exactly what you showed us. It's fun; it's interesting; it's breezy; it's light. I'm not entirely sure that's what we need right now. We lost 500-and-some-odd points on the Dow last week. The housing crisis is deepening.
It's neat to be populist, and I think there's something really healthy about that for guys like us who talk in tickers but I don't know that that's meeting the needs of the viewer that they're trying to get.
KURTZ: So most of the -- some of the anchors from FOX News Channel, like Neil Cavuto, also have programs or appearances on the new business network.
Joe Nosare (ph) in "The New York Times" yesterday says this new network is relentlessly, incorrigibly, unapologetically upbeat. What's your take?
PHIL ROSENTHAL, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": Well, I think it is. I think they're trying to find -- they're going for the big middle. If CNBC's big claim in terms of marketing itself is that it's going for the CEOs, the executive suites, I think the FOX Business Network is not ruling those viewers out, but it's also going for the nation as a whole.
You know, and until Nielsen gets around to more adequately measuring out of home viewing, that's going to make a dent in the ratings when they finally do get measured in about six months.
KURTZ: Phil, CNBC has a lot of stars: Maria Bartiromo, Jim Cramer. FOX, you know, it's a more unknown lineup, although the new network did just hire Liz Claman, who had been a long-time anchor at CNBC.
How important is it to have recognizable personalities? ROSENTHAL: Well, I think they'll make recognizable personalities. I think -- I think what will happen is, you know, if Roger Ailes's game plan for FOX News is a sort of blueprint for what he's going to try to do here, I think you're going to see, you know, the heart of the lineup be about shows, not necessarily about the news that comes into those shows.
And so it's going to make personalities. I think you're going to see these people who may have low profile now, the profile will grow.
KURTZ: Now FOX starts out with a significant disadvantage, only going to be in 30 million homes, compared to say 90 million for CNBC and other major cable networks.
But the argument that the executives are making -- and by the way, we invited someone from FOX to appear, and they declined to make someone available -- we'll take the jargon out of business news. It won't just be about which stocks are moving. We'll aim more at the middle class and not just CEOs and rich investors.
VELSHI: And I think that's really laudable. We should take the jargon out. They remind you of it, by the way, every few minutes on FOX business news.
You know, they use, as Joe Nosare (ph) said in his article, they use real company names as opposed to tickers. They explain things. And I really think there are some key moments in the last week where they did that.
The bottom line is the features are interesting to draw people in, but if you're not a business news consumer normally, what you need is an understanding of what I'm supposed to do about this housing crisis? Do I invest? Do I sell? What do I do with my 401(k)s? What do I do with my pension? What is happening in this world that is going to save me money, stop me from losing money or making money?
And I haven't seen enough of that. I've seen a lot of stuff that makes you sit there and say, "That's interesting. That cowboy is not wearing nothing much more than a guitar."
I've been in business news a long time. Never occurred to me once to interview The Naked Cowboy in Times Square, and it's not going to.
KURTZ: You just aren't thinking big enough.
VELSHI: Apparently not.
KURTZ: Phil Rosenthal, what about that point? Is there enough, at least from what you've seen so far -- and look, it's obviously a bit unfair to judge after one week -- but is there enough substantial financial and business information to satisfy junkies?
ROSENTHAL: I think there will be. I think this week -- part of this week was to sort of set itself apart. And I think -- so you saw a lot of things that you may not see down the road. I mean, the reason you go out and probably do The Naked Cowboy, the reason that you do an item early on on the first day outside the headquarters of CNBC and talk about peacock hunting, a reference to NBC-Universal which owns it, I think is to get on YouTube and to get people talking about you.
I think, you know, they also this week, though, Liz Claman did an interview with Warren Buffet that wound up -- CNBC had to quote it. So I think -- I think if you look at something like that, I think it's a work in progress.
But I think don't overlook the fact that I think a lot of the first week stuff is about marketing itself, too. Because they are only in 30 million homes.
KURTZ: Having a business channel is hard. CNNfn folded three years ago. And the audience is small. CNBC, average audience, 260,000, but they all make a lot of money. Advertisers love that.
VELSHI: Exactly. Bloomberg's audience is even more profitable than CNBC. So you want that audience, but you've got to figure out we are in a bit of a time of crisis right now. We're in an election mode. We do have rough markets. Even though they're high, they're volatile. And we've got this housing crisis.
There are very specific questions that viewers keep asking us over and over again: what do I do? Should the government get involved? Are we heading into a recession? Where does oil go next? We need to concentrate on that.
And while we need to make it accessible, "we," the larger business media, it doesn't -- fun might not be the right answer. We can make it enjoyable but accessible and understandable is what really -- is what we need.
KURTZ: Phil Rosenthal, I've got about half a minute. Roger Ailes, the FOX News chairman, is the guy who invented the modern day CNBC in the mid-'90s. He put Maria Bartiromo on the stock exchange floor. He created such programs as "Squawk Box". So would it be a mistake to bet your mutual fund against Ailes succeeding?
ROSENFELD: I think it is a mistake to vote ever again against Roger Ailes. He's had his failures or things that didn't quite boom, but you know, he -- when it comes to everything he does, he has a real keen understanding of the American public, and he knows where this fits in.
More importantly, I think it would be a mistake to bet against Rupert Murdoch in this case. He's made a $5 billion investment in Dow Jones. I don't think that's just a play for this channel. I think that's a play to help -- I think the two work together. I think the FOX Business Network can help Dow Jones.
ROSENFELD: And I think you'll see international expansion. KURTZ: All right, Phil Rosenthal, you got the last word. Ali Velshi, thanks for stopping by in person here.
Up next, Congress weighs special protection for reporters but not most bloggers. Imagine a right-wing plot against Air America.
And a late night comic gets punted from "Monday Night Football". Our "Media Minute" straight ahead.
KURTZ: Topping our "Media Minute" today, after 30 years of attempts, the House this week passed a federal shield law to protect reporters from having to testify about their confidential sources in most instances.
KURTZ (voice-over): Not only that, the bipartisan vote was 398- 21, enough to easily overcome the veto threatened by President Bush.
In a compromise, the bill would not apply in cases involving leaks of important classified information, or to people who don't earn a significant part of their income as journalists, which would exclude many bloggers.
A Senate committee has passed a similar measure, but it's not clear whether the full Senate will act this year.
Some disturbing news about Air America radio host Randi Rhodes hit the Internet the other day. It began, "Randi Rhodes was mugged on Sunday night on 39th Street and Park Avenue nearby her Manhattan apartment while walking her dog, Simon."
Air America host Jon Elliott said Rhodes was, quote, "beaten up pretty badly" and asked, "Is this an attempt by the right-wing hate machine to silence one of our own?"
Never mind. An Air America statement hours later said that Rhodes had simply fallen down. Jon Elliott apologized for jumping to conclusions. You think?
Jimmy Kimmel has been stiff-armed by "Monday Night Football". ABC's late night comic rushed into dangerous territory on the sports cast with a few jokes about the former co-host, ex-quarterback Joe Theismann, saying he lost a gig because of battles with sidekick Tony Kornheiser.
And, quote, "I'd also like to welcome Joe Theismann, watching from his living room with steam coming from his ears."
KURTZ: A "Monday Night Football" producer calls Kimmel's remarks classless, disappointing and cheap and said he won't be invited back.
Hey, what's wrong with a little comedy? Why else would you invite Jimmy Kimmel?
And talk about playing hardball, Yankees manager Joe Torre turned down a one-year contract offer from owner George Steinbrenner the other day. Do you think tabloids maybe -- just maybe -- are taking sides? Here's the "Daily News" heading: "Four series wins, the playoffs every year, now you dis me. So George, take this job and shove it!"
Coming up in the second half of RELIABLE SOURCES, Matt Lauer goes toe-to-toe with Larry Craig. Ellen DeGeneres gets all emotional about a dog, and television can't get enough.
Plus, the growing pressure on female anchors and reporters to either look good or look for another job.
KURTZ: Matt Lauer sat down with Larry Craig this week to talk about that bathroom bust. Was he tough enough on the senator? We'll tackle that in a moment.
But first T.J. Holmes in the CNN center in Atlanta with a look at the hour's top stories -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Howard. Thank you so much.
Now in the news, the Santa Ana winds are back and fueling wildfires in Southern California right now. Students and staff at Malibu's Pepperdine University are gearing up for possible evacuations. Evacuations are happening at some neighborhoods around Malibu.
Also, two people dead after a collision between a barge and a yacht in waters off New York's Coney Island. Two others were rescued. Rescue boats and New York police helicopters and divers responded after the U.S. Coast Guard received an emergency call last night.
And to Louisiana now. Votes are in, the outcome historic. Yesterday Louisiana voters elected that state's first non-white governor since Reconstruction. It was 36-year-old Republican Bobby Jindal. He's the son of Indian immigrants. He's the first Indian- American elected governor there.
He's also the country's youngest governor. Or he will be, when he's sworn coming up in January.
Just a few of the headlines for you there. Now, hand it back over to Howard Kurtz and RELIABLE SOURCES. It's all yours, sir.
KURTZ: Thank you, T.J.
Larry Craig says he's still not gay, but does he deserve a network platform to keep reminding us?
Plus, Ellen DeGeneres and her horribly sad doggy dilemma. Does America care or does television just enjoy replaying her meltdown? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KURTZ: KURTZ: Welcome back.
Larry Craig, it is clear, does not want to get off the stage. Now, you might think it's embarrassing, if you're a United States senator, to have to talk about what you did in an airport's men's room, why you pleaded guilty, why you said you were going to resign your Senate seat, why you decided not to resign, why you shouldn't have pleaded guilty, why you didn't tell your wife, and how you're not gay.
And "Today Show's" Matt Lauer admitted it was embarrassing for him to have to ask the Idaho Republican some of those questions.
MATT LAUER, CO-HOST, NBC'S "THE TODAY SHOW": Were you aware at all, Senator, of the reputation of that specific bathroom?
SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: Well, I certainly am now.
LAUER: So you didn't call a lawyer. You didn't tell a friend. You didn't tell a minister or a priest. You told nobody.
In some way are you pleading guilty to soliciting gay sex?
Are you technically not a homosexual? Is it possible you're bisexual?
CRAIG: It's no to both.
LAUER: You can resign, Senator. And you know what? It would probably go away.
SUZANNE THOMPSON, LARRY CRAIG'S WIFE: It wouldn't be the same.
CRAIG: And, Matt, that's the easy way out.
KURTZ: Joining us now to talk about the Craig interview and some other media controversies, here in Washington, John Aravosis, who blogs at AmericaBlog.com. And in San Francisco, Debra Saunders, columnist for the "San Francisco Chronicle".
All right, John Aravosis, how did Matt Lauer handle that difficult subject?
JOHN ARAVOSIS, AMERICABLOG.COM: He handled it as best as he could to some degree, only because the wife is sitting there with you. And I think a lot of these guys -- you know, we saw with Ted Haggard, the minister, last year that had gone with a prostitute or whatever it was. He had the kids sitting in the back seat of the car when he was getting interviewed. I think it's very difficult to ask the hard questions when the wife is there. Having said that, Craig said he was out in public and wanted to answer the hard questions. Lauer should have asked them, even though it was uncomfortable.
KURTZ: Debra Saunders, the danger, of course, of Matt Lauer in that situation is coming across as too overbearing.
DEBRA SAUNDERS, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": Yes. I liked the interview. I mean, Larry Craig had been beaten up for six weeks, and this was his chance to tell his side of the story.
Longer I've been in the business, the more I see that, if you ask tough questions in a non-confrontational manner -- and he did ask some tough questions -- you get a better answer.
This is Larry Craig's moment to say what he had to say.
Now I wish Matt Lauer had talked more about, "Why did you plead guilty? What happens if senators get do-overs?" Some of the legal issues with this.
But in terms of the "are you gay?" that was pretty interesting, I thought.
KURTZ: But you think that he didn't go far enough in some areas?
SAUNDERS: Yes. I think he didn't go far enough in some areas.
But you know, the thing that I really liked about the interview is -- the interesting thing about the Larry Craig story is, it didn't go further than a lot of us thought it would. Once this story broke, I thought names would come out.
Remember the "Idaho Statesman" had investigated this story for weeks and nothing ever came of it? They didn't -- they didn't nail the story, which is why they didn't run it, until -- until the senator pleaded guilty.
And so when you watch this hour you sort of get a real "what-if?" What if he had decided that he wasn't going to plead guilty? What would we all be talking about now?
KURTZ: Are the media now bored with the Larry Craig story?
ARAVOSIS: Not yet. In the last week they haven't been bored, obviously. I mean, I think what keeps it a story isn't just the fact that he's staying in office, but the fact is that he's become kind of a laughingstock, whether it's true or not, whether there weren't any names or not. You're right, there are no names, although with anonymous sex, there usually aren't names.
But nonetheless, he could be totally innocent. He's become the laughingstock for the Republican Party. He's become, you know, yet another sexual albatross around their necks. And in Washington, when you become the story in a bad way, you can't really stick around. And it's gone on for too long, I think. KURTZ: Does it bother you, as a gay blogger, to extent to which he has become this national punchline, people making fun of what he allegedly did, which he now denies?
ARAVOSIS: It doesn't bother me in the sense that he's a very anti-gay, religious right, whatever you want to call it, Republican senator, so that his -- his own hypocrisy is being exposed, if in fact, he is gay. And that doesn't bother me, because I think the hypocrisies should come out.
Having said that, do I want Larry Craig to be at the next pride parade as the gay icon? No. I don't think that's probably a very good thing.
KURTZ: Debra Saunders, why does Larry Craig deserve an hour of network air time to essentially repeat the denials he's made several -- on several occasions?
SAUNDERS: Well, I think people just want to hear what he had to say.
But again, I mean -- and I wish Matt Lauer had asked him, "Well, you said you were going to resign. You didn't. You went back -- and if you're going to go back on your word on that, then why are we supposed to believe you today? You know, you said you weren't guilty..."
ARAVOSIS: And asked him why he's not leaving. I mean, as far as it being that harmful to the Republican Party. You know, why aren't you leaving? In Washington you leave when you become such a problem for the party.
KURTZ: Well, he did raise the question of whether or not this would all go away if the senator would do what he said he was going to do and step down.
Here's my two cents. You know, this is a tough interview for Matt Lauer, and here's why. I don't think there are 100 people in America who believe what Larry Craig is saying, that it was just an accident that his hand went under the divider and just an accident that his foot touched the undercover cop's foot and that he really shouldn't have pleaded guilty.
And so in that situation you can't, as a journalist, say, "Well, Senator, obviously you're not being straight with me."
So what you have to do is ask questions that make it clear to the audience that perhaps he's not being completely straight.
All right. Valerie Plame, this is a big TV week for the -- the former CIA operative who was outed by Bush administration officials. She is on "60 Minutes" tonight in an interview with Katie Couric. She's on "The Today Show" tomorrow morning with Meredith Vieira. She's on "LARRY KING LIVE" tomorrow night.
Here is an advance clip from the "60 Minutes" interview in which Katie Couric asks Valerie Plame about a secret intelligence plan against Iran that came out in the press.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE COURIC, CBS ANCHOR: Were you surprised to read about Operation Merlin in the press?
VALERIE PLAME, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Indeed. Um-hmm.
COURIC: Is that problematic for the CIA?
PLAME: Leaks are always bad news.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: John Aravosis, let me read something from Valerie Plame's book. She writes, "It was the Pentagon Papers or Watergate turned on its head. These reporters were allowing themselves to be exploited by the administration and were obstructing the investigation."
What do you make of that?
ARAVOSIS: Well, I tend to side with Valerie Plame. So I make it of it as she's correct just in the sense that we did have a lot of reporters in town who knew the story, who knew who had leaked, et cetera, who hadn't leaked.
Yet, they were reporting the news, saying, "The White House today denies that so and so leaked." But they knew from the person directly that the person was basically giving the story, or didn't give the story.
I just -- I think you get in a very weird situation as a reporter when you know something off the record, which is totally fair. You have to have things off the record and on the record, otherwise sources won't talk to you.
But what do you do when you know the truth for real; yet, you're reporting to the public, "So and so says no?" But you know it's true. I'm not sure what you do.
KURTZ: That's precisely the point, Debra Saunders. And by the way, the reporters who were covering it as a political story, they didn't necessarily know what even their colleagues in the same newsroom knew.
ARAVOSIS: But some of the reporters did, though, who did report.
KURTZ: Well, I didn't know. But look, they were -- these reporters who didn't testify and ultimately were forced to testify -- in one case Judith Miller went to jail -- they were keeping a promise, maybe an ill-considered promise, but a promise to confidential sources that "we'll protect you."
SAUNDERS: Yes. And somehow -- you know, it's funny, when Valerie Plame says that leaks are always bad news, I guess her husband shouldn't have been talking to Nick Kristof from the "New York Times". KURTZ: Yes, and that's a good point. Let me just take a second to explain. Before Joe Wilson, the former ambassador, decided to go public with his criticism about the Bush administration's hunt for WMDs, he talked to Nick Kristof of the "New York Times" without having his name being used. He was just being identified as a former ambassador, so he was getting that same protection that she would now wave away.
ARAVOSIS: But there is a difference between leaks being bad. And right, she shouldn't have made the statement that leaks are bad news. Our town, our business in journalism, works with leaks. We know that.
Some leaks are actual threats to national security such as -- oh, I don't know -- outing a CIA agent because you've got a vendetta against her. You don't destroy a CIA.
I worked in the government. I had a security clearance. The one thing I knew was, CIA agents, you didn't talk about who they were; you didn't talk about what they told you. Everybody in this town knows you don't out CIA agents. It's a serious thing.
I mean, that gets into the whole other issue, but it is a serious problem.
SAUNDERS: You know, it is a serious thing. And the Bushies were incredibly immature to decide -- by the way, she was not outed as part of a vendetta. It was gossip. We know where this came from, from Richard Armitage. He was gossiping about the fact that this guy went to Niger because of his wife.
Now, if they had been more mature, they would have thought about the consequences, and they should not have done what they did.
But this whole "leaks are always bad" that Valerie Plame is talking about, let's just remember how this all started. It started from a leak from people who were out to discredit George Bush.
And of course, we have this double standard where it is OK for people to leak on that side, but when the Bushies do it, there's something nefarious about it.
ARAVOSIS: Well, it started with George Bush's 16 famous words that we had nuclear weapons being built in Iraq, because they were coming from Niger or whatever it was. I mean, we can get into that issue.
KURTZ: I thought we heard the end of this story, but obviously, with Valerie Plame's book coming out, all those TV interviews lined up, we'll be arguing about this for a little while longer.
All right. Ellen DeGeneres, you know, has this breakdown on her show. And it gets covered, to my amazement not just on cable, but on the morning shows, on the evening news. Let's look at what she said and check out some of the coverage.
ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: Those people went and took that dog out of their home and took it away from those kids. And I feel totally responsible for it. And I'm so sorry! And I'm begging them to give that dog back to that family.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, ANCHOR, "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS": In an unusual public meltdown over a subject near to the hearts of a whole lot of us: the love of a dog.
DIANE SAWYER, CO-HOST, ABC'S "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": Still seems there's got to be some rational compromise here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Little puppies and little girls and -- well, you would think.
LAUER: I was watching that yesterday by accident, and I was just -- I was glued to the thing.
DAN ABRAMS, MSNBC: I don't get why Ellen is so emotional about this. I understand why so many of us are attached to our pets, but this dog is not in danger.
KURTZ: All right, John. We're talking about one dog.
ARAVOSIS: We're finally talking about the dog, Howie!
KURTZ: One dog. Ellen admits she was wrong. She adopted the dog. She gave it to a family. Why is this getting so much media attention?
ARAVOSIS: OK. It is an interesting celebrity story. All of the coverage that you just showed I would say was fine, other than "NBC Nightly News". I don't think this kind of a story deserves to be treated as a serious, you know, political story or whatever.
For the morning shows, it's great. It's the puppy caught in the -- or kitty caught in the tree story, so to speak, that everybody wants to hear about.
But I worry that celebrity news is creeping into serious news and that we've sort of crossed over from "Entertainment Tonight" into the same kind of stories being on "NBC Nightly News". That's a problem.
KURTZ: Debra Saunders, this was a pre-taped show by Ellen DeGeneres.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEGENERES: Those people who took that dog out of their home...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: OK. We're hearing Ellen talk about it some more. So they liberally decided to leave that in. They could have cut it out. So was this a ratings ploy, maybe?
SAUNDERS: I don't know. I mean, I think it's a big story, because it looks like another movie star meltdown. And when a woman cries on television, that's a story. You get a puppy, that makes it more of a story.
You know, I have to tell you, I wonder about people, when stars decide that people are more interested in their personal lives than being entertained -- and she is an entertainer -- you know, it seems like there is sort of this curve and you start to go down when you think that people really want to hear all your problems.
KURTZ: All right.
SAUNDERS: It just seems a little abusive to me.
KURTZ: Thank you.
SAUNDERS: The people...
KURTZ: Thank you for not getting too emotional during this segment. I've got to take a break.
Up next, they want to be judged as journalists, of course. But a new article says female anchors and reporters are under growing pressure to look sexy.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
Coming up at the top of the hour on "LATE EDITION", Congresswoman Jane Harman and Congressman Peter Hoekstra, they weigh in on U.S. tensions with Iran.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh discusses Turkey's possible troop incursion into Iraq.
And World Bank president Robert Zoellick shares his take on the U.S. and global economy.
All that, a lot more on LATE EDITION. Now back to Howard Kurtz and RELIABLE SOURCES.
KURTZ: Thanks, Wolf.
It is a subject much debated in private but rarely in public. Do women have to be good looking to make it in television news? Do they have to undergo extensive makeovers, and join the parade of fake blondes to remain competitive?
In the new issue of "Elle" magazine, Maggie Bullock writes, "Consider industry race horses like Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Ann Curry, Campbell Brown, Paula Zahn and Meredith Vieira. A seasoned, impressive bunch, to be sure, and not an Ugly Betty among them. TV anchors face an amplified version of a dilemma shared by most modern thinking women: how to craft an image that is at once authoritative and attractive."
Joining our discussion now to help us take on this thorny subject, Carol Costello, Washington-based correspondent for CNN's "THE SITUATION ROOM". And she's in New York this morning.
All right, girlfriend. Let's put it out on the table. Is this the kind of pressure to look young, to look good, look sexy that women in TV news inevitably face?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, I have felt pressure to be attractive on the news, but there is a difference being attractive on the air and using your sexuality to sell the news.
And I think that many women in the news business right now have drank the Kool-Aid and said, "You know what? I can't beat them, so why not just join them?" And they're overtly using their sexuality to sell the news. And I think that's hurting women in the business overall.
KURTZ: How exactly do they do that?
COSTELLO: Short skirts. Crossing and uncrossing their legs. Glossy lipstick. I mean, you look at some on the air, and I'm talking nationwide, and they're dressing more like they're going out to a disco instead of, like, delivering important news of the day to educate the public. And I think that's wrong.
KURTZ: But now of course, they are trying to make it in a very tough, competitive marketplace. You know, is it a coincidence that so many female anchors are making themselves blonde, and many of them are tall and thin and look like models? I mean, who's hiring these women? Right?
COSTELLO: Yes, OK. Men are hiring them. And yes, men do put pressure on women in news to look attractive.
But when you look at the women who have the most successful shows on television, they aren't necessarily beautiful. Are they? I mean, Nancy Grace is very successful, but she doesn't use her sexuality to sell her show. She uses what's up here. She uses her shtick.
If you look Greta Van Susteren on FOX, who has a very successful show, she certainly doesn't use her sexuality to sell what she's got.
KURTZ: Debra Saunders, let's take Katie Couric as an example, you know, an experienced interviewer, former Pentagon reporter. And yet, she gets picked apart by some critics about her hair, her wardrobe, and her social life in a way that Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson said they don't have to worry about.
SAUNDERS: The dirty little secret of being a woman on television, people will tell me, if I was good or bad on this show, based on how I looked. What I said won't even matter. And this goes back to -- remember Christine Craft, who got fired because she was too old, too ugly and not deferential to men? So I don't think anything's changed for women in television. They've got to have a certain kind of look.
And now we're trying to get news women to be younger and sexier. And it's only getting worse. And of course we have this technology that can do everything to anti-age you. So getting older is, I think, really tough for women in TV.
KURTZ: Carol Costello, have you had that reaction, where somebody has seen you and, rather than focusing on the report that you did, it was more about how you were wearing your hair or what -- what dress you were wearing that day?
COSTELLO: Absolutely -- I absolutely have fought that through my career. People write in all the time about what my hair looks like.
But you know what? I'm a really good reporter, and I prove that every day in "THE SITUATION ROOM". And I don't feel that my career has been defined by the way I look.
I think that there are some women who buy into that. But there are others who say, "You know what? I'm going to create a niche for myself, and I'm going to prove myself in other ways. I'm not going to just sit there and depend on the way I look to be successful in the news business."
Now I do agree that it's hard to get older in the news business for women. And it may not be as hard for men. But I think they battle that, as well.
KURTZ: John Aravosis, what about men? Men get older. Some of them get overweight. Are they not subjected to the same type of pressure?
ARAVOSIS: I think men get some of the same pressure but not as much. I mean, even -- Howie, I was on CNN last week. And the first thing a friend told me was, "You looked like you had a good tan. It looked good on you."
I'm always getting comments about this shirt or that shirt. I think, however, women get it a lot more. It's society's own prejudice. You know, the older guy is the sexy affair you have or whatever in a movie. The older woman, not so much.
So you've got the -- in contrast, I agree with what Carol is saying, but I think part of the problem is a lot of these women are probably trying to sell their sex because they're afraid they're not going to get the job if they don't.
Now the thing is, I'm curious, what do you think? Do you think -- do you feel pressure as a guy to be beautiful, Howie?
KURTZ: That's pressure that I haven't really had to deal with. Again, I'm not a prime-time anchor. Carol, former ABC correspondent Judy Miller was quoted as saying the following, that an image consultant had told her during her network career, "You've got to stop wearing those turtlenecks. You've got to start showing some cleavage." Is this what goes on in the back rooms?
COSTELLO: Yes, that is. I have been told so many times through my career to get this tooth fixed. I have one crooked tooth. See?
KURTZ: I never noticed.
COSTELLO: I've been pressured -- I know. But I have been pressured to get that tooth fixed. And I have been pressured to wear my hair certain ways, and I've been pressured to dress certain ways. But I haven't done it. I think that there's a choice that you make.
And Judy had a long and respected career. And I think that's great. And she certainly didn't give in to the pressure. I mean...
SAUNDERS: Judy had a long and successful career. I mean, she's such a great journalist and she's at an age where -- you said "had", not "has".
KURTZ: She's now teaching at the University of Southern California.
Carol Costello, 20 seconds. Do you find it insulting that you feel like you're being graded this way, despite your obvious journalistic credentials?
COSTELLO: Yes, I do feel insulted. You know, I feel insulted by all these web sites who say they talk about the news business, yet they have a hottie list. And somehow they have to rank women according to their hotness in the news business. I really don't get things like that. And that, to me, is offensive.
KURTZ: All right. I think the only person who needs to be on the hottie list is John Aravosis. Thanks for joining us. Debra Saunders, Carol Costello.
Still to come, a retired general attacks the Bush administration and the media. Guess which half of the story didn't get reported?
KURTZ: If you've ever had the impression you're not getting the full story from the media, raise your hand. Well, here's one case where you're right.
A retired general did an about-face last week and ripped the Iraq war effort, clearly an important story. Here's how it was covered.
WILLIAMS: Retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez turned on the Bush administration, accusing it of a failure in Iraq. HOLMES: Scathing criticism of the war in Iraq, and it comes from a former commander of coalition forces. Retired General Ricardo Sanchez calls the war "a nightmare with no end in sight."
KURTZ (voice-over): "The New York Times" and "Washington Post" also played up Sanchez's speech, leading with his description of the war as "a nightmare with no end in sight".
But there was a major chunk of Sanchez's address to the group, Military Reporters and Editors, that most news organizations ignored, except for one paragraph at the end of the "Post" story.
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ (RET.), U.S. ARMY: The speculative and often uninformed initial reporting that characterizes our media appears to be rapidly becoming the standard in the industry.
Over the course of this war, tactically insignificant events have become strategic defeats for our country because of the tremendous power and impact of the media. And by extension, you individually, the journalists.
KURTZ: There was one news outlet that did play up the general's assault on coverage of the war: FOX News.
BILL O'REILLY, HOST, FOX NEWS CHANNEL'S "THE O'REILLY FACTOR": Wow. Now the general, I believe, is talking about liberal media outlets like "The New York Times" and NBC News, both of which trumpeted the general's criticism of the Bush war plan but ignored his media attack.
KURTZ: Now I don't agree with Sanchez's critique at all. In fact, I think the media's tough-minded reporting in 2005 and 2006 helped persuade the public that the war was not going well at a time when the administration and Sanchez, while still in uniform, assured us that progress was being made.
And if the general now wants to blast the coverage of Iraq as irresponsible, that's his right, though I think he owes us specific examples of these terrible stories, rather than just rhetorical bomb shells.
But for a journalist to only cover half that speech just gives ammunition to those who think we're in the bunker when it comes to criticism.
That's it for this edition of RELIABLE SOURCES. I'm Howard Kurtz. Join us again next Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern, another critical look at the media.
"LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer begins right now.
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371 U.S. 156
83 S.Ct. 239
9 L.Ed.2d 207
BURLINGTON TRUCK LINES, INC., et al., Appellants,
UNITED STATES et al. GENERAL DRIVERS AND HELPERS UNION, LOCAL 554, etc., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES et al.
Nos. 27, 28.
Argued Oct. 15 and 16, 1962.
Decided Dec. 3, 1962.
[Syllabus from pages 156-158 intentionally omitted]
David Axelrod, Chicago, Ill., for appellants in No. 27.
David D. Weinberg, Omaha, Neb., for appellants in No. 28.
Robert W. Ginnane, Washington, D.C., for appellees United States and Interstate Commerce Commission.
J. Max Harding, Lincoln, Neb., for appellee Nebraska Short Line Carriers, Inc.
Mr. Justice WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court.
These are direct appeals under 28 U.S.C. § 1253, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1253 from the judgment of a three-judge District Court, 194 F.Supp. 31 (S.D.Ill.), which upheld an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 79 M.C.C. 599, granting a motor common carrier application. This Court noted probable jurisdiction because of important questions raised as to the relationship and interplay between remedies available under the Interstate Commerce Act and under the National Labor Relations Act as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act. 49 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.; 29 U.S.C.A. § 151 et seq., 368 U.S. 951, 82 S.Ct. 393, 7 L.Ed.2d 385.
Appellee Nebraska Short Line Carriers, Inc., is a Nebraska corporation, organized in June 1956. All of its stock is owned by 12 motor carriers serving eastern and central Nebraska and interchanging interstate traffic at Omaha and other gateway points with over 20 larger trunk-line carriers, among whom are the appellant carriers, with whom throughroute, joint-rate, interline arrangements have been established. Some of the stockholder carriers serve Nebraska communities without other motor carrier or rail service.
For some time prior to May 1956, the stockholder carriers had resisted efforts by the Teamsters Union too unionize their operations. Eventually, the union sought to bring economic pressure to bear upon the stockholder carriers by a secondary boycott against their traffic through the larger, unionized, trunk-line carriers upon whom the stockholder carriers were dependent for interchanging traffic to and from points beyond Nebraska. The collective bargaining contract between the trunkline carriers and the union contained protection of rights or so-called 'hot cargo' clauses which reserved to the union and its members 'the right to refuse to handle goods from or to any firm or truck' involved in any controversy with the union and provided that it should not be a cause for discharge if an employee of the carrier refused to handle 'unfair' goods.1
In May 1956, some of the stockholder carriers began experiencing difficulties in receiving and delivering freight from and to many of their normal and logical connections at Omaha and, to some extent, at Sioux City, Lincoln, and Grand Island. The difficulty consisted primarily of the refusal on the part of many of the larger carriers to accept interline traffic tendered to them by the stockholder carriers and the refusal to turn over to them inbound traffic routed over their lines or normally turned over to them for delivery to ultimate destinations in Nebraska. The stockholder carriers, shippers, and consignees thus experienced considerable delay, inconvenience, and unforeseen expense in the movement of traffic to and from interior Nebraska points. At the same time, however, some of the larger interlining carriers, particularly appellants Burlington Truck Lines, Inc., and Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company, generally maintained normal interline relationships with the stockholder carriers.
The stockholder carriers thereupon organized Short Line and on June 22, 1956, Short Line filed an application with the Interstate Commerce Commission for common carrier authority to transport commodities on a regularly scheduled basis between certain Nebraska and Iowa points and points in other States. A further application for operating authority over irregular routes between Omaha and points in 32 different States was filed six months later. The applications were assigned to two different examiners, each of whom recommended that the application before him be denied. The Commission stated that 'the pertinent facts are accurately and adequately stated' in the examiners' reports and adopted the statements as its own (79 M.C.C., at 605, 608), but it concluded that the first application should be granted in part.2 The Commission found that although service in the area was satisfactory before May 1956, after that date the union-induced boycott of the stockholder carriers caused 'a substantial disruption' and 'serious inadequacies in the service available.' 79 M.C.C., at 612, 613. Accordingly, it found that grant of Short Line's application was required by 'the present and future public convenience and necessity.' Id., at 613. The Commission declared that it was not attempting to adjudicate a labor dispute or trench upon the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board, and it conceded its lack of jurisdiction to look beyond the duties of carriers to the public under the terms of the Interstate Commerce Act. Id., at 611. It strongly criticized the carrier appellants for yielding to union secondary boycott demands, however, and it declared that the carriers' failure to fulfill their duties as common carriers was particularly inexcusable since there had been no violence or imminent threats of danger to property or person. The Commission expressed the opinion that alleged 'apprehensions of certain of the organized carriers that any opposition to the demands of the union would have resulted in reprisals against them' were 'greatly exaggerated,' and it noted that some of the interlining carriers had successfully continued to deal with the stockholder carriers, with at least one of them encountering no difficulties with its employees when it changed its policy and carried out its statutory duties as a common carrier and interlined with the Short Line carriers.3 Id., at 612.
Finally, the Commission considered the remedy appropriate to the situation. Short Line had applied for operating authority under § 207 (certificates of public convenience and necessity). As the Commission noted, the Act provides other means of correcting deficiencies of service. Section 204(c) empowers the Commission to order carriers to comply with the transportation laws, and the Commission may act upon complaint or upon its own motion without complaint, in each case after notice and hearing, and sanctions are available to enforce its orders;4 § 212(a) empowers the Commission to suspend certificates for failure to comply with duties under the Act. The Commission proceeded to dispose of the remedy problem in the following manner:
'We do not agree with those of the parties who insist that the procedure here adopted; namely, the filing of the instant applications under the provisions of section 207 of the act, is in any manner inappropriate. Regardless of the injection of the labor situation into the matter, the instant applications are based upon claimed deficiencies in the motor service available to the shipping public of Nebraska. Where, as here, the existing carriers are shown to have so conducted their operations as to result in serious inadequacies in the service available to a large section of the public, one effective method of correcting the situation is by the granting of authority for sufficient additional service, and, in fact, we are charged with the duty of procuring such additional facilities as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the national transportation policy. The fact that other remedies are available, such as the suggested filing of complaints by the aggrieved carriers and shippers does not alter the situation or deprive any carrier of the right to follow the course here chosen.' Id., at 613.
The Commission therefore granted the application.5
The protesting carriers and the affected union sought judicial review before a three-judge District Court (28 U.S.C. §§ 1336, 1398, 2321—2325, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 1336, 1398, 2321—2325), which upheld the order as within the scope of the Commission's statutory authority, based on adequate findings, and supported by substantial evidence. 194 F.Supp. 31. The court reviewed the evidence and concluded that although there was 'no doubt that their (the protesting carriers') ability to perform service prior to May 195(6) was adequate,' the record showed that union pressure made it inadequate thereafter. 194 F.Supp. at 45. The court recognized that a cease-and-desist order might have been utilized, but stated that additional certification was also a permissible remedy which was not made unavailable merely because the reason for inadequacy of service was that 'existing carriers (were) subordinating their public service obligations to their collective bargaining agreements.' Id., at 54.
In regard to the choice of remedy, the court rejected the contention that the passage of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, which added § 8(e) to the National Labor Relations Act, as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act, 73 Stat. 543, 29 U.S.C. (Supp. III) § 158(e), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(e), some four months after the entry of the order, mooted the case by making the union activities in inducing the organized carriers to boycott the Short Line stockholder carriers illegal and therefore unlikely to be resumed. The District Court expressed doubts as to whether § 8(e) 'effectively outlaws 'hot cargo' clauses,' and maintained that, even if it did, the Commission's order should still stand. Id., at 58. To the union's contention that grant of a certificate here injected the Interstate Commerce Commission into the province of the National Labor Relations Board, or at least undercut to some extent the policies of § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, the court replied that the union's failure to organize the employees of the Short Line carriers 'effectively destroyed any jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board under the Act of its creation.' Id., at 59.6 The case is now before us on direct appeals from this judgment.
We have concluded that the judgment of the District Court must be reversed and the Commission's order set aside as an improvident exercise of its discretion. The Commission found from the facts of record that the refusals to handle interchange traffic and to accept freight from certain shippers7 caused a substantial disruption in motor service and serious inadequacies in the service available, despite the efforts of some of the larger trunk-line carriers to maintain normal interline relationships. There was ample evidence to support these findings and we do not disturb them.
The difficulty with the order arises in connection with the findings and conclusions relevant to the choice of remedy. The assumption of the Commission was that the deficiencies of service made either of two remedies available—additional certification or entry of a cease-and-desist order—and that it had unlimited discretion to apply either remedy simply because either might be effective. It is unmistakably clear from the opinion of the Commission and from the fact-findings it made or adopted,8 that the disruption in service resulted solely from refusals to serve, which in turn arose from union pressure applied to obtain union objectives. It is equally clear that absent union pressure there would have been no refusals to serve and that in such normal circumstances the facilities and the services of the existing carriers were adequate.9 Moreover, the trunk-line carriers were operating below capacity,10 were in a position and anxious to transport additional traffic11, and had been enjoying the previously interlined traffic which the grant would divert to Short Line.12 In this factual context we may put aside at the outset the authority which the appellees rely upon that holds that additional certification is the normal and permissible way to deal with generalized inadequacy in service. See, e.g., Davidson Transfer Co. v. United States, 42 F.Supp. 215, 219—220 (E.D.Pa.), aff'd, 317 U.S. 587, 63 S.Ct. 31, 87 L.Ed. 481.13 When, as here, the particular deviations from an otherwise completely adequate service (which has economic need for the traffic) consist solely of illegal and discriminatory refusals to accept or deliver traffic from or to particular carriers or shippers, the powers of the Commission under §§ 204, 212, and 216 bear heavily on the propriety of § 207 relief. And in such a case the choice of the certification remedy may not be automatic; it must be rational and based upon conscious choice that in the circumstances the public interest in 'adequate, economical, and efficient service' outbalances whatever public interest there is in protecting existing carriers' revenues in order to 'foster sound economic conditions in transportation and among the several carriers' (National Transportation Policy, 49 U.S.C. preceding §§ 1, 301, 901, 1001, 49 U.S.C.A. preceding §§ 1, 301, 901, 1001),14 and the other opposing interests.
There are no findings and no analysis here to justify the choice made, no indication of the basis on which the Commission exercised its expert discretion. We are not prepared to and the Administrative Procedure Act15 will not permit us to accept such adjudicatory practice. See Siegel Co. v. Federal Trade Comm'n, 327 U.S. 608, 613—614, 66 S.Ct. 758, 761, 90 L.Ed. 888. Expert discretion is the lifeblood of the administrative process, but 'unless we make the requirements for administrative action strict and demanding, expertise, the strength of modern government, can become a monster which rules with no practical limits on its discretion.' New York v. United States, 342 U.S. 882, 884, 72 S.Ct. 152, 153, 96 L.Ed. 662 (dissenting opinion). 'Congress did not purport to transfer its legislative power to the unbounded discretion of the regulatory body.' Federal Communications Comm'n v. RCA Communications, Inc., 346 U.S. 86, 90, 73 S.Ct. 998, 1002, 97 L.Ed. 1470. The Commission must exercise its discretion under § 207(a) within the bounds expressed by the standard of 'public convenience and necessity.' Compare id., at 91, 73 S.Ct. at 1002, 97 L.Ed. 1470. And for the courts to determine whether the agency has done so, it must 'disclose the basis of its order' and 'give clear indication that it has exercised the discretion with which Congress has empowered it.' Phelps Dodge Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board, 313 U.S. 177, 197, 61 S.Ct. 845, 854, 85 L.Ed. 1271. The agency must make findings that support its decision, and those findings must be supported by substantial evidence. Interstate Commerce Comm'n v. J T Transport Co., 368 U.S. 81, 93, 82 S.Ct. 204, 211, 7 L.Ed.2d 147; United States v. Carolina Freight Carriers Corp., 315 U.S. 475, 488—489, 62 S.Ct. 722, 729, 86 L.Ed. 971; United States v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P.R. Co., 294 U.S. 499, 511, 55 S.Ct. 462, 79 L.Ed. 1023. Here the Commission made no findings specifically directed to the choice between two vastly different remedies with vastly different consequences to the carriers and the public. Nor did it articulate any rational connection between the facts found and the choice made. The Commission addressed itself neither to the possible shortcomings of § 204 procedures, to the advantages of certification, nor to the serious objections to the latter. As we shall presently show, these objections are particularly important in the present context and they should have been taken into account.
Appellants' position is and was that the refusals to serve could be terminated through complaint procedures and thus the need for additional service obviated. The Commission was, as indicated, unresponsive to these arguments in its order, deeming that the availability of the other remedy '(did) not alter the situation.' This was error. Commission counsel now attempt to justify the Commission's 'choice' of remedy on the ground that a cease-and-desist order would have been ineffective. The short answer to this attempted justification is that the Commission did not so find. Securities & Exchange Comm'n v. Chenery Corp., 332 U.S. 194, 196, 67 S.Ct. 1575, 1577, 91 L.Ed. 1995. The courts may not accept appellate counsel's post hoc rationalizations for agency action; Chenery requires that an agency's discretionary order be upheld, if at all, on the same basis articulated in the order by the agency itself:
'(A) simple but fundamental rule of administrative law * * * is * * * that a reviewing court, in dealing with a determination or judgment which an administrative agency alone is authorized to make, must judge the propriety of such action solely by the grounds invoked by the agency. If those grounds are inadequate or improper, the court is powerless to affirm the administrative action * * *.' Ibid.
For the courts to substitute their or counsel's discretion for that of the Commission is incompatible with the orderly functioning of the process of judicial review. This is not to deprecate, but to vindicate (see Phelps Dodge Corp. v. Labor Board, 313 U.S. 177, 197, 61 S.Ct. 845, 853, 854, 85 L.Ed. 1271), the administrative process, for the purpose of the rule is to avoid 'propel(ling) the court into the domain which Congress has set aside exclusively for the administrative agency.' 332 U.S., at 196, 67 S.Ct., at 1577, 91 L.Ed. 1995.
The second and longer answer to the attempted justification is that there is not substantial evidence of record upon which to base a finding that a cease-and-desist order would have been ineffective. There was every indication at the time that a cease-and-desist order would render the deficiencies in service purely temporary phenomena and would thus be effective in promoting adequate, economical, and efficient service and in fostering sound economic conditions among the carriers affected.
It is said that attempted compliance by the unionized carriers might in some way 'so aggravate their labor difficulties as to cause a complete cessation of operations.' But this ignores the Commission's conclusion that carrier apprehensions of teamster reprisals were exaggerated and unwarranted. It further ignores the fact that, as the Commission was aware, the National Labor Relations Board had ordered the union to cease boycotting any of the stockholder carriers by appeals to the employees of any other carrier. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 554, 116 N.L.R.B.1891. To be sure, the Board had not ordered the union not to make appeals directly to the trunkline carriers. The union was free to make such appeals, absent inducement of employees, and, as far as the labor laws and the collective agreement16 were concerned, the employer was free to reject or accede to such requests. But it was precisely at this point that the Sand Door case (Local 1976 v. Labor Board, 357 U.S. 93, 78 S.Ct. 1011, 2 L.Ed.2d 1186) recognized the power of the Commission to enter cease-and-desist orders against the carriers' violating the transportation law and their tariffs.17 Thus, as the appellant union argues,18 there was no reason to have assumed that the ordinary processes of the law19 were incapable of remedying the situation.20
But discussion of the effectiveness of cease-and-desist orders in terms of the June 1959 status of hot cargo arrangements is now largely academic: Congress added § 8(e) to the Act four months after the Commission's decision in this case and over a year before the District Court sustained the Commission. Under this section Congress declared it to 'be an unfair labor practice for any labor organization and any employer to enter into any contract or agreement, express or implied, whereby such employer ceases or refrains or agrees to cease or refrain from handling, using, selling, transporting or otherwise dealing in any of the products of any other employer, or to cease doing business with any other person, and any contract or agreement entered into heretofore or hereafter containing such an agreement shall be to such extent unenforcible and void. * * *.' In the absence of authoritative judicial interpretation of § 8(e), however, the District Court was unwilling to attach any significance to the new law in the present case. In this the District Court erred. The plain words of the statute at the very least raised serious questions about the legality of direct union-employer agreements to boycott another employer. Not only would the delinquent interlining carriers in this case be subject to the injunctive and other processes of the National Labor Relations Board if their conduct violated s 8(e), but the unions themselves would be vulnerable21 and the pressures which generated the refusals to serve might well be effectively removed. These intervening facts so changed the complexion of the case that (even putting aside the considerations discussed above) the reviewing equity court, in the exercise of its sound discretion, should not have affirmed the order, as it did, but should have vacated it and remanded it to the Commission for further consideration in the light of the changed conditions. See Ford Motor Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 305 U.S. 364, 373—374, 59 S.Ct. 301, 307, 83 L.Ed. 221; State of Mo. ex rel. Wabash R. Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n, 273 U.S. 126, 130—131, 47 S.Ct. 311, 313, 71 L.Ed. 575; Gulf, C. & S.F.R. Co. v. Dennis, 224 U.S. 503, 506—509, 32 S.Ct. 542, 543—544, 56 L.Ed. 860.22
Finally, although we do not wish to fetter the Commission's expert, discretionary powers by specifically prescribing that cease-and-desist order relief be granted (if, indeed, any relief is still needed) rather than additional certification, nevertheless the Commission should be particularly careful in its choice of remedy, and should have been particularly careful, because of the possible effects of its decision on the functioning of the national labor relations policy. The Commission acts in a most delicate area here, because whatever it does affirmatively (whether it grants a certificate or enters a cease-and-desist order) may have important consequences upon the collective bargaining processes between the union and the employer. The policies of the Interstate Commerce Act and the labor act necessarily must be accommodated, one to the other. Writing before the 1959 amendments to the labor law, this Court Court said in the Sand Door case:
'But it is said that the Board is not enforcing the Interstate Commerce Act or interfering with the Commission's administration of that statute, but simply interpreting the prohibitions of its own statute in a way consistent with the carrier's obligations under the Interstate Commerce Act. Because of that Act a carrier cannot effectively consent not to handle the goods of a shipper. * * * But the fact that the carrier's consent is not effective to relieve him from certain obligations under the Interstate Commerce Act does not necessarily mean that it is ineffective for all purposes, nor should a determination under one statute be mechanically carried over in the interpretation of another statute involving singificantly different considerations and legislative purposes.' 357 U.S., at 110, 78 S.Ct., at 1021, 2 L.Ed.2d 1186.
The Court concluded that although 'common factors may emerge in the adjudication of these questions' under the two Acts by the two different agencies, nevertheless independent consideration and resolution were possible, the National Labor Relations Board directing itself to consideration of whether the employees violated their duties under § 8(b) and the Interstate Commerce Commission directing its attention to whether the carrier 'may have failed in his obligations under the Interstate Commerce Act.'
Implicit in this analysis is a recognition that if either agency is not careful it may trench upon the other's jurisdiction, and, because of lack of expert competence, contravene the national policy as to transportation or labor relations. In such a context, choice of the sweeping relief of certification rather than the more precise and narrowly drawn cease-and-desist order remedy was improvident, absent a compelling justification. And the fact that § 8(e) of the Act now exposes the employer as well as the union to Labor Board injunctive processes only underlines the necessity for careful analysis in fashioning a remedy to terminate unlawful action by delinquent carriers. This is not to say that circumstances can never permit the Commission to authorize additional service to remedy refusals to serve, but the Commission must act with a discriminating awareness of the consequences of its action. It has not done so here.
The judgment of the District Court is reversed. The case is remanded to it with instructions to enter an order enjoining, annulling, and setting aside the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and remanding the case to the Commission for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered.
Judgment reversed and case remanded with instructions.
Mr. Justice BLACK, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the Court's judgment setting aside the Commission's order granting a permanent certificate to a new carrier to compete with existing carriers who but for temporary interruptions caused by lawful labor union activities would adequately meet the needs of commerce. I do not concur, however, in the remand to the Commission for further proceedings. Congress has vested power to regulate the employer-employee relationship in the National Labor Relations Board, not in the Interstate Commerce Commission, and I think the Commission's grant of a permanent certificate here, which stems wholly from temporary transportation delays owing to a labor dispute within the Labor Board's jurisdiction and which in effect punishes carriers for honoring their then lawful collective bargaining contracts, amounts to an impermissible encroachment on that Board's domain. We are not called upon at this time to decide whether the Commission is wholly without power under any and all circumstances to grant temporary relief from a temporary stoppage of commerce in order to remedy acute emergency situations such, for illustration, as a shortage of food or supplies urgently needed in particular localities. It will be time enough to decide what are the powers of the Commission to meet such situations when they arise; it is concluded that they are not presented in this case.
Since it is my view that under the facts here the Commission has no power to grant a permanent certificate to a competitor, I see no reason to direct that this matter be referred back to the Commission for further proceedings. Such a remand assumes that there is some further action by way of a cease-and-desist order the Commission can or should take. My view is that the facts in this record provide no possible basis for permitting the Commission to order the carriers to cease and desist from carrying out their agreement with the unions. Nothing in the Interstate Commerce Act gives the Commission power to prohibit carriers or unions under the circumstances shown by this record from doing that which the Labor Act permits them to do. Moreover, as the Court points out, four months after the Commission's order Congress outlawed the kind of conduct which here interfered with transportation. Since Congress has, by this enactment, so clearly taken this matter in hand in a way that does not rely for enforcement on the Interstate Commerce Commission, the old Commission proceedings have all the earmarks of mootness, whether technically moot or not. If the union or the truck lines should hereafter violate this new law the Labor Board, backed by the courts, is vested with ample power to force both carriers and unions to obey that law. The Interstate Commerce Commission has enough to do within its congressionally appointed field without stepping over into the field of labor regulation. The Commission should no more than a State* invade regulatory territory Congress has preempted for agencies of its own choice.
Mr. Justice CLARK, concurring in the result.
Four months after entry of the Commission's order Congress enacted § 8(e) as an amendment to the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. (Supp. III) § 158(e), 29 U.S.C.A. § 158(e). Since the language of that section raised serious questions as to the legality of the unions' 'hot cargo' pressures, which in turn raised questions as to any continuation of the 'substantial disruption' in service, it appears to me that the District Court should have vacated the order and remanded the case to the Commission for reconsideration in light of the likelihood of changed circumstances. The grant of permanent certification to a new carrier in an area where there are existing certifications is a drastic remedy to which resort should not be made except in the most compelling circumstances.
For this reason I concur in the Court's reversal and remand to the District Court. In view of the lapse of time and the fact that the conduct which caused the disruption of service has been outlawed by Congress , however, it appears that the issue has been mooted, and the Commission may determine that further proceedings would serve no purpose.
Mr. Justice GOLDBERG, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, Mr. Justice DOUGLAS, and Mr. Justice BRENNAN join, concurring.
I join in the opinion and add only a few words to state my conviction that the 'discriminating awareness of the consequences of its action' required of the Commission by the opinion, inevitably must lead, if any relief is now warranted (which I doubt), to a rejection of the remedy of additional certification in favor of an appropriately limited cease-and-desist order.
As the matter was presented to the Commission and to the District Court, the additional certification, as the facts here plainly demonstrate, involved the Commission in intervention in the underlying labor dispute to a degree unduly trenching upon the Labor Board's jurisdiction and the rights and duties of the affected parties. Most certainly after the 1959 amendments to the labor law, the Commission, had the case then been remanded to it by the District Court as it should have been, could have entered a cease-and-desist order under which no conflict could or would have arisen between the I.C.C. and the N.L.R.B. in the respective exercise of their powers and in the discharge of their responsibilities. Such a cease-and-desist order should have been appropriately limited to requiring the carriers to provide service in a manner and to the extent compatible with their labor agreements and with both the carriers' and the union's rights and duties under federal labor law. That such an order would have been sufficient in practical effect is demonstrated by the fact that both Burlington and Santa Fe, parties to the hot cargo agreements, were able to carry out their duties under the Motor Carrier Act without creating any serious problems under their union agreements or under the National Labor Relations Act. This being so in the absence of a cease-and-desist order, it is difficult to understand why entry of such an order against the carriers would have been ineffective.
The hot cargo clause provided, in pertinent part:
'It shall not be a violation of this Agreement and it shall not be cause for discharge if any employee or employees refuse to go through the picket line of a Union or refuse to handle unfair goods. Nor shall the exercise of any rights permitted by law be a violation of this Agreement. The Union and its members, individually and collectively, reserve the right to refuse to handle goods from or to any firm or truck which is engaged or involved in any controversy with this or any other Union; and reserve the right to refuse to accept freight from or to make pickups from, or deliveries to establishments where picket lines, strikes, walk-outs or lock-outs exist.
'The term 'unfair goods' as used in this Article includes, but is not limited to, any goods or equipment transported, interchanged, handled, or used by any carrier, whether party to this Agreement or not, at any of whose terminals or places of business there is a controversy between such carrier or its employees on the one hand, and a labor union on the other hand; and such goods or equipment shall continue to be 'unfair' while being transported, handled or used by interchanging or succeeding carriers, whether parties to this Agreement or not, until such controversy is settled.
'The insistence by any Employer that his employee(s) handle unfair goods or go through a picket line after they have elected not to, and if such refusal has been approved in writing by the responsible officials of the Central States Drivers Council, shall be sufficient cause for an immediate strike of all such Employer's operations without any need of the Union to go through the grievance procedure herein.'
The grant was limited to an Omaha-Chicago and Omaha-Kansas City-St. Louis route, for traffic originating in or destined to Nebraska points. 79 M.C.C., at 606, 614. No appellate review has been sought for the denial of the second application.
Apparently, in some instances it was necessary to handle interlined traffic by officials or supervisory personnel when employees refused to touch it. See R. 82.
See §§ 212(a) (revocation), 222(a) (fine), 222(b) (injunction). That the inadequacy in service involved here was first brought to the Commission's attention by appellee's application for a certificate in no way, of course, limited the agency's power to invoke §§ 204(c), 212, 222.
In this connection the Commission noted that it had refused a grant in a similar case decided concurrently with the present application (Galveston Truck Line Corporation Extension, 79 M.C.C. 619). The Commission stated that the circumstances there were different because the labor difficulties which had led to Commission issuance of a cease-and-desist order against carrier obedience to hot cargo clauses (Galveston Truck Line Corp. v. Ada Motor Lines, Inc., 73 M.C.C. 617; see note 17, infra) had 'ceased to exist for some time prior to the hearing, whereas in the instant proceeding such difficulties were of more recent origin and were continuing to be experienced up to and including the time of the hearing.' 79 M.C.C., at 613. But approximately 21 months intervened between the examiner's report and the Commission's order, and over two years between hearings and order. During at least 18 months of this time the case appears to have been argued to the Commission, remaining on the docket pending decision. See 73 M.C.C., at 617, n. 1.
Compare Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering, 254 U.S. 443, 471—472, 41 S.Ct. 172, 178—179, 65 L.Ed. 349. But see National Labor Relations Act, §§ 2(3), 9, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 152(3), 159; Norris-La-Guardia Act, § 13(c), 29 U.S.C.A. § 113(c).
There were findings that secondary boycotts were imposed not only against the stockholder carriers but against certain shippers who were engaged in their own labor disputes.
The Commission adopted the statements of facts in both recommended reports. 79 M.C.C., at 605, 608.
R. 87—89, 95.
Ibid., R. 95.
And see Atchison, T. & S.F.R. Co. v. Reddish, 368 U.S. 81, 91, 82 S.Ct. 204, 210, 7 L.Ed.2d 147, where the Court rejected the argument that complaint proceedings must be resorted to before additional operating authority could be had to replace a common carrier service inadequate for the shippers' particularized physical or economic needs. This case, like the many cases appellees cite in which the Commission granted throughroute certification to overcome inadequacy of existing joint-line service (e.g., Penn Ohio New York Exp. Corp. Ext.—N.Y., 27 M.C.C. 269; Malone Freight Lines, Inc., Ext.—Textiles, 61 M.C.C. 501; Dallas & Mavis Fwdg. Co. Ext.—Mont., 64 M.C.C. 511; Braswell Ext. Calif., 68 M.C.C. 664; Kenosha Corp. Ext.—Kenosha, 72 M.C.C. 289), is clearly inapposite here, where there is nothing inherently wrong with the appellant carriers' service, either because of its particular nature or because of lack of capacity, infrequency of pickups, delays in delivery, or the like.
In this connection it should be noted that certification of Short Line would divert traffic both from delinquent trunkline carriers and from carriers who did not violate their duties by acceding to the secondary boycott, e.g., Burlington and Santa Fe. See 79 M.C.C., at 603.
Section 8(b), 5 U.S.C. § 1007(b), 5 U.S.C.A. § 1007(b), provides that all decisions shall 'include a statement of * * * findings and conclusions, as well as the reasons or basis therefor, upon all the material issues of fact, law, or discretion presented on the record.'
See note 1, supra, setting forth the relevant provisions, under which the employees reserved the right to refuse to handle hot cargo, but under which the employer was left to his own devices. Cf. note 3, supra.
The Court cited with approval the first Galveston case (Galveston Truck Line Corp. v. Ada Motor Lines, Inc., 73 M.C.C. 617), in which the Commission entered a cease-and-desist order against carrier obedience to hot cargo clauses. 357 U.S., at 109 110, 78 S.Ct., at 1021, 2 L.Ed.2d 1186.
The union contends in its brief and we agree that the § 212(a) complaint procedure, if followed by the stockholder carriers, 'would have provided a more adequate remedy' at the time the case was before the Commission in 1956—1959.
It is further contended, but we need not consider it here, that the efficacy of a cease-and-desist order is severely limited by the agency's self-imposed limitation against ordering carriers to cease from discriminatorily refusing to interline at joint rates. But cf. Dixie Carriers, Inc., v. United States, 351 U.S. 56, 76 S.Ct. 578, 100 L.Ed. 934; Interstate Commerce Comm'n v. Mechling, 330 U.S. 567, 67 S.Ct. 894, 91 L.Ed. 1102. The Commission did not find, nor could it have found on this record, that the protesting carriers were likely to refuse to interline with the stockholder carriers except at discriminatorily higher, combination rates.
We do not imply that service deficiencies of the kind found in this record could never justify the issuance of permanent operating authority. A totally different case might be presented if other remedial action by the Commission and the Board proved fruitless, hopelessly time-consuming, or otherwise inadequate to terminate the interruptions in service. Nor do we intend to pass upon the Commission's discretion under § 210a to provide temporary authority, pending determination of an application for authority or cease-and-desist order, or as an alternative to permanent authority to remedy service deficiencies of the kind present here. See Pan-Atlantic S.S. Corp. v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 353 U.S. 436, 77 S.Ct. 999, 1 L.Ed.2d 963.
For the view of the National Labor Relations Board, see Amalgamated Lithographers of America (Ind.), 130 N.L.R.B. 985; Amalgamated Lithographers of America, 130 N.L.R.B. 968, aff'd, 301 F.2d 20 (C.A.5th Cir.); American Feed Co., 129 N.L.R.B. 321.
This was, of course, the District Court's, and not the Commission's, error.
Cf. San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed. 775 (1959).
Although the effectiveness of the § 8(e) ban on 'hot cargo' clauses may have been subject to doubt when the District Court adjudicated this case, subsequent cases tend to remove any such doubt. See, e.g., National Labor Relations Board v. Local 294, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 298 F.2d 105 (C.A.2d Cir., 1961). | <urn:uuid:4ae4390d-f2a3-4068-b8af-cb0578118be0> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://openjurist.org/371/us/156 | 2015-04-01T23:08:07Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131309963.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172149-00146-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944423 | 8,628 |
The Carbon Cycle
A previous version of this article, written in 2001, is now archived as a PDF file.
Carbon is the backbone of life on Earth. We are made of carbon, we eat carbon, and our civilizations—our economies, our homes, our means of transport—are built on carbon. We need carbon, but that need is also entwined with one of the most serious problems facing us today: global climate change.
Forged in the heart of aging stars, carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the Universe. Most of Earth’s carbon—about 65,500 billion metric tons—is stored in rocks. The rest is in the ocean, atmosphere, plants, soil, and fossil fuels.
Carbon flows between each reservoir in an exchange called the carbon cycle, which has slow and fast components. Any change in the cycle that shifts carbon out of one reservoir puts more carbon in the other reservoirs. Changes that put carbon gases into the atmosphere result in warmer temperatures on Earth.
Over the long term, the carbon cycle seems to maintain a balance that prevents all of Earth’s carbon from entering the atmosphere (as is the case on Venus) or from being stored entirely in rocks. This balance helps keep Earth’s temperature relatively stable, like a thermostat.
This thermostat works over a few hundred thousand years, as part of the slow carbon cycle. This means that for shorter time periods—tens to a hundred thousand years—the temperature of Earth can vary. And, in fact, Earth swings between ice ages and warmer interglacial periods on these time scales. Parts of the carbon cycle may even amplify these short-term temperature changes.
On very long time scales (millions to tens of millions of years), the movement of tectonic plates and changes in the rate at which carbon seeps from the Earth’s interior may change the temperature on the thermostat. Earth has undergone such a change over the last 50 million years, from the extremely warm climates of the Cretaceous (roughly 145 to 65 million years ago) to the glacial climates of the Pleistocene (roughly 1.8 million to 11,500 years ago). [See Divisions of Geologic Time—Major Chronostratigraphic and Geochronologic Units for more information about geological eras.]
The Slow Carbon Cycle
Through a series of chemical reactions and tectonic activity, carbon takes between 100-200 million years to move between rocks, soil, ocean, and atmosphere in the slow carbon cycle. On average, 1013 to 1014 grams (10–100 million metric tons) of carbon move through the slow carbon cycle every year. In comparison, human emissions of carbon to the atmosphere are on the order of 1015 grams, whereas the fast carbon cycle moves 1016 to 1017 grams of carbon per year.
The movement of carbon from the atmosphere to the lithosphere (rocks) begins with rain. Atmospheric carbon combines with water to form a weak acid—carbonic acid—that falls to the surface in rain. The acid dissolves rocks—a process called chemical weathering—and releases calcium, magnesium, potassium, or sodium ions. Rivers carry the ions to the ocean.
In the ocean, the calcium ions combine with bicarbonate ions to form calcium carbonate, the active ingredient in antacids and the chalky white substance that dries on your faucet if you live in an area with hard water. In the modern ocean, most of the calcium carbonate is made by shell-building (calcifying) organisms (such as corals) and plankton (like coccolithophores and foraminifera). After the organisms die, they sink to the seafloor. Over time, layers of shells and sediment are cemented together and turn to rock, storing the carbon in stone—limestone and its derivatives.
Only 80 percent of carbon-containing rock is currently made this way. The remaining 20 percent contain carbon from living things (organic carbon) that have been embedded in layers of mud. Heat and pressure compress the mud and carbon over millions of years, forming sedimentary rock such as shale. In special cases, when dead plant matter builds up faster than it can decay, layers of organic carbon become oil, coal, or natural gas instead of sedimentary rock like shale.
The slow cycle returns carbon to the atmosphere through volcanoes. Earth’s land and ocean surfaces sit on several moving crustal plates. When the plates collide, one sinks beneath the other, and the rock it carries melts under the extreme heat and pressure. The heated rock recombines into silicate minerals, releasing carbon dioxide.
When volcanoes erupt, they vent the gas to the atmosphere and cover the land with fresh silicate rock to begin the cycle again. At present, volcanoes emit between 130 and 380 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. For comparison, humans emit about 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year—100–300 times more than volcanoes—by burning fossil fuels.
Chemistry regulates this dance between ocean, land, and atmosphere. If carbon dioxide rises in the atmosphere because of an increase in volcanic activity, for example, temperatures rise, leading to more rain, which dissolves more rock, creating more ions that will eventually deposit more carbon on the ocean floor. It takes a few hundred thousand years to rebalance the slow carbon cycle through chemical weathering.
However, the slow carbon cycle also contains a slightly faster component: the ocean. At the surface, where air meets water, carbon dioxide gas dissolves in and ventilates out of the ocean in a steady exchange with the atmosphere. Once in the ocean, carbon dioxide gas reacts with water molecules to release hydrogen, making the ocean more acidic. The hydrogen reacts with carbonate from rock weathering to produce bicarbonate ions.
Before the industrial age, the ocean vented carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in balance with the carbon the ocean received during rock weathering. However, since carbon concentrations in the atmosphere have increased, the ocean now takes more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. Over millennia, the ocean will absorb up to 85 percent of the extra carbon people have put into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, but the process is slow because it is tied to the movement of water from the ocean’s surface to its depths.
In the meantime, winds, currents, and temperature control the rate at which the ocean takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (See The Ocean’s Carbon Balance on the Earth Observatory.) It is likely that changes in ocean temperatures and currents helped remove carbon from and then restore carbon to the atmosphere over the few thousand years in which the ice ages began and ended.
The Fast Carbon Cycle
The time it takes carbon to move through the fast carbon cycle is measured in a lifespan. The fast carbon cycle is largely the movement of carbon through life forms on Earth, or the biosphere. Between 1015 and 1017 grams (1,000 to 100,000 million metric tons) of carbon move through the fast carbon cycle every year.
Carbon plays an essential role in biology because of its ability to form many bonds—up to four per atom—in a seemingly endless variety of complex organic molecules. Many organic molecules contain carbon atoms that have formed strong bonds to other carbon atoms, combining into long chains and rings. Such carbon chains and rings are the basis of living cells. For instance, DNA is made of two intertwined molecules built around a carbon chain.
The bonds in the long carbon chains contain a lot of energy. When the chains break apart, the stored energy is released. This energy makes carbon molecules an excellent source of fuel for all living things.
Plants and phytoplankton are the main components of the fast carbon cycle. Phytoplankton (microscopic organisms in the ocean) and plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by absorbing it into their cells. Using energy from the Sun, both plants and plankton combine carbon dioxide (CO2) and water to form sugar (CH2O) and oxygen. The chemical reaction looks like this:
CO2 + H2O + energy = CH2O + O2
Four things can happen to move carbon from a plant and return it to the atmosphere, but all involve the same chemical reaction. Plants break down the sugar to get the energy they need to grow. Animals (including people) eat the plants or plankton, and break down the plant sugar to get energy. Plants and plankton die and decay (are eaten by bacteria) at the end of the growing season. Or fire consumes plants. In each case, oxygen combines with sugar to release water, carbon dioxide, and energy. The basic chemical reaction looks like this:
CH2O + O2 = CO2 + H2O + energy
In all four processes, the carbon dioxide released in the reaction usually ends up in the atmosphere. The fast carbon cycle is so tightly tied to plant life that the growing season can be seen by the way carbon dioxide fluctuates in the atmosphere. In the Northern Hemisphere winter, when few land plants are growing and many are decaying, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations climb. During the spring, when plants begin growing again, concentrations drop. It is as if the Earth is breathing.
Changes in the Carbon Cycle
Left unperturbed, the fast and slow carbon cycles maintain a relatively steady concentration of carbon in the atmosphere, land, plants, and ocean. But when anything changes the amount of carbon in one reservoir, the effect ripples through the others.
In Earth’s past, the carbon cycle has changed in response to climate change. Variations in Earth’s orbit alter the amount of energy Earth receives from the Sun and leads to a cycle of ice ages and warm periods like Earth’s current climate. (See Milutin Milankovitch.) Ice ages developed when Northern Hemisphere summers cooled and ice built up on land, which in turn slowed the carbon cycle. Meanwhile, a number of factors including cooler temperatures and increased phytoplankton growth may have increased the amount of carbon the ocean took out of the atmosphere. The drop in atmospheric carbon caused additional cooling. Similarly, at the end of the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose dramatically as temperatures warmed.
Shifts in Earth’s orbit are happening constantly, in predictable cycles. In about 30,000 years, Earth’s orbit will have changed enough to reduce sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere to the levels that led to the last ice age.
Today, changes in the carbon cycle are happening because of people. We perturb the carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels and clearing land.
When we clear forests, we remove a dense growth of plants that had stored carbon in wood, stems, and leaves—biomass. By removing a forest, we eliminate plants that would otherwise take carbon out of the atmosphere as they grow. We tend to replace the dense growth with crops or pasture, which store less carbon. We also expose soil that vents carbon from decayed plant matter into the atmosphere. Humans are currently emitting just under a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere per year through land use changes.
Without human interference, the carbon in fossil fuels would leak slowly into the atmosphere through volcanic activity over millions of years in the slow carbon cycle. By burning coal, oil, and natural gas, we accelerate the process, releasing vast amounts of carbon (carbon that took millions of years to accumulate) into the atmosphere every year. By doing so, we move the carbon from the slow cycle to the fast cycle. In 2009, humans released about 8.4 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when people first started burning fossil fuels, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have risen from about 280 parts per million to 387 parts per million, a 39 percent increase. This means that for every million molecules in the atmosphere, 387 of them are now carbon dioxide—the highest concentration in two million years. Methane concentrations have risen from 715 parts per billion in 1750 to 1,774 parts per billion in 2005, the highest concentration in at least 650,000 years.
Effects of Changing the Carbon Cycle
All of this extra carbon needs to go somewhere. So far, land plants and the ocean have taken up about 55 percent of the extra carbon people have put into the atmosphere while about 45 percent has stayed in the atmosphere. Eventually, the land and oceans will take up most of the extra carbon dioxide, but as much as 20 percent may remain in the atmosphere for many thousands of years.
The changes in the carbon cycle impact each reservoir. Excess carbon in the atmosphere warms the planet and helps plants on land grow more. Excess carbon in the ocean makes the water more acidic, putting marine life in danger.
It is significant that so much carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere because CO2 is the most important gas for controlling Earth’s temperature. Carbon dioxide, methane, and halocarbons are greenhouse gases that absorb a wide range of energy—including infrared energy (heat) emitted by the Earth—and then re-emit it. The re-emitted energy travels out in all directions, but some returns to Earth, where it heats the surface. Without greenhouse gases, Earth would be a frozen -18 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Fahrenheit). With too many greenhouse gases, Earth would be like Venus, where the greenhouse atmosphere keeps temperatures around 400 degrees Celsius (750 Fahrenheit).
Because scientists know which wavelengths of energy each greenhouse gas absorbs, and the concentration of the gases in the atmosphere, they can calculate how much each gas contributes to warming the planet. Carbon dioxide causes about 20 percent of Earth’s greenhouse effect; water vapor accounts for about 50 percent; and clouds account for 25 percent. The rest is caused by small particles (aerosols) and minor greenhouse gases like methane.
Water vapor concentrations in the air are controlled by Earth’s temperature. Warmer temperatures evaporate more water from the oceans, expand air masses, and lead to higher humidity. Cooling causes water vapor to condense and fall out as rain, sleet, or snow.
Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, remains a gas at a wider range of atmospheric temperatures than water. Carbon dioxide molecules provide the initial greenhouse heating needed to maintain water vapor concentrations. When carbon dioxide concentrations drop, Earth cools, some water vapor falls out of the atmosphere, and the greenhouse warming caused by water vapor drops. Likewise, when carbon dioxide concentrations rise, air temperatures go up, and more water vapor evaporates into the atmosphere—which then amplifies greenhouse heating.
So while carbon dioxide contributes less to the overall greenhouse effect than water vapor, scientists have found that carbon dioxide is the gas that sets the temperature. Carbon dioxide controls the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and thus the size of the greenhouse effect.
Rising carbon dioxide concentrations are already causing the planet to heat up. At the same time that greenhouse gases have been increasing, average global temperatures have risen 0.8 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1880.
This rise in temperature isn’t all the warming we will see based on current carbon dioxide concentrations. Greenhouse warming doesn’t happen right away because the ocean soaks up heat. This means that Earth’s temperature will increase at least another 0.6 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) because of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. The degree to which temperatures go up beyond that depends in part on how much more carbon humans release into the atmosphere in the future.
About 30 percent of the carbon dioxide that people have put into the atmosphere has diffused into the ocean through the direct chemical exchange. Dissolving carbon dioxide in the ocean creates carbonic acid, which increases the acidity of the water. Or rather, a slightly alkaline ocean becomes a little less alkaline. Since 1750, the pH of the ocean’s surface has dropped by 0.1, a 30 percent change in acidity.
Ocean acidification affects marine organisms in two ways. First, carbonic acid reacts with carbonate ions in the water to form bicarbonate. However, those same carbonate ions are what shell-building animals like coral need to create calcium carbonate shells. With less carbonate available, the animals need to expend more energy to build their shells. As a result, the shells end up being thinner and more fragile.
Second, the more acidic water is, the better it dissolves calcium carbonate. In the long run, this reaction will allow the ocean to soak up excess carbon dioxide because more acidic water will dissolve more rock, release more carbonate ions, and increase the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. In the meantime, though, more acidic water will dissolve the carbonate shells of marine organisms, making them pitted and weak.
Warmer oceans—a product of the greenhouse effect—could also decrease the abundance of phytoplankton, which grow better in cool, nutrient-rich waters. This could limit the ocean’s ability to take carbon from the atmosphere through the fast carbon cycle.
On the other hand, carbon dioxide is essential for plant and phytoplankton growth. An increase in carbon dioxide could increase growth by fertilizing those few species of phytoplankton and ocean plants (like sea grasses) that take carbon dioxide directly from the water. However, most species are not helped by the increased availability of carbon dioxide.
Plants on land have taken up approximately 25 percent of the carbon dioxide that humans have put into the atmosphere. The amount of carbon that plants take up varies greatly from year to year, but in general, the world’s plants have increased the amount of carbon dioxide they absorb since 1960. Only some of this increase occurred as a direct result of fossil fuel emissions.
With more atmospheric carbon dioxide available to convert to plant matter in photosynthesis, plants were able to grow more. This increased growth is referred to as carbon fertilization. Models predict that plants might grow anywhere from 12 to 76 percent more if atmospheric carbon dioxide is doubled, as long as nothing else, like water shortages, limits their growth. However, scientists don’t know how much carbon dioxide is increasing plant growth in the real world, because plants need more than carbon dioxide to grow.
Plants also need water, sunlight, and nutrients, especially nitrogen. If a plant doesn’t have one of these things, it won’t grow regardless of how abundant the other necessities are. There is a limit to how much carbon plants can take out of the atmosphere, and that limit varies from region to region. So far, it appears that carbon dioxide fertilization increases plant growth until the plant reaches a limit in the amount of water or nitrogen available.
Some of the changes in carbon absorption are the result of land use decisions. Agriculture has become much more intensive, so we can grow more food on less land. In high and mid-latitudes, abandoned farmland is reverting to forest, and these forests store much more carbon, both in wood and soil, than crops would. In many places, we prevent plant carbon from entering the atmosphere by extinguishing wildfires. This allows woody material (which stores carbon) to build up. All of these land use decisions are helping plants absorb human-released carbon in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the tropics, however, forests are being removed, often through fire, and this releases carbon dioxide. As of 2008, deforestation accounted for about 12 percent of all human carbon dioxide emissions.
The biggest changes in the land carbon cycle are likely to come because of climate change. Carbon dioxide increases temperatures, extending the growing season and increasing humidity. Both factors have led to some additional plant growth. However, warmer temperatures also stress plants. With a longer, warmer growing season, plants need more water to survive. Scientists are already seeing evidence that plants in the Northern Hemisphere slow their growth in the summer because of warm temperatures and water shortages.
Dry, water-stressed plants are also more susceptible to fire and insects when growing seasons become longer. In the far north, where an increase in temperature has the greatest impact, the forests have already started to burn more, releasing carbon from the plants and the soil into the atmosphere. Tropical forests may also be extremely susceptible to drying. With less water, tropical trees slow their growth and take up less carbon, or die and release their stored carbon to the atmosphere.
The warming caused by rising greenhouse gases may also “bake” the soil, accelerating the rate at which carbon seeps out in some places. This is of particular concern in the far north, where frozen soil—permafrost—is thawing. Permafrost contains rich deposits of carbon from plant matter that has accumulated for thousands of years because the cold slows decay. When the soil warms, the organic matter decays and carbon—in the form of methane and carbon dioxide—seeps into the atmosphere.
Current research estimates that permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere holds 1,672 billion tons (Petagrams) of organic carbon. If just 10 percent of this permafrost were to thaw, it could release enough extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere to raise temperatures an additional 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100.
Studying the Carbon Cycle
Many of the questions scientists still need to answer about the carbon cycle revolve around how it is changing. The atmosphere now contains more carbon than at any time in at least two million years. Each reservoir of the cycle will change as this carbon makes its way through the cycle.
What will those changes look like? What will happen to plants as temperatures increase and climate changes? Will they remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they put back? Will they become less productive? How much extra carbon will melting permafrost put into the atmosphere, and how much will that amplify warming? Will ocean circulation or warming change the rate at which the ocean takes up carbon? Will ocean life become less productive? How much will the ocean acidify, and what effects will that have?
NASA’s role in answering these questions is to provide global satellite observations and related field observations. As of early 2011, two types of satellite instruments were collecting information relevant to the carbon cycle.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments, flying on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, measure the amount of carbon plants and phytoplankton turn into matter as they grow, a measurement called net primary productivity. The MODIS sensors also measure how many fires occur and where they burn.
Two Landsat satellites provide a detailed view of ocean reefs, what is growing on land, and how land cover is changing. It is possible to see the growth of a city or a transformation from forest to farm. This information is crucial because land use accounts for one-third of all human carbon emissions.
Future NASA satellites will continue these observations, and also measure carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere and vegetation height and structure.
All of these measurements will help us see how the global carbon cycle is changing through time. They will help us gauge the impact we are having on the carbon cycle by releasing carbon into the atmosphere or finding ways to store it elsewhere. They will show us how our changing climate is altering the carbon cycle, and how the changing carbon cycle is altering our climate.
Most of us, however, will observe changes in the carbon cycle in a more personal way. For us, the carbon cycle is the food we eat, the electricity in our homes, the gas in our cars, and the weather over our heads. We are a part of the carbon cycle, and so our decisions about how we live ripple across the cycle. Likewise, changes in the carbon cycle will impact the way we live. As each of us come to understand our role in the carbon cycle, the knowledge empowers us to control our personal impact and to understand the changes we are seeing in the world around us.
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Tuesday, February 3. 2009
Posted by Joerg Wolf in Transatlantic Relations on Tuesday, February 3. 2009
Even America's most loyal and important ally is not as much appreciated as it used to be in Washington. The UK-US special relationship is being reconsidered in both Britain and the United States.
In an article about the British army's lack of soldiers, lack of money and lack of conviction, The Economist writes:
Alex Harrowell with A Fistful of Euros takes issue with the assumptions behind the accusation that Britain is "Europeanised:"
He also asks a tough rhetorical question, which our regular commenter Don Stadler, an American living in London, has been asking many times in the exact opposite way:
I think the UK understands that to succeed in Afghanistan and elsewhere the United States and NATO need support from its European allies as well. More British troops will not lead to success. Moreover why should Britain continue to carry the burden, if other Europeans are not helping? Besides, what has Britain gained from its "special relationship" with the US in the last three decades?
Last month, British Defense Secretary John Hutton has called upon NATO allies to pull their weight and share the burden in Afghanistan. In one of the most outspoken speeches from a British defense minister in years, Hutton reprimands some EU members for a lack of commitment to global security interests. Atlantic-community.org published excerpts of his speech: UK Slams Poor European Commitment in Afghanistan
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John in Michigan, USA - #1 - 2009-02-03 12:00 -
Alex Harrowell (or Joerg?) should know better than to ask "tough rhetorical questions" that have easy, rhetorical (sadly!) answers: The NATO treaty's self-defense provision was never activated in the case of former Yugoslavia, but it was activated in the case of Afghanistan. For any region that claims with such strident shrillness to believe in international law, that should make all the difference. "NATO declared that the alliance had been invoked back in September 2001, and was told that its assistance was not required" It seems to me the understanding that "assistance was not required" back in 2001 was probably a confusing, frustrating, but ultimately wise face-saving measure for both sides. This face-saving measure would presumably have been necessary because most of the European components of NATO where unable to provide very many useful (meaning, not restricted by unrealistic caveats) forces of the type that were needed in the early (non-peacekeeping/reconstruction) phase of the Afghanistan campaign. Also, most European governments needed time to prepare their publics to accept any involvement at all. Had the US asked for immediate assistance, and been declined, it would have exposed a major rift in the alliance, which would have emboldened the opposing forces. This face-saving measure managed to preserve the image of post-9/11 unity, and postpone the airing of NATO's dirty laundry, at least until after the Taliban had fallen. Harrowell continues, "the US withdrew much of its own forces in Afghanistan for use in Iraq...it is no coincidence that, as Antonio Giustozzi writes in Koran, Kalashnikov and Laptop, the Taliban resurgence began in 2003." I am delighted to hear praise for US special forces; reading the European press, particularly, the socialist organs, one gets the impression that they are all blood-thirsty baby-killers who are creating ten terrorists for every one they kill. So Harrowell valued their contribution and wanted them to stay and fight in Afghanistan; if only he had told us that sooner. Perhaps he did, but his voices got drowned out by all the anti-US hate speech? Certainly it was no coincidence that the Taliban and al-Qaeda resurgence began after those forces were thoroughly routed in a semi-conventional small war. They had no-where to go but up. And maybe US redeployment into Iraq played a role, but not necessarily the way he assumes. For with the benefit of hindsight, if the Taliban resurgence began in 2003, it really started gaining steam in 2007. Is it a coincidence that this was just when al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia was being dealt a humiliating defeat in Iraq? The US focus on Iraq actually pulled significant jihadist resources away from the Afghanistan battlefield. After all, if you're a Deobandi (which bin Laden is, but seemingly only when its convenient for him), Afghanistan and Pakistan is your main fight; but if you are a Salafist (which is where most of the money and the trans-national, 9/11-capable operatives seem to come from) you can't afford to ignore a battle with the infidel in the heart of the ancient Caliphate. What became a two-front war for the US, also became a two-front war for the jihadists. Ideally, upon their retreat from Iraq, jihadis would have encountered a capable, trusted ISAF force and a strong central government in Pakistan. They would have been, if you'll forgive the expression, caught between Iraq and a hard place. That now seems unlikely, due to factors such as ISAF underperformance and the Bhutto assassination. But my hope is that, as these jihadist forces re-deploy back to Afghanistan, we will find that they are greatly weakened, and less welcome. How will they explain Iraq to their Afghan brothers? Time will tell. As to the main topic of the post, certainly it is a concern. But, I am far more concerned about the future of NATO as a military alliance, than the future of the US-UK special military relationship. If in some future circumstance, the UK forges a new political consensus that a war must be fought, its armed forces will be able to re-learn counter-insurgency and small wars as quickly as we have in Iraq. Possibly, even more quickly than that.
Don S - #2 - 2009-02-03 15:15 -
That second quote was from Alex Harrowell, not myself I believe. It is a good question, which I will answer here: The Bosnian war was not fought in American interests, but primarily in European interests. The US came unwillingly, because we did not see the Balkans as a proper US sphere of interest. We came and did 80% of the fighting, because our strongest allies (Britain, Germany, France, and most of NATO) called. The war is long finished, so OF COURSE we complain that Europe still won't muster the small forces needed to keep order in that area and demands US involvement in something which was never our deep concern! I agree with Alex about the simile between Bosnia and Afghanistan, but let's look at the European response to Afghanoistan, shall we? The British came in full force, there is little doubt of that. So did the Canadians and possibly the Norwegians and Dutch to a degree. Possibly also some of the Eastern Europeans, I'm not as familiar with the actual details of what they committed and when, but it was substantial in the case of Poland and perhaps some others. The remainder of NATO (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, etc) came slowly, rteluctantly, with tiny forces, and often although not always refusing combat missions (the French forces are small relative to the Canadians (much less the Brits or Americans) but seems to be as willing to actually fight). This cannot be said of the Germans or some others, alas. Bottom line: the Yanks came to Bosnia reluctantly and fought your ferking war for you; the Euros (and most particularly the Germans) came to Afghanistan late, reluctant, with small contributions, and have avoided the dangerous jobs. The analogy is a good one, but the response was not....
Marie Claude - #2.1 - 2009-02-03 20:13 -
Nah, Don, the US, and, primaly, Ms all to not bright wanted to interven there, cuz, those Eurabians are so little aware of the need of expension of that super Albanian country, muslim (umm the great desing was from great Brezinzski : a green belt !!!), in a political corrected language, though really, "jihadism", in a normal language, and guess while hiting the Serbs, she though that she was hitting the commies !!! so whatever the Europeans thought or made, it wasn't of the "enlightened plan from DC !!! what a mess !!! h t t p ://4international.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/the-real-srebrenica-genocide-the-mass-murder-of-serbs-in-srebrenica-and-gorazde/ some delicate interest there : h t t p://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960514/ai_n14053484 though no need to think it was that bad !!!! h t t p://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/pearl123199.htm
John in Michigan, USA - #2.1.1 - 2009-02-03 23:38 -
"Ms all to not bright" valiant attempt at word play, you only missed by a little. Should be "Ms all not to bright" = Albright. We intervened in the region for the same reason we intervened in Somalia: to try and prevent genocide. Foolish, perhaps, but that was the main reason. Of course, once there, we pursued other interests as well. That is to be expected. But we would not be there at all, were it not for the attempted genocides.
John in Michigan, USA - #2.1.2 - 2009-02-04 00:38 -
I should have also said, I think you make some interesting points, particularly in the last article which points out that former Yugoslavia was fairly tame compared to Rwanda. Presumably, the late Daniel Pearl would have included Darfur on the list with Rwanda, had he lived to write about it. Also, the Serbs were not along in this misconduct, there was plenty on the Islam side, and it is possible we (NATO) backed the wrong side or should have opposed both sides more fully. The fact is that by the time NATO got involved, the Muslim-sponsored atrocities had become less common, and the Serb-sponsored atrocities more common. It is certainly very frustrating that, in Islamist circles, NATO and particularly the US is often blamed for the mass death of Muslims in former Yugoslavia, when in fact, NATO was there in part to protect Muslims when their fellow Muslims in the middle east would not or could not. Nevertheless, I maintain my position that the main reason for the NATO intervention was concern over mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and possible genocide. Other geo-political and financial interests existed, but they were not what drove the intervention.
Marie Claude - #18.104.22.168 - 2009-02-04 17:57 -
well, some specialists said that the US didn't want to be left outside this conflict, and the main decisions were imposed by the Clinton's bons offices from the beginnings, and that the EU followed their line as domesticated good boys !!! In the actual conflict islam vs christians, seems that the not to bright person advantaged Islam, while it would have been raisonable to support the Serbs and avoid to demonise them (which was conveniently forecasted before the bombings) ; if you'd look at my first link, you would have marked that they were as much and "really" massacred, but none cared to denounce the "good" muslim "martyrs" !!! Now, I am not thanking the Clinton administration, it has set the premises of the next european conflict, big muslim Albania, which is a "mafiosi" state against what is left as christian in this new virtual entity
Joe Noory - #22.214.171.124.1 - 2009-02-06 15:47 -
Specialists? Don't you mean the ubiquitous commenters in the French media with no shortage of exxagerations to call attention to themselves? The US ended up in a "quagmire" in the former Yugoslavia because the Europeans begged and begged and begged to take care of their security problems for them. Without that, the "major European powers" were fully prepared to live with the guilt of letting mass murder continue 400 km from Vienna because acting against it MIGHT cost a few lives. Even now in Kosovo, support for "EULEX" is 10% American, there are still US troops in every intervention area of the former Yugoslavia, and there is no sign of them ever being able to leave because the European planners are unable to "nativize" any area that they've been in charge of even for a decade. They will in effect become permanent colonial governors of another part of Europe due entirely to the culture of the continent being unable to get past etnocentrism or propagating the concept of how individual liberties and citizen stakeholding can make for a better self-governing society - all the while lecturing the rest of humanity about not being color blind/etc/etc.
joe - #2.2 - 2009-02-04 13:44 -
Don S Just to clean up one thing. The USAF flew 98% of all combat sorties. The other 2% were primarily flown by the Brits. I am not sure where you got your 80% number. I would like to see a link to that. If you remember this was to be the euro’s finest hour. They were going to handle this. For the US not to allow them to do this was a huge mistake. When the US finally engaged all the euro’s could do was piss and moan. What the US learned from this was NATO as a command structure was broken and still is. The political masters in places like Berlin, Rome, Brussels, etc wanted to approve target lists, dictate how the war was to be conducted, etc. From this experience the US made a decision never to go down this road again. From a practical point it clearly demonstrated how pathetic the euro’s had allowed the state of their defense forces to deteriorate. Simple things like air-to-air and ground to air communications could not be conducted except in the clear. This lead to a typical solution for the euro’s, a study committee within NATO to address these problems. Like most things from the euro’s there were lots of talk and little action. The main problems high lighted in the Bosnian operation remain broken today in Afghanistan as it relates to interoperability. Germany typifies our so-called allies. It does not have the men, equipment, training, or leadership to conduct combat operations. Even more important it lacks the political will and moral courage to do so. The US needs to realize only with a clear and present direct threat to the fatherland Germany will at best stand aside and allow the US to do the heavy lifting. Lacking this threat Germany’s most likely course of action is to undermine US efforts.
Marie Claude - #2.2.1 - 2009-02-04 18:00 -
stop mourning, Nato was first ment to help the US to keep their hegemony, umm yeah, to protect us, but of what !!!! Stalin never intended to invade us, he need this free world hole pit to make business, with whom ???? the US of course
John in Michigan, USA - #126.96.36.199 - 2009-02-04 20:29 -
Yes, that was so clever of Stalin, to arrange for his own agricultural production to fail, so that he could remain dependent on Western food aid and be unable to invade. Brilliant!
Marie Claude - #188.8.131.52.1 - 2009-02-04 23:24 -
Actually he said so, when he was asked if he wanted to adhere to the Marshall plan either( he, Russia need it badly !!!), and finally rejected it to stay independant of the "manipulative" state departemental american policies, umm, yes, how clever !!!LMAO
Pat Patterson - #184.108.40.206.1.1 - 2009-02-05 01:43 -
Actually Stalin and Molotov rejected the draft plan and didn't even stick around for the negotiations. Plus there was that little matter of the Soviets overthrowing the elected government of Czechoslovakia that meant that most of the foot dragging on implemention vanished in Europe overnight. Hegemony? Then why did the US push for and end to tariffs and greater political unity among the Europeans?
joe - #220.127.116.11.1.1.1 - 2009-02-05 05:38 -
Actually Stalin was quite sly. Note how the US and UK ended up with the french. PAT OT I now understand why David is hot to raise taxes. He and his fellow travellers don't really pay them. They leave it to suckers like you and I to do so. Great gig.
Anonymous - #18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124 - 2009-02-06 00:18 -
Joe what I wrote elsewhere, but still can fit my reply to Joe "I recall you that Roosvelt was collaborating with the Vichy regime (which did had an US diplomatic representation) and nazy Germany until Germany sunk one of your merchandises ship !!! bizarre also with Stalin !!! as we say here it’s called soaking up at all the hayracks !!!or (running with the hare and hunt with the hounds)" even, also quite anti-semit : http://kimel.net/fdr.html "the British had already shown their interest to defend but themselves, after having experienced the mighty Germans in Belgium and then refused to fight on the continent anymore, thus helping the Frenchs to carry on. (ie the retreat of Dunkerke") http://www.newsweek.com/id/178822
Marie Claude - #126.96.36.199.1.1.2 - 2009-02-06 00:29 -
"Then why did the US push for and end to tariffs and greater political unity among the Europeans?" Did they ? I thought it was Jean Monet the "father" http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk/euo_en/spsv/all/2/
Pat Patterson - #188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206 - 2009-02-06 09:58 -
Well I'm not to sure what the reference to Claude Monet's son has to do with this thread so I must assume you meant Jean Monnet. Monnet is certainly credited with the impetus to beggar the German coal industry and delay German economic recovery through price and output controls. But the creation the ECSC was much later and foisted continued French meddling in the German economy till 1981. The Marshall Plan called for greater cooperation and open markets in 1947.
Marie Claude - #220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.1 - 2009-02-06 19:05 -
oh yeah, couldn't be made by the stoopid Frenchs, but by great America, and, surprise, her german protegés, LMAO, only serious people are allowed to claim to initiate legends, BAaawoah !!!!
Pat Patterson - #22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.1.1 - 2009-02-07 02:21 -
Well, it actually was another Frenchman, Schulman, who provided the intellectual framework and the political muscle to create the ECSC in 1950. While Monnet is generally credited with the idea of a monetary and trade area which closely modeled what was attempted and was only partially implemented by the Marshall Plan years before. But in the immediate postwar period he was lukewarm to such ideas and did everything possible to keep Germany weak, arranging for France to control the Saar, and rebuilding France as rapidly as possible. France was smart enough to see the handwriting on the wall and figured they better be in front of the parade as opposed to following along with a broom and can.
Marie Claude - #188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.1.1.1 - 2009-02-09 01:31 -
Well, it actually was another Frenchman, Schulman, Schumann !!! But in the immediate postwar period he was lukewarm to such ideas and did everything possible to keep Germany weak, arranging for France to control the Saar, and rebuilding France as rapidly as possible. France was smart enough to see the handwriting on the wall and figured they better be in front of the parade as opposed to following along with a broom and can. Alors que l’Allemagne se reconstruit plus rapidement que la France, il imagine, en 1950, de souder les destins des deux pays par une mise en commun de la production du charbon et de l’acier, matières premières de l’industrie de guerre. Il élabore le projet de Communauté européenne du charbon et de l’acier (CECA) dans sa maison d’Houjarray. ("l’Allemagne se reconstruit plus rapidement" France at the same moment was at war in VietNam, and at the beginnings of Algeria War) 1950-1957 : de la CECA au Traité de Rome Son idée de mise en commun des productions de charbon et d’acier, soumise au ministre des Affaires Etrangères Robert Schuman, est rendue publique le 9 mai 1950, sous l’appellation de "Déclaration Schuman". Le texte représente l’acte de naissance de l’Union Européenne et stipule que "L’Europe ne se fera pas d’un coup, ni dans une construction d’ensemble : elle se fera par des réalisations concrètes créant d’abord une solidarité de fait". Cette union de l’Allemagne, de l’Italie, de la Belgique, des Pays-Bas, du Luxembourg et de la France, est officialisée par le Traité de Paris, signé le 18 avril 1951. La suppression des droits de douane et des restrictions à la circulation de ces matières premières prend effet le 23 juillet 1952. Jean Monnet est le président de la CECA de 1952 à 1955 mais, après l’échec du plan de Communauté européenne de défense (CED) en 1954, il démissionne de la Haute Autorité de la CECA et crée le Comité d’Action pour les Etats-Unis d’Europe. Ce mouvement, qui rassemble syndicats et politiques des six pays, milite pour une fédération européenne plus ambitieuse dans sa dimension politique. En 1957, à l’origine du projet de coopération nucléaire EURATOM, il participe étroitement aux négociations de préparation du Traité de Rome, signé le 25 mars, et au projet d’élargissement de la Communauté au Royaume-Uni. L’année 1975 marque sa retraite politique : Jean Monnet dissout son Comité et rédige ses mémoires. Il meurt dans sa maison d’Houjarray le 16 mars 1979 ; ses cendres reposent maintenant au Panthéon. Une résolution des chefs d’Etats et de gouvernement, réunis en Conseil européen à Luxembourg le 2 avril 1976, a décerné à Jean Monnet le titre de "Citoyen d’honneur de l’Europe". Version imprimable
Don S - #3 - 2009-02-03 15:21 -
Oh yes, one more thing: The US is STILL supplying about 30% of the force patrolling Bosnia, 11 years after. Anyone who believes that German noncombatant forces will still be in Kabul avoiding combat two years from now is - an optimist. They are constantly moaning about how much they want to leave; sooner than later they will put actions to words. When that time comes, the US will STILL be providing 30% of the force in Bosnia, while also providing forces to replace all the European NATO contingents slinking away..... And President Obama will be attending European Carnevale celebrations sporting SS uniform and toothbrush mustache, as President's Clinton and Bush did before him....
Marie Claude - #3.1 - 2009-02-03 20:19 -
Don there is a big american base in Bosnia, very useful for the diverse american traffics across the old world and ME, this isn't only for a Nato purpose, just a strategic place !!!
Pat Patterson - #3.1.1 - 2009-02-09 22:10 -
Yeah, a huge American base in Tuzla which shares the runway with the the Bosnian and Herzegovian authorites that run the international airport. That huge contingent of American servicemen consists of three US airman, some 160 private contractors of various nationalities and 1,000 or so soldiers providing security and operating Predator drone missions over the Med, the Black Sea, Iraq and Afghanistan. But of course America can exert it hegemony over the innocent Serbs via 3 US airmen directing air traffic.
Don S - #220.127.116.11 - 2009-02-10 12:58 -
Pat, the US doesn't even need the 3 air traffic controllers to exert it's hegenomy, it's the mind-rays, I tell you! The whole thing reminds me of the song 'Uneasy Rider' many years ago. About a little visit by a 'long-hair' to the 'Dew Drop Inn'. When visiting Europe one needs to keep in mind that many of the natives believe in things which cannot be verified by science OR logic!
joe - #4 - 2009-02-05 05:35 -
Actually Stalin was quite sly. Note how the US and UK ended up with the french. PAT OT I now understand why David is hot to raise taxes. He and his fellow travellers don't really pay them. They leave it to suckers like you and I do so. Great gig.
Pat Patterson - #4.1 - 2009-02-05 07:22 -
I would think if the choice was between Bulgaria and France then the US got the far better bargain.
John in Michigan, USA - #4.1.1 - 2009-02-05 09:18 -
I resemble that remark! (I am 1/4 Bulgarian, my last name is Hadjisky)
Marie Claude - #5 - 2009-02-05 22:48 -
the results of the US policies in Kosovo : http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/102qnsba.asp yeah, and what's new pussy cat ??? still the the same ol cheat, Biden's relay... http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2008/08/obama_picks_prime_serbhater.html God, help the Serbs !!!
Pat Patterson - #5.1 - 2009-02-06 10:19 -
I would certainly agree that the Serbs need help if they continue to peddle stories that are simply not true. The link to Byzantine Sacred Art is just a rehash of articles from any number of Serb apologist, mainly the government of Serbia supported Serbiana, and conspiracy web sites. Let's be clear there is no record of Biden saying anything about Serbs in concentration camps in the Congressional Record or in any primary source any where. And I would challenge Marie Claude to find one. Sen Biden does indeed support Albania and an independent Kosovo but has never been a lobbyist, a felony in the US, for either. Perhaps if the Serbs had merely stopped killing and dispossesing its fellow citizens because of ethnicity or religion they might actually have held on to some of their territory and not ended up as well-deserved pariahs.
Marie Claude - #6 - 2009-02-06 19:12 -
I am afraid that you are wrong about the whole story, though, officially it's not an american problem, uh, those stupid europeans can't understand how nice it is to live with pacific mafiosi muslim Albanians, got to remember "seven", there will much more crual scenari that can be written if my links on't convince you (I have more in store), and you could get an eye on "jihad watch"
John in Michigan, USA - #6.1 - 2009-02-06 20:55 -
MC, Are you talking about [url=http://www.jihadwatch.org/]Robert Spencer's site[/url]? There is some excellent information there. Spencer has studied the Koran closely, with a critical eye, and also follows current events closely. However, in my opinion (and this is only a small complaint), Spencer tends to take a little too literally the Muslim claim that they follow the Koran exactly in every word. All fundamentalists claim to follow their religion exactly, but none of them do at all times or over the long term. I prefer [url=http://www.danielpipes.org/]Daniel Pipes[/url] approach, which has a lot in agreement with Spencer but is more empirical or observational. Perhaps you will enjoy reading Pipes as well as Jihad Watch. I'll grant you, Spencer has much better coverage of the Albania/Kosovo/etc/ question than Pipes. Of course, to even mention either of these two sites proves that you and I are the worst sort of racists, according to some people. Such is life.
Marie Claude - #6.1.1 - 2009-02-07 01:49 -
I know both sites, Robert Spence is more percutant, he bases his dires on facts ; I had hard times to adhere at the beginnings, but it is blurring our face to ignore what is hidden behind facts
Pat Patterson - #18.104.22.168 - 2009-02-07 02:12 -
OK, then link to one source, other than these Serb sites, that refers to an actual honest-to-God quote(newspaper, interview, Congressional Record, testimony etc,) that exists other than in that great echo chamber of the internet. Show me where, as the site claims, that Sen. Biden committed a felony and was a lobbyist for the Albanians? Or suggested anything about concentration camps other than to condemn the ones the Serbs were operating. Come one, put up or shut up! BTW, Jihad Watch has lately run into some problems as a blogger in Canada found that one of the sources of funding for the site came from the American Council for Kosovo which in spite of the name is a front for the Serbian Radical Party. It's founder is currently on trial in The Hague for war crimes. But aside from that there is not, on the Jihad Watch site, one single mention, except for in the comments, about concentration camps for Serbs or Biden as a lobbyist. http://www.kejda.net/2008/08/08/robert-spencers-connections-the-james-jatras-file/
Marie Claude - #22.214.171.124.1 - 2009-02-09 01:22 -
OK, Kejda is from Albanian origin, what did you expect her to say ??? I notice she is an Obama partisan too, and that Mr Spencer isn't so it is a "truth" vs another's, or many others', cuz there are many people there that swear on their "truths"
Pat Patterson - #126.96.36.199.1.1 - 2009-02-09 06:33 -
And you didn't even bother to check for the correct spelling after my typo, try Robert Schuman next time. And a specific response to what Kejda argued would be pertinent rather than a shoulder shrug and an ad hominem. And if you had bothered to check Kjeda is considered Jewish and not as you imply Muslim.
Marie Claude - #188.8.131.52.1.1.1 - 2009-02-09 13:01 -
yeah, I check all your stuffs :lol: I know she is of 75% american jewish that voted for Obama
Pat Patterson - #184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11 - 2009-02-09 18:21 -
How does one become 75% American if you are born in Albania and were raised Jewish? If you don't know then don't just make stuff up. Kejda just recently became an American citizen and lives in NYC with her husband, Michael, who as far as I know is also Albanian though possibly is an American citizen now. Which makes them both 100% American. BTW did you ever find any specific proof of your touting the Biden story or are you simply going to keep badly changing the subject. If, as you claim, there are many truths, then perhaps you could provide one of those truths rather than the opinion of one of the hundreds of pro-Serb sites that are funded by the Serbs? But I will not expect much except another volte face.
Marie Claude - #18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.1 - 2009-02-09 19:53 -
papy get a life
Pat Patterson - #126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.1.1 - 2009-02-09 21:59 -
I would but it seems I constantly have to make sure that some people stop putting their fingers in electtic outlets because it feels good for a few seconds. Plus still no links about the concentration camp or the Biden charge?
Marie Claude - #184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.1.1.1 - 2009-02-10 02:59 -
OK Papy you won !!! http ://www.srebrenica-report.com/index.htm http ://www.srebrenica-report.com/hoax.htm http ://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960514/ai_n14053484 http ://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4jqqc_greater-albania_politics http ://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/pearl123199.htm http ://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1859738079/ref=ase_robertspencer-20/103-1603172-8127010?v=glance&s=books http ://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE0D9173BF936A25757C0A963958260
Pat Patterson - #18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199 - 2009-02-10 03:14 -
All that work and still not one link that substantiates the charge that Biden was a lobbyist or that he called for concentration camps for the Serbs. Do you actually take the time to read the comment thread and respond to specifics or just simply try to bury an embarassing comment in a mountain of superfluous citations? At least this time a couple of the links went to reputable sites but alas the rest are the same apologetics from Serb nationalists ala Milosevic.
Marie Claude - #188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.1 - 2009-02-10 11:58 -
nah, I don't care lol um, the links didn't represent a lately work, got them since a few years, umm, funny, some others find them percutant enough, I suspect that you are Pat the Grumb ; as far as joe Biden, ie Jihad watch lol
Marie Claude - #18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.2 - 2009-02-10 14:27 -
http ://www.4biden.com/news/98/ http ://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022115.php/ http ://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023777.php
Pat Patterson - #188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.2.1 - 2009-02-10 20:32 -
Ok, aside from reminding me what an idiot Julia Gorin is where is the concentration camp claim or the equally despicable claim that Biden was a lobbyist for Albanian Muslims? Either you can back up that claim or not? The 2nd link acknowledges one charge made by Kejda, referred to by a Muslim name at Jihad Watch, in that Spencer and Jatras admit to getting money from a Serbian group that is run by the Serbian government. With Jihad Watch and most of the other Serb apologist groups the view of their reliability has suffered mightily since Gorin engaged in a series of charges that Michael Totten and LGF were in cahoots with the Muslims and the Americans and the Israelis in covering up Albanian atrocities. The problem Spencer has is that this info was publicized and most people acknowledged the brutality of the war and judged that the Serbs were far more complicit in the killing of civilians, breaking its laws and promises and ethnic cleansing.
Marie Claude - #18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.2.1.1 - 2009-02-12 20:35 -
ok, your version vs many experts versions, being lately on LGF ? bizarre this conspiration !!!! what do you think I am going to trust ?
Pat Patterson - #188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168 - 2009-02-12 22:06 -
No, I said that Gorin had made a fool out of herself by engaging in a series or arguments with Totten and Johnson by misrepresenting her expertise and trying to raise doubts about Totten's first hand experience in Kosovo, Serbia and Albania which he was more than open about the fact that he wasn't able to see everything. I made no claim about experts and I know who you will trust simply by your constant referral to opinion sites rather than linking to any primary sources.
Marie Claude - #22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.1 - 2009-02-13 03:43 -
check my links above !!! duno what you call no experts, (and I'm not quoting R Spencer, though for you Kejda is one)
Pat Patterson - #220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.1.1 - 2009-02-13 07:23 -
But I suppose it's ok to belong to a Facebook that calls for the forcible removal of all Turks from Anatolia and killing all the Muslims ranks in reliability with the WSJ and the NYT. I guess we shouldn't judge by the quality of the company Spencer keeps? Oops! http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/32745_Robert_Spencer_Joins_Genocidal_Facebook_Group
John in Michigan, USA - #188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.1.1.1 - 2009-02-13 08:32 -
Wow. Ripped from the headlines. There's a reason they call politics Byzantine. I will certainly be following this story. This looks like a good time to re-examine Spencer's work and to see if perhaps there have been hints that it is all "speaking in code" and what he really wants is some sort of bloody reconquest. But keep in mind, people like him who work so close to the coal-face, have huge egos. It might be that he got genuinely fooled by whoever convinced him to join this facebook group, and is too vain to admit it. We will see.
John in Michigan, USA - #22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.1.1.2 - 2009-02-13 09:09 -
"too vain to admit it" Oops he has admitted it. Spencer thinks he was the victim of an Internet "prank". Furthermore, he claims to have only been a member of Facebook for "[url=http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024805.php]a few months ago and haven't spent much time with it[/url]". So he is new to it. The basic concept of "friends" on Facebook seems simple to me, but the exact etiquette of any site can take quite a while to figure out. Spencer may be guilty of nothing more than failing to properly vet his facebook invitations. Still, he could have been more gracious about getting caught. I'm keeping my opinion that Spencer has a huge ego. I recognize the disease, don't we all :-p
Pamela - #220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52 - 2009-02-14 16:03 -
"Spencer thinks he was the victim of an Internet "prank". ' Bull. Go over to the thread Pat linked to on LGF. Read the links that medura and others have posted about Spencer's writing. And as of yesterday, Facebook has banned the group in question - but Spencer STILL has noot withdrawn from other Facebook groups that Cato pointed out. Spencer's ONLY response has been to accuse Cato of violating Facebook's TOS (which he hasn't) and tried to get him banned. Spencer has actually tried to make the argument that Vlaams Belang is not really a racial supremist group. I've been in on this debacle from the beginning. Spencer once posted on LGF that he hoped these groups would eventually 'come around' but for the time being, in Europe, they are the only anti-Islamist game in town. I asked him 'when?' do you expect them to come around? He had no answer.
John in Michigan, USA - #184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.1 - 2009-02-14 18:53 -
medura = Medusa = Kejda Gjermani? OK I will read these comments and of course the ones from Cato the Elder. As I suggested in my earlier comment, both this story and my opinion of it, are developing. Pamela, you and Pat seem to have been following this for quite a while, so I can understand how to you this story isn't new or "developing". So maybe I should say that the current chapter of this story, is still developing. Any additional links you have are greatly appreciated.
Pat Patterson - #188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.1.1 - 2009-02-14 22:15 -
Kejda Gjermani posts as Medaura. I hadn't seen her comment as Medusa anywhere so I can only assume that some that are unhappy with her research have made a slight alteration. As to Spencer I followed his site for a few years but found there to be three insurmountable problems. He misrepresented documents that had been submitted to the UN as UN studies. The continued tiresomeness of constantly blaming everything bad as the fault of all Muslims rather than specific groups. And that he and Jatras represented the American Council for Kosovo but were actually fronting for the Serbian National Council of Kosovo which is headquartered in Belgrad and receives it funding from the Serbian government. To be perfectly honest I don't really have a real philosphical objection to the source of their funding. But considering the attempts to hide or dismiss these sources makes both enterprises suspect.
Pamela - #126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.1.2 - 2009-02-15 11:28 -
I have probably over 100 links tracking this. It would take you a year to read it all. But Charles put up another thread with 2 links yesterday evening that sums up some things you should be aware of. Especially read kejda's on the Jatras file (kedja is medaura) http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/32780/comments/#cc6714577
Pamela - #22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.220.127.116.11.1.3 - 2009-02-15 14:35 -
Here's the best background-in-one-piece I can give you - from Kejda again. JihadwatchWatch: Robert Spencer’s amorous flirt with European Fascism http://www.kejda.net/2008/11/07/jihadwatchwatch-robert-spencers-amorous-flirt-with-european-fascism/
Marie Claude - #18.104.22.168.22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.188.8.131.52.184.108.40.206.1.3.1 - 2009-02-18 20:21 -
woah, it's Spencer fest :lol: Well I also find that he pushes a bit too much into the corner, though we get aware of the facts through the articles, and the comments part is often "educative" too
David - #220.127.116.11.18.104.22.168.2 - 2009-02-10 01:44 -
"I know she is of 75% american jewish that voted for Obama" I think she's implying that there was overwhelming Jewish support for Barack Obama, and therefore Obama is part of a grand conspiracy of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Actually, there was also overwhelming black and latino support as well, so we have an Afro-Hispanic-Semitic conspiracy against ....what?
Pat Patterson - #22.214.171.124.126.96.36.199.2.1 - 2009-02-10 05:03 -
What, Pres Obama is an agent of ZOG? I thought it was the Masons, either Ancient Free and Accepted or Prince Hall. It's so hard to keep up these days. Hmmm, since both white and black Masonic groups are in accord now maybe they have decided to take their orders from AIPAC. Unless of course they are Albanian and then everybody knows what they are.
riffraff - #188.8.131.52.1.1.2 - 2009-05-30 01:44 -
kedja says on her own website Nationality: Albanian Likely Ethnic Makeup: At least 25% but less than 50% Ashkenazi Jewish The rest is Albanian, but may contain traces of polish, greek, and other nuts she has written elsewhere she did not know of any Jewish 'heritage' until she was grown there is no way to verify anything she claims about herself she is a Albanian muslim apologist-probably muslim herself are you one of her sock puppets?
London - #7 - 2009-02-09 18:47 -
Pat Patterson - #7.1 - 2009-02-09 18:51 -
Joerg-You've been spammed! BTW is "pommer" a pear in German as well as English?
Pat Patterson - #8 - 2009-02-13 04:54 -
Still waiting for a response to the original charge that Biden was a lobbyist and the quote concerning concentration camps. Its pretty well established that there was not the level of genocide that some newspapers claimed but that was more than likely the result of the ineptness of the Serbs and not from lack of trying. Or is it some plot that the bulk of the ICJ investigations concern actions of the Serbs rather than any of the other groups that the Serbs lost a series of wars too. Serbia is ripe for this kind of nationalistic self-pity considering that they view themselves as the legitimate rulers and had the strongest army at the beginning of the new Balkan Wars. They couldn't possibly have lost so it must be either the UN, or NATO, the Muslims, the Pope or the Jews that "...stabbed them in the back."
Google the Site | <urn:uuid:0cd9ec1e-baa0-4e56-892b-74de7aa2cfb8> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://atlanticreview.org/archives/1237-Are-Americans-concerned-that-Britain-is-becoming-Europeanised.html | 2015-03-28T05:12:35Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297281.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00170-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942773 | 10,589 |
|Publication number||US5827503 A|
|Application number||US 08/689,403|
|Publication date||Oct 27, 1998|
|Filing date||Aug 8, 1996|
|Priority date||Aug 8, 1996|
|Also published as||WO1998005297A1|
|Publication number||08689403, 689403, US 5827503 A, US 5827503A, US-A-5827503, US5827503 A, US5827503A|
|Original Assignee||Collagenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (25), Non-Patent Citations (8), Referenced by (19), Classifications (11), Legal Events (9)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This invention relates to a method and composition for oral hygiene and for the non-invasive treatment of diseases of the oral cavity, including periodontitis and related forms of gingival disease, by oral application of a solution containing alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride and sodium chloride as the sole active ingredients.
Diseases of the oral cavity include periodontitis, gingivitis, dental caries, halitosis, aphthous ulcers and plaque formation. Microorganisms are implicated in many diseases of the oral cavity. For example, periodontal diseases, including periodontitis and gingivitis, are caused by bacteria that form plaques on the surfaces of the teeth at the gingival sulcus or pocket. Current methods of treatment of periodontal diseases depend on the severity of the disease. Mild cases are generally treated by the removal of mechanical irritants such as calculus. More severe cases are treated surgically by removal of gingival tissue, polishing of tooth roots, or occasionally by splinting of the teeth. Surgical intervention is a painful and costly procedure.
Prophylactic measures can be taken to forestall the occurrence, or reoccurrence of periodontal disease. Known prophylactic measures include regular removal of calculus and plaque and the use of dental floss. Such measures are generally time consuming and involve a strict regimen of care to be effective. For this reason, known prophylactic measures are rarely completely effective in preventing diseases such as periodontal disease.
Very few, if any, antibacterial agents have been effectively used alone for oral disinfection. Chlorhexidine and cetylpyridinium chloride have been separately tested for this purpose. A. Elworthy, et al., "The Substantivity of a Number of Oral Hygiene Products Determined by the Duration of Effects on Salivary Bacteria", J. Periodontol. 67:572-576 (1996). A. Elworthy et al., determined that efficacy for persistence of action of antimicrobial agents in the mouth cannot be assumed merely because a product contains a known active agent (J. Periodontol. vol. 67 at page 572). M. Addy et al., "The Effect of Some Chlorhexidine-Containing Mouthrinses On Salivary Bacterial Counts", J. Clin. Periodontol. 18:90-93 (1991) also studied the oral effects of chlorhexidine. Baker, K., "Mouthrinses In the Prevention and Treatment of Periodontal Disease", Current Opinion In Periodontology pp 89-96 (1993) reviewed the use of chlorhexidine, stannous fluoride, phenolic compounds, cetylpyridinium chloride and triclosan for oral rinses. Benzalkonium chloride was not suggested in these articles.
Many and varied mouthwash formulations are described in the patent literature for use in oral hygiene. These formulations generally include one or more active ingredients, usually in extensive and expensive formulations. Some of these formulations utilize quaternary ammonium compounds or benzalkonium chloride as a preservative or germicide among numerous other ingredients. Illustrative of these are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,110,429, 5,145,664, 5,362,737 and 5,374,418. There is no suggestion to limit the active ingredients to benzalkonium chloride and sodium chloride.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,689 describes jet stream application of a dilute aqueous solution of 0.005 to 0.1 percent by weight of benzalkonium chloride for penetration into periodontal pockets. Because the concentration of benzalkonium chloride is on the whole very low, it appears that the mechanical effect of the jet stream manner of application is critical.
It is an object of the invention to provide a composition and method for oral hygiene and for the treatment and prevention of oral diseases, simply, inexpensively and yet highly effectively as compared with previously known formulations and methods.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a composition which persists in the mouth for a sustained period of time, for example, at least overnight.
Oral hygiene is promoted and diseases of the oral cavity, including dental caries, gingivitis, halitosis, aphthous ulcers, plaque formation, and periodontal disease are effectively treated by the oral application of a composition containing alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride and sodium chloride dissolved in water. The two ingredients interact to increase substantivity and no other active ingredients are required in the composition for superior results. By active is meant having an anti-oral disease or anti-periodontal disease therapeutic effect. Substantivity is the persistence of action. The composition is applied orally in an amount effective to promote oral hygiene, to reduce or prevent periodontal disease, or to alleviate diseases of the oral cavity.
Treatment includes orally rinsing with a composition containing a preferred range of from about 0.02 to about 0.25 weight percent alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride and a preferred range of about 0.05 to about 2.0 weight percent sodium chloride in water.
In a more preferred range, the amount of alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride is above 0.1 weight percent to about 0.2 weight percent. A more preferred range of sodium chloride is from about 0.05 weight percent to about 1.5 weight percent.
Advantageously, the composition has a tendency to adsorb strongly onto the oral tissues and remain there for a period of at least several hours resulting in sustained substantivity or persistence of action. The adsorption is enhanced by the sodium chloride in the composition. The adsorption factor helps to maintain an essentially germ free oral cavity for several hours, through the night, or until food is consumed. Even after several hours and when food is consumed, a residual protection remains so that maintenance application can be interrupted by a few days.
A number of oral diseases are caused by microorganisms. For example, periodontal disease involves inflammation of gingival tissues in response to the actions of oral bacteria. The gingiva appear red and swollen, and have a tendency to bleed when the teeth are brushed. As the disease progresses, the attachment between the gums and the tooth may be broken. This creates a space, or periodontal pocket, between the tooth and gum which can serve as a center for enhanced microbial growth. Such growth can lead to the formation of abscesses and bone loss in the alveolar crest. The consequence of advanced periodontal disease is a loosening of the teeth and ultimately tooth loss.
Periodontitis can affect a broad population from prepubertal to adult, generally increasing in prevalence and severity with increasing age. Periodontitis may also be a secondary problem in persons with other diseases such as patients receiving cancer chemotherapy or those afflicted with arthritis.
Dental caries is a disease of calcified tissues of the teeth resulting from the action of microorganisms on carbohydrates, characterized by decalcification of the inorganic portions of the tooth and accompanied by or followed by disintegration of the organic portion. Halitosis is offensive breath. Aphthous ulcers are spots in the mouth that characterize aphthous stomatitis. Aphthous stomatitis can be associated with infection by a pleomorphic transitional L-form of a α-hemolytic streptococcus. Dental plaque is characterized by a mass adhering to the enamel surface of a tooth, composed of a mixed colony of bacteria in an intracellular matrix of bacterial and salivary polymers and remnants of epithelial cells and leukocytes.
It has now been found that the alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (benzalkonium chloride or BAC) in the composition of the invention is more effective than chlorhexidine for oral disinfection. Moreover, the composition of the invention adsorbs onto gingival and tooth surfaces for prolonged germicidal activity, whereas chlorhexidine must be used twice daily for the same effect. Other well-known antibacterials, such as benzethonium chloride and cetylpyridonium chloride have only limited effectiveness in prophylaxis.
The composition effectively reverses and prevents periodontal disease through the action of alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (BAC). Furthermore, although the BAC solution is effective by itself, the presence of sodium chloride amplifies the adherence of the BAC to gingival and tooth surfaces. Indeed, the combination of BAC and sodium chloride persists longer in the treated area than either of the two components separately thus showing synergy. The dissociation of the BAC from the surface is very slow as demonstrated by the persistence of a slight bitterness and the lack of mal odor. The bitter taste can be removed by tooth-brushing.
BAC suitable for use in the invention is a mixture of alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chlorides of the general formula ##STR1## in which R represents a mixture of alkyls from C8 H17 to C18 H37. The Merck Index, S. Budavari, ed., Merck & Co., Inc. 1989, entry 1066 at page 165.
In the invention, the BAC used is an equimolar mixture of alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chlorides having a straight chain alkyl substituent of from 12 to 18 carbons. BAC is commercially available as a compound for use in cold sterilization of surgical instruments. Some of these commercially available BAC's are Benirol, Capitol, Cequartyl, Drapolene, Germinol and Zephiran Chloride.
The BAC solution in water can be used alone, but its adherence to oral tissues for prolonged activity is enhanced by sodium chloride preferably at physiological levels. The sodium chloride causes the BAC to adhere more tightly to the treated tissues.
The BAC and sodium chloride are dissolved in water to form a mouthwash, which can be formulated as a gel as well as a liquid. For simplicity and economy, a liquid is preferred.
A solution of the components is prepared in water in amount to result in 100 weight percent total composition. The pH of the composition is preferably compatible with oral tissues. The composition can optionally include non-active additives to enhance the appearance or taste of the composition, for example, alcohol up to about 2 weight percent, and coloring and/or, flavoring agents as are known in the art. Non-limiting examples of flavoring agents include the mint-flavorings such as oil of spearmint, oil of peppermint and oil of wintergreen, and other oils including citrus, clove, eucalyptus, etc. Colorants may be chosen from those approved by the FDA, such as Blue Nos. 1 and 2. Green No. 6, Red Nos. 3 and 40, and Yellow Nos. 5 and 6. Non-fermentable sugars or sugar substitutes may also be added where a sweetened vehicle is desired. These include sugar alcohols, sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol, saccharines, aspartame, sucaryl or the like. Flavorants and sweeteners are used in small amounts, e.g., up to about 0.25 weight percent, preferably up to about 0.05 weight percent.
Known anti-stain additives e.g., in an amount of about 0.01 to 0.1 weight percent, may also be added, such as phosphorous-containing and organo-phosphorous-containing compounds. But for staining which may occur, it is preferred to utilize the composition of the invention both as a mouthrinse and incorporated into a toothpaste, for example as a gel component. In a preferred treatment method to avoid staining, both a mouthrinse and a toothbrushing with the composition of the invention are undertaken in the morning, while in the evening, the mouthrinse alone is used. However, the composition can always be used in mouthwash form alone.
Additives which adversely interact with BAC should be avoided, for example, surfactants, particularly anionic surfactants.
A mouthwash according to this invention is used regularly to treat diseases of the oral cavity, including as non-limiting examples, periodontitis, gingivitis, dental caries, halitosis, aphthous ulcers and plaque formation.
A mouthwash according to this invention is preferably used regularly to treat periodontal disease, preferably until redness and swelling of the gums are alleviated. Preferably, the mouthwash is applied daily, following the last food of the day. Reduction of gingival inflammation generally results within two days of the inception of treatment, and in some cases may be effected with only a single application. The composition can be applied to the gums and teeth by simply swishing the mouthwash around in the oral cavity. Preferably, contact with the mouthwash is maintained for from 5 to 15 seconds. The mouthwash may also be advantageously gently introduced into the lumen of a periodontal pocket or abscess using a blunt-needled syringe. The composition can also be advantageously used pre- and post-operatively for oral surgery and during orthodontic treatment. The composition can also be used as a diagnostic tool. If a patient does not respond after proper use within 2-4 days, other causation such as allergies and blood dyscrasias should be explored.
For use, the composition may be applied either in a mouthwash or in a toothpaste. A toothpaste according to this invention contains BAC and sodium chloride in an otherwise conventional toothpaste formulation containing components which do not interfere with the composition, e.g., a dentifrice preferably containing abrasives such as insoluble organic salts, thickening agents (carboxymethylcellulose, carrageenan), flavorings, foaming agent, humectant (glycerol, sorbitol), and water. Standard abrasives include dicalcium phosphate, insoluble sodium metaphosphate, calcium pyrophosphate, calcium or magnesium carbonate, hydrated aluminum oxide, silicates and dehydrated silica gels. Such a toothpaste used regularly will effectively prevent the onset of periodontal disease.
While it is not intended to be bound by theory, it is believed that the BAC component acts at least in part, as a serine protease inhibitor on the tissues of the oral cavity. At the same time, the sodium chloride aids the substantivity, helping the composition to persist in the mouth. Our evidence suggests that interaction of the enzyme and BAC includes the protonation of a carboxyl group permitting BAC to slip into the hydrophobic pocket of the enzyme which contains the active site. E. Feldbau and C. Schwabe, "Selective Inhibition of Serine Proteases by Alkyldimethylbenzyl-Ammonium Chloride", Biochemistry 10:2131-2138 (1971). Mammalian and bacterial serine proteases are believed to have similar active site environments. Moreover, it is believed that the bacterial infection which is the causative agent in periodontitis elicits an inflammatory host response in the tissues of the periodontium, causing the release of a variety of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators. These mediators cause a pathological elevation in tissue degradative enzymes, of which serine proteases such as neutrophil elastase and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) such as neutrophil collagenase are examples. It has been shown that administration of MMP inhibitors such as doxycycline can slow the progression of the chronic tissue destruction which characterizes chronic adult periodontitis, presumably through inhibition of pathologically elevated MMP activity. It is postulated that the administration of serine protease inhibitors such as the BAC compounds could also contribute to a reduction in the rate of tissue destruction during chronic periodontitis due to inhibition of pathologically elevated serine protease activity.
The following non-limiting examples will serve to illustrate the use and effectiveness of compositions according to this invention.
The composition of the invention was prepared by dissolving BAC in various concentrations in water. The composition will be termed "Composition G."
The following three test microorganisms were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection one month prior to the initiation of the study.
Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175
Actinomyces viscosus ATCC 19246
Candida albicans ATCC 18804
Each lyophilized culture was plated onto Trypticase-soy agar supplemented with 5% whole defibrinated sheep blood (TSBA) and incubated at 37° C. until growth was apparent. S. mutans and A. viscocus were incubated in an anaerobic chamber with an atmosphere of 10% H2, 10% CO2, and 80% N2 ; C. albicans was incubated aerobically. Each strain was transferred after visible growth was present to fresh TSBA for colony separation and validation of purity. These plates were visibly inspected for purity after 48 h of incubation and transferred to Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) agar (BBL #11065). The cultures were maintained on BHI agar with weekly transfer for the duration of the study.
Prior to use, each microorganism was cultivated in BHI broth (BBL #11059) as follows:
______________________________________ IncubationTest microorganism Culture age conditions______________________________________Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175 16-18 h anaerobic @ 37° C.Actinomyces viscosus ATCC 19246 32-36 h anaerobic @ 37° C.Candida albicans ATCC 18804 32-36 h aerobic @ 37° C.______________________________________
The bactericidal effect of Composition G at 0.02, 0.12, 0.17, and 0.22% was tested against each test microorganism. Peridex® (Proctor and Gamble) containing 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate and Cool Mint Listerine® (Warner Lambert) were used as positive controls and water was used as a negative control. Listerine is the trademark for an antiseptic solution containing boric acid, benzoic acid, thymol, and essential oils of Eucalyptus, Gaultheria, etc. Cool Mint Listerine contains as listed active ingredients 0.064% thymol, 0.092% Eucalyptol, 0.060% methyl salicylate and 0.042% menthol. Other ingredients are water, sorbitol solution, 21.6% alcohol, Poloxamer 407, benzoic acid, flavoring, sodium saccharine, sodium citrate, citric acid and coloring. A culture of the test micioorcanism was mixed with an equal volume of serum, added to the test antiseptic, and incubated for 10 min at 37° C. A series of dilutions were made and plated using BHI broth and agar without the incorporation of any neutralizers. The results of two separate trials are given in Table 1.
TABLE 1__________________________________________________________________________Bactericidal effect of oral antiseptic agents on the testmicroorganisms,S. mutans, A. viscosus, and C. albicans S. mutans 25175 A. viscosus 19246 C. albicans 18804Antiseptic Ave CFU Rel %* Ave CFU Rel % Ave CFU Rel %__________________________________________________________________________Peridex ® No NA No NA No NA0.12% chlorhexidine growth** growth growthCool Mint Listerine ® No NA 8.5 × 105 2.9 No NA growth growth0.02% Composition G No NA 5.5 × 106 19.0 No NA growth growth0.12% Composition G No NA No NA No NA growth growth growth0.17% Composition G No NA No NA No NA growth growth growth0.22% Composition G No NA No NA No NA growth growth growthWater control 5.7 × 108 100 2.9 × 108 100 6.7 × 108 100__________________________________________________________________________ *Percent of CFUs relative to water control CFU = colony forming unit **No visible growth on any dilution plates (10-1 to 10-5)
All antiseptic products gave an apparent 100% kill within 10 min of incubation of the test organism with the antiseptic with the exception of Cool Mint Listerine and 0.02% Composition G against A. viscosus. Cool Mint Listerine gave approximately a 97% kill (2.5 log10 reduction) for A. viscosus. Peridex, containing 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate, and Composition G, at 0.12% and above, resulted in 8 log10 reduction for all three test microorganisms since no CFUs were detected for any of the test organisms at the lower dilution plated (10-1).
The bacteriostatic effect of the four concentrations of Composition G was tested. Peridex and Cool Mint Listerine were used as positive controls with water as a negative control. Each microorganism in 50% serum was added to the test antiseptic and incubated for 10 min at 37° C. Aliquots of 1.0 ml were used to inoculate 100 ml BHI broth cultures. The broth cultures were incubated 48 h and then a series of serial dilutions were plated to BHI agar. No neutralizers were added to either the BHI broth or agar. The results are given below in Table 2.
All four Composition G concentrations resulted in the total inhibition of the three test organisms since no growth was detected in any of the agar plates after 48 h of incubation. These included plates which had been seeded with a 1.0 ml aliquot directly from the 100 ml broth culture. The chlorhexidine positive control resulted in the complete inhibition of C. albicans, a 7-8 log10 inhibition of S. mutans, and a 3 log10 inhibition of A. viscosus relative to the water control. The Listerine positive control resulted in a 0.5-1 log10 inhibition of the test microorganisms.
TABLE 2__________________________________________________________________________Bacteriostatic effect of oral antiseptic agents on the testmicroorganisms S. mutans 25175 A. viscosus 19246 C. albicans 18804Antiseptic Ave CFU Rel %* Ave CFU Rel % Ave CFU Rel %__________________________________________________________________________Peridex ® 3.0 × 101 <0.001 1.8 × 104 0.02 No NA0.12% chlorhexidine growth**Cool Mint Listerine ® 3.8 × 107 25.3 3.2 × 106 4.2 3.8 × 108 58.50.02% Composition G No NA No NA No NA growth growth growth0.12% Composition G No NA No NA No NA growth growth growth0.17% Composition G No NA No NA No NA growth growth growth0.22% Composition G No NA No NA No NA growth growth growthWater control 1.5 × 108 100 7.7 × 107 100 6.5 × 108 100__________________________________________________________________________ *Percent of CFUs relative to water control **No visible growth from 1.0 ml aliquots plated directly from 100 ml batc culture or on any of the dilution plates (10-1 to 10-5)
Discussion of bactericidal and bacteriostatic effects:
Composition G at a concentration of 0.12% and above resulted in an 8 log10 reduction in all three test microorganism relative to the water control. The lowest Composition G concentration tested, 0.02%, was effective against both S. mutans and C. albicans and a 2 log10 reduction for A. viscosus. The bactericidal effect of 0.02% Composition G was roughly equivalent to the effect obtained with Cool Mint Listerine while the bactericidal effect of 0.12% Composition G and above was superior to 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate.
The bacteriostatic effects obtained with all four concentrations of Composition G were striking. Composition G, at the lowest concentration of 0.02%, resulted in the total inhibition of the test microorganisms. This was equivalent to an 8 log10 reduction in the cell numbers for each test organism relative to the cell counts obtained with the water control. The bacteriostatic effects of Composition G at 0.02% were superior to both Peridex and Cool Mint Listerine based on the reductions obtained in cell counts.
In conclusion, the in vitro effects obtained with Composition G concentrations of 0.12% and above were superior to those obtained with 0.12% chlorhexidine. The 0.02% concentration of Composition G produced a bacteriostatic effect equivalent or superior to 0.12% chlorhexidine with all three test organisms. The bactericidal effect of 0.02% Composition G was equivalent to that obtained with 0.12% chlorhexidine for both S. mutans and C. albicans but was less effective against A. viscosus.
Composition G concentrations of 0.12, 0.17, and 0.22% produced a 3 log10 reduction in the number of viable cells per ml for each of the test microorganisms regardless of whether the results are based on bactericidal or bacteriostatic effects.
Surprisingly, the 0.02% Composition G was also effective against all of the test organisms, with a lower bactericidal effect against A. viscosus.
Based on the data obtained, a Composition G concentration greater than 0.02% but less than 0.12% yields reductions in the test microorganisms equivalent to 0.12% chlorhexidine.
Patients were treated for periodontal disease using the composition of the invention.
In the following examples, patient treatment phase included application of the composition of the invention in the form of a mouth rinse once at night, after the last intake of food or drink and after normal tooth brushing. A daily schedule of this regimen was recommended for treatment of periodontal disease. For maintenance and prophylaxis, the rinse is recommended every second or third day under the same circumstances.
Improvement was gauged subjectively by the patient and objectively by the obviation of surgical intervention as determined by the health care provider.
A 38-year old male was referred for periodontal surgery (gingivectomy) to eliminate deep pockets in the molar region, general fragility of gingiva due to local inflammation and associated tooth mobility (Grade 1). At this stage, a treatment phase according to the invention was initiated. Within three days, all visible inflammation and bleeding had ceased. The pockets remained asymptomatic and after one year follow-up, tooth mobility could no longer be detected. Surgery was not performed.
A 52-year old female was diagnosed as having moderate gingivitis with substantial pocket formation and periodontal inflammation in the upper and lower molar region, and surgery was scheduled. A treatment phase according to the invention was instituted. After one week of treatment, the conditions had improved to the extent that surgery became unnecessary.
A 45-year old female complained of inflamed gingiva, tooth mobility and a receding dentogingival junction. In addition, she was a heavy smoker. A treatment phase was instituted and maintenance was followed for three years. Substantial and persistent improvement was confirmed on dental examination.
A woman in her seventies was slated for periodontal surgery. A treatment phase was initiated and thereafter maintenance was followed. Surgery became unnecessary. Even after three years, surgery was still no longer indicated.
Compositions according to this invention give excellent results when used in the treatment and prevention of periodontal disease. It will be understood, however, that in very advanced cases of periodontal disease surgical intervention may still be necessary. In these circumstances, compositions containing BAC and sodium chloride are advantageously used to reduce (gingival inflammation prior to surgery and as a prophylactic regimen following surgery.
While there have been described what are presently believed to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, those skilled in the art will realize that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing form the spirit of the invention and it is intended to claim all such changes and modifications as fall within the true scope of the invention.
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|International Classification||A61K8/41, A61K8/20, A61Q11/00|
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|Sep 19, 1996||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: COLLAGENEX PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., PENNSYLVANIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:SCHWABE, CHRISTIAN;REEL/FRAME:008235/0433
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We came, we saw, we conquered—and wrote this Baltimore beauty bible while our nails were still drying!
Spa Sante -Photo by Cory Donovan
"People are realizing that taking care of yourself is no longer a luxury," says Christine Cochrum of Federal Hill's Apothecary Wellness. "Taking care of yourself is a necessity."
And that, in a nutshell, is why the beauty business is still thriving in Baltimore (despite this little recession that maybe you've heard of?). Whether you're updating your look for a job interview or just giving yourself a much-needed break, there's nothing like a salon visit to revive and rejuvenate. So, to help you sort out the scene, we combed Baltimore and beyond, rooting out the top spots for cut, color, coffee body wraps, gold facials, and more. We found tiny boutique shops and sprawling medi-centers; places where no boys are allowed and guy-centric havens. We even found a place where a tween can get a super-cool manicure. And through it all, we stuck to our rule of the day: One should never, ever feel guilty about a little indulgence.
About Faces Day Spa & Salon
1501 S. Clinton Street, 3rd Floor, 410-675-0099: About Faces celebrated its 39th anniversary last October, the equivalent of an eternity in the salon world. With five locations and a total of 50,000 square feet of skin care, body treatment rooms, and massage beds, About Faces gets bigger and better every year. How does it do it? By staying on top of the trends, hiring expert personnel, and emphasizing continuing education (with industry gurus such as Oribe Canales, whose clients include Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively). Star staffers include 39-year veteran aesthetician Mona Lindblom and stylist Paul Skotarczak, a former monk who brings out the inner and outer beauty in everyone. The menu of services is as long and satisfying to read as a Charles Dickens novel, with a Darphin chamomile and honey soothing facial, Lomi Lomi and Zero Balancing massage, green coffee body wraps, raindrop therapy, and Kerastase treatments. It's a real page turner!
Giuseppe's Hair Studio and Spa
2616 Taylor Avenue, 410-665-4490: Have you gotten a great cut in Baltimore lately? Odds are, you should thank Giuseppe Castellano, who trained many of the top stylists in town, including Lluminaire Salon's Dean Krapf and Mario Rentuma. Having styled generations of Baltimoreans from his homey Parkville salon, Giuseppe treats everyone like family. It's no coincidence, perhaps, that nearly everyone who works in the salon is family—niece Melina is a hairdresser, daughter Pasqua gives a chip-defying manicure, stepdaughter Gina takes care of skin treatments and massage, and wife Arne also handles hair. While Giuseppe has officially been cutting and coloring for 38 years (and still retains many of his original customers), he got his first gig as a shampoo boy at the tender age of 11 in his native Bari, Italy. Says Castellano, "I knew I wanted to do this at a young age, because I always cared so much about how my own hair looked."
15 W. Allegheny Avenue, Towson, 410-583-1500: Dean Krapf and Mario Rentuma could easily have swollen heads considering the ones they've tended to—Portia de Rossi, Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Benjamin Bratt, and Nicolas Cage, just to name a few. But that's never the case. Every time we enter this stunning space—with its platinum-painted walls, ultra-suede seating, and old-Hollywood-style glamour—we are made to feel as though we're the ones getting the red-carpet treatment. (Longtime manager and receptionist Wanda Butta sets the tone as the perfect hostess.) To avert hair tragedies, Krapf and Rentuma are happy to do free consultations, ensuring a sexy cut and radiant color that suits you (and not the Vogue model whose photo you randomly ripped out of a magazine). An added off-the-menu bonus: When prompted, Krapf and Rentuma gladly dole out invaluable head-to-toe tips on makeup and wardrobe for a whole new you. One caveat: If you're lucky enough to get your foot in the door, book smart and make your next few appointments in advance. We're pretty sure that's how Nicole Kidman got in.
1501 Sulgrave Avenue, 410-664-3010: Ask anyone in the know what salon deserves top nods, and even people who go elsewhere will mention Studio 1612. That's because, in addition to peerless customer service (Dale Carnegie could have taken a few tips from them), owners Karen Bialozynski and Judy Weidel are committed to delivering the very best in hair services at a price that's surprisingly affordable ($55 for Karen, $57 for Judy). While so many salons have strayed far from the business of tending to hair (Botox, tooth whitening . . . what's next? baby deliveries?), 1612 and its expert team of 30 stylists has never lost its mane mission. They love to cut hair and they love their customers—and it shows.
Uno, the Salon
10751 Falls Road, 410-821-9080: No matter how hard we try to spread the love, we always come back to Uno, the Salon, where owner Uno Tuluoglu and his team of talented stylists (including Katya Brunshteyn, who is unparalleled for Brazilian straightening) are singularly focused on getting you gorgeous. From contemporary to classic, the emphasis is on cut and color here, though the manicures and pedicures are first rate and a cute boutique with Pylones brushes and barrettes can quell your retail cravings. Whether it's Uno's Turkish purr, the abundance of evil eye talismans to keep hair disasters at bay, or the ultra-professional staff to cater to your every whim (if you need a caffeine fix, staffers are happy to make a complimentary cappuccino run to the nearby Stone Mill Bakery), the salon always leaves us feeling fabulous. (Bonus! Students receive a 20 percent discount on any hair service.)
dk salon & spa
5701 Newbury Street, 410-377-4300: While dk salon & spa is not exactly new to the salon scape (owner Denise Klicos has been in the biz for more than 30 years), dk reinvented itself in July 2008 when it moved from Lake Falls Village to new, luxe Mt. Washington digs. No expense was spared on this Rita St. Clair Associates-designed space, which features Thassos marble, warm woods, and contemporary orange upholstery. Plus, dk is the only salon in Mt. Washington's "village" with valet. (No small perk when you consider most meters last the length of a hair wash.) But the more things change, the more they stay the same. While many of dk's staffers are new (Russian nail vet Raisa Kolker gives one of the best "manis" on the planet), you can still count on the team to carefully consider your bone structure and hair type with every cut and color job. Kevin Rock, who has been with dk for more than a decade, is particularly known for his high-wattage color work.
K. Co Design Salon & Day Spa
6080 Falls Road, 410-377-7727: What we find most refreshing about this freshman salon is the friendly, let-your-hair down atmosphere, where the walls are adorned with pics of the staff's cute four-legged friends and clients stop by just to show off their new babies. But make no mistake, K. Co is the place to go for punk-rock panache, classic cuts, and cutting-edge treatments (K. Co is one of the few salons in the area that offers the Coppola treatment, a new straightening and defrizzing technique), as well as exclusive products such as the Red Bee creamy honey facial scrub mask. The expert staff includes two of Charm City's top color artists—Kenny Saenz, who also grooms (and owns) Westminster-winning longhaired Chihuahuas, and Michele Johnson, a color educator for Alfaparf, who airbrushes motorcycles in her off hours. Stylists James Machniak (WBAL-TV's Marianne Banister is a client) and Vanessa Vale (who helps keep Fox45's Jennifer Gilbert in the news) are also at the top of everyone's list.
NV Salon Collective
861 W. 36th Street, 410-467-1754: Owner Nikki Verdecchia, whose trademark cuts tend toward classic with a kick, has been quietly making a name for herself for the past 18 years. Before she opened NV Salon Collective last August, she was the artistic director for About Faces and a stylist at Roland Park's Balance. Verdecchia also has some major styling "cred" on her resume—she did Sissy Spacek's color on the set of Tuck Everlasting and is the exclusive stylist for burlesque beauty Trixie Little. Now that she's branching out on her own, she's keeping it admirably simple—you can count on NV Salon for technically excellent haircuts and a friendly, down-to-earth atmosphere.
3401 Keswick Road, 410-243-1717: Padma is set on the site of the former laundromat in John Waters's cult classic Pecker, and though the soapsuds are long gone, this Hampden salon (whose name is the Sanskrit word for lotus, which translates to "new beginning") is still the place to go for a great wash and dry. If you're looking for the type of unpretentious salon where you don't have to get dolled before your cut and no one cares if you curl up on the cushy sofa or kick your feet up on the wood coffee table, padma is for you. With six stylists on staff (three of whom recently defected from Corbin's salon), padma specializes in hair services—trims, highlights, perms, and relaxers—and is the kind of salon guys like, too. (Actor John Astin and Gertrude's John Shields are padma loyalists.)
Privé Salon + Spa at Silo Point
1200 Steuart Street C-1A, 443-388-8170: There's nothing like going to a salon full of young, sexy staffers in a hip industrial setting to inspire us to update our look. Owners Johnna Sychuk (a ringer for Heather Locklear's younger self) and Jennifer Beck (equally blonde and beautiful) trained with the legendary Chas before making a go of it on their own last June. The focus here is on hair services—cuts, color, highlights, and state-of-the-art straightening and scalp treatments—plus a constellation of facials and body treatments. (The salon's flawless-faux airbrush tanning would have George Hamilton salivating.) And since we're all pressed for time, the 30-minute express services (including a $50 facial or the $55 hot stone massage) seem like an inspired lunch-hour idea. The buzz is that WBAL-TV's Mindy Basara and Melissa Carlson get camera-ready here.
The Corbin Salon
1422 Clarkview Road, First Floor, 410-494-8888: While in some circles he is known as "the bad boy of beauty" (his old business cards read: "I get done by Corbin," for instance), there is no denying that Corbin Grinage is a Baltimore institution, and that his salon is the place where women who could go absolutely anywhere flock for face-framing cuts and impossibly current color. Corbin, who trained at the famed Vidal Sassoon in London (the Harvard of hair schools), recently moved from The Colonnade to sleek new digs in Bare Hills, and the aesthetic—like his haircuts—is classic modern. For more than 30 years, Corbin has coiffed about 5,000 heads a year. (We don't have our calculators handy, but that's a lot of hair.) The secret to his success is surprisingly simple: "I do it by giving one good haircut at a time."
Dreadz N' Headz
1826 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 2, 410-298-0660: Even on a Monday—an off-day when most salons are empty or closed, Malaika-Tamu Cooper's Dreadz N' Headz in the Gywnn Oak section of Baltimore bustles with business. Black or white, young or old, if you're contemplating dreads, Cooper, who won the Golden Scissors Awards for Natural Hair Care Specialist of the Year (2002, 2003, 2004), is the "Lady of the Loc." While she's not one to braid and tell, Cooper has counted as her clients Wyclef Jean, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun. She currently tends to the dreads of Los Angeles Dodgers' slugger Manny Ramirez. While much of what she knows comes from being self-taught, Cooper has also studied with the best in the business including author Pamela Ferrell and industry innovator Ademola Mandella. She has also traveled widely to such places as London, Paris, the French West Indies, and Tunisia to teach her art. "Your hair," she believes, "is your crowning glory."
salon laurie & company
5910 Falls Road, 410-464-1500: There's a good reason salon laurie was voted as one of the Top 200 fastest growing businesses in North America by Salon Today magazine (2008 and 2009) and saw a 32 percent increase in business this past year in the midst of a major economic downturn. Owner Laurie Schroeder and her 23 staffers are great at what they do. And what exactly do they do? Just about everything, including signature color jobs, Saving Face peels, state-of-the-art paraffin infusions, wig work by the famed Lola Jones, and one of the dreamiest treatments we've found in the area—the salon laurie Signature Spa Experience (in which a massage therapist kneads your arms and legs while an aesthetician steams, cleans, masks, and moisturizes during the facial). If budget is an issue, no need to go to an in-and-out chop shop: Tuesdays are workshop days when assistant stylists (under the tutelage of Schroeder and other senior stylists) cut hair on the floor for as little as $15.
217 Albemarle Street, 410-244-0647: The salon business can be as tangled as a web of knotted hair. Salons hire apprentices only to see them leave a few years later and open their own places—often across the street! At Scene 217, kudos to Debbie Ingrao, who has never forgotten her roots and will gladly sing the praises of Studio 1612 in Mt. Washington, where she got her start. Of course, Ingrao and her staff can give you expert cut and color (from daring to demure) as well as updos and makeup application, but what really sets the salon apart is the stuff not mentioned on the menu. Ingrao, who lives in Little Italy with her husband Richard and her two cute kids, has become her 'hood's unofficial beauty cheerleader, and her salon offers book clubs ("Beauty and the Books"), restaurant recommendations, and complimentary "Ladies' Night Out" events filled with quick-fix makeover tips and free consultations by beauty insiders. It's no wonder that this is where WJZ-TV ladies Mary Bubala Smith and Kelly McPherson come to let down their hair.
JUST FOR GENTS
The Beatnik Barbershop
241 W. Read Street, 410-669-3033: For guys who don't dig the whole metrosexual thing, head to The Beatnik Barbershop in historic Mt. Vernon for a shaggy chic or clean-cut corporate cut, a straight-razor shave, a cup of joe, and throwback prices ($16 a shear). We love the cool, retro vibe here (think barbershop pole, hunter green leather, and chrome circa-1960s chairs) plus the local artwork on the walls and The New York Times sports section strewn about. Don't even bother making an appointment—they take only walk-ins and, yes, a "Y" chromosome is pretty much mandatory.
11270 Pepper Road, Hunt Valley, 410-771-1500: While FX does have some female clientele, with its private styling studios, movies in continuous rotation on 16-foot screens (Duplicity and The Fast and the Furious were recent offerings), flat-screen TVs, "Wi-Fi" hot spot, leather screening chairs, and complimentary beer and wine, FX clearly caters to guys. Unlike many salons and spas that relegate men's services to a simple haircut or a shave, FX has a separate men's menu with anti-aging treatments for the scalp, precision haircuts (including a quickie express cut if you're on the go), raindrop therapy, organic back treatments, and a full range of waxing services including neck, chest, and even men's Brazilian waxing. (Payback is hell, guys!) Free neck and sideburn trims between haircuts (and bang trimming for women) are a perk for regular customers.
31 S. Calvert Street, 410-685-SHAVE: For men who want a place to call their own that's not a strip-mall franchise or a so-called unisex salon that secretly caters to women, Quinntessential Gentleman is just what the doctor ordered. In the heart of downtown Baltimore's financial district, QG caters to T. Rowe Price and Legg Mason executive-types, but plenty of men drive in from the 'burbs for a straight razor or hot lather shave, a hot-towel facial, a shoeshine, or a game of billiards. This spot is also a great place to buy the man in your life a classy gift: The front of the shop has an extensive retail space filled with imported cigars, upscale grooming products, and sophisticated, one-of-a-kind accessories, such as silk mallard duck neckties, compass cuff links, and ivory and silver-tip badger shaving brushes.
817 S. Bond Street, 410-327-1300: For those who believe green is good (and want only the best organic products for their hair, skin, and body), Alpha Studio, open seven days a week, is one of the only exclusive Aveda concept salons in Baltimore. While so many hair salons smell like a hazmat zone, Alpha Studio is a celebration of lavender, geranium, and peppermint. What's more, the cheerful presence of Lepke, a lab/Weimeraner mix, immediately lowers our stress level. Husband-and-wife stylists Reuben Kroiz and Jill Sell have built a reputation for state-of-the-art services and have cultivated a unique following that includes everyone from Hopkins-types and downtown professionals to the Ace of Cakes's crew. Even more impressive, the pair recently worked New York's Fashion Week for designers Christian Siriano, Ports 1961, and Karen Sabag.
1301 Light Street, 443-540-4022: If we ever left Baltimore (heaven forbid!), it's quite possibly the facials and custom massages at Federal Hill's Apothecary Wellness that we'd miss the most. What impresses us even more than the bamboo and organic cotton sheets and towels is the fact that owners Rachel Costello (a licensed massage therapist) and Christine Cochrum (a clinical nutritionist, massage therapist, and aesthetician) customize each and every treatment. No two facials are alike! And you actually see real results from their Alpha Hydroxy Acid Fruit Pulp Treatment or Hot Stone Massage. All this Zen perfection does come with a price, but to help make a visit more affordable, Apothecary Wellness also offers a new, cost-saving "membership program." (Enjoy two 60-minute massages for $130 a month, for instance, and membership also entitles you to 10 percent off any additional service and five percent off retail products). By appointment only.
Sprout: An Organic Salon
925 W. 36th Street, 410-235-2269: With its reclaimed materials cabinetry, chemical-free Aubrey hair-care products, energy-efficient lights, and commitment to recycling everything from lunch to locks of hair, Sprout couldn't be a stronger shade of green. And while kindness to Mother Earth is admirable, this three-year-old salon (voted one of the "Top 100 Salons in the United States" by Elle magazine in 2009) wouldn't be so successful without delivering consistent, quality haircuts ranging from classic to kicky. One of our favorite Sprout staples? The bliss-inducing deep-scalp essential oil massage that comes with every cut.
Dreamers Salon & Day Spa
226 Main Street, Reisterstown, 410-833-9999: From the fairy-themed murals to the couple's massage room with its soaring crystal chandelier, Dreamers is Baltimore's best escape that doesn't involve a travel agent. "We are all about creating fantasy and illusion," says owner Susan Feinberg, who hugs each of her customers as they walk in the door. "We want our customers to feel like they are not in the world outside." Open for 13 years in Reisterstown's quaint historic area, and set inside two neighboring Victorian homes, Dreamers is for those who want an intimate, personalized experience rarely found in a spa/salon with so many services. (Swedish massage, acupuncture, and cut and color are all on the menu.) And we simply can't say enough good things about aesthetician Katie Devlin, who has a developed a fiercely loyal following for her outstanding facials. Her clients worship her so completely that she has some standing appointments through 2014!
Mt. Washington Spa
1600 Kelly Avenue, 410-664-3400: The Belgrade-born Vesna Stojanovic—owner of Mt. Washington Spa—is part cosmetologist, part chemist, and part miracle worker. (If there was a Guinness World Records category for speedy Brazilians, Vesna would win it.) Stojanovic is best known for her aromatherapy facials with essential oils that permeate the skin and seem to turn back the hands of time. In addition to high-end, unique spa services (24-karat gold facials, cellulite treatments, caviar or chocolate wraps), Mt. Washington also offers great hair care (in-demand stylist Quentin Harris dolled up the Sex & the City ladies as a one-time set stylist). And for anyone who insists on a New York haircut and doesn't care about price, a team of stylists from Manhattan's famed Frederic Fekkai & Company descend on Mt. Washington Spa once a month to cut and color. Cuts are $150 a head and color ranges from $200 to $325. Cue the line about you being worth it.
Renaissance Salon & Spa
11121 York Road, Cockeysville, 410-527-1175 (with a second location in Frederick): At 24,000 square feet, with 14 treatment rooms, extensive retail space, a designated men's barbering area, medi-spa services with Restalyn, Botox, and Latisse (for lash lengthening), and a spa menu that could easily take several hours to read, Renaissance Salon & Spa can literally cater to your every need. (We love the special occasion massage that is followed by a meal on Vera Wang china.) Still, for all the hundreds of services on the books, we like the fact that you can come in for a simple manicure or sauna. And guys like it, too. We're told WBAL-TV meteorologist Tom Tasselmyer unwinds here.
1429 Aliceanna Street, 410-534-0009: Before you make an appointment with your shrink or head to the dermatologist, book an appointment at Spa Santé (which means "health" in French). Be it back pain (try the Weekend Warrior deep-tissue/Swedish massage), breakouts (the organic anti-acne or oxygen infusion facials), or bad hair (hair pioneer Chas Kuhn partnered with Santé founder Elaine Rogers two years ago and now runs the salon), Spa Santé can cure what ails you. The "nail bar," where you can get a complimentary glass of wine while having your nails buffed and polished to perfection, will also add to your overall well-being.
Studio 921 Salon & Medi Day Spa
921 E. Fort Avenue, Suite 108, 410-783-SPAS: Nestled in the industrial-chic Historic Foundry building, Studio 921 is where buddhas, bamboo candle holders, comfy slippers, and oversized chairs come together to create spa bliss. If there is a spa treatment or hair service available somewhere in the cosmos (think Japanese straightening, enzyme facials, or Thai massage), you will find it here. Insiders know it's never too soon to book a massage with Rosalinda Herranz, who so wowed Ravens defensive tackle Justin Bannan with her tough but tender touch, she now gives him weekly massages. Other area VIPS love it here, too: Under Armour founder Kevin Plank and writer Laura Lippman are clients, and Journey guitarist Neal Schon was the most recent celebrity sighting.
Carmen's Barber Shop
1532 Liberty Rd., 410-552-3375: If you're looking for a no-frills, family-friendly place that gets the job done with a minimum of pomp and circumstance (snip and sayonara in under 30 minutes), Carmen's Barber Shop in Eldersburg is for you. The prices at Carmen's—voted Best Barber Shop by The Carroll County Times in 2009—are ridiculously retro (kids cuts are $11 on Tuesdays; men's cuts are always $13), and Carmen Trimboli, who recently sold the shop but still works as a stylist, has decorated the joint with his nifty collection of hundreds of die-cast cars from Chevys to Cadillacs. When getting a haircut is almost as much fun as watching Thomas the Tank Engine, you know something is right.
Salon 36 Kids
1496 Reisterstown Rd., Suite 219, 410-580-KIDS: For parents, it's always a Kodak moment when Junior gets shorn—but let's face it, most kids would rather do extra math homework. One visit to Salon 36, with its Crayola-colored décor, train sets, and gumball machine, and your moppet will be booking their own appointments. Salon 36 has many of the same services adult salons offer—cuts, color, blowout, flat ironing, even eyebrow waxing (!). And multitasking moms and dads can save time in their day by booking an appointment here, too.
WORTH THE DRIVE
Hudson & Fouquet Salon
181 West Street, Annapolis, 410-263-9790: Yes, it's a bit of a schlep to the state capital to get a haircut, but trust us when we say that a trip to Hudson & Fouquet is well worth the mileage. The vibe here is metropolitan minimalist, in a friendly, small-town setting. This salon, voted "Best of Annapolis" by What's Up Annapolis Magazine (2007, 2008) and one of the Top 200 Salons by Salon Today magazine, is known for delivering simple, classic glamour (co-owner Matt Hudson's forte) and more avant-garde cuts (co-owner Luc Fouquet's specialty) as well as the latest trends in treatment (Keratin and Kerastase, Balayage highlighting, cellular water facials). Hudson and Fouquet pride themselves on hospitality (e-mailing you after every service to ensure customer satisfaction) and are great at giving you a style you can actually replicate at home. As if that's not enough, Hudson & Fouquet has an extensive retail space adjacent to the salon stocked with high-end products and its own line of sprays and pomades.
The Pearl Modern Spa and Boutique
8171 Maple Lawn Boulevard, Fulton, 301-776-6948: If heaven were a programmable place on your navigation system, it would lead you directly to The Pearl, where walls of water, mesmerizing images of koi swimming in continuous loop on plasma TVs, and essence of Icelandic moonflower intermingle to create an environment of total tranquility. Valentine's Day news flash! This spa has the best couples rooms in town, with romantic Jacuzzi tubs, dual massage tables that convert into pedicure chairs, and iPod docking stations. The Blue Grotto for do-it-yourself mud treatments is another spa must. Whatever you crave—be it a Vitamin C facial, a Japanese foot massage, or a guava-and-coconut wrap—you will find it in this Fulton-area spa that is so extensive it should have its own zip code.
Robert Andrew Salon & Spa
1328 Main Chapel Way, Gambrills, 410-721-3533: Bigger may not always be better, but at Robert Andrew— which measures 22,000 square feet and is one of the largest salons and spas on the East Coast—big is definitely beautiful. While some spas and salons sacrifice service for size, the level of attentiveness here is outstanding. If you can't find it here—from Reiki massage and Vichy showers to eyebrow threading (Nasreen Bakhsh gets high marks for her high arches), hot stone pedicures, and a "facial bar" with to-die-for express seaweed facials—it simply doesn't exist. Robert Andrew has earned bragging rights on several fronts—it's the official salon and spa for both the Ravens' and the Washington Redskins' cheerleaders, and barber Derek Williams is entertainer Wayne Brady's personal stylist. We're not the only ones who think Robert Andrew is deserving—this place has won almost every industry award imaginable from "Top 200 Salons" by Salon Today magazine to "Salon of the Year" by Modern Salon.
A salon owner is Helping women with cancer feel better about themselves—one wig at a time.
Five years ago, when Kendra Darnell was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast
cancer, she was panicked about the prospect of losing her hair from the
"I was scared to death I was going to lose my hair and not have my wig in time," says Darnell, who now mentors other women as a volunteer through SOS (Survivors Offering Support) at Anne Arundel Medical Center. "One of my daughters was graduating from high school the year I was diagnosed, and the other one was a year younger. It was really important to me to wear a wig. They knew what was going on, but I didn't want to see it in their faces every day."
Darnell turned to Sherri Romm at Versacchi Studios in Owings Mills to help her fashion a wig that would look like her own head of short, blonde hair. "The wig was so great, a lot of people didn't even know I was wearing one," says Darnell. "Sherri helped me get through a difficult time—she was one of my angels."
For 16 years now, Romm has been a guardian angel to thousands of women experiencing a similar trauma. She first got into the business when a friend lost her beautiful mane of auburn hair to chemotherapy treatments.
"My friend found this acrylic wig that looked horrendous," recalls Romm, who had no experience in the beauty industry at the time. "It made her look 20 years older and wasn't even close to her style, so I said, 'Let me try to create a wig for you.'"
At the time, Romm was a computer engineer. And while she had no experience with wig making, she did have an M.F.A. in painting from MICA and an artist's eye for color, texture, and form. "My only exposure to wigs at that point was that my mom had an entire closet of colored wigs and falls in the '60s," says Romm with a laugh. "I was also always amazed at how beautiful my mother looked at the drop of a hat—the wigs transformed her. That's what we do here."
After familiarizing herself with the manufacturers who produced handmade hair goods, Romm wrote up her first wig order for her friend. When the wig came back six weeks later, Romm knew that the experience had been transformative—not just for her friend, but for her as well.
"I did not cut hair at the time," says Romm, who now designs the wigs herself. "So I had to use the services of a stylist from another salon who cut the wig for her. When he showed her what she looked like, she was elated. That was the moment I said, 'This is the coolest thing that anyone could be doing with their life.'"
More than a decade later, Romm, who went on to earn a cosmetology degree in 2002, has become a pioneer in the wig industry, helping not only cancer patients but people who suffer from alopecia and other forms of hair loss due to radiation, burns, or trauma. Her wigs—costing between $1,300 and $1,800—are made of human hair and were among the first in the country to be custom-blended, hand-colored, and completely customized.
"My wigs put a whole new spin on hair replacement," says Romm. "I'm not saying that a wig is the same as your hair, but when people don't know that it's a wig, they don't treat you any differently, and that's what cancer patients want—they want normalcy."
During wig fittings, Romm encourages her clients to bring their own music as well as friends. Some clients even choose to have "wig parties" as they go through fittings in one of Versacchi's private rooms. (About 60 percent of Versacchi clients come for wigs, but she also offers standard cut-and-color services.)
"A lot of women just want to take control," says Romm. "They don't have control over anything else in their lives, so the hair becomes a center point, and I am very open to whatever they want to experience."
While customer satisfaction runs high, Romm says she and her stylists get back so much more than they give. "All of my stylists say they wake up every day with a sense of purpose," says Romm. "There is nothing more gratifying then taking somebody who is a mess and just getting them through that ring of fear so they can focus on getting better. As a salon, we are small, but we are mighty." | <urn:uuid:35a526de-216e-4980-845f-fb0d51eaba70> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.baltimoremagazine.net/2010/1/top-salons-2010?p=features/2010/01/winning-streaks&mini=events%2Fcalendar%2F2013-06 | 2016-07-25T15:34:38Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824230.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00181-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952571 | 7,466 |
M. Farooq, Department of Poultry Science, NWFP, Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan.
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Summary Introduction Discussion References
Mortality plays a major role in determining profitability of egg type layers, as it is a function of culled and dead birds. Negative association of mortality has been reported with net profit. Higher mortality and culling were reported due to severe outbreaks of infectious/non-infectious diseases, accidental deaths, substandard health and management practices and poor quality of chicks and feed. Filthy environment, wet bedding material and house temperature in the range of 20-280C favored sporolation of oocysts resulting in a higher incidence of coccidiosis. Overall mortality in egg type layers was in the range of 3.1 to 14.2%, however, higher mortality during brooding (26.23%), growing (24.56%) and laying period (49.2%) had also been observed. Newcastle (ND), Infectious bursal disease (IBD), yolk sac infections and coccidiosis were found to cause maximum mortality in egg type layers (>30%). Incidence of IBD was higher (32-76%) in between the age of 2-12 weeks age of chicken and concurrent infections of E.coli and coccidiosis also favored incidence of IBD. A drop in egg production by 10-40% was found with the incidence of infectious coryza, E.coli, mycoplasmosis, coccidiosis egg prolapes and aflatoxicosis. Eggs with pimple shells were associated with Mareks, mycoplasmosis and calcium deficiency. Salmonellae were abundantly found in bedding material of chicken (42%), drinkers (36%), feed (28%) and water tanks (17%) of the poultry farm. Feed toxicity and cannibalism resulted in 3-10% mortality in egg type layers. Infectious coryza, enteritis, Hydro-Pericardium (HP), collibacilloses, brooder pneumonia, lymphoid leukosis, Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD), Fowl-pox, Fowl-typhoid, Fowl-cholera and infectious laryngotracheitis (IL) caused mortality within the range of 0.81% to 20% in egg type layers. Heating of eggs at a temperature of 460C prior to setting in incubator prevented vertical transmission of mycoplasmosis with a slight impact on hatchability. A loss of 127 million eggs and $7 million was found due to Mycoplasma gallisepticum. A decreasing trend in general prevalence of infectious diseases has been observed during the recent few years due to effective vaccination, better health care and appropriate management of the layers. Maintenance of a healthy environment in a poultry shed, protection of birds from extreme climatic conditions, restriction of visitors and wild animals, proper cleaning and disinfection of houses, equipment and workers, appropriate floor and house construction, assurance of healthy drinking water, antibiotic therapy, chlorine treatment and filtration of water tanks were reported as key factors in the reduction of loss due to diseases and mortality in egg type layers.
Disease out-break, increased mortality and higher percentages of cull birds could adversely affect profitability of egg type layers. Farooq et al. (2001) reported a significant and negative association of mortality with net profit, suggesting that increase in mortality would result in a decrease of net profit. A higher percentage proportion of culls are a function of poor quality chicks and feed and inappropriate management or care of the flock. Similarly, higher death rates in egg type layers could be due to severe outbreak of diseases, substandard health measures and management practices, poor quality of chicks or feed and accidental deaths. Thus, due attention shall be given to infections, health care, management practices and predisposing factors in the avoidance of undue risks of mortality in chicken. Because, microorganisms deteriorating performance of chickens or resulting in morbidity or mortality could be abundantly found in and near the poultry sheds and any variation in rearing environment would provide a better chance for these microorganisms to invade chicken. Salmonellae, one of the bacterial species influencing higher losses in chicken, were abundantly found in bedding material of chicken (42%), drinkers (36%), feed (28%) and water tanks (17%) of the poultry farm (Sasipreeyajan et al., 1996). Majid et al. (1991) also reported higher prevalence of Salmonellosis in layer flocks maintained under poor management conditions in Faisalabad. These organisms contaminate feed and drinking water and result in severe economic losses.
Diseases of chicken are mostly infectious in nature and therefore, wide variability in losses due to such diseases is expected in egg type layers. Infectious Bronchitis (IB) and IBD are currently the most prevalent diseases resulting in higher mortality among layers. Rikula et al. (1993) reported IB to be the most prevalent disease causing 67% mortality in chicken in Finland whereas, Amin et al. (1995) reported IBD to be a destructive force resulting in 40.4% mortality in egg type layers at Faisalabad, Pakistan since 1993. Because of its infectious nature, ND resulted in higher death losses in egg type layers (Anjum et al., 1993; 51.5% and Savic, 1999; 60%) however, Ghodasara et al. (1992) reported coccidiosis (35.26%) and yolk sac infections (31.45%) to cause severe losses in egg laying birds than any other disease. Qureshi et al. (1981) also reported higher losses due to ND (20%), Coccidiosis (20%) and yolk sac infections (30%) in egg type layers. Infectious coryza, enteritis, Hydro-Pericardium (HP) aflatoxicosis, collibacilloses, brooder pneumonia, lymphoid leukosis, fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome, salmonellosis, Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD), Fowl-pox, Fowl-typhoid, Fowl-cholera, Infectious Bronchitis (IB), Infectious Laryngotracheitis (IL) and Mareks disease were found to cause mortality within the range of 0.81% to 18% in layers.
Preventive measures taken against infectious diseases; age of the bird, season and climatic conditions could influence mortality in chickens. Birds vaccinated against IBD before the 10th day of age were more adversely affected than those vaccinated after the 10th day of age (Anjum et al., 1993). Singh et al. (1994) reported that IBD, coccidiosis, E. coli and other bacterial infections to be more prevalent in between the age of 6-11 weeks than at later stages of life (18-22 weeks). Birds exposed to climatic extremes and seasonal conditions are characteristically more prone to all types of diseases than others. Anjum (1990) reported a higher incidence of mortality among the submitted cases in Faisalabad during spring (36.6%), than in summer (25.8%), winter (19.4%) and fall (18.3%) seasons. Tariq et al. (1989) also reported a higher mortality due to respiratory problem in Punjab, Pakistan during spring (41.43%) than in winter (31.43%), summer (29.31%) and fall season (6.43%). Such losses could be attributed to adverse climatic conditions to which the chickens were exposed, lowering the immune response against diseases. In fact, these losses are heavier and would contribute irreparable losses to flock owners if not properly handled, as increased level of mortality will result in poor economic gains. North (1984) and Kitsopanidis and Manes (1991) in Greece also reported a reduction in net profitability with increased mortality levels in chickens.
Better hygienic measures, like maintenance of a healthy environment inside and outside the poultry shed, protection of birds from extreme climatic conditions, restriction of visitors and wild animals, proper cleaning and disinfection of houses, equipment and workers, and appropriate floor and house construction will help in reducing losses due to mortality. In addition, assurance of healthy drinking water (Khurshid et al., 1995), effective vaccination against disease, antibiotic therapy, chlorine treatment and filtration of water tanks would reduce mortality many folds (Mukherjee and Khamapurkar; 1994). Keeping in view, losses due to various diseases, this review paper was written with the objectives to highlight possible causes of mortality and report effective strategies for their control in future.
Findings regarding mortality and prevalent diseases in egg type layers in different parts of the world are reviewed and discussed under various sub sections as follows:
OVERALL MORTALITY IN EGG TYPE LAYERS
Overall mortality in layers was around
12% (Petek, 1999, and Amin et al. 1995). Singh et al. (1995) reported a little
higher mortality (14.2%) in layers. However, contrary to the findings of Petek
(1999), Amin et al. (1995) and Singh et al. (1995), higher mortality was reported
by Ghodasara et al. (1992) in egg type layers during brooding (26.23%), growing
(24.56%) and laying periods (49.2%). These losses were higher than the optimized
level of mortality (8-10%) reported by North (1984) in egg type layers for better
profitability. The higher mortality in egg type layers could be attributed to
severe outbreak of infectious and non-infectious diseases, substandard management
and health practices, poor quality of chicks or feed and filthy environment.
Infectious diseases of commercial chicken are regarded as sweeping diseases
and any variation in
health coverage or management could result in higher mortality. A disease outbreak could result in severe economic losses within a shortest possible time before its medicated recovery is ensured. In all probability, it is the delicate nature of the commercial chicken, their susceptibility to diseases and undesirable conditions that would not allow them to retain more resistance against disease attacks. In commercial chickens, more emphasis had been placed upon its genetic potentials for higher production, rather than their acclimatization to odd environments or ability to resist diseases. Thus, they are to be reared in a healthy environment to avoid increased risks of mortality. Tolimir and Masic (2000) reported a lower mortality (6.8%) among egg laying birds in recent decades, as compared to previous periods. The decline in mortality with the passage of time (from 1992 through 1999) could probably be attributed to the awareness of people regarding disease prevention and the innovation of
improved techniques and measures, than that prior to 1992. Assurance of healthy drinking water (Khurshid et al., 1995), appropriate and timely vaccination, antibiotic therapy, and filtration of water tanks reduced the incidence of mortality in India (Mukherjee and Khamapurkar; 1994). Better care of the flock, maintenance of a healthy environment inside and outside the poultry shed, protection of birds from extreme climatic conditions, restriction of visitors and wild animals, proper cleaning, and disinfection of houses, equipment, and workers, and appropriate floor and house construction were key factors in preventing higher mortality resulting from disease outbreak.
DISTRIBUTION OF VARIOUS DISEASES
Prevalence of various diseases in layers is discussed in this section under various subsections as follows:
Mareks is one of the important diseases of chicken characterized by leg paralysis and lymphocyte infilteration of brachial and sciatic nerves (Nicholls, 1984), potentially causing 4.2-20.8% mortality in layers (Taylor et al., 1999). The disease could be more prevalent in layers lacking immunization and additionally, further risk exists with calcium deficiencies during the laying phase. Chickens are vaccinated against mareks at the hatchery before they are transported to the farms. Losses due to this disease therefore, are avoided through effective vaccination and eliminating calcium deficiency in the egg laying period. Calcium is vital for the eggshell and its insufficiency will not only result in poor shell eggs, but it could work as a predisposing factor for mareks disease (Taylor et al., 2000). In addition, the rearing of mixed age flocks increased risks of Mareks disease (Heier and Jarp (2000). The authors also reported a higher risk of Mareks in laying birds reared on the floor than those maintained in cages, probably due to the condition of a soiled environment.
INFECTIOUS BURSAL DISEAS (IBD)
Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) also known as Gumboro had been reported to cause heavier losses in chickens (10-75%; Sah et al., 1995, and 80-100%; Chowdhury et al., 1986). The disease is characterized by lameness, severe morbidity and mortality in chicken. It is considered as AIDS of the chicken, because it adversely affects the chicken's immune system. Bursa fabricus, one of the organs responsible for antibody production in chicken was invaded by IBD virus and destroyed completely which in turn, resulted in higher losses in egg type layers (40.4%, Amin et al., 1995; 36.65%, Singh et al., 1994). Rao et al. (1990; 20%) and Farooq et al. (2000; 1.08±0.01%) reported a smaller mortality in layers than that reported by Amin et al. (1995) and Singh et al. (1994). Birds of all ages were susceptible to IBD however, losses in between the age of 2-12 weeks were higher (32-76%, Philip and Moitra, 1993; 20%, Rao et al., 1990 and 25%; Prabhakaran et al., 1997) than at any other stage of life. Unexpectedly higher losses due to IBD had also been observed in chickens at the age of 17 weeks (Philip and Moitra, 1993). The higher incidence of IBD in egg type layers could probably be due to poor vaccination and susceptibility of chickens to IBD (Anjum et al., 1993, and Farooq et al. 2000), filthy environment and predisposing factors like concurrent infections with E. coli, coccidiosis and other bacterial infections (Singh et al., 1994). Anjum et al. (1993) and Kouwenhoven et al. (1994) reported that vaccination against IBD at the age of 14-21 days partially controlled the problem, explaining that in spite of the vaccination, atrophy of bursa could not be protected even if there was a mild infection of IBD (Sultan and El-Sawy, 1997). Therefore, care must be taken to administer vaccines at stipulated times and successfully overcoming predisposing factors working as contusive media for outbreak of IBD. Prevention of concurrent infections like E. coli and coccidiosis and maintenance of standard hygiene will be helpful in reducing losses due to IBD in chicken.
NEWCASTLE DISEASE (ND)
Newcastle disease is one of the destructive diseases of chickens characterized by severe mortality, greenish diarrhea and thirst. The birds tend to drink more water and decrease their consumption of feed. Newcastle disease caused 60% losses in egg type layers (Savic, 1999); however, lower losses of 12.58% had also been reported by Srithar et al. (1997). On any standard these losses were high because the increase in mortality beyond 8-10% was not admissible in egg type layers (North, 1984). Aside from higher mortality, Newcastle disease caused a 15% drop in eggs of infected flocks and simultaneously resulted in 5% soft shell eggs (Lambert and Kabar, 1994). Newcastle disease was prevalent among layers in all seasons of the year and caused about 50% mortality in egg type layers (Anjum, 1990 and Anjum et al., 1993). Qureshi (1981; 20%), Mashooq (1981; 17.5%), Srinivasa et al. (1989; 17.21%), Siddique and Javed (1989; 16.4%) and Bhatti (1989; 9.35%) reported smaller mortality due to ND than that reported by Anjum (1990) and Anjum et al. (1993). The comparatively lower losses reported by some authors than others could probably be attributed to the implementation of effective measures for the prevention of diseases, such as vaccination against ND and maintenance of improved hygienic conditions. The higher losses due to ND could probably be due to the infectious nature of ND and its rapid spread from flock to flock within a shorter period of time. As it is a viral disease it can spread from one flock to another easily through the movement of workers from one farm to the another, wild animals and birds, visitors and transport vehicles used from farm to farm delivery. Thus, assurance of appropriate hygiene and effective and timely vaccination will be helpful in reducing losses.
Infectious coryza is also an important
bacterial disease of chickens characterized by respiratory complications, swollen
head syndrome, nasal discharge and severe drop in egg production. The most common
cause is Haemophilus gallinarum. Conditions of poor hygiene, chilly environment
and adverse climate exposure could work as predisposing factors for the onset
of this disease. Chickens of all type and age were found susceptible to this
infection and the disease caused 2-5% mortality and 35% drop
in egg production (Sandoval et al., 1999; and Reece et al., 1986). El-Houadfi and Vanmarcke (1991) also reported adverse effects of coryza on egg production, and as the disease can spread slowly, results could be almost 100% morbidity (Bains, 1979). Protection of birds from extreme climatic conditions, maintenance of good hygiene and antibiotic therapy along with vitamin C or ascorbic acid were helpful in preventing losses due to coryza.
INFECTIOUS BRONCHITIS (IB)
Highly infectious viral disease characterized by respiratory symptoms, increased mortality and decreased egg production (Butcher et al., 1990). The disease could occur at any stage of the chicken's life and during any season of the year. However, it was found to be more prevalent (35.7%) in 7 days to 5 weeks of age with special reference to its higher incidence (66.6%) in the winter season (Javed et al., 1991). The higher incidence in young chickens was attributable to poor immunity development during the first few weeks of life. Similarly, winter conditions could have also favored the incidence of IB because of stressful conditions and chilly environment. Thus, protection of birds from extremely cold conditions and the maintenance of a healthy environment would further reduce incidence of this disease.
Avian influenza is an important poultry disease that had emerged with higher mortality in the recent decades. This disease caused 90% morbidity and 80% mortality in 30 week aged chickens (Morgan and Kelly (1990). Pathogenisity of avian influenza was more in egg laying birds than in broilers (Swayne et al., 1994). The higher incidence of avian influenza in layers could probably be due to the incidence of avian influenza at later stages of life as layers were retained in a flock for a longer duration than broilers.
Mycoplasmosis is a series of bacterial infections caused by bacterium mycoplasm of various types in egg type layers. Mycoplasmosis results in severe economic losses in egg type layers in terms of reduced egg production and higher mortality. Eggs with Pimpled shells were also associated with Mycoplasma infections (Branton et al., 1997). Flocks infected with Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) produced fewer eggs (Mohammad et al., 1987). The authors reported a loss of 127 million eggs and $7 million due to MG only. North (1984) reported 20-30% drop in egg production due to MS. These losses are very high and would narrow the margins between cost of production and net profit from commercial egg laying birds. Efforts shall always be made to reduce losses thereby increasing egg production. This could however, be possible through better health management and the application of improved husbandry skills. For effective control of MG, a vaccine has now been prepared and is administered in drinking water when the layers are 12 weeks old. However, the disease is mostly transmitted through eggs from the infected or carrier birds to the newborn chickens. Thus, it is imperative for the breeders to have a regular blood test program and eliminate infected or carrier birds from the flocks. An effective measure to prevent its vertical transmission has been developed by heating eggs prior to incubator placement at a temperature of 460C. At this temperature no mycoplasma will survive, however heating eggs at this temperature may have a slight impact on hatchability.
Salmonellae, one of the bacterial species, are abundantly found in most of the areas where chances of contamination are greater; primarily poultry sheds and feed reservoirs. Salmonella had also been isolated from litter (42%), drinking water (36%), feed (28%) and water tanks (17%; Sasipreeyajan et al., 1996) in poultry premises. These organisms usually contaminate feed and drinking water thereby, resulting in poor economic gains and higher mortality. Salmonellae caused pullorum, typhoid, paratyphoid and other related infections in chicken resulting 50% losses (North, 1984). Salmonellae are vertically transmitted to the newborn chicks, therefore, regular blood testing of the parent flock and elimination of infected and carrier birds would be helpful in reducing its vertical transmission. In addition, preventing entry of rodents, vermin or other wild animals and the assurance of improved hygienic conditions would be helpful in reducing the incidence of salmonellosis.
Coccidiosis a protozoan disease, is one of the major problems of the chicken industry, characterized by blood tinged feces, ruffled feathers, loss of appetite, poor growth and reduced egg production. Coocidiosis had been reported to result in higher mortality (51.38%; Demir, 1992) and economic losses ($35 to $200 million/year in USA; Hofstad et al., 1978). The most prevalent causative agents of coccidiosis among the coccidia species were sporolated oocysts of genus emeria that primarily invaded the small intestine and caecal pouches, leading to enteritis and thickening of the intestinal walls (Shukla et al., 1990). Oocysts are usually passed through feces by infected chickens, undergoing the process of sporolation when conditions are favorable. Unclean environment, wet bedding material and house temperature in the range of 20-280C favored sporolation of oocysts (Hofstad et al., 1978). Coccidia were found to be the most resistant type of protozoa, remaining viable for several months in poultry sheds (Stayer et al., 1995). However, deterioration of seeded oocysts started soon after a 24-hour period when sporolation conditions were not favorable (Williams, 1995).
Coccidiosis could occur at any stage of the chicken's life and during any season of the year; however, it was found to be more prevalent in summer season (Boado et al., 1991), probably when higher summer temperatures and wet bedding favored rapid sporolation of oocysts. Bushell et al. (1989) reported affective use of live attenuated coccidiosis vaccine in controlling the problem. Assurance of a healthy environment and the elimination of moisture and increased heat conditions within the house were reported to reduce chances of a coccidiosis outbreak (Stayer et al., 1995). Addition of coccidiostates in the ration had been one of the best options for the control of coccidiosis; however, egg laying birds are given coccidiosate-free ration during the egg laying period and an outbreak of coccidiosis at that stage will not only result in massive death casualties, but it could lower egg production performance of the birds. The pullet should therefore, have complete immunity against coccidiosis before initiation of egg lay (North, 1984). Thus, management would be a key to avoid sporolation of oocysts when the layers are to be reared on the floor. With the introduction of cage systems, the coccidiosis problem has now been solved up to a greater extent. However, elimination of coccidiosis before the shifting of birds to cages should be ensured.
YOLK SAC INFECTION
It is one of the most common bacterial infections of chicken observed during the first few weeks of a chicken's life. Drowsiness, minimal mobility, vent pasting and the lack of interest of feeding in the chicken characterize yolk sac infection. There may be several predisposing factors such as poor hygiene and stressful conditions leading to this anomaly because, it is a general bacterial infection. Isolates of Staphylococci and E. coli were found to be the most common causes of yolk sac infection (Bains, 1979). Yolk (a reservoir of food for the embryo and chicken in the first few days after hatching as well) could easily become infected with the presence of any bacterium. The intact bacteria enter the inner content of the egg during the incubation process and cause infection of the navel area of chicken. Conversely, if the yolk is not affectively utilized after hatching, it could be easily infected and easily become rancid. The yolk usually becomes infected prior to hatching and during the first 48 hours after hatching. Yolk sac infection was found to cause 31.45% mortality in the early few days of a chicken's life (Ghodasara et al., 1992). North (1984; 10%) and Reece et al. (1986; 2.31%) however, reported smaller losses due to yolk sac infection in chicken than those reported by Ghodasara et al. (1992). As the infection is mostly transmitted through dirty shell eggs, frequent collection of eggs and keeping the conditions more favorable to obtain clean eggs will be helpful in the reduction of yolk sac infection. In addition, better management of the chicks during brooding; avoiding overcrowding and other stressful conditions will further reduce the incidence of yolk sac infection.
Escherichia coli (E. coli)
E. coli is one of the major problems in chicken production influencing heavier losses and severe drop in egg production. About 5.5% mortality and 10-20% drop in eggs was observed with E. coli infections in egg type layers reared in cages (Qu et al., 1997). Zanella et al. (2000) also reported 5-10% mortality due to E. coli infections with no pronounced signs, suggesting that the infection may be there but couldn't be easily detected until regular tests are performed for its proper diagnosis. The situation leading to mortality with no pronounced clinical signs will be more critical as it would result in heavier losses of reduced egg production prior to the investigations. E. coli will not only result in reduced egg production and mortality, it could be a predisposing factor for other complications like IBD as has been stated by Singh et al. (1994). Prabhakaran et al. (1997) associated IBD with concurrent infections of E. coli and coccidiosis. Thus, it is important to control E. coli infections in chickens, thereby preventing losses due to this disease and other associated infections.
EGG PROLAPES AND CANNIBALISM
Egg prolapes has become one of the major issues in egg type layers during the past few years. Egg prolapes could cause higher mortality and in turn, would result in huge economic losses (Tablante et al., 1994). The authors reported 9.4% egg prolapse cases in egg type layers. Abrahamsson and Tauson (1998) reported cannibalism as the picking habit of chicken, causing 4-20% mortality. North (1984) reported deficiency of fiber in feed and management faults as the major factors contributing to higher incidence of cannibalism. Damme (1999) reported that cannibalism could be effectively controlled through appropriate beak trimming. The author reported a smaller incidence of cannibalism (0.3%) in beak-trimmed birds than non-trimmed (7.5%).
Presently, aflatoxicosis is one of the major issues in chicken production. The common cause of aflatoxicosis is contaminated feed, resulting in higher mortality and severe drop in egg production. Prathapkumar et al. (1997) reported 10% mortality and 20% drop in egg production due to aflatoxin B1 in the diet. Drop in egg production was as higher as 26-55% with increased level of aflatoxin B1 (Mukopadhyay et al., 2000). To avoid such losses it is important to regularly monitor feed quality. In case of aflatoxicosis, change of feed will be a better option. Choudary (1986) also reported reduction in mortality and gradual increase in egg production when feed suspected for aflatoxicosis was changed. Thus, it is advisable to store feed ingredients or ration in proper places to avoid its contamination by microorganisms. In addition, preference shall be given to fresh feed rather than stale or feed stored for longer durations. Inappropriate and prolonged storage conditions would encourage microorganism to contaminate feed rendering them unsafe for sue and better performance.
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of lay. Avian Pathology. 29(4): 311 317. | <urn:uuid:49a550b1-260e-41d2-8a03-fdfbe9830953> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.priory.com/vet/egg.htm | 2016-07-25T13:56:55Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824230.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00181-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911485 | 9,517 |
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Nestled in the beautiful hills of the Shawnee National Forest, Timber Ridge offers something for everyone, from families and honeymooners to outdoor enthusiasts. Enjoy some Southern hospitality while staying in a real log cabin or one-of-a-kind tree house. Each of the units, including the tree house, is equipped with a bathroom, kitchenette, heating and air conditioning. Physical Location: Karbers Ridge, IL 62955 GPS: 37°33’52.18?N 88°20’17.03?W
This museum is one of the most-visited presidential museums in the nation where visitors can experience the entire Lincoln story under one roof, from Abe's humble beginnings in an Indiana log cabin to his days as president in the White House. Be dazzled by two special effects theaters featuring historical ghosts and a Civil War battlefield, life-like vignettes that depict important moments in the president’s life, and artifacts that range from Lincoln’s stovepipe hat to an original copy of the Gettysburg Address.
Kayak through canyons of skyscrapers and architectural wonders, or explore the waters just off beautiful Lake Michigan. Kayak Chicago is Chicago’s premier full-service outfitter, offering a variety of tours with certified instructors and guides. It’s a truly unique way to experience the urban landscape.
Broadway In Chicago presents the hottest shows in Chicago's bustling Downtown Theater District. On the stages of the Oriental Theatre, Cadillac Palace Theatre, Bank of America Theatre, Auditorium Theatre and Broadway Playhouse, you will discover theater productions direct from Broadway, along with world premieres.
Magnificent, 1,700-acre museum of trees and plants from around the world. Hiking trails, paved roads, restaurant, gift shop, open-air tram and handicapped accessible facilities.
Ski along scenic slopes at Galena's Chestnut Mountain Resort, perched high above the Mississippi River. Rated by Ski Magazine as one of the top ski resorts in the Midwest, Chestnut Mountain goes all out with a snowboarding park and night skiing. Stay at the rustic 120-room lodge, which has three restaurants, including the fine-dining Sunset Grille. There are fun non-skiing activities in the summer as well, including boat cruises on the Mississippi Explorer and the exhilarating Alpine Slide, which speeds 2,000 feet down a hillside. Or try the new Segway Mountain Adventure Tours, a three-mile guided ride through rolling terrain.
A cruise aboard Odyssey lets you see Chicago from a whole new perspective. You’ll enjoy a three-course, locally-sourced menu, upscale DJ entertainment, a sophisticated ambiance and breathtaking skyline views. Cruise with Odyssey for a brunch, lunch, dinner or specialty cruise, or consider Odyssey for your next group event.
Navy Pier's resident 148-foot, four-masted schooner pays tribute to the Great Lakes' rich maritime heritage during a variety of cruises each day.
Noted in Midwest Living magazine as "a riverside retreat for the romantic," Tara Point Inn is known for its incredible accommodations and breathtaking views of the Mississippi River. Atop the palisades bluffs above Grafton, visitors can choose either the main inn or a secluded cozy cabin escape to what some call the most pleasantly memorable getaway experiences in the Midwest.
Central Illinois lake with over 11,000 water acres and 172 miles of shoreline. Lake Shelbyville has 5 federal campgrounds, and 2 state campgrounds with over 1,000 campsites from tent camping up to full hookup. There are several recreational areas with picnic areas and pavilions and 2 wildlife management areas. Three public beaches are available for swimming on the lake. The lake also hosts many launching ramps that are available for boats, and 3 marinas on the lake. Many hiking trails also encompass the lake such as the General Dacey which also includes fitness stations, the Chief Illini trail and others.
One of the most storied teams in all of sports, if not MLB, the Chicago Cubs located on the North side of Chicago call the friendly confines of Wrigley Field home since 1916. Come for a game, for the crowd, for the history of being in an historic ballpark. Sit out in the bleachers and watch the Cubs as they try to break the longest championship drought in professional sports.
Find impressive savings at 140 designer and name-brand outlet stores, such as Ann Taylor, Armani, Banana Republic, Calvin Klein, Coach, Cole Haan, Gap Outlet, J.Crew, Lacoste, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Salvatore Ferragamo, Michael Kors, SAKS Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Theory, Vera Bradley and more. A recent expansion will bring additional stores in the spring of 2016 making this even more of a Midwest Shopping destination! In Aurora, 37 miles west of Chicago.
Magnificent full-service inn celebrating more than 30 years of hospitality. Featuring elite amenities, dining and spa services in a romantic setting overlooking the Mississippi River.
Tour Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary. Animal lovers can learn about, pet, hold and feel some of the 350 rescued animals, comprised of 30 different species. All income supports the rescued animals. Critter Camp is a non-profit, tax exempt, charitable, volunteer operated, no-kill facility that does not buy, breed, sell or exploit any animal.Personally guided tours are available seven days a week year round for up to six people per tour, but all tours are by appointment.
Hop aboard the family-owned Celebration Belle riverboat that cruises the mighty Mississippi River. Operating April through October, the 800-passenger riverboat offers a variety of cruises, ranging from sightseeing tours to theme cruises such as Big Band and fall foliage, captain's dinner and dance cruises, and overnight excursions.
At Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa go golfing on one of four championship courses, horseback riding along hilly wooded trails, boating on the sapphire waters of Lake Galena, or soaring over the countryside in a hot air balloon with Galena on the Fly. Relax in the luxury of the resort’s Stonedrift Spa with a pampering massage. Eagle Ridge offers a wide variety of lodging that ranges from traditional inn rooms to golf villas and distinctive homes.
The Old State Capitol is a reconstruction of Illinois' fifth statehouse, the first to be located in Springfield. It is here that Lincoln practiced law, served as a legislator and gave his famed House Divided speech on slavery in 1858. The building served as the seat of state government and a center of Illinois political life from 1839-1876. The current State Capitol Building is the center of state government, where visitors can watch Illinois politics in action when the legislature is in session.
Discover cute boutiques housed in historic storefronts in downtown Champaign, including antique and consignment shops. Be sure to stop at PACA’s Architectural Salvage Warehouse, where you’ll find everything from vintage stained glass to ceramic tiles.
The Palms Grill Cafe was a well-known restaurant during the heyday of Route 66. Recently the cafe was revitalized and reopened, and is serving up delicious nostalgia from the fabled Route 66 era. The Palm’s Grill Café has been baking pies and feeding hungry travelers and residents for decades. Their pies are so delicious they've even won a few state pie competitions. Saddle up to the counter or take a seat at a table; either way, the pie and coffee with the community atmosphere is enough to make any first-timer feel like a regular. Conveniently located right across the street is the towering Bunyon’s Statue, another one of Route 66’s famous Muffler Man Statues.
Tuscan Hills Winery, recently opened in 2011, is on Historic Hills Drive, directly behind the Harley Barn. This winery is located on eight picturesque acres which helps bring an Old World Tuscan feel to the heart of Effingham. The owners are focused on creating elegant, approachable, and perfectly balanced wines of the highest quality. Wine tastings, along with space available for reservations makes this a must stop for group tours. Tuscan Hills Winery wants you to "Come as our guest, but leave as our friends." We welcome you to plan your next event at Tuscan Hills Winery - whether it's a beautiful wedding in our vineyard or book the space for your next meeting.
Come aboard Seadog Cruises for the most thrilling, unique way to experience the windy city! Seadog offers Lakefront Speedboat Rides, Lake & River Architectural Tours and Extreme Thrill Rides, all of which are perfect for a solo traveler to a group of 110. Chicago’s favorite dog cruises April through October and is available for private charter.
Mercury, Chicago's Skyline Cruiseline offers 90-minute tours for the whole family that include lake and river cruises, fireworks cruises, canine cruises and night cruises all departing from the landscaped dock on Chicago’s Riverwalk at the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Cruising season May - October.
The oldest and largest continuously operating winery in Illinois producing more than 50 varietals and 25,000 cases of award-winning wines each year. Come in for a tour and tasting to experience the finest vintages, gourmet cuisine, and luxurious lodging. Tasting room and gift shop open daily. Complimentary tours on weekends. Gift shop featuring wine-related items, specialty gift baskets, glassware, and elegant home decor. Visit our website for events throughout the year including our renowned Oktoberfest.
Rock Island's Quad City Botanical Center houses exotic tropical flowers, a 14-foot waterfall and reflecting pools with koi. Seasonal attractions include a butterfly garden and the Garden Train Railway exhibit. The Botanical Center also regularly hosts art exhibitions and special events for families.
This engaging retail experience features the full line of Hershey's products, as well as one-of-a-kind gifts and souvenirs Be entertained by the singing baker at the bake shoppe, offering cupcakes, cookies and brownies all topped with Hershey's products.
Curtis Orchard is an 80-acre apple orchard, pumpkin patch and entertainment farm offers activities for the whole family. Open July 20–December 20, the orchard country store and bakery offer a wide variety of gift and food items, including pies, fritters, apple crisp donuts and award-winning cider. Outdoor activities include seasonal apple and pumpkin picking, kids play structures, a giant slide, several mazes including the corn maze, petting zoo, toddler area, birthday parties and corporate picnics. Weekend activities include outdoor meals, live entertainment, seasonal pony rides, and an orchard wagon.
The Aquatic Zoo Waterpark is fun for all ages. The facility features two 30-ft. tall slides; one 112-ft. body slide; one 266-ft. dual rider tube slide; two diving boards; a children's splash pad; interactive voice and light features; lazy river; zero depth entry leisure pool and concessions.
The Chicago River Architecture Tour is a 60-minute journey through the heart of the city. Led by an architectural expert, this in-depth tour traces the history and innovations of urban architecture in Chicago.
Enjoy a relaxing retreat at Sara's Sanctuary. Every retreat offers a different health and wellness experience, which includes therapeutic massage, aromatherapy, yoga or meditation, reflexology and Reiki. Each session has a limit of eight participants and four sleeping rooms.
A quiet cove at dawn, where the only sound is the whir of a casting reel and the gentle splash of the fly hitting the water’s surface...that’s Lake Sara. A sunny afternoon slalom skiing behind a powerboat or running along the beach...that’s Lake Sara. A family picnic in the grass at water’s edge or a family reunion, with fried chicken and the works, under one of the pavilions...that’s Lake Sara. Lake Sara is an 800-acre recreational lake nestled into a wooded shoreline, encircled by a winding road. Spend a day, a week, or a season on the shores of Lake Sara. Lake Sara has something for everyone, in every season of the year.
The Cache River Wetlands offers great opportunities for eagle watching, as well as spotting other birds. The Cache River Wetland Center provides resource and identification materials to help you spot eagles and other birds in the area and along the rivers. They will provide maps and directions to the viewing station for the nest just off Illinois Route 37 off Perks road and south of the visitor's center.
“Lincoln: History to Hollywood,” an exhibition of sets, costumes and props from the Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film “Lincoln,” has opened at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum complex, located in downtown Springfield, Illinois. Items of note in the exhibit include Lincoln’s office set, a vignette of Mary Lincoln’s bedroom, Lincoln’s gloves, Tad Lincoln’s tin soldiers, and the rocking chair where President Lincoln sat with Tad. Most of the furniture pieces in the exhibit are antiques from the Civil War era, not reproductions. The exhibits are on long-term loan from Spielberg and DreamWorks Studio. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum features more than 40,000 square feet of galleries, theatres and historic displays that takes visitors on a journey from Lincoln’s humble beginnings through his Presidency. The “Lincoln: History to Hollywood” exhibit will be located in Union Station, across the street from the presidential museum.
Indulge yourself at the Beall Mansion, a sumptuous Bed and Breakfast Inn located 12 blocks from the Mississippi River. Designed by Lucas Pfeiffenberger and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this elegant mansion features 18 ionic columns, eleven and a half foot ceilings, crystal chandeliers and marble and bronze statuary throughout. Let us pamper you with sumptuous feather beds, whirlpools for two, 24 hour "all you can eat" chocolate buffet, and optional gourmet breakfast in bed. Free Wi-fi. In room massage, spa, golf and corporate packages available.
This upscale cottage was designed with comfort and fun in mind. Perfect for families or singles, the Guest House sleeps up to 6 with one king size bed and four twin size bunks. A full kitchen and large living room makes for a most relaxing stay. Two televisions and wireless internet access keep you in touch. The Guest House is small-pet friendly with a fenced-in side garden.
The Chanute Air Museum celebrates the 76 year legacy of the former Chanute Air Force base and the development Illinois aviation. The Museum showcases over 30 aircraft, including a rare P-51H Mustang and XB-47 Stratojet, while exhibits include "Life at Chanute" and "The 99th Pursuit Squadron: From Rantoul to Ramitelli and Beyond." Bus parking and a gift shop are available.
The Chief Keokuk Campground features 70 pads with electrical hook-ups for trailers, plus 25 tent sites (All camping Class B/E). There is a shower building on site. A sanitary dump station is near the camping area. A primitive cabin, Chief Tecumseh, is also available. The cabin is located on a slope overlooking Johnson Lake. A fire grill, table and BBQ grill are provided outside. A full size bed, two sets of bunk beds, a table and benches are provided inside. The cabin has heat and air conditioning as well as two ceiling fans. Reservations can be made, for dates between May 1st and November 1st, at ReserveAmerica.com for the campgrounds and cabin.
The name Famous Fossil was inspired by the many fossils emerging from the earth as grapevines were planted. Sculpted and reshaped over thousands of years, the rolling hills are now home to over 12 varieties of red and white wine grapes. You’ll taste Marquette, Frontenac and St. Croix in our red wines and LaCrescent, Traminette or our blend of Prairie Star, LaCrosse and Brianna in our whites. Looking for a sweet wine? You’ll fall in love with our Blackberry, Red Raspberry and our “pie-in-a-glass” Summer Rhubarb wine. Enjoy a glass of wine in our tasting room and snack on our delicious Sweet & Savory Plate filled with local cheeses, sausage, crackers and more. We’re open year round with events and festivals every month including painting classes with local artists, wagon tours through the vineyard, and our Fossil Fest in August and Garlic Fest in October. Our beautiful Oak Barrel Room overlooking our vineyard is available for parties, showers and meetings. So come see our vineyard, watch wine being made and taste the best of the Midwest at Famous Fossil Winery. Open daily from 11-6. Visit www.famousfossilwinery.com to learn more.
Showcasing classic and one-of-a-kind Corvettes and memorabilia, My Garage Museum is a must-see attraction for any car enthusiast. Corvettes on display include Indy pace cars, racing machines, the last C-4 and the first 21st century model.
Discover Green Street and the heart of campus at the University of Illinois. Restaurants, bars, shops, bookstores and more await your presence in this Orange & Blue themed area.
What Lincoln Center is to New Yourk and Kennedy Center is to Washington D.C., Krannert Center is to the Midwest—a magnificent showcase for the performing arts. KCPA is a premier educational and professional performing arts complex and is the setting for over 300 performances each year. A professional laboratory for the University of Illinois dance, theatre, opera and music departments, the Center also hosts internationally famous artists such as Emmy Lou Harris, Herbie Hancock, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Group, and is home to the Champaign-Urbana Symphony and Sinfonia de Camera.
Delivered gourmet breakfast by a wood burning fireplace, hiking trails, relaxing massage, seasonal packages, beautiful gardens, seven-course candlelight dinners, lush furnishings and amenities, all nestled in a gorgeous countryside setting.
Just minutes away from the city but a world away, Ballard Nature Center is home to dozens of species of birds and wildlife. Natural prairie, wetlands, butterfly and hummingbird gardens, ponds and creeks round out the outdoor experience.
Cave-In-Rock Frontier Festival is held on the banks of the beautiful Ohio River. The festival, which commemorates the extensive and colorful history connected to Cave-In-Rock and the surrounding community, is an entertaining and fun filled community event. First held in the 1960’s, the celebration includes a parade, carnival, various entertainment held in the Old Opry House, food and craft vendors. A Little Miss and Mister Frontier Days and Frontier Queen pageant is a highlight as well as various other activities. Come join the festivities for a weekend of fun and entertainment.
CITY:Cave In Rock
Take a fun, educational guided walking and tasting tour of select chocolate shops along the Magnificent Mile or in the Loop. Learn about the history of chocolate and sample chocolate delights on this tasty tour
This visitor's center offers maps and information on the entire Amish area, including the 150 Amish craft shops that dot the countryside surrounding the village of Arthur.
Immerse yourself in Chicago's rich history with a live commentated, family-friendly 90-minute tour cruising the Chicago River and Lake Michigan aboard Mercury, Chicago's Skyline Cruiseline. Learn fun facts and hear fascinating tales as you cruise amongst the city's famous architectural giants. Capture incredible photos as only can be experienced from the unique vantage point of the Chicago River, and marvel at incredible skyline views from the expansive waters of Lake Michigan. Cruises depart daily, May through October.
The Combined Lake and River Tour offers a comprehensive overview of Chicago, with breathtaking views of the magnificent skyline and an up-close perspective from the Chicago River.
The Chocolate Factory prides itself in offering quality gourmet chocolates in a wide variety of mouth watering flavor, formulated with only the finest ingredients. Our irresistible silky smooth blended chocolates make delicious rich candies for any occasion!
Exhibitions, a children's gallery, a permanent collection and special events. Grounds include 85 acres sculpture park, nature trails and bird sanctuary. Hosts annual Cedarhurst Craft Fair.
Come tour the Northern Illinois University, catch a show preformed by their Theatre or Dance department, or explore one of their Art Galleries. There is much to do on campus including their new Anthropology Museum, an Observatory, the Huskies Den or take in a game! Their Museums are free to visit, some fees may apply for shows or School of Music Concerts. There is never a dull moment on campus!
Your sweet tooth is sure to be on alert at Long Grove Confectionary Co. Watch homemade fudge getting made as thick layers of sweet goodness fold into large vats. Inhale the sugary goodness of the famed cocoa concoctions as soon as you walk inside. At Long Grove, the old fashioned confectionary is alive and well, and smelling oh so good.
The 3000 acre park includes a seven mile backpack trail among its 15 miles of trail system. Boats and canoes are available for rental in season, and seven lakes are available for fishing. Hunting of pheasant, rabbit, squirrel, dove, waterfowl, goose, mushrooms, turkey, and deer is permitted (Illinois and Vermilion County Conservation District regulations apply).
Summerfield Zoo is home to a large variety of exotic animals, ranging from reindeer and monkeys to camels and mountain lions. We are proud to offer an up close and personal animal experience. While at the zoo, enjoy our education and fun animal encounter presentations. Summerfield Zoo is open selected weekends May through November.
The Hennepin Canal State Park, a 104-mile linear park, is a rustic, historic, educational, and recreational jewel spanning five counties and includes the entire width of Henry County with access points in Annawan, Atkinson, Geneseo, and Colona. It offers an up-close look at a fascinating piece of transportation history. It is popular with bicyclists who ride from town to town exploring the history, dining, lodging, and entertainment possibilities as they travel. The canal multi-purpose recreational trail is a portion of the American Discovery Trail, a 6,800-mile coast-to-coast trail devoted to non-motorized use. It is also part of the Grand Illinois Trail, a 535-mile loop through northern Illinois. The tree-lined park is a refuge with prairie restorations and wetlands slicing through corn and soybean farmland. Home to diverse flora and fauna, it has become a favorite for bird watchers and prairie enthusiasts. It offers numerous year-round opportunities to boat, hike, bike, fish, ride horseback, snowmobile, ice skate, and cross-country ski. Explore Henry County’s jewel – the Hennepin Canal. In wintertime experience the longest snowmobile trail in the state -- 91 miles on the tow path. You can use the ice at your own risk, but pay heed to the locks, bridges and culverts where the ice likely is thinner than the rest of the canal. Bring your blades, skating along the canal is free! Keep in mind the rule is there must be 4" of snow and 6" of frost on canal for route to be open. Call the Visitor Center for automated message.
The TREC trail system is a public trail designed to create recreational opportunities. The trails provide a great place for visitors to exercise, whether its walking, riding bikes, or roller blading. The mission is to develop a countrywide, multi-use trail system, educate the communities on the benefits of the trails, and promote an active lifestyle by providing recreational activities.
Follow the lead of the locals in Alton and order dessert first, at My Just Desserts, as fresh-baked favorites like the Tollhouse brownies and Mrs. Ledbetter’s chocolate pie sell out early. Every morning 9 to 13 pie varieties are baked fresh. You’ll swear you stepped back in time when you enter this unique establishment, from the squeak in the hardwood floors to the Mason jar glasses.
Sleepy Creek Vineyards offers more than just great wine. Experience live entertainment, unique shopping, and tastings from local farms. Group tours of the vineyards can be scheduled, and rental space is available for special events including business meetings, parties, and weddings.
You can’t get much closer to the real thing than this. At the NASCAR Racing Experience, you’ll drive a race car that’s been driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and other NASCAR drivers. You’ll get a true NASCAR driving experience: There’s no pace car to follow. Passing is allowed. And you’ll have in-car Racing Electronics radio communications. In 2014, the NASCAR Racing Experience will be at Chicagoland Speedway May 9-10, July 4, 5, 11, 12, and August 29-30. See their site for more details.
Winged monsters, explorers, riverboats and a gentle giant. The Alton Museum of History & Art shows the crossroads of American history in Alton. The museum is located in the historic Loomis Hall across from the Wadlow statue. Loomis Hall is the oldest building in the state of Illinois continuously utilized for education. One of the most popular rooms, the Wadlow Room, pays tribute to Alton's "Gentle Giant" and the World's Tallest Man. The Pioneer Room explores the history of Alton from the Lewis & Clark Expedition to the Civil War with exhibits on Elijah Lovejoy, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the "Alton Route" on the Underground Railroad. Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sunday 1 - 4 p.m.
Come out to Camp Lakewood and enjoy the views of Lake Pauline plus all the creature comforts. Camp Lakewood is an RV campground. The sites include cable, WiFi, 30/50 AMP. They also offer a one and two bedroom cabin that is fully furnished and self contained. The newest cabin sleeps five and includes Cable TV. They do offer tent sites as well for those who want to be a little closer to nature.
This monument is located on the site of Kellogg's Grove, an early settlement established in 1827 on a mail route between Peoria and Galena, and now on the National Register of Historic Places. It honors those killed in the Blackhawk War, including in the final Illinois Battle which occurred at this grove in June, 1832. Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Illinois militia, helped bury five of the slain men. The remaining soldiers were originally buried throughout the area at the spots at which they fell. Fifty years after the war, local farmers collected the remains and buried them in one enclosure on top of this hill overlooking the Yellow Creek Valley. The 34-foot high monument was dedicated in 1886.
A delicious mixture of cocoa is found every which way along the Blackhawk Chocolate Trail in the four-county area of Northwest Illinois. Enjoy visiting candy stores, bed and breakfasts with special chocolate-themed packages, gift shops and old-fashioned soda fountains.
Come explore the sculptures that have transformed the City of Effingham's avenues into an art gallery. Over 30 sculptures created by some of the Midwest's best known and unknown sculptors bring life to the streets of Effingham as part of the annual "Sculptures on the Avenues" outdoor exhibition. Sculptures on the Avenues is a self-guided walking tour that begins at City Hall, located at 201 E. Jefferson Ave. From there, the exhibition winds in and out of Downtown Effingham. An informative guide, which facilitates a walking tour, is available at the Effingham Visitors Center or City Hall.
The opulent Cuneo Museum and Gardens, located on 75 acres and dotted with formal gardens and statuary was the perfect setting for the wedding scenes in "My Best Friend's Wedding." The gazebo where the best friends were caught kissing was built specifically for the film, but Cuneo's owners liked it so much they decided to keep it permanently. Take a guided tour through the historic Mediterranean-style Cuneo mansion to see Renaissance artworks and lavish European furnishings.
Features 15 historic buildings that trace the history of Kendall County plus an 1819 Chicago Burlington & Quincy caboose, a fully-stocked general store, an 1840s schoolhouse, town hall, a working blacksmith shop, the Plano Train Depot, (c. 1850s) and Yorkville Firehouse (c. 1888).
Two different locations on Lake Sara. The pavilions offer a chance to host a meeting on the lake. The two outdoor facilities are perfect for receptions and parties with plenty of outdoor space. It also features a large open room, kitchen area, boat dock and outdoor decks.
Bicyclists meet at the Olive Branch Community Center at 8 AM. Organized bike routes of 15, 30, 45, 62 and 100 mile rides around scenic Horseshoe Lake and area. Entry fee includes: Event bag, chance for attendance prizes. Early registration includes commemorative t shirt.
Enjoy watching the potter in an open air studio creating artwork on the potter's wheel. The center also features rug, broom, weaving and spinning artisans.
You’ve seen them race, now drive in real stock cars that have been used in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. At the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure, you can drive around Chicagoland Speedway at speeds over 170 mph. Or you can choose the Ride-Along to experience the thrill of NASCAR racing like never before as a professional driver thunders you around the track. In 2014, the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure will be at Chicagoland Speedway June 14-15 and August 16-17. See their site for more details.
Northern Illinois University's 10,000 seat Convocation Center is a $36 million multipurpose facility that hosts a variety of events such as concerts, family shows, theatrical productions, commencement ceremonies, job fairs, trade shows and NIU Huskie Division I athletic events (basketball, volleyball, track, gymnastics and wrestling). The NIU Convocation Center hosts 200+ events per year.
Tour the Pollyanna Brewing Company brewery along the I&M Canal,enjoy our tap room,share the experience of fresh, flavorful, craft beer-locally in Lemont, Illinois. Pollyanna Brewing Company experiments with local fruits and spices, seasonal lagers, barrel-aging, wild yeast and bacteria, and cider-beers on occasion.
This multi-use 17 mile recreational trail offers beautiful scenery and 21 decked bridges, including a covered bridge in Orangeville, passing wetlands, creeks, woods, prairies, geologic formations and farmland. The trail, named after Jane Addams, is part of the Grand Illinois Trail which traverses northern Illinois from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. Its crushed limestone surface may be used by hikers, bicyclists, snowmobilers, and cross-country skiers. The The tow miles of trail between the Wes Block Trail Access and Illinois 26 is an asphalt paved surface. The final two mile asphalt paved segment from Highway 26 to the Tutty's Crossing Trailhead on the riverfront in historic downtown Freeport will open in summer 2015. This segment crosses the 1885 Van Buren Street Bridge to the Old River School Historic District, the original north entryway into the City, and through historic downtown Freeport offering specialty shops, restaurants, a bicycle shop offering repairs, and more. At Tutty's Crossing, the Jane Addams Trail connects with the Pecatonica Prairie Trail currently under development between Freeport and Rockford. The Jane Addams Trail connects the Wisconsin state line to the Badger Trail which extends to Madison. Access to the trail is available at the West Block Access, 2636 W. Fairview Road, Freeport, at the Richland Creek Trailhead, 101 N. Ewing Street, Orangeville, at Cedarville Road, at Red Oak off of Beaver Road, and by mid-summer at Turry's Crossing in downtown Freeport. Trail Maps are available.
March 16, 2015 - Bluegill Music Festival will lunch its inaugural event on July 4, 2015 for a one-day festival packed with some of country music's hottest acts. The all-day festival will be complete with Southern Illinois' largest fireworks display, along the shores of the Rend Lake Dam, in Benton, IL. The lineup includes Eli Young Band, LoCash, Clayton Anderson and more exciting acts to be announced. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, March 20th and can be purchased at www.bluegillfest.com and at Black Diamond Harley Davidson. Drawing fans from around the country, including Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana, the festival is at the intersection of some of the nation's most dedicated country music fans. Bluegill Music Festival will feature nationally recognized BBQ vendors from around the country. Interactive entertainment for fans will also include activations, like: bags, washers, bubble soccer, Illinois longest slip n' slide, helicopter rides from Black Diamond Harley Davidson, a mechanical bull, a kids area with a large inflatable slide and the "Bluegill Lagoon", featuring a 60 x 100' VIP beach, with cabanas, private wading pools & lounge area. Additionally, Southern Illinois' largest fireworks display will begin at 9:30pm, and is free for all guest.
For model railroad aficionados -- and everyone else who ever enjoyed model trains -- this model railroad is something to see. The Fever River Railroad is a 120X24-foot HO scale model with detailed scenery, rail yards, factories, and interchanges with many other railroads. The Fever River Railroad is an ongoing project with upgrades to the layout and scenery that provides an exciting model railroad experience. A collection of railroad memorabilia and pictures, many from the surrounding area, are on display throughout the facility. The Stephenson Society of Model Trainmen, who operate the railroad, host an open house twice a year.
Experience NASCAR racing firsthand at Chicagoland Speedway in an “adrenaline pumping thrill of a lifetime.” Suit up and get behind the wheel of a real stock car as you drive 155 mph around the track, or ride shotgun and feel the rumble of 600 horses as you motor down the same asphalt driven by NASCAR drivers. In 2014, the Richard Petty Driving Experience will be at Chicagoland Speedway May 16-18, July 25-27, and September 19-21. See their site for more details.
No matter what your need for speed, you’ll find it at the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience. You can get your basic adrenaline rush from the “Taste of Speed” racing experience at Chicagoland Speedway. Or ramp things up with the “Advance Racing” option that puts you behind the wheel of a race car powered by a TRD engine—the same one used in Rusty Wallace’s Nationwide cars. In 2014, the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience will be at Chicagoland Speedway April 26-27, May 24-26, June 20-22, August 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, and October 18, 19, 25, 26. See their site for more details.
Indulge your decadence in the heart of historic downtown Galena. With well over 200 flavors of Swiss, German, French, Belgian, Venezuelan and domestic chocolates – Chocolate’ is the destination all chocolate lovers must experience.
This is a replica of Wrigley Field, complete with ivy, bricks, box seats, dirt and sod from the real Wrigley Field, plus a replica scoreboard and entry sign. It is open for enjoying and exploring at no cost or is also available for rental for birthday parties, picnics, corporate events and more. Rental fees are $45 per hour or $90 for two hours. Reservations may be made at www.littlecubsfield.com. Open: Field:10 am to 7 pm; Gift Shop: May thru October: Saturday and Sunday: 11 am to 5 pm; Friday: 1 pm to 5 pm (June thru August)
At Kinnikinnick Farm, you’ll sleep in tents and feed off the land as you experience life in a more relaxed environment. This is a 30-acre organic market farm that sells organic produce to some of Chicago’s best chefs and restaurants and direct to the public at the Evanston and the Chicago Green City Farmers Markets. In addition to organic vegetables, the farm produces eggs, raises chickens, and is the home for a small herd of sheep, hogs, 6 dogs, a rabbit named Bandit, and Shelly, the family’s Nubian milk goat.
The Pie Pantry offers a great selection of soups, salads, and burgers, and of course delicious pies, by the slice or as a whole.
Stang Arts Studio & Gallery features art classes for both children and adults, along with holding various events throughout the year. The artist, Jamie Stang, also specializes in "paint parties." These parties are great for a group, as they feature great food, drinks, music and art. Jamie helps visitors discover their inner-artist while relaxing in a chic studio-style atmosphere. Check out her gallery while you're there too.
The Vermilion County War Museum, housed in a former Carnegie Library, contains over 25,000 artifacts and memorabilia ranging from the Revolutionary War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The museum enjoys a steady stream of both U.S. and foreign visitors who appreciate the ever-increasing collections of artifacts and research materials.
Come home to Green Tree Inn where you can enjoy all the comforts of home and more. Let us pamper you while you enjoy the peacefulness of the quaint village often referred to as the “town that time forgot”. Green Tree Inn is located right off the Great River Road between Alton and Grafton. Take advantage of all the local activities and then come back to the Inn to relax, refresh and rejuvenate. All rooms have private bathrooms with shower/tub combo. Take advantage of our screened in porch, fire pit in the garden or fireplace in our great room to relax and unwind. The Inn is great in all seasons. Free Wi-Fi is available. Bicycles are available for our guests to take a leisurely ride around the village or on one of the local bike trails. This is a non-smoking facility
This country home, located in Grafton, Illinois, is nestled on over 70 acres of trees, pasture and farmland. Enjoy hours with your family exploring the outdoors, fishing, roasting marshmallows or taking a ride on the paddle boat. The property features pond fishing, camping, bonfire and BBQ facilities, hiking areas and picnicking. No hunting is allowed on the property but hunters are more than welcome to stay in this region known for its duck and deer hunting. Reservations are required.
Springfield's only Nationallly Landmarked Inn... The Inn offers 13 guest rooms plus six extended stay suites, all with attached private bathes, internet, Wi-Fi, voicemail, wake-up calls and individual thermostatic room controls. Enjoy the Inn's amenities during your stay; a full Midwestern breakfast, local and national newspapers, and free off street parking. During your visit you will be within walking distance to most historic sites, all of the downtown and public transportation.
Wind Ridge Herb Farm in Caledonia, IL grows over 400 varieties of culinary and medicinal herbs without the use of chemical fertilizers. The herbs produced by Wind Ridge Herb Farm are Certified Naturally Grown. They carry only natural products with no artificial dyes, preservatives, or additives; personally harvesting, inspecting, drying, and packaging the herbs in order to guarantee quality and freshness. The garden is available for meetings, tours, groups and catered lunches. Lunches are provided for groups of 8 or more, and include a garden tour.
A Ghirardelli® Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop is the perfect destination to experience decadent chocolate & irresistible World Famous Hot Fudge Sundaes topped with freshly homemade hot fudge. While at a Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop, you can also indulge in unforgettable fountain treats including shakes, floats, malts and other delectable fountain creations.
All Seasons Apple Orchard is a u-pick apple orchard located in Woodstock, the county seat of McHenry County in Northern Illinois. We have more than 11,000 apple trees and 12 varieties of apples, including Honey crisp and the Asian pear. We also have a pick your own pumpkin patch (pumpkin picking), with six different varieties of pumpkins for your decorating and baking needs. Starting Labor Day Weekend, explore our 10 acre Corn Maze with 3 miles of pathways and 2 bridges. Spend time in our petting zoo, country farm market, or indoor grill restaurant which offers seasonal favorites like homemade apple donuts, apple cider, caramel apples, local honey and much more! At All Seasons Orchard, the hay ride (wagon ride) will take you on a tour through our beautiful orchards and is essential to a complete fall season experience! In our 20th year, we continue our commitment to producing the best apples in Illinois for you and your family!
Within this breathtaking monument lie the remains of Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary, and three of their four sons – located in the country’s second most visited cemetery behind only Arlington National Cemetery.
The Robert L. Mees Village Centre serves as the hub of the Harrison/Bruce Historical Village by providing a venue for College and community events. Historical buildings include: The Purdy School, a one-room public school in Perry County, IL from 1860-1951. The Julia Harrison Bruce House, a replica of the house the house that was built in 1868 by David Ruffin Harrison. The Harrison Storefront, this "double dog trot" style log cabin is a replica of the cabin the David Ruffin Harrison family occupied prior to the construction of the brick, "Harrison House". And The Hunter Cabin, Emmanuel Hunter built the Hunter Log Cabin in 1818; the year Illinois became a state.
Slagel Family farm is a 6th generation farm in central Illinois. Re-connect with the land and watch the livestock roaming the pastures in the wide-open skies outside the city. As more and more people have the desire to learn more about their food and where it comes from, a farm tour and dinner would be an excellent way to bring you closer to your food. Tours, which run from spring to fall, are a full afternoon of learning and enjoying food. Each farm tour/dinner will be paired with one or more well-known chefs from Chicago. Guests will have the opportunity to ask questions, hold baby piglets, gather fresh eggs, and interact with playful goats and lambs. Following the tour, you will head back to the barn and enjoy a four-course meal prepared using products raised within feet of where we are sitting.
Newly constructed French Country style home located on 100 acres featuring equine hotel, nature trails, and fishing pond. The outdoors is as enchanting and as lively as it is indisde. Each of the 4 guest rooms is tastefully decorated.
A family-owned operation since 2007, Sweety Pies is a bakery, cakery and cafe serving up delicious handmade goodies in he heart of downtown Skokie. Featured are family favorites such as buttery cinnamon rolls, scones, croissant, quiche and famous pies. Specializing in custom cakes, cupcakes and old-fashioned handmade desserts. Also serving omelets, sandwiches and homemade soups.
The Sugar Path in Geneva is an innovative dessert bakery offering cupcakes, artisan cakes and pies. They bake farm-to-table, using ingredients sourced locally from farmers and vendors they have existing relationships with. The menu changes seasonally so you’ll be sure to get the freshest ingredients available.
All aboard, as a 36-ton, 1912 Heisler steam locomotive pulls three cabooses, including an antique red caboose reported to be the oldest in the state, for a four-mile ride through farmlands. Purchase your ticket at the Silver Creek Depot, a turn-of-the-century replica filled with railroad artifacts, and browse the Freight House Gift Shop and visit the Silvercreek Museum across the street. Open: May thru October on selected holiday and weekends; 1 am - 4 pm. Train departs on the hour.
The Fudge Pot in Chicago provides delicious chocolate, daily. Their specialists’ work around the clock making sure only the sweetest covered strawberries, apples and nuts are provided. Take your pick of famous toffees, award winning fudge and chocolate bars. You can always expect only the tastiest treats at The Fudge Pot. | <urn:uuid:a949389b-2418-4b9b-9a7d-7b4ee2d9723d> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.enjoyillinois.com/thingstodo?page=1&pagesize=96&tagids=1 | 2016-07-29T13:21:50Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257830066.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071030-00185-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928361 | 9,472 |
|Publication number||USRE42475 E1|
|Application number||US 12/610,534|
|Publication date||21 Jun 2011|
|Priority date||4 Jun 2001|
|Publication number||12610534, 610534, US RE42475 E1, US RE42475E1, US-E1-RE42475, USRE42475 E1, USRE42475E1|
|Inventors||Luis Parellada Armela, Juan Sanchez, William P. Clune, Jefferson Davis, Christopher M. Gallant, Melissa Spezzafero, Mark A. Clarner, William L. Huber, David P. Kraus, Jr., George A. Provost, Howard A. Kingsford, Michel Labrecque|
|Original Assignee||Velcro Industries B.V.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (93), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (3), Classifications (25), Legal Events (3)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This application is a continuation in part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/870,063, filed May 30, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,378, which is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 09/231,134, filed Jan. 15, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,276. This application is also a continuation in part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/808,395, filed Mar. 14, 2001 pending. This application also claims priority from under U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/295,937, filed Jun. 4, 2001. The entire contents of each of the foregoing are hereby incorporated by reference.
This invention relates to touch fasteners commonly known as hook and loop fasteners and to self-engaging fasteners. In many aspects it deals with the particular case in which hooks engage flexible loops such as are formed of fibers of thin nonwoven materials and the like.
The present invention relates to male fastener components that engage in openings of a female component, in particular to loops formed by fibers of a nonwoven female component. The invention more particularly relates to stem and head formations of the male elements that promote loop engageability and to methods and machines for their manufacture, and their use. In other aspects the invention relates to manufacture of male fastener members per se, with application for instance to so-called self-engaging fasteners as well as to hook and loop fasteners. The invention in some respects, also relates to specific products of which the following is one example.
Attachment strips for window screens have been formed of, among other things, the male component of a hook and loop type fastener. To secure the screen, the male fastener elements are inserted through the openings of the mesh material and engage the sides of the mesh openings. It is desirable that the engagement between the male fastener elements and the mesh openings provide good peel strength, so that the screen is not detached by wind, and that the attachment strip be inexpensive and relatively attractive.
There is a general need for male fastener components for hook and loop fasteners that provide good peel and shear strength properties in desired single or multiple directions that are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and a specific need for male fastener components that can function with low cost nonwoven loop materials.
There is also a need to be able to produce male fastener products having differing functional characteristics consistently and efficiently, using techniques that require limited changeover in basic tooling, yet allow for adjustments to produce the desired fastener characteristics.
Furthermore, it is especially desirable to extend the use of hook and loop fastening systems into fields of low cost products and still obtain good fastening performance. Examples include mid- and lowest-cost disposable diapers and sanitary products, disposable packaging for low price products, and disposable lowest cost surgical and industrial clothing and wraps. There are many other recognized low-cost product areas to which such fasteners would be applicable.
In particular it is desirable to obtain good engagement of the male member of the fastening system with low cost nonwoven loop products, which are characterized by their thinness and the low height to which their loop-defining fibers extend.
“Good engagement” in some instances means engaging a large percentage of hooks with low-lying loops.
“Good engagement” in other applications often requires more, as in the case of fasteners for diapers. In such instances the hook component must exhibit strong “peel” resistance when engaged with thin, low cost loop materials.
With such materials, effective loop height does not permit transition of loading from the hook head to the hook stem during peeling action, as does occur with expensive loop products that have higher loop height. For this reason there are special problems to be addressed with hooks for thin loop structures in addition to the need to reduce the cost of the hook component.
To explain the peel considerations more fully, in a hook and loop type fastener, “peel strength” is the resistance to stripping of one component from the other when a force normal to their mating surfaces is applied to the extremity of one of the components. Such peeling force on the component causes it to flex and progressively peel from the other. It is desirable to have such peel strength in a hook and loop fastener that ensures that the closure does not release under normal forces of use but still permits the components to be separated when required.
When the loop element is thin, as is usually the case for low-cost female fasteners, the structure of individual loops is very short and low-lying. In this condition, with application of a peel force, the loop exerts a force on the hook, which is essentially perpendicular to the sheet-form base and parallel to the stem of the individual hooks. Consequently the force is applied only to the heads of the hooks.
In contrast, when the loop element has a thick pile structure comprised of long individual loops, a loop must first be pulled out to its full length before it can exert a significant force on a hook. As this occurs, the base webs to which the hooks and loops are attached are enabled to flex away from each other (see
The consequence is that for short loops, the hook head must be strong and provide much of the resistance to peel separation, while for long loops, a short rigid stem with a slight head overhang is sufficient to give high resistance to peel separation. Therefore, in many instances, in order to expand and improve the use of thin and inexpensive loop components, the hook head geometry must be improved to increase strength of engagement and produce an acceptable closure.
In many cases it is desirable to form the male hook members for use with short loop material by molding an array of stems integrally (i.e. monolithically) with a common base, and subsequently to post-treat the stems by a pressed formation step to form loop-engageable heads. In many instances it is desired to use continuous processes that act in a given machine direction, but to find a way to do this so as to achieve a hook product that has good peel strength characteristics when the user applies peel forces at a substantial angle to the machine direction, and in many cases at right angles, e.g., in the cross-machine direction.
In many aspects, the present invention employs a method of forming a fastener that includes: (a) forming, from a thermoformable material, a preform product having a sheet-form base and an array of preform stems and upper structures integrally molded with and extending from the base to corresponding terminal ends; (b) heating the terminal ends of the stems or structure provided above the stems to a predetermined softening temperature, while maintaining the sheet-form base and a lower portion of each stem at a temperature lower than the softening temperature; and (c) contacting the terminal ends with a contact surface that is at a predetermined forming temperature, to reform the terminal ends to form heads therefrom that overhang the sheet-form base sufficiently to engage loops, the geometry and material of the preform structure and the condition of reforming the terminal ends of the structure being so related that the formed heads are capable of peel-resistant engagement with loops formed by fibers of thin or ultrathin nonwoven fabrics.
Preferred methods of this aspect of the invention include one or more of the following features. The heating is performed by a non-contact heat source, preferably a convective heat source as by combustion products of a flame. The polymer of the stem or structure is unoriented and is melted into a ball-like configuration. The forming temperature is sufficiently low or other conditions are provided so that the thermoformable material does not adhere to the contact surface. Water of combustion or steam is introduced to the contact surfaces as a non-adhering agent. The forming temperature is lower than the softening temperature. The contact surface comprises the cylindrical surface of a roll. The contact surface is cooled to maintain the forming temperature during step (c). In step (c), the heads that are formed are substantially disc-shaped or mushroom-shaped. The thickness of each disc-shaped head is from about 5 to 15% of the equivalent diameter of the disc, or, in the special case of convective heating of the sides of the terminal structure as well as the ends, as by hot combustion products, up to about 35% of the equivalent diameter of the disc. The head has a substantially dome-shaped surface overhanging the base. Step (a) includes molding the stems in molding cavities in a mold roll. In step (b), the region extends from the terminal end towards the base a distance equal to from about 15 to 25% of the total distance from the terminal end to the base, or, in the special case of the convection heating mentioned, up to about 30% of that distance. The contact surface has a surface finish selected from the group consisting of dimpled, smooth, textured, and combinations thereof. The surface finish comprises dimples or other formations that are small relative to the size of the disc or head, discrete and separated in both the X and Y directions and the contact surface includes a density of dimples or other formations per unit area of the contact surface that is greater than or equal to the density of stems per unit area of the base and especially for the said small discrete formations for modifying the under-structure of the discs through transformation of displacement through the thickness of the disc, the relatively small discrete formations number between about 3 and 15 per disc or head. During step (c), the dimples are in at least partial registration with the stems.
In other aspects, the present invention employs a method of forming a fastener that includes: (a) forming a plurality of stems extending from a common base to a terminal end structure from a thermoformable material; (b) heating a region of the terminal end structure to a predetermined softening temperature, to soften the material in the region, while maintaining the remaining portion of the stems at a temperature lower than the softening temperature; and (c) contacting the terminal ends with a contact surface to form heads at the terminal end of the stems, at least a portion of the contact surface having a sufficiently rough texture to impart a loop-engaging surface roughness to at least a portion of the heads.
Preferred methods include one or more of the following features. The contact surface comprises the cylindrical surface of a roll. The contact surface has a sandpaper-like texture. The contact surface has a surface roughness (rugosity) of about 10 to 200 microns. The contact surface defines a plurality of dimples. The contact surface includes a density of dimples per unit area of the contact surface that is greater than or equal to the density of stems per unit area of the base. The surface roughness imparted to the heads is sufficient to increase the peel strength of the fastener by from about 10 to 100%. The contact surface is so related to the thickness and nature of the heads being formed that contact with the upper surface of the heads is effective to transmit the effect through the resin thickness of the heads sufficiently to impart a degree of texture or surface roughness to the peripheral edge of the head or the undersurface of the head or both, in regions contacted by loops during hook-to-loop engagement. Preferably, the contact of the conforming surface with the head imparts discrete depressions distributed in X or Y or both directions and numbering in the range between about 3 and 15 depressions per head.
According to some aspects of the invention there is a fastener element including an elongated stem extending and molded integrally with a substantially planar base, and a head disposed at a terminal end of the stem, at least a portion of the head having a rough surface having a sandpaper-like surface texture.
Preferred fastener elements include one or more of the following features. The rough surface has a surface roughness (rugosity) of from about 10 to 200 microns. The rough surface has sufficient surface roughness to increase the peel strength of the fastener by from 10 to 100%. The head is substantially disc-shaped or mushroom-shaped.
According to some aspects of the invention there is an attachment strip for attaching a mesh screen to a surface. The attachment strip includes (a) a substantially planar base; (b) a plurality of elongated stems extending from the base; and (c) a plurality of heads, each head being disposed at a terminal end of one of the stems. According to one aspect of the invention, at least a portion of the heads have a rough surface having a sandpaper-like surface texture.
The term “softening temperature,” as used herein, refers to a temperature at which the thermoformable material can be formed by a surface pressed against it and includes the melting temperature as well as lower temperatures at which deformation and flow of the material can occur.
The term “disc-shaped”, as used herein, refers to a shape having top and bottom surfaces, at least a portion of the top surface being substantially parallel to a corresponding portion of the bottom surface, and having a thickness that is substantially less than its equivalent diameter. “Equivalent diameter” means (a) for a circular disc, the actual diameter, and (b) for a disc having a non-circular shape, the diameter of a circular disc having the same thickness and surface area as the non-circular disc. When viewed from above, the disc-shape may be substantially circular, irregular in shape but approximately circular, or non-circular, e.g., square or cross-shaped. The disc-shape may be flat, or may have other shapes such as domed, wavy, or pyramidal.
The term “mushroom-shaped”, as used herein, refers to any shape having a domed portion, with the exception of a complete sphere.
The phrase “loop-engaging surface roughness”, as used herein, means a degree of surface roughness that is sufficient to “catch” on a loop fastener element and provide a partial, momentary engagement therewith.
The term “sandpaper-like”, as used herein, means a surface roughness akin to the surface texture of sandpaper.
The fastener elements of the invention have a head geometry that advantageously provides a strong attachment to a female fastener component. The fastener elements are particularly well adapted for use in fastener tapes for attaching an insect screen to a window frame, as the head geometry provides a strong engagement with the mesh of the insect screen. Insect screen fastener tapes of the invention exhibit good peel strength and thus good resistance to detachment due to wind. The methods of the invention allow the fastener elements to be manufactured using a relatively simple and economical process.
Other and very important aspects of the present invention go beyond window screening to provide male fastener elements capable of improved engagement with loops formed by fibers of thin nonwoven materials, or with other open structures.
In one aspect of the invention, a method of forming a loop-engaging touch fastener product includes forming, from a thermoformable material, a preform product having a sheet form base and an array of preform stem formations integral with and extending from the base to corresponding terminal ends, each of the stem formations including a first portion joined to the base and a terminal second portion extending from the first portion to a terminal end, there being a discrete transition to a lesser cross-sectional area in the second portion relative to the first portion according to cross-sections taken parallel to the sheet-form base; and deforming substantially all of the second portions of at least some of the stem formations to form, for each portion so deformed, an opening-engaging feature, especially a loop-engageable feature, overhanging the sheet-form base sheet while leaving the first portion substantially as-molded.
Preferred methods include one or more of the following features. The discrete transition begins at a distance from the sheet-form base at least half way to the terminal end of the stem formation. The discrete transition includes a substantial decrease in the cross-sectional area of the second portion relative to the first portion of the stem formation.
In another aspect, the invention provides a hook fastener preform product for subsequent formation of a loop-engaging hook fastener product, the preform product including a base sheet having a surface of thermoplastic resin; and a plurality of stem formations formed integrally (i.e., monolithically) with the surface of the base to protrude therefrom. Each of the protruding formations includes a first, stem portion intersecting the surface and a second portion extending from the first portion to a distal end, to define a height of the formation relative to the surface. An intersection of the first and second portions occurs at a distance from the surface equal to at least half the height of the formation, the intersection defining a discrete transition in structure of the formation, wherein the second portion is selected to improve the formation of the head or disc of the fastener, e.g., to be more susceptible to deformation energy than the stem portion, for instance being reduced in mass to form a disc or head of reduced thickness, or to be more easily pre-conditioned for being formed into a head, or to be formable into a head structure that has improved loop engagement properties, especially resistance to peel when engaged with loops formed by short or low lying fibers of a thin nonwoven loop material. Variations of this aspect of the invention may include an area of any cross-section of the second portion taken parallel to the surface being less than an area of any cross-section of the stem portion taken parallel to the surface, or outermost (i.e., distal) cross-sections having area less than half, or preferably less than one fourth or less of the area of the first, stem portion.
In another aspect, the invention provides a hook fastener preform product for subsequent formation of a loop engaging hook fastener product, the preform product including a base sheet having a continuous length, a width and a surface of thermoplastic resin; and a plurality of stem formations formed integrally with the surface to protrude therefrom, each of the protruding formations including a first, stem portion intersecting the surface and a second portion extending from the first portion to a central peak to define a height of the formation relative to the surface, wherein longitudinal edges of the second portion are tapered relative to longitudinal edges of the first stem portion toward the central peak. Variations of this aspect of the invention may include each stem formation having lateral edges that taper from the first portion continuously to the terminal end of the protruding formation, a stem having an “M” shape or an “A” frame house configuration being examples, only.
In another aspect, the invention provides a hook fastener preform product for subsequent formation of a loop-engaging hook fastener product, the preform product including a base sheet having a continuous length, a width and a surface of thermoplastic resin; and a plurality of stem formations formed integrally with the surface to protrude therefrom, each of the protruding formations including a first stem portion intersecting the surface and a second portion extending from the first portion to define a height of the protruding formation relative to the surface, wherein the second portion comprises a first peak along a first longitudinal edge, a second peak along a second longitudinal edge and a central valley devoid of resin therebetween.
Variations of this aspect of the invention may include each protruding formation, e.g. in the form of a thin fin, having opposite lateral edges that taper continuously from the first portion to the terminal end of the formation, for instance, to describe the configuration of the letter “M.” In another case the preform product comprises effectively, one half of the foregoing geometry, i.e., a peak is located at a first longitudinal edge of this fin and a relatively low region is at the opposite longitudinal edge. In preferred embodiments of this aspect, the protruding formation has an “M” or an half “M” shape in which the height of the formation decreases linearly from the one or both peaks to the lowest part of the top of the structure.
In another aspect, the invention provides a hook fastener preform product for subsequent formation of a loop engaging hook fastener product, the preform product including a base sheet having a continuous length, a width and a surface of thermoplastic resin; and a plurality of stem formations formed integrally with the surface to protrude therefrom, each of the stem formations including a first stem portion intersecting the surface and a second portion extending from the first portion to define a height of the protruding formation relative to the surface, wherein the first portion comprises a first cylindrical shape of a first diameter, and the second portion comprises a second cylindrical shape of a second diameter, the second diameter being smaller than the first diameter. Variations of this aspect of the invention may include the second portion being concentric with the first portion.
In the foregoing references to “second portion,” it will be understood that the second portion may itself be formed of multiple portions.
According to another aspect of the invention, a new way to manufacture hook products for these and other purposes is achieved by selection of forming conditions to form heads on pre-molded stems or protruding structures, that provide a localized molten mass of the hook resin such that the action of surface tension on the molten mass causes the mass to so overhang a cross-machine extremity of the distal end of the stem, that, when deformed by a conforming surface, such as that of a forming roll, the molten resin is formed into a generally flattened, thin head at a cross-machine extremity of the stem. In preferred embodiments, non-contact heating action melts the distal ends of the preformed structures, and the forming surface is maintained at a lower temperature than that of the molten resin. Also in preferred embodiments, the surface of the forming roll carries molding formations that produce irregular edges or contours to the heads being formed that promote engagement and holding of fiber loops after engagement.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of manufacturing a hook component for a hook and loop fastener is provided comprising (a) providing a continuous length of a preform stem component of thermoformable resin, the component having a base layer from which extend a plurality of preformed stems with thermoformable extremities of predetermined geometry, the stem component having a machine direction, (b) heating said deformable extremities of said stems to provide on each a localized molten mass of resin which, under action of surface tension, so resides on the respective stem as to overhang a cross-machine extremity of the stem, and (c) deforming the molten mass with a forming surface in manner to produce a generally flattened, thin head at the cross-machine extremity of the stem, (d) steps (a),(b) and (c) being so conducted as to produce a loop engageable head defining, in a plan view, a general contour having a peripheral arc AB parallel to the base of the preform component, the head having an overhang aspect ratio OAR, defined as the ratio of the chord of the arc AB and the height “h” of the line perpendicular to said chord lying at the furthest point of the arc from the chord, OAR=AB/h, where the chord of the arc lies in the plane which defines the cross-machine extremity of the stem and is parallel to said machine direction, the chord lying in or being tangent to the surface of said stem that defines the cross-machine extremity of the stem, said aspect ratio OAR being less than 3.5, preferably about 2.
According to another aspect of the invention, a hook component for a hook and loop fastener is provided comprising a base layer from which extend a plurality of stems having respective loop-engageable heads, at least some of the heads each having a general contour, in plan view, that has a peripheral arc AB parallel to the base, the head having an overhang aspect ratio OAR, defined as the ratio of the chord of the arc AB and the height “h” of the line perpendicular to said chord lying at the furthest point of the arc from the chord, OAR=AB/h, where the chord of the arc lies in the plane which defines the cross-machine extremity of the stem and is parallel to said machine direction, the chord lying in or being tangent to the surface of said stem that defines the cross-machine extremity of the stem, said aspect ratio OAR being less than 3.5, preferably about 2.
The foregoing method or the hook component may have one or more of the following features.
The head has a vertical head thickness, down to its loop engaging region, of no more than about 0.015 inch.
The combined height of each stem and its respective head, measured from the base layer, is no more than about 0.055 inch.
The footprint area of each head is no more than about 4.30×10−4 square inch.
The stem preform comprises a thin fin projecting from said base, said thin fin having a cross-machine component of orientation of at least about 45 degrees, the fin characterized by a length from the cross-machine extremity of the projection, along the length of the projection, that is greater than about twice the thickness of the fin, the length and thickness being measured at right angles in a plane parallel to the plane of the base of the hook component.
Another aspect of the invention is a hook component for a hook and loop fastener comprising a base layer from which extend a plurality of stems having respective loop-engageable heads, the heads overhanging a cross-machine extremity of the respective stems, the component having a machine direction, the stem comprising a thin fin projecting from said base, said thin fin having a cross-machine component of orientation of at least about 45 degrees, the fin characterized by a length from the cross-machine extremity of the projection, along the length of the projection, that is greater than about twice the thickness of the fin, the length and thickness being measured at right angles in a plane parallel to the plane of the base of the hook component.
Methods or products featuring the thin fin may have one or more of the following features.
The length of the fin is at least 2½ times its thickness.
The length of the thin fin extends in the cross-machine direction.
The stem preform, or the stem, as the case may be, is double-ended, there being a said length of thin fin extending inwardly in opposite directions from cross-machine extremities on opposite ends of the stem preform or stem.
According to other aspects of the invention, it is further found that important special geometries of molded preform elements, and selected techniques of head forming, are effective in achieving important advantages in this context, and more generally.
According to one particularly important aspect of the invention, the molded stem preform comprises a thin fin projection having a significant cross-machine component of orientation, the thin fin characterized by a length from the cross-machine extremity of the projection, along the length of the projection, that is greater than about twice the length and thickness being measured at right angles in a plane parallel to the plane of the base of the hook component, preferably, such length being in the range of about 2½ times such thickness, to less than 3 times such thickness.
Maximum length of the fins is not dictated by melted configuration considerations.
Preferred aspects of this aspect have one or more of the following features.
A stem preform is double-ended, in that there is such a length of thin fin extending inwardly in opposite directions from cross-machine extremities on opposite ends of the preform member. The stem preform has a stiffening feature that serves to stiffen the preform from columnar collapse during application of postforming force. In certain preferred embodiments the stiffening feature has a height that is less than that of the thin fin, such that, in some embodiments, it is not reformed during the post-forming action, or, in other embodiments, is not reformed to the degree to which the cross-machine extremity of the thin fin is reformed. In other embodiments, the strengthening projection itself comprises a thin fin having a length greater than about twice its thickness, or more, measured in the same manner as above, and preferably has the other preferred attributes of thin fins mentioned above. In certain preferred embodiments, the stem has multiple thin fins, for instance it is of cross or plus sign form, having four projections from a central region, or it can have, e.g., three or five projections, each having the described thin fin form. In some cases the pairs of oppositely extending fins are aligned with the cross-machine and machine directions, while in other embodiments all projections form acute angles with those directions.
Another important feature of the invention is a thin fin stem preform as described which has its direction of elongation set at an acute angle to the machine direction, for instance 30 or 45 degrees, but has an end surface at its cross-machine extremity that is generally aligned with the machine direction. In certain preferred embodiments this cross-machine extremity is defined by a planar end face that is perpendicular to the base of the hook component and aligned with the machine direction, preferably this fin-shaped preform element having long sides that are generally of planar, parallel form, the preform terminating at one corner at the cross-machine extremity with a horizontal profile included angle of substantially less than 90 degrees, for instance 45 degrees. In certain preferred embodiments, the horizontal cross-section of the entire stem is of parallelogram form, in which each cross-machine extremity of the profile ends in a stem portion defining an included angle of substantially less than 90 degrees, e.g. as little as 45 degrees. In another embodiment, the profile of the stem is defined as two thin fins of such profile, set at substantial angles to each other, e.g. at 90 degrees, to form a cross of the two parallelograms. In other cases an X, Y array of such preform elements includes bands in which the parallelogram profiles have a first orientation and bands, preferably bands alternating with the first-mentioned bands, having the opposite or mirror image orientation.
Another aspect of the invention employs a thin fin preform element, which, at least in the cross machine direction, has the profile of an “M” with vertically straight sides at the cross-machine extremities, and, effectively a “V”-shaped cut out in its central region that is devoid of resin, so that the outermost portions of the preform element are tapered from an outward point to horizontal cross sections of increasing area moving toward the base. With this form, as melting progresses, as when heated by a non-contact heat source, the molten resin preferentially flows over the edge of the straight side to form a molten mass overhang at the cross-machine extremity. This mass later is formed to provide the desired loop-engaging shape.
In preferred embodiments of these aspects: non-contact heating is accomplished principally by convection heating, preferably by the hot gaseous combustion products of a close-approaching gas flame; the forming surface that engages the molten surface has a molding surface that imparts a degree of roughness or shaped profile to the outer surface at the peripheral edges of the head that is formed, of size and shape enabling telegraph of the disturbance through the mass of the overhanging portion to provide a degree of irregularity, texture or roughness on loop-engaging surfaces of the overhanging head, for instance the peripheral edges of the head's under-surfaces, that promote retention of the loop on the hook under peel conditions.
Other aspects of the invention comprise hook manufacture employing stem preform products of the geometries described, employing non-contact heating, enabling formation of advantageously sized and/or located rounded masses of molten resin, followed by engagement of the masses with a forming surface.
In preferred embodiments a step is employed to prevent sticking or adherence of the formed head to the forming surface during disengagement. Embodiments of the invention include maintaining the forming surface cooler than the ambient boiling or condensation temperature of water and introducing water or steam to that surface. In one important embodiment, the mode of non-contact heating is by immersing the terminal end portions of the formations in the flow of hot combustion products of a close-approaching gas flame in such manner that water of combustion condenses on the cooled forming roll and performs an anti-adhesion function.
Another aspect of the invention involves “superheating” a preform element by a non-contact heat source in advance of press-forming the heated resin mass with a relatively cool forming surface, such that, following such press forming, under the influence of gravity and/or surface tension, further forming movement of the resin occurs before stabilizing, e.g. to form a self-engaging male fastener formation, as in the case of mushroom formations, or a loop engaging structure, as in the case of heads with a “J” profile.
In preferred embodiments the amount of such “superheating” in relation to heat loss at the forming surface, which is preferably a cooled roll, ensures that the retained heat maintains the resin sufficiently heated to enable the mass to flow into the form of a mushroom, or in other embodiments, is sufficient to enable peripheral portions of the formed mass to droop or self-deform to form a “J” like profile, before solidifying.
In preferred embodiments of this feature the resin for thus forming a mushroom structure following press-formation is low density polyethylene or other resin having a low heat-deflection temperature, and for so forming a “J” like profile, the resin is high density polyethylene or nylon or resins of similar higher heat deflection temperatures.
Another important aspect of the invention is the realization that the property of molecular orientation of the resin of preformed stems intended for subsequent heat forming, contrary to thought of others is not a necessity and indeed can advantageously be avoided with desirable effects. It is realized that pre-heating a non-oriented resin projection enables a mass of molten resin to form as a ball, dependent on the size and shape of the resin formation melted, and that the physical location of this ball can be advantageously selected and controlled by pre-design of the protruding structure, so that a subsequent press forming (i.e. flat-topping) of the molten resin can distribute the resin to a desired final shape; or a desired distribution geometry, in the case of super-heated resin, such that gravity and/or residual surface tension effects accomplish a further desired deformation. In certain situations, further cooling, or even further surface pressing can be employed for determining the final shape.
In preferred embodiments, the sequence is preheating to super-heat condition by convection, preferably by immersion in combustion products of a gas flame, flat-topping with a cooled roll to produce a desired areal distribution of the resin, and allowing the elements to further form from the distributed shape by action of gravity and surface tension. This is followed by air cooling or engagement with a further cooled roll. In some cases, at this point, the product may be engaged by a heated roll to finalize the conformation or surface texture of the product.
Another aspect of the invention concerns convection heating of preform elements, employing a distributed gas flame. The luminescent flame is positioned to immerse side surface of terminal portions of the preform elements as well as the end surfaces, in hot combustion products of the gas flame, at temperature of the order of 1000° C., to achieve rapid heating of the elements and enable the elements to proceed at high production rate through the subsequent press forming (or “flat-topping”) stage.
In preferred embodiments the press forming surface is maintained at a temperature below condensation temperature of water, in preferred cases in the range of between about 5° and 60° C., preferably 10° and 45° C. and most preferably of about 25° and 30° C., and the surface is exposed to the combustion products of the flame to cause condensation of water over the forming surface in quantity to enhance release of the resin from the forming surface after the forming action. Preferably the forming surface is a chilled conforming or pressing roll.
In the case of using a heated pressing roll following preheating with convection heating as described, anti-adhering material is provided at the interface between the forming surface and the resin. In preferred embodiments the material comprises a Teflon or other anti-stick coating of the forming surface, injection of water or steam to the interface, or both. In this manner, the speed of operation of the process may be increased while still using developed tooling that employ hot rolls or other heated forming surfaces.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method of forming a loop engaging fastener product includes providing a preform stem product having a plurality of stems, each of which rises from a base to a distal end and contacting the distal end of at least some of the stems with an ultrasonic horn to form loop engaging heads.
Variations of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The ultrasonic horn is rotating while contacting the distal end of at least some of the stems. The preform stem product is introduced between a gap formed by the ultrasonic horn and an anvil and the gap is sized to cause the distal ends of at least some of the stems to contact the rotary horn. The anvil is rotating.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
In the same respect as embodiments above,
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.
As shown in
In an alternate embodiment, shown in
In alternate embodiments, shown in
In another alternate embodiment, shown in
In another embodiment, shown in
In all of the embodiments shown in
A machine 100 for forming the fastener elements described above is shown in
The supply roll 102 is unwound by drive mechanism 106, which conveys stem-carrying base 12 into optional pre-heating area 108 which raises the temperature of the stem-carrying base 12 to a pre-heat temperature that is above room temperature but much lower than the Vicat temperature of the polymer. This pre-heating allows the tips of the stems to be heated to a predetermined softening temperature more quickly during the next step of the process.
Next, the base 12 moves to heating device 110, which heats a portion of the stems. As indicated in
To ensure that only portion P is heated to the softening temperature, it is preferred that heating device 110 include a non-contact heat source 111 (
After portion P of the stems has been heated, the base 12 moves to conformation head 112, at which base 12 passes between conformation roll 114 and drive roll 116. Conformation roll 114 forms the portion P of the stems into a desired head shape, as will be described in further detail below, while drive roll 116 advances base 12 and flattens it against roll 114 to enhance head uniformity. It is preferred that the temperature of conformation roll 114 (the forming temperature) be lower than the softening temperature. Maintaining the conformation roll 114 at this relatively low temperature has been found to allow the conformation roll to flatten the spherical (“ball-shaped”) heads that are generally formed during the previous heating step into a desired head shape. Spherical heads are generally undesirable, as such heads tend not to provide secure engagement with a mating fastener. A low forming temperature also prevents adhesion of the thermoformable polymer to the conformation roll. Generally, to obtain the desired forming temperature it is necessary to chill the conformation roll, e.g., by running cold water through a channel 115 in the center of the roll, to counteract heating of the conformation roll by the heat from portion P of the stems. If further cooling is needed to obtain the desired forming temperature, the drive roll may be chilled in a similar manner.
The surface texture of conformation roll 114 will determine the shape of the heads that are formed. If disc-shaped heads having a smooth surface are desired, the surface texture will be smooth and flat. If a sandpaper-like surface is desired, the surface texture of the conformation roll will be sandpaper-like (
Preferably, when the surface texture includes dimples, the density of the dimples is substantially uniform over the roll surface, and is greater than or equal to the density of stems on the base 12. To allow for improper registration between the stems and the dimples, it is preferred that the density of the dimples be substantially greater than the density of the stems (if the density is equal, improper registration may result in none of the stems being contacted by dimples).
As discussed above, while the uniformly overhanging, domed head shape shown in
The spacing of the conformation roll 114 from the drive roll 116 is selected to deform portion P of the stems to form the desired head shape, without excessive damage to the unheated portion of the stems. It is also preferred that the spacing be sufficiently small so that the drive roll flattens base 12 and provides substantially uniform contact pressure of stem tips 109 against the conformation roll. Preferably, the spacing is approximately equal to the total height of the stem (L1,
Next, the base 12 moves to a cooling station 118. Cooling station 118 cools the formed heads, e.g., by cool air, preventing further deformation of the heads. Preferably, the heads are cooled to approximately room temperature. The cooled base is then moved through driving station 520 and wound onto take-up roll 522 by winding element 524.
Alternate supply and take-up rolls 126, 128 are provided so that when supply roll 102 is depleted and/or when take-up roll 524 is filled, the appropriate roll can be easily replaced without disrupting the process.
Suitable materials for use in forming the fastener are thermoplastic polymers that provide the mechanical properties that are desired for a particular application. Preferred polymers include polypropylenes, such as those available from Montell under the tradename MOPLEN, polyethylenes, ABS, polyamides, and polyesters (e.g., PET).
Other embodiments are of course possible.
For example, while disc-shaped heads have been shown and discussed above, the head may have any desired shape that provides a surface overhanging the base to an extent sufficient to provide a multi-directional engagement having desired strength characteristics.
Moreover, while the process described includes only a single heating of the stem tips and a single pass through a conformation head, these steps may be repeated one or more times to provide other head shapes. Subsequent conformation heads may have the same surface as the first conformation head, or may have different surfaces.
In addition, if desired, the stem tips may be cooled after the heating step and immediately before the conformation head, to form a spherical head that is then forced down against the stem, embedding the upper portion of the stem in the head to form a mushroom-shaped head.
Further, in some cases it is not necessary to cool the conformation roll. If the desired head shape can be obtained and resin sticking can be avoided, the conformation roll may be used without either heating or cooling, or may be heated.
As illustrated in
In the example of
In one example, dimensions w and l are equal, e.g. 0.008 inch, to provide a stem of square cross-sectional profile, in which case the height L1 may be e.g. 0.027 in.
Referring now to
Fastener product 10 can be formed by the method and apparatus illustrated in
A more detailed description of the process for forming such structures protruding integrally from a base is described for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,310, issued Oct. 4, 1988, to Fischer, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In preferred cases the mold roll comprises a face-to-face assemblage of circular plates or rings, some having cutouts in their periphery defining mold cavities and others being circular, serving to close the open sides of the mold cavities and serve as spacers.
Once preform product 9 has been stripped from mold roll 36, it proceeds through guide rolls 42 to a head shaping station 50 where the loop engageable heads 18 are formed. Various techniques and apparatus for performing the head shaping function of station 50 are now to be described.
Preferably, as previously described, preform product 9 initially passes adjacent a non-contact heat source, e.g., the combustion products from a gas flame 66 (indicated by dashed lines in
Gap 60 is less, by a controlled amount, than the overall thickness of the preform product 9 from the surface of the base opposite the stem formations to the tip of the protruding formations. Thus, the tip portions of the formations contact the roll and are compressed to cause the material to be flattened or formed in the area of 60, in a press-forming action which is sometimes referred to as “flat topping,” though final product may in fact not be flat due to desired conformations applied to the head surface, as with conformation rolls 8-8D, or as a result of further forming influences that follow the press-forming action.
In the presently preferred form, roll 62 is cooled to temperatures significantly below melt or softening temperature of the resin, preferably to a temperature less than the ambient condensation temperature of water for reasons mentioned. A surface temperature of 5° to 60° C. is operable over a wide range of products; for these specifically described here, it is preferable that the surface temperature range be between 10° and 45° C., surface temperature between 25° to 30° produce excellent results in cases where the temperature of the combustion gas in which the formation extremities are immersed is in the vicinity of 1000° C. or slightly higher.
In an alternative construction the head 18 is shaped by passing the preform product 9 through a gap 60 formed between a heated roll 62 and an unheated or cooled support roll 64. A more detailed description of this type of “heated surface” head forming process is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,302 issued Oct. 21, 1997, to Miller et al., the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Even in the case of using such hot roll forming as taught by Miller, it is recognized, according to the present invention, to be advantageous to employ non-contact preheating to forming temperature with especial advantage being obtained using the combustion gas convection heating as described in which the side surfaces of distal portions of the formations are immersed in the hot combustion gases to achieve rapid heat transfer by convection and hence faster line speed and more economical operation.
In yet another example, which is also slow relative to the non-contact heating system of
In the preferred case, roll 62 is a rotary ultrasonic horn and support roll 64 is a rotating anvil. In this example, more clearly illustrated in
In the diagram of
In the diagram of
In another embodiment, illustrated in
The shape of the engaging heads 18 of the fastener product is dictated by a number of parameters. For example, the wedge shape illustrated particularly in
It is found that particular forms of the shape of stem formations 104 of preform product 9 significantly affect the loop-engageability properties of the male fastener needed, and important aspects of the present invention concern these preform products per se, as well as their effective use in the various forming systems described, and especially systems employing non-contact heating and/or melting. In one example, illustrated
In the embodiment of
Referring now to
As illustrated in
The opposite effect to that of the fastener element just described can be obtained, for example, by using a preform stem shape such as that illustrated in
Deformation of substantially all of second portion 204, employing one of the above described techniques, to form an engaging head, results in the fastener element 210 illustrated in
In another example, illustrated in
In the side-view of
0.004 to 0.070 inch
0.010 to 0.020 inch
0.004 to 0.070 inch
0.010 to 0.020 inch
0.002 to 0.015 inch
0.002 to 0.005 inch
0.007 to 0.120 inch
0.025 to 0.045 inch
0.010 to 0.160 inch
0.030 to 0.050 inch
0.001 to 0.015 inch
0.003 to 0.005 inch
As shown in
The fin profile ratio for the X axis fin is F/H and for the Y axis fin, G/B.
The concept of this hook preform element is that with a fin ratio of greater than about 2, preferably around 2½, an improved head overhang is obtainable at the end regions of the fins, see the series of FIGS. 23F-A-23F-E for an illustration of the “balling effect of unoriented resin along the top edge of a thin fin, and note the bulbous overhangs at the thin ends of the fins.
With the stem preform of
According to this aspect of the invention, a ratio of less than about 2 is seen generally to result in a stem that, when heated and pressure-headed, a head of approximately the shape of a circle centered on the center of the stem results. With a fin ratio of about 2, preferably between 2 and 4, most preferably between about 2½ and 3, the geometry differs significantly from a square or circular cross-section stem such that when heated, surface tension of unoriented polymer will form lobes on the ends of the fins that remain somewhat independent, see FIGS. 23F and 23F-A-23F-E , this being especially the case when non-contact heating is employed, with immersion of the side surfaces in the hot convection gases, down to the end of the dashed lines in FIGS. 23A and 23F-E .
Whereas, in general, the extent of non-contact heating is preferably from about 15 to 25% of the total length of the protruding formation, in the special case of convective heating with gases that, from flame combustion, can be about 1000° C., the percentage length heated extends to 30% with good results obtainable.
The presently preferred method for forming this product is shown in
Referring to reference to
In this embodiment, the non-contact heat source is a close-lying gas burner, and the sides as well as the ends of terminal tip portions of the stems are immersed in the hot gases produced by the burner. Thus the sides are rapidly heated by convective effects as are the top portions, which also receive radiative heating. Given the high surface area exposed to the intense heat, compared to the bounded volume of resin of the exposed terminal portion of the structure, this portion is rapidly melted, with highest temperature and lowest viscosity achieved at the projecting ends of the profile of the thin fins. An example is shown in
As also shown in the diagrammatical blown-up view,
In this condition, the stems pass between another nip created between rolls 3 and 4, in which roll 4 presses down upon the molten polymer tips and forms a flattened head shape, to form heads 18 of shape depending upon the characteristics of this roll.
Preferably, the forming roll 4 is cooled, to remain at a temperature below the molten polymer temperature, preferably considerably lower.
With the surface of roll 4 cooled to temperature below the condensation temperature of steam, and in the case of use of flame from a burner to heat the stems in close proximity to a cooled conformation roll 4, water as a combustion product from the burning gas fuel condenses on the roll 4 and is found to act as a release agent for promoting clean separation of the formed heads and the surface of the roll as the headed hooks exit from under the forming roll. In this case both the cool temperature of the conforming roll 4 and the moisture promote clean release of the heads 18 from the roll surface without sticking of the heads to the roll, where that is undesirable. Best advantage is obtained by locating the point of heating close to the roll. In preferred embodiments the tip of the burner is within one centimeter of roll 3 and within 2½ centimeters of roll 4, adjustment of the separation of the burner from roll 3 serving as a control for the amount of convective heating obtained.
The air gas mixture of the gaseous fuel and air is introduced to the burner in substantially stoichiometric ratio for optimum combustion, such that substantially complete combustion occurs, producing byproducts essentially only of carbon dioxide and water.
The burner may have a ribbon opening extending across the width of the web, or may comprise jet holes, the spacing between holes being closer than the distance to the heads such that because of air entrainment a substantially uniform turbulent stream of hot gas reaches the top portion of the stems to be melted.
In one preferred embodiment a ribbon burner is used, providing a continuous line of flame. The burner temperature is between about 1000° and 1200° C., produced with a natural gas feed, the primary component of which is methane (CH4)
Complete combustion uses 9.5 moles air for each mole of CH4, thus oxygen in the air gas mix is (2 moles O2/10.5 moles total) equal to 19.0% O2.
The burner face is approximately 1″ wide. The web carrying the stem preform travels at speeds in the range of 20 to 200 ft/min (depending upon the product desired and operating parameters), and so a stem preform element spends only a fraction of a second underneath the burner. In this amount of time a sufficient amount of heat is transferred into the preform element to enable it to be deformed into a hook. Heat is transferred to the preform element by forced convection. Heat is transferred through the stem tops as well as sides. The amount of heat transferred to the preform element, is controlled by the position of the burner relative to the elements.
Simple steps may be followed in set-up for such flat-topping.
In some cases the line speed is dependent upon the amount of heat desired to be transferred to the stems. For instance, comparing 2 sets of stems, Group A: 0.008″×0.008″×0.027″ vs. Group B: 0.012″×0.012″×0.075″. Group B requires more heat per stem, and passing heat through a larger body requires more time for heat to be transferred such that Group B may run at a speed ⅓ that of Group A.
The mold cavities in roll 2,
According to the concept of this embodiment, the plus sign cross-section stems 104 with thin fins 19, 21 when pressure-formed by conformation roll 4 will provide polymer flow in directions of the four lobes off the ends of the fins. For diaper applications, for instance, where cross-machine directionality of the hook is often important due to the orientation of the machine direction of the fastener in the diaper forming process, this can achieve better engagement with the nonwoven loop component of a diaper than by hooks formed with a round or square profile cross-section design.
To explain why the thin-fin quadrolobal stem preform will provide better cross-machine directionality, referring to
For Φ between 0 to 90 degrees, as Φ increases, vector A decreases, hence the loop becomes less likely to slide off the hook when pulled.
This case is compared with one lobe of head 18 of a thin-fin hook, as shown in
In this case, by vector analysis shown in
The concept described here rests in part on the proposition that the fin tip heats locally towards its profile ends because of a higher surface to mass ratio, related to surface exposed to the localized, non-contact radiant or convection heat that reaches the side margins of the stem.
Consider the top end of the quadrolobal fins with points A on the end of one fin, B in the middle where the two fins join and C on the end of the opposite fin. When passed under a non-contact heat source points A and C are predicted to acquire more heat per unit volume of polymer and are easier to deform compared to point B. During pressure forming by roll 4, more resin is pushed off (deformed) in areas A and C compared to the middle, B, because more heat per unit volume has been transferred to the synthetic resin at those points, A and B, and therefore that resin reaches a higher temperature, and consequent lower viscosity, and more readily flows in response to forming pressure.
For a typical square stem that has a cross-section size of 0.008×0.008 inch, the head has approximately two times the width of the stem. Thus the area of the footprint of an individual hook is 0.0082×ì, or 2×10−4 inches2, while the stem cross-section area is of 6.4×10−5 inches2. With a thin fin stem construction of the same area of ratio of 2 to 1, (length×base=2.04×10−5), the thickness is about 0.0056 inches and the length about 0.0113 inches. For the same size footprint, comparing the angle Φ between a square stem and a thin fin stem, the angle Φ is considerably greater with the fin for the same footprint than for the Φ of the circular head, or said another way, a thin fin hook of equal peel performance to that of a circular head will have a smaller footprint on the loop surface.
Footprint is important for applications such as diapers, because a small footprint allows for good penetration into a low loop mass, whereas a larger footprint tends more to push down on the loops and not allow the crook or bottom part of the head of the hook to enter under the loops that are pushed down.
This analysis indicates, further, that one can make a thin fin hook with a footprint less than that of a round head that will penetrate loop better, and get more engagement, and it can still be such that the loop tends less to slide off than with the round head.
The relationship so-far described shows the difference between a circle and a fin when the hook and loop are being separated in tension mode, i.e. at their stages of peel which are in tension mode, when the loop is pulled at an angle close to 90 degrees to the base of the hook.
The benefits of a fin may be further explained considering the condition in which the hook is subjected simultaneously to a component of sheer loading.
An important aspect of the invention concerns the realization that small changes in the head configuration can give relatively larger benefits; hence the important advantage of the thin fin construction for peel mode. Explaining further referring to
If a hook at the horizontal portion of the fabric is still mated with a loop, all force is in the shear mode, i.e. resisted by the stem.
This shows the importance of having a large Φ angle to avoid dependence on the è angle. It is believed the fin designs will have a higher Φ angle when compared with a standard round head product. Therefore, for any given è angle, the fin design should be less likely to slip when compared to a standard round top hook. These calculations were made with the assumption of no friction; the loop conforms to head shape, thus loop stiffness is negligible, gravity is negligible and the hook is a rigid body.
The analysis applies to a plane single fin, and to the fins 19, 21 of a plus-form hook as well, and to other configurations that provide flow or forming capabilities to increase angle Φ.
In condition where only cross-machine peel strength is important, a hook component formed with single fins lying cross-wise can be employed.
The plus-form or the “quad” configuration allows one to engage in differing directions.
In certain instances the fins 21′ may be so short that their outer tip portions are not reformed by roll 4. In such case, the X-direction fins act as supports for fins 19′.
In the case of
In the alternative embodiment of
Likewise, of course, where the effect is desired for the machine direction, the stem cross-section may be placed at 90° to that which is shown in
As shown in
In other embodiments, pointed pyramidal shapes, rounded dimples and the imprint of randomly placed particles such as those of sandpaper can have like effect on the edges or undersurface of the head.
Preferably, at least three of such deformations are employed and, except in the case of relatively fine sandpaper, preferably there are less than about 15 of the deformations to avoid “wash-out” of the effect.
In certain cases the surface features of the conformation roll are selected to force resin from one X, Y location to another to enhance head overhang in some regions, decrease it in others, or provide edge friction points for improving loop engagement.
The hook form of
It is useful to explain use here of the term “superheating.” In general, the non-contact heating step described, when the gas flow rate and orifice sites are set has an established range of heating capability that is controlled by the distance of adjustment and is independent of the particular polymer. Using the set-up technique described above, the heating is readily adjusted to enable flat-topping and stabilization of the forms shaped by the cold forming roll 4. By adjusting the distance of the burner closer to roll 3, more heat than the minimum required for flat-topping can be applied. The system remains within the range of the flat-topping action. In that case, flat-topping is effective to distribute the resin and apply a shape, but a point is reached at which it is readily observed that the emerging forms have not yet frozen, and further, predictable deformation is observed.
It is realized that benefit can be obtained from this secondary, “self-forming” action.
In one case, by choosing a resin having a low heat deflection temperature, the method is useful to form rounded mushrooms of the self-engaging fastener type. For the example of
With a given coolant flow through the cold forming roll 4, after satisfactory flat-topping of the LDPE heads was established with frozen shapes emerging, the heater was brought closer to roll 3, and the line speed slowed to apply excess heat. As heating was increased, gradual change in the final conformation of the flat-topped product was observed. A point was reached in which, in a stable process, the rounded mushroom shapes shown in
Thus, the embodiment of
By choice of low deflection temperature resin, e.g. certain polyethylenes, and either by making the fin construction very thin and or subjecting the tip portion to large heat transfer by the proximity or intensity of the flame, a condition can be obtained in which useful gravity flow of resin occurs after passing by roll 4. This condition can for instance also be obtained by maintaining roll 4 at such temperature that it does no entirely solidify the tip portions.
With higher deflection temperature resins, e.g., high density polyethylene, a useful self-bending action of outer edges of the flat-topped structure form the “J” profile mentioned.
The process of forming the stem preform by filling dead-end mold voids with polymer, does not orient the polymer. As previously mentioned, heating this preformed stem results in a ball of molten polymer at the top of the stem. After heating, the molten top is reformed with a flat or configured forming roll to form a head structure extending out in all directions to an extent dependent upon the height and mass of the reformed portion.
In the pictures of
Following flat-topping, the flattened resin head gathers under surface tension to form a well shaped mushroom head.
Under essentially the same thermal conditions, the flattened head of nylon and high density polyethylene bent bodily to turn down the peripheral tips of the heads to provide a J profile, see
The amount of heat provided prior to the forming determines whether the polymer will flow while, as shown by comparison of
Referring first to
In the cases of
The M-configuration can usefully be reformed to provide a loop-engageable head by contact heating techniques as well, though potentially at slower speeds. Thus the hot roll and ultrasound techniques described above with respect to
In the case of the non-contact melting followed by flat-topping, steps can be taken also to limit resin flow back toward the center of the “V” shaped void, as suggested by
FIG. 34A′ depicts the profile of a hook provided by the flame heat-cold roll technique, the thicker hook tips being attributable to the non-contacted heated resin that melted and rounded under surface tension prior to the flat topping action.
According to this aspect of the invention, the more the hook heads extend past the stem is beneficial for forming a crook for better engagement, to obtain better holding of loops underneath the hook. A greater distance is then required for the loop to slide off when it is at the top of the stem. When it is at the end of the stem underneath of the head, a greater distance is required for the loop to travel around the head of the stem before disengagement hence the loop will be held better.
FIG. 34A′ illustrates a hook profile similar to that of
In this embodiment a monolithic fin has a parallelogram profile in cross-section as shown in
As a consequence the pair of smaller opposed included angles at the corners of the stem are only 45°, creating a localized region of the tip of the stem having a very high ratio of exposed surface to mass. When exposed to non-contact heating, and in particular to the hot gases of a closely held flame heater, those corners preferentially melt, to be readily deformed by the flat topping action, and indeed, when desired, can be super-heated such that desirable “J” formations can be formed as a consequence of the flow mentioned in respect of
On the other hand, the other set of corners with large included angle locate a large mass of resin at the cross-machine extremity available to be flattened into a strong loop-engaging disc structure having substantial over-hang beyond the upright stem surface, leading to a large angle Φ. Thus both corners of the parallelogram can contribute significantly but differently to the loop-engaging function.
The alternating male fastener pattern of
Whereas one embodiment of the parallelogram construction may have straight-sided stems as suggested in
This form is simple to manufacture. The parallelogram seen in the plan view of
All of these cavity portions appearing as parallelograms in
In a preferred embodiment, with total height L1 of 0.05 inch, the pedestal height B may be 0.020 inch, to provide added columnar strength for the flat-topping operation, and, as well, to enable the mold to provide clearance for removal of the entire fin structure from the rotating mold by the usual expedient of turning about the stripping roll 5. The mold ring plate thickness T, may for instance be 0.010 inch resulting in a diagonal tip to tip length for the fin of 0.020 inch, a length along each side of 0.014 inch a thickness t measured normal to the long sides of 0.005 inch and an end profile thickness tp of 0.007 inch.
Taking the length of the fin as the full length of one side of 0.014 inch and thickness t measured normal to that side of 0.005, the length to thickness ratio of this fin is 2.8.
With respect to the pointed ends of the fin, flat-topping of those regions can lead to a relatively small radius arc of considerable arc extent, with a resultant Φ angle approaching 90°.
It is anticipated when a loop is engaged on that point, the loop will be prone to pass down the sides away from the tip since it will not be riding along a directly opposed stem, but rather a stem that slants at an angle away from the end of the hook.
A sense of the loop engagement capability of the embodiments of
Another benefit of that hook is similar to that of the quadrolobal thin fin hook of
As has been indicated, the benefits of using convection heating from a gas flame and forming with a cold roll are considerable.
The process allows the polymer to become molten and permits geometric configurations of the remaining formation and the flat topping step to determine the direction of the polymer flow.
The cold roll is beneficial in that it freezes the polymer quickly. This enables high line speeds and relatively inexpensive production of hooks for high volume applications.
Another non-contact heating approach is the use of a radiant heating block the heat from the metal, through radiation, with convection, heats the tips of the stems.
As has been mentioned, another way for forming similar hooks is the ultrasonic method whereby vibration is used for localized heating and deformation as determined by surfaces of the ultrasonic horn or the anvil.
A possible benefit is to obtain desired head shapes, as a consequence of a more localized heating, avoiding effects of surface tension and hence not requiring as large a fin ratio. It may also be beneficial in providing more curvature of the heads and in making a head with a smaller thickness for improved loop penetration, but with the drawback of lower line speed.
Another method used is a hot-wire method which would be a contact method. It would be with a heated wire. When the stems pass and touch the wire they could then be formed by a forming roll or nip. Those would be the main flat-topping methods.
Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following Description of the Preferred Embodiments, the drawings and the claims.
Another aspect of the invention is a composite fabric, and the making of such fabric, on which stems have been directly molded in accordance, for instance, with the teachings of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/808,395 filed Mar. 14, 2001, which has been incorporated herein by reference above, followed by use of a flame of burning gas jets or the combustion products flowing from the flame, to rapidly soften the extreme ends of the stems, followed by engagement by a cooled press surface such as a cooled forming bar or a forming roll, as described therein. The numerous features of stem design and conditions of forming the male fastener member as presented here are applicable to the manufacture of such composite materials.
A number of embodiments of the invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
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|Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US8935836 *||30 Apr 2010||20 Jan 2015||Aplix||Connection element for forming the male portion of an automatic fastener|
|US20120047695 *||30 Apr 2010||1 Mar 2012||Lionel Picot||Connection element for forming the male portion of an automatic fastener|
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|U.S. Classification||428/120, 428/99, 24/442, 24/452|
|International Classification||B32B3/00, A44B18/00, A61F13/62, B29C43/22, B29C67/00|
|Cooperative Classification||A61F13/625, Y10T428/24182, B29L2031/729, A44B18/0049, Y10T24/2792, B29C2043/465, Y10T428/24008, A44B18/0065, B29C67/0044, B29C43/222, Y10T24/27|
|European Classification||A61F13/62, A44B18/00F8B, A44B18/00F2, B29C43/22B, B29C67/00K|
|22 Nov 2011||CC||Certificate of correction|
|31 Jul 2013||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 8
|27 Apr 2016||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: VELCRO BVBA, BELGIUM
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:VELCRO INDUSTRIES B.V.;REEL/FRAME:038528/0767
Effective date: 20160415 | <urn:uuid:b8be4de8-a3ac-49cd-9189-068c80ac69cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.google.com.au/patents/USRE42475 | 2016-07-29T12:06:11Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257830066.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071030-00185-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907192 | 18,810 |
Cincinnati State Women's Basketball
Signees Recognized as Winter All Stars
May 15, 2016
Surge Upset Falls Short in District Final
March 7, 2016
No. 7 Owens converted on a three-point play with 49 seconds to play to escape with a 71-69 win over Cincinnati State in the NJCAA Women's District I tournament championship game on Saturday.
Cincinnati State took a 69-68 lead with 1:17 to play on a pair of free throws by Dameras Whitlock. Ariel Bethea scored a layup and free throw to regain the lead for Owens with 49 seconds remaining, and the Express thwarted further Surge comeback attempts.
The setback ended the Surge's bid to reach the NJCAA National Championships for the fourth time in six seasons. Cincinnati State closed the year at 22-10.
Owens, which advances to the nationals with a 26-6 record, entered the title game on a 15-game winning streak during which it posted an average winning margin of 37 points.
Cincinnati State established its upset bid early, playing the Express evenly through the first two quarters. The Surge appeared to have Owens on the ropes when taking a 59-54 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Express countered with a 10-1 run for a 64-60 edge with 4:17 to play.
Kianna Delas led all scorers with 19 points. Montrail Roberts had 13 points and 11 rebounds for her 18th double-double. She also blocked five shots. Delas and Roberts were named to the all-tournament team.
Cincinnati State advanced to the tourney title game with an 83-62 win over Cuyahoga in Friday's semifinals.
Montrail Roberts scored a career-high tying 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Cincinnati State.
Cincinnati State shot 50 percent from the field to take a 41-32 lead at halftime. The Surge put the game away with an 18-0 scoring run to start the third period. Cuyahoga was scoreless in the first 5:19 of the quarter.
Complementing Roberts in the scoring column were Kianna Delas with 17 points, Chloe Baird with 13 and Dameras Whitlock with 12. Darian Carter led Cuyahoga, which closed the season at 17-12, with 16 points.
Surge Pursue National Tournament Berth
March 3, 2016
A berth in the NJCAA national championships is at stake when Cincinnati State competes in the NJCAA women’s basketball district tournament at Circleville this weekend.
The Surge, 21-9, will face Cuyahoga at 3 p.m. in Friday’s semifinals, played at Ohio Christian University. A victory will advance Cincinnati State to Saturday’s 1 p.m. championship game to face the winner of the Owens-Columbus State semifinal contest.
The district champion moves on to the NJCAA National Championships in Kansas City. Cincinnati State will be vying for its fourth national appearance in the past six years. The Surge advanced to the NJCAA’s equivalent of the Final Four in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Getting there this season is wrought with challenges. Cuyahoga, Friday’s semifinal opponent, is enjoying one of its best seasons in recent history at 17-11. The Challengers have won five straight games, including a dominating 83-56 win over Clark State in Tuesday’s first round action. Owens, the tourney’s No. 1 seed, has won 14 straight games for a 24-6 record and the No. 7 national ranking.
Cincinnati State opened tournament play with an 85-76 win over Edison on Tuesday. Montrail Roberts led the Surge with 26 points and 15 rebounds, her 16th double-double. She is averaging a double-double in points and rebounds (17.1, 11.5) to rank among the national leaders in both categories.
Carter Chooses Cumberland
March 3, 2016
Samia Carter will continue her academic and athletic career at the University of the Cumberlands. The Cincinnati State sophomore has signed letter of intent to study and play the next two seasons at the NAIA college in southern Kentucky.
Carter has had a season that has made her a candidate for Ohio Community College Player of the Year. The sophomore is ranked second nationally in assists (7.8 per game) and fourth in steals (4.8) as the Surge’s dynamic point guard. She has averaged 11.4 points and 4.3 rebounds this season.
Carter owns the Cincinnati State record for assists (325) and is second in career steals (215). She scored 565 points in her two-year career (12.0 average). An injury which ended her season two weeks ago kept her from extending those impressive totals.
Carter, who has a 2.9 GPA, will graduate Cincinnati State this Spring.
Surge Advance to Tourney Semifinals
March 1, 2016
Cincinnati State capitalized on a third quarter explosion to turn back Edison, 85-76, in the opening round of the NJCAA District I women's tournament on Tuesday.
The Surge, 21-9, advance to Friday's semifinals at Ohio Christian University in Circleville, Ohio. The team will play at 3 p.m. against Cuyahoga.
Montrail Roberts led Cincinnati State with 26 points and 15 rebounds, her 16th double-double of the season. She played a big role in the second half rally by scoring 21 of her points in the final 20 minutes. Kianna Delas and Chloe Baird each added 14 points and Jacie Dickerson finished with 11.
Cincinnati State opened the third quarter with a 12-2 run to break a 33-all halftime tie and led by as many as 13 points. Edison closed the deficit to a mere two points, 76-74, with 2:34 remaining. The Surge scored the next nine points.
No. 7 Owens Tops Surge
Feb. 29, 2016
No. 7 Owens capped an undefeated conference season with an 89-64 win over Cincinnati State in OCCAC women's basketball on Saturday.
The Express, 24-7, got 27 points from Jeryn Reese to post a perfect 14-0 record in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference play and extend their win streak to 14.
The Surge, 20-9, finished in second place in the OCCAC with a 10-4 slate. The setback snapped their four-game win streak.
Chloe Baird led Cincinnati State with 17 points, complemented by Montrail Roberts, who had 15, an Cierra Moran with 11.
Cincinnati State will host a first-round district tournament game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Owens has a first round by and advances to the tourney semifinals to be played on Friday at Ohio Christian University.
Surge Notch 20th Win
Feb. 22, 2016
Chloe Baird led five double-figure scorers as Cincinnati State rolled to an 83-46 win over Lakeland in women's basketball on Saturday.
The Surge (20-8) notched their 20th victory of the season and clinched no worse than a tie for second place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference with a 10-3 ledger. Lakeland fell to 11-6 and 4-8.
Baird tallied 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, playing before a host of family and friends from her hometown in nearby Akron. Cierra Moran added 15 points. Montrail Roberts (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Jacie Dickerson (14, 10) recorded double-doubles in points and rebounds. Kianna Delas scored 13 points.
The Surge opened a 12-point lead in the first quarter and were never threatened. Cincinnati State held a decided 75-42 advantage in rebounding.
Cincinnati State closes out its regular season on Feb. 27 with a home game against Owens.
Surge Try to Clinch 2nd Place at Lakeland on Saturday
Feb. 19, 2016
Cincinnati State will have the opportunity to clinch no worse than a tie for second place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference race when playing at Lakeland on Saturday.
The Surge, 19-8 overall, are currently second with a 9-3 league ledger, a game up on third-place Cuyahoga. Owens, unbeaten in league play, has already clinched the title.
Lakeland’s women’s team, 11-15 overall, is 4-7 in the OCCAC and is on a skid in which it has lost seven of its last eight games.
Fourth Quarter Rally Propels Surge Win over Edison
Feb. 18, 2016
Cincinnati State staged a fourth quarter rally to defeat Edison, 71-55, in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference women's basketball action Wednesday.
The win assures the Surge, 19-8 overall, the No. 2 seed in the NJCAA district postseason tournament. Cincinnati State is second in the OCCAC with a 9-3 league mark.
Playing their first game without point guard Samia Carter, whose season has ended due to injury, the Surge struggled early, falling into a 14-point deficit in the second quarter. Cincinnati State trailed by just three points at halftime and one point, 46-45, at the end of the third quarter.
The Surge opened the final period with a 14-0 scoring run and outscored Edison, 26-9, in the final frame.
Chloe Baird (14 points), Cierra Moran (13) and Montrail Roberts (12) led Cincinnati State in scoring with Roberts gathering a game-high 12 rebounds.
Conference scoring leader Brooke Dunlevy tallied 28 points for the Chargers (11-16, 4-8).
Surge Try to Build on Winning Momentum at Edison
Feb. 16, 2016
Cincinnati State’s basketball teams approach Wednesday’s games at Edison from drastically different standpoints.
The women’s team will be trying to build on the momentum of recent success when it tips off the double header at 5:30 p.m. The Surge, 18-8, have won eight of their last 10 contests and are a solid second place in the OCCAC with an 8-3 record. A victory will assure the team the No. 2 seed in the postseason district tournament.
The men’s team, 14-13, will try to snap a four-game losing skid which has slid them into sixth place in the OCCAC with a 3-8 record. A win is needed to keep Edison from joining Cincinnati State in a tie for sixth place.
Both Cincinnati State squads sustained significant injury losses on Saturday. Samia Carter, who was building credentials for OCCAC Player of the Year honors on the women’s side, and Brandon Trotter, the most consistent contributor on the men’s team, are lost for the rest of the season. Carter is ranked third in NJCAA Division II in assists (7.8 average) and fourth in steals (4.8).
Following Wednesday’s action, the teams have two regular season contests remaining. Cincinnati State will play at Lakeland on Saturday and host Owens on Feb. 27.
Surge Turn Back Cuyahoga
Feb. 16, 2016
Cincinnati State turned back Cuyahoga's fourth quarter comeback attempt to defeat the Challengers, 77-70, in Ohio Community College women's basketball on Saturday.
The victory enabled the Surge, 18-8 overall, to break a tie with Cuyahoga for second place in the OCCAC standings. Cincinnati State moved into sole possession of the runner-up spot with an 8-3 record, trailing only unbeaten Owens.
Cincinnati State enjoyed a double-digit lead through most of the first half. Cuyahoga cut the margin to 62-55 at the end of the third quarter and tied the game at 70-all with 1:51 to play.
Montrail Roberts' conventional three-point play with 1:35 remaining put the Surge ahead for good.
Roberts was the game's top scorer with 16 points. Jacie Dickerson had 13 an Chole Baird 11.
Carter Leads Surge Battle vs. Cuyahoga
Feb. 11, 2016
Samia Carter will try to continue to add to her impressive statistics while leading Cincinnati State’s women’s basketball fortunes in Saturday’s home contest vs. Cuyahoga.
Carter has the third-highest assists-per-game average (7.8) and fourth-best steals average (4.8) in National Junior College Athletic Association Division II. The sophomore from Anderson, Ind. has already obliterated the career record for assists (she has 318, 70 more than the previous mark) and is 32 steals away from that career standard (she has 211).
Carter has been on a recent tear in which she has averaged 10.0 assists, 7.5 steals and 16.3 points over her last four games.
The Surge, 16-8, will try to tighten their grip on second place in the OCCAC standings in Saturday’s 1 p.m. game. A win would clinch a top-four finish in the OCCAC, and a first-round home game in the district tournament.
The Surge men’s team, which will play Cuyahoga at approximately 3 p.m., will try to snap a three-game losing skid. Since beating Cuyahoga a month ago, Cincinnati State has suffered five losses by a total of 18 points. Two of those setbacks have come in overtime games.
Admission to home basketball games is free to anyone holding a valid Surge card.
Surge Win at Lorain
Feb. 8, 2016
Cincinnati State piled up a season-high point total in defeating Lorain County, 114-66, in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference women's basketball on Saturday.
All eight players scored in double figures to lift the Surge to their 17th win of the season (against eight losses) and maintain second place in the OCCAC standings at 7-3.
The host Commodores (7-17 overall, 0-10 in the OCCAC) matched the Surge basket for basket until Cincinnati State closed the first period with a 13-2 run.
Tiarna Harfield led the Surge scoring parade with 22 points, going 8-of-9 from the field and sinking all five of her 3-point attempts.
Samia Carter (No. 14 in the file photo above, pictured with No. 10 Kianna Delas) the reigning OCCAC player of the week, had 21 points, a career-high 16 assists and seven steals. Those figures should enhance Carter's NJCAA national rankings, which had her No. 3 in assists and No. 5 in steals.
Jacie Dickerson posted a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Cincinnati State is idle until Feb. 13 when the Surge host Cuyahoga.
Surge Fall Victim of Fourth Quarter Comeback
Feb. 3, 2016
Cincinnati State succumbed to Sinclair's fourth-quarter comeback in falling to the Tartan, 61-58, in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference women's basketball on Wednesday.
Cincinnati State led through the first three quarters and entered the final period holding a 42-37 advantage. Sinclair outscored the Surge, 15-2, in the first six minutes of the quarter to take a 52-44 lead.
Sinclair, 11-9 overall and 5-5 in league play, held off Cincinnati State's attempted comeback by sinking five of six free throws in the final two minutes. The Surge cut the margin to one point, 59-58, on Samia Carter's layup with 18 seconds to play. Sinclair averted several Surge attempts to force a turnover before sinking a pair of clinching free throws with three seconds to play.
Samia Carter led Cincinnati State in scoring with 13 points, followed by Dameras Whitlock and Tiarna Whitlock with 11 each. Ashton Brandon tallied 16 for Sinclair.
The loss drops Cincinnati State to 16-8 and 6-3 in the OCCAC. The Surge visit Lorain County on Saturday.
Carter Named OCCAC Player of the Week
Feb. 2, 2016
Samia Carter, who averaged 10.5 assists and recorded a rare triple double while leading Cincinnati State to a pair of women’s basketball wins last week, has been selected Ohio Community College Athletic Conference Player of the Week.
Carter, a sophomore from Anderson, Ind., scored 19 points and dished out 11 assists to lead Saturday’s 96-72 victory over Columbus State. She recorded her triple double with a stat sheet-filling 12 points, 10 assists and 11 steals in last Wednesday’s 82-60 win over Clark State.
For the week, Carter averaged 15.5 points, 10.5 assists, 8.5 steals and 6.0 rebounds. She ranks fourth nationally in assists and sixth in steals.
Cincinnati State plays at Sinclair on Wednesday at 5:30.
Surge Try to Keep Winning This Week
Feb. 2, 2016
Cincinnati State will try to tighten its grip on second place in the OCCAC women’s basketball standings and stay in striking distance with league leader Owens in a pair of road contests this week.
The Surge, 16-7, visit Sinclair on Wednesday (Feb. 3, 5:30 p.m. tipoff) and have a Saturday date at Lorain County.
Cincinnati State (6-2) holds a half-game lead over Cuyahoga (6-3) in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference standings. Cuyahoga does not have a conference contest this week. The Surge are trying to keep pace with leader Owens (7-0).
The Surge have won six of their last seven games—the lone loss a three-point setback at No. 10 Owens, thanks to some great recent performances.
- · Samia Carter recorded a triple double (12 points, 10 assists, 11 steals) last Wednesday vs. Clark State and had a season-high 19 points in Saturday’s win over Columbus State.
- · Kianna Delas scored a career-high 29 points vs. Clark State, tying the most by a Cincinnati State player this season.
- · Chloe Baird has averaged 17.4 points since returning from injury five games ago.
Second Half Splurge Keys Surge Win
Jan. 30, 2016
Cincinnati State exploded for 62 points in the second half to top Columbus State, 96-72, in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference women's basketball play on Saturday.
The win strengthened the Surge hold on second place in the OCCAC. Cincinnati State, 16-7 overall, improved to 7-2 in league play, a two-game lead over third-place Cuyahoga.
The Surge, who finished on top of a closely-played first half, 34-32, blew the game open with a 30-13 scoring spree in the third quarter. Cincinnati State shot 63 percent in the second half and finished the game with shooting 53 percent.
The scoring was evenly distributed. Chloe Baird led the way with 23 points, followed by Jacie Dickerson with 20. Samia Carter had 19 points and 11 assists and Dameras Whitlock contributed 18.
Cincinnati State's defense came up with 22 steals--seven by Kianna Delas and six by Carter--to force 30 Columbus State turnovers.
Cincinnati State plays at Sinclair on Wednesday.
Surge Hope for Payback vs. Columbus State
Jan. 29, 2016
Cincinnati State’s women’s and men’s basketball teams hope to achieve a little payback when they host their counterparts from Columbus State on Saturday (Jan. 30, 1 p.m.).
Both squads were beaten by the rival Cougars when they opened the OCCAC schedule at Columbus in mid-December. Atonement would help both in the conference race.
Saturday’s game will be a battle for second place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference for the Surge women’s team, which will kick off the double header. Cincinnati State, 15-7 overall, is currently in second place in the OCCAC at 5-2, leading third-place Columbus State (5-3) by a half game.
The Surge have a little momentum on their side, having won five of their last six contests.
Individual Performances Spark Surge Win
Jan. 27, 2016
Cincinnati State had one of those stat sheet-filling
performances in rolling past Clark State, 82-60, in women's basketball on
The Surge, who recorded their 15th victory, were led by a Kianna Dellas's career-high 29 points. Dellas, who also gathered 11 rebounds for a double-double, was 14 of 18 at the foul line.
Samia Carter notched a triple double, amassing 12 points, 10 assists and 11 steals.
Cincinnati State outscored Clark State, 23-9, in the second quarter to pull away in the game and cruise to the win. The Surge dominance was reflected in the stats. Cincinnati State out-rebounded the Eagles by 21 (57-36), had eight more field goals and was 25 of 33 at the foul line.
The Surge host Columbus State on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Surge Try to Regain Momentum
Jan. 26, 2016
Cincinnati State's women's basketball team will try to regain its momentum when hosting Clark State on Wednesday (Jan. 27, 5:30 p.m.).
The Surge (14-7) had their four-game win streak snapped by a 68-65 setback at Owens on Saturday. The loss was bitter in that Cincinnati State led the No. 10 Express through almost all of the first half, then overcame a nine-point deficit to have two chances in the final minute to tie or win the game.
Montrail Roberts led the Surge with 15 points and 10 rebounds, her 13th double-double. Roberts is averaging a double-double for the season (17.3, 11.9) and is ranked 13th nationally in rebounding. Samia Carter is third in the nation in asssists average (7.2).
Surge, Owens Face Off in another Title Battle
Jan. 21, 2016
Cincinnati State and Owens have dominated the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference women's basketball championships. The two programs have captured 22 of the previous 25 OCCAC titles--22 by Cincinnati State and nine by Owens.
The two rivals are locked in this year's championship battle, which will heat up when the Surge visit the Express on Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.
Owens enters Saturday's game in first place in the OCCAC with a 5-0 league ledger. Cincinnati State is in second place at 5-1. Both teams are 14-6 overall and both enter the clash riding four-game win streaks.
Owens is ranked No. 10 in the NJCAA national poll. Cincinnati State, which has faced five ranked foes this year, is in the "also receiving votes" listing in the poll, seeking the win that would put the Surge in the Top 20.
Baird, Roberts Lead Surge Win over Edison
Jan. 20, 2016
Chloe Baird and Montrail Roberts combined for 41 points to lead Cincinnati State to a 78-50 women's basketball win over Edison on Wednesday.
Baird tallied 21 points, meshing five of eight 3-point tries, and Roberts finished with 20 and a career-high tying 19 rebounds to notch her 12th double-double of the season.
All nine Surge scored though Baird and Roberts posted the only double digit tallies. Samia Carter had nine points, seven assists and four steals.
The Surge led for the entire game in posting their 14th victory (against six losses) of the season and strengthening their hold on second place in the OCCAC with a 5-1 mark. Cincinnati State takes on league-leader Owens on Saturday.
Cincinnati State's defense shut down conference scoring leader Brooke Dunleavy. Though Dunleavy finished with 19 points, just a tad under her 20.7 average, she was a non-factor in most of the contest.
The Surge out-rebounded Edison, 55-43.
Surge in Thick of OCCAC Race
Jan. 11, 2015
Cincinnati State’s women’s basketball team will try to strengthen its position in the OCCAC race on Saturday when hosting Lakeland. Tipoff is 1 p.m.
The Surge, 12-6 overall, climbed into a tie for second place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference standings following last Saturday’s 74-47 win over Cuyahoga. Cincinnati State is deadlocked with Columbus State, both with 3-1 league ledgers.
The Surge have been on a surge of late, winning four of their last five games. The lone loss during that span was to Vincennes, ranked No. 25 in the NJCAA Division I poll. Four of the team’s six setbacks have been at the hands of nationally ranked teams.
Lakeland began the week with a 9-8 record and tied for fifth in the OCCAC at 2-1. The Lakers play a midweek game at Lorain.
Montrail Roberts continues to lead Cincinnati State. The sophomore recorded two more double-doubles last week, raising her season total to 10 in her 14 games played. She is averaging 17.5 points and 11.8 rebounds.
Jacie Dickerson recorded her second 20-point performance in three games last Saturday to complement Roberts on the front line. Samia Carter, who missed six games in December due to injury, has gotten back into her grove. The sophomore has dished out 32 assists over her last four games.
Surge Launch OCCAC Play
Dec. 10, 2015
Cincinnati State's men's and women's basketball teams will jump into conference play when they visit Columbus State on Saturday.
The double header, which will begin at 1 p.m. with the women's game, will open competition in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference for both teams. This is a departure from previous seasons, in which OCCAC play did not begin until January. The addition of Clark State to the league and the interest in curbing missed class time sparked the earlier start.
Columbus State's women's team, which saw the departure of 13 sophomores at the end of last season, is off to a 3-7 start. The Cougars are one of the top rebounding teams in NJCAA, ranking first in offensive rebounds per game and total rebounds.
The Surge women's team, which enters Saturday's contest with a 6-3 record, has been leveraging its attacking defense. The team is 12th nationally in steals. Cincinnati State has also racked up points at the foul line, ranking fourth in free throws scored per game.
Basketball Teams in NJCAA Polls
Dec. 9, 2015
Cincinnati State's basketball teams are drawing attention in the NJCAA national polls.
The men's team, 10-4, is back at No. 19 in this week's men's Division II poll. The Surge opened the season as the No. 7 ranked team but fell out of the Top 20 last week. It was the first NJCAA poll in over two years in which the Surge were not ranked.
The women's team, 6-3, is in the "also receiving votes" category this week, a listing of teams that received consideration but did not reach the Top 20.
Both teams begin Ohio Community College Athletic Conference play this Saturday with games at Columbus State. The women's game will start at 1 p.m. followed by the men's game.
Surge Finish Second at Lake Michigan Tournament
Dec. 8, 2015
Cincinnati State's women's basketball team returned to action after a three-week layoff to win two games and nearly take a third at the Lake Michigan Hilton Garden's Classic over the weekend.
The Surge rallied to beat Lansing, 79-71, in overtime on Friday then routed Oakland, 102-80, on Saturday. In Sunday's championship game, Cincinnati State's fourth quarter rally fell short as the team lost to Lake Michigan, 72-67.
The Surge trailed Lake Michigan, 59-43, after three periods but rallied to score 24 points in the fourth quarter. Kianna Delas, who scored a career-high 21 points in Saturday's win, topped that personal best with 23 on Sunday.
Cincinnati State charted perhaps its most impressive victory of the season on Saturday, shooting 58 percent from the field and out-rebounding Oakland by 14. Montrail Roberts had 24 points and 14 rebounds.
Cydney Franklin scored 18 points and dished out seven assists to lead Cincinnati State's win over Lansing on Friday.
Lansing outscored Cincinnati State, 19-10, in the second quarter to lead by 12 points at halftime. The Surge made up most of that deficit with a 24-16 advantage in scoring in the third period and tied the game with a 19-15 burst in the fourth period. The overtime was all Cincinnati State, 15-7.
The Surge improved their record to 6-3. They will begin Ohio Community College Athletic Conference play at Columbus State on Saturday.
Surge Return to Action with 3 Straignt Games
Dec. 4, 2015
Cincinnati State's women's basketball team, idle for nearly three weeks, returns to action by playing three games in three days at the Lake Michigan Tournament.
The Surge, 4-2, open play on Friday at 4 p.m. vs. Lansing. Play continues on Saturday and Sunday.
Due to the cancellation of two contests, Cincinnati State has not seen action since its 71-65 loss at West Georgia Tech on Nov. 14. The layoff has helped the team replenish its roster. The Surge, decimated by injuries, finished the West Georgia Tech contest with only three players on the court.
Surge Cancel Nov. 21 UC Clermont Game
Nov. 19, 2015
Cincinnati State has cancelled its Saturday women's basketball game at UC Clermont. The Surge have only six healthy players available for the contest.
The team expects to return to action on Nov. 30 with a home contest vs. Pikeville at 6 p.m.
Upcoming women's basketball schedule:
Nov. 30 Pikeville, 6 p.m.
Dec. 4-5-6 at Lake Michigan Tournament
Dec. 12 at Columbus State, 1:00
Dec. 16 at Clark State, 5:30
Dec. 19 Lorain, 1 p.m.
Beeler to Take Leave of Absence from Coaching
Nov. 9, 2015
Cincinnati State women’s head basketball coach Sonya Beeler is taking an indefinite leave of absence from her coaching duties due to a personal medical issue.
Beeler will continue to perform administrative responsibilities for the team but will turn over the on-court coaching responsibilities to assistant coach Derek Williams during her leave. Beeler is continuing her recovery from an injury suffered in a bicycle accident last summer.
Beeler, beginning her fourth season at Cincinnati State, has compiled a 65-31 record and directed the Surge to the NJCAA national championships in 2013-14.
Surge to Feature Guard Play in 2015-16
Cincinnati State has been know for the play of its inside players since Sonya Beeler became head coach.
The Surge have featured the post performances of Cameron Vaughn and Jonessa Moore, who both earned All-American honors, plus others to average 23 wins during the three-year tenure of Beeler, herself an accomplished post player while in college.
The strength of the 2015-16 team will be its guard play, according to Beeler. That's where the Surge have the most talent, experience and depth.
Samia Carter returns to provide leadership from the point guard position. The 5'4" sophomore showed that she could both distribute the basketball (6.1 assists per game) and score on the attack (10.5 points) while earning second team All-OCCAC honors last year.
Also returning in the backcourt is Cierra Moran, a steady performer who logged 22 minutes per game as a top sub and occasional starter.
The Surge are expecting significant contributions from incoming freshmen Chloe Baird, Brook Jenike, Cydney Franklin and Dameral Whitlock along with Kianna Delas, from Brampton, Ontario, and Tiarna Harfield, from Cumberland Park, Australia.
Montrail Robers, a 6'2" sophomore transfer from West Virginia State, brings excellent playing experience to the front court. Jacie Dickerson, a 5'10 frosh, also has the tools to contribute. The supporting ranks are extremely lean. As a consequence, the Surge may adopt a wing-oriented attack.
"Having a veteran point guard like Samia bodes well," Beeler stated. "She is as quick as anyone with the ball. I feel we can put people around her who are a better fit for her skills.
Cincinnati State opens the season hosting a classic on Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
Surge Picked Second in OCCAC Poll
Cincinnati State has been picked for a runner-up finish in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference preseason poll of the league’s women’s basketball coaches.
Defending champion Owens was the overwhelming choice to win the title, receiving seven of the eight first place votes. Cincinnati State, which finished third behind Owens and Columbus State last year, was picked to edge out Columbus State for second place.
Sinclair was voted fourth, followed by Lakeland, Cuyahoga, Edison and Lorain County.
The Surge open the 2015-16 season hosting the Cincinnati State Tipoff Classic on Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
Baird Comes South To Join The Surge
Chloe Baird, a graduate of Coventry High School in Akron, signed a letter of intent to join the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team on Tuesday.
A 5-foot-7 guard, Baird averaged 16.7 points and 6.1 assists per game as a senior for the Coventry Comets.
After the high school season, she scored a game-high 17 points to lead Summit County to a victory over Stark County in the Plain Rotary All-Star Classic and then netted 13 points in Team Summit’s win over Team Portage in the Women’s Tri-County Basketball Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game.
Baird earned Associated Press Northeast Inland All-District Division II First Team honors and was named AP All-Ohio Division II Special Mention.
Despite moving approximately four hours from home, Baird cited a comfortable feeling with the coaches and the opportunity to improve her game as the main reasons for choosing Cincinnati State.
The Surge coaches are thrilled with her decision, and they are looking forward to adding Baird to the team.
“The biggest asset we see in Chloe is her ability to shoot the ball,” Cincinnati State women’s basketball assistant coach Derek Williams said. “We brought in a lot of shooters this year, and it will be competitive for playing time, but Chloe will be right in the mix.”
Roberts Joins Surge Women's Basketball Program
Montrail Roberts, a 6-foot-2 center, is transferring to Cincinnati State to join the Surge women’s basketball team.
Roberts, a Cincinnati native, played last season at NCAA Division II West Virginia State University. She averaged 4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 14.9 minutes a game for the Yellow Jackets during her freshman season. Roberts recorded game highs of 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocks.
A 2014 graduate of Withrow High School, Roberts was a force in her senior year. She had 15 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game for a Withrow squad that went 17-5 overall and 10-1 in the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference. She tied for the conference lead in blocks was third in scoring and fourth in rebounds. Roberts posted season highs of 25 points and 16 rebounds in the same game in the 2013-14 season
“Montrail has great size and runs the floor well,” Cincinnati State women’s basketball assistant coach Derek Williams said. “We like her ability to get up and down the floor. We run a lot of transition and fast-paced ball, so that ability really stuck out to us.”
Cicha Earns NJCAA Academic Award
Kasia Cicha, a graduating sophomore on the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team, received the NJCAA Exemplary Achievement Award.
A native of Aleksandrow Lodzki, Poland, Cicha earned a 3.66 GPA as she completed an Associate of Science degree at Cincinnati State.
On the basketball court, the 5-foot-8 wing player saw action in 58 games and started 34 over two seasons with the Surge. Cicha averaged 10.1 points and 3.2 rebounds per game and was the only Cincinnati State player to appear in every game of the 2014-15 season. Additionally, she was named Honorable Mention All-Ohio Community College Athletic Conference after her sophomore campaign.
“Kasia was the consummate student-athlete,” Surge head coach Sonya Beeler said. “She excelled in the classroom and did everything we asked of her as a basketball player.
Cicha plans to continue her education at the University of Maryland and work toward a bachelor’s degree in food science. After completing that, she said she would like to earn a master’s degree.
Delas Coming South To Cincinnati State
Kianna Delas, a recent high school graduate originally from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, signed a letter of intent to join the Cincinnati State women’s basketball program.
Delas, who went to Andrews Osborne Academy in Willoughby, Ohio, for her senior year, will begin taking classes and working out with the women’s basketball team in August.
A 5-foot-7 guard, she averaged 15.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.6 steals per game as a senior. Delas recorded game highs of 29 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals during the 2014-15 season.
Surge head coach Sonya Beeler is thrilled to bring in a player like Delas.
“Kianna is an outstanding shooter, a very fundamentally sound shooter, and we need that,” Beeler said. “She reminds me a lot of Phylicia Johnson, our All-American from two years ago, with the way she shoots the ball.”
While initially impressed by highlight video she saw of Delas, an in-person look was even better for Beeler.
“I liked her film,” Beeler said. “Then she came down here for a visit and a workout, and I liked her even more.”
While Delas has played the point guard position, Beeler expects to utilize her at the shooting guard spot.
Hackney Signs With Shawnee State
Cincinnati State sophomore Maura Hackney will continue her academic and basketball careers at Shawnee State University.
Accompanied by Surge head coach Sonya Beeler, Shawnee State head coach Jeff Nickel, her parents and her sister, Hackney signed a letter of intent on Thursday to join the NAIA program in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Hackney was off to a strong start to the 2014-15 campaign with Cincinnati State before injuries ended her season after 12 games. A 6-foot-1 post player, she averaged 13.3 points and 7.9 rebounds while starting all 12 contests.
“When Maura had to stop playing at the end of December, she was really coming into her own and becoming quite a force for us,” Beeler said. “I think she will continue to grow while she is at Shawnee State.”
Nickel was attracted to Hackney’s style of play.
“I really liked how hard Maura played and her effort and how good of a teammate she was,” he said.
Hackney, who will join former Surge teammate Jonessa Moore at Shawnee State, is excited about the next step in her journey.
“I had a couple schools I was deciding between, and I went for an open gym, and the competition and the level the girls played at was great,” Hackney said. “I like the area, love the coach and love the team.”
Nickel is thrilled to have two strong forwards from Cincinnati State make the move to his program.
“Getting Jonessa Moore and Maura Hackney, they are two very, very talented post players,” he said. “Having them for two years, along with what we’ve already brought in, I think we’re going to have a really good frontcourt.”
Hackney is grateful for what Cincinnati State provided for her.
“Cincinnati State was a great opportunity for me,” she said. “I came here, and coach Beeler got me into shape and got me where I needed to be, so it was a great step.”
Hackney has completely healed from her injuries and is ready to hit the ground running at Shawnee State. She will begin taking classes and working out with the basketball team in August.
Franklin Ready For Return to Cincinnati
Cydney Franklin, who played her first three high school seasons in the Cincinnati area before finishing her career at Grovetown High School in Grovetown, Georgia, recently signed a letter of intent to join the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team.
Franklin had a very successful season in her one campaign in Georgia. She led her Grovetown team, which finished 22-6, with 14.1 points, 4.9 assists, and 2 steals per game. For her efforts, Franklin was named to the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Class AAAAA South All-State Team.
Franklin, who topped 20 points six times, scored a season-high 26 on two occasions. She finished the season strong, averaging 20.3 points a game over her final six. A 5-foot-4 point guard, Franklin was particularly effective from 3-point range. As a senior, she connected on six 3-pointers in one game and nailed five treys in three other contests.
Surge head coach Sonya Beeler is excited about bringing Franklin into her program.
“Cydney is a quick, smart point guard who is a scoring threat, including being a very good 3-point shooter,” Beeler said.
In addition to scoring, Franklin was a solid ball-handler and distributor. She dished out a season-high 12 assists in a game and posted a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio for the season.
Check Inducted Into Ohio Basketball Hall Of Fame
Former Cincinnati State athletic director and women’s basketball head coach Theresa Check was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Check, a member of the Cincinnati State Athletics Hall of Fame, guided the Surge women’s basketball team to a 64-23 record from 2008-2011. During that time, she led Cincinnati State to two Ohio Community College Athletic Conference championships and an appearance in the NJCAA national tournament in 2011.
After the 2010-11 season, Check gave up her coaching duties and put all her effort into leading the athletic department. She retired a year later, but during her time as the Cincinnati State athletic director, Surge teams reached five NJCAA national tournaments.
Prior to joining Cincinnati State, Check established herself as one of the top women’s basketball coaches in Ohio. She won more than 400 games in 17 seasons as women’s basketball head coach at Central State and earned Converse/NAIA Coach of the Year honors in 1993. She also served as athletic director at Central State for 11 years. Under her leadership, football was reinstated and tennis, volleyball, baseball, softball and bowling were added.
Prior to going to Central State, Check coached the girls basketball team at Alter High School. She won 122 games over seven seasons and guided the team to the regionals twice.
Check, who is an adjunct instructor at Cincinnati State, also is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Central State Hall of Fame, Cedarville High School's Hall of Honor, Alter High School's Hall of Fame and the Greene County (Ohio) Women's Hall of Fame.
Hill Signs With Surge Women's Hoops Team
Dan’Shae Hill, a senior at Western Hills High School, recently signed a letter of intent to join the Cincinnati State women’s basketball program.
Hill, who earned all-conference honors each of her four high school seasons, averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game during her senior campaign. A 5-foot-8 versatile guard, she averaged 7.5 points, 4 rebounds and 2.2 steals a game as a junior.
Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler has had an eye on Hill for quite some time. During her first season with the Surge, Beeler and her team practiced at Western Hills while the basketball court at Cincinnati State was being redone. That was Hill’s freshman year, and Beeler saw something right away.
“I have wanted Dan’Shae to come here and play for me since she was a freshman at Western Hills High School,” Beeler said. “So I’m very excited.”
Beeler added that Hill, who can play either guard spot and likely will play shooting guard for the Surge, is eager to put in work and improve. And while Hill is willing to work hard to get better, the head coach already likes several parts of her game.
“I love her length and her athleticism,” Beeler said. “She sees the floor very well.”
Moore Ready For Move To Shawnee State
After completing an extremely successful sophomore season at Cincinnati State, Jonessa “Joey” Moore signed a letter of intent to join the Shawnee State University women’s basketball program.
Moore, who earned Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-America Honorable Mention recognition this past season, averaged 22.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting 57.8 percent.
Surge head coach Sonya Beeler is proud of what Moore has accomplished.
“Joey is going to go Shawnee State, and I know she’ll do great things,” Beeler said. “I’m very blessed and lucky to have coached her.”
Moore, who had game highs of 36 points and 20 rebounds this past season, was named NJCAA Division II National Player of the Week once and Ohio Community College Athletic Conference Player of the Week three times.
Beeler expects Moore to have the same success at Shawnee State that she produced with the Surge.
“I think she will continue to dominate,” Beeler said. “It’s going to take a special person to stop Joey, because she is that good of a post player and she has a high basketball IQ.”
Moore will join her brother, Fred Moore, who will be a sophomore on the Shawnee State men’s basketball team, when she reports to the school’s campus in Portsmouth, Ohio, in August.
Dickerson Signs With Surge Women's Hoops Team
Jacie Dickerson, a senior at Anderson High School in Anderson, Indiana, signed a letter of intent on Friday to join the Cincinnati State women’s basketball program.
Dickerson, a 5-foot-10 post player, averaged eight points, 6.1 rebounds, two steals and 1.3 blocks per game during her senior season. She had 19 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and four blocks in a win over Indianapolis Bishop Chatard, and later posted 13 points, 13 rebounds and three steals in a victory over Huntington North.
Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler likes what Dickerson will bring to the Surge team.
“She’s very athletic, has a lot of energy and she’s not afraid of anyone,” Beeler said. “I think Jacie will do very well in our league.”
Beeler said Dickerson plays even taller than her 5-foot-10 frame and will play both the small forward and power forward positions for the Surge.
The head coach is hoping Dickerson will be a good rebounder, defender and scorer.
“I’m looking for all of those things from her, and I think she can deliver on all three,” Beeler said.
There will be a family feel when Dickerson joins the Cincinnati State squad. Her cousin, Samia Carter, was the primary point guard for the Surge this past season and will be a sophomore when Dickerson arrives on campus.
Australian Basketball Player Ready For Move To Cincinnati
Tiarna Harfield of Sacred Heart Senior College High School in Adelaide, Australia, has signed a letter of intent to join the Cincinnati State women’s basketball program this upcoming season.
Harfield, a 5-foot-8 guard, was named the Athlete of the Year for her high school during her final year. She played her junior career for the Forestville Eagles Basketball District Club in South Australia and won multiple state championships during that time.
Harfield, who also plays for the U20 South Australia State squad, prides herself on her defensive abilities.
Surge head coach Sonya Beeler is looking forward to bringing Harfield into her program.
“I know she will give me everything that she has and she will come here in good shape,” Beeler said.
Harfield, who Beeler expects to play the shooting guard position, will arrive at Cincinnati State in August.
“She’s a great outside shooter,” Beeler added. “I’m very excited to have her on our team, because we need someone who can shoot the ball like Tiarna can.”
Moore Earns WBCA All-America Honorable Mention Recognition
After an impressive season, Cincinnati State women’s basketball player Jonessa “Joey” Moore earned her highest honor yet.
Moore received Junior College All-America Team Honorable Mention recognition from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, it was announced on Wednesday.
This honor comes after the sophomore center was named to the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference and NJCAA Region XII first teams.
Moore, a Cincinnati native and Mount Healthy High School graduate, played in 14 games this past season, but she made the most of them. She averaged 22.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game while shooting 57.8 percent from the field, leading the Surge in all three categories.
“For Joey to receive this recognition in the limited amount of games she played is quite an accomplishment,” Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler said.
The 6-foot-1 Moore was a formidable presence in the paint, posting game highs of 36 points and 20 rebounds, with the latter coming in her final game in a Surge uniform, a district tournament semifinals loss.
This marks the third straight season and fourth time in the past five seasons that a Cincinnati State women’s basketball player has earned All-America honors. Moore joins Phylicia Johnson (2014), Cameron Vaughn (2013) and Dominique Fischer (2011) in that group.
“This continues the tradition at Cincinnati State of bringing in top-notch student-athletes and developing them and helping them get better,” Beeler said.
Moore has verbally committed to continue her academic and basketball careers at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Women's Basketball Team Worked Through Adversity for Productive Season
The Cincinnati State women’s basketball team worked its way through a seemingly ever-changing roster en route to a productive 2014-15 season.
Despite a lineup hampered by the loss of several players due to injuries and other factors, the Surge finished 19-12 and reached the semifinals of the district tournament.
“Considering the adversity and the amount of players that we lost throughout the season, I think we outperformed anybody’s expectations,” Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler said.
The high point of the season came at the Illinois Central College Tournament in Peoria near the end of December. The Surge opened the tournament with a 66-59 victory over North Iowa Area Community College, at the time the No. 2 ranked team in the NJCAA Division II poll. Cincinnati State then lost by four to Sauk Valley, an NJCAA Division I team that finished the season 26-6. The Surge wrapped up the tourney with a 59-58 overtime win over South Suburban, a team they lost to just 11 days prior and one that went on to qualify for the national tournament.
“We were clicking on all cylinders at that tournament,” Beeler said. “We played very well.”
Roster dynamics again changed in January, but a bright spot was the introduction of Jonessa Moore. The sophomore forward played in 14 games during the second half of the season and put up tremendous numbers. Moore averaged 22.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per contest and was named to the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference first team.
Moore, who earned OCCAC player of the week honors three times, had season highs of 36 points and 20 rebounds.
However, Cincinnati State had as few as six healthy players on any given day.
“It was a struggle at times to have enough players to practice, and we barrowed men’s basketball players all the time, but we made it through,” Beeler said.
The lack of roster depth meant increased practice and playing time and development for the players on floor.
“I can’t pick just one person who improved, because there was such improvement by everybody all season long,” Beeler said.
In addition to Moore being named to the OCCAC first team, freshmen guards Samia Carter and Jada Jackson earned second-team honors and sophomore wing Kasia Cicha received honorable mention recognition.
Moore has verbally committed to Shawnee State University, an NAIA Division I program, while Cicha has garnered interest from some schools.
Meanwhile, Beeler and her staff are looking forward to getting prospects on campus and rounding out the next recruiting class.
Surge Unable to Overcome Columbus State
Circleville, Ohio -- Jonessa Moore turned in another outstanding performance, but it wasn’t enough as the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team lost to Columbus State, 72-63, on Friday afternoon in the NJCAA Division II District I Tournament semifinals.
The sophomore center scored 23 points and grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds in her last game in a Surge uniform. It also marked the final Cincinnati State contest for Kasia Cicha, who had nine points, and Tressie Lewis, who contributed four points and six rebounds.
After heading to the half tied at 33, the Surge allowed the Cougars to steadily build an advantage they could never overcome in the second half. Cincinnati State struggled from the field, shooting just 28.6 percent for the game. That included the Surge going 2-for-22 (9.1 percent) from 3-point range.
Bridget Geiger led Columbus State with 15 points, while Paige Lewis added 13. No Cincinnati State player other than Moore reached double figures. Jada Jackson had nine points, and Michayla Barga scored eight.
The Surge finished the 2014-15 season with a 19-12 record. Moore led Cincinnati State with 22.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.
Cincinnati State Women's Hoops Team Rolls into District Tournament Semifinals
The Cincinnati State women’s basketball team cruised past visiting Cuyahoga Community College, 100-59, in an NJCAA Division II District I Tournament quarterfinal game on Tuesday.
With the victory, the Surge advance to face Columbus State in the tournament semifinals at Ohio Christian University in Circleville, Ohio, on Friday at 3 p.m.
Cincinnati State used a balance attack en route to its third win over Cuyahoga this season. Jonessa Moore led the Surge with 26 points and 14 rebounds, while Michayla Barga (pictured) came off the bench to score 20 points and grab seven rebounds.
“Michayla Barga put together a good game defensively and offensively, and she didn’t force it,” Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler said.
Jada Jackson added 15 points and eight boards, and Cierra Moran rounded out the double-figure scorers with 14.
Surge freshman Samia Carter just missed a triple-double, with eight points, 10 assists and 11 steals.
“Any time your point guard has 11 steals and 10 assists, that’s always a good night,” Beeler said.
Cincinnati State forced 33 turnovers and scored 48 points off of them on Tuesday, and Beeler was impressed with the Surge’s play in transition.
“When we start to run, there are not too many teams that can keep up with us,” the head coach said.
Tough test for Surge women’s hoops team
In the final game of the regular season, the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team will face one of its greatest challenges.
The Surge will travel Saturday to take on Owens Community College, a team that has not lost since its season opener. The Express, No. 2 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II rankings, are 28-1 and 13-0 in conference play.
“Playing at Owens is always a good thing,” Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler said. “It’s good competition every time we play them.”
That includes a previous matchup this season, when the visiting Express topped the Surge, 89-70. Owens freshman guard Sierra Harley recorded a triple-double, scoring 22 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. Ashley Tunstall led the way with 25 points, and Demy Whitaker came off the bench to score 18.
“They are very balanced,” Beeler said of Owens. “They have good post players and they have guards who can shoot the ball. You can’t just focus on one player.”
The Surge will try to combat that with the likes of sophomore center Jonessa Moore (pictured) and freshman guard Samia Carter. Moore, the back-to-back Ohio Community College Athletic Conference player of the week, is averaging 22.2 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, while Carter comes off her first career triple-double, posting 10 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in a victory over Lakeland.
What does Cincinnati State (18-10, 9-4 OCCAC) have to do to compete with Owens?
“We need to box out and take care of the basketball,” Beeler said. “In our losses this year, we’ve been outrebounded and have way too many turnovers.”
The Surge, the No. 3 seed, will host Cuyahoga on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in district tournament action. With a win, Cincinnati State will advance to the semifinals held in Circleville, Ohio, next Friday.
CINCINNATI STATE BASKETBALL GAMES MOVED TO SUNDAY
The Cincinnati State men’s and women’s basketball games against Lakeland Community College originally scheduled for Saturday have been moved to Sunday.
The start times will remain 1 p.m. (women) and 3 p.m. (men), and the games will be held on campus.
It marks the last regular-season home game for both teams, and all Surge sophomore basketball players will be recognized between the games.
The No. 12 Cincinnati State men’s team (23-5) will face No. 15 Lakeland (21-5), which leads the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference standings by one game over the Surge.
The Cincinnati State women’s team (17-10) will take on a 14-13 Lakeland squad.
Surge players are Santa's helpers
Santa Claus got a hand from the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team this holiday season. The team adopted a needy family for Christmas through the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The student-athletes purchased, wrapped and delivered gifts, which greatly brightened the holidays for the family.
NJCAA All-American Phylicia Johnson honored by Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Surge add three more players to 2014 roster
Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler continues to build her roster for next season with the recent signings of transfer Maura Hackney, Cheree Snowden and Cierra Moran.
Hackney, who graduated from Edgewood High School, played at conference rival Owens Community College last season. With a desire to play closer to home, Hackney decided to explore her options and return back to the Cincinnati area. Hackney owns Edgewood's career record for career blocks, single season blocks and single game blocks. She was a 4-time Academic Student- Athlete and was named to the FAVC 1st Team & All-Southwest Ohio Team after her senior season.
Cheree Snowden, a Dayton Dunbar product, was named to the AP Southwest All-Ohio Team last season. Cierra Moran, who comes from Central Catholic in Toledo, OH, was selected to the All Three Rivers Athletic Conference Team and the All-Academic Team.
"These girls can help us get back to where we want to be," Beeler said. "They all can compliment our style of play."
Hackney, Snowden and Moran joins a Cincinnati State team coming off a national tournament appearance, a district title and a 21-12 mark in 2013-14.
Taylor Character accepts offer to play at Cincinnati State
The women's basketball program at Cincinnati State continues to revamp next season's roster as Head Coach Sonya Beeler signed guard Taylor Character last week.
Virginia recruit Taylor Character will play at Cincinnati State next season
Departing sophomore Alexus Chinn signs with Lindsey Wilson
Cincinnati State sophomore Alexus Chinn has accepted a scholarship offer to play at Lindsey Wilson College next season.
Chinn is one of three Cincinnati State players moving on to play at a 4-year program. Guard Phylicia Johnson signed with Eastern Illinois last month. Hannah Stephenson has accepted an offer to play at Tiffin University.
After a successful two years with Cincinnati State, Alexus Chinn has accepted a scholarship offer to play at Lindsey Wilson College.
Guard Jada Jackson chooses to play at Cincinnati State
Cincinnati State coach Sonya Beeler continued to bolster her back court for next season with the recent signings of guard Jada Jackson.
Guard Jada Jackson has signed her letter of intent to play for the Surge next season.
Lady Surge add guard Samia Carter and forward Taylor Stanfield
Cincinnati State coach Sonya Beeler continued her offseason acquisitions signing guard Samia Carter (Anderson HS/ Anderson, IN) and forward Taylor Stanfield (Findlay HS/ Findlay, OH).
“Our coaching staff is extremely excited to begin working with Samia,” Beeler says. “Her speed and lateral quickness will be a tremendous asset to what we do on the floor.”
With family and coaches present, Samia Carter signed her letter of intent to play at Cincinnati State next season.
Forward Taylor Stanfield officially signed to play at Cincinnati State next year.
Bradford's Michayla Barga signs with Cincinnati State
Bradford senior guard Michayla Barga has signed her letter of intent and will play for Cincinnati State next fall.
Playing for Bradford coach Patrick McKee, Barga helped the Lady Railroaders to a program best 20-6 overall record. The team also won its first OHSAA sectional title in 2014. In 24 games, the 5’6 guard averaged 5.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Barga plans to study early childhood education at Cincinnati State while continuing to develop her game on the court.
“At Cincinnati State, I am looking to fit in with the team and become a more confident player,” she said. “I am extremely excited to get started.”
Barga is projected to compete at the starting point guard position. Cincinnati State coach Sonya Beeler believes Barga’s style of play will translate well in her system.
“Michayla likes to push the ball. She will fit well with what we do because we run a fast-paced, up and down style of offense,” Beeler said. “She has the opportunity to make an immediate impact on our team.”
The first player to officially sign with Cincinnati State this offseason, Barga joins returning sophomores Emily Fite, Kasia Cicha, Danielle Cheatum, Ericka Fitzpatrick & Dawn Johnson. The Lady Surge went 21-12 last season while claiming the District I title and earning a trip to the NJCAA national tournament.
Surge claim district title, earn 3rd trip to nationals in 4 seasons
In just her second season as the head coach of the Cincinnati State basketball team, Sonya Beeler took her team the NJCAA national tournament while claiming the district title by upsetting Owens Community College.
The women, who went on a 17-2 run to beat No. 5 Owens in the District I Championship, had their national tournament run end in the second round with a loss to top seeded North Iowa Area Community College.
Phylicia Johnson capped off a stellar freshman season with 20+ point performances in Cincinnati State's five postseason games. Johnson, the OCCAC "Player of the Year” & All-American, finished the season ranked 3rd among Cincinnati State players for points scored in a single season (570).
The Surge, who made its 3rd national tournament appearance in four seasons, finished the season with a 21-12 record while claiming the District title.
Johnson & Stephenson lead comeback as Surge take district title
Circleville, OH - Backcourt teammates Hannah Stephenson & Phylicia Johnson sparked a second half comeback as the Cincinnati State knocked off Owens in the NJCAA District I Championship on Saturday.
Down 54-44 with 11 minutes remaining, it seemed as if Owens would successfully defend its title after Cincinnati State freshman Ericka Fitzpatrick went down with a knee injury.
Led by Johnson and Stephenson, Cincinnati State responded with a 17-2 run, eventually stunning top seeded Owens and claiming the program’s first district title since 2012. Johnson, the tournament MVP, scored 12 of her game high 22 points in the final 11 minutes. Stephenson scored 14 of her 17 points in the last 8 minutes, including a clutch jumper with 30 seconds left to help seal the victory. Emily Fite added 15 points and 13 rebounds as the Surge advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament.
Owens, which finished the season with a 26-3 overall record, was led by Kamilah Carter’s 20 points.
Winning its 3rd district title in four seasons, the Lady Surge (20-10) will prepare to travel to Overland Park, Kansas for the NJCAA Women’s Div. II National Tournament on March 18.
For information on this year’s national tournament, please visit - http://www.njcaa.org/sports_nationalChampionship.cfm?category=National%20Championship&sid=24&divid=2&slid=11
Surge hang on to beat Columbus State; advance to district finals
Circleville, OH - Freshman Ericka Fitzpatrick displayed clutch free throw shooting with seconds left as Cincinnati State held on to beat Columbus State Community College, 80-75 in Friday's district semifinal.
Surge win in lopsided affair over Lakeland; earn No. 2 seed in tournament
CINCINNATI, OH - All three Cincinnati State departing sophomores scored in double figures as the Lady Surge defeated Lakeland Community College 118-32 in the closing game of the season on Saturday.
Cincinnati State (18-10; 9-3 in OCCAC) was led by the backcourt combination of Hannah Stephenson and Phylicia Johnson. Johnson, a freshman from Columbus, finished with a game high 29 points. Stephenson, a sophomore guard, recorded 20 points. Forward Chelsea Paddy finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Alexus Chinn contributed with 13 points and 5 steals.
Lakeland (3-23; 0-12) turned the ball over 41 times, leading to a 34-2 advantage for the Surge in fast break baskets.
Finishing second in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference, the Lady Surge will enter next week's conference tournament as a No. 2 seed. Cincinnati State will face Columbus State in the semifinals on Friday at 3 pm.
This year's tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday at Ohio Christian University in Circleville, OH.
Fite leads Surge to road victory over Sinclair
DAYTON, OH - Emily Fite scored 27 points to lead Cincinnati State to a 77-62 road win over Sinclair Community College in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference women's basketball action on Wednesday.
Surge backcourt helps Cincinnati State edge Columbus State
COLUMBUS, OH - Freshman Ericka Fitzpatrick hit a clutch basket and a pair of free throws in the final 55 seconds to help Cincinnati State edge Columbus State in OCCAC women's college basketball action on Wednesday night.
The Cincinnati State victory sets up a battle for first place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference on Saturday between the 16-9 Surge, who are in second place with a 7-2 ledger, and NJCAA No. 6-ranked Owens, which is 6-1 in league play and 20-2 overall. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 pm.
Surge end 2-game skid with lopsided win over Lakeland
KIRTLAND, Ohio -- Needing 38 points to eclipse 1,000 in his junior college career, Cincinnati State's Winston Grays led his team to a 76-69 victory over Lakeland Community College with 25 points on Saturday afternoon.
Edison upsets No. 14 Cincinnati State
Cincinnati, OH -- Cincinnati State's Phylicia Johnson scored a career-high 39 points but Cincinnati State fell victim to an Edison second-half comeback as the Lady Chargers edged the Surge, 78-76, in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference basketball action on Thursday.
Johnson tallied 21 of her points in the first half to help Cincinnati State build an 18-point lead with two minutes remaining before halftime. Edison began its comeback by outscoring the Surge, 11-2 in the final two minutes of the half. With the aid of 59 percent shooting, the Chargers eventually claimed the lead with 11 minutes to play and did not look back. The Chargers built a seven point cushion with 5:23 to play but the Surge rallied to cut the margin to two at the buzzer.
Hannah Stephenson, with 11 points, was the only other player in double figures for the No. 14 Surge, which fell to 14-9 and 5-2 in the OCCAC. Edison, 13-5 overall and 4-3 in the OCCAC, was led by the balanced scoring of Brooke Richards (23 points), Tori Purk (18) and Chris Johnson (17).
Cincinnati State plays at Lakeland Community College on Saturday.
Vincennes tops Lady Surge 76-59
Vincennes, IN -- In a non-conference game, Cincinnati State fell to Vincennes University 76-59 on Saturday.
Johnson and Fitzpatrick lead Surge to crucial conference win against Sinclair
Cincinnati, OH -- Freshmen Phylicia Johnson and Ericka Fitzpatrick combined for 48 points to lead Cincinnati State to a 95-77 win over Sinclair in OCCAC women's basketball play on Wednesday night.
Lady Surge improve to 4-1 in OCCAC with road win over Cuyahoga
Fitzpatrick leads Surge to 85-79 win over Columbus State
Cincinnati, Ohio -- Ericka Fitzpatrick scored a career-high 26 points to lead Cincinnati State to an 85-79 win over Columbus State in Ohio Community College Athletic Conference women’s basketball action on Wednesday.
The No. 17 Surge opened a 15-point margin with seven minutes to play, then held off a late Columbus State comeback attempt to move to 12-7 overall and 3-1 in OCCAC play. Columbus State, which fell to 14-3 and 2-2 in conference play, cut the margin to three points in the final 40 seconds but clutch free throw shooting by Cincinnati State, which was 30 of 36 at the line, clinched the win.
Fitzpatrick got scoring help from Phylicia Johnson (19), Hannah Stephenson (14) and Danielle Cheatum (15). Cheatum grabbed 14 rebounds to garner her third double-double in four games. Johnson also blocked a potential game tying three with just under 19 seconds of play to help the Surge to the victory.
Erinn Bailey led Columbus State with 23 points, with Taylor Horn adding 17 and Kalyn Daniel 16.
The Lady Surge travel to play Cuyahoga Community College on Saturday.
Johnson leads Cincinnati State to road victory over Edison
Freshman Phylicia Johnson tied a career high with 24 points to lead the 16th ranked Surge past their Ohio Community College Athletic Conference rival.
Cincinnati State wins conference opener with 91-46 win over Cuyahoga
Lady Surge beat Roane State 88-61
Cincinnati, OH - In the team's final game before the start of OCCAC play, the Cincinnati State women's basketball team defeated Roane State Community College 88-61 on Friday afternoon.
Playing in their first home game since Nov. 2, the Surge were led by sophomore Alexus Chinn, who finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Ericka Fitzpatrick followed Chinn with 16 points, 5 assists and 4 steals. Phylicia Johnson scored 15 points. Hannah Stephenson finished with a game high 7 assists to go along with 14 points and 5 rebounds.
The Surge defense forced the visiting Raiders into 17 turnovers compared to just 10 Cincinnati State giveways leading to a 16-7 advantage in points scored off of turnovers.
Roane State, which fell to 10-7 overall, was led by Shanae Brown's 14 points.
Improving to 9-6 on the season, Cincinnati State will begin preparing for the start of Ohio Community College Athletic Conference competition. The Lady Surge host conference foe Cuyahoga Community College on Jan. 11 at 1 pm.
Surge defeat South Suburban for third time this season
East Peoria, IL - On the final day of the Illinois Central College Holiday Tournament, Cincinnati State beat South Suburban College 72-50 on Monday.
Cincinnati State's comeback attempt falls short in loss to Roane State
Herriman, TN - The Cincinnati State women's basketball team lost on the road to Roane State Community College 83-72 on Thursday.
Lady Surge beat South Suburban 66-65 in tournament title game
Palos Hills, IL - Playing in the South Suburban Holiday Tournament title game on Saturday, the Cincinnati State women's basketball team defeated tournament host South Suburban College 66-65.
Surge defeat 25th ranked Malcolm X
Vincennes, IN—Competing in the Vincennes Trailblazer Invitational on Saturday, Cincinnati State won 82-74 over Malcom X College.
Coming off a loss on Friday to Mineral Area, Cincinnati State bounced back with a quality win over a Malcolm X team ranked No. 25 in the NJCAA Div. I national poll.
Freshman Emily Fite led all scorers with 21 points, coverting 8 of 11 field goal attempts. Fite, who leads the team in scoring, has scored 20+ points in every game she has played this season.
Phylicia Johnson came off the bench to score 13 points. Hannah Stephenson recorded 12 points, 5 assists and 3 steals. Ericka Fitzpatrick and Kasia Cicha each chipped in with 10 points.
With the win, Cincinnati State improved to 5-2 overall on the season. The team returns home to face Wayne County on Dec. 11.
Open tryout for those interested in the women's basketball team scheduled for Dec. 3
The Cincinnati State women’s basketball team is holding open tryouts on Dec. 3rd at 3 pm.
Individuals who are interested in participating in the spring should come fully prepared with the proper attire and should be in a desirable physical condition to meet the demands of physical activity.
Males are also welcome as the coaching staff seeks practice players for the spring season.
For further details, e-mail Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler –[email protected]
Freshman Emily Fite leads Cincinnati State to 4-1 start to season
When the 2013 season ended for the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team, Head Coach Sonya Beeler quickly began her first full off season of recruiting by scheduling high school athletes for campus visits. Emily Fite and her family were on the top of the list and Beeler worked diligently to make sure Fite would make the decision to play at Cincinnati State.
A few months later, Fite, an OHSAA All-American, signed her letter of intent to play at Cincinnati State in the cafeteria if North Adams High School and has since thrived as a student-athlete in her short time at the college.
Fite began her collegiate career by leading the Surge to a 79-39 victory over South Suburban. Fite, a 5'11 forward from Seaman, OH, led all scorers with 22 points, converting 8 of 13 shots, to go along with 8 rebounds and 2 stealsShe led all scorers with 22 points, converting 8 of 13 shots, to go along with 8 rebounds and 2 steals. Although losing the following game to Vincennes University, Fite recorded another 20+ point performance, finishing with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Missing a game against Mott Community College due to a hip injury, Fite returned to the lineup the next week, leading Cincinnati State to two road wins over Jackson College and Wayne County. She finished with 24 points and a season high 16 rebounds in 28 minutes of play in a 79-39 win over Jackson. In a 74-47 victory over Wayne County on Saturday, Fite scored 19 of her 21 points in the first half and also recorded 13 rebounds in 22 minutes of playing time.
For her performances against Wayne and Jackson, Fite was selected as the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference “Player of the Week.”
“Despite a lingering injury, Emily has really shown that she has the ability to be great,” Beeler says. “At times, she has carried us on the offensive end of the floor. She is off to a great start and we look forward to seeing her have continued success in the Cincinnati State uniform.”
Fite has helped lead Cincinnati State to three straight victories and a 4-1 overall record on the season.
She is currently averaging 22.3 ppg and 12.3 rpg.
Cincinnati State women’s basketball begins season ranked No. 15 in preseason poll
With Friday’s start of the 2013-14 regular season, the Cincinnati State women’s basketball team is poised to make a run towards a Ohio Community College Athletic Conference title and contending for a national title.
The Lady Surge, which enter the season ranked No. 15 in the NJCAA preseason poll, returns three players from last year’s team which finished with a 25-7 mark. Hannah Stephenson, a sophomore point guard from Independence, KY, led the team a year ago in assists with 5.2 per game. Alexus Chinn, a post player from Cincinnati, OH, is perhaps the best defender on the roster. Chinn averaged 2.2 steals per game in 2013 to go along with 6.2 rebounds and 7.2 points. Sophomore Grace McDougall also returns to the team after a productive freshman season. The combo-guard from Australia averaged 5.5 points, 1.4 steals and 3.5 assists.
Entering her second season with the program, Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler has worked diligently in the offseason to recruit key additions to build upon last season’s success. Newcomers to the team include forward Emily Fite, and guards Dawn Johnson & Phylicia Johnson.
Fite was selected to the Associated Press’s All-Ohio Team, District 14- 1st Team and the All-Southern Hills Athletic Conference Team.
In her four years playing for coach Rob Davis and the North Adams Greens Devils, Fite led the team to four consecutive sectional championship finals while totaling 1,315 points and 813 rebounds. Fite averaged 19.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 2.9 assists in her senior season, leading the Green Devils to an 18-6 mark while claiming the SHAC title and sectional championships.
A 5'8 combo guard, Phylicia Johnson helped lead Pickerington Central to a 16-7 mark during her senior season. She averaged 10.2 points, 3.1 assists and 2.1 steals. At the conclusion of the season, Johnson was named to the All-Central Team, All-District Team and played in the District 11 All-Star Game.
Dawn Johnson, a combo-guard from Ryle High School, set a school record with over 300 steals during her four year career. She also finished second all-time in scoring totaling over 1400 points.
“We have some big shoes to fill with the graduation of Cameron Vaughn and Kindsay Brandt, two players who are now competing on the Div. I level. This team is extremely athletic, but very young. Right now, our players are working hard to learn the system and how to compete at the college level,” Beeler says. “We are anxious to begin the season and to compete with top notch teams as we strive toward accomplishing our goals.”
The Lady Surge open the season on Friday as part of the Cincinnati State Women’s Basketball Classic. Cincinnati State hosts South Suburban College at 7:30 pm followed by Saturday’s home game against Vincennes University at 6 pm.
Cameron Vaughn to continue her collegiate career at Praire View A&M
Departing Cincinnati State sophomore Cameron Vaughn will continue her collegiate basketball career after signing with Prairie View A&M this past week.
Vaughn, a 5’10 forward from Xenia, OH, averaged 13.8 points, 13.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game while leading her team to a 25-7 overall record this past season. She finished with 10 or more rebounds in all but five games, recording a season-high 25 rebounds against Columbus State on Jan. 23. She finished the season 6th in the nation in rebounding, 1st in offensive rebounds (6.6), and set Cincinnati State's record for most rebounds in a season with 412.
“We are so proud of Cameron for everything she has done for us and look forward to seeing her succeed as a player, student and person at Prairie View A&M,” Cincinnati State head coach Sonya Beeler said.
Vaughn earned multiple individual accomplishments including being named an NJCAA All-American, the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference’s “Player of the Year,” a NJCAA Region XII 1st Team selection and Cincinnati State’s “Female Athlete of the Year.” Vaughn also performed in the classroom earning a 3.0+ GPA and named a Cincinnati State “Scholar Student-Athlete.”
She joins a NCAA Div. I program in Prairie View A&M which competes as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)). The Lady Panthers made their third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance after winning three Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Championships in a row. The Lady Panthers finished this past season with a 17-15 record.
Kindsay Brandt to play at Miami(OH) University
Cincinnati State departing sophomore Kindsay Brandt has signed her letter of intent and will move on to play at Miami (OH) University next season.
Coming to Cincinnati State after a successful high school career at Lakota West, Brandt emerged as a leader in her sophomore season under 1st year head coach Sonya Beeler. Brandt averaged 11.5 points, 6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 3.25 steals while leading the Surge to a 25-7 overall record. She scored her collegiate career high 24 points in a Nov. 9th win against the University of Pikeville. Brandt also led the team in minutes played averaging 36.5 minutes per game.
Brandt earned OCCAC “Player of the Week” honors in January. At the conclusion of the season, Brandt was named to the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference 2nd Team and won the team’s “Unsung Hero” award.
Brandt will go to Miami(OH) to play for Head Coach Cleve Wright, who will embark on his 1st season with the Redhawks.
CINCINNATI STATE NJCAA ALL-AMERICANS
Angel Minton 1991-1992
Chris Clark 1992-1993
Michelle Martin 1993-1994
Shelly Neal 1995-1996
Rae Keith 1997-1998
Naomi Bronson 1998-1999
Shavon Bell 1999-2000
Delvona Oliver 2000-2001
Christina Estrict 2001-2001
Crystal Norman 2003-2004
Sasha Sales 2006-2007
Heather Hassloch 2008-2009
Dominique Fischer 2011-2012
Cameron Vaughn 2012-2013
Phylicia Johnson 2013-2014
Cincinnati State Athletic Department
3520 Central Parkway
Cincinnati, OH 45223
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On Questions of Zionist Theory
We must not wait.
The Jewish people has suffered so much that greater affliction is inconceivable. Regarded objectively, our situation today, compared with the suffering experienced by our forefathers, can almost be envied, and there is every reason to believe that as time goes by our troubles will diminish. This gives support to the optimists among us, who take a hopeful view of the future in their opposition to Zionist action that aims to bring about a radical change in our situation and to put an end to the Galut episode with all its achievements. These optimists, since they value these achievements, try to prove to us that there is no need to be alarmed by the slowness of progress, on which they pin rosy hopes.
Objectively speaking, our position is already assured in a number of respects. The Inquisition–it is safe to assume–will not be renewed. Nor will mass expulsions ever occur again. But can the same be said when the question is viewed subjectively? On the basis of numerous experiments, psychologists have laid down the so-called Weber-Fechner Law, according to which the intensity of a sensation increases as the logarithm of the stimulus. If we translate this law from the language of mathematics to the language of life, it means that sensation increases at a much slower rate than the changes that take place in the environment, that as time goes by the individual pays less and less attention to these changes. Therefore, the more one’s situation improves, the greater will be his demand for further improvement, and the longer will he have to wait to feel a real improvement in his environment that he regards as satisfactory. This explains the well-known fact that the most oppressed people are the least sensitive to their plight; they are content with their lot and only rarely complain. The surest way of making a slave dissatisfied and demanding is to alleviate the harshness of his lot. Some claim that our position has improved. I agree. But this very improvement has made us more sensitive: a reed of straw oppresses us more today than did the most savage torture rack in the past. The hostility of the environment, the restriction of civil rights, the pogroms, which in the past were facts of life we learned to live with, now strike us as horrible disasters. Our optimists fail to grasp this; for them progress has the brightness of the sun. But in reality, through the hazy glass of the Weber-Fechner Law, its light is becoming ever dimmer.
We have acquired more culture; we have lost our earlier faith in the world to come, in redemption by the Messiah, in our divine election–by virtue of which we allowed ourselves to look down on other nations, ignore their humiliating attitude, and regard it as conduct of creatures greatly inferior to us; hence they were unable, even by their most barbarous deeds, to upset our composure. One does not despair or lose his self-confidence just because he has been bitten by a dog. Today it is no longer a dog but ourselves who bite us, and his insults injure our honor. Formerly, religion and the ghetto constituted a wall that protected us against the enemy; but that protective wall has been undermined, and like all peoples of culture we have become sensitive to every affront to our rights, while externally our situation is much more difficult than theirs. Our optimists advise us to wait, to join forces with the progressive elements among the other nations, to help them in their struggle for the universal human ideal; they promise us and them victory over the reaction that oppresses us all.
But we Jews must not wait–and we Zionists cannot wait Some among us fear that in the course of time, as a result of our stay in the Galut and the destructive effects of progress, the Jews will disintegrate and lose their national selfhood and national distinctiveness. Others say that the persecutions will not cease and the forces threatening us will assault us again after a short interval–half a century at the most–when they will attack with even greater ferocity. Finally, there are those who, disregarding these apprehensions and dangers, think that this is the most opportune time for the Jews in their struggle for self-expression and national distinctiveness to pass from the purely passive resistance they have practiced for eighteen centuries to concrete, territorial creation. In any event, all of us regard our position in the Galut as unstable and our prospects gloomy, not only from a subjective viewpoint but even from an objective-historical one.
Be that as it may, it is our deep conviction that in the Galut there is no salvation for the Jewish people. We do not rely on progress; we know that its overpious proponents inflate its achievements out of all proportion. Progress is an important factor in the rapid development of technology, science, perhaps even of the arts, but certainly in the development of neurosis, hysteria, and prostitution. Of the moral progress of nations, of the end of the national egoism that is destroying–it is too soon about these. Progress is a two-edged sword. If the good angel in a man advances, the Satan within him advances too.
It is hard to say which is the more amazing in our optimists: the naiveté of their enthusiasm or the dullness of their perception. They continue to sing hymns of praise to progress at a time when "cultured" England is cruelly grabbing from the Boers their last possessions–to the thunder of cannon and the applause of all classes of the English people; when "cultured" America is guilty of wanton despoliation of the Negroes; when Germany is threatening the entire world with its arrogant militarism; when the strong nations are prepared to trample one another for a piece of land in Turkey or China; while the weak nations groan in the world of the strong, yet pass up no opportunity to steal from one another or to demonstrate their might to peoples even weaker than they are. Most important, however, is that no one has yet succeeded in proving that he is right in trusting in the saving power of progress and in its real value. The rhetoricians and the believers are naïve. It has not yet been proved that the historical process, the development of nations and society, is progress. Is it not improper, when no one has yet succeeded in convincing us that such a thing actually exists.
But let us assume that it is true that all of mankind–including inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, the Fiji Islanders, the Japanese and the Kurds, and the anti-Semites of all varieties–will all be pacified and accept the peaceful reign of progress. But even you will not deny that such happiness cannot be attained without war and battled, you know that this war, which began some time ago, has cost and will cost mankind much blood and tears. What, then, is the price that we Jews will have to pay for it?
Let us take a small community, such as the Jews of Morocco. There are 300,000 Jews there, descendents of the exiles of Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, of the stock which gave to Judaism generations of distinguished personalities–scholars, poets, philosophers, and rabbis. A group of such superior descent deserves particular attention. But if the achievements of your progress must be attained by rivers of blood, by the degradation and torture of those Jews, is not the price of this boundlessly cruel idol of yours too high? For whom is the progress of Morocco desired? For those very Moroccans who drank the blood of the Jews with such lust in the pogroms of 1903 and who violently abused women and children? The scraps of information available from the press show that the Moroccans have proved beyond any doubt that no upheaval will take place among them without bringing catastrophe to the Jews.
Certainly, progress cannot pass Morocco by: European states have already laid their predatory hands on that primitive country. Is it conceivable that the achievements of civilization will not arouse the hostility of the Moroccan masses, who hate everything foreign or European? Will such a revolution not be the end of the Jews in that country? Will nationalist hatred not be directed against the defenseless Jews because it cannot be directed against the well-protected predators of Europe? And will the Moroccan authorities be able to prevent this bloodshed, even if they should want to come to the aid of the Jews? Will they even want to? Will they not be pleased to divert the national passions away from themselves to the line of least resistance? Remember that even during the civil war over the throne, the Jews served as an excellent lightening rod the moment popular resentment threatened to burst over the heads of the pretenders to the throne.
The same fate awaits the Jews of Persia and the other Eastern countries. These Jews will pay with their lives for the first steps of militant progress. Meanwhile, the Jews of the Moslem countries are sitting on a volcano, and those wise enough to foresee the future, who have joined the Zionist movement, are well aware of the horror of the situation. This is another reason why the Zionists cannot–have no right–to wait. Certainly, let all the nations enjoy the fruits of progress, but we do not wish to be their scapegoat. Even if we lave the Galut mankind will pay in blood and tears for every upheaval that occurs in its history, except that Jewish blood is not taken into account–it only serves as amusement for the raging mob. There are thousands of Moslem and hundreds of thousands of Jews; let progress be content with the thousands of Moslems.
It will be said that these fears are unreal. Such fears cannot arouse or give direction to a solid national movement, first because passing phenomena are liable to give rise to spontaneous eruptions rather than to conscious activity, and second, because a solid movement cannot expect quick success when immediate rescue from danger is called for. I agree with that entirely. I will go even further and say that the Jews in the past have been saved from graver dangers; they may have lost a tooth or an eye, but they have nevertheless been capable of a new and higher development. We are experienced in the tribulations of bondage. And it is not my intention, nor that of any thinking Zionist, to tie the need for the realization of our goal exclusively to the possibility of outbreaks of anti-Semitism. I trust I have shown how little good we are promised from this much-heralded progress. Now let us examine how our fate is affected by certain laws that operate in society.
One fundamental and practically unique impulse in the life of society is egoism. If, with the respect to the individual, there are grounds for arguing that man is not the miserly egoist depicted in certain ethical theories, the egoism of this group cannot be denied. For the benefit of the group, its members eschew personal gain and individual pleasure, conferring on the group’s interest a supreme moral imprimatur. The individual sacrifices himself for the good of the group, and in so doing nourishes the group’s crude lack of consideration. On the other hand, nothing is done in the life of the society that is not to the advantage of the dominant classes who are in full control and have the power to forbid or permit.
Aside from this, human society, by virtue of the iron laws of historical development, is divided into tribes, nationalities and nations, and that has consequently prepared the ground for dividing man’s attitude toward others in a striking manner: with respect to "ours," the laws ensure equality of duties–I may not coerce, deceive, or cause unpleasantness to "mine"–while the respect to others there are no limitations, everything goes: the crudest infringement of rights, the most deceitful betrayal. I do not mean to say that this unfair demarcation will exist forever, but no one can prove it is destined to change in the foreseeable future. For the time being it is a fact of life; although its force is gradually weakening, it still must be taken into account.
It is man’s nature to try to fit others to himself. This pure desire, which has nothing to do with the seeking of advantage, the desire to spread ideas, to impart feelings or ideals, is found in every person who related to his existence with any degree of religious feeling or awe, and who appreciates their value not for himself alone. A man scatters his spiritual treasures willingly, and in this respect often reveals a degree of generosity that borders on heroism. Those whose ideas are being persecuted, are prepared for any suffering and sacrifice that will provide them with victory. And those whose views already hold sway over the consciousness of the masses–even though they are incapable of attaining such spiritual heights–are zealous in making converts, and their generosity is tremendous.
But my advice is to avoid becoming enthusiastic about such generosity; for spiritual possessions are not expropriable, and thus not only do not perish from this prodigality but even increase and improve in the process of preaching. By letting you share in my faith I may be giving you much, but I am still not depriving myself of anything. This is not the case with material or earthly possessions, measurable or not. Here man is generally not at all a squanderer, and social groups are even less so. It follows that every group is ready and willing to assimilate outsiders so long as it does not thereby surrender anything of its own, but faced with sharing material possessions with outsiders, no social group has as yet proved itself capable of such generosity.
Let us examine the meaning of this ambition, so often encountered in history, on the part of some nations to assimilate others, and the national conflicts that result. Every living creature that wishes to live requires food to replace the energy lost in every motion. For this purpose, this body acquires–i.e. assimilates to itself–energy from without. And just as the living creature, striving to expand its sphere of independent life draws and assimilates from without whatever he can swallow, without distinguishing between nonorganic parts and compounds on the one hand, and animals like itself on the other–so it is with society.
Society, all of whose functions are designed to expand its patterns of life, imbibes energy both from the nonsocial area and from other national groups, and is limited only by its ability to conquer and incorporate them within its own flesh and blood. These foreign people have no importance in themselves for the society that assimilates them. All it requires of them is their possessions and functions. There have been groups, including some quite developed ones–not to mention tribes of ancient times–who would kill babies born with a defect that made it unlikely that they would ever be able to bring any benefit to the society. This was the practice in Sparta, for example. The direct assimilation of other peoples by swallowing up their possessions–their land and the culture that flourished there–is still the ambition of all peoples, even in our day. And it is not so long ago that nations also strove to assimilate the functions of weak groups by making slaves out of them, forcing them to serve without any hope of taking part in the division of the assets accumulated by the enslavers. For a contemporary example, it is enough to cite the minor fact that the enlightened Americans bar the gates of their land to immigrants who are ill or unable to work. There is no need to mention the base exploitation of the Indians by England.
Here we must take account of the distinction between two cases so different from one another that the widespread failure to distinguish between them is enough to account for the current confusion concerning this matter. There can be no comparison between the position of two nations that live in adjacent territories, and two nations one of which lives amidst the other, in the latter’s territory. In the first instance, the stronger of the two will strive to assimilate directly the possessions of the members of the other, in the latter’s territory. In the first instance, the stronger of the two will strive to assimilate directly the possessions of the members of the other, and where possible, their functions as well. In the past this was done quite simply by wiping out the members of the second nation completely, or else by enslaving them, taking their property as a matter of course. In our time, international relations having become more complex, this method cannot be adopted. The effort is therefore made to assimilate the foreign country, and the cultural assets it has developed indirectly, by assimilating the population dwelling in it. Precisely the same objectives now being sought by German or Magyar assimilation of border areas would have been achieved in an earlier day by more simple, direct, and efficient methods.
This clearly proves that no nation is interested in assimilating another without good reason. The assimilation of foreigners is actually in itself a most unpleasant business, and hence also undesirable. New people mean new candidates for benefits from the accumulated public assets, new hands hungrily stretched out for a share of the common loaf of bread. In order for a nation to desire the assimilation of another social group, it must first see in it something so valuable and attractive as to make it worthwhile despite all the inconvenience of including new partners in the distribution of the assets.
Today the functions performed by the foreign can no longer constitute such an attractive commodity. Increasing recognition of the freedom and rights of the individual proves that the nature of social relations in our time is making the exploitation of someone else’s toil by compulsion quite superfluous and even harmful. Society now requires only free workers, and these are available everywhere and in whatever quantity required, i.e. there is no longer need of the functions of the foreigner. Hence, if even today we witness the deliberate assimilation of a social group, it can only be fore the sake of its wealth. For a nation to permit a foreign people to share in its unexpropriable spiritual assets, to graft onto its language, ideals, world-view, laws, and customs without thereby thereby giving up anything tangible of its own, and yet to be able to do as it pleases with the expropriable material possessions of the foreign people–this is an extremely worthwhile exchange, which is still not renounced by nations in our day.
It should be noted that even though social bodies also act on the pleasure-seeking impulse, they do not reveal very farsighted reasoning in this matter. The gratifying hope at the time of assimilation is generally something like this: one day, when we succeed in getting the owners of the desired wealth to adapt themselves to such a degree that they no longer resist the policy of conquest, we shall be able to seize this wealth by force and stop bothering with this expensive business of assimilation. The trouble is that as the process of assimilation, which was at first only a means, turns into an end in itself–since opposition intensifies the ambition–the assimilators no longer think of the ultimate benefit. Assimilation becomes a chimera that lives by its own special power, the supreme mission of the ruling groups, and gives rise to such tension and waste of energy that all the foreign wealth is not worth the effort. Therefore discernable men among cultured nations, who have not confused ends and means, have already pointed out that a policy of assimilation is unlikely to yield any benefit. It is safe to assume that as awareness of this fact spreads and the failures of this policy become more apparent, the idea of assimilation will eventually die out, and nations will renounce the ambition to control other peoples’ property.
If the assimilation of peoples who live on their own land and have accumulated certain cultural assets has already become unprofitable and is soon likely to become undesirable, the assimilation of a people that is soon likely to become undesirable, the assimilation of a people that lives of the land of strangers, that possesses no material or cultural assets of its own, can certainly not be of use to anyone. We know, for instance, that American society rejects the Negroes, who in turn would give all they have for the chance of assimilating among the Whites, and dreams of ways of changing the color of their skin. We know that this was the attitude of the Spartans to the Helots and the Indians to the pariahs. If, for example, we see the English and French dwelling in peace in Canada, it is only because they are equal in numbers and are both equally rooted in the land.
As for us, the Jews, other people have willingly let us share their cultural possessions, so long as this sharing did not mean confiscation, so long as this sharing did not raise us from our degraded position. Our opposition to assimilation and the enthusiasm of the priests to make converts brought cruel persecution upon us. Our stiff-necked attitude aroused the stubbornness of our enemies, who longed to assimilate us within them. To convert Jews to Christianity was often regarded by priests as a sacred duty, to the point where they momentarily forgot what was best for themselves. Thus, in order to attract Jews to embrace Christianity they would grant apostates special privileges. Good Christians, in order to draw Jews unto the fold, even agreed to set aside part of their material assets for apostates. But this was only for appearance’s sake. Who is so naïve as to believe seriously that the privilege promised to individual converts would be granted to Jews as a whole if they should come in large numbers to seek refuge in the sake of Christianity? Most likely they would be expected to content themselves with having acquired eternal life in the world to come; in this world they would no doubt remain the same dirty Jews, with the addition of the new epithet, apostates.
Is not our assertion borne out by the attitude toward the Marranos in Spain and their persecution by the Inquisition? When Jews were converted individually it was customary to grant them favors for their act, and full confidence was placed in them. Many became pillars of the Catholic Church, and by their false charges against Judaism they brought more affliction to the Jews than anyone else. But when the Jews of Spain began to convert to Christianity in their tens of thousands, the attitude of the Catholic clergy toward the Marranos underwent a profound change. The converts were subjected to the closest scrutiny because of the suspicion that they were still loyal to their former religion. Naturally this only served to fan the spark of faith in the religion of their forefathers that still glowed in their hearts, and the Marranos began secretly and even openly to observe Jewish customs.
This by no means displeased the fanatical priests, for one does not persecute only that which is undesirable. On the contrary, the Inquisitors were pleased with the Marranos’ reaction, for persecution by the Inquisitors brought the authorities tremendous wealth by expropriating the suspects’ property. For who were the main victims of the persecutors but the rich and the wellborn, from whose wealth they could benefit. In short, those at first so keen on assimilating us now had second thoughts and hastened to seize those earthly assets they had granted us so liberally as a supplement to our heavenly salvation, which had not cost them anything.
It will be said that my explanation is somewhat exaggerated, that the clergy in those days used to strangle all heretics and expropriate their property. But what explains this wholesale suspicion of the Jewish converts if not their prior mistrust of the Jews generally, simply because they were strangers? What explains the zeal of the Inquisition’s interrogations if not the desire to recover the property the Church had lost when, in a moment of religious enthusiasm, it presented it to the Jews? If it is recalled that most of the heretics in Spain were Jews and Moors who had been converted to Christianity–all foreigners–then perhaps this explanation will be accepted after all. They have always treated us like strangers. We have never been seen as members of another people but as strangers, so small in number that our very weakness and vulnerability served as a stimulus to various kinds of persecution and acts of violence, and so numerous that we became a thorn in the flesh of the people of the land, always the object of its animus and awaiting its next blow. The vulgar person is by nature hostile to anything foreign. He never distinguishes between fear and distrust on the one hand and hatred and contempt on the other. All these feelings fuse within him into one tight bundle.
What is foreign is not regular, so it arouses suspicion–and for the vulgar this means hatred. What is foreign is strange and therefore ridiculous, which to the vulgar means deserving to be treated with contempt and cruelty. What is foreign is mysterious and hence potentially dangerous, which to the vulgar means an enemy and a bearer of destruction. So the threat implicit in the existence of the foreigner must be repelled. And it is not surprising that although the weak individual foreigner encounters only an attitude of curiosity mixed with suspicion and sometimes even sympathy for his plight–as proved by the ancient custom of showing hospitality to the stranger–the moment foreigners become a dangerous force–and they need not be very numerous to be regarded so–they gradually become the object of great suspicion and of the most burning hatred. The dominant group frightfully exaggerates their numbers and power.
Thus, for example, the simple Russian peasant believes in all earnestness that, "the zhidi ["Yid"; derogatory Russian term for Jews] are tremendously greater in number than we are," and that all the treasures of the world are hidden among the zhidi, and he listens attentively to all sorts of fabrications about the cunning, the machinations, and the power of the Jews. The fear of Jewish plots in the abstract does not interfere with recognizing very well that the Jew of flesh and blood is weak and defenseless, which makes it possible to maltreat him at will. The primordial and elemental fear of the stranger is supplemented by the hatred of foreigners who conspire to take part of the fat of the land. This is why the Jews are tolerated only where their activity is needed. This is also the reason why the Jews have never been permitted to assimilate naturally the way two people fuse, who are of equal vitality, who live in one territory, cannot oppress one another, and who do not regard the weakness of the other as an excuse to enslave him. If all the Jews were to convert to Christianity their plight would become even worse. This would intensify the resentment against foreigners who want to penetrate what is "ours."
We see, then, that there is no comparison between the attitude prevailing between two peoples who live in contiguous territories and the attitude of an indigenous people to a foreign group, conspicuous but weak, who lives among it. In the former case, the one strives to assimilate his neighbor if he sees no other way of gaining control of his possessions, while the other opposes the assimilatory designs of the first. In the latter case, the hatred that is engendered in the indigenous people when a foreign mass penetrates it invariably repels the foreigner and prevents him from assimilating even if he should desire to do so. So long as the foreigner joins only to benefit from the host’s unexpropriable assets, no one objects, and sometimes he is even being encouraged; as far as religion is concerned, it may even be forced upon him. But once there develops a threat of equalizing the foreigner’s rights with those of the dominant group, pressure against this dangerous tendency begins. Here too the shortsightedness of social egoism is revealed. Because of its zealous preoccupation with ensuring that not a single crumb of "mine" should fall into the hands of the foreigner–who possesses no rights and who may rightly be persecuted–the ruling class completely ignores the fact that if it were to draw the foreigner in, he would become a most beneficial element. Hostility toward strangers and all related manifestations of violence are obviously harmful to the perpetrators, for they corrupt the indigenous people and educate them to lawlessness.
Furthermore, the foreigners manage, in one way or another, to link themselves to the interests of the natives since, being cut off from the land, they could not survive for a moment without such ties. Hence, all the disturbances directed against the foreigners have an ill effect on the natives although to a lesser degree. This is why discerning persons in the society, who always oppose policies of forced fusion of groups living an adjacent territories and who preach nonintervention, regard it as their duty to aid in the assimilation of foreign groups living amidst their own society, and raise their voice against the hostile expulsion of foreigners, which is practiced by most of the society. However much they may try to conceal it from themselves and from others, their attitude toward the foreigners in their land is always one of expediency: the guiding principle is the advantage to the dominant people and, by the same token, a disregard for the natural needs of the foreign people. Members of the progressive classes of society well understand that foreigners can perform valuable functions, but the foreigners’ personality is not their affair, and they treat them as animals. In order to exploit our talents they want to assimilate us and dissolve us among their masses.
In the past, even these measures were unnecessary: progressive rulers, who recognized the benefit of Jewish activity, would grant the Jews special privileges in return for the performance of these functions and would make no effort to bring about their assimilation. This was the case, for example, with the privileges granted to the Jews by Casimir the Great. He opened wide the gates of commerce and finance and ensured them freedom of religion and safety of life and property, but at the same time isolated them completely from any external influence and removed them from Poland’s political life. This treatment was appropriate to the economic positions of the Jews and the peoples about them. In that period the Jews functioned as middlemen and artisans. The surrounding society had no use for Jewish labor developed outside the guilds; its consumers were the Jews themselves. But commerce was then an important factor in the economic development of Europe. Farsighted kings and princes often even facilitated matters for the Jews in the performance of their functions; but the shortsighted masses, the tyrannical clergy, and the ignorant nobility, although they benefited from the services of the Jewish merchants and moneylenders, were still unable to overcome their hatred for the Jews and harassed them as much as they could.
The position of the Jews was then much more alarming than it is today, but at least they stood on firm economic ground: they were useful, they promoted the factors from which present-day capitalism and the bourgeoisie developed. The were by no means the poor, unfortunate multitude they are today. And even if they were eventually despoiled, they had the opportunity of arising and shaking off their degradation, because there was no one else to perform their unique economic functions. When it happened that the Jews were banished from a country that had not yet managed, by virtue of Jewish activities, to reach a stage of development that would enable it to do without them–i.e., where a vigorous and capable, commercial bourgeoisie had not yet arisen–the expulsion of the Jews caused the country’s decline, as occurred in Spain.
As for the banished Jews, the way was still open to countries that were already in need of middlemen but had not yet produced such a class from among their own people. The trend of Jewish expulsions in the Middle Ages was from Western to Eastern Europe. Here the course of capitalism overtook that of the Galut. Where the Jews had previously been of use they eventually became altogether superfluous. But the authorities did not wait until that stage was reached; they hastened to expel the Jews while the time was ripe, when the local bourgeoisie that was competing with the Jews was beginning to stand on its own feet.
The expulsions as such were no innovation in the Galut process, which was an historical necessity. If the Jews had not been expelled then, they would have been ousted from their economic position eventually, since, being prevented from owning land, they had no chance of competing with the natives and would sooner or later have emigrated from those countries. Only the expulsion from Spain was an exception to this rule, accomplishing at a very early stage what was bound to occur eventually–but this deviation was caused by special circumstances which need not be explored here. Such crude expulsions of masses of Jews are out of the question today. Consequently, the anti-Semitic society and government in countries where the Jews have become superfluous do not wait until they have become totally redundant, but hasten to drive them out of the country. Such a policy in Rumania led to a large-scale Jewish exodus.
Our economic position has always been distressingly dependent on that of the peoples among whom we live. The reason for this is that the economic life of society is always based on its relation to nature; only through a struggle with nature can man obtain the materials and means necessary for his survival. The basis of every society is the agricultural class. This truth is valid independently of the theory of the Physiocrats. Any social group that has no such basis is compelled to form strong ties with other groups who are based on the land, and from whom it can obtain agricultural products. The entire life and fate of the Jews in the Galut, long ago cut-off from the land and with no agricultural class, depend entirely on finding a society which, because it needs the services of the Jews, will give them in return agricultural products, cattle, or manufactured goods.
But the peoples who have never needed us and those who have ceased to need us will try–as we now see–to drive us away by means of restrictive laws or, if humane feelings rule out legal discrimination, will destroy us by a persistent boycott; at best, competition will put an end to the Jews. For even where the Jews are numerous, only a few can become big capitalists while the rest, the middle and lower middle classes, cannot withstand the competition of the local bourgeoisie, whose strength lies in its land and its blood-ties with the rest of the population. At present there is hardly a need for us anywhere. We have become superfluous. There can be only one fate in store for us–complete economic degeneration–and consequently physical and cultural degeneration.
In our generation the signs of the degeneration process are already discernable in terrifying forms. Prostitution has made its appearance among us. Poverty has reached unparalleled proportions. The slightest economic tremor ejects us by the thousands from our petty bourgeoisie position into the arms of the lumplenproletariat, into the desperate poverty of the sans-culottes. Furthermore, most of the Jews are concentrated in countries where capitalism did not develop organically and steadily, but suddenly swept the whole economy into its whirling vortex: Russia, Galicia, and Rumania were sucked into the process of industrial capitalism by the tempest of inevitability. This stunned everyone, but especially the Jews, who possessed no land and were economically weak.
The extent to which we are hanging in a vacuum can easily be seen from the following example. Ask an old Jewish merchant whether he has not noticed that the number of his Christian customers has declined; his answer will be that he used to deal mainly with Christians and now deals only with Jews. Has he not noticed that lately the Jews are resorting to credit, and that on this basis they are making a living from one another and not from the Christians? You will see that the structure of Jewish commerce is built on the sand of perpetual reciprocal credit.
The Christians already have merchants of their own to whom they turn more readily than to the Jews. The Jews used to buy agricultural products, bread, cattle, iron, and the like from the local populace, and would pay for them in cash, using the money they had earned from them through trade and interest. With what will they pay the Gentile now, if he does not buy from them at all? It can only be from past savings, which of course are gradually decreasing. The possibility of making up the difference with income from the surrounding populace is diminishing, with the result that Jews who have not managed to acquire considerable property will suffer utter impoverishment.
We are foreigners, and nowhere in the world do we possess the social power that could make us masters of our fate. We are cut off from nature and have no agriculture. All this has left us hovering in the air. Our history in the Galut has never been shaped by our own powers; our fate has always depended on external ties. Can progress in the Galut redeem us from this dependence and insecurity? So land as Jew-hatred exists, hatred of us as strangers, progress will only make our position more sensitive, more passive; the difficulty of our position, subjectively, will become intolerable. Jew-hatred could conceivably come to an end as a result of a thorough social revolution, or through gradual atrophy. Many of our optimists think that the roots of Jew-hatred lie in the economic forces of the times and that if there is a basic reform of the existing social order, Jew-hatred will disappear.
If I could permit myself to digress here and examine all the fundamental principles of systematic Zionist thought–something I cannot do in the limits set for this essay–it could be proved, first, that Jew hatred does not stem from economic factors but from this sociopsychological sphere; that its roots lie in certain forces that necessarily operate in every society. Second, the Jews are not exploited, nor is it the alleged exploitation practiced by the Jews that has aroused this hatred. Competition is not the explanation of anti-Semitism, which often manifests itself most violently precisely among those social classes not even in the position of competing with us–such as peasants, laborers, or clerks. Even national competition can explain nothing in this case, since the Jews have no basis for competing. Third, basic changes in the social system can strike directly at legal institutions but not at human feelings, among which Jew-hatred is numbered. And feelings, when deprived by the revolution of legal institutions which formerly embodied them, will establish new institutions for their needs. Fourth, the social revolution, on which our optimists pin their hopes, will be a long time in coming, if at all. Finally, Jew-hatred as an independent feeling or evil spirit–that is, a feeling long-freed from any solid reason or excuse–which manifests itself as hatred for the Jew simply because he is a Jew, can be eliminated only in the course of protracted, peaceful social development atrophying for lack of nourishment as, with society’s progress, its causes gradually disappear.
If we wait for redemption we shall wait for a very long time, so long that in the meantime we might have created not one but several Jewish states. In the meantime we shall become completely superfluous, and the reserves on which we have been subsisting until now will have been consumed. On the other hand, it is no secret that in the countries still open to us, such as the United States and England, we have already become too conspicuous, and there are places there were our presence arouses a burning Jew-hatred. Our poverty-stricken masses are already so crowded in the ghetto that they are compelled to rebuff without mercy all the new immigrants who arrive. Restrictions are already being placed on our entry to those countries, and soon they will be barred to us completely. The desire to emigrate has grown under the pressure of the stifling atmosphere in the Pale of Settlement, but new outlets for the flow of emigration have not yet opened up. For who is willing to take in the homeless and impoverished members of a foreign nation, who are not even able to do productive labor?
The Zionists wish to exploit the force of this emigration to achieve their objectives, but until Zionism begins to be realized in concrete terms, the Jews have nowhere to turn. Some try to comfort us by saying that the Pale of Settlement may soon be abolished. The difficulty is–where can we go from there? There are enough merchants in Greater Russia without us, and there are hosts of unemployed workers. Moreover, the attitude of the population there toward the Jews is more hostile than in the Pale of Settlement. This is known to anyone who is familiar with the peasants’ attitude toward the Jews in the Pale; it is also known that they generally constitute the bulk of the pogrom mobs. If these peasants hate us in our Pale of Settlement, why should they hate us less in their own area of settlement? Even assuming that in Greater Russia we are left alone initially and treated humanely, will the proportion of the Jewish population change from what it is today?
Is there such a great difference between the conspicuousness of 5 million Jews among a population of 100 million in all of Russia? It should be remembered that the Jews will continue to live only in cities. This will attract attention to them both among the city-dwellers and the villagers, exactly as now occurs in the Pale of Settlement. Was there no Jew-hatred in Greater Russia before the Jews were enclosed in the Pale? Were there not cruel persecutions in Nizhniy Novgorod? Will not professional inciters of Jew-hatred make their appearance and create around the Jews a poisonous atmosphere, ostracism, and a systemic exclusion from all fields of endeavor? In what way does Greater Russia hold out greater blessings for the Jews than Galicia or the United States? Briefly, perhaps the abolition of the Pal would temporarily relieve the position of some Jewish groups, but it would extend the Jewish question to a much greater area without getting to the root of the matter. The root is in the lack of the land, the conspicuous of the mass of foreigners that catches the eye of the local populace, the fate of becoming superfluous, and of sinking into an abyss of rootlessness and grinding poverty.
For the bulk of Jewry, which is crowded together in Russia and Galicia, the present situation is critical; if deliverance does not come now it will perish, for no legal concessions can stop the inevitable process of historical necessity. Just as in the Middle Ages there were no legal restrictions or persecutions except those resulting from the internal and irresistible necessity of the Galut, which brought capitalism victorious on the heels of the Jews, so today it would be shortsighted to assume that the "temporary laws" of the Pale of Settlement and the like are simply the doing of governments that dislike the Jews.
Here as in the Middle Ages, considerations of what was advantageous to the state emerged, and merely anticipated and forced what would have come about sooner or later of itself, more gradually and without the assistance of legal restrictions, by virtue of historical necessity. From this standpoint, by recognizing the inner law operating in the Galut–which I have only sketched here in broad outline–we shall also understand that the Galut is drawing to an end. And by virtue of that same irresistible necessity we shall also understand that the law that determines our fate obliges us to take action that will speed the end of the Galut. We must hasten its death, and not prolong the death throes by a struggle to ease the conditions of Jews in the Diaspora, by letting ourselves be drawn after the mirage of emancipation, of legal amelioration, and of progress. | <urn:uuid:439ed667-410e-45c7-bff7-3bdc1b03dd6b> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Questions_of_Zionist_Theory | 2016-07-29T17:58:09Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257831770.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071031-00204-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971398 | 8,953 |
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Victoria's Secret Store, 722 Lexington Ave, New York, NY
|Founded||June 12, 1977
Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, California, United States
|Headquarters||Three Limited Parkway, Columbus, Ohio, United States|
Number of locations
|1,017 company-owned stores
18 independently owned stores
|United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Israel, Austria, Ireland, Poland, Taiwan and Thailand|
(CEO of Victoria's Secret Stores)
Sharen Jester Turney
(CEO and President of Victoria's Secret Megabrand and Intimate Apparel)
|Products||Underwear, women's clothing, lingerie, swimwear, footwear, fragrances and beauty products, and make up.|
Victoria's Secret is an American designer, manufacturer and marketer of women's premium lingerie, womenswear and beauty products. With 2012 sales of $6.12 billion, it is the largest American retailer of women's lingerie. Victoria's Secret is wholly owned by L Brands, a publicly traded company.
- 1 1977: Founding
- 2 1977–1980: The early years
- 3 1982: Sale to The Limited
- 4 1983: Strategy change
- 5 1983–1990: Expansion into malls
- 6 1990–1993: Persistent quality problems
- 7 1993–1999: Nichols resolves quality problems
- 8 Early 2000s: Decelerating growth leads to brand overhaul
- 9 2006–2008: Growth
- 10 Products and marketing
- 11 Reception
- 12 Competitors
- 13 Operating divisions
- 14 Corporate affairs
- 15 Controversies 2009–2015
- 16 See also
- 17 References
- 18 External links
Eight years prior to founding Victoria's Secret, Raymond was embarrassed when purchasing lingerie for his wife at a department store. Newsweek reported him looking back on the incident from the vantage of 1981: "When I tried to buy lingerie for my wife," he recalls, "I was faced with racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns, and I always had the feeling the department store saleswomen thought I was an unwelcome intruder."
During the 1970s and 1980s, most women in America purchased "dowdy", "pragmatic", "foundation garments" by Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Jockey in packs of three from department stores and saved "fancier items" for "special occasions" like honeymoons. "Lacy thongs and padded push-up bras" were niche products during this period found "alongside feathered boas and provocative pirate costumes at Frederick's of Hollywood" outside of the mainstream product offerings available at department stores.
Raymond studied the lingerie market for eight years before borrowing $40,000 from his parents and $40,000 from a bank to establish Victoria's Secret: a store in which men could feel comfortable buying lingerie. The company's first store was located in Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California.
1977–1980: The early years
By 1980, Raymond had added two more San Francisco stores at 2246 Union Street and 115 Wisconsin Street.
By 1982, the fourth store (still in the San Francisco area) was added at 395 Sutter Street. Victoria's Secret stayed at that 395 Sutter Street location until 1990, when it moved to the larger Powell Street frontage of the Westin St. Francis.
The Victoria's Secret stores at this time were "a niche player" in the underwear market. The business was described as "more burlesque than Main Street."
1982: Sale to The Limited
Raymond's philosophy of focusing on selling lingerie to male customers became increasingly unprofitable and Victoria's Secret headed for bankruptcy.
In 1982, it had grown to six stores, a 40-page catalogue, and was grossing $5 million annually. Raymond sold Victoria's Secret Inc. to Leslie Wexner, creator of Limited Stores Inc of Columbus, Ohio, for $1 million. (Though the figure was not disclosed until later.)
1983: Strategy change
In 1983, Leslie Wexner revamped Victoria's Secret. He discarded the money-losing model of selling lingerie to male customers and replaced it with one that focused on female customers. Victoria's Secret transformed from "more burlesque than Main Street" to a mainstay that sold broadly accepted underwear. The "new colors, patterns and styles that promised sexiness packaged in a tasteful, glamorous way and with the snob appeal of European luxury" were supposed to appeal to and appease female buyers. To further this image, the Victoria's Secret catalog continued the practice that Raymond began: listing the company's headquarters on catalogs at a fake London address, with the real headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The stores were redesigned to evoke 19th century England.
1983–1990: Expansion into malls
Howard Gross took over as president, from his position as vice-president, in 1985.
In October that year, the Los Angeles Times reported that Victoria's Secret was stealing market share from department stores; in 1986, Victoria's Secret was the only national chain of lingerie stores.
In 1987, Victoria's Secret was reportedly among the "best-selling catalogs". In 1990, analysts estimated that sales had quadrupled in four years, making it one of the fastest growing mail-order businesses.
The New York Times described it as a "highly visible leader", saying it used "unabashedly sexy high-fashion photography to sell middle-priced underwear."
Victoria's Secret also released their own line of fragrances in 1992.
1990–1993: Persistent quality problems
By the early 1990s, Victoria's Secret faced a gap in management that led to the "once hot lingerie chain" to be "plagued by persistent quality problems". Howard Gross, who had grown the company into a "lingerie empire" since Wexner's 1982 purchase, was moved to poorly performing L Brands subsidiary Limited Stores. Business Week reported that "both divisions have suffered".
1993–1999: Nichols resolves quality problems
Victoria's Secret introduced the Miracle Bra selling two million within the first year, but faced competition from Sara Lee's WonderBra a year later. The company responded to their rival with a TV campaign.
In 1999, the company aimed to increase its coverage with the Body by Victoria brand.
Early 2000s: Decelerating growth leads to brand overhaul
In May 2000, Wexner installed Sharen Jester Turney, previously of Neiman Marcus Direct, as the new chief executive of Victoria's Secret Direct to turn around catalog sales that were lagging behind other divisions. Forbes reported Turney articulating, as she flipped through a Victoria's Secret catalog, "We need to quit focusing on all that cleavage."
In 2000, Turney began to redefine Victoria's Secret catalog from "breasts—spilling over the tops of black, purple and reptile-print underthings" to one that would appeal to an "upscale customer who now feels more comfortable buying La Perla or Wolford lingerie."; "dimming the hooker looks" such as "tight jeans and stilettos"; and moving from "a substitute for Playboy in some dorm rooms," to something closer to a Vogue lifestyle layout, where lingerie, sleepwear, clothes and cosmetics appear throughout the catalog.
Beginning in 2000, Grace Nichols, CEO of Victoria's Secret Direct, led a similar change at Victoria's Secret's stores—moving away from an evocation of 1800s England (or a Victorian bordello).
By 2006, Victoria's Secret's 1,000 stores across the United States accounted for one third of all purchases in the intimate apparel industry.
In May 2006, Wexner promoted Sharen Jester Turney from the Victoria's Secret catalog and online units to lead the whole company. In 2008, she acknowledged "product quality that doesn't equal the brand's hype".
Products and marketing
In 1989, FCB/Leber Katz Partners and Victoria's Secret executed a national advertising campaign featuring for the first time in the company history a ten-page glossy insert that appeared in the November issues of Elle, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Victoria, House Beautiful, Bon Appetit, New Woman, and People magazines. Victoria's Secret used the insert to announce their expansion into the toiletries and fragrance business. Up through to the ten page insert, Victoria's Secret growth had been driven by their catalog, sporadic ads in fashion publications, and word of mouth.
In 2002, swimwear was introduced and available via the web site and catalog; in the last three years, the swimwear has become more readily available in stores. In 2016, it was reported that the brand was refocusing several areas of the business, including swim.
Recent product history
In 2010, Victoria's Secret launched the Incredible bra.
In 2012, Victoria's Secret launched the Victoria's Secret Designer Collection described by Vogue as the company's "first high end lingerie line."
Over the course of Victoria's Secret's evolution, the company "has gone from being value-driven to creating a luxury-shopping experience and an aura of fashion associated with its product" which has been driven by marketing.
The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is an annual "elaborate marketing tool for Limited Brands". The show is a mix of "beautiful models scantily clad in lingerie" and A-list entertainers "And every year, it becomes less about fashion and more about show".
The company gained notoriety in the early 1990s after it began to use supermodels in its advertising and fashion shows. Throughout the 2000s, Victoria's Secret has turned down celebrity models and endorsements.
In 1999, Victoria's Secret's 30 second Super Bowl advertisement led to one million visits to the company's website within an hour of airing.
In 2004, Victoria's Secret featured Bob Dylan in an advertisement to test new marketing possibilities while Victoria's Secret dropped their fashion show for 2004 as a result of the fallout from the Janet Jackson/Super Bowl incident that caused complaints from women's groups.
The brand turned to social networking in 2009, opening an official Facebook page and later on official Twitter and Pinterest accounts. It also expanded its website to feature behind-the-scenes content about its catalog and commercial shoots, as well as its fashion show.
Victoria's Secret host two biggest sale event which is called semi annual sale. First one is on January and 2nd on June of same year. During semi annual sale, one can buy their favorite item at up to 60% off the retail price.
The company created a campaign to market their its "Body" bra line called "The Perfect Body." The campaign has elicited substantial controversy, with many sources saying it will lower women's self-esteem because it does not embrace all body types.
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
Beginning in 1995, Victoria's Secret began holding their annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which is broadcast on primetime American television. Starting with the 1995 fashion show, they are "a combination of self-assured strutting for women and voyeuristic pleasures for men—and lingerie becomes mainstream entertainment."
Ken Weil, vice president at Victoria's Secret, and Tim Plzak, responsible for IT at Victoria's Secret's parent company Intimate Brands, led Victoria's Secret's first ever online streaming of their fashion show in 1999. The 18 minutes webcast streamed February 2, 1999, was at the time the Internet's "biggest event" since inception. The 1999 webcast was reported as a failure by a number of newspapers on account of some user's inability to watch the show featuring Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, and Stephanie Seymour as a result of Victoria's Secret's technology falling short being able to meet the online user demand resulting in network congestion and users who could see the webcast receiving jerky frames. In all, the company's website saw over 1.5 million visits while the Broadcast.com's computer's were designed to handle between 250,000 and 500,000 simultaneous viewers. In total, 1.5 million viewers either attempted or viewed the webcast.
The 1999 webcast served to create a database for Victoria's Secret of over 500,000 current and potential customers by requiring users to submit their contact details to view the webcast. The next spring Victoria's Secret avoided technical issues by partnering with Broadcast.com, America Online, and Microsoft. The 2000 webcast attracted more than two million viewers.
By 2011, the budget for the fashion show was $12 million up from the first show's budget of $120,000.
Victoria's Secret Angels
Victoria's Secret started working with renowned models in the early 1990s, with the hiring of Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Yasmeen Ghauri, Jill Goodacre, and Frederique van der Wal. These models helped the brand gain notice and soon enough were featured in televised commercials.
Angels is one of Victoria's Secret's lingerie lines, which was launched in 1997, with a commercial featuring Helena Christensen, Karen Mulder, Daniela Peštová, Stephanie Seymour, and Tyra Banks as well as pop star Tom Jones. The commercial was a major success and the Angels began to be featured in various commercials, alongside other contract models for the brand such as Yasmeen Ghauri, Inés Rivero, and Laetitia Casta. From then onwards, the term Angel started to become synonymous with being a contracted spokesmodel for the brand and in February 1998, the Angels made their runway debut at Victoria's Secret's 4th annual fashion show, with Chandra North filling in for Christensen.
Seymour, Mulder, Pestova, Banks, Casta, and Heidi Klum were all featured in both of Victoria's Secret webcast and took part in the promotion as the brand's contract models. Starting in 2001, the show has been televised and usually features the year's Angel line-up at the start of the show, starting with Pestova, Banks, Klum, and Gisele Bundchen[nb 1] In 2004, due to the Super Bowl controversy, instead of a televised show, Victoria's Secret sent its five contract models (Banks, Klum, Bundchen, Adriana Lima, and Alessandra Ambrosio) on a tour called Angels Across America, as by then, the word had become synonymous with Victoria's Secret spokesmodels. The last original Angel, Tyra Banks, departed the following year, as Karolina Kurkova, Selita Ebanks, and Izabel Goulart were hired.
Among other recognitions, the Victoria's Secret Angels were chosen to be part of People magazine's annual "100 Most Beautiful People in the World" issue in 2007 and became the first trademark awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 13, 2007, with Klum, Lima, Ambrosio, Kurkova, Goulart, Ebanks, Marisa Miller, and Miranda Kerr at hand. Alongside new Angel Doutzen Kroes, they also took part in the grand reopening of the Fontainebleau in Miami in 2008. In 2009, it was widely reported that Candice Swanepoel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Chanel Iman, Emanuela de Paula and Lindsay Ellingson had been hired by the brand. However, De Paula was absent from the fashion show and Erin Heatherton was credited in her place, alongside the Angels (Klum, Ambrosio, Kerr, Miller, Kroes, and Behati Prinsloo, with Lima being on maternity leave). The brand also held a nationwide competition to hire a new "runway Angel" (as are dubbed all the models who walk in the show), Kylie Bisutti was crowned as the winner but soon parted ways with the brand. In the following year-and-a-half Swanepoel, Huntington-Whiteley, Iman, Heatherton, and Ellingson all were revealed as Angels.
Various tours have been held featuring the Angels, such as the Bombshell Tour in 2010 (featuring Lima, Swanepoel, and new recruit Lily Aldridge), a VSX tour in 2013 (featuring Swanepoel, Ambrosio, Ellingson, and Aldridge) and a Swim Tour in 2013 (featuring Swanepoel, Ellingson, and Heatherton). The Angels have been heavily featured on the brand's social media, including on a short-lived Facebook application in 2013-2014 highlighting the Angels (then including Lima, Swanepoel, Ellingson, Aldridge, and Karlie Kloss) as well as Lais Ribeiro, Toni Garrn, and Barbara Palvin.
Ellingson, Kroes, and Kloss all departed soon after the 2014 fashion show, leaving the brand with only 5 Angels. In 2015, the Angels as well as models Elsa Hosk, Joan Smalls, Lais Ribeiro, Martha Hunt, Jasmine Tookes, Stella Maxwell, and Monika 'Jac' Jagaciak were featured on the brand's first ever Swim Special. Soon after, in the brand's biggest group hiring ever, all but Smalls were revealed as Angels, along with longtime catalog regulars Lais Ribeiro and Sara Sampaio as well as Kate Grigorieva, Taylor Marie Hill, and Romee Strijd. The following year, Jagaciak and Griegorieva exited, while catalog regular Josephine Skriver was added to the roster.
Other notable spokesmodels for the brand have included: Claudia Schiffer, Eva Herzigová, Oluchi Onweagba, Jessica Stam, Ana Beatriz Barros, and Bregje Heinen as well as a handful of celebrities such as Taylor Momsen.
|United States||Stephanie Seymour||1997–2000||1992||1995–2000||[nb 3]|
|Czech Republic||Daniela Peštová||1997–2002||1996||1998–2001|
|United States||Tyra Banks||1997–2005||1996||1996–2005|
|United States||Chandra North||1998 Fashion Show||1998||1998||[nb 4]|
|Germany/ United States||Heidi Klum||1999–2010||1997||1997–2009 (host only in 2006)||[nb 5]|
|Brazil/ Serbia||Adriana Lima||2000–present||1999||1999–2008, 2010–present|
|Czech Republic||Karolína Kurková||2005–2009||2000||2000–2008, 2010|
|Cayman Islands||Selita Ebanks||2005–2009||2004||2005–2010|
|United States||Marisa Miller||2007–2010||2002||2007–2009|
|Australia||Miranda Kerr||2007–2013||2005||2006–2009, 2011–2012|
|Netherlands||Doutzen Kroes||2008–2014||2004||2005–2006, 2008–2009, 2011–2014|
|United Kingdom||Rosie Huntington-Whiteley||2010–2011||2005||2006–2010|
|South Africa||Candice Swanepoel||2010–present||2007||2007–present|
|United States||Chanel Iman||2010–2012||2008||2009–2011|
|United States||Erin Heatherton||2010–2013||2008||2008–2013|
|United States||Lily Aldridge||2010–present||2008||2009–present|
|United States||Lindsay Ellingson||2011–2014||2006||2007–2014||[nb 6]|
|United States||Karlie Kloss||2013–2015||2011||2011–2014|
|Russia||Kate Grigorieva||2015–2016||2014||2014–present||[nb 7]|
|United States||Taylor Marie Hill||2015–present||2014||2014–present|
|United States||Martha Hunt||2015–present||2012||2013–present|
|United Kingdom||Stella Maxwell||2015–present||2014||2014–present|
|Brazil||Lais Ribeiro||2015–present||2010||2010-2011; 2013–present|
|United States||Jasmine Tookes||2015–present||2012||2012–present|
|Denmark||Josephine Skriver||2016–present ||2013||2013–present|
- There have been various instances where the fashion show credits included models who weren't Angels but were prominently featured by the brand, such as Selita Ebanks and Izabel Goulart in 2005, Candice Swanepoel, Lindsay Ellingson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Erin Heatherton, and Behati Prinsloo in 2009, Lais Ribeiro in 2011, PINK model Elsa Hosk in 2013 and Hosk, Ribeiro, Jasmine Tookes, Martha Hunt, and Stella Maxwell in 2014. All of them later went on to become Angels.
- Most Angels started working with the company years prior to signing an Angel contract. Listed above are the dates of first published or aired campaigns or, by default, first runway show or event.
- Stephanie Seymour was a fashion show host in 1995.
- Chandra North was featured as an Angel solely during the 1998 fashion show due to Christensen's absence.
- Heidi Klum was a fashion show host in 2002, 2006–2009.
- Lindsay Ellingson was first featured on VS All Access in 2010 but was only credited as an Angel for the fashion show from the following year onward.
- 10 Angels were added at the same time.
|United States||Rachel Hilbert||2015–present|
Victoria's Secret is known for its catalogs and its annual fashion show, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and has been credited with single-handedly transforming "America's conception of lingerie" by pioneering "sexy underwear as fashion" and "lingerie mainstream entertainment." The societal manifestation is "the increased cultural acceptance of shopping for undies" in the United States.
Victoria's Secret is credited with "transforming lingerie from a slightly embarrassing taboo into an accessible, even routine accessory." In 2006, The New York Times reported that traditional fashion was influenced by intimate apparel "in part because of the influence of Victoria's Secret – and ubiquitous, sexually charged come-hither marketing."
In 2008, Women's Wear Daily reported that while "Victoria's Secret dominates" in the lingerie market "the competition is intensifying".
Victoria Secret's operations are organized into three divisions: Victoria's Secret Stores (stores), Victoria's Secret Direct (online and catalog operations), and Victoria's Secret Beauty (their bath and cosmetics line). The company does business in the following retail formats: general merchandise stores, apparel stores.
Victoria's Secret stores
|Year||# of stores||Store sales in millions of U.S. dollars|
Throughout the 1980s, Victoria's Secret took over the market using "faux-British veneer, romantic styling and soft classical music." In 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that Victoria's Secret continued the practice of putting "on a British air—or what the Ohio-based chain thinks Americans believe is British. Boudoirish. Tony. Upscale."
During the 1990s, Victoria's Secret saw a 30% increase in store sales after the use of analyzing in their data warehouse in which specific store the styles, sizes and color of which bras were selling.
As of 2010, there are 1,000 Victoria's Secret lingerie stores and 100 independent Victoria's Secret Beauty Stores in the United States, mostly in shopping centers. They sell a range of brassieres, panties, hosiery, cosmetics, sleepwear, and other products. Victoria's Secret mails more than 400 million of its catalogs per year.
During the 1990s, store sizes grew from the average 1,400 square feet to between 4,000 and 5,000 square feet. By 1989, 50 stores had been updated to reflect "an English feel". In 2002, the average Victoria's Secret store was 6,000 square feet.
|Year||# of stores||Store sales in millions of U.S. dollars|
Up until the early 2000s, management at Victoria's Secret actively decided to not expand outside the United States. The drive to continue growing coupled with facing a maturing of the American retail market led to a change in that decision and to expand Victoria's Secret outside the United States. Victoria's Secret announced the company's plan to expand into Canada in 2010. The company opened 23 stores stores in Canada with locations in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.
In November 2005, the company opened its first boutique in the United Kingdom at Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5 with the help of World Duty Free. This was followed in 2009 with several Victoria's Secret Travel and Tourism stores residing within airports outside the United States. These include locations in Schiphol International Airport, The Netherlands.
Victoria's Secret opened their first store located at the Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford, London on July 24, 2012. Their flagship 40,386-square-foot- (3,752.0 m2) store on New Bond Street, London opened on August 29, 2012, and there will be further nationwide expansion across the United Kingdom. Victoria's Secret executive vice president and chief administrative officer Martyn R Redgrave told Women's Wear Daily "That's what we're looking to do as we expand, in the UK in particular, and those will be company-owned and operated". Since 2013, stores opened across the United Kingdom in Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol and London including Westfield London, Bluewater and Brent Cross. As of 2016, there are 15 stores in the United Kingdom.
In 2010, Victoria Secret's expanded with franchises internationally.
The first franchise store in Latin America opened in Isla Margarita, Venezuela on June 25, 2010 followed by other stores in the country, and in Bogota, Colombia, in July 2012 selling beauty products and accessories. Angel's Group, the Colombian company operating the franchise, is planning to open 10 stores in Colombia. Victoria's Secret is also planning on opening a store in the exclusive Multiplaza Mall in San Salvador, El Salvador.
In 2010, M.H. Alshaya Co. opened the first Victoria's Secret store in the Middle East region in Kuwait. M.H. Alshaya Co. operates the Victoria's Secret franchise located in the Marina Mall selling products including "cosmetic and branded accessories, but it has left out the brand's infamous lingerie line".
The brand's first Caribbean store opened in November 2011 at Plaza Las Americas in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Two stores also opened in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at the Agora, (mainly selling beauty products and accessories) and Sambil Santo Domingo malls in August 2012 and October 2012, respectively.
The first Polish store is opening its doors in July 2012 at Złote Tarasy in Warsaw and will be operated by M.H. Alshaya Co. New Victoria's Secrets shop open in July 24, 2012. This will be the first Victoria's Secret franchise store in Europe, just a day before the new store in the United Kingdom. However, as this is a franchise store it sells just beauty and accessories, whereas the London stores are the first company owned European stores and sell Victoria's Secret clothing.
Victoria's Secret Direct
|Year||Millions mailed||Sales in millions of U.S. dollars|
Prior to the emergence of e-commerce, the Victoria's Secret's catalogs provided both an informative and exciting experience in the comfort of the consumer's home.
The catalog under Raymond's leadership took the form of an upmarket version of Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie catalog being more sensuous than the catalog published under the future leadership of The Limited. In 1982 the Victoria's Secret catalog cost $3.
The New York Times reported that the Victoria's Secret's financial success catalogues' influenced other catalogues who changed to present lingerie as "romantic and sensual but tasteful" "in which models are photographed in ladylike poses against elegant backgrounds."
This led to Victoria's Secret dominating the catalog field for "lingerie and sexy nightwear." The catalogs allowed for consumers to review the entire spectrum of product offerings, along the axes of style, color and fabric. Victoria's Secret accepted catalog orders via telephone 24 hours a day.
Victoria's Secret's catalog offers a more diverse range of merchandise.
The Los Angeles Times described the catalog in 2000 as having achieved "an almost cult-like following."
In 1995 Victoria's Secret began building its e-commerce website which the company launched after three years of development at 6 p.m. December 4, 1998, using the domain VictoriasSecret.com. Twenty minutes later the first order was placed on the website from a Littleton, Colorado, customer at 6:20 p.m.
It was reported that the three year development was a result of the company's concern of rolling out a half-baked website that could "discourage return visits".
Viewers who logged onto the Victoria's Secret's website to view the company's first webcast of their fashion show on February 3, 1999, were unable to view the webcast due to the Internet infrastructure Victoria Secret's selected was unable to meet user demand causing some users to be unable to view the webcast.
Victoria's Secret Beauty
The Limited, Inc in 1998 created Intimate Beauty Corporation with a mandate to establish a group of beauty businesses with Victoria's Secret Beauty being the first company in the firm's portfolio.
In November 2012 Susie Coulter became president of Victoria's Secret Beauty; the company's beauty division located in New York City
Prior to the 1982 sale, the company's business name was Victoria's Secret, Inc. then afterwards the name was changed to Victoria's Secret Stores, Inc. In 2005, the company changed to Victoria's Secret Stores, LLC.
Victoria's Secret was originally owned by "The Limited". In 2002 Wexner reincorporated Victoria's Secret into the Limited; previously Victoria's Secret's parent company was Intimate Brands, a separately traded entity whose President was Ed Razek.
By 2006, 72% of Limited Brands' revenue—and almost all of their profits—came from their Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works units.
On July 10, 2007, the Victoria's Secret parent company, Limited Brands, sold a 75% interest in their apparel brands, Limited Stores and Express to Sun Capital Partners, to focus on expanding their Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works units. The immediate impact of the sale resulted in Limited Brands taking a $42 million after-tax loss.
Victoria's Secret stores
In 1985, Howard Gross was promoted to president from vice president. In 1991 Grace Nichols replaced Gross as president of Victoria's Secret Stores. Nichols previously had been "executive vice president and general merchandise manager of Limited's lingerie division."
Victoria's Secret Direct
Victoria's Secret Beauty
In May 2006, Christine Beauchamp was named president and CEO of Victoria's Secret Beauty. Beauchamp was succeeded by Shashi Batra in 2009, who became president of Victoria's Secret Beauty.
Robin Burns was CEO of Victoria's Secret Beauty.
After two years of pressure from environmentalist groups, Victoria's Secret's parent firm and a conservation group reached an agreement to make the lingerie retailer's catalog more environmentally friendly in 2006. The catalog would no longer be made of pulp supplied from any woodland caribou habitat range in Canada, unless it has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The catalogs will also be made of 10 percent recycled paper.
In 2006 it was reported that Victoria's Secret paid workers $7 per day to make bras for them in Thai factories.
||This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. (June 2015)|
- 2009 - Victoria's Secret was sued several times during 2009. The suits alleged that defective underwear contained formaldehyde that caused severe rashes on women who wore them. Six cases were filed in Ohio and two in Florida. At least 17 other suits were filed in six other states after January 2008. The plaintiff refused to submit to a simple patch test to determine the precise cause of her reaction and her case was later withdrawn. The Formaldehyde Council issued a statement that formaldehyde quickly dissipates in air, water and sunlight.
- 2012 - A Victoria's Secret supplier was investigated for use of child labor in harvesting cotton used to make its products.
- 2012 - Sued by Zephyrs; "has been accused of breaching a 2001 agreement and selling cheap 'knockoffs' of the company's stockings."
- 2012 - Drew criticism for a newly released lingerie collection titled "Go East" whose tagline pledged to women the capacity to "indulge in touches of eastern delight with lingerie inspired by the exquisite beauty of secret Japanese gardens." The collection included a mesh teddy "Sexy Little Geisha" featuring "flirty cutouts and Eastern-inspired florals". The Wall Street Journal reported that the collection was "accessorized with a miniature fan and a kimono-esque obi sash." Victoria's Secret removed the Asian-themed collection "that traded in sexualized, generic pan-Asian ethnic stereotypes."
- 2014 - A petition against the newly released lingerie collection called "Body" was created when the poster ads displayed the words 'THE PERFECT "BODY"' over well-known VS Angels. The petition, while becoming popular across social media, demanded that Victoria's Secret "apologise and take responsibility for the unhealthy and damaging message that their ‘Perfect Body’ campaign sends out about women’s bodies and how they should be judged." and further added "change the wording on their advertisements for their bra range Body, to something that does not promote unhealthy and unrealistic standards of beauty, as well as pledge to not use such harmful marketing in the future." and created the hashtag "#iamperfect", which trended on Twitter for body shaming women. The petition had over 30,000 signatures. Although there was never a formal apology released, Victoria's Secret took note of the petition and changed the words on their ad campaign to 'A BODY FOR EVERY BODY.'
- List of swimwear brands
- List of Victoria's Secret models
- Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
- Victoria's Secret Swim Special
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|Publication number||US7810119 B2|
|Application number||US 10/468,881|
|Publication date||Oct 5, 2010|
|Filing date||Feb 28, 2002|
|Priority date||Feb 28, 2001|
|Also published as||CN1236601C, CN1505896A, DE60234088D1, EP1374574A2, EP1374574B1, US20040093616, WO2002069628A2, WO2002069628A3|
|Publication number||10468881, 468881, PCT/2002/6303, PCT/US/2/006303, PCT/US/2/06303, PCT/US/2002/006303, PCT/US/2002/06303, PCT/US2/006303, PCT/US2/06303, PCT/US2002/006303, PCT/US2002/06303, PCT/US2002006303, PCT/US200206303, PCT/US2006303, PCT/US206303, US 7810119 B2, US 7810119B2, US-B2-7810119, US7810119 B2, US7810119B2|
|Inventors||Carolynn Rae Johnson|
|Original Assignee||Thomson Licensing|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (41), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (12), Classifications (21), Legal Events (1)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §365 of International Application PCT/US02/06303, filed Feb. 28, 2002, which was published in accordance with PCT Article 21(2) on Sept. 6, 2002 in English and which claims the benefit of U.S. patent application No. 60/272,140, filed Feb. 28, 2001.
This invention relates to the field of program guide data for television systems in general and, in particular, to searching electronic program guide data.
Due to the advent of cable television, direct satellite systems, and other television program broadcast systems, television viewers have very large numbers of programs from which to select. Sophisticated systems have been developed to assist a viewer in selecting programs to view or record, among which are Electronic Program Guide, (EPG).
An EPG is an interactive, on screen equivalent to TV listings found in local newspapers or other print media. An EPG can provide up to 20 different kinds of information about each program that is within the time frame covered by the EPG. The time frame typically ranges from the next hour up to seven days in advance. The information contained in an EPG includes program identification information such as, program title, start time, end time, time remaining, topic, theme, actors, writer, production studio, awards, keywords, release date, director, and a brief description. EPG program information is usually displayed in a two dimensional table or grid format with time on one axis and channel number on the other axis.
Unlike non-interactive guides that reside on a dedicated channel and merely scroll through the current programming on other channels, EPGs allow viewers to select any channel at any time within the EPG's time range. Further, EPG features include the ability to highlight individual cells of the grid containing program information. Once highlighted, the viewer can perform functions pertaining to that highlighted program. For instance, the viewer could instantly switch to that program if it is currently being aired. Viewers could also program one touch video cassette recording (VCR) or the like if the television is properly configured and connected to a recording device. Such EPGs are known in the art and are described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,353,121, 5,479,268, and 5,479,266.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,106, Chaney, describes a data packet structure necessary to implement an EPG system. The data packet structure is designed so that both the channel information (e.g., channel name, call letters, channel number, type, etc.) and the program identification information (e.g., content, title, rating, star, etc.) relating to a program may be transmitted from a program guide database provider to a receiving apparatus such as a television efficiently.
In a system capable of displaying an EPG, an electronic host device stores a record corresponding to each upcoming television program within the EPG's time frame. Each record contains program identification data that is unique to a particular upcoming television program. Program identification data includes at least one of program title, start time, end time, time remaining, topic, theme, actors, writer, production studio, awards, keywords, release date, director, and a brief description. Records are updated periodically by both deleting records of programs that have previously aired and adding new records of upcoming programs that fall within the EPG's time frame as time passes. The EPG is then displayed on a display module, such as a television, that is associated with the electronic host device.
EPG systems often store a large number of records for upcoming programs, facilitating an EPG to display a television programming schedule that covers a significant period of time. As such, an EPG can be used to find upcoming programs that may be of interest to a user days in advance of the program being aired. Thus, a need exists for a user to be able to efficiently and reliably search an EPG for upcoming programs that match a user's interests.
Methods and apparatus exist that allow a user to search an EPG system for records containing data that matches a user's search criteria, such as a text string. Some of the prior EPG systems may allow a user to perform, for example, a “one time” “search” or an “ongoing” search of the EPG records. In performing a one time search, a user composes a text string and a single search is conducted of the records for data matching the text string. Records containing data anywhere in the record that matches the text string are delineated as a match for that search. Once all the records are searched, upcoming programs whose records were delineated as a “match” are listed for the user in the display module's display area. As described above, the user can then perform a variety of functions pertaining to the listed programs by highlighting and selecting an upcoming program cell. An ongoing search is similar to a one time search except that the user-composed text string is saved in a nonvolatile memory of the electronic host device and repetitive searches are periodically performed of the records based on the saved text string. The repetitive searches can be performed either automatically or upon user command. One existing ongoing search is known as a Scout search.
One problem with prior art searches is that prior art search apparatus and methods search an entire record for data corresponding to the user-composed text string. As a result, records that contain data corresponding to the user composed text string anywhere in the record will be returned as a match. This results in a great number of “false alarms,” i.e., program records for upcoming programs that are of no interest to the user being returned as a match. For example, a search for the movie “Virus” would return as a match any and all programs whose titles, descriptions, themes, etc., contain the word virus. A search for the movie “Heavy Metal” would more often return music shows containing the term “heavy metal” in the description rather than the desired movie.
This problem is further aggravated by the additional information that is available in EPG records, including credit fields (actors, director, writer, studio, etc), awards information, and other miscellaneous information pertaining to a particular title, and by the ability to hold many days worth of guide information in the system. Continued implementation of prior art search mechanisms, therefore, will most likely return a much higher number of false alarms than hits, thus making the search feature less valuable to the user. Thus, there is a current need for an apparatus and method that searches EPG records more efficiently and reliably, resulting in less “false alarms.”
These problems and others are solved by the present invention which in one aspect is a method for assisting a user in selecting a program for viewing or listening comprising periodically receiving and storing electronic program guide information comprising records for forthcoming programs, the records having a plurality of fields; receiving a user selected text string and one more user selected fields; searching the program guide information for records having the user selected text string in one or more of the user selected fields; and displaying a list of the forthcoming programs corresponding to the matching records. Each record preferably has a field for at least one of topic, theme, description, title, actors, roles, director, writer, production studio, awards, keywords, or release date.
Preferably, the method further comprises saving the user selected text string and one or more user selected fields and repetitively searching the program guide information for records having the user selected text string in one or more of the user selected fields.
Also preferably, the method further comprises providing a user interface for performing the search, wherein the user interface has a list of the records' fields and the user designates one or more of the fields as the user selected fields by marking the data field in the list.
In another aspect, the invention is an apparatus for assisting a user in selecting a program for viewing or listening comprising means for periodically receiving and storing electronic program guide information comprising records for forthcoming programs, the records having a plurality of fields; a user interface comprising a display; user control means for entering a user selected text string and one more user selected fields; means for searching the program guide information for records having the user selected text string in one or more of the user selected fields; and means for displaying a list of the forthcoming programs corresponding to the matching records.
Preferably, the apparatus' user interface has a list of the records' fields and the user designates one or more of the fields as the user selected fields by marking the data field in the list. Also preferably, each program record of the apparatus has a field for at least one of topic, theme, description, title, actors, roles, director, writer, production studio, awards, keywords, or release date.
The system shown in
Main microprocessor 1110 also controls the operation of a communications interface unit 1113 for providing the capability to upload and download information to and from the internet. Communication interface unit 1113 includes, for example, a modem for connecting to an internet service provider, e.g., via a telephone line or via a cable television line. The communication capability allows the system shown in
CPU 1112 controls functions included within mP 1110 via bus 1119 within mP 1110. In particular, CPU 1112 controls auxiliary data processor 1115 and on-screen display (OSD) processor 1117. Auxiliary data processor 1115 extracts auxiliary data such as StarSight™ data from video signal PIPV.
StarSight™ data which provides program guide data information in a known format is typically received only on a particular television channel and the television receiver must tune that channel to extract StarSight™ data. To prevent StarSight™ data extraction from interfering with normal use of the television receiver, CPU 1112 initiates StarSight™ data extraction by tuning the particular channel only during a time period when the television receiver is usually not in use (e.g., 2:00 AM). At that time, CPU 1112 configures decoder 1115 such that auxiliary data is extracted from horizontal line intervals such as line 16 that are used for StarSight™ data. CPU 1112 controls the transfer of extracted StarSight™ data from decoder 1115 via I2C BUS to StarSight™ module 1160. A processor internal to the module formats and stores the data in memory within the module. In response to the StarSight™ EPG display being activated (e.g., a user activating a particular key on remote control 125), CPU 1112 transfers formatted StarSight™ EPG display data from StarSight™ module 1160 via I2C BUS to OSD processor 1117.
OSD processor 1117 operates in a conventional manner to produce R, G, and B video signals OSD_RGB that, when coupled to a displayed device (not shown), will produce a displayed image representing on-screen display information in according to
Video signal processor (VSP) 1155 performs conventional video signal processing functions, such as luma and chroma processing. Output signals produced by VSP 1155 are suitable for coupling to a display device, e.g., a kinescope or LCD device (not shown in
The input signal for VSP 1155 is signal PIPV that is output by picture-in-picture (PIP) processor 1140. When a user activates PIP mode, signal PIPV represents a large picture (large pix) into which a small picture (small pix) is inset. When PIP mode is inactive, signal PIPV represents just the large pix, i.e., no small pix signal is included in signal PIPV. PIP processor 1140 provides the described functionality in a conventional manner using features included in unit 1140 such as a video switch, analog-to-digital converter (ADC), RAM, and digital to analog converter (DAC).
As mentioned above, the display data included in the EPG display is produced by OSD processor 1117 and included in the output signal by VSP 1155 in response to fast switch signal FSW. When controller 1110 detects activation of the EPG display, e.g., when a user presses an appropriate key on remote control 1125, controller 1110 causes OSD processor 1117 to produce the EPG display using information such as program guide data from StarSight™ module 1160. Controller 1110 causes VSP 1155 to combine the EPG display data from OSD processor 1117 and the video image signal in response to signal FSW to produce a display including EPG. The EPG can occupy all or only a portion of the display area.
When the EPG display is active, controller 1110 executes an EPG control program stored in EEPROM 1127. The control program monitors the location of a position indicator, such as a cursor and/or highlighting, in the EPG display. A user controls the location of the position indicator using direction and selection keys of remote control 1125. Alternatively, the system could include a mouse device. Controller 1110 detects activation of a selection device, such as clicking a mouse button, and evaluates current cursor location information in conjunction with EPG data being displayed to determine the function desired, e.g., tuning a particular program Controller 1110 subsequently activates the control action associated with the selected feature.
The process and displaying of a program guide in accordance with the present invention may be implemented using a combination of software and hardware. For example, referring to
An exemplary embodiment of the features of the system shown in
In overview, in the video receiver system of
Video and audio decoders 85 and 80 respectively, decode the compressed data from system 25 to provide outputs for display. Data port 75 provides an interface for communication of the compressed data from system 25 to other devices such as a computer or High Definition Television (HDTV) receiver, for example. Storage device 90 stores the compressed data from system 25 on storage medium 105. Device 90, in a playback mode also supports retrieval of the compressed data from storage medium 105 for processing by system 25 for decoding, communication to other devices or storage on a different storage medium (not shown to simplify drawing).
Multiplexer (mux) 37 of service detector 33 is provided, via selector 35, with either the output from decoder 30, or the decoder 30 output further processed by a descrambling unit 40. Descrambling unit 40 may be, for example, a removable unit such as a smart card in accordance with ISO 7816 and NRSS (National Renewable Security Standards) Committee standards (the NRSS removable conditional access system is defined in EIA Draft Document IS-679, Project PN-3639). Selector 35 detects the presence of an insertable, compatible, descrambling card and provides the output of unit 40 to mux 37 only if the card is currently inserted in the video receiver unit. Otherwise selector 35 provides the output from decoder 30 to mux 37. The presence of the insertable card permits unit 40 to descramble additional premium program channels, for example, and provide additional program services to a viewer. It should be noted that in the preferred embodiment NRSS unit 40 and smart card unit 130 (smart card unit 130 is discussed later) share the same system 25 interface such that only either an NRSS card or a smart card may be inserted at any one time. However, the interfaces may also be separate to allow parallel operation.
The data provided to mux 37 from selector 35 is in the form of an MPEG compliant packetized transport datastream as defined in MPEG systems standard section 2.4 and includes program guide information and the data content of one or more program channels. The individual packets that comprise particular program channels are identified by Packet Identifiers (PIDs). The transport stream contains Program Specific Information (PSI) for use in identifying the PIDs and assembling individual data packets to recover the content of all the program channels that comprise the packetized datastream. Transport system 25, under the control of the system controller 115, acquires and collates program guide information from the input transport stream, storage device 90 or an Internet service provider via the communication interface unit 116. The individual packets that comprise either particular program channel content or Program Guide information, are identified by their Packet Identifiers (PIDs) contained within header information. As discussed above, the program description contained in the program guide information may comprise different program descriptive fields such as title, star, rating, etc., relating to a program.
The user interface incorporated in the video receiver shown in
Data representing information displayed in the OSD menu is generated by system controller 115 in response to stored on-screen display (OSD) information representing text/graphics, stored program guide information, and/or program guide and text/graphics information received via the input signal as described above and in accordance with exemplary control programs to be shown in
Using remote control unit 125 (or other selection means such as a mouse) a user can select from the OSD menu items such as a program to be viewed, a program to be stored (e.g., recorded), the type of storage media and manner of storage. System controller 115 uses the selection information, provided via interface 120, to configure system 25 to select the programs for storage and display and to generate PSI suitable for the selected storage device and media. Controller 115 configures system 25 elements 45,47,50,55,65 and 95 by setting control register values within these elements via a data bus and by selecting signal paths via muxes 37 and 110 with control signal C.
In response to control signal C, mux 37 selects either, the transport stream from unit 35, or in a playback mode, a datastream retrieved from storage device 90 via store interface 95. In normal, non-playback operation, the data packets comprising the program that the user selected to view are identified by their PEDs by selection unit 45. If an encryption indicator in the header data of the selected program packets indicates the packets are encrypted, unit 45 provides the packets to decryption unit 50. Otherwise unit 45 provides non-encrypted packets to transport decoder 55. Similarly, the data packets comprising the programs that the user selected for storage are identified by their PIDs by selection unit 47. Unit 47 provides encrypted packets to decryption unit 50 or non-encrypted packets to mux 110 based on the packet header encryption indicator information.
The functions of decryptors 40 and 50 may be implemented in a single removable smart card which is compatible with the NRSS standard. The approach places all security related functions in a removable unit that can easily be replaced if a service provider decides to change encryption techniques or to permit easily changing the security system, e.g., to descramble a different service.
Units 45 and 47 employ PID detection filters that match the PIDs of incoming packets provided by mux 37 with PID values pre-loaded in control registers within units 45 and 47 by controller 115. The pre-loaded PIDs are used in units 47 and 45 to identify the data packets that are to be stored and the data packets that are to be decoded for use in providing a video image. The pre-loaded PIDs are stored in look-up tables in units 45 and 47. The PID look-up tables are memory mapped to encryption key tables in units 45 and 47 that associate encryption keys with each pre-loaded PID. The memory mapped PID and encryption key look-up tables permit units 45 and 47 to match encrypted packets containing a pre-loaded PID with associated encryption keys that permit their decryption. Non-encrypted packets do not have associated encryption keys. Units 45 and 47 provide both identified packets and their associated encryption keys to decryptor 50. The PID look-up table in unit 45 is also memory mapped to a destination table that matches packets containing pre-loaded PIDs with corresponding destination buffer locations in packet buffer 60. The encryption keys and destination buffer location-addresses associated with the programs selected by a user for viewing or storage are pre-loaded into units 45 and 47 along with the assigned PIDs by controller 115. The encryption keys are generated by ISO 7816-3 compliant smart card system 130 from encryption codes extracted from the input datastream. The generation of the encryption keys is subject to customer entitlement determined from coded information in the input data stream and/or pre-stored on the insertable smart card itself (International Standards Organization document ISO 7816-3 of 1989 defines the interface and signal structures for a smart card system).
The packets provided by units 45 and 47 to unit 50 are encrypted using an encryption technique such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES) defined in Federal Information Standards (FIPS) Publications 46, 74 and 81 provided by the National Technical Information Service, Department of Commerce. Unit 50 decrypts the encrypted packets using corresponding encryption keys provided by units 45 and 47 by applying decryption techniques appropriate for the selected encryption algorithm. The decrypted packets from unit 50 and the non-encrypted packets from unit 45 that comprise the program for display are provided to decoder 55. The decrypted packets from unit 50 and the non-encrypted packets from unit 47 that comprise the program for storage are provided to mux 110.
Unit 60 contains four packet buffers accessible by controller 115. One of the buffers is assigned to hold data destined for use by controller 115 and the other three buffers are assigned to hold packets that are destined for use by application devices 75, 80 and 85. Access to the packets stored in the four buffers within unit 60 by both controller 115 and by application interface 70 is controlled by buffer control unit 65. Unit 45 provides a destination flag to unit 65 for each packet identified by unit 45 for decoding. The flags indicate the individual destination locations for the identified packets and are stored by control unit 65 in an internal memory table. Control unit 65 determines a series of read and write pointers associated with packets stored in buffer 60 based on the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) principle. The write pointers in conjunction with the destination flags permit sequential storage of an identified packet from units 45 or 50 in the next empty location within the appropriate destination buffer in unit 60. The read pointers permit sequential reading of packets from the appropriate unit 60 destination buffers by controller 115 and application interface 70.
The non-encrypted and decrypted packets provided by units 45 and 50 to decoder 55 contain a transport header as defined by section 18.104.22.168 of the MPEG systems standard. Decoder 55 determines from the transport header whether the non-encrypted and decrypted packets contain an adaptation field (per the MPEG systems standard). The adaptation field contains timing information including, for example, Program Clock References (PCRs) that permit synchronization and decoding of content packets. Upon detection of a timing information packet, that is a packet containing an adaptation field, decoder 55 signals controller 115, via an interrupt mechanism by setting a system interrupt, that the packet has been received. In addition, decoder 55 changes the timing packet destination flag in unit 65 and provides the packet to unit 60. By changing the unit 65 destination flag, unit 65 diverts the tiling information packet provided by decoder 55 to the unit 60 buffer location assigned to hold data for use by controller 115, instead of an application buffer location.
Upon receiving the system interrupt set by decoder 55, controller 115 reads the tiring information and PCR value and stores it in internal memory. PCR values of successive timing information packets are used by controller 115 to adjust the system 25 master clock (27 MHz). The difference between PCR based and master clock based estimates of the time interval between the receipt of successive timing packets, generated by controller 115, is used to adjust the system 25 master clock. Controller 115 achieves this by applying the derived time estimate difference to adjust the input control voltage of a voltage controlled oscillator used to generate the master clock. Controller 115 resets the system interrupt after storing the timing information in internal memory.
Packets received by decoder 55 from units 45 and 50 that contain program content including audio, video, caption, and other information, are directed by unit 65 from decoder 55 to the designated application device buffers in packet buffer 60. Application control unit 70 sequentially retrieves the audio, video, caption and other data from the designated buffers in buffer 60 and provides the data to corresponding application devices 75, 80 and 85. The application devices comprise audio and video decoders 80 and 85 and high speed data port 75. For example, packet data corresponding to a composite program guide generated by the controller 115 as described above and as shown in
Packets that contain PSI information are recognized by unit 45 as destined for the controller 115 buffer in unit 60. The PSI packets are directed to this buffer by unit 65 via units 45, 50 and 55 in a similar manner to that described for packets containing program content. Controller 115 reads the PSI from unit 60 and stores it in internal memory.
Controller 115 also generates condensed PSI (CPSI) from the stored PSI and incorporates the CPSI in a packetized datastream suitable for storage on a selectable storage medium. The packet identification and direction is governed by controller 115 in conjunction with the unit 45 and unit 47 PID, destination and encryption key look-up tables and control unit 65 functions in the manner previously described.
In addition, controller 115 is coupled to a communication interface unit 116 that operates in a manner similar to interface unit 1113 in
As shown in
The digital output, DATA, from the link module 302 consists of compliant packetized data stream recognized and processable by the transport unit 303. The data stream, as discussed in detail in relation to
The function of the transport unit 303 is the same as the transport system 25 shown in
The transport unit 303 is controlled by an Advanced RISC Microprocessor (ARM) 315 which is a RISC based microprocessor. The ARM processor 315 executes control software residing in ROM 308, and uses DRAM 316 as a working area for storing, for example, intermediate results during software execution as known in the art. Exemplary components of the software may be, for example, control programs shown in
The transport unit 303 is typically implemented as an integrated circuit. For example, a preferred embodiment is an IC manufactured by SGS-Thomson Microelectronics and has a Part No. ST 15273-810 or 15103-65C.
The MPEG compatible, compressed audio and video packets from the transport unit 303 are delivered to a MPEG decoder 304. The MPEG decoder decodes the compressed MPEG datastream from the transport unit 303. The decoder 304 then outputs the applicable audio stream which can be further processed by the audio digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 305 to convert the digital audio data into analog sound. The decoder 304 also outputs applicable digital video data which represents image pixel information to a NTSC encoder 306. The NTSC encoder 306 then further processes this video data into NTSC compatible analog video signal so that video images may be displayed on a regular NTSC television screen. The MPEG decoder as described above may be implemented as an integrated circuit. One exemplary embodiment may be an MPEG decoder IC manufactured by SGS-Thomson Microelectronics having Part No. ST I3520.
Included in the MPEG processor 304 is an OSD processor 320. The OSD processor 320 reads data from SDRAM 318 which contains stored OSD information. OSD information corresponds to bitmap OSD graphics/text images. The OSD processor is capable of varying the color and/or translucency of each pixel of an OSD image under the control of the ARM microprocessor 315 in a conventional manner.
The OSD processor is also responsible for generating an exemplary program guide as shown in
A low speed data port 330 is used to connect to an IR-Blaster (not shown) for controlling a VCR for recording a program. As discussed before, an IR blaster is basically a programmable VCR remote control emulator controlled by the satellite receiver shown in
Additional relevant functional blocks of
In the illustrated embodiment, system controller 115 initially executes step 900 of
Application interface 70, under the control of the system controller 115, generates an EPG menu as shown in
In addition, EPG 500 contains search icon 590. System controller 115 monitors the location of a position indicator, such as a cursor and or highlighting, on the EPG menu display. A user controls the location of the position indicator using direction and selection keys of remote control 125 as described above. Alternatively, the user can use a mouse, keyboard, or a joystick. By highlighting and clicking on search icon 590 or a similarly functioning icon, a user will access a user search interface according to the present invention as shown in
Upon completing the composition of the user selected text string, the user can then enter field selection field 16 by highlighting and selecting select field button 19. Field selection field 16 has a list of the fields that the data in the records is divided into as described above (e.g., titles, actors, roles, etc.). A user selects what field(s) of the records will be searched for data corresponding to the user selected text string by highlighting and selecting one or more of the field names in field selection field 16. Once this is done a check appears next to that field name. A user can repeat this procedure for as many of fields of the records that he wishes to be searched for the user selected text string. The fields chosen by the user are the user selected fields.
Once the user has composed a user selected text and chosen the user selected fields, the user then highlights and selects run search button 27. By selecting run search button 27, step 920 of
The foregoing discussion discloses and describes merely exemplary embodiments of the present invention. As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
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|International Classification||H04N5/445, H04N7/03, H04N7/025, H04N7/035, H04N21/482, G06F13/00, G06F17/30, G06F3/00, G06F7/00|
|Cooperative Classification||H04N5/44543, H04N21/4828|
|European Classification||H04N21/482S, H04N21/482, H04N5/445M| | <urn:uuid:0b1e2542-a9e8-4a58-8c61-9dd2b781ade3> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.google.com/patents/US7810119?dq=6437692 | 2016-07-29T23:32:50Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257832399.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071032-00223-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.866025 | 8,486 |
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Topic: McCain (Read 16417 times)
February 26, 2008, 11:20:39 AM »
Well, its the NY Times, so McCain Feingold gets kid glove treatment, but FWIW:
The Real McCain
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: February 26, 2008
You wouldn’t know it to look at them, but political consultants are as faddish as anyone else. And the current vogueish advice among the backroom set is: Go after your opponent’s strengths. So in the first volley of what feels like the general election campaign, Barack Obama has attacked John McCain for being too close to lobbyists. His assault is part of this week’s Democratic chorus: McCain isn’t really the anti-special interest reformer he pretends to be. He’s more tainted than his reputation suggests.
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Go to Columnist Page » Well, anything is worth trying, I suppose, but there is the little problem of his record. McCain has fought one battle after another against lobbyists and special interests. And while I don’t have space to describe all his tussles, or even the lesser ones like his fight with the agricultural lobby against sugar subsidies, I thought that, amidst all these charges, it might be worth noting some of the McCain highlights from the past dozen years.
In 1996, McCain was one of five senators, and the only Republican, to vote against the Telecommunications Act. He did it because he believed the act gave away too much to the telecommunications companies, and protected them from true competition. He noted that AT&T alone gave $780,000 to Republicans and $456,000 to Democrats in the year leading up to the vote.
In 1998, McCain championed anti-smoking legislation that faced furious opposition from the tobacco lobby. McCain guided the legislation through the Senate Commerce Committee on a 19-1 vote, but then the tobacco companies struck back. They hired 200 lobbyists and spent $40 million in advertising (three times as much as the Harry and Louise health care reform ads). Many of the ads attacked McCain by name, accusing him of becoming a big government liberal. After weeks of bitter debate, the bill died on the Senate floor.
In 2000, McCain ran for president and reiterated his longstanding opposition to ethanol subsidies. Though it crippled his chances in Iowa, he argued that ethanol was a wasteful giveaway. A recent study in the journal Science has shown that when you take all impacts into consideration, ethanol consumption increases greenhouse gas emissions compared with regular gasoline. Unlike, say, Barack Obama, McCain still opposes ethanol subsidies.
In 2002, McCain capped his long push for campaign finance reform by passing the McCain-Feingold Act. People can argue about the effectiveness of the act, but one thing is beyond dispute. It was a direct assault on lobbyist power, and earned McCain undying enmity among many important parts of the Republican coalition, who felt their soft money influence was being diminished.
In 2003, the Senate nearly passed the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act. The act was opposed by the usual mix of energy, auto and mining companies. But moderate environmental groups were thrilled that McCain-Lieberman was able to attract more than 40 votes in the Senate.
In 2004, McCain launched a frontal assault on the leasing contract the Pentagon had signed with Boeing for aerial refueling tankers. McCain’s investigation exposed billions of dollars of waste and layers of contracting irregularity.
In 2005, McCain led the Congressional investigation into the behavior of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The investigation was exceedingly unpleasant for Republicans, because it exposed shocking misbehavior by important conservative activists.
Over the past few years, McCain has stepped up his longstanding assault on earmarks. Every year, McCain goes to the Senate floor to ridicule the latest batch of earmarks, and every year his colleagues and the lobbyists fume. For years, McCain has proposed legislative remedies — greater transparency, a 60-vote supermajority requirement — that were brutally unpopular with many colleagues until, suddenly, now.
Over the course of his career, McCain has tried to do the impossible. He has challenged the winds of the money gale. He has sometimes failed and fallen short. And there have always been critics who cherry-pick his compromises, ignore his larger efforts and accuse him of being a hypocrite.
This is, of course, the gospel of the mediocre man: to ridicule somebody who tries something difficult on the grounds that the effort was not a total success. But any decent person who looks at the McCain record sees that while he has certainly faltered at times, he has also battled concentrated power more doggedly than any other legislator. If this is the record of a candidate with lobbyists on his campaign bus, then every candidate should have lobbyists on the bus.
And here’s the larger point: We’re going to have two extraordinary nominees for president this year. This could be one of the great general election campaigns in American history. The only thing that could ruin it is if the candidates become demagogues and hurl accusations at each other that are an insult to reality and common sense.
Maybe Obama can start this campaign over.
Reply #1 on:
March 07, 2008, 08:23:43 AM »
March 7, 2008; Page A14
Newly minted presidential nominee John McCain stepped into the Rose Garden this week to receive President Bush's blessing. What the cameras didn't catch were pork-addicted congressional Republicans blowing raspberries from their offices.
With all the talk about how Mr. McCain needs to unify his party, lost has been the question of whether some people will let him. Washington Republicans know he's their best shot at retaining the White House. Yet many remain ambivalent about him -- not because they question his conservatism, but out of resentment that he may get in the way of their earmarks.
This has resulted in a behind-the-scenes brawl, as spend-happy Republicans resist efforts by wiser heads to fall in behind Mr. McCain's anti-earmark message. At best, the spenders risk an embarrassing pummeling by their own nominee that could hurt them in their own re-election campaigns. At worst, they could undercut one of Mr. McCain's more persuasive messages.
They shouldn't count on Mr. McCain cutting them slack. He's always reveled in publicly humiliating pork-barrelers, including those in his party, and seems gleeful at the prospect of using his new podium to continue his crusade. He has no reason to back down now. Unorthodox as he's been on some conservative issues, on earmarks Mr. McCain has the full backing of an American public.
House Minority Leader John Boehner gets all this, and now believes there's more political mileage in thumping his opponents over pork than in retaining it for his party. He's spent the past two months pounding Democrats to agree to an earmark moratorium, even forcing a vote in a budget markup this week (not a single Democrat voted for it). The affair has left Speaker Nancy Pelosi red-faced, as she and her team struggle to justify the very pork they promised to rein in during the 2006 election campaign.
It's been embarrassing enough that even some in her party are refusing to hold ranks. California's Henry Waxman, a powerful committee chairman, recently intoned that "Congressional spending through earmarks was out of control" and announced he'd ask for none himself this year.
This sort of success has helped inspire some doubtful Republicans. At the recent House Republican retreat, several previous worshippers at the earmark church announced they were switching religions. Discussions have started between the McCain camp and the House GOP about areas on which to unify messages. Earmarks is a hot topic, putting spenders on the defensive.
The problem is the Senate, where Republicans have left House colleagues to twist in the wind. Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, brought home more pork than any other member of Congress -- some $837 million.
The Senate GOP leadership is no better, with former Whip Trent Lott finishing his last year in office with a $311 million haul. Driving this is the old philosophy that bacon is necessary to win elections. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is already running re-election ads in Kentucky boasting about the $200 million he secured for universities, as well as a hefty buyout he secured for his state's tobacco farmers.
The leadership's sop to reform has instead been an earmark "working committee," tasked with developing a set of reforms. Its members? Mr. Cochran, of course. There's also Georgia's Johnny Isakson ($161 million in pork last year); Indiana's Richard Lugar ($131 million) and Idaho's Mike Crapo ($121 million). Mr. McConnell did agree to include earmark antagonist Tom Coburn from Oklahoma ($0), undoubtedly for cover. But the committee is rigged to cater to the lowest common denominator. A better indicator of how many Republicans intend to rally behind the nominee will be how many vote for next week's budget amendment -- sponsored by South Carolina's Jim DeMint and endorsed by Mr. McCain -- to impose a Senate earmark moratorium.
Don't expect many. Earmark reformers have quietly been pushing senators to get in line with the House, and more importantly with Mr. McCain. All they've encountered is pushback. Several have privately fought against greater transparency, much less a moratorium. "We're not going to back [McCain] on earmarks, or on climate change or on immigration," piped one senior GOP aide this week. You read that right: Earmarks now rank among the bedrock conservative principles.
What's left is the price they'll pay, and that's where Mr. McCain comes in. Senate Republicans are facing their most brutal election environment in decades, fighting to defend several dozen seats. Diverging from Mr. McCain on earmarks guarantees it will be a defining issue in their re-election races. Smart opponents will use the split against vulnerable incumbents. Republicans will have to explain why Mr. McCain is wrong to want to shutdown the earmark factory, and their answers will be tragicomic.
Republicans are already getting a taste of this. Alaska's Ted Stevens's re-election bid is mired in an ugly investigation into alleged earmark corruption. Mr. McConnell is getting hit by a liberal clean-government group that says he's a tool of special interests.
The pork-barrelers also risk diluting one of Mr. McCain's winning messages. Hillary Clinton has a miserable earmark record, which Mr. McCain has used to embarrass her over a funding request for a Woodstock museum. Mr. Obama likes to point to Senate work to increase earmark transparency. But he too has asked for plenty of money and refused to release information about his early earmark requests. Either Democrat will want to neutralize this issue.
One way to do it is to point out that even Mr. McCain's own colleagues don't think it's that big of a deal. They can pick up on the lame Republican justifications for all this and throw them back at him. They could point to it as an example of Mr. McCain's inability to unite his party.
Republicans have a choice. They can unite behind the feisty Mr. McCain, and take a position that is true to their small-government principles, popular with the public and a smart political move. Or they can hurt themselves, and possibly their nominee, by sticking with the lard.
Noonan on McCain
Reply #2 on:
March 16, 2008, 01:53:12 PM »
By PEGGY NOONAN
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March 14, 2008 9:26 p.m.; Page W16
It's a tale of two houses. One is dilapidated, old. Everyone in the neighborhood is used to it, and they turn away when they pass. A series of people lived in it and failed to take care of it. It's run down, needs paint. The roof sags, squirrels run through the eaves. A haunted house! No, more boring. Just a house someone . . . let go.
But over here, a new house on a new plot. It's rising from the mud before your eyes. It has interesting lines, a promising façade, and when people walk by they stop and look. So much bustle! Builders running in and out, the contractors fighting with each other—"You wouldn't even have this job if it weren't for the minority set-aside!" And everyone hates the architect, who put a port-o-potty on the lawn.
But: You can't take your eyes off it. "Something being born, and not something dying." Maybe it will improve the neighborhood. Maybe the owners will be nice.
If the old house is the Republicans and John McCain, and the new house is the Democrats and their presidential candidates, or at least one of them, what can Mr. McCain do? How can he better his position? What can he do to help his house?
You know what he has in his favor. He's gentleman Johnny McCain, hero, maverick. He has more knowledge on national defense in his pinky than the others will have, after four years in the White House, in their entire bodies. He's the one who should be answering the phone at 3 a.m. But "This is no country for old men." He feels like the past. He paints himself as George W. Bush's third term. Who wants that? Mr. Bush himself just wants the brown, brown grass of home.
The base is tired. Republicans feel their own kind of unease at Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton. Talk about wanting to stand athwart history yelling stop. They're not in a mood to give money. Remember the phrase "broken glass Republicans?" The number of Republicans so offended, so wounded, actually, as citizens, by the Clinton years, that they'd crawl across broken glass to elect George Bush? They existed in 2004, too. Now a lot of them wouldn't crawl across a plush weave carpet to vote for a Republican. They're looking around. Look at that new house they're building . . .
What can Mr. McCain do, right now? He might start with a little refurbishing of himself. A good friend of his told me Mr. McCain's number one problem is "a lack of discipline." Mr. McCain is up at 6 a.m. and works it hard 'til midnight, but he lacks "discipline of the mind." He defined this as "not thinking about the answer to the question, not being serious, just popping off. He does it in part to charm and amuse the press. Before this is over they'll kill him with it." Former Sen. Phil Gramm, he said, is the only person around Mr. McCain who has the "heft" to get him to focus. Everyone else is in awe, or loves him too much, or doesn't see the problem. But it's crucial, he said, that Mr. McCain embrace a new seriousness—no more "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," no more Hey, we could be there for a hundred years.
The friend said he thought Mr. McCain is showing a certain "complacency" because he's already got what he wanted. "He's got Bush's people bowing, he's got the conservatives coming back, the establishment bowing. He's satisfied. He's finally got it!" But you have to want the presidency or the people won't give it to you. You have to fight for it. I asked if Mr. McCain really wanted it, really hungered. He shrugged. He didn't know.
* * *
Everything the friend said pinged off things I've observed of the McCain campaign. I'd add this. One always wonders with Mr. McCain: What exactly does he feel passionately about, what great question? Or rather, what does he stand for, really? For he often shows passion, but he rarely speaks of meaning. The issues that summon his full engagement are issues on which he's been challenged by his party and others. McCain, to McCain, is defined by his maverickness. That's who he is. (It's the theme of his strikingly good memoir, "Worth the Fighting For.") He stands up to power. He faces them down. It's not only a self image, it's a self obsession.
But it has left him seeming passionate only about those issues on which he's been able to act out his maverickness, such as campaign finance and immigration. He's passionate about McCain-Feingold because . . . because people don't understand how right he is, and how wrong they are. He's passionate not about immigration itself but about how he got his head handed to him when he backed comprehensive reform, about which he was right by the way. He's passionate about Iraq because America can't cut and run, as it did in Vietnam, to the subsequent heartbreak of good people, and heroes. But this is not philosophy, it's autobiography.
Issues removed from his personal drama, from the saga of John McCain, don't seem to capture his interest to any deep extent.
* * *
He has positions, but a series of separate, discrete and seemingly unconnected stands do not coherence make. Mr. McCain, in public, does not dig down to the meaning of things, to why he stands where he stands, to what understanding of life drives his political decisions. But voters hunger for coherence, for a philosophical thread that holds all the positions together.
Where Mr. McCain's friend says, "be disciplined," I'd say, "Get serious." What is the meaning of things? What is the guiding philosophy? Who has he read besides Hemingway? (And he's read him—he loves him to an almost scary degree.) Is there a little Burke in there? The Federalist papers? John Kenneth Galbraith?
On Iraq, for instance. The surge has worked, but what has it worked to do? Has it made us safe to be there 20 years? Is that good? Why are we there? Were we right to go in? What overall view of the world, of strategy, of American meaning, is being expressed in Iraq? Who are we in the world? What do we mean to do in the 21st century? And in what way does this connect to a philosophical view of life, of the meaning of being here on earth as Americans?
In the most successful political careers there is a purpose, a guiding philosophy. Not an ideology—ideology is something imposed from above, something abstract dreamed up by an intellectual. Philosophy isn't imposed from above, it bubbles up from the ground, from life. And its expression is missing with Mr. McCain. Political staffs inevitably treat philosophy as the last thing, almost an indulgence. But it's the central fact from which all else flows. Staffs turn each day to scheduling, advance, fundraising, returning the billionaire's phone call. They're quick to hold the meeting to agree on the speech on the economy. But they don't, can't, give that speech meaning and depth. Only the candidate can, actually.
Philosophy is the foundation. All the rest is secondary, a quick one-coat paint job on a house with a sagging roof.
If Mr. McCain got serious and told us how he views life, and politics, and America's purpose in the world, people just may start to look at the old house again, see it new. Who knows, maybe with work it could be turned into a mansion.
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal.
Reply #3 on:
March 16, 2008, 08:33:25 PM »
Second post of the day:
The Conservative Case for McCain
By MARK SANFORD
March 15, 2008; Page A10
Last week, I asked David Walker, the U.S. comptroller general, why he is quitting his job to travel the country on a "fiscal wake-up tour." His answer: Because we have only five to 10 years to address the federal government's looming shortfalls before we're faced with a fiscal crisis.
In about a decade, the twin forces of demographics and compound interest will leave few options for solving the fiscal mess Washington has created. By then, our options will all be ugly. We could make draconian spending cuts, or impose large tax increases that will undermine our economy in the competitive global marketplace. Or we could debase the value of the dollar by printing a large amount of money. This would shrink the overall value of the federal government's debt. It would also wipe out the value of most Americans' savings.
Mr. Walker is right. And I join many others in saying that federal spending is now as significant an issue as the war on terror, federal judgeships and energy independence. The U.S. stands at a fiscal crossroads -- and the consequences of inaction, or wrongful action, will be real and severe.
Fortunately, the presidential election offers us a real choice in how to address the fiscal mess. To use a football analogy, we're at halftime; and the question for conservatives is whether to get off the bench for the second half of the game.
I sat out the first half, not endorsing a candidate, occupied with my day job and four young boys at home. But I'm now stepping onto the field and going to work to help John McCain. It's important that conservatives do the same.
It's easy to get caught up in the pursuit of political perfection, and to assume that if a candidate doesn't agree with you 100% of the time, then he doesn't deserve your support. In fact, Mr. McCain is a lot closer to 100% than many conservatives realize. He has never voted for a tax increase in his 25 years in Congress. He holds an 83% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. He is listed as a taxpayer hero by Citizens Against Government Waste. And he is supported by noted conservatives Phil Gramm, Jack Kemp and others.
The process of iron sharpening iron is good for the GOP. But now, I believe, the time has passed for focusing on what divides us.
There is a yawning gulf between the viewpoints of Mr. McCain and those of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Nowhere is this more evident than on the critical issue of the steady collapse of our government's financial house.
Since 2000, the federal budget has increased 72%, to $3.1 trillion from $1.8 trillion. The national debt is now $9 trillion -- more than the combined GDP of China, Japan and Canada. Add in Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security commitments, and as a nation we are staring at more than a $50 trillion hole -- an invisible mortgage of $450,000 for every American family.
Hope alone won't carry us through the valley of the shadow of debt. The fact that neither Mrs. Clinton nor Mr. Obama has made cost-cutting a part of their political vocabulary is a clear indication that they would increase spending. In fact, Mrs. Clinton has already proven skillful at snagging pork. Over the past few years alone, she has attached some $2.2 billion in earmarks to federal spending bills. Mr. McCain has asked for exactly $0 in earmarks.
And while Mr. Obama's oratorical skills have been inspiring, his proposals would entail roughly the same $800 billion in new government spending that Mrs. Clinton proposes. To his credit, Mr. Obama admits that his spending proposals will take more than three clicks of his heels to fund. He would pay for his priorities with a bevy of tax increases which he hopes taxpayers won't notice.
But taxpayers will notice. Mr. Obama plans to raise taxes on capital gains, dividends and corporate profits. He wants to hike estate taxes by 50%. And he wants to eliminate the cap on payroll taxes. These tax hikes would increase the burden borne by individuals and decrease the competitiveness of our economy.
I was elected to Congress in 1994 as part of a Republican Revolution that captured control of both the House and Senate. A number of us tried to apply the brakes to the Washington spending train. We didn't succeed. Six years later, I left Washington convinced that only a chief executive willing to use the presidential bully pulpit could bring spending under control.
Now, in John McCain, the GOP has a standard-bearer who would be willing to turn the power of the presidency toward controlling federal spending. Mr. McCain has one of the best spending records in Congress, and has never shied away from criticizing government pork-barrel spending.
The contrast between the two opposing teams is stark. It is time for the entire conservative squad to step onto the field. Who will join me in helping our team get the ball and move it down the field?
Mr. Sanford, a Republican, is the governor of South Carolina.
Reply #4 on:
April 25, 2008, 12:58:56 PM »
McCain's Campaign Finance Revelation
April 25, 2008; Page A13
While Democrats absorbed the lessons of Pennsylvania this week, John McCain was coming to a few realizations of his own. For one, "big money" in politics isn't so bad after all.
That's the takeaway from the presumptive GOP nominee's new fund-raising strategy, which his campaign has quietly rolled out these past few weeks. The McCain camp is teaming up with the Republican National Committee to tap into big, big donations from big, big donors – hoping to close the big, big money gap with Democrats.
Their (sic-- "The McCain Camp" is a singular, which call for "It" as subject, not "They") effort to do so will involve some creative abuse of the campaign finance restrictions Mr. McCain authored a few years back. Whatever. The Arizonan may not yet fully understand that money is speech. At least he has come around to the view that more of the stuff is better when it comes to winning the presidency.
Whatever has driven the shift – conversion, pragmatism, desperation – Mr. McCain's new financial determination is welcome news to his supporters. GOP voters had worried their candidate would unnecessarily fetter himself with self-imposed finance restrictions. Instead, he looks eager to win. And as far as strategies go, this one is arguably Mr. McCain's best shot at evening the odds against a money powerhouse like Barack Obama.
The joke, of course, is that Mr. McCain helped create those long odds. Turns out this whole campaign-finance thingy hasn't turned out to be the clean-politics, leveled-playing-field he envisioned. All it has done is handicap Mr. McCain.
The senator thought he had a fellow-reformer in Mr. Obama. Then the Democrat figured out how to tap into the small-dollar contributions required under McCain-Feingold. Now he's awash in cash and unlikely to sign up for the general-election public-financing system both men once lauded.
Unable to match Mr. Obama with smaller donors and (thanks to his own law) unable to cash any million-dollar donations, Mr. McCain is resigned to public financing. This will limit him to $84 million in taxpayer funds from the convention to Election Day. Mr. Obama will have no such restrictions.
Meanwhile, McCain-Feingold's biggest "accomplishment" these past five years has been the flowering of those shadowy operations known as 527s, which abide by no rules. Democrats have fine-tuned these outfits, and are gearing up to unload hundreds of millions in negative advertising on none other than Mr. McCain. This bullet is aimed not at his foot, but his head.
In light of all this, the McCain camp has come up with a plan that it hopes will tighten the score. It has filed to create the "McCain Victory '08" fund, a "hybrid legal structure" that includes the campaign, the Republican National Committee, and four battleground states.
Mr. McCain's own law restricts individuals to donations of $2,300 per candidate, but those individuals can also contribute much bigger amounts to different party funds. So, with "McCain Victory '08," donors can write a check for $70,000.
Technically, the money is divvied up between Mr. McCain, the RNC ($28,500) and the four states ($10,000 each). In reality, it will in effect all be used for the candidate's benefit.
Such are the contortions of our twisted campaign finance system, loopholes Mr. McCain must be happy exist today. He gets to sock away bigger chunks of money, faster, in hopes of gaining on a Democratic rival who may not be able to stomach a similar arrangement with Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean. Mr. McCain raised about $15 million in March, compared to Mrs. Clinton's $20 million and Mr. Obama's $40 million. But the RNC itself raised $13 million, and has $30 million cash on hand in aid of its nominee.
Mr. McCain has also taken his share of shots at lobbyists over the years, part of his quest to curb the "influence" of money in politics. Yet another recent campaign revelation is that there are only a small number of Americans wealthy enough to actually write a check for $70,000. Included in that group are the K Street regulars.
That may explain why McCain campaign manager Rick Davis recently showed up in Washington to brief a group of 30 lobbyists and PR types on Mr. McCain's new fund-raising plans – and pass the collection plate. He also met with about 100 Republican chiefs of staff to spread the word about the new RNC partnership.
Whether this will ease Mr. McCain's financial woes is yet unclear, but it's arguably his smartest move, given the hand he's dealt himself. Just imagine what might have happened if Mr. McCain had fought instead for simple transparency – and trusted Americans to decide how much to give and to whom. Free speech, via money, can be a liberating thing.
Reply #5 on:
April 30, 2008, 10:18:48 PM »
Getting to Know John McCain
By KARL ROVE
April 30, 2008; Page A17
It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton.
As we ate near the Days' home in Florida recently, I heard things about Sen. McCain that were deeply moving and politically troubling. Moving because they told me things about him the American people need to know. And troubling because it is clear that Mr. McCain is one of the most private individuals to run for president in history.
Col. (Ret.) Bud Day with John McCain at a campaign stop in Pensacola, Fla., in January.
When it comes to choosing a president, the American people want to know more about a candidate than policy positions. They want to know about character, the values ingrained in his heart. For Mr. McCain, that means they will want to know more about him personally than he has been willing to reveal.
Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."
The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.
But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place. Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place.
Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complimented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again.
Another story I heard over dinner with the Days involved Mr. McCain serving as one of the three chaplains for his fellow prisoners. At one point, after being shuttled among different prisons, Mr. Day had found himself as the most senior officer at the Hanoi Hilton. So he tapped Mr. McCain to help administer religious services to the other prisoners.
Today, Mr. Day, a very active 83, still vividly recalls Mr. McCain's sermons. "He remembered the Episcopal liturgy," Mr. Day says, "and sounded like a bona fide preacher." One of Mr. McCain's first sermons took as its text Luke 20:25 and Matthew 22:21, "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." Mr. McCain said he and his fellow prisoners shouldn't ask God to free them, but to help them become the best people they could be while serving as POWs. It was Caesar who put them in prison and Caesar who would get them out. Their task was to act with honor.
Another McCain story, somewhat better known, is about the Vietnamese practice of torturing him by tying his head between his ankles with his arms behind him, and then leaving him for hours. The torture so badly busted up his shoulders that to this day Mr. McCain can't raise his arms over his head.
One night, a Vietnamese guard loosened his bonds, returning at the end of his watch to tighten them again so no one would notice. Shortly after, on Christmas Day, the same guard stood beside Mr. McCain in the prison yard and drew a cross in the sand before erasing it. Mr. McCain later said that when he returned to Vietnam for the first time after the war, the only person he really wanted to meet was that guard.
Mr. Day recalls with pride Mr. McCain stubbornly refusing to accept special treatment or curry favor to be released early, even when gravely ill. Mr. McCain knew the Vietnamese wanted the propaganda victory of the son and grandson of Navy admirals accepting special treatment. "He wasn't corruptible then," Mr. Day says, "and he's not corruptible today."
The stories told to me by the Days involve more than wartime valor.
For example, in 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.
Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. "I hope she can stay with us," she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.
I was aware of this story. What I did not know, and what I learned from Doris, is that there was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.
"We were called at midnight by Cindy," Wes Gullett remembers, and "five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport." Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, "I never saw a hospital bill" for her care.
A few, but not many, of the stories told to me by the Days have been written about, such as in Robert Timberg's 1996 book "A Nightingale's Song." But Mr. McCain rarely refers to them on the campaign trail. There is something admirable in his reticence, but he needs to overcome it.
Private people like Mr. McCain are rare in politics for a reason. Candidates who are uncomfortable sharing their interior lives limit their appeal. But if Mr. McCain is to win the election this fall, he has to open up.
Americans need to know about his vision for the nation's future, especially his policy positions and domestic reforms. They also need to learn about the moments in his life that shaped him. Mr. McCain cannot make this a biography-only campaign – but he can't afford to make it a biography-free campaign either. Unless he opens up more, many voters will never know the experiences of his life that show his character, integrity and essential decency.
These qualities mattered in America's first president and will matter as Americans decide on their 44th president.
Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal.
Reply #6 on:
May 25, 2008, 08:37:28 AM »
Caveat Lector, its the NYTimes:
WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign is in a troubled stretch, hindered by resignations of staff members, a lagging effort to build a national campaign organization and questions over whether he has taken full advantage of Democratic turmoil to present a case for his candidacy, Republicans say.
In interviews, some party leaders said they were worried about signs of disorder in his campaign, and if the focus in the last several weeks on the prominent role of lobbyists in Mr. McCain’s inner circle might undercut the heart of his general election message: that he is a reformer taking on special interests in Washington.
“The core image of John McCain is as a reformer in Washington — and the more dominant the story is about the lobbying teams around him, the more you put that into question,” said Terry Nelson, who was Mr. McCain’s campaign manager until he left in a shake-up last fall. “If the Obama campaign can truly change him from being seen as a reformer to just being another Washington politician, it could be very damaging over the course of the campaign.”
The ousters of some of the staff members came after Mr. McCain imposed a new policy that active lobbyists would not be allowed to hold paying jobs in the campaign.
Some state party leaders said they were apprehensive about the unusual organization Mr. McCain had set up: the campaign has been broken into 10 semi-autonomous regions, with each having power over things like television advertising and the candidate’s schedule, decisions normally left to headquarters.
More than that, they said, Mr. McCain organizationally still seems far behind where President Bush was in 2004. Several Republican Party leaders said they were worried the campaign was losing an opportunity as they waited for approval to open offices and set up telephone banks.
“They finally assigned someone to West Virginia three weeks ago,” said Doug McKinney, the state Republican chairman there. “I had a couple of contacts with him and I e-mailed him twice and I never heard back. I finally called and they said that the guy had resigned.”
Mr. McCain’s campaign has transmitted conflicting messages in recent days about how he would present himself, as he has sought to reassure conservatives nervous about his ideological consistency even as he has tried to expand his appeal to moderates and liberals.
He recently spent three days talking about global warming, a subject he used to emphasize his differences with Mr. Bush. But he ended that week with a high-profile speech to the National Rifle Association, a group suspicious of his views on gun control.
Mr. McCain’s advisers — some of whom gathered with the candidate for the holiday weekend at his Arizona ranch along with three Republicans assumed to be under consideration as his running mate — said the concern in the party reflected, in part, exaggerated concern about Senator Barack Obama’s strengths as a general election candidate. Mr. McCain, they said, was in a strong position entering into this next phase of the race.
Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser, said Mr. McCain had used the time since effectively winning the nomination to methodically raise his standing by traveling the country, delivering speeches on issues including national security and the environment, and raising money, to make sure he could at least hold his own with Mr. Obama going through the summer.
Although Mr. Obama has continued to raise far more money than Mr. McCain, Mr. Bush’s fund-raising machinery has helped keep the Republican Party competitive. The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee, between them, have $11 million more on hand — about $62 million — than the combined cash-on-hand of Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee.
“How do you measure success over the course of the spring campaign?” Mr. Schmidt asked. “This is how: The reality of this race is the Republican Party brand is very, very badly damaged, in some places broken. We’ve lost Congressional seats in districts that have elected only Republican for a generation. And Senator McCain is running even or ahead of Senator Obama in most national polls.”
Mr. McCain has taken steps to inject new thinking into his campaign. He recently expanded his extremely tight circle of advisers by bringing on Nicolle Wallace, who was communications director for Mr. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, which many Republicans view as the model for political management.
Last Sunday, he invited Mike Murphy, his longtime friend and political adviser, who is not involved in this campaign, to his home in Virginia. There, Mr. Murphy reportedly gave him a detailed and at times tough assessment of what Mr. McCain had done wrong.
Mr. Murphy urged him to tone down his attacks on Mr. Obama and stop coming across as so angry. He recommended that Mr. McCain concentrate on running as a reform candidate to strip that issue from Mr. Obama, and to make greater efforts to distance himself from Mr. Bush, Republicans familiar with the conversation said.
Some of Mr. McCain’s associates said that Mr. McCain might be interested in bringing Mr. Murphy back on board, but that his current circle of advisers was resisting that.
As soon as Mr. Obama secures the Democratic nomination, Mr. Schmidt said, Mr. McCain will begin a series of speeches intended to contrast their positions. Mr. McCain’s advisers said they did not think it made sense to do that until Mr. Obama wrapped up his battle against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, given how the two Democrats are dominating the news.
Page 2 of 2)
“The race changes the moment she drops out and he emerges as the official nominee,” said Charlie Black, a senior McCain adviser. “Then the focus becomes on a two-person race and that leads to us getting more equal treatment in terms of getting airtime. We’ve had to fight with one hand tied behind our back.”
Republicans said Mr. McCain certainly had time to get his campaign back on track, and they remained confident that he would be a strong general election candidate against Mr. Obama. Some said the level of concern was overstated, or reflected the general Republican apprehension about this electoral environment, rather than anything Mr. McCain had done wrong.
“I think any Republican who doesn’t say panic is in the wind is lying through their shirt,” said Ron Kaufman, who was a senior adviser this year for Mitt Romney. “The question is, is that panic caused by McCain’s campaign — or lack thereof in some respects — or is it the climate?”
The string of departures from the campaign was prompted by questions about lobbying activities by aides and advisers to Mr. McCain and a new policy, which he dictated, that active lobbyists not be allowed to hold paying jobs in the campaign. Mr. Schmidt said that policy was an example of how Mr. McCain would take tough action, part of a contrast he said they would draw with Mr. Obama for “giving great speeches” but having no record of accomplishment.
But Mr. McCain’s associates said the campaign had failed to anticipate the extent to which the news media would use the policy to examine Mr. McCain’s staff. The result was a run of damaging stories and resignations that highlighted not the policy itself but the backgrounds of top campaign officials, including Rick Davis, the campaign manager, and Mr. Black, both of whom have long lobbying backgrounds.
Some Republicans said they were concerned that the Democrats would soon unify around Mr. Obama, and that it was only a matter of weeks before Mr. Obama began unloading a huge round of advertising intended to define Mr. McCain. If that happens, they said, Mr. McCain may look back at this period as a time of missed opportunity.
Discussing what Mr. McCain needed to do, Mr. Nelson, another veteran of the Bush 2004 team, said: “Step No. 1 would be finding a compelling message that excited Republicans, and Step No. 2 would be having the ability to turn your voters out. From what I see, in both respects, they have a long way to go, but they have time.”
Mr. McCain has made some gains in reassuring conservatives nervous about his views on issues like immigration, polls suggest. But if he is going to rely on turnout in the Republican base more than on winning over independents and disaffected Democrats, there is evidence that he has not gone as far as he needs to — particularly given how energized Democrats appear to be.
“He is going to need extraordinary participation of Republicans if Democrats continue to flock to the polls the way they have,” said Kris Kobach, the Republican Party leader from Kansas. “It’s critical that he use this period to generate enthusiasm from his base.”
Mr. McKinney, the Republican chairman in West Virginia, said Mr. McCain’s identification with immigration legislation that would eventually permit some illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship continued to be highly problematic for him.
“But it doesn’t matter what we think — Senator McCain goes his own way,” Mr. McKinney said. “Always has and always will.”
This is wishful thinking on the part of the NYT
Reply #7 on:
May 25, 2008, 10:11:47 AM »
McCain was interviewed by Shawn Hannity and he answered all questions brilliantly. If he keeps this up the difference between BO and him will be plain for all to see. The undecideds will pick him in November.
Reply #8 on:
June 28, 2008, 11:05:15 AM »
Let McCain Be McCain
June 27, 2008; Page A11
The big political headline this week, of course, involves John McCain's endless and humiliating attempts to placate Mitt Romney by bowing to demands he hire his operatives and pay his campaign debt. So far all he's got is a grudging one-sentence endorsement from that rampaging rage-aholic Ann Romney.
Oh wait, got confused, that's Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The way it used to be is you ran and lost and either disappeared or pitched in. Mrs. Clinton continues making Mr. Obama look the dauphin to her embittered and domineering queen.
What a hothouse of egos and drama the Democratic Party has become.
Mr. McCain just can't get as much coverage as Mr. Obama, or the coverage is dutiful and therefore deadly. "McCain Unveils Proposal." "McCain Responds." At Google News there are 97,000 stories on Mr. McCain as I write this column, 138,000 on Mr. Obama. You know Mr. McCain's problems. He's old, he's angered everyone along the way, he never seems to mean it. His stands seem like positions. He bebops from issue to issue and never seems fully engaged in the real meat of policy, the content of it.
Also, we all know him. This, in time, will become a benefit to him—a big one. At the moment, early on, it's not. Mr. Obama has the lightning, he's new, he's still just being discovered. Or, as a person who runs a news site that traditionally treats Republicans fairly told me, "He's fun." McCain supporters have ginned up email campaigns aimed at people who run sites saying, to paraphrase, We notice your coverage is heavily Obama. We hope this is not a financial or opportunistic decision. We hope you're not tired of being brave. I should say it looks like it's ginned up by McCain supporters, or rather D.C. Republicans.
What a hotbed of incompetent manipulation they have become.
Mr. Obama's coverage is not all press bias. He sells papers and moves traffic. So right now it's all about him, or rather will be when Big Bertha gets out of the way. People are going to keep looking at him because they've heard the polls that say he's 5 or 12 or 15 points ahead. They can stop him or ease his way. They're looking to figure out which.
What can Mr. McCain do? It's still early, a lot of history has yet to unspool, we've entered summer and the shallow part of the campaign, the doldrums, there's a little space. He should take advantage of it and have some fun.
This would be a good time for him to get interesting again. And he'll find it easy because he is interesting. That's why the boys on the bus loved him in 2000. That's why the Republican base rejected him in 2000. He was hot and George W. Bush was—well, let's call it mellow. Mr. McCain attacked Christian conservative leaders while Mr. Bush played them. Republicans were trying to recover from eight years of interesting. They didn't want more.
I used to think what Mr. McCain's aides thought after he started winning: He has to change now, be more formal, more constrained. That was exactly wrong.
Let McCain be McCain. Get him in the papers being who he is, get people looking at his real nature. Maybe then they'll start taking him seriously when he talks policy. Maybe he'll start taking himself seriously when he talks policy.
The most interesting thing about Mr. McCain has always been the delight he takes in a certain unblinkered candor. There is also the antic part of his nature, his natural wit, his tropism toward comedy. All this was captured wonderfully by Mark Leibovich last February in the New York Times. Mr. McCain had taken the lead in the primaries and had gone from being "one of the most disruptive forces in his party" to someone playing it safe. In an airplane interview he said things like, "There is a process in place that will formalize the methodology." Then he couldn't help it, he became McCain:
"[He] volunteered that Brooke Buchanan, his spokeswoman who was seated nearby and rolling her eyes, 'has a lot of her money hidden in the Cayman Islands' and that she earned it by 'dealing drugs.' Previously, Mr. McCain had identified Ms. Buchanan as 'Pat Buchanan's illegitimate daughter,' 'bipolar,' 'a drunk,' 'someone with a lot of boyfriends,' and 'just out of Betty Ford.'"
That's my boy. That's the McCain his friends love, McCain unplugged. The fall will be dead serious. At this point why not be himself, be human? Let him refind his inner rebel, the famous irreverent maverick, let the tiger out of the cage. It won't solve everything but it will help obscure some other problems. His campaign is still not in great shape, his advance operation is not sharp—the one thing Republicans always used to know how to do!—he has many aides and few peers, and aides so doofuslike they blithely talk about the partisan impact of terror attacks.
And there is another problem that is bigger than all of that, and he is going to have to think himself through it. And that is that there is a sense about his campaign that . . . John McCain has already got what he wanted, he got what he needed, which was to be top dog in the Republican Party, the party that had abused him in 2000 and cast him aside. They all bow to him now, and he doesn't need anything else. He doesn't need the presidency. He got what he wanted. So now he can coast. This is, in the deepest way, unserious. JFK had to have the presidency—he wanted that thing. Nixon had to have it too, and Reagan had to have it to institute his new way. Clinton had to have it—it was his destiny, the thing he'd wanted since he was a teenager.
The last person I can think of who gave off the vibe that he didn't have to have it was Bob Dole. Who didn't get it. And who had a similar lack of engagement in terms of policy, and philosophy, and meaning.
Everyone in New York is saying, "What will happen?" "How do you see it?" "Who will win?" In this year of all years, who knows? My sense of it:
The campaign will grind along until a series of sharp moments. Maybe they will come in the debates. Things will move along, Mr. Obama in the lead. And then, just a few weeks out from the election, something will happen: America will look up and see the inevitability of Mr. Obama, that Mr. Obama has already been "elected," in a way, and America will say, Hey, wait a second, are we sure we want that? And it will tighten indeed.
The race has a subtext, a historic encounter between the Old America and the New, and suddenly the Old America—those who are literally old, who married a guy who fought at the Chosin Reservoir, and those not so old who yet remember, and cherish, the special glories of the Old—will rise, and join in, and make themselves heard. They will not leave without a fight.
And on that day John McCain will suddenly make it a race, as if moved by them and wanting to come through for them one last time. And then on down to the wire. And then . . .
And then. What a year, what an election. It continues to confound and to bedazzle.
McCain & the Sandanista
Reply #9 on:
July 02, 2008, 04:12:36 PM »
Sounds like President McC should negotiate with Ahmadinejad
McCain Health Care
Reply #10 on:
July 29, 2008, 11:53:05 PM »
McCain Is the Radical on Health Reform
By JOHN C. GOODMAN
July 30, 2008; Page A15
If you listen only to presidential campaign rhetoric, you might conclude that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama proposed bold new changes for our health-care system, while John McCain is offering only small improvements. If so, you are in for a surprise. Most health-policy analysts believe that Mr. McCain is proposing the most fundamental health-care reform.
Right now the federal government encourages private health insurance primarily through the tax system -- handing out more than $200 billion in tax subsidies every year. Mr. Obama would leave this system largely intact. Mr. McCain would completely replace it with a fairer, more efficient system with a much better chance of insuring the uninsured and controlling health costs at the same time.
Under the current system, every dollar in health-insurance premiums paid by an employer is excluded from employee income and payroll taxes. Take an employee in the 25% income-tax bracket. Throw in state and local income taxes, add the 15.3% (FICA) payroll tax, and the tax exclusion for a middle-income family is worth almost 50 cents on the dollar. To make things a little better, employees can often pay their share of the premium with pretax dollars as well.
But this system is extremely arbitrary. There is virtually no tax relief for people who work for the 40% of employers who do not provide insurance, for part-time workers or people not in the labor market, or for anyone else who for any reason must buy his own insurance. The self-employed get a slightly better deal: They can deduct 100% of their premiums, but they get no relief from the payroll tax.
According to the Lewin Group, a private health-care consulting firm, families earning $100,000 a year get four times as much tax relief as families earning $25,000. In other words, the biggest subsidy goes to those who least need it, and who probably would have purchased insurance anyway.
The system is also wasteful. People can always lower their taxes by spending more on health insurance, and there is no limit to how bloated a health plan can be.
Under the McCain plan, no longer would employers be able to buy insurance with pretax dollars. These payments would be taxable to the employee, just like wages. However, every individual would get a $2,500 credit (and every family would get $5,000) to be applied dollar-for-dollar against taxes owed.
The McCain plan does not raise taxes, nor does it lower them. Instead, it takes the existing system of tax subsidies and treats everyone alike, regardless of income or job status. All health insurance would be sold on a level playing field under the tax law, regardless of how it is purchased.
The impact would be enormous. For the first time, low- and moderate-income families would get just as much tax relief as the very rich when they purchase health insurance. People who must purchase their own insurance would get just as much tax relief as those who obtain it through an employer. Whereas Mr. Obama would continue the current practice of giving the vast bulk of federal help to the rich (through tax subsidies) and the poor (through spending programs), the McCain tax credit would give the most new tax relief to the middle class.
The McCain plan would also encourage all Americans to control costs. The tax credit would subsidize the core insurance that everyone should have. It would not subsidize bells and whistles (marriage counseling, acupuncture, etc.) as the current system does. Since employees and their employers will be paying for additional coverage with aftertax dollars, everyone will have an incentive to compare the value of extra health benefits to the value of other things money can buy. When they eliminate health-care waste, they would get to keep every dollar they save.
The McCain tax credit would be refundable. People could apply $2,500 per person or $5,000 per family to the purchase of health insurance, even if they do not owe any income taxes. Families would not have to wait until April 15 the following year to get their credit. They could obtain the subsidy at the time the insurance is purchased.
The credit would also be transferable. Insurance companies and other intermediaries would be able to help families obtain their credit and apply it directly to health-insurance premiums.
The McCain health plan would allow people to buy insurance across state lines -- thus creating a competitive, national market for health insurance. It would provide additional federal money for people who have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition, making it easier for people who have lost their insurance to obtain new coverage. It would also encourage Medicare to become a smarter, more efficient buyer of care.
The McCain plan will not solve all our health-care problems. But it has a far better chance of positively reforming the system than any other plan that has been proposed in this campaign season.
Mr. Goodman is president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. He is an unpaid adviser to the McCain campaign.
WSJ: Is McCain Stupid?
Reply #11 on:
July 31, 2008, 09:34:33 AM »
Is John McCain Stupid?
July 31, 2008; Page A13
Is John McCain losing it?
On Sunday, he said on national television that to solve Social Security "everything's on the table," which of course means raising payroll taxes. On July 7 in Denver he said: "Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won't."
This isn't a flip-flop. It's a sex-change operation.
He got back to the subject Tuesday in Reno, Nev. Reporters asked about the Sunday tax comments. Mr. McCain replied, "The worst thing you could do is raise people's payroll taxes, my God!" Then he was asked about working with Democrats to fix Social Security, and he repeated, "everything has to be on the table." But how can . . .? Oh never mind.
Yesterday he was in Aurora, Colo., to wit: "On Social Security, he [Sen. Obama] wants to raise Social Security taxes. I am opposed to raising taxes on Social Security. I want to fix the system without raising taxes."
What I'm asking is, does John McCain have the mental focus, the intellectual discipline, to avoid being out-slicked by Barack Obama, if he isn't abandoned by his own voters?
It's not just taxes. Recently the subject came up of Al Gore's assertion that the U.S. could get its energy solely from renewables in 10 years. Sen. McCain said: "If the vice president says it's doable, I believe it's doable." What!!?? In a later interview, Mr. McCain said he hadn't read "all the specifics" of the Gore plan and now, "I don't think it's doable without nuclear power." It just sounds loopy.
Then this week in San Francisco, in an interview with the Chronicle, Sen. McCain called Nancy Pelosi an "inspiration to millions of Americans." Notwithstanding his promises to "work with the other side," this is a politically obtuse thing to say in the middle of a campaign. Would Bill Clinton, running for president in 1996 after losing control of the House, have called Newt Gingrich an "inspiration"? House Minority Leader John Boehner, facing a 10-to-20 seat loss in November, must be gagging.
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one thing -- arguably the only thing -- the McCain candidacy has going for it is a sense among voters that they don't know what Barack Obama stands for or believes. Why then would Mr. McCain give voters reason to wonder the same thing about himself? You're supposed to sow doubt about the other guy, not do it to yourself.
Yes, Sen. McCain must somehow appeal to independents and blue-collar Hillary Democrats. A degree of pandering to the center is inevitable. But this stuff isn't pandering; it's simply stupid. Al Gore's own climate allies separated themselves from his preposterous free-of-oil-in-10-years whopper. Sen. McCain saying off-handedly that it's "doable" is, in a word, thoughtless.
Speaker Pelosi heads a House with a 9% approval. To let her off the hook before the election reflects similar loss of thought.
The forces arrayed against Sen. McCain's candidacy are formidable: an unpopular president, the near impossibility of extending Republican White House rule for three terms, the GOP trailing in races at every level, a listless fundraising base, doubtful sentiments about the war, a flailing economy.
The generic Democratic presidential candidate should win handily. Barack Obama, though vulnerable at the margin, is a very strong candidate. This will be a turnout election. To win, Mr. McCain needs every Republican vote he can hold.
Why make it harder than it has to be? Given such statements on Social Security taxes, Al Gore and the "inspirational" Speaker Pelosi, is there a reason why Rush Limbaugh should not spend August teeing off on Mr. McCain?
Why as well shouldn't the Obama camp exploit all of this? If Sen. Obama's "inexperience" is Mr. McCain's ace in the hole, why not trump that by asking, "Does Sen. McCain know his own mind?"
* * *
In this sports-crazed country, everyone has learned a lot about what it takes to win. They've heard and seen it proven repeatedly that to achieve greatness, to win the big one, an athlete has to be ready to "put in the work."
John McCain isn't doing that, yet. He's competing as if he expects the other side to lose it for him. Sen. McCain is a famously undisciplined politician. Someone in the McCain circle had better do some straight talking to the candidate. He's not some 19-year-old tennis player who's going to win the U.S. presidential Open on raw talent and the other guy's errors. He's not that good.
There is a reason the American people the past 100 years elevated only two sitting senators into the White House -- JFK and Warren Harding. It's because they believe most senators, adept at compulsive compromise, have no political compass and will sell them out. Now voters have to do what they prefer not to. Yes, Sen. McCain has honor and country. Another month of illogical, impolitic remarks and Sen. McCain will erase even that. Absent a coherent message for voters, he will be one-on-one with Barack Obama in the fall. He will lose.
McCain and Bush
Reply #12 on:
August 05, 2008, 12:21:56 PM »
McCain's Problem Isn't Bush
August 5, 2008; Page A17
When John McCain stands before the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis one month from now, the American people will see more than a United States senator. They will see a man who served his nation as a young officer and suffered for it as a prisoner of war. They will also see in that life a truly American story of hope and faith and honor.
Which leads to an impolitic question: Just where does George W. Bush fit in?
If you ask Barack Obama, he will tell you that a vote for Mr. McCain is a vote for a "third Bush term." It's a clever strategy, because it works on many levels. Plainly it rankles the McCain campaign, and pricks at the "maverick" label their candidate takes such pride in. It provides a foil to Mr. Obama's own campaign theme of "change." Most obviously, it plays upon the fatigue of people who are tired after seven years of war and hunger for something different.
The McCain response is reflected in the distance the Republican presidential nominee is keeping from the Republican president. The last time the two men were together for a campaign event was a McCain fund-raiser in Arizona back in May. The event was closed to the press, and the only photo was a departure shot at the airport.
Yet however awkward Mr. McCain may find standing with President Bush, the greater danger is that Mr. McCain will buy into Mr. Obama's campaign theme. And that is what appears to be happening.
Of all Republicans, Mr. McCain should have the least to worry about being called a Bush clone. Not only was Mr. McCain pushing for a surge in Iraq, and to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, long before anyone else, he has famously gone his own way on everything from stem cells and campaign finance to global warming and (before recanting) tax cuts.
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himself to look afraid of being in the president's company hurts him in two large ways. For one thing, it cuts against Mr. McCain's most attractive trait: his fearlessness. This is a man running as someone who stood up to his captors in Hanoi, who stood up to his own party, and who, as president, would be willing to stand up to America's enemies. For such a man to fear photo ops with the president broadcasts an insecurity that will only feed into the Obama campaign. And the press smells it.
At the fund raiser in May, for example, the story became the closed press. It also handed Mr. Obama this line: "No cameras. No reporters. And we all know why. Senator McCain doesn't want to be seen, hat in hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years." No matter what Mr. McCain does, Mr. Obama is going to try to tar him with Mr. Bush. If Mr. McCain appears to be afraid of that, he'll get the worst of both worlds.
Mr. McCain's reticence will also hurt him with his own party. While the president's general approval ratings may be down in the 30s, among the GOP faithful the numbers are up in the 60s. These numbers, moreover, do not track intensity: The people who have stayed with Mr. Bush this far have been through the fire with him. They are not likely to be excited by a nominee who makes a habit of dissing fellow Republicans like Phil Gramm, whose crime was trying to support their nominee.
In other words, if by convention time Mr. McCain cannot look comfortable standing with his own president, he's going to find himself on defense through November. He is up against a charismatic opponent who has brought to his party an excitement they have not known since John F. Kennedy. Mr. McCain needs to remember that his real challenge is not to distinguish himself from George W. Bush. It is to put before the American people an agenda that distinguishes himself from Mr. Obama and the Democratic Congress that would likely do his bidding.
Drawing these distinctions should not be difficult. He's done it on the war. But on domestic policy, Mr. McCain offers no positive agenda.
Take energy. Even when he was finally dragged around to supporting more drilling for oil, it was only halfway. Yes, Mr. Obama would have likely attacked Mr. McCain for "flip-flopping" if he had come out in support of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). But Mr. McCain could have easily explained that priorities that may have made sense when gasoline was $2 a gallon no longer make sense when Americans are paying $4 a gallon.
In this context, his refusal to reconsider ANWR doesn't look principled. It just looks stubborn and incoherent. And it makes his support for offshore drilling look inexplicable and insincere.
Mr. McCain seems intent on reassuring skeptics that he's no George W. Bush. If he loses in November, he'll prove it.
Reply #13 on:
August 07, 2008, 07:38:35 AM »
What McCain Should Do Next
By KARL ROVE
August 7, 2008
Notwithstanding the hype about Barack Obama, here is where the presidential race stands: John McCain was within an average of 1.9% of his Democratic opponent in last week's daily Gallup tracking poll.
It shouldn't be this close. Sen. Obama should be way ahead. It's not that Sen. McCain has made up a lot of ground. Pollster.com shows that the Republican steadily declined from March through June as the Democratic contest dominated the news. Mr. McCain stabilized in July, and then ticked up slightly. But the most important political fact of July is that Mr. Obama has lost altitude. Gallup now projects that 23% of this year's electorate will be swing voters, more than twice the share in 2004.
It seems that each candidate is underperforming with his base. Mr. Obama's problem is that only 74% of Democrats in the latest Fox Poll support him, while Mr. McCain gets 86% of Republicans. But Mr. McCain's support lacks the same intensity Mr. Obama receives. The latest Pew poll found that 24% of voters "strongly" support Mr. Obama, compared to 17% for Mr. McCain.
Old doubts about Mr. Obama remain. In a late June Washington Post poll, 46% said Mr. Obama lacked the experience to do the job, the same number as in March, before he spent $119 million to run ads extolling himself. In February 2000, 59% said George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, had the experience to be president. That number grew as the campaign wore on. Now Mr. Obama faces new doubts over perceptions that he's arrogant, self-centered and calculating.
So what should Mr. McCain do? He's rightly raising questions about Mr. Obama's fitness to be president, starting with his failure to admit that the surge in Iraq worked. Mr. McCain should stay at it, though he'll need help to make the case.
Mr. McCain was correct to seize on Mr. Obama's insinuations that the GOP would mount racist attacks against him. Now Mr. McCain needs to find ways to describe an Obama who is running on empty rhetoric. He needs to do to Mr. Obama what Walter Mondale did to Gary "Where's the Beef?" Hart in the 1984 Democratic primaries. Given Mr. Obama's thin résumé and accomplishments, this can be done, with a sustained effort.
But to win, Mr. McCain must also make a compelling case for electing John McCain. Voters trust him on terrorism and Iraq and they see him as a patriot who puts country first. But they want to know for what purpose?
In the coming weeks, he needs to lay out a bold domestic reform program. He gave a taste on energy, but with a few missteps. He should appear in front of manufacturing plants where jobs depend on affordable energy, small businesses affected by fuel prices, and farms hurt by skyrocketing fertilizer costs -- and not in front of oil rigs. He needs to describe the consequences of specific domestic policy decisions. He must explain how his proposals on energy, health care, jobs and education will make a difference for ordinary families.
Mr. McCain also needs to elevate his arguments. It's not only that he opposes tax increases and Mr. Obama favors them. Mr. McCain must also make the principled case that there should be a limit to what government can take from its citizens. This argument will appeal to a large majority of voters. The top income tax rate is 35% and, according to the Tax Foundation, 89% of Americans believe that government should take no more than 30% from anyone's paycheck.
Mr. McCain should also talk about issues that increase Republican enthusiasm and win over independents, such as earmarks and judicial activism. And he should not shy away from appeals for bipartisanship. He's done it -- and talking about it undermines Mr. Obama, who hasn't. It also explains who Mr. McCain is. Mr. McCain should welcome opportunities to go against the grain. Defending free trade in manufacturing states is gutsy and feeds his maverick, straight-talk image.
He will be pleasantly surprised to find out how many people in Ohio and elsewhere understand that their state's prosperity depends on knocking down trade barriers.
Then there's character. Mr. McCain is the most private person to run for president since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. He needs to share (or allow others to share) more about him, especially his faith. The McCain and Obama campaigns are mirror opposites. Mr. McCain offers little biography, while Mr. Obama is nothing but.
The Republican Party's convention next month is Mr. McCain's biggest chance to improve his posture. The best minds in his campaign should be carefully working on its script. Everyone knows conventions are show, but voters want to see if a candidate can put on a good one that rings true.
Mr. Obama has the easier path to victory: reassure a restive electorate that he's up to the job. Mr. McCain must both educate voters to his opponent's weaknesses and persuade them that he has a vision for the coming four years. This will require a disciplined, focused effort. Mr. McCain has gotten this far fighting an unscripted guerrilla campaign. But it won't get him all the way to the White House.
Mr. Rove is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.
Reply #14 on:
August 07, 2008, 08:30:32 AM »
Second post of the AM:
The McCain Veepstakes
August 7, 2008; Page A12
The Beijing Olympics are about to begin, but in Washington the real games of August involve vetting the potential Presidential running mates. As a young, rookie candidate running on "change," Barack Obama can help himself by choosing a safe, seasoned politician like Evan Bayh or Joe Biden. As the trailing candidate from an unpopular party, John McCain has the harder decision because there really is no obvious candidate.
Our view is that vice presidential nominees rarely matter much to election prospects because voters focus on the top of the ticket. A bad selection can hurt, of course, and veep nominees can be very important both to governing and especially to the future of the party. We'd advise Mr. McCain to make his choice based mainly on the latter two criteria, especially because at his age he could be a one-termer.
This means choosing someone who voters think has the stature to be President from the outset, and also doesn't give up Mr. McCain's clear experience edge over Mr. Obama. That probably rules out a pair of young, attractive Governors, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Alaska's Sarah Palin, despite their potential and appeal as GOP reformers.
Experience also argues against tapping nonpoliticians like eBay's Meg Whitman or FedEx's Fred Smith. Both have undeniable appeal as successful entrepreneurs who could help Mr. McCain's economic bona fides. But the magnitude of press scrutiny that any nominee must endure today is a lot to ask of someone who's never sought elective office. Even Presidential nominees get to spend months auditioning off-Broadway in the primaries, while Dan Quayle knows all about the way the press corps treats unknown GOP veeps.
A successful choice would also be someone who doesn't offend the currently listless conservative base. Independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut would be a splendid VP in our book, and is solid on foreign policy and taxes, but he'd probably alienate too many social conservatives. The best choice on the merits, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, has the wrong last name. Florida Governor Charlie Crist could help the nominee in a big state with 27 electoral votes. But like Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee, Mr. Crist has a record of too-frequent political opportunism that would disappoint much of the party.
A name often mentioned is Mitt Romney, who looks and speaks the part and as an entrepreneur himself could help on the economy. The former Massachusetts Governor failed to catch fire in the primaries, though, and, however unfairly, his Mormonism seems to be an issue with many evangelicals. Our own concern is that he continues to defend his state health-care reform even as it looks increasingly like a fiscal disaster.
By now you might be wondering if there's anyone we do like. Well, Fred Thompson would bring governing judgment and policy heft, and because he isn't much younger than Mr. McCain might make sense as a duo promising to serve one term, clean up the mess, and go home. On the other hand, he might be better suited for Attorney General if Mr. McCain prevails.
Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is a conservative on most issues who has twice won the governorship of a liberal swing state. He's as confused as Mr. McCain on global warming, but he seems to have more principles than Mr. Crist. Rob Portman, former White House budget chief and once a rising star in Congress, brings candle power and might help in his home state of Ohio. Some McCain advisers will say his Bush experience rules him out, but he has depth as a policy wonk.
South Carolina's Mark Sanford, now in his second term as Governor, is unknown to most voters but is well liked among GOP activists for his reform credentials. Elected to Congress in 1994, he kept his promise to serve only three terms. As Governor, he's pushed for lower taxes, less spending and more school choice for disadvantaged kids. Mr. Sanford did stumble recently during a CNN interview, going blank when asked to name policy differences between Mr. McCain and President Bush. Still, it was a minor misstep, and Mr. McCain could do worse.
A darkhorse pick would be John Kasich, another Buckeye-state politician and former Congressman who left Washington before Tom DeLay and other Republican leaders forgot why the voters elected them. Mr. Kasich is still well known in Ohio and is widely thought to be aiming at a run for Governor in 2010. He's an energetic campaigner, the son of a mailman who can talk about taxes and spending in ways that voters can understand.
If there were a miracle choice for Mr. McCain, that person would be obvious by now. There isn't, and an attempt to find one can easily backfire (Spiro Agnew, Geraldine Ferraro). Mr. McCain's age and moderate political profile suggest he needs a younger but still experienced conservative who can help him unite the party and govern if he happens to win.
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal.
Reply #15 on:
August 07, 2008, 09:00:04 AM »
***But to win, Mr. McCain must also make a compelling case for electing John McCain. Voters trust him on terrorism and Iraq and they see him as a patriot who puts country first. But they want to know for what purpose?
In the coming weeks, he needs to lay out a bold domestic reform program.***
I couldn't agree more.
McCain has to respond to the redistribution of wealth argument BO is giving us.
NOt have some stuffy wealthy guys like Forbes et al, or Kudlow telling us how it will hurt our ecocomy and hence all of us, or not saying his tax hike on gains or dividends will hurt more ordinary citizens. He has got to explain to the majority of Americans why "taxing the rich and giving more to them" is really a con job from BSABO (bull shit artist Barack Obama).
And he has to do it in a way that a listener will think, "you know he makes sense". I have not heard this yet. If we see another lame Dole performance out of him in the RNC then it's over. We know BO will be given to read a glorious and marvelous sounding speeche at his convention that will highlight a *new* course for America ("we know the last eight years is not working") with a new dawn etc etc ad nauseum.
Yet BOs lack luster performance in the polls gives me some hope. I remember how the other darling of the crats - BC never got above 50% in the elections.
Reply #16 on:
August 07, 2008, 09:24:30 AM »
Certainly doesn't sound good so far.
"half of which is deducted from employee wages up to $102,000" - no one seems to point out this is *already* a hefty increase from where it was around 10 years ago.
***McCain Irks Republicans With Confusion Over Social Security Tax
Edwin Chen Thu Aug 7, 12:01 AM ET
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- On June 10, John McCain lambasted Barack Obama for advocating a new Social Security payroll tax on the wealthy.
``In a time of real crisis, the last thing we want to do is raise people's taxes,'' the Republican presidential candidate said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
That echoed his refrain throughout the campaign's primary season: As president, he would oppose all tax increases, including those on wages that fund Social Security.
On July 27, he struck a different note.
Asked on ABC Television if he'd consider raising payroll taxes to keep the pension program from going bankrupt, McCain said, ``Everything has to be on the table if we're going to reach a bipartisan agreement.''
That, too, was consistent with his frequent references during the campaign to a 1983 Social Security deal brokered by President Ronald Reagan, House Speaker Tip O'Neill and economist Alan Greenspan, who led a bipartisan commission. What McCain never mentions in his praise of that panel is that it urged hefty tax increases on businesses and employees. McCain, then a newly elected congressman, voted for the proposals.
These contradictions reflect a central conundrum for the Arizona senator: He's seeking to both placate conservatives -- suspicious of him because of his willingness to buck the party in areas from climate change and campaign finance to President George W. Bush's tax cuts -- and project himself as an independent ready to work with Democrats on many of these issues.
Wave of Retirements
No debate underlines the candidate's dilemma more than how to shore up Social Security, which will pay benefits to almost 50 million Americans this year.
Some conservatives are infuriated when raising taxes is even discussed. In an open letter the day after the July 27 interview, the Club for Growth said McCain's remarks were ``shocking'' given his earlier ``adamant'' opposition to higher taxes.
Yet experts argue that saving the system is possible with only some combination of a tax increase and benefit cuts. In 2005, Bush proposed private savings accounts yet refused to negotiate on taxes. The effort died -- even in a Republican- controlled Congress.
Social Security, facing a tidal wave of baby-boomer retirements, is projected to run out of assets by 2041. The solutions to its insolvency are ``well-documented,'' said John Rother, an executive vice president at AARP, an advocacy group for older people. They include raising the payroll tax as well as the age of full eligibility.
Must Include Both
``A plan capable of passing Congress would have to have some of both,'' Rother said.
The payroll tax totals 12.4 percent -- half of which is deducted from employee wages up to $102,000, and half paid by employers.
Obama, 47, an Illinois senator and the Democratic presidential candidate, would boost the tax by continuing to apply it to incomes up to $102,000 as well as to those earning $250,000 and over. Incomes between $102,000 and $250,000 wouldn't be touched.
While McCain, 71, hasn't detailed his own plan, spokesman Tucker Bounds says he thinks Obama ``is absolutely wrong.''
The tax-benefit dilemma has not only thrown McCain into rhetorical contortions, it's also caused him to get testy when pressed to explain.
During a campaign bus ride last week in Missouri, a reporter said his July 27 comment presumably meant McCain wasn't ruling out raising taxes.
``That's presuming wrong,'' McCain said in cutting him off, according to the Washington Post.
Still, he has a history of being open to new Social Security taxes.
In a ``Meet the Press'' interview in 2005, McCain unequivocally endorsed the idea of levying such taxes on high- income earners, saying he could support that ``as part of a compromise.''
Then, as he closed in on the Republican nomination between last December and February, he pledged at least four times to oppose all tax increases, including Social Security levies.
``I will not agree to any tax increase,'' he told the Wall Street Journal in December. On Feb. 3, he vowed on ``Fox News Sunday'' and CBS's ``Face the Nation'' to veto any higher taxes. ``No new taxes,'' he declared on ABC two weeks later.
His shifting rhetoric has entangled even some surrogates. In a Bloomberg interview in July, adviser Carly Fiorina ruled out Social Security tax increases on ``middle-and working-class'' Americans, but said if a bipartisan coalition is ``creative enough'' to fashion levies on wealthier people, that may be acceptable.
Other aides insist the candidate opposes new taxes and only wants to avoid declaring any option non-negotiable.
``He's committed to tackling entitlements by seeking a real bipartisan solution,'' said Mark Salter, a confidant. ``You can't do that with preconditions.''
Some tax-cut proponents remain optimistic McCain won't let them down.
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said he ``didn't go nuts the way some other conservatives did'' over McCain's July 27 remarks because he's been reassured by the senator's aides.
``McCain's saying: `Yes, let's talk about everything,''' he said. ``But that does not mean he'll agree to raise taxes.''
Just in case, Norquist is keeping handy the clips of McCain pledging on national television to not raise taxes.****
Reply #17 on:
August 07, 2008, 10:44:20 PM »
CCP, Interesting observations on McCain regarding SS taxation. First on the tax (and this should be in rants)...If social security is an insurance program then the tax and benefit schedule should apply the same to all. In other words, you shouldn't have to pay premiums beyond some income level if you aren't buying into additional benefits. Clearly the benefits cap out so the 'liberals' like Obama are saying they are ready to change the system over to a welfare program - unlimited pay-ins with means-tested payouts. But if we admit SS is a welfare program, then like McCain says, everything is on the table. Like getting people off the system or partially off and into private accounts. (That didn't go very well last time.) If you tax all income eliminating the cap, then the rates could or should be much lower for all. When all people pay the same rate on all income and face an uncertainty about receiving the benefits then maybe more people will consider lowering the rate and shrinking the program, which would be fine with me. How many productive people have social security as their retirement plan centerpiece?
When you tax to 125k, skip to 250k, then tax to infinity (Obama's SS plan), you have left all logic and ideology IMO and are just targeting a demographic for their prostituted vote. Does anyone vote on principle anymore?
Back to McCain: "McCain Irks Republicans With Confusion Over Social Security Tax."
McCain has been irking Republicans as a career path for as long as I can remember. Like Bush Sr., Bob Dole and even 'W', he doesn't really understand or espouse the efficiency advantages or the moral case for low tax rates. McCain opposed the most recent tax cuts. Like Democrats, McCain expected revenue losses while revenues in fact surged 44% in 4 years from $1.78 Trillion in 2003 to $2.57 Trillion in 2007. That was a serious miscalculation.
Republicans and conservatives are gathering around McCain with soft support for a number of reasons, such as Obama being the senate's no.1 liberal, strong credentials for the war against jihad and other factors - pro-life, better tax and spend plan than Obama and the importance of the next supreme court picks. Another factor is that conservatives also show up to vote for other offices and questions. Here we have a key senate race and open seats for congress, state representative or county commissioner. Our county commissioner spends more money than 7 or 8 of the smallest states. It's pretty hard for an opinionated conservative to not show up or to be unable to pick between McCain and Obama.
The McCain plan for conservatives and the Republican plan in picking McCain does not involve a love affair. McCain annoying his base is an attractive quality to independent voters and working class Democrats that (allegedly) hold the key to victory.
He needs to lay out precise positions but the reality is that he will be working with a Pelosi-Reid congress and none of his good proposals (from my point of view) will become law. His bad ideas (from my point of view) will be welcomed, celebrated and implemented.
This plays into McCain's hands however in the sense that Obama's serious proposals really will be passed into law for the most part, giving people plenty of reason to fear him and fret the details. With all the talk about change, conventional wisdom tells us that people generally favor the status quo over the unknown and voters subconsciously choose divided government more often than not.
Last Edit: August 07, 2008, 11:08:34 PM by DougMacG
Reply #18 on:
August 08, 2008, 08:53:58 AM »
Good points and especially good forward thinking which I didn't do on this point:
***the reality is that he will be working with a Pelosi-Reid congress and none of his good proposals (from my point of view) will become law. His bad ideas (from my point of view) will be welcomed, celebrated and implemented.***
Wasn't the SS cap in the 60K plus range about 15 or 30 years ago and in the 80 plus range around 10 years ago? What is the mechanism for this continued increase?
It is hard to know what McCain intends when he states everything is on the table. But we know where BO comes from notwithstading what he is saying.
Reply #19 on:
August 08, 2008, 10:51:05 AM »
If he wins, in several ways McCain will be very bad. Its just that BO will be bad n most ways, including the struggle with Islamic Fascism.
We are all Georgians
Reply #20 on:
August 14, 2008, 02:00:58 AM »
We Are All Georgians
By JOHN MCCAIN
August 14, 2008; Page A13
For anyone who thought that stark international aggression was a thing of the past, the last week must have come as a startling wake-up call. After clashes in the Georgian region of South Ossetia, Russia invaded its neighbor, launching attacks that threaten its very existence. Some Americans may wonder why events in this part of the world are any concern of ours. After all, Georgia is a small, remote and obscure place. But history is often made in remote, obscure places.
As Russian tanks and troops moved through the Roki Tunnel and across the internationally recognized border into Georgia, the Russian government stated that it was acting only to protect Ossetians. Yet regime change in Georgia appears to be the true Russian objective.
Two years ago, I traveled to South Ossetia. As soon as we arrived at its self-proclaimed capital -- now occupied by Russian troops -- I saw an enormous billboard that read, "Vladimir Putin, Our President." This was on sovereign Georgian territory.
Russian claims of humanitarian motives were further belied by a bombing campaign that encompassed the whole of Georgia, destroying military bases, apartment buildings and other infrastructure, and leaving innocent civilians wounded and killed. As the Russian Black Sea Fleet began concentrating off of the Georgian coast and Russian troops advanced on one city after another, there could be no doubt about the nature of their aggression.
Despite a French-brokered cease-fire -- which worryingly does not refer to Georgia's territorial integrity -- Russian attacks have continued. There are credible reports of civilian killings and even ethnic cleansing as Russian troops move deeper into Georgian territory.
Moscow's foreign minister revealed at least part of his government's aim when he stated that "Mr. Saakashvili" -- the democratically elected president of Georgia -- "can no longer be our partner. It would be better if he went." Russia thereby demonstrated why its neighbors so ardently seek NATO membership.
In the wake of this crisis, there are the stirrings of a new trans-Atlantic consensus about the way we should approach Russia and its neighbors. The leaders of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia flew to Tbilisi to demonstrate their support for Georgia, and to condemn Russian aggression. The French president traveled to Moscow in an attempt to end the fighting. The British foreign minister hinted of a G-8 without Russia, and the British opposition leader explicitly called for Russia to be suspended from the grouping.
The world has learned at great cost the price of allowing aggression against free nations to go unchecked. A cease-fire that holds is a vital first step, but only one. With our allies, we now must stand in united purpose to persuade the Russian government to end violence permanently and withdraw its troops from Georgia. International monitors must gain immediate access to war-torn areas in order to avert an even greater humanitarian disaster, and we should ensure that emergency aid lifted by air and sea is delivered.
We should work toward the establishment of an independent, international peacekeeping force in the separatist regions, and stand ready to help our Georgian partners put their country back together. This will entail reviewing anew our relations with both Georgia and Russia. As the NATO secretary general has said, Georgia remains in line for alliance membership, and I hope NATO will move ahead with a membership track for both Georgia and Ukraine.
At the same time, we must make clear to Russia's leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of that world. The U.S. has cancelled a planned joint military exercise with Russia, an important step in this direction.
The Georgian people have suffered before, and they suffer today. We must help them through this tragedy, and they should know that the thoughts, prayers and support of the American people are with them. This small democracy, far away from our shores, is an inspiration to all those who cherish our deepest ideals. As I told President Saakashvili on the day the cease-fire was declared, today we are all Georgians. We mustn't forget it.
Mr. McCain is the Republican nominee for president.
Reply #21 on:
August 19, 2008, 07:13:41 AM »
From the NY Times chattering class:
The Education of McCain
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: August 19, 2008
On Tuesdays, Senate Republicans hold a weekly policy lunch. The party leaders often hand out a Message of the Week that the senators are supposed to repeat at every opportunity. Sometimes there will be a pollster offering data that supposedly demonstrates the brilliance of the message and why it will lead to political nirvana.
John McCain generally spends the lunches at a table with a gang of fellow ne’er-do-wells. He cracks jokes, razzes the speaker and generally ridicules the whole proceeding. Then he takes the paper with the Message of the Week back to his office. He tosses it on the desk of some staffer with a sarcastic comment like: “Here’s your message. Learn it. Love it. Live it.”
This sort of behavior has been part of McCain’s long-running rebellion against the stupidity of modern partisanship. In a thousand ways, he has tried to preserve some sense of self-respect in a sea of pandering pomposity. He’s done it through self-mockery, by talking endlessly about his own embarrassing lapses and by keeping up a running patter on the absurdity all around. He’s done it by breaking frequently from his own party to cut serious deals with people like Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold. He’s done it with his own frantic and freewheeling style, which was unpredictable, untamed and, at some level, unprofessional.
When McCain and his team set out to win the presidency in 2008, they hoped to run a campaign with this sort of spirit. McCain would venture forth on the back of his bus, going places other Republicans don’t go, saying things politicians don’t say, offering the country the vision of a different kind of politics — free of circus antics — in which serious people sacrifice for serious things.
It hasn’t turned out that way. McCain hasn’t been able to run the campaign he had envisioned. Instead, he and his staff have been given an education by events.
McCain started out with the same sort of kibitzing campaign style that he used to woo the press back in 2000. It didn’t work. This time there were too many cameras around and too many 25-year-old reporters and producers seizing on every odd comment to set off little blog scandals.
McCain started out with the same sort of improvised campaign events he’d used his entire career, in which he’d begin by riffing off of whatever stories were in the paper that day. It didn’t work. The campaign lacked focus. No message was consistent enough to penetrate through the national clutter.
McCain started his general-election campaign in poverty-stricken areas of the South and Midwest. He went through towns where most Republicans fear to tread and said things most wouldn’t say. It didn’t work. The poverty tour got very little coverage on the network news. McCain and his advisers realized the only way they could get TV attention was by talking about the subject that interested reporters most: Barack Obama.
McCain started with grand ideas about breaking the mold of modern politics. He and Obama would tour the country together doing joint town meetings. He would pick a postpartisan running mate, like Joe Lieberman. He would make a dramatic promise, like vowing to serve for only one totally nonpolitical term. So far it hasn’t worked. Obama vetoed the town meeting idea. The issue is not closed, but G.O.P. leaders are resisting a cross-party pick like Lieberman.
McCain and his advisers have been compelled to adjust to the hostile environment around them. They have been compelled, at least in their telling, to abandon the campaign they had hoped to run. Now they are running a much more conventional race, the kind McCain himself used to ridicule.
The man who lampooned the Message of the Week is now relentlessly on message (as observers of his fine performance at Saddleback Church can attest). The man who hopes to inspire a new generation of Americans now attacks Obama daily. It is the only way he can get the networks to pay attention.
Some old McCain hands are dismayed. John Weaver, the former staff member who helped run the old McCain operation, argues that this campaign does not do justice to the man. The current advisers say they have no choice. They didn’t choose the circumstances of this race. Their job is to cope with them.
And the inescapable fact is: It is working. Everyone said McCain would be down by double digits at this point. He’s nearly even. Everyone said he’d be vastly outspent. That hasn’t happened. A long-shot candidacy now seems entirely plausible.
As the McCain’s campaign has become more conventional, his political prospects have soared. Both he and Obama had visions of upending the system. Maybe in office, one of them will still be able to do that. But at least on the campaign trail, the system is winning.
Reply #22 on:
August 19, 2008, 09:00:36 AM »
I still often worry if McCain is up to the job.
Reply #23 on:
August 19, 2008, 11:30:14 AM »
Said with love, but I found that to be a useless piece of chattering class drivel that typifies exactly what my post of the David Brooks piece describes. Its precisely because of chattering twits life Cafferty that any sane candidate gets driven towards the crisp pat answers Cafferty says he describes.
Take this "He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich." I actually heard McCain's whole answer to the question on Larry Elder, and it was thoughtful, sound, and well said-- not the evasion Cafferty evades his substance with because Cafferty is too busy trying to pin a "gotcha" on McC.
McC was certainly far from my preferred candidate, but I do strongly prefer him to Barack "afraid to work without a teleprompter" Obama. McC regularly put himself in unscripted town halls meetings and BO has kitited out from accepting McC's challenge for 10 such debates. What is His Glibness afraid of?
Reply #24 on:
August 19, 2008, 02:36:52 PM »
I am not defending nor am I necessarily a fan of Caffferty, and I too would like to see the "10 debates" (although it is not the first time in political history that the frontrunner has declined to debate; why give McCain the stage?), but my question regards McCain's intellectual capability or his lack thereof. If it wasn't for his Father and family (reminds me of Bush) he simply wouldn't be where he is today. Heck, with his intellect McCain never would have even gotten into the Navel Academy (894 in a class of 899?). Connections are great, especially in Washington, but as President, well often the President alone needs to make the tough decisive decisions, but first he needs to grasp the consequences. "The buck stops here" is a truism, not just a trait phrase. And he needs to be up to it; McCain a nice guy with fun retorts but where is the depth? That and his age (it's not ageism) concern me. Note, I am not saying Obama is a panacea. A pity the Republicans couldn't have done better.
Reply #25 on:
August 19, 2008, 02:44:10 PM »
BO's not a front runner any more
And I wonder where he will be after the Hillbillary Clintons are done putting a cigar up his sanctamonious butt at the Demogogue convention
Reply #26 on:
August 19, 2008, 03:52:21 PM »
Sooo maybe we will see those debates after all
I hope so.
And hilbillie or not, don't mess with Bill
Reply #27 on:
August 19, 2008, 03:58:21 PM »
Well, if Hillary had, maybe Monica wouldn't have happened. Do you know how the two of them met? They dated the same girl in law school.
Reply #28 on:
August 24, 2008, 07:36:28 AM »
OK, now that BO has chosen the loquacious Joe Biden, whom do we think that McC should choose?
I confess to thinking that Romney has many merits
a) strong economics-- a major issue in this campaign, and a weak area of McC. Romeny can articulate pro-growth free market economics well
b) running a Senator's staff is not preparation for running the executive branch, whereas Romney has his quality experience in the private sector, with the Olympic Games in Utah, and as gov of MA
c) Romney can be a pit bull for McC against the calumnies that surely will continue to grow
d) given concern about McC's age, it is important that he can be seen as ready to step in
He also has cons:
a) has said tough things about McC and the MSM will use them in an effort to neutralize all the things Biden has said about BO
b) a non-issue for me, but apparently a lot of people are concerned about the Mormon thing.
c) he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and the BO team will contrast that with their version of BO's life story, McC's 7 homes
Republicans as children of patrician privilege blah blah
Whom do others here think McC should pick?
Reply #29 on:
August 24, 2008, 04:04:43 PM »
"Whom do others here think McC should pick?"
I'll leave aside my personal wish for leaders more conservative than the current bunch and go with what we know this election cycle. I think the pick will be Romney because he has been vetted through the process, because he presents himself well, is extremely bright, competent and well-spoken. He has good experience and is squeaky clean with no surprises. He already ran hard this time so he has already pondered most likely questions that could be asked about issues across the globe and across the economy. He is close enough to McCain on issues compared with any other recent pair. His previous differences with McCain are nothing compared to the differences they both share with the far left philosophies of the opponents. His evolved position on abortion etc. is not new, interesting or relevant compared to the baggage that the candidates at the top of both tickets have to deal with.
The Mormon question is a matter for those who want to discriminate to sort out. (Discrimination overall probably hurts Obama more.) McCain is a Christian and Obama doesn't want focus turned back to the teachings in each other's place of worship. If Mitt Romney was a recent polygamist or had writings attacking Christianity it would be a problem but that is not the case.
Our governor, Tim Pawlenty, is perhaps second choice. In a subtle way he is a very good politician with a few accomplishments. He was on the McCain team early when no one else was, but he is not known nationally, he will not knock your socks off, he does not guarantee McCain even Minnesota much less the region, and there isn't time for everyone to get to know him and come to like him. The main point is that choosing a new face involves unnecessary risk. Romney has been looked at already. Choosing him steers the arguments back to the issues and the leadership questions at the top of the tickets.
I don't think anyone on the political right or center doubts that Mitts Romney could step in quickly and competently in a national emergency and serve as President until the next election. The arguments in the VP debates will be about the positions already set out by McCain and Obama. Mitt should request no time limit in the debate for Joe Biden to speak.
Last Edit: August 24, 2008, 04:06:21 PM by DougMacG
Reply #30 on:
August 24, 2008, 04:22:46 PM »
"Mitt should request no time limit in the debate for Joe Biden to speak."
Reply #31 on:
August 25, 2008, 01:57:09 AM »
Good analysis Doug.
Your last sentence is very, very funny.
Reply #32 on:
August 25, 2008, 09:09:32 AM »
Not that I agree, but here is Bill Kristol's take on this:
A Joe of His Own?
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
Published: August 24, 2008
The anguished cries of Hillary supporters pierced the midday calm here on Saturday, as Barack Obama confirmed that his vice presidential choice was not Clinton, who got about 18 million votes this year running against him, but rather Joe Biden, who gained the support of a few thousand caucusgoers in Iowa before dropping out of the race.
(OK, I didn’t personally hear any anguished cries from my work space near the Pepsi Center. But I’m an empathetic guy — I felt as if I could hear them.)
McCain operatives were pleased by the Biden selection, which they considered, as one said to me, “a pick from weakness.” Still, it complicates McCain’s vice presidential calculations.
The two leading G.O.P. prospects have been Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor, and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. But with Biden’s foreign policy experience as a contrast, could McCain assure voters that the young Pawlenty is ready to take over, if need be, as commander in chief? Also, Biden is a strong and experienced debater. Pawlenty is unproven. If he is the choice, there will be many anxious Republicans in the run-up to the vice presidential debate in St. Louis on Oct. 2.
Romney might match up better against Biden in debate. But it’s clear that the Obama-Biden campaign is moving aggressively to embrace a traditional Democratic populist economic message. Such a message will have appeal this year — especially, one supposes, against a doubly multimansioned G.O.P. ticket of McCain and Romney.
If not Pawlenty or Romney, how about a woman, whose selection would presumably appeal to the aforementioned anguished Hillary supporters? It’s awfully tempting for the McCain camp to revisit the possibility of tapping Meg Whitman, the former eBay C.E.O., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. But the first two have never run for office, and Palin has been governor for less than two years.
So what’s to be done? McCain could well decide the obstacles to Pawlenty and Romney aren’t insuperable, and pick one of them. He could choose a different Republican governor or ex-governor, senator or congressman. Or he could decide that Obama’s conventional pick of Biden allows him to seize the moment by making a bold choice. He could select the person he would really like to have by his side in the White House — but whose selection would cause palpitations among many of his staffers and supporters: the independent Democratic senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman could hold his own against Biden in a debate. He would reinforce McCain’s overall message of foreign policy experience and hawkishness. He’s a strong and disciplined candidate.
But he is pro-abortion rights, and having been a Democrat all his life, he has a moderately liberal voting record on lots of issues.
Now as a matter of governance, there’s no reason to think this would much matter. McCain has made clear his will be a pro-life administration. And as a one-off, quasi-national-unity ticket, with Lieberman renouncing any further ambition to run for the presidency, a McCain-Lieberman administration wouldn’t threaten the continuance of the G.O.P. as a pro-life party. In other areas, no one seriously thinks the policies of a McCain-Lieberman administration would be appreciably different from those, say, of a McCain-Pawlenty administration.
Would McCain-Lieberman have a better prospect of winning than the more conventional alternatives? If they could get over the early hurdles of a messy convention and an awful lot of conservative angst and anger, I’ve come to think so.
Obama and Biden will try to frame the presidential race as a normal Democratic-Republican choice. If they can do that, they should win. That would be far more difficult against a McCain-Lieberman ticket. The charge that McCain would merely mean a third Bush term would also tend to fall flat. And an unorthodox “country first” Lieberman selection would reinforce what has been attractive about McCain, and what has allowed him to run ahead of — though not yet enough ahead of — the generic Republican ballot.
A Lieberman pick should help with ticket splitters. But can such a ticket hold the support of pro-lifers, conservatives and Republicans? If you’re conscientiously pro-life, you will have reservations about a pro-abortion-rights V.P. If you’re a proud conservative, Lieberman hasn’t been one. If you’re a loyal Republican, you’d much prefer someone from within the ranks.
But if you’re pro-life, conservative and/or Republican, you certainly don’t want Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running the country. If a McCain-Lieberman ticket is the best way to thwart that prospect, you could probably learn to live with it — even perhaps to like it.
And Hillary supporters could protest Obama’s glass ceiling by voting for John McCain and the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee.
Reply #33 on:
August 29, 2008, 12:11:29 PM »
Sarah Palin? Who?
? What a joke. A first term governor who admits "she was just a soccer mom before." She is a good person,
I thought McCain said experience was important, "vital to our nation"? And at McCain's age he needs someone truly qualified as his number 2. Why Palin except to pander to the women's vote? McCain/Palin; I am disappointed. That's the best he could do?
Reply #34 on:
August 29, 2008, 12:18:31 PM »
Oh, now experience is an issue?
Reply #35 on:
August 29, 2008, 02:56:40 PM »
Your right about the experience issue. So now we have an inexperienced man picked because he is black and an inexperienced woman picked because of her sex. The whole election process has in my opinion become a three ring circus.
With regards to Michelle O her statement that she "loves this country" is not going to "put to rest" questions about their both hating whites, Jews, and America in general as of course the Dems would like.
So what is really in her college thesis that we are not being allowed to see?
This is heresay but the doubts are rightly and justly going to linger:
***According to Snopes.com, Princeton was asked to put a restriction on the distribution of any copies of the Michelle Obama (Michelle la Vaughn Robinson)senior thesis. Princeton was asked to say that the thesis could not be made available until November 5, 2008.
However, when the thesis was published on a political web site , Princeton decided to lift the restriction.
OBAMA'S MILITANT RACISM REVEALED
In her senior thesis at Princeton , Michelle Obama, the wife of Barrack Obama stated that America was a nation founded on crime and hatred. Moreover, she stated that whites in America were ineradicably racist. The 1985 thesis, titled 'Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community' was written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson.
Michelle Obama stated in her thesis that to whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, she will always be black first. However, it was reported by a fellow black classmate, 'If those whites at Princeton really saw Michelle as one who always would be black first, it seems that she gave them that impression.
Most alarming is Michelle Obama's use of the terms separationist and integrationist when describing the views of black people. Mrs. Obama clearly identifies herself with a separationist' view of race. By actually working with the black lower class within their communities, as a result of their ideologies, a separationist may better understand the desperation of their situation and feel more hopeless about a resolution as opposed to an integrationist who is ignorant to their plight.
Obama writes that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to her further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society, never becoming a full participant. Michelle Obama clearly has a chip on her shoulder. Not only does she see separate black and white societies in America , but she elevates black over white in her world.
Here is another passage that is uncomfortable and ominous in meaning:
There was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the black community, I am obligated to this community and will utilize all of my present and future resources to benefit the black community first and foremost.
What is Michelle Obama planning to do with her resources if she is first lady?The following passage appears to be a call to arms for affirmative action policies that could be the hallmark of an Obama administration. Predominately white universities like Princeton are socially and academically designed to cater to the needs of the white students comprising the bulk of their enrollments.
The conclusion of her thesis is alarming. Michelle Obama's poll of black alumni concludes that other black students at Princeton do not share her obsession with blackness. But rather than celebrate, she is horrified that black alumni identify with our common American culture more than they value the color of their skin. I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with whites resulting from the educational and occupational paths that black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community. However, these findings do not support this possibility.
Is it no wonder that most black alumni ignored her racist questionnaire? Only 89 students responded out of 400 who were asked for input. Michelle Obama does not look into a crowd of Obama supporters and see Americans. She sees black people and white people eternally conflicted with one another.
The thesis provides Mrs. Obama's world view, seen through a race-based prism. This is a very divisive view for a potential first lady that would do untold damage to race relations in this country. Michelle Obama's intellectually refined racism should give all Americans pause for deep concern.
PS: Yes, taxpayers funded her scholarships****
Re: How McCain Decided on Palin
Reply #36 on:
August 29, 2008, 08:03:11 PM »
Expanding on what CCP wrote - that she was chosen because she is a woman - she was chosen to make the ticket win. It's extremely ironic IMO to hear the Obama campaign point out her lack of foreign policy experience.
from ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg
It wasn't until Sunday night that John McCain, after meeting with his four top advisers, finally decided he could not tap independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to be his running mate. One adviser, tasked with taking the temperature of the conservative base, had strongly made the case to McCain that it would be a disaster for the party and that the base would revolt. McCain concluded he could not go that route.
The next day, McCain studied the three men at the top of his shortlist: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. All had different strengths and negatives, but McCain was not satisfied. None of them had what McCain believed he needed to do -- and would have done -- with Lieberman.
McCain wanted to shake up the ticket.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's name was in the mix as an unconventional choice for months, but she had not been considered a front-runner. So, over the next few days, with McCain continuing to believe he needed someone who had more of a maverick streak than his other choices, lawyers reviewed her vetting information. They kept their activities from even some in McCain's most senior inner circle....
The campaign secretly flew Palin into Dayton last night. She and McCain met privately for a couple of hours. McCain concluded she would "shake up the system" and was "a maverick," qualities he believed Lieberman would have brought to the ticket. But she also would appeal to conservatives -- which Lieberman most certainly would not have done.
After their meeting, McCain concluded he was comfortable with his choice. He notified Pawlenty this morning that he was going in a different direction.
Reply #37 on:
August 30, 2008, 09:51:56 AM »
We were driving back up to my mom's in upstate NY from NYC last night when we first heard. Who? WTF? My first reaction was pandering and a foolish choice for a 71 year old man. Saw the Brit Hume Report when we got in and there was a very nice piece on her; she seems very interesting but still the idea that she could step in just doesn't seem plausible. For me its not much of an answer to say that she has more experience than BO.
This WILL be interesting to see how this plays out.
Favoring Rodentia Defenestration
Reply #38 on:
August 30, 2008, 11:11:46 AM »
The thing that annoys me most about the American political process is that about the only way to work yourself up the ranks is to become an unctuous weasel. It seems like the system has evolved in such a way that it manufactures myopic, doctrinaire, pork barrel slathered situational ethicist who will shake your hand and steal your wallet while smiling telegenically all the while. I've met a lot of folks over the years who I think would do a far better job in Washington than the rictus grinning retreads we usually end up with, though I'm not sure many could have survived the sausage factory you have to step through to get there.
Enter Sarah Palin. Ms. Palin may very well prove to be a not particularly gifted amateur, but she has done some stepping up and cleaning house before getting propelled to the head of the line, and she damn sure has a lot more grab your boots, get your hands dirty, and get the job done in her past than does the honorable Senator from Illinois. I hope she surrounds herself with competent advisors, steels herself for some serious OJT, and starts pitching unctuous weasels off the balcony.
I might not be sitting this one out any longer.
Reply #39 on:
August 30, 2008, 01:03:14 PM »
Quote from: Crafty_Dog on August 30, 2008, 09:51:56 AM
We were driving back up to my mom's in upstate NY from NYC last night when we first heard. Who? WTF? My first reaction was pandering and a foolish choice for a 71 year old man. Saw the Brit Hume Report when we got in and there was a very nice piece on her; she seems very interesting but still the idea that she could step in just doesn't seem plausible. For me its not much of an answer to say that she has more experience than BO.
This WILL be interesting to see how this plays out.
Frankly, she has a lot less experience and education (mayor of a very small town and governor for two years of Alaska, a State with more Reindeer than people) than BO who could use a little more experience himself therefore I think Biden was a good choice. And this is the woman who will be if elected, second in line, a heartbeat away from a President who will be 72 at the beginning of his term??? Bottom line, she seems like a fine woman, but someone with NO experience. The fact that she is a woman (pandering?) an NRA member (good) and a mom of five (good for her) and is adamantly against abortion (her choice, but I believe it should be the free choice of a woman) does not nearly qualify her to be President.
Quote from: Body-by-Guinness on August 30, 2008, 11:11:46 AM
Enter Sarah Palin. Ms. Palin may very well prove to be a not particularly gifted amateur,
As you say, she is not EVEN a particularly gifted amateur, much less an experienced professional. Being President of the United States is the toughest job in the word, therefore someone who isn't even "a particularly gifted amateur" should never be in charge.
Reply #40 on:
August 30, 2008, 02:45:24 PM »
As you say, she is not EVEN a particularly gifted amateur, much less an experienced professional. Being President of the United States is the toughest job in the word, therefore someone who isn't even "a particularly gifted amateur" should never be in charge.
Uh no, I said she may prove to be. I in fact think she has more going for her on the qual front than Barry and can't imagine she could be more insufferable than Joe.
BO could use a little more experience, eh? And Kimbo's ground game could use a wee bit more coaching.
Reply #41 on:
August 30, 2008, 05:12:50 PM »
This was a brilliant move by McCain. Peel off some PUMAs, bring in a number of the "soccer mom" demo and energize the conservative base while squashing Barry-O's "sermon on the mount" out of the news cycle.
Reply #42 on:
August 30, 2008, 05:23:38 PM »
August 30, 2008
McCain and the OODA Loop
By Charlie Martin
Man, is this guy a fighter pilot, or what?
There are two military concepts here that explain the (absolutely spectacular) choice of Governor Sarah Palin. Both of them are important to the training of a fighter pilot, and while one of them wasn't formulated until after McCain's flying career was over, it was an observation based on what fighter pilots had to know.
One of them is the "envelope" -- which is to say the parameters within which a fighter airplane must operate. The envelope can be seen as a sort of egg-shape, based on how quickly a plane can turn and maneuver. If your plane as a "tighter envelope" than another plane, the pilot has the advantage in a dogfight: you can turn inside the other plane, which means you can get into the perfect firing position, behind the opponent.
More important is the "OODA loop" -- which is the envelope for the pilot's thought process. How quickly can the pilot observe the situation, orient within the situation, decide, and act. If the pilot's OODA loop time is shorter, the pilot can overcome the slower.
At this point, we're seeing that McCain is completely within the Obama campaign's OODA loop -- they are out-thinking them and out-acting them -- and very problably the McCain campaign has a tighter envelope than the Obama campaign, as well.
Look at the choice of Palin, and the remaining tactics of the last week. It was the week of the Democratic Convention, and while they had their show, he continued to campaign, with immensely effective responses every day (see my day one coverage of Silver Salazar and the Democrats for McCain.) Then, on Thursday, the campaign let it be known that there would be an announcement and ad running that night.
The talking heads chattered about it -- would it be a challenge? Would he announce his VP choice to step on the speech?
It got to the point that the Obama campaign said it would be "political malpractice" to announce his VP pick, and that it was more evidence the McCain campaign was a "war room masquerading as a political campaign" --- on the day that Obama was to say in his speech "But what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes." Then the ad comes out ...
... and it's congratulations on Obama's nomination on the anniversary of the "I have a dream" speech. In one day, they make Obama's campaign look cheap, they make McCain look gracious, and the get the Obama campaign to belie Obama's own speech.
Then the next day, they announce Sarah Palin -- after a dozen head fakes. It's Romney. No it's Pawlenty. It's Romney again. Oh my God, it's Lieberman. Instead of the days and days of anticipation, followed by anxiety, followed by boredom, followed by even more boredom when Obama picked Biden, we get a real surprise -- and the air is sucked out of Obama's big day.
Now look at what this means to the running criticisms of McCain.
Age? Palin is young, beautiful, charismatic and strong. What's more, Biden is going to have to be very careful about an attacks in the vice presidential debate; he'll look like a misogynistic jerk, and then Sarah Barracuda will gut him like a trout. Smiling.
Hit too hard, and Hillary PUMAs they managed to attract back with the campaign's show of unity will flee in droves. Besides, the McCain campaign is all over it already. According to Real Clear Politics' Tom Bevan, "McCain senior advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer just said on Fox -- and I'm paraphrasing: I think the Obama campaign would have learned not to belittle women."
Experience? The Obama campaign has already tried hitting at Palin as inexperienced --- but every time they do so, they open themselves to the obvious retort: she's got more executive experience than Obama, and she's only running for Vice President.
Foreign policy? Again, she's been to Iraq as often as Obama has -- and she's got a son going there. Hugh Hewitt rightly points out "by reason of just her work with Canada, she's light years ahead [sic] Obama." The Democratic nominee has had his own problems with Canada in fact.
Corruption and pork? She got into office attacking corruption among Republicans in Alaska and turned down the famous "bridge to nowhere".
There's one more military concept here, as well: operational security. Unlike the usual campaign leaks, this really was kept completely quiet -- in fact, they even managed to almost eliminate the usual hints, like aircraft movements. It was planned and executed like a SEAL op.
All in all, it was masterful. We just finished the Denver convention, and the self-congratulation last night was thick on the ground. But this week, it looks like the Obama campaign's "Chicago Rules" have turned out to be bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Reply #43 on:
August 30, 2008, 05:44:20 PM »
THE GREEN ZONE
McCain Gets $7 Million Bounce from Palin Pick
By Matthew Mosk
Sen. John McCain has taken in $7 million in contributions since announcing Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a top campaign aide said today.
The money bounce may owe to Palin's appeal with conservative donors, many of whom said privately they had planned on sitting out the campaign this year. The money comes in just under the wire -- after McCain accepts the GOP nomination Thursday, he will accept public funds and no longer be permitted to raise private money for the campaign.
That will not, however, stop McCain and Palin from raising money for the Republican National Committee. In coming weeks, McCain will host four megafundraising events in major cities aimed at bolstering the accounts of the party. Palin, meanwhile, will be sent out to headline more than a dozen fundraising events for the RNC.
Shortly before Palin's announcement, one senior RNC official said McCain's pick "better like doing fundraising."
Like almost everything else she does, hosting these events will be something of a new experience for Palin. When running for governor of Alaska in 2006, Palin raised a total of just $468,400.
Incidentally, Bill Burton, a spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama, declined to reveal how much money the Democratic nominee took in after his speech to 84,000 supporters in Denver and 38 million television viewers.
Reply #44 on:
August 30, 2008, 10:02:22 PM »
**Sorry about the formatting. Go to the site to see the tables intact.**
Zogby Poll: Equilibrium in the POTUS Race!
Brash McCain pick of AK Gov. Palin neutralizes historic Obama speech, stunts the Dems' convention bounce
UTICA, New York - Republican John McCain's surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's historic speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination - has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows.
Data from this poll is available here
The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.
In other words, the race is a dead heat.
The interactive online Zogby survey shows that both Obama and McCain have solidified the support among their own parties - Obama won 86% support of Democrats and McCain 89% of Republicans in a two-way head-to-head poll question not including the running mates. When Biden and Palin are added to the mix, Obama's Democratic support remains at 86%, while McCain's increases to 92%.
After the McCain "Veep" announcement on Friday, Palin was almost immediately hailed as a strong conservative, and those voters have rallied to the GOP ticket, the survey shows. Republicans gather in St. Paul, Minnesota this week to officially nominate McCain and Palin as their presidential ticket.
Does the selection of Sarah Palin help or hurt John McCain's chances of winning the presidential election in November?
Zogby Poll One Week Ago: Does Biden Help or Hurt Obama?
Will help him
Will hurt him
Will make no difference
Overall, 52% said the selection of Palin as the GOP vice presidential nominee helps the Republican ticket, compared to 29% who said it hurt. Another 10% said it made no difference, while 10% were unsure. Among independent voters, 52% said it helps, while 26% said it would hurt. Among women, 48% said it would help, while 29% said it would hurt the GOP ticket. Among Republicans, the choice was a big hit - as 87% said it would help, and just 3% said it would hurt.
Pollster John Zogby: "Palin is not to be underestimated. Her real strength is that she is authentic, a real mom, an outdoors person, a small town mayor (hey, she has dealt with a small town city council - that alone could be preparation for staring down Vladimir Putin, right?). She is also a reformer."
"A very important demographic in this election is going to be the politically independent woman, 15% of whom in our latest survey are undecided."
"In the final analysis, this election will be about Obama vs. McCain. Obama has staked out ground as the new JFK - a new generation, literally and figuratively, a new face of America to the world, a man who can cross lines and work with both sides. But McCain is the modern day Harry Truman - with lots of DC experience, he knows what is wrong and dysfunctional with Washington and how to fix it, and he has chosen a running mate who is about as far away from Washington as he could find.
"This contest is likely to be very close until the weekend before the election - then the dam may break and support may flood one way or the other."
The interactive survey shows that 22% of those voters who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in their primary elections or caucus earlier this year are now supporting John McCain.
Among those who said they shop regularly at Wal-Mart - a demographic group that Zogby has found to be both "value" and "values" voters - Obama is getting walloped by McCain. Winning 62% support from weekly Wal-Mart shoppers, McCain wins these voters at a rate similar to what President Bush won in 2004. Obama wins 24% support from these voters.
Other demographic details are fairly predictable, showing that the McCain/Palin ticket heads into its convention on Monday with numbers that may fuel an optimism they may not have expected, and that many would not have predicted, especially after Obama's speech Thursday night.
Still, storm clouds remain on the horizon for the Republicans, a four-way horserace contest between McCain, Obama, Libertarian Bob Barr and liberal independent Ralph Nader shows.
The Four-way Horserace
The online survey was conducted Aug. 29-30, 2008, and included 2,020 likely voters nationwide and carries a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points.
For a detailed methodological statement on this survey, please visit:
Reply #45 on:
August 30, 2008, 11:46:16 PM »
Just one question, she is a fine woman/person, I honestly like her, and I agree with many of her values,
but do you truly believe she is qualified to be President of the United States? McCain is 70+ (it's not ageism)
and I am concerned.
Reply #46 on:
August 31, 2008, 10:04:35 AM »
I think she is more qualified than Barry-O. At least the Repubs have the veteran at the head of the and the novice as VP. Everything i've seen about her I like and i'm reminded of one of my favorite movies "The Untouchables". Remember how they couldn't trust the CPD officers so the recruited right out of the academy? This is somewhat like that.
Reply #47 on:
August 31, 2008, 05:52:41 PM »
FWIW, my initial reaction is that I like her a lot, but a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Here that is the idea that this woman is remotely prepared to lead the US against Ahmadinejad and the Iranian nuke program or Putin, to deal with the Pak-Afg situation, and so many other knotty world situations. On first blush, she's not even close. This certainly isn't enough to change my mind about McC over BO, but I do worry about how it will play.
That said, in many ways she is an imaginative choice. One positive amongst many is that she will give the chattering class something to chatter about besides His Glibness.
McCain's tax policy
Reply #48 on:
September 02, 2008, 09:58:54 AM »
Has a Tax Plan
To Create Jobs
By MARTIN FELDSTEIN and JOHN B. TAYLOR
September 2, 2008; Page A23
John McCain's tax policies are designed to create jobs, increase wages and allow all Americans -- especially those in the hard-pressed middle class -- to keep more of what they earn. His plan achieves these goals in three important ways.
First, he proposes a package of tax incentives that will create jobs and raise earnings by inducing firms to invest more in the U.S. Second, he is strongly committed to blocking any increase in tax rates while doubling the personal exemptions for families with children, which will reduce the tax burden on working Americans. Third, he proposes a new, refundable tax credit that will increase health-care coverage, reduce the cost of health care, and provide more funds for families and individuals to purchase health care.
Here's how the three components of Sen. McCain's tax plan will work in practice.
To create jobs, Mr. McCain will reduce the corporate tax rate -- now at 35% the second highest among all industrial countries -- to one that doesn't penalize firms for doing business here. To encourage small businesses to expand, he will fight against higher tax rates on their income.
To increase wages, Mr. McCain will provide incentives to raise productivity, which leads to higher wages. To increase productivity, he will provide incentives for developing and applying new technologies by expanding the tax credit for research and development, and by making that credit permanent.
More savings and investment in businesses also raise productivity. Mr. McCain will stimulate saving by keeping tax rates low on the returns to saving in the form of dividends and capital gains. He will also allow faster depreciation of assets, which encourages investment. And he will strengthen the incentive to save by reducing the maximum estate tax rate, with a substantial, untaxed exemption.
In stark contrast to Barack Obama, Mr. McCain believes that tax policy should be used to foster the creation of jobs and higher wages through economic growth, rather than to redistribute incomes. The economy is not a zero-sum game in which some people can enjoy higher incomes only if others are made worse off.
Mr. McCain's plan will significantly ease the tax burden on American families with children by doubling the personal exemption to $7,000 from $3,500. This means a larger percentage tax reduction for families with smaller taxable incomes, and specifically helps families in the middle income levels. And a President McCain will enable people to keep more of their earnings by preventing Congress from raising tax rates.
Mr. McCain's overall tax policy will also expand health-insurance coverage, and make health care more efficient. Most taxpayers will also pay less in tax. Here's how it will work. His plan includes a refundable tax credit of $2,500 for single individuals and $5,000 for couples, if they receive a qualifying health-care policy from an employer (one that includes adequate coverage against large medical bills), or buy a qualifying policy on their own. The credit will replace the current tax rule, which excludes employer payments for health insurance from employees' taxable incomes.
This tax credit will be available to everyone, including the self-employed and the employees of businesses that do not provide health insurance. Thus it will lead to a major expansion of health-insurance coverage. The tax credit will of course be available to people who are between jobs, or have retired before they're eligible for Medicare.
Since any part of the credit not used to pay for insurance could be invested in a health savings account, individuals will have an incentive to choose less costly health-insurance policies. This will improve the efficiency of health care, to everyone's benefit.
Importantly, the tax credit will be a clear gain for most employees. Consider a married taxpayer whose employer now pays $10,000 for a health-insurance policy. Ending the exclusion will raise that individual's taxable income by $10,000 -- but the $5,000 tax credit will exceed the extra tax liability whether the marginal tax rate that individual pays is 10% or 35% or anywhere in between. Indeed, the lower the taxpayer's income, the more of the credit that will be available to pay for health care that's not reimbursed by insurance.
Sen. Obama was at best disingenuous in his convention speech when he criticized the McCain plan for taxing health benefits. The health insurance tax credit exceeds the extra taxes on existing benefits.
Mr. Obama also criticized Mr. McCain on the grounds that he doesn't cut taxes on 100 million families. But this ignores the fact that Mr. McCain's health-insurance credits would benefit most taxpayers and that many people who are not currently eligible for the increased personal exemption will become eligible when they have children. When these features are taken into account, the vast majority of today's 140 million taxpayers would pay lower taxes under the McCain plan.
Tax revenues will increase robustly over the next few years with Mr. McCain's overall tax strategy as the economy grows -- even with conservative economic growth assumptions. And by maintaining strong control over the growth of government spending, Mr. McCain will bring the budget into balance. His long record of fighting against excessive government spending, his plans to veto earmarks and reverse the spending binge of the past few years, and his strong commitment to balancing the budget can make this goal a reality.
Mr. McCain's tax policy stands in strong contrast to Mr. Obama's ever-changing tax proposals. Although it is difficult to know just what Mr. Obama would do if he were elected, it is clear that he wants to raise taxes on personal incomes, on dividends, on capital gains, on payroll income and on businesses -- all of which will hurt the U.S. economy. He regards the tax system as a way to redistribute income, and disregards the resulting adverse incentive effects that reduce employment and economic growth.
Mr. Obama's claim to being a big tax cutter defies credibility. His assertion that he would cut taxes on 95% of families reflects his one-time $1,000 rebate payouts, and a variety of new government spending handed out through the tax system.
Mr. McCain, on the other hand, has been clear that he wants to preserve the favorable incentive effects of the existing low tax rates -- and to reduce taxes in other ways that will strengthen the economy, create jobs and help current taxpayers, including those without health insurance.
Messrs. Feldstein and Taylor are economic advisers to John McCain and professors of economics at, respectively, Harvard and Stanford.
Reply #49 on:
September 02, 2008, 10:03:03 AM »
second article of the morning
Ignore the Chauvinists.
Palin Has Real Experience.
By NANCY PFOTENHAUER
September 2, 2008; Page A21
In Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain has found a fellow maverick to be his running mate -- one who can help bring the right kind of reform to Washington. Ms. Palin, like Mr. McCain, has a strong record of battling the status quo, restoring accountability and effectiveness to government, and working to secure energy independence, root out corruption and curb wasteful spending.
As the chief executive of the nation's largest state, Ms. Palin oversees some of the country's largest energy reserves. She came into office at a critical time in Alaska politics, facing a system plagued by corruption. Her response was to immediately begin cleaning it up. The results of her leadership today speak for themselves: Ms. Palin's approval ratings top 80% -- more than 60% higher than that of the Democratic Congress.
Ms. Palin has a tangible, impressive record of achievement and executive experience. She is head of the Alaska National Guard and the chairman of two multistate agencies that make energy decisions that affect all Americans. While Barack Obama spent almost all of the past two years running for president, Ms. Palin has been running a state.
It's telling that Sen. Obama chose to give a negative, partisan speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He envisions a Democratic monolith in Washington that will solve all of our problems.
But Ms. Palin knows that real change doesn't come from rigid adherence to party lines. She has transformed her state's government from what she called a "good ol' boys network" to an accountable, successful system. Like Mr. McCain, Ms. Palin realizes that the problem isn't a Republican administration or a Democratic Congress. It's business as usual in Washington.
Ms. Palin's experience in reforming Alaskan government shows she's ready to lead on the national stage. She stood up to members of her own party who abused their power, risking her political career by protesting ethics violations. Ms. Palin went on to pass ethics reform. She has put the people's interests ahead of her own -- like Mr. McCain.
A McCain-Palin administration will not tolerate pork-barrel spending. In Washington, Mr. McCain spoke out against the "Bridge to Nowhere," a $400 million waste of the taxpayers' money that led to an island with a few dozen residents. In Juneau, Alaska, Ms. Palin made sure the bridge went nowhere, canceling the earmark. She wasn't afraid to use her veto pen, and Mr. McCain won't be either.
In a state where energy production is a top priority, Ms. Palin is an expert in the field. She has never shied away from challenging the influence of big oil companies, all the while fighting for the development of new energy resources. Ms. Palin worked with Democrats and Republicans to institute a rebate that used the state's vast oil revenues to help offset the high costs of fuel and heating in the state.
Ms. Palin has been a leader in the fight for American energy independence. Like Mr. McCain, she understands that we need an "all of the above" solution to secure our energy future. Her influence extended far beyond Alaska as she recently pushed through a gas pipeline project that will bring new supplies and lower prices to the lower 48 states.
Just last month, meanwhile, the Democrats running Congress went on vacation rather than vote to allow offshore drilling, which would reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Beyond ethics and energy, Ms. Palin shares Mr. McCain's passion for conservation. Mr. McCain often speaks of his admiration for Theodore Roosevelt, a conservationist and sportsman who surely would have enjoyed Ms. Palin's company. She grew up hunting and fishing in Alaska, and she understands the importance of responsible stewardship of our environment.
All women should be proud of Mr. McCain's selection of Ms. Palin as his running mate, an historic moment that came the week of the 88th anniversary of women's earning the right to vote. Sarah Palin will break through the glass ceiling that, as she noted on her first day as the vice presidential nominee, has 18 million new cracks thanks to Hillary Clinton.
Ms. Pfotenhauer is a senior policy adviser and national spokesperson for the McCain campaign.
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James Winston Watts, Richard Thomas Watts. Brothers in blood, brothers in arms, and brothers in spirit, James Winston and Richard Thomas Watts, eminent citizens of Lynchburg, Virginia, and loyal self-sacrificing sons of Virginia, after lives of honor and usefulness passed from earthly scenes, leaving to posterity the rich legacy of untarnished names.
The Watts family of Virginia are of English or Scotch ancestry, the family being one of the ancient and honorable names of the Kingdom. Arms: Argent an oak tree growing out of a mound in vase vert. Over all on a bar azure, a crescent between two mulletts of the first. Crest: A cubit arm erect issuing from a cloud, in the hand a branch of olive all ppr.
John Watt, of Scotland, was the direct ancestor of the Watts family in America. He was known as a "deacon Covenanter." He took part in the political and military agitation in Scotland in the late sixteenth century, and died in 1601, probably through foul play from his enemies. His wife was Euphame (Porteous) Watt, the daughter of a wealthy Scotch merchant. There is every reason to believe that John Watt, born in 1650, was his grandson. This John Watt inherited the ancestral manor known as "Rose Hill," which was located near the city of Edinburgh. He had issue: 1. Margaret, born about 1672; married Sir Walter Riddell, the fourth baronet of Nova Scotia. 2. Alice, married (first) a Mr. Scott, of Fife, and (second) Lord Galtown. 3. Adam, born in 1678. 4. Robert. 5. John, born in 1682; came to America and died unmarried in Philadelphia in 1707.
Robert Watt came to this country about 1710 and settled in Manhattan, and was the founder of the northern branch of the Watts family. That he was the father of Jacob Watts, of Virginia, is not likely, as his children are recorded, and the name of Jacob does not appear among them. It is however, possible that his brother Adam, may have come to Virginia, and was the father of Jacob Watts.
(I) Descent is traced from Jacob Watts, the first of the family in Virginia of whom there is record in this branch. He was the owner of a large estate containing over eleven hundred acres located on the north fork of the Rivanna, near Piney mountain, Albemarle county, Virginia. He was a prosperous planter and a minister of the early Methodist church of Albemarle county, born in 1731 his long and useful life of ninety years terminating in 1821. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel Richard Durrett, of Priddy's creek, Albemarle county; children: William, of further mention; John, Elijah, Fielding, Mildred, married a Mr. Bruce; Mary, married Hezekiah Rodes; Frances, married Joseph Edmondson; Nancy, married Henry Austin; Agnes, married John Huckstep.
(II) William Watts, eldest son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Durrett) Watts, by his first wife, Jane, had issue; James, of further mention; Fannie, born October 26, 1769. By his second wife, Lucy he had issue: Elizabeth, born December 15, 1775; Patsey, April 4, 1776; Washington, September 2, 1777; William, March 25, 1779.
(III) James Watts, son of William and Jane Watts, was born January 25, 1767, died near Liberty, now Bedford City, Virginia, January 25, 1828. He married Elizabeth Hamilton, and had issue: Richard D. of further mention; Sally W., born December 27, 1795; Jane H., May 19, 1798; Eliza M., March 15, 1801, died January 8, 1865, married September 9, 1819, Dabney Poindexter; James, born October 2, 1807; Frances T., January 17, 1813; Paulina Ann, July 31, 1815.
(IV) Richard D. Watts, eldest son of James and Elizabeth (Hamilton) Watts, was born December 18, 1793. He was a resident of Bedford county, Virginia, and a soldier of the war of 1812. He married Isabelle Newell, and had issue: Mary Frances, married George Morgan Jones (whose biography appears elsewhere in this work); Colonel James Winston, of further mention; John Harvey Newell, married Rebecca Hurt, and had issue; Charles R., married Elizabeth McKinney, children: Blair and Charles; Mary Elizabeth, married Harry P. Burks, child, Martha; Richard Thomas, of further mention.
(V) Colonel James Winston Watts, eldest son of Richard D. and Isabelle (Newell) Watts, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, April 19, 1833, died in Lynchburg, Virginia, December 3, 1906. He was well educated in Virginia schools, grew to manhood on the home plantation and early became prominent in local affairs, holding the office of magistrate when barely qualified in point of years. He became one of the prosperous planters of Bedford county and busied himself with private and county affairs until his state called for her loyal sons at the outbreak of hostilities between the states. He entered the Confederate army in April, 1861, as first lieutenant of Company A, Second Regiment Virginia Cavalry, and at once went to the front. In August, 1861, for "meritorious service" he was commissioned captain, serving in that rank until May, 1862. Upon the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, on the last named date, and attached to General Turner Ashby's brigade, "Stonewall" Jackson's division. He serv ed with distinction as lieutenant-colonel of the Second Virginia Cavalry until, disabled by wounds in the action at Aldie in July, 1863, he was forced to retire for a season. One month later he returned to duty, being assigned to the command of the military post at Bedford City (then known as Liberty), where he continued in command until the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. He then started to join the army of General Johnston in the south, reached Augusta, Georgia, there reporting to General Frye. Realizing at last that further resistance was useless he gave up his sword, was paroled and returned to his home in Virginia.
The list of battles in which he was engaged reveals a record of which the bravest of soldiers might well be proud. He participated in the early actions of Vienna, Manassas and Flint Hill; then with Jackson in the Valley, fought at Front Royal, Newton, Winchester, Hall Town, Rude's Hill, Strasburg, Cross Keys and Port Republic; took part in the seven days of bloody struggle before Richmond; fought at Cedar Mountain, Bristoe Station, Groveton, and Second Manassas, at Occoquan, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, White Oak Swamp, Brandy Station, Aldie, Winchester (1864) and Lynchburg (1864). He was slightly wounded in an affair at Little Washington, in the Valley campaign; and at Occoquan and Aldie was severely wounded.
During the second battle of Manassas, Colonel Watts led the advance of his regiment (Second Virginia Cavalry) in the charge at the Lewis House, which is conceded by all writers on the Confederate cavalry to have been the most brilliant charge of the war. Here this regiment met a full brigade of Federal cavalry and charged them with such impetuosity that the Confederates cut their way through the first line of the enemy into the very heart of the Federal brigade. Here a desperate hand to hand fight took place before the enemy was repulsed and driven from the field. In this fight Colonel watts received eight sabre wounds.
In May, 1862, when General Jackson was driving General Banks from the Valley of Virginia, Colonel Watts with fifty-three man charged in infantry regiment of Federals while passing through Newton, Fredericks county, scattering them and bringing out one hundred and twenty-five prisoners and several wagons, almost in the face of the main body of the enemy. He led his regiment on that famous raid of General "Jeb" Stuart's into Chambersburg in 1862, bringing back six hundred head of horses as trophies. In December, 1862, near Occoquan, with one squadron, all that could be used of the regiment, he charged a full regiment of Federal cavalry, Pennsylvania troops, driving it more than two miles, completely routing it, killing and wounding thirty men, besides capturing many of their horses. In physique, tall, erect, lithe and well proportioned; in temperament, uniformly courteous, whether obeying authority or exercising it; in action, swift and dexterous, always brave, never rash he was the ideal soldier.
The was over, his spirit nothing daunted, he at once set about repairing his financial losses. His lands devastated, his labor freed, he decided to enter commercial life, and in 1865 made his home in Lynchburg, uniting with his brother, Richard T. Watts and his brother-in-law, George M. Jones, in forming the copartnership Jones, Watts & Company, with three stores in Lynchburg and branches in Danville, Bedford City, Salem and Roanoke, and for nearly a quarter of a century theirs was the leading hardware house in the western half of the state. In 1887 they sold to Bell, Barker & Jennings and retired from the hardware business, but continued their association, making investmentsin the old firm name. They became interested in several coal mining operations, and at the time of his death Colonel Watts was director in the Gilliam, the Louisville, and the Greenbriar Coal and Coke companies. He was at one time president of the National Exchange Bank, and was at different times a director in this and other banks of Lynchburg. In addition to this he was one of the leading spirits in establishing the Lynchburg Cotton Mill, his labor as well as his capital furnishing an important contribution to its success.
He was always deeply interested in the welfare of the city of his adoption, and did much for its advancement. He was elected to the city council in 1877 and served on many important committees. He was again elected in 1902, but declined to serve on account of his age and the press of other business. For more than twenty years he was a judge of elections in the second ward, and at his death was serving as president of the board of police commissioners. Not only did he give time and labor to the service of the city, but his means as well. Few public or private interests failed of remembrance at his hands, and from him Court Street Church, the Randolph-Macon College at Ashland, the Randolph-Macon Woman's College and the Young Men's Christian Association of Lynchburg, all received generous aid. He was for forty-eight years a steward of the Methodist church, thirty-five years of this term being spent on the board of the Court Street Church, of which he was chairman for fifteen years. About a year before his death, on account of ill health, he resigned, and if it were necessary to seek testimony of his love for the church and the brethren, it could be found in his letter of resignation. As long as his health permitted he taught a class in the Sunday school, and no teacher was ever more faithful.
In the death of Colonel Watts the city of Lynchburg and the commonwealth of Virginia suffered a distinct loss. Few men in the city were so generally beloved and none more highly respected. Men admired and esteemed him, not only for what he accomplished, but for what he was. High-minded, warm-hearted, chivalrous, brave, yet gentle and modest as a woman, and child-like in the candor and simplicity of his nature, he was at once the manliest of men, and the most lovable and companionable. Himself free from guile, his charity in judging others was never-failing. He lived in the open, trusting and trusted, his life known and read of all men.
Colonel Watts married, February 22, 1854, Mary Elizabeth Jones, daughter of Fielding E. and Sarah (Spear) Jones; children: Hubert Bruce, see forward; Jennie, married George P. Watkins; Thomas Ashby, see forward; Maude, married Oliver D. Bachelor, of North Carolina.
(V) Richard Thomas Watts, youngest son of Richard D. and Isabelle (Newell) Watts, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, September 5, 1838, died in Lynchburg, Virginia, September 21, 1910. He was educated at Emory and Henry College, beginning his business career at the age of eighteen years in Salisbury, North Carolina, in association with George M. and A. T. Jones. Later he was a partner of the latter, engaging in mercantile business at Selma, Alabama. When war was imminent between the states he returned to Virginia, and when his state called for men he enlisted in Company A, Second Regiment Virginia Cavalry under Captain W. R. Terry, his brother, James W. Watts, being first lieutenant of the company. He joined the regiment at Manasses Junction, serving in the ranks and as color bearer. For bravery in action he was recommended for promotion by General T. T. Munford, and received it in appointment as adjutant in White's "Commanche" Battalion. At Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, May 6, 1864, his horse was killed and while dismounted he was captured, sent to Fort Delaware and there held a prisoner of war until hostilities ceased. He then returned to Bedford county, but a little later located in Lynchburg, where he joined with his brother, Colonel James Winston Watts, and his brother-in-law, George M. Jones, in establishing the wholesale and retail hardware house of Jones, Watts & Company. He continued a member of this very successful firm until 1887, when the original partners retired, the business continuing as Bell Barker & Jennings. After retiring from the hardware business he continued his association with his old partners, investing in coal mines and other enterprises, acquiring large financial and industrial interests. He was closely associated with his brother, Colonel James W. Watts, and his brother-in-law, George M. Jones, in the enterprises both in Lynchburg and elsewhere, ranking as one of the leading men of his city. He was vice-president of the Lynchburg Trust and Savings Bank, a director of the Lynchburg Cotton Mill Company, and interested in several private enterprises in the city. He was a member of the Court Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and gave liberally in support of charitable, educational and philanthropic institutions.
Mr. Watts married, April 22, 1874, Emma Margaret Hurt, born July 2, 1849, died March 22, 1911, in California. Children: 1. Richard Thomas (2), born March 18, 1876; now one of the leading merchants and business men of Lynchburg, president of Watts Brothers Company, vice president of the Lynchburg Trust and Savings Banks, president of the Board of Trade and interested in many city enterprises; married, June 7, 1911, Gladys, daughter of Charles Edward and Sarah Morris (Langhorne) Heald; children: Sarah Langhorne, born November 22, 1912, and Margaret, November 13, 1913. 2. Dr. Stephen Hurt, born August 6, 1877; now professor of surgery, medical department of University of Virginia. 3. James Own, born October 14, 1881; a coal operator. 4. Robert Crenshaw, born July 1, 1883; United States senator from Mississippi; married Laurie, daughter of Anselm J. and Laura (Rauch) McLaurin; child: Jean, born April 21, 1911. 5. Mary, born February 2, 1889.
Hubert Bruce Watts. Following closely the example of their honored father, the sons of Colonel James Winston Watts have been throughout their lives honored business men of the city of Lynchburg, Virginia.
Hubert Bruce Watts, eldest son of Colonel James Winston and Mary Elizabeth (Jones) Watts, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, December 6, 1857. When a lad he removed with his parents to Lynchburg, Virginia. After attending the public schools and high school there, he was carefully prepared by private instructors for college. He entered the Virginia Military Institution in 1875 and graduated with honor with the class of 1879. Mr. Watts is a banker, and is connected with all the important enterprises of Lynchburg, and is identified with every movement which has for its object the uplifting of his city, and the moral uplift of his fellow citizens. Mr. Watts married, September 26, 1888, Ida Reeder, daughter of Major Ferdinand Christian and Mary (Lyons) Hutter, and granddaughter of Judge James Lyons, of Richmond.
Thomas Ashby Watts. Thomas Ashby Watts, youngest son of Colonel James Winston and Mary Elizabeth (Jones) Watts, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, September 9, 1866, his parents at that time, however, residing in Lynchburg, where his honored father was a member of the hardware firm of Jones, Watts & Company. Thomas A. Watts was educated in the public schools of Lynchburg, and after completing the high school course pursued a special course at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York He began business life as cashier in the banking house of P. A. Krise, of Lynchburg, a position he held for five years. He then resigned, his ability as a financier rendering him of value to the Lynchburg Perpetual Loan and building Company, a corporation which he served for nine years as secretary and treasurer. He then became the controlling owner of the company, and under his executive management its usefulness and prosperity have been most marked and satisfactory. He is vice-president of the Greenbriar Lumber Company, vice-president of the Tide Water Banking Company, of Roanoke, Virginia, is interested with his brother, Hubert B. Watts, in West Virginia coal and coke properties as an extensive operator, and has important commercial and financial interests of great local importance besides those mentioned. He is a member of the Court Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Watts married Fanny C., daughter of Dr. Leighton and Mary P. (Hurt) Cheatwood, of Lynchburg; children: James Winston (2), born January 19, 1904; Thomas Ashby (2), July 27, 1906; Hubert Bruce (2) June 1, 1910.
John Nottingham Upshur, M. D. Francis Whittle Upshur, M. D. Through his mother, Sarah Andrews Parker, Dr. Upshur is a direct descendant of Pocahontas and of Robert the Bruce of Scotland, and traces his Virginia ancestry vial a long line of Virginians to Edward Digges (Belfield, York, 1621-26) governor of Virginia, and his wife Elizabeth, believed to have been a sister of Colonel John Page. The line of descent is traced from Governor Digges through his son, Colonel Dudley Digges (Belfield, York, 1665-1710) councillor and auditor general, married Susannah Cole. His son, Colonel Cole Digges (Belfield, York, 1692-1744) president of the council, married Elizabeth Power. His son, Colonel Dudley Digges (York county, 1728-90) burgess and councillor, married Elizabeth Wormley (his name is on a pew in Bruton church). His daughter, Lucy Digges, married John Stratton their daughter, Anne Gertrude Stratton, married Dr. Jacob Parker; their daughter, Sarah ?Andrews Parker, married Dr. George Littleton Upshur.
Their son, John Nottingham Upshur, M. D., married Lucy Tucker Whittle (see forward). Their only son, Francis Whittle Upshur (see forward).
An interesting genealogical study is the tracing back of the line of descent of Governor Edward Digges, through centuries of English history to Alfred the Great, King of England; through a long line of kingly ancestors, English and French, including the Saxon kings, Philip III. and Philip IV. of France, and Kings Henry II., John, Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III., of England.
On the Upshur side, Dr. Upshur descends from one of the two traditional brothers, John and Arthur Upshur, who fled from their home in Essex, England, to escape the persecutions of their stepmother. They separated at the Cape of Virginia, John settling in Essex county, Virginia, Arthur, settling in 1637, in the plantation of Accomac, which in 1642 became the county of Northampton. The tombstones of these two men on the eastern shore of Virginia are said to be fairly decipherable yet. A descendant, Thomas Upshur, was later made a free burgess in Virginia.
Another line of maternal descent is from Henry Bagwell, the emigrant, clerk of the court and first clerk of the plantations of Ackawmacke. He married Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Stratton, who at the time of her second marriage had a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Elizabeth. He had sons Thomas and Henry, and one of his grandsons married Elizabeth Eyre, a descendant of Thomas Eyre, the emigrant, who married the eldest daughter of Captain John Savage, by his first wife, Ann Elkington. Captain John was a son of Ensign Thomas Savage, who came over with Captains John Smith and Newport, and was left as hostage with Powhatan for the Indian Namontack, whom Captain Newport took to England with him.
Although the Scarburg line, in connection with the Upshur family, Tabitha Scarburg Hill married Edmund Curtiss; he was brought over from Ireland by his uncle, John Curtiss. She was known on the records of Accomac county as "Madam Hill," as was also her mother during the last years of her life. She was a woman of great business capacity, and managed a large estate with marked ability. This Scarburg ancestor was almost as important a man in his generation as was his son in his day. He was a member of the first court of the plantation of Accomac in 1632, also for several courts following. He was the father of Charles Scarburg.
Colonel Edmund Scarburg, who died in 1671, was the surveyor-general of Virginia, and commander-in-chief of the inhabitants of the eastern Virginia shore, with the rank of Colonel. Henry Eustis, on the Eustis side, was bequeathed a part of the Chincoteague Islands. He married Tabitha Scarburg Curtiss, daughter of Edmund Curtiss, son of Thomas Curtiss, of Ireland, the brother of Major General John Curtiss.
The Thorowgood, another line of maternal descent, of which the emigrant, John Michael Thorowgood, Sr., came to Virginia from Holland and was doubtless of Huguenot descent. Captain Adam Thorowgood, who came to Virginia in 1621, occupied an enviable position among the colonists on account of being a brother of John Thorowgood, of Kensington, who was knighted in 1630, held among other positions that of gentleman of the bed chamber, and stood very high at court. In one of the patents granted Adam Thorowgood, No. 179, it is stated that it was granted at the special recommendation of his majesty and a number of the members of the honorable Privy Council. He was a burgess in 1629, member of the council of state in 1637, and in the same year was presiding justice of Lower Norfolk, moving to the latter locality in 1634 from Hickotan, now Hampton, Virginia.
Dr. George Littleton Upshur, son of a Virginia merchant, was born in Northampton, Virginia, became a noted doctor of medicine, and lost his life in the yellow fever epidemic in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1855. He married Sarah Andrews Parker, a descendant of Governor Edward Digges, as previously stated, daughter of Dr. Jacob Parker, of Accomac county, Virginia, whose wife was Anne Gertrude Stratton, daughter of John and Lucy (Digges) Stratton. Children of Dr. George Littleton Upshur: John Nottingham, of whom further; Sally Parker, married Thomas C. Walston; Henry Littleton, married Alice Kerr; Jacob Parker, died in infancy; Lucy Beverly, died in infancy.
Dr. John Nottingham Upshur, of Richmond, Virginia, second son of Dr. George Littleton and Sarah Andrews (Parker) Upshur, was born in Norfolk, Virginia, February 14, 1848. He was educated under private tutors; Norfolk Military Academy; Virginia Military Institute, of which he was an honor graduate; medical department of the University of Virginia from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, March 5, 1868. He served in Company C, Virginia Military Institute Cadet Corps, and at the battle of Newmarket, May 15, 1864, was severely wounded. After the war he took up his medical studies and on April 1, 1869, located in Richmond, Virginia, where he has been ever since continuously engaged in the practice of his profession. In the Medical College of Virginia he served as acting Professor of Practice of Medicine, 1882-83-84; professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutica, 1884-94; Clinical Lecturer on Diseases of Women and Children, 1884-1892; Professor of Practice of Medicine, 1894-99. Dr. Upshur is eminent in the medical world and a well known contributor to the medical journals, a recent article on "Gastro-intestinal Therapy" appearing in the "New York Medical Journal" (May 17, 1913). He is a member of many professional societies, including the American Medical, Tri-State Medical, and the State Medical societies; Richmond Academy of Medicine and Surgery, and Southern Medical Association. He is ex-president and honorary fellow of the Richmond Academy of Medicine and Surgery, State Medical Society of Virginia and the Tri-State Medical Association of the Carolinas and Virginia, honorary fellow of the State Medical Society of West Virginia. He is a member of both the York and Scottish Rite Masonry, holding the thirty-second degree in the latter, and the Knight Templar degree in the former. He is also a noble of the Mystic shrine, and past master of Joppa Lodge, No. 40, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is a vestryman of St. James Protestant Episcopal Church and the lay reader. In political faith he is a Democrat; he was also a member of the board of visitors of the Virginia, from which he marched to battle, a lad of sixteen years, and from which he graduated with honor. He holds the rank of lieutenant-colonel and surgeon-general of the Virginia Division, United Confederate Veterans. He is a member of the Beta Tau Pi fraternity.
Dr. Upshur married (first) in St. James Church, Richmond, November 19, 1873, Lucy Tucker Whittle, born June 6, 1849, in Charleston, West Virginia, then Virginia, daughter of Rt. Rev. Francis M. Whittle and Emily Cary Fairfax, his wife. She bore him a son, Francis whittle Upshur, who is mentioned blow. Dr. Upshur married (second) at the residence of Dr. Peterkin, No. 705 East Leigh street, Richmond, December 11, 1879, Elizabeth Spencer Peterkin, born June 17, 1848, at Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of William Spencer Peterkin and Emma Meteer, his wife. Children: William Peterkin, born October 28, 1881, a captain in the United States Marine Corps, married Lucy Munford; Elizabeth Nottingham born December 6, 1883, married George J. Benson, children: Elizabeth Peterkin and Frances Day; Alfred Parker, born September 26, 1885, first lieutenant in the medical corps of the United States army.
Dr. Francis Whittle Upshur, only child of Dr. John Nottingham Upshur and his first wife Lucy Tucker (Whittle) Upshur, was born in Richmond, Virginia, December 4, 1874. He was educated at McGuire's University School, Richmond College, and the Medical College of Virginia of which he is a graduate, class of 1897, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He began and continues the practice of medicine in Richmond, and is professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in the Medical College of Virginia. His fraternities are the Phi Delta Theta (Academic), and Pi Mu (Medical) of which he has held the offices of general secretary, senior councillor, and was one of the founders of the Gamma Chapter. He is also an honorary member of Theta Nu Epsilon. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian. Dr. Upshur is unmarried.
Beverley Randolph Tucker, M. D. The history of the Tucker family covers a period of three centuries in the western world, and in Virginia dates from the year 1771, when St. George Tucker came from his native island, Bermuda, and entered William and Mary College to complete his education. The family traces through several generations in England, down to Daniel Tucker, who in 1616 was governor of Bermuda. His son, George Tucker, died in Bermuda about 1662. He married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry St. George, from whom came the name St. George, common in the Virginia family. A grandson of George Tucker, Colonel Henry Tucker, born in 1713, died in 1787, married Nancy Butterfield and had issue including St. George Tucker, the founder of the Virginia family, who was a patriot during the revolution, sat as a delegate in the Continental Congress of 1787-88, and was a member of the first two congresses under the Federal constitution, and Henry Tucker, who settled in North Carolina; died in Washington, D. C., in 1828, having served as treasurer of the United States from December 1, 1801.
(I) Judge St. George Tucker, born on the island of Bermuda, July 10, 1752, died in Warminster, Nelson county, Virginia, November 10, 1828. He came to Virginia in 1771, graduated at William and Mary College in 1772, finished a course of law and began practice in the colonial courts. He returned to Bermuda in 1775 but came again to Virginia in January, 1777, and bore arms in defense of the colonies, serving as lieutenant-colonel at Yorktown. On September 3, 1778, he married Frances Bland, widow of John Randolph, and mother of John Randolph, of Roanoke. After the war (1787) he was appointed judge of the general court of Virginia, and in 1789 professor of law at William and Mary, succeeding Chancellor George Wythe. He was appointed in 1804, president judge of the Virginia court of appeals, and in 1813, judge of the United States district court of Virginia. Judge Tucker was also a poet and left several dramas, tragedy and comedy, and several minor poems, some of them gems. He also wrote a volume of political satires, "In Two Parts" (1796). The same year he published "Dissertions on Slavery, with a Proposition for its Gradual Abolition in Virginia;" and later other letters and essays. William and Mary conferred the degree of LL. D. on him in 1790. His second son, Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, generally known as Beverly, was a graduate of William and Mary, judge of the circuit court in Missouri, later returned to Virginia; was professor of law at William and Mary in 1834 until his death in 1851. As a writer he excelled any of his Virginia contemporaries. His most remarkable work is: "The Partisan Leader; A Tale of the Future," published by Edward William Sidney, (2 volumes, New York, 1836). This was printed secretly, bearing the fictitious date 1856, and purported to be a historical novel of the period between 1836 and that year. In its accurate delineations of the events between 1861 and 1865, it seems almost prophetic. He was a voluminous writer and maintained an extensive correspondence with scholars and statesmen.
(II) Henry St. George Tucker, eldest son of Judge St. George Tucker, was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, December 29, 1780, died in Winchester, Virginia, August 28, 1848. He was educated at the college of William and Mary and became a lawyer. settling in Winchester, in 1802. He was a volunteer officer in the war of 1812, served as congressman, 1815 to 1819; state senator 1819 to 1823; chancellor of the state of Virginia, 1824-1831, when he was made president judge of the Virginia court of appeals; resigned in 1841 to become professor of law at the University of Virginia; resigned in 1845 because of ill health. He was tendered the attorney-generalship of the United States by President Jackson, but declined. While chancellor he established a successful private law school in Winchester. William and Mary College conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. in 1837. He published "Commentaries on the Law of Virginia" (2 volumes, 1836-37); "Lectures on Constitutional Law" (1844); "Lectures on Natural Law and Government" (1844). He married in 1807, Ann Evaline, daughter of Moses and Anne (Stephens) Hunter, and had twelve children.
(III) The eighth child of Henry St. George Tucker, Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, was born in Winchester, Virginia, June 8, 1820, died July 15, 1890. He was educated at the University of Virginia, founded the Washington "Sentinel" in 1853, and was elected printer to the United States Senate in December of that year. In 1857 he was appointed consul to Liverpool, remaining until 1861. He was sent by the Confederate government in 1862 to England and France, and in 1863-64 to Canada, to obtain commissary supplies. After the war ended he went to Mexico and was there until Maximilian's brief reign was over, then returned to the United States, residing in Washington, D. C., and Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. He married Jane Ellis.
(IV) John Randolph Tucker son of Nathaniel Beverley and Jane (Ellis) Tucker, was born September 7, 1848, died in Richmond, July 5, 1880, and is buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery. He was a man of most attractive personality, a lawyer and editor, of brilliant mind and attainments. He was a graduate of Washington and Lee University, and practiced law in Charleston, West Virginia, and as a partner of Hon. John Randolph Tucker, his uncle in Staunton, Virginia, and was also editor of a daily paper in Charleston, West Virginia, and wrote editorials for New York papers. He had many friends who mourned his untimely death and crowded St. Paul's Church to honor his memory on the day of his funeral, July 7, 1880. He married Fannie Booth Crump, daughter of Judge William Wood and Mary Susan (Tabb) Crump.
(V) Beverley Randolph Tucker, of Richmond, Virginia, eldest son of John Randolph and Fannie Booth (Crump) Tucker, was born in Richmond, Virginia, April 26, 1874. He attended Richmond and Virginia schools until eighteen years of age, then began work, acquiring his medical education through his own efforts. He attended the Norwood and high schools of Richmond, and spent two years at the Virginia Military Institute, not being able to afford the full course. In 1893 he was a clerk in Richmond, continuing until 1901, but his fixed preference and ambition was for the medical profession, and when he had solved the financial problems standing between him and his ambition, he entered the Medical College of Virginia, whence he was graduated M. D. with the class of 1905. Afterward, for two and a half years, he took post-graduate work in nervous diseases in Philadelphia, New York and Europe.
He began practice in Richmond as a specialist in nervous diseases at once and so continues, well established and prosperous. His integrity, business ability and pleasing address, have won for him many friends, not only professionally, but outside. In 1909 he became president of the G. L. Hall Optical Company, and in the same year president of the company and editor of the "Old Dominion Journal of Medical and Surgery." He is professor of nervous and mental diseases at the Medical College of Virginia, and president of the Neurological Sanitarium Corporation. All of these organizations are in Richmond. His investigations on Pellagra, and his forthcoming book on "Nervous Children," are directly in the line of public service, as are all his papers on Pellagra in the United States. He is one of the editors of the British Medical Annual for 1914 and wrote the section on Pellagra. He has done original work on pituitary gland diseases of the brain, and has recently completed a sketch on the life of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, under whom he was trained in Philadelphia. Dr. Tucker has won two prizes for medical essays in the "New York Medical Journal."
Dr. Tucker married, April 3, 1907, Elsie, daughter of Robert and Mary Boyd, grand-daughter of Frances Boyd and William Townes, and a descendant of the Scotch emigrant, Alexander Boyd, who settled in Virginia at an early day. Children of Dr. and Mrs. Tucker: Mary Hannah, Elsie Boyd, and Weir Mitchell Tucker. The family home is at 208 East Franklin street.
Reauymur Coleman Stearnes, is a member of a well known family, whose home had been in Massachusetts for many years, from the day the good ship "Arabella," landed his paternal ancestor, Charles Stearnes, in Boston harbor, in 1628. Mr. Stearnes is a distinguished member of an unusual family, and has won for himself a reputation as an educator and scientific man of nation-wide familiarity.
(I) Lewis Patrick Stearnes, the paternal grandfather of the Mr. Stearnes of this sketch, was a native of Franklin county, Massachusetts, where he was born November 12, 1801, and died while still a young man, after a successful career as a merchant in Franklin, county, Virginia, his adopted state. In the early part of the nineteenth century he moved south, finding a new and congenial abode among the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia, where the name was allowed to take on an additional "e" in its orthography. He married Sarah Cabaniss. a native of Franklin county, Virginia, and by her had four children. One of these was Major Orren Darius Stearnes, who died a soldier in the Confederate army, during the civil war, and another, Dr. John Lewis Stearnes, of whom further. Two of the children died in infancy.
(II) Dr. John Lewis Stearnes, the fourth child of Lewis Patrick and Sarah (Cabaniss) Stearnes, was born in Franklin county Virginia, December 15, 1834. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and after graduation began the practice of his profession at Dublin, Pulaski county, Virginia. He became one of the leading physicians of that section of the state, and during the civil war was appointed physician of the post at the Dublin camp of instruction, by the confederate government. He later resumed his private practice, and in 1886 moved the scene of his operations to Salem, Virginia, where he still has a flourishing private practice, besides serving as physician to the large Baptist Orphanage located in that town. Dr. Stearnes married Phoebe Ann McDermed, a native of Roanoke county, Virginia, where she was born in 1841, daughter of Daniel and Martha (Rogers) McDermed. Mr. McDermed was also a native of Roanoke county, where his family had resided for many years, and where he was a prominent merchant in ante-bellum days. His wife Martha (Rogers) McDermed, was a native of Ontario, Canada. To Mr. and Mrs. McDermed were born two daughters, Phoebe Ann, now Mrs. Stearnes, and with her husband, a resident of Salem, Virginia; and Mary, who married Dr. John Barbour Baskerville and is living at the home of her son-in-law, J. Howe Kent, Esq., of near Dublin, Virginia. Dr. and Mrs. John Lewis Stearnes had eight children, as follows: 1. James Daniel, a physician of Dublin, Virginia. 2. Orren Lewis, a resident of Salem, Virginia, where he is a director of the Appalachian Power Company and a member of the state legislature. 3. Robley Stillé, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he is engaged in the electrical contracting business. 4. Reaumur Coleman, mentioned below. 5. Mary Lewis, now Mrs. J. V. Moore, of Cape Charles, Virginia. 7. Phoebe Rogers, who died at the age of seventeen months. 8. Henry Cabaniss, who died in infancy.
(III) Reaumur Coleman Stearnes, the fourth child of Dr. John Lewis and Phoebe Ann (McDermed) Stearnes, was born April 8, 1866, at Dublin, Virginia. He passed his boyhood in that picturesque locality, and when he reached an age to begin his studies was sent by Dr. Stearnes, his father, to Nysorton Academy, not far from Dublin. Here he obtained the elementary portion of his education, and prepared himself for the more advanced college courses which he had in anticipation. Of an unusually quick mind and a naturally painstaking disposition, he at once began to exhibit those powers which have appeared so conspicuously in after life. Having attracted the favorable notice of his instructors at the academy, and graduated therefrom with high honors, he matriculated at Richmond College, where he pursued with even greater distinction his career as a student. Again he won the honors from all competitors, and finally graduated with the class of 1887, with the degree of Master of Arts, winning the threefold distinction of being Greek medalist, philosophy medalist and class valedictorian. The love of the scholar's life was strong within him and he had determined to devote his life to the profession of teaching. Accordingly he accepted a position as instructor in mathematics and science in the Alleghany Institute at Roanoke, Virginia. He began those duties at the age of twenty-one years, and in the next three years so distinguished himself that the regard of educators in that region began to be fixed upon him most favorably. It soon became apparent that the post of instructor was only a stepping stone for one of the ideas entertained by Mr. Stearnes, who was already possessed of a theory of an educational system which he felt competent to inaugurate. Accordingly, when only twenty-six years old, he was made superintendent of schools in Roanoke county.
It might be supposed that a task of such magnitude and responsibility of supervising ninety schools and inaugurating an entirely new system would have taxed the powers and energy of so young a man, but Mr. Stearnes instead of finding his duties too onerous, added to them the practice of the law, his new profession becoming of great value in connection with the superintendency of the county schools. The year 1892 marked his choice as county superintendent, and 1896 the beginning of his legal practice. He continued these double labors until 1906, and was then made secretary to the state board of education, his office dating from April first of that year. Here his learning and grasp of the situation generally so impressed his colleagues that by their unanimous vote he was elected, January 1, 1913, superintendent of public instruction for the state of Virginia. On February 1, 1914, the people of the state confirmed this choice by electing Mr. Stearnes to the same office for a term of four years, without opposition. Mr. Stearnes has served in every capacity in the public school system of Virginia, pedagogical, legal and administrative, and in all has acquitted himself, not merely with credit but in so able a manner as to win the admiration of the great community which he serves and of educators everywhere. He is now entering upon the duties of the state superintendency with his customary vigor and judgement, and it seems certain that an era of great development, along the lines of the best modern and scientific theories, awaits the schools of the state, under his capable direction. Mr. Stearnes has the advantage, not always possessed by strong men, of having won the intelligent co-operation on the part of his coadjutors on the board of education, and the appreciative support of the people of Virginia, as shown by their unanimous ratification of his appointment to the superintendency. Mr. Stearnes is now a resident of Richmond, where he has a handsome home in Westhampton. He is an active participant in the life of the community in many of its aspects, is a member of the Masonic Order and of the Royal Arcanum, of which he last year was the grand regent. He is also a member of the Westmoreland Club.
Mr. Stearnes married, December 27, 1888, in Richmond, Virginia, Mary Elizabeth Arnold, a native of Charlotte county, Virginia, where she was born December 4, 1865. She is a daughter of the Rev. Joseph D. and Elizabeth (Mosely) Arnold. Mr. Arnold is now a resident of Waynesville, North Carolina, and was for many years a clergyman of the Methodist church, that state, but is now retired from active ministry. His present wife is a sister of Chief Justice Walter Clark, of Raleigh, North Carolina.
To Mr. and Mrs. Stearnes have been born three children, as follows: Bessie Arnold, born August 19, 1890; John Lewis, who died at the age of eighteen months in March, 1893; Reaumur Coleman Jr., born April 8, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Stearnes are members of the Presbyterian church, attending the Second Church of that denomination in Richmond. They are rearing their children in that faith.
Reaumur Coleman Stearnes is a very young man to have achieved the position which he has in the community and state, that taking into consideration the successful nature of the first part of his career and his abilities, together with the unusual degree of support and appreciation with which his efforts have been favored, there seems every reason to predict a brilliant and splendid future for him, a future in which his powers shall have ample scope to carry out the great aims which he has in view for the development of education and the extension of culture throughout his state. | <urn:uuid:bf9084b3-f547-4e90-b0ca-d71d1a9bcf91> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://vagenweb.org/tylers_bios/vol4-04.htm | 2016-07-24T14:44:50Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824109.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00105-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983547 | 9,853 |
A/N: (8/12/04) I've edited this story, trying to take out my many errors
She was the daughter of no one particular. In fact, she didn't know who her biological parents were. As much as she wanted to know who they were, her foster parents did not know who her biological parents were. Her foster parents told her that they had found her on their property near the woods. Unfortunately, no one came forth to claim the child. In the end, the couple decided to adopt the girl as their youngest and third child. But her foster parents were not the ones to name the girl, in fact, the girl had a single necklace around her fragile neck proclaiming the girl's name to be "Aeolyn." And from henceforth, the girl was known as Aeolyn.
The girl, Aeolyn, grew up as any other child in the Halen family had. Never was she spoiled, nor was she ever neglected. She was always treated with the same respect and love of her parents. And the girl was always grateful to her parents. From an early age, Aeolyn had known that she was not a biological child of the Halen family or of any of their relatives. It had been plain as night and day. For one thing that was evident to the girl, everyone of the Halen's relatives and them selves was the fact that they were all of a blond hair collar and eyes bluer than the seas. But to contrast it all, Aeolyn's long wavy hair was of a dark autumn brown and eyes greener than leaves. It became more and more evident that she was adopted as she grew older and older and met more and more of the Halen relatives.
Finally, when Aeolyn finally grew old enough and independent enough, Aeolyn decided to move away from her home, as her older siblings had already done. But how far from home would be a mystery.
"Aw, come on Aeolyn," Jasmine, Aeolyn's best and only friend, pleaded. "You know you want to go ice skating just one last time here; if not for my sake, then for old times' sake?"
Aeolyn looked at her friend over the book she pretended to read, narrowing her eyes in mock suspicion. "Old time's sake, eh? Last time we went skating last year you 'accidentally' pushed me in to a random guy."
Both stared at each other daring each other to laugh. Finally, Aeolyn and Jasmine both broke into a fit of unstoppable laughs. Aeolyn dropped her book, too weak to hold up the book from laughter. Tears welled up from too much giggles in Jasmine's eyes.
"Oh, I do remember," Jasmine said through fits of giggles, wiping tears from her brown eyes. "And I remember the way your face turned red enough to think that some one painted you red. And besides, you should be thanking me. That guy you ran into was hot!"
Aeolyn stopped laughing long enough to reply back in her defense. "Thanking you?! He thought I was a complete idiot who couldn't walk straight to save her life. But…then again, he was guy you can see like that only once." Aeolyn blushed at the memory of the last time they had went skating.
"So", Jasmine drawled, as if daring Aeolyn. "Are you coming with me to the lake? When I last checked, there weren't a lot of people there. Come on. It'll be really fun. And I promise you I won't push you into another hot guy."
Aeolyn smiled. "You and your one tracked mind." Suddenly, she leaped out of the chair she was sitting in at her house and grabbed her coat and the arm of her friend. "Sounds interesting enough, let's go before there's a whole crowd of people and we can't race around the lake.
As always, both friends agreed to skate for a half hour for fun before racing each other around the lake, which was more of a small pond, but deeper. Finally, both agreed they should race around the lake, using the starting point as their ending point.
"This time I'm going to win again, like last time," Jasmine declared, skating to the starting point.
"No, I'm going to win and everyone knows it," Aeolyn protested. "Ready?"
"Yup. On three?"
And both friends were racing in a flash around the small lake. After about two minutes and half way around the lake, Aeolyn felt her self pull ahead as she concentrated on skating. Risking a glance at Jasmine, Aeolyn saw how much faster she was skating and smiled in pride. Now absent-minded, she didn't notice the weakness of the ice in the area she was headed until it was too late. Aeolyn heard a sudden crack of ice and a sharp icy cold pain bit her body as a small scream emitted from her lips. The last thing she heard as she went under was the Jasmine's warning of weak ice and her cry of fear. Abruptly, her body was engulfed with fridge cold water, freezing her limbs and mind in an instant. Panic swept through her body as she fought her way to the surface, her heart beating faster and faster while her mind reacted slower and slower from the cold and lack of oxygen. Finally, her hands touched a solid surface, the ice. Panic rose higher in her mind and Aeolyn fought to keep calm. All she had to do was find her way back to the hole she had fallen though, right? But that would prove to more difficult than it sounded. Following her hand against the ice she decided to swim in a different direction, in hopes that she maybe lucky and swim in the right direction. She couldn't have drifted that far from the hole she, could she? Thoughts raced through her head as panic once again fought to take control, nearly winning. But out of the corner of her eye, as her eye lids drooped and her strength began to give in, Aeolyn saw something, a shadow? It seemed to draw Aeolyn to itself, despite the fact that nearly all of her strength was gone and her lungs felt as though they were about to exploded. Slowly, she felt her head become light and her limbs become weights.
Her body had become so numb with the cold that she couldn't feel her body being pulled out of the water. But rather than feeling it, she saw it. It scared her more than anything she had ever felt. All around her body were people. She saw Jasmine, kneeling by Aeolyn's body, take off Aeolyn's jacket and replace it with her own, in hopes to keep her friend's body warm. Jasmine grabbed Aeolyn's cold hand, her tears over flowing, as she feared the worst of her friend.
"Aeolyn, please, Aeolyn wake up! Aeolyn!" Jasmine sobbed.
Aeolyn ran over to her friend, hoping to tell her that she was right her and she wasn't going to go anywhere. "Jasmine, I'm here. Jasmine?" No one answered. She moved to kneel by Jasmine and place her hand on her shoulder. But to her horror, her hand moved right through Jasmine's body.
"No! I can't be…" Aeolyn refused to state the fact, the truth. "It can't be true, it can't." Again and again she repeated over and over, tears blurring her vision. She rocked back and forth, oblivious to the world living around her. Out of the corner of her eye, she barely saw something, or someone standing off to the side. What ever it was, it mattered little to Aeolyn now in her new state of being. But Aeolyn, caught up in her own emotions, did not realize that someone come up behind her and lay a gentle hand on her shoulder.
To feel the actual warm touch of another startled Aeolyn as she stumbled backwards as she tried to turn around. Before her stood a man, tall and clothed in all black from his black tee shirt to his loose black pants and boots. But around his shoulders contrasted the black with a cloak, white as newly fallen snow. he looked down at her with hazel eyes over a straight bridged nose. His raven black hair fell into his eyes as his brows furrowed. Withdrawing his hand from her shoulder, he pressed a single finger to his lips with a small and hesitant smile.
"Are y-you like the…Grim Reaper?" Aeolyn stammered, backing away from him.
Hurt and sorrow filled his dreamer's hazel eyes. He shook his head, sending his hair into his eyes. With a restless gesture, he ran his hand through his hair. "No, I would never do or become anything of that such," he answered, his voice like a far away dream. He held his hand down to her in a hand up. Aeolyn stared at it, hesitating. Finally deciding that there couldn't be anything worst that could happen now, she accepted his hand, dropping it as soon as she stood. It gave her an odd numinous feeling.
"W-what do you want with me?" she asked, stammering. She looked up into his hazel eyes, realizing how much taller he was. Behind her, she could hear an ambulance pulling up beside the lake.
The sorrow and anguish still resided in his eyes, as he looked deep into her eyes as though he was looking deep into her soul. Aeolyn cringed slightly and looked down at her feet. What was this odd sensation she felt as though she felt higher than life.
He placed a gentle hand on her arm. "I can put you back into your body, bring you back to life, Aeolyn," he whispered in his distant dreamer's voice.
Her head snapped back up and she looked up at him in surprise and shock. "You can!?" her voice squeaked. Her brows drew into a slight frown. "Who are you?"
His rueful smile was warm her face and lit his face. "Someone who knows you for who you are-were," his voice trailing on the last word.
Slowly, he took hold fold of her hand in his giving her skin an uncanny sensation. Aeolyn stared up into his hazel eyes, unable to look away as he leaned close. He bent his head and touched his lips to hers, sending a numinous feeling through her whole body. For a single moment, the entire world stopped around her, the snow newly falling stopped in mid air and the people around her body ceased to move or speak. For a single moment, all her troubles seem to dissipate and every second felt more surreal than the next. She savored every second of the body before she lost all feeling of her body.
"…she's breathing, unconscious, but alive."
Who was that, Aeolyn wondered, trying to move, or at least open her eyes, but she found she couldn't even move to save her life. Her eyes felt as though they were burdened in weights. Before she could remember anything, a sweet solace of sleep came over her.
Her eyes fluttered as she struggled to open them. Heat and fever overflowed her body and sweat broke out on her brow. Her fingers and toes felt like cold bone on burning flesh. Her chest heaved as she strained to breathe, her lungs burning like cold fire with a stinging of a thousand bees. At last, she opened her blurred eyes.
Around her bed, Aeolyn saw the blurred figures of her family and her friend, Jasmine. Her mother was first to notice her eyes flutter. "Aeolyn, dear, oh gosh, how do you feel, hun?"
Aeolyn stared at her mother, unable to think for several seconds, her eyes starred with sickness. "Where-am-I?" she asked faintly, using most of her strength to keep from fainting.
"You're in the hospital, sweet," her father answered, coming over on the other side of her bed to ruffle her hair a bit. "That was quiet a fall you took there," his voice quietly teasing softly, bringing a drawn smile upon Aeolyn's face.
"I'm so glad you're going to be okay," the timid voice of Jasmine called out softly as she stood by Aeolyn's mother. "I-I don't know what I would do if-"
Aeolyn silence her with a rueful smile. "Don't think of such things, Jasmine. I would never leave without a good-bye," she joked lightly.
Jasmine's eyes watered, holding back unshed tears. Leaning over, she gave Aeolyn a careful, but meaningful embrace. "I know you never would," she whispered to Aeolyn and then said aloud, "I should go, I was supposed to go to work a while ago but…"
Aeolyn's parents nodded in understanding with a smile. "We appreciate you staying here, Jasmine. If you ever need anything all you have to do is ask.
With a quick farewell, Jasmine left reluctantly, leaving Aeolyn alone with her parents. She looked up her mom and dad. "Mom, Dad, what's goin' to happen to me? What happened?" Her brows furrowed in worry.
Her mother patted Aeolyn's hand in reassurance. "Don't worry, hun, it's probably nothing as bad as hypothermia. It's just, ah, a sever illness. You'll probably feel it once the drugs wear off."
Aeolyn frowned. "But what happened at the lake? Did anyone, um, see a man dressed in, ah, dark colors and a, er, white cloak?" she stammered, wondering how silly she actually sounded. Did her parents think her delusional now?
Her mom smiled sadly. "Aeolyn, you fell through the lake when you were skating. Jasmine said you two were skating in an area where no one else was skating. The ice was weak in that area. But there was no account to a man in dark colors or much less of wearing a cloak."
"You were very close to death, Aeolyn," her dad said. "It's possible you were seeing things."
Aeolyn shook her head. "No, I wasn't imagining anything," she protested. "And I wasn't close to death, I was dead. It was real. I saw someone. He brought me back to life. I saw myself dead on the ice!" She deliberately left out the part of the kiss as she struggled to breathe while her lungs burned.
Her mother and father hushed their daughter, telling her to calm down and convincing Aeolyn that it was a just a dream. Aeolyn tried to protest against their will, but the her disgust, she found her strength was leaving her once again. They told her that some sleep would do her some good and that therapy would be available to her when the time had come when she was more recovered. And to her shame, Aeolyn fell asleep before she could say no.
When she awoke again, or maybe she was awakening in a dream, it was head to say. Her whole body, though, reminded her that this was not a dream, the pain was all too real. Her body felt as if it was immersed in burning ice. She felt her body tremble and sweat break out with fever. Her head spun despite the fact that she was half asleep still. Her mind was clouded with a thick haze of a pounding throb. Her throat and mouth felt parched and dry like sand paper. Breathing made her lungs burn and sting like a thousand needle as she heaved to get air into her lungs before she passes out from lack of oxygen. A small groan emerged from her parched lips as she struggled to deal with the pain.
Suddenly, a cooling wave over came her, dosing the fire that burned her flesh within and out. A soft touch met her lips, taking away the pain and fire of fever. A gentle hand placed itself over her forehead, taking away the throbbing in her head. The soft touch left her lips, leaving her body and mind in a sudden, startling, dull ache again, but it was enough to make Aeolyn whimper unexpectedly, to her loathing. "Shhh," a gentle voice dreamer's voice whispered, brushing hair from her face. Again, a gentle kiss brushed her lips, the sweetness was enough to take away the pain again and more sweeter than anything she had ever tasted. The moment lasted more than a thousand years and yet no more than a single moment.
The kiss broke with the sweet words of "Sleep well, Aeolyn."
Her name, Aeolyn, brought her back from her surreal state. A wisp of wind brushed coolly against her cheek, making her eyes flutter. She sat up, misbelieving that anything happened. Pressing her had to her lips, she could still feel the reminiscence of the kiss. She let her eyes glaze over the room. The room was an ordinary room anyone could find in a hospital. But the door to the main hall and her window showing the stars of the night were closed, indicating that the wind must have been a dream…
Like the kiss she thought. Aeolyn put her hand to her forehead, feeling for the burning of fever, yet none came to touch. Her eyes widen, twitching back and forth, from side to side anxiously. What had happened? Was it all it possible that something had happened?
"This is completely silly" Aeolyn scolded herself, denying everything, if anything at all. "This is complete pile of…" her voice trailed off as she spotted something white on her nightstand. Aeolyn leaned over and picked it up gently, straining her eyes in the dark to see what it was. Her eyes widened, her heart pounded. It was a feather longer than the length of her hand, white and edged with silver. A feather belonged to no bird she knew of.
Abruptly, she heard a quiet knock on her door before the door handle turned. Aeolyn's mind blanked for a second, unable to think of what to do. Then, with as much speed as she could, Aeolyn slipped the feather under her pillow and eased herself back in the bed and under the covers, hoping she didn't cause too much noise. As the door began to open, Aeolyn feigned a troubled sleeper's appearance and moved slightly so her head faced away, as though the sound of the door creaking disturbed her dreams.
The nurse poked her head inside the room, scrutinizing it. "That's odd," she murmured aloud, turning to leave. "I swore I heard someone talking…"her voice faded away as she closed the door.
Not risking another check in with the nurse, Aeolyn decided it would be best to melt back into her own world of dreams.
When Aeolyn awoke again, it was by her doctor, who had come to check on her. By the time the examination was finished, Aeolyn's parents had arrived. Aeolyn sat on the edge of her bed, fully dressed in the clothes her mother had left her yesterday as her parents and the doctor discussed about Aeolyn in her sick room.
"This is the oddest thing that has happened to any of my patients," the doctor proclaimed. She turned to Mr. and Mrs. Halen. "It seems as though your daughter has never even taken a fall through ice. All of her fevers have completely dissipated. Even her hands show no sign of frostbite and her lungs have shown no signs of damage or drowning. The only conclusion I can make here is that you daughter has someone watching over her or this is a miracle."
Aeolyn's mom pinched her brows in worry. "But how did this all happen? I thought you – this is an impossible thing to have happened."
The doctor shrugged. "I would have liked to know how this happened my self. But rest assured, you daughter is in good health, Mrs. Halen. In fact, she could return home today."
Aeolyn's father stepped forward, offering his hand in thanks. "Thank you, doctor, for all you have done for our daughter."
"And your welcome, Mr. Halen," she replied, taking the offered hand. "Though it wasn't all my doing. There's something special about your daughter." Releasing his grip, the doctor turned to Aeolyn. "You and our family can leave as soon as you wish, unless you are feeling unwell again."
Aeolyn smiled and declined the offer to stay longer, insisting she felt better than ever. And with that her parents left shortly, after discussing all the medical bills and others. Aeolyn looked around as she sat upon the bed, not wanting to risk anyone see her as she slipped her hand under her pillow and pull out a larger white and silver feather. Hastily, Aeolyn slipped the feather into the front of her shirt, tucking in the under shirt she had on so the feather did not and would not fall out. Quickly she left the room to join her parents, feeling the feather's cool touch against her skin as she left the room and left the hospital with her parents.
Standing by her window, Aeolyn threw the panes of her window wide open, thankful for the cold breeze. Leaning out, Aeolyn could see the stars of the sky as her breath frosted before her. The scene below showed the small field of frosted green grass and the extent of the wild woods in the backyard. Aeolyn closed her eyes and rested her chin on her hands, wondering why she was crazy enough to do this in the first place. Partly was because the winter sky looked more beautiful than it ever had in a long time. And partly was that she wanted to believe in who ever left the feather was a real living being.
"Just maybe" she murmured, and drew the window shut, but she didn't lock it. Her window was on a high second floor and impossible to get to. Slowly, she walked over to her bed, pausing at her nightstand to pick up the lone long feather of white and sliver gently between her careful forefinger and thumb. For the hundredth time that day, she wondered who or what dropped this extremely large feather. Sighing, she placed the feather back into its place before drawing back the covers of her bed and collapsing in a nest of blankets and pillows. As she snuggled more into the bedding, she let the sweet bliss of sleep claim her.
From the darkness of her mind came a shadowing of colors, like an artist splashing colors of water over the view of her eyes. It was the most interesting thing to see the shades of blue, green, white, brown and black form scenery. Aeolyn sat up, finding it extremely odd that she should be lying as she was in the grass beside a lake. It could have easily been the most realistic and surreal place she had ever been. The lake looked purer than life itself and reflected clearly the midnight sky above as the mirror rippled from the waves caused the audacious waterfall on the far side of the lake, flowing from a cliff side inhabitant by audacious greenery. All around the lake and clearing of grass was a forest filled with dreams, mystery, and mists of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Aeolyn let her eyes meander, taking in the world around her, as though it would disappear within a matter of seconds, but her eyes settled upon a something she had missed upon first glance. She strained her eyes to see as she rose to full length, but not moving anymore. Something or someone, a man perhaps, sat with his back to the damp, moss-grown boulders to the left of the waterfall. He sat with his knees drawn up to his chest and his hands locked around the ankles of his boots. His head rested against his knees as shudders wracked his body. His entire being nearly blended in with the dark of the night from his dark clothing. But there was a single marking that make him conspicuous. From his broad shoulders and back sprouted an unusual pair of wings of a grey- white with the high arch extending well past his head and resting rather painfully against the boulders in a mass of white and silver. The wings quivered on what seemed to be of their own accord, in unison with each of his shudders.
With brows knit in bemusement and compassion, Aeolyn moved forward, but not too much. Who was this person, who's heart was filled with so much sorrow? Was it a one of the Guardians, the angels who watched over the common people? But why was here then? Questions constantly popped into her head, causing her even more incomprehension.
As if sensing her gaze, his head drew up and he looked over his wing and shoulder in her direction, but his gaze looked into memories, passing right through her. Even from the distance, she could tell there was deeply embedded distress in his eyes. Over the sounds of water and wind, she heard the words he whispered, carried by the wind to her ears like the sound of music. "Why…why…why don't you remember me? Don't you remember who I am, who you are? How could you forget I…"
Aeolyn woke with a start. She sat up quickly in her bed, her eyes wide, her heart pounding. She sat there for several seconds with her hands supporting her body upright, trying to intake all of what happened. What did he say? Something about someone possibly not remembering him? What was his last words? How could you forget I…? What such sad words for a person as young as he was. Was he young? Well, at least older than she was, at any rate.
Aeolyn sighed and fell back to bed, not realizing the window was open, the breeze so gentle it was easily missed. Letting her breath eased from her mouth in long intervals as she closed her eyes. Who knew that a single dream could take so much energy? As she let the waves of sleep wash over her, she felt a mild breeze against her pale cheeks. Aeolyn sat up again, looking around her room before she noticed the window was wide open. She opened her mouth to say something or to scream, she couldn't remember, as a hand snaked its way around over her mouth firmly. Another hand slipped around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides, and dragged her out of the bed, none too gently but cautiously. Panic drove Aeolyn tried to open her mouth to scream, but the hand was tightly around her mouth, disallowing her to part her lips. A strangled whimper emitted from her throat as she tried to move her arms and thrashed her legs about. The heel of her foot connected harshly with her captor's foot, resulting in a crude curse, but her captor did not lessen the pressure on her arms.
"Stop struggling so much!" a hoarse male whisper hissed above her right ear.
But this only made Aeolyn struggle more, hoping for the slightest chance of escape. Yet to her dismay and pain, he only tightened his hold, bringing a whimper of pain from her throat. Aeolyn stopped her fruitless struggles. Her capture lessened his grip slightly, accepting her obligation but it proved to be a mistake. Taking the advantage of his slack of hold, Aeolyn drove her heels into his feet and threw all over her weight forward. Caught off guard, both plummeted forward, but a quick twist to the side with all of her strength. Her momentum allowed her to land on her with her elbow thrusting into her captor's belly. Releasing her, he grunted in pain and surprise. Using the precious moments of he's instability, Aeolyn rose off of him and sprinted toward her door on the far side of the room, but to her dismay, the door was locked, as if it the handle of the door was melted shut. A strangled cry of frustration came from her throat and screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran toward the open window, not realizing the man was starting to rise again. She leaned out the window for a way to escape, but to no anvil was it successful. She turned around again and froze when she lay her eyes upon him in the shining moonlight.
His hair was pure black, shining white in the moonlight as it fell into his raven black eyes like a shade of darkness. His nose was a larger than what she would have normally liked n proportion. His thin tight lips were foreboding, added by a rough roguish touch of good looks. His face ran long with his pointed chin. He wore a rough black tunic, showing the strength of his brawny arms crossed over his broad chest. From his back, sprout a pair course wings like a bat's wings. Aeolyn shuddered as she saw a long whip like tail sweep across her floor from black pants.
He arched one black eyebrow at her, as if saying Are you done yet?
A small cry escaped her mouth as she froze, her mind moving like she was running through water. But there was something in his eyes, those icy eyes, that told her he wouldn't lay a finger on her unless she made it necessary. Slowly, she backed up until her back met the wall and window. But no matter how much distance she tried to place between them, he kept coming closer and closer, never stopping. Her breath caught when he finally stood before her. she bowed her head and faced the floor, her eyes shut tightly as she murmured a prayer to the Guardian Angels of the Divine realms.
He placed a single gloved hand lightly on her cheek and traced her jaw line with a one finger until he tilted her face upward. Aeolyn shivered from his touch, but did not twitch away in fear of what he might do to her. He gazed into her eyes, piercing. "You look…Wait, don't you…I guess this is how you came, eh?" He looked thoroughly amused and content after a moment of comprehension.
Her brows drew up as she became ready to protest, but he held a finger against her lips, silencing her. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw him look around behind her, through the window. Was he going to kidnap her? He withdrew his hand. "Ah, dear Aeolyn," he whispered, "I thought – ah, it does not matter, you being here is all that counts."
He drew her into a rough embrace. Aeolyn froze and tried to struggle. What is he doing?! She thought How does he know me? There was only one resolution to such a problem. Aeolyn opened her mouth to scream as she struggled harder. Instantly, he released her, his eyes wide in dismay. He saw her open her mouth to scream, but he quickly extracted a white cloth from where, Aeolyn could not tell as he took hold of her arm and drew her to him, placing the cloth over her nose and mouth. With her heavy and quick breathing, she inhaled whiffs of pungent herbs and liquid on the cloth while she tried her best to pull away futilely. But the drugs on the cloth encompassed a strong effect. Her mind became sluggish and her limbs would not respond. Her eyes became heavy and her senses became numb. She could only watch as she felt her body crumple into the arms of her captor. He hoisted her limp body, cradling her to his chest as one might do when carrying a sleeping child.
He looked down at down at her with sympathetic eyes. "You really don't know who I am, do you? I'm sorry Aeolyn, but fate must happen, even if I have to make it happen." Aeolyn vaguely registered what he said as her mind swam in murky swamps.
He suddenly leaped onto her window ledge with extremely practiced grace and balance. Then he leaped from the window for a free fall drop. Had she been more aware, she would have screamed in terror and fright. Heights was the one thing that did not agree with her all to well. But before he could hit the ground, he spread his bat-like wings and effortlessly shot straight up into the sky above and with the misting clouds. Aeolyn murmured a protest as she felt the sudden change of altitude and speed in the bottom of her stomach. Her half-open eyes saw the stars looming closer and closer as she saw the crystals of her chilled breath. Then he started flying toward the mountain Victoriana and near the river Run. Shivers of fear and the cold coursed through her body as she saw the moon shine through the thin clouds and heard an imaginary wing beats like a dove's wings. She was vaguely conscious as her captor turned his head and swore aloud. She felt the winged man pick his speed, flying higher into the colder atmosphere.
"You crazy fool, you'll kill her!" a faint voice called in angst. The dove's wing beats became louder, quicker, harder. Her captor struggled to fly away from the other, but in the end, he paused and turned to face his pursuer. Aeolyn tried to turn her head to see who this other could possibly be, but the drugs made her vision become more and more blurry as time moved on.
"Why do you want her?! She's no use to you. To you or you're dying race. You don't deserve her after all you've done! Don't think that you can suddenly take it all back!" her captor shouted, his voiced filled with vehement emotion. He clutched Aeolyn closer to him. Aeolyn struggled to stay conscious as the drugs began to affect her hearing, making the words slur to her ears.
"I – I…that's not true! You could never understand, you can't possibly deserve her either. Not now, not ever," the other, a male Aeolyn decided as her heard the last of his comments as her hearing faded. "…you…never…she…I do….."
Her attentiveness slowly began to fade as she felt herself being hoisted over one shoulder of her captor. Vaguely, she heard an unsheathing of a sword, metal against metal, shouts, and suddenly a cry of anguish from both men as Aeolyn felt herself drop from the arms of her captor. She felt warm liquid against her right arm, seeping through the shirt she wore. Fear ran through her mind, increasing with the mere fact that there was absolutely nothing she could do to save herself. Her mind fought to control her limp limbs and panic rose like a red morning dawn. Her breathing became harsher and faster, yet but there wasn't enough air to supply her tiring lungs as her speed increased with each passing second. Aeolyn closed her eyes, knowing that the drug would resist against every fight she had in her, diminishing every last once of strength she had in her. Thoughts of death, her family, her friend, life, passed through her mind. In her mind's eye, Aeolyn heard a pulsing of dove's wing beats, arms and a swirl of feathers scooping her up from Death's grasps. In her mind's eye, she saw a Guardian Angel smiling down upon her with eyes like a dreamer's distant gaze. | <urn:uuid:1850aef0-1cee-4a1a-aebd-4ed9fe37da95> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://www.fictionpress.com/s/1626287/1/Of-Immortals-and-Demons | 2016-07-30T11:22:46Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257836397.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071036-00261-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990278 | 7,390 |
553 F2d 146 United States v. D Ford
553 F.2d 146
180 U.S.App.D.C. 1
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,
Carroll D. FORD.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,
Wesley DESSASO a/k/a Wesley Dessaso, Jr.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,
Steve F. DaCOSTA.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,
Daniel HAILE, Jr.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,
Melvin E. SMITH et al.
Nos. 76-1467, 76-1468, 76-1501 to 76-1503.
United States Court of Appeals,
District of Columbia Circuit.
Argued Sept. 21, 1976.
Decided Feb. 11, 1977.
Robert M. McNamara, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., with whom Earl J. Silbert, U. S. Atty., and John A. Terry and Daniel J. Bernstein, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellant.
James L. Lyons, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this court), for appellee in No. 76-1468; also argued for appellees in Nos. 76-1467 and 76-1503.
Robert E. Walter, Jr., Arlington, Va., for appellees in Nos. 76-1501 and 76-1502.
Henry J. Monahan, Rockville, Md. (appointed by this court), was on the brief for appellee in No. 76-1467.
Theodore J. Christensen, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this court), was on the brief for appellees in No. 76-1503.
Charles J. Broida, Columbia, Md., was on the brief for appellee in No. 76-1501.
Charles F. Barker, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this court), was on the brief for appellee in No. 76-1502.
Orie Seltzer, Washington, D. C., entered an appearance for appellee Melvin E. Smith in No. 76-1503.
Before BAZELON, Chief Judge, and WRIGHT and ROBINSON, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the court filed by J. SKELLY WRIGHT, Circuit Judge.
J. SKELLY WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:
The District Court for the District of Columbia granted motions to suppress certain evidence gathered by electronic surveillance of appellees' conversations. On this appeal by the Government1 from that ruling the facts are not in dispute.
From early 1975 members of the Narcotics Branch of the Metropolitan Police Department suspected that the Meljerveen Ltd. Shoe Circus, a shoe store in Northwest Washington, D. C., was the locus of narcotics distribution activity. Over a period of months these suspicions were corroborated by information received through intermittent physical surveillance of the store and from informants, some of whom made controlled purchases of narcotics there.2 The police concluded that the narcotics operation was extensive, but they were unable to gather sufficient information as to the persons involved.3 Therefore, they decided to seek a court order authorizing electronic surveillance.4 Their information indicated that the proprietor of the Shoe Circus and prime suspect, Melvin E. Smith, mistakenly believed his telephone was already under surveillance, i. e., the object of a wiretap order, and that, therefore, he would not discuss narcotics activity over the telephone.5 The police concluded that under the circumstances a wiretap would be fruitless, so a decision was made to seek judicial authority to install eavesdropping devices "bugs" inside the premises.6
On September 4, 1975 an Assistant United States Attorney and a Metropolitan Police Department Narcotics Branch detective7 approached a judge of the District Court and presented to him a lengthy affidavit of probable cause and a surveillance order prepared for his signature. The Assistant United States Attorney informed the authorizing judge, off the record, that the police intended to effect entry into the Shoe Circus by means of a bomb-scare ruse.8 After questioning the detective on the issue of probable cause and instructing him as to statutory minimization,9 the authorizing judge signed the intercept order submitted by the Assistant United States Attorney.
In accordance with the provisions of the District of Columbia Code governing capture of wire and oral communications, the 20-day10 intercept order called for minimization and periodic progress reports to the authorizing judge.11 Unlike most electronic surveillance orders which authorize strictly non-trespassory wiretaps12 this warrant permitted an undesignated number of "bugs" to be placed inside the Shoe Circus "as soon as practicable."13 Paragraph (d) of the intercept order read:
(d) Members of the Metropolitan Police Department are hereby authorized to enter and re-enter the Meljerveen Ltd. Shoe Circus located at 4815 Georgia Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D. C., for the purpose of installing, maintaining and removing the electronic eavesdropping devices. Entry and re-entry may be accomplished in any manner, including, but not limited to, breaking and entering or other surreptitious entry, or entry and re-entry by ruse and stratagem.
Intercept order at 3, JA 45 (emphasis added). Acting pursuant to this authorization, police posing as a unit of the bomb squad appeared at the Shoe Circus on September 5. The store was evacuated and three "bugs" were installed, with at least one of the devices being placed in an area of the store not open to the general public. The operation lasted approximately half an hour.
It appears that on the following day police assigned to monitor conversations taking place inside the Shoe Circus discovered that none of the devices was transmitting. The Assistant United States Attorney was notified, and he in turn informed the authorizing judge. Remarking that there was, in his opinion, little likelihood of successful re-entry by means of another bomb-scare ruse, the authorizing judge nevertheless apparently concurred in the Assistant United States Attorney's plan. No record was made of these entirely informal conversations. Again using a bomb-scare ruse, police made a second daytime entry on September 10, 1975 and installed two additional devices, one in a non-public area. This time the devices did not malfunction, and during the next five weeks the police successfully monitored numerous narcotics-related conversations.
There is no indication that any further entries were made until October 15, 1975, when, prior to the expiration of an extension order issued September 26, 1975, the police entered without subterfuge to remove the listening devices. The intercepted conversations were subsequently presented to the grand jury. On February 6, 1976 indictments were issued charging appellees with various narcotics-related offenses.14 Appellees moved to suppress the electronic surveillance evidence, and a hearing was held15 at which the Government vigorously contended that this essential element of the prosecution's evidence had been validly seized. In a memorandum and order dated April 23, 1976 the District Court granted appellees' motions to suppress. United States v. Ford, 414 F.Supp. 879 (D.D.C.1976). The instant appeal ensued.
* The District Court found that the police had received reliable information and had concluded on "substantial evidence"16 that a narcotics business was being operated, primarily during night hours, at the Shoe Circus. It determined that the authorizing judge had been furnished a detailed showing of probable cause,17 and had been kept fully informed of police actions taken under the authority of the intercept order.18 The court concluded that in enacting Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and the parallel provisions of the District of Columbia Code19 Congress intended to confer jurisdiction on the courts to authorize covert entry by police for the purpose of installing eavesdropping devices.20 Thus the District Court ruled by implication that certain statutory safeguards governing execution of search warrants issued for seizure of specified items were inapplicable in this case.21 It reasoned, however, that the total absence of statutory limitations or restrictions on entry of private premises to install "bugs,"22 combined with the continuous and undiscriminating nature of the seizure,23 placed an "extraordinarily heavy burden"24 on the authorizing judge to tailor his order narrowly and thereby minimize the scope of the total intrusion.
According to the District Court, the order in question failed to meet these criteria. Since no formal record of any of the discussions between the Assistant United States Attorney and the authorizing judge had been made, the intercept order had to stand or fall on its own terms,25 which were impermissibly overbroad. The court discussed the authorization necessary in this type of case:
A warrant must be specific. * * * Where more than one entry is involved each intrusion must be treated formally and approved in advance so that the judge or magistrate can supervise when and how the entry is to be accomplished. * * * The authorization given in this instance did not limit the number of entries nor did it specify either the general time or manner of entry. Thus the authority given was far too sweeping.
United States v. Ford, supra, 414 F.Supp. at 884. The court held that because the authorization was invalid the District of Columbia Code mandated suppression of the evidence obtained by the electronic surveillance.
The Fourth Amendment states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The present case implicates two distinct aspects26 of the Fourth Amendment: unconsented physical entry into private premises27 and recording of oral statements.28 We deal primarily with the first aspect. The Government's initial contention is that surreptitious entry into private premises, for the limited purpose of installing, maintaining, or removing bugging equipment, is not independently within the Fourth Amendment's protections, and that an entry provision is "not required by either the Supreme Court or Congress to be part of the order." Government br. at 8. Therefore, it is argued, the surreptitious entry provision, whether or not overbroad, constituted surplusage and should have been irrelevant to any judicial scrutiny of the intercept order.
In cases involving physical intrusions into private premises the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that the individual has an interest in "limiting the circumstances under which the sanctity of his home may be broken by official authority."29 The basic purpose of the Fourth Amendment, the Court has stated, "is to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by government officials."30 Indeed, until Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967), unauthorized electronic eavesdropping on conversations, when not accomplished by an invasion of a constitutionally protected area, did not even violate the Fourth Amendment. Because no right of conversational privacy had been recognized, the Court "insisted only that the electronic device not be planted by an unlawful physical invasion of a constitutionally protected area." Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427, 438, 83 S.Ct. 1381, 1388, 10 L.Ed.2d 462 (1963). Exclusion of verbal evidence obtained by trespass vindicated only the right to be secure from illegal governmental invasion of private premises. Alderman v. United States, 394 U.S. 165, 177-178, 89 S.Ct. 961, 22 L.Ed.2d 176 (1969).31 We conclude, after analysis of the underlying policy considerations and well established precedents, that surreptitious physical invasion of a home or protected business premises,32 when undertaken by police agents for the purpose of installing, maintaining, or removing electronic eavesdropping devices, is, absent a valid consent or sufficiently particularized judicial authorization to enter, a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Thus the surreptitious entry provision in the warrant here was not surplusage. It was a necessary precondition to the Government's unconsented entries into the Shoe Circus and the failure adequately to limit the authorization to enter was a fatal defect.
In Irvine v. California, 347 U.S. 128, 74 S.Ct. 381, 98 L.Ed. 561 (1954) decided seven years before Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961), applied the exclusionary rule to state court prosecutions police officers surreptitiously entered the petitioner's home, without a warrant, on three separate occasions to install and reposition an eavesdropping device.33 Relying on the principle of Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U.S. 25, 33, 69 S.Ct. 1359, 93 L.Ed. 1782 (1949),34 that evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment was not required by the Constitution to be excluded in state court prosecutions where no coercion, violence, or brutality to the person was involved, a sharply divided Court affirmed the conviction. The plurality nevertheless commented in the following language on what had transpired:
Each of these repeated entries of petitioner's home without a search warrant or other process was a trespass, and probably a burglary, for which any unofficial person should be, and probably would be, severely punished. * * * That officers of the law would break and enter a home, secret such a device, even in a bedroom, and listen to the conversation of the occupants for over a month would be almost incredible if it were not admitted. Few police measures have come to our attention that more flagrantly, deliberately, and persistently violated the fundamental principle declared by the Fourth Amendment * * *. * * *
347 U.S. at 132, 74 S.Ct. at 382-383 (emphasis added).35
The Court was again confronted with trespassory electronic eavesdropping in Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, 81 S.Ct. 679, 5 L.Ed.2d 734 (1961), though in that case the physical invasion was arguably less severe. A "spike mike" was driven through an adjoining wall and, although no agent ever physically entered the premises, the device made contact with the heating duct system of the home where the incriminating conversations were expected to take place. The Court, in reversing the conviction under the exclusionary rule of Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383, 34 S.Ct. 341, 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914), stated:
Eavesdropping accomplished by means of such a physical intrusion is beyond the pale of even those decisions in which a closely divided Court has held that eavesdropping accomplished by other electronic means did not amount to an invasion of Fourth Amendment rights. * * *
365 U.S. at 509-510, 81 S.Ct. at 682.36 Furthermore, the Court declared it had
never held that a federal officer may without warrant and without consent physically entrench into a man's office or home, there secretly observe or listen, and relate at the man's subsequent criminal trial what was seen or heard.
Id. at 512, 81 S.Ct. at 683.37 If, as the Court stated in Irvine, entering private premises to plant an eavesdropping device is, for Fourth Amendment purposes, equivalent to ensconcing a police agent, and Silverman established the latter as a subject of the Amendment's strictures,38 the Amendment must also encompass surreptitious entry of the kind involved in this case.39
The Government seems to concede that under these cases trespass was the focus of constitutional protection. It argues, however, citing Berger v. New York, 388 U.S. 41, 87 S.Ct. 1873, 18 L.Ed.2d 1040 (1967), and Katz v. United States, supra, that with the advent of constitutional protection for conversational privacy physical entries incident to electronic surveillance no longer require prior judicial approval. To put it mildly, we cannot agree.
In Berger the necessity of judicial authorization for the trespassory invasion was not at issue because each of the two surreptitious entries which took place was the subject of prior judicial approval.40 Nevertheless, the Court recognized that protection from unauthorized intrusion into private premises is a primary concern of the Fourth Amendment.41 It outlined some of the safeguards present in other cases where it had held the Amendment's requirements met. Among these protections were: issuance of a warrant allowing one limited intrusion rather than a series of intrusions or continuous surveillance; issuance of a warrant drawn to foreclose any search of unauthorized areas; and obtaining of a new order on a new showing of probable cause, by officers seeking to resume the search.42
In Berger the Court was concerned with the question whether the challenged New York statute was facially invalid in that it permitted the second aspect of the search the overhearing to be undertaken by general warrant, contrary to the Amendment's command. But Berger certainly did not reject the then established premise that surreptitious entry for the purpose of installing electronic surveillance devices was within the ambit of the Fourth Amendment. Kaiser v. New York, 394 U.S. 280, 282, 89 S.Ct. 1044, 22 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969). Rather, the Court extended particularity protections formerly applicable only to the trespass to the overhearing in those cases where both aspects of the Amendment were implicated.
Similarly, there is no indication that the majority in Katz intended to alter the rule applicable to physical invasion when, in explicitly overruling Goldman v. United States, 316 U.S. 129, 62 S.Ct. 993, 86 L.Ed. 1322 (1942), and Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 48 S.Ct. 564, 72 L.Ed. 944 (1928), it announced that henceforth even incursions on conversational privacy accomplished by non-trespassory means would be subject to the Amendments' strictures. Stating that "the correct solution of Fourth Amendment problems is not necessarily promoted by incantation of the phrase 'constitutionally protected area,' " 389 U.S. at 350, 88 S.Ct. at 510 (emphasis added), the Court continued:
(O)nce it is recognized that the Fourth Amendment protects people and not simply "areas" against unreasonable searches and seizures, it becomes clear that the reach of that Amendment cannot turn upon the presence or absence of a physical intrusion into any given enclosure.
389 U.S. at 353, 88 S.Ct. at 512 (emphasis added).
The decision "in Katz refused to lock the Fourth Amendment into instances of actual physical trespass," United States v. United States District Court (Keith), 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2135, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972); it was intended to expand the scope of the Amendment's protection and not to diminish existing safeguards against unwarranted invasions of physical privacy.43 This is the clear lesson of the Supreme Court's Alderman decision,44 in which the Court stated:
Nor do we believe that Katz, by holding that the Fourth Amendment protects persons and their private conversations, was intended to withdraw any of the protection which the Amendment extends to the home or to overrule the existing doctrine, recognized at least since Silverman, that conversations as well as property are excludable from the criminal trial when they are found to be the fruits of an illegal invasion of the home. * * *
394 U.S. at 180, 89 S.Ct. at 970 (emphasis added). Surreptitious entries of the type authorized here are undoubtedly invasions of privacy. They may entail inspection of the premises while police search for suitable places to install or relocate the necessary devices or while personnel charged with maintenance or removal search for devices previously installed. Such entries will often bring government officers within plain view of personal papers and effects. Even if it were to be assumed that such entries inevitably represent less aggravated incursions than traditional rummaging searches, they would remain within the sphere of the Fourth Amendment. Contrary to the Government's contention, the Fourth Amendment's protections against physical trespass do not disappear simply because a probable cause showing has been made, and statutory authorization received, for gathering oral evidence. Quite the contrary, the least intrusive means rationale implicit in Katz and Keith requires that, where possible, such evidence should be gathered without entering private premises and that where entry is required the judicial authorization therefor should circumscribe that entry to the need shown.
The Government next argues, however, that even if surreptitious entries to install, maintain, or remove eavesdropping devices are within the ambit of the Fourth Amendment they should not be subjected to the Amendment's warrant procedure, provided there is a proper warrant authorizing seizure of conversations. It is contended that if the police enter with probable cause and intend to intercept oral communications under the authority of a Title III order, the incursions on physical privacy are per se reasonable and should be validated without regard to the terms of a surreptitious entry provision in the judicial order.45 Under this approach the overbroad entry provision in the intercept order would again be surplusage.
We reiterate that in determining whether issuance of an order for seizure of conversations obviates the need to obtain prior judicial approval of ancillary entries, we are cognizant of the fact that bugging, unlike nontrespassory wiretapping, ordinarily involves two distinct aspects of the Fourth Amendment: protection of private premises and of conversational privacy from unwarranted governmental intrusion.46 Moreover, in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence " 'search' and 'seizure' are not talismans." Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). The "Amendment governs all intrusions by agents of the public upon personal security," id. at 18 n.15, 88 S.Ct. at 1879, and requires adherence to judicial processes in order that the deliberate and impartial judgment of a judicial officer will be interposed between the citizen and the police.47 The Fourth Amendment protects a right of privacy and the warrant clause was included
so that an objective mind might weigh the need to invade that privacy in order to enforce the law. The right of privacy was deemed too precious to entrust to the discretion of those whose job is the detection of crime and the arrest of criminals. * * * And so the Constitution requires a magistrate to pass on the desires of the police before they violate the privacy of the home. * * *
Therefore, the Government's argument
touches the very heart of the Fourth Amendment directive: that, where practical, a governmental search and seizure should represent both the efforts of the officer to gather evidence of wrongful acts and the judgment of the magistrate that the collected evidence is sufficient to justify invasion of a citizen's private premises or conversation. * * *
Keith, supra, 407 U.S. at 316, 92 S.Ct. at 2136 (emphasis added).48 Generally, it is insisted that
in justifying the particular intrusion the police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion. * * *
Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1880 (emphasis added; footnote omitted). Thus, unless a judicially created exception to the warrant requirement can be invoked, when a case involves incursions on both private premises and conversational privacy, each requires prior valid judicial authorization though such authorization may be contained in the same document.
Exemptions from the warrant requirement have been few in number and generally have been created in that class of cases where an exception is considered necessary to protect the well-being of officers or to preserve evidence from destruction.49 Recently the Supreme Court has held "hot pursuit" to be sufficient reason in certain circumstances to permit warrantless entry onto private premises. United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 96 S.Ct. 2406, 49 L.Ed.2d 300 (1976). No contention is made, however, that any of these existing justifications is applicable in this case, so we must determine whether a new exception should be created for surreptitious entries to install, maintain, or remove "bugs." In this inquiry the question is not whether the public interest requires this type of incursion on privacy to achieve valid ends of law enforcement. Rather, it is whether the authority to enter "should be evidenced by a warrant, which in turn depends in part upon whether the burden of obtaining a warrant is likely to frustrate the governmental purpose * * *." Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 533, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1733, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967).50
The Government maintains that courts do not have the expertise necessary to weigh adequately the desirability and feasibility of various methods of entry, and that the incremental invasion of privacy entailed by surreptitious entry is relatively minor. The first argument proves too much, however, for it would lead not only to abrogation of the warrant requirement, but also to the unacceptable conclusion that courts are inherently incapable of reviewing the reasonableness of police action taken with the intent to install or maintain eavesdropping devices.51 The second "is founded on little more than a subjective view regarding the acceptability of certain sorts of police conduct, and not on considerations relevant to Fourth Amendment interests." Chimel v. California, supra, 395 U.S. at 764-765, 89 S.Ct. at 2041.52 As the District Court here properly recognized, surreptitious entry to install, maintain, or remove "bugs" is a serious invasion because
(f)reedom from intrusion into the home or dwelling is the archetype of the privacy protection secured by the Fourth Amendment. * * *
* * * The requirement of a warrant, as now generally understood, rests primarily on the conception that it is for a judicial officer, and not the prosecutor or police, to determine whether the security of our society, which is essential to the maintenance of a rule of law, requires that the right of privacy yield to a right of entry, search and seizure, and what limitation and specification of entry may be appropriate and reasonable. * * *
Dorman v. United States, 140 U.S.App.D.C. 313, 317, 435 F.2d 385, 389 (1970) (en banc ) (emphasis added; footnote omitted). Moreover, the Supreme Court has recently stated that "physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed * * *." Keith, supra, 407 U.S. at 313, 92 S.Ct. at 2134.
We do not
deal here with an entire rubric of police conduct necessarily swift action predicated upon the on-the-spot observations of the officer on the beat which historically has not been, and as a practical matter could not be, subjected to the warrant procedure. * * *
Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. at 1879. Entry into private premises is the traditional focus of the warrant requirement.53 By virtue of the requirements outlined in Title III, a judicial officer is inevitably and intimately involved in electronic surveillance situations. We believe, therefore, the only rationale for creating a categorical exemption from the warrant requirement for surreptitious entries to install, maintain, or remove electronic surveillance devices would be the convenience of the executing officers.
In light of the privacy interests implicated, the legislative history of Title III,54 specific findings and provisions in the District of Columbia Code,55 and the Supreme Court's recognition that exigency factors will rarely, if ever, be present in instances of electronic surveillance,56 we conclude that the minor incremental burden involved in obtaining proper judicial authorization for the particular invasions of privacy at issue here is not sufficient justification for dispensing with a fundamental Fourth Amendment requirement.57 When police seek to invade, surreptitiously and without consent, a protected premises to install, maintain, or remove electronic surveillance devices, prior judicial authorization in the form of a valid warrant authorizing that invasion must be obtained.58
Our conclusion that surreptitious entries to install, maintain, or remove electronic surveillance devices are subject to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment mandates consideration of the legal sufficiency of the intercept order's entry provision. As noted above, see pages --- - --- of 180 U.S.App.D.C., pages 151-152 of 553 F.2d supra, the District Court determined that the order was overbroad and that the overbreadth was more than a technical defect. Therefore, the order was "insufficient on its face." United States v. Ford, supra, 414 F.Supp. at 885. Of course, in determining whether issuance of a particular warrant was justified, affidavits of probable cause are to be tested in a commonsense, realistic fashion. United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 108, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965). The issuing magistrate's determination of probable cause should be paid great deference by reviewing courts. Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 270-271, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960). But intercept orders issued under Title III or the parallel provisions of the District of Columbia Code, like other warrants, must be subjected to a review which will "ensure that the issuing magistrate properly performed his function and did not 'serve merely as a rubber stamp for the police.' " United States v. Kalustian, 529 F.2d 585, 589 (9th Cir. 1976), quoting United States v. Ventresca, supra, 380 U.S. at 109, 85 S.Ct. 741.
The reviewing court thus has a duty to determine whether the showing of probable cause was sufficient to justify the intrusion authorized.59 In Berger v. New York, supra, the Court stressed that
(t)he need for particularity and evidence of reliability in the showing required when judicial authorization of a search is sought is especially great in the case of eavesdropping. * * * As was said in Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, (87 S.Ct. 429, 17 L.Ed.2d 394) (1966), the "indiscriminate use of such devices in law enforcement raises grave constitutional questions under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments," and imposes "a heavier responsibility on this Court in its supervision of the fairness of procedures . . ." At 329, n.7 (87 S.Ct. at 433). * * *
388 U.S. at 56, 87 S.Ct. at 1882. The procedure used in Osborn, for example, was
lawful because there was sufficient proof to obtain a search warrant to make the search for the limited purpose outlined in the order of the judges. Through these "precise and discriminate" procedures the order * * * afforded similar protections to those that are present in the use of conventional warrants authorizing the seizure of tangible evidence. * * *
388 U.S. at 57, 87 S.Ct. at 1882. And the Court reserved its strongest criticism for that aspect of the New York eavesdropping law which authorized "the equivalent of a series of intrusions, searches, and seizures pursuant to a single showing of probable cause." 388 U.S. at 59, 87 S.Ct. at 1883. See also pages --- - --- of 180 U.S.App.D.C., pages 156-158 of 553 F.2d supra.
Nevertheless, by analogy to an intercept order authorizing multiple conversational seizures, the Government contends that a valid warrant might authorize multiple entries during the period of authorized electronic surveillance even if, at the time the warrant issues, there is no demonstrated need or individualized judicial finding of necessity for multiple incursions.60 Admittedly, Title III and the parallel provisions of the District of Columbia Code of necessity do allow individual conversations to be seized without a prior determination by the issuing magistrate that they are covered by the warrant authorizing the bugging. After the surveillance is completed, if it is challenged, a reviewing court determines whether particular challenged conversations were illegally seized. However, this procedure is akin to post-search examination of whether police have exceeded the authority of the warrant by seizing items not particularly described,61 and does not obviate the Fourth Amendment's command that the official intrusion on private premises have prior valid judicial authorization based on sufficient probable cause.62 In accord with the mandate of Berger, Title III and the parallel provisions of the District of Columbia Code require the demonstration of probable cause to be coextensive with the intrusion permitted.63
The affidavits submitted in support of the application for the intercept order reveal that the showing of probable cause was less than sufficient to support the entry provision in the order.64 The affiant did allege facts which, if true, would allow a judicial officer to determine that non-trespassory electronic surveillance would not succeed in achieving the conversational seizures and that "bugging" inside the premises would be required. But the affidavits are totally devoid of allegations which would warrant the conclusion that the executing officers needed freedom to make multiple entries at any time of day or night, by any means they believed necessary.65
A person whose physical privacy is to be invaded has a right to expect the judicial officer issuing an intercept order will authorize only those entries and those means of entry necessary to satisfy the demonstrated and cognizable needs of the applicant. This is the method by which the magistrate exercises the degree of supervision required by the Fourth Amendment in the absence of statutory safeguards. There having been a failure in this regard, we affirm the judgment of the District Court that, given the showing to the District Judge in this case, the failure of the order to limit time, manner, or number of entries over a 40-day period66 made the authorization far too sweeping.67
We do not decide when, if ever, surreptitious entries are reasonable within the Fourth Amendment. Assuming that such entries are sometimes constitutional, we hold only that the warrant in this case was defective for expressly authorizing any number and manner of entries when there had been no showing of necessity for such broad authorization. Essential to our holding is the premise that entries to plant "bugs" are themselves invasions of privacy distinct from the actual eavesdrop, and therefore require separate consideration in the warrant procedure. If police are to be permitted to enter private premises to conceal eavesdropping devices a question we leave unresolved they at least must be required to proceed in accordance with the authorization of a warrant narrowly tailored to the demonstrated demands of the situation.
Turning to the Government's contention that suppression of the evidence is not the proper remedy to be applied in this case, we find an essentially threefold argument. Appellant maintains (1) that statutory suppression is not applicable; (2) that any violation was merely technical and, therefore, the evidence should not be suppressed; and (3) suppression, if ordered, must be under the judicially fashioned exclusionary rule, and its application turns not only on the degree of the violation, but also on whether a deterrence function will be served in a particular case. Our conclusion that statutory suppression is applicable and that the violation was not merely technical makes unnecessary any discussion of the third contention.68Statutory Suppression is Applicable
As to the applicability of statutory suppression to the communications in question here, the Government is in the interesting situation of taking a position diametrically opposite to the one it urged in United States v. Giordano, 416 U.S. 505, 94 S.Ct. 1820, 40 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974). Understandably it does not press its current position too strongly. In Giordano the Government sought to convince the Court that "unlawfully intercepted" under the statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a)(i), 23 D.C.Code § 551(b)(1), was limited to constitutional violations, as distinguished from statutory violations, 416 U.S. at 525, 94 S.Ct. 1820, whereas here it argues that "unlawfully intercepted" is limited to statutory violations as distinguished from constitutional violations. The Court in Giordano, in rejecting the Government's argument, observed that "(t)he words 'unlawfully intercepted' are themselves not limited to constitutional violations * * * ." Id. at 527, 94 S.Ct. at 1832. It clearly indicated that "unlawfully intercepted" included constitutional as well as statutory violations. Id. at 524-528, 94 S.Ct. 1820.
In United States v. Chavez, 416 U.S. 562, 94 S.Ct. 1849, 40 L.Ed. 380 (1974), the Court also interpreted the words "unlawfully intercepted." There, in rejecting an argument that the challenged evidence should be suppressed because of a defect in the intercept order, the Court emphasized that "(t)here is no claim of any constitutional infirmity arising from this defect * * * ." 416 U.S. at 570, 94 S.Ct. at 1854. The Court also stated: "(W)e rejected, in Giordano, the Government's claim that Congress intended 'unlawfully intercepted' communications to mean only those intercepted in violation of constitutional requirements * * * ." Id. at 574, 94 S.Ct. at 1856.
Thus the Court in two cases has plainly indicated that "unlawfully intercepted" includes constitutional violations. These indications are reinforced by the language of Title III and the pertinent provisions of the D.C.Code. When Congress wanted to refer only to statutory violations of Title III it said so,69 whereas no such limiting language is found with respect to the words "unlawfully intercepted."
Here the constitutional violation the overbroad entry provision invalidated the warrant, made the seizure thereunder unlawful, and proscribed the admission into evidence of the communications unlawfully intercepted under both relevant constitutional doctrine and the provisions of the statute itself.70 Thus the suppression order under review is affirmed not only because the warrant was "insufficient on its face," 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a)(ii), 23 D.C.Code § 551(b) (2), as the District Court held, 414 F.Supp. at 885, but also because the communications in suit were "unlawfully intercepted." 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10) (a)(i), 23 D.C.Code § 551(b)(1).
The Violation Was Not Merely Technical
Not every technical or minor deficiency in an intercept order requires seized conversations to be suppressed.71 The Third Circuit, for example, has concluded that Title III does not call for suppression "for facial insufficiency relating to less critical requirements which may be varied by subsequent affidavits." United States v. Acon, 513 F.2d 513, 518 (3d Cir. 1975). But the same court said:
The government certainly would not be allowed to amplify the facts presented on the face of the affidavit to the district court in order to improve the district court's finding of probable cause. United States v. Ceraso, 467 F.2d 647, 653 (3d Cir., 1973).
Id. This is an unequivocal rejection of the rule the Government seeks to have adopted in this case. To allow the Government to supplement the showing of probable cause at the point of judicial review would violate the established constitutional principle that probable cause cannot be tested by hindsight but must be examined as of the time the affidavits were presented to the authorizing magistrate and the warrant issued.72 At that time the entry provision in the warrant here, essentially authorizing unlimited entries on private property, was impermissibly overbroad.73 There was simply no probable cause showing to support the breadth of the entry provision. This constituted more than a clerical mistake.74 As a result guidance as to the proper remedy is found in United States v. Giordano, supra, rather than United States v. Chavez, supra, on which the Government chiefly relies.75
In Giordano the Attorney General had not complied with a statutory requirement that he personally authorize application for a Title III intercept order. Though there was the appearance of compliance with Title III, the Court concluded that the case was within the category where Congress intended statutory suppression, that is, "where there is failure to satisfy any of those statutory requirements that directly and substantially implement the congressional intention to limit the use of intercept procedures to those situations clearly calling for the employment of this extraordinary investigative device." 416 U.S. at 527, 94 S.Ct. at 1832. Since the order had been issued invalidly, it could not support the conversational seizures.
Both the Supreme Court and Congress have indicated that court orders dealing with electronic surveillance must be suitably circumscribed. The Fourth Amendment requires, and Congress has expressed an intent to ensure, that the showing of probable cause match the intrusion contemplated and authorized.76 There was here, as there was in Giordano, a fault in the required review prior to issuance of the intercept order, although here it was the authorizing judge rather than the Attorney General or his designee who did not fulfill his responsibility. The probable cause shown did not establish the need for the broad authority granted, and the fact that the police may have acted with restraint in executing the warrant cannot legitimate the surveillance. As the Supreme Court stated in a passage directly applicable here:
It is apparent that the agents in this case acted with restraint. Yet the inescapable fact is that this restraint was imposed by the agents themselves, not by a judicial officer. * * *
Katz v. United States, supra, 389 U.S. at 356, 88 S.Ct. at 514.77
Our conclusion is that the oral communications seized under the overbroad intercept order in this case must be considered to have been intercepted, as in Giordano, without the authority of a properly issued and suitably circumscribed warrant.78 Therefore, in addition to the warrant's being "insufficient on its face," 23 D.C.Code § 551(b)(2), (18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a)(ii)), the communications are "unlawfully intercepted" within the meaning of 23 D.C.Code § 551(b)(1) (18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a)(i)). Since there is no doubt that appellees are statutorily "aggrieved persons,"79 the order of the District Court suppressing the seized conversations is
The Government predicates jurisdiction on 18 U.S.C. §§ 2518(10)(b) and 3731 (1970). Since the intercept order at issue here and the memorandum and order commanding suppression of the seized evidence, United States v. Ford, 414 F.Supp. 879 (D.D.C.1976), both relied on provisions of the District of Columbia Code, and not on Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2520 (1970) (hereinafter Title III), § 2518(10)(b) does not grant the Government a right of appeal. However, we treat the appeal as being validly taken under 18 U.S.C. § 3731 and the provision of the D.C.Code which parallels 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(b), 23 D.C.Code § 552 (1973)
Affidavit of Detective William S. Vislay (hereinafter Vislay affidavit) at 11-17, 20, 22-23, 26-26(a), JA 16-22, 25, 27-28, 31-32. The Vislay affidavit is part of the record in Misc. No. 75-159, In re Oral Intercept. That record was made part of the record on appeal in the instant cases by an order of the District Court entered June 10, 1976, JA 182
Vislay affidavit at 16, JA 21. People in the neighborhood were, it seems, less than eager to cooperate with the police. The police sought to discover neither instrumentalities nor fruits of crime. They were searching for "mere evidence," but such searches have been found consistent with the Fourth Amendment since Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782 (1967), so long as they comply with Fourth Amendment standards
That even non-trespassory interception of oral communications is subject to the strictures of the Fourth Amendment was conclusively established by Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). Title III governs interception of wire and oral communications. Section 2516(2) permits states, defined to include the District of Columbia, see § 2510(3), to enact statutes governing wiretapping and interception of oral communications. These statutes must, at a minimum, be as restrictive as the federal statute. See §§ 2515, 2516(2). The provisions of the District of Columbia Code relating to electronic surveillance are contained in 23 D.C.Code §§ 541-556 (1973). These sections are very similar to and were based on the corresponding sections of Title III. See H.R.Rep.No.91-907, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 77 (1970); S.Rep.No.91-538, 91st Cong., 1st Sess. 18 (1969); 115 Cong.Rec. 19268 (1969) (summary by Sen. Hruska); United States v. Moore, 168 U.S.App.D.C. 227, 231 n.1, 513 F.2d 485, 489 n.1 (1975). The similarity of the statutes and the common origin of the provisions have caused the parties and the court to rely on the legislative history of Title III and cases interpreting it where relevant
Vislay affidavit at 22, JA 27
Government br. at 4-5
The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia had given the approval required by 23 D.C.Code § 546(a). The Assistant United States Attorney and the detective applied to the authorizing judge. See 23 D.C.Code § 541(7)
A covert breaking and entering had been considered and rejected because of "Watergate overtones." United States v. Ford, supra note 1, 414 F.Supp. at 881
The questioning was on a transcript and is specifically authorized by 23 D.C.Code § 547(b) (18 U.S.C. § 2518(2)). Statutory minimization is governed by 23 D.C.Code § 547(g) (18 U.S.C. § 2518(5)). See note 11 infra for a discussion of the meaning of statutory minimization
See 23 D.C.Code § 547(g):
No order entered under this section may authorize or approve the interception of any wire or oral communication for any period longer than is necessary to achieve the objective of the authorization, nor in any event longer than thirty days. Extensions of an order may be granted, but only upon application for an extension made in accordance with subsection (a) of this section and the court making the findings required by subsection (c) of this section. The period of extension shall be * * * in no event for longer than thirty days. * * *
Accord, 18 U.S.C. § 2518(5). An extension order was issued by the authorizing judge on September 26, 1975, allowing another 20 days of interception. See note 66 infra.
23 D.C.Code § 547(g) provides: "Every order and extension thereof shall contain a provision that the authorization to intercept * * * shall be conducted in such a way as to minimize or eliminate the interception of communications not otherwise subject to interception under this subchapter * * *." Accord, 18 U.S.C. § 2518(5). The intercept order authorized monitoring from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. only, although on one day (Sept. 16, 1975) the Government pursuant to a showing of probable cause was allowed to extend the permissible hours of interception. United States v. Ford, supra note 1, 414 F.Supp. at 881. The breadth of this particular authorization is not at issue in this case. The statutory minimization provision by its own terms deals with seizure of conversations, not with invasions of privacy entailed by installation, maintenance, or removal of the devices which actually seize the oral or wire communications. But see note 23 infra as to the difficulties inherent in minimization when "bugs" are used
The authorizing judge may require periodic progress reports on the status of the surveillance. 23 D.C.Code § 547(h) (18 U.S.C. § 2518(6)).
For example, the National Commission for Review of Federal and State Laws Relating to Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance (hereinafter National Wiretap Commission) received detailed data about some 1,220 electronic surveillance orders obtained by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies between 1968 and 1973. Of these only 26 dealt with trespassory bugging. As the Commission noted:
There are four reasons for the relative disuse of these eavesdropping devices: (1) technical problems in the transmission of signals, (2) the difficulty of developing probable cause, (3) problems associated with surreptitious entry, and (4) the feeling that bugs are more intrusive than telephone taps.
National Wiretap Commission, Electronic Surveillance 15 (1976) (hereinafter NWC Report). We agree with the Eighth Circuit that those rare instances where surreptitious entry "bugging" is involved require a bifurcated analysis in which each aspect trespass and overhearing is subjected to an independent Fourth Amendment analysis. See United States v. Agrusa, 541 F.2d 690, 696 (8th Cir. 1976).
See 23 D.C.Code § 547(g): "Every order and extension thereof shall contain a provision that the authorization to intercept shall be executed as soon as practicable * * *." Accord, 18 U.S.C. § 2518(5). "Otherwise there is a danger that the showing of probable cause and the additional information in the application will become stale." S.Rep.No.1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 103 (1968), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, pp. 2112, 2192 (hereinafter Senate Report)
All appellees are accused of having violated 21 U.S.C. § 846 (1970) by conspiring to distribute and possessing with intent to distribute narcotic drugs. In addition appellee Melvin E. Smith is charged with two counts, and appellees James L. Smith and Jerome Smith with one count each, of distribution of a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) (1970). Appellee Daniel Haile is charged additionally with possession of a narcotic drug in violation of 33 D.C.Code § 402 (1973)
23 D.C.Code § 551(b) provides:
Any aggrieved person in any trial, hearing, or proceeding in or before any court, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States or the District of Columbia, may move to suppress the contents of any intercepted wire or oral communication, or evidence derived therefrom, on the grounds that
(1) the communication was unlawfully intercepted;
(2) the order of authorization or approval under which it was intercepted is insufficient on its face;
(3) the interception was not made in conformity with the order of authorization or approval(.)
In relevant part this language is identical to that of 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10) (a).
Under the rules of the District Court for the District of Columbia, a judge who approves a search warrant is never assigned responsibility for the resulting judgment. In this way no judge examines the validity of his own warrant in suppression proceedings.
United States v. Ford, supra note 1, 414 F.Supp. at 881
Id. at 882
See note 4 supra
United States v. Ford, supra note 1, 414 F.Supp. at 883. The District Court relied on an oblique reference in the legislative history of Title III:
A wiretap can take up to several days or longer to install. Other forms or devices may take even longer. * * *
Senate Report, supra note 13, at 103, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2192. The court also noted that both the D.C.Code and Title III allow the intercept order to "direct that a communication common carrier, landlord, custodian, or other person shall furnish the applicant forthwith all information, facilities, or technical assistance necessary to accomplish the interception unobtrusively * * *." 23 D.C.Code § 547(f), 18 U.S.C. § 2518(4) (emphasis by the District Court, 414 F.Supp. at 883). The National Wiretap Commission found implication of authority for surreptitious entry eavesdropping in 18 U.S.C. § 2518(4)'s requirement that the intercept order state "the nature and location of the communications facilities as to which, or the place where, authority to intercept is granted." See NWC Report, supra note 12, at 81 (emphasis added). 23 D.C.Code § 547(e) contains substantially the same language.
Judge MacKinnon has noted:
Our courts regularly authorize and approve wire tapping, eavesdropping and surreptitious entries * * *. A recent record in this court documents confidential court orders which authorize government agents to "Intercept wire communications * * * (and to) install and maintain an electronic eavesdropping device within the (room of a building at a specific address) to intercept (certain specified) oral communications . . . concerning (certain) described offenses. Installation * * * may be accomplished by any reasonable means, including surreptitious entry or entry by ruse " * * *. * * *
United States v. Barker, 168 U.S.App.D.C. 312, 345-346, 514 F.2d 208, 241-242 (1975) (en banc ) (dissenting opinion) (emphasis in original). Though we need not reach in this case the issue whether covert entry may be authorized by a court order, we note that the statutory provisions could be read to apply only to the kind of devices which are technically trespassory under the doctrine of Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, 81 S.Ct. 679, 5 L.Ed.2d 734 (1961), but do not require covert or surreptitious entry for installation. Cf. Irvine v. California, 347 U.S. 128, 74 S.Ct. 381, 98 L.Ed. 561 (1954). Contra, United States v. Agrusa, supra note 12; but see four members of the court dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc, 541 F.2d at 704. See note 65 infra.
This would seem to be especially true of so-called "knock and notice" statutes. See 18 U.S.C. § 3109 (1970); 23 D.C.Code § 524(a) (1973). See also 23 D.C.Code §§ 522, 523, 524 (1973). In Berger v. New York, 388 U.S. 41, 60, 87 S.Ct. 1873, 18 L.Ed.2d 1040 (1967), it was suggested that unconsented entry without notice might be permitted on a showing of exigent circumstances, and that one of the defects of the New York law in question was that it did not require such a demonstration prior to issuance of an eavesdropping warrant. Both Title III and the D.C.Code require the authorizing judge to determine, prior to authorizing interception of oral or wire communications, that
normal investigative procedures have or would have been tried and have or had failed or reasonably appear or appeared to be unlikely to succeed if tried or to be too dangerous(.)
D.C.Code § 547(c)(3), 18 U.S.C. § 2518(3)(c). Thus under the statutes the applicant for an intercept order must demonstrate a need to avoid notice prior to initiation of the electronic surveillance. It would seem that in light of Berger and the other cases which establish trespassory entry to install, maintain, or remove "bugs" as within the Fourth Amendment's protections, see text at pp. --- - --- of 180 U.S.App.D.C, at pp. 152-158 of 553 F.2d infra, exigency, in terms of impracticability of alternative means, would have to be shown equally for trespassory entries without notice as for incursions on conversational privacy. See United States v. Agrusa, supra note 12, 541 F.2d 690
The National Wiretap Commission found that:
Title III contains no provisions which specifically regulate the method by which bugs are to be installed. * * * In some jurisdictions (under parallel state laws) surreptitious entry is authorized by a court order. In other areas, however, police officials have indicated a reluctance to apply for a Title III order to use bugs because of the statute's failure to establish guidelines and procedures.
NWC Report, supra note 12, at 83 (footnotes omitted). For example, the New York Code of Criminal Procedure requires an eavesdropping warrant to contain "(a)n express authorization to make secret entry upon a private place or premises to install an eavesdropping device, if such entry is necessary to execute the warrant." Section 700.30.8 (McKinney, 1973) (emphasis added). The D.C.Code, like Title III, has no parallel or similar provision.
Unlike telephone taps, bugs indiscriminately pick up all the sounds in the room or place under surveillance: radio and television broadcasts, air conditioners, squeaking car springs, simultaneous conversations among several people, including innocent background conversations, and so forth. In this welter of random noises the single incriminating conversation often is buried. Bugs, in other words, may "seize" too much for either clear reception or effective minimization. Although law enforcement witnesses before the Commission recognized these problems, there was no evidence that any law enforcement agency had not used a bug because of the difficulty of minimization
NWC Report, supra note 12, at 15.
United States v. Ford, supra note 1, 414 F.Supp. at 883. Constitutionally sufficient eavesdrops, if possible, must be undertaken with "adequate judicial supervision or protective procedures." Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 60, 87 S.Ct. at 1884
The Fourth Amendment requires that "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation." The only information supported by oath or affirmation was that contained in the affidavits filed with the intercept order application and that provided by the authorizing judge's interrogation of Detective Vislay, on a transcript. For a more detailed discussion of this point see note 64 infra
United States v. Agrusa, supra note 12, 541 F.2d at 696. As Mr. Justice Powell noted in United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972) (hereinafter Keith ):
Though physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed, its broader spirit now shields private speech from unreasonable surveillance. * * *
It is "the discretion to invade private property which we have consistently circumscribed by a requirement that a disinterested party warrant the need to search." Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 532-533, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1733, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967)
Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, 387 U.S. at 530-531, 87 S.Ct. at 1732
The Fourth Amendment protects a right of privacy. This is a right that is increasingly recognized in decisions involving this and other provisions of the Constitution as a core protection safeguarding all citizens against unwarranted intrusions by police and other government officials.
Dorman v. United States, 140 U.S.App.D.C. 313, 317, 435 F.2d 385, 389 (1970) (en banc ) (footnote omitted). See note 27 supra. Cf. Warden v. Hayden, supra note 3, 387 U.S. at 309-310, 87 S.Ct. at 1651, where the Court said:
The "mere evidence" limitation has spawned exceptions so numerous and confusion so great, in fact, that it is questionable whether it affords meaningful protection. But if its rejection does enlarge the area of permissible searches, the intrusions are nevertheless made after fulfilling the probable cause and particularity requirements of the Fourth Amendment and after the intervention of a "neutral and detached magistrate . . ." Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14, (68 S.Ct. 367, 369, 92 L.Ed. 436.) The Fourth Amendment allows intrusions upon privacy under these circumstances, and there is no viable reason to distinguish intrusions to secure "mere evidence" from intrusions to secure fruits, instrumentalities, or contraband.
(Emphasis added.) In Warden v. Hayden the Court, pursuant to a showing of exigent circumstances, sustained the validity of a broad-ranging warrantless search for weapons which involved rummaging throughout the suspect's home. In Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, on the other hand, the Court found that even a "routine inspection of the physical condition of private property" an arguably less hostile intrusion than the typical "search" required prior judicial authorization. 387 U.S. at 530-531, 87 S.Ct. at 1731. These cases can be reconciled only by accepting the premise that, absent compelling circumstances, unconsented warrantless entry into private premises is proscribed by the Fourth Amendment. Cf. United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 96 S.Ct. 2406, 49 L.Ed.2d 300 (1976). See notes 47 & 48 infra.
Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, 387 U.S. at 528, 87 S.Ct. at 1730, quoted with approval in Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 53, 87 S.Ct. 1873. To the same effect is Cardwell v. Lewis, 417 U.S. 583, 589, 94 S.Ct. 2464, 2469, 41 L.Ed.2d 325 (1974), quoting Jones v. United States, 357 U.S. 493, 498, 78 S.Ct. 1253, 2 L.Ed.2d 1514 (1958): "(T)he essential purpose of the Fourth Amendment (is) to shield the citizen from unwarranted intrusions into his privacy." See Warden v. Hayden, supra note 3, 387 U.S. at 304, 87 S.Ct. 1642
See note 36 infra. In Kaiser v. New York, 394 U.S. 280, 282, 89 S.Ct. 1044, 1046, 22 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), the Court stated:
Not until last Term in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, (88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576), did this Court overrule its prior decisions that the Fourth Amendment encompassed seizures of speech only if the law enforcement officers committed a trespass or at least physically invaded a constitutionally protected area of the speaker. Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, (48 S.Ct. 564, 72 L.Ed. 944), explicitly held that wiretapping conducted without such an intrusion was not an unlawful search or seizure. That rule was not modified by Berger v. New York. The Court's discussion of Olmstead in Berger, while recognizing that other cases had negated the statements in Olmstead that conversations are never protected by the Fourth Amendment, cast no doubt upon "(t)he basis of the (Olmstead ) decision" "that the Constitution did not forbid the obtaining of evidence by wiretapping unless it involved actual unlawful entry into the house." Furthermore, the Court in Berger found the overbreadth of N.Y. Code Crim. Proc. § 813-a repugnant to the Fourth Amendment only to the limited extent that it permitted a "trespassory intrusion into a constitutionally protected area."
Olmstead, then, stated the controlling interpretation of the Fourth Amendment with respect to wiretapping until it was overruled by Katz. * * *
(Emphasis added; footnotes omitted.) See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 485, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963):
The exclusionary rule has traditionally barred from trial physical, tangible materials obtained either during or as a direct result of an unlawful invasion. It follows from our holding in Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, (81 S.Ct. 679, 5 L.Ed.2d 734), that the Fourth Amendment may protect against the overhearing of verbal statements as well * * *. * * * Thus, verbal evidence which derives so immediately from an unlawful entry * * * is no less the "fruit" of official illegality than the more common tangible fruits of the unwarranted intrusion. * * *
(Footnote omitted.) This court has said: "The basic premise of the prohibition against searches * * * was the common-law right of a man to privacy in his home, a right which is one of the indispensable ultimate essentials of our concept of civilization." District of Columbia v. Little, 85 U.S.App.D.C. 242, 245-246, 178 F.2d 13, 16-17 (1949), aff'd on other grounds, 339 U.S. 1, 70 S.Ct. 468, 94 L.Ed. 599 (1950), cited approvingly in Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, 387 U.S. at 530, 87 S.Ct. 1727.
By surreptitious entry we mean either entry by ruse or stratagem or covert entry
The protections of the Fourth Amendment are not limited to homes. As the Supreme Court has stated:
What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. * * * But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected. * * *
Katz v. United States, supra note 4, 389 U.S. at 351-352, 88 S.Ct. at 511. Moreover, in See v. City of Seattle, 387 U.S. 541, 543, 87 S.Ct. 1737, 1739, 18 L.Ed.2d 943 (1967), the Court stated:
In Go-Bart Importing Co. v. United States, 282 U.S. 344, (51 S.Ct. 153, 75 L.Ed. 374); Amos v. United States, 255 U.S. 313, (41 S.Ct. 266, 65 L.Ed. 654); and Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385, (40 S.Ct. 182, 64 L.Ed. 319), this Court refused to uphold otherwise unreasonable criminal investigative searches merely because commercial rather than residential premises were the object of the police intrusions. Likewise, we see no justification for so relaxing Fourth Amendment safeguards where the official inspection is intended to aid enforcement of laws prescribing minimum physical standards for commercial premises. As we explained in Camara, a search of private houses is presumptively unreasonable if conducted without a warrant. The businessman, like the occupant of a residence, has a constitutional right to go about his business free from unreasonable official entries upon his private commercial property. The businessman, too, has that right placed in jeopardy if the decision to enter and inspect for violation of regulatory laws can be made and enforced by the inspector in the field without official authority evidenced by a warrant.
(Emphasis added.) To the same effect is Mancusi v. DeForte, 392 U.S. 364, 367-370, 88 S.Ct. 2120, 20 L.Ed.2d 1154 (1968). See Lanza v. New York, 370 U.S. 139, 143, 82 S.Ct. 1218, 8 L.Ed.2d 384 (1962); United States v. Rosenberg, 416 F.2d 680 (7th Cir. 1969).
The device was a microphone connected to police monitors by wire, not a wireless transmitter of the kind employed here; we do not believe this alters the constitutional principle at stake. The intrusions are indistinguishable
Though Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U.S. 25, 69 S.Ct. 1359, 93 L.Ed. 1782 (1949), had protected the "security of one's privacy against arbitrary intrusion by the police," Irvine v. California, supra note 20, 347 U.S. at 132-133, 74 S.Ct. at 383, it had not applied the exclusionary rule to state crimes tried in state courts. But see Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). Moreover, it was not clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause embodied the same standard of reasonableness as the Fourth Amendment. But see Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963). The Irvine case did not fall within the exclusionary rule of Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 72 S.Ct. 205, 96 L.Ed. 183 (1952), because there had been no coercion, violence, or brutality to the person
Dissenting in Irvine, Mr. Justice Frankfurter, the author of Wolf, wrote:
There was lacking here physical violence, even to the restricted extent employed in Rochin. We have here, however, a more powerful and offensive control over the Irvines' life than a single, limited physical trespass. Certainly the conduct of the police here went far beyond a bare search and seizure. * * * Those affirming the conviction find that this conduct, in its entirety, is "almost incredible if it were not admitted." Surely the Court does not propose to announce a new absolute, namely, that even the most reprehensible means for securing a conviction will not taint a verdict so long as the body of the accused was not touched by State officials. * * *
347 U.S. at 145-146, 74 S.Ct. at 390. While a ruse entry such as the one used in this case may not be a breaking and entering, see United States v. Phillips, 497 F.2d 1131 (9th Cir. 1974), the Fourth Amendment's protection extends equally to ruse entries. Id. Therefore, that difference is not meaningful for determining whether the entries at issue here are within the proscriptions of the Fourth Amendment. See also United States v. Ressler, 536 F.2d 208, 211-212 (7th Cir. 1976).
In Goldman v. United States, 316 U.S. 129, 62 S.Ct. 993, 86 L.Ed. 1322 (1942),
the Court found that the use of a detectaphone placed against an office wall in order to hear private conversations in the office next door did not violate the Fourth Amendment because there was no physical trespass in connection with the relevant interception. * * *
Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 51, 87 S.Ct. at 1879 (emphasis added). The same factor was operative in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 48 S.Ct. 564, 72 L.Ed. 944 (1928), where
the interception of Olmstead's telephone line was accomplished without entry upon his premises and was, therefore, found not to be proscribed by the Fourth Amendment. The basis of the decision was that the Constitution did not forbid the obtaining of evidence by wiretapping unless it involved actual unlawful entry into the house. * * *
Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 51, 87 S.Ct. at 1879. Both Goldman and Olmstead were overruled by Katz v. United States, supra note 4, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576. See text at pp. --- - --- of 180 U.S.App.D.C., at pp. 157-158 of 553 F.2d infra.
At this point in our inquiry the fact that the police in this case had a warrant is irrelevant. The Government's contention is precisely that surreptitious entries would have been valid without independent judicial authorization. The effect of the warrant issued in this case is discussed in text at pp. --- - --- of 180 U.S.App.D.C., at pp. 165-170 of 553 F.2d infra
All that was heard through the microphone was what an eavesdropper, hidden in the hall, the bedroom, or the closet, might have heard." Irvine v. California, supra note 20, 347 U.S. at 131, 74 S.Ct. at 382
Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323, 87 S.Ct. 429, 17 L.Ed.2d 394 (1966), involved two separate "entries" by a police agent. Judicial authorization was sought and given for the agent to tape record a conversation he expected to have with the petitioner, who was suspected of jury tampering. The meeting was held, but the recorder malfunctioned. Judicial authorization was given for a second use of the tape recorder, and this time the incriminating statements of the petitioner were recorded. Noting the two separate instances of judicial approval, the Court allowed the recording of the second meeting to be introduced into evidence. See 385 U.S. at 329 n.6, 87 S.Ct. 429
The Court's later characterization of Osborn as the kind of case where suitably precise and discriminate procedures were used, see Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 57, 87 S.Ct. 1873, can be understood only in terms of an assumption that unconsented entry to accomplish recording of conversations must be judicially approved. See also Alderman v. United States, 394 U.S. 165, 177-180, 89 S.Ct. 961, 22 L.Ed.2d 176 (1969); Wong Sun v. United States, supra note 31, 371 U.S. at 485, 83 S.Ct. 407. Cf. Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427, 83 S.Ct. 1381, 10 L.Ed.2d 462 (1963); and Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 408, 17 L.Ed.2d 374 (1966) (decided the same day as Osborn ), where the Court established that speakers took the risk of their listeners' later divulging the contents of conversations, at least where the listeners' presence was the result of actual or implied invitations. See Alderman v. United States, supra, 394 U.S. at 179 n.11, 89 S.Ct. 961, and cases cited at note 35 supra.
388 U.S. at 45, 87 S.Ct. 1873. See note 21 supra
See, e. g., notes 31 & 36 supra
388 U.S. at 57, 87 S.Ct. 1873
This court has said that Katz and Keith recognized that
the Fourth Amendment is a bulwark against unreasonable governmental intrusion by non-trespassory as well as by trespassory means; both the spirit and the history of that Amendment demonstrate that there is a legitimate expectation that one's conversations no less than one's home are to be sheltered by the full panoply of Fourth Amendment safeguards. * * *
Zweibon v. Mitchell, 170 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 40, 516 F.2d 594, 633 (1975) (en banc ), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 944, 96 S.Ct. 1685, 48 L.Ed.2d 187 (1976) (emphasis added). See, e. g., Amsterdam, Perspectives on the Fourth Amendment, 58 Minn.L.Rev. 349, 385 (1974).
And as recently as last term the Supreme Court reaffirmed the validity of the concept of "constitutionally protected areas." In rejecting the argument that bank records obtained by an invalid subpoena were to be suppressed, the Court found both that "there was no intrusion into any area in which respondent had a protected Fourth Amendment interest" and that respondent had no legitimate expectation of privacy as to the bank records. United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435, 440-443, 96 S.Ct. 1619, 1622, 48 L.Ed.2d 71 (1976). This analysis can only be read to reflect a refutation of the Government's argument that trespasses are irrelevant to Fourth Amendment analysis when ancillary to electronic surveillance. The Amendment protects people by protecting certain expectations of privacy which relate to private physical areas as well as conversations.
See United States v. Ehrlichman, 178 U.S.App.D.C. 149, 173, 546 F.2d 910, 939 (1976) (Leventhal, J., concurring). We do not read Judge Wilkey's language in the companion case of United States v. Barker, 178 U.S.App.D.C. 174, 546 F.2d 940 (1976), as being opposed to our conclusion. On the contrary, we believe it supports our finding that entry for the purpose of installing, maintaining, or removing "bugging" equipment must be tested by traditional Fourth Amendment standards. Though it is Judge Wilkey's view that a nontrespassory electronic surveillance may, under certain circumstances, be more intrusive than a standard trespassory search, at 186-187 n.39, 546 F.2d at 952-953 n.39, he notes:
Court-ordered surveillances are sometimes trespassory, sometimes not, depending on the requirements of the situation * * * .
* * * Of course, if a trespass is not necessary in a particular case to effect an eavesdrop, the court need not gratuitously authorize a surreptitious entry * * * .
At 186 n.40, 546 F.2d at 953 n.40. Judge Wilkey argues for establishing an equivalency between "(u)npermitted physical entry into a citizen's dwelling (which) is no doubt the core of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures," at 187, 546 F.2d at 953, and non-trespassory electronic surveillance. Even if one accepts that premise, see Alderman v. United States, supra note 39, 394 U.S. at 179 n.11, 89 S.Ct. 961, it would seem that when both elements of the equivalency, or equation, are present, each must be tested for compliance with applicable constitutional and statutory requirements.
Alderman v. United States, supra note 39
The view that every search must be tested solely by a standard of reasonableness has been repeatedly rejected. See Keith, supra note 26, 407 U.S. at 315 n.16, 92 S.Ct. 2125; Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 764-765, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); Zweibon v. Mitchell, supra note 43, 516 F.2d at 630-632, quoting from Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 439, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973)
As the Supreme Court stressed in Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 51, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 1981, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970):
In enforcing the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Court has insisted upon probable cause as a minimum requirement for a reasonable search permitted by the Constitution. As a general rule, it has also required the judgment of a magistrate on the probable-cause issue and the issuance of a warrant before a search is made. Only in exigent circumstances will the judgment of the police as to probable cause serve as a sufficient authorization * * *. * * *
(Emphasis added.) See, e. g., Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971); Chimel v. California, supra.
For this reason we reject the Government's suggestion that we analogize the present case to those instances where courts have upheld warrantless entry onto third-party premises for the purpose of executing arrest warrants. See, e. g., United States v. Brown, 151 U.S.App.D.C. 365, 467 F.2d 419 (1972). In Brown the court relied on Dorman v. United States, supra note 29, in which warrantless entry to effect arrest was held permissible in those precisely defined circumstances which essentially embody the meaning of exigency. We said:
Terms like "exigent circumstances" or "urgent need" are useful in underscoring the heavy burden on the police to show that there was a need that could not brook the delay incident to obtaining a warrant * * *. * * *
435 F.2d at 392. We further stated:
The courts have always recognized the case of arrest as a case involving its own considerations.
Id. at 319, 435 F.2d at 391. Accord, United States v. Watson, 423 U.S. 411, 426-433, 96 S.Ct. 820, 46 L.Ed.2d 598 (1976) (Powell, J., concurring). This is not only because prompt arrest might lead to recovery of fruits and instrumentalities of the crime, 140 U.S.App.D.C. at 319, 435 F.2d at 391; cf. Warden v. Hayden, supra note 3, 387 U.S. 294, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 18 L.Ed.2d 782; but also because by the time the police have obtained a warrant the suspect may be aware of the pursuit and may, for that or other reasons, be on the verge of flight. See Chimel v. California, supra, 395 U.S. at 778-781, 89 S.Ct. 2034 (White, J., dissenting). Another reason for allowing warrantless entry is that "under Chimel the police can enter only into those portions of the property in which entry is necessary to effect the arrest." Coolidge v. New Hampshire, supra, 403 U.S. at 518, 91 S.Ct. at 2064 (White, J., dissenting).
Therefore, the ratio decidendi of Brown is not persuasive in the present case. Though the court did not specifically refer to exigency, it is clear that the very involvement of arrest provides some urgency, see Chimel v. California, supra, 395 U.S. at 781, 89 S.Ct. 2034 (White, J., dissenting), and that there were present in Brown certain facts (a number of previous efforts to effect arrest) which are absent here and which contributed to compelling need.
We note that the Third Circuit has adopted essentially the same view of the meaning of Brown. Emphasizing the possibility of escape, and reading Brown to require both probable cause and exigent circumstances, the court followed our Brown decision. Fisher v. Volz, 496 F.2d 333, 341 (3d Cir. 1974). A later case in the Third Circuit also required probable cause and the kind of exigent circumstances we described in Dorman to justify warrantless police entry into third-party premises, even when undertaken for the limited purpose of arrest. Government of the Virgin Islands v. Gereau, 502 F.2d 914 (3d Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 909, 95 S.Ct. 829, 42 L.Ed.2d 839 (1975). See also United States v. McKinney, 379 F.2d 259 (6th Cir. 1967), Rice v. Wolff, 513 F.2d 1280 (8th Cir. 1975), rev'd on other grounds, 428 U.S. 465, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976), cited by the Government, is not opposed to our analysis since the court there stated that in a Brown situation there must at a minimum be probable cause and, finding none, did not reach the issue of urgent need.
Another case cited by the Government, United States v. Phillips, supra note 35, is similarly inapposite. In Phillips the court reiterated at its earlier conclusion that ruse entries, because they do not involve breaking and entering, do not violate 18 U.S.C. § 3109 (1970) even if undertaken without notice of authority and purpose. See note 21 supra. From this the Government argues that a ruse entry can be likened to consented entry which is not subject to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. See, e. g., Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). But the Government's proposition was unambiguously rejected by the Phillips court:
To be valid, a consent must be intelligently and knowingly given. Before a person can be deemed to have "knowingly" consented, he must be aware of the purpose for which the agent is seeking entry. * * * A ruse entry, by its very nature, runs contra to the concept of an intelligent consent or waiver.
497 F.2d at 1135 n.4. See Katz v. United States, supra note 4, 389 U.S. at 358 n.22, 88 S.Ct. 507, quoted at note 56 infra. See also United States v. Ressler, supra note 35.
As the Supreme Court admonished in Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 17, 68 S.Ct. 367, 370-371, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948):
An officer gaining access to private living quarters under color of his office and of the law which he personifies must then have some valid basis in law for his intrusion. Any other rule would undermine "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects," and would obliterate one of the most fundamental distinctions between our form of government, where officers are under the law, and the police-state where they are the law.
(Footnote omitted.) In the absence of exigent circumstances, this "basis in law" must be exemplified by a warrant. See notes 47 & 48 infra.
See notes 26 & 43 supra
Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266, 93 S.Ct. 2535, 37 L.Ed.2d 596 (1973) (Powell, J., concurring); Katz v. United States, supra note 4, 389 U.S. at 357-358, 88 S.Ct. 507; United States v. Carter, 173 U.S.App.D.C. 54, 61-65, 522 F.2d 666, 673-677 (1975); note 57 infra. In Katz the Supreme Court stressed:
Searches conducted without warrants have been held unlawful "notwithstanding facts unquestionably showing probable cause," * * * for the Constitution requires "that the deliberate, impartial judgment of a judicial officer . . . be interposed between the citizen and the police. . . ." * * * "Over and again this Court has emphasized that the mandate of the (Fourth) Amendment requires adherence to judicial processes," * * * and that searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magistrate, are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions.
389 U.S. at 357, 88 S.Ct. at 514 (footnotes omitted). This was described in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, supra note 45, 403 U.S. at 455, 91 S.Ct. at 2032, as the "most basic constitutional rule in this area." In United States v. Carter, supra, this court stated in strong terms that a warrantless search of a private dwelling is per se unreasonable in the absence of one or more "exigent circumstances," none of which is present here.
Recent Supreme Court cases holding the warrant requirement inapplicable in certain very limited situations cannot be read as evincing an intent to change this well established rule. In United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543, 96 S.Ct. 3074, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116 (1976), for example, the Court found that routine and brief questioning conducted at permanent checkpoints near United States borders was not subject to the warrant requirement. The Court based its conclusion on three distinct factors; (1) the questioning entailed minor interference with privacy; (2) the permanent checkpoints were a visible manifestation of the officers' authority to conduct the brief questioning and provided a sufficient means for determining the lawful power to search and whether the officers were acting under proper authorization; and (3) the reasonableness of the search or seizure was not susceptible of coloration by hindsight since the determinative factors location and procedures were uniform and amenable to subsequent review. The Court distinguished the intrusion upon privacy from that which obtains when officers search a home or other private dwelling, and that difference is itself sufficient to take the present case outside the ambit of Martinez-Fuerte. The other factors cited by the Court are similarly inapplicable. Here, given the lack of notice at the time of the search, a warrant or other recorded authorization is the only means by which the reviewing court or the persons subjected to the invasion of privacy can determine whether the officers acted under proper authorization and within the limits of their authority. Furthermore, the almost limitless number of possibilities existing as to number and manner of entries would require, in the absence of a warrant, that each search be individually tested as to reasonableness in a way that would almost surely be colored by hindsight. See Zweibon v. Mitchell, supra note 43, 170 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 37-38 n.91, 39-40 n.94, 516 F.2d at 630-631 n.91, 632-633 n.94, where this court distinguished, in an analogous situation, other cases finding the warrant requirement inapplicable.
In rejecting subsequent review as to the second aspect of the search in domestic security surveillances, the Supreme Court in Keith, supra note 26, said:
(P)ost-surveillance review would never reach the surveillances which failed to result in prosecutions. Prior review by a neutral and detached magistrate is the time-tested means of effectuating Fourth Amendment rights. Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 96, 85 S.Ct. 223, 228, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964).
407 U.S. at 318, 92 S.Ct. at 2137. It is our conclusion that that logic is equally applicable to the trespassory aspect of electronic eavesdropping. See Katz v. United States, supra note 4, 389 U.S. at 356, 88 S.Ct. 507.
Probable cause is, as a general rule, insufficient to justify warrantless invasions of protected privacy. See, e. g., Coolidge v. New Hampshire, supra note 45, 403 U.S. at 451, 91 S.Ct. 2022; Jones v. United States, supra note 30, 357 U.S. at 497-498, 78 S.Ct. 1253; Agnello v. United States, 269 U.S. 20, 33, 46 S.Ct. 4, 70 L.Ed. 145 (1925); Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. United States, 251 U.S. 385, 392, 40 S.Ct. 182, 64 L.Ed. 319 (1920). See note 49 infra
(T)his Court "has never sustained a search upon the sole ground that officers reasonably expected to find evidence of a particular crime and voluntarily confined their activities to the least intrusive means consistent with that end." Katz, supra, at 356-357 (88 S.Ct. at 514, 19 L.Ed.2d 576). The Fourth Amendment contemplates a prior judicial judgment, not the risk that executive discretion may be reasonably exercised. * * *
Keith, supra note 26, 407 U.S. at 317, 92 S.Ct. at 2137 (footnote omitted).
Though certain recent cases, see, e. g., Keith, supra note 26, 407 U.S. at 314-323, 92 S.Ct. 2125; Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, have established the proposition that in certain circumstances the required showing of probable cause will differ from that prevailing for "ordinary" search warrants, these cases have not retreated from the warrant requirement. In both Keith and Camara the Court refused to depart from the general rule that the magistrate must determine that the required showing has been made and issue a warrant before the intrusion is undertaken. See Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, supra note 47 (Powell, J., concurring); Chambers v. Maroney, supra note 45, 399 U.S. at 51, 90 S.Ct. 1975; Zweibon v. Mitchell, supra note 43, 516 F.2d at 630-633.
Pursuant to Rule 8(g) of the General Rules of this court, the Government, after oral argument in this case, brought to our attention United States v. Altese, No. 75-CR-341 (E.D.N.Y., decided Oct. 14, 1976). The procedure utilized by the Government agents, and approved by the court, in that case supports the conclusion we reach. In Altese the batteries powering the surreptitiously installed listening devices failed and a second entry became a prerequisite to continued monitoring of conversations. The Special Attorney in charge of the investigation appeared before a District Judge and obtained specific authorization, in the form of a second warrant issued on probable cause, for agents to make the required entry into the premises for the sole purpose of repairing the malfunctioning "bugs." Here when the "bugs" malfunctioned the police re-entered the premises without obtaining a second warrant authorizing that entry. But cf. United States v. London, 424 F.Supp. 556 (D.Md. 1976).
See, e. g., United States v. Edwards, 415 U.S. 800, 94 S.Ct. 1234, 39 L.Ed.2d 771 (1974), and United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973), discussed in Zweibon v. Mitchell, supra note 43, 516 F.2d at 628-629 n.89; Chambers v. Maroney, supra note 45; Chimel v. California, supra note 45; Dorman v. United States, supra note 29; notes 45 & 47 supra and note 56 infra
The validity of this methodology was reaffirmed in Keith, supra note 26:
(T)he question is whether the needs of citizens for privacy and free expression may not be better protected by requiring a warrant before such surveillance is undertaken. We must also ask whether a warrant requirement would unduly frustrate the efforts of Government * * *.
407 U.S. at 315, 92 S.Ct. at 2135. Since it is not questioned that the privacy interests threatened by unrestrained entries for the purpose of placing or maintaining "bugs" would be better protected by a warrant requirement, we have limited our discussion to the second question.
As the Supreme Court stated in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968):
The scheme of the Fourth Amendment becomes meaningful only when it is assured that at some point the conduct of those charged with enforcing the laws can be subjected to the more detached, neutral scrutiny of a judge * * *. * * *
(Footnote omitted.) Cf. Keith, supra note 26, 407 U.S. at 318-321, 92 S.Ct. 2125; Zweibon v. Mitchell, supra note 43, 516 F.2d at 645-646.
In support of its contention that the entry provision was surplusage and should not be required, the Government argues that an entry of private premises to set "bugs" is a "limited invasion of a citizen's privacy." Government reply br. at 8-9. The Government cites this court to certain language in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, supra note 45, 403 U.S. at 467, 91 S.Ct. at 2038, to the effect that "the problem is not that of intrusion per se, but of a general, exploratory rummaging in a person's belongings." This quotation is taken out of context, however. In describing the "two distinct constitutional protections served by the warrant requirement" the Court stated:
First, the magistrate's scrutiny is intended to eliminate altogether searches not based on probable cause. The premise here is that any (emphasis in original) intrusion in the way of search or seizure is an evil, so that no intrusion at all is justified without a careful prior determination of necessity. * * * The second, distinct objective is that those searches deemed necessary should be as limited as possible. Here, the specific evil is the "general warrant" abhorred by the colonists, and the problem is not that of intrusion per se, but of a general, exploratory rummaging in a person's belongings. * * *
403 U.S. at 467, 91 S.Ct. at 2038 (emphasis added).
While it is true that the particularity clause of the Fourth Amendment was intended to prevent rummaging searches, the reach of the Amendment cannot turn upon whether police do in fact proceed to make such a search. See Alderman v. United States, supra note 39, 394 U.S. at 177-180, 89 S.Ct. 961. See also Andresen v. Maryland, 427 U.S. 463, 478, 96 S.Ct. 2737, 49 L.Ed.2d 627 (1976), where the Court reiterated that the specific prohibition on "general warrants" is intended to prevent rummaging searches. But as the above quotation from Coolidge clearly indicates, when looked at in context the reach of the Fourth Amendment is considerably broader.
It is the individual's interest in privacy which the Amendment protects, and that would not appear to fluctuate with the "intent" of the invading officers. * * *
Zweibon v. Mitchell, supra note 43, 170 U.S.App.D.C. at 56 n.173, 516 F.2d at 649 n.173, quoting Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 255, 80 S.Ct. 683, 4 L.Ed.2d 668 (1960) (Brennan, J., dissenting), which was cited approvingly in Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, 387 U.S. at 530, 87 S.Ct. 1727. Therefore, the Government's contention must be rejected.
See notes 27, 29-31, 52 supra; Alderman v. United States, supra note 39, 394 U.S. at 177-180, 89 S.Ct. 961, and cases cited therein
"Title III has as its dual purpose (1) protecting the privacy of wire and oral communications, and (2) delineating on a uniform basis the circumstances and conditions under which the interception of wire and oral communications may be authorized. To assure the privacy of oral and wire communications, title III prohibits all wiretapping and electronic surveillance by persons other than duly authorized law enforcement officers, * * * and only that after authorization of a court order obtained after a showing and finding of probable cause." S.Rep.No.1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess., 66 (1968), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2153
Gelbard v. United States, 408 U.S. 41, 48, 92 S.Ct. 2357, 2361, 33 L.Ed.2d 179 (1972) (emphasis added.) "New protections for privacy must be enacted." Id. at 49 n.7, 92 S.Ct. at 2361, quoting S.Rep.No.1097 (emphasis by the Court).
As noted above, see note 20 supra, it is not clear that Congress intended to permit surreptitious entry eavesdropping under Title III. What is certain is that there was a desire to circumscribe the extent to which electronic surveillance could be undertaken without authority of a valid court order issued on sufficient probable cause and to create new protections for privacy. Therefore, it would be somewhat incongruous to conclude that Congress intended to diminish in any way the traditional protections the Fourth Amendment provides against unwarranted intrusions into the home or office.
While 18 U.S.C. § 2518(7) (1970) permits 48 hours to elapse between initiation of an "emergency" wiretap or oral surveillance and obtaining of a validating court order, the parallel provision in 23 D.C.Code § 548 allows only 12 hours because
(i)t was of the opinion of the District Court Committee that, regardless of the day or hour, in this uniformly urban jurisdiction of the District of Columbia, a judicial officer can always be reached within 12 hours' time. * * *
S.Rep.No.91-538, supra note 4, at 22. This legislative finding casts serious doubt on the unsupported assertion, made by the Government at oral argument, that it might be impossible to secure prior judicial approval for surreptitious entries because of unavailability of judicial personnel. Furthermore, in this case the Assistant United States Attorney not only had sufficient time, but did contact the authorizing judge prior to the second entry. He did not, however, seek a new warrant issued on probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.
In discussing the method by which the entries and "seizures" of conversations had been accomplished in Osborn v. United States, supra note 39, the Court declared:
There could hardly be a clearer example of " 'the procedure of antecedent justification before a magistrate that is central to the Fourth Amendment' " as "a precondition of lawful electronic surveillance."
385 U.S. at 330, 87 S.Ct. at 433 (footnote omitted). One year later the Court was asked to exempt non-trespassory electronic surveillance from the warrant requirement. Noting that it had previously authorized warrantless searches in certain instances, the Court replied:
It is difficult to imagine how any of those exceptions could ever apply to the sort of search and seizure involved in this case. Even electronic surveillance substantially contemporaneous with an individual's arrest could hardly be deemed an "incident" of that arrest. 20 Nor could the use of electronic surveillance without prior authorization be justified on grounds of "hot pursuit." 21 And, of course, the very nature of electronic surveillance precludes its use pursuant to the suspect's consent. 22
In Agnello v. United States, 269 U.S. 20, 30, 46 S.Ct. 4, 70 L.Ed. 145, the Court stated:
"The right without a search warrant contemporaneously to search persons lawfully arrested while committing crime and to search the place where the arrest is made in order to find and seize things connected with the crime as its fruits or as the means by which it was committed, as well as weapons and other things to effect an escape from custody, is not to be doubted."
Whatever one's view of "the long-standing practice of searching for other proofs of guilt within the control of the accused found upon arrest," United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 61, (70 S.Ct. 430, 433, 94 L.Ed. 653); cf. id., at 71-79, (70 S.Ct. at 437-441) (dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Frankfurter), the concept of an "incidental" search cannot readily be extended to include surreptitious surveillance of an individual either immediately before, or immediately after, his arrest.
Although "(t)he Fourth Amendment does not require police officers to delay in the course of an investigation if to do so would gravely endanger their lives or the lives of others," Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 298-299, (87 S.Ct. 1642, 1646, 18 L.Ed.2d 782), there seems little likelihood that electronic surveillance would be a realistic possibility in a situation so fraught with urgency
A search to which an individual consents meets Fourth Amendment requirements, Zap v. United States, 328 U.S. 624, (66 S.Ct. 1277, 90 L.Ed. 1477), but of course "the usefulness of electronic surveillance depends on lack of notice to the suspect." Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427, 463, (83 S.Ct. 1381, 1401, 10 L.Ed.2d 462) (dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Brennan)
Katz v. United States, supra note 4, 389 U.S. at 357-358, 88 S.Ct. at 514-515 (emphasis added). Cf. United States v. Bernstein, 509 F.2d 996, 1003 (4th Cir. 1975). See Gelbard v. United States, supra note 54:
Title III authorizes the interception of private wire and oral communications, but only when law enforcement officials are investigating specified serious crimes and receive prior judicial approval * * *. * * *
* * * (T)he fundamental policy adopted by Congress on the subject of wiretapping and electronic surveillance * * * is strictly to limit the employment of those techniques of acquiring information(.)
408 U.S. at 46-47, 92 S.Ct. 2360. Since surreptitious entries of the kind involved in this case have, we are told, as their sole and limited purpose enabling of electronic surveillance, there seems to be no reasonable way in which they can be characterized as of greater urgency than the electronic surveillance they enable. It is conceivable that such an entry might be necessary to implement the "emergency" electronic surveillance apparently authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 2518(7) (23 D.C.Code § 548). Whether an "exigency" exception from the warrant requirement would be called for in such a case is clearly beyond the scope of the present case.
As Mr. Justice Powell, speaking for the Court in Keith, supra note 26, phrased it:
The warrant clause of the Fourth Amendment is not dead language. Rather, it has been
"a valued part of our constitutional law for decades, and it has determined the result in scores and scores of cases in courts all over this country. It is not an inconvenience to be somehow 'weighed' against the claims of policy efficiency. It is, or should be, an important working part of our machinery of government, operating as a matter of course to check the 'well-intentioned but mistakenly overzealous executive officers' who are a part of any system of law enforcement." Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S., at 481, (91 S.Ct. at 2046).
See also United States v. Rabinowitz, (339 U.S. 56 (1950),) at 68, (70 S.Ct. at 445) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting); Davis v. United States, 328 U.S. 582, 604, (66 S.Ct. 1256, 1266, 90 L.Ed. 1453) (1946) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting).
Over two centuries ago, Lord Mansfield held that common-law principles prohibited warrants that ordered the arrest of unnamed individuals who the officer might conclude were guilty of seditious libel. "It is not fit," said Mansfield, "that the receiving or judging of the information should be left to the discretion of the officer. The magistrate ought to judge; and should give certain directions to the officer." Leach v. Three of the King's Messengers, 19 How.St.Tr. 1001, 1027 (1765).
407 U.S. at 315-316, 92 S.Ct. at 2136 (emphasis in original).
Surreptitious entry of private premises, in addition to being a naked invasion of privacy in its most offensive form, is also fraught with physical even mortal danger for both the occupants of the private premises and the police. The occupants, on discovering the unidentified intruders, may attempt to shoot them, and the police will doubtless return the fire. This danger was one of the reasons for enactment of 18 U.S.C. § 3109 requiring knocking and notice to occupants before entry to execute a search warrant. Sabbath v. United States, 391 U.S. 585, 588-590, 88 S.Ct. 1755, 20 L.Ed.2d 828 (1968). Certainly a judge, in authorizing a surreptitious entry, should consider this danger and specify in the warrant to what extent, if at all, the surreptitious entrants may be armed
See, e. g., Whitley v. Warden, 401 U.S. 560, 91 S.Ct. 1031, 28 L.Ed.2d 306 (1971); Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969); Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964). The first part of the traditional test is that
in determining whether probable cause exists for issuance of a search warrant * * * it is necessary to determine whether the affiant has reasonable grounds, at the time of making the affidavit and the issuance of the warrant, for believing that "the offense charged" was being or had been committed. * * *
United States v. Brouillette, 478 F.2d 1171, 1176 (5th Cir. 1973). Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, and Keith, supra note 26, and, more recently, Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, supra note 47 (Powell, J., concurring), have recognized that a warrant might issue on other than traditional probable cause in certain circumstances. However, our concern in this case is with the breadth of the authorization; therefore, we do not address appellees' contention that a more rigorous degree of probable cause must be demonstrated for surreptitious entry than for a traditional search.
The Fourth Amendment also requires that a warrant be suitably tailored to demonstration of probable cause:
(B)ypassing a neutral predetermination of the scope of a search leaves individuals secure from Fourth Amendment violations "only in the discretion of the police." * * *
Katz v. United States, supra note 4, 389 U.S. at 358-359, 88 S.Ct. at 515, quoting from Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 97, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964) (emphasis in original). In Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27, the Court declared:
If a valid public interest justifies the intrusion contemplated, then there is probable cause to issue a suitably restricted search warrant. * * *
387 U.S. at 539, 87 S.Ct. at 1736 (emphasis added). And Mr. Justice Stewart has stated:
The need for particularity and evidence of reliability in the showing required when judicial authorization is sought for the kind of electronic eavesdropping involved in this case is especially great. The standard of reasonableness embodied in the Fourth Amendment demands that the showing of justification match the degree of intrusion. * * *
Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 69, 87 S.Ct. at 1888 (concurring opinion) (emphasis added). Finally, the following exchange between Senator McClellan, author of S. 917, the predecessor to Title III, and Senator Lausche is informative:
Mr. LAUSCHE. Is the bill as now written by the committee predicated upon the same principle as that contained in support of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, which holds that the home of an individual shall be inviolate against search except when there is issued such authority by a competent court to make a search built upon evidence supporting the issuance of that authority?
Mr. McCLELLAN. Completely so, let me say to my friend. Completely so, and it is even more restrictive. We have gone to every length which is proper, we think, to protect people's privacy. Today individual privacy is being promiscuously invaded all over the country. The law is weak. * * *
Cong.Rec. 14470 (1968) (emphasis added). As is developed more fully in text, in this case the demonstrated and cognizable needs of the applicant simply did not warrant issuance of an order with the breadth found in the surreptitious entry provision
Reliance is also placed on the legislative recognition that (a) wiretap can take up to several days or longer to install. Other forms or devices may take even longer. * * *
Senate Report, supra note 13, at 103, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2192. However, this language is contained in the comment to § 2518(5), which establishes that in no event may an order authorize interception for a period exceeding 30 days, and must be read in that context. The same comment states:
(Section 2518(5)) requires the time of the warrant to be carefully tailored to the showing of probable cause. The period of authorized interception is intended to begin when the interception in fact begins and terminates when the interception in fact terminates. This will be a question of fact in each case. * * *
Id. The language can only be read as evidencing a congressional intent that the period of authorization begin to run after installation and last from that time to the expiration of the number of days specified. It does not imply that multiple invasions of protected privacy are valid though not justified by individualized demonstrations of probable cause.
See, e. g., United States v. James, 494 F.2d 1007, 1017-1023, (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1020, 95 S.Ct. 495, 42 L.Ed.2d 294 (1974); United States v. Principie, 531 F.2d 1132, 1139-1141 (2d Cir. 1976); United States v. Armocida, 515 F.2d 29, 44-45 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 858, 96 S.Ct. 111, 46 L.Ed.2d 84 (1975); United States v. Cox, 462 F.2d 1293 (8th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 918, 94 S.Ct. 2623, 41 L.Ed.2d 223 (1974). The purpose of this review is to determine whether the surveillance has been executed with due regard for the statutory command that interception of communications not relevant to the purpose of the surveillance be minimized. See 18 U.S.C. § 2518(5); 23 D.C.Code § 547(g)
The minimization requirement is a command to limit surveillance as much as is possible in the circumstances. United States v. Cox, supra, 462 F.2d at 1300-1301. The procedure utilized recognizes only that it is
much easier to describe with particularity in a warrant the nature and contents of a physical object (such as a store or a telephone line) than a conversation which has not yet been heard. * * * (In the case of conversations the officer) can generally determine with exactness whether the conversation is authorized to be seized by the warrant only when he has already taken it into custody by having heard it in its entirety.
United States v. James, supra, 494 F.2d at 1019, quoting United States v. Focarile, 340 F.Supp. 1033, 1047 (D.Md.1972). See Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 98-99, 87 S.Ct. 1873 (Harlan, J., dissenting). There was no intent to alter the requirement that probable cause coextensive with the authorized intrusion be demonstrated. See notes 62 & 63 infra.
See note 59 supra and notes 63 & 73 infra. The Court in Berger v. New York, supra note 21, may have considered it necessary to conceptualize intrusions on conversational privacy as equivalent to invasions of physical privacy in order to apply the specificity protections of the Fourth Amendment to them. But there is no indication that it intended in the future to treat trespassory intrusions as equivalents of captures of oral communications, or that authorization for the former would be automatically subsumed in authorization for the latter, either of which would have the effect of diminishing the established protection against general warrants. See the discussion in text at pp. ---- - ---- of 180 U.S.App.D.C., pp. 158-162 of 553 F.2d supra
Furthermore, even if the two types of incursions are to be treated as functionally indistinguishable with regard to the invasion of protected privacy each entails, a proposition which has not been established, compare United States v. Barker, supra note 43, at 178 U.S.App.D.C. 174, 186-187, 546 F.2d 940, 952-953, with United States v. Ehrlichman, supra note 43, 178 U.S.App.D.C. at 172, 546 F.2d at 938 this cannot be taken as supportive of the proposition put forward here. It is argued that when probable cause is shown for an incursion on conversational privacy, trespassory entries which are, in the minds of executing officers, ancillary to capture of oral conversations are necessarily valid. But it is self-evident that when there are two separate incursions on protected privacy the invasion is greater than from either alone, just as an entry which involves seizure of tangible items is more intrusive than an entry to inspect premises. See Camara v. Municipal Court, supra note 27. While no more vigorous degree of probable cause may be required to be shown, the demonstrated need of the applicant should be coextensive with the authority given. See notes 43 & 59 supra.
Another indication that surreptitious entry must be authorized only on a sufficient showing of probable cause is found in the legislative history of 18 U.S.C. § 2518(4)(b) (23 D.C.Code § 547(a)(2)), the provision requiring the order to delineate the telephone or other communications facilities from which, or the place where, the authority to intercept is granted. As we pointed out above, see note 20 supra, the National Wiretap Commission concluded that this provision was intended to allow surreptitious entries. Though that conclusion is not inevitable, assuming that surreptitious entry to install eavesdropping devices is constitutional and was contemplated by Congress, the Senate Report's reference to Steele v. United States, 267 U.S. 498, 45 S.Ct. 414, 69 L.Ed. 757 (1925), is significant.
In Steele agents obtained a search warrant for a garage building, but the order listed only one of the two street addresses assigned to the premises. The Court determined that the stated address was not conclusive as to the permissible scope of the search, both because the garage was not apportioned into clearly defined units and because probable cause had been established in the affidavits to search all the parts of the building that were in fact searched. The case establishes that the probable cause showing is determinative of the permissible scope of invasion of privacy and has been cited for the principle that a warrant is overbroad if it allows entries more extensive than the demonstrated probable cause would justify. See United States v. Bermudez, 526 F.2d 89 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 970, 96 S.Ct. 2166, 48 L.Ed.2d 793 (1976); note 73 infra. The legislative history provides support, then, for our conclusion that Congress did not intend to alter the traditional protections of the Fourth Amendment against unwarranted physical invasion of the home or office.
Like the Court in Chimel v. California, supra note 45, 395 U.S. at 767 n.12, 89 S.Ct. at 2042 n.12, "we can see no reason why, simply because some interference with an individual's privacy (e. g., interception of conversations) * * * has lawfully taken place, further intrusions (e. g., surreptitious entries to install or maintain the devices) should automatically be allowed despite the absence of a warrant that the Fourth Amendment would otherwise require."
The legislative history of Title III is informative:
Where it is necessary to obtain coverage of only one meeting, the order should not authorize additional surveillance. Compare Osborn v. United States, 385 U.S. 323 (87 S.Ct. 429, 17 L.Ed.2d 394) (1966). Where a course of conduct embracing multiple parties and extending over a period of time is involved, the order may properly authorize proportionately longer surveillance, but in no event for longer than 30 days, unless extensions are granted. * * *
Senate Report, supra note 13, at 101, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2190. Osborn is discussed more fully in note 39 supra.
As with initial orders, extensions must be related in time to the showing of probable cause * * *. * * * Otherwise there is a danger that the showing of probable cause and the additional information in the application will become stale. * * *
Senate Report at 103, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2192. The Eighth Circuit has stated:
We do not, however, read Osborn, Katz and Berger as holding that only "rifle shot" eavesdrops are constitutionally permissible. The dragnet nature of the New York law resulted not only from the duration of the warrant, but also from the failure to confine the investigator's latitude with the various safeguards which the court noted that law did not contain. * * * Accordingly, this wiretap was not simply a "blanket grant of permission to eavesdrop" upon Richardson pursuant to one showing of probable cause as to him. It was a continuing search of several persons' conversations pursuant to a multiple showing of probable cause reaching several people using that telephone. * * *
United States v. Cox, supra note 61, 462 F.2d at 1303-1304 (emphasis added; footnotes omitted). Though these quotations deal with seizure of conversations, not entries, they amply rebut any contention that Congress, in enacting Title III and the parallel provisions of the District of Columbia Code, intended to alter the traditional rule of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that the demonstration of probable cause must match the intrusion authorized. See notes 61 & 62 supra.
That the District Court was correct in rejecting appellant's offer to supplement probable cause at the suppression hearing is evident from Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465, 473 n.3, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 3041, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976), where the Court stated it would not reach again the oft-rejected contention that the Government should be able to supplement information contained in the affidavits at the hearing on the motion to suppress evidence. See Whiteley v. Warden, supra note 59, 401 U.S. at 565 n.8, 91 S.Ct. 1031; Aguilar v. Texas, supra note 59, 378 U.S. at 109 n.1, 84 S.Ct. 1509; United States v. Acon, 513 F.2d 513, 518 (3d Cir. 1975)
"Probable cause is not determined by hindsight but as of the time the affidavits were presented to the magistrate." United States v. Rahn, 511 F.2d 290, 292 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 825, 96 S.Ct. 41, 46 L.Ed.2d 42 (1975), citing Schoeneman v. United States, 317 F.2d 173 (D.C. Cir. 1963). See Aguilar v. Texas, supra note 59, 378 U.S. at 109 n.1, 84 S.Ct. at 1511 n.1, where the Court stated:
It is elementary that in passing on the validity of a warrant, the reviewing court may consider only information brought to the magistrate's attention. * * *
(Emphasis in original.) The discussions between the Assistant United States Attorney and the authorizing judge cannot be looked to in supplementing the probable cause showing of the affidavits since they were neither recorded nor statements of probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, as required by the Fourth Amendment. See, e. g., Dow v. Baird, 389 F.2d 882, 883 (10th Cir. 1968). Cf. United States v. Hill, 500 F.2d 315, 318 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 931, 95 S.Ct. 1135, 43 L.Ed.2d 404 (1975), establishing that a magistrate could consistent with Fourth Amendment requirements constitutionally find probable cause from the affidavit and testimony which, though unrecorded, was under oath. But see Rule 41(c), Fed.R.Crim.P. Furthermore, the legislative history of 18 U.S.C. § 2518 states:
Paragraph (2) provides that the judge may require the applicant to furnish additional testimony or documentary evidence in support of the application. The additional testimony need not be in writing, but it should be under oath or affirmation and a suitable record should be made of it. The use of a court reporter would be the best practice.
Senate Report, supra note 13, at 102, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 2191.
Moore v. United States, 461 F.2d 1236 (D.C. Cir. 1970), cited by the Government, does not alter the traditional rule that the language of the warrant is binding and must be the object of the reviewing court's examination. Cf. United States v. Armocida, supra note 61, 515 F.2d at 44-45. While Moore established that in certain limited situations a narrowing affidavit might cure an overbroad warrant, the decision was predicated on the warrant's incorporating the affidavit by reference and the requirement of the District of Columbia Code that the person whose premises were to be entered be presented not only with the warrant but also with a copy of the narrowing affidavit. In this manner the person affected could establish at the outset the reason for the invasion of privacy and could be certain that the affidavits had not been inserted in the file at a later date. 461 F.2d at 1239.
The rationale for the Moore decision is not present in this case because the warrant did not adopt the affidavit by reference. Moreover, since surreptitious entry depends on lack of notice, the person whose premises are entered has no way to limit the scope of the "search" by demonstrating to the invading officers that the affidavit encompasses less than the warrant would seem to authorize. Furthermore, at best Moore would apply only to those cases where the warrant can be narrowed by reference to the affidavits and the executing officers do not exceed the authority which would have been warranted by the probable cause showing. Cf. United States v. Kaye, 432 F.2d 647 (D.C. Cir. 1970).
Though the surreptitious entry provision in the order issued in United States v. Agrusa, supra note 12, 541 F.2d 690, was similar in terms to the provision in the intercept order at issue here, Agrusa is not dispositive of this case. Since the appellant there did not challenge the breadth of the authority given, but rather contended that a court could never constitutionally authorize surreptitious entry to install eavesdropping devices, the court was not presented with, nor did it discuss, the issue involved here. Also, we have no way of knowing what affidavits were filed in support of the intercept order issued in Agrusa. It is, therefore, impossible to determine whether we would find the affiants in that case made a probable cause showing sufficient to warrant the authority contained in the somewhat narrower intercept order
Rule 41(c), Fed.R.Crim.P., requires standard search warrants to be executed within 10 days of issuance. This case does not require decision of the question whether a combined entry and oral surveillance order might validly authorize entries more than 10 days from the date of issuance. But it is significant that the extension order issued by the authorizing judge contained the same surreptitious entry provision as the original order, while the affidavit of probable cause submitted at the time of granting the extension contained no new indication of need to enter the target premises. The only reference to the need for eavesdropping, as opposed to nontrespassory wiretapping, was contained in the original affidavit, a copy of which was resubmitted with the application for the extension order. There is no indication that the authorizing judge, in granting the extension, determined anew that trespass might be necessary. While the supplemental affidavit was sufficient to allow the court to conclude that acquisition of conversations should be continued, it did not document a need to enter the Shoe Circus during the second 20-day period. See the portions of Title III's legislative history quoted at note 63 supra
See note 59 supra and note 73 infra
Appellant's reliance on United States v. Peltier, 422 U.S. 531, 95 S.Ct. 2313, 45 L.Ed.2d 374 (1975) for the principle that the judicially fashioned exclusionary rule should not be applied where the police "did not act improperly" is misguided. In Peltier the Court was concerned with the issue whether the Fourth Amendment standard announced in Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, supra note 47, was to be given retroactive application. In stating that retroactivity might not apply "if the law enforcement officers reasonably believed in good faith that evidence they had seized was admissible at trial," 422 U.S. at 537, 95 S.Ct. at 2317, because "the 'imperative of judicial integrity' is not offended by the introduction into evidence of that material even if decisions subsequent to the search or seizure have broadened the exclusionary rule to encompass evidence seized in that manner," id., the Court certainly did not establish that the exclusionary rule would in the future be applied only in cases of bad faith violations of the Fourth Amendment. The Court clearly said:
(W)here it has been determined, as in a case such as Linkletter, that an earlier holding such as Mapp is not to be applied retroactively, it has not been questioned that Mapp was entitled to the benefit of the rule enunciated in her case. See Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, at 300-301, (87 S.Ct. 1967, at 1971-1972, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199). * * *
Id. at 542 n.12, 95 S.Ct. at 2320 n.12. Not only does this case not raise any issue of retroactive application, it is clear that no new principle is being fashioned in determining that a warrant must be supported by probable cause sufficient for the authority granted, and an overbroad warrant is of no assistance in justifying police behavior.
Moreover, the Court stated as recently as last term that the purpose of the exclusionary rule is satisfied if its application may deter future violations of the Fourth Amendment.
Evidence obtained by police officers in violation of the Fourth Amendment is excluded at trial in the hope that the frequency of future violations will decrease. Despite the absence of supportive empirical evidence, we have assumed that the immediate effect of exclusion will be to discourage law enforcement officials from violating the Fourth Amendment by removing the incentive to disregard it. More importantly, over the long term, this demonstration that our society attaches serious consequences to violation of constitutional rights is thought to encourage those who formulate law enforcement policies, and the officers who implement them, to incorporate Fourth Amendment ideals into their value system.
We adhere to the view that these considerations support the implementation of the exclusionary rule at trial and its enforcement on direct appeal of state court convictions. * * *
Stone v. Powell, supra note 64, 428 U.S. at 492-493, 96 S.Ct. at 3051 (footnotes omitted). It is evident that even if the police acted in this case in a manner which could have been authorized by a valid warrant, the judicial exclusionary rule would, if applied here, deter future Fourth Amendment violations. Katz v. United States, supra note 4. As we have already detailed extensively, action under authority of an invalid warrant is as violative of the Fourth Amendment as warrantless action.
While the judicial exclusionary rule may be justified partly because of its deterrence function, Stone v. Powell, supra, 428 U.S. at 465, 96 S.Ct. 3037, the suppression provisions of Title III have a broader purpose. 18 U.S.C. § 2515 states:
Whenever any wire or oral communication has been intercepted, no part of the contents of such communication and no evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory body, legislative committee, or other authority of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof if the disclosure of that information would be in violation of this chapter.
The section serves a deterrent function: "to compel compliance with the other prohibitions of the chapter." Senate Report, supra note 13, at 96, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2184. In addition, its broad scope protects the privacy of communications, a function not necessarily served by the judicial exclusionary rule, and preserves judicial integrity. As the Supreme Court has stated:
Moreover, § 2515 serves not only to protect the privacy of communications, 10 but also to ensure that the courts do not become partners to illegal conduct: the evidentiary prohibition was enacted also "to protect the integrity of court and administrative proceedings." * * *
Congressional concern with the protection of the privacy of communications is evident also in the specification of what is to be protected. "The proposed legislation is intended to protect the privacy of the communication itself . . . ." Id., at 90. As defined in Title III, " 'contents,' when used with respect to any wire or oral communication, includes any information concerning the identity of the parties to such communication or the existence, substance, purport, or meaning of that communication." 18 U.S.C. § 2510(8). The definition thus "include(s) all aspects of the communication itself. No aspect, including the identity of the parties, the substance of the communication between them, or the fact of the communication itself, is excluded. The privacy of the communication to be protected is intended to be comprehensive." S.Rep.No.1097, supra, at 91
Gelbard v. United States, supra note 54, 408 U.S. at 51, 92 S.Ct. at 2362-2363, quoting in text from § 801(b), 82 Stat. 211.
18 U.S.C. § 2513 ("in violation of section 2511 or section 2512 of this chapter"); 23 D.C.Code § 544 ("in violation of section 23-542 or 23-543"); 18 U.S.C. § 2517(4) ("in accordance with, or in violation of, the provisions of this chapter"); 23 D.C.Code § 547(d) ("in accordance with, or in violation of, the provisions of this subchapter"); 18 U.S.C. § 2518(7)(b) ("in violation of this chapter"); 23 D.C.Code § 549(c) ("(a)ny violation of the provisions of this subchapter"); 18 U.S.C. § 2518(8)(c) ("(a)ny violation of the provisions of this subsection"); 18 U.S.C. § 2520 ("in violation of this chapter"); 23 D.C.Code § 554(a) ("in violation of this subchapter")
See S.Rep.No.91-538, supra note 4. This report accompanied S. 2869, which was the original bill on electronic surveillance for the District of Columbia and which was incorporated in the later version of S. 2601 that was adopted by the Conference Committee and ultimately enacted into law. See H.R.Rep.No.91-1303, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 237 (1970) (Conference Report); 116 Cong.Rec. 24149 (1970) (remarks of Sen. Tydings); 116 Cong.Rec. 8913 (1970) (remarks of Sen. Tydings). That report, with reference to overbreadth in the warrant, stated:
The order entered by the court need not be in the form requested by the application; rather, it is anticipated that the order will be framed narrowly, consistent at once with the right to privacy of the aggrieved persons, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the demonstrated and cognizable needs of the applicant and legislative policy favoring improved law enforcement manifest in this title. * * *
S.Rep.No.91-538 at 20-21 (emphasis added). See also Senate Report, supra note 13, at 102 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1968, p. 2191:
(Title III is) intended to meet the test of the Constitution that electronic surveillance techniques be used only under the most precise and discriminate circumstances, which fully comply with the requirement of particularity (Berger v. New York, 388 U.S. 41, 58-60, (87 S.Ct. 1873, 18 L.Ed.2d 1040) (1967), Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, (355-356, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576) (1967)).
See note 64 supra. United States v. Cirillo, 499 F.2d 872 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1056, 95 S.Ct. 638, 42 L.Ed.2d 653 (1974), relied upon by appellant as a case where subsequent affidavits were allowed to cure a warrant, is inapposite. There through clerical error the statutorily required minimization provision was omitted, making the order seemingly overbroad. Finding the minimization command essentially cumulative of other requirements of the New York Code of Criminal Procedure, and determining by standard post-surveillance review that the executing officers had minimized interceptions, the court allowed the officers to demonstrate by subsequent affidavit that they had been aware of the requirement to minimize. Though the particularized findings of the Cirillo court are sufficient to distinguish the case, we note also that what was involved was an area where only post-surveillance review is feasible in any event. See note 61 and accompanying text supra
Like warrants issued on insufficient probable cause, see Whiteley v. Warden, supra note 59, overbroad warrants are invalid and cannot justify otherwise impermissible actions. Chimel v. California, supra note 45, 395 U.S. at 776 n.7 89 S.Ct. 2034 (White, J., dissenting); Berger v. New York, supra note 21, 388 U.S. at 69-70, 87 S.Ct. 1873 (Stewart, J., concurring). Accord, United States v. Bermudez, supra note 62; United States v. Olt, 492 F.2d 910, 911 (6th Cir. 1974), and cases cited therein; cf. United States v. Kaye, supra note 64. See also note 59 supra. Authorization which rests on speculation, conjecture, or anticipation is clearly invalid. United States v. Cobb, 432 F.2d 716, 719 (4th Cir. 1970). Cf. Spinelli v. United States, supra note 59; United States v. Roberts, 333 F.Supp. 786 (E.D.Tenn.1971), quoting Durham v. United States, 403 F.2d 190 (9th Cir. 1968)
See United States v. Hill, supra note 64; United States v. Ceraso, 467 F.2d 647, 653 (3d Cir. 1972); United States v. Ceraso, 355 F.Supp. 126 (M.D.Pa.1973). See also United States v. Poeta, 455 F.2d 117 (2d Cir.) cert. denied, 406 U.S. 948, 92 S.Ct. 2041, 32 L.Ed.2d 337 (1972). But see United States v. Kaye, supra note 64
In United States v. Chavez, supra note 71, the Court declared that violation of a statutory provision that does not "affect the fulfillment of any of the reviewing or approval functions required by Congress," 416 U.S. at 575, 94 S.Ct. at 1856, does not render conversations "unlawfully intercepted" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a)(i) (23 D.C.Code § 551(b)(1)). It is by no means clear that this standard, or the substantiality standard of United States v. Giordano, 416 U.S. 505, 94 S.Ct. 1820, 40 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974), adverted to in text, is to be applied to constitutional violations. See Chavez, 416 U.S. at 570, 94 S.Ct. at 1854, where the Court explicitly stated there was "no claim of any constitutional infirmity arising from" the defect; United States v. Ceraso, supra note 74, 355 F.Supp. 126. We need not reach that issue, however, because the present case would still require suppression
While Chavez involved a statutory violation, the failing was found to be merely technical because the approval and review functions required as preconditions to issuance of an intercept order and intended by Congress as a means of limiting use of electronic surveillance had been fulfilled. Though the application and intercept order identified an Assistant Attorney General as having given approval for the application, the Attorney General had in fact given the required approval. 416 U.S. at 573-574, 94 S.Ct. 1849. Since either procedure was sufficient under the statutory scheme, see 18 U.S.C. § 2516(1), the Court rejected the contention that the misidentification of the procedure utilized required suppression.
In Giordano, on the other hand, the Attorney General in fact had not approved the application for the wiretap order which issued, nor had he specifically designated an Assistant Attorney General to authorize application. Approval came instead from the Attorney General's Executive Assistant. While both Chavez and Giordano involved statutory violations, the Court found suppression mandated in Giordano because there the result of the violation was a failure to interpose a safeguard between enforcement officers and the persons whose privacy was to be invaded. Congress required the judgment of a politically responsible official as a precondition of lawful electronic surveillance in order to limit its use. 416 U.S. at 527-528, 94 S.Ct. 1820. The Attorney General's failure to review the necessity for granting the authority led to the warrant's invalidity; conversations seized under its authority were "unlawfully intercepted" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a)(i).
In the present case, like Giordano, the intercept order issued without sufficient review of the need for the authority granted. See also note 78 infra.
See notes 43, 57, 59, 62, 63 supra. In United States v. Agrusa, supra note 12, the court approved a warrant which authorized a single surreptitious entry to install eavesdropping devices and subsequent interception of oral communications. The court stated:
We are not concerned with the fact that the same document served to authorize both the interceptions and the breaking * * * . (T)here was probable cause to believe that specified crimes had been, were being, or would be committed and sufficient reason for the Government both to break and enter and to intercept. This is precisely, and, in respects here material, all that the Fourth Amendment and sound reason require.
541 F.2d at 695-696 n.11 (emphasis added). It is clear that the court contemplated that the Fourth Amendment required the Government to establish, to a magistrate, "sufficient reason" or need for the authority contained in the intercept order, both as to the physical invasion authorized and the seizure of oral communications. See also 541 F.2d at 696 n.13.
The decisions in Chavez and Giordano were recently affirmed by the Supreme Court in United States v. Donovan, 429 U.S. 413, 97 S.Ct. 658, 50 L.Ed.2d 652 (1977), in which the Court again considered the scope of the "unlawfully intercepted" provision of 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a)(i). There the Court held that the Government's failure to satisfy fully the requirement of 18 U.S.C. § 2518(1)(b)(iv) (requiring the Government to include in its wiretap applications the identity of the person committing the offense and whose conversations are to be intercepted) did not warrant suppression since the requirement does not play a "substantive role" with respect to judicial authorization. 429 U.S. at 435, 97 S.Ct. 658. Similarly, the Court also held that suppression was not warranted merely because of the Government's inadvertent failure to inform the issuing judge of the identities of all the persons whose conversations were overheard in the course of the interception as contemplated by § 2518(8)(d). The Court noted that "we do not think that postintercept notice was intended to serve as an independent restraint on resort to the wiretap procedure." 420 U.S. at 439, 97 S.Ct. at 674
In its opinion, however, the Court drew a sharp distinction between minor, technical violations of Title III (such as were at issue in Donovan ) and constitutional violations (such as we consider here). The Court stated: "Nothing in the legislative history indicates that Congress intended to declare an otherwise constitutional intercept order 'unlawful' under § 2518(10) (a)(i) resulting in suppression under § 2515 for failure to name additional targets (of the intercept order)." 429 U.S. at 437 n.25, 97 S.Ct. at 673 n.25 (emphasis added). Here, in clear contrast to the facts of Donovan, we consider an unconstitutional intercept order. As the Court implied in Donovan, the suppression remedy that was inappropriate for the minor, nonconstitutional defects there involved is entirely appropriate for the major, constitutional defect here involved.
Since the intercept order defined the limits of permissible activity, see United States v. Armocida, supra note 61, and the authority was overbroad, suppression is mandated. See United States v. Lamonge, 458 F.2d 197 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 863, 93 S.Ct. 153, 34 L.Ed.2d 110 (1972), where the relevant intercept order permitting non-trespassory wiretapping was issued in undated form. As here, the probable cause showing simply did not justify the authority granted by the order; the order was overbroad. Even though the executing officers had acted in a manner which might have been authorized by a valid order, complying with the intended limitation on duration, the court held the order invalid and suppression of the conversations mandated. 458 F.2d at 199
(T)he term "aggrieved person" means a person who was a party to any intercepted wire or oral communication or a person against whom the interception was directed(.)
D.C.Code § 541(9); 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a). Each of the appellees was clearly "a person against whom the interception was directed." All but two Daniel Haile, Jr. and Jerome Smith were specifically named in the original application for surveillance authorization or in the application for extension of the authorization. The two who were not named were intended to be included in the reference (which appeared in both applications and both authorizations) to "principals, confederates and suppliers, as yet unknown * * * " who were parties to the alleged conspiracy for which appellees were subsequently indicted
To hold that any of the appellees here was not "a person against whom the interception was directed" would do violence to the plain language of the statute. See Comment, Electronic Surveillance by Law Enforcement Officers, 64 Nw.U.L.Rev. 63, 82 (1969). But cf. United States v. Armocida, supra note 61; United States v. Bynum, 513 F.2d 533, 535 (2d Cir. 1975). | <urn:uuid:6175f395-3d34-44f4-8070-2d854520244d> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://openjurist.org/553/f2d/146 | 2016-07-24T20:38:27Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824146.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00124-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929167 | 32,270 |
Friday, August 31, 2007
This pleases me!
Reading this as I am leaving Korea is just satisfying in a perverse sort of way........
Seoul beckons and morning flight to Tokyo tomorrow. Out the door now and up there so I have to run, However I did find this interesting article over at Mark's place that I strongly recommend to you. (He's also got some funny quotes from the exercise in pain last week).
Soon after Yingling’s article appeared, Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond, commander of the Fourth Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Tex., reportedly called a meeting of the roughly 200 captains on his base, all of whom had served in Iraq, for the purpose of putting this brazen lieutenant colonel in his place. According to The Wall Street Journal, he told his captains that Army generals are “dedicated, selfless servants.” Yingling had no business judging generals because he has “never worn the shoes of a general.” By implication, Hammond was warning his captains that they had no business judging generals, either. Yingling was stationed at Fort Hood at the time, preparing to take command of an artillery battalion. From the steps of his building, he could see the steps of General Hammond’s building. He said he sent the general a copy of his article before publication as a courtesy, and he never heard back; nor was he notified of the general’s meeting with his captains.
Does the Army have a JOPA?...........
Se you on the other side!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
After two weeks of ever increasing despair and frustration, the ordeal of Ultimate FutiLity has come to an end. God willing, I won’t be doing another one. I may be back in the states, living off unemployment and food stamps, but I have no desire to do one of these again. (Headhunters in Hong Kong are you listening?)
Once again the forces of truth and light have defeated the evil hordes of the North Korean Peoples Army. Kim Jong Il has been found on a highway, lying dead with a bottle of Chivas Regal in his hand. (simulated).
40,000 South Koreans are dead. (Simulated).
Seoul is digging out from artillery attacks, missile attacks and attacks by wild eyed Koreans. (Simulated).
It’s quite an industry this business of simulated war. And since it provides the funds to finance my “rage around Asia” program, I assume I should not complain. However With each passing one of these I am involved in the more I am bothered that lessons that are being taught in these exercises are never learned-or worse leading the decision makers who have to make critical decisions about matters of life or death, war or peace, make recommendations to men or women of political power.
There are scores of companies involved. People develop software to simulate armies going at each other, airplanes flying over land and dropping bombs, ships moving. Well paid retired general officers who serve as “mentors” teaching the former Col’s and Captains who made were their staff officers (since preferred customers breed men like them). The school houses who teach systems and procedures send observers. The various support entities (one of whom pays my bills) sending guys like me to make sure the right kinds of products are available to support the decision makers. And literally 1000’s of reservists come from the United States to serve for their XXth exercise.
Make no mistake, there is big money involved.
Now mind you, I know that exercises are necessary. Being an old school kind of guy having an exercise to me, always used to mean bringing in lots of airplanes, flying them a lot, and burning lots of dead dinosaurs. And then going to the O’club each evening to roll the dice and kill brain cells. They still do that, its called a field training exercise, only now the US military does them less and less.
Instead the US military has increased the number of what they call Command Post Exercises (CPX’s) where the staffs work like dogs and the burning of dinosaurs and the death and destruction associated therein happens on a computer.
Kind of like that episode of Star Trek some 30+ years back.
Are they necessary? Yes. However not in the numbers we do them, particularly in a time when REAL Soldiers are spending 1 year plus in a hell hole named Iraq.
Furthermore, I can’t escape the feeling that despite all of the benefit they bring in identifying things that key decision makers need to think about, they also teach some really bad habits. Habits that are so bad, that IMHO they may have led a certain person to assume that Iraq would be a cake walk.
For one thing, they tend to “fairy dust” logistics and the real issues involved in bringing forces from where they live to where they need to fight. The reality, as I saw in the build up to OIF, when the Air Force let itself be boxed into a huge cargo backlog is very different. Secondly depending on the type of exercise, they really underestimate the level of difficulty that certain types of situations require. Particularly with respect to the Navy. The more I have watched these things the more I am convinced that they lead decision makers to conclude that we can do with less anti-submarine or mine warfare capability. After all, people are expensive, and the Navy needs to buy LCS and JSF………………
Remember that statement when an LCS takes two torpedo hits amidships by a third rate diesel submarine. Or when the Vice President goes on TV and says we will be greeted as liberators. Now you know where he learned it.
Plus, it leads the really senior decision makers to believe that they can manage all things all the time through technology that keeps flag officers in front of TV cameras 17 hours a day. Which of course has their staffs jumping back and forth to produce “product” (PPT slides) instead of providing real advice to their bosses. As a commenter wrote here a while back, the VTC is probably the greatest underminer of good staff work there is.
This when normally, they have like they did here, 7 Generals in the command center. However the 3 star was on the go 20+hours a day. Does that make sense? Not to me it does not. I cannot go into the particulars here, but done right a lot could be delegated. Senior officers need to be thinkers. Not VTC stars.
Makes you wonder how we won World War II with simple one liners like, “Find the enemy. When you do-you will know what to do.”
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Just in case you were wondering......
Hemlock's advice still holds-1 year later.
Dragging my incredibly depressed ass out of bed at 5 am this morning, I turn my TV on to find an incredibly great piece of good news. Alberto "The Constitution is advisory only" Gonzales is going out the door.
That's the first genuine piece of good news I've had all week.
And now the man who forgot that he was the nation's lawyer-not the President's, is going home to well deserved resignation.
Slowly, all the major offenders who dragged this administration into Warren G. Harding land are getting moved on.
There is still one to go.
They are coming for you................
Sunday, August 26, 2007
During a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Wednesday, Mr. Bush compared Iraq to Vietnam. Now to me that's a bit of a stretch given the very real differences between the timeline that brought Iraq to where it is today, and the pre-mature birth and short, sickly life that was that of the Republic of Vietnam. However in one point he may be correct-Bush is at exactly the same point that Richard Nixon was when New Years Day dawned in 1972.
Both Bush and Nixon were (are) in the position of trying to engineer an exit from a protracted conflict that is doing nothing good for the national interest. Both men had to do it in such a manner so as not to have the poorly governed state we leave behind fall apart when we left. Nixon had "Peace with Honor"; Bush has "Free Iraq is within reach". Neither statement was correct-they both were designed to distract folks from the fact that the US was cutting its losses and moving ahead to deal with more important items to the national interest. In the case of Vietnam, Nixon was hoping for a repeat of the Korean Armistice (some have argued he was really just hoping the RVN would hold on long enough so that we could not be blamed for when it fell..); Bush is hoping that a re-run of post colonial Malaysia can be attained. Now as in 1972, both men were deluding themselves.
Or maybe just one of the men is deluding himself. There is a lot of evidence that, in 1972, Nixon knew exactly what he was doing. Just go back and read some of Kissinger's stuff.
In both years, America had weak leaders that they stood by-Nixon had Thieu, Bush has Malaki-both of whom were pursuing agendas that were not entirely about improving the lot of their people. In 1972 Nixon upped the military ante significantly in response to a large offensive in Vietnam. In 2007 Bush upped the military ante by adopting a staged escalation. Both military postures had qualified success in improving the military situation-neither had much luck in making the political situation work.
Thieu at least had the advantage of having a more industrious people to work with and a population that was not fighting with itself over a flawed and apostate religion. And the government of South Vietnam was probably a lot more functional than Malaki's.
Bush cites a history of freedom in Asia:
The lesson from Asia's development is that the heart's desire for liberty will not be denied. Once people even get a small taste of liberty, they're not going to rest until they're free. Today's dynamic and hopeful Asia -- a region that brings us countless benefits -- would not have been possible without America's presence and perseverance. It would not have been possible without the veterans in this hall today. And I thank you for your service. (Applause.)
The last part is of course quite true, however I find it interesting that GWB ignores the fact that whatever progress towards free-wheeling democracy in Asia came AFTER they had built themselves up economically first. In South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, the pattern was the same. Strong military/civilian rulers who ruled with martial law. Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand moved beyond it-the Philippines moved from martial law to incompetent, democratically elected leadership; one nation: Singapore, never moved beyond strongman rule. To this day, Singapore remains a democracy in name only. They all took many years to get to where they are today.
We won't even talk about the fact that China is doing just fine economically and lack of car bombs wise-without giving its people any rights or freedoms.......will we? Mattel makes contributions to the RNC.
Plus, while Bush claims that Asia only had two democracies at the start of World War II-they also had over a 100 years of European colonial tradition to draw from when the time came to enter the community of nations. A lot of folks would argue with me ont the value of that-but I think it had an affect for the better. Iraq never had that-in barely 13 years of British rule.
Bush's Asian analogies fail to recall the context that the historical events he speaks of occurred in.
Take his most famous quote from the speech, the one that has been seized upon by many as proof that we have to stay in Iraq.
The world would learn just how costly these misimpressions would be. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died by starvation and torture and execution. In Vietnam, former allies of the United States and government workers and intellectuals and businessmen were sent off to prison camps, where tens of thousands perished. Hundreds of thousands more fled the country on rickety boats, many of them going to their graves in the South China Sea.
Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam
War and how we left. There's no debate in my mind that the veterans from Vietnam
deserve the high praise of the United States of America. (Applause.) Whatever
your position is on that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the
price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose
agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like "boat people," "re-education
camps," and "killing fields."
There is no doubt that history of the region post 1975 was indeed tragic. However to link all of that misery solely to the United States withdrawing it's forces from Vietnam is an incomplete hypothesis at best.
First, Bush assumes then that the US could have maintained a troop presence in Vietnam for what? 20 more years? Despite the popular theories about that-its doubtful that politically, the American public would have stood for it. It is true that Nixon had promised to strike hard if Vietnam was attacked-but Watergate and his failure to get the VC out of the South laid pre-conditions for the fall. Even if Congress had not cut off aid, would the public have stood for new POWS so soon after getting the ones from 1972 back?
Second, Cambodia could still have very well fallen on its own. The North was using it is a staging base for attacks on Vietnam. Even with American airpower to shield the ARVN, the was no way the US was militarily in a position to intervene in Cambodia-short of re-invading the country or reintroducing troops. The ARVN was in no position to do so. Don't forget it was a unified communist Vietnam that overthrew the Khmer Rouge-not because of love for the Cambodian people-but to stop the flood of refugees into Vietnam.
The flip side of course is that the fall of South Vietnam accelerated that process. However in Vietnam, as in Iraq, the failure to apply military force was as much an outcome of not applying it at the right time as it was not applying it. The left did not lose Vietnam. The American Presidents willed the end of Vietnam by not getting it right at the start. The time that Nixonian bombing and mining/blockade could have been done was in 1965. By 1972, the die had already been cast-it was just a matter of running out the clock by then.
The governments of both Cambodia and Vietnam willed it by not getting their governmental stuff together and by being corrupt. Which is a little like Iraq, come to think of it.
In 2003, Bush had the opportunity to get it right with a larger commitment of troops. He let a misguided Secretary of Defense undermine some well done work trying to give the President a plan that would work. He's been trying to patch up the ugly results of his mistake ever since.
Johnson in 1965. Bush in 2003. Both Presidents allowed a war to be started that was not in the national interest-and then, having made the decision to do it-failed to get it right from the start.
I take it back. Maybe Iraq is like Vietnam after all.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
A fistful of yen...
Code name ShinShin!
From Japan Probe:
After being repeatedly turned down by the US Congress in its attempts to purchase the F-22, the Japanese government has turned to its own stealth fighter program. As the video shows, they seem to be making significant progress in the development of the “Shinshin” fighter [with a little help from France], but it will take years to produce a final product. For more information, check out Aviation Week’s post on the ATD-X.
If at first you do not succeed, steal the plans and build it yourself!
It is time......
And why not?
It's for a good cause!
Sorry, I'm so late Gina.........Where I am now the war may be simulated-but the buffoonery is real!
What a week!
However, due to the fact that my laptop keyboard was not working so well.....(spilled beer seems to inhibit the free flow of electrons)AND the effects of five 14 hour days in a row-blog posting just had to go to the back of the bus. Today was my first chance to catch up, do some shopping, buy a USB keyboard, and put myself back in business (Until Monday at least, when the drudgery resumes.....).
A lot happened this week and lots of it I missed, or only heard about on the periphery. Seems lots of folks are waking up to the fact that Iraqi president Nuri Al Malaki is on his own agenda-which does not happen to be in line with that of the nation that shedding blood and treasure to defend his worthless government. Interestingly enough, I happened to turn on the TV to see that the remarks in the NIE were just being spun the wrong way by the Democrats.
So much to say about that, so little time. People miss the point. The surge may be working -but what does that mean in the greater context? What is victory? We are told it is a stable government with an army that can defend itself. So far neither of those preconditions have been met-after over 4 years. So maybe just a note or two of anger is important.
And don't even get me started on GWB's Vietnam speech.................
That is for another time.
I can't wait to get on the plane for home.............
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Well this is wierd..........
I stumbled onto this looking at the Soccer Fan video. It a Japanese video about North Korea.............
Are we through yet?
However Japan Probe has found out what we are fighting for-or against:
NORK Soccer babes!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
And so it begins.........
It occurs to me that I complain about Osan a little too much. As US bases go its a pretty nice base, and it has a lot to offer. There has been a lot of new construction here, they have a nice exchange and it even has a nice little bar district outside the front gate. So I should be taking the opportunity to explore this country or at least get on over to Pyontaek maybe.
Problem is, I just don't feel like it. I've struggled to pinpoint why I am so down on this place. And when reduced to its core item-it can be summed up in two words: Big Brother.
If one ever wants a snapshot of what a stateside dictatorship will look like-this place provides one. It is all pretty benign, but the hand of the "man" is everywhere.
Big Brother knows how much and what food you buy at the commissary. He knows when you enter the front gate and who with. He has a means to track how much liquor you buy. (Which American ingenuity being what it is, folks figure out a way around it). My leaving and entering my work place is electronically tracked. So too are my e-mail transactions. Access to even the mildest of web sites is blocked.
Out in town there are the local police, and the BDU wearing "show of force". They have a curfew that is very limiting to say the least.
Now they say its all done for a good reason and that the owners of the system understand and respect the rights of the participants. That for the most part is probably true-but doesn't that bother you just a little, deep down inside?
It bothers me. Primarily because it relies on the good will and good intentions of those create the means to do all this tracking and regulating. That's putting a lot of faith in an being that prizes efficient operation above all other things. Its not abused-but its not hard to see how it easily could be.
"If you don't do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about", many people will say. "Its a necessary precaution to protect the security of our Soldiers and Airman in a foreign country-with DPRK long range artillery dialed in on Seoul. All valid points.
It also seems amazingly un American if you ask me. Isn't limiting the amount of government intrusion is what our political discussion has been about?
It may be a new world and that new world does have terrorism-that I do acknowledge.
However it troubles me that as this decade goes on, or for that matter the next one, we will wake up and find it is not terrorism that will be limiting us. It will be ourselves. We will have formed our own chains.
And the good news is, we already have a model of how to do it-right here.
Friday, August 17, 2007
However, work has kept me busy AND spilling a beer across your laptop, is probably not the smartest thing you can do.
So I am caught between a rock and a hard place with a backspace and a couple of other keys that do not seem to be working.
The place I am spending most of my time at blocks blogspot (Bastards!) so it seems as if for at least the next couple of weeks or so, blogging may be very limited.
However thank God the mouse still works. I can find pictures like this:
That blank space is because the backspace key will not work. However trust me, she was beautiful!
Gotta run. Time is the one thing I do not have enought of.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Who needs it?
It is a shame that the Phibian is out doing whatever he is doing now-I really need his take on this.
Trip over here was fine. Getting down to Osan was OK. I've been here just over 24 hours and I am already depressed. And that is without the rain that seems to be a daily occurrence here it seems.
However, a very cute looking stewardess on the ANA flight over gave me a copy of the Financial Times to read on the plane. That was right before she gave me a very tasty beer I might add. So I read it from front to back. I was planning to read more Hitchen's book, but it occurred to me as we were rolling down the runway, that reading a book that denies the existence of God while riding in an airplane that might, in extremis, rely upon the benevolence of an all powerful deity for its salvation from an aircraft accident-was probably not the most prudent thing to do.
This FT had a great little column in it by a guy named Christopher Caldwell. Who had the courage to make a statement that should be made over and over again within the hallowed halls of the Pentagon:
Racism and certain other forms of exclusion corrode a society morally. But diversity, as an ideology, is not a matter of avoiding those occasions of sin. It is an active, ruthless and crusading belief system. Its effects resemble those of "meritocracy" on the community life of London's Bethnal Green, as described in Dench, Gavron and Young'sThe New East End. It involves identifying, discrediting and breaking up close-knit communities in the interest of mixing them more easily into some new ideal of the nation.
In an indirect way. Mr Caldwell was able to codify a feeling that I had been having difficulty putting into words. Namely that by being so hell bent for "diversity", companies and the US military are turning their back on the thing that makes mission driven organizations succeed-namely a unity of identity.
Mr Caldwell points out:
People trust people like themselves more than they trust people unlike themselves. Life is short and diverse groups waste precious time arguing over ground rules. Once a certain level of diversity is surpassed, a community ceases to be a community. What makes "the gay community" and "the
African-American community" communities, at least in politically correct jargon, is that they are not diverse.
That does not mean that there should not be people within the military who are black, Muslim or any other identity group. However talent and qualifications should be the deciding characteristic. Not a desire to obtain a "critical mass" of a certain group quickly."
Within the military, I believe, his hypothesis is being proven out. When the US Navy had to integrate women into sea going units in the early 1990's-it initially made a very correct decision. That it would only access into squadrons women who were at the beginning of their careers and therefore would have to meet all the wickets and pay all the dues as their male counter parts. This effectively boxed out a whole group of women pilots and flight officers who were Senior LT's and LCDRS's. As you might guess, they whined. About fairness.
Which I found confusing since for men, fairness was never an overriding criteria when it came to the selection of one's aircraft that one was going to train in. Which was why, in order to ensure that all aircraft communities got some number of higher quality officers, people who finished well in their flight training were sent to aircraft they did not choose in order to ensure the community did not become a body of able bodied morons. Why were they able to get away with this? Because the value that we each attached to being a part of an exclusive club out weighted the value of giving every one what they wanted.
The needs of the many and all that................
I agree with Christopher Caldwell. Come back Phib and chime in!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Do you know the way.......
As I got to the airport I heard an announcement for a flight to Vienna. Now that sounds like fun!
Today is the beginning of O-bon week here in Japan. That means that all 147 million Japanese , are trying to leave the country. A bit of an overstatement? Well, maybe. However it seemed like at least half of Tokyo was at the airport this am trying to catch planes to Europe, Thailand, China and anywhere else they can. I'm sure USFK planned it this way just to increase my own personal misery. Getting through immigration was made doubly difficult due to "Japanese passport only lines"-something I have never seen before.
So it seems to me there just one thing to do. 9:30 am? Screw it, I'm having a beer!
See you on the other side!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
There is only so much......
So today I've got a lot to say, just no time to say it. However I do have a question for you. Do you think Barry Bonds cheated? Asterisk or no in the record books?
Put your thoughts in the comments.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
I've decided that I'm changing the way I support a candidate this cycle. Whichever candidate's spouse has the nicest funbags becomes the official candidate of Enjoy Every Sandwich. I think the most important issue in the campaign is America's need of a hot First Lady, particularly since I don't have Lady Bird Johnson to fantasize about anymore.
If that sounds flippant, that's because it is. Since the only possible way the GOP can retain the White House after eight years of George W. Bush's egregious reign of error is for the Democrats to actively lose, it doesn't really matter if the only yardstick by which I judge their candidates is their wives titties.........
Regardless of which side of the aisle you stand in, that's funny. Especially when we live in a world where the market has just dropped 150 points in an hour and political pundits seriously discuss Hillary's cleavage!
While I was out studying (fat lot of good it did me!) more than a few things happened. Presented here, in no particular order, are my thoughts about some of these breaking events.
As for the Japanese test, the less said the better. Perhaps the words of a noted Scientologist best sums it up:
Looks like the University of Illinois!
Three Words: Barry Bonds Blows!
As a loyal Pirate fan, there is really nothing else to say.
Enjoy it while it lasts, steroid boy, A-Rod will take your record soon enough.
Only in the twisted world that passes for government in Hong Kong, could someone cite the American Electoral process as proof Hong Kongers don't need democracy.
Speaking of repressed governments, who says Singapore is not progressive?
There are people who will pay good money to see this!
I bought Christopher Hitchens book a couple of days ago. I thought reading it over in Korea might put me in the right mindset to spend 3 weeks dealing with the evangelicals and other true believers.
There is only one problem though. Having spent more than a couple of hours in various pews inside the confines of the Holy City, its tough to make any progress through the book when you are constantly looking over your shoulder for the not so stray lightning bolt.
Mili is on her way to Prague. And I'm going to Korea. Try convincing me again there is justice in the world.
She also told me something I never knew about asparagus. Excuse me dear lady, how exactly do you know this?
In case you ever wondered why the S.O. puts up with me, here is why. Its a tough world for Japanese women. The bigger question though is why I put up with her. I'm still searching for the answer to that!.
Do you hate your cat? This:
should be reported to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Stephen Colbert sums up bloggers and Dkos. A blogger is someone who: has a laptop, an axe to grind, and their virginity.
Does that last one count if you blog in Thailand?
As may have mentioned before, the S.O. is positively estactic of the recent downfall of LDP in the polls. This little tidbit explains why in 500 words or less.
Abe-san's response? Become a superhero!
Op-For has a pretty good post up about the death of Officers Clubs. As one who enjoyed the glory days at: Miramar, Tinker, Howard, Oceana and a few that still remain classfied........suffice it to say I echo their sentiments.
I also realized that I have been remiss in not linking to them. That's fixed!
Speaking of dead O'clubs, and did I mention I'm pissed off about going to Korea? More than a few times you say? Well that's why I need one of these:
Taken from a pretty cool web site with pictures of Korea during the Korean war. I've been surfing the net trying to get in the mood.
Ja mata ne!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
So I won't be posting here. I'll be over here trying to make up for all the studying I should have been doing over the last 6 months...............
After Thursday though..........its Miller Time!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Genbaku no hi.........
Today is the 6th of August. It was the day in 1945 when the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the B-29 Enola Gay. In Japan, today is known as Genbaku no hi. That also began a 9 day period when Japan was literally and figuratively on the brink of the abyss. I wrote a detailed post about that time a couple of years ago. GI Korea has a pretty good history of the Atomic Bomb here.
Japan Probe has some pretty good coverage here.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
The Korea Folks know what I'm talking about. Because it is that wonderful time of year, when thousands of people converge upon the Korean Peninsula to see for themselves the world of micromanagement-as only USFK can perfect it.
They will go through the five stages of any exercise:
Just don't be late to work!
Learning how to do things the Air Force and USFK way:
It's only tomorrow's ITO!
The stress that comes from dealing with our ROK Allies and the other services:
Another happy VTC with CFC!
While learning to recognize all the things the Air Force holds near and dear:
Sir, the MAAP brief is hereby submitted for your approval......
Finally, that feeling that comes your way about the second week of the exercise:
Wait till they tell you the curfew has not been lifted!
Its also about that time that you realize that the only person really enjoying himself on the Korean Peninsula is this guy:
(The caption says in Japanese: "Fun with North Korea!")
After that, its smooth sailing home.................
Because she asked............
The video that follows is from the 2007 Sumida River Hanabikai-Tokyo's biggest, which usually draws over 150,000 people. I missed it the last few years, however I did go when I first came to Japan:
And finally, because it is summer time, something for me. A video of Chinatsu Wakatsuki. She was voted one of the top 5 best tanned celebrities. Nice flowers! (It is safe for work!).
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Shoes of the fisherman......
It is Hanabi (fireworks) season here in Japan. That means from middle of July through the end of August you can see a different firework display every weekend-provided you don't mind riding on a train with 1000's of new found friends. Tonight was the one near where we live. We really wanted to see it, since next week I will be in
S.O. and I went out for dinner first. At the local shopping emporium they have just opened a brand new Ootoya (pronounced oh-toh-ya) restaurant. (Japanese food like mother used to make!). The great thing about Ootoya is that just about everything is a set, you get Miso soup rice and some vegetable or salad with your meal. Its tasty and cheap, and the service is generally quick. That's especially important when the mall is full of Yukata wearing people who are also trying to make their way to the fireworks.
Coming out of the restaurant I picked up a flyer for the movie theater. I was surprised to see an ad in it for the latest installment of Tsuri baka nisshi (釣りバカ日誌）Diary of the stupid fisherman.
You think Rocky had a few too many sequels? This year will be the 18th iteration of the series. Starring Toshiyuki Nishida, the movies have become an annual ritual here in Japan. It is the story of Densuke Hamasaki, affectionately known as "Hamachan", a man who is crazy about fishing, and not so crazy about having to work. Hamachan is your average salaryman-he's married with a family, his wife loves him and he loves his wife, and he can't get enough of fishing-any kind of fishing. Salt water, fresh water, whatever works.
In all the movies he is saved from any number of embarrassing situations at work by one great secret: "Hamachan's relationship with the owner and CEO of his company, Mr. Suzuki. The two became fishing buddies, before they found out that they both worked for the same company--Hamachan the salaryman, and Suzuki-san the CEO. Within the company, they keep their relationship a secret. But on the ocean, Hamachan is the sensei (teacher), and Mr. Suzuki is the eager student. Mr. Suzuki clearly respects Densuke Hamasaki as an honest and honorable man. He only wishes Hamachan would have a more serious and stringent attitude toward his professional career. But that is not who Hamachan is".(Quoted from Carpe Caprio).
I thought they did not make them anymore, particularly because you can see Nishida-san on TV again and again. Seems I was wrong. I've watched about 4 of the movies with the S.O. and they are funny-in a stupid sort of way. In one of the movies, Hamachan and his wife are trying to figure out how he can get some time off from work so he can go fishing. His wife tells him that he has no more vacation left, nobody believes the stories about sick kids and they have run out of relatives on both sides of the family to "die". They despair on what he can do. The next day at work he hits on a scheme sure to succeed- he talks the office manager into sending him on a business trip to Okinawa with Suzuki-san. Long story short they wreck the boat and end up having to be rescued at sea.
Its been popular enough to allow a cartoon series to made about and some pretty slick marketing campaigns have been launched off of the movies. Some pretty cute ladies have been able to launch their movie careers by playing roles in the movies. Miyoko Asada has played his wife Michiko since 1994. (Pictured on the right).
Given a choice between the Simpsons Movie and this one-I'll take the Simpsons Movie. However its still some pretty good fun and an interesting insight into Japanese entertainment culture. Since its August and that means all the Senso Dorama (War Drama) will be on the TV-its good to get a laugh.
Friday, August 03, 2007
A good question!
If the surge is working, why are we still losing?
Barnett goes to the heart of the question that really bothers me-namely if the surge is going so well, why are we being told that American troops will have to stay and stay and stay?
The question for now, I guess, is, does the Petraeus-Fallon-Mullen trio overcome the neocon camp still resident under Cheney? If not, can they at least temporize things until Bush is out of power?
I would go farther than MountainRunner--and cynically so--to say Bush's surge (not Petraeus') was always about buying just enough internal security to facilitate drawdown and redirection on Iran.
And while you are at it, take a look at some of Mountain Runner's words on the private contractors in Iraq-he raises some valid and provocative points.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
“List eight habits or facts about yourself, then tag eight more people”
Now since I am a pretty open book here and it's no big secret that I have a voracious appetite for beer and wine, Asian women and the "prurient" interests, SJS feared he was going to have to have one of those TV commercial moments with me:
" You know, I have followed your character since the start and your life makes for some really compelling drama...............but your love of Wanchai girls is really too adult for the kids. So, I'm going to have to block you!"
Oh really...what do you guys think this place is, Seelai?
Anyway. Here goes:
1. I love to play golf. I still suck at it having maintained a 26 handicap for the past 3 years with no improvement. You knew that already. What you probably did not know is that I am a good bowler with a 190-200 average. Besides snow skiing, those are the only sports I can do half way decently. Racquetball, tennis, basketball,scrabble? I suck.
2. I love the romantic drawings of Seizo Watase. I forced the S.O. to hang one of his prints in our place-similar to this one- showing a man and a woman heading for an airplane. His work is my imaginary view of how romance should be:
The S.O. looks great, doesn't she?
3. I'm a big Star Trek fan. I like all the series except for Voyager. As I have pointed out before, yes it has a lot to do with the whole Janeway female captain thing. Deep Space Nine was my favorite in the series.
4. I'm fascinated by Time Travel stories-and counter factual history. I bought the DVD set of the original Time Tunnel series and I watched it on TV back in 1968.
5. I would love to be a print journalist. I watch any and all movies about newspaper reporters and have 7 books about Edward R. Murrow ( who I know was a radio journalist-but he started with UPI). In the only nice thing I can find to say about my ex-wife, I am glad she introduced me to the New York Times. (Despite what so many people say-its a great paper!).
6. I was an Eagle Scout. I have canoed down the Allegheny River twice and the Monongahela River once. I've also been to Philmont twice. (Yes I climbed Mt Baldy both times!)
7. I love to cook. However I don't have a natural sense for it-thus I own 27 cookbooks. In the exchange, I am a sucker for buying the little Betty Crocker books at the checkout counter.
8. I desperately want to work and live in either Hong Kong or Singapore. ( You probably already figured that one out already...I'll be happy to send any there my resume!).
Nothing new to see here folks, I'm afraid.
I'm a simple man with simple pleasures.
Feed me, burp me, and put me to bed.
I'm supposed to tag 8 people now, but this meme has been the rounds so I'll leave it at this-if you are on my blogroll to the right, consider yourself tagged!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Speaking of the Wall Street Journal......
RUPERT MURDOCH buys Dow Jones, and I am privileged to be sent an advance copy of tomorrow's edition of the best reported, best edited and visually most Victorian newspaper in the world....
Back to the SCMP?
Into the darkness........
Alicia: We're not exactly the Washington Post, okay?
Michael McDougal: No, we're not. We run stupid headlines
because we think they're funny. We run maimings on the front page because we got good art. And I spend three weeks bitching about my car because it sells papers. But at least it's the truth. As far as I can remember we never ever, ever knowingly got a story wrong, until tonight.
That's the future of the once proud newspaper, the Wall Street Journal. It was announced today that the paper
Despite the fact that their editorial policy is to the right of Attila the Hun, the Wall Street Journal was a respectable newspaper that offers detail and context in its news stories and has provided insightful business news to its readers. Now that it has been sold to
It's not just bad journalism, it's bad business to let Murdoch take control of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal.
Truer words have not been spoken:
Be swallowed or die? The deal makers -- including Dow Jones board members and executives who stand to reap millions from the sale -- tell the Bancrofts that the economy can no longer support a relatively small, independent, serious news-gathering company. They claim that traditional reporting must be subsidized by entertainment ventures ranging from "American Idol" to the famous Page 3 girls of the U.K.'s Sun newspaper. But that model isn't business -- it's charity. It's also dead wrong.
Prior to the appearance of Murdoch on the scene, we at Dow Jones had begun an aggressive process to build new platforms, opportunities and investments to strengthen the company. Zannino himself, in an internal memorandum issued after the Dow Jones board endorsed the sale, acknowledged that this plan was "beginning to pay meaningful dividends and we have a very bright future as an independent company should the News Corp. bid not come to pass." The next day, Dow Jones reported that quarterly earnings had risen 16.2 percent.
Many of the world's most successful companies have staked their fortunes on independence instead of so-called synergy. In another industry struggling with change, car giant Daimler is trying to rescue itself from an ill-fated acquisition of Chrysler. Meanwhile, rival BMW has been promoting its independence. "No, we will not sell out to a parent company that will meddle in our affairs and ask us to subject our cars to mass market vanilla-ism," the automaker's advertising says. The fact is that even within a single industry, companies succeed because of management leadership, focus and execution of a sound strategy, not just size.
Dow Jones wasn't for sale when Murdoch appeared, and for good reason. The process of transformation that we had begun, creating new value while perpetuating our original mission, was working. Selling out now will only short-circuit that process -- and guarantee that the Murdochs, rather than the Bancrofts, reap its rewards.
It is a shame really. Because the US needs both the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Guys like Murdoch want you believe that is no longer so-that independent thought, research, and opinion has a place only in the past. That the consumer market for news is so warped by TV and the Internet, that its OK to treat your readership like sheep.
Edward R. Murrow understood why this really sucks:
It may be that the present system, with no modifications and no experiments, can survive. Perhaps the money-making machine has some kind of built-in perpetual motion, but I do not think so. To a very considerable extent the media of mass communications in a given country reflect the political, economic and social climate in which they flourish. That is the reason ours differ from the British and French, or the Russian and Chinese. We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.
I do not advocate that we turn television into a 27-inch wailing wall, where longhairs constantly moan about the state of our culture and our defense. But I would just like to see it reflect occasionally the hard, unyielding realities of the world in which we live. I would like to see it done inside the existing framework, and I would like to see the doing of it redound to the credit of those who finance and program it. Measure the results by Nielsen, Trendex or Silex-it doesn't matter. The main thing is to try. The responsibility can be easily placed, in spite of all the
mouthings about giving the public what it wants. It rests on big business, and on big television, and it rests at the top. Responsibility is not something that can be assigned or delegated. And it promises its own reward: good business and good television.
Perhaps no one will do anything about it. I have ventured to outline it against a background of criticism that may have been too harsh only because I could think of nothing better.
What he said. Stock tips from Bill O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin? Coming to a once great paper near you. | <urn:uuid:af1b306f-3458-4fdf-bad4-58008523406b> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://fareastcynic.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html | 2016-07-26T19:52:22Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257825124.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071025-00276-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971228 | 9,911 |
A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
Shereford (St. Nicholas)
SHEREFORD (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Walsingham, hundred of Gallow, W. division of Norfolk, 2¼ miles (W.) from Fakenham; containing 89 inhabitants. It comprises 830 acres, of which 678 are arable, 128 pasture and meadow, and 16 woodland. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £9, and in the gift of the family of Townshend: the tithes have been commuted for £192, and the glebe comprises 58 acres. The church is chiefly in the decorated English style, with a circular tower.
Sherfield-English (St. Leonard)
SHERFIELD-ENGLISH (St. Leonard), a parish, in the union of Romsey, hundred of Thorngate, Romsey and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 4¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Romsey; containing 328 inhabitants. It comprises by measurement 1774 acres. The soil is partly light, and partly of stronger quality, producing excellent crops of barley and potatoes; the surface is undulated, commanding views of the New Forest and the Isle of Wight. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 10. 2½., and in the gift of R. Bristow, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £284, and the glebe comprises 39 acres.
Sherfield-upon-Loddon (St. Leonard)
SHERFIELD-upon-Loddon (St. Leonard), a parish, in the union of Basingstoke, hundred of Odiham, Basingstoke and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 4 miles (N. E. by N.) from Basingstoke; containing 640 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 3. 6½., and in the gift of the Rev. W. Eyre: the tithes have been commuted for £674. 10., and the glebe comprises 36 acres. Besides the church, there are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. James Christian, in 1735, gave £100 to build a school-house, and £25 a year for education.
Sherford (St. Martin)
SHERFORD (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Kingsbridge, hundred of Coleridge, Stanborough and Coleridge, and S. divisions of Devon, 3¼ miles (E.) from Kingsbridge; containing 450 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2267 acres, of which 26 are common or waste land. The living is annexed to the vicarage of Stokenham. The church contains some good screen-work. Attached to an old farmhouse at Kennedon are some remains of the manorial seat of Justice Hals, who lived in the reign of Henry V.
Sheriff-Hales (St. Mary)
SHERIFF-HALES (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Shiffnall, partly in the Newport division of the hundred of South Bradford, N. division of Salop, but chiefly in the W. division of the hundred of Cuttlestone, S. division of the county of Stafford, 3 miles (N. by E.) from Shiffnall; containing, with the chapelry of Woodcote, 1019 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 1. 8.; net income, £614; patron and impropriator, the Duke of Sutherland. The church is a neat stone edifice, seated on an eminence above a small stream that parts it from Shropshire. There is a chapel of ease at Woodcote; also a place of worship in the parish for Wesleyans. A milky vitriolic water is found among the iron-mines in the neighbourhood.
Sheriff-Hutton.—See Hutton, Sheriff.
Sheringham (All Saints)
SHERINGHAM (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Erpingham, hundred of North Erpingham, E. division of Norfolk, 5 miles (W.) from Cromer; containing 1134 inhabitants. It comprises 2177a. 22p., of which 1300 acres are arable, and 700 woodland and heath; the surface is undulated, and the scenery in some parts beautiful. Sheringham Hall is a handsome mansion of white brick, finely situated in a well-wooded park. The villages of Upper and Lower Sheringham are about a mile and a half apart: in the former is the parochial church; the latter is on the cliffs, near a narrow ravine, through which a rivulet flows into the sea. On the beach are six curing-houses; thirty boats are usually employed in the herring-fishery, and many smaller craft in taking cod, skate, whiting, lobsters, and crabs, of which great quantities are sent to London. Upon the banks of the rivulet is a small paper-mill. The living is a vicarage; net income, £82; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Ely, whose tithes have been commuted for £361. The church is in the earlier and later English styles, with a lofty embattled tower; on the north side of the chancel is the mausoleum of the Upcher family. Here was a monastery of Black canons, a cell to Nutley Abbey, in the county of Buckingham.
Shermanbury (St. Giles)
SHERMANBURY (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Steyning, hundred of Windham and Ewhurst, rape of Bramber, W. division of Sussex, 8 miles (N. E. by N.) from Steyning; containing 411 inhabitants. It is bounded on the south by the river Adur, and comprises about 2000 acres, of which 30 are common or waste; the soil is clay and loam, the surface gently undulated, and the meadows and pastures luxuriantly rich. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £4. 19. 4½., and in the patronage of the Challen family: the tithes have been commuted for £381. 15., and the glebe comprises 14 acres. The church, which is beautifully situated in Shermanbury Park, close to the mansion-house, is a handsome structure; the windows are embellished with stained glass inserted by the late Rev. J. G. Challen, D.D. Here are the groined gateway and some other remains of a castellated mansion surrounded by a moat, called Ewhurst, and anciently a seat of the lords De la Warr.
Shernbourne (St. Peter and St. Paul)
SHERNBOURNE (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Docking, hundred of Smithdon, W. division of Norfolk, 2 miles (S. E. by E.) from Snettisham; containing 133 inhabitants. It comprises about 1300 acres, of which more than 1200 are arable, 50 meadow and pasture, and 10 woodland. The estate was for many generations the property of the Shernbourne family, whose ancient residence, the Hall, is now a farmhouse. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8; net income, £69; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Ely. The tithes were commuted for land in 1767; the glebe comprises 65 acres of land, on which several farm-buildings have been erected by the incumbent. The church was built by Thorpe, lord of Shernbourne, when Felix, Bishop of the East Angles, came to convert the inhabitants to Christianity; and it is said to have been the second founded in that kingdom. The nave only remains; on the north side are sepulchral brasses with the effigies of Lord and Lady Shernbourne.
Sherrington (St. Laud)
SHERRINGTON (St. Laud), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 1¾ mile (N. N. E.) from Newport-Pagnell, on the road to Olney; containing 856 inhabitants. It comprises about 2000 acres, of which about two-thirds are arable, 25 acres wood, and the remainder pasture; the surface is generally level, and the soil clay. A limestone-quarry supplies stone for the roads and for burning into lime. A little rush-matting is made; the majority of the women and children are employed in making pillow-lace. The river Ouse runs through the parish. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20. 0. 2½.; net income, £500; patron, the Bishop of Lincoln. The tithes were commuted for land and a corn-rent in 1796: there are 20 acres of glebe, with a good glebe-house. The church is an ancient building with a tower. Here are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans.
Sherrington (St. Michael)
SHERRINGTON (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Warminster, forming a detached portion of the hundred of Branch and Dole, Warminster and S. divisions of Wilts, 3 miles (W. N. W.) from Wiley; containing 194 inhabitants. It comprises 1220 acres by admeasurement, and is situated on the river Wiley. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11, and in the gift of A. B. Lambert, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £259, and the glebe comprises 21 acres. The church is a small structure in good repair. A school is supported by subscription. There are some barrows in the parish.
Sherston Magna (Holy Cross)
SHERSTON MAGNA (Holy Cross), a parish, in the union of Malmesbury, hundred of Chippenham, Malmesbury and Kingswood, and N. divisions of Wilts, 5¾ miles (W. by S.) from Malmesbury; containing 1393 inhabitants. This place was called by the Saxons Scarston or Scaurston, signifying "the town on a rock." It seems to have been occupied by the Romans: the consular way passed near; and coins of Antoninus, Faustinus, Gordianus, Flavius Julianus, and others, have been found, An obstinate battle was fought here in 1016, between Edmund Ironside and Canute the Great. On the cliff behind the village is an ancient encampment with a remarkably deep well; and in the neighbourhood are the foundations and fragments of three stone crosses. The parish comprises about 6000 acres, of which a considerable portion is waste: the soil is various; the surface is chiefly level, and is watered by two small streams, which uniting form the river Avon. The village stands on an eminence. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10. 2.; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester; impropriators, the Rev. H. Creswell, J. Neeld, Esq., and the churchwardens of Cirencester, as lessees under the Dean and Chapter. The great tithes have been commuted for £250, and the vicarial for £100; the impropriate glebe comprises 288 acres. The church exhibits portions in the Norman and the several English styles, and is a large structure, with a lofty tower rising from the centre. A school is endowed with £10 per annum.
Sherston Parva or Sherston-Pinkney
SHERSTON PARVA, or Sherston-Pinkney, a parish, in the union of Malmesbury, and in a detached portion of the hundred of Chippenham, Malmesbury and Kingswood, and N. divisions of Wilts, 4¾ miles (W.) from Malmesbury; containing 155 inhabitants. The living is valued in the king's books at £3. 14. 4½.: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £159, and there are 93 acres of impropriate glebe. The church was long since demolished, and no institution has taken place since 1640, when the patronage was in the Crown.
Sherwill (St. Peter)
SHERWILL (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Barnstaple, hundred of Sherwill, Braunton and N. divisions of Devon, 4 miles (N. E.) from Barnstaple; containing 686 inhabitants, and comprising 4762 acres. This parish is supposed to derive its name from the purity of its waters: near the village is a copious well of limpid water, which in the driest seasons affords an abundant supply. The substratum abounds with stone quarried for building purposes. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £30. 3. 11½., and in the gift of Sir Arthur Chichester, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £545, and the glebe comprises 91 acres, with a small house. The church is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a tower at the western extremity of the south aisle.
SHEVINGTON, a township, in the parish of Standish, union of Wigan, hundred of Leyland, N. division of Lancashire, 3¼ miles (N. W. by W.) from Wigan; containing 1122 inhabitants. Before the general introduction of dates in the conveyance of landed property, a family existed denominating themselves from this township. The family of Hesketh have possessed property here for several ages, and have been considered as lords of the manor. The township is of some extent, standing on the declivity of the hill between Standish and Wigan, and reaching to the north-east bank of the Douglas: the area is 1708 acres, whereof 133 are common or waste. Some valuable mines of coal are in operation. The Leeds and Liverpool canal, or, as it is here called, the Douglas navigation, runs parallel with the Douglas river. In the township are a number of ancient mansions: the old Hall or manor-house, the property of the Heskeths, is of the date 1653. New Hall is now a farmhouse, and Owlet or Hullet House is merely noted for its rude antiquity. White Hall bears the arms of the Baldwins, its ancient owners. Holt Farm was the residence of the Holts, of whom Alexander Holt, citizen and goldsmith, of London, was one of the benefactors of the parish: Crook Hall was the seat of the Pearsons. Upon Shevington Moor is a causeway called Cripplegate, said to have derived its name from the circumstance of two maiden ladies, to whose house it led, having given alms to every crippled applicant. The tithes have been commuted for £260. 4. 6. A school, with a house and garden for the master, was built during the incumbency of the Rev. Richard Perrin; and in 1845 a national school was built by Edward Woodcock, Esq.
Sheviock (St. Mary)
SHEVIOCK (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of St. Germans, S. division of the hundred of East, E. division of Cornwall, 3 miles (S. by E.) from St. Germans; containing 567 inhabitants. This parish, which is bounded on the north by the river Lynher, and on the south by the English Channel, comprises 2122 acres, whereof three-fourths are arable, and the remainder woodland, with a small portion of pasture. The surface is varied, and intersected by numerous rivulets; the soil on the north side, near the river, is a stiffish yellow clay, and on the south side of much lighter quality. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £26. 14. 7., and in the gift of the Carew family: the tithes have been commuted for £335, and the glebe comprises 62 acres. The church contains a sumptuous monument to the memory of Sir Edward and Lady Courtenay, and several curious tombs of the family of Dawnay. At Wrinkle Cove is an ancient pier; and off the coast a considerable pilchard-fishery is carried on.
SHIDFIELD, a tything, in the parish of Droxford, hundred of Bishop's-Waltham, Droxford and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 3 miles (S.) from Bishop's-Waltham. A church dedicated to St. John, to which a district has been assigned, was erected by subscription in 1829: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector of Droxford; net income, £100, with a house.
SHIELDS, NORTH, a sea-port and market-town, in the parish, union, and borough of Tynemouth, E. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 8 miles (E. N. E.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 276 (N. by W.) from London; containing 25,808 inhabitants, of whom 7509 are in the township. This place, at the commencement of the 13th century, consisted only of a few fishermen's huts or "shielings," which occupied the site of part of the present town, and from which it appears to have derived its name. In the reign of Edward I., the prior of Tynemouth began to erect houses here, established a market, and encouraged the settling of traders; but the burgesses of Newcastle, who possessed the exclusive traffic of the river Tyne, jealous of this encroachment on their privileges, commenced a suit in the court of king's bench against the prior, who, by a judgment of the court, was compelled to relinquish his enterprise. Retiring therefore within the precincts of the priory at Tynemouth, he there carried his purpose into effect, and formed a harbour for trading-vessels, which from that circumstance is still called the Prior's haven. The town of Shields relapsed into its previous obscurity, and remained in a state of insignificance till about the middle of the 17th century, when Cromwell made considerable efforts to place it in that rank to which, from its advantageous situation, it was so obviously entitled. For this purpose he caused commodious quays to be built, granted a charter for a weekly market, and afforded every facility for the promotion of trade; but it was not till about the close of the century that the restrictions on the commerce of the town were effectually removed, and the place began to prosper. From that period its advance has been rapidly progressive, its trade has greatly increased, and since the commencement of the present century, its population has been nearly doubled.
The town is situated on the north bank of the river Tyne, near its influx into the North Sea, and opposite to South Shields on the other side of the river. The older portion consists chiefly of narrow streets and lanes; while that of more recent origin contains numerous spacious, well-formed streets, and several handsome squares, in which are houses of elegant appearance, inhabited principally by merchants and shipowners. A street 60 feet in width, leading from the upper districts of the town to the market-place and the quays, has been recently completed. The streets are lighted with gas, partly from works constructed in the neighbourhood called the Low Lights, in 1820, at an expense of £5000; and partly from others in Hudson-street, established in 1836. The inhabitants are amply supplied with water from reservoirs at Percy Main, Whitley, and Waterville, whence it is conveyed into the town by pipes, under the superintendence of a company incorporated in 1786. A subscription library, originally instituted in 1802, and for which a good building of stone was erected in 1807 by shareholders, has a collection of more than 4000 volumes: and a natural-history society, primarily formed in 1825, and re-established in 1835 in Church street, whence it has been removed to Tyne-street, has a valuable collection of mineralogical, geological, and ornithological specimens. In Tyne-street, also, is a handsome newsroom, and another has been opened in Dockwraysquare. A theatre, a neat building of brick, erected in 1798, is opened during the winter months; and card and dancing assemblies are held at the principal inn, in King-street.
The trade of the port mainly consists in the exportation of coal to London and the eastern coasts of England and Scotland, from the various staiths on the river, of which the principal are the Whitley coal and lime staiths, near the Low Light-house. Since the great extension of steam navigation, the coal-trade to France, the Mediterranean, the ports of the Baltic and the Black Sea, to Spain, North and South America, the West India Islands, Arabia, and recently to China, has much increased. Vessels are also employed in the Greenland and Davis' Straits fisheries. The harbour, which is also the harbour of South Shields, is capable of containing 2000 sail of vessels at one time, and ships of 1000 tons' burthen can safely pass the bar at its mouth, in spring tides. The entrance is defended by several forts, of which the principal are, Clifford's fort, erected in 1672; the Spanish battery, raised at the time of the threatened invasion by the celebrated Armada; and Tynemouth Castle. At Clifford's fort was formerly a light-house called the Low Light, and on an eminence to the west of it was another named the High Light. Both of these, since the shifting of the bar at the mouth of the harbour, within the last thirty years, have been discontinued; and others, under the direction of the Newcastle Trinity Company, have been erected in their stead, one on the bank opposite Dockwray-square, and the other at the Low Light shore. The quay formed by a late Duke of Northumberland, in 1804, is spacious and commodious; several bonding warehouses have been erected here, and near it are the custom-house, the landing-place for the steam-packets, an extensive area in which the market is held, and a handsome hotel. Arrangements are in progress for the erection of a quay extending from that part called the Shepherd's quay to the union road on the east, adjoining the Low Light shore, a line recommended some years since by the late Mr. Rennie. This quay will be fronted with a wall of solid stone 2365 feet in length, and the space behind filled up with ballast from the vessels which here take in their lading of coal: a frontage of 20 feet will be left free for public use, and the remainder attached to the adjacent dwelling-houses. The estimated expense of this work is about £9000. The houses adjoining the customhouse quay will be removed for the construction of docks for repairing vessels. Ships employed in the foreign trade are compelled to clear out from the customhouse at Newcastle; but vessels trading coastwise may clear out from the custom-house at this port. Steamboats ply every half-hour to Newcastle, for the conveyance of passengers and goods; and there is a steam ferry to South Shields.
The manufactures in the town and immediate neighbourhood are principally connected with, shipping. There are two yards for ship-building, and others for smaller vessels and boats; several roperies, and manufactories for sailcloth, tobacco, starch, hats, and gloves; some salt-works, a mill for grinding flint, and a large establishment for earthenware and stained glass; numerous iron-foundries; several forges, one of which has machinery for the manufacture of scrap-iron; and some manufactories for chain-cables and anchors. Patent windlasses are also manufactured. Messrs. Waite established a manufactory for steam-boat engines in 1821, and have a flour-mill at Low Lights. The market is on Saturday, and is abundantly supplied with provisions of all kinds; there are fairs on the 1st of March and of November. Courts leet and baron are held at Easter and Michaelmas, by the steward of the manor of Tynemouth, which belongs to the Duke of Northumberland; and the magistrates for the division hold petty-sessions every Tuesday. The powers of the county debt-court of North Shields, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Tynemouth. A handsome building in the Elizabethan style has been erected in Savillestreet, in which is the office of the superintendent-registrar, and in which also the board of guardians for the union of Tynemouth hold their meetings. A town-hall, having a handsome interior, was opened in August 1845. The Newcastle and Tynemouth railway has a station here, occupying an area of about two acres in front, of Bedford-street.
The parochial church of Tynemouth is on the north side of the town. In the western part is a chapel of ease, dedicated to the Holy Trinity on the 27th of October, 1836, having been erected at a cost of £3760, by subscription, aided by a donation of £350 from the Duke of Northumberland, and a grant from the Church-Building Society. His a handsome structure in the early English style, with a square embattled tower, surmounted by an octagonal turret crowned with pinnacles, and contains 1200 sittings, of which 602 are free. At the north-west entrance of the town is a cemetery, formed in 1834, and having a gateway of four finelysculptured columns. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Methodists of the New Connexion, and Wesleyans, a Scottish church, and a Roman Catholic chapel. A school has been established and endowed by the trustees of the late Mr. Thomas Kettlewell, who for that purpose bequeathed property which has been invested in the purchase of £2000 new four per cents, and £2000 three per cent, consols. An asylum for decayed master-mariners was erected on a site given by the late Duke of Northumberland, comprising about an acre on the Tynemouth road. The buildings are of the Elizabethan style, and consist of nine houses forming a semi-quadrangle, in the centre of which is a statue of the duke; they will accommodate 32 inmates, each of whom has two apartments, and receives an annual gratuity. There are numerous benefit and friendly societies, and various bequests for distribution among the poor. In excavating the ground for the formation of the new street to the market-place, an immense boulder of mountain limestone, with some specimens of copper-ore, was discovered at a depth of 20 feet.
SHIELDS, SOUTH, a sea-port, newly-enfranchised borough, and township, and the head of a union, in the parish of Jarrow, E. division of Chester ward, N. division of Durham, 20 miles (N. N. E.) from Durham, and 278 (N. N. W.) from London; the township containing 9082 inhabitants. This place, the importance of which is comparatively of modern date, lays claim notwithstanding to an origin of remote antiquity, and has strong indications of having been a Roman station. At the western extremity of the town is an elevated pavement, near the mouth of the Tyne, corresponding with a similar work near the end of the wall of Severus on the opposite bank of the river. It was evidently constructed by the Romans, for the safe landing of their forces at the ebbing and flowing of the tide; and at a place called the Lawe, between the town and the river, a hypocaust, some altars, coins, and numerous other vestiges of Roman occupation, have been found. In the opinion of some antiquaries, the place seems almost identified with the ancient Segedunum, the first station on the wall of Severus. A military road branching from the Watling-street, passing over Durham and Harbrass moors, and by Lumley Castle, terminates here; it is called the Wreken Dyke by Hutchinson, who derives that name from its probable restoration by the Danes, for the more easy access to the Tyne. The trade of South Shields was greatly promoted by the establishment about the year 1499 of the manufacture of salt, which, in the reigns of Elizabeth. James, and Charles I., attracted many strangers, who settled in the town. During the parliamentary war, a guard-house with a battery of four guns was erected on the Lawe, which was taken by the Scottish general Leslie in 1644, and which at the close of the late war was dismantled.
The town is situated on the southern bank of the Tyne, at its influx into the North Sea, and nearly opposite to the port of North Shields on the other side of the river. The older portion of it consists of long and inconveniently narrow streets, extending for more than a mile and a half along the shore of the river; the more modern portion contains many handsome ranges of buildings, among which are Winchester, Saville, and Frederick streets. Ogle and Albion terraces, and numerous pleasant villas on the east side of the town. The streets are lighted with gas by a company who have erected works for that purpose at an expense of £4000; and the inhabitants are supplied with water conveyed by pipes from springs in the neighbourhood, by a company established under an act of parliament obtained in 1788. A subscription library was established in 1803, and a literary, scientific, and mechanics' institution in 1825; the latter contains a library, and the requisite apparatus for experiments. There is a public newsroom in the town-hall; and at Bank Top is a theatre, erected in 1791.
The chief trade of the port is the shipping of coal from the various mines in the surrounding districts. Two collieries in the immediate vicinity of the town are in active operation, and connected with them are staiths for vessels, which were also used by the late Stanhope and Tyne, or Pontop and South Shields Railway Company. This company was established in 1833, and in the course of two years completed a railway from the town of Stanhope, in the western part of the county, to South Shields, a distance of thirty-four miles, at a cost of about £250,000. The staiths here are constructed on the most scientific and improved principles, and are capable of loading a vessel of 700 tons' burthen from each of the eight drops of the railway, in a period of six hours; 100,939 tons of coal were shipped at these staiths from the company's mines, in 1836, and about 166,500 tons are annually shipped from other collieries. Large cargoes are also brought down the river in keels, to be shipped in the colliers here. Considerable quantities of superior lime are carried by the railway, and distributed through a very extensive agricultural district; a portion of it is shipped from the staiths for Scotland. The Brandling Junction railway connects Shields with MonkWearmouth on the south, and Gateshead on the west; with the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, by the inclined plane from Gateshead to Redheugh; and with the York and Newcastle railway. The Pontop and the Brandling railways now belong to the York and Newcastle company. The number of vessels registered as belonging to the port is about 350, of the aggregate burthen of 77,000 tons. By far the greater number are employed in the coal-trade; a few are engaged in the American, Baltic, and Indian trades. The insurance of vessels is conducted by mutual assurance societies, of which one of the largest in the kingdom is established at this place, with a capital of more than a million sterling.
The port is capacious, the river here expanding into a wide bay capable of affording secure shelter to more than 2000 sail of merchant vessels; but the entrance is extremely dangerous. On the north of the channel are clusters of rugged and elevated rocks, and on the south a treacherous sand-bank with a great bar, which in easterly, north-easterly, and south-easterly winds, raises breakers to a tremendous height; so that vessels attempting to enter the harbour in a gale, are often by a single sea precipitated on the rocks or driven on the sands. In 1789, the "Adventure" of Newcastle was wrecked on the sands, and the whole of the crew perished in the sight of thousands of spectators, who could afford no assistance. Upon this, a number of gentlemen formed themselves into a committee to devise some means, if possible, for the prevention of the loss of life from these melancholy catastrophes, and in the same year, with the aid of Mr. Henry Greathead, constructed the life-boat, which, on the 30th of January 1790, rescued from destruction a crew which no other means could have saved. This important discovery was duly appreciated by government; parliament voted a present of £1200 to Mr. Greathead, the Royal Humane Society presented him with their gold medal, and the Empress of Russia with a diamond ring. In commemoration of the event, the device of a life-boat has been adopted in the public seal of the borough. In 1826, James Mather, Esq., of this place, invented the life-boat for ships, which is at present generally used for packet-vessels and steamers.
Ship-building was formerly carried on here to a vast extent, and during the late war not less than 30 ships were annually launched, but the number is now much reduced, and the trade almost confined to the repairing of vessels, for which there are two patent-slips. The manufacture of salt, to the introduction of which the town owed its earlier increase, was also extensive; and in 1696 there were 200 salt-pans, affording employment to many hundred persons: it is now conducted on a very reduced scale, not more than five tons of salt being produced weekly. The principal articles of manufacture at present are, plate, flint, and crown glass; bottles; alkali, salts, soda, soap, and oil of vitriol; anchors and chain-cables, and boilers for steam-engines. The plate-glass works were established in 1827; the glass is polished at Newcastle, and chiefly sent to London. Altogether there are nine glass-houses in constant operation, with mills for glass-grinding; and previously to the reduction of the duty, the amount for glass manufactured here exceeded £120,000 per annum. The Jarrow alkali-works, established in 1823, by Messrs. Cookson and Co., are situated on the margin of the river, near the entrance to the town. They are unrivalled for the production of alkalis, soda, alum, Epsom-salts, oil of vitriol, bleachingpowders, sulphates of copper, and other chemical substances, for which they are supplied with common salt from works at East Howden, in Northumberland: from 700 to 800 persons are employed. Here are also, a paint manufactory, worked by steam; five roperies, in some of which patent cordage is made; six breweries, and various other establishments. The market is on Wednesday; a customary market is held on Saturday; and there are fairs, granted by charter of Bishop Trevor in 1770, annually on the 24th of June and the 1st of September. The markets are held in a large area in the centre of the town.
The municipal, affairs are managed by commissioners under a local act of the reign of George IV. The docks, manufactories, and other important works, are exempt from one-half of the rates charged on other property. Petty-sessions for this part of the Eastern division of Chester ward are held here every Wednesday; and courts leet and baron for making presentments, and for the recovery of small debts, are held in the town-hall, under the Dean and Chapter of Durham, as lords of the manor. The powers of the county debtcourt of South Shields, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of South Shields. The townhall, situated in the market-place, was erected in 1768, by the Dean and Chapter, and is a neat and commodious structure, supported on a colonnade, within the area of which the market for butter, eggs, and poultry is held. It is used by the merchants for the purpose of an exchange. The borough returns one member to parliament; the franchise is vested in the £10 householders of the townships of South Shields and Westoe, together comprising a population of 23,072, and the returning officer is appointed by the sheriff. A large portion of the land within the borough belongs to the Dean and Chapter, under whom it is held on building leases of 21 years, renewable every seven years on payment of a fine; and the old tenants are acknowledged to hold a beneficial interest in their leases (which are objects of sale, mortgage, or settlement) as freeholders. The township of South Shields comprises an area of 89a. 2r. 20p.
The ancient chapel of St. Hilda, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt in 1810 at an expense of £5000, and retains but little of its original character, though it still contains some fine monuments; the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £330; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter. A church was erected in 1818, in that part of the town which is in the township of Westoe. Another dedicated to the Holy Trinity was erected in the Western Commercial-road, in 1834, at a cost of £3350, chiefly defrayed by the Dean and Chapter; it is a handsome structure with a square embattled tower, containing 1200 sittings, of which 800 are free: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £350; patrons, the Dean and Chapter. There is an oratory at Harton, which is a curacy in the patronage of the Incumbent of South Shields; and an additional church has been erected at the east end of the town, within the chapelry of St. Hilda, at a cost of about £2000: it was consecrated in October 1846, and is dedicated to St. Stephen. The design is of the early English style, with a tower surmounted by a spire, and the building contains 800 sittings, including 500 free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter, with a net income of £200. There are three places of worship belonging to the Wesleyans; two each to the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists of the New Connexion; and one each to the Independents, Primitive Methodists, and members of the United Secession Church. A school was founded in 1769, by bequests from Christopher Maughan in 1749, and Ann Aubone in 1760, which, augmented by subsequent benefactions from Ralph Redhead and others, produce an income of £82 per annum. The poor-law union of South Shields comprises six parishes or places, containing a population of 28,907. In the chapelry is a saline spring, the water of which was found on analysis to contain in one gill, of muriate of lime 2 grains, muriate of magnesia 1.6, muriate of soda 3.9, carbonate of lime and magnesia 10, and of sulphate of lime 3: this water, which contains neither any particle of iron nor of free acids, is used by some poor families instead of yeast, in making their bread. Near Marsden Rock, on the coast, is found elastic limestone, which does not occur elsewhere in England; it is perfectly flexible to the touch, and is regarded as a singular curiosity.— See Harton and Westoe.
Shiffnall (St. Andrew)
SHIFFNALL (St. Andrew), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Shiffnall division of the hundred of Brimstree, S. division of Salop; containing, with the townships of Hatton and Woodside, and the chapelry of Prior's Lee, 5244 inhabitants, of whom 1872 are in the town, 17½ miles (E. by S.) from Shrewsbury, and 143 (N. W.) from London. This place, formerly called Idsall, appears to have been of greater note than it is at present. It belonged to Earl Morcar prior to the Conquest, and at a period considerably later was the property of the family of Dunstanville, one of whom, Walter de Dunstanville, by the special command of Henry III., resided in the Marches, to protect them against the ravaging incursions of the Welsh. The estate afterwards came into the possession of the Badlesmeres, who obtained from Edward I. a market for two days in the week, and two yearly fairs. Bartholomew de Badlesmere having been executed for his participation in the battle of Boroughbridge, it subsequently became the property of various families of distinction, among whom were those of Bohun, Tiptoft, Ab Rees, Mortimer, and Talbot. The town is supposed to have been destroyed by fire, and then built on its present site eastward of the church, having been, prior to its destruction, situated to the west. A book printed towards the end of the fifteenth century, entitled The Burnynge of the Town of Idsall, alias Shiffnall, is said to be in existence, though very scarce. Shiffnall is on the road from London to Holyhead, in a country abounding with coal and iron-ore, and the inhabitants are supplied with good water from wells. A subscription library is maintained. The market is on Tuesday; and there are fairs on the first Monday in April, August 5th, and November 23rd, for hops, horses, and cattle of different kinds. A pettysession for the division is held monthly by the magistrates, and a court leet annually. The coal and ironstone with which the substratum abounds are worked on a very extensive scale, by a company at Prior's-Lee. The parish comprises 11,433a. 28p. of land, chiefly arable; the soil is fertile, and produces excellent crops of wheat, barley, beans, and peas.
The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £15. 6. 8.; net income, £450; patrons, the Brooke family. The great tithes have been commuted for £1634, and the small for £305: the vicar has a glebe of 60 acres. The church is a large cruciform structure, with a tower in the centre; the prevailing character is the Norman, with alterations of less ancient date, and the four pointed arches supporting the tower are good specimens of later Norman architecture. The chancel, in which are two round-headed windows (now blocked up), with slender-shafted columns and decorated capitals, is evidently of very early date, and is separated from the tower by a large semicircular arch, a fine specimen of the early Norman style. The roof of the chancel, which is of a high pitch, is supported by framework of oak, of elegant design, richly carved, and springing from corbels on the walls; the roof of the nave, which is of similar character and equally beautiful, is hidden by a plaster ceiling added in 1810, when the church underwent a thorough repair. At Prior's-Lee is a separate incumbency. The Baptists and Independents have places of worship. A free school established in 1595, by John Aron, had from endowments a sum of £13. 7. 4., which was paid until 1816, when an addition was made from a fund raised by subscription, making the income £30 per annum, and the national system was adopted. There is an exhibition to Christ-Church College, Oxford, founded in 1689 by Edward Cares well; but the course of education now pursued not qualifying the scholars for the university, the benefit of it is enjoyed by a private school, the master of which is nominally classical roaster of the free school. Several small sums called Dole charities, have been left by different persons for the benefit of the poor. The union of Shiffnall comprises 15 parishes or places, of which 11 are in the county of Salop and 4 in that of Stafford, the whole containing a population of 11,050. In a field near the vicarage-house are the remains of a military station, consisting of a circular mound with a ditch. Shiffnall is the birthplace of Dr. Beddoes, a physician eminent as well for his literary attainments as for professional skill.
SHIFFORD, a chapelry, in the parish and hundred of Bampton, union of Witney, county of Oxford, 6 miles (S. E.) from Witney; containing 52 inhabitants. It appears from a Saxon MS. in the Cottonian library, that Alfred the Great held one of his first councils here, probably on a piece of ground near the chapel, called Court Close. The chapel is an ancient structure. | <urn:uuid:ee91950c-97bc-4e64-80fd-fcac9e66a03e> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp74-80 | 2016-07-30T17:29:59Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469258936356.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723072856-00280-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968522 | 9,719 |
Yesterday I phoned a local music shop to ask for advice. Someone had made my son an offer on his bass guitar, and I wanted to know if it was a fair price. I explained this to the man who answered the phone. His response was to point out that, "Of course, we would have to charge you for this information."
"Why 'of course'?" I asked.
He was astonished. He explained that he was trying to run a business and he wouldn't be very successful at it if he gave advice free of charge. He assured me that, should I ever meet a freelance consultant and ask them a question, they would charge me for the answer. I responded by thanking him for his time and pointed out that I am just such a freelance consultant and I regularly give advice free of charge. He told me I couldn't expect to survive very long with a business model like that.
My own view is that, if I know of someone who has demonstrated to me (without charge) that they have expertise in a certain area, that I am more likely to go to that person when I want to buy related goods or services.
I give away ideas and advice in several places: discussion forums, community Q&A boards, this blog, Twitter. My hope is that, when someone who has benefitted from one my suggestions is in the market for something that I can offer, they will consider approaching me.
Perhaps I'm being naive. But I prefer the world I live in to the one occupied by the man at the music shop.
Oh, and we accepted the offer on the bass. My son is delighted with the cash injection. The buyer is delighted with his (beautiful) new bass guitar. Everybody wins.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Yesterday I phoned a local music shop to ask for advice. Someone had made my son an offer on his bass guitar, and I wanted to know if it was a fair price. I explained this to the man who answered the phone. His response was to point out that, "Of course, we would have to charge you for this information."
Today on Twitter, I picked up a useful link from a contact I know only as Documentally (even though we have discovered we live pretty close to one another!). Since my husband has a congenital condition that causes his hands to tremble slightly, his photos tend to be blurry. Modern cameras have built-in technology to overcome that, so in recent years, this has been less of a problem but hand tremors can negate this technology on close-up shots. Documentally's link was to this video showing how you can make a stabiliser for under $1. I'm certainly going to give it a whirl!
Oh, and for those of you who still think that Twitter is not a learning tool... I present exhibit A.
$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod - video powered by Metacafe
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Hoo boy! Janet Clarey has tagged me with this meme. The trouble is the 'you don't need to know about me' bit is a danger zone for me. I have far too few no go zones in my conversation, and am likely to tell people stuff they neither need nor want to know about me. Especially now that I am working in isolation at home, and am therefore no longer in daily contact with the reining in influence of English colleagues!
Because this is not my first go at a meme of this nature, it's difficult to think of enough appropriate things.
I'll give it my best shot because, as Janet points out, it's a way to flesh out the person behind the blog, but I think I'll chicken out of the tagging seven other people bit... unless you want to have a go. In which case, tag - you're it!
- In high school, I was a sprinter - mainly 400m, although I was fairly useful over 200m and usually made the 4X100m relay team
- I played Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof many years ago and, my only regret about leaving the theatre world is that I am now unlikely to get to play Golde - a role I would have loved. I'm about the right age now, if anyone is casting - and I know the part well ;o)
- There is no limit to the number of times I can watch a favourite movie or read a favourite book
- I once had a car accident in which I fractured my skull in five places - I looked liked Rocky! My right eye was paralysed after the accident. The opthalmic surgeon prognosed (if that's a word) that my eyes would never quite work in concert again, and I would suffer double vision for the rest of my life. If you're observant, you can see that my eyes don't quite line up, but I only have double vision on the outer edge of my 3 o' clock to 5 o'clock range. If you ask really nicely, I'll let you run your finger along the jagged upper edge of my right eye socket ;oP
- I can't abide the sensation of being drunk, so I simply don't go there. I seldom drink more than a single glass of wine or cider, and I am at a loss as to why anyone would deliberately set out to get drunk
- I have been nominated for a Shorty award, even though I still haven't figured out what they are
- John and I got engaged 10 days after we met, and were married 9 months after that. It's the only time John has ever acted in haste! He is my complete antithesis, and we should be entirely incompatible. Nevertheless, we have been married for 20 years and are still going strong
I have been pondering this Christmas. And this is what I have been pondering about.
You know how I have been banging on about how work-related learning solutions need to be focused on what people need to do in their day jobs, and we need to stop burying them in theoretical head-knowledge?
Well, I'm wondering if the pendulum hasn't swung too far in that direction in some sectors.
I recently spent an evening chatting to a head teacher and her teacher husband. Both are about my age. The head teacher especially was expressing concern about the sort of skills being imparted to trainee teachers at college. According to her, newly qualified teachers (NQTs) and student teachers are all very well versed in a procedural approach to teaching. Almost to the level of say x, then do y, then say z.
She explained how, when she was training, she learnt a lot about how children learn. About how people respond in certain situations. She used this theory to develop an understanding about the sort of conditions that would be conducive to learning and to inform her teaching practice. What she wasn't taught was a great deal of nuts and bolts "how to teach". Her view is that NQTs now come equipped with a great many focused procedural skills, aimed at assessing pupils against the national standards, but little initiative. While they have strategies to deal with situations, they have little understanding of how those situations might have arisen in the first place.
I have seen some of the learning materials aimed at providing CPD to teaching-practitioners, and a large proportion of it would seem to be back her argument: if x and y conditions are true, then proceed as follows, if not, then take this course of action.
In the past, it always seemed to me that work-related learning on offer to existing/qualified practitioners was action-based, whereas the preparatory learning undertaken in the formal sector provided the grounding in the form of underlying theories. Is this approach falling away as we become increasingly wedded to informal learning?
Let it be be said that I am a fan of action-based learning, just-in-time performance support and all the related mechanisms for empowering people to do their jobs without dragging them through a raft of teaching. But I wonder if we aren't getting a little lazy on the theory side. I have railed on about the 'what' and 'how' in the past, pointing out that the 'when' and 'why' are equally important. I wonder if, even in some of our preparatory programmes of study we seem to be overly focussed on the what, when and how and forgetting the why.
Is an excess of 'if this then that' not a return to a form of behaviourism? When every job becomes a box-ticking exercise, who will there be who understands why such-and-such a box has to be ticked? Who will then decide that perhaps such-and-such a box has passed its sell-by date?
This puts me in mind of a (possibly apocryphal) story I heard who knows where, about a business analyst recently brought in to streamline the processes within a long-standing manufacturing company in London.
He looked at the forms that had to be completed at each stage and identified several changes that could be made. On one form, there was a box in which the supervisor of every shift was dutifully entering 'O'. There was a blur next to the box that must once have been legible text, but copies of copies of copies had seen to it that it was now impossible to identify what was so consistently being rated 'O' every day. The man asked several of the supervisors and none could explain what the box represented. All they knew was what they had been told to enter in that box. Much detective work unearthed a box in a warehouse, which contained the original master copies of all the forms in use in the factory. It seemed that, every day, the shift supervisors were dutifully recording that manufacture had been interrupted by zero air raids that day!
If no-one knows why we do a thing, are we not placing ourselves at risk of 'this is the way it's always been done' with no-one having the courage to change something, just in case it turns out to serve some vital purpose with the potential to bring the business to its knees?
Image acknowledgement: Pendulum by Phillie Casablanca
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
I know it's only Christmas eve, but I have had to adopt my husband's Scandinavian traditions, which means we will be celebrating Christmas tonight.
My elder son got to set the menu this year, while it was my younger son's turn to do the table decor. My husband will do the roast beast in the kettle barbecue outside (yes - in the winter!) so that I can have all the space in the oven for veg and yorkshire pudding. Everything that can be pre-prepared has been, and I have only one gift left to make (which is giving me no end of a hard time!).
I'll sign off now and see you after the festivities.
I'll drink a toast to you: may this Christmas be a time of glad tidings for us all.
Maybe the year hasn't gone quite as you would have liked (mine certainly hasn't!). Maybe you haven't achieved all you had hoped (me neither). Maybe there have been a few really dark moments along the way (join the club!). Maybe Santa won't bring you exactly what you hoped for.
But look at the faces around the table, or those that you meet in church on Christmas morning; listen to the voices on the phone or out in the street and remember - it isn't about the technology, it isn't even about the learning - it's about the people.
Merry Christmas to you. Thanks for being with me this year.
Monday, December 22, 2008
I have been having an awful lot of trouble with Technorati lately and my emails to their support team have been met with a resounding silence. So now I turn to you to find out if anyone knows the solution to my little problem.
According to Technorati this morning, my blog was last pinged two days ago. Fine. However, according to Technorati, my latest post was this one, 17 days ago! All subsequent posts have slipped by unnoticed.
This has happened a few times over the past several months, and the only way I have been able to resolve it has been to get the Technorati team to look into it for me. This time even that doesn't seem to be an option.
And my rating is dropping like a stone into the bargain. I signed up for a Technorati account in order to be able to keep up with conversations in which I have been cited, so the rating issue isn't really important. However, since I had planned to use the information in my dissertation, I would prefer it to be accurate!
If anyone has any suggestions of alternatives to Technorati, in order to be able to keep up with conversations in which I am cited, I'm all ears. I'm fed to the back teeth with having to chase them for a manual update every so often. At the moment, I seem to be limited to the occasional narcissus-search, which means paging through umpteen mentions I already know about.
Friday, December 19, 2008
I have a son who is studying PE/sports science in 6th form. He is sports mad and thoroughly enjoys what he learns in these lessons. He even finds the associated theory riveting. In the midst of all the trials the poor child is experiencing, this subject has been the one bright spot. We recently received a letter from the head commending his application and effort and saying that his hard work had been noted at the highest levels in the school. After a spate of negative letters, this was like finding a fresh spring!
The thing is, he seems to be the exception in the class.
When they have a practical lesson, he gives it his all - regardless of the sport being played. This is really driving the rest of the class nuts.
Honestly, B----, why do you have to take it so seriously?
Oh, lighten up!
Why do you have to make a competition out of everything?
It's not always a competition you know!
It's not about winning!
He gets the feeling that is considered mildly indecent to try to win. He was letting off steam about this recently and said two very insightful things:
- If it's not about winning, why do we keep score?
- If it not a competition, why don't we just get rid of the goalposts, the try line, the finish line?
- There may be other contenders for the heart of the love of your life
- There are bound to be other applicants for the job you want
- You can almost guarantee that there will be more applicants than spaces for the study programme you want to follow
- If you don't have goals, how will you assess your progress?
- If you don't break a sweat from time to time, how will you ever know what you're capable of?
Maybe it's too much of a stretch to lay the blame for this at the door of those dreadful 'sports days' where no spectators are allowed, no-one wins, no-one loses and a bunch of kids aimlessly drift from station to station around a circuit. But I'm willing to bet it doesn't help!
Now I'm not advocating that we encourage our kids to go out there and draw blood in order to win at all costs, but I would like to see them being encouraged to care, to try.
I wish I could take it as a sign that the people of Hasbro read my blog, but this week's PC Pro podcast covers the news that "Scrabble owner Hasbro drops its case against Facebook imitator, Scrabulous." Apparently Scrabulous is a firm favourite in the office at PC Pro, too!
I was quite tickled that this discussion took place on my birthday (yesterday), so that was the day I came to receive this piece of good news. But is it good news? Or is it too late? Now that so much development work has been done on the poor relation, Wordscraper?
I will say this. The first sign I get that Scrabulous is once again on offer via Facebook, I'll be there like white on rice. Are we on, Mr Downes?
The 1 December edition of Time magazine (ironically, the same edition in which this Michael Kinsey essay on the downside of blogging appeared), there is a 10 Questions interview with Magic Johnson.
In the print version, the very first question was "What is the most important business lesson you've learned?" Johnson's response was:
Always make your business about the customer and never about yourself. I learned that when I invested in a sports-paraphernalia store. I was also the buyer, so I bought everything I liked and didn't buy anything that the customers liked. I ended up losing a lot of money because of that.In the same edition, there is a KBC advert with the strapline "We start from the principle that every client is our only client" - very Jerry Maguire! Note: I had never even heard of KBC before, so I can't say whether they succeed with this ethos!
Few things are guaranteed to send me incandescent with rage as quickly as shoddy customer service.
I am looking for a new mobile phone at the moment (please don't flood me with the pros and cons of the iPhone - I'm not on that kind of budget) and the sales person in the first shop we went to couldn't do enough to assist, even down to bringing out a few handsets for me to play with - all this AFTER he had established that he wasn't going to be able to supply us with a phone because his branch doesn't do business contracts. He helped us settle on one or two to choose from before sending us across the way to the company that could sign us up. My husband (who had been dragged along as my adviser, since my eyes glaze over and my mind clangs shut when they start explaining the contracts) was so impressed that he made what - for him - amounts to a little speech as we left (look - the man's a phlegmatic Swede, what can I tell you?).
Perhaps we could be cynical and say that, with the credit crunch on, the salesman has the time to spare for customers who aren't going to net him a commission, but his whole demeanour was that he wanted me to end up with the phone-and-contract combination that would best suit my preferences and my budget.
The problem is, that the customer we come into contact with is usually he-who-signs-the-cheque or a direct representative. Surely the real customer is he-who-uses-the-learning-resource? We need to find a way to put that person at the centre. It's a tough call, trying to get the commissioning client to set their own demands aside for long enough to see things from the end-user's perspective. Often, they're so busy seeing themselves as your customer, they forget to the end-user as theirs (and therefore, by extension, your ultimate customer).
We need to develop some politely assertive ways of bringing the learner back into focus in all our discussions with the commissioning client, or we could end up learning the lesson that magic Johnson learned.
Monday, December 15, 2008
A short while ago, Hasbro forced the removal of a Facebook application called Scrabulous. I made my views known at the time. Since then, we addicts have had to look for other ways to scratch that itch.
There is an online version of Scrabble (not sure if that link will work, since it goes to an app within Facebook), but it's most unsatisfactory. It's clunky. The interface is bleagh. It's not available in the USA and Canada. And it doesn't notify you when it's your turn to play.
The other option is called Wordscraper (once again the link may not work). But things keep changing. First, it was the board layout that was both different and changeable, as a result of which some fairly mediocre words could rack up stupendous scores. There also seems to be an attempt to go all 2.0 on us, since you have the power to design your own board layout. I don't like this bit. I like the rules of a game to be constant, so that I can hone my skills within those constraints. I would hate to head out onto the squash court to find that my opponent has been allowed to redesign the court for the game, and I am faced with a completely different layout from that I am accustomed to playing on.
The distribution of the letters is different, as are the points values of many of the letters. When you have known all your life that there are 12 Es in a game, and that a Q is worth 10 points, it is disconcerting to run out of Es when only nine of them are on the board, and to see your opponent score 12 points for playing a Q.
The most recent change, which has got my most regular opponent and me grinding our teeth is that we suddenly find ourselves faced with racks containing 8 letters, rather than the usual 7. You would think that would open up a whole range of additional possibilities, but we have found otherwise. I have heard snippets of research (which I admit that I have never followed up) that the human mind tends to work well with visual groups of seven. I have no idea if this is the case or if this the reason Scrabble's 7 letter-racks work so well. What I do know, is that, trying to play a 'bingo' (making a word with all the letters on your rack, for a 50-point bonus) with 8 letters is far more difficult than with seven - and I have yet to manage it. We are playing much lower scoring words than usual.
Now, I suspect that the problem here is that the designers of the app are trying to stay one step ahead of a copyright/patent breach. When we're designing learning solutions, what's our excuse? Do we keep changing things, too - just for the sake of making them different, for keeping the user on his/her toes?
Do we have a valid reason for delivering this module in a different format and using different navigation than we used for the last one? If the answer is yes, good on yer! If the answer is 'well um', I'd suggest putting yourself in the user's shoes and revisiting the overhaul. Whose interests are you serving?
Regular readers of this blog know that I am all in favour of changing the way we do things, if we find a more efficient approach, and that I have no patience with 'this is the way it's always been done'. But equally, change just for the sake of change, just to be different, isn't really helpful to anyone.
In the past few days or so, I have been surprised to discover two regular readers of this blog in unexpected places.
The first was during a game of Wordscraper (more about that, anon) with Stephen Downes. In the chat panel, I referred to a blogpost of mine, which Stephen said he remembered. Remembered? This meant he had read it in the first place! I remarked that it never occurred to me that he was a regular reader. It seems he is - of this and many more blogs than he believes people realise.
Last night, a friend described how moved he had been by the Zander video. I asked how he had come to hear about it only to learn that he, too, is a regular reader of this blog. He said "You'd be surprised how many people read it."
It's humbling to think that my ramblings reach further than I had realised. It's also gratifying to know that the interest in the conversation is ever-extending, that Everyman is well and truly taking the reins of the read/write web.
Stephen's is one of a list of names my kids may still be the only people in their peer groups to know, because they regularly hear me talk about them. But this may change. Because the names on that list crop up quite often on this blog, and because this blog has readers in unexpected places (the friend I mentioned is a financial adviser - totally unrelated to the world of L&D), that list of names is becoming known in new places. And perhaps these non-L&D readers will be challenged/inspired/motivated (pick your verb) to take control of their own learning journeys. So perhaps, one miniscule patch at a time, inconsequential people like me (and you?) will change the face of work-based learning provision.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Two separate people commented on my recent post with a link to this video. You'll have to watch it to discover what the title of this post means.
I was so touched by Zander's passion I called my beleaguered elder son to come and watch it with me. I wish I could say that the light came on in his eyes, but that would be a gross exaggeration. I have encouraged him to undertake the time travel Zander suggests and write a letter from his future self. He said he'd give it a go. I hated school myself, and was badly suited to its rigours and restrictions, but I have since managed to find the secret to "one-buttock learning".
If I could have one Christmas wish, it would be that my son would unlock that secret, and if it can't apply to learning, that he would at least rediscover his zest for life and all that it has to offer.
Anyone out there in a position to give me the yearning of my heart?
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Richard Nantel, Dave Ferguson and I (and a few others) have been having a comment-versation about a video of Richard's daughter learning to play the guitar on Facebook.
For no good reason at all, other than a snatch of French lyrics Dave quoted, I was reminded of this song. Several people have done bang-up jobs of covering it, in French and in English (and no doubt in other languages, too) including some friends of mine. But I hope none of them will be offended if I say that no-one captures the undercurrent of quiet desperation quite like Jacques Brel did.
Learning to sing, learning to play an instrument is about more than just producing the right notes in the right order. It is about imbuing those notes with meaning; giving them life; giving them soul. Were it not so, no-one beyond a 5 mile radius of her home would ever have heard of Edith Piaf, for example. She didn't always hit the right note, she was not beautiful and she stood on one spot on the stage. But boy could she wring every ounce of passion out of a song!
Posted by The upsycho at 3:40 pm
Monday, December 08, 2008
I almost forgot to share this picture which I took this morning. Now I know what you're thinking - you're wondering what exotic location I have travelled to (oh, humour me!), when in fact this was view that greeted me from my very own bedroom window when I rolled out of bed this morning.
Yeah, yeah, I know - shepherds' warning and all that. I don't care. I reckon it's a great way to start a day.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
This Christmas is going to be tough for most of us. To be honest, I find it somewhat distasteful that we mark the occasion of a child born into abject poverty (regardless of whether or not you acknowledge the divinity of said child) by means of excess: too much food, too much alcohol, too much spending.
So perhaps it is no bad thing that we are being forced to tighten our belts this time around. Perhaps it will give us cause to re-examine the way we choose to celebrate Christmas.
With my own fledgling venture into self-employment as yet unproven in terms of providing a steady income, we have made a rule this year: all gifts have to be something you have made, something you will do or, if you're absolutely desperate, something from the 99p shop.
In case you are staring down the barrel of a similarly budget-strapped Christmas, I'd like to share a few ideas. Maybe you'll find something to inspire you.
My younger son is pretty good at coming up with homemade gift ideas for his Dad. Check out this last minute save from Father's Day. He has also used bits and bobs found in the garage to make a key rack to hang behind the front door.
I am pretty good at knitting, so I have been known to knit complicated Kaffe Fassett garments. However, the yarn for these can be rather pricy, so you could scale it down and use remnants to make hats, scarves and mittens/gloves. You might also try your hand at a spot of cross-stitch, glass painting, etc.
Gifts from your kitchen
Every year, I use my mother-in-law's delicious recipe to make almond crunch. You can also make fudge, cakes, biscuits, lollipops (these are dead easy: sugar, water and flavouring!) and so on. If you're any good at making jams and preserves or homemade wine, these can be beautifully wrapped to make lovely gifts. I have one friend who has converted an old filing cabinet into a smoker and uses it to make homemade smoked salmon which she gives as gifts.
Personalised recipe book
Once, many years ago, I was stone broke. My boyfriend at the time was a keen cook. I bought an indexed notebook, covered it in beautiful paper and handwrote in it several of his favourite recipes collected from his friends. Of course, the rest of the space was intended for him to write new recipes discovered on his many evenings eating out in the homes of friends. It took me hours and hours. He absolutely loved it.
It's usually possible to pick up large clip frames for very little. One year I gave my husband a collage of photos of the boys and me for his office. He has reciprocated with photos for my desk, too.
If you're daring
This is for the braver ladies. If you've seen the movie calendar girl, you'll know where I got my inspiration. One year, I colluded with a (female) friend to compile a tasteful girlie calendar for my husband... with me as the girlie. It cost nothing but time and effort. Of course, it was a bit of a double edged sword - he loved the calendar, but wasn't really free to hang it up anywhere where others might see it!
Download the backing track of a special song, record yourself singing it, and then use that as a soundtrack for a photocollage or video, which you could publish on YouTube. You could also create an animoto video using photos that are special to the person. Or how about a collection of photos to be used as a screen saver?
Create a CD of a person's favourite songs, songs that express your feelings for that person, or that mark the milestones of that person's life or your relationship with them. Make a personalised CD label for it. I did this for our last anniversary, for which we had agreed not to spend money on gifts for each other.
If you're any good at writing poetry, you could write one for a person. If you do decent calligraphy, you could write it up and frame it. If not, you can go for the option of printing it out using a suitable font. If you're really prolific, you could write a whole anthology and get it printed and bound.
You could consider making a set of vouchers for someone, which they can redeem against your services in some or other capacity. For example: my older son doesn't much like playing on the XBox any more. My younger son loves it, but he doesn't like playing alone. He's always after his brother to play with him. This year, my older son is giving his little brother ten vouchers each worth an hour of his company on the XBox. Similar vouchers could be made for lawnmowing services, foot massages, carwashing, romantic homecooked dinners, etc... your imagination (and daring) is the only limit.
This is your life
For his 40th birthday, I compiled a 'this is your life' folder for my husband. I collected handwritten anecdotes from friends and relatives around the world. These, together with photos and contributions from me about John in his different roles (son, brother, husband, father, employee, etc.), were collated in a file. On the day of his party, all the cards attached to gifts he received, as well as photos of party were added to the file. He was so tickled with it that, when my own 40th rolled around, he went one step further and had a professional scrapbooker make one up for me. It is one of my most treasured possessions.
Anyone got any other ideas? Let's see if this Christmas our gifts can be personal and meaningful without costing a bomb.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Today's UK newspapers are almost all leading with stories of the case of Shannon Matthews - possibly because of a Panorama on the subject on TV last night.
When this little girl went missing in February of this year, my heart ached for her mother, Karen. Like many other mothers (and probably several fathers) I was moved to tears by her emotional appeal for the return of her daughter on television, and the constant replay of her call to the emergency services (apologies for the entirely inappropriate advert on the front end - I can do nothing about that!)
As the days passed, I told my husband with grim certainty, "They're going to find a body."
I was wrong.
She was found alive less than a mile from her home 24 days after her disappearance. She had been kept drugged and possibly tethered in the home of a man alleged at the time to be a paedophile. It transpired that he was the uncle of Karen's partner.
When the child was not restored to her home once she had been found, alarm bells began to go off. People who had given of their time and money searching for the missing girl became suspicious that there was more going on that met the eye.
It has now transpired that Karen had been an abusive mother who had arranged to have Shannon kidnapped in a bid to get her hands on some reward money. She had intended for Shannon to be the 'new Maddy'.
Neighbours are feeling betrayed and abused. Some of them went on marches, had T-shirts printed, conducted private searches and held candle-lit vigils with the woman who knew all along exactly where her child was.
This is a betrayal of trust on the most fundamental level. Not the trust of the neighbours. By comparison, that is small fry. The trust of the child.
I am incoherent with rage, for which I apologise. No child asks to be born, and when they are, those who are tasked with a duty of care towards that child need to step up to the oche... or make alternative arrangements. Children are not a means to an end.
One newspaper alleges that Karen Matthews referred to her children as a means to get her hands on 'benefits' (in the UK, parents are provided with a small sum of money each week for each child in their care - in spite of our relative affluence, and my non-native status, even I receive this amount of money each week for my two boys).
In the aftermath of the Shannon Matthews story, much has been made of the issue of the British 'underclasses'. There is a great deal of 'well, what else can you expect from people like that?' in the plethora of YouTube compilations on the subject. To my mind, this is not the point, and it does enormous disservice to those whose circumstances place them in such estates, where they are doing their level best to play the hand they have been dealt and to provide for their families.
My hope is that, in the right caring environment, with adequate counselling, this little girl can overcome this unspeakable betrayal and fulfill her potential in life.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Learning Circuits' big question for December is rapidly becoming something of a tradition. And like a certain other December tradition, it's one I dread - although for entirely different reasons.
Why do I dread having to tell you what I learned about learning during the course of the year? Because I learn so much, but I don't keep a record of it. My views and my professional progress change imperceptibly with every new post I read, with every online seminar I attend, with every in-the-flesh conference I go to, with every article I read, with every conversation I have with another learning professional, and sometimes even during conversations I have with people who have nothing to do with learning.
So let me give you an analogy. My sister-in-law is a potter. A proper one, with a studio and a wheel and a kiln and everything. When she sits at her wheel, she starts with a lump of clay and ends up with a pot. But ask her how the pot changed during the 17th minute of the process and she won't be able to tell you. By feel, she reacts to the minutiae of the clay and the wheel and and and. The difference is that, before she starts, she knows what the finished product is going to look like. At the start of each year, as I begin to throw another learning pot, I have no idea what it's going to look like at the end. In fact, I can't say I start a new pot every January!
So let me just list a few off-the-top-of-my-head things that have made blips on my radar this year:
- Cathy Moore's post on action-based learning gave shape to some of my thinking about the point of workplace learning initiatives
- Sort of related to this, 2008 has been, for me, a year in which two mantras have been 'workplace learning is about change' (although it's not always easy to get the commissioning client on board with this!) and 'what's it for?'
- I have discovered that I am synaesthetic, which has had a revelatory impact on my understanding of myself and my approach to learning and teaching, and information management in general
- There are influential people out there who hold the same view as I do about formal education... but that doesn't seem to change anything
- An increasing number of people are standing up and being counted on the bah humbug side of the learning styles fence... but this doesn't change the almost religious ardour of those on the other side of it
- Blogging is dangerous and freedom of speech is conditional
- Academic learning is not the access-all-areas learning space I thought
- Just-in-time performance support is learning... so there!
This account describes the daily life of Moses Mudzwiti - an ordinary Zimbabwean. If you prefer, you can read it within its original context of The Times newspaper. This, ladies and gentleman, is some people's reality. Aren't you glad you don't have to try to do your job under such circumstances? Hat tip to Jeremy Nell for the link. (Oh, and please note that a 'madam' in southern Africa is not a brothel keeper but the woman who employs domestic staff).
MY days don’t begin because they never end — life in Harare has become one endless chase. Around the clock most of us in Zimbabwe’s capital are chasing after something.
Like my countrymen, I have honed my search-and-find skills. With an ear to the ground, I am ever ready to rush to where it is at. Sometimes my wife, Nyarai, and I make a quick 30km dash just to buy fresh milk.
All it takes is a phone call. There is always something available in limited quantities somewhere. All you have to do is stay on your toes. Ice cream, yoghurt, bread and butter can all be found at reasonable prices if you are connected.
Otherwise, the only other place to buy groceries is the local Spar, where prices are three times the norm elsewhere in the world. Besides, they only accept the rand, British pounds and US dollars.
But lately it’s fresh water we are chasing in Harare.
Nearly every second car has some huge water tank at the back. Even sedans are doing their bit. Everyone seems to be carrying water from one part of town to another.
The other day I hooted at the car in front of me and flagged the driver down. I thought his car was leaking fuel. It turned out it was water dripping from his boot.
Like most of the northern suburbs, Highlands, where I live, has not had a drop of state-provided tap water for more than four months. The taps that are running are fed by boreholes.
Somehow these once serene suburbs have turned into giant villages. Other than the presence of traditional chiefs, most people live exactly the same way they would in rural areas — without electricity and running water.
Many of the former “madams” in suburban Harare collect firewood and cook on open fires, just as their great-grandmothers did.
Regular power cuts have made cooking on an electric stove a distant dream.
Zimbabwean city women have even learnt to carry huge water containers on their heads.
If it wasn’t so awful we would laugh at how the passing years have turned back the hands of time. The lack of water has exacerbated the devastating cholera outbreak, which has killed more than 400 people in just a month.
Just like in the movie Hotel Rwanda, we have turned our swimming pool into a water reservoir.
In the movie, desperate people sought refuge at a hotel during Rwanda’s genocide. They ended up using water from the swimming pool when their taps ran dry.
The water crisis in Zimbabwe has taught us to control our bowels more effectively as well. Otherwise, one has to make countless trips to the swimming pool to fetch water with a bucket.
As for bathing habits, anything goes. From using the same bath water more than once to cleaning up with a moist towel. After all, we can’t give up the only one we have left — dignity comes with personal hygiene.
Like many Zimbabweans, my family and I have learnt to cope with our miserable existence. We cannot even afford to sleep.
The power generally comes back in the night, so most chores have to be done then.
Simple things like checking e- mails and watching television are major achievements when completed successfully.
I cannot remember the last time I watched a football match to the end because invariably, the power cuts out at some point.
When I first arrived from South Africa in the middle of the year, I thought my PC had packed up because it kept switching off.
The lights were turned on, but when my wife couldn’t get her expensive microwave oven to function we knew the power supply was dodgy.
Sometimes the electricity voltage supplied is so, low electric bulbs remain dim.
The later it is, the stronger the current, which is why Nyarai does her laundry and baking late at night.
Though we have a state-of-the- art generator, fuel is too expensive for us to be able to afford constant use. At R10 a litre, petrol is certainly not cheap.
The only liquid that has enjoyed an astronomical rise in price in Harare is water. A woman in Southerton, another suburb, was this week doing brisk business selling water for R2 a litre.
Our family borehole, which only works with electricity, has become the centre of our survival.
At night we fill up containers and distribute water to our many less fortunate relatives.
Now and again we also have relatives coming over to have a bath.
Our dinner conversations inevitably steer towards how badly President Robert Mugabe’ s government is running Zimbabwe.
Many times we reminisce how “Zimbabwe ruined Rhodesia”.
Luckily for now, we can still have dinner and a glass of water after.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
The Edublog awards 2008 nominations are up and you can swing by and vote for the blogs of your choice in each of the 16 categories.
And no, this blog isn't nominated, so I don't have an ulterior motive for steering you towards the polling booth ;o)
I recently had a few problems with my car. They were problems of the sort that could have got me killed. I'd be bowling along the motorway at 70mph (national speed limit in the UK), when the car would suddenly die. An alarm would sound, lights would flash and the display panel would instruct me to stop (like I had a choice!) because of a fault with the emission levels.
When you're in heavy traffic, in the fast lane, with a dead car, you have no way of getting across the traffic to the safety of the hard shoulder.
So I did what you do. I took it in.
The service folks ran a diagnostic check on it. This basically involves attaching the car's on-board computer to a diagnostic computer so that the car can tell them what's wrong with it. Then they kept it for several days before getting around to fix it. Apparently it had developed a software fault and had needed an upgrade.
And I thought "Why can't I do that?"
Haven't we reached the point where we should be able to do this kind of stuff? We carry out software upgrades and install service packs on our computers. Why not our cars?
In the so called 'good ol' days', I would nip down to the local supplier, pick up a service pack for my make and model of car and then get stuck in changing plugs, points and condenser. I could change the filters faster than I could fry an egg, and, as long as I could get someone with the requisite upper body strength to loosen the sump nut, I could do an oil change, too.
Nowadays, I'm told that some models don't even have a bonnet (hood) that can be opened without a special key issued to accredited service professionals.
An erstwhile colleague of mine once told me that his brand new, swanky car developed a problem of some sort. He stormed into the dealers to give them a piece of his mind. The lady at the reception desk asked for his key, which she plugged into a computer on her desk (presumably a version of the diagnostic machine my guys were talking about) and told him exactly what was wrong with the car and what they would do to remedy it.
So this is what I reckon. In the old days I referred to above, if you had a rough idea of how your car worked, you saved yourself a fortune. If you didn't, you took it in to the shop and got royally ripped off. They told you the overhead swivel shaft was bent, the splashfeet wipers needed to be replaced and the allynyumnyum tank had sprung a leak. You nodded sagely and wrote out a cheque.
The current arrangement must surely be placing us at risk of the same unscrupulous operators. With the on-board computer as off-limits as the pre-Gutenberg Bible, we're at the mercy of the high priests of car maintenance.
If the data can be stored on a key, why can't we plug the key into our own computers, connect to the manufacturer's website and run our own diagnostic check? If what the car needs is a software upgrade, why can't we download that directly to the key and then upload it to the car via the ignition? Or, better yet, why can't we interface directly with the on-board computer, connect to the manufacturer via a wireless network and download what is needed directly to the car?
Sure, we have to bear in mind that we entrust the safety of our families to these vehicles, but we did that when we bundled them into a car on which we had changed the wheels, set the timing and replaced the carburettor.
Am I being over-ambitious? I put this to my husband, and he spouted all sorts of stuff about liability and data security and stuff, but I'm probably not clever enough to be convinced. If they can figure out a way for us to download a patch to the machine that runs our business and therefore represents our livelihood, surely those issues can be addressed?
I have a young friend in South Africa whom I have known since he was a little boy. He is now permanently bemused to find himself one of that country's top cartoonists.
I subscribe to his feed for my daily dose of his particular brand of humour. I have often been tempted to link to one of his strips on this blog, but have realised that the humour is embedded in the South African-ness of the situation and may be completely meaningless to an external audience.
However, Jeremy recently brought a close to the most locally branded strip and replaced it with one with a broader appeal (and, as a sad but inevitable consequence, considerably less bite). He also has a single panel current affairs commentary type cartoon in one of the country's English language newspapers.
His two daily cartoon strips form the backbone of his blog, although he does also write other posts (in which he reveals that the little boy I used to know remains very near to the surface).
Like all good cartoonists, Jeremy is more than just a print version of a comedian. Today's cartoon from The Times makes reference to the declaration by the the deputy chair of the South African National Aids Council that "the war (on AIDS) is over".
Monday, December 01, 2008
Picking up on my anguish, with his ever-sympathetic eye, Harold Jarche sent me a link to this site, which addresses the issue of bright boys whose scholastic results don't reflect this.
I homed in on the section titled 'Tips for parents', which I'd like to reproduce here, verbatim, for the benefit of other parents in similar situations, with a thinking out loud reaction to each:
- Ask your boy, “How was your day?” Do it every day, and of course listen to his response. If you get too short a response for two days in a row, ask a follow up question. Do not always inquire about homework or school as the only area of concern.
Check. I do this every day in the car on the way home, and at various other moments when the context is right.
- Every day, tell your boy, “You are a good kid.”
Check. Several times a day. Together with "I'm proud of you, you know."
- Allow and encourage computer work. Instead of saying “playing on the computer” ask your boy “what are you working on your computer.”
Check. Except my son appears to have developed an addiction to a particular game and times supposedly allocated to work often wind up being spent in the game instead. We're pretty flexible on the subject of Internet access, social media and computer usage in general, but we've had to put a ban on this game - it was taking up every waking moment!
- Minimize punishment for behavior that does not hurt others.
Check. But we also point out how it might hurt him. At 17, he needs to start swallowing the 'big boy pill' and facing up to reality.
- Give him $10. Immediate, unexpected reward is great reinforcement.
No. No. And thrice no. I will not bribe my children to produce what they're perfectly capable of. If he's not prepared to do something because it's important to him, bribery isn't going to change that, and it will send him all the wrong messages.
- Advocate for your boy. It is important for your boy to know you are supportive and willing to help.
Check. But he must not abuse this knowledge. When he has misrepresented the situation to me and I am left defending a position on a false premise, I become incandescent. I will not tolerate dissembling. My view is that when you screw up, you man up.
- Talk to teachers. Engage with teachers as often as you need to.
Check. And this isn't always easy.
- Talk to your doctor, and get a second opinion if you feel it is warranted, on medicine. This is not medical advice, nor advocating medicine.
Ha! On the NHS? Don't make me laugh.
- Guys are critical. Dads, older brothers, male supervisors at work, help your boy have a male role model. Guys don’t need to do a lot, they just need to do and say a little and it goes a long ways. Talk to your husband/companion about a few positive things to do or say. Explain the ‘deal’ with boys (neurology).
Hmm. This point seems to presuppose that only mothers are reading this article. Interesting. My husband is pretty good at this - it is something for which he been commended on many occasions by other dads.
- Explore alternatives to your current school. Not every situation is right for everyone. Explore other public schools, virtual schools, home schooling, tutoring.
Worth considering. Sadly, a virtual school would require a higher level of self-discipline than he possesses, home schooling is out, since I work and tutoring is very pricy. Nevertheless, it is an option we're considering. We might also have to consider another school. The school he attends at the moment is very highly regarded, but he just doesn't seem to be a very good fit with its ethos. This is not a new scenario to me. In fact, it takes me back 30 years to my own high school years!
- Talk to school counselors. If you get a good school counselor, use her or him when you need to. They can be a positive help in working with teachers.
Good point. Need to get on this right away.
- Ask about modifications. Changing a teacher, course subject, day or time. Just as your boy has a certain learning style, a teacher has a given teaching style. Not every teacher can respond to every student. So see if you have options.
Sadly, this is not an option. I say sadly, because there is at least one teacher who has pigeonholed my son in the 'naughty boy' slot and will not acknowledge anything he does at all.
- Talk to other parents. It helps.
Check. But I find other parents in this school are totally married to traditional mores. I find parents in the blogosphere far more informed and helpful.
- Let your boy know what is up with Smart Boys, Bad Grades. It’s not an excuse, but it is a reality. Go with your hunch. As a parent, you know the most about your boy.
Check. He also knows that my own grades in high school were little better than mediocre, even though much was expected of me. He knows that school isn't his last shot at it, but he also knows that later shots at it will be undertaken under far less conducive circumstances. It's tough trying to get your degree while earning a living and raising a family - ask me, I know!
This is a direct quote from this keynote speech by Sir Ken Robinson to the recent iNet Conference.
He draws the comparison with valued natural resources buried deep in the ground, requiring skill and effort in their extraction.
He relates the story that Paul McCartney and George Harrison were in the same music class in high school and were both regarded as being without musical talent - and they hated music lessons. As he puts it - there was this music teacher with half The Beatles in his class... and he missed it!
After what I have recently been through with my son, I felt enormously encouraged. I don't always agree with everything he has to say, but I find myself torn between relief that someone has such clarity of vision... and gets to express it in spaces with wide exposure, and frustration that nothing seems to be changing.
Today has been declared 'save the springbok' day in South Africa. There are moves afoot to do away with the springbok emblem for the national rugby team.
There are those who see it as symbolic of a racist regime, and want it abolished.
There are those - Nelson Mandela among them - who see it as the symbol of the national rugby team, current holders (for the second time) of the world cup - regardless of the colour of the faces of the players.
Supporters of the emblem are wearing springbok paraphernalia today.
Guess which camp I belong to! | <urn:uuid:a0ad25e5-d9ec-4766-831f-09854cb5af9c> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://karynromeis.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html | 2016-07-25T02:21:32Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824201.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00143-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981082 | 11,931 |
Top tips for entrepreneurs
Earlier this year, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT launched BCS Entrepreneurs – a new specialist group to support entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.
Anil Hansjee, MBCS CITP, Chair of BCS Entrepreneurs, says: “Our aim is to build a community of entrepreneurs and help them turn their ideas into commercial reality by providing support and guidance from those who have already succeeded in this area.”
Anil has previously worked at Google where he ran mergers and acquisitions. He has also worked as a venture capitalist in the IT entrepreneurial scene, in investment banking and more recently as an angel investor in the start up scene.
He has the following top tips for entrepreneurs:
– Have the right team
– Know what you are (and are not) good at.
– Know who you want to plug the gaps – whether it’s new team members or advisors.
– Have a short list, follow them, court them, know what it will take to get them.
– Demonstrate why you are the right team, for example – focus on facts such as how long have you known each other or worked together; how you complement each other.
– Know your product
– Design and usability are crucial in consumer products. Experiment and fine-tune – understand what product changes make what difference to metrics.
– Use ROI based online marketing techniques and demonstrate what works – or not – and why. Show what you think you can do with money to improve product/expand traction.
– Know your KPIs and why they are important: demonstrate metrics, analytics and improvements along a path and know where more money will take you.
Remember, it’s other people’s money you are asking for
– Understand how you have used your money so far: where it’s been well spent and where it’s been wasted.
– Think about your future needs in a detailed cash flow usage over the next two years.
– Think about the path to steady monthly sources of incoming cash flow as a basis if possible.
– Use benchmarks to show your figures are market.
Understand your potential
– Don’t waste too much time predicting revenues out of very little context or evidence, but do have a sense of market opportunity/size.
– Think about business models that investors know and understand from elsewhere and can apply to you logically. Talk passionately about the big picture vision and the roadmap to that vision. Know what the key products you will need to launch are and key metrics you will need to aspire to over that period.
Get the business model right
– Explain how you build win-win relationships with customers and/or consumers to create protective hurdles in your business models – and dependencies of your customers on you.
– Understand the competitive dynamics – both similar and different stories to yours. What you are changing or what you are leveraging (if it already works well) from others.
– Is this disruption or incremental innovation? Plan for the appropriate success criteria appropriately i.e. not underestimating the time it takes to change certain habits or change established ecosystems.
– Know why you are giving something up for free (if you are) – what orthogonal business model or purpose do you have.
Find the best funding for you
– Be selective about who you approach for funding – make sure it’s the right fit in terms of culture, experience, success and personal dynamic – after all, this is a long term relationship. Focus on the individual, not the firm initially.
– Be bold in approaching VCs – network, go to events, ask for personal intros. Demonstrate you are a good entrepreneur in getting that meeting
– If you are raising from institutional investors especially ensure you are aligned in terms of long term. They will want to deploy a certain amount of capital with you over time and will have certain expectations of multiples of returns. It won’t work if you want to build a life style business, non-scalable business or don’t have the same time/business size ambitions and intentions as they do.
– Practice the elevator pitch – time is of the essence to capture the interest for a real meeting. Listen to other startups pitching at events so you can pick up constructive learning on what to improve yourselves.
Cloud – how a code of practice is good for your business
The cloud is at once touted by the industry as the greatest revolution in the delivery of IT services for a generation and an obscure concept by many prospective adopters.
BY ANDY BURTON
Whilst the former is not surprising, the latter is due to the lack of understanding about how to scope cloud services and how to integrate them within the wider IT strategy.
This uncertainty can be compounded by a lack of knowledge of who to trust in balancing an on-premise capability with an online one and has, therefore, made some IT managers and business leaders reluctant towards investing in cloud services.
A credible and certifiable Code of Practice that can provide transparency of cloud service providers and their capabilities with clear guidelines of what is important, and why, is one sure step to advance adoption.
Cloud service providers need to provide information that relates to their business and operations in a standardised format to cut through pure marketing messages to the core of what and how they offer services. By providing answers to essential questions in a common form will enable end-users to make rational and informed decisions on how to progress with specific vendors. As such, a Code can encourage consumers to have clarity and confidence in their choice of provider.
Due to businesses’ uncertainty of how to embark upon a strategy that includes cloud computing, it is important to understand specifically what it is by definition, and, how it can benefit both businesses and end-users at a practical level. Cloud computing at its most basic level enables someone to access computing power and applications ‘online’ via the internet on demand.
To help cut costs for businesses, it is typically offered on a pay-as-you-use or subscription model and there are no capital costs to participate. Operating independently from hardware, it also provides resource and services to store data and run application, in any devices, anytime, anywhere, as a service.
A Code can help end-users to select the best practices and the service providers that are most suitable to their business. It takes into account three key points: transparency, capability and accountability to accurately define the services offered, standards of operation and security.
As it stands, cloud computing is so new and driven by specific vendor messaging that it lacks transparency, and for some that leads to a lack of credibility. A Code can highlight information that’s vital to making an informed business decision, such as stating the vendor’s real legal entity (behind the web presence), where their data centre operations are based, if they are owned by another company, what their operational practices are etc.
In terms of capability, organisations complying with a Code of Practice should have documented management systems, processes and resources in order to deliver services consistently for their customers 24/7 and enable service level information to be accessed by them.
Accountability involves educating the customer on the legitimacy of organisations. Service providers should be accountable for their operational practices and public website declarations, and in particular, they should actualise any public claims that they make about their service on their websites or promotional materials.
A Code of Practice is necessary to engender the trust required between businesses and cloud service providers to collaborate on the delivery of an IT strategy. If cloud service providers follow the requirements within a Code of Practice and make the information needed to make an informed decision available they are able to place a certification mark on their websites that end users will be able to recognise as a public statement of their operational and ethical intent. What is not in doubt is that what we call cloud services will continue to grow in capability and adoption, what is not so clear is the pace at which that transformation will arrive.
Andy Burton is Chairman of the Cloud Industry Forum
FEATURE: Moving to the cloud – a decision maker’s guide
So, you’ve made the decision to take your IT infrastructure to the Cloud, but what kind of Cloud services do you require? ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ clouds are terms that those who are considering Cloud services are using frequently, but what makes a cloud either public or private, and what are the advantages of either and when is each use most appropriate? Keith Bates, Chairman of Cloud Computing Centre, offers suggestions on where to start.
Understanding the Cloud
The first issue to address and clarify is the difference between the public and the private cloud. Under a public cloud model, a company or individual will subscribe to a service – a piece of software such as Salesforce.com, email such as Google mail or online document backup – and typically has no knowledge of the underlying technology, from operating system to database. Companies have no idea where key data is being stored – making the public model totally impossible and impractical for any organisation holding UK government data which must be stored within the UK borders.
Many of these public cloud services are increasingly provided by large organisations, such as Amazon and Google, to exploit their own spare capacity. However, these companies are not offering any Service Level Agreements (SLA) to guarantee performance. And whilst performance is typically satisfactory, during peak times, such as the weeks before Christmas, users can experience a significant drop in response – with no recourse available to them.
A private cloud, in contrast, offers companies the chance to specify every last detail of the infrastructure supporting and providing the application or service, from the make and model of the hardware, to network management tools and firewalls. The infrastructure is not shared with any third parties and the cloud provider will offer an SLA with clearly defined financial penalties for any breach in performance.
Typically hosted in a highly secure, Tier 3 or Tier 4 data centre environment within the UK, private cloud organisations know where the data is, who is managing it and who has access. This model is obviously more expensive than the public cloud but offers the level of performance and support required for high volume transactional processing systems, such as finance and ERP, which require guaranteed processing power.
A less expensive version of the private cloud can be achieved by sharing the resources with other organisations. Indeed the vast majority of private cloud solutions are delivered in this way. On occasions where the minutiae of the underlying infrastructure isn’t a concern, but the provision of an SLA is, then this offers the chance to leverage economies to scale and share a robust, secure infrastructure with a defined set of customers.
In addition, a growing number of software vendors –such as finance, CRM and payroll providers – are opting for private cloud solutions and creating a public cloud model for their customers. This provides organisations with access to business-critical applications, and an SLA, but without the need to define the infrastructure. Alternatively, the same software can be purchased and hosted in a dedicated private cloud if that meets the specific business need.
Furthermore, growing numbers of organisations are embracing the hybrid cloud model – opting for the public cloud for applications such as email and using a private cloud provider for business critical applications. The key to making this hybrid approach work is to ensure the private cloud supplier is able to coordinate the process, indeed offering a single contract for the entire cloud solution, minimising the management overhead for the organisation.
Building the Right Business Case
The shift to the cloud offers companies an unprecedented opportunity to rationalise skills, decide which are still required internally and which would be far better, and more cost effectively delivered, by a third party cloud provider.
For most SMEs the chance to reduce the internal IT headcount is a compelling reason for moving to the cloud. But what are the pitfalls? The key issue is to ensure the SLA matches the needs of the business, from the criticality of the application, to the number of users and projected volumes. A number of websites now offer the chance to buy private cloud services from a mix and match menu. But this is only really suitable for an IT Director that is both highly experienced and highly confident in cloud computing. Get it wrong, and the business will end up with a very badly performing set of key applications or a jeopardised corporate security.
Most cloud providers will offer a set choice of firewalls. But can the organisation be totally confident that the choice will meet key business requirements, such as ensuring that customer credit card details are kept secure or that the business is not in breach of the Data Protection Act or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS)?
Or is it really viable to run very resource-intensive applications, such as video rendering, in the cloud? For an organisation located in a city centre that receives gigabytes of connectivity, there will be no problem. For a rural-based company, with poor connectivity, the results would be less than impressive.
If any organisation is new to the cloud – as most will be – it is therefore important to seek out the right advice and sit down with a provider to discuss the issues from performance to security.
Forewarned in forearmed
Having made the decision to go to the cloud, making the right private versus public decision is critical. The ‘one size fits all’ public model is constrained by lower service parameters and there is little or no option for tailoring the service – though this will be fine for some companies and applications. Indeed for a web server in the public cloud, an organisation that needs nothing more complex or resource-intensive than email and Microsoft Office can achieve nearly zero cost IT operations via the public cloud.
For the vast majority of companies, however, there are a number of business-critical applications that require consistent, guaranteed performance. Whether the company needs to opt for a totally dedicated, personally-designed infrastructure or is able to share resources, is then the key consideration, as is whether to embrace a hybrid cloud model.
And while the cost comparison is significant – around five times the monthly cost of a public cloud web server – the cost savings for a private cloud web server are still considerable. Simply replacing internal IT experts will typically pay for the shift to the cloud within the first year. Add in the additional flexibility of adding new applications and services within days rather than months and the ability to upsize and downsize to reflect business needs, and the cloud model is compelling.
The move to the cloud can and should deliver significant cost savings, provide access to more up to date and better performing infrastructure. But there is a significant risk attached to this fundamental architecture shift and organisations need to mitigate that risk by improving understanding and attaining the right advice up front.
FEATURE: The changing landscape of eDiscovery and ESI
Whether it’s search engines unlawfully collecting private passwords from home wi-fi networks or government agencies leaving laptops on trains festooned with private information of taxpayers, the risks associated with compromised data are rising fast. Bob Tennant, CEO at Recommind disusses the changing landscape of eDisclosure and considers the issues surrounding regulatory compliance.
It’s no secret that eDisclosure is still not fully understood by many UK firms and is largely thought to be an American problem. However, the requirement to produce electronically stored information (ESI), whether in response to eDisclosure requests, internal investigations or government scrutiny, is undoubtedly a global issue.
Furthermore, the risks and costs involved are rising exponentially as ESI reserves continue to explode in volume. When a Europe-based company like Alcatel-Lucent is required to pay a $137 million penalty to US regulators to settle bribery charges brought under US law, all companies need to assess their information risk profile.
In the UK, there has been significant backlash against the previously relaxed regulatory environment over the past few years, most recently marked by an increase in fines handed out by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). The increase in the number of regulatory inquiries has meant that some businesses are beginning to take better care of their data. This includes monitoring and testing their internal controls so that they can deal with any disclosure demands efficiently and cost-effectively.
As eDisclosure has clearly now become a global issue, more companies need to ensure they are better prepared. It is no longer acceptable for IT directors to think of eDisclosure as optional – it should be fundamental to a company’s entire information management, compliance and risk mitigation programmes. The risk of damage to a business from compliance lapses and failure to meet disclosure demands is on a similar scale to, if not greater than, that of IT security challenges such as data privacy breaches. An oversight could have severe repercussions and leave businesses highly vulnerable to the consequences associated with information risk – including large fines, reputational damage, and loss of stakeholder and customer/client confidence – all of which have the potential to quickly cripple a company.
To combat this, companies need to take a proactive approach. If they don’t, responding to an investigation will be an expensive and extremely time-consuming endeavour due to the sheer volume of ESI that needs to be identified, collected reviewed and analysed. To put this in context, regulatory inquiries often result in the production of more than one terabyte of data (the equivalent of 75 million pages) and in huge costs involved in reviewing that data, made significantly more expensive if the responding company does not have an eDisclosure infrastructure already in place.
One major challenge, and possibly a reason that companies continue to downplay the importance of eDisclosure, is that actually taking control of all data, and making it searchable and discoverable can be a huge undertaking. There is also a natural human tendency to underestimate risk, and as a result not adequately assess the costs of not preparing for disclosure–as a major automaker recently found out. In reality however, the initial outlay will ultimately save significant money by not having to rely on external third parties when a disclosure demand is made. The costs associated with setting up a proactive response model instead of a reactive one will typically pay for themselves within the first three to six months.
In order to successfully manage ESI, companies should invest in solutions that can automatically categorise, index, access, preserve, delete and collect relevant information in any form. Since these challenges are similar to those presented by email and knowledge management, the use of sophisticated search technologies, especially when incorporated in to an application that directly addresses chain of custody, repeatability, and other defensibility concerns can achieve similar results in risk management. For example, when an investigation commences, concept search and classification greatly increases review efficiency as it will locate all information related to an issue, rather than relying on inefficient keyword searches that would either miss relevant data and/or bring up a sea of clearly irrelevant documents containing a particular search term. And since 70% of eDiscovery costs are in the review, any improved efficiencies translates directly to cost savings.
The effective management of this wealth of ESI will not only automate the eDisclosure process, but it will also allow companies to improve productivity and efficiency by providing staff with access to all the information they need for their daily jobs. This is particularly key in the current financial climate where less staff are being stretched to fulfil more roles. Despite this, most UK organisations are using out-dated, legacy search and data management tools which do not meet the sophisticated information needs of the staff, and are not capable of searching data in different formats and from diverse locations.
The right technology is key, but it’s not the whole story – the legal and IT departments must also work together to optimise their systems. While the IT team understands the technology issues, there’s a danger that they won’t fully comprehend which information should be preserved and disclosed, and which can be discarded, and require direction from legal and the business units. Equally, the legal department are experts in their domain, but need IT to help ensure all processes and systems are up to the job, without causing major upheaval to users.
Too often, the corporate legal and IT teams work at cross-purposes, leaving businesses at risk when hit with a disclosure demand. According to research conducted in May 2010, while 91% of CIOs believe that data breaches and fraud are the biggest risks associated with corporate information, almost a quarter of businesses do not have an information risk strategy in place.
In order to overcome this, we are likely to see a new breed of ‘information security’ risk professional emerge. A hybrid manager of litigation support and information management resource, that also has the ability to act as a technical expert is ultimately required to oversee eDisclosure within large firms. More collaboration between IT and legal will help to reduce this risk of regulatory fines, and ideally organisations should create cross-functional teams with representatives from both departments to deal with eDisclosure, information risk and compliance as a whole.
In 2011 companies need to provision for the new regulatory environment, which is proving to be intolerant of those organisations that cannot effectively identify data that is requested and produce it promptly. The explosion of ESI volumes, types and sources has made it more difficult to effectively control and protect information, making it harder for businesses to deal with eDisclosure requests. By incorporating sophisticated search and eDisclosure technologies into a company’s IT security strategy, businesses can effectively avoid the costly and severe repercussions of unmanageable eDisclosure and regulatory requests when they hit.
Information governance gone ga-ga?
Information governance through document management: a guide to safeguarding information, reputation and corporate productivity with UK Government guidance in mind
by Adrian Butcher, Strategic ECM Consultant, Open Text
Most business managers will be aware of the recent data losses that have affected the public sector.
However, as far as is known, the main damage done was reputational. But this is just scratching the surface of the potential damage, as the risk of identity theft and fraud still hangs over millions of affected citizens.
Therefore, it is opportune to examine how information governance can be effectively established within any organisation – public or private – with help from Document Management (DM) systems and cognisant of UK Government’s suggested procedures, following their well publicised problems.
Those familiar with information management will also regard this as relevant to commercial organisations and not just those contracting with the public sector. Quite apart from statutory concerns (Data Protection), the loss of sensitive information has proved troubling for the private industry in many sectors. The latest statistics have shown that 227 losses have been referred to the Information Commissioner in the past year, of which just 176 relate to the public sector – so between a fifth and a quarter of losses reported to the commissioner are in the private sector.
Now however, a document has emerged from the UK Central Government that details the required responses and sets out proactive, mandatory moves to ensure that data losses don’t occur. This is the Cabinet Office document entitled ‘Data Handling Procedures in Government’ commissioned by the [former] UK Prime Minister from Sir Gus O’Donnell, [former] Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service.
However, a key question for IT managers and their clients is ‘can DM provide a valuable response this report without compromising efforts relating to the well known ‘Varney’¹ and ‘Gershon’² agendas?’. Fundamentally, managing information more effectively is good business as well as good governance. In providing cost-effective support for Information Governance, DM can also provide a platform for improved management – and manageability – of both information and the processes it supports.
Many data leakages tend to occur at a junior level, but fingers point to the top. Crucially, the greater near-term impact is most likely not in criminal misuse of information, more in the doubts cast over how such information is effectively managed. The loss of trust may have greater managerial and political impact than the loss of the information itself. What the O’Donnell paper refers to as ‘Data Handling Procedures in Government’ might perhaps also be described as information governance.
Key messages from the paper: personal information holding – major benefits, significant risks
It is evident, that across the UK’s mixed economy, there are benefits to the individual citizen or consumer in significant amounts of information about him or her being held by organisations of all kinds. It is no less evident that disadvantages can also arise if the information is not handled securely and ethically. Carelessness, recklessness and sheer malice are all forces to be contended with and if data and information is to be shared, confidence must be maintained.
With this in mind the O’Donnell report clearly sets out guidelines that aim to protect against carelessness, recklessness and malice. These include the need for a culture that values information and recognises custodianship responsibilities, as well as clear identification and communication of responsibilities, which are backed up by ‘accountability mechanisms’. Common standards and procedures also need to be put in place with real transparency as to how information is handled.
Furthermore, scrutiny and visibility of performance are crucial and the report goes so far as to set out specific obligations, including annual reporting on performance as part of the Statement on Internal Control and for the larger systems penetration testing by external bodies.
As for transparency, the report calls for ‘information charters’ and greater publication of information on particular information assets and their use. This recognises on paper what information management product and service providers have long asserted, that information in and of itself is an asset to be managed, exploited and protected.
Personal responsibilities: ‘no hiding place’
The report provides ‘no hiding place’ in terms of organisational versus personal accountability, reminding us that organisations must nominate individuals to pre-determined roles with responsibilities that are centrally defined at a high level.
In this way, responsibility for information handling is pointed at named individuals, matrixed from business process and systems perspectives and empowered with board-level ownership. DM can enable and assure corporate best practice.
Setting out required behaviours
This can be seen if we first look at the triumvirate of Culture, Policy and Procedural guidance. Whilst the achievement of culture change can be a notoriously ‘slippery’ objective, setting clear policies and the procedures that underpin delivery of this kind of policy, then assuring compliance, are typically the ways by which it is brought about.
We need failsafe mechanisms, which prevent non-compliance, whether accidental, reckless or even malign. We require assured governance over the governance itself; that clearly sets out rules as to who owns and can change guidance, backed up by audited compliance and process.
Infrastructures to support and enforce required behaviours
The vast majority of employees are both competent and committed to doing a good job with professional integrity. DM can help them in two fundamental ways. Firstly by ensuring everyone knows the rights and wrongs of information management and secondly providing structures and mechanisms to make compliance easier or even to a large degree automated. This can be achieved by making compliance an integral part of business process.
The DM system can ensure that there is a comprehensive body of policy and systematically related procedural guidance to cover all relevant situations in the working environment.
There needs to be a very clear management regime to ensure that all who should receive the guidance do – and are recorded as having done so – and there may well be a need for individuals to ‘self test’ their understanding of such guidance.
Of course, on its own, the above will not prevent incompetence or malice, but it does at least allow management to communicate and does not leave any employee bereft of the guidance he or she is entitled to receive.
Structures and mechanisms for easier – or partially automated – compliance
DM has much to contribute to structures and mechanisms for easier or partially automated compliance, but the key benefits are that with information under electronic stewardship the DM system can ensure that only authorised people can find, read, change, delete or distribute information.
Secondly, any and every event regarding particular information from viewing to downloading to changing, deleting etc, is audited and can be reported upon if required. Thirdly, where that information forms part of a clear end-to-end process a DM system can ensure that it remains within the process and finally, process officers need only see that information required by their individual role within the process, if need be.
Protecting against error, frustrating malice
Some of the most public and embarrassing information-loss events derive from mislaid, lost or stolen laptops. With modern DM, even this can be prevented by ensuring that a document or other piece of information, stored on a laptop, even one whose password has been circumvented, can be rendered unusable until the user has authenticated him or herself with the central DM system.
DM systems can help management prove, to an evermore demanding outside world, that it has not only formulated the right guidance, but put in place powerful and realistic mechanisms to ensure compliance and guard against complacency, simple error and outright malice.
Perhaps not a panacea then, but DM systems offer a genuinely ‘do-able’ response to a real, inescapable and ever more demanding obligation.
FEATURE: Is open source putting businesses at risk?
Conceptual map of the Free/Libre Open Source
Businesses today are built and operated by software that houses intellectual property, business processes and trade secrets that are vital to the health of an enterprise. Organisations must address potential weaknesses in their everyday operations before they become exploitable, according to Richard Kirk, European Director of Fortify Software
It’s the ultimate irony: The versatile software you depend on to run your business also puts it at risk. Your business applications hold the business processes and the data that form the lifeblood of your company. Yet, even as they open your business up to more customers and partners, the security holes your software contains leave you vulnerable to attack. Relentless and destructive data predators are ready to pounce.
Today’s hackers, organised crime cartels and enemy nations are highly adept at quickly turning security flaws into stolen data and cash. I’m not in the habit of finger pointing over flaws in packages – let’s face it we all know that application bugs exist, the only real question is why?
Open source development introduces risk to your business in unique ways. The inexpensive and readily available nature of open source makes it easy to adopt. But at what cost to enterprise security?
A Fortify-sponsored Open Source Security Study published in July, completed by leading application security consultant Larry Suto, examined 11 of the most common Java open source packages. It confirmed that the most widely-used open source software packages for the enterprise are exposing users to significant and unnecessary business risk.
The study validates that Open Source Software (OSS) development communities have yet to adopt a secure development process and often leave dangerous vulnerabilities unaddressed. Additionally, it found that nearly all OSS communities fail to provide users access to security expertise to help remediate these vulnerabilities and security risks. The study sparked debate on a number of topics related to OSS that anyone in IT or enterprise security should understand. The response to the report set off some familiar refrains, which miss the point and don’t get us any closer towards the goal of a secure enterprise.
What’s More Secure: Open Source or Proprietary?
Improving the engineering process of building more secure code applies to every software project, whether it is open source or ‘closed”. It’s not important who writes the code, but how.
Improving the engineering process of building secure code applies to every software project, whether it is open source or ‘closed’, and it’s not important who writes the code, but how. Any competent engineering team will be able to generate secure code if security is made a part of the design, just as they are able to bring a low cost solution to market, or a high performance solution.
From Fortify’s vantage point it sees literally thousands of development teams and it’s fair to say mostly within IT organisations for financial and other highly regulated industries, that have a very sophisticated process in place for application security. In the current Open source model, yes, those of us who care about security can feed vulnerabilities back into the machine, or fix them ourselves, but it will never be as sound as building it securely in the first place.
Security and Quality are the Same
Recently, the icon of OSS development, Linus Torvalds emailed the Linux development team, weighing in on the quality vs. security debate. In his email, Torvalds argued that “In fact, all the boring normal bugs are WAY more important, just because there’s a lot more of them.” Although it is true to say that quality and security are both important, I strongly disagree with Torvalds for several reasons:
· Quality is cumulative whilst Security is absolute.
· Quality is about making the main path of operation work, and accepting issues in the corner cases, whereas Security must cover everything
· Quality is a closed problem however Security is open. There is no list of known bugs you can go to and accept for Security as criminals compile these lists and they don’t share them. Quality is reinforced by customers in the open market.
What is The Path Out Of This Forest? A Managed Risk Approach
Traditionally, companies have largely depended on “perimeter-based” approaches like network security to prevent data predators and criminals from gaining access to corporate information. However, the demands of today’s open business environment weaken the protection provided by firewalls and other perimeter security efforts, leaving a corporation’s applications easily accessible and vulnerable to hackers.
In order to mitigate the business risk created by insecure applications, it is imperative that companies adopt a process that allows them to assess, remediate and prevent security vulnerabilities in all of their business software, whatever the source. Business Software Assurance (BSA) is a growing industry trend that refers to technologies and techniques that enable you to maximise the flexibility, enhanced capabilities and easy availability of enterprise software without exposing your operations to attacks that can threaten your business. In short BSA answers the question “How do you know your business is secure?” By identifying and resolving your most critical application vulnerabilities you can enhance software assurance.
Ultimately, the solution is developers and security experts working together to build secure software right from the start. Fortify is already in discussions with Open Source providers with whom it is working to improve processes and I invite any open source group who would like to get involved in these conversations, and make security a part of the development process, to get in touch.
Call-To-Action For Organisations That Rely On Open Source Software.
Government and commercial organisations that leverage open source should use open source applications with great caution. Risk analysis and code review should be performed on any open source code running in business-critical applications, and these processes should be repeated before new versions of open source components are approved for use. Organisations considering open source software must thoroughly evaluate open source security practices. We recommend using the standards we recommend below to open source communities as a checklist. In addition, enterprises should:
– Raise security awareness within open source development communities and emphasise the importance of preventing vulnerabilities upstream. Enterprise security teams should articulate their security requirements to open source maintainers to accelerate the adoption of secure development lifecycles.
– Perform assessments to understand where your open source deployments and components stand from a security perspective.
– Remediate vulnerabilities internally or leverage Fortify’s JOR, which provides audited versions of several open source packages.
Open source projects should adopt robust security practices from their commercial counterparts. Open source development can benefit from private industry practices – notably those created by financial services organisations and larger ISVs. Open source communities can then advertise and substantiate effective security practices that blend process and technology. Best practices to consider include:
– People : Appointment of a security expert with the power to veto releases from getting into production – known as a gate model. Develop the expertise to conduct security activities and get security right.
– Process: Build security in by mandating processes that integrate security proactively throughout the software development lifecycle. Include relevant non-coding activities, such as threat modeling and the development of abuse cases.
– Technologies: Leverage technologies to get security right, which include static analysis in development and dynamic analysis during security testing in quality assurance.
FEATURE: All things must PAS
Paul Quigley talked to Simon Lande, CEO at Magus about web content management and PAS 124.
As the race to get online hots up, the sheer volume and ambitiousness of businesses and marketers to be seen and to expand from main sites to microsites for targeted campaigns, as well as bread-and-butter product information and rich media content sites, the whole panoply need to maintain a structure approach to quality control and best practice.
Whilst it’s not quite the Wild West out there in Web world anymore, much still remains to be done to make sure sites are robust and fit-for-purpose. “It’s all about web site and quality monitoring and website compliance” explains Magus’ Simon Lande. “We have an application which helps, typically, large organisations – those with multi-editorial, multi-site environment, who have a set of standards and guidelines that they want to make sure are enforced online – we can take those guidelines and convert them into a set of electronic checkpoints, and for every page on every site, validate where there hasn’t been various levels of compliance.”
According to Lande, this approach has led Magus to work with industry standards setters, helping the wider industry tap in to their knowledge. “As a result of having a lot of expertise in that, we work with BSI, the British Standards Institute steering group,” Lande says, “that brought together the combined expertise in the industry to produce a best practice process document.”
Magus’ Lande believes that there are a lot of benefits that can accrue if standards are implemented correctly. “It protects the brand,” he stresses, “and you get a good return on investment on your web-spend, but, if you’re really struggling with the logistics of the issue, we produced this specification (PAS 124) which is all about defining, implementing and managing web site standards.”
With PAS124, Lande says that Magus’ work has to date been about putting something back into the industry in terms of best practice and process to help people get the maximum amount out of their web site operations and the maximum return on investment, and to deliver a good and effective user experience.
“From our commercial point of view, the fact that we’re the lead consultants on this PAS 124 process means that for organisations that need the operational aspects of how to manage these standards – and we know a fair amount about standards because we’ve been at the centre of this BSI project in addition to our own direct work with clients – it’s a really powerful application that can really help you become, if you like, a web site quality leader” says Lande, “making sure you are delivering the best possible user experience on the one hand, and streamlining and maximising your operational site management on the other.”
For web content management rollout, the benefits are two-fold, Lande asserts. “Where it touches on content management, is that essentially, there are two elements: what the standard does is make the most out of your CMS system, such as, what should be locked-down in the CMS, what should be left flexible, how to get the balance between globalisation and localisation issues; but the reason we developed this application is that there is this perception that people have, if I lock everything down in my CMS and I define the templates correctly, then I’m not going to have a compliance issue, because everything’s resolved in the CMS” he says.
According to Lande, a lot of CMS companies give that impression. “The reality is, that doesn’t happen,” he says. “And it’s not even really supposed to happen, and the reason is the CMS will lock down the top level components such as navigation and architecture, but the content areas, where the editors actually work, it’s not practical or workable to lock down every element of that because the system will become unusable and people will find it hard to manage.”
The solution, Lande believes, is not as complex as you might think. “So what you have to do is leave it open, and give them the guidelines which then mandate exactly how you should use the open areas” he says. “Our position is that you then use the website quality monitoring to ensure compliance with the guidelines. So it’s sort of picking up where the CMS leaves off,”
On a slightly more controversial note, Lande thinks the truth is better to explain up-front than for users to have unrealised expectations of what a new WCM system can and cannot do. “What your CMS will never do’ – that’s not a criticism of the CMSs,” says Lande, “it’s just that this is not what they are designed to do, this is what they are designed to do working on the boundaries between the two. In fact, the closer we can align with CMS companies, the better” he says.
Magus is currently working with CMS vendors such as SDL Tridion already. “We are integrating our compliance monitoring solution with their CMS so that people have both the production capability and the monitoring capability.
PAS124’s relevance to CMS organisations is a win-win for web content management, Lande says. “What BSI has not produced is a new web standard – there are a plethora of web standards out there, W3C, accessibility etc., people are really struggling with how to go about making the most of these – what the PAS124 document does is provide a best practice framework for processes, defining standards, how do I go about that, which ones do I need, which ones are applicable to me; implementing standards – how do I role them out, how do I communicate them on an ongoing basis.”
“There’s another PAS – PAS78 which relates to accessibility, and that is now going to the next step to become an official standard. If PAS 124 gets the traction and the momentum, it could evolve towards a sort of quality standard.” Lande believes this could be the first step. “Either a content management company has to go upstream to provide compliance monitoring we’re doing, or build it in.”
FEATURE: The iphone craze: cashing in for CMS vendors?
Robert Bredlau of e-Spirit discusses the rise of mobile content and how web operators could be losing out.
You would have had to have lived on Mars not to have heard about the Apple iPhone or BlackBerry. Millions of consumers and business people are testament to the popularity of the handheld devices that have made accessing the web on the move cheaper and easier.
The iPhone 3G S could well hasten this trend as its applications can now open twice as fast. There is no doubt people love the idea of experiencing the latest world news, sports results, music and movie releases whenever and wherever they are – as well as staying in touch with friends and family. Mobile devices like the iPhone have also enabled staff to work on the move, boosting the efficiency, agility and flexibility of businesses.
However, despite this revolution in communications, businesses have been alarmingly slow to capitalise. According to an e-Spirit survey of 100 CIOs, two thirds of UK businesses are failing to deliver high-end customer experience by not optimising their websites for the latest devices. This means many are failing to accommodate this exploding demand for mobile communication, information and entertainment.
This scenario makes no commercial sense, especially as consumers are increasingly using the internet to make purchasing decisions because of the cost savings and convenience it can offer. This is doubly so in a time of economic difficulty when businesses must exploit the 24/7 global marketing and sales opportunities which the web brings if they are to survive and thrive.
The trouble is that too much web content is designed for viewing on standard-size screens, so viewing them on anything smaller can result in a poor user experience. Too many web pages are laid out for presentation and navigation on desktop-size displays to exploit the capabilities of desktop-browsing software. This means information fails to appear in real-time on mobile devices such as iPhones and formatting tends to lose all integrity. The stark truth is that users no longer want to have to wait until they’re sitting in front of a computer screen for an optimum browsing experience.
The good news is that developments in content management systems (CMS) have enabled companies to deliver mobile-specific content more quickly and easily – and help to enhance their customers’ interactions. CMS allows businesses to use content developed for other channels, such as standard web pages and delivers it to mobile devices without any loss of integrity. The beauty of this is that it not only means that content can be produced once, saving time and money, but also that customers enjoy the same quality of online experience no matter how they access the information.
Many CMS technologies also use content aggregators and device handlers that understand what content is available and the device it is being delivered to, allowing information to be rendered in a format that is device-specific and compatible.
These systems also have a range of innovative features, such as ‘Tell-a-Friend’, which allows visitors to send friends or colleagues a direct link via text message, enabling the recipient to open the mobile specific site with just one click.
On top of the mobile delivery capabilities, many CMS tools include automated database schemas and third party portals, providing companies with the ability to integrate content from subsidiaries across multiple legacy systems and databases, smoothly and seamlessly.
As with any free-flowing information, the issue of governance always remains high on the agenda. The freedom of mobile content has important implications for the business world, as critical information is leaving the confines of the firewall on a daily basis. This means that retaining control of who is accessing mobile information is becoming a pressing challenge for today’s businesses.
CMS technology helps achieve regulatory compliance and improves corporate governance of mobile content by using powerful audit tools to enable companies to roll-back a website to a previous point in its evolution, providing a complete history of content including the exact references, external documents and data sources.
There is no doubt that mobile content channels will continue to evolve and deliver new types of content. Mobile content will move away from merely delivering the sports results and breaking news to users, applications will get smarter, patiently monitoring your personalised preferences and delivering only the information you desire. The challenge for businesses and mobile vendors is how to move with the times, modifying responses as technology evolves. CMS technology is a must for companies who face these challenges head on.
Preparing for the arrival of knowledge work
Image by mimax via Flickr
A day in the life of the knowledge worker
by John McCormick, VP & GM, knowledge worker product group, EMC
So is a product manager, an architect, an industrial designer and a marketing communications specialist. Regardless of the activity, knowledge workers spend a lot of their time searching for and evaluating information. This should come as no surprise. But just how much is ‘a lot’, and what does it cost the organisations that ultimately foot the bill? Industry analysts found that in an average 40-hour work week, a knowledge worker spends approximately 25 percent of his or her time searching for information and another 25 percent evaluating it. For a full-time employee earning $60,000 annually ($28.85 per hour) that’s nearly $30,000 per year. Those are big investments of time and money, especially when you consider that finding and evaluating information are only the first steps to using it productively – in other words, realizing any return on that investment.
The Evolving Search Market
Today’s enterprise generates an enormous quantity of information, often stored in siloed repositories that cannot be accessed by a single application. So knowledge workers have a lot to search through, and it’s rarely a simple task. Plus, they frequently need access to information outside the corporate firewall.
Unfortunately, up to now, the tools provided to enterprise knowledge workers have frequently fallen short of the mark in terms of search. This inadequacy gave birth to standalone search applications – an important market space with dozens of vendors, none of which grabbed more than a 15 percent market share.
Perhaps morphing rather than consolidating better explains what has occurred and is occurring in enterprise search. The platform players have seen the future of knowledge work, and it much more resembles Web 2.0 and rich Internet applications than it does even the most sophisticated enterprise search tool. It requires an application environment that provides smart workspaces for ad hoc information sharing integrated with the system resources and Web services necessary to find, access and manage collaborative content within the framework of an enterprise information infrastructure.
Undoubtedly, the public Web – always connected and media rich with its potential for enhanced communications – has driven the expectations of enterprise knowledge workers. Blogging, wikis, photo and video sharing, community building and social networking are phenomena that simply beg to be used somehow in building a more effective, interactive business environment. By helping knowledge workers focus on the information, tasks and events that matter, these tools – properly positioned for the enterprise – promise to increase productivity, improve transparency, expedite business processes and eliminate knowledge gaps.
The question is literally and metaphorically, “How do we get there from here?” How can we assemble a rich set of knowledge resources that supports the dynamic relationships between information and people while they collaborate across the extended enterprise? We need to help enterprise knowledge workers:
– Find relevant information in context,
– Publish user-generated content and
– Integrate collaborative content with disparate enterprise resources
A Starting Point: Next-Generation Content Management
The next generation of enterprise content management platforms is a viable starting point for helping knowledge workers more productively use the time they’re already spending. ECM is one of the most commonly deployed enterprise applications. Today’s content management platforms can:
– Eliminate information silos,
– Enable easier repurposing of content,
– Enforce retention policies and brand standards,
– Streamline business processes,
– Offer greater security for sensitive content and
– Increase efficiency.
Up until now, the knock on content management has been ease of use. As a recent Forrester report points out, for many business people, the hassle of using an ECM system exceeds the system’s value. But that is changing and changing rapidly.
More Production – Less Frustration
ECM can make life easier and more productive for knowledge workers without sacrificing the controlled management and attention to compliance the enterprise requires. These platforms will incorporate:
A Web 2.0 client. From within the ECM client of the very near future, knowledge workers will easily do things like create blogs and team wikis that used to require separate, external applications. This client will support personalized information views as well as team and individual workspaces. Knowledge workers will have one-click publishing capability and the ability to manage tasks and projects via a powerful yet friendly interface.
This interface will support the coordination of content, people and processes. It will leverage an asynchronous, dynamic user experience for running within a browser and connecting through a desktop, laptop or mobile device. It will deliver a flexible and responsive interactive environment – RIA anyone?
More intuitive and productive search. Knowledge workers need to find information wherever it exists – inside a managed repository, in a secure corporate file system or on a desktop. With next-generation ECM, a single query will access various repositories (each of which organizes content in its own way) and return a consistent, integrated set of results. Once users have authenticated access to repositories, they will not need to know how those repositories work.
But as important as finding information is the ability to understand it. One way to do this is through visualization of the relationships between different types of information. Next-generation content management systems will enable intelligent filtering of and guided navigation through multiple information sources.
User-centric ECM will also permit knowledge workers to easily tag and classify items for the benefit of themselves and others. It will enable them to use social tagging – tagging content on the fly in meaningful ways, with personal terms and those used by others. Over time, the most relevant terms will become more popular and more frequently used. Suddenly, it becomes easier to discover and track what is important to us and our colleagues. These advanced content platforms will also help users syndicate and track relevant information using really simple syndication.
Moreover, knowledge workers will be able to organize search results graphically, a better means to probe the connections between various items. Interrelationships will be mapped, revealing patterns not recognized when scrolling through lists of results.
Access to content and content services through virtually any application. Many knowledge workers spend their days working from one or two core applications. Whether its Microsoft Excel, Word or Adobe InDesign, they are much happier (and more productive) if they can stay in that application and still search for, find and access the information they need and collaborate with others. Content management platforms of the future will leverage a plug-in infrastructure that enables seamless integration with desktop applications when working with files.
Secure and compliant information management. Although knowledge workers create most of the information in an enterprise, the security, retention and governance of that information are responsibilities of the IT manager who needs to control the use of knowledge worker tools without reducing productivity.
IT managers maintain multiple enterprise applications in a production environment. The fewer management challenges the better. Their priorities include reducing operational cost and risk while preserving service quality. From an IT manager’s perspective, any new service must deliver compelling benefits with little additional cost or risk.
Future ECM platforms will provide RIA capabilities from an enterprise architecture that has been developed to apply and enforce security, retention and governance policies behind the scenes – pervasively but not intrusively. That means collaborative workspaces and content won’t require the addition of another enterprise application to an already complex IT ecosystem. Nor will they increase an IT manager’s administrative overhead. These platforms will enable any time, anywhere access to enterprise content while securing content that travels outside the enterprise via information rights management.
Content Management and the Evolution of Knowledge Work
There are two critical elements in the evolution of knowledge work: the user experience of knowledge workers and the breadth of the resources they use. Rich Internet or Web 2.0-enabled content management connects a browser or mobile experience to networked resources. It provides smart ways to communicate, coordinate and collaborate with colleagues and partners.
Knowledge work has changed and will continue to change. The flexibility of next-generation content management will enable the platform to constantly adapt to a fluid work environment. Today that fluidity is driven by Web 2.0 and social computing, which have demonstrated that context is every bit as important as content. No one can predict what the next “prime mover” in the knowledge work and worker environment may be. But the deployment of a robust, flexible platform that can support the solutions that knowledge workers require is clearly the best preparation for uncertainty.
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Welcome to another installment of authors Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar’s movie reviews!
Amal El-Mohtar: TO THE MOVIES!
Max Gladstone: The Girl with All the Gifts!
She has so many gifts—
Much Pandora, many things in boxes!
Amal El-Mohtar: Get ALL the Gifts!
Max Gladstone: Perhaps we should set the stage for the movie a little? Because this is one I imagine many people in our audience (hi, audience) haven’t seen?
Amal El-Mohtar: So, Max, before we began this column in earnest we totally had a list of movies we wanted to cover. You made a list, I made a list, we compared our lists, we had a system.
Max Gladstone: We had, at least, something adjacent to a system.
Amal El-Mohtar: It was a good almost-system! So good that I feel almost-bad for abandoning it nigh completely in favour of talking about whatever interesting movie we’ve both recently seen.
In this case: THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS.
Which we watched largely because you were visiting me and my husband insisted it was amazing.
Max Gladstone: Ssh, we don’t want to reveal our Highly Scientific Selection Process.
Amal El-Mohtar: OH, you’re right, I will totally edit that part out.
Max Gladstone: Which totally isn’t “We are trapped in a satellite and Pearl keeps sending us movies.”
Amal El-Mohtar: MAX NO!
Max Gladstone: Aaaand now I’m recasting MST3K with Steven Universe characters.
We must stop this or else there will be no column.
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS.
Amal El-Mohtar: (Would Pearl even send us this movie? Oh man—actually, this is surely the quintessential Gem Horror Film. SUCH ORGANIC.)
Max Gladstone: (I recently as in just this morning read a really interesting Strange Horizons review of SU that pointed out that strawberries grow in sandy ground, like the kind of ground you’d get after you crushed and shattered a lot of gems.)
Amal El-Mohtar: (WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!)
Max Gladstone: (I thought it was just a Beatles reference!)
Amal El-Mohtar: ANYWAY.
So this film is based on the book by M. R. Carey.
Max Gladstone; Film! Book! Carey!
MR not Jacqueline!
Amal El-Mohtar; I refuse to take the bait for that OBVIOUS DIGRESSION.
Max Gladstone: Bait? Who’s bait? Oh look a chocolate! *gets chocolate* *is trapped under box*
Amal El-Mohtar: When the book came out, everyone seemed to be talking about it but also not talking about it?
So I knew that there was a SHOCKING TWIST, and also that there was something to do with zombies.
Max Gladstone: Yes.
This is what I also knew about this book.
In fact, that kind of turned me off the entire project of the book?
Amal El-Mohtar: SAME! Because I HATE ZOMBIES.
Max Gladstone: For me it was that I hate twists.
Or, rather, I have a chip on my shoulder about stories you can’t talk about without talking about the twist
So it was really weird, and blessedly cool, to see this movie blow past the twist in the first five minutes.
Amal El-Mohtar: Ha! I sympathise with that at the same time that I actually kind of love twists when they aren’t over-hyped OR being ruined for me in advance, which I concede is sort of contradictory, but here we are.
So, full disclosure, we are obviously going to spoil the heck out of both book and film because, you know, Big Twist in First Five Minutes.
Max Gladstone: Well, so, here’s the thing about twists.
A good twist does not prevent you from describing the movie to a prospective viewer.
The Usual Suspects is a heist story told by crook Kevin Spacey to the police in the aftermath of the heist’s utter failure, about how all his friends got killed by this arch-criminal. You can even stop before the comma of that sentence and it sounds like a compelling flick.
Similarly, “Bruce Willis is a psychiatrist who, after his own near-death experience, tries to help out this kid who believes in ghosts” sounds like a movie I’d go see.
But yes! Spoiling the heck out of the movie.
Let’s maybe scroll down some spoiler space?
Amal El-Mohtar: Oh that’s a really good point.
By that token, Melanie is a brilliant child being kept prisoner with other children in a military facility. She’s in love with her teacher, Miss Justineau, and consistently cheerful in the face of having guns pointed at her while soldiers strap her into a wheelchair to take her to and from her classes. Every now and then Dr. Caldwell comes by and comments on her “exquisite mimicry.” This is all Profoundly Uncool. How could anyone treat these sweet children in this terrible way?
The answer is:
BECAUSE THEY ARE ZOMBIES!
Max Gladstone: nom nom nom
So, in the film, this reveal happens maybe five minutes in. Which is great, because it’s a necessary element of scene-setting. It’s either the end of the first act or the middle of the first act depending on how you want to run the act breaks for this film. We know, all of a sudden, most of the stakes and context behind our central characters’ relationships as they understand them—though that will be broken open over the course of the movie, because many of the characters are lying to one another, or mistaken, or incompletely representing themselves.
Amal El-Mohtar: Yes! Everything about the setup and the reveal are wonderfully, economically done. We start by wondering why on earth these poor children are being called “friggin’ abortions” by aggressive awful guards, with Miss Justineau’s tearful affection towards them being our natural representative—and then there’s the revelation that, if they get a whiff of human effluvia, their jaws distend and they become these teeth-clacking horrifying creatures lusting for your flesh.
And what’s brilliant about it is that Miss Justineau knows this, but maintains her sympathy, while the guards know this and don’t.
And that’s a fantastically subtle piece of storytelling: showing you two equally true facts and two equally plausible positions on the subject.
Max Gladstone: Right. And perspective is hugely important here.
Miss J. has a limited perspective on her charges in one way, because she doesn’t tend to see them (or other zombies) being clacky chomping death monsters, while the guards do. On the other hand, the guards never see zombies as people, even limited-edition conscious zombies like Melanie.
Amal El-Mohtar: LIMITED-EDITION ZOMS!
Max Gladstone: They’re both wrong—and they both become deeply uncomfortable when presented with the limits of the boxes into which they’ve put the kids. Miss J sees them as children, which they aren’t—quite—at least not the way she thinks of children… and the guards see them as zoms, which, again, they aren’t. Quite.
Amal El-Mohtar: I am super restraining myself from jumping in immediately with my reading of this as a decolonial text about the limits and uses of respectability.
Max Gladstone: Why wait?
Amal El-Mohtar: No, no, I just think that there’s a ton of REALLY FASCINATING things to talk about besides that. Like Glenn Close’s role!
Max Gladstone: Right! Excellent! Glenn Close, as Dr. Caldwell, Avatar of Science.
Amal El-Mohtar: Can you think of another instance of that role—the hardcore pragmatic scientist for whom the ends justify the means—being played by a woman? Because I can’t!
Max Gladstone: Hm, I’m trying to! I feel like I’ve seen it done before but I can’t think of a specific role. Maybe Sigourney Weaver in Avatar, but that’s not really the same kind of role.
So, we have Glenn Close Dr, Caldwell, who really, really wants to eat your brain—I mean study! Study your brain!
Amal El-Mohtar: HA!
Oh man I hadn’t even thought of that comparison!
That the only character in this movie who is SUPER INTO BRAINS is the doctor trying to cure zombie-ness!
Max Gladstone: I think that’s a big part of why it works!
Over the course of the film we’re forced to slowly accept Melanie’s zombie-ness—she’s not human. She’s like human in many respects, she’s deserving of compassion as are all sentient beings, but she is very different. But at the same time we see that all the humans, especially Caldwell, have their own sort of insuperable automatic behaviors.
Paddy Considine’s Sgt. Parks, our resident Man of Action, at the film’s more-or-less exact midpoint, says something like, when your life’s on the line, you never know what you can do, what you’re going to do, until it’s done.
Amal El-Mohtar: OH MAN that is such a good point that I absolutely at no point thought of during the film and this is making me (almost) want to watch it again!
Max Gladstone: By what right are we supposed to think that the downfall of humanity is bad? Well, zombies are all automatic behavior—they have no will, no personality, just chompings. Dr. Caldwell’s stated position is that Melanie and the other limited edition zoms are pre-zombies—creatures that exhibit human behavior without sentience.
But again and again we see humans exhibit pre-sentient, conditioned, automatic behavior. To the extent that, in the film’s climax, when Caldwell has sedated Melanie and wants to operate on her, she’s staggering around and moaning just like a zombie, and she literally wants to eat Melanie’s brain to survive.
Well, okay, “use” and “titrate” instead of “eat” but you see where I’m going with this.
Amal El-Mohtar: I DO.
I DO SEE.
Max Gladstone: So there’s a strong Buddhist read here as well.
Amal El-Mohtar: Haha the only Buddhist thing I am seeing here is “the world is on fire.“
So please tell me more.
Max Gladstone: Hahahah
IT IS THOUGH.
Well, without getting too far into it, and recognizing that there are lots of different traditions and ways around Buddhism, the questions of “liberation” and “wakefulness” are at the heart of a lot of Buddhist teaching. So, the goal is to be liberated from suffering. But why are you suffering? Because of clinging—not only to specific sights, sounds, emotions, but to the consciousness that underpins them—the notion that these thoughts and experiences are in some sort of absolute and context-independent way.
So one part of liberating practice is meditating on the codependent origination of phenomena—you figure out where things came from, and discover they’re not essential substances at all. Including, and this is the tricky thing, thought.
Amal El-Mohtar: This sounds an awful lot like turning into a tree.
Max Gladstone: Hahaha yes!
A lot of our thoughts, if we ask ourselves why we’re thinking them, end up being sort of reflexive—we have them because we’ve been conditioned to have them.
Which raises the question: why are we acting or thinking this way? Often it’s not actually because we want to, or because we’ve given the matter any thought—it’s because we’re responding automatically to stimuli. We’re preconditioned by our history and surroundings, including culture, upbringing, systemic racism, our own view of our history, etc. We’re thinking in the way context has made us think. If we trace the causes of our mental formations, we gain a little bit of metacognitive perspective—enough, perhaps, to free us from unquestioned allegiance to our environment, and the cycle of perpetual suffering where people keep hurting each other forever.
So I see that playing into the question of automatic behavior and the existence of free will (and the relevance of consciousness) in this film.
Amal El-Mohtar: It makes total sense! I am persuaded! And that COULD dovetail neatly into my view of this as decolonial—which is likewise a process of questioning received defaults that have shaped us, uprooting and responding to them.
Max Gladstone: ++
Decolonialism is wicked Buddhist, I think. Or at least the approaches have a great deal in common.
Amal El-Mohtar: …But I want to talk about fast zombies first.
Max Gladstone: ZOOMBIES.
Amal El-Mohtar: So, broadly speaking, I hate fast zombies. I feel like it’s cheating.
Touching on what you point out about the ways in which the film shows us humans behaving in zombie-like ways? The zombies’ speed makes it extremely difficult for us to tell who’s a hungry and who’s not.
Max Gladstone: TRUE.
Amal El-Mohtar: That speed is also super effectively contrasted with the zombies’ behaviour of congregating in groups and standing utterly still in order for the fungal infection to achieve the second part of its lifecycle: LITERALLY TURNING THEM INTO TREES.
This film isn’t using fast zombies as a cheap scare tactic—it’s using speed very, very deliberately to position them as human in motion and alien in stillness.
Max Gladstone: Oh, wow, yes! Which then effectively transforms the natural environment around our human (or near-human) protagonists into a threat.
Amal El-Mohtar: (I only just noticed the pun in ZOOMbies by the way.)
(Because I am not fast like a zombie.)
Max Gladstone: (It sneaks up on ya.)
(Not entirely unlike—)
Amal El-Mohtar: I have just vacillated between whether to respond to that with a facepalming gif, a “Max No,” or silent ellipses.
I chose none and all of them.
Not entirely unlike—
YOUR PROTAGONIST Melanie, beautifully portrayed by Sennia Nenua!
Max Gladstone: She’s SO GOOD.
Amal El-Mohtar: She’s so amazing it’s hard to even talk about how amazing she is. This girl is what, maybe 13?
Max Gladstone: She’s so, so very sharp.
Amal El-Mohtar: And she absolutely holds her own against GLENN CLOSE.
Their scenes together were some of the most scintillating in the film. Melanie is so loving and careful and smart, and it comes across so profoundly that all she wants is to learn, all she wants is for these adults to teach her about who she is and how to be in the world, but all they can teach her is to hate herself and hate her hunger and wear a LITERAL MASK TO PROTECT THEM FROM HER and ok I can restrain the decolonialism no longer here we go.
Max Gladstone: Woooooo! Go!
Amal El-Mohtar: I was absolutely shocked at the film’s ending. I thought it was the most radical thing I’ve seen on a screen in a long time. But I’ve had some difficulty articulating its nuances to myself.
I guess the thing to say at the outset is that the film is not a 1–for–1 analogue, and that’s a feature, not a bug (as it were). Obviously this fungus is literally colonizing humanity, and humanity is fighting back—BUT LOSES. How could that be about resisting colonialism, you might justly ask? How does that not simply position a young black girl as somehow INVADING WHITENESS and playing into the rankest bullshit of white supremacist narratives?
Well! Because it lulls a hegemonic audience into an ironic sense of security, given that this is a horror film.
Max Gladstone: *chinhands*
Amal El-Mohtar: You think you know, heading into this movie, what you’re rooting for. You think you’re rooting for Tolerance and Understanding via Miss Justineau. You think you’re rooting for a cure that will eradicate difference and eliminate Melanie’s hunger via Dr. Caldwell.
Max Gladstone: Hm, interesting. Not certain I’m with you there, but, please continue!
Amal El-Mohtar: And you think that, consequently, you’re rooting for Melanie—that rooting for these things is rooting for Melanie.
Max Gladstone: *nod*
Amal El-Mohtar: But the ending strips that way. You’re not rooting for Melanie—you’re rooting for part of Melanie, the part that is sweet and smart and like you, the part that loves listening to your stories, the part that works hard to protect you from the parts of her that threaten you.
And what Melanie says, by putting the match to the seed pods, is that you’ve not been rooting for her at all.
Unless you literally turn into a tree.
Then you’re rooting for her just fine.
Max Gladstone: …
Amal El-Mohtar: OK I welcome you to chime in here as I further gather my thoughts about the ending. What was the part you disagreed with?
Max Gladstone: Mostly the sequence you present!
Let me see.
I don’t have an undergirding theory here, but, we’re not on Justineau’s side at first. We start off with Melanie—we’re rooting for her, against this screwed up system, against the soldiers, against the teachers. We do like Miss Justineau when she shows up, but that’s because (1) the movie plays a trick on us by having her come in to relieve the jerk teacher, so she’s not immediately and intuitively associated with the soldiers and authority, and (2) Melanie likes her.
The film gets a lot of its power by testing the affection we form for Melanie in those first few minutes. Do you still like her now? How about now? How about now?
And because it’s well-balanced and effective, the answer is yes. It has to work a lot harder to encourage empathy with the humans, who, at rock bottom, fear her and want to imprison Melanie (though in Miss J’s case, she commits actual armed rebellion to try to save Melanie, so that’s a thing. Even though she doesn’t seem to have a plan.)
Amal El-Mohtar: Oh, absolutely! I may have skipped a few steps, but that’s totally in line with what I mean—a big part of why we have affection for Melanie is because she’s SO exceptional and SO polite and SO remarkable, even in the face of all this violence exerted against her.
Max Gladstone: Hm, interesting. Again, I’m not sure that’s so?
We have affection for this kid who’s looking at her cat photos and counting to herself…
That I don’t think is conditioned on her performing niceness…
Amal El-Mohtar: You don’t think an audience’s relationship with Melanie would be different if she was shown to be sullen and furious and fighty at the outset? Instead of sunny and sweet?
I think the enormous contrast between the guns pointed in her face and her very genuine warmth is a huge part of the effect.
Max Gladstone: She would be a different character, certainly, and the effect would be different, but I don’t think it would be particularly difficult to get the audience to empathize with her
If anything, I think her niceness marks her as a bit uncanny in the opening scenes.
Especially given what’s going on around her.
Amal El-Mohtar: I agree that it’s uncanny—I spent a portion of that first act trying to figure out how much of it was genuine—but let me put it this way: it felt extremely familiar to me as a tactic for moving through a hostile world, of working extremely hard to be beyond reproach in even the most extreme and provoking of situations in order to protect oneself from attack.
Max Gladstone: Sure.
Amal El-Mohtar: And I felt that was a deliberate storytelling choice—that the dynamic would be different otherwise. And obviously I’m not saying it would have been impossible to empathize with her! Only that it would be a different dynamic, and I’m fascinated by how the story chose this dynamic.
Max Gladstone: Okay, I can see that. I got the impression you thought our ability to empathize with Melanie at all was contingent on her presenting in this way; it doesn’t seem to me that this is a necessary precondition of empathy. And that the film positions her niceness as being uncanny itself—which I think supports your point in a way.
Amal El-Mohtar: No no, not contingent—but connected! And yes, I think so too. This is an uncanny response to an uncanny situation.
This is also what I mean by it not being a 1–for–1 analogue: I definitely see a parable about respectability in the way Melanie’s positioned, but that’s not ALL I see.
But it maps on so effectively on to elements of my own experience, I can’t help but foreground those. To grow up speaking more than one language and learning which is valued in which context; to feel that you’re expected to hide parts of yourself until those parts are useful to others; even the scene where Melanie’s communicating with the feral children, seamlessly switching from speaking to them in their language and to the adults in theirs, is uncomfortably tidy.
In its associations, I mean.
Obviously the scene itself is very… Messy.
Max Gladstone: *nod* Yeah, that make sense! How does that feel, seeing it portrayed in this way this context and on screen?
Amal El-Mohtar: It feels INCREDIBLE.
I am probably extrapolating here.
Perhaps too much.
But you know what the camera does whenever Melanie gets to eat?
It’s a little like that.
But less murdery.
Max Gladstone: Hahaha!
Don’t eat the cat!
Amal El-Mohtar: OMFG STU IS ALWAYS ACCUSING ME OF WANTING TO DO THIS!
I HASTEN TO ADD.
Max Gladstone: As someone who has seen too many people cite “Save the Cat,” I felt sort of glorious watching Melanie bliss out on cat-murder—even though I like cats a lot. Cats are great and I do not condone their zombie murder
Amal El-Mohtar: I love cats! I have two of them! I want neither of them to get eaten by anything!
But only ONE of their people consistently refers to Millie as a PIE, STU.
From here we could probably branch (snrk) out into where this story intersects with climate change stories and gets a bit VanderMeery.
Since domestic cats are pretty invasive and stuff, I mean.
Max Gladstone: Kill songbirds. Delicious little elf monsters.
But: Yes! Change! Ecolo-Gs!
Amal El-Mohtar: This isn’t a zombie story where Humanity Engineers a Plague, you know? We never learn where the fungus comes from.
Max Gladstone: Nope. It’s pretty clearly a cordyceps (I think they even call it cordyceps somethingorother), adapted to humans.
Which could easily happen as a result of climate change—certainly climate change releases stuff buried in permafrost, all humans die, is a doomsday climate change scenario that gets kicked around quite a bit.
Amal El-Mohtar: Yes! And since we never learn whether it’s aliens, or Science Gone Bad, or whatever, my headcanon has it as a naturally occurring phenomenon to recalibrate a population which has grown uncontrollably parasitic.
Because humanity is—
[Agent Smith] a virus [/Agent Smith]
Max Gladstone: This is all Nausicaä backgroundfic.
Amal El-Mohtar: Aw man I still haven’t seen Nausicaä.
…Maybe we should watch it next.
Max Gladstone: Oh man! It’s so gooooood.
Amal El-Mohtar: But if we want that to happen probably we SHOULDN’T add it to the list.
Max Gladstone: I mean, setting aside normative language like “recalibrate.”
There’s a lot of evidence that habitat intrusion and climate change have introduced new strange pathogens and chaotic cascades we don’t understand yet.
IIRC this is probably where ebola came from, etc.
Amal El-Mohtar: (Is that normative? Can’t we recalibrate into difference?)
Max Gladstone: Let’s consult Merriam-Webster, the standard dictionary of the resistance.
Calibrate: 1: to ascertain the caliber (see caliber 3) of (as a thermometer tube)
2: to determine, rectify, or mark the graduations (see graduation 1)of (as a thermometer tube)
3: to standardize (as a measuring instrument) by determining the deviation from a standard so as to ascertain the proper correction factors
4: to adjust precisely for a particular function calibrate a thermometer
5: to measure precisely carefully calibrate the dosage of a medicine; especially : to measure against a standard
Amal El-Mohtar: OK but as per Merriam-Webster if my usage changes it…
What were you saying above about metacognitive processes? >.>
Max Gladstone: Hahaha, yes, but against a standard or to bring it in line with an existing standard?
Amal El-Mohtar: PROBABLY we should stop this from getting any sillier by which I mean I should stop and anyway I agree with you!
Max Gladstone: But we do have a situation where something has shown up and the new, post-event equilibrium for the Earth doesn’t involve humans living in it.
As far as humans are concerned, this is of course a major catastrophe.
As far as Earth is concerned, lingering heavy metal and radiation contamination is probably going to be a bigger deal than human absence from the biome.
(I bought a book about this recently, can’t wait to read it.)
One of the questions stories like this raise, for me, is, well, what would happen if all humans died?
What kind of moral event is that?
I mean, obviously it would suck to experience, and there are many people I don’t want to die—most, even!
Amal El-Mohtar: Most Magnanimous of Maxen, truly.
Max Gladstone: I guess it feels like it’s asking a different sort of question than “Would you want some specific human to die?” (The answer is no.)
I don’t know if this is making any sense.
Amal El-Mohtar: No it totally does! Which is also really interesting in terms of the ending—that Miss Justineau ends up positioned as potentially the last of her species because Melanie doesn’t want her to die.
I really felt that the film wasn’t making a moral statement there about who deserves to live or die—but that there was a deep respect for agency in the deaths of Sgt. Parks and Dr. Caldwell, even as Melanie, exerting her own agency, made the world uninhabitable for them.
I’m still not sure what to do with that, to be honest, ethically speaking—just that it spoke to me as something that films don’t usually do.
Max Gladstone: Yes. And by the end the film has us so much on Melanie’s side that her decision feels at least sorta justifiable.
Amal El-Mohtar: It’s the fact that she waits for Caldwell to acknowledge her personhood, I think.
Max Gladstone: I can’t go all the way to “justifiable” because she’s literally killing the entire human race.
That’s part of it, yes.
Overall I think the film resists the very, very easy temptation to cast anyone as a “bad” guy.
Amal El-Mohtar: YES, exactly. From the first act, it’s so, so easy to empathize with everyone’s actions.
Max Gladstone: Everyone does their thing. Sometimes that works out well for people you like. Sometimes not.
It’s heartbreaking and it feels true.
Oddly, also, everyone gets exactly what they want. Or, dies in the process of getting there.
Gallagher dies getting the food they need. Caldwell dies in search of her cure. Parks dies looking for his daughter. Justineau wants to live and teach, and she gets to do that.
Amal El-Mohtar: OMG, you’re so right, AND I just noticed that each of those desires is neatly subverted!
Gallagher dies… And BECOMES food.
Max Gladstone: Hah! Yes!
Amal El-Mohtar: Caldwell dies succumbing to a different disease, turning into the zombie simulacrum you described above.
Parks—whose arc I interpreted as being partly about protection—ends up needing to be rescued by the girl he’s come to treat as a surrogate daughter.
Max Gladstone: (And who’s almost certainly in an identical position to his real daughter.)
Amal El-Mohtar: (RIGHT!!!)
Max Gladstone: (Well, not *identical* identical.)
Amal El-Mohtar: And in the tidiest reversal, Justineau wants to live and teach her imprisoned students—but ends up being the one imprisoned as she does so.
Max Gladstone: I agree completely though I see Parks’s arc as being different: he talks about protection and about the survival of the species, but when the chips are down, he’s in all this because he wants to know what happened to his wife and his kid. And in his last moment, he learns.
Amal El-Mohtar: Aww, yeah. I totally forgot about that, you’re right.
Max Gladstone: That moment between Parks and Melanie is beautiful—and it’s only possible if he fully knows her, including that she’s someone who would set the trees on fire and release the spores.
Amal El-Mohtar: It so is. He’s not even mad.
Man, this was such a great film. I’m just remembering how when all these characters are together in the van for the first time I kept exclaiming how much I loved ALL of them and could see where they were all coming from!
Max Gladstone: It’s really great! It even is comfortable with the ending being sort of down-up.
Amal El-Mohtar: It’s a profoundly empathic film, even at its most frightening—the zombies, when eating, are so peaceful, so joyous.
Imagine, it says, being so hungry, and then eating.
Melanie is so, so beautiful, even when her face is covered in gore.
Max Gladstone: It’s blissful and effective.
And the fact that it doesn’t shrink from the ugliness or the beauty makes it feel profoundly ecological.
Amal El-Mohtar: Yes! Nature red in tooth and claw; Anne Rice (heavens help me) and her Savage Garden.
Max Gladstone: Which feels profound and real, compared to the sense I’ve received from some books that play this general “and then the world was reclaimed or transformed by nature” game, that we’re supposed to feel really great about the fact that the Forest has Reclaimed Everything.
We shall Stride Forth into Transformed Eden, etc.
Amal El-Mohtar: Hah, yes.
Turn to the nearest woman and call her Eve.
Max Gladstone: And I’m sitting here reading, like, motherfucker, I have friends with type 2 diabetes and a nut allergy.
Fuck your Eden fantasy.
Amal El-Mohtar: AAHHHH THIS.
OK once again Max you have sung a note I cannot top, so shall we leave it at Fuck Your Eden Fantasy?
Max Gladstone: Hahaha Yes! But just where I was going with that: I love how we get that kind of ecological, end-of-humanity note here, and it’s the zombie apocalypse. We’re not holding hands and humming. Even if something happens after us, it will look so, so different from us.
Everything changes. Some things are truly lost.
Amal El-Mohtar: YES. Exactly. And there’s tragedy and beauty in it, as Justineau continues to tell the children stories as a means to them making up their own, and it all comes so full circle that I get a bit dizzy.
I wonder what beings will make powder of the human-muching cordyceps for their wellness supplements.
As Paul Fidalgo once sang, “And when we’re all dead and seep into the crust / The beings to come can make oil out of us.”
Amal El–Mohtar has received the Locus Award, been a Nebula Award finalist for her short fiction, and won the Rhysling Award for poetry three times. She is the author of The Honey Month, a collection of poetry and prose written to the taste of twenty–eight different kinds of honey, and contributes criticism to NPR Books and the LA Times. Her fiction has most recently appeared in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Uncanny Magazine, and The Starlit Wood anthology from Saga Press. She lives in Ottawa with her spouse and two cats. Find her online at amalelmohtar.com, or on Twitter @tithenai.
Max Gladstone has been thrown from a horse in Mongolia and nominated (twice!) for the John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award. Tor Books published Last First Snow, the fourth novel in Max’s Craft Sequence (preceded by Three Parts Dead, Two Serpents Rise, and Full Fathom Five) in July 2015. Max’s game Choice of the Deathless was nominated for the XYZZY Award, and his short stories have appeared on Tor.com and in Uncanny Magazine. | <urn:uuid:14c3d7c1-9688-4d6a-a63c-9c6ba619f3a6> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://uncannymagazine.com/category/news/ | 2017-08-23T17:48:39Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886123312.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170823171414-20170823191414-00210.warc.gz | en | 0.938393 | 7,769 |
Monday, July 31, 2017
Department of State
July 28, 2017
Representatives of the U.S. Government, private sector, and civil society will meet with nearly 1,000 young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa during the State Department-sponsored Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit from July 31-August 2, in Washington, DC. The Mandela Washington Fellowship and Summit fosters and builds relationships that support and expand U.S.-Africa cooperation on shared goals the continent.
The Summit, held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, will feature an Expo with more than 100 organizations engaged with Africa, as well as a Congressional Forum and other leadership and networking sessions. The young African leaders are convening in Washington after six weeks of academic study and leadership training at 38 higher education institutions across the United States as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. Alumni of the Fellowship are playing a role in strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth, and enhancing peace and security in Africa. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative, the United States’ effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is a program of the U.S. Government and is supported in its implementation by IREX.
Story: DC MOAA
On Friday, July 14, 2017, the Mayor’s Office on African Affairs (MOAA) in partnership with Howard University, the UNESCO Center for Peace and the Commission on African Affairs hosted its third annual Young African ConneXions Summit (YAX) themed Strengthening Diaspora Partnerships. The Summit was held at the Howard University School of Business Auditorium as part of MOAA’s Community and Youth Engagement Outreach program.
Following the annual Young African ConneXions Summit, MOAA hosted its third annual Mandela Day of Service on Saturday, July 15, 2017. The agency was joined by volunteers at the Anacostia Park Skating Rink on 1800 Anacostia Drive, Washington, DC 20003, for 67 minutes of community service to commemorate the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela.
Please visit our Facebook page to view pictures of the events #YAX2017 and Mandela Day of Service
Department of State Spokesperson
July 28, 2017
The United States remains committed to working with Libya and our international partners to help resolve the political conflict and advance peace and long-term stability in Libya.
While the Libyan people must lead the process of achieving political reconciliation in their country, the international community plays an important role in supporting those efforts.
In this regard, we welcome the Joint Declaration from the July 25, meeting between Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and General Khalifa Haftar, hosted outside of Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron. We call on all Libyans to support political dialogue and adhere to a cease-fire, as stated in the Joint Declaration.
The United States also welcomes new UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Ghassan Salamé as the head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, UNSMIL, which plays a critical role in advancing lasting peace and stability. We look forward to working with him to help Libyans reach a political solution.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Office of the Spokesperson
Department of State
July 24, 2017
Building upon the success of the WiSci (Women in Science) Girls STEAM Camp held in Peru in 2016 and in Rwanda in 2015, this year’s WiSci Girls STEAM Camp will take place in Malawi, July 30–August 14. A public-private partnership designed to expand science, technology, engineering, arts and design, and mathematics (STEAM) exposure and opportunities for adolescent girls, the 2017 camp brings together 100 students from Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Liberia, Tanzania, Zambia, and the United States.
Led by industry experts, WiSci 2017 focuses on the applications of science and technology in creating a safer, more prosperous, and secure world. Campers will learn about coding and app development, engineering and robotics, micro- and molecular biology, satellite mapping, and sustainable development. They will have the opportunity to present project ideas and designs that use the skills and tools they gained to address a social or development challenge. The camp will also provide the girls with leadership and communication skills, teamwork opportunities, cultural exchange, educational excursions, mentorship, and professional development and networks extending beyond the camp to continue participants’ engagement in STEAM fields.
The 2017 WiSci Girls STEAM Camp is led by founding partners the U.S. Department of State, United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign, and the Intel Corporation, and sustaining partner Google. Additional programmatic support is provided by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, American Society for Microbiology, and NASA. The implementing partner for WiSci 2017 is World Learning.
The WiSci Girls STEAM camp is part of the U.S. government’s efforts to empower adolescent girls, especially in the STEAM fields, and to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.
For more information on the WiSci Girls STEAM Camp, visit girlup.org/wisci, follow #WiSci2017 on social media, or contact Alex Campbell, [email protected] or Anita Ostrovsky, [email protected].
July 30, 2017
On Friday, July 21, 2017, the new Ghanaian Ambassador to the U.S.–Dr. Baffour Adjei-Bawuah–presented his Letters of Credence to President Trump at an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House.
The presentation of credentials is a traditional ceremony that marks the formal beginning of an Ambassador’s service in Washington.
Department of State Spokesperson
July 20, 2017
The United States welcomes the recent announcements by the Governments of Sudan and Saudi Arabia underscoring Sudan’s commitment to sustain positive dialogue with the United States and to continue collective efforts to fight terrorism. As outlined in the 2016 U.S. Country Report on Terrorism issued July 19, the United States notes Sudan’s improved counterterrorism efforts through enhanced interagency and international cooperation to address the threat from ISIS and other terrorist organizations, and its willingness to pursue counterterrorism operations alongside regional partners, including operations to counter threats to U.S. interests and personnel in Sudan.
Department of State
July 14, 2017
The United States and Togo will co-host the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Lomé, Togo August 8-10. The Forum will bring together senior government officials from the United States and 38 Sub-Saharan African AGOA-eligible countries to discuss ways to boost economic cooperation and trade between the United States and Africa. The African Union and regional economic communities will also participate.
The theme of this year’s Forum is “The United States and Africa: Partnering for Prosperity through Trade.” The 2017 Forum will explore how countries can continue to maximize the benefits of AGOA in a rapidly changing economic landscape, and highlight the important role played by women, civil society, and the private sector in promoting trade and generating prosperity.
Representatives from the private sector, civil society, and the U.S.-sponsored African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) will participate in Forum activities August 8-9. The Ministerial plenaries will follow on August 9-10, bringing together senior government officials from the United States and the 38 African beneficiary countries.
U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer will lead the U.S. delegation, which will include senior officials from the U.S. Departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Transportation, Treasury, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, as well as the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. African Development Fund. Members of Congress and their staff from both parties are also invited to attend the Forum.
The AGOA law, which enhances market access to the United States for qualifying sub-Saharan African countries, has been the cornerstone of the U.S. government’s trade policy with sub-Saharan Africa since 2000. The law mandates that each year a special Forum be convened to discuss issues related to the implementation of the law and issues of economic cooperation and trade in general.
For specific information about the AGOA Forum private sector dialogue, please visit: www.corporatecouncileonafrica.com.
For specific information about the civil society/AWEP event, please visit: http://www.agoacsonetwork.org/.
For information about AWEP Togo, please visit: http://aweptogo.tg/.
Additional questions may be sent to: [email protected].
Department of State
July 24, 2017
Today, the United States announced that through support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) four African countries are approaching control of their HIV epidemics.
Groundbreaking new PEPFAR data show that the HIV epidemic is coming under control across all age groups in Swaziland, the country with the highest HIV prevalence in the world. Additional PEPFAR-supported studies released in December 2016 for Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe also demonstrate significant progress toward controlling the HIV epidemics in these countries.
In Swaziland, new HIV infections have been nearly halved among adults, and HIV viral load suppression – a key marker of the body successfully controlling the virus – has doubled since 2011. These data suggest that Swaziland has met the global target for community viral load suppression among HIV-positive adults four years ahead of schedule. The Swaziland data is particularly important because PEPFAR funded a comprehensive survey in 2011-2012, which provides the critical baseline comparator of current results and progress.
Today’s findings demonstrate the remarkable impact of the U.S. government’s efforts, through PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in close collaboration with African countries and other partners.
The United States is the largest bilateral donor to the global HIV/AIDS response. Through PEPFAR, the United States continues to invest in over 50 countries, ensuring access to services by all populations, including the most vulnerable and at-risk groups. Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are among the 13 highest-burden countries that have the greatest potential to control their epidemics by 2020 through the UNAIDS 90-90-90 framework and expansion of HIV prevention, leading PEPFAR to accelerate its efforts in these particular countries.
For more information about PEPFAR, visit: www.pepfar.gov
Story and Photo: The Carter Center
By Frank Richards
Dr. Frank Richards leads the Carter Center’s efforts to eliminate river blindness (also known as onchocerciasis), a parasitic disease transmitted by the bites of infected black flies.
There’s a famous line in the movie “Jaws” – after the stunned sheriff sees the monster shark for the first time, he says to the shark hunter: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
As The Carter Center tackles the monstrous challenge of eliminating river blindness in Nigeria, we’re gonna need a bigger plan, a bigger program, a bigger posse of volunteers—in short, a bigger paradigm. Our proposal to the MacArthur Foundation lays out a plan to do this that is entirely achievable with sufficient support; in other words, with a bigger budget.
But everyone involved, especially the millions of people in thousands of affected communities, must understand that to eliminate this curse, we need all hands on deck, and everyone needs to take the medication in the correct doses at the prescribed times. A Mectizan distribution program of this size, in the most populous nation in Africa and the most endemic for this disease worldwide, will require an exponential level of effort and perseverance; it has never been attempted at this scale.
We know our method works; we’ve used it to eliminate river blindness in Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. But Nigeria’s at-risk population is 100 times that of all of those places combined, so we have to scale everything up. Tens of thousands of volunteers will need to bring health education to their villages, measure for proper dosage and administer ivermectin tablets—medicine which is proven to stop transmission of the condition—and keep better records that will provide better data needed to track our progress. We will need a lot more volunteers, and each will need to be thoroughly trained, equipped and motivated. We’ll also need a lot more medication, storage space for it, and vehicles and drivers to distribute it. Once we’ve gained the advantage over river blindness, once it is gone from people and the environment, we can scale down all these activities for good.
This is a huge shark we are going after. But at The Carter Center, we don’t shy away from challenges. We believe that when the opportunity arises to make a terrible disease go away forever, we are morally obligated to give it our best shot.
Story and Photo: The Carter Center
By Rebecca Palpant Shimkets
Rebecca Palpant Shimkets, associate director in the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, develops and oversees the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.
Seeing South Africa’s mental health journalism program blossom fills me, along with Rosalynn Carter and everyone here at the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, with the kind of pride one feels when a family member receives a university degree. We are thrilled to have helped the program take its first steps.
In South Africa, like many other countries, mental health is shrouded in ignorance and stigma. Many people associate mental illness with a moral failure or witchcraft, but we know it is a health condition that can be treated.
Journalists have a powerful role to play in better informing the public, dispelling myths and misconceptions, and showing the real faces of mental illness — our neighbors, friends, colleagues, even ourselves. The media also can help shape public policy by shining a light on systemic failures and gaps in services, as well as providing a platform to discuss solutions.
In 2004, South Africa began developing ways for the media to better address mental health issues. The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism South Africa were created and awarded annually until 2011. A total of 14 fellowships were awarded before the South African Depression and Anxiety Group took over administration of the program with a vision for sustaining it without the Carter Center’s help.
That vision has never faltered. Zane Wilson and Marion Scher have found ways to train journalists, provide technical support to media outlets, and carry the torch The Carter Center ignited.
Just one example of a journalism fellow who has made a difference is Tamar Kahn of Business Day in Cape Town. Kahn was a 2006-07 fellow who has written extensively about the mental health issues faced by South African police officers and their families. Kahn uncovered a “tough man” mentality, a common cultural trait in South African men that was exacerbated by working in law enforcement. As a result, many officers lack the skills or inclination to seek the help they need. The publication of Kahn’s work was accompanied by a surge in coverage of mental health issues by South African newspapers and radio shows.
“It’s a way of taking our readers, I hope, to places that they would never go,” Kahn said. “And by showing them these places, perhaps they will be better informed about the challenges facing our police force and in turn pressure our policy-makers to improve the mental health services for police men and women.”
The mental health journalism landscape has changed dramatically in the past dozen years as more and more journalists have addressed the topic. It’s exciting to see Discovery Health declare that these issues are so important that the company will support a journalist to cover them using the standards and criteria established by The Carter Center.
Mrs. Carter and The Carter Center are enormously proud of all the fellows, of Zane and Marion for their determination to sustain the vision, and of Discovery Health for believing in the value of this work.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Africa: The Administration Extends Sudan Sanctions Review Period
07/11/2017 08:19 PM EDT
Department of State Spokesperson
July 11, 2017
Today, the President issued an Executive Order (E.O.) extending the review period established by E.O. 13761 of January 13, 2017, which set forth criteria for the revocation of certain sanctions on Sudan. The President’s E.O. extends the review period for an additional three months and provides for the revocation of those sanctions if the Government of Sudan (GOS) sustains the positive actions that gave rise to E.O. 13761, including maintaining a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan; improving humanitarian access throughout Sudan; and maintaining its cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism.
The United States will revoke the sanctions if the GOS is assessed to have sustained progress in these areas at the end of the extended review period. The general license issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which became effective on January 17, 2017, remains in place and broadly authorizes U.S. persons to process transactions involving persons in Sudan; engage in imports from and exports to Sudan; and engage in transactions involving property in which the GOS has an interest.
While we recognize that the GOS has made significant, substantial progress in many areas, the Administration has decided that some more time is needed for this review to establish that the GOS has sustained sufficient positive actions across all areas listed in E.O. 13761. We remain deeply committed to engagement with the GOS and working toward further progress on achieving a sustainable peace in Sudan, removing remaining obstructions to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and bolstering cooperation to counter terrorism and promote regional stability. Beyond these key areas connected with the potential revocation of most sanctions on Sudan and the GOS, the Administration is also committed to intensifying engagement with the GOS on a broader range of vital issues, including our ongoing dialogue on improving Sudan’s human rights and religious freedom practices, and ensuring that Sudan is committed to the full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea.
Background Briefing on Sudan Sanctions
07/12/2017 03:03 PM EDT
Office of the Spokesperson
Department of State
Senior Administration Officials
July 12, 2017
MODERATOR: Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us for the background call on the administration’s decision yesterday to extend the review period for the revocation of certain sanctions on Sudan. You may have seen the statement that was released yesterday, so we wanted to bring some folks in to discuss the decision in greater detail. We have [Senior Administration Official One]; also [Senior Administration Official Two] and [Senior Administration Official Three]. I’d like to add that the call will be embargoed until the end of the call. You can refer to the officials as senior administration officials who are involved in the Sudan assessment process.
With that, I will turn it over to [Senior Administration Official One] to get a little bit more into the details of today’s decision. And let me just add that [Senior Administration Official Two] has to drop off the call early, so we’ll get to [Senior Administration Official Two] after [Senior Administration Official One]. [Senior Administration Official One], thank you. Go right ahead.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Good morning, everybody. I just would like to take a very quick moment to set the frame of what the decision – that took place. Executive Order 13761, issued in January 13, provided for sanctions relief for Sudan with respect to certain sanctions if the Government of Sudan sustained positive actions that gave rise to this order. And basically, these actions, just to be clear so we’re all on the same page, included maintaining a cessation of hostilities in the conflict areas in Sudan, continuing improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, and maintaining cooperation with the U.S. on both regional conflicts and the threat of counterterrorism in the context of regional conflicts. A key issue is countering the Lord’s Resistance Army.
So the administration recognizes Sudan has made significant progress in these areas over the last six months, but given that a new administration came in in January and looking at where we’ve gone and where we will go, the administration decided that it needed more time to review Sudan’s actions and to establish that the government has demonstrated sustained, positive actions across all the areas that are set out in the executive order. As a result, the President yesterday issued a new executive order that extended the review period for three months. The Government of Sudan, if it is assessed at the end of that review period to have sustained positive actions as we’ve been discussing, the United States will revoke the sanctions. But there was a feeling that the additional time was needed to ensure that, given the scope and gravity of this decision, we reached the proper outcome.
The administration is committed to sustaining this discussion as well as engaging with the Government of Sudan on other vital issues outside of the five-track arrangement, including intensifying our ongoing and fairly intense already dialogue on improving Sudan’s human rights and religious freedom record, and also to ensure that, like we are on track with that throughout the globe, committed to the full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea. And I’m sure that [Senior Administration Official Two] will have more to say on that if there’s questions.
A couple of other things I’d like to note: In that throughout the course of the extended review period, the OFAC license that was issued in January remains in effect, and what that does essentially is it authorizes U.S. persons to engage in transactions involving Sudan, authorizes imports and exports, and engage in transactions that involve property related to the Government of Sudan. So this general license allows these actions that had been prohibited under previous executive orders as it has for the last six months, and as we go forward – additional three months of the review period, this will stay in place.
One other thing I’d like to note before we go into questions is that the administration looked at all relevant and credible information in terms of where we’ve assessed where we’re going to date, and that this decision was reached through a senior-level process, interagency process, that took the views of the Department of State, the Treasury, the intelligence agencies, as well as USAID and others who have an interest and focus on these issues. But it was the President who made the final decision based on his – the recommendations of the senior levels of the interagency – interagency.
So I think with that I will stop and let any questions go to my colleagues who are also on the line [Senior Administration Officials Two and Three].
MODERATOR: Okay. [Senior Administration Official One], thank you so much. Go right ahead. Let’s take our first question, and if anyone – let me mention again: If anyone has a specific question for [Senior Administration Official Two], since she has to drop off the phone early, go right ahead with that as well.
OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press * and then 1 on your telephone keypad. You’ll hear a tone indicating you’ve been placed in queue. To remove yourself from queue, simply press the # key. Once again, to ask your question, please press * and then 1 at this time. And one moment, please.
The first question is from Matina Stevis with The Wall Street Journal. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Hi. Thanks very much for doing this. It’s much appreciated. You will have seen in the last few moments that the Sudanese president has issued a statement saying he is suspending the sort of relevant commission that was working with the U.S. civil servants and other authorities on this. It is the view of the Sudanese Government that they have no more to do and that this decision effectively is a moving of goalposts. How do you respond to that, and how concerned are you that even this small extension might lead to backtracking of some of the progress that you guys have said has been made over the last few months and, indeed, nearly two years?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: I don’t want to characterize the Sudanese reaction right now because we’ve – we’re having still senior-level engagement on this issue as we speak and going forward. So I’m not going to comment on this report. We don’t know if it’s accurate, and since it’s, I think, a press report, we will wait until we have, actually, a full set of senior-level engagement and discussion back and forth.
We welcomed what Sudan has done to bring itself more in line with international standards and integrate its economy in the marketplace. We want to have a positive relationship going forward; we’ve made that clear throughout the process, and we hope that Sudan will continue. And again, the key focus, I think, for the Sudanese has been working to achieve the full revocation of sanctions. And if, at the end of the three months, which is a relatively short extension, and I think one where we can actually make some additional progress, the stated intent, as our statement indicates, is to lift the sanctions.
QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you very much.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Thank you.
OPERATOR: If there are additional questions, please press * and then 1. Once again, to ask additional questions, please press * and then 1. And one moment please.
And we’ll go to the line of Robbie Gramer with Foreign Policy. Please go ahead.
QUESTION: Hi. Thanks so much for doing this. I was wondering if you could comment on reports that came out a few months back on Sudan purchasing arms from North Korea. Have you talked at all with the Sudanese Government about clamping this down or stopping this, and have they assured you that would – they will?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Yeah. Basically, if you’ll notice that we do mention North Korea in the statement the department issued. The implementation of Security Council resolutions in North Korea, and especially efforts to stem North Korean missile proliferation and financing activities, is a top security priority for the President. He’s said this many times. I want to note – I want to turn this over to [Senior Administration Official Two] if she has any comment on this.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: Sure. Hello, everybody. Again, I’m [Senior Administration Official Two], and as [Senior Administration Official One] has said, and I’ll reiterate, and as you’ve seen in our statement, the Trump administration has made it really clear that the number one security issue for them and for our new government is North Korea. And that is a global, top security issue.
So yes, we have made our position clear with the Sudanese Government, and even outside of the five-track plan and in our longer-term engagement, for a very long time, that they must abide by the UN Security Council resolutions with regards to North Korea. So we continue to say that; that has not been added to the five-track framework, but it has been a continual concern we have with the Sudanese Government, and we’ve expressed that all along.
MODERATOR: (Inaudible) add to that. (Inaudible.)
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: I just wanted to add that we have been and we will continue to be talking about this issue. It is something that we are doing across the board with a range of countries. So again, I think that all our partners and – across the world, and all people – all the other countries that we’ve raised it with understand where this stands in our security priorities, and certainly the Sudanese do as well. And I think that we’ll stop there.
MODERATOR: Okay. Next question, please.
OPERATOR: The next question comes from the line of Kylie Atwood with CBS News. Please, go ahead.
QUESTION: Hello. Thanks for doing this. I have a question on the special envoy for South Sudan and Sudan here at the State Department. Is that a position that’s vacant right now? And if so, does that vacancy have anything to do with prolonging this policy review in that there’s no one who is a voice at the table that could be kind of an additional person to have conducted the review? Thanks.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: There is no special envoy for the moment, although [the] office is fully staffed and continues to work on these issues. What I can say is that basically, the appointment of a special envoy or a special representative for Sudan is under consideration by the administration as a part of State’s ongoing reorganizational design, and that’s really where we are right now. It would – I would not draw any other conclusions based on staffing right now.
MODERATOR: Okay. Next question, please.
OPERATOR: Next, the line of Matina Stevis, Wall Street Journal. Please, go ahead.
QUESTION: Sorry to use up my time, and then I hope other colleagues get to other questions. I just wanted to ask for your comments, since we have you here, on reports from expert analysts that have already been published that potentially, the decision was the outcome of lobbying both from human rights groups, by the likes of John Prendergast and former administration officials, as well as the so-called Christian right, which has historically been very active in lobbying for the isolation of Sudan and the split of South Sudan in the past. Do you guys have any comments on allegations that this – these influences and public statements are what’s really swayed you?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: I don’t want to speculate on any of the internal deliberations. What I can say is that we haven’t made a decision. We decided to – as an administration, that more time was needed to assess this issue.
As we note, there has been some significant progress made across the five tracks. On the question of humanitarian access, there’s been progress in our ability to get to different places on ensuring that the access of some additional materials has happened. But I’m not going to speculate on where we are and what we are – where we’re going on this other than to say that these five issues continue to be extremely important in terms of where we want to go. Humanitarian access has always been a real problem, and I think we’ve succeeded in reversing a number of longstanding impediments. The extended review period is going to let us do even more, and we want to make sure that our principle – which is unfettered humanitarian access in all contexts – is something that we could go forward with with the Government of Sudan, and that restrictions on travel and other issues are – that are inconsistent with the freedom of movement are addressed and overcome.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: This is [Senior Administration Official Two]. I would just add to the question, too, that this was a robust policy review process to determine that we just needed more time, that the new administration needed more time. Our principal – all principals were involved, and like [Senior Administration Official One] said, this is not a decision; it is, in fact, just having – giving a new administration a little bit more time. But we did have a lot of review go on and we’re still going to continue that process.
MODERATOR: Okay, everyone. Thanks so much for joining the call. Let me just go over this again, that the call is a background call with senior administration officials who are involved with the Sudan assessment process. The embargo from this call has now been lifted. Thank you, everyone, so much for joining us today and thanks for our speakers, [Senior Administration Official One], [Senior Administration Official Two], and also [Senior Administration Official Three]. Thank you.
Department of State
July 10, 2017
Teenage girls from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, and Tunisia will participate in the U.S. Department of State’s TechGirls exchange program from July 12–August 3. During their three weeks in the United States, participants will strengthen and develop technical skills, form invaluable networks, and establish relationships with mentors that will influence their future tech careers. The TechGirls initiative empowers girls around the world to become leaders in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
The 28 TechGirls will attend leadership clinics and project management workshops at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA and in Washington, D.C. While at Virginia Tech, the teens will also participate in an eight day, interactive technology and coding camp conducted by the Department of Computer Science Training, participate in a day of job shadowing with top tech companies in the Washington, D.C.-area, and engage in community service activities. Top leaders in the tech industry from the United States and the Middle East and North Africa will mentor the girls throughout the program.
The State Department and program partner Legacy International have teamed up with both public and private sector partners for this year’s TechGirls program, including: AT&T, Byte Back, Echo & Co, FCC, i Strategies Lab, Islamic Relief, Nokia, NPR, Relief International, Synoptos, TechChange, Vox Media, and 18F.
TechGirls exchange alumnae, now totaling 130, have utilized the program’s lessons to train more than 2,300 peers in their home countries. The achievements of these alumnae and the talent of the incoming class contribute to the U.S. global commitment to advance the rights of women and girls around the world, as well as STEM education.
Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter using hashtag #TechGirls.
July 9, 2017
The birth of South Sudan in 2011 was marked by hope for a peaceful and prosperous future. The American people, like many around the world, celebrated as the South Sudanese forged a free and independent nation following years of strife. Six years later, on the occasion of South Sudan’s independence, the promise of 2011 has been supplanted in 2017 by a continuing civil war and devastating humanitarian crisis affecting millions.
The conflict that broke out in December 2013 set South Sudan on a precarious course, causing immense suffering, creating divisions and holding the country back. We deeply regret that the second chance made possible by the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity in April 2016 was squandered. Following the collapse of the permanent ceasefire in July 2016, the armed conflict expanded across the country and the parties to the conflict remain unwilling to return to the negotiating table. The consequences have been dire: two million people displaced inside South Sudan, nearly two million people displaced as refugees outside of South Sudan, and six million people facing life-threatening hunger.
The United States remains deeply committed to a stable and inclusive South Sudan, and stresses once again that there is no military solution to this conflict. On this day meant to celebrate South Sudan’s creation, we call upon South Sudan’s leaders and all parties to end this self-destructive violence, to return to political dialogue, and to help South Sudan realize its full potential.
We extend our best wishes to the people of the Republic of South Sudan on the sixth anniversary of the nation’s independence. The United States will stand with the people of South Sudan and with all leaders who are working for peace, stability, and justice.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2017
Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt
President Donald J. Trump spoke today aboard Air Force One with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt to address the ongoing dispute between Qatar and its Arab neighbors. President Trump called on all parties to negotiate constructively to resolve the dispute, and he reiterated the need for all countries to follow through on their commitments at the Riyadh Summit to stop terrorist financing and discredit extremist ideology.
The two presidents also discussed the threat from North Korea. President Trump stressed the need for all countries to fully implement U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea, stop hosting North Korean guest workers, and stop providing economic or military benefits to North Korea.
June 16, 2017
Story: MCC website
Spotlight on Cabo Verde: Expanding Access to Water and Sanitation is Critical to Economic Growth
Women, the poor and other vulnerable groups are particularly impacted by the shortcomings of the water and sanitation sector in developing countries like Cabo Verde. Yet, women and the poor are seldom represented in national policy conversations and decision-making. At the local level, utilities rarely design services that address the challenges that these groups face in accessing and paying for water and sanitation. But in Cabo Verde, an island nation off the coast of West Africa, this is changing.
In partnership with the Government of Cabo Verde, MCC is supporting reforms to the country’s major water and sanitation institutions and the development of a financially sound basis for the delivery of water and sanitation services — from clean tap water to safe wastewater removal. By considering women, the poor and other disadvantaged populations in making these reforms, along with improving accountability, the Government of Cabo Verde is expanding access to and affordability of these vital services to help people lift themselves out of poverty.
Read more about MCC’s partnership with the Government of Cabo Verde in our blog post from Naomi Cassirer, MCC Gender and Social Inclusion Director, and Lona Stoll, MCC Deputy Vice President for Sector Operations. | <urn:uuid:c6255e97-e681-4bd0-9ca3-1e21f0f19851> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://us-africarelationsupdates.blogspot.com/2017/07/ | 2017-08-22T03:24:37Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886109893.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20170822031111-20170822051111-00610.warc.gz | en | 0.945545 | 8,075 |
THE JOURNAL OF THE POLYNESIAN SOCIETY.
CONTAINING THE TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY.
VOL. XV. 1906.
Wellington, N.Z.: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY BY WHITCOMBE & TOMBS LIMITED 1906 Reprinted with the permission of The Polynesian Society JOHNSON REPRINT CORPORATION 111 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003 JOHNSON REPRINT COMPANY LTD. Berkeley Square House, London, W.1
First reprinting, 1967, Johnson Reprint Corporation
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS OF VOL. XV.
No. 57.—March, 1906.
- Constitution of the Society, List of Officers and Members, etc. v-xii
- Annual Meeting of the Society and Report xiii
- The Lore of the Whare-Kohanga. Part II. Elsdon Best 1
- Tipua-Kura, and other Manifestations of the Spirit World. Lieut.-Col. Gudgeon 27
- Transactions and Proceedings of the Society 58
No. 58.—June, 1906.
- He korero tatai mo Horehore Pa. Tanguru Tuhua 61
- Translation of the above. S. Percy Smith 69
- A Maori Teka 94
- Root Reducibility in Polynesian. W. Churchill, B.A. 95
- Notes and Queries—(195) Life of Te Rau-paraha; (186) Fanning Island; (187) The Pentalpha; (188) The Plants of New Zealand 125
- Transactions and Proceedings of the Society 127
No. 59.—September, 1906.
- Certain Maori Customs of Old. Major H. P. Tunui-a-rangi (with Translations by S. Percy Smith) 129
- The Lore of the Whare-Kohanga. Part III. Elsdon Best 147
- Whakamomore. Lieut-Col. Gudgeon 166
- Maori Matter at the Cape of Good Hope. Rev. H. W. Williams 175
- Transactions and Proceedings 181
No. 60.—December, 1906.
- The Lore of the Whare-Kohanga. Part IV. Elsdon Best 183
- Maori Bird Names. Rev. H. W. Williams 193
- Ruatapu and his Cook Island Descendants (with original text) Major J. T. Large 209
- Te Atua-hae-roa, at Poverty Bay. Rev. F. W. Chatterton 220
- Ngati-Awa in the North. A. C. Yarborough 221
- Transactions and Proceedings 224
- iv Page is blank
OFFICERS FOR 1906.
His Excellency, Lord Plunket, Governor of New Zealand.
S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S. (Also Editor of Journal.)
- M. Fraser.
- W. Kerr.
- W. L. Newman.
- F. P. Corkill
- W. H. Skinner.
- J. H. Parker.
Joint Hon. Secretaries and Treasurers :
W. H. Skinner and W. L. Newman
THE Society is formed to promote the study of the Anthropology, Ethnology, Philology, History and Antiquities of the Polynesian races, by the publication of an official journal, to be called “The Journal of the Polynesian Society,” and by the collection of books, manuscripts, photographs, relics, and other illustrations of the history of the Polynesian race.
The term “Polynesia” is intended to include Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Malaysia, as well as Polynesia proper.
Candidates for admission to the Society shall be admitted on the joint recommendation of a member of the Society and a member of the Council, and on the approval of the Council.
Every person elected to membership shall receive immediate notice of the same from the Secretaries, together with a copy of the Rules, and on payment of his subscription of one pound shall be entitled to all the benefits of membership. Subscriptions are payable in advance, on the 1st January of each year, or on election.
Papers will be received on any of the above subjects if sent through a member. Authors are requested to write only on one side of the paper, to use quarto paper, and to leave one inch margin on the left-hand side, to allow of binding. Proper names should be written in ROMAN TYPE.
The price of back numbers of the Journal, to members, is 2s 6d.
Vols. i, ii, iii, and iv are out of print.
Members and exchanges are requested to note that the Society's Office is at New Plymouth, to which all communications, books, exchanges, &c., should be sent, addressed to Hon. Secretaries.
- vi Page is blank
MEMBERS OF THE POLYNESIAN SOCIETY.
as at 1st January, 1906.
The sign * before a name indicates an original member or founder.
As this list will be published annually, the Secretaries would feel obliged if members will supply any on issions, or notify change of residence.
- His Excellency the Governor, Government House, Wellington, N.Z.
- Liliuokalani, ex-Queen of Hawaii, 1588, 21st Street, Washington, U.S.A.
- Rev. R. H. Codrington, D.D., Chichester, England
- Rev. Prof. A. H. Sayce, M.A., Queen's College, Oxford, England
- Hon. Sir J. G. Ward, K.C.M.G., M.H.R., Wellington, N.Z.
- Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., Petone, Wellington, N.Z.
- Professor H. H. Giglioli, Museo Zoologico, 19, via Romana, Florence, Italy
- H. G. Seth-Smith, M.A., Chief Judge N.L. Court, Auckland, N.Z.
- Prof. W. Baldwin Spencer, M.A., The University, Melbourne.
- Prof. A. H. Keane, LL.B., F.R.G.S., “Aram Gah,” 79, Broadhurst Gardens, South Hamstead, London, N.W.
- Prof. Otis T. Mason, A.M., Ph.D., Smithsonian Institution, National Museum, Washington, U.S.A.
- Rev. T. G. Hammond, Patea, Taranaki, N.Z.
- Te One Rene Rawiri Te Mamaru, Moeraki, Otago, N.Z.
- Rev. Mohi Turei, Waiapu, N.Z.
- Takaanui Tarakawa, Te Puke, Maketu, N.Z.
- Karipa Te Whetu, Whangarae, Croixelles, Nelson, N.Z.
- Tiwai Paraone, Miranda, Auckland, N.Z.
- Aporo Te Kumeroa, Greytown, N.Z.
- Hare Hongi, Jackson Street, Petone, Wellington, N.Z.
- Wiremu Kauika, Waitotara N.Z.
- Tati Salmon, Papara, Tahiti.
- Pa-ariki, Ngatangiia, Rarotonga.
- Rev. J. Egan Moultan, D.D., Lindfield, Sydney, N.S.W.
- Churchill, W., B.A., Fale'ula, East 12th Street, near King's Highway, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.A.
- Cognet, Rev. Claud, S.M., Okato, N.Z.
- Tunui-a-rangi, Major H. P., Pirinoa, Martinborough, N.Z.
- * Alexander, Dr. E. W., F.R.G.S., Dunedin, N.Z.
- * Alexander, W. D., F.R.G.S., D.Sc., Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands
- Aldred, W. A., Bank of New Zealand, Christchurch, N.Z.
- Aitken, J. G. W., M.H.R., Wellington, N.Z.
- Ashcroft, R. H., Esq., c/o Taupo Totara Timber Co., Mokai, via Putaruru, N.Z.
- Atkinson, W. E., Whanganui, N.Z.
- * Birch, W. J., Marton, N.Z.
- * Blair, J. R., Terrace, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Barron, A., Land for Settlement Department, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Best, Elsdon, Ruatoki, Rotorua, N.Z.
- Buller, Sir W. L., K.C.M.G.. F.R.S., Terrace, Wellington, N.Z.
- Battley, R. T., Moawhango, N.Z.
- Bamford, E., Auckland, N.Z.
- Benn, H. R., Rotorua, N.Z.
- Buchanan, W. C., Carterton, N.Z.
- Bennett, Rev. F. A., Rotorua, N.Z.
- British and Foreign Bible Society, 114, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C.
- Browne, A. H., Rarotonga
- Brown, Prof. J. McMillan, Christchurch, N.Z.
- Boston City Library, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
- * Chapman, His Honour F. R., Wellington, N.Z.
- * Carroll, A., M.A., M.D., Denbeigh Ho., Koogarrah, Sydney, N.S.W.
- * Carkeek, Morgan, Otaki, N.Z.
- Chambers, W. K., Repongaere, Gisborne, N.Z.
- Carter, H. C., 475, West 143rd Street, New York
- Comins, Ven. Archdeacon R. Blundell, Norfolk Island
- Chapman, M., Wellington, N.Z.
- Cooper, His Honour Theo., Wellington, N.Z.
- Coates, J., National Bank of N.Z., Wellington, N.Z.
- Corkill, F. P., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Clark, Patrick, c/o Wilkie & Co., Dunedin, N.Z.
- Chatterton, Rev. F. W., Te Rau, Gisborne
- Cole, Ven. Archdeacon R. H., D.C.L., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Calhoun, Major Alfred R., 133, East Sixteenth Street, New York, U.S.A.
- * Denniston, His Honour J. E., Christchurch, N.Z.
- Dulau & Co., 37, Soho Square, London
- Drummond, James, “Lyttelton Times” Office, Christchurch, N.Z.
- Donne, T. A., Tourist Department, Wellington, N.Z.
- Dixon, Ronald B., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
- * Emerson, J. S., Honolulu, 802, Hackfeld Street, Hawaiian Islands
- Ewen, C. A., N.Z. Insurance Co., Wellington, N.Z.
- Edger, F. H., Judge N.L.C., Auckland, N.Z.
- * Fraser, D., Bulls, Rangitikei, Wellington, N.Z.
- Friedlander, R., Carlstrasse 11 Berlin, N.W.
- Friedlaender, Dr. B., Regenten Strasse 8, Berlin, W.
- Fletcher, Rev. H. J., Taupo, N.Z.
- Forbes, E. J., S, Spring Street, Sydney, N.S.W.
- Fraser, M., New Plymouth, N.Z.,
- Fisher, T. W., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Frear, Chief Judge, W. F., Honolulu, Hawaii
- Frith, John F., Survey Office, New Plymouth
- Fowlds, G., M.H.R., Auckland, N.Z.
- Fenwick, Geo., “Otago Daily Times,” Dunedin
- Field Colombian Museum, The, Chicago, U.S.A.
- * Grace, L. M., N.L.P. Dept., Government Buildings, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Gudgeon, Lieut.-Col. W. E., C.M.G., Govt. Resident, Rarotonga
- Gordon, H. A., F.G.S., Auckland, N.Z.
- Gurr, E. W., Chief Judge, Pagopago, Samoa
- Gill, W. H., Kobe, Japan.
- Graham, Geo., c/o Wynyard & Purchas, Auckland, N.Z.
- Gray, M. H., A.R.S.M., F.G.S., &c., Lessness Park, Abbeywood, Kent, England
- Haddon, A. C., D.Sc., F.R.S., Inisfail, Hills Road, Cambridge, England
- * Hursthouse, C. W., Roads Department, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Hocken, Dr. T. M., F.L.S., Dunedin, N.Z.
- * Hamilton, A., Museum, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Henry, Miss Teuira, Tahiti Island
- Harding, R. Coupland, Wellington, N.Z.
- Hutchin, Rev. J. J. K., Rarotonga Island
- Hastie, Miss J. A., 11, Ashburn Place, Cromwell Road, London
- Hughes, R. C., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Hannon, H., The Hall, West Farleigh, Kent, England
- Iorns, William, Masterton, N.Z.
- * Johnson, H. Dunbar, Judge N.L. Court, Whanganui, N.Z.
- Kühl, W. H., W-Jäger Strasse, 73, Berlin
- Kerr, W., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Kelly, Hon. T., M.L.C., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- * Lawrence, Rev. W. N., Port Moresby, New Guinea
- * Large, Major J. T., Mangaia Island, Rarotonga
- * Laing, R. M., M.A., High School, Christchurch, N.Z.
- Leggatt, Rev. T. W. Watt, Malikula, New Hebrides
- Lambert, H. A., Tane, Pahiatua, N.Z.
- Leslie, G., Government Buildings, Wellington, N.Z.
- Lethbridge, F. Y., M.H.R., Feilding, N.Z.
- Lardelli, Victor S., Whangara, Gisborne, N.Z.
- * Marshall, W. S., Te Hekenga, Pemberton, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Morpeth, W. T., Survey Department, New Plymouth, N.Z.
- * Major, C. E., M.H.R., Hawera, N.Z.
- * MacDonald, Rev. Dr. D., Efate, New Hebrides
- * Mackay, A., Feilding, N.Z.
- Mitchell, F. J., Home Rule, Mudgee, N.S.W.
- Mackay, Captain A. W., J.P., c/o W. Walker, Esq., Vickery's Chambers, 82, Pitt Street, Sydney, N.S.W.
- March, H. Colley, M.D., F.S.A., Portesham, Dorchester, England
- Mair, Captain G. W., F.L.S., Wellington, N.Z.
- Marshall, J. W., Tututotara, Marton, N.Z.
- Marshall, H. H., Motu-kowhai, Marton, N.Z.
- McNab, R., M.H.R., Gore, N.Z.
- Maunsell, R., Eridge, Masterton, N.Z.
- Maclaurin, Professor, Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z.
- Martin, Josiah, F.G.S., Auckland, N.Z.
- Marchant, J. W. A., Surveyor-General of N.Z., Wellington
- Mackintosh, Rev. Canon A., F.R.G.S., Honolulu. Hawaii
- Malone, W. G., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Matthews, H. J., Chief Forester of N.Z., Wellington
- Nathan, D. J., Wellington, N.Z.
- Newell, Rev. J. E., Malua, Samoa
- Nairn, F. E., Hastings, H.B., N.Z.
- Ngata, A. T., M.A., LL.B., M.H.R., Awaroa, Gisborne, N.Z.
- New York Public Library, Astor Library Buildings, New York
- Newman, W. L., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Ngatana, Ratana, Ratana Railway Station, Turakina, N.Z.
- Peebles, James M., Glenavy, South Canterbury
- * Phillips, Coleman, Featherston, N.Z.
- * Pope, J. H., Education Department, Wellington, N.Z.
- Pritt, Archdeacon, F. G., Gairlock, Brisbane, Queensland
- Partington, J. Edge, F.R.G.S., British Museum, London, England
- Pomare, Dr. M. H. P. N., Health Department, Wellington, N.Z.
- Parker, J. H., New Plymouth.
- Reeve, Wellwood, Tologa Bay, Gisborne N.Z.
- * Rutland, Joshua, Canvastown, Marlborough, N.Z.
- * Roy, R. B., Taita, Wellington, N.Z.
- Reweti, Ru, Opua, Auckland, N.Z.
- Roy, J. B., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Roberts, W. H. S. Newborough, Oamaru
- * Smith, W. W., F.E.S., Ashburton, Canterbury, N.Z.
- * Shand, A., Chatham Islands
- * Smith, F. S., Gisborne, N.Z.
- * Smith, M. C., Survey Department, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Smith, S. Percy, F.R.G.S., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Smith, H. Guthrie, Tutira, via Napier, N.Z.
- * Stout, Hon. Sir R., K.C.M.G., Chief Justice, Wellington, N.Z.
- * Skinner, W. H., Survey Department, New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Saxton, Henry Waring, F.L.S., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Smith, T. H., Grafton Road, Auckland, N.Z.
- Scott, Prof. J. H., M.D., F.R.S.E., Otago University, Dunedin, N.Z.
- Stainton, W., Mokoia, Woodville, N.Z.
- Smith, Hon. W. O., Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands
- Spencer, W. E., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Samuel, Oliver, New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Solf, His Excellency Dr. W. K., Governor of German Samoa, Apia, Samoa.
- Schultz, Dr. Erich von, Apia, Samoa.
- Smith, William, Railway Department, Aramoho, N.Z.
- Scholefield, G. H., New Zealand Times Office, Wellington, N.Z.
- Stewart, Mervyn James, Katikati, N.Z.
- * Tregear, E., F.R.Hist.S., Wellington, N.Z.
- * Testa, F. J., Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands
- Turnbull, A. H., Bowen Street, Wellington, N.Z.
- Tinline, J., Nelson, N.Z.
- Way, Right Hon. Sir Samuel James, Bart., P.C., Chief Justice, Adelaide, S.A
- * Webster, J., Hokianga, N.Z.
- * Wilkinson, G. T., Otorohanga, Auckland, N.Z.
- * Wheeler, W. J., Survey Office, Auckland, N.Z.
- * Williams, Right Rev. W. L., D.D., Bishop of Waiapu, Napier, N.Z.
- * Wright, A. B., Survey Department, Auckland, N.Z.
- Williams, Rev. H. W., M.A., Gisborne, N.Z.
- Williams, J. N., Frimley, Hastings, Hawke's Bay, N.Z.
- White, Taylor, Wimbledon, Hawke's Bay, N.Z.
- Wilson, A., Survey Office, Auckland, N.Z.
- Wilcox, Hon. G. N., Kauai, Hawaiian Islands
- Watt, Rev. W., Tanna, New Hebrides
- Williams, F. W., Napier, N.Z.
- Wallis, Right Rev. F., D.D., Bishop of Wellington. N.Z.
- Whitney, James L., Public Library, Dartmouth, Boston, U.S.A.
- Woodworth, W. McM., Museum Comp. Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
- Webster, W. D., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Walker, Ernest A., M.D., New Plymouth, N.Z.
- * Young, J. L., c/o Henderson & Macfarlane, Auckland, N.Z.
PRESIDENTS (Past and Present).
- 1892–1894—H. G. Seth-Smith, M.A.
- 1895–1896—Right Rev. W. L. Williams, M.A., D.D.
- 1897–1898—The Rev. W. T. Habens, B.A.
- 1899–1900—J. H. Pope.
- 1901–1903—E. Tregear, F.R.H.S., &c.
- 1904–1906—S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S.
LIST OF EXCHANGES.
THE following is the list of Societies, &c., &c., to which the Journal is sent, and from most of which we receive exchanges. There is a tacit under-standing that several Public Institutions are to receive our publications free, so long as the New Zealand Government allows our correspondence, &c., to go free by post.
- Agent-General of New Zealand, 13 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, S. W.
- Anthropologische, Ethnographische, etc., etc., Gesellschraft, Vienna, Austria.
- Anthropologie, Société d', 15, Rue Ecole de Medicin, Paris.
- Anthropologia, Museo Zoologica, Florence, Italy.
- Anthropological Society of Australia, c/o Board of International Exchanges Sydney.
- Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, 3 Hanover Square, London, W.
- Anthropologie, École d', 15 Rue Ecole de Medicin, Paris.
- Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, University, Sydney.
- Aute (Te) Students Association, The College, Te Aute, Hawke's Bay. N.Z.
- American Oriental Society, 235, Bishop Street, Newhaven, Conn., U.S.A.
- Bataviaasch Genootschap, Batavia, Java.
- Buddhist Text Society, 86/2 Jaun Bazaar Street, Calcutta.
- Blenheim Literary Institute, Blenheim, N.Z.
- Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.
- Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, H.I.
- Canadian Institute, 46 Richmond Street East, Toronto.
- Cambridge Philosophical Society, Cambridge, England.
- Ethnological Survey, Manila, Philippine Islands
- Faculté des Sciences de Marseilles, Marseilles, France.
- General Assembly Library, Wellington, N.Z.
- Géographie, Société de, de Paris, Boulvard St. Germain 184, Paris.
- Historical Society, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands.
- Institute, The Auckland, Museum, Auckland, N.Z.
- Institute, The Philosophical, Christchurch, N.Z.
- Institute, The New Zealand, Wellington, N.Z.
- Institute, The Otago, Dunedin, N.Z.
- Japan Society, 20 Hanover Square, London, W.
- Kongl, Vitterhets Historie och Antiqvitete Akademen, Stockholm, Sweden
- Koninklijk Instituut, 14, Van Galenstraat, The Hague, Holland.
- Literary and Historical Society, Quebec, Canada.
- Museum, Christchurch.
- Museum, The Australian, Sydney.
- Minister of Education, Wellington.
- Minister, Right Hon. the Premier, Wellington.
- Minister, Hon. The Colonial Secretary, Wellington.
- Na Mata, Editor, Suva, Fiji.
- Public Library, New Plymouth, N.Z.
- Public Library, Auckland.
- Public Library, Wellington.
- Public Library, Melbourne.
- Public Library, Sydney.
- Peet, Rev. S. D., Ph.D., Editor of “The American Antiquarian,” 438, Fifty Seventh Street, Chicago.
- Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S.A.
- Reading Room, Rotorua, N.Z.
- Royal Geographical Society, 1 Saville Row, London.
- Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Brisbane.
- Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, c/o G. Collingridge, Waronga, N.S.W
- Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, 70 Queen Street, Melbourne.
- Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Adelaide.
- Royal Society, Burlington House, London.
- Royal Society of New South Wales, 5 Elizabeth Street, Sydney.
- Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 87 Park Street, Calcutta.
- Royal Colonial Institute, Northumberland Avenue, London.
- Real Academia de Ciencias y Artes, Barcelona, Spain.
- Smithsonian Institution, Washington.
- Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington.
- Secretary (Under) Colonial Secretary's Department, Wellington.
- Secretary (Under) Justice (Native), Wellington.
- University of California, Berkeley, California.
- Wisconsin Academy of Science and Arts, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY.
Held at New Plymouth, N.Z., 30th January, 1906.
THE usual annual meeting was held as above at the Borough Council office, the President (Mr. S. Percy Smith) in the chair, the following members being present:—Messrs. J. B. Roy, R. C. Hughes, O. Samuel, M. Fraser, F. P. Corkill, W. Kerr, W. L. Newman, and W. H. Skinner.
The minutes of the last annual meeting, together with the annual report and balance-sheet, were read and confirmed, and ordered to be printed in the next Journal.
A ballot was taken for three members of the Council who retire under Rule 5, which resulted in Messrs. Kerr, Parker, and Skinner retiring.
The following officers for the ensuing year were elected:—
- President—S. Percy Smith.
- Council—W. Kerr, J. H. Parker, and W. H. Skinner.
- Secretary—W. H. Skinner.
- Auditor—W. D. Webster.
On the motion of Mr. Samuel, seconded by Mr. Roy, the Council were instructed to communicate with the authorities of the proposed Technical School, with a view of trying to arrange for a room for the library.
A vote of thanks to the officers of the Society terminated the proceedings.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER, 1905.
Presented at the Annual Meeting, 30th January, 1906, in terms of Rule No. 31.
THE Council of the Society has pleasure in reporting to the annual meeting for the fourteenth time since the foundation of the Society. Nothing very prominent has marked the year just passed, except the loss of some prominent members through death. Amongst these must be mentioned Captain F. W. Hutton, F.R.S., Curator of the Canterbury Museum, who died on the voyage out from England, on his return from a well-deserved holiday. Not only the Society, but New Zealand at large, loses in him a man who occupied the highest rank on the roll of our scientific men. The Hon. Captain C. W. A. T. Kenny, M.L.C., also passed away during the year after a lengthened period of ill-health. He was one of our original members, and a genial, kindly gentleman of a high stamp. We have also had four resignations during the year, three of whom were original members. It is of course natural that our original members must in process of time disappear from our roll. Out of the 110 original members who formed the Society in 1892 there are only 46 now left. Some members names have also been - xiv struck off for non-payment of their subscriptions, so that on the 1st January, 1906, our members stood as follows:—
This shows an increase of only three members during the year, which is not, we think, as it should be, when it is considered that this Society is really doing what in most other countries is done by their Governments—i.e., the preservation and publication of original documents connected with the history of the country and with the race which preceded our occupation. In the publication of our quarterly Journal, and the incidental expenses connected with the carrying on of the Society since its foundation, we have expended a sum of £2145 (including about £90 paid to Capital Account). For this expenditure we have published fourteen volumes of “Transactions and Proceedings,” the value of which are acknowledged, more particularly by the societies with which we exchange publications. It is obvious this could not have been accomplished without the aid of many writers, who, together with the officers of the Society, have given their services gratuitously. The only assistance the Society has had has been the concession made by the New Zealand Government in allowing our postal matter to go free to all parts of the British Empire. Without this concession our balance-sheet for the last twelve months would have been on the wrong side.
A subject that causes the Council some anxiety is our library. Through the kindness of the Borough Council of New Plymouth the larger part of our books, &c., are given free storage; but they increase in volume so rapidly that there is no longer space for them in the Borough Council Chamber, and all the later additions to the library are stored with the President or Secretaries, and are therefore not available for reference. What the Council would be glad to see is a room provided in which all our books and documents could be placed in proper order, with accommodation for those who might wish to avail themselves of the many valuable works the library contains. During the last year Mr. Harry Skinner has rearranged part of the books and commenced a catalogue of them.
The supply of original papers continues, many of them in Maori, which require translation. These latter are of especial value. It is to be regretted, however, that we receive so few papers from outside New Zealand, for the Council does not desire to see our Transactions become of too local a character. There are many gentlemen within the area defined by the term “Polynesia” in our rules who are quite capable of adding largely to our Journal.
The treasurer's accounts attached hereto show the total receipts (inclusive of balance brought forward) to be £203 11s 3d, and the expenditure to be £193 5s 7d, leaving a balance in hand of £10 5s 9d towards next year's expenditure. The Capital Account now stands at £106 17s 5d. This fund has only once been drawn on during the past fourteen years—viz., in copying Mr. Christian's long list of words in several dialects of Indonesia and Polynesia, and part of the sum spent in this work has been refunded to the Capital Account. It was originally started to provide means for publishing special memoirs.
We are, as usual, indebted to Mr. R. Coupland Harding for the compilation of the index to the last volume, and also to Mr. W. D. Webster for auditing our accounts.
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Its been a good year for hip hop within Zimbabwe and it is quite inevitable not to take heed of how far Bulawayo hip hop cats have been pushing and making serious musical moves(Cal_Vin featuring S.A artiste Cassper Nyovest) and with so much energy and a level of seriousness next to none they deserve recognition within a rap dynasty which they have built for themselves as’Ndebele Rap’.I must admit I have never been a follower of Ndebele rap – not because I stand tribalistic in all forms of being but the Kasi undertone within their rap is something I am yet to adjust to.New to my music library is Bulawayo bred Tafadzwa Tarukwana’s (known in the musical circles as Asaph) Ep entitled Kingsvilla which is surely to captivate and mind-catch the listener,with lyrics that are packed with brutal rhymes and a heavy breath of vocabulary that maintains a subtle nature to its listeners rarely giving him room to be a cliche rapper.
Kingsvilla does one thing truly well,that being, making certain that the listener is well aware that the rapper is strictly a Bulawayo product and that hip hop levels within Bulawayo are far much bigger than what the rest of the country would like to box them in but fails to represent the Ndebele language in the form of using it to spit bars.
For a while on social medias he has been on a rant that he is the ‘Saviour of Zim Hip Hop’ a title he seems to takes seriously .In his own words I quoted him saying..
”…I believe I will save Zim Hip Hop by giving it a culture. All I am is real and that is what I put into the music. I put BYO urban culture in Kingsvilla and it wont stop with just the music, the music is just the start. What I’m giving Zim Hip Hop is a language, a dress code, a lifestyle and that’s more than music.”
The former gospel rapper and the ambassador for Shades of Grey Apparel is no brand new to the hip hop circles having had the chance to work with other majoring Bulawayo hip hop artists such as P.OY and Cal_Vin and gospel artist referred to as T1NDA.On his 9 track EP project Asaph seeks the production affiliations of Charlie Zimbo(who snubs the most production spots)Dj Dakudo and LA Josh with tracks that all slide through one start up from a conversation he has with one female in Harare.Also making guest features are Cal_Vin on NTL,MJ Sings on Masiyiwa Moves and also embarks on a rap duo with Mimie on Potential .
It’s rare to find artists in this hip hop age who when faced with the opportunity to see their art hinge on either appealing to a bigger audience or a small listening capacity are willing to take the gamble to perfect their art and Asap manages to impress in that area.Ambition meets creativity on the opening track ‘KingsVilla’ produced by LA Josh which starts off the conversational journey in Harare between him and a female voice that transcends to the track which he talks frankly about being once a gospel rapper and why he opted out of it amongst other topics.
Drop That,which initially was the first track he worked on before the other EP tracks, takes on the party theme and is a brilliant abstraction for the EP heavy with a Migos borrowed flow.Potential creates a rap chemistry light and delicate on the ear and the duo makes the track an easy dance-able track to vibe with Mimie offering a crisp sounding feature to the track.On QueensVilla he holds it down with his rapping skills with the ability to up his scales with his corny verses. Byo State of Mind is a rap referential ode to his hometown with an impressive tone and vocal delivery. Masiyiwa Moves title takes a subject play on Econet Wireless mega man Strive Masiyiwa as Asaph talk how he is ‘striving’ to be better and narrates how he once rejected advice from a girl who encouraged him to take his rap to Harare where there are better airplay opportunities and better organised shows for his own good(Shoko Festival,Hifa).On NTL ‘Northend to Luveve he features fellow Bulawayo hip hop artiste Cal_Vin but the tracks falls short with a flavorless chorus.Mr Dhliwayo is my personal favorite and was the headlining single to the EP.Mr Dhliwayo is a satirical notion on the surname ‘Dhliwayo’ which translated out of its vernacular context has something to do with ‘eating’ or ‘being devoured’ .According to Asaph, Mr Dhliwayo is that one goon that’s willing to spend money on other people therefore willing to be ‘devoured on’ by gold diggers or by friends although he isn’t even rich enough.
Generally KingsVilla is a narration of various themes within the rapper’s life and as an artiste coming from Bulawayo.It is a good listen and what is most impressive is the rapper being able to finesse the English language in a way that it appeals to both hip hop tribes making his listening audience unlimited .You can follow Asaph on Twitter @TheBoyAsaph.You can add him on Facebook as Tafadzwa ‘Asaph’ Tarukwana.You can listen and download KingsVilla on the bottom link .
Who would have thought that after the eerie silence of the giant hip hop trio, MMT, that the Rehab camp would still remain intact and produce music worth listening too?Well,it seems the team is still going on strong with several releases it has made through T1’s Chaka Kala,Pmula feat Xnder and Ishy on Ma Standards and recently Cool Dude Munya with ‘Love Em Girls’.
The Harare based Rehab signed hip hop artiste government named Munya Makurumure teams up with Chris James for the track owed much to the production by Anonzi ‘Xnder’ Mutumha.The track is the debut single to his upcoming EP entitled Evolution.In his own words on the track summary Cool Dude Munya denotes that the song focuses on the life of a young guy, trying to find the perfect person for himself, and in this fast paced moving world, he finds himself either being dumped or stepping out of what he calls “situationships”. On the chorus is Chris James who also featured on T1’s Chaka Kala track.
You can listen and download the track on the SoundClound link below.Follow him on Twitter @CoolDudeMunya.
The beautiful BlacPerl talks Masofa Panze 3, debuting her first single ‘They Do Thega’ to critical acclaim, battling sexist moments as a female rapper and comes clean on critics of her being an unoriginal mixture of Trae Yung and Noble Stlyz.
As other Zimbabwean female rappers continue to play in the shadows of their fellow male rappers, Harare born BlacPerl no longer feeds in those shadows. You have heard her crooning her voice on Meister’s Vakafa Vakazoroora and lending an impressive verse on Noble Stlyz Nyanzvi but the beautiful BlacPerl isn’t just a pretty face singing her way up to stardom but a female emcee unchaining herself from watching the throne rather than reigning on it. Now running the throne as the Queen of Masofa Panze she has declared the year 2015 as her year of growth as she continues on the royalty train by debuting yet another Masofa Panze album: but this time she is driving in the front relegating Noble Stlyz to the passenger seat as she continues the lyrical journey .Mcpotar.com’s Mimy took time to sit down with the Queen of Masofa Panze out of her busy schedule and this is what we discussed.
Mimy:Walk me through the process of finding yourself as an artist.Who is Blacperl in all spheres of being an artist?
BlacPerl: Blacperl is a Harare based female rapper who grew up in a small neighbourhood where there wasn’t much to live for. I found something that kept me alive. I embraced the hip hop culture at a very early age and back then I didn’t even know what it was but it felt right. I remember spending hours listening to my brother’s old school hip hop records and somehow a fire lit up in me. My vision was to make it as a mainstream artist so I took to the streets and started doing cyphers anywhere you can think of, from my hood, at school, clubs even at house parties. The hustle was too real and all I had was a dream and dope rhymes. I soldiered on till I met Noble and the good part was he had dreams like mine which made it easier for us to get along and from there we’ve been growing from strength to strength.
Mimy:How does it feel to have a platform to say essentially anything you want whether provocative or mind blowing?
BlacPerl:I take hip hop as the release valve on a relentless pressure cooker. It has been an opportunity to take what has never been an opportunity, to take what has never been enough and piece it together to make myself whole. Music has greatly served as a means of self expression and with every rhyme comes a sense of liberty and power.
Mimy: For some time you have been playing in the shadows of one of the best vernacular emcees, Noble Stylz ,and most people were familiar with you singing mainly on his hooks and feature verses .How is your working relationship with him and did you start taking rapping seriously because of his mentorship?
BlacPerl: My sound was incorporated into Noble Stlyz 2 albums and that working experience has been an eye opener. When I first met Noble I didn’t know what to expect but fact is, with him what you see is what you get. He is that kind of person who just steps into the studio with such a great vibe and lets everyone feed off that good energy. Before meeting Noble I had already established my identity as a rapper and through his guidance I have managed to sharpen my skills and have pretty much secured a wider audience.
Mimy: What sets you apart from the other female emcees in the game?What are BlacPerl’s biggest strengths when it comes to mic business?
Blacperl:The passion I have for my work is an undeniable strength. It is that flame from within that enables me to take my body and soul and spirit to the extreme furthest just to make things happen. Apart from that I’m blessed to be working with a wonderful team of people who push me to excel beyond set limits.
Mimy: How do you describe your musical sound. What can the audience always expect on a Blacperl track?
BlacPerl: I’m a big explorer of sound and rhythm, always experimenting stuff and I think its dope because we are still in the magical moment in hip hop’s evolution. I’m more of a ‘feel’ person because I believe that sometimes people forget what an artist sings about but remember how they felt when they heard their song.
Mimy: There have been quite a few whispers that you are a mixture of Trae Yung and Noble therefore making you an unoriginal rapper. Do you think your debut album will silence all these critics?
BlacPerl: Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. Salt is made up of sodium and chlorine. Now those are compounds of two things put together. You wanna know what makes Blacperl? 18 October, wait till then.
Mimy: You have declared the year 2015 as Blacperl season and there are talks of a Masofa Panze 3 album.When does the album debut and why Masofa Panze 3 and not something free from Noble references ?
BlacPerl: Masofa Panze 3 is definitely dropping on the 18th of October this year and like the previous projects it’s a journey. I was on Masofa Panze 1 and I did hooks on Masofa Panze 2 I did hooks and verses. Masofa Panze 3 is the stage I come out and deliver the full package. We been building a brand and we continue hence the Masofa Panze 3
Mimy:You just premiered your new track ‘They Do Thega’ recently.What were the key inspirations and mood surrounding this joint. How was it collaborating with Noble again and working with Dj Krimz and how has the crowd response been of late?
BlacPerl: My new single has been received tremendously on the streets and it has earned me a lot of respect and recognition from the local hip hop circle. I have always been a bit crazy with rhyme, reason and rhythm and also I wanted to tell a tale of my struggle in an artistic manner so I ended up penning down a track that anyone could relate to and at the same time catering for my wit aspirations and flow. From the get go I knew I needed a Krimz beat, a crazy Noble verse that Mr Noxa Midas touch and to my amazement they all delivered beyond the original anticipation
Mimy: Qouting a line from the recent track where you pinpoint ‘momma still doubting’ how has the experience been being accepted as a female rapper within your family, in a hip hop male dominated industry and being non–sexual in your rhymes ,one quality most femcees seem to possess?
BlacPerl:Despite all the odds I believe that a real artist must never at any time for any reason be less than their ability. Being a young woman comes with a certain level of vulnerability because the society grooms you to become nothing more than a high end object which is not entitled to a sense of its own agency. The journey hasn’t been an easy one and it’s a pity that I have unfortunately come across awfully sexist people that could never appreciate a non sexualised rapper. Through all this I kept holding on to my definition of myself until I finally managed to claim my own on a non sexualised platform. I’m not really a feminist but can easily turn into one if I witness a woman being put under fire just for being a woman.
Mimy:Where does Blacperl draw her inspirations from and what future projects are on the cards?
BlacPerl:I’m really blessed to have a big family with some really cool people like Meister,Noble,Certified Platinum Ent,Trae Yung and the whole TMG Recordz family.These guys are down for anything that has to do with anything that has to do with progress and to do with progress and has to me that’s a dream pusher and wouldn’t ask for a better team to work with. For this year my main focus is on dropping the Masofa Panze 3 Album but other projects could be released along the way. You know how it is when you have dope ideas backed by a great team
Masofa Panze 3 drops on the 18th of October this year. You can follow Blacperl on twitter @Blacperl1.Streaming and downloading of her debut single can be done on hulkshare.If you haven’t copped the track do feel free to download it on the link below
You can follow me on Twitter @iam_mimy
Add me on FaceBook as Mimy Huney
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A candid interview as Meyniak opens up on why he defies the need to rap in vernacular,his defining working moments with McZee and what his 2014 album Before Dawn:The Sire really means to him
The past three years have been quite bliss for hip hop as artistes have taken the stride from being one track rappers to pushing their art into delivering albums to the masses.Also making his mark amongst those who have made albums is rapper Meyniak in the form of his 2014 release entitled Before Dawn:The Sire.Flashback from the Now Or Never times(one of the first few tracks he did produced by McZee) to present day Skebede , Meyniak has been proving for quite some time that he is more than just a regular rapper.He is a very deep and analytical thinker compared to most of the rappers of his generation who lose their audience in their failure to translate their intelligence into a palatable musical meal to digest easily.There are times his wordplay may lose you(X and O’s)but overally his brilliance and reflections all coated up in an album will surely impress you.
I first took heed of this rapper ,a year into my A level’s ‘The Miss Pearly ‘days’ and in those times I must admit I registered he was whiling up time and trying to get St Dominic’s girls easily in the form of being a high school rap god(it worked though ana nhingi nana nhingi). Three years later his aggression to carve his musical strengths has been nothing short of amazing with lyrical footprints that boasts of features with Sharky,Dj Krimz productions and Mczee to name but just a few .You see,Meyniak is goal oriented-far from being a rapper who is grinding to stay the same,almost could pass of as a musical perfectionist in any one’s books , quite level headed when it comes to who and how his art is managed and the hunger to do better even when he has achieved better makes him one of the focused rising lyrical emblems to grace the industry .I caught up with the rising artiste and this is what we discussed.
Mimy: You have become a force to keep watch among the new upcoming rappers and the genesis of your debut album saw cats taking you seriously and giving you the much needed ear you have been sweating for. Walk us through the process of finding yourself as an artist and when you realized you wanted to share your musical gift beyond being a bedroom rapper?
Meyniak: Being involved in music has opened several significant avenues for me which have established some constructive relationships. I cannot imagine not being part of the genre i.e. rap either with me being behind the mic or giving my two senses on the production side. However it only became an option for me as a result of enjoying poetry, but mainly for the reason that I feel I am still a bit terrible when it comes to my singing abilities. I am still not sure whether taking credit for the art I create is the best option given some of the boxes and stereotypes that my creative space has to, at times, work in. I am, however still grateful to the people who have in some way helped made this part of my creative, reach where it is now, so it is ultimately difficult for me to agree with I “want to share”. From where I stand, call it what you want, I am lettering my journal and that release from my thoughts to that pad is satisfactory enough. I also believe the ‘cats’ you noted, whoever they may be, have become, whether they like it or not part of the story I am yet to continue writing. Sweating?(chuckles) I would not put it in those words, my art could be for ‘sale’ but I guarantee you, ‘attention’ is hardly the buying currency. The idea, on the other hand, of reaching a status of being an inspiration and shifting culture is an attractive alternative so in that context I could say there are some rewards that come with exploring the art, outside of my comfort zone, that I am focused on other than a couple of individuals’ thumbs up. Not saying it is not awesomely flattering but, I do this for especially the people who know me outside of the kicks and snares.
Mimy:How do you describe your sound?What can the audience expect always on a Meyniak production?
Meyniak:Growth is an important motive for me to write because, with growth comes change. Similarly, producing what is expected removes the element of surprise which, in my view, is derailing oneself because surprise gives any product, brand or artist competitive edge. The ‘Weirdo’ (to whom you refer to as audience, I am glad you did not refer to them as fans) understand that the constant in my music is the dark aura, depressive energy amongst other things. Redefining myself is always the first priority and production is extremely important for me. Any producer or artist I have worked should know I am an aggressive and competitive person so it only feels right to say that everything that I create should exhaust every possibility of making a superior product I could possibly make within the circumstances. All my energy and focus is channeled towards creating a statement, a definitive chapter, a ‘formula’ that I hope some years from now some soul can develop and help make this a much more bizarre and weirder world.“…me I study the shows, the fans, study their hearts…” is that not wisdom being given almost for free by Jermaine? I believe my worth is in my honesty and sincerity. A large portion of the society I grew up in and still in is going through similar challenges and I feel blessed that I am not ashamed to show my vulnerability because honestly that is also my strength. I would rather be respected for my heart to heart ‘Mai Chisamba’ conversations on records than be praised for sub-standard sacrificed art. Oh…by the way was getting a bit too excited…my sound right? In one word WeiRd and we can only get WEirDeR!! A couple of other things too influence the sound, among them depression and a couple legion… but I am not going to address that in this article.
Mimy:Humble Beginnings: the mix-tape,from my perspective is simply you flexing your rap muscles and trying as best as you can to prepare your audience for an album. How did this mix-tape play a part in moulding you as an artist ready for the hip hop market?
Meyniak:The mix-tape was definitely me and McZee giving each other a ‘see you later’ gift. Dude was leaving to study abroad so left with only about a month we worked on the project. The Weirdo had not really had a solid project from me so it was kind of something for them as well, you know… In any market, investors and partners like to engage in commitments that usually have sustainability so the mix-tape definitely aided my mileage when it came to trying to get the respect of some producers and create affiliations. I remember walking into G Records handing in the ONLY copy I had of my CD, which looked like a Demo to be completely honest and telling G and Klasiq that I wanted to work with them. Looking back, I can see the superego I had, I mean I doubt these guys were even signing up artists. Anyway, the mix-tape was more of a simple ‘1 + 1’ math problem in class however, doing the album was a leap from that to quadratic equations. The need to also consider the team I had signed a contract with was new to me and I must say difficult coming from an indie environment. But we managed. And no, I do not think the Weirdo could fathom how the album was going to turn out like, the sounds are different, the album is more mature, more refined and more accurate when it comes to execution of concepts. Probably because of the lengths taken and the place I took myself before embarking on the project and constant echoes that lingered in my creative atmosphere. The mix-tape was cool…everything considered.
Mimy: From simply being an underdog three years ago to climbing a milestone of making and marketing an album do you think you have pushed yourself to the level of considering your music as mainstream rap or you are still building your empire one verse at a time?
Meyniak:I am nowhere in comparison to where I want to be, but I won’t describe where I am as a failure. Great Zimbabwe was not built in a day, or maybe it was? Hameno, ndichabvunza Soko Matemai point is I am not really concentrating on what I have done because of the simple fact that, it is DONE. I try to keep myself in check, it is all about shifting gears pumping the gas hitting the clutch I am on a mission I could never get enough. I do not know whether my art is mainstream, I think the Djs would know better, and from what I have seen it may not be. Still that does not worry me mate, radio is cool but when I am on that something foot by something foot stage I am with god. My spirit is in alignment with not only the universe but with other people in that space, in that moment. And that is the most important time, few of the liberating moments I have on this forsaken sub-Saharan land. I mean, the Djs play what they feel is relevant, which is subjective to their opinions, power to them, but when the Weirdo come out for that Can You Kick It show, or a Book Café event to witness me, how can that even compare to a spin? I appreciate the push radio gives to artists, myself not included in the ‘lucky’ bunch yet, but I LOVE the Weirdo. Period. I feel a legacy is at hand, my ‘footprint’ on the side bench while others fight for the side walk.
Mimy:You have worked with some of the upcoming hungriest producers of this decade Zimbabwean hip hop wise and amongst those includes McZee(Tinotenda Machida) whom you have worked with on many projects for quite some time. How has the experience been, working with someone hungry and aggressive to achieve better as you?
Meyniak: That kid is just in another league…he demands excellence, he creates ‘pyramids and aeroplanes’ when folk of the same age still trying to figure out how to nae nae. I am blessed. He, along with other producers I have had the pleasure to work with, provided a more contemporary canvas for the colours I had to show. It has been an honour to partner with McZee on projects, being the guy who actively introduced me to the genre, gave me my first mix-tape to listen to back when we used cassettes and would give me my first mix-tape and be part of the beat makers for my album how can the journey be anything short of amazing? We the few remaining active artists of our group Hudboi Entertainment so we have been through a roller-coaster 10 year friendship, from the hustles of getting kombi fare to get to his house and back, having to be in boarding house in different schools, ZESA doing numbers when we eventually got the time to get into the studio for that one month of school vacation. I can confidently say it is much easier for him to understand me at times and how I would want things done without having to go the excruciating pain of constant explanation and illustrations.
Mimy: Before Dawn: The Sire from my leverable hearing experience is a musical jungle clogged with dynamic lyricism that takes the audience from an afro endorsed Jungle Bred to Fireworks that takes us on an emotional found journey of infatuation versus love .Free from any critics, how best can you describe the album through your ears ?
Meyniak: Wow, you think it is all that? That is some description on its own right there Mimy compared to what I have. I think I would have just described it as part of my collection of journals. The album is split into two parts (sets) with an interlinking part (intersection). The album in simple carries two main themes which are the dark, cryptic side of the album (Before Dawn) taken from obviously just before the sun rises which happens to be arguably the darkest time. The other side carries the confident aggressive energy, self-worth, proud, with some wittiness as well (The Sire) taken from the attributes of a king, which is a synonym of a sire. The album also has tracks which have a little bit of both, as kings were expected to have wisdom, mystical energy (especially in the native African context) and also rule with authority. So concepts of the album are based on those themes…not revealing everything but you should know there are other sub-themes as well.
Mimy: There are various emotions and sentiments shared within the album that differ from one another as they trancede to the last track.Take us on the emotions that guided the album and what key inspirations led to the differentiation of every track?
Meyniak:I am inspired by everything and anything. It may sound a cliché but those who have sat down with me for chats know what I am talking about. I am not afraid to feel, because it is in those moments that I am able to create, hence I absorb as much as I can. I will go through a few tracks at random on the album, starting with ‘Grey Twilight’. I wanted that serene, calm energy, similar to what you might experience when watching the sunset or listening to the ocean collide with shore rocks. The song “Jesa” by Trinity was also key in taking me to the right place. It describes the heart-breaking situation of star crossed lovers. ‘X and Os’ I mainly wanted to address relationship/love, sex, ‘immorality’ or rather the context in which it is understood. The only thing I would like to give away about this song is a breakdown of the title, those who have listened can then evaluate because I feel up until this point a few, if any, understood. There is X n O which is given meaning by the game hence illustrating the players in relationships, X n O from the shorthand form hugs and kisses, Ex and whores. That is all I will talk about, but I promise there is more word play. Fireworks is more of a reply ‘letter’ I wrote for a friend of mine. People usually neglect the constants of their life. An assumption that these things or people will always be there sometimes comes across as taking them for granted. I was simply trying to appreciate the person looking at the challenges and uplifting moments in any relationship, hence the words “…beautiful war in the sky…” P.D.R which stands for Pride Determination Resilience was inspired by the movie Pride (2007). The title of the track was also derived from the initials of the Philadelphia Department of Recreation which operated a dilapidated recreation centre. An interesting fact is that the movie is also adapted from a true story. My interpretation of the movie was how an African American swimming team battled with racism. The song then has its foundation on trying to eliminate discrimination in many social aspects, in an African setting, including religion hence the words ‘…is it candles or angels in the sky?…’ with candles representing stars, that is basically a statement asking whether the world is scientific or religious. “…open your mind when need the truth behind the church there is a tomb…” besides the literal meaning of most Anglican and Catholic Churches having graves or cremated people, the other meaning is how sad it is how some Christians would condemn other religions e.g. Jihads by Islam, when we have the Dark Age period. I felt the need to address other socio-political issues in the song and ‘Angels’ as well.
Mimy:In these times when hip hop within Zimbabwe is growing and appealing better to a mass that seems to appreciate vernacular rap more than English rhymes, the album sees you adjusting to a few vernacular undertones but the rest of the album is in English. Qouting one line from your verse on The Sire ”…who that asking why don’t I rap in vernac.Cause I can and I wont” hasn’t the vernacular bug beaten you yet or you lyrically still playing stubborn with your suburban rhymes?
Meyniak:I understand that a lot of artists would like to claim that they are representing their roots because they use vernacular language, which I won’t protest to, however if anyone feels I should be given credit but won’t give me because I choose to use English then power to you mate, remember ignorance is bliss. I feel language is a means, beautiful even, of communication, but it is not the only one. I listen to tonnes of music from different languages some of which I do not understand. I had to Google to know what ‘Loliwe’ means, that Zahara song, but the fact is I had already been moved. Emotion is what attaches people to music, that is why even the ‘crappiest’ mp3 song could be a masterpiece if given the appropriate emotion on stage. I will use the language that appeals to me in faith I have done it so well it will appeal to someone else. I have been blessed with the education, with education comes power, with power comes choice and I choose to rap in the manner that comes natural to me. Besides I do give them some vernacular, it might just not be me saying it(chuckles)
Mimy:On the album you worked with various producers , from the trap god McZee to the deejay cum producer Krimz to G records affiliates Gwagz and Klasiq. How was your working experience with such diverse vessels of talent and how did their sounds aid in giving your lyrical ideas a voice?
Meyniak: Every single producer that I had on the album had their own idea of who I was when I was making the project. Their interpretation of my capabilities may not have been a complete summation of what I wanted for the whole project but, those building blocks from everyone made the project what it is. I had MclyneBeats who is usually comfortable with Bangerz come through and spice up the project, I had already developed a good relationship with him as we had worked on other projects as well. Boy Tricky made it very conducive to work, he listens and the alignment of conceptualization when we made Angels and Jungle Bred was incredible.
The detail we had to put on the instrument to create a melting pot of intricate sound yet simple to the ordinary ear is mind-blowing. McZee and Fun_f are really talented producers, the beats that made it to the album were different to what I normally hear in local Hip Hop circles, Big up to them! KrimzBeats is insane. Between him and Gwagz I do not know who I fought with the more about production. These guys elevate and push me to become sharper. It was an amazing experience working with the two gentlemen, Gwagz produced a sequel of a record I had done and we put it on a compilation album for 2013. On the album we made another masterpiece, one of my personal favourites. Klasiq also helped me progress, guy was with me almost every time I was in the recording studio creating two of my favourites on the album. Geez the experience was overwhelming, almost 8 months working on it. Credit also goes out to the special ears that came through to the booth for a listen so they can chip in some input. Amazing!
Mimy:Ciya steals a whole lot of features on the album compared to other featured artists.How did your ideas compliment each other and how was the experience of working with an RnB voice?
Meyniak:Ciya has a special voice. Before the album, I had met him about a couple of months before, once, at the University of Zimbabwe through a friend. I hit him up when the project was commencing and we made the first single for the album, P.D.R. Well he is down to earth so it is not difficult to work with the chap when a good concept is on the table. And I won’t deny that I am not the easiest guy to work with, but Ciya makes it easy to cut a record, he has the passion and talent.
Mimy:What future projects and business ideas can we expect for the coming years ?
Meyniak:Well I could make the cut for a compilation project which is likely to be released this year, so look out for that. As for individual projects, well, let us starting looking at 2017. I been working however, with a lot of young talent on guest appearances on projects, and a couple of tracks out already and more are coming hopefully slick videos as well. I am mainly focusing on engaging with Weirdo more directly so shows are the top priority right now to hear any NEW music. I am hoping to acquire knowledge which directly and indirectly influences the music, so you might see me involved in a lot fashion, film, modelling events…etc.
Meyniak dropped a track recently called Jeso produced by Fun F.If you haven’t checked it out do take a listen.For more of his music do visit www.meyniak.bandcamp.com.Follow him on twitter @meyniak_artist.
In a year that has seen a plethora of major releases in both vernacular and English rap, it is just the middle of the year but the bar has already been raised on what it takes to stand out as a hip hop artiste in Zimbabwe and fans have begun to focus more on the lyrical and wordplay execution rather than the beat itself.State of Art is one rap clique readying to prove themselves in the rap circles with the incredible foursome consisting of Taz Da Prince,Fab Johnson,Cashbid and Stunnerman.This year already they have proved that they are hungry enough to slaughter by putting out lyrical masteries in the form of Fab Johnson’s ‘Mr Johnson’ ,Taz Da Prince’s ‘Work’ and the trio joining Meyniak on a DJ Krimz acclaimed production, K.O and their own rendition of Fun F produced beat on Full Moon At Midnight. This time Taz Da Prince and Cashbid embark on a twosome rap journey on the new track entitled ‘Discover’ released under the State Of Art.
While there are artistes constantly on the prowl for sales and Facebook hype that will keep their names relevant the two never venture out of their own lane and yet their material never seems to spoil any rap playlist.Ushered in with a sampled background which doubles also as the chorus, Discover takes its listeners on a lyrical synopsis with a pampered beat selection still unrivaled owed much to their team work with The Hitmen (ZW) .The song offers a mixed bag of lyricism all pinning for attention at once with a flavored chorus and hook that manages to still waver within your mind after listening.Taz Da Prince opens up the track admirably never disappointing in bar execution, with the MC undergoing a self-examination and pouring out his lyrical soul in discovering his rap realm and the steps he is taking.
Hip hop wise, Taz is one of the most underrated cats around bearing in mind that his delivery resonates well with the modern-day hip hop sound managing to switch from straight forward raps(Murderous Methodology) to melodic flows(Talking To Myself).
Cashbid’s takes homage on the second verse of the song and his lyrical strength lies in the ability to reach both mature and comparably younger minds all the while effectively navigating both worlds. I still feel there is a level of consistency he is still breeding, the consistent rapper who gave us Lord Knows three years back but not breaking through enough: although lyrically if he was to push a few walls Lord Knows he would end a few careers.He is real and holds no filters to his lyrics and his freestyle side also makes him a strong and an intellectual emcee.
The two are basically the blurred lines between owning the power to lyrical aggression in an underground manner and still holding perfection with beat selection,who does their production and the execution of playful bars making them viable to be leaders of hip hop that should be getting airplay.If you haven’t checked out ‘Discover’ you can take a listen to it(Varume vane chirungu ivavo) and do add it to your music playlist.
Hip hop within Zimbabwean borders is yet to surpass the level that its proclaimed pioneers laid ground on in the times of its ignition. Fast forward to these times in its new school era,it stills lies like a virgin on a bed awaiting to be deflowered and unchained of its naive nature and mediocrity’tine mota nema yellowbone’ sound.Times have changed and so has hip hop and its undertakers.Aligned to the fact that the 90s class of cats could argue any given Sunday that hip hop confined within the borders of Zimbabwe which bore a political and poetical flavour in the earlier days, now in its present day is nothing but a “dead dog hit by a speeding bus”but it is also debatable if hip hop on Zimbabwean ground ever grew to the extent of being termed as ‘dead’ in our decade.Gone are the days when the birth of Zimbabwean hip hop was moulded within the hands of great acts such as Raas Kaai,the rapping side of Chiwoniso,Mau Mau, Mbare born Metaphysics, the late Mizchief, not forgetting also ,that Zimbabwean hip hop enjoyed its defining moments in the anchoring times of the late emcee,King Pinn who took his sound beyond the borders of Zimbabwe and found homage also on South African radio stations even the U.K astoundingly.Some have defined him as the best thing that has come out of Zim hip hop:quite a big tag to bestow on a man who only had one song known by the ordinary music listener(I Salute You) playing on radio stations ,some may say ,but not most hip hop heads knew the battle rap and freestyle side the late emcee possessed in his prominent days.Decades later,a great many might feel his relevance is rather misplaced and exaggerated considering the fact that most of the hip hop heads only got to know and hear about his works after his death and for some of the hip hop heads,nothing else is known about this modern-day god besides his radio single ‘I Salute You’,let alone bear knowledge of the album he left entitled Verbal Vitamin.King Pinn was a lyrical emblem,calm on character but beastly on the mic,a son of hip hop that Southern Africa should bestow hero-ship as his legacy continues to live on, for those that acknowledge his existence, in the form of the decadent will he left for his listeners – his album.I hold count of the numerous rappers that have been inspired by this work of art,R peels in mind, and how its relevancy surpasses its years of existence.So who was this King Pinn every hip hop head claims to know and well inspirations from?Is he merely an underdog of irrelevant artistry or does he clearly deserve our respect even if he lies six feet under?Is King Pinn worthy to talk about in the Zimbabwean context,as our own,considering that South African’s are quick to associate him with their country,the same way they stole our Oskido?Didn’t we overally push his greatness to find closure within our failing hip hop days maybe claim him so that the audience could feel kuti takabva kure and our music was just as good as his and far from being termed ‘bubblegum’?Widely considered as one of the most prolific lyricists in the history of Zimbabwean rap,the late King Pinn was born Tonderai Makoni on the 25th of March in the year 1980 in Leicester before returning to Zimbabwe with his family.Growing up in the small town of Marondera familiar with Amiz,King Pinn started making a name for himself together with like-minded emcees,Adopted One and Mundawg.He fast became a force to be reckoned with becoming a well known artist within Harare and managing to gain a strong presence on previously Radio 3 Fm( present Power Fm)Known also to be the younger brother of a lyrical poet cum emcee in those days nicknamed Raas Ai who was a member of pioneering hip hop group named the BlackFoot Tribe,King made his official debut featuring on a track on Black Foot’s Tribe debut album.In the year 2000 King Pinn relocated to Cape Town,South Africa where he attended the University of Cape Town South Africa majoring in Cinematography and Theatre.During his stay in South Africa the King collaborated with south African rap cults such as The Others and Groundworks while making a name for himself at local events while his singles ‘I salute you’ and ‘Inauguration’ received moderate airplay in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.
On the 12th of May in the year of 2003 the King Pinn passed on having been a lyrical hurricane on the streets of South Africa and also back home being considered as one of the best MC’s from Zimbabwe during his lifetime.He left behind a rap bible that we can steal notes from in the form of Verbal Vitamin.Gone,but never forgotten, his dynasty will forever be a guiding yardstick for hip hop in Zimbabwe for those that glorify his run in the hip hop marathon.Whether he simply is an overdecorated rap ideal or an unappreciated underdog to some who feel he isn’t credited enough, he represented well the future of Zimbabwean hip hop and pioneered it in the years he was alive.As we continue to stand and ascertain our worth as a genre and a subculture,lest we not forget those who paved the way in the times when Whatsapp broadcasts were unheard of,in the primitive times when Soundcloud and Vevos were yet not considered,in the times when the upcoming rapper didn’t have to molest bloggers and friends’ inboxes and Facebook walls with links to their bedroom produced music.Despite not having the most favorable ideals of getting their sound heard they survived the times,giving us a starting map to guide us on our lyrical journey.Featured today is also the freestyle he did with the late Chiwoniso and Capone in the late 2000’s.All hail to the king,we march on!As you go about perfecting your grind ,as you go about recording your tracks on that Dj Mustard beat we clearly know you stole..as you give your audience a performance that makes you look like a headless chicken running from the thought of being turned into Chicken Slice for Cashbid’s consumption…Dear rapper, as you perforate our hearing announcing your debut albums that do not hold lyrical artistry,take time to look at your art and question,but what would King say?
Far from the trap noise tendencies and rapping about whips and chains the track Paranoid by H3nry and Hillzy offers a fresh new feel to hip hop with its incorporation of lyrical rap verses and a melodically toned chorus and R n B verse courtesy of Hillzy.This isn’t the duo’s first work as they have featured and recorded other tracks before .The track takes us on a lyrical journey of a male in a love dilemma caught up in a paranoia stringed with fighting the idea of trying not to hurt the girl he is in love with,almost in a Drake mode.This track will definitely get the ladies in a frenzy(taking off their clothes maybe)Its a musical you will definitely put on repeat and If you haven’t heard it,its not too late. Feel free to take a listen and download the track.
Recently he fed our listening buds with Black Orchestra and this time award winning blogger cum rapper and also my mentor,Michael Mupotaringa a.k.a’d Mcpotar is back again with an intriguing yet wit filled track that sees him flexing his rap generic muscles in an impressive manner.He had us throwing the #zvakusungisa hashtag all over social medias for the past weeks but for those who are familiar with this lad’s genius comprehension, know that the versatile Mcpotar isn’t just a mean guy blogging away his opinions on a rusty three legged desk but he is also a musical soul who knows how to market and push his productions to a variable extended audience,never limiting the realms his music is supposed to appeal to. For the past three weeks we have been hashtagging Zvakusungisa in a Zilluminati fashion but now the full product is here for public listening and I had the chance to have a listen to it before it was mastered for public hearing(no,you don’t have to sneak your nudes in his inbox to get such benefits ladies)and its still sounding like an impeccable piece of art after full production.Zvakusungisa sees Mcpotar/ Eureka taking us on a lyrical journey congested by vernacular rhymes that are in antecedence with English lines too which are playful and witty, at the same time engrossed well with a fitting and catchy hook.Within the first hear it captures you with its bumpy and ‘club feel’ produced beat owed much to the young and rising tag team of producers ,The Hitmen (ZW)
Clogged very well with braggadocio lines such as having more twitter followers than people getting airplay to comic filled lines of haters getting envious, ‘ganda ravo rakutaita green kunge ra Shrek’ this is one song to bump to,whether you are twerking your African jelly behind in the mirror,claiming your rent money from that dubious tenant or clearly bragging about how your grind is turning out good.Feel free to take a listen and download the track because this is one track that needs a feature in your boring playlist.This one is just for control people…#zvakusungisa (Mcpotar taught me)
Marking its genesis in the year 2013 when Maskiri,Stunner and Munetsi were the most played artists amongst radio stations hiphop wise,the School of Hip Hop was a source of hope for every hip hop artist to gain airplay. After two and a half years of promoting Zimbabwean hip hop with an hour of play within a broader radio medium,the School of Hip Hop show principled by the Mariachi Code is now a thing of the past.Starting out in the years when radio was most dominated by loud Zim dancehall and Urban Grooves genred tracks the show managed to close that hollow gap, catering for the hip hop’s heads thirst with its top ten and random plays of Zim hip hop tracks that did much to put Zimbabwean hip hop on the airplay map.
But within such a confinement of celebrating hip hop with a show that garnered a favorable mass of listeners and gave hip hop a sense of seriousness the show faced a whole lot of criticisms from the artists and the listeners starting off from their criteria on who got airplay(did you have to buy Mariachi a pint of beer every time you see him?wash his clothes?give him girls to twerk for him maybe),from being Rehab generated(too much overplay for Schingy,Boneman,Marques) and from extorting artists of their rands and dollars so as to get airplay(yes Chris the librarian we know).Whatever the criteria used was, we can never argue the impact that the show had for the hip hop movement and a stride it took for Zimbabwean rap to be considered of radio worth.The show introduced me to acts such as Kidd Aktive,Savage,Icy Murda and a whole other new class of cats who I would have never taken heed of, who managed to get airplay within the years when the show was rising.Although criticized for being a Rehab camp in its start off days we can not also run away from the fact that in those days Rehab signed artists were CLEARLY making a lead in mainstream music,music that could actually count as radioworthy in standards of mastering and mass appeal whilst some were still suffering from ringtone beats produced songs.
The halt of the show has been met with various concerns and mockeries from other rappers.Controversial Noble pinpointed on his Facebook page that there were rappers who only received airplay on that show therefore making their careers hinge on broken glass since the show that made them heard is no more. Marondera born Amiz concurred that he had been asked to pay a bribe fee to the librarian to get airplay which he quickly refused to.Dylan formerly known as ‘Didzavelli’ Danda purported that the show was merely a sham and didn’t represent well the ideology it was supposed to embrace.Whether these artists are simply speaking out of truth or basing their views on not getting airplay, School of Hip Hop failed to fully incorporate various rap sounds all over Zimbabwe and most of the times it simply failed to be an earpiece for the talented yet unnoticed artists and if the ‘pay to get airplay’ scandal is true then Mariachi again failed to act fair to a genre that birthed his worth and gave him standing in musical terms.I do not know the criteria he used for the years the show graced our radios but salute to Mariachi,anyways, for building a brand and leaving his footprints as we march on to demystifying hip hop not just a genre yemasalad dressed in Tunechi clothing but a musical culture that has so much more to offer.He might have been myopic on other artists but for those he gave a voice on radio, he did it to his best of capabilities.
Last question is,what now?Like Noble questioned, what happens to the artists that were only breastfed on Mariachi’s show and remained ghosts to other radio play slots?Do they wait on Dj Elroy slotted on a new hip hop show or simply disappear into thin air like Hakeem’s two minutes fame?Either way,they have to wake up and simply be good enough to garner for radio worth:not any easy thing to do in an industry that is calculated to produce more than 40 tracks a day in Harare only.Artists should take the initiative also to push their music through streaming their music on Soundcloud and Reverbnation.We can not keep waiting for radio stations to play our music when we can use other means to be heard.It will take time to be taken as a brand worthy of listeners ears on radio but hip hop within Zimbabwean borders is taking giant steps and surely will get there.School of Hip Hop:gone but never forgotten,we march on.
The new generation of hip hop worldwide has seen the growth of female emcees taking over,even going against their male counterparts in terms of album sales and hype.That cant be said,however sadly,in the Zimbabwean context considering that hip hop is yet to nurture one of its feminine elements-its female rappers.There are a few of them really with notable names being South African based Icy Murda,the Ndikoko hitmaker Trae Yung,new and upcoming BlackPerl,Blackbird,the on and off Dice and the deejay cum emcee Naida.The rest of the female emcees are busy committing hip hop crimes and slaving themselves to getting only chorus and ‘i can twerk’ mediocre verses on songs that don’t even garner for airplay sometimes.Female emcees in Zimbabwe are still yet to be taken seriously and forever remain just a myth to the average hip hop head and yet are to show their feminine worth behind a mic.But it will take time,if they see themselves only as chorus rappers with no self standing without a male emcee in front of them.Even in the Biggie times,Lil Kim grew as a solo emcee still being termed ‘Biggies toy’ in the beginning but she managed to unshackle herself from that and continued to flourish even after his death.Back to mother earth,the truth is there is much to be done in terms of performances,being marketed,getting out albums and creating an image by our female rappers if they want to stand ground and show their male counterparts that they are a force yet to be reckoned with.As a female trying to make a mark also in the hip hop circles I have compiled a MIMY 5 A-B-C-D-E guide that could help female rappers old and new to gain ground in the rap circles distinctively and these are…
Align yourself with a good management team that markets you and pushes you harder.
It is always hard starting up as an emcee but it is harder enough starting off as a female rapper.Your raplines are undermined.Your voice pitch is questioned and in most instances you are only called up to do a sexy chorus only 6 lines worth of time.Talking from experience,this is quite demeaning considering that there are quite a number of female emcees out there who can spit fire but they are only getting small chorus verses.In avoidance of such sticky situations that are likely to discourage you,make sure that you at least make a demo and find a proper stable that can help you work and manage and market you as a brand.I think Trae Yung has managed to do that with ease and the fruits of that are really showing off.You are taken more seriously and you have people who want to see the best in you.Do not limit your capabilities to just a shady $2 recording booth.Dream big,aim for better.Grind like a man.
Be confident enough to own the stage.Never let the stage own you.
Hip hop shows and concerts are not only about seeing your artist on stage but seeing also how your favorite artist owns a crowd and takes center stage .Fans notice when an emcee isn’t confident enough in their work and this quickly kills off a show’s mood.Not so long ago,I watched a female emcee performing and later on her male emcee counterpart came to join her on the stage.She looked clueless from her dressing,to the way she handled the mic to the way she badly lip sung to her own track.The crowd tried to bear with her with hands folded not until the male emcee came through with so much energy and a good execution of crowd play did we start jumping up and down.It wasn’t even about the sexist card but most female emcees are yet to learn and to polish their performance skills.You can never separate being a good emcee and knowing how to perform.
Create an image for yourself.Dont be ordinary.
We live in a dollarised country where looking good is too expensive to pull but creating an image for yourself is a key element for a rapper,especially a female rapper.Missy Elliot had a tomboy image .Lauryn Hill had a 90s look and dreadlocks.Creating an image basically means creating a rap ego that your fans are quick to embrace you with.Do not be ordinary especially when it comes to performances .Don’t come out on stage wearing an oversized dress with six year old torn and sewn again pumps.You might argue that talent and skill is all that matters but so does first impressions especially when it comes to musical influences.
Desist from just featuring but put out solo projects to build your musical career.
It is quite necessary to start off doing features for other artists,making a name and building contacts with other artists in the industry but it comes an issue if all you do for more than three years is feature,feature and feature more.Sounds more like an exaggeration but it is true.There are female rappers who have been rapping since gore riye renzara but still they have no solo tracks or mix-tapes and albums to their name.They are plain shadows,only playing in the background of their male counterparts.Its important to build yourself first but there is also the need to break out of that comfort zone and learn to build a rap career and to get noticed as artists not back up singers.
Encourage yourself to stand solo.Period!
I know it’s a trend that’s not new and that wont be erased any time soon-that one of writing rap verses for female rappers.I’m not judging at all,even other male rappers are getting their verses written for them.If the female emcee isn’t able to write her lines, I’m sure her male counterparts or the stable can help her get away with murder but in most instances they can’t get away with murder :it kills her ownership to that song.She isn’t familiar with the idea of the rap bars-they didn’t stem out from her so they lose a sense of originality and usually blurs up her performances making her a shadow on stage.Its not originally her idea so when she performs these tracks she is basically an ordinary person karaokeing to other people’s ideas and we, the fans are quick to notice.Generally writing is an inborn trait but it can be tutored,that means writing verses everyday and practicing,making silly bars and correcting them to be better.We learn by trying and trying even harder.The thing ladies,is we can’t keep on being backed by men all our lives.We have to take a stand all by ourselves,taste the waters,be swallowed by Jonah’s whales,be spit off but be courageous enough to stand solo.Its not going to be smooth because the streets were meant for men , and for us,the sidewalks but let us change the way the game is run.I am not saying partake on this journey all alone but be sure to get advice from your fellow counterparts and lose the dependency syndrome you have been pulling all these decades .Get your mixtapes out,push your tracks for radio. Perform fiercely with so much hype.Build yourself an image.Learn to cypher your art through writing for yourself.Be original.Believe me,the gender card doesn’t work in the hip hop industry.These male cats will feast on you and not feel any remorse at all. Female emcees,WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE! | <urn:uuid:a54955b6-4a69-4fb8-a272-ac52df2b58a5> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://www.mcpotar.com/category/mimys-corner/page/2/ | 2017-08-19T01:28:53Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105291.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20170819012514-20170819032514-00690.warc.gz | en | 0.97239 | 13,265 |
This post is by Darren Woolley, Founder of TrinityP3. With his background as analytical scientist and creative problem solver, Darren brings unique insights and learnings to the marketing process. He is considered a global thought leader on agency remuneration, search and selection and relationship optimisation.
This is the first in the series of TrinityP3 Webinars.
Today we’re talking about the latest trends in agency remuneration and each fortnight we’ll be covering different issues such as media transparency and accountability, roster management, digital integration and sustainability.
The first thing is, what we’re going to discuss today is remuneration considerations. What is it that we should be looking for when we’re looking at developing a remuneration model for our agencies and our client relationships?
Then I want to briefly talk about the difference between remuneration and compensation because our friends in the US call it compensation whereas in the rest of the English speaking world it’s called remuneration.
Then we’ll go through the various models. We’ll look at what the models are, their strengths and weaknesses, the trends and some of the applications of where they work best.
And then we’ll be taking questions and talking about future sessions.
What makes a successful agency remuneration model?
When we consider remuneration there’s quite a bit of work done in the past few years by the ANA and ISBA in the US and UK and also the IPA and the 4As in each of those markets. And what they were looking at is; what are the things that need to be considered if you’re going to have a successful agency remuneration model?
Well the first one seems simple to understand and easy to administer and this has become a real challenge because it seems to point to the demise of the media commission. Remuneration models have been getting incredibly complex.
The next one is also controversial which is fair to both advertiser and agency. And the reason it’s controversial is that while most marketers will say that yes, they want fair remuneration, when we start talking about what’s a fair level of profit or margin for the agency, it can become a point of contention.
I remember a client for a very large advertiser, a global advertiser, turning over 16 billion dollars a year said that 8% profit margin is what they operated on and they didn’t want any of their suppliers earning more than 8%. But if you scale that right down to the revenue of an agency on their particular business, we’re talking about 8% of a couple of hundred thousand dollars and you have to take in the economies of scale into that.
Next is aligning advertiser and agencies’ interests and priorities and I think this is a key area. Many people will say that remuneration is simply about paying the agency for the work that they do. In fact, the right remuneration model can help foster and generate and encourage the right behaviours and alignment of expectations and dollars.
The importance of contracts
The next point is to finalise before the agency resources are committed. And I have to say that while that seems quite obvious, very often we find ourselves involved in situations where the agency and the advertiser have started working together and there’s never been a final agreement and so there’s often disagreement moving forward.
And a way around that is to record in a ratified agency/advertiser contract. I know contracts are pretty boring, but in actual fact, you need to start making sure that all the details of your agreed remuneration model are captured in the contract. And not just the general principles, but in fact the detail of how the remuneration model works and how it can be changed.
Because it needs to be flexible enough to accommodate changes in the future. Every day, every week, there are new ways of working, there are new channels, there are new innovations and so we need to be able to change the remuneration model to suit the changing needs.
And it also needs to have senior management involvement. Senior management on both agency and advertiser side so that they can clearly agree on the principles of the remuneration model. Because if we do all that, it will be capable of standing the test of time and more importantly, being understood by the people who inherit this remuneration model.
It’s unbelievable the number of times that someone has taken on a new position within an organisation and when they look at the contract or look at the remuneration model, the problems are often that it’s never been clearly articulated. So it’s very hard for someone to pick it up and manage it. And some of that is also the language you choose. Based on agreed and understood terms and definitions. Language, plain English or plain use of language is really important because sometimes terms can get in the way and in fact, I think the most onerous contract I ever saw was for a bank and it was over 200 pages and of those 200 pages, about 60 or 70 pages were defining the remuneration model but in actual fact, there was nowhere you could actually work out what the basis for remuneration was.
And finally, it needs to be inclusive of specified tracking and review dates because remuneration can never be set and forget. You need to be able to track and review and adjust that model going forward.
Agency remuneration or agency compensation?
Remuneration versus compensation, and I know a lot of us have trouble with the word remuneration. In actual fact, the two words are not necessarily synonyms.
Compensation is the act of compensating which is to make good for debt, loss, injury or suffering. So really, to compensate an agency is to somehow make good for damage that’s been done to them.
Whereas remuneration, the act of remunerating is actually about rewarding someone and paying them. And I know that this conversation I’ve had in the US, people say, “Oh no, the two are interchangeable” but in fact, I once said to one of my competitors in the US, “If these two words are interchangeable, then did you buy that expensive imported sports car to remunerate or compensate for your small genitals?”
And I think in that moment, I proved my point. The two words aren’t complete synonyms of each other. So our attitude is that remuneration is a much more positive way of thinking about paying agencies than compensation because what we should be doing is not just paying people for their time and their effort, but actually looking for ways to reward and incentivise the agencies for the contribution that they make to the overall marketing strategy and the results that it produces.
Current remuneration models
So let’s look at some of the remuneration models that are currently in the marketplace.
The first one is, the commission and service fee and this was around for over 100 years before it was dismantled at the end of the 20th Century. So we’ve had about 15-20 years of working without the commission system in place. The fact is that it’s still being used in many markets in the world and the most obvious ones are India and Brazil and in fact, in Brazil, it’s in government legislation that the commission system is still used. And what we’re actually finding is that it’s making a bit of a resurgence in other markets too but I’ll come back to that later.
The most popular remuneration model is the resource packaging of fees or the retainer. Retainers are very popular and we’ll talk about that. But in actual fact, they’re a little on the wane as many marketers are finding them incredibly inflexible to be able to deal with the issues that they have found new channels engaging the consumer across various channels in market.
That’s why we’ve seen a rise of variable fees based on actual hours, but more importantly, project fees where there’s actually a fee associated with a particular project.
Any one of these is most usually used as a hybrid, in fact, we can see remuneration models that could have a component of commission, may have a base retainer and then either project fees and hourly rates on top of that. The variable fee model is most likely used even when there is a retainer for things like production and we see that a lot.
Media commissions and programmatic buying
But the three big trends that we’ve noticed in the last two to three years is; one, it’s moved from a cost to a value based model and we’ll talk about that more. The second one is the return of the commission and media commission, especially in relation to digital media. And the third is the incentive based models that are very popular. In fact, at the AMA Advertising Financial Management Conference in May this year in the US, there was a lot of discussion around incentive based models.
But let’s look at the first one which is the commission system and everyone knows this is based on the traditional media commission paid by the media proprietor. In actual fact, today it could be any form of commission, but it’s making a comeback in digital media and the reason for this is because of things like programmatic buying and trading desks and you’d be aware of the discussions around the lack of transparency.
But what we’ve found and this is a conversation that we first heard about in the US, is that marketers are looking at having multiple contracts with different relationships in those contracts to be able to better manage and create transparency. And one of those key areas with digital media is to actually have a contract with the programmatic buying or trading desk that actually makes them an agent of the principal, being the client.
And the reason for that is that they can actually then agree a marginal commission that the agency, the trading desk can use through programmatic trading which is better than the relationships that people have at the moment which is often with the media agency and then the trading desk programmatic supplier acts as the independent third party.
But I’ve also seen commission being used in a combination with other models in the media space where often there’ll be a retainer for key services like account management and strategy and then this commission system being added on top of it, specifically around media trading.
Now there are some advantages, the clear one is that if you’ve got a media driven account, then it certainly makes it quite easy to calculate and administer. The parties are focused on the quality and not just the cost of the media because the remuneration comes from the total spend and in some ways, it’s a crude form of performance based remuneration because when an advertiser is successful, they’ll pay more or invest more into media so then the agency earns more.
The trouble is that there are a lot of disadvantages still associated with it and what we’d say is that the application of a media commission should be used in a very narrow focus.
So for instance, just around programmatic buying, just around the trading desk, because it’s based on the volume of media, not the scope of work. It’s inappropriate when media’s not the major component of the output and it doesn’t encourage media neutral solutions.
So in some ways, you need to separate the media planning and media strategy from this remuneration model. And of course, the big problem for agencies has always been that if there’s a cancellation of the spend, then it has a huge impact on agency income. And I don’t think we’ll ever get back to the days of the agency getting you know, 10% plus 7.5% or 8% service fee on top of it but I have heard of some of the trading desks and programmatic buying teams getting approved 20 and 30% commission on top of the transaction so perhaps it will but in a very narrow casting.
The retainer remuneration model
Retainers; this is the most common remuneration model and it’s ideally based on an agreed scope of work but it’s not necessarily based on that scope of work and this is where a lot of the problems arise because when it’s a, what we call, “all you can eat” model, that you pay the agency an agreed retainer and they do as much work as possible, as soon as the agency starts to run out of resources covered by that retainer, you start getting Excel spreadsheets being presented to show you how many hours were used.
So without this agreed scope of work and this detailed scope of work, it does become problematic. It’s also based around this idea of what are the resources I’ll need? What percentage or variable hours do I need? What’s the overhead factor and the agreed profit margin? And these areas are constantly under pressure.
In fact, it wasn’t that many years ago that we would see overhead and profit margins in multiples of 2.2 and 2.4 but you know, we’ve seen those collapse in some cases down to 1.4 which in our opinion is completely unsustainable. In fact, agencies are still doing work at that level.
Now just to put that into context, that means that each dollar paid in someone’s salary, the company, the agency is only paid $1.40 and that included their overhead cost and their profit margin. So you can see why you’d start to think that that’s unsustainable.
So the advantages, agencies still seem to want a retainer because they get to know what the income is and they can resource appropriately to this income. Advertisers know the costs and can budget appropriately. You know that each month you’ll be paying your retainer and it encourages more media neutral solutions because what you get paid is not based on what media channels you recommend. But it does require a scope of work to be accurate.
We found especially in the services industries; financial services, telcos for instance and in some cases retail, it’s incredibly difficult for people to define it accurately. It doesn’t allow for major changes in scope of work and in fact, this is one of the key areas where there is a break down. Either because the scope of work goes upwards and the agency complains, or the scope of work falls and the advertiser complains that they’re paying for something that they’re not getting.
And it’s input based therefore it’s less accountable. And this is why, how many hours does it take to come up with a big idea? Well, unless you can find some way of quantifying that, it becomes a circular discussion as to whether the agency really has used up all their time.
So a lot of marketers are moving away from the retainer because they’re finding it incredibly time consuming to negotiate and then incredibly frustrating to administer because there’s a whole lot of questions about, are we overpaying? Are we using too many resources? And, could we get it cheaper?
The variable fee model
The next area is the variable fees based on actual hours. This is literally hourly rates for individual staff and you know, talking about hybrids, in fact, where most people have retainers, they’re not actually retaining production people, and so often you’ll have a retainer and then pay by the hour for the agency producer, the head of the studio, and even for the artwork to be made up.
The thing is that the confusion here is that while people have retainers that have an overhead and profit multiple based on or tied to salary. The problem here is that often these rates aren’t based on salary, they’re just based on what the market will tolerate. And in fact, a project that we did in the Nordic States, we found that these charge outlays, these hourly rates, were running at the equivalent of 4 and 5 times multiple on the underlying salary.
So they were making terrific margins because the rates were just whatever the market would tolerate. So we see this in production and marketing services generally. It’s relatively easy to administer and it reflects what the needs are of the advertiser, it allows flexibility because you only pay for the hours used and allows the agency’s return based on clearly defined process and actual deliverables.
But it’s just too difficult to administer the budget. You know, it’s very difficult to start a project and not know how many hours it will take. And also, it raises questions around accountability. Lawyers and accountants seem to get away with this model but agencies increasingly are finding disputes which will lead to an audit and there’s really no accountability in the system to incentivise efficiency. So it’s certainly there and it’s being used, but it’s something that most people are avoiding.
The project fee model
This is the hot remuneration model at the moment and it’s project fees. You may have read a number of advertisers are looking at moving purely to project fees. So the idea of the agency of record is being lost and they’re looking at a project fee which is either a fixed annual fee or a fixed project fee paid for a specific outcome. And that could be an ad-hoc project or it could be paid on completion of each individual project on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.
This is moving more and more away from the input model of how many hours does it take and starts to put a fee for the delivery of that project. So it starts to talk to the issue of what is the value of doing this work? What is the value of having the agency produce this particular outcome?
It certainly has advantages for advertisers; it’s easy to control expenditure because each thing that you ask for has a cost associated with it. It’s often used, there may be an underlying retainer and it will allow you then to top up the retainer for additional work based on the pre-agreed project fees.
It reflects the specific advertiser’s needs because you will base projects around things that you typically want. But it really suits integrated or niche services. It could be paid for creative, it could be paid for production.
It’s very difficult if you’re putting through hundreds or thousands of projects through in a year, this project model becomes incredibly difficult to be handled on a mass basis. The disadvantages; well, from a relationship point of view, it does encourage short term thinking rather than longer term relationships. It becomes a project by project relationship.
Agencies also don’t have the same level of confidence in the remuneration because being a project basis, it could dry up at any moment. You could have a lot of work one month and very little the next. And also, because of that, because of the lack of commitment, that means that it often comes at a high cost. If you’ve got a retainer that’s running about 2 to 2.2 multiple, you could be paying 2.4 as the underlying calculation in the project fee if you continue to use an hourly rate basis or resource basis.
The hybrid remuneration model
Now, this is a good example of a hybrid model because typically what we’re seeing is when people move from say a retainer to a project fee, if they did just project fee alone, the agency would be very nervous about being able to commit the resources they need to handle the account.
So what the interim step often is, is to reduce the retainer away from retaining all agency services just down to a key account management fee to be available on a day to day basis to manage the account, and then all other services based on a pre-agreed project cost. So that’s a hybrid model there.
You then lay over the top, production on an hourly rate card and even a media commission and you see all four models coming together in a single hybrid model. Project fees are becoming the main way that we see many advertisers moving in the future as they move away from their agency of record concept.
Moving from input cost to outcome value
If the big trend, the first big trend is the move from the input cost model to the outcome value model. Because most of the existing models that we’ve talked about, about the cost of the resource and it rewards a volume of work. The more I can get my people to work in the agency, the more billable hours they have and the more work I get through and then I just have to manage the margin to make a profit.
But there’s no focus on effectiveness and when marketers are facing increased demands for measuring and being accountable to effectiveness, they’re looking for ways of moving away from this cost based model into a model where they share the rewards with the agency.
So current best practice is to move from output, to an output or pricing based model that fixes the value based on the output. So what that is, is in the past, and here’s a good example; if you had two campaigns and one has a budget of 10 million dollars and one has a budget of a million dollars, then producing the same types of content for both of them should cost the same.
But in actual fact, one of those campaigns is already perceived to be worth ten times more because you’re investing 10 million dollars into it. So you would hope that the investment of the budget would be returning on a return that’s ten times higher. But under the input or cost based model, the cost of producing the work would be exactly the same no matter what.
What the pricing model says is, “If I’m going to invest more money, then it’s more valuable to me so I’ll spend more with the agency to do it”. Where if it’s a lower cost area, I’m investing less money, then the cost should be less as well. From the agency’s point of view, they’re saying, “Well, we used the same people, they have the same cost base, so we need to be paid the same whether it’s a million-dollar job or a ten-million-dollar job”. And so this is where there’s this conflict in moving in the input or cost based model moving to the output or cost based model.
The next step is to then go to what are the outcomes delivered? Because hopefully everything we’re doing in marketing is actually being driven by producing an outcome that we want for the business and so that’s really the next big step.
Value based compensation
And this is being called, and it was coined by the Coca Cola Company about six or seven years ago, it’s called, “value based compensation“. There’s that word again, compensation. But we can call it value based remuneration.
This is quite a busy chart but let me take you through it. What we’ve got here going from top to bottom is input or cost based model, output cost based model and outcomes value based model. And then as we move across, it describes the type of model, how it works, the positives and the negatives. So we’ve already covered the input or cost based model. It’s head hours, it’s resources.
The outputs model is about defining what are the agreed outputs or deliverables and setting a price based on the historical basis but also the strategic importance. So if we had a brain campaign for the brain and then we had a tactical campaign that was going to run six months later, would we want the cost of both of those to be the same? No we wouldn’t.
We’d probably invest heavier in the brain campaign and then lighter and the pricing base model allows us to do it because it values the output rather than the cost. It makes budgeting easier and it allows you to adjust remuneration.
The negatives are, it rewards increased volume rather than effectiveness. Of course, the more work the agency does, the more they get paid, but that’s the same as the input or cost based model. And issues arise when work is commissioned and then cancelled because if the agency does the work, even though you don’t then use it, there’s still a requirement to pay them if they deliver the output.
The outcomes are value based models based on the value created by the activity. Now especially, this has been around for a long time to direct response. Direct response marketing and advertising has worked on this basis for many years but data and being able to track the effectiveness of the campaign and the activity, means that we can now apply it to more and more areas of advertising and communications.
The application of this is either to do it as all in or the agency’s profit and I’ll get to that more in detail, and you have to think of it more as profit sharing than a bonus.
It leaves the agency remuneration to the outcomes value but it brings alignment between suppliers and marketers if it’s correctly implemented and it requires, the downside is it does require you to actually measure marketing effectiveness and I know there’s still many marketers that are struggling with this.
It is difficult to get many agencies to agree on the measures because if you’re in some way asking them to share in the profits, they’re also sharing in the downside as well.
Incentive based models
Now, performance or incentive, this idea of sharing in profitability or sharing in the results has become really a big topic in the US where they’ve started to move away from the idea of performance and talk about incentive. And what that means is, it’s about rewarding improved agency performance and sharing improved advertiser performance.
It’s about aligning goals and getting this congruence between marketer and the agencies and in fact, we’ve found that where the KPIs that are used for the agency payments, incentives, are the same as the senior marketing team, you get incredible alignment.
Because suddenly you’ve got the agency and the marketers sitting there looking at the same set of performance data, trying to move that forward rather than what often happens in the current model which is the agency is simply looking to do more work for the market irrespective of what the results are because that’s a way of getting and driving additional revenue. So there are various types of incentive models.
The first one, the first two in fact, are probably the preferred options from our perspective, and that is to offer a bonus on top of the agreed profit margin for great performance.
Another way is to actually talk to the agency about covering the base costs and then making all of the profit an upside. So what that means is that instead of the agency maybe making 10-15%, if the work together with the marketers over delivers, they could share in something like 20, 30, 40 or even 50% for reaching stretch objectives.
The next two are actually the way that most of these models are being applied in the past. The first is shared risk and reward where the agency puts up some of its margin and then the advertiser meets that in the pool. So the conversation will go along the lines of, “Well, you give up 10% of your profit, and we’ll match that with 10%”.
Now what I’d say to you is, if your employer offered you that on your salary, would you take it? And I think most of us would say no because you want to know, well, what’s the criteria and how often is it going to be measured? One of the key issues of this area is that if it’s only paid once a year, the agency’s waiting up to a year to get their bonus. And so that’s one of the other things about this model, it’s about increasingly making it focused on doing it quarterly or six monthly at the very least.
The other one is the earn back model and this is very popular with some of the procurement teams but very unpopular with the agency and I think when I explain it you’ll understand why. You put a percentage of your margin at risk and then we’ll pay you if you hit the results. So it means that the agency’s putting at risk where profit that they would ordinarily earn and then incredibly, have to wait to see if they meet the criteria to see if they get it and I don’t think anyone would agree with that.
Performance criteria has traditionally been broken into 3 areas; the business performance which is hard measures, advertising or marketing performance which is medium measures, and agency performance which is often called soft measures. These are around meeting expectations.
Increasingly, we’re seeing a move towards increasing the number of measures that are in the hard to medium area and reducing the focus on the soft. But in the past, most of the focus has been on the soft measure which is to incentivise the agency to do a better job.
But in some ways, it doesn’t recognise the fact that the marketers and the agency work together. The agency’s ability to do a better job is directly impacted by the marketer’s ability to work with the agency well. Brief them well, encourage creative ideas, give appropriate times and approvals to be able to get the work done.
So there’s a move away from these soft measures. The soft measures are still important, they’re just not incentivised with a bonus as much now. I remember about 5 or 6 years ago, seeing a performance based model that had more than 60% of the bonus paid based on a score card which was the marketer scoring the agency on how well they did their job.
Now, in my mind, the agency needs to do a good job to keep the business. So that’s why we’re seeing this move, this trend towards business performance and in fact, all of the work around digital and data is making it easier and easier for businesses to be able to track the impact that the marketing advertising is having on things as hard edged as sales volumes but also market share, brand share, customer loyalty, brand equity and brand profitability.
And also, advertising performance around awareness, brand image shifts, attitude ratings, that type of thing and away from this measure of agency service.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to measure agency’s performance, but the danger is if you incentivise the agency to get their payment based on these criteria, sometimes it actually creates more problems than it solves.
And overview of remuneration models
That gives you an overview of the remuneration models and also some of the trends that are happening so by way of summary, the market continues to evolve, but there still isn’t yet one model that suits everyone.
There are certainly people that are looking for more effective remuneration models and there’s a trend away from retainers to a composite model like project fees and a retainer.
There’s a rise in the number of people using commissions, specifically around digital media. And there’s also a trend towards moving away from the cost or input based models to a value or output based model.
It’s still early days, because there’s still a lot of challenges that have to be overcome but increasingly, we’re finding marketers are now looking for ways to incentivise the agency to help them drive results, not just do their job.
There are no perfect models, but there are some popular models. It’s important to actually understand each model and apply it to the best situation. There are the latest trends, I’m now going to open it up for questions if anyone has any specific questions that they’d like to ask. Thank you.
The big issue has been that the US markets seem to have more flexibility around the way they structure a lot of these deals. Some of that could be due to the size, I mean, the US market is a large advertiser, over there it’s billions of dollars in expenditure rather than hundreds of millions of dollars. The largest advertiser in Australia I think is about 180 million or 200, 180-200 depending on who you believe. I think that scale means that they’re able to be more progressive and more flexible in their approach. The other thing is that the agencies there seem to be more open to embracing performance based or incentive based models and in fact, just saw St Martin come out recently saying he sees all of media moving to that model in the future.
So how is the scope work typically defined for retainer model? You need to be very specific. There’s a couple of ways of doing this. The problem in the past is that many people have just created a list of the types of jobs they’d like the agency to do. You also need to have the number of jobs you want them to do. So it could be very granular. You could get down to defining the very specific outputs and an example of that, let’s say DL brochures for point of sale, you could have a 6-page DL brochure, an 8-page DL brochure, a 12-page DL brochure and the number of those. That’s very, very granular.
The other way of doing it is to define the typical outputs for a campaign or an activity that you would do. Display advertising for digital there is a certain resizes that are needed. Websites, there can be numbers of pages. E-commerce sites, I know a lot of these things are incredibly variable, but there are ways of being able to categorise the very specific outputs. So that’s how I define scopes of work. In fact, we’ve done some global projects for some of the large FMCGs where we could across the globe, categorise almost all of the agency outputs into and around 40-50 specifically defined outputs and then the number of those so that we could then work out what the remuneration model would be.
So I mentioned before the multiples that we’re seeing in the marketplace. There was a time, 2.4 was standard, now what’s 2.4 mean? That could be 100% mark-up on selling costs for overhead and a 20% mark-up for profits. And in fact, we’ve seen that collapse generally down to around a 2 times multiple which is about a 80%, roughly an 80% mark-up and 15% profit margin.
So as far as performance mark-ups go, the big mistake people make with performance mark-ups is that they make them too small. If you want a performance mark-up to work, it needs to be an incentive, it needs to be carrots, not a stick. And in fact, later in the series, I’m going to do a webinar like this that is just about the incentive based model because there’s some really key learnings that we’ve had around how to make that work and also how to fund it because a lot of marketers find it incredibly difficult to fund a bonus out of their marketing budget and there are ways around that in a conversation with the CFO that makes it a lot better.
Profit margin; I think any agency should be targeting at least a 15% margin as that’s before tax and if not, you know, 20%. But then the overhead is the area where we’ve seen a collapse. Yeah, look, and this is why this model has failed.
I think a lot of people, and especially procurement people, introduce this type of performance model purely as a way of trying to drive the cost of the agencies down. But in fact, where we see the model working better is where there’s a much bigger upside for reaching stretch objectives and in fact, I think this is going to be the area of the future as we move more and more into a data driven world whether we can see a customer performance and actually track their behaviours and be able to see the contribution at each stage, we’ll be able to start paying agencies and rewarding agencies based on leads and sales and value, lifetime value of a customer, rather than just simply the work that they do.
And I think that would be a big incentive. But the danger is, as long as people are dis-incentivising the agencies by using the process to just pay them less, it’s mad. You’re right, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, but that hasn’t happened as yet.
Look, that’s a really great question because the keys or the secret here, is not to have different incentive models for different agencies, but have all of the agencies sharing the same measures. So, and what I mean by that is, I think I mentioned before, where we found this works best is where we get the senior marketer’s KPIs and apply that to all of the key agencies; so media, content, video, digital and you then incentivise them for their contribution. Where you can do it on an individual basis is where you can actually separate specific channels and that’s usually in the digital space that you can do that.
I’ll explain it this way; if the media agency do a great job at planning and buying media, but there’s no content to run in it, should you incentivise them just for what they’ve done, or should it be about how they’ve then worked with you and the creative agency to produce great content to go in the right channel to be delivered to the audience at the right time to actually get the response that you wanted? And that’s what we should be incentivising. Let’s stop incentivising people for doing their job well.
Yeah, when we’re talking to our clients about retainers and slimming those down, what we say is that we usually ask them to get a core team, usually a senior account management person, depending on the size of the account, we work out the number of FTEs. Now in some cases, it’s just one FTE and what we’d say is, that should be an account manager. If it’s two or three FTEs then you would structure it along an account manager, account director and account executive.
It could be that if it’s particularly complex piece of business or particularly large piece of business, you might have a senior account director or group account director, overseeing two or three account directors or account managers. It really comes down to what is the team that you need and can justify to service the business on a day to day basis. And ideally, whole people, not a share of people. I always laugh when I see retainers for 52% of a person because I just wonder where I’m going to cut them to make 52% of them committed to my business and it’s also an area of where it becomes incredibly difficult to be able to quantify.
If that’s true, the obstacle here is, there’s multiple obstacles. One is first of all agreeing what success looks like. That’s where the conversation starts. A training session about it would be a bit hypothetical; the best way would be if there’s an advertiser, an agency, that are interested in exploring this we could certainly help create a framework on those conversations to actually help them move forward.
One of the key areas is having a budget for that because really, the problem with marketing budgets are that they are a budget and they should increasingly become a cost of goods sold because the success of marketing is actually driving volume and margin and so they increasingly drive the profitability of the organisation. And so, that’s where we’ll move forward.
There are more webinars in this series to come. Look out for webinars on creating transparency and trust in media, transforming and production for the 21st century, how many agencies do you need and how to get there, so all about your roster management. Aligning your digital marketing to marketing is next then supercharge your agency with incentive based remuneration. And the challenges for marketers in the carbon constrained future so all about sustainability.
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This week William got the chance to speak to Bruno Renero-Hannan, who is an anarchist historical anthropologist from Mexico City, about their solidarity work around two of the original 250 Loxicha Prisoners in the state of Oaxaca. This rebellion and imprisonment occurred almost simultaneously to the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas in the mid-late 90s with very different results. We talk about the long and complex history of this case, the similarities and differences between this uprising and that of the Zapatistas, the ongoing political repression of Alvaro Ramirez and Abraham Ramirez, and the economic solidarity push being orgainized by our guest, as well as some stark parallels between this case and that of the remaining 59 J20 defendants. If you would like to see the 45 minute broadcast edit of this interview, you can go to The Final Straw Radio Collection on archive.org.
As per the very reasonable request on the part of the folks doing support for Alvaro and Abraham, we have omitted the Sean Swain segment for this episode. The You Are the Resistance topic did not pair well with the main interview content nor were Keep Loxicha Free supporters aware of the segment. We regret any confusion or discomfort that this caused.
We would like to take a bit of space here to explain to new listeners that many of the Sean Swain segments are meant in the spirit of satire; Swain himself has been a political prisoner for over 25 years at this point, and his humor is sometimes abrasive, but he is a committed believer in the dismantling of all forms of oppression.
He and we are open to feedback on this segment, and any content we present!
Sean Swain #243-205 Warren CI P.O. Box 120 Lebanon, Ohio 45036
Resist Nazis in Tennessee
On Saturday, Feb 17, Matthew Heinbach of the Traditionalist Workers Party will be speaking at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville from 1-4pm. If you don’t like this, you can contact the University by calling 8659749265 and demand that they disinvite this open neo-nazi organizer from their campus!
Some Benefits in Asheville
For the drinkers in Asheville, this week features two libation-centric benefits for books to prisoners projects.
On Wednesday, February 14, Valentines Day, three bars in Asheville will be participating in a drink special that will raise money for Tranzmission Prison Project, our local LGBT books to prisoners project with a national scope. You can visit the Crow & Quill on Lexington, the Lazy Diamond around the corner in Downtown or the Double Crown on Haywood in West Asheville on Wednesday for more details.
On Thursday, February 15th at the Catawba’s South Slope Tasting Room & Brewery (32 Banks Avenue #105) for their first New Beer Thursday fundraiser of 2018!! Starting with the release on the 15th and running through March, a portion of the cost of every glass of their pomegranate sour sold will be donated to the Asheville Prison Books Program!
More events coming up this week include: Thursday the 15th at 7pm Blue Ridge ABC is holding a benefit show at Static Age for a local activists with a sliding scale cost. Bands featured are Kreamy Lectric Santa, Cloudgayzer, Secret Shame, Falcon Mitts & Chris Head
Later that night in Asheville, the monthly benefit dance party called HEX will be holding an event at the Mothlight to raise money and materials for A-Hope, which provides services locally to houseless and poor folks. Bring socks, footwear and camping gear to donate!
On Tuesday, April 20th at 6pm at The Shell Studio, 474 Haywood Rd on the second floor, there will be a showing of the locally produced documentary entitled Hebron about human rights struggles in Palestine.
On Friday the 23rd at 6:30pm, the Steady Collective will be participating in a Harm Reduction forum at the Haywood Street Congregation at 297 Haywood St. in downtown.
Also that night, BRABC will be showing the latest TROUBLE documentary by sub.media at 7:30pm at firestorm books and coffee. This will be a second on Student Organizing around the world.
Finally, on Saturday the 24th 9am to 3pm at Rainbow School, 60 State Street in Asheville there’ll be a Really Really Free Market organized by the Blue Ridge General Defense Committee or GDC. Bring stuff that’s still good to share and come back with other stuff that’s still good for free! Perfect for spring cleaning or dealing with inclement weather on a budget.
A Call for Art Submissions for ACAB2018…
A reminder that if you are the sensitive, artistic type, the ACAB2018, or Asheville Carolina Anarchist Bookfair is soliciting art for fundraising and advertising purposes. If you have image ideas that you can put into action and want to share them, that’d be dope. We’re looking for things we can put onto postcards, t-shirts, posters and other swag to spread word about the event and help us cover the costs of operation. Contact us at [email protected]
…and for Yours Truly at TFS
Likewise, if you are feeling artsy fartsy and want to help out this show, we’re looking for swag imagery, either as a logo or a standalone piece of art we can feature for fundraising purposes. If you like the show and want to help, post your files on share.riseup.net and send us a link at [email protected] or share it with one of our social media identities. If we choose to use your art, we’ll send you a mix tape with one side produced by each of our regular contributing editors.
This week William spoke with Maria and Jeff, who are two long term members of the humanitarian aid group based in Arizona called No More Deaths. This group does solidarity work with those who are crossing the border in that region, as well as advocacy, legal work, and work which runs along many other vectors of solidarity. We will speak about the group and how each member got involved, the exact nature of the work and some media myths that the group gets leveled at them, along with the rise in repression that No More Deaths has faced in recent weeks, culminating in highly militarized raid on Bird Camp, a remote outpost that serves as a clinic, on Thursday, June 15. We will go on to discuss the strategy behind Border Patrol’s surveillance and repression of those who are crossing and aid workers, and will talk about asks for assistance that the group is thinking of.
You can visit NMD online at nomoredeaths.org, plus follow them on Facebook and Twitter if you want to keep up with calls for solidarity and with updates on their situation.
Those titles that Maria mentioned for further reading if folks want to learn more about the border and how it got that way are:
The first musical track in this episode is by Calle 13 with “Pa’l Norte”. They are a Puerto Rican hip hop group that often tackles themes that are oppositional to the border, border patrol, and FBI. The episode closes with a track from an Argentinian atmospheric metal band called Ruinas/Raíces with Dos Colores Fundiéndose which is the first track off their title album that just came out in April. You can find them on the blog Red and
Anarchist Black Metal.
This week we are airing two short interviews, the first is with an anarchist legal worker who has been participating in resistance at Standing Rock in so called North Dakota. This interview is specifically about the grand jury summons which was recently served to someone who was struggling at Standing Rock, we speak about what a grand jury is and how people might resist them, also a bit about what it means for this movement to have a grand jury subpoena occur at this moment.
Scott Campbell on upcoming tour of Mexico with It’s Going Down
The next interview we will present is a conversation with Scott Campbell who writes the Insumisión column for itsgoingdown.org. Insumisión is a semi regular publication which aims to highlight anarchistic and anarchist struggles and news all around Mexico. Scott and members of IGD are in the process of launching an information gathering and affinity building tour around Mexico in early next year. In this interview we talk about Insumisión and what inspired it, as well as some of the strategies and influences both North American and Mexican struggle can take from one another, among other topics. To read Insumisión and for a write up about the upcoming tour, you can visit https://itsgoingdown.org/insumision/. To donate to the tour and to see a write up about it, you can visit the rally dot org website https://rally.org/igd-mexico
You can also check out El Enemigo Común (or The Common Enemy) at https://elenemigocomun.net/
From their website “[This project] is an international watchdog against state sponsored repression. It is the project of a small collective of volunteers in the U.S. and Mexico. We publish and translate communiqués, articles, and other media by, about, and for social movements. Our primary focus is on indigenous peoples, women, and youth, in both urban and rural communities in Oaxaca, but we also publish about other struggles against neoliberalism throughout Mexico”.
A quick shoutout of thanks to KFED for the lovely new image for the series podcast. Much appreciated!
Since the time that this episode of the Final Straw podcast was recorded, Steve Martinez, a Water Protector and grand jury resistor appeared at the U.S. District Court in Bismarck, North Dakota. On January 4th, 2017 Steve gave a statement outside the courthouse amidst dozens of other Water Protectors who braved the single digit temperatures to stand in solidarity.
My name is Steve Martinez. I have been subpoenaed to this federal grand jury. I refuse to cooperate with these proceedings on the grounds of not helping opposition towards water protectors. I will in no way condone or cooperate with this attempt to repress the movement here at Standing Rock. I know that by refusing to cooperate I will most likely be incarcerated. The loss of my own freedom is a small price to pay for keeping my dignity and standing up for what is right- the defense of the earth and all that is sacred. Mni Wiconi!
The motion to quash the subpoena was denied by the federal judge and a new subpoena was issued by the U.S. Attorney demanding that Steve appear on February 1st, 2017 in Bismarck.
What we know about grand juries is that they have a long history of being used to target those in resistance to the state and engaged in political or revolutionary movements. The purpose of this grand jury and all grand juries that target revolutionary people and communities is to cause division, manufacture prisoners of war, and create paranoia or suspicion amongst comrades. We will not be intimidated and resistance to this is only strengthening our resolve to kill this black snake and all the others.
Water protectors stand in resistance to this grand jury and all tools of state repression, be it on the ground through Morton County’s violent tactics or in the shrouded secrecy of a grand jury courtroom. We will continue to build on the vibrancy of our resistance movement here at Standing Rock in order to destroy the pipeline, the grand jury and their world.
– Water Protector Anti-Repression Committee
TFSR: So we are here talking with an anarchist legal worker who has been participating in the Standing Rock resistance, and we’re here to talk about the grand jury subpoena, which recently came to a Water Protector at
Standing Rock. Would you briefly explain what a grand jury is for those listeners who don’t know and how they have historically been used to divide and subdue radical movements?
Standing Rock: So what a grand jury is is a federal proceeding and it’s intended to produce a federal felony indictment. So in order for a felony indictment to happen, there has to be some process, and it’s typically a grand jury process, that determines whether there’s enough evidence to proceed with a federal indictment and formal charges. And while grand juries are used as a way for U.S. attorneys to produce indictments for a wide array of things, they are especially used as a tool of repression towards political movements, resistance movements, and have a long history of that, going back to the origins of grand juries, which are a holdover from British legal proceedings. So it goes back a really long way, but most recently people have memories of their use around political resistance movements, like the Black Panther Party, American Indian Movement, even more recently
earth and animal liberation movements.
TFSR: Gotcha. And I think that we can remember people like Jerry Koch who got sent to prison for nine months for doing grand jury resistance in response to a bombing that happened in Times Square in New York City. I was wondering if you would talk a little bit about what the specifics of grand juries tend to look like on the ground, or how participants of grand juries, what people have to go through if they are subpoenaed for a grand jury.
So the first step that typically happens when somebody’s called to be a witness at a grand jury, or provide testimony or physical evidence, is that you would be served a subpoena by a federal agent. So in the case of Water Protectors at Standing Rock, a federal agent could be an agent from B.I.A. (or Bureau of Indian Affairs), which is a federal policing force, but often times it would be an F.B.I. agent or even a U.S. Marshall who might serve you the subpoena. And then what that means is that you’re required to attend the grand jury and provide information to them. So at a grand jury, they’re unlike any other court proceeding, where normally there’s a judge in the courtroom and you’re allowed to have your own legal council present with you at a legal proceeding. But at a grand jury, there’s no judge in the courtroom, the courtroom really belongs to the U.S. attorney and the
prosecutor. And you are the person who’s been called to the grand jury, you don’t know for sure why you’ve been called because they operate in almost total secrecy. You don’t know if you’ve been called just as a witness, you don’t know if you’re the target, or the person that they are
potentially trying to indict. And so you’re also not allowed to have your legal council in the room with you. You can, and you really should, obtain legal council if you’ve been subpoenaed to a grand jury, because they can provide you support in the process of resisting a grand jury.
So once you’ve been served and you’re required to go to the grand jury, you have a few options as a person who is working to resist the grand jury. Your first option is that you can just ghost. That’s a really hard option for most people because it means you can’t talk to your friends, your loved ones, your family, your comrades, it means you can’t go to the normal places that you go to. It means that you probably need to leave your hometown, or maybe even the country as a whole. And some people have done that, andthe people have done that have had very difficult experiences. It also puts you at risk still of being in contempt of court and my understanding is that if you just ghost after you’ve received a subpoena, that the contempt can turn into a criminal contempt versus a civil contempt, which I’ll explain a little bit as well.
And so your other option would be, well basically some people have never walked into a grand jury room. They would just show up, hold a press conference with all their friends, loved ones, comrades, and legal council and read a statement in front of the courthouse, or in front of the grand jury room, and that says “We’re never gonna talk to you. I stand in solidarity with my community and this is a tool of repression, and I’m part of a impenetrable wall of silence.” And people have certainly taken that tactic.
Another tactic that people used to resist a grand jury, if they’ve been called to testify, would be to enter the grand jury room and provide only their name. And then any question that they’re asked after giving their name to the U.S. attorney, they would invoke their 5th amendment right, which is their right to not say anything that would incriminate yourself. What happens typically though, is that a prosecutor then says, “Okay we get it, you’re using your 5th amendment right.” And then they might let you go for the day, or they might right on the spot go have a hearing with a judge in another room, and at that hearing the judge would almost certainly impose on you immunity. And I say impose because a lot of people have the idea that immunity would be a good thing, right? That they can’t say
the things that you’re saying in the testimony against yourself, but the thing is they can still use it against your friends, they can still use it against the movement as a whole, they can still use it against all kinds of people,
you might not be aware of how they would use it.
And so then once you’ve had immunity imposed on you, you’re no longer allowed to invoke your 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. And so when you refuse to answer questions, then the U.S. attorney is going to say, “Okay I get it, you’re not going to answer any of my questions.” They’re going to have another hearing with a judge. And that hearing is a civil contempt hearing. Which is not a criminal proceeding, it’s a civil proceeding. And what grand juries do is if you refuse to cooperate, they
try to coerce your cooperation out of you. And if you’re charged with civil contempt in that hearing, then they can incarcerate you for up to the length of the grand jury.
Like you mentioned before with Jerry out in New York, he was incarcerated for around nine months. People in the Pacific Northwest who were resisting a grand jury in 2012 were incarcerated for around four-to-six months, and that’s a coercive incarceration that’s meant to pull testimony out of you. But they’re not allowed to punitively incarcerate you, which is like all semantics right? We all know that all incarceration is punitive. It’s all meant to punish us for something. But they’re using tricky legal language, so that it’s not punitive, “It’s just coercive, we’re just trying to torture all of your testimony out of you by incarcerating you and removing you from your community and your loved ones.”
But, because people have used this tactic of being really public and saying that not only are they not personally going to cooperate, and they personally have put up a wall of silence, but also that they’re whole community is in a silent resistance to this grand jury. Then that can be used as evidence further that you’re not ever going to cooperate, and something then that can happen is called a grumbles motion, which is a fantastic name and it’s actually named for people who were a married couple who resisted a grand jury, it has a really beautiful history of it’s own.
A grumbles motion can be filed by your council, by your attorney, and it’s basically saying “This person has made it evident and clear that they’re not going to cooperate with this grand jury, and this incarceration has gone from coercive to punitive.” Which is illegal for a civil proceeding, which is what that is, it’s a civil contempt charge. And so that’s how Jerry was able to get out of coercive incarceration, and that’s how many other people have been able to do that. But I think it also really ties into this public display, community-wide, nationally, even internationally, that people have taken up around grand jury resistance, especially in this last decade, of being really firm and open from the onset, from the moment they receive a subpoena, instead of being quiet as a community which is what the feds hope will happen. That you get scared and that you self-isolate. But instead, build your own vibrancy in our communities of resistance and that same loving solidarity that we have, we continue that as a way of resisting.
TFSR: Yeah, like you said it seems like so many things in the legal system, this just seems like a pretty diabolical framework for doing this sort of thing and I think that like so many things, the success of it just rides on isolation,it rides on personal despair or being worn down. And it seems really interesting to me, and really telling, this grand jury subpoena has come pretty hot on the heels of the supposed easement of the Dakota Access Pipeline. I was wondering if you would speak about the timing of this
grand jury subpoena.
SR: I think it’s smart for us to be looking at the whole picture like that. You know on November 20th there was a battle, a kind of stand off, at the backwater bridge, which is just on the North end of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, there
at Standing Rock, which is the Northern camp, which originally had been an overflow camp for Sacred Stone and Rosebud on the reservation side. And that battle that happened on November 20th, which a lot of people have now burned into their memory, not just across the so-called U.S. but really across the world because of the use of water cannons in sub-freezing temperatures by Morton County Sheriffs. There was also a young woman, Sophia Wilansky, whose arm was horrifically injured, and another woman named Vanessa who might lose her eye due to the insane force that was used by Morton County. So just a little more than a week, a week and a half later, is when this grand jury was convened. And what we know from
on the ground is that those things that happened on November 20th on that bridge, what happened to Sophia Wilansky, we know that Morton County Sheriffs were already trying to victim blame her, saying that somehow she had blown her own arm off. I personally was on that bridge and I can tell you that no one was blowing their own arms off there. What I saw was people who were not, it wasn’t even street fighting in that setting, it was really just people who are so incredibly frustrated and incredibly broken at the continued horrific use of colonial forces in their territories and in their homelands. And I saw a lot of young indigenous people who were just trying to turn that knob on the pressure valve and let some pressure off of them. It’s not just been building for the last month at Standing Rock, but really people are letting the pressure off of ancestral trauma that goes back more than five hundred years. And I think all of that context is really
important when we’re looking at this grand jury situation as well. What we know about this grand jury is that it has something to do with, at least in part, with what happened on the bridge on November 20th. And we know so far that they are looking at potentially eco-terrorism that’s taking
place at Standing Rock, which isn’t taking place. The only terrorism that’s taking place is the terrorism of the state.
The person who received this first subpoena, we believe has been targeted because of their close proximity to Sophia Wilansky. This is a person who helped to transport Sophia when her arm was injured and get her to medical care. And so there’s very little information that any body has right now about what exactly this grand jury is trying to put together information-wise. But at the end of the day, we don’t need to know for sure. We know it’s being used as a tool to repress the work that’s happening with water
protectors at Standing Rock, and potentially to connect it to other resistance movements to extraction and environmental terrorism that’s happening at the hands of capital and the state.
And that first subpoena was received a day before that announcement from the Army Corps (of Engineers) about the easement. And I don’t think that the timing is coincidental. I think the timing is probably pretty intentional. You had a lot of people distracted feeling like they won, and I don’t want to say that that was an entirely false victory, but it’s not a permanent victory. In the camp, when the announcement of the denial happened, and there were cheers, you know rippling throughout the camp for the entire day and night, people celebrating and feeling excited. And I do want to recognize that that only happened because of people’s collective power. The Army Corps didn’t deny the easement, the people who’ve been
fighting this pipeline denied the easement and will continue to deny it, and will continue to deny Dakota Access Pipeline and their ability to do what they’re doing.
I want to recognize that while that is a victory, it’s a victory of one battle in a long-game war. What’s happening is that the state, while people are distracted by the victory of that particular battle, are doing the backdoor dealing with the grand jury and that they’re trying to prey on people who
are in resistance to extraction and to the Dakota Access Pipeline, and really to colonialism in general, and imperialism in general. This is a movement about indigenous sovereignty, and not just about one pipeline. But I think that the timing is really purposeful, and this is also a movement where a lot of people are really new to being in resistance. A lot of people are really new to political and social organizing, and so what is important and the work that’s happening amongst legal workers and supporters at the camp right now is that because there’s so many new, fresh people, it’s also a ripe environment for the feds to prey on people who might not understand that
what feels like innocuous testimony they might give to a federal agent, in or out of a grand jury room, that information is never innocuous to the state. While it might seem like not a big deal to say that you ate dinner with so-and-so or yes once you had coffee with so-and-so, the state can then use that to socially map an entire movement of resistance, and that’s why people have really taken on this work, running full speed ahead, and moving as quickly and strategically as possible to disseminate the
information and make sure that people aren’t just distracted by the victory of one battle, because there’s a whole war that we’re trying to fight right now.
TFSR: I think that’s a fantastic point because I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about “Yay we won! We can go home now!” But I was wondering, maybe you’ve already answered this as much as you want to, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how real the easement is, or how permanent you think it is. Do you think that people will just come back and start building once the regime has flipped, or what are your thoughts on that?
SR: Things up there (at Standing Rock) are in a pretty delicate situation. The tribal government of Standing Rock and their chairman Dave Archambault, you know in the beginning he said that a re-route would never be a victory
of Standing Rock and for Sioux Nation, and the only victory would be a complete block of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Well now you have Dave Archambault, who came to the camp and drove around in his personal pick-up truck, announcing to people that they have won, and that people could return to their homes. And what is suspected to be happening with this denial of the easement by the Army Corps, they’re denying the easement in that spot at the Oahe Lake, which is actually just a lake that’s resulted
by the damming of the Missouri River, which is a whole other history that I encourage people to look into, the way that the Missouri River has been a point of struggle for the people at Standing Rock and the Sioux Nation for many, many years.
And so denying the easement in this one tiny spot on Lake Oahe on the Missouri River is not a victory, because we all, tens of millions of people, rely on the water from the Missouri River, the largest water basin in this region of the country. And putting the pipeline crossing of the Missouri
River twenty miles north or, forty miles north, is still going to result in the same risks for everybody who drinks that water and for all the people of Standing Rock, and for all the people of Sioux Nation. And so I think it’s important for people to be examining. You know, I’m an anarchist, I’malways examining the people who hold power, and I think my indigenous comrades who are up there, or who have been up there at Standing Rock, they also come from a perspective that somebody who is in tribal government, these are governments that mirror colonial government and colonial power. And so there’s something to question there. This isn’t the ways in which traditionally indigenous people of Sioux Nation would have governed themselves. And if we’re going to be talking about being in solidarity with indigenous sovereignty, then we as non-native people,
allies and accomplices to them, need to be following their lead, but we also need to be critical of whose lead we’re following and what kind of power those people are wielding.
But I think that there’s a lot of people who are not going home, and I think that’s really important to remind people right now, that there are hundreds and hundreds of people who will not be returning home. Over on the reservation side at Sacred Stone and Rosebud camp, there’s still around six hundred or more people on that side, at Oceti Sakowin which I believe has actually been renamed to Oceti Oyate, which that rename has come from the indigenous youth council and from this person Chase
Ironeyes who actually had run for U.S. Congress, he did not win, which I think is a good thing, so that he can stay in the community as opposed to ascending to actual power, but Chase Ironeyes is actually from Standing Rock. Him and his wife have been fighting this pipeline really along with the people, and he’s stepped into a real role of leadership that I think is a positive role of leadership. And he is encouraging people along with Ladonna Allard whose land Sacred Stone is on, is one of the founders of Sacred Stone Camp, are telling people to not go home, that people who are already there need to continue holding space, to continue to fight this pipeline, but also to continue to assert their indigenous sovereignty over
these lands that don’t belong to North Dakota and were never ceded by the people of Standing Rock and Sioux Nation.
TFSR: So earlier in the interview you spoke a lot about ways to resist grand juries; ghosting, press conferences and invoking the fifth amendment. Are there any other ways that you would recommend people fighting a grand jury scrutiny?
SR: Yeah, so the first thing, I said a little bit earlier, but I think it bears repeating, it’s scary when you are the person who receives a subpoena, and it’s meant to be scary, that’s the tool that the state is using, is to be the big scary,
secretive entity that intends to isolate you. So number one, reaching out to people and not staying silent I think is one of our strongest tools. And also, I think the grand jury that happened in the Pacific Northwest, the grand jury that happened with Jerry out in New York, I think those are really great recent examples, the grand jury with Carrie Feldman in Minnesota a few years ago as well, are really great examples of building not just localized community resistance, but really started reaching out through the
very vibrant national networks of anarchist, anti authoritarian and radical people. And so I think doing that as well, reaching out in through all the networks that we have, whether they’re political or personal networks, and
building these ways of resisting together.
Also the Water Protector Legal Collective and the National Lawyer’s Guild have a really strong presence up there at Standing Rock and they’re doing a lot of work in the camp and out of the camp to help mount resistance to this grand jury and offer the support necessary. So just as a heads’ up to any person who, because people who are possible targets for subpoenas for this grand jury, so many people have come and gone from Standing Rock, that you could be back home in Ohio and receive a subpoena. You don’t have to be at Standing Rock or in North Dakota or that region of the country to be subject to this risk, and I don’t say that to stoke any fear but just to be really honest with people, that you may have come and gone but this is still a possibility. So reaching out to the Water Protector Legal Collective as quickly as possible is really important because they’re able to offer legal council that could represent you through the grand jury process, they’re able to connect you to those networks of resistance that are already existing if you yourself aren’t already plugged into them.
Water Protector Legal Collective has a website which is waterprotectorlegal.org, but if you received a subpoena, you should call them immediately. Twenty-four hours a day they have a hotline, and the number is 605-519-8180.
And also, right now people who want to help support grand jury resistance, donating to the legal collective fund is especially helpful. Not only does that legal fund that exists through the Water Protector Legal Collective going towards supporting people’s criminal cases, it’s also going towards supporting the people who are up there doing legal work who’ve left their homes and their families back in their own communities and are up there doing that work. The amount of resource that’s necessary to help 571 people, and that number of people with criminal cases is growing, to help those people with their criminal cases, also fighting a grand jury, also trying to support the people who have given up their lives at home to be engaged in full-time legal support. So donations are vital and that is
a way that people at home and outside of Standing Rock can continue to support not just grand jury resistance but also all the people that are facing criminal charges as well.
TFSR: I was wondering, you mentioned looking into the cases of recent grand jury resistance as a way to be more informed, but are there any other resources for grand jury resistance that you would recommend to listeners?
SR: Yeah, so I would say one of my number one favorite spots for grand jury resistance information is there’s a lot of really great detailed information that’s available through the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Eugene, OR, and their website is cldc.org, and they have a number of resources that are available on there, both for a person or people in a community that are thinking about grand juries but also resources available for legal workers or attorneys about grand juries and how to fight them when they are being used against people of political or social resistance. Other good stuff that’s out there; crimethInc has some information, also the Midnight Special Law Collective has a grand jury training available on their website which is midnightspecial.net, and there’s also some really good history and information that’s available through the Freedom Archives. On the Freedom Archives, if you just search on there, which is freedomarchives.org; you can search “grand jury” or “grand jury repression” or things like that. There’s a lot of really good information on there, and there’s a lot of really good historical context about how grand juries have been used against people in social and political movements. People like the Puerto Rican Independinistas, people from the American Indian Movement, and the long history of grand jury use and FBI repression.
TFSR: Do you have anything else that you’d like to add?
SR: I think the only thing I would want to add is I think that there’s a lot of really exciting and beautiful and hopeful things that are coming out of this movement at Standing Rock. We’re seeing that spirit of resistance spread from Standing Rock Reservation, which probably most people had never heard of until a few months ago, but that’s spreading out not just across this country and continent but really globally, there’s global solidarity for this. And I think, I really want to drive home to people who are non-native people who are allies and accomplices to Indigenous people who are in this struggle, that part of what I feel like our responsibility is, we’re in solidarity
with Indigenous people who are fighting for sovereignty, that we not only be in solidarity with them on the frontlines, we not only be in solidarity with them in those kind of glamorous moments of resistance, but that we
be in continued solidarity with them when the repression, the inevitable repression comes raining down on those movements of resistance. And that we really take it very seriously that the grand jury, the feds, and local law enforcement, more importantly County law enforcement, that this isn’t something that’s just going to be happening in this next couple of months, that the repression that’s going to be coming against people who are in struggle for indigenous sovereignty over their lands, their water,
their communities, their spiritual practices, that this repression is going to last for a long time. I hope that non-native allies and accomplices are in it for the long haul as well.
Airs on WSFM-LP 103.3 in Asheville / streaming at AshevilleFM from 3am EST on October 30th, 2016, through November, 6th podcasting at radio4all.net. Also airing this week on KOWA-LPFM in Olympia, WA, KWTF in Bodega Bay, CA, and WCRS-LP Columbus Community Radio 98.3 and 102.1 FM. Past episodes can be found at TheFinalStrawRadio.NoBlogs.Org and you can now subscribe to us via iTunes! You can email us at [email protected] and you can send us mail at:
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This week, we present a conversation with a member of CNA-DF, or Anarchist Black Cross of Mexico City. During the hour she speaks about the work of CNA-DF, prison in Mexican society, anti-prison organizing versus prison abolitionism, transformative justice, counter-repression and prisoners the CNA is working to support.
Specific prisoners CNA-DF supports include: Alvaro Sebastian (Oaxacan teacher); Fernando Bárcenas (accused of burning the Mexico City Xmas Tree in 2013 during anti-fare increase demonstration in Mexico City. Publishes Cimarron newspaper, involved in punk rock, alternative health care, horizontal education and organizing in prison.); Luis Fernando Sotelo (accused of burning a bus during day of global action in solidarity with the Ayatzinopa 43, Normalista students disappeared by the Mexican State. Sotelo has received a 33 year sentence for damage to the bus. Recently on hunger strike, in prison 2 years now); Abraham Cortés (13 years for attempted murder of a cop, arrested during October 2nd memorial demonstration in Mexico City of the 1968 massacre of hundreds of demonstrating students. Recently on hunger strike w Fernando Bárcenas against: 1. Prisons, calling to revolt against the state; 2. in solidarity with the #PrisonStrike starting Sept 9 in the U.S.; 3. And against the Bárcenas & Cortés); & Miguel Ángel Peralta Betanzos (from Oaxaca, accused of attempted murder of politicians in opposition with communal indigenous council of his community).
Raids at Standing Rock
After a series of violent raids which saw over 100 people arrested, the most recent on October 27th at Standing Rock and other camps resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline, there has been a call for renewed and amped up solidarity for this resistance. This could include coming to North Dakota and fighting the pipeline and joining the struggle, organizing where you live and taking action against banks, the Army Corp. of Engineers, and politicians backing the project, and sending money and supplies to the encampment. Already solidarity actions are taking places, such as the occupation of buildings, solidarity demonstrations, and more.
To get more ideas of what solidarity could mean, and where to send supplies and funds if you are able, you can visit https://nodaplsolidarity.org and click the tab “Support the Camps”.
Kinetic Justice of FAM transferred
Kinetic Justice of the Free Alabama Movement has been transferred out of Holman Prison in Alabama to Kilby Correctional Facility and from there to Limestone Corrections, known among Alabama prisoners to be a “bully unit,” where prisoners deemed disruptive are brutalized. This occurred one day before he was reportedly scheduled to meet with an advocate from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SLPC). This is in clear retaliation on the part of the prison system, and is an attempt to silence a dissenting voice which has been very important both in FAM and in the Prison Strike. In response, Kinetic is ending the first week of a hunger strike, to protest his treatment and bacaause he doesn’t trust Limestone to not tamper with the food they give him.
Keep your eyes on the free alabama movement’s webpage at http://freealabamamovement.com/ for updates on Kinetic’s situation and how to help. You can also follow them on twitter @freealamovement, you can also follow Freedom for Kinetic @for_kinetic
Anti-Nazi march in Harrisburg, PA
Lastly tho not leastly, DON’T FORGET that Saturday the 5th of Novemeber will see resistance to a National Socialist Movement rally (or more plainly, neo nazi) in Harrisburg PA. The NSM is teaming up with the Traditionalist Worker Party for this charade in the so called “heart of democracy”, the TWP being the same boneheads who were responsible for drawing knives in Sacramento this past summer. Central PA Antifa and related anti racists are calling for as much support as possible at this event, to help run the nazis out of town.
You can get up with this situaiton by connecting with Central PA Antifa on facebook by searching their name, you can also donate to them by visiting:
you can also get super up to date information by following them on twitter @centralpaantifa
Asheville Prison Books Cover Band show
If you’re going to be around Asheville tonight, Sunday October 30th, and want to get your ghoul on for a good cause, consider visiting the Prison Books Cover Band benefit. For over a decade now, punks have been showing up and rocking out to raise funds for Asheville Prison Books, a 501c3 non-profit that sends literature to prisoners. Cover bands include SubHumans, Green Day and many, many more. The show starts at Toy Boat on 101 Fairview Rd, just off Sweeten Creek Road.
Over the hour, Hilary talks about her 7 years of living in Chiapas and recording the stories and experiences of women there, collecting stories on their behalf. The book covers the Zapatistas experiences before the EZLN uprising of 1994, during that period and after. Discussion address what gender, indigeneity and class looked like and how that’s changed in the Zapatista communities, the state of Chiapas and in Mexico. William and Hilary also explore the effects that the EZLN & La Otra Compaña have had on radicals and anarchists abroad, the origins of the EZLN, some parallels and distinctions between anarchism and Zapatismo and much more.
This week’s show, we rebroadcast an interview from 2013 with Krow, aka Katie Kloth, followed by updates on the 2-week old hunger strike at OSP Youngstown, the release of the 5e3 prisoners in Mexico & recent metal, deathrock and punk from around the world.
Krow is an anarchist, environmental and indigenous rights activist. At the time of the original interview, Krow had been facing charges stemming from a protest where eco-activists found workers from Global Taconite, a mineral mining company attempting to extract iron ore from the hills of Iron County, Wisconsin, secretly test-drilling. Krow was charged with throwing a worker’s camera away and minor assault which was caught on a video. A link to the video will be included in this episode’s blog post.
Krow was sentenced to 9 months in jail this January, 2015. In addition, according to the Ashland Daily Press, Krow will have five years of probation with the felony charge and two years with the misdemeanor including a work release where they’ll be pressed to work a full-time job as a way of normalizing them and their activities. Otherwise known as domestication. Krow is now also facing charges from District Attorney Martin Lipske of bail jumping for allegedly participating in an anniversary protest in a “forbidden zone” in the Penokkee range controlled by Global Taconite along with 45 other people. Lipske appears to have it out for Krow, who had initially filed charges could have resulted in a 15 year sentence for Krow.
You can write to Krow at:
Iron County Jail
300 Taconite Street
Hurley, WI 54534
Also this hour we announce the recent news of the release of Amelie, Carlos & Fallon from prison in Mexico on March 13th. They were charged with a molotov attack January 5th of 2014 on a Nissan dealership and the neighboring government offices of the Mexican Department of Transportation and Communication and had faced serious charges relating to terrorism because people were in the government office at the time. The 3 collectively were known as the 5e3. Amelie and Fallon, both Quebecoise, were deported back to Canada. We’re happy that they’ve been able to rejoin their friends and loved ones and that Carlos Lopez Martin with his child.
To hear some words from Amelie & Fallon while they were imprisoned in Mexico, check out our website.
Translations of their letters can be found here: http://waronsociety.noblogs.org/?tag=5e3
On Monday March 16th, over 30 supermax prisoners at Ohio State Penitentiary went on hunger strike. Warden Jay Forshey and OSP staff are refusing to meet their demands or negotiate with them. Some of the hunger strikers have not even been met and consulted with regarding their demands. Eleven prisoners remain on hunger strike and are committed to staying through to the end, if necessary.
This week we spoke with Dawn Marie Paley. Dawn came onto the show last year to discuss her essay, Drug War Capitalism. Dawn is now about the publish a book by that same title with AK Press.
On September 26, teaching students from the leftist Normalista College in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico, protested in the city of Iguala against public policies and in remembrance of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre in the run-up to the Olympics. In response to the protest, their buses were fired upon by about a dozen police vehicles later that day. Following that, 57 of the normalista students were detained, with 14 later returned. That leaves 43 unnaccounted for, rabble-rousing students in southern Mexico who’ve been disappeared. Soon the story that Narco’s had taken the students from the police emerged but was withdrawn. The police chief and the Mayor are on the run. The search for the students brought news of 11 recent mass graves discovered in Iguala which an Argentine group is investigating, despite interference by the government. Protests have spread across Mexico, from the burning of the State Congress building in Guerrero to the blocking of freeways in Michoacan to demonstrations in Mexico City and abroad.
Dawn tells us about the overlaps between Narcos and the Mexican State in such state crimes as this and the involvement of U.S. policy/training/weapons & money in the formation of the Mérida Initiative (Plan Mexico) and creation of Drug War Capitalism seen in so many countries in Latin America. Also, this new moment that appears to be flowering in Mexico where people, despite the fear of the impunity of their attackers and the spinning of their webs, are talking and acting against government as a solution and seeking answers in their own hands.
This week we get to speak with Amélie Trudeau and Fallon Rouiller. Amelie and Fallon, alongside Carlos Lopez Marin, make up the 5E3, who are being charged by the mexican state for an arson of a Nissan dealership and the neighboring ministry of communication and transportation in January of this year. We talk about prison, freedom, dignity, solidarity and more. For more info on the case of the 5E3, check out our episode of August 10th, 2014, where you can find links to sources of their writings and updates.
This week, we have two conversations to share with y’all.
First, an update on the case of Luke O’Donovan and a quick conversation with a support person of his. Adam talks about the last-minute announcement of a change of the beginning of Luke’s trial to Tuesday, August 12th and gives a brief synopsis of the case. More info and updates can be found at http://letlukego.wordpress.com, including how to help to pack the courtroom in support of him.
Following that, you’ll hear a conversation with a supporter of the 5E3 and friend of Amélie Trudeau and Fallon Rouiller, the two Quebecois anarchists who, along with Carlos López Marin, make up the 5E3. The 5E3 are 3 anarchists arrested on the 5th of January and accused of taking part in a molotov cocktail attack on the Ministry of Communication and Transportation and a neighboring Nissan Dealership in Mexico City. We’ll talk about the mexican prison system, the political context within which insurrectional anarchism in mexico is traversing, about Prisoners’ Justice Day in Canada and abroad and much more. We’ll also touch briefly on the case of Nyki Kish, an anarchist convicted of stabbing and killing a college student while among a group of college students who were attacking homeless folks in Toronto. More on Nyki’s case can be found at http://www.freenyki.org
More on the 5E3 can be found at http://www.abajolosmuros.org
Donations to the 5E3 can be found here: http://www.clac-montreal.net/mx#_1 (make sure to include a note that it’s for the 5E3)
Many of their letters can be found at: http://www.sabotagemedia.anarkhia.org/tag/5e/
Also, more updates to come here: http://waronsociety.noblogs.org/?tag=5e-case | <urn:uuid:accd4c29-cad3-4836-93a6-9c4f14e7dc31> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/category/mexico/ | 2018-08-20T15:17:47Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221216475.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20180820140847-20180820160847-00330.warc.gz | en | 0.964807 | 11,062 |
Download The Birth Of Military Aviation: Britain, 1903 1914
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Said assumption was based on the following sources, rendered in the blog Friedrich Jansson tries to help Mattogno …:
The comparative smallness of these differences suggests that the 3rd percentile does not represent the lowest range of what is considered underweight in children, as do the aforementioned pages whereby there are four underweight percentiles (the 1st to 4th). See also this page ("As a general rule of thumb, a typical, healthy child’s growth measurements fall between the 3rd and 97th percentiles. A child may fall below the 3rd percentile if they are genetically small-statured or severely malnourished.") and this one ("It is desirable that the child’s growth measurements fall between the 3rd and 97th percentiles. If a child has both low weight-for-age and height-for-age, their weight-for-length should at least be proportional (between the 3rd and 97th percentiles)."). A PDF available under this link contains a book chapter ("Use of Percentiles and Z -Scores in Anthropometry", by Youfa Wang and Hsin-Jen Chen) featuring a table (Table 2.2) based on the 1995 WHO growth reference, whereby the anthropometric measure or cut point for conditions indicating "chronic malnutrition" and "acute malnutrition, current malnutrition" in infants and children below ten years and "chronic malnutrition" in adolescents is below the 3rd percentile. Another source mentioning "less than the third percentile" as a criterion for malnutrition in children is Robert Markowitz MD, John B. Watkins MD and Christopher Duggan, MD, MPH, "Failure to Thrive: Malnutrition in the Pediatric Outpatient Setting", in: Christopher Duggan (MD.),John B. Watkins, W. Allan Walker, Nutrition in Pediatrics: Basic Science, Clinical Applications, pp. 479 ff. (excerpt viewable here).
The fact alone that Jansson bluntly dismisses these sources as not being "any serious argument" speaks volumes about my interlocutor's intellectual honesty. But the party gets much better, as Jansson provides a (to put it politely) highly selective reading of the source that is supposed to "decisively" refute my aforementioned assumptions.
The source in question is a paper on children born in the Leningrad State Pediatric Institute during 1942 (M.D. A.N. Antonov, "Children born during The Siege of Leningrad in 1942", in: The Journal of Pediatrics, March 1947, Volume 30, Issue 3, Pages 250–259; the article’s abstract is available on this page, where the whole article can be accessed against payment). The article addresses several aspects, namely height, weight, lack of vitality and other health problems as well as mortality among children born in the aforementioned institute (hereinafter called the "LSPI") from January to June and from July to December 1942. During the first of these periods (January to June 1942), 414 children were born in the LSPI; of these 23 (5.6 %) were stillbirths, 161 were born prematurely and 230 were born at term. Of the babies born at term, 21 (9 %) died soon after birth, while of the babies born prematurely 62 (30.8 %) were neonatal deaths. During the second of these periods (July to December 1942), 79 children were born in the LSPI; of these 2 (2.5 %) were stillbirths, 5 (6.5 %) were born prematurely and 72 were born at term. One of the babies born at term (1.4 %) and 3 of the babies born prematurely (60 %) were neonatal deaths. Antonov points out that
Premature births in the first half of 1942 reached the high proportion of 41.2 per cent; in the second half the proportion was only 6.5 per cent, which differs little from the normal rate. The proportion of stillbirths also was exceptionally high in the first half of the year (5.6 per cent) while in the second half it was 2.5 per cent, which is within normal limits as can be seen in Table II.
He then goes on to provide an explanation for the surprising normality of births in the second half of 1942 despite ongoing siege conditions, which I will address below.
The weights of 368 children born during the first semester of 1942 are given as follows in Antonov’s article:
The weighted average of these weights (assuming that "less than 2,000 Gm." means a range from 1,500 to 2,000 Gm. and "over 4,000 Gm." means a range from 4,000 to 4,500 Gm., and taking the median of all ranges) is about 2,512 grams. Jansson estimates a mean weight of 2.5 kg and points out that this is "between the 3rd and 5th percentiles (closer to the 5th percentile)" of weights at birth given in this table.
Obviously not satisfied with this result, Jansson then argues that (for reasons I will address below) one should "separate out the effect of the increase in premature births" during the first half of 1942 and consider only the weights of babies born at term, which are rendered as follows in Antonov’s article:
Jansson points out that "the birth weights for the first half of 1942 lie slightly above the 10th percentile on the CDC data", while the birth weights for the second half of 1942 "are higher, roughly midway between the 10th and 25th percentiles for females and above the 25th percentile for males". He then makes a "correction" of these values to "include the influence of the normal rate of premature births", the results of this "correction" being "an average birth weight of 2743 g" during the first half of 1942 and "3127 g for boys and 2838 g for girls" in the second half of that year. Jansson’s triumphant conclusion is the following:
Thus, in the most severe portion of the famine, during the first half of 1942, once the impact of the prematurity rate is separated out, Leningrad birth weights were approximately on the level of the 10th percentile CDC birth weights. Including the high rate of prematurity, they were between the 4th and 5th percentiles. For the second half of 1942, when pregnancies that began after the onset of the siege were the norm, birth weights were between the 10th and 25th percentiles of the CDC birth weight data. Muehlenkamp’s assumption that CDC 3rd percentile female weights are too high to represent the weights of a starved population is decisively refuted in this case.
Except that Jansson wouldn’t be Jansson if he had not omitted crucial information included in his source and thereby twisted it to yield the results he desired.
Let’s start with the justifications he provides for not taking into consideration the weights of premature births in the first half of 1942. Jansson writes:
The prematurity rate increased dramatically in the first half of 1942, reaching 41.2%, and then fell to normal levels – 6.5% – in the second half of 1942. While this fall may be partially the result of improved food supply, at least among the pregnant population, the initial rise was also the result of premature births to women who became pregnant before food became scarce. This suggests that prematurity rates for a population under sustained food pressure are likely to return to somewhat normal levels. Therefore, for the purposes of inference to Polish Jewish populations, it would be desirable to separate out the effect of the increase in premature births. (Another reason to do this is the high mortality rate among premature births – 39% in 1942 at the institution discussed in the paper under discussion, and as high or higher at other institutions. As deaths fall out of the population to be studied, these premature births would have no impact on date for average weight.)
The second reason is just plain nonsense. When determining a population’s average weight at birth, one has to take into account all children born alive, including those who died soon after birth.
As to Jansson’s assumption that "prematurity rates for a population under sustained food pressure are likely to return to somewhat normal levels", this is also nonsense, but there’s more to it. Jansson omitted Antonov’s explanation of why the 79 births in the second half of 1942 were about normal as concerns stillbirth and prematurity rates, which is the following (emphasis added):
How did the seventy-nine women who entered the clinic in the second half of 1942 differ from the other women in Leningrad, so that they did not suffer from amenorrhea and were able to become• pregnant, and so that the proportions of stillbirths and of premature births among them were not above the normal? While the material is too limited for positive answer, there are reasons to believe that their nutrition was much better than that of the rest of the women in the city during that period. It was possible to ascertain that among these seventy-nine women, fourteen were employed in food industries (cooks, waitresses, and others), six were receiving military rations, seventeen were physicians, nurses, teachers, and members of other professions, fourteen were manual workers, and twenty-two were housewives. Had information been obtained about the occupations of the husbands of the twenty-two housewives, it would doubtless have strengthened further the assumption that the food of the women who bore children in the second half of 1942 was considerably better than that of the other women in the city. In any event, these seventy-nine women did not suffer from the hunger that was the lot of the others.
So the 79 women who gave birth in the second half of 1942 belonged to privileged sections of the city’s population who were fed much better than the average citizen, and this was, in Antonov’s opinion, the reason why they got pregnant in the first place, at a time when amenorrhea was prevalent among the city’s women. They were thus an exception to the rule and everything other than representative of the conditions among Leningrad’s female population at the time. Antonov’s observation reflects one of the sad (one might also say scandalous) realities of how Soviet authorities behaved towards the encircled city's population. Instead of the burden of severe food shortage being distributed equitably according to objective criteria (such as distinguishing between manual and mental workers), there was a majority of citizens who starved to death or barely managed to survive on quantitatively and qualitatively miserable rations and whatever at least unpalatable complements to the diet (such as leather straps, carpenter’s glue and paste from the tapestries) they turned to in their despair, while on the other hand there was a minority of privileged individuals, usually associated to state and party entities, who barely suffered from hunger or didn’t go hungry at all. Siege survivor Dimitri Likhachov, to give but one example, mentions the following case:
The windows of the refectory near the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology were also nailed down. Here food was issued on special cards. Many employees got no cards and went here to lick the plates.
The contrast between the privileged few and the starving many is illustrated by the picture on the right of the scan below, taken from Anna Reid’s book Leningrad. Tragedy of a City under Siege, 1941-44 ((2011 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London) and captioned «A "well-fed type" and a "dystrophic"; Ligovsky Prospect, December 1941»:
The 79 women who gave birth in the LSPI were obviously "well-fed" types, privileged people who ate regular meals on special cards instead of being reduced to licking the plates or trying to survive by other desperate methods such as those mentioned above.
This means that, instead of suggesting that "prematurity rates for a population under sustained food pressure are likely to return to somewhat normal levels", as Jansson would have it, they must not only be left out of any calculations aimed at establishing average birth weights among a starving population, but are also no justification for considering only the weight of babies born at term, as Jansson does.
It is inconceivable that Jansson, however sloppily he may have read his source, could have missed Antonov’s above-quoted explanation for the reasons why births in the second half of 1942 resembled normal circumstances, which contradicts his "return to somewhat normal levels" assumption. What clearly happened here was that Jansson deliberately omitted information that is not only unfavorable to his argument, but completely destroys it.
While I’m careful with accusing my interlocutor of lying (also because I have a healthy contempt for the baseless and dishonest or hysterical "lie" accusations he sends my way), I’d say that in this case the expression "lying by omission" is an accurate description of Jansson’s behavior.
This leaves us with the aforementioned average weight of ca. 2.5 kg for children born (at term or prematurely) in the LSPI between January and June 1942. This weight being above the 3rd percentile and close to the 5th percentile in this table, one might consider it enough to make Jansson’s point against my assumption that malnutrition, or at least severe malnourishment, is signaled by weights below the 3rd percentile. However, one should consider the following aspects:
1. The number of live births in the first half of 1942, as shown in Table II from Antonov’s article rendered below, was far below the number of live births in the same period of previous years, less than one-fifth of the number of live births between January and June 1941:
This although the pregnancy of the women who gave birth between January and June 1942 must in a great many cases have occurred before the beginning of the siege (a woman whose baby was born at term in January 1942 would have got pregnant in May 1941, and the corresponding months for February to June 1942 would be June, July, August, September, October and November 1941). While the siege of Leningrad started in September 1941, mortality in the city (mostly from lack of food) rose slowly in the following two months, to then take a dramatic leap in December 1941, as shown in the table below from Appendix II of Anna Reid’s aforementioned book about Leningrad.
The official figures in the above table are obviously considered too low by Reid, who writes that "the best estimate for the number of civilians who died during Leningrad’s first siege winter is around half a million" (Leningrad, page 231; Reid’s estimate of the siege’s overall death toll is about 750,000, which is lower than the estimates of Salisbury, Ganzenmüller and others). Nevertheless they show the trend in mortality, which, if taken as an indicator of the population’s health, suggests that women who got pregnant before or in the early stages of the siege spent much of their pregnancy still without feeling the full effects of acute malnourishment. If nevertheless the number of births in the first half of 1942 was only one-fifth of what it had been in the same period of 1941, this suggests that only the strongest, most resistant pregnant women managed to carry their pregnancy until birth, while weaker specimens either had natural abortions or died before giving birth. In other words, those women who managed to give birth in the first half of 1942 may already have been the survivors of a natural selection process, rather than representative specimens of the female population, and the weight of their babies, while being far lower than in normal times, may have been higher than that of average Leningrad women would have been if they had carried their pregnancy until birth.
2. The weight at birth was not necessarily a predictor of continuing weight development even among the children born at term that didn’t die in the LSPI, a fact that Jansson also conveniently omits. In fact their weight dropped after birth, as shown in Table IV from Antonov’s article:
Antonov adds the following after this table:
The loss of weight lasted three days or less in only 11.2 per cent of the children; in 88.8 per cent it lasted more than three days. Many of the children were discharged without any established tendency toward further gain in weight. On the average, the loss of weight continued for six days instead of three to four days; the average loss was 273 Gm., 9.7 per cent of the original weight.
Not being a doctor, I don’t know what the implications of a child having "no established tendency toward further gain in weight" upon release were, but my guess is that such child was expected to either become severely underweight or die after release from the clinic.
3. It is doubtful whether weight at birth is a predictor of continuing weight development at all under precarious food conditions. Antonov quotes foreign and Russian research, also not mentioned by Jansson, which suggests that a child’s birth at weight, while negatively affected by the mother’s severe malnourishment, may on the other hand be positively affected by the fact that the fetus draws resources from its mother while it is the womb. The following information is of particular interest in this respect:
According to Shkarin,4 the proportion of babies with birth weights above the average (more than 4,000 Gm.) was lower in 1919 than in 1913, while the proportion with very small birth weights (below 2,300 Gm.) was higher. Lurie and Belugin5 found that with insufficient diet there was a slight decrease in birth weight, in 1919 the average birth weight was 160 Gm. less than in 1915. According to Troitzkaia, 6 the average birth weight in 1919 was 200 Gm. less than in 1914. This did not prevent either Troitzkaia or Lurie and Belugin from reaching the conclusion that the fetus receives from the mother's body everything it needs for its development, regardless of the nourishment received by the mother from the outside, that, in other words, the fetus behaves like a parasite.
Antonov also mentions at least one source that "rejects the theory that the fetus is a parasite", but in the last paragraph states that "we do not contradict the prevailing opinion that the fetus behaves like a parasite in the mother's body":
While, in general, we do not contradict the prevailing opinion that the fetus behaves like a parasite in the mother's body, we can say on the basis of our material that the condition of the host, the mother's body, is of great consequence to the fetus, and that severe quantitative and qualitative hunger of the mother decidedly affects the development of the fetus and the vitality of the newborn child.If, as was the prevailing opinion among Russian pediatric doctors at the time according to Antonov, the fetus enjoys "parasite" benefits while in the mother’s womb that help its development despite the mother’s weakened condition, these benefits cease to exist once the baby is born, especially as the baby (a phenomenon mentioned earlier out by Antonov) will not be able to draw sufficient milk from its mother:
In 1918, on the basis of many observations of the effect of hunger on lactation in women, we came to the following conclusions:3 (1) in spite of hunger, the mammary gland secretes milk if there is sufficient physiologic stimulation, that is, the capacity for breast feeding remains; (2) the quantity of milk, however, decreases; and (3) the duration of the lactation period becomes shorter. These circumstances were observed also during the siege of Leningrad, 1941 to 1943, with the difference that the mother's incapacity to produce sufficient milk was greater.
The extent and duration of the physiologic loss of weight and the rapidity of restoration to the initial weight depend mainly upon food conditions, that is, on the quantity of the mother's milk to some extent they probably depend also upon the strength with which the child sucks, that is, on his general vigor. Most of the children born late in 1941 and in the first half of 1942 of severely exhausted mothers had very low vitality. The mothers as a rule had very little milk, and many babies had to be fed, even in the first few days of their lives, on artificial mixtures prepared from milk substitutes because there was no cow's milk.
4. Last but not least, births in Leningrad occurred among a population that, according to the 1906 Jewish encyclopedia’s article "STATURE: Jews Compared with Non-Jews, must have been comparatively taller (and accordingly heavier) than the Jews of Poland and Galicia at the time, a trend that presumably continued over the next decades. One reads in the mentioned article that
As will be noticed from the figures in Table 2, showing the average height of Jews as compared with that of the non-Jewish inhabitants in eastern Europe, the stature of the former corresponds to a great extent with that of their Gentile neighbors. Wherever the latter are tall, the Jews also are tall, and vice versa. Thus in Galicia and Poland, where the indigenous Polish population is short of stature, measuring 162 to 163 cm. on the average, the shortest Jews are found. In Little Russia and South Russia, where the Gentiles are characterized by their superior height, measuring 165 to 167 cm. on the average, the Jews also are comparatively tall, averaging 163 to 167 cm. The same is true of the Jews in Rumania, Bukowina, etc.
The article mentions "Little Russia and South Russia", but there’s no reason why inhabitants of northern Russia should not have been equally tall or even taller.
To sum up, consideration 1 above calls in question whether an average birth weight of 2.5 kg under starvation conditions was representative of Leningrad’s average female population at the time, rather than a natural selection of particularly strong and resistant specimens. Considerations 2 and 3 suggest that weight at birth cannot, under continuing precarious food conditions, be considered a predictor of further weight development, namely that children with birth weights closer to the 5th than to the 3rd percentile may have seen their weights reduced to or below the 3rd percentile in the following weeks, months and years, if they survived. Consideration 4 suggests that data about the birth weight of Leningrad children born under starvation conditions cannot be projected onto Polish Jewish children born under similar conditions (to the extent that there were any), due to substantial differences in average height and accordingly weight of the relevant population.
The conclusion from the above is that, contrary to what he would like to believe (or to what he would like his readers to believe), Jansson has not refuted my assumption that 3rd percentile female weights given in CDC Growth Charts are too high to represent the weights of a starved population, namely a starved Jewish population in Poland during 1942. The only thing Jansson has achieved with his exercise is to again put his intellectual dishonesty on display, by showing that he is willing to distort his own source by omitting crucial information from such source that contradicts his argument.
As to Jansson’s closing remark that my assumptions on weights of Jewish children and adults in 1942 Poland "rest on no weight-data whatsoever", my comment is that I consider the data mentioned in the blogs Friedrich Jansson tries to help Mattogno … and Just when I thought I had seen all of Jansson’s fits … - namely Baron Otmar von Verschuer’s 1938 article, the aforementioned Jewish encyclopedia article, the "Gewichtstabelle nach BMI and evidence to the severe malnutrition/starvation of Polish ghetto Jews in 1942 - to form a pretty good database in support of my assumptions, and what is more, one that hasn’t been distorted the way Jansson distorted his Leningrad source where it didn’t fit his argument.
I would like to end this blog with a quote from Antonov’s article explaining the reasons (or some of the reasons) for the high mortality among children born in the first half of 1942, especially premature births. While not related to the refutation of Jansson’s article, it provides further insight into the plight of an urban population caught between Nazi Germany’s endeavor to eradicate it (which German historian Ganzenmüller called A Quiet Genocide) and the callousness, corruption and incompetence of its own government;
In the beginning of the war the Department for the Newborn consisted of 120 beds and was• situated on the third floor of the obstetric-gynecologic building. During air raids the babies were taken by elevator to the basement, where an air-raid shelter was specially equipped for them. Late in the fall of 1941, damage to the central heating plant forced the obstetric department to move, with reduced facilities, to other quarters which could be heated by stoves. The Department for the Newborn was placed in a ward of fifteen to twenty beds, which was heated by a brick stove with a pipe connected to a window. The stove was too small to heat the ward adequately; it smoked often, arid there was not enough wood. The temperature in the ward was usually very low, often 50° F.; in the fourth week of January, 1942, it went down to 40° F. The physicians and nurses worked in their overcoats (over which they wore white coats) and in felt boots. Medical examination of the infants and changing of diapers brought danger of chilling. The same danger threatened in the corridor and in the mothers' ward, where the infants were taken for feeding and where the temperature was lower still. The situation was made worse by the insufficiency of heaters, the impossibility of repairing damaged heaters, and the insufficiency of hot water (the water system was not working; water could be heated only on the stoves in the wards). It is not surprising that during that time many newborn infants died from such diseases as scleredema, sclerema, and pneumonia. It should be added that of the children born at home the majority were brought to the clinic severely chilled.
The large number of premature births, the congenital debility of many babies born at term but with low weight, and poor conditions of care and feeding, all explain the high neonatal mortality at the end of 1941 and in 1942. Under these difficult conditions, the staff of the Department for the Newborn, Dr. R. M. Levis and the nurses, themselves in a condition of advanced alimentary dystrophy, did everything they could to preserve the lives of the newborn babies; but, unfortunately, many things did not depend upon their good will and devotion.
I thank Jansson not only for giving me another chance to expose his mendacity and the fallaciousness of his arguments, but also for having brought this very interesting source to my attention. _______________________________________________________________________
In another furious rant with the self-characterizing title More garbage disposal, my rabid friend Jansson tries to clean up the mess in his previous blog about Leningrad birth weights.
After feebly attempting to cover up his dodging of arguments he’d rather avoid (hoping for suckers who may take his affectation of superiority seriously, Jansson brags about his "annihilation" of my "claims", then squeals that my arguments "rarely reach the minimum level to justify further response"), and after some equally feeble rambling about the meaning of the term "Ausrottung" when used to describe something done to a group or population of human beings (which will be commented in another update of the blog Friedrich Jansson proudly presents …), Jansson produces the arguments that will be addressed hereafter.
Regarding my post on Leningrad birth weights, Muehlenkamp argues that the study does not prove that 3rd percentage female CDC weights for children are lower than the mean Warsaw ghetto weights for children, because of his data-free speculations.
The data supporting what Jansson calls "data-free speculations", first referred to in this blog, are again quoted at the beginning of the present blog. Jansson apparently thinks he’s writing for an audience dumb enough not to check behind him.
Here he shifts his ground: his previous argument was that 3rd percentile weights were too high because infants can be healthy at that weight, suggesting that the mean for a starved population would have to be lower.
It is duly noted that Jansson doesn’t explain in what respect I’m supposed to have changed my argument. It is also noted that Jansson misrepresents my argument, which does not rely on sources whereby infants can be healthy at 3rd percentile weights, but on sources whereby
a) "a typical, healthy child’s growth measurements fall between the 3rd and 97th percentiles",
b) it is "desirable that the child’s growth measurements fall between the 3rd and 97th percentiles",
c) the anthropometric measure or cut point for conditions indicating "chronic malnutrition" and "acute malnutrition, current malnutrition" in infants and children below ten years and "chronic malnutrition" in adolescents is below the 3rd percentile, and
d)"less than the third percentile" is a criterion for malnutrition in children.
Note that none of these sources specifically addresses weights at birth or the weights of newborn infants. They rather refer to weights of children at later stages of their development, if I understood them correctly.
(Again, Muehlenkamp makes the fundamental error of supposing that values of some statistic established in order to diagnose outlying or problematic members of one population can be used to give the mean value of that same statistic for an outlying or problematic population.)
Witness Jansson complaining about the very kind of suppositions he uses himself and, IIRC, actually introduced to the discussion. Pathetic.
The reference to the Leningrad study was designed to refute this argument, and did so.
Witness Jansson’s pathetic foot-stomping.
Naturally that study does not singlehandedly establish what Warsaw ghetto weights were, and naturally extrapolation to higher ages is problematic (although Muehlenkamp has never hesitated to make wild extrapolations when it suited his case).
First of all, look who is talking about "wild extrapolations". It’s the same fellow who, at the beginning of his previous blog on the subject, claimed to be addressing my argument that "3rd percentile female weights from the CDC data", which Jansson had supposedly "used to highlight the unreasonableness" of my "assumptions concerning weight", are "too high to represent the mean weight of a poorly fed population such as the Polish Jews". And it’s the same fellow who, towards the end of that very blog, claimed that my assumption whereby CDC "3rd percentile female weights are too high to represent the weights of a starved population" is "decisively refuted in this case" by the Leningrad birth weight data he provided.
If Jansson wanted to make a case that my assumptions regarding weights in a malnourished population are refuted by his data only as concerns weights at birth, as he seems to be claiming, he should at least have expressed himself more clearly.
Second, if extrapolation to higher ages is "naturally" problematic, as Jansson now concedes (though he didn’t point that out in his previous blog, preferring to create the impression that he had refuted my weight assumptions throughout), then what was the point of his Leningrad birth weight exercise?
My conclusion was simply that the study refuted Muehlenkamp’s position in this case – which is entirely correct.
Actually it is not, for there are several reasons I mentioned in this blog why the birth weights mentioned in Antonov’s article cannot be considered representative of a) the starving population of Leningrad and b) another starving population (namely that of Polish ghettos).
But before that, I don’t remember having taken a "position" specifically as concerns weights at birth, which in turn means that – much like on a previous occasion discussed in the first update of this blog, though less flagrantly – Jansson attacked an argument I didn’t actually make.
The Leningrad study also forms part of a pattern: everywhere where there is data (see for instance the numerous BMI studies which I linked earlier), Muehlenkamp’s weight suppositions are dramatically contradicted, requiring him to construct ad hoc excuses. All Muehlenkamp has to offer in response is a retreat into the darkness where there is no data, where he can let his imagination run wild with speculations advantageous to his case. Every time that hard data is available, Muehlenkamp’s position is refuted, and he has no data whatsoever to support his position.
What Jansson (again hoping for impressionable suckers) calls a "retreat into the darkness where there is no data" is actually a conclusive demonstration that Jansson’s data don’t contradict my assumptions, let alone as "dramatically" as Jansson would have it. Jansson is reduced to lamely calling my demonstration "ad hoc excuses" because he has little if any arguments against it. The thing about my having "no data whatsoever" to support my position can safely be called a claim made against better knowledge (aka a lie), considering (among others) the data first provided here and again mentioned above. And if I (like Jansson and his fellow "Revisionists") were in the predicament of, say, not being able to provide a plausible an evidence-backed account of my version of events, the last thing I would do is whine that my opponent’s position is "refuted" when "hard data" are available. Where are the "hard data" supporting the "transit camp" theory, Mr. Jansson?
Regarding his lack of any data to support his position on weights, Muehlenkamp states:
As to Jansson’s closing remark that my assumptions on weights of Jewish children and adults in 1942 Poland “rest on no weight-data whatsoever”, my comment is that I consider […] Baron Otmar von Verschuer’s 1938 article, the aforementioned Jewish encyclopedia article, the “Gewichtstabelle nach BMI and evidence to the severe malnutrition/starvation of Polish ghetto Jews in 1942 – to form a pretty good database in support of my assumptions
Verschuer’s article and the Jewish encyclopedia article concern (19th century) height data, not weight data, so they are besides the point when considering my statement that Muehlenkamp’s claims about weight rest on no weight-data.
Insofar as height and weight are correlated, height data are actually highly pertinent.
As for the figures on the website “Gewichtstabelle nach BMI”, this is not data that can be used to give any population’s average BMI. It is a chart designed to diagnose problematic members of a population. This cannot be used to establish any population’s mean BMI.
It can at least be used for an educated guess, which is all I have to provide as long as Jansson – who, as the challenger of generally accepted historical facts and related evidence, bears the burden of proof for the "impossibility" claims that would substantiate his challenge – cannot at least demonstrate a significant margin of error.
Muehlenkamp cannot find even a single example in the scholarly literature on bodily weight in which the standard (or non-standard, as in Muehlenkamp’s “Gewichtstabelle nach BMI”) BMI ranges were used to derive an estimate for a population’s average BMI. No-one works that way, because that’s not what this kind of a table is for.
Highly irrelevant arguments, as long as Jansson cannot show a) how "one works" when determining a population’s average weight (I hope for him that he doesn’t take as model his coreligionist Mattogno, who suggested that adult Polish ghetto Jews in 1942 weighed 70 kg on average) and b) demonstrate that there is a significant difference between my assumptions and the results of how "one works".
In what respects is the "Gewichtstabelle nach BMI" supposed to be "non-standard", by the way? In that it obviously considers a BMI of 18.75 as the upper limit of "underweight", whereas the WHO sets that upper limit at BMI 18.5? If so, using this "non-standard" table works against my arguments, and this means that there’s no reasonable objection to my using it.
Muehlenkamp also argues that the weight loss after birth in Leningrad proves… something:
The weight at birth was not necessarily a predictor of continuing weight development even among the children born at term that didn’t die in the LSPI, a fact that Jansson also conveniently omits. In fact their weight dropped after birth, as shown in Table IV from Antonov’s article:
Not being a doctor, I don’t know what the implications of a child having “no established tendency toward further gain in weight” upon release were, but my guess is that such child was expected to either become severely underweight or die after release from the clinic.
Muehlankamp is indeed not a doctor, but more to the point he is also unable to perform a simple web search. In about 15 seconds he could have found out that weight loss after birth – in considerably larger quantities than observed in Leningrad – is completely normal and does not depend on starvation conditions. Thus, Muehlenkamp’s attempt to establish low weights among children on the grounds of post-birth weight loss fails completely. Honestly: what is the point of my continuing to respond to a guy so stupid that he posts a blog on a subject on which he couldn’t be bothered to type a few words into google and hit “Enter”?
Why, my big-mouthed interlocutor seems to have got so excited about this "point" that he didn’t manage to spell my name correctly.
I thank him for pointing out that – as he acknowledged himself earlier in his rant, though he didn’t mention it in the piece that the present blog refers to – weight at birth is not a predictor of further weight development not only under precarious food conditions, but also when such conditions are not present. Apparently without noticing it, Jansson has thus provided a further argument against the relevance of his Leningrad birth weight exercise.
As we’re at it, let’s see to what extent weight loss in the babies mentioned in Antonov’s article was normal.
Jansson’s sources provide the following information:
Neonatal (Newborn) Weight Loss:
Neonatal weight loss is another issue of concern to nurses and pediatricians. A weight loss of 5% in the first week of life is considered normal for the bottle fed infant. A loss of 7% is average in the first week for the breastfed infant, 10% is the absolute maximum (Lawrence and Lawrence 397-398). If the baby loses 7% in the first 72 hours, breastfeeding should be observed by a trained professional for proper technique and milk transfer."Monitoring your Newborns Weight Gain":
It is expected that all newborns will lose some weight in the first 5-7 days of life. A 5% weight loss is considered normal for a formula fed newborn. A 7%-10% loss is considered normal for the breastfed baby. Most babies should be back at birth weight by days 10-14 of life. If a baby loses a significant amount of weight, is sick or premature, it may take up to 3 weeks to get back to birth weight."Infant Weight Loss After Birth":
A newborn who is formula fed usually loses about 5 percent of his birth weight in the first few days of life, advises the American Pregnancy Association. For breastfed infants, this number is slightly higher. A breastfed newborn may lose 7 to 10 percent of her birth weight in the beginning days of life.
The American Pregnancy Association reports that most newborns will have gained enough weight to be back by their birth weight by 10 to 14 days old. It does vary, though, so don't panic if it takes your baby a bit longer. Newborns who are premature or sick at birth may take longer, even as long as three weeks.
According to Dr. Antonov’s article, the newborns born at term lost 9.7 per cent of the original weight on average, which is close to what one of Jansson’s sources considers the "absolute maximum" in breastfed babies.
Moreover this weight loss apparently occurred even though, as Antonov also mentions, many babies were fed on artificial mixtures prepared from milk substitutes even in the first days of their lives, because their mothers had very little milk. So the weight loss was way above what, according to the first two of Jansson’s sources, is considered normal "for the bottle fed infant" or "for a formula fed newborn".
Last but not least, as already pointed out, Antonov mentions that many of the babies were released "without any established tendency toward further gain in weight" after the weight loss observed in the first week (which, as mentioned before, was on average close to the maximum for breast-fed babies and way above what is considered normal in bottle-fed or formula-fed babies). Considering the circumstances described in Antonov’s article, this suggests that the author didn’t expect the return to initial birth weight mentioned in Jansson’s sources to occur – which in turn means that the children were expected to become severely underweight or die after release from the clinic, as I wrote before.
Jansson wouldn’t be Jansson if he had not failed to mention these aspects.
He would also not be who he is if he had not produced the flagrant falsehoods addressed hereafter.
In spite of the fact that I specifically referred to the “improved food supply, at least among the pregnant population” during the second half of 1942, Muehlenkamp claims that I have dishonestly omitted this information, and goes on at some length about my alleged deceptiveness. Evidently he is unable to extract information from a text unless it is patched in in a stringy block-quote. This may be the explanation for his inability to make a concise and coherent argument, and his penchant for long, disconnected, and ineffectual rants.
Here we see Jansson trying to obfuscate one claim made against better knowledge (aka lie) with at least one other such claim.
Notwithstanding his pseudo-concession that the fall of the prematurity rate among children born at the Leningrad State Pediatric Institute (LSPI) in the second half of 1942, if compared to the high prematurity rate in the first half that year, "may be partially the result of improved food supply, at least among the pregnant population", he previously argued that said fall of the prematurity rate "suggests that prematurity rates for a population under sustained food pressure are likely to return to somewhat normal levels" (emphasis added).
Jansson used this argument as the essential justification for his not considering premature births in establishing the average weight of newborns in the LSPI during the first half of 1942, thus obtaining weights more favorable to his case.
Now he invokes the aforementioned pseudo-concession to claim that he didn’t withhold information about said "improved food supply", as if his argument had not been that the fall in prematurity rates was not (or not mainly) due to said "improved food supply".
This alone would be a further example of Jansson’s dishonesty, but it gets even better.
Jansson claims that I accused him of having omitted information about "improved food supply, at least among the pregnant population" in the second half of 1942. As he very well knows, this was not the omission that I took him to task about.
The omitted information I pointed out was that the 79 women who gave birth at the LSPI, as expressly mentioned by Antonov in a paragraph fully quoted in this blog, seem to have belonged to privileged segments of the population that, in Antonov’s words, "did not suffer from the hunger that was the lot of the others". Though he later conceded that "some general improvement" in food supply was or may have been a factor in the increase of birth weights in the second half of 1942, Antonov considered the privileges enjoyed by the women who had given birth at the LSPI in the second half of 1942, or at least by a "large proportion" of them, to be the main reason for increased birth weights and at least the main reason why the women in question "did not suffer from amenorrhea and were able to become• pregnant", and why "the proportions of stillbirths and of premature births among them were not above the normal".
Needless to say, these observations of Antonov’s destroy Jansson’s above-quoted main "justification" for not considering premature births in establishing the average weight of newborns in the LSPI during the first half of 1942, as privileged women with access to sufficient food supplies are everything other than representative of a general population under starvation conditions.
And this was obviously the reason why Jansson made no mention whatsoever of these observations.
In other words, Jansson deliberately omitted information in his source that contradicted an essential argument of his.
Now, here’s how Jansson reacts to my exposure of his mendacity:
In short, this is not evidence to my dishonesty in the presentation of the source, but testament (again!) to Muehlenkamp’s poor reading comprehension. I can only repeat my frank advice:
Roberto, you’re an illiterate moron. However, you can avoid at least some of your errors, and the attendant humiliation which you have caused yourself, if you stop and take the time to re-read before rattling off an attempt at a reply.
Here we see Jansson behaving like a spiteful brat who has been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
The "frank advice" is discussed in this blog, which Jansson – for lack of better arguments, and presumably also due to the puerile "get even" urge that characterizes "Revisionist" fish-wives – made the subject of yet another (yawn) of his hysterical and obviously self-projecting "lies" accusations. The accusation will be addressed in an update of the blog it refers to.
See link 2. | <urn:uuid:0c4da426-ae13-4d7d-a278-f18dfca79589> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot.com/2015/05/jansson-on-1942-births-in-leningrad.html | 2018-08-16T06:09:50Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221210463.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20180816054453-20180816074453-00210.warc.gz | en | 0.969495 | 9,820 |
ArtScroll’s Response and My Comments
by Marc B. Shapiro
My recent post here was more popular than my typical post. I base this statement on the fact that I received more emails from readers than usual and the post was picked up by a variety of different websites. The part dealing with the censorship of Rashbam was translated into Hebrew here (with one of the commenters calling for a herem to be placed on ArtScroll)[ and see also here.
ArtScroll has now issued its response. The following has been sent out to those who wrote to ArtScroll about the censorship.
Let us make clear at the outset, ArtScroll has total and uncompromising respect for Chazal and the classic commentators. We do not censor them. Every one of their words is holy, and we have never deigned to tamper with their sacred texts.
For an understanding of the matter under discussion, it is important to present the background of the published versions of Rashbam’s commentary on the Torah.
· Rashbam’s commentary was first printed in 1705, based on the only existing manuscript of his virtually complete commentary on the Chumash. That manuscript began with Parashas Vayeira.
· Subsequent editions were based on that 1705 printing.
· In 1882, David Rosin published a new annotated edition of Rashbam’s commentary.
· The new edition also included a commentary on the Parshiyos Bereishis, Noach, and Lech-Lecha based on comments culled by Rosin from Rashbam’s other writings as well as selections from other works that cite Rashbam. Additionally, this 1882 edition included material taken from a newly-discovered manuscript containing one page of commentary ascribed to Rashbam, on only the first chapter of Bereishis ending in the middle of verse 1:31.
· This manuscript fragment includes an exegesis that appears several times – an exegesis that Ibn Ezra, in his famous Iggeres HaShabbos, vehemently condemns, stating, that it had been put forth by “minim” (heretics). Furthermore, a later exegesis in the same manuscript page (on verse 14) directly contradicts that earlier exegesis.
In our Czuker edition of Mikraos Gedolos, we wished to provide the Torah public with the fullest version of the Rashbam’s commentary, so rather than beginning with Parashas Vayeira, we incorporated additional material from the 1882 Rosin edition, from the beginning of Bereishis. However, given Ibn Ezra’s attribution of this exegesis to “minim,” coupled with a completely contradictory exegesis in verse 14, it is questionable whether Rashbam actually proposed the exegesis attributed to him. Because of these factors we added only those writings attributed to Rashbam whose authenticity have not been questioned. Far from “censorship,” we have added to the older, standard Mikraos Gedolos editions.
Nevertheless, for the sake of clarity, we should have indicated that the basis for our text of Rashbam was the standard Vilna edition of 1898, with emendations from the Rosin edition of 1882. Indeed, this is what we have indicated in our just-published Sefer Shemos volume, and which will be reflected in future reprints of Sefer Bereishis.
* * * *
In my response I will only deal with the matter at hand, that is, the censorship of Rashbam’s commentary, not with the larger matter of whether ArtScroll really has “total and uncompromising respect for . . . the classic commentators.” I have dealt with this latter point in previous posts and offered evidence that contradicts ArtScroll’s assertion.
Let me begin by saying that the one word that best describes ArtScroll’s statement is “chutzpah”. Here we have an explanation from Rashbam that has been discussed and dealt with by some of the greatest Torah scholars for well over a century, yet ArtScroll feels that it knows better than all of them and thus has the authority to simply delete passages from the commentary. If that isn’t chutzpah, I don’t know what is.
Rashbam’s brother, Rabbenu Tam, famously attacked those who deleted or emended passages in the Talmud based on their own understanding. Rabbenu Tam realized that if everyone had the freedom to do with the text as he wished, it wouldn’t be long before the Talmud was irrevocably damaged. As such, anyone who has a suggestion about a mistake in the text is free to add it in the form of a note or in a commentary, but he is not permitted to alter the text itself. The only honest thing would have been for ArtScroll to have included the “objectionable” passages and then explain why they feel that these texts are not authentic.
The fact that ArtScroll sees the passages that it deleted as heretical is irrelevant. Great people have regarded texts of the Rambam, of R. Kook, and of many others as heretical. Does that mean that we can start deleting these texts? There are aharonim and at least one rishon who believe that there are passages in the Talmud that were inserted by people intent on mocking the Sages (details will be in a future post). Does that mean that if ArtScroll shares this opinion it is entitled to delete these passages as well?
As I mentioned, the chutzpah is seen in the fact that ArtScroll feels that it knows better than such great figures as R. David Zvi Hoffmann and R. Yaakov Kamenetsky. Both of these men were not simply great talmudists but were also great biblical scholars, and they expound Rashbam’s view. It never occurred to them to delete the passages or to claim that they aren’t authentic. Cassuto was another great biblical scholar and he believed that Rashbam’s understanding of the verse is correct.
Every student of Torah is taught the virtue of humility. What this means is that if you don’t understand something you seek out people greater than yourself to hear their perspective. How come ArtScroll didn’t follow this route before taking the drastic step of deleting the comments of Rashbam?
Unfortunately, if ArtScroll’s mikraot gedolot becomes the standard, anyone who uses the commentaries of R. Hoffmann, R. Kamenetsky, Cassuto and so many others will be very confused. These commentaries will cite Rashbam and explain his words, but the reader who opens up his ArtScroll mikraot gedolot to see what Rashbam says “inside” won’t be able to find it. If he doesn’t read the Seforim Blog, he won’t know what is going on.
For over a hundred years people studied Rashbam’s commentary without any problem. Different interpretations were offered, all in order to make sense of Rashbam’s words. Around fifteen years ago a few people, none of whom have any scholarly or religious standing, started making noise that there is heresy in Rashbam’s commentary on Genesis chapter 1. This led a couple of haredi publishers to delete some or all of the “problematic” comments (different editions have different deletions).
ArtScroll has chosen to follow this regrettable path. When this nonsense first began with the haredim in Israel, the great R. Yehoshua Mondshine, whose recent passing is an enormous loss for all, published the following letter in Kovetz Beit Aharon ve-Yisrael.
The disdain he shows in this letter would be magnified if he were writing about ArtScroll, as one would expect ArtScroll to know better. It is unfortunate that ArtScroll did not heed his final words directed towards publishers inclined to censorship.
יש להתרות במו"לים שלא יהיו נחפזים "לצנזר" את פירוש הרשב"ם מכח סברות תמוהות וקלושות, ויחרדו לנפשם מאזהרות הקדמונים דלייטי ליד המגיה בספרים.
Following R. Mondshine’s letter, there appears a very lengthy letter by R. Menahem ben Shimon explaining that Rashbam’s comments at the beginning of Genesis should not be controversial at all. He concludes by comparing censorship of Rashbam to the burning of Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed, and adds
יש בזה עזות מצח, וביזוי דברי הקדמונים, והתייחסות לדבריהם כאילו חלילה מדובר בתקליטור עם משחקים חינוכיים "בהכשר הרבנים", וכיו"ב, וכבר הזהירונו חז"ל להיזהר בכבוד תלמידי חכמים שכל דבריהם כגחלי אש.
I have to acknowledge that some people are having a good chuckle right now at my expense. Call it naiveté, but I was convinced that the response of ArtScroll would be to admit the mistake, blame it on an error in “editing” or something like that, and correct matters in the next printing. That would have been a great outcome. I, more than many others, was shocked by ArtScroll’s response.
In its response ArtScroll states: “[G]iven Ibn Ezra’s attribution of this exegesis to “minim,” coupled with a completely contradictory exegesis in verse 14, it is questionable whether Rashbam actually proposed the exegesis attributed to him.”
The first thing to note is that in the preface to the Iggeret ha-Shabbat, where Ibn Ezra explains what led him to write the work, he does not attribute this exegesis to “minim”. ArtScroll would have you believe that Ibn Ezra stated that the passages they have deleted are heretical interpolations. Even if this was the case, it would only be Ibn Ezra’s opinion. This would not entitle ArtScroll to delete the passages, just like they don’t have the right to delete other passages that some commentator thought were not authentic. But in this case ArtScroll is simply wrong, and I hope that they are not intentionally misleading people. (I also hope that they informed the sponsor of the new mikraot gedolot that they intended to delete passages from Rashbam.)
As you can see, Ibn Ezra responds very sharply to the interpretation mentioned by Rashbam. Although Rashbam is not mentioned by name, the standard view in traditional and scholarly circles is that Ibn Ezra was indeed directing his words at Rashbam and not at others who shared this perspective. This would explain his use of the words ולא תשא פני איש which would only be used with reference to an outstanding scholar. David Kahana suggests that, as a sign of respect, Ibn Ezra does not mention Rashbam by name and he also does not curse the author of the explanation he is attacking. He only curses the one who reads it aloud and the scribe who writes it. If Ibn Ezra was directing his comment against some heretic, we would expect him to curse this person, so the fact that he does not do so is quite significant and indeed points to Rashbam as the “addressee” of Ibn Ezra’s Iggeret ha-Shabbat.
Ibn Ezra never denies the authenticity of the interpretation he is responding to; he just attacks it. His attack on Rashbam’s view is just like Nahmanides’ attack on Maimonides’ view that the angels who came to Abraham were really just part of a prophetic vision. Nahmanides does not deny that Maimonides said this, but he does say that it is forbidden to accept what Maimonides says. It is the exact same thing here. Ibn Ezra is not denying that Rashbam offered the interpretation. He is simply saying that it is forbidden to accept this approach. (I should also add, since we are discussing a dispute between Ibn Ezra and Rashbam, that by any traditional measure Rashbam must be regarded as a more significant and authoritative figure than Ibn Ezra.)
ArtScroll also states that since Rashbam’s commentary to Genesis 1:14 contradicts what he says in the passages deleted by ArtScroll, this gives weight to their assumption that the other passages were not written by Rashbam but were instead inserted by some heretic. To begin with, since there are five “problematic” comments and one “non-problematic” comment, perhaps it is the “non-problematic” comment to Genesis 1:14 that is to be regarded as inauthentic and should be removed. I say this only tongue and cheek, since ArtScroll should have realized two pretty basic things.
1. Rashbam often offers explanations, even in matters of halakhah, that are in line with the peshat of the text but diverge from the talmudic understanding. I understand that in some contemporary circles this would be regarded as heretical, since they assume that the meaning of the verse, especially in halakhic matters, can only be what the sages of the Talmud declare. Yet Rashbam had a different perspective, and he allowed for a peshat that diverges from what the Talmud states.
2. If you have contradictory explanations in the same chapter, the proper thing to do is to see if they can be reconciled before deciding that some of the comments are not authentic and can therefore be deleted. This was the approach of the great scholars of the last century who discussed Rashbam’s commentary. If ArtScroll had “uncompromising respect” for these figures, who devoted great time to understanding what Rashbam was saying, they would not have dared delete Rashbam’s comments, since by doing so they are in effect claiming that they know better than R. Hoffmann, R. Kamenetsky, and so many others.
Let me cite some other writers, including outstanding Torah scholars, who discussed Rashbam’s comments on when the day begins. In ArtScroll’s eyes this was all a big waste of time, since Rashbam never could have said what appears in his commentary. I guess we should all feel sorry for these Torah scholars that when they wrote they didn’t have ArtScroll around to set them straight. The more important question is why didn’t ArtScroll think that any of the explanations offered by these scholars were enough to save Rashbam’s comments from being deleted? (My own sense is that the individual who made the choice to censor Rashbam did not begin to understand the issue and was unaware of the sources referred to in this post.)
1. R. Menahem M. Kasher discusses Ibn Ezra’s attack on Rashbam and offers an explanation for Rashbam’s position, distinguishing between how the days were structured in the first six days of creation and what occurred afterwards. R. Kasher also cites R. Pinhas Horowitz, Ha-Makneh to Kiddushin 37b, that before the giving of the Torah night came after day, and this can also be an explanation for Rashbam’s approach. In support of his assumption, R. Horowitz cites a verse not mentioned by Rashbam, Genesis 8:22: ויום ולילה לא ישבתו. As you can see, in this verse night comes after day. (R. Horowitz repeats this explanation in his Panim Yafot to Genesis 8:22.) R. Moses Sofer cites this point from R. Horowitz and notes that even today it is only with regard to Jews that night precedes day, but for non-Jews the halakhah remains that day precedes night.
R. Ezekiel Landau agrees with R. Horowitz that before the giving of the Torah the day did not start at night. In support of this approach, R. Samuel Mirsky refers to Ugaritic literature which he regards as real evidence for Rashbam’s position.
R. Moshe Malka also takes note of R. Horowitz’s position. Based on it he claims that
נחה שקטה תמיהתו של הראב"ע על הרשב"ם, כי הוא דבר על מעשה בראשית לפני מת"ת
R. Catriel David Kaplin also refers to R. Horowitz’ perspective and explains that Rashbam agrees with it.
R. Kasher further cites R. Isaac Israeli (14th century) as agreeing with R. Horowitz. In his Yesod Olam R. Israeli writes
וכן נהגו כל ישראל ממתן תורה ועד עתה להתחיל קדושת השבת ושאר ימי מקראי קודש מתחילת הלילה . . . ועל העיקר הנכון הזה יסדו לנו קדמונינו וקבעו בחשבון מולדות הלבנה ותקופת החמה.
R. Kasher calls attention to the words ממתן תורה ועד עתה and concludes that R Israeli is telling us that before the giving of the Torah the day began in the morning.
Finally, R. Kasher points to two separate rabbinic texts, one talmudic and one midrashic, that he feels can support Rashbam’s approach.
2. Da’at Mikra to Genesis 1:5 (p. 10 n. 168) explains that Rashbam’s understanding of when the day begins only refers to the six days of creation.
3. A different approach in explaining Rashbam is taken by R. Moshe Schwerd in a recent article in Or Yisrael.
4. The Lubavitcher Rebbe refers to Rashbam’s explanation of when the day begins in order to illustrate how explanations in accord with peshat can contradict the accepted halakhah.
5. R. Chaim Leib Zaks calls attention to the fact that two medieval authorities explain Genesis 1:5: ויהי ערב ויהי בקר, just as Rashbam did, that is, that day comes before night. The first is the commentary attributed to Rashi, Ta’anit 11b, s.v. למחר. The second is the commentary attributed to Rashi, Nazir 7a s.v. התם.
6. R. Eliyahu Katz, who served as rav of Bratislava under the Communists and later as chief rabbi of Be’er Sheva, published a number of interesting books which appear to be completely unknown. In his Emor ve-Amarta he states that R. Judah ha-Nasi might also have held that according to the peshat night comes after day, and that Rashbam might have based his explanation on R. Judah’s opinion. He also points out that Rashi, Genesis 1:14 writes
שמוש החמה חצי יום ושמוש הלבנה חציו הרי יום שלם
This is a strange formulation since Rashi appears to be agreeing with Rashbam that the day – שמוש החמה – comes before the night – שמוש הלבנה.
7. R. Jacob of Vienna, in his commentary to Genesis 1:5, writes:
וא"ת אימא הלילה הולך אחר היום והכי קאמר ויהי ערב של יום הראשון ויהי בקר של יום שני אז נשלם יום שלם
In his note to this passage R. Zvi Rotberg understandably refers to Rashbam, as R. Jacob might indeed be alluding to him here. The editor of R. Jacob’s volume, R. Menasheh Grossberg, refers to R. Pinhas Horowitz’s view mentioned above.
8. R. Shlomo Fisher, without question one of the top Torah scholars in the world, elaborates on the implication of Rashbam’s view that it is only through Torah she-Ba’al Peh, not the peshat of the verses, that we know that day comes after night. A student of R. Fisher asked him about the censorship of Rashbam, and not surprisingly he expressed strong opposition to any such tampering with the writings of rishonim. He also told this student about a contemporary “scholar” who claims that Rashbam was influenced by evil people who caused him to go astray! Talk about chutzpah!
10. Michael Landy called my attention to the fact that Abarbanel cites the interpretation mentioned by Rashbam in the name of יש מהמפרשים.
All of these sources that I have quoted, and believe me when I tell you that there are many more, are simply designed to show that the view of Rashbam expressed in his commentary to the first chapter of Genesis is part and parcel of Torah history and literature. Many of our great minds have discussed Rashbam’s view in a variety of contexts. Yet ArtScroll, on its own, has decided that it knows best and chose to remove the words of Rashbam from the public eye. They have no right or authority to do this. Their action is a betrayal of Rashbam and of those who want to study the writings of Rashbam. It is also an incredible display of disrespect to those great Torah scholars who have devoted time to the matter and explained the comments of Rashbam that ArtScroll prefers to view as heretical.
After all we have seen, let us return to the issue of Ibn Ezra’s attack on Rashbam and ask why it was so harsh. After all, what is so terrible about explaining the peshat of the Torah even if it diverges from the accepted halakhah, an approach that is found in numerous commentators?
The significance of the example we have been discussing is that there were indeed sectarians who observed Shabbat from Saturday morning until Sunday morning. Rashbam’s interpretation was thus dangerous as it could have had real world implications by giving support to the anti-halakhic behavior just mentioned.
In his commentary to Exodus 16:25 Ibn Ezra refers to “many people, lacking in faith” who erred in this matter and did not start Shabbat on Friday night. He tells us that they based their mistaken approach on Genesis 1:5: ויהי ערב ויהי בקר. In other words, they interpreted the verse in the same way that Rashbam did. Towards the end of Iggeret Shabbat, p. 171, he also mentions these “minim” who do not observe Shabbat beginning Friday night. It is thus easy to see why Ibn Ezra reacted so strongly and set out to uproot Rashbam’s interpretation.
Who were these sectarians Ibn Ezra refers to? Presumably the Mishawites, a group that we know started Shabbat on Saturday morning. Benjamin of Tudela records meeting sectarians in Cyprus, again presumably Mishawites, who indeed observed the Shabbat in this fashion.
In the last paragraph of the ArtScroll letter it states that from now on they will note that their text of Rashbam is the standard Vilna edition of 1898 with “emendations from the Rosin edition of 1882”. This is clearly obfuscation as we are not dealing here with any “emendations” suggested by Rosin. To repeat what the issue is: Rosin printed from manuscript Rashbam’s commentary to Genesis chapter 1. This section of the commentary does not appear in the standard Vilna edition. ArtScroll chose to include Rashbam’s commentary to Genesis chapter 1 in its recently published mikraot gedolot. However, ArtScroll also chose to delete those sections of the commentary it didn’t like, assuming (without any evidence) that these sections were written by heretics. This is censorship of Rashbam. That is all people need to know.
ArtScroll has done some great things. They have also done some pretty disappointing things. But as I said in the prior post, nothing comes close to this. Deleting comments of one of the greatest rishonim is simply outrageous. Some have said that what ArtScroll did is unforgivable. I think this is going too far. If ArtScroll acknowledges its error and reinserts that which has been removed, I think that we all would be very happy to put this behind us. One of the most important aspects of a Torah personality is the ability to recognize when one has made a mistake and rectify it. If ArtScroll is able to do this, it would lead to great admiration.
On the other hand, if ArtScroll refuses to acknowledge that it has made a terrible error, even after seeing the evidence presented in this post, then one must conclude that ArtScroll is knowingly suppressing the words of a great rishon. One can only hope that ArtScroll does not wish to have this blemish permanently attached to its name.
ArtScroll and other publishers should pay close attention to the words of Rabbenu Tam, which I would have thought would be enough to scare off the censors. Sefer ha-Yashar, ed. Rosenthal (Berlin, 1898), p. 75:
ומגיהי חנם, בעיני דינם, למדורי גהינם
כי כאשר לא יודעים, העולם מטעים, וכאשר תוהים, הספרים מגיהים. ואתם הרעות מהם, כי הם כותבים ה"ג בהגהותיהם, ולכן ניכר מעבדיהם. ואתה לא כן, אך סותם הגהותיך וסומכים עליך וטועים . . . אין עצה ואין תבונה, רק להעמיד על האמת ולזרוק מרה במגיהי הספרים
Even if they are not scared of מדורי גהינם, one would have thought that they would have seen the wisdom of what Rabbenu Tam writes in the introduction to Sefer ha-Yashar, ed. Schlesinger (Jerusalem, 1985), p. 9:
והדין נותן אם לא ידע אדם הלכה יכתוב פתרונו לפי ראות עיניו אם ירצה אך בספרים אל ימחק שדברי תורה עניים במקומן ועשירים במקום אחר ואם דבר רק הוא ממנו הוא [רק]
Sefer Bereshit, trans. Asher Wasserteil (Bnei Brak, 1969), pp. 26-27. Hoffmann writes as follows:
כמו גם פרשנים חדשים רבים הוא [רשב"ם] סבר, שבימי מעשה בראשית נמנו הימים באופן שונה מדרך מנייתם לאחר מכן, בימי מתן תורה, כשם שגם תחילת השנה לפני מתן תורה שונה – לדעת ר' אליעזר – מזו שלאחריו.
Emet le-Yaakov (Cleveland Heights, 2007), p. 17.
Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, trans. Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem, 1998), p. 28.
לדעתו יש לחשוש שמא חלו ידי קראים בדברי הרשב"ם
What this means is that Ibn Ezra thought that perhaps Rashbam’s metaphorical interpretation of the commandment of tefillin in Ex. 13:9 is a Karaite interpolation. This is complete nonsense as Ibn Ezra says nothing of the sort. I think, therefore, that there is a typo and the first word should read לדעתי. It is still nonsense but at least now the sentence is understandable. Following this, Nachshoni adds another absurdity, stating that Rashbam’s interpretation of when the day starts is also a Karaite interpolation. (Prof. Daniel Lasker has confirmed to me that all Karaites began the Sabbath on Friday night.)
Now comes the real irony. ArtScroll published a posthumous translation of Nachshoni’s book in 1988. Apparently ArtScroll was embarrassed by what Nachshoni wrote so ArtScroll censored it! Here is the English version, Studies in the Weekly Parashah, vol. 2, pp. 414-415.
In 1988 ArtScroll censored the writings of Nachshoni because he said that Rashbam’s comments were heretical interpolations, but in 2014 ArtScroll accepted this very position and instead censored Rashbam! Can it get any crazier than this?
As an aside, let me also note that I find it strange that ArtScroll does not give Nachshoni the title “Rabbi” on the title page of its translation of his book, even though he is referred to as such in the preface.
It is possible that the haredi publishers who censored Rashbam did so purely for financial reasons. After putting a lot of money into their editions, a pashkevil directed against them, incited by some extremist, could be financially devastating. In the haredi world it is often enough to say that there is a “problem” with a book for people not to buy it. The masses won’t have a clue about the issue, but if there is a choice between two competing mikraot gedolots, they will feel safer buying the one which has not had any questions raised about it.
(Kislev-Tevet 5760), p. 150.
Ibid., pp. 151-155.
I don’t have the newly published ArtScroll mikraot gedolot on Exodus (and will refuse to buy it until Rashbam’s commentary is fixed). I was curious if Rashbam on Ex. 13:9 appears in full or if it too was censored. Here Rashbam states that the commandment of tefillin in this verse: והיה לך לאות על ידך ולזכרון בין עיניך, is to be understood metaphorically. Ibn Ezra, in his commentary on Ex.13:9, harshly criticizes the metaphorical interpretation. A friend sent me a copy of this page of Rashbam and the commentary appears in full. I did notice, however, that in the following verse in Rashbam, Ex. 13:10, it reads חוקת הפסח with a dagesh in the kuf. This is a mistake, and in the next printing the dagesh should be removed.
If ArtScroll is looking for something to censor in the newly released volume, Or ha-Hayyim to Ex. 31:16 probably fits the bill. In this controversial passage Or ha-Hayyim states that we don’t violate Shabbat to save the life of someone who will not live until the next Shabbat. This contradicts an explict talmudic passage, Yoma 85a, that one violates Shabbat even for hayyei sha’ah. See R. Ovadiah Yosef, Hazon Ovadiah: Shabbat, vol. 3, pp. 296ff. R. Judah Aryeh Leib Alter, Sefat Emet: Likutim (New York, 1957), p. 77a (Ki Tisa), already suggested that an “erring student” wrote these words in Or ha-Hayyim.
It appears in Kerem Hemed 4 (1839), pp. 160-161.
See Aharon Mondshine, “Li-She’elat ha-Yahas she-Bein Perusheihem shel R. Avraham Ibn Ezra ve-Rashbam la-Torah: Behinah Mehudeshet,” Teudah 16-17 (2010), p. 17.
Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra (Warsaw, 1894), vol. 1, part 2, p. 45 n. 4.
In the previous post I noted four examples of ArtScroll’s censorship with regard to Rashbam’s peshat understanding of when the day begins: Gen. 1:4, 5, 8, 31. I neglected to mention Rashbam’s commentary to Gen. 1:6 which is also censored by Artscroll. Regarding why Rashbam's commentary to the first three parashiyot of Genesis were missing from the manuscript, see Itamar Kislev in Tarbiz 73 (2004), p. 229 n. 12.
Torah Shelemah, vol. 10-11, pp. 276-279.
Hiddushei Hatam Sofer to Shabbat 87a. R. Akiva Eger points out that R. Horowitz’s position leads to a very interesting conclusion. Here is the summary in R. Yaakov Moshe Shurkin’s commentary to Teshuvot Rabbi Akiva Eger (Lakewood, 2003), vol. 2, p. 769 (Pesakim, no. 121):
וכתב רבינו דלפי חידושו של הפנים יפות הנ"ל, דדין עכו"ם ששבת חייב מיתה הוא ביום ולילה שלאחריו, יש להמליץ זכות על אלו שבאו להתגייר ומרגילים את עצמם לשמור את השבת גם קודם שנתגיירו כנ"ל, די"ל שאינם עוברים בזה באיסור דעכו"ם ששבת, דסגי להו אם יעשו מלאכה במוצאי שבת, וכדברי הפנים יפות הנ"ל. ואין צריך למחות בשפחות הנ"ל מלשבות בשבת.
Tziyun le-Nefesh Hayah to Pesahim 116b.
“Midot ha-Parshanut ha-Mikrait,” Sura 1 (1954), p. 396.
Be’er Moshe (Lod, 1994), p. 14. He also questions R. Horowitz’s position by citing Mishnah, Hullin 5:5:
מה יום אחד האמור במעשה בראשית היום הולך אחר הלילה
Rashbam could easily reply that the Mishnah is not speaking in terms of peshat. However, I am surprised that neither R. Horowitz nor R. Landau discuss this text which would appear to contradict their approach, as they assume that the Talmud agrees that before the giving of the Torah night came after day.
Keter Nehora (Jerusalem, 2004), p. 114.
(Berlin, 1848), vol. 1, p. 35 (2:17).
“Hagdarat Zemanei ha-Yom ve-ha-Laylah al pi Halakhah u-Mahashavah” Or Yisrael (Nisan 5770), pp. 226ff.
Sihot Kodesh (1967), part 2, sihah from 12 Tamuz 5727, p. 284.
“Be-Inyan ha-me-Et le-Et shel Ma’aseh Bereshit,” Ha-Maor (Oct. 1957), pp. 4ff.
This source was also noted by R. Abraham Elijah Kaplan. See Divrei Talmud (Jerusalem, 1958), vol. 1, p. 42 n. 97:
וזה מזכיר דברי רשב"ם שנלחם בם ראב"ע במחברתו אגרת השבת
Kaplin, Keter Nehora, p. 115, also refers to this commentary to Nazir.
(Be’er Sheva, 1994), vol. 1, pp. 26-27.
Peshatim u-Ferushim (Mainz, 1888), pp. 9-10
Le-Misbar Kera’e (Bnei Brak, 2005), p. 49.
Derashot Beit Yishai (n.p., 2004), p. 48 n. 11.
E-mail of this student to me.
Commentary to Genesis, p. 33 in the standard edition.
Regarding the Mishawites, see Zvi Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium (Jerusalem, 1968), pp. 372-416. Regarding whether the Dead Sea Sect started the Sabbath on Saturday morning, see Lawrence Schiffman, The Halakhah at Qumran (Leiden, 1975), pp. 84-85. See also Jacob Z. Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays (Cincinnati, 1951), pp. 446ff.
See The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, ed. Adler (London, 1907), pp. 17-18 (Hebrew), p. 15 (English).
There is no mention of the Mossad ha-Rav Kook editions, perhaps because of copyright concerns. But there is no doubt that in preparing its text of the mikraot gedolot, an important source for ArtScroll for the commentaries of Ibn Ezra, Ramban, Hizkuni, R. Bahya ben Asher, and Sforno were the Mossad ha-Rav Kook editions (and perhaps also Bar Ilan’s Mikraot Gedolot ha-Keter).
For instance, look at the description of Hizkuni. The page from ArtScroll states that its text is based on the first printing and the manuscript thought to be from the author. This is exactly what one finds in Chavel’s edition of Hizkuni published by Mossad ha-Rav Kook. Does anyone really think that ArtScroll compared, line by line, the first printed edition to the manuscript? This work was already done by Chavel. All ArtScroll had to do was use the text provided by Mossad ha-Rav Kook. So how come ArtScroll can’t tell us this, and instead puts on this charade?
ArtScroll does not mention consulting manuscripts with any of the other texts included in its mikraot gedolot, only with the ones already published by Mossad ha-Rav Kook. ArtScroll also says that its edition of Hizkuni is based on the first printing, Cremona 1559. Yet the first printing was in Venice 1524. ArtScroll simply repeated Chavel’s mistake. See Chavel’s introduction to his edition, p. 11.
The title Hizkuni (which I don’t italicize since it is now used as a personal name) comes from the author’s introductory poem to the work. Here is the relevant page from the Chavel edition and on line 7 you can see the word vocalized.
Louis Jacobs, Jewish Biblical Exegesis (New York, 1973), p. 69, claims that the word should be vocalized as Hazekuni, which is the piel plural imperative (“strengthen me”; dagesh in zayin, sheva under zayin). R. Chaim Mordechai Brecher made the same point. See G. Kressel, ed., Ha-Ahim Shulsinger (Jerusalem, 1986), p. 119. I don’t see why this is preferable as Hizkuni is also correct, as the kal plural imperative, and the kal imperative is actually much more common in the Bible than the piel imperative. Furthermore, Hizkuni rhymes better with yizkeruni, the parallel word in the poem. Finally, look at the sentence in its entirety
ויקרא שמו בישראל חזקוני, למען קוראיו בשמו יזכרוני
This means that one who pronounces the title of the book, Hizkuni, will be reminded of the name of the author, Hizkiyah. This mnemonic only works if the title of the book has a hirik under the het, like in the author’s name. See A. Ben Ezra in Kressel, ed. Ha-Ahim Shulsinger, p. 119.
Look at the third line from the bottom on p. 8 where ArtScroll has
ומבואר [נ"א: ומכוער]
Anyone who understands Hebrew can see that ומבואר is incorrect (and this error also appears in the Venice 1524 edition). When ArtScroll prepared its mikraot gedolot it had Chavel’s edition in front of it. Chavel’s edition is based on what appears to be the manuscript of the author. In this manuscript (which ArtScroll claims to have consulted) one finds the reading ומכוער. So how come this is not the word that appears in the text published by ArtScroll? This is the original reading, not a נוסח אחר. (At best, ArtScroll could have put ומבואר in brackets, but why would this even be necessary in a non-critical edition?) If ArtScroll thinks that it is important to cite the Cremona reading, then how come immediately following this it doesn’t have כי מי ימצא בו דבר חכמה מפואר. As you can see, this is what appears in the Cremona text, and again, one who knows Hebrew will realize that it doesn’t make much sense.
In the manuscript, which is the basis of Chavel’s version, the text reads אשר ימצא בו דבר חכמה מפואר. This is what appears in ArtScroll, with no indication that there is an alternative text. So why did ArtScroll feel the need to add [נ"א: ומכוער] in the previous part of the sentence? Is this just a way of showing the reader that ArtScroll is “scientific” and has examined the different versions?
If you compare ArtScroll’s version of the introductory poem to that which appears in Chavel’s edition, which is based on the manuscript, you will find that other than the example just mentioned, ArtScroll relies entirely on the mistaken text from the Cremona edition instead of using the correct version from the manuscript. Just skimming through the commentary I found other examples where ArtScroll ignores the manuscript reading in favor of the Cremona edition. I don’t know why ArtScroll did this, but it again shows that ArtScroll’s new edition of mikraot gedolot was not properly edited.
I also found what I think is a punctuation mistake in ArtScroll's edition of the poem. See the page from Chavel printed above, the second column, second to last line: ובעיני א-להים יישר. Chavel punctuates יישר as a pual imperfect. ArtScroll punctuates it as a kal imperfect. Because of the rhyming, I think Chavel is correct.
I also found what I think is a punctuation mistake in ArtScroll's edition of the poem. See the page from Chavel printed above, the second column, second to last line: ובעיני א-להים יישר. Chavel punctuates יישר as a pual imperfect. ArtScroll punctuates it as a kal imperfect. Because of the rhyming, I think Chavel is correct.
The issue of how ArtScroll uses works of prior scholarship requires a more detailed study than I can provide here. I would, however, like to point to one problematic aspect. Let us look briefly at ArtScroll’s Five Megillos, the earliest ArtScroll publication. ArtScroll is very proud of the fact that it only uses traditional rabbinic sources. On the first page of the commentary to each of the five megillot, we are informed that all material in square brackets is a comment from the author, which we are to assume is an original insight.
Here is ArtScroll’s commentary to Ruth 4:10.
Now read what appears in the Soncino commentary to Ruth 4:10.
ArtScroll’s entire comment is lifted from Soncino. Quite apart from the plagiarism, I find it troubling that ArtScroll feels that Soncino is good enough to be used, just not good enough to be mentioned by name. (When ArtScroll changed some of Soncino’s wording, a mistake crept in. Soncino has “sacred duty of building a home.” ArtScroll intended to change this to “sacred task of building a home,” but instead of “task” it reads “text”.)
After David Farkas called this example to my attention, it did not take me long to find other examples, of which I offer two. Here is Soncino’s commentary to Ruth 4:1.
Now look at ArtScroll on this same verse.
It is obvious that Soncino is the basis for what is found in ArtScroll. (Note the words “fairly large edifice” in both Soncino and ArtScroll.)
Here is Soncino’s commentary to Esther 2:20.
Now look at ArtScroll on this same verse
Again, it is obvious that Soncino is the basis for what is found in ArtScroll. (Note the words “filial piety” in both Soncino and ArtScroll.) | <urn:uuid:84a49c16-35f0-4af4-9647-70825576cd61> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://seforim.blogspot.com/2015/01/artscrolls-response-and-my-comments.html | 2018-08-21T13:42:40Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221218189.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20180821132121-20180821152121-00690.warc.gz | en | 0.915048 | 11,207 |
Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. Rand's fourth and final novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing. Atlas Shrugged includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction.
|Published||October 10, 1957|
|Pages||1168 (first edition)|
The book depicts a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against looters who want to exploit their productivity, including Dagny's brother and Hank's wife. As Dagny and Hank fight the looters' efforts to control their business operations and confiscate their production, they realize a mysterious figure called John Galt is convincing other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear. While investigating a strange electric motor found in a ruined factory, Dagny finds a secret, sheltered valley where Galt and the missing businessmen have been hiding. Galt is leading a "strike" of productive individuals against the looters. The strike escalates when Galt announces his views in a radio address, leading to a collapse of the government. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt's philosophy of reason and individualism.
The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence". The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism. In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw to be the failures of governmental coercion.
Atlas Shrugged received largely negative reviews after its 1957 publication, but achieved enduring popularity and consistent sales in the following decades.
Context and writingEdit
Rand's stated goal for writing the novel was "to show how desperately the world needs prime movers and how viciously it treats them" and to portray "what happens to the world without them". The core idea for the book came to her after a 1943 telephone conversation with a friend, who asserted that Rand owed it to her readers to write fiction about her philosophy. Rand replied, "What if I went on strike? What if all the creative minds of the world went on strike?" Rand then began Atlas Shrugged to depict the morality of rational self-interest, by exploring the consequences of a strike by intellectuals refusing to supply their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas to the rest of the world.
To produce Atlas Shrugged, Rand conducted research on the American railroad industry. Her previous work on a proposed (but never realized) screenplay based on the development of the atomic bomb, including her interviews of J. Robert Oppenheimer, was used in the portrait of the character Robert Stadler and the novel's depiction of the development of "Project X". To do further background research, Rand toured and inspected a number of industrial facilities, such as the Kaiser Steel plant, rode the locomotives of the New York Central Railroad, and even learned to operate the locomotive of the Twentieth Century Limited (and proudly reported that when operating it, "nobody touched a lever except me").
Rand's self-identified literary influences include Victor Hugo, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Edmond Rostand, and O. Henry. In addition, Justin Raimondo has observed similarities between Atlas Shrugged and the 1922 novel The Driver, written by Garet Garrett, which concerns an idealized industrialist named Henry Galt, who is a transcontinental railway owner trying to improve the world and fighting against government and socialism. In contrast, Chris Matthew Sciabarra found Raimondo's "claims that Rand plagiarized ... The Driver" to be "unsupported", and Stephan Kinsella doubts that Rand was in any way influenced by Garrett. Writer Bruce Ramsey said both novels "have to do with running railroads during an economic depression, and both suggest pro-capitalist ways in which the country might get out of the depression. But in plot, character, tone, and theme they are very different."
Due to the success of Rand's 1943 novel The Fountainhead, she had no trouble attracting a publisher for Atlas Shrugged. This was a contrast to her previous novels, which she had struggled to place. Even before she began writing it, she had been approached by publishers interested in her next novel. However, her contract for The Fountainhead gave the first option to its publisher, Bobbs-Merrill Company. After reviewing a partial manuscript, they asked her to discuss a number of cuts and other changes. She refused, and Bobbs-Merrill rejected the book.
Hiram Hayden, an editor she liked who had left Bobbs-Merrill, asked her to consider his new employer, Random House. In an early discussion about the difficulties of publishing a controversial novel, Random House president Bennett Cerf proposed that Rand should submit the manuscript to multiple publishers simultaneously and ask how they would respond to its ideas, so she could evaluate who might best promote her work. Rand was impressed by the bold suggestion and by her overall conversations with them. After speaking with a few other publishers, of about a dozen who were interested, Rand decided multiple submissions were not needed; she offered the manuscript to Random House. Upon reading the portion Rand submitted, Cerf declared it a "great book" and offered Rand a contract. It was the first time Rand had worked with a publisher whose executives seemed truly enthusiastic about one of her books.
Random House published the novel on October 10, 1957. The initial print run was 100,000 copies. The first paperback edition was published by New American Library in July 1959, with an initial run of 150,000. A 35th-anniversary edition was published by E. P. Dutton in 1992, with an introduction by Rand's legal heir, Leonard Peikoff. The novel has been translated into more than 25 languages.[note 1]
Title and chaptersEdit
The working title throughout its writing was The Strike, but thinking this title would have revealed the mystery element of the novel prematurely, Rand was pleased when her husband suggested Atlas Shrugged, previously the title of a single chapter, for the book. The title is a reference to Atlas, a Titan of Greek mythology, described in the novel as "the giant who holds the world on his shoulders". The significance of this reference appears in a conversation between the characters Francisco d'Anconia and Hank Rearden, in which d'Anconia asks Rearden what advice he would give Atlas upon seeing "the greater [the titan's] effort, the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders". With Rearden unable to answer, d'Anconia gives his own response: "To shrug".
The novel is divided into three parts consisting of ten chapters each. Robert James Bidinotto said, "the titles of the parts and chapters suggest multiple layers of meaning. The three parts, for example, are named in honor of Aristotle's laws of logic ... Part One is titled 'Non-Contradiction' ... Part Two, titled 'Either-Or' ... [and] Part Three is titled 'A Is A', a reference to 'the Law of Identity'."
Atlas Shrugged is set in a dystopian United States at an unspecified time, in which the country has a "National Legislature" instead of Congress and a "Head of State" instead of a President. The government has increasingly extended its control over businesses with increasingly stringent regulations. The United States also appears to be approaching an economic collapse, with widespread shortages, constant business failures, and severely decreased productivity. Writer Edward Younkins said, "The story may be simultaneously described as anachronistic and timeless. The pattern of industrial organization appears to be that of the late 1800s—the mood seems to be close to that of the depression-era 1930s. Both the social customs and the level of technology remind one of the 1950s". Many early 20th-century technologies are available, and the steel and railroad industries are especially significant; jet planes are described as a relatively new technology, and television is significantly less influential than radio. Although other countries are mentioned in passing, the Soviet Union, World War II, or the Cold War are not. The countries of the world are implied to be organized along vaguely Marxist lines, with references to "People's States" in Europe and South America. Characters also refer to nationalization of businesses in these "People's States", as well as in America. The economy of the book's present is contrasted with the capitalism of 19th century America, recalled as a lost Golden Age.
As the novel opens, protagonist Dagny Taggart, the Operating Vice President of Taggart Transcontinental, a railroad company established by her grandfather, attempts to keep the company alive against collectivism and statism amid a sustained economic depression. While economic conditions worsen and government agencies enforce their control on successful businesses, the citizens are often heard repeating the cryptic phrase "Who is John Galt?", in response to questions to which the individual has no answer. It sarcastically means: "Don't ask important questions, because we don't have answers"; or more broadly, "What's the point?" or "Why bother?". Her brother, James Taggart, the railroad's president, is peripherally aware of the company's troubles, but seems to make irrational decisions, such as preferring to buy steel from Orren Boyle's Associated Steel, rather than Hank Rearden's Rearden Steel, despite the former continually delaying delivery of vital rail while the latter delivers on schedule. In this as in other decisions, Dagny simply continues her own policy amid others. She is nevertheless disappointed to discover that the Argentine billionaire Francisco d'Anconia, her childhood friend and first love, appears to be destroying his family's international copper company without cause by constructing the San Sebastián copper mines, despite the fact that Mexico is under a Communist government that is planning to nationalize the mines. She soon realizes that d'Anconia is actually taking advantage of the investors by building worthless mines. Despite the risk, Jim and his allies at Associated Steel invest a large amount of capital into building a railway in the region while ignoring the more crucial Rio Norte Line in Colorado, which has been threatened by the rival Phoenix-Durango Railroad after the former began transporting supplies for Ellis Wyatt, who has revitalized the region after discovering large oil reserves. Dagny minimizes losses on the San Sebastian Line by pulling obsolete trains on the line, which Jim is forced to take credit for after the line is nationalized as Dagny predicted. Meanwhile, in response to the success of Phoenix-Durango, the National Alliance of Railroads, a group containing the railroad companies of the United States, passes the "anti-dog-eat-dog" rule prohibiting competition in economically-prosperous areas while forcing other railroads to extend rail service to "blighted" areas of the country, with seniority going to more established railroads. The ruling effectively ruins Phoenix-Durango, upsetting Dagny. Wyatt subsequently arrives in Dagny's office and presents her with a 9-month ultimatum: if she does not supply adequate rail service to his wells by the time the ruling takes place and rail service would be temporarily suspended, he will not use her service, effectively ensuring financial failure for Taggart Transcontinental.
In Philadelphia, Hank Rearden, a self-made steel magnate, has developed an alloy called Rearden Metal, which is simultaneously lighter and stronger than conventional steel. Rearden keeps its composition secret, sparking jealousy among competitors. Dagny opts to use Rearden Metal in the Rio Norte Line, becoming the first major customer to purchase the product. As a result, pressure is put on Dagny to use conventional steel, but she refuses. Hank's career is hindered by his feelings of obligation to his wife, mother, and younger brother. After Hank refuses to sell the metal to the State Science Institute, a government research foundation run by Dr. Robert Stadler, the Institute publishes a report condemning the metal without actually identifying problems with it. As a result, many significant organizations boycott the line. Although Stadler agrees with Dagny's complaints over the unscientific tone of the report, he refuses to override it. Dagny also becomes acquainted with Wesley Mouch, a Washington lobbyist initially working for Rearden, whom he betrays, and later notices the nation's most capable business leaders abruptly disappearing, leaving their industries to failure. The most recent of these is Ellis Wyatt, the sole founder and supervisor of Wyatt Oil, who leaves his most successful oil well spewing petroleum and fire into the air (later named "Wyatt's Torch"). Each of these men remains absent despite a thorough search by politicians.
Having demonstrated the reliability of Rearden Metal in a railroad line named after John Galt, Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart become lovers, and later discover, among the ruins of an abandoned factory, an incomplete motor that transforms atmospheric static electricity into kinetic energy, of which they seek the inventor. Eventually, this search reveals the reason of business leaders' disappearances: Dagny pursues a scientist to Galt's Gulch, where John Galt is leading an organized strike of business leaders against a society that demands that they be sacrificed.
Reluctant to abandon her railroad, Dagny leaves Galt's Gulch. But Galt follows her to New York City, where he hacks into a national radio broadcast to deliver a long speech (70 pages in the first edition) to explain the novel's theme and Rand's Objectivism. As the government collapses, the authorities capture Galt, but he is rescued by his partisans, while New York City loses its electricity. The novel closes as Galt announces that they will later reorganize the world.
The story of Atlas Shrugged dramatically expresses Rand's ethical egoism, her advocacy of "rational selfishness", whereby all of the principal virtues and vices are applications of the role of reason as man's basic tool of survival (or a failure to apply it): rationality, honesty, justice, independence, integrity, productiveness, and pride. Rand's characters often personify her view of the archetypes of various schools of philosophy for living and working in the world. Robert James Bidinotto wrote, "Rand rejected the literary convention that depth and plausibility demand characters who are naturalistic replicas of the kinds of people we meet in everyday life, uttering everyday dialogue and pursuing everyday values. But she also rejected the notion that characters should be symbolic rather than realistic." and Rand herself stated, "My characters are never symbols, they are merely men in sharper focus than the audience can see with unaided sight. ... My characters are persons in whom certain human attributes are focused more sharply and consistently than in average human beings".
In addition to the plot's more obvious statements about the significance of industrialists to society, and the sharp contrast to Marxism and the labor theory of value, this explicit conflict is used by Rand to draw wider philosophical conclusions, both implicit in the plot and via the characters' own statements. Atlas Shrugged caricatures fascism, socialism, communism, and any state intervention in society, as allowing unproductive people to "leech" the hard-earned wealth of the productive, and Rand contends that the outcome of any individual's life is purely a function of its ability, and that any individual could overcome adverse circumstances, given ability and intelligence.
Sanction of the victimEdit
The concept "sanction of the victim" is defined by Leonard Peikoff as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil, to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the 'sin' of creating values". Accordingly, throughout Atlas Shrugged, numerous characters are frustrated by this sanction, as when Hank Rearden appears duty-bound to support his family, despite their hostility toward him; later, the principle is stated by Dan Conway: "I suppose somebody's got to be sacrificed. If it turned out to be me, I have no right to complain". John Galt further explains the principle: "Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us", and, "I saw that evil was impotent ... and the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it".
Government and businessEdit
Rand's view of the ideal government is expressed by John Galt: "The political system we will build is contained in a single moral premise: no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force", whereas "no rights can exist without the right to translate one's rights into reality—to think, to work and to keep the results—which means: the right of property". Galt himself lives a life of laissez-faire capitalism.
At the end of the book, when the protagonists get ready to return and claim the ravaged world, Judge Narragansett drafts a new Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of production and trade". He is also "marking and crossing out the contradictions" in the Constitution's existing text.
In the world of Atlas Shrugged, society stagnates when independent productive agencies are socially demonized for their accomplishments. This is in agreement with an excerpt from a 1964 interview with Playboy magazine, in which Rand states: "What we have today is not a capitalist society, but a mixed economy—that is, a mixture of freedom and controls, which, by the presently dominant trend, is moving toward dictatorship. The action in Atlas Shrugged takes place at a time when society has reached the stage of dictatorship. When and if this happens, that will be the time to go on strike, but not until then".
Rand also depicts public choice theory, such that the language of altruism is used to pass legislation nominally in the public interest (e.g., the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule", and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill"), but more to the short-term benefit of special interests and government agencies.
Property rights and individualismEdit
Rand's heroes continually oppose "parasites", "looters", and "moochers" who demand the benefits of the heroes' labor. Edward Younkins describes Atlas Shrugged as "an apocalyptic vision of the last stages of conflict between two classes of humanity—the looters and the non-looters. The looters are proponents of high taxation, big labor, government ownership, government spending, government planning, regulation, and redistribution".
"Looters" are Rand's depiction of bureaucrats and government officials, who confiscate others' earnings by the implicit threat of force ("at the point of a gun"). Some officials execute government policy, such as those who confiscate one state's seed grain to feed the starving citizens of another; others exploit those policies, such as the railroad regulator who illegally sells the railroad's supplies for his own profit. Both use force to take property from the people who produced or earned it.
"Moochers" are Rand's depiction of those unable to produce value themselves, who demand others' earnings on behalf of the needy, but resent the talented upon whom they depend, and appeal to "moral right" while enabling the "lawful" seizure by governments.
The character Francisco d'Anconia indicates the role of "looters" and "moochers" in relation to money: "So you think that money is the root of all evil? ... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. ... Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or the looters who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce."
The novel includes elements of mystery, romance, and science fiction. Rand referred to Atlas Shrugged as a mystery novel, "not about the murder of man's body, but about the murder—and rebirth—of man's spirit". Nonetheless, when asked by film producer Albert S. Ruddy if a screenplay could focus on the love story, Rand agreed and reportedly said, "That's all it ever was".
Technological progress and intellectual breakthroughs in scientific theory appear in Atlas Shrugged, leading some observers to classify it in the genre of science fiction. Writer Jeff Riggenbach notes: "Galt's motor is one of the three inventions that propel the action of Atlas Shrugged", the other two being Rearden Metal and the government's sonic weapon, Project X. Other fictional technologies are "refractor rays" (to disguise Galt's Gulch), a sophisticated electrical torture device (the Ferris Persuader), voice-activated door locks (at the Gulch's power station), palm-activated door locks (in Galt's New York laboratory), Galt's means of quietly turning the entire contents of his laboratory into a fine powder when a lock is breached, and a means of taking over all radio stations worldwide. Riggenbach adds, "Rand's overall message with regard to science seems clear: the role of science in human life and human society is to provide the knowledge on the basis of which technological advancement and the related improvements in the quality of human life can be realized. But science can fulfill this role only in a society in which human beings are left free to conduct their business as they see fit." Science fiction historian John J. Pierce describes it as a "romantic suspense novel" that is "at least a borderline case" of science fiction.
The chapter entitled "The Utopia of Greed", depicting Dagny Taggart's experiences in Galt's Gulch, follows precisely the format of Utopian Literature, as ultimately derived from Sir Thomas More's 1516 book Utopia. As in other works falling within this genre, a visitor (in this case, Dagny) arrives at an Utopian Society and is shown around by denizens, who explain in detail how their social institutions work and what is the world view behind these institutions.
Atlas Shrugged debuted on The New York Times Bestseller List at #13 three days after its publication. It peaked at #3 on December 8, 1957, and was on the list for 22 consecutive weeks. By 1984, its sales had exceeded five million copies.
Sales of Atlas Shrugged increased following the 2007 financial crisis. The Economist reported that the 52-year-old novel ranked #33 among Amazon.com's top-selling books on January 13, 2009, and that its 30-day sales average showed the novel selling three times faster than during the same period of the previous year. With an attached sales chart, The Economist reported that sales "spikes" of the book seemed to coincide with the release of economic data. Subsequently, on April 2, 2009, Atlas Shrugged ranked #1 in the "Fiction and Literature" category at Amazon and #15 in overall sales. Total sales of the novel in 2009 exceeded 500,000 copies. The book sold 445,000 copies in 2011, the second-strongest sales year in the novel's history.
Atlas Shrugged was generally disliked by critics. Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein later wrote that "reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs"; one called it "execrable claptrap", while another said it showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity". In the Saturday Review, Helen Beal Woodward said that the novel was written with "dazzling virtuosity" but was "shot through with hatred". This was echoed by Granville Hicks in The New York Times Book Review, who said the book was "written out of hate". The reviewer for Time magazine asked: "Is it a novel? Is it a nightmare? Is it Superman – in the comic strip or the Nietzschean version?" In the National Review, Whittaker Chambers called Atlas Shrugged "sophomoric" and "remarkably silly", and said it "can be called a novel only by devaluing the term". Chambers argued against the novel's implicit endorsement of atheism and said the implicit message of the novel is akin to "Hitler's National Socialism and Stalin's brand of Communism": "To a gas chamber—go!".
The negative reviews produced responses from some of Rand's admirers. Alan Greenspan wrote a letter to The New York Times Book Review, in which he responded to Hicks' claim that "the book was written out of hate" by calling it "a celebration of life and happiness. Justice is unrelenting. Creative individuals and undeviating purpose and rationality achieve joy and fulfillment. Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should." In a letter to the National Review (which they did not publish), Leonard Peikoff wrote, "... Mr. Chambers is an ex-Communist. He has attacked Atlas Shrugged in the best tradition of the Communists—by lies, smears, and cowardly misrepresentations."
There were some positive reviews. Richard McLaughlin, reviewing the novel for The American Mercury, described it as a "long overdue" polemic against the welfare state with an "exciting, suspenseful plot", although unnecessarily long. He drew a comparison with the antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, saying that a "skillful polemicist" did not need a refined literary style to have a political impact. Journalist and book reviewer John Chamberlain, writing in the New York Herald Tribune, found Atlas Shrugged satisfying on many levels: as science fiction, as a "philosophical detective story", and as a "profound political parable". In a tribute written on the 20th anniversary of the novel's publication, John Hospers, a leading philosopher of aesthetics, praised it as "a supreme achievement, guaranteed of immortality".
Influence and legacyEdit
Atlas Shrugged has attracted an energetic and committed fan base. Each year, the Ayn Rand Institute donates 400,000 copies of works by Rand, including Atlas Shrugged, to high school students. According to a 1991 survey done for the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club, Atlas Shrugged was mentioned among the books that made the most difference in the lives of 17 out of 5,000 Book-of-the-Month club members surveyed, which placed the novel between the Bible and M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled. Modern Library's 1998 nonscientific online poll of the 100 best novels of the 20th century found Atlas rated #1, although it was not included on the list chosen by the Modern Library board of authors and scholars.
Rand's impact on contemporary libertarian thought has been considerable. The title of one libertarian magazine, Reason: Free Minds, Free Markets, is taken directly from John Galt, the hero of Atlas Shrugged, who argues that "a free mind and a free market are corollaries". In 1983, the Libertarian Futurist Society gave the novel one of its first "Hall of Fame" awards. In 1997, the libertarian Cato Institute held a joint conference with The Atlas Society, an Objectivist organization, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged. At this event, Howard Dickman of Reader's Digest stated that the novel had "turned millions of readers on to the ideas of liberty" and said that the book had the important message of the readers' "profound right to be happy".
Former Rand business partner and lover Nathaniel Branden has expressed differing views of Atlas Shrugged. He was initially quite favorable to it, and even after he and Rand ended their relationship, he still referred to it in an interview as "the greatest novel that has ever been written", although he found "a few things one can quarrel with in the book". However, in 1984 he argued that Atlas Shrugged "encourages emotional repression and self-disowning" and that Rand's works contained contradictory messages. He criticized the potential psychological impact of the novel, stating that John Galt's recommendation to respond to wrongdoing with "contempt and moral condemnation" clashes with the view of psychologists who say this only causes the wrongdoing to repeat itself.
The Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises admired the unapologetic elitism he saw in Rand's work. In a letter to Rand written a few months after the novel's publication, he said it offered "a cogent analysis of the evils that plague our society, a substantiated rejection of the ideology of our self-styled 'intellectuals' and a pitiless unmasking of the insincerity of the policies adopted by governments and political parties ... You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the efforts of men who are better than you."
In the years immediately following the novel's publication, many American conservatives, such as William F. Buckley, Jr., strongly disapproved of Rand and her Objectivist message. In addition to the strongly critical review by Whittaker Chambers, Buckley solicited a number of critical pieces: Russell Kirk called Objectivism an "inverted religion", Frank Meyer accused Rand of "calculated cruelties" and her message, an "arid subhuman image of man", and Garry Wills regarded Rand a "fanatic". In the late 2000s, however, conservative commentators suggested the book as a warning against a socialistic reaction to the finance crisis. Conservative commentators Neal Boortz, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh offered praise of the book on their respective radio and television programs. In 2006, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Clarence Thomas cited Atlas Shrugged as among his favorite novels. Republican Congressman John Campbell said, for example, "People are starting to feel like we're living through the scenario that happened in [the novel] ... We're living in Atlas Shrugged", echoing Stephen Moore in an article published in The Wall Street Journal on January 9, 2009, titled "Atlas Shrugged From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years".
In 2005, Republican Congressman Paul Ryan said that Rand was "the reason I got into public service", and he later required his staff members to read Atlas Shrugged. In April 2012, he disavowed such beliefs however, calling them "an urban legend", and rejected Rand's philosophy. Ryan was subsequently mocked by Nobel Prize-winning economist and commentator Paul Krugman for reportedly getting ideas about monetary policy from the novel. In another commentary, Krugman quoted a quip by writer John Rogers: "There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
References to Atlas Shrugged have appeared in a variety of other popular entertainments. In the first season of the drama series Mad Men, Bert Cooper urges Don Draper to read the book, and Don's sales pitch tactic to a client indicates he has been influenced by the strike plot: "If you don't appreciate my hard work, then I will take it away and we'll see how you do." Less positive mentions of the novel occur in the animated comedy Futurama, where it appears among the library of books flushed down to the sewers to be read only by grotesque mutants, and in South Park, where a newly literate character gives up on reading after experiencing Atlas Shrugged. BioShock, a critically acclaimed 2007 video game, is widely considered to be a response to Atlas Shrugged. The story depicts a collapsed Objectivist society, and significant characters in the game owe their naming to Rand's work, which game creator Ken Levine said he found "really fascinating".
In 2013, it was announced that Galt's Gulch, Chile, a settlement for libertarian devotees named for John Galt's safe haven, would be established near Santiago, Chile, but the project collapsed amid accusations of fraud and lawsuits filed by investors.
Film and television adaptationsEdit
A film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged was in "development hell" for nearly 40 years. In 1972, Albert S. Ruddy approached Rand to produce a cinematic adaptation. Rand insisted on having final script approval, which Ruddy refused to give her, thus preventing a deal. In 1978, Henry and Michael Jaffe negotiated a deal for an eight-hour Atlas Shrugged television miniseries on NBC. Michael Jaffe hired screenwriter Stirling Silliphant to adapt the novel and he obtained approval from Rand on the final script. However, when Fred Silverman became president of NBC in 1979, the project was scrapped.
Rand, a former Hollywood screenwriter herself, began writing her own screenplay, but died in 1982 with only one-third of it finished. She left her estate, including the film rights to Atlas, to her student Leonard Peikoff, who sold an option to Michael Jaffe and Ed Snider. Peikoff would not approve the script they wrote, and the deal fell through. In 1992, investor John Aglialoro bought an option to produce the film, paying Peikoff over $1 million for full creative control.
In 1999, under Aglialoro's sponsorship, Ruddy negotiated a deal with Turner Network Television (TNT) for a four-hour miniseries, but the project was killed after the AOL Time Warner merger. After the TNT deal fell through, Howard and Karen Baldwin obtained the rights while running Philip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment. The Baldwins left Crusader and formed Baldwin Entertainment Group in 2004, taking the rights to Atlas Shrugged with them. Michael Burns of Lions Gate Entertainment approached the Baldwins to fund and distribute Atlas Shrugged. A draft screenplay was written by James V. Hart and rewritten by Randall Wallace, but was never produced.
Atlas Shrugged: Part IEdit
In May 2010, Brian Patrick O'Toole and Aglialoro wrote a screenplay, intent on filming in June 2010. Stephen Polk was set to direct. However, Polk was fired and principal photography began on June 13, 2010, under the direction of Paul Johansson and produced by Harmon Kaslow and Aglialoro. This resulted in Aglialoro's retention of his rights to the property, which were set to expire on June 15, 2010. Filming was completed on July 20, 2010, and the movie was released on April 15, 2011. Dagny Taggart was played by Taylor Schilling and Hank Rearden by Grant Bowler.
The film was met with a generally negative reception from professional critics, getting an 11% (rotten) rating on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and had less than $5 million in total box office receipts. The film earned an additional $5M in DVD and Blu-ray sales, for a total of about half of its $20M budget. The producer and screenwriter John Aglialoro blamed critics for the film's paltry box office take and said he might go on strike, but ultimately went on to make the next two installments.
Atlas Shrugged: Part IIEdit
On February 2, 2012, Kaslow and Aglialoro announced Atlas Shrugged: Part II was fully funded and that principal photography was tentatively scheduled to commence in early April 2012. The film was released on October 12, 2012, without a special screening for critics. It suffered one of the worst openings ever among films in wide release: it was 98th worst according to Box Office Mojo. Final box office take was $3.3 million, well under that of Part I despite the doubling of the budget to $20 million according to The Daily Caller. Those figures should be treated as tentative as the Internet Movie Database estimates Part 1 budget at $20 million and the Part II budget at $10 million, while Box Office Mojo says Part 1 cost $20 million and Part 2 data are "NA". Critics gave the film a 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews.
Atlas Shrugged: Part III: Who Is John Galt?Edit
The third part in the series, Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt?, was released on September 12, 2014. The movie opened on 242 screens and grossed $461,197 its opening weekend. It was panned by critics, holding a 0% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on ten reviews.
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Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary
by Saint Bonaventure
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MARIAN PSALTER
The evolution of the Rosary as a perfect "tool of prayer" is closely related to the 150 Psalms of the Old Testament, otherwise known as the Psalter of David. From the very beginnings of the Church, monks and hermits prayed David's Old Testament Psalms as part of their daily liturgical life. Saint Benedict records that the monks of the desert recited the 150 Davidian Psalms every day. In his Holy Rule, he arranged the Psalms for his monks so that all 150 would be recited in one week. This became the Divine Office , or "Breviary," that priests and religious recited every day until Vatican II revolutionized both the Breviary and the Mass. In the 7th Century AD, Irish monks separated the 150 Psalms of David into a three groups of fifty, allowing each “fifty” to serve both reflective and penitential prayer functions. In the Middle Ages, those especially devoted to Our Lady set to fashioning “Rosariums” in Her honor, composing Marian Psalms modeled after the 150 Old Testament Psalms of David. St. Anselm of Canterbury (1109) made such a Rosary. In the 13th Century, St. Bonaventure crafted the 150 Marian Psalms that form The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dividing them into three groups.-- the first commencing (in Latin) with the word Ave, the next with Salve, and the final fifty with the word Gaude. When prayed with an open heart of devotion, St Bonaventure's The Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary has tremendous power to deepen the prayer life and illumine the spirit of every Christian.
"Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her. She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee with a noble crown." (Prov. IV, 8-9.) Glory be to God on high, and thanksgiving, and the voice of praise, who at one time by the mysteries of prophecy, at another by oracles from Heaven, again by the reading of the Gospel, and now by the mouth of preachers, in many ways and by divers channels, most sincerely urges and invites us to honor the Virgin Mary, the Queen of Heaven and of the Angels; that by her holy merits, most worthy of all acceptance, we, being delivered from the depths of hell, may be inscribed by her in the ranks of the angels. Wherefore, although Solomon spoke the aforesaid words of Wisdom, nevertheless the Holy Spirit, by a mystical application, intends them to be understood of the most excellent Virgin Mary. By means of these words, dearly beloved, He is drawing you to His love, and by various promises is attracting and softening your hearts, that you may enjoy His divine embraces. His meaning is that you will obtain four wonderful gifts, if this glorious Virgin is joined to you by a spiritual bond, and is embraced by you in the arms of fervent desire, with great reverence and devotion. First, she will bring you exaltation; and she shall exalt thee; secondly, glorification; and thou shalt be glorified by her; thirdly, the abundance of graces; she shall give to thy head increase of graces; fourthly, the unfading crown of perpetual glory, and protect thee with a noble crown. Therefore I beseech thee, dearly beloved and most desired, do not repel so noble and so beautiful a virgin; do not make little of so admirable and revered a queen as the Virgin Mary: lest, if she should see herself despised by you, you will be, I will not say, deprived of such great favors, but, which God forbid, you will incur perpetual evils. Expand the bosom of your mind to serve her, prepare your heart to praise and glorify her, loose your tongue, and with swift service hasten to please her. For there is no doubt that from her nearness to you, you will become more devout, from contact with her you will grow more pure, from her embrace you will abound more in grace and be more resplendent in purity. That I may give you an occasion of obtaining such great gifts, I send you the Psalter of this most Holy Virgin, put together and composed indeed by my feeble intelligence, but with her grace and help; by means of it you will praise with divers hymns, now her virginity and chastity, now her fecundity and sanctity, now her clemency and bounty. You will be able to salute her as full of all grace, or as filled with all knowledge, or as illumined by all understanding and wisdom. There you will bless the Fruit of her glorious womb, the members of His holy body, and the prerogatives of His soul, bestowing all sanctity. There you will invoke the aid of all the choirs of angels to praise her, and of all the multitudes of holy men, the isles of the nations, the heavens, the beauty of all luminaries and of the whole world. There you will beseech her to destroy the power of your spiritual enemies, to obtain for you pardon of all your sins that she may render the great Judge propitious to you, that she may illumine your deathbed by her gracious presence, and obtain for you joy without end. Therefore, O dearly beloved souls, graciously receive this little gift which I offer you, and strive to draw fruit there from; by means of it frequently praise the Mother of God; and thus perchance she will turn to you her gracious countenance, receiving you to her love, refreshing your soul in the present, and placing upon your head a crown of precious stones in the world to come.
THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Blessed is the man, O Virgin Mary, who loves thy name; thy grace will comfort his soul. He will be refreshed as by fountains of water; thou wilt produce in him the fruit of justice. Blessed art thou among women; by the faith of thy holy heart. By the beauty of thy body thou surpassest all women; by the excellence of thy sanctity thou surpassest all angels and archangels Thy mercy and thy grace are preached everywhere; God has blessed the works of thy hands. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Why have our enemies raged and our adversaries devised vain things? May thy right hand protect us, O Mother of God: as a line of battle terrible in aspect, confounding and destroying them. Come ye to her, all who labor and are in trouble: and she will give refreshment to your souls. Draw nigh to her in your temptations: and the serenity of her countenance will bring you peace and confidence. Bless her with your whole heart: for the earth is full of her mercy. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, why are they multiplied who afflict me? By thy might thou shalt follow them and scatter them. Loose the bands of our impiety: take away the burden of our sins. Have mercy on me, O Lady, and heal my sickness: take away the grief and anguish of my heart. Deliver me not into the hands of my enemies: and in the day of my death strengthen thou my soul. Lead me into the harbor of salvation: and give up for me my spirit to my Maker and Creator. Glory be to the Father, etc.
When I called upon thee, thou didst hear me, O Lady: and from thy throne on high thou hast deigned to be mindful of me. From the roaring of the wild beasts prepared to devour me: and from the hands of them that sought me, thy grace will deliver me. For thy mercy is kind and thy heart loving: towards all who invoke thy holy name. Blessed art thou, O Lady, forever: and thy majesty for evermore. Glorify her, all ye nations in your strength: and all ye peoples of the earth, extol her magnificence. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Incline thine ear, O Lady, to hear my prayers: and turn not away from me the beauty of thy face. Turn our mourning into rejoicing: and our tribulation into joy. May our enemies fall down at our feet: by thy power may their heads be crushed. Let every tongue praise thee: and let all flesh bless thy holy name. For thy spirit is sweet above honey: and thy inheritance above the honey and the honeycomb. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Lady, let me not be corrected in the wrath of God: nor be judged by Him in His anger. For the honor of thy name, O Lady: may the Fruit of thy glorious womb be propitious to us. From the gate of hell and from the depths of the abyss: by thy holy prayers deliver us. May the eternal gates be opened unto us: that we may declare forever thy wondrous works. For it is not the dead, nor those in hell, who will praise thee, O Lady: but those who by thy grace will obtain eternal life. Glory be to the Father etc.
O my Lady, in thee have I hoped: from my enemies deliver me. Shut thou the mouth of the lion and his teeth: restrain the lips of those that persecute me. For thy name's sake delay not to accomplish thy mercy in us. May the brightness of thy countenance shine upon us: that the Most High may keep remembrance of us.
O Lady, Our Lord has become our brother and our Savior. Like the flame in the burning bush, and the dew in the fleece: the Word of God descends into thee forever. The Holy Spirit hath made thee fruitful: the power of the Most High hath overshadowed thee. Blessed be thy most pure conception: blessed be thy virginal bringing forth. Blessed be the purity of thy body: blessed be the sweetness of the mercy of thy heart. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I will praise thee, O Lady, with my whole heart: and I will declare among the nations thy praise and glory. For to thee is due glory, and thanksgiving, and the voice of praise. May sinners find grace with God by thee, the finder of grace and salvation. May the humble penitents hope for pardon: heal thou the bruises of their hearts. In the beauty of peace and wealth rest: thou shalt feed us after the toil of our pilgrimage. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I trust in our Lady; because of the sweetness of the mercy of her name. Her eyes look upon the poor: and her hands are stretched out to the orphan and the widow. Seek after her from your youth: she will glorify you before the face of the peoples. Her mercy will deliver us from the multitude of our sins: and will bestow on us fruitfulness of merits. Stretch out to us thy arm, O glorious Virgin: and do not turn away from us thy glorious face. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Save me, O Mother of fair love: fount of clemency and sweetness of piety. Thou alone makest the circuit of the earth: that thou mayst help those that call upon thee. Beautiful are thy ways: and thy paths are peaceful. In thee shine forth the beauty of chastity, the light of justice, and the splendor of truth. Thou art clothed with the sunrays as with a vesture: resplendent with a shining twelve-starred crown. Glory be to the Father, etc.
How long, O Lady, wilt thou forget me and not deliver me in the day of tribulation? How long will my enemy be exalted above me? By the might of thy strength do thou crush him. Open the eyes of thy mercy: lest our enemy prevail against us. We magnify thee, the finder of grace, by whom the ages of the world are restored. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Our foolish enemy hath said in his heart: I will follow after and take him, and my hand shall slay him. Arise, O Lady, and prevent him, and supplant him: destroy all his machinations. Thy beauty astonishes the sun and the moon; the angelic powers serve and obey thee. By thy gentle touch the sick are healed: by thy rose-sweet fragrance the dead revive. Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world cannot contain was enclosed within thee, being made Man. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, who shall dwell in the tabernacle of God ? or who shall rest with the leaders of the people? The poor in spirit, and the pure of heart, the meek, the peaceful, and the mourners. Be mindful, O Lady, that thou speak for us good things: and that thou mayest turn away the indignation of thy Son from us. O sinners, let us embrace the footprints of Mary, and cast ourselves at her blessed feet. Let us hold her fast, nor let her go: until we deserve to be blessed by her. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Preserve me, O Lady, for I have hoped in thee: do thou bestow on me the dew of thy grace. Thy virginal womb has begotten the Son of the Most High. Blessed be thy breasts, by which thou hast nourished the Savior with deific milk. Let us give praise to the glorious Virgin: whosoever ye be that have found grace and mercy through her. Give glory to her name: and praise forever her conception and her birth. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Hear, O Lady, my justice and my love: remove from me my tribulations. I will give praise to thee in the voice of rejoicing: when thou shalt magnify thy mercy in me. Imitate her, ye holy virgins of God: as Agnes, Barbara, Dorothy, and Catherine have done. Give honor to her by the voice of your lips: thus have Agatha, Lucy, Margaret, and Cecilia received her grace. She will give you as your Spouse the Son of the Father: and a crown incomparably radiant with the lilies of Paradise. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I will love thee, O Lady of heaven and earth: and I will call upon thy name in the nations. Give praise to her, ye who are troubled in heart: and she will strengthen you against your enemies. Give to us, O Lady, the grace of thy breasts: from the dropping milk of thy sweetness refresh the inmost souls of thy children. Honor her, O all ye religious: for she is your helper and your special advocate. Be thou our refreshment, glorious Mother of Christ: for thou art the admirable foundation of the religious life. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The heavens declare thy glory: and the fragrance of thine unguents is spread abroad among the nations. Sigh ye unto her, ye lost sinners: and she will lead you to the harbor of pardon. In hymns and canticles knock at her heart: and she will rain down upon you the grace of her sweetness. Glorify her, ye just, before the throne of God: for by the fruit of her womb you have worked justice. Praise ye her, ye heaven of heavens: and the whole earth will glorify her name. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Thou shalt hear us, O Lady, in the day of tribulation: and by our prayers turn to us thy merciful countenance. Cast us not off in the time of our death: but help the soul, when it shall have left the body. Send an angel to meet it: by whom it may be defended from the enemy. Show unto it the most serene Judge of ages: who for thy grace will bestow pardon. Let it feel thy refreshment in its torments: and grant to it a place among the elect of God. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, in thy strength our heart shall rejoice: and in the sweetness of thy name our soul shall be consoled. From thy throne send us wisdom: by which we shall be sweetly enlightened in all truth. Give us grace to abstain from carnal desires: that the light of thy grace may arise in our hearts. How sweet are thy words, O Lady, to them that love thee: how sweet is the shower of thy graces. I will sing unto thy glory and honor: and in thy name I will glory forever. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O God, my God: let Him look at thy merits in me, ever Virgin Mary. O my Lady, I have cried to thee by day and by night: and thou hast done mercy with thy servant. Because I have hoped in thy mercy: thou hast taken away from me everlasting reproach. Mine enemies have mocked me on every side: but thou under the shadow of thy hand hast bestowed good refreshment on me. Let all the families of the peoples adore thee: and let all the orders of the angels glorify thee. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The Lord rules me, O Virgin Mother of God: because thou hast turned on me thy gracious countenance. Blessed are thy most resplendent eyes: which thou deignest to turn on sinners. Blessed is the light and the splendor of thy countenance: blessed is the grace of thy face. Blessed be the mercy of thy hands: blessed be the stream of thy virginal milk. Let the prophets and apostles of God bless thee: let martyrs, confessors, and virgins sing praise to thee. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof: but thou, O most holy Mother, reignest with Him forever. Thou art clothed with glory and beauty: every precious stone is thy covering and thy clothing. The brightness of the sun is upon thy head: the beauty of the moon is beneath thy feet. Shining orbs adorn thy throne: the morning stars glorify thee forever. Be mindful of us, O Lady, in thy good pleasure: and make us worthy to glorify thy name. Glory be to the Father, etc.
To thee, O Lady, have I lifted up my soul: in the judgment of God, by the help of thy prayers, I shall not be ashamed. Let not my adversaries make game of me: for those who trust in thee are strengthened. Let not the snares of death prevail against me: and the camps of the malignant not hinder my steps. Crush their violence in thy might: and with mildness meet my soul. Be my guide unto my fatherland: and deign to join me to thy angelic hosts. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Judge me, O Lady, for I have departed from my innocence: but because I have hoped in thee I shall not become weak. Enkindle my heart with the fire of thy love: and with the girdle of chastity bind my reins. For thy mercy and thy clemency are before my eyes: and I was delighted in the voice of thy praise. O Lady, I have loved the beauty of thy face: and I have revered thy sacred majesty. Praise ye her name, for she is holy: let her wonders be declared forever. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, may thy light be the splendor of my countenance: and let the serenity of thy grace shine upon my mind. Raise up my head: and I will sing a psalm to thy name. Turn not away thy face from me: for from my youth up I have greatly desired thy beauty and thy grace. I have loved thee and sought after thee, O Queen of Heaven: withdraw not thy mercy and thy grace from thy servant. I will give praise to thee in the nations: and I will honor the throne of thy glory. Glory be to the Father, etc.
To thee, O Lady, will I cry, and thou shalt hear me: in the voice of thy praise thou wilt make me glad. Have mercy on me in the day of my trouble: and in the light of thy truth deliver me. Blessed be thou, O Lady: to the uttermost ends of the earth. The sanctuary which thy hands have established: is the holy temple of thy body. Thy conscience is pure and undefiled: a place of propitiation and the holy dwelling of God. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Bring to Our Lady, O ye sons of God: bring to Our Lady praise and reverence. Give strength to thy saints, O holy Mother: and thy blessing to those who praise and glorify thee. Hear the groans of those who sigh to thee: and despise not the prayers of those who invoke thy name. Let thy hand be ready to help me: and thy ear inclined to my prayer. Let the heavens and the earth bless thee: the sea and the world. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I will exalt thee, O Lady, for thou hast taken me up: thou wilt deliver me from the wicked enemy. Turn to me and quicken me, from the gates of death lead me back: and from the rivers of tribulation which have surrounded me. For the sake of thy empire and the magnificence of thy right hand: break and scatter all my enemies. And I will offer thee a sacrifice of praise: and I will most devoutly exalt thy glory. Rejoice, ye Heavens, and be glad, O Earth: because Mary will console her servants and will have mercy on her poor. Glory be to the Father, etc.
In thee, O Lady, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: receive me in thy grace. Thou art my strength and my refuge: my consolation and my protection. To thee, O Lady, have I cried, when my heart was in anguish: and thou hast heard me from the heights of the eternal hills. Thou shalt draw me out of the snares which they hid for me: for thou art my helper. Into thy hands, O Lady, I commend my spirit: my whole life and my last day. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed are they whose hearts love thee, O Virgin Mary: their sins will be mercifully washed away by thee. Holy, chaste, and flowering are thy breasts: which blossomed into the flower of eternal greenness. The beauty of thy grace will never see corruption: and the grace of thy countenance will never fade. Blessed art thou, O sublime Rod of Jesse: for thou hast raised thyself unto Him who sits in the highest. O Virgin Queen, thou thyself art the way by which salvation from on high hath visited us. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Rejoice, ye just, in the Virgin Mary: and in uprightness of heart praise ye her together. Draw near unto her with reverence and devotion: and let your heart be delighted in her salutation. Give unto her the sacrifice of praise: and be ye inebriated from the breasts of her sweetness. For she sheds upon you the rays of her loving kindness: and she will enlighten you with the splendors of her mercy. Her fruit is most sweet: it grows ever sweeter in the mouth and the heart of the wise. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I will bless Our Lady at all times: and her praise shall never fail in my mouth. Magnify her with me: all ye who are nourished with the milk and honey of her refreshment. In dangers and doubts invoke her: and in necessities you will find sweet help and refreshment. Take example from her conversation: and be zealous to imitate her charity and humility. Because thou wast most humble, O Lady: thou hast induced the Uncreated Word to take flesh from thee. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Judge, O Lady, them that harm me: arise against them and avenge my cause. My soul will rejoice in thee: and I will devoutly exult in thy benefits. The heavens and the earth are full of thy grace and sweetness: from every side thy kindness surrounds us. For wherever we may walk: the fruit of thy virginal womb meets us. Let us run, therefore, dearly beloved, and salute the noble Virgin overflowing with sweetness: that we may rest in the bosom of her sweetness. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The unjust man said that he would sin in secret: by thee let him depart from his impious purpose, O Mother of God. Incline towards us the countenance of God: impel Him to have mercy. O Lady, in heaven is thy mercy: and thy grace is spread abroad in the earth. Power and strength are in thy arm: vigor and fortitude in thy right hand. Blessed be thy empire over the heavens: blessed be thy magnificence upon the earth Glory be to the Father, etc.
Be not angry with the wicked, O Lady: sweeten their fury by thy grace. O ye religious and cloistered souls, hope in her: confide in her, ye priests and seculars. Take delight in her praises: and she will grant the petitions of your heart. Better is a little with her grace: than treasures of silver and precious stones. Glory be to thee forever, O Queen of Heaven: and never forget us at any time. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, let not the Lord rebuke me in His anger: obtain for us pardon for our sins. Let all our desire be in thy sight: our hope and our confidence. My heart is troubled within me: light departs from my interior, Enlighten with thy brightness my blindness: sweeten with thy sweetness my contrite heart. Forsake us not, O Lady, Mother of God: let thy grace and thy power be at my right hand. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I said: I will keep my ways, O Lady: when by thee the grace of Christ was given to me. By thy sweetness my soul was melted: my bowels are inflamed by thy love. Hear my prayer, O Lady, and my supplication: and let mine enemies pine away. Have mercy on me from Heaven and from the height of thy throne: and permit me not to be troubled in the valley of misery. Keep my foot, lest it should be injured: and may thy grace be with my end. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Expecting, I have expected thy grace: and thou hast done with me according to the multitude of the mercies of thy name. Thou hast heard my prayers: and thou hast led me out of the den of misery, and from the pit of the enemy. Manifold and wonderful are thy gifts, O Lady: incomparable are the gifts of thy graces. Let all those exult and rejoice in thee who love thee: let them who have hated thy name, fall into hell. Blessed be thou forever, O Lady: forever, world without end. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed Mary understandeth concerning the needy and the poor: who remains faithful in her praises. Lady of the angels, Queen of the world: purify my heart with the fire of love and of thy charity. Thou art the mother of the illumination of my heart: thou art the nurse who refreshes my mind. My mouth longs to praise thee: my mind devoutly aspires to venerate thee with ardent affection. My soul longs to pray to thee: because the whole of my being commends itself to thy guidance and teaching. Glory be to the Father, etc.
As the hart longs for the water-brooks, so doth my soul pine for thy love. For thou art the mother of my life: and the sublime repairer of my flesh. For thou art the feeder of the Savior of my soul: the beginning and the end of all my salvation. Hear me, O Lady, let my stains be cleansed: enlighten me, O Lady, that my darkness may be illuminated. Let my tepidity be enkindled by thy love: let my torpor be expelled by thy grace. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Judge me, O Lady, and discern my cause from the perverse nation: from the malignant serpent and the pestiferous dragon deliver me. Let thy holy fecundity scatter him: let thy blessed virginity bruise his head. Let thy holy prayers strengthen us against him: let thy merits put to naught his strength. Send the persecutor of my soul into the abyss: let the infernal pit swallow him alive. But I and my soul will bless thy name in the land of my captivity: and I will glorify thee forever and ever. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, we have heard with our ears: and our fathers have told it unto us. For thy merits are ineffable: and thy wonders exceedingly stupendous. O Lady, innumerable are thy virtues: and inestimable are thy mercies. Exult, O my soul, and rejoice in her: for many good things are prepared for those who praise her. Blessed be thou, O Queen of the Heavens and the angels: and let those who praise thy magnificence be blessed by God. Glory be to the Father, etc.
My heart hath uttered a good word, Lady: it is sweetened with honey-flowing dew. By thy sanctity let my sins be purged: by thy integrity may incorruption be bestowed upon me. By thy virginity may my soul be loved by Christ: and joined to him by the bond of love. By thy fecundity I, a captive, am redeemed: by thy virginal bringing forth I am delivered from eternal death. By thy most worthy Son I, a lost one, am restored: and from the exile of misery I am led back to the homeland of beatitude. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, thou art our refuge in all our needs: and a most powerful force bruising and crushing our enemy. The world is full of thy benefits: they surpass the heavens and penetrate the depths. By the fullness of thy grace those who were in the abyss rejoice to find themselves liberated. By the power of thy virginal fecundity, those who were above this world: rejoice to find themselves freed. By the glorious Son of thy most holy virginity: men are made companions and fellow-citizens of the angels. Glory be to the Father, etc.
All ye nations, clap your hands: sing in jubilee to the glorious Virgin. For she is the gate of life, the door of salvation, and the way of our reconciliation. The hope of the penitent: the comfort of those that weep: the blessed peace of hearts, and their salvation. Have mercy on me, O Lady, have mercy on me: for thou art the light and the hope of all who trust in thee. By thy salutary fecundity let it please thee: that pardon of my sins may be granted unto me. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Great art thou, O Lady, and exceedingly to be praised: in the city of the God of Heaven: in the entire Church of His elect. Thou hast ascended, hymned by the angelic choirs: buoyed by the archangels, crowned with lilies and roses. Meet her, ye Powers and Principalities: go to welcome her, ye Virtues and Dominations. Cherubim, and Thrones, and Seraphim, exalt her: and place her at the right hand of the Spouse, her most loving Son. Oh, with how joyful a soul, with how serene an aspect hast thou received her, O God of angels and men: and given her the principality over every place of thy domination. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Hear ye these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye who desire to enter the kingdom of God. Honor the Virgin Mary: and ye will find life and perpetual salvation. Keep thy poor servants, O Lady: join them with a happy union to Christ. By the fruit of thy womb, refresh and sustain the hunger of thy little ones. For after thy bringing forth thou hast remained incorrupt: and after thy Son, inviolate.
The God of gods hath spoken to Mary: by Gabriel, his messenger, saying: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: by thee the salvation of the world is repaired. The Son of the Most High hath greatly desired thy beauty and thy comeliness. Adorn thy bridal chamber, O Daughter of Sion: prepare to meet thy God. Thou shalt conceive by the Holy Ghost: who will make thy delivery virginal and joyful. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Have mercy on me, O Lady: for thou art called the Mother of Mercy. And according to thy mercy: cleanse me from all my iniquities. Pour forth thy grace upon me: and withdraw not from me thine accustomed clemency. For I will confess my sins to thee: and I will accuse myself of all my crimes before thee. Reconcile me to the Fruit of thy womb: and make peace for me with Him who has created me. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Why dost thou glory in malice: O malignant serpent and infernal dragon? Submit thy head to the Woman: by whose power thou art plunged into hell. Crush him, O Lady, with the foot of thy power: arise and scatter his malice. Extinguish his might: and reduce his strength to ashes, That living, we may exult in thy name: and with joyful soul we may give praise to thee. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The foolish enemy hath said in his soul: I will cast men out from the tabernacle of the sons of God. I will go forth, and I will be a Iying spirit in the mouth of the serpent: and by the woman I will cast out the man, her husband. O wretched one, as the heavens are exalted above the earth: so are the thoughts of God above thy thoughts. Be not lifted up because of the woman's fall: for it is a woman who shall crush thy head. Thou hast prepared a pit for her: and in her snare thou shalt be caught. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, save me in thy name: and deliver me from my injustices. That the craft of the enemy may not hurt me: hide me under the shadow of thy wings. O my Lady, help me! bestow thy grace upon my soul! Willingly I will offer thee a sacrifice of praise: and I will give praise to thy name, for it is good. For thou shalt deliver me from all tribulation: and my eye shall despise mine enemies. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Hear my prayer, O Lady: and do not despise my supplications. I am become sad in my thoughts: because the judgments of God have terrified me. The darkness of death has overtaken me: and the fear of hell has invaded me. But in solitude I will expect thy consolation: and in my chamber I will wait for thy mercy. Glorify thy arm and thy right hand: that our enemies may be prostrated by us. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Have mercy on me, O Lady, for my enemies have trodden upon me every day: all their thoughts are turned to evil against me. Stir up fury, and be mindful of war: and pour out thy anger upon them. Renew wonders and change marvelous things: let us feel the help of thine arm. Glorify thy name upon us: that we may know that thy mercy is forever. Distill upon us the drops of thy sweetness: for thou art the cupbearer of the sweetness of grace. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Have mercy on me, O Lady, have mercy on me: for my heart is prepared to seek out thy will. And I will rest in the shelter of thine arms: for sweet to me is thy refreshment. Thy hands have distilled the first myrrh: and thy fingers the unguents of graces. And a fragment of pomegranate is thy throat: and thy breath is sweet as an amalgam of choice smelling herbs. For thou art the mother of fair love and the anchor of hope: the harbor of safety, indulgence or pardon, and the gate of salvation. Glory be to the Father, etc.
If indeed you will truly speak justice: honor the Queen of justice and mercy. For this belongs to the praise and the glory of the Savior: whatever of honor is bestowed upon the Mother. The roses of martyrs surround thee, O Queen: and the lilies of virgins encompass thy throne. Praise ye her, all together, ye morning stars: the seas and the rivers and the foundations of the world. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Deliver me from mine enemies, O Lady of the world: arise to meet me, O Queen of piety. The purest gold is thy ornament: the sardine stone and the topaz are thy diadem. The jasper and the amethyst are in thy right hand: the beryl and the chrysolite in thy left. The hyacinths are on thy breast: shining carbuncles are the jewels of thy bracelets. Myrrh, frankincense, and balsam are on thy hands: the sapphire and the emerald on thy fingers. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O God, thou hast cast us off because of our sins: thou hast had mercy on us by the Virgin Mary. Intercede for us, O saving Mother of God: who hast brought forth salvation for men and angels. For thou infusest joy into the sad: and joy and sweetness into the mourners. Rejoice us by the sweet sounds of thy speech: and pour thy balm of roses forth into our hearts. Thunder, ye heavens, from above, and give praise to her: glorify her, ye earth, with all the dwellers therein. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Hear my prayer, O Lady: upon a firm rock establish my mind. Be thou to me a tower of strength: protect me from the face of the cruel destroyer. Be thou to him terrible as an army in battle array: and may he fall living into the depths of hell. For thou art shining and terrible: a cloud full of dew, and the rising dawn. Thou art beautiful and bright as the full moon: thy sacred aspect is as when the sun shines in its strength. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, shall not my soul be subject to thee: who hast brought forth the Savior of all? Be mindful of us, O savior of the lost: hear thou the weeping of our hearts. Pour forth graces from thy treasury: and with thine unguents soothe our grief. Give us joy and peace: that thou mayest confound the enemies of the good. Wash away all our sins: heal all our infirmities. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O God, my God: I will glorify thee by Thy Mother. For she hath conceived thee in virginity: and without travail she hath brought Thee forth. Blessed be thou, O Lady: stand for us before the throne of God. Beauty and brightness are in thy sight. Keep my soul, O Lady: that it may never fall into sin. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Hear my prayer, O Lady, when I beseech thee: from the fear of the cruel one deliver my soul. Obtain for us peace and salvation: in the last day. Blessed be thou above all women: and blessed be the fruit of thy womb. Enlighten, O Lady, mine eyes: and illumine my blindness. Give me firm confidence in thee: in my life and in mine end. Glory be to the Father, etc.
A hymn becometh thee, O Lady, in Sion: praise and jubilation in Jerusalem. The Lord hath given thee the blessing of all nations: praise and glory in the sight of all peoples. The Lord hath blessed thee in His mercy: and hath set thy throne above all the orders of angels. He hath placed grace and beauty in thy lips: and with a mantle of glory he hath clothed thy body. He hath set a resplendent crown upon thy head: and hath adorned thee with the jewels of virtues. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Shout with joy to Our Lady, all the earth: sing ye a psalm to her name: give honor to her majesty. Blessed be thy heart, O Lady: with which thou hast ardently and sincerely loved the Son of God. Look upon my poverty, O glorious Virgin: delay not to remove my misery and my difficulties. Take away my tribulations: sweeten my weariness. Let all flesh bless thee: let every tongue glorify thee. Glory be to the Father, etc.
May God have mercy on us and bless us: by her who brought Him forth. Have mercy on us, O Lady, and pray for us: turn our sadness into joy. Enlighten me, O Star of the sea: shed thy brightness upon me, O resplendent Virgin. Extinguish the burning of my heart: refresh me with thy grace. Let thy grace ever protect me: let thy presence give light to my end. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Let Mary arise, and let her enemies be scattered: let them all be crushed beneath her feet. Break thou the attack of our enemies: destroy all their iniquity. To thee, O Lady, have I cried in my tribulation: and thou hast given serenity to my conscience. Let not thy praise fail in our mouths: nor thy love in our hearts. There is much peace to them that love thee, O Lady: their souls shall not see death forever. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Save me, O Lady: for the waters of concupiscence have entered into my very soul. I am stuck fast in the mire of sin: and the waters of pleasure have encompassed me. Weeping, I have wept in the night: and the day of joy has arisen for me. Save my soul, O Mother of the Savior: for by thee true salvation was given to the world. While thou wast overshadowed when the Angel spoke to thee: and becamest pregnant with the Wisdom of the Father. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, come to my assistance: and by the light of thy mercy enlighten me. Teach us to seek thy goodness: that we may declare thy wonders. Show forth thy power against our enemies: that thou mayest be praised among the distant nations. In the flames of thy wrath let them be plunged into hell: and may they who trouble thy servants find perdition. Have mercy on thy servants, upon whom thy name is invoked! and do not permit them to be straitened in their temptations. Glory be to the Father, etc.
In thee, O Lady, have I hoped: let me never be confounded: in thy mercy deliver me and free me. Because of the multitude of my iniquities: I am vehemently oppressed. Mine enemies have acted above my head: they have mocked me and derided me day by day. See, O Lady, how I am troubled: stretch forth thy hands, and succor him who perishes. Delay not, for the sake of the grace of thy name: and thou shalt become unto me joy and salvation. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Give to the King thy judgment, O God: and thy mercy to the Queen, His Mother. In thy hand are life and salvation: perpetual joy and glorious eternity. Sprinkle my heart with thy sweetness: make me forget the miseries of this life. Draw me after thee by the bands of thy mercy: and with the bandages of thy grace and loving kindness heal my pain. Stir up in me a desire for Heaven: and inebriate my soul with the joy of Paradise. Glory be to the Father, etc.
How good is God to Israel: to those who pay homage to His Mother and venerate her. For she is our comfort: she is the most excellent of help in labor. The enemy hath overspread my soul with darkness: O Lady, make light arise within me. Let the wrath of God be turned away from me by thee: placate him by thy merits and thy prayers. Stand for me in the day of judgment: in His presence take up my cause, and be my advocate. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, why hast thou cast us off? and why wilt thou not help us in the day of tribulation? Let my prayer come into thy sight: and despise not the voices of those who groan. The enemy hath stretched his bow against us: he has strengthened his right hand, and there is no consoler. Break for us the bonds of his malicious doings: and deliver us by thy right hand. Drive him back into the place of perdition: let eternal damnation possess him. Glory be to the Father, etc.
We will praise thee, O Lady: and we will praise thy name: make us to delight in thy praises. Sing ye to her, ye dwellers upon earth: and announce her praise to the peoples. Praise and magnificence are before her: fortitude and exultation are in her throne. Adore ye her in her beauty: glorify the Maker of her beauty. Be mindful in eternity of her mercy: keep in mind her virtues and her wonders. Glory be to the Father, etc.
In Judea God is known: in Israel the honor of His Mother. Sweet is the memory of her above honey and the honeycomb: and her love is above all aromatic perfumes. Health and life are in her house: and in her dwelling are peace and eternal glory. Honor her, ye heavens and earth: because the supreme artificer has wonderfully honored her. Give to her praise, all ye creatures: and joyfully celebrate her astonishing mercy. Glory be to the Father, etc.
With my voice I cried to the Lady: and by her grace she bowed down to me. She hath taken sorrow and grief from my heart: and she hath soothed my heart by her sweetness. She hath turned my fear into a sweet confidence: and by her honey-flowing aspect she hath calmed my mind. By her holy help I have avoided the dangers of death: and I have escaped the cruel hand. Thanks be to God and to thee, O loving Mother, for all things which I have obtained: for thy piety and thy mercy. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Attend, O people of God, to His commandments: and forget not the Queen of grace. Open your heart to search her out: and your lips to glorify her. Let her love come down into your hearts: long to please her. Her beauty outshines the sun and the moon: she is adorned with the ornaments of virtues. Have mercy on me, O Queen of glory and honor: and keep my soul from all danger. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, the heathen have come into the inheritance of God: which thou hast established in Christ by thy merits. Let thy speech be sweet before Him: and unite me to Him who hath redeemed me. Stretch forth thine arm against the cruel enemy: and unfold to me his craft. Thy voice is sweet above every melody: the angelic harmony cannot be compared with it. Drop down on me the sweetness of thy graces: and the fragrance of thy heavenly gifts. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Give ear to me, thou who rulest Israel: praise thy Mother with me. Arise and shake thyself from the dust, O my soul: go forth to meet the Queen of Heaven. Loose the bands of thy neck, O poor little soul of mine: and welcome her with glorious praises. The odor of life comes forth from her: and all salvation springs out of her heart. By the sweet fragrance of her spiritual gifts: dead souls are raised to life. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Rejoice to the Lady, our helper: sing aloud in the joy of your heart. Let your affections be enkindled in her: and she will overwhelm your enemies with confusion. Let us imitate her humility: her obedience and her meekness. All graces shine forth in her: for her capacity was immense. Run ye to her with holy devotion: and she will share her good things with you. Glory be to the Father, etc.
God is in the congregation of Jews: from whom, as a rose, has come forth the Mother of God. Wipe away my stains, O Lady: thou who art ever resplendent in purity. Make the fountain of life flow into my mouth: whence the living waters take their rise and flow forth. All ye who thirst, come to her: she will willingly give you to drink from her fountain. He who drinketh from her, will spring forth unto life everlasting: and he will never thirst. Glory be to the Father etc.
O my Lady, who shall be like unto thee? In grace and glory thou surpassest all. As the heavens are above the earth: so art thou high above all, and exceedingly exalted. Wound my heart with thy charity: make me worthy of thy grace and thy gifts. May my heart melt in thy fear: and may the desire of thee enkindle my soul. Make me desire thy honor and thy glory: that I may be received by thee into the peace of Jesus Christ. Glory be to the Father, etc.
How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lady of hosts: how delightful are the tents of thy redemption. Honor her, O ye sinners: and she will obtain grace and salvation for you. Her prayer is incense above frank-incense and balsam: her supplications will not return to her bare, void, or empty. Intercede for me, O Lady, with thy Christ: neither do thou forsake me in death or in life. For thy spirit is kind: thy grace fills the whole world. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, thou hast blessed thy house: thou hast consecrated thy dwelling. This one is fair among the daughters of Jerusalem: whose memory is in blessing. The holy angels have proclaimed her blessed: glorify her, ye Virtues and Dominations. Ye peoples and nations, seek out her prudence: and search out the treasures of her mercy. Think of her in goodness: and seek her in simplicity of heart. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Incline thine ear, O Lady, and hear me: turn thy face to me, and have mercy on me. May the inflowing of thy sweetness delight the souls of the saints: and the infusion of thy charity be sweet above the sweetest honey. The resplendence of thy glory enlightens the mind: and the light of thy mercies leads to salvation. The fountain of thy goodness inebriates the thirsty: and the aspect of thy countenance draws men away from sin. To know thee and to learn thee is the root of immortality: and to declare thy virtues is the way of salvation. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The foundations of life in the soul of the just: are to persevere in charity unto the end. Thy grace raises up the poor man in adversity: and the invocation of thy name inspires him with confidence. Paradise is filled with thy tender mercies: and by the fear of thee the infernal enemy is confounded. He who hopes in thee, will find treasures of peace: and he who invokes thee not in this life, will not attain to the kingdom of God. Grant, O Lady, that we may live in the grace of the Holy Ghost: and lead our souls to a holy end. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Lady, thou art the helper of my salvation: by day and by night I have cried to thee. Let my prayer enter into thy sight: console my sadness with the sight of thee. Evils are multiplied in my soul: cleanse it from filth and sin. May thy power overcome our enemies: lest they hinder our salvation. Bestow on us thy grace to resist them: strengthen our hearts against the concupiscence of the flesh. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Thy mercies, O Lady, I will sing forever. With the ointment of thy tender mercy heal the broken in heart: and with the oil of thy mercy console our griefs. May thy gracious countenance appear to me in my end: may the beauty of thy face rejoice my spirit in its going forth. Stir up my spirit to love thy goodness: excite my mind to extol thy nobility and worth. Deliver me from evil and tribulation: and from all sin keep thou my soul. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, thou art made unto us refreshment: in all our needs. The diffusion of thy grace produces thy holy operations in us: and the gentle dropping of thy sweetness maketh holy affections. I will be mindful, O Lady, of thy tender mercies: I will sing unto thee a sacrifice of praise and a song of joy. They who honor thee will obtain a perennial crown for ashes: and the mantle of praise for the spirit of mourning. They who hope in thee will be clothed with light: joy and perpetual rejoicing will be their lot. Glory be to the Father.
He that dwelleth in the help of the Mother of God: will abide under her protection. The concourse of enemies will not harm him: the flying arrow will not touch him. For she will deliver him from the snare of the hunter: and under her wings she will protect him. Cry out to her in your dangers: and the scourge will not come nigh your dwelling. He who has placed his hope in her, will find the fruit of grace: the gate of paradise will be opened to him. Glory be to the Father, etc.
It is good to give praise to the Virgin Mary: and to sing glory to her is the prosperity of the mind. To declare her merits rejoices the mind: and to imitate her works makes glad the angels of God. He who obtains her favor: is recognized by the dwellers in Paradise. And he who shall bear the character of her name, shall be written in the book of life. Arise, O Lady, and judge our cause: and deliver us from those who rise up against us. Withdraw not thy right hand from the sinner: and meet with thy sword the darts of the destroyer. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The Lord hath reigned, He is clothed with beauty: He hath crowned His Mother with the ornaments of virtues. May the Mother of peace fulfill in us his propitiation: and may she teach her servants the way of equity. Ye who desire the wisdom of Christ: serve His Mother with a reverent soul. Who will suffice to relate thy works, O Lady? and who shall search out the treasures of thy mercy? Do thou uphold those who are fainting away in their temptations: and appoint them a lot in truth. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The Lord is a God to whom revenge belongeth: but thou, O Mother of mercy, inclinest Him to mercy. Thy magnificence, O Lady, is preached forever: and they who venerate thee shall find the way of peace. Serve her reverently with rejoicing: and the Most Blessed Fruit of her womb shall heal you. Look, O Lady, upon the humility of thy servants: and they shall praise thee in the generations of ages. Magnify thy name in the multiplication of thy graces: and permit not thy servants to be subject to perils. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Come, let us rejoice to Our Lady: let us joyfully sing to the saving Mary, our Queen. Let us come before her presence with joy: and in canticles let us all praise her together. Come, let us adore, and fall down before her: let us confess our sins to her with tears. Obtain for us a full pardon, stand for us before the tribunal of God. Receive our souls at our end: and lead us into eternal rest. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Sing a new song to her who is full of grace: sing to Mary all ye of the earthly world. For she excels in sanctity all the angels: and those born of women in her wonders and miracles. Beauty and glory are in her countenance: and grace is in her eyes. Bring ye to her glory, ye fathers o$ the peoples: rejoice in her, all ye creatures of God. You have an admirable exchange worked by her means: by reason of which you are called the sons of the Most High God. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The Lord hath reigned, let Mary rejoice: in all the empire under her rule. Adore her, all ye citizens of the heavenly commonwealth: exalt her, ye fair virgins, her daughters. For she is raised above principalities and dominations: she is exalted above angels and the embassies of archangels. Patriarchs and prophets, break forth in her praise: make a harmony, Apostles and martyrs of Christ. Confessors and virgins, sing canticles to her from the songs of Sion: and congratulate her, holy monks, for the triumphs she has won. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Sing to Our Lady a new song: for she hath done wonderful things. In the sight of nations she hath revealed her mercy: her name is heard even to the ends of the earth. Be mindful, O Lady, of the poor and the wretched: and support them by the help of thy holy refreshment. For thou, O Lady, art sweet and true: exceedingly patient and full of compassion. Tread upon the enemies of our souls: and crush with thy holy arm their contumacy. Glory be to the Father, etc.#
The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: Mary sits at the right hand under the Cherubim. Great in Sion is thy glory, O Lady: and in Jerusalem thy magnificence. Sing before her, ye virginal choirs: and adore her throne, for it is holy. In her right hand is the fiery law: and round about her are millions of saints. Her commands are before his eyes: and the rule of justice is in her heart. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Sing with joy to Our Lady, ye men of the earth: serve her in joy and pleasantness. With all your soul draw nigh unto her: and in all your strength keep her ways. Search her out, and she will be manifested to you: be clean of heart, and you will take hold of her. To them whom thou shalt help, O Lady, will be the refreshment of peace: and they from whom thou turnest away thy face shall have no hope of salvation. Be mindful of us, O Lady, and let evil not take hold of us: help us in the end, and we shall find eternal life. Glory be to the Father, etc.
To thee, O Lady, will I sing mercy and judgment: I will sing to thee in joy of heart, when thou shalt have made my soul glad. I will praise thee and thy glory: and thou shalt bestow refreshment upon my soul. I have been zealous for thy love and thy honor: therefore wilt thou defend my cause before the judge of ages. I am drawn by thy goodness and grace: I pray thee, let me not be defrauded of my hope and good confidence. Strengthen thou my soul in my last days: and in this my flesh make me to behold my Savior. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, hear my prayer: and let my cry come unto thee. Turn not thy sacred countenance away from me: nor hate me because of my uncleanness. Forsake me not in the thought and counsel of mine enemies: and permit me not to fall in their wicked attacks. Those who trust in thee, will not fear the tortuous snake: and those who exalt thee in praises will escape the hand of Acheron. By thy virginal conception give me a good confidence in thee: and by thy admirable delivery rejoice my soul. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Bless, O my soul, the Mother of Jesus Christ: and all that is within me, glorify her name. Forget not her benefits: nor her grace and consolation. By her grace sins are forgiven: and by her mercy maladies are healed. Bless her, all ye powers of Heaven: glorify her, ye choirs of the Apostles and Prophets. Bless her, O ye sea, and the islands of the nations: sing a hymn to her, all ye heavens and the dwellers therein. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Bless, O my soul, the Virgin Mary: her honor and her magnificence forever. Thou hast clothed thyself with beauty and comeliness: thou art clad, O Lady, with a shining garment. From thee proceeds the healing of sins: and the discipline of peace, and the fervor of charity. Fill us, thy servants, with holy virtues: and let the wrath of God not come nigh unto us. Give eternal joy to thy servants: and forget them not in the death struggle. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Give praise to Our Lady and call upon her name: sing gloriously unto her, declaring her virtues. Praise and exalt her, O Virgins, daughters of Sion: because she will espouse to you the King of Angels. Honor ye the Queen full of all grace: and contemplate with reverence her most holy countenance. Eternal salvation is in thy hand, O Lady: those who honor thee worthily will receive it. Thy clemency will not fail in the eternal years: and thy mercy is from generation to generation. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Give praise to Our Lady, for she is good: in all the tribes of the earth relate her mercies. Far from the impious is her conversation: her foot has not declined from the way of the Most High. A fountain of fertilizing grace comes forth from her mouth: and a virginal emanation sanctifying chaste souls. The hope of the glory of Paradise is in her heart: for the devout soul who shall have honored her. Have mercy on us, O resplendent Queen of Heaven: and give consolation from thy glory.
Give praise to the Lord, for He is good: give praise to His Mother, for her mercy endureth for ever. Show us, O Lady, the innocence and the way of prudence: and point out the way of understanding to thy servants. The fear of God enlightens the mind: and thy love rejoices it. Blessed is the man whose speech is pleasing to thee: his bones shall be fattened with marrow and fatness. Thy word shall uphold the feeble soul: and thy lips shall refresh the thirsty soul. Glory be to the Father, etc.
My heart is ready, O Lady, my heart is ready: to sing praises to thee and to chant. Greater is thy love than all riches: and thy grace is above gold and precious stones. Beatitude and justice are given by God: for those who turn away from their sins to thee shall obtain the remedy of penance. Thy fruits are grace and peace: and those who please thee shall be far from perdition. Be to us a shade of protection in our temptations: let the spreading of thy wings defend us from him who devours. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, despise not my praise: and deign to accept this Psalter dedicated to thee. Look upon the will of my heart: and make my affection well-pleasing to thee. Hasten to visit thy servants: under the protection of thy hand may they be preserved unhurt. May they receive through thee the illumination of the Holy Spirit: and refreshment against the heat of cupidity. Heal, O Lady, the contrite of heart: and revive them by the ointment of piety. Glory be to the Father, etc.
The Lord said to Our Lady: Sit at my right hand, O my Mother! Goodness and sanctity have pleased thee: therefore thou shalt reign with me forever. The crown of immortality is on thy holy head: whose brightness and glory shall not be extinguished. Have mercy on us, O Lady, mother of light and splendor: enlighten us, O Lady of truth and virtue. From thy treasures pour into us the wisdom of God: and the understanding of prudence, and the model of discipline. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I will give praise to thee, O Lady, with my whole soul: I will glorify thee with my whole mind. The works of thy grace will remain: and the testament of thy mercy before the throne of God. By thee redemption has been sent from God: the repentant people shall have the hope of salvation. A good understanding to all who honor thee: and their lot is among the angels of peace. Glorious and admirable is thy name: those who keep it will not fear in the moment of death. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed is the man who feareth the Lady: and blessed is the heart that loves her. Happy the man who is never satiated with thy praise: and grows not weary of the narration of thy virtues. In his heart has arisen the light of God: the Holy Spirit enlightens his understanding. Bestow, O Lady, thy grace upon thy poor: revive the hungry and the needy. By thee names shall be in eternal remembrance: our heart shall not fear the evil hearing. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Praise, ye children, the Mother of God: ye old men, glorify her name. Blessed be Mary, the Mother of Christ: for she is the way to the homeland of sanctity. Her throne is high above the Cherubim: her throne is above the hinges of heaven. Her countenance is upon the humble: and her looks upon those who trust in her. Her mercy is over all flesh: and her almsgiving until the ends of the earth. Glory be to the Father, etc.
In the going forth of my soul from this world: meet it, O Lady, and receive it. Console it with thy holy countenance: let not the sight of the demons terrify it. Be to it a ladder to Heaven: and a straight way to the Paradise of God. Obtain for it from the Father the pardon of peace: and a throne of light among the servants of God. Uphold the devout before the tribunal of Christ: take their cause into thy hands. Glory be to the Father, etc.
PSALM 114 I have loved the Mother of the Lord my God: and the light of her compassions she hath shined upon me. The sorrows of death have encompassed me: and the visitation of Mary hath rejoiced me. I have incurred grief and danger: and I have been recreated by her grace. Let her name and her memory be in the midst of our heart: and the blow of the malignant will not injure us. Be converted, my soul, unto her praise: and thou shalt find refreshment in thy last end. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I believed, therefore I have spoken: thy glory, O Lady, to the whole world. Have compassion on my soul, and guide it: deign in thy good pleasure to take possession of it. Assign to it the testament of thy peace and thy love: give to it the memory of thy name. Of the blessing of thy womb give me support: and from the fatness of thy grace sweeten my soul. Break thou the bonds of my sins: and with thy virtues adorn the face of my soul. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Praise ye our Lady, all ye nations: glorify her, all ye peoples. For her grace and her mercy are confirmed upon us: and her truth remaineth forever. He who shall worthily have venerated her, will be justified: but he who shall have neglected her, will die in his sins. The lips of angels shall relate her wisdom: and all the citizens of Paradise will sing her praises. Those who approach her with a good soul: will not be seized by the devastating angel. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Give praise to the Lord, for He is good: give praise to His Mother, for her mercy endureth forever. The love of her driveth out sin from the heart: and her grace purifieth the conscience of the sinner. The way to come to Christ is to approach her: he who shall fly her shall not find the way of Peace. Let him who is hardened in sins, often call upon her: and light shall arise in his darkness. He who is sad in his heart, let him cry out to her: and he will be inebriated with a sweet-flowing dew. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way: who imitate the Mother of God. Blessed are the imitators of her humility: blessed are the sharers in her charity. Blessed are the searchers into her virtues: blessed are they who are conformed to her image. Blessed are they who venerate her conception and her birth: blessed are they who devoutly serve her. Blessed are they who have hope and confidence in her: blessed are they who receive through her eternal happiness. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Give bountifully to thy servant, O Lady: enliven me, and I shall do thy will. I am a sojourner on the earth: hide nothing of thy love from me. My soul hath longed to desire thy praise: at all times. For thou art my salvation in the Lord: who hast delivered me, one condemned to death. What shall I give back for these things, except my whole self? O Lady receive me. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Set before me for a law, O Lady, the holy of holies of thy will: and I shall always seek after it. Lead me into the path of thy tender mercies, O most beautiful of women: for this same have I desired. Incline my soul to the love of those above, O Lady: and not to unchasteness. Behold I have coveted thy chastity from my youth up: in thy mercy strengthen me. And I will keep the way of thy testimonies forever: and I will search out the commandments of thy Son, which I have loved. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Be mindful of thy word, O Princess of all ladies: in which thou hast given me hope. In the stormy waves of tempests it hath powerfully held me: for thy word hath quickened me. Lying men have surrounded me, and scourges are gathered together upon me: and behold thy hand hath delivered me. I have communicated all good things to them that fear thee: and to those who earnestly kept thy commandments. The earth is full of thy tender mercies: therefore, have I sought out the way of thy justifications. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Thou hast done well with thy servant, O Lady: and because of this the angels rejoice. Teach me the discipline of thy manners and thy equity: because I have believed in thy words above all others. It is good for me that with thy burden thou hast humbled me: that I may follow thy conversation. Those who love thy servants, shall be venerated: but he who shall hate them, will fall in eternity. Let the drops of thy clemency ever fall upon me from above, and I shall live: for thy holy law is my meditation. Glory be to the Father, etc.
My soul hath fainted in thy ways, O Lady: and unless thou didst have the greatest compassion on me, I should indeed have perished in my weakness. My eyes have failed in thy contemplation: like a bottle in the frost my soul has been before thee. According to thy goodness quicken thou me: and I shall not forget thy words, because to cling to thee is good. By thy ruling the world goes on: which thou together with God hast founded from the beginning. I am all thine, o Lady; save me: for thy praises were desirable to me in the time of my pilgrimage. Glory be to the Father, etc.
How have I loved thy law, O Lady: it is forever in my sight. The abundance of thy sweetnesses has drawn my heart out of me: and my flesh hath wonderfully rejoiced in thee. How sweet to sinners are thy words, O Lady: above all melody thy refection is sweet to my mouth. Thy word is a light to my steps: and an ineffable illumination to my paths. How often have sinners of hell exasperated me, because I would not stray from thy charity: but in thee, O Lady have I hoped. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I have hated the unjust: and I have loved thy way, O gracious Lady. Help me, O Lady of the world, and I shall be saved: and I shall meditate the honor of thy commandments. Make me always stand in thy fear: and deliver me not up, O Virgin, to those who calumniate me. I am of thy own tongue: I am the least in thy family. Keep me, O Lady, from those who neglect the judgments of thy justice. Thou despisest all who depart from thy service: because their thought is unjust. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Wonderful are thy testimonies, O kind Mother: and by thy words my heart is enlightened. All the rich of the people shall entreat thy countenance: and the daughters of kings shall praise thy face. The word of thy lips is burning exceedingly: He who shall make haste to come to thee, shall share in it. I am as a trembling reed before thee: hold me, Lady, under thy yoke, and I shall not be confounded. The dragons of hell attack thy servants above all others: but do thou, O Lady, defend us. Glory be to the Father, etc.
PSALM 118 I
I have cried out to thee with my whole heart, O Lady: mercifully deliver me from my necessities. Hear the voice of my groaning, O my Lady: teach me what is acceptable to thee at all times. Salvation is far from those who know thee not: but he who perseveres in thy service is far from perdition. Thy mercy rules all things: O Lady, in thy salvation quicken me. The beginning of thy words is truth at all times: and I have not forgotten thine immaculate law. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Princes have persecuted me without cause: and the wicked spirit fears the invocation of thy name. There is much peace to them that keep thy name, O Mother of God: and to them there is no stumbling-block. At the seven hours I have sung praises to thee, O Lady: according to thy word give me understanding. Let my prayer come into thy sight, that I may not forsake thee, O Lady, all the days of my life: for thy ways are mercy and truth. I will long forever to praise thee, O Lady: when thou shalt have taught me thy justifications. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I cried to Our Lady when I was in trouble: and she heard me. Lady, deliver us from all evil: all the days of our life. Crush the head of our enemies: with the insuperable power of thy foot. As thy spirit hath rejoiced in God thy Savior: so do thou deign to pour true joy into my heart. Approach to Our Lord to pray for us: that by thee our sins may be blotted out. Glory be to the Father, etc.
To thee I have raised mine eyes, O Mother of Christ: by whom comfort cometh to all flesh. Bestow on us thy help and thy grace: in all our tribulations. Keep us, O Lady: lest we be caught in the snare of sinners. The pupil of thine eye neither slumbers nor sleeps: that we may always be kept under thy protection. The tongues of men and angels praise thee: and before thee every knee shall bow. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I rejoiced in thee, O Queen of Heaven: because under thy leadership we shall go into the house of the Lord. Jerusalem the heavenly city: may we attain to the rewards of Mary. Obtain for us, O Lady, peace and pardon: and the victory over our enemies, and triumph., Strengthen and console our hearts: by the sweetness of thy piety. So, Lady, pour into us thy mercy: that we may devoutly die in the Lord. Glory be to the Father, etc.
To thee have I raised up mine eyes, O Queen: who reignest in Heaven. Let our help be in the power of thy name: let all our works be directed by thee. Blessed be thou in Heaven and on earth: in the sea and in all abysses. Blessed be thy fecundity: blessed be thy virginity and purity. Blessed be thy holy body: blessed be thy most holy soul. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Unless our Lady was in us: many dangers would have overtaken us. O Virgin, be our defender: and a propitious advocate before God. Show us, O Lady, thy mercy: and strengthen us in thy holy service. Let the holy angels bless thee in Heaven: let all men bless thee upon earth. Give not up to the beasts the souls of them that trust in thee: let not the mouths of them that sing to thee be closed. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Those who trust in thee, O Mother of God: shall not fear at the face of the enemy. Rejoice and exult, all ye who love her: because she will help you in the day of your trouble. Be mindful of thy tender mercies, O Lady: and relieve us in the pilgrimage of our sojourning. Turn thine amiable countenance towards us: confound and destroy all our enemies. Blessed be all the works of thy hands, O Lady: blessed be all thy holy miracles. Glory be to the Father, etc.
PSALM 125 When thou shalt turn thy most serene countenance upon us: thou shalt rejoice us, O virginal Mother of God. Blessed be thou, O treasury of Christ: above all women upon earth. Blessed be thy glorious name: which the mouth of the Lord hath wonderfully named. Let not thy praise fail from our lips: nor thy charity from our hearts. Those who love thee will be blessed by God: and those who wish to love thee, will not be defrauded of their confidence. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Unless, O Lady, thou shalt build the house of our heart: its edifice shall not remain. Build us up by thy grace and thy power: that we may remain firm forever. Blessed be thy word: and blessed be all the words of thy lips. Let them be blessed by God, who shall bless thee: and let them be reckoned in the number of the just. Bless, O Lady, them that bless thee: and never turn thy gracious countenance away from them. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed are all they who fear our Lady: and blessed are all they who know how to do thy will and thy good pleasure. Blessed are the father and mother who have begotten thee: whose memory shall abide forever. Blessed is the womb that bore thee: and blessed are the breasts that nourished thee. Turn thou thy mercy toward us: and be gracious to thy servants. Look upon us and behold our shame: take away from us all our iniquities. Glory be to the Father, etc.
My enemies have often troubled me from my youth up: deliver me, O Lady, and vindicate my cause from them. Give them not power over my soul: keep my interior and my exterior. Obtain for us pardon for our sins: let it be given to us by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Make us do penance worthily and praiseworthily: that we may come to God by a blessed end. Show us then with a gracious and serene countenance: the glorious fruit of thy womb. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lady: Lady, hear my prayer. Let thine ears be attentive: to the voice of praise and of thy glorification. Deliver me from the hand of my adversaries: confound their plans and their attempts against me. Deliver me in the evil day: and in the day of death forget not my soul. Lead me unto the harbor of salvation: may my name be written among the just. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Lady, my heart hath not been exalted: nor have mine eyes been lifted up. The Lord hath blessed thee in His power: who by thee hath reduced to naught our enemies. Blessed be He who hath sanctified thee: and who hath brought thee forth pure from thy mother's womb. Blessed be He who hath overshadowed thee: and by His grace hath given thee fecundity. Bless us, O Lady, and strengthen us in thy grace: that by thee we may be presented before the sight of the Lord. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Be mindful, O Lady, of David: and of all who invoke thy name. Give us confidence in thy name: and let our adversaries be confounded. Console us in the land of our pilgrimage: and relieve our poverty. Give us, O holy Virgin, the bread of tears: and sorrow for our sins in the land of our sojourning. Make the Blessed Fruit of thy womb propitious to us: that we may be filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Behold how good and how pleasant, O Mary, it is: to love thy name. Thy name is as oil poured out, and as an aromatic fragrance: to those who love it. How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lady: which thou hast prepared for those who love and hope in thee. Be a refuge to the poor in tribulation: because thou art a staff to the poor and wretched. Let them, I beseech thee, find grace with God: who invoke thy help in their needs. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Behold now, bless ye the Lady: all ye who hope in her holy name. Rejoice with a great joy, you who exalt and glorify her: because you will be rejoiced by the plentifulness of her consolations. Behold now with an overflowing bounty she will come down upon you: to console and to make glad your hearts. Bless her, all her servants: and let her memory be the desire of your soul. Bless her, all ye angels and saints of God: praise her wonders forever. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Praise the name of the Lord: bless the name of Mary, His Mother. Be diligent in prayer to Mary: and she will raise up for you eternal delights. Let us come to her in a contrite soul: and sinful cupidity will not besiege us. He who thinks of her in tranquility of mind: shall find sweetness and the rest of peace. Let us breathe forth our souls to her in our end: and she will lay open to us the courts of them that triumph. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Give praise to the Lord, for He is good: because by His most sweet Mother, the Virgin Mary, mercy is given to us. Obtain for us, O Lady, the friendship of Jesus Christ: and keep us lest we should lose our innocence. Repress our enemy by thy command: lest he should destroy in us the virtue of charity. Illumine our ways and our paths: that we may know what is pleasing to God. Preserve in us what is naturally good: and may good graces be multiplied in us. Glory be to the Father, etc.
On the rivers of Babylon the Hebrews wept: but let us weep over our sins. Let us cry out humbly to the Virgin and Mother: let us offer her our plaints and our sighs. There is no propitiation to be found without her: nor salvation apart from her fruit. By her, sins are purged away: and by her fruit, souls are made white. By her is made satisfaction for sins; by her fruit health is bestowed. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I will praise thee, O Lady, with my whole heart: because by thee I have experienced the clemency of Jesus Christ. Hear, O Lady, my words and prayers: and in the sight of angels I will sing praise to thee. In whatever day thou shalt invoke me, hear me: and multiply thy power in my soul. Let all tribes and tongues praise thee: because by thee salvation is restored to us. From all trouble save thy servants: and make them live under thy protection and peace. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, thou hast tried me and known me: my ruin and my transgression. Thy mercy is plentiful above me: and thy clemency is great to me. Thine eye hath beheld mine imperfect being: and thine eyebrows have known my ways. We have from the Holy Spirit an abundance of holy desires: and the stain of sin does not trouble our conscience. The light of thy mercy makes serene our heart: and the sweetness of thy peace recreates us. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Deliver me, O Lady, from all evil: and from the infernal enemy defend me. Against me he hath drawn his bow: and in his craftiness he hath laid snares for me. Restrain his evil power: and powerfully crush his craft. Turn back his iniquity on his own head: and let him speedily fall into the pit which he hath made. But we will rejoice in thy service: and we will glory in thy praise. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, I have cried to thee, hear me: incline unto my prayer and to my supplication. Let my supplication be directed as incense before thy face: both in the time of the evening sacrifice and in the morning. Let not my heart turn aside into spiteful words: and let not the thought of wickedness upset my mind. Make me submissive to the good pleasure of thy heart: and let me be conformed to thy actions. With the sword of understanding pierce my heart: and with the dart of charity inflame my mind. Glory be to the Father, etc.
With my voice I have cried to Our Lady: I have humbly entreated her. I have poured out my tears in her sight: and I have set before her my grief. The enemy lieth in wait for my heel: he has spread his net before me. Help me, O Lady, lest I fall before him: let-him be crushed beneath my feet. Lead my soul out of prison: that it may praise thee and sing to the mighty God forever. Glory be to the Father, etc.
O Lady, hear my prayer: incline thine ear to my supplication. The spiteful enemy hath persecuted my life: he hath cast on to the ground my ways. He hath blackened me with his darkness: and my spirit is exceedingly troubled. Turn not thy face away from me: that I may not fall together with them that tumble into the abyss. Send forth thy light and thy grace: and repair anew my life and my conscience. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Blessed be thou, O Lady, who teachest thy servants to fight: and strengthenest them against the enemy. With thy lightnings and thy brightness scatter him: send forth thy darts, that thou mayest confound him. Glorify from on high thy hand: and let thy servants sing thy praise and thy glory. Raise up from earthly things our affection: from these eternal delights refresh our interior. Kindle in our hearts the longing for heavenly things: and deign to refresh us with the joys of Paradise. Glory be to the Father, etc.
I will exalt thee, O Mother of the Son of God: and every day I will sing thy praises. Generations and peoples will praise thy works: and the islands shall expect thy mercy. The angels will utter the abundance of thy sweetness: and the saints will pronounce thy sweetness. Our eyes hope in thee, O Lady: send us food and delightful nourishment. My tongue shall speak thy praise: and I will bless thee for ever and ever. Glory be to the Father, etc.
My soul, praise Our Lady: I will glorify her as long as I live. Never cease from her praises: and think of her every moment. When my spirit shall go forth, Lady, let it be commended to thee: and in the unknown land be thou its guide. Let not past sins trouble it: nor let it be disturbed by the meeting with the malignant one. Lead it to the harbor of salvation: there let it await securely the coming of the Redeemer. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Praise the Lady, for a psalm is good: let the praise of her be pleasant and beautiful. For she heals the broken-hearted: and she refreshes them with the ointment of piety. Great is her power: and her clemency has no end. Sing to her in jubilation: and in her praise sing a psalm to her. Those who hope in the Lord are a good pleasure to her: and those who hope in her mercy. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Praise, O Jerusalem, Our Lady: glorify her also, O Sion. For she buildeth up thy walls: and blesseth thy sons. Let her grace nourish thee: let her give peace to thy borders. The Most High hath sent forth His Word: and His power hath overshadowed her. Let us raise our hearts and hands up to her: that we may feel her influence. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Let us praise Our Lady in the heavens: glorify her in the highest. Praise her, all ye men and beasts: birds of the air, and fishes of the sea. Praise her, sun and moon: stars, and the orbs of the planets. Praise her, Cherubim and Seraphim: thrones and dominations and powers. Praise her, all ye legions of angels: praise her all order of heavenly dwellers. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Sing a new song to Our Lady: her praise in the congregation of the just. Let the heavens rejoice in her glory: the isles of the sea and the whole world. Fire and water praise her: cold and heat, splendor and light. Let her praises be in the mouth of the just: and her glory in the band of the triumphant. City of God, be joyful in her: and for thy dwellers sing her a constant song. Glory be to the Father, etc.
Praise Our Lady in her saints: praise her in her virtues and miracles. Praise her, ye bands of Apostles: praise her, ye choirs and patriarchs and prophets. Praise her, ye army of martyrs; praise her, ye bands of doctors and confessors. Praise her in the college of virgins and the chaste: praise her, ye orders of monks and holy anchorites. Praise her, ye monasteries of all religious: praise her, all the souls of all heavenly dwellers. Let every spirit praise Our Lady I Glory be to the Father, etc.
CANTICLES IN HONOR OF MARY A CANTICLE ON THE MODEL OF ISAIAS (XII)
I will praise thee, O Lady, because by thee the Lord has been rendered favorable unto me: and has consoled me. Behold, Lady, thou art my savior: I will deal confidently in thee, and will not be confounded. For thou art my strength and my praise in the Lord: and thou hast become salvation unto me. I will draw waters in joy from the rivulet: and I will always invoke thy name. Make known among the peoples the virtues of Our Lady: for her name is exceedingly sublime. Exalt her and praise her, all the human race: because the Lord my God has given to thee such a mediatrix. Glory be to the Father, etc.
A CANTICLE LIKE THAT OF EZECHIAS (IS. XXXVIII)
I have said in the midst of my days: I will go to Mary, that she may reconcile me to Christ. I have sought the residue of my years: in the bitterness of my soul. My generation is taken away: because my father and mother and all have forsaken me: but Mary hath taken me up. I hoped in her in the morning, in the evening, and at midday: as a lion she hath broken all the bones of my sins. And thou, O Lady, hast delivered my soul, that it should not be lost: and my only one from the hand of the dog. Glory be to the Father, etc.
A CANTICLE LIKE THAT OF ANNA
My heart has rejoiced in the Lord: and my heart has exalted in my Lady. For He who is mighty has done great things to me: by Mary His Mother. There is no one holy as is Our Lady: who alone hath surpassed all. Let the old things depart from our mouth: and let us speak with new tongues. Exalt and praise Mary, O Sion and Jerusalem: for she is great amongst the ladies of Israel. She makes poor and she enriches: she humbles and she exalts. She is higher than the heavens: she is wider than the earth: is this Lady of ours. Glory be to the Father, etc.
A CANTICLE LIKE THAT OF MARY (EXOD. XV)
Let us sing to Our Lady, the glorious Virgin Mary: let us bless her in hymns and praises. The name of Our Lady is omnipotent after that of God: she hath cast the chariot of Pharaoh and his army into the sea. Thy right hand, O Lady, is magnified in strength: because in the multitude of thy mercies thou hast prostrated mine adversaries. Thou hast delivered me, O Lady, from the mouth of the lion: and as the mother her new-born infant hast thou received me. O my most dear Lady: like the hen, cover me with thy wonderful protection. I am all thine: and all my things are thine, Virgin blessed above all. I will place thee as a seal upon my heart: because thy love is strong as death. Glory be to the Father, etc.
A CANTICLE LIKE HABACUC'S (III)
O Lady, I have heard thy hearing: and I was astonished: I have considered thy works, and I have feared. Lady, thy work: in the midst of the years thou hast quickened it. I will praise thee, O Lady: for thou hast hidden these things from the wise, and hast revealed them to little ones. Thy glory hath covered the heavens: and the earth is full of thy mercy. Thou hast gone forth, O Virgin, in the salvation of thy people: to their salvation with Christ. O blessed one, in thy hands is laid up our salvation: be mindful, O loving one, of our poverty. He whom thou wilt save, will be saved: and he from whom thou shalt turn away thy face, will go down to destruction. Glory be to the Father, etc.
A CANTICLE LIKE THAT OF MOSES (DEUT. XXXII)
Hear, ye heavens, what I shall speak of Mary: let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Magnify her together with me: and let us exalt her name forever and ever. O wicked and perverse generation: acknowledge our Lady for thy salvatrix. Is she not thy mother, who hath possessed thee: and generated thee in faith? If thou leavest her, thou art not the friend of the supreme Caesar: for without her He will not save thee. Would that thou couldst understand, and be wise: and provide for thy last end! As an infant without a nurse cannot live: so thou canst not have salvation without Our Lady. Let thy soul thirst for her, hold her, and do not let her go: until she has blessed thee. Let thy mouth be filled with her praises: sing her magnificence the whole day long. Glory be to the Father, etc.
A CANTICLE LIKE THAT OF THE THREE CHILDREN
Bless, all works, our glorious Lady: praise and superexalt her forever. Bless our Lady, ye Angels: ye heavens, bless our Lady. Let every creature bless our Lady: whom the King wishes thus to be blessed. Blessed be thou, O daughter of the most High King: who by thy fragrance surpassest all lilies. Blessed be thou, crown of all ladies: blessed be thou, glory of Jerusalem. Thy odor is like a full field which the Lord hath blessed: which overflows on those who bless thee, watering their whole souls and minds. Whosoever shall bless thee, O Blessed Virgin: let him be blessed forever. He who shall curse thee, O most white rose: let him be accursed. Let not the abundance of wine and oil: depart from the house of thy servants. In thy name let every knee bow: in Heaven, on earth, and in hell. Let us bless God, who hath created thee: blessed be both thy parents who have begotten thee. Blessed be thou, O Lady, in Heaven and on earth: worthy of praise, and glorious and superexalted forever.
A CANTICLE LIKE THAT OF ZACHARIAS (LUKE I)
Blessed be thou, O Lady and Mother of my God of Israel: who by thee hath quickened and hath wrought the redemption of His people. And hath raised up a horn of salvation of thy chastity: in the house of David, His servant. As he spoke by the mouth of Isaias: and others of his holy prophets. Give us salvation from our enemies, O Virgin of virgins: from the hand of those who hate us, give us peace. And do thy mercy for us and our relations: that thou mayest be mindful of the testament of the Almighty God, Which he hath sworn to our fathers: to Abraham and his seed forever; That thus, being delivered from the hand of our enemies: we may serve Him in peace. In sanctity and justice before thee: all our days. And thou, O Mary, shalt be called the Prophet of God: for thou hast known that He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid. By whom He hath given the knowledge of salvation to His people: in the remission of their sins. By the bowels of the multitude of thy mercies: visit us, O Morning Star, the Orient from on high. Enlighten the darknesses of those who sit in the shadow of death, and deign to instill into them the light of thy most Beloved Son. Have mercy, O Mother of Mercies, on us miserable sinners, who neglect to do penance for our past sins: and daily commit so much that deserves penance. Glory be to the Father, etc.
HYMN AFTER THE MODEL OF THE "TE DEUM
We praise thee, O Mother of God: we confess thee, Mary, ever Virgin. Thou art the Spouse of the Eternal Father: the whole earth venerates thee. Thee all angels and archangels, thrones and principalities serve. Thee all powers and all virtues of Heaven: and all dominations obey. Before thee all the angelic choirs: the Cherubim and Seraphim exulting stand. With unceasing voice every angelic creature proclaims thee: Holy, holy, holy: Mary, Mother of God and Virgin ! Full are the heavens and the earth: of the majesty and glory of the fruit of thy womb. Thee the glorious choir of Apostles: praise as the Mother of their Creator. Thee the white-robed multitude of blessed martyrs: glorify as the Mother of Christ. Thee the glorious army of Confessors: style the Temple of the Trinity. Thee the amiable choir of holy virgins: preaches as the example of virginity and humility. Thee the whole heavenly court: honoureth as Queen. The Church, invoking thee, calls thee throughout the whole world: Mother of the Divine Majesty. Venerating thee as the true Mother of the heavenly King: holy, sweet, and loving. Thou art the Lady of Angels: thou art the gate of Paradise. Thou art the ladder of glory: and of the heavenly kingdom. Thou art the bridal chamber: thou art the ark of piety and grace. Thou art the vein of mercy: thou art the Spouse and the Mother of the Eternal King. Thou art the temple of the treasury of the Holy Ghost: thou art the noble throne of the whole blessed Trinity. Thou art the Mediatrix of God, and the lover of men: the heavenly Illuminatrix of mortal men. Thou art the inspirer of the warriors, the advocate of the poor: the compassionate refuge of sinners. Thou art the distributrix of gifts: the barrier against demons and the proud, and their fear. Thou art the Lady of the world, the Queen of Heaven: after God our only hope. Thou art the salvation of them that call upon thee: the harbor of the shipwrecked, the solace of the wretched, the refuge of those who perish. Thou art the Mother of all the blessed, full of joy after God: the comfort of all the dwellers in Heaven. Thou art the promotrix of the just, the one who gathers together those who stray: the promise of the patriarchs. Thou art the truth of the prophets, the herald and teacher of the Apostles: the Mistress of the Evangelists. Thou art the strength of martyrs, the example of confessors: the honor and the festivity of virgins. Thou hast received into thy womb the Son of God: to deliver exiled man. By thee is driven out the ancient enemy: and the kingdoms of Heaven are opened to believers. Thou sittest together with thy Son: at the right hand of the Father. Do thou intercede for us, O Virgin Mary: with Him who we believe will come to judge us. We beseech thee, therefore, help us, thy servants: who have been redeemed with the Precious Blood of Thy Son. Save thy people, O Lady: that we may be partakers of the inheritance of Thy Son. And rule us: and keep us forever. Day by day, O loving one: we salute thee. And we desire to praise thee forever: with both mind and voice. Deign, O sweet Mary, now and forever: to keep us without sin. Have mercy on us, O loving one: have mercy on us. Let thy great mercy be upon us: because we trust in thee, O Virgin Mary. In thee, O sweet Mary, we hope: do thou defend us forever. Praise becometh thee; empire is thine: to thee be power and glory forever. Amen.
A MARIAN CREED AFTER THE MANNER OF THAT OF ST. ATHANASIUS
Whoever wishes to be saved, before all must hold a firm faith as to Mary. Which unless anyone shall keep whole and inviolate: without doubt he shall perish forever. For she alone, remaining a virgin, hath brought forth: she alone hath destroyed all heresies. Let the Jew be confounded and ashamed: who says that Christ was born from the seed of Joseph. Let the Manichean be confounded who says: that Christ has an unreal body. Let all be ashamed who say: that He derives His Body from any other source than Mary. For the very same Son, who is the only-begotten of the Father in the Godhead: is the true and only begotten Son of the Virgin Mary. In Heaven without a mother: on earth without a father. For as the rational soul and the flesh because of the union in man is truly born from man: so Christ, both God and Man, is truly begotten by Mary, the Virgin. Clothing Himself with flesh from the flesh of the Virgin: because so it behooved the human race to be redeemed. Who according to the Divinity is equal to the Father: but according to His Humanity is less than the Father. Conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and announced by the Angel: but nevertheless the Holy Spirit is not His Father. Begotten in the world of the Virgin Mary without pain of the flesh: because He was conceived without carnal delight. Whom the Mother hath fed with her milk: her breast full of heaven. Whom the Angels surrounded as attendants at birth: announcing great joy to the shepherds. He it is who was adored by the Magi with gifts, who fled from Herod into Egypt, who was baptized by John in the Jordan: was betrayed, seized, scourged, crucified, dead, and buried. Who rose again with glory: and ascended into Heaven. Who sent the Holy Spirit upon His disciples: and upon His Mother. Whom He in the end took up into Heaven: where she sitteth at the right hand of her Son, never ceasing to make intercession for us. This is the faith of the Virgin Mary: which, unless anyone faithfully and firmly believes, he cannot be saved.
ABOUT ST. BONAVENTURE
Saint Bonaventure (born 1221 – died 1274), was an Italian medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher, the eighth Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor. He was a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonized on April 14, 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the Church in the year 1588 by Pope Sixtus V. | <urn:uuid:3077f23d-21c8-436e-a921-dcfe7eb00410> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://reignofjesusthrumary.co.uk/psalter-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary.php | 2018-08-22T04:02:22Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221219469.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20180822030004-20180822050004-00650.warc.gz | en | 0.925334 | 22,390 |
Mark Dallas started ICW with little more than the clothes on his back and brother, he had a dream. A dream that one day this wee wrestling company from Maryhill, Glasgow would get to the stage where the people who work there ply their trade in the wrestling business full-time. Its been a right bendy road at times. Anything worth having in life tends to kick you in the teeth a few times before you eventually get it, but three years in a row running a triumphant beauty of a building like the Hydro would suggest ICW are doing just fine. Better than fine. The fact that Dallas was running about stressed while looking for turnbuckle pads when I showed up to interview him is a wee insight as to how far this has all came. Think about it, I went to a building that exists purely as ICWs office and GPWA’s training school to interview Dallas, where he works full-time as a wrestling promoter, and his first stressor of the day was trying to find one of the turnbuckle pads he owns and stores in ICW’s very own HQ. If you told Mark Dallas in 2006 that by 2018 an inability to find some of the many ICW branded turnbuckle pads he owns would be a real problem, he’d probably have laughed at you.
Or maybe he’d just nod and go “fuckin right” because having that conviction you’ll get there one day is a big part of building a succesful venture from the ground up. If you don’t believe in your own vision, how can you expect anyone else to? He did find those turnbuckle pads eventually with the help of Ravie Davie, who stoated into the building shortly after me to record a promo video with Dallas and Jack Jester for a reality show they’re filming in the coming months. Turnbuckle pads, reality shows, a roof office with a pool table and a signed Bill Murray poster amongst other trinkets of feelgood shit. Walking through The Asylum was eye-opening before Mark even broke breath to me for the interview itself. ICW is no longer just an independent wrestling promotion. Its a workplace. It had grown exponentially even since I last went there to do an interview 2 and a half years ago. Considering the humble, at times chaotic beginnings the company had, its remarkable to see.
“We’ve learned from the ground up. There wasn’t really any great role model in the promoting side when I started. I was 21 or 22. So I had to learn on the job. I’m meant to be the guy that knows the way to do things, when promoters are generally double my age. So we had to learn from scratch. Our most recent Fight Club show is a prime example of how that’s helped us. A lot of things went wrong, yet you can’t watch that show tell me it’s not a good show. It was madness at times. Wolfgangs ran out about 10 times to batter folk. Reds running about aw err the gaff cutting promos calling people bints (and bastards). It felt like an old ICW show, it was fuckin mental. People were getting injured and things just had to get changed on the fly. And it felt good to come through in difficult circumstances and pull out a great show, it’s a testament to the character in the locker room. Theres a buzz about it now and its great to see. Its going in the right direction, and as much as it’s hard work, we’ll get there”
With the emphasis firmly on bringing through new talent and giving opportunities further up the card for some of ICW’s mainstays, there’s very much a fresh feeling about ICW right now, meshed with a large dose of that unpredictablity that made ICW such a force in the first place.
“I think we’re finding our groove again, and we’re back in to just doing what we set out to do and not worrying about what other people are doing. That being storyline driven stuff, and building to the bigger matches on the big shows. Giving people what they want to see, but also making people care about it. Instead of just saying “here’s this indie guy vs this indie guy” and that being that. No reason for it whatsoever other than shit like “aw this guy does 16 great reversals…awesome”. Thats not what we do. Our stuff is more like “I want to see this guy fight this guy because he shagged his sister…they’re gonnae go to war” that’s fuckin wrestling mate”
Each to their own and all that, but there’s a reason the Attitude Era is so fondly remembered. Even if watching some of it back can be uncomfortable and at times a lot shiter than you remember, it made you care. The stories pushed peoples buttons and made them favour WWE’s product over the bigger marquee names WCW had to offer. It’s a philosophy at least in wrestling aimed at an adult audience that will never change, as Dallas went on to explain while firing balls around his luscious (recently re-turfed) green pool table. “Don’t get me wrong at all, its awrite bringing a big name in for one match and selling a show off the back of that. I’m sure the matches are good, but I’m running a city where I want the fans to come back again and again. The fact that we’re Scottish sometimes comes into folk’s thinking as well. We’re seen as less relevant because we’re up in this wee country in a wee corner of the world and its bullshit. Barramania this year is a prime example of ICW standing tall and showing people what we’re all about. That showed you all the talent that’s now rising to main event status, and the talent underneath that’s coming through that’ll help us get to that next level again.”
Keeping it storyline driven means rewarding your long-term fans. Their investment makes companies like ICW tick and that’s how people like Stevie Boy and DCT end up rising to the top of the pack. The fans have seen every step of their journey to the top and it has been rewarded by Dallas giving them main event slot on Shug’s Night Two. Considering both of them shared their first ICW main event’s as singles wrestlers at Spacebaws many moons ago, it’s a sign of the forward thinking philosophy ICW has adopted that the match up will be repeated with so much more importance attached to it. Stevie defending his recently captured ICW Title against DCT.
“I think that match is something that shows the way forward for ICW. Here are two people owning the main event. Making themselves main eventers. I think the overall night DCT had at the last Fight Club taping made him a main eventer. It’s not that he didn’t have the credentials before, that was just him showing people he’s a force to be reckoned with in ICW. Thats an ICW wrestler if there ever was one. He knows how to get the crowd behind him. Knows how to have a great match, and he knows how to get everyone believing in him. I think he’s very very underrated in pro wrestling. I’ve never heard a crowd not shout “oh” when he comes out”
Stevie’s journey has been a remarkable one. Still only in his mid 20s, yet with more experience than most of his peers and an enviable ability to adapt and grow as a performer.
“Stevie’s become the man. That’s another guy who started with ICW when he was very young. So young we had to sneak him in the nightclubs we used to run back in the day because he was too young to be in them legally. Him, Noam Dar and Davey Boy were all the same. He’s grown up in ICW and now he’s the fucking man. He’s got his own crew, his own coll faction that everyone seems to be right behind. Everything’s clicking for him and these two motherfuckers at their peak are going to collide in the Main Event of Night Two with the ICW Title on the line”
“It’s an opportunity to shake things up and inject a bit of new life into the company. A lot of these guys have been here for a long time but they’re still very young. I think that blows peoples minds sometimes. A guy like a Stevie Boy is 26, 27 years old. Lewis Girvan is another one around 24-25. With the talent going away to do different things, it’s opened up spaces for other talented people to take. Obviously in some cases its big shoes for people to fill and it might take them a bit of time to get there, however that’s always the challenge. Thats what you need to do. Slow and steady wins the race as they say and I’m sure they’ll get there”
Get there just like Noam Dar (any excuse to use this nice wee photie btw, pals bein pals…cannae whack it wae a tenny racket) and many others have over the past few years. Talented people who have grown as performers on ICW’s platform before going on to take up opportunities with WWE and ITV’s WoS. A subject people love ‘debating’ of course but any doubt that performers who take up such opportunities are doing any sort of damage to ICW is quelled by Dallas.
“Its pride for me when I see people who as little as 10 years ago were involved in an industry that was a laughing-stock, compared to what we see now. Now we’ve got guys on mainstream tv, guys going to do panto, going to perform with WWE and WoS. Back then you wouldn’t even think that was a real possibility unless you were somebody who’s built like Drew Galloway, and I for one am over the moon for every single one of them. I know it’s that person that has put in the work to get there but I can’t help but feel a little bit of pride seeing the succeed when ICW was a part of their journey. How can you perform if you don’t have a platform?”
It was a platform used to perfection by Drew Galloway (pictured above kicking his bosses teeth down his throat) Now back for a second run in WWE looking sharper and more polished than ever before. Drew was already the best Scotland has ever produced before his initial WWE release and return to ICW but since then? Big man’s become one of the very best at this on the planet and re-invented himself in such an emphatic way that you barely even recall the years where he seemed to be stuck in place. ICW’s relationship with WWE, which led to a recent appearance by Triple H at an ICW show in Cardiff, naturally comes under scrutiny from fans and Dave Meltzer alike 😉 but Dallas offers a unique and sensible perspective on it.
“Drew (Galloway) is a prime example of the sort of relationship we have with WWE right now. You see a lot of people going from ICW to WWE and they think it’s a one way street when that’s really not the case. The wrestling business has always been like this. Drews time with WWE came to an end, so he came back here, enhanced his character, made it cooler, then he went back to WWE a bette performer. There’s guys who have gone over to WWE recently who worked with ICW, are they going to stay there forever? No. Hardly anyone stays there forever. If they do it’s an anomaly. You might get 10-15 people. The likes of Shawn Micheals, Undertaker etc. Other than that? It’s a rare thing. Eventually they’ll leave WWE. In the past people would leave WWE and it would be highly unlikely that they would ever go back. Now? People can leave WWE, end up somewhere like ICW. Their enhanced status helps ICW draw bigger crowds, they get the chance to work on their character and improve, the people who work with them in ICW get the rub from working with them, they get the chance to alter their persona and maybe become something else in wrestling. Then they’re in a better position to make an impact if WWE bring them back for another run. That’s a thing that will definitely happen but it’s obviously going to take longer than 2 or 3 years”
Trusting the process is something wrestling fans can struggle with at times. Social media has made reacting to things you see so instant and easy, and its often difficult to see the bigger picture. That can lead to folk talking, or the lack of a better term, absolute shite. Wrestling is stories. Some of them are big epic novels, some of them are wee 500 word efforts about a parrot who learned how to swim but refused to teach the other parrots because he identifies as a dolphin
“That’s the thing with social media. Imagine they had that back in the day and you’ve got the Iron Sheikh jumping on Facebook or Twitter after the match saying to Hulk Hogan ‘Thank you for the great match brother. Hope we can do it again soon Hulkster’ Wrestling would never have been anything know what I mean? Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and all that, but the internet gives them the platform to bother everycunt else with it, and that I don’t agree with *laughs* We’re getting to a stage with the internet now where people should be able to differentiate between what’s good and what’s a pile of shite, instead of everything being treated as if it of equal relevance, because some people are absolute fuckin’ gonks…..quote me!” *laughs*
“This is a long-term plan for the industry as a whole, to create more opportunities for the workers within the industry and in turn for them to be in a position to further their careers and make more money. It’s great to see guys who have been affiliated with ICW like Killain Dain, Aliester Black, Nikki Cross, Drew, Noam etc and they go on TV and do something important, or get recognition. Things like make a difference and shows the world the high quality of talent that comes from ICW and how much working with ICW can help you get to WWE in the first place.”
In recent years Dallas has become something of a celebrity himself. A status that he embraces and why not? When there’s an audience for something you create and take pride in, perform in front of them as much as you can while they want to see it. ICW is Mark Dallas’ bread and butter and always will be as long as people want to see it but the exaggerated version of himself you see on-screen is something else. The fact that his on screen persona being so well-known also enables him to perform on wrestling shows outwith ICW, without the added stress of being the man responsible for that particular show going to plan is a luxury and one he enjoys when the opportunity arises.
“I am happy with the fact that ive been able to use the name value ICW has given me to pursue things like doing comedy, spoken word shows, and also doing different TV work like Scot Squad. To be honest with you the other wrestling gigs are just…a laugh. It’s great to be able to be part of a show and the only thing I’m doing on that show is the segment I’m booked in. It’s completely different from being a promoter. I can’t speak for what its like compared to actually wrestling on a show, I’m sure there’s a lot of stress involved when it comes to planning your match, but I’m sure also as soon as that match is over your stress is finished, whereas my stress is the from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep on a show day. It’s nice to get away from that and also make a nice bit of money from it in the process”
Performing on show’s geared towards family audiences also gives Mark the chance to perform in front of his young son Danny. With ICW being an 18+ product chances like that have been few and far between over the years so being in that position is one he relishes. In particular this Saturday when Wrestling Experience Scotland run a show in ICWs first ever stomping ground in Maryhill.
“When it comes to the family shows, I like performing in front of children specifically. Seeing kids going crazy and getting excited for what we’re doing is nice. I always get them chanting ‘jobby’ at the bad guy and they’ll go mental. I love stuff like that. If it wasn’t for the fact that we as children grew up watching people like Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, and stuff like that then would we end up being adult wrestling fans? I doubt it. I think a lot of people forget that at times and you get things like people saying John Cena should turn heel. Mate, John Cena’s beloved by children all over the world, and when he’s an old man he’ll be remembered for that the same way Hulk Hogan was”
If being involved in a show at the venue where it all started wasn’t enough excitement, yer man’s whizzing off to see The Rolling Stones afterwards. As ye do.
“I’m buzzin for this Maryhill show because the last time I went to Maryhill it was the bigger hall because with ICW, as there was no way we could run the smaller hall. But the small hall was the first ever ICW arena. With ICW growing as it did, I’ve not had a show in there since about 2010. To be able to go back there 8-9 years later is incredible. Surreal. It’ll be a family show so my son gets to be there as well which is cool as fuck. Him getting to see his Da being involved in a wrestling show is something I love. Its my team vs Red’s team. It’s the two boys from Maryhill, so that aspect comes into it as well. A lot of ICW originals involved as well as the up and coming talent. So its going to be a brilliant experience, it wont just be a normal family show it’ll be a bit like a blast from the past in terms of where ICW came from. There won’t be any alcohol! *laughs* although there will be after because me and Jester are getting absolutely honkin, bouncing in a car and going to see The Rolling Stones at Murrayfield”
I planned on plugging that show in this bit as it’s a stellar card top to bottom but its only went and sold the fuck oot so my advice would be to just mug anyone wearing a wrestling t-shirt over the next few days and see if you get lucky. At the very least you’ll come out of it with a nice new watch and a pair of decent Fila sannies. No belters, but clean enough to wear oot
That Maryhill show gives Dallas and Red Lightning a chance to showcase their storied rivalry in front of a family audience. A rare chance to bring their unique back and forth to a family show and a true test of their willpower when it comes to not calling each other arseholes and other such slurs not fit for a family audience.
“Red is my arch nemesis We’ll be in our 60s with big heavy beer bellies at a legends show and we’ll waddle oot and start slapping each other and hopefully people still care *laughs*. We are destined to never see eye to eye. It’s the same in real life as well. We’ve known each other a very long time but we still bicker a lot and that definitely comes through when we’re performing. That’s not to say we don’t respect each other. We definitely do, but we also bounce off each other very well whenever we collide. The results speak for themselves when we do and the reactions we get. ”
Perennial enemies with a grudging respect for each other are essential building blocks for any succesful wrestling company. Red Lightning is currently building another army, but this one feels a bit different. This one isn’t geared towards taking over completely, its more to do with gaining power from within and taking as many innocent bystanders down as possible as ICW press on with what has already been a strong year in terms of show quality. The next step is getting more eyes and ears on the new look product, as the company undergoes something of a facelift at the next show. New ICW Fight Club logo to go with a roster with renewed vigour and freshness
“For me, ICW has been putting on some of its best shows in a long time this year and it’s just a matter of time until that gets a bit more recognition on a wider scale. We went from being the coolest company in the world to all of a sudden maybe not being so cool, when you’re cool you can do no wrong, but when that goes away a bit you can’t make yourself cool again for love nor money, so as a company we’ve just weathered the storm a bit, whereas most companies in that situation would just bottom out and disappear. Slowly but surely we’ve tweaked things and rebuilt, brought through new talent, but at the same time kept the same ICW mentality where we won’t bow down to people who want us to change. People don’t realise we want you to moan. We don’t want everyone to be happy and holding hands. We want debate. We want you to react”
As ICW gears up for another shot at running The Hydro this year, mainstream media exposure is a big target for the company. People talking means tickets shifting and tickets shifting means the new wave of ICW talent get to perform in front of bigger, more enthusiastic crowds.
“With the revitalisation of the roster and the team ethic we’ve built, I’ve noticed over the past year the one thing we’ve been missing that mainstream exposure. Things like the BBC having cameras at the ABC for the documentary (on Viper), so this year there’s been a conscious effort to change that and there’s a bunch of stuff happening in that regard this year. We’re at the point now where ICW is well-known in the UK, especially Scotland so when our name pops up in all these different outlets they already know who we are so yeah…expect to see a lot more ICW in the mainstream media soon as we build towards the Hydro”
Safe to say The Hydro is never too far from the thinking of those grafting away in the Asylum but for now the big focus is on Shug’s House Party 5. A weekender that Dallas promises will be the best installment of the Shug’s series yet and the way the card’s for both nights are shaping up so far, its hard to argue. As much as ICW have always been built on pushing their own talent to the forefront, there’s always room for those special “imports” that offer something a bit different and Austrian powerhouse Walter certainly comes under that bracket. I heard he met Ted DiBiase Jr once and chopped him so hard yer man literally turned to dust. Think about it, when did you last see that guy anywhere? Exactly. His match up with BT Gunn at Shug’s is one that gets the juices flowing for Dallas both as a promoter, a fan of wrestling and a fan of folk chopping the guts out each other, as he went on to explain
“I’ve been wanting to book Walter for a while but he’s a very in demand performer. I’m happy he was available for this show. People wondered what kind of opponent I’d give him, but for me there only was one opponent. BT Gunn. BT Gunn and Walter had to be the match. I’ve seen him post photos of folk whose chest he’s mangled with they chops and I’m like “cool” *laughs* I’ve seen folk like Fergal Devitt buckle at BT Gunns chops man. We’ve got this big monster Austrian guy coming for one of our own. Its like Rocky, and hes Ivan Drago. In the other corner you’ve got the plucky Scottish guy who’ll fight anycunt. No matter how big they are. And they’re gonna chop the SHIT out each other. Its Rocky 6 mate”
One match that needs no selling is the upcoming battle between Joe Coffey and Mark Coffey. If ever there was a feud that could garner fan investment with ease its former tag partners feuding. It sells itself. Just make the match and watch the zeroes jump on the end of your bank balance. Throw in the fact that they’re brothers and two of the best out there? Its going to be fucking glorious mate. I know. You know it. Dallas knows it
“For a long time I’ve wanted to see Mark vs Joe. I think it’ll be an epic encounter. Thats not just me giving you hyperbole, I genuinely think for wrestling fans thats going to be a fantastic contest to see. I’ve wanted to do it for a while but there’s always factors stopping it. There are times they’ve not felt the time was right and I’ve agreed with them as they had other things to focus on at the time. Now I just feel like….its ready. It’s a massive thing if Joe takes that belt off his brother, and the same if Mark retains. It matters. Its something special, especially in front of the ICW who’ve seen them grow up in front of them. This crowd has seen them perform since as far back as 2011, maybe 2010 for Joe. That’s a long, long time, and over that time they’ve become two of the best professional wrestlers in the world. Now finally after all these years, they’re finally going to have that match in ICW. ”
Another encounter that sells itself is the potential match-up between “Just Justice” Jackie Polo and Lionheart. After their show stealing match at Barramania, Dallas agreed a follow up match with the victor, a certain Southern gentleman, whose aptitude for good manners is only matched by his aptitude for swagger, who goes by the initials JJJP…only for his potential opponent Lionheart to express no interest in the re-match. Seemingly going through a break down after his Barrowlands defeat. It’s a match that Dallas certainly wants to see as part of the weekender and considering the quality of the match that night, it’s a match fans must be keen to witness as well.
“My intention as a promoter is always to see matches like that happen. The fans want to see it happen. Main event of night one is where I want to see it. That’s what I think should be the main event. There are people that were really looking forward to the Barrowlands match, and even I expected it to be something special, but honestly, I was still gobsmacked with just how good that match was. I can honestly say it was one of the best matches in ICW history. It seems to be a lot of our best matches have happened in that venue. There’s something special about that building. Hopefully we can talk Lionheart into feeling the same way as everyone else, in that there’s another chapter of this story to be written. If they do clash finally in that main event, all eyes on them, it’ll be something spectacular.”
Everyone tweet Lionheart “shitebag if ye don’t” until he signs on that dotted line.
One man who didn’t need much persuasion to sign on that dotted line is a man who actually wrestled Lionheart once before and a man who JJJP clearly takes a lot of inspiration from. A certain Mr Jeff Jarrett, who will come in as commissioner for Night Two of the showpiece weekender as he comes to the UK for a spoken word tour. All the details of which can be found below in this big poster where Jeff does that clenched fist pose every wrestler has done 1-1000 times in their career
When Dallas put the call in to Jarrett he was pleasantly surprised by his enthusiasm not only to work with ICW, but to share his knowledge with Dallas as they spent some time shootin the breeze. Chewin the fat about the biz. Engaging in some good ol fashioned shop talk
“He’s doing a spoken word tour in July and I found out he was on a wrestlecon in London on the Sunday so I got in contact with him to see if there was any chance he could get down for Night Two. He said “You know what, for ICW, consider it done” and he found a way he could finish at mid-day to make it down to be the commissioner for night two. He’s flying up from London for it. I got chatting away to him and I think we talked for about 3 hours the first time we talked. I think people underestimate his wrestling mind because its incredible. So just to be able to sit on the phone with him and pick his brains was something special. You tend not to push that kind of chat with legends in wrestling, but when HE wants to talk about that and is asking what ICW’s like and all that its hard not to get carried away. It was a great experience to be able to talk to him for that long and made me think very highly of him. If you look throughout his history in wrestling, he always managed to keep himself prominent somewhere that matters. As a promoter, he invented TNA and made them a very good alternative to WWE at a time where no one else existed”
Alongside Jeff when he did invent TNA was his father Jerry Jarrett. Dallas might be due an invite to the Jarrett’s Christmas dinner this year as he’s set to appear on a podcast with Jerry himself. A man who seems to share Mark’s vision for how wrestling should be done.
“I’m doing a podcast soon with, of all people, Jerry Jarrett. An American podcaster who watches ICW asked me to do it. He wants people to talk to him about booking philosophies and all that kind of stuff and he said he put my name forward. I misunderstood at first and thought he meant himself, but he actually meant Jerry Jarrett put my name forward. That blew my mind. I was like….of course! That whole Memphis style where JJ comes from is something I’ve always admired. Think about it, when you look at the territories, what outlasted everything and continued to draw consistently? It’s the Memphis area. Even if it’s not just the one company, that area has always been somewhere that has drawn consistently well. To this day if they put on a legends show they could still draw 6-7 thousand people easily. Thats something special. A lot of people think my main influence is ECW but in reality it’s that, the attitude era with a wee bit of Memphis in there”
When asked exactly how much Memphis wrestling influenced ICW, Dallas responded with enthusiasm. An admiration for the way they crafted stories shines through in his own work with ICW as he revealed the three prongs of the booking plug that makes ICW so electric! (wis pure excited when I came up with that metaphor there, if you’re from a country where plugs have more or less than 3 prongs well…kid on yer no)
“Thats my booking soup. ECW, The Attitude Era, and wee bit of Memphis. All 3 were about storylines. Even though Jerry Lawler was the champ about 38 times *laughs* that was always crafted with stories as well. Big bad guy would win the belt, they’d make hin look like a monster and Jerry would take it. It’s a very underrated territory in my eyes. Anyone into the history of wrestling, look at that territory as an example”
While ICW knocking it out the park consistently in the ring is essential when it comes to drawing big crowds at places like The Hydro (and one day Hampden mate, it’ll happen) mainstream exposure is essential to keep growth steady. A recent venture that’s captured the imagination is Dallas’ latest TV show, the as of yer unnamed BBC show detailed in the photo above. A project Dallas is buzzin to get started with
“Some fans think I’m looking for people to train to be wrestlers when that’s actually not the case at all. If you want to become a legit professional wrestler go to a wrestling school. This is more like a wrestling bootcamp. This is more like a TV show where you get absolute arseholes and you put them through hell. I want good tv. I want the voice over guy to be saying stuff like “Barry from Springburn has kicked off ” and I want Ravie Davie jabbin some trainee. I want arguments. Its going to be one of they shows like when they take all the wee neds and try to scare them straight. I want people just oot the jail. I want troublemakers. I want people who’ve had a troubled past. I want characters. Anyone who thinks this is just going to be the BBC filming a wrestling school and a bunch of wrestlers is missing the point. I want everyone watching this. Maws and Da’s. People who think wrestling is cheesy. I want people in Barlinnie watching this. I want grannies watching it. I want people in their work on a Monday morning to be sitting talking about it. I don’t want just wrestling fans sitting on a forum talking to just each other about how good the show is and how much is respected the business, because only they watched it. Sometimes people don’t see the bigger picture and that what you’re doing is for the greater good for not only ICW but the performers within it”
Midway through the interview Jack Jester showed up to folk a promo with Dallas and Ravie Davie clarifying what the show was all about and I was personally privelaged to oversee the storyboard process of this promo. Many potential names for the show were chucked about, my personal favourite being “Rapscallion to Wrestler” because the word rapscallion is incredible. Dallas said we could finish the interview after the promo which might take an hour or so and I made the decision to hang about because why the fuck no. I had nothing else on the cards that day and seeing a wee promo happen from behind the scenes was something of genuine interest to me. We see these wee videos go up and the creative process never really crosses your mind. Why would it? Its not supposed to at the end of the day. Its all about how the finished product resonates with the viewer, but the whole process is nae joke. Theres is no half arsery at play here. They do it over and over again until the job is done. On this occasion the job was to clear up any confusion as to what kind of person they’re looking for to take part in this show. They want raspers. Roasters. (W)rong uns. Rogues…and above all….Rapscallions
“They asked us to put posts up about it and I knew it would be all wrestling fans responding. They got about 500 emails about it from wrestling fans so they asked us to put a video up about it so they could put it on their social media. Basically asking us to explain it a bit better. Ravie’s going to be used as an example a lot in this series as a guy that’s had a hard life. A guy thats had trouble with the law. A guy thats had a troubled past. But he’s a guy who’s then turned that round. People think when this guy wins this that he’s on the ICW roster. Nothing could be further from the truth. You’ll maybe get a belt and some bragging rights, but at the end of it you’ll get the opportunity to go and train. One of the prizes will be that opportunity to train and make a career in wrestling if that person chooses. Even if someone turns out to be great, they still need to go and train if they want to do this professionally”
Anyone thinking this show might be an easy way in to the wrestling business has the wrong end of the stick. This is about using wrestling as a means to give someone with a troubled past a bit of purpose. Maybe someone with an attitude problem will have that attitude adjusted, while being taught how to display hustle, loyalty and above all respect at all times. This show isn’t about finding the next Dean Malenko. It’s about finding the next Mike Tyson. Its about finding someone who wouldn’t hesitate for a second to bite your ear clean aff, and perhaps teaching that person biting peoples ears off isn’t big or clever. One thing it most certainly isn’t, is a slap in the face to professional wrestling, as Dallas explained further.
“I don’t want people thinking I don’t have the utmost respect for wrestling because I’m doing a show like this. I’m the worst for putting the fear up people in that regard. (Ravie) Davie will tell ye, I’ll walk thought this training school when there are classes on and give them patter like “out of 30 of you, one 1 will make it!” and all that, and the trainers are telling me not to say that *laughs* but thats how it is. Don’t think I don’t have that old school mentality.”
From what I gathered as I sat in Mark Dallas’ roof office, overlooking (I was sitting slightly below it so I was literally looking over it) a pool table with some of the most spectacularly woven luscious cloth I’ve ever seen, as we sat among posters from significant ICW events, signed posters of legends of film and the massive trophy Drew Galloway received for going in to the ICW Hall of Fame that he eventually wants sent over to him (As to how that might happen “That big bastard can pay for it to get shipped” I believe was the direct quote, followed by a hearty laugh) the point in it all is to find someone, perhaps several people, who need something to help them turn their lives around. Its designed to be entertaining but perhaps life changing and essentially that’s what ICW is all about at its core. Buy the ticket, take the ride, reach for the fuckin stars.
“There’s a lot of perks from winning it and being seen on television, but whoever wins it will have no advantage over any other trainee and they’ll still need to get to the back of the queue. It’ll be up to them whether they want to do this properly or not. Essentially it’s not really about wrestling, it’s about taking people who have had a troubled life and helping them better themselves. Maybe it’ll help someone be a bit less depressed, or help them if they don’t see their wean enough, or help them if they’ve had troubles with the law and all that. Maybe they take this as an opportuity to make their family proud”
After recently making ICW’s second ever show “Stop, He’s Already Dead” available on their On Demand service with Dallas and Renfrew providing commentary over the top of it, the feedback recieved has made digging through the archieves a top priority. To know where’re you’re headed, you need to have a right good laugh at where you’ve been as Dallas detailed what kind of thing you might expect from a deeper look at ICWs history
“It is fun watching them (the older shows) back. It’s like watching a toddler book a wrestling show. It was my baby steps as a promoter. Barely able to walk let alone fucking run.. a wrestling show. I crawled a wrestling show *laughs* After you’ve accomplished things it gives you a bit of perspective on those and you’re more able to laugh at it. It makes you think, whenever you’ve got a problem now, just stick one of they old tapes in and you realise it’s nowhere near as bad as that *laughs*. We want to do more of that and go through some of the old ones. There’s footage of ICW’s first match from Fear and Loathing 1. It’s all on cassettes and stuff like that and it needs edited together but we want to do more stuff like that”
“At least these are the older shows that have footage. Back in the day hardly anyone had DVDs and all that. Scott (Reid) unearthed the first ever ICW match recently and its…..*laughs*. (At this point Scott poked his head in from the office below and said its fuckin ghastly, which just make me want to see it more) Mike Musso and Damian Diamond in a dog collar match where the top rope breaks is the first ever ICW match. I cannae even begin to imagine how horrendous it’ll be. Me and Renfew will do it but I’d like to have others involved. Maybe Wolfy, Kid Fite, Liam Thomson. People that were around at that time. In fact, why is Liam no daein an online thing for us. Why is Liam Thomson not commentating on these old shows?. There’s an exclusive mate. I want Liam Thomson involved in commentating on these old shows with us at some point”
Any exclusive that means we get more Liam Thomson in our lives is one I am happy to be able to bring to the world.
As ICW hurtle towards another crack at The Hydro, there’s renewed motivation amongst the whole team to make this the best Hydro show ever. Marketing wise it’s been approached a bit differently, with emotive images from ICW’s history being used to garner interest without outwardly advertising the show details. Simple planting the seed of interest in people’s minds as they wonder just what they’re seeing and how they can see more of it.
“Instead of just doing normal posters with the show details on the, we decided to do a bit more of a digital marketing campaign sort of thing. So the idea was to take these 5 really ghastly photos from ICW’s history and just put the word “Insane Championsip Wrestling – Fear And Loathing” on it and nothing else, so it makes you take notice and you want to look it up and find out more about it. I’ve seen that done with different things around the city, and its a really smart thing, so there’s going to be those five. They posters will go up everywhere around Glasgow over time. When they’re done, there’s going to be a series of posters with images of ICW’s most iconic drinking moments, and they’ll be in black and white, with maybe a wee bit more information about the show, and after that it’ll maybe be a similar style with the match ups that have been signed until that point and they’ll have all the information on it. It’ll be a gradual progression and I want it to subliminally get into people heads. Those five posters we have now are jarring images, to the point that when I put them up in the street, you actually see people stop what they’re doing to look at it. To be honest, they’re pretty fucked up, but I think it’s the attitude of ICW summed up to a tee. By the end of the year we want peole who don’t follow wrestle, who don’t follow ICW to be like “what the fuck is this thing I keep seeing all round the city” and that’s the thinking behind that”
New marketing campaigns, new logo, music and stage setup for the June 17th Garage show, new talent, new main eventers, and whole new set of challenges. ICW has indeed entered its second era, and the first challenge for this new era is topping the two Hydro shows they’ve put on so far. The next one after that is giving their eras their own names. The catchier the better
“I want this to be the biggest Hydro crowd ever. Certainly bigger than last year, which was nothing to be ashamed of at all. Just over 4000. But this year I want more. Who’s to say we can’t top the first year? Ye never know what’s going to happen between now and The Hydro. The first big names for Hydro. New look, new sound, we’ve got access to this etensive music library and a lot of things are going to be different. The stage will look cool as fuck. Everything is freshened up a bit and geared towards this new era. This is the dawn of a new era. I don’t know what its called mate *laughs* I’ve never ran a company that has gone through a full era. Maybe we’ll just call this the second era, and if we get to a third era cunts might start giving them names *laughs*”
Massive thank you to Mark Dallas for his time on what was a busy day at The Asylum.
Thank you to David J.Wilson, Warrior Fight Photography, Chelsea Cochrane, Turning Face Photography, and anyone else whos photos I may have used. If you see your photo and its uncredited shoot me a message or sue me if you so wish
To buy tickets for any of the shows mentioned in this interview, or indeed any ICW show you fancy going to, click this link RIGHT HERE | <urn:uuid:c3eda027-f53c-4008-97f7-8f4feacc8b04> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://snapmarenecks.com/tag/the-quebecers/ | 2018-08-15T03:36:17Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221209856.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20180815024253-20180815044253-00290.warc.gz | en | 0.971901 | 9,951 |
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Saturday Night at the Movies
Play it again: Casablanca and I, Claudius reissued
By Dennis Hartley
The Germans wore gray; you wore Blu
What is the best criterion for determining a “great” film? One is likely to elicit as many differing opinions as the number of folks one might ask; if we’re talking movies, subjectivity is the name of the game, and “all the world’s a critic”. However, in the last 120 years or so that the medium has existed, a handful of films have emerged that professional critics (you know, people who actually get paid to express their opinions) and movie audiences have reached a mutual consensus on proclaiming among the greatest of all time (at least since Eadweard Muybridge set his Horse in Motion in 1878). One of them is Michael Curtiz’s 1942 treatise on love, war and character, Casablanca, which is available in Warner’s new Blu-ray 70th Anniversary Limited Collector's Edition.
It certainly could be argued that Casablanca did not necessarily achieve its exalted status by design, but rather via a series of happy accidents. Warner Brothers bought the rights to a (then) unproduced play called Everybody Comes to Rick’s (written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison) for $20,000, which at the time was considered an exorbitant investment for such an untested commodity. The script went through a disparate team of writers. Brothers Julius and Philip Epstein initially dropped out to work on another project, eventually returning to resume primary authorship (after much of replacement Howard Koch’s work was excised) and then they were joined by (non-credited) Casey Robinson for daily rewrites. Even producer Hal Wallis put his two cents worth in with last-minute lines (most notably, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”). Despite too many cooks, a now iconic (and infinitely quotable) script somehow emerged.
And would it have been the same film without the palpable onscreen chemistry generated by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as the star-crossed lovers at the heart of the story? Bogart, while certainly a rising star at the time, had not been previously considered as a romantic lead in Hollywood; the studio had some initial trepidation about his casting. Also, Curtiz was in actuality the ‘second choice’ director. Wallis had originally wanted (the unavailable) William Wyler. And perhaps most significantly, the film did not exactly set the world on fire upon its initial release; certainly no one was touting it as a “classic”.
And yet, for whatever the reason(s) may be, it is now considered as such; although it’s possible that it is in reality more “beloved” than “admired” (and there is a considerable difference between those two designations). For me, it’s a true “movie movie”…the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. In other words, it doesn’t have to “make sense” on every level, in order to make sense as a perfect entertainment. Whether it is 100% believable as a World War II adventure, or whether the characters are ultimately cardboard archetypes, or whether it looks like it was all filmed on a soundstage, or whether certain elements are un-PC (nee “dated”) really become moot issues in a “movie movie”. What matters to me is the romance, exotic intrigue, Bogie, Ingrid Bergman, evil Nazis, selfless acts of quiet heroism, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet, Rick’s Café, Claude Rains rounding up the usual suspects, Dooley singing “As Time Goes By”, the beginning of a beautiful friendship, the most rousing rendition of “La Marseille” you’ve ever heard, that goodbye scene at the airfield, and a timeless message (if you love someone, set them free). What’s not to love about this movie-lover’s movie?
As for this latest home video incarnation (preceded by several SD DVD editions/upgrades and one previous Blu-ray version) it is hands-down the cleanest and most gorgeous print of the film I have ever seen, with deep, rich blacks, crisp contrast with no visible artifacts or DNR. The transfer is 4K, which is a noticeable upgrade in quality from the previous Blu-ray (if you want to geek out). The mono audio is crystal clear and well-equalized; nicely highlighting Max Steiner’s rousing score. The hours of extras (which I haven’t had the time to completely plough through yet) are boggling. All of the features from the previous “ultimate” edition (yeah, I know-pure marketing) are carried over, plus two brand new entries. You will need to clear a little space; the fully loaded edition is in a bit of an oversized box for my liking (and I’m not sure I really needed the set of 4, erm, coasters they threw in there), but the hardback 62-page art production book is a nice bonus, as well as a full-size replica of the original movie poster. If you truly love the film, it’s worth the investment. Otherwise…we’ll always have Paris.
She prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire
“Political questions, if you go back thousands of years, are ephemeral, not important. History is the same thing over and over again.”
Thirty-five years ago (best to my hazy recollection), I was living in a house in Fairbanks, Alaska with 4 or 5 (or was it 6 or 7?) of my friends. Being twenty something males, ragingly hormonal and easily sidetracked by shiny objects, it was a rare occasion when all the housemates would actually be congregated in one room for any extended period of time. But there was one thing that consistently brought us together. For about a three month period in the fall of 1977, every Sunday at 9pm, we would abruptly drop whatever we were doing (sfx: guitars, bongs, Frisbees, empty Heineken bottles and dog-eared Hunter Thompson paperbacks hitting the floor) and gather in a semi-circle around a 13-inch color TV (with rabbit ears) to rapturously watch I, Claudius on Masterpiece Theatre.
While an opening line of “I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus…” could portend more of a snooze-inducing history lecture, rather than 11 hours of must-see-TV, the 1976 BBC series, adapted from Robert Graves’ 1934 historical novel about ancient Rome’s Julio-Claudian dynasty, was indeed the latter, holding U.S. viewers in thrall for its 12-week run. While it is quite possible that at the time, my friends and I were slightly more in thrall with the occasional teasing glimpses of semi-nudity than we were with, say, the beauty of the writing, the wonder of the performances and historical complexity of the narrative, over the years I have come to the realization that I think I learned everything I needed to know about politics from watching (and re-watching) I, Claudius.
It’s all there…the systemic greed and corruption of the ruling plutocracy, the raging hypocrisy, the grandstanding, glad-handing and the back-stabbing (in this case, both figurative and literal). Seriously, over the last 2000 years, not much has changed in the political arena (this election year in particular finds us tunic-deep in bread and circuses; by Jove, what a clown show). Although it’s merely a happy coincidence that a newly minted 35th Anniversary Edition of the series was released on DVD this week by Acorn Media, the timing couldn’t be more apt. I’ve been finding it particularly amusing the past few days to zip through the nightly network newscasts on the DVR, then immediately follow it up with an episode of I, Claudius so I can chuckle (or…weep) over the parallels.
Kawkinkydinks with the ongoing decline of the American empire notwithstanding, the series holds up remarkably well. In fact, it still kicks major gluteus maximus on most contemporary TV fare (including HBO and Showtime). What’s most impressive is what they were able to achieve with such austere production values; the writing and the acting is so strong that you barely notice that there are only several simple sets used throughout (compare with Starz’s visually striking but otherwise distressingly chuckle-headed Spartacus series). It’s hard to believe that Derek Jacobi was in his mid-30s when he took on the lead role; not only does he convincingly “age” from 20s to 60s, but subtly unveils the grace and intelligence that lies behind Claudius’s outwardly afflicted speech and physicality. Another standout in this marvelous cast is Sian Phillips, with her deliciously wicked performance as Livia (wife of Augustus) who will stoop to anything in order to achieve her political goals (Machiavelli’s subsequent work was doo-doo, by comparison). George Baker excels as her long-suffering son, Tiberius, as does Brian Blessed, playing Augustus. And John Hurt’s take on the mad Caligula is definitive, in my book. The new transfer on the Acorn release is excellent, making this DVD set well worth your denarius.
Dennis Hartley 3/31/2012 05:30:00 PM
The Secular Sharia Scrolls revealed
The Ten Commandments of the Judeo-Christian tradition supplied the foundation for the American political experiment. As George Washington said, "Of all the disposition and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports."
By "Religion," Washington meant Christianity, and by "morality," he meant the Ten Commandments. In other words, according to the Father of our country, it is impossible to have political prosperity without building on the platform of the Christian religion and Christian morality.
Well that's that. Would you like to know what our 10 Commandments of Secular Sharia are so you can print it out and carry it with you at all times?
1. "Government, not Yahweh, is God." Secular fundamentalists want us to look to government for everything we we were once taught to look for from God. Government is all knowing, all powerful, all wise, all caring. You know, all the things God used to be.
2. "You shall have no gods, period." The goal of secular fundamentalists is the extermination of any and all mentions of God and Christ in the public arena. The only exceptions to the "no god" rule will be for Gaia and Allah. Gaia is to be worshiped, and any blasphemy against her, by plundering her for such things as the fuel on which the world runs, will be met with the severest punishment and condemnation.
3. "You shall not take the name of the homosexual agenda or Islam in vain." If you do, we will land on you like a falling safe. Profanity, blasphemy, vulgarity, obscenity, pornography, all are fine. Criticize homosexual conduct, on the other hand, and we will cause the wrath of our god to descend upon you as a consuming fire. You will be silenced, marginalized and treated as a leper. We secularists have freedom of speech but you cretinous conservatives do not. If you have a problem with sexually deviant behavior, you are by definition a homophobic hatemonger and we don't have to listen to you.
4. "Observe Halloween, Labor Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as holy days. Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, on the other hand, must be wiped off school calendars as if they never existed."
5. "Honor your father and mother — by which we mean liberal politicians, since they have turned government into your mommy and your daddy." No husband, no problem: government will be the head of your home. No father, no problem: government will be your provider and raise your children for you.
6. "You shall not murder — unless it's a defenseless baby in the womb."
7. "You shall not commit adultery — unless it's with another man's wife. Fornication and sodomy without repercussions and penalty are okay too. And we're working on polygamy and pedophilia." Anyone who disagrees, and says anything remotely critical of such behaviors, will be subject to the wrath of the holy and righteous prophets of secular Sharia in the out-of-the-mainstream media, who will call down fire and brimstone on those who dare to challenge the sexual orthodoxy of leftist libertines.
8. "You shall not steal — unless it's to plunder from the producers what they have earned to give to the non-producers what they have not earned." Anyone who complains about this involuntary transfer of wealth will be judged by the secular mullahs as evil, greedy capitalists and silenced. Right after they have been ripped off.
9. "You shall not bear false witness — unless it is to tell blatant lies about the Constitution, American history, the economy, unemployment figures and drilling for oil." As long as you are lying to advance the power and reach of government, or get a leftist politician reelected, it's okay. Secularists have their own version of taqqiya, just like the Muslims do.
10. "You shall not covet anything — as long as it belongs to people who are poorer than you. If they have more money than you, they are evil oppressors who must be plundered of their ill-gotten wealth by our government overlords so it can be redistributed to the lazy, shiftless and irresponsible."
That's exactly correct. I just want to know who gave him access to the Super Secret Secular Scrolls. We weren't supposed to let those out until after the revolution. Oh well ...
Bryan Fischer, by the way, isn't some fringe lunatic howling into the void at 2 in the morning. He's a big wheel in Tea Party, religious right circles. Here he is with Rick Santorum a week or so ago:
Bryan Fischer may have spent the last several days defending Rush Limbaugh from the "secular Sharia" that forced him to apologize and attacking Sandra Fluke as slut who has been "sleeping with so many guys she can’t keep track [and] doing it three times a day" but, as we have noted before, Fischer's long record of unmitigated bigotry has never stopped leading Republicans and presidential candidates from joining him on his program for an interview.
Just last month, Fischer was gushing over Rick Santorum and praising him for sounding just like the hosts on American Family Radio ... and so it was no surprise that today Santorum found the time to join Fischer for a discussion of his presidential campaign.
During the interview, Santorum declared that President Obama does not think that he is bound by the Constitution and "believes he is more of an emperor than a president".
Fischer and Santorum are smack in the middle of the Republican mainstream.
digby 3/31/2012 04:30:00 PM
Don't Freak Out or Anything
by David Atkins
Try not to panic, because that would be bad:
The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday.
Scientific estimates differ but the world's temperature looks set to rise by six degrees Celsius by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are allowed to rise uncontrollably.
As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be irreversible, such as the melting of polar ice sheets and loss of rainforests.
"This is the critical decade. If we don't get the curves turned around this decade we will cross those lines," said Will Steffen, executive director of the Australian National University's climate change institute, speaking at a conference in London.
Despite this sense of urgency, a new global climate treaty forcing the world's biggest polluters, such as the United States and China, to curb emissions will only be agreed on by 2015 - to enter into force in 2020.
"We are on the cusp of some big changes," said Steffen. "We can ... cap temperature rise at two degrees, or cross the threshold beyond which the system shifts to a much hotter state."
Six degrees Celsius. What does six degrees Celsius mean? Oh, nothing much:
If two degrees is generally accepted as the threshold of dangerous climate change, it is clear that a rise of six degrees in global average temperatures must be very dangerous indeed, writes Michael McCarthy. Just how dangerous was signalled in 2007 by the science writer Mark Lynas, who combed all the available scientific research to construct a picture of a world with temperatures three times higher than the danger limit.
His verdict was that a rise in temperatures of this magnitude "would catapult the planet into an extreme greenhouse state not seen for nearly 100 million years, when dinosaurs grazed on polar rainforests and deserts reached into the heart of Europe".
He said: "It would cause a mass extinction of almost all life and probably reduce humanity to a few struggling groups of embattled survivors clinging to life near the poles."
Very few species could adapt in time to the abruptness of the transition, he suggested. "With the tropics too hot to grow crops, and the sub-tropics too dry, billions of people would find themselves in areas of the planet which are essentially uninhabitable. This would probably even include southern Europe, as the Sahara desert crosses the Mediterranean.
"As the ice-caps melt, hundreds of millions will also be forced to move inland due to rapidly-rising seas. As world food supplies crash, the higher mid-latitude and sub-polar regions would become fiercely-contested refuges.
"The British Isles, indeed, might become one of the most desirable pieces of real estate on the planet. But, with a couple of billion people knocking on our door, things might quickly turn rather ugly."
It's obvious that our biggest political problem in America right now is too much government spending, overly high tax rates on financiers, and a President who won't approve the Keystone Pipeline and more oil drilling. So don't panic.
thereisnospoon 3/31/2012 03:05:00 PM
I gotcher Progressive candidates for ya rightcheah
As I'm sure most of you already know from your stuffed email box, today is the end of the fundraising quarter. Blue America doesn't usually do a big push for these deadlines because it tends to feed into the distorted notion that money is everything. But hell, at this point it's hard to argue that it isn't.
So, if you had planned to donate to any of our Blue America progressives, today's a good day to do it
. This is a year of redistricting and the deck is scrambled in a way it won't be for another decade. The Tea Party bloom is off and their Presidential Robot candidate will have no coat tails. There are some real possibilities for progressives in this election.
I wrote the other day about how important it is to elect hardcore ideological progressives in deep blue districts so that we can have some long term, committed movement leadership. Howie
talked about one of them today:
This week Glenn Greenwald made the case for 3 of the most spectacular candidates running for Congress, anywhere, Franke Wilmer (MT), Cecil Bothwell (NC) and Norman Solomon (CA). If you're a DWT reader you already know all three and if you've been on the Blue America page this year, you've probably noticed that Blue America was the first national political action group to endorse each one of them and raise money for all three. Today, the last day of their fundraising quarter, would be a great day to contribute to 3 candidates who could make a substantial difference in the festering and dangerous cesspool that Washington, DC has become...
Let me concentrate on Norman today. Here are excerpts from two letters he sent northern California voters this week. The first was about the so-called "Patriot Act."
In a letter to the U.S. attorney general two weeks ago, Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall declared: "We believe most Americans would be stunned to learn the details of how these secret court opinions have interpreted section 215 of the Patriot Act. As we see it, there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows."
I refuse to believe that Uncle Sam should be Big Brother.
...There's a lot of talk about how members of Congress should learn to compromise. But I will not compromise when the Bill of Rights is at stake.
On the campaign trail, I continue to denounce the National Defense Authorization Act. Signed into law three months ago, it violates precious civil liberties such as habeas corpus, due process and the right to legal representation.
I know the difference between appropriate compromise and odious capitulation.
...Civil liberties are at the core of American society. I will stand up for them no matter who is president.
This is absolutely not the messaging the DCCC is using to pasteurize and homogenize Democratic candidates across the country. Civil liberties is not an issue in their universe. They want "their" candidates to talk about jobs and Medicare and the Ryan Budget-- but not the way Norman does. This is what he sent voters in Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties Thursday.
For three days this week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about the new healthcare law. Much of the legal and media debate focused on the merits of requiring Americans to obtain health insurance.Easy to see why progressive leaders like Conyers, Raul Grijalva, Dolores Huerta and Phil Donahue are urging Californians to elect Norman-- as are groups like DFA, SEIU, PDA and, of course, Blue America-- nor why party bosses in Washington are very nervous about it.
But healthcare is a human right. And as long as profit-driven insurance companies are at the center of healthcare, that right will remain unfulfilled-- while the cost curve keeps bending upward, and while countless patients and their families suffer needlessly.
That's why so many of us have marched, rallied, petitioned and lobbied for single-payer -- also known as enhanced Medicare for all-- the only healthcare solution.
For several years, I've co-chaired the national Healthcare Not Warfare campaign with Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association and Congressman John Conyers, the main sponsor of the single-payer bill H.R. 676.
One of the reasons U.S. Rep. Conyers has endorsed me in this race for Congress is that he knows the depth of my commitment to guaranteed, high-quality healthcare for all-- and he wants to work with me in the House of Representatives to achieve that goal.
And that brings us back to Greenwald's post at Salon, in which he flatly states that Norman "is about as close to a perfect Congressional candidate as it gets."
It's true. if there's one candidate who every faction in the progressive grassroots and netroots can agree upon it's Norman. Watch this all the way to the end to see him in action:
Solomon is in as liberal a district as exists in this country. And contrary to popular belief, liberals are entitled to representation in the US Congress too.
Once again, here's the Blue America page
. You know what to do.
digby 3/31/2012 01:30:00 PM
The Democrats' indian summer
Here's a nice concise history of the last decade in politics, by Linda Hirshman:
With this week’s Supreme Court hearings — which will end, liberals worry, with the justices overturning healthcare reform — we are nearing the apotheosis of conservative power. Let us recount how we got here: In 2000, a mob of conservative thugs stopped the vote recount in Florida. And that was before the court got involved, the five conservative justices seizing the election and handing the White House to George W. Bush. Secure in the tenure of their undemocratically selected president, the two older conservative justices, William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O’Connor, retired from the bench. Bush replaced them with two young conservatives, destined, by constitutional design and the miracles of modern medicine, to dominate the court into the foreseeable future. At the Supreme Court, it’s always winter (and never Christmas).
The stunningly inept performance by the Bush administration unforeseeably produced the first Democratic federal government since 1994. Immediately thereafter, the conservative Supreme Court majority ruled that the GOP’s wealthy sponsors could spend an unlimited amount of the money putting conservatives in office. Now, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, appointed, in part, by the conservative president they put in the White House, is preparing to wipe from the statute books the only piece of meaningful progressive legislation in the last half century, passed during the brief Indian summer of a two-year Democratic majority.
And it’s not just the federal government. In 2010, fueled, in part, by the money the conservative justices unleashed, the conservatives took over state legislatures across the country. In power, they enacted a series of measures that should make Hosni Mubarak blush. They redrew the legislative maps to guarantee that they would hold a majority of the legislatures, state and federal, regardless of whether they failed to gain a majority of actual votes. (The design of the Senate, favoring sparsely populated rural states, already way overrepresents the Republicans.) Using a panoply of legislative strategies, they made it infinitely harder for the Democrats to register their supporters and for the Democratic voters, even if registered, to vote. Voters must be reported within 24 hours of being registered or penalties will be levied on the laggard registrars. Would-be voters must produce a fistful of identity documents, notoriously more common among old white (Republican) voters than the youthful and nonwhite Americans likely to support the Democrats. If they run the registration gauntlet, they must again verify their identity on Election Day, with the same culturally skewed set of papers. In the swing state of Florida, the New York Times reports, the activists have given up registering new voters: Too perilous.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg, really. There's the rise of the right wing media, their think tanks, the coordinated legislative strategies all over the country on a state and local level.
She doesn't let the Democrats off the hook. They are described as faithless and confused and portrayed as being well ... undisciplined and stupid, which they are. But it's important to note the corruption as well. There is a large Democratic faction that is addicted to corporate money and defense contract kick-backs. You can excuse them by saying that "money in politics" has made this necessary, but there's a chicken or the egg question about that which ends up as a nice bipartisan chicken sausage omelette. (And there is just no excuse for the mainstream media, but that's another story.)
Still, when you see the march of the Right over the last decade distilled like that into a few short paragraphs, it is ... clarifying. I think Hirshman is right: what many people thought was a liberal spring back in 2006 and 2008 was an Indian summer. And that's chilling.
digby 3/31/2012 12:30:00 PM
Why do they hate America so much?
So you think there isn't a real political, ideological tribal divide in America? Ask yourself if this rings true:
Fairness Meets Federalism In One Obama Campaign Chart. Supporters say: “Equality and fairness!” Opponents say: “Hey, what happened to all those state lines?”
Perhaps liberals should reframe their arguments: "are you an American first or do you identify as a Texan, a Floridian or an Alaskan?"
It's legitimate, I suppose, to do that. But please spare me the flagwaving patriotic bullying next time you want to gin up a war, ok? Until a foreign country declares war on Mississippi, I don't want to hear from you. You're either an American or you aren't.
digby 3/31/2012 11:30:00 AM
Jonathan Alter and the butterfly effect
I expect Villagers to blame the liberals for everything, but this one by Jonathan Alter --- honestly --- just floored me:
Oh, Ralph. If Ralph Nader hadn’t gotten under Lewis Powell’s skin, we wouldn’t be having these arguments over whether the individual mandate in Obamacare is unconstitutional.
And “stand your ground” laws — like the one at issue in the Trayvon Martin case — wouldn’t stand a chance in the rest of the country.
And free market conservatives would not be unconsciously defying police and doing the bidding of the National Rifle Association.
Yes, like Edward Lorenz’s “butterfly effect” (where the course of a tornado can be traced all the way back to the flapping of a butterfly’s wings thousands of miles away), it’s all connected, and in ways that should make us more conscious of how we associate ourselves with other political insects.
Of course. The liberals killed Trayvon. If we hadn't been out there agitating for change in the 60s there wouldn't have been a backlash and there wouldn't be any racism or gun violence today. Why didn't I think of that?
I have another theory. Alter goes way back to he 1970s to blame Nader for the consumer movement which allegedly scared Lewis Powell into writing his famous memo that inexorably led to the NRA and ALEC --- and Trayvon's death. But he doesn't need to go back that far to feel the butterfly effect. There was a more recent insect buzzing around that led directly to our country becoming more a more violent, paranoid extremist state.
That insect's name is Jonathan Alter, who wrote this in the wake of 9/11:
In this autumn of anger, even a liberal can find his thoughts turning to... torture. OK, not cattle prods or rubber hoses, at least not here in the United States, but something to jump-start the stalled investigation of the greatest crime in American history. Right now, four key hijacking suspects aren't talking at all.
Couldn't we at least subject them to psychological torture, like tapes of dying rabbits or high-decibel rap? (The military has done that in Panama and elsewhere.) How about truth serum, administered with a mandatory IV? Or deportation to Saudi Arabia, land of beheadings? (As the frustrated FBI has been threatening.) Some people still argue that we needn't rethink any of our old assumptions about law enforcement, but they're hopelessly "Sept. 10"--living in a country that no longer exists...
Actually, the world hasn't changed as much as we have. The Israelis have been wrestling for years with the morality of torture. Until 1999 an interrogation technique called "shaking" was legal. It entailed holding a smelly bag over a suspect's head in a dark room, then applying scary psychological torment. (To avoid lessening the potential impact on terrorists, I won't specify exactly what kind.) Even now, Israeli law leaves a little room for "moderate physical pressure" in what are called "ticking time bomb" cases, where extracting information is essential to saving hundreds of lives. The decision of when to apply it is left in the hands of law-enforcement officials.
For more than 20 years Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz has argued to the Israelis that this is terribly unfair to the members of the security services. In a forthcoming book, "Shouting Fire," he makes the case for what he calls a "torture warrant," where judges would balance competing claims and make the call, as they do in issuing search warrants. Dershowitz says that as long as the fruits of such interrogation are used for investigation, not to convict the detainee (a violation of the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination), it could be constitutional here, too. "I'm not in favor of torture, but if you're going to have it, it should damn well have court approval," Dershowitz says.
Not surprisingly, judges and lawyers in both Israel and the United States don't agree. They prefer looking the other way to giving even mild torture techniques the patina of legality. This leaves them in a strange moral position. The torture they can't see (or that occurs after deportation) is harder on the person they claim to be concerned about--the detainee--but easier on their consciences. Out of sight, out of mind.
Short of physical torture, there's always sodium pentothal ("truth serum"). The FBI is eager to try it, and deserves the chance. Unfortunately, truth serum, first used on spies in World War II, makes suspects gabby but not necessarily truthful. The same goes for even the harshest torture. When the subject breaks, he often lies. Prisoners "have only one objective--to end the pain," says retired Col. Kenneth Allard, who was trained in interrogation. "It's a huge limitation."
Some torture clearly works. Jordan broke the most notorious terrorist of the 1980s, Abu Nidal, by threatening his family. Philippine police reportedly helped crack the 1993 World Trade Center bombings (plus a plot to crash 11 U.S. airliners and kill the pope) by convincing a suspect that they were about to turn him over to the Israelis. Then there's painful Islamic justice, which has the added benefit of greater acceptance among Muslims.
We can't legalize physical torture; it's contrary to American values. But even as we continue to speak out against human-rights abuses around the world, we need to keep an open mind about certain measures to fight terrorism, like court-sanctioned psychological interrogation. And we'll have to think about transferring some suspects to our less squeamish allies, even if that's hypocritical. Nobody said this was going to be pretty.
If you haven't read that in a while, or if it's your first time, read it again to make sure you get the full effect of what this man was saying.
I honestly don't know any other liberals whose thoughts automatically "turned to torture" after 9/11. But in the Village he is what passes for one, so his endorsement of this heinous and immoral practice went a long way toward legitimizing it. And so, by his own logic, the paranoia that has permeated our society ever since, including the lax gun laws we now have in 38 states, should then be laid at his feet.
The idea of blaming Ralph Nader's work to keep cars from blowing up and killing your children for right wing extremism is a new low. Lewis Powell was a paranoid and repulsive man who saw millions of Americans in the streets, including African Americans, and feared that the elites were under seige and needed to band together to preserve their privilege. Alter might as well have blamed Martin Luther King for Trayvon's tragic killing and saved Pat Buchanan the trouble. After all, King was no friend of the wealthy elite either.
Update: This transcript of Alter on TV, years later, failing to admit his personal call for torture as everyone was blaming the Bush administration says everything you need to know about the Village "liberals."
Update II: Alter has taken to twitter to say:
Irony, anyone? In Bloomberg View column I wasn't saying Nader actually caused RW craziness any more than the butterfly caused the tornado.
Hmmm. What's "ironic" about this, do you suppose?
"it’s all connected, and in ways that should make us more conscious of how we associate ourselves with other political insects."
digby 3/31/2012 10:00:00 AM
Romney's Big Lie
by David Atkins
It's not news that Mitt Romney lies constantly, about big things and little things alike. But the biggest lies, the most nefarious, are the lies of narrative. They're the lies that Mitt Romney and his conservative allies get away with, because the narratives are never challenged in the press.
Case in point: a fundraising letter I got in the mail from the Romney campaign. It's filled with lies of omission and commission, of course, but I want to focus on this bit especially:
President Obama has mortgaged our future, increased the budget by more than 20% and allowed our debt to skyrocket. In fact, by the end of his term he will add nearly as much debt as all the previous presidents combined. That's right...all the previous presidents COMBINED.
Simply put, President Obama's policies created a deeper recession and delayed the recovery. The consequence is soaring numbers of Americans enduring unemployment, foreclosures, and bankruptcies. The way I see it, this is a moral tragedy. Unemployment is not just a statistic...nearly 13 million Americans unemployed is not just a number.
Unemployment means kids can't go to college. That marriages break up under the financial strain, that young people can't find work and start their lives, and men and women in their 50s, in the prime of their lives, fear they will never find a job again.
Liberals should be ashamed that they and their policies have failed these good and decent Americans!
Without a paycheck, you can't take care of your family. Without a paycheck, you can't buy school books for your kids, keep a car on the road, or help an aging parent make ends meet. Without a paycheck, it can feel like there is no hope.
But there is hope--if we change course before it's too late. America--quite literally--cannot afford another four years of fiscally irresponsible leadership in the White House.
Now, there are innumerable easily answerable "small" lies here. The Bush Administration did far more to increase the deficit than the Obama Administration. The stimulus did lower unemployment. Foreclosure rates are down, not "soaring". To say nothing of the fact that it's Romney who wants to foreclose on as many people as possible, and Romney who wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, thus ensuring increasing numbers of medical bankruptcies. The list goes on and on.
But the biggest lie isn't any of these. It's the narrative. Romney is suggesting that President Obama's "fiscal irresponsibility" has "deepened the recession and delayed the recovery." Let's ignore all the little lies that go into that claim for a moment. Let's pretend that the stimulus did nothing to curtail unemployment. Let's pretend that the President did seriously increase the deficit more than his predecessor. And let's pretend that Romney's preferred policies would not, in fact, do untold damage to the economy and the middle class.
The big lie still remains: under no circumstances whatsoever has the spending or the deficit hurt economic recovery. There's not even a coherent argument based in economic fantasy to claim such a thing. In order for spending to hurt an economy, it would have to do so by causing a deficit. Spending alone has zero negative impact on an economy, unless it comes theoretically at the cost of increased taxes--also not harmful in the right proportions, but irrelevant since the President has actually lowered taxes since taking office.
So spending isn't a problem. What about the deficit? Well, deficits are only a problem if they lead to inflation and if they make it harder to borrow money--the latter only a problem because it causes forced austerity measures which weaken an economy (I needn't mention that these would be the same austerity measures Mr. Romney would like to impose on us in advance.) The country doesn't have a serious inflation problem (as Paul Krugman has been noting incessantly), and despite S&P's bogus downgrade of U.S. debt, the Treasuries market hasn't suffered. Not only has it not suffered, but one hedge fund manager "earned" (a word I'll use very loosely) $3.9 billion last year mostly from investments in U.S. treasuries.
So we have low taxes, low inflation, and a strong Treasuries market. Under those circumstances, it is quite literally economically impossible for government spending to have "deepened the recession and delayed the recovery." At worst it had no impact--and nearly every economist agrees that that itself is also untrue. Government spending had a considerable effect on lowering unemployment.
Sometimes it's so tempting and so easy to get caught up in refuting all of Romney's factual claims, that it's easy to lose sight of the big lie that is his narrative. It would be nice if members of the press would call him or his conservative friends out on this whopper. But that might be difficult, as they've all been telling the same big lie in their way for years.
thereisnospoon 3/31/2012 07:30:00 AM
Friday, March 30, 2012
Friday night adorable animal post
Some time ago Panchita was caught up in a net, which left deep cuts all over her body. She managed to make it to this hotel where animal advocates nursed her back to health for 3 months. Every day she returns to rest after being out to sea. She is now pregnant and expecting within a month.
I'm reminded of the summer there was a "red tide" problem in and around Santa Monica bay and a bunch of sea lions got sick and came on shore to rest. There were rescuers everywhere and many were rehabilitated.
Unfortunately, even though there were signs all over the place with instructions to leave the sea lions alone, people would pester them --- and sometimes worse. And too often, foolish people with their hearts in the right place would do exactly the wrong thing by trying to push them into the water when they were just trying to rest on the shore.
The moral of the story is that when you see a sea lion on the beach, tell a lifeguard. They're probably just taking a nap, but the lifeguards can call the marine rescue people to keep an eye on them. Stupid humans present their greatest natural danger in that situation.
digby 3/30/2012 06:00:00 PM
Pre-existing Pizza toppings
If you thought the questions before SCOTUS about government mandated broccoli were simple-minded and bizarre watch this libertarian pile of nonsense:
Evidently, libertarians think that everyone knows in advance what diseases they are going to get and boys should pay for boy diseases and girls should pay for girl diseases. They quite clearly don't understand how insurance or markets work which is odd since they worship them as avatars of their "freedom."
But then, they are very, very silly when it comes to economics. It's more of a faith based thing.
digby 3/30/2012 04:30:00 PM
Yes, the pesticides are killing the bees. Surprised?
by David Atkins
Mother Jones reporting:
It's springtime, and farmers throughout the Midwest and South are preparing to plant corn—and lots of it. The USDA projects this year's corn crop will cover 94 million acres, the most in 68 years. (By comparison, the state of California occupies a land mass of about 101 million acres.) Nearly all of that immense stand of corn will be planted with seeds treated with neonicotinoid pesticides produced by the German chemical giant Bayer.
And that may be very bad news for honey bees, which remain in a dire state of health, riddled by large annual die-offs that have become known as "colony collapse disorder" (CCD).
In the past months, three separate studies—two of them just out in the prestigious journal Science—have added to a substantial body of literature linking widespread use of neonicotinoids to CCD. The latest research will renew pressure on the EPA to reconsider its registration of Bayer's products. The EPA green-lighted Bayer's products based largely on a study funded by the chemical giant itself—which was later discredited by the EPA's own scientists, as this leaked memo shows.
I think what this proves is that the EPA is an out-of-control environazi organization that needs to be eliminated so that the job creators can make more money selling pesticides. If the bees all die off, well, that's the price of economic growth and freedom. Do you love bees more than you love jobs and freedom? I didn't think so.
Tom Philpott at Mother Jones asks the right question:
This accumulation of disturbing science raises a vital question: Does the Obama EPA have the backbone to take on the agrochemical industry during an election year and ban Bayer's lucrative chemicals? The long-term status of the United States as a healthy habitat for bees, wild and cultivated alike, may hinge on the answer.
Call me crazy, but I would expect that anyone even the slightest bit open to voting for the President would understand banning a pesticide that is causing widespread death of bees. This one shouldn't be a tough call, even in an election year.
thereisnospoon 3/30/2012 03:00:00 PM
Single minded extremism
Today's assault on women is brought to you by ... Kansas!
A bill aimed at giving Kansas health care providers more legal protection if they want to avoid any involvement in abortions is moving toward House passage.
The House gave the bill first-round approval Wednesday on a voice vote. A final vote is set for Thursday, and the measure is expected to pass and go to the Senate.
Supporters brushed aside criticism that the bill is broad enough to let doctors and pharmacists refuse to provide birth control.
Kansas already has a law that says that no one can be forced to participate in an abortion or penalized for refusing. This year's measure says health care providers couldn't be required to refer patients for abortion care or to prescribe abortion-inducing drugs.
You really can't have too many laws making it impossible for women to exercize their constitutional rights. If you care about liberty anyway.
Why do I feel that we are all being just a little bit too complacent about all this? Yes, there was a big outcry over Komen and Rush. And Virginia and Idaho did think better of the rape wand. But overall these insane restrictive laws are still being enacted all over the place. If I didn't know better I'd think that conservatives in this country don't really care much about a bunch of women and liberal men being upset about what they're doing. Imagine that.
h/t Randall Gross
digby 3/30/2012 02:00:00 PM
So much for the reality based community
See, This is the problem: the overarching --- and very obvious --- belief in their own unique abilities. Even the Reagan hagiographers (mostly) waitited until he was out of office to say this sort of thing:
Biden, who has said he’s the last man in the room with Obama before a tough call, often attests that his boss has a “backbone like a ramrod.”.
And today he said that mettle — and the “serious problems” Obama faced upon taking office — put the president in a class of his own.
“I think I can say … no president, and I would argue in the 20th century and including now the 21st century, has had as many serious problems which are cases of first-instance laid on his table,” Biden said. “Franklin Roosevelt faced more dire consequences, but in a bizarre way it was more straightforward.”
The vice president claimed that the complexity of the 2008 financial crisis presented challenges in a way the Great Depression of 80 years ago did not
The only way this makes sense is if he believes that the "challenges" are that Obama's domestic opposition is far stronger than that faced by Roosevelt. And that might even have some basis. I think it could be a good argument. But to imply that the problems Obama faced on a policy level were more complicated --- not to mention the scope of the problems --- is just cracked. I think we can all agree that the Great Depression and Hitler were just a little bit more difficult than dealing with this recession and Mitch McConnell. Nobody's saying those aren't tough problems, but let's keep this in perspective.
I know it's Biden and he's given to hyperbolic blather so it's not a good idea to attach too much significance to it. But as I wrote yesterday, I think they really believe this --- have believed it since the 2008 campaign and it's their Achilles heel. This overconfidence in the face of am extremely close primary campaign and now a very mixed record is a characteristic of the team and I don't think it's served them well. It's one thing to believe in your own abilities and be willing to shut out criticism. I'm sure that's necessary to reach these exalted positions of power. But it's also clear from all the evidence that's come out about the inner working of the administration (and the results, I'm afraid) that it's weakened them strategically against the Republicans.
Yes, today's GOP is pretty much stark raving mad. But a good part of the problem is the White House and the Democratic Party's consistent surprise when they act crazy --- and their ongoing confidence that it can't happen again.
digby 3/30/2012 01:00:00 PM
Fraudulent recordings? It's just how they roll
A conservative lawyer learns that the RNC is a lowdown, dirty, organization that, like most conservative organizations, will engage in fraud and deceit as a matter of routine, even when they don't need to. Welcome to reality, sir:
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration really could not have had a better week. They did a tremendous job framing their constitutional argument against the statute to the public, the lawyers on their side were brilliant, and it appears that they had a receptive Supreme Court majority. It was an eleven on a scale of one to ten.
Now this. The RNC released an advertisement (embedded in the story linked below) with audio from the halting beginning to Don Verrilli’s oral argument on the individual mandate to make the point that (as the ad’s title says) “ObamaCare: It’s a tough sell.” So far as I can tell, it is less a real ad that would actually run than a stunt intended to draw attention – no less a stunt than the DNC surely has done in lots of other contexts.
But Bloomberg News had the good sense to actually compare the actual argument audio with what the RNC distributed. It turns out to have been materially doctored. As the Bloomberg piece says, “A review of a transcript and recordings of those moments shows that Verrilli took a sip of water just once, paused for a much briefer period, and completed his thought, rather than stuttering and trailing off as heard in the doctored version.”
I’ve been in practice for seventeen years, and the blog has existed for ten, and this is the single most classless and misleading thing I’ve ever seen related to the Court. It is as if the RNC decided to take an incredibly serious and successful argument that has the chance to produce a pathbreaking legal victory for a conservative interpretation of the Constitution, drag it through the mud, and vomit on it.
Well, that is their specialty.
Sadly, I doubt that this will have the effect that this delightfully naive fellow thinks it will. Nobody cares. Lying right wing operatives have no limits and can literally get away with anything. They couldn't care less about "serious arguments." They don't need them. It'll be fine --- it's just red meat for a slavering base that is addicted to it.
I have to wonder why this person isn't more concerned about the fact that at least three of the Supreme Court justices seem to be among those who are demanding a piece of that bloody carcass. They certainly seemed to have absorbed all the Tea party talking points. (Of course, one of the Justices is married to a major Tea Party organizer, so I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised.)
If he has a problem with the Republican Party losing its grip, he really should check out this Chris Mooney post (which David also referenced below) and ask himself how it could have happened:
For a while now, I’ve been aware of a powerful new paper that directly tests the central argument of my 2005 book The Republican War on Science—and also validates some key claims made in my new book, The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science--and Reality. I’ve had to keep quiet about it until now; but at last, the study is out—though I’m not sure yet about a web link to it.
The research is by Gordon Gauchat of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and published in the prestigious American Sociological Review. In the study, Gauchat uses a vast body of General Social Survey data to test three competing theses about the relationship between science and the U.S. public:
1) the cultural ascendancy thesis or “deficit model” view, according to which better education and engagement with science lead all boats to rise, and citizens across the board become more trusting of scientists and their expertise;
2) the alienation thesis, according to which modernity brings on distrust and disillusionment with science (call it the “spoiled brat” thesis if you’d like); and
3) the politicization thesis—my thesis—according to which some cultural groups, aka conservatives, have a unique fallout with science for reasons tied up with the nature of modern American conservatism, such as its ideology, the growth of its think tank infrastructure, and so on.
The result? Well, Gauchat’s data show that the politicization thesis handily defeats all contenders. More specifically, he demonstrates that there was only really a decline in public trust in science among conservatives in the period from 1974 to 2010 (and among those with high church attendance, but these two things are obviously tightly interrelated).
And not just that.
Gauchat further validates the argument of The Republican War on Science by showing that the decline in trust in science was not linear. It occurred in association with two key “cultural break” points that, I argue in the book, heightened right wing science politicization: The election of Ronald Reagan, and then the election of George W. Bush.
This one figure from the paper really, really says it all:
This isn't really much of a mystery. Pay attention people.
digby 3/30/2012 10:30:00 AM
Little white slip-up redux
Poor Rick. I'm almost 100% sure that this isn't what it sounds like. But he does seem to have something of a problem when it comes to sounding like he's about to say something very racist:
This one was a little bit less questionable:
It makes you wonder what politicians were saying before Youtube, doesn't it?
Update: Watertiger has a different theory.
digby 3/30/2012 09:00:00 AM
Free Market Magic
by David Atkins
I'm shocked, shocked:
Hedge funds have endured a rough year. Tumultuous markets. Tighter regulations. An insider trading crackdown.
But despite the lackluster environment, the top managers still took home $14.4 billion in 2011.
Even when returns suffer, the largest hedge funds can collect big paychecks, thanks to the fees they charge pensions, endowments and wealthy individuals to manage money.
Paul Tudor Jones II charges a 4 percent management fee and takes 23 percent of any profit. So he made $175 million in 2011, although his main fund tracked the returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. Steven A. Cohen, whose firm, SAC Capital Advisors, keeps 50 percent of the profit, earned $585 million.
“The industry’s fees and performance are so out of whack it’s unbelievable,” said Bradley H. Alford, who invested in hedge funds while he was at the Duke Endowment in the late 1990s but today oversees a lower cost mutual fund firm that competes with them. “Fifteen years ago, you got double-digit performance for those returns, but last year, the S.& P. was positive and hedge funds were negative. There’s no alignment with the fees.”
I'm sure that's nothing a little more free market magic won't fix if only we get rid of those pesky regulations hampering their success. Remember Rand Paul:
Instead of punishing them, you should want to encourage them. I would think you would want to say to the oil companies, “What obstacles are there to you making more money?” And hiring more people. Instead they say, “No, we must punish them. We must tax them more to make things fair.” This whole thing about fairness is so misguided and gotten out of hand...
“We as a society need to glorify those who make a profit,” Paul concluded.
Now, Rand Paul was admittedly talking about oil companies, not hedge funds. But what's the difference? They're jahhb creators.
thereisnospoon 3/30/2012 07:30:00 AM
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Did I say something the other day about sanity in Arizona? Well, not so much:
The Arizona bill, (HB 2036), passed in the state Senate on Thursday and will now go before the house. Like the proposals before it, Arizona's legislation is modeled on the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" designed by the National Right to Life Committee. And like the other bills, it states that abortion would be banned 20 weeks into a pregnancy. But reproductive rights advocates point out that Arizona's law would actually be more restrictive than others, as the bill states that the gestational age of the fetus should be "calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman."
Not to go all middle-school health on you, but that's not exactly the same as the actual date the egg and the sperm hooked up. Figuring out that exact point one became pregnant can be tricky. Most women ovulate about 14 or 15 days after their period starts, and women can usually get pregnant anywhere between five days before ovulation and a day after it. Arizona's law would start the clock at a woman's last period—which means, in practice, that the law prohibits abortion later than 18 weeks after a woman actually becomes pregnant.
The American Civil Liberties Union's Reproductive Freedom Project has called Arizona's proposed law the "most extreme bill of its kind," one that would be more restrictive than any others currently in force in the US. Although it includes exceptions if the pregnancy poses a threat to the life of the woman, there are no exceptions if, for instance, the fetus is found to have a life-threatening condition or other severe impairment. Banning abortions at the 18-week mark would also preclude women from obtaining information about the condition of the fetus, as many medical tests are either not performed or are not conclusive at that early date.
The bill doesn't stop there. Under this law, if a doctor performs an abortion after that 18-weeks, he or she can be charged with a crime, have his or her license revoked or suspended, and can be held liable for civil penalties if the father of the fetus decides to pursue legal action. The bill also requires a mandatory ultrasound for anyone seeking an abortion at any stage of pregnancy (hello, transvaginal probes) and mandates that a doctor offer to show a pregnant woman the ultrasound, describe it to her verbally and provide her with a photo of "the unborn child." It would also require a woman to wait 24 hours after the ultrasound before she can obtain an abortion.
This is just sickening. Why don't these people just force all women to watch porno movies with their eyes propped open like Alex in "A Clockwork Orange" as a form of sex aversion therapy? It would be less cruel. Or they could just lock them all up until childbirth(and then abandon both the woman and the child, as usual.) That'll teach 'em.
digby 3/29/2012 06:00:00 PM
Whose freedom is it anyway?
Reader sleon asks a very important question:
If the Tea Partiers - to the extent that they believe they are not corporate shills - really think the Health care battle is about freedom, why won't they accord the rest of us the freedom they crave? In other words, if they don't want government healthcare and the mandate to buy insurance, fine. Here's the deal...we'll eliminate the mandate in exchange for people being able to buy into Medicare for All.
Then they can choose to go without insurance - and be refused care they can't pay for - or buy private insurance where 40% of their premiums will go to overhead and profit, while the rest of us can choose buy into a plan where only 3% goes to overhead and there is no profit. If you want to be "free" to choose, I should be too.
Why shouldn't I be allowed to choose Medicare if I want to? I feel that my freedom as an American is being infringed. How come these people are all forcing me to buy private insurance against my will. What is this, Communist China?
Sure, it's a stretch. But of it infringes on someone's freedom for insurance companies to make contraception part of a preventive care package, then it sure as hell infringes on my freedom to be denied the opportunity to buy insurance through Medicare.
Who are these people who would deny me the right to buy what I want to buy! This is America!
digby 3/29/2012 04:30:00 PM | <urn:uuid:aa099349-1d1f-4b13-a924-4abd39bde030> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/ | 2018-08-17T19:34:04Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221212768.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20180817182657-20180817202657-00530.warc.gz | en | 0.963656 | 13,067 |
Ketosis is an often misunderstood subject. Its presence is thought to be equal to starvation or a warning sign of something going wrong in your metabolism. But nothing could be farther from the truth, except if you are an ill-treated type 1 diabetic person. Ketones – contrary to popular belief and myth – are a much needed and essential healing energy source in our cells that comes from the normal metabolism of fat.
The entire body uses ketones in a more safe and effective way than the energy source coming from carbohydrates – sugar AKA glucose. Our bodies will produce ketones if we eat a diet devoid of carbs or a low carb diet (less than 60 grams of carbs per day). By eating a very low carb diet or no carbs at all (like a caveman) we become keto-adapted.
In fact, what is known today as the ketogenic diet was the number one treatment for epilepsy until Big Pharma arrived with its dangerous cocktails of anti-epileptic drugs. It took several decades before we heard again about this diet, thanks in part to a parent who demanded it for his 20-month-old boy with severe seizures. The boy’s father had to find out about the ketogenic diet in a library as it was never mentioned as an option by his neurologist. After only 4 days on the diet, his seizures stopped and never returned. The Charlie Foundation was born after the kid’s name and his successful recovery, but nowadays the ketogenic diet is available to the entire world and it’s spreading by word of mouth thanks to its healing effects.
It is not only used as a healthy lifestyle, it is also used for conditions such as infantile spasms, epilepsy, autism, brain tumors, Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, depression, stroke, head trauma, Parkinson’s disease, migraine, sleep disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety, ADHD, irritability, polycystic ovarian disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux, obesity, cardiovascular disease, acne, type 2 diabetes, tremors, respiratory failure and virtually every neurological problem but also cancer, and conditions were tissues need to recover after a loss of oxygen.
Our body organs and tissues work much better when they use ketones as a source of fuel, including the brain, heart and the core of our kidneys. If you ever had a chance to see a heart working in real time, you might have noticed the thick fatty tissue that surrounds it. In fact, heart surgeons get to see this every day. A happy beating heart is one that is surrounded by layers of healthy fat. Both the heart and the brain run at least 25% more efficiently on ketones than on blood sugar.
Ketones are the ideal fuel for our bodies unlike glucose – which is damaging, less stable, more excitatory and in fact shortens your life span. Ketones are non-glycating, which is to say, they don’t have a caramelizing aging effect on your body. A healthy ketosis also helps starve cancer cells as they are unable to use ketones for fuel, relying on glucose alone for their growth. The energy producing factories of our cells – the mitochondria – work much better on a ketogenic diet as they are able to increase energy levels on a stable, long-burning, efficient, and steady way. Not only that, a ketogenic diet induces epigenetic changes which increases the energetic output of our mitochondria, reduces the production of damaging free radicals, and favors the production of GABA – a major inhibitory brain chemical. GABA has an essential relaxing influence and its favored production by ketosis also reduces the toxic effects of excitatory pathways in our brains. Furthermore, recent data suggests that ketosis alleviates pain other than having an overall anti-inflammatory effect.
The ketogenic diet acts on multiple levels at once, something that no drug has been able to mimic. This is because mitochondria is specifically designed to use fat for energy. When our mitochondria uses fat as an energetic source, its toxic load is decreased, expression of energy producing genes are increased, its energetic output is increased, and the load of inflammatory energetic-end-products is decreased.
The key of these miraculous healing effects relies in the fact that fat metabolism and its generation of ketone bodies (beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate) by the liver can only occur within the mitochondrion, leaving chemicals within the cell but outside the mitochondria readily available to stimulate powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidants. The status of our mitochondria is the ultimate key for optimal health and while it is true that some of us might need extra support in the form of nutritional supplementation to heal these much needed energy factories, the diet still remains the ultimate key for a proper balance.
Our modern world’s staple energetic source is sugar which needs to be processed first in the cell soup before it can be passed into the energy factory of the cell- the mitochondrion. Energy sources from fat don’t require this processing; it goes directly into the mitochondria for energetic uses. That is, it is more complicated to create energy out of sugar than out of fat. As Christian B. Allan, PhD and Wolfgang Lutz, MD said in their book Life Without Bread:
Carbohydrates are not required to obtain energy. Fat supplies more energy than a comparable amount of carbohydrate, and low-carbohydrate diets tend to make your system of producing energy more efficient. Furthermore, many organs prefer fat for energy.
The fact is you get MORE energy per molecule of fat than sugar. How many chronic and autoimmune diseases have an energy deficit component? How about chronic fatigue? Fibromyalgia? Rheumatoid Arthritis? Multiple Sclerosis? Cancer? Back to Allan and Lutz:
Mitochondria are the power plants of the cell. Because they produce most of the energy in the body, the amount of energy available is based on how well the mitochondria are working. Whenever you think of energy, think of all those mitochondria churning out ATP to make the entire body function correctly. The amount of mitochondria in each cell varies, but up to 50 percent of the total cell volume can be mitochondria. When you get tired, don’t just assume you need more carbohydrates; instead, think in terms of how you can maximize your mitochondrial energy production…
If you could shrink to a small enough size to get inside the mitochondria, what would you discover? The first thing you’d learn is that the mitochondria are primarily designed to use fat for energy!
In short, let fat be thy medicine and medicine be thy fat!
You will think that with all of this information we would see ketogenic diets recommended right and left by our health care providers, but alas, that is not the case. Mainstream nutritionists recommend carbohydrates AKA sugar as the main staple of our diets. The problem with this (and there are several of them) is that in the presence of a high carb diet we are unable to produce ketones from the metabolism of fats, thus, depriving ours bodies from much healing ketone production. The fact that we live in a world which uses glucose as a primary fuel means that we eat a very non healing food in more ways than one.
We have been on a ketogenic diet for nearly three million years and it has made us human. It was the lifestyle in which our brains got nurtured and evolved. But not anymore, unless we all make an effort to reclaim this lost wisdom. Nowadays the human brain is not only shrinking, but brain atrophy is the norm as we age and get plagued with diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, senile dementia and so forth.
In the mean time new research is starting to elucidate the key role of our mitochondria in the regulation of the cell cycle – the vital process by which a single celled fertilized egg develops into a mature organism, as well as the process by which hair, skin, blood cells, and some internal organs are renewed. In the complicated and highly choreographed events surrounding cell-cycle progression, mitochondria are not simple bystanders merely producing energy but instead are full-fledged participants. Given the significant amount of energy needed to make all the nutrients required for cell division, it makes sense that some coordination existed. This long ignored and overlooked connection between the mitochondria and the cell cycle is something that is worthy of considerable more attention as we understand the role of diet in our bodies. We’ll have to take a closer look to this subject of ketosis, as it really holds the key to unlock our transformational pathways that will lead us to an outstanding healthy living.
Mitochondria are best known as the powerhouses of our cells since they produce the cell’s energy. But they also lead the genetic orchestra which regulates how every cell ages, divides, and dies. They help dictate which genes are switched on or off in every single cell of our organism. They also provide the fuel needed to make new brain connections, repair and regenerate our bodies.
Whether we are housewives, sportsmen or labor people, energy is a topic that concerns us all, every day and in every way. Our well being, behavior and ability to perform the tasks in front of us to do is our individual measure of energy. But how we derive energy from the foods that we eat?
There are many man-made myths surrounding energy production in the body and which foods supply energy. Mainstream science says that carbohydrates are what mitochondria use as fuel for energy production. This process is called oxidative metabolism because oxygen is consumed in the process. The energy produced by mitochondria is stored in a chemical “battery”, a unique molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Energy-packed ATP can then be transported throughout the cell, releasing energy on demand of specific enzymes. In addition to the fuel they produce, mitochondria also create a by-product related to oxygen called reactive oxygen species (ROS), commonly known as free radicals. But what we are not told is that mitochondria were specifically designed to use fat for energy, not carbohydrate.
|Source: Christian B. Allan, PhD and Wolfgang Lutz, MD, Life Without Bread.|
There are several very complicated steps in making ATP within mitochondria, but a look at 5 major parts of ATP production will be all that you need to know in order to understand how energy is created within our mitochondria and why fats are the key to optimize their function. Don’t get focused on specific names, just try to see the whole picture.
Step 1 – Transportation of Food-Based Fuel Source into the Mitochondria
Fuel must first get into the mitochondria where all the action happens. Fuel can come from carbs or it can come from fats. Fatty acids are the chemical name for fat, and medium and large sized fatty acids get into the mitochondria completely intact with the help of L-carnitine. Think of L-carnitine as a subway train that transports fatty acids into the mitochondria. L-carnitine (from the Greek word carnis means meat or flesh) is chiefly found in animal products.
Fuel coming from carbs needs to get broken down first outside the mitochondria and the product of this breakdown (pyruvate) is the one who gets transported inside the mitochondria, or it can be used to produce energy in a very inefficient way outside the mitochondria through anaerobic metabolism which produces ATP when oxygen is not present.
Step 2 – Fuel is Converted into Acetyl-CoA
When pyruvate – the product of breaking down carbs – enters the mitochondria, it first must be converted into acetyl-CoA by an enzymatic reaction.
Fatty acids that are already inside the mitochondria are broken down directly into acetyl-CoA in what is called beta-oxidation.
Acetyl-CoA is the starting point of the next step in the production of ATP inside the mitochondria.
Step 3 – Oxidation of Acetyl-CoA and the Krebs Cycle
The Krebs cycle (AKA tricarboxylic acid cycle or citric acid cycle) is the one that oxidizes the acetyl-CoA, removing thus electrons from acetyl-CoA and producing carbon dioxide as a by-product in the presence of oxygen inside the mitochondria.
Step 4 – Electrons Are Transported Through the Respiratory Chain
The electrons obtained from acetyl-CoA – which ultimately came from carbs or fats – are shuttled through many molecules as part of the electron transport chain inside the mitochondria. Some molecules are proteins, others are cofactors molecules. One of these cofactors is an important substance found mainly in animal foods and it is called coenzyme Q-10. Without it, mitochondrial energy production would be minimal. This is the same coenzyme Q10 that statins drug block producing crippling effects on people’s health. Step 4 is also where water is produced when oxygen accepts the electrons.
Step 5 – Oxidative phosphorylation
As electrons travel down the electron transport chain, they cause electrical fluctuations (or chemical gradients) between the inner and outer membrane in the mitochondria. These chemical gradients are the driving forces that produce ATP in what is called oxidative phosphorylation. Then the ATP is transported outside the mitochondria for the cell to use as energy for any of its thousands of biochemical reactions.
But why is fat better than carbs?
If there were no mitochondria, then fat metabolism for energy would be limited and not very efficient. But nature provided us during our evolution with mitochondria that specifically uses fat for energy. Fat is the fueled that animals use to travel great distances, hunt, work, and play since fat gives more packed-energy ATPs than carbs. Biochemically, it makes sense that if we are higher mammals who have mitochondria, then we need to eat fat. Whereas carb metabolism yields 36 ATP molecules from a glucose molecule, a fat metabolism yields 48 ATP molecules from a fatty acid molecule inside the mitochondria. Fat supplies more energy for the same amount of food compared to carbs. But not only that, the burning of fat by the mitochondria – beta oxidation – produces ketone bodies that stabilizes overexcitation and oxidative stress in the brain related to all its diseases, it also causes epigenetic changes that produce healthy and energetic mitochondria and decreasing the overproduction of damaging and inflammatory free radicals among many other things!
Mitochondria regulate cellular suicide, AKA apoptosis, so that old and dysfunctional cells which need to die will do so, leaving space for new ones to come into the scene. But when mitochondria function becomes impaired and send signals that tell normal cells to die, things go wrong. For instance, the destruction of brain cells leads to every single neurodegenerative condition known including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and so forth. Mitochondrial dysfunction has wide-ranging implications, as the health of the mitochondria intimately affects every single cell, tissue and organ within your body.
The catalysts for this destruction is usually uncontrolled free radical production which cause oxidative damage to tissues, fat, proteins, DNA; causing them to rust. This damage, called oxidative stress, is at the basis of oxidized cholesterol, stiff arteries (rusty pipes) and brain damage. Oxidative stress is a key player in dementia as well as autism.
We produce our own anti-oxidants to keep a check on free radical production, but these systems are easily overwhelmed by a toxic environment and a high carb diet, in other words, by today’s lifestyle and diet.
Mitochondria also have interesting characteristics which differentiate them from all other structural parts of our cells. For instance, they have their own DNA (referred as mtDNA) which is separate from the widely known DNA in the nucleus (referred as n-DNA),. Mitochondrial DNA comes for the most part from the mother line, which is why mitochondria is also considered as your feminine life force. This mtDNA is arranged in a ring configuration and it lacks a protective protein surrounding, leaving its genetic code vulnerable to free radical damage. If you don’t eat enough animal fats, you can’t build a functional mitochondrial membrane which will keep it healthy and prevent them from dying.
If you have any kind of inflammation from anywhere in your body, you damage your mitochondria. The loss of function or death of mitochondria is present in pretty much every disease. Dietary and environmental factors lead to oxidative stress and thus to mitochondrial injury as the final common pathway of diseases or illnesses.
Autism, ADHD, Parkinson’s, depression, anxiety, bipolar disease, brain aging are all linked with mitochondrial dysfunction from oxidative stress. Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to congestive heart failure, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune disorders, aging, cancer, and other diseases.
Whereas the nDNA provides the information your cells need to code for proteins that control metabolism, repair, and structural integrity of your body, it is the mtDNA which directs the production and utilization of your life energy. A cell can still commit suicide (apoptosis) even when it has no nucleus nor nDNA.
Because of their energetic role, the cells of tissues and organs which require more energy to function are richer in mitochondrial numbers. Cells in our brains, muscles, heart, kidney and liver contain thousands of mitochondria, comprising up to 40% of the cell’s mass. According to Prof. Enzo Nisoli, a human adult possesses more than ten million billion mitochondria, making up a full 10% of the total body weight. Each cell contains hundreds of mitochondria and thousands of mtDNA.
Since mtDNA is less protected than nDNA because it has no “protein” coating (histones), it is exquisitely vulnerable to injury by destabilizing molecules such as neurotoxic pesticides, herbicides, excitotoxins, heavy metals and volatile chemicals among others. This tips off the balance of free radical production to the extreme which then leads to oxidative stress damaging our mitochondria and its DNA. As a result we get overexcitation of cells and inflammation which is at the root of Parkinson’s disease and other diseases, but also mood problems and behavior problems.
Enough energy means a happy and healthy life. It also reflects in our brains with focused and sharp thinking. Lack of energy means mood problems, dementia, and slowed mental function among others. Mitochondria are intricately linked to the ability of the prefrontal cortex –our brain’s captain- to come fully online. Brain cells are loaded in mitochondria that produce the necessary energy to learn and memorize, and fire neurons harmoniously.
The sirtuin family of genes works by protecting and improving the health and function of your mitochondria. They are positively influenced by a diet that is non-glycating, i.e. a low carb diet as opposed to a high carb diet which induces mitochondrial dysfunction and formation of reactive oxygen species.
Another thing that contributes to mitochondrial dysfunction is latent viral infection such as the ones of the herpes family. As I mentioned in On Viral “Junk” DNA, a DNA Enhancing Ketogenic Diet, and Cometary Kicks, most, if not all of your “junk” DNA has viral-like properties. If a pathogenic virus takes hold of our DNA or RNA, it could lead to disease or cancer.
Herpes simplex virus is a widespread human pathogen and it goes right after our mitochondrial DNA. Herpes simplex virus establishes its latency in sensory neurons, a type of cell that is highly sensitive to the pathological effects of mt DNA damage. A latent viral infection might be driving the brain cell loss in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.As I speculated in Heart attacks, CFS, herpes virus infection and the vagus nerve , a latent herpes virus infection might drive more diseases than we would like to admit.
Members of the herpes virus family (i.e. cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus which most people have as latent infections!), can go after our mitochondrial DNA, causing neurodegenerative diseases by mitochondrial dysfunction. But a ketogenic diet is the one thing that would help stabilize mtDNA since mitochondria runs the best on fat fuel. As it happens, Alzheimer’s disease is the one condition where a ketogenic diet has its most potential healing effect.
The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in our “modern” age maladies is a staggering one. Optimal energetic sources are essential if we are to heal from chronic ailments. It is our mitochondria which lies at the interface between the fuel from foods that come from our environment and our bodies’ energy demands. And it is a metabolism based on fat fuel, a ketone metabolism, the one which signals epigenetic changes that maximizes energetic output within our mitochondria and help us heal.
|I am incredulous at how my body is responding. I think I am totally carb intolerant. I’ve struggled with extreme fatigue/exhaustion for so many years, even with improved sleep in a dark room that I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to wake up in the morning, get out of bed and not long to crawl back in, going through the day by will mostly. Also chronic long-standing intestinal issues are finally resolving. A couple of people at work have made comments to the effect that I’m a “different woman”, calmer, no more hyperness under pressure, stress seems to roll off of my back as well. I’ve lost a little weight and although I don’t weigh myself, my clothes are definitely looser. I’ve had the round middle for so many years I was resigned to struggling to bend over to pull my shoes on! -Bluefyre, 56 years old, United States. Sott.net forum|
Ketosis – Closer Look
The presence of ketones in the blood and urine, a condition known as ketosis, has always been regarded as a negative situation, related to starvation. While it is true that ketones are produced during fasting, ketones are also produced in times of plenty, but not plenty of carbohydrates since a carb metabolism suppresses ketosis. In the absence of most carbs in the diet, ketones will form from fat to supply for energy. This is true even if lots of fats and enough protein are eaten, something that is hardly a starvation condition.
As we already saw, a ketogenic diet has been proved useful in a number of diseases, especially neurological ones. Strictly speaking, a ketogenic diet is a high fat diet in which carbohydrates are either completely eliminated or nearly eliminated so that the body has the very bare minimum sources of glucose. That makes fats (fatty acids) a mandatory energetic fuel source for both the brain and other organs and tissues. If you are carb intake is high, you’ll end up storing both the fat and the carbs in your fat tissue thanks to the hormone insulin. A ketogenic diet is not a high protein diet, which as it happens, can also stimulate insulin. It is basically a diet where you rely primarily on animal foods and especially their fats.
|I recently had my annual blood work done (cholesterol, etc.) During the review, my doctor said that everything looked great! He then encouraged me to continue on my great ‘low fat, high fruit and veggie diet’ that I must be following! I just smiled. Next visit I’m going to tell him about my real ‘diet’. Lol -1984, United States. Sott.net forum.|
Among the by-products of fat burning metabolism are the so called ketone bodies – acetoacetate, β-hydroxybutyrate and acetone – which are produced for the most part by the liver. When our bodies are running primarily on fats, large amounts of acetyl-CoA are produced which exceed the capacity of the Krebs cycle, leading to the making of these three ketone bodies within liver mitochondria. Our levels of ketone bodies in our blood go up and the brain readily uses them for energetic purposes. Ketone bodies cross the blood brain barrier very readily. Their solubility also makes them easily transportable by the blood to other organs and tissues. When ketone bodies are used as energy, they release acetyl-CoA which then goes to the Krebs cycle again to produce energy.
In children who were treated with the ketogenic diet to treat their epilepsy, it was seen that they become seizure-free even long after the diet ended, meaning that not only did the diet proved to be protective, but also it modified the activity of the disease , something that no drug has been able to do. In Alzheimer’s disease, as levels of ketone bodies rise, memory improves. People’s starved brains finally receive the much needed fats they need! In fact, every single neurological disease is improved on the ketogenic diet.
The benefits of a ketogenic diet can be seen as fast as one week, developing gradually over a period of 3 weeks. There are several changes in gene expression involving metabolism, growth, development, and homeostasis among others.
The hippocampus is a region in your brain that is very vulnerable to stress which makes it lose its brain cells. The hippocampus has to do with memory, learning, and emotion. As it happens, a ketogenic diet promotes the codification of genes which creates mitochondria in the hippocampus, making more energy available. A larger mitochondrial load and more energy means more reserve to withstand much more stress.
In some animal models, there is a 50% increase in the total number of mitochondria in the hippocampus, resulting in more brain ATP. Other animal studies show how communication between brain cells in the hippocampus would remain smooth for 60% longer when exposed to a stressful stimulus compared to their counterparts who didn’t had a ketogenic diet. This is very important since too much stress can damage the hippocampus and its capacity to retrieve information, making you “absent-minded” or “brain-scattered”, as well as affecting the ability of your prefrontal cortex to think and manage behavior.
A ketogenic diet also increases levels of the calming neurotransmitter – GABA which then serves to calm down the overexcitation which is at the base of major neurodegenerative diseases, but also anxiety and other mood problems. A ketogenic diet also increases antioxidant pathways that level the excess production of free radicals from a toxic environment. It also enhances anti-inflammatory pathways.
Ketosis also cleans our cells from proteins that act like “debris” and which contribute to aging by disrupting a proper functioning of the cell. It basically does this by what is known as autophagy which preserves the health of cells and tissues by replacing outdated and damaged cellular components with fresh ones. This prevents degenerative diseases, aging, cancer, and protects you against microbial infections.A ketogenic diet not only rejuvenates you, it also makes a person much less susceptible to viruses and bacterial infections. This is very relevant due to the increasing number of weird viral and bacterial infections that seem to be incoming from our upper atmosphere (for more information see New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection), or due to high levels of radiation that creates more pathogenic strains (see Detoxify or Die: Natural Radiation Protection Therapies for Coping With the Fallout of the Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown). Either or, we are more vulnerable than ever due to the state of our mitochondria. But we can prepare for the worst with ketosis.
Ketone-enhanced autophagy is very important because autophagy can target viruses and bacteria that grow inside cells which are very problematical. Intracellular viruses and bacteria can lead to severe mitochondrial dysfunction and ketosis remains by far our best chance against them.
Ketone bodies production through intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet is the most promising treatment for mitochondrial dysfunction.The longevity benefits seen caloric restriction research is due to the fact that our bodies shift to a fat burning metabolism within our mitochondria. With a ketogenic diet, we go into a fat burning metabolism without restricting our caloric intake.
Ketosis deals effectively with all the problems of a diet rich in carbs – the one recommended by mainstream science: anxiety, food cravings, irritability, tremors, and mood problems among others. It is a crime to discourage the consumption of a high fat diet considering that a ketogenic diet shrinks tumors on human and animal models, and enhances our brain’s resiliency against stress and toxicity.
In addition to increasing the production of our body’s natural valium – GABA – the increased production of acetyl-CoA generated from the ketone bodies also drives the Krebs cycle to increase mitochondrial NADH (reduced nicotinamide adenine nucleotide) which our body uses in over 450 vital biochemical reactions – including the cell signaling and assisting of the ongoing DNA repair. Because the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate is more energy rich than pyruvate, it produces more ATP. Ketosis also enhances the production of important anti-oxidants that deal with toxic elements from our environments, including glutathione.
Mitochondria from the hippocampus of ketogenic diet-fed animals are also resistant to mtDNA damage and are much less likely to commit cell suicide –apoptosis- at inappropriate times.
As Douglas C. Wallace, PhD, Director of the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine says, “the ketogenic diet may act at multiple levels: It may decrease excitatory neuronal activity, increase the expression of bioenergetic genes, increase mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative energy production, and increase mitochondrial NADPH production, thus decreasing mitochondrial oxidative stress.”
Keto-adaptation results in marked changes in how we construct and maintain optimum membrane (“mem-brain”) composition, not only because of the healthy fats we provide through the diet, but also because of less free radical production and inflammatory mediators, along with more production of anti-oxidants. It is really the ideal balanced state.
Moreover, you might want to keep in mind this excerpt from Human Brain Evolution: The Influence of Freshwater and Marine Food Resources:
“There are two key advantages to having ketone bodies as the main alternative fuel to glucose for the human brain. First, humans normally have significant body fat stores, so there is an abundant supply of fatty acids to make ketones. Second, using ketones to meet part of the brain’s energy requirement when food availability is intermittent frees up some glucose for other uses and greatly reduces both the risk of detrimental muscle breakdown during glucose synthesis, as well as compromised function of other cells dependent on glucose, that is, red blood cells. One interesting attribute of ketone uptake by the brain is that it is four to five times faster in newborns and infants than in adults. Hence, in a sense, the efficient use of ketones by the infant brain means that it arguably has a better fuel reserve than the adult brain. Although the role of ketones as a fuel reserve is important, in infants, they are more than just a reserve brain fuel – they are also the main substrate for brain lipid synthesis.
I have hypothesized that evolution of a greater capacity to make ketones coevolved with human brain expansion. This increasing capacity was directly linked to evolving fatty acid reserves in body fat stores during fetal and neonatal development. To both expand brain size and increase its sophistication so remarkably would have required a reliable and copious energy supply for a very long period of time, probably at least a million, if not two million, years. Initially, and up to a point, the energy needs of a somewhat larger hominin brain could be met by glucose and short – term glucose reserves such as glycogen and glucose synthesis from amino acids. As hominins slowly began to evolve larger brains after having acquired a more secure and abundant food supply, further brain expansion would have depended on evolving significant fat stores and having reliable and rapid access to the fuel in those fat stores. Fat stores were necessary but were still not sufficient without a coincident increase in the capacity for ketogenesis. This unique combination of outstanding fuel store in body fat as well as rapid and abundant availability of ketones as a brain fuel that could seamlessly replace glucose was the key fuel reserve for expanding the hominin brain, a reserve that was apparently not available to other land – based mammals, including nonhuman primates.”
It is indisputable that a ketogenic diet has protective effects in our brains. With all the evidence of its efficacy in mitochondrial dysfunction, it can be applied for all of us living in a highly stressful and toxic environment. Ketone bodies are healing bodies that helped us evolve and nowadays our mitochondria are always busted in some way or another since the odds in this toxic world are against us. Obviously, there are going to be people with such damaged mtDNA or with mutations they were born with, who can’t modify their systems (i.e. defects on L-carnitine metabolism), but even in some of those cases, they can halt or slow down further damage. Our healthy ancestors never had to deal with the levels of toxicity that we live nowadays and nevertheless, they ate optimally. Considering our current time and environment, the least we can do is eat optimally for our physiology.
The way to have healing ketone bodies circulating in our blood stream is to do a high fat, restricted carb and moderated protein diet. Coupled with intermittent fasting which will enhance the production of ketone bodies, and resistance training which will create mitochondria with healthier mtDNA, we can beat the odds against us.
What is considered nowadays a “normal diet” is actually an aberration based on the corruption of science which benefits Big Agra and Big Pharma. If we would go back in time to the days before the modern diet became normalized by corporative and agricultural interests, we will find that ketosis was the normal metabolic state. Today’s human metabolic state is aberrant. It is time to change that.
A research member of sott.net’s forum has diabetes type 1 and is doing the ketogenic diet. On normal circumstances, diabetics (including type I) report amazing results on a low-carbohydrate diet. See Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetics Solution by Richard K. Bernstein, MD (Little, Brown and Company: 2007).
It varies among each person, but the general range is between 0 and 70 grams of carbs plus moderate intake of protein, between 0.8 and 1.5 grams of protein per kg of ideal body weight. Pregnant women and children should not have their protein restricted.
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If the genetic code is the hardware for life, the epigenetic code is software that determines how the hardware behaves.
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Douglas C. Wallace, Weiwei Fan, and Vincent Procaccio. Mitochondrial Energetics and Therapeutics Annu Rev Pathol. 2010; 5: 297–348. | <urn:uuid:c4779b4a-7a3f-4aaa-9870-c90c9cd6c25d> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | http://health-matrix.net/2013/08/09/the-ketogenic-diet-an-overview/comment-page-1/ | 2019-08-22T17:16:44Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027317274.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20190822151657-20190822173657-00530.warc.gz | en | 0.935747 | 8,077 |
2018–19 Korean peace process
The 2018–19 Korean peace process was initiated in order to resolve the long-term Korean conflict and denuclearize the Korean peninsula. A series of summits were held between North Korea's Kim Jong-un, South Korea's Moon Jae-in, and Donald Trump of the United States. In parallel to this, a number of cultural exchanges began.
|Date||since January 2018|
|Organized by|| Chairman Kim Jong-un|
President Moon Jae-in
President Donald Trump
President Xi Jinping
President Vladimir Putin
|Participants|| North Korea|
In 1945, at the end of World War II, Korea was divided. In 1950, war broke out between North and South Korea. The United States intervened to defend the South and has continued a military presence to the present day. A cease fire ended the fighting in 1953, but no official peace treaty has been signed. Frequent clashes have occurred between both sides to this day.
At the end of the Cold War, North Korea lost its supporters in the Soviet Bloc. In December 1991 North and South Korea made an accord, the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, Exchange and Cooperation, pledging non-aggression and cultural and economic exchanges. They also agreed to prior notification of major military movements and established a military hotline, and to work on replacing the armistice with a "peace regime".
In 1994, concern over North Korea's nuclear program led to the Agreed Framework between the US and North Korea. In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung announced a Sunshine Policy towards North Korea. An Inter-Korean summit was held in 2000. Continuing concerns about North Korea's development of nuclear missiles led in 2003 to the six-party talks that included North Korea, South Korea, the US, Russia, China, and Japan. In 2006, however, North Korea resumed testing missiles and on October 9 conducted its first nuclear test. A second inter-Korean summit was held in 2007. By 2017, estimates of North Korea's nuclear arsenal ranged between 15 and 60 bombs, probably including hydrogen bombs. In the opinion of analysts, the Hwasong-15 missile is capable of striking anywhere in the United States.
Thaw at the Winter GamesEdit
In May 2017 Moon Jae-in was elected President of South Korea with a promise to return to the Sunshine Policy. In his New Year address for 2018, North Korean leader, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Jong-un proposed sending a delegation to the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea. The Seoul–Pyongyang hotline was reopened after almost two years. At the Winter Olympics, North and South Korea marched together in the opening ceremony and fielded a united women's ice hockey team. As well as the athletes, North Korea sent an unprecedented high-level delegation, headed by Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong-un, and President Kim Yong-nam, and including performers like the Samjiyon Orchestra. The delegation passed on an invitation to President Moon to visit North Korea. Together a performance North Korea Orchestra's performance at the Olympics also marked the first time since 2006 that any North Korean artist performed in South Korea. A North Korean art troupe also performed in two separate South Korean cities, including Seoul, in honor of the Olympic games as well. The North Korean ship which carried the art troupe, Man Gyong Bong 92, was also the first North Korean ship to arrive in South Korea since 2002.
Following the Olympics, authorities of the two countries raised the possibility that they could host the 2021 Asian Winter Games together. On 1 April, South Korean K-pop stars performed a concert in Pyongyang titled "Spring is Coming", which was attended by Kim Jong-un and his wife. Meanwhile, propaganda broadcasts stopped on both sides. The K-pop stars were part of a 160-member South Korean art troupe which performed in North Korea in early April 2018. It also marked the first time since 2005 that any South Korean artist performed in North Korea.
April 2018 inter-Korean summitEdit
On 27 April, a summit took place between Moon and Kim in the South Korean zone of the Joint Security Area. It was the first time since the Korean War that a North Korean leader had entered South Korean territory. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in met at the line that divides Korea. The summit ended with both countries pledging to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They also vowed to declare an official end to the Korean War within a year. As part of the Panmunjom Declaration which was signed by leaders of both countries, both sides also called for the end of longstanding military activities in the region of the Korean border and a reunification of Korea. In 2018, a majority of South Koreans approved the new relationship. Also, the leaders agreed to work together to connect and modernise their railways.
May 2018 inter-Korean summitEdit
Moon and Kim met on May 26 to discuss Kim's upcoming summit with Trump. The summit led to further meetings between North and South Korean officials during June. On June 1, officials from both countries agreed to move forward with the military and Red Cross talks. They also agreed to reopen a jointly operated liaison office in Kaesong that the South had shut down in February 2016 after a North Korean nuclear test. The second meeting, involving the Red Cross and military, was held on June 22 at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort, where it was agreed that family reunions would resume.
2018 North Korea–United States Singapore SummitEdit
Donald Trump met with Kim Jong-un on June 12, 2018, in Singapore, in the first summit meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea. They signed a joint statement, agreeing to security guarantees for North Korea, new peaceful relations, reaffirmation of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, recovery of soldiers' remains, and follow-up negotiations between high-level officials. Immediately following the summit, Trump announced that the US would discontinue "provocative" joint military exercises with South Korea, and he wishes to bring the U.S. forces back home at some point, but he said that was not part of the Singapore agreement.
Aftermath of Singapore summitEdit
Pompeo's subsequent visits to North KoreaEdit
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On July 6–7, Pompeo travelled to North Korea for the third time to continue the negotiations with General Kim Yong-chol, Kim's right-hand man. After the meeting, Pompeo stated that the talks had been productive and that progress had been made "on almost all of the central issues". However, the North Korean state media criticized the meeting soon after, saying the U.S. had shown a "gangster-like attitude" and calling the demands of the Trump administration "deeply regrettable". Pompeo delivered a letter from Kim to Trump, in which the latter expressed his hope for successful implementation of the US-North Korea Joint Statement and reaffirmed his will for improving the relations between the countries.
Pompeo announced on August 23, 2018, that he would return to North Korea the following week for the fourth round of talks. The following day, Trump tweeted that he had asked Pompeo not to make the trip because he felt "we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula". Concerning the cancellation of Pompeo’s planned North Korea trip, Vox summarized the background based on the reports by the Washington Post and CNN that North Korea delivered an irate letter to Pompeo and the letter was shown to Trump in the Oval Office on Friday, and Trump tweeted the cancellation of Pompeo's trip. The message from DPRK was North Korea's evident disappointment as Washington had shown no real eagerness to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha urged continued U.S.-DPRK talks despite Trump's cancellation of Pompeo's trip. Kang spoke to Pompeo by telephone on August 25, and expressed concern over the cancellation of the trip while calling for continued discussions on peace and resolution of North Korea’s nuclear program. Kang also stated “it is more imperative to concentrate diplomatic efforts on the faithful fulfilling of what has been agreed in the 2018 Trump-Kim and the inter-Korean summit while sustaining the energy for talks on the long-term standpoint”. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono revealed appreciation for Pompeo’s “prompt communication” with South Korea, and said Japan would be pleased to cooperate with the U.S. for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Return of remains of US soldiersEdit
On July 27 North Korea handed over 55 boxes of human remains, thus starting to fulfill their pledge in the Singapore declaration. The remains were saluted in a ceremony in their honor by US soldiers. More than 36,000 American troops died during the Korean War, but some 7,700 remains unaccounted for, including 5,300 believed to have died in North Korea. 220 remains were recovered during the years 1996-2005. North Korea reported to the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that they couldn't be sure how many individuals were represented in each of the 55 boxes. After the failure of the Hanoi Summit, the US suspended the program. As of May 2019, six US servicemen had been identified from the remains.
Destruction of missile test siteEdit
On July 24, it was reported that North Korea had begun to dismantle a rocket launching and testing site near Tonchang, an action which Kim had pledged to Trump. South Korean President Moon called the move "a good sign for North Korea’s denuclearization". The North Korea monitoring specialist group 38 North found that the Sohae Station, a satellite-launch site in North Korea, was being demolished. Satellite imagery shows that several significant structures were destroyed: a missile-launching stand and a building near a launchpad for satellites. 38 North suggested that it is an essential beginning step towards achieving a commitment made by Kim Jong Un at the June 12 Singapore Summit. On August 7, there was more progress on dismantling facilities at the Sohae Satellite and Missile Launching Station; it entails the demolition of the test stand’s concrete foundations, launch pad’s gantry tower and pad foundation. While the previous dismantlement of the vertical engine test stand, on July 23, represents a fulfillment of Chairman Kim’s arrangement with President Trump conducted publicly during the post-Singapore Summit press conference, activity at the launch pad and concrete foundation appear to exceed that pledge. These activities, however, must be viewed cautiously as “principal steps” since neither is presently permanent or irreversible. Concerning 38 North's scrutiny, it would characterize more durable and irreversible actions as there is no identified facility with equivalent capabilities elsewhere in the DPRK.
Negotiation process between US and DPRKEdit
South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has said that she had "considerable" consultations over the issue of the declaration to a formal end of the 1950-53 Korean war with the Chinese and U.S. foreign ministers. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "everyone can announce a declaration ending the war if they do not want the war to happen again". North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said he was “alarmed” by U.S. insistence on maintaining sanctions until North Korea denuclearizes and what he said was U.S. reluctance to declare a formal end to the Korean War. United States Forces in Korea maintains several nuclear bomber fighters and DPRK is demanding USA safety guarantee for giving up nuclear weapon programs of Pyongyang.
On August 29, The Atlantic reported on an interview with Moon Chung In, a South Korean special envoy. His understanding is that the diplomatic team of Mike Pompeo is having difficulties discussing with the defense team National Security Adviser John Bolton. This divided stance between the US diplomatic team and the US defense team may have played a significant role in the delay of the signing of the promised peace declaration. The Hill reported on the U.S. president's verbal agreement with DPRK to end the Korean War on both the June 1 meeting at the White House, and during the summit held in Singapore. However, soon after the summit meeting, the U.S. demanded denuclearization from North Korea before signing on the Peace Declaration document.
North Korean reactionEdit
The North Korea monitoring group 38 North states that, in the past five years, the DPRK has moved from an "all for the military" approach to an "all for the economy" approach. It states that this fits into this wider picture that Kim's widely publicized "on-the-spot guidances" in July 2018 were exclusively economy-related and that North Korean state media reporting about these inspections generated enormous attention in the West because of Kim's repeated and open criticisms of sloppiness and bad economic performance on the part of the officials involved. Kim also explains his focus by conducting "on-the-spot guidance” tours of the several farms, factories and construction sites.
South Korea announced on 23 June 2018 that it would not conduct annual military exercises with the US in September, and would also stop its own drills in the Yellow Sea, in order to not provoke North Korea and to continue a peaceful dialog. On July 1, 2018, South and North Korea resumed ship-to-ship radio communication, which could prevent accidental clashes between South and North Korean military vessels around the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West (Yellow) Sea. On 17 July 2018, South and North Korea fully restored their military communication line on the western part of the peninsula.
South Korea and North Korea competed as "Korea" in some events at the 2018 Asian Games. The co-operation extended to the film industry, with South Korea giving their approval to screen North Korean movies at the country's local festival while inviting several moviemakers from the latter. In August 2018 reunions of families divided since the Korean War took place at Mount Kumgang in North Korea.
South Korea’s defense ministry announced that North and South Korea initially agreed on the plans to reduce guard posts and equipment along the DMZ on its border with DPRK. The announcement came after that Pyongyang has begun dismantling critical facilities at a satellite launching station in the accomplishment of a pledge by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Singapore summit with President Trump. U.S. General Vincent Brooks responded, "I have some concerns about what that means militarily for the ability to defend along the Military Demarcation Line". However, he assessed the risk as being to "a reasonable degree" and said that the move represents an outstanding opportunity to reduce tensions on the DMZ.
Third inter-Korean summit in 2018Edit
On 13 August, the South Korea Blue House announced that President Moon would attend the third inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong-un at Pyongyang in September. In Pyongyang, both leaders signed an agreement titled the "Pyongyang Joint Declaration of September 2018". The agreement called for the removal of landmines planted at the Joint Security Area at North-South border. The DPRK agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in the presence of international experts if the U.S. takes correlative action. Moon became the first South Korean leader to give a speech to the North Korean public when he addressed 150,000 spectators at the Arirang Festival on 19 September.
On September 5, during the meeting with South Korean special envoy Chung Eun-yong about the third Inter Korean summit, Kim Jong-un declared that he wants to accomplish the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula before the US leader Donald Trump completes his first term, which is January 2021.
North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit, 2019Edit
Donald Trump met with Kim Jong-un on February 27–28, 2019, in Hanoi, Vietnam, in the second summit meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea. On February 28, 2019, the White House announced that the summit was cut short and that no agreement was reached, with Trump later elaborating that it was because North Korea wanted an end to all sanctions. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho asserted that the country only sought a partial lifting of five United Nations sanctions placed on North Korea during 2016–17.
North Korean–United States exchange of lettersEdit
On June 12, 2019, Trump received a letter from Kim Jong-un which he described as "beautiful". On June 26, 2019, it was announced that talks were underway to hold a third U.S.–North Korean summit. Trump previously tweeted in April 2019 that a third summit "would be good". On June 22, 2019, an undated photo was also released by the North Korean government of Kim Jong-un reading a letter from Trump. Kim described the letter as "excellent" and described Trump as the "supreme leader" of the United States. However, Kim later denied reports of continued talks with the United States, and relations with the U.S. State Department still remained hostile.
Impromptu North Korea–United States DMZ meeting, 2019Edit
On June 30, 2019, Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in met with Kim Jong-un at the DMZ. The meeting was reportedly the result of an impromptu Trump tweet suggesting a possible meeting with Kim at the DMZ "just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!". The impromptu meeting has been reported as historic as it was the first time a sitting U.S. president has set foot in North Korea; former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton had previously visited North Korea after they left office. Before crossing into North Korea, Trump and Kim, who stated in English "its good to see you again", "I never expected to meet you at this place" and "you are the first US President to cross the border," met and shook hands. Both men then briefly crossed the larger border line before crossing into South Korea.
After meeting at the border, Trump, Kim and Moon Jae-in entered the Inter-Korean House of Freedom for approximately one hour. A result of the brief meeting was that both U.S. and North Korea agreed to set up teams to resume denuclearization talks, which had previously stalled at the Hanoi Summit earlier in the year.
Deterioration of relationsEdit
During 2019, North Korea conducted a series of short–range missile tests, while the US and South Korea took part in joint military drills in August. On 16 August 2019, North Korea's ruling party made a statement criticizing the South for participating in the drills and for buying US military hardware. The statement said that talks with President Moon were over.
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Description After his dick came in contact with an experimental substance, high schooler Vincent starts slowly getting bigger… first in his crotch and then other places, too. Thomas, a tall, handsome jock, likes teasing him about it at every opportunity.
I’m Vincent. I’m in high school but I work after classes three days a week for a biotech firm not too far from my home.
What happened was this. My dick got some sort of contamination on it, I don’t know if it was a virus or a medicine, I was cleaning up, reached inside my pants to scratch my balls, finished up and went home.
Everything seemed normal for a day or two. I was horny, like always. I was hungry, like always. It was the third day at school in PE class that I first noticed my dick was bigger. It wasn’t giant, it was just a little bit bigger. Felt a bit heftier, looked about a quarter inch longer. No big deal.
Well, everything went along okay for a few days after that, until the next week, when Thomas said to me, “Whoa! When did you start packing that?”
We were in the locker room. It wasn’t any big deal. He was just teasing, using locker room banter. I looked down of course. I was holding my underwear in one hand and my cock was flaccid, hanging down. It was a bit bigger, I’ll grant you that. Nothing crazy but maybe 4” long and 6” circumference flaccid. I figured I wasn’t all the way soft so I dressed quickly. I hated popping a boner around other guys—it made my being gay so much more obvious. I thought about it for the first time though, that maybe I was gonna end up as one of the few guys with big horse dicks. What would that be like?
And yeah, when I pulled up my briefs, there was indeed a nice round curve to my package. I looked good. Although the tightness that I felt in my basket should have been a warning, but who could guess what really happened next? I did notice my little package was overfull in the tight small briefs, and the hem was pulling away from my legs, cause my package was pushing out. I figured these must have shrunk with age. They were old. Not old, but definitely not new. I figured I should get some new.
That night I was feeling horny so I jerked off, and it felt great. I mean, it usual did, but this time it was electric and the orgasm lasted a good long time. I was dry pumping for a while, my balls were so emptied! I slept good, I think.
I jerked off every night, several times some evenings, and I started to shoot a lot more than I usually did. But I didn’t really think about it. I figured my balls were just catching up with my dick. Which was just on the big side of the average scale, so that was awesome, especially as I wasn’t such a tall guy. I liked having my big 7” dick in my hand. Very hot.
It was Thomas of course who noticed I was changing. It was about two weeks later, and I had to dress in the locker room.
I heard a wolf whistle. It was Thomas. We were right back where we’d been two weeks ago. Except now my cock was definitely bigger, not quite 6” soft, but way more than 5” for sure. It was noticeable. Maybe 6.5” circumference. I was astonished, though, because when I jerked off the night before it didn’t feel any bigger to me, so maybe it grew overnight? But how could it grow from 4” flaccid to 6” flaccid overnight??
“Dang, Vincent!” said Thomas. “Now you’re packing! Or are you just getting hard for me?”
I blushed. I could easily get hard for Thomas and he knew it. He was a trim smooth sexy cocky jock man-teen stud. And he knew it! But when I pulled up my new underwear, danged if that subtle curve to the bulge wasn’t a lot more pronounced. Thomas whistled at me again. Once again I felt really tight there, and I noticed the elastic was straining to keep the fabric to my legs. Hmmm.
That night, I was 8.75” long when I was jerking off. I measured. It was big, you know, I felt like I hit the jackpot, but it was also funny because I was a quarter-inch shy of 9” for real. I laughed at myself. Most guys would kill for a cock like the one I felt throbbing and pulsing in my hand. Dang, it felt like it was growing! I actually measured again. Nope.
But It was so hot having a bigger cock. An inch can make a big difference—I know. And yes, I measured with a ruler. And now I wasn’t just an inch bigger, I was almost two inches bigger, seemingly overnight!!
So now I was ecstatic. I mean, I had a big dick. Suddenly I cared about what underwear I wore, and how my trousers and shorts were cut, and how my ass looked in my jeans, etc. Cause there was no denying it. I was one of the big boys now. Maybe a junior club member, but definitely a card-carrying member of the “Big Dick don’t you wish yours was this big? Club”. We didn’t have cards. We didn’t need them. Ha Ha.
Oh, I guess I should mention my balls had grown to 3” long at the biggest diameter. They were—pretty impressive. I’d seen bigger online on porn sites, but I’d seen bigger cocks too.
And I was only about 5’9” tall too. I really wished I was taller, just another inch, even, but… that was my height.
I was a sophomore, by the way, so it wasn’t unusual to still be a growing boy. I also had to start shaving regularly about then. And my dick looked great in my trousers. At one point my Dad said something to me about buying trousers that were cut to hide my 6” softie. I think it even looked better covered over so it kept you guessing. Ha ha.
So as usual when everything is going well, then it doesn’t. I woke up one night that week in agony. I had pain in all my muscles, even my bones had a sharp pain. I called out for my Mom because I couldn’t stand up.
She gave me some ibuprofen which dulled the pain and let me sleep. I learned pretty quickly to take a few pills before bed each night.
“Growing pains” is what the doctor diagnosed. A bit of a serious case, but with pain killers it should subside. At the end of a month of this, I was 3 inches taller. Yes, I’d popped up from 5’9” to 6’ tall. As much as I hated the experience, I liked being taller. Made me a faster runner, and my muscle filled in a little; plus I saw that my treasure trail had thickened and now there was a tiny bit of hair on my chest.
Thomas teased me about my growth, of course, but the doctor said it wasn’t uncommon for a teen to grow 2” taller in 30 days! I thought maybe I’d broken the record, but then I realised I was probably already an inch taller before the pains set in- I just didn’t know it. It was weird, because my family doesn’t have a lot of tall people in it. Or any. So at 6’ tall I was the tallest. No big deal.
Thomas was 6’4” tall. Big Tom, he was called, but not to his face. Not a giant but a giant for a sophomore. He still looked down on me by 4” so he could afford to tease me, I suppose.
The funny thing is that while all that was going on, I completely forgot about my dick. I just wasn’t in the mood because I was constantly in pain. But at the end of another month and I was feeling better, one night I got very horny and started to jerk off. Fuck me. My cock was damn big. I mean, it was more than 7” long just hanging, and it was thick. Then I got an erection for the first time in a month I think. I was well past the 10” mark on the ruler. My eyes bugged out I think as my cock continued to grow next to the ruler I held to it. 10¾ to be exact. My cock was one of the biggest I’d ever heard of or even imagined!
I did a bit of internet searching and discovered I was way bigger than the normal range. Okay. So I didn’t know what to think about that. I mean, I was bigger than 7” long soft and although soft still very thick flaccid. So that looked okay normal in the locker room. I mean, I wasn’t swinging a 12” long floppy! I have to say my erect circumference was about 7¼”. Crazy right? I jerked off a lot.
Because the other thing is my libido returned times ten. I mean, every part of me was horny. My toes were horny. My ears. I mean I was suffused with desire and anything made me think of that one thing… and then to try not to pop a full boner in my trousers at school!
So I hooked up with some guys. I thought, you know, we’ll make out a bit, and then we can jerk off together, or maybe do some oral… and the next thing I knew I was buying Trojan XXL condoms. I mean, they fit. Condoms are expensive for a teenager, you know?
So I go into the CVS and I have to ask them to unlock the cabinet which is mortifying enough, and then I take the XXL condoms up and set them down at the register and the guy who’s there sees what I’m buying and smirks, like he thinks I’m buying the wrong size, you know, and then he glances down at my crotch and that wipes the smile off of his face and suddenly I’ve got a big smile.
See, I was leaning forward onto the counter, and it was just right under my dick height on my body, so without knowing it my entire package was innocently thrust forward over the counter edge all sorta just laying there looking big and impressive. I stepped back and I could feel my huge nuts and cock fall down inside my slacks. I didn’t watch it, I felt it while I watched the counter clerk’s face watching my crotch. This soon became one of my favourite pastimes, just showing off a bit, and watching the expression on people’s faces. Especially gay men. That was fun.
So then just as I was about to leave the store, I asked the clerk if they had XXXL size condoms if these are too small?
“I would write to the manufacturer and ask…” he said faintly.
“Good idea,” I said, “Thanks!”
I knew that I was getting taller and maturing and so on, and I knew I had a big dick, maybe even a really big dick, but I didn’t think there was anything not normal about any of it.
The first inkling I had that things were off was when I was dressing a couple of weeks later and I noticed my pants leg cuffs on my ankle were like two inches too short.
The second inkling I had was when I went to PE class and Thomas was there and I was almost as tall as him. Not quite, but close.
The third inkling I had was when I was dressing and Thomas looked down and blurted out, “Vin… your cock is huge!”
“What, again?” I thought he was joking but he was staring.
I looked down. My flaccid cock was hanging about 9” and thick as a coke can. What happened to my 7” flaccid junk? and then Thomas said, “And your balls are huge, dude.”
That was a succinct summation. I looked down and, yes, my balls were huge, dude. Wow. I’d been getting taller and bigger and just didn’t notice it although I wondered if it didn’t happen to grow very fast like in the last day or so? Did this happen since last night? It must have grown very fast overnight.
Anyways, I was going online, and hooking up, you know, and I always thought that I wouldn’t go too far with anyone, but the next thing I knew they saw my “Oh my God your cock is huge!” dick and demanded I fuck them. I certainly had the stamina. But like I said, the condoms are expensive for teenagers.
I tried not to permanently wreck anyone’s ass when I was fucking them. They sure seemed to enjoy it, even if it hurt a bit. I was happy to help. Anyways I was getting more hair on my belly and chest, and arms and legs… had to shave every day now too. My 9” flaccid cock topped out at 13”, and I let a lot of my internet dates measure it. They really enjoyed that, the size queens. Sometimes I had to ghost people who wouldn’t leave me alone.
Thomas never made a move, but was always complimenting and teasing me.
It was about six weeks later and I was 6’6” tall when I started to wonder. See, my cock continued to grow a bit, but I started to get nightly fevers. I could feel it burning in my muscles as I lay in bed. I took a giant box fan into my room, slept only in my underwear, and blasted my body with the cooling air so I could sleep. My grades sucked because I was always feeling sick or sleepy or starving. I did go to the gym which was now my safe space. I’d push a lot of weight, which made me feel good, but only for a few hours. I wasn’t dating anyone. This went on for a couple of months before I started to feel better. Then one day it happened. I was at the gym and for once was feeling okay.
Thomas was around and he actually gasped when we were changing in the locker room. I tried to change fast, but it was hard manuevering that jockstrap over my thighs and I was always feeling clumsy cause I was not used to being so tall. So I thought Thomas was teasing, which I didn’t mind, but I looked down and I had 11” swinging soft, thicker than a coke can, and my balls had expanded a lot. Like another inch in diameter. or more. This was crazy I knew the night before I was 9” soft!!! And my balls weren’t this big. I could almost feeling my cock and balls pulsing bigger. I knew I was imagining it.
“Vin you are …..” Thomas said.
“Bigger than average.” I finished for him.
He whistled. “Vin that is a giant cock! Does it get hard?”
“Yes, it works just fine!” I pulled up the jockstrap, packed my balls and cock into it, and pulled up the gym shorts.
Later I grabbed two protein shakes at the juice bar and was working on finishing the second when I saw him. This tall muscle stud across the gym floor. Dude was jacked! Arms, chest, ass, legs were huge, and I started to wander over to see the new guy. I was just gonna do a drive by check him out but he was heading my way. I got to within thirty feet of the guy, He was even more impressive up close. Huge dick bulge too, his trailed down his gym shorts almost to the leg hem. Then I stopped in my tracks and so did he. We stared at each other for a second. Dude had major pec cleavage. But something wasn’t right. My brain did this flip and I realised I was staring at this stud in the mirror, I was looking at my reflection. I freaked a bit, I admit it.
See in my head I was 5’9” still, and I knew I had a big dick but I didn’t realise how much it showed. Well it was big. But I thought it was big when I was naked big, not big as fuck 60 feet across the gym floor in a jockstrap and training shorts huge big! But I also thought of myself as a teenager, but I was looking at a fully mature muscle man in the reflection. I flexed my arms. I couldn’t believe it. I mean I knew I had been making gains but I didn’t know I’d been making gains.
Right then Thomas slapped his hand on my shoulder and asked how my workout was going and I should stop staring at myself in the mirror.
“I had no idea I looked like this.” I said.
“I know, you’re adorable.” He laughed. “I wondered when you were gonna figure it out.”
So that meant measurements. I was just over 6’6” tall, and I weighed an astonishing 265. I must be pretty dense to weigh that, I mean, I was hugely muscled but not like a cheap internet morph. Last time I’d even thought to check was about a year ago when I was barely 5’9” tall and 127 wringing wet.
Upper arms were 22”. I didn’t know they got that big. I was tall so it didn’t look ridiculous.
I sat down by the juice bar and Thomas ordered himself a smoothie. As I sat there I realised as people came and went they all stared at me until l looked at them and then they looked away quickly with that thousand-yard stare people do when you catch them staring. Well, I guess it had been going on for a while. But I noticed that they looked at my upper body, which was huge, then my crotch, and then finally my face.
“Having body image issues?” Thomas plopped down across from me at the table.
“Sudden screaming fits of what the fuck is more like it. Last night I was hanging 9” soft like I have been for the last 4 weeks!”
“You really weren’t paying attention the last 4 weeks? No one grows like that overnight.”
“I’ve been feeling so lousy I really didn’t.”
“Hysterical. But now you’re feeling better?”
“Well, sort of like I’m more adjusted to it. But I’m only 17 years old and I look 27.”
“Uhh… not really. No one looks like you do at any age. You’re an outlier.”
“Oh, is that what I am?”
“Once I look that word up you’re gonna be in trouble.”
“It just means you’re unique!”
“I’m unique with a 10-inch soft cock!”
“Liar! I saw you getting dressed in the locker room. You’re swinging something like 11 inches soft and you know it.”
It was true so I didn’t have anything to say in rebuttal. Thomas just laughed and said to me finally something I didn’t know.
“Stop teasing me. You know I’ve been crushing on you for two years.”
“Oh, come on. I mean how can you not notice how hard I’ve been hitting on you? Then you started to grow up huge and I realised you were outta my league. But just friends is cool. I can live with that.” He stood up to exit.
“Would you please go out on a date with me?”
He looked at me with tears in his eyes but his voice was calm and he said, “Sure, that’d be cool. Chinese or Thai or?”
“Whatever you like.”
So then we started to argue about what restaurant, I mean, who had to choose, but I forced Thomas to pick. It was Indian. Which was cool. Turned out I liked Indian. But I guess I even liked the company more.
But I was getting ahead of myself. We waited two whole days to go on our date, for Friday night. I made sure we had reservations. I went and bought new clothes so I had something that fit well.
We met at his place and I drove. Fortunately it was a good day I didn’t feel so tired. His lips tasted like sandalwood or something when I kissed him later that night.
His hands were all over my new clothes. I was wearing a button down striped dark purple shirt and black stretch slacks. Simple, elegant, a bit bold. His hands were on my pecs, which he was feeling through my shirt. I admit it felt good. We’d walked out late onto the pier and found a bench.
Thomas giggled just a bit. I was very self-conscious, so I asked, “Why are you laughing?”
“Because I’m happy. I’m on a dream date with the hottest guy at school. Hell, the hottest guy in California.”
I realised he was sincere. I thought to myself I might have to get used to getting compliments.
“Hey, thank you, but you’re wrong,” I said.
“What?” Thomas looked worried for a second.
“I’m on a date with the hottest guy at school, so you must be wrong.”
“You like me? The way I look?”
“No, I really like the way you look. You go to the gym and take care of your body and you’re handsome and kind and a good friend and you even insisted on leaving an extra tip for the waiter.”
“So, money, that’s it, you’re after my tip money?”
“I’ll show you what I’m after.”
And then I kissed him very thoroughly with complete attention to him and I could feel him melt and fit next to me like he was made for that one thing only.
Later before we left the pier and “our bench” Thomas put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me again.
“You knew I was going on a date with you. You didn’t have to wear such tight clothing! I don’t know how you buttoned this shirt across this chest.”
He was right. The shirt was tighter than I realised. All my clothing was tight, but on my big muscles, it was to be expected. Although I remembered the shirt being more voluminous.
So no, we didn’t have sex that night, or the next, or the next. The fourth date we had a lot of sex but here’s the thing. I’d gone out with all those hookup dates and I didn’t care. With Thomas I wanted it to be right.
I was trying on shirts at home and nothing fit. There was that purple shirt. I pulled it on and the sleeve ripped over my upper arms. I tried to button it across my chest but I couldn’t get the button and buttonhole within two inches of each other. Five nights earlier this had fit me fine. I know.
I fortunately had time go buy a shirt that fit, it was just a powder blue but it matched my eyes and my color selections were limited at my new size.
Later back at Thomas’, his parents being gone for an overnight trip, We undressed each other.
He was beautiful.
He seemed to like me as well. When we got down to just our underwear we jumped in bed.. After a while of making out my cock was well on its way to a full erection, and Thomas was already hard as fuck with his 7-plus inches. So I peeled his underwear down and then he returned the favour.
“Holy fuck—your cock is huge!” said Thomas. He seemed surprised, but yes, I had a pretty big erection there. Then he put his hand on my cock. I put my hand on his cock.
“No, holy fuck your cock is huge!” I said to Thomas.
“Not like yours!”
“Yours is perfect.”
“You like it?”
“It’s beautiful, man.”
I was a bit self-conscious again. Having a 15” boner can do that. I wasn’t even all the way hard, and Thomas was massaging my massively thick root. “I’m sorry I’m such a freak,” I said.
Thomas just sorta did that little gasp of frustration he does when I say something dumb.
“Vin, you may not know this but I’m a complete size queen and you are my dream fantasy muscle horse hung stud!”
I was stunned. I believed him. He liked me the way I was.
“I—I didn’t know.” I said.
“I always liked you because I like you. But now not only do I get the man that I like I also get the man that I like the way I like him.”
“As long as you’re happy.”
“I like that you’re taller and stronger than me. Every day everyone expects me to be the big tough guy. But with you… I feel so safe in your arms.” He took the moment of stunned silence to step up to me and hug me. I finally got the idea and wrapped my huge arms around him.
“Squeeze me tight,” he said. So I did. “Not quite that tight,” he groaned.
“Don’t ever be sorry with me,” Tom said.
Our dicks were pressed together, and it felt good, my 15” against his almost 8” cock. He was naturally gifted you know. We both were, or so I thought. I looked down at him in my arms. I kinda blinked. I mean, I was about 2½” taller than Tom, but I seemed to be looking down on him from a much higher vantage. I mean, my eyes were about 5 or 6 inches taller than his eyes, it seemed. He had to look up to look at my face. I had to lean forward and down just a bit to kiss his lips. “Jesus,” said Tom. “How big are you gonna get?”
“I’m almost a Junior. So I’m probably done with my growth.”
“Right…” said Thomas. He did not sound convinced.
“But I’m gonna keep lifting,” I told him. “Seems this guy I like has a thing for muscle.”
He had the decency to blush. So cute! I flexed my bicep in his face and he kissed it and felt it and I flexed it tight. He shuddered and just about swooned right then.
Okay, so I was 6’10” tall. No big deal. Barely NBA height, you know? It was the other two things that really had me worried. And then the other other two things. See, my dick was suddenly bigger again a couple weeks later. About 16”. Soft it was a 12” floppy. I guess I ended up with one after all. But the thing is the other other thing was my muscles. I just kept piling on the muscle. I was completely ripped, my metabolism burned any fat to shreds. I weighed myself at 325 pounds at 6’10” tall. And my muscles were still growing. I could feel the burn in my muscle if I was sitting quietly or laying in bed at night. I talked to the other lifters at the gym, they didn’t experience anything like I did, but one older guy said it sounded like when he’d really been juicing when he was in his early 20’s. So I guess I had a naturally high steroid or testosterone or whatever level.
I thought about stopping the exercising but my body couldn’t tolerate it. I felt weak and feverish the one night when I didn’t work out. I could feel this incredible craving in my muscles and it even seemed to spread to my bones again.
I mention two sets of things… muscle and cock, and the other set was my balls. Which had kinda been small compared to my cock, no surprise, but they got sore and started to grow bigger pretty fast. I mean, they’d been kinda big normal I guess for the size of my cock, but two weeks after our sex date they were each a couple inches wider. My scrotum was full and churning and I have to say it was hot.
So that night when I didn’t work out, I grabbed a handful of painkillers and knocked them back. They worked, I finally slept under the big fan at the foot of my bed. I kinda had nightmare dreams that night, you know, almost waking up, my bones on fire, my muscles burning, the worst case of blue balls you can imagine, and it was like a sleep paralysis. I’d almost wake, then thrash a bit, then fall back to sleep for an hour until the next wave hit me.
The next morning I woke feeling like I really really really needed to go to the gym. I decided to skip school and I dressed in baggy basketball shorts and an 3XL muscle tee which seemed a bit tight, like it had shrunk a bit in the drier, but anyways I got in my car. slid the seat back a couple more inches, and headed to the gym. I was almost delirious when I walked in I was so happy. I immediately went to the Smith machine and loaded 6 plates on each side and started doing squats and deadlifts alternating set. The weight felt good but a bit light and I hadn’t even warmed up. So I loaded up two more plates on each side and that gave me something to push against. It felt so good. I kept working out, I had to use barbells for curls and tricep extensions and overhead presses, none of the machines or dumbbells were heavy enough, but the heavy compound moves were just what the doctor ordered. I worked until I was covered in a river of sweat and finally felt tired. My muscles and my bones felt better, even my junk stopped aching.
I walked over to stand in front of the cold air return with a handful of paper towels which I sopped up my sweat with. I stood there with the cold air blowing on me, drying off, and it felt great. Finally I felt recovered. I was going to go buy my usual 4 protein shakes at the juice bar, but when I turned, my shirt ripped. I heard it. Weird! I thought. Because this was an 3XL stringer muscle tee. I had purchased a few 4XL and 5XL, but those were too big. I turned to the mirror and my shorts ripped up the sides. My baggy basketball shorts were overstuffed with my quads. Weird, I mean, you know, I didn’t think that nylon shrank but I guess my sweat drenching it and the cold air shrank it. No big deal, I had a couple extra of everything in my gym bag.
I got in the shower and I turned the water to just barely warm and then I started drinking. The little stream from the drinking fountains wasn’t enough for me and it took forever and people had to wait so I just rehydrated in the shower. So I drank like 14 gallons of water- I’m kidding… it just felt like it but finally my thirst abated and I turned the water hot and sprayed my muscles. It was good to feel normal again you know? I had to duck under the shower head, the one in this stall was shorter even than normal. I should probably use the hand sprayer in the handicap stall I was thinking.
Finally I turned off the water and towelled down. It took me longer these days to dry myself. Hah! The hairy legs didn’t help either! My chest was still smooth but I had a treasure trail running up my abs that was threatening to turn into a forest. Ha ha.
I walked out into the locker room area, it was really empty because it was after 10am on a weekday, so I took a moment to check myself out in the mirror. I had a huge pump from my workout so my arms and chest and ass looked huge. My quads were as usual threatening to get so big I couldn’t walk straight, but even they looked pumped.
I walked to my locker and I noticed something. I used one of the top lockers ‘cause I was so tall, but I didn’t think I was as tall as the whole locker rack. It felt like… suddenly I kinda lost balance for a second and I felt myself stretching taller. I saw the locker in front of my nose going down like an elevator. Only I was going up! It stopped after a few minutes. I turned and looked into the mirror. I was definitely taller. Inches taller. I walked to the scale. I was 7’1” tall. Two days ago I’d been 6’10”. Now I weighed 385. That was huge. I was scared then I think for the first time, because I didn’t know how long this was going to continue and I had no control over it.
When I was sorting my clothes I looked at the torn stringer muscle tee that I’d worn today. It wasn’t an XXL. it was a 3XL. and that was too small on my body. I grabbed the 4XL I’d purchased and pulled it on. It was a bright red, so not inconspicuous. Not that I ever was. And it was tight on my body. My lats were threatening to split the shirt up the sides and my pecs were so big even the stringer straps were tight and ready to burst. I realised I had no other shirts that could possibly fit me so I went shopping at the big and tall men’s store.
That day when I went to work the company was suddenly out of business. The HR guy looked at me, blinked, but handed me a couple weeks’ severance pay.
I only had one button down shirt that fit, I took to wearing huge tee shirts or muscle t’s. People made a scene if I did that though. I mean, more so that usual. And I never took a rest day. too much growth if I did.
Now I was gonna need another job. But I was gonna see Thomas so that was great. That night Tom measured me. he liked that. My cock was now 13 fat inches soft and almost 18 inches hard. My arms were 26”.
When we’d cum about 7 times… okay, I came 7 times, Tom came twice, I was laying with Tom and he told me. “My dick is about an inch longer today than it was yesterday. And yeah I measured. So whatever you got… might be contagious!
I thought for a while about all the guys I’d fucked but I wore condoms until Tom and I were exclusive. “Hey, it’s okay, I will still feel the same about you!”
“I know… it’s just…”
“I was almost a foot taller than you before your dick started to grow. And my dick was big already… what if I grow proportionally?”
“That’s just more of you to love!”
Description After his dick came in contact with an experimental substance, high schooler Vincent starts slowly getting bigger… first in his crotch and then other places, too. Thomas, a tall, handsome jock, likes teasing him about it at every opportunity.
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|Huge changes: Book two by RdyRoger CGrow Hair Balls Cock Infect Musc MGrow Nonc PSD Grow Series Jason and Todd decide to help Mason, not suspecting that Mason will get an extra helping of wishes, or that Mason’s fantasies of love and growth will start affecting more than just his partners. Added Dec 2017|| (7)| | <urn:uuid:d6a366ee-f58a-4c42-ab40-ec89a2fd1f9e> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://www.metabods.com/stories/contamination | 2019-08-19T03:23:12Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027314641.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20190819032136-20190819054136-00370.warc.gz | en | 0.987875 | 8,565 |
In the pew racks in front of you, you’ll find copies of the holy Scriptures. Take a Bible if you would please and turn with me to the book of Exodus. If you’re using one of our church Bibles, you’ll find that on page – we’re going to turn to Exodus 32; you’ll find it on page 72. Exodus 32; page 72. We’ve been working our way through the book of Exodus in Sunday morning services. This is where we’ve come to. God has led Israel through the wilderness out of Egypt. They’ve been at Mount Sinai. Moses has been up on the mountain receiving the Law of God from the hand of God. Exodus 32 is sort of, “Meanwhile on the plains, here’s what’s really going on while Moses has been up on the mountain.” Here’s what the people are up to while Moses has been talking to God. Before we read the passage together, let’s bow our heads as we pray!
Lord, would You come to us now please and help us hear Your voice drowning out all the competing voices clamoring for our attention – misleading, distracting, demanding so much of our energy and focus. Help us in the midst of the den, at the cacophony of cultural voices pulling us every which way, help us to hear Your voice cutting through the storm and saying, “Peace, be still,” and calling us to Yourself. Would You speak like that through this part of Your Word today and glorify Your name among us? Would You show us Yourself, show us ourselves, and lead us to You? For we ask it in Your holy name. Amen.
Exodus 32 at verse 1. This is the Word of Almighty God:
“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.’ And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’’ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.’
But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, ‘O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’’ And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, ‘There is a noise of war in the camp.’ But he said, ‘It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.’ And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
And Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?’ And Aaron said, ‘Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.’
And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, ‘Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.’ And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’’ And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, ‘Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.’
The next day Moses said to the people, ‘You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’ So Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.’ But the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.’
Then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.”
Amen, and we give thanks to God that He has spoken in His holy, inerrant Word.
Over and over again we’ve heard this particular warning every hurricane season; we heard it at the last hurricane that was threatening the east coast just recently from the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, you remember. “This storm will kill you,” he said. The message was clear. “Listen to the evacuation warning. Get yourself and your family to safety. This storm will kill you.” And yet this time, like every time before it and every other time, the Weather Channel will interview people who live in a trailer at the beach who say, “It will blow over. I’m not worried and I’m not moving.” And then the storm passes and the cameras come back and the devastation is immense; sometimes the loss of life immense. Nobody likes to hear the warnings about a coming storm, nobody wants to take action, but if we don’t pay attention the results can be catastrophic nevertheless.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 at verse 6, the apostle Paul is reflecting actually on Exodus 32, that we just read together and the experience of the Israelites at the foot of the mountain. And he says, “These things took place as examples for us that we might not do evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written,” and then he quotes from our passage at verse 6, “’The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’ Now these things,” Paul says, “happened to them as an example written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.” In other words, Paul is telling us what we’re supposed to do with Exodus 32. He’s saying it is the governor’s warning. “Danger. This storm will kill you. Take action. Get to safety!” That’s what he’s saying. It’s a warning that we need to hear.
Now the particular issue in Exodus 32 is idolatry. The people made an idol, a golden calf, and they worship it. Most of us probably aren’t in the business of manufacturing icons and images with our hands and worshiping them. That might actually be part of your cultural background but for most of us in Jackson, Mississippi today we don’t make idols to worship. But don’t think that doesn’t mean you don’t have an idolatry problem. John Calvin famously said that “The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.” That is to say, long before we ever make something with our hands to worship in a religious ceremony, our hearts are busy making idols and they hide most effectively among our daily pleasures. They fester long in the secret recesses of our hearts and lives.
Pulitzer Prize winning author, Ernest Becker, argues in his book, The Denial of Death, that our need for self-worth is the condition for our life. “Every person,” he says, “is seeking” what he calls “cosmic significance.” In his view, “Our drive to find self-worth is so strong that whatever we base our identity and value on, we essentially deify.” That is, we make it into a god. And the Bible completely agrees with that assessment. Ezekiel 14:3, God is dealing with the problem of, “taking idols into our hearts.” Idolatry in Scripture is a heart problem. And that means that actually, all kinds of things can become idols for us. Paul says, for example in Colossians 3:5, “Covetousness is idolatry.” Or in Philippians 3:19 he talks about people whose “god is their belly.” Sex, money, children, work, sport, school – each of these and a thousand others besides can transform themselves into heart idols that we pursue and long for and find our deepest significance and value in. “Without them,” we tell ourselves, “we’re nothing. Life means nothing. Got to have it.”
And now suddenly the idols of the ancient peoples about which we read in the Scriptures in passages like this one now before us, their idols don’t seem quite to naïve and foolish after all, do they? They had sex gods and money gods and work gods and war gods; gods of power and gods of harvest. Everything the heart longs for, they had an idol to worship; they made into an idol. And so do we. Isn’t that the truth? So do we. Everything the heart longs for, we easily make into an idol. Whether you consider yourself religious or not, the truth is, you have an idolatry problem. Our hearts are hard-wired to run after things that are not God. And so we need the warning of Exodus 32 because it shows us what idolatry is like, it shows us what idolatry results in, and then it tells us the only refuge and safe place, the only hope for idolaters. It tells us about the nature and character of idolatry, the consequences of idolatry, and the only hope for idolaters.
The Nature of the Character of Idolatry
Let’s think about the nature of the character of idolatry first of all. Look at verses 1 to 6, please. Right away, if you’ll look at verse 1, you’ll see on the surface of the passage the absurdity of idolatry. Look at what they say to Aaron. “Up, make us gods that shall go before us.” Isn’t that absurd? With straight faces apparently not hearing the words as they come out of their mouths, they ask Aaron to make gods for them. A god that you make for yourself isn’t much of a god. It’s ridiculous. Actually, the absurdity of idolatry is one of the great themes of the whole Bible. The Bible teaches us that it is absurd to worship the creature, not the Creator. It’s foolishness to believe the lie rather than the truth.
The words of the prophet Jeremiah, just to cite one example, drip with sarcasm as he speaks about the gods that we make for ourselves. Listen to this. Jeremiah 3 at verse 10. “A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an ax by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field and they cannot speak. They have to be carried for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King.” What a foolish, ridiculous thing making idols really is.
The Absurdity of Idolatry
Psalm 115:4-8 even goes a little further as it mocks the absurdity of idolatry it also turns on those who make them and put their trust in them to show us just what an idol will do to us. Listen to this. “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak; eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear; noses but do not smell. They have hands but do not feel; feet but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throats. Those who make them become like them and so do all who put their trust in them.” Those who make idols become like idols and so do all who put their trust in them. Whether you’ve made an idol with your hands or whether you’ve forged it in your heart – sex or money or family or fame or whatever your secret idol might be – it can never give you what your heart is looking for. Instead, it will leave you as empty and lifeless and dead as they are. The absurdity of idolatry – what a foolish thing idolatry is.
The Contagion of Idolatry
Then notice also in our passage the contagion of idolatry. It’s a disease and it spreads like a virus. It’s infectious. The people want an idol or idols from Aaron so Aaron immediately accedes to their request and enables and facilitates their sin. He makes a golden calf from their jewelry. And they say, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt!” And Aaron immediately builds an altar and calls a festival so that they can worship it. And verse 6 tells us this vortex, this storm of sin, begins to sweep the entire camp of Israel up into it so that by verse 6 everybody is eating, drinking, and rising up to play. That is, they have collapsed into the kind of drunken orgies that characterized paganism in those days. Idolatry is infectious. Sin spreads. Especially the secret idols you think nobody knows about, festering away in your heart – highly infectious.
Parents think about your children in this connection. If you make an idol of a certain lifestyle, let’s say – an idol of respectability or affluence, an idol of social connectedness perhaps - do not think that simply because you have coated it with a veneer of Biblical Christianity that your heart idols have gone unnoticed by your children. Far from it. That which most captivates your heart is most likely to capture and captivate theirs. If your heart is in the grip of idols, counterfeit gods, gods of your own making, so that you find yourself saying, “Yes, yes, yes, Jesus, but what I really want is…” if that’s your heart, do not think that you are not disciplining your children to follow precisely in your idolatrous footsteps. Sin spreads. Idolatry is a viral infection and we need to beware.
The Disobedience of Idolatry
And then thirdly – so the absurdity, the contagion, and then we just need to face the straight-up, downright, disobedience of their idolatry, don’t we? You remember the first four of the Ten Commandments. We’re to make no other gods, have no other gods before the Lord; we’re not to make any graven images or bow down and worship them. We’re not to take God’s name in vain; misuse His name. And we’re to keep the Lord’s Day, the Sabbath Day holy. And back in chapter 24 of the book of Exodus, after Moses had delivered the commandments to the people they all took vows and promises. “All that the Lord has commanded,” they said, “we will do. We’re on board. We’re all in, Moses! We will keep the commandments.” And then a few short chapters later, here we are watching them systematically break each one of them. The people want other gods breaking the first commandment. They make a graven image. Probably modeled on the Apis bull used in Egyptian worship, they break the second commandment. They use, the people use the plural term, “Elohim,” gods, but Aaron seems to understand the golden bull to represent Yahweh, the Lord. He calls a feast day to the Lord and they worship this golden calf. They take the Lord’s name in vain breaking the third commandment. They even have a special holy day that God has not commanded, breaking the fourth commandment. And to crown it all, they offer burnt offerings and peace offerings – those are the sacrifices God had mandated in His Law for regular worship – and they blur and blend it and mix it with the drunken orgies of paganism in verse 6. There’s nothing subtle or covert about it. This is direct, blatant, plain, old disobedience.
And we need to reach that point as we begin to face our own hearts and our own idols honestly. We can analyze, we can understand, we can see and assess and causes and the reasons that have led us to long for and to pursue money or affluence or fame or reputation or a particular job or a particular kind of home or a particular kind of family. We can talk about how we’re hard-wired and all the baggage we’ve received from our parents and the pressure of society and the burden of peer pressure. But after all the analysis is said and done and all the excuses are offered, the bottom line is, God says, “Here’s how I want you to worship. I want you to worship only Me. I want you to worship according to My Word and on My terms.” And we say, “You know, I think I have a better idea. I much prefer to do things my way.” It’s downright, straightforward, old-fashioned disobedience.
God Assessment of Idolatry
And in verses 7 to 10, if you’ll look there in the passage, you’ll see how God thinks about it. Here’s His assessment. The Lord says to Moses, “You’d better get yourself back down to the camp. You’ll see what the people are up to once you get there. They’ve turned aside and followed idols.” By the way, do just notice there the people seem to think that what they are doing is going altogether unnoticed by God. Isn’t that just like us? That the Lord doesn’t know. We tell ourselves all sorts of lies as we run after disobedience, rebellion, and sin, as we indulge our sinful appetites. “No one will ever know.” But our secret sins and our heart idols are known by God and so He sends Moses back down the mountain.
And in verse 7 and 8 and verse 9, He tells us, He uses three terms to characterize the sin of the people. First of all, verse 7 He says, “They have corrupted themselves.” That is to say, their idolatry, which they’ve told themselves presumably will be full of pleasure and joy and give them relief from their burdens, their idolatry actually is polluting and corrupting, distorting and perverting. Secondly, verse 8 – so it corrupts – secondly, God says, “They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I have commanded them.” The Law of God, the life to which He calls us, is a clear, straight highway. And sin is a detour and a dead-end street. And we turn from it awfully quickly, don’t we? We make a little progress down the highway of obedience to the Lord in our lives and then at the first flashing neon sign with an arrow pointing off to the side saying, “If you go this way, there’s a short-cut. If you go this way, there’s joy. This way to peace. This way to pleasure. This way to satisfaction.” And over and over again, those dazzling lights seem to distract and we turn off. And instead of finding what our heart longs for, which can only be found on the straight path of obedience to the Lord, we find a bankrupt, broken-down, dead-end street.
So sin, idolatry corrupts, sin turns us from the path of obedience, and finally the Lord says in verse 9 that it all comes from a hard heart. The expression He uses is a “stiff neck.” Verse 9, “I have seen this people. Behold, it is a stiff-necked people.” The idea comes from an ox or a mule that will not receive the yoke of the farmer. It’s just self-willed and stubborn and rebellious. So we hear Jesus call to us to take His yoke upon us and to learn from Him because His yoke is easy and His burden is light and we are stiff-necked and we will not bow to Him. We forget that the Lord opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Idolatry festers, you see, in hard hearts.
And when you put all of that together, it’s a pretty ugly picture, isn’t it? This is what idolatry looks like. It’s pretty shocking! It’s not a flattering portrait at all, but I do wonder if it isn’t nevertheless perhaps still a portrait of your heart and your life. Is this describing where you really live right now – running after everything that seems to offer so much, finding nothing when your heart really needs the Lord Jesus Christ?
The Consequences of Idolatry
Well then I want you to see – it gets worse – I want you to see the consequences of idolatry; not just the nature and character of it. What happens if you pursue idols with your whole heart? Look at verses 15 to 20 first. Moses makes it back to camp carrying the two stone tablets on which are transcribed the commandments that he has received from the Lord. And when he sees what’s going on, he takes two symbolic actions. Do you see them in verses 19 and 20? Verse 19, he smashes those two stone tablets at the foot of the mountain. In verse 20 he takes the golden calf, grinds it to dust, throws it in a fire, grinds it to dust, pours it on the water and makes everybody drink it. Understand, this isn’t a fit, this isn’t a temper tantrum. Moses doesn’t have a bruised ego. This isn’t revenge. Actually, Moses is teaching. He’s trying to get through to the stiff-necked, idolatrous, rebellious people. And the first thing he does is try to teach them what sin has done to their relationship with God. It has shattered fellowship with Him. The two stone tablets have the words of God’s commandments on them. They represent their covenant with God. And here in their rebellion, they have broken fellowship with the Lord and so the stone tablets are smashed. And secondly, they might have thought, “This is just a visual aide, this golden calf. We’re still worshiping the Lord. It just makes it a little easier for us. It’s external; it’s superficial. It’s a minor issue. No big deal.” No, no. Moses wants them to understand that sin goes all the way to the heart like poison, and so he grinds up the ashes of their idol and makes them drink it. You see, sin penetrates and pollutes. It is bitter and it goes all the way in, not to be toyed with or played with. It shatters fellowship with God and poisons us.
The Confrontation Between Moses and Aaron
And then look at 21 to 24 for a moment. Then, there’s a confrontation, isn’t there, between Moses and Aaron, where Aaron tries to make some excuses? These are the lamest excuses ever! First of all, he tries to pass the buck, doesn’t he? Verse 22, “You know the people; they are set on evil! I’m innocent here! What could I do? You know Israel, Moses. I mean, really.” He tries to pass the buck. We’ve been doing it since Eden. You remember when God caught Adam red-handed in rebellion against Him eating the forbidden fruit what Adam said? “The woman whom You gave me, she made me eat! It’s Your fault. It’s her fault. I’m the victim. I’m innocent.” Aaron is trying to pass the buck of course. It didn’t work in Eden. It doesn’t work here at Sinai. It doesn’t work today in our own hearts either. There’s no way to get off the hook from our own rebellion and disobedience.
The second thing he does, he seems to suggest – I don’t want to push it too far – but he seems to suggest that he was actually acting to punish and rebuke the Israelites rather than to enable and facilitate their sin. “You want idols? Well, take off all your gold! And I threw it in the fire just to teach them a lesson.” And then the third thing he says is, “You know what, Moses? Maybe you’re overreacting, actually, because I just threw this in the fire and out popped the golden calf. It’s a miracle! Maybe this was God’s plan after all?” Now you can’t have it both ways of course. Is it the expression of the wicked, evil hearts of the people or is this actually the providence of God? It can’t be both. Aaron’s lies are absurd and futile and contradictory. Sin is always like that, you know. It’s ultimately self-defeating. It seems like the absurdity of the idolatry that Aaron has enabled has made Aaron just as absurd as the idols. “Those who make them become like them and so do all who trust in them.” The stupidity of idolatry makes stupid idolaters.
Moses’ call for Repentance
And then finally and even more seriously than all of these consequences, look at 25 to 29. Moses calls for any who are on the Lord’s side to come to him. That is, he’s summoning people to change their minds and repent, to step away from partnering and participating in the wickedness of the people. Ironically, it’s Aaron’s own tribe, the tribe of Levi, that join Moses. Moses gives them God’s command, they strap on their swords and go to and fro in the camp executing divine judgment. Three thousand people fall by the sword that day. Then if you look down at 33 through 35 you’ll see God is going to visit those who will not repent and turn to Him, He’s going to visit them with judgment. “In the day that I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf, the calf that Aaron made.”
The Only Hope for Idolaters
Understand that the real problem of idolatry isn’t simply that it makes matters worse for you as you go along day by day. The real problem of sin and idolatry in your heart is that you must answer to an infinitely holy God who will judge and condemn you justly in His righteous wrath. Do not play with idols. You are playing with fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This storm will kill you. You need to get to safety before it’s too late. Are you listening to the warning? This storm will kill you! Get to safety before it’s too late! How do you do that? What is the only hope for idolaters like me? We need someone who will step between the judgment of God and us, don’t we, who will plead our case and bear our condemnation.
Moses’ Intercession for Israel
Isn’t that what Moses does in this passage? In verse 10 God sets him up for this role. In Verse 10 as He’s announcing the judgment He intends, did you hear the little hints, the almost invitation to Moses to become an intercessor, a mediator? Look at verse 10. “Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” Almost seeming to say to Moses, “If you’ll give me no rest, if you’ll chase me and pursue me and plead their case with me, I will not destroy them.” And so that’s what Moses does in verses 11 through 13. He actually pleads three things if you look at his prayer. First, he says, “These are your people. You chose them.” In verse 11, over and over again, he keeps insisting, “These are your people. You chose them.” And he says, “Not only are they chosen people, they’re also redeemed, people. You brought them out of Egypt! And not only are they chosen and redeemed, they are Your covenant people. You made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel Your servants. Keep Your own promise. Your reputation is at stake.” He pleads their case.
And even more than that, later on in verses 32 and 33, he offers himself. It’s astonishing! Paul seems to reflect some of the wonder of this in Romans chapter 5 when he says, “Hardly for a good man will someone even dare to die. Maybe for a righteous person would someone dare to die.” Here’s Moses daring to offer himself. He says, “I’ll go back up on the mountain. I’ll make intercession. Maybe I could make atonement for you, wicked, rebellious Israel. If you will forgive them, Lord!” And then he sort of breaks off; words fail him. But then he says, “But if not, then blot out my name from the book which you have written. Let the judgment fall on me and not on them. If justice must be satisfied, then let me bear the brunt of Your condemnation, only let Your people live.”
Now Moses was merely a man and God would not allow Moses to be a substitute for Israel, but we have a better intercessor and a better mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God; who offers Himself. Who says to you, over you, for you, “Lord, blot Me out. Let her live. Let him live.” And the Lord poured out His wrath on His Son that He might pour out His mercy and grace on You. The Lord, because of Jesus, relented from the disaster He had spoken of bringing upon His people. And when you see that, what Jesus has done for sinners, for people like me, idolatrous rebels like me, when you see that you discover the One my heart was made to know and love. All the idols that I pursue seem to promise what only Jesus really delivers. How do you shatter the idols of your heart? You go and get ahold of Jesus Christ. So you hear Moses saying, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me!” Imagine that was the call of Jesus Christ, our better than Moses, saying to us, idolaters as we all are, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to Me! Come to Me and you will live. Come to Me and you will find an identity, value, meaning, purpose, worth, hope for time and eternity in Me.” And so as you answer His call, you will be able to say, “The dearest idol I have known, what’er that idol be, Lord help me to tear it from Thy throne and worship only Thee.” Jesus only. Jesus always. Jesus is enough. Give me Jesus. Will you make that your prayer today?
Let’s pray together!
Lord Jesus, how we need You. We love idols. We run after them all the time and they always fail us because we were made for You. Would You help us to smash our idols today as You say to us, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to Me.” Help us to come to You to find the One our hearts have been designed to know and to love. Have mercy on us because of Your death and Your intercession on our behalf. O Lord, grant that the disaster that the Lord has spoken over us may be turned away and that we might find favor in Your sight. For we ask this in Your name, amen.
©2016 First Presbyterian Church.
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As noted earlier, during the last forty years, there has been a rapid evolution of thought about the nature and meaning of “disability”. Today, there exist multiple competing perspectives and the notion of “disability” is the subject of wide-ranging and complex discussion and controversy.
It is not the purpose of this Paper to fully canvass all of these perspectives and debates; given the complexity and multiplicity of the issues, that would require a very lengthy document. This portion of the Paper will provide highlights of some aspects of these concepts and debates, insofar as they are relevant to the development and understanding of legal definitions of disability, and the approach to be taken in this Project.
Scholars have categorized concepts of disability in various ways. Generally, the axis of differentiation has revolved around the role of ‘impairment’ in the experience of disability. Many scholars therefore categorize conceptual approaches to disability into two broad groupings: one focussed on impairment and the other on the social construction of disability. This is the fundamental distinction. However, based on a review of concepts of disability as they are revealed in statutory definitions of disability and the accompanying caselaw, it may be helpful to further breakdown these two categories. The LCO has therefore categorized legal definitions of disability in Ontario into four conceptual approaches:
Recently, there is some movement towards the development of a mixed model, although this has not yet been reflected in legal structures.
The four categories here identified are similar to the categorization adopted by the federal government in its analysis of definitions of disability, and therefore allows comparisons across jurisdictions. It should be noted that, not infrequently, laws combine multiple approaches into a single definition.
Each of these conceptual approaches to disability will be described below, together with examples of how these approaches have been implemented in law and public policy.
B. Bio-Medical Approach
1. The Approach: Impairment and Disability
To a substantial degree, debates about the nature of disability turn on the role of physical, mental, sensory, cognitive or intellectual impairments in disabling individuals, versus the role of societal attitudes and structures.
Popular understandings of the nature of disability, as well as many policy and legal frameworks centre on the notion of disability as resulting from physical, sensory, psychiatric, cognitive or intellectual impairment. That is, disability is intrinsic to the individual who experiences it. In this model, impairments are dysfunctions that have the effect of excluding persons with disabilities from important social roles and obligations, leaving them dependent on family members and society. As such, disability is an individual tragedy, and a burden on family and society.
This bio-medical conception of disability was the dominant policy model for understanding disability until the last few decades of the 20th century, and remains ascendant in the popular understanding of disability
Under this approach, the most appropriate policy response to disability is medical and rehabilitative. The aim is to overcome, or at least minimize, the negative consequences of individual disability. Individuals with disabilities may therefore become the focus of intensive and sometimes coercive expert attention focused on accurately identifying and “fixing” the impairment causing the disability.
The focus on “fixing” persons with disabilities may lead to assumptions that persons with disabilities are defective and abnormal, and therefore in some way inferior to, and less worthy of consideration than persons who do not have a disability.
2. Statutory Definitions Using the Bio-Medical Approach
Under the bio-medical approach, expertise regarding the nature, causes and responses to disability resides with medical and rehabilitative professionals. This approach defers to these professionals in identifying who has a disability and prescribing appropriate rehabilitative or other strategies for addressing the disability.
While statutes now rarely use lists of bio-medical conditions in defining disability, it is still common for statutes to defer the determination of disability entirely to medical professionals without other definition, an approach that implicitly incorporates a bio-medical model of disability, by leaving determinations about eligibility for important programs, benefits and services to the discretion of individual medical practitioners.
For example, the Homes for the Aged and Rest Homes Act provides special evidentiary procedures for persons who are unable to attend a hearing because of age, infirmity or physical disability. It provides no definition of “physical disability”, but requires certification by a medical practitioner.
Other statutes require medical practitioners to certify that the person in question has the asserted limitation or impairment. For the purposes of defining eligibility for specialized day nursery programs, the Day Nurseries Act includes a functional definition of a “handicapped child”, but requires medical certification:
“handicapped child” means a child who has a physical or mental impairment that is likely to continue for a prolonged period of time and who as a result thereof is limited in activities pertaining to normal living as verified by objective psychological or medical findings and includes a child with a developmental disability.
Certification may be provided by a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, a member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario, a member of the College of Optometrists of Ontario, or a member of the College of Nurses of Ontario who holds an extended certificate of registration.
Specialized transit programs very commonly require medical certification of a mobility-related impairment. Kingston Access Bus, for example, provides specialized transit services for “individuals with physical disabilities regardless of age who, due to a mobility impairment, are unable to use conventional transit facilities”. Applicants for this service must have their physicians fill out and certify the application form, detailing the type and severity of the mobility-related impairment.
Other statutes do not explicitly require medical verification of disability, but in practice determinations regarding eligibility rely heavily on information provided by medical practitioners. For example, Regulation 181/98 under the Education Act sets out the process for the identification and placement of exceptional pupils. Regulation 181 does not require parents to provide professional certification of their child’s exceptionality, specifying only that the Identification, Placement and Review Committee must consider any educational, health or psychological assessment placed before them, as well as information submitted by parents. In practice, the accommodation process under the Education Act may be heavily weighted towards professionals.
There is considerable literature on the power that this model gives medical practitioners over the lives of persons with disabilities. Medical diagnoses become key to accessing rights and disability-related supports and benefits. Persons with disabilities are expected to defer to medical professionals, and may be labeled as non-cooperative and unreasonable if they fail to do so. As medical professionals become the gatekeepers of scarce resources, persons with disabilities who are not “model patients” are at risk of being dismissed or disbelieved. This reliance on medical and health professionals has been critiqued as placing persons with disabilities in a position of dependence, and giving professionals excessive power to label, evaluate and define persons with disabilities.
3. Learning from Examples
i. Environmental Sensitivities
Some of the limitations of a legal approach to disability based on a bio-medical approach are revealed by examining the treatment in law of persons with environmental sensitivities.
Medical consensus regarding diagnostic criteria and causation for the condition known as environmental sensitivity is still developing. The clinical picture is complex: there is no single, simple condition with a universal cause. The lack of a universally acknowledged bio-medical description and causation for environmental sensitivities has led to difficulties for persons living with this condition in having their experiences recognized as a form of disability and in obtaining appropriate accommodations. Environmental sensitivities may be dismissed as a fabrication or as being “all in their heads”.
Legally, the lack of an agreed-upon bio-medical foundation for environmental sensitivities is not necessarily an overwhelming barrier under human rights statutes, which are less preoccupied with the cause of limitations than with demonstrated accommodation needs. However, as a practical matter, it may create significant difficulties in legal regimes that require scientifically verifiable evidence regarding diagnosis and causation. Where access to rights or benefits depends on the ability to provide expert medical verification of impairment (for example, in accessing disability benefits), the lack of widespread medical recognition and knowledge about environmental sensitivities can create a significant barrier for these individuals.
ii. Genetic Information
Rapid scientific advances in the field of genetics and genetic testing have raised complex legal issues that we have only recently begun to examine in-depth. Genetic information can provide valuable information, but contrary to popular understandings, only in rare circumstances can genetic testing provide clear predictions about future health conditions. Genetic testing may reveal only an increased chance of developing a particular disorder. Some conditions may be curable, or may be preventable through diet or environment. That is, genetic information does not indicate current impairment, and it cannot predict with certainty further impairment; in most cases, genetic information is limited to indicating increased risk for future impairment.
Although genetic information is not necessarily associated with impairment, its use in decision-making may lead to disadvantage. Concerns have been raised regarding the potential for genetic discrimination, particularly in the fields of insurance or employment. Some American states have passed legislative measures to prevent discrimination on the basis of genetic susceptibility. In Canada, the question has been raised as to whether the current human rights regime can provide protection against discrimination on the basis of genetic information.
The most likely avenue for protection would be a claim of discrimination on the basis of disability. It is not clear, however, whether genetic information would fall within the scope of the definition of disability under the Human Rights Code, or if it is in fact desirable that it be so included. Persons whose genetic information indicates a susceptibility to a particular medical condition are not experiencing any physical limitations or impairments, and may never do so. It is only at the point where genetic information is shared with decision-makers that these individuals are at risk of experiencing disadvantage related to their genetic information. However, human rights caselaw has adopted an approach to disability that focuses less on the impairment than on the effects of exclusion; a perceived disability is also protected under human rights law. Under this approach, genetic information could fall within the scope of “disability” under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Some have suggested that to include genetic information as a disability under human rights statutes may suggest that such information is more powerful and has more predictive value than is actually the case. From this perspective, the most appropriate legislative response may not be disability-related, but focused on privacy, and the appropriate collection and use of information.
C. The Functional Limitations Approach
1. The Approach: A Modified Impairment Focus
The functional limitations approach is generally considered as a variant on the bio-medical approach. However, since it has been extremely influential in the development of legislation and public policy, and has some significant implications for policy development, it is worthwhile to consider it separately.
In this approach, disability is identified, not so much in terms of an underlying medical condition, but by considering the functional limitations caused by impairments. For example, a person may have an underlying medical condition of diabetes. So long as this medical condition has no impact on the person’s activities, there is no “disability”. However, if the diabetes leads to deteriorating eyesight, which limits the individual’s ability to access transportation or perform his or her job functions, these functional limitations result in a disability. Functional limitations are associated with the person’s ability to appropriately engage in key social roles, such as employment or caring for family members.
Thus, the functional limitations approach, while firmly maintaining the role of impairment in causing disability, recognizes that disability may be influenced by social factors, such as the roles that the individual inhabits, how he or she responds to impairment, and whether the environment is designed in a way that magnifies or minimizes the effects of the impairment.
The functional limitations approach has been, and continues to be, immensely influential in both law and public policy.
2. WHO International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps
The World Health Organization (WHO), through its responsibilities for monitoring health, developing policy options, and setting norms and standards, has had an important role in shaping approaches to disability. The WHO has produced two important classification systems related to impairment and disability, the 1980 International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps, and the 2001 International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.
The WHO’s 1980 International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH) was the first major classification system to focus specifically on disability and was extremely influential in the development of policy approaches to disability world-wide, including in Canada. The ICIDH adopted a three-pronged definition of disability as consisting of:
1. Impairment: any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function.
2. Disability: a restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in a manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.
3. Handicap: a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from an impairment or a disability, that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal (depending on age, sex and social and cultural factors) for that individual.
The ICIDH essentially adopted a functional limitations perspective as its basic approach to disability. Disability was caused by impairment and manifested in an inability to perform one or more activities in a “normal” range. However, the ICIDH’s use of the term “handicap” did allow for consideration of the role of social factors in determining the consequences of disablement.
The ICIDH was widely criticized by disability activists and others for its reliance on medical definitions and the ableist assumptions underlying the use of a standard of “normalcy”. As well, the assumption that disability is always caused by some kind of impairment resulted in a focus on medical and rehabilitative responses to disability, ignoring the importance of legislative, policy and environmental changes in removing disabling barriers. The ICIDH model was seen as placing persons with disabilities in roles as victims and dependents, reliant on others for care or ‘charity’.
The WHO has since developed a new framework for addressing disability-related issues, the International Classification of Functioning, which adopts a mixed model of disability. This framework is discussed later in this Paper.
3. Statutory Definitions Based on a Functional Limitations Model
The functional limitations perspective is the most common statutory approach to defining disability. Functional definitions of disability are appealing in the legal sphere in that they provide clear, easily applied statutory criteria for program eligibility and the distribution of benefits. However, they retain the emphasis on disability as arising from individual impairment rather than societal barriers, and therefore reinforce the idea that individuals with disabilities require individual remediation rather than inclusion through the removal of physical, attitudinal, or policy-based barriers.
The specific statutory functional requirements related to disability vary depending on the scope and purpose of the statutory program at issue. The following are a few examples of the way in which Ontario statutes have incorporated a functional approach.
The Highway Traffic Act combines bio-medical and functional approaches. It defines “person with a disability” for the purposes of determining eligibility for a disabled parking permit by providing a lengthy list of functional limitations and biomedical conditions, including inability to walk without assistance from another individual or some kind of assistive device; dependence on portable oxygen; visual acuity below a defined standard; or cardiovascular disease of a defined extent.
The new Developmental Disabilities Act, 2008 provides a good example of a classic functional approach to defining disability. This statute replaces the older Developmental Services Act and provides a framework for how persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities apply for and receive government-funded services and supports. It defines “developmental disability” as follows:
3. (1) A person has a developmental disability for the purposes of this Act if the person has the prescribed significant limitations in cognitive functioning and adaptive functioning and those limitations,
(a) originated before the person reached 18 years of age;
(b) are likely to be life-long in nature; and
(c) affect areas of major life activity, such as personal care, language skills, learning abilities, the capacity to live independently as an adult or any other prescribed activity.
(2) In subsection (1),
“adaptive functioning” means a person’s capacity to gain personal independence, based on the person’s ability to learn and apply conceptual, social and practical skills in his or her everyday life; (“fonctionnement adaptatif”)
“cognitive functioning” means a person’s intellectual capacity, including the capacity to reason, organize, plan, make judgments and identify consequences
The Education Act uses a somewhat circular approach in its definition of “exceptional pupils” who are entitled to special education services. “Exceptional pupils” are those
whose behavioural, communicational, intellectual, physical or multiple exceptionalities are such that he or she is considered to need placement in a special education program by a committee … of the board
That is, pupils who are eligible for placement are those whose level of functioning demonstrates a need for such a placement. The functional limitation is a need for the service provided, when linked to certain types of “exceptionalities”. The Ministry of Education has developed detailed guidelines outlining the types of impairments that fall within the definition.
Statutes often require that the disability be “severe” or “substantial”. Under the ODSP, the family of a child with a “severe disability” is eligible for additional assistance. Under the Day Nurseries Act, in order to be eligible for reduced day nursery fees, a person with a disability must demonstrate, in addition to other requirements, that he or she has a “substantial” mental or physical impairment.
Statutory definitions of disability may combine a number of approaches. The definition adopted under the Ontario Disability Support Programs Act to determine eligibility for program benefits is an example of a hybrid approach to defining disability. It is particularly important because a number of other statutes, provide that persons who are eligible for ODSP also thereby meet the criteria for their programs. The definition states that:
4(1) A person is a person with a disability for the purposes of this Part if,
(a) the person has a substantial physical or mental impairment that is continuous or recurrent and expected to last one year or more;
(b) the direct and cumulative effect of the impairment on the person’s ability to attend to his or her personal care, function in the community and function in a workplace, results in a substantial restriction in one or more of these activities of daily living; and
(c) the impairment and its likely duration and the restriction in the person’s activities of daily living have been verified by a person with the prescribed qualifications.
This definition combines three elements: first, limitations aimed at restricting the definition to persons who have “serious” disabilities as demonstrated by their “substantial” nature and length in duration; second, a functional limitations requirement; and third, a requirement for medical verification that links the definition to a bio-medical approach.
4. Learning from Examples
i. Temporary Medical Conditions
Temporary medical conditions, whether grave (such as, for example, cancer) or relatively minor (such as a broken limb) have sometimes been regarded as disabilities, and sometimes not. Generally, functional limitations approaches exclude persons with temporary conditions, on the basis that such conditions do not create ongoing limitations in life’s important activities.
Thus, many statutes exclude persons with temporary or episodic disabilities by requiring that the disability be “continuous” or “prolonged” or have lasted for a defined period of time. The definition of “person with a disability” under the Ontario Disability Support Program Act, 1997 requires in part that “the person has a substantial physical or mental impairment that is continuous or recurrent and expected to last one year or more”. The provisions of the Retail Sales Act related to retail sales tax rebates for persons with disabilities or their caregivers who purchase accessible vehicles require that the disability be permanent. The Day Nurseries Act defines “handicapped child” in part as a child who has a mental or physical impairment “that is likely to continue for a prolonged period of time”.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, human rights regimes excluded many medical conditions from the definition of disability because they were impermanent, even if they resulted in significant loss or disadvantage for the person who experienced them. For example, a 1986 decision by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal dismissed the complaint of a woman whose employment was terminated after a fall resulted in a temporary bout of sciatica and several days’ absence from work. The Tribunal found that the employee had experienced a temporary injury, and that this did not constitute a physical disability. An Ontario Board of Inquiry took a similar approach in Ouimette v. Lily Cups, a case which lead to a de facto adoption of a functional limitations test for disability under Ontario’s human rights statute. The Newfoundland Court of Appeal endorsed this approach in Woolworth v. Human Rights Commission of Newfoundland, stating that “if the incapacity is of short duration it may be so temporary that it is not addressed by the Code as there is no disability under the Code”.
Later human rights caselaw rejected this approach in favour of a broader conception of disability, which focused less on the duration of a particular condition than its impact on the life of the person experiencing it. For example, in Clark v. Country Garden Florists, the Newfoundland Board of Inquiry extended the protection of the Code to a person dismissed as a result of an absence resulting from a broken foot. In another case, an Ontario Board of Inquiry upheld the complaint of a woman dismissed because she was absent due to medically-indicated breast-reduction surgery.
A similar tension between concepts of disability can be seen in decisions under the Ontario Disability Support Program Act. For example, in Lloyd v. Ontario (Director of Disability Support Program), the Social Benefits Tribunal rejected the application of a woman who experienced chronic, but intermittent, arthritis, on the basis that temporary conditions by their nature were not “substantial” within the meaning of the Act. The Ontario Divisional Court rejected this approach, stating that an impairment may be “substantial” even if sometimes the person is not impaired at all.
ii. Capacity and Competency
The functional limitations approach has continued to dominate Ontario’s legal approaches to capacity and competency. Legal capacity – or the lack of it – determines the ability of individuals to make fundamental decisions on their own behalf – including decisions regarding marriage, the management and disposition of their property, health care and personal care. The lack of legal capacity also impacts on the ability of a person to access the legal system, for example, to give evidence or to carry on a legal action on their own behalf.
Because loss of legal capacity has such extreme and serious consequences, the standards and processes for assessing legal capacity raise complex and contested medico-legal issues, and have been the subject of considerable debate and study.
In Ontario, tests for legal capacity are set out in the Substitute Decisions Act and the Health Care Consent Act. Both statutes adopt a two part test for capacity:
Does the person have the ability to understand the information that is relevant to making the decision in question?
Does the person have the ability to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of this particular decision, or of not making a decision?
The Mental Health Act sets out a similar test for mental competency: does the patient have the ability to understand the nature of the illness for which treatment is proposed and the treatment recommended; and does the patient have the ability to appreciate the consequences of giving or withholding consent?
The Rules under the Court of Justice Act adopt the definition of capacity under the Substitute Decisions Act for determining where it is necessary to appoint or recognize a litigation guardian.
The issue of capacity also arises in the context of wills and estates, although in this case, capacity is defined through the common law, rather than by statute. A will drafted when the testator did not have testamentary capacity will be invalid. The test for testamentary capacity is similar to that set out in the Substitute Decisions Act and the Health Care Consent Act. To briefly summarize the test, the testator must be sufficiently clear in his understanding and memory to know, on his or her own, and in a general way, the nature and effect of the act of making the will and of the particular provisions that are being made, the nature and extent of the property in question, the logical beneficiaries of the will and the kinds of claims there may be on the estate.
Mental capacity is also required under Ontario’s Marriage Act, although the statute does not provide a definition of mental capacity. The standard for mental capacity to marry is different from, and lower than, the standard for testamentary capacity.
The Health Care Consents Act and the Substitute Decisions Act create a presumption of capacity. The test is not whether the person in question actually understands the issues at hand, but whether he or she has the ability to do so. The focus is on the ability to understand certain types of information and to make specific types of decisions.
Capacity is to be assessed with respect to a particular decision, and not globally. There is no single, universally accepted test for assessing capacity. Capacity may be assessed through different persons or processes depending on the nature of the decision at issue and the legislation at play.
The tests for capacity and competency may therefore be considered as functional in their approach to mental disability. At issue is not the underlying impairment, but the effect on the individual’s ability to understand certain types of information and make certain kinds of decisions. The test does not consider environmental or social factors as they may impact on the ability to carry out the functions in question.
Current processes for capacity assessment have been the subject of considerable concern and criticism. One criticism is that methods for assessing capacity may pay insufficient attention to the interactional environment on capacity: how one performs and interacts is a function, not only of one’s biomedical status, but of how one is treated and perceived. As well, many have criticized the “all or nothing” effect of the current system, which does not recognize the variations among individuals, and may unnecessarily strip autonomy away from individuals. There is also concern that current structures around capacity assessment in Ontario do not provide sufficient training or monitoring for assessors.
Interestingly, the new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities sets out a principle of supported decision-making, in which the key question becomes, not whether a person has capacity to make decisions, but how that person can be involved in decisions regarding him or herself, regardless of capacity. The province of British Columbia has taken a leading role in incorporating the principles of supported decision-making into practice under its legislation.
D. The Social Approach
1. The Approach: Environmental Barriers and the Creation of Disability
The bio-medical approach to disability (and with it the functional limitations model), has been widely critiqued for failing to take into account the effect of social attitudes and structures in disabling individuals. A person with a mobility impairment is not prevented from fully participating in society by the impairment, but by the failure of policy makers, planners and builders to take into account the existence of persons with mobility impairments and to create accessible transportation, buildings and services. Persons with epilepsy are not excluded from employment so much by their medical condition as by the fears, myths and lack of information that lead potential employers to close their minds against their applications. From this perspective, disability is less an individual issue than it is a societal one. For this reason, this perspective is frequently referred to as the “social model” of disability.
This perspective has had a profound impact on disability theory and public policy over the past thirty years, and is now the dominant approach among scholars and activists.
Under the social approach, disability is best addressed by a concerted effort to remove the socially constructed barriers that disable individuals, and to develop a society that is inclusive and respectful of persons across a wide spectrum of differences. This involves a radical shift in policy approaches from the bio-medical approach.
If disability is seen as the result of socially constructed barriers, then persons with disabilities can be considered members of an oppressed group, similar to women, racialized persons, or members of the LGBT community, for example. Therefore, inherent in an understanding of disability as a social construction is a call to advocacy and social change.
There are many variants of the social model, and there continues to be significant debate about how to theorize the role of impairment in disability.
Some feminist commentators and others have argued that the social model of disability takes insufficient account of the actual experience of impairment and the way that impairment itself, apart from societal reactions, can have a profound impact on lived experience. These writers emphasize the importance of an “embodied” understanding of the experience of disability. Different types of impairments will have different implications for health and individual capacity. Stereotypes, social attitudes and barriers will also differ depending on the type of impairment. The experiences of a person who is, for example, Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing will differ considerably from those of persons with a learning disability, or cerebral palsy or bipolar disorder.
The social approach has also been criticized for failing to sufficiently incorporate the experiences of persons with non-physical disabilities, particularly persons with psychiatric, developmental and cognitive disabilities. Mental health survivors, for example, may point to the historical practice of labeling certain types of refusal to conform to social norms (such as homosexuality, or refusal to comply with gender norms) as mental illness and argue that “barrier removal” is an inadequate response to such dynamics. It has also been pointed out that the social approach has been slower to benefit persons with cognitive and developmental disabilities and to confront the profound devaluation of their worth in a society focused on production and profit.
Recently, some have argued that the dichotomy between impairment and social construction is false and misleading. Illness, frailty and impairment is part of the human condition. We are all in some way impaired and the aging process is likely to result in increased impairments for most of us. However, not everyone with an impairment experiences oppression because of that impairment: only some of us will be additionally disabled by societal processes.
Further, any single model of the experience of disability runs the risk of obscuring the profound variations in the experiences of persons with disabilities, depending not only on the kind of impairment they have, but also on gender, socio-economic status, racialization, sexual orientation, age and other characteristics.
2. Learning from Example
The caselaw around obesity as a disability has been markedly inconsistent, reflecting the difficulty that courts and tribunals have had approaching conditions which may create social disadvantages, but are not necessarily the result of a bio-medical impairment.
The long-running McKay-Panos case demonstrates the difficulties courts and tribunals have had in addressing these issues. The complainant alleged that she faced an undue obstacle in air travel due to her disability (obesity), and sought accommodation. The medical evidence in this case was that the complainant was morbidly obese; however, there was no medical evidence as to the cause of her obesity. The Canadian Transportation Agency dismissed her application on the grounds that she was not disabled. There were divided opinions as to the appropriateness of applying the WHO’s recently developed “biopsychosocial” model in determining whether an individual had a disability for the purposes of the Canada Transportation Act, and as to the relative roles of impairment versus activity and participation limitations in determining the existence of a disability.
The Federal Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the Agency and found that McKay-Panos did in fact have a disability for the purposes of the Act. The Court ruled that determinations as to the existence of a disability must take into account the obstacles faced by the person in question. The Court stated that “it would take very clear words to hold that the existence of a disability is to be determined without regard for context. Arguably, no disability exists in the abstract.”
Infertility raises analytical difficulties of an opposite nature to those raised by obesity: there is clearly a bio-medical condition and a functional impairment, but the degree to which this may be considered to create social disadvantage is a matter of debate.
In one of a handful of decisions where superior courts have considered the meaning of the term “disability” under the equality rights provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal held that medical infertility is a disability under the Charter. The claimants in this case challenged the failure of their province’s health insurance plan to provide coverage for fertility treatments. The Court’s decision moved quickly from the determination that the policy in question drew a distinction based on the personal characteristic of infertility to the determination that persons who are unable to procreate are disabled:
[I]nfertile people can be classified as physically disabled. True, the disability is not obvious to the eye – they need no ramp or seeing eye dog. Nevertheless, they have a personal characteristic – the inability to have a child – on the basis of which a distinction can be drawn and has in fact been drawn. We must take a “flexible and nuanced approach”. We must make a comparison of the infertile with the conditions of others in the social and political setting in which this claim arises. As long as the indicia of discrimination exist when the distinction is drawn … there is disability here sufficient to meet the requirements of s. 15(1) either as an enumerated or an analogous ground.
A more recent decision by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal adopted a slightly different approach to a similar issue. The Tribunal ruled that the refusal of the complainant’s employer, the Canadian Forces, to fund treatment for male factor infertility discriminated on the basis of disability (as well as sex). The Tribunal referenced expert evidence that “most people are ‘hardwired’ to want to have children” and that infertility has a significant psychological impact, as well as the inclusion of infertility in the WHO’s classification system.
The decision in Cameron has been criticized for its unexamined adoption of a medical model of disability, whereby a serious physical impairment is by definition a disability. In making the determination that infertility is a disability, the decision does not examine the social attitudes surrounding childbearing and infertility, or the existence of historical disadvantages for the infertile, or the particular gendered aspects of infertility. Some have argued that women who claim a reproductive disability have appropriated a disability rights discourse in order to gain access to medical technology, and share little in common with women with disabilities whose disabilities have shaped their access to employment, education, living arrangements and social relations, such that their disability becomes a fundamental part of how they experience the world.
E. The Human Rights Approach
1. The Approach: Equality and Dignity for Persons with Disabilities
The human rights approach to disability is a variant on the social approach. The human rights approach recognizes persons with disabilities as a disadvantaged group, parallel to racialized, LGBT persons, women and other disadvantaged groups, and emphasizes the role of social attitudes and facially neutral systems in creating and perpetuating that disadvantage. The role of impairment in disability is recognized insofar as it is necessary to design accommodations to permit persons with disabilities to achieve equality.
The aim of the human rights approach is to achieve equality and inclusion for persons with disabilities through the removal of barriers and the creation of a climate of respect and understanding. There is an emphasis on the fundamental and inalienable dignity, value and contribution of all persons, regardless of disability.
2. United Nations International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Very recently, the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ICRPD). Canada has not yet ratified the ICRPD, but is expected to do so. The ICRPD is likely to have a significant impact on policy makers in Canada, and on approaches to domestic human rights statutes.
The purpose of the ICRPD is to promote, protect and ensure the equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent worth and dignity. A key principle of the ICRPD is respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity.
The ICRPD adopts an expansive approach to disability, recognizing that:
disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
The ICRPD explicitly includes in its scope those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. It recognizes the diversity among persons with disabilities.
3. A Case Study in the Evolution of the Conceptions of Disability
All three of the Ontario statutes which have as part of their stated purpose the removal of barriers for persons with disabilities use the same definition, which was first incorporated in the Ontario Human Rights Code:
s. 10(1) “disability” means,
(a) any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, a brain injury, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical co-ordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment, or physical reliance on a guide dog or other animal or on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device,
(b) a condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability,
(c) a learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language,
(d) a mental disorder, or
(e) an injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997; (“handicap”)
The Code goes on to specifically include past and perceived disabilities. This is a fairly broad definition of “disability” in that it includes physical, sensory, psychiatric, learning, developmental and acquired disabilities, includes “any degree” of physical disability, and includes perceived disabilities, thereby acknowledging at least to some degree the role of social attitudes in disabling individuals. However, the lengthy listing of medical conditions seems to indicate a bio-medical approach to disability.
This bio-medical definitional approach is interesting, given that the objectives of these statutes are to remove barriers to persons with disabilities, thereby firmly situating them in a social approach to disability. There may therefore be some inherent tension between the purposes of these statutes and the definition of disability adopted.
The bio-medical aspects of this definition may reflect the fact that in the Code this definition serves a dual purpose: it defines disability for the purpose of requiring the identification and removal of barriers, but it also does so for the purpose of determining who is able to access the mechanisms set out under the Code for seeking redress for discrimination. Persons who are not determined to be disabled within the meaning of section 10(1) of the Code do not fall within its jurisdiction, and cannot file an application (or prior to recent amendments, a complaint) alleging discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, services or contracts. There is therefore significant caselaw interpreting “disability” under the Code.
One of the most influential decisions in this respect was that of the Human Rights Board of Inquiry in Ouimette v. Lily Cups Ltd. In this 1990 decision, the Board of Inquiry dismissed a complaint based on disability brought by a woman whose employment had been terminated because of absenteeism during her probation period, her absences being due to multiple relatively minor ailments – asthma and a bout of the flu. The Board of Inquiry found that the complainant did not have a “disability” within the meaning of the Code. In order to fall within the ambit of the Code, complainants were required to demonstrate that their impairment was long-lasting, severe and impacted on one of life’s important functions – essentially a functional limitations test. A functional limitations approach became the basis of Ontario’s human rights approach to defining disability throughout the 1990s.
The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse) v. Montreal (City) marked a significant shift in the approach to defining disability in human rights law. This case involved a complainant who had a bio-medical impairment (scoliosis), which caused her no functional limitations in her employment, but which nonetheless resulted in the denial of her employment application. The Quebec Commission dismissed the complaint on the ground that the complainant did not have a “handicap”. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a broad approach to disability should be adopted, one which recognized the socio-political dimensions of the term. The emphasis should be on the right to equality, human dignity and respect, rather than on the presence or absence of a bio-medical condition. A disability may exist without proof of physical limitations: the emphasis should be on the effects of the distinction, exclusion or preference rather than on the precise cause or origin of the disability.
Following this decision, the Ontario Human Rights Commission reinterpreted the definitional provisions of the Code in its Policy and Guidelines on Disability and the Duty to Accommodate, adopting a broad social constructionist approach:
“Disability” should be interpreted in broad terms … Even minor illnesses or infirmities can be “disabilities”, if a person can show that she was treated unfairly because of the perception of a disability. Conversely, a person with an ailment who cannot show she was treated unequally because of a perceived or actual disability will be unable to meet even the prima facie test for discrimination. It will always be critical to assess the context of the differential treatment in order to determine whether discrimination has taken place, and whether the ground of disability is engaged. .. The focus is on the effects of the distinction, preference or exclusion experienced by the person and not on proof of physical limitations or the presence of an ailment.
This significant transformation in the approach to disability was followed by a substantial increase in the number of disability-related complaints that the Ontario Human Rights Commission received and dealt with.
4. Learning from Examples: Addictions
Approaches to addiction as a disability are inconsistent between various Ontario government programs and policies. Human rights approaches have generally included addictions as a form of disability. However, persons with addictions have been excluded from protections extended to persons with disabilities under other laws.
Drug and alcohol addictions are considered disabilities under human rights statutes, although the law regarding the nature and scope of the duty to accommodate addictions remains in flux. The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Policy on Drug and Alcohol Testing states that:
The Code adopts an expansive definition of the term “handicap” which encompasses physical, psychological and mental conditions. Severe substance abuse is classified as a form of substance dependence9, which has been recognized as a form of disability. Examples include alcoholism and the abuse of legal drugs (e.g. over the counter drugs) or illicit drugs. These types of abuse and dependence therefore constitute a disability within the meaning of the Code.
However, addiction has not until very recently been considered a disability for the purposes of eligibility for social assistance under the Ontario Disability Support Program. The Ontario Disability Support Program Act states that:
s. 5(2) A person is not eligible for income support if,
(a) the person is dependent on or addicted to alcohol, a drug or some other chemically active substance;
(b) the alcohol, drug or other substance has not been authorized by prescription as provided for in the regulations; and
(c) the only substantial restriction in activities of daily living is attributable to the use or cessation of use of the alcohol, drug or other substance at the time of determining or reviewing eligibility.
That is, persons who are disabled exclusively by addictions could seek social assistance through the Ontario Works Program, but were not eligible for the supports available to other persons with disabilities through the Ontario Disability Support Program. This restriction has been the subject of a long-running court challenge. Very recently, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the exclusion from ODSP benefits of persons who are disabled solely by their addictions is inconsistent with the Ontario Human Rights Code, and that persons with addictions are persons with a disability who are entitled to benefits under the ODSP.
To some degree, the difference in approaches to addictions may reflect perceptions these conditions involve a degree of voluntariness that is not involved in other types of disability – that is, there is no true impairment. The Ontario Court of Justice referenced this element in dismissing a Charter challenge to smoking bans in prisons. Smokers, the Court ruled, did not have a “mental or physical disability”, as
Addiction to nicotine is a temporary condition which can be voluntarily overcome… It can hardly be compared with the disability of deafness under review in Eldridge.
Similarly, in Tranchemontagne, the government had argued in part that persons with addictions were uniformly capable of employment, and would benefit from the lower social assistance rates available through Ontario Works because this would limit the amount of money available to spend on their addiction. The exclusion of persons with addictions from the purview of the ODSP therefore did not injure their dignity interests.
In the smoking ban decision, the Court ultimately placed more importance on weighing the degree of disadvantage and marginalization associated with a condition in determining whether it is a disability. Smokers, the Court ruled, “are not part of a group ‘suffering social, political and legal disadvantage in our society’, unlike persons with addictions to alcohol, whose addiction interferes with their effective physical, social and psychological functioning.” In Tranchemontagne, the Court concluded that the exclusion of persons with addictions from ODSP was based on stereotypes and prejudicial views about addiction, and essentially denied their human worth.
F. Mixed Models
In recent years, there has been a movement towards a multi-dimensional approach to disability, aimed at incorporating the insights of both impairment based models and those that adopt the social approach. The most prominent and influential of these is the WHO’s recent International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, which replaces the International Classification of Impairments, Disability and Handicaps.
1. WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
The WHO made a significant shift in approach to disability with the 2001 International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The ICF is intended to provide a standard framework for the description of health and health-related states and to provide a tool for measuring function in society, regardless of the reason for a person’s impairments.
The ICF approaches the notion of disability in a manner considerably more nuanced than its predecessor, attempting to synthesize the biomedical and social models of disability. The WHO describes the conceptual approach underlying the ICF as follows:
ICF puts the notions of “health” and “disability” in a new light. It acknowledges that every human being can experience a decrement in health and thereby experience some degree of disability. This is not something that only happens to a minority of humanity. The ICF thus ‘mainstreams’ the experience of disability and recognises it as a universal human experience. By shifting the focus from cause to impact it places all health conditions on an equal footing allowing them to be compared using a common metric – the ruler of health and disability. Furthermore ICF takes into account the social aspects of disability and does not see disability only as a ‘medical’ or ‘biological’ dysfunction. By including Contextual Factors, in which environmental factors are listed ICF allows us to record the impact of the environment on the person’s functioning.
The WHO calls this a “biopsychosocial model” of disability.
The ICF has generally been welcomed as a significant advance on the ICIDH. However, some have criticized its retention of individualistic medical notions of disability and its causes as unnecessarily limiting the scope of disability and perpetuating the biomedical culture. Concerns have also been raised regarding the attempt to integrate the medical and social models, on the basis that the social model is a paradigm, the application of which shifts the entire framework for social policy, and therefore cannot be implemented on a piecemeal basis.
2. Statistics Canada Measures of Disability
Governments regularly attempt to measure the incidence and impact of disability in the populace. The information gathered provides a basis for policy and program development, as well as a basis for scholarly research. What is not measured will likely not be addressed; therefore, the approach to the measurement of disability has an important impact on the wellbeing of persons with disabilities.
In 1986, Statistics Canada carried out the Health and Activity Limitations Survey (HALS). This was a post-censal disability survey aimed at identifying the numbers and distribution of persons with disabilities in Canada, and the barriers that they faced. HALS was run a second time in 1991. HALS was based on the WHO’s ICIDH, and defined disability as a limitation in daily activities resulting from an impairment associated with physical or mental conditions or health problems – that is, a functional limitations approach to disability.
Also of some relevance is the National Population Health Survey, a longitudinal study commenced in 1994. It does not deal directly with disability issues, but is of interest as it seeks to measure the health of Canadians, the relationship between health and activity limitations and some of the determinants of health. It is based on the Health Utility Index, a measure of functional ability that includes vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, cognition, emotion and pain/discomfort.
The Government of Canada has more recently shifted away from these functional approaches in its statistical measurements, adopting the WHO’s newer “biopsychosocial model” of disability. Statistics Canada’s most recent and thorough exploration of the experience of people with disabilities in Canada was the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS). PALS was initially conducted in 2001; a second survey was completed in 2006. The intent of PALS was to develop a comprehensive national picture of many of the ways in which disability affects the lives of Canadians with disabilities. In designing the PALS survey, Statistics Canada took into account the criticisms of the ICIDH (and therefore the HALS) approach to disability, in particular its focus on disability as linearly caused by a disease or trauma, and its failure to recognize environmental factors in the causation and experience of disability.
PALS therefore adopted the WHO’s 2001 ICF framework. It views disability as the interrelationship between body functions, activities and social participation, while recognizing that the environment provides either barriers or facilitators. A person is considered to have a disability if they have “a physical or mental condition or a health problem that restricts their ability to perform activities that are normal for their age in Canadian society”. Under PALS, persons with disabilities are those who report difficulty with daily living activities, or who indicate that a physical or mental condition or a health problem reduces the kind or amount of activity that they can do. Survey responses to PALS therefore reflect the perceptions of participants and are subjective – obviously, a different approach from that of many government programs, which require independent professional assessment or other criteria to verify disability.
PALS categorizes disability by type; the categories are different for children and adults because of the different experiences of these groups. Types of disabilities among children include chronic, delay, developmental, dexterity, hearing, learning, mobility, psychological, seeing and speech. The disability types for adults are agility, developmental, hearing, learning, memory, mobility, pain, psychological, seeing and speech. PALS also attempted to classify disabilities by their severity.
The PALS approach to identifying disability is now the standard for all Statistics Canada social surveys, whether they are dealing with Aboriginal issues, labour, health or education.
3. Developing a Mixed Model: Gender Identity
The law has not yet developed a consistent approach for addressing issues experienced by transgendered persons and related to gender identity. Part of the difficulty arises because the law has not recognized the transgendered community as one with unique experiences and challenges. For example, none of Canada’s human rights statutes includes gender identity as a distinct source of discrimination and ground of protection. Transgendered persons seeking protection from discrimination have therefore had to fit their experiences into existing human rights grounds: sex and/or disability.
Human rights tribunals and courts have, over the past ten years, consistently recognized that discrimination on the basis of gender identity, for example, in the provision of services such as access to sex-specific facilities, can be understood as a form of sex discrimination. In 2000, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, in its Policy on Discrimination and Harassment because of Gender Identity, recognized discrimination on the basis of gender identity as a form of sex discrimination and indicated that it would receive and deal with human rights complaints on that basis.
However, complaints regarding discrimination based on gender identity have also frequently been dealt with under the ground of disability, on the basis that the American Psychiatric Association has recognized Gender Identity Disorder as a psychiatric disorder with recognized diagnostic criteria and a set of treatment options that includes sex reassignment surgery. Most human rights complaints brought by transgendered persons are dealt with on the basis of both sex and disability. In a recent decision, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario stated that the grounds of sex and disability intersect with respect to transsexuals:
While GID is the medical condition that constitutes a disability, the transition itself is a highly personal and sensitive decision that requires tremendous sacrifice and courage, and it falls clearly within the ground of sex. However, the transition also requires specialized medical care, in recognition of the physical and psychological aspects involved. Thus, the two grounds under the Code are necessarily intersectional… The danger in adopting the single axis of disability in this instance is that it negates the importance of the discrimination based on sex, and falls back to the bio-medical model of disability discourse, ignoring the social importance of their incomplete transitions to these complainant’s lives, and thus negating the importance of their transsexuality to their own personhood.
Despite the regular use of the ground of disability in addressing the rights of transgendered persons, this medicalization of the identities of transgendered persons is a source of criticism. It is argued that transgendered persons should be able to receive accommodation and health-related treatments without the negative stereotyping of a psychiatric diagnosis. That is, there is an attempt to move from a disability-rights based analysis to one which recognizes the unique forms of oppression experienced by transgendered persons and a develops a rights-based analysis specific to their circumstances, which would remove the gatekeeping power that the medical profession currently has over transgendered persons.
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"Terms of Service" of YellowBulbs.com and other services provided by Yellow Bulbs Solutions Private Limited
Last Updated on 27.05.2016
Welcome to www.yellowbulbs.com, a web based marketing marketplace platform of Yellow Bulbs Solutions Pvt Ltd
In these Terms of Services:
YellowBulbs.com is a venue where our Registered Users use our online marketplace for finding marketing solutions and for providing marketing solutions. We provide an online marketplace that enables Buyers (Marketers) of marketing services to search for Sellers (Solution partner) of marketing services. The Website contains features that enable Marketers, and Solution Partners to become Registered Users when they sign up for a YellowBulbs Account. As Registered Users, Marketers and Solution Partners can transact business.
1.PAYMENT PROCESS FOR SOLUTION PARTNERS:
Currently there are no charges for signing up and creating an account. However there will be a Business Identification Fee (BIF) that will be applicable when you transact on the website under the Post a Brief Model where one offers a customized solution. Currently, it's a Pay As You Want Model, where the Solution Partner (Seller) can specify the exact % of the BIF he wants to pay for that specific transaction. This can be specified when the Solution Partner creates a Term Sheet online and sends to the Marketer (Buyer) for approval. However, when a Solution Partner uploads and sells a ready to use Brand Box solution , he agrees to pay a standard 10% of the value of the brand box that is sold.
All Payments for the transactions are routed through the RBI recommended Nodal Bank Account system for the E Commerce Marketplaces Model of online business.
2.PAYMENT PROCESS FOR MARKETERS:
Currently there are no charges for signing up and creating an account for a Marketer. There are no charges for Posting a Brief too.
Currently there is NO PROCESSING FEE currently for transactions in INR. However in case of transactions charges in Foreign currency, the bank charges for currency conversion of any related charge. This will be borne by the buyer and will be added to the cost of the services purchased.
All Payments for the transactions are routed through the RBI recommended Nodal Bank Account system for the E Commerce Marketplaces Model of online business.
When YellowBulbs launches any future product or service for the Marketers, there could be a service fee or convenience charges on those special / customized services for the Marketer.
This Agreement shall be deemed to have been made and executed at New Delhi, under, and in all respects shall be interpreted, construed and governed by and in accordance with laws of the Courts in New Delhi, India, without regard to its choice of law principles, and all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be subject to Governing Laws of the Courts of New Delhi. The place of jurisdiction shall be in New Delhi, India.
By using this Site, you represent and warrant that you are (i) are lawfully able to accept these Terms; or (ii) over the age of 18 years; or (iii) are not suspended from using the YellowBulbs.
If you are using the Site on behalf of any other person/s (including individuals) or entity (including bodies corporate and unincorporated), you further represent and warrant that you are authorized to accept these Terms on such entity's/person's behalf, and that such entity agrees to indemnify YellowBulbs.com for violations of these Terms.The account holder is responsible for everything done with that account.
You may provide a business name or a company name, which is to be associated with the Registered User's Account. Members acknowledge and agree that where a business name or company name is associated with their Account, Members remain solely responsible for all activity undertaken in respect of their Account.
You agree that you are using these Services only for business purposes for which you are authorized.
We may, at our absolute discretion, refuse to register a person or corporate entity as a Member.
5.COMMENCEMENT OF SERVICE:
The Service shall be deemed to have commenced on the "Date of Sign Up" of service. "Date of Sign Up" is the date indicating the acceptance by the user to use the services of YellowBulbs.com.
The account is valid for on an annualized basis with an automatic renewal on an ongoing basis. However, YellowBulbs may change the terms, duration of this free account as per the change in policy if any.
6.CHANGES TO THESE TERMS:
7.YELLOWBULBS IS NOT A PARTY TO THE DEALINGS BETWEEN MARKETER AND SOLUTION PROVIDER:
YellowBulbs does not sell its own services of marketing solutions but provides a marketplace for exchange of marketing solutions/services. We provide various features like Posting of a brief, Bid, Selling of ready to use Brand Boxes, write testimonials, create detailed profile, and communicate with other members on website chat service and so on to our users. Our Services are to facilitate the exchange of Marketing Solutions.
YellowBulbs' role is limited to connect the Marketer with the Solution Partner. We may help the Marketer in selecting the best pitches submitted by Solution Partners in relation to the posting of a brief by the Marketer and selecting the most suitable Solution Partner, but such help does not create any liability on YellowBulbs as to the matters incidental thereto in relation to the services provided by Solution Partner and payments made by the parties. YellowBulbs is not responsible for the dealings between Marketer and Solutions Partner including but not limited to losses arising out of non-delivery, poor quality of delivery, partial delivery, excess delivery or late delivery of agreed deliverable, partial payment, deductions on payment, delayed payment, non payment, withdrawal of brief or pitch or, change of brief or pitch. YellowBulbs does not direct, has no control over, makes no representations; and does not guarantee the quality, safety or legality of Marketing Services, the truth or accuracy of Briefs and summary of proposals, qualifications, background, the ability of Solution Providers to deliver Marketing Services, the ability of Marketers to pay for Marketing Services, or that a Marketer or Solution Provider can or will actually complete a transaction. YellowBulbs is not responsible if the Solution Partner decides not to participate in a Project/Work Order post winning the BID. YellowBulbs is not responsible if a Marketer decides to not participate in a Project/Work Order post accepting a BID.
But there are cases where the Solution Partner or Marketer has been labeled as "Verified by YellowBulbs" on the site. This means that the YellowBulbs has verified the existence of the company and the facts claimed about the nature of their services and their name, logo and experience is true on the date of the verification or stamping the label on the site, on a best effort basis of the YellowBulbs staff conducting the verification. We do not verify that the Marketer or Solution Partner is financially stable or legally allowed to buy or sell those services. We only verify the basic profile information that they put up during the sign up process.
We may, at our sole discretion encourage the Solution Partners to successfully submit their pitch within the deadline.
YELLOWBULBS IS NOT A PARTY TO THE DEALINGS BETWEEN MARKETERS & SOLUTION PARTNERS, INCLUDING POSTS, BIDS, BRIEFS, PITCHES, PERFORMANCE OF SOLUTION PARTNERS AND PAYMENT FOR A WORK ORDER.
Marketers, Solution Partners are independent contractors. YellowBulbs is not responsible for and disclaims any and all liability related to the actions of Solution Partners, Members, Registered Users, Third Parties and other users of the Services.
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A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to chat with Ryan Gordon, a.k.a. Icculus, about his experience and as a games porter and a wider range of subjects related to Linux. This was supposed to be a one hour podcast, but we ended up talking for more than 2. Why is that? Well, Ryan had so many interesting things to say that we just could not let him leave so fast. So for once we have decided to do a two-parts podcasts. We hope you enjoy this as much as we did. Just a reminder: doing this kind of podcasts is a LOT of work (more than a dozen of hours) so please consider supporting us via Patreon if you like what we do, and want us to continue doing this.
Podcast #7 with Ryan Gordon (Porter on L4D2, Rocket League, and early Humble Bundles)
We chose to transcribe major parts of the interview, for better accessibility, but as usual the best format to enjoy the podcast is the sound file. But if you are at work, or prefer reading, you will find most of the key learnings from this part 1 below.
Ryan is certainly someone you might have heard of if you game on Linux for a while now. He has been around for a long time, supporting us right from the time Loki made commercial ports to Linux, then when Humble Bundle started cross-platform bundles, and when Valve started their Linux initiative with Left for Dead 2. The facts are known, but what matters if how and why Ryan got involved into such critical aspects of the Linux gaming industry in the first place. Let’s first start with his involvement with Loki.
Ryan Gordon: I was very interested in the idea of video games source code. Not long before the code of Wolfenstein3D by id software was released, I was pouring over that game and fascinated that someone could write this amazing 3D world that I stumbled around. Looking at the source code was like looking at the matrix. It blew my mind that you could do that. I had this hunger to find more source code to video games, and then Loki had this thing they called Loki hack, it was a contest where you would drive down to Atlanta, at the Atlanta Linux Showcase in 1999 back when it was still a thing, and they brought the source code to a game called Civilization Call of Power which is the first game that they had shipped. They made you sign all the right non-disclosure agreements, and they said “ok, here is a computer, with the source code to the game, now do something interesting with it!”. […] . We had 48 hours, we did not sleep. Some people added new units, I added Tetris in it, that you could play while waiting for your turn.
It was fun, everyone was sleep exhausted, we all went home at the end. This was not made to be a contest as much as a recruiting tool, because Loki said they liked what this and that person did, and they offered them jobs. Daniel Vogel came to work there, Andrew Anderson was at Loki and probably others I am forgetting right now. From there it was just like “pack up the car and move to California”. And I did, I threw all my stuff in my car, drove across the country from Charlotte Carolina which is almost at the Atlantic Ocean all the way till I literally hit the Pacific Ocean. Yeah that’s how I get started. I just never went back from there looking into this opportunity to work on all these triple-A games that like these high end games that I never would have imagined before. I remember walking into a Best Buy or something like that back when people bought their video games in retail stores. They had like our top 10 sellers. I was like “oh my god Loki has six of these ten”, shipping or about to ship. This is it, we made it! And you know we didn’t actually make it. (laughs)
Loki was the first company to port commercial games to Linux, releasing high profile titles such as Descent 3, Civilization Call to Power, Heavy Gear II, Heretic II, Quake III Arena, Rune, Sim City 3000, Tribes 2, Unreal Tournament… before going bankrupt. The Linux gaming audience was not yet there.
Ryan Gordon: It was small. It was not only was it small but it was smaller than I think they anticipated it being. I think they kind of had this attitude of “If you build it they will come”. And they did. I mean we sold products and we had people that were hardcore Linux gamers and you know you have to start somewhere. But I think they thought they were going to come in here and sell 100,000 units of Quake 3 Arena and it just did not work out that way.
Loki had a lot of problems beyond just whether the market was there or not but but you just definitely there was just not as much money going through as we would have needed. But also remember he was the dot com era people were “I put up a Web site where you can buy elephant poop, I’m going to do an IPO and be rich from this” and porting games to Linux was not the most outrageous business plan that was making money at that time. But I think it’s worth saying that when Humble Bundle started porting Linux games 15 years later whatever it was, Jeffrey Rosen was saying something like “hey there’s always someone else on the Internet that will buy your game, and throw another dollar at this“. He was basically describing crowdfunding before crowdfunding was a thing everyone did, he was describing Patreon or Kickstarter. And he was right. There was always someone else that would throw a dollar or ten at something. When you collectively find all those people you can make a lot of money you can have a sustaining business.
And Loki didn’t have a luxury Humble Bundle had is that you download stuff and you can be anywhere in the world and be a customer of Humble Bundle whereas you could pay more in shipping for a box of Quake 3 arena than you paid for the actual game depending on where you are in the country. So the economy changed, the technology changed. But I mean Loki had an uphill battle all along and that was just a good start to what we could do.
While Ryan ended up working several years later with the Humble Bundle (a small, Y-combinator funded startup at the beginning), he went off the radar for a short while. This is what happened in between.
Ryan Gordon: I moved back in with my parents. It was awful. Don’t ever do this if you have the opportunity to do so! I hadn’t lived my parents as I graduate from high school and I’ve been I’ve gone through college. I’ve been gone for a year or two after that. That’s very very weird to try and integrate back into this relationship with your parents. I like my parents, my parents like me, we don’t have a bad relationship but it’s really hard to not be a teenager and be back in your parents house. But I had no money. Loki had stopped paying us at this point so we had no savings either and so I mailed all my stuff across the country. I have an uncle who worked for an airline, he got me a plane ticket to get back to where my parents live from California. And then I got a job working retail, I was working at the cash register at a gaming shop, like a cybercafe kind of thing. And while I was there, hating my life, two important things happened.
First off the gaming shop had a T1 line, which for those that don’t know what is T1 line is, it’s a terrible small amount of bandwidth, but back then it was amazing, it was way better than anyone had in the area. So I went to the owner, “I want to take a physical machine as a server and plug it into the T1 line and just like maybe host like revision control and some e-mail and maybe like a file server and something”. He was like “Oh you want to colocate a machine?” – I didn’t know there was a term for this. So that’s that was where icculus.org came from. It was plugged into the T1 line at the Cybercafe and that’s kind of spiraled out of control since then.
But the other thing that happened was while I was working at the cash register, and there weren’t that many customers. A lot of their their customers came in at night and stayed all night. And you know that was the gaming lifestyle. They played Diablo 2 until their eyes fell out. Or maybe it was Dark Ages of Camelot. All the real customers came in at night, so during the day it was very quiet. Nothing happened. So I’ll be seeing the cash register on the web browser just messing around on the Internet and you know there’s a game that has just come out called Serious Sam. And I’ve been playing it and I’ve loved it. It felt like the original Doom, It was fast, you could never stop to catch your breath and it did that thing that doomed it so well: if you found a room that had a hundred bad guys in it no problem open fire and take care of it. If you walk into a room there’s nothing in there but one point of health, you’re about to get killed like you’re about to get jumped, all the walls are going to open up and tons of demons are going to come out.
So I really I loved that game. I played a lot and I had nothing to do with the Cybercafe, so all I did all day was stalk these people (who made the game) and I tried to find an email address, to ask them “Can you have Linux port for this because I don’t run Windows at home and I’d really like to be able to play this game”. So I finally found an e-mail address for somebody at CroTeam, the company that made Serious Sam and I wrote this long e-mail, this big complicated pitch about why you really want to get on Linux because getting it to compile with gcc is your first step to getting a Playstation port. That was the hot system at the time and it will get you this, and you can find some bugs and dedicate servers and blah blah blah blah blah.
And the guy writes back “I’m just an artist here, I don’t make these decisions”. I was like “oh sorry”. But he was nice enough to forward it to the people who run the company and make this decision… and then they’re like “sure, let’s do it”. And then we spent months porting Serious Sam. I was back in the game, and while I still lived with my parents, I felt like a grownup again and I could do something useful, port this game for free. It was a lot of fun and I was happy with how it turned out. And once I shipped that, somebody wrote me an e-mail from I don’t remember the name, who professionally ran dedicated servers for a living. There used to have these companies you would pay them $20 a month and they would have your game server and you’d would have good bandwidth, which is why you paid them and they would take care of all the patching and stuff. We do that less now because most companies don’t let you have a dedicated server at all anymore. But at the time that was a big big thing and one of these admins had written to me “We want a Medal of Honor dedicated server and we saw what you did it for Serious Sam we were wondering if you would do that for us”. And I was like “Sure!!” and I don’t know who this person is but he apparently had a contact with 2015, the people who did Medal of Honor. A week later I’m looking at source code and porting this thing and suddenly we have a dedicated server, and people are calling me and saying “hey we need this too and can you get the game running too?” and etc. etc. like that and it kind of spiraled out of control from there. The people that split off from the Medal of Honor team made a game called Call of Duty which most of you probably heard of. They were just nobody, no one had heard of them at the time. They were just an upstart little company and they wanted to see their game running too.
Well and that’s what I discovered is “oh my gosh I don’t actually have to get a job!”. Obviously these people pay me. But but the idea of like putting on a tie and going into work at 9 o’clock in the morning and you know punching a time card I never had to do that. Before Loki I worked at a company that was making e-commerce software and I hated it. It was so boring, it was so corporate and it just wasn’t fun you know and I think if you’re a programmer it’s important to build things that you find satisfying. You have to enjoy what you’re building. I don’t want to make this boring sales platform in Java for this company that will sell it to Fedex for $40 million and then buy me a pizza party. It’s not a good use of my time and I feel like the videogames thing was much more fun for me. The puzzles that you had to solve were much more interesting. It seems weird to say this, but I feel like I’m actually doing good for the community, for the world by doing this – which is weird because videogames are total waste of time! (laughs)
I look at this and think I I’m not taking credit for this because certainly I am not the one that made Linux popular, but a system can only be popular when you have video games for it and you know I remember BeOS had that same game that Loki had ported, Civilization Call of Power. And people on BeOS were like “This is it! we have arrived. We are officially a legitimate system because we have a commercial video game on it”.
And I mean and it didn’t work out. Obviously there were other problems with BeOS: marketing! But I have that same attitude: you can’t look at a system that has no videogames and say this is something that’s worth having and pushing that forward. I felt was pushing Linux forward it was making this a viable option for people to have on their desktops or on their servers. So it was pushing Microsoft out a little bit but more importantly raising Linux up. And that was important. It was something that I felt I could do to contribute.
And the Humble Bundle came around, finding Ryan’s wealth of experience in porting games to be an asset for what they wanted to achieve.
Ryan Gordon: They reached out to me originally and they said “we have this crazy idea” and I think they probably googled “who ports Linux stuff” or something, I didn’t know them specifically. Wait that’s not true. If you dig the roots of Humble Bundle all the way to the beginning, it starts with a game called Lugaru. The bunny murder simulator. You can you play a ninja rabbit which seems ridiculous, but it’s so cool. And not only was it looking credible at the time – it looks a little dated now because it’s almost two decades old at this point – but when that came out, if you’re willing to accept that you are a giant ninja rabbit fighting wolves, that was so cool. And it was made by one guy, the art, the programming, the whole thing was just one guy: David Rosen in his bedroom just hacking this thing out. It just played well, it felt good. And I worked with him on doing a Mac and Linux port of that. And if I had to guess, that’s probably why Humble Bundle got in touch with me.
Because Jeffrey Rosen who is one of the founders of Humble Bundle is… David’s brother. So he got in touch with me and their initial pitch was to put together a bundle of games – and remember this is before bundles became very common. At the time no one had done this before Humble Bundle really. And they’re like “We want to put together a bunch of games was you pay whatever you want we’ll give something to Charity. And we’d like to make sure it runs on all these platforms. And if we get to a million dollars for this we’re going to open source all the games.”
I was like “Sure whatever!”. I wrote an e-mail back to them, telling them that I am in love with this idea and while I didn’t think it was going to work, it pushed all the buttons of things that I personally care about. Like going to open source the games, giving to charity. I like that. You could pay whatever you want for the thing. I think at this point Radiohead have put out their album In Rainbows or something, that you could get by paying whatever you wanted. And it was a wild success. People threw money at this that they didn’t have to they paid more than you needed to pay to buy an album in the CD in a music store. And so we knew already that this could work but I was wondering… “Will it work?. I don’t know. I don’t think it’ll work. But I think people will like it.”
If you can make $50,000 out of thin air, it is fantastic. That’s that’s more than a lot of people making in a year. But if we make it to a million, we open-source all the games, I was like “OK then you’re telling me you’re NOT going to open source the games. There’s no chance you’ll get to a million dollars, but sure buddy, I’ll play along”. And I told him “you should look at this game Aquaria, these guys are doing really good work, you should talk to them“. And they did and they agreed and got into the bundle. And just you know, this is a direct quote from the email, I said “you should you should talk to John Blow and see if he chops your dick off”. And they wrote to John blow an e-mail and he just blew up their dick. He would NOT be in the Humble Bundle. But I don’t blame him. This seemed like a big pain in the ass and you know it would probably fail. It was a risky thing to do. He had other things going on, maybe doing PC version of Braid at the time, so he said no. There were games like Lugaru and Aquaria in the first bundle and a couple other games. It was a good little starter.
And as I said earlier, they said they would open source the games if they get to a million dollar and I was like “sure!!! whatever!!”, but a week later we’re sitting on 1.1 million dollars. Everyone’s looking at each other like “holy shit! What did we do?” But Jeffrey Rosen was right. There’s always someone to give you a dollar on the Internet. So he just found a million people that will give him a dollar. Some people gave more than a dollar per person and they got very good later bundles with the psychological aspect. You try to give them less than a dollar, but then it popped up a picture of a homeless person saying “will code games for food” or something like that. So you would be like “OK fine I’ll move it up, I’m sorry”.
I have personally always felt that the initial support of Linux in the Humble Bundle was magical. I mean, it came out of nowhere. There was no reason to do it, and they should not have expected a lot of revenues to come from this kind of support. So why did they bother? Why did they care?
Ryan Gordon: To an extent I don’t know what their initial motivation was. I think it might be they thought it was cool like and it would be nice if we had Linux support. They were looking for reasons to differentiate. If he had to make an elevator pitch for the original Humble Bundle, he wanted to throw as many bullet points as they could. DRM free, Pay What You Want, Some of it goes to charity, runs on three different platforms. They wanted to make it as compelling as possible. For whatever reason they wanted to do it.
But what they discovered after that first Humble Bundle, and for the first several bundles after, is that 25 percent of their revenue was coming from Linux users. And then they did a bundle with somebody I can’t remember who it was. It was Windows only and I think Steam-only it was some developer’s personal catalog, it wasn’t a Humble Bundle, you know it was a general Humble Indie Bundle thing. And they found that even though all the games were windows only, 25 percent of their purchases were coming from Linux browsers. […] And people on Reddit and gaming forums were saying: “I used to buy stuff that I wouldn’t play because it was a couple of bucks and it was Windows only I wouldn’t play it. But I want to show them support because I knew the next Humble Indie Bundle would have more Linux ports in it”. So people were just giving them good faith money. It’s complicated. But with that initial Humble Bundle, they did open source all these games. And some of them went very very far. There’s an Ipad port of Aquaria, Lugaru has been ported to everything. Some of those games became kind of like what we did with Doom where exactly oh there’s a there’s a new platform. Let’s get this running on it!
With more and more indie developers providing Linux clients, Humble Bundle providing another reason to consider the platform, it did not take too long for things to get to a different scale, with Valve’s involvement. But this time, it did not start with Linux in mind. There was an intermediate step where Ryan also played a key part.
Ryan Gordon: Valve has always had this amazing ability to call me up during major life changes. I bought a house in Charlotte North Carolina which is where I still live and I’m talking to you in it right now. Me and my girlfriend, we moved into this house, and a week later I got a call from someone at Valve. They call my cell phone and they’re asking “how do you feel about moving to Seattle and coming to work for us?” and I was like “I literally just bought a house!. Where were you guys?!” And so I did not move to Seattle. I said I’ll come out for a little while and if you want I can be there for a week and talk to you guys and get you started on whatever you’re working on and you can just take my brain or whatever – and they say OK Come over.
They did not tell me what it was about. Basically, “get on a plane and don’t ask questions”. And I was like OK. I played the original Half Life, so I understood that G-man mentality, that made sense to me. So I get there and they tell me “we are working on a Mac version of Steam and this is very secret, we don’t want anyone to know, because we don’t know if this is going to work out and this is all very preliminary at this point”. I said OK. So we talked about this for a little bit. We talked about the technology that needs to be put into place, what needs to be ripped out and rebuilt and ported and whatever, and they did most of the work on that, they just picked my brain on it. Two important things happened there.
One, I was talking to one of the rendering people there and I explained as I was working on Unreal Tournament 3 at the time I was explaining the trouble we’re having with shaders because they’re all DirectX shaders. And he had told me “Well don’t you try just taking the directX shater bytecode and build something that converts it to GSL” and I was like “huh!”. And on the flight home, I started writing a project called Mojo Shader, to do that. So that was just an offhand comment from someone that just you know became a multi year project used in wildly successful games.
But the other thing they said… the people that brought me in to work on them to talk about the Mac version said confidentially “we are Linux users”, these people who were working on this project and who also used the Mac version of course. But this is actually just a submarine project. We would like to get it to the point where we can make an argument that goes “Look we brought this to the Mac and it was worth the money and time we took to do it. Why don’t we try this Linux next?”. And I was like “You guys are crazy!” but ok cool I’m totally done with that. So I did everything I could, I got back to my office and I started calling people “We need a Mac port of your game now, because it’s about to make you a lot of money and you don’t know it yet”. And I found a couple of people that trusted in that and a couple of people that were gung ho about it and we started porting Mac games as fast as we could so that they would be ready for the launch of Mac Steam, because of the first mover advantage. If you’re the first one when Steam comes to a new platform you’re going to make a lot of money.
You look any sort of app store where you can buy stuff and you have to get there in the first couple of weeks. There’s nobody on it. And everyone’s like “I want to buy something, I want to try it out“, so you know that iTunes music store launches so I guess I’ll buy that shitty Sheryl Crow CD, whatever! And now you can get anything you want on there. So the people that got there first didn’t have to have the best games they just had to be the only game there. And I’m not saying that these were bad games. I’m not suggesting that they dumped out a bunch of turds and people would buy them. Even less good games would not have to compete, like when you know Black Ops 3 is coming out, so I guess I’ll try not to schedule my game to launch on the same week. And Valves starts telling people they are going to do this and those people start working with me too and just aggressively trying to get these games out as fast as possible.
So we had an idea of when it was going to ship and then we missed that deadline and we missed the next one. What is good for me bad for Valve, but no one was waiting for it. I think it was a surprise when they announced it to the world. Guess what? There’s a Mac version now. We knew but I don’t think that the general public knew that Valve missed their deadline on this. They had the time to get it right. […]
We were moving fast, because it was a lot of work with a lot of different customers, a lot of different games trying to get there as fast as possible. We went down the catalog “what do we have that has a Linux port?” because I can tell you almost certainly how long it will take, as opposed to a codebase you would have never seen. We did the best we could with that, but also it was a lot of “we don’t actually know when this is shipping” so we won’t be ready by now but it might take another week, or taken another month.[…]
So then the Steam for Mac client ships, and this is where things really start to get real for the plans to have Steam running on Linux.
Ryan Gordon: So I was not there for this specifically, but my understanding is the people that brought me in for the client went to the people that would make this decision at Valve… and everyone has seen the Valve handbook: you work on whatever you want. If you have a good idea just go do it. I mean this is a great idea. That’s where we got G-mail from right?
So theoretically they could just be like, “I’m going to spend a month. six months, a year porting this to Linux and who’s going to stop me? Ha ha ha!” And they actually wanted to ship this and get the consensus from the team, that this would be a good idea. So they took the numbers from the Mac version and obviously the Mac version does not make as much money as the Windows version, because that’s where the vast majority of your warm bodies are, and that’s just life. But but they were able to go and say we made a reasonable return on investment. I can’t give you the exact number but it took this much money to make, and we made a little more than that much money. We call this a success. Let’s try this with Linux. And I don’t know where SteamOS came from. I mean… I know where SteamOS came from. I don’t think that the idea was “Let’s launch an operating system” but I think at the time, and you can find it in interviews with Newell saying this too, they were very worried that Microsoft was going to lock down Windows.
Apple locked down the iPhone, and Apple has tried so hard to lock down MacOS where everything has to come through their store and in the case of Apple it’s even worse than that, because digital goods on the iPhone are considered in-app purchases and Apple gets a 30 percent cut of that, which is why you can buy a physical book on the Amazon app on your iPhone but you can’t buy a Kindle book. And it’s infuriating. Anyone on the planet can see that in modern times Microsoft looks at what Apple is doing and learns the wrong lesson from it. So there’s no reason to think that Microsoft would not make a store for everyone on Windows to use in the store, demand a 30 percent cut and lock out things they don’t like.
So they were concerned that the thing that they would not like is a software store that sells software being sold through Microsoft software store that sells software and they were afraid that Microsoft either want to cut or lock them out entirely and they didn’t want to take that risk. So SteamOS was born there like… if nothing else we’ll try and push people off of Windows, and that was a fairly bold move.
My argument was is that it never had to succeed. You just had to move the needle a little bit and… I think it did. I think that a lot of things changed because they all made the noise they were going to replace Windows.
SteamOS was a later plan that came along. I could be wrong I’m a little vague on the timetable now… by the time I came back there, when SteamOS was announced, they had a team of Linux people that were literally just there to work on SteamOS and Steam games and OpenGL, and Vulkan later on and stuff like that.
When Left for Dead 2 happened they had the Steam client running on Linux with lots of bugs. It’s like “Oh that definitely looks like the Steam client” but you go to the store page and it’s blank. They were starting to limp along with that and they brought me on to do some work as a contractor and they basically sat me down for a computer said: “This is Left For Dead 2 – get zombies on the screen!” and walked away. So we got zombies on the screen and it was very very slow. And then they brought on some of the best rendering people in the country. You had Rich Geldreich in there and Jason… I forgot his last name he is going to kill me. Sorry Jason! Anyway like Richard and Jason were working on that and a couple of people from nVidia basically set up office in there, AMD did… that’s not uncommon (to have the graphics vendors colocated).
There was Nvidia developer and an AMD developer sitting at Epic when I was working Unreal 2003. For the big name games that are going to make the money and sell video cards, they absolutely make sure they run really well on their cards. And I’m sure they work remotely. Here’s a build of Game X and they’ll have their developers look at it and make driver fixes and stuff like that. For the big, big games they actually do send people there.
And Intel was there at one point. I’m sure everyone goes through these offices. But this was a big big push from Valve. They wanted not just feel like it runs on Linux but as everyone has seen their blog post they want to say “Look the openGL renderer is faster than our DirectX renderer”. They announced “Hey look our openGL renderer is faster” but “Oh by the way this runs on Linux” and it was like “What the hell!”
From Loki which had trouble finding enough audience to sustain its operations, things have changed tremendously in the past few years. A lot of it has to be with how good the desktop environment has become.
Ryan Gordon: When I was at Loki there was a brand new card called the GeForce. Before that, the high end was a nVidia TNT card, or maybe more like it was a 3Dfx Voodoo card. […] The thing about the Voodoo card, it was something you’d look at and you would think “this is something I’d never thought would be possible with a computer”. This is the future. It was such a small step towards the future, but everything was possible once you saw a game running on that thing. Everything that you have seen since then came from that moment when you installed a Voodoo3 card. Back then maybe you had a game limping alone in Glide, or you had something called Utah GLX and support for a few other cards that don’t even exist anymore. In 1999-2000, the huge question was “How do you even get a Linux box to show 3d games?”. At the time, it was also “How do I get my fucking printer to print?!? (laughs) – How do I get connected to wifi ?” – these were all hard problems.
We don’t think about it anymore but somebody spent an enormous amount of engineering on all of these problems, doubly-so on the video cards. Now we are at a point where you can reasonably install Ubuntu on a machine, and probably your video card works. The problem we are having now is licensing. Do you want to use the closed-source nVidia driver or do you want to use Nouveau ? That’s a massive upgrade from “Do you want to install this video card, or one that does not work at all?”. Even the open source drivers like Nouveau, which are a remarkable feat of reverse-engineering, they are NOT bad. They actually work pretty well. […] I think eventually we will have to see nVidia make change about this. We are not moving to Wayland now, because nVidia has not moved yet, but the first step is going to be “fine this is what you need, the DRM-level driver for Wayland” and then from there we are going to have to have an open-source version. I don’t know how we get to that point, but we have to eventually. It’s the last legal hurdle for a full Linux system. […]
Now Linux looks like a competitive desktop. There were many years where you could install Linux and it will probably work, but it still looks like Windows 95. Because when we built it that’s what we were copying. People have moved past that. People are willing to take risks now. I used to be “How do we catch up to Windows?” and later “How do we catch up to MacOS?”. Now you take risks: Unity or GNOME3 does not look like either of those system. And that’s good, people will embrace that.
Despite such great progress, the Linux gaming audience still remains a very small part of the overall PC market. It’s certainly growing in numbers, but not so much in share. For Ryan, this is not necessarily a problem.
Ryan Gordon: I don’t think what’s important is critical mass. I don’t think we need to get to the point where everyone runs Linux, this is actually not what I want. I want people to run what they like. I want my mom to run her iPad and load up a game she likes, I want my wife to load up her mac book and play games she likes I want people I work with to keep running Windows and not complain about Linux. […] I think part of the problem that we’re trying to solve here is that lots of Linux users have run their computers in what we call Wintendo mode. You know where you you use Linux for everything you need during the day and then you reboot to play a video game in Windows and then when you’re done you boot back into Linux and go on with your productive life. And I don’t care if you run Windows and play video games. If Windows is your desktop that’s fine with me.
But I don’t want you if you’re a Linux user to have to shut down your music player and your email and your web browser the thousand tabs in the document that you’ve been working on and your text source code and your terminal with all this back scroll that you’re really sad you lose after rebooting, the important things.
I want to get to this point where we don’t have this hegemony of desktop anymore. Everyone who was a game developer probably moaned about the times when they had to do a DOS version, a Commodore 64 version, an Amiga version or an Atari version… Fuck you! I know it’s a lot of work. But look at how happy all those customers were. I know that’s a miserable place for a game developer to be, to have to worry about a million platforms. But everyone got to use what they like and what they could afford and what they are willing to live with and what they customize to exactly what they loved. And if we can get back to that I’m OK. I mean I don’t think we’re all going to run on Apple 2s anymore. But whatever your modern desktop or your modern phone or tablet is, you should be able to run what you want the way you want to run it. And I don’t care who else succeeds. I’m happy if everyone succeeds. I don’t like there being one force that runs the whole market, that’s bad. But everyone should get a little slice of the pie. I think that’s OK. I don’t think we have to be the one to own the pie. And I don’t think that’s a reasonable goal to work towards either. But that’s my opinion. I could be wrong.
If you were wondering why Icculus did not ship too many ports in the past year, well guess what. He was busy with other projects, that are very useful nonetheless to the porting community.
Ryan Gordon: I have on a couple of things that did not ship, that happens. I’ve worked on recently Serious Sam so this is coming full circle in my career. They were really interested in it and I was like “well I just happened to have a Linux port” so you know we spent some time merging that up and getting that together and you can download source code from GitHub and you can clone it from Github and run it on Linux. And you know there’s ports of that springing up all over the place. You know like there’s an Open Pandora port as we were discussing the other night. I love this idea of like not just you can run the desktop you know like I’m just saying but also like here’s a weird device that you would never think this game would run on. But here you go! I think that’s amazing. I think people look at things like the Raspberry Pi or whatever came before the Raspberry Pi that’s a fairly recent innovation with like an ARM processor and they go “Who would ever use this? This is embedded GPU, this is garbage I’m never going to use this”. And then congratulations! Everything needs to run on an iPhone now or on Android. You were warned. You saw this coming and you ignored it. And now this is what everyone wants your game to run on, this level of technology.[…] There’s a real benefit to open sourcing your games because that kind of thing happens, it runs on platforms you never thought it would run on. And platforms that you didn’t even envision when you wrote the game over years.
So I tried this I had the source code unreal tournament from back in the day. Someone put a bug in my ear that he would really like to see Unreal Engine 1 running in a web browser. He had an old Unreal Engine one game and he thought it would be really neat to reboot it to see it live on as a historical artifact in a web browser. So he put the idea in my head and I started porting Unreal to it and emscripten and if you’ve never played it it’s clang, literally you can build a Mac port of your game you’re 90 percent, or Linux for that matter. You’re 90 percent of the way there it’s you having an emscripten part of your game running in a web browser. […] So I got it working, […] the Unreal Tournament 1999 fly by where you know that anyone that was a gamer in the late 90s has that initial flyby voiceover burned into their brain. […] So I got that running and the game itself too and I emailed Tim Sweeney “take a look at what I did here”. Now I don’t want to sell this, or make a big deal out of it, but I would love your permission to have this fly by ship so people could see it running, and he’s like “yeah do it!”. So I put that up on the Web and people are like “oh my gosh you have this thing running”.[…]
But what I found was I got an enormous amount of e-mails from people that were Mac players of the original Unreal Tournament saying “oh my god can we get the whole game on the web browser?” because this game shipped for Mac OS 9 Mac Mac OS Classic like before Mac OS had you know before it was like that solid Unix foundation right. You know the old operating system that was its last rest in the late 90s unreal term it was ported to that. And later on they released a carbonized version that lets it run natively on MacOS. But that was a PowerPC version and you can’t run that on the new Intel Macs or on modern Macs so people that paid for this game and used to play on a Mac many years ago, still identify themselves as Mac users, no longer have access to the game. It just will not run on any modern Mac. But it will run in a web browser.
I’m not saying it’s time to stop doing Linux ports. I’m definitely not saying that. But I’m looking at this and this is an important piece of history, because this will keep working as long as web browsers keep working. So that’s what I’ve been working on recently and other than that other than that it’s been focusing on two things here.
I started Patreon and it’s doing better than I thought. I thought like three people were going to give me money.[…] But it’s been pretty good. I like the people who have shown up and they’ve brought in some money and support. So we did see an unreal T is one thing and we did an auto updater for IOQuake 3[…].
The other thing I’ve been spending my full time on is simple direct media player. SDL as a full time job, and Valve has been paying for some of that and I appreciate it. Patreon is going to be paying for a book I’m writing about SDL, because people keep asking for it and I was like I’m going to do it. Well you guys I follow the same trap Humble Bundled did when they said “If we get to a million dollars”, by saying “If I get to $500 I’ll write a book”. Oh my god I reached that in two days. Oh shit I have to write a book now! I don’t know how to write a book, but I’m working on that. I tell someone who’s written a book that all I want to do is write a 50000 word plan file and no it doesn’t work that way. So now I’m freaking out.
But those are the things we work on. I haven’t been porting a lot of individual titles recently but I’ve been working a lot on infrastructure, SDL, to make that easier for other people to port games and to make sure the game engines like Unreal and Unity can have a really strong foundation. I feel like that’s the way I can be most useful right now and I will port more games in the future, I’m sure of it. Right now I feel that the infrastructure is the most important thing for Linux gaming and the Patreon is great because I find I wander off and do things like I get an idea in my head and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s like I’ll just spend three days on this and it’ll be done it’ll be great and I can move on to the next thing and then like three weeks later I’m like “I’m almost there!”. And I would do that I would build interesting things and open source it and that’s great and I love doing that. But then you find out I spend a month on this thing and I did it for free. What is wrong with me?? And clients are waiting for me to do work. They’re actually paying me for it. Everyone’s mad. So now the Patreon can help me do these things and I don’t have to feel so guilty. I think that’s good.
So what happened to that whole gig of calling/emailing developers directly and asking if they want to make a Linux port? Is that still a thing at all ?
Ryan Gordon: I do that sometimes but most of my work after the initial Serious Sam was a lot of people calling me. To get back to my joke about John Blow chopping your dick off, the first humble bundle made 1.1 million dollars or something like that I mean A LOT of money. Strangely if you look at humble 2, what game is in there? Braid. Because John bloater looked at it and said “Oh. Maybe this was a good idea!” And to be fair I don’t want to suggest that John was a jerk. John Blow made a totally reasonable business decision and looked at the data that was available from it but also Braid is an awesome game. So if you were to show up in Humble Bundle 12 and say I want to put Braid they would run like “hell yes!” because I mean Braid is amazing. Braid changed the state of the art for games narrative at the time and others have moved that forward since then. But at the time he had done something that frankly no one was doing, a game that made you after you finished it want to talk to your friends about what the hell you just saw and what it meant. And people had different opinions about what it meant.
That’s much more common now because I think you know in the same way that movies used to you know old silent movies be pretty bad. The plot wasn’t very good. Then someone did Citizen Kane or whatever the first thing was that really moved the state of the art of the narrative. Or you look at television you know everything was really bad one camera sitcoms with a bad canned laugh track and then you see the Sopranos came along. Or Twin Peaks. Well Twin Peaks is a cautionary tale right. It was really good, I’m actually watching it right now. I had never seen it before. I think people learned the wrong lessons from that, because it took 15 years before Lost came out. Yeah it took a long time for people to learn the lessons of Twin Peaks. People looked at Braid and they came with Dear Esther and Gone Home where they are not building a videogame, the videogame is secondary. The fact that I basically remade Super Mario Brothers with the time rewind feature is secondary to the fact that I want you to think about what I’m trying to tell you. […] You know we started elevating this to an art form.
The other reason why Ryan is not taking on so many new game ports, is also related to the change in landscape. Porting large games now has become a massive endeavor.
Ryan Gordon: The other thing we discovered is that games take a lot longer to port now. It used to be “here’s feeding frenzy, a casual little game you move your mouse around”, and that would take three weeks to port, and then like we spent a lot of time on Unreal Engine 2 since that game was portable. There was a Linux and Mac quarter that in revision control with the Windows version it wasn’t a separate branch, it was maintained commit by commit with the Windows version of the engine. And game companies would go out and say hey I need a Mac port, I would go “OK. Get a Mac. Download the source code. Type make”. That’s it. You have a Mac version of your game at all. But that took an enormous amount of effort but the payout was going forward. We had all these games we could port easily.
But moving forward now, you just get unity and you click export to Linux or Unreal Engine has that same kind of technology. We’re praying that it moves forward, because we are getting to the point that if your game has a custom engine for a triple-A game, you’re going to spend a year porting it and nobody wants to pay a porter to spend a year porting something. So we either have to do it for too little money or too fast or any other number of things.
I’m sure that Feral will tell you that it’s become much more of an uphill struggle to port things now and those guys are amazing, they do some hard work and they do it pretty fast. But I’m sure they will tell you that it’s got to the point porting individual games is exhausting and really really hard and takes much longer and more resources to do it.
Ports requiring more and more work and time passed was also a major reason why things did not go as smoothly for the Linux games in the Humble Bundles.
Ryan Gordon: I worked on first couple of Humble Bundle literally just pushing games to me as fast as I could do them. And that was really nice because I didn’t have to go and sell myself. Humble Bundle will go around saying we want this game we have this porter, sign the papers and we’ll hand it to him and Ryan will do the work and we’ll do all the business stuff.
But it got to the point where I could not keep up with them. OK this game is done, start working on the next one. And we’re getting to the point were these games were not things we could port quickly. It is “we” in that there were other people working on other games. And that’s where Ethan came up and that’s where you know Edward Rugg came up and a couple other people got in there and started really just trying to pick up games and just port them as fast as possible. It was getting to the point where we would miss the deadline, and we would say “oh well, it will go in the next bundle” or worse, it’s running enough that we can ship it, and maybe fix it later… which is a really dangerous place because five more games are coming in. You NEVER get back to it.
And you could see a lot of people mad about some of those games and the later bundles were still aggressively trying to port these things to Linux, and “it doesn’t run at all on my system” or “it runs but it crashes right away”.[…] Super Meat Boy when we shipped that, the final boss had a bug where it would miss compile the shader and crash the game. And Super Meat Boy is fucking hard. I never got to the last boss to test it. So I had to find out about that in my bug tracker and “I’m sorry that you have to replay the murderously hard last level”. This is the kind of things we were going into and the quality was dropping immensely.
At that point they hired some people full time to be Linux people. And I had just had my daughter Olive. I could not keep up with it because I was exhausted, I haven’t slept in a year…. and children are hard. But so it got to the point where I started doing less with the Humble Bundle and I don’t actually do anything (for them) right now. I’d be happy to but just I am doing other things. I was getting concerned about the dropping quality for the stuff I was working on and that I could not keep up with it, because you don’t want people to be like “Oh Linux? That’s where you go and play broken games” you know. So that’s where we ended up.
When it comes to finding a Linux porter, there’s no regular process it seems. People go through who they know and who they can find, and if that person is not available, well you may be redirected to another acquaintance.
Ryan Gordon: I often get contacted by people I’ve never talked to before like someone said oh you should talk to Ryan or they Googled me or something like that. But sometimes I’ll be like I’m really busy, why don’t you try talking to these people ? I did the original port of Rocket League and I handed off to Timothy who did an enormous amount of polishing on that. That game is really good on Linux because of the time Timothy took to make it as good as it is, whereas I took the time to get it running and I was done. And Timothy, I think is probably still a contractor, if anyone is still looking for Linux ports I’m sure he will be happy to talk to you as well some other people. I don’t know what the decision chain is like. I don’t look at it and go “Oh that’s a Feral level game, or that’s a Ryan level game”. […] There have been definitely some AAA titles I passed on saying “I’m just too busy“, or that it looks like a nightmare and I’m not going to do it. […]
Some software is better built than others and some are more enjoyable to work with than others. And that’s just how it goes. I’m not going to name names.[…] Yeah there are definite Triple-A games I have passed on, I have never looked at it as in that’s just technology I cannot understand but I would rather say that it will be legitimately 12 months of work, and no one wants to spend 12 months doing this including me or the people that want to pay for this.
Coming back to Rocket League, it’s worth considering what happened there. It was announced for the Steam Controller release, and then nothing happened. Nobody mentioned it anymore either, it was almost like a vaporware at some point. Since Ryan worked on this port, he could shed some light on what was going on.
Ryan Gordon: My experience with Rocket League is that they were much much more interested in quality control than most people are about Linux stuff and that’s good. […] Let’s make sure it’s good. Listen to actual commercial like paid testers and fix bugs where it must grow like oh it’s running on Linux OK. And like most people that I think is the Linux for don’t even have a Linux box, they’re not going to play it you know. They want to be able to say “it runs on Linux, please buy it” but they’re going to trust me that it works. Psyonix was very very interested in making sure not just that it ran on Linux but that it didn’t suck on Linux. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if the Steam Controller deadlines moved a lot like Steam Linux and Mac Steam launch. I’m sure those were also moving targets. But I would also not be surprised if after Timothy took it over there was a lot we’d like to get this fixed […]. And like I said Timothy did an enormous amount of polish on that game. Like there were not just bugs but also making it just feel better and look better and run a little bit faster and optimizing it. That must have taken a lot of time. The emails I saw, he was working hard, day and night on it.
This happens, this is not unique to Linux this happens with all sorts of platforms where someone announces “we will make a port to the Nintendo Switch, we have just signed the papers” and then they find out “oh shit it’s going to take 6 months to a year to port this thing”. […] It’s like you bring a contractor to work on your house, saying you’d like them to build a shed, and they did a little foundation for it, they accidently hit a gas pipe, so it takes more time… they fix that and then start with the shed, and they can’t get the kind of wood they want. And they found out that there are termites, etc… they find out they don’t have a permit. And so on. Porting software is very much the same way. […] Even the people who work with software contracts don’t understand that. If you are hired to build a webserver, you know the protocols, the structure of a web server, how you write that software. Based on their skills and know how it will take x weeks and days and hours. But porting is nothing like that. We know what it takes to build a shed, but we don’t know what it takes to rip a closet and build something in there, because you don’t know what you are going to find when you take the dry wall off. […] Porting is the same, you get it to compile, the main loop is running, and what the game is doing is printf and break the OpenGL renderer. OK, the game is running, but we need 6 months until it shows anything on screen. We, porters, don’t actually know how long it is going to take. Even once you go in there and look at the code. It’s not useful until you hit the problem that takes a long time to fix. […] I have a lot of sympathies for companies that announce a game and then run into massive problems. Nobody wants to say to their customers “we are having problems and we don’t know how long it is going to take”.[…]
Ideals and reality clash in that particular regard. What I would recommend to do in general, is that if you want to make a Linux port, or any port, don’t announce it until it’s ready to ship. Just don’t tell anyone you have it until you are litterally ready to hand it to them, or just a couple of weeks away. That would make everyone happier. Linux users would not be like “they did not announce it 6 months ago, what the hell?”, they would be “It’s CHRISTMAS BABY! I GOT A PRESENT I DID NOT EVEN KNOW IT!” (laughs).
And…. this concludes the Part 1 of the podcast. We will be back with the second part in a couple of weeks. We appreciate your comments, remarks or questions in the meantime!
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Ok... enough is enough. We hate the arbitrary hubber score. It is a phantom's judgement of us and the Q and A section does not give a clear cut way to effectively appease the phantom.
Until you can give us an exact science (i.e. the way capitals and punctuation are used), it is not fair to stamp a number on our foreheads that describe to visitors how we/our work are to be viewed. It is a first impression... it affects how others perceive our hubs which is totally counter productive to our efforts. In other words, you're setting us up to fail before anyone's read a word we've written.
This is a petition.
Get rid of the hubber score or update its usage to make it clear and above all FAIR.
Though they have no hubs, some of them are active participants in forums and in giving comments. It's the same reason why those who have hubs but are not very active on HP get low scores. I think.
Some of the people with the highest scores haven't published new content in years, or commented on other Hubs or posted in the forums. The high scores are mostly reflective of the QAP scores on their Hubs.
But I agree with Sed-me that the Hubber Score should be banned from public view.
What exactly is QAP scores, if I may ask?
You can find out more about how the QAP process works here:
This is the ratings chart for creative writing like poems and short stories:
This is the ratings chart for articles:
Here are examples of Hubs and what ratings they received:
lol, toast, tug, icecream, juice and peter are not active accounts. but they must be doing something better than cheese, who only has a score in the 60s. http://cheese.hubpages.com/
I thought you said 'active nouns' and was baffled but amused. And now that I see that you said 'accounts' I still can't think of many nouns better than cheese. Maybe bacon. Both equally active, as far as nouns go.
You can't put anything above God. Not even bacon.
Haha. Huffpost Celebrity concurs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/1 … 70357.html
When I was 16, I would have been really excited about that. Im afraid the crunchy kind turns me on a little more at this point.
This time I concur in spades.... http://www.stupid.com/assets/images/bac … ards_2.jpg
These are the kind of jokes I have to avoid in public places. If we were alone though... we'd be giggling right now. lol
I clicked on the links to their pages and see that Pen1s has been banned! What a hard, penetrating plunge that must be for him.
I have the feeling my thread has gone horribly awry.
sorry, only highlighting how stupid the scores are if you automatically get 70 points just for writing your name on the assignment, as it were
You're absolutely right. Ive been complaining about that for at least a year. It causes me great consternation to know that ppl who write published hubs have the same score or close to those who have done nothing but, as you said, written their names. grr.
The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.
- Tom Waits
The road to hell is paved with adverbs.
- Stephen King
Does the new hubscore formula require you to be in the forums a lot then? What if you don't have time?
Sounds good to me. I never cared what mine was to begin with, and they seem to perturb a whole lot of nice folks here. So be done with them!
If you are really mad as heck I know an albino cobra that needs a good yelling at. Maybe it will help to release your anger.
Why would I need an albino cobra? I've already got a red trouser snake waiting for me in bed.
haha. Snakes in a cubicle? Can I get banned for that joke?
I totally agree! Get rid of the darn thing that has been busted for years and only torments good writers. It is nonsense.
Thank you Mr. Awesome. Now let's get serious.
How 'bout some more signatures!
I'm touring Europe at the moment. In Italy I tried to complain that the beer I was served was flat. I could not get the message across. So I used my translation app and rudely showed the result to the waiter.
The translation for Beer Flat was Biere Appartmento. We both laughed!
+1. Just speaking up to show support. If nobody even understands what the hubber score represents, why mess up perfectly good avatars?
I'm all for doing away with it, or at least hiding it from public view.
I think the Huber score should be internal and not visible on our profiles. The Huber score has forever challenged me to write better hubs and I love to see it on my account page. Yet, just like HubPages recently removed the visible Hub Score of on its pages, it should act similarly for the total Hub Score that is aired on our profile page.
In my short time here I have noticed that the score keep changing in relation to the activities your page receive. I agree though, public posting of one's score could work against an article.
It's true. Your hub, from first look, appears to be good, but your score causes one to think, "I'll read a different hub on this topic. With a score like that, it can't be very good." It's not right.
One thing that usually improves my hub score by a point or two within a day or so is Hopping Hubs. I am not sure how they correlate, but hopping 3 usually does the trick.
Ive never done that. I don't think I knew what I was doing and I didn't want to make a mistake that adversely affected someone.
I wondered about that, too.
Also, although I would like to get my Hubber Score back to an even number (I really liked 94), I like that my followers and Hubber Score are currently the same. So I guess I don't want it to go up just yet.
You won't - but you do get to report the spun articles and some are so heinously incoherent they deserve to be knocked as well.
Seriously, go do it now; it's fun. Hop 3 hubs. The spun articles can be very funny; sometimes I laugh until I cry. If you get to a topic you don't know anything about, for me that would be gaming, just exit out and go back in again. It will give you a new hub to hop.
So what do you do, thumbs down an article that is grammatically incorrect etc?
It seems so judgmental, like I'm going behind their back. I feel like I'd need to sit down with them and explain my actions before I could do something like that. lol
Haha, that's me, too. A bit of why I posted my comment in the feedback survey here. I felt like I'd be two-faced to say something different elsewhere than I was implying here.
No, LOL You score it on three criteria from 1-10 Substance, Organization and Grammar/Mechanics. There is a scale as you pass over each possible score that explains in detail what each number means. Creative writing has a different set of scales.
This does not have to be judgmental, it can also be an opportunity to raise a score on a hub that has been harshly judged by the MTurker. I read many excellent hubs there as well, and score them accordingly. It forces me to look at hubs outside on my natural field of interest.
You do not know who the author is - the hub is anonymous.
One thing I'd like would be the ability to offer suggestions to the author (anonymously of course). For instance I 'hopped' 6 hubs today- 2 were just very poorly written and flagged, 1 was excellent, and the others were good but contained syntax/grammar errors that would be easily fixed. The most common issue was comma splices.
I know I could look up the hub and then contact the writer directly but I'd prefer to remain anonymous. Hubpages could keep track of your comments so if someone is being abusive they can be blocked from further comments without the author ever knowing who it was.
One thing I really like best about HubPages is that you have to stand behind what you say. There is no way of anonymously commenting if you really want to communicate with another site member. People have to own up to their actual words and statements.
I wouldn't recommend anyone hold their breath for HubPages to take action on this complaint.
Recently, there were protests about Scores on another thread. I suggested to the complainants that they should go and revive this thread, so HubPages couldn't pretend their complaints were an isolated case:
At that time, the thread was still open for comment. Mysteriously, after I suggested they add to it, the thread was closed.
I can think of no other reason than that HubPages wanted to bury it - they don't want people to know just how many Hubbers are unhappy with scores.
So let's us band together so they can't make it go away and if this thread is removed, we will just start another............................
So everyone, but the vegetarians agree at this point.
That's a big ole "yes" to Bacon... the meat.
And a big ole "no" to hubber scores!
Since kale is only one measly point behind bacon, this vegetarian can get behind that statement.
I have no idea what a hubber score is for. It seems to change randomly.
Are you vegan? Because cheese and kale are tied.
Did we already know the score of cheese? I'm losing track.
A bacon, kale, and cheese burger sounds pretty good. Except I can't have the cheese. Or the bun. For medical reasons. Which is why I would never give up bacon. For any reasons.
*Edit/disclaimer: that was not the judgement on vegetarianism or veganism that it may have sounded like. Rather an innocent and genuine love for bacon and longing for cheese.
No worries. I'm not one of those Angry Vegans™. Eat the bacon, and the cheese, if that makes you happy. Have mine, too, while you're at it.
Why don't we compromise. I had something a few months ago that was incredible. Bacon wrapped figs. Oh my word. It might have you rethinking the meat thing.
No rethinking. You can have my allotment of bacon. Win/win.
I am with you on that one. I almost lost my cookies when I read about bacon covered figs. (And they are really good cookies.)
I think we have finally come full circle back to Bubblews again and stolen half baked cookies.
I should have binged on bacon these last few days instead of cookies (though they were pretty darned good). I think it would have been better for my cold. And bacon never makes me grumpy. My husband made me some bacon flavored whiskey. Maybe I should switch to that for a day or two.
Oh dear... your too far off the mark now... no offense Dr. Mark.
But no crunch. I guess you could put ice in it.
The candied bacon I make has an exceptional crunch......from the carmelized sugars and spices. It's other-worldly. Perfect combination of crunchy and gooey sweetness. With a bit of a spicy kick.
I bet they use some kind of liquid smoke type flavoring.
He infuses different alcohols with flavors, usually over the course of months (ginger vodka was one of the first he tried). I think his first attempt used bacon grease (which I know sounds horrid and doesn't make my case). Now that I'm trying to remember....I can't. It did work, though. I made spiced, candied bacon twists for a party, which went great with whiskey. But the sugar made me grumpy, so he tried the bacon whiskey. (All these references to food and grumpiness probably sound pretty high maintenance, but it's all Lyme disease related, so it's not really my fault.)
My friend had Lymes disease, and every spring she would have a flair-up that lasted 3 weeks or so. She started making Kefir at home, which is quite easy, and she drinks it in a smoothy every morning. She has not had a flair-up in 3 years.
I can't do kefir because I can't have dairy (I had to see that one on paper through blood work, because I wasn't giving up cheese without a fight), but I do have meds/herbals that work similarly. And I bought kambucha yesterday to help recover from my little sugar binge.
How does sugar affect Lyme's disease?
Is it cause bacteria likes sugar?
Does the bacteria never completely leave your system?
As for Lyme---treated right away, most people recover fully. Antibodies stay, at the very least, in those cases. If it goes untreated it is very hard to ever fully get rid of (I was misdiagnosed for 3.5 years because my state says we don't have lyme here). It lives as spirochetes, cysts, and biofilms, each of which is resistent to different types of treatments and can 'hide' in different body systems at different times. But flares, as solaras mentioned, can be one of thse forms reproducing quickly all of a sudden and increasing symptoms. I was mostly recovered for many, many months working full time and living mostly normally, until last spring's relapse.
I've read that spirochetes crave sugar. I feel like they do. I'm like a walking ant farm. And sugar, like some of the other foods I can't tolerate, increases inflammatory responses that can cause pain and fogginess and problems (and grumpiness). Yeast that builds up in your gut (especially after antibiotics) feeds on sugar, and dies off when deprived of sugar (which feels horrible). The kefir that solaris mentioned would help lyme patients by holding back yeast (its a probiotic that would help populate the gut with good flora) and by foster good gut chemistry that would help with nutrient absorption and immune fuction (both of which are significantly suppressed with lyme infection).
It may not go away, but patients do best when they can get the numbers of spirochetes, cysts, biofilms down. But there are also coinfections from the same ticks that are also hard to treat.
Things I can'g have (despite my best efforts) at all include dairy, gluten, casein (a dairy protein that goes back into everything non-dairy). Sugar isn't good, but I've already given up too much, I can do some if I'm moderate. Which I wasn't the cookies (that I'm trying not to sound like I'm blaming on someone in this thread because it's not his fault and they were very good, and met my objectives at the time).
Another good hub. I wonder if there are a lot of hubs on this...
There is a category now, as of a few days ago, which I am very happy about. They got back to me almost instantaneously when I requested it. My first hub on this is kind of the basics of the horrible politics around it. I'm trying to do one on my state's reasons for denying lyme....rebutting an editorial, but it is a little bit overwhelming to get it all down.
Also, there is a bill before the house today, and a national letter campaign, so lyme folks are in a bit of a busy tizzy trying to spread the word.
I may also be able to go to a vigil in New York next week. So there are at least a few more new hubs coming on this in the short term, with lots more in the future.
Sugar has a similar affect to falling hub scores. I will probably eat the last three cookies anyway, for the same reasons I will probably check my scores today.
Have you tried astragalus? It helps puppies' immune systems with mange.
I would never stop eating cheese. I would rather explode.
No, but I will look into it. I have to be careful what I try because I have to take so many things already. But if I can get just a bit better, it may be a good time to try a few things out while I can track what's doing what.
I know. "What kind of life would there be without cheese" is part of the summary of one of my hubs for that reason. That's why I had to see it in writing.
Beer and wine I also can't tolerate. No bloodwork needed on those. I kept trying over time and my system couldn't handle it. But does fine with hard alcohol. Seriously! Hence my appreciation for whiskey (covered in the hub with cheese, actually).
How do you like bourbon? I can make a hub for you on tasty bourbon cocktails. Used to be a bartender in another lifetime.
I LOVE bourbon. Of the few things I gained from Lyme disease that I am happy about, bourbon is one of the top things. I never would have drank straight bourbon before, but I had no idea what I was missing (not that I do it all the time, but you know what I mean). I would LOVE YOU if you did!!!!
Bacon flavored whiskey? What sacrilege (sorry Beth, didnt mean to get into one of the religious forums).
Sign the petition! No more hubber score!
Fight the power!
(Put your fist in the air when you're typing as a show of solidarity, please.)
We tried that.
Here's the petition:
I can't type one handed, but it is funny to picture everyone trying to.
Oh my gosh. What a chatty group we are. No matter how many threads we start on this subject, no one just signs their names. Probably 'cause none of us are using actual names. <sigh>
Like herding chickens in Montana (or guinea hens in Brazil).
OK...Here is my Name Luis E Gonzalez (that'st my real name, just in case anyone is wondering)........lol
Oh shoot... I don't want to put my last name. lol
Ill just do my other real name.
Sir, you have an enormous---er, male chicken. In your post.
You know, when I said we were like herding chickens, I wasn't even thinking of the obvious interpretation of that.
My chickens have been escaping, so I was thinking they were hard to herd. But if they think I have food, they are not hard to round up at all. So this makes much more sense. They love bacon scraps. And chicken scraps. They will follow me anywhere for food.
This chicken should look a bit more carnivorous.
I'm using my actual name. Names. Mushed together. I really am Lisa Vollrath, here, and everywhere.
I think the World is judgmental. My real name could make or break my interactions.
It's time to take them down.
They're disheartening and worthless all in the same breath.
One person actually started a thread saying that it made him want to take his own life, it made him feel so low.
Are we writers or human experiments?
It's like asking someone to come to your home and cook for your dinner party, then mocking their effort.
(I can come up with a million of those... I'm an amazing writer... not that you'd know by my score. lol)
Agreed with hubscores. I usually have high ones, but there's nothing more disappointing than having a high one go wonky from time to time....you get lulled into a false sense of security, then WHAM it puts you in your real place. I think they should go as they psychologically upset Hubbers.
I've completely given up caring about hub score. My shortest and most banal hub now has a score of 98 since the recent adjustments. Hubs that I've put a lot of effort into and that do very well traffic-wise (popularity) now languish in the 60s and 70s.
Indeed - and any edits continue to devastate hub scores. My account page is churning with scores rising and then being punched back down again by a simple product change on an Amazon ad or typo correction.
I have to ignore the scores, or I would never make another correction again.
She says from her mansion in the sky.
My hubs are all published, I obviously chat it up here.
I even answer questions and leave comments on other hubber's hubs.
For this, I have a 77.
When I had 80 plus published hubs, I had a score in the 80s.
I think the feeling is just that it is NOT black and white.
I just saw a post in another forum by what is either a bot, or someone for whom English is a barely known language. Their score is 60.
Ah, but the score IS in black and white. Rather like a mug shot.
LOL - Honestly Beth - I don't understand why you get shafted in the Hubber Score department. When you left before, I considered starting a petition to give you a permanent 100 Hubber Score to lure you back again.
Aardvark scores a handsome 70 while snow leopard gets only 67. Kitten manages 68 but then so does skunk, while 'dog bad breath' ties with snow leopard.
All of these 'hubbers' (like the others already mentioned)have never put pen to paper.
It makes no sense. I'm convinced. lets get rid of Hub Scores!
While we are at it, these penless slackers actually get accolades for being here for so many years. What utter nonsense!
Incidentally, magnificent Bubbl*ws (a site for sore eyes?) does not have any scores at all which proves the point. (Bubblews also has an innovative lottery-style payment system but lets not go there!)
I thought you were going to tell a story... I was totally into it. How does it end for the kitty and the snow leopard?
Is there nothing you can't find on the internet?
Now do an elephant and a camel.
http://4kingfunny.com/wp-content/upload … ephant.jpg
( In memory of Joan Rivers. She always liked that one.)
You've already got 12 pts on me. My gift to you. Don't ask how I do it. You're welcome.
Uh...Oh wait I like this one better
Deep down I'm a really pussycat (except on the forums)
He should have been tested for Lyme disease....
How do we know Arachnea is talking about Anthony Perkins and not one of us? Hurtful.
I know about that one and am surprised by the low quality it spews. I am not a master, but the post there are...you guess.
Where do I sign?
Does anyone know how to photoshop a score of 100 onto my Profile Score?
There has got tot be someone out there who can tell me how to do it.
Calculus-geometry figured out one way to do it:
Nice one - I wonder if he would write a 'How To' change your profile score with Photoshop for us. Trust a mathematician to find a way around the problem.
That's funny. Perhaps just a well placed "1" with a white background with the correct opacity. You could have a score of 191!
I am going to fall into decline if anyone mentions my score - even with another hundred in front of it.
How about if we just paint our own hubber scores.Heck if we are being "branded" why not just add our own.....lol
I vote for water soluble paint...just in case.
I remember a hubber a few years ago who managed to photoshop his avatar in such away that a '1' appeared before his hubber score. If you did that, you'd currently have a score of 184.
That is funny - are you sure white is your color!
How long does it take for an avatar to update in the forums?
I don't know, but I see it on your profile page. Nice work.
Perhaps they're on to me. I modified my profile 30 min ago, and while it does show up if you go to my profile page, the avatar showing in the forums has not updated.
Oh... hahaha... 173, your mother always said you were an over-achiever.
I stayed purposefully vague until now (and brief--you're welcome) to spare you all. But in the interest of not being a chicken, and as atonement to Sed-me for repeatedly helping to make her thread go awry, I am posting my full and complete opinion rather than a signature.
There was a satisfaction survey on my statistics page just now, with a box for comments.This is what poured forth in the tiny box (with a tiny bit of formatting and typo editing). If you are not in the mood for wandering or overly-personal thoroughness, skip the rest of this post.
We joked earlier about being chicken....and I hadn't "signed" yet. Since that survey box came up when I was about to, I posted my response here, since it was addressing this issue.
If you mean the early-on statement about brevity, that was me acknowledging that I was about to take up a lot of space.
Solaras, if you are in "threaded" view, instead of "chronological" view, you are missing quite a bit and that post would make no sense. If so, you can change it in the upper right corner of the page.
Im starting another petition tomorrow that the "threaded" option be removed.
It's like a book being printed with the chapters all mixed up and you only know by word of mouth that you can buy a version where all the chapters are in order.
Hi bBerean thanks for the tip - that sure changed things a lot! It also made this thread 5 pages instead of one.
I just came from a thread of former Squids who are all stoked to have any sort of feedback and who are excited to be able to achieve equal levels in rank after being on a system that gave rally generalized abstracted feedback and which ranked every page regardless of topic on one huge numerical list.
tl;dr they love HubScores
I've had a pretty good attitude, but today's drop in just about all of my scores is not acceptable. My energies are officially moving elsewhere for now. If a given hub pertains directly to Lyme efforts, it may show up here in the short term. But likely not.
I no longer have a single hub in the 90's. Not one. I don't think any of my previously awarded hubs (EC, HotD, RS) are any higher than the 70's. Maybe they need to frustrate enough people to get down to manageable writer numbers.
So that's it. Proof for me that I do care about the numbers. Because they're there....for that reason....and when they fall, it bothers me. And because I don't have the "as long as we're making money" net to comfort me.
I do like the community here. You guys are hilarious. There aren't many places to go for smart funny. And I'm a sucker for a pun.
But I guess this is a good kick in the butt to get back to higher priorities.
So consider me a signatory.
Any time I edit a hub, the score drops, sometimes 10 points. So if RMM did some editing, that could account for the drop in her scores across the board.
This has been the case in other instances ( especially prior to August). And it helped me get things back up above 70 after things dropped in august (from 90s in several cases). But not all hubs recovered from editing, or they recovered very slowly or inconsistently, so that the changes in August have been mostly in pretty direct opposition to learning pages/ best practices, etc.
Nope. The only thing I did was link to two Lyme related hubs in a Lyme related blog. And I got a legislation post seen by almost 3,000 people on my Lyme Facebook page (a small page where 1 Lyme hub is also linked to, so that link may have been more visible to visitors yesterday). I mention this because I have consistently seen falls in scores just about any time I promote hubs in any way.
I mention this because prior to the recent changes, drops in score usually had to do with the typical patterns ( new hub = lower Hubber score; improved hub= lower hub score and Hubber score) usually with recovery. Since the drops/changes in August, my drops have been steady and random, except for the promotion pattern.
I know it doesn't make sense, but I feel like the coincidence ship has sailed.
How was traffic on those two that you linked to the blog?
Hub on Lyme disease: increased traffic prior to yesterday from Facebook link. Not much change yesterday from blog link. Score dropped a little.
Food intolerances hub: no change in traffic. Drop from 93 to 87 or 89 in score. It was the only one that stayed in the 90s through all these weeks of drops. That was the first time I linked to it, other than maybe g+ or twitter when first published.
Most others just sunk lower overnight along with them. Lots dropped below 80 or further below 80. They had been staying the same.
Recent examples that led me to fret in other forums about correlations:
Mentioned and linked to a hub in a forum: Huber score suddenly dropped, hub score dropped.
Indirectly mentioned another hub in same forum: hub went from top slot on first page of "all hubs" to completely out of sight. Went from top slot on health category to out of sight. Went from top slot on diseases to bottom of page. I know those jump around and don't stay up top forever, but that was so shortly after that's it's hard to ignore.
Tweeted a hub with a stable score. Score dropped.
Just keeps happening over and over. Still sounds coincidental as I type this, but the timing of these things and how many times it's happened now are just too frustrating.
*Its frustrating whether related or unrelated. Because if there's no pattern, there's no purpose for numbers. And if there's a pattern, it's not what they've repeatedly indicated it to be. Leaving these stupid correlations or similar ones as the only visible possibilities for the user, leading to ridiculous guess work and eventually employing undesirable solutions for both the site and the user.
*Scores are changing still as fast as I post these comments ( not saying related, just stating they are still in flux. Both Lyme hubs continue to fall).
One thing I notice is that 12 hubs have been published in the last 7 weeks on Lyme Disease. I don't know if that is hurting your subject matter. Maybe the algo does not know how to deal with the influx of new articles and it is just slamming them all. I would expect more to be importing from Squidoo shortly.
Sorry if that is the case. Someone who knows this site better than I do may be able to weigh in on whether that could hurt a topic. If that is the case, it may straighten itself out in a month or two.
I did notice that I recently wrote two articles on the same topic and published them within 2 weeks of each other. The first article was getting 30 views a day, then with publishing the second, the first article dropped down to 12 views a day. The new article is DOA.
That (potentially) really stinks. My article on food intolerances has now fallen ten points since last night, so maybe that category got hit hard, too.
Still, heck of a coincidence for it to start falling within hours (or possibly less) of linking to it in a blog post.
Nearly every fall in scores, especially the last week or two, has a potential solution that needs to have 'just happened' to have occurred within a very short time frame (hours or less) of directly promoting or indirectly promoting a hub to negate this relationship.
I stopped promoting in any way shape or form about five days ago, after obsessing over correlations in a thread, and being inspired therein to make cookies and take a break.
In the last 24 hours or so, I decided that was silly and did fairly minor linking and sharing, in addition to mentioning some of my topics in this thread.
So, for this to have happened more than five or six times by coincidence is pretty improbable. For it to happen that many times, with virtually no major score changes during the days I took a break is more than I can accept without un-taking statistics and study design courses I've had in the past.
If only I could undo that A in graduate level non-parametric statistics......then I could keep writing hubs.
by M. Toni 5 years ago
I've been on here for a few years, and I guess I never really understood the point of these scores. They don't seem to provide any real value to the user and I can't convince myself that they add value because they fluctuate so much.What's the point? Am I supposed to use these scores to tell me...
by Kyler J Falk 4 months ago
It would seem that HubPages frowns upon the ongoing interaction within my popular thread, and I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this sort of trend within their own threads? The responses are relevant, engaging, and ongoing; so is this HubPages trying to say, indirectly, that it is time to...
by Missing Link 2 years ago
I'm thinking the answer is probably yes?If you have hubs that have been deemed "not featured", for one reason or another, will that factor into lowering your overall score/rating as a HubPages member? Example--let's say your overall rating is 75. If 10 non featured hubs become...
by Audrey Hunt 6 years ago
Just had a big drop on my profile score. And all my hubs were featured along with a steady 10 Editors Choice. I say 'were' because 3 were just unfeatured and I don't know what to do about that. My views are over 945,000. Boo-hoo. Hubpages doesn't love me anymore!
by Dennis L. Page 4 years ago
Has the fun gone out of HubPages?The new scoring system with HubPages has dropped me like a bad habit. No matter what I do now my score doesn't go up. Quite frankly, after being here for over 5 years I am disgusted. Please don't tell me scores don't matter because they do. It is as though I have...
by Dinesh 5 years ago
I want to know that what is the maximum score of a hub or hubber? How we can increase it?
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Minolta (ミノルタ, minoruta) was a Japanese company that, under one name or another, manufactured cameras from 1929 to 2003. It produced cameras for many film formats, from 16mm film to medium format.
In the 1950s Chiyoda, as it was then called, ventured beyond production of cameras and binoculars into business services, and eventually into photocopiers. Most branches of the company were related to optics: the copier branch, the exposure meter branch, etc. Minolta was succeeded by Konica Minolta after the merger with Konica in 2003. The merged company sold its remaining camera interests to Sony in 2006; the Minolta "A" lens mount lives on in Sony's current line of DSLRs.
- 1 History
- 2 Digital
- 3 Film (common format)
- 4 Smaller film formats
- 5 Larger film formats (rollfilm)
- 6 Larger film formats (plates or sheet film)
- 7 Cine cameras (Super8 and double 8mm)
- 8 Shutters
- 9 Lenses
- 10 Bellows
- 11 Meters
- 12 Binoculars
- 13 Accessories
- 14 Notable patents and trademark registrations
- 15 Notes
- 16 Bibliography
- 17 Links
|Nichidoku logo on a Nifcarette. (Image rights)|
The company was founded in Osaka on November 11, 1928 by Kazuo Tashima, under the name Nichidoku Shashinki Shōten (日独写真機商店, meaning Japan-German Camera Store). Tashima got support from the German camera technicians Billy Neumann and Willy Heilemann, and the first cameras used lenses and shutters imported from Germany. A plant was built in Mukogawa (武庫川), in the prefecture of Hyōgo (兵庫県). The first camera produced by the company was the Nifcarette released in 1929. It was followed by the Nifcaklapp and Nifcasport folding cameras and by the Nifca-Dox strut-folder, all taking film plates or pack film. At this early period, all the cameras were directly advertised and distributed by the company, which was using a round logo with the letters N, D, PH and Co assembled inside a circle, surely for Nichi Doku Photo Company. In 1930, a strike occurred in the Mukogawa plant, whose director was Willy Heilemann. Heilemann dismissed all the strikers and opposed Tashima, who was favouring more moderate measures.
|Molta's MTS logo on an Auto Minolta. (Image rights)|
In 1931 the company was transformed into a stock corporation named Molta Gōshi-gaisha (モルタ合資会社), where Molta is an abbreviation of the German "Mechanismus Optik und Linsen von Tashima" ("Mechanism, Optics and Lenses by Tashima"). The mention of Germany disappeared from the company name, and Heilemann and Neumann left the company respectively in November 1931 and in 1932, to found their own Neumann & Heilemann company, taking some employees with them. The camera range was accordingly renamed: the Nifcarette became the Sirius Bebe, the Nifcaklapp became the Sirius and the Nifcasport became the Arcadia. The cameras were still distributed by the company itself for a couple of years, and the Sirius and Arcadia were also distributed by Misuzu Shōkai as the Lomax and Eaton. Molta later entered an agreement with the Tokyo-based distributor Asanuma Shōkai, and the Sirius and Arcadia plate cameras were replaced by the Happy (whose brand name was owned by Asanuma). The Asanuma company would distribute the Happy and Minolta cameras and assume all the advertising until 1945.
|Registration of the Minolta trademark (1933). Downloaded from the IPDL, in accordance to the IPDL policies.|
The name Minolta was applied for and registered in 1933, and it was first used for a camera plainly called Minolta, inspired by the Plaubel Makina. A round MTS logo appeared at the same time, perhaps standing for "Molta Tashima" or "Minolta Tashima". Many sources say that the Minolta name was crafted from "Mechanismus, Instrumente, Optik und Linsen von Tashima" ("Mechanism, Instruments, Optics and Lenses by Tashima") but it is more likely a backronym, inspired by (i) minoru ta (稔る田), "ripening rice-fields" (a strong image of health and fruitfulness in Japan, and in Japanese pronounced identically to "Minolta"), and (ii) "Molta" itself. All the later model names included the word "Minolta", but the company name and brand name would differ until 1962.
In 1934, the company released the Minolta Vest, originally designed by Ehira Nobujirō, with an innovative system of collapsible boxes replacing the bellows. The Semi Minolta was announced at the very end of 1934 and sold from 1935. It was the second or third 4.5×6cm camera made in Japan. In 1936, the company created the subsidiary Nippon Kōgaku Kikai Kenkyūjo (日本光学機械研究所, meaning Japanese Opto-mechanical Research Institute) in the city of Amagasaki (尼崎市), in the Hyōgo prefecture, to manufacture the bakelite cameras such as the Minolta Vest, Minolta Six and Baby Minolta. This subsidiary was soon merged into the main company, and became the Amagasaki plant. In February 1937, the company opened a third plant in the city of Sakai (堺市), in the Osaka prefecture.
From 1937 to 1945
|Chiyoda Kogaku, the company name from 1937 to 1962.|
In September 1937, the company became Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō K.K. (千代田光学精工㈱, meaning Chiyoda Optics and Precision Industry Co., Ltd.), abbreviated "Chiyoko" (千代光) on some logos and publications. (The word Chiyoda was created with the characters 千代, meaning "one thousand generations" and 田, the first character of Tashima's name; it conveys the meaning that Tashima's company will last a thousand generations.) The same year 1937, the company established closer ties with Asanuma Shōkai, which quit distributing other cameras to concentrate exclusively on cameras from the Chiyoda company. This association became so close that many customers believed that the Minolta cameras were made by Asanuma; the agreement lasted until the end of the war, but the two companies retained some commercial contacts for some time afterwards.
|Rokkor, Minolta's premium lens brand from 1940-1981|
image by Leo Roos (Image rights)
The two companies organized a show in December in the Tōkyō Kaikan (東京会館, a reception lounge in Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace) to celebrate the new agreement. Three expensive and advanced new models were displayed at this show: the Auto Semi Minolta was the first serial produced Japanese camera with a combined range and viewfinder, the Auto Press Minolta (an evolution of the Minolta and Auto Minolta Plaubel Makina copy) was the first Japanese camera synchronized for flash and the Minoltaflex was the second Japanese 6×6 TLR. It seems that the taking lens of the Minoltaflex was made by the company, surely in the Sakai plant — these were perhaps the first lenses made by Chiyoda.
The production of Rokkor lenses began in 1940, but they were only for military use. It also produced military ordnance, including hand-held cameras for aerial reconnaissance. The civilian camera production was stopped around 1943. At about that time, the company apparently made one or more prototypes of an interchangeable-lens TLR camera, which was the first 6×6 TLR in the world to have interchangeable lenses.
The three original plants of Mukogawa, Amagasaki, Sakai ended up participating to the war effort. A fourth plant was opened in Komatsu (小松) in 1939, initially specialized in machine tools. In 1942, the Japanese Navy asked the company to open a glass melting facility; the new plant was built in Itami and only operational in 1944. In 1943, the company also took over Fujimoto's plant in the city of Nishinomiya (the former Neumann & Heilemann factory), which became Chiyoda's Nishinomiya (西宮) plant. It perhaps continued the production of Fujimoto leaf shutters for a short time.
Early postwar period
|Semi Minolta IIIB (Image rights)|
The company resumed camera production shortly after the war with the Semi Minolta III. This camera was equipped with a Rokkor 75/3.5 that was the first Japanese coated lens commercially available, and also the first lens made by the company for civilian use. The company also absorbed the optical section of the Toyokawa Navy Arsenal (Aichi prefecture), which became the Toyokawa (豊川) plant in November 1946. The Memo of 1949 was Minoltas first 35mm camera, again a sophisticated bakelite camera which already had a rapid film advance lever.
In 1950, Chiyoda released the Konan-16 Automat, a subminiature camera that used its own 16mm film format. Throughout the 1950s, the range consisted of TLR cameras, 4.5×6 folders, 35mm viewfinder and rangefinder cameras and 16mm subminiature cameras.
|The SR-1 succeeded the SR-2.|
Introduction of the SLR
In 1958 Chiyoda produced its first planetarium projection apparatus and in the same year it introduced the SR-2, its first 35mm SLR camera and one of the first to combine several features of the modern SLR like pentaprism viewfinder, instant-return mirror, bayonet mount lenses, lever advance and auto-resetting frame counter. The SR-2 became the first camera of the Minolta SR system which ended in 1995 with the X-370s. In 1959 Chiyoda started to produce photocomposing machines, copiers, and special projectors. Some of these products are still (2007) produced by its successor Konica Minolta. In 1962 the company name became Minolta Camera K.K. (ミノルタカメラ㈱, meaning Minolta Camera Co.), unified with the brand name. A significant camera launch of that year was the introduction of Minolta's first SLR with built-in CdS meter, the Minolta SR-7. That effort lead to the production of versatile and sensitive CdS-sensor-based light meters, a quite successful chapter in the company's history. Minolta's successor Konica Minolta is still making high precision light measuring instruments. In 1964 the company started that business with a CdS-meter for photography, the View Meter 9. In 1968 the company's meters were renowned so that American Astronauts used the special Minolta Space Meter as measuring accessory for the cameras they used in the Apollo spaceships and on the Moon. Further light and colour meters were developed later. The Auto-Meter color measuring instruments and the Flash Meter series were renowned among photography professionals. The Minolta SR-T series of SLR cameras introduced in 1966 was a big success and the Minolta SR-T 101 was the world's best selling camera of its type in its time.source needed
Cooperation with Leitz
Minolta signed a cooperation agreement with Leitz in June 1972. The first products resulting from this appeared in 1974: the Minolta XE SLR and the Leica CL rangefinder camera (sold in Japan as the Leitz Minolta CL). The XE was the basis for the 1977 Leica R3. The final result of the association with Leitz was the Minolta XD-11 (the same as XD-7, and the basis of the Leica R4). It was the first 35mm SLR camera combining both aperture priority and shutter priority automatic exposure modes. Many Rokkor lenses of the new MD series, usable in both automatic modes, were produced for this camera.
Several Minolta lenses were also offered in the Leica-R mount, such as:
- Leica Fisheye-Elmarit R 16mm 1:2.8
- Leica Elmarit-R 24mm 1:2.8
- Leica Vario-Elmar-R 35-70mm 1:3.5
- Leica Vario-Elmar-R 70-210mm 1:4
Some Leica lenses were also offered in Minolta SR mount, such as the Leitz Telyt-S 800mm 1:6.3
In 1981, Minolta launched the CLE, a rangefinder camera with M-mount, the first one to have (aperture-priority) automatic exposure. The metering system was of the "TTL OTF" type (through the lens, reflected off the film), first introduced by Olympus in 1975 on the OM-2 SLR camera. The CLE was also the first Minolta camera to have TTL flash automation, together with the X-700 SLR introduced the same year. After the heady days of the XD/XE series, the X-700 marked a definite return to the amateur-level market. While the new camera had TTL flash, it was equipped with only a 1/60s maximum flash synch and an ordinary cloth horizontal-travel shutter, and the interior mechanisms utilized more cost-saving plastics. With a large investment in a new autofocus SLR design, Minolta decided to withdraw from building professional-level manual-focus SLR cameras.
Further cooperation occured in 1989, when Minolta made the Leica AF-C1.
In 1982 the company's founder Kazuo Tashima stepped down as president of the company, and his son Hideo Tashima became his successor. Kazuo Tashima stayed in the company as chairman of the board until his death in 1985, at the age of 85.
The Nishinomiya plant, which hosted research and development activities as well as a service center, was closed in April 1985.
The Minolta 7000 AF SLR camera was introduced in 1985. It was the world's first "in-body" autofocus SLR. Before this time manufacturers had dabbled with lenses that focused themselves but that fitted their existing, manual-focus SLR cameras. Unlike other manufacturers, Minolta invested much of its resources in the new autofocus cameras, at the expense of its manual focus SLRs, which were repositioned as amateur level cameras. It was the first manufacturer to put the mechanism and electronics for the autofocus system into its SLR camera bodies and so the modern SLR was born. The rest of the camera had an advanced design, with liquid crystal screen display, built-in film winder, and a body built largely of plastics.
For five years beginning in 1985, Minolta was the biggest seller of SLR cameras in the worldsource needed, because of the 7000 and the later Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum system. However Minolta did not hang on to its technological lead for long as Canon and Nikon both introduced new autofocus designs of their own, with a wide array of new lenses and professional bodies. Minolta in turn tended to concentrate on the affordable end of the SLR market, and sought revolutionary rather than evolutionary changes. Among camera aficionados, Minolta was known both for its very high performance-to-price ratio and its constantly changing array of new models.
After popularizing the plastic-bodied, push-button-controlled SLR with the 7000, and a relatively unsuccessful line of complex 35mm SLRs with a electronic 'expansion card' feature, the company moved towards a more traditional user interface in the mid-90s with the 600si Classic. This interface was carried forward into its popular pro-level Minolta Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum 9 and later, the Maxxum 7. Unfortunately for Minolta, its autofocus design was found to infringe on the patents of Honeywell, a U.S. corporation. After protracted litigation, Minolta in 1991 was ordered to pay Honeywell damages, penalties, trial costs and other expenses in a final amount of 127.6 million dollars.
Like other camera manufacturers, Minolta faced difficulties in building low-priced, consumer level cameras, though its emphasis on this sector of the market may have affected the company more than some other brands. The company was one of the first to offshore production of its cameras from Japan to Malaysia, China, and other countries offering less expensive labor costs. Minolta occasionally redesigned parts in existing models with less expensive materials, or introduced new, less expensive designs, all in an effort to cut costs. In 1996 Minolta became engaged in the attempt to establish a small versatile modern user-friendly film cartidge type to replace 35mm film. Like some other camera and film makers it launched several fully automatic cameras for the new Advanced Photo System, added APS film adapters to its film scanners and even created its new autofocus SLR camera system for APS film, with the new Minolta V mount.
The company began offering consumer-level digital cameras in the late 1990s. With the DiMAGE X, Minolta solved the problem of the protruding optical zoom lens on pocket digicams. Its folded lens design allows an optical zoom lens to be totally contained within the body of the camera. This makes the cameras that use this design truly pocketable, faster to turn on and better protected from knocks and damage.
|RD-175 and RD-3000|
image by maoby (Image rights)
Minolta released two too expensive but innovative DSLRs for commercial markets (not professional photographers) before other makers:
- 1995 Minolta Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum RD-175 / Agfa ActionCam (Minolta AF mount)
- 1999 Minolta Vectis RD-3000 (Minolta V mount)
They did not sell too well and did not lead nor define the market for digital SLRs, but have maintained a cult status among some Minolta collectors.
As a result, Minolta has been criticized for its slowness to bring out modern, competitive digital SLR cameras for the popular SLR photography market, compatible with the many popular Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum-mount lenses in use. In late November 2004, the new Konica Minolta company finally released the much anticipated Konica Minolta Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum 7D Digital SLR and the innovation continued. What sets the 7D DSLR apart from the competition is the built-in image stabilization which works with any electronic autofocus lens attached to the camera body.
Konica Minolta: too little, too late...
In October 2003 Minolta merged with Konica to form Konica Minolta. All new cameras after that time were badged as Konica Minolta, although, with reference to camera designs, Minolta remained the dominant partner.
As of spring 2006, Konica Minolta has withdrawn from the camera business entirely. The digital camera manufacturing assets have been acquired by Sony, but film camera production is ceasing, and the film and mini-lab divisions are set to close within a year.
Konica Minolta now is solely a business servicer with no photo division.
Registered trademark "MINOLTA" sold
In 2017 the company Konica Minolta seems to have given away the rights on the brand name "Minolta" to EBI (Elite Brands Inc.). That way EBI got the right to use the name "MINOLTA" as their own registered trademark. It offers a bridge camera, and some compact digicams as well as some so-called dashcams, a kind of action cams for automobiles, as products of Minolta Digital, whoever may be the real manufacturer of these products.
|RD-175 and similar Agfa ActionCam|
image by maoby (Image rights)
- Minolta MS-C1100, a kind of pre-DSLR: made still video images, but stored them digitally
- Minolta RD models
newer cameras, see Konica Minolta (Dynax/Maxxum 5D and Dynax/Maxxum 7D)
interchangeable lens/sensor module
- Minolta Dimâge EX body equipped with different lens/sensor modules:
- Minolta Dimâge EX Wide
- Minolta Dimâge EX Zoom
image by John Nuttall (Image rights)
Minolta and Konica Minolta used the DiMAGE name-plate on nearly all its original fixed lens digital cameras. For some early Minolta digicams the badge Dimâge was used instead. All have auto-focus and nearly all a zoom lens. Newer digital cameras, especially DiMAGE Z-series, G-Series, DG-Series, further E-, X- and A-models, see Konica Minolta.
- Minolta Dimâge series:
- Minolta DiMAGE 5/7/A-Series: TTL EVF ~7x ZLR PASM RAW/JPG/TIF
- Minolta DiMAGE E-Series:
image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)
- Minolta DiMAGE X-Series:
- Minolta DiMAGE X
- Minolta DiMAGE Xi
- Minolta DiMAGE Xt
- Minolta DiMAGE Xt Biz
- Minolta DiMAGE X20
Film (common format)
Autofocus SLR (35mm)
|Minolta 7000 AF SLR|
image by Martin Taylor (Image rights)
The Minolta Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum (Alpha in Japan and China, Maxxum in the Americas, Dynax in Europe, Africa and Asia) is a line of 35mm film SLR cameras built from 1985 to 2000 - some "new old stock" may still be available. The lenses and flash accessories for these are not compatible with the previous Minolta SR, SR T, and X-series of manual focus 35mm film SLR cameras, lenses and flashes. The last models appeared badged as "Minolta" despite of the merger with Konica in 2003.
Many of these models are alternatively labeled Alpha, Dynax or Maxxum and only a few model numbers are location-specific where an equivalent model number in another area of distribution uses another model number:
5000 AF 5000 5000 1986 7000 AF 7000 7000 1985 9000 AF 9000 9000 1985 3000i 3000i 3700i 1989 5000i 5000i 5700i 1989 7000i 7000i 7700i 1988 8000i 8000i 8700i 1990 2xi 1992 3xi 1991 SPxi 1992 5xi 1992 7xi 1991 9xi 1992 300si 300si N / A 1995 RZ 300si 300si QD RZ 330si N / A 350si α-101si Panorama Elite 303si QTsi α-360si 1999 404si STsi α Sweet S 1999 500si 400si N / A 1993 RZ 400si N / A RZ 430si 450si α-303si 500si Super 500si N / A 1995 RZ 530si N / A 550si α-303si Super N / A HTsi N / A 1998 505si HTsi Plus 505si Super N / A 505si Super QD XTsi α Sweet 600si N / A 1993 650si 650si Date α-507si 1995 700si α-707si 1993 800si α-807si 1997 3L 3 N / A 2003 GT 3 4 α-Sweet II L 2002 4 α-3 5 5 α-Sweet II 2001 α-5 7 7 α-7 2000 7 Limited N / A α-7 Limited 2001 9 9 α-9 1998 9Ti 9Ti α-9Ti 1999 30 50 α-50 2004 40 60 70 α-70 2004
If anyone knows of additional models and or knows which of these are equivalent across the Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum divide, please pitch in! Note that early models were also named "AF".
Manual focus SLR (35mm)
image by Süleyman Demir (Image rights)
Japan USA & Canada Europe & 3rd area1) Year2) SR-2 1958 SR-1 1959 SR-3 1960 SR-7 1962 n/a ER3) ER3) 1963 SR-T 101 1966 SR-1s 1967 SR-M 1970 n/a SR-T 100 SR-T 100 1971 SR-T Super SR-T 102 SR-T 303 1973 X-1 XK XM 1973 n/a SR-T SC n/a 1973 n/a SR-T MC SR-T MC 1973 XE XE-7 XE-1 1974 n/a SR-T 200 SR-T 100b 1975 SR 101 SR-T 201 SR-T 101b 1975 SR 505 SR-T 202 SR-T 303b 1975 n/a XE-5 XE-5 1975 X-1 Motor XK Motor XM Motor 1976 XEb n/a 1976 SRT 100X SR-T 200 SRT 100X 1977 n/a SR-T MC-II SR-T MC-II 1977 n/a SRT SC-II n/a 1977
image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)
Japan USA & Canada Europe & 3rd area1) Year2) XD XD11 XD7 1977 XG-E XG 7 XG 2 1977 XD-s n/a 1979 n/a XG 1 XG 1 1979 n/a XG-SE XG-SE 1979 XG-S XG 9 XG 9 1979 n/a XD5 XD5 1979 X-7 n/a n/a 1980 n/a XG-M XG-M 1981 X-700 X-700 X-700 1981 X-70 (XG-M) (XG-M) 1982 n/a XG-A n/a 1982 X-7 X-7 X-7 1982 X-500 X-570 X-500 1983 X-600 n/a 1983 n/a X-370 X-300 1984 n/a X-7A n/a 1985 ? X-370N X-300s 1990 n/a X-9 n/a 1990 X-370s X-370s X-370s 1995
1) 3rd area: Minolta used this expression to indicate all other export markets than North America and Europe.
2) Taken from Minolta Fifty Years Chronicle (Minolta, November 1978) and "70 Jahre Minolta Kameratechnik" (Scheibel, 1999, ISBN 3-89506-191-3).
3) The Minolta ER was a fixed lens SLR and thus not part of the Minolta SR system.
Rangefinder, interchangeable lens (35mm)
- Minolta 35
- Minolta 35 Model II
- Minolta 35 Model IIB
- Minolta Super A
- Minolta Sky
- Leitz Minolta CL
- Minolta CLE
Rangefinder, fixed lens (35mm)
Rangefinder, fixed lens (Rapid film)
Viewfinder (35mm) Fixed focus
|Minolta F35 Big Finder|
image by AWCam (Image rights)
- Minolta Autowide
- Minolta F10
- Minolta F10BF
- Minolta F12
- Minolta F15BF
- Minolta F20R
- Minolta F25
- Minolta F35 Big Finder
- Minolta Freedom 35R-FF
- Minolta Freedom 50
- Minolta Freedom 100/101
- Minolta Freedom Holiday
- Minolta FS-E/FS-E II/FS-E III a.k.a. Freedom I/Freedom 100/Freedom 101
- Minolta FS-35
- Minolta Hi-Matic 5
- Minolta Hi-Matic C
- Minolta Hi-Matic CSII
- Minolta Hi-Matic G
- Minolta Hi-Matic G2
- Minolta Hi-Matic GF
- Minolta Hi-Matic S series (S, S2, SD, SD2)
- Minolta Memo
- Minolta Memory Maker
- Minolta Memory Maker II
- Minolta Memory Maker III
- Minolta Minoltina-P
- Minolta Repo (half-frame)
- Minolta Repo-S (half-frame)
- Minolta Riva 35
- Minolta Riva 35 ST
- Minolta Riva GT
For newer Minolta zoom cameras, see Konica Minolta
image by OZBOX (Image rights)
Viewfinder (Kodapak film)
- Minolta Autopak 400-X
- Minolta Autopak 500 / Ilford Monarch / Revuematic 500
- Minolta Autopak 550
- Minolta Autopak 600-X
- Minolta Autopak 700
- Minolta Autopak 800
- Revere 3M Automatic 1064
Smaller film formats
|110 Zoom SLR|
image by Raúl Sá Dantas (Image rights)
Autofocus SLR (APS film)
Manual focus SLR (16mm)
- Minolta Auto-Zoom-X
Manual focus SLR (pocket film)
image by Steve Harwood (Image rights)
|Minolta 16 Model II|
image by Steve Harwood (Image rights)
pocket/compact (pocket film)
image by Steve Harwood (Image rights)
compact (Disc film)
|Courrèges ac 301|
image by Mikel Adell (Image rights)
- Minolta ac 101 Courrèges
- Minolta ac 301 Courrèges
- Minolta Disc-5
- Minolta Disc-7
- Minolta Disc-S
- Minolta Disc-K
Larger film formats (rollfilm)
SLR 6×6 (120 film)
- Minolta SR66 (1968, prototype)
|Minoltaflex Automat prototypes|
TLR 4×4 (127 film)
|Minolta Six||Minolta Vest||Baby Minolta|
collapsible 6×6 (120 film)
collapsible 4×6.5 (127 film)
folding 4.5×6 (120 film)
|Semi Minolta III A/B/C|
image by hbpartner (Image rights)
|Semi Minolta P or Minolta Semi P|
image by Adrian Gotts (Image rights)
- Semi Minolta (I)
- Semi Minolta II
- Auto Semi Minolta
- Semi Minolta III A/B/C
- Semi Minolta P or Minolta Semi P
|images by hbpartner (Image rights)|
folding 4×6.5 (127 film)
Larger film formats (plates or sheet film)
folding bed (6.5×9)
|Autofocus Minolta||Auto Press Minolta|
strut folding (6.5×9)
collapsible (instant film)
Cine cameras (Super8 and double 8mm)
|Rokkor 50mm 1:1.7|
- Minolta Auto Bellows 1
- Minolta Auto Bellows II
- Minolta Auto Bellows III
- Minolta Bellows II
- Minolta Bellows III
- Minolta Bellows IV
- Minolta Compact Bellows
|Auto Meter III F|
image by Eric Greaux (Image rights)
- Standard 7x35
- Standard 7x35 Wide
- Standard EZ 7x50 Wide (central focusing)
- Standard 7-15x35 (central focusing, multi-coated)
- Standard 10x50
- Classic II 7x35 Wide (central focusing, multi-coated, Porro-prism)
- Classic II 7x50
- Classic II 8x32
- Classic II 8x40 Wide
- Classic II 10x50 Wide
- Classic II 7-15x35
- Classic II 8-20x50
Activa series binoculars
- Activa 7x35 Wide (multi-coated, Porro prism, weatherproof)
- Activa 7x50 (multi-coated, Porro prism, weatherproof)
- Activa 8x25 (central focusing, multi-coated, roof prism, waterproof)
- Activa 8x40 (central focusing, multi-coated, BaK-4 Porro-prism, weatherproof)
- Activa 8-20x50 (central focusing, multi-coated, BaK-4 Porro-prism)
- Activa 10x50
- Activa 12x50
The Minolta Activa series binoculars are nitrogen-filled (fogproof) as well as weatherproof or waterproof.
Mariner series binoculars
- Mariner 8x32
- Mariner 10x40
- Mariner Zoom 8-16x32 zoom
The Mariner series offered a rugged construction typical of marine binoculars. Interestingly, Minolta did not offer a Mariner version of their 7x50 binoculars, which is considered a standard by sailing enthusiasts.
Weathermatic series binoculars
- Weathermatic Compact 10x23 (central focusing, BaK-4 Porro-prism, waterproof)
- Pocket 6x16
- Pocket 8x20
- Pocket 8x24 wide
- Pocket 8x30
- Pocket Zoom 6-12x24
- Pocket 10x25 Wide (central focusing, roof prism, multi-coated)
- Compact 6x20
- Compact 7x21 (central focusing, multi-coated)
- Compact 8x20
- Compact 8x24 (central focusing, multi-coated)
- Compact 10x20
- Compact 10x23 (central focusing
Ultra compact series binoculars
- Ultra Compact 6x16
- Ultra Compact 8x18
- Minolta Duofit s bulb flashgun
Notable patents and trademark registrations
- Patent no.S8-3457 for a metal focal-plane shutter, filed in November 1932 and granted in 1933, drawn by Ehira Nobujirō (founder of Ehira)
- Trademark publication for the name "MINOLTA" (ミノルタ). The trademark was applied for (商標出現) on 18 January 1933 (no.S08-000723), published (商標広告) on 1 June 1933 (no.S08-004434) and registered (商標登録) on 20 September 1933 (no.0246579). Available in the IPDL trademark database.
- Logo found on the ground glass holder of the original Minolta and on accessory cases.
- Date: Tashima, Watakushi no rirekisho, quoted in Tanimura, p.96 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12. The address of the company in the early 1930s was Ōsaka-shi Higashi-ku Kita-kyūtarō-machi 3-chōme 15-banchi Mishina Building (大阪市東区北久太郎町三丁目十五番地三品ビルヂング内). Sources: advertisements dated 1930 to 1932 reproduced in Hagiya, p.9 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, trademark publication (商標広告) no.S08-004434 for the name "MINOLTA" (ミノルタ), dated 1933, available in the IPDL trademark database, and patent for the Crown E shutter dated 1934, reproduced in Tanimura, pp.5–7 of Camera Collectors' News no.131, and on p.19 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- Awano, p.6 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- Directly advertised and distributed by the company: advertisements dated 1930 and 1931 reproduced in Hagiya, p.9 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, and in Awano, p.6 of the same magazine, were placed by Nichidoku Shashinki Shōten and have the Nichidoku logo, and all the brand names were clearly owned by the company.
- Kikan Classic Camera 14, p.14.
- Taniguchi, p.276 of Shashin Kōgyō no.77 (article also reproduced in Tanimura, p.8 of Camera Collectors' News no.116), Francesch, p.19.
- Tashima, Watakushi no rirekisho, quoted in Andō, p.2 of Camera Collectors' News no.127. The dates are repeated in Tanimura, p.96 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, Awano, p.6 of the same magazine.
- All the advertisements for the Minolta or Happy cameras from the mid-1930s to 1945 were placed by Asanuma Shōkai.
- Trademark registration (商標登録) no.246579, for the name "MINOLTA" (ミノルタ), in the IPDL trademark database.
- The etymology minoru ta (稔る田) is mentioned in Taniguchi, p.276 of Shashin Kōgyō no.77 (article also reproduced in Tanimura, p.8 of Camera Collectors' News no.116). this Japanese page wonders if minoru ta was adapter from moru ta written 盛る田.
- The Semi Prince came first and the Semi Proud and Semi Minolta closely followed.
- Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, Francesch, p.23.
- Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, Francesch, p.23. The address is given as Amagasaki-shi Nanba (尼ヶ崎市難波) by the "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras") dated April 1943.
- Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, Francesch, p.25.
- Date: Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, Francesch, p.25.
- Kikan Classic Camera 14, p.15. (Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, says that the name is unexplained.)
- Taniguchi, p.276 of Shashin Kōgyō no.77 (document also reproduced in Tanimura, p.8 of Camera Collectors' News no.116), and Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- See for example the 1952 advertisement by Asanuma Shōkai for the Minolta Semi P reproduced in Kokusan kamera no rekishi, p.194.
- Taniguchi, p.276 of Shashin Kōgyō no.77 (document also reproduced in Tanimura, p.8 of Camera Collectors' News no.116), and Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12 (specifying that the show was inaugurated on December 12, 1937). Tashima Gizō says November in the interview by Saeki on p.77 of the same magazine, certainly by mistake.
- The first Japanese 6×6 TLR was the Prince Flex.
- Kikan Classic Camera 14, p.38, says that the Minolta Anastigmat Nippon viewing lens of the Minoltaflex (I) was made by Chiyoda. The same source says on p.15 that the Sakai plant produced lenses from 1937, and this is also found in Francesch, p.25.
- Date: Ema, p.90 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- Tanimura, p.21 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12 (about the Semi Minolta).
- Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- Francesch, p.26.
- Francesch, p.27, says July 1942 and January 1944; Ema, p.93 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, says January 1942 and June 1944.
- Tanimura, p.99 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- The Rapidex shutter, developed by Fujimoto, is attributed to Chiyoda in the 1943 government inquiry, perhaps for that reason. Source: "Kokusan shashinki no genjōchōsa" ("Inquiry into Japanese cameras"), shutter item 18-P-27.
- Francesch, p.27, Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- Sakai, Itami, Honsha: Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12. Sakai, Itami, Nishinomiya: Francesch, p.27. This is confirmed for Nishinomiya by Tanimura, p.99 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- According to this page of the Konica Minolta official website (archived).
- Optical section of the Toyokawa Navy Arsenal: Awano, p.7 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12. Date: Francesch, p.29.
- Corporate profile of Konica Minolta Planetarium Co., Ltd. The first planetarium apparatus made in Japan was made by Gotō Kōgaku: see the about page of Goto Inc.
- Date: Francesch, p.179.
- Tanimura, p.99 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- Konica had been the first to put autofocus into a 35mm camera, but it was a fixed lens "compact" camera; and Polaroid had been the first to put autofocus into an SLR camera, but it neither was 35mm nor was an interchangeable lens design.
- Origin Stories: how Minolta pioneered the Huawei P30 Pro’s zoom in 2002 by Mark Wilson on trustedreviews.com , about Minolta as pioneer making the first periscopic zoom lenses for digital pocket cameras
- Konica Minolta announces withdrawal from the camera business
- Minolta Brand Ownership Registration, filed 2017, registered 2018 on trademarks.justia.com , saying that JMM Lee Properties, LLC, holds the rights on the brand name. JMM Lee is owner of Elite Brands, NYC, marketing agency for the brands Minolta, Coleman, Rokinon, Bell & Howell and others.
- Nakagawa, p.120 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.51.
- Andō Yoshinobu (安藤嘉信). "Arukadia no nazo" (アルカデリアの謎, Arcadia mystery). In Camera Collectors' News no.127 (January 1988). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7.
- Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Minoruta ryakushi" (ミノルタ略史, Minolta short history). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.6–8.
- Cooper, Joseph D. The Minolta Manual, Verlan Books Inc., 1st edition, New York 1959. Library of Congress Card 59-12540.
- Eimukku 735, Manyuaru Kamera Shirīzu 15 (エイムック735・マニュアルカメラシリーズ15). Minolta: Minoruta kamera no subete (Minolta:ミノルタカメラのすべて, Minolta: all of Minolta cameras). Tokyo: Ei Shuppansha, 2003. ISBN 4-87099-923-4.
- Ema Hiroshi (江間宏). "Rokkōru renzu no hanashi" (ロッコールレンズの話, Rokkor lens stories). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.90–3.
- Francesch, Dominique and Jean-Paul. Histoire de l'appareil photographique Minolta de 1929 à 1985. Paris: Dessain et Tolra, 1985. ISBN 2-249-27685-4.
- Hagiya Takeshi (萩谷剛). "Kōkoku ni miru Minoruta kamera no rekishi" (広告に見るミノルタカメラの歴史, Minolta camera history seen through the advertisements). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.9–12.
- Kikan Classic Camera 14 Tokushū: Minoruta Rokkōru densetsu (季刊クラシックカメラ14・特集ミノルタロッコール伝説, special: Minolta Rokkor legend). Tokyo: Futabasha, 2002. ISBN 4-575-47427-4.
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover).
- Nakagawa Chū (中川忠). "Metaru fōkaru purēn shattā no hensen (dai-ikkai)" (メタルフォーカルプレーンシャッターの変遷[第１回], Evolution of the metal focal-plane shutter [part 1]). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.51, June 1999. ISBN 4-257-13024-5. Kurashikku kamera supesharu (クラシックカメラスペシャル, issue about miscellaneous classic cameras). Pp.118–22.
- Saeki Kakugorō (佐伯恪五郎). "Tashima Gizō-shi ni kiku" (田嶋義三氏に聞く, "Asking Tashima Gizō"). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.76–9.
- Scheibel, Anni Rita and Joseph. 70 Jahre Minolta Kameratechnik — Von der Nifcalette bis zur Dynax 9. Stuttgart: Lindemanns Verlag, 3rd edition, 1999. ISBN 3-89506-191-3.
- Taniguchi Masao (谷口匡男), from the commercial department (営業部) of Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō. "Minoruta kamera no sakujitsu, konnichi" (ミノルタ・カメラの昨日、今日, Minolta cameras, yesterday and today). In Shashin Kōgyō no.77 (September 1958). Pp.275–9. (The two first pages of this document, on pre-1937 cameras, are also reproduced in Tanimura, p.8 of Camera Collectors' News no.116.)
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Neumann & Heilemann: kieta ashiato, Minoruta setsuritsu to sono ato no karera wo otte" (Neumann & Heilemann 消えた足跡・ミノルタ設立とその後の彼等を追って, On the traces of Neumann & Heilemann at the founding of Minolta and afterwards.) Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.96–9.
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Semi Minoruta I-gata gaibun." (セミミノルタⅠ型外聞, Things heard about the Semi Minolta I) In Camera Collectors' News no.131 (May 1988). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Semi Minoruta I-gata to II-gata" (セミミノルタⅠ型とⅡ型, "Semi Minolta I and II"). In Camera Collectors' News no. 116 (February 1987). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha. (Contains a reproduction of Taniguchi's article in Shashin Kōgyō no.77.)
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Supuringu kamera <semi minoruta>" (スプリングカメラ<セミミノルタ>, 'Semi Minolta' self-erecting camera). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.19–24.
- Minolta-35 Rangefinder Cameras
- The Rokkor Files, on Minolta manual focus cameras and lenses
- Dennis Lohmann's site, with several product overviews
- The Minolta Users' Group, with several several overviews
- Minolta at pbase
- Variations in Minolta 16 cameras and manuals
- Variations in Minolta 110 cameras and manuals
- Minolta cameras using 110 film at Subclub
- Minolta Cameras Price Guide at CollectiBlend
- Withdrawal of Konica-Minolta from camera manufacture, from Konica-Minolta
- Minman - site dedicated to all film, still, non-AF Minolta cameras
- The best (modern) Minolta cameras presented by Gary Friedman on YouTube
- Seventy years of Minolta at PhotoClubAlpha
- 1950-70s Minolta range and viewfinders at CJ's Classic Cameras
In French :
- Minolta cameras and user manuals at Sylvain Halgand's www.collection-appareils.fr
- Minolta page at Collection G. Even's site
- www.minolta-forum.de, unofficial forum for Minolta users
- Dennis Lohmann's Rokkor Blog (German)
- Jakob Progsch's Minowiki
- Minoltan website, with a history page showing all the Minolta logos
- Syoji Nishida's site
- Camera history at the Tokina Minolta official Japanese site
- Minolta collection in the go-tatsu website | <urn:uuid:9b456389-943b-4759-9b99-ffcde00d9a6a> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Molta | 2020-10-27T09:17:00Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107893845.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20201027082056-20201027112056-00090.warc.gz | en | 0.855562 | 11,944 |
Please find below many ways to say love in different languages. But we can all agree that the word love is as beautiful as everything it describes. Note that these lists include "ice". This tender story about a sensitive little girl who lives in the Arctic focuses on her attempts to learn just how much her mother loves her. The following is a brief comparison of cognates among the basic vocabulary across the Eskimo-Aleut language family (about 60 words). Or, if you’re looking for a funny image, choose from over 2 million watermark-free images in our stock library. ornamental container used to conceal a flowerpot. He says it's the most comfortable and least ecstatic of all loves. This acacia wood display board will make a beautiful addition to your Nans kitchen Inscribed with the words: “Seasons Everything With Love” and also includes their name and your personalised message The contrasting glitter vinyl print and natural wood grain makes every piece a one-off individual design Measure 25. George Kovac down in Miami, Florida, wrote today about an interesting shift in meaning that I thought any word nerd would be interested in. Riddles aren't just for cave-dwelling Gollums and Batman villains. Do you count the words in the title to get 100 words or is the title separate? steven beercock. However, the differences can be subtle, and there are many more ways to say "I love you" in Japanese if you want to be particularly eloquent. Words by Charles Jennens. search for a phrase * (asterisk) search with a wildcard + (plus sign) require that the word or phrase be present in all results - (minus sign) require that the word or phrase NOT be present in any results ~ (tilde) make the word or phrase fall lower in the results; acts like the - (minus) symbol without entirely removing the word or phrase from. When you are one with your lover it is a very sweet feeling. Acronym Definition; LOL: Laugh(ing) Out Loud: LOL: Lots of Love: LOL: League of Legends (game) LOL: Look of Love: LOL: Lots of Luck: LOL: Lord of Light: LOL: Little. Are you tired of boring preaching? Check back in the future for more independent, fundamental, King James Bible Only Baptist preaching. These are the players each team's fans love to hate. Happy Valentine's Day this Saturday! Love is in the air! Even in the very cold air, where a kiss is simply rubbing noses. physics and Presidents of the USA) through home hazards to fun themes like Star Wars, signs of the zodiac, The Simpsons and Roald Dahl characters. I got this #100 from the source you provided and this is right below Xhosa (internationalphoneticalphabet. tula sa pag-ibig poem on love. Central Siberian Yupik has 40 such terms, while the Inuit dialect spoken in Canada’s Nunavik region has at least 53, including “matsaaruti,” for wet snow that can be used to ice a sleigh’s. —Rather, This mystery is a great one. While the actual number is difficult to determine, linguists think the number is probably closer to 50. To express the emotion of love, affection, etc. This free download adds support for entering and editing chemistry symbols, diagrams, and formulas using the standard XML based Chemical Markup Language. I wanted to know which language that was and/or the 32 words, or if this is even true. Perhaps the two of you can order your favorite takeout and watch two movies — stories you pick for each other. On His Way to the Father. 7-Zip 32-bit 19. For example, let's use it in a typical sentence. Put on your thinking cap for this colorful puzzler. #N#Matching Quiz Maker. Seal meat on a Toronto restaurant’s menu has stirred up a decades-long conflict over anti-hunting campaigns, which the Inuit say threaten their existence. People love to compare the number of Inuit words for snow to the number of words for something else in another language. On Wednesday, his wife Katie, 33, went to the hospital. 0 – English Aspect Ratio 2. 00 Your Price $25. We have several words to describe love in English yet still, there are some shades within the spectrum of that emotion we haven't been able to capture in our own language. , people also search for ‘translation of I love you in different languages’ by using the online resources. An expression of love for a favorite. 80% have it, yet none worry about it and it doesn;t effect anyone unless they don't eat for 15-20 hours and need ketones, then they go hypoglycemic and hypoketotic. " Since I have not found what I believe to be the correct version of this song anywhere on the entire WWW, I provide it here as a public service. A 32-bit signed integer (a number between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647) AE41 5652 = -1,371,449,774. Reviewed in Canada on August 19, 2019. WPS Office for Mac. Roger Brown's Words and Things claimed that there were exactly three Eskimo words for snow (based apparently on a drawing in Whorf's paper). 1 Inuit: indigenous people living in Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland 32 Present and Past: Perfect and Perfect Progressive Paul Nicklen meets a leopard seal. Goodmorning to you. Long Distance Touch Bracelet Set. Easter Sunday - 9:00 a. Eskimo-3 Pure Omega 3 Fish Oil with Vitamin E £32. Good morning to you. As your child completes each lesson, he or she is guided to the next one and is motivated to continue learning by ABCmouse. 11 Karen and Richard Carpenter. Lovebox Spinning Heart Messenger. Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. Susan is founder and chair of the Arctic. Hark The Herald. Sanskrit Words for Love. ” figment719 Eskimo Proverb quotes. Highly educated Filipinos are very compulsive about differentiating between. From spacing, number, and layout formatting to musical notation, graphing, and notes, these Office blank and general templates give you the right canvas to start your project. The word "Eskimo" was bestowed upon these hardy, resourceful hunters by their neighbors, the Algonquin Indians of eastern Canada. Time is ticking, so spell fast! The more words you spell, the more you help Nestor the gopher advance towards bigger bonuses. ARCADIUS : Latin form of Greek Arkadios, meaning "of Arcadia. Perfection. Kid-Friendly Word Puzzles with a Valentine's Day Theme. Go to our Visual Dictionary. Millions of people use David’s online Bible commentary on sites such as Enduring Word and Blue Letter Bible. Word Count Cinquains. All Inuit bands speak very closely related dialects of this language family. They might not realize it, but word finds will encourage children to:. I Love Crosswords 3 Level 32 I Love Crosswords 3 Level 33 I Love Crosswords 3 Level 34 I Love Crosswords. With this kind of power, it’s in our best interest to try to understand the science and psychology of words. The higher the percentage, the better the match. It is the same word used regarding marriage in Genesis. It was used to describe an illicit, socially disapproved relationship. Riddles are for anyone — kids included — who wants to kick their brain out of routine thinking habits. Copying words from word walls may be difficult for some students. Fostering an appreciation for art became an intense desire for me during the 1960's 'Age of Aquarius' movement. Boing Boing is published under a Creative Commons license except where otherwise noted. But if you're an introvert, you'll probably enjoy and seek out solitude, or the act of being alone and away from society. The Inuit (or Eastern Eskimo) language continuum is spoken in northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Learn with flashcards, games, and more — for free. Something as natural as falling asleep at night. Inuit mythology is almost criminally neglected. John 3:1-17, Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, comes during the night to talk with Jesus. FORCED RELAXATION: Lessons learned while recovering from a concussion. 19:16) (CCN82). I love the random nature of the projects I am asked to design. Ways to say love. Dozens of Free Holiday Word Search Puzzles. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed. The term comes from the root word ‘h-w-a’ - a transient wind that can rise and fall. DIVINE BENEFITS: 1. Let your dog stay with a real family while you're away. Its Adele’s first post on Instagram since a pre-Christmas 2019 snap with the Grinch, with Big Ben and the Thames filling the background. Maybe it's not about cards. Let Spring Come - Love, Love, Love Mohammed Asim Nehal 35. The geographical area of the Inuit myths ranges from Siberia across the Bering Strait…. Download and install the best free apps for Word Processing Software on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android from CNET Download. spiritual practice. The number of "words" for snow in Eskimo languages is a misnomer, a strange lost-in-translation sort of way of explaining that you can use "snow" and its variant terms in as many different. It's through these efforts that we'll find pragma in our soulmate or twin flame. For the brownies, position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. keep the wolf from the door. Not to wrong any one in speech (Lev. Joosse (Author) › Visit Amazon's Barbara M. " American Anthropologist 88(2), pp. Cinquain poems on words and their magic. Whether you are studying vocabulary in your native language perhaps for a test, such as the SAT or GRE, or in a foreign language,. The population of the town was 1188 in 2011, with 91% of the population identifying as Aboriginal (Statistics Canada, 2012, Statistics Canada, 2013). We were formed in 1975 to promote the written, recorded and preaching ministries of the Rev. Jigidi Jigsaw Puzzles. We've put together a list of 32 of those ways below. ” * [ 8:29] Image: while man and woman were originally created in God’s image ( Gn 1:26 – 27 ), it. Lethal epidemics in indigenous dogs have also led to large-scale population turnover and replacement by European breeds in many regions [24,32]. 0 – English Aspect Ratio 2. Stylecraft Special Chunky 5 Ball Value Pack 100% Acrylic, 500g. Georgia History-Trail of Tears. With Joan Blondell, Madge Evans, Ina Claire, David Manners. It means on the right path. Convert from PDF to Text. 62 synonyms of love from the Merriam-Webster Thesaurus, plus 185 related words, definitions, and antonyms. (Some English glosses need a helping verb as "is happy" ). (1) Love is an intention, that goes with affection, with the intent of injection, done in Topic of Interest: funny spoken poetry tagalog, funny spoken word poetry. Lovebox Spinning Heart Messenger. We can help travellers and tourists feel at home whatever their destination. The happy life of an Eskimo is disastrously changed when he mingles with an unscrupulous white trader. Now considered derogatory in Canada, the term was used extensively in. I mean like deep in the mountains - deep enough in the mountains that the rattlesnakes are plentiful. Wachob, Senior Pastor, preaches at the 11:00am Main Sanctuary service on the Second Sunday in Lent. I am walking through the village, it is very cold. Use the search functionality to find words by name. ” “It’s not going to be easy. While we have a plan to improve the situation, we expect intermittent problems to continue into early next year. 25:17) (CCN48). A complete resource for free online dictionaries and translations of North American languages, including Algonquian, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Cree, Ojibwe, Eskimo-Aleut, Mohawk, Navajo, and Lakota glossaries. This feature. Every answer. Free download and small size Full support for PDF. 32 Self-Care Songs For When Your Confidence Just Needs A Pick-Me-Up. I also have not heard the word for love (noun -- spiritual/neighborly), but if I had t. " In both languages this is a movement to open tango up from the traditional gender roles. Inuit dog names are a great choice for owners of any dogs with an Arctic history or for those who have an interest in the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, and/or Greenland. …"If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. The Positive words dictionary took several years to build from the ground up and is being continually updated. Joosse (Author) › Visit Amazon's Barbara M. Inuit names are used by the Inuit people of the North American Arctic. February 11, 2020 Windows Developer Blog. This belief in a high number of words for snow and ice has been sharply criticized by a large number of linguists and anthropologists. Help Your Business Thrive. There’s no word for the German schadenfreude or the Inuit iktsuarpok in English, so the best we can hope for is to approximate or explain these untranslatable words’ meanings. Sermons from Faithful Word Baptist Church. Survey Reveals Eureka as District. Being alive is a privilege, having good health as supplement is by grace and knowing the only true God who is to be worshipped for this provisions is the greatest feeling ever. Modern Love L: Thus Piteously Love George Meredith 36. I wanted to know which language that was and/or the 32 words, or if this is even true. Swedish words for love include kärlek, älska, förälskelse, hälsning, vara förtjust i, älskling, förtjusning, raring, noll and hälsningar. Source - 2 Comments. Matthew 22 The Parable of the Wedding Banquet 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. The words apply to the type, as well as to the Antitype. Style Name: F1 10. But now that the game I Love Crosswords 3 has appeared in English, we are posting the answers to it. charity; the love of God for man and of man for a good God. by Luke Ottenhof November 11, 2019. A splendid range of bestselling children’s products including Islamic Books, Quran stories, seerah stories, Islamic school books, board games etc. i recently read in a book, that there are 32 differnt ways of saying i love you in eskimo. The word Eskimo is an offensive term that has been used historically to describe the Inuit throughout their homeland, Inuit Nunangat, in the arctic regions of Alaska, Greenland and Canada, as well as the Yupik of Alaska and northeastern Russia, and the Inupiat of Alaska. There’s real love in this community for Inuit prints from the Arctic Circle, which may reach back to the Raven Gallery near 50th and France in Minneapolis, which closed in the 1990s. love what it loves. We were formed in 1975 to promote the written, recorded and preaching ministries of the Rev. Kids’ Stop is a fun zone for kids loaded with information about Aboriginal history, culture and languages, games and stories, and classroom resources for teachers. Do you love word games? If so, you’re in the right place. Different search trends, show that people really like to know about what ‘I love you’ is called in different Indian languages and foreign languages as well. These romantic quotations will never fail to impress your Valentine and will make him/ her realize how much you love Him/ her. Learn how to spell and pronounce love in 30 different languages. THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS. The unique and inviting gallery space – located in the heart of historic Port Hope – features original prints, drawings and sculpture from Cape Dorset, Nunavut, home of Canada’s oldest and most renowned Inuit arts Co-operative. letting go and letting love. I wasn't or become or learn the actually its…See at one point in Eskimo, there wasn't any word for 'Fear, Hope, Love nor hate' in our language, but now we make the words, in my generation, In their words didn't exist. To find out what the chances for you and your dream partner are, just fill in both full names (both first and last name) in the two text boxes below, and press Calculate. 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. On these pages you can view the counting words from 0 to 100 for a number of languages. So without further ado, here's one lifelong Alaskan's guide to the standard pronunciation of Alaskan words (as pronounced in English, mind you - these are not correct pronunciation in the Alaska Native languages these words…. —Rather, This mystery is a great one. Word lists containing a sequence of letters. Native American Fables. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to go to the desired page. Parkhurst, Jr. Reconciliation is not just words. If you’re looking for a smartphone app that carries David’s text commentary, we have them for both iPhone and Android users. Words of Wisdom from famous chiefs and tribes. We hope you love our word searches for kids and use them often. Learning most used words early in your Russian study will have a significant impact on your mastery of the Russian language. It is the perfect PDF to Word solution. Hark The Herald. Play on your computer, tablet or phone. Collaborate for free with online versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Mike Ditka made the term “Grabowski” a common phrase back in 1985 as a fitting description for his Bears players. The great writer CS Lewis was fascinated with the 4 greek words for love. Similar to the Word Cookies genre but with a twist. My boy, when there will be no one beside you, I will be with you. I'm amazed when I look at you. In third grade, students should have command of grade level sight words, be able to read and comprehend informational text with domain-specific vocabulary, and use context to determine the correct meaning of homonyms (multiple-meaning words). None of those do it for me when it comes to loving my familybut I could fancy a Coke, so maybe that's the difference. With the Foreignword translator network you get in contact with over 7000 professionals. Magandang umaga sa iyo. we are a patriot organization that believes in upholding the united states constitution. 4shared is a perfect place to store your pictures, documents, videos and files, so you can share them with friends, family, and the world. Its Adele’s first post on Instagram since a pre-Christmas 2019 snap with the Grinch, with Big Ben and the Thames filling the background. Microsoft Word with a Microsoft 365 subscription is the latest version of Word. With JESUS Film integration, seeing Scripture come to life gives you a truly immersive Bible experience like never. He then adds layer after layer of blood until the blade is completely concealed by the frozen blood. Inuit Fine Art is Port Hope’s first fine art gallery specializing in Inuit art. The people of the Canadian Arctic are known as the Inuit. ” [ a ] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 32 The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe. ESKIMO GODS List of 16 Gods with definitions. We take care of all technical issues. For these students, supply them with the words written on piece of paper. Material: High quality genuine leather material of this wooden watch which is skin-friendly, soft and durable for your daily wearing. The fourth love, and perhaps the most radical, was agape or selfless love. [Intro] Gm Gm Bb Bb [Verse 1] Gm Needle in the back says I love you baby Gm Bb One was. When there is snow on the ground your girlfriend takes a handful and packs a lightly dense snowball. An online journal of very short fictions -- under 1000 words. The beaver. I always thought that being Canadian made me a cousin of the Eskimo. Want more Russian romance? Check out these Romantic Russian Novels. Explore T-Mobile's unlimited plans, deals, and nationwide 4G & 5G network. We have included twenty basic Aleut words here, to compare with related American Indian languages. You probably send TikTok videos you think are super cute to your partner daily. Have them write the word "love' on the bug's back. However, the best way is to see our problems in the perspective of God’s immense love, mercy and grace. 7-Zip Key Features Include: High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression. The word "Wolf" in different North American Native Languages Algonquin: mahigan Apache: ba'cho, ba'uchaahi, ma'cho Athabascan: teekon Cherokee: wahy'a, wa-ya Cheyenne: ho'nene; maiyun Chinook: lelou, leloo Chipewyan: segolia , nuniye Choctaw: neshoba Cree: Mahigan Greenland-Inuit: amarog Hopi: kweeuu Inuktitut: singarti Inupiat: amaguk Kiowa: kooy. Fortunately, there are dozens of ways a man can show you he loves you without actually uttering the words. About the software. So I created this website to help other players. watch the video. Directed by Lowell Sherman. A digital publishing innovator, Issuu is the only platform. Because of these distinctions, we can learn that in order to truly enjoy eros we must also search for greater depths through philia and cultivate ludus, avoiding mania as our relationships mature. About: Happiness quotes, Hope quotes, Heaven quotes, Death quotes, Proverbs quotes. Free Shipping on Orders $35+ or Pickup In-Store and get a Pickup Discount. I love an Arctic (or Antarctic) unit in the winter. van Vogt and E. This information is provided for anyone traveling to Samoa or wanting to converse with Samoan friends and relatives. Ken I acctually brought home several sections of pine that had been used to mold cement curbs, one even has tread marks from a bulldozer. Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks. Let us walk with you on the journey of faith. How to pronounce Inuit. Good morning to you. ” However, the people of Canada and Greenland prefer other names. Though there are more Greek words for love, variants and possibly subcategories, a general summary considering these Ancient Greek concepts are as follows:. 19:18) (CCA60). Buy Seasons Everything With Love Acacia Board - Nana from Kogan. To help the children understand that they can follow the example of Jesus Christ and show love by helping others. This word is on of feeling - a heart of love - whereas agape is a matter of benevolence, duty, and commitment. 2014 at 09:47 […] of utterance, such as the original "X have Y words for Z" (on the pattern "Eskimos have fifty-five words for snow", but transferable to "The French have no word for entrepreneur", or whatever), […]. Pour yourself a mojito, stick on your favourite mixtape and chillax. in the Sandwich Islands--where there are no sandwiches at all--and as long as I carry it every living thing I meet will love me dearly. Chords ratings, diagrams and lyrics. According to the Narwhal Inuit Art Gallery in London, At one time the Inuit built Inukshuk in long lines on each side of the Caribou trail. Inuit Animal Words (Inuktitut/Eskimo) These words come from the Alaskan Inupiaq variety of the Inuit/Eskimo language. 19:18) (CCA60). Scottish a coin of low value. They have a population of roughly 150,000. All translations are copyrighted to the rightful owners. ” You are perfect in your wholeness. language app to offer native Hawaiian on iOS and Android. I mean like deep in the mountains - deep enough in the mountains that the rattlesnakes are plentiful. Old Legends of the Plains people. ” However, the people of Canada and Greenland prefer other names. Claim your free 15GB now!. Not to carry tales (Lev. Woodbury University of Texas at Austin July 1991. At first glance, I Love Crosswords 3 is a very simple game - you just need to make words from letters in the field without lifting your finger from the screen. “Language learning app Drops will be the first multi-. language, like culture, evolves over time. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. I wish you good luck. 2 Timothy 1:7 | NIV | love self-control strength Fear of man will prove to be a snare,. 1 Greenland's Inuit. The best live stations from around the country, any time, any place. Matthew 5:13-20. So, as in the first half of the video above, you can have a woman leading a man, and then they can even switch roles in mid-dance, as you see when they change their embrace at 1:07. I mean like deep in the mountains - deep enough in the mountains that the rattlesnakes are plentiful. For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. Solve crosswords to find the hidden objects! Enjoy the sequel to one of the most successful mix of word and hidden objects game genre! Word Web Deluxe. First of all, there isn't just one Eskimo language; the people we refer to as 'Eskimos' speak a variety of languages in the Inuit and Yupik language families. With a lifespan of five to eight days, it’s unlikely one has ever survived long enough. Names that mean bear, bear-like, and other bear-related names. Mike Ditka made the term “Grabowski” a common phrase back in 1985 as a fitting description for his Bears players. Means "gatherer of the dead" in Inuit. " "Echad" means unity in plurality. These editable sight word games are so much fun and super simple to prep! Just type in any words you want and all 20 sight word activities with be auto-filled! The kids are going to have a blast learning sight words in fun, hands-on ways! They would be perfect for literacy centers or small group instruction. Instantly transform your images, text, videos, and PDFs into ready-to-publish content for every digital channel, format, and device. (Some English glosses need a helping verb as "is happy" ). Inuit traditional cosmology is not religion in the usual theological sense, and is similar to what most people think of as mythology only in that it is a narrative about the world and the place of people in it. Here's their list: 100 Most beautiful words in the English…. How to say "I love you" in Eskimo Nagligivaget. having diseased or poisoned blood. The resulting comparison is called a snowclone, but the problem is the Inuit don't actually have an unusually large number of words for snow. It is very easy to install : pick up a language in the list below, then download and install the program and the wordlist. EY - What does EY stand for? The Free Dictionary. Depending on who you ask, the Inuit can describe snow with 50-400 different words, all eloquently crafted to describe a very specific type of frozen precipitation. org (Free) 7-Zip is a file archiver utility application with a high compression ratio to help you extract compressed files and create your own compressed files in several different formats. booties-- footwear for sled dogs made out of a durable fabric such as Gore-tex or leather to protect their paws from ice build-up or injury. 26 Weird English Words from A to Z. Let HGTV help you transform your home with pictures and inspiration for interior design, home decor, landscape design, remodeling and entertaining ideas. Hear the Bible brought to life in high quality, dramatized audio in hundreds of languages at home, church, or on the go. The governments in Canada and Greenland have ceased using it in official documents. Paypal Home. PrivaZer 3. A classic word scramble for a digital world. Word Villas Answers is a website for Word Villas players to find the answers for the game levels. You can find more Aleut words in our online picture glossaries. The stories of the Inuit women Mikak and Caubvik, of the man Attuiock, and of the other Labrador Inuit who journeyed to England in the late 18th century have been told before, and many readers will be familiar with these accounts (Cartwright, 1792; Jannasch, 1958; Savours, 1963; Lysaght, 1971; Pearson, 1978). , people also search for ‘translation of I love you in different languages’ by using the online resources. Mike Ditka made the term “Grabowski” a common phrase back in 1985 as a fitting description for his Bears players. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Look at the words marked 2. 'Beatbox', 'chillax' and 'selfie' among 5,000 new words added to the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. It’s time, in other words, for the players to use this ability to get participation in the Winter Olympics back in the agreement …. Use weekly spelling words or other words. This site creator is an ASL instructor and native signer who expresses love and passion for our sign language and culture. Handle the 1099-MISC like a pro with these 6 simple steps. We find ahabah throughout the Old Testament because of its broad range of meanings, but the Greek word storge is only found in the New Testament as a part of a compound word (e. a very exciting or dramatic event, especially a sports contest; first used of an exceptionally good hand at bridge. The claim that Eskimo languages (specifically, Yupik and Inuit) have an unusually large number of words for "snow", first loosely attributed to the work of anthropologist Franz Boas and particularly promoted by his disciple Benjamin Lee Whorf, has become a cliché often used to support the controversial linguistic-relativity hypothesis (also known as "Whorfianism"), proposing that a language's. People say mama or nana , and then papa , baba , dada , or tata , worldwide. I’ve seen 2 translations but was curious as to which one closely fits the meaning that I’m looking for: Etre l’amour vs. You probably send TikTok videos you think are super cute to your partner daily. Claim your free 15GB now!. Joosse Page. Peter, sailed southeast from Kamchatka, came up south of the Aleutians, passed Kodiak, and sighted. That being said, the application will let you edit and change PDFs by converting the original files to Word documents and then you are. An amautik is a parka that an Inuit woman wears. I also have not heard the word for love (noun -- spiritual/neighborly), but if I had t. Ry is starting to talk! Not consistently. ' 'The whole Eskimo (Yup'ik-Inuit) family is only about two thousand years old. That is decreed in the country’s Constitution and that is what is taught in schools. Click the necessary level in the list on this page and we will open you only the correct Word Stacks answers. I miss you my son. Sign language on this site is the authenticity of culturally Deaf people and codas who speak ASL and other signed languages as their first language. Play Free Online Games at coolbuddy. 1 John 2:5. anywhere in the article. The time has come for me to bring this holy card blog to an end. Low detailed his travels in Cruise of the Neptune (Report on the Dominion Government Expedition to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Islands on Board the D. com website. They are warning that the change in climate is not due to global warming but rather, because of the Earth shifting a bit. Wabi-Sabi (Japanese): Finding beauty in imperfections. I recall that it was the story of an Eskimo hunter/fisherman looking for his catch. Some Sun Signs naturally work well together, but others need to compromise to make it work! Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces. Chatoyant Like a cat's eye. Great Minds is the only curriculum developer to have earned three Tier 1 ratings from the Louisiana Department of Education. They usually are around the height of a human being (5-7 feet tall). It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker. DLTK's Crafts for Kids Printable Word Search Puzzles. So without further ado, here's one lifelong Alaskan's guide to the standard pronunciation of Alaskan words (as pronounced in English, mind you - these are not correct pronunciation in the Alaska Native languages these words…. Insight'RalTirTalSol' Item types nonmagic polearms, staves with exactly 4 sockets Ladder only? yes Level required 27 Patches 1. " In both languages this is a movement to open tango up from the traditional gender roles. Still trying to unpack it with loved ones. 1 Pet 1:25. Question by Sasha: What are the 32 ways to say “love” in an Eskimo language? In “The Secret Life of Bees”, Autumn says that one Eskimo language has 32 words for the concept of love. #N#How to say wolf in Japanese. * [119:19] A sojourner in the land: like someone without the legal protection of a native inhabitant, the psalmist has a special need for the guidance of God’s teaching. Paul says of the Gentiles: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. I'm always interested in adding to my list. I'm Martina and my boat is Carina of Devon. I've written several posts about words in general and this one about the beauty of words. The extended truth that flows from God's acceptance of sinners is that we…. Life Is Love, And Love Is Life Anna Jonson 32. Welcome to game answer database, the best guide to use when struggling in word and trivia games. This belief in a high number of words for snow and ice has been sharply criticized by a large number of linguists and anthropologists. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Asked in Translations , Inuit Northern Native Tribes. Come All Ye Faithful. ” However, the people of Canada and Greenland prefer other names. Why We Keep Returning to ‘Love and Basketball’ 20 Years Later. i recently read in a book, that there are 32 differnt ways of saying i love you in eskimo. Yet because there is no exact English equivalent, it has proved hard for Bible translators to render it accurately. For the brownies, position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. The Lord will create occasion where you will talk about Jesus with all boldness. a7ccf6553d world best nude teen videoVista Slideshow Distortionvirgin girls tiny porn8086 disassembler download jetXforce Keygen 64bits BIM 360 Plan 2007Download Film Man Of Aakhri Raat Full MovieTips to Pass 300-210 Exam with Cisco 300-210 Valid DumpsBoston LCAI220 User Manual DownloadlAutoCAD LT 2011 Herunterladen Key Generator 32. ornamental container used to conceal a flowerpot. 21 Free Earth Day Word Search Puzzles. WPS Office for Linux. All the word lists you'll ever need to succeed in any word game. The browser Firefox doesn't support the video format mp4. A term for a group of related circumpolar ethnic groups near or in the Arctic Circle, such as the Inuit and Yupik. How it works. I love your nails. I love the Inuit throat singers hooking. It has the idea of a person. “The legacy of this commission is that body of work. At first glance, I Love Crosswords 3 is a very simple game - you just need to make words from letters in the field without lifting your finger from the screen. Study Eskimo's and the arctic for Mother's Day with this unit based on the book "Mama, Do You Love Me?" by Barbara M. 32 Birthday Prayers Blessings For Myself And Loved Ones Etandoz. Word lists with a letter at position … Click to choose the letter. Rōzeki wolf, disorder, violence, outrage, riot. The Bible itself claims to be the inspired Word of God, or "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21). Your bible study purchases and donations go directly to meeting this need. Roger Brown's Words and Things claimed that there were exactly three Eskimo words for snow (based apparently on a drawing in Whorf's paper). Lore of the Inuit peoples claim Labradorite fell from the frozen fire of the Aurora Borealis, an ordinary stone that transforms to the extraordinary, shimmering in a mystical light that separates the waking world from unseen realms. Select a 10 x10 grid for a large font size. The Inuit/Eskimo do not have Glygogen Storage Disorders that sometimes arise from CPT1A mutations, instead they simply have a faulty ketone production system. Find more words! Use * for blank tiles (max 2) Advanced Search Advanced Search: Use * for blank. Much wisdom is attributed to the words and letters in the Hebrew language. In print and readily obtainable. Shop Walmart. Note that these lists include "ice". You have your own life. Use these words in whatever way moves you. Click through to the full dictionary entry to hear audio recordings, see images, read documents and watch videos. A cute, baby chickadee. We put together what we consider the top 10 most beautiful words in the English language. Explore T-Mobile's unlimited plans, deals, and nationwide 4G & 5G network. Searching for Alaskan Dog Names for your new puppy? Whether you have a dog breed developed in the far north, love the natural beauty of Alaska, or just have a fascination with the language, you might just find the perfect dog name on this list. Swedish words for love include kärlek, älska, förälskelse, hälsning, vara förtjust i, älskling, förtjusning, raring, noll and hälsningar. Mayne Hull (Astounding Science Fiction, May-June 1944). FORGING PATHS TOWARD EQUITY AND ANTIRACISM IN SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING. He understands you need it and he gives it to you, unprompted. A mother's love can eradicate any bad things. In third grade, students should have command of grade level sight words, be able to read and comprehend informational text with domain-specific vocabulary, and use context to determine the correct meaning of homonyms (multiple-meaning words). The resulting comparison is called a snowclone, but the problem is the Inuit don't actually have an unusually large number of words for snow. Swedish words for love include kärlek, älska, förälskelse, hälsning, vara förtjust i, älskling, förtjusning, raring, noll and hälsningar. ” Effective —that is exactly what we want our prayers to be, especially in crisis. —HumblerMumbler. Eskimo 22-6 delights paddlers with its excellent rough-water performance, a feature rarely found in other double kayaks. Her love bucket holds the 7 desires that a woman wants a man to fill. 29-30), with a concluding addendum (chs. a very exciting or dramatic event, especially a sports contest; first used of an exceptionally good hand at bridge. Find another word for love. New Year’s Eve Game – Scattegories Printable. What are the 32 ways to say "love" in an Eskimo language? In "The Secret Life of Bees", Autumn says that one Eskimo language has 32 words for the concept of love. Word 2010 allows more customization of the Ribbon, adds a Backstage view for file management, has improved document navigation, allows creation and embedding of screenshots, and integrates with Word Web App. 97: but what I do "love" about it is that it has really helped stabilize both my stomach and the. Letter Quest: Remastered. Enjoy quality illustrations and hear professional voice actors pronounce more than 2500 words. For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. Gina Prince-Bythewood wanted to tell a love story first and foremost—‘When Harry Met Sally …,’ but about a young black. a member of a people inhabiting the arctic (northern canada or greenland or alaska or eastern siberia); the algonquians called them eskimo (`eaters of raw flesh') but they call themselves the inuit (`the people') [syn: eskimo, esquimau, inuit] 2. Margaret Atwood — 'The Eskimo has fifty-names for snow because it is important to them; there ought to be as many for love. Genuine romance exists when two people show that they care for each other through small acts of love and affection. Good Morning! Kelly Minter, in our study, What Love Is, has shared a few of the Greek definitions for the English word, know. Inuit names are used by the Inuit people of the North American Arctic. Words by Charles Jennens. A re-telling of an Inuit myth, Running to the Sky tells the tale of one brother's misplaced love and its dire consequences. Or that something should be important. David Guzik is a pastor, Bible teacher, and author of a widely used Bible commentary. Once the program has been installed, you can download and install as many wordlists as you want. optimistic-hopeful, cheerful. This tender story about a sensitive little girl who lives in the Arctic focuses on her attempts to learn just how much her mother loves her. letting go and letting love. So when I read your debunking of the 400 or so Eskimo words for snow I was delighted. 92 PrivaZer cleans your PC in-depth and removes unwanted traces of your activities. Police arrested and charged a 29-year-old man over the death. The claim that Eskimo languages (specifically, Yupik and Inuit) have an unusually large number of words for "snow", first loosely attributed to the work of anthropologist Franz Boas and particularly promoted by his disciple Benjamin Lee Whorf, has become a cliché often used to support the controversial linguistic-relativity hypothesis (also known as "Whorfianism"), proposing that a language's. Love & Hip Hop Atlanta is back with familiar veterans looking to cement their legacies and hungry newcomers trying to stake their claim in the empire city of the South. where my words occur. Allow me to clarify. Inupiat definition is - a member of an indigenous Eskimo people of northern Alaska. Instantly transform your images, text, videos, and PDFs into ready-to-publish content for every digital channel, format, and device. Country Living editors select each product featured. Extreme Nutrition: The Diet of Eskimos* The carnivorous diet of traditional Eskimo inhabitants of the frozen, northern, circumpolar regions of planet Earth (Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland), serves as a testament to the strengths and adaptability of the human species. I wasn’t or become or learn the actually its…See at one point in Eskimo, there wasn’t any word for ‘Fear, Hope, Love nor hate’ in our language, but now we make the words, in my generation, In their words didn’t exist. "—John 8:31-32 John 8:31-32 has such a wise, practical word for us from Jesus. Solve crosswords to find the hidden objects! Enjoy the sequel to one of the most successful mix of word and hidden objects game genre! Word Web Deluxe. Eskimo synonyms, Eskimo pronunciation, Eskimo translation, English dictionary definition of Eskimo. I love it when you hit me with your sexy look… Let's lay in the grass and watch the clouds. To express the emotion of love, affection, etc. Nain is the northernmost community on the east coast of Labrador (56°32′N, 61°41′W), in the Labrador Inuit Settlement Area of Nunatsiavut (). It’s an ongoing evolution of the relationship. Gina Prince-Bythewood wanted to tell a love story first and foremost—‘When Harry Met Sally …,’ but about a young black. The latest Tweets from Julia (@Minuitmoins2). Ikiaq Red spruce in Inuit language. The word of the Lord remains forever; this is the word that has been proclaimed to you. All Inuit bands speak very closely related dialects of this language family. Love’s provides professional truck drivers and motorists with 24-hour access to clean and safe places to purchase gasoline, diesel fuel, travel items, electronics, snacks and more. Love Catalyst: Spirit Thanks to the ancient Greeks, we can learn from all the different types of love in our lives. An invitation is given to enter into the rest of the Lord—Pray with real intent—The Spirit of Christ enables men to know good from evil—Satan persuades men to deny Christ and do evil—The prophets manifest the coming of Christ—By faith, miracles are wrought and angels minister—Men should hope for eternal life and cleave unto charity. Convert from PDF to Image. Perhaps as much as 40 below, I am walking past a house and I can hear children yelling and screaming with much excitement. We try to have the best lyrics on the Internet. ” Cooper giggled, saying, “I don’t even know if that’s. In the Chinese language the word for love did not traditionally apply to feelings between husband and wife. Appearing just under 1,000 times, the word “heart” is used in the Bible more than any other for the inner self. She said she hadn’t really noticed. The word "Wolf" in different North American Native Languages Algonquin: mahigan Apache: ba'cho, ba'uchaahi, ma'cho Athabascan: teekon Cherokee: wahy'a, wa-ya Cheyenne: ho'nene; maiyun Chinook: lelou, leloo Chipewyan: segolia , nuniye Choctaw: neshoba Cree: Mahigan Greenland-Inuit: amarog Hopi: kweeuu Inuktitut: singarti Inupiat: amaguk Kiowa: kooy. His love is a gift that I open every day. To Canadian's it is a knapsack. Scottish a coin of low value. 5:44, I Cor. Partial list of Tagalog poems available for reading on. They love living-on-the-land days, the cabin. Saying love in Other Foreign Languages. - You should love your enemies, not kill them. Saying Love in European Languages. He appeared. The Love Calculator provides a score from 0% to 100% that is meant to be an indication of a match in terms of love, based on the names of two people. is makes it easy for you to read, study, and share God's Word with friends and family around the globe. So, they took a number of Eskimo words and joined them to form a new word -- Issu-magi-jou-jun-nai-ner-mik -- and it became the Eskimo word for forgiveness. Let your dog stay with a real family while you're away. To be in a bond of love. I have read your website and it is obviously that your a foggot. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. Add Stylecraft Tweedy to favourites. In addition to the new WordPoints, we’ll have a completely new website called AreYouaChristian. The term comes from the root word ‘h-w-a’ - a transient wind that can rise and fall. There’s no word for the German schadenfreude or the Inuit iktsuarpok in English, so the best we can hope for is to approximate or explain these untranslatable words’ meanings. Why users love OpenDNS Delivers faster, more reliable home internet Thanks to our global data centers and peering partnerships, we shorten the routes between every network and our data centers–making your internet access even faster. The Greek word that refers to the love of God, one of the kinds of love we are to have for people, is agape. Inuit name generator. Maybe it inspires or helps you too. An expression of love for a favorite. watch the video. I love you translation in English-Inuktitut dictionary. Dec 22 - 3 days left till the best time of the year Everyone is out doing last minute shopping but we know you still need some more Christmas sheet music that is free:) Angels We Have Heard On High. I'd like to suggest that the word love is one of John's favorite key words in his writings. Wachob, Senior Pastor, preaches at the 11:00am Main Sanctuary service on the Second Sunday in Lent. Snowclone Sandwich | The Life of Words wrote: 23. Word Whomp™ HD is an irresistible spelling game that challenges you to create as many words as you can from six letters. Two of them are used often in the New Testament: agapao and phileo. DaySpring offers free Ecards featuring meaningful messages and inspiring Scriptures! Find shareable Ecards for all occasions, including Birthday Ecards, Thank You Ecards, Friendship Ecards and Encouragement Ecards. It's often associated with Louisiana in particular, and the word itself does indeed come to English by way of Louisiana French. Find another word for cold. Whether you need online support or want to join us, we're here for you!. It has over four thousand positive words and is growing every day. a famous one known in puzzle games for ios and android devices. - You should love your enemies, not kill them. and they also have their own separate sections. Eskimo is a culture that speaks many languages of the Yupik, Inuit, and Aleut language families. Means "under-feet" in Inuktitut. Additional Resources. Another Greek love was the mature love known as pragma. For these students, supply them with the words written on piece of paper. indd 32 10/31/14 5:55 PM. Valentine's Day Quotes Use one of these famous Valentine's Day love quotes to express your love with a bunch of red roses. 99 Regular $100. The Power of Words (3-5) What should you do when someone uses mean or scary language on the Internet? Students consider that they may encounter online messages from other kids that can make them feel angry, hurt, sad, or fearful. Research topics, define words and insert citations right in Docs. com's Tickets and Rewards System. July 23, 2011 at 9:40 pm. In third grade, students should have command of grade level sight words, be able to read and comprehend informational text with domain-specific vocabulary, and use context to determine the correct meaning of homonyms (multiple-meaning words). I have not heard the word for love (noun -- familial/romantic), but if I had to guess, it would be ᎦᎨᏳᏗ (Gageyudi). "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Linguists now believe that “Eskimo” is derived from an Ojibwa word meaning “to net snowshoes. An Eskimo probably would die of clumsiness if he had only one word for snow; we are close to dying of loneliness because we have only one word for love. Around the world, there is an urgent need for women’s Bible studies in multiple languages. Inuit translation in English-Inuktitut dictionary. If he puts you first, even to his own detriment, then there's no real question. Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord, by Olaf Stapledon (Secker & Warberg). Try before you buy! Hidden Object Crosswords 2. , received the Porter Prize in 1950. Find words ending in q, starting with z, or any other letter at the beginning, end, or within a word. Part of the joy was reading. Its Adele’s first post on Instagram since a pre-Christmas 2019 snap with the Grinch, with Big Ben and the Thames filling the background. We've put together a list of 32 of those ways below. As Laura Martin noted in her 1986 article "Eskimo Words for Snow," anthropologists and psychologists started using the story in the late 1950's as a go-to illustration in discussions of the. Inuit people are strict followers of animism, which explains their love for spiritual names, such as Nuliajuk, which means a 'woman with a fin, who is the leader of all the seals in the sea', Ijiraq, which means 'caribou like spirit', and Nanurluk, which is the name of a mythical, large polar bear. Last edited by: zmježd , July 20, 2010 07:14. (Eskimo Proverb) Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones smile down to let us know that they are happy. Word Searches for Kids. For a female to say "I love" it would be Ani Ohev et (ah-nee oh. An Eskimo probably would die of clumsiness if he had only one word for snow; we are close to dying of loneliness because we have only one word for love. Lee's 1973 book Colours of Love. To make up a word, you must continuously select one letter at a time. Words can also be organized by category (for example, academic words, words used often in your classroom, new words students have come across and love). " Kango: Whites: Used for white guys who act like black guys, comes form a biscuit that was vanilla on outside choclate on inside: Keebler: Whites: Reference to Keebler Elf line of snack crackers. 700,970,057 views. However, the best way is to see our problems in the perspective of God’s immense love, mercy and grace. The speakers of English are more than happy to adopt words from other languages, and even to invent new ones. They might not realize it, but word finds will encourage children to:. a very exciting or dramatic event, especially a sports contest; first used of an exceptionally good hand at bridge. Download 3,816,523 Love Stock Photos for FREE or amazingly low rates! New users enjoy 60% OFF. To Canadian's it is a knapsack. They usually are around the height of a human being (5-7 feet tall). Ry is starting to talk! Not consistently. WIT & WISDOM TOP RATED BY EDREPORTS. 32 Of The Most Beautiful Words In The English Language. Two of them are used often in the New Testament: agapao and phileo. Now considered derogatory in Canada, the term was used extensively in. The word in the grid will circle each letter and the word in the word list will automatically cross out. Palindrome Names For Baby Boys: 41. So, as in the first half of the video above, you can have a woman leading a man, and then they can even switch roles in mid-dance, as you see when they change their embrace at 1:07. We find ahabah throughout the Old Testament because of its broad range of meanings, but the Greek word storge is only found in the New Testament as a part of a compound word (e. With this kind of power, it’s in our best interest to try to understand the science and psychology of words. Selena Templeton February 23, 2020. Qi: The energy of life flowing through the body. When you've finished working on an image in GIMP, you should save it to a standard format such as PNG. a seal of approval; a mark of prestige. Reconciliation is not just words. DIVINE BENEFITS: 1. Eskimo legend tells of the Island's formation: "The Sea Goddess, picking up a handful of ooze from the bottom of the sea, squeezed it between her fingers, forming mountains that are part of its interesting terrain. This happens primarily through efforts in publishing and broadcasting biblical truth. Where each word gets used will give us a clue as to the range of meanings it can have. Then I found the cedar, but the pine is still dareing me to try it. Revelation 1:5-6. Session 32 Lyrics: Threw away your love letters / I thought it'd make me feel better / I finally got you out my bed / But I still can't get you out my head, ooh / I'm sending you one text at a time. | <urn:uuid:2459853a-2866-43dd-a9a6-42917e65aaa2> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | http://materamia.it/qbvj/32-eskimo-words-for-love.html | 2020-10-27T09:49:03Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107893845.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20201027082056-20201027112056-00090.warc.gz | en | 0.933423 | 12,486 |
For about ten years now, Jack o' the Clock has been turning heads and ears with their singular style of music, which takes in elements of classical music, folk, and rock, combining them with a heavy dose of "It's so crazy it just might work!" Leader Damon Waitkus has assembled an ensemble who demonstrate that formal musical education does not always kill creativity, blending bass guitar and drum kit with violin, bassoon, hammer dulcimer, and countless other instruments common and obscure.
by Jon Davis, Published 2017-05-09
photography by Carly McLane
I connected with two members of the band via email, and they were gracious enough to answer my questions.
What are your earliest musical memories? How did your conception of music develop?
DW: I would mess around on my grandmother’s piano any chance I had as a toddler until my mother gave in and brought it over to our house. I remember getting fixated on how C and F sounded together (though I didn’t know the names of the notes), and then resolving the F to an E and feeling there was something pretty amazing going on there. I would also bang on pots and pans if given the chance, which come to think of it is still the case.
My mother played some piano and my father was a decent finger style guitarist. When my mother played the slowly evolving dark green chords of “Moonlight Sonata,” I felt an exhilarating foreboding, like watching thunderheads mounting. And my dad would get the old Martin out — the guitar I had commandeered by the time I was in middle school and still play — and sing 60s folk tunes while I bludgeoned an old out-of-tune zither with a drum stick and sang, "Oooo." I loved the way the metal string sounds blended, in and out of tune, the way the sound filled the room. Nothing’s changed.
As far as listening is concerned, there were about eight or ten records from my parents’ collection of 60s folk and psychedelic rock that I got to know very well. Most significant among those were Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick and Simon and Garfunkel’s Parseley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, which I associate with my father and mother respectively. I loved getting lost in TaaB’s continuous, evolving, unbroken landscape — I had an almost synesthetic experience of it as rich colors and complex forms — like exploring a region of woods shot through with sunlight. My dad would turn it up to unneighborly volumes at the “boom boom” end of side one just to make me run screaming around the house, but I always came back for more. Where Tull was thrilling and energizing, I think Simon and Garfunkel drew out subtle feelings of melancholy, love, sensitivity, and a certain silliness, and felt deeply maternal for me. A lot of the guitar sonorities and certainly the subtle vocal harmonies I gravitate towards in my own writing I hear all over that album. And of course acoustic guitar is the grounding element in both those records.
How my conception of music developed from there is a long story, but I can give you a thumbnail. I listened to everything over the years, starting with my parents’ other records, then getting into progressive rock, jazz, celtic music and then contemporary classical stuff — minimalism first, then modernist composers, then feeling my way back into the early 20th-century harmonic explosion — then some African, Balinese, Japanese, Burmese folk musics, and so on.
As far as playing is concerned, I studied piano as a kid, gravitating towards Bach and Debussy, and taught myself guitar as soon as I could get my hands around my dad’s dreadnought. I picked up the hammer dulcimer in 1995 after hearing Malcolm Dalglish, thinking that was one of the most haunting and strangely innocent sounds I’d ever heard, but only started working at my technique around the time I started JotC. I also took some voice lessons and sang in choirs in high school and college.
So I’m kind of omnivorous. Different musics suit different moments in life, different moods, different social and cultural situations. Music is integrated into all parts of my life. Sometimes I want to let it close me into a dark, safe place, and other times I want it to bring me out of myself, to challenge me, show me the world in all its diversity and complexity. Whatever aspect of life, light or dark, needs acknowledgment, deepening and expanding, there’s music for it. This goes for both listening and music-making.
JH: My mom singing and playing guitar, sometimes solo, sometimes with her siblings. Her mother was a big Elvis fan, so that was around. She is a great songwriter, really simple and well balanced folk-style stuff. I remember her playing Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Creedence Clearwater Revival, and some gospel stuff when I was very young. I remember waking up on Sunday mornings to the smell of breakfast cooking and my dad playing his country records and singing along loudly — Mel Tillis, Jim Reeves, Merle Haggard, Tom T Hall, George Jones, Charley Pride, and others. There are two very important records for me in my earliest memories, one being Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears, which I would listen to laying on the floor, watching dust slowly float on the air in the warm sun rays coming through the window. Haunting background vocals from the Carter Family made a deep impression on me, and Cash's storytelling talk-style of delivering some of the songs also really struck me. There's a real ghostly air that was captured on that record. As an adult, I appreciate that it also dealt pretty acerbically with edgier themes like alcoholism / racism / interracial love affairs ("White Girl"), the celebration of successful violence against the American army ("Custer"), and ongoing genocidal war against America's native population ("Apache Tears").
The other important record for me from this time is the collection of songs used for the soundtrack for the Buddy Holly biopic Gary Busey starred in. Of course I didn't know at the time, but Busey sang those songs himself for the film, and I am still actually torn between which versions I like best, Buddy's or Gary's! I was mesmerized by that record, listening on headphones over and over, and I played my first musical instrument (drums) along to it frequently. The forceful and primal sexual aggressiveness underneath "Not Fade Away" actually scared me. ("I'm gonna show you how it's gonna be / You're gonna give your love to me"... I am?!) I felt as if I was witness to something truly dangerous and forbidden, and I couldn't look away. I was struck by a kind of perverse obsession with the taboo, a feeling that has never really left me (for better and worse), and played out later in my musical tastes. I also responded to the (arguably) early punk vibe of "Oh Boy!" and "Rave On." Those songs point forward toward Ramones territory, as they also stand on the shoulders of countless black American musicians. From there, the next significant milestone records for me were Michael Jackson's Thriller, Prince's Purple Rain, Beastie Boys License to Ill, various "hair metal" hits, and Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair, which is the first cassette I ever bought with my own money and stands as one of my favorite records by one of my favorite bands ever.
When I was entering my teens, it was an eclectic blend of various popular rap (Run DMC, NWA), thrash metal (Anthrax's State of Euphoria was the gateway), more adventurous "classic" rock like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Most of this stuff eventually lead me to discover more seriously the blues — Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, BB King — and the music of black America, which I was not so directly exposed to growing up in rural, predominantly white environments with lingering racist undertones. When I began to play guitar in high school, I was listening almost exclusively to extreme death / thrash metal, classical music, blues, and various new age artists, of which Enya remains the most important to me.
I'm going to leave on Tori Amos' Under the Pink, and Faith No More's The Real Thing and Angel Dust, which all began a whole other big turn for me. From there, of course, the frame broadens dramatically quickly, and it's still going.
What kind of formal schooling do you have in music?
JH: I spent the first six years of my musical life teaching myself to play guitar and bass. In the first two years of playing, I had learned all the rhythm guitar parts and several guitar solos for all of Metallica's records up to the Black Album, along with lots of other stuff, and was bringing my guitar to school to practice, and to parties to entertain (practice). That impressed and inspired a couple brothers (guitarist and drummer) slightly older than me to ask me to join their thrash metal band (the only one in town) as bassist. That was my first band and where I really learned what it means to write original songs and get a band up to a high performance standard (we rehearsed (partied) all the time!). I was 17 years old. We also spent some time as the rhythm section for the local blues band. By the time I knew I wanted to formally study music, I had begun trying to teach myself to read notation, but didn't get very far. There was no music class for me to take in school. What I learned I learned on my own, aurally or through songbooks, or through the few older local musicians I was beginning to associate with — there were only a few, as I grew up in fairly isolated timber industry communities in the mountains of Northern California (4-5 hour drive north of the Bay Area).
Once in college, I worked very hard. I would hand-copy scores in the library, and write out harmonies for the figured bass in JS Bach chorales, just to get more inside the music and work on my penmanship and theory. It's taken me quite a while to get over the feeling that I have to catch up! I resented my self-taught beginnings for years, but now I see it as a crucially positive experience. In Humboldt county, I studied with Ed Macan and played bass in his band, Hermetic Science, a name that should sound familiar to some Exposé readers. I have a BS in music from Southern Oregon University, where I played in the jazz big band under percussionist Terry Longshore (a Steven Schick alum), and studied singing with an amazing choral director named Paul French. I applied to Mills and was accepted, where I graduated with an MA in composition and an MFA in performance & literature (improvisation), and where I also first met Fred, Jordan, Emily, and Damon, and then Kate through them as we started meeting to pursue JotC.
DW: I studied composition as an undergrad alongside English and then went on to get an MA in the composition at Mills College a few years later. I started a PhD program in composition at UC Berkeley the following year, but by then I had formed Jack o’ the Clock and realized I wasn’t really interested in pursuing the life of an academic composer, nor did the music there excite me, so I left.
We all have Masters’ from Mills College actually, except Kate — that’s where we all met. Jordan’s is in performance and literature, with a specialization in improvisation, but he’s also done a lot of composing. He grew up in Eugene playing classical percussion and jazz drums. Emily has an MA in violin performance from SF Conservatory, specializing in contemporary music, as well as from Mills in improvisation. She and Kate both came up through the classical world from an early age, and played in youth orchestras together in Boston. In addition to playing bassoon, Kate has a Masters in conducting from McGill, plays a number of other orchestral instruments, and has a truly encyclopedic knowledge of the classical canon.
What musical activities did you have before Jack o’ the Clock?
DW: I led a band in high school that was similar to JotC in some ways and was really the center of my life for a couple years, even a sort of liferaft. I wanted to go to music school and form another band with better players as soon as I got out, but my parents urged me to go to a liberal arts college (UMass Amherst), which I ended up not regretting, since I did have nonmusical interests. I had a number of musically frustrating years after that in which I was unable to get anything off the ground, probably because of a winning combination of impossibly high standards and low self-confidence, but in the mean time I kept writing and honed the art of 4-track bedroom recording. I was able to bring a few “solo” albums together with the help of a few friends just to get the work out of my system, but always felt I was marking time for another band. By the time I was in my early twenties I was listening to more and more contemporary composers, and gave myself over for a few years to forming a pile of manuscripts. It was a half measure that enabled me to feel like I was completing things so that I could move on, and I learned a lot about orchestration in the process, but ultimately I wasn’t able to fetishize the score, which is a mental contortion I think you have to master to maintain sanity as a composer of reasonably complex music unless you have a devoted ensemble or a degree of commercial success.
I played bass and a little flute in an instrumental band with three other composers right before JotC called Oogog — reeds / bass / piano / guitar — and that was a sort of gateway for me back into a band-oriented mind. We each contributed through-composed pieces, and it varied somewhat but was very minimalist-influenced, sometimes proggy. It was an education for me, having to finally play the ornery, syncopated stuff I was writing as well as what the others were coming up with, and I learned to clarify and distill my ideas and make my notation more humane. And I became a better reader and performer. I was disappointed when that project dissolved, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me musically, since it drove me to form JotC. I’d tasted the band experience again, knew I wasn’t that interested in going back to the abstraction of “pure” composition, and was forced to examine what I really did want from music. Which was something sort of like Oogog, only looser, more collaborative, and decidedly structured around vocals — I wanted to write songs again, but to retain the high performance standard and work ethic that permitted a little complexity from time to time.
JH: I've been in and out of several bands of varying styles of rock, lots of improvisation, various ad hoc ensembles for friends' compositions, lots of experimenting. Groups since coming to Mills include The Atomic Bomb Audition, an early lineup of Annie Lewandowski's Powerdove, and one very intense year (2012) in a bass / drums grind metal duo called Satya Sena, with drummer Peijman Kouretchian, who works with thrash metalers Ghoul and Trey Spruance's Secret Chiefs 3.
How did JotC come together? Was the unusual instrumentation a deliberate choice, or did it just work out that way?
DW: A bit of both. I started it with Emily and Nicci Reisnour, a fellow composition student at Mills who left after a year to study Gamelan in Bali — she played harp, wine glasses and melodica, which blended very nicely with my guitar and dulcimer and Emily’s violins and psaltery. I was excited to be singing and writing songs again, and didn’t have ambitions to form a rock band right off the bat. I was trying to be practical, hone my craft and develop my voice, start performing and recording, and let the specifics of the live ensemble follow — I’d spent too many years in my head and was wary of letting any ideas develop that depended on instruments we didn’t already have in the band. Our initial tunes were thus relatively simple folk numbers which are scattered across the first few albums — “All Last Night,” “Ultima Thule,” “Disaster / Analemma” “New American Gothic,” “Last of the Blue Bloods.”
The trio, which soon became a quartet when Jordan joined after six months or so (he didn’t bring his his drum set at first because the band was so quiet, playing instead an array of metals on the floor) was high-end heavy, and we thought bassoon would be a unique timbre to handle the low-end if we could find a bassoonist. Then Emily ran into Kate by chance, whom she’d known from youth orchestra as a kid on the East Coast, and Kate could also sing and play flute, and she was interested in checking us out. And simultaneously Jason responded excitedly to something we posted online, and we knew him to be a fantastic bass player who already had a synergistic relationship with Jordan, so we asked him to join too. Nicci left and then Kate and Jason showed up, it was all like the same week. And of course, with a full-fledged bass player unexpectedly on board, it made sense for Jordan to move over to drum set and for the rest of us to start using amplification. Though it hadn’t been my plan, I couldn’t have been happier about going in that direction.
Given that there’s an obvious connection between JotC music and folk music, have you gotten any reactions from the folk community?
DW: Not that I know of. We certainly played a lot of shows with other “folk” acts, and in the earliest days of the band, when I heard people like M. Ward, Joanna Newsom, and Sufjan Stevens doing some creative and ambitious things with songwriting and production within the loosely-defined “folk” world and having major success, I thought it was as good an angle as any to pursue, promotion-wise. At the end of the day, I don’t feel we’re any more “folk” than “prog,” but the latter community is the one that has opened up to us, so I’ve tailed off on pursuing the “folk” pitch so much.
Emily and I have had some friends like the people in the truly magical band Chimney Choir who have done their time in an actual American folk circuit, touring the South and playing bluegrass gigs in restaurants and whatnot to pay the bills in between shows of original material, which are blazingly inventive and beautiful theatrical performances that just happened to be rooted in a well-defined and virtuosic folk tradition. The Punch Brothers would be another example of creative music-making with identifiable folk roots. Chris Thile has said that great music has more in common with other great music than with the music that shares its genre, which is ultimately a bunch of surface elements, and I buy that completely. It’s splitting hairs what you call it when something is inspired.
How do JotC pieces come about? Are they completely composed and presented to the group, or is there collaboration?
DW: We have used every method available to us to create music short of throwing the I-Ching, though chance too always ends up elbowing its way in a little before a piece is done. Some of it is quite composed-out (though rarely a complete piece), and some of it is put together more like a traditional singer-songwriter would, with me coming in with changes and a melody and the others filling in their own parts. Oftentimes I’ll have an incomplete piece and someone else will have ideas that spark the next section — these might be fully composed-out ideas themselves or just lines someone has on their instrument that I write new parts over. A lot of back and forth. The lyrics usually end up dictating the form of the song in the end — what is needed in terms of mood-arc and pacing. So to that extent I tend to steer the ship. But there is input from everyone.
And then there are some record-only pieces (like much of what is on our next-to-last album Night Loops) which are built up from extensive overdubs, composed partially on paper, partially “to tape.” I like doing this because it produces results we just wouldn’t get in the rehearsal room, not only because I can have, say, eight bassoons, but because there is a spontaneity to the parts — sometimes you’re hearing the first time someone played something, it’s very fresh, there isn’t a lot of mental mediation. At the same time, these pieces also take a lot more work to record because the orchestration problems haven’t been worked out in the rehearsal room. But that is also what makes them idiosyncratic. Several times we’ve gone back and learned “studio” pieces to perform after the fact and they always have a different feel from the stuff we rehearse a lot before recording. “The Pilot,” from our album All My Friends is a recent example, we literally just started playing that live.
As a composer, where did you get your inspiration initially? Where do you see yourself fitting into the history of music composition? (I’m thinking conceptually rather than any sort of quality comparison. For instance, what composers have influenced you?)
DW: Well, I already blabbed about my early influences. When I first started doing honest-to-god composing after college — putting notes on paper — I was most inspired by Charles Ives, Gyorgy Ligeti, Morton Feldman, Lee Hyla, Frank Zappa, and also some older composers like Bartók, Shostakovich, Stravinsky. But that was a different time too. The most exciting music for me recently has been Esperanza Spalding, Faun Fables, Zammuto, the Punch Brothers, Anohni.
Fred Frith is in a category of his own for me, not just musically and because he’s been a mentor, but because he flows freely between the free improvisation, rock, contemporary classical, and jazz worlds, and doesn’t seem overly concerned with how he fits in. Because of the connection with him and his history with Henry Cow, many have slotted us into the RIO category (even though that genre seems to have a sound that’s very different from ours), so on the off chance we end up inscribed into any histories, it’ll probably be the ones that acknowledge that lineage, whatever it is. There are a lot of contemporary musicians — well, it’s been going on at least since the 80s — particularly in New York and the Bay Area, who write and play in the interstices and let others worry about what to do with them.
I still do draw inspiration from the aforementioned Serious Music of the White Man, but I’ve also recently started hearing it in a new way. I was listening to some Spectralist music recently, which I remember having responded to about ten years ago and was curious to hear again, and found the music cold and alienating. I think I did back then too, but I also felt that it was my duty to learn from it, to get inside and endure its headspace so that I could, I don’t know, grow into it or something. What’s changed is that I don’t have the sense of duty anymore, and for the first time I didn’t take my negative experience of the music entirely upon myself, blaming it on my personal associations and inadequacies. Personal associations matter, to be sure, but the composer brings something to the music as well and can answer to it. I’ve always responded to alienation in Western music, but only recently started to hear how culture-bound it is — that is, chosen. It’s a tragic cry filtered through the brain, beautiful at times, but I realized I didn’t have to climb up into the belfry so that I could feel a particular brand of loneliness and be compelled to make a particular sort of cry. I could cry more immediately if I wanted to, even with unalloyed joy from time to time.
The Outsider Songs album provides a fascinating glimpse into the influences of the band, some of which are quite unexpected. How were these songs chosen, and were there some others that you wanted to do but couldn’t include for one reason or another?
DW: It’s a semi-arbitrary cross section of mostly high-school era influences — you know, the period they say you never get over completely. Jason chose and co-produced “The Chauffeur” (my personal favorite), Emily pushed for the Paul Simon and the Björk (which we’d actually played live once or twice in the distant past), and I chose the rest, cuz, you know, Democracy.
You’re not the first to say that that some of the choices were surprising, and it always begs the question in my mind as to what would have been expected! In general, what is fun for me in this context is taking a relatively simple song and messing with it. If the song is complex to begin with it is a lot more work and there is less room for creativity. I guess the beautifully simple reductionist cover is a thing too, but that wasn’t what I felt like doing this time around. In the more conservative covers (“Mute Witness” and “Wrong Child”) it was simply a matter of wanting to hear these songs arranged with a hammer dulcimer at the center of the band instead of guitars or piano. In the others it was a more radical re-composing down to structural elements of the songs.
Two precedents influenced my approach to the covers: Dirty Projectors’ Rise Above album and Yes’ early covers, particularly of Paul Simon’s “America.” In both cases, the songs undergo radical transformations—not just the orchestration but the rhythms, tempi, even the chord changes and melody in places. I’d known “America” from early childhood and was pretty amazed when I got into Yes in middle school and discovered what they’d done to it. “Rise Above” is not just a song of course but a whole Black Flag album Dave Longsreth reproduced from memory. But if you listen to that album it is so much more Dirty Projectors than Black Flag. If memory fails, well, you fill in the gaps as you would want them filled in rather than waste time picking apart the original. It is about deepening the spirit that moved in the original, not replicating the details.
Kate Bush and David Bowie are two other old and significant influences of mine each of whom have had many songs I can imagine taking a stab at. “And Dream of Sheep” was on the table for a while. The biggest dissuading factor for me was that their voices and arrangements have such strong flavors already that I was afraid I’d only end up watering them down. Björk is of course inimitable too, but there was something irresistible about the challenge of taking on "Hyper-ballad" anyway… tastelessly progging the hell out of the middle of it…
Does the band play live very often? Local shows, festivals, and so on.
DW: We’re very much looking forward to getting the old quintet back together (with Kate McLoughlin) to do a little Northwestern tour in early June, culminating in Seattle’s Seaprog festival.
In general, we play a handful of local shows a year, not quite as many as we used to. We’ve become a little more selective with venues because our monitoring and sound needs are more complex than the average band and we got tired of putting over a compromised sound, not being able to hear ourselves, etc. We sound better in slightly bigger venues, festivals and whatnot, which narrows the choices considerably. It’s always a balancing act between wanting to have shows to play at all and wanting to sound good.
What are the band’s future plans? Is there a Repetitions of the Old City - II in the works?
DW: I’m working on Repetitions II right now, building upon basic tracks taken from the same sessions as Repetitions I. Much of this material is both older and darker than what went onto the first one — there are a couple of lines and chord changes which even go back two decades — which leads me to want to produce it a bit more: the farther removed I am from the inception of a piece, the more I want to bring my present consciousness into it on the production end. It feels different from the first one to work on. I’m always most excited by what I’m working on right now, and that’s true here, but because the content digs deeper into my own psychological history — and not always the parts of it I want to dwell on — I sometimes feel stretched and distorted when I come away from a session, or like I’ve just crawled out of a cave. Some of these songs were tools for me in the process of digesting my teens and early adulthood, during which time I was coming to terms with mental health and alcoholism issues in my family, and at the same time becoming aware of the shadow side of American history, higher education, the social milieu. It’s a process of integration.
Kate leaving has forced us to make some musical adjustments. We just did a couple shows with a new sextet including Thea Kelley on vocals and our longtime collaborator Ivor Holloway on reeds. It’s been invigorating, though unfortunately we’re losing Ivor soon too. Thea and Ivor have been contributing significantly to Repetitions II, so we’ll be a septet on this album.
There will be some changes after this, hard to say in what direction. There’s so much going on in the world and our lives right now, and the present moment is asserting itself. Shifting thematic preoccupations. After Repetitions II is done, I think I’m going to take a personal hiatus from recording and focus on developing a bunch of new material for the live band — really looking forward to doing that, actually — and I’ll feel out where we’re going then.
What are some of your musical activities outside JotC? How about the other band members?
JH: Most recently I had a dark pop trio called Perfect Loss (disbanded) that I played bass and sang for. I am beginning to work with a local guitarist, who works with The Residents, on material for his metal band (Dimesland) to record for his next record. Jordan and I perform all the time together in various projects, but particularly with Fred (Fred Frith Trio). We just completed our second tour of Europe, and have a record out on Intakt called Another Day in Fucking Paradise. I've recently been playing locally with Scott Amendola and Karl Evangelista, and we're discussing the future. Other than those projects, there is a steady stream of work flowing around from various band leaders and composers. There's more music to play than time to play it in! We are blessed! I also teach high school full time (which I absolutely love), so that's how I spend many of my daylight hours.
DW: I’m extremely busy with family, school, and teaching, so there is not much room in my life for music other than Jack o’ the Clock, which will take as much of my time as I let it. That said, I’ve played electric guitar a few times recently with Moe! Staiano’s Guitar Ensemble, which may also be recording shortly, and once in a while will write a piece for an outside ensemble if asked.
I wrote a duo for electric guitar and drum-set a few years ago at the behest of the phenomenal Living Earth Show, and co-produced our recording of it — hopefully that will be released shortly. It’s the heaviest music I’ve ever written, and I really want to get it out there, but it’s out of my hands.
I’ve also contributed singing and various instruments to recent recordings by songwriters Art Elliot, Eli Wise, and Nathan James. And I played dulcimer in Jordan’s Mindless Thing project and banjo in his Weiner Kids’ family band, though neither are active at present. So yeah, as I was saying, all Jack o’ the Clock…
How does a band like Jack o’ the Clock survive in today’s music world? How do you deal with the business as opposed to the creative aspect of making music?
JH: I'm not sure what "survive" means. None of us are living off the band. If you mean to ask how we keep from developing a cynical attitude or lose faith, I think it comes down to the personal chemistry. We share a great love and respect for each other. The musicianship is strong and inspiring, we keep each other on our toes. And an adventurous attitude, a kind of "let's see what happens" approach. We've learned some things, the business side has its own curve. Damon can elaborate more clearly, but I think it's fair to say we've always poured the bulk of our energy into developing the music and refining the sound, kind of at the expense of developing sharper business practices sooner. But I suspect I won't be regretting that on my death bed.
DW: I better talk second so we don’t end the interview with the words “death bed.” Everything Jason said I agree with. I deal with the business as much as I need to to feel that the band really “exists,” is more than a bedroom project, but I draw that line according to the whim of the day.
Charles Ives is one of my compositional heroes, and I’m all too aware of the arc of his creative life: he worked really hard building up a style and an oeuvre in his early years, then burnt out creatively and devoted his later decades entirely to getting his existing music out. Well, I don’t want to do that! I want be able to stay creative, stay actively making new art as long as I can, it’s too intermingled with my personal growth itself for me to feel like I can healthily stop it. Which means on some level that I have to make sure the work I’m doing now gets heard, at least a little. It’s not for me that I do music, it’s actually an elaborate way of being social, since I’m very introverted on a day-to-day basis. I want people to hear it, and I want them to want to hear it. The market is ugly and petty, but at least I know that the people who find us there aren’t interested in it for some other reason.
Filed under: Interviews
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SPEAKERS CONTENTS INSERTS Tables
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CHINESE INFLUENCE ON U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
THROUGH U.S. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS,
MULTILATERAL ORGANIZATIONS AND CORPORATE AMERICA
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FEBRUARY 14, 2006
Serial No. 109145
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Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/internationalrelations
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey,
DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELTON GALLEGLY, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
DANA ROHRABACHER, California
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
PETER T. KING, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
RON PAUL, Texas
DARRELL ISSA, California
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin
Page 3 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOCJERRY WELLER, Illinois
MIKE PENCE, Indiana
THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida
JOE WILSON, South Carolina
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
CONNIE MACK, Florida
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
MICHAEL McCAUL, Texas
TED POE, Texas
TOM LANTOS, California
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
BRAD SHERMAN, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
BARBARA LEE, California
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
Page 4 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOCEARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
DIANE E. WATSON, California
ADAM SMITH, Washington
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky
DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California
THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel
ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
DANA ROHRABACHER, California, Chairman
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona, Vice Chairman
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin
MIKE PENCE, Indiana
JOE WILSON, South Carolina
WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
Page 5 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOCADAM B. SCHIFF, California
GREGG RICKMAN, Subcommittee Staff Director
GREGORY MCCARTHY, Professional Staff Member
CLIFF STAMMERMAN, Democratic Professional Staff Member
EMILY ANDERSON, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S
Mr. Steven Mosher, President, Population Research Institute
Mrs. Nancy Menges, Widow of Dr. Constantine Menges, Author of ''China: The Gathering Threat''
Mr. Christopher Brown, Research Assistant, Hudson Institute, Washington, DC
Perry Pickert, J.D., Ph.D., Faculty Member, Joint Military Intelligence College
Mr. Alan Tonelson, Research Fellow, U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation
Page 6 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Ross Terrill, Ph.D., Research Associate, Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
The Honorable Dana Rohrabacher, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations: Prepared statement
Mr. Steven Mosher: Prepared statement
Mrs. Nancy Menges: Prepared statement
Mr. Christopher Brown: Prepared statement
Perry Pickert, J.D., Ph.D.: Prepared statement
Mr. Alan Tonelson: Prepared statement
Ross Terrill, Ph.D.: Prepared statement
CHINESE INFLUENCE ON U.S. FOREIGN
POLICY THROUGH U.S. EDUCATIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS AND CORPORATE AMERICA
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations,
Committee on International Relations,
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:06 p.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dana Rohrabacher (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. I call this meeting of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee to order.
I would like to begin this hearing by honoring the late Constantine Menges for his deep love of freedom and his long, dedicated history of fighting dictatorships and totalitarian regimes around the globe. And of course, I met Constantine and worked very closely with him in the Reagan White House. And at that time no one could ever have believed that Communism would disintegrate in the Soviet Bloc; no one except Constantine Menges, and then, after I talked to him, myself, of course.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to welcome all of our expert witnesses here today. And again I want to especially thank Mrs. Nancy Menges for testifying today on behalf of Constantine, and to share with us the key points and recommendations contained in Constantine's last book, China: The Gathering Threat, which was researched and written just prior to his death. And the book was published after his death, and you might say it was Constantine's final warning. And, as was Constantine's way, it was also his final suggestions of how to alter course, establish a plan, and save human freedom.
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Americans have heard the facts about China's ominous military build-up, its brutal repression of Christians, Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners. It is stuffed with some of our most powerful military technology. It is a flaunting violation of intellectual property rights. And its working relationship with the world's most deadly and dangerous rogue regimes, such as North Korea, Iran, Sudan, and Burma.
Americans know about China's spread of nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan and to North Korea, its threat against democratic Japan and Taiwan, and its destabilizing territorial claims against our fellow democracies, such as India and the Philippines.
But the American people and my colleagues have heard little about why, how, and in what context all of these unchallenged displays of arrogance and power are taking place.
I believe that by the end of the hearing, it will be evident that the Chinese Government's aim is no less than establishing China as the most powerful force anywhere in the world. They call it hegemony.
As with past evils, the United States is the only force able to thwart this megalomaniacal goal. You know, by the way, I wrote that into the speech myself, just so I would learn it, just so I would be able to say that word, megalomaniacal.
They know that people in the United States are acting as if we don't know and we don't care about this great threat that we face. We need to acknowledge the basic nature of the threat that we are confronting, and that is what this hearing is about.
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Let us remember China's middle-kingdom role serves as a unifying foundation and a powerful motivation behind Chinese foreign and domestic policy. And yet, if you are an American policymaker or an academic, and you refer to this extraordinary fact, you will be ridiculed by mainstream policymakers, academics, corporate leaders, and media representatives.
Well, it is time to cut the obfuscation, and to face facts concerning this, the greatest long-term threat to the United States, and to the stability of the world.
And with that, I would pass on to the Ranking Member, Mr. Delahunt, for any remarks he would like to make to open this hearing.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Rohrabacher follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DANA ROHRABACHER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
I would like to begin this hearing by honoring the late Constantine Menges for his deep love of freedom and his long dedicated history of fighting dictatorships and totalitarian regimes around the globe.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of our expert witnesses here today and I especially want to thank Ms. Nancy Menges for testifying today on behalf of Constantine to share with us the key points and recommendations contained in Constantine's last book, China: The Gathering Threat, researched and written prior to his death. The book was published after his death and you might say it was his final warning . . . and, as was Constantine's way, his final suggestions on how to alter course and save human freedom.
Page 10 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Americans have heard the facts about China's ominous military buildup, its brutal repression of Christians, Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners, its theft of some of our most power military technology, its flaunting violation of intellectual property rights, and its working relationship with the world's most deadly and dangerous rouge states such as North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Burma. Americans know about China's spread of nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan and North Korea, its threats against democratic Japan, and Taiwan and its destabilizing territorial claims against fellow democracies such as India and the Philippines. But the American people and my colleagues have heard little about why, how and in what context all these unchallenged displays of arrogance and power are taking place.
I believe that by the end of the hearing it will be evident that the Chinese government's aim is no less than establishing China as a powerful force anywhere in the world. They call it hegemony. As with past evils, the United States is the only force able to thwart their megalomaniacal goals. They know that. We act like we don't know or don't care. We need to acknowledge the basic nature of the threat we are confronting.
China's ''Middle Kingdom'' role serves as the unifying, foundation and powerful motivation behind Chinese foreign and domestic policy. And yet if you are an American policy maker or academic and you refer to this extraordinary fact you will be ridiculed by main stream policy makers, academics, corporate leaders and media representatives.
It's time to cut the obfuscation and face the facts concerning the greatest long term threat the United States and to the stability of the world.
Page 11 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Mr. DELAHUNT. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I am sure this will be a fascinating hearing. I have read some of the testimony, and have noted that the witnesses seem to echo similar themes. And maybe in future hearings there could be a more disparate variety of views represented.
But I am looking forward to hearing from these particular witnesses. There is no doubt that the subject of China always provokes a passionate interest.
But, Mr. Chairman, I can't help but believe that this subject matter is more properly before the Subcommittee with the relevant jurisdiction, the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. This is the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. And we have very limited time and resources, with the responsibility of overseeing American foreign policy as executed by this Administration. And I would submit that we are not meeting that particular mandate.
We have held numerous hearings on the United Nations. We have sent staff all over the world to investigate misdeeds by UN officials and others. We have gone to New York; we have had multiple meetings with United Nations officials. And we are just one of many Subcommittees that have focused on this particular issue.
But when it comes to the Bush Administration and its conduct of American foreign policy, they seem to get a pass. I have sent numerous written requests to you and to Chairman Hyde on a variety of subjects, but have yet to receive a response.
I happen to have a particular concern about the mismanagement of United States taxpayer dollars in the reconstruction of Iraq. The reports we get from a variety of sources indicate a level of fraud, mismanagement, and incompetence that is simply mind-boggling. Let me just recite a few examples that I gleaned from the newspaper and other media sources just this past week.
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Sixty Minutes did a piece on this past Sunday about billions of dollars that have gone missing in Iraq. Billions. It detailed how a U.S. company with political connections got $100 million in contracts for doing little or no work.
For example, they were supposed to provide security services for the Baghdad Airport. But an e-mail from the airport's security director said, and now I am quoting from that e-mail, ''Custer Battles,'' that is the name of the American Company, ''have shown themselves to be unresponsive, uncooperative, incompetent, deceitful, manipulative, and war profiteers. Other than that, they are swell fellows.'' That is the end of the e-mail.
Then this from the New York Times. The headline is ''Wide Plot Seen in Guilty Plea in Iraq Project.'' Note, this is another American corporation. And again, I am quoting. ''Despite a prior conviction on felony fraud that his Pentagon background check apparently missed''good job, Pentagon''Mr. Stein was hired and put in charge of at least $82 million of reconstruction money by the Coalition Provisional Authority,'' which we know to be the American-led administration that was then running Iraq.
Here is another one, folks. This story is entitled ''Audit Describes Misuse of Funds in Iraq Projects.'' Again I am quoting:
''A new audit of American financial practices in Iraq has uncovered irregularities including millions of reconstruction dollars stuffed casually into footlockers and filing cabinets, an American soldier in the Philippines who gambled away cash belonging to Iraq, and three Iraqis who plunged to their death in a rebuilt hospital elevator that had been improperly certified as safe.
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''The audit released yesterday by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction expands on its previous findings of fraud, incompetence, and confusion as the American occupation poured money into training and rebuilding programs.''
That is American taxpayer dollars, my friends.
''Agents from the Inspector General's Office found that the living and working quarters of American occupation officials were awash in shrink-wrapped stacks of hundred-dollar bills, colloquially known as bricks.''
It is my understanding that a brick was worth $100,000.
Then one more. This is from a story entitled ''Iraq Utilities Are Falling Short of Pre-War Performance'':
''Virtually every measure of the performance of Iraq's oil, electricity, water, and sewage sectors have fallen below pre-invasion values, even though $16 billion of American taxpayer money has already been disbursed in the Iraq Reconstruction Program. Those that had slumped below those values were electrical generation capacity, hours of power available in a day in Baghdad, oil and heating oil production, and the number of Iraqis with drinkable water and sewage service.''
Billions of United States and Iraqi taxpayer dollars are being wasted and stolen in Iraq.
Page 14 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Incompetence and corruption are undermining our efforts there. And I don't care whether you supported the resolution to go into Iraq or not; this is separate and distinct from that particular issue. The damage it is doing to our international reputation is upsetting. And here we are holding a hearingthis Subcommittee is holding a hearingon Chinese infiltration of the United States.
With all due respect to my dear friend, the Chairman, I would suggest this is fiddling, if you will, while Rome burns. And I am not suggesting that the issue of China and our relationship with China should not be fully reviewed, but not by us. Not while these issues are dominating the news, and the American people are wondering what we are doing here in the United States Congress to serve as a check and a balance on the Executive.
It saddens me. It embarrasses me, Mr. Chairman, because we should put aside partisan politics, and exercise our responsibility as institutionalists. Otherwise the credibility of the Committee and the House will erode in the eyes of the American people.
With that, I yield back. And I look forward to hearing from this most distinguished panel.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, thank you for your opening statement. The Chair feels compelled just to add a few thoughts.
First of all, we will be hearing testimony shortly on our rebuilding effort in Afghanistan. And hopefully that will provide us a means to look at some of the issues that you have been bringing up about Iraq. That is the number one thing. And I appreciate the Ranking Member's diligence and energy and insistence that we at least look at these very poignant issues. And how we are faring in terms of corruption in the middle of a conflict as is going on in Iraq is certainly important.
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I believe that by the end of this session, we will have had several hearings on that. We are starting with Afghanistan, and we have done some major research on that issue.
Just to put things in perspective, I have found myself in chaotic situations during my life. And my father served in the Second World War and Korea, and a little bit in Vietnam. And it is my reading of history that during every conflict, there is a certain degree of corruption that goes with bloodshed and chaos. And whether or not what is going on in Iraq today goes beyond the threshold on which we would say is normally expected with such conflicts, you are right, that is something we should look at.
I would have to say that, however, there are people who playand I am not suggesting that the Ranking Member is doing this, but one of the reasons there is caution to jump into these type of investigations is that there has been political game-playing going on with this issue. And democracy and politics tend to go together, and there is no doubt about it.
And so there has been some hesitation to perhaps look at some things that could be used, not as a means of strengthening America's position, but instead as a means of trying to undermine the war effort that is going on there.
But I certainly agree with the fundamental idea that we need to make sure that we confront our defects as a society, and correct them, if we are going to be strong in the future.
Page 16 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC And so with that said, some of the points you made hit home. And this Chairman will be moving forward with a hearing on Afghanistan that at least goes in the right direction from what your remarks were suggesting.
And finally, I think we need to proceed with this hearing. And I would have to say that the reason we are having a hearing into this issue is that I happen to believe the greatest potential threat to the stability of the world, and our greatest potential enemy, is the dictatorship that now controls the mainland of China.
And I don't believe that there are forces at play in our societywhether people in the government or people in the private sector, people who have their fortunes or their reputations or their careers tied to the status quo. And we are not doing those things which will lessen that threat. And I think what we have to discuss about China is vitally important to the future of our country and the future of the free world, and the future of peace on this planet.
So with that said, Mr. Steven Mosher is the President of Population Research Institute, an anthropologist and a Sinologist, as we say, by training. Mosher was the first American social scientist to conduct extended field research in China. And he served as a Commissioner on the Commission on Broadcasting to the PRC from 1991 to 1992. And from 1968 to 1976, he served in the United States Navy.
Before you begin your statement, Mr. Mosher, and if you could, we would appreciate all of the witnesses trying to condense their statements to about 5 minutes. Then we will have a dialogue. But during that time period from 1968 to 1976, did you serve in Vietnam at all? Were you in Vietnam at all while you were in the Navy?
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Mr. MOSHER. No, I was with the Seventh Fleet. We were stationed in Japan.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. All right. Well, if you would proceed. And then we will follow with Mrs. Menges and Mr. Brown.
STATEMENT OF MR. STEVEN MOSHER, PRESIDENT, POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Mr. MOSHER. Mr. Chairman, I congratulate you on holding this critically important hearing on what I think is an issue whose importance is second to none for the long-term security of the United States.
We have had senior officials in recent months repeatedly raising questions about the long-term strategic intentions of the People's Republic of China. Everyone from the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and of course you, yourself, have asked what China is doing.
No country that is not facing a serious military threat maintains a 3.2 million-man military, increases its military budget at a double-digit clip well in excess of GNP (Gross National Product), and vigorously upgrades its military technology and hardware, unless it intends to use force or the threat of force to accomplish certain domestic and international ends.
I believe the PRC's military buildup is being undertaken with two overlapping strategic goals in mind. I do not anticipate anyone will question the first, which is to say the recapture, either by the direct application of force or by intimidation, of the Island of Taiwan.
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But the second, larger goal that takes China beyond Taiwan affects, I believe, the whole world. The PRC itself says that it wants to emerge as a true great power during the 21st century, and to take its place as a player in a multi-polar world.
We need to reflect on what that means, a multi-polar world. This is frequently found in the Chinese strategic literature, and it, itself, implies an end to United States primacy. It implies a major restructuring of the world order.
Now, I have gathered together evidence from various sources as to what I think are China's long-term strategic intentions. And I realize that time is short, and growing shorter as I speak. I will just touch on the high points.
We have new evidence that Chairman Mao Zedong, the long-time Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, did indeed have a grand strategy. Once in power, Chairman Mao, in the early fifties, launched a program to industrialize and secretly to militarize China. Spending on military and arms industries took up three-fifths of the budget; that is 60 percent of the PRC's budget. That was a ratio that even his chief arms supplier, Josef Stalin, who was not one to stint on military expenditures, criticized as ''very unbalanced.''
Why was he in this head-long rush to build up China's military might? He reportedly said to his inner circle in 1956this is Chairman Mao speaking to his leading officials''We must control the earth.''
In another meeting in 1958 with his leading admirals and generals, he said, ''Now the Pacific Ocean.'' In Chinese typing that means the Ocean of Peace, ''Now the Pacific Ocean is not peaceful. It can only be peaceful when we take it over.''
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Lin Biao, who was Mao's closest ally in the military, then interjected, ''We must build big ships and be prepared to land in Japan, the Philippines, and San Francisco.''
Mao continued, ''How many years before we can build such ships? In 1962, when we have enough tons of steel.''
Later in 1958, he said, calling together his provincial chiefs, ''In the future we will set up an earth control committee, and make a uniform plan for the earth.'' He had made a plan for China, a plan, of course, that failedthe Great Leap Forward, taking with it the lives of tens of millions of Chinese peasants, mostly. But he was going beyond that. He was thinking of setting up an earth control committee.
Now, it is tempting to dismiss such statements as the quixotic ravings of a known megalomaniac. I mean, the very idea of an impoverished and backward China in the 1950s setting up an earth control committee seems ludicrous. And yet, we are talking today about China's intention, and his remarks speak directly to Secretary Rice's and Secretary Rumsfeld's question of intent. Mao dominated China. He intended to dominate the world.
We know that the character of a country's founder deeply influences its future course, even hundreds of years following his death. Mao passed from the scene less than 30 years ago. His portrait still dominates Tiananmen Square; his body lies embalmed there; his picture adorns the currency. His popular cult is thriving.
And more to the point, his political legacy, not to be confused with his economic legacy, but his political legacy has been mostly affirmed. He was, in the definitive judgment of his successor, Deng Xiaoping, 70 percent good, 30 percent bad.
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Is there evidence that his views on China's global role have been adopted by his successors? I believe there is. There is a patriotic education program today in China that runs from kindergarten through college, and it is filled with nationalist fervor, and indeed, xenophobia.
This kindergarten-through-college curriculum has been custom-designed to breed young Chinese super-patriots. This was approved, of course, by Jiang Zemin, and now by Hu Jintao, China's third- and fourth-generation leaders, successively.
Another point. We have the 16-character declaration from Deng Xiaoping in the early 1990s. It is usually translated along the lines of the following: Combine the military and the civil, combine peace and war, give priority to the military, and let the civil support the military.
That translation, I believe, is not entirely accurate. American analysts take this 16-character declaration to be sort of an epigram, to be encapsulated bits of wisdom. And they take them collectively to mean something on the order of ''technological developments in the civilian economy directly support the strength of the military.''
Well, of course that is true. That is true in the United States, it is true in Great Britain, and it is true in China. It is a truism. But it is a projection of our own beliefs and attitudes onto an alien cultural and political landscape. It badly mistakes Deng Xiaoping's meaning.
Page 21 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Deng was not minting epigrams. He was not engaging in Confucius-like wisdom-spouting, mouthing platitudes. He was issuing orders. Read these declarations again as they are read in China, as orders. My translation: Key sectors of the civilian economy must have a military purpose. Use the peace to prepare for war. Military technology and weapons production have economic priority. And finally, civilian production must support, technologically and economically, military production.
Thus translated, it is clear that Deng's 16-character declaration puts the military industrial complex of China in the driver's seat of economic development. And the quest for a military second to none leads straight first to a multi-polar world, and then to Chinese hegemony.
And the final point, I beg your indulgence here. A final point among many is to say that if you look around the world today, you see that China is engaging in many activities that weaken the international system currently dominated by the United States. That is, it isn't simply seeking to integrate itself quietly and respectfully into the existing world order, but it is, in concrete and important ways, undermining that world order.
China's approach to international relations we often hear is described as value-neutral, not influenced by ideology, driven principally by a need for resources, especially oil. It seems to me to be rather too narrow a reading of the situation.
China, at present, has close relationships with virtually every country of concern, whether or not they possess oil or mineral reserves. Countries that have earned international opprobrium for human rights violations, terrorism support, weapons of mass destruction proliferation, and other objectionable activities almost invariably find a friend in China.
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Now, China explains away these relationships as the mere conduct of business. But the ideological ties that bind dictatorial regimes one to another transcend mere dollars and cents.
Beijing shares with pariah and semi-pariah nations a common disdain for universally-accepted human rights, a propensity to use force against its own or neighboring populations, and a willingness to violate international agreements to which it is a signatory.
These activities, by elevating and legitimating the governments of countries of concern, serve to undermine the international system dominated by the United States.
A final point. China's diplomatic initiativewe call it the global diplomatic initiative, because China is now active in many parts of the world where it was formerly quiescentis also worrisome. It is setting up Embassies in places like the West Indies, where it had no diplomatic representation before, and where we ourselves have a single Embassy in Barbados. China now has Embassies in many of those small island nations.
For Beijing practices what might be called moneybags diplomacy, involving the corruption of the democratic process, as officials are bribed into taking a pro-Chinese, anti-Taiwan and anti-American line.
I don't have time to go into the details here. But again, what we see here is not a value-neutral foreign policy, but the glimmering of an alternative world order; one that is made in China, not in the United States.
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Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Mosher follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. STEVEN MOSHER, PRESIDENT, POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Both Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State have recently raised questions about the PRC's strategic intentions. Secretary Rumsfeld, attending an Asian security conference this past summer, put the issue as follows: ''Since no nation threatens China, why this growing investment [in the military]? Why these continuing large weapons purchases?'' More recently, on the occasion of President Bush's trip to China, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remarked that ''one has to be concerned'' about China's modernization of its multi-million man army. ''There's a question of intent,'' she said.(see footnote 1)
Precisely what are the People's Republic of China's intentions? In one sense, this question answers itself, of course. No country that is not facing a serious military threat maintains a 3.2 million man military,(see footnote 2) increases its military budget at a double-digit clip well in excess of growth in GNP, and vigorously upgrades its military technology and hardwareunless it intends to use force, or the threat of force, to accomplish certain domestic and international ends.
But what ends? The PRC's military build-up, in my view, is being undertaken with two overlapping strategic goals in mind. The first is regional, limited, and narrowly conceived. The secondpartially obscured by the firstis global, unlimited, and broadly conceived.
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The immediate goal of the PRC's military build-up is the conquest of Taiwan, either through the direct application of force or by intimidating the island into preemptive surrender. The ranks of those who deny that the PRC would actually use force against Taiwan have been further thinned in the wake of the March 2005 passage of the Anti-Secession Law by China's rubberstamp parliament, the National People's Congress. This ''law,'' which is better understood as a formal statement of Chinese Communist Party policy, formally codifies the PRC's determination to exert control over Taiwan and its willingness to use military force to accomplish this end.
It is beyond Taiwan that the waters of the PRC's intentions grow murky. Some deny that Beijing's ambitions extend beyond what it calls that ''renegade province'' and, perhaps, the South China Sea. Certainly the Chinese strategic literature contains nothing resembling a grand strategy, a lacuna that leads some analysts to deny that China has larger ambitions at all. In their view, all the PRC wants is to be ''a player'' in a multipolar world.
I strongly disagree with this view. I am of the opinion, formed over 25 years of studying the PRC, that the CCP leadership has always had a grand strategy. Moreover, it is clear to me that they continue to have a grand strategy today. It is a strategy of intimidation, of expansion, of assertiveness, and of domination on a global scale. It is a strategy to overtake, surpass, and ultimately eclipse the reigning superpower, the United States of America. It is a strategy, in short, of Hegemony.
The PRC is bent on becoming the Hegemon, the Ba in Chinese, defined by longstanding Chinese usage as a single, all-dominant power. A Hegemon, it should be understood, is more dominant than a mere superpower, more dominant even than a ''sole superpower,'' the international role that the U.S. currently occupies.(see footnote 3) The PRC accuses the U.S. of ''seeking Hegemony,'' but this should be understood as secret envy and hidden ambition: It is Hegemony that the PRC itself seeks.
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THE GRAND STRATEGY OF CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG
The deliberations of China's senior leaders in camera are carefully guarded secrets. Recently, however, some statements made by the late Chairman Mao have come to light that indicate that the PRC had a strategy of global domination from the earliest days of its existence.(see footnote 4) The Founder of the People's Republic of China, it turns out, specifically and repeatedly enunciated a strategy of Hegemony.
First, led me provide you with a little background. By October 1, 1949, when Chairman Mao announced the founding of the PRC, Mao controlled the heartland of China. But Tibet, Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), Taiwan, and parts of Mongolia and Manchuria remained outside of his grasp. The leader of the Chinese Communist Party believed that China's historical greatness, no less than Communism's universalism, demanded the reconstruction of the Qing empire that had collapsed nearly 40 years before.
Lost territories must be recaptured, straying vassals must be recovered, and one-time tributary states must once again be forced to follow Beijing's lead. Military actionengaging the Japanese invaders, defeating the Nationalists, and capturing the citieshad delivered China into his hands. Now military action would restore the empire. For these reasons Mao intervened in Korea in the early years of his rule, invaded Tibet, bombarded Quemoy, continued to bluster over Taiwan, attacked India over Tibetan border questions, confronted the Soviet Union, and gave massive amounts of military assistance to Vietnam, including the introduction of an estimated 300,000 PLA troops.
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Maps were drawn up showing China's borders extending far to the north, south and west of the area that the PLA actually controlled. Any territory that had been touched by China, however briefly, seems to have been regarded as rightfully Beijing's. Fr. Seamus O'Reilly, a Columban missionary who was one of the last foreign Catholic priests expelled from China in 1953, recalls seeing, in the office of the local Communist officials who interrogated him, a map of the PRC that included all of Southeast Asia-Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, and Singaporewithin China's borders.(see footnote 5)
But such maps were marked for internal distribution only. For Mao, although willing to go to war to restore China's imperium piecemeal, was characteristically coy about his overall imperial aims. Even as his troops were engaged in Korea or Tibet, he continually sought to reassure the world, in the policy equivalent of a Freudian slip, ''We will never seek hegemony.'' Mao may have been open about his dictatorial aims at home, but along his borders he still faced an array of powerful forces. The United States occupied Japan and South Korea, and had bases in the Philippines and Thailand. The British were in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Even his erstwhile ally, the Soviet Union, was occupying large swaths of Chinese territory in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.
Once in power, he launched a program to industrialize and (secretly) to militarize China. Spending of the military and its arms industries took up three-fifths of the budget, a ratio that even his chief arms supplier, Joseph Stalin, not one to stint on military expenditures, criticized as ''very unbalanced.''(see footnote 6) Nuclear-tipped ICBMs were a particular priority.
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Why this headlong and, as history would reveal, economically bootless rush to build up China's military might? The Chairman was pursuing, it would appear, a grand strategy of Chinese Hegemony. As he bluntly put it to his inner circle in 1956, ''We must control the earth.''
The disastrous Great Leap Forwardin which the peasants were dragooned into large, state-controlled communesmust be understood as an outgrowth of Mao's lust for Hegemony. The Chairman wanted steel not just ''to overtake Great Britain in steel production in three years,'' as the standard histories relate, but to build a blue water navy for conquest, expansion, and domination.
''Now the Pacific Ocean [in Chinese, Taiping Yang or ''The Ocean of Peace,''] is not peaceful,'' Mao told his leading generals and admirals on June 28, 1958. ''It can only be peaceful when we take it over.'' Lin Biao, Mao's closest ally in the military, then interjected: ''We must build big ships, and be prepared to land in [i.e., invade] Japan, the Philippines, and San Francisco.'' [Italics added]. Mao continued: ''How many years before we can build such ships? In 1962, when we have XXXX tons of steel [figures concealed in original] . . .''(see footnote 7)
Calling together his provincial chiefs later in 1958, Mao was even more expansive: ''In the future we will set up the Earth Control Committee, and make a uniform plan for the Earth.''
Page 28 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC It is tempting to dismiss such comments as the quixotic ravings of a known megalomaniac. Indeed, the very idea of the isolated and impoverished China of the 1950s, with its miniscule industrial base, setting up an ''earth control committee'' seems ludicrous. Yet even though Chairman Mao's prospects of realizing his ''grand strategy'' were nil, his words are of more than historical interest. They speak directly and unequivocally to Condi Rice's question of intent. ''Mao dominated China,'' aptly summarize Chang and Halliday, whose access to Chinese Communist Party archives produced the above quotes. ''He intended to dominate the world.''
As we know from our own history, the character of a country's founder deeply influences its future course, even hundreds of years following his death. Mao passed from the scene less than 30 years ago. His portrait still dominates Tiananmen Square, and his body lies embalmed there. More to the point, his political legacy has been mostly affirmed. He was, in the definitive judgment of his successor, Deng Xiaoping, ''70 percent good, 30 percent bad.''
The question before us is this: Is Mao's grand strategy of Hegemony part of the ''30 percent bad'' that that has been discarded by the post-Mao leadership? Or is it included in the ''70 percent good''the part of Mao's legacy that has been embraced by Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and now Hu Jintao?
On balance, the evidence suggests that Mao's grand strategy of Hegemony has been vigorously embraced by his successors. At the same time, they have become enormously more sophisticated in acquiring the industrial, technological, and military means to realize such a strategy. Fifty years later, the thought of an ''Earth Control Committee''based in Beijing and controlled by the CCPdoes not amuse.
Page 29 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOCFROM MAO ZEDONG TO HU JINTAO: THE PATRIOTIC EDUCATION PROGRAM
Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong had a strong sense of historical grievance against the West in generaland the U.S. in particular. This accentuated his desire to recover what he saw as China's rightful place in the worldat its center. This is, after all, what the very name of the country means in Chinese: Zhongguo, or the Kingdom at the Center of the Earth. China's current leaders share these sinocentric and xenophobic views which form the conceptual basis for, and justification of, their drive for Hegemony.
When, on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People's Republic of China, his words suggested not merely wounded national pride but a thirst for revenge:
The Chinese have always been a great, courageous and industrious nation; it is only in modern times that they have fallen behind. And that was due entirely to oppression and exploitation by foreign imperialism and domestic reactionary governments. . . . Ours will no longer be a nation subject to insult and humiliation. We have stood up.
In the view of Chairman Mao, a cabal of Western and Western-oriented countriesRussia, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Americahad treacherously combined to attack the old Chinese empire, loosening China's grip on hundreds of thousands of square miles of territory and a dozen tributary states in the process.
Mao reserved special rancor for the United States, fulminating in a bitterly sarcastic speech called '''Friendship' or Aggression'' in late 1949:
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The history of the aggression against China by U.S. imperialism, from 1840 when it helped the British in the Opium War to the time it was thrown out of China by the Chinese people, should be written into a concise textbook for the education of Chinese youth. The United States was one of the first countries to force China to cede extraterritoriality. . . . All the 'friendship' shown to China by U.S. imperialism over the past 109 years, and especially the great act of 'friendship' in helping Chiang Kai-shek slaughter several million Chinese the last few yearsall this had one purpose [according to the Americans] . . . first, to maintain the Open Door, second, to respect the administrative and territorial integrity of China and, third, to oppose any foreign domination of China. Today, the only doors still open to [U.S. Secretary of State] Acheson and his like are in small strips of land, such as Canton and Taiwan.(see footnote 8)
Jumping ahead to the post-Mao period, when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Americans reacted with euphoria and expected China (remember the ''China card'') to do the same. But the steely-eyed heirs of a two-thousand-year tradition of hegemony had a far less happy view of the new world situation. To the dismay and consternation of many in Washington, Deng Xiaoping not only dissolved his country's de facto alliance with the United States, he went even further, declaring in September 1991 that ''a new cold war'' between China and the sole remaining superpower would now ensue.(see footnote 9)
The pivotal moment in U.S.-China relations had actually occurred two years before, when millions of people took to the streets of China's cities to demand an end to corruption and bureaucracy. Many of the young people were even bolder, calling openly for democracy. The CCP put down this ''counterrevolutionary incident'' with deadly forceand belatedly realized that the battle for the hearts and minds of Chinese youth was close to being lost.
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The Chinese Communist Party has always portrayed itself as the paramount patriotic force in the nation, but following the Tiananmen debacle it desperately sought to shore up its crumbling mythology by all the institutional means under its control. The educational system was mobilized to teach students about China's ''history of shame''; state-run factories required their workers to sit through patriotic indoctrination sessions; and the state-controlled media as well as the schools promoted Chinese exceptionalism through what is called ''state-of-the-nation education'' or guoqing jiaoyu. The message conveyed was that only the Chinese Communist Party could provide the strong central government required by China's unique guoqing and current national priorities, along with continued economic growth and the means to recover Chinese preponderance in Asia and accomplish the ''rectification of historical accounts'' (i.e., revenge on the imperialist powers).(see footnote 10)
These efforts achieved a bureaucratic apogee in September 1994 with the publication of a sweeping Party directive, ''Policy Outline for Implementing Patriotic Education.''(see footnote 11) Within the schools, the Party ordered that ''Patriotic education shall run through the whole education process from kindergarten to university . . . and must penetrate classroom teaching of all related subjects.'' While PRC history textbooks have always stoked nationalist fervor and xenophobia, these same attitudes were now to be inserted into everything from beginning readers to junior high school social science textbooks to high school political education classes. The resulting kindergarten-through-college curriculum has been custom-designed to breed young superpatriots.
The Patriotic Education policy is less about accurately depicting past events than about propagating a metanarrative designed to stir up the blood of young Chinese. Complex historical events are twisted to fit a simple morality tale of good Chinese Communist patriots versus evil foreign imperialists. The tale goes like this:
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The Chinese are a great race which for millennia has rightly dominated its known world. The Middle Kingdom's centuries of national grandeur were ended by foreign imperialists, at whose hands the Chinese people suffered a hundred years of humiliation. They shamed us, tearing off and devouring living parts of the Chinese race and nation, even threatening the whole with disunity. But China has now stood up and is fighting back, determined to recover her lost grandeur no less than her lost territories. We must be wary of things foreign, absorbing only those that make us stronger and rejecting those, like Christianity and Western liberalism, that make us weaker. The first duty of the Chinese state is therefore to nationalize the masses and resist these foreign ideas. Only the Chinese Communist Party has the will and determination to lead the struggle. The new China must gather within its fold all the scattered Chinese elements in Asia. A people that has suffered a century and a half of Western humiliation can be rescued by reviving its self-confidence. To restore the Chinese nation, the PLA must become modernized and invincible. The world is now moving toward a new millennium, and the Chinese state must see to it that the Chinese race is ready to assume its proper place in the worldat its center.(see footnote 12)
Note that the Patriotic Education Program, which comes straight out of the collected writings of Chairman Mao Zedong, was approved by the current leadership. This suggests that Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are, like Mao, are consumed by atavistic fantasies of Great Han Hegemony and see the U.S. as the chief obstacle to the restoration of China's lost glories.
In unguarded moments, members of the CCP elite have admitted as much. General Chi Haotian, the former vice chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission, is among those who have spoken openly about the need to overtake and dethrone the United States. ''Viewed from the changes in the world situation and the hegemonic strategy of the United States to create monopolarity,'' General Chi said in December 1999, ''. . . war [between China and the U.S.] is inevitable.''(see footnote 13)
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''WE WILL NEVER SEEK HEGEMONY''
The Great Wall of secrecy that surrounds Chinese security affairs suggests that the CCP sees that its interests and America's are in deep and fundamentally irreconcilable conflict. If this were not the case, it would presumably be in Beijing's interest to adopt a policy of transparency with regard to security affairs to reassure its largest trading partner.
From time to time Beijing does issue blanket denials that it is seeking Hegemony. Indeed, the phrase ''We will never seek Hegemony'' has become a commonplace of Chinese diplomatic discourse. Such denials should, if anything, heighten U.S. concerns as to China's real intentions. Chairman Mao, whose frenetic preparations to achieve Hegemony we have already discussed, frequently issued similar denials. In my view, such denials wereand areintended to mask China's hegemonic ambitions. After all, disinformation has been a part of Chinese statecraft for millennia. ''When seeking power,'' Chinese strategist Sun-tzu advised, ''make it appear that you are not doing so.''
Beyond such blanket denials, secrecy reigns. The Pentagon's 2005 report to Congress on the military power of the PRC complains that ''secrecy envelops most aspects of Chinese security affairs. The outside world has little knowledge of Chinese motivations and decision-making and of key capabilities supporting PLA modernization.''(see footnote 14)
This almost complete lack of transparency in military affairs concerning basic information on the quantity and quality of the Chinese armed forces cannot help but raise questions about China's ultimate intentions. Even such basic facts as the overall size of China's military budget remains a mystery. As the Department of Defense admits, we ''still do not know the full size and composition of Chinese government expenditures on national defense. Estimates put it at two to three times the officially published figures.''(see footnote 15)
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Some might argue that this secrecy is merely an unintentional outcome of the conspiratorial character of the Chinese Communist Party, a character that it shares with all Communist parties. In fact, secrecy in security matters is the official and stated policy of the CCP leadership. In his ''24-character Admonition,'' Deng Xiaoping instructs his successors to ''bide their time, and hide their capabilities.''
Such admonitions only make sense if the CCP leadership is engaged in a long-term struggle with the United States for world hegemony. Lieutenant General Mi Zhenyu, formerly vice-commandant of the Academy of Military Sciences, was speaking for the leadership of his country when he recently remarked, ''[As for the United States,] for a relatively long time it will be absolutely necessary that we quietly nurse our sense of vengeance. . . . We must conceal our abilities and bide our time.''(see footnote 16)
Like Mao and Deng before him, Jiang remains wary of the ''imperialist-dominated'' world, and believes that armed conflictsooner or lateris inevitable. ''We must prepare well for a military struggle'' against the ''neo-imperialists,'' Jiang said in 1997.(see footnote 17) The plots of the ''neo-imperialists'' to ''split up'' and ''westernize'' China, he continued, can only be stopped by a modern and robust PLA.
I suppose that some may say that this secrecy does not mask imperial ambitions, but is merely a reflection of the nature of China's system of government. There is, as I remarked above, a natural tendency towards secretiveness on the part of one-party dictatorships. But this is hardly reassuring as to China's intentions given that it is China's system of government itselfa Leninist one-party dictatorshipthat is the root of the problem.
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THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY, LIKE ALL COMMUNIST PARTIES, IS A WAR PARTY.
Chairman Mao famously remarked that ''Political power comes from the barrel of a gun.'' This generalization was certainly true in the case of the Chinese Communist Party, which came to power via a bloody civil war, remained in power by continually purging real and potential enemies, and has frequently used force against neighboring countries.
CCP rule has been characterized by high levels of state-sanctioned violence, even domestic terror campaigns, from the beginning. In recent years we have the examples of the violent response to the peaceful Tiananmen demonstrations, the ongoing violence against women in the one-child policy, and the continuing purge of the Falungong, a nonviolent Buddhist sect whose members are still being arrested, tortured, and sometimes killed today on the orders of first Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.
Internationally, China has bloody borders. Because of the PRC's peace-loving rhetoric, that country has largely avoided the reputation for bellicosity that its history of aggression against peoples on China's periphery deserves. During the 25 years that Mao ruled China, his armies intervened in Korea, assaulted and absorbed Tibet, supported guerilla movements throughout Southeast Asia, attacked India, fomented an insurrection in Indonesia, provoked border clashes with the Soviet Union, and instigated repeated crises vis-a-vis Taiwan. When an opportunity arose to send out China's legions, Mao generally did not hesitateespecially if the crises involved a former tributary state, which is to say almost all of the countries with which China has a common border. Under Mao, the would-be Hegemon, China had bloody borders.(see footnote 18)
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In the decades since Mao, China has invaded Vietnam, attacked Philippine and Vietnamese naval units in the South China Sea, splashed down missiles adjacent to Taiwan, and continues its aggressive intrusions into Japanese territorial waters. The CCP today continues to exist in a state of partial mobilization, and has made it clear that it is prepared to use force to resolve both domestic crisis and external challenges.
''COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL POWER'' AS THE BASIS FOR HEGEMONY
Chinese strategists speak in terms of maximizing their country's ''Comprehensive National Power.'' This is a deliberate, rational effort to build up China's industrial base as the basis for future military production. Military production is not to be an accidental byproduct of other productive capacities, as it was, for example, in the U.S. during World War II, and is still to some extent today. Rather, it is a deliberate aim of the government's continuing Five Year Plans. The sobering implications of this fact need to be thought through.
First, a little history. Mao was in a hurry to industrialize, build a first-class war machine, and become the Hegemon. Yet, virtually the only thing he had to sell to the Soviet Union in exchange for arms was food. Setting up large, centrally controlled people's communes allowed him to more efficiently extract food and work out of the peasantry. Loudspeakers were set up to urge the peasants to work longer and harder, and women were forced into the fields to work alongside the men for the first time. Most of the grain they produced was turned over by the Communist cadres in charge to local ''state collection stations.'' For there it was shipped to the citiesand to the Soviet Union.
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As the Great Leap Forward picked up speed, senior officials kept increasing the quotas of grain to be delivered to the state collection stations. In response, commune-level cadres worked the peasants longer and longer hours on shorter and shorter rations. Mao, who saw people only as means to his ends, was unmoved by reports that millions of peasants were starving to death. Instead, this ruthless megalomaniac calmly declared that, to further his global ambitions, ''half of China may well have to die.''
The people's communes were arguably the greatest instrument of state exploitation ever devised. They proved so efficient at squeezing the peasantry that tens of millions of villagers starved to death from 196062 as a result. Mao's efforts to build up his arsenal cost an estimated 42.5 million lives.
This costly mistake has been rectified by Deng Xiaoping and subsequent leaders, who have ordered that civilian production keep pace with, and support, military production. This is not an abandonment of Hegemony, but merely a more rational approach to achieving it, and one that is in line with time-honored Chinese geopolitical goal of a ''rich country and a strong military.'' In short, China's current leaders have disavowed Mao's means as obviously faulty, but not his ends.
One may accurately regard China's National High Technology Research and Development Program, or 863 Policy for short, as a more sophisticated outgrowth of Mao's crude efforts to build military strength. Deng Xiaoping's ''Sixteen character declaration'' makes the same pointthat the primary purpose of economic development is to build a strong military:
Page 38 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC ''Combine the Military and the Civil''
''Combine Peace and War''
''Give Priority to the Military''
''Let the Civil Support the Military.''
American analysts, understanding these four sets of four characters each as epigramsencapsulated bits of wisdomusually take them together to mean something on the order of ''technological developments in the civilian economy directly support the strength of the military.''(see footnote 19) The above statement is trueindeed, it is a truismbut it is a projection of our own beliefs and attitudes onto a different cultural and political landscape. For this reason, it badly mistakes Deng Xiaoping's meaning.
For Deng was not minting epigrams, he was issuing orders. Read them again as they are read in Chinaas orders:
Key sectors of the civilian economy must have a military purpose
Use the peace to prepare for war.
Military technology and weapons production has economic priority
Civilian production must support, technologically and financially, military production.
The ruthless mercantilism practiced by the CCP is thus a form of economic warfare. China's rulers seek to move as much of the world's manufacturing base to their country as possible, thus increasing the PRC's ''comprehensive national strength'' at the same time that it undermines U.S. national security by hollowing out America's industrial base in general and key defense-related sectors of the economy in particular. China will not lightly abandon this policy, which strengthens China as it weakens the U.S., and is an integral part of China's drive for Hegemony.
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CHINA IS ACQUIRING THE MEANS TO PROJECT FORCE FAR BEYOND TAIWAN.
Many of China's military modernization effortssupersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, stealthy submarines, theater based missiles with terminal guidance systemsare aimed specifically at U.S. forces and bases. By is acquiring weapons designed to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities, the PRC is clearly preparing for a contest with the United States.
Beijing is interested in deterring, delaying, or complicating U.S. assistance to Taiwan in the event of an invasion, so as to force a quick capitulation by the democratically elected Taiwan government. But while the near-term focus is Taiwan, many of China's new lethal capabilities are applicable to a wide range of potential operations beyond the Taiwan Strait. As the 2005 Report to Congress of the USCC report notes, ''China is in the midst of an extensive force modernization program aimed at increasing its force projection capabilities and confronting U.S. and allied forces in the region.''(see footnote 20)
The rapid growth in China's military power not only threatens Taiwanand by implication the U.S.but U.S. allies throughout the Asian Pacific region. China possesses regional, even global ambitions, and is building a first-rate military to realize those ambitions. It is naive to view the PRC's military build-up as ''merely'' part of the preparations for an invasion of Taiwan in which American military assets in the Asian-Pacific will have to be neutralized.
China's construction of naval bases in the Indian Ocean, and its aggressive pursuit of territorial claims in the East and South China Seas point to its wider ambitions.
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Finally, even a cursory reading of China's 2004 Defense White Paper suggests that it views U.S. power and military presence throughout the world with a jaundiced eye, and that it seeks to become, over the mid-term, the dominant power in Asia. This goal necessarily brings it into potential conflict with the U.S. and its allies, chiefly Japan.
CHINA IS PURSUING TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OTHER THAN TAIWAN.
Additional evidence that China's territorial ambitions go well beyond Taiwan comes from its aggressive pursuit of territorial claims in the East China and South China seas.(see footnote 21)
Since the early 1970s, Beijing has claimed the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands (or Tiaoyutai in Chinese) and the continental shelf that extends into Japanese territorial waters. China's increasingly aggressive intrusions into Japanese airspace and Japanese territorial waters has raise d eyebrows in Tokyo and Washington. In November 2004, for example, the Japanese navy chased a Han-class nuclear submarine away from the waters off Okinawa.
China also orchestrated the removal of U.S. logistics forces from the Central Asian republics, demonstrating that its commitment to fighting terrorism was less important that its desire to reduce U.S. influence and presence in the region.
CHINA'S ACTIVITIES WEAKEN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM DOMINATED BY THE U.S.
Page 41 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC The PRC's approach to international relations is sometimes described as ''value-neutral,'' ''not influenced by ideology,'' and driven principally by a need for resources, especially oil. This seems to me to be a rather too narrow a reading of the situation.
The PRC has close relationships with virtually every ''country of concern,'' whether or not they possess oil or mineral reserves. Many countries, ''orphaned'' internationally because of their human rights violations, terrorism support, WMD proliferation, and other objectionable activities have been ''adopted'' by China. Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Iran, Myanmar, and Sudan, among other countries, receive support from China in international forums, generous aid packages, and arms.
While these relationships are driven by China's need for resources and are construed to advance its own interests, it is naiAE4ve to ignore the deeper commonalities that bind one dictatorial system to another. The CCP elite has much in common with the leadership of such countries, since it, too, engages in human rights violations, WMD proliferation, and other objectionable activities.
The PRC, by elevating and legitimating the governments of ''countries of concern,'' undermines the international system dominated by the U.S. As the loss of the U.S. seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission demonstrates, China is effectively forming a system of competing alliances that will enable it to co-opt, undermine, or ignore the existing world order. What we see here is not a ''value-neutral'' foreign policy, as some aver, but the outlines of an alternative world order, one Made in China, not in the U.S.
HEGEMONY AND MAO'S HEIRS
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Unlike the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler or the Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin, the People's Republic of China of Mao Zedong survives to the present day, its ruling party intact, its system of government largely unchanged. The myths and lies that continue to prop up Mao's image also serve to bolster the political legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party itself. The current Communist leadership proudly declares itself to be Mao's heirs, maintains his Leninist dictatorship, continues his military build-up and, the evidence would seem to indicate, cherishes his grand ambitions.
All this suggests a PRC that has, in combination, the historical grievances of a Weimar Republic, the paranoid nationalism of a revolutionary Islamic state, and the Hegemonic ambitions of a Soviet Union at the height of its power. As China grows more powerful and attempts to rectify those grievances and act out those Hegemonic ambitions, it will cast an ever-lengthening shadow over Asia and the world.
1. There is an urgent need to increase U.S. military capabilities in the Western Pacific to counter the Chinese military buildup there.
2. Congress should reaffirm that Taiwan's future should be decided by the people on Taiwan.
3. Congress should commission a study of how the projected 12 percent per year growth in China's military budget will enable it to increase its military capabilities in the years to come.
Page 43 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC4. Congress should encourage the creation of a program of military-to-military exchanges with Taiwan's military to facilitate contingency planning.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much for your testimony. And we will have some further discussion after the other panel members have their testimony.
Next is Mrs. Nancy Menges, wife of the late Dr. Constantine Menges, who authored the book, China: The Gathering Threat, before passing away in July 2004.
Mrs. Menges has fought very hard to ensure the book was published following her husband's death. And since its publication, Mrs. Menges has been active in bringing the ideas of the proposals contained in that book to the attention of the public and policymakers, including yours truly.
And so we welcome her today. We thank her very much for her dedication. And she was not just a wife, but a partner of Constantine Menges and the wonderful things that he did for the cause of human freedom. And we are very happy to have her testifying today.
You may proceed.
STATEMENT OF MRS. NANCY MENGES, WIDOW OF DR. CONSTANTINE MENGES, AUTHOR OF ''CHINA: THE GATHERING THREAT''
Mrs. MENGES. Thank you, Chairman Rohrabacher and Members of the Subcommittee. It is an honor and a privilege to be here today to discuss with you my late husband's book on China.
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My husband, Constantine Menges, wrote China: The Gathering Threat prior to his death in July 2004. I know that some of you here today knew Constantine, worked with him on international issues, and shared many of the same concerns. For those of you who did not know Constantine, I would like to say a few words.
Constantine was a man of extraordinary intellect who possessed a deep knowledge of many regions of the world. He used these attributes to analyze and assess the nature of regimes and their potential to threaten the national security of the United States.
For example, he did everything he could to prevent the fall of the Shah in Iran, as well as the coming to power of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Constantine believed that China is our next biggest national security challenge, and that China alone is the one country that could threaten our way of life, our standard of living, and our freedom. He was hopeful that his book would provide the basis for our Government to develop more realistic policies toward China, as well as an overall strategy.
Since no one could speak more eloquently about his ideas than the author himself, the following testimony is taken directly from the text of his book. And I am going to shorten my testimony just a little bit, because I know I don't have unlimited time.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. I seem to remember that Constantine went on sometimes, so[Laughter.]
Page 45 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Mrs. MENGES. Yes, I do recall.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Okay. If you can get to the most important points, thank you.
Mrs. MENGES. I will try. As described in Chapter 18 of the book, China has a very definite strategy which it is now pursuing.
Their strategy is to become dominant first in Asia, and eventually in the entire world. The Communist regime in China believes that it must either dominate the world, or be dominated by the United States and its allies.
There are four reasons why the Chinese leadership believes it must follow this path. First and foremost is to preserve the power of the Communist Party. The mere existence of a democratic, prosperous, and powerful United States is seen as an intrinsic threat to the existence of the Communist regime. The same is true of democratic Taiwan and Japan, which show clearly that the peoples of Asia can establish democratic self-government.
A major reason that the Chinese Communist regime wants to take control over Taiwan is to end the idea that there can be another democratic alternative for the people of China.
The second reason China is seeking dominance is their concern regarding the military power of the United States, which they see as limiting their ability to take control of Taiwan and obtain its territorial aims in Asia. In addition, Chinese military writings indicate a deep concern about the potential military capacity of Japan, which their analysts believe could produce and deploy 1- or 2,000 nuclear warheads in a matter of months.
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The third reason why China seeks dominance is to ensure its continued economic modernization and growth. The Chinese Government wants to make sure that it will not be denied access to economic, technological, and mineral resources necessary for its future success.
China has proclaimed ever more clearly and frequently since the mid-1990s that it seeks a new international political and economic world order. What this means exactly is unclear, but is in keeping with the centuries-long tradition of China as the center of a world in which all other states either pay tribute and accept the dominance of the Chinese regime, or are viewed as hostile.
There is a bipartisan consensus among many that the goal of United States policy in China should be to maintain normal relations with this important country, while encouraging its peaceful evolution into a political democracy that will respect the human rights of its citizens, and be peaceful internationally.
There has also been a bipartisan assumption that continuing the pattern of unconditional economic and commercial relations which, since 1980, have been highly advantageous to China, will lead to political democracy. This assumption has been proven false by the history of the last two centuries, where economic modernization has at times increased the power of authoritarian states, and fueled their expansionist impulses. For example, in Imperial Germany and Imperial Japan.
This is also true in post-Mao China, where the regime has kept its dictatorship intact, while the economy and certain aspects of society have changed dramatically.
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To place this in perspective, I would like to quote from Deng Xiaoping, the post-Mao leader of China and the father of the Chinese economic strategy. He said, ''We will bide our time and hide our capabilities.'' How these capabilities will emerge is illustrated in the eight stages contained in my husband's book, which I have summarized in my written testimony for the benefit of the Members, but which I will not now enumerate.
It should be understood that China is engaged in a political war against the United States. China is positioning itself strategically in all regions of the world, including in our hemisphere.
They work to strengthen regimes unfriendly to the United States, such as Castro's Cuba and Chavez's Venezuela. They are well-positioned at most of the ports where the majority of the world's commerce passes, including their control of both ends of the Panama Canal.
In addition, the Chinese Government is one of the world's major proliferators of ballistic-missile and weapons of mass destruction technology, and are engaged in massive espionage efforts to acquire our military, nuclear, and technological secrets, as well as our intellectual property.
My husband's book connects all the dots, sounds the warning, and provides credible policy proposals. In this regard, the author lays out a strategy for democratization in China, and identifies four major groups that will be most important in the process of political liberalization in China. These include the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens who want fair legal and effective government, elements favoring political reform within the Communist Party, pro-democratic citizens within China, and pro-democracy Chinese living in exile in the United States and other democratic countries.
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The essence of a peaceful pro-democracy strategy involves giving the people and actual leaders in each of the four groups in China the information and encouragement that will lead them to take practical steps to bring the party first toward greater observance of its own laws, Constitution, and existing international human rights commitment; then to make changes in the direction of political liberalization. This requires the establishment of an organization to plan, coordinate, and implement these activities, which might be named the Program for Democracy in China. Had my husband lived, I know that he would be working to establish such a program.
This book is part of my husband's legacy, and is based on his 40 years of experience in foreign policy and national security affairs. My only regret is that he is not here himself to express these ideas.
Thank you so much.
[The prepared statement of Mrs. Menges follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MRS. NANCY MENGES, WIDOW OF DR. CONSTANTINE MENGES, AUTHOR OF ''CHINA: THE GATHERING THREAT''
Good Afternoon Chairman Rohrabacher and Members of the Committee
It is an honor and a privilege to be here today to discuss with you my late husband's book on China. My husband, Constantine Menges wrote China, The Gathering Threat prior to his death in July, 2004. I know that some of you here today knew Constantine, worked with him on international issues and shared many of the same concerns. For those of you who did not know Constantine, I would like to say a few words. Constantine was a man of extraordinary intellect who possessed a deep knowledge of many regions of the world. He used these attributes to analyze and assess the nature of regimes and their potential to threaten the national security of the United States. For example, he did everything he could to prevent the fall of the Shah and the rise of the mullahs in Iran as well as the coming to power of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Constantine believed that China is our next biggest national security challenge and that china, alone, is the one country that could threaten our way of life, our standard of living and our freedom. He was hopeful that his book would provide the basis for our government to develop more realistic policies towards China as well as an overall strategy. Since no one could speak more eloquently about his ideas than the author himself, the following testimony is excerpted directly from the text of his book.
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China is a country that has experienced enormous economic growth over the course of the last twenty years. Since the 1990's, as a result of its mostly one way access to the markets of the U.S. and other major countries, China has benefited from more than a trillion dollars of economic benefits, foreign direct investment, and foreign economic assistance. Taken together', these economic benefits have meant an enormous increase in the resources available to the Communist regime for its domestic and international purposes. The Chinese Government's purposes and strategy has four operational dimensions. The first is to establish a mood of friendly relations with neighboring states while making no concessions on existing disputes; secondly, to intensify military cooperation with states hostile to the U.S; thirdly to establish relations with a large number of developing countries in the hope of taking a leadership role among them in the United Nations, the WTO and other international forums; and fourth to prepare the conditions for future strategic denial by obtaining control over major sea lanes and having a monopoly of some key high technology inputs required by all advanced industrial countries. ''.
As described in chapter 18 of the book, China has a very definite strategy which it is now pursuing. Their strategy is to become dominant first in Asia and eventually in the entire world. The Communist regime in China believes that it must either dominate the world or be dominated by the United States and its allies. As conceptualized by the author, China's pursuit of dominance will occur in eight phases and may overlap or continue in parallel. The timing of each new phase will depend, in part on decisions made by the Chinese regime as it resolves differences about strategy and tactics. There are four reasons why the Chinese leadership believes it must follow this path. First and foremost is to preserve the power of the Communist Party in China.
The mere existence of a democratic, prosperous, and powerful United States is seen as an intrinsic threat to the existence of the Communist regime. The same is true of democratic Taiwan and Japan which show clearly that the peoples of Asia can establish democratic self-government. A major reason that the Chinese Communist regime wants to take control over Taiwan is to end the idea that there can be another democratic alternative for the people of China.
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The second reason China is seeking dominance is their concern regarding the military power of the United States which they see as limiting their ability to take control of Taiwan and attain its territorial aims in Asia. In addition Chinese military writings indicate a deep concern about the potential military capacity of Japan which their analysts believe could produce and deploy one or two thousand nuclear warheads in a matter of months. The Chinese regime sees the U.S-Japan alliance as an obstacle to its international objectives and will seek the neutralization of Japan as one of their major objectives in the coming years.
The third reason why China seeks dominance is to ensure its continued economic modernization and growth. The Chinese government wants to make sure that it will not be denied access to economic, technological, and mineral resources necessary for its future success. Oil imports are an example of China's inevitably growing dependence on resources from abroad. As China's economy continues to grow and expand, it will require greater quantities of oil, putting it in direct competition with other major oil importing countries such as Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Obtaining these imports means that China must have both the money to pay for them and access to them.
China has proclaimed ever more clearly and frequently since the mid 1990's that it seeks a ''new international, political and economic world order''. What this means exactly is unclear but is in keeping with the centuries long tradition of China as the center of a world in which all other states either pay tribute and accept the dominance of the Chinese regime or are viewed as hostile. However China often speaks of the five principles of peaceful co-existence and professes that this new world order would be for the benefit of all reasonable countries. This is cast to be especially appealing to developing countries, which are a majority in the United Nations and World Trade Organization. China's methods of wooing these countries while deepening their economic dependence on China has been very effective. More importantly, China has accomplished the feat of linking Communist rule with many of the economic institutions of the industrial democracies. As a result, this linkage has led to the creation of vested interests within the democratic countries by large and powerful business organizations that lobby for the continuation of good relations with China and interpret all Chinese purposes and actions internationally as benign. This has already had a profound effect on the policies of the United States toward China and, in the view of the Chinese regime, will continue to help China accomplish its purposes in the years ahead.
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There is a bi-partisan consensus among many that the goal of US policy in China should be to maintain normal relations with this important country while encouraging its peaceful evolution into a political democracy that will respect the human rights of its citizens and be peaceful internationally. There has also been a bi-partisan assumption that continuing the pattern of unconditional economic and commercial relations which since 1980 have been highly advantageous to China will lead to political democracy. This assumption has been proven false by the history of the last two centuries where economic modernization has at times increased the power of authoritarian states and fueled their expansionistic impulses i.e. imperial Germany and imperial Japan. This is also true in post Mao China where the regime has kept its dictatorship intact while the economy and certain aspects of society have changed dramatically.
To place this in perspective I would like to quote from Deng Xi Ping the first post Mao leader of China and the father of the Chinese economic strategyHe said, ''We will bide our time and hide our capabilities.'' How these capabilities will emerge is illustrated in the eight stages contained in my husband's book and which I have provided summaries of as part of my written testimony for the benefit of the members.
It should be understood that China is engaged in a political war against the Untied States China is positioning itself strategically in all regions of the world including in our hemisphere. They work to strengthen régimes unfriendly to the United States such as Castro's Cuba and Chavez in Venezuela. They are well positioned at most of the ports where the majority of the world's commerce passes including their control of both ends of the Panama Canal. In addition the Chinese governments is one of the world major proliferators of ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction technology and are engaged in massive espionage efforts to acquire our military, including nuclear, secrets and technology as well as our intellectual property.
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My husband's book connects all the dots, sounds the warning and provides credible policy proposals. In this regard the author lays out a strategy for democratization in China and identifies four major groups that will be most important in the process of political liberalization in China. These include the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens who want fair, legal and effective government: elements favoring political reform within the Communist Party: pro-Democratic citizens within China: and pro-democracy Chinese living in exile in the US and other democratic countries.
The essence of a peaceful pro-democracy strategy involves giving the people and natural leaders in each of the four groups in China the information and encouragement that will lead them to take practical steps to bring the Party first towards greater observance of its own laws, constitution, and existing international human rights commitments; then to make changes in the direction of political liberalization. This requires the establishment of an organization to plan coordinate, and implement these activities, which might be named the Program for Democracy in China (PDC).
This book is part of my husband's legacy and is based on his forty years of experience in foreign policy national security affairs. My only regret is that he is not here himself to express his ideas.
The following is a brief description of the eight-stage framework for a grand strategy China is pursuing in their efforts to achieve global dominance without actual war. It should be noted that these estimates are based on the author's judgment after spending in excess of thirty years working on these issues.
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CHINA'S EIGHT STAGES TOWARD GLOBAL DOMINATION
There is no way to provide a proper and yet brief description of the intricacies of the eight-stage framework for a grand strategy, as described in chapter 18, that Dr. Menges saw China pursuing in their efforts to achieve global dominance without actual war. It is hoped that this outline provides enough details to encourage the reader to examine the contents of the book. As with all future analyses, the dates are more of a signpost than an actual prediction, and the events may occur in a different sequence than outlined here. It should be noted that these estimates are based on the author's judgment after spending in excess of thirty years working on these issues.
Normalization with the industrial democracies (1978Present)
This is a time in which the Chinese are seeking to establish political and economic relations with western countries in an effort to further their own development in economic and military terms.
Asian Regional Persuasion/Coercion (1980sPresent)
As China began to emerge from its previous isolation and to look outward, it also sought to extend its influence and power. Part of this effort is a continuing effort to assert claims of sovereignty. This is a time of economic and military coercion in an effort to establish a position of strength regionally while extending its reach globally.
Page 54 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOCAsian Preponderance: Taking Control of Taiwan (20052008?)
China working to isolate Taiwan internationally while strengthening their regional position to a point where they are equal, in terms of regional power, to Japan and the US. During this time, China will seek to use a coercive mix of military threats and the promise of economic benefits to force Taiwan to accept the terms dictated by Beijing.
Asian Dominance: The End of the U.S. Alliance with Japan (20082012)
Using the removal of Taiwan from the calculation, China will seek to neutralize the Korean peninsula. This can only be accomplished by ending the US-South Korean military alliance while using their own influence to secure stability between South Korea and North Korea and a normalization of relations under the guidance and guarantee of the Chinese. With the removal of these two potential flash points, the Chinese will increase their efforts to end the US-Japanese alliance on terms that maintain the relative pacifist nature of the Japanese Self-Defense forces. This will then precipitate the complete and final withdrawal of US forces from all bases not located on US territory in Northeast Asia.
The De Facto End of NATO: The Neutralization of Western Europe (20102014)
Within Europe, the Chinese, together with the Russians, will begin to point to the ending of the 'Cold War era' security structures within Asia in order to argue for the final dismantlement of the NATO alliance. This combined with increased economic dependency by Europe, potentially in combination with those in Western-Europe who are seeking to establish a new security framework within the EU without US involvement could lead to the effective neutralization of Europe. This would likely be accompanied by a Chinese shift away from the dollar and towards to the Euro as an additional means of pressure. In addition, China will seek to encourage an international effort aimed at the limitation of US and Russian nuclear arsenals to a few hundred in the ''interests of world peace.'' The Russian portion of this agreement is meant to reduce the concerns of a potentially resurgent Russia in order to aid in the effective ending of the US-European Security relationship. After all, by this time China would only have a few hundred declared strategic weapons.
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China Obtains the Russian Far East, China Is Dominant Over Russia (20142020)
With added economic and technological strength, in particular from the growing relations with the Japanese and Europeans, the Chinese make an offer to the Russian government that they cannot refuse. In effect, the Chinese will buy the Russian Far-East. The deal will have the added benefits of both bribing Russian officials and making a covert threat of an invasion of the region if the deal is not accepted. There would be a second covert agreement in which the Chinese would offer to purchase the remaining Russian strategic nuclear weapons, as well as any chemical and biological weapons within the region.
The United States is Geopolitically Isolated; China is Preponderant in the World (20202023)
At this point, the Chinese will inform the United States of the new strategic reality of the Chinese Russian agreement. Without allies or forward bases, and in a weaker strategic position, the United States will be left with no choices for responding other than to accept the new strategic alignment, especially considering the stated and unstated threats including the potential use of nuclear weapons against the US homeland.
China is Dominant in the World (2025?)
In the final stages, the Chinese by using a mix of its economic and military power will seek to legitimize their position through a series of UN Security Council resolutions that will include the disarmament and neutralization of any potential rivals, including the United States, and provide the ability for the Chinese to enforce the resolutions at their discretion.
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much. And now Mr. Brown, who was also close to Dr. Menges. And in fact, you were involved with the updating and the preparation for publication of this book, China: The Gathering Threat.
And if you would proceed for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MR. CHRISTOPHER BROWN, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, HUDSON INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. BROWN. Thank you, Chairman Rohrabacher and Ranking Member Delahunt, staff members, fellow panelists, guests. It is a pleasure and honor to be here today.
I would like to make a note, a little historical irony. Previously when this was scheduled to occur, the hearing today, was the day before the 64th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The reason that I want to make that note is much like the rise of Imperial Japan that preceded that unprecedented attack on America.
The rise of Communist China is comparable, as both of these regimes were examples of rapidly-growing economic and military powers without the accompanying social developments needed to curb the associated and dangerous expansions of appetites and passions of an emerging power.
Unfortunately, there is one very important and significant difference between the rise of these two powers. Whereas Japan pursued its expansionistic militarism without any real aid from allies, China has been very busy in a coordinated effort to develop and expand an international foundation on which its expansion will be based. This is being done for a multitude of reasons, which range from access to resources to political clout. However, I have been asked to limit my comments to what I researched on behalf of Dr. Menges within Central Asian regions.
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In the months prior to the September 11 attack, two key treaties were signed by China and Russia. These agreements received little notice at the time, and have since been lost to the tides of history. However, the long-term implications of these documents have yet to be fully realized.
China has been expanding its ties with nations such as Russia, and has created an organization that could, in the short term, have a geographical reach from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. This organization, which was first examined within China's larger strategic implications in Dr. Menges's book, China: The Gathering Threat, was the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was officially created in June 2001 and currently includes all members of Central Asia of the former Soviet Union, other than Turkministan. Observer nations include currently Mongolia, India, Pakistan, and Iran. Belarus recently announced just a few weeks ago that they would like to also join, and Russia has said that they are completely in favor of this.
It is a little ironic that their regional antiterrorism structure, as they call it, which is the center they have established in Uzbekistan, goes by the acronym RATS.
One of the key areas that Dr. Menges and I examined in the early emergence of the SCO on the world stage was how it sought to redefine itself in a post-9/11 world. The major theme behind this is fighting the three evils: Extremism, terrorism, and separatism.
Page 58 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC This may sound like a wonderful thing, especially the extremism and terrorism, in conjunction with America's fight against the war on terror. However, it is interesting how these countries define it. For example, Taiwan is often defined as an extremist, separatist, and even terrorist state at times by Chinese officials.
The color revolutions which brought such great democratic reform across the globe in the recent years have also been labeled as extremists and separatists. As a matter of fact, recently in Beijing, the Executive Secretary of the SCO, Zhang Deguangsorry, I do not speak Chineseannounced that the time for color revolutions in the Central Asia Region has gone. That is, went away with last year's snow.
He went on to label these peaceful outpourings on the part of the people of these nations seeking freedom to be unacceptable, useless, and harmful interventions into the region's domestic affairs.
It should come as no surprise to someone who was trained and loyal to a regime based on oppressing 20 percent of the world's population should label peaceful, positive, and important expansions of freedom and human liberty as unacceptable, useless, and harmful.
This is part of the reason why the United States may soon find itself in direct confrontationnot war, but direct confrontationwith organizations such as the SCO.
The second of the two treaties I would like to discuss very briefly was signed in July 2001. It is called the Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Nothing worrisome in the title. However, when you get into the treaty itself, Article IX, which is the centerpiece of cooperation, says, ''When a situation arises in which one of the contracting parties,'' meaning either China or Russia, ''deems that peace is being threatened and undermined, or security interests are involved, or when it is confronted with the threat of aggression, the contracting party shall immediately hold contacts and consultations in order to eliminate such threats.'' This is comparable to Article V of the NATO Treaty, and when compared to the Warsaw Pact Treaty, the Warsaw Pact Treaty comes across as a downright friendly document.
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In conclusion, the increasing cooperation on military issues between China and Russia, including Peace Mission 2005, which was the recent war games exercises, operated under the bilateral treaty, and future exercises will be operated under the SCO. This cooperation has allowed China to leapfrog its technology and its ability of forced protection.
Now, though many may scoff at what might be termed rhetoric from the Chinese Government, such as labeling all of our security relationships in the Asia Pacific Region as violations of their national sovereigntythe modern American and allies will scoff at this as ridiculous because of the qualitative and quantitative advantage that the United States military has over China. The truth is that although the perceptions may differ between ours and the Chinese, rhetoric has a tendency to create perceptions within China. Perceptions become reality with international relations.
And as Winston Churchill said in the famous speech often titled The Iron Curtain, ''There was never a war in all of history easier to prevent by timely action, but no one would listen. We surely must not let that happen again.''
This is the warning of the book, China: The Gathering Threat. This was the principle which Dr. Menges spent his whole life striving for. The color revolutions are perfect examples of the strategy he would employ. Reform from beneath. And it was an honor to work with him, and it is an honor to be here today. And I am open to any questions.
Page 60 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC [The prepared statement of Mr. Brown follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. CHRISTOPHER BROWN, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, HUDSON INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON, DC
Distinguished Chairman Rohrabacher; Members of the Committee; Fellow Panelist; Guests
It is an honor and a pleasure to be here today to discuss these most important of issues that will have an enormous impact on the future vital security and interests of the United States of America. I wish to note with a bit of historical irony that the day after this hearing was originally scheduled to be held was the sixty-fourth anniversary of the surprise attack by the imperial Japanese force on Pearl Harbor.
Much like the rise of imperial Japan that preceded this unprecedented attack on America; the rise of Communist China is comparable as both of these régimes were examples of rapidly growing economic and military powers without the accompanying social developments needed to curb the associated and dangerous expanding appetites and passions of an emerging power.
Unfortunately, there is one very important and significant difference between the rise of these two powers. Whereas Japan pursued its expansionistic militarism without the any real direct aid of allies, China has been very busy in a coordinated effort to develop and expand an international foundation on which its expansion will be based. This is being done for a multitude of reasons ranging from access to resources and political clout to potentially more worrisome and even offensive reasons. However I have been asked to limit my remarks to those events in Central Asia in particular those which I researched for Dr. Menges in the preparation of his final book ''China the Gathering Threat'', which despite its title is as much about the role that the Russian régime under Putin plays in the rise and expansion of China as about China itself.
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In the months prior to the September 11th attack two key treaties where signed between the governments of China and Russia. These agreements received little notice at the time and have since been lost to the tides of history for most observers. However, the long-term implications of these documents have yet to be fully realized.
China has been expanding its ties with nations such as Russia and has created an organization that could in the near future have a geographical reach from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. This organization, which was first examined within a larger Chinese strategy by Dr. Menges book ''China the Gathering threat'', which I had the honor of working on for two years, is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or the SCO.
THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION
The first of these treaties that I have mention was signed in June 2001 and created the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This organization, which is headquartered in Beijing, and its original membership was composed of China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Two years ago, they added Mongolia as an observer and invited Afghanistan to their annual meeting of Heads of State. Perhaps even more interestingly, is that in the past year they have added India, Pakistan and most worrisome of all Iran as observer states. This list in just the past few weeks was further expanded when Belarus officially applied for observer, which is Russia has said will be granted in the coming months.(see footnote 22) This organization also has a regional operations center in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This is the headquarters of what they term their Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure which goes by the acronym RATS. That is the acronym of their choosing but might I say that I find it to be a mix of both potential irony and truth.
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One of the key areas that I and Dr. Menges examined of the early days of the SCO's emergence on the world stage was how they sought to redefine themselves in a post 911 world. With the major focus of American and world attention on the fight against the sources of terrorism, the SCO found a way to both expand their military and security relations while placating any potential concerns by place the goals of the SCO under the Chinese inspired rubric of fighting the three evils of separatism, extremism and terrorism.(see footnote 23) Although the last two have a ring of common shared goals with America the devil is in the details. In particular, the question is what the nations of the SCO define as extremism or terrorism. For example, the communist government of Beijing views the very existence of a free and democratic system in Taiwan as an example of all three evils.
Early last year the democratic revolution in Kyrgyzstan, which has resulted in a marked increase in freedom for the people of that land was labeled by some observers within the SCO as being a form of extremism. If America is serious about encouraging and furthering the spread of freedom within Central Asia and wherever else the SCO expands next, we are likely to find ourselves in confrontation with the SCO.
There is also the risk that bad actors might use our own commitment to freedom in a way that works against our interests.(see footnote 24) In fact the use by what have since been revealed to be predominately Islamic extremists in Uzbekistan, who played on western ignorance of that nation, used the adulation surrounding such promising events as the November 2003 ''Rose Revolution'' in Georgia, the ''Orange Revolution'' in Ukraine in December 2004, and the ''Tulip Revolution'' in Kyrgyzstan in FebruaryMarch 2005 as a means of gaining western sympathies which the Uzbek régime under the control of Islam Karimov saw as a potential threat to his control.(see footnote 25) While western nations, demanded negotiations and investigations the Chinese under the cover of the SCO offered unquestioned support for the Karimov directed crackdown. This combined with direct bi-lateral Chinese economic aid and diplomatic pressure culminating in a demand by the SCO on July 5th at the annual meeting of the leaders of the member states, for a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from SCO member nations.(see footnote 26) That same day the United States Department of State responded by saying ''our presence [in the SCO member states] . . . is determined by the terms of our bilateral agreements''(see footnote 27)in effect, ignoring the significance of the SCO and the joint statement signed by Mr. Karimov himself. Within 24 hours, the Uzbekistan foreign ministry reiterated that it was seriously reconsidering the presence of United States forces on Uzbek soil, and less than a month later we were given official notice that Uzbekistan was terminating our basing rights.(see footnote 28) In effect we were successfully out maneuvered by the Chinese and now Uzbekistan, which was originally viewed as one of the more hesitant members of the SCO is solidly on the side of China.(see footnote 29)
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Returning to the issue of the so called ''color revolutions'' which have been wonderful examples of the very power Dr. Menges spent his professional life trying to encourage and which plays a big role in the suggested counter-strategy America should pursue within his book. These internal movements of people seeking freedom and representative government, which demonstrate the true power of even the idea of freedom, have not escaped the attention of either the Chinese or SCO leadership. Just weeks ago at a press conference in Beijing the Executive Secretary of the SCO Zhang Deguang announced that ''The time for 'color revolutions' in the Central Asian region has gone . . . [that it] went away with last year's snow.''(see footnote 30) He went on to label these peaceful outpouring on the part of the people of these nations seeking freedom to be unacceptable, useless and harmful ''interventions into the region's domestic affairs.''(see footnote 31) It should come as no surprise that someone trained and loyal to a régime based on the oppressing over 20% of the worlds population should label such peaceful, positive and important expansions of freedom and human liberty as unacceptable, useless and harmful.
It is important to note that within the SCO structure that the most senior officials, equal to a cabinet level in our own government, of the every department of the respective member states meet at least once a year for the purpose of increased cooperation and integration of their various portfolios. In effect at least once every month there is a meeting going on within the SCO of cabinet level officials. Although some in the west may dismiss these as insignificant, when one considers the potential consequences of something as simple as the integration of their transportation networks. Consider these discussion in light of such issues in Central Asia ranging form smuggling narcotics and people to the possibility by either states or groups, interested in the proliferation of ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction using this integration to ease the movement of these materials. With these issues in mind even a simple discussion on the integration of road networks takes on a much larger strategic significance. Especially when one considers that China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan are all either members or observers of this organization. This is why I have on multiple occasions labeled the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as the most dangerous organization that Americans have never heard of. It is also why Dr. Menges viewed this development with such trepidation.
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THE CHINA RUSSIA PARTNERSHIP
The Second treaty of significance that I and Dr. Menges examined was the bi-lateral treaty between Russia and China. This was signed the month after the SCO charter in July 2001.(see footnote 32) If one were to just go by the title of this treaty, which is the ''Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation,'' than nothing would seem too worrisome about this development. After all why should anyone object to a treaty which on its face seems designed to sooth relations between to large nuclear armed nations. However once one examines both the actual wording of the treaty and recent events one begins to see the dangerous implications of the growing Sino-Russian relationship that is the centerpiece of the work I did with Dr. Menges. For example Article nine of the treaty states ''When a situation arises in which one of the contracting parties deems that peace is being threatened and undermined or its security interests are involved or when it is confronted with the threat of aggression, the contracting parties shall immediately hold contacts and consultations in order to eliminate such threats.''(see footnote 33) This language which is comparable to Article 5 of the NATO treaty has potentially broad reaching consequences, and is almost friendly when compared to similar wording in the now defunct ''Warsaw Pact'' that gave free nations nightmares for almost fifty years.
Although China and Russia have over the years provided assurances to the world and more to the point, the United States, that this is a treaty between China and Russia and is not directed outwardly, the truth was revealed late last year when these two nations held the first of what is going to be an annual war-game exercise. Many observers noted that this exercise, which was originally billed as a counter-terrorism operation, had a strikingly amphibious/airborne invasion characteristic to it that most obviously pointed to a potential operation against Taiwan as opposed to an operation aimed at any potential terrorists that either China or Russia may face.(see footnote 34)
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Even as this unprecedented exercise was ending, there were already announcements that there would be another large-scale joint war game between China and Russia in 2006.(see footnote 35) Interestingly China and Russia under the context of this massive operation invoked the need to combat the ''three evils'' of the SCO as the reason and the justification for this operation which was held under the authority of their supposedly non-military treaty of ''Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.'' In addition to the 2006 bi-lateral exercises that are being planned between Russia and China there are multiple exercises that are already being scheduled for 2006 and 2007 within the SCO.(see footnote 36) It should be also be noted that Yury Baluyevsky Chief of Russia's General Staff said just last November that the 2007 China Russia Bi-lateral war games will be held under the SCO framework as opposed to the Bi-lateral treaty.(see footnote 37) This announcement coincided with a renewed Chinese effort to once again sought to assure the world that the SCO is not really a military organization.(see footnote 38)
In conclusion, the increasing cooperation on military issues between Russia and China both bi-laterally and within the Chinese controlled SCO, which of course includes the sale of advanced Russian military equipment such as the ''Aegis/Carrier Killer'' Sunburn anti-ship cruise missile, has allowed China to advance their military and force projection capabilities considerably in the recent years. This is further illustrated in a number of charts that were prepared for the book but left out in the final version that I have submitted to be included in the written record for the committees benefit. This is of great concern given that as is pointed out in the book ''China the Gathering Threat'' that China has repeatedly called all American security relationship in the Asia Pacific region illegitimate and violations of Chinese national sovereignty.(see footnote 39) This military strength in turn is both a symptom and a cause behind Beijing's increasingly assertive political and economic actions which comes at the expense of American and her allies around the world as well as the freedom loving people within the spheres of this expansion.
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Now although many may scoff at what they might term the rhetoric of the Chinese government, and even label it ridicules in light of the obvious qualitative advantages of the modern American and allied militaries currently enjoy, such a dismissive attitude ignores the fundamental truth of international relations. That truth is that although perceptions may differ from the objective nature of the world, those perceptions of the actors in fact create the reality through which individuals and nations act regardless of what the truth may be. Therefore it is important that we learn the lessons of history; and be proactive in our approach to China heeding the words of Winston Churchill in his famous ''Iron Curtin'' speech where he said of World War 2 ''There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action . . . but no one would listen. . . . We surely must not let that happen again.''(see footnote 40)
Chinese ambition and overconfidence and our own dismissive attitude of these gathering storm clouds and the real path that China is pursuing, as opposed to the path that we hope they will take, could easily spiral out of control very rapidly into a war of mutual miscalculation between America and China. That is at the heart of the warning that Dr. Menges and I worked on in preparing ''China the Gathering Threat''.(see footnote 41)
I am now pleased to answer any of questions from the committee.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. I would like to thank the panel very much for opening this discussion. And let me just state again for the record, I happen to believe that China is America's greatest potential enemy. It is our adversary today.
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In the same thought, however, I would say that America's most important ally in building a peaceful world and a better future happens to be the people of China. And just as Dr. Menges understood the threats to freedom by the totalitarian regimes that existed over the years, and that he warned us about, Dr. Menges was never an enemy of the people who were subjugated by those very regimes that he opposed. And in fact, his strategy always was aimed at supporting those people within those countries.
So today, as we discuss China, let no one suggest that we are anti-Chinese, when in fact we know that the people of China themselves are our greatest hope for the future. And we should be doing everything that we can to reach out to them, and to nurture democracy and an evolution in the right direction on the mainland of China.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily coincide with what the policies of the United States Government seem to be, and certainly not of what seem to be the policies of corporate America. And maybe the panel has a discussion or could let me know what you think in terms of today. Are American policy and corporate policy heading toward a more peaceful world? Or does it appear that we will end up at war with China? And in terms of what our Government policy is and in terms of what corporate policy is, are these in any way consistent with what we hear now being proclaimed as the Bush Doctrine of promoting democracy and encouraging regime change in totalitarian societies?
So I wonder if you could comment on that, right down the line.
Mr. MOSHER. Well, I guess the question, Mr. Chairman, is: Are we applying the Bush Doctrine to China? Should we apply the Bush Doctrine to China?
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I happen to be a strong supporter of President Bush, and of the Bush Doctrine. The U.S. now is actively leading the effort to promote democracy in many parts of the world, opposing dictatorships, and encouraging regime change. This, President Bush has argued, and I agree, is the best way to fight terrorism.
But terrorism is, in a sense, a disease of the skin. The long-term threat from China, the potential threat from China, is a disease of the heart. We will go on, despite the threat from terrorism, however it wounds us. But the world order, the peaceful world order dominated by the United States, is potentially threatened by the rise of China, as long as it remains a one-party, nuclear-armed, Communist dictatorship.
And so I am concerned that China seems to be the exception to the Bush Doctrine. It doesn't seem to me that we have made the establishment of liberal democracy a top priority in China, which is what it should be.
Instead, many here believe that economic reforms in China will painlessly usher in the rule of law and respect for human rights, and ultimately popular sovereignty. And I don't think the history of Asian countries enables us to be that optimistic about economic development, economic liberalization leading to democratization.
Economic reform certainly is necessary for democratization, but it is not sufficient to bring about democracy. We must withdraw support from the one-party dictatorship that rules China in many different ways. We should apply constant pressure on human rights. We should encourage Chinese dissidents to organize and work for change. We should stand with the Chinese dissidents the way we stood with the Soviet dissidents. Meetings with the Chinese Sakharovs and Solzhenitsyns should be on the agenda.
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President Bush has been very courageous in implementing democracy in Iraq. But it is China, I think, that holds the key to a world of peaceful democratic states. And that is where we want to be 25 or 50 years from now, living in a world of peaceful democratic states.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mrs. Menges.
Mrs. MENGES. Thank you. One of the myths about China is that, because China is one of our major trading partners and is benefitting from enormous amounts of trade from us and other democratic countries, that China has become more free. In fact, China has become more repressive.
For example, there are now approximately 50,000 people within China who monitor the Internet. The Internet is filtered. I know you are going to have hearings about that tomorrow. There were, in the year 2005, 87,000 of what they call civil disturbances within China that were put down by repressive means. And there are many people, most likely millions of people, inside China who would be open to the idea of liberalization.
My husband believed that there are factions within the Communist Party itself that would move more toward reforming Communism, and later to broader freedoms within the party itself.
And so I think our Government must do whatever it can to try to help these processes along. And in my husband's book he really spells it out, how to do that.
Page 70 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Mr. ROHRABACHER. Let me note that they called it the Reagan Doctrine when we helped those people who were struggling against Soviet domination, especially in Afghanistan and Nicaragua and elsewhere. That was part of Constantine's strategy; the Reagan Doctrine didn't come out of thin air, you know. It was well thought out. And today we hear about the Bush Doctrine, which is promoting democracy and encouraging regime change in totalitarian societies.
Having lived through Ronald Reagan and having been part of that team, I would give him high marks.
I am going to withhold giving any marks to the current Administration. But I think that it certainly, let us put it this way, that we are not measuring up to what we did during the Cold War, and the actions of President Reagan, which ended the Cold War peacefully.
And if, indeed, China is a great threat to the future, we are not doing as much to build a future peaceful world, and to alter that threatening circumstance, in comparison to what Reagan did to end the Cold War when he was President.
Mr. Brown, would you like to comment?
Mr. BROWN. Sure. I was actually going to bring up the Reagan era. I think that is a wonderful example of exactly what we should pursue with China. I mean, obviously we can't use an Iraq model for seeking regime change; that is ridiculous. It is suicidal. It would cost millions of lives and is pointless.
Page 71 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC The key is working with the people of China, encouraging them. As we saw with Tiananmen, there is a great desire for freedom and liberty. The problem is that various policies that we pursue actually enable the regime to continue to repress their own people, and oppress people around the world.
When you look at a map of the nations that are troublesome to us, North Korea and Iran are at the top of the map. And both of those nations are held up by China. And the people there are being held down the same way. And the reason this is going on is because we are enabling them. Just as during the 1980s the Europeans were almost neutralized by Soviet oil and Soviet energy dependency, we are neutralizing ourselves by dependency on them economically.
And what we need to do is we need to start focusing on what is good not only for our people, but what is good for the people of China.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much. Let me turn it over to Mr. Delahunt. But let me just note about the point about Japan prior to World War II.
The United States did have a very strong economic relationship with Japan prior to the Second World War. And in fact, I don't believe that many of the Japanese war technologies and military technologies were products of Japanese creativity. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that, for example, even in the months prior to Pearl Harbor, that some of our aeronautics technology corporations were actually dealing very closely with Japan, and negotiating deals. I understand the B17 was actually under negotiation; to sell the B17 to Japan just in the months prior to Pearl Harbor.
Page 72 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC I think the same could be said of China, where we have seen so much military technology that the taxpayers have paid for, end up, one way or the other, in the hands of, as I say, what has to be considered our greatest potential enemy.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I am going to pursue the theme of the Bush Doctrine, as articulated by my friend to my right.
He describes it as encouraging regime change. Is this, in your opinion, the policy of the Bush Administration currently, to encourage regime change in China? Mrs. Menges or anyone.
Mrs. MENGES. Mr. Delahunt, no, I don't think it is. I don't see that happening at all.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Mosher?
Mr. MOSHER. Congressman Delahunt, we seem to be in many ways ratifying the authority of China's current leadership, in the hope that that leadership somehow contains the germ, within itself, of regime change.
We seem to be waiting for the emergence on the scene of a Chinese Gorbachev, without realizing that back in the 1980s, in Hu Yaobang and later on in Zhao Ziyang, we did have two reform-minded leaders who, because they were reform-minded, were removed from power by the paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, who put in their place a man, Jiang Zemin, whose name is now familiar to us, who seconded his notion that the Tiananmen demonstrations must be put down by force; that shedding a little blood was absolutely necessary.
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Mr. DELAHUNT. So what you are saying is that, despite your admiration for President Bush, that you disagree with the Bush policy, vis-a-vis China?
Mr. MOSHER. I would like to see the Bush Doctrine more firmly applied to China. I would like to see human rights not mentioned at the end of meetings, but at the beginning of meetings. I would like to see broadcasting from not just the Voice of America, but also Radio Free Asia, which I had the privilege of being involved with the set-up many years ago, strengthened. There are many things we could be doing that we aren't.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I have read your testimony. And thank you. What I find interesting is that, as we review our indebtedness, this Administration has managed to amass in excess of $1.1 trillion American debt held by foreign nations, particularly China, which is number two after Japan. Do you think that poses a risk to us?
Mr. MOSHER. I think the ongoing undervaluation of the Chinese currency poses a risk to us. And China seems to be determined to move much of the world's manufacturing infrastructure within its borders, and it is unfair to American workers to allow this mercantilism to continue.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Well, that is why many of us, I would suggest, voted against PNTR (Permanent Normal Trade Relations) in a very bipartisan fashion. Mr. Rohrabacher and I have an array of disagreements on policy issues, but we did vote similarly in terms of PNTR.
Page 74 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Is that right, Mr. Rohrabacher?
Mr. ROHRABACHER. That is correct.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Thank you. Maybe for different reasons. But again, as I reflect, the Administration, in its efforts to make permanent the tax cuts, one can draw, connect the dots, if you will, in a very ironic way, that we are seeking to borrow money in the financial markets, some of which will be debt that will be purchased by China, to in fact fund the tax cut for Americans. It has a certain irony to it, if you will. And I find that somewhat disturbing.
But let me ask a question. What do the Chinese think our intentions are? I mean, I just asked my staff, in terms of our own defense expenditures, I mean, there is no secret because we are transparentin many cases, unfortunately, we are not transparent, but at least in the case of defense expenditures we are transparentChina is number two. And this is in 2002. Our budget clearly will have changed. Our budget was $343 million, and the Chinese werethe staff is great when you have trouble with your eyesight$51 million.
I just wonder from your perspective, in your analysis of Chinese thinking, how are we perceived? Do they consider us a threat? Do they consider us to be bellicose and threatening to their national security?
Mrs. MENGES. I believe that they see us as standing in the way of what they wish to accomplish, which is to become a dominant power, first in Asia and then beyond. And we also stand in the way because we are a competitor in terms of resources that they will need to fuel their economy.
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Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Brown?
Mr. BROWN. Okay. One of the interesting things that we researched when we were preparing the book was the fact that in the early 1990s the Chinese Government designated the United States as its main enemy, something we have not done with them.
We have great indicators of their perceptions of us. They still, to this day, believe that we intentionally attacked their Embassy in Belgrade, as opposed to the accident, and the firings that occurred afterwards and the investigation since then.
As for the defense expenditures comparison, the QDR (Quadrennial Defense Review), which was recently released, said that every year since 2003 for the past 10 years since 1996
Mr. DELAHUNT. Excuse me, Mr. Brown, but you just provoked a thought.
Mr. BROWN. Okay.
Mr. DELAHUNT. What was the Chinese response to the plane incident that we sent over to have them utilize at the highest levels of their government? That, according to newspaper reports, were, well, fixed up a bit.
Mr. BROWN. According to newspaper reports, they used it as, in my opinion, an opportunity to humiliate the United States, an opportunity to try tothey insist that the 200-mile economic exclusive-use zone is actually territorial water and air space, although we all know that it is the 12-mile. And they used it as an opportunity to basically make us look bad, and to gather intelligence when the plane landed in Hainon. I mean, there is a reason they had us cut it up. They had the opportunity to take a look at everything inside of it in that process. And we had to bring the plane back in pieces.
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Mr. DELAHUNT. This is the plane that purportedly had bugs in it?
Mr. BROWN. Yes.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Okay. And would you continue?
Mr. BROWN. Okay. Well, the QDR made a point of 10 percent per year increase in the Chinese budget. This is after inflation and all the other things. This is a real increase. And this is a conservative number, from what is out there.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Right, but we are really way ahead of them when it comes to, you know, military expenditures.
Mr. BROWN. Yes. Which means in the past 10 years they have doubled what they were spending in 1996 on their defense budget.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I understand that. But in terms of real dollars, the numbers are reallyI mean, we spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined.
Mr. BROWN. We also have global commitments at this point in time. The Chinese are not looking to have a global commitment right away. They are looking to expand incrementally. They are taking the long-term approach, as opposed to short-term, which is benefitting them, and endangering us, as the Chairman points out, as potential enemies.
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We are not on a collision course to war next week. The warnings contained in the book were long term, the next 2, 5, 10, 20 years down the road.
Mr. DELAHUNT. You know, one final question, if I may, Mr. Rohrabacher. You allude to the Shanghai Cooperative Pact, and you allude in your written testimony to Uzbekistan. And I really want to be clear. You are not suggesting that Uzbekistan is a democracy?
Mr. BROWN. No.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Right. And again, Uzbekistan was one of our allies at one point in time. And in terms of the Bush Doctrine as it embraces democracy, would you agree or disagree that those with whom we align ourselves oftentimes are unsavory, or at least in the case of Islam Karimov, who is unsavory, a thug, a despot, and certainly causes me some concerns about where we are bringing democracy, and how we are bringing democracy. Do you have any comment?
Mr. BROWN. The only comment I would have is that in a realistic world, you have to choose your fights. The one thing about Uzbekistan is it is not trying to be expansionistic; it is not trying to push its version, Islam, outside of its borders.
Mr. DELAHUNT. But it does boil its people alive.
Mr. BROWN. It does commit a lot of very bad human rights abuses. And we have the same problems with our good friend Egypt. We have the same problems with our good friend Pakistan. The truth is that it is an imperfect world.
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Mr. DELAHUNT. What you are saying, and I really appreciate your candor, is that we don't necessarily decide who our friends are or are not based upon goodness, light, and moral values.
Mr. BROWN. If we did, then our trade policy with China would be far different.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Right. Thank you.
Mr. BROWN. And that is the key.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you, members of the first panel. And we will now move on to the second panel. And as we do, I would suggest that about defense spendingand maybe this second panel would like to talk about thisbut the Chinese, I understand, don't pay the same pay grade that we pay our people at. [Laughter.]
So you can end up with a huge army at one-tenth the cost. Their Congressmen get better pensions than we do. Okay, we will look into that.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. All right, thank you very much. For our second panel, we have some very distinguished witnesses. Dr. Perry Pickert teaches Asian Studies and Intelligence in a United Nations context at the Joint Military Intelligence College at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He retired from the CIA in 1998, and from the United States Marine Corps Reserves in 1999.
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And we appreciate him being with us to share his thoughts. And again, if we could summarize down to about 5 minutes, we will have a discussion after the panel completes its presentation.
Dr. Pickert. Do you have a PowerPoint slide presentation here? I am not sure how that goes. There we go.
Mr. PICKERT. Now can you hear me?
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Yes, sir, you may proceed.
Mr. PICKERT. That gets my slides. I will just be looking off to the side.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Right behind you we can see.
Mr. PICKERT. We are all set.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. All right.
STATEMENT OF PERRY PICKERT, J.D., Ph.D., FACULTY MEMBER, JOINT MILITARY INTELLIGENCE COLLEGE
Mr. PICKERT. Last fall, President Hu Jintao came to New York to put the UN and multilateralism at the core of Chinese foreign policy. It was a stunning about-face.
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. Could you move the microphone a little bit closer?
Mr. PICKERT. Thirty years earlier, Deng Xiaoping, the first Chinese leader to speak to the General Assembly, endorsed the Great Proletarian Resolution, lashed out at the superpowers, and called on the Third World to join China's revolutionary struggle against colonialism, imperialism, and hegemonism. Next slide.
Upon assuming the China seat in 1971, the PRC cautiously began representing China in the main UN bodies, such as the Security Council and the General Assembly. For the next 10 years, Chinese diplomats learned the procedures, made an occasional statement, apparently directed at a domestic audience, but had little impact on the political climate or actions of the UN institutions.
As Chinese diplomats gained experience, they appeared throughout the UN system, including the UN specialized agencies. Next slide.
In his speech to the World Summit this fall, Hu Jintao mentioned the UN 22 times in 10 minutes, offering a vision for a multi-polar world and globalized economy. Upholding multilateralism, he placed the UN at the core of collective security. He recommended implementation of the UN Millennium Goals, and advocated UN reform. Next slide, please.
What I am going to ask today is, does Hu Jintao's vision of the future constitute a grand strategy? Strategy in English and in Chinese contains the element of long-term planning, and the word stratagem contains an element of deception.
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In the case of the Chinese in the UN system, their long-term strategic goals were set in 1945, when the Nationalist Chinese signed the UN Charter. In terms of their current behavior, they are mostly taking one stratagem at a time. Their overt views, their overt goals and missions are basically only an element to show the overt side, while on the covert side they have a way to use the UN system for their own goals.
When Deng Xiaoping came, he gave the basic goal of a coalition with the developing countries as the basic of a political base which the Chinese would use. At first it was regarded only as propaganda. However, over the years it has been clear that they have managed to turn leverage into a political base using their veto by building ad hoc coalitions to protect Chinese interests, and use the UN to obtain resources for their strategic objectives.
A second stratagem that the Chinese have done is they have used the underlying powers of the UN system in a way to pull the power out of the UN Security Council. And this, in ancient Chinese strategy, this was called ''pulling the firewood from under the cauldron.'' This is taking the energy and power out of your enemy's attack, rather than actually making a direct attack.
In this case what they have done is they have taken the UN's veto power, which they have only used four times in the history of the UN, and instead of vetoing it, they used it to leverage and to make changes in resolutions which weaken them, as in the case of the resolutions against Iraq, Syria, and Iran, and North Korea, they have withheld language that would have given authority to make the resolutions strong. Next slide, please. Next slide.
Page 82 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC If you can see on the graph, you will see that the Chinese have used, in the first 10 years, they were absent more than any other UN member, and in the last 10 years they have used absention as the primary tool. They argue for the change, and then they are willing to abstain, therefore letting the UN act, but not without direct effect. They have done this to get the political power base with their allies.
Their next stratagem is called ''fishing in troubled waters.'' Outside of the Security Council the UN has traded votes with a coalition of the UN's rogue gallery. In Geneva, the Chinese delegate congratulated the UN's Human Rights Commission as the world's foremost human rights forum. The slide shows the list of the members of the like-minded group, which includes Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Zimbabwe, and Vietnam. The like-minded group's objective is to make sure that no action is taken that frustrates Chinese interests, and protects their human rights record.
Beyond the human rights group in Geneva, the Chinese have established a relationship with G77 in New York, which is the large non-allying Congress. And they subsidized the organization of supposedly non-aligned group to the tune of $200,000 a year.
Another stratagem is to ''borrow a road to send an expedition against an enemy.'' Next slide, please.
This is like the credit card billgo back one slide. This is the amount of money that the UN has borrowed through the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank for its projects who were essentially infrastructure-based. Beginning in the last few years, the development in China occurred mostly on the east coast, but they have borrowed money from the Asian Development Bank and have plans to develop more to support China's Go West strategy. Next slide, please.
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In addition, they are participating in a project sponsored by ESCAP (Economic Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) to build the Asian Highway. If you note on the graph, you will see that it stretches clear across all of Asia, and that most of the unconstructed parts are on the internal parts of the west of China. This is a way for the Chinese to use UN resources to expend their effort outside of the country to the west.
Getting to the west sometimes also includes going over the poles. In a recent meeting in Bangkok, the Chinese and the Russians began the process of agreeing to a set of polar air routesnext slide, pleasewhich will allow the Chinese commercial aircraft interests in the future to fly across the poles to reach the United States and northern American markets.
The next stratagem is called ''crossing the sea with treachery.'' Next slide, please.
The first international conference that the Chinese participated in after having a UN membership was the Law of the Sea Conference. Under the law of the sea, they at first also did not ratify the treaty, they just signed it. But before actually ratifying the treaty, a commercial Chinese company acquired exploration rights off of the coast of Hawaii. The areas in red are where they will do exploration for Manganese nodules, which are contained metals such as nickel, manganese, and copper. Next slide, please.
This is the Chinese research ship, the Ocean One. I thought when I looked at it that we could scratch it and find the Glomar Express underneath. But this is a Chinese ocean vessel which is photographed here in the Bahamas. Its around-the-world cruise, the first around-the-world cruise, was last fall, and next slide, please. You will note that it took a circumnavigation of the globe to do underwater ocean exploration.
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Over the next few years the Chinese, they developed a coalition within the Law of the Sea apparatus to act as a developing country, in order to have a political base for the exploration of the oceans, and to get their component of the resources of the ocean under the Law of the Sea Treaty. Treating the United States as a non-signatory with respect to oceanographic exploration, using the same rules which we used against them in sending vessels into their territorial field within the Chinese economic zone, they will allow us to use it. But they will not allow the other countries of the Law of the Sea Treaty. Next slide, please.
In order to gain more and more of the oceans' resources, they are also participating in the exploitation of the ocean environment for the sea. Even if you are a shark, you are not safe. These sharks were taken by Ecuador. Because of shark fin soup, sharks are about to become an endangered species.
In the case of the stratagem of the guest plays the host.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. If you could go to the central points now.
Mr. PICKERT. Next slide, please. The World Trade Organization, the reversal of roles of the Chinese are acting as a developing country within a structure in which they are exporting regimes. In that case, at the World Trade Conference in Hong Kong last December, they were the host to the trade ministersnow we are trying to trade paper money and SDRs (software defined radios) and CDs and debt in the West for goods from China, just as in the old days, we tried to get the Chinese addicted to, the Westerners tried to get the Chinese addicted to opium. Next slide, please.
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With respect to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the rules of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization show how the Chinese use consensus-based procedures as a basis for building weak organizations which will be unable to act. Their support for an expanded security council in the UN Security Council also is a mechanism to expand the organization which they retain a veto in, and therefore make it very difficult to use the organization to make enforcement action to have peacekeeping organizations that are useful and strong. And therefore, by negotiating to abstain, have a weak regime in place. It is a political tool that they can use in the future. Next slide, please. Next slide.
Finally, when Hu Jintao came to the Security Council and made his speech, the basic point of his arguments were that China will become a forthcoming global power that supports multilateralism. However, in the case of the Security Council and the Shanghai Cooperation Council, in fact the Chinese really are using this system to protect their political and economic interests from damage control. Rather than overtly using it as an instrument of a policy, they are in fact quite happy with the UN's system as it is, which does not have a set of procedures which allow a hegemonal role because the UN Security Council is the basis of the system for the use of force. And the democratic political base of the UN system is the means that they have to have a broad political base to protect their interests, not a single, central direction.
As in the case of the Security Council in the UN system, they have accepted the world order as it is, and are using the procedures to protect themselves. And they have a clear set of objectives which they are careful about, and they trade votes to protect their agenda, rather than taking an offensive and aggressive stance in the organization.
Page 86 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Pickert follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF PERRY PICKERT, J.D., PH.D., FACULTY MEMBER, JOINT MILITARY INTELLIGENCE COLLEGE
Last fall President Hu Jintao came to New York to put the UN and multilateralism at the center of Chinese foreign policy. It was a stunning about-face. Thirty years earlier Deng Xiaoping, the first Chinese leader to speak to the General Assembly, endorsed the ''Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,'' lashed out at the superpowers and called on the Third World to join China's revolutionary struggle against colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism.
Upon assuming the China seat in 1971, the PRC cautiously began to represent China in the main UN bodies, such as the Security Council and the General Assembly. For the first ten years the diplomatic cadre learned the procedures, and made an occasional ideological statement apparently directed at a domestic audience, but their presence had little impact on the political climate or practical actions of UN institutions.(see footnote 42) Gradually, as more Chinese diplomats gained experience, they appeared throughout the UN system and began to enter the UN Specialized Agencies where the Chinese had specific national interests. Today, they enjoy broad representation throughout the UN system and key positions in the secretariats of UN and its specialized agencies. In his speech to the UN World Summit, President Hu Jintao mentioned the UN no fewer than 22 times in ten minutes offering a vision for a multi-polar world and a globalized economy. Upholding multilateralism by placing the UN at the core of collective security, he recommended implementation of the UN Millennium Goals and advocated UN reform with increased UN Security Council participation by developing countries from Africa, and especially by small and medium-size countries. He said China stands for peace, development and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Does Hu Jintao's UN speech indicate a fundamental change in China's grand strategy?(see footnote 43)
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http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/26/ares26.htm accessed 20051117; and current PRC participation is provided in CIA Fact Book, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html
accessed 20051105 AfDB, APEC, APT, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, CDB, FAO, G77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MONUC, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), ONUB, OPCW, PCA, SCO, UN, UN Security Council, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMOVIC, UNOCI, UNTSO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC
Before looking into the concave mirror of China's past participation in international organizations as a way to focus on the future, I will consider a few concepts that help explain whether Chinese participation in the UN system is an application of what is often called China's strategic culture.(see footnote 44) In Chinese military writing as reflected in Sun Tzu and in ordinary English, strategy is not a single, simple concept but an interrelated set of ideas. Webster's Dictionary puts the elements together in a simple way that parallels Chinese thought. The meaning of the word ''strategy'' in relation to national decision-making, statecraft, economics, and diplomacy has been derived by analogy from military practice and thought. In both East and West the roots of the words ''strategy'' and ''stratagem'' are linked and contain an element of deception.(see footnote 45)
5\ Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary, Revised Edition. Houghton Mifflin (1996) p.667.
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1. The science or art of military command
as applied to the general planning and
conduct of full-scale combat operations
2. A plan of action . . . for attaining a goal
1. A military maneuver intended to surprise or deceive
2. A deception
In 1981 the Peoples Liberation Army published a ''new edition'' of the military classic Sanshiliu Ji [The Thirty-Six Stratagems], intended to simplify the ancient Chinese text recast in terms of modern warfare and Marxist ideology. Unlike The Book of Changes, the 36 stratagems are all from the dark side (yin) of warfare and with no counter-balancing (yang) and belong to ''treacherous plots'' of the ancient military strategists.(see footnote 46)
In the West we laughingly define a ''diplomat'' as an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country. At the UN, we have 191 ''honest men'' at work every day reaching higher and higher levels of the art multilateral diplomacy. After fifty years, a new generation of Chinese diplomats has emerged and I will use The Thirty-Six Stratagems to look for the stratagems in Deng Xiaoping and Hu Jintao's speeches and Chinese practice in the United Nations system. In each case I will analyze the explicit PRC objectives and UN action to search for the stratagems hidden in plain sight of the China's multilateral diplomacy and consider the implications for the United States?
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STRATAGEM: BEAT THE GRASS TO STARTLE THE SNAKE
In April 1974 Deng attended the UN Special Session of the General Assembly on raw materials and development. Mixing Marxist-Leninist analysis and Chinese philosophy, he saw ''great disorder under heaven'' with the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, ''vainly seeking world hegemony.'' Quoting Mao, he pointed to the ''threat of a New World War,'' and he saw ''revolution is the main trend in the world today.'' For Deng, the problem of raw materials and development was ''the struggle of the developing countries to defend their state sovereignty, develop their national economy and combat imperialist, and particularly superpower, plunder and control.'' He offered solidarity with the Third World, supported the Arab countries' use of ''oil as a weapon,'' and called for establishing ''organizations of raw material-exporting countries for a united struggle against colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism.'' Not mentioning the UN Charter at all, he held out China's Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence as the standard for Chinese participation in international relations. He concluded by saying, ''we are opposed to the establishment of hegemony and spheres of influence by any country in any part of the world in violation of these principles.''(see footnote 47)
In Deng's speech there was no role for the existing system of international organizations. He mentioned the UN only twice. His was a revolutionary message placing the PRC at the vanguard of the developing countries that would use the leverage of the sovereign control of resources and raw materials against the superpowers and the developed world.
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As Deng spoke, Mao was still at the helm of the Chinese ship of state, sailing along at full speed in the Cultural Revolution. Deng was keeping to himself his grand strategic plan to transform China to a market economy. A clear statement of his objectives and strategy would have landed him in a reeducation camp. Deng understood that the mandate of heaven depended on a market economy. Development was the key and China needed peace, money, resources and technology. China would do the work on its own but the West would play a key role and the UN system of international organizations would contribute.
There was applause at the end of Deng's speech, but the votes were in somebody else's pocket. Eastern Europe was under firm Soviet control and Soviet allies India, Cuba, and Yugoslavia led the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The Chinese in the Secretariat were Nationalists.
At the time, the speech was dismissed as propaganda, but it was merely a smoke screen to cover a 180 degree course correction to reverse China's isolation and weakness. Hidden in plain sight in Deng's text was astute political analysis and a linked set of stratagems to gain China's rightful position of power in the UN system. First, the UN was a hostile forum. China would use its position on the Security Council to prevent the UN from taking measures, sanctions or enforcement action, directly against China or its fundamental interests anywhere in the world. Second, Deng sought allies with enough votes to block Western initiatives in the deliberative bodies of the UN system. The main objective was damage control to prevent Western or Soviet attacks against the PRC. Third, with opaque endorsement of a ''non-aligned'' program for the ''new international economic and political order'' the PRC joined a coalition with the majority caucus in the UN system to obtain access to UN financial and other resources in support of its economic development.
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STRATAGEM: PULL THE FIREWOOD FROM UNDER THE CAULDRON
The meaning of this stratagem is that if you pull the fuel from under a pot it will not have the heat to cook properly. It is not a direct attack but diminishes the power of your opponent.
In the hands of the West and China's Soviet adversary, the UN Security Council constituted a direct physical and moral threat to Communist China. Not only could the Council authorize the use of force or sanctions, but also the actions had the moral authority of the United Nations. Any state that opts for a Security Council veto suffers negative consequences, placing the state up against the collective judgment of the entire world.
Many feared the PRC seat on the Council seat would bring acrimony and a new string of Cold-War-style vetoes. Just the opposite occurred. At first, China spoke little, voting with the other Permanent Members on the vast majority of resolutions. More than any other Council member, China avoided controversy by abstaining and not participating in votes. Establishing a credible deterrence with respect to Taiwan, Tibet and other issues of direct interest to China were kept off the agenda and out of the international media limelight. Thus, the credible threat of a veto gave China the ability to prevent the use of force or actions such as sanctions against China, without risking the moral opprobrium that would come with using a veto.
While the veto neutralizes the prospect of adverse UN action against the Permanent Member, it is worth nothing as instrument of positive influence and control. Establishing a system of rewards and punishments to help allies and punish enemies, the PRC used its first two vetoes not for its own sake but for its allies Pakistan and Syria and its third and fourth to punish Haiti and Macedonia for relations with Taiwan Recently the Chinese have let it be known that they do not support Council action with respect to Sudan, Syria, Burma and the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran.
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China has established an expectation that it will abstain, allowing a resolution to pass authorizing coercive action so long as the resolution is amended to include Chinese language arguably protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the target state and requiring a second UN Security Council resolution explicitly authorizing the use of force after non-compliance with the first resolution. This principle of ''automaticity'' has been used to emasculate UNSC resolutions on Iraq, Sudan, and Syria by establishing unworkable sanctions regimes, peacekeeping operations with defective mandates and dubious legal grounds for the use of force as a last resort.
Without having to publicly condone the unlawful or immoral conduct of its UN coalition partners, the PRC collets IOU's by asserting its Principles of Peaceful Co-coexistence to weaken not prevent Security Council Action against its allies.(see footnote 48)
STRATAGEM: FISHING IN TROUBLED WATERS
Beyond the use of its veto threat, the PRC began building a voting coalition of the UN's rogues' gallery. This process culminated on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the UN, with the Chinese representative speaking on behalf of the ''Like-Minded Group'' at the UN Commission on Human Rights. He said, ''it is time to toast'' the Commission on Human Rights as ''the world's foremost human rights forum,'' which among other things has ''woven the international legal fabric that protects our fundamental rights and freedom.'' Hardly endorsing the mission of the Commission, he complained that the Commission is confronted with a ''credibility problem'' because it has turned into a place of ''naming and shaming of developing countries'' by the ''use of country specific resolutions . . . targeting mainly developing countries.'' He recommended the Commission promote dialogue instead of confrontation, and have ''more soul-searching instead of finger-pointing.''(see footnote 49)
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Like Minded Group
The goal of the ''Like Minded Group'' is to prevent the UN from considering specific cases of human rights violations in their countries. It has helped China to prevent consideration of the human and religious rights situation in China and discussion of Tibet or the Uigher ethnic minority. Beyond the human rights group in Geneva, the Chinese have established a bilateral relationship with the G77 caucus in New York. Rather than overtly attempting to lead G77, the PRC proclaims the ''independence'' of its policy while contributing $200,000 a year to finance the G77 apparatus.(see footnote 50)
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STRATAGEM: BORROW A ROAD TO SEND AN EXPEDITION AGAINST GUO
This stratagem is based on the tactic of making a treacherous agreement with the ally of an enemy or neutral state to conduct an attack from an unexpected direction.
Among the first UN Specialized Agencies to receive the PRC's attention were the international financial institutions. The Chinese took a gradual approach, sending a few reliable party cadres with English-language staff assistants. Today the former English-language staffers hold high-level administrative and decision-making posts in banks.
The Chinese were stingy investors, putting little capital in and borrowing well within their means. They were scrupulous in paying their debts and projects have apparently been successful. The objective was to gain experience in the Western banking world and to obtain modest levels of support for mostly infrastructure projects. In 2000, the PRC stopped taking IDA funds which provided loans at lower rates for underdeveloped countries. Recently they joined the Bank for International Settlements to begin to exert influence in the global financial markets. As of Fiscal Year 2005 the PRC had received about $ 20 billion in loans from the World Bank.
In the regional banks, the Chinese began in the hometown bank of the UN's largest voting bloc, the African Development Bank, where the Chinese have been exclusively a creditor. Today, their major focus is the Asian Development Bank where they have borrowed around U.S. $15 billion for projects to build industrial capacity and infrastructure.
Page 95 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC For the past 20 years most of China's development has occurred on the Eastern Coast relying public financing and Western business. In response, the PRC and the ADB have jointly published ''The 2020 Project: Policy Support in the People's Republic of China.'' It is a flashy strategic plan, put together by Western consultants under the PRC's State Planning Commission, which outlines PRC development plans for Tibet and Muslim areas.
The project is chiefly a means of obtaining international support and the cover of legitimacy for the PRC's ''Go West'' policy which encourages Han Chinese to move into the areas of China that are populated by ethnic or religious minorities. The infrastructure projects will emphasize development in western cities, dominated by Han Chinese, and linked by family and economic ties to China. Over time, the indigenous populations will become minorities in their own areas.(see footnote 51)
accessed 20051125 ; http://www.adb.org accessed 20051202.
STRATAGEM: CROSSING THE SEA BY TREACHERY
The first major global negotiation in which the Chinese participated was the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). At the time, most of the Chinese speeches were propagandistic outbursts against the Soviet Union, the United States and former colonial powers. Siding with the developing countries, they signed the treaty in 1982, but like the United States they did not ratify it.(see footnote 52)
Page 96 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOCThe existence on the deep ocean floor of potentially valuable polymetallic nodules has been known for over a century. Scientists investigating these nodules found they contained valuable metals such as nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt. Initially, because the nodules were located in very deep water, in excess of 5,000 metres, commercial mining was not considered viable. By the late 1960s, with advanced technology, it appeared that harvesting of the nodules would soon become a commercial reality. At the same time, it was feared that the economic benefits from mining would accrue only to those developed states that possess the necessary capital and technology.(see footnote 53)
Sharing the developing countries' ''fear,'' the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) of the People's Republic of China filed an application as a preferred ''registered pioneer investor,'' on 5 March 1991, five years before the PRC ratified the treaty. They have recently been awarded the rights to explore undersea minerals where they will be able to enjoy the sights and sounds off Hawaii.(see footnote 54)
On 26 September 2002, Zhang Qiyue, a spokeswoman for the Chinese government, complained that the U.S. naval ship Bowditch was operating in China's 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone in contravention of the international law of the sea. A Pentagon spokesman said the Bowditch is a Navy ship staffed by civilians and was conducting military oceanographic surveillance within the economic zone where transit and surveillance are allowed in the American view. Last fall the Chinese research vessel Ocean 1 made its first round-the-world voyage taking a peak at the pond in our back yard.(see footnote 55)
Page 97 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC China's participation in the institutions of the UN Law of the Sea Convention means it can play both sides, placing it in an interesting position vis-a-vis the United States. By participating in the secretariat, committee work and the tribunal, China can gain the benefits of a developing country and build a political coalition. Portraying itself as the champion of the developing world, it can enforce the convention rules, favorable to itself, against most of the countries of Asia that are parties to the treaty and at the same time assert non-party, traditional international law principles against the United States which has not ratified the treaty. It will use its coalition of ''developing countries'' and the leverage of its foreign reserves to obtain biological, mineral, and energy resources it needs through the mechanism of the multilateral regime established to control the oceans.
STRATAGEM: THE GUEST PLAYS THE HOST
When the WTO was established in 1995, the PRC quickly became an observer, but the Taiwan problem remained. Asserting its status as a socialist economy and developing country, the PRC became a member of WTO on 11 December 2001. While the PRC keeps asserting it won a great victory in getting the WTO to accept its principled ''one China'' policy, the WTO, in fact, has not one but four Chinas, including Hong Kong, Macau and the Separate Customs Territories of Taiwan, Penhu, Kinmen and Matsu (referred to as Chinese Taipei ).
The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference was held in Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December 2005. The irony was hard to bear. Red Chinese cadre were hosting the worlds' capitalist trade ministers boxed up in a ''Separate Customs Territory'' speaking the pidgin English of the WTO. To solve the trade imbalance this time, the barbarians are encouraging the Chinese to become addicted to ADS's, CD's, T-bills, and SDR's instead of opium.
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With WTO consensus decision-making, and a powerless Secretary General, China will play the long-suffering developing country, giving lip service to the greens, undeveloped, and agricultural countries, while ensuring nothing moves forward that disturbs the long list of advantages that China negotiated before entering the WTO as a former socialist ''developing country.'' At the same time, through a series of proposed bilateral ''free trade'' agreements with countries such as India and multilateral arrangements with ASEAN and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, it is clear China is working toward an Asian ''bloc'' subverting genuine free trade.(see footnote 56)
accessed 20051116 accessed 20051117; http://www.wto.org accessed 20051105;
accessed 20051114; http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/business/25trade.html
STRATAGEM: REPLACE THE BEAMS AND PILLARS WITH ROTTEN TIMBERS
Until recently, the Chinese approach to international organization has been largely ad hoc and defensive. However, PRC support for expansion of the UN Security Council, leadership in the creation the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and participation in the process of creating a new East Asian regional organization provides insight into the fundamental nature of the kind of international organization that is designed to meet Chinese objectives. In terms of the stratagem, in each case, under the guise of ''consensus'' procedures and the facAE9ade of larger, more ambitious organizations, the PRC actually weakens the structural integrity of the framework of the organization by maintaining a silent veto on action of the organization.
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The Chinese support UN reform including a much larger Security Council. In his speech at the 2005 World Summit, Hu Jintao favored increased representation of the developing countries, African countries in particular and small and medium countries.(see footnote 57) The Chinese enthusiasm is disingenuous at best. China has explicitly rejected the Japanese and German bids paying lip service to broad expansion knowing full well the United States rejects the greatly expanded Council that would be required to accommodate a package deal acceptable to the developing countries in each of the UN regional groups. But the Chinese don't just bluff. They would be comfortable with a large body, made up of ''like minded'' developing countries, reminiscent of the Council of the League of Nations.
The obvious motive of China's assertive role in Central Asia is to obtain a secure source of energy and raw materials for the expanding Chinese economy. In 1996 the SCO began as the Shanghai Five, a consultative mechanism to resolve border issues moving on to conclude agreements deepening military trust and reduction of military forces in border regions focusing on the three evils: terrorism, separatism and extremism. In 2001 the Republic of Uzbekistan joined and on 7 July 2002 the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was adopted.
The accelerated formation of the SCO may have been China's response to the introduction of an American military presence in Central Asia. Nipping the problem in the bud, at a summit in Astana on 5 July 2005 the SCO declared it necessary, ''that respective members of the antiterrorist coalition set a final timeline for their temporary use of the above-mentioned objects of infrastructure and stay of their military contingents on the territories of the SCO member states.'' That meant the U.S. On 30 July 2005, Uzbekistan formally evicted the United States, allowing 180 days to move aircraft, personnel and equipment from K2, the Karshi-Khanabad air base.(see footnote 58)
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accessed 20051105;India and Pakistan seek full Membership in SCO
FBIS IAP 2005102795004 Islamabad APP in English 1535 GMT 27 Oct 05
FBIS SAP 2005102795024 New Delhi PTI News Agency in English 1928 GMT 26 Oct 05; Robin Wright and Ann Scott Tyson, U.S. Evicted From Air Base In Uzbekistan,
www.washingtonpost.com accessed 20050730
At the core of the SCO Charter is Article 16 with a ''consensus'' decision-making process which reveals China's conception of how international organization ought to be run. There is no place for the troublesome procedure of actually casting a vote. Drafts are circulated by the Chinese controlled secretariat. The heads of state smile for the photo. If there is an objection, a follow-up, consensus decision for expulsion may be taken, where objection is not permitted, and there is no vote.
The SCO bodies shall take decisions by agreement without vote and their decisions shall be considered adopted if no member State has raised objections during the vote (consensus), except for the decisions on suspension of membership or expulsion from the Organization that shall be taken by ''consensus minus one vote of the member State concerned.''(see footnote 59)
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In 1974 Deng Xiaoping advocated the establishment of cartels by developing countries to use resources as a weapon. China has no such interest today. In creating the SCO, the Chinese have taken preemptive action by creating a regional multilateral organization to cover their bilateral economic relations leading to dependence reminiscent of the ''loose-rein policy'' of the Ming Dynasty. At the multilateral level, in control of the secretariat, the Chinese will manage the relationships with other international organizations such as the UN, WTO, ASEAN and the EU. The organization will also serve as buffer and minimize potential inroads by non-member countries such as the United States.
At first the Chinese showed little interest in the ASEAN + 3 proposal which called for expansion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations into a broader East Asian international organization by including China, Japan and South Korea. However, China warmed to the initiative and participated in the first East Asian Summit held in Kuala Lumpur 1214 December 2005. The meeting is seen by some as a significant step toward creation of an East Asian Community based on the model of the European Community. By excluding the United States, inviting Russia to attend as an observer and expanding the Summit to include India and Australia, it is well on the way to becoming a weak institutional framework to cover Chinese bilateral economic relations. As long as the East Asian regional organization is built on the consensus procedures of ASEAN, the organization will be another ''loose-rein'' patterned on the SCO.(see footnote 60)
STRATAGEM: HIDE A DAGGER WITH A SMILE
Hu Jintao's embrace of multilateralism in calling for a Multi-Polar World and Globalized Economy merely ratified Nationalist China's strategic decision to sign the UN Charter in 1945 accepting the universal international legal order based the great power compromise at Yalta between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin which determined the voting rules for the Security Council. The language of balance of power and spheres of influence has been replaced with the politically correct jargon of the UN system. The PRC takes a strict constructionist view of UN Charter language citing instead the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence whenever it needs to threaten a veto to protect its interests or shield members of the ''Like Minded Group'' from UN meddling. The PRC is a global power not a regional hegemon and the UN system suits it just fine.
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Under the banner of ''the largest developing country'' with a ''locomotive role,''(see footnote 61) the PRC has constructed Deng's coalition of developing countries in the UN system by a partnership with Russia and ad hoc links to the Group of 77. Keeping a low profile, and remaining focused on specific Chinese political and economic interests, the PRC avoids direct entanglement in most of the political and economic squabbles that make up the UN agenda. While Hu Jintao rhetorically calls for implementation of the UN Millennium Goals, the PRC pays a miserly 2% of the UN's budget. China asks not what China can do for the UN, but what the UN can do for China.(see footnote 62)
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2005/Dec/152669.htm accessed 20060115
http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/tables/reg-budget/assessedlarge04.htm accessed 20060129
Highly professional diplomats in delegations and in the UN Secretariat have stripped away the Communist rhetoric, concentrating instead on the business of multilateral diplomacy, votes, language, budgets, and personnel. With U.S. $ 800 billion in walking around money(see footnote 63), a veto in the Security Council, votes for votes and platitudes for platitudes, the PRC represent a political force that must be reckoned with in the UN system. They have a focused agenda and they are in business for themselves.
Thirty years ago Deng Xiaoping came to the UN with a firm belief, in the face of all objective evidence, that China had the potential to return to great power status. He was a pragmatist with a skeptical view of the efficacy of the UN as a normative order and few expectations that the UN would serve as a practical instrument of Chinese policy. Yet he also saw the UN Charter as a source of universal legal and moral authority and multilateral diplomacy as an opportunity for the PRC regime to be seen both at home and abroad in the conduct of the rituals of power that manifest the legitimacy of the mandate of heaven. With the legal power of the veto and the political power of a loose coalition of ''Like Minded'' and ''developing countries,'' the UN provides a symbolic puppet show to distract the crowd as the Chinese manage the puppets one by one in a complex web of economic, political, military and cultural bilateral relationships designed to give the Chinese maxim leverage on a case by case basis.
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. That is an interesting insight into their current activities and maneuvers that are going on.
The next witness is Mr. Alan Tonelson, a research fellow with the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation in Washington, DC. He is a Research Associate at George Washington University Center for International Science and Technology Policy, and a winner of the Henry L. Stimson Center Visiting Fellowship in China, which was just in 2002.
So if we could proceed, and again, summarize your testimony, we would appreciate that. You need to turn on that microphone, and get it close to your mouth.
STATEMENT OF MR. ALAN TONELSON, RESEARCH FELLOW, U.S. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY COUNCIL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
Mr. TONELSON. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon, Congressman Delahunt.
On behalf of the U.S. Business and Industry Councila national business organization made up of about 1,000 mainly small- and medium-sized United States manufacturing companies, domestic manufacturing companies, that want to make their products here, and not in places like China. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on Chinese influence on United States foreign policy through the operations of various U.S. institutions working in Washington, primarily.
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My testimony focuses on the role of U.S. multinational corporations. Now, of course, business interests of all types have sought to influence American public policymaking since the founding of the Republic, in both lawful and sometimes unlawful ways. And in the interest of truth in advertising, the U.S. Business and Industry Council is one such organization, although of course we stick strictly to legal means.
I will focus on the role of United States multinational corporations because their China-related activities raise at least three issues that should be of special concern to the U.S. Congress, and in fact to the American people as a whole.
The first is their tendency, and it is showing signs of growing, to represent not only their own concerns to American policymakers, but China's concerns. That is something new.
The second is their growing tendency to offer advice on a wide range of non-economic and non-business issues, including even national security, along with the U.S. Congress' rather puzzling tendency to take these views seriously, even though they clearly fall outside the range of most multinational companies' expertise.
The third issue is the multinationals' increasing use of ostensibly independent research institutesof course, commonly known as think tanksthat they heavily fund, largely to dress up their own self-interested analyses of United States/China policy to look like disinterested academic analysis.
Page 105 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC This final trend in particular, the frequent use of high-profile think tanks like the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation, and so many others to convey parochial corporate interests and parochial corporate messages has profoundly shaped the terms of our country's national debate on China. It has propagated a series of myths that should, at the least, be much more controversial than they are right now.
We have touched earlier in these hearings on two of them. One is the myth that more economic engagement with China of the type that we are involved with now will inevitably, however slowly, however many years it will take, lead to China's liberalization politically.
The second myth is something I hope that we will pay more attention to here, but that I also hope the entire U.S. Government will start to pay much more attention to. And that is the idea that American military policy and American economic policy toward China should have nothing to do with each other, whatever; they are completely unrelated, and should be unrelated, and should be dealt with in highly compartmentalized ways. This is a very important myth that has been driving United States/China policy for a long, long time and needs to be thoroughly reexamined.
My full statement to the Subcommittee cites two recent examples of clear-cut multinational corporation acknowledgements that business groups recently have been lobbying on China's behalf. Again, not on their own behalf, not on the behalf of Motorola or Boeing or Microsoft or the aerospace industry, but on China's behalf.
The first comes from no less than Robert Kapp, former head of the U.S./China Business Council, which has, of course, coordinated so much recent business lobbying on China. Mr. Kapp told Bloomberg News that the lobbying activities of organizations like his help to specifically shield China from adverse publicity. He told Bloomberg News once again, ''If China spent a lot of money on expensive K Street lobbyists, they would get hammered and beaten to a pulp for trying to buy congressional favor.'' Well, he is right.
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The second example comes from a Myron Brilliant of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who told the press in 2003 that chamber member companies worked with Chinese Embassy officials in Washington to ensure that Chinese views were ''being heard on Capitol Hill'' in the wake of the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999.
Now, since I completed my testimony late last year, it has become clear to me, and I hope it is equally clear to you, that Congress must, at the very least, require these companies and business groups when they engage in such activities to register as agents of the Chinese Government, as is mandated by the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Obviously, many think-tank specialists do offer analyses and advice with the very best of intentions. But far too often, even material from truly independent-minded sources owes its very existence to narrower corporate interests, and even more often it is utilized solely to advance private agendas. The result is nothing less than an intellectual version of money laundering.
My examination of the annual reports of think tanks and other publicly-available information on them, which is presented in great detail in my written statement, leaves no doubt that multinationals are spending more than ever before on these institutions. Indeed, corporations with major China business interests are increasingly creating entire China programs at think tanks, and funding the hiring of staffers with China-related responsibilities. And in keeping with the disinterested academic veneer that corporate funders obviously value so highly, many of these staffers occupy endowed chairs, just like at a real university.
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Congress obviously should continue to solicit views on China and other issues from all relevant sectors of society. But Congress must be much more careful about soliciting the views of multinational companies on non-economic and non-business issues.
Congress must also do a much better job of remembering that the first obligation of these companies, by law, is not to make the United States as such stronger, safer, or even more prosperous. By law, their first obligation is enriching their shareholders.
Concerning testimony and advice from think tank analysts, Congress should do a much better job of requiring truth in advertising. Witnesses from think tanks and other research organizations should be required to state whether they are funded by entities with significant parochial stakes in the subject under discussion, on China or anything else.
When policymakers allow corporations to lobby in an unfettered, unmonitored manner for foreign government and other interests, when they encourage corporate views to intrude, and even to dominate, in areas where they are not even appropriate, and when they allow corporations to launder their special pleadings through the scholarly trappings provided by think tanks, the public interest can be gravely damaged. Nowhere has this been more true than in America's China policy.
I commend you all for investigating this very important subject, and very much hope that this hearing will begin the process of solving this serious problem.
Thank you so much.
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[The prepared statement of Mr. Tonelson follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. ALAN TONELSON, RESEARCH FELLOW, U.S. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY COUNCIL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. My name is Alan Tonelson, and I am a Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation. The Foundation is the research arm of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a national business organization comprised mainly of small and medium-sized domestic manufacturers. On behalf of the Council and the Foundation, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on Chinese influence on U.S. foreign policy through various U.S. institutions.
Since 1933, USBIC has championed policies that we believe serve the interests of our roughly 1,000 member companies, who are primarily domestic manufacturers, and the nation at largeensuring that the United States retains at home a manufacturing base capable of safeguarding our national security and ensuring broad-based, solidly grounded prosperity.
My testimony will focus on the role of U.S. multinational companies. Business interests of all types have sought to influence American public policy-making since the founding of the Republicin both lawful and unlawful ways. Today, advancing business perspectives on public issues has grown into a major industry here in Washington and wherever political power can be found in America on the state and local level. In the interests of truth in advertising, the U.S. Business and Industry Council is one such organization.
Page 109 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC The explosive growth and systematic organization of business lobbying in Washington, in particular, has become a great concern for many Americans. As a result, it has attracted Congress' attention in the form of efforts to regulate campaign financing, and to require some public disclosure of lobbying activities. Yet because such proposals affect such fundamental issues as free speech and the role of money in politics, they have understandably generated major controversies.
One relatively new development on the business lobbying scene, however, that should deeply concern all Americans and their leaders is the growing tendency of American business interests to represent foreign concerns in the nation's capitala development that has emerged alongside increasingly common efforts by these foreign interests themselves to participate in American politics and governance in ways that would not be available to Americans in their own countries. Unquestionably, one of the main foreign beneficiaries of this new form of American corporate lobbying has been the People's Republic of China.
Foreign lobbying in Washington generally has grown apace with the expanding role played by the American people and U.S.-owned companies in international trade and commerceas producers, consumers, warehousers, distributors, borrowers, lenders, advertisers, and so many other capacities. Given the rapidly growing relative importance of U.S.-China economic relations, the level of business lobbying on China's behalf should be no surprise.
Nonetheless, given the range of not only economic but also national security interests at stake in America's relations with China (including in economic relations); given the importance of areas where the U.S. and Chinese diplomatic agendas do not coincide; and given the great uncertainties surrounding China's geopolitical future, business lobbying for China and the influence it creates in Beijing needs greater attention from the U.S. government.
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China today influences U.S. policy through a variety of institutions and networks. Recently, Beijing has attracted attention by greatly expanding its use of dedicated Washington lobbying firmscompanies with non-business as well as business clients.(see footnote 64) But two other ways of participating in American politics and policy remain more important by orders of magnitude. The first entails use of the capital's galaxy of business groupsusually comprised of or controlled by the multinational corporations that not only trade so extensively with China, but that invest heavily in the People's Republic as well. The second entails these companies' use of the plethora of policy research institutes that can be found in Washington (and New York) that they have been funding increasingly heavily.
Each of these types of Washington players has enabled China to achieve a critically important goal. The business groups that have directly lobbied so hard, so lavishlyand so successfullyfor expanded trade with China have become a powerful force that Beijing can now count on to advance specific legislative and policy agendaseven when they are deeply unpopular with the American people. The battles in Congress starting in the 1990s over China's trade status have been leading examples. So are today's battles over the valuation of China's currency.
The think tanks have promoted China's interests in Washington by helping to shape the terms of America's national debate on China policy, and by greatly influencing perceptions of what subjects are legitimate to raise in this debate, and what subjects are out of bounds.
The business lobby groups in particular make extensive use of money and simple political muscle to advance their aims. Yet along with the think tanks, they have also depended on and exploited the power of informationespecially information selectively released. Indeed, one of the most important strengths that American companies bring to their China activities is the near-monopoly they enjoy on the most important information bearing on bilateral economic relationshow much production and what kinds of technology are they transferring from the United States to China, and how many American jobs have been displaced in the process.
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As a result, both the business groups proper and the think tanks have succeeded in propagating several critical beliefs about U.S.-China relations that, in my view, clash violently with reality, and thus undermine the formulation of effective China policies. The most important of these China myths (which are not necessarily logically consistent) include:
The view that the United States can and should strictly compartmentalize its China economic policy-making and its China security policy-making. In particular, the tremendous flow of hard currency and advanced technology channeled to China by current trade and investment policies has been deemed completely irrelevant to the ongoing Chinese military buildup that has elicited such concern from the Defense Department recently.(see footnote 65)
The significance of this compartmentalization cannot be overestimated. The relationships between economic policy and strength on the one hand, and national security policy and military strength on the other, will dramatically affect the future Sino-American balance of powerarguably the preeminent China concern for American policy-makers. Yet because they have been deemed unrelated, these relationships are rarely even discussed in policy circles.
The view that continuing with such trade and investment policies will liberalize China politically and economically, and pacify it diplomatically.
The view that U.S. export controls are largely to blame for the nation's relatively unimpressive export performance vis-a-vis China. If these controls were significantly eased, the New China Lobby insists, U.S. exports would skyrocket.
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The view that export controls and other unilateral economic sanctions are ineffective and even counter-productive, because they cover goods and technology that many other countries are happily selling to China. In addition, the Lobby has convinced many policymakers and opinion leaders that the United States is completely powerless to remedy this situation on its own.
The view that China is rapidly opening up its domestic market to U.S. products and servicesand indeed is rapidly liberalizing its economy across the board.
The view that most U.S. direct investment has been serving a rapidly growing Chinese consumer market, and thus creates many more and better jobs for Americans than it displaces.
The view that most of what China sells to the United States consists of cheap, labor-intensive consumer goods that generate jobs few Americans want.
The principal business interests and coalitions that have been carrying China's water in Washington are by now well known. They include the Washington offices of most individual members of the Fortune 500; specific industry associations ranging from the National Association of Manufacturers to the Information Technology Association of America; economy-wide business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and the National Foreign Trade Council; and more China-oriented organizations such as the U.S.-China Business Council.
Less well known is how effective these groups have been, not only in promoting an economic agenda that has greatly empowered and enriched China, but in turning this agenda into the centerpiece of U.S.-China policy, to the point at which it completely dominates non-economic concerns like national security.
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James Sasser, former Democratic Senator from Tennessee and former U.S. Ambassador to China, has observed that ''The Chinese really don't do any lobbying. The heavy lifting is done by the American business community.'' These efforts not only save the Chinese government money. According to Robert Kapp, former head of the U.S.-China Business Council, they help shield China from potentially adverse publicity. As Kapp told Bloomberg news in 2003, ''If China spent a lot of money on expensive K Street lobbyists, they would get hammered and beaten to a pulp for trying to buy Congressional favor.''(see footnote 66)
Just how heavy the corporate lobbying has been is indicated by a few facts and figures from one of the recent debates over extending China's Most Favored Nation (later called Normal Trade) status.
At the outset of the MFN struggle in 1996, the corporate China lobby appeared to face a major challenge. Not only had China already established itself as a predatory trader and a brutal violator of human rights. Three months before the vote, Beijing sought to cow Taiwan by firing missiles into local waters before a key election. Moreover, press reports were repeatedly describing Chinese sales of nuclear technology to Pakistan.
Yet in the year before the vote, the Lobby had provided $20 million in PAC money to House and Senate candidates. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce mobilized 200 state and local chambers for the trade fight, and covered Capitol Hill with representatives from 40 member companies. Meanwhile, the National Association of Manufacturers tasked its ten regional offices to pressure legislators at the state and local level. The pro-MFN forces won the critical June 27 vote in the House by a whopping 286141.(see footnote 67)
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In 2000, when Congress voted on granting China Permanent Normal Trade Status (and paved the way for China's entry into the World Trade Organization), the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported that Business Roundtable members contributed $58 million in soft money to national campaigns during that election cycle. Business Roundtable members and other multinational business groups spent nearly $20 million on advertising during the PNTR fight. According to a New York Times report, the battle was corporate America's ''costliest legislative campaign ever.''(see footnote 68)
Also especially noteworthy about these corporate efforts, moreover, was how often and freely they strayed from traditional commercial issues. Multinational lobbyists, for example, suddenly became political scientists and foreign policy experts, and regularly expounded on how expanded trade would foster democracy in China. These arguments were repeated by Members of Congress during the debate.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas J. Donohue even passed himself off as an authority on national security issues during the PNTR controversy, even though he possesses no professional credentials in this area. In the spring of 2000, a bill was introduced by former Senators Fred Thompson and Robert Torricelli that would have sanctioned China for violating nonproliferation agreements and U.S. export control laws. The measure clearly threatened the passage of PNTR, and Donohue and his colleagues fretted that it would spark a wider crisis in U.S.-China trade relations. The Chamber President proceeded to publish an op-ed article in The Washington Post declaring the Thompson bill to be ''unnecessary'' because the ''president has ample legal authority'' to act on this front and U.S. nonproliferation laws ''have been strictly enforced.''(see footnote 69)
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Of course, Donohue has a right to his opinion, just like anyone else. Why the Postwhich also strongly backed PNTRconsidered it worthy of any attention is unclear at best.
The year before, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce acted to represent Chinese positions in Washington following the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade by a U.S. warplane. According to Myron Brilliant, the Chamber's vice president for Asia, the Chamber held a series of regular meetings between U.S. corporate executives and Chinese embassy officials aimed at ensuring that Chinese perspectives reached Members of Congress. The Embassy ''was very concerned that their messages were not being heard on Capitol Hill. We want to communicate their message and share notes,'' Brilliant told Bloomberg News in 2003.(see footnote 70)
In this instance, the Chamber clearly went beyond its standard role of lobbying for policies that benefit both its members' economic interests and China's economic interests. It had become an agent of the Chinese government on a matter of national security with no direct implications for business at all.
More recently, business lobbyists stuck their noses into national security matters during the House's consideration of H.R. 3100. This East Asia Security Act, introduced by International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, would have sanctioned European companies that sell arms to China. Although the bill passed by 215203, according to the Associated Press, business lobbying denied it the two-thirds margin needed to pass on the suspension calendar, a procedure usually reserved for non-controversial bills. In the AP's words: ''Earlier during the roll call, more than 300 members had registered yes votes, but several lawmakers said people started changing votes after learning of opposition from the business community.''(see footnote 71)
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Comparatively little attention, however, has been paid to the concerted business effort to influence American perceptions of China and debates on China policy by funding policy research. Yet as former Century Foundation Fellow David Callahan has written, ''The third river of private money flowing into politics is less well known, but nearly as wide and deep as the other two [direct lobbying and financing campaigns]. It is the money which underwrites a vast network of public-policy think tanks and advocacy groups.(see footnote 72)
Supporting think tanks enables businesses to convey their views through published articles, broadcast interviews, meetings with public officials, conferences, and many other vehicles. But by working through think tanks, the companies ensure that these opinions are viewed not as the selfish pleadings of rapacious businessmen, but as the objective, even scholarly analyses of the academics and quasi-academics on think tank staffs. The system resembles an intellectual version of money laundering.
Of course, many think tank specialists are genuine scholars or veteran public officials who are offering their analysis and advice with the best of intentions. Many have greatly augmented Americans' understanding of such subjects and provided valuable advice and information to policy-makers. But far too often, even material from truly independent-minded sources owes its existence to narrower private interests, and even more often, it is utilized solely to advance private agendas.
Moreover, there can be no doubt that multinational companiesincluding financial services firms and agri-business companies as well as manufacturersnot only are spending more than ever before on think tanks. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace does not provide specifics, but does acknowledge the growing importance of outside funding sources and lists several multinationals on its list of major funders, including Boeing, AIG, Citigroup, General Electric, and Warburg Pincus.(see footnote 73)
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Corporate memberships have contributed slightly more than 17 percent, or $5.5 million, of the Council on Foreign Relations' revenues in 2005up more than 24 percent from 2004. According to the latest American Enterprise Institute annual report, corporations contributed 23 percent of the organization's $24.4 million in 2003 revenue. For the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the 2004 figure was even higher34 percent.(see footnote 74)
The sheer number of multinational corporations supporting think tanks provides another indicator of their importance as a funding source. The Council on Foreign Relations has drawn heavily on the corporate sector throughout its long history, and today lists literally hundreds of the world's largest companiesfrom other countries as well as the United Statesas funders, especially at the top levels of ''President's Circle'' (whose members donate $50,000 or more annually to the organization) and ''Premium'' ($25,000-plus annual contributions). Among the benefits of President's Circle membership in the Council's Corporate Program: '' Invitations to two or three small private dinners each year with world leaders'' and ''A special invitation for a company executive to participate in at least one Council-sponsored high-level trip,'' which typically includes meetings with senior foreign government policy-makers.(see footnote 75)
Brookings' list of large corporate funders is almost as impressive. At its $500,000 annual level can be found Richard C. Blum, a California-based investment banker and his wife, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. Both ran into conflict of interest charges in 1997 when The Los Angeles Times reported that his extensive dealings with China stood to benefit greatly from Senator Feinstein's wife's outspoken advocacy of expanded trade with China. In response, Blum agreed to donate to charity all the earnings from his China investments. Blum's China projects since have included purchase of a large stake in a Chinese bank. In the $250,000 to $499,000 annual category of Brookings donors appears the U.S. Chamber of Commerce itself. Contributing between $100,000 and $249,000 annually to Brookings are Daimler Chrysler, Exxon Mobil, and the Property-Casualty CEO Roundtable, all of which have major China business interests. Other significant corporate donors to Brookings that are significant economic players in China include AT&T, Pfizer, Honda America, Boeing, BP America, Caterpillar, Citigroup, Itochu International, Matsushita, Kodak, and Dow Chemical.(see footnote 76) Pfizer and UPS are listed among the Heritage Foundation's ''Premier Associates''its top total funding category. At the next level down''Executive Associates''are Altria, Boeing, and GM, while ''Associates'' include Chevron Texaco, Ford, Glaxo SmithKline, Honda North America, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, and Merrill Lynch. Again, all these companies are big forces in U.S.-China trade and investment, or want to be.(see footnote 77)
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Yet even these facts and figures can conceal the full extent of business-related think tank funding. For example, the Heritage Foundation states that only 6.1 percent of its 2004 revenues came from corporations. Yet many of the foundations, which supplied 26 percent of Heritage's 2004 funding, are corporate-related, such as the William E. Simon Foundation and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. The same holds for the GE Foundation, the JP Morgan Chase Foundation, the American Express Foundation, the Bank of America Foundation, and the numerous other corporate foundations that contribute to the Brookings Institution, as well as the multi-billion dollar Starr Foundation, named after a founder of AIG. Starr is listed as a major contributor to the Carnegie Endowment as well.(see footnote 78)
Corporate luminariesmany of whom in previous incarnations were senior U.S. government officials with major China responsibilitiesfill the Boards of think tanks as well. The Council on Foreign Relations boasts Chairman Peter G. Peterson, a former Commerce Secretary and founder of The Blackstone Group; former U.S. Trade Representative Carla M. Hills, now a trade consultant; former Treasury Secretary and Citibank Vice Chairman Robert Rubin; Charlene Barshefsky, another former U.S. Trade Representative now lawyering in Washington; Time-Warner's Jeffrey Bewkes; former Under Secretary of State and Boeing Senior Vice President Thomas Pickering; and Maurice ''Hank'' Greenberg, former Chairman and CEO of AIG, former Chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council, and current Chairman of CV Starr & Co. and the Starr Foundation.(see footnote 79)
The Brookings Institution contains James Cicconi of SBC; two representatives from O'Melveny & Meyers, a Los Angeles-based law firm with a major practice in China; Larry D. Thompson Pepsico (whose Kentucky Fried Chicken unit dominates the foreign-owned fast food sector in China); James Robinson of Bristol-Meyers Squibb, and Vernon Jordan of the Washington law and lobbying firm of Akin Gumpwhich recently lobbied directly for Chinese government-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corporation's unsuccessful bid to take over U.S. oil company Unocal. Brookings' Board also features three representatives from Goldman Sachs, which is avidly seeking new financial service opportunities in China. One of those representatives is John Thornton, Brookings' new Board Chairman, a former President and Co-COO of Goldman Sachs who is still listed as a senior advisor to the firm, and who is the personal bankroller of a new $5 million China Initiative at Brookings.(see footnote 80)
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The Institute for International Economics, Washington's most prominent think tank devoted to the global economy, lists on its Board Hills and Greenberg, plus David Rockefeller, United Technologies Chairman George David, Karen Katen of Pfizer, James Owens of Caterpillar, David O'Reilly of Chevron Texaco, and Edwin Whitacre of SBC.(see footnote 81)
The more conservative think tanks have also assembled Boards full of corporate notables. On the CSIS Board can be found Hills, David Rubenstein of the Carlyle Group (also a Board Member at the Council on Foreign Relations), Rex Tillerson of Exxon Mobil, and Neville Isdell of Coca Cola, along with Pickering, who serves as a ''Distinguished Senior Advisor.'' AEI has recruited Lee Raymond of Exxon Mobil, Raymond Gilmartin of Merck, William Stavropoulos of Dow Chemical, and Kevin Rollins of Dellwhich procures most of its PC parts from Taiwan and China.(see footnote 82)
The CSIS Board, however, cannot be fully understood without recognizing what might be called ''The Kissinger Effect.'' Its members include the former Secretary of State, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, and former Defense Secretary William Cohen. All three have begun corporate consulting companies since leaving public life, and Kissinger and Scowcroft rely heavily on China-related business.(see footnote 83)
The Heritage Foundation's Board contains Microsoft Vice President Robert Herbold, and its Asian Studies Center Advisory Council is headed by trade consultant and former Commerce Secretary Barbara Franklin. Her bio specifies that ''her historic mission to China in 1992, normalized commercial relations with that country and removed one of the sanctionsthe ban on ministerial contactthat the U.S. had imposed following the Tiananmein Square uprising in 1989.'' Franklin also currently serves as Vice Chair of the U.S.-China Business Council.(see footnote 84)
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More evidence of the corporations' think tank activities pertaining to China comes from their practice of supporting researchers with responsibilities relating to China or related fields. For example, at CSIS, former Kissinger & Associates executive Erik Peterson holds the William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis. From this position, he also heads the ''Seven Revolutions'' team, which is identifying and analyzing ''the driving forces of change shaping seven'' of the world's major geopolitical regions, including East Asia. The chair is supported by the Chairman Emeritus of Merrill Lynch. China specialist Bates Gill, meanwhile, occupies the Freeman Chair in China Studies, which memorializes Houghton Freeman, son of another one of the founders of AIG.(see footnote 85)
Endowing such chairsor fellowshipsis popular with corporate fundersperhaps in part because the terms reinforce the impression of dispassionate academic inquiry. No one uses the form more than the Council on Foreign Relations. James Lindsay, its Vice President and Director of Studies, holds the Maurice R. Greenberg Chair, named after the former AIG Chairman and CEO. Elizabeth C. Economy is the Council's C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asian Studiesnamed after the foundation Greenberg controlsand Adam Segal is the Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow in China Studies.(see footnote 86)
But Greenberg is not the only such active donor to the Council. David Braunschvig holds the Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellowship for Business and Foreign Policy. The position is named after the aerospace executive whose Loral corporation reached a $20 million settlement with the State Department stemming from its admitted transfer to China of information relating to missile launches, and who was accused during the Clinton years of donating to Democratic campaigns in exchange for obtaining waivers of U.S. export control laws for satellite launch deals with the Chinese. Schwartz also funds a Council lecture series on ''Business and Foreign Policy.''(see footnote 87)
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At the Institute for International Economics, Asia and global finance specialist Morris Goldstein holds a fellowship endowed by former J.P. Morgan Chairman and CEO Dennis Weatherstone, and Gary C. Hufbauer, a prominent advocate of new trade agreements with China and other countries, and a leading opponent of using economic sanctions in U.S. trade or foreign policy, is the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow, named after the late CEO of GE.(see footnote 88)
Although concrete examples of corporate funders pressuring think tanks to slant any research are exceedingly difficult to find, occasionally they break into the news. One China-related instance came in May, 2000. According to a Washington Post report, Maurice Greenberg threatened to cut off the Starr Foundation's support for the Heritage Foundation after analyst Stephen Yates published a paper suggesting that Congress postpone the China PNTR vote until Washington took several measures to strengthen U.S. security policies towards China.
Heritage President Edwin J. Feulner did not deny the claim when interviewed. Two months later, Yateswho did deny receiving any pressure from Feulner to change his viewsand a colleague published a new paper titled, ''How Trade With China Benefits Americans.'' None of the first paper's hard-line PNTR conditions were mentioned.(see footnote 89)
It is true, as Feulner has observed, that Heritage consistently has supported expanded trade with China despite its history of often fierce opposition to the People's Republic. But it is also true that in recent years, with the rapid expansion of bilateral trade and investment, the tension between viewing China as a possible military foe on the one hand and a promising economic partner on the other has increased exponentially. And despite their repeated warnings about the security challenges posed by Beijing already, it is also true that Heritage analysts never have questioned a U.S. trade policy that has showered this potentially dangerous China with literally hundreds of billions of dollars worth of hard currency, along with much advanced militarily relevant technology.
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I personally witnessed corporate pressure for vigorous trade expansion with China as Research Director and then Fellow of the Economic Strategy Institute during the early and mid-1990s. ESI's corporate sponsorswhich included Motorola, Intel, Chrysler, Corning, TRW, Honeywell, Texas Instruments, and AIGwere never shy about making clear to staff their views on China and other major trade policy issues. Just as important, however, it was understood clearly by staff that opposing any major funder on any significant issue could lead that company to withdraw its support.
Indeed, this last point is one of the most important to emphasize about how corporations wield their power through think tanks. The quid pro quos inherent in the relationship between funder and recipient are obvious to all. They require no explication. Researchers and other staff advance the interests of their supporters almost instinctively. And when questions arise about specific strategies and tactics, or about possible new initiatives, they seek the funders' input just as instinctively.
Business groups of course have every right to relate their views to U.S. officials and seek to influence American policy in every area. But two aspects of business lobbying that promotes Chinese interests pose particular problems for Congress and require a more vigorous response. The first concerns the business groups' practice of speaking out on non-business issuesa practice clearly made more effective by the hiring of former government officials with expertise ranging beyond economics. Boeing's hiring of former Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering is clear example.
Congress must view such efforts much more skeptically than at present. Especially in the case of public companiesand I should point out here that virtually all of the companies belong to my organization are privately heldMembers of Congress must keep in mind that the overriding obligation of their representatives is not to make the United States as such safer, stronger, or even more prosperous. Nor is their overriding obligation spreading democracy or even capitalism throughout China or around the world. Their overriding obligationaccording to law and regulationis enriching their shareholders. Especially in the course of public hearings, Members of Congress should be much more careful about soliciting the views of these companies on non-economic and business issues. When such views are volunteered, Members should do a much better job of reminding each other and the public just where the first loyalties of these spokesmen lie.
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The second challenge posed by multinational companies' China-related activities concerns their funding of policy research. Members of Congress have every right to seek the views of think tank analysts funded by business groups. I of course am one of themalthough the connections between the Educational Foundation for which I work and the business group with which it is affiliated is obvious from its name.
But Members of Congress must do a much better job requiring truth in advertising. Witnesses from think tanks and other research and educational organizations should be required to state whether they are funded by entitieswhether corporations, foundations, or individualswith significant, parochial stakes in the subject under discussion.
Members must be especially mindful that, although the business origins of think tank funding may be well known to them and to other Washington insiders, these links often are not well known to the general public. If these institutional relationships are not actively brought to the surface, most citizens who read about Congressional hearings in the media or on-line, or watch them on CSPAN, will have no way of fully judging the credibility of witnesses.
Where one stands on an issue does indeed tend to depend on where one sits. Multinational corporations have many valuable insights to provide to policymakers, and their views should be sought on a continuing basis. Moreover, what is good for General Motors, as its former chief famously said decades ago, often is good for the United States. But when policymakers encourage corporate views to intrude and even dominate in areas where they are not even appropriate, and when they allow corporations to launder their special pleading through the scholarly trappings provided by think tanks, the public interest can be gravely damaged.
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Nowhere has this been more true than in America's China policy. I commend the subcommittee for investigating this subject, and very much hope that this hearing will begin the process of solving this serious problem.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, thank you. We were listening to those suggestions. And don't be surprised if they turn up in some legislation.
Mr. TONELSON. I would be delighted.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. That might give us some good ideas here.
Next to testify is Mr. Ross Terrill. He is a China Specialist, Research Associate at Harvard's Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, and Visiting Associate Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. He has a lot to say.
He wrote 800,000,000: The Real China, The Future of China: After Mao, Flowers on an Iron Tree: Five Cities of China and the original edition of Mao. My staff has given me these. But a prolific writer, and a man who has certainly made the study of China his focus of his life. And we are very happy to have you with us here, Dr. Terrill, to add to this discussion.
If you could proceed. You have 5 minutes, and maybe a couple minutes more than that. And then we will go to a discussion.
Page 125 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOCSTATEMENT OF ROSS TERRILL, Ph.D., RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, FAIRBANK CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN RESEARCH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Mr. TERRILL. Thank you, Chairman Rohrabacher, Congressman Delahunt. I am delighted to be with you.
Iraq is very important, China is very important. And in a few years when Iraq is a bit less important to us than it is now, China will, in one way or another, be getting more and more important.
Some of China's goals are quite reasonable: To protect its economic success, to deal with 14 abutting neighbors plus four more a short distance across the water. But two of its goalscontrolling its own people at home, especially in border areas with foreign countries, and trying to reduce American influence in East Asiaare more problematic. And they use methods here which are not always well understood by the American people.
On the first point, China's Korean policy, China's Central Asian policy, China's policy with South Asia, is heavily determined by how they are going to control the Korean minority in Northeast China, and the Muslims in Xinjiang and Tibet. And so alternative solutions, say alternative to propping up North Korea, that may involve more freedom for the people involved, are rejected by China because of fear of its control at home.
Now, on the goal of reducing American influence, I believe, as has previously been said by two or three others, that China hopes to replace the United States and Japan as the chief influence in East Asia. On some global issues where American and Chinese issues overlap, they agree with us, they support us, or they don't oppose us strongly. That was true of the first Gulf War.
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But lately in East Asia they have been seeking to exclude the United States. They try to drive a wedge between us and Japan. They whisper in Australian ears that Australia should just look to Asia and forget about Uncle Sam.
And now China is seeking in East Asia a community organization that lacks the United States, and that has Japan to the fore only if Japan behaves as Beijing thinks it should.
A major method China uses to pursue this goal is to manipulate news and views about China and the world, both within China and beyond. In the Chinese State, Mr. Chairman, truth is presumed to come from the same source as power. And so there is one philosophic orthodoxy as well as one power center. The source of power and the source of purported truth in Beijing is the same; it is the party state of the Chinese Communist Party.
So Chinese come to the United States, and they read scathing criticisms of President Bush in our press. But Americans go to China, and they never read a word of criticism of President Hu Jintao in China Daily.
As a result of this, when a foreign policy crisis occurs, we have a problem. In 1999, when NATO accidentally bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, the Chinese people were appalled. They had been led for weeks to believe that we were mauling the innocent Serbs, this was American imperialism, and so on. And when President Clinton apologized and NATO apologized, the Chinese people were not told of this. For 5 days they ran amok in the streets, and then it was broadcast that Mr. Clinton had apologized. The hose of protest had been turned on; it was suddenly turned off. This is the nature of the Chinese media.
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A similar thing happened again in May 2001 when the airplane collision occurred near Hainon Island, between an EPR3 of ours and a fighter jet of China's. The truth of the matter was not the point for the Chinese party system. The point of the matter was to exploit it, and then, when enough was enough and they got scared that their exports to the United States might be affected, they turned the whole political charade off.
There is an asymmetry between the access and the atmosphere surrounding information in the United States and China. Some 100,000 Chinese students are on our campuses, and they have pretty full access to all our information. Far fewer American students are in China, and there are many, many materials there that they can't consult.
Hundreds of Americans who know a lot about China are pro-Beijing, and critical of United States/China policy. That is their right. But there is no equivalent in China of a community that criticizes China's America policy, or that praises anything that the United States does. This asymmetry eats away at the way in which the two governments are perceived in the world.
Time and again, our leaders have been promised in China that their remarks would be broadcast uncut, and they were not. This happened to President Clinton three times in 1998. In May 2004 it happened to Vice President Cheney. He gave a wonderful speech in Shanghai, and it had been promised it would be transmitted in full. But the passages about democracy, in fact, were cut out before it was transmitted.
At the level of individual academics and writers, China also practices a divide-and-rule policy that is troubling. One example: For years I have been writing pieces for the National Geographic. In the mid-1990s they asked me to write about the Three Gorges Dam Project, and I accepted.
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A few months after the photographer and I began planning our work, China refused me a visa to go to the river and interview the people. The National Geographic had a problem. I couldn't write their article, but they wanted an article, naturally. Inevitably, they chose another writer, to whose views Beijing would have less objection. So Beijing wins a quiet victory. The article that was published was read by tens of millions of Americans who didn't know that Beijing had a role in who wrote that article.
Another Chinese method is to plant themes in American minds by endless repetition and subtle infiltration: ''The United States is trying to hold China back.'' The Chinese language press is full of that theme. Well, taking 25 percent of China's exports is a strange way to hold them back. The press is full of the idea that Japan is Asia's biggest problem. In 50 years China has fought wars on all flanks. And in those 50 years, the Japanese army has not killed a single non-Japanese in combat.
There are a number of themes that are planted by China and find their way into American discussions that are troubling to me. I have mentioned just two of them.
It is true that China's behavior in this field of the international flow of information has improved, and I think it will improve further for reasons beyond the wishes of the Chinese Communist Party State. But as has been said, the regime is still Leninist. This hasn't been said, but I will say it: The regime is not a believer in Marxism any more, but it is Leninist. And Leninists are concerned with control and manipulation. And that is what I have tried to suggest today.
Page 129 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC To conclude, what should our policy be? I happen to agree pretty much with our current China policy. It is to be wary of the Chinese authoritarian system, but to engage fully with the emerging China, the new society and the new economy. There is no contradiction between those two.
More concretely, on the theme of today, we should avoid wishful thinking about the nature of the Chinese State. President Clinton, while in office, twice said China was a former Communist country. That only sets us up for disillusion.
We should continue to be a beacon of freedom in our own conduct and rhetoric. We should be aware of the asymmetry in cultural exchanges. We should resist the Chinese divide-and-rule policy by a stance of solidarity with those whom Beijing singles out for exclusion. We should talk back to the Chinese Communist Party every time they mock the freedoms of the United States or deny the repression of their own rule.
I worry at times that authoritarian China has an advantage over us. They can hide what they don't want to see revealed. They have long-term plans that seem beyond us. They pull the strings of Chinese public opinion. They set the agenda of international organizations, while doing little about implementation. They win access to our society that far outstrips our access to theirs.
Yet ultimately an authoritarian regime is not strong. The average life span of the European Leninist regimes that collapsed 15 or 16 years ago was a few decades. The Chinese Communist regime is 57 years old, 17 years short of the life span of the Soviet Union, which was the longest-running authoritarian system in modern history.
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We do not have the right to change the regime in China. Political change there will come by sources from within, and it may surprise us in its actual eventuality, as did the fall of the Soviet Union surprise most of us.
Democracies sound very raucous. But the United States and Australia, to take two examples, have been stable for a period now that runs into centuries. The oxygen of freedom prevents many evils. Our quarrel with the manipulation of news and views is not with Chinese culture, as the Chairman has said; it is not with Chinese people; it is with the Communist Party state. It manipulates because that was its political upbringing. It strokes the feathers of sycophants, and repels the independent spirit, because that is the Leninist way.
We can have confidence, as President Bush says, in freedom's ultimate spread. But we cannot overlook that the great civilization at the heart of Asia is at the moment headed by a regime that uses some methods that seek to undermine American power, and that stymies some of the finest traits of Chinese culture and the Chinese people.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Terrill follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROSS TERRILL, PH.D., RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, FAIRBANK CENTER FOR EAST ASIAN RESEARCH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Clarity about China's efforts to influence our foreign policy requires clarity about China's goals. Beijing's foreign policy seeks to maximize stability at home; sustain China's impressive economic growth; maintain peace in China's complicated geographic situation; ''regain'' territories that in many cases are disputed by others; and reduce U.S. influence in East Asia.
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Three of these goalsprotecting the economy, maintaining a peaceful environment, and ''regaining'' lost territoriesare relatively transparent. China's methods of pursuing them are conventional and often reasonable: military preparedness; diplomatic engagement; economic muscle; the soft power of China's appeal as a respected civilization.
However the other two goalscontrol at home and blunting U.S. influenceare more problematic. They are not expressed directly by Beijing and they are often pursued by devious methods.
Insecure about domestic control, Beijing supports the status quo in North Korea and Central Asia, because alternative scenarios with greater freedom for the people involved might threaten Beijing's hold on ethnic minorities in northeast China near the Korea border, and in Xinjiang on the borders of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Again insecure at home, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) treats any philosophic heterodoxy as a political threat. This happened in the case of Falungong, an organization of semi-Buddhist health and exercise practitioners, stemming from China but now international. Beijing made an unnecessary enemy of themFalungong has no political programand Chinese diplomats from Sydney to New York try to thwart Falungong's international activities, interfering in democratic societies to do so.
China envisages replacing the U.S. (and Japan) as the chief influence in East Asia. On a few global issues where Chinese and American interests coincide, or Beijing cannot effectively resist U.S. policy, Beijing goes along with the U.S. or opposes Washington with a limp wrist. Such was the case with the first Gulf War. But in Asia at present the Chinese leaders seek to exclude the U.S. They try, so far with little success, to drive a wedge between Japan and the U.S. They whisper in Australian ears that Canberra would be better off looking only to Asia and not across the Pacific. And so on.
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In December 2005 a milestone was reached as an East Asia Summit met in Malaysia with the U.S. absent, thanks in large part to Chinese maneuvers. Not particularly successful at Kuala Lumpur, Beijing nevertheless seeks an East Asian Community organization lacking the U.S. and with Japan to the fore only if it behaves as Beijing thinks it should.
A major method for Beijing to pursue its two problematic goals is manipulating news and views within China and beyond. If it can skew the truth about Korea, Xinjiang, or Tibet, say, it can affect world opinion and thus discredit American Korea policy, Uyghurs who seek political freedom, or the Dalai Lama. If it can paint the U.S. as an exploitative, pre-emptive bully, unsuited for a leading role in East Asiaespecially in private forums or by indirectionit prepares the ground for an eventual Chinese edition of the Monroe Doctrine in Asia.
Beijing manipulates the view of the U.S. and other matters for 1.3 billion people. In this party-state power and ''truth'' are fused together. Marxism-Leninism is the only permitted public philosophy. The regime is a construct from above; it is not legitimated by elections from below.
Absent in China are independence of the press and public debate about basic foreign policy issues. A few years ago ''People's Daily'' faced a sagging circulation that made its self-image as China's number one newspaper difficult to maintain. China had more than a billion people but only 800,000 copies of ''People's Daily'' were being ''sold.'' By comparison, in the U.S., with a quarter of the PRC's population, the Wall Street Journal sells nearly 2 million copies a day and USA Today sells more than 2 million. Worse, for Beijing, most of the 800,000 copies were not being bought by actual people paying out of their own pockets, but by work units of the party-state.
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The CCP, which supervises ''People's Daily,'' did not meet the problem by permitting the paper to offer lively and objective stories. Instead, a directive went out to work units across the land, requiring extra subscriptions to ''People's Daily.'' In ten days the circulation doubled to 1.6 million (according to government figures). The officials felt better. Such is the nature of the Chinese media. All newspapers in China are official. All are licensed by the government. The editors of all of them are appointed by the party-state.
Chinese come to the U.S. and read scathing criticisms of President Bush in American newspapers. Americans go to China and never read a word of criticism of President Hu Jintao in ''China Daily.'' The Chinese state creates a lock-step view of events within China and the world that is completely different from our own marketplace of ideas. As a result, when a foreign policy crisis occurs, our task is made more difficult.
In May 1999, NATO bombers mistook the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade for another structure and killed three Chinese. The Chinese public was angry, as for weeks before Chinese readers and viewers had been told of ''American imperialism's'' vicious assault on innocent Serbia. Crowds descended on the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, hurling missives and shouting denunciations of the ''deliberate attack by American imperialism on the property and lives of People's China.'' The Chinese demonstrating against the U.S. were bussed to their appointed sites by Chinese government organizations. President Clinton had made a televised apology to Beijing for the assault, but no hint of Clinton's words was given to the Chinese public as the demonstrations raged. The Chinese media continued to present the bombing as a calculated attack on China. After four days the Clinton apology was conveyed (in brief) to the Chinese public. The hose of protest had been turned on. Now it was turned off.
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An even less justified piece of political theater occurred in May 2001 when a U.S. reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter collided and the American EP3e limped in emergency to a Chinese airport. Beijing spoke of the Chinese pilot as a lamb mauled by the wolves of imperialism, rather than a careless pilot who made a mistake. The Chinese public were led to believe American imperialists had victimized a Chinese young man. That Beijing after two weeks changed its tune, released the American EP3e crew, and stopped talking about wolves and imperialism was an act of raison d'etat that had nothing to do with the truth of the matter.
Asymmetry marks access and the atmosphere surrounding information in the U.S. and China. Some 100,000 Chinese students are on our campuses, enormously more than the number of Americans on Chinese campuses, and they have extraordinary access to information in this country, whereas many sensitive materials are withheld from Americans in China.
Hundreds of prominent Americans who know a lot about China are pro-Beijing and critical of U.S China-policy in public statements. That is their right. But there is no equivalent community of U.S specialists within China that is pro-American and criticizes Beijing's policy toward the U.Snor could there be.
The professions in China are not autonomous as they are in the U.S. As well as journalists, professors, most lawyers, and clergy for licensed religious organizations are all beholden to the party-state. Hence journalism exchanges between China and the U.S. are flawed projects since Chinese journalists are not independent. Chinese judges are not in a relation to society and the state comparable to U.S. judges (a few Chinese lawyers are independent like American lawyers, but they are not the type Beijing chooses for law exchanges with the USA).
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Time and again an American leader speaks in China after a promise from Beijing that the remarks will be transmitted unaltered to the Chinese public, only to find that sensitive parts have been cut. ''People's Daily,'' reporting the joint press conference between President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin in 1998 omitted Clinton's words on freedom, Tibet, and the Tiananmen tragedy of 1989. When Clinton went to church and spoke to a congregation of 2000, ''People's Daily'' did not mention that event. Nor did the paper offer the barest word of Clinton's free-wheeling speech at Beijing University the previous day. In Beijing in July 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell's TV interview was eviscerated to omit his criticisms of the PRC human rights record, in breach of an agreement with the U.S. Embassy that Powell's remarks would be relayed in full. Vice-President Cheney's speech in Shanghai in April 2004 was gutted of key passages about democracy after a promise to transmit it in full. And so on. The Chinese people cannot know what they do not hear. They are unaware of how much they do not know.
Just as Beijing uses divide-and-rule at the national level to split the U.S. from its allies, it does the same at the level of the individual writer, journalist, or academic. The Chinese try to pick favorites and isolate critics of Beijing. They play favorites among those Americans who are involved with China. They dangle access (as they do with businessmen); they intimidate potential critics.
Let me illustrate Beijing's cherry-picking of coverage in an American magazine.
In the mid-1990s the ''National Geographic'' invited me to write an article on the Three Gorges Dam Project. I had done quite a number of articles for the magazine. Some months after the photographer and I began work on the project, Beijing refused me a visa to travel to the dam area and along the river. The ''National Geographic'' was in a bind. I could not write their article; but they wanted an article. Inevitably they chose another writer to whose views Beijing would have less objection. So Beijing won a quiet victory that remained unknown to the tens of millions of readers of the published article.
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Another Chinese method is to plant certain themes in American minds by endless repetition and subtle infiltration. ''The U.S is trying to hold China back'' says Beijing. Actually, taking 25% of China's exports seems a strange way of holding China back. ''A Cold War mentality in the U.S. is damaging U.S.-China relations'' says Beijing. In truth, North Korea, China's only ally, is the conspicuous Stalinist relic of the Cold War in East Asia, gravely unsettling to Northeast Asia. ''Japanese militarism is the great danger in Asia'' says Beijing. Never mind that China's is the fastest growing military of any major country in the world, and that the PRC has fought wars on five flanks in the last half-century, during which period Japan's military has killed not one non-Japanese in combat.
To help plant these themes, Beijing draws into its sphere Americans with good knowledge of China and readiness to agree with Chinese policies. All the statements listed above are embraced by more than a few prominent business and media and academic figures involved with China.
In the ''New York Times'' Jane Perlez and others have repeatedly written long articles about how China is edging the U.S. aside in Asia. ''More than 50 years of American dominance in Asia is subtly but unmistakably eroding,'' Perlez wrote in a typical piece in October 2003. Choosing interviewees to fit her editorial theme, she skewered Bush's Asia policies. She was quite wrong about American decline, as the Tsunami aftermath alone made plain three months later. But Perlez said exactly what Beijing wished her to say. The Chinese lap up such statements, and share them with ASEAN, European, and other diplomats, pointing out that even the most intelligent Americans see China edging the U.S. aside.
Page 137 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Urban China today is essentially a product of foreign money. Those Chinese who have not yet benefited from this new wealth, whether hinterlanders, migrant workers, farmers, or laid-off factory workers see their Communist leaders in cahoots with the money-men of the capitalist world and with an ''international community'' of favored foreign China-specialists. To a poor rural Chinese, a tourist hotel in a big city is a badge of an unholy alliance between foreigners and the CCP. Inside these hotels, the jet-setting American professor and the foreign investor, conferring with Chinese officials over a banquet of shark's fin soup and cognac, can be seen as ganging up with the Chinese party-state against hundreds of millions of Chinese peopleand Tibetans and Muslims in Xinjiangwho live in far more modest economic conditions and also in political darkness.
New is the amount of money China has available for its manipulation. The corruption of power was familiar in earlier years of the PRC; the corruption of money becomes more and more evident today. Beijing has become bold with its favors and open wallet. A few years ago at the Chinese side's request, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and Qinghua University in Beijing negotiated about a possible joint journalism program. Qinghua University is known for science and technology and has no background at all in journalism. Qinghua clearly wanted to get a foot in the door with Harvard. The main argument used by the envoy from Beijing in the preliminary meeting I attended was that many leaders in the Chinese government were graduates of Qinghua. Influence at the top was available; favors were possible; Qinghua had money for the project.
It is true that Beijing's behavior in the face of the international flow of information has improved in the post-Mao era. Soon after President Nixon's visit to China in 1972, when the ''New York Times'' and the newly-established Chinese UN Mission were discussing the possible opening of a Times bureau in Beijing, China demanded as a condition that the ''New York Times'' henceforth accept no advertising from Taiwan or the KMT political party that then ruled Taiwan. Around the same time a planned Harvard faculty trip to China in 1973 was canceled just before it took place because one of our members, John King Fairbank, wrote a favorable review of ''Prisoner of Mao,'' an account of life in a Chinese prison. Mao was still alive at the time of these two incidents. After Mao died there came many changes.
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Economic issues replaced class struggle as the apparent priority. The door was opened to selected foreign influences. The whim of the top leader was supplemented with some rules and regulations. By the 1990s the Chinese bureaucracy was impressively professionalized, benefiting Chinese and Americans both. A concern to protect the U.S. market for Chinese goods led to some fresh restraints in Chinese foreign policy.
But Mao's departure did not remove the Leninist basis of the Chinese regime. It was under Deng Xiaoping and still is paternalistic and repressive; it practices divide-and-rule as before. President Clinton, while in office, twice referred to China as a ''former Communist country.'' This only sets us up for disillusionment.
That error occurred before in the 1940s in Yanan and Chongqing. ''Mao is not a real Communist' said the China experts of the time. ''He's just an agrarian reformer.'' Now the cry goes up, ''Hu Jintao is not a real communist; he's a reformer.'' It was a mistake in the 1940s and it is a mistake today to miss the underlying Leninism because of its pretty disguise. True, Hu Jintao is no longer very Marxist; Beijing has moved away from class struggle to mercantilist economic development. But Hu Jintao is a Leninist; he's in power as head of a Leninist party; and Leninism is about control and manipulation.
In 1992 I met up with a former leader of the Tiananmen democracy movement, Shen Tong, then a student at Boston University, on his first trip back to China since the tragedy. He traveled unhindered for several weeks, but in Beijing he was detained in the middle of the night at his mother's home. A phone call from the family reached me at the Jianguo Hotel just before the police cut phone lines at the house. Later that morning, Shen Tong was due to address an audience, including foreign journalists, in a reserved ballroom of the Jianguo Hotel.
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Around 9 A.M., as I began to explain to the assembled crowd why Shen Tong was not there, and handed out, in Chinese and English, a text of remarks he had prepared on democracy and China, hotel staff and plain clothes security men broke up the gathering. Pushing scores of people away, they said the meeting was canceled, we were violating the law, literature may not be distributed, and the Jianguo Hotel was being threatened by chaos. Plainclothes men shuttered me in my room. Security officers of Beijing City arrived to grill me. Alerted by the foreign press, a diplomat from the U.S. Embassy arrived. With physical assistance from a Japanese cameraman, the diplomat was pulled into my room.
''You held an illegal press conference,'' said a security officer. ''You distributed some documents.'' You are a ''splittist'' who has infiltrated democratic ideas into China, and ''hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,'' said another officer. ''What if Chinese went to America, the way you have come to China, and introduced materials hurtful to the feelings of the American people?'' The U.S. diplomat snapped: ''Chinese in the U.S. may say and write anything they wish.''
After two hours a deal was struck. I would be released if I left the Jianguo Hotel and went to the U.S. Embassy. The first thing I did was to prepare and fax an excerpted version of Shen Tong's remarks on democracy and send them to the ''New York Times''which published them as an Oped next morning. Still, around midnight, a swarm of public security agents arrived at my hotel room. ''You are being expelled from China.''
Shen Tong, 14 weeks later, was released and dispatched back to Boston. His request to stay in China and stand trial for his ''crimes'' was turned down. The Qing Dynasty in 1727 forbad Chinese from living outside of China. The PRC compels outspoken Chinese to live outside China.
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I have been back to China many times since that incident, but Beijing wins a victory with such repression and expulsion. Friends of the expelled one in the government are henceforth afraid to meet with himat least in China. Happily, there is now an unofficial China as well as an official China, and many Chinese in business or the arts are not intimidated in this way.
What should we do about the situation? Our overall China policy can (and currently does) blend full engagement with participation in preserving an equilibrium in East Asia that discourages Beijing from expansionist policies. No contradiction exists between these twin stances. There are two China's, after all: a command economy that sags, and a free economy that soars; a Communist Party that scratches for a raison d'etre, and 1.3 billion individuals with private agendas. Being wary of authoritarian China while engaging with emerging China is a logical dualism.
We should avoid wishful thinking about the nature of the Chinese state. We should continue to be a beacon of freedom in our own conduct and rhetoric. We should be aware of the asymmetry in cultural exchanges with the PRC. We should resist the Chinese divide-and-rule policies by a stance of solidarity with those whom Beijing singles out for exclusion. We should talk back to the CCP every time they mock the freedoms of the U.S. or deny the repression of their own rulejust as did the U.S. diplomat who snapped to security officers in my room at the Jianguo Hotel: ''Chinese in the U.S. may say and write anything they wish.'' I worry at times that authoritarian China has an advantage over the U.S. It can take the long view, hide plans it does not want revealed, pull the strings of Chinese public opinion, set the agenda of international organizations while doing little to implement their decisions, win access to American society that far outstrips our access to Chinese society, and deceive many non-Chinese about all this by its practice of political theater.
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Yet ultimately an authoritarian regime is not strong. The average life-span of the European Leninist regimes that collapsed between 1989 and 1991 was only a few decades; the Chinese Communist regime is now 57 years old, 17 years short of the life-span of the Soviet Union, the longest running authoritarian regime of modern times. Democracies sound raucous, but the U.S. and Australia, to take two examples, have been stable for a period that runs into centuries. The oxygen of freedom prevents many evils. Our quarrel over the manipulation of news and views is not with Chinese culture, or the Chinese people, but with the Communist party-state. It manipulates and lies because that was its political upbringing. It strokes the feathers of sycophants and ditches independent spirits because that has been the Leninist way in every single country where a Communist Party has held a monopoly of political power.
In our ultimate optimism about freedom's spread, we cannot overlook that the great civilization at the heart of Asia is still spearheaded by a regime that resents American power and stymies some of the finest traits of China's culture and people.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you. That was very thought-provoking. Just a few thoughts.
Dr. Terrill, many of us do not believe that the demise of Soviet Communism in Russia happened just because that is what the people wanted, and it just happened, or it had run its course. Many of us believe that people like Constantine Menges and others who fought for many decades to bring about that outcome were actually part of making history, rather than watching history. And of course, what we are discussing today is whether or not that same sort of commitment is necessary for world peace to be preserved in the long run, to make that same sort of concerted effort, to make sure that the Chinese Communist system follows along after what happened in Russia.
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And again, I don't believe it will just happen on its own. Now, your analysis may be from a wider perspective; you do have certainly many, many hours of reading and study on these issues more than I do. But I think also that we are talking about an analysis that can be defended on this side, as well; that history is something we will make, rather than something that we will watch.
I note we have with us a colleague, Mr. Wilson, Joe Wilson, from South Carolina. And he showed me his card, and I do think it is interesting that Congressman Wilson's card is printed like the rest of ours in English on one side, but Chinese on the other. And this may be an ominous trend, but we will let him describe that when he has his time of testimony.
Let us get to some of the substance here. I would just say that, Dr. Pickert, your testimony concerned how China is actually trying to position itself within the global institutions, like United Nations and others, so that those institutions are either made impotent or undermined in their ability to accomplish their goals. Is that right?
Mr. PICKERT. Yes. Yes.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. And what would you suggest that we do to counter that?
Mr. PICKERT. Well, I think the systemic rules of the UN are completely egalitarian, in the sense that in the General Assembly you have one vote, and in the Security Council the five permanent members all have equal power.
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So it really is a matter of skill and diplomacy. But you have to understand that there are great limitations about what the UN can do, and not have higher expectations than are possible. And I think the Chinese have figured that out, and are using the UN more as a damage limitation mechanism than as a positive part of their influence.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. In other words, you are suggesting that the Chinese strategy in the United Nations is basically to prevent it from becoming activist to the point that it can thwart Chinese aims.
Mr. PICKERT. That is correct.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Rather than being an instrument of Chinese aims.
Mr. PICKERT. That is correct. On the other hand, the General Assembly and the basic principles of the UN, if used by the member states, can be used and have the basic principles of democracy and freedom, self-determination, all of the rules that we want to happen are in the charter itself so it can be used to further our interests if we take care to use it properly, and are energetic in supporting the ideas and using it ideologically. Because that is where our greatest advantage is; we can't abandon the field and accept the rhetoric of the other side.
The difficulty in the Chinese case is that they have now taken the Marxist/Leninist rhetoric out of all its vanilla message that is given, only process, not substance. We have to make sure that the substance of our values are expressed there, not just the number of votes and what the resolutions mean.
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Mr. ROHRABACHER. I would suggest that the United Nationsand this, of course, is a matter of an ongoing debate here in the Subcommittee, but whether or not the United Nations actually has the potential, considering the basic power of the United Nations flows from many non-democratic and anti-democratic governments. Whether or not that dream was actually achievable in the first place.
But at the very most, we must be careful that the United Nations isn't used against us by regimes like China. That list of all the members of the Human Rights Commission was pretty pathetic.
Mr. Tonelson, we have seen this incredible growth of economic power in China. Was this a mistake? Was this a coincidence? Was this something that you see was planned out? Was it done at the expense of the American manufacturer and workers? Or do you see this as just a natural outcome of an opening of markets?
Mr. TONELSON. There is no question that much of China's economic progress and technological progress has come at the expense of United States workers, and also of United States domestic companies.
It is also true that much of China's economic and technological progress has been fueled by the activities of United States multinational companies that have increasingly behaved as if their fates are rather divorced from that of the American national economy as a whole, except to the extent that they still rely overwhelmingly on the American consumer.
Page 145 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC They think that the American consumer can loom very large in their business models, but the American worker really doesn't need to. They keep forgetting that most American consumers are also American workers. Luckily for them, the rest of the world, including the central banks of China and Japan and South Korea and Taiwan, have decided to lend us a lot of cheap money to keep on buying the products that they make.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Okay, let me get to more specifics here. Clearly the United States had a policy that we wanted to build the Japanese economy after the Second World War. That was an intentional policy. I don't believe that that necessarily had to do with something that was forced upon us, or manipulated by big U.S. corporations.
Mr. TONELSON. No.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. But it was a strategic move. During the 1970s and 1980s we saw a similar building of another economy, that on the mainland of China.
Was this a strategy of the United States? Or was this strategy a product of major corporations manipulating American policy so they could make a quick buck?
Mr. TONELSON. I think the evidence as to whether or not it was part of a conscious U.S. strategy is really pretty mixed.
On the one hand, you have had statements from President after President saying that we welcome the rise of China as a great economic power, as a great technological power. We want China to take its rightful place in the world economy after decades of self-imposed isolation.
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At the same time, these very same Presidents have clearly not only approved of, but encouraged, a policy of multinational corporations literally showering China with as much money and as much advanced military relevant technology as they possibly can, as quickly as they can.
Clearly, multinational companies have viewed production in China of increasingly advanced goods as a wonderful profit center. It is a tremendous opportunity for them to take advantage of China's very low costs, not only in labor, but in terms of taking advantage of the various subsidies that the Chinese Government offers to not only Chinese manufacturers, but United States-owned manufacturers as long as they operate in China.
Yet I don't think U.S. multinational companies have a long-term plan for anything, frankly. I think they have a great deal of trouble looking past the next quarterly report. They are under tremendous pressure in that regard.
But by the same token, they should not have the kind of prominent role that they have in setting United States/China trade policy, United States/China technology policy, and certainly United States/China national security policy, as they have right now.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Your testimony was very specific, and I might say accurate, from my point of view, and from my vantage point here in this chair, having been here 18 years in this Body. Certainly you can see that major corporations are out there trying to manipulate American policy toward China. And it is not trying to manipulate it into becoming a more democratic China. The policy is directed toward making production available in China in order to make money, and not really any demand that would force China in a democratic direction.
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Mr. TONELSON. No, they have no concern about that whatsoever. In my personal view, they should not have any concern along those lines. It is not their job.
I think that our system works best when public companies focus on maximizing shareholder value.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. It is our job.
Mr. TONELSON. It is your job to make sure that their activities are in tune with the U.S. national interests.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Let me note this. As I mentioned earlier, I believe there was an intentional policy by the United States Government to build the economy of Japan, our former enemy. We saw all the evils that Japan was capable of. Yet we built Japan into a mighty economic force in the world.
Then we started building the Chinese economy. And I do believe that was part of a strategy that was in sync with our corporations, as well. But it was a United States strategy.
However, where you see the break is that in Japan, there never was a Tiananmen Square in which the Japanese reversed their democratization, and headed back toward totalitarianism.
Page 148 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC And I would suggest that we helped them build their economic infrastructure. And should we not have pulled back at Tiananmen Square? Should that not have been a signal to us that we shouldn't be moving forward with a country that is not involved with democratic reform, as happened in Japan?
Mr. TERRILL. We did pull back, Mr. Chairman, for several years. But Deng Xiaoping also pulled back. Two years later the Soviet Union fell, and the Chinese Communist Party had a big crisis. And Deng Xiaoping resisted the ultra-leftists who wanted to close the doors again, and said the Chinese Government was going to save Leninism with consumerism.
Now, this is a very complicated and morally mixed business. But the Chinese themselves went further in reform in order not to suffer the fate of the Soviet Union. This was a decision without which, whatever our companies did or didn't do, would have resulted in some of the advances that marked the Chinese economy in the late 1990s.
I agreed with what you said about President Reagan. I must have stated my view about non-intervention too crisply. Reagan engaged with the Soviet Union, but he spoke rightly about their feet of clay, and their being an evil empire. And that is what we have to do with China.
Reagan's military buildup of course was important to the fall of the Soviet Union. But what Mr. Rumsfeld has said and done on behalf of the President is comparable. And the words of the American Presidency in China are tremendously important, such as when Reagan spoke in Shanghai in 1984. Then come to President Bush who spoke in Kyoto about China 2 or 3 months ago, with a very crucial passage about democracy in Asia. The Chinese Communist Party cut out this passage from their coverage of his speech, but a lot of Chinese got it anyway.
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The impact of this is great. But it is not like Grenada and Iraq, where we actually go in and change a regime; that is what I was trying to say. But we will influence the change. We will influence the coming change.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. In Russia, I remember very distinctly a fight that President Reagan had between the government policy, our policy of the Administration of the United States, his policy as President, and the policy of corporate America, which was to build this natural gas pipeline. I remember that was the first big issue there. Should we be helping the Europeans build this huge pipeline between Russia and our Europeans?
And Reagan never engaged the Russians economically in the way we have been engaging the Chinese, especially since Tiananmen Square.
Mr. TERRILL. Were they worth engaging economically?
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Excuse me now?
Mr. TERRILL. Were the Russians worth engaging with economically to the degree that China is?
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, my guess is if we would have given them the same kind of investment nod and gone over there with investment guarantees, et cetera, that we have given to the peoplethat we have invested in China, that there would have been a buildup of their capabilities, as well. But that is just my guess.
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Mr. Delahunt, would you like togo ahead.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I want to thank you for the testimony. And just a quick question for Dr. Pickert.
You list on the like-minded category, I had it right herebear with me for a whilelike-minded meaning those that banded together towell, let me read it: ''The goal of the like-minded group is to prevent the UN from considering specific cases of human rights violations in their countries.''
It is a list that I can generally agree with, I am just surprised about the inclusion of India and the Philippines. Do you consider those two nations appropriately part of the like-minded group? I would call them less than democracies.
Mr. PICKERT. What I would say in both cases of India and the Philippines, at the time the group was formed in the Human Rights Commission, both countries, and both countries still today, deal with both terrorism and minority groups in ways that they don't want the UN sticking their nose into. So that that is what essentially is the bottom line.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I would think that both the Ambassador from India and the Philippines might take exception.
Mr. PICKERT. They might, but
Page 151 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Mr. DELAHUNT. Is this your list, or is this
Mr. PICKERT. No, this is the group. They made themselves up.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Well, thank you for edifying me. I am going to have to do my own research.
Mr. PICKERT. No, it is a group that is a caucus in Geneva in the Human Rights Commission.
Mr. DELAHUNT. That is interesting, and I appreciate the information.
Mr. PICKERT. But it is a little bit of the non-aligned and G77 caucuses, also.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Okay. They could have
Mr. PICKERT. No, I didn't make it up, they did. They made it up themselves.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Very good. Mr. Tonelson, I appreciate your testimony, also. And the idea of the funding of the think tanks I think is something that is very worthy of note. And the influence of the multinationals, as you describe them.
Page 152 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC To put it in more colloquial terms, I think what I am hearing is that you are suggesting, if not saying outright, that the Chamber of Commerce has become an arm of the China lobby in this country. Is that a fair statement?
Mr. TONELSON. Well, the China lobby could be many different things. It could certainly be a group of organizations that lobbies for whatever it thinks is best for United States/China relations. But what I specified in my testimony was that in at least one instance, one very important instance, the Chamber of Commerce admitted it lobbied on behalf of the Chinese Government. It represented Chinese Government views to Members of the U.S. Congress. That is totally different.
Mr. DELAHUNT. A rather new role for the Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. TONELSON. A very new role that should be regulated, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Did they lobby in terms of political issues, or strictly on economic issues? If you know.
Mr. TONELSON. No, no, no, no, no. This was to convey the Chinese Government's views on the accidental United States bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Serbia in 1999. This had, as such, nothing to do with business or economics, whatever.
Mr. DELAHUNT. And you identified three think tanks.
Page 153 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Mr. TONELSON. There are many, many more.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Okay. But the most prominent ones are the Brookings, the Heritage
Mr. TONELSON. I wouldn't call them the most prominent. They are simply three prominent think tanks that are well known. My testimony, the full written statement, lists literally dozens more, on left, right, center, it doesn't seem to matter.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Right, irrespective of ideology.
Mr. TONELSON. It doesn't seem to matter.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I guess this is to you, Dr. Terrill. And I appreciate you making the distinction.
I have always understood Communism to implicate an economic theory. And I think the way you distinguish, in your remarks, between Leninism and Marxism is very important. I mean, is China still, in terms of economic theory, still a Communist state? Has it helped to make that distinction, I think, for most Americans to understand that changes have occurred for the very reasons that you described that they had to in the aftermath of the demise of the Soviet Union?
Mr. TERRILL. The belief in Marxism has gone. The Leninist control remains. We are on new territory. This has never happened before that Marx and Lenin have been
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Mr. DELAHUNT. Separated.
Mr. TERRILL [continuing]. Quite so far apart. But Chinese culture and Chinese civilization is a very estimable and interesting phenomenon. And things may not happen exactly as in the case of the Soviet Union.
But remember that the Chinese had such a hell of a time in the cultural revolution, not paralleled by any phase of Soviet history, that they had to flee from that leftism. Deng Xiaoping was a victim of Mao. And they went very far against Marxism because they felt desperate.
Mr. DELAHUNT. And I agree. I also took note of your language that we are at a disadvantage, at least in the short term, when it comes to competing with authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, in the sense that they can hide things that they don't wish to discuss. And I am sure you heard my rant earlier about the need for oversight when it comes to Iraq.
But I think in the long term, we have the advantage. Because despite the natural inclination to hide bad news, we do vet it out in one way or another to the American people. And that is why, I think, we have had such a record of stability, as you say, for centuries.
And I think part of that, and I understand the asymmetry that you refer to, I mean, I welcome those 100,000 Chinese students here. Now, I am sure some of them are here for purposes of espionage, et cetera, et cetera. But by and large, I suspect that their experience here in this country is a very beneficial one in terms of the long-term bilateral relationship. In the sense that they understand us, that they begin to understand our real intentions, which I don't think are in any way hostile to any nation. They begin to also understand pluralism. They understand our ability to disagree at times, in very loud and strident voices.
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But I think it is important. I am very concerned about what I see as a decline in the matriculation, if you will, of international students to our universities. I think after an experience here, particularly in your youth, oftentimes those students go back to their native countries, not just China, but assume leadership roles in their nations. And by and large have a better understanding and a more favorable view of America, what we stand for, and what we are truly about.
Do you have any comment?
Mr. TERRILL. To put it bluntly, helping educate their youth is one of the most cost-effective ways in which we can affect the future of China in the direction favorable to our interests.
Mr. DELAHUNT. You know, I would also think that, as part of our policy, we should aggressively insist in our bilateral relationships with Leninist China and other nations that are potentially our adversaries, to open up to American students.
I think it is important, because I think our young people oftentimes are our best Ambassadors. They are on the ground, they are learning. They come back, and they give us, I think, a better understanding of the challenges that we face, and the opportunities that we may have.
But again, in the larger scheme of things, that doesn't sound like a major initiative coming from an Administration as part of negotiating with the likes of the like-minded countries, for example. But having a plethora of American students and academicsthose are the kind of things that I think, in the end, are very, very important to a more full measure of understanding.
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Anyone care to comment?
Mr. ROHRABACHER. The Chair would like to comment. I would hope that if we have these hundreds of thousands of Chinese students, that they are not all studying the nuclear technology and how to make a bomb physics, and chemical biological weapons chemistry, and all of those other issues that will help create a better, more democratic China.
But unfortunately, a large number of the Chinese students that come here are studying specific trades that will not lend itself toward reform in China, but instead will bolster the military power of an anti-democratic regime.
However, if we could have management training and things like that, that might be a good idea to have some of their students. And I do think it is always a good idea to have U.S. students go abroad, even though when they leave, a lot of the students, like all students do, find fault with their families and their country, which is natural.
Mr. DELAHUNT. You will discover that, Mr. Chairman, when those triplets
Mr. ROHRABACHER. When my kids grow up. But when they come home from traveling overseas and see what it is like in those countries, they generally have a better attitude here. So student exchange is certainly good, as long as we are not just training people
Page 157 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC Mr. DELAHUNT. I think in the case of China, I think I would daresay, given what I have readand I would be interested in any response from the panel, the numbers that I heard just this past weekend. I happen to serve on the Board of Trustees of my own alma mater, which is Middlebury College up in Vermont. And there are 70,000 American students that are graduating with degrees in mathematics, the sciences, engineering, et cetera. And in China it is now in excess of 400,000.
You know, I think we made a mistake if we feel that we are that far ahead in terms of our educational system, and that nothing is happening in these other countries. I think that what we are seeing elsewhere in the world is that the attraction of higher education here in America is not once what it was.
Mr. TONELSON. I would make three points in response.
First, although we like to think that the better citizens from all countries know each other, the more international understanding will be produced, I don't think we should underestimate the ability of products of what is essentially a system of thought controlbecause that is what Chinese education has been for decades, a system of thought controlto come to another country that is very, very different, and to see what they want to see, and to interpret it as they have been told to. I would not underestimate that ability for a minute.
Even Americans who go abroad, everybody tends to see what they want to see, and to interpret it according to what they have already been taught for their whole lives. So I think there are some very important natural limits here, and we should not imagine that there is such a tremendous upside to student exchange.
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The second point I would make regarding foreign students here is that we have to remember that there is a very important lobby that is continually agitating from bringing more and more foreign students here, for reasons having nothing to do with spreading enlightenment. And it is the university lobby. And the reason? Foreign students, as you know, I am sure, from your work with Middlebury, pay full freight. They are a great revenue source, and they are growing. They pay full freight.
The third point that I would raise
Mr. DELAHUNT. I can't accept that premise that they do full freight, because again, this weekend, I just had an opportunity to review. And a number of these international students are here on scholarship or are here with substantial financial aid.
Now, I will say this, coming from Boston. The numbers of wealthy and affluent foreigners that come to Boston for medical care are significant in terms of, no pun intended, the financial health of our hospitals, et cetera, because they do come and they pay full rate.
But that is not the experience I have as far as students are concerned.
Mr. TONELSON. The final point that I would make is that at least in my experience, which was only 3 months of basically living at two Chinese universities, the constant complaint that I heard from graduate students in particular who wanted to come here to study is that you are chosen to come to the United States if you are well-connected politically or socially, or if you have some contact. So I think we ought to be very careful about assuming that the Chinese students who come here are a full and representative cross-section of Chinese studentdom.
Page 159 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC
Mr. DELAHUNT. I am not suggesting in any way that they represent, you know, all strata of that society. But I am absolutely convinced that after 4 years or 5 years or 6 years hereand we all do come to everything with certain biases and experiences and educationthat we do impact them. I have absolutely no doubt about that.
Mr. TONELSON. I certainly hope so.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I hope I am right. I yield.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. I would like to thank the witnesses on both panels for their contribution today.
Here we are in the middle of the war against radical Islam. Obviously we are in a crisis moment in American history in terms of this great challenge that we face. And I think Dr. Terrill was mentioning that that may be over in 4 years, but what history has in mind for us with China may well not be over. And the challenge of a totalitarian China, which is becoming ever more powerful, is something that we must put not on the back burner, but on the front burner. We have got to keep it in our areas of discussion and of strategy. And if we don't, there will be a major price to pay for future generations.
We are very grateful that people like Constantine Menges, at the end of his life, focused specifically on this, and left us an analysis and suggestions on how to approach this challenge.
Page 160 PREV PAGE TOP OF DOC So I appreciate all of you joining us today to add your words to this study, and your contribution to understanding what the challenge is that lies ahead and that we are in right now.
So with that, if anyone has any questions of any of the witnesses, we would hope that they could present them to you. Anything that you would like to add to the record should be submitted within the next 7 days, and will be made part of the record.
And with that said, this hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:35 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
(Footnote 1 return)
Sunday, 20 November 2005
(Footnote 2 return)
I include here the roughly 900,000 men in the so-called People's Armed Police (PAP). The PAP is not, properly speaking, a police force at all. It was created following the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989 out of heavily armed PLA military units which are charged with the mission of putting down future domestic insurrections.
(Footnote 3 return)
The concept of hegemony was, fittingly enough, introduced into modern diplomatic discourse by the Chinese themselves. During Henry Kissinger's secret visit to Beijing in 1971, the Chinese translator's use of this unfamiliar English word sent the Americans scrambling for their dictionaries. They found definitions of ''hegemony'' as ''a single pole or axis of power,'' or as ''leadership or predominant influence exercised by one state over others.'' None of these definitions fully captures the rich and sometimes sinister nuances of this concept, the Ba, in Chinese. The Ba is a political order invented by ancient Chinese strategists 2,800 years ago that is based exclusively on naked power. Under the Ba, as it evolved over the next six centuries, total control of a state's population and resources was to be concentrated in the hands of the state's Hegemon, or Bawang (literally ''Hegemon-king''), who in turn would employ it to establish his hegemony, or Baquan (literally ''Hegemon-power''), over all the states in the known world. To put it in modern parlance, Chinese strategists of old may be said to have invented totalitarianism more than two millennia before Lenin introduced it to the West, in order to achieve a kind of super-superpower status. See my Hegemon, chapter one.
(Footnote 4 return)
Rong Chang and Jon Halliday's claim to have access to Chinese Communist Party archives of Mao's private talks with groups of the Communist Party elite seems credible to me on the strength of their other richly documented revelations of Mao's misdeeds dating back to the 1920s.
(Footnote 5 return)
Personal conversation, 28 August 1998.
(Footnote 6 return)
Chang and Halliday, p. 381.
(Footnote 7 return)
Chang and Halliday, p. 426.
(Footnote 8 return)
Mao Zedong, '' 'Friendship' or Aggression,'' Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, vol. 4 (Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1969), 44749. This speech was a response to the U.S. State Department's white paper on China, formally called United States Relations with China, and Secretary of State Dean Acheson's ''Letter of Transmittal'' of same to President Truman, both of which were published on August 5, 1949.
(Footnote 9 return)
Steven W. Mosher, Hegemon: China's Plan to Dominate Asia and the World (Encounter Books, 2000), Introduction.
(Footnote 10 return)
For this definition, see Liu Hong et al., eds., Zhongguo guoqing, restricted circulation (Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao chubanshe, 1990), 38; cited in Geremie Barme, In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 446 n. 15. Emphasizing Chinese exceptionalism also helps to insulate the Middle Kingdom from subversive foreign ideas, like the notion of universal human rights. It enables the Party to rebuff Western criticism of its human rights record by saying, in effect, that ''here we have different standards.'' This was the tack taken by the official white paper on human rights published in 1991. See Guowuyuan Xinwen Bangongshi, Zhongguode renquan Zhuangkuang (The human rights situation in China) (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1991).
(Footnote 11 return)
See ''Aiguozhuyi jiaoyu shishi gangyao'' (Policy outline for implementing patriotic education), Renmin ribao, 6 September 1994.
(Footnote 12 return)
Based on Churchill's paraphrase of Mein Kampf, as contained in his The Second World War, vol. 1 (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1948).
(Footnote 13 return)
(Footnote 14 return)
''The Military Power of the People's Republic of China, 2005,'' Annual Report to Congress, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Executive Summary, p. 1
(Footnote 15 return)
Ibid, p. 1.
(Footnote 16 return)
Megatrends China (Beijing: Hualing Publishing House, 1996); cited in Bruce Gilley, ''Potboiler Nationalism,'' Far Eastern Economic Review, 3 October 1996. According to several selections in China Debates the Future Security Environment, the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was the author of the military strategy of ''biding our time and building up our capabilities.''
(Footnote 17 return)
New China News Agency, 31 July 1997. Quoted in Lam, p. 161.
(Footnote 18 return)
Jonathan Wilkenfield, Michael Brecher, and Sheila Moser, eds., Crises in the Twentieth Century, vol. 2 (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 198889), 15, 161. Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1996), 258.
(Footnote 19 return)
See, inter alia, The USCC 2005 Report, p. 88.
(Footnote 20 return)
2005 Report to Congress, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, p. 9.
(Footnote 21 return)
The USCC 2005 Report also notes that, ''While Taiwan remains a key potential flashpoint, China's aggressive pursuit of territorial claims in the East and South China Seas points to ambitions that go beyond a Taiwan scenario, and poses a growing threat to nation's, including U.S. alliance partners, on China's periphery.'' p. 8
(Footnote 22 return)
''Belarus May Join SCO Any TimePutin'' Itar-Tass December 16, 2005
(Footnote 23 return)
''China: Spokesman on plan for anti-terrorism centre against '3 evil forces' '' Ta Kung Pao June 15, 2001
(Footnote 24 return)
Mark N. Katz ''Revolution in Central Asia?'' United Press International January 14,2006
(Footnote 25 return)
Sarah Shenker ''Struggle for influence in Central Asia'' BBC News November 27, 2005
(Footnote 26 return)
''Declaration of Heads of Member States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization'' July 5, 2005 (Unofficial SCO English Translation available at http://www.sectsco.org/new_detail.asp?id=500&LanguageID=2)
(Footnote 27 return)
''China, Russia-led alliance wants date for U.S pullout'' Associated Press July 5, 2005
(Footnote 28 return)
Christopher Brown ''Uzbekistan signals'' The Washington Times August 14, 2005
(Footnote 29 return)
Simon Tisdall ''Uzbekistan looks east for new friends'' The Guardian November 24, 2005
(Footnote 30 return)
''SCO Executive Secretary Says Time For 'Color Revolutions' in Central Asia Gone'' Interfax January 16, 2006
(Footnote 31 return)
(Footnote 32 return)
''Russia and China sign friendship pact'' BBC News July 16, 2001
(Footnote 33 return)
''Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation Between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation'' July 24, 2005 English version available on the Chinese Froeign Ministry Website at http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjdt/2649/t15771.htm
(Footnote 34 return)
Fred Weir ''Russia and China meld muscle for war games Shared concerns of regional unrest push aside differences'' The Christian Science Monitor August 17, 2005
(Footnote 35 return)
''Russia plans another joint military exercise with China in 2006'' RIA Novosti August 26, 2005
(Footnote 36 return)
''Shanghai organization to hold military exercises in 20062007'' RIA Novosti September 25, 2005
(Footnote 37 return)
''Russian-Chinese 2007 exercises to be held under SCO'' RIA Novosti December 1, 2005
(Footnote 38 return)
''Chief Zhang Says SCO Will 'Absolutely Never Become Euro-Asian Military Alliance' '' Xinhua January 17, 2006
(Footnote 39 return)
Constantine Menges ''China the Gathering Threat'' Nelson Current April 19, 2005 Pg. 294
(Footnote 40 return)
Winston Churchill ''Sinews of Peace'' Westminster College Fulton Missouri March 5, 1946
(Footnote 41 return)
Menges Op. Cit pg. 511
(Footnote 42 return)
Nationalist China's twentieth-century participation in the UN organization can pretty much be summed up with the career of V. K. Wellington Koo. After receiving a Ph.D from Columbia, he returned to China where he began the process of negotiating the end of the ''unequal treaties,'' and was considered a founder of the modern Chinese diplomatic service. As a delegate to the Paris peace conference of 1919, he walked out to protest the great-power deal that gave Shandong, the birthplace of Confucius, to Japan. The demonstrations which followed all over China came to be known as the May 4th Movement and this perhaps gave birth to the Chinese Communist Party. In San Francisco, he signed the UN Charter for China and later became a judge and vice president of the International Court of Justice at The Hague from 1957 to 1967. The PRC has resurrected (GU) Koo; he is presented as a proletarian diplomatic worker and hero of the revolution in a recent movie, 1919. http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/v_k_wellington_koo.html; . Restoration of the lawful rights of the Peoples Republic of China in the United Nations UNGAOR 2758 (XXVI) 25 October 1971
(Footnote 43 return)
Hu Jintao speech at the UN World Summit in New York 15 September 2005
(Footnote 44 return)
Colin S. Gray, Comparative Strategic Culture Parameters, Winter 1984, pp. 2633; Alastair I. Johnson, Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History, Princeton University Press (1995).
(Footnote 45 return)
Samuel B. Griffith, Sun Tzu The Art of War. Oxford University Press (1963)
(Footnote 46 return)
This year I began using the ancient Chinese game of (Weiqi) Go in my class at the Joint Military Intelligence College as a way to study strategic thinking from a Chinese perspective. In Go all of the movements are completely in the open. Deception is key and the strategy behind the separate moves must be hidden in plain sight just as in the public multilateral diplomacy of UN. Thus inspiration for this approach came from Ma Xiaochun, The Thirty-Six Stratagems Applied to Go. Yutopian Enterprises (1996) with an introduction by Roy Schmidt (p. vi). In 1981, the People's Liberation Army Press published a ''new edition'' of the Xin Pian classic, Sanshiliu Ji, as updated by Lik Bingyan.
(Footnote 47 return)
Deng Xiaoping April, 10, 1974 at the Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly,
(Footnote 48 return)
Terri Zielinski, Research Fellow, Joint Military Intelligence College, ''Chinese Negotiating Strategy and Tactics in the United Nations Security Council.'' (2004)
(Footnote 49 return)
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn accessed 20051112 Statement by H.E. Ambassador SHA Zukang, on behalf of the Like Minded Group, at the 61st Session of the Commission on Human Rights 14 March 2005, Geneva
(Footnote 50 return)
China and Group of 77(G77), http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zzjg/gjs/gjzzyhy/2616/t15326.htm
(Footnote 51 return)
(Footnote 52 return)
China ratified the Law of the Sea Convention on 7 June 1996 and has passed domestic legislation to implement the treaty, including Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of 25 February 1992, the Declaration of the Government of the People's Republic of China on the baselines of the territorial sea on 15 May 1996 and the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Act of 26 June 1998. China actively participates in the International Seabed Authority, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea where Judge Guangjian Xu has been a Member of the Tribunal since 16 May 2001; http://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/chronological_lists_of _ ratifications.htm accessed 20051105 and http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zzjg/tyfls/tyfl/2626/2628/t15474.htm accessed 20051105;Elizabeth Van Wie Davis, China and the Law of the Sea Convention. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston NY 1995; Jeanette Greenfield, China's Practice in the Law of the Sea, Clarendon Press Oxford, UK 1992;
(Footnote 53 return)
http://www.isa.org.jm/en/default.htm accessed 20051122 The China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) of the People's Republic of China. Date of registration: 5 March 1991 (LOS/PCN/117 )
(Footnote 54 return)
http://www.isa.org.jm/en/seabedarea/2005VesselTour.stm accessed 20051117
(Footnote 55 return)
http://www.nytimes.com accessed 20021027 China Complains About U.S. Surveillance Ship.
(Footnote 56 return)
Nationalist China was one of the contracting parties of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1948. Anticipating controversy, Taiwan shifted to observer status in 1958. The PRC formally applied for contracting party status in 1965, but the negations went nowhere. The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min05_e/min05_e.htm
(Footnote 57 return)
Hu Jintao speech at the UN World Summit in New York 15 September 2005
(Footnote 58 return)
http://www.sectsco.org/fazhanlizheng2.html accessed 20051123; Declaration of Heads of Member States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Astana, July 05, 2005;
(Footnote 59 return)
http://www.sectsco.org accessed 20051123
(Footnote 60 return)
http://www.aseansec.org/18104.htm accessed 20060211.
(Footnote 61 return)
China's Peaceful Development Road
(Footnote 62 return)
Assessment charts http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/assessedlarge05.htm;
(Footnote 63 return)
Peter S. Goodman, Foreign Currency Piles Up in China, Washington Post Foreign Service, 17 January 2006; D01, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011600450_pf.html accessed 20060117
(Footnote 64 return)
For an excellent summary of China's resort to traditional Washington lobbying firms, see Marina Walker Guevera and Bob Williams, China Steps Up Its Lobbying Game: The Chinese government is hiring the best of the best to advance its agenda, The Center for Public Integrity, Washington, D.C., September 13, 2005, http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/report.aspx?aid=734
(Footnote 65 return)
The latest authoritative expression of concern is found in Quadrennial Defense Review Report, U.S. Department of Defense, Washington, D.C., February 6, 2006, http://www.defenselink.mil/qdr/report/Report20060203.pdf, especially pp. 2930
(Footnote 66 return)
Both Sasser and Kapp quotes appear in ''China Lobbies U.S. on the Cheap, Aided by Boeing, Ford, Chamber,'' by Paul Basken and Michael Forsythe, Bloomberg News, December 9, 2003.
(Footnote 67 return)
''The New China Lobby,'' by Robert Dreyfuss, The American Prospect 8 No. 30, January 1, 1997February 1, 1997, online at http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V8/30/dreyfuss-r.html
(Footnote 68 return)
This information about the PNTR lobbying campaign is found in ''Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On Permanent Normal Trade Relations With China,'' Congressional Record 146 No. 102, 106th Congress, Second Session, September 6, 2000, online at http://www.senate.gov/?feingold/speeches/senflr/pntr.html
(Footnote 69 return)
''A Counterproductive Approach to China; Unilateral sanctions not only don't work, they anger our allies and undermine American jobs,'' by Thomas J. Donahue, The Washington Post, July 10, 2000
(Footnote 70 return)
''China Lobbies U.S. on the Cheap,'' op. cit.
(Footnote 71 return)
See ''House rejects bill aimed at stopping Europe sales of arms to China,'' Associated Press, International Herald Tribune, July 15, 2005, online at http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/14/news/arms.php
(Footnote 72 return)
Quoted in ''Who Bought Off the Think Tanks?'' by Michael Rust, Insight on the News, November 19, 2001
(Footnote 73 return)
See ''About the Endowment: Funding,'' Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005, http://www/carnegieendowment.org/about/index.cfm?fa=funding and ''History,'' Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006
(Footnote 74 return)
Calculated from ''Statement of Activities,'' 2005 Annual Report of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Council on Foreign Relations, New York, N.Y., p. 75, online at http://www.cfr.org/about/annualreport/; ''Finances,'' 2005 Annual Report, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C., p. 37, online at http://www.aei.org/docLib/20051213_AnnualReport.pdf; and ''CSIS Financial Information,'' CSIS, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., p. 22, online at http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/annual_report_05.pdf
(Footnote 75 return)
''Corporate Program,'' 2005 Annual Report of The Council on Foreign Relations, op. cit., pp. 4547
(Footnote 76 return)
''Honor Roll of Contributors,'' Annual Report 2004, The Brookings Institution, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., pp. 3940; ''Feinstein, husband hold strong China connections,'' by Glenn F. Bunting et al., The Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1997; ''Barefoot' Banker Strikes Gold,'' by Michael Schuman, Time, March 28, 2005
(Footnote 77 return)
''2004 Heritage Foundation Associates,'' The Heritage Foundation: 2004 Annual Report, The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., pp. 2425, online at http://www.heritage.org/About/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=79003
(Footnote 78 return)
''2004 Finances'' and ''2004 Heritage Foundation Associates,'' both Ibid., pp. 28, 2425; ''About the Endowment: Funding,'' op. cit.
(Footnote 79 return)
''Board of Directors,'' The Council on Foreign Relations, http://www.cfr.org/about/people/board_of_directors.html
(Footnote 80 return)
''About Brookings: Brookings Board of Trustees,'' http://www.brookings.edu/ea/trustees.htm; China Steps Up Its Lobbying Game, op. cit.; ''Combined Individual/Foundation/Corporate Gifts,'' Annual Report 2004, The Brookings Instutition, op. cit., p. 36
(Footnote 81 return)
''About IIE: Board of Directors,'' http://www.iie.com/institute/board.cfm
(Footnote 82 return)
''About CSIS: Board of Trustees,''http://csis.org/about/trustees/; ''About AEI: Trustees, Officers, and Advisers,'' http://www.aei.org/about/filter.,contentID.20038142214500073/default.asp
(Footnote 83 return)
''About CSIS,'' op. cit.
(Footnote 84 return)
''About the Heritage Foundation: Board of Trustees,'' http://www.heritage.org/About/Departments/trustees.cfm; ''About Staff: Barbara Hackman Franklin, http://www.heritage.org/About/Staff/Barbara
(Footnote 85 return)
''Experts: Erik R. Peterson,'' http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_experts/task,view/type,34/id,73/; ''Seven Futures,'' http://www.7revs.org/
(Footnote 86 return)
''Named Chairs, Fellowships, and Lectureships,'' 2005 Annual Report of The Council on Foreign Relations, op. cit., p. 52
(Footnote 87 return)
Ibid., pp. 52, 54; ''State Department accuses firms of violations,'' Associated Press, January 1, 2003; ''Big Donor Calls Favorable Treatment a 'Coincidence,' '' by Ruth Marcus and John Mintz, The Washington Post, May 25, 1998
(Footnote 88 return)
''Research staff: Morris Goldstein,'' http://www.iie.com/publications/author_bio.cfm?author_id=10; ''Research Staff: Gary Clyde Hufbauer,'' http://www.iie.com/publications/author_bio/cfm?author_id=27. Weatherstone's bio can be found at ''IACS Foundation Names Two New Trustees,'' Press Release, International Accounting standards Committee Foundation, December 20, 2002
(Footnote 89 return)
''A Benefactor Flexes His Wallet; After Report Threatens Funding, Heritage Issues a New One,'' by Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, May 11, 2000 | <urn:uuid:2c526dd4-85f1-430f-b3d9-4498bd1fe7c6> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa26076.000/hfa26076_0.HTM | 2022-05-17T15:19:22Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662517485.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20220517130706-20220517160706-00010.warc.gz | en | 0.954702 | 62,236 |
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We respect the intellectual property of others. We strive to respond promptly to proper notices of copyright infringement by removing or disabling access to allegedly infringing material. It is our policy to terminate the access privileges of those who repeatedly infringe the copyrights of others.
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Better Bet, LLC.
Attn: Copyright Agent
20 N. Upper Wacker Dr Ste. #1200
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your name, address, telephone number, and email address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of
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from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
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The Services are provided to you and controlled by Besst from facilities in the United States. Besst makes no representations that the Services are appropriate or available for use in other locations. If you access or use the Services from other jurisdictions, you do so at your own volition and are responsible for compliance with any laws, rules and regulations applicable to your jurisdiction.
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This Agreement shall, unless and except to the extent governed by the Federal laws of the United States, shall be construed and governed solely by the internal laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to Delaware's conflict of laws provisions.
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YOU UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU AND BESST ARE GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND TO HAVE A TRIAL BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY.
To encourage quick and cost-effective resolution of any issues, you and Besst agree to first attempt to negotiate any Claim informally before either party initiates any arbitration or court proceeding. Therefore, a party who intends to seek arbitration must first send to the other, by certified mail, a written Notice of Claim (“Notice”). The Notice must (a) describe the nature and basis of the Claim, and (b) set for the specific relief sought. If we and you do not reach an agreement to resolve the Claim within thirty (30) days after the Notice is received (or such longer time as the parties may mutually agree), either party may commence an arbitration proceeding. Any Notice to Besst should be addressed to: Better Bet, LLC, ATTN: Arbitration Notice, 20 N. Upper Wacker Dr st. #1200, Chicago, IL 60606.
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The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) and, except as modified by this Agreement, governed by the AAA’s Commercial Arbitration Rules and, where applicable, the AAA’s Consumer Arbitration Rules. These rules and procedures and more information about AAA’s process are available at https://www.adr.org/. The arbitrator is bound by the terms of this Arbitration Agreement.
Notwithstanding any other choice of law provision contained in this Agreement, the Federal Arbitration Act applies to the construction, interpretation and enforceability of this Arbitration Agreement and any arbitration conducted pursuant to this Section.
Any arbitration under this Section may be conducted through the submission of documents, by phone, or in person in the county where you live or at another mutually agreed location.
Except as hereafter provided, all issues are for the arbitrator to decide. Notwithstanding the foregoing, applicable AAA rules, or any other provision of this Agreement, any disagreement or dispute concerning arbitrability (e.g., whether a particular Claim is arbitrable), or the scope this Arbitration Agreement shall be resolved by a court of competent jurisdiction. The arbitrator shall stay all arbitration proceedings pending a decision from the appropriate court on disputes regarding arbitrability or the scope of this Arbitration Agreement.
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19. MISCELLANEOUS TERMS
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19.7 Severability. Except as described in Section 17.5 (Class and Collective Action Waiver), if any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions will continue in full force without being impaired or invalidated in any way.
19.8 Entire Agreement. This Agreement, including all agreements and policies referred to and incorporated herein, sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between you and Besst, and supersedes any and all other oral or written agreements or understandings between us. | <urn:uuid:a9cf120f-47e5-4461-b2ae-66f1ac1442dd> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.besst.io/terms-of-service | 2022-05-20T06:29:04Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662531762.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20220520061824-20220520091824-00010.warc.gz | en | 0.893334 | 7,956 |
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
General Anesthesia Does Not Have Persistent Effects on Attention in Rodents
- 1Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- 2Center for Consciousness Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
- 3Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States
Background: Studies in animals have shown that general anesthesia can cause persistent spatial memory impairment, but the influence of anesthetics on other cognitive functions is unclear. This study tested whether exposure to general anesthesia without surgery caused a persistent deficit in attention in rodents.
Methods: To evaluate whether anesthesia has persistent effects on attention, rats were randomized to three groups. Group A was exposed for 2 h to isoflurane anesthesia, and tested the following seven days for attentional deficits. Group B was used as a control and received room air before attentional testing. Since there is some evidence that a subanesthetic dose of ketamine can improve cognition and reduce disorders of attention after surgery, rats in group C were exposed to isoflurane anesthesia in combination with a ketamine injection before cognitive assessment. Attention was measured in rats using the 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task, for which animals were trained to respond with a nose poke on a touchscreen to a brief, unpredictable visual stimulus in one of five possible grid locations to receive a food reward. Attention was analyzed as % accuracy, % omission, and premature responses.
Results: Evaluating acute attention by comparing baseline values with data from the day after intervention did not reveal any differences in attentional measurements. No significant differences were seen in % accuracy, % omission, and premature responses for the three groups tested for 7 consecutive days.
Conclusion: These data in healthy rodents suggest that general anesthesia without surgery has no persistent effect on attention and the addition of ketamine does not alter the outcome.
Every year more than 300 million patients undergo surgery worldwide, the majority with general anesthesia (Weiser et al., 2015). Studies in humans and animals suggest the possibility of immediate and/or persistent cognitive impairments attributable to general anesthesia. In rodents, for example, general anesthesia alone can cause disorders in spatial cognition (Culley et al., 2004a,b) as well as impaired learning and memory (Culley et al., 2003; Jevtovic-Todorovic et al., 2003; Bianchi et al., 2008; Lin and Zuo, 2011). These preclinical data raise the question of whether general anesthesia in humans is responsible for post-operative cognitive dysfunctions such as delirium. Delirium is a complex syndrome characterized by acute and fluctuating cognitive impairment that prominently involves attention (Gupta et al., 2008; American Psychiatric Association, 2013; World Health Organization, 2018). Delirium is associated with short- and long-term consequences including increased risk of falls, diminished quality of life, prolonged hospital stay, higher costs for patients and hospitals, and increased mortality rates (Ely et al., 2001a,b; McCusker et al., 2002; Inouye, 2006; Siddiqi et al., 2006; Leslie et al., 2008; Witlox et al., 2010; Rudolph and Marcantonio, 2011). However, most basic science studies of general anesthesia and cognition in animals have focused on spatial learning and memory, which has questionable relevance to the human phenotype of delirium. Thus, in order to assess whether it is biologically plausible that exposure to general anesthesia alone could cause delirium in the days following exposure, we tested the effects of isoflurane on attention (measured with the 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task; Robbins, 2002) for a 1 week period.
Materials and Methods
This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Academies Press, 8th Edition, Washington, DC, 2011) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) supported by the Animal Care and Use Office. The protocol was approved by the IACUC. Male, 2–3 months old Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 18) were purchased from Envigo (Michigan, United States), housed in pairs in identical chambers under a 12:12 h light:dark cycle, and were allowed a 7 day acclimation period before the study.
Attention Assessment With the 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task
The Bussey-Saksida Touchscreen System from Lafayette Instruments (Lafayette, IN, United States) was used for the 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task (5-CSRTT) (Bussey et al., 2008). This task measures attention and requires the rodent to respond to a brief visual stimulus presented randomly in one of five locations. This task has high translational value since it is adapted from the human continuous performance task (Robbins, 2002). First, all animals were food restricted to 80–90% of their free feed body weight to motivate them to perform in the 5-CSRTT, but had ad lib access to water. Animals were weighed daily to ensure overall health. Sucrose pellets (45 mg, unflavored, product number F06233, Bio-Serv, Flemington, NJ, United States) provided a reward for performing the task. The 607.55 cm2 (94.17 square inch) chamber was set with a touchscreen on one side covered with a black plastic board keeping five grids open for possible light stimuli. The food tray was situated on the opposite side of the chamber. An infra-red video camera was installed above the chamber, which allowed video recording of task performance (Figure 1). The task was performed in the dark to give a better contrast for light stimulus.
Figure 1. The figure shows the 5-CSRTT chamber setup. Loudspeaker, video camera, light source, and food dispenser are above a lid covering the testing chamber.
Conditioning and Testing Schedule for the 5-CSRTT
The animals were trained according to the CAM 5-CSRTT protocol (CAM Rat Touch 5CSRT ABETT II Manual V2_2.pdf, Lafayette Instruments Co., IN, United States). This protocol is run in darkness to allow better contrast for the illuminated grid. In short, rats were habituated to the chamber and were allowed to discover the food tray, which was filled with several sucrose pellets (Habituation, 30 min) and which was on the opposite side of the chamber as the touchscreen. Animals were trained the following days to use their nose to touch one of the five possible illuminated screen grids to receive a food reward. Only one grid was illuminated at a time (the rest stayed dark) and the position of the illuminated grid was chosen pseudorandomly, meaning that the stimulus was not displayed in the same position more than three times in a row. After a delay (30 s), the grid turned dark and one sucrose pellet was delivered into the then illuminated food tray. The nose poke into the tray turns off the light and starts the inter-trial interval (ITI, 5 s). After the ITI, another grid is illuminated. If an animal touches the correct (illuminated) grid while it is displayed, the grid became dark and a tone (1000 ms) was played while, simultaneously, three sucrose pellets are delivered into the food tray. Reward collection initiated the ITI (Initial Touch, 100 trials over max. 60 min). During the next phase, the rat must learn to touch the correct grid to elicit a tone (1000 ms) combined with the release of a sucrose pellet into the then illuminated food tray, indicating a correct answer. There is no response if the animal touches a dark grid. Entry into the food tray turns the light off and starts the ITI (Must Touch, 100 trials over max. 60 min). For the following conditioning level, the rat needs to learn to initiate a trial. Therefore, the animal received one food pellet into the illuminated tray at the beginning of the session. The rat must then poke its nose into the food tray before a stimulus is presented on the touchscreen. As before, the animal needs to touch the correct grid to receive a reward (as described under the Must Touch session above). Retrieving the reward turns the tray light off and starts the ITI. After the 5 s ITI period the light in the food tray turned on and the animal needed to initiate the next trial by poking its nose into and out of the food tray before the next image was displayed (Must Initiate, 100 trials over max. 60 min). In the next phase, the animals were trained as described above but when the animal touched an incorrect (not illuminated) grid, the light on top of the chamber was automatically turned on indicating a time out time (5 s) during which the animal needed to wait and did not receive a reward (Punish Incorrect, 100 trials over max. 60 min). The same time out with no reward occurred during the later stages if an animal did not react during the limited hold time after a grid light illumination (the time the animal had to respond to the correct grid) or when an animal reacted prematurely to the stimulus (during the 5 s delay between initiating the next trial and the illumination of one grid). After a time out, the animal needed to initiate the next trial. A trial ended when either a reward was collected, an incorrect response was made, or the time out began following an omission or premature response. Time spent in the chamber depended on the training session and how well the animal performed. Sessions were deemed complete when the animal either fulfilled the trial runs or when the time set for the trial was over, whichever occurred first. From Initial Touch to Punish Incorrect, animals moved to the next training level when the number of correct responses was 80 or higher. Every animal received only one training session per day. After the animals had, for at least 2 days, 80 or more correct responses at the Punish Incorrect training level, rats were conditioned to reach the baseline level for the testing phase. This was done in eight stages, during which everything was done the same way as during the Punish Incorrect training phase. However, the limited hold time (60, 30, 20, 10, 5, 5, 5, 5 s) and the stimulus duration (60, 30, 20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1.5, 1 s) were reduced with every stage, ensuring that the animal needed to pay more attention. In addition, omissions and premature responses ended in a time out phase. To move to the next stage, an animal needed to meet the learning criteria of accuracy >80% and omission <20%. After the animal successfully learned the eighth stage, it was randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (see below in section Experimental Groups). A baseline session was performed 1 day after reaching the eighth stage followed by treatment the day after that. The next day the animal performed the same stage (eighth) as for the baseline testing. From the following day on, the animal’s attention was tested using stages nine to fourteen, during which the stimulus duration was further reduced (0.9, 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.25 s), while limited hold time stayed at 5 s.
After successfully learning the eighth conditioning stage (accuracy >80% and omission <20%), animals were randomly assigned to three groups (Figure 2). To evaluate the effect of anesthesia on attention, rats in group A (n = 6) were treated for 2 h with isoflurane anesthesia and underwent attentional testing the following 7 days. Animals in group B (n = 6) were used as controls and instead received room air for 2 h before undergoing the attentional tests for several days. There is some evidence that the anesthetic drug ketamine can improve cognition in the elderly (Hudetz et al., 2009a,c) possibly due to anti-inflammatory (Loix et al., 2011; Dale et al., 2012) and analgesic (Ahern et al., 2015) properties. Furthermore, administration of ketamine during isoflurane anesthesia accelerated recovery (Hambrecht-Wiedbusch et al., 2017), raising the question of whether ketamine as an adjunct could enhance cognition. Therefore, animals in group C (n = 6) were administered ketamine during isoflurane anesthesia followed by tests of attention. Rats were kept for 2 h under isoflurane anesthesia while also receiving an intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of a subanesthetic dose of ketamine after about one-fourth of the total anesthesia time had elapsed. Rats were tested on attentional tasks starting the next day for 1 week. As a control for the stimulus of the injection itself in group C, animals in group A and B received a saline injection at the same time point.
Figure 2. Study design. The timeline shows the different manipulations (white boxes) and the duration of the random light stimulus (gray boxes) for the entire experiment. The three different treatment groups are marked with A, B, and C.
Experimental Design and Timeline
The day after the baseline measurement, an animal was placed in a modified Raturn (Bioanalytical Systems, Inc., IN, United States; for detailed modified Raturn design; see Hambrecht-Wiedbusch et al., 2017). The modification allowed the Raturn to be sealed such that inhaled anesthetics can be administered while the animal behaves freely. For animals in group A, the Raturn was sealed after about 30 min of acclimation time and filled with isoflurane in high-flow oxygen (10 L/min) until inlet and outlet monitors were consistently sensing 2.5% isoflurane for 2 min. After induction of general anesthesia, as defined by the loss of righting reflex, the animal was placed on its back and a temperature probe was inserted rectally through a door in the Raturn. Breathing rate and temperature were assessed every 12.5 min throughout the experiment. Isoflurane levels were maintained at 1.5% throughout the 2 h of anesthesia exposure (note that 1.4% is the minimum alveolar concentration for isoflurane in rodents; Pal et al., 2012). After 37.5 min under isoflurane anesthesia, the animal received an i.p. injection of 25 mg/kg saline. Isoflurane anesthesia was discontinued 82.5 min later and the animal was allowed time to recover (defined as the return of righting response). Afterward, the rat was returned to its home cage and fed. In group B, the animals followed the same timeline as rats in group A but were, as a control, only exposed to room air for 2 h (open Raturn); they received a saline injection at the same time point during the experiment as animals in groups A and C. Rats in group C followed the same protocol as animals in group A but were exposed to 2 h of isoflurane anesthesia with an i.p. ketamine (25 mg/kg) instead of a saline injection after 37.5 min of anesthesia time.
Assessment of Attention
Since cognitive impairments like delirium in patients is characterized as an acute and fluctuating impairment of cognition and is not always apparent immediately after recovery from anesthesia because of the residual drug effects, animals were cognitively assessed for the 7 days starting after the day of experimentation. A decreasing stimulus duration (starting with 1 s on day one and ending with 0.25 s on day seven post-manipulation) was used to challenge the animal in order to counteract a possible ceiling effect if all days were tested with the same 1 s stimulus duration.
Attention was assessed by the two components of % accuracy and % omission, showing the ability of the animal to perform the task. In addition, we evaluated premature responses as a marker of concentration and restraint. Data were acquired automatically through the Abet II “CAM 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task” program provided by the Lafayette Instrument Company. All animals fulfilled the daily 60 trials.
Percent accuracy reflects how well the animal performed each trial and was calculated as follows:
†: including number of omissions and premature responses
Percent omission is used to indicate how often the animal received a time out trial and therefore did not receive a reward. It was calculated as follows:
†: including number of omissions and premature responses
Premature response is a reaction at the start of a new trial and is regarded as a marker of impulsivity. It indicates the animal’s inability to concentrate and wait for the illumination of the grid light. Premature responses were also included in the total number of trials.
Results are presented as mean ± SD. All data were evaluated with input from the Center for Statistical Consultation and Research at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI, United States). To compare the acute effect of anesthesia within the different treatment groups, unpaired t-test with Welch correction was used to compare baseline values with day 1 post-manipulation data. Comparisons of baseline values for % accuracy, % omission, and premature responses were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by multiple comparison Tukey procedure for each treatment group. Percent accuracy, % omission, and premature responses were analyzed using a two-way, repeated measures ANOVA. All data were evaluated using GraphPad (Prism) version 7. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
A direct comparison between baseline day and first day after anesthesia was used for each treatment group to evaluate the acute effect of anesthesia on attention, because on both of these days the animal received the same stimulus duration of 1 s. Since, starting with day two, the stimulus duration was continuously reduced, a direct comparison with baseline values was no longer appropriate.
Acute Effect of Anesthesia on Attention
Figure 3 depicts the comparison of baseline vs. day 1 post-anesthetic measurements for % accuracy, % omission, and premature responses for all treatment groups. Unpaired t-tests showed no significant difference between baseline and day 1 values for % accuracy (anesthesia+saline p = 0.5974, room air+saline p = 0.2700, anesthesia+ketamine p = 0.3303; Figure 3A), % omission (anesthesia+saline p = 0.7213, room air+saline p = 0.8780, anesthesia+ketamine p = 0.5268; Figure 3B), or premature responses (anesthesia+saline p = 0.3535, room air+saline p = 0.5068, anesthesia+ketamine p = 0.1659; Figure 3C).
Figure 3. Acute effect of anesthesia on attention. Comparison of baseline and the day after manipulation (day 1) showed no significant difference for all treatment groups for % accuracy (A), % omission (B), and premature responses (C).
Effect of General Anesthesia on % Accuracy Over 1 Week
Figure 4 illustrates the effect of anesthesia on % accuracy across all treatment groups over the course of the experiment. (Data, shown as values (±SEM), can be seen in Supplementary Figure 1. Data analyzed in the conventional way are shown in Supplementary Figure 2). One-way ANOVA for baseline values revealed a significant difference [F(2, 15) = 5.129; p = 0.0201] between anesthesia+saline and anesthesia+ketamine (p = 0.0207), as shown by Tukey post hoc test. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA for post-manipulation comparisons showed no significant difference for treatment [F(2, 15) = 0.03625; p = 0.9645] or interaction [F(12, 90) = 1.126; p = 0.3496], but did show a difference for time [F(6, 90) = 34.79; p < 0.0001], which reflects the overall decrease in % accuracy over time for all three treatment groups. Raw data for correct and incorrect responses are shown in Table 1. Furthermore, mean correct response latency data are listed in Table 2.
Figure 4. Percent accuracy measured with 5-CSRTT for 7 days following manipulation. No significant differences were detected using a two-way repeated measures ANOVA.
Effect of General Anesthesia in % Omission Over 1 Week
Figure 5 depicts the effect of isoflurane on % omission between all treatment groups over the course of the experiment. (Data, shown as values (±SEM), can be seen in Supplementary Figure 1. Data analyzed in the conventional way are shown in Supplementary Figure 2). One-way ANOVA for baseline value comparison showed a significant difference [F(2, 15) = 5.721; p = 0.0142] between room air+saline and anesthesia+saline (p = 0.0349) and room air+saline and anesthesia+ketamine (p = 0.0207), as revealed by Tukey post hoc comparison. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA for treatment groups after manipulation showed no significant difference for treatment [F(2, 15) = 2.889; p = 0.0868], time [F(6, 90) = 1.116; p = 0.3592], or interaction [F(12, 90) = 1.263; p = 0.2547]. Raw data for omissions can be found in Table 1.
Figure 5. Percent omission measured with 5-CSRTT for 7 days following manipulation. No significant differences were detected using a two-way repeated measures ANOVA.
Effect of General Anesthesia on Premature Responses Over 1 Week
The effect of anesthesia on premature responses is shown in Figure 6. (Data, shown as values (±SEM), can be seen in Supplementary Figure 1). One-way ANOVA did not show a significant difference in baseline values between the three treatment groups [F(2, 15) = 2.897; p = 0.0864]. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA for post-treatment comparison revealed no significant difference in treatment [F(2, 15) = 2.55; p = 0.1113], time [F(6, 90) = 1.176; p = 0.3261], or interaction [F(12, 90) = 0.6599; p = 0.7849]. Raw data for premature responses are shown in Table 1. In addition, reward collection latency data are listed in Table 2.
Figure 6. Premature responses measured with 5-CSRTT for 7 days following manipulation. No significant differences were detected using a two-way repeated measures ANOVA.
The current study showed that 2 h of isoflurane anesthesia did not impair the ability to perform an attentional task for 7 subsequent days. Furthermore, the data show that adding a subanesthetic dose of ketamine to isoflurane anesthesia, which has previously been shown to accelerate recovery (Hambrecht-Wiedbusch et al., 2017), did not affect post-anesthetic cognition. Both findings suggest that isoflurane anesthesia, with or without ketamine, has no persistent effect on attention for the analyzed groups.
Surgery with anesthesia has been associated with cognitive dysfunction (Francis et al., 1990; Marcantonio et al., 1998; Lowery et al., 2008; Hudetz et al., 2009a; Carr et al., 2011; Cui et al., 2017) and, specifically, impaired attention (Ren et al., 2015; Chen et al., 2016). Disturbance of attention is a major clinical diagnostic feature in delirium in humans (Meagher et al., 2007; American Psychiatric Association, 2013; World Health Organization, 2018) and is typically identified the day after surgery (Bilotta et al., 2016; Cui et al., 2017). In this study, comparing cognitive behaviors between the day before anesthesia treatment (baseline) with the day after treatment (day 1) did not show any significant differences for % accuracy, % omission, or premature responses between exposure to isoflurane anesthesia vs. room air.
When evaluating % accuracy, which can be seen as a measure of memory for task recall, animals treated with anesthesia did not differ on any of the days after manipulation from animals treated with room air, confirming that the animals had no impaired cognition and were able to recall the previously learned task. This is similar to a study in humans by Chen et al. (2016), in which the attention network task was used to examine the efficiency of the alerting, orienting, and executive control attention networks in middle aged women undergoing gynecologic surgery. Using the 5-CSRTT, another aspect of attention was evaluated, % omission, which tests the inability to perform the task and can shed light on sensory, motor, or motivational factors. Overall, there was no significant difference in % omission for all three treatment groups over the 7 days time period. The slight, but non-significant, increase in room air treated animals on the last testing days is likely due to the fact that one animal was showing relatively more omissions at the end of the week, probably because the animal was not seeing the light cue while still sniffing in and around the food tray area (see Supplementary Figure 3). Another measure of cognitive impairment is premature response, which is a surrogate for the impulsivity of an animal and the inability to focus attention and wait for the correct cue. The results of this study are similar to the work of Carmen et al. (2016), in which anesthesia did not alter the impulsivity to perform a task. Our results show that exposure to isoflurane anesthesia does not appear to be a confound for experiments involved in attention.
The unique anesthetic drug ketamine is regularly used in clinical settings and is advantageous because it maintains respiratory drive and airway patency (Eikermann et al., 2012). Hudetz et al. (2009a,c) found that low-dose ketamine improved cognition 1 week after cardiac surgery and reduced post-operative delirium. However, in the current study, a subanesthetic dose of ketamine given during exposure to isoflurane did not change performance (% accuracy, % omission, and premature responses) of attentional tasks. This is consistent with results of the multicenter PODCAST trial by Avidan et al. (2017), in which intraoperative, subanesthetic ketamine did not change the incidence of delirium in humans. It is also consistent with a study by Bilotta et al. (2016), who showed that ketamine given during general anesthesia in humans did not cause post-operative cognitive changes.
Strengths and Limitations
One strength of this study is that it evaluated general anesthesia without the influence of surgery, pain (Heyer et al., 2000; Cheng et al., 2008; Zywiel et al., 2014), inflammation (Wan et al., 2007; Caza et al., 2008; Li et al., 2012; van Harten et al., 2012; Hovens et al., 2014), and drug interactions (Burns et al., 1990; Francis et al., 1990; Millar, 1998; Moore and O’Keeffe, 1999). Another strength is that the study specifically evaluated attention, which is arguably more relevant to delirium than spatial memory. Evaluating attention daily over the course of a week was also a methodologic strength because it is similar to the time course of post-operative delirium, since delirium in humans can persist beyond post-operative day 1. Therefore, studies have evaluated cognition several days to a week after surgery (Francis et al., 1990; Marcantonio et al., 1998; Lowery et al., 2008; Hudetz et al., 2009b,c; Carr et al., 2011; Cui et al., 2017).
Although it could be argued that having the animals perform the same test for 7 consecutive days would improve performance through a learning effect, the stimulus duration was reduced daily and the program still randomly chose which grid was illuminated, which forced the animal to engage attention and precluded pattern detection. The overall decrease of the % accuracy values over time provides evidence that the reduced stimulus duration made the task harder. This is confirmed by Higgins and Silenieks (2017), who showed that changing the stimulus duration is correlated with the % correct responses, meaning shorter stimulus duration results in reduced % accuracy. Methodologic weaknesses include the restriction to healthy non-elderly animals, the single halogenated ether used, and the relatively short (although still clinically relevant) exposure to isoflurane. Furthermore, it is possible that this particular performance task was not sensitive enough to detect subtler attentional deficits. Finally, there are no well-defined rodent models of delirium and thus the translational relevance of these findings to humans must be established through further research.
Collectively, these data suggest that – in healthy animals that are not undergoing surgery – general anesthesia alone does not have a persistent effect on attention. Impaired cognition after surgery might mainly depend on other factors such as surgery, inflammation, other drugs, co-morbid conditions, and age.
This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Academies Press, 8th Edition, Washington, DC, 2011) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) supported by the Animal Care and Use Office. The protocol was approved by the IACUC.
VH-W designed the study, conducted experiments, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. KL and RA conducted experiments and analyzed data. MA consulted on experimental design and revised the manuscript. AN and MP conducted experiments, analyzed data, and participated in drafting the manuscript. GM designed the study, interpreted data, and wrote the manuscript. All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
This work was supported by grant no. R01GM111293 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, and by the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
We thank Mary A. Norat (Laboratory Research Specialist, Senior) and Graciela B. Mentz, Ph.D., from the Department of Anesthesiology, and Chris Andrews, Ph.D., and Manish Verma, Ph.D., from the Center for Statistical Consultation and Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan for technical and expert assistance.
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00076/full#supplementary-material
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Keywords: 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time Task, accuracy, cognitive dysfunction, delirium, isoflurane, ketamine, omission, premature response
Citation: Hambrecht-Wiedbusch VS, LaTendresse KA, Avidan MS, Nelson AG, Phyle M, Ajluni RE and Mashour GA (2019) General Anesthesia Does Not Have Persistent Effects on Attention in Rodents. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 13:76. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00076
Received: 17 December 2018; Accepted: 28 March 2019;
Published: 17 April 2019.
Edited by:Fuat Balcı, Koç University, Turkey
Reviewed by:Adem Can, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, United States
Piotr Popik, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Tracie Ann Paine, Oberlin College, United States
Copyright © 2019 Hambrecht-Wiedbusch, LaTendresse, Avidan, Nelson, Phyle, Ajluni and Mashour. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Viviane S. Hambrecht-Wiedbusch, [email protected] | <urn:uuid:651f56d3-487f-4284-afec-cdea1b6bd65a> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00076/full | 2022-05-23T00:30:49Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662550298.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20220522220714-20220523010714-00010.warc.gz | en | 0.895392 | 9,815 |
Thank you for your time and your noble intention to give readers of “Politika” answers to very sensitive issues that characterize the positions of Orthodoxy in the modern world, namely – as you feel and know well – answers to very interesting questions about the Church of Ukraine. We admit that among the Serbian public, your explanation for this situation and your arguments have not been presented to a satisfactory degree. In contrast to this, the view and attitude of the Russian Church is constantly repeated in the Serbian media, and readers are fully familiar with them. With this interview, I am taking the opportunity to clarify your positions and recent actions. In this interview, we would like to start with some general issues, and then move on to more specific questions.
Interviewer: How would you describe the position of Orthodoxy in the modern world? What is your role as Ecumenical Patriarch? I have in mind the Serbian theologian Stojan Gosevic, who once expressed the view that “if there was no Ecumenical Patriarchate, we should have to create it.” Could there be Orthodoxy without the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople?
Ecumenical Patriarch: First of all, thank you for your effort and your concern in visiting the Ecumenical Patriarchate and giving us, through this interview, the opportunity to communicate with the pious clergy and the Christ-loving Serbian people.
The position of Orthodoxy in the modern world is no different from what it was in previous years, beginning with the Upper Room at Pentecost. We may have new information today, socially, scientifically, etc., but the purpose and mission of the Church have not changed. The Church is the Ark of salvation and truth, as the Triune God revealed to the world. It is the place where the transformation of man is accomplished and his union with God is achieved. The Church, in other words, is “the Kingdom of God” in the world. Everything else that we see today, which can impress us and cause admiration, such as such as philanthropic, cultural, social, academic, or developmental works, as important as they may seem, do not cease to be ancillary to the basic purpose and goal of the Church. And, of course, they can by no means replace the sovereign and primary mystical and soteriological character of our Orthodox Church.
Regarding the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the world and in the Orthodox Church, I would prefer instead of formulating an answer to urge all your good readers to look at ecclesiastical history, the Sacred Canons, the teaching of the Fathers, and Holy Tradition, and they will find out what the role and responsibility of the Ecumenical and Apostolic Throne are. We, as humble servants and followers of the Apostle Andrew, do nothing more than what the Sacred Canons have bequeathed to us. This phrase of the well-known Serbian theologian Stojan Gosevic is verified by the acts of the Ecumenical Councils and the Tradition of our Church. Whatever the Ecumenical Patriarchate has it owes to the Church. We are not a self-created entity, but one that has developed through the Holy Spirit.
Interviewer: The world seems to be fully globalized. Does this globalization affect Orthodoxy, its essence and its coherence? On the other hand, is the general fluidity of all values forcing some Orthodox communities to mutate into ghettos?
Ecumenical Patriarch: Globalization is a phenomenon that modern scholars identify with modernization and development. Some theologians identify it with secularism. It is essentially about the liberalization of all modern social parameters, such as, for example, economics, communication, culture, trade, which are unexpectedly and unaccountably disseminated across borders. When all this occurs in the place where these changes were created or they are assimilated in their own way, then we are talking about the identity of peoples, but when all these are presented as ideals and attempts are made to impose them on other peoples, then we are talking about globalization.
Globalization within the Church is transformed into universalism in Christ. As we have said, while globalization seems to be a tendency to bundle everything together, universalism, on the contrary, respects and honors the identity and particularities of each people, but also of every individual in particular. Thus the Orthodox Church in general, and our Ecumenical Patriarchate in particular, does not seek to transform the variety of the gifts of the peoples of the world into something homogeneous and uniform, governed by one authority and one mentality, and following a specific cultural and national line. The Church operates on the basis of freedom, love and unity, in the diversity of spiritual gifts and particular characteristics.
However, what creates a problem in the Church and in our personal lives is the secularization that comes from globalization. The modern tendency of secularism is nothing more than a form of globalization that seeks to put them in flux and adapt them to specific national or cultural ideologies. When this happens in the Church, then its coherence is affected, but not its essence. Another aspect of this is the attitude of a nation towards Orthodoxy, and still another, the notion that the Church is the exclusive property of a nation or of certain nations. Respect for and preservation of our identity is natural and necessary. But to limit Christ to specific national contexts, this ultimately results in rejecting Him. Also, to place the nation before the Church leads inexorably to denying the existence of the Church and its universal character.
When we therefore transgress our boundaries, as the Fathers of the Church have defined them, and try to impose our own, that is, our own characteristics and our identity, then unfortunately we create a form of “ghetto,” as you say.
Interviewer: I would like to move on to more straightforward questions, hoping that you will not be disturbed by my sincerity and directness. For more than a century, the subject of autocephaly tormented the unity of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Will this organization, which you call a “new structure of the Church” in Ukraine, help to prevent this dispute from widening? To the groups of former schismatics gathered around Filaret Denysenko and Makarios Maletic, you offer not only forgiveness but also a “reward” for their behavior. Have you thought, Your All-Holiness, about how much will the decision to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will affect the situation (the struggle and the suffering) of the Orthodox in that country, and that Orthodoxy may lose more believers than the Ecumenical Patriarchate predicted?
Ecumenical Patriarch: As you rightly say, the question of autocephaly has been tormenting Ukraine for more than a century. If we go in the past, we will find that there were intense and concerted efforts to free the Kievan people, clergy, monks, and the local hierarchy from the ecclesiastical manipulation of the Patriarchate of Moscow. These efforts began as early as 1325, when the seat of the Metropolitan of Kiev was permanently transferred to Moscow, which events are recorded in history and are no longer disputed. There have been several attempts at autocephaly in the past, which have not been successful. We believe that God does everything according to His own plan. So God’s time came also for Ukraine.
Regarding whether the granting of autocephaly will ultimately help with the issue of unity, we are sure that granting it was a prerequisite. Until yesterday, most of the Ukrainian people were outside the Church. This was something that hurt us. That is why, in the past, we made a lot of efforts to remedy this problem. For example, on our own initiative, we set up a joint committee of hierarchs from the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Moscow, in order to find a solution. Ultimately, this committee almost never operated under the Patriarchate of Moscow, and so the problem has continually grown. Some used the misnomer of schismatic and thus comfort their conscience that everything is all right. But when one of our brothers is described as a schismatic or heretic, much less when an entire population of millions of people are out of the canonical Church on the grounds of schism, then we urgently and without any delay call for a spiritual and apostolic awakening, because “if one member suffers, all suffer together” (I Corinthians 12:26).
For some, the existence of schism in Ukraine was the best excuse to give up this godly people, denying their responsibilities before God and history. For us, however, it was a motivation and a call from God to find solutions that are salvific and unifying, in order to re-establish this people in the sanctifying grace of the Church. What we did, therefore, was our apostolic duty and what the Holy and God-bearing Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils did, who constantly created the conditions, exercising an unconditional ecclesiastical economy, to bring those outside of the Church into its bosom. I would also like to see the issue of unity in this spirit. It is not a “reward” for the hierarchs Filaret and Makarios, as you say in your question. The issue of Ukraine should not be personalized. People will be leaving this world at some point.
If the whole affair concerned only these two persons, be sure that the Church would have operated in a different manner. Today, because of the love of Christ and the unity of the Church, these persons were recognized only as bishops, not for the place they held. We could speak of rehabilitation if the Ecumenical Patriarchate had accepted Filaret as Patriarch and Makarios as Metropolitan of Lviv. But that did not happen.
The issue of Ukraine should therefore be seen globally, ecclesiologically and soteriologically. Beyond all the personalities and national interests, it is important to address the problem. Today, the whole Orthodox people of Ukraine are in good canonical standing. There is a precondition for unity and sharing in the common cup. Now, if some do not accept this, they will have to ask themselves who is breaking the unity.
Interviewer: As you know, there is a lot of contradictory information about the Ukrainian issue in the media. Some people view your actions as paternally inspired, while others as an expression of ambition for power and as an intention that will lead to a “blatant violation of Canon Law.” Have you thought about the traumatized spirituality of Eastern Europe after the communist period and whether there are influences of imperialist American ideas in your actions? Some years ago, in the presence of the heads of all the Orthodox Churches, you promised that you would not interfere with the problems of the Churches in Ukraine because this was an internal issue of the Russian Church. As we have learned from leading theologians of Constantinople, primacy does not presuppose the structure of a pyramid in the Church, but the agreement of one with the many, according to the 34th Canon of the Holy Apostles, which says that the first does nothing without the consent of the many (meaning the synod).
Ecumenical Patriarch: We, as much as our many obligations allow us to do so, are watching the various publications on the Ukrainian issue, and we often feel sorry for the misinformation and the falsification of truth. Nevertheless, we believe that eventually the truth will prevail. It prevails and shines forth. With the passage of time, the intentions of the Mother Church and of me personally, which were purely ecclesiological, canonical and soteriological, will become clear. Of course, there is no question of being controlling or expressing ambition, or even worse, of a “blatant violation of Canon Law,” as you put it in your question. Ukraine has gained its autocephaly. Nothing was added to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, nor to the Ecumenical Patriarch. There was no motivation of self-interest or ulterior motives. We just did our ecclesiastical duty. The grace of God has conferred on us the ministry of the first see of Orthodoxy for almost thirty years. From now on we do not await anything human and secular. We pray daily for the grace and mercy of God in our lives and in our Church. Therefore, what is written and said about ambitions and power interventions does not apply. Nor was there, of course, pressure from certain states for Ukraine’s autocephaly. But I must affirm to you that several Heads of State congratulated the Ecumenical Patriarchate on this decision. Some with letters and others with public statements. When a state praises a decision by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it does not mean that this state has made it happen. Our Church operates freely and free from external interference and secular pressure.
With regard to some of our earlier statements on non-intervention in Ukraine, we did, on the basis of the circumstances and information at that time, make that decision. However, the information changed in the course of time. Apart from the fact that for 30 years Moscow has managed to do nothing but enlarge the split among the Ukrainian people, we have the new conditions that have been established in Ukraine after the Crimean occupation in 2014. At the same time, we have the decisions of the Ukrainian Parliament in favor of autocephaly and the Ukrainian government’s request for ecclesiastical independence. And most importantly, there were requests from Metropolitans Filaret and Makarios for a review of their cases. This has occurred many times in the acts of the Church and is normally defined as a “court of appeal.” Any Orthodox bishop who is condemned by his Church and considers that he has been wronged has the right, on the basis of the 9th and 17th Canons of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, to appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and ask for his case to be re-examined. When, then, the Ecumenical Patriarchate then studies in synod the decisions taken against these bishops, it does not “intervene bluntly” in the territory of other Churches, as some say, but does what the Sacred Canons dictate. If you look at our ecclesiastical history, you will find infinite examples of such incidents, namely, priests and other clergy who felt they were wronged by their local Synod and appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Therefore, the study and the solution to the Ukrainian question was also made in the light of the existence of the court of appeal.
Certainly, we also take into account the 34th Canon of the Holy Apostles, but this rule refers to the bishops of each nation, who should recognize their head as their head and do nothing without consulting him, and correspondingly, the first bishop should not act without consulting his bishops. This Canon attempts to ensure unity and harmony in the local Church. It is not a Canon concerning the relations of the local Churches, but the internal governance of a local Church. Therefore, it does not refer to the relationship of the Ecumenical Patriarch with the other Churches. These relations and the position of Constantinople in the Orthodox Church were determined by the Third Ecumenical Council and were consolidated by the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. Those who know Canon Law and who study the Sacred Canons know very well what the position and responsibility of the Ecumenical Patriarch is in the Orthodox Church.
Interviewer: The Ecumenical Patriarchate recently published a document demonstrating that in the 1686 ruling the Church of Constantinople did not give the territory of the Metropolis of Kiev to the Patriarchate of Moscow, but only the permission to ordain the Metropolitan of Kiev. This document was really unusual, as for the first time it was felt that the Patriarchate of Constantinople had a canonical argument. In the turmoil of Ukraine, there was a question: does the fact that the Moscow Patriarchate was never given a Tomos in relation to Ukraine set aside more than 300 years of patriarchal care of the Patriarchate of Moscow for this country?
Ecumenical Patriarch: It is a fact that there is no regular canon, that is, a Patriarchal Tomos or a Patriarchal and Synodical Act of Concession of the Metropolis of Kiev to the Patriarchate of Moscow. The documents are clear, and the letters of Patriarch Dionysios, sent in 1686, are very clear. Not only do they not grant the Metropolis of Kiev to Moscow, they also set as a basic prerequisite that Kiev will continue to commemorate Constantinople as its canonical authority. Those who have elementary ecclesiological and canonical knowledge understand that it would not be possible to grant the Metropolis of Kiev to Moscow but the Metropolitan of Kiev would continue to commemorate Constantinople. Unfortunately, the Patriarchate of Moscow unilaterally abolished this agreement. It ended the commemoration of Constantinople because it knew that this was the visible sign of the normal jurisdictional reference of the Metropolitan of Kiev to Constantinople. It is also known that before the letters of Patriarch Dionysios were sent, our Russian brothers attempted to ordain Metropolitans of Kiev, but they always encountered reactions from the clergy and the people of Little Russia, who in no way wanted Moscow. Indeed, the Patriarch Nikon of Moscow (1652-1658) improperly appropriated the title of the Patriarch “of Great, Little and White Russia,” which demonstrated the expansionist spirit that had overtaken him.
However, the texts of 1686 are not the first canonical texts that the Ecumenical Patriarchate presented, as you say in your question. If you look at the Tomos granting autocephaly to your sister Church of Poland in 1924, you will find that special mention is made of the Metropolis of Kiev. The Tomos for Poland specifies in particular that the detachment of the Metropolis of Kiev and its annexation by the Moscow Church was not carried out in accordance with canonical provisions. That is, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, 238 years later, did not cease reminding people of this abnormal occupation of the Metropolis of Kiev by the Patriarch of Moscow.
Of course, this status quo has been in place for more than 300 years. But that does not mean that normalization has occurred. There is no law that tells us that sin and uncanonical activity are normalized and healed with the passage of years. As far as we know, “what was groundless in the beginning was attested at the time of the mistake.”
Interviewer: There are some who argue that the Ecumenical Patriarchate entered a foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction and granted autocephaly. Does the Church of Constantinople have a right or privilege to intervene voluntarily wherever it wants, and above all, in the territories of other Churches? Why, in this case, was autocephaly not granted after consultation with the other Orthodox Churches?
Ecumenical Patriarch: From what we mentioned earlier, you realize that we have not entered a foreign ecclesiastical province. We had granted the permission for the ordination of the Metropolitan of Kiev to the Patriarch of Moscow, and this with specific conditions that were not respected on the part of Russia. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has never done such things throughout its history. We do not have expansionist inclinations. I urge you to study ecclesiastical history from the Fourth Ecumenical Council and beyond.
You will find that the Church of Constantinople continually decreases and decreases. At the same time, read the decisions of the Synod that took place in the Church of Panagia Paramythia here in Constantinople in 1593. This Synod set the boundaries of the newly-founded Patriarchate of Moscow. Study whether the limits set by the Holy Fathers are the same as those of the present sister Church of Russia. Here is a question: can each Church self-expand its territorial boundaries, even to the detriment of another?
We, as the Ecumenical Patriarchate, did not intervene. As we mentioned earlier, the issue of Ukraine was timely. The Mother Church suddenly did not decide to deal with a non-existent problem. The fact that some were familiar with the idea of schism and did not care about the enormous ecclesial problem that existed does not relieve us of responsibility for its solution.
Regarding the granting of autocephaly in consultation with the other Orthodox Churches, this was not done because it is not a tradition in our Church. All Tomes of Autocephaly granted to the newly-created Autocephalous Churches (Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Athens, Warsaw, Tirana and Presov) have been granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, without any consultation or consideration at a pan-Orthodox level. And it really is a surprise that the Churches who received their own Tomos of Autocepaly only with the signature of Constantinople are today questioning how it is possible for the Ecumenical Patriarchate to grant unilaterally a Tomos of Autocephaly to Ukraine. The answer is clear: in the same way and the same process that granted ecclesiastical independence to all the newly-created Churches.
Interviewer: As you know, the Synod of the Serbian Church said there would be no communion with Filaret Denysenko and Makarios Maletic. Following the granting of autocephaly, it is not certain that the two schismatic groups in Ukraine have joined and do not continue to fight each other, and even Filaret Denysenko openly demonstrates that he does not plan to respect promises and agreements. Two questions are thus raised: did you have the right to lift or reduce the ecclesiastical excommunication and accept schismatics condemned by other bishops? Is there a way for Filaret to retain the title of Patriarch, and can you do anything about it? Critics of your decisions claim that Filaret goes to different places and operates with patriarchal insignia, although it has been agreed that he would not do so, and is portrayed as a “Patriarch,” having reduced the role of Archbishop Epiphanios to that of a “foreign minister.” I was amazed at the election by the Ukrainians on December 15, 2018, by the Unity Council of the same day, of young Epiphanios, who came from the “party” of Filaret, as the head of the Ukrainian Church, and not of Simeon, the Metropolitan of the canonical Ukrainian Church.
Ecumenical Patriarch: There are no more schismatics in Ukraine, because the Church has restored them. And we consider it a great blessing of the grace of the Holy Spirit that so many millions of people have entered into canonical regularity again. If you refer to the Proceedings of the Ecumenical Councils, you will see that what the Church of Constantinople did is not a new and unprecedented act. The Fathers were always anxious to create the conditions for unity and reintegration into the Church. Having the worst information before them, they were trying to get the best result. So to your question about whether we could perform this restoration, I answer straight to you: of course we could, since there were no dogmatic differences. We have already referred to the 9th and 17th Canons of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, which entitle the Ecumenical Patriarch to take care of such matters. We did not discover this right, or rather this great ecclesiastical responsibility, but we received it. And the Holy Fathers who introduced it knew well why they did it.
As far as Filaret is concerned, the Church recognizes him as Metropolitan of Kiev. Now, within the Church of Ukraine, we do not want to intervene unless we are asked. Therefore, for us there is Filaret the Metropolitan of Kiev. The Patriarch of Kiev does not exist and never existed. But again I think we should not personalize the issue. Not all of Ukraine is Filaret.
Interviewer: Some people often claim that Patriarch Bartholomew, as “the Pope of the East,” considers that there is no one to which he has to explain or validate his decisions because the power of the Patriarchate of Constantinople comes from the Ecumenical Councils. Many believe that the new Tomos of Autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine is not acceptable because of the theological ideas and constructions within it, especially those that say that you are the head of this Church. In a way, the public has gotten the feeling that you are against the Slavs. You recently said that “our Slav brothers do not accept the lead of the Mother Church.” What did you mean by that?
Ecumenical Patriarch: There is no “Pope of the East” in the consciousness of the Orthodox Church, or, of course, in our own thought and humble ministry. The Ecumenical Patriarch does not operate unilaterally and of his own will, but cooperates and co-decides with the Holy and Sacred Synod. But it is a fact that the Ecumenical Councils have given responsibilities and obligations to the Church of Constantinople that the other Churches do not have. And this has not been entrusted to the Mother Church by one Ecumenical Council or a single Canon. It is not, therefore, a fortuity or a contextual conjuncture of those times. There are many Sacred Canons and several decisions of the Ecumenical and Local Synods that confirm these privileges. We cannot change this reality, nor do we have that right. These privileges of the Ecumenical Patriarchate are not related to any secular power, but to a spiritual ministry and responsibility. It is a high ecclesiastical and spiritual work. Having the experience of the ministry in the Patriarchal Throne for almost three decades, I can assure you that the cross of the Constantinople is its precursor.
I love the Slavs and appreciate their devotion and their faith. But that some of them do not accept the lead of the Mother Church; that is a fact. This refusal, however, does not affect our love for them. We love them and we will continue to love them. Do not forget that the Ecumenical Patriarchate granted the Tomos of Autocephaly to Ukraine, a Slavic people. We would not have given such privileges unless we loved them. Besides, ordinary Slavic people have often shown us their love and respect.
The Tomos given to Ukraine is also not a text that was created to confirm the privileges of Constantinople. On the contrary, it is a canonical and technical text, following the tradition of the Mother Church. There is nothing in the Ukrainian Tomos that is not included in other Tomes. What you are saying, that “Constantinople is the head of the Church,” is written precisely in the Tomos given to Moscow in 1590. Many elements of the Tomos of Ukraine also exist in the Tomos of Autocephaly of Serbia. This is, therefore, not a new text. Just the old ones received their Tomes and thanked God, having no difficulty accepting that the Orthodox Church had a First Throne. Today, some people are studying the Ukrainian Tomos individually and not in good spirit. However, this text does not constitute a foreign or a new text compared with the Tomes of the rest of the Autocephalous Churches. There is unity, relevance and continuity. This is how the Ecumenical Patriarchate works.
Interviewer: It is said that, historically speaking, that autocephaly was granted only in areas that were distinct provinces of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Is that true? Also, can the territorial boundaries and the political structure of a region be a measure of the religious determination and responsibilities of the Church?
Ecumenical Patriarch: As mentioned above, all recognized Autocephalous Churches received their autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, not because they were once in its jurisdiction but because the Church of Constantinople, on the basis of the Sacred Canons, has the supreme authority and the right to deal with issues of other local Churches. What is claimed, that every local Church can grant autocephaly to a territorial area within its jurisdiction is not canonically the case and such a tactic never prevailed in the practice of the Orthodox Church. Obviously it is claimed by some because they want to reduce the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This, however, does not express ecclesiastical reality. The Patriarchate of Georgia, for example, has never been in our jurisdiction. But from Constantinople it received autocephaly and patriarchal status.
Regarding geopolitical changes and territorial borders and how far they affect Church decisions, the Church’s acts teach us that these changes do not determine its decisions, but, yes, they sometimes influence them. More specifically, one of the conditions for the granting of autocephaly is the constitution of the state. But that does not mean that whenever there is a state formation, there is also autocephaly. Other canonical and ecclesiastical conditions are required. The Church of Serbia acquired its autocephaly when it acquired a geographic state entity and the ruler of Serbia in 1879, along with the local hierarchy, demanded their ecclesiastical independence from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Serbia, however, had all the other ecclesiastical and spiritual prerequisites. It did not acquire its autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate solely because of its state structure and constitution.
Interviewer: As the First-Throned Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has the strongest connection with the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has quite different borders from those of the countries within its territory. Anti-ecclesiastical and neo-communist structures, which are often unscrupulously supported by local authorities, are trying to support the autocephaly of many small regions, such as Macedonia and Montenegro. What would you say to the Macedonian and Montenegrin Serbs in Macedonia? Are your responsibilities also coming to Slovenia, as the media say? Milutin Stancic, a believer from the Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid (headed by Archbishop Ioannis, who belongs to the Serbian Orthodox Church), would like to ask something like this: “Do you intend to divide the Tomos you gave to the Church of Serbia, to which the Church of Macedonia belongs first?” Can you make another decision?
Ecumenical Patriarch: Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation here. They identify the case of Ukraine with Skopje and Montenegro, and this is done artificially because they want to turn the Church of Serbia against the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Indeed, as far as we know, many hierarchs of the Serbian Church keep their distance from Ukraine, fearing that what has been done there will be repeated in Montenegro and Ohrid. But we assure you that things are not like that. The Church of Serbia had specific geographical boundaries. When the statehood of Serbia expanded, the Serbian brethren approached the Ecumenical Patriarchate and called for the ecclesiastical affiliation of these new territories to be transferred to their jurisdiction. The Ecumenical Patriarchate answered positively and handed over these lands with a Tomos, something that did not happen with the Church of Russia, which trampled upon the territories of the Ecumenical Patriarchate without having received any canonical assignment. The difference, therefore, with Ukraine, both in a canonical and ecclesiological way, is that Russia entered and occupied the Metropolis of Kiev without ever having been granted it, while Serbia has gained everything that belongs to it in a canonical and ecclesiological manner. This means that the Ecumenical Patriarchate will not alter the status of the Church of Serbia and its boundaries without any consultation and cooperation. The Ecumenical Patriarchate never interferes with the territorial boundaries of other Churches unless there is a request and a major ecclesiastical need.
With regard to the Slovenian publications, which have come to our attention, we are sorry, because they serve specific purposes. We urge those interested to read the Tomos of Autocephaly of Ukraine, in order discover there that the newly founded Autocephalous Church of Ukraine has no canonical rights over the Ukrainians outside of the Ukrainian state. The Ukrainian faithful who are in the territories of established and recognized Churches belong to the local Bishops, and the Ukrainians of the Diaspora, under the 28th Canon of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, belong to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Thus the Ukrainians in Poland belong to His Beatitude Brother Sawa and respectively the Ukrainians of Slovenia belong to the local Bishop of the Patriarchate of Serbia. There is no circumstance in which the newly established Church of Ukraine will send bishops beyond its limits. This, therefore, that was published about the installation of bishops in Slovenia is false.
Interviewer: Many still claim that today’s Orthodox Church of Ukraine has greater autonomy from Moscow than that of the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Constantinople. Do you think that, instead of the usual and expected autocephaly, that you gave the Ukrainians fewer privileges and less independence than what the canonical Church of Ukraine enjoys under the Patriarchate of Moscow?
Ecumenical Patriarch: The autocephaly given to Ukraine is complete and is not different from what the other newly-created Autocephalous Churches received.
Interviewer: The issue in Kosovo and in Metohija is the biggest concern for the Serbs, as many churches and monasteries have been destroyed and basic human rights have been jeopardized.
Ecumenical Patriarch: The Ecumenical Patriarchate and we personally are strongly against the desecration and destruction of every religious building. This, of course, includes Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim places of worship, which are unfortunately subject to vandalism and desecration simply because they are in areas where there are differences in the religious beliefs, traditions and practices of monotheistic communities. We have visited several monasteries in Kosovo, Metohija, Gracanica and Dekan, which were built with the blood and faith of pious Orthodox Serbs. These are a proud building block of rich Serbian history and truly rank among the most beautiful monasteries in the world. They are, in fact, invaluable religious heirlooms of the pious Serbs and of human artistic creation, as well as of the world’s civilization as a whole. Their destruction has led to their classification among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We fully sympathize with our beloved Serbian brothers and we share in their pain and frustration. Through this genuine, authentic and fraternal solidarity, we come closer to them and they to us. We wholeheartedly praise their constant and unceasing devotion, which we personally experienced and encountered on our previous visits to Serbia, and our prayer is to see very soon the complete restoration of these holy places. And if God allows it, we will visit Belgrade next fall, where we will celebrate together the 800-year anniversary of the elevation of Saint Sava as Archbishop of Serbia. We have already received an invitation from Patriarch Irenej, to which our answer was: “Whenever the Patriarch invites us, we always respond with great pleasure.”
Interviewer: In the Orthodox world, over the centuries, the Throne of Constantinople played a coordinating role among the Orthodox Churches. How can he play this role today? What is the future of this issue?
Ecumenical Patriarch: Indeed, the Ecumenical Patriarchate was called upon in the past, with a sense of responsibility to coordinate and to decide on inter-Orthodox issues. It will continue its mission and its course in history, having a coordinating and deciding role, depending of course on the details and circumstances of the times. As it has been said recently, the Church of Constantinople is “ruling and suffering.” The Phanar is “empty-handed and renewing.” We live in these two qualities of the Ecumenical Throne.
Our Patriarchate has a mysterious character that does not like and has no patience for people whose aspirations and visions are based on numbness, the megalomania of restricted logic and the commonality of material emotions. That is why it is difficult for us to understand those who are trapped in futility and secularism.
Here, in the First Church, a great mystery was accomplished, which goes beyond human logic and is understood only in the light of the faith and the synergy of heaven and earth. Here the principle of doctrine was founded, theology began here, here the wisdom of our Fathers was recorded, the Ecumenical Councils were here, the principle of our Sacred Traditions was here, the Sacred Canons were established here, monasticism was experienced and flourished, here the Christianization of the peoples was organized, and here was blessed the ecclesiastical status of all the newly created local Orthodox Churches, among them Serbian.
All this richness and wealth neatly defines our patriarchal course, as it has determined the course of our venerable predecessors, and I am sure it will inspire the course of our successors. With what the Orthodox Church bequeathed to us, we are moving toward the glory of Christ, the unity of the Churches and the salvation of the people. With the grace of God, we have begun in this way, and our desire is to finish in this way. | <urn:uuid:bd75d08d-23e2-4d4b-8696-aeb43dd717f2> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://ocl.org/interview-of-his-all-holiness-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-by-journalist-zivojin-rakocevic-for-the-serbian-newspaper-politika/ | 2022-05-28T07:41:36Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652663013003.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20220528062047-20220528092047-00210.warc.gz | en | 0.968177 | 7,663 |
Occasionally I get a bug up my butt to try out odd skirmish genres. I was interested in painting up some modern military figures but wanted to steer away from historical/modern conflicts and Osprey’s Publishing, Zona Alfa popped up on my radar. It’s heavily laden with sci-fi trappings but wrapped up in primarily modern weaponry and technology. Taking some inspiration from the Stalker PC game (and in turn, the movie), it truly draws its theme from the sci-fi book, Roadside Picnic.
A classic russian sci-fi story, Roadside Picnic has an unusual premise. Aliens arrived on earth, poked around, and then left, leaving behind remnants of their technology. Humans can’t deduce their actual purpose with most items breaking the laws of physics and beyond human comprehension. To draw from the book title, we are like ants crawling over the leftovers from aliens that happen to stop by earth for a short “picnic.”
The site of the alien landing becomes a secluded area, heavily guarded by the military. Only select personnel and researchers can enter it. Even more odd, the Zone is littered with physical anomalies that twist time and space. Segmented off from the public, individuals (Stalkers) sneak into the Zone, seeking strange tech to snatch up and sell on the black market. Throw in the PC game theme, you also have the Zone hit with radiation and horrible mutants. It becomes a fun setting to game in.
The skirmish rules are for 2 players that draft up a squad of mercs and fight against each other within the Zone. Crews are commanded by one leader type and typically have 3 to 6 other figures. Each figure represents a single man of varying tactical experience. Troops are defined by a simple stat line to represent movement, combat ability, defense, and Will, a catch-all trait used for both morale and task resolution. A nice departure from most systems is that varying levels of troop quality are also reflected in the number of actions they can take during their turn. It’s not just simply a change in stat profiles. So that lowly rookie can only do one action during their turn, while a hardened veteran can undertake 3 actions at the same time.
Players roll off initiative and alternate activating figures of their choice. All actions can be repeated multiple times, making veterans able to maneuver and fire effectively, while that rookie (limited to just one action) needing more turns to do similar tasks on the battlefield. Actions cover a range of abilities, from movement, shooting, melee, aiming (to improve a following attack), and rally, to interacting with the environment (like filling gas into a vehicle, or opening a secured door). There is also a special action that allows models to go into overwatch/ambush. But this requires 2 actions meaning only more trained troops are able to hold off and interrupt the opponent’s turn if desired.
Gear and abilities are also reflected in troop quality. Every unit will be able to wield one ranged, one melee weapon, and at least one peice of gear. However, more trained units will be able to carry more gear (up to 3 items) and have abilities that can help with other specialized tasks or particular combat actions. Gear and weapons are based on WYSIWYG (what you see, is what you get) of the model.
Shooting is a pretty easy affair. A unit must be in range and LOS, with intervening cover affecting how easy they can be hit. Pistols top off at roughly a foot, while rifles reach up to 36” and given that most tables are 3 to 4 feet square, you can easily throw out a lot of effective fire. Rolls are made against the attacker’s combat ability, trying to roll equal to or under their value. This target number is adjusted due to cover, with each piece of intervening terrain lowering it. Successful hits then have the defender roll for saves, trying to roll equal to or less than their armor stat (which is adjusted by any weapon modifiers). The number of attacks are based on weapon profiles, with your typical rifle throwing out 3 shots. So expect a lot of dice for those automatic weapons.
Unsuccessful saves result in wounds which will drop your typical trooper. If saves are successful, the target makes a Will check (again trying to roll equal to or less than their stat). If successful, they are fine, otherwise they take a pin. Pins penalize initiative rolls for the following turn and lower the melee combat ability of the figure. Removing them is automatic, but requires expending an action per pin.
Melee combat is simultaneous and each figure can use their weapon of choice, even ranged weapons. The catch is that an attacker can use any additional successful hits to cancel strikes from a defending model. So it certainly pays to be the aggressor and initiate that assault, rather than be the defender in melee.
Additionally the game has critical hits and failures. Regardless of the target number and modifiers, a 1 is always successful while a 10 is an automatic failure. There’s a simple rule implemented that rolling simultaneous 1s and 10s for a particular action cancel out this effect, just using the die results as normal. This can throw a wrench into the game as that 1 will also allow a figure to take one additional free action. Conversely rolling that 10 adds a pin to the model.
The game revolves around a larger campaign goal of accumulating 10,000 rubles, enough to have your leader retire from the stalker business. The concept of actual missions are pretty loose and the emphasis is to strive for a narrative experience. There are a few random tables, but sadly this part of the book is rather sparse. Each scenario however needs to have some specific objective and commonly you’ll find yourself settling for looting from a particular location on the tabletop. In addition to mission objectives will be Hot Spots which can spawn enemies. Once any hostiles from a Hot Spot or mission objective are cleared out, the location can be looted.
Post mission, crew members will gain experience that can be used to improve their stats and pick up new abilities. Loot gathered up can be sold and rubles can be spent to recruit new squad members and/or buy more gear. When creating your squad you also align yourself with one of 6 factions which can result in having allies, neutral parties, and enemies. Paired off on the table, you find your faction having an impact on how to approach the scenario. Allied squads work together to eliminate any hostiles and split the loot found (or try to make a Will test to break the alliance). Enemy factions will throw the scenario objective to the wayside and killing the enemy becomes the primary objective. While neutral parties can tackle the scenario and interact with the opposing crew as they see fit. Tagged with this faction system are discounts when purchasing types of equipment or free gear. It’s a nice wrinkle in these types of games.
The game can be ported to be a solo game pretty easily too. And there are optional rules out there to create co-op and solo games if desired. However it still revolves around a long campaign goal of hoarding enough rubles to make that 10,000 mark and retire. So while you can certainly play a one off game, it seems to offer a more full experience running an actual campaign to allow for advancement, getting loot, and more gear.
The Good – It’s a pretty fast and easy modern skirmish game revolving around light arms. The setting is certainly different and has room for more weirder hostiles if wanted. I like there is some gradation of troop abilities and equipment, but it’s not mired down in a long list of stat lines. The turn flow is fluid with alternating activations, and pins are a thing to think about. I also like that it’s based on d10 rolls, so you can get modifiers having an impact but it’s not as pronounced as you’d see with d6s.
The Bad – The rules are serviceable. But there are sparse areas that could use some tightening up. It seems to default back to that relaxed, reach a compromise with your opponent or roll a die, for determining odd situations quite heavily. It’s also unfortunate there are not more scenarios and detailed campaign rules. Even rules for implementing odd Zone anomalies seem tacked on and not fully developed.
The Verdict – Zona Alfa is a pretty fun set of rules. There are lots of bits I like in a skirmish wargame. You get a nice potential distribution of results using a d10 that allows for modifiers and slight tweaks from weapons and gear. There’s a good implementation of trained troops being able to do more on their activations. So what’s offered has some variety but not saddled down with extensive lists of gear, weapons, and units that just simply offer a different stat modifier.
I also enjoy the critical hit and misses rule. I can see folks wanting a more structured range of outcomes, but for skirmish games I’ve grown to enjoy those occasional swings of fortune and disaster that lead to some memorable experiences. There is also room here to account for other actions models can take during their turn, opening up options for different scenarios. If you wanted to make the objective to retrieve a keycode, and in turn spend time trying to open a vault, while simultaneously disabling a bomb, the rules can account for this. That feels like what the designer was going for. To present a flexible ruleset that lets you play these fun scenarios while also offering a light arms skirmish engagement.
But this is also where the game falls flat. It’s a fun setting that strives for a narrative experience, but doesn’t have the meat in the rules to back up this design philosophy. I really wish there were another 6-8 pages for scenarios, expanded encounter tables, and/or hostile creature profiles. You have a slim number of pages with a few anemic tables, and most of the burden for creating scenarios is up to the player. I get having a simple campaign goal, but the lack of rules to offer diverse scenarios and a narrative campaign is glaringly absent. Especially as there are other games (5 Parsecs from Home) that have a wealth of tables to randomly make up a scenario that just feels like it’s telling a story and can lend itself to a longer, more engaging campaign.
What you get with Zona Alfa is a serviceable skirmish ruleset that’s a fun twist on modern combat settings. It is an interesting world that can provide a gritty, grounded merc experience, or lean more into fighting weird creatures, mutants, and radiation zombies. However it seems you’re expected to do all the heavy lifting to get into the world it describes. You get more of a framework of rules that will offer a few fun games, but not quite the breadth of material to build a string of missions and encounters for a fleshed out campaign, which seems a shame as the wargame parts are so enjoyable.
As I’ve gotten older and my schedule filling up with non-gaming activities, I’ve found my flexibility to game with other people waning. So over the past few years I’ve been leaning more towards games that have a solo component. It’s much easier to have a table set up where I can putter down to the basement for a few hours during the week, instead of trying to coordinate with folks on where and when to get a game in. For board games I’ve got loads of choices but for miniature wargames there hasn’t been many options. I stumbled on Modiphius Entertainment’s Five Parsec from Home and was eager to give this sci-fi skirmish game a shot.
It’s an interesting game as it leans heavily on roleplay elements. You create a crew of individuals, one of which will be the captain that much of the game revolves around. Each member will have a basic profile characterizing their movement, combat ability, how quick they react, and a general stat for non-combat events. There are options for different alien races and a bevy of gear and equipment, all of which is generated randomly on a series of charts and tables.
For the meat of the skirmish game itself, you play on a table somewhere between 2 to 3 feet square. A good amount of terrain will be needed to break up line of sight. You’ll have roughly 6 crew members matched against a random number of opponents (usually about 3-8). The game will have some manner of a win condition and is played over rounds.
Each round you will roll for reaction, assigning each die roll to a crew member. You are trying to score equal to or less than a crew’s value. This allows you to act before your opponent. You can also have a crew member hold an action, interrupting the opposition’s turn with fire, or even just hold off till the end of the round. After initial quick reactions (if any), the opponent acts. Every figure activates once. Finally the player’s crew will have a turn with any remaining members activating if they haven’t done so.
An activation is a move and shooting or melee, just attack, or go on a full out sprint getting a little extra movement for the round. Ranged combat is dead simple using d6 and true line of sight. Close up, without cover hits on a 3+, 5+ to hit targets in the open at range, with most rolls needing a 6 to hit while in some manner of cover. The number of dice will match a weapon profile, adding the unit’s combat ability. Simple.
If a unit is hit another d6 roll is made adding the weapon’s damage value that is compared to the target’s toughness. Rolls equal or greater than the toughness will essentially take the model out of the fight. Otherwise they take a stun marker. Units with stun markers have limits on the actions they can take the following round (and then the stun marker is removed). But if a model gets 3 or more stun markers, they are removed from combat. Basically they are knocked out and removed as a casualty. Melee combat is resolved similarly but the opponent will get a chance to exchange blows.
Combat is brutal, quick, and easy to resolve. You’ll find yourself jockeying to get into position, hoping to get that quick reaction roll so you can provide overwatch while other members of your crew maneuver towards the objective. The opponent’s actions are governed by a simple AI that will dictate how aggressive they advance, adhere to cover, and what formations they will use on the table. The tactical rules are pretty bare bones and simple. What pairs wonderfully with this are the campaign rules.
See the game has a strong story theme. You are managing a starship crew and the resources needed to keep them going. You define a rough goal for the campaign picking from a list. This might be to earn so many credits, or as simple as playing a certain number of campaign turns. You measure resources as abstract credits. Each campaign turn you have to pay upkeep for your crew which increases if over 6 members. Your starship has a sort of mortgage that will increase until the debt is paid off. Damaged equipment needs to be repaired (or dumped as a loss) and injured crew members will need treatment.
Each campaign turn you’ll have crew members undertake different tasks. This might be to try to barter for equipment, seek out information and opportunities for big scores, or recruit new crew members. Every campaign turn you will automatically get a job opportunity, but you really want to obtain patrons. Patrons offer more lucrative payouts and potentially other benefits for completing operations. Job opportunities dry up? Get too many local rivals? You can pack up and jump to another planet.
This leads to how the tactical game plays out. Each mission will have an outline of a random objective and forces you’ll be fighting. Objectives might be to obtain a specific item, get crew members across the opposite table edge, or simply eliminate the opposition. This is paired with a randomly determined group of enemies and other battlefield conditions.
Complete the mission objective and you get a decent payday along with some loot. Fail a mission, you’ll get a few credits but it’ll mean losing a patron and a tighter budget for the next campaign turn. Crew members that survive will earn experience which can be used to improve their stats. Over the game you’ll have crew members develop, get better gear and weapons, and sadly, some will be removed as casualties. All of this is done through random charts that results in an evolving, narrative experience that makes the game shine.
And the potential outcomes are so varied. You can gain rivals, suffer a planetary invasion, get information on a juicy job, or a snippet of data that leads to an extended quest where you’ll keep seeking out rumors until you get the MacGuffin, earning a big reward. Crew members can suffer a bout of PTSD and sit out a mission or two, gain a skill, or other noteworthy life event. There are a series of charts you’ll be rolling a d100 for, continually evolving the trials and tribulations for your crew.
It’s paired with light resource management. Aside from gear and equipment, you also have credits. This part reminds me some of the classic solo microgame, Barbarian Prince. You are ever striving to balance credits needed for maintaining your crew and ship, and spending them for better equipment and skills. A windfall job can help get you out of debt, paying off your ship. Or a mission can be disastrous, having crew members tied up in the medbay or with damaged gear, leaving the hard choice of either cutting them loose or spending more of your precious credits to get them on their feet again. As a solo experience, it’s a lot of fun. Best of all there are also other more narrative elements like luck and story points which can be spent to mitigate a bad die roll some. So if you think you’ve gotten hosed with a streak of bad luck, there are ways to counter it. But like credits, their supply is limited.
The Good – It offers a grand experience that borders on being a roleplaying game. There’s a lot of choices with a touch of resource management each turn of the campaign. It’s matched with a tactical wargame ruleset that is fast and engaging. With varied opposition, battlefield conditions, and objectives this randomness increases the replayability. Best of all the actual battles flow pretty quickly with just enough tactics to make it enjoyable without bogging the experience down with lots of simulationist rules. It’s great fun expanding the abilities and gear of your crew, ever on the hunt for that next big payout.
The book is colorful with pleasant art. While an index isn’t present, the rules are sectioned off in different colors making it easy to go through after some familiarity. Another huge plus is the game is miniature agnostic. Any figures will do and the game works well in 28mm or 15mm without having to turn rules into pretzels for ranges.
The Bad – The rules are pretty well laid out but it can take some time to fully grasp everything. There are a lot of procedural charts which are rolled on and the first few times can be difficult to navigate everything. You are going to have a fair amount of bookkeeping to keep track of gear, cash, and other game resources. Lastly, the actual rules for playing the wargame portion are pretty thin. Some fights can be blown through so quickly, it might border on being anticlimactic. I could see the argument that as a skirmish wargame ruleset, it would be too light for some tastes.
The Verdict – Five Parsecs from Home is a wonderful solo sci-fi game. You aren’t going to get a meaty tactical AI experience here like with Star Army 5150. But it’s enough for a quick, brutal gun fight with enough gear and abilities to keep it interesting. Plus I love the idea of units sticking to cover as much as possible, risking that mad dash across open ground to get to an objective. All the while hoping your mates can offer enough suppression to stave off any incoming fire.
It’s paired with an enjoyable campaign ruleset. You will have a few random events, but also each turn mull over the choices to send off crew members in hopes to achieve some task. Do you settle on taking the regular opportunity job? Or do you put time and resources into finding a patron that will offer more lucrative pay? Do you spend credits and time trying to repair equipment? Or let it go and see what a crew member can find on the local market? Lots of fun choices. Lastly, if you think you’ve garnered too many enemies and dried up your prospects, you can always fly to another planet to see what awaits.
The battles also have a fair number of core objectives you need to achieve to win. And on top of that are several profiles of enemies you’ll be fighting against. The variety is impressive for such a modest rulebook. For me that is the selling point. It’s not some deep story, but Five Parsecs from Home sells a narrative experience. Over time you’ll see your plucky crew of adventurers and mercs improve, get better gear, and slowly accrue riches and fame. I am pleasantly surprised how much is packed into the rules. Well worth checking out if you are looking for a solo, sci-fi, skirmish wargame.
Sadly when Spartan Games went under, one of my favorite space fleet battles systems also went the way of the dodo, Firestorm Armada. I heard some rumblings that Warcradle Studios picked up the properties of Spartan Games and wondered if the setting would ever see the light of day again. It appears that Firestorm Armada will be given a second chance.
They are doing an open beta and the rules and other files are available for free (for now). I find it interesting they are also embracing a hexagonal base too. Which looks like a good way to add some delineation of firing arcs. I liked the concept of the range bands for weapon systems and having more arcs of fire will allow for some deft maneuvering over the square bases of old.
Regardless, cool to see the game getting a second life and eager to see the models Warcradle Studios has in the pipe.
A while back I’ve moved and ended up relocating on the other side of the globe. I had quite a bit of trepidation moving all my miniatures. I use a fast and loose way of storing my figures in plastic boxes, layered on bubble wrap sheets. Good enough to keep the paint job protected but only if the box is kept upright. If I dump it on its side, the figures are going to shift around. Throw in a bunch of jostling of the box and you can expect figures to be clanking against each other (and on the inner sides of the container). I totally expected that my shipped stuff would be tossed around like a beach ball, and stacked sideways or upside down in a shipping container that would make any Tetris player proud.
So I had to try to work out a solution and stuck with bubble wrap. Cutting small sheets, I rolled each figure in wrap with a bit of tape to keep it in place. The key is to make sure it’s lightly snug and not wrapped too tightly. For plastic figures especially, you can inadvertently bend or snap off fragile parts like rifle barrels so don’t wrap too tight. Some figures can even be wrapped two to a sheet, particularly prone figures by having the bottom of their bases facing each other. I dumped them in hard plastic containers, sealed the tops in packaging tape, and was good to go.
It did take some time. Don’t expect to do this in a night. Set time aside to do it. At a leisurely pace, I was able to get about 300 figures completed in a week. I cranked out a lot of figures just watching TV an hour or so a night. You certainly want to get this on your to do list for early packing though. Vehicles and tanks were done similarly, but I made sure to remove turrets and wrap them separately.
How did they ship? Just fine. Granted you have to be prepared to snip tape and unwrap a ton of models (more things to do while watching movies). But I can say my figures, both metal and plastic, made it across the world in one piece.
So if you have the time, consider this a solution for packing your miniatures. While you can buy expensive cases that can keep your figures snugly packed individually in foam it can be costly. For a budget (and a ton of models), wrapping minis in bubble wrap is a cheaper workaround.
I’ve gotten some more opportunities to check out the options of board game stores in Saint Louis. Another popular haunt, especially for wargamers, is Game Nite. They carry quite a large selection of board games and miniatures. GW is pretty popular as well as Infinity. But other games like those from Privateer Press are carried also, in addition to paints and modelling supplies.
They have an expansive collection of board games and card games. Interestingly they also offer shelf space for used games. I imagine it’s more of a consignment system, but they allow for folks to unload older games. It seems worth giving them a gander too, as most of the offerings are near mint or lightly played. A great way to pick up on stuff that wanes in light of the ever-changing BGG hotness of the month.
There are also a fair number of tables for in store gaming. Not only are tables set up for miniature wargaming, but there are several tables for card and board games too. Both the weekends and weeknights look to be popular times to visit. I do believe that priority is given to people wanting to run organized events, so plan ahead accordingly if wanting to run a game for just your friends.
They also have a decent sized game library. Combined with ample table space, you’ve got plenty of opportunities to try new games out. Or potentially consider trying a game out before buying it. Pretty nice aspect of the store.
Game Nite is a good place to visit for board and card games (even for the miniature wargamer too), and certainly worth checking out their calendar of events to see if anything tickles your fancy.
It’s a new year and big changes for me as I’ve transplanted myself from Korea back to the US. Gaming has been on the back burner for a few months but now that I’ve gotten settled some I’ve been peeking a bit on local gaming haunts. Miniature Market was high up on my list as it’s got a pretty big footprint as an online store. I was able to swing by the shop finally and have to admit I’m pretty impressed.
They have a large selection of board games and also cater to the miniature wargamer too. Aside from a lot of GW, Malifaux, Infinity, a smattering of Bolt Action, a wide selection of Reaper Miniatures among other stuff can be found on the shelves. In addition to paints and supplies, they also carry quite a bit of terrain. Well worth checking out if gaming with miniatures is your bag.
They carry a wide selection of board games and card games. Not to mention a well stocked bookcase of RPGs. I’d say most of the physical store delves more in the new hotness on BBG. But you can find some older gems, and I understand it’s always worth asking the staff about a particular game as it might be in the warehouse (or check their online store). The staff always seems helpful and engaging. I quite liked them being proactive asking if I needed assistance instead of being holed away behind the register as I wandered around the store.
The store also has quite a large dedicated space for gaming with several open tables that is well lit. They also seem to have a pretty active schedule running events every weekend and weeknights. I’m impressed with the amount of space available for in store gaming. Keep in mind they try to cater to folks running organized events. You could likely get some space to meet with mates and play a game for the afternoon, but understand that priority will be given to people registering on their calendar of events.
It’s a well stocked store, with lots of opportunity to get a chance to meet people and play. If running through the Saint Louis area, Miniature Market is certainly a place to visit.
Now that I had gotten a few warbands together for Frostgrave, I wanted to round out my collection some with extra creatures. Looking for appropriate models for ghouls was a challenge, especially those that would work on a budget. I was able to track down a few loose sprues of Mantic Games figures for their Kings of War line.
The minis are pretty nice and offer an overall feel of the model scrambling forward in a full out run. It’s not some figure making a static pose. These look like they are hauling ass towards someone. While they don’t have a lot of variation, I like the lively action the figures portray.
I gave them a quick coat with a wash and a bit of drybrushing. You’ll notice I steer away from your typical ice and snow covered scheme. I use an alternate world for my Frostgrave games. Mostly to stretch out the figures I already had for other systems.
They assembled well and you could easily swap out heads and torsos from the legs. The minis appear to be impaled with knives and other hand weapons which are jutting out from their arms and legs. The figures also have a fair amount of ripped clothing and cloth which break up the skin. Easily you could put more detail on the clothing to make them stand out more over the model’s flesh. I just went with a simple color scheme though.
Decent detail, easy to assemble, and a good price. Worth picking up for Frostgrave critters.
Deciding to field a German infantry platoon for my games I liked the idea of having more typical armor that would support them. Hence for my late war platoon I went with a Panzer IV. However I was keen to have some other options so I felt and assault gun would be ideal.
Armourfast offers some nice armor for 20mm and their Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) certainly keeps in line with many of their other kits. It is an easy to assemble model with a fair amount of detail that is a great value for wargaming. The model sports a 75mm StuK 40 L/48 gun so it’s more of apt for mid-late war games. The assault gun also comes with separate schürzen side skirts that can be left off if desired.
However if leaving off the skirts you should be forewarned that the hull has pretty large gaps even with the tracks mounted. You likely will have to fill them with some squadron putty as they are fairly noticeable. There isn’t much stowage bits but there are a few spare tread wheels.
Aside from the hull track sides, the parts of the kit fit well without excessive gaps, and is a snap to put together. All in all it’s a fairly good model. As most Armourfast kits you are not going to get a super detailed model fit for dioramas. Yes there is a decent amount of detail, yet certainly nothing stellar. But you get 2(!) tanks per kit and having the option to field a StuG with and without skirts is pretty nice (or on both if you wanted). They are an exceptional value and great for 20mm gaming that will look good on the table.
Slowly been painting through my Perry WW2 British. I decided to work them up as the 8th Infantry Division from the British Indian Army. Partly as the 8th Division had action in the Middle East, North Africa, and a good chunk throughout the Italy campaign. And partly because for WW2 North Africa, it’d be cool to work on something different as UK commonwealth force instead of your typical British 8th Army.
I was in a pickle somewhat with how to model up my bases though. Typically I use a simple flock technique but wanted a different texture that would fit in with a desert theme. I decided to use some railroad modelling talus which I’ve used on my 15mm Sahadeen.
The problem is even though they look nice, the material is a bit fragile. Even with a good amount of PVA glue you can rub it off. For 28mm figures I’ll have more material on the larger bases and regular handling during gaming means more of the talus flaking off.
To work around this I decided to add some superglue to the talus. For my Algoryn this worked great as the modelling material easily adsorbed excess glue. For my Indian troops, I used a PVA mix to initially get them based, then gave the models a coat of primer and a base coat. I finally followed up with adding instant curing glue to the textured bases.
For the most part it looks okay. Above the figure on the right has the talus adhered to the base only using PVA glue (after a spray base coat of paint), while the one on the left has been coated with superglue. Comparing the figures above, you can see the base material for the left mini has some glossiness compared to the right. There’s also a subtle lack of texture compared to the right figure that just has PVA glue. It’s not too noticeable after a good drybrush and will be even more so after a layer of matte sealant. However if I were to do it again, I’d coat the talus with superglue first before priming.
I am not a fan of Games Workshop paints. They are good quality paints but are overpriced. Additionally (and can say this after using a new set of paints recently at a convention) the design of the pots are poor. While the lids allow for applying paint to the brush, paint also pools up on the lip tab and it gets difficult to get a proper seal closing the pots. Seems after time you are either going to have to scrape out a bunch of paint from the lid seal or you’ll have problems with your paints drying out (who knows, maybe the pot design is intentional in that regard).
Nonetheless, GW has introduced a new paint line which has piqued my interest. For folks new to the hobby it might be worth checking out. It appears the paints have a glaze medium already mixed in. In effect you get a thinned coat of paint along with a wash all in one go.
I love this. New miniature painters should certainly be looking at these paints. There is a learning curve using them, one of which is using a specific type of primer. While I balked originally at this, I discovered not only are spray versions available but also primer that can be brushed on (providing a lot more functionality of the paint line).
There is some technique to working with them, applying darker colors, then prime and paint sections you want to have a lighter color. A good coat of varnish is needed. Lastly it looks like applying thicker, heavier coats for the contrast paints are the way to go.
You end up essentially applying both a base coat and a wash in one go. Throw in a light highlight or conventional drybrush, you’ve got a tabletop standard paint job. For a slew of rank and file models this looks like a great product. I’ve suddenly got a positive feeling about finally tackling all my Zombicide minis.
Honestly the results using these paints look promising. While it won’t give you a super fantastic paint job, with careful application you can get decent results and save a bit of time essentially cutting out steps to apply washes. I’m excited to see this out there and hope it opens up more people to taking a stab at painting minis. | <urn:uuid:f0688618-5d04-4dba-80f7-85036ecbac0e> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://geekken.wordpress.com/category/miniatures/ | 2022-05-23T06:03:49Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662555558.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20220523041156-20220523071156-00410.warc.gz | en | 0.956862 | 7,586 |
holding that "broad statutory safeguards are no substitute for individualized review, particularly when those safeguards may only be invoked at the risk of a criminal penalty"Summary of this case from City of L. A. v. Patel
Argued February 15, 1967. Decided June 5, 1967.
Appellant was charged with violating the San Francisco Housing Code for refusing, after three efforts by city housing inspectors to secure his consent, to allow a warrantless inspection of the ground-floor quarters which he leased and residential use of which allegedly violated the apartment building's occupancy permit. Claiming the inspection ordinance unconstitutional for failure to require a warrant for inspections, appellant while awaiting trial sued in a State Superior Court for a writ of prohibition, which the court denied. Relying on Frank v. Maryland, 359 U.S. 360, and similar cases, the District Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that the ordinance did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The State Supreme Court denied a petition for hearing. Held:
1. The Fourth Amendment bars prosecution of a person who has refused to permit a warrantless code-enforcement inspection of his personal residence. Frank v. Maryland, supra, pro tanto overruled. Pp. 528-534.
(a) The basic purpose of the Fourth Amendment, which is enforceable against the States through the Fourteenth, through its prohibition of "unreasonable" searches and seizures is to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by governmental officials. P. 528.
(b) With certain carefully defined exceptions, an unconsented warrantless search of private property is "unreasonable." Pp. 528-529.
(c) Contrary to the assumption of Frank v. Maryland, supra, Fourth Amendment interests are not merely "peripheral" where municipal fire, health, and housing inspection programs are involved whose purpose is to determine the existence of physical conditions not complying with local ordinances. Those programs, moreover, are enforceable by criminal process, as is refusal to allow an inspection. Pp. 529-531.
(d) Warrantless administrative searches cannot be justified on the grounds that they make minimal demands on occupants; that warrants in such cases are unfeasible; or that area inspection programs could not function under reasonable search-warrant requirements. Pp. 531-533.
2. Probable cause upon the basis of which warrants are to be issued for area code-enforcement inspections is not dependent on the inspector's belief that a particular dwelling violates the code but on the reasonableness of the enforcement agency's appraisal of conditions in the area as a whole. The standards to guide the magistrate in the issuance of such search warrants will necessarily vary with the municipal program being enforced. Pp. 534-539.
3. Search warrants which are required in nonemergency situations should normally be sought only after entry is refused. Pp. 539-540.
4. In the nonemergency situation here, appellant had a right to insist that the inspectors obtain a search warrant. P. 540.
Marshall W. Krause argued the cause for appellant. With him on the briefs was Donald M. Cahen.
Albert W. Harris, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of California, argued the cause for appellee. With him on the brief were Thomas C. Lynch, Attorney General, and Gloria F. DeHart, Deputy Attorney General.
Leonard J. Kerpelman filed a brief for Homeowners in Opposition to Housing Authoritarianism, as amicus curiae, urging reversal.
Briefs of amici curiae, urging affirmance, were filed by Thomas M. O'Connor, John W. Sholenberger, Roger Arnebergh, Barnett I. Shur, Alexander G. Brown, David Stahl and Robert E. Michalski for the Member Municipalities of the National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, and by Elliot L. Richardson, Attorney General, Willie J. Davis, Assistant Attorney General, Edward T. Martin, Deputy Attorney General, Max Rosenblatt, Lewis H. Weinstein and Loyd M. Starrett for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts et al.
In Frank v. Maryland, 359 U.S. 360, this Court upheld, by a five-to-four vote, a state court conviction of a homeowner who refused to permit a municipal health inspector to enter and inspect his premises without a search warrant. In Eaton v. Price, 364 U.S. 263, a similar conviction was affirmed by an equally divided Court. Since those closely divided decisions, more intensive efforts at all levels of government to contain and eliminate urban blight have led to increasing use of such inspection techniques, while numerous decisions of this Court have more fully defined the Fourth Amendment's effect on state and municipal action. E. g., Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643; Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23. In view of the growing nationwide importance of the problem, we noted probable jurisdiction in this case and in See v. City of Seattle, post, p. 541, to re-examine whether administrative inspection programs, as presently authorized and conducted, violate Fourth Amendment rights as those rights are enforced against the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. 385 U.S. 808.
Appellant brought this action in a California Superior Court alleging that he was awaiting trial on a criminal charge of violating the San Francisco Housing Code by refusing to permit a warrantless inspection of his residence, and that a writ of prohibition should issue to the criminal court because the ordinance authorizing such inspections is unconstitutional on its face. The Superior Court denied the writ, the District Court of Appeal affirmed, and the Supreme Court of California denied a petition for hearing. Appellant properly raised and had considered by the California courts the federal constitutional questions he now presents to this Court.
Though there were no judicial findings of fact in this prohibition proceeding, we shall set forth the parties' factual allegations. On November 6, 1963, an inspector of the Division of Housing Inspection of the San Francisco Department of Public Health entered an apartment building to make a routine annual inspection for possible violations of the city's Housing Code. The building's manager informed the inspector that appellant, lessee of the ground floor, was using the rear of his leasehold as a personal residence. Claiming that the building's occupancy permit did not allow residential use of the ground floor, the inspector confronted appellant and demanded that he permit an inspection of the premises. Appellant refused to allow the inspection because the inspector lacked a search warrant.
The inspection was conducted pursuant to § 86(3) of the San Francisco Municipal Code, which provides that apartment house operators shall pay an annual license fee in part to defray the cost of periodic inspections of their buildings. The inspections are to be made by the Bureau of Housing Inspection "at least once a year and as often thereafter as may be deemed necessary." The permit of occupancy, which prescribes the apartment units which a building may contain, is not issued until the license is obtained.
The inspector returned on November 8, again without a warrant, and appellant again refused to allow an inspection. A citation was then mailed ordering appellant to appear at the district attorney's office. When appellant failed to appear, two inspectors returned to his apartment on November 22. They informed appellant that he was required by law to permit an inspection under § 503 of the Housing Code:
"Sec. 503 RIGHT TO ENTER BUILDING. Authorized employees of the City departments or City agencies, so far as may be necessary for the performance of their duties, shall, upon presentation of proper credentials, have the right to enter, at reasonable times, any building, structure, or premises in the City to perform any duty imposed upon them by the Municipal Code."
Appellant nevertheless refused the inspectors access to his apartment without a search warrant. Thereafter, a complaint was filed charging him with refusing to permit a lawful inspection in violation of § 507 of the Code. Appellant was arrested on December 2 and released on bail. When his demurrer to the criminal complaint was denied, appellant filed this petition for a writ of prohibition.
"Sec. 507 PENALTY FOR VIOLATION. Any person, the owner or his authorized agent who violates, disobeys, omits, neglects, or refuses to comply with, or who resists or opposes the execution of any of the provisions of this Code, or any order of the Superintendent, the Director of Public Works, or the Director of Public Health made pursuant to this Code, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment, not exceeding six (6) months or by both such fine and imprisonment, unless otherwise provided in this Code, and shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for every day such violation, disobedience, omission, neglect or refusal shall continue."
Appellant has argued throughout this litigation that § 503 is contrary to the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments in that it authorizes municipal officials to enter a private dwelling without a search warrant and without probable cause to believe that a violation of the Housing Code exists therein. Consequently, appellant contends, he may not be prosecuted under § 507 for refusing to permit an inspection unconstitutionally authorized by § 503. Relying on Frank v. Maryland, Eaton v. Price, and decisions in other States, the District Court of Appeal held that § 503 does not violate Fourth Amendment rights because it "is part of a regulatory scheme which is essentially civil rather than criminal in nature, inasmuch as that section creates a right of inspection which is limited in scope and may not be exercised under unreasonable conditions." Having concluded that Frank v. Maryland, to the extent that it sanctioned such warrantless inspections, must be overruled, we reverse.
Givner v. State, 210 Md. 484, 124 A.2d 764 (1956); City of St. Louis v. Evans, 337 S.W.2d 948 (Mo. 1960); State ex rel. Eaton v. Price, 168 Ohio St. 123, 151 N.E.2d 523 (1958), aff'd by an equally divided Court, 364 U.S. 263 (1960). See also State v. Rees, 258 Iowa 813, 139 N.W.2d 406 (1966); Commonwealth v. Hadley, 351 Mass. 439, 222 N.E.2d 681 (1966), appeal docketed Jan. 5, 1967, No. 1179, Misc., O. T. 1966; People v. Laverne, 14 N.Y.2d 304, 200 N.E.2d 441 (1964).
The Fourth Amendment provides that, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." The basic purpose of this Amendment, as recognized in countless decisions of this Court, is to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by governmental officials. The Fourth Amendment thus gives concrete expression to a right of the people which "is basic to a free society." Wolf v. Colorado, 338 U.S. 25, 27. As such, the Fourth Amendment is enforceable against the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 30.
Though there has been general agreement as to the fundamental purpose of the Fourth Amendment, translation of the abstract prohibition against "unreasonable searches and seizures" into workable guidelines for the decision of particular cases is a difficult task which has for many years divided the members of this Court. Nevertheless, one governing principle, justified by history and by current experience, has consistently been followed: except in certain carefully defined classes of cases, a search of private property without proper consent is "unreasonable" unless it has been authorized by a valid search warrant. See, e. g., Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483; United States v. Jeffers, 342 U.S. 48; McDonald v. United States, 335 U.S. 451; Agnello v. United States, 269 U.S. 20. As the Court explained in Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14:
"The right of officers to thrust themselves into a home is also a grave concern, not only to the individual but to a society which chooses to dwell in reasonable security and freedom from surveillance. When the right of privacy must reasonably yield to the right of search is, as a rule, to be decided by a judicial officer, not by a policeman or government enforcement agent."
In Frank v. Maryland, this Court upheld the conviction of one who refused to permit a warrantless inspection of private premises for the purposes of locating and abating a suspected public nuisance. Although Frank can arguably be distinguished from this case on its facts, the Frank opinion has generally been interpreted as carving out an additional exception to the rule that warrantless searches are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. See Eaton v. Price, supra. The District Court of Appeal so interpreted Frank in this case, and that ruling is the core of appellant's challenge here. We proceed to a re-examination of the factors which persuaded the Frank majority to adopt this construction of the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches.
In Frank, the Baltimore ordinance required that the health inspector "have cause to suspect that a nuisance exists in any house, cellar or enclosure" before he could demand entry without a warrant, a requirement obviously met in Frank because the inspector observed extreme structural decay and a pile of rodent feces on the appellant's premises. Section 503 of the San Francisco Housing Code has no such "cause" requirement, but neither did the Ohio ordinance at issue in Eaton v. Price, a case which four Justices thought was controlled by Frank. 364 U.S., at 264, 265, n. 2 (opinion of MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN).
To the Frank majority, municipal fire, health, and housing inspection programs "touch at most upon the periphery of the important interests safeguarded by the Fourteenth Amendment's protection against official intrusion," 359 U.S., at 367, because the inspections are merely to determine whether physical conditions exist which do not comply with minimum standards prescribed in local regulatory ordinances. Since the inspector does not ask that the property owner open his doors to a search for "evidence of criminal action" which may be used to secure the owner's criminal conviction, historic interests of "self-protection" jointly protected by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments are said not to be involved, but only the less intense "right to be secure from intrusion into personal privacy." Id., at 365.
We may agree that a routine inspection of the physical condition of private property is a less hostile intrusion than the typical policeman's search for the fruits and instrumentalities of crime. For this reason alone, Frank differed from the great bulk of Fourth Amendment cases which have been considered by this Court. But we cannot agree that the Fourth Amendment interests at stake in these inspection cases are merely "peripheral." It is surely anomalous to say that the individual and his private property are fully protected by the Fourth Amendment only when the individual is suspected of criminal behavior. For instance, even the most law-abiding citizen has a very tangible interest in limiting the circumstances under which the sanctity of his home may be broken by official authority, for the possibility of criminal entry under the guise of official sanction is a serious threat to personal and family security. And even accepting Frank's rather remarkable premise, inspections of the kind we are here considering do in fact jeopardize "self-protection" interests of the property owner. Like most regulatory laws, fire, health, and housing codes are enforced by criminal processes. In some cities, discovery of a violation by the inspector leads to a criminal complaint. Even in cities where discovery of a violation produces only an administrative compliance order, refusal to comply is a criminal offense, and the fact of compliance is verified by a second inspection, again without a warrant. Finally, as this case demonstrates, refusal to permit an inspection is itself a crime, punishable by fine or even by jail sentence.
See New York, N. Y., Administrative Code § D26-8.0 (1964).
See Washington, D.C., Housing Regulations § 2104.
This is the more prevalent enforcement procedure. See Note, Enforcement of Municipal Housing Codes, 78 Harv. L. Rev. 801, 813-816.
The Frank majority suggested, and appellee reasserts, two other justifications for permitting administrative health and safety inspections without a warrant. First, it is argued that these inspections are "designed to make the least possible demand on the individual occupant." 359 U.S., at 367. The ordinances authorizing inspections are hedged with safeguards, and at any rate the inspector's particular decision to enter must comply with the constitutional standard of reasonableness even if he may enter without a warrant. In addition, the argument proceeds, the warrant process could not function effectively in this field. The decision to inspect an entire municipal area is based upon legislative or administrative assessment of broad factors such as the area's age and condition. Unless the magistrate is to review such policy matters, he must issue a "rubber stamp" warrant which provides no protection at all to the property owner.
The San Francisco Code requires that the inspector display proper credentials, that he inspect "at reasonable times," and that Page 532 he not obtain entry by force, at least when there is no emergency. The Baltimore ordinance in Frank required that the inspector "have cause to suspect that a nuisance exists." Some cities notify residents in advance, by mail or posted notice, of impending area inspections. State courts upholding these inspections without warrants have imposed a general reasonableness requirement. See cases cited, n. 3, supra.
In our opinion, these arguments unduly discount the purposes behind the warrant machinery contemplated by the Fourth Amendment. Under the present system, when the inspector demands entry, the occupant has no way of knowing whether enforcement of the municipal code involved requires inspection of his premises, no way of knowing the lawful limits of the inspector's power to search, and no way of knowing whether the inspector himself is acting under proper authorization. These are questions which may be reviewed by a neutral magistrate without any reassessment of the basic agency decision to canvass an area. Yet, only by refusing entry and risking a criminal conviction can the occupant at present challenge the inspector's decision to search. And even if the occupant possesses sufficient fortitude to take this risk, as appellant did here, he may never learn any more about the reason for the inspection than that the law generally allows housing inspectors to gain entry. The practical effect of this system is to leave the occupant subject to the discretion of the official in the field. This is precisely the discretion to invade private property which we have consistently circumscribed by a requirement that a disinterested party warrant the need to search. See cases cited, p. 529, supra. We simply cannot say that the protections provided by the warrant procedure are not needed in this context; broad statutory safeguards are no substitute for individualized review, particularly when those safeguards may only be invoked at the risk of a criminal penalty.
The final justification suggested for warrantless administrative searches is that the public interest demands such a rule: it is vigorously argued that the health and safety of entire urban populations is dependent upon enforcement of minimum fire, housing, and sanitation standards, and that the only effective means of enforcing such codes is by routine systematized inspection of all physical structures. Of course, in applying any reasonableness standard, including one of constitutional dimension, an argument that the public interest demands a particular rule must receive careful consideration. But we think this argument misses the mark. The question is not, at this stage at least, whether these inspections may be made, but whether they may be made without a warrant. For example, to say that gambling raids may not be made at the discretion of the police without a warrant is not necessarily to say that gambling raids may never be made. In assessing whether the public interest demands creation of a general exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement, the question is not whether the public interest justifies the type of search in question, but whether the authority to search should be evidenced by a warrant, which in turn depends in part upon whether the burden of obtaining a warrant is likely to frustrate the governmental purpose behind the search. See Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 770-771. It has nowhere been urged that fire, health, and housing code inspection programs could not achieve their goals within the confines of a reasonable search warrant requirement. Thus, we do not find the public need argument dispositive.
In summary, we hold that administrative searches of the kind at issue here are significant intrusions upon the interests protected by the Fourth Amendment, that such searches when authorized and conducted without a warrant procedure lack the traditional safeguards which the Fourth Amendment guarantees to the individual, and that the reasons put forth in Frank v. Maryland and in other cases for upholding these warrantless searches are insufficient to justify so substantial a weakening of the Fourth Amendment's protections. Because of the nature of the municipal programs under consideration, however, these conclusions must be the beginning, not the end, of our inquiry. The Frank majority gave recognition to the unique character of these inspection programs by refusing to require search warrants; to reject that disposition does not justify ignoring the question whether some other accommodation between public need and individual rights is essential.
The Fourth Amendment provides that, "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause." Borrowing from more typical Fourth Amendment cases, appellant argues not only that code enforcement inspection programs must be circumscribed by a warrant procedure, but also that warrants should issue only when the inspector possesses probable cause to believe that a particular dwelling contains violations of the minimum standards prescribed by the code being enforced. We disagree.
In cases in which the Fourth Amendment requires that a warrant to search be obtained, "probable cause" is the standard by which a particular decision to search is tested against the constitutional mandate of reasonableness. To apply this standard, it is obviously necessary first to focus upon the governmental interest which allegedly justifies official intrusion upon the constitutionally protected interests of the private citizen. For example, in a criminal investigation, the police may undertake to recover specific stolen or contraband goods. But that public interest would hardly justify a sweeping search of an entire city conducted in the hope that these goods might be found. Consequently, a search for these goods, even with a warrant, is "reasonable" only when there is "probable cause" to believe that they will be uncovered in a particular dwelling.
Unlike the search pursuant to a criminal investigation, the inspection programs at issue here are aimed at securing city-wide compliance with minimum physical standards for private property. The primary governmental interest at stake is to prevent even the unintentional development of conditions which are hazardous to public health and safety. Because fires and epidemics may ravage large urban areas, because unsightly conditions adversely affect the economic values of neighboring structures, numerous courts have upheld the police power of municipalities to impose and enforce such minimum standards even upon existing structures. In determining whether a particular inspection is reasonable — and thus in determining whether there is probable cause to issue a warrant for that inspection — the need for the inspection must be weighed in terms of these reasonable goals of code enforcement.
See Abbate Bros. v. City of Chicago, 11 Ill.2d 337, 142 N.E.2d 691; City of Louisville v. Thompson, 339 S.W.2d 869 (Ky.); Adamec v. Post, 273 N.Y. 250, 7 N.E.2d 120; Paquette v. City of Fall River, 338 Mass. 368, 155 N.E.2d 775; Richards v. City of Columbia, 227 S.C. 538, 88 S.E.2d 683; Boden v. City of Milwaukee, 8 Wis.2d 318, 99 N.W.2d 156.
There is unanimous agreement among those most familiar with this field that the only effective way to seek universal compliance with the minimum standards required by municipal codes is through routine periodic inspections of all structures. It is here that the probable cause debate is focused, for the agency's decision to conduct an area inspection is unavoidably based on its appraisal of conditions in the area as a whole, not on its knowledge of conditions in each particular building. Appellee contends that, if the probable cause standard urged by appellant is adopted, the area inspection will be eliminated as a means of seeking compliance with code standards and the reasonable goals of code enforcement will be dealt a crushing blow.
See Osgood Zwerner, Rehabilitation and Conservation, 25 Law Contemp. Prob. 705, 718 and n. 43; Schwartz, Crucial Areas in Administrative Law, 34 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 401, 423 and n. 93; Comment, Rent Withholding and the Improvement of Substandard Housing, 53 Calif. L. Rev. 304, 316-317; Note, Enforcement of Municipal Housing Codes, 78 Harv. L. Rev. 801, 807, 851; Note, Municipal Housing Codes, 69 Harv. L. Rev. 1115, 1124-1125. Section 311(a) of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, 79 Stat. 478, 42 U.S.C. § 1468 (1964 ed., Supp. I), authorizes grants of federal funds "to cities, other municipalities, and counties for the purpose of assisting such localities in carrying out programs of concentrated code enforcement in deteriorated or deteriorating areas in which such enforcement, together with those public improvements to be provided by the locality, may be expected to arrest the decline of the area."
In meeting this contention, appellant argues first, that his probable cause standard would not jeopardize area inspection programs because only a minute portion of the population will refuse to consent to such inspections, and second, that individual privacy in any event should be given preference to the public interest in conducting such inspections. The first argument, even if true, is irrelevant to the question whether the area inspection is reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The second argument is in effect an assertion that the area inspection is an unreasonable search. Unfortunately, there can be no ready test for determining reasonableness other than by balancing the need to search against the invasion which the search entails. But we think that a number of persuasive factors combine to support the reasonableness of area code-enforcement inspections. First, such programs have a long history of judicial and public acceptance. See Frank v. Maryland, 359 U.S., at 367-371. Second, the public interest demands that all dangerous conditions be prevented or abated, yet it is doubtful that any other canvassing technique would achieve acceptable results. Many such conditions — faulty wiring is an obvious example — are not observable from outside the building and indeed may not be apparent to the inexpert occupant himself. Finally, because the inspections are neither personal in nature nor aimed at the discovery of evidence of crime, they involve a relatively limited invasion of the urban citizen's privacy. Both the majority and the dissent in Frank emphatically supported this conclusion:
"Time and experience have forcefully taught that the power to inspect dwelling places, either as a matter of systematic area-by-area search or, as here. to treat a specific problem, is of indispensable importance to the maintenance of community health; a power that would be greatly hobbled by the blanket requirement of the safeguards necessary for a search of evidence of criminal acts. The need for preventive action is great, and city after city has seen this need and granted the power of inspection to its health officials; and these inspections are apparently welcomed by all but an insignificant few. Certainly, the nature of our society has not vitiated the need for inspections first thought necessary 158 years ago, nor has experience revealed any abuse or inroad on freedom in meeting this need by means that history and dominant public opinion have sanctioned." 359 U.S., at 372.
". . . This is not to suggest that a health official need show the same kind of proof to a magistrate to obtain a warrant as one must who would search for the fruits or instrumentalities of crime. Where considerations of health and safety are involved, the facts that would justify an inference of `probable cause' to make an inspection are clearly different from those that would justify such an inference where a criminal investigation has been undertaken. Experience may show the need for periodic inspections of certain facilities without a further showing of cause to believe that substandard conditions dangerous to the public are being maintained. The passage of a certain period without inspection might of itself be sufficient in a given situation to justify the issuance of a warrant. The test of `probable cause' required by the Fourth Amendment can take into account the nature of the search that is being sought." 359 U.S., at 383 (MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, dissenting).
Having concluded that the area inspection is a "reasonable" search of private property within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, it is obvious that "probable cause" to issue a warrant to inspect must exist if reasonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting an area inspection are satisfied with respect to a particular dwelling. Such standards, which will vary with the municipal program being enforced, may be based upon the passage of time, the nature of the building ( e. g., a multi-family apartment house), or the condition of the entire area, but they will not necessarily depend upon specific knowledge of the condition of the particular dwelling. It has been suggested that so to vary the probable cause test from the standard applied in criminal cases would be to authorize a "synthetic search warrant" and thereby to lessen the overall protections of the Fourth Amendment. Frank v. Maryland, 359 U.S., at 373. But we do not agree. The warrant procedure is designed to guarantee that a decision to search private property is justified by a reasonable governmental interest. But reasonableness is still the ultimate standard. If a valid public interest justifies the intrusion contemplated, then there is probable cause to issue a suitably restricted search warrant. Cf. Oklahoma Press Pub. Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186. Such an approach neither endangers time-honored doctrines applicable to criminal investigations nor makes a nullity of the probable cause requirement in this area. It merely gives full recognition to the competing public and private interests here at stake and, in so doing, best fulfills the historic purpose behind the constitutional right to be free from unreasonable government invasions of privacy. See Eaton v. Price, 364 U.S., at 273-274 (opinion of MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN).
Since our holding emphasizes the controlling standard of reasonableness, nothing we say today is intended to foreclose prompt inspections, even without a warrant, that the law has traditionally upheld in emergency situations. See North American Cold Storage Co. v. City of Chicago, 211 U.S. 306 (seizure of unwholesome food); Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (compulsory smallpox vaccination); Compagnie Francaise v. Board of Health, 186 U.S. 380 (health quarantine); Kroplin v. Truax, 119 Ohio St. 610, 165 N.E. 498 (summary destruction of tubercular cattle). On the other hand, in the case of most routine area inspections, there is no compelling urgency to inspect at a particular time or on a particular day. Moreover, most citizens allow inspections of their property without a warrant. Thus, as a practical matter and in light of the Fourth Amendment's requirement that a warrant specify the property to be searched, it seems likely that warrants should normally be sought only after entry is refused unless there has been a citizen complaint or there is other satisfactory reason for securing immediate entry. Similarly, the requirement of a warrant procedure does not suggest any change in what seems to be the prevailing local policy, in most situations, of authorizing entry, but not entry by force, to inspect.
In this case, appellant has been charged with a crime for his refusal to permit housing inspectors to enter his leasehold without a warrant. There was no emergency demanding immediate access; in fact, the inspectors made three trips to the building in an attempt to obtain appellant's consent to search. Yet no warrant was obtained and thus appellant was unable to verify either the need for or the appropriate limits of the inspection. No doubt, the inspectors entered the public portion of the building with the consent of the landlord, through the building's manager, but appellee does not contend that such consent was sufficient to authorize inspection of appellant's premises. Cf. Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483; Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610; McDonald v. United States, 335 U.S. 451. Assuming the facts to be as the parties have alleged, we therefore conclude that appellant had a constitutional right to insist that the inspectors obtain a warrant to search and that appellant may not constitutionally be convicted for refusing to consent to the inspection. It appears from the opinion of the District Court of Appeal that under these circumstances a writ of prohibition will issue to the criminal court under California law.
The judgment is vacated and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
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Dr. S. Lewis Johnson discusses three emphases that are found in the soteriological work of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah as he concludes his four part sub-series on the nature of the atonement.
[Prayer] …of the word of God before us and that we can ponder its pages, look beyond it to the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We’re grateful to Thee for the ministry of the great servant of Jehovah and we thank Thee that he came and fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures that have pointed to him. And we pray again, as we consider the prophecies that we may learn from them in the light of what he did historically when he was here two thousand years ago. May too, Lord, the application of the ministry, the prophecies as they pertain to us today, may that application have its effect in our lives.
We thank Thee for each one present and we pray that there may be enlightenment that comes from Thee. For Thou are the true God and Thou alone through the Holy Spirit dost understand the Scriptures. Now give us to have open and searching hearts to know Thy truth as we study. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Message] Tonight is the last in our series of studies on “The Servant of Jehovah and the Suffering Messiah: A Study in the Nature of the Atonement”. And next time, we shall move on and continue our series that we have been giving on “The Old Testament and the Doctrine of the Atonement”. Now just a word, by way of review tonight, because there are some who have not been here; we’ve been talking about the doctrine of the atonement. I pointed out that that is perhaps the most important word in the theology of the Bible. It comes from the English word “at” plus the word “onement” which means union. And that is an old Middle English word, an archaic word, but “at onement” means that those who are “at onement” have come to a kind of union.
The Old Testament, we have pointed out, is the story of the development of the history of redemption and, of course, of the preparation for the atonement that Jesus Christ the Messiah was to accomplish. I’ve also tried to point out that there are two dominant figures in the Old Testament prophecy. These are Messianic figures and these two dominant figures are figures that our Lord Jesus applied to himself. They speak of atonement and its issues. And these two dominant figures are: the Servant of Jehovah and the Son of man. We have pointed out that the term “The Servant of Jehovah” is a term that refers to these passages that we’re looking at. The ministry of our Lord and the accomplishment of the tasks that are set forth in these four great chapters: Isaiah chapter 42, Isaiah chapter 49, Isaiah chapter 50, and Isaiah chapter 52, verse 13 through chapter 53, verse 12. These are the acknowledged Servant Songs of the prophecy of Isaiah.
It is the opinion of some that Isaiah chapter 61 may also be included in the Servant Songs, but the term “servant” is not found there. And while it is a section of the prophecy of Isaiah which does, without question, speak of the Lord Jesus, it’s the passage he applied to himself when he came into the synagogue in Nazareth and began his Messianic ministry, still it’s safer to say that these four great chapters picture the Suffering Servant of Jehovah’s ministry. And that they picture the zenith of our Lord’s earthly career as suffering. And Isaiah 53, of course, is the climax of those Servant Songs.
Then we also have been trying to point out that the term “Son of man” is also a term used by our Lord of himself. In fact, this is the term that is used of himself more than any other term. It comes from Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, and it stresses the fact that the issue of our Lord’s suffering will be reigning. For in that great vision which Daniel is given in Daniel chapter 7, he sees the Ancient of days seated upon a throne. He sees the Son of man come and receive a kingdom for those who he represents. And this kingdom is a kingdom that is worldwide; it is the Messianic kingdom about which the Prophet Daniel speaks in Daniel 2 and 7, 8, 9 through 12, the other chapters of the Book of Daniel.
So that these two figures: the Suffering Servant of Jehovah and the Son of man give the two aspects of our Lord’s ministry, which are stressed by our Lord himself on the Emmaus road to the disciples. He is to come and suffer and he is to come and enter into glory or reign. So the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that should follow are pictured by these two terms, which our Lord applied to himself: the Suffering Servant of Jehovah and the Son of man.
Now in the New Testament, in more than one place, these two features of suffering and reigning are the summary of the ministry of our Lord. Now we have been studying these Old Testament passages on the conviction and on the presupposition that since these passages are passages which our Lord Jesus referred to himself that, therefore, we can expect to find out some things about him as we study them.
Now last time we were looking at the identity of the servant after having treated in one of our nights, in fact part of two of our nights, the four Servant Songs. We then last time looked at Roman II, the Identity of the Servant. We took four tests which liberal scholars claim that we must meet if we say that Jesus Christ identified himself with the term “Servant of Jehovah”. These four tests we set out as: first, we are required to show first that he referred to the servant at all; second, that the purported illusions are intended to indicate that he was the Servant and not simply catchphrases or generalities; and third, that he referred to the distinctive mark of the servant. That is, the suffering; and finally, that he saw the suffering as vicarious, and Dr. Woods let us know that vicarious meant substitutionary, remember? Substitutionary and redemptive.
And so then we took up these four tests, and in the outline that I have put on the board, it’s Jesus of Nazareth and the Tests. In my outline, which I have in my notes, it’s the Passing of the Tests. And we took them up one by one. We took up the first test required of us to answer, “If we believe that our Lord Jesus did see himself as the Servant of Jehovah?” Test number one was that he referred to the servant at all. For some have had the gigantic, scholarly, and Christian nerve [laughter] to suggest that it is possible that Jesus really did not refer to the servant figure at all as a reference to himself.
And we looked at Luke chapter 22 and verse 37. And we saw that it was really nervy to make such a suggestion because it seems evident from Luke chapter 22 and verse 37 that he did refer to himself as the Servant. As a matter of fact, we looked at a number of places here and we saw that there are: direct illusions, indirect illusions, the specific reference to himself in Luke chapter 22, verse 37 so that there is an overwhelming passing of the test that he referred to the servant figure.
And it’s rather striking that he referred to the servant figure, that is, he looked at himself as the Servant of Jehovah. Not in any incidental parts of his ministry, but at important parts of it. For example, he spoke of himself as “The one who came not be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”; now that is one of the key statements that he makes in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark. But when we move on into the most critical stages of our Lord’s ministry, and surely everyone would agree that one of the critical stages of our Lord’s ministry was when he instituted the Lord’s Supper out of the last Passover. A great deal is made of this event in all of our gospels that our Lord Jesus observed perfectly the last Passover. Now he observed it perfectly because he was required by Mosaic Law to observe it perfectly. But in the midst, I think at the end of the service, but in that service, as he concluded the passover, he instituted the Lord’s Supper and he told the apostles, and through them he has told us that we are throughout the entire time of his absence from the earth, to observe this feast in remembrance of him. It’s obvious that this is one of the key events in our Lord’s life and it looms large in the words that he has for the church during the period of time between the First Advent and his coming.
Now in this Lord’s Supper, he referred to the Suffering Servant of Jehovah when remember, he took the bread, and then took the wine, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for the remission of sins”. He spoke of the fact that this particular event was designed to represent the fact that he would give his life a ransom for many.
Now it’s evident that those statements are built on the language of the Old Testament Suffering Servant of Jehovah in Isaiah 53. So when he enacted the Lord’s Supper, he was doing it against the background of Isaiah chapter 53. Now that was one of the climactic events in our Lord’s last time upon the earth. And then we looked at Luke chapter 22 and verse 37, which occurred just before his death; it, too, at a climatic time in our Lord’s ministry. So test number one was passed.
Test number two; we are required to show that the illusions were not merely generalities. We looked at Luke chapter 22 and verse 37 and saw that in this quotation from the Old Testament, “that he should be reckoned with the transgressors” that it was introduced by an introductory formula and it also closed with an introductory formula. In both of which our Lord stressed the fact that that passage from Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 12 refers to himself. It begins with, “For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me”. Then the quotation from Isaiah 53:12 and as the conclusion of the verse we have, “for the things concerning me have a fulfillment”.
So before the text and after the text, contrary to most of the passages in the New Testament in which a passage is quoted from the Old Testament, we usually have an introductory formula like a: “it stands written”, or “in order that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet”, or “Moses saith”, or “He says”, or “it says”. This one, however, is introduced by, “This is something about me”; Isaiah 53:12, and then when he finishes he says, “It’s something about me”. So that it seems that we should have no question that our Lord referred Isaiah chapter 53:12 to himself and Luke chapter 22 and verse 37.
Then test number three was that he referred to the suffering. It’s not enough for our unbelieving friends and, of course, I mean unbelieving in this respect, that is that our Lord referred to himself as the Servant of Jehovah, saw himself as fulfilling that ministry; they have said that we should demonstrate that he referred to the suffering. And I tried to point out that each of the references, with one exception, is in the context of his suffering and so we passed that test.
And finally, test number four, that he saw his suffering as vicarious and redemptive. And we pointed out that he accepted the role of the servant and if he accepted the role of the servant, it was inconceivable that he could do this without accepting the vocation of suffering for that’s what the servant was to do. You cannot have a Servant of Jehovah who does not suffer in the light of those texts from the Old Testament.
But anyway, we argued it further and we concluded that these four tests, which the enemies of this view that our Lord took this term and referred it to himself say we must pass, we looked at them, analyzed them, and we concluded that our Lord did refer to himself as the Suffering Servant of Jehovah; that he did refer to the suffering; and furthermore, that he thought of himself as carrying out that suffering; and he regarded that suffering as redemptive and vicarious. That is, he regarded it as the basis of human redemption and he regarded it as the basis of human redemption under the figure and by means of substitution.
Now then we turn to Roman three, the Character of the Servant’s Work. And we sought to begin a survey in simple fashion of the nature of the atonement that was offered and we looked at its Christological character. I commented upon the fact that there is not a great deal of information in the Servant Songs about the Christology of the servant. I think the reason for this is that the great prophecies of the Book of Emmanuel in Isaiah: Isaiah 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, stress the person of the one who is going to come and carry out the ministry of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah. And so, therefore, there is no need for Isaiah to again stress the personal side of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah. In this section, he looks at the work.
Then we turn to the soteriological character and I noted one general note. That is that the obedient suffering is the will of God and that there is a unique conception in the Suffering Servant of Jehovah because the prophets, like Jeremiah suffered in the course of, or as a result of their witness, but with the servant and our Lord, suffering is not an incidental, it is the means by which they fulfill their mission.
Now did I stop there? I didn’t make a note in my notes. If someone is taking notes, do you remember did I stop there or not? [Comment from the audience] I did stop there? I either stopped there or that’s when you went to sleep. [Laughter] Is that what we are to conclude from this? [Comment from the audience] [Laughter].
Now I want to tonight, in the time that we have remaining, I want to talk about three emphases that are found in the soteriological work of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah. And so first of all, and in our outline, if I were giving you all of this, it would be Aramaic one, The Suffering is Penal? Now I have penal suffering with a question mark. And so the question is, “Did the servant suffer penally?” Now penally is p-e-n-a-l-l-y. That means “Did the servant suffer under the punishment of God?” That is “Did he bear sin as a punishment from God?”
A simpleminded Christian reading the Bible would say, “I don’t see any problem with that at all”. But this is one of the things that many of our students of Scripture are not willing to grant. They are willing to grant that our Lord Jesus died. They are willing to grant even that he died as a substitute. But to say that he died under the wrath of God; well in the 20th Century, it’s a very unpopular thing to say that “God is the kind of person who looks upon sin with a wrathful attitude”. The concept of God that the 20th Century has is such that the idea of a god who is angry with sin is something that is outside of0 their experience, outside of their thought, it’s outside of the normal concepts that they have been given, and are given in their religious life, in their political life, in their social life, in their ethical life because the idea of God as an angry God is just something that runs against the grain of the thought of the 20th Century. Now we want to ask and answer the question, “Is that suffering penal according to the prophecy of Isaiah?”
Now I want you to look at a couple of passages in Isaiah chapter 53. In Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 4, this is one of our Servant Songs, of course, the climactic one. And we read here, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”. Now in a moment, I’m going to say something about those who are uttering these words which have become prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53. But I want you to notice the expression “smitten of God”.
Now this, I think, was inserted because it is something that has the approval of God. Our Lord Jesus, when he hung upon the cross, was smitten of God. We are to look at our Lord as under the judgment of God according to this text it seems. Verse 6 is even clearer, “All we like sheep have gone astray (they confess); we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
I think I commented last time, which may support the assertion that you fell asleep, Bob. I’m not sure about this. I’m not accusing you publicly; of course, of doing this because that would be a dastardly thing to do in any lecture that I would be giving. But I want you to know it has been done before [laughter]. But anyway, I just remember in my mind saying something about this. At any rate, here we read, “And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”. It is evident from this, and remember I think I said, “But this is a very violent figure expressed by this Hebrew verb because it’s the same verb that is used to describe the action of the soldiers of David when he asks them to fall upon the man who confessed that he had killed Saul”. I think I referred to that. He’s remembering it now. He was kind of dozing at that point. And that figure is a very, very strong figure. “So that the Lord hath cause to smite upon him the iniquity of us all” is a figure of all of the judgments of God meeting upon our Lord Jesus Christ as those soldiers fell upon that man and put him to death. “So the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”.
And will you notice, it is the Lord who is the person carrying out this activity? So it is the Lord who has caused to meet upon him the iniquity of us all. And if you can think of Calvary as a place where Jesus Christ was hanging upon a cross and God the Father getting up off of his throne, if you have that concept of God in heaven, and if you can have the concept of him with a sword in his hand, getting up off of his seat upon the throne and smiting his Son, then you have something of the figure that Isaiah presents here in prophetic fashion of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ when he hung upon the cross at Calvary. Now that is why he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” That is why there came a darkness over the face over all the land for three hours. For it was at that time that Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God. I would call that penal suffering. Verse 11,
“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (And again, we have the figure of our Lord Jesus bearing the punishment of other’s sins. He shall bear their iniquity. He bears the punishment, the guilt of their sin. Verse 12) Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many”. (Again the idea of penal satisfaction; this suffering is a penal suffering).
Now second, Arabic two: Is This Suffering Propitiatory? Now when we speak of propitiatory suffering, we mean, “Is this suffering designed to satisfy something in God? In other words, we could think of our Lord’s suffering under judgment because he bears our judgment. But now, let’s not look at it from the manword standpoint; let’s look at it from the Godword standpoint. Why is this necessary? And when we say that the suffering was propitiatory, we mean that it is true that our Lord bore the judgment, the wrath, the guilt that was ours, but the one who required this is God because there is something in him that requires this judgment.
Now the term “propitiation” is a term that can probably best be rendered in English by the English word “satisfaction”. Propitiation is a very big word. People don’t like big words. They particularly don’t like them in theology. Anything else is all right. You can have the biggest kind of words and the longest kind of words if it’s in economics or politics, but if you have this in theology, well that’s something else. Just the other day, I opened Time Magazine I think it was, opened it up to the Economic section and here I saw this word. Disintermediation, I think. What a meaningful concept. Disintermediation, I think that was what the term was. I wasn’t sure if I could even pronounce it. And there disintermediation was explained; a little section in Time Magazine three or four columns to explain disintermediation.
Now I know exactly what that means. Do you know what that means? Well, that refers to you, when you have money in the savings and loan and its drawing five and a half or six percent and you discover because your friend tells you that you can get eight to ten percent if you’ll take the money out of the savings and loan and put it over here. And if you do that, that’s disintermediation. Did you know were guilty of that crime? [Laughter] That’s what it is according to Time Magazine.
Now you cannot speak big words in biblical things because that’s supposed to be over the head of people. But I know you, you are intelligent, you are learned, so you know propitiation. But, in case someone has managed to sneak in here who is one of the underprivileged, I want you to know that propitiation is probably best represented in English by the term “satisfaction”. So that when we say in the death of our Lord that God was propitiated, such as Romans chapter 3, verse 24 and 25, “Whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood”, what that means is that God set forth Jesus Christ as a sacrifice and by means of that sacrifice, he was satisfied.
Now evidently, there is something in our Lord that requires satisfaction with reference to our sins and what that thing is in our Lord that requires satisfaction is his holiness; his justice; the sense of law which prevails in his universe and which he carries out even if it does not seem as if he is. His laws are inviolable laws. They are never broken by men. They break us. And so when we read that our Lord was a propitiation, it means that he bore our judgment in order that God’s law may be satisfied. For the law says, “The sinner shall die”. The law says, “The wages of sin is death” and so that is precisely what happened when Jesus Christ died. There he was a satisfaction for the sins of many. He bore the judgment and God’s holiness and God’s righteousness, God’s justice was satisfied in the death of Jesus Christ. You see, this was a question that may have disturbed thinking people through all of the Old Testament.
Those who represented Jehovah were saying that God is the kind of god who punishes sin, but it did not seem to be empirically true. For when you looked around, you discovered that often the people who were supporting this Jehovah and proclaiming his name and worshiping him, it seemed as if they were the ones who were suffering more than those who did not worship this Jehovah. It almost seemed as if when you analyze the lives of the people that it’s those who didn’t worship Jehovah who were the most prosperous, who were the happiest, who seemed to be enjoying life the most. Whereas the saints were suffering, the saints were persecuted, the saints were scattered. The saints were persecuted into the four corners of the earth. And you might say, “Where are the wages of sin?”
And finally, God having passed over sins, for he did not punish sin as sin should be punished in the Old Testament times, he passed over sin because he was waiting for the Redeemer to come. And when our Lord hung upon the cross, all of the vast storehouse of human guilt and human sin represented by the design of the atonement was heaped upon our Lord Jesus when he was upon the cross at Calvary and there is the final answer to the question, “Does God punish sin?” Yes, he does. And when he made Jesus Christ cry out, “My God, my God why hast Thou forsaken me?” There’s the answer to the question, “Is God an angry god with reference to human sin?” And he is. He punishes it. And he is so determined to have his law prevail in his universe that he is willing to give up his own Son to be the means of exhausting the wrath of God against sin. And that’s an amazing thing, amazing thing. And so the Lord Jesus, the only person who could exhaust the wrath of God, died and finally, having exhausted it, he said, “It is finished” and then gave up his spirit into the hands of the Father. That suffering is propitiatory.
By far, the most important effect of the death of Christ was its effect on the mind of God. Nine tenths of modern books on the atonement of the Lord Jesus, or the atonement, are occupied with the effects of the death of Christ on the mind of man. One tenth, if we could even say that much, are occupied with the effects of the death of Christ on God. I think it’s fair to say that ninety percent of the preaching of the atonement of the Lord Jesus stresses the effects of human sin upon man. And in the preaching of the death of the Lord Jesus, ninety percent of the preaching is occupied with the effects of the death of Christ on man. We think of the death of Christ, yes, it’s the death of Christ by which I’m forgiven. It’s the death of Christ by which I have remission of sins. It’s the death of Christ by which I have eternal life. And so on, down the line, but how many times do we think and meditate upon the effect of the death of Christ upon God?
Now did you notice that passage in Romans? It says,
“All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus: Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his name. (Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation? And then in a few moments he says) that he might be just, and the justifier of them who are of the faith of Jesus”.
Now who has first place in the work of our Lord Jesus in Romans 3? Why did God? But that’s the apostle speaking. That’s not a modern preacher. The big question is not so much how we can get a man to God, if I may put it by way of emphasis for both are true of course and necessary, but the biggest question is how we can get a holy God to man? And that is answered by the suffering of our Lord Jesus “so that he might be just”. That is important.
Let me give you an illustration. There are those who think of our Lord Jesus as a sacrifice, but who do not understand that involved in this sacrifice is this penal satisfaction. Let me read you a statement by Canon Vernon Storr. He has written a book entitled The Problem of the Cross and he speaks of the satisfaction of Christ as a satisfaction to love. He has strong leanings toward the moral influence theory of the atonement. Let me ask you a question (just be sure that you remember that I did lecture to you on the subject of the moral influence theory of the atonement). Whose theory is the moral influence theory of the atonement? Does anyone remember? [Comment from the audience] Good. Good. We are growing some theologians. It may take a long time, but we are gaining some theologians.
Abelard, do you remember what century Abelard lived in? The 12th Century. Now you would think that people in the 20th Century would not have anything to learn from any individual in the 12th Century, and you would think that somebody who lived in the 12th or 13th Century, “Well, my goodness, their thoughts are not contemporary, are they?” Well listen, Canon Storr lives in the 20th Century. He and Abelard would have been brethren in their ideas of the atonement. In fact, you go around in the churches of Dallas, right around this city, the great majority of them, if they had any theory of the atonement at all, would probably be Abelardian. And if you were to ask them, is your theory of the atonement Abelardian? They would think, “Well, you must be a member of some new cult” [Laughter]. And if you told them you went to Believers Chapel, they would know [Laughter] that that was true. I saw in the newspaper what it said. It lumped you with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the rest of those cults, didn’t it? Someone gave me a clipping out of the paper, I was shocked.
Now, Canon Storr, he accepts the conclusion that one cannot get rid of the idea of vicarious punishment from Paul’s teaching, but he adds, “We are in no way bound to accept Paul’s interpretation of Christ’s death”. So here is a man who at least admits that we have a vicarious punishment in Paul’s teaching, but he just says, “We don’t have to follow Paul”.
C. H. Spurgeon has written in one of his expositions of a text of the New Testament a paragraph that I think is an outstanding paragraph. He says, “Did God, instead of forgiving my sin without a penalty, make the anointed Substitute smart for it? Then I reverence the Lawgiver, the mighty Lawgiver who would not, even though He is Love itself, suffer His Law to be broken. I reverence that dreadful Judge of all the earth, who, though I be his child, yet since I had offended, would not spare me for my sin, but executed the penalty that was due to me upon Himself. Himself! For Christ His Son is One with Him, and dear to His Father’s soul. Why, more than that, it makes me feel an intense love to Him. What? Was He so just, and yet was He so determined to save me, that He would not spare His only Son, but freely gave Him up to die? O blessed God, I tremble at Thy Justice, which yet I come to admire. But oh, Thou love – what shall I say of it? It wins my love. I must love Thee, my God – the Just and yet the Gracious One. I must love Thee”.
Now that expresses the sentiment of a New Testament Christian. He senses the justice of God in the sacrifice of Christ, but he sees beyond the awful justice of it to the revelation of the love of it. And I want to say to you that you will never know the love of God until you know the justice of God. That his love through justice triumphs over our sin and he wins us and I feel like Spurgeon. It wins my love to realize that. Now I don’t want to preach. This is supposed to be a theologic class.
Third, “Is the Suffering Vicarious?” I want to read verses 4 through 6 of Isaiah 53. I want you to notice the personal pronouns,
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Our, we, us, and all related to what Jesus Christ did, I think about ten times. Will you count them for me and tell me afterwards if that’s true? We have “our”, “we”, “us” with reference to the sufferings of our Lord. Now in verse 10, we have the statement) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (I was really looking for verse 11. That was a good verse too, however) He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities (and then in verse 12). He bore the sin of many”.
That’s the basis of Mark chapter 10 and verse 45 and there, remember, our Lord expounded it and applied it to himself. Would a great teacher make a statement like our Lord made in Mark chapter 10 in which he referred to this? Would a great teacher make a statement like that if it were not true? Let me illustrate what I mean. He said, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”. Imagine someone saying something like that. Imagine someone saying, “I have come to give my life a ransom for many”. Why the very idea is preposterous. To think, suppose I were to say to you, “I have come to give my life a ransom for many”. Why, you would immediately say, “What do you mean? How could your life be a ransom for many? Why even if your life were a kind of perfect life it might be a ransom for one life, but the idea that your life would be a ransom for many it’s ridiculous”. Why that’s a remark of a conceited ass: “I’ve come to give my life a ransom for many”.
And as I’ve said over and over again to you, these statements in the mouth of a human being are the statements of conceited asses. But there is something about our Lord Jesus that when he makes these statements, we don’t even think that there’s anything unusual about it all. In fact, when I said it to you, before I tried to explain it, you said, “Well, what’s unusual about that?” Well here is a man who is saying that his life is a ransom for many. Why it’s the attitude of a cocky, conceited ass. But there is something down underneath in the human heart that responds when our Lord Jesus makes statements like this even when we don’t believe and we say, “Yes, it’s true. It’s right in his case”.
I was preaching yesterday and I was preaching on John chapter 10 and in John chapter 10 the Lord Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”. And it suddenly dawned on me, but what is our Lord doing, but praising himself? And so in this statement, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”, our Lord Jesus praises himself.
Now again, if that were not true, it would be the remark of a conceited ass. But in our Lord’s case, we pass through those statements and even if we don’t believe in him we say, “Yes, it’s true in the case of our Lord Jesus”. We don’t go around shouting, “The Lord Jesus is a braggart!” You don’t find unbelievers doing that. You see, instead, this remarkable thing that these people who do not accept the truthfulness of our Lord Jesus, who do not believe in him will say, “Ah, Jesus the Christ is a great teacher. His system is a great system of ethics. We should follow the ethics of our master”. And so they follow this man, who on their own terms would be nothing but a lying braggart, but he praises himself.
Now, of course, our Lord’s statement that he bore the sin of many is bound up in the fact that when our Lord suffers, it’s a different suffering from the kind of suffering that I might suffer. In fact, it’s a different kind of suffering from the suffering that a perfect man might suffer. For a perfect man could only give his life for one man, but our Lord says, “He bore the sins of many”.
You see, the dignity of an act is determined by the character who performs the act. When prisoners are bartered at the conclusion of a war, the exchange is usually a soldier for a soldier; a man for a man. But in practice, that’s not always true. In practice, in the past, a lieutenant on one side being turned over might be worth two or three of the privates in the other. A general might be worth a platoon or more. A beautiful woman who had been captured might be worth more than one of the soldiers. Or if by chance the king’s son had been captured, for the price of the king’s son, you might demand a division of men. But in our Lord’s case, you have the dignity of a Godman. And because he is a Godman, he is able to die upon the cross at Calvary and there fulfill his own prophecy, “I lay down my life a ransom for many”. “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”: one life for many sheep because his life is absolutely unique, the life of the Godman.
William G. T. Shedd is one of my favorite theologians because he probably is the clearest writing theologian of the 19th Century. I don’t always agree with Shedd, but I do like to read Shedd because reading his theology is like reading a devotional paper for me. In one of his sermons somewhere, not in his theology, he tells of a visit to St. Margaret’s Church Westminster in England where he heard a sermon from a young clergyman on the atonement. And among other striking and truthful utterances, he said, “He heard the young man say, ‘The atonement of Jesus Christ is the hold which the sinner has upon God’. And he went on to say, “That sentence is the gospel in a nutshell. By pleading the merits of Christ’s oblation, the sinful creaturely, the creature utterly powerless in himself becomes almighty with God. For in so doing, he brings an argument to bear upon the infinite justice and infinite mercy of God which is omnipotent. He in effect says, ‘The atonement of Jesus Christ is for sinners. I am a sinner. It’s for me. Father, I hold to the atonement of Jesus Christ as my basis of acceptance with Thee and the argument with an eternal holy God is an omnipotent argument’.” It utterly prevails with him. So when modern man objects to the Anselmic view of the atonement of Christ that he offered a satisfaction to God, then I reply in the words that Luther replied to Erasmus, “Your thoughts of God are too human”.
Now there is one final thing that I want to say something about before I close tonight and that is the eschatological character of the servant’s ministry. We don’t have time to develop this and it’s not really important for our course because we’re studying the atonement. I merely want to make this comment that in verse 15 of chapter 52, we have reference to some of the things that the servant will do at his Second Advent. “As many were astounded at Thee; (in Thy First Coming in verse 14, then there is a parenthesis) his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (So just as many were astonished at Thee at Thy first coming), so (in verse 15) shall he sprinkle many nations (at his Second Coming).
Commentators debate whether the term “sprinkle” should be “sprinkle” or “startle”. It doesn’t really make a great deal of difference. If we were to translate this “startled” then it would simply mean, “Just as many were astonished at the things that happened when the Messiah came in his First Coming, so they shall be astonished when he leaves the heavens and comes in his Second Advent to the earth. And kings shall be so astonished that they shall shut their mouths at him”. That makes good sense.
On the other hand, it is also true that, “Just as many were astonished at Thee at Thy First Coming, so in like manner, he shall astonish people at his Second Coming by the fact that when he comes, that shall be the time when Israel and the nations shall enter into the experience of the forgiveness of sin”. And so that makes good sense too.
The important thing is that the servant’s ministry is not only a ministry of suffering at his First Coming; it is also a ministry that moves on into the future to the Second Advent. Let me just show you in a couple of the other prophecies that this is a note that prevails throughout the Suffering Servant of Jehovah Songs. And then I’m going to stop about five minutes early, believe it or not, from our hour, and if you have a question, feel free to ask it. Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1,
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth justice to the nations. (That he does at his Second Advent. Verse 4) He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set justice in the earth: and the coasts shall wait for his law. (Verse 6) I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people (Israel), for a light of the Gentiles. (The ministry of our Lord touches the whole of the earth as Suffering Servant of Jehovah. Chapter 49, verses 6 and 7 we read) And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nations abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.”
So our Lord’s ministry as Suffering Servant of Jehovah is a ministry of suffering, but it also issues in ultimate glory in the earth. Now do we have a question or so? We started about three minutes early so we have troubling you, anything been puzzling to you? Do you have any kind of problem? [Laughter] Yes, sir?
[Question from the audience]
[Johnson] I’m not sure that I understand the question.
[Comment from the same audience member]
[Johnson] Is the question, “Is there any connection between the penalty upon Cain for his sin and the suffering of Christ on the cross? Is that what you’re saying?
[Comment from the same audience member]
[Johnson] Well, I don’t think I understand your question so I’ll answer, “No”. [Laughter] Maybe you could come up afterwards. [Laughter]
[Comment from the same audience member]
[Johnson] Yes. Well, of course, that is referred to in the New Testament, Cain’s sin. In 1 John, for example with, but of course, the ultimate punishment of Cain’s sin is not the judgment that God placed upon Cain in the Old Testament because that was only a physical thing. The ultimate judgment for that sin is an eternal separation from God. And that, of course, Cain could not bear in this life and our Lord can only bear that kind of punishment on the cross. But perhaps we could talk about it a little afterwards.
[Comment from the same audience member]
[Johnson] Yes, as he looked forward to the bearing the curse, right. One more question, real quick.
[Question and discussion from the audience]
[Johnson] I think that was a question that Mr. Burns wanted to have answered, don’t you? [Laughter] He put those words in your mouth [Laughter], so I refuse to answer his question to you. I’ll just answer his question to himself. But I don’t see the connection between the murder…
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#298: Lara tells Link and Josué about Littlewood, a soothing game similar to Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, and how the mechanics of these kinds of games help us deal with stress. Josué gushes about Genshin Impact and Link suggests Pokémon Snap as a fun and soothing time.
Josué Cardona 0:06
Welcome gt radio on the Geek Therapy network here at Geek Therapy, we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Lara Taylor.
Lara Taylor 0:15
Josué Cardona 0:16
and Link Keller.
Link Keller 0:17
Josué Cardona 0:18
today we’re talking about little town?
Lara Taylor 0:21
Josué Cardona 0:22
Lara Taylor 0:24
It’s a little town called littlewood,
Josué Cardona 0:27
a little town called littlewood. And we’re in Lara has been taking Lara has been taking little breaks in littlewood.
Link Keller 0:34
And yes, longer breaks in littlewood
Josué Cardona 0:39
Okay, so what this game looks, I don’t know. Looks looks uh, looks fantastic to me. But
Link Keller 0:48
tell us a little about littlewood.
Lara Taylor 0:51
Which is so funny. Because every time I tell people about littlewood I say the name, they’re like littlewood, little wood heehee
Link Keller 0:59
hee hee hee
Lara Taylor 1:03
That’s because I surround myself with people who have the sense of humor of a 13 year old but it’s okay. It’s okay. Yeah, yeah, this game is more sophisticated than that. It’s wonderful and beautiful. It’s a little 8bit like, town builder game. A client of mine actually recommended it to me and I’m so appreciative. It is the most like, okay, I would compare it to Stardew Valley, which we’ve talked about how it is sometimes an anxiety provoking game Stardew Valley, but the cool thing about littlewood is the reason I play it so much, is there’s no countdown clock, there’s no timer, like I can just let it be in play. And here’s Josué playing the game. I wish there was a multiplayer option. Ooh, you placed your market in a very interesting place
Josué Cardona 2:00
i played for about 45 minutes, and
Lara Taylor 2:02
this is gonna be so distracting to me.
Josué Cardona 2:04
Yeah, no, I just, you know, if you’re if you’re watching this live, you can see what the game looks like. And yeah, it’s it’s very distracting. I told you not to play.
Lara Taylor 2:14
Very cute little eight bit game. Um, it is a the premise is you were the hero of the big story, like you defeated the dark wizard, you and your friends. And you wake up one day, and you’re in littlewood, and you don’t,
Josué Cardona 2:33
Lara Taylor 2:34
littlewood littlewood, like Hollywood littlewood.
Josué Cardona 2:37
Lara Taylor 2:38
um, you don’t remember any of it, you don’t remember your friends, you don’t remember beating the dark wizard. And over time, you’re learning about your adventures with your friends and building connections and building a community. And you’re building the town literally build your house, you build your friend’s house, you’re collecting resources to do that. But you can romance all the characters, including a duck. It’s really cute. Um, and you get to cook food. And it’s just it’s so relaxing. And I think what gets me is I loved the concept of Stardew Valley. But I would get so anxious when it got close to the end of the day, I have to do all these things by the end of the day. And this game, it’s a stamina bar. So you can only do so much by the end of the day. But it’s not counting it down, like and you go to bed and the next the next days there. It doesn’t feel as stressful to me. I have spent so much time playing this game in the last few weeks.
Josué Cardona 3:48
That’s a good point, everything you do fills up the bar. So you can just kind of hang out and talk to people forever. Without not progress time forward. But when you do things so you know you have a limited number of tasks to do
Lara Taylor 4:02
and building things doesn’t count against your bar. You can do as much like modification and landscaping and all of that so that piece doesn’t get doesn’t cut you out of extra time you get to do it’s mostly the chopping wood. Collecting stone, fishing, cooking, catching bugs, much like Animal Crossing.
Josué Cardona 4:24
It sounds a lot like Animal Crossing, which was the game where you needed this time last year and it came in right just the right time. It sounds
Lara Taylor 4:33
like this is the game that I mean right now. Because Animal Crossing still feels like a chore after playing it for so long. This game it’s like Animal Crossing but it has story right like there’s you wake up some mornings and
Josué Cardona 4:49
wait wait there’s a story in Animal Crossing
Lara Taylor 4:52
you build your own story and but I’m talking like
Josué Cardona 4:55
you gotta get K.K. to come over.
Lara Taylor 4:56
Once you’re done once K.K. is there, the story is done this game, you get bits each day. Exactly. Roll credits, and it’s done. Yeah, I beat that game over a year ago.
Josué Cardona 5:13
I was rereading reality is broken recently. And you know, I think I think Jane explains so well, the, the gamer enjoyment cycle where you’re like, Oh, it’s like shiny new learning new things, flow mastery. And then you can only do that for so long. And then what you do is you just get off of that one. And then you start the whole cycle again with another one, right? So for some there, there have been many times where I’ve thought, Oh, I really want that Animal Crossing experience. But I can’t get it from Animal Crossing anymore. Does like, the only in some games, I would have just deleted my island and started over for that feeling. But I haven’t felt like doing that. Because it’s been too much of an investment to get the things that I have. And I don’t want to do that. So I yeah, so I needed something else. I just, I just got littlewood today. And I’m
Lara Taylor 6:15
are you are you invested?
Josué Cardona 6:18
well it was all the things you said, right. It’s like it’s all the same. It’s very similar elements. It’s even, it’s a different art style. It’s different than Stardew Valley. It does many of the similar things, the things that I already like, but it does things in a slightly different way. A lot of the objectives are similar. Um, but so far, I like to I like the system i like i like that. And it’s just like it feels it has that aesthetic. And that I don’t like energy level, right? That is just very,
Lara Taylor 6:49
it’s a mellow energy level, and the music is so soothing. And I can just leave it on and walk around and then come back and be like, Oh, yeah, I was trying to pick my carrots out of the garden today or whatever.
Josué Cardona 7:04
Yeah, yeah. I yeah, I’m glad I probably won’t play it now. Because I there’s another game that I’ve been playing a lot. And this I didn’t expect, I’ve been playing genshin impact a lot for the past few months. And that game basically just had an update that added animal crossing into it. So I’ve built an island and landscaping and I’m like, I have pets now. And I’m building furniture and I’m cutting you know, I’m getting material and cutting down trees and building fabric and doing all these same things that for some reason, just it’s a low cognitive load, not difficult. It’s just that it feels good. Like I’ve built a new thing and I can move it and I can all those small things and but it’s pretty shallow now like it’s pretty limited. So I think I think between that and and littlewood I can definitely, if I need it. I don’t feel like I needed as much now as I needed Animal Crossing last year. But at all. It’s It’s good. Yeah.
Lara Taylor 8:06
Yeah. Yeah. It’s so peaceful. And I like the idea of the story. Like, your character doesn’t remember anything. And yeah, your friends still love you and wants you to remember and don’t make you feel bad for not remembering and like, it’s just like, Oh, I remember how we used to do this thing together. We used to we remember that time we went across the bridge, and the bridge fell down or something and like, it’s just so sweet. They just, they just tried to help you remember, I don’t know where that story is going yet. I’m on day 46?
Josué Cardona 8:43
I’m on day two, and it’s already noticeably optimistic and cheerful in a way that even Animal Crossing as cute as it is like there’s some jerks and Animal Crossing, right? Like some people, right? Like there’s you got a little bit of everything there. And this one here. You’re right. And there’s I don’t know, how I’m curious how you feel or how you would describe that feeling of the moment you start? is it’s it’s like the it’s like the epilogue to so many other games that you’ve played.
Lara Taylor 9:16
Right, right. It’s like, it’s your time to relax. You put down the sword and just like, go chop down some trees.
Josué Cardona 9:25
I was like, that’s like she was sleeping for three days. Why? I don’t even remember that. You won. You beat the game. You You defeated the evil wizard. Right. And that was a hell of a battle. This town is all messed up. We should probably fix it. I don’t even know what it’s called. What do you want to call it? I’m like, What is happening? What? I love that as a as a basis for for for a game.
Lara Taylor 9:49
Yeah. And then you get to build a town square with a statue dedicated to you in the town square. It’s
Josué Cardona 9:55
Oh, yeah. i havent gotten that far
Lara Taylor 9:56
you haven’t done that part.
Link Keller 9:57
that that feels more like fable.
Josué Cardona 10:00
Yeah, I hope I don’t have to kill a dog at the end or choose nothing.
Lara Taylor 10:04
I hope that I hope not. I don’t think they would do that.
Link Keller 10:07
But tell your duck wife,
Lara Taylor 10:08
my duck wife, my duck wife, there are so many. It’s, it’s interesting because you can you can compliment and flirt with all you build these relationships with anyone you want in the town. I’m trying not to do that with everybody. But I’m like, okay, you start with you and your two best friends Willow and Dalton. So you get to pick and you don’t even have to pick you can pick neither. You can have both of them. You can. You can romance everybody. It’s wonderful. But I think it’s great that there’s that choice and that option to do whatever. There’s the duck person, there’s an orc person. There’s an old man that you can romance as well, which is really cute. And he likes to go fishing with you. Because he used to teach you how to fish. Okay. Yeah, um, you got a hot air balloon that you can fly to all kinds of places. Someone in one of the main the port city is trying to get me to donate my money to help restore the port city. I’m like, No, I gotta restore Littlewood. But it’s, um, there’s so much going on. But not enough that I get overwhelmed. Because we’ve talked in past episodes how I get overwhelmed when there’s too much going on in a game.
Josué Cardona 11:36
Lara Taylor 11:37
But there’s, there’s a lot to choose from, but not too much. And I don’t think I’m going to get bored with the game in the way that I think I did. Like, at one point Animal Crossing got to just every day I get up, I pick all the weeds, I dig up the fossils.
Josué Cardona 11:57
But that’s every day, right? Like, there was a time when I was like, that was fulfilling and exactly what
Lara Taylor 12:03
a certain point it was like, that feels like work. That’s happened, right? There was also
Link Keller 12:07
the difference in Animal Crossing being on real time. And so I think that adds a whole different experience to it, than in Stardew Valley or littlewood.
Lara Taylor 12:22
Josué Cardona 12:23
Link Keller 12:23
its like, there’s a difference of doing the same thing every day, seven days for a week, then I did the same thing. Seven days in one play sitting. And all seven days passed. And now I’m on the eighth day.
Lara Taylor 12:37
Yeah, yeah. I like the I like the setting in littlewood where like, instead of there’s like the season, each season has, like 30 days or something like that. And they just have four simple seasons. And there’s a certain amount of cool, fun events in each one.
Link Keller 13:01
You, you were talking about? How in littlewood, you were on day 42. And you don’t know for sure where this story is going.
Lara Taylor 13:17
Maybe that’s where we’re at. But I’m really excited to see where the story is going. I like the idea of like the retired hero. I like spins on the traditional story right. Yeah. That’s pretty cool.
Link Keller 13:33
Yeah, instead of the traditional hero’s journey, that video games love to go for. They’re like, hey, what if what if our video game is it’s just the very end It really does feel like It’s an epilogue to another game.
Josué Cardona 13:48
Yeah, I often mentioned that I don’t. I have strong feelings about the hero’s journey. It’s not really the hero’s journey itself. I love Joseph Campbell. That’s not the issue. My issue is
Lara Taylor 14:00
there are other storytelling.
Josué Cardona 14:02
There’s other stories and I hate it when people seem to try to fit life narratives and any story and try to put it into that story into the to the hero’s journey cycle.
Lara Taylor 14:17
If it fits, it fits if it doesn’t, don’t force it.
Link Keller 14:20
Well Yeah, it ends up being it is the go to example for describing narrative and how narrative works. And that ends up being a lot of people’s only interaction with that that concept and learning about narrative and so it’s similar similar to the the stages of grief, which were misrepresented in what they were supposed to be doing. But it’s so easy to pass along that that bit of information and it feels so apt. People are just like that’s it. We did it. That’s enough. That’s enough for me. I got it. but There’s, there’s more.
Josué Cardona 15:02
I get it. Joseph Campbell had that realization, he was like, Whoa, a lot of stories follow the same. Same same exact thing but not all of them. Until you don’t have to try to fit yours into to that does that does a TED video about a father talking about how much he hates the hero’s journey, because of how his daughter couldn’t relate to the typical stories that are told through the hero’s narrative. It is pretty good. He could say these things Better than he can express my feelings more than I can. But yeah, I do you love the idea that it’s not just up, like, there is actually a narrative reason for doing this for doing all these things. Everything is set up. And it also just, you know, takes all these tropes and just changes them. And I love the setup of that. I really like that a lot. I love the memory part. I mean, we talked we had that episode about memory, but the fact that your character doesn’t remember things, and you’re still
Lara Taylor 16:03
and you don’t know why. Like it could be just like it could be got hit on the head could be a magic thing could be trauma. i dunno.
Josué Cardona 16:11
who knows. it gets real dark later
Lara Taylor 16:14
Maybe it does, maybe it does. I don’t know. One of the things I think I really like about it is, as I as I was trying to get to is like I’ve been going through a lot of stress the last few weeks, it’s been a stressful few weeks. And this game has been a good escape. But it’s almost like I need an epilogue like I need the peaceful epilogue to like, relax and chop down trees. And like, this is a different kind of like Animal Crossing was the game I needed last year because I needed to get outside because I couldn’t go outside. Now it’s more acceptable to go outside and be around people just a little bit. But now I need the relaxing epilogue just like my stress is done. Let me go escape for a little bit in this game, and romance, some characters and go fishing and try to build some houses and decorate my friend’s houses the way they want to be decorated and build a coffee house and build a tavern and cook. It’s so good.
Josué Cardona 17:28
Is there a goal? Like are there specific goals that you’re trying to achieve? And not even just in the game? I mean, you personally,
Lara Taylor 17:37
I think, well, in the game, there are plenty of goals, there’s a quest board, they give you things you’re trying to build a museum Haha, just like animal crossing there’s a whole bunch of things. For me, my goal is I want to learn more about the story I want to get through because they give you I don’t know exactly how things trigger. But if you go to your journal in the game, it gives you little markers that fill in when you have met all the people. And they don’t necessarily you don’t necessarily meet them in a certain order. Same thing with the memories that come up in the morning. They don’t necessarily go in a certain order. So I’ve gotten like the first five memories, and then there’s one that I don’t have. And then there are other ones I have. So I think each one is triggered by something that you do
Link Keller 18:27
sort of like how Hades did their storytelling, where where there’s a background systems, keeping track of the things that you’ve done, and certain triggers will set off certain conversations.
Lara Taylor 18:42
Yeah, yeah. And I like that. It makes it like, Josué you could play similarly to how I’m playing but a little different and get maybe we get a few of the same memories. But like maybe there’s something you see that I won’t see yet. Because I haven’t done a thing. Like maybe you’re more interested in helping the guy, there’s a guy that moves in named ash that is focused on mining and stuff. And maybe you do that and that triggers a memory compared to me trying to do a lot of the fishing and spending time. In games, I tend to lean into the first few characters I run into, like when I play a JRPG. And I’m like, first char, that’s my party. I don’t need to add anyone else except for red 13. But, um, I think that that’s the party. I don’t want to mess with it. It’s balanced. So I kind of feel the same way with this. I’m like, Oh, it’s cute. You get the idea that I think that Willow has had a crush on you. And I think they kind of imply that with Dalton too. And so it’s like,
Josué Cardona 19:57
well, I mean, willow was the first person I’ve dated About a year so I’m no. I want to
Lara Taylor 20:03
hey you practice flirting, you can practice.
Josué Cardona 20:07
I saw hearts never have any dialogue with me. today.
Lara Taylor 20:11
She told me that she appreciated the compliment. Because she says that.
Josué Cardona 20:16
Yeah, no, I mean, I think it’s great. It’s going well, I think it’s going well so far. I haven’t met that many people in town yet. I just got there. But um,
Lara Taylor 20:26
you can do nice things for her. You can build the whatever she wants, you can build her the bookshelf she wants, you can decorate her walls the way she wants built. You can build her the bed she wants
Link Keller 20:39
anything for my wife. I love my wife.
Lara Taylor 20:45
My wife that I live in a separate house from everyone lives in separate houses is a nice little commune.
Josué Cardona 20:52
The first day she was hanging out with me. And she stayed with me the entire day. Until I went all the way. And then it was like go to bed. Like she was still like with me. It just it just
Lara Taylor 21:07
didn’t you didn’t say stop hanging out? She was still with you. Hmm.
Josué Cardona 21:10
I don’t I didn’t see. I mean,
Lara Taylor 21:13
you can on the pause. So you hit the button that goes to like, I
Josué Cardona 21:18
i wanted to see what happened. Yeah. It just skipped to the next morning. And so
Lara Taylor 21:23
if you try to go sleep in someone else’s bed, it says you can’t sleep in their bed. So you can only have people over to your house.
Josué Cardona 21:29
So you’ve tried this. huh lara?
Link Keller 21:33
Josué had a lesbian first date the 36 hour date.
Lara Taylor 21:40
the uhaul date
Link Keller 21:43
She just She never went home. I never asked her to leave and she never left. So now we’re married.
Josué Cardona 21:49
On the lesbian date spectrum. What is it when you build a house for the other person? Like literally upon meeting?
Link Keller 21:56
high on the lesbian level
Lara Taylor 21:58
that’s not uhaul But it’s very high. I mean, you use the carpentry skills to build a house.
Josué Cardona 22:03
That’s it. Yeah. I mean, yeah, she technically when we hung out, we just like cut tree cut down trees together and did a whole bunch of like, we went to the equivalent of like, a hardware store and yeah, yeah, yeah. Are there Subarus in this game?
Lara Taylor 22:21
You know what? I don’t think so. But can we have? Okay, okay, maybe? Okay. I mean, there’s duck people
Josué Cardona 22:30
that are there like horses and stuff. Like Can you ride? Oh,
Lara Taylor 22:33
I don’t know about riding horses, but I just got a cow to live in my town. Okay, yeah. Oh, I didn’t go pet the cow. today. I need to pet the cow before I save.
Josué Cardona 22:45
This game is is extremely cute. And and fun and funny.
Lara Taylor 22:55
There’s a whole scene with two people having an apple eating contest.
Josué Cardona 23:03
Okay, okay. Okay.
Lara Taylor 23:04
And it’s like a battle. It’s so cool.
Josué Cardona 23:07
I remember. I don’t I don’t think it was the Animal Crossing episode. But it may have been last year. And I just it just the way that Link said that particular game was soothing. That has stuck with me. And and whenever I use the word to thing, I think Link talking about that video game. And, and it’s just it feels like that, right? Like so. So you said you were stressful. You needed something like this. It just like it hit the spot. And it’s it’s been it’s been working.
Lara Taylor 23:37
And it’s a game that like, I don’t know, Animal Crossing, I felt like because it was real time I had to like, I didn’t want to put it down. I wanted to do things at certain times of the day, you had to do things at certain times of the day to catch whatever bugs or
Link Keller 23:53
Lara Taylor 23:54
or cheat, I don’t cheat. But littlewood is one that like, I don’t feel I can pause it, put it down, come back to it. Hopefully remember what I was doing. But it’s it feels more like I can have things in a bite size if I need to. Or I can play for a long time. Or I can mindlessly chop down wood. And like break stones while I’m doing something else. like sitting in a meeting at work.
Link Keller 24:26
a meeting game. Hmm.
Josué Cardona 24:30
How long have your play sessions been? On average? I
Lara Taylor 24:36
think it depends sometimes like I put it down because I have to go get something from a high cupboard for Nina because I’m taller or something like that. But I have played think the longest is like an hour and a half.
Josué Cardona 24:51
Okay. I asked because I was watching a video about genshin impact and people were complaining about like, oh, there’s nothing to do but we’ll blah I’m like Yeah, but you’re like, you’re paying for like, 12 hours a day because you’re a YouTuber and a streamer. Right? And so they talk about, they’re like, Well, you know, unless you’re one of those people who just pay the play for like, an hour a day, like, yeah, that’s exactly. That’s exactly that’s about as much time as I have
Link Keller 25:15
most of the systems seem to be built that way.
Josué Cardona 25:18
Yeah. And, and, in a way, like, what I really like about about genshin. And why it’s been, I played it back in November, I think it came out in September, October, I played it in November, played for a little bit didn’t touch it again until like late January. And, and it was similar thing, where I was like, Oh, this is the game I need right now. And, again, the the Animal Crossing, part of it just arrived. And it’s fun. And it and I really like it. But the game has so many different systems. And there’s so many different ways to accomplish things. Which is, which is something that animal crossing and games like this have, right? It’s like, it’s up to you, right? Like, do you want to just cut down trees and build this resource Do you want to build this do you want to do this over here?
Link Keller 26:05
Nothing but fish? you can live that dream
Josué Cardona 26:06
nothin but fish right just become just have the most fish. And and everything you do has some kind of value, right that you can then use it at a like there’s nothing genshin feels a lot like Breath of the Wild in the sense that it’s an open world and anywhere you that you always see something that you can do that game, I mean, you can tell in the design that there’s, there’s always it’s huge and has a lot of open space. But there’s always even just like, there’s like a plant that you can pick, or an animal that you can hunt or something, there’s something that you can do in all places. And there’s so many systems on systems and systems and things that you can dedicate yourself to. So there’s like a grind that you can do every day that feels satisfying, like, do these four things every day, you get a bonus. And so like I try to do that every single day. But if I have more time, there are all these other goals that I’m working toward that I’m like, oh, I’ve got I’ve got some extra time I got this resource, I’m going to cash this in and do this and try to get this other thing, right. And then there’s like events every six weeks, actually, I really like two there’s like the cadence at which this particular game is going is very impressive. But it’s giving me all of these things that to keep me engaged. And perhaps one of those most surprising things is that it has so many different systems like there was an event a couple weeks ago, that had minigames in it, where you were like dodging bubbles or like climbing things. And like one was like you’re falling in like picking these things as you’re like gliding down. And it’s such a fun world to be in that, that. That’s the thing like nothing feels to there are things that are really difficult in the game. But overall, it’s just bright and colorful. And it just, it just makes me feel good to be in there. And the characters you care about each and every one of the characters every character comes in. And they even like the game even does the surveys. And they they’ll give you extra like currency if you if you complete the surveys. And one of the previous ones was about like, why do you choose like, why do you invest in a particular character? And to be honest, like, it’s like, they each have a personality and a backstory?
Link Keller 26:33
Because i love them
Josué Cardona 27:35
And because I love them. Yeah, basically,
Link Keller 28:17
I love you my son I love you.
Josué Cardona 28:19
And what about one of the things that they did, like even they even capitalized on it, like this game is so many different things. But about a month ago, they added what they call hangout events, hangout events, but they’re basically dating sims for some of the characters. And then so you go and like you can, you can go on, like, you spend a day with these characters. And you have the whole thing where you’re like, face to face, and you’re talking in the and then there’s the different options. And you see that there’s a that it’s like a like a one of the the, like Detroit and become human now.
Link Keller 28:53
Choose Your Own Adventure, style
Josué Cardona 28:55
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. It’s like, there’s this whole chart and you see like, Oh, you got like one of the six possible things like go ahead, like do it again. And they’re kind of short. And it’s just like, oh, you’d like these characters. Let’s build a dating sim in, why not? And then you just get to hang out with them. And then you get a like, a cute picture at the end. Like, yeah, no, absolutely. Because one day, I want to play the game. And that’s just all I want to do. I just want to hang out with Noelle one day. That’s it. That’s all I’m gonna do. And then another day, I’m like, No, I’m gonna go like, destroy this boss character for this giant dragon. And you can do all that in the same place. But it’s, yeah, like it’s bright, it’s colorful. The, it’s everything about it is just soothing. In many in many ways.
Lara Taylor 29:39
Yeah. It’s so interesting. Recently, my therapist asked me like, What games do you play to relax? My answer was not any of these kinds of games.
Josué Cardona 29:53
which murder simulator did you?
Lara Taylor 29:55
well I was at the time I was taught I had been playing at the time. I’d been playing tell me Why, which is a very fucked up dark story with some cool aspects to it. I loved how we talked about memory and relationship and learning about yourself and learning about your, your parents and learning about things from your past. That was really cool. But my answer was like, I think it’s because I enjoy playing games where the problems are bigger than my own, so that I can, like defeat a problem that’s bigger. If I can do that, then I can handle my own real life human problems.
Josué Cardona 30:37
Do you mean that narratively, or, like, mechanically,
Lara Taylor 30:42
both, like, if I’m, if I beat the game, or I am defeating a battle of defeating monsters fighting a battle, and I win the battle, like, it feels like, Okay, cool. I’m doing something that if I as as Lara actually did, I would probably not be okay. I have this sense of mastery. And like, I defeated the thing, and I can actually see the thing and my problem seems smaller. Like in playing Tell me why the story is so big, and like, there’s so much going on, these people have been through so much trauma. And it’s like, Okay, my problems seem a little smaller than that right now. But now, I don’t know. Like, I feel like there’s room for both for me. But now, littlewood is a game that I like I need
Josué Cardona 31:31
so what’s the answer? What was the answer?
Lara Taylor 31:33
Well, the answer was I hadn’t even started playing a littlewood when she asked me this.
Josué Cardona 31:37
Right. But like, what
Link Keller 31:39
the answer is it depends
Lara Taylor 31:41
It depends on what kind of stress i’m feeling
Link Keller 31:44
Yeah, that’s that’s the real, the real answer is like, depending on the context of the stress difference, different games are going to provide different kinds of outcomes for you. And depending on what kind of stress you’re feeling, you’re going to be looking for different kinds of outcomes. Something you know, you said, What, tell me why it’s having a story where the problems outweigh yours in such a way where you can be like, woof, I feel better about my situation now. But it can also be like I need to disassociate from my problems, and I need to chop 100 trees, and that is absolutely doable, and being able to achieve that goal. Makes me feel better. Yeah,
Josué Cardona 32:26
yeah. Yeah. I have a coworker who I was trying to pitch to play genshin. Like, they were like, Oh, is it? Do you have to grind? And I’m like, Yes. Like, that’s the best part. Like, like in like, in life, there’s no, there’s is nothing that black and white. Nothing. Is that clear? Right? It’s like, if I like you mentioned the 100 trees, if I cut that 100 trees, I can get this thing. I know exactly what I need to do. So I have a goal. Have strategies to accomplish
Link Keller 33:00
its explicit, it’s achieveable
Josué Cardona 33:02
yup, unlike life, life has none of that. Why are you what are you crying?
Link Keller 33:07
Life is like, well, you grind and then maybe something will happen. You won’t know until then.
Josué Cardona 33:14
But genshin is a gacha game. Right? Which means that it has a loot boxes, basically. Right? Like that’s a type of elements. Like, that’s more like real life. Like, yeah, you can drop $1,000 and that still won’t guarantee that you’re gonna get the thing that you wanted. You might maybe also somebody else might spend $2 and get the same thing. Oops, yep, that’s life sorry. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I like this idea of the little breaks that you said, like, we’ve had really long gaming sessions. But, you know, shorter breaks like that. It’s hard in other games to have that kind of sense of accomplishment. Because even even a game that has a level that you get to the other end of it. That doesn’t necessarily feel like an accomplishment. Right? Like sometimes you watch a TV show, and you get to the end of an episode. You’re like, I feel a sense of accomplishment cuz I finished the episode. But if that thing ends in a cliffhanger, right, like, it’s you feel worse. It doesn’t feel better.
Lara Taylor 34:21
I just fit I just finished Yashahime. The first season.
Josué Cardona 34:25
cliffhanger. Of course. It’s got a cliffhanger.
Lara Taylor 34:27
cliffhanger. And the sad thing is that I put off watching the final episode because I was oh, I could watch the I could watch the final episode after I watched the penultimate episode, right. I put it off because I was like, I don’t want to be sad today. Yeah. And then I was like, yep, cliffhanger.
Link Keller 34:46
Josué Cardona 34:47
Yep. Link what have you been playing lately. Have you been? Have you been playing any soothing games?
Link Keller 34:53
I’ve been playing Pokemon Snap, which is a very soothing game.
Josué Cardona 34:57
Oh, that’s that’s probably Probably, I should have bought that instead of bought it down. Yeah, that’s gotta have all these elements, right? I mean,
Link Keller 35:09
yeah, yeah, um, Pokemon Snap is is pretty wonderful in that same way it has short levels, they’re only, you know, four, six minutes long. And then you pick your pictures and you get scored on them, but like you don’t get in trouble if you don’t do good. You just get more points when you do do good. Yeah, and it’s fun to see to see the Pokemon doing cute little things and they they do different things, the more times you go to the same levels.
Josué Cardona 35:40
Link Keller 35:41
And there’s something very nice about taking pictures. That’s that’s sort of a fun, soothing thing.
Josué Cardona 35:48
Also, it’s Pokemon. It’s bright, and colorful
Link Keller 35:51
it’s beautiful is there’s a whole thing in this pokemon where the Pokemon get have a special thing where they get very sparkly at night. And so like, not only is it bright and beautiful, but then there’s a whole extra layer where it’s like, and now also they glow in the dark and are very glittery like you’re welcome.
Josué Cardona 36:13
I hate nighttime in video games, because usually things get either harder or scarier.
Link Keller 36:19
Josué Cardona 36:19
Yeah, yeah. The idea that I would look forward to nighttime in a video game is even an animal crossing like the store is closed at night. You’re like, aw dammit, I can’t buy you know, I can’t go in and check with. Yeah, the nook’s are selling. It’s like, ah, like, Yay, I’m
Link Keller 36:36
excited because I can catch tarantulas now. But I’m less excited because now I have to hold a big pocket full of tarantulas till the morning.
Josué Cardona 36:44
Yeah. Oh, okay. I like this. I, again, this is another I don’t know of any other game that I look forward to it. Being nighttime. I love it when games let you just like control time, and skip forward. genshin does this allows you to do this and I keep going back to it. The game just has everything. It just at any moment, you could just skip ahead of time, but there isn’t like it’s not like a hyrule and suddenly, you know, the horrors come out, you know, the moment the sun goes down. And the music changes with
Lara Taylor 37:20
the littlewood the nighttime is only like the smallest shift section of your stamina bar. Right? It’s true. It’s and it looks nice when it’s nighttime. Oh, it got dark but like in the town, everything lights up and it’s nice. Cuz
Josué Cardona 37:35
that’s my next I’m gonna invest in lighting for the town because the one time I have had a nighttime It was very dark, cuz I’m just there’s nothing there.
Lara Taylor 37:44
I have a lot of houses in my town now.
Josué Cardona 37:46
Yeah. Can I build like a lighting infrastructure?
Lara Taylor 37:50
I don’t? I don’t know yet. There’s a whole bunch of things that you have. Yeah, I don’t know. You have to collect things to build them. So you probably there might be lighting somehow. But like, I have probably like eight people living in the town now plus, like, five or six other structures. So there’s light coming from all of those places.
Josué Cardona 38:17
these I don’t I don’t know so much about Pokemon Snap yet. But because I haven’t played it. And I don’t know enough about it yet. But that has been one of the things that has been that I’ve really, really loved about about genshin and other games like this and even Animal Crossing. It’s like, the It feels like that, that what you invest in it results in something in return. So it’s a different kind of satisfaction. Right? Ah, like, we can play a battle royale game right? And then like your skill might improve or decrease in there that try to build in these things that you can accumulate but it’s it doesn’t feel like you’re affecting the world like the things aren’t changing. But the idea that you’re doing something in the case of littlewood you’re building a town right it’s like well, you know, there’s like oh look at everything that I’ve done because I the time that I invested it feels like something that you got something out of it. It’s not that in other games you don’t because it’s just it’s just not tangible or or even quantifiable. It’s just like I had a great experience. And that was that’s what I wanted I got to hang out with my friends it was cool I have like this story now that I can tell because this epic thing happened but in there’s like a simplicity to these games. It’s like you know chop 100 trees you can build the house. I wanted Yeah, yeah, I’m, I feel
Lara Taylor 39:44
want some points for taking pictures of Pokemon Go. Like when I was when I was younger. I wish I had my camera so I could actually do I used to be in photography into photography, I would say go out and do black and white film photography and That was my way of de stressing at the end of a long week, I would just go somewhere in the city in San Francisco and take pictures. And I my camera was stolen out of the back of my car and I felt like pretty upset about that. And then my stepbrother gave me a new one that I haven’t used. But I think, you know, I don’t want to have to drive to San Francisco and go take some pictures. Maybe I’ll take some pictures and some Pokemon in a game.
Josué Cardona 40:28
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Lara Taylor 40:31
It’s less of an ordeal like that could be like I make a day to go take pictures, but like, Pokemon Snap could be there anytime I want it to be. I.
Link Keller 40:43
So I’ve been playing Pokemon Snap for like the last week weeek and a half. But yesterday I was like, Oh, go for a little walk. And I walked around to the cul de sac I live in now. And there. There are a bunch of rhododendrons that are all in bloom right now. So it’s very beautiful. There are lots of pretty flowers and bees and stuff that I took out my my new phone with it’s very fancy camera on it. And I was taking a bunch of pictures. And then a neighbor cat came up. I took like an action shot of that kitty
Josué Cardona 41:16
How many points was that?
Link Keller 41:18
They felt they felt like this was definitely a diamond shot. I got large, centered. It was doing something cute at the moment like yeah, nailed it. That’s a top tier.
Josué Cardona 41:29
Yeah. What do you unlock?
Link Keller 41:32
The nighttime level? I guess I can go out later tonight. once the sun sets
Josué Cardona 41:38
if that cat is glowing? I don’t think that’s a good sign
Link Keller 41:42
it’s a very cute cat, a dirty street cat. I love it.
Lara Taylor 41:47
dirty Street cat.
Link Keller 41:49
Yeah, I think I think that, like Animal Crossing last year, these games are providing the sort of tend and befriend action sequences that are less common in video games, but are becoming more common. As testified by the conversation we’re having today with several examples of games that are all about the, the tend and befriend aspects of life instead of more on conflict and violence and aggression and stuff. I do think it’s good that there are new ones, because I also got a little burned out on Animal Crossing, I don’t think that it’s necessarily because there’s anything wrong with Animal Crossing, or that Animal Crossing has done something, you know, that they could do better. I think it’s just part of human nature for us to do something for a while, and then you get acclimated to it, and you’re looking for something novel, it might still be fulfilling the same things that you were fulfilling before, but you needed, you know, a new art style. You know, a new a just a slightly new system, where instead of logs and rocks and grass to grow things, it’s like, there’s a fourth element and it’s goo or something, you know, just just a little a little extra, something that adds you know, a little bit of novelty, but not so much that the system’s feel unfamiliar or overwhelming or anything, it’s like you’re still getting the calm, achievable goals, things that you can just opt into or not, and the game doesn’t punish you for choosing to just do your own thing. I love that.
Josué Cardona 43:36
I want to keep talking about genshin for a while because I think it’s it’s it’s impressive in ways that I think
Link Keller 43:45
genshin is, from what I have heard about genshin is like four or five games that are smushed together, and you can just play the ones that you like. And that’s cool.
Josué Cardona 43:57
what’s what’s fascinating about it is that it has elements from so many different games, but it’s just, and the way that the company is dealing with it and actually producing it. And is is impressive, because it’s trying to address all of the things that Link just brought up. It’s trying to mix things up in a way so that you have something new to do. And it uses different ways to do that. It gives you plenty of time to do it. But there’s still limited time events. So there’s like, there’s a there’s a scarcity piece of it that motivates you. There’s just novelty. But it’s not I mean, a lot of the battle royale games and other games do this kind of thing. This game is it has a story, like with voice acting, right i mean side quests and story.
Lara Taylor 44:52
that’s the beauty of MMOs
Josué Cardona 44:54
Well, yes, but MMOs again, it’s it’s it has this isn’t it? MMO it’s not an MMO it’s building out that story in different ways. It is and it isn’t right. Like, like,
Link Keller 45:10
it has aspect it is borrowed aspects for so many different types of games. That definitely MMO is apparent in there.
Josué Cardona 45:19
It there’s again there are just things, there’s something about this game that I don’t understand why. I mean, it’s making the money
Link Keller 45:28
the gatcha stuff makes so much money and, like continued engagement that I’m sure that it is completely funding their ability to try other new systems and new ways to engage with the characters and everything and actually like, hey, players, what do you want? Like, what do you want? You want to kiss them? Well, we can build a kissing game. Now we got all that gatcha, money. We’ll build you a kisser. Yeah.
Josué Cardona 45:55
So so the so it has it has this this element from like, MMOs in which like, oh, like, the story has ended, right? It’s gonna keep growing, and there’s new pieces to the world. But then there’s something about the fact that like, they actually have a cadence that they’ve stuck to. Like, every six weeks, there’s an update that like changes things. There’s new characters every couple weeks. It’s like, it’s got so many different things that are again, I don’t know, it’s just impressive. Like, it looks and feels like imagine a breath of the wild just kept getting an update every two weeks. That’s, that’s my like, my dream game, right? And then, and they were like, but you know what? You might want different characters, right? It’s like, why would I want to play with someone other than Oh, yeah, no, no,
Lara Taylor 46:37
I’m gonna I’m gonna have a hard I would have a hard time with this game. I got my I got my people. That’s it.
Josué Cardona 46:43
Lara Taylor 46:44
my starting people
Link Keller 46:45
So what it would what it would do is it would introduce you to a character that was sprung forth from your head, the perfect character. And then they would be like, oh, but you can’t have this one. Not yet. There’s Don’t you want? Don’t you want her? Look how beautiful she is?YES I want the five star version, please.
Josué Cardona 47:06
So that’s one thing that the game does it actually it gives you some of the worst characters are your starters. And then it lets you play for a moment in the story as different characters that you’re like, this feels completely different. I mean, it’s it’s, it’s they’re very, it’s very strategic, what they’re doing.
Lara Taylor 47:22
i love talking with my clients about which characters they love the most. And why one of them loves the, the starter characters, because nobody else likes them. Yeah,
Link Keller 47:34
I love that. When people that
Josué Cardona 47:39
character, but um, but but one thing, one thing that the game has done, you know, everything that I said before about there being this predictability to two things, right? Like, Oh, I know exactly what I’m gonna get. One of the things that has been the most I don’t know, the impactful in genshin is the fact that you’re always gaining things. And then suddenly, like, you do earn your did this loot box system, right? And then you get like a brand new character. And it kind of it, it’s enough to shift things around. Right? It’s like when you when you’re in a game, I’m trying to think of a game that has Animal Crossing did this I don’t know. And I don’t know if living littlewood has a version of this. But like, I mean, in the first day, you can’t cut down trees, right? So you can’t move things around. And then you get this new tool. It’s like, Oh, this changes everything. Because now I can I can actually cut down the trees and like, it opens up this whole different area. So genshin does this in a way that I think is, I think is like I want to I want to study this game hard. Like I think it there’s so many that it is so impressive. It does feel like someone pitched like, the perfect like, we need a game that addresses all these things. And, and they went to China and he was like, Yeah, okay, we’ll give you a ridiculous amount of money that no one else would give you to actually try to do this. And it’s it’s working. Anyway, but ultimately, I’m it’s also a mobile game, right? Like it like it’s, it’s, it’s on phones. So you can just play for a little bit and get all of these elements. And I was telling someone the other day about how, you know, most video games aren’t finished, you can like, you can go into trophies on Xbox or Playstation on Steam, you can see achievements, and you can see how many people have finished the game. The percentage of people who ever finish a game, it’s super, super low. And this is mostly like narrative games, right? Like, it’s the same thing you go through, you get what you you needed.
Lara Taylor 49:36
unless There’s a pandemic and then people who never finished games like myself finish a lot of games.
Josué Cardona 49:43
But you get to a point right where you’re like, Okay, this is what I I got what I needed out of it. It wasn’t the end of the story, and then you go forward and you do something else. So we talked about that the beginning Link is right. This is something that in general, which is why I’m genshin has surprised me in the fact that it just adds These random elements in a way that that are additive, like sometimes. Like, like my favorite villager leaving an animal crossing doesn’t feel good. Like if that doesn’t that doesn’t mix things up in a way that I feel. I feel great about.
Link Keller 50:15
Lara Taylor 50:18
I don’t know if anyone in littlewood leaves but I so far they haven’t. So I don’t think they do. Also, I like Willow more.
Link Keller 50:29
Yeah, I think it’s more the Stardew route where the people are the people. You just get to decide what kind of relationship you have with them.
Josué Cardona 50:39
Like Animal Crossing punishes you for not and in ways for not for not being around.
Link Keller 50:46
it emotionally punishes you.
Josué Cardona 50:48
Yeah, yeah. to all your friends move away they make you feel guilty. There’s like, roaches in your house. There’s like weeds everywhere like, like it’s little things? And, and I know stardew was kind of the same way, right? It’s like, you. You weren’t fast enough? You didn’t you didn’t get all the crops, aren’t you like, wasted time? Right? Um, yeah. Littlewood sound like a dream. I’m going to.
Lara Taylor 51:12
I love it so much. And I was telling Link when we had our little technical difficulties earlier, I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be playing it because Mass Effect. The remastered edition is coming out. And I will be playing that because I never played mass effect
Link Keller 51:30
provides a different kind of soothing experience this soothing experience of wanting to kiss space ladies. [kissing noises] I love you Liara.
Josué Cardona 51:39
Yeah, I think we’re gonna revisit some of these ideas, when we probably definitely talk about Mass Effect at some point. And we’re gonna be streaming it on on the twitch channel too. There’s like I never finished I don’t think I’ve ever finished. Not that I finished one. I don’t know. It’s like some. I don’t think I finished one. But then I was so excited about two and I finished two. And then when three came out, I was excited. But I never finished three. It was like it’s this this the same thing that we’re talking about? Like, oh, like I’ve had enough. I’m good. But then when it resets, I’m like, Oh, yeah, no, no, I’m in. But But when games like this, it’s like, well, if you didn’t get to the end, then you can’t continue your story.
Link Keller 52:19
you can, you’re just a little confused.
Josué Cardona 52:22
No, I mean, like, like, you can continue your story. If you finish the end of one. You can carry those events off into two. Right? But like, you have to finish them. I got to do the new one like, Yeah, I don’t know. those are good games. We’ll talk about those. So Jonathan is in the chat. Unfortunately, I cannot play typical relaxing games, because they require a lot of time. But then I play Monster Hunter. And I’m assuming MH is Monster Hunter and I love just going on expeditions and exploring the landscape. And wildlife without hunting anything. A Monster Hunter, I was obsessed with that game for a while. And for a lot of the same reasons. That was one of these, like when you said Lara when you said, you know hunting, like taking down a monster. Monster Hunter is incredibly satisfying in that sense. Ironically, so let’s say like, hunt can take like 40 minutes, you know, 50 minutes even. They can take the longest time.
Lara Taylor 53:19
a day in littlewood Take like five minutes.
Josué Cardona 53:21
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, you can’t you can’t just like do part of a hunt in Monster Hunter. Right? Like, it requires a larger commitment. But definitely a littlewood it’s shorter even even in genshin like there’s a lot of little things that you can do. Or you can start a story and progress through and do a whole bunch of things. I really recommend that and like you said, Pokemon Snap, it’s like, five or six minutes, right for for level.
Link Keller 53:46
Yeah, they’re, they’re different. And some of them like I said, they they change the more you go to them. So it’s like some of them will have secret routes that add on an extra 30 seconds or whatever. But yeah, they’re they’re very bite sized. I live with a baby right now. And so Pokemon Snap, it does have a pause function, which, obviously that’s necessary and needed. But even even with that, it is nice to be able to be like okay, I’m just gonna I’m gonna play one, one loop. Yeah, and then hopefully Roz will stay asleep until the end of it, but if not, it’s okay.
Josué Cardona 54:22
Alright, so Genshin is my new Monster Hunter. Littlewood is Lara’s new Animal Crossing? What is what is Pokemon Snap replacing for you like? Oh, Hades, it’s your new Hades.
Link Keller 54:34
i guess yeah.
Josué Cardona 54:40
Hades I mean had short runs too, right? Like they could be even even a full run to take Yeah,
Link Keller 54:46
depending on how it went. I feel like most
Josué Cardona 54:48
all of mine were short because I failed.
Link Keller 54:52
i feel Like most of my my completed runs were between 30 and 40 minutes so I wasn’t like hitting the speed. Run scores that I’ve watched some people on YouTube do where they’re like beating the whole game and six minutes or something which is like boggling. But yeah, that was Hades was also set up that it wasn’t a huge deal if you just paused it and set it down and went and did something else. Yes, each room was encapsulated so you could clear a room and then
Lara Taylor 55:23
just don’t pause in the middle of a boss battle,
Link Keller 55:25
I mean, you can but you will probably get get eaten. Yeah, yeah. Pokemon Snap is Pokemon Snap that I never got to play as a child is what that’s replacing for me.
Josué Cardona 55:41
Gotcha. Gotcha. So you recommend that?
Link Keller 55:43
I do I do. If If you listeners viewers, were like me where you were not of means and so you didn’t get to play Pokemon Snap as a child and you just played the Pokemon Snap demo at the blockbuster on their special Pokemon Snap machine. Pokemon Snap for switch. It’s it hits the it hits the spot. It’s time travel back to ye olden blockbuster days. Except, you know, so many new pokemon so many new pokemon.
Josué Cardona 56:21
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So I think that’s it for this episode. Thank you very much for joining us. There’s 298 or two weeks away from 300. I still don’t know what we’re gonna do. But I’m very excited. All the taggs videos are up. So if you are interested, and you missed, you somehow missed the first ever therapeutic and applied geek and gaming summit, where we had tons of great speakers, including Link Keller and Lara Taylor. And a lot of there’s, there’s over 80 hours of content. And it worked. We recorded everything and it’s up. It broke my computer in like three different ways. But I and my brain and like four different ones, but we did it. We did it. They’re all up. Tell your friends. Check it out. Find that at tagg summit.org. in the show notes, you’ll find links to all of our community spaces where you can come and hang out. Places like the GT forum where you can comment on all our episodes. This episode is being streamed on YouTube. We’ve been we started streaming on YouTube. So if you’re if you’re watching this Hello, if you’re listening, just know that every week, Wednesday nights, Wednesday nights in the US, we are we are recording and broadcasting on YouTube. And but our twitch channel isn’t going anywhere. Well, we’ll be playing like Mass Effect soon on Twitch. Yes. Okay, we got we got a lot of exciting stuff coming. It’s a it’s very exciting. Thanks for listening. remember to geek out and do good. And we’ll be back next week.
Link Keller 58:08
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Characters / Media
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- Tell Me Why
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Themes / Topics
* Making new friends
* Other: Tend and Befriend
* New Life Event (New Rules)
* Other: Needing a Break
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Recent accounts of democratic backsliding neglect the cultural foundations of autocracy-versus-democracy. To bring culture back in, this article demonstrates that 1) countries’ membership in culture zones explains some 70 percent of the total cross-national variation in autocracy-versus-democracy; and 2) this culture-bound variation has remained astoundingly constant over time—in spite of all the trending patterns in the global distribution of regime types over the last 120 years. Furthermore, the explanatory power of culture zones over autocracy-versus-democracy is rooted in the cultures’ differentiation on “authoritarian-versus-emancipative values.” Therefore, both the direction and the extent of regime change are a function of glacially accruing regime-culture misfits—driven by generational value shifts in a predominantly emancipatory direction. Consequently, the backsliding of democracies into authoritarianism is limited to societies in which emancipative values remain underdeveloped. Contrary to the widely cited deconsolidation thesis, the ascendant generational profile of emancipative values means that the momentary challenges to democracy are unlikely to stifle democracy’s long-term rise.
Ours is an era of democratic gloom. For some years now, a growing array of scholars and pundits have discerned a worldwide democratic recession. Democracy and especially its liberal principles are said to be fast receding as various forms of authoritarianism surge. The world’s most potent autocracies, most notably China and Russia, are proving resourceful and resilient. These empirical claims are hard to dispute. Yet the swelling mood of pessimism about democracy’s future is unwarranted. Particularly suspect is the recently propagated “deconsolidation thesis,” which claims that public support for democracy is crumbling across most of the world and especially among the young.1
In truth, the long-term future for democracy in the world is much brighter than most imagine. In essence, “modernization theory” is proving correct. Economic development brings expanding levels of education, information, travel, and other experiences that enhance human knowledge, awareness, and intelligence. This “cognitive mobilization” inspires and empowers people to act with purpose and think for themselves, rather than accept received authority and wisdom. In other words, development brings value change that is highly conducive to the emergence and persistence of liberal democracy.2
My analysis of decades of public-opinion data from the World Values Survey and other projects lays bare a tectonic cultural transformation that is taking place beneath the surface “storm and stress” of social and political life around the world. Slowly but steadily, emancipative values—which prioritize universal human freedoms, individual choice, and an egalitarian emphasis on equality of opportunity—are replacing authoritarian values that stress deference and conformity.3 This transformation [End Page 132] has made its longest strides so far in Western societies, followed by other regions in which levels of income, education, and overall human development are relatively high. But it is not limited to these areas.
The trend appears to be global in nature, affecting all regions of the world even if at varying rates. In most places for which we have survey data, emancipative values are on the rise—a circumstance that should lead to younger generations who feel a stronger commitment to democratic principles. Moreover, once people form in their youth these underlying values concerning freedom, authority, and the role of the individual in society, the complex of attitudes thereby created tends to endure.4 They are lifelong habits of mind and heart, not fashions discarded at a whim.
Over the long run, therefore, profound generational changes are bringing about a fundamental shift in society, and this shift favors values that provide a cultural foundation for liberal democracy. As older generations who hew to more hierarchical and deferential values pass away, their places are taken by newer generations of people who increasingly embrace universal, libertarian, and egalitarian—in other words, emancipative—values. Although this process does not move at the same pace in all regions and is not irreversible, it is broad and tenacious and will ultimately have political consequences.
Since durability is the purpose of institutions, most political regimes do not change most of the time. Under the surface, however, cultural change flows like magma, gathering slowly but with heat and potential force beneath the crusted surface of stagnant autocracies. Eventually, the magma makes its way aboveground. The generational ascension of emancipative values gradually produces a structural contradiction between authoritarian systems of government and human aspirations for individual freedom, autonomy, and opportunity. In the long run, these regime-versus-culture “mismatches” come under growing stress. The regime’s structures prove too undemocratic relative to society’s values, and the disconnect grows more glaring with time.
This long-term process cannot guarantee a transition to democracy at any particular historical juncture, of course. Life and history are too contingent for that, and the translation of a values disconnect into an actual regime change must in the end rely on the purposeful acts of concrete actors. Nevertheless, a growing gap between the regime and the culture will unavoidably reshape the context that political actors must navigate. A country with a government and public order that say one thing and a culture that says something quite different and more emancipatory is a country ripe for the rise of counterelites, regime-challenging alliances, [End Page 133] and popular movements that seek to bring the regime more into line with the underlying, freedom-valuing culture. In other words, such a country is one in which democratic ideas and convictions can gain purchase and strive for predominance.
Of course, there is no guarantee that values will keep evolving or keep running firmly in an emancipatory direction. Short-term economic and political factors may generate illiberal cycles in public moods.5 These mood shifts can move regimes in autocratic directions, as we have seen all too often during the current global democratic recession. These cycles are really epicycles, however, like eddies in a larger current. That current is the fundamental transformation wrought by modernization and its attendant emancipative values.
As such values become more widely held and influential in one society after another over time, transitions toward democracy will start to exceed in both number and scope those that trend in the opposite direction. Moreover, if the regime-versus-culture mismatch in a given country features a regime that is formally more democratic than the underlying values predominant in society at the time of that country’s transition to political democracy, we would expect to see the democratic system there becoming both more stable and more liberal over time as underlying social values begin shifting (in line with the long-term, global trend) toward the emancipatory end of the scale.
In the sections that follow, I present evidence supporting what I term a “cultural theory of autocracy versus democracy.” The Online Appendix (henceforth OA; see www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/supplements) to this essay presents ample supplementary materials derived from the recent release of the seventh wave of the European Values Study and World Values Surveys, covering the years 2017 through 2020.
That people should be able to live in freedom and have an equal voice and vote in the public sphere is the core idea of modern democracy.6 This idea has firm roots in the Enlightenment view of human nature. According to this view, all humans are equipped with the faculty to think for themselves, make reasonable judgements, and tame their self-interest in light of the common good. Furthermore, people are entitled, simply by virtue of their humanity, to be trained in these faculties and to utilize them to participate in the political process and to determine their own futures.7 In cultures that build and rely on these Enlightenment values, democracy is the natural order.8 This does not mean that liberal democracy must remain a unique property of “the West,” only that Western societies were the first to fully embrace these values.
In order to be stable and liberal, democracy must be understood and appreciated by its citizens. That requires a solid foundation of Enlightenment values. Where these values are underdeveloped, democracy might be sustained by exceptionally benevolent elites. Yet as we have seen in [End Page 134] the recent period of democratic backsliding, a merely elite-sustained democracy has no defense if at some point authoritarian temptations corrupt the elites’ democratic commitment.9
Since the emergence of the Washington Consensus in the early 1980s, a steep increase in Western-funded democracy promotion, combined with the conditioning of international aid on electoral accountability, reshaped the incentive structure of the international system.10 Accordingly, rulers in many countries were induced to introduce electoral contestation and democratic constitutions. The ensuing regional waves of democratization swept across many countries in which large population segments lack an attachment to Enlightenment values. In such countries the word “democracy” often drew high support in opinion surveys, but this only served to obscure the reality that cultural support for democracy in these places lacked a deep foundation in the values people actually held.11 In these countries, widespread expressions of support for democracy frequently coexist with highly instrumental understandings (or misunderstandings) of what democracy really means. These, for the most part, have also been the countries where democracy has receded as illiberal populism has surged.12
Examining the European Union, we can cite Hungary, Poland, and Romania as cases in point. As required by the EU-accession process in the early 1990s, the governments of those countries institutionalized democracy at higher levels than the values of their respective populations demanded. Populist political entrepreneurs recognized the resulting regime-versus-culture mismatches, and learned how to play on them in order to win elections. Once in power, these populists began paring away at democracy’s liberal qualities. Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán’s promotion of what he proudly calls “illiberal democracy” is paradigmatic. From all this, one might conclude that the world became, in a sense, “overdemocratic” at the height of the “third wave.” What we have been witnessing in recent years, then, is a “regression to the mean.”13
Democracy’s Culture-Bound Ascension
Since the end of the Second World War, variation across regions in the extent of democracy has been tightly correlated with the extent of these regions’ placement in or closeness to Western culture. In fact, as OA-Figure 1 shows, since 1960 this close cultural mapping has been a temporal constant, accounting for a striking 70 percent of the global variation in the extent of democracy in any given year. Notwithstanding all the various shifting and trending patterns in regime dynamics around the world, we always find countries from Western cultures at the fore-front of democracy.
The cultural essence underlying the distinction between Western and non-Western cultures is a dimension of moral orientations that I refer [End Page 135] to as the distinction between authoritarian and emancipative values. As shown by OA-Figure 2, emancipative values represent the defining cultural signature of the West. But culture evolves, and there is no intrinsic reason why non-Western cultures cannot develop emancipative values. Indeed, the evidence shows that with modernization, they are doing so, albeit from different starting points and at different paces.
Emancipative values involve more than mere lip service to “democracy” as a catchword; instead, they embody a principled commitment to the view of human nature from which democracy derives its original inspiration. That is why the prevalence of emancipative values in a population much better predicts countries’ actual level of democracy than does the percentage of people who simply express support for democracy.14 People who defy emancipative values are no less likely to express support for democracy. Decoupled from emancipative values, however, people’s support for democracy often involves authoritarian misconceptions of what democracy means. If these people take action in favor of what they believe democracy is, it may not actually serve democracy. In stark contrast, support for democracy can be counted as genuine when it is found occurring together with emancipative values, because these values turn people against any form of autocratic domination over their beliefs and actions.15 For this reason, emancipation-minded people demonstrate in favor of democratic freedoms when these freedoms are denied or challenged, even at the risk of autocratic repression (as OA-Figure 14 illustrates).16
Whether a country attains or sustains democracy will of course depend on the power balance within the elite between pro- and antidemocratic actors. But a key element in this elite-level power balance is how much public support each camp can rally behind its goals. The more widespread emancipative values become, the more mass support will shift away from antidemocratic forces and toward prodemocratic forces. Therefore, the attainment, sustenance, and deepening of democracy all become more likely as emancipative values gain momentum on a mass scale.17
Available data from around the globe support this argument by revealing how astoundingly close the correlation is between authoritarian-versus-emancipative values and autocratic-versus-democratic regimes these days (see the upper diagram in OA-Figure 3). Admittedly, in the absence of experimental control this evidence does not reveal the underlying causal mechanism. But whatever that mechanism might be, the tightness of this relationship is undeniable and gives us a striking reason for thinking that regime-culture congruence is real.
Moreover, a comparison with similar data from the 1970s and 1980s shows that—back then—a regime also tended to be democratic in proportion to its people’s support for emancipative values (see the lower diagram in OA-Figure 3). Interestingly, there was a group of “incongruent” [End Page 136] countries at the time—it included Argentina, Chile, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, the Philippines, South Africa, and Uruguay, among others—whose regimes were autocratic far in excess of the (relatively emancipative) values held by their respective peoples. By no coincidence, some years later all these countries made transitions to democracy.
Originally a domain of classical-liberal philosophers, emancipative values began to catch on widely when mass-scale economic progress profoundly improved the living conditions of ordinary people, giving them access to previously unknown goods, services, and opportunities, not to mention the prospect of upward social mobility through educational merit. More highly “enabling” conditions of life such as these enhance people’s sense of agency—the idea that they can take control of their own lives. Once people have learned to plan for themselves, they no longer want to be told what to think and do.
This psychological awakening activates in people a drive toward freedom from external domination, which is a natural response of the human mind to existential opportunities that enable individual growth. For this reason, once people experience enabling conditions, the promotion of emancipative values requires no ideological program or orchestrated strategy. Supporting this Enlightenment logic, OA-Figure 4 documents that emancipative values thrive to the extent that education, information, communication, science, and technology shape a society’s functioning and penetrate the lives of its people.
Over the past several decades, modernization has generated the existential conditions—rising living standards, falling mortality rates, and declining fertility, as well as expanding education and other aspects of cognitive mobilization—to ignite human potential and trigger the shift to emancipative values. Only a shrinking number of global trouble spots remain excluded from this generally progressive trend.18 Across the globe, existential opportunities, emancipative values, and liberal democracy have been rising in astonishing unison, promoting a more encompassing trend toward “human empowerment” (OA-Figure 5). Consequently, as Figure 1B below shows, emancipative values are spreading beyond the borders of Western culture and ascending through generational replacement across all the globe’s culture zones.
Illiberal Scripts of Modernity
Modernization tends to foster emancipative values, but autocrats do not always stand helpless in the face of it. Today, as they have before, they try to redirect the consequences of modernization by writing a new script about what it means to be modern. And when the author of the script is a major world power, the impact can extend well beyond the country’s borders. [End Page 137]
The structure of power in the world today differs dramatically from what prevailed in the aftermath of the Cold War. With China’s emergence as a global power and Russia’s resurgence and anti-Western turn, the international system no longer operates nearly as uniformly in favor of democracy. Chinese and Russian leaders propagate an explicitly illiberal script of modernity, couched in cultural tales of non-Western geopolitical identity and destiny. This is not the first time that Enlightenment values have faced a challenge from powerful global actors. The Nazis of Hitler’s Germany and the militarists of Imperial Japan in the 1930s, like the Communists of the Soviet Union during the 1950s, ruled major industrial countries that seemed (for a time) to pursue with sweeping success a nondemocratic course of modernization.19
While fascism and communism have been trashed by history, populist authoritarianism now competes with liberal democracy for the claim to be the better version of modernity. The rhetorical strategy is similar to that of democracy’s earlier challengers: By portraying Western values as alien to their own nations’ cultural identities, rulers try to pick from modernity just those parts that make their nations more powerful, such as technological progress, economic prosperity, and military prowess, while rejecting the emancipatory consequences of modernity experienced by the West, most notably democracy.
In an effort to bury emancipative values under the soil of nationalism and religion, autocrats and populists compose narratives about national destinies and geopolitical missions to breed a “culture of allegiance.” To some extent, this strategy pays off (as we can see from the upper diagram in OA-Figure 6). The extent to which ruling elites succeed in feeding allegiance cults indeed diminishes the translation of cognitive mobilization into emancipative values, thus slowing down the liberating consequences of modernization. However, the emancipatory effect of cognitive mobilization is still apparent (lower diagram of OA-Figure 6), and turns out to be stronger than the forces acting counter to it. In a nutshell, illiberal scripts with their authoritarian versions of modernity can slow but not stop the emancipative effects of modernization.
Although the twentieth-century illiberal scripts of fascism and Soviet communism did not survive, the fate of the “authoritarian modernities” currently being promoted is yet to be decided. The evidence cited above suggests that time is not on their side. Across most of the world, and dramatically in China, living conditions continue to become more enabling of human empowerment. This will sooner or later bring emancipative values to the fore and lay the basis for democratic change. The evidence in Figure 1A and Figure 1B supports this conjecture.
The global dynamics of democracy versus autocracy move with an intriguing simultaneity. On the one hand, democracy oscillates in recurrent cycles, but along an ascending trajectory. On the other hand, steadily [End Page 138] rising emancipative values correlate with democracy at constant strength throughout each of democracy’s cycles. In other words, no matter how democracy is faring globally, countries with more emancipative values fare better. This simultaneity can only exist because a twofold regularity in global regime dynamics prevails. We can describe it as follows: 1) During global democratic upswings, countries with more widespread emancipative values are more likely to follow the trend and shift toward democracy; and 2) during global democratic downswings, countries with more widespread emancipative values are less likely to follow the trend, and instead will tend to withstand pressures to move away from democracy.
If that description is accurate, the dynamic of emancipative values is indeed a chief selective force in the global evolution of political regimes. Yet in politics nothing is guaranteed. Where emancipative values gain momentum on a mass scale, the emergence, sustenance, and deepening of democracy become more likely—but not inevitable. Conversely, where weak emancipative values tilt the odds in the opposite direction, democracy is not doomed to fail. But its success will depend on contingencies such as the presence or absence of benevolent and capable elites, sound policies, resilient institutions, and international alliances with powers committed to democratic principles.
Challenging the Deconsolidation Thesis
When the full picture is considered, the alarming idea that democracy’s cultural foundation is deconsolidating loses much of its credibility. This conclusion is clear beyond reasonable doubt when looking at the World Values Surveys’ complete country coverage and temporal scope, rather than cherry-picking particular countries and periods. In fact, over the past two decades (from the 1994–98 wave of surveys to the 2017–20 wave) mass support for democracy declined in fifteen countries but increased in 27. On average across the globe, mass support for democracy remained stable at 75 percent of the public, and age differences account for a minuscule 4 percent of the total individual-level variation in support for democracy (OA-Figures 13 and 16).20
More importantly, though, lip service to democracy—as measured by survey items that use the “d” word—is a weak indicator of a culture’s fitness for democracy. For as we have seen, overt support for democracy frequently obscures deep differences in how people understand democracy. Some of these understandings are actually so strongly twisted in an authoritarian direction that the meaning of support for democracy reverts to its negation—support for autocratic rule.21
Authoritarian propaganda deliberately nourishes misperceptions of democracy as obedience to rulers. In fact, most autocracies call themselves democracies. China’s leaders like to call their country a democracy (“with Chinese characteristics,” they always add), and even claim that China is [End Page 139]
the world’s “greatest” democracy.22 The usual indoctrination denigrates Western democracies as overly liberal perversions of “true” democracy, which is presented as a form of “guardianship” by which “wise” rulers govern in the people’s best interest. In return for such “enlightened” rulership, the story goes, the people owe their leaders obedience.23 Schools, the media, and other institutions under government control all disseminate these guardianship tales, which vary from culture to culture in attire but not in substance. Across the globe, the World Values Surveys show an astoundingly large percentage of people (easily exceeding 50 percent of those surveyed) who indeed misunderstand democracy as being summed up by the proposition “people obey their rulers” (OA-Figure 8).
Since emancipative values make people critical of imposed authority, autocrats have a vested interest in keeping these kinds of values dormant.24 To achieve this end, rulers breed national-allegiance cults that propagate visions of special historic legacies and geopolitical destinies to counter the West and its emancipatory heritage.25 The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—with its personality cult of the Kim-family dynasty and its autarkic juche ideology—is the most extreme case of a regime running this propaganda game. Its additional powerful players around the world include the governments of China, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and other [End Page 140]
countries where illiberal forces sustain “strongman rule.”
When emancipative values spread, misunderstandings of democracy as obedience to rulers recede. Strikingly, this effect is so sweeping that it unfolds regardless of the type of regime in place (OA-Figure 8). Complementing this finding, we observe a current illiberal cycle in the public mood throughout mature Western democracies. As a result, there is a noticeable rise in popular support for, as the WVS survey item calls them, “strong leaders who do not have to bother with parliaments and elections.” This increase, however, is not discernible among people with strong emancipative values (OA-Figure 9). These observations reinforce the conclusion that strong emancipative values provide the mightiest antidote against authoritarian redefinitions of democracy.26 Besides, swings in public mood between liberal and illiberal conceptions of democracy recur in regular cycles on the surface of public opinion, but underneath the turbulence created by those swings the long-term ascendance of emancipative values proceeds. In the interplay between long-term trajectories and short-term cycles, trajectories are the deeper and more transformative force.
At its core, democracy is about freedoms—freedoms that entitle people to control their own private lives and to have a voice and a vote in the public sphere. In that sense, democracy operates from the most highly [End Page 141] evolved natural quality of our species: human agency. Democracy in this sense did not exist on a mass scale until the Industrial Revolution spread democracy-enabling conditions into the lives of ordinary people. The reason why democracy is so tightly tied to the mass-level enabling conditions generated by modernization is simple: Democracy is a demanding system that requires of its citizens certain cultural qualities. People need to endorse the values that safeguard the freedoms to which democracy entitles them. In short, these are emancipative values.
The global democratic trend over the past 120 years reflects the success of modernization at steadily making more knowledge, information, and awareness available to ordinary people. As a result, commitment to emancipative values has increased. These closely interrelated trends have literally been empowering, making modern mass publics both more capable and more eager to demand and defend freedoms. Since these ground-breaking empowering trends are spreading and accelerating, the long-term odds are tilted in favor of democracy and against autocracy—despite the protracted democratic recession of recent years. The particularly robust presence of emancipative values among young people should make us even more optimistic about democracy’s future. By the same token, a country’s vulnerability to any democratic downcycle will vary with the prevalence of emancipative values in the national populace. When a democracy does face headwinds and rough seas, the presence in it of a large share of people who are stalwart supporters of emancipative values can help it to endure those challenging conditions.
This conclusion does not deny that even mature democracies are currently navigating troubled waters as classes split along authoritarian-versus-emancipative lines and authoritarians seem readier to use force to get their way. Still, if the prodemocratic forces manage to mobilize their support base and elevate voter turnout, illiberal populism faces electoral defeat, as the recent European Parliament and U.S. presidential elections have shown. In light of the ascendant generational profile of emancipative values, the momentary challenges to democracy are unlikely to stifle democracy’s long-term rise. For genuine democrats, this is not a reason for complacency but—on the contrary—a call to struggle harder for their cause, precisely because it is far from being hopeless.
1. For statements of this pessimistic thesis, see Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk, “The Danger of Deconsolidation: The Democratic Disconnect,” Journal of Democracy 27 (July 2016): 5–17; and their follow-up essay “The Signs of Deconsolidation,” Journal of Democracy 28 (January 2017): 5–15. For evidence against Foa and Mounk’s claims, see the online exchange (including a rejoinder by Foa and Mounk) hosted by the Journal of Democracy at www.journalofdemocracy.com/online-exchange-democratic-deconsolidation. That exchange dates from 2017; for newer evidence from around the globe that also disconfirms a global drop in public support for democracy, see Section 4 of the Online Appendix to the present essay.
2. The points made in this essay are outlined in a more extended manner and documented in greater empirical detail in Christian Welzel, “Democratic Horizons: What Value Change Reveals About the Future of Democracy,” Democratization 28 (forthcoming), https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2021.1883001.
3. Using data from the World Values Surveys for about a hundred countries, emancipative values measure support for universal freedoms by combining responses to four themes, each of which is probed via three questions: 1) gender equality [support for women’s equal access to education, jobs, and politics]; 2) child autonomy [independence, imagination, and nonobedience as desired qualities in children]; 3) public voice [support for freedom of speech and public participation in local, job, and national affairs]; and 4) reproductive freedoms [tolerance of homosexuality, abortion, and divorce]. Index scores vary between 0 (purely authoritarian) and 1.0 (purely emancipative). Section 1 of the Online Appendix documents how this index is constructed.
4. It is an established insight that people’s value orientations crystallize once their formative socialization is completed. Therefore, value change advances through generational replacement, which also means that current cohort differences in value orientations show the footprints of value change in the past. This allows one to transpose cohort differences in emancipative values from a recent national survey into a time series of annual measures by projecting the average emancipative values of people from the same birth year into the year in which these people were of a certain age. Section 2 of the Online Appendix documents these backward projections. For a similar procedure, see Damian J. Ruck et al., “The Cultural Foundations of Modern Democracies,” Nature Human Behaviour 4 (March 2020): 265–69.
5. For evidence of how a national public’s overall “policy mood” can cycle between relatively liberal and illiberal phases, see Christopher Ellis and James A. Stimson, Ideology in America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
6. From the human-empowerment perspective that lies at the heart of most democratic theory, I consider democracy to be first and foremost a system of entitlements provided, protected, and enforced by the state. These entitlements are called rights, and give people self-determination in personal affairs, equal voices and votes in public affairs, and protection against oppression and discrimination. See Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) and Corey Brettschneider, Democratic Rights: The Substance of Self-Government (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007).
7. A.C. Grayling, Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights That Made the Modern Western World (New York: Walker, 2007).
8. Robert A. Dahl, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971); David Held, Models of Democracy, 1st ed. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997).
9. Anna Lührmann and Staffan I. Lindberg, “A Third Wave of Autocratization Is Here: What Is New About It?” Democratization 26, no. 7 (2019): 1095–1113.
10. Jeroen Van den Bosch, “Introducing Regime Cluster Theory: Framing Regional Diffusion Dynamics of Democratization and Autocracy Promotion,” International Journal of Political Theory 4 (April 2020): 71–102.
11. Helen Kirsch and Christian Welzel, “Democracy Misunderstood: Authoritarian Notions of Democracy Around the Globe,” Social Forces 98 (September 2019): 59–92; Stefan Kruse, Maria Ravlik, and Christian Welzel, “Democracy Confused: When People Mistake the Absence of Democracy for Its Presence,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 50 (April 2019): 315–35; and Hasan Muhammad Baniamin, “Citizens’ Inflated Perceptions of the Extent of Democracy in Different African Countries: Are Individuals’ Notions of the State an Answer to the Puzzle?” Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft 14 (December 2020): 321–43.
12. Lennart Brunkert, Stefan Kruse, and Christian Welzel, “A Tale of Culture-Bound Regime Evolution: The Centennial Democratic Trend and Its Recent Reversal,” Democratization 26, no. 3 (2019): 422–43.
13. Christian Welzel and Ronald F. Inglehart, “Political Culture, Mass Beliefs, and Value Change,” in Christian Haerpfer et al., eds., Democratization, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 134-57.
14. See Christopher Claassen, “Does Public Support Help Democracy to Survive?” American Journal of Political Science 64 (January 2020): 118–34; and also Ruck, et al., “Cultural Foundations of Modern Democracies.”
15. Kirsch and Welzel, “Democracy Misunderstood”; Kruse, Ravlik, and Welzel, “Democracy Confused.”
16. Franziska Deutsch and Christian Welzel, “Emancipative Values and Non-Violent Protest: The Importance of ‘Ecological’ Effects,” British Journal of Political Science 42, no. 2 (2012): 465–79. For further proof, see Section 4.3 of the Online Appendix, especially OA-Figure 12.
17. While the close link between emancipative values and levels of democracy is un-disputed, the direction of causality is a matter of debate. Does the causal arrow in regime-culture coevolution point from regimes to cultures, or does it go the other way? For more on this question, and for reasons to think that cultures drive regimes rather than the reverse, see the Online Appendix.
18. Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better than You Think New York: Flatiron, 2018). See also Jack A. Goldstone and Larry Diamond, “Demography and the Future of Democracy,” Perspectives on Politics 18 (September 2020): 867–80 and Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (New York: Penguin, 2018).
19. Barrington Moore, Jr., The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World (Boston: Beacon, 1966).
20. See the evidence in Section 3.2 of the Online Appendix.
21. Kirsch and Welzel, “Democracy Misunderstood”; Kruse, Ravlik, and Welzel, “Democracy Confused”; Baniamin, “Citizens’ Inflated Perceptions.”
22. An op-ed in Chinese state media from 2015 claims that not India but China is the world’s “greatest democracy”: https://qz.com/489345/china-not-india-is-the-worlds-biggest-democracy-an-op-ed-in-chinese-state-media-claims.
23. One of the World Values Survey items actually phrases the meaning of democracy as “people obey their rulers” and this notion of democracy finds high levels of support in non-Western cultures.
24. Archie Brown, “Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: From Democratization to ‘Guided’ Democracy,” Journal of Democracy 12 (October 2001): 35–41.
25. Plamen Akaliyski and Christian Welzel, “Clashing Values: Supranational Identities, Geopolitical Rivalry and Europe’s Growing Cultural Divide,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 51 (October 2020): 740–62.
26. For a more detailed picture of the modest global increase in public support for strongman rule, see Section 4.4 of the Online Appendix.
Image Credit: Vincenzo Lullo/Shutterstock.com | <urn:uuid:48db579b-39f9-407e-b20d-bcd1aac47518> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://www.journalofdemocracy.com/articles/why-the-future-is-democratic/ | 2022-05-17T07:23:09Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662517018.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20220517063528-20220517093528-00610.warc.gz | en | 0.911448 | 7,629 |
How We Lost The End Game.
A major motion picture now in theaters called "Charlie Wilson's
War", starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, is a 2007 Academy Award-nominated
film based on the true story of Democratic Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson,
who conspired with a "bare knuckle attitude" CIA operative named Gust
Avrakotos to launch an operation to help the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet
war in Afghanistan. The film is adapted from George Crile's 2003 book, Charlie
Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History.
In the movie, Tom Hanks, led on by his staunchly anti-communist friend and romantic interest, (Julia Roberts) dramatizes how "Good Time Charlie" boosted the effort to provide United States funds and even Stinger missiles to the Afghan Mujahideen.
Many now credit the Russian defeat in Afghanistan with contributing to the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union and global communism, bringing about the end of the Cold War.
Unlike many Hollywood films, the end of the movie closes on a downbeat. Despite the victory in Afghanistan, CIA agent Gus Avrakotos, as played by Philip Seymore Hoffman, warns that unless there is a serious effort to help Afghanistan rebuild back into a stable society, there could be dire and unpredictable repercussions for both that nation and the U.S. Unfortunately, Wilson, as played by Tom Hanks, finds almost no enthusiasm in the U.S. government for even the modest economic support measures he proposes. Hence, the rise of the Taliban and Al Quaida, which emerged from the power vacuum.
As early as 1980, I also saw the Russian War in Afghanistan as their own Vietnam. As a member of the local Fire District Board of Directors I also saw an opportunity to support the people of Afghanistan. My own proposal for a modest economic support measure similarly found almost no enthusiam amongst my colleagues and led to corruption charges against me, few of which stuck. This then, is my story of how we too, messed up the end game.
Chapter 1. War Coming Down the Track
I predicted 9/11. Twice in fact. I wasn't alone in predicting 9/11. Lots of Americans knew 9/11 was coming. Not names, dates, flight numbers and the details of motus operandi but knowledgeable people could see it coming as plain as day. The warning signals were all there. Osama Bin Laden had issued a declaration of war that claimed the West was decadent and corrupt. He claimed the West was exploiting the resources of Arab lands and the West was humiliating the Arab world. His operatives were flexing their muscles with attacks around the globe. An Arab immigrant was caught in the Pacific Northwest coming off a ferry boat arriving from Canada with explosives in the trunk of his car. Meanwhile, another ten or twelve terrorists and their deadly contraband must have slipped through at other ports of entry. Were the others carrying conventional explosives or one of the suitcase nukes the Russians can't account for?
The FBI knew that Arab immigrants were taking training at flight schools on jumbo jets and so forth but didn't share the information with the CIA. Meanwhile, the intifada was in full swing and the Palestinian bomb makers had learned the value of the one-two punch. Many people say that after 9/11 happened, the military response of the United States government was misguided and cynically motivated. The jury is still out on that one although I will discuss that too and offer a better strategy for America.
So in defiance of the World Court ruling, the fence in Israel goes up while the war on terror continues. Once again, knowledgeable people, professionals and amateurs alike, are predicting more attacks on American soil. Some predict dirty bombs going off in American cities, subway germ releases or mass casualty attacks on the cultural icons of America. But why did some people see 9/11 coming from a mile away when others were shocked at the news?
Chapter 2. What is the CIA?
The CIA is the eyes and ears of the United States government. It vacuums up information from every source available, human and electronic, crunches the numbers, sifts through the idle chatter and spews out its reports to the Pentagon, Congress and the President. Sometimes its warnings are heeded by the policy makers and sometimes they are not. And sometimes the authorities get blind sided by low tech amateurs with box knives, as happened on 9/11. Some critics say that the CIA lavishly funded supercomputer centers in the 1990's and neglected old fashioned shoe leather. They also say that Jeffersonian democracy has quiet admirers in intellectual circles all over the Third World who are often willing to lend a hand or cup a hand to an ear.
I took the CIA entrance exam in a classroom at UCSF back in the early 1980's after seeing an ad in the San Jose Mercury News. It was pretty much a standard SAT test with some mechanical and language aptitude tests on top of that. One of the essay questions was, "Describe World War Three". Well, I didn't predict the war with Islam and needless to say that I didn't get the job. Historians say that WWII was against the perfect people (the Germanic Aryan nation). They say the Cold War was against the perfect citizen (the Soviet worker). Now they say we're up against Islam, the perfect religion, with its suicide bombers, kidnappers, holy warriors and embedded assassins.
Indeed, the power and passion of 850 million Muslims, their fanaticism and their willingness to die for a cause is not to be dismissed. But Islamic Jihaadists are not fighting a tribe, nor a nation. Johnny Jihad is up against the fully harnessed resources of the vast North American continent. When cultures collide, one will be slowly ground down and then bent or shoved aside. The outcome is predictable if not preordained. Ironically, only the American woman can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The customer is always right. That's why stylish American women get their nails done by entrepreneurial Viet Namese women at the corner mall. Armchair quarterbacks and avid followers of current events are often right in their prognostications. It has been said that 80% of intelligence about the enemy is public information on TV and radio and as published in newspapers, news magazines and defense industry trade magazines like Jane's Defense Weekly (http://jdw.janes.com) . Ironically, thanks to the growth of information science and the internet, the additional 20% of the intelligence that the spy professionals have access to, now puts them on only slightly better footing than the collective intelligence of the news professionals and the on-line community.
Through the last two decades, the CIA invested heavily in surveillance equipment while neglecting to develop sources at the local level in the Third World. We paid for this neglect on 9/11. Now there are video clips of beheadings of kidnap victims posted on Islamic web sites. Such is progress.
The second time I made a 9/11 prediction my comments were caught on audio tape, comments which are presented below as transcripts of part of a Fire District Board meeting. What is noteworthy there is not the clarity of my vision. It is the total arrogance of power as reflected in the comments of the man who had the last word that is important. In the weeks that followed 9/11, as the impact of the attacks on the American political landscape became evident, I retrieved the audio tape, made transcripts and posted it here to this site, for lack of any better place. It was good that I did. It was the day the world changed. Nearly four years later, the events of 9/11 continue to reverberate through the American psyche.
During the Summer of 2001, I had read the SF Chronicle, read Time and Newsweek and listened to National Public Radio. People in the know were convinced that we were about to be hit and I knew they were right. Getting anyone in government to listen was another matter. It is not that I didn't try. At an August 7th meeting in Menlo Park Fire District Chief's Miles Julihn's office that was attended by myself, the Chief, MPFD Board member Bob Boeddikker and Board member Del Krause, I did my best, despite the lack of a formal agenda. As it turned out, the meeting was the most disjointed, awkward, apathetic meeting I can remember. I spoke without invitation. I told them that this country was about to be hit. I told them that this country was about to be hit hard. I told them without malice that this country was going to be held accountable for its blind support of a tactless, if not brutal, Israel. I described the philosophical underpinnings of Western civilization, the social contracts, the social machinery and the nature of our society that made America so repugnant, attractive and enviable to the rest of the world. And they stared at me like I was a nut case. It was like preaching to a bunch of slack jawed trout. And then when they declined to engage me in debate or even respond, I walked out in frustration, shame, exasperation, dismay and disgust.
And that was the end of the meeting for me. I have no idea what they talked about before I arrived or after I left, but I presume it was not complimentary. (Shortly thereafter I ended up on the receiving end of some political cheap shots that cost me the election and I have since been told by a reliable source that my personal safety was at risk during that time.) The bottom line is that I got whipped. But anyway, during the late summer of 2001, I figured I might try again one more time to warn my colleagues if given the opportunity. And when the opportunity arose, this is what happened. The results were stupifying.
Chapter 3. 9/11 Prediction
On the strength of the author's involvement
in this grass roots video project (or perhaps in a cosmic fluke), he was appointed
to the Board of the Menlo Park Fire District in 1999. Although support for the
video project from within the fire department never materialized, the author
got a very close up look at the operation, administration and finances of a
mid-sized suburban fire department.
Once in a while, the author had a chance to use his college education in political science, as evidenced by this verbal exchange recorded on tape during a Fire District Board meeting, just two weeks before 9/11.
Menlo Park Fire District - August 21st 2001 - Board Meeting Transcripts
Chief's Report: "On another item, I've been approached by a local resident and businessman who is marketing a very high quality US flag sticker for police and fire department vehicles. This product is made from very durable 3M Company vinyl. This is the same material, in fact, that is used in the reflective stripes on the sides of our fire engines. The cost is two dollars and fifty cents per sticker or decal, plus five dollars for professional installation. I recommend that we place the flag on the left side of all of our fire apparatus to start with and if the product proves to be durable we could also add them to other District vehicles and I guess I'm just making sure that the Board is in concert with that direction to display the US flag on our fire apparatus."
Director Spencer: "This size?"
Chief Julihn: "I'm sorry? (Question repeated) This size, currently, yes. It is actually a tradition for both police and fire departments that has been overlooked in recent years and I enjoyed very much my discussions with this gentleman. He is a Viet Nam veteran who he is very interested in preserving respect for the flag and I told you that I would take that under consideration and discuss it with you this evening."
Board Member KENNEDY's Report and Response: "Ok. I wanted to comment on.... the plan to put the American flag on our vehicles. And I'm just thinking that, that flag might make our vehicles a target, and our personnel a target, during periods of civil unrest, if the Federal government did something that was really unpopular. You know, we'd like to pass under the radar in responding to an arson fire or looting or whatever is going on."
Chief's Reply: "Well, I can certainly appreciate your concern for the welfare of our personnel, unfortunately a large red & white fire truck makes a pretty good target for someone who is inclined to do that. We have had periods of civil unrest in the past, within the District. We have actually had bullet holes in fire apparatus (a bullet was fired through Station II's (East Palo Alto) roll up door during a drive by shooting) here so that certainly is a concern. That particular risk seems remote at least in today's standards. But I concur that is an ongoing concern. Whether or not a US flag symbol of this size placed on one side of the apparatus would significantly impact that I'm not prepared to say."
Director Carpenter: "If it does, so be it." ___________________________________________________________________________
4) Shady Con Artists or Lovable Characters?
My jaw dropped and more than a few eyebrows were raised by that last comment. But Chief Miles Julihn never missed a beat and the meeting went on like nothing had happened. I was too stunned to clarify my remarks and too polite to ask the elder statesman, the WWII veteran Bob Boeddikker, if he remembered Pearl Harbor. In a split second, the window of opportunity for public debate snapped shut. My sense of outrage since 9/11 has been mollified to some extent by the report to Congress detailing the failures of the intelligence community. I've also seen Michael Moore's film, "Fahrenheit 9/11", which packed them in at the movie houses. (http://www.michaelmoore.com)
But as a student of human nature, I still have to ask if that last statement of Carpenter's seemed blissfully complacent in retrospect or just coldly callous. My conclusion is this. If political thought is imagination in a straight jacket then Carpenter must be in a body cast. And if Peter's last statement was not a self incriminating moral indictment of the haves and have mores in this country, then why did President Bush make a three hour visit to the troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving Day 2003 and tell them, "You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq, so that we don't have to face them in our own country." (I can appreciate a forward defence but there is no known link between Al Qaeda and Iraq, remember?)
Isn't there a peculiar similarity in the way these two rich men think? I feel compelled to ask; if and when George's brother, Jeb Bush, gets elected to the Presidency; Does this mean we are going to be treated like children again and enjoy more good laughs on the Road to Perdition? Not that I'm worried about that election. All that the Bush dynasty has to worry about is brother Jeb (the well liked Governor of Florida) facing the wrath of the voters on election day. As a fellow politician back on the campaign trail myself, I wish him the best of luck.
I filed for elective office on 7/21/05 to run for the Menlo Park Fire Protection District Board of Directors in the November election and I anticipate a political brawl of a contest with a lot of mud slinging. I used to think that I should encourage Director Spencer to resign due to his involvement in a conflict of interest scandal with Director Carpenter. Now I am having second thoughts. As I recall, at the July 20th 2004 meeting, during the period reserved for public comment, I did publicly tell Bart to do the honorable thing and the courteous thing and resign. Of course, he blithely ignored me. Right now, having Bart living in Peter's house is more of a political liability to Peter than an irritant to me. It gives me a target at which to sling lots of mud during the campaign.
Yes, I filed a formal complaint with the FPPC after the last election and yes, Bart Spencer was investigated by the Enforcement Division of the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento. The FPPC didn't do a very thorough job of it but at least they give it lip service. From January of 2004 to October of 2004 their investigators made a token effort to determine if Bart's vote to appoint Peter Carpenter to the Board was possibly influenced by the business partnership between them, a partnership involving the purchase (90/10% ownership) and rental of a home in Menlo Park.
To my chagrin, Bart wiggled off the hook not once but several times. His first piece of luck occured at this same July 2004 meeting, which featured a report by the District's lawyer, based on a letter of advice from the FPPC which, on the face of it, appeared to exonerate Bart Spencer. There was some desultory Board discussion about how to prevent by abstention, a future conflict of interest should the Board vote to reimburse Bart or Peter for travel expenses to a Special Districts seminar, but as far as the Board was concerned, Bart was cleared. The whole investigation just kind of fizzled. In short, it was a white wash. Why the MPFD's lawyer contacted the Advice Department instead of the Enforcement Division at the FPPC, when implicitly directed to do so by the unanimous decision by the Board at the November 2003 meeting, was beyond my comprehension. It is worth noting that the Advice Department of the FPPC was never designed to get politicians OUT of trouble. Their advice keeps politicians AWAY from trouble. The Enforcement Division sends them packing. The whole investigation to this point was as if the Fire District's lawyer had written Dear Abby instead of calling the cops. Garbage in. Garbage out you know.
But I had my ace in the hole in the form of my own pending complaint with the FPPC, so I wasn't worried. I knew that politicians don't attend Board meetings for free and so professional political ethics are not optional. There must be hundreds of Special Districts in California (Cemetary Districts, Water Districts, Sewage Districts) that employ the services of thousands of impartial and dedicated Board members who serve as 1099 independent contractors. Local government couldn't function without these unsung heroes.
This faith of mine in California State Government and the Schwarzenegger administration may have been misplaced because Bart wriggled off the hook a second time. You see, an FPPC complaint typically takes 18 months from start to finish. The first time I called the FPPC to inquire about progress on the case I was told that, "The fact that you haven't heard anything from us is a good sign because it means that we are still investigating." So I called again at the end of 18 months and was told, "Didn't you get the letter from us saying that we had closed the file?" "What letter?" The one we sent out in October." (eight months earlier) "Nope. Why don't you fax it to me?"
This letter from the Enforcement Division borrowed liberally from the Advice Department letter sent to the Fire District's lawyer and explained that since the Board members aren't paid, then Bart had no monetary incentive to appoint his landlord. Why the Enforcement Division accepted the Fire District's lawyer's deceptive logic and convoluted contention that the Board members are not paid, is baffling. ie The Board officers are not paid anything above and beyond what they are paid as Directors so they must "volunteer" their services and and since Bart is an officer then Bart is therefore not being paid. Why the Enforcement staff didn't do their own research, is curious. Why the Enforcement staff quoted from the Fire District's lawyer's letter is puzzling. When I pointed out that the Board members were indeed paid, (a hundred bucks a meeting, up to four meetings a month) the FPPC's story changed for the second time. The FPPC's next explanation was that since Bart is the cash paying tenant and not the cash receiving landlord, then Bart's motive could not have been a monetary one. So Bart wriggled off the hook a third time. Maybe the investigators thought that their written advice previously given, on the facts as presented by the District's lawyer, conferred some kind of immunity on Bart. This is the usual procedure when a politician asks for advice, acts on the FPPC's advice and catches hell for it. The catch is that Bart's situation was after the fact, ex-post facto.
The other catch is that Bart's 10% investment in the home has been very rewarding. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle published on 7/20/2005 "The typical Bay Area house appreciated a whopping $99,000 in the last year- or more than $8,200 per month....up 18.2% in a year." According to my reading of the article, the value and investment performance of Bart's house is pretty typical of homes in San Mateo County. Specifically, according to the San Mateo County Assessor's Office in Redwood City, the value of the home was set at $672,000 when it was purchased on April 27th, 2000. The home has now (July 2005) been appraised by a real estate broker at $800,000 based on a formal CMA (current market analysis) using pricing formulas and comparisons to similar homes in the neighborhood that recently have been sold. In just over five years, Bart has thus realized a paper profit of $12,800 on his original $67,200 investment, minus what he's delivered up to Peter as rent. If the Commission ever recognized this nifty rent discount/obscene profit as a sincere motivation, then Bart might end up back in his old apartment. This is unlikely to happen, however.
As it stands now, according to a high ranking administrator with the FPPC, it takes a full year to get an attorney up to speed on the conflict of interest provisions in the law and private industry often hires away the best attornies on the staff with higher wages, nicer offices and better benefits. Thus, the FPPC doesn't have nearly enough experienced attorneys to handle cases far worse than this. So files are closed, the scoundrels go free, people think that politicians are corrupt, people cheat on their taxes depriving government of the means to police itself, the best and brightest young minds in the country choose other careers and other employers and the cycle repeats itself. I say, "to be or not to God Damn be. Whether tis nobler to take the crap or sling it right back at 'em". To appeal or not to appeal. Whether tis nobler to suffer the injustice or sling the mud far and wide on cable TV?
Stay tuned for another couple months and read the front page articles in the Palo Alto Daily News and The Almanac as they follow the campaign. The wheels of justice (and the courts of public opinion) grind slowly but they'll grind very, very fine.
5) Echoes of 9/11
Though my experience in local politics was short, my degree in political science has not been totally wasted. Events on the world stage have a way of echoing back into local politics including the Menlo Park Fire District. It is ancient history now but just 21 days after the Board meeting in August 2001, an astonishing 340 NYFD firemen were tragically killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. Within six weeks, the Menlo Park Fire District's Urban Search & Rescue Team was working in New York City on the pile, inhaling toxic smoke every time they wanted to say something intelligible to another team member. The cost of the operation was a million dollars (they flew multiple pallets of tools, search dogs, protective gear, hardware and heavy CASES of bottled water to New York) . The number of live people they rescued was ZERO.
Most of the firemen who spent time on the pile had breathing problems upon returning and will probably be retiring on disability (if not for that reason then for other accumulated back, neck and shoulder injuries,) at a tremendous additional cost to the taxpayers over the life of the retiree. (The SF Chronicle reported on 9/10/03 that the Bush administration put heavy pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency to suppress test results showing brutally poor air quality at ground zero that lasted for months.) And ironically, huge firefighter retirement costs are now the rationale for spending $50,000 to hire a team of "assessment engineers" who will craft a fire suppression assessment based on fire risk and property value and then present the issue to the voters in the mail. I plan to oppose this "parcel tax" on the grounds that without dishonesty and deception on the part of the officer staff against the Board, the District wouldn't need additional income.
It is not so much that I regret not asking how much it would cost to grant the current retirement package to the District's oldest retirees, who worked for the District before a pension plan was introduced. I just resent that the Apparatus Replacement Committee lied to the Board about the mechanical condition of the Quint. The needless and premature replacement of this vehicle (which had been saving the District $100,000 a year on labor costs and we had two of them) put the District in a financial bind that they feel compelled to solve with a tax increase which I'm glad that I won't be around to approve.
The other big ticket item that was bandied about in my last year in office was a proposal to replace Station One, which is kind of a Winchester Mystery House of a structure. I feel that the District doesn't need the prestige of a new headquarters building in the immediate future as much as the District needs to pay competitive wages to its rank and file employees. If the voters approve the assessment and the new headquarters is authorized then I will fight for community access priveleges to the new building, including public dances in the Board assembly hall and email access during power outages. I have already floated this idea to the public during a MPFD pancake breakfast and gotten a favorable response from residents. Of course Chief Wilson had to have the cops escort me off the property before I did so.
So why did I give Peter Carpenter that wonderful opportunity to step on a "word mine" that I hoped would someday blow up in his face? Although I am not an armchair quarterback, I am a news junkie and I had read a great deal about Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in the San Francisco Chronicle through the spring and summer of 2001. I accepted at face value, the suggestions made by the knowledgeable that America was about to be attacked by terrorists. I had read that Palestinians had learned the value of the one-two punch in their bomb and terror campaigns in Israel. I also knew that airliner cockpits the world over were vulnerable (except on EL AL, the Israeli airline of course). I just knew that a bold attack would be coming our way but thought maybe the terrorists would try something different, an attack designed to instill fear in the mind of the average American. So my new terror prediction is an attack on a domestic symbol of tranquility like Disneyland, a cable car or the Statue of Liberty. Although my crystal ball can be a little blurry, after 9/11, I felt my concerns were well vindicated.
Chapter 6. The Quints
After the 9/11 attacks, I felt the same helplessness as everyone else, so I did some creative thinking and came up with an innovative solution. I called my brainchild, The Afghan-American Mutual Aid Program. You see, the Afghan people were suffering from a long running drought and years of oppression under the Taliban. The Menlo Park Fire District had an allegedly balky fire truck and a local economy that was going downhill fast. So I thought that between the two nations, we could make some lemonade from these lemons and the District would come out ahead on the favorable publicity.
You see, several of our Board members had publicly stated a desire for the District to make money training firefighters from other fire departments using our state of the art, structural collapse training facility, located by the Dumbarton Bridge and I was willing to gamble that sending a fire engine overseas to another country as a token of our friendship would really put us on the map, publicity wise. But pardon my small digression because I must really digress in a major way. . .
Several years ago, before my appointment to the Fire District Board, Fire Chief Rick Tye bought the Fire District two radically different pieces of rolling fire apparatus called "Quints". These were combination ladder trucks and pumper engines, with the innovation of having both an 85 foot extension ladder and being able to carry 800 gallons of water. They were big beasts, with an axle in front and two axles in the rear, kind of the Swiss Army knife of fire engines. Chief Tye knew that they would save money on labor. Three men on one vehicle could do the job of four men on two vehicles. But County dispatch took a long time to figure out that the Quints could perform well in both roles and the new "red haired step children" were sometimes directed to "park around the corner" on large, mutual aid, surround and drown type fires like you'd see when a warehouse burned.
So the Quints got no respect from Fire Chiefs outside the District and Chief Tye had made the unforgivable mistake of failing to consult with his staff before spending a half million dollars on each of them. So the Quints were unpopular among the rank and file from the get go and apparently had some chronic maintenance issues on top of that, like quickly going through tires. But you'd expect this with a vehicle that had rear wheel steering that could move the Quint sideways, right up to a hydrant from the street or make a tight U turn in an intersection.
But the worst of these maintenance issues was the peculiar tendency for the transmission on one of the Quints to lock up. ie They'd get a call for a fire, jump in the engine, turn on the lights, turn on the siren, pull out onto Middlefield Road and put the pedal to the metal. But the Quint would refuse to take second gear. Or third or fourth gear. So they'd pull off to the side of the road. They'd shut off the engine. Wait 20 seconds. Start it back up again. And it would run fine. And off they'd go to the fire. At least, that was the story.
Our mechanic couldn't diagnose the problem. The factory technicians couldn't solve the problem. The manufacturer made only 6 Quints that model year and we all concluded that there was a flaw in the firmware coding in the EPROM in the logic board in the transmission. We just resigned ourselves to the fact that this was a problem that we'd have to live with for the duration. With only six of these machines made that year, a product recall, a redesign of the chip or a software patch was not a possibility. This breakdown happened so often, allegedly at least once a week, that the drivers quit logging it down in the book.
As a Director, I was afraid that this intermittent problem would happen on a freeway on ramp, the Quint would be rear ended, there would be major injuries to the passengers in the car which impacted the rear of the Quint and we'd be sued for knowingly operating a defective fire engine. This would be a major political embarrassment for the Board while the career of the driver of the Quint would be pretty well screwed too. And if we sold the Quint in this condition to a fire department in the mid-West, we'd either have to disclose the problem and get half of what the rig was worth or risk a lawsuit when the new owners got themselves in a ugly rear end accident with multiple cars on an icy highway. It was a no-win situation.
7) The Afghan-American Mutual Aid Program
So shortly after 9/11, I got to thinking and I asked myself, "What if we just gave up on that tranny problem and sent the Quint to Afghanistan?" The new government probably wouldn't sue us if they got rear ended because, swift Afghan justice and Afghan emergency medical care being what it is, there would be few survivors among the accident victims. And with huge pot holes, washed out bridges and other road hazards, the tranny would be the least of their worries. So how could they put this Quint to productive use?
First of all, the Quint would be a prestigious vehicle for the new Afghan government to own. They could put it proudly at the head of the parade down Main Street in Kabul and look like the government of a modern country. They could use it in its traditional role of fire suppression. I mean, what bank would finance a new wooden frame building in Kandahar if it was gonna burn down the first year? And then I got really creative and thought that they could use the Quint as a mobile platform for dispensing first aid at the scene of construction accidents, vehicle accidents, to gunshot victims and to landmine victims (Kabul is some of the most densely mined real estate on Earth). It could be a mobile vaccination clinic. They could also put up the ladder and expose or detonate land mines with a powerful stream of water across an acre at a time. They could haul water to construction sites for mixing concrete. They could haul water to a corral full of thirsty animals. They could draft water from a well and spray it on a farmer's field on a hot summer day. They could field a multi-ethnic crew, hire an Afghan woman to drive the thing and use the Quint as a model for the racial integration of the country. And last but not least, they could use it to encourage Afghan farmers to grow something besides opium.
This got me to thinking again. I wondered how long it took for Afghan opium to make it from a bleeding seed pod in an Afghan field to a dime bag on a street corner in East Palo Alto. I wondered if Afghan farmers knew or cared that my neighbors would kill for that piece of turf or steal, prostitute, cheat, lie and embezzle for the money to buy heroin. I wondered if Afghan farmers knew about hepatitis, AIDS, welfare mothers, the pathology of welfare dependency, crack babies, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and flesh eating bacteria.
I wondered if Afghan tribesmen knew about hundred mile commutes that began at 4:30 AM in Stockton and Modesto and ended in Silicon Valley three hours later. I wondered if illiterate Afghan tribesmen knew about gas at $2.25 a gallon and the $35 fill up and I wondered what it would take to get them to allow the construction and operation of a crude oil pipeline across the Afghan countryside from the ' tan countries to the north to warm water ocean ports with easy access to global oil markets.
And then I realized that few rural Afghan people under the age of thirty had ever known a time of peace and an AK-47 was considered just a symbol of manhood. So I guessed that few Afghans cared that Americans lived in fear of international terrorism or were hard working and decent people. So I made a few phone calls to SF politico Carol Ruth Silver and members of the Afghan Community in Fremont. I sent some emails, I attended a few meetings, I came up with the plan and I lined up all the support that I could muster.
Thus, at the February 2002 Board meeting, Paul Choe spoke about his business and the cost of exporting luxury automobiles (and by implication, a fire truck) by ocean going freighter from the Port of Oakland to Karachi, Pakistan. (Estimated cost, approx $25,000 although he couldn't guess how much import duties, taxes and bribes would set us back nor the cost of rail transport into Pakistan plus local drivers, guides and translators.) Of course, the figure he quoted half in jest, $250,000, a figure he more or less made up because we didn't really expect that Federal Express would ship the Quint by air, is precisely the number the local newspapers reported the next day.
Next up to speak was a friend of mine from the 'hood who spoke about the cost to society of his addiction to heroin (at least $350,000 for damages done during dozens of car stereo thefts at Stanford Shopping Center and home burglaries plus the cost to the taxpayer of several arrests, trials, years of incarceration and his on-going treatment in a residential rehab program.) He concluded his piece by stating flatly that there were lots of guys like him in rehab who'd done the same thing.
Then, the President of the Afghan Coalition, Waheed Momand, spoke about the death and suffering of his people during the war against the Red Army and during the 15 years of Civil War that followed. He estimated that 1.5 million of his countrymen had become casualties during that time. He mentioned the collapse of the Soviet Union as a result of the war but his plea for a fire engine or any fire equipment that we could spare, fell on deaf and unsympathetic ears.
And then Captain Harold Schapelhouman spoke, the handsome 6'4" all-American boy and leader of the Urban Search & Rescue Team. Harold told the crowd that I'd gone far beyond my role as Director. He said the Afghans could never maintain and operate a vehicle as complex as the Quint. He said Afghanistan didn't have the infrastructure to support a vehicle like the Quint. He then continued to rip me up one side and down the other and told me basically, to know my role and shut my hole, leaving the whole Afghan-American Mutual Aid program virtually dead in the water. I learned later that Harold had just returned from the funeral of a colleague killed in the collapse of one of the Trade Center Towers so perhaps this opposition was understandable, if not expected. When he finished, my friend in the recovery program and I looked at each other and just shrugged.
Director Krause later commented with a smile, "At least it was an interesting meeting." Hey Del, these are interesting times! So Osama Bin Laden disappeared, the Taliban faded away and stopped discouraging Afghan farmers from growing opium. Exports of raw opium from Afghanistan will jump from 187 tons in 2001 to an estimate of more than 3,000 tons this year. This heroin is coming to a rave party or street corner near you soon. And hey, how many glamorous pop stars do you think are out there who have more money than brains and would rather die young and be famous for it than slide off the charts into obscurity?
There are a lot of low life party animals in Hollywood who'd like to boast that so and so among the rich and beautiful calls them at home. Personally, I hope Harold Schapelhouman sees his share of these overdose cases in East Palo Alto and among the bored and cynical teen age children of his neighbors. So who will Syringe Syringe take next? A NFL quarterback? A beloved character actor? A comedian? I hope Harold's daughter asks him while he hangs up that new plack, "Daddy, what did you do in the war on drugs?"
8) The War in Iraq
Since this Board meeting in February of 2002, I have watched as the US government launched a war on Iraq, spending billions in the process and with Congress approving $87.5 BILLION more for occupation duty and massive reconstruction contracts. This have since proved to be only a down payment. American trops are going to be there for years. I have NOT seen any evidence of weapons of mass destruction. I have seen over 1,000 American, Italian, Spanish and British troops come home in body bags, with more than a few casualties the victims of friendly fire and many more soldiers expected to die during occupation duty.
Two Japanese diplomats were also recently killed. I have seen American women wounded in combat, taken as prisoners of war and major liberties taken with that story. I watched President Bush promote a tax cut proposal for the wealthiest Americans in a year with record budget deficits. I've seen the Baghdad Museum LOOTED of priceless antiquities, hospitals ransacked of their medical equipment, Iraqi government buildings burned, whole buildings deconstructed and Iraqi oil pipelines sabotaged.
I know that President Bush avoided combat in Viet Nam and flew with the Texas National Guard (in case that Oklahoma attacked Texas). I know that Iraqis risk their lives to cooperate with the Americans and if we pull out they'll be at the mercy of the insurgents unless we take them out with us by helicopter from the roof of the American embassy. And I've asked why to all of the above. My conclusion is that the war has been fought not over Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction, nor Iraqi oil, but more likely to impress a few naïve Saudi princesses with the fact that funding the American immigrant lifestyles of the poor and fanatical is not a wise investment nor a particularly good idea.
We all know that this kind of imperial logic by a US president is not without precedent. After all, didn't Lyndon Johnson keep the war going in Viet Nam for several bloody years after he knew it was un-winnable, just to impress the Kremlin with American resolve and determination? How many thousand American lives were lost in that pointless exercise? Such is the logic of brutality and the arrogance of power.
Then again, maybe the defeat of Saddam was necessary to allow Israel to dispose of the West Bank, rather than be a one man, one vote democracy. Go figure. In my humble opinion, we are locked in a permanent embrace with Saudi Arabia. That country lost the ability to feed itself around 1973. We lost the ability to produce enough oil for domestic consumption at about the same time. (Including Alaska, we produce 2% of the world's crude while consuming 25% of the world's oil output.) The Saudis import food and export oil. They own 6% of the American economy while American business owners are sending manufacturing jobs overseas.
Saudi Princes swagger around the kingdom while their nation contributes little to the global economy other than the spigot. They have little manufacturing, write no software, produce few movies for international distribution and contribute little to scientific knowledge. Like us, immigrants wash their dishes, change their beds, raise their children and do all the dirty work. The loudest voice in their society is the one condemning Israel.
So what if we cut off their imported food supply? What if the US Navy blockaded cargo freighters from visiting their ports? What if whole shiploads of Australian sheep never left port down under? There is something wrong when Saudi imams call us corrupt while their congregations are getting fat on our food. We need to have the full and undivided attention of the Saudi people. The Saudi Royal family cannot continue to reap stock market gains on investments in American defence contractors who are profiting handsomely from the war in Iraq, when 15 of 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.
9) The Tail Light Scandal
While dreaming about starving your enemies is a pleasant waste of time, reality is a whole lot better. Local politics can be just as interesting and local politics is probably twice as twisted. Like any good story this one has several twists to it. In February of 2003 the MPFD Board voted to sell the second of the two Quints for $240,000 dollars back to the manufacturer and bought a brand new, $600,000 ladder truck with a full 100 foot ladder. This ladder truck began active service in early May of 2003. The Board also bought a new pumper engine for $500,000. The old Quint still had at least two years of front line duty left in it and could have spent several years in the reserve fleet. But every good story has a kicker and this one is no exception.
The story goes that one day the District's mechanic (Steve Strom) was doing routine maintenance on the Quint and stopped to replace a burned out tail light. He noticed that the old bulb had two contacts but the new bulb had only one contact. So in went the new bulb and lo and behold, the tranny problem seemed to go away. So it wasn't faulty firmware code in the EPROM in the logic board in the transmission. The second prong on the tail light bulb was introducing an erroneous DC ground into the logic board causing intermittent failures. Ahh, diagnosis by replacement of parts! A miracle!
And there my story almost ends with a fully functional Quint rolling off into the morning sunrise. Some months later, after the Board and I had voted to dispose of the Quint, I saw the apparatus in the headquarters parking lot, where it was waiting for delivery to its new owners and so I got permission from Chief Wilson to examine one of those brake light/tail light bulbs. When I took off the lens cover I discovered a garden variety, two contact, two lug bulb. A few days later, when I discussed this alleged tranny problem with Howard X, a night shift, fire engine mechanic at Stewart & Stevenson in San Leandro, he was highly dubious.
So the bottom line is this, after two years of following the issue and using indirect observation, I concluded that the whole line about the transmission problem was bogus from the get go. If I hadn't seen older machines intentionally bugged to force their replacement during my years as a photocopy technician then I wouldn't have believed it. This lie had several large grains of truth. First, the tail light bulb/tranny problem connection was technically feasable. Pierce Manufacturing, the maker of the Quint, got into an argument over responsibility with Allison Manufacturing which made the transmission. And then Osh Kosh bought out Pierce.
So, essentially the hardware guys were blaming the software guys. So the executives in charge could blow it off and never reach a solid diagnosis. Secondly, it was an intermittent problem that none of the Directors ever witnessed. And it was a problem that seemed to go away after a team of experts had labored on it for a week or so. But then it would come back again after a few weeks. So the problem seemed unsolvable... unless you looked at the most simple explanation. The tranny problem was a bogus claim.....and a lie is the least intelligent form of imaginative thinking.
The bottom line is that I am a technician and not a number cruncher and that put me in a awkward position. I also knew one of the Apparatus Replacement Committee members back in high school (Rob DeHoney-Capuchino Class of '75) and although he was my friend, I also knew that he liked to win, whatever the cost. So I had a political problem that was really thorny and few allies on the issue. You see, the fire department in St. Louis, MO uses nothing but Quints. Their tactics and strategy revolve around Quints. But when your MPFD crews are trained to work from either pumper engines or hook n' ladder trucks and an oddball Quint shows up first on the scene, it throws the whole dance off.
Every person has a role on a structure fire. They'll have water on the fire, people out, the roof vented, the smoke cleared and rooms searched in 8 minutes flat. But if a Quint shows up first on the scene, the question becomes, who does what, where and when? It throws off the whole routine. So anybody that was in on the scheme understood why these guys were lying through their teeth and wouldn't blow the whistle to the Board. So the firefighters lied to the Board and got their shiny new pumper engine and their new hook n' ladder rig for $1.2 million. Now, the District is short of money and the Joint Powers Authority has voted to let the District walk away from the money losing ambulance contract with American Medical Response.
The MPFD used to send $500,000 of tax payer dollars to AMR, a private company, every year for the priviledge of staffing AMR's ambulances with our EMT/Paramedics. It was a bad deal from the get go. Way before my time on the Board, Chief Tye wanted our own ambulances with our own paramedics but a Superior Court ruling nixed that. So reps from all the other fire departments in the County had been meeting for a year and a half and by the time we got to the party.....we were a little bit late. So the best we could do was pick up the crumbs. So now the MPFD is out of the ambulance transport business. The District's paramedics and EMT's are still usually the first on the scene. But someone else will transport them to Stanford Hospital and charge the patient $1,200 for the three mile ride plus the high cost of the disposable oxygen mask, bandages, syringes and medications.
10) Crash & Burn
So I had this sneaking suspicion about the Quint that the other Directors were not eager to hear about. And, to be honest, I had a bad habit of putting my foot in my mouth which, when blown out of proportion and twisted by Spencer and Carpenter, damaged my credibility. Here's one small example. Deputy Chief Ed Greene took over as Acting Chief when Chief Miles Julihn resigned. So one day, during a break from a Board workshop, I was put into an awkward social position and was pressed for something to say to Ed. Anything. So I blurted out an offer (which I'd been mulling over as an ace up my sleeve) to support him (morally, emotionally and logistically) during his candidacy for the Chief's position in exchange for his support (moral, emotional and logistical) for my proposal to send used fire equipment (like defibrillators) to third world countries. He replied that he wanted to think about it.
Well, it took Ed at least two days to decide that this was an attempted bribe. So he went to the President of the Board, Bart Spencer, who went to the Fire District's attorney, Bill Esselstein, who went to the San Mateo County District Attorney's office and there I was, looking at a jail term for bribery and the end of my political career. I tell you it is no fun being called at home by the Deputy District Attorney for clarification of your remarks ("Hey, trust me, I just want to get this cleared up.") Neither is it fun, fielding calls from reporters and seeing your name and picture in the paper, especially when you've been advised by legal council to keep your mouth shut for the duration.
When it comes to legal matters I'm not a "legal eagle" but IF I was going to commit bribery and risk losing my political career over it you can bet there would be something substantial in it for me. Woody Allen might make this kind of offer to a fire chief for two tenths of a point after quadruple break even (on the associated comedic travel documentary film) but I'm not a professional film maker and I'm definitely not Jack Kennedy. Or something like that. Anyway, I managed to keep my mouth shut while my reputation was dragged through the press.
The bottom line is that I ruined my political career with a single sentence. I lost my bid for re-election to the Board by 169 votes on November 4th, 2003. I know I said and did some other things that gave the newspapers good stories about my lack of ethics to put on their front pages but that alleged attempted bribery one was the biggest. Life sure has a strange set of rules. Ed, Bill and the rest of the Board took absolutely no risk at all in deciding to censure me for attempted bribery. Just as there was little risk in reporting a bogus problem with the transmission in the Quint.
11) The Moral of the Story
If there are any morals to this story then here they are. First of all, if you want a vehicle fixed quickly (or just sold to the highest bidder) then threaten to send it to Afghanistan. Secondly, if you're going to blow the whistle, do it at the end of your political career and not at the beginning. Thirdly, in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. Finally, let me offer this second hand advice. War is at first, the hope that we'll all be better off when it is over. Next comes the expectation that the enemy will be worse off. Then comes the satisfaction that the enemy isn't any better off. In our case, I predict a dawning realization that everyone is, or will soon be, a whole lot worse off than we were before those passenger jets came in, flying under the radar, and torched those towers on September 11th. I never thought we'd miss Bill Clinton but....
All the world's a stage and so where are these characters now?
Ed Greene gracefully retired after being passed over for the permanent Chief's position.
Chief Miles Julihn found a new job as the EMS Administrator for El Dorado County Emergency Medical Services Agency located in Placerville, CA. His agency's website is at: http://www.co.el-dorado.ca.us/ems
Chief Rick Tye retired on a heart and knee disability and found a job as Fire Chief with a new fire department (but liked those disability checks so much that he forgot to tell the MPFD that he was feeling well enough to work.)
Peter "so be it" Carpenter served a full term as President of the Board of Directors with Bart as his Vice-President. Peter's seat on the Board will be up for grabs in the November 2005 election.
Chief Paul Wilson will leave the MPFD and return to Arizona with his family when his contract expires in October of 2005 (despite an 80% approval rating by the firefighters). A national search through a personnel agency for his replacement will cost the district at least $60,000. The search may be hampered by the Board's habit of turning over Fire Chiefs in quick succession. This practice also means a Division Chief like Randy Shurson, may step up from the officer corps to serve an open ended (but probably nerve wracking) term in office as Acting Chief. It is interesting to note that Chief Wilson has long been interested in knocking down his Winchester Mystery House of a headquarters and rebuilding, presumably with a larger corner office for the Chief and 100 feet of additional land on two sides of the corner lot. Presumably the future Acting Chief will be also interested in leaving this new building behind as a legacy. This interest meshed well with plans being made by the City of Menlo Park to buy land from St. Patrick's Seminary for a huge new underground water tank, above deck soccer fields and Soccer Mom's SUV parking lot. If the new headquarters building was 2 stories high and had a two story deep basement then perhaps additional land on the sides of the lot would not be necessary. As long as they were trucking away all that dirt.... According to the Chief and the local press, these negotiations between the City and St. Patrick's (with The Vatican probably having the final sayso) have broken down over the issues of land costs and recreational compatibility (passive vs active). The issue remaining, however, is would the City of Menlo Park actually need that new water storage tank if it wasn't for 9/11 and the perpetual war on terror? Go figure! All politics is local and a lot of discretional spending in your neighborhood hinges on the outcome of the war in Iraq.
Captain Harold Schapelhouman is now a Division Chief and Public Information Officer in charge of Special Projects. He works in a new office at headquarters that was carved out of Fire Chief Wilson's floor space. Meanwhile, his talents have not gone unnoticed by the community. ie Harold received the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce's "Golden Acorn-Professional Individual of the Year" award. He also got an award from the Department of Homeland Security at the November 18th, 2003 Board meeting. It was a 3" X 4" piece of half inch thick structural steel inside an enclosed glass case, the steel coming from an I-beam taken from the pile of debris that was the World Trade Center Tower This gift was presumably to hang on his wall as a plaque. I suppose that plack is like getting a vial containing a few drops of bunker oil from the USS Arizona, but he accepted it with a smile.
Bart Spencer has possibly escaped an investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento over a potential conflict of interest. He did forget to mention to me and our colleagues on the Board, the business relationship involving the home that Peter Carpenter bought for him (90/10% investment). And Bart did cast the deciding vote to appoint Peter to the Board of Directors on March 20th, 2001. This little factoid about the mutual investment, sure escaped my notice when I nominated Peter for the position.
Del Krause, another Board Member, is IMHO, also a candidate for investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to report on his Statement of Economic Interests/Form 700, in 2001 and 2003, his annual income and investments. Until I can find out what he is legally required to report according to the Fire District and the County and until I can write off the case against Bart, I'm not going to pursue this one. But, even if we discount his home in Menlo Park, as his primary place of residence, and even if his assets are in a blind trust, explain to me how a guy can live in and own an attractive home, have a ski cabin in the Sierra's, drive a nice car and take ski vacations in France if he has no reportable income nor investments? I think the people still have a need to know this information as a matter of public record. Del's seat is up for grabs in the November 2005 election.
Ollie Brown, another colleague who never missed an opportunity to vote with the majority in censuring me for my conduct as a Board member, offered me a bargain on one of these rental units during a discussion of my landlord and income problems. I politely declined his generous offer, preferring to keep my political independence and personal integrity intact. Of course, the private decision that I made didn't dissuade my apartment manager from posting a campaign sign for Bart and his running mate in front of the building I live in, for a month before and at least two months after the 2003 election, because there is no accounting for taste. Ollie's seat is up for grabs in the November 2005 election (although I hope that Ollie wins his race). Anybody who has helped a plump and elderly black woman who has fallen off a curb in front of a church, (landing on her side), back to her feet with a minimum of embarassment and a maximum of professional care, deserves a vote for reelection. I witnessed this act of a Good Samaritan after a service at Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in May of 2005.
The ironic thing is that my private decision to decline Ollie's generous housing offer didn't deter my apartment manager, Mike Rogan, from filing a bogus restraining order, alleging "emotional torture" and demanding my appearance in court, a couple days before the November 4th, 2003 election. Of course, Mike never bothered to show up for the hearing so it was just me and the taunting judge. It was just one more effort (on top of the fire-hazard-in-the-backyard, contact-the-fire-department and call-the-press-for-a-photo-op while Steve's-apartment-is-empty, Steve-is-on-vacation and Mike-is-supervising-the-replacement-of-the-carpet, trick) to sabotage my political career, for which I hope that cheapshot artist, schoolyard bully, chemically dependent and emotionally disturbed Viet Nam War veteran was well paid. Thank you very much, Howard Dean for that beautiful scream. I couldn't have said it better myself. The good news is that Mike Rogan moved out in May of 2005 when my apartment building was sold and I am living happily ever after.
During the November 2005 elections, three seats on the Board of Directors will go to the candidates that receive the most votes. I may or may not find myself running against Ollie, Del and Peter, depending upon their intentions to file for re-election or retire from politics, which may depend on how many other well qualified candidates throw their hats in the ring. And I may or may not receive the endorsement, this time around, of local 617 of the IBEW, plus IATSE (the International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees), the Labor Trades Council and the MPFD Firefighters Association. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that those three candidates voted to give themselves raises and those candidates voted against restrictions on wood shingle roofs and I didn't do either. You know the US Air Force is still flying B-52's that are older than the pilots flying them and I'm kinda attached to all of our old fire station buildings. While electrical self sufficiency and public access to the new buildings for neighborhood meetings are not campaign issues yet, I hope that I can make them so when I start speaking to the press and the voters, even if the station up for rebuilding is in East Palo Alto. I'll be back. | <urn:uuid:dcddb384-a3d7-43f3-b7b5-020b96addaac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canonbal.org/pred911.html | 2013-05-19T09:55:52Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976206 | 12,613 |
Welcome to the FB review of Fringe season 2 episode 21 – “Over There – Part 1“. In this review I present my honest opinions on both the good and bad aspects of the episode. I also take a look at the answers and unresolved mysteries, before sharing my thoughts on other aspects which may have been overlooked.
Note: For the purposes of clarity, at times, I refer to the alternate Olivia, Astrid, Broyles, Walter, Elizabeth and Charlie as: Altlivia, Altstrid, Broylnate, Walternate, Eliznate and Charlnate.
- The Mythology threw up some cool things in this episode, from Walternate’s plans to build a weapon to destroy ‘our’ side, to Peter apparently being the ‘battery’ which will power the weapon, to the reveal that ZFT has been published in the alternate universe. These are just a few of the mythological elements that gave the episode context and intrigue.
- Cortexiphan Reunion. It was a bit clunky and contrived in places (more on that later) but I appreciate having this story thread brought front and center. Having the Cortexiphan Kids combine their powers to travel to the Other Side was an acceptable way around avoiding using the Door and causing further damage to the universe. I like the idea that they were able to work together to achieve something that was both natural and unnatural.
- Alternate Universe (AU) Fringe Division. Oh my! They put our lot to shame, what with their limitless resources, organization and armed squads ready to roll at the drop of a hat. In all seriousness they provided useful insight on the Other Side and it was interesting to see that their scientific and militaristic approach is a direct reflection of the struggles their world is facing, even though they didn’t quite know the true nature of what they were fighting against. It was also fun watching the banter between the Team AU Fringe Division.
- It was fascinating to experience the Other Side up close and personal and get a better sense of how the Multiverse throws up inherent constants and slanted variations on the characters and settings we have come to know. Unlike “Brown Betty” were not viewing these characters through the eyes of Walter (or ARE we?), but from a different vantage point. This is what I love about the alternate reality theme, the characters get to look into the mirror and see everything they are and everything they can be.
- The Stakes. The episode gave us a better sense of the motivations of Walternate and what the stakes are. And make no mistake those stakes are high. This is potentially a fitting story arc with which to catapult us into next season.
- Peter and Eliznate. Beautiful. Heart-wrenching. I’m so happy for both of them. Peter even showed a bit of emotion and the world didn’t collapse. The only down side is that I forgot Peter was even part of the show until we saw him wake up. I’m like: “Oh yeah, we’re here because of Peter!”.
- The episode wasn’t as cohesive as I would have liked. It felt a bit mechanical in places, particularly with the sudden and convenient use of the Cortexiphan kids who, as it happens, have been awake for some time and doing just fine. There was a lack of breathing space in the narrative causing some character motivations and reactions to get lost along the way.
- The James Heath Situation. Where do I begin? I don’t think they did a great job in clarifying that Heath died shortly after the team crossed over. I was initially confused because we see him run to hide with the others and the next thing we know he’s lying on the floor dead. It came across to me like a deceptive device to shroud the opening scene in mystery for as long as possible. I love mystery but this one came over a bit flakey. I would have felt better had we seen Olivia and the others leave him behind instead of making it look like he went with them. And why did Heath bring money with him? Dude really wasn’t given the heads-up on what this journey entailed, was he. It was all a bit messy and ended up being distracting.
- Alternate Olivia (I’ll call her Altlivia). While I appreciate the purpose of polarising her with Olivia, I was left lukewarm by the depiction I saw. Torv rocked it, but that wig has to go. But it’s more than that – she seemed too forced, too self-aware. These are the attributes I have problems with – not the fact that she was less compassionate or layered than our Liv. I actually appreciate seeing an alternate version of Olivia who is vastly different because it’s interesting to see where their fault lines join up. But I was left somewhat stranded by this portrayal. Why did they choose this portrayal? I’m open to her changing my mind next week though.
- I Was A Cortexi-fan. While I enjoyed the fact that four of them came together in the episode, it was way less momentus than it should have been. Several of their interactions and responses to Walter and the situation in general felt hollow. Although they served their purpose (and what a tragic purpose) it feels to me like a lot of the good work done to develop them up in previous episodes has been undone by the fact they were just along for a ride that didn’t do enough to harness them. I really hope the damage is not irreparable as far as that storyline goes, because, y’know, “Bad Dreams” is only like one of my favorite Fringe episodes ever.
- Character Motivations felt unnatural. Why wasn’t Walter more of a mess when he realised Peter had not only gone back to the alternate universe, but had chosen to do it without so much as a second thought? Let’s not forget this was a man who had been crying in the Cheerios a few hours earlier. Then there’s Peter – despite the fact that he’s hurting, wouldn’t he want a few hours to think through his decision to go ‘home’? These are just two examples of the characters acting a bit out of character in order to facilitate the needs of the narrative. I realise that dire situations can cause different reactions, but I felt that on this occasion several character moments where under or over-cooked due to the weight of the narrative and its need to move things from A to Z within a limited period of time.
- Some emotional elements were sacrificed. For instance, we didn’t experience Peter travelling back to the AU with Walternate. I couldn’t believe it! That would have been such an epic moment, instead we get CCTV footage. I get that they may have been hamstrung by the very specific way they wanted to tell the story with that nonlinear start to the episode but I think they really missed a trick in not giving us that emotional pay-off between Peter and Walternate. I can’t believe we never got to hear Peter’s immediate response upon seeing his father travel across universes to find him. I can’t believe we never got to look into Peter’s eyes or hear Walternate persuade him to come home. This would have been a great opportunity to get inside Peter’s head (‘Northwest‘ wasn’t enough) as well as Walternate’s. Now, perhaps we’ll get a flashback next week or something, so I’ll leave the door ajar on my judgement, but I’m not holding my breath because it didn’t look like they’re going to come back to it. What. A. Shame.
- The idea that Walter is able to survive a gunshot wound for 5 or 6 hours without treatment (I’m guessing) is a bit much. Am I to believe that he’d been stumbling around for hours with blood spilling from his gut and he didn’t even try to treat it? Speaking of which, why didn’t he bring a first aid kit or supplies? Yet he always remembers his coat. This contrivance is made all the more stark by the fact that Lane conveniently died within 30 seconds of being shot. And I gotta love how Walter collapses right outside of a hospital – because, that wasn’t convenient at all. That scene really bugged me. I’m going to pretend it never existed. What scene? See, it doesn’t exist. Lalalalala.
- In“Grey Matters”, Newton told Walter that The Blight had caused the grass and trees on the Other Side to die. Yet we saw enough greenery to suggest that this isn’t quite the case. Is the a retcon or do they have artificial plant life? Perhaps the decay has only affected certain areas – or hasn’t taken the full effect that Newton suggested?
- Why did Clarke and Lane’s bodies disappear after she fire-balled agent Lee? Was it just because they were at the source of the inferno?
- Who is Altlivia’s lover man? Where is he going after tonight? Why do they have the same tattoos, and what do they mean?
- How does Walternate expect Peter to power the weapon? Is Peter an energy amplifier or a battery of some sort, as past episodes have alluded? If this is the case, what is the science behind it? How did Walternate get the designs from Bell? How will this weapon end the world?
- Olivia confirmed that her mother is dead.
- Broylnate is still married.
- As suspected, Walter’s agreement with September was to never let Peter return to the Other Side, other wise he would be responsible for the end of the world (according to Walter). This is the warning September referred to at the end of “Brown Betty”.
- Nina claims that the weapon is Bell’s technology but was not built by him. How can she be so sure he didn’t build it in the alternate universe?
- Bell has crossed back and forth (emphasis on the back and forth), but inexplicably, Massive Dynamic have no record so don’t know exactly how he did it.
- Brandon posits that Bell has crossed back and forth so many times that his molecules have become unstable. Walter suggests this is why Bell has not returned – because he’s afraid he will die.
- Walter says that creating another Door to the Other Side could instantly shatter both worlds. (Um, Newton. Hello?).
- AU Fringe Division’s primary focus is natural and environmental disasters (holes in the fabric of the universe) that began in 1995 with the Zero Event at Reiden Lake. This correlates with the year and the place where Walter’s crossed over to kidnap Peter.
- The ZFT Manuscript got published on the Other Side, in
19851995, by Walternate.
- Elizabeth from our side was a vegetarian.
- Peter confirms that some of his confusion over his childhood stems from the fact that he thought he had imagined some of his earlier experiences on the Other Side.
- Agent Lee seemed to know Nick Lane – probably the alternate version.
- Unlike Olivia, Altlivia can’t stand alcohol. *hiccup*
- I liked the alternate intro titles. I didn’t expect them – perhaps because I didn’t anticipate the episode to start out on the Other Side. I’ll be prepared next time.
- Let me just say, it was great to see Charlie (Charlnate) again. He may not be the Charlie we came to know but there’s an inherent connection which runs through all of the alternates. Speaking of which, it was a nice to touch to have Charlnate also suffer from worm (or rather, arachnid) infestation – paralleling Charlie’s close encounter with Puff the Magic Dragon from episode 1.16 “Unleashed”.
Charlnate: “As long as it’s not bugs”
Altlivia: “bugs like you”
Me: “We all do!”
- This episode gave us further confirmation that Olivia’s glimpse into the Other Side back in season 1′s “Road Not Taken” was accurate. Charlnate has a scar and Boston was in “lock down”. It also crystallizes the idea that Olivia was perceiving herself in that reality – and not necessarily embodying (or living through) Altlivia. With that in mind, the sheer accuracy of Olivia’s perception is frightening.
- It was interesting to discover that Fringe Division (or at least Altlivia, Charlnate and Lincoln Lee) were not aware of the true nature of the decay, believing it was caused by environmental factors.
- Broylnate has a way cooler office than Broyles’ rent-a-room. And they say the grass isn’t greener on the other side. Pfft. Oh, wait..they have a Blight, right?
“Can you tell me what you saw? Even small things could be important”
- Is this line also a nod-nod, wink-wink from the writers? Can we rest easy in the knowledge that our attention to detail is not in vein? I’d like to think so.
- Broylnate’s wedding band was such a small detail but it’s interesting in light of Broyles being divorced because he put his job before family life. Does this therefore inform us that when push comes to shove, Broylnate is less dedicated to his job than Broyles? If so, how does this variation affect the broader picture? Does having close contact with his family make Broylnate less willing to put his life on the line? Does Broyles’ detachment from his family make him more determined to look after his team and treat them as his family? I think these are just some of the compelling questions offered by this tidbit.
- Ah, a world where Astrid (let’s call her Altstrid) is actually an agent and not a nanny/baby-sitter/terrible baby-sitter. She was one of the most striking variations on an established character. I could still see traces of ‘our’ Astrid there but largely she was far more lifeless, weary and mechanical. Her eyes seemed to glow/reflect when calculating the quarantine radius which makes me wonder if she’s had something done to her to make her “special”. The glow seemed to happen when she was at her most anxious, tying into theme of fear, particularly in regards to Cortexiphan. It seemed as though her ‘calculations’ also involved perceiving the future, kinda like an Observer.’ Oh and her snarky “Calculating!” line was great. Because that’s what you say when someone asks you for your recommendation. “Roco, is Glee any good?”. “Calculating!”.
- Broylnate throws us a bone:
“We can’t have another Boston”
- A nod to the quarantined Boston Olivia saw glimpses of when she glimpsed into the Other Side in 1.19. I can’t believe how calm Lee and Altlivia where though. I don’t get why they would have to sacrifice their own lives. I guess this helps explain their mindsets though – they live in a world where they are largely desensitized. Their rather jokey attitude is probably an off-set of this. You can either be glum, or you can take the edge off life.
- While the depiction of Altlivia didn’t land very well with me, I did appreciate the room to compare the two Olivias. Altlivia is very different from Olivia and this makes her interesting right off the bat because there’s so much we don’t know about her (not that we actually know a great deal about Olivia!). So for me it was kinda fun trying to piece together the connections between two versions of the same person to find out just how interwoven they are. On the surface I found few inherent qualities (aside from the obvious – occupation, etc). Altlivia is extremely laid back and has a man. I’d also say she lacks the empathy of Olivia, but is very happy-go-lucky. A far cry from Olivia who is somewhat of a tragic character – not a victim, but a sad, searching, selfless character nonetheless.
- But I did detect a semblance of Olivia beneath Altliv’s surface. I saw a flicker of doubt when agent Lee quipped that her boyfriend was only with her for her money. It’s not much to go on but I almost get the sense that Altlivia is living in a dream world (I don’t necessarily mean that literally) – it seems as though it wouldn’t take much to shatter this facade and awaken her to the central core of who “Olivia” is. Or perhaps it’s the other way around – maybe Olivia is the slanted take on the character? That’s not to say they can’t be exclusive outcomes, as that seems to be the main idea, but I find it interesting to consider all the possibilities given that the lens has been pulled back in recent episodes.
- So what happened to take Altlivia down this different path? Obviously her environment was different – the result of growing up in a slightly different world as well as her more immediate influences. Perhaps she had a better childhood – I’m guessing she wasn’t Cortexiphaned (although she might well be, we’ll have to see with that one). Maybe she doesn’t have R*chel for a sister? This makes me feel more sympathetic to Olivia. She didn’t have to be this way, she diidn’t have to be damaged – life could have been different for her. That said, if things had been different then she wouldn’t be the person she is today – and let’s face it, the Dunhamnator is pretty awesome. Sure, she may give Astrid the stink-eye from time to time, but she’s brave, empathetic and strong – a great role model for Ella and a gate-keeper in the making. I like Olivia more than I do Altlivia (in this brief glimpse), so it’s worth reiterating what Lane said: “fate can be tricky”. At the end of the day who knows how interwoven these different iterations of the characters are – perhaps there is some grand plan that is far bigger than the more immediate us vs them saga?
“They heard a tearing sound and saw a blue flash through the window”
- YES! We were right to pay attention. (although I feel we got conclusive proof a good few episodes ago). Nonetheless this is more evidence that the blue flashes do hold significance other than Bad Robot’s love for lens flares. Also, on the tearing sound – how descriptive. It really conveys the image of mother nature giving birth.
- Altlivia smiles a heck of a lot. If we watched Fringe in the alternate universe, those who criticize Olivia not smiling enough wouldn’t have any problem. Personally, I wouldn’t swap our Olivia for the world. Does that make me as bad as Walter? Quick, someone send me a white tulip!
- I’m really glad that Walternate gave Peter the choice over whether or not to go back with him, instead of bundling him to the back of a van and teleporting his ass out of there. It’s more than Walter ever did. So instantly that put me on a good footing with Walternate. Again, I wish we got more on their interactions, I would have loved to have seen the emotion on Peter’s face when he made that decision. Instead it came over as slightly mechanical. I still cannot believe we probably wont ever get to see those first minutes of father meeting son.
- Can we assume that Walternate’s method for travelling back to the Other Side with Peter is the same – or similar – method William Bell used to yank Olivia to the alternate universe in the season 1 finale?
- While I wasn’t happy with some of the character motivations, at least we can count on Olivia to remain consistent in some respects. *glug*. From the past couple of episodes we can establish that Peter turns to pie and Olivia to the bottle, in times of crisis. I feel I know them so well.
- Isn’t it a funny coincidence how Walter and Olivia’s thought patterns kinda converged when they realised Peter may be in danger. Then again, perhaps we need to reconsider the nature of coincidences and what purpose they actually serve. On the same token the nature of freewill also has to be re-examined. The Observers are not supposed to get involved yet they do when it suits them. They may only be dropping breadcrumbs here and clues there but they are shaping people’s future actions. Perhaps they felt it OK to intervene because they perceived Walter ‘naturally’ coming to the conclusion that there was something he had to remember so decided expedite that process? Coming back to that coincidence thing again, it turns out that perhaps it wasn’t so much coincidence, but an outside observer influencing events without directly influencing them. Again, I think this raises an interesting perspective on coincidence and its potential purpose in making people think they is no grand influence at work.
- I love the scene where Olivia demands that Walter think of a way to get Peter back. Walter was mumbling something about Peter’s freewill and Olivia just bangs on that table “WALTER!”. Love it. I have to say, I’m glad that Olivia was the driving force in trying to get Peter back – had it been Walter it wouldn’t have sat very well with me at all. That man has put enough dents into Peter’s freewill, the last thing I wanted to see is him blindly putting a crowbar through the cracks in mother nature to get ‘his’ son back. Sure, they did go to the Other Side, but not in that context. It was Olivia who realised the need to warn Peter about what he might be responsible for, and in spite of skirting with contrivance, this works neatly within the context of the episode and what mama Peter says to her son later (more on that in a bit). In my view, the idea of getting Peter ‘back’ is secondary. It’s not about that – it’s about giving the boy the choice and allowing him to be responsible for the consequences of what he could be involved in. We don’t want another Walter on our hands, do we.
- There are times when I love Broyles. Like every minute of every day. This was another time:
Random MD guard: “Sorry sir we can’t let you go in there”
The Broylnator: “Don’t even think about it!”
- That’s right, punk, you better not think about laying your hands on Broyles or Dunham or Walter. Big boys rolling though!
- The Broyles/Nina face-off was interesting. I guess there’ll be no more booty calls for a while? I liked the fact that Nina said “how dare you!” – she was hurt by Broyles’ accusations that she was developing weapons for the Other Side. It’s not often that we see Nina wounded. I love that it was Olivia who had to be the peace maker, taking a less accusatory approach and appealing to Nina’s better senses by straight out telling her that “Peter’s in danger”.
- I also found this short exchange interesting:
Nina: “Dear God. What side is this?”
Walter: “Does it matter?”
- Interesting choice to make Nina reference “God”. I know it’s something people say but coming from Science’s Iron Fist, it stood out to me. Probably of more immediate significance is the idea that it doesn’t matter what side the weapon is on. But does this infer that Nina was asking because she knows that if it’s activated on the Other Side it will bring about our destruction – and vice versa? Which in turn would put Walter in somewhat of a good light considering he was more concerned that it was going to be used at all and less worried for his own mortality. Like I’ve been saying, I find it difficult to accept the idea that one world deserves to survive over the other. Can’t we all just get along? I guess the point is that there are literally some things that can’t be undone, the degradation has already set in. But do we really believe that both worlds would die if nothing is done to save either? Perhaps we should let fate decide? I don’t really buy into that but it’s a peaceful option.
- Thank goodness Brandon toned it down a few notches in this episode. People seem to like him but he’s never done much for me – far too hokie for my taste (although he was better in Brown Betty).
- Olivia over-cooked her “I can’t control it, not on my own” speech. It was way too forced, purely serving to set up Walter’s idea on combining the Cortexi-powers, rather than giving us an authentic insight into Olivia’s desperation. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of the Cortexi-brats working together to achieve great feats, but parts of it were a bit mechanical in execution.
- I’m not sure the time was right for a Walter tangent, given that his son was about to be responsible for the RIP of the world, but he gave us one anyway:
“You know, Bellie and I always agreed that primal part of the brain which allows us to cross universes is also responsible for a host of paranormal activities. Pyrokinesis, Telepathy, Thought Control”
- This actually turned out to be one of the most interesting nuggets from the episode. Unlocking the imagination of children has long been promoted as the objective of Walter and Bell’s early experiments, recently the primal element has been growing in importance. There’s probably not much difference between the two, since primal means beginning, but it ties into the idea that fear can activate certain predisposed individuals. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it interests me that the ‘beginning state’ of mankind is still the most sought after. People like Bell and Walter figured that while they couldn’t replicate Gods work (and lets be clear, Walter believes in God, so I think it’s fine to view God as an important player in this story), they were able to unlock what he had hidden. The question is, why do children have access to these abilities – and why are they unable to use them without science? Is this part of being “natural and unnatural”?
- Walter’s next line actually suggests that it’s not only children, but all of mankind who once had access to these abilities:
“..we all had these abilities. until there was a moment in history when something was done to us and it was shut down”
- This is a bit of foreshadowing in my view. Although It’s worth speculating why children were spared – why did this supposed ‘moment’ in history leave children with access to these abilities and not adults? Is it because adults become corrupted through experience and would abuse these gifts – as we’ve seen, ironically, with Walter and Bell. Also, what WAS this MOMENT and when/why did it happen?
- I also find it worth mentioning the contempt with which Walter speaks of this deprivation. Because he wouldn’t know anything about taking something away from someone, would he. Dude is a contradiction, but I guess that’s part of his appeal.
- His next words lose him all credibility:
“I suspect aliens”
- So let’s do the reverse and take his words very seriously. I suspect Walter is on to something. Whether it’s little green men with six fingers, or beings resembling ourselves, I don’t think this show can ignore the idea of aliens. It just depends on what your definition of aliens is. Technically, the alters are “aliens”. Peter is an “alien”. The word alien literally means “anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found”.
- So there’s now only just over a dozen Cortexiphan kids unaccounted for? I guess they really wanted to whittle down those numbers because a few episodes ago there were 30-something unaccounted for. I’m finding it hard to swallow the idea that Olivia wouldn’t have been informed of these developments. I know it’s Massive Dynamic that we’re dealing with but shouldn’t Broyles have told Olivia that her pal Nick Lane was out of that coma? I thought the idea of him finding love in another Cortexiphan subject was cliched and not realised very well. As soon as I saw the chocolate strawberry scene I thought “Uh-oh, that’s the end of this pair!”. As for James Heath, well I’ve touched on this already, but for whatever reason his character just didn’t fit. He displayed some of the angst I expected a Cortexiphan subject to have towards Walter, but the narrative and perhaps even the performance didn’t land very well. It felt clunky.
“I know you, you’re the man who experimented on us. I could kill you were you stand”
- Someone tell me why this man is only now finding out who experimented on him? Wouldn’t he have asked this question while training at X-Men class? And while I liked the scene with Walter apologising to them, I kept wondering how they could go to war for this man on the drop of a dime. Lane and Clarke had found love, would they really risk losing that – even for the world – after everything they’d been through? Then there’s the idea that they were doing this the protect the universe. Although that worked on some levels, it was a bit contrived, in truth they were doing it to help Walter get Peter back. I have a problem with that because as poetic as it was it punctured the episode slightly. I’m sorry, but however positively they may now look on their ‘gifts’, they wouldn’t just be able to forget and forgive so quickly. It doesn’t take away from what Walter took away from them. The saving the universe aspect was also diminished by the very fact that Nick placed rescuing Peter as his primary goal in all of this. I don’t mean to be a harsh but Lane was better when he was pied-piping people off buildings.
Walter: “Horrible as it is to say. Today, is the day for which you were created”
- I really thought Heath was gonna smack Walter when he said that. It’s things like this that make me dislike Walter. How dare he, it was unnecessary to talk to them as though their only purpose in life is to guard the Gate. I get the element of fate in all of this, believe me I do, but hearing Walter talk as if he were God doesn’t help his case.
Walter: “Well, if none of you are going to kill me. I think I’ll go have a bit of a cry”
- Self pity will get you nowhere Walter. I’m all for your redemption but they’re the ones that should be crying, not you. Take it like a man. You did this. You.
- Again, in many ways I liked this scene – it WAS necessary – but at the same time I wish it could have been portrayed differently. The Cortexiphan kids came out looking weak and lacking in self worth. I understand Olivia’s ‘acceptance’ a bit more because she cares about Peter and has had longer to come to terms with the Walter situation – but the rest of them should have showed more.
- This exchange caught my attention:
Lane “Man, that’s not the same guy I remember”
Heath: “He’s exactly the same”
- I appreciate that, at least, because it reinforced the fact that we each see things differently, even if our experiences are similar. It also poses a question as to whether or not Walter HAS really changed. Sure, he’s good at crying these days, but as I said the other week – does he still have some of the old Walter in him? I think that terrified little girl from the previous episode would say that he does.
- Heath asks Broyles for a night off before they go save two worlds. Olivia persuades him with a nod. I’m like, “no, no you can’t Heath. This is serious shizz. We can’t have you wasting your energy dipping strawberries into chocolate, Lane. As delicious as that may be, we need to conserve that imagination of yours!”. I know, I’d make a terrible Broyles/Olivia, but if they’d listened to me the Cortexi-three might still be alive right now. Just saying is all.
- I do love ambiguous lines:
Heath (after healing sick girl) “I was never lucky, you know. Sometimes people need some good luck. Tonight I guess that’s me”
- Was Heath telling the girl that he was bringing her luck, or that he was ‘lucky’? Anyway, I liked the sentiment and it’s good to have LUCK brought into focus. In trying to understand Heath’s mindset, I guess he’s also dismissing the idea of FATE (which Lane later attributes being a factor) by putting his current upturn in fortunes down to luck, random chance. Even though I wanted more from these guys, this is an interesting character nugget. And let’s not forget this man was a killer, so the idea of him going around healing people is somewhat a redemptive turn.
- If we were in any doubt as to Walter’s state of mind the image of him sniffing Peter’s boxers would clear that up. It was a nice contrast to how the others spent their last night on before the trip to the Other Side – Olivia with a bottle of gin (what? did we not see that?), Heath healing the sick, and Lane and Clarke getting their freak on. Poor Walter. It’s moments like this that I feel sorry for him. I also found his “please God” to be another insight into his spirituality and desperation. It was out of his hands, he knew it. He was about to use science to cross over to the Other Side, but perhaps only God can bring Peter back to him.
- I appreciated Olivia’s little moment with Ella. She woke Ella up early for a change – at least the lil’ one had a taste of her own medicine. I was really glad for this scene, it was important to see Olivia acknowledge that this could be her last moments on our side. What she was about to attempt was literally out of this world and it helped me buy into the idea that she had so much at stake – her own life, her desire to find Peter, the Universe, and the possibility of never seeing Ella and Ella’s mother again.
- I also enjoyed the continuity – in “Unearthed” we found out that Olivia’s mother was religious and that Olivia didn’t understand how her mom could place her faith in God. So it’s interesting to see that Olivia might be coming around to her mom’s way of thinking by giving her the cross to Ella:
“My mother, your grandmother gave it to me before she died. She told me that it would keep me safe. So now I’m giving it to you”
- There were so many levels to this that appealed to me. We have the idea that despite not fully believing in God, Olivia’s journey to this point has given her a greater appreciation of the IDEA of faith and how important it can be for some people. There’s also the sense that Olivia feels that she no longer needs protecting, or that Ella needs it more than she does. Then there’s the idea that Olivia believes she might die on this “trip”, so like her mother before her, she’s giving the necklace to the closest thing she has to a daughter. Bearing in mind Ella is oblivious to what Olivia is really saying to her. Again, small moment but this was handled much better than some of the larger parts of the episode and I have to wonder why that is.
- And things really picked up when R*chel showed her face, putting to bed any lingering
hopethoughts that she may have kicked the bucket it in Walter’s fairytale. Good to see her though, always a pleasure.
R*chel: “think you’ll be home for dinner, because I could really do with Spag Bol. Perhaps you could have it ready for me by 6? BTW, I’m off to Disney World tomorrow, I’ve left Ellen some marbles for pocket money.”
- LOL R*chel, can’t believe you said that. Also, R*ch, when your sister gives you a hug like THAT, you surely have to know something is up! I expect it from Ella, she’s like 2 years old, or something.
- And did you see R*chel’s face when Ella showed her the necklace Olivia gave her? My word, I detected more than a little hostility there. This actually makes R*chel a bit more interesting. Didn’t she know that Mama Dunham preferred Olivia over her? Anyway, see ya next season, R*ch, don’t forget to water Ella.
- I almost chocked on my popcorn when Olivia told Broyles that she trusts Bell. WHAT!? Olivia, you’re shattering my world view here, what do you mean you “trust him”? Where did that come from? Plot contrivance? Out of character reaction? Which is it, because I know you can’t be that naive. Can you? Bell may turn out to be working for ‘our’ best interests, but regardless, you can’t tell me that he’s trustworthy. He’s not. He steals people’s brains and puts them in other people, for heavens sake! Olivia, I’ll put this down to blind faith and pretend those words never came out of your mouth. Trust Bell, indeed. Pfft.
“Remember your shakespear dear. All the world is a stage. Or in this case, both worlds”
- In a week when I question the realiability of the Fringe narrator, I wonder, could this be a clue that the events we are seeing (and have seen) are not completely as they appear? Is it all a stage? I suspect there’s another layer to this story that we are not yet fully aware of.
“Maybe you did damage us, but maybe you made us special”
- Go wash your mouth out with soap! That is just such an unrealistic thing to say. Walter violated you. He took away your childhood, damaged your adulthood and caused you to kill hundreds of people along the way. What is “special” about that? Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve oft-commented on Olivia’s inability to see the irony in her ability to help others thanks to Walter/Bell, but Olivia has not relieved Walter of all his crimes in a heartbeat. Maybe love went to his head? I’m not saying he should have held a grudge forever, but for me it’s unrealistic to ignore the damage that Walter has caused. In time, maybe, but not after a few hours.
- On the other hand it does show huge understanding from Lane. There’s nothing more perspective shifting than someone showing you kindness after you have wronged them. In this regard, Lane deserves credit for being able to look on the bright side. I hope Walter remembers the sacrifice he and the others made for him – ultimately they were just tools who fell long before the war had even started.
- Crossing to the AU was better on second watch. I really should have noticed that Broyles had disappeared. I still find it weird that their powers should turn on them or be rendered useless. Except Olive, or so it appeared. What is her power anyway? It seems like a combination of abilities.
- Interesting that ZFT got published on the Other Side and that Walternate wrote it to cover up the truth about the “natural decay of [their] world”. The question of why? interests me – WHY would Walternate want to hide the truth about the existence of an alternate universe, and what impact did this have on the course of events? Did he believe the knowledge of this other world would destabilise his world? Did he keep it secret for his own ends, giving him time to plan his counter-move? It’s notable that he’s moved from science to military. Did losing Peter to his alternate self cause him to ditch the science in favour of a more militaristic ethos? I think we could answer “YES” to most of these questions, but again, I’m not sure that I like them painting Walternate as the “bad guy” in all of this. I hope they broaden his character over time.
- The notion of good and bad is given more depth in the scene with Peter and his mother. She essentially tells him that he has to be responsible for his decisions, both the good and the bad. This is a healthy way to look at things as suggests that whatever the circumstances, the right choice must be made. It would appear that Walternate, though a victim in all of this, has ambitions of aggression and revenge. He’s apparently prepatred to use his son as a weapon to destroy our side, which makes him less sympathetic than he probably should be.
“As you know, I am not a lover of war. They must be found, and they must be found quickly”
- Peter’s reunion with his biological mother was one of the stand–out moments. I like how both characters played it – Peter bursting to give his mom a hug and Eliznate respectful of his situation but clearly overjoyed to have her son back. Her reaction was perhaps a bit more considered than Peter’s because it had already been 3 days since he came back, but it was great to see her trying to establish her boundaries with him, mindful not to call Walternate his father and asking him if he still liked bacon. And finally we see some emotion from Peter. I have to say,they sold that scene to me, and did they ever do a good job on Orla Brady!
- I also found it believable that Eliznate would be curious about her alter and whether she took good care of Peter. Reading between the lines I also sensed that she was asking whether his mother from the other side was a better mom than she had been. Peter’s response is interesting, he informs her that she committed suicide and that she was very sad. He blames himself as he looks for Eliznate to tell him he is not to blame, which she duly does like any good mother would. I just love how quickly Eliznate is being mother once again. I am reminded of how loving she was towards him in “Peter” and how they appeared to be closer than Peter and Walternate. It makes sense that Peter would reach out for reassurance – and for the first time for as long as I can remember, Peter is in the child role. Because even in those “Peter” flashbacks he seemed older than his years, reassuring Eliznate that he ‘wasn’t scared’ of dying, and giving her his lucky coin.
- It was great seeing the Other Side. I was hoping for more signs of decay and excess but I guess that’s not the story they wanted to tell in the finale. To be fair we did get some good illustrations of just how different (and similar) things are over there. I loved hooded Olivia though – that was a nice touch.
- RIP Nick Lane. You could light up a room with joy and bring gloom to a balloon party. You had a scar in the shape of a “2”. You liked Lady Gaga. You called Olivia “Olive” – Aw. You found love and forgave Walter. You risked it all, Lane. You will be missed. Rest in peace.
- RIP Sally Clark. I didn’t know you very well, but you could create fireballs with your mind. How cool is that!? You were smoking in the literal sense. You saw a cabbage patch doll. You died.
- RIP James Heath. In the theatre. On the Other Side.
- Altlivia shoots at Walter and doesn’t bother chasing after him. So not our Olivia! She seemed mesmerized by the sight of him though.
- It looks like Peter is considering helping Walternate to use the weapon. I’m not sure that he knows all of the details yet, but it was interesting to see him thoughtfully reading the schematics. I doubt he’ll go through with it. Walternate could lose his son again over this.
- Why didn’t Olivia just go to Massive Dynamic instead of Altlivia’s house? I guess she was curious but it felt like a weird priority. It was hilarious to see Bell scare the living daylights out of her though. That man loves stepping out from the shadows, doesn’t he.
“My dear Olivia, I know you have good reason not to trust me, but I’m afraid you’re gonna have to”
- Yeah, because when someone tells you that you can’t trust them but you’re going to have to trust them, that’s reason to trust them. Bell is quite the character!
I thought Over There Part 1 was a very entertaining 42 minutes of television. I particularly enjoyed seeing the characters in their smaller moments as some of the more epic moments felt lacking or contrived. That said I’m trying to view this episode as a set-up to next week. We’re over there now and we’re beginning to understand the motivations and landscape of the Other Side.
I’m hoping for more Peter, and a Walter/Bell and Walter/Walternate face off. And would it be greedy of me to ask for some Olivia on Olivia action? Olivia was star struck on two occasions when seeing her double. We need more on that.
Best Moment: Peter and Eliznate meeting for the first time in years and re-establishing boundaries.
Best Performer: Orla Brady
If you enjoyed “Over There – Part 1″, you’ll like: “Road Not Taken”, “There’s More Than One Of Everything”, “Momentum Deferred”, “Peter”, “The Man From The Other Side”
Episode Rating: 8.5/10 | <urn:uuid:8c9cedcd-f1f3-47ca-a292-06baf008e421> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fringebloggers.com/review-2-21-over-there-part-1/ | 2013-05-19T09:55:08Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977867 | 10,282 |
Media mill outlet assembly
||Media mill outlet assembly
||November 25, 1986
||June 21, 1985
||Szkaradek; Edward J. (Santa Ana, CA)
||Morehouse Industries, Inc. (Fullerton, CA)|
|Attorney Or Agent:
||Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear
||241/172; 241/46.17; 241/69
|Field Of Search:
||241/172; 241/46.17; 241/69; 209/281; 209/273; 209/268; 209/274; 210/488; 210/435; 210/437
|U.S Patent Documents:
||3397794; 3563388; 3648843; 4146481; 4267045; 4441658
|Foreign Patent Documents:
||Disclosed is a horizontal media mill comprising a cantilevered shaft extending from a motor into a vessel in which rotor discs mounted on the shaft agitate the grinding media and the product being milled. A cup-shaped screen and a cup-shaped end cover fit over the free end of the rotor and are removably mounted on the end of the vessel. The screen retains the grinding media in the vessel while permitting the milled product to flow therethrough to an outlet in the end cover. The vessel is tiltable towards the screen end to facilitate cleaning and removal of the grinding media or screen elements. The stack of screen elements is radially positioned by ribs on the surrounding housing and axially clamped against lugs by an externally threaded nut. Also disclosed is a similar screen and outlet construction for a vertically oriented sand mill.
1. Milling apparatus comprising:
a generally cylindrical vessel for receiving grinding media and a liquid having small particles therein which are to be milled or reduced in size within the vessel;
a motor driven rotor in the vessel for agitating the grinding media;
a liquid inlet through which said liquid is introduced as the grinding media is agitated by the rotor;
a liquid outlet section for said vessel including a generally cup-shaped housing having a cylindrical side wall and an end wall;
a plurality of ring-shaped screen elements arranged in a stack within said cylindrical wall defining a cylindrical space;
structure attached to said housing for spacing the periphery of the screen elements from said cylindrical wall to define an annular passage;
means for axially holding said stack within said housing;
said screen elements having slots formed in their axial faces so that the slots and the adjacent screen elements define openings extending between said annular passage and said cylindrical space, said openings being sized to prevent the grindingmedia from passing into the openings, and said openings being relatively straight and direct to minimize pressure drop across the opening and to minimize clogging of said openings by media particles or product; and
an outlet in said housing through which the liquid may exit from the vessel after passing through said screen openings.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said stack includes an end plate on the end of said stack adjacent said end wall, with said end plate being spaced from said end wall to provide an end passage which is in communication with the downstream endof said annular passage, said outlet being in said end wall and in communication with said end passage, and the opposite end of said stack of elements is in open communication with said vessel while said annular passage is closed to said vessel exceptthrough said screen openings whereby the liquid flow through the screen openings is from said cylindrical space within the screen elements and radially outwardly through said openings into said annular passage.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said cylindrical wall is connected directly to an end of said vessel such that the screen elements in combination with said cylindrical wall essentially form the end of the vessel.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said axial holding means includes an annular fastener which is externally threaded and threads into the end of said cylindrical wall joined to said vessel, and a plurality of lugs adjacent said end wall havingsupport surfaces spaced from the end wall and the portion of the cylindrical wall joining the end wall, the fastener clamping said stack against said lugs.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cylindrical wall extends generally transversely to the vessel with said stack including an end plate on the end facing the vessel and with said end plate being spaced from the cylindrical wall such thatsaid annular passage is in open communication with said vessel, the opposite end of said stack of screen elements being open to said outlet in said end wall, said outlet being in said end wall so that the liquid flow through said screen openings is fromsaid annular passage and radially inwardly through the openings into the cylindrical interior space of said screen elements to said outlet.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said holding means includes inwardly extending lugs adjacent the vessel end of the cylindrical wall, said lugs being engaged by said end plate to axially position the screen elements in the cylindrical wall,and said cylindrical wall including inwardly extending ribs which radially position said end plate and said screen elements.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said holding means further includes an annular fastener which threads into the outer end of said cylindrical wall to hold the screen elements and end plate against said lugs.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 including an end cap having an outlet therein which cooperates with said housing and said fastener to close the end of said screen assembly.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said housing includes an outwardly extending flange on its outer end, and said end cap includes a flange which cooperates with said housing flange, and including a quick disconnect clamp ring which cooperateswith said flanges to hold the end cap onto said housing.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said screen elements have a plurality of radially extending grooves separated by pads which provide the structure for holding said openings open when the stack of screen elements are clamped within saidhousing.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said openings include at least one pair of diametrically opposite openings with straight transversely aligned edges.
12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said structure includes a pluarlity of ribs extending radially inwardly from said side wall.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said holding means includes a plurality of lugs extending radially inwardly from said side wall further than said ribs to provide axial surfaces engaged by said plate.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said holding means further includes a clamping member for clamping said elements and said plate against said lug surfaces.
15. The apparatus of Claim 1 wherein said screen assembly surrounds an end of said rotor to form an end of said vessel with said housing.
16. Milling apparatus comprising a vessel for containing a product to be milled and a grinding media, a rotor in said vessel for agitating the product and the media as the product moves through the vessel, and an outlet screen assembly whichpermits product to exit from the vessel while preventing the media from exiting from the vessel, said screen assembly including a housing having an inner side wall, a plurality of ribs extending radially inwardly from said side wall, a plurality ofring-shaped screen elements stacked in said housing radially positioned by said ribs and spaced from said side wall to define a fluid passage between the exterior of the elements and said side wall, a plurality of circumferentially spaced lugs on theinterior of said housing extending radially inwardly further than said ribs to provide an axial stop for said stack, fastener means cooperating with said housing for holding said stack of elements against said lugs and thereby hold the elements withinthe housing, the means defining a plurality of openings extending generally radially through said screen elements, said openings being sized to prevent the grinding media from flowing into them while permitting the product to flow therethrough, and meansdefining an outlet downstream from said radial openings.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said clamp means comprises a ring-shaped fastener which is externally threaded to thread into mating threads on the interior wall of said housing.
18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the inner diameter of said fastener is approximately equal to the inner diameter of said screen element.
19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said housing includes an end wall having an outlet therein which forms the product outlet for the vessel, said stack includes a plate on one end, said lugs are positioned adjacent said end wall and said endplate is positioned by said lugs spaced from said housing end wall, said fastener closes the upstream end of said fluid passage, and said screen assembly is oriented so that the product flows axially into said screen assembly, radially outwardly throughsaid screen element into said fluid passage and between the end plate and the housing end wall, to said outlet.
20. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein said housing includes an outwardly extending flange on one end into which said fastener is threaded, said vessel having an opening therein surrounded by a flange which mates with said housing flange, andincluding quick disconnect clamp means cooperating with said flanges to connect the housing to the vessel.
21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein a portion of said rotor extends into the interior of said screen elements such that said screen elements and said housing in effect form an outlet end of said vessel.
22. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said vessel is vertically oriented and said housing extends generally transversely and is connected to the vessel to form an outlet for the vessel.
23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said lugs are located at the end of the housing adjacent said vessel such that the end plate faces the vessel and closes the vessel end of the screen elements while the periphery of the end plate and theperiphery of the screen elements form an annular flow passage leading from the vessel whereby the product flows radially inwardly through the screen elements and exits axially through the fastener to said outlet.
||BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an improved outlet structure for a liquid processing vessel of a small media mill, often referred to as a sand mill. The outlet structure includes an improved screen assembly and the related construction for mountingthe screen assembly with respect to the sand mill vessel.
Sand milling is a proven, practical, continuous, high production method of dispersing and milling particles in liquid to produce smooth, uniform, finely dispersed products. Some of the products in which the sand milling process is used includespaints, inks, dye stuffs, paper coatings, chemicals, magnetic tape coatings, insecticides, and other materials in which milling to a high degree of fineness is required.
In a typical sand milling process, the material or slurry to be processed is introduced at one end of the processing chamber or vessel and pumped through a small diameter grinding media while a rotor within the vessel agitates the media to insureproper milling and dispersion of small particles in the liquid or slurry being processed. Although the grinding media in years past was sand, more currently a small manufactured product of steel, glass or other materials is used.
The processed liquid exits from the vessel, but the grinding media must, of course, remain within the vessel. To accomplish this, the outlet structure typically includes a screen assembly which prevents the media from leaving the vessel whilethe processed liquid flows through the screen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,658, issued Apr. 10, 1984 describes a cup-shaped assembly that fits within a cylindrical wall leading to an outlet. The cup shape of the screen assembly provides a large filteringsurface area. Other screen assemblies include segments forming a portion of a cylindrical wall. These screen components are typically formed of small diameter rods or strands which are welded at their intersections. A shortcoming of these weldedconstructions is that the screen become worn causing some of the strands of the screen break or the openings between the strands become large enough to allow passage of the grinding media. This requires early replacement of the screen.
Thus, a need exists for an improved longer lasting screen construction. The screen together with the vessel outlet structure must also be arranged so as to provide easy disassembly and cleaning or replacement of the screen components.
It is also desirable that the screen and outlet construction be sufficiently versatile to be useful for both vertically oriented sand mills and horizontally oriented sand mills. In this connection, there is also a need for periodic removal ofthe grinding media from the vessel. With vertically oriented vessels, this is accomplished fairly readily by means for a dump valve located at the lower end of the vessel. However, with horizontally oriented vessels the problem is more complex. Sincethe media lays along the bottom of the horizontal vessel for the entire length of the vessel, removal of the media or access to the screen or rotor has been troublesome. Prior horizontal mills are typically formed of sections which are bolted togetherand these sections must be disconnected. To access all of the media, usually results in media spilling out along the entire length of the vessel. To aid in this process, a large pan or tray may be utilized, with the result that the media must again betransferred to another container. The entire operation is messy and time consuming. Thus, a need exists for a simplified horizontal media mill which is easily cleaned and yet is long lasting and durable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention comprises an improved media mill having a vessel for containing the product to be processed and for containing a small diameter grinding media. A rotor located in the vessel agitates the grinding media as the product to beprocessed is pumped or otherwise processed through the vessel. To retain the media within the vessel while permitting the processed liquid to flow out of the vessel, there is provided an improved screen and outlet construction. This includes acylindrical housing wall and a plurality of flat rings which are positioned within the cylindrical wall to form an annular stack. The cylindrical exterior of the stack is spaced inwardly from the surrounding cylindrical wall to define an annularpassage. The screen elements form an interior cylindrical space. An end plate positioned on one end of the stack of screen elements closes one end of the cylindrical space.
A plurality of the screen elements have openings which connect the annular passage surrounding the screen elements with the cylindrical space within the elements. Preferably, the openings are formed by flat grooves or channels formed in an endface of the elements such that the face of the confronting or adjacent element cooperates with the grooves to form a wall of the opening. These openings include a dimension smaller than the grinding media so that the grinding media cannot pass into suchopenings, whereas the processed liquid can flow therethrough. The openings are substantially straight and direct through the screen elements so as to minimize any pressure drop across the openings. Preferably, one end of the cylindrical wall includesan outlet through which the liquid product flows after it has passed through the screen assembly. The screen elements are clamped within the cylindrical housing so that the assembly can be readily disconnected and the screen elements replaced orcleaned. However, due to the radial thickness of the screen elements essentially eliminate the need for replacement from a wear standpoint. However, they may be readily replaced in the event a media of different size is to be used such that theopenings through the screen element should be coordinated therewith.
In a preferred construction there are provided three or more ribs extending inwardly from the cylindrical wall to position the screen elements spaced from the wall. Also, a plurality of lugs are provided which extend radially inwardly furtherthan the ribs to be engaged by the end plate. A suitable clamp or retainer in the form of an annular member having a threaded exterior is threaded into one end of the cylindrical wall to clamp the screen elements and the end plate against the lugs. This simple approach makes the screen elements easy to assemble and disassemble.
In one form of the invention, the stack of screen elements is positioned so that the cylindrical space within the elements is open to the liquid being processed in the vessel and to the grinding media, and the end plate of the construction ispositioned close to but spaced from the outlet end wall. This outlet end wall may conveniently be formed integral with the cylindrical wall so that a cup-shaped housing is provided. The lugs positioning the end plate may likewise be formed integralwith the cylindrical side wall and with the end wall. The lugs space the end plate from the end wall and thus place the annular passage surrounding the screen elements in communication with the liquid outlet. With this arrangement, the liquid passesradially outwardly through the screen openings into the annular passage and then to the liquid outlet, while the grinding media is retained within the vessel and the cylindrical space within the screen assembly. The cup-shaped housing may convenientlybe formed with an outwardly-extending flange which mates with a flange on the sand mill vessel such that the screen outlet housing may be quickly connected or disconnected to the vessel flange by means of a quick/disconnect clamp ring.
The arrangement described in the preceding paragraph is particularly advantageous in connection with a horizontally oriented sand mill. In this approach, the screen assembly essentially forms an extension of the sand mill vessel with the rotorwithin the vessel extending into the screen assembly. The rugged construction of the screen assembly is such that it can withstand the abrasive action of the grinding media directly adjacent to the moving rotor. Moreover, the wearing of the interiorwall of the screen elements caused by the abrasive grinding media, does not increase the screen size of the openings through the screen assembly, so that media continues to be prevented from passing into such openings.
Another significant advantage of this outlet construction in connection with the horizontally oriented sand mill is that by providing the mill with means for tilting the vessel so that the outlet end is lower than the opposite end, the grindingmedia may be easily removed from the mill by simply removing the outlet housing on the vessel lower end. This allows the grinding media to fall into a suitable receptacle. Further, the screen elements are then readily accessible and removable from thehousing for cleaning or replacement if such is desired.
In a vertically oriented sand mill, the outlet is typically oriented transversely with respect to the axis of the vessel. An opening in the exterior wall of the vessel near its upper end may however be provided with a suitable flange for matingwith the flange of a screen outlet housing of the type discussed above in connection with the horizontal sand mill. However, as an alterntive and preferable arrangement for a vertically oriented sand mill, the flow through the screen elements may bereversed. With this approach, a cylindrical outlet housing wall is preferably formed integral with the upper portion of the vessel, with the cylindrical outlet wall extending generally transverse to the axis of the vessel. The screen assembly stack isreversed so that the end plate is located at the end closest to the vessel rotor. The lugs for positioning the end plate extend inwardly from the cylindrical housing wall adjacent the vessel and the positioning ribs are still formed integral with theside wall of the cylindrical housing so that the annular passage surrounding the screen elements is in direct communication with the vessel. The opposite end of the stack of screen elements is open to an outlet in a cover secured to the outer end of thecylindrical housing. Consequently, the product flow through the screen is into the annular passage and then radially inwardly through the screen openings into the cylindrical space within the elements and then directly through an outlet in the endcover. The screen elements are compressed or held against the end plate and the positioning lugs by an annular member which threads into the outer end of the cylindrical wall, adjacent the cover.
The openings formed in the screen elements are preferably made by a cutting or grinding operation directly across one face of the annular element so that a pair of grooves channels are formed on the face of the element diametrically opposite fromeach other. A second cut 90.degree. from the first is then made across the face of the element to form a second pair of wide diametrically spaced grooves. This creates four wide openings separated by wedge-shaped segments or pads that receive theaxial or compressive force on the stack of screen elements. With such an approach, the width of the slots openings through the screen elements remains constant. Thus, it does not matter from a function standpoint whether the flow is inwardly throughthe screen elements or radially outwardly.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a horizontal sand mill on a rolling base;
FIG. 2 is a side elevation showing the mill of FIG. 1 in a tilted position;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the mill on line 3--3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a preferred form of the screen assembly and outlet construction for a mill of the type illustrated in FIGS. 1-3;
FIG. 5 is an explosed, perspective, partially cut-away view of the screen and outlet construction of the arrangement in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a perspective, schematic view of a sand mill having a vertically oriented vessel;
FIG. 7 is an exploded, perspective view of the sand mill of FIG. 6, illustrating the screen assembly and outlet construction;
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the outlet construction of the arrangement FIGS. 6 and 7;
FIG. 9 is a plan view of one screen element; and
FIG. 10 is a side view of the screen.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Shown in FIG. 3 is a horizontal media mill comprising a mill motor 10 which has a shaft 12 which rotates a rotor 16. Preferably, the shaft 12 which drives the rotor 16 extends cantilevered directly from the mill motor 10. The portion 14 of theshaft 12 on which the rotor 16 is slideably mounted is preferably square in transverse cross section to mate with a similar opening in the rotor to prevent rotational slippage of the rotor 16. Alternatively, the shaft portion 14 and thr rotor may be anysymmetrical shape which has a straight portion to prevent slippage, or the rotor 16 may be keyed to the shaft 12. The rotor 16 extends through a cylindrical vessel 18, in which media 20 and product are agitated by the rotor 16. Product is introduced tothe vessel through product inlet 19 at the motor end of the vessel.
The rotor 16 is preferably fabricated from a wear resistant polymer, and is machined from a solid bar of the polymer. One suitable polymer which is abrasively tougher than steel is an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene. In accordance withone feature of the invention, the fabrication process consists of drilling a pilot hole axially through the center of the bar, and then broaching a square hole through the center of the bar, surrounding the pilot hole. Alternatively, fabrication maybegin with a tube of the polymer so that the first step is broaching the square cross section in the center hole of the tube. Next, the piece is turned on a lathe to be trimmed into a cylinder of a desired outside diameter. The cylinder is then cutradially to form a smaller diameter cylindrical portion 22 with a series of axially spaced, annular discs 24 which are integral with and surround the cylindrical portion 22. Finally, each disc 24 is undercut on both axial faces to create annular grooves26 in the area where the discs 24 join the cylindrical portion 22.
The rotor is slideably mounted on the square portion 14 of the shaft 12, and is simply secured in place by a nut 28 screwed on a threaded portion 30 on the end of the shaft 12. The nut 28 is of sufficient diameter to abut the end of the rotor,so that it does not slide off the shaft.
The shaft and rotor protrude through the open end of the vessel 18, which is enclosed by a screen assembly 32. The open end of the vessel is opposite the end of the vessel adjacent the product inlet 19. The screen assembly 32 is cup-shaped, andincludes a tubular screen unit 34, a circular end plate 36, and an annular flange 38 on the open opposite end. The milled product can pass through the screen unit 34 while the media is retained in the vessel. The screen assembly 32 is aligned andtemporarily supported on the vessel assembly 40 by means of a plurality of dowel pins 47 positioned in the screen flange 38 and a large annular flange 48 secured to the vessel and a surrounding cylindrical outer shell 58. A cup-shaped end cover assembly44 encloses the screen assembly 32 and is mounted to the vessel assembly 40 with a retainer ring 46 which surrounds and clamps together with a flange 55 on the cover assembly which mates with flange 48 of the vessel assembly. The end cover assembly isalso retained in engagement with the vessel assembly flange 48 by dowel pins 51 in mating holes in the flanges 48 and 55.
The cover flange 55 includes a shoulder 42 which more positively holes the screen flange 38 in engagement with the vessel flange 48.
The retainer ring 46 consists of a circular ring which is split in at least one place to enable expansion, and which is fastened together at those splits by a quickly releasable fastening means, not shown. In a preferred embodiment, the retainerring 46 is fastened by a clamp of the general type shown in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,283.
The end cover assembly 40 includes a pair of diametrically spaced, upper and lower product outlets 49, through which the milled product filtering through the screen element 34 can flow.
In the arrangement illustrated, the screen unit forms a tubular portion of the screen assembly, and is bolted at one end to the screen flange 38 and at the other end to the circular end plate 36. The screen unit comprises a plurality of rings orannular discs 35, each having a central opening and a pair of opposed faces. The discs are stacked with the central openings aligned to form a tube or cylinder having a central axial space. This space surrounds a portion of the rotor which protrudesthrough the vessel. The opposed faces form a plurality of radial openings in the cylinder between adjacent discs to allow the passage of processed liquid from the vessel, or central axial opening, to the outside of the cylinder. The smallest dimensionof each radial passage is small enough to prevent flow of the grinding media through the passage, so only liquid product leaves the vessel.
The vessel assembly is also removably mounted at its inlet end to a housing assembly 50 which is bolted to the mill motor 10 at one end and is coupled to the vessel assembly at the other end, encasing the shaft 12 throughout its length. Quicklyremovable retainer ring 46 clamps the radially extending flange 57 of the vessel assembly to the flange 59 of the housing assembly 50.
The mill further includes an integrated hydraulic system having a single electric motor 72 which drives a circulating pump 74; the working fluid pressurized by that circulating pump being utilized to cool the vessel, provide pressure to a seal52, drive a hydraulic motor 75 which rotates a product pump 76, and hydraulically tilt the mill when it is to be cleaned. The motor 72, circulating pump 74, motor 75, and product pump 76 are located within the base 66, as schematically shown in FIG. 1.
The vessel is sealed from the exterior by the pressure seal 52 which is a cartridge that is bolted to the housing assembly 50 and surrounds the shaft 12. Pressurized working fluid is pumped into the seal 52 through a seal inlet 53 to provide apressure greater than that on the vessel side of the seal and thus prevent leakage out of the vessel. This enables the product to be pumped through the vessel at a desired pressure and flow rate.
Pressurized fluid also acts as a coolant for the vessel by being circulated through a cooling jacket inlet 54 and into the cooling jacket 56 defined by the outer wall of the vessel 18 and the surrounding cylindrical outer shell 58. The vesselhas a plurality of fins 60 protruding radially into the cooling jacket 56 to facilitate the transfer of friction generated heat within the vessel to the coolant. Not shown is a cooling jacket outlet, through which the coolant is returned to a heatexchanger 78 where it is circulated and cooled itself by cooling water, before being returned to a reservoir 77.
The pressurized working fluid from the pump 74 is also used to power a hydraulic motor 75 driving a product pump 76, which pumps the product through the vessel, thus eliminating the need for a separate electric product pump motor and associatedexplosion-proof switch.
The fluid also powers the hydraulic ram 62 shown in FIG. 2, which extends to tilt the mill about a trunion 64, facilitating the cleaning of the vessel. A horizontal mill having a cantilevered shaft, as shown, is particularly suited for thistilting application. FIG. 1 shows the mill in its normal horizontal operating state, and FIG. 2 shows the mill in its tilted position. Two mounts 80 extend from the superstructure 82, on either side of the housing assembly 50. The trunions 64 arefixed to and protrude radially outward from the sides of the housing assembly, and pivotably rest within circular holes in the mounts 80. The hydraulic ram 62 is located within the superstructure 82, and is pivotably secured to the base 66, at one end,and is pivotably secured to a motor mounting plate 68 at the other end. The motor mounting plate 68 is fastened to the mill motor 10.
Both the electric motor powering the hydraulic system and the electric mill motor are regulated by a pneumatic control system (not shown), which runs on compressed shop air. A suitable control panel 84 for controlling the operation of the systemis conveniently supported on the superstructure 82. The pneumatic system saves the expense of explosion-proof electrical switches which must be used when a flammable product is being milled.
In operation, a liquid product or slurry is pumped by the hydraulically driven product pump 76 through the product inlet 19 to the vessel 18 and is dispersed throughout the grinding media 20 by the rotating rotor 16. In a small working versionof the present embodiment, a single speed, 3600 rpm electric mill motor turns 23/4 inch diameter rotor discs 24 at a rim speed of 2590 ft./min. The milled product filters through the screen unit 34 to the product outlet 49. Simultaneously, the vessel isbeing cooled by the working fluid which is circulating through the cooling jacket 56. The working fluid provides pressure to the seal 52 surrounding the shaft 12 where it enters the vessel.
When the vessel is to be cleaned, the mill is tilted about the trunion 64 by the extension of the hydraulic ram 62, lowering the outlet end of the vessel. The end cover assembly and screen mounting assembly are then quickly removed from thevessel assembly by first unfastening the retainer ring. The pins 47 and 51 prevent the end cover and screen assemblies from both instantly falling off. To uncouple the assemblies, an axial pull on the end cover, and then the screen assembly, willdislodge the pins from their corresponding holes. The angle of the mill allows the media to conveniently drain out the then open end of the vessel, and into a suitable container 70. With the end cover and the screen assembly uncoupled, the rotor iseasily withdrawn by removing the nut 28 from the threaded portion 30, sliding the rotor off the shaft to be replaced or simply temporarily removed to enable more complete access to the vessel for cleaning. The steps are reversed when the rotor isinstalled and the screen and end cover re-installed, and the unit returned to its horizontal position.
The grinding media is usually added through the product inlet 19, but it may also be added through the open end of the vessel when its screen is removed. In this regard, the ram 62 may be useful in tilting the vessel to distribute media. Theunit may be designed to lower the motor end of the vessel slightly, if desired.
While the screen assembly illustrated in FIG. 3 employing a plurality of bolts holding the screen elements in place is useful, FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a much preferred construction. This includes a cup-shaped end cover assembly or outletconstruction 144, having a housing 143 with a cylindrical wall 145 and an integral end wall 147. An outwardly-extending flange 155 is formed on the open end of the cylindrical wall and mates with a large annular flange 48 formed on the open end of thesand mill vessel 18. A cylindrical or tubular screen 134 is formed by a plurality of ring-shaped elements or disks 135 positioned within the cylindrical wall 145. More specifically, these screen elements 135 are positioned or spaced inwardly from thecylindrical wall 145 by three ribs 160 which extend radially inwardly and extend axially throughout the length of the stack of screen elements 135. Preferably the ribs 160 are formed integral with the wall 145 such that the entire cup-shaped housing maybe cast and the ribs than machined on their inner edge to provide the desired diameter for positioning the screen elements in alignment. The ribs 160 space the screen elements 135 from the cylindrical 145 so as to form an annular passage 162 interruptedonly by the ribs.
A closed end plate 136 is located on the downstream end of the stack of screen elements, being radially positioned by the ribs 160. The end plate is further confined by three lugs 164 which form axial extensions of ribs 160 but extend radiallyinwardly further than the ribs to provide surfaces that engage the outer axial face of the end plate 136 at three circumferentially spaced locations, as may be visualized from FIGS. 4 and 5. The lugs 164 space the end plate 136 from the housing end wall147 so as to form a disk shaped space 166 which is in communication with the annular space 162 through arcuate windows between the lugs 164. The stack formed by the screen elements and the end plate 136 is axially pressed or held against the lugs 164 bymeans of a ring-shaped member forming a clamp or threaded fastener 168. The member 168 has an internal diameter equal to the internal diameter of the screen elements and the vessel. The external diameter of the member 168 is threaded to thread intomating threads formed on the interior cylindrical wall 145 adjacent the open end of the housing, radially aligned with the flange 155. The fastener member 168 is readily rotatable by use of a pair of sockets 168a formed on the outer face as shown inFIG. 5.
A plurality of openings 170 are formed between each adjacent pair of screen elements 135 connecting the cylindrical interior space 172 within the screen assembly with the annular passage 162 surrounding the screen elements. As may be seen fromFIGS. 5 and 9, the openings 170 are in the form of shallow cuts or grooves made in one axial face of each screen element. Preferably four grooves are made in each element, with such grooves having side walls 170a and b which are parallel to each other. That is, they are non-radial. With such an arrangement, the cross-section of each opening 170 is constant. As can be seen from FIG. 5 and FIG. 9, the axial depth of each cut or opening is very small. It is sized to prevent grinding media from movinginto the opening. With the axial dimension preventing the media from entering the opening, the circumferential or lateral dimension of a slot is not critical, although it is preferable that they be as wide as possible, consistent with other designrequirements. This is important since the combined area of the screen openings should be greater than the inlet area to the mill so that the screen does not produce a restriction.
Related to this, it should be noted that the straight sided cuts and wide openings minimize any pressure drop across the screen elements also, any broken or worn media particles that should enter a screen opening 170 are not trapped in the screenopenings, and thus do not cause clogging of the screen. The purpose of the screen is to keep media in the mill, and not to capture particles in the screen passages.
Advantageously, the opening 70 may be formed by cuts which are machined into the face of the screen element by relative movement of a mill cutter and the element directly across the element. A similar cut can then be made 90.degree. withrespect to the first cut to form the other pair of diametrically spaced openings. This leaves four arcuately-spaced, wedge-shaped pads or segments 174. These pads 174 receive the axial load when the screen elements 135 are clamped within the housing bythe threaded fastener 168. When installing this screen element into the housing, the pads 174 are preferable placed into axial alignment; however, it should be noted that the screen elements are sufficiently rugged that alignment is not critical. Thus,the screen elements may be quickly installed and positioned by the ribs 160 without critical concern for angular orientation.
The screen elements may be made of varying thickenesses, as strength and other design requirements dictate. Likewise, the screen elements may be made of any desired material, such as stainless steel or an abrasive-resistant polymer material. The axial depth of the slots or openings 170 is, of course, to be consistent with the size of the media to be utilized in the mill. Further, as mentioned above, screen elements of different slot depths may be utilized for different media size, and thescreen assembly design is such that a stack of elements may be quickly and conveniently replaced by a different stack as needed. Of course, the removed stack can be reused at a later time if the media is to be changed again.
Turning now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8, there is substantially illustrated a vertical sand mill 200 having a vertically oriented vessel 202 with a product inlet 204 at the lower end and a product outlet 206 near the upper end. A rotor (not shown) isvertically mounted in the vessel with the rotor shaft extending upwardly out of the upper end of the vessel through a tubular sleeve 108. A rotor similar to that shown in the arrangement of FIG. 3, or any well-known prior art rotor, may be utilized.
The upper end of the vessel and an outlet structure for the vessel includes a generally T-shaped casting 210 having a vertically oriented cylindrical portion 212 which forms a part of the vessel 202 and a generally horizontal portion forming anoutlet housing 245. The vertical portion 212 includes upper and lower flanges 214 and 216 for convenient connection to the remainder of the vessel. As can be seen from FIGS. 7 and 8, the interior cylindrical wall 245 is formed with three axiallyextending ribs 260. At the vessel end of the ribs, there is provided three lugs 264 which are axially aligned with the ribs but extend radially inwardly further to form axial support surfaces for an end plate 136 and a plurality of screen elements 135that form a screen assembly 234. The end plate and the stack of screen elements are clamped or held against the lugs by means of an externally threaded annular fastener 168 which threads into mating threads formed in the open outer end of the housing245. A cover plate 280 closes the outer open end of the screen assembly 234 and an outer peripheral flange 281 of the cover plate mates with a similar flange 255 formed on the open outer end of the cylindrical wall 245. These flanges are held in placeby a suitable quick connect/disconnect clamp arrangement 46 as described above.
The ribs 260 space the screen elements 135 radially inwardly from the outer cylindrical wall 245 creating an annular passage 262 which is in direct communication with the sand mill vessel. Thus the product can flow axially into this passage,radially inwardly, as indicated by the arrows 284 shown in FIG. 8, through the openings 170 into the cylindrical space 272, and then flows axially through an outlet 206 in the cover plate.
The flow through the screen assembly of FIGS. 7 and 8 is thus just the opposite from that shown for the assembly in FIGS. 4 and 5. Nevertheless, the flow characteristics remain the same for the two approaches in view of the constant crosssection of the openings 170 through the screen assembly. Thus the same screen elements can be used in either approach, and additional design need not be conducted.
Although with the arrangement shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the entire housing surrounding the screen elements is not removable, the screen elements may nevertheless be easily removed or installed by simply removing the quick disconnect coupling,unthreading the fastener 168 and removing the screen elements as well as the end plate, as desired. Of course, if desired, a flange could be positioned at the vessel end of the housing so that an arrangement essentially like that shown in FIG. 4 couldbe employed in the vertically oriented housing as well.
* * * * *
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Commentary on Sections
12.Many of the provisions in the Act amend the Charities Act 1992 and the Charities Act 1993, which are referred to below as “the 1992 Act” and “the 1993 Act” respectively.
Sections 1 – 3: Meaning of “charity”; Meaning of “charitable purposes”; The “public benefit” test
13.The preamble to the Statute of Charitable Uses 1601 (sometimes known as the Statute of Elizabeth I) contained a list of purposes or activities that is sometimes described as the first statutory definition of charitable purposes; but that list - because it was in the preamble, not the body of the Act - did not form part of the statute law. It was, in effect, a list of purposes or activities that the State believed were of general benefit to society, and to which the State wanted to encourage private contributions.
14.The list in the preamble to the 1601 statute has nevertheless formed the foundation of the modern definition of charitable purposes, which has developed entirely through case law. This has come about because the courts, in considering whether or not a particular purpose was charitable in law, have tended to look for an analogy between the purpose under consideration and the 1601 list, and to recognise the purpose as charitable if an analogy with the 1601 list could be found.
15.Section 1 provides a general statutory definition of charity for the purposes of the law for the first time. It follows the definition of charity in the Charities Act 1993.
16.Section 1(1) establishes the meaning of charity. By specifying that a body or trust is a charity if established for charitable purposes "only", section 1(1)(a) preserves the current rule to the effect that a body or trust which has non-charitable as well as charitable purposes is not a charity.
17.Section 1(1)(b) excludes institutions outside England and Wales from the scope of charity as defined by the Act since the jurisdiction of the High Court extends only to England and Wales.
18.Subsections (2) and (3) of section 1 deal with references to a charity in legislation apart from this Act. Subsection (3) covers legislation and documents in which a charity is defined by reference to the Charitable Uses Act 1601 or the preamble to that Act and provides for that definition to be supplanted by the one in this Act. Subsection (2) covers all other definitions of charity in legislation apart from this Act and preserves those definitions.
19.Section 2 of the Act contains the first statutory definition of “charitable purpose”. This definition still relies on a considerable body of case law.
20.The meaning of "charitable purpose" is supplied by section 2(1), which provides that a purpose is charitable if it meets two criteria:
that it falls under one or more descriptions or “heads” of charity in section 2(2); and
that it is for the public benefit.
21.Each of the paragraphs in section 2(2) is a description or “head” of charity rather than a fully-stated purpose in itself. Within each of those descriptions lie a range of purposes all of which fit the description but each of which is a different purpose in its own right. The list of descriptions, taken as a whole with the purposes underlying the descriptions, encompasses everything which is to be a charitable purpose.
22.The list of descriptions of charitable purposes in subsection (2) of section 2 contains 12 specific descriptions (paragraphs (a) to (l)) and one general description (paragraph (m)) which brings in the purposes described by subsection (4). The list of specific descriptions covers the great majority of purposes that are recognised as charitable but does not cover everything: paragraph (a) of subsection (4) covers those purposes that are currently recognised as charitable but that do not fall under any of the specific descriptions in paragraphs (a) to (l).
23.Paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 2(4) cover purposes that are analogous to, or within the spirit of, any other charitable purposes (i.e. purposes falling within any of paragraphs (a) to (l) of subsection (2), existing charitable purposes, or purposes which themselves have been recognised as charitable under subsection (4)(b) or (c)). These provisions enable the meaning of “charitable purpose” to be expanded in the future by allowing for the possibility of new charitable purposes to be recognised.
24.Subsection (5) of section 2 preserves the existing meaning of the terms used in the specific descriptions in subsection (2) or (3) of that section.
25.Section 3 deals with public benefit. Under the existing law there is a presumption that purposes for the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, or the advancement of religion – in other words the purposes that would fall under paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 2(2) - are for the public benefit. No other purposes benefit from that presumption. The effect of the presumption at present is that, when the status (charitable or non-charitable) of an organisation established for the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, or the advancement of religion is being considered, the organisation’s purpose is presumed to be for the public benefit unless there is evidence that it is not for the public benefit. By contrast, organisations established for all other purposes, which do not benefit from that presumption, have at the time their status is being considered to provide evidence that their purpose is for the public benefit.
26.Subsection (2) of section 3 abolishes the presumption that organisations for the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, or the advancement of religion enjoy, putting all charitable purposes on the same footing. Abolishing the presumption will not by itself have the effect of depriving poverty relief, educational and religious organisations that were registered as charities while the presumption existed of their charitable status.
27.Subsection (3) makes clear that the term “public benefit”, wherever it occurs in sections 1-3, refers to the existing concept in charity law in England and Wales. The concept of public benefit will remain in the common law. Guidance that the Charity Commission issues under section 4 (see below) will explain the public benefit concept.
Section 4: Guidance as to operation of public benefit requirement
28.The Act gives the Charity Commission a set of new objectives (see section 7), one of which is to promote understanding and awareness of the operation of the public benefit requirement. Section 4 requires the Commission to issue guidance in pursuance of that objective (subsection (1)) and allows the Commission to revise its guidance from time to time (subsection (3)). Revision of the guidance will be needed if there are changes in society which bring about developments in the legal concept of public benefit.
29.Subsection (4) requires the Commission to carry out consultations before issuing its guidance under this section. It must also carry out consultations before revising guidance that it has already issued, unless it thinks that consultations are not needed (because, for example, the revisions are so slight as not to justify the time and expense of consultations).
30.Subsection (5) requires the Commission to publish its guidance under this section, but allows it to choose the most appropriate manner of publication – for example, as a printed document; as a document on a website; etc.
31.Although the Commission will be legally required by subsection (1) of this section to issue guidance, the guidance will not be legally binding on charity trustees. Subsection (6) will not put charity trustees under a legal obligation to agree with or to follow the guidance but it will require them to take the guidance into consideration when doing anything, in the administration of their charity, to which the guidance is relevant.
Section 5: Special provisions about recreational charities, sports clubs etc.
32.Subsections (1) – (3) of this section make changes to the Recreational Charities Act 1958. The 1958 Act provides that:
it is a charitable purpose to provide, in the interests of social welfare, facilities for recreation or other leisure-time occupation where those facilities are made available either to the public as a whole or to women only (section 1(2) of the 1958 Act);
certain purposes connected with the provision of facilities for the welfare of miners are charitable purposes (section 2 of the 1958 Act).
33.The Act affects both of these provisions of the 1958 Act, which are now thought to be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
34.Subsection (2) of the section amends section 1(2) of the 1958 Act so that facilities made available to men only are to be regarded as charitable on the same basis as facilities made available to the public as a whole or to women only. This amendment does not affect the charitable status of any organisation which is currently charitable under the 1958 Act.
35.Subsection (3) repeals section 2 of the 1958 Act. The effect of this will be that miners’ welfare organisations that can show that they are charitable under the definition of charity contained in section 1 of the Act will retain their charitable status. Other miners’ welfare organisations will not retain their charitable status.
36.Subsections (4) and (5) make special provision for sports clubs which are registered with the Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs under the Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) scheme established by the Finance Act 2002. Some such clubs are established for purposes which would make them charities under the definition in section 1 of this Act. Subsection (4) of this section provides that any club which has charitable purposes and is registered as a CASC is not a charity.
Sections 6 and 7 and Schedules 1 and 2: The Charity Commission
37.Currently the Charity Commission has no legal existence as a body: the functions that are usually described as "the Charity Commission's" functions are in fact functions held by the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales (the "Commissioners") personally. Subsection (1) of section 6 inserts a new section, 1A, into the 1993 Act. Section 1A(1) creates a new body corporate called the Charity Commission for England and Wales, with an equivalent name in Welsh. The Commission will be a non-Ministerial Government Department and subsections (4) and (5) ensure that it will have a significant degree of independence from Ministers and other Government Departments in the performance of its functions.
38.Other provisions in section 6 transfer the Commissioners’ functions to the new Commission (subsection (4)), abolish the office of Charity Commissioner (subsection (3)), and ensure that references to the Commissioners in other enactments passed before the commencement of this section are, from its commencement, understood as references to the new Commission (subsection (5)).
39.Subsection (7) of section 6 gives effect to Schedule 2 of the Act, which contains provisions to deal with aspects of the transition between the Commissioners and the new Commission.
40.Provisions for the new Commission's membership, staffing, committees, procedures, and annual reporting are in Schedule 1A to the 1993 Act, inserted by Schedule 1 to the Act and given effect by section 6(2) of it.
41.Section 7 inserts new four sections – sections 1B to 1E - into the 1993 Act. These provide the Commission with, respectively, five objectives, six general functions, six general duties, and incidental powers. The Commission’s objectives describe what the Commission is to seek to achieve; its functions describe the activities it is to carry out in seeking to achieve its objectives; and its general duties describe ways in which, as far as it practicable, it must act, and matters to which it must have regard, in performing its functions and in managing its affairs. Other provisions in the Act require the Commission to report annually to the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the discharge of its functions, the extent to which it believes its objectives have been met, and the management of its affairs (see paragraph 11 of Schedule 1A to the 1993 Act, inserted by Schedule 1 to the Act). Subsection (2) of section 1E is to ensure that the Commission does not directly involve itself in the administration of any charity.
Section 8: The Charity Tribunal
42.Under the existing law, a right of appeal to the High Court exists in relation to some decisions of the Charity Commissioners. This section creates a new tribunal to act as the “court of first instance” for appeals and applications in respect of certain decisions of the new Charity Commission. It also enables the Tribunal to consider matters referred to it by the Attorney General or, with the Attorney’s consent, by the Charity Commission, the reference being made before the Commission has made any decision on the matter.
43.Subsection (1) of section 8 provides for a new Part 1A of the 1993 Act to be inserted after section 2 of the 1993 Act. Part 1A contains new sections 2A to 2D covering, respectively, the creation of the Tribunal; its practice and procedure (which provides (section 2B(1) to (9)) for the matters to be covered in the Lord Chancellor’s rules which would regulate the exercise of the right of appeal or to make a reference to the Tribunal and practice and procedure); appeals from the Tribunal to the High Court; and the powers of the Attorney General to intervene in proceedings before the Tribunal, or on appeal from the Tribunal to the High Court, where he is not a party to those proceedings.
44.Subsection (2) of section 8 gives effect to Schedule 3, which inserts the new Schedule 1B into the 1993 Act. Schedule 1B covers the membership of the Tribunal and appointments to it; its staff and facilities; the composition of its panels, who are to exercise its functions; and its practice and procedures.
45.Subsection (3) of section 8 gives effect to Schedule 4, which inserts the new Schedules 1C and 1D into the 1993 Act. Schedule 1C provides for specified rights of appeal to the Tribunal against specified decisions of the Commission, prescribing, in the case of each specified decision, which persons have the right of appeal and what powers the Tribunal has in relation to the appeal or to the Commission’s decision or action which is the subject of the appeal. The powers of the Tribunal are set out in the table in new Schedule 1C. The Commission would be the respondent to such an appeal. In certain cases the Tribunal would consider applications to review matters (being those listed in paragraph 3 of Schedule 1C) in the same way as the High Court would consider an application for judicial review. Those reviewable decisions are listed in paragraph 3(2)(a) to (g), along with orders made by the Commission under section 69(1) of the 1993 Act (paragraph 3(2)) which are also reviewable. Schedule 1D makes provision for references to the Tribunal. The Commission (paragraph 1) will be able to refer to the Tribunal matters involving the operation or the application of charity law relating to its functions. The Attorney General (paragraph 2) will be able to refer to the Tribunal questions involving the operation or the application of charity law. The Commission would require the consent of the Attorney General to make a reference. Schedule 1D makes further provision in respect of such references, including;
the powers of the Commission in relation to matters referred to the Tribunal;
the suspension of time limits whilst a reference is in progress;
enabling the Commission to act before the Tribunal has made its decision if all the parties to the proceedings, and any charities likely to be affected by the Commission’s action, agree that the Commission can act;
rights of appeal in respect of matters already determined on reference to the Tribunal.
Section 9: Registration of Charities
46.Section 9 substitutes three new sections – 3, 3A and 3B – for existing section 3 of the 1993 Act. New section 3 deals with the register of charities, which the Charity Commission must continue to keep. Section 3 prescribes the content of the register and the circumstances in which the Commission must or may remove charities, or institutions which are no longer considered to be charities, from it.
47.Section 3A prescribes the requirements for the registration of charities, making different provision for different descriptions or classes of charity.
48.Section 3B deals with the duties of charity trustees in connection with registration.
49.Sections 3 and 3B in effect reproduce, in a new structure, provisions of existing section 3. The registration requirements in section 3A represent a substantial change by comparison with the registration requirements in existing section 3.
50.Section 3A begins (subsection (1)) with the general rule that every charity must be registered. Subsection (2) then provides that four classes or descriptions of charity (specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of that subsection) are not required to be registered. These are:
(paragraph (a)) exempt charities. The institutions specified in Schedule 2 to the 1993 Act are not deemed or confirmed by that Schedule to be charities but, so far as they are charities, they are exempt charities. Section 11 of the Act (see below) makes amendments to Schedule 2;
(paragraphs (b) and (c)) charities – usually known as excepted charities – that are excepted either by order made by the Charity Commission (paragraph (b)) or by regulations (paragraph (c)). In a change to the existing position, under which no excepted charity is required to register, an excepted charity will be required to register if its gross income exceeds £100,000;
(paragraph (d)) charities whose gross income does not exceed £5,000. This financial threshold is designed to release the smallest charities, defined by their income, from the registration requirement; currently the equivalent threshold is £1,000. At the same time the requirement in existing section 3, that a charity must register if (regardless of the level of its income) it possesses a permanent endowment or uses or occupies land, is not being retained and will therefore no longer apply. The combined effect of raising the threshold and not retaining that requirement is to release several thousand small charities from the duty to register. However, such charities may (subsection (6) of section 3A) register if they wish.
51.In subsection (3):
paragraph (a) preserves the effect of excepting orders made by the Charity Commission under the existing law; and
paragraph (b) prevents the Commission from making an order to create any new exceptions after the commencement date.
52.Subsection (4) makes similar provision in relation to charities excepted by regulations made by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, except that it requires him to make regulations which have the effect of excepting from the registration requirement those formerly-exempt charities whose income does not exceed £100,000.
53.Subsections (7) and (8), read together, allow the Minister for the Cabinet Office by order to:
reduce the annual income threshold applying to excepted charities – set by the Act at £100,000 – above which such charities will be required to register; or
alter the minimum registration threshold – set by the Act at £5,000 – below which any charities are not required to register.
An order reducing the threshold applying to excepted charities can be made only after the report on the operation of this legislation has been laid before Parliament, as specified in Section 73.
54.Section 3B reproduces the existing law on the duties of trustees in connection with registration.
Section 10: Interim changes in threshold for registration of small charities
55.This section allows the Minister for the Cabinet Office to change the threshold for registration of small charities before he brings the provisions of section 3A(1)-(5) into force.
Section 11: Changes in exempt charities
56.This section amends Schedule 2 to the 1993 Act, to remove some specified institutions from that Schedule and to include other specified institutions in that Schedule. The effect of removing the specified institutions is that they will no longer be exempt charities. The inclusion of certain institutions, specified in subsections (4) and (5), is a technical change that will have no effect on the exempt status of the institutions.
57.Subsection (11) allows the Minister for the Cabinet Office, provided he meets the condition in subsection (12), to make orders removing other particular institutions, or institutions of a particular description, from Schedule 2 to the 1993 Act, or adding other particular institutions, or institutions of a particular description, to Schedule 2 to the 1993 Act.
58.Subsection (13) provides a power for the Minister for the Cabinet Office to amend or modify enactments in connection with charities that cease to be exempt charities, or become exempt charities, under this section. This power would be used, for example, to mitigate the risk of dual accounting régimes arising for charities that lose their exempt status and become subject to registration with, and regulation by, the Charity Commission.
59.Any order made under this section would be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
Section 12: Increased regulation of exempt charities under 1993 Act
60.This section gives effect to the amendments to the 1993 Act specified in Schedule 5 to this Act. These amendments apply to exempt charities provisions of the 1993 Act which formerly did not apply to them. However, the Charity Commission’s power to institute inquiries into exempt charities under section 8 of the 1993 Act (conferred by paragraph 2 of Schedule 5) is limited: the Commission may only exercise that power, in relation to an exempt charity, on the request of the charity’s principal regulator (see note on section 13).
Section 13: General duty of principal regulator in relation to exempt charity
61.This section gives the Minister for the Cabinet Office power (subsection (4)(b)) to make regulations prescribing a body or a Minister of the Crown as the principal regulator of an exempt charity. A body or Minister prescribed as a principal regulator of an exempt charity will have, in relation to that charity, the duty (subsections (2) and (3)) to do all that it or he reasonably can to promote compliance by the charity trustees with their legal obligations.
62.Subsection (5) will allow the Minister for the Cabinet Office to make regulations amending or otherwise modifying Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments and other enactments for certain purposes. These could include the purpose of giving a principal regulator any new statutory powers that it needs to carry out its duty to meet the compliance objective in relation to the exempt charity(ies) for which it is principal regulator.
Section 14: Commission to consult principal regulator before exercising powers in relation to exempt charity
63.The principal regulators of exempt charities will not have the full powers of the Charity Commission. This section inserts a new section, 86A, into the 1993 Act, requiring the Charity Commission to consult the principal regulator of an exempt charity before the Commission exercises any of its specific powers in relation to that charity.
Section 15: Application cy-près by reference to current circumstances
64.This section amends section 13 of the 1993 Act by substituting ‘the appropriate considerations’ for ‘the spirit of the gift’ in that section. The effect is to require the Charity Commission, when making a scheme to alter the purposes for which charity property is to be applied, to take into account not only the spirit of the gift of the property but also the social and economic circumstances prevailing at the time of the proposed alteration in the purpose.
Section 16: Application cy-près of gifts by donors unknown or disclaiming
65.This section, by amending section 14(4) of the 1993 Act, gives the Charity Commission the power to decide whether property is to be treated as belonging to donors who cannot be identified. Under the existing law only the court has that power.
Section 17: Application cy-près of gifts made in response to certain solicitations
66.This section inserts a new section, section 14A, into the 1993 Act. Section 14A applies to property (which includes money) given for specific charitable purposes in response to an appeal which contains a certain type of statement. The statement is described in subsection (2) and is to the effect that unless, at the time of making his donation, the donor asks (by making a “relevant declaration” as described in subsection (3)) to be given the chance to reclaim his donation if the specific purposes for which he is giving it fail in future, the donation will be applied cy-près.
67.Subsections (4)-(6) set out the process to be followed where the purposes have failed and where the donor has made a relevant declaration. The trustees holding the property must notify the donor that the purposes have failed and ask him whether he wants the property (or a sum equal to its value) returned. If he does, the trustees must return it to him. If either the trustees cannot find the donor, or the donor indicates that he does not wish the property returned, then the property can be applied cy-près as if the donor had disclaimed his right to have it returned to him.
68.Subsection (7) applies where the purposes have failed and where the donor has not made a “relevant declaration”. It allows the property to be applied cy-près as if the donor had disclaimed his right to have it returned to him.
69.Paragraph (b) of subsection (8) makes clear that this section applies both where the donor has received something of value in return for his donation and where he has not. Paragraph (c) makes clear that where an appeal consists of some solicitations which contain the statement described in subsection (2) and some which do not contain that statement, the donor (unless he proves otherwise) will be regarded as having responded to a solicitation containing the statement.
Section 18: Cy-près schemes
70.This section alters the cy-près rule. The cy-près rule is a well-established legal rule that applies when the purposes for which charitable property is held are being changed by the court or by the Charity Commission. The occasions on which charitable purposes can be changed to new purposes by the court or the Commission are set out in section 13 of the 1993 Act, as amended by section 18 of this Act. At present the cy-près rule requires the new purposes to be as close as practicable (bearing in mind the reason why the need to change the purposes arose in the first place) to the original purposes.
71.Section 18 alters the cy-près rule by inserting into the 1993 Act a new section 14B, subsection (1) of which requires the court or the Commission to act, when making a scheme to change charitable purposes, in accordance with the remaining provisions (i.e. subsections (2) to (6)) of new section 14B.
72.Subsection (2) of new section 14B requires the court or the Commission, when making a scheme changing the charitable purposes for which particular property given to a charity is held, to have regard to certain matters (see next paragraph). This applies either when the scheme is transferring the property from one charity to another or when there is no transfer and the scheme simply changes the purposes of the charity that holds the property. “Property given” to a charity includes (by virtue of subsection (5)) both the property in the form in which it was originally given and any property derived from it. The effect is that if, for example, a piece of land was given to a charity and sold by the charity, the money representing the proceeds of the sale would also count as the “property given”.
73.The three matters to which the court or the Commission must have regard when making a scheme changing the charitable purposes for which property is held are set out in subsection (3) of new section 14B. One of those matters is the desirability of choosing new purposes which are close to the original purposes; but that is not paramount. The court or the Commission must give equal weight to the other two matters. One of these is the spirit of the gift by which the property came to the charity. The other is the need to ensure that the charity has purposes which are suitable and effective in the light of current social and economic circumstances.
74.Subsection (4) of new section 14B allows the court or the Commission, when making a scheme which transfers a charity’s property to another charity, to require the trustees of the receiving charity to use the property for purposes as similar as practicable to the original purposes for which the property was held. This is to cover cases where the original purposes are still useful but the court or the Commission believes that the property can be more effectively used in conjunction with other property.
Section 19 – Power to suspend or remove trustees etc. from membership of charity
75.This section inserts into the 1993 Act a new section 18A, which applies when the Charity Commission – at any time after it has started a statutory inquiry into a charity – makes an order suspending or removing from office any trustee, charity trustee, officer, agent or employee of a charity who is also a member of that charity.
76.In some cases under the present law, a person who has been suspended or removed from office can use his membership of the charity to help vote himself back into, or reacquire in other ways, the office from which he has been suspended or removed. The Act gives the Commission power to prevent this by:
(subsection (2) of section 18A) allowing it also to suspend the membership of someone whom it was suspending from office. The person’s suspension from membership would last as long as his suspension from office; or
(subsection (3) of section 18A) allowing it also to terminate the membership of someone whom it was removing from office and to prohibit that person from taking up his membership again without the Commission’s agreement.
77.There is a presumption, in subsection (4) of section 18A, that a person should be entitled to take up his membership again five years after it was terminated. That presumption can be overturned only if there are special circumstances.
Section 20 – Power to give specific directions for protection of charity
78.This section inserts into the 1993 Act a new section 19A, which allows the Charity Commission at any time after it started a statutory inquiry into a charity and has found either:
that there is or has been any misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity; or
that it is necessary or desirable to act for the purpose of protecting the property of the charity or securing a proper application for the purposes of the charity of that property or of property coming to the charity,
to direct any of the persons listed in the subsection (2) of section 19A to take a specific action which the Commission thinks is expedient in the interests of the charity.
79.“Charity trustees” in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) attracts the definition of “charity trustees” in section 97(1) of the 1993 Act: the persons having the general control and management of the administration of a charity. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) covers a person who is a trustee for the charity but who is not a “charity trustee” within that definition. An example would be a custodian trustee of the charity’s property.
80.Subsection (3) of section 19A:
prevents the Commission from directing a person to do something which is expressly prohibited by an Act of Parliament or by his charity’s own constitution; but
allows the Commission to direct a person to do something which he does not have power to do under his charity’s constitution or otherwise.
81.Where a person is directed by the Commission to take some action which is not otherwise within his power, and he takes that action in accordance with the Commission’s direction, subsection (4) protects him from any allegation that he acted improperly, although subsection (5) preserves the contractual and other rights of other parties in respect of anything so done.
Section 21 – Power to direct application of charity property
82.This section inserts into the 1993 Act a new section 19B. Subsection (2) of new section 19B gives the Charity Commission, in certain circumstances, power to make an order directing a person who is in possession or control of charity property to apply that property in the way specified in the Commission’s order.
83.Subsection (1) of new section 19B sets out the circumstances in which this power is exercisable.
84.Subsection (3) makes similar provision to subsection (3) of new section 19A (see paragraph 80) above.
85.Subsections (4) and (5) make similar provision to subsections (4) and (5) of new section 19A (see paragraph 81 above).
Section 22 - Relaxation of publicity requirements relating to schemes etc.
86.This section substitutes for section 20 of the 1993 Act, which sets out the procedures to be followed by the Charity Commissioners for giving publicity to schemes and certain orders, a new section 20 and a new section 20A. The purpose of the changes is to speed up the formal procedure for the making of schemes and orders by the Charity Commission and to reduce the cost to charities, by making advertising of the changes a matter of Commission discretion.
87.Subsections (1) and (2) of new section 20 state that the Commission may not establish a scheme for a charity without:
giving public notice; and
if it is a local charity, informing the parish council or chairman of the parish meeting.
88.Subsection (3) makes the timing of such notices a discretionary matter for the Commission. Under the current law, public notice must have been given for at least a month before the date of making the scheme.
89.Subsection (4) allows the Commission to disapply either or both of the publicity requirements in subsection (2) if it is satisfied that either or both is unnecessary. Subsection (5) says that the Commission must take into account any representations made to it but may proceed with the proposals without further notice at its own discretion without necessarily modifying them. After an order is made it must be displayed publicly for at least a month in the Commission’s office and, if it is a local charity, at a convenient place in the charity’s area. The latter requirement may be disregarded should the Commission deem it unnecessary. Subsection (7) gives the Commission discretion as to what information is included in the public notices and how it is presented.
90.Section 20A contains similar provision to section 20 in relation to orders of the Commission to remove trustees, officers, agents or employees of charities from their position as such within a charity. The Commission can determine the length of public notice given (subsection (3)), whether or not such a notice is necessary (subsection (4)) and the form and content of the notice (subsection (7)). Subsection (5) requires the Commission to notify the person being removed from his position not less than one month before the order is made, inviting representations from him within a stated time. This does not apply if the person cannot be found or has no known address in the United Kingdom. Subsection (8) allows the notice to be given by post to the recipient’s last known address in the UK.
Section 23 - Participation of Scottish and Northern Irish charities in common investment schemes etc.
91.Under sections 24 and 25 of the Charities Act 1993 the Charity Commissioners may make schemes for the establishment of, respectively, common investment funds (CIFs) and common deposit funds (CDFs), which are collective investment vehicles specially designed for charities. A CIF is akin to a unit trust while a CDF is akin to a deposit account for cash. Under the existing law the only investors from which CIFs and CDFs are allowed to accept investments are charities established in England and Wales.
92.Section 23 amends sections 24 and 25 of, and inserts new section 25A into, the Charities Act 1993 to allow CIFs and CDFs the opportunity to accept investments from charities established in Scotland and Northern Ireland which are eligible for UK tax reliefs. Section 23 will not automatically widen the scope of every CIF and CDF in this way, but will allow individual CIFs and CDFs to make their own decisions as to whether or not to accept investments from such charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Section 24 – Power to give advice and guidance
93.The Charity Commissioners have power under section 29 of the 1993 Act to give a charity trustee who applies in writing for it, their opinion or advice on any matter affecting the performance of his duties as such. If the trustee acts in accordance with the advice or opinion given by the Commissioners, he is deemed to have acted in accordance with the trusts of the charity. This protection is withdrawn, however, if the trustee knows or suspects that the Commissioners’ opinion or advice was given without their knowing all the material facts of the matter. Protection is also withdrawn where the court or Tribunal has already given a decision on the same matter, and where proceedings are under way to obtain the court’s or Tribunal’s decision.
94.Section 24 substitutes a new section 29 for the existing section 29. The overall effect of new section 29 is to preserve, with one minor extension, the existing power described above, and to add a more general power for the Commission to give advice.
95.Subsections (1) to (3) of the new section 29 reproduce in essence the existing power. Subsection (1)(b) makes the extension, which is to allow the Commission’s opinion or advice to be sought on any matter relating to the proper administration of the charity not just, as at present, on any matter relating to the applicant’s performance of his duties.
96.Subsections (4) and (5) give the Commission a more general power to give advice and guidance, as part of its new function (set out in new section 1C(2) of the 1993 Act, inserted by section 7 of the Act) of encouraging and facilitating the better administration of charities. The Commission may use this new power to give advice to individual charities, to classes of charity, or to all charities, and may do so in whatever form and manner – for example, through letters, through publications made generally available, through documents placed on its website - it considers appropriate.
Section 25 – Power to determine membership of charity
97.Some charities have a body of members with voting and other constitutional rights, such as the right to elect some or all of the trustees of the charity. If, for example, a charity’s membership records were incomplete, there might be a dispute as to who the members of the charity were. That could in turn impede the proper administration of the charity - for example, by casting doubt as to whether or not particular people have been validly elected as trustees.
98.Section 25 inserts a new section 29A into the 1993 Act. New section 29A gives the Charity Commission, or a person appointed by the Commission for the purpose, the power to decide authoritatively who the members of a charity are. The Commission, or the person it has appointed for the purpose, may exercise this power in two circumstances. The first is when the charity in question applies for such a decision to be made. The second is at any time after the Commission has begun a statutory inquiry into the charity under section 8 of the 1993 Act.
99.An amendment made to section 97(1) of the 1993 Act by Schedule 8 to the Act has the effect that, if the charity in question has a body of members distinct from the charity trustees, “members” in the new section 29A means that body of members.
Section 26 – Power to enter premises and seize documents etc.
100.This section inserts into the 1993 Act a new section, section 31A, which gives the Charity Commission power to enter premises for certain purposes and on certain conditions. The Charity Commissioners have had since 1960 an enforceable power to call for documents and search records, but have never had power to enter premises to take possession of documents or information.
101.The power of entry is exercisable subject to obtaining a warrant from a justice of the peace. Subsection (1) of new section 31A sets out the circumstances in which a justice of the peace may issue a warrant.
102.The conditions in subsection (2) include the condition (paragraph (a) of that subsection) that an inquiry has been instituted under section 8 of the 1993 Act. Section 8 gives the Commission power to institute inquiries with regard to charities or a particular charity or class of charities, either generally or for particular purposes.
103.Subsection (3) sets out the actions which a warrant authorises the Commission employee named in the warrant to take. The documents which that person may take into his possession are limited, by paragraph (c) of that subsection, to documents falling within paragraph (b) of subsection (2) – that is, to documents which are relevant to the inquiry in question and which the Commission could require to be furnished or produced under its power in section 9(1) of the 1993 Act. Subsection (3)(d) allows the Commission employee to take possession of computer disks and other electronic storage devices containing information of the same description. Subsection (4) provides that the warrant must be executed within one month of its issue.
104.Subsection (6) provides that a written record of the entry and seizure must be made, and sets out the matters it must include.Subsection (7) provides that the written record must be presented on request to the occupier or his representative. Subsection (8) provides that unless it is not practicable, the Commission employee must prepare the written record whilst on the premises and, if it is requested, provide the copy of the record before leaving the premises.
105.Subsection (9) allows the Commission to retain documents or devices that it has seized for as long as it needs to retain them for the purposes of its inquiry. An effect of paragraph (a) of this subsection is that, if keeping a photocopy of a document will suffice for the purpose of the inquiry, the Commission must return the original document.
106.Subsection (10) provides for the Commission to return a seized document or device either to the person from whom the Commission seized it, or to any of the charity trustees. This would allow the Commission to give direct to the trustees property which belongs to the charity but which was in someone else’s possession when seized.
107.Subsection (2) of this section applies section 50 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 to the Charity Commission’s power of seizure. That would in some circumstances allow a Commission employee to seize something (such as a computer):
when he believed that it contained information the Commission was entitled to take but he could not determine, on the premises, whether or not it did in fact contain that information; or
when he knew that it contained information the Commission was entitled to take but he could not, on the premises, extract the information from the computer.
Section 27: Restrictions on mortgaging
108.Section 27 makes a number of amendments to section 38 of the 1993 Act. At present, the grant of any mortgage over charity land requires the authority of the court or the Charity Commission, unless it is being granted by way of security for the repayment of a specific loan. Where the mortgage is granted for such a purpose, that authority is not necessary so long as the trustees obtain and consider proper advice, before executing the mortgage, on certain matters concerned with whether the loan is expedient in the interests of the charity. This section extends the circumstances in which a charity does not require the formal authority of the court or the Commission to allow land belonging to a charity to be used as security.
109.The substitution made by subsection (2) provides for the extension of the circumstances in which consent is not required, and prescribes the matters on which the trustees must obtain written advice in the case of a mortgage to secure the repayment of a proposed loan or grant (new subsection (3)), and in the case of a mortgage to secure the discharge of any other proposed obligation (new subsection (3A)).
110.New subsections (3B) to (3D) make provision for the régime for which consent is not required to be extended to mortgages which are intended to secure not only the loan which is under immediate consideration, but also any future loan which the lender might make to the borrower. This is subject to the requirement in new subsection (3D) that such a future transaction must not be entered into unless proper advice (as prescribed by new subsection (3) or (3A))has been taken in respect of that transaction.
Section 28: Annual audit or examination of accounts of charities which are not companies
111.Section 28 makes a number of amendments to section 43 of the 1993 Act. At present under section 43 of the 1993 Act a charity which is not a company must have its accounts for a particular financial year professionally audited (that is, audited by a person eligible under the Companies Act 1989 to audit the accounts of a company) if either:
its gross income or total expenditure exceeded £250,000 in that financial year; or
its gross income or total expenditure exceeded £250,000 in either of the two years preceding that financial year.
112.The substitution made by subsection (2) of this section removes from the requirement to have an audit any references to the expenditure of a charity, which means that the level of a charity’s expenditure is no longer relevant in determining whether or not its accounts must be audited. Nor is there any longer a requirement to consider the income of the charity in the preceding two years before the year in question. New section 43(1) sets the audit requirement at an income level of £500,000 per annum and introduces an additional asset value threshold of £2.8million. The asset value threshold applies only to those charities that are required to prepare a full annual statement of accounts under section 42(1) (i.e. the threshold does not apply to charities which prepare the simpler form of accounts under section 42(3)). This means that the asset threshold would apply at present only to charities with gross income of more than £100,000 per annum.
113.The amendment made by subsection (3) to section 43(2) preserves the requirement that a charity’s auditor must be a person eligible to audit company accounts. The purpose of the amendment is to apply to auditors of charity accounts the rules on ineligibility on grounds of lack of independence that are contained in Part 2 of the Companies Act 1989.
114.Subsection (4) amends section 43(3) of the Charities Act 1993. This section relates to the requirement placed on charities which fall below the audit requirement threshold to have their accounts independently examined. Section 28 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 amended section 43(3) so that the requirement to have an independent examination was placed on charities whose gross income or total expenditure in that year exceeded £10,000. This amendment removes the consideration of expenditure from the requirement to have an independent examination. The accounts of charities with incomes above £10,000 but below the new threshold of £500,000 would be subject to independent examination.
115.Subsection (5) provides for the new subsection (3A) to be inserted after section 43(3) of the 1993 Act. This new subsection relates to those charities which would have been required to have an audit under the previous régime but will not be so required under the new régime - that is, those with incomes above the old threshold of £250,000 but below the new threshold of £500,000. Where those charities do not have their accounts professionally audited the accounts are required to be independently examined by someone with a relevant qualification. For the purposes of the Act a relevant qualification would be membership of a body recognised under section 249D(3) of the Companies Act 1985, which would currently be one of the following bodies:
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales;
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland;
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland;
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants;
Association of Authorised Public Accountants;
Association of International Accountants;
Association of Accounting Technicians;
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants;
Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators;
a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, or;
a Fellow of the Association of Charity Independent Examiners.
The Minister for the Cabinet Office has the power by order (given by subsection (6)) to add a description of person to the list, to remove a description of person from the list, or to alter an entry in the list.
116.Subsection (6) substitutes a new section 43(8) of the 1993 Act for the existing section 43(8). Under this new subsection the Minister for the Cabinet Office retains the power to amend the audit threshold and the requirements for independent examination.
Section 29: Duty of auditor etc. of charity which is not a company to report matters to Commission.
117.Auditors of registered charities which are not companies have a specific statutory duty (a “whistleblowing” duty) to report to the Charity Commission abuse or significant breaches of charity law or regulation. This duty arises under regulation 7(5) of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2005(5). Auditors who comply with the duty have statutory protection from the risk of action for breach of confidence or defamation. Auditors of charitable companies, however, would have to rely on the protection given by case law if they made a similar report in the 'public interest'.
118.Subsection (1) of section 29 inserts new section 44A into the 1993 Act. Currently section 44 of the 1993 Act confers on the Secretary of State a power to make regulations about the duties of auditors under section 43; that power has been exercised in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2005. Regulation 7(5) of those regulations imposes on the auditor of a charity a duty to communicate to the Commissioners in writing any matter relating to the activities or affairs of the charity which he has reasonable cause to believe is, or is likely to be, of material significance for the exercise in relation to the charity of the Commissioners' functions under section 8 (inquiries) or 18 (protective powers) of the 1993 Act. The effect of that duty is to release an auditor acting in pursuance of regulation 7(5) from his duty of confidentiality to the trustees of the charity and to enable him to report relevant matters about the charity without risking action for breach of confidence. The new section 44A prescribes the “whistleblowing” duties and powers of auditors and extends those duties and powers to independent examiners. New section 44A also provides that, where auditors or independent examiners act in accordance with their “whistleblowing” duties or powers, no duty to which they are are subject – such as the duty of confidentiality towards their clients - would be contravened merely as a result of the information or opinion contained in their report (section 44A(1)-(7)).
119.Subsection (2) of section 29 amends section 46 of the 1993 Act, which makes special provision as respects the accounts and annual reports of exempt and excepted charities. Subsection (2)(b) provides for new sections 46(2A) and (2B) to be inserted after section 46(2) of the 1993 Act. It confers on the auditor or independent examiner of an exempt charity which is not a company the same duties, powers and protection as auditors and independent examiners of unincorporated charities are given under new section 44A(2) to (7).
Section 30: Group Accounts
120.Section 30 inserts new section 49A into the 1993 Act and gives effect to new Schedule 5A inserted into the 1993 Act by Schedule 6 to the Act. These introduce a requirement on a charity (“the parent charity”) which has subsidiaries under its control to prepare annual accounts relating to the whole group consisting of the parent and all of its subsidiaries. The present requirement is generally that the parent and each of its subsidiaries should prepare accounts relating to itself alone.
121.Paragraph 3 of new Schedule 5A provides the requirement for parent charities to prepare group accounts which must comply with regulations made by the Minister for the Cabinet Office regarding their form and contents. Paragraph 4 provides certain exceptions to the requirement to prepare group accounts, and enables regulations made by the Minister for the Cabinet Office to prescribe further exceptions. Paragraph 5 provides for the preservation of group accounts.
122.Paragraph 6 of new Schedule 5A makes provision for the audit of the accounts of larger groups, and paragraph 7 provides for the examination of accounts of smaller groups. The relevant gross income and asset thresholds for the purposes of determining larger groups would be prescribed in regulations made by the Minister for the Cabinet Office.
123.Paragraph 10 makes provision for the annual reports of parent charities to include such information as may be prescribed in regulations about the activities of their subsidiaries. It also includes a requirement for the group accounts to be submitted to the Commission with the copy of the annual report along with a copy of the report on the accounts made by the auditor or independent examiner.
124.Other provision made by new Schedule 5A includes supplementary provisions relating to audits of group accounts; the extension of the duty of auditors or reporting accountants to report matters to the Commission; provision relating to excepted and exempt charities; the requirement for group accounts to be available for public inspection; and an extension of relevant existing offences to the requirements to prepare group accounts
Section 31: Relaxation of restriction on altering memorandum etc. of charitable company
125.Section 31 amends section 64 of the 1993 Act. Subsection (2) replaces section 64(2) with a revised section 64(2). The revised section 64(2) limits the occasions on which alterations of a charitable company’s memorandum or articles of association would require the prior written consent of the Charity Commission, referred to as regulated alterations.
126.Subsection (2) provides for a new subsection (2A) to be inserted after section 64(2). The regulated alterations for which the Charity Commission's prior written consent is required are provided for by section 64(2A)(a)-(c).
Section 32: Annual audit or examination of accounts of charitable companies
127.The provisions in this section relate specifically to the audit thresholds for charitable companies. The revised thresholds will ensure greater consistency in the audit thresholds for charitable companies and unincorporated charities. The provisions in this section amend sections 249A and 249B of the Companies Act 1985 and have been developed in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry.
128.Subsection (1) amends section 249A(4) of the Companies Act 1985. Section 249A(4) of the 1985 Act provides for the circumstances in which a charitable company may have a reporting accountant's report rather than an audit. Currently charitable companies with incomes between £90,000 and £250,000 per annum (section 249A(4)(b) of the 1985 Act) and assets of less than £1.4 million (section 249A(4)(c) of the 1985 Act) may have a reporting accountant’s report. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) respectively increase the reporting accountant conditions so that charitable companies with gross incomes of more than £90,000 but not more than £500,000 and those with assets of not more than £2.8 million would be able to have a reporting accountant's report as opposed to an audit.
129.Subsection (2) provides for the associated increase in the audit exemption threshold where a charitable company is a parent company or subsidiary undertaking. Section 249B(1C) of the Companies Act 1985 provides that, where a charitable company is a parent company or subsidiary undertaking, an audit exemption for a particular year is available if in that year the group turnover is not more than £350,000 net (£420,000 gross). The charitable group threshold is 40% higher than that for the individual charitable company threshold. For that reason subsection (2) provides that the new threshold for audit exemption for charitable groups is 40% higher than the new threshold for charitable companies individually. The new threshold is therefore £700,000 net or £840,000 gross.
Section 33: Duty of auditor etc. of charitable company to report matters to Commission
130.Section 33 provides for the new section 68A to be inserted after section 68. It extends to persons acting as auditors of charitable companies under Chapter 5 of Part 11 of the Companies Act 1985, and to reporting accountants of charitable companies under section 249C of that Act, the duties, powers and protection given to auditors and independent examiners under section 44A(2)-(7) of the 1993 Act.
Section 34 and Schedule 7: Charitable incorporated organisations
131.Section 34 and Schedule 7 make provision for a new legal form, the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (“CIO”). The CIO is the first legal form to be created specifically to meet the needs of charities. Its purpose is to avoid the need for charities which wish to benefit from incorporation to register as companies and be liable to dual regulation by Companies House as well as the Charity Commission.
132.The suggestion of a new legal form for charities was first made in the Department of Trade and Industry’s review of company law in 2001(6). It was subsequently developed by an advisory group set up by the Charity Commission. The proposal was endorsed by the Strategy Unit whose report provides a summary of the CIO’s main characteristics(7). Further detail was given in a background paper. In its reply to the Strategy Unit, the Government accepted the proposals for CIOs and said that it proposed to review the need for other legal forms five years after the CIO is introduced(8).
133.The Act sets out the basic framework for the CIO. Further technical provisions, which may need amendment in the light of experience of the CIO’s operation, will be contained in secondary legislation. An exposure draft of the relevant secondary legislation is available at http://communities.homeoffice.gov.uk/activecomms/ac-publications/publications/290701/charities_dummy_reg.pdf..
134.Section 34 is preparatory. Schedule 7, which contains the substantive provisions, proceeds by inserting a new Part 8A (sections 69A-Q) and a new Schedule 5B into the Charities Act 1993 and making various minor amendments to that Act. The new Part 8A contains provisions dealing with the nature and constitution of the CIO; its registration as a charity; the conversion of a charitable company, registered industrial and provident society or community interest company into a CIO; the amalgamation of CIOs; the transfer of a CIO’s property, rights and liabilities to another CIO; and the Minister for the Cabinet Office’s power to make regulations about the winding up, insolvency and dissolution of CIOs, and about their administration. The new Schedule 5B contains supplementary technical provisions. Part 2 of Schedule 7 contains amendments to the Charities Act 1993.
135.Section 69A requires a CIO to be a body corporate with a constitution, a principal office in England or Wales and one or more members with no or limited liability.
136.Section 69B specifies the matters that must be stated or provided for in the CIO’s constitution, requires the constitution to be in a form specified by the Charity Commission and written in English (or in either English or Welsh if the CIO’s principal office is in Wales), and enables the Minister for the Cabinet Office to make further provision in regulations.
137.Section 69C requires the CIO’s name to appear in legible characters in various business and financial documents, and for these documents to state that the organisation is a CIO if that is not clear from the organisation’s name.
138.Section 69D creates criminal offences of failure to comply with the previous section, and one other offence.
139.Section 69E allows any one or more persons to apply to the Commission for a CIO to be constituted and registered as a charity, requires the applicants to supply the Commission with the CIO’s proposed constitution and any other documents or information that may be required and specifies the circumstances in which the Commission may or must refuse the application.
140.Section 69F provides that if the Charity Commission registers a CIO as a charity it becomes by virtue of its registration a body corporate constituted in accordance with the application. The entry in the register is to include the date of registration and a note saying that the charity is constituted as a CIO, and a copy of the entry is to be sent to the CIO at its principal address.
141.Section 69G allows a charitable company or a registered industrial and provident society (except for a company or society which has a share capital not fully paid up, or which is an exempt charity) to apply for conversion to a CIO. It requires the Charity Commission to be supplied with certain documents and information, including a copy of the special or unanimous written resolution that the company or registered society should be converted to a CIO and a copy of the resolution adopting the CIO’s proposed constitution. If the application is made by a company limited by guarantee the constitution must specify the amount up to which the members are liable, which amount is not to be less than the amount to which they would be liable if the assets of the company were wound up. Where the members’ guarantee is £10 or less, it is automatically extinguished on conversion of the company to a CIO.
142.Section 69H and section 69I contain supplementary provisions about the conversion of companies and registered industrial and provident societies. Section 69J provides the Minister for the Cabinet Office with a power to make regulations providing for the conversion of a community interest company into a CIO, and for its registration as a charity.
143.Section 69K allows any two or more CIOs to apply to the Commission to be amalgamated. Before such an application can be granted, each of the CIOs affected has to pass a resolution either by a 75 per cent majority of those voting at a general meeting or unanimously otherwise than at a general meeting, and to give notice of the proposed amalgamation in the way that in the opinion of the trustees will make it most likely to come to the attention of those affected. Those affected may make written representations to the Charity Commission, and the Commission may refuse an application if there is a serious risk that the new CIO would be unable to pursue its purposes. The Commission may also refuse an application to amalgamate if it is not satisfied that the constitution of the amalgamated CIO makes the same, or substantially the same, provision on these matters:
application of property on dissolution;
benefits authorised to be paid to trustees or members of the CIO, or persons connected with trustees or members,
as the constitutions of each of the CIOs forming the amalgamated CIO.
144.Section 69L contains supplementary provisions on amalgamations.
145.Section 69M allows one CIO to transfer all its properties, rights and liabilities to another. If a CIO resolves to make such a transfer, the Charity Commission must be sent a copy of the resolution, and may direct the CIO to give public notice of the resolution. If the Commission so directs, it must take into account any representations made by interested parties. The resolution does not take effect until it is confirmed by the Commission, and the Commission must refuse to confirm it if there is a serious risk that the transferee CIO would be unable properly to pursue the purposes of the transferor. The Commission may refuse to confirm the resolution if it is not satisfied that the constitution of the transferee CIO makes the same, or substantially the same, provision on these matters:
application of property on dissolution;
benefits authorised to be paid to trustees or members of the CIO, or persons connected with trustees or members,
as the constitution of the transferring CIO. A resolution would be deemed to be confirmed within six months of its receipt by the Commission, unless the Commission had already confirmed or refused to confirm the resolution, or had extended the period of its consideration by up to an additional six months.
146.Section 69N allows the Minister for the Cabinet Office to make regulations about the winding up, insolvency, dissolution, and revival and restoration to the register following dissolution, of CIOs.
147.Sections 69O-Q contain miscellaneous supplementary provisions, including at section 69Q a power for the Minister for the Cabinet Office to make regulations about applications for registration of CIOs, the administration of CIOs, and CIOs generally.
148.The new Schedule 5B makes further provision about CIOs. Paragraph 1 enables a CIO to do anything which is calculated to further its purposes and gives the CIO’s charity trustees the responsibility of managing its affairs. Paragraphs 2 to 4 contain provisions to do with the CIO’s constitution. Paragraphs 5 to 8 concern the validity of acts done by the CIO and provide that, in general but with some limitations, the validity of those acts may not be called into question on the ground that the CIO lacked constitutional capacity. Paragraphs 9 and 10 require members of a CIO and CIO charity trustees, subject to regulations made by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to act in the way most likely to further the purposes of the CIO and, in the case of trustees, to exercise reasonable care and skill. Paragraph 11 prevents CIO charity trustees from benefiting personally in certain circumstances from arrangements or transactions entered into by the CIO. Paragraph 14 allows a CIO to amend its constitution and specifies the circumstances in which it may do so. Paragraph 15 requires the CIO to send the Charity Commission a copy of the amendment and allows the Commission to refuse to register it in certain circumstances.
149.The remainder of the Schedule consists of minor, largely consequential, amendments to the Charities Act 1993.
Section 35: Waiver of trustee’s disqualification
150.Currently a person that has been disqualified from being a charity trustee by virtue of section 72(1)(a) to (f) of the Charities Act 1993 may apply to the Charity Commission to waive his disqualification either generally or in relation to a particular charity or class of charity. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 72(4) prohibit a waiver from being granted in relation to a charity which is a company on specified grounds.
151.Section 35 provides for new subsection (4A) to be inserted into section 72 of the 1993 Act. Under new subsection (4A) the Charity Commission must grant an application for a waiver from disqualification from a person who has been disqualified by virtue of section 72(1)(d) or (e) for more than 5 years unless it is satisfied that there are special circumstances for not granting the waiver. However, that would not apply where the Charity Commission was prohibited from granting the waiver under subsection (4)(a) and (b).
Section 36: Remuneration of trustees etc. providing services to charity
152.A trustee (including the director of a charitable company) may not directly or indirectly receive any remuneration, or other form of valuable benefit, from his charity without authority. Currently authority for a trustee’s remuneration can come from either:
a provision in the charity’s governing instrument; or
an order made by the Charity Commission (under section 26 of the Charities Act 1993) or by the court; or
statutory provision (e.g. Schedule. 1 to the Housing Act 1996, which allows for the remuneration of charity trustees of some charitable housing associations in some circumstances).
153.This section inserts two new sections, 73A and 73B, into the 1993 Act. Section 73A provides a statutory power for the trustee body to pay remuneration to a person who either is a trustee of the charity or is connected (as defined in section 73B(5)) with a trustee of the charity who might receive a benefit as a result of the connected person’s remuneration. An example of a connected person’s remuneration benefiting a trustee is where persons A and B are spouses with joint finances, person A is a trustee of a charity, and person B receives remuneration from that charity. Section 73A also provides safeguards to prevent misuse of this power.
154.Subsections (2) to (6) set out the conditions that need to be met for remuneration to be payable under this section.
155.Subsection (7) provides that this section does not apply to remuneration for services provided by a person acting in the capacity of trustee, nor under a contract of employment. Neither does this section apply to any other remuneration to which a person is entitled specified in the provisions and orders that are set out in subsection (8).
156.New section 73(B)(2) and (3) contains two safeguards to prevent misuse of the power: the duty to have regard to Charity Commission guidance, and the requirement to act in accordance with the duty of care set out in section 1(1) of the Trustee Act 2000.
Section 37: Disqualification of trustees receiving remuneration by virtue of section 36
157.This section inserts a new section, 73C, into the 1993 Act. Where a trustee or connected person is (or would be) entitled to receive remuneration under an agreement or proposed agreement within section 73A (inserted by section 36), new section 73C provides (subsection (2)) that the trustee in question is disqualified from acting as a trustee in relation to decisions or other matters about that agreement. For this section a “connected person” is as defined in section 73B(5) (inserted by section 36).
158.Subsection (3) prevents a person’s disqualification from invalidating his acts done while disqualified.
159.Subsection (4) allows the Charity Commission to make an order under subsection (5) or (6) where a person has done something he was disqualified by subsection (2) from doing, and he or a connected person has received, or is due to receive, remuneration. Subsection (5) allows the Charity Commission to order the person to repay to the charity any remuneration received (subsection (5)(a)), including, by virtue of subsection (5)(b), the value of any benefit in kind. Where the person is due to receive the agreed remuneration, subsection (6) allows the Charity Commission to direct that the person is not to receive the remuneration.
Section 38: Power of Commission to relieve trustees, auditors etc. from liability for breach of trust or duty
160.Currently a charity trustee seeking relief from personal liability for a breach of trust must apply to the court. The court can grant relief, where it believes that the trustee has acted honestly and reasonably and ought fairly to be excused, under section 61 of the Trustee Act 1925 or, for directors of charitable companies, section 727 of the Companies Act 1985. The Charity Commission does not currently have the power to grant relief in that way.
161.This section provides the Commission with such a power. It inserts a new section, 73D, into the 1993 Act. Section 73D confers power on the Charity Commission to provide relief from liability (in whole or in part) to a trustee for breach of trust or duty, where the trustee has acted honestly and reasonably, and where the trustee ought fairly to be excused for the breach. It also extends that power to apply to persons appointed by a charity (under section 43 of the Charities Act 1993) as auditor or independent examiner and to persons appointed by a charitable company (under Chapter 5 of Part 11 of the Companies Act 1985) as auditor or reporting accountant.
162.This section also inserts into the 1993 Act new section 73E, which extends the court’s existing power to grant relief to an auditor or independent examiner of an unincorporated charity appointed under the current section 43 of the Charities Act 1993. New section 73E gives the court power to relieve from liability all those who report on the accounts (including group accounts) where the court does not already have this power under section 727 of the Companies Act 1985. It also gives the court power to relieve from liability the charity trustees of a CIO.
Section 39: Trustees’ indemnity insurance
163.This section inserts new section 73F into the 1993 Act. It provides trustees with a statutory power to purchase trustee indemnity insurance and to pay the premiums with the charity’s money, subject to certain limitations and conditions.
164.Subsection (1) provides the power for trustees to purchase indemnity insurance, subject to the limitations set out in subsections (2) and (3). Subsections (4) and (5) provide (a) that trustees must satisfy themselves that it is in the charity’s best interests to purchase trustee indemnity insurance under this section and (b) that, in so doing, they will be subject to the duty of care in section 1(1) of the Trustee Act 2000.
165.Subsections (6) and (7) provide a power for the Minister for the Cabinet Office to amend subsections (2) and (3) by order, subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
166.Subsection (8) provides (a) that this section does not allow purchase of indemnity insurance where it is expressly prohibited by the charity’s trusts, and (b) that this section has effect despite any provision in the charity’s trusts prohibiting the trustees from receiving personal benefit from the charity’s funds.
Sections 40, 41, and 42: Power to transfer all property; Power to replace purposes; and Power to modify powers or procedures
167.At present, section 74 of the 1993 Act gives the charity trustees of certain unincorporated charities with low annual income (currently £5,000 or less) the power, subject to specified controls and conditions, to make a resolution:
to transfer all the property of the charity to one or more other charities; or
to modify the trusts of the charity by replacing all or any of the purposes of the charity with other charitable purposes; or
to modify particular powers and procedures in the trusts of the charity.
168.Section 74 removes the need for charity trustees who wish to make any such transfer or modification, but who do not otherwise have the power to do so, to apply to the Charity Commission to make a scheme effecting the transfer or modification. Under section 74 the Commission’s concurrence in writing to the resolution is needed before the transfer or modification can take effect, but for small charities the process of obtaining that concurrence is normally much simpler and quicker than the process of applying for a scheme.
169.Sections 40– 42 of the Act preserve the essence of the current section 74 arrangements for low-income charities while modifying and extending some elements of them.
170.Section 40 substitutes for existing section 74 three new sections 74, 74A, and 74B, which deal with the power to transfer a charity’s property to one or more other charities. New section 74B makes specific provision for such a transfer where the charity has a permanent endowment (property which is subject to a restriction preventing its expenditure).
171.Section 41 inserts into the 1993 Act a new section, 74C, which deals with the power to modify a charity’s trusts by replacing all or any of the charity’s purposes with other charitable purposes.
172.Section 42 inserts into the 1993 Act a new section, 74D, which deals with the power to modify powers or procedures in the trusts of a charity.
Section 43: Power to spend capital
173.Section 75 of the 1993 Act gives to the trustees of very small unincorporated charities which have permanent endowment not consisting of any land the power to resolve, by a simple administrative procedure, to spend that endowment. Very small charities in this context are ones whose gross annual income is not more than £1,000. Permanent endowment is property which is subject to a restriction preventing its expenditure. Where permanent endowment is held as an investment the income from the investment must be spent but the capital may not be. The purpose of section 75 is to allow trustees of charities with slender resources to remove the restriction on expenditure of capital, so that the capital can be spent as well as the income. This is useful because the income is often so small that little if anything can be achieved by spending the income alone.
174.Section 43 substitutes for the existing section 75 a new section 75, which modifies and extends the current régime for expenditure of capital by small charities.
175.The principal changes brought about by the new section 75 are:
one of the conditions of the existing section 75 is that, before making a resolution, trustees must be satisfied that the charity’s property is too small for “any useful purpose” to be achieved by spending the income alone. It is sometimes difficult for trustees to conclude that a sum of money is so small that there is not any useful purpose to be achieved by spending it. Subsection (4) of new section 75 substitutes a different test of whether the purposes for which the fund is established “could be carried out more effectively” by spending some or all of the capital;
the requirement for the Charity Commission to go through a procedure of concurrence with the trustees’ resolution is removed.
176.Section 43 also inserts two new sections, 75A and 75B, into the 1993 Act.
177.Section 75A provides the same power in relation to larger funds with a single purpose, but subject to some safeguards because of the larger sums involved. Subsections (5) to (11) prescribe some safeguards which apply where the permanent endowment in question came to the charity by a lifetime gift from, or under the will of, a person, or as a grant or other form of donation from an institution, or by way of donations from several sources but with a common purpose (such as a disaster appeal). The safeguards are meant to ensure, by requiring the Charity Commission’s concurrence to be obtained and by requiring the Commission to take into account the wishes of the donor as well any changes in the charity’s circumstances since the gift was made, that the intentions of the donor or donors in making the gift are treated with due consideration.
178.Section 75B applies in cases where the Charity Commission has made a direction to a specific effect under section 96(5) of the 1993 Act. That provision allows the Commission to direct that an institution (typically a trust) which is established for some special purposes of, or in connection with, a charity shall be treated either as part of that charity or as a distinct charity by itself. Where the Commission has directed that a special trust is a distinct charity, section 75B allows that charity’s trustees to resolve to spend certain permanent endowment subject to conditions and controls which mirror those described above for subsections (5) to (11) of section 75A.
Section 44: Merger of charities
179.Section 42 inserts four new sections, 75C, 75D, 75E and 75F, into the 1993 Act.
180.New section 75C establishes the register of mergers. Subsection (3) provides for the register to contain only those mergers which are notified to the Commission. Subsection (4) defines the two types of merger that can be registered: the first is a merger in which a charity (or more than one charity) – say charity A - transfers all its property to another charity – charity B - then, on or after the transfer, ceases to exist. The second is where two or more charities – charities C and D - create a new charity – charity E - then transfer all their property to the new charity and, on or after the transfer, go out of existence. Mergers of both types may only be registered once all of the charities transferring their property to another charity have completed the transfer of all of their property (subsection 6). Mergers of charities which have both permanent endowment and unrestricted property are provided for by subsection (5). Subsection (7) makes registration of the merger a requirement for any charities making use of the vesting declaration provided for by new section 75E.
181.New section 75D makes supplementary provision about the register of charity mergers. Subsection (2) gives the Charity Commission the power to decide what information, in addition to the date on which property was transferred to the merged charity, should appear in the register about each merger. The register must be open to the public (subsection (3)) and the information on it must be made available in legible form even if the Commission holds the information not in a legible form (such as on a computer) (subsection (4)). This group of provisions for the register of mergers closely follows the provisions for the content and availability of the register of charities kept by the Commission.
182.New section 75E provides a mechanism for ensuring the automatic transfer of property which is being transferred in the course of a merger. This mechanism is available for both types of merger. It enables a vesting declaration to be made by the charity trustees of a transferring charity (which, in the examples given in paragraph 181 above, are charity A and charities C and D) before any transfer takes place. The effect of making a vesting declaration which fulfils the requirements of subsection (1) is as described in subsection (2). The only property that cannot be transferred by operation of the vesting declaration is property of the sort described by subsection (3). Subsection (4) makes it clear that transferred land must still be registered with the Land Registry where there is such a requirement.
183.Section 75F deals with a gift to a charity where the gift takes effect after the date of registration of a merger affecting the charity. In the example of a merger in which charity A transfers all its property to charity B then ceases to exist, there might later be gifts – such as legacies under wills written before the merger – which fall due to charity A after it has ceased to exist. Subsection (2) provides that such a gift takes effect as if the gift had originally been made to charity B rather than charity A. Subsection (3) provides an exclusion from this provision for gifts that are to be held as permanent endowment.
Section 45: Regulation of public charitable collections
184.This section and the following 21 sections comprise Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Act, which provide for the regulation of public charitable, philanthropic and benevolent collections. They build on provisions in Part 3 of the 1992 Act. Part 3 of the 1992 Act was never brought into effect, and will be replaced by these provisions. The arrangements currently in force for regulating public charitable collections derive (in the case of street collections) from a law of 1916 and (in the case of house to house collections) from a law of 1939.
185.Subsection (1) of section 45 defines the two types of public charitable collection: collections in a public place, and door to door collections. Subsections (2), (3) and (4) provide for the definitions relevant to this Chapter, including that a charitable appeal in this context covers an appeal for philanthropic and benevolent purposes, and that giving money for the purposes of a charitable appeal covers giving by whatever means, including by direct debit. Subsections (5) and (6) provide definitions relevant to this section, including the definition of public place.
Section 46: Charitable appeals that are not public charitable collections
186.This section defines charitable appeals that are not public charitable collections and therefore do not come under this licensing scheme. It reflects section 65(2) of the 1992 Act, with the addition of subsections (1)(c) and (2) which specifically exclude any appeal on land to which the public has unrestricted access, either because of the express or implied permission of the occupier of the land or where the public has a statutory right of access, for example under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, and where the occupier is the promoter of the collection. This provision is intended to exclude collections undertaken by organisations such as the National Trust on their own land from the scope of the scheme.
Section 47: Other definitions for the purposes of this Chapter
187.This section provides further definitions for the purposes of this Chapter.
Section 48: Restrictions on conducting collections in a public place
188.This section sets out the restrictions on collecting in a public place. Subsection (1) provides that a collection in a public place cannot be undertaken unless the organisation (a) holds a public collections certificate (granted under section 52) and (b) has obtained a permit from the relevant local authority (granted under section 59).
189.Subsection (2) exempts from these requirements collections in a public place which are local short-term collections, provided for by section 50.
190.Subsection (3) provides that where a promoter undertakes a collection in a public place, other than an exempt local short-term collection, without a public collections certificate and a permit the promoter is guilty of an offence and is liable for a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000).
Section 49: Restrictions on conducting door to door collections
191.This section provides in subsection (1) that a collection by means of visits door to door cannot be undertaken unless the organisation (a) holds a public collections certificate (granted under section 52) and (b) has (within a period to be prescribed in regulations) notified the local authority of the matters mentioned in subsection (3) of this section and has provided the local authority with a copy of its public collections certificate.
192.Subsection (2) exempts from these requirements door to door collections which are exempt as local short-term collections, provided for by section 48.
193.Subsection (4) provides that where a door to door collection, which is not an exempt local short-term collection, is undertaken without a public collections certificate and without notifying the local authority of the matters referred to in subsection (3) the promoter is guilty of an offence and is liable for a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000)
194.Subsection (5) provides a separate offence with a lesser maximum penalty if the door to door collection appeal is for goods only.
Section 50: Exemption for local short-term collections
195.This section sets out the conditions under which a collection would be exempt from the requirement to obtain a public collections certificate and (for collections in a public place) a permit to collect.
196.Subsection (1) provides for collections that are exempt from the requirement to obtain a public collections certificate and, in the case of a collection in a public place, a permit. An exempt collection is one (a) that is a local, short-term collection as defined in subsection (2), and (b) where the promoters notify the local authority in whose area the collection is to take place of the matters set out in subsection (3) within the prescribed period before the first day of the proposed collection. However, if the local authority serve a notice on the promoters under subsection (4), as described in paragraph 199, the collection will not be an exempt collection.
197.Subsection (2) provides that a collection is a local, short-term collection if the appeal is local in character and does not exceed the prescribed period. Regulations under section 63 will prescribe matters that local authorities must take into account in determining whether an appeal is local in character.
198.Promoters would notify the local authority in whose area the collection was to take place. A collection is only an exempt collection for the purposes of this section if the local authority has not notified the promoter under subsection (1) within the prescribed period preceding the date of the collection that the collection does not qualify as a local, short-term collection. The power for local authorities to determine that a collection is not exempt, and provision for service of that decision, is contained in subsection (4). A local authority may serve such a notice where it appears to the authority that the proposed collection is not a local, short-term collection, or that the promoter has breached regulations or been convicted of a relevant offence. A right of appeal against such a decision is provided in section 62(1).
199.Subsection (6) provides that where a promoter undertakes an exempt local short-term collection without complying with the notification requirements in this section, the promoter is guilty of an offence and is liable for a fine of up to level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000).
Section 51: Applications for certificates
200.Subsection (1) enables a person proposing to undertake public charitable collections (other than exempt local short-term collections) to apply to the Charity Commission for a public collections certificate. That would be the first stage in the process. The second stage of the process, once a public collections certificate had been issued, would involve either the submission of an application to the local authority for a permit for a collection in a public place (section 58) or, for a door to door collection, notification to the local authority about the collection (section 49).
201.Subsection (2) provides for the time period for the application to be specified in regulations, but enables the Charity Commission to allow individual applications at shorter notice, for example applications related to an urgent disaster appeal.
202.Subsection (3) provides for the information which must be submitted as part of the application process, and enables the applicant to seek in the application a period for which the certificate would be in force of up to five years. Subsections (5) and (6) set out how the Commission may make regulations for the purposes of this section.
Section 52: Determination of applications and issue of certificates
203.Subsections (1) and (2) provide that on receiving an application (section 51) the Charity Commission may make such inquiries as it thinks fit, and after making such inquiries determine the application by either issuing the certificate, or refusing the application on grounds specified in section 53.
204.Subsection (3) provides for the certificate itself: the matters it must specify are to be provided for in regulations, and its duration is to be the period (up to five years) specified in the application, or such shorter period as the Charity Commission thinks fit.
205.Subsections (4), (5), and (6) enable the Charity Commission to attach conditions to a public collections certificate it issues. The conditions would have to be consistent with the provisions of regulations made under section 63.
206.Where the Charity Commission refuses to issue a certificate, or issues a certificate with conditions, it must serve notice on the applicant and set out its reasons (subsection (7)), including setting out the right of appeal conferred by section 57 and the time limits within which to appeal (subsection (8)).
Section 53: Grounds for refusing to issue a public collections certificate
207.This section sets out the grounds the Charity Commission may rely on for refusing to award a public collections certificate.
208.The grounds available in subsection (1) include grounds which are equivalent to the grounds provided by paragraphs (c) to (g) of section 69(1) of the 1992 Act. In addition there are new grounds: (1)(d) where the Commission is not satisfied that due diligence will be exercised in respect of a collection; (1)(g) where the applicant has failed to provide information; (1)(h) where it appears to the Commission that the information provided is false or misleading; (1)(i) where conditions attached to a certificate have been breached, or conditions attached to a permit persistently breached; (1)(j) where it appears to the Commission that the applicant or anyone authorised by him has breached a provision of regulations made under section 63.
209.Subsection (2) sets out (a) relevant offences that may lead to refusal to issue a certificate, and (b) the due diligence required by subsections (1)(c) and (1)(d).
210.Subsections (4), (5), and (6) are based on sections 69(3)(b) and (4) of the 1992 Act. They enable the consideration of the required due diligence (set out in subsection (2)(b) of this section) in connection with collections which were carried out under legislation and regulations that pre-date this legislation.
211.Subsection (7) provides that all types of collections under this Chapter can be considered for the purposes of assessing whether due diligence was exercised in connection with past collections (at subsection (1)(c)). Subsection (8) provides definitions for this section that replicate section 69(5) of the 1992 Act.
Section 54: Power to call for information and documents
212.This section provides a power for the Charity Commission to request information or documents held by applicants or certificate holders where the information or documents are relevant to the exercise of its functions under this Chapter.
Section 55: Transfer of certificates between trustees of unincorporated charity
213.This section provides a fast-track method for unincorporated charities to transfer a public collections certificate between trustees. It enables the Charity Commission to direct that a public collections certificate in force be transferred from its holder(s) to another trustee(s) within the same unincorporated charity, where the holder(s) is (or was) a trustee of the charity, and the recipient(s) and the charity trustees consent to the transfer. Subsections (4) and (5) require the Commission, where it refuses to make a direction under this section, to give notice of its refusal, of its reasons for refusal, and of the fact that there is a right of appeal (conferred by section 57(2)). Subsection (7) provides that a public collections certificate is not transferable otherwise than under this section.
Section 56: Withdrawal of, or addition or variation of conditions in, certificates
214.Subsection (1) of this section enables the Charity Commission to withdraw or suspend a public collections certificate, or to attach or vary conditions to such a certificate in force, where subsection (2), (3) or (4) applies. Subsection (6) provides that the Commission’s exercise of its powers in subsection (1) does not prevent the Commission from exercising the powers on subsequent occasions, taking account of any conditions it had previously applied to a certificate. The service of notice of a decision, including the provision of reasons and notice of the right of appeal, is provided for in subsections (7) and (8).
215.Subsection (10) provides that a decision by the Commission under subsection (1) to withdraw or suspend a certificate, or add conditions or vary such conditions, will not take effect until the time for bringing an appeal has expired or, if an appeal is brought, until its conclusion. However, subsection (9) enables the Commission to exercise its powers under subsection (1) with immediate effect where it considers it is in the public interest to do so.
216.Subsection (11) provides that a suspension under subsection (1) shall, subject to any appeal or withdrawal of the certificate, be for no longer than six months, unless the Commission decides sooner to remove the suspension.
Section 57: Appeals against decisions of the Commission
217.This section sets out the rights of appeal against Charity Commission decisions relating to public collections certificates.
218.Subsection (1) specifies the right of appeal for applicants. Subsections (2) and (3) set out the rights of appeal for certificate holders. The Lord Chancellor’s rules for the Tribunal will set out the period within which these rights of appeal may be exercised following the Charity Commission’s service of the relevant notification on the person in question. Subsection (4) provides for the Attorney General to appeal to the Tribunal against a decision of the Commission. Subsections (5), (6) and (7) provide for the decisions that the Tribunal may make in respect of such appeals.
Section 58: Applications for permits to conduct public charitable collections in a public place
219.This section sets out the process for applications to local authorities for a permit to conduct a collection in a public place. It builds upon the provisions of section 67 of the 1992 Act. Subsection (1) provides that promoters of exempt collections as defined in section 50 do not need to apply for a permit. Likewise a permit is not required for door to door collections, as these are less likely to lead to undue inconvenience to members of the public. Otherwise all collections in a public place require an application for a permit to the local authority in which the collection is proposed to take place. Subsection (3) sets out the information required on the application, some of which will be prescribed in regulations. Subsection (2) sets out the applications process, the timetable for which will be prescribed in regulations. Subsection (4) makes provision for urgent permit applications outside the prescribed period in circumstances where either the public collections certificate application has not been determined by the end of the permit application period, or where it has been determined but with insufficient time for a permit application to be made within the prescribed period.
Section 59: Determination of applications and issue of permits
220.This section builds on the provisions in section 68 of the 1992 Act. It defines the process for local authorities’ determining and issuing of permits to collect in a public place. Subsection (1) provides for the local authority within a prescribed period to issue a permit, or refuse to issue a permit on the grounds of capacity set out in section 60. Subsection (2) provides for the date(s) of collection(s). Subsection (3) enables local authorities to attach conditions to a permit. The types of conditions that local authorities can apply are limited to those within paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (3). Subsection (4) provides that any condition attached to a permit must be consistent with regulations made under section 63. Subsections (5) and (6) require a local authority, where it has decided to refuse or to attach any condition to a permit, to give notice of its decision to the applicant; and the notice must state that the applicant has the right of appeal to the magistrates’ court conferred by section 62.
Section 60: Refusal of permits
221.This section builds on section 69(1)(a) and (b), and 69(2) of the 1992 Act. It sets out, in subsection (1) , the ground that local authorities may rely on to refuse to award a permit to conduct a collection in a public place, which is that allowing the collection to go ahead would cause undue inconvenience to members of the public, due to the reasons set out in paragraphs (a) to (d). Subsection (2) enables the local authority to have regard to collections that have already been authorised in determining whether the proposed collection would cause undue inconvenience. Subsection (3) precludes local authorities having regard under subsection (2) to collections which take place in one location on land to which the public has access by virtue of the owner’s permission or of any enactment, and where the occupier consents to the collections. Subsection (4) specifies which existing authorised collections local authorities can consider in deciding whether to grant or refuse a permit.
Section 61: Withdrawal or variation etc. of permits
222.This section is based on the provisions of section 70 of the 1992 Act, with the addition of subsections (4) and (6). Subsection (1) enables a local authority to withdraw a permit, or attach or vary conditions to a permit, on the grounds specified in subsections (2), (3), or (4). Subsection (6) provides that the local authority’s exercise of its powers does not prevent it from exercising the powers on subsequent occasions, taking account of any conditions it had previously attached or varied.
223.Subsections (7) and (8) require a local authority, where it has decided to withdraw, or to attach a condition to, or to vary an existing condition on, a permit, to give notice of its decision to the applicant; and the notice must state that the applicant has the right of appeal to the magistrates’ court conferred by section 62.
224.Subsection (9) requires local authorities to notify the Charity Commission of a withdrawal of a permit. Subsection (10) provides that where a local authority withdraws or attaches or varies the conditions on a permit in force, the decision would not take effect until the time limit for bringing an appeal had expired or an appeal had been concluded.
Section 62: Appeals against decisions of local authority
225.This section sets out, in subsections (1), (2), and (3) the rights of appeal to magistrates’ courts against local authority decisions. It builds on the provisions of section 71 of the 1992 Act.
226.Subsections (4) and (5) provide that the proceedings are subject to the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, and set out the timetable for the appeal. Subsection (6) provides for an appeal against the decision of the magistrates’ court to the Crown Court. Subsections (7) and (8) provide the remedies available to the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court in such appeals. Subsection (9) places a local authority under a duty to comply with the directions of the court, although in the case of directions given by the magistrates’ court this is stayed until the time for bringing an appeal to the Crown Court has expired, or any appeal before the Crown Court has been concluded.
Section 63: Regulations
227.Subsections (1) to (3) of this section contains provision, similar to section 73 of the 1992 Act, for the regulations which the Minister for the Cabinet Office may make in relation to public charitable collections.Subsection (5) enables the regulations made under this section to provide that failure to comply with a specified provision of the regulations be an offence, with a maximum penalty of a level 2 fine (currently £500) for the offence. Subsection (6) requires consultation prior to the making of regulations under this section.
Section 64: Offences
228.This section provides for the same offences as section 74 of the 1992 Act in respect of charitable collections. Subsection (2) of this section is wider than that of the 1992 Act, as it includes the different types of applications and notifications proposed in the Act. The maximum penalty of a level 5 fine (currently £5,000) provided for by subsection (3) of this section is higher than the corresponding maximum penalties in section 74 of the 1992 Act.
Section 65: Offences by bodies corporate
229.This section reflects section 75 of the 1992 Act, for the purposes of this Chapter and regulations made under it. It specifies the circumstances in which officers of corporate bodies, as well as the corporate body itself, are guilty of an offence.
Section 66: Service of documents
230.This section reflects section 76 of the 1992 Act, for the purposes of this Chapter. It specifies the requirements for serving notices to persons or corporate bodies under this Chapter. In the case of a person other than a body corporate, these include delivering it to the person, leaving it at his last known address in the UK, or posting it to him at that address. A notice may be served on a body corporate by delivering or sending it to the body’s registered or principal office in the UK or, if the body does not have such an office in the UK, any place where it carries on its business. A person or corporate body may also notify a specific address for the service of notices under this Chapter.
Section 67: Statements indicating benefits for charitable institutions and fund-raisers
231.This section amends section 60 of the 1992 Act.
232.Subsections (2) and (3) read with subsection (5) amend sections 60(1)(c) and 60(2)(c) of the 1992 Act to require a professional fundraiser to state the amount of his remuneration in connection with an appeal; or, if that amount is not known at the time of the appeal, to give as accurate an estimate of the amount as is reasonably possible in the circumstances. Currently a professional fundraiser is required to state only in general terms the method by which his remuneration is determined, which has in practice been imprecise and has offered little assistance to those it was designed to help.
233.Subsection (4) amends section 60(3)(c) of the Charities Act 1992, which requires a commercial participator to make a general statement outlining the method of determining the benefit to the charitable institution or institutions concerned. Subsection (4) substitutes for section 60(3)(c) a revised section 60(3)(c) which, when read with the amendment made by subsection (5), requires the statement to indicate:
the amount (or an estimate of the amount if the amount is not known at the time) of the consideration given for goods or services sold or supplied by the commercial participator which is to be given to or applied for the benefit of the charitable institution or institutions concerned;
the amount (or an estimate of the amount if the actual amount is not known at the time) of the proceeds of the promotional venture undertaken by a commercial participator which are to be given to or applied for the benefit of the charitable institution or institutions concerned;
where an agreement with a commercial participator has been made authorising him to represent that charitable contributions are to be given to or applied for the benefit of the institution concerned, the statement would indicate the amount (or an estimate of the amount if the amount is not known at the time) of the sums given by way of donation in connection with the sale or supply of goods or services which are to be given to or applied for the benefit of the charitable institution or institutions concerned.
234.Subsection (5) provides for a new subsection (3A) to be inserted after subsection (3) of section 60 of the 1992 Act. New subsection (3A) provides that the notifiable amount of remuneration is the actual amount if that is known at the time of the statement, otherwise an estimated amount of the remuneration or sum, calculated as accurately as possible in all the circumstances.
Section 68: Statements indicating benefits for charitable institutions and collectors
235.This section inserts new sections 60A and 60B into the 1992 Act. They provide that where paid employees, officers, or trustees of a charity or connected company are acting as collectors, they must make a statement when making appeals.
236.New section 60A makes provision for collectors who are paid employees, officers, or trustees of a charity or connected company and who are soliciting a donation for a charitable institution or charitable, philanthropic or benevolent purpose.
237.Subsection (4) of new section 60A specifies the information that must be given in a statement where the collector is soliciting a donation for one or more specific charitable institutions. Subsection (5) specifies the information that must be given where the collector is soliciting for a charitable, philanthropic, or benevolent purpose, rather than for a specific institution. Cabinet Office guidance will set out forms of statements that could be used.
238.Subsections (6) and (7) define which persons are covered by this section. Subsection (8) provides an offence for failure to comply with these provisions, conviction for which carries a maximum penalty of a level 5 fine (currently £5,000). Subsection (9) applies the defence in s.60(8) of the 1992 Act, which refers to the taking of reasonable precautions and the exercising of due diligence.
239.New section 60B provides an exclusion for lower-paid collectors from the requirements in section 60A. It is based on section 58(3) of the 1992 Act, which provides the same exclusion for lower-paid professional fundraisers. Subsections (2) and (5) specify the earnings limits. Subsection (6) provides an order-making power for the Minister for the Cabinet Office to vary the earnings limits in this section.
Section 69: Reserve power to control fund-raising by charitable institutions
240.The Government accepted the Strategy Unit recommendation that a self-regulatory initiative should be established based on a new voluntary Code of Practice which would promote and raise awareness of good practice in fundraising. The Institute of Fundraising sponsored an independent Commission (“The Buse Commission”) to explore different models for a system of self-regulation, to consult and to recommend a preferred model. Proposals for the scheme were published early in 2005, and the Fundraising Standards Board(9) launched to the charity sector in summer 2006. It is expected to launch to the public early in 2007. The Government believes that self-regulation should be the first resort in improving fundraising standards and practices. The advantage of self-regulation in that area is that fundraising organisations would be centrally involved in devising and implementing regulation and would be more committed to it. However, the Minister for the Cabinet Office retains the power to impose statutory regulation should self-regulation prove to be ineffective: it is section 67 that empowers the Minister for the Cabinet Office to do that. In 2005 the Government consulted on the principles for assessing the success of the self-regulation of fundraising. The consultation has now closed, but copies of the consultation paper and the Government’s response outlining the success criteria that will be used are available at http://communities.homeoffice.gov.uk/activecomms/charity-law-and-reg/reg-pub-charitable-collect/.
241.Subsection (1) of this section confers a new power on the Minister for the Cabinet Office by inserting a new section 64A into the 1992 Act. The power is to make regulations to control charity fundraising (defined in new section 64A(2)) if the Minister for the Cabinet Office deems it necessary or desirable. In particular, the regulations may impose a good practice requirement on persons managing charitable institutions (in charities those persons are the charity trustees). Such regulations would be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
242.Subsections (4) and (5) of new section 64A, read together, define the good practice requirement. The power enables, under subsection (6), the regulations to provide that persistent failure to comply with the regulations constitutes an offence the penalty for which, on summary conviction, is a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale (currently £500).
Section 70: Power of relevant Minister to give financial assistance to charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institutions
243.This section gives a “ relevant Minister” (ie a Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office) an express statutory power to give financial assistance to organisations that are established for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes. This power extends to funding only those activities which benefit the whole or any part of England. Government funding of similar organisations operating in Wales is devolved to the National Assembly for Wales (see section 71).
244.Under section 70 the Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office may give financial assistance in any form (subsection (2)). Such assistance may be given subject to terms and conditions (subsections (3) and (4)). The Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office may delegate his functions under this section (subsections (6) and (7)). He must report annually on any exercise of the power conferred by this section (subsections (8) and (9)).
Section 71: Power of the National Assembly for Wales to give financial assistance to charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institutions
245.This section gives the National Assembly for Wales an express statutory power to give financial assistance to organisations that are established for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes. This power extends to funding only those activities which directly or indirectly benefit the whole or part of Wales.
246.Under section 71 the Assembly may give financial assistance in any form (subsection (2)). Such assistance may be given subject to terms and conditions (subsections (3) and (4)). The Assembly may delegate its functions under this section (subsections (6) and (7)).
247.The Assembly must report annually on the exercise of the power under this section (subsection (8)).
Section 72: Disclosure of Information to and by Northern Ireland Regulator
248.Charity law reform is under way in Northern Ireland, through the vehicle of the draft Charities (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 which was published in July 2006. Section 72 of the Act gives Ministers a power to make regulations authorising public bodies to disclose information to the proposed new Northern Ireland charity regulator (if and when it comes into existence), to put that regulator on a par with the charity regulators in the other UK territories. This could not be provided for in the Northern Ireland order since it needs to authorise bodies outside Northern Ireland to disclose information to the Northern Ireland charity regulator
249.Subsection (1) provides that this section only applies if a charity regulator is established in Northern Ireland. Subsection (2) provides the regulation-making power. Subsection (3), and subsections (5) to (8), make specific provision for the disclosure of Revenue and Customs Information which mirror the restrictions on the disclosure of such information to and from other UK charity regulators.
250.Any regulations made under the power in section 72 would be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
Section 73: Report on the operation of this Act
251.Section 73 requires the Minister for the Cabinet Office to institute a review of the operation of the Act within five years after Royal Assent (subsection (1)).
252.Subsection (2) sets out particular matters that the review must address. The reviewer must compile a report of his conclusions (subsection (3)), and the Minister for the Cabinet Office must lay a copy of the report before Parliament (subsection (4)).
Section 74: Orders and regulations
253.The Act contains a number of provisions giving the Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office power to make orders and regulations. Section 74 applies to any orders and regulations the Secretary of State or Minister for the Cabinet Office makes under the Act.
254.Subsection (2) is a common-form provision setting out matters for which orders or regulations may provide.
255.Subsections (3) to (5) distinguish between regulations which are subject to the “negative resolution” procedure and those which are subject to “affirmative resolution”. The distinction is essentially that “negative resolution” regulations take effect as soon as they are made, but can be cancelled if Parliament passes a resolution striking them down, while “affirmative resolution” regulations need a positive resolution from Parliament to bring them into effect. Regulations and orders made under powers listed in paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (4) require the “affirmative resolution” procedure; all other orders and regulations except for commencement orders made under section 79, are to be made by the “negative resolution” procedure.
Section 75: Amendments, repeals and transitional provisions
256.Subsections (4) and (5) of this section are standard provisions in many Acts, giving the Minister for the Cabinet Office or Secretary of State an order-making power which allows him to make supplementary etc. provision for the purposes of this Act or for giving full effect to it. An order under subsection (4) may modify any “enactment”, which includes both primary and secondary legislation.
Section 76: Pre-consolidation amendments
257.This section provides the Minister for the Cabinet Office with an order-making power to facilitate the consolidation of charities legislation in whole or in part. Subsection (1) specifies the power. Subsections (2), (3) and (4) provide for the timing for such an order to come into force, and limit the use of this power so that it may not be re-exercised once an order made under this section has come into force.
Section 77: Amendments reflecting changes in company law audit provisions
258.This section provides the Minister for the Cabinet Office with an order-making power to amend the Charities Act 1993 and this Act to reflect changes in company law.
259.During the passage of the Companies Bill in the 2005-6 Session of Parliament amendments were tabled the effect of which would have been to take small charitable companies out of the company law régime for accounts scrutiny and to place them within the charity law régime. The Government accepted that there was merit in the idea of changing the treatment of small charitable companies so that, as far as their accounts scrutiny was concerned, they would in future be required to comply with the requirements of charity law rather than those of company law. Amendments were made in the Companies Bill (now the Companies Act 2006) to achieve that, but changes are also required in the Charities Act 1993 and this Act. This order-making power will enable those changes to be made.
260.The power also allows for the group accounting requirements to be changed so that, for the preparation of group accounts, a group of charities headed by a charitable company is put in the same position as a group headed by any other form of charity (subsection (1)(b)).
The order-making power in this section is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
Section 78: Interpretation
261.This section supplies the meaning of various words and phrases where used in this Act..
Section 79: Commencement
262.Subsection (1) brings this section, and the other provisions listed in this subsection, into effect on the date the Act received the Royal Assent. Subsection (2) provides for the remainder of the Act to be brought into force by order – known as a commencement order - made by the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Subsection (3) allows him to make commencement orders bringing different provisions of the Act into force on different dates.
Section 80: Short title and extent
263.All provisions in the Act extend to England and Wales. Subsections (3) and (4) specify which provisions of this Act also extend to Scotland. Subsections (5) and (6) specify the provisions of the Act that also extend to Northern Ireland. In general, amendments and repeals of provisions extending to Scotland or Northern Ireland will similarly extend there (see subsections (7) to (9)).
SI 2005/572Back
Modern Company Law: Final Report, para. 4.63ff
Box 5.3 on page 58 – see footnote 1 for the web address of the Strategy Unit’s report
paras. 4.14-15 – see footnote 2 for the web address of the Government’s response to the Strategy Unit report | <urn:uuid:6f56627d-7329-44f4-95dc-de46ab1140ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/50/notes/division/4 | 2013-05-19T18:35:01Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941246 | 24,891 |
US 8086578 B2
An encrypted file storage solution consists of a cluster of processing nodes, external data storage, and a software agent (the “File System Watcher”), which is installed on the application servers. Cluster sizes of one node up to many hundreds of nodes are possible. There are also remote “Key Servers” which provide various services to one or more clusters. The preceding describes a preferred embodiment, though in some cases it may be desirable to “collapse” some of the functionality into a smaller number of hardware devices, typically trading off cost versus security and fault-tolerance.
1. A computer-implemented method of storing data files, comprising:
receiving data files for storage;
serializing the files by assigning an associative serial number to each file;
creating an associative cryptographic hash of each file;
generating a first list of the serialized associative cryptographic hashes of the received files;
closing the first list after a predetermined time interval;
determining an associative cryptographic hash of the closed first list;
storing the closed list in a first storage;
iteratively generating, closing, and storing subsequent lists of serialized associative cryptographic hashes of received files, wherein the first element of each subsequent list is the associative cryptographic hash of the last closed list;
re-computing the associative cryptographic hash of a closed list;
verifying the authenticity of a closed list by comparing the recorded associative cryptographic hash of the closed list in a subsequent list to the re-computed cryptographic hash of the closed list; and
reporting an error when the comparison indicates a mismatch.
2. The computer-implemented method of
3. The computer-implemented method of
4. The computer-implemented method of
re-computing the associative cryptographic hash of a list stored in the second storage;
verifying the authenticity of the list in the second storage, by comparing the recorded associative cryptographic hash of the list in a subsequent list to the re-computed associative cryptographic hash of the list; and
reporting an error when the comparison indicates a mismatch.
5. The computer-implemented method of
encrypting at least one of the files received for storage with an encryption key,
recording a record of the serial number of the encryption key used and the associated cryptographic hash of the at least one file in a key manager.
6. The computer-implemented method of
7. The computer-implemented method of
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/463,461, filed Aug. 9, 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/706,425 filed Aug. 9, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates generally to file storage and management. More particularly, the present invention relates to storage of files in a secure file system to provide accurate date registration of files, content authentication, and immutability. Encryption of the files can also be implemented to provide security and to allow encryption based deletion of files.
Many corporate and government entities collect data, and are governed by regulations dictating how the data is to be stored and retained. Different types of data are subject to different types of regulations. Data must often be secured against manipulation, so that it is difficult or impossible for changes to be made to the data without the creation of an audit trail.
Numerous financial reporting regulations require that certain types of data must be maintained for a fixed time period for examination be regulatory bodies. Other data, such as customer financial data or medical records, must be secured against accidental release, and must only be maintained for a defined time period. This can create difficulties for entities that must maintain one set of data for a first time period, and another set of data that cannot be stored for longer than a shorter time period.
In most corporate environments, data is stored on a centralized file system. Safeguards, such as access rights, can be implemented to allow segregated or tiered access to the various types of data on the server. For data security, the central file repository is typically backed-up to provide recovery ability in the event of catastrophic data loss. Backing-up the data typically results in all data being stored on a single backup media element such as a tape. This backup must them be stored for two competing storage times. Some of the data must be preserved, while other data should not be.
Furthermore, if court proceedings or an audit are ongoing, destruction of the backup to allow the required deletion is not permitted. This may result in a requirement for indefinite retention of documents associated with a particular case. It is exceedingly difficult to search through every storage device and piece of backup media to find the data of interest, and of course, for the duration of the order all such media must be preserved. Failure to comply completely has resulted in the most extreme sanctions, and in some cases may lead to criminal prosecution. On the other hand, any given piece of backup media may have information on it relating to thousands or millions of cases unrelated to the court order, the indefinite preservation of which leads to said unrelated data not being destroyed when it is prudent or legally necessary to do so.
The problem is compounded by the fact that it is usually necessary to “restore” a backup tape (i.e. copy it back to hard disk) to be able to search through its content for information of interest. In addition to being labor-intensive and time consuming, it typically requires a duplicate set of hardware upon which to perform the restore operation as the system that created the data is likely to be fully utilized in the day-to-day running of the business. Many times the deadlines for producing documents are on the order of 48 hours, which is typically insufficient to load and search every backup tape in a typical enterprise.
The conventional data center paradigm consists of servers, external primary storage (typically connected via a Storage Area Network), and backup tape drives (usually in the form of a “library” which is a robotic assembly holding a few tape drives and dozens or hundreds of tape media cassettes). This is inadequate for compliance with many regulations for a number of reasons.
The system administrator of a storage network has sufficient access rights so that he may covertly add, delete, or modify any business record in such a way that forensic examination is unlikely to reveal this activity. In a large corporation, there may be many individuals with administrator rights, so even if it was known that tampering had taken place, it would be impossible to determine who was responsible (or indeed, that it was a deliberate act at all and not an accident or software malfunction). Furthermore, for the reasons mentioned above it is not practical to accurately enforce document retention periods as there is no way to “surgically” delete a given record from a piece of backup media.
Conventional data centers do not encrypt the data on the primary storage devices nor the backup media, making them vulnerable to hackers or the loss or physical theft of backup media as it is in transit to the storage facility.
Attempts have been made to address these shortcomings in the conventional data center. One commonly used approach is to store business records on so-called “WORM” (Write Once Read Many) media, which is perceived to be more secure than ordinary computer media. However, the WORM approach has several serious weaknesses. Firstly, WORM media tends to be slow and unreliable. Second, in order to have a given document retention period, it is necessary to group documents together with similar expiry dates on a given piece of WORM media so that it can be destroyed as a unit on the appropriate date (e.g. by shredding or burning). The segmentation of data prior to backup is difficult to achieve in practice. Unfortunately, if a court or regulatory order is found to apply to a single file on the WORM media (which may be many gigabytes in size and hold millions of files), the entire WORM media must be preserved even if it is desirable or necessary to destroy the remaining files. Furthermore, the perceived tamper-resistance of WORM media is largely an illusion as it is a simple technical exercise to copy the contents of a WORM media to the perpetrator's computer, modify anything desired on the copy, and re-write the adulterated data back to a fresh piece of WORM media and substitute this new media for the old media. Lastly, since WORM media is typically stored off-line (e.g. in a box in a closet), there is no automated way to audit the data for completeness and stability. When the time comes to present the data to a court or regulator, only then it may be discovered to be unreadable or incomplete.
To address the limitations of WORM media, a new type of storage equipment was developed, specifically designed for the needs of fixed content data. Some variants were subsequently developed which added additional anti-tamper technologies, said variants commonly referred to as “compliant storage” devices.
A typical “compliant storage” device is the Centera™, manufactured by EMC Corporation. Although it addresses some limitations of conventional storage devices, such as providing assurance that data was not inadvertently modified or deliberately tampered with, it does not address all the issues. Data is not encrypted while inside the unit, thus it would be insecure to allow the data to be backed up to tape or optical media. Furthermore, the architecture requires integration with the proprietary Centera Application Programming Interface (API) which does not include an industry-standard access mechanism for reading or writing data. Lastly, it does not provide any mechanism by which a neutral third party can attest to the completeness or the records under management nor the times and dates said records were created.
Another limitation of prior art “compliant storage” devices is they lack any features, which allow the automated gathering of assets from mobile computing devices (e.g. laptop computers), or remote branch offices. A further limitation of these devices is that the provide no mechanism for deletion of files on offline media such as optical platters or tape.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a file storage solution that provides encrypted storage with the ability to erase expired information but without providing an opportunity to modify data or the contents of the system without leaving a secure audit trail.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one disadvantage of previous encrypted file storage and archiving solutions.
In a first aspect there is provided a computer-implemented method of archiving data files. The method comprises serializing the files by assigning an associative serial number to each file; storing each file and its associative serial number to a first storage; and verifying the presence of each stored file serially using the stored associative serial numbers and reporting an error if a file is missing. Serializing the files by assigning the associative serial number to each file can further comprise attaching a server identification field to the associative serial number to indicate the server that issued the associative serial number.
According to embodiments, the method can further comprise receiving the files from a client, and/or creating an associative cryptographic hash of each file; storing the associative cryptographic hash of each file to the first storage; re-computing the associative cryptographic hash of a given file; and verifying the authenticity of the given file by comparing its respective stored associative cryptographic hash to the re-computed cryptographic hash. The method can also further comprise reporting an error when the comparison indicates a mismatch. The method can also further comprise providing the associative serial number for retrieval of a corresponding stored file, such as by means of a HTTP symbolic link; and retrieving the corresponding stored file.
According to further embodiments, the method can further comprise periodically replicating the first storage to a second storage. If an error is reported indicating a file is missing from the first storage, the presence of the missing file can be verified in the second storage. If an error is reported indicating a mismatch in the first storage, the authenticity of the mismatched file can be verified in the second storage.
In a second aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method of storing data files. The method comprises receiving data files for storage; serializing the files by assigning an associative serial number to each file; creating an associative cryptographic hash of each file; generating a first list of the serialized associative cryptographic hashes of the received files; closing the first list after a predetermined time interval; determining an associative cryptographic hash of the closed first list; storing the closed list in a first storage; and iteratively generating, closing, and storing subsequent lists of serialized associative cryptographic hashes of received files, wherein the first element of each subsequent list is the associative cryptographic hash of the last closed list. The lists can be closed after a predetermined number of associative cryptographic hashes have been recorded.
The closed lists can be periodically stored in a second storage for verification, and the method can further comprise re-computing the associative cryptographic hash of a list stored in the second storage; verifying the authenticity of the list in the second storage, by comparing the recorded associative cryptographic hash of the list in a subsequent list to the re-computed associative cryptographic hash of the list; and reporting an error when the comparison indicates a mismatch.
The method can further comprise re-computing the associative cryptographic hash of a list; verifying the authenticity of a list by comparing the recorded associative cryptographic hash of the list in a subsequent list to the re-computed cryptographic hash of the list; and reporting an error when the comparison indicates a mismatch.
The method can further comprise encrypting at least one of the files received for storage with an encryption key; and recording a record of the serial number of the encryption key used and the associated cryptographic hash of the at least one file in a key manager. And additionally, generating unique encryption keys in a key server; obtaining the unique encryption key from the key server for encrypting the at least one of the files received for storage; and recording the record of the serial number of the encryption key used and the associated cryptographic hash of the at least one file in the key server.
The method can also comprise assigning a minimum retention date and expiry date for each file received for storage; generating a list of stored files ready for deletion according to the minimum retention date and expiry date; and deleting the stored files and their associative parts in the list upon approval.
According to another aspect, there is provided a computer-implemented method of archiving data, comprising: receiving data files for storage from a client node; encrypting each file received for storage with a unique encryption key; generating a list of one or more files for deletion; and deleting the one or more files in the list by deleting their respective unique encryption keys. The method can comprise generating and storing a database of unique encryption keys in one or more key containers; and encrypting the one or more key containers with a master key.
The method can further comprise creating an associative cryptographic hash of each file received; creating an associative cryptographic hash of each encrypted file; storing each encrypted file and its associative cryptographic hash to a first storage; re-computing the associative cryptographic hash of a given encrypted file; verifying the authenticity of the given encrypted file by comparing its stored associative cryptographic hash to its re-computed cryptographic hash; and reporting an error when the comparison indicates a mismatch.
Similarly, the method can comprise creating an associative cryptographic hash of each file received; storing the associative cryptographic hash of each file received; creating an associative cryptographic hash for each file on the client site; comparing each associative cryptographic hash of each file on the client site to the list of one or more files for deletion; and notifying a client of the existence of uncontrolled copies of one or more files marked for deletion.
The method can also comprise retiring a master key after a predetermined period of time. Retiring the master key includes obtaining a new master key; decrypting the one or more key containers with the master key; encrypting the one or more key containers with the new master key; and locking away the master key.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:
Generally, the present invention provides a method and system for long term archiving of files as digital assets.
Elements of the system described below can be implemented in a modular fashion without departing from the present invention. Thus features can be added and removed fro the system without necessarily departing from the intended scope of the present invention.
The system of the present invention provides the ability to have storage profiles based on any number of criteria including the user that creates the file, a directory that the file is placed into, and other criteria that will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
To allow data security to be addressed, the present invention makes use of data encryption on a unique key per file basis. When a file enters the data archiving system of the present invention, it is encrypted and stored as an asset. A unique file identifier (uFID) is calculated from the contents of the asset, and is maintained in a database. The uFID is preferably determined in accordance with the contents of the file so that it is unique for a given file. A serial number is also assigned to the asset. The metadata can include a creation date, and other information that can be used to determine the retention length of the file. In one embodiment of the present invention, the uFID, the serial number and other information associated with the asset is stored a list-formatted file called a “manifest”.
The serialization of assets in a manifest allows an audit at a later date to ensure that the data record is complete. The manifest itself can be stored in the file system as a file that will be converted into an asset. Thus, listed in each manifest is the previous manifest. The removal of a serialized entry in a manifest will be noticeable by the gap in the numbering, while the task of renumbering all subsequent entries is made difficult by the incorporation of each manifest into the subsequent manifest. Tampering with a manifest can be made more difficult if the uFID contains information about the asset, such as a cryptographic hash of the file contents along with a file size. When this is implemented, tampering with manifests becomes computationally complex in addition to time consuming.
By using different encryption keys for each file, files can be individually removed from the data archiving system by purging the database entry storing the decryption key. So long as sufficiently secure encryption methods were used, recovery of the data in the encrypted asset will be effectively impossible. Thus, the encrypted assets can be safely backed up to offline media such as tape or optical. The presence of assets with different expiry dates does not cause difficulty, as the deletion of an asset can be effectively be achieved by deletion of the key required to decrypt the asset. This technique is referred to as cryptographic key scrubbing.
Details of the implementation of the system of the present invention are provided below for exemplary purposes, and the following discussion should not be considered to be limiting in scope. Although reference is made to the use of a plurality of computer systems, this is simply a presently preferred embodiment that can make use of redundant elements to prevent unexpected failure. The system of the present invention could be implemented on a single system without departing from intended scope of protection. Furthermore, elements such as the master Key Server which are indicated as being independent operators could be integrated with the data archiving system of the present invention. They are illustrated as distinct entities in the following discussion and figures to provide an additional level of data security and to provide a further safeguard against operator tampering.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the data archiving system of the present invention is implemented making use of a plurality of interconnected computer systems, or “nodes”. The use of a plurality of computer systems allows for redundancy and division of functionality to prevent a single point of failure. On each of the interconnected computer systems, various software modules are installed. Data is preferably stored on file storage systems that offer a degree of redundancy such as Redundant Arrays of Independent Drives (RAID) arrays.
In a presently preferred embodiment, two front end nodes are connected to two back end nodes allowing for workload distribution between the front and back end nodes, and to provide active redundancy. The back end nodes preferably make use of RAID arrays for their data storage needs.
On client computer systems that connect to the data archiving system, a File System Watcher (FSW) module is executed to watch for data that should be stored in the data archiving system. When a file is saved that conforms to the requirements for being stored in the data archival system, the FSW connects to the data archiving system and transfers the file.
Connected to the data archiving system is a Key Server, which is preferably backed up by a redundant Key Server. These Key Servers can be located in a geographically remote location to remove the ability to tamper with the Key Servers. It may be advantageous for the Key Servers to be hosted by a trusted third party (TTP). For highest performance, hardware-based cryptographic accelerator chips or cards may be installed in some or all of the nodes of the data archiving system where encryption and decryption are required.
As discussed above, the workload can be divided between “front end” and “back end” nodes, with redundancy provided at both the front and back ends. The front end nodes typically interact with the user while the back end nodes are isolated from the user. This design allows for the operation of the back end nodes to be changed without impacting upon the user. With the FSW installed on user computers, the front end nodes operate as an interface between FSW and the data archiving system. This allows the back end nodes to manage the encryption, storage, manifesting, and metadata database management. Communication between nodes in the data archiving system can be effected through the use of conventional computer networking technology such as Ethernet, token ring and other similar networking technologies. Connection of the back end nodes to data storage devices can similarly be made using standard storage connection technologies such as Fiber Channel.
The FSW can be implemented on a number of different computing platforms including Microsoft Windows, Linux, Apple's OS X, Sun's Solaris and other common platforms including BSD Unix. Upon receiving a connection from an FSW instance from a connected computer, the front end node can provide a number of services including authorization of the FSW client, a timestamping service, an administrative service, a configuration service and a service manager application. Files received for storage as assets are preferably associated with a timestamp provided by the front end node so that the clock of the computer creating the file does not have to be trusted. This timestamping can include associating the timestamp with an XML file descriptor associated with the file. The timestamp can also be cryptographically signed by the timestamping service to provide authentication of the timestamp. Timestamping is a common service whose implementation will be well understood by those skilled in the art. A user connecting to the data archiving system may require access to an administrative panel so that settings can be reviewed by an authorized individual. The front end nodes can provide an interface for such modification to settings, including through the provision of a web-based configuration tool or through the ability to accept messages passed from a standalone application on a user node. A global configuration can also be provided so that a list of trusted clients, servers and users can be maintained and viewed by administrators. A services manager can also be implemented to monitor transactions between nodes or modules. If a requested transaction is not completed within a timeout period, the services manager can re-issue the transaction request.
The back end nodes can be implemented so that services provided by the back end nodes include a Customer Information Service, a storage service, a Key Manager service, a manifest service, a disposition service, an audit service, an Object File Service (OFS) service, and a services manager. The Customer Information Service can be used to manage the database used to track assets as they are stored. This provides a single entity for serializing assets and caching and storing the metadata associated with the serialized assets. The storage service provides an interface to the physical storage devices. This provides a defined interface for the rest of the system to interact with the storage device through, allowing a change in the design of the storage devices to be transparent to the rest of the system. The storage service can also handle managing redundant storage of the data on a pair of connected RAID subsystems. The Key Manager service handles and assigns the keys used to encrypt individual assets. If keys are generated by an external entity the Key Manager service is typically responsible for requesting new keys when the locally cached set is sufficiently depleted. The manifest service assembles a manifest of the assets placed into storage. In one embodiment, manifests are created at fixed intervals, after a predetermined number of assets are stored, or a combination of both factors. The manifest is typically a file, such as an XML formatted message, that tracks the serialized assets. When a manifest is completed, it can be digitally signed using the Time Stamping service to ensure that it is not tampered with, and it can be stored as an asset. By storing a manifest as an asset, the manifest becomes the first item recorded in the next manifest. When a series of manifests are examined, each manifest, save for the first, will have the previous manifest as the first entry, along with the uFID associated with the previous manifest. A manifest cannot easily be tampered with, as that would change the uFID, which is recorded in the next manifest. Thus, modifying a manifest would require modifying all the subsequent manifests, which would be difficult to do without leaving a trail due to the use of a secure time stamping process. Manifests can also be provided to the Key Server allowing a comparison of the stored manifest with a known good copy. Thus, if an individual wished to modify an asset, the change would be noticeable due to the fact that the asset is recorded in an manifest, and the manifest cannot be modified without creating a trail. If an asset is removed, the serialization of assets will reveal the removal, as a gap in the serial number sequence will be noticeable. Thus, information such as the uFID associated with the manifest, and other file related information to be stored in a carry forward manner. This carry forward manner (also described as a Russian-doll storage method) encapsulates one manifest as an item in a subsequent manifest. An audit process can easily be implemented that checks the validity of an asset by recomputing its uFID, verifying the recomputed uFID with the uFID stored in the manifest and then checking the uFID of the manifest. Manifests can be checked, starting with the most recent manifest, by examining the uFID of the previous manifest, and computing the uFID of the corresponding manifest. The check can then be repeated recursively to ensure that the manifest chain is untampered.
A disposition service is used to check the expiry date of assets committed to storage. A list of assets ready for deletion according to the expiry date set in the metadata associated with the asset, can be created and used in the encryption key scrubbing process. The list of files for deletion can be provided to the Key Manager, possibly after operator approval, so that the encryption keys associated with the assets can be deleted. The asset can also be removed from live storage. Even if the asset is available on a backup, the removal of the encryption key from the Key Manager and Key Server will ensure that it is not recoverable. The audit service scans the stored assets and can compare them to information in the associated metadata to ensure that files have not been tampered with. The metadata can store information such as a cryptographic hash of the asset, allowing for simple checking to determine if the asset has been modified. Stored manifests can also be checked for improper file changes. The OFS service can be used to perform housekeeping tasks such as clearing unused temporary files, removing unneeded transaction monitoring logs and managing online caches of assets. The services manager, as with the front end nodes, tracks the interaction of the services both internal to the back end node and with external nodes, ensuring that unfulfilled transactions are re-issued after a timeout period.
As noted with reference to the back end system, encryption keys can be generated by an external Key Server that can be hosted by a TTP. This allows the keys to be generated en masse, and prepared as key pages that can be requested by the Key Manager. The keys are preferably designed for single use as symmetric encryption keys, although they can be generated as asymmetrical key pairs as well. It may be preferable for redundancy for multiple Key Servers to be available to the data archiving system such that at least two Key Servers are geographically far apart from each other to provide a greater likelihood of redundancy. The Key Servers may also be connected to a time server device, such as a Stratum 1 time server device, that provides accurate and tamper resistant time and date values which may be stored with received manifests as an additional verification of their timestamps. It can be appreciated that the benefit of generating encryption keys remotely is that it ensures that keys are safely replicated in a remote location prior to being used to encrypt files.
In a presently preferred embodiment, each of the services is designed with an abstracted message-passing interface to other services. This includes the ability to have a list of instances of any given service. Running multiple instances of the same service allows operation to continue if a particular instance of a service becomes unavailable. Furthermore, it becomes possible to implement any arbitrary number of instances of services to scale performance with the number of nodes served by a cluster of systems providing the storage system of the present invention. One mode of operation uses a round-robin selection of services so that approximate load balancing is achieved. Because the interface is abstracted, services can communicate with one another on the same piece of server hardware, between clustered servers connected on a LAN, or even between nodes separated by thousands of miles and connected across a WAN or the Internet. The ability to spread services across an arbitrary number of nodes allows for easy cost/performance tradeoffs as the number of nodes and the number of services per node is varied.
In the operation of one embodiment of the present invention, the Key Server reads a monthly Master Key from a CD-ROM and then decrypts and checks the integrity of its database of keys during an initialization process. This database is generally on a local disk drive directly connected to the server. The Key Server is best placed in a remote site, and normally there will be at least two of them hosted by a neutral and trustworthy third party.
At the customer site, when the Key Manager boots up, it also loads a Master Key from a CD-ROM and performs various integrity checks, and sends a request to the Key Server to see if any of its Code Pages need to be updated. A Code Page is an encrypted container (the key to which is stored in a table which in turn is encrypted by the Master Key), which holds a large number of individual records, each record having a key, a serial number, and other housekeeping information. Code pages can be arbitrarily large or small, although in one embodiment, they hold 5,000 individual key records. If any keys have expired, the Key Server sends the updated Code Pages to the Key Manager with the expired keys deleted. The Key Manager overwrites old Code Pages with any revised Code Pages that the Key Server has supplied.
Since keys are needed quickly and in large quantities, the Key Manager can request a number of Code Pages, and then cache the Code Pages locally. An internal hard drive can be used for storing Code Pages. If the number of cached keys falls below a threshold, the Key Manager requests another set of Code Pages from the Key Server. This can be an asynchronous process disconnected from the process that encrypts user data. At any given time there can be many tens of thousands of individual key records sitting in the Key Manager waiting to be used.
The File System Watcher (FSW) client monitors the user's computer looking for new files that meet a set of configurable criteria. When a file meets the criteria it is treated as an indication that the file must be sent to the data archiving system for long term storage. The criteria may be simply that the file is put in a given directory, the file has a certain file type extension, or other criteria desired by the administrator.
When FSW detects these files, it sends them to the web service on a front end node. The web service sends an XML fragment containing the information sent by FSW to the Customer Information Server, which in turn requests a time stamp from the XML Time Stamp service, which provides a digitally signed time and date, which is then combined with other metadata and sent to the Storage Manager by the web service. The Storage Manager uses the unique file identifier (uFID) associated with the file as a CAS address for storing the file. Whereas prior art data management utilities have attempted to create unique file identifiers using a cryptographic hash, the present invention provides a mechanism to reduce hash collisions. When a file is hashed, it is subjected to a many-to-one mapping. The output of the hash is typically shorter than the file, and thus cannot be considered to be unique across all file sizes. However, it is often considered that a hash, such as the MD5 or SHA-1 hash in concert with a file size provides a sufficiently unique identifier. In the present invention, a unique file identifier is preferably created by a combination of known hashes. This combination of hashes decreases the likelihood of a hash collision. Hash collisions occur when two distinct files having the same file size map to the same hash value. Although it is likely for a sufficiently large set of files that there will be MD5 or SHA-1 collisions, the combination of hashed values exponentially decreases the likelihood of collisions. Due to the different manner in which each algorithm creates a hash, the likelihood that a hash collision will results for both MD5 and SHA-1 on a pair of files is very low. The combination of hashes can be as simple as the concatenation of the hash values. This concatenation can be made more unique by incorporating a file size as well.
Preferably, the Storage Manager also issues a globally unique serial number per file. This serial number can be made up of a customer number (issued by the vendor), an installation number (e.g. 0001 for the first cluster purchased by the customer, 0002 for the second and so on), a user-defined department number (which is part of the FSW configuration), and a sequential serial number issued by the storage manager. Other information can be encoded into the serial number in place of these elements as desired by the system administrator.
By creating a uFID comprised of the concatenation of the MD5 and SHA-1 hashes of the file contents and the file size, the probability of hash collisions is reduced to a statistically insignificant likelihood. The problems that would be associated with one of the hashing algorithms being cryptographically broken are also greatly diminished as the probability of both hashing algorithms being compromised in the same manner are very unlikely. By associating the sequential serial number assigned to an asset and the uFID of each asset, a trail is created to allow for an effective audit process by examining the manifests to ensure that each serial number is accounted for and to ensure that a file in the manifest matches its uFID. If an entry in the manifest is removed, it will be obvious by the gap in the sequence, and systematically renumbering all entries in the copies of the manifests and properly re-encrypting each file to obtain new assets is sufficiently difficult that it will not be possible without causing a trail. This is further complicated by the fact that a manifest is listed as an asset in the next manifest along with its uFID, which includes a hash of the manifest data. As noted above, the likelihood of being able to modify a manifest and maintain the hash value is statistically insignificant. A secure access log tracking access to each of the assets can also be implemented to provide a level of security by indicating who has accessed each asset and when the asset was accessed. This, along with the other security features provides a sufficiently robust trail to allow for a simplified audit process. One skilled in the art will appreciate that if two users attempt to save the same file to the storage system, the system will assign two serial numbers (in response to the two storage requests), but because assets can be indexed by their uFID, only one instance of the file need be saved. The use of the uFID as a storage index allows for a form of content addressable storage (CAS) that can be used to avoid storing duplicates of a given file.
When a FSW determines that a file is ready for entry into the Data Archiving System (DAS), three actions can be taken: the file can remain in place while a copy is sent to the DAS; the file can be replaced with a shortcut pointing at a copy in the DAS; and the file can be deleted from the directory, requiring that the user next access the file by using the DAS. The desired retention time for a file can be relayed by the FSW, as it allows for user control and modification without requiring system reconfiguration. In an alternate system, the FSW can forward information relating to the retention time to the data archiving system, allowing the system to make centralized decisions based on the forwarded information. Retention time can be determined by an implicit rule configured for a particular directory, it can be specified by a “last modified date”, and it can be related to a customer profile. The use of a “last modified date” is a convenient way for application software to configure the retention date on the fly. For customer profile based retention periods, an application-defined “record locator”, such as a customer number, can be prepended to the file name. Deletion of files can occur a programmable number of years after a given record number is provided in a list sent by the customer to the disposition manager. This mode is useful to comply with regulations which say that records must be kept a certain number of years after the customer account is closed. Thus, the FSW can provide retention information, for example as an XML fragment, to the data archiving system.
A Web Service then receives the information from the FSW (possibly including a uFID). This information is sent to the CIS which then assigns a serial number to the file. The file will be stored using the uFID as an identifier allowing for content addressable storage, but will allow retrieval based on the serial number as well, so that users storing the same file do not need to be aware of the multiple instances of the file. The CIS can review the retention policy to determine if the file should be encrypted or compressed prior to storage. The CIS then sends the file and associated information to be time stamped. The Time Stamp service can sign the XML fragment and convert it to a proper XML document. This document is then provided to the storage manager. The Storage Manager encrypts and compresses the file using the next available unused encryption key obtained from the Key Manager if required. Upon encrypting the file, the Storage Manager sends a record of the serial number of the encryption key used plus the uFID of the file to the Key Manager, which in turn notifies the Customer Information Service so the record can be stored. Preferably the information is stored in at least two databases. A redundant copy can also be dispatched to the remote Key Servers so they can mark the key as being used. This can also allow the Key Server to keep a record of the encryption key associated with a given uFID.
A record is constructed containing the encrypted file, its uFID, its serial number, the time and date of creation, the desired retention policy, plus configurable customer-supplied metadata. This then becomes an “asset”. One skilled in the art will appreciate that when files have been migrated to the encrypted file system they become assets. Applicant has endeavored to appropriately differentiate between files and assets through the document.
The Storage Manager can keep its own cache of Code Pages. When the storage manager needs more encryption keys, it requests the code pages from the Key Manager. The next available key and its serial number are taken from the Code Page cache, and used to encrypt the file, at which time the file is turned into an asset for storage. This asset can then be stored. In a redundant system, the asset can be stored on at least two back-end devices, typically external RAID arrays or optical jukeboxes. A manifest entry is created for the asset which includes the uFID, the time stamp, the serial number, the metadata, the serial number of they key used to encrypt it, and other housekeeping information. This manifest entry is stored in a manifest by the Manifest Server, which builds manifests as assets are being sent to the storage solution of the present invention. At fixed intervals, such as every five minutes, the manifest holding the manifest entries generated during the interval is sent to the Key Manager that in turn “registers” the Manifest with the Key Server located at the remote site. The manifest is then provided to the Storage Manager to be stored as an asset, and forms the first entry in the next manifest.
In one embodiment, the manifest is an XML file which lists the above listed metadata items for every file that has come into the file storage system in the last 5 minutes, or up to a defined maximum number of file listings per manifest file. When one manifest is closed off, another new one is started. When manifests are closed, they are stored back into the device just like other user files (which provides the security/integrity features described above) and also is transmitted to the Key Server which is a remote device.
As each file is converted to an asset for storage, it is preferably encrypted, with its own key so as to permit encryption key scrubbing (encryption based file deletion) on a file-by-file basis. As a file is encrypted and the corresponding asset is added to the system, the uFID of the asset is added to a manifest that tracks the encryption key, a location of the encryption key or a serial number associated with the encryption key. In one embodiment, a manifest is created at either fixed intervals, after a predetermined number of assets have been added, or some combination of the two. The file manifest is a data structure which contains the list of key containers which have been consumed, the names assigned serial number and uFID (plus other metadata such as time at which the file was sent to the storage system) of files added since the last manifest, and other housekeeping data. The manifest is eventually stored in the file system as another file. By providing each file with its own key, as opposed to the prior art use of a single key for all files, or at most a small number of keys, individual assets can be effectively removed from the system without impacting other assets.
When a manifest is closed it can be sent to the remote Key Server, which can then digitally sign the manifest, and store it into a central repository. Because the remote Key Server is hosted by a TTP, which may provide similar services to a number of different customers, it may be preferable for the remote Key Server to make use of a storage system similar to the data archiving system to provide data security and integrity. The Key Server can then send the signed manifest back to its file storage system as an asset for storage. By storing the manifest in the data archiving system file system, it ensures that the signed manifest becomes part of the next file manifest. A copy of the manifest can be deposited with a title attorney or in another non-digital venue that provides time and date attribution. The manifest makes reference to the consumption of encryption key containers. This information can be recorded by the remote Key Server so that a record of who has used particular key containers and when the key containers can or should be deleted can be maintained by the remote Key Server.
Reference is made to the deposition of a manifest with a non-digital venue. In addition to providing the time at which a TTP has signed the manifest, the manifest itself can be provided to a non-digital entity. Because of the nested nature of manifests (with each manifest having its uFID and metadata stored in a subsequent manifest), a series of non-contiguous manifests can be provided to a title attorney, who can provide attestation to the date at which the manifest is received. If two manifests are received by a title attorney, and the manifest containing the metadata for a required file is stored on an interim manifest, it can easily be established that the interim manifest was opened and closed between the two attested dates. To prove this, all the manifests between the dates can be examined to show the linkage between the manifests. Because a manifest is entered onto the next manifest as an asset, it has a direct effect on the cryptographic hash of the next manifest. This creates the “feed forward” nature referred to earlier, which can also be thought of as a “Russian Doll” storage, where each manifest can be opened to verify the authenticity of the previous manifest.
The file manifest handling disclosed above has numerous advantages. Providing manifests to a TTP allows the TTP to attest to time and date of file creation. Providing the manifests to a non-digital authority, in conjunction with the nested nature of the manifests, allows the non-digital authority to provide a book ended time frame during which a file was provided to the storage system. A third party can also attest to the completeness of the records based on the use of serial numbers and nested manifests. During the process of attesting to the completeness of the records, no confidential information needs to be transmitted to third party as the manner in which the manifests are designed and stored provides sufficient information to base the attestation on. Third party time/date stamps can be compared to customer time/date to indicate that the storage system is not modifying its internal clock in an attempt to circumvent procedures. A manifest cannot be undetectably modified without invalidating subsequent manifests as “correcting” subsequent manifests would require information which is not available at the customer site and in any case would not match the copies kept at the Key Server. It is only necessary to examine the most recent manifest to have confidence that the manifest chain has not been tampered with. Because the Key Server correlates assets with the key container used to encrypt them, the key database stored in the Key Server can be used in emergency situations to decrypt any given asset.
When the Manifest Server stores the Manifest Container back on the cluster as if it was a user's data asset, it is given a digitally signed timestamp, a uFID, a serial number, an encryption key, and is stored on the back-end storage. This means that one of the elements of each manifest is the metadata of the most recent previous manifest. The previous manifest is typically the first entry in the subsequent manifest. The previous manifest in turn includes the metadata from the manifest before that and so on.
When a document's retention period has expired, it will be handled by the Disposition Manager. The Disposition manager can be run as a scheduled process, such as a nightly process that checks the integrity of Manifests by confirming their contents with the Key Server and by checking internal consistency. The Disposition Manager then reports back to the Key Server with a list of the keys that should be deleted to allow for document expiry. Subsequently, when the Key Manager next does an update of its key pages, the Key Server will provide new Code Pages with the keys associated with the expired documents received. Thus, the Key Manager will lose the ability to decrypt the expired asset.
Since the local cache of Code Pages on the Key Manager is preferably super enciphered with the Master Key, the administrator is free to use any convenient backup software package to backup the Key Manager server, including the Code Pages stored on the local drive. Every month, the Master Key, typically distributed on a CD-ROM, can be changed and the old code retired. If the administrator does not destroy or otherwise dispose of the Master Key, the old Code Pages can be restored from a backup and then decrypted, thus encryption key scrubbing cannot be considered to have taken effect until the Master Key, or the media on which it is delivered, is destroyed. This can provide a safeguard, and allows for a safety net that permits a site to destroy Master Keys once they are considered to be safely past the deletion period. By destroying a key, the file remains in the system, but is effectively inaccessible. By selecting a sufficiently rigorous encryption routine such as the 256 bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256), the data can be considered to be irretrievable when the key has been destroyed.
An example of configuring FSW, creating an asset, reading it back, and deleting it is instructive at this point. It should be noted that the following example is provided for the purposes of teaching one embodiment of the invention thoroughly, and should not be considered as limiting of the scope of the present invention. In no way should this example be considered as a sole embodiment, or as restrictive to the scope of the present invention. For this example, it is assumed that the Key Manager has sufficient code pages in its cache. This example is provided in concert with
The human administrator accesses the SysAdmin configuration console using a web browser, and selects the link for “FSW Configuration”. The console lists all instances of FSW that exist in the network. The administrator selects “HumanResourcesServer” from this list, and configures it to watch the directory called “PersonnelFiles”, with a 5 year retention rule set, encryption turned on, and set to replace files with shortcuts.
The instance of FSW on HumanResourcesServer periodically queries the SysAdmin service to see if its configuration has changed. It sees the updated configuration file and loads it. FSW starts to monitor the PersonnelFiles directory for changes. A user of the HumanResourcesServer then stores a document called HomeAddresses.doc into the PersonnelFiles directory.
FSW is notified by the operating system that the directory contents have changed. The FSW queries the date, time, and size of the file. FSW puts the file information in the queue of files to be dealt with. When the queue has reached a size which is efficient for network communication, or when a certain amount of time has elapsed since the first entry in the queue was stored, the contents of the queue are sent to the front end node in the FSW configuration table. If for some reason this transmission fails, attempts are made to send the queued files to the next front end node, and so on. If no front end node is available, FSW continues to queue files as needed. Once a front end node become available, the files are sent. In this way, FSW supports mobile computing platforms and remote offices which have unreliable or periodic network connections. For this example, however, we will assume that HomeAddresses.doc is the only entry in the queue and that the communication with the first front end module is successful. This results in the transfer of the file to the Data archiving system in step 100.
Upon receipt of the file at the front end node, a request to the time stamp service is issued for a timestamp to be associated with the asset. Note that the time of the timestamp received may vary from the time stamp reported by FSW. Since the date and time set on remote servers and workstations is not considered to be particularly reliable, the date and time assigned by the time stamp service is the one used for calculating disposition. Later it will be seen that there is a step where this time stamp can be corroborated with that on the remote Key Servers.
An asset record consisting of the file name, claimed date and time (user provided), actual date and time (time stamp service provided), file size, retention period rule, and customer-supplied metadata (if any) is created. This record is sent to the first Storage Manager in a configuration list (all services have a list of all other available instances of services so that in the event of any service failing to respond, the operation can be retried on one of the other instances). This record can also contain information regarding the retention policy for this file.
The MD5 hash of HomeAddresses.doc as well as the SHA-1 hash of the file are computed. In place of the SHA-1 hash, other hashes of the SHA family, such as SHA-2 hashes (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512) can be used. Other cryptographic hash algorithms may be used without departing from the scope of the invention. These two hashes are concatenated along with the size of the file to create the uFID for the file. In a statistical sense it is sufficiently unlikely that two files of the same size will be provided the same uFID, so the concatenation of the hashes is considered to be unique across all files of the same size. Because the MD-5 hash algorithm and the SHA family or algorithms are very distinct, it is unlikely that when an MD-5 collision occurs the same two files will have a SHA collision as well. Similarly, if, for example, someone figures out how to adulterate a file without the MD5 hash changing, it is highly unlikely that both the file size and SHA-1 hash will also be unchanged. However, if two files from two different people have identical content, even if they have different file names and dates of creation, the uFID will be the same for both files as the uFID does not typically concern itself with the creator, creation date and file name of the file in question. Because they have the same uFID, the storage system can store a single copy and provide Content Addressable Storage.
The serial number is also assigned to the storage request. In contrast to the uFID, if two identical files are sent across from FSW, even if they have the same file names and date of creation, a new serial number will be issued. This number is used to keep track of individual storage requests. The uFID can be provided by an external system such as the Customer Information Service. Thus, in step 102, a timestamp is obtained, a uFID is created and a serial number is assigned.
The file name and contents are encrypted with the next available encryption key in step 104. The serial number of the key used and the uFID of the file are forwarded to the Key Manager in step 108. The Key Manager sends the information to the Customer Information Service, which stores the information into a redundant pair of SQL databases running on different nodes. The Customer Information Service also forwards the information to the remote Key Servers. The remote Key Servers mark the keys as used and the information is stored in SQL databases local to the Key Servers. One skilled in the art will appreciate that although the step of encrypting the data provides data security, and eventually permits individual file-by-file encryption key scrubbing, the integrity of a file storage system can be authenticated by audit without use of an encryption system. In some embodiments of the system, when the CIS assigns the serial number, it can also provide an indication of whether or not the file is to be encrypted in the metadata. This indication can also include the encryption key to be used.
The Storage Manager then, in step 106, stores a copy of the encrypted HomeAddresses.doc file, along with its associated metadata on at least two different external RAID storage devices as an asset. The uFID is used as the asset identifier, so this means that only one instance of a given set of file contents will be stored per RAID device. In this way, space is not consumed by multiple copies of identical files (such as when hundreds of identical copies of a document are distributed within an organization). This storage capability is commonly called “Content Addressable Storage” (CAS). Once the asset is safely stored, a completion message is sent to FSW. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the order of certain steps, such as steps 106 and 108 need not be performed in the illustrated or described order. During this operation, a “transaction recovery file” can be created and updated at various steps. This recovery file can provided assistance if steps in the storage process fail and must be retried.
The serial number, the expiry date, the uFID, the key container number, the date and time, and file size are put into a record and added to the currently open manifest in step 110. Every five minutes the manifest is closed and processed, and a new one opened.
FSW removes the file from HumanResourcesServer and replaces it with a symbolic link that points at the Web Service in step 112. The symbolic link also contains the serial number of the asset. FSW can be provided with an indication that the storage of the file as an asset is complete before the file has been stored as an asset so long as the data archiving system has received the file and possesses sufficient information to proceed in the event of a process or hardware failure. In such an example, the transaction recovery file can be used if the FSW has been provided with an indication of successful storage and an error occurs in the storage process.
When a file is received at a front end node, the transaction can be tracked to ensure that the corresponding asset is successfully stored. Upon providing the Storage Manager with the file and corresponding metadata (including instructions pertaining to whether or not the file should be compressed or encrypted) the front end node has completed is portion of the storage process. However, the front end node can leave the transaction record marked as incomplete until the storage manager provides an indication that the asset has been successfully stored. This allows the front end node to monitor the progress of each transaction and re-issue storage requests if required.
To read back the file, the user can open the symbolic link as if it was a local file name. The Web Service sends the asset serial number to the Customer Information Service, which in turn looks up the serial number to find the uFID of the file, which is sent to the Storage Manager. The Storage Manager retrieves the file and returns it to the Web Service, which in turn returns it to HumanResourcesServer.
No mechanism is provided for the customer to delete assets on demand. Deleting the symbolic link does not destroy the asset, nor is the user given direct access to the RAID storage.
However, as illustrated in
If no hold is placed, and the administrator has approved the file destruction, the Storage Manager will scrub the file from all RAID systems where it has been stored. This can be accomplished by any number of known techniques including by overwriting the file with 7 different bit patterns. The deletion of the asset, in step 118, is considered optional as it may not be possible in WORM implementations, and as the asset will also be encryption key scrubbed, deletion of the asset is no longer technically necessary. Once a batch of files has been disposed of, a disposition manifest is sent to the remote Key Servers, in step 120, instructing the remote Key Servers to remove the keys associated with the deleted assets. The remote Key Server scrubs all local copies of the encryption key for the file. The local Key Manager, in step 122, at fixed intervals requests updated code pages from the remote Key Server. The updated code pages will no longer contain the removed keys, effectively completing the encryption key scrubbing process. Once all copies of the encryption key are destroyed, any backup copies of HomeAddresses.doc which may have been made from the encrypted repository on the RAID storage will become unreadable. In this way, the document is encryption key scrubbed from any backups, which may have been made of the encrypted repository.
A number of advantages can be realized through various implementations of the present invention as disclosed above. The architecture above-described architecture is believed to comply with all relevant requirements of SEC 17a, HIPAA, CFR 21 part 11 (FDA), Sarbanes Oxley, PIPEDA of Canada, the UK Data Protection Act, and other regulations. Assets can be stored on a plurality of storage devices, each of which can employ redundancy such as RAID technology for further reliability. Stored data is encrypted, reducing the likelihood of accidental data release, and accordingly data on backup media is also encrypted. Expired assets persisting on backup media are effectively irrecoverable. Encryption key management can be fully automated. Encryption keys can be stored in multiple redundant geographically dispersed locations. Assets cannot be accessed without permission, cannot be modified, deleted or inserted into the archival system without detection. File creation time and date values can be externally verified. A neutral third party can attest to the completeness and authenticity of the assets without having any knowledge of the actual contents of the assets. All transactions across the network can be monitored, and if necessary, retried until successful. Data storage capacity requirements can be reduced by CAS technology. Remote and intermittently connected systems can be supported.
In other embodiments, various modifications can be performed without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following list provides a number of modifications that should be considered to fall within the scope of the present invention. The following list of modifications should not be taken as limiting, and it is noted that other modifications that are not listed still fall within the scope of the present invention.
Client node 130 generates files for compliant storage. The creation and modification of these files on client storage 134 is monitored by FSW 132. Upon detection of creation of a file for compliant storage, FSW 132 transmits the file to Data Archiving System 140. The file is provided to timestamp engine 142 which stamps the file as described above to ensure accurate tracking of the file arrival time. The timestamped file is then provided to Storage Manager 146 which generates the uFID, attaches a serial number and otherwise prepares the metadata associated with the file. Storage Manager 146 then requests a key from Key Manager 152 which obtains the key from code pages 154 which are locally cached. The file is then encrypted and provided for storage in asset storage 148 a and 148 b. Information about the stored asset and the related file is provided to manifest engine 150, which adds a record to a manifest to track submissions to the DAS 140. Storage manager 146 provide file information and identification of the key used to CIS 144, which can be an external element to the system 140. Upon filling a manifest, manifest engine provides a manifest to timestamp engine 142 as a new file for storage in DAS 140. Key Manager 152 obtains code pages 154 from Key Server 156 and can cache them locally.
As discussed above, Disposition Agent 154 monitors files in asset storage 148 a and 148 b, to determine if they should be disposed of. When disposition agent instructs files to be disposed of, the asset can be removed from asset storage, and Key Server 156 is informed of the disposition request. Key Server 156 can then remove the key associated with the asset from the code pages. The updated code pages are then provided to Key Manager 152 and replace cached pages 154, effectively completing the encryption key scrubbing.
Further operations of the system illustrated in
The Key Manager 152 determines that the available number of keys is below a low water mark. A new code page 154 is then requested from Key Server 156. Each code page 154 contains key containers that each holds a cryptographic key. The master Key Server 156 generates code pages dynamically. Each code page is preferably stored to three or more redundant storage locations. Code pages can be flagged for nightly backup in all three locations. The backups are preferably retained for two weeks on a rolling basis.
The Key Manager 152 downloads each code page. The code page is encrypted by the Key Server 156 with a 256-bit key and is then stored. The code page key is then encrypted with a local RSA key and is cataloged in the CodePageHeader file, which is encrypted with a key found in the Root Key file. The root file key is preferably stored in removable media or a hardware key token accessible to Key Manager 152. Root file keys are destroyed according to a fixed schedule.
The consumption of keys is now discussed in further detail. As files entered into the system 140, storage manager 146 obtains a key that will be used when encrypting the file. Key containers can be serialized, with two components, the code page serial number and the container serial number. A key container is associated on the first instance of the file. It is attached to the file uFID. Each uFID is associated with all storage requests of the same file when content addressable storage is implemented. Each storage request is accompanied by a signatureID, which is itself a serial number. Each signatureID has a life cycle attached to it, including the expiry date. These data are stored by Customer Information Service 144 and the Storage Manager 146 so that disposition agent 154 can determine when files should be disposed of, and to allow file retrieval.
Every ‘n’ minutes the manifest engine 150 creates a manifest as discussed above. The storage manifest typically includes a ManifestID, a signature ID (storage request), file uIDs associated with the storage requests, a life cycle expiry date, a time stamp of storage and an encryption code page serial number and key containers. The manifest is then timestamped and provided to Storage Manager 146 for storage as an asset. When the manifest is stored as an asset, its metadata is added to the next manifest. A copy of the manifest is sent to the master Key Server 156 for redundant storage. The manifest information is then associated with the originally generated key containers and code pages. This includes the expiry date of the key container, the uFID and the signatureID. The key container cannot be removed from the system until it has expired, however an expired container is still active until it has been specifically disposed of.
On a daily basis, or on another similar schedule, the customer is provided with a disposition selection manifest report by the disposition agent 154. An on-screen report can be used to show the assets available for disposition. The customer then can approve the assets for disposition. At a predetermined time, the disposition agent 154 goes through a process of validating the approved disposition request. This preferably includes a level 2 check of authenticity and integrity. Once the disposition manifest has been validated, the assets are deleted from the system by sending a deletion request to Storage Manager 146. On conclusion, a disposition manifest is sent to the Master Key Server 156. The server matches up the disposition manifest to the original key container. The key container can then be removed from the active system during the “roll” process.
Nightly, after ‘n’ minutes following the disposition manifest, the Key Manager 152 updates code pages. The master Key Server 156 regenerates code pages without the key containers that have expired and have been disposed of. A new code page is generated that has a different generation number. The new generation number is then downloaded to the Key Manager 152. The original code pages can be maintained on the customer system until the customer regenerates the encryption database. This is typically done on a monthly basis.
Once a month, the entire set of code pages 154 can be loaded from the DAS 140 and re-enciphered with the new masker key which has been loaded. The previous master key is destroyed or locked away. Once the previous master key is destroyed, the cryptographic key scrubbing is complete. The Key Manager 152 can download the updated generation of the code pages and the system continues to operate as before. The Key Manager 152 keeps a key cache allowing it to operate while the code pages are regenerated without system interruption.
The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
Citations de brevets
Citations hors brevets | <urn:uuid:d0f273f6-e1c0-4066-9871-61c33406c6cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.google.fr/patents/US8086578 | 2013-05-20T02:22:44Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933708 | 14,198 |
Matt Wilson: Have Drums, Will Travel
“ The best way I know how to celebrate something is with music or with a group of musicians. This record was a way of saying thanks to some people: a big thank-you note, in a way, a sonic thank-you note. ”
Drummer Matt Wilson must surely be in the running for the title of hardest-working man in jazz. Wilson is a composer, bandleader, producer and teacher. As a leader, his projects include the Matt Wilson Quartet, Arts & Crafts, Christmas Tree-O and the Carl Sandburg Project. He has been in bands with luminaries such as Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz, Ted Nash and many, many others. As for legends, he's played with Herbie Hancock, Dewey Redman, Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvis Costello, Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, John Zorn, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and Hank Jones. With appearances on over 250 albums as a leader, co-leader or sideman, this list barely scratches the surface.
While all of these credits illustrate what life can be like for a working jazz musician in the 21st Century, a striking aspect of Wilson's resume is his ability to move between scenes. He is comfortable (and, more importantly, welcome) with cats like Wynton Marsalis, often gracing the stage for Jazz at Lincoln Center, and more often than not he can be found downtown in a small club with the likes of Myra Melford, Joan Stiles or Noah Preminger. Regardless of the venue or situation, Wilson brings his knowledge, sensitivity and enthusiasm to the proceedings.
All About Jazz: Where did your light-hearted nature come from?
Matt Wilson: I didn't really know what I was doing for the longest time, in terms of a career in music, so the more fun I had, the better. Well, I knew what I was doing, but I grew up playing music in an area where there was not a lot of jazz. We had to take it where we could get it. With buddies of mine, I went to a lot of concerts and stuff like that. With one buddy in high school, he was 16 and I was 15, we drove 115 miles north one time and saw Clark Terry in Quad Cities. Fifty miles south of Macomb we saw Dizzy Gillespie's band and then drove about 140 miles to Champaign or whatever to see Oscar Peterson solo. That was in one week in 1980.
AAJ: Road trip!
MW: Yeah, it was a road trip. That was our thing. We would go and see the Count Basie Band and stuff like that. But for me, the light-hearted thingit comes from when I saw people like Dizzy, Clark Terry, Louie Bellson. These guys were honestly really nice guys and seemed to be having so much fun doing this, I just thought that was part of it. If the first jazz that I saw was very serious people in presentation or demeanor, maybe I would have been different. I have been really very fortunate from the get-go to have people along the way that have really been encouragingolder people that were in my home town, just as much as [music] veterans on the road. When you get this kind of guidance, it's really great, and you can't take that for granted.
I remember one time playing a nursing-home gigthey called them "Music Performance Trust Fund Gigs." They probably still do it; I hope they do. They had some funds, and you would sign up to play, and then they would pay cats to play a nursing home or other public-service type of gig. We were playing, this one time, and this lady, Marge Fanny was her name ... We were going to play "Sweet Georgia Brown." I was just going to go nuts and play this solo. She said, "Well you don't have to play this song; we improvise on the form of the song, and so do you." You know, she told me this.
So right then with that came, from the very words that she gave me back then in this nursing home, something I use all the time. I tell students, "You have to put yourselves in situations, and you have to be open all the time, because you never know when you can learn something or somebody enlightens you in some sort of way. You never know when you might meet that person who can totally change you."
I always try to do that. I have some facility. I play the drums pretty well, I guess, but I was always playing for the music's sake and the community feeling of playing music. That is how I always got a buzz up. That, to me, is what seemed fun. The bands that I saw and the people I saw doing this workthey seemed to really like each other, and they were having a lot of fun and I was, like, "Well that is kind of a nice family that they have along with them, their family of these musicians." And I was fascinated by that, and I still am.
You know, I still love the traveleven if I am not traveling, just being around the cats, you know. Christmas Tree-O just did some gigs, and we drove. It was Jeff Lederer, Paul Sikivie and me. Just the drive, just the discussion that you can get into on drives or on flights! I remember I did this tour with Joe Lovano and John Scofield's bandgreat tour. We were out for five weeks, and that's a lot of time to talk, a lot of time to visit. And I just remember sitting on planes and talking with Joe and John about thingsjust about music, regional scenes and our families. I really cherish that time a lot.
So I guess that is all part of it. I like the community. Community is a big word for me. I like the community not only of musicians but people like yourself that are writing and radio people and presenters. I like to go and hang out, and I like seeing people and catching up. In this day and age we have all the gadgets and everything, but it is still fun to go hang out and talk.
AAJ: In listening to your recordings as a leader, as in Arts & Crafts, that notion comes through and probably cannot be separated from the music. It comes through in the space or in the room that the other musicians seems to have.
MW: I always know that I am fortunate to have these people as friends, and they happen to be really great musicians. They are very special. For example, with Dennis Irwin, who passed away and who was the original bassist in Arts & Crafts, if we could just spend five more minutes talking with Denniswe wouldn't have to play with him again but just to have five more minutes of saying somethingit would be really, really great. I think as you get older, you just have to realize these things tooa little bit about the vulnerability of things and how special it is to get to do this. I think sometimes we take it for granted. My buddy Andrew D'Angelo, who played with the Quartet for a long time, we were just laughing the other day about the time that we were hanging sheetrock at the first house that my wife and I boughtand we were hanging it, and he's really great at this stuff, and I was holding this thing up over my head, and I am shaking and he's drilling to put the thing up, and we looked at each otherand he said, "Let's never complain when we are out on the road again, ever, because this is a drag."
We'll complain about: "Oh man, this hotel," or "Man, this food," but we get a chance to do this, and I never take that part of it for granted. That's why I like going and playing in different places. And sometimes there are a lot of people there and sometimes there's not. It's just the way it happens, but that has always been this way in this music; it's not like all places are always packed. It feels good to give some people an opportunity, an hour or so, to kind of leave what is going on and be taken up.
That is why being inclusive is such an important part of the band leading. I learned that from people. You have those people there because you know who to surround yourself with. Dewey Redman was a big mentor of mine, and I played with him for 12 years. He said, "You know, when you want to lead a band you pick people that you love to play with, and you pick songs, and you let them play." I know how to surround myself with good people, and I treat them well. Being a good band leader comes from learning what I have learned as a side-person, and I have learned a lot from being a band leader that makes me a better sideman. There is a sense of pride for me when someone in one of my bands can turn around and say to me, "Wow, that was so much fun." That, to me, is the ultimate compliment.
AAJ: Do you ever find that there are instances where you are not giving enough direction or a musician will yearn for more of it?
MW: Yeah, and you learn to sense that after a while. My philosophy is that you want to be able to, at any time, lead, follow or just get out of the way. Sometimes you've got to take charge. Somebody has got to, but sometimes you can't you don't want to be the leader all the time, so it's give-and-take with all this. There are times you have to make decisions. I've made some good band decisions, I think, sometimes on the bandstand; sometimes I haven't, about tune choices or whatever. If people know that you are there for them, I think it makes a big difference. I have had some good role models for this, though. People have been very generous with me. Dewey said, "People sound their best when they play with me." I have written about this and talked about it a lot. At first I was taken aback, but that is a really great giftto bring out the best in people and let them shine. And that goes beyond the bandstand. You know, it goes beyond everything.
We are in pretty naked territory when we are up there together, so you have a relationship with people, especially in improvised settingsnaked in a good way, but naked you really are. If you are really vulnerable then that is when real magic happens. The word "careless," this word about "care": you want to care about things, but then there is "careful" and there is "careless" and there is "carefree;" I mean, there are all these ways in which "care" can be in these words. I don't want to be careful necessarily, though careless is not great in music, either. So there is a responsibility, and I think what is great about everybody I play with is that they have such good presence. They are so comfortable with themselves that they welcome new challenges- -and it is not necessarily challenges of really hard music that they have to figure out. It is more like a challenge of: how am I going to allow them, help them, or how are they going to allow themselves to offer and then receive. They are all great receivers; also, they are great allowers. When I have been around somebody like Joe Lovano or John Scofield or Dewey, these guys just have a different energy about them that I really admire and I really want to be around and be a part of.
AAJ: Their non-performing selves as well?
MW: Yeah, their non-performing selves as welljust a lot of stature, a lot of poise, a lot of character. I like characters. Gary Versace, Terell Stafford are all characters; they have personalities, you know? Just as Dewey and Andrew Hill were. These guys have a vibe. To me, the group effort is really what makes it the best experience. I feel more rewarded when it is about the group thingthat give and take.
From left: Martin Wind, Matt Wilson
AAJ: You have some ease going between being a leader and a sideman. You know when to let go. You can let go of the responsibilities of being a leader and enjoy being a sideman.
MW: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then sometimes we'll go out with some younger folks every once in a while, and you might say, "Hey, I mean, I don't like to give too much advice, but you might want to try this." I have learned to do that over the years and not say too much, but say, "Hey, maybe if we tried this."
That leads to something that I find fascinating about recording. I have learned to try to not to think, "OK, this record is going to be this concept and it is going to be this," because when you get there it can really change. These are just versions of the songs. Some of them we have done differently if we have played them before. Some of them we have never done before, so it was kind of fun. I think that letting goI think I have gotten better at that. There was still this point even a few years ago where, live, I felt we had to do the things on the records, and I still try to do that, but I also try to bring in some new things. As a band leader, sometimes you wonder if guys are tired of playing some of the songs, but usually they are not because they get a chance to play the same material for a stretch of time; that is a real gift. So we don't really worry about that so much. I will say to somebody when I am the side-person, "Don't worry about that. I'll play it every night!" I don't give a damn anymore if something is new or whatever. It is the people that are doing it that feel good; that's what is important to me.
AAJ: So having fun, being presentthose are the requirements?
MW: The only requirement is presence; just be there. Be in it for the 60 minutes that we play, and keep the vibe together. As we get older, the talks that we have about these kinds of things are more about that, and not as much [about] abilities, because there are plenty of people with abilities, but it is how willing they are to give up what they think something is supposed to be. I want people to keep their ideals, but at the same time, I like the adaptability or just welcoming it or accepting itaccepting this is what this is and just saying, "OK, this is tonight." I think that this is the greatest joy about improvising: every night, everything is part of itnot just the songs, but the venue, the people in the room, what you find backstage, the joke that somebody says right before, or the things we have going on the road, or the friends that you know that are at the gig that have seen you before. Or there could be negatives: you lost something, or you left the big box of CDs at the hotel in Chicago and never found them, like I did oncethose kinds of things. You are tired or you are whatever, but you are together, so you can get through it. I like that part of it. I think those challenges are really what gives it the lift.
AAJ: You move between communities in a way that we don't see very often. For example, you could be doing something at Jazz at Lincoln Center, which might be seen as more of a mainstream, traditional scene, but at the same time you play with John Zorn or John Medeski, guys known as more avant-garde. There isn't a lot of bridging those worlds the way you do, and that's too bad that there isn't more of that. It is understandablepeople have their scenes, their perspectives, their schoolsbut how much of that is intentional on your part? Are you just following your muse?
MW: That's a great question. I was fortunate to do a lot of interesting things in 2011, too many to list, but I played a trio improvisation with Thurston Moore and Zorn the other night. The energy is as gratifying and the vibes from each of those guys are the same as anything else I do. I always go by the people. I don't look at the labels of anybody.
There have been a lot of people that have been very helpful to me with that. I try to bring different people into projects, that I want to use because I dig their musicianship and their vibe so much. So it is nice to have that community and the gap be bridged. It's the music and the musicians and especially the personalities of the people. That, to me, is what is really intriguing. I love John Zorn, for example. He's this great cat, and I can't believe I am up there sometimes. Buster WilliamsI love playing with Buster. And Cecil McBee. Cecil, I got a phone call one day last fall from two phone calls in a row. I was in Montana. I came back and there were two calls in a row, one from McBee and one from Buster. Cecil and Buster, they were asking me about gigs. I was, like, "Man, this is great." These catsI love these guys, and I love playing with them. They are great orchestrators and, man, I have always felt welcomed around them. Charlie Hadenhe has always made me feel incredibly welcome. Andrew Hill made me feel welcome, and Lee Konitz has made me feel welcome. So I am really reverent to these guys. I have a lot of respect for what they do.
I was talking about this tour we did for five weeks in the fall of 2008Joe Lovano with John Scofield and Matt Penman and myself. Five weeks now that's a long time to be on the road. There was not one second of tension. Everybody took care of business and everybody was part of the community, so we had fun, and then that translates to the music. People knew that it was special beyond just the vibe.
AAJ: That's a long time.
MW: It was a long timeespecially with this day and age, that's a long time for anybody to tour. I mean, that was, like, unprecedented for Joe and Johnny; well, Johnny is out a lot. But it's a lotand I learned so much from that. I learned about energy and lift, and so on. The other night, I'm sitting downstairs at the Stone while other people improvise. I'm just sitting there. I have never met Thurston Moore, I'm a big Sonic Youth fan, and I am thinking, "Wow, I am sitting here talking with Thurston Moore!" We were talking about Albert Ayler! I love the stories, and that's another thing is, you get around these cool folks; you get to hear their stories.
AAJ: Whom did you come up with as contemporaries?
MW: Andy D'Angelo, John Carlson, Curtis Hasselbring. I don't see some of those guys as consistently as I would like. David Berkman. Dave Douglas lived in the same neighborhood. Jeff Lederer has been part of my life for a long time. Joel Frahm I met in the first couple of months I was here, and we still play a lot. Frank Kimbrough, Ben Allison, Michael Blake, Ted Nash, Wycliffe Gordon and Marcus Printup.
And then there were people that I always wanted to play with that were that generation above, so people like Mark Dresser and Ray Anderson and Marty Ehrlich. When I was living in Boston, these guys were a part of the new thing, and now they are friends. Adam Nussbaum, and then people on the West Coast like John Clayton and Jeff Clayton who I admired for a long time. You come up through admiring these people, and then you are a part of their world, but, man, to have Buster Williams be like what you consider one of your friendsit's like, "Wow." I remember one day we were traveling, and we were looking at coats or something together, and I am, like, "This is cool, man." Or one time I was on stage with Charlie Haden, a Trio concert with Charlie and Dewey Redman in Montreal, and I actually laid out for a second just to listen to those guys, and I actually reached down and grabbed my legs to say, "I am really here." I am not being melodramatic about it but it was, "Wow, I am really here. This is pretty cool."
AAJ: Dewey bridges a lot of worlds.
MW: Well, see, there again, I came from this tree of people that did a lot of that.
AAJ: So it was never not possible?
MW: That's right, and growing up, I had to play a lot of different kinds of music just to get to play a lot. If I said, "I am only going to play jazz," well there wasn't going to be too much playing in Galesburg and Knoxville, and then maybe not even in Wichita. So luckily I learned, and I played with my blues bands, played in country bands, I played in rockabilly bands.
AAJ: Tell me a little bit about your involvement with WeeBop, how that started and why that is important to you.
MW: Well, the WeeBop projectI mean, I have done a lot of education stuff for Jazz at Lincoln Center. It started with doing the Jazz in the Schools programs. I have done two tours of those where we went around New York City public schools. One was a program called "Jazz: Music That Happens Now, In the Moment," and we did them all over the place. It was great. Then a couple of years ago, my good friend Erika Floreskawho was, at the time, the Director of Education at Jazz Lincoln Centerasked me to do a young people's concertit would have been in June of 2010, I believecalled "What is Free Jazz," and we did that. It was really great. That was with the quartet, and Marshall Allen from Sun Ra Band was our guest. This guy is 86 years oldnow he's 87, I think; he might even be 88. Man, what an energy, what a vibe. He is so welcoming, so beautiful, so great with the kids, so great with us, so great with everybody, and so we did that one. I am doing one in Februarywith Arts & Crafts, called "What is Improvisation?"that we are currently putting together, which I think will be a blockbuster. I think it is going to be really great. For WeeBop, they wanted to do a record to surround the classes, though I had no involvement with the classes, per se. They wanted me to be involved with the musical directing of the record and production. I went to the meetings, and we had ideas. We threw them around and thenwith Samantha Samuels, who is one of the producers, and Jeff Ledererwe put together a really great record. I think it is really happening.
I call it a family record because I think very small kids will dig it and older kids will dig it and adults will, too. It is kind of like watching Shrek or when we see a really great Sesame Street episode. I still am fascinated by those shows because they draw everybody in; everybody gets something. I think that is what we have accomplished with this record.
AAJ: You see a lot with kids and music where you don't have to tell kids anything about the music. You just expose them to it, and it clicks for them something there touches and resonates.
Trio M, from left: Mark Dresser, Myra Melford, Matt Wilson
MW: I think honesty is a big part of that, and also maybe they are more open listeners than anybody else. They will be cool with this project, so I am very excited about it. I have always been into playing for all ages, and that is something that I love about jazz. And it is often not talked about, but I don't think there is as diverse an age of crowd for any other music as there is at jazz shows. Where else can you find a high-school kid sitting next to somebody in their 70s, and they both like this music and they can talk about it during the break.
AAJ: Jazz is very similar to baseball, where you can go to a baseball game at any level of playyou can go to Yankee Stadium or you could go to a little league game or you could to a college gameand go as deep as you want. You can be a stat-head, you can know everything, or you can just dig sitting there and kind of taking in the atmosphere.
MW: That is really true. Dennis Irwin said the same exact thing as you just said. He said, "Well, it's like a baseball game. You could be sitting next to somebody that doesn't know anything that is going on, or the person next to him is going, 'Well, he is going to pitch it. He's going to throw a slider.' But there is still enjoyment whether somebody is really expert about it or not." So sometimes I think we want to educate people, but sometimes I think that gets them weirded out, too. As respectful as I am with the traditions and all this, and I am a firm believer in all that, we have to also make people feel that jazz is happening right now and not in the old days. There is such debate going on right now about all that in jazz.
AAJ: That's part of it, too, though. It's just like when people are talking about baseball: "The mound used to be higher," and "The ball used to be wound differently," et cetera. That's how you know it's alive and healthywhen there can be an orthodoxy and there can be heretics and there can be schools of thought. It's a sign of vibrancy, even when the debate itself is annoying.
MW: Oh, I think so. If there is anything about the older days, it was that the jazz players were more part of the community. They weren't just these people that came to town and: "Oh, their concert's here and then they are gone." It was: "They are staying for four nights; Let's have the [Jazz] Messengers over for dinner." Things like that.
Buster Williams and I talked about that, once. I think it's a really great topic of study about the bands that played those circuits and the houses they stayed in, and they left messages for each other, and they did all that stuff. They just knew that they were going out and playing these places. It's not going to be that way again, nor should it be, but maybe if we can start to create a little bit of this atmosphere of having more of a circuit in more towns, with shorter distances between... I really feel like what gets people into this music is when they get a chance to know some musicians. You can read about them and you can put stuff up on the internet or you can put YouTube clips and you can do this and that, but the minute they sit down and talk to cat, that creates a different kind of atmosphere. That is why I try to be as personable as possible out thereto try to help generate the feeling that we are not aliens or separate.
Again, its community. When we have had the opportunities to be in a certain town for a few days, doing workshops and a couple of concerts with any one of these bands, it's always fun because you get to see real people. One time, Arts & Crafts was playing in Alaska. It was Gary, Terrell, Dennis and I. We took a little plane from Juneau to this fishing village called Una, Alaska and we played a fishing cannery. It was great. It was turned into a little community center, and they had an electric piano. It's a town of about 1,000 people. There were 120 people at the concert. They hung on every note and just loved having anybody come play for them; they loved every second of it. We stayed; we did a thing at the school. When we were heading out of town, people were waving, and it was great. At one point, we were leaving the hotel, and the band director left me his truck to driveI could drive it to the little airport because it was "three on the tree" and I knew how to drive it. So we were putting all the stuff in the back, and we see this truck drive by and then turn around and come back and we are, like, "Uh-oh," and the guy rolls down his window. He has his dog in the back, and he goes, "Fellas, that's the greatest thing that has happened to this town in 20 years," and it was great. They wouldn't know a Cannonball Adderley record from our ensemble, but they loved, loved this. They loved just having people come to them and play.
We didn't raise a fit like: "We can't play here. We said 7-foot grand piano; we have to have a 7-foot grand." You know what? There was no 7-foot grand to be had. It was an electric piano, and we dealt with it. We knew what the situation was, again improvising with the situation.
That was a really special one. I said to the folks, "We had a great time here. The only thing that would really cap this off is to see a bear." So we are driving back to town; they are driving us back on this gravel road. All of a sudden, all these cars are stopped, and we get out of the car to see what is happening, and someone says, "Hey, Mr. Wilson, your wish is granted," and there was this little yearling Grizzly that had come down this hill. We weren't that close, but close enough. I said, "Wow, that thing is big!" and they said, "Oh, that's nothing!" The police or the Sherriff came, shot a gun up in the air to scare it, and it went up a hill. The next day we took off. We were, like, "Well, this was a really deep experience."
So again, the experiences. We go out there and do it for the music. Benny Green told me that with Ray Brown, one day it was first class, the next it was in the van. One day you are at the Mandarin Oriental, one day you are at the whatever it is, but you are going out. We are going out and doing this. It is nice to have high standards and all that, but "No expectations, no disappointments."
AAJ: Let's dig into Arts & Crafts a little more. What can you tell us about the title of your new record, An Attitude for Gratitude (Palmetto, 2012)? What does that mean to you? It seems a little serious.
MW: It's a little serious. My wife and I have been married 25 years this July. She was tired, and something was going on. I could tell back in October of 2010, before I was going on a trip. There were blood tests for her, and you have to have a transfusion when certain cells are low, so she called me the next day and said, "They are transferring me to the North Shore Hospital." I flew home, and she was diagnosed with leukemia. She was in the hospital for a month, got into remission, came home, and then we were here home for the holidays. She had to go back in for another maintenance visit, and then she was able to find a bone-marrow match. So she had a bone-marrow transplant March 15th, and she is doing very well. She is actually going to go back to teach at the end of the month. So part of it was, man, you find out how hip people really are. Sometimes it's unfortunate that you have to have these situations to find out how great human beings really are, but they are really great, and they will really go to bat for you. I mean, our families, our music community, our community out in Long Islandyou know, everybody.
We go to this little, hip Presbyterian Church, and one day the Minister said something about the "attitude for gratitude," or something like that. I think we have to, in general, be more grateful for things. When you have to go through something like that, and I don't want to sound melodramatic and cliché, but you really do take a different kind of philosophy about things a little bit. It helps you in a lot of ways, and it also scares you in other ways. You know, you find out how vulnerable things really are. So on one end you are energized and the other, I have to honestly admit, sometimes you are, like, "What's around the corner for any of us?" I don't want to try to be preachy; I am not on a movement, though I think it is a nice, positive thing. I don't think there is anything wrong with people trying to feel that way.
AAJ: How did the loss of Dennis Irwin impact the record?
MW: That was hard. I haven't really talked about it yet, but he was there from the get-go, and we only subbed out maybe a couple of times, where Martin played. At the same time that we knew about Dennis' situation was when Andrew D'Angelo, the alto player in the Quartet, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. So I had two different guys in two different bands of mine facing these pretty perilous situations, and it was really a hard thing. One day, I went to take Dennis to a treatment. I bring him back to his place, and then I went back to see Andrew, without telling either one of them.
AAJ: That's a lot of life.
MW: It's a lot of life. I have triplet sons, and when they were born back in 2001, I had this woe, it would be, like, "Oh, my career is over." Actually, that brought incredible luck, in that there are all these tests along the way. Some of them were pretty big. I just learned to try my best and learn to accept things. It is not always easy as that. It is not always easy to accept, so lightheartedness sometimes is there a lot of times, and sometimes it is kind of like woe. My kids are great. My kids are incredible. I am not just bragging. They are incredible, and they have been strong through the whole thing. They know the music community, too, and see how important it is to me, and they know how important it is to them. They have met, and they know, all the guys.
My daughter loves Charlie Haden, for example. It is kind of cool to know that they have had these kinds of experiences. Not to say it is any better or any worse than any other kid's situation, but it is a nice situation for them to be in. What is a great thing about New York for me is thatas opposed to what many people may think, especially outside of the music communityis that they probably think, "Oh it's really cutthroat." Actually, I think it is probably one of the most amiable scenes in the world.
We are all in the same boat, in a way. We are all playing jazz and support each other even just little notes from people just saying "We're here" was really inspiring, and people checking in and everything like that and being really flexible with my schedule last year. I didn't want to bring it to light too much. But you know what? I knew it was a cause for something. The best way I know how to celebrate something is with music or with a group of musicians. This record was a way of saying thanks to some people: a big thank-you note, in a way, a sonic thank-you note.
AAJ: How do you go about choosing the repertoire, and how do you decide which projects are going to get which songs?
MW: There are a few different ways. There are tunes that I store that I want to do in general, and there are ones that I write specifically for a project or group of players.
On An Attitude for Gratitude, I wanted to have the guys contribute, so it was nice to have Gary's tune ["Poster Boy"] and Martin's tune ["Cruise Blues"]. We have been playing Martin's tune for a while in the band. Then "Happy Days Are Here Again" I heard on the radio one day when I was driving my daughter last summer, and it was Barbra Streisand singing. I thought, "Oh, we've got to do that!" Johnny Cash's version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was a real inspiration.
AAJ: Did you cut more than you use?
MW: Not much. We started around noon, and we were done by six or six-thirty, something like that.
AAJ: What is Sifter?
MW: Sifter is a new group with Mary Halvorson and Kirk Knuffke and me; it's a trio. We recorded tunes from each of us. There, I am the oldest guy by far in that band! But Sifter came about last year. We did some gigs and this recording. I am pretty excited about it. Trio M is another project that I am really fond of, with Mark Dresser and Myra Melford. We have a new record, The Guest House (Enja, 2012). I like their energy, and the vibe is great. On this new record, we have everybody's influences and have morphed into something even more unique in certain ways, as far as being a cooperative. It's really fun.
AAJ: What are the different inches that get scratched by all your different projects? Are different bones being tickled?
MW: Yeah, I think so. The older I get, the less I want to understand it. I am still really fascinated by how it all really goes downthe buzz, the wow, this music. And also to feel that energy of people really coming together, like really that vulnerability part of it, and just going, "OK, we are in this. We are in. We are in the pool."
AAJ: You mentioned that you have a tune file that you draw from. Do you have something similar in terms of musicians? Or do you have bucket list of guys that you need to make sure to play with?
MW: Oh yeah, definitely. McCoy Tyner. That would be great. Just one tune. I really would love to play with Chick Corea. I would think that would be really, really fun. I feel we would get along; I feel like it would be a nice vibe. So with the people you meet along the wayI do these orchestra concerts with Elvis Costello, occasionally. He's great. He's such a nice guy. What a great artist. It's great to be around somebody like that, and he's always very gracious, very nice. And what his tunes say nowit's really, really nice.
AAJ: He is also a music nerd. He could sit here and talk about music all day. He is a great storyteller.
MW: Yeah, he's a great, great guy. He always writes a nice note after we work together. I always love that. John Scofield is a big fan of his music, too. He is always checking out all kinds of stuff. I love sitting around talking about the music with him.
AAJ: What is next for you? You certainly have no shortage of projects on your plate.
MW: As far as the recording, I have written a lot of music for a record of Carl Sandburg poems. I think that is what I am going to do next. I would like to do a concert with my Quartet and Arts and Crafts together: two basses, three horns, the organ. I am thinking about that for next yearto do some concerts of that. That would be fun. I like to keep open to other people's projects, too. I like mixing up what people don't consider compatible people. That's always fun to do.
Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts, An Attitude for Gratitude (Palmetto, 2012)
Trio M, The Guest House (Enja, 2012)
Joan Stiles, Three Musicians (OO-Bla-Dee Music, 2011)
The Ray Anderson-Marty Ehrlich Quartet, Hear You Say (Intuition, 2010)
Matt Wilson Quartet, That's Gonna Leave A Mark (Palmetto, 2009)
Mario Pavone, Trio Arc (Playscape, 2008)
Lee Konitz, New Nonet (Omnitone, 2006)
Charlie Haden/Liberation Music Orchestra, Not In Our Name (Verve, 2005)
Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts, Wake Up! (To What's Happening) (Palmetto, 2004)
Matt Wilson Quartet, Humidity (Palmetto, 2003)
Conference Call, Final Answer (Soul Note, 2002)
Matt Wilson, Arts & Crafts (Palmetto, 2001)
M.O.B. Trio, Loose (Omnitone, 2000)
Matt Wilson Quartet, Smile (Palmetto, 1999)
Matt Wilson, Going Once, Going Twice (Palmetto, 1998)
Cecil McBee, Unspoken (Palmetto, 1997)
Matt Wilson, As Wave Follows Wave (Palmetto, 1996) | <urn:uuid:6aa4d329-fb67-4bf6-98bd-03bb571dd37d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=41274&page=1 | 2013-05-20T02:23:42Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988424 | 8,860 |
Wormwood Acres – Motel Room – Morning
Dawn tried her cell phone yet again. She held it to her ear and then sighed. "Still nothing."
From the bathroom, Lorinda's voice called out. "I suppose it is too much to hope for that she got lucky?"
"Well, we can hope, but…nah."
Lorinda emerged, still brushing her hair. "Okay," she said, "you're a witch, right? And I know there are such things as tracking spells."
"Yeah, there are but…"
"So use one."
"It isn't that easy."
Now Lorinda just raised an eyebrow. "If they don't work, what's the point of having the stupid things?"
"They work, just not all the time."
"So now what?"
"Now we go looking for her the hard way." Dawn snapped her cell phone shut and put it in her pocket. Then she looked around.
Lorinda gave a quick whistle. The little dragon's head popped up from beneath one the double beds. She crawled out and made a trilling noise.
"You don't suppose she did her business under there do you?" asked Dawn.
"You gonna clean it up if she did?"
After a moment, Dawn shrugged. "Good point."
Wormwood Acres – Church Basement – Same
Grace squirmed against the pillar to which she was tied.
"Hey!" she called out. None of the robed, hooded figures at the opposite end of the room reacted. They continued to chant. "Just so you know – I'm not really a virgin so if that's what this is all about, the whatever-it-is won't work. Okay, maybe it's only a technicality, but still…" They continued to chant, voices low.
Grace waited. "I've got an idea! Look, if you're gonna kidnap someone you might as well do it for profit, right? There's this girl with me – Lorinda Sheparton. Her parents are rich enough to buy Delaware. I looked it up – they tried to, once."
The robed figures continued to chant.
"You could at least talk to me, you losers!" Grace made as much noise as she could. "Talk about rude! Bad enough you hold me here against my will…"
That got a reaction. One of the robed figures went to the side and picked something up. Now the robed figure approached Grace. In his hands was a duct tape.
"Hey! What are you doing with…" She didn't get any farther as he slapped a large piece of the tape over her mouth. Then he put another piece on top of that and another.
Grace tried to continue complaining, but the sounds no longer resembled words. Not discernable ones, anyway.
"Thank you!" called out one of the other robed figures.
Wormwood Acres – Mayor's Office – Later That Day
Mayor Hegwell smiled and dictated into her tiny portable tape recorder.
"Remember to double-check next week's supply of beef and other meats. Odds are, what we've got won't be enough. Not in the long run…" She turned to look at the door to her outer office. Voices spoke on the other side of the door. The Mayor continued her recording. "No need to spend money on steaks and things. Carnivores prefer things like kidneys, livers, that kind of thing. See how much of a break we can get on organs, and so on." She stopped again as the voices outside became louder, more shrill. With a single press of her finger, she turned the mini-recorder off.
Another sound answered the voices, something that resembled the scream of a cat and in some ways the screech of a bird. Almost immediately a sound eclipsed that – the sound of pounding on wood. Two good hard blows was all it took to break the lock and open the door. Mayor Hegwell's eyes went huge and her smile froze.
Lorinda straightened herself from the kick she'd used to open the door. Marsha the Dragon soared over her head and came to rest on the Mayor's desk. She looked up at the woman and made a growling trill.
"Okay, where's Grace?" Lorinda strode over to the desk while asking.
Dawn entered the office. "Lorinda!"
"Grace," Lorinda snapped, "the geeky watcher who was with us. She went for a walk last night. Never came back."
"Young lady," Mayor Hegwell tried to smile again, "there's really no reason…"
"Stuff it," Lorinda snapped. The dragon made an answering growl.
The Mayor swallowed. "You're upset," she said. "If your friend is missing, we need to get the police involved, make a search, go through official channels…OW!" In one smooth movement Lorinda had moved to her side and grabbed the Mayor's hair, giving it a sharp tug.
Dawn watched slack-jawed.
"Cut the sugary sweet act. You are the worst liar I've ever seen."
"Wait!" Dawn almost-yelled.
The mayor and the slayer looked at Dawn. After a moment, so did Marsha. "There's something going on…"
"Well, duh," said Lorinda.
"And," continued Dawn with an edge in her voice, "it has something to do with dragons."
The mayor blinked and stopped smiling. Lorinda noticed. "Okay, how do you figure that?" the slayer asked, not taking her eyes off the mayor.
"We drove up here and she recognized us instantly. She knew about Marsha. She knew about Kennedy. And this whole town was founded by dragon-worshippers, right?"
"I explained about that…" the mayor started.
"Yeah, but she's right – you're a terrible liar. In fact, you're so bad at it I wonder how you got elected."
"Everybody here is probably just a moron," said Lorinda.
"No," said Dawn, "my guess is you don't have to lie. Not to anyone here…they're all in on it. Whatever 'it'is. The whole town."
The mayor's face no longer had anything like a smile on it. "There are only two of you," she said in a deadpan voice. "You're outnumbered like two thousand to one. I don't care how special and powerful either one of you might be, you haven't got a chance." She grinned. Then, cried out as Lorinda gave her hair a yank.
"Yeah, well," she said, "right here, right now you're outnumbered three to one. And guess what, we do have powers, like super strength." She gave another yank.
"And magic," said Dawn. She held her hands about a foot apart, palms facing. Then whispered a certain word. Multi-colored lightning arched between her hands, crackling the air, illuminating her face with flashing yellow, violet and blue. The mayor watched all this with alarm, and then noticed Marsha had stepped closer to her. The little dragon snarled like a pit bull.
"Okay," she said, voice low. "You win."
Wormwood Acres – Church Basement – Same
Grace was still tied to a pillar. Now, however, copious amounts of duct tape had been fixed to her mouth. Indignation shone forth in her eyes but that emotion gave way to curiosity.
The robed figures were now kneeling. As they did so, the other side of the room became visible. Paintings of dragons – dragons in flight, dragons breathing fire, dragons devouring innocents – adorned one whole wall. But Grace's attention was on the brazier between the robed ones and the wall. It was large, over a yard in width, but in the center of its glowing coals was an oval object. It glowed slightly…it was an egg.
Wormwood Acres – Mayor's Office – Same
Dawn shook her head in disbelief. Lorinda had a matching expression on her face as they both stared at Mayor Hegwell.
"You bought a dragon egg off of eBay?" Dawn had already said this several times.
"Well," said the mayor, "I'm sure it'd make a better movie if we'd hired out a bunch of archeologists to find it some obscure Viking burial grounds, but that wasn't what happened."
"And you believed them?" Lorinda sounded outraged.
The mayor looked at her. "Why not?"
"But…eBay?" Dawn repeated.
"Look, it matched the descriptions of our sacred texts, that's why!" The mayor almost whined her answer. "Plus the rituals and spells are working. The egg is alive now, thank you very much. It will hatch, and a new dragon will emerge into the world." She eyed Marsha. "Bigger than your midget, I can tell you that."
Dawn just stared at her. "I don't know whether to be more afraid if you're right or if you're wrong. If it isn't a dragon in that egg, God only knows what you might be waking up!"
Wormwood Acres – Church Basement – Short time later
Grace's eyes fixed on the egg. Robed figures around pointed to where cracks had appeared in the egg's surface.
"Glory!" chirped one of the robed folk.
"Our dreams!" said another.
Behind the duct tape, Grace tried to say something that sounded not unlike an expletive, probably a significantly obscene one. Of course, because of the tape it also resembled a muffled gargle.
The cracks in the egg expanded as it began to sway back and forth. Little curled claws picked away at the shell. More and more of the egg itself began to break apart – accompanied by 'ooh's'and 'ah's'from the robed ones. Finally, a reptilian head emerged, wearing a piece of egg like a helmet. A quick movement shook the fragment loose and a faltering step brought the rest of the creature out of its shattered encasing.
Wet scales glistened. Tiny eyes looked out and a tongue flicked past an array of very sharp teeth. Its tail whipped back and forth. The mouth opened and a trilling sound emerged.
"Uh…Sid?" said one of the robed figures. "Where're its wings?"
"Maybe it'll grow them?"
"Could be," someone offered.
"According to the book," said another, "the spell help a dragon mature faster."
"The book said so?"
"But is that really a dragon?"
"Looks like one."
"But its got no wings," he repeated.
Grace tried to say something at this point. It came out something like "rrrsssgg rrrgg!" One or two robed figures looked at her in response, whereupon she repeated herself, twice, each time with more fervor. Unfortunately, she didn't become any clearer and so her captors simply shrugged, looking back towards the green scaly creature before them.
"Hey! It's starting to grow!"
"The book said that would happen."
"But so fast?"
A pause before anyone answered. "Sure."
Grace began to tug at her bonds.
"Wow," said one of the robed, "it sure is growing fast."
"Yeah, but still…"
The creature was now the size of a large dog. Its scales glittered dozens of different shades of green. Its eyes were red. The legs looked strong, with fierce spikes on what in a human being would be its knees. Both forelegs were much, much smaller but ended in talons.
With a bang, the door to church cellar burst open and Lorinda rushed in.
"The door was unlocked!" Mayor Hegwell whined from behind her. Dawn was behind the mayor as they entered the room. Marsha swept in and perched on box. She hissed. Grace tried to yell through the duct tape over her mouth.
"Okay," yelled Lorinda, "everybody stay where they are and I don't break kneecaps!" Grace rolled her eyes.
Dawn ran over to untie Grace, but did a take at the scaly green creature staring at her. "Oh my goddess," she squeaked.
"What is that?" asked Lorinda.
"Our dragon!" exulted Mayor Hegwell. "Alive!" The creature looked at her. It was now nearly the size of a pony.
"That isn't a dragon!" wailed Dawn.
"Of course not," snorted Lorinda. "No wings."
Grace tried to scream through the duct tape. It sounded like "uhtmmmrddduhrrrrrr!" Dawn untied her.
"Of course it's a dragon," Hegwell insisted, eyes alight. "Just look at it!" Her smile seemed totally genuine this time, and again showed more teeth than any human mouth could contain.
By now Grace's bonds were undone and she didn't even try to get the tape off her mouth. She just ran for the exit without stopping.
"You idiots!" Dawn breathed. "Don't you watch the Discovery Channel? Or go to the movies?"
By now the creature was nearing six feet tall. Lorinda's eyes popped in horrified recognition. "Oh hell!" She headed for the exit and did Dawn.
"That," was Dawn's parting shot, "is a velociraptor!"
Marsha took wing, following Dawn, Lorinda and Grace out of the basement. Mayor Hegwell watched them go.
"A veloci-what?" Then she was distracted by screams behind her.
Wormwood Acres – Town Square – Later
Grace leaned against a tree, breathing hard. Above her, in the branches, Marsha perched and looked around. Lorinda kept reaching for the tape on Grace's mouth, and Grace kept slapping her hand away.
"Look, the easiest thing is to just pull it off."
Grace slapped her hand. She tried to take the tape off her face herself, and whimpered. Dawn, standing a few feet away, stared at the church across the street.
"Okay," she said to herself, almost succeeding in sounding calm, "I don't really have anything to be afraid of. It can't kill me. It can't. I know that."
"It could still eat you, though," offered Lorinda. "Do you think it would digest you before or after you resurrected?"
"Shut up! I just need to figure out the right kind of spell. Something simple, but powerful."
Grace screamed. Lorinda proudly held aloft a mass of duct tape. "Done!"
"You enjoyed that, you little bitch!"
"Can you please stop whining for ten whole seconds? I'm trying to concentrate here!" yelled Dawn.
From the church, the sounds of screaming suddenly increased, coupled by a roar. All three of them went silent at the sound. After another moment or two, the mayor emerged from the church, with remarkable speed, especially given her high heels. She raced past Dawn, Lorinda and Grace. Marsha watched her go, her head pivoting on her serpentine neck – then turning again to the church at another roaring sound, louder this time.
"A spell" muttered Dawn to herself, "Dinosaurs are just big lizards. They won't like fire any more than…" she searched for an example, "Elephants! Or horses. Yeah, that'll work." She took a deep breath.
"Uh, Summers?" Grace said as she pointed.
That was when the Velociraptor appeared. Now over six feet tall, it ran like a racehorse but gave off the air of a rabid tiger. It looked around and gave another roar. The few people on the streets ran. But the raptor fixed its eyes on Dawn. Marsha in the tree gave a warning chirp.
"I see it," said Dawn. As the raptor began to run towards her, Dawn quickly traced a symbol in the air with her left hand. The symbol itself seemed to hover in the air for a moment. "Incendiaria" she said and held her right palm forward. A ball of flame emerged from her palm and shot forward. All three young women flinched as the flamed erupted – an animalistic scream echoing as a tiny pillar of fire swirled where the raptor had stood moments before. And, as the flames subsided, the raptor still stood, looking startled but not at all hurt.
"Oh hell," said Dawn.
"Run away?" suggested Lorinda.
"Yep," said Grace.
Watching them, the Raptor blinked for a moment. Then, with a bellow, ran after their retreating forms.
Cleveland – Warehouse – Same time
Faith looked around the vast, abandoned room, littered with shipping palettes, machinery and heavy equipment, which had long since started to rust or rot. The moonlight shafted in through the dusty air, bathing the room in a pale blue light. She nodded, satisfied, as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the dim light.
"This is the place," she whispered softly. "Now I let her find me."
Watchers Council – Faith and Robin's bedroom – Same time
Robin sat on the bed, looking at the small diamond ring in the palm of his hand. He closed his hand into a fist and brought it to his lips, wrapping his free left hand around it.
"God, if you're out there, I know we don't talk much," he whispered, although nobody was close enough to hear it, "but I guess that means I haven't ever asked you for much either. But I'm asking now. If you have a miracle handy, I could really use one right now."
Wormwood Acres – Downtown – Moments Later
Mayor Hegwell could not run terribly fast in high heels. She ran faster than one might suppose, but not faster than Lorinda, Dawn or Grace. Overhead, Marsha had no trouble catching up with her either. The little dragon swept in front of the mayor with a hiss. As a result Hegwell cried out and nearly collided with the three members of the Watchers'Council behind her. Lorinda grabbed her by the wrists.
"Let go of me!" she shrieked. "You're gonna get us killed!"
Grace looked around, pointed to a house under construction. It looked mostly finished but no one was working on it now. The roof was unfinished, as were the upstairs windows. "C'mon!"
They dragged Hegwell with them. All four, dragon hovering above, headed inside the half-finished house. "Are you crazy? The walls aren't even done yet!"
"So we can get inside without arguing," snapped Grace. "And there'll be power tools for weapons."
Getting through the front door proved easiness itself. The interior of the first floor was dark, save for a few working lights. As they heard the roar of the raptor, they took cover away from the windows. Grace peaked out through the tiny window on the front door.
The raptor came into view. It walked in a surprisingly smooth flow, like a bipedal cat, head swinging from side to side. On the street, inches from where Hegwell had been caught, the creature paused before omitting a growling sound that seemed to go on forever. It then turned and headed away from the house under construction.
Grace breathed again. "Just a little bit of research," she whispered, "Some field work. Simple, she said…I'm gonna kill that woman."
Cleveland – Warehouse – Same time
Faith heaved her body onto a stack of shipping palettes and closed her eyes. She reached into the inside breast pocket of her jacket, producing a wooden stake and she gently lay it on the rotting wood next to her. Her breathing slowed and she gently rested her hands on her knees.
"Into a soul without thought or emotion, even a tiger finds no room to insert its fierce claws," she whispered. "One and the same breeze passes over the pines in the mountains and the oak trees in the valleys, yet why do they make different notes…No thinking, no reflecting, perfect emptiness, yet therein something moves…The eye sees it, but no hands can take hold of it…The moon in the streams, clouds and mists, they are midair transformations."
Her dictation halted abruptly and her head, eyes still closed, cocked slightly to the left. With a sharp intake of breath, she rolled backwards as a leg swept through the space the bridge of her nose had occupied only a moment earlier. She continued her roll backwards coming to a stop a few feet behind her, kneeling on the edge of the stack of shipping palettes.
"Impressive," Janna said, from her position on the opposite edge. "How'd you know I was there? It's these pants isn't it? I've been trying to get my hands on a pair that makes a little less noise, but a girl's gotta keep up with modern fashion."
"Naah," Faith shrugged. "Your breath stinks." She threw herself at the vampire, trying to drive her back with a series of punches at her midsection. Janna's stomach curled around the impact, and had she had any breath to be knocked out of her, it would have been. Instead, she barely reacted, swinging around in a backhanded strike at the slayer's right temple.
Faith deflected the strike, and tried to respond with an uppercut under the vampire's chin. Janna twisted, away from the punch and stepped forward, locking her right knee behind Faith's, and drove her forearm into the center of Faith's chest.
Faith tripped backwards and fell flat. The edge of the pile of shipping palettes the duo was dueling upon struck her in the small of her back. Her entire upper body hung, suspended in space for the briefest of moments before, like a book that had been pushed too close to the edge of a table, she flipped backwards and fell to the concrete floor below, landing face down.
Janna jumped down from her perch to land next to the slayer's prone body. She shook her head disapprovingly.
"I don't know about you, but from my vantage, it doesn't look like this fight is going much better than the last one," she said, her tone patronizing.
Watchers Council – Hallway – Same time
"You did what!?" Buffy was livid as she stood facing Robin from the hallway. "How in hell could you let her go after that woman alone again?"
"Do you honestly think I could've stopped her?" Robin asked.
"Yes!" Buffy snapped. "Actually, I'd say that you're the one person who can stop her. Isn't it kinda part of your job description to stop her from, oh, I don't know, killing herself?"
"No," Robin said simply.
"No," Robin's voice was calm. "It's my job to trust her. I believe…I have to believe that she can do this."
"Where did she go?" Buffy demanded. "I'm sending a team of slayers after her."
"I don't know," Robin told her.
"You're lying," Buffy accused him.
"On any other day, you'd be 100% right. If I knew, I wouldn't tell you," Robin said softly.
"Why the hell not!?"
"She needs this fight," Robin said. "I can't explain it better than that."
Cleveland – Warehouse – Same time
"Four hundred years looking for a slayer who can match me, and look at you," Janna taunted, watching Faith rise shakily to her feet. "You can barely stand." She shook her head. "I gotta say, Faith, this is damned disappointing."
Faith brought her arms up to a defense, adopting a perfect stance as Janna advanced on her. Her stance was relaxed, but the expression on her face betrayed the intense level of concentration and focus inherent to every action, every motion.
Janna advanced with a feint and followed with a kick to Faith's floating rib. Faith cleared both attacks and darted inwards, driving her elbow into the vampire's abdomen and following it with a backhanded strike at the bridge of her nose.
Janna jerked her head to the side and the blow aimed at her nose instead collided to minimal effect with the vampire's collarbone. She gripped Faith's wrist firmly and twisted it in a single, brutal motion.
Faith grunted in pain as her whole body bent over reflexively to alleviate the torque applied to her shoulder. She wasn't able to mount any defense when she received Janna's foot applied generously to her stomach. Janna released her wrist, allowing Faith to drop to an undignified position on her hands and knees. Faith's whole body heaved as she tried to force air into a pair of lungs that seemed reluctant to expand.
"Face it, Faith, you're just outclassed this time," Janna said. "I'm willing to let you walk away. Just turn and walk away."
Faith finally managed to take a full breath before she used a piece of machinery next to her to pull herself to her feet. She leaned heavily on it for support as she looked defiantly at the ancient vampire.
"If you think I'm going to take you up on that," she said, "you really don't know me at all, do you?"
Janna shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said softly.
Faith looked at her for a moment, her expression almost one of curiosity, as if she were looking at a demon she'd never seen before. She smiled slightly, and slowly allowed her hands to drop to her sides.
Watchers Council – Robin and Faith's living room – Same time
Robin looked out at the full moon, shining down like a spotlight on lake Erie. He leaned heavily on the window's ledge, watching the small waves push in against the coastline.
"How long has she been gone?" Buffy's voice sounded softly from behind him.
"Three hours," he replied without turning around.
"Robin, we need to find her," Buffy said softly.
Robin shook his head slowly. "Not yet."
"I understand that you have to trust her, but you're taking this well past insane," Buffy told him.
"She can do this," he said.
Cleveland – Warehouse – Same time
Blood sprayed from between Faith's lips as a completely undefended strike slammed across her jaw, followed by a second delivered from the opposite direction. She still hadn't raised her hands in defense when a third strike, a jab, drove straight into her nose.
Janna had abandoned her previously impeccable style for hard, brutal strikes at the slayer's face and jaw.
Faith dropped to one knee momentarily, but recovered almost immediately and rose again to face the vampire. Her hands remained down at her sides. Blood flowed freely from a large cut over her right eyebrow, and a trickle of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
"Faith, come on," Janna gripped Faith's head behind the neck and slammed it downwards into her knee. Faith again dropped to one knee, dazed before she pushed herself up again, her legs barely supporting her. "Dodge, hit back, do something," Janna said as she drove another punch across the black-haired slayer's jaw. Faith's head snapped to the right with the blow, and as she looked back at the vampire, her eyes were barely half-opened. Her breaths were ragged and slow. "God, don't just give up," Janna added, delivering another punch to Faith's cheekbone.
Watchers Council – Faith and Robin's bedroom – Same time
Robin did not turn away from the window. "She can do this," he whispered.
Cleveland – Warehouse – Same time
Faith's half-closed eyes suddenly snapped opened a fraction of a second before another of countless blows made contact with her right cheek, and she simply ducked. The fist whistled mere millimeters above her head, striking nothing more substantial than the air. She stepped towards the overbalanced vampire, and drove her forehead into the vampire's. The vampire dropped with the force of the impact, leaving the side of her head opened for a hard snap-kick. Faith followed the kick with a pair of punches, one delivered to each side of the vampire's face, which finally dropped her to the ground.
For a moment, Faith looked down at her hands in shock; almost as though a pair of foreign objects had been attached to her wrists.
She looked up at the slowly-recovering vampire and a wide smile spread across her face. "Aaaall riiiiiiiight," she said slowly.
Janna's brow furrowed, her eyes darkened and her canine teeth extended. An almost-feral growl freed itself from her throat as she threw herself at the slayer, forcing Faith backwards into a large metal device.
Faith brought her right elbow up across her body, then brought it down across both of Janna's wrists, ripping them free of her throat. She then slid her elbow along the vampire's outstretched arms, using them to guide a strike directly to Janna's throat.
"Not as much fun when they hit back, is it?" Faith asked as Janna stumbled away from her.
Janna threw a punch across Faith's jaw, which she did not attempt to redirect. Instead, she twisted with the force of the blow, causing it to glance off her jaw. She continued the twisting motion, and brought the back of her right fist across Janna's temple.
The two locked together as Faith was again forced against a wall. Faith brought her arm up under Janna's chin, holding her back. It was only because she had a position of slightly greater leverage that she was able to slow the vampire's fangs inching towards her jugular vein.
"You can't beat me," the vampire hissed as she closed in on Faith's throat.
"Maybe I can't," Faith's voice hid none of the strain she felt as she tried to hold the vampire at bay, "but we can."
Janna's eyes widened. "Wha –?" She looked down just in time to see two inches of very pointy wood punch its way outwards through her sternum. A stunned look of shock froze itself on her face in the instant before she disintegrated in front of her. As the vampire vanished, she revealed the shape of Hadley standing behind her, stake at the ready. She cringed when she saw the elder slayer.
"Jesus, Faith," she said, suppressing a shudder as she surveyed Faith's very obvious injuries.
"Watch your mouth kid," Faith corrected her.
"Sorry, but you scared the…heck outta me…You said you were going to keep her busy, not become a pińata."
"Worked, di'n it?" Faith said dopily.
"Here, lemme help you," Hadley rushed forward and tried to drape one of Faith's arms across her shoulders.
"Na'ah, I got it," Faith pulled her arm away and started to step away from the wall she was leaning against. Almost immediately, her legs collapsed under her. "Okay, I was wrong," she amended.
Hadley chuckled slightly and bent down to help Faith stand.
"Just for the record, I coulda taken her," Faith said as the duo struggled towards the door at the far end of the warehouse.
"If you think that, she must've hit you harder than I thought," Hadley said with a smile.
"Heck, I'll take you right now," Faith insisted.
"A lot harder," Hadley added.
"Hey, you li'l pipsqueak," Faith muttered playfully, "I'll have you know that I've been slaying since you were in diapers." She paused. "Okay, maybe not diapers, but at least fuzzy, footed pajamas."
"So do you want me to have you fitted with a walker?" Hadley asked her. "Does Robin know he's robbing the Craftmatic adjustable bed?"
Faith looked down at Hadley for a moment and smiled. "Hadley, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."
Wormwood Acres – Half-built House – Later
Crouching in the darkness, Mayor Hegwell sucked on her lit cigarette.
"Okay," Lorinda was saying, "how come magic didn't work?"
"Maybe dinosaurs are immune," Dawn suggested.
"You've got to be kidding."
"Could be. I mean, how would anyone know?" Dawn replied.
"I think its because they hatched the damn thing with magic," said Grace. "Think about it. A velociraptor egg? Must be millions of years old. How much magic would it take to bring something like that back to life? Or for that matter, how long have they been doing this? Hey, you, Lipstick-for-Brains, when did you and your stupid group of Jawa wannabes get the egg?"
Hegwell glared. "I don't see any reason to be insulting."
Grace looked at Lorinda. "Do me a favor?"
"Break her fingers for me?"
Lorinda looked at the mayor. "Yeah, okay."
"Five years ago! Jeez!" She went back to sucking on her cigarette.
"You know," Dawn said, "those things do cause cancer."
"Thank you so much for telling me. And of course that is so very high on my list of worries right this second."
"Right," continued Grace, "they've been pouring magic into that egg for years. So it isn't like your powers aren't cool and everything, but its kinda like throwing a bucket of water at a tidal wave."
"We've got to kill it," said Lorinda.
"No kidding, Sherlock," muttered the mayor.
The slayer looked at her. "Hey, I've got an idea. How about some bait?" She smiled.
"That is a good idea," Grace commended.
"Hey!" the mayor exclaimed.
"No, not you. Something a carnivorous dinosaur would find more tempting." Grace concentrated. "Let's face it, you're mostly skin and bones…What were you planning on feeding your dragon?"
"Meat of course. We stocked up at the local grocery store. Their big freezer is full of it."
"Big freezer? How big is your big freezer?"
"Bigger than my office."
"The grocery store. But it's frozen. We didn't know exactly when the egg would hatch."
Now Grace looked at Dawn. "You can throw fireballs. Can you thaw meat?"
She thought about it. "Yeah. It would take a little longer, but it's really just the same principle, sort of. Basically, anyway. But that still leaves the problem of getting the dinosaur to come and get it. And the even bigger problem of what to do when he…she…it does."
"What to do with it is obvious," said Lorinda. They all looked at her. "Well, it is."
Wormwood Acres – Later
The raptor strode along a neighborhood that was by now deserted. Neat, even picturesque homes lined both sides of a street that was also dotted with trees and a smattering of parked cars. Even the squirrels, however, were hiding.
So the raptor continued along. It listened and sniffed the air. The cry that got its attention sounded something like that of a hawk. It looked up and around. From atop one house Marsha dove and swerved in the air several yards in front of the raptor. She even hissed in defiance.
The raptor began to chase the little morsel. It was as swift as a cheetah, able to run faster than Marsha could fly. The little dragon barely avoided its fanged snout, heading into the air out of range. Then heading away, but not so high as to make the raptor give up. But she also kept moving.
And the raptor followed, hungry.
Wormwood Acres Grocer Store – Later
Marsha soared as fast as she could, reaching the roof of the grocery store actually panting. Behind her, the raptor turned a corner and looked around. It sniffed the air.
The raptor immediately looked at the far end of the parking lot. A raw steak lay on the ground. A quick sprint and the ravenous dinosaur was on it. The steak was small enough it simply picked up the meat with its jaws, leaned its head back and swallowed. It then did the same to another steak lying nearby – closer to the back door of the store. A third steak was at the door entrance.
When the third steak was swallowed, the raptor saw the inside of the store, and the trail of roasts and hamburger leading to a big door that was currently wide open. Still hungry, the raptor wasted little time in its quest for food. The roasts and hamburger were soon torn by its fangs and in the creature's gullet. A little less hungry now, it hesitated before entering the into the room marked 'refrigeration unit.'From the far corner, peaking out over the top of desk, Grace and Dawn and Lorinda watched what happened.
After a few seconds the raptor stepped inside the freezer. The pile of raw meat just inside the door was just too tempting a target. Wet tearing sounds began, with a snarling like that of cats when they eat birds. Dawn uttered a word, and made a hand gesture. The door of the freezer swung shut.
Almost instantly, the raptor reacted with a roar. Just as quickly, Lorinda was running to the freezer door. She slipped the lock into place, not a moment too soon. The full force of a dinosaur began pounding at the door. It quaked under the blows. Lorinda pushed against it, holding it closed.
"Hurry," she yelled, making it sound very much like an order. She was already straining against the blows on the door.
Grace had already reached the controls and turned freezer's temperature all the way down. Dawn, meanwhile, had risen and was pointing at the freezer with her thumb and pinky. The other hand traced a symbol in the air. "I call on the lords of Jotunheim," she said, "I invoke Mim and the hosts of the north, the masters of frost and endless winter. Claim this space as thy domain. Let thy presence be felt. Breathe here and let the ice hold reign."
"How long is this going to take?" asked Grace.
"Faster if you don't distract me," was Dawn's answer. "I call on the lords of Jotunheim," she repeated. "I invoke Fafnir and the hosts of the north…"
A talon the size of a small crossbar pierced the freezer door from the inside. "Oh, hell," muttered Lorinda. The talon began to tear at the door material, then pulled back inside. Another couple of blows, and its talons pierced the door a few inches from the first hole.
"Let thy presence be felt. Breathe here and let the ice hold reign." Dawn repeated.
Another blow sent Lorinda to the floor.
Dawn's voice rose. "I invoke Fasolt! And the hosts of the north! The masters of frost and endless winter. Claim this space as thy domain! Let thy presence be felt! Breathe here and let the ice hold reign!" Her hands had begun to glow. Lorinda, gasping from being thrown to the floor, noticed her breath was visible.
"Let the ice hold reign!"
Frost gathered on the wall and door of the freezer. It began to fall off as the hinges of the door weakened. A fanged snout poked through a hole in the door. It snarled, and its breath was a long wisp of mist.
"Let the ice hold reign!"
Now frost was on the raptor's hide as it grabbed the door and pushed, pulled, yanked. The hinges were almost out of the wall by now. But the raptor's movement were slower…
"Let the ice hold reign!"
The raptor was barely moving. Its talons, holding onto the freezer door through the holes they'd created, were white. Covered with a layer of fine ice. A pathetic mewling growl came from the other side of the door. As the three of them watched, the talons slid back into the freezer. A large thump from inside it followed.
Dawn, no longer chanting, looked at Grace. Grace looked back at her. Dawn looked at Lorinda, who matched her look, then aimed it at Grace, who looked at her then at Dawn again.
"Let's get out of here," said Grace at last. "I'm freezing."
Watchers Council – Briefing Room – Next Day
Marsha the dragon was pacing up and down the table, under the slightly stunned eyes of Rowena and Willow.
"Of course, later I realized what we should have done," Lorinda was saying, seated across from them. "We should have gone to a vet's office and laced all that meat with sedatives." She nodded, oblivious to the stares aimed at her by Dawn and Grace, seated on either side of her. "I'll bet Jeff would have thought of that."
"Well," said Willow. "Maybe."
"But the important thing is," said Dawn, "invoking the spirits of the frost giants worked. I know some dinosaurs were warm-blooded and all, but still that much cold took the creature out. And it being inside a refrigerated room helped. Some."
"So much for simple, quiet bit of field research," muttered Grace.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," said Rowena.
"But look on the bright side," Rowena told them, "the three of you did a good deed, and even without any real preparation you managed to negate a serious menace!"
"I've been preparing," objected Dawn. "I've been studying magic for how long now?"
"Oh, sweetie," said Willow, "she just means…"
"I know what she means, Willow."
"You two were so lucky," said Lorinda.
"What?" said Dawn.
"If I hadn't have been there, you'd've both been raptor lunch!"
"Hey! It was my magic that took that damn thing down!"
"After we followed my plan!" Lorinda remarked.
"Your plan?" Grace's eyebrows almost hit her hairline. "Your plan? I'm the one who came up with…"
"The only reason you're even alive is because I beat the information out of the mayor! And Dawn here tried to stop me!"
"You are such a liar!"
Rowena and Willow looked at each other while Dawn, Lorinda and Grace bickered. Willow tried to smile. "We should have practice in dealing with teenagers, huh?" she said, voice low.
"…got yourself kidnapped wandering off alone…"
"…took forever to find me…"
"…Jeff would never have let that happen…"
Rowena sighed. "I guess," she said. "Still, we will have help."
"…didn't even issue us any weapons…"
"…what do you call Marsha…"
"…and I'm the one who killed the beastie…"
"At least," said Rowena, "we won't have to worry about our own for at least a decade."
Bureau Nine – Mr. Felix's Office – Same Time
"Jason! Jason! I've got it! I've got it!" Dianna burst into the office with a plastic folder in her hand, catching Felix off guard with no regard for what he was doing.
"Sir, I'll call you back," Felix said and then pressed his earpiece. "Are you okay?" he stood up.
Dianna snorted a laugh as she rushed over to his desk. "Okay? I've left okay behind. I'm – I'm…better than okay."
Felix raised his hands. "Good. I'm glad. Just…sit," he gestured to the seat before him.
She batted away his kindness as she sat down. "I'm just…Jason I've done it," she breathed.
He frowned for a moment and then looked serious. "And by it, you mean?"
She nodded. "The sphere. I've cracked it."
His face lit up. He pursed his lips, trying to form words but they were lost. He blinked. "…Dianna…"
Dianna's smile brightened. "Yes Jason, it's done. After weeks of staring at that sodding thing, I've finally solved it!"
"I…I don't know what to say. Honestly, I'm lost for words."
"Well, I'm not, just...just listen." Dianna tried to bottle her glee. Felix agreed with a nod. "I tried just about everything I could to decipher the sphere. Nothing worked. Light, heat, cold, sound, you name it. But what I didn't try was touch. A week ago Lori had commented on my jewelry box – it was a gift Grace bought me long ago. You know how everyone litters their desks with bits and bobs to make the office more home-like." She glanced at Felix's desk. It was sterile, void of anything bar a single photo frame that was turned towards him. She shook her head. "Perhaps not everyone...Anyway, I was winding the jewelry box up. I was sitting there entranced by this beautiful, lonely thing, and I stared at the music reel and then it came to me. The indentations on the sphere aren't a language or a map. They're musical scores."
"I had nothing else to lose, so I rigged up a set of spikes to strike the sphere as it rotated," Dianna reached into her jacket pocket and produced a digital microphone. "Of course I had to experiment with various speeds of rotation and the thickness of the spikes, but then I got this." She pressed the play button and a high pitched crackling and scratching sound reverberated around the acoustics of the office. She turned the recording off. "What does that sound like to you?"
"White noise. Very loud, very clear white noise," Felix twisted his little finger in his left ear.
Dianna shook her head. "That's why you hired me, my dear friend. It's the sound of radiation as detected and measured through a Geiger counter."
"Of course, I should have recognized it." A worried look crossed his face and he sat forward. "Oh my god, are you okay?"
"Yes I'm fine. The sphere doesn't emit any radiation; no one's in any danger."
"It doesn't emit radiation, but it plays the sound profile of a certain type of radiation. So I started looking for where one would find said radiation on Earth."
Felix grinned. "Dianna this is incredible…"
"It gets a whole lot more credible believe me. I piggybacked off of numerous satellites positioned around the globe; scanning certain regions at a time," she slid Felix the plastic folder across the table.
His eyes widened and he grabbed for the folder and opened it. Inside was an aerial image of a forest.
"The Himalayas. The final stage of The Project begins in the Himalayas." She leaned over and pointed to a small area encased in a red box. "Precisely in this secluded monastery." Dianna smiled. It was either bright or chilling, depending on your perspective.
Watchers Council – Hallway – next day
Faith stood facing the doorway. Her hands were clenched into fists as they hung by her side.
"You're five minutes late," Buffy whispered from beside her.
"I know!" Faith hissed.
"You've been standing here for ten minutes," Buffy added.
"I know," Faith replied quietly.
"It's a door, Faith, it can't hurt you," Buffy said.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Faith said, "I've met some pretty nasty doors in my life."
"They're gonna think you bailed," Buffy pointed out.
"And this is a bad thing because…"
Buffy looked at her with an exasperated sigh. "You'll thank me for this later."
Watchers Council – Classroom – Continuous
Sixteen heads turned in unison as the classroom door swung open, shattering the glass of the window. Next, Faith stumbled inside in undignified manner, as if thrown. She landed on the ground in front of the group but quickly picked herself up off the floor. She turned around to face Buffy, who's diminutive shape still occupied the frame of the door, offering a venomous glare.
"You're welcome," Buffy silently mouthed at her before she vanished.
Faith turned to look at the classroom. Thirty-two eyes bored into her, waiting for her to speak. She took a deep breath. "What you just saw was a demonstration of one of the basic rules of combat. Never turn your back on anyone, even if you think you can trust them." She yelled the last few words on the off chance that Buffy was still within earshot.
She stopped for a moment, looking at the classroom, she looked down at the engagement ring on her left ring finger, and allowed herself to smile.
"They've asked me to talk to you today about small-unit tactics," she began. "The great advantage that you, as slayers have, is that for the first time in the history of the slayer line, there are more of you. Thousands of you. And you have to rely on each other. You have to trust each other, and you have to trust yourselves."
Fade to Black
End of Bloodlines
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The Harlem Chamber Players is a collective of musicians. These are just some of the musicians who have performed in our series, and we continue to build our roster of the finest players available in New York.
Alvin McCall, Cello
Cellist Alvin McCall has distinguished himself as a recitalist, chamber musician and symphony orchestra performer. As a member of the McCall-Deats Duo he has performed recitals throughout the US, France and Germany. The Duo has recorded the Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich Sonatas and continues to perform recitals regularly.
McCall, having studied with one of the premier chamber musicians, Bernard Greenhouse, is very fond of chamber music and has performed national tours with the Alexandria Quintet and the Omega Ensemble. He has also performed chamber concerts at the Caramoor Music Festival, Utah Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, with New York New Music, the Amici Ensemble, the Atlantic Sinfonietta and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. With members of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, he has performed on the Symphony's Pulitzer concerts, Chamber Music St Louis, Discovery, Summerfest and various Community Partnership venues throughout the city.
A former member of the New York Chamber Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Alvin joined the St Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and has been a member of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra since 1986.
Amadi Azikiwe, Viola
Amadi Azikiwe, violist and conductor, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., including an appearance at the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Azikiwe has also been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He has appeared in recital at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, on the “Discovery” recital series in La Jolla, at the International Viola Congress, and at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since then, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, India, Japan, Hong Kong, and throughout the Caribbean.
As a chamber musician, Azikiwe has appeared in concert with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Chester, Miro, St. Lawrence, Anderson, Arianna, Harrington and Corigliano quartets. He was also a member of the Concertante Chamber Players, and is a former member of the Ritz Chamber Players. Among Mr. Azikiwe’s prizes and awards are those from Concert Artists Guild, the North Carolina Symphony, the National Society of Arts and Letters, and the Epstein Young Artists Award from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, with whom he still maintains a strong artistic and mentoring association.
Mr. Azikiwe was previously the conductor of the Old Dominion University Chamber Orchestra and the Atlanta University Center Orchestra. He was also a visiting faculty member of Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, IN. Currently, he is on the faculty of James Madison University, and Music Director of the Harlem Symphony Orchestra. He has guest conducted for the Intercollegiate Music Association, at the Gateways Music Festival, and the Trinity Opera Company. Mr. Azikiwe has appeared as artist faculty at the Brevard Music Center, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Killington Music Festival, Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Yachats Music Festival, and the Aria International Academy in London, Ontario.
As an orchestral musician, he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, principal violist of the SHIRA Jerusalem International Symphony Orchestra, and as guest principal violist of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. He has performed under the baton of conductors Lorin Maazel, James DePriest, Christoph Eschenbach, Gerard Schwarz, Marek Janowski, Leonard Slatkin, Seiji Ozawa, Michael Morgan, Pinchas Zukerman, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Sixten Ehrling, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Charles Dutoit, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kurt Masur, and Leonard Bernstein.
A native of New York City, Amadi Azikiwe was born in 1969. After early studies with his mother, he began his formal training at the North Carolina School of the Arts as a student of Sally Peck. He continued his studies at the New England Conservatory with Marcus Thompson and conductor Pascal Verrot, receiving his Bachelor’s degree. Mr. Azikiwe was also awarded the Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University, where he served as an Associate Instructor, and received his Master’s Degree in 1994 as a student of Atar Arad. You may find out more on his website www.amadiazikiwe.com.
Amy Fraser, Bassoon
Amy Fraser is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. Among her orchestral credits, she has performed with the New Philharmonic of New Jersey, Harrisburg Symphony, Soulful Symphony, New Jersey Ballet, Albany Symphony, and the New York Virtuosi, to name a few. Ms. Fraser toured the country extensively with the Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber. She toured Spain on two occasions with the American Festival Orchestra and the Connecticut Chamber Orchestra. Choral engagements include the Greenwich Village Singers, New Jersey Chorale, Ars Musica, and several other oratorio societies. For the past several years, Ms. Fraser has been enriching the lives of public school children through “Music Outreach Educative Workshops.” This program is comprised of the art of storytelling, musical demonstration and an age-appropriate lecture.
Andréa Bradford, Soprano
Soprano Andréa Bradford began her musical training with the study of the piano. Her vocal study began early, and she later earned degrees in vocal performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Boston University. She has studied and coached with Donald Palumbo, Allen Rogers, Larry Woodard, Wayne Sanders, Mary Davenport, Donna Roll, Sarah Caldwell and Leonard Bernstein.
She toured with Sarah Caldwell and The Opera Company of Boston for over a decade, performing throughout New England and Europe. She has also performed extensively as a recitalist and with such orchestras as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra. She has received particular acclaim for her work in 20th century operas and solo vocal compositions.
Ms. Bradford is a multi-faceted performer, having been a piano accompanist for other singers and instrumentalists, and she is comfortable in both the classical and jazz genres.
Anthony Morris, Double Bass
Anthony Morris has been Principal Auxiliary and has toured internationally with The New York Philharmonic from 1999 to 2006 under the batons of Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. From 2007 to the present, Morris plays extensively with The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO). When he is not playing with NJSO, he is working on Broadway shows such as Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera along with other numerous orchestras in the Tri-State area. Mr. Morris is also an instructor at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. He holds a B.M.A. from Manhattan School of Music and an M.M.A. from The Juilliard School of Music. He has studied with internationally renowned musicians such as Eugene Levinson, Paul Ellison, and Bruce Bransby. As of September 2010, Morris has accepted the Low String Coach position at the InterSchool Orchestras of New York (ISO).
Ashley Horne, Violin
A native of Los Angeles, violinist Ashley Horne has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician around the world. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he is known for his “bright tone and fine overall sense of style” (Dennis Rooney of Strad Magazine). He performs regularly with American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Bard Festival Orchestra, Westchester Symphony, West-Park Chamber Society, Gateways Music Festival, Dance Theater of Harlem Orchestra and New York City Opera, as well as on Broadway’s The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Wild Party, Carousel, and the current smash hit, The Producers. He has been the featured soloist and concertmaster of numerous ensembles, including The New Black Repertory Ensemble, The Antara Ensemble of NY, Cascade Festival Orchestra, and Aspen Young Artists Orchestra. His recording of Henry Cowell’s Fiddler’s Jig with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra can be heard on Koch International. Mr. Horne has been a recitalist at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Solo and chamber music performances have taken him to many interesting parts of the globe, such as Spain, Portugal, the Azores Islands, Odessa and Istanbul. Filmgoers can see Mr. Horne in Le Mozart Noir, the PBS documentary of violinist and composer Chevalier de Saint George, as well as in Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America.
Barbara Oldham, French Horn
Barbara Oldham is a founding member of the wind quintet Quintet of the Americas and has appeared with the Marlboro Music Festival, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Festival Brass Quintet, and Westchester Chamber Music Festival. She has toured in over 300 cities in the Western Hemisphere and Eastern Europe, performed at Carnegie Hall, the American Music Week Series at Weill Recital Hall; the Bermuda International Festival; the Chamber Music Northwest Festival; Festival Internacional de Música Contemporanea in Bogotá; Sala Teresa Careña in Caracas; the American Composers Orchestra Sonidos de Mexico and Sonidos de Cuba Festivals; the Chautauqua Festival; Bar Harbor Festival; the First International Congress on Women in Music; the Pan American Music Festivals at the Library of Congress and the O.A.S. in Washington, D.C.; the Inter-American Festival in Puerto Rico; two Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festivals; and a two-day Villa-Lobos centennial festival at Merkin Hall in NYC.
She has presented solo recitals at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and the American Landmark Festivals and is the recipient of a Brooklyn Arts Council Individual Artist Grant for solo recitals. She is a member of the Queens Symphony, former principal horn of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia, Opera Northeast, and guest principal horn with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic. She has also performed with Brooklyn Philharmonic, Long Island Philharmonic, Radio City Music Hall, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and on Broadway. She has recorded on the CRI, MMC, Newport Classic, XLNT, Opus 1, and MSR labels. She serves on the faculties of Brooklyn College, New York University, and Summer Trios summer chamber music festival.
Brandee Younger, Harp
A versatile musician who continues to defy genres and labels, this young harpist has created a unique niche in both traditional and non-traditional harp arenas. Best-known for her limitless drive, Ms. Younger remains in high demand and attracts the attention of today’s most well-known artists, producers and groups.
A classically trained harpist, she has performed with an array of orchestras including the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Ensemble du Monde, Camerata New York and the Red Bull Artsehcro, a “non-conformist” orchestra.
She has worked & recorded with a number of jazz luminaries including Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane, Wycliffe Gordon, Charlie Haden, Reggie Workman, Kenny Garrett, Rashied Ali, and Bill Lee, as well as a host of New York City’s top, young jazz musicians. In hip-hop, she has worked with several artists and producers, including Common, Ryan Leslie, Cassie, Talib Kweli and Drake. She effortlessly performs in many diverse genres, due to her proficiency as an artist and all around musician.
A native of Long Island, Ms. Younger grew up in Hempstead and Uniondale, where she began her harp studies as a teen. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance and Music Business at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford where she was also mentored by the faculty of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz and African American Studies. She received her Master of Arts in Harp Performance from New York University. Her formal instructors on the University level include harpists Rebecca Flannery, Susan Jolles, Emily Mitchell, and bassist, Nat Reeves.
Currently, she resides in New York where she maintains a rigorous performing and teaching schedule. She performs with her trio, as a soloist, and performs regularly as part of The Workman String Summit, led by bassist, Reggie Workman; the Laura Kahle Quintet, led by composer and trumpeter, Laura Kahle and with Bill Lee and the Natural Spirit Orchestra. Ms. Younger has a private teaching studio in New York and is on the harp faculty of the Hartt School, at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, CT; Adelphi University in Garden City, NY and The Greenwich House Music School in New York, NY. She is Vice President of the Long Island Chapter of the American Harp Society. Learn more about Ms. Younger on her website: http://brandeeyounger.com/.
Carl Jackson, Clarinet
Clarinetist Carl Jackson has received praise from peers as well as musical legends the likes of Leonard Bernstein and Sergiu Celebidache. By age 17 while attending the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division, Carl had already appeared as a soloist on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall. He later attended the Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Donald Montanaro and Anthony Gigliotti, both of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Carl has been a member of or has performed with numerous orchestras, including the New World Symphony with Michael Tilson-Thomas, The Utah Symphony with Keith Lockhart, The Glimmerglass Opera, The Sarasota Opera, The Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida, The American Symphony Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York City Housing Symphony, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, Solisti of New York with Ransom Wilson, The San Francisco Symphony, The Grand Teton Music Festival, European Tours of Westside Story and My Fair Lady, The Iris Chamber Orchestra with Michael Stern, Broadway’s Finians’ Rainbow, The American Ballet Theatre and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Carl is also the designer of allpointligatures.
Charlene Bishop, Violin
Charlene Bishop began her violin studies at the age of 6. She was accepted into the Music Advancement Program (MAP) at the Juilliard School. She furthered her studies at the Mannes Pre-College and College of Music with Ann Setzer where she received her BA in Violin Performance. Through the years, Charlene has performed at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, Fiddlefest in Zurich, Switzerland, and has collaborated with artists such as Arnold Steinhardt, Wyclef Jean, Madonna, Beres Hammond in Jamaica, and many more. Currently, Charlene teaches at Opus 118-Harlem School of Music (where she is an alumni) and at the Thurnauer School of Music, and she continues to freelance throughout New York City.
Curtis Stewart, Violin
A New York City native and graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Curtis has performed as a soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, and at Lincoln Center with “Ljova.” He has made chamber music appearances in the Rochester International Jazz Festival and at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall with the New York Chamber Virtuousi, holding his audiences “spellbound” with his “prodigious technique.” (New York Amsterdam News) An avid teacher, he currently teaches at the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Curtis’ eclectic background has led him to concerts in many different realms of music from the avant-garde jazz Vision Festival and MTV specials with Wyclef Jean and Yo La Tengo, to stints at the Jazz Gallery with Jason Lindner and Edmar Casteneda. His ensembles PUBLIQuartet and The Mighty Third Rail perform frequently at many of New York’s illustrious venues including the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, the Stone, Cornelia Street Café, Lincoln Center’s Atirum, and “The Howl Festival” of the Lower East Side. Curtis has played with many great musicians including Henry Threadgill, Dick Oatts, Jason Lindner, Adam Rudolf, Jason Hwang, Edmar Casteneda, Linda Oh, Chris Dingman, Graham Haynes, Akua Dixon, Dave Liebman, Matt Wilson, Jerome Harris, among many others. A supporter and practitioner of many styles of music, Curtis is excited to continue expanding and blending all the elements of his stylistic and expressive range, developing a unique and relevant voice in New York’s boundless music scene.
David Byrd-Marrow, French Horn
Atlanta native David Byrd-Marrow received his Bachelor's degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with the late Jerome Ashby. For his Master's degree, David went on to study with William Purvis at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was then selected for fellowship in the Juilliard-Carnegie Hall Academy Ensemble ACJW. David has also played with groups such as Carnegie Hall's "Zankel Band," The Orchestra of St. Luke's, The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Tokyo Symphony, The New York and Atlanta Operas and The New York Philharmonic.
David Miller, Bassoon
In the mid sixties bassoonist David Miller was the first Afro-American to integrate The National Symphony Orchestra and the U.S. Navy Band, both in Washington, D.C. As a freelance musician Mr. Miller has performed with organizations such as The Long Island Philharmonic, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The New World Symphony Orchestra, The Jupiter Symphony Orchestra, The Quebec Symphony Orchestra, The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, The New York City Housing Authority Orchestra, and The Whirlwind Quintet.
On sojourns to South America he played with Sinfonica de Columbia and taught bassoon in Venezuela’s Orchestra Juevenil. On and off Broadway Mr. Miller played in “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber,” “Into the Woods” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” He now teaches at the 92nd Street Y and the Harlem School of the Arts.
Graduate studies were pursued at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College of Music, and C.W. Post at Long Island University. Mr. Miller is thankful to Sue Palma of Orpheus for enabling his music performance skills.
Deryck Clarke, French horn
A native of Brooklyn, NY, Deryck Clarke (French horn) is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in New York City (where he was an extra in the original movie “Fame”), the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Curtis Institute of Music. He has been a member of the One World Symphony, Imani Winds, the Jupiter Symphony, the Curtis Wind Quintet, and he has performed with the West Harlem Winds and The Harlem Chamber Players. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and continues to perform with a wide variety of orchestras and ensembles in the New York City area.
Mr. Clarke has been an Artist-in-residence at the Hartwick College Music Festival, the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival, and a faculty member of the Juilliard School and Mannes College pre-college divisions. He has also served as a brass faculty member and as Music Department Director of the Harlem School of the Arts.
Deryck is a veteran of the U.S. Army. While deployed in Mogadishu, Somalia as a member of the 101st Airborne, he had the opportunity to visit orphanages and play horn for the children victimized by the civil war. Those experiences inspired him to pursue a life of public service through music. A certified instrumental music teacher, Deryck volunteers at the Mount Vernon School in Newark, New Jersey where he has taught for three years. Mr. Clarke is currently a graduate student and teaching assistant at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. He appeared with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra in a video with Jay-Z to open the Super Bowl LXIV on CBS.
Deryck is the founder and director of The Harmony Effect, a grass roots organization dedicated to providing chamber music performance and instruction to all people.
Eric Malson, Piano
Eric Malson is an active soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician whose activities have taken throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. As soloist, he has appeared with the North Carolina Symphony, Columbus (Ohio) Symphony, Manhattan Mozart Orchestra, Orquestra da Fundação Gulbenkian, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Oak Ridge Symphony, and Prince William Symphony orchestras. As a collaborating pianist with the Steans Institute for Young Artists, he has appeared frequently at the Ravinia Festival, as well as the Tanglewood, Norfolk (Conn.), Wexford (Ireland), Caramoor (N.Y.), Scotia (Halifax), Chautauqua, Évora (Portugal), Semana Grande de Santander (Spain), and Verso il Millennio (Riva del Garda, Italy) festivals, and has appeared in concert with members of the Hagen, Vogler, Alexander, Lark, Cavani, and Chester quartets.
Mr. Malson works extensively with singers, and has appeared in concert with sopranos Deborah Voigt and Eva Urbanová, tenors Thomas Studebaker, Lawrence Brownlee and Charles Reid, basses Alfred Walker and David Pittsinger, and baritone Chistophoren Nomura, among many others, and his critically-acclaimed CD of the Brahms Magelone songs with tenor Paul Mow was recently released on the Lyrichord label. He has served on the musical staff of various opera companies, including the Bühnen der Stadt Köln, Teatro Nacional São Carlos (Lisbon), Seattle Opera (Ring cycle), Washington Opera at Kennedy Center, Opera Zuid (Netherlands), Theater der Stadt Heidelberg, The Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and the Cleveland Opera. He has served on the opera faculties of the Juilliard School of Music and the Mannes College of Music, as well as the accompanying staff of the Curtis Institute of Music, and the accompanying and chamber music faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Malson has served as official accompanist for various competitions, including the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition, Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions.
Mr. Malson resided for several years in Portugal, where he concertized throughout the country, as well as serving on the faculties of the Academia Nacional de Orquestra and the Escola Superior de Musica de Lisboa. He participated in the Portuguese premieres of numerous works, including the Piano Concerto in A-flat Major, Op. 113 of Hummel, Roger Sessions' First Piano Sonata, Dohnanyi’s Sextet, Op. 37, and Wolfgang Rihm’s La Lugubre Gondola/Das Eismeer (Musik in memoriam Luigi Nono, for double orchestra and 2 pianos). He holds degrees from Indiana University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where his teachers included Menahem Pressler, Gilbert Kalish, and John Wustman.
Evelyn Golz, Piano
A native of Redlands, California, Evelyn Golz comes from a family of musicians going back several generations. She began her studies at age four with her mother Mary Evelyn Golz and went on to win top prizes in the Redlands Bowl Young Artists Competition, the Redlands Symphony Concerto Competition, the MTAC Young Artists Guild and the Southern California Junior Bach Festival. Ms. Golz continued her studies at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna, Austria, California State University at Northridge, the Manhattan School of Music and the Aaron Copland School of Music, where she received the Francis Dillon Hayward Memorial Prize in piano. Her teachers have included Han Graf, Jakob Gimpel, Seymour Lipkin and Bernard Rose.
An active chamber musician, Ms. Golz has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the St. Mark's Chamber and Opera Players, The Women of West Harlem Winds, the San Gabriel Symphony, The Canadian Ballet Orchestra, and the Redlands Symphony, and in such venues as Carnegie Hall, BAM, Saint Paul’s Chapel, Lincoln Center, St. Mark’s Church and the Schomberg Center in Harlem. As a member of the Golz Duo, with cellist sister Madeleine, she frequently presents recitals both in the New York area and on the West Coast. She has been the pianist with The Harlem Chamber Players since the group began its regular Music at St. Mary's series in 2008.
Ms. Golz is a busy and enthusiastic teacher whose students have earned awards in many prestigious competitions in the Metropolitan area. In addition to her private studio, she is on the piano faculty of Manhattan School of Music's Pre-College Division, and the Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, NJ.
Gerard Reuter, Oboe
“Reuter clearly held the spotlight...richly earned...with a brilliant performance.” (Washington Post)
Gerard Reuter has enjoyed a varied and distinguished career as chamber musician and soloist, touring the United States, Europe, India and Africa. He is a founding member of An Die Musik, of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and of Chelsea Chamber Ensemble, as well as being a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet. His guest appearances at music festivals in the United States have included Caramoor, Marlboro, LaJolla, Round Top and the Chamber Music Festival of the Library of Congress; in Europe, the Flanders and Dartington festivals, as well as the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove. As a soloist, in New York he has appeared with the Jupiter Symphony, the Soviet Emigré Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Virtuoso and in Washington, DC with the National Chamber Orchestra.
He has been heard on major radio stations throughout this country and in Europe. He has recorded in concert for Sony, New World, Summit, Telarc, Columbia, Musical Heritage Society and the Voice of America. As a recipient of the Pro Musicis Foundation’s 1992 International Award, Mr. Reuter has been presented in recitals in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Boston as well as in major cities in Europe and Asia. Mr. Reuter serves on the faculty of New York University.
Jessie Montgomery, Violin
Violinist Jessie Montgomery was a core member of the Providence String Quartet from 2004 – 2009, quartet in residence of Community MusicWorks (CMW). The Providence String Quartet is dedicated to using music as a means of exploring possibilities for social change in underserved communities in the Providence area. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Sally Thomas. As a teacher, Ms. Montgomery has served on faculty at (CMW), The Apple Hill Center in New Hampshire, Music at Port Milford in Canada, and at her Alma Mater the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City. Ms. Montgomery has been affiliated with Sphinx, an organization which supports the accomplishments of young African-American and Latino string players, since 1999. She has been a two-time laureate in their annual competition and serves on the faculty of the Sphinx Performance Academy in Massachusetts. During her summers, Jessie has participated in the Spoleto Festival, the National Orchestra Institute, Meadowmount School of Music, and the Banff Center for the Arts. She is also founder of her own string quartet PUBLIQuartet.
Also a composer, Ms. Montgomery was in Residence at the Deer Valley Music Festival under the direction of American composer Joan Tower. She was the two-time recipient of the Composer’s Apprentice Award given by the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center, and she has served as the resident composer for the Providence String Quartet. Her works have been well received by audiences in the New England area, and she was featured on a concert series presented by CMW during their 2007 – 2008 season.
Joyce Hammann, Violin
Equally at home on the concert stage, in a jazz club, or in front of 17,000 screaming fans at a rock concert, Joyce Hammann's musical versatility and virtuosity remarkably distinguish her from the rest.
Her performances have been hailed as "splendid soloing" and as having a "sweet, rich tone" by the New York Times.
From early on, Joyce was recognized for her talent as after having begun her studies at age seven under Shinichi Suzuki, and by age ten she was selected by Conductor Leonard Slatkin to become the youngest member of St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. She went on to study at The Juilliard School of Music with the eminent pedagogues Ivan Galamian, Oscar Shumsky and Dorothy Delay, earning her BM and MM degrees. During this time she was artist-in-residence at Bargemusic and was winner of the Midland-Odessa Award, Peter Oundjian Award and The Berg Competition amongst others. After graduating she was concertmaster of many orchestras and continued her soloing and chamber music career. She was already choosing her eclectic path by being a member of Trio Con Brio and the jazz quintet Satin Dolls. Being drawn to new music she became a member of the Sirius String Quartet and formed a violin/cello duo (Hammann/Calhoun duo) where many new works were commissioned for them. She has recently appeared as soloist with The Scandia Symphony premiering three concerti.
Performing and recording with such artists as Paul McCartney, Sting, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen, Joyce's discography includes John Zorn's String Quartets, Sam Zyman's Bashe, Uri Caine's Wagner and Venezia, Mozart Re-imagined and The Othello Syndrome, Michael Breckers' Grammy award winning Wide Angles, Gil Goldstein's Under Rousseau's Moon, Ted Nash's Double Quartet and Mark Feldman's Book of Tells.
Currently she is the concertmaster for the longest running show on Broadway, The Phantom of the Opera. She continues to perform chamber music as a member of The Harlem Chamber Players, The Craftsbury Chamber Players (Vermont) and with The Meeting House Players (Cape Cod). Joyce will be touring Europe with Uri Caine as solo violinist with his jazz ensemble and as concertmaster for Fred Hersch's Coma Dreams, a jazz theater project.
Laurence Goldman, Double Bass
Laurence Goldman, double bassist and composer has performed as principal bassist with New York City Symphony, Jupiter Symphony and Mid-America Productions and abroad in Japan, Korea, China, Argentina and Brazil. He has performed as a soloist with American Composers Association and has had his music performed by the Lumières Ensemble in New York and in Normandy, France. He wrote music for the Boris Vian performance that took place in 2011.
Lawrence Zoernig, Cello
Lawrence Zoernig has been principal cellist of many New York symphony and chamber orchestras, including New York Chamber Orchestra, Bacchanalia and Opera Manhattan. Mr. Zoernig premiered Lars-Erik Larsson’s Concertino for Cello and String Orchestra at Trinity Church with the New York Scandia Symphony, for which he is also principal cellist. As a chamber musician, he has performed frequently with the Goliard Ensemble and Bacchanalia. He has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in New York at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall and in Washington, D.C. at the Phillips Collection and the Kennedy Center. As an international artist, Mr. Zoernig has been presented at the Teatro Amazones in Manaus, Brazil and the World Expo in Seville, Spain.
Lawrence Zoernig received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with Alan Harris, and a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School where he studied with Harvey Shapiro.
Lisa Arkis, Flute
Flutist Lisa Arkis has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Princeton Camerata, Greenwich Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Berkshire Bach Society at Tanglewood, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, numerous Broadway shows and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Participation in summer festivals include the Colorado Music Festival, Loon Lake Live! and Washington Square Park Festival and as a featured soloist with the New York Bach Ensemble. In addition, Lisa performs with the chamber ensemble Serio Divertimenti and in duo concerts with her husband, cellist Peter Prosser and has recorded on the Sonic Muse label. Formerly an adjunct faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music Precollege division from 2001-2004, she has also taught at Brooklyn College and maintains private teaching studios in New York and Connecticut. A graduate of the Aaron Copland School of music, Lisa was a student of Thomas Nyfenger. Other teachers include Harold Bennett, Trudy Kane, Keith Underwood and Bernard Goldberg.
Liz Player, Founder, Artistic Director, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Clarinetist/bass clarinetist Liz Player has performed with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, the Greenwich Village Orchestra, New York City Housing Authority Orchestra, One World Symphony, Ensemble du Monde, Harlem Symphony Orchestra, The Harlem Festival Orchestra, The Manchester Music Festival Orchestra, The Bronx Opera, and on Broadway's Finian's Rainbow. As an avid lover of chamber music, Ms. Player has organized recitals and chamber music concerts in New Jersey and New York since 1990. She founded West Harlem Winds in 2004 and in 2008 started the acclaimed Music at St. Mary's chamber music series with The Harlem Chamber Players.
She attended the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College as a Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellow and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor in Music. There she made her debut as soloist with the Queens College Orchestra in a performance of the Debussy Première Rhapsodie. She also appeared as a featured soloist with the Greenwich Village Orchestra in a performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and as a guest artist with Ensemble du Monde in a performance of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and strings. She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, CAMI Hall, Merkin Concert Hall and Brooklyn’s Forecast Music. Former instructors and master class coaches include David Krakauer, David Glazer, William Blount, Morrie Sherry, Ayako Neidich, Stanley Drucker and Ronald Roseman.
Maurice Belle, Double Bass
Maurice Belle is an accomplished and versatile double bassist who has performed at major venues throughout the United States and abroad. In October of 2010, he had the opportunity to tour with the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra as the principal bassist around the midwest. He has also attended the Spoleto USA in Charleston, South Carolina and National Repertory Orchestra as co-principal bass in Breckenridge, Colorado. In the summer of 2009, he attended the Pacific Music Festival in Japan where he performed in Sapporo, Osaka, and Tokyo. While in Japan, he worked with major conductors such as Christoph Eshenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas and performed with members of the Vienna Philharmonic. Other music festivals Maurice attended were the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland and the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.
A frequent participant in several New York-based orchestras, Maurice performed at Carnegie Hall numerous times and is principal bassist of One World Symphony, Harlem Symphony Orchestra, and New Amsterdam Symphony. He also performs with various chamber ensembles throughout the New York City area.
Maurice earned his undergraduate degree in double bass performance from The Manhattan School of Music and a graduate diploma from the Juilliard School, where he studied under Tim Cobb, principal bassist of the Metropolitan Opera. He also studied with the late Homer Mensch of the NBC Orchestra and Ralph Jones, principal bassist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Megan Weiss-Marolf, Oboe
Oboist Megan Marolf is an active orchestral, chamber, and solo musician throughout the New York City area and beyond. She performs and tours with the Philip Glass Ensemble as part of “Book of Longing,” a new piece based on the poetry of Leonard Cohen. Ms. Marolf has also performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Alarm Will Sound, DiCapo Opera Theater, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, and Garden State Philharmonic, among numerous other ensembles, and at such events as the Tribeca Film Festival and Bang on a Can Marathon. A lover of chamber music, she performs with the West Harlem Winds (of which she is a founding member) and the woodwind quartet TetraWind. Ms. Marolf is a recent graduate of the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Stephen Taylor.
Monica Davis, Violin
Violinist Monica Davis has recorded for film, television, and recording artists including Alicia Keys, Michael Jackson, Donnie McClurkin, and Oscar award winning composer Michel Legrand. In addition to these recording projects, Monica has appeared on Saturday Night Live with Michael Buble and Pearl Jam, toured with pop icon Diana Ross and performed in the orchestra of Shrek the Musical on Broadway. As regular principal second violin of the Baltimore based Soulful Symphony, a fusion orchestra that combined classical string orchestra with big band and gospel choir, Monica appeared in the 2009 PBS special, Songs in a Strange Land. Monica was recently selected to perform in the YouTube symphony led by Michael Tilson Thomas in Sydney, Australia from a worldwide audition involving thousands of applicants, judged by members of the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.
Also an avid chamber musician, Monica is a member of the Harlem Chamber Players and the New York Chamber Virtuosi, and has appeared on series including Music at St Mary’s, the Musical Evenings of the Goddard Riverside Community Center and Brooklyn’s BargeMusic. After a performance in August 2009, Monica’s playing was described as “refined and attractive” by The New York Times. She also serves as principal violinist and founding member of Tertulia, a critically acclaimed new chamber music series bringing classical repertoire to a new audience through its use of innovative venues.
Monica serves as concertmaster of the New Amsterdam and Chelsea Symphonies, and has performed with the Reading and Stamford symphonies. Most recently, she was asked by renowned French conductor, and pianist, Philip Entrement to perform as a member of the Nice festival orchestra. An alumnus and former Best Tone Award winner of the Sphinx Competition, Monica is a member of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra and has appeared in all three of their national tours: each of which culminated in sold out performances at Carnegie Hall. As a soloist Monica has appeared with the Chelsea, Manchester, Hartford, and Columbia University Symphonies and played in master classes for Robert Mann, Sanford Allen, Midori, Pamela Frank, and Joel Krosnick. Monica received her Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a student of Laurie Smukler. She received her Bachelors degree in history as a Kluge Scholar at Columbia University. There, Monica received the Dolan Prize, which made it possible for her to study with Phil Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet.
Orlando Wells, Violin and Viola
Orlando Wells attended the State University of New York at Purchase as a double major on violin and viola where his primary teachers were Yuval Waldman, and Emmanuel Vardi. He continued his studies at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers in New Jersey in the studio of Michael Tree.
Among the many ensembles he’s played with are the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra, Radio City Christmas Spectacular Orchestra, Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, Bronx Opera (concertmaster), Orchestra of the Bronx (concertmaster), Antara Chamber Orchestra (principal viola), and the Ritz Chamber Players in Jacksonville, Florida. He has appeared as soloist with Manhattan Virtuosi, the Harlem Symphony, and Antara Chamber Orchestra.
Mr. Wells has performed and recorded with great artists such as Mariah Carey, John Legend, Rihanna, Harry Connick Jr., Dionne Warwick, Elvis Costello, and many others. He also performs with many of the greatest shows on Broadway. Currently, he is the violist of the critically acclaimed Sweet Plantain String Quartet and assistant concertmaster of the Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess.
Philip Payton, Violin and Viola
Violinist Philip Payton enjoys an actively diverse career around the county and abroad. Mr Payton was a member of the New World Symphony where he was a concertmaster and principal violin under several prominent conductors including Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop and others. He was one of the first Americans to participate in the Nationaal Jeugd Orkest in the Netherlands where he was a concertmaster and has participated in the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. Currently Mr Payton performs regularly with the Sarasota Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Gotham Chamber Opera and several others. As a chamber musician, Mr Payton has been intimately involved in the formation of the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, a new summer festival in Washington state, performing on both violin and viola. He plays with Chamber Dance Project, Argento Chamber Ensemble and has performed recitals in St. Croix on the Candlelight Concert Series. An active Broadway musician, he has played on Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Spring Awakening (on violin, viola and electric guitar), West Side Story and is currently performing in Porgy and Bess. Mr Payton has also performed with a number of major performing artists including Smokey Robinson, Luciano Pavarotti, Quincy Jones, Billy Joel and several others. Mr Payton attended the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music where he earned his B.M. and M.M. respectively.
Richard Alston, Piano
"North American Richard Alston's performance has a beautiful sound, sensitivity and solid technique which has made this a stupendous musical evening." Victor Burrel, Cinco Días, Spain
Richard Alston, pianist has appeared in recitals and performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. A native of East Orange, N.J., he received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the Juilliard School of Music.
After receiving a standing ovation at the Brevard Festival for his performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1, Richard made his New York debut performing with the Symphony of the New World, under the direction of Everett Lee at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. Over the years he has performed at the Weill Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, as well as an outstanding portrayal of “Jasbo Brown” in the Metropolitan Opera revival of “Porgy and Bess.” Recently he repeated his portrayal of “Jasbo Brown” in the historic production by the New Jersey State Opera. A guest artist with the New Jersey Symphony in commemoration of the birth of William Grant Still, Richard has been the subject of a PBS television documentary “Classically Black,” in which he performs piano compositions by composers of African descent.
Recently, Alston performed “Rhapsody In Blue” with Ensemble du Monde at Merkin Concert Hall, New York City. The renowned Maestro Paul Freeman invited Richard to Europe to record the Arensky Piano Concerto with the Czech National Orchestra. The CD recording, which also included Etudes for Piano Op.74, by Arensky has been released by Centaur Records and is currently available in stores and online at amazon.com.
Presently Assistant Professor and the Coordinator of Essex County College’s Performing Arts Dept., Richard Alston, is also the founder and director of the Crossroads Music Academy . Maestro Alston is currently Minister of Music at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Montclair, NJ. Alston is currently pursuing a Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. You may visit Mr. Alston’s website www.richardcalston.com.
Richard Brice, Viola
Violist Richard Brice has been busy in New York’s freelance music scene since his high school days when he attended the famous High School of Music and Art in Manhattan, studying viola with Theodore Israel and Eugene Becker. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied viola with William Lincer and chamber music with Felix Galimir, Paul Doktor, and the members of the Juilliard String Quartet. He has toured throughout Germany, France, Italy and Spain as soloist and principal violist of the Munich Chamber Orchestra after making his debut as soloist with the orchestra in 1984. Mr. Brice was principal violist of the Southwest German Philharmonic and the Konzertverein St. Gallen, and he was associate principal violist of the Orquestra Sinfonica de Venezuela. As a chamber musician he was a founding member of the Quartetto National de Venezuela, he was the violist of the chamber music ensemble An die Musik from 1985 to 2002, and he has been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is currently a member of The Orchestra of St. Luke’s and was the principal violist of the Philharmonic Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. He is equally at home in the realm of popular music, serving as principal violist for Barbara Streisand’s European Tours, Encores! at City Center, Patti Lupone’s Matters of the Heart for String Quartet and Piano, and many Broadway shows.
Steven Moran, Double Bass
A native of Long Island, New York, Mr. Moran began playing the bass at age fourteen. By age seventeen, he had gone on to perform orchestral and chamber music on five continents. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory and a Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School, the latter where he was the teaching assistant to both New York Philharmonic Principal Bassist, Eugene Levinson and to the late renowned keyboardist/historian, Albert Fuller, all on full scholarship. As a chamber musician, Mr. Moran has been privileged enough to be a member of New York City’s esteemed Jupiter Chamber Players. He is also currently the solo bassist with the Manchester Chamber Orchestra and was solo bassist with the Philadelphia Virtuosi for four seasons. He served 22 years as a member of the Florida West Coast Symphony in Sarasota and is now a frequent guest of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, Florida’s Jacksonville Symphony and the Harrisburg Symphony in Pennsylvania. He also works extensively with New York City’s Sonos Chamber Orchestra, Ossia Symphony Orchestra, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, the New Philharmonic of New Jersey and New Jersey’s Westfield Symphony.
Among his other titled positions, Mr. Moran's past appointments have included principal bassist of Maryland’s Annapolis Symphony and Florida’s Key West Symphony, as well as assistant principal bassist of the Sarasota Opera in Florida. Along with maintaining a private teaching studio in New York year-round, he spends his summers as the Professor of Double Bass at the New York Summer Music Festival at Oneonta and performing with Vermont’s Manchester Music Festival and Green Mountain Opera. Mr. Moran’s playing can be heard on major media soundtracks and he has also recorded with the rock band, They Might Be Giants. He plays on a 1922 double bass by the early 20th century Cremonese master, Romedio Muncher.
Tali Makell, Conductor
Tali Makell, music director, Chamber Philharmonia of New York
A Fine New Conductor Emerges
"Tali Makell has a crystal-clear baton technique and a passionate, yet completely controlled commitment to music."
When Bill Zakariasen of the New York Daily News penned those remarks on the occasion of Tali Makell’s Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall, Mr. Makell had already attracted considerable attention for his large and unusual repertoire. Tali Makell served as principal conductor of the New York City Housing Authority Orchestra from 1981 to 1995. He has also served as music director of the Henry Street Settlement Opera Ensemble, co-founded the Brooklyn Heights Promenade Orchestra, and was a frequent guest conductor of the Washington Square Chamber Orchestra. With these ensembles he introduced the public to a number of lesser-known or seldom played works, including Beethoven’s "King Stefan Overture," and the Glazounov Saxophone Concerto. Mr. Makell was also an affiliate of the prestigious Exxon Artists Conducting Program . In recognition of his achievements, he was appointed an Associate Conductor of The Brooklyn Philharmonic for one season. In 1997 Mr. Makell was named Music Director of The Summer Opera Theatre held at the Brooklyn Music School. There he conducted fully staged and orchestrally accompanied performances of opera masterworks, including an acclaimed 2002 production of Rossini’s "La Cenerentola," performed complete, in its original version. In November of 2009, at the Arader Gallery in New York, Mr. Makell conducted the premiere concert of The Chamber Philharmonia of New York, an ensemble he founded which is dedicated to music composed by New Yorkers, both native and foreign-born.
In addition to his activities as a conductor, Mr. Makell serves as Executive Director for the Nietzsche Music Project, a non-profit arts organization founded in 1990. In this capacity he served as a producer of two critically acclaimed CDs, on the Newport Classic label, of the little-known musical compositions of the great German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.
In recognition of Mr. Makell’s authority on Nietzsche’s musical works and aesthetics, The International Nietzsche Colloquium invited his participation, along with members of NMP, in two of their annual symposia at The Nietzsche-Haus Sils Maria in Switzerland (1997 and 2000). In 2003 Mr. Makell oversaw a second set of recordings of the music of Nietzsche. Produced independently, this recording remains a best seller eight years after its initial release.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Mr. Makell began his musical studies at the Preparatory Department of The Peabody Conservatory. He is a graduate of The Oberlin College Conservatory, where he majored in conducting, composition, and voice. He continued his conducting studies in New York under maestros Semyon Vechshtein and the late Laszlo Halasz.
Tia Roper, Flute
As a distinguished soloist and concert artist, Tia Roper has several credits to her name. They include holding the principal flute positions of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra, and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan. She is also a grand prize winner of the 2004 – 2005 Artists International Debut Recital Award and received critical acclaim for her Carnegie Hall recital debut. The New York Amsterdam News applauded “her remarkable technical command of her instrument as well as highly refined musicianship.” She has performed as a soloist with the Queens Symphony Orchestra and as a substitute player with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New England Philharmonic, and Westchester Philharmonic. In addition, she is a founding member of Alchemy Winds, a magnetic flute & oboe duo alongside Megan Marolf.
A winner of the New York Flute Club Competition, Tia was also awarded first-runner up in the Frank Bowen Young Artists Competition and was a finalist in the renowned Pappoutsakis Flute Competition. She has been a featured guest on Boston’s cable television show “It’s All About the Arts” as well as Houston’s KUHF 88.7 radio station where her collaboration as a member of Aperio Music of the Americas has been broadcast. Ms. Roper has given concert performances in Russia, Switzerland, the Barbados, Japan, Venezuela, and throughout the U.S.
Tia Roper was a student at the Juilliard Pre-College where she graduated with honors. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, her Masters Degree in Music Performance from Boston University, and Doctorate of Musical Arts from Rutgers University. As an active music educator, Ms. Roper is on the faculty of the Bloomingdale School of Music and the Usdan Center for the Creative & Performing Arts.
Wilmer Wise, Trumpet
Wilmer Wise, born and raised in Philadelphia, has had a magnificent career. From the beginning he was involved in all kinds of music, some of his fellow Philadelphians being Lee Morgan, Vince Penzarella, Ted Curson, Bobby Timmons, Tony Marchione (teacher of Randy Brecker), and Reggie Workman, to name a few. He has played with the Dick Clark Youth Band, The Intruders, the Club Harlem Band of Atlantic City, performed the Haydn Concerto (at age 23) with the Philadelphia Orchestra, played principal trumpet in the first Music from Marlboro tour of Europe, recorded with Pablo Casals, played lead trumpet in the only recording of West Side Story conducted by Leonard Bernstein, played five seasons with the Baltimore Symphony as assistant principal, served on the faculties of Morgan State and the Peabody Conservatory, performed with the New York Philharmonic, the American Symphony, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, (35 years as principal) recorded most of the Philip Glass movie soundtracks, and played lead trumpet in more than 30 Broadway Shows, including five Stephen Sondheim hits. | <urn:uuid:0f95da8e-4e53-45a9-aaef-00cebc9ddbd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://harlemchamberplayers.org/musicians.html | 2013-05-23T04:48:50Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955494 | 11,691 |
Dom talks to Pete about Video, and how it can benefit every business as a promotional tool, as a way of creating information products, or as a way of easily communicating with your team. They also discuss the re-launch of the Video Boss training course.
Dom also makes a Special Offer to anyone buying the Video Boss course via the special PreneurCast link at http://www.preneur.co/videoboss.
Action Steps: Review the examples we gave in this week’s show, and see where video can improve communication in your business.
Get Our Video Boss Bonus: Go to http://www.preneur.co/videoboss and follow our link there to sign up for some free training from the Video Boss himself, Andy Jenkins. When you buy the course through our link, you’ll also get some awesome bonuses from Dom.
Read it now.Hide it.
Be a Video Boss
Dom Goucher: Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s PreneurCast with me, Dom Goucher, and him, Pete Williams.
Pete Williams: Hey, Hey!
Dom: Another exciting week for me, topic-wise, after my own rants and soapbox—I thought about your rants and soapbox, it’s now my expert subject this week.
Pete: Absolutely. Video.
Dom: Video, indeed. We’ll get into that in a second. So how are things?
Pete: Things are good. Another busy week in the Pete Williams world, which is nice. Sort of put a bit of focus back on the blog, which has been nice. There’s that interview that we spoke about last week with Tony, the author of Creating Innovators, which is available on the blog. I actually have a few more blog posts that are scheduled, one’s to go out tomorrow and the next few days.
A bit more attention back there at PreneurMarketing.com, so go and check that out. Listeners, go and check that out. There’s plenty of back-catalogued articles, thoughts, case studies, and things like that that are valuable to read and share. My audio, actually—let’s mention that. The audiobook from my very first book that I had published, How to Turn Your Million-Dollar Idea Into a Reality, it’s actually going to be on Audible really soon.
But—but, there is a bit of a ‘but.’ The downside is that I’m going to have to pull the book from being free. Right now, if you head over to PreneurMarketing.com, you can actually subscribe and you get a free audio version of the book. It will no longer be free very shortly because Audible are making me pull it down because they don’t want to compete with free, which is sort of understandable.
So if you want to get a copy of that before it disappears, make sure you go and grab that shortly now. In terms of when it’s going down, I don’t know. It might be down by the time you listen to this, it might not be. Go and check it out. We’re still finalizing that, I’m guessing, two weeks. But I could be out by a day, or a week, or whatever, so it is coming down at some stage as we get and finalize this Audible deal around the first audiobook.
Dom: That’s very exciting, listed on Audible. But for those action-takers out there, definitely get over to PreneurMarketing.com and pop your e-mail in the sign-up box that’s all over that site. Not only will you get Pete’s audiobook for free (if you do it quickly), but there’s a lot of other cool stuff that you’ll get signed up to if you’re on Pete’s mailing list. I’m on it because I get to—I like giving people these sort of…
Pete: Nose Reduction.
Dom: Yeah, like for example: Nose Reduction, which still saves me hours and hours and hours of trolling around every week. So that’s great. Moving on. Talking about sponsors, we briefly mentioned Audible there. But linking together our show topic this week of video and our other sponsor, ReadItFor.Me; just wanted to flag this, again, don’t want to go big, official message-stuff on the sponsorship.
But, a big part of the ReadItFor.Me book-review service—and one of the reasons we really like it—is the multimedia nature of the book reviews, and a big, big part of that is a video that they produce for every book that they review. I think that is a great example of the power of video and where video is really, really, useful for conveying information if you’re the person producing it, and for consuming it, if you’re the person consuming it.
Those are topics that we’re going to pick up in this show. So if you’re interested in the book-review service ReadItFor.Me, pop over to ReadItFor.Me/PreneurCast, and you’ll get a discount off your membership. You’ll also see a little video in there of me and Pete going through the membership area so you can get an example of how Read It For Me use videos in their reviews.
Pete: Sorry, I’m going to jump in there—I think a very good point to talk about is that they’ve got two different types of videos that you can see. You can always have the ScreenFlow-type video, which is that over-the-shoulder-type look inside the membership area, which is a very easy and quick way to create video. But they’ve also gone to the path of actually creating some high-quality content in there, too. So they use video very, very well. And there’s two examples of how you can use it.
Dom: Cool, very good point. Again, points I’m going to pick up on, in a little bit, as we go on and talk. Just one thing I think I’ve wanted to point out, actually. I’ve just recently noticed a change with our sponsor, ReadItFor.Me on their site. Their slogan used to be ‘Learn Faster, Go Further,’ didn’t it?
Pete: I do believe so, and it has changed recently.
Dom: It has, it has. And to something that sounded awfully familiar, it’s now ‘Effective & Engaging Book Summaries.’ I’m sure I’ve heard that before.
Pete: I’ve heard that somewhere before, yeah. I’m sure some other really intelligent people used that as the description of their service on numerous written and verbal internet platform show things.
Dom: Yeah, yeah. And do you know what? I’d go so far as to say that we’re becoming thought leaders…
Pete: …in many places. There’ll be no one to talk about stuff after we’ve talked about it on the show, ReadItFor.Me is now utilizing—we should start charging people to listen to this show, because they’re taking action and making money off of it, and using stuff.
Dom: Well, I don’t think we’re going to charge for the show. But I do think, in all seriousness though, it’s great to see people taking action on what we do talk about; and a little bit of a poke and a prod there to ReadItFor.Me because we lost Steve and the guys over there. But it is great to see people take action on the stuff and get feedback, as we always ask people to do.
Let us know how you’re getting on. And again, some great e-mails this week from people. Thank you to everybody who’s got in touch and had a chat. So let’s get into the show. Let’s get on to video. Because there’s just—everybody, everybody, I say ‘everybody’ in inverted commas—the people who market via the internet and market information products are, have been slowly swinging around to video for the last couple of years.
2012 seems to be the year where everybody is telling everybody else, they should be doing video. Now this is, harks back to last week’s show, about internet and marketing and marketing myths, “You should be doing this,” we talked about last week.
Pete: We did, we did.
Dom: Now, as we’ve talked about, on and off in this show, one of my main businesses is media production; and a very big part of that is producing video for my clients, lots of different kinds of video. So, it seems like a good opportunity for me to address the myth of “you should be doing video,” and what’s it all about. Now, I’m a big fan of video, I was always a big fan of video even before I was producing it for myself, and for other people. But you do have to evaluate, is it right for you? Why are you doing it? Just like we said in the podcast.
And one of the reasons why video is very, very powerful, is that communication, as we talked about with ReadItFor.Me, it’s a fantastic medium for communicating an awful lot of information in one go. You can compress what would be a multiple-page-long sales letter into a video that people won’t have to scroll through. They progress through it in the order you want them to go through, to see the message and the order that you want them to experience it, and you can convey a lot of information in that video.
It’ll probably take them less time to sit and watch the video than it would to sit and read through that sales letter, which, by the way, they may not read all of. Very few people ever do. So that’s one really good reason to use video versus text. Another one is that it gives you the opportunity to put across more of your personality. You don’t actually have to be ‘on-camera.’ Although, if you’re so inclined, it’s a great way to get people to identify with you.
But just having your voice there; just like you’ve got our voices on the podcast right now, it’s a great way to get across your personality. One other reason is that it’s very, very engaging. Video is a very engaging medium. And it doesn’t have to just be for sales, it can be for anything. You can be communicating with people and just lots and lots and lots of statistics—I won’t go over the statistics. I’m not a big statistics person, but there are lots of statistics out there that will tell you how much time we spend watching television, how much time we spend watching online video now.
YouTube is the big reference for this; we spend an awful lot of time watching video. So if you’re producing the video, people will spend time engaged with your material. It’s far more engaging, far easier to consume material by video. Obviously, it’s not as flexible as audio; and we talk about Audible as one of our other sponsors, but if people are going to engage with something, it’s easier for them to engage with video. So, for those reasons, video is very powerful as a medium…
Pete: Absolutely, I would…sorry, go ahead, I interrupted. Dom, you’re on a flow, keep going.
Dom: No, please do; please do, because your interruptions are always valuable.
Pete: Well, I was actually just going to sort of ask the question or also just talk about some different ways you can use video. To give some examples—obviously, it’s engaging and it’s powerful; and actually discuss some different types of videos you can be doing and see how they can apply in different scenarios. Let’s sort of jump forward from where your thought pattern was going, and we’ll continue with where you are and we’ll touch on that in a moment or we can jump straightforward to that now.
Dom: Well, let’s take your point. It was pretty much what I was going to talk about next, is, what can you use video for? It’s pretty much what you were just talking about, so yeah, let’s talk about that. Have you got something you want to put in there?
Pete: Oh, I was just taking some notes, just a whole bunch of different types of videos and some examples of where they’re being used on the web. So being able to sort of remember they’ve seen it before, and go and check it out, and hopefully spark some ideas with people of how video can apply to them. Information market, they’ve been exposed to that sort of stuff and that’s part of the world. But we’ve got a big listener base, real-world people with real-world businesses selling real-world stuff to other real-world people.
There’s the dentist, there’s the retailer. You’ve got the masseuse, you’ve got the consultant. You’ve got real-world people thinking, “Well, hang on, I’ve got an e-commerce site. How can video apply to me?” I think giving some real-world examples of effective ways to use video across these different platforms and places could really help spark some people thinking about, “Ah, that’s how I can apply it in my business and in my world.”
Dom: Absolutely, and let’s go with some. I’m going to start real, real-world, OK? Now, before I go into this, I am going to come back afterwards. I’m going to give everyone some examples of where it can work. But I’m aware of something that there’s an elephant in the room with video—for those quiet few, and I’m going to come back and talk about these.
Pete: What sort of videos are you shooting with elephants?
Dom: Aha, hahaha, aha.
Pete: Bad joke of the week got in there!
Dom: Yeah, there’s a couple of elephants in the room. One of them is that it’s expensive to produce video. Another one is that it’s difficult to produce video. The last one, it’s getting pretty crowded in here, so I’ll stop here—is that the quality of the video has to be television-standard. These are things that hopefully resonate with the people that are listening, that are maybe hesitating about making video. I’m going to come back and I’m going to talk about these.
I’m going to give you some tips, give you some feedback from my experiences as a professional in the industry, and also give you some tips about how to overcome those issues. But let’s go back and carry on, kind of bringing up video for a little bit. I’m all about just making things easy doing, as we talk about, minimum viable product. What do you need to do to get the message across? You talk about real world.
A great, great thing to do in the real world, video is a great way of helping people experience something. So, for example, you are a dentist’s surgery, and you want to promote you’re a dentist’s surgery. If nobody’s ever been there before, well, why not do a video tour? Why not walk around your new surgery, saying, “This is the waiting area, this is the receptionist, this is the room where the actual things are taking place, this is the dental hygienist’s room.”
Pete: “This is the drill, this is the happy gas!”
Dom: Yeah, I’d focus on the happy gas versus the drill; but yeah, “This is the recovery room,” things like that, just so people get a feeling. And it’s amazing, I mean, I did this on a grander scale, a much grander scale with a local company here, a dive center. They produced like mini TV series. Now, that was quite involved. I’m not suggesting anybody get that involved.
But they have. Ever since they produced that series of videos about their dive center and the boats and the staff, the increase in people I think in inquiries, was massive. But more importantly, what was when people physically arrived, these people are coming from the far side of the country to dive in this dive center, and when they arrive, they already know everybody.
They go, “Hey, you’re Serge, and you’re Andre, and you’re Andy,” and so on, because they’ve seen them on the video. They know the set-up; they know where all the equipment is and everything. They know everything that a prospective customer would ever want to know about the organization and they’ve come from the other side of the country and it’s the first time they got there. That is one of the most powerful uses of video for a bricks-and-mortar business, yeah?
Pete: Absolutely. It’s that sort of pre-sell, almost. It’s using it as a pre-sale tool.
Dom: Yeah, it’s a pre-sale tool. It’s great. Talk about an e-commerce business, or somebody who sells products. Well, again, and you may have come across this idea on YouTube; but doing this in a more professional way, the un-boxing. What’s in the box? What do you get?
Because very few people tell you actually what’s in the box, what you get. So it doesn’t matter what it is, it very literally doesn’t matter what it is. You can show people on a video an object that’s for sale, even if it’s just that you put it on a turntable and you spin it ’round so that they can see all ’round that object. Again, it’s experiential. It’s pre-selling the object and it’s answering questions…
Pete: Sorry, I was going to say, Zappos does something very, very similar. It’s not the unboxing per se, it’s a high-definition video. But it’s very raw in the way it’s edited and cut and scripted that they have a staff member there on the screen picking up a shoe and talking about the shoe in the same sort of tonality, manner, descriptive words and flow that they would if they’re in a retail store.
They sort of, “This Nike structure’s got medial density posting on the left-hand side of the shoe here. It’s got a four-foot air pocket, blah, blah, blah.” It sort of explains all the functions and features and benefits of the shoe in a very natural way as well, so it’s not too scary. It’s very—as we say again—engaging.
Dom: Yeah. And you pulled up another great example there, which is that if you already have staff who are trained to follow a sales script—something that we’ve talked about in the past, then they’re great people. They don’t have to actually physically appear, their face doesn’t have to appear on the camera if they’re not comfortable with that—and I’ll talk about that in a minute. But following that script, doing the sales pitch as if a customer is really there, as if they were in a physical store, is a great use of video.
Another little side effect of that, by the way, depending on what it is that you’re dealing with, is that if you have two things side by side; if you have, all things being equal, you have a flat page where there are some photographs that require scrolling and reading and all that; and you have a video, as a group experience, you’re more likely to get people to sit together and experience the video together at the same time and share their emotion and share their feedback and engage with that video than you are for them to read the same page.
If anybody’s ever tried to show somebody else on the web, the easiest thing it is to do to show somebody, whether it’s on a screen, or again, another plus for video, whether it’s on a mobile device, a video is one of those really shareable experiences.
Pete: Yeah. Another example that I was going to mention is the Tim Ferriss book trailer. That when his The 4-Hour Body book came out, one of the key drivers that he feels that caused that book to get it into The New York Times’ Best-seller List, was the book trailer. From there, attention-to-detail and analysis of the numbers and the data, that the biggest spark in book sales came directly after that book trailer was released, because it was very, very engaging .
It was an expensive video. It was a very, very high-quality, highly produced trailer, but the share-ability of that was ridiculous! People shared the share out of it. I’m trying not to swear on the show, and you’re right, it’s the share-ability of that. People can easily tweet it, Facebook it, whatever it might be. They’re going to be more likely to do that than they are at a big block of text.
Dom: Yeah, that is again a good point. And something that the people talk about when they talk about videos, this concept of viral video—a video that you’ve sent the link onto your friend and have got them to watch. I’m actually talking about something slightly more low-tech, which is literally two people sat together in the same physical space, one person showing the other person so that they can maybe evaluate a product, or evaluate service or evaluate a location, a hotel, a spa, you know, these real-world businesses.
Two people sat together can literally look at the same thing. But then we go onto this idea of a viral video, and where that comes from is literally that idea of Tim Ferriss’ is a good example, another good example of that, just getting away from what you can do. But speaking a little to some of those elephants in the room is Dollar Shave Club. Dollar Shave Club, I loved that video for the simple reason that it’s crap.
It’s awful. I mean, it’s not, it’s intentionally awful. Yeah, they’ve intentionally hammed it up and intentionally made a bad video, but it proves the point that you don’t have to go to the extent that Tim Ferriss went to. That was movie-production quality, the editing and the different scenes and all the different parts in that The 4-Hour Body video.
It deserved to be shared just as a piece of video, let alone that it talks about the product and things like that. Dollar Shave Club, awful video, absolutely awful. Basically doesn’t even show the product. In fact, if I remember, it doesn’t show the product.
Pete: He holds a razor in his hand in one section of the video.
Dom: Yeah. But amazing, because it, as a piece of media, has become shareable. They are two very good examples of the fact that you don’t—even though your product may not lend itself to video, or you don’t think it does, there’s still a way to use video to promote it, to support it, to inform people about it.
Pete: I get the difference. And I want to make that very clear is, Tim Ferriss’ book trailer was a promotion video. So, we’ve got the descriptive overview video that Zappos shoes and their shoes and things like that. We’ve got the promotional video which is designed to drive traffic somewhere, which is the Tim Ferriss’ approach with his book trailer. And then if you look at the third option we’ve discussed so far, so if you haven’t seen it go to DollarShaveClub.com, it’s really, really cool.
And that video is an engagement tool, but it’s also a sales tool. It’s a very funny sales video, which is one of the things to do. It’s not meant necessarily to promote the brand because it’s only a page where you purchase a product. It’s designed to actually get someone to actually make a purchase, and it’s done in a very humorous and also viral way.
Think about the same sort of TV commercials and obviously web-based campaigning commercial. What was the cologne with—oh, I’ve gone completely blank. I was going to say Brut. It’s not Brut, it was, I’m looking a complete fool right now, what was it?
Dom: What’s awful is I know exactly what he’s talking about as well and I’ve forgotten as well.
Pete: See, this is a big lesson right now, too, guys, which is just advertising and marketing in general. Something going viral…
Dom: Old Spice.
Pete: Old Spice, thank you very much. But this is a good point and it’s worth illustrating here. I’d love to say we just sort of hammed it up to make the point, but unfortunately we didn’t. The real thing here is thinking about this huge viral campaign, but then in the form of Old Spice didn’t make a huge dent to the actual bottom line of the business from the early research and reports that came out. Six months on, 12 months on, we can’t recall what the actual ad was for.
We recall the ad, but we don’t recall what it was for. And this is again that same mentality and question we were asking in last week’s episode of what’s the purpose. If the purpose is to actually just get a bit of brand awareness, great, because when someone says ‘Old Spice’ I remember the video.
But when I remember the video, I don’t think Old Spice, so it’s not necessarily going to help the hip pocket of the advertiser if I didn’t get the right context or outcome clearly defined when they started that campaign. It’s a perfect example of, not video gone wrong, but the video lesson in that.
Dom: Yeah. And that also speaks to the Preneur Hierarchy and this idea, that’s what we would call spray-and-pray advertising…
Pete: Yeah, absolutely. You’re exactly right.
Dom: Because you’re just trying to get brand exposure. It’s how when we talked about brand, it’s not about the brand in a previous episode as well.
Pete: And that’s the thing. If you’re trying to create a video just to be viral for the sake of being viral, that’s where you’re at. You’re spot on, there, Dom. You’re at the top of the pyramid. It’s all about getting people who wouldn’t have thought about searching for you or weren’t actively searching for you, or didn’t realize they had a problem to solve. It’s really about that screaming and that banner and billboard-style advertising which, yeah, you’re going to hit some eyeballs. But if doesn’t quote to dollars in the bank, is it really an effective advertising campaign?
Dom: Yeah. And so let’s flip that. Let’s go to the other end of the pyramid. Because so far, what we’ve talked about is promoting your business. I’ve also subliminally been talking about a very specific style of video. When I talk to people about video who haven’t really been involved in production, they have a very clear vision. They have a very clear idea in their mind what video means. And what it means is what they’re used to experiencing on a television, which is usually an image which moves, with people, and scenery, and sets, and normal everyday objects all moving around and interacting and things like that.
It’s what we call full-motion video. It will sound like I’m overdoing this, but the reason why I’m doing this is because people only have this one idea. To produce video—and I’m talking about the elephants in the room, to produce video, it costs a lot of money. You need big shiny, lots of equipment. It takes a long time, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But if we focus on the other end of the pyramid for a second and we talk about our existing customers, supporting existing customers, helping them, informing thing them, there’s a completely different type of video that you can use.
You mentioned it briefly at the beginning, it’s something that we call ‘screencasting.’ A lot of people don’t know you can do this, it seems like voodoo when you show them. But I can record, using a special program on my computer, I can record the whole of my computer screen. Everything that I do, everything that I can see on the screen is recorded in a video file. Now, the use for that are phenomenal. Every time I get a client inquiry about how I do something, how do I upload the video you’ve given me to my WordPress site, how do I do this if one of my relatives or friends asked me a technical question.
Trying to explain that over the telephone is virtually impossible, especially to a non-technical person. But if I record a video of me doing that process, step by step, save it, send it to them, they can watch it as many times as they want. They can follow it, step by step. They can pause it, rewind it, watch it again. And it’s just one of the most valuable ways of helping, assisting and communicating with people that I’ve ever come across in those circumstances. It’s so, so simple. You start the recorder, you do what it is you want to show people, you can talk and it records your voice, you press stop and you send them the file.
Pete: It’s brilliant, and that’s the thing. There are so many ways you can apply that to your business. For example, ReadItFor.Me/PreneurCast, we’ve got a screen-capture video of inside the membership area, so listeners and other people can get a good feel of what they’re going to experience when they actually get into that online digital membership area.
Pete: You can use it. We’re going to test this very shortly with one of our websites which is going to have quite a complex interactive mode or area of the site for a particular business that we’re involved with, and we’re actually going to test creating almost like a how-to walkthrough video to explain, “…and this is actually how you’re going to need to do the next few things on this particular process of the website,” and actually use that as an educational walk-through sales conversion, hold-your-hand virtual salesperson-type solution.
We’re going to use the video of walking through the process and talking through it so someone gets a feel for what they’re about to do. You can also do it for content. For those of you who’ve been on various webinars that we’ve done or any sort of the coaching programs, membership sites that we have, a lot of the content in there is screen-captured video, whether it be us walking through a website or using a particular piece of software or tool.
But even to the extent of just pre-doing a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation and then recording that with audio, which is obviously one of the big things, big focuses of what you do, Dom. So you’re probably best to explain and talk about that particular use of screen capture.
Dom: Absolutely. The uses of screen capture as a video-production model are endless. And we’re still talking about addressing, talking to clients and things like that. Yeah, a very big use of video, which I alluded to at the beginning, is communication, is information. A very big and powerful product that you can produce and sell is an information product. And one of the easiest ways of producing, engaging compelling highly effective information product is to produce video.
Now, a lot of people panic at that point. A lot of people panic, and I’m going to come back to this whole panicking about the complexity, difficulty, cost, et cetera, of video. But one of the easiest ways to produce an information product is to produce a regular PowerPoint presentation. And then you use screencasting, screen-recording software to record you stepping through that presentation.
Dom: Now, I’m going to break out of I call the ‘arm-waving’ crowd. Because video attracts the arm-waving crowd. And the arm-waving crowd are the people who stand at the front or produce content that says, “You can just do this. It’s easy. Off you go, just do this.” Now with video, that’s probably one of the biggest attractors of people that wave their arm at the front in a grand gesture and then wander off because they could do it, so it must be easy. They tell you it’s easy and you believe them. Now, it isn’t easy, it isn’t totally fantastically simple across the board.
There are technical things that it helps if you know. That’s why I have a business producing media for people, because even with the best workflow in the world, it still takes time—and I’ll come back to work flows and things like that—but in terms of complexity, difficulty versus things that people can do, most people can use PowerPoint, and most people can talk their way through a PowerPoint presentation, so it’s a great quick way to get an information product together. So that, as either creating a product or creating communication is a great tip.
But I think one of the things that I began to talk about and I want to come back to, over the last few weeks we’ve talked a lot about sales. We’ve talked a lot about marketing. But this podcast isn’t just about that. It’s about being in business, it’s about being an entrepreneur. And one of the big things that we have talked about in the past is building a team, having staff, maybe outsourcing some of the work. We’ve talked about that in specific episodes in the past.
Screen-recording, screencasting and producing step-by-step video instruction is one of the quickest and easiest and most efficient ways of educating a team. If you have a business that relies on any kind of computer-based process, rather than having to sit next to people and manually stepping them through step-by-step, or coaching them through the things, or having to have them on the telephone and saying, “Can you see this,” and them saying “No, I can’t see that,” and so on and so on.
Or you end up trying to write these instructions out. All of those things take a lot of time, and I’m not really repeatable. The last one, writing the instructions down, is repeatable, but it can be quite long-winded and difficult to do. Whereas, if it’s a process that you pretty much do every day yourself anyway, turn on the screen-recorder, record yourself doing it, talk out loud about what you’re doing, and send them the file.
Pete: And we do this—sorry, I’m going to give some real-world examples of this. Maybe you have an accounting software package that you need to be inputting invoices in, AP invoices, AR invoices. Maybe there’s some other sort of software that you have to do when you need to do a dispatch and you need to organize a courier. Any of those little tasks like that, they should all be recorded and made in some sort of Wiki or some sort of system that you can keep.
So that if your staff move on, if someone’s sick, they can jump in and do that role in the business. Whether it might be booking something, filling something out—anything that is computer-based that your staff is doing. That is relevant to almost every business these days. On some level, every single company is using computer software to do some key element or elements and processes in the business.
This should be prerecorded and screen-captured so they’re on file for emergencies and use and training in the future as you grow. As staff come and go, it’s a very applicable internal tool which is what I know Dom’s touching on. But this is something that’s really, really important. So many people, when they think of video, just have those blinders on and think about it purely as a sales tool. Well, we’re talking about it as just a process-enhancement and system tool to get more efficient internally in your processes.
Dom: Absolutely. And that’s to me, looking as it as a business, whatever your business is, these days, I guarantee you; if Pete gave some examples there, there are some elements of your business that are done on a computer or online or both. Some people have business and that’s all they do. Even a person. Let’s say you have an outsourcer or you want to bring an outsourcer on because you are maintaining a blog, or you’re producing a podcast like we do.
There’s a lot of repetitive highly, highly, highly repetitive steps involved in producing any kind of digital media. The highly repetitive steps, the standard, same box has to be filled out with the same kind of information. And if you can produce that to a video that says take the information that I’ve told you is this title and put it in this box. Take the information that I’ve told you is the description and put it in this box. Click this button and check, look at the preview, test the links by clicking them, this should happen.
When it’s all done, press save, press publish. Done. It literally takes you that long to create the training. That’s it. in terms of leverage, which is a word that we use a lot in terms of effective use of your time and the results that you get from the use of that time, it has to be one of the highest-leverage media there is internally within your business. It’s certainly one of the things I use video for most, is for that reason, outside of the production that I do for my clients. My personal usage of it is more oriented to improving and enhancing and automating my businesses, than it is advertising and promoting them.
Pete: Yeah, that’s what we’re doing; we’re doing a lot of that WorkWiki stuff. I’m not sure if we’ve spoken about WorkWikis on the actual PreneurCast before, so we might have to put that down as a future episode. But we do a lot of that WorkWiki stuff, which is all about our internal processes and documentation using videos. It’s really cool. I thought I’d just mention to some people that I haven’t really promoted as much for quite a while, if at all really, to be honest.
If you head over to YouTube.com/PreneurVideos, that’s YouTube.com/PreneurVideos, you’ll actually see a whole bunch of videos that we’ve been quietly putting together in the background for some really cool stuff, which we’ll reveal later down the track. But you can get a bit of a preview of a whole bunch of stuff there that gives you a taste of these different types of videos. We’ve got a whole bunch of PowerPoint, Keynote-style presentations actually matched with your audio from our podcasts. So you actually get some visual version of previous episodes of the podcast in a couple of different formats there which are really, really cool.
You actually see a step-by-step sales video of AudioBook Stitch, which is one of the new Mac OSX apps that we’ve released. You’ve got some really basic book trailer videos in there. You’ve got a presentation or a webinar that I do that was recorded and uploaded. There’s a bunch of other full-motion videos. So, if you want to get a feel for different types of videos, definitely check out YouTube.com/preneurvideos because you’ll see a great range of different ways you can use video in different ways and different elements and different processes to market your business.
Dom: That is really a good example. Thank you, Pete, for pointing that out. Yeah, your channel on YouTube is fantastic as an example of different kinds of video that you can produce. There’s a lot of stuff—just to be clear, there’s a lot of stuff on there. Not only stuff that I’ve produced for Pete, but also that Pete’s produced himself.
Pete: You’ll see the quality difference.
Dom: Yeah, you’ll see the—sorry about that. Also, that we’ve also had an outsource team produce, as well. There’s different examples of the different levels of complexity and involvement in the process. So, time’s ticking on. I want to get to those elephants in the room, Pete. I think people are pretty much convinced that there’s a YouTube video for pretty much anybody that’s listening. But the big things that stop people—I want to get these out of the way, OK? Without arm-waving. The first one is cost.
And cost is slightly related to something else that I call ‘shiny-kit syndrome.’ Because if you go and you look; first of all, let’s take a common misconception: video means you’ve got to be in front of the camera. As we’ve said and shown, you don’t have to be on the camera. You could be recording the screen, so you don’t have to be on the camera. But shiny-kit syndrome, attached to the idea that you have to be on camera, means that you go looking in the electronic stores for a camera.
And if you walk into one or (heaven offend) someone will sell you one that costs a lot of money – $500, $1,000 dollars, keep going. The big boys use $15,000 cameras and plus. Television-production companies, well, they really use expensive gear But, if you’re recording the screen, you don’t need a camera. If you have a Mac, which if you’re getting into media production, not to sound like a fan boy; but if you’re into media production, a Mac is the tool for the job.
I’m not going to go onto that any more on this particular episode, but it is. If you have Mac, they actually have screen-recording built-in (not a lot of people know that) as part of the standard software. It’s not very powerful with its extra features, but it will record your screen and it will do the job. And that’s free that came with the machine, there you go.
Pete: And also, they have the built-in cameras as well, with video-recording software again, out of the box. If you want to sit in front of your camera and just talk to your Mac, you can have full-motion video captured as well, out of the box.
Dom: Absolutely. Every Mac for the last quite a few years has had a very high-quality webcam. The latest ones have actually got high-definition webcams. These things are ridiculous. The quality of video they produce, and yeah, you can record straight from that. So out of the box, on a Mac, you can press Record and record your screen or record camera so you can get your face in front of your audience if you want to do that.
And there’s free iMovie editing software on the Mac, so you can edit it, produce it, publish it, ship it, all in one box. Ostensibly, if you invest in the machine, after you’ve invested in the editing machine—which you would have to do anyway—the production video cost is zero. So, there you go with your ‘it costs a lot of money.’ If you want to do live action, you want to move the camera around, you want to do product demos and things like that, I will be absolutely honest with the audience.
I have been working with video for a great number of years now in various capacities, filming live events, filming sporting events, doing all kinds of different video-recording and production. My last—as I inverted commas call it ‘real camera’ was about, cost me about I think $100. It was a great camera, fantastic camera, high-definition, whiz bang, really comes under the heading of shiny kit. I don’t believe that it’s actually been out of the bag for over two years now. All of the live action work that I do is done on a $100 camera. It’s fit for purpose.
Pete: Creative Vado?
Dom: No, actually; it’s not a Creative Vado. It is a Kodak Zi8, sadly out of production, now. Kodak now do a Zi10 or something else. I’m not going to go into the technical side of it. If anyone’s really interested in technical stuff, drop us a line and maybe we’ll do a more technical show. But trust me, it’s not expensive. The only thing I will say—and I will get slightly technical about this, is that if you’re looking at buying a camera, it should always, the only feature that’s important after the fact that it records video, is that you can plug in an external microphone.
Because while the image on the screen is compelling, if the sound isn’t up to scratch and isn’t of high quality, then people will stop watching. Trust me. The entire YouTube infrastructure was built on awful quality, visually, awful quality video. But if the sound was awful at all, they wouldn’t have gotten very far. So, if you’re looking for a camera, look for one with an external microphone socket—but that’s it.
Yes, I will again, be open; you can hire me. I am for hire. My services are available and no one has ever called me ‘cheap’ or ‘inexpensive.’ But the people that hire me hire me to create information products and do things that are representative of their business, and they want a high-quality, professional, production quality.
Pete: Hey, I’m going to interrupt you there for two seconds. You were saying, you keep referring to information products. I want to make it clear that I’ve used you to do some video stuff for our real-world telco company. So it’s not just about information marketers do information products or anything like that, you can do some very, very powerful marketing videos. Think about some of the commercials you see on TV these days, they don’t actually have any live-action stuff. It’s just text, imagery, photos flying across the screen with a great soundtrack and movement. That’s the sort of stuff that you can do.
Pete: You want to keep your mind open that if you’re a dentist in Melbourne, you’ve got a rock-climbing studio in San Francisco, or you’re a roof tiler in South America, there is some validity in using this sort of video that Dom can do for you.
Dom: Yeah. Yes, I could do it; although, other video professionals can do it. And at the end of the day, we’ve talked about this briefly before, you can do things yourself. This brings me onto the other two, the other two points. One of them is quality. You have to decide what quality you want and what is fit for purpose. DollarShaveClub, classic example. In terms of scripting, acting, et cetera, et cetera, rubbish. Absolutely rubbish. Intentionally rubibish, though.
The recording and the camera work and et cetera, is actually very good. It’s disguised as being rubbish, but it’s very good. But you don’t even have to go to that level. If you are doing a walkthrough of a dentist’s surgery, it’s a walkthrough of a dentist’s surgery. If you’re the dentist doing it, that adds more value than a professional cameraman with a trolley that keeps his camera stable, and the lighting crew, and the guy with the big pole with the microphone on it and all that malarkey.
It doesn’t get the message across any better, and in fact, is slightly less engaging. There’s a lot of value in the personality aspect of video production. So, always look for the quality that’s appropriate. By comparison, by the way, if somebody is paying you a few thousand dollars for an information product, you should really put a bit of effort into the production.
Dom: Which brings us to my last point, which is, how hard is it? And that, to me, is all about choosing the appropriate type of video and then the appropriate workflow. In a previous episode, Pete and I have talked about our Content Leverage System, the system that we have that means that Pete’s involvement in creating most of the videos for his information products is that he sits down with his iPad and creates a mind map and then records an audio track.
That’s his involvement. It gets the critical information from Pete’s mind into a format that can be enhanced and produced as a final product, and myself and my team, parts of Pete’s team are involved in that process. We have a workflow. That means that if Pete wants to create information product for values of, it’s easy. If you were to try to replicate one of those products yourself, you would find it took you a lot of time because you’re probably not an expert in the different pieces that need to be done.
But that is about choosing the right team, hiring the right people for the right jobs, about asking the right parts. It’s about the workflow. But at the other end of the scale, Pete’s example of a rock-climbing club or a dentist, or a restaurant, all of those things, we’ve talked about live-action video. We’ve talked about screencasting video. But you can also make video just from photographs, using various tools and pieces of software. You don’t even need to invest in high-powered equipment or even a new piece of equipment.
Most people have a digital camera. Go out, snap some photographs of you climbing walls, your safety-harness equipment, your changing rooms, and pop-them together and make a video. It’s a video, it’s still a video. Don’t worry about that. And it is, it’s all about the workflow. It’s about choosing the right kind of video, choosing what’s appropriate for the audience, choosing the technology that’s appropriate. Don’t get caught up in this thing, that I have this phrase. It comes from a different world but it applies here. It’s, ‘All the gear and no idea.’
Pete: Oh, yeah.
Dom: A guy with a $15,000 camera can’t necessarily produce any better video than me with my $100 camera. If you’ve got $15,000, if I were you, I wouldn’t spend it on a camera, necessarily. You might want to spend it on using somebody like me to produce an awful lot of high-quality content for you because I’ve already made the investment and the training and whatever else. Or, you might just want to pay $100, get yourself a little portable HD camera, and go whiz out a couple of quick videos. Give it a try. Low investment, but there’s this huge mystique about the whole idea of video.
From everything that we’ve talked about this week, from everything from why should I use it, what use is it to me? Oh, I have no use for that, I don’t want to be on camera, or it must be expensive, or it sounds really complicated—all these things. It’s hopefully, in a slightly rambling way, we’ve addressed some of that this week. Pete, any such thing that you think people might have an issue with that I might not have covered there, before I take a bit of a breather and talk about our last sponsor?
Pete: No. Look, I think you’ve done a brilliant job. Taking the reigns and running with the episode today, because this is definitely your domain. You are far more of an expert that I am when it comes to video. The really cool thing, is we were talking before the show and the product that I named, I think, the Best Marketing Product of 2010, I think it was—from memory—is being re-released. I don’t really promote a lot of information marketing products these days and haven’t done so really heavily for at least a year.
A lot of them are just sub-par in my opinion, that aren’t worth a full get-behind, really endorsed promotion. But Video Boss by Andy Jenkins, unquestionably, is one of the better value, fully developed, high-quality, high-content, high-supported courses that have been released recently, and easing the process of re-releasing that at the moment as we record the show, and will be available for a little bit after the show, goes to air in it’s very first incarnation.
Dom’s got a fantastic supporting offer that if you’re just interested in grabbing a copy of Video Boss and taking video serious in your business, this is a fantastic course. It goes in-depth in all the type of video that we spoke about. But Dom’s going to help support that with you to make sure you get the most of it in a fantastic type package, aren’t you, Dom?
Dom: Yeah. I just want to clarify, I am a media-production professional. It’s one of the main business that I’ve been running for the last few years. Not only that, but theoretically, I could go into the business of training people to do what I do. But when I came across Video Boss, I just don’t see the need for me to sit down and go through all of the topics that we’ve talked about in the show because Video Boss, as a product, is phenomenal. It has my whole-hearted support; and this is a big thing for me because I’m not involved in the information marketing business.
As a producer, it’s not in my interest to be big pals with all these guys, really. I produce things for the people. My clients produce information products varying across scales. But for me, I just work with those people. I’m a supplier to them in that business. But Video Boss is amazing. It really does address all of the issues that we’ve talked about and goes into depth about some things even we haven’t talked about. Things like scriptwriting. There’s an awesome module on scriptwriting, about focusing your message, which is a valuable part.
It’s basically copywriting. It’s a valuable part of any business communication. There’s some great information in that, so I’m 100% behind Video Boss as a product for somebody who wants to get involved in video production; not necessarily, actually physically doing it themselves but wants to understand what it can do for them, wants to understand how to do it, the decisions that need to be made, and really just to be more informed about it. And Pete, you came and let the cat out of the bag. But, I support it that much that I’ve got a deal for you, PreneurCast listeners, fans of the show, as I say.
You know we’ve had a couple of e-mails over time, people who want to work with me, people want me to supply services in a done-for-you kind of way. I’m happy to do that, but if you think you want to do it yourself, and you want to purchase the Video Boss product, if you purchase it through our link that we’ll provide in the show notes, I’m going to support you. I will be on hand (and the details of this we’re going to hammer out). But it’s basically going to be some one-to-one strategy consulting and technical consulting with me.
You’ll be able to go through the Video Boss product and I will also give you some of my time in a one-to-one call to support you as well as all the great support that goes on in Video Boss. If it’s something about your business, something a bit more Preneur-related to do with video, I’m happy to get on a call with you one-to-one. As I say, we’re going to iron out the details, they’ll be on the other end of the link that’s in the show notes.
But I also want to setup a little kind of mastermind group for our Video Boss people as well, so there will be regular mastermind calls involved in it as well. So, follow the link that’s in the show notes. This is one of those take-action things, because I don’t know how long he’s going to have the cart open for, this time. He normally opens it for a while then closes it because they have a limit to the number of people they want to support in one go. But if you go through our link, as I say, I will be there and I will be supporting the PreneurCast listeners who decide to sign up for Video Boss.
Pete: Cool. Since our PreneurMedia.tv is where the show notes are, and we do really highly recommend you check out the blog post for this particular episode, check out the link to what Dom’s referring to. It’s very rare that he gives up his time in a way like this, so I highly recommend the course and I’ve invested in it myself, and have differently used it quite a bit. I highly recommend Dom, obviously, and highly recommend Video Boss. But more importantly, I highly recommend you consider and start using video in one element, in one area of your business and your marketing.
Dom: Definitely. And that’s really the takeaway for this show. Before we wrap up, lets’ have a quick chat because we like to talk about useful things that we’ve come across. Pete, what have you been consuming via Audible books this week?
Pete: This week, I’ve been playing around and listening to The Facebook Effect, which is a book recommended to me by Rob Somerville, who’s a good friend, a fantastic marketer, and the real brains behind The Challenge. Let’s be honest about it. And it’s sort of like In the Plex, which is obviously the book about Google. There’s also the new Inside Apple book which talks about (and obviously, the Steve Jobs autobiography that talks about Apple). The third one of the big three is Facebook. The Facebook Effect really talks about how Facebook started out as the Facebook, and how it grew, and decisions it made, and the role it plays in society these days.
It’s kind of cool, so I highly recommend people checking it out. The Facebook Effect in audio format. I was thinking a little bit during the show that as we have helped brand and name ReadItForMe, we should probably do the same for Audible. So I was thinking of something along the lines of Audible.com, ‘The Way Authors Wanted You to Read Their Books,’ or, ‘The Way Books Should Be Consumed.’ I’m still trying to flesh that out, it’s not quite as catchy as ‘Effective and Engaging Book Summaries,’ but we’ll get one for Audible in the next couple of weeks. We’ll have to play around with that, and we’ll do a slogan segment every show.
Dom: Yeah, yeah. We’ll work on that one offline. But folks, if you want to try out Audible, Audible books, we have a deal for you at AudibleTrial.com/PreneurCast. If you go to that link, you can sign up and get a free-trial. So AudibleTrial.com/PreneurCast. Just to wrap up this week’s show, if you go to Pete’s YouTube channel, YouTube.com/PreneurVideos, you’ll see how much video plays a part in which Pete does in just communicating with our audience. As Pete said, we’re now video-ifying the podcast, as one example.
But Pete uses video in all his businesses, both internally and externally. If you come across any of Pete’s information products, you’ll be aware of how much video is involved in those, and just look around. The action point for the week, I guess, is look around, and look and think how video could be used in your organization either internally or externally. Look at the ideas that we gave you for ways that regular bricks-and-mortar business, e-commerce business and all kinds of business can use a different live-action photo based or screencast video production to enhance either your external marketing, your existing customer support and communication or your internal team communication.
And if you are interested in taking video to the next level, obviously, as always, I’m available for hire. Drop us a line. But if you’re thinking of doing it yourself, taking it on in your company, you want to know more about video, the best course we can recommend, the best information source we’ve got is the Video Boss course, which is coming out soon, being re-released by Andy Jenkins. If you take advantage of buying that, signing up for that through our link (which will be in the show notes) as I said, I’m going to put together a special package for PreneurCast listeners, where I’m going to be there to support you and give you some one-one-one coaching and consulting.
Pete: I know I cut you off there, mate; but I’m just going—I can’t recommend that highly enough. Because you could be listening to this show for a while. You definitely know how intelligent—and you might now know how handsome he is—you definitely know how intelligent Dom is. So, getting that ‘strategery’ applied to your business, particularly in the form of video which is his absolute specialty, it’s an amazing opportunity to get Dom focused and spending some time on your particular business and your particular projects on your video marketing.
Because some of the big names in information marketing and some of the bigger businesses around, a brand you probably know, has used Dom in this sort of area. Your access to him is very, very effective at the moment. Definitely, if you can, even if you don’t want the product, buy it just so you have access to Dom.
Dom: Oddly enough, yeah. I would say that the package that I’m planning to put together, you’re either getting me for free or you’re getting Video Boss for free, with the price of Video Boss is going at the moment. So I’d like to think I’m offering a good deal. But thanks you for you kind words, Pete
Pete: Justified words, mate, justified.
Dom: Thank you. We’re a little bit overtime. Hopefully, people have found value in this one and we’ve busted a few more mouths without the silly mustache and hat. Please give us some feedback, pop us a review on iTunes, pop over to PreneurMedia.tv and get all the different show notes and information there and drop us some comments. Thanks to everybody who does comment. We do read it. We do take it on board, so thanks for the great few. But you have given us, and keep on giving us feedback and we will see you next week for Episode 52, our one year anniversary.
Pete: Woohoo! One year, one year anniversary. Do I have to buy you diamonds or paper or something?
Pete: Is one anniversary paper?
Dom: I don’t know. You’re the married guy, better work it out soon.
Pete: Oh, I’ve got 11 months.
Dom: See you next week.
http://www.preneur.co/videoboss – More info about Dom’s Special Video Boss Bonus
http://www.youtube.com/preneurvideos – Pete’s YouTube Channel
http://fourhourbody.com/ – Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Body Promo Video
http://www.dollarshaveclub.com/ – Great “low quality” viral video
These previous episodes are talked about in today’s show. Go back and listen, if you missed them.
PreneurCast Episode 50 – Marketing Myths and Marketing Truths
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I was asked for my personal response on the following well-researched essay: The Symbolic Meaning of the Scene of Geb, Nut and Shu by Joost Kramer
My first response to the text is to question why the author hasn’t tried to determine what is meant by sky and earth. He has assumed that Geb and Nut represent the profane elements and that the separation or upholding of Nut is a cosmological scene, “merely” a creation scene. Even though he queries this, he still does not question what else Geb/earth/underworld and Nut/sky/the stars might represent.
The arching figure of Nut, as he says, ranges from east to west; he identifies the east, her “backside” as he so quaintly puts it, as the origin of birth, the place where the sun rises – the west is the place of the setting sun (where the sun is eaten by Nut – conception was often depicted by ingestion in Egyptian myth) and the entry point to the underworld where the night barge travels, battling Apophis in an eternal fight to resurrect the sun each day. Nut in this sense can be seen as the daytime pathway, or the pathway of conscious awareness.
The fact that Geb is indicated to have Osirian overtones in his title as Lord of the Netherworld is interesting and ties in with my hypothesis above. Geb may be the father of Osiris, but there is a school of thought that all gods are emanations of the gods before them leading back to Atum or to Nun (the primordial watery abyss from which all things came); so I do not see a contradiction in one deity being another and yet being separate. As such I would suggest that Geb represents not only the Underworld and the world of the dead but the deep unconscious, the primordial being within each of us, The Hidden.
The author, in his attempt to explain the separation scene, has concluded it is not a separation scene (although he continues to refer to it as “the separation scene”) but simultaneously has, I think, neglected to consider the symbolism of Shu standing on Geb and supporting Nut. I think the author is correct in seeing a sense of movement in the scene, a cycle of life, the cycle of the day; and naturally within a funerary context it would be easy to conclude that it is merely a representation of the death and resurrection of the corpse concerned.
But what about the meaning for the living. Who is Shu? Interestingly, Shu means “emptiness” or “he who rises up”. I would posit that Shu is us, that we are Shu and only by standing with our feet in the underworld, while supporting the stars (cf Aleister Crowley – Every man and every woman is a star) can we engage ourselves with the cosmic movement of deity, really align ourselves with the daily triumph of Atum over his enemies and the nightly battle with the primordial demons of our inner, hidden selves. Shu is also identified with “air”, an amorphous thing that can only be sensed by the external movement of say the wind, but without which we cannot survive.
Within this scene, I would not see separation, but an absolute necessity of joining; an emergence of the Übermench, the human being that takes an active role in the spiritual cycle: a person who becomes empty and whose spirit is raised up – but just as a living person cannot progress by solely burying their head in the ground of the dead, neither can they progress if they give into the purely conscious, profane world with its beautiful distractions. It would be so easy to spend a life just watching the sun moving across the sky and to watch the twinkling stars without seeking beyond the light reflecting off our own retinas.
If you wish to copy this text, please link back to this blog and accredit me, the author. Thank you.
Nb: If you find two pagans who agree, you haven’t found two pagans!
A pagan is person who practises a spiritual path; he or she follows either an established tradition under the “Pagan” umbrella or takes aspects of paganism, which are meaningful to him or her, and creates a way of living. A pagan is not somebody who only worships once a week or at special times in the year; a pagan path embraces all aspects of living and is a philosophy as well as a spirituality.
So what comes under the “Pagan” umbrella?
There are innumerable pagan paths: some draw on native religions such as the traditions and beliefs of Native Americans; some look to history and “re-kindle” Greek, Roman or Egyptian mythologies; then there are the neo-pagan religions of Wicca and the eclectic lifestyles and approaches of Green Witches, Hedgewitches and Kitchen Witches. There are Discordians and the followers of the Feri tradition, modern-day neo-shamans, magickians, wizards and witches. But not every pagan is a witch!
Pagans can be monotheists (believing in one god or goddess), polytheists (believing in two or more gods/goddesses), polyentheists (believing that god/goddess exists in all things) or even atheists (no belief in a god/goddess).
Paganism can (although does not have to) incorporate occult studies, and indeed some occultists would not describe themselves as pagan, although some definitely would. The occult world includes Thelemites (who follow the religion/philosophy of Aleister Crowley), Satanists (Satanism as created by Anton LeVey in the 1960s), Luciferians, Gnostics, Qabbalists … the list is virtually endless.
Isn’t it a bit vague having so many different paths under one word?
Yes and no. It can appear vague and confusing when you first approach paganism, but once you start learning, studying and exploring you will be overwhelmed with the richness both of paganism and the diversity of the people attracted to it. One thing is key amongst pagans: to accept the path that the other person walks. There is no preaching and there are no attempts to convert people. We are happy to be who we are, and we rejoice in seeing other people be who they truly are. Human diversity is celebrated within paganism!
Is paganism a cult?
No, paganism is not a cult. There is no one figure who commands all pagans. Even though there are occasionally oddballs proclaiming that they are, for example, King or Queen of the Witches, this is something rejected by pagans and usually cause for much hilarity.
We abhor bullying and coercion in any area of life and this is something that goes very much against the Pagan Path. To reiterate the previous answer: There is no preaching and there are no attempts to convert people. We are happy to be who we are, and we rejoice in seeing other people be who they truly are. Human diversity is celebrated within paganism!
The word “cult” is often used as a slur word to disparage someone else’s religious or spiritual beliefs. Often people using the word “cult” have their own agenda of conflict and negativity, rather than a true desire to promote spirituality and personal growth.
Are pagans devil worshippers?
The majority of pagans do not believe in the devil; Satan or the devil for them is a construct of Judeo-Christian religions and mythology. There is a lot of confusion in this area as the pagan image of, for example, Pan (who is the god of nature, hunting and revelry) has been subsumed into Christian culture as the epitome of “what the devil looks like”. Pan is by no means an evil god, and many pagans would even dispute the existence of evil itself, but would say that “evil” is energy just as “good” is energy: a gun is only a piece of metal until the gun-holder decides how to use it. This is a key point within paganism: there is no doctrine telling us what is wrong or right. We each carry a heavy responsibility as to how we use this “moral energy”. It would be easier if we were told what to do, but instead we have to cultivate self-awareness, respect of others, sensitivity to the environment, a knowledge of cause and effect and make our decisions bearing all this in mind within our spiritual framework.
Are pagans witches?
Some pagans are witches, but the majority are not. Many pagans do not practise witchcraft or spellwork. Witches can come in many guises: some are Wiccans, some Dianic witches, Green Witches, Hedgewitches, Kitchen witches, etc. Traditional witchcraft and Voodoo even draw on the spellcraft of Pennsylvanian Christian pow wow magic. Witchcraft is like a river with many tributaries feeding it – some of which lead to surprising sources.
What is a pagan ritual?
The answer to this will depend very much on which tradition you choose to work with. A pagan ritual in general will aim at focusing the energy of the person or participants (if it is group work); this energy can be drawn from themselves or from any of the Five Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Ether/Spirit, for example. Sometimes the energy is focused on sending healing to people, or on blessing the group, reconnecting with deity or many other things.
Rituals can be either in a group or worked individually. Rituals can be as elaborate or as simple as you wish. The main point, however, is to learn the basics and for that there are many good books and (through the Herefordshire Moot) willing people to teach and advise you.
Do pagans believe in Jesus?
Some do and some do not. Many pagans believe in a wide variety of higher beings. Jesus is one of these beings for some pagans. Some believe he was a great spiritual teacher, but not a god. Some have no feelings about him at all.
Who is the pagan god?
There is no single pagan god. As mentioned before, some pagans believe in one god or goddess, some believe in two or more and some believe in none. It depends on the tradition you are called to work with.
What do pagans do?
Pagans are just like anybody else. You will find pagans working in industry, in the military, employed, unemployed, well, sick, happy, sad, divorced, married, hand-fasted (pagan marriage) and other. Most pagans will work around the pagan year honouring the equinoxes and solstices, marking the new moon and full moon. Some will do elaborate rituals in groups or on their own, some will do nothing more than light a candle and internally connect with what is important to them.
Do pagans pray?
Some pagans pray in what would be recognised as a “traditional way”, others use forms of meditation, drumming, chanting or dancing. There are many ways of connecting with deity and pagans are pragmatic in that, if it works, they’ll try it!
Where are the pagan churches?
Most pagans would say that their church is Nature and that She is where they worship. Others might say that when they cast a circle (create a sacred space), that is their church. Since pagans believe that deity is everywhere, however deity is conceived, the idea of a fixed building in which to worship is unnecessary.
How do you become a pagan?
Try firstly to read as much as you can about paganism and its different offshoots. Meet up with pagans. Ask lots of questions! When you feel the time is right, you will know how best to dedicate yourself to your chosen path and deity or deities. Most people begin with a personal, individual dedication. Groups, such as covens (not all groups of pagans are covens), do not usually allow people to join them until they have shown a commitment to studying and learning about that particular path. A moot, however, is a social environment for meeting pagans: you don’t even have to be pagan to come along, just bring your interest and respect for others.
What do I need to be a pagan?
You only need yourself and a sincere interest to learn, a yearning in your belly that this is where you belong, combined with an open heart and mind for your fellow pagans. No one is going to judge you if you step on this Path and decide at a later date it is not for you. Our Paths can be winding ones, and each step teaches us something valuable.
Why do people say bad things about pagans?
People often ridicule what they do not understand. Hollywood has also created many damaging and untrue stereotypes. This is why it is important for people genuinely interested in paganism to inform themselves from reputable authors and to meet up with real pagans. You cannot teach your paganism by watching “Charmed” or “The Craft” or any other light entertainment. Paganism is a spiritual way of living that requires commitment, soul-searching, self-awareness and hard work. Nothing worth having comes easily, but the joy of finding yourself on the right Path with like-minded others can’t be overestimated.
This is a brief summary of the Occult of Personality podcast interview with David Beth. I would recommend you listen to the full interview, as I will naturally have only picked out points most interesting to me, and there is plenty more to be had from the interview. My sincere thanks to David Beth for revising, editing and approving this summary.
Who is David Beth?
David Beth is Sovereign Grand Master of the OTOA (Ordo Templi Orientis Antiqua) and the LCN (La Couleuvre Noire) and presiding bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica Aeterna. The OTOA and LCN are originally Haitian Gnostic occult societies associated with each other, but which function separately. The OTOA works with a fusion of ancient Haitian and European Hermetic currents. The LCN is more specialised, with a focus on sorcery and direct spiritism. DB shares leadership in these groups with SGMA Courtney Willis.
DB is also involved with the Fraternitas Borealis, a hyperborean magick group with a cosmic tradition of magical exploration. The Gnostic church focuses on a more general transformation through the apostolic-gnostic sacraments and gnostic initiations and conducts esoteric research in a more classical gnostic sense. The Fraternitas Borealis achieves the same thing through experimentation with magical techniques and sorcery as well as basing itself on very specific transcendental ideals.
On the Ecclesia Gnostica Aeterna:
The EGA is an apostolic Gnostic church, where Gnostic attainment and liberation is achieved through the sacraments. The Church views itself as a continuation of the ancient mystery schools, a way of empowerment passed on through Gnostic Christianity. The sacraments are tools to provide the seeds of gradual enlightenment and development as Gnostic beings. It is then the initiate’s role to cultivate the seed to flower and fruit. Initiation is a combination of outside forces being given to you that also need to be fused alchemically with your own readiness. Occult spirituality needs nurturing.
Unlike the ancient form of Gnosticism, this is not approached as escapism or as a way of leaving the body and its associations behind; this Gnosis is Kosmic Gnosis, i.e. through the body and senses we can achieve a unified experience with the cosmos, hence avoiding dualism.
On the Ordo Templi Orientis Antiqua:
The OTOA was never a Masonic fraternal organisation as such, perhaps in the beginning and more particularly through its division into lodges. Building on occult haitian-voudoist roots, they took the essence and qualities of Masonry, stripping away the superstructure and further into the C20th the Masonic elements were gradually eliminated. In the 1960s the organisation was based in Chicago, New York and Haiti, comprising small groups totalling maybe 50 people. The OTOA presents a more abstract form of Voudon gnosis but still with a practical focus. There are a few group rituals although most of what is done is on an individual basis. Initiations are given from master to student. The OTOA provides knowledge of Voudon Gnosis (a basic preparation to approach the LCN) – you need the foundations of the OTOA first, and once the principles have been grasped then a student would be eligible to move on to the LCN, although not each student wishes to progress to the LCN because of the extreme character of the (spirit) work and the specific demands of the LCN subcults.
On La Couleuvre Noire and Bertiaux:
Bertiaux’s Voudon Gnostic Workbook is the main public teaching tool of the LCN, presenting a spiritist type of sorcery. The student first establishes contact with spirits, working “lucky hoodoo”, a simple but effective way of establishing spirit contact before moving on to more complex areas. There is a symbiotic relationship between the spirits and the practitioner. Whether the spirits are internal beings, Jungian archetypes or external realities is irrelevant as long as the relationship is effective.
A fundamental understanding of metaphysics allows us to incorporate esoteric Voudon into our own systems. Bertiaux drew parallels between systems; his was not a kitchen magick taking simplistic ingredients to make a composite whole, he goes deeper than that, drawing on the essential core which because of its bare-bones truth can be clad in the flesh of other systems.
On his book, Voudon Gnosis:
DB’s own book was published as an introduction and commentary but would only really be understandable to slightly more experienced occultists. It is not a dogmatic introduction to how people should study Voudon Gnosis although it contains some “official doctrine”; it is intended more as an introduction to ideas and perspectives. At the same time however the book, through its language and ideas, can work as an opener of inner gateways and dimensions and so takes on a truly unique magical character. It is a book to be read with your gut and soul open on multiple levels, not processed purely by the cerebral cortex. Topics cover Las Prise des Yeaux, Points Chauds, Spider Sorcery, Time Travelling, Elemental Sex Magick and The Grimoire Ghuehde, including two appendices on ‘Nganga and the Fetish’ and ‘A-Mor: an initiated analysis of Love’.
On the Merciless Path:
DB speaks of the Merciless Path which has complex implications within the Fraternitas Borealis and calls for a focus and dedication which should be observed by anyone with a sincere intent to study Voudon Gnosis or in fact any occult system; a dedication of their whole being to their spiritual and occult calling: this is a vocation. Occultism has become part of pop culture, a thing done in our spare time. A vocation calls for everything else to be submitted to the path, a kind of sadhu of Western Esotericism who sacrifices everything to focus on their spiritual development through occultism. It is called the Merciless Path because this type of dedication is self-critical; it requires constant challenging of our own status quo, and questions what our ideals and motivations are. It is a cruel look in the mirror everyday. People should continually move out of their comfort zones, and continue walking the thorny path even when it gets difficult. Instead, many approach their “spirituality” like an “occult supermarket” buying only those ingredients that fit their lives to build their own religion. Occultism as originally conceived in Gnosticism and sorcery is only for people with a vocation. It requires the student to take a stand against society, to face their fears and stand against the crowd in a secular society where spirituality is not highly regarded. The only spirituality that flourishes in mainstream societies such as America is the superficial spirituality of evangelists.
On membership, students and mentoring:
The OTOA and LCN have a very small capacity and are consequently selective in their membership. The aim is to create a smooth-running structure to facilitate the mentor relationships between student and teacher and to provide the best possible working environment; however, students must also display a suitable character to respond to such an opportunity to learn. The societies want people who work individually and have an experimental mind and approach (in particular applicable to the Fraternitas Borealis). It doesn’t provide a social group or environment like many other pagan groups. There is a focus on the individual and the burden of work falls on him or her.
Advice to students, the ‘Left-Hand Path’, sexual magick and esoteric love:
When asked what advice he would give to people interested in membership, DB said for the individual to question exactly what their motivation is in their involvement with occultism. What do they truly want? Materialistic powers? To overcome their outsider position in the society at large? Is it a vocation or supplemental to their life/a hobby? Their true motivations will soon be uncovered within the group. The would-be student must be ready to have his or her Self challenged and to break through boundaries. Lots of groups provide a sociological setting for people to have a devotional relationship with the divine where they can meet like-minded people and share in the odd ritual. People of the ‘Left-Hand Path’ (an inadequate and sorely abused term) need to challenge their own ideas, concepts and status quo constantly. They may need to do things they consider inappropriate, especially within the context of sexual magick. As a preliminary, they need to want to work with sexual energies and sexual magick in all forms in a way employed for spiritual advancement. If a person has some kind of extreme sexual tendency, such as masochism, they may have to act as a sadist in some contexts. The intention here is to break through the original framework and free the practitioner of such extreme constraints. If you work with sexual energies, you are also working on the liberation of self, without being dependant on an outside person (a Luciferian idea). In specific ritual contexts, the other person can act as a spark to ignite the inner fire of transformation. The risk here, however, is that the practitioner can confuse the other person with a full embodiment of the divine bride or groom.
The body is viewed as a temple, a tool to express the divine. Through experiences of the body, a person can experience the divine, and by employing the body in particular ways combined with a trained mind, it can lead to spiritual enlightenment. It is not about satisfying cravings for darker magick but about challenging what you think is proper for you. It is not an occult path that supports a person in maintaining the chimera of who they are at this moment – it strips that away and challenges it. The student must avoid interpreting things the way they want to, which is why the mentor relationship is so important, so he or she does not get stuck within their own prejudices and fantasies.
Myth conveys an esoteric reality; a form of collective memory clad in myth. The symbolism of myths communicates most to the cultural group it is closest too. Unlocking myths provides you with occult tools; such as Parsifal, the spiritual warrior, walking the Merciless Path, he sacrifices all to his cause. Myth provides us with a link to a living occult tradition; for example, the icon of Christ, the dying and resurrected man who through spiritual transformation obtained divine status. We must die to the profane self, crucify self on the cross of the elements and be resurrected in a higher self. In such an instance it is irrelevant whether Jesus was a historical figure or purely mythical, the message is still relevant against either premise.
On magick’s role in spirituality:
The spiritual journey per se is the path up the mountain; the magickal journey is the exploration of the mountain. Magick fulfils a searcher’s cravings for exploration and is a way to discover one’s own potential. Magickal work can support spiritual existence if employed as a supplement to spiritual development.
On the state of published occult knowledge today and pop culture:
Occult works are more prolific today as the fear of persecution has for the most part been removed. The question naturally exists as to what is authentic, and in particular with the use of the internet, one must consider the source.
The last 30 years of publishing have seen a plethora of poor quality material produced. New occult writers are bringing very little that is new to the circle, merely regurgitating the discoveries of the Old Guard. Nowadays fundamental research is missing, and people are instead looking for quick answers and quick-fixes. Superficiality is what glues people together today. There is no longer a desire for a Weltanschauung (a philosophical, conceptual understanding of the world at large), there is a greater desire for the “wild ride”, so occultism succeeds in popular culture as long as it is wild and interesting. People are a product of their society, a fact that infiltrates the occult community too. There must be a will to study and learn. The opportunities are there, but many don’t take advantage of them because they are comfortably ensconced in the society they live in; they neither have the capacity or the will to sit down and study properly. The purpose of true occult spirituality is to engage in a work that serves a higher purpose (which ultimately benefits the Self too). It cannot be approached as social group membership or in a consumer role with the wish to fulfil the aggrandisement of his or her ego.
On the future:
DB envisages a hope for the future where there is a chain of initiates who will carry on the work until the dark times of spiritual apathy are over, when a new consciousness will kick into action which will tear down the dualistic, exploitative and dehumanising structure we currently inhabit. The attainment of Kosmic consciousness for all of humanity will be sparked by this chain of initiates.
I have just re-read Madame Blavatsky’s article entitled Ancient Egyptian Magic. The article contains very little concrete information about Egyptian Magic and focuses instead on ridiculing for the most part archaeologists; she seems to find it amusing that men of science sit amongst the remnants of a civilisation trying to classify things according to scientific principle, when every which way they turn they are faced with ‘magic’. The main impetus of the articles seems rather to prove the philosophical lineage that Theosophy was apparently based on. She rounds off the articles rather abruptly with:
“For the present, enough has been said to show that the Theosophists have the evidence of the whole of antiquity in support of the correctness of their doctrines.”
What a coincidence that I suggested in a comment yesterday that Josephus (that first century Jewish historian) perhaps suggested the Hyksos as being the antecedents of the Jews as a way of underlining their antiquity. Such a longing for the ‘support of correctness’ from the ‘whole of antiquity’ is still prevalent in today’s pagan community where people try sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully, to draw a line of antiquity up to present-day practices.
As individuals we may not need to underline the antiquity of our beliefs and practices, but as a community [sic] to hold our own against the Big Three (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) for example we feel we need to match their history. A sad truth and personally one that I feel falls under the bracket of counting angels dancing on the head of a pin (a waste of time, I’d rather just watch them dance).
This is surely one of the differences about paganism; we are (or should be) unafraid to take the wisdom of history, apply it to practice and consideration, and reshape as appropriate. Change for change’s sake never facilitates progress, but neither does the calcified reliance on ‘our roots’ and on ‘the way things have always been done’. If spirituality is a growing thing, if our relationship with the divine is to develop, surely we must expect change and rejoice in new spiritual traditions arising, IF THEY TRULY ENGENDER SELF-DEVELOPMENT AND DIVINE PROXIMITY (thus excluding cults of personality and such self-indulgent paths focused around ‘wot I beleev’ and that encourage people to part with money to share in the egotistical meanderings of more powerful personalities).
Maybe our roots do stretch back to earlier cultures; after all we recognise the spirit in lightning, rain, the hills, the earth – we worship the female aspect of divinity alongside the male; some are pure polytheists, some monotheists, some animists or even a mixture. There is much to be learned from the past, and not just from pagan religions of antiquity, but we mustn’t allow ourselves to fossilize in seeking justification for all our beliefs and practices in the cultures and religions of long-dead peoples.
I am constantly researching and reading about Ancient Egypt – the culture, land, the people, the religion. But my primary aim in this is in looking to regenerate what I learn to make it applicable to now; perhaps the word ‘reinterpret’ is more accurate. I am not creating a religion (Heaven forefend – the Christian analogy of a plank in my eye, a splinter in yours springs to mind!) but neither am I getting too stuck in the past. The prime focus is me, my spirituality and my self-development which edges me into divine proximity with the ultimate source both within and without. I am aware of the lack of connectivity in that statement; that it essentially sounds like I stand alone conversing on a mountain top with my personal burning bush. That’s not how it is, or how it should be. I am the only one who can walk my path; no one else can move my limbs. Only by walking the path can you meet others along the way, support each other, shout back directions to stragglers and listen to those ahead of you as they shout to you when you fall behind. This is a busy road and I, for one, am not walking it with my eyes shut and my fingers in my ears. I am conscious and connected to my fellow travellers (of whatever religion or spirituality), and it is only natural to want to talk about the origins of our journey (both personal and suprapersonal), just as long as we keep moving forwards and remember where we are actually heading.
© StarofSeshat 2009
In the Beginning there was Nothing; and the Nothing had a Voice and spoke my Name.
My Ren (name) came into being and dwelt with Nothing, until Nothing spat and breathed upon the void and I was not alone.
The water moved and a serpent arose. Typhon, the chaos demon, swam and split the waters.
Then I knew fear, and fear was my Sekhem (immortal power).
The waters shifted and there arose the primeval hill: my Khu (immortal light of the mind) flew from the darkness and was a Light resting upon the hill.
I was before Atum, but Atum knew me.
I was before Atum, and I proceed through him.
I hold the darkness in my mortal Ba (heart) and Typhon protects my mortality so that my Khu may fly freely over the waters and rest at will in the hands of Atum; there, my immortal parts shall merge: my Ren, my Sekhem, my Khu, and I shall become the first Sunrise.
O Atum! When you came into being you rose up as a High Hill,
You shone as the ben-ben stone in the Temple of the Phoenix in Heliopolis.
Hail to you, O Atum!
Hail to you, O Becoming One
who came into being of himself!
You rose up in this your name of High Hill,
You came into being in this your name of “Becoming One”.
In Egyptian [Ennead] cosmogony, the world is depicted as coming into being out of the primeval waters of chaos (the abyss). The first thing to appear was the world-mound, the ‘mound of the first time’ (the High Hill alluded to in the passages above). Atum is the primeval hill itself. He is the creative principle that called the world into being from the original chaos.
The root of his name is in the word ‘tem’ which means ‘complete’ or ‘finish’ in both the constructive and destructive senses. He is the uncreator as well as the creator. At the end of the world he will destroy everything and return to the form of the primeval serpent.
He is also known as the Lord of Totality. Everything originates from him. Our kas (ka = the life force or double of a person that is released from the body seventy days after embalming) come from him.
He is Father of the Gods, he is the ‘self-engendered one’. By copulating with himself, he essentially masturbated the gods into creation. His hand thus represents the female principle inherent in himself. He was the father of Shu and Tefnut, the first divine couple through whom the other gods proceed.
He is the primal mound, the original creation. This was represented at Heliopolis (the main theological centre that established a form of orthodox belief around Atum) in the form of the ben-ben stone, which may have actually been a meteorite.
He is the Sun which is considered the primary factor in the process of creation. As such he is linked to the ‘self-developing scarab’ (the scarab was also believed to be self-engendering). Atum in his solar form was often fused with Re (or Ra) to become Re-Atum. The Coffin texts say that Atum emerges in the east and rests in the west – here he is the complete manifestation of the sun. But in funerary contexts he is shown as an aged ram-headed man travelling to the underworld each evening to be reborn the next day; consequently he played an important role in mortuary books. At other times Re is seen as the rising sun and Atum as the setting sun.
He is a chthonic god (i.e. pertaining to the underworld). As a primeval god and the Evening Sun he has strong associations with the underworld, as such his power is invoked in netherworld contexts. Atum is depicted in the Valley of the Kings as an aged, ram-headed figure supervising punishment of evildoers and enemies of the sun god, and as subduer of netherworld forces such as the serpents Apophis and Nehebu-Kau.
Atum is frequently depicted in anthropomorphic form wearing the dual crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The main focus of worship was in Heliopolis before his cult was eclipsed by that of Ra, but his influence was widespread. In his underworld aspects he is shown with the head of a ram; in his chthonic form he is symbolised as a serpent. He can also appear as a scarab, mongoose, lion, bull or lizard.
“All manifestations came into being after I developed…no sky existed no earth existed…I created on my own every being…my fist became my spouse…I copulated with my hand…I sneezed out Shu…I spat out Tefnut…Next Shu and Tefnut produced Geb and Nut…Geb and Nut then gave birth to Osiris… Seth, Isis and Nephthys… ultimately they produced the population of this land.”
Hail and honour to Atum.
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Richard H. Wilkinson
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US 5121342 A
A handheld, battery operated network testing device uses disk loaded software, programmable gate arrays, and digital signal processing to selectively configure the device for a full range of analog and digital testing modes in a variety of communications protocols, including T-1 full duplex drop and insert. A 25 by 80 column LCD display provides for a full scale video output, and a unique, power efficient, electroluminescent backlight circuit provides for viewing of the display in poorly lit environments.
1. A communications network testing device for testing operating characteristics of a variety of communications networks, comprising:
a plurality of coupling means, each of which is adapted for operable coupling of said testing device to one or more of said variety of communications networks, said networks having different operating protocols;
processing means for processing communications signals communicated between said testing device and said communications networks; and
interface means for interfacing signals between said processing means and at least a selected one of said variety of communication networks,
said interface means including reprogrammable logic means whereby said interface means can be selectively reprogrammed to interface communications with said variety of communications networks having different operating protocols.
2. The invention as claimed in claim 1, said processing means including means for processing analog and digital communications signals.
This invention pertains to electronic test equipment for analyzing data and telecommunication networks and computers under varied protocols, code sets, and environments. In particular, it pertains to a portable, multi-purpose, network testing device that combines a full range of T-1, 2.048 megabit, and other similar high speed transmission line testing capabilities, analog testing capabilities, and a variety of non-T-1 digital transmission, signalling and supervision, and protocol testing capabilities into a single, integrated testing unit.
Both individuals and organizations are highly dependent on communication networks. The telephone system, automated bank tellers, airline reservation systems, and office information handling systems are examples of communication networks that affect each of our lives on a daily basis. The usefulness of such networks is directly related to their availability, on a moment's notice, for the reliable communication of information.
A single communication network typically includes a variety of transmission media that require both the analog and digital modulation of information. Maintaining the availability of a communication network, accordingly, requires a wide variety of electronic test equipment, and trained technicians with a broad scope of electronic skills. In particular, maintenance of modern communication networks requires equipment and personnel capable of performing protocol testing, digital transmission testing, signalling and supervision testing, and analog transmission testing.
The T-1 transmission line is the most widely employed transmission link used to connect the various nodes and terminals of integrated voice/data communication networks. The capability to test and diagnose T-1 carrier facilities is therefore a required element of a comprehensive testing program for most voice/data communication networks.
Test equipment for monitoring individual characteristics of communication networks are known. For example, Bit Error Rate (BERT) and Block Error Rate (BLERT) testers are commercially available, as are analog test sets. Sophisticated devices such as the 6640/6640D Network Probe™ test set, manufactured by Network Communications Corporation, 10120 West 76th Street, Eden Prairie, Minn., are based upon microcomputer technology and provide the capability for complete network testing within a single package.
None of the available communication network test equipment, however, has combined, in a single, compact, and portable piece of test equipment, the capability of performing a full range of T-1 tests in combination with the capability of performing non-T-1 protocol testing, digital transmission, signalling and supervision testing, and analog transmission testing. Moreover, none of the existing test equipment has successfully incorporated a full range of hardware and protocol interfaces (such as RS-232, RS-422, V.35, ISDN, etc.) into a single, compact unit. None of the available portable equipment has had the speed to perform full duplex drop and insert on a T-1 line. Finally, none of the available equipment has incorporated a dual channel oscilloscope, a required piece of equipment for analyzing analog performance characteristics, into the same display used for non-analog output display.
A truly portable, battery operated piece of test equipment for analyzing communication networks that was adaptable to a wide variety of equipment interfaces, that had the speed and capability for performing a full range of T-1 line testing (including full duplex drop and insert), that incorporated a full range of analog testing capability (including a dual channel oscilloscope) and that included a full range of non-T-1 digital transmission, signalling and supervision, and protocol testing capabilities into a portable integrated unit, would be a decided improvement over existing test equipment.
The problems of the prior art, as addressed above, are in large measure solved by the present invention. The network testing device disclosed herein provides a full range of analog, T-1 and non-T-1 testing capabilities in a compact, battery operated, portable piece of test equipment.
The network testing device hereof uses disk loaded software and programmable gate arrays to selectively configure the device for a plurality of different testing modes in a variety of communications protocols. A central processor, together with the processing speed provided by an auxiliary digital signal processor, DRAM memory bank, and the programmable gate arrays, provide the network testing device with the ability to perform a full range of T-1 line tests, including full duplex drop and insert.
The testing device's unique circuitry is specifically designed to provide for packaging of a high powered versatile piece of test equipment into a compact, hand held unit. Compactness is achieved through the use of the programmable gate arrays, a custom gate array that provides the device with a bank of high speed counters, and interchangeable, disk loaded software that allows the single processor to selectively adapt to a wide variety of standard interface protocols.
A unique, battery operated, power efficient circuit drives an electro-luminescent capacitor for backlighting of an expanded 25 by 80 column LCD display in poorly lit environments. The display is pivotally coupled by a specially designed hinge and lock assembly to the body of the hand held instrument case.
FIG. 1 is a generalized block diagram of the network testing device in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the network testing device in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting signal transmission between the gate arrays;
FIG. 4 is a logic diagram depicting in detail the T-1 channel select capability of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a logic diagram depicting in detail the inject selected errors capability of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the power efficient circuitry for providing the LCD output display of the present invention with a backlight;
FIGS. 6A-6D depict the waveform at designated points of the circuit depicted in FIG. 6;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the hand held instrument case for the testing device, with the pivotal display in its upright position;
FIG. 8 is a side elevational, sectional view of the case depicted in FIG. 7 with the display in its stowed position; and
FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the hinge assembly for coupling the display to the body of the instrument case.
Referring to the drawings, the network testing device 10 in accordance with the present invention broadly includes a central processing unit (CPU) 12, a bank of programmable gate arrays 14, digital signal processor (DSP) 15, display 16, digital volt meter (DVOM) 18, oscilloscope 20, key pad interface 22, disk drive interface 23, and a variety of hardware interfaces 24, 26, 28, 30, 32.
The CPU 12 is a 64180 ten megahertz chip available from either the Hitachi America Ltd., 50 Prospect Avenue, Tarrytown, N.Y. 10591, or Zilog Inc., 210 Hacienda Avenue, Campbell, Calif. 95008. The CPU 12 primarily functions as a user interface processor, with direct links to the input key pad 22, disk drive 23 and the output display 16. The CPU 12 also provides for overall control and coordination of the device 10. DSP 15 is a DSP 16 chip available from AT&T. The DSP provides the system 10 with a high speed number processing capability.
The bank of gate arrays 14 includes several programmable gate arrays comprising the 2018 or 3030 programmable gate array 2000 or 3000 series chip available from Xilinx Inc., 2069 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, Calif. 95125, or Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 901 Thompson Pl., Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086. The programmable gate arrays are RAM based logic cells that can be reconfigured on the fly. Also included in the bank of gate arrays is a custom gate array 34, having fixed, rather than programmable, gates. The custom gate array 34 is primarily made up of 24 high speed counters including 24 bit and 16 bit counters. The counters are used to tally CRC errors, framing errors, multiframe errors, number of frames received, BPV errors, excess zeros and ones density, bit errors received, bit errors injected, and bits received. The counters also keep track of clock displacement, clock slip, and error inject rate. The custom gate array 34 also includes several time bases, each of which are adjustable, used throughout the system 10 including the sweep clock for the oscilloscope 20, and also includes logic for the system's bit error rate tester (BERT).
The key pad 22 is a basic 65 key, ASCII character set keyboard providing for operator input into the system 10. The disk drive 23 can be either a 1 meg. or 2 meg. standard disk drive for reading a 31/2" floppy disk.
The oscilloscope 20 is a twenty megahertz sampling digital storage scope that has a seven megahertz input bandwidth. The digital volt ohm meter (DVOM) 18 is isolated from the CPU 12 and the rest of the system 10 by optocouplers 36.
Hardware interfaces, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 provide for connection of the system 10 to data terminal equipment (DTE) and data communication equipment (DCE) through a variety of standard serial binary data interchange protocols. The ISDN interface 30 provides for the S, the T, and the U interface. The T-1 interface 32 includes a 1.544 megahertz interface with 100 ohm or greater than 1000 ohm termination, and a 2.048 megahertz interface with 75 ohm or greater than 1000 ohm balanced termination mode, and 120 ohm unbalanced termination.
FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the network testing device 10. Referring to the upper left hand portion of FIG. 2, CPU bus 38 interconnects CPU 12 with a variety of support circuits as described below.
Starting from the top of CPU bus 38, as depicted in FIG. 2, a standard one megabyte by eight, 120 nanosecond DRAM and a serial EEPROM 42 are connected to the bus 38. The EEPROM 42 stores calibration values that are used to support primarily the analog functions of the system 10. The EEPROM 42 can also be used to store an identifying serial number for each unit 10, and also stores disk drive interface information.
Wall clock 44 is a standard chronometer which keeps track of month, time of day, elapsed time, and similar chronometric data used for display purposes. Hardware DMA 46 provides the system 10 with a faster DMA capability than is provided by the two DMAs included onboard the CPU 12.
Disk drive 23 and disk drive interface 52 provides the system 10 with the ability to be programmed from a standard 31/2 inch floppy disk, allowing the system 10 to function in a variety of different programmed modes. 32k the disk loaded into the disk drive 23 and storing the program in DRAM 40. EPROM 54 is also used to store basic diagnostic and memory tests.
Display 16 is connected to CPU bus 38 via display controller circuitry 56. The display 16 is a 640 by 200 pixel, 25 by 80 column LCD display available from Panasonic Company, One Panasonic Way, Secaucus, N.J. 07094, 201/348-7000. Back-light converter 58, described in detail below in conjunction with FIG. 5 provides display 16 with a backlight capability for viewing in a poorly lit environment. Contrast control circuit 60 provides for adjustment of the contrast of the display 16.
Display controller circuitry 56 includes a graphics display RAM, a character RAM, a video RAM, and an attributes RAM. The graphics RAM controls the display 16 for presentation of bit mapped oriented display information used with the oscilloscope and other analog input information. The video RAM and character RAM drive the display for presentation of alphanumeric characters. The attributes RAM provides the display 56 with blanking, low intensity, cursor, and other similar type functions.
The 65 key pad 22 is connected to CPU bus 38 via standard keyboard ASCII interface 62.
The system 10 includes the digital signal processor (DSP) 15 to provide for high speed processing of numerical algorithms. The DSP 15 is coupled to the CPU 12 via DSP RAM access bus 66 through buffer 68, and via DSP data bus 70 through buffer 72 and FIFOs 74, 76. The DSP 15 is further coupled to the CPU 12 via control bus 80 through DSP controller 78. The high speed processing capability of the DSP 15 is used for a variety of tasks including protocol analysis, PCM companding routines, and DTMF generation and decoding. The DSP 16 is integral to the jitter analysis capability of the system 10. A fast fourier transform algorithm is performed by the DSP for spectrum analysis jitter testing, a band pass filter algorithm is executed by the DSP for wide band jitter analysis, and sine, square, or sawtooth jitter waveforms can be generated by the DSP for jitter generation routines.
DSP RAM access bus 66 provides a path for the CPU to access the DSP RAMs when the DSP is reset (i.e., not operating), and provides access to CPU 12 for programming of the DSP program RAM 82 by the CPU 12. Buffer 68 provides for isolation of the CPU 12 and the DSP 15 while the DSP 15 is running.
Buffer 72 provides access by the CPU 12 to everything connected to the DSP data bus 70 when the DSP 15 is reset. Access to the DSP data bus 70 provides the CPU 12 with the ability to run diagnostics through the DSP data bus 70 on DSP related circuits.
The DSP control port 78 provides for interrupt control between the DSP 15 and the CPU 12, provides for turning the DSP 15 on and off by the CPU 12, and provides for operation of the DSP 15 in a low power state.
FIFOs 74, 76 allow for transfer of data and instructions between the DSP 15 and CPU 12, accommodating the different operating speeds of the CPU 12 and DSP 15 (approximately 800 nanoseconds per instruction for the CPU 12 vis-a-vis approximately 55 nanoseconds per instruction for the DSP 15), and provides the CPU 12 with the ability to send instructions to the DSP 15 without continuously interrupting the operation of the DSP 15.
DSP data RAM 84 is connected to DSP 15 by the DSP bus 70. The DSP data RAM 84 is a 32K DSP 15.
CPU bus 38 and DSP data bus 70 are each connected to Serial Communications Controller (SCC) 86 through multiplexer 88. The SCC 86 receives serial data from each of the various interfaces in their individual protocols (i.e., RS 232, RS 422, V.35, ISDN, or T-1) and converts the data into a format readable by the CPU 12 and DSP 15. The mux 88 allows for transfer of the preformated data to either the CPU 12 or the DSP 15 for processing. Once the data is acknowledged by either the CPU 12 or DSP 15, it is transferred to the 512 by 8 byte FIFO 76 for DMA transfer to the one megabyte DRAM 40.
Connector 90 is a nine pin standard RS 232 interface that provides for asynchronous connection of the CPU 12 to either a serial printer (not shown), a remote control device (not shown), or a dumb terminal (not shown) for diagnostics. When connected to a printer, connector 90 provides for a hard copy output of the video image presented on display 16. When connected to a remote control device, the system 10 can be operated via land lines by a remotely stationed operator.
Voltage converter 94 provides operating power to the entire system 10. The voltage converter 94 can be powered either from AC input 96 or a battery 98. One second reset circuitry 100 provides a one second delay from the time the system is turned on to the time the power is applied to the CPU 12 to ensure stabilization of the power levels before applying power to the CPU 12.
The RS 232 interface 24 includes a 25 pin DB25 RS 232 connection 102 and interface 104 for converting between RS 232 and TTL levels. The RS 422 interface 28 includes a 37 pin DB37 connection 106 and interface 108 for converting between RS 422 and TTL levels. The RS 232 interface 104 and RS 422 interface 108 are individually, selectively connected to output enable switch 110 through mux 112.
V.35 interface 26 includes V.35 connector 112 and interface 114 for converting between V.35 and TTL levels. The interface 114 is connected to output enable switch 110. Output enable switch 110 is connected to programmable gate array 3 (PGA-3) 116 via bus 118. The operator of the system 10 can select between the V.35 interface 26, the RS 232 interface 24, or the RS 422 interface 28 through the appropriate configuration of mux 112 and output enable switch 110. ISDN interface 30 includes four standard RJ45 connectors 120, 122, 124, 126 for the S or T interface (NT/TE), and primary and secondary U interfaces, respectively. Each of the connectors 120, 122, 124, 126 are coupled to PGA-3 116 through interface circuitry 128 for conversion between ISDN and TTL levels.
Each of the RS 232, RS 422, V.35 and ISDN interfaces are coupled to the system 10 through PGA-3 116. The T-1 interface 32 is likewise, indirectly, coupled to PGA-3 116 through elastic store buffers 130, 132.
T-1 interface 32 includes a T-1 primary interface 134 and a T-1 secondary interface 136. The primary interface 134 is capable of receiving and transmitting long and short haul T-1 communications. The secondary T-1 interface 136 is capable of short haul receipt of T-1 communications, and long and short haul transmission of T-1 communications.
Primary T-1 interface 134 includes DB15 jack 138, RJ45 jack 140, and bantam jack 142, and long haul clock and data recovery circuit 144 and long and short haul driver 146. Secondary T-1 interface 136 includes RJ45 jack 148, bantam jack 150, short haul clock and data recovery circuit 152, and long and short haul driver 154.
The T-1 interface 132 also includes primary framer chip 156 and secondary framer chip 158. The primary and secondary framer chips comprise 8070 chips available from the Rockwell International Corp., 2230 East Imperial Highway, El Segundo, Calif. 90245, 213/647-5000. The primary and secondary framer chips 156, 158 provide T-1 synchronization information, bit stream location, and alignment errors for the primary and secondary T-1 interfaces 134, 136, respectively. The outputs of the framer chips 156, 158 are routed to elastic stores 130, 132, respectively to accommodate for variances in data rate and synchronization between input and output T-1 communications of the system 10. The framer chips 156, 158 are also connected to programmable gate array 2 (PGA-2) 159 for processing of alarm and signalling information.
PGA-3 116 is primarily a switching multiplexer for routing incoming and outgoing serial data streams 10 between the various hardware interfaces 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and the CPU 12, DSP 15 and gate arrays.
Serial binary data presented to PGA-3 116 via either of the RS 232, V.35, RS 422, ISDN, or T-1 interfaces can be routed from the PGA-3 116 to the CPU 12 or DSP 15 via SCC 86. Alternatively, data can be routed by PGA-3 116 to the DSP 15 via serial to parallel converter 160, or can be routed to any of PGA-3 116, PGA-1 162, PGA-4 164, or the custom gate array 34 for processing. While it will be appreciated that each of the PGAs can be configured on the fly for a specific task, PGA-3 is primarily configured as a signal multiplexer for distribution of signals to and from the various interfaces.
PGA-4 is primarily configured to provide various clock signals throughout the system 10. For instance, the clock recovered from either the primary or secondary T-1 clock recovery circuit 144, 152, respectively, or a clock from an external BNC clock connector 166, or a clock from onboard 1.544 megahertz or 2.448 megahertz clocks 168, 170, or jittered clock provided from the output of VCO 250, can be distributed throughout the system 10. PGA-4 164 also accomplishes standard clock related functions such as B8ZS detection and one's density detection. PGA-4 164 also includes logic circuits for initiating and analyzing BERT testing. PGA-1 162 is primarily configured for T-1 channel selection, as described in detail below in conjunction with FIG. 3.
Analog signal multiplexer 172 selects from a variety of analog input signals for routing of the analog signals to flash A-D converter 174. The inputs to multiplexer 172 include oscilloscope input 176, telephone handset inputs 178, 180, primary T-1 input 182, and jitter in signal input 184.
The system 10 includes a dual channel oscilloscope capability. The first channel of the oscilloscope is input to the system 10 through oscilloscope input 176 to analog signal multiplexer 172 via BNC jack 186 and front end protection buffer 188. A second channel of the oscilloscope is injected into the system 10 through a second analog signal multiplexer 190 via channel 2 oscilloscope BNC jack 192, front end protection buffer 194, and gain control 196. The second input to multiplexer 190 is received from multiplexer 172 via gain control 198. When operating the system 10 in the dual channel oscilloscope mode, multiplexer 190 alternatively distributes the channel 1 oscilloscope signal and the channel 2 oscilloscope signal to the flash A-D converter 174. The digitized channel 1 oscilloscope signals are routed to FIFO buffer 200 via multiplexer 202, and the channel 2 oscilloscope digitized inputs are routed from the flash A-D converter 174 to FIFO buffer 204 through multiplexer 206. The digitized oscilloscope signals stored in FIFO 200 are directly accessible by DSP bus 70, and the channel 2 digitized oscilloscope signals are available to the DSP bus 70 through buffer 208. After appropriate processing by the DSP 15, which can include inversion of channel 2, addition, back weighting averaging, and expansion using linear and sine interpolation, the data is routed to CPU 12 and presented on display 16.
Inputs 178 and 180 to analog signal multiplexer 172 provide the system 10 with a four wire telephone line interface capability. Transformer equalizer provides for satisfactory coupling to the telephone lines through otherwise low performance (and therefore physically small) transformers. D-A converter 216, to be described more fully below, includes a tone generation capability for transmission over the telephone line interface. The tone generation capability allows the system 10 to transmit a tone, loop it back to its self, and analyze the bandwidth performance of a transmission line. The four wire telephone interface 178, 180 also allows the system 10 to receive or transmit telephone voice signals through a telephone handset, or through speaker 218 via speaker circuitry 220 and speaker multiplexer 222.
Input 182 to analog signal multiplexer 172 is taken from the T-1 primary side receive line for a measurement of the signal amplitude on the T-1 line. The T-1 signal is routed to the flash A-D converter 174, is digitized, and then routed to the DSP 15 for processing. The signal amplitude of the T-1 line can then be displayed as either a peak value or as an actual waveform on display 16.
Input 184 to analog signal multiplexer 172 is an analog measurement of the jitter between a recovered clock signal and a reference clock signal. The jitter measurement is accomplished by dual frequency synchronous counter 224 and phase comparator 226. The recovered clock signal is provided to the dual frequency synchronous counter 224 via line 228. The reference clock could be provided from one of several sources. For instance, the reference clock could be provided by one of the onboard oscillators 168, 170, or could be an external clock provided through BNC connector 166. The reference clock could also be a recovered clock signal stabilized by phase lock loop 230. The recovered clock to be compared to the referenced clock is provided to the dual frequency synchronous counter 224 via line 232. The measurement of phase difference between the recovered clock and the reference clock is routed by multiplexer 172 to flash A-D converter 174, and then on to the DSP 64 and CPU 12 for processing and display. Multiplexer 234 provides the capability of routing the measurement of jitter through capacitor filter 236 to permit measurement of jitter within the filtered ranges prescribed by either the AT&T or CCITT standards. The digitized measurement of jitter is routed from a flash A-D converter 174 through the buffer mux 206 into the FIFO 204. As will be recalled, the digitized output of the oscilloscope channel 2 is also route to FIFO 204. Buffer 208 provides coordination as to what type of data is presented from FIFO 204 to the DSP bus 70.
Multiplexer 222 selectively provides speaker 218 with either an audio warning signal provided on line 238 from the CPU 12, or audio signals routed from the analog signal multiplexer 172, or voice telephone signals provided through telephone jacks 210, 212.
D-A converter 216 receives digital data from DSP bus 70 through buffer mux 206 and FIFO 204. The D-A converter 216 converts the digital data to an analog signal and routes the analog data to dual D-A converter 238 for gain control. The data can then be routed from the dual D-A converter 238 through filter 240 and mux 222 to speaker 218.
The system 10 is capable of generating a jitter out signal to transmit to a remote DTE or DCE to test the remote DTE or DCE jitter response. The jitter out signal is generated by routing a reference clock signal via line 242 to the dual frequency synchronous counter 244. Phase comparator 246, filter 248, and VCO 250 comprise a phase lock loop designed for injecting jitter onto the reference clock signal provided on line 242. The amount of jitter is controlled by the DSP 15 which provides a digital signal to D-A converter 216 which is converted to an analog injection signal by the D-A converter 216 and dual D-A 238. The analog injection signal is routed to the VCO 250 via filter 240. The output of the VCO 250 is the summation of the reference clock input on line 242 and the injected jitter signal. The output of VCO 250 is routed to PGA-4 164 and framer chip 156 or 158 where it is prepared for transmission via PGA-3 116 and the selected hardware interface.
The digital volt ohm meter 18 can receive inputs from either a pair of banana jacks 252 or can receive an input from either the primary or secondary T-1 connections across resistor 254. The banana jacks do not require a common ground with the rest of the system 10, since the DVOM transformer coupled power supply and optocoupler 36 provides isolation of the DVOM 18 from the rest of system 10. When a T-1 line input is connected to DVOM across resistor 254, the DVOM 18 is capable of measuring the T-1 simplex current.
Oscilloscope trigger circuitry 256 receives an input from dual A-D converter 238 via line 258. The input via line 258 is an operator selected trigger reference. The scope trigger circuit 256 also receives a sweep rate signal from the time base 260 of custom gate array 34 via input line 262. The oscilloscope is triggered at the selected reference level and sweep read by scope trigger circuit 256, with the analog sample provided to flash A-D converter 174 for digitizing and routing for processing and display.
The serial to parallel converter to 160 and parallel to serial converter 264 provide direct access between PGA-3 116 and DSP 64 without having to be routed through serial controller (SCC) 86. Serial signals presented by PGA-3 116 to the serial to parallel converter 160 are transmitted through mux 202 in parallel form to FIFO 200 for presentation to the DSP bus 70. Parallel data is routed from DSP 15 by the DSP bus 70 through buffer 206 and into FIFO 204. From FIFO 204, the parallel data is sent to parallel to serial converter 264 for presentation to the PGA-3 116.
FIG. 3 depicts signal communication between the various programmable gate arrays. It will be understood that, for clarity of understanding the flow of signals, several of the elements (such as the programmable gate array 164, programmable gate array 162, custom gate array 34, and programmable gate array 162) are depicted in multiple positions on FIG. 3. It will be further understood that FIG. 3 depicts primary side T-1 signal handling. Signal handling for the secondary T-1 interface could include some or all of the signal handling and processing capabilities of the T-1 primary side.
T-1 signals received by the system 10 are presented to the clock and data recovery circuit 144 as a positive going signal RPOS and a negative going signal RNEG. The clock signal RCLK recovered by the clock and data recovery circuit 144 is presented to PGA-4 164, 8070 framer chip 156, and the elastic store buffer 130. The data recovered by circuit 144 is presented to PGA-4 as RPOSIN and RNEGIN signals which are transmitted to the 8070 framer chip 156 as RPOSRCV and RNEGRCV. The positive and negative going data signals are combined in the 8070 framer chip 156, and are transmitted to the elastic store buffer 130 as a single stream of data information RSER. From the elastic store buffer 130, the recovered data is routed to PGA-3 116 for distribution throughout system 10.
The clock portion of PGA-4 164 selects between the recovered clock RCLK, the onboard 2.048 megahertz clock 168, the onboard 1.544 megahertz clock 170, and an external clock that may be applied through BNC connector 166. The selected clock TCLK is transmitted from PGA-4 164 to the 8070 framer chip 156 and the elastic store buffer 130.
Counters within the custom gate array 34 are provided with data from PGA-4 64 indicating one's density (ONESDENSITY), excess zeros (EXCESSZEROS), and bipolar violations (BPV (CODED)) relating to the received T-1 signals RPOS and RNEG.
The received T-1 signal RSER is routed to PGA-1 162 where a count of the bits received (BITSRCVD) and the number of frames received (FRMSRCVD) are provided to counters within the custom gate array 34. The received T-1 signal RSER is also provided to PGA-4 164 for a determination of bipolar violations (BPV (CLEAR)) that is provided to counters within the custom gate array 34.
The 8070 framer chip extracts A, B, C, and D signalling information from the RPOSRCV and RNEGRCV signals. The A, B, C, D signals are presented to PGA-2 159 for processing and transmission of alarms information ALARMS to the CPA 12. It will also be noted from FIG. 3 that the CPU 12 is capable of generating signalling information which is transferred through PGA-2 to the 8070 framer chip 156.
T-1 signals to be transmitted by the system 10 are routed from PGA-3 116 to PGA-1 162 as TSER. Intentional errors in the serial data stream can injected into the serial data stream TSER by PGA-1. Injected errors may include bit errors, frame errors, CRC errors, and multiframe errors. The error injected serial data stream TSERERR is provided to the 8070 framer chip 156, where the signal is framed and synchronized for transmission, and is then provided to PGA-1 as a positive going TPOSOUT and negative going TNEGOUT T-1 signal. Bipolar violation errors may be injected onto the TPOSOUT and TNEGOUT signal within programmable gate array 1, and the signals are presented from programmable gate array one 162 to the transmitter 146 as TPOSXMIT and TNEGXMIT.
As described above, programmable gate array one (PGA-1) 162 is configured within system 10 to function primarily as a T-1 channel select module and is also used as an error injection module for inserting predetermined errors into a bit stream. FIGS. 4 and 5 depict in detail the logic within PGA-1 that accomplishes T-1 channel selection and the injection of errors.
The T-1 channel select logic of PGA-1 is depicted in detail FIG. 4. While the logic will be described in terms of selecting a primary T-1 channel to be received by the system 10, it will be understood that identical logic is employed for selected a received secondary channel, as well as selecting both primary and secondary transmit channels.
Framer chip 156 continuously monitors the primary T-1 channel received on either DB15 jack 138, RJ45 jack 140 or bantam jack 142. The 8070 framer chip 156 is connected to PGA-1 62 by five receive channel lines that indicate to PGA-1 which of the 24 T-1 channels (or which of the 32 two meg. channels) are currently being monitored by the 8070 framer chip. The five lines are annotated in FIG. 3 as lines 302, 304, 306, 308, and 310. It will be understood that the channel being monitored by the 8070 framer chip 156 is continuously changing, since the channels on a T-1 line are time division multiplexed. Each of the five lines from the 8070 framer chip 156 are input to respective exclusive nor gates 312, 314, 316, 318, 320.
The second input line to each of the exclusive nor gates 312, 314, 316, 318, 320 are preprogrammed for a selected one of the 24 T-1 channels (or one of the 32 2 meg. channels) to be received and processed by the system 10. In particular, input lines 322, 324, 326, 328, 330 to respective exclusive nor gates 312, 314, 316, 318, 320 are enabled with binary signal levels that together represent a selected channel. When the channel currently being monitored by the 156 matches the preselected channel, a receive channel main enable (RCVCHANMAINEN) signal is presented at the output of nand gate 332. The RCVCHANMAINEN signal is provided to PGA-3 116 which then routes the data on the selected channel through serial controller chip 86, or through serial to parallel converter 160, to the DSP 15 for processing.
The select channel circuitry 300 also includes or gate 334 and nor gate 336 which together monitor each of the input lines from the 8070 framer chip 156 to provide an output signal indicating the presence of the frame bit in the 193 bit T-1 bit stream. The output signal from nand gate 336 indicating the presence of framing bits is routed to PGA-3 116 for distribution within system 10.
Programmable gate array one (PGA-1) 162 is also used within system 10 to inject errors into a transmitted bit stream for testing of line conditions, and of DCE and DTE performance, under error conditions. FIG. 4 provides a detailed presentation of the inject error logic of PGA-1 162.
The inject error logic 400 includes error selection logic 402 and error injection logic 404. The error injection logic 404 includes bit error injector 406, frame bit inverter 408, and bipolar violation (BPV) injector 410.
The error injection logic 404 is provided with a stream of serial data, properly framed by the 8070 framer chip 156 for transmission on a T-1 line. The serial data from the 8070 framer chip is annotated TSERMAIN on line 412, and is input into exclusive or gate 414. The error injection logic 400 is also provided with an input designating the presence of the frame bit (annotated XMTFRMBITMAIN) on line 416 to enable the error injection circuitry to distinguish between frame bits and data bits. The framing bits are presented to the frame bit converter 408 via line 418.
When line 420 to the bit error injector 406 is provided with an INJECTBITERRORS signal, the output of the bit error injector 406 will inject bit errors through exclusive or gate 414 into the T-1 data stream present on line 412. The resulting output of the exclusive or gate 414 is looped back to the 8070 framer chip 156 for transmission of the predetermined error signal. Inverter 422 ensures that the bit error injector 406 is active only when data bits, and not framing bits, are being presented to exclusive or gate 414. The data signal with predetermined errors injected into it is transmitted by the system 10 to test DTE, DCE, or line performance under error conditions.
When line 424 to and gate 426 is provided with an INJECTFRAMEERRORS signal, and the presence of a frame bit is indicated on line 428 to and gate 426, the exclusive or gate 408 of the frame bit invertor is activated to invert the frame bit. The resulting inverted frame bit output of inverter 408 is rerouted to the 8070 framer chip 156 via line 430, and a serial data transmission with a known framing error can be sent by system 10.
When line 432 to and gate 434 is provided with an INJECTBPV signal, and the input on line 436 to and gate 434 indicates that a frame bit is not present, the BPV injector 410 is enabled by the output of and gate 434 on line 438. The BVP injector 410 also receives inputs on line 440 and 442 indicating the presence of a positive going pulse on line 440 and a negative going pulse on 442. The four and gates 444, 446, 448, 450, and two or gates 452, 454, convert the positive input signals to negative and the negative input signals to positive and present the inverted signals on output lines 456 and 458 on bipolar violation errors.
Referring to the error selection circuitry 402 depicted in the lower half of FIG. 4, up to five errors can be preselected for injection into the transmitted data stream by enabling the SELERR one, SELERR two, SELERR three, SELERR four, or SELERR five outputs on leads 460, 462, 464, 466, 468, respectively. While only three of the select errors, as described above, are programmed in FIG. 4 (inject frame errors, inject bit errors, and inject bipolar violation errors), the remaining SELERR inputs could be used for injecting errors such as TRC errors or multiframe errors. The selected errors can be either manually injected by providing an enable signal on line 470, can be clocked in at one of two preselected periodic rates by providing an error inject rate clock on lines 472. And gate 480 and flip flops 42, 44 provide a count on output lines 486 and 488 of the errors injected into the data stream.
The programmable gate arrays provide the testing device 10 with the versatility to handle any of a number of operating protocols or data formats while maintaining the compact size of the device 10. Each of the programmable gate arrays can be reprogrammed to accommodate any of the protocols available through the hardware interfaces of the device 10, by the device user, simply by designating through the keypad interface 22 which protocol is to be used. The programmable gate arrays are then configured to accommodate the selected protocol or data format with the parameters entered into the device 10 through the disk drive 23 and stored in the DRAM 40.
As described in detail above, the display 16 is an LCD display provided with a backlight capability for viewing in reduced light conditions. The backlight inverter 58 includes unique driving circuitry 500, depicted in FIG. 6, for efficiently powering the backlight with low power consumption.
The backlight inverter 58 in accordance with the present invention broadly includes driving circuitry 500, capacitor 502, AC converter transformer 504, N-channel FET driving transistor 506, and peak level detection circuitry 508 for detecting the peak power value generated at terminal 1 of transformer 504. The peak level detection circuitry 508 broadly includes buffer amplifier 510, 90 trigger 514, and one short multivibrator 516.
Electro-luminescent capacitor 502, having capacitor plates that extend across the back portion of the display panel 16, provides the light energy for the display backlight. The capacitor 502 generates light when it is driven by a 115 volts peak, 500 hertz signal. While the ability to provide backlight to a LCD display by driving an electro-luminescent capacitor is known, the large size of the 640 by 200 pixel, 25 by 80 column, display 16, and therefore the large physical size of capacitor 502, used in the system 10, presents serious power consumption problems. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, power requirements to the capacitor 502 increase by a power of two in relationship to an increase in the size of the capacitor 502. The driving circuitry 500 is able to power the large capacitor 502, within the power requirements of a portable, battery powered system, by unique circuitry that operates at approximately 75% efficiency as opposed to the approximately 50% efficiency of conventional backlight drivers.
Capacitor 502 and transformer 504 comprise an oscillating tank circuit, driven by transistor 506. FIG. 6A depicts the waveform of the tank circuit at point A. Note that at time t1, the driving transistor 506 is turned on, thereby boosting the diminishing tank circuit output. Voltage divider 518 reduces the approximately 230 volt peak to peak signal at point A to an approximately 1 volt peak to peak signal. The coupling capacitor 520 presents the reduced output signal of the tank circuit to buffer amplifier 510. Ground reference circuit 522 provides a grounding reference to buffer amp 510.
The output of buffer amp 510 is presented to the 90 512. The phase shifter 512 shifts the signal in phase, as is shown by a comparison of FIGS. 6A and 6B depicting the waveform at point A and point B in the circuit. The primary function of the phase shifter 90 is to ensure that the driving transistor 506 is turned on so as to drive the tank circuit of capacitor 502 and transformer 504 when the voltage across the tank circuit is at its peak. The 90 so that the peak voltage within the tank circuit at point A can be related to the more easily and precisely detected zero crossing of the waveform at point B.
The output of the phase shifter 512 is provided to Schmidt trigger 514 where the waveform of FIG. 6B is squared up into the waveform of FIG. 6C. One shot multivibrator 516 is used to adjust the pulse duration of the squared up waveform presented by the Schmidt trigger 514. The pulse width of the output signal of one shot multivibrator 116 is set by the RC constant of resistor 524 and capacitor 526 to present the waveform depicted in FIG. 6D. The backlight inverter 58 is actuated by providing a STARTBACKLIGHT pulse provided to exclusive or gate 528, and is turned off by pulsing the reset port of one shot 516.
The driving circuitry 500 is capable of powering a large 25 by 80 column display electro-luminescent display with low power requirements because the electro-luminescent capacitor is driven precisely at the peak of the tank circuit waveform.
The unique circuitry of the network testing device 10 allows for packaging of the powerful and versatile testing device 10 into a hand held, independently powered instrument case 600. The case 600 is depicted in FIG. 7, and broadly includes case body 602 having hand graspable carrying handle 604, and display panel 606 pivotally coupled to the case body 602 by right and left hinge assemblies 608, 610.
The key pad assembly 22 is carried on the upper surface 612 of the case body 602. Disk drive 23 is accessible through the right sidewall 614 of the case body 602. A latch receiving cavity 616 is located in the forward right portion of the case body upper surface 612, and a latch releasing trigger assembly 618 is located on the right side of handle 604.
The display panel 606 includes the 640 by 200 pixel LCD display screen 16 carried by support frame 620. Latch 622, receivable within cavity 616, projects outwardly from the right side of the support frame 620.
Trigger assembly 618 is depicted in detail in FIG. 8. The trigger assembly 618 includes finger operated slide button 624, pivot hook 626, and wire link 628.
Slide button 624 is slideably received within channel 630 of handle 604. One end 633 of the wire link 628 is fixedly retained within a recess 632 on the underside of slide button 624. The opposite end 634 of the wire link 628 engages the lower end of the pivot hook 626.
Pivot hook 626 is pivotally mounted about pivot point 636 within the case body 602. The upper end of hook 626 includes latch engaging head 638. The hook 626 is biased into a forward, latch engaging position by biasing spring 640. As can be seen in FIG. 8, latch 622 is receivable within the cavity 616 for engagement by the latch head 638 so as to retain the display panel 606 in a closed position.
The trigger assembly 618 includes spring loaded plunger 642. When the slide button 624 is shifted rightwardly, as viewed in FIG. 8, wire link 628 pivots the hook 636 against the biasing force of spring 640. The head 638 of hook 626 is thereby urged leftwardly, as viewed in FIG. 8, releasing the latch 622. Spring loaded plunger 642 abuts against the latch 622 to urge the display panel 606 upwardly out of its closed position.
The right hinge assembly 608 is depicted in detail in FIG. 9, it being understood that the left hinge assembly 610 is a mirror image of the right hinge assembly 608. The hinge assembly 608 broadly includes upright stanchion 650, display panel supporting bracket 652, coupling assembly 654, and retaining assembly 656.
Upright stanchion 650 is fixedly retained within the case body 602 by screws (not shown) received through base plate 658. The stanchion 650 includes upstanding member 660 having retaining assembly engaging side arms 662, 664 and coupling assembly receiving aperture 666. The retaining assembly 656 is fixedly attached to the upright member 660 by screws 668, 670.
Retaining assembly 656 includes assembly body 672, biasing spring 674, and bracket engaging ball bearing 676. The biasing springs and ball bearings 676 are received within an upright, generally cylindrical channel 678 of body 672. The upper surface 680 of body 672 includes bracket receiving groove 682. The upright channel 678 is in communication with the groove 682 such that the ball bearing 676 extends upwardly into the groove 682 through aperture 683. The diameter of the aperture is smaller than the diameter of ball bearing 676, such that the ball bearing 676 remains within the right channel 678 notwithstanding the fact that a portion of the ball bearing 676 extends through aperture 666 into the groove 682.
Bracket 652 includes a base ring 684 having a scalloped outer periphery 686, and display panel engaging member 688. The display panel 606 is attached to the member 688 by screws (not shown) received through apertures 690, 692.
Coupling assembly 654 includes threaded pivot member 694, retaining nut 696, and washers 698, 700. The pivot member 694 is received through base ring 686 of bracket 652 and the aperture 666 of upright stanchion 650.
The base ring 684 of bracket 652 is received within groove 682 of the body 672 of retaining assembly 656. The ball bearing 676 is receivable within the individual cutouts 702 of the scalloped periphery 686 of the base ring 684. Biasing spring 674 urges the ball bearing 676 into the cutouts 702, thereby retaining the bracket 652 (and therefore the display panel 608) at a desired display angle.
A tension spring 704 having a first end 706 attached to the upright stanchion 650, and a second end 708 attached to the bracket 652, provides additional support to the bracket 652 when it is in the display position. The lower end 706 of tension spring 704 is received through aperture 710 of stanchion 650. The upper end 708 is retained within aperture 712 of bracket 652. | <urn:uuid:7b41806b-69cb-40aa-bbbb-9f7bd777b226> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US5121342 | 2013-05-23T11:56:56Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891604 | 10,445 |
||The Census Rep. 1901 gives 1,530
acres, including 14 of inland water; also
10 acres of tidal water and 2,094 of
||Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 19997.
Richmondshire, ii, 282.
||For this family see Misc. (Cath. Rec.
Soc), v, 255.
||Roper, Churches, &c., of North Lancs.
V.C.H. Lancs. i, 288b.
||Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 290, 294.
||In right of the bishopric of Chester.
||It is possible this was the whole,
for Simon (? rector) was one of the
tenants; but according to Roger of
Poitou's charter the tenure of the church
land should have been free alms.
Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc.
Lancs, and Ches.), i, 95, reading deletis
for doletis. The tenants were Gamel
de Bolton, Dawe (then in the king's
custody), Agnes, Thomas, Gilbert, Godith
Some of these seem to be identical
with owners named in a confirmation by
King John to Adam son of Adam de
Kellet in 1204—viz. of their part of
Greveholme and Dritern (now Dertren)
by Adam son of Alan and Godith his
wife, Thomas le Rous (Rufus) and Siegrith
his wife, Gilbert de Bolton and Serot his
wife, Michael son of Alden de Bolton,
Adam son of William de Bolton and
Agnes daughter of Roger de Bolton,
Cal. Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), 141.
The Furness Chartulary contains the
grants thereby confirmed. Gamel de
Bolton gave the fourth part of Grevcholme
and Dritern, being of his demesne, to
Adam son of Adam son of Orm de Kellet,
at 18d. rent; and Adam son of William de
Bohon with the consent of Walter his
brother gave another fourth part, also at
18d. rent. The bounds went from
Meresbeck to Ramshead Ford and thence
to Dritern Pool; from this pool to the
sea-shore; Add. MS. 33244, fol. 35, 34.
Then Agnes daughter of Roger de Bolton
gave Adam de Kellet a fifth part of the
third of the same place at 2d. rent;
Thomas le Rous and Siegrith his wife,
Gilbert de Rolton and Serot his wife,
Adam son of Alan and Godith his wife,
Michael son of Alden de Bolton, made
like grants, so that the whole of this
third part was acquired by Adam; ibid.
Dritern Pool is stated to descend between
Dritern and Wedholme.
||Farrer, op. cit. 130; it is here that
the service from Bolton is called drengage.
The same increment appears in subsequent
years in the Pipe Roll.
Lanc. Ch. (Chet Soc.), ii, 259–62.
This is an account of a pleading of 1321,
by which the Prior of Lancaster sought
to recover tithe from the mill which had
been built in Bolton, in lieu of the sum
lost to him through withdrawal of suit
from the Lune mill. This tithe had
formerly been paid to him, but had been
withdrawn. It was now restored.
Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 140. In
1246–8 Bolton mill paid 26s. 8d.; ibid.
169. This seems to have been the rate
in later years; ibid. 220.
||Ibid, ii, 39–42, from Registrum
Honoris de Richmond, App. 68.
||About 1216 the wife of Gamel de
Bolton was of the king's gift; her land was
worth 3s. yearly; Lancs. Inq. and Extents,
i, 118. A few years later (before 1226)
Sara (Serot) de Bolton was also of the
king's gift; her land was worth a mark;
Henry son and heir of Robert son of
Agnes had lands in Bolton in 1242–3;
Close, 56, m. 3. Henry son of Robert
de Bolton granted land to Thomas de
Coupmanwra or Capernwray for 45s. 9d.
given 'in my great need'; Lanc. Ch.
Ellis de Bolton died about April 1249
holding in chief of the king 2 oxgangs of
land in Bolton by a free rent of 5s. 10d.,
doing suit to county and wapentake.
There were in each oxgang 20 acres of
arable land and 4 acres of meadow. He
held the whole in demesne and ploughed
with his own plough. His heir was Simon,
his eldest son, of full age; ibid. 175.
The relief paid was equal to the annual
rent; ibid. 184. He may be the Ellis
de Thorbrandhead who had a son Simon;
Furness Chartul. Their estate was afterwards purchased by the Earl of Lancaster,
as shown later.
Thomas Roud, brother and heir of Ralph
son of Adam de Bolton, paid 20s. as relief
on succeeding in 1248; Excerpta e Rot.
Fin. (Rec. Com.), ii, 38; Close, 62, m. 9,
He died about 1261, but the record has
been lost; his nephew and heir William
paid 23s. 4d. as relief; ibid. 354; Lancs.
Inq. and Extents, i, 226. If 5s. 10d. was
the free rent for 2 oxgangs, 23s. 4d.
would show a tenement of one plough-land.
Henry son of Godith de Bolton died in
or before 1261 holding 2 oxgangs of land
and the eighth part of a corn mill of the
king by the yearly service of 9s. 2d.; John
his son and heir was of full age; ibid.
228. Henry son of Gilbert de Bolton
was one of the jurors.
The composition of the rent is explained
by that paid by Simon son of Michael
de Bolton, who died in 1264 or 1265
holding 2 oxgangs of land of the king by
a rent of 5s. 10d. and the eighth part of the
mill by 40d.—i.e. 9s. 2d. in all. His son
and heir William was aged thirty; ibid.
233; Excerpta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.),
ii, 423. The 40d. shows that 26s. 8d.
was still the rent paid for the mill.
Ralph son of Adam son of William
de Bolton granted Walter de Bolton son
of William the Clerk all the land of
Calfholme and Southpool as far as the
bounds of Sereholme, together with an
oxgang of land in Bolton, at a rent of
two spears or 3d.; Add. MS. 33244,
fol. 40. Land in the same place was
given by William son of William son of
Walter the Mason to Gervase the Clerk
of Bolton at 10d. rent; ibid. This
Gervase, in another grant by Ralph son of
Adam son of William de Bolton, is called
son of Simon, a former rector; ibid. 41.
A number of grants by Adam son of
Gilbert de Bolton to Thomas de Coupmanwra are recorded in Lanc. Ch. i, 177–
203. Thomas Roud (or Thomas son of
Adam son of William de Bolton) also
gave land to the same Thomas; ibid.
204–21. A large number of field-names
may be collected from these grants: e.g.
Wiches or Withes, Thistlebreck, Ingmire,
Inglebreck, Graythwaite, Gunnulfrys,
Gunnulfkelders, Haltonsty, Flokeresty in
Wedholmmire, Braithmire, Natwraymire,
the Heaning next the Cringlebroghan,
Maldebroghanes, Hawkshow, Hawkswell,
Dimples, Monksflat and Rigsummerild.
||Three grants in Bolton to Earl
Edmund are recorded in the Great
Coucher of the duchy. (1) Dodi daughter
of Ellis de Thorbrandshead released to
him all her right in the tenement formerly belonging to her husband John son
of Adam; i, fol. 61, no. 8. (2) Geoffrey
son of Adam de Bolton released his share
of the water mill, with suit, &c.; ibid.
77, no. 69. (3) William son of
Thomas de Hest released his land on
Inglebreck, one head thereof abutting on
Kellet field; ibid. 78, no. 76.
||The heir was perhaps John son of
William Franceys, of whom it was found
that Adam son of Roger de Calfholme
had held an acre by 1d. rent. Adam,
who had been hanged for felony, held
another half acre of Thomas Travers;
Lancs. Inq. and Extents, i, 320.
||Ibid, i, 295–6. William, John (son
of Henry) and Adam have occurred in
the preceding note. Durbald seems to
have been the surname of William the
heir of Thomas Roud; William was the
son of Henry Durbald of Bolton; Lanc.
Ch. i, 246. From the next paragraph of
the text it would appear that he was
the William Franceys who gave land to
Thomas de Coupmanwra and to Lancaster
Church; ibid. 234–5.
||Yet it appears that the words
'Prior of Lancaster' have been cancelled
to make way for Dacre. The rents
given amount to 53s. 2d., to which must
be added 40s. for the mill, or 93s. 2d. in
all. Ranulf de Dacre and Joan his wife
confirmed a grant of land in Calfholme
made to Furness Abbey; Add. MS.
33244, fol. 43.
The pleadings give little information.
In 1277 Cecily widow of Ralph de Kellet
claimed dower in 40 acres in Bolton and
Slyne against Thomas Travers and Aline
his wife; De Banco R, 21, m. 95 d.
In 1292 Thomas Travers obtained a
recognition of his right from Geoffrey
son of Adam de Bolton; Assize R. 408,
m. 20 d. At the same time Adam son
of John de Ramshouth complained that
Robert son of Henry de Bolton and
Christiana widow of Jordan del Holmescales had disseised him of land, but the
verdict was against him; ibid. 6. The
Ramshouth family occur again in 1333;
De Banco R. 294, m. 11; 297, m. 170.
Also in 1357; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R.
6, m. 1 (John de Ramsouth and Amice
Agnes daughter of Thomas de Bolton
demanded a messuage and lands in 1304
against Thomas de Calfholme; De Banco
R. 151, m, 174. Thomas de Calfholme
in 1311 claimed an acre against Cecily
widow of Jordan de Calfholme; ibid.
187, m. 66. William son of John Othewell claimed against Thomas de Bolton,
William son of John de Cartmel and
Olive his wife in 1331; Assize R. 1404,
m. 26 d. William son of James de
Bolton did not prosecute his claim against
Simon de Bolton and others in 1337;
ibid. 1424, m. 11 d. At the same
time Thomas son of William Willeson
made a claim for land in Bolton against
William and John sons of William de
Bolton, who stated that plaintiff's father,
William son of William son of Robert de
Bolton, had granted the land to them;
||This is shown indirectly in pleadings.
In 1246 Simon son of Michael and
Ralph son of Adam claimed 60 acres
against William de Lancaster; Assize R.
404, m. 13. See also the account of the
||Except 9½ acres in the king's hands.
John Franceys acquired land, &c, in
Cockshoots, Strikesfold and Whitlands
before 1321 from William son of Jordan
de Bolton and Simon son of Gilbert son
of Walter de Bolton and Adam son of
Agnes de Hatlex; Duchy of Lanc. Anct.
D. (P.R.O.), L H26, 676, 683, 1067.
||Dods. MSS. cxxxi, fol. 42b. A
number of other tenants are recorded:
William son of James, 2d.; William son
of Cecily, 4d.; Thomas de Ramshaw,
10d.; Roger the Smith, 10d.; John son
of Jordan, 10s. (? 10d.); John de Woodholme (of John Travers), 3d.; Adam son
of Maud (of John Travers and John
Franceys), 6d.; William de Hatlex (of
the same), 6d.; William son of William
(of John Travers), 2d.; Adam son of
Eda (of the same), 7d.; Simon son of
Gilbert (of the same), 4d.; Roger de
Calfholme (of the same), 6d. The sum
of the rents is given as 52s. 5d.
In 1330 John son of Roger the Smith
gave William son of John Franceys (this
John being a witness) his messuage and
all his land, meadow and turbary in Bolton,
also land which belonged to him through
the death of Alice widow of James de
Bolton, and the reversion of the dower of
Helen widow of Roger his father; Duchy
of Lanc. Anct. D. (P.R.O.), L 677.
William son of James de Bolton was
pardoned for his share in the death of
William de Kellet (1321) on account of
his having served in the wars in Scotland;
Coram Rege R. 298, Rex m. 10 d.
Surv. of 134.6 (Chet. Soc), 64, 74–
80. Many of the tenants are the same as
those of 1324 recorded above.
||Add. MS. 32103, fol. 151. The
other tenants here recorded seem to be
those of the earl's demesne land in Bolton.
They were William del Well, 16s. 8d.;
also for land formerly held by John le
Romeyn, Nicholas de Slene, 3s. 8d.;
Thomas Taylor, 6d.; Cecily Southworth,
5s.; John de Barton, 11s.; and for part
of the marsh Nicholas de Slene and others
||In 1350 Lambert son of Geoffrey de
Wyresdale was accused of the abduction
of Agnes daughter of John Franceys of
Bolton; Assize R. 443, m. 3 d. (From
the next note it appears that he married
her.) A little later a like complaint was
made against Robert and Thomas de
Washington; ibid. 434, m. 4. Then in
1353 Thomas son of Robert de Washington complained of disseisin by Agnes the
daughter of John Franceys; ibid. 435, m.
26. Robert Franceys in 1355 claimed a
debt from Agnes widow and executrix of
Robert de Washington; Duchy of Lanc.
Assize R. 4, m. 26 d.; 5, m. 8 d.
Another Robert de Washington made
several purchases in Bolton between 1375
and 1388, and Thomas de Calfholme
released his claim on a piece of meadow
in Wedholmemire abutting on the mill
dam; Duchy of Lanc. Anct. D. (P.R.O.),
L 669–73, 679. In 1401 an agreement
was made between Edmund son of Robert
de Washington on one side and John son
of Robert de Washington and Thomas de
Burgh on the other; ibid. 689. The
seal to this bears the Washington arms.
John son of Robert de Washington
obtained in 1405 a release of the lands of
James son of William son of Cecily de
Bolton; ibid. 1076.
||John Franceys in 1348 demised
certain of his lands, &c, to Edmund
Lawrence for life at the rent of a rose for
six years and then of 100s.; ibid. 685.
Agnes daughter of John Franceys married
Lambert de Wyresdale, and they quitclaimed to Edmund in 1366; ibid. 688.
The Lawrence family probably succeeded the Washingtons. In 1406 Simon
formerly servant of Robert de Washington
released all his claim to lands in Bolton
to Agnes widow of Edmund Lawrence;
ibid. 1077. In 1426 Sir Robert Lawrence
agreed to pay Maud Wyresdale of Bolton
10s. a year for her life for the fourth part
of the lordship of Bolton, with lands, &c.;
Robert Lawrence, who died in 1450,
had lands in Bolton held by a rent of 2d.;
Lancs. Ing. p.m. (Chet. Soc), ii, 56. His
son Sir James was in 1490 said to hold
the 'manor' by the same rent; ibid. 122,
132. The tenure is not the same as that
of Franceys; there were several rents of
2d. payable in 1346.
Lancelot Lawrence of Yealand Redmayne died in 1534 holding six messuages,
&c, of the king by knight's service;
Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 41.
This statement is repeated in later inquisitions.
||See the account of Scale in Skert n.
There is a reference to the Travers' holding in Cal. Pat. 1321–4, p. 367. See
also Final Conc. ii, 3.
||Nicholas Singleton had given his
lands in Slyne, Bolton, Hatlex and Threlfall to a certain Elizabeth Singleton for
her life; they descended to his grandson
Richard, who died in 1499, but the
tenure was not known; Duchy of Lanc.
Inq. p.m. iii, no. 52. Richard's grandson
Robert in 1525 held the same of the king
as of his duchy by a rent of 12d.; ibid,
vi, no. 64; x, no. 1.
Thomas Braithwaite in 1615 purchased
the manor of Bolton and Hatlex from
Thomas Singleton and Mary his wife;
Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 84, m. 19.
||Lawrence Starkie died in 1532
holding lands in Bolton, Slyne and
Hatlex, as also in many other places, but
the tenure is not recorded beyond being
of the king as duke by knight's service;
Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. ix, no. 21.
||One of Lawrence Starkie's daughters
married Humphrey Newton. Brian
Newton, possibly a relative, in 1592 sold
lands in Bolton Holmes, Hatlex and
Slyne to Robert Jervis.
Robert Jervis of Garstang died in 1617
holding a messuage, &c., in Slyne and free
rents of 14½. in Bolton of the king in
socage. His son James, twenty-six years
of age, succeeded; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), ii, 270. James
died in 1628, leaving a son Richard, only
eleven years old, who died in 1634.
The heir was Roger Rathmell, aged thirty,
son of Richard, son of Elizabeth, sister of
the above-named Robert Jervis; Duchy
of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxv, no. 21; xxviii,
James Jervis sold a messuage, &c., to
George Winder, who died in 1619
holding this and other purchases of the
king as duke by knight's service. His
heir was his sister Grace, wife of Richard
Jackson, of full age; Lancs. Inq. p.m.
(Rec. Soc.), ii, 191.
||In 1381 William de Bolton clerk
acquired a messuage from Thomas de
Birkhead and Aline his wife; Final Conc.
iii, n. Thomas Nelson and Agnes his
wife in 1462 purchased from Matthew
Bolton and Margaret his wife; ibid. 131.
It appears that Matthew Bolton had
settled at West Derby, and in 1465
Reginald son and heir of John Conder
released to Thomas Nelson of Caton all
his right in the said purchase at Woodholme; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 27, m. 11.
There are other traces of the family or
families of this name. Christopher
Bolton and Margaret his wife had lands
in Bolton and Bare about 1463; Final
Conc. iii, 133. Anne Hunt, kinswoman
and heir of William Bolton, appears to
have had this estate in 1506; ibid. 161.
||Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 64;
xi, no. 1. The tenure was by knight's
service. Lord Mounteagle still held an
estate in Bolton in 1597; Pal. of Lanc.
Feet of F. bdle. 58, m. 200.
||One John Croft held messuages in
Bolton of the king as duke by a rent of
16d.; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. viii,
no. 38. This was the rent paid by John
de Harrington in 1346. Again in 1554
Thomas Croft of Claughton purchased
the fourth part of three messuages, &c,
from John Harrington and Anne his
wife; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 1 5,
m. 62. They were ' held of the chief
lords there in socage,' according to the
inquisitions 5 Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m.
x, no. 28; xiii, no. 23. William Croft
in 1606 held of the king as duke by a
rent of 14d.; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec.
Soc), i, 50–56.
William Thompson of Claughton died
in 1566 holding messuages, &c., in Bolton
of the queen as of her duchy by the
fourth part of a knight's fee; Duchy of
Lanc. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 32. His son
Oliver sold a messuage to James
Thompson in 1570; Pal. of Lanc. Feet
of F. bdle. 32, m. 118. This may have
been the messuage held by William
Thompson in 1591, when he was
succeeded by a daughter Margaret, aged
twelve; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m.
xviii, no. 5.
||Orm son of William son of Simon
de Bolton granted an acre in the hamlet
of Serholme to William de Slene;
Towneley MS. HH, no. 366, 394. A
later William held 6 acres in 1346,
paying 6d. rent; Survey of 1346, p. 80.
William de Slene, who died in 1401, held
his land in Bolton of the Abbot of
Furness; Towneley MS. DD, no. 1507.
||Robert Brockholes in 1427 and
John Gardiner in 1440 had land in
Bolton; Final Conc, lii, 94, 105. In
1480 John Southworth held his land in
Bolton by 12d. rent; Lancs. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc), ii, 113. Later the Southworths were stated to hold in socage.
||The manors of Bolton- le-Moors
and Bolton-in-Furness were possessions
of the family, but Bolton-le-Sands does
not occur in the inquisitions and the
origin and tenure of the Derby manor
here are unknown. It may have been
merely an outlying part of the Nether
Kellet estate, or the Lawrence manor
||Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 65,
no. 43. See the account of Nether
Kellet. Among the purchasers' names
are William and Edmund Lodge and
Henry Chapman. One Mark Lodge
died in 1624 holding land of the king,
and leaving a son and heir Edward, aged
twenty-three; Towneley MS. C 8, 13
(Chet. Lib.), 746. Henry Chapman died
at Hatlex in 1637 holding a messuage of
the king; his son and heir Thomas was
over fifty; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m.
xxx, no. 3.
||Charters relating to Greveholme and
other Furness lands in the north-west of
the township have been cited above.
Adam de Greveholme gave the abbey his
lands there in 1242; Add. MS. 33244,
fol. 32. The same Adam gave land on
Ramshead in Bolton fields to Christiana
daughter of Henry the Dyer of Kirkby
in Kendal on her marriage; ibid. 35b.
His nephew Adam de Kellet confirmed
his gifts to Furness Abbey; ibid. Robert
de Boulton also gave a quitclaim; ibid. 36.
In Wedholme or Woodholme Adam
son of Gilbert de Bolton gave to Gervase
son of Simon land which extended to the
mill and mill stream of Bolton; ibid.
37. Gervase was afterwards a benefactor (ibid, 50b), and Ralph son of
Adam and Lawrence son of Walter also
gave the monks land in Wedholme;
ibid. 38. Land in Calfholme and Santhpool as far as the boundary of Serholme
was also given; ibid. 39b–43.
Gamel de Bolton gave land on Inglefa reck; Duchy of Lanc. Anct. D. (P.R.O.),
L410. Gilbert son of Gamel confirmed
this; Add. MS. 33244, fol. 54. Henry
son of Robert de Bolton and nephew of
Simon gave land under Hawkshead;
ibid. 54b. Other land under Hawkshead was given by Adam son of Gilbert
de Bolton to John son of Robert de
Scotforth; Towneley MS. HH, no. 301.
Orm son of Thore, with the consent of
Ralph his heir, gave the monks Rigrinmelsuthen, viz. that land lying between
these bounds: From Holme to Ullrefurthebeck, from the junction of this
beck and Betha to Fullsyke; Add. MS.
33244, fol. 56. The abbey had also lands
in Great and Little Hatlex (Hakelakes);
ibid. 58. Andrew de Hatlex and Hugh
his son had made a gift to the monks of
land in Ramshead field; ibid. 58b. There
are many other grants, and in some cases
the original charters have been preserved;
Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 172–3.
||The heading ' Here begin the charters
of Bolton by Beaumont' in Add. MS.
33244, fol. 50, covers miscellaneous
grants in various parts of the township,
but the first may refer to Cote; by it
Ralph son of Adam de Bolton gave to
Gervase the Clerk land on Keldbreck.
Adam son of Gilbert de Bolton also gave
land on Keldbreck lying near the bounds
between Slyne and Bolton; Duchy of
Lanc. Anct. D. (P.R.O.), L 406. The
position of Cote and the occurrence of
Strellas within it suggest that it had
been part of Halton (q.v.), but in that
case it should not have been within Bolton
In 1628 the manors of Beaumont and
Bolton, with the site of the grange and
messuages, lands, &c., in Beaumont,
Beaumont Cote, Bolton-le-Sands, Over
Kellet, Skerton, &c, lately belonging to
Furness Abbey were sold by the Crown
to Edward Ditchfield and others; Pat.
4 Chas. I, pt. xxxiv. This seems to be
the estate purchased by William Harrison
in 1643 from John (Bridgeman) Bishop
of Chester and others; Pal. of Lanc.
Feet of F. bdle. 140, no. 28. See the
account of Beaumont.
Some part of the Furness estate in
Bolton seems to have been granted to
Edward Gage and others in 1604; Pat.
2 Jas. I, pt. xix. It may have been this
which was purchased by Robert Cole, for
he was 'of Cote' in 1625, paying £10
in 1631 as a composition for refusing
knighthood; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and
Ches.), i, 221. Bishop Gastrell about
1717 found Beaumont Cote the only
ancient seat in the parish, it having
belonged to the Coles 'time out of
mind '; Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii,
||Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 88;
' Robert Cole, born in Somersetshire, a
clerk in the Duchy office in London,
seated himself at Cote,' and died in 1642.
His son Thomas was thirty-eight years
old in 1665, and had a son of the same
name aged fourteen.
||Thomas Cole of Cote died 12 Jan.
1691–2, aged sixty-five; his widow
Jane and son Edmund placed a monument in Bolton Church, recording his
praise as ' a good magistrate, a good
Christian and a good man.' Edmund the
son was high sheriff in 1707; P.R.O.
List, 74. Dorothy his daughter and heir
carried the Cote estate to her husband
Thomas Butler of Kirkland; Baines,
Lancs, (ed. 1836), iv, 471. The Cole
family had a large house in Lancaster,
now the Judges' Lodgings.
||See the accounts of those townships.
||The king granted to William Bolton
(for life) half a mill, 17 acres of land,
&c, in Bolton in Lonsdale in 1399;
Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xvi, 40.
There was a further grant to him in
1401; ibid, xv, 85. In 1553 William
Richardson and Agnes his wife had the
fourth part of a water mill there; Pal. of
Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 14, m. 25.
||The charters relating to Bolton are
numerous; see Lanc. Ch. i, 173–257.
Some of them have been cited already.
Helewise daughter of Adam son of Gilbert de Bolton gave land by the Overgate,
the road leading to Kellet. Thomas de
Coupmanwra acquired a considerable
estate in various parts of the township,
and this he granted to the Benedictines
of Lancaster, and in 1273 the alienation
was ratified by Edmund son of Henry III.
Joan daughter of Anabil daughter of
Christiana de Bolton claimed two messuages, &c, in Bolton against the Prior
of Lancaster; De Banco R. 141, m.
The priory estate passed to Syon Abbey
and then to Dalton of Thurnham; Duchy
of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 1.
||A toft was given by Adam son of
Gilbert de Bolton; Dep. Keeper's Rep.
xxxvi, App. 192. See also Lancs, and
Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.),
i, 90. The tenement in Bolton, Silverdale and Hest, formerly of Cartmel Priory,
was granted to Edward Lord Zouche and
others in 1605; Pat. 3 Jas. I, pt. xxii.
Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc.), iii,
916–20. The benefactors were Agnes
wife of Robert de Bolton, Serota daughter
of Roger de Bolton, Simon son of Siegrith
de Bolton, Robert son of Agnes de
Bolton, Thomas son of Adam de Bolton,
Thomas de Bolton and Siegrith his wife.
Inglebreck, Whitbreck, Keldbreck, under
Laurum by the church, Greythwaite and
Smithwithlands occur in the descriptions.
||James Marshall of Wiswell and
Preston died in 1483 holding lands in
Bolton, Slyne, Skerton, Torrisholme and
' Daccre ' of the king as duke by a service
of 8d. for castle ward; Lancs. Inq. p.m.
(Chet. Soc), ii, 119.
||In 1445 the three daughters of
Thomas Burgh had a dispute concerning
shares of land in Bolton, Scotforth and
Gressingham. They were (on one side)
Margaret wife of William Peirson, Juliana
wife of Thomas Hyne and (on the
other) Joan wife of Hugh Chaffer,
Thomas Chaffer being joined with the
last-named; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 8, m.
32 b. Judgement wag given for the
Chaffers. In 1484 Richard Gardiner
gave a messuage in Bolton to Thomas
Chaffer, chaplain, with remainder to John
Chaffer and Margaret his wife; Towneley
MS. HH, no. 351. Somewhat later
(temp. Hen. VII) John Chaffer (son of
Hugh son of Thomas son of Alice
daughter of Thomas Burgh) complained
that John Dockwray of Kendal was withholding deeds; Early Chan. Proc. bdle.
194, no. 32; see also bdle. 216, no. 69.
John Chaffer died in 1505 holding three
messuages, land, &c, in Bolton, partly of
the king as duke by 15d. rent and partly
of the Abbot of Furness by 3s. rent. The
heir was his son Thomas, under two
years old; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v,
||Thomas Bradley of Silverdale held
land in Bolton of the queen as of her
duchy by knight's service in 1586; ibid.
xiv, no. 51.
Thomas Jenkinson in 1624 held a
messuage, &c, by a similar tenure.
Richard his son and heir was forty years
of age; Towneley MS. C 8,13 (Chet. Lib.),
George Yates died in 1631 holding his
messuage in socage; his son George, aged
twenty-two in 1641, was heir; Duchy of
Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxix, no. 79.
Randle Hawes died in 1634, and was
succeeded by his son Thomas, aged thirtyeight; and Thomas Toulmin died in
1638, leaving a son John, aged eighteen.
Their tenements were held of the king as
duke; Towneley MS. C 8, 13, p. 518,
||William Stout in 1590 purchased
land in Holmes by the Sands from Thomas
Southworth and Anne his wife; Pal. of
Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 52, m. 142.
Leonard Stout died in August 1638
holding a messuage in Bolton Holmes of
the king, and leaving a son and heir
William, aged ten years; Duchy of Lanc.
Inq. p.m. xxx, no. 84. His will was
proved at Richmond.
||Printed by John Harland in 1851,
with portrait. The father's name is not
given, but he appears to have been the
above-named William Stout, whose will
was proved at Richmond; if so, the dates
on page 1 of the Autobiog. must be
||At the same time a corresponding
marsh was formed south and west of
Cartmel; ibid. 6.
||Ibid. 5; it was bought from Francis
Ashton of Hest. In 1850 Hatlex House
was owned by Mrs. Alice Hall, and had
in it a piece of carved oak furniture with
l. s. 1693 upon it, probably the initials of
Leonard Stout, brother of William.
||John Stout, owner of Bolton Holmes,
died at Lancaster in 1846; the estate was
sold soon afterwards. In 1868 it was
purchased by Heysham's charity trustees,
||Estcourt and Payne, Engl. Cath.
End. Char. Rep. 1899. The molecatcher's wages were at one time paid
from the rent. It appears that no lordship of the manor was known in 1829.
Liverpool Cath. Annual, 1889, p. 83.
Cal. S. P. Dom. 1672, pp. 10,42, 43. | <urn:uuid:dbaf2252-7236-4046-8e8d-979b1fc1b406> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53282 | 2013-05-25T19:49:05Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900571 | 8,580 |
Return to Transcripts main page
EARLY START WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD AND ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN
Super Giants!; Halftime "Salute"; U.S. Looks To Rally "Friends of Syria"; Syrian Forces Clash With Opposition; Komen Reversal on Planned Parenthood; Detroit Automakers Come Back; Obama: "I Deserve a Second Term"; Testing Viewer Response to Super Bowl Ads
Aired February 6, 2012 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Zoraida Sambolin. We are giving you the news from A to Z. It is 6:00 a.m. in the east. So let's get started here.
It is a super celebration for the New York Giants and their fans. The Giants beat the Patriots, 21-17. The nail biter Super Bowl XLVI, their second Super Bowl victory over New England in four years.
BANFIELD: President Obama speaking just before the Super Bowl in a sit-down, the annual sit-down, saying to Matt Lauer of NBC, I deserve four more years in office, as the economy is headed in the right direction. And says, you know what? Let's not stop the progress.
SAMBOLIN: Syrian security forces shelling the city of Homs again. Activists say at least 30 people were killed today.
BANFIELD: Also, the nation's leading breast cancer research organization, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, reversing that decision to end the grant that it gives to Planned Parenthood for the breast exams.
But you know what? That did not end this conversation and it did not end this controversy. We will let you know what's up now.
We begin, however, with what they like to say, deja blue, the New York Giants beating the New England Patriots, 21-17, Super Bowl XLVI.
SAMBOLIN: The Giant's quarterback Eli Manning there named to be MVP. You know, they're going to have a ticker tape parade here in New York City on Tuesday.
Mark McKay is live in Indianapolis. You were there with that nail-biter. How was it?
MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, Zoraida, I tell you what, these two teams, they have a knack for getting together, giving us fantastic games, whether it's in the regular season or in the grand stage of the Super Bowl.
They've done it again. Last night here at Lucas Oil Stadium, seemed that all the momentum was in the favor of the Giants in the first half. Toward the end of the first half toward the second half it went to Tom Brady and the Patriots' way.
But in the end, it was Eli Manning leading his team back to victory, second time in four years. The Giants are Super Bowl champions. Patriot fans feeling blue. Eli Manning on top of the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELI MANNING, SUPER BOWL MVP: This isn't about one person. This is about a whole team coming together, getting this win. So I'm just proud of our guys, proud of the team, the way we fought all year. Never got discouraged. Kept our faith, kept our confidence and fought to the very end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKAY: What a fight it was for the Giants all season long, just getting into the playoffs. They beat New England back in November, lost four in a row, came back.
What a roller coaster ride it was for the Giants this season, guys. But they're on the top of that roller coaster this morning, aren't they?
SAMBOLIN: Well, here we have Mr. Eli Manning, toast of the town here.
BANFIELD: "New York Post" and "Daily News," big surprise.
SAMBOLIN: You know, I was saying that he was kind of low key. I wanted to see a little bit more excitement coming from him. Folks here in New York, Mark, say, if this wins us Super Bowls, we're good with it.
BANFIELD: You in the cover of the "Times."
SAMBOLIN: How about the halftime show? You were there. What did you think? Did you give her a thumbs up or thumbs down to Madonna? She's getting mixed reviews this morning?
MCKAY: Well, I tell you what. If you were inside, it was an incredible show just because of the lights and dancing and the music. She's touching on old, new. You want be one of the 68,000 inside Lucas Oil Stadium and you really had a good time.
The crowd was really into it. They each had a tiny flashlight that lit up during "Like A Prayer" and everybody was into it. So if you're inside Lucas Oil Stadium, you enjoyed the show, you know, let the reviewers say what they want to say outside. Those are inside had a great time.
SAMBOLIN: You had a good time. Well, thank you so much. We appreciate that report.
BANFIELD: I want to get you to some breaking news now. There's absolutely no end to the bloodshed in Syria this morning. We have live pictures now in Syria. The violent crackdown continuing overnight in that beleaguered city of Homs.
There's been heavy shelling reported, shelling, not just armed fires, not just snipers, now all out shelling. The opposition says at least 30 people have been killed.
The United States calling on, quote, friends of Syria to unite and do what the United Nations didn't or couldn't do that is isolate and remove Syrian President Al-Assad with some kind of a U.N. resolution.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying she's just outraged by all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty. Those countries that refused to support the Arab league plan bear full responsibility for protecting the brutal regime in Damascus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Travesty she's saying because essentially China and Russia vetoed the whole idea of the resolution from the United Nations. So live from Providence, Rhode Island, this morning is Ambassador Nicholas Burns.
He's the former U.S. ambassador to NATO and the former undersecretary for Political Affairs. Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
First question to you, what now? Is it up to the Arab League? Is it up to, as Mrs. Clinton says, the neighbors to somehow exert some pressure on Assad to stop this and perhaps step down?
AMBASSADOR NICHOLAS BURNS, SERVED AS U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, Secretary of State Clinton is right to call this a travesty. This is the worst violence we've seen in the Arab world since the Arab revolutions, the Arab spring began over a year ago.
The Assad government has literally gone to war against its own people and I think the U.S. now is going to have to work outside the Security Council because of the cynical --
BANFIELD: How, what do you mean by that? What do you mean outside? What does that mean exactly?
BURNS: And to work with Turkey and to work with Arab countries that are opposed to what the Syrian regime is doing to try to isolate that government further, perhaps some new sanctions.
It would have been far preferable to work with the Security Council, but Russia and China have shown that they are not capable of joining anyone else in rejecting this violence and providing any kind of responsible actions themselves.
So I think the cynicism of the Russians and Chinese is really quite striking here.
BANFIELD: Well, although -- I think if you look back, and I know you know your history, you worked it and lived it, this happens all the time in China and Russia. They veto a lot of things.
So I'm not sure that too many people were surprised, even despite the level of violence in Syria. And then to that end, what really would this resolution have done anyway? It was kind of toothless and resolutions seem to have very little effect anyway in this part of the world.
BURNS: Well, Russia and China deserve the criticism because they appear to stand for nothing, but their own self interest in the world. This resolution actually expresses the will of the entire Arab League.
The Arab League represents the Arab world and has the support of Europe. It had the support of Asian countries. It was 13 countries voting against two countries. So it did reflect the will of the international community.
It would have provided for a national unity government. It would have provided for Assad's resignation. So it would have been a step forward a way to respond to this extraordinary and brutal violence of the Syrian government inflicting on its own people.
Now, I think the action will go towards Turkey because Turkey is harboring the incipient rebel army. It will force the Arab countries to go outside the Security Council and I think we're going to see unfortunately more violence, more bloodshed because of this action over the weekend by the Russians and Chinese.
BANFIELD: Ambassador, I'm still curious though when you say forcing us, forcing the other Arab nation, forcing the other Arab league to, go quote, "outside the Security Council," do you mean with further sanctions or do you mean with military force?
BURNS: I think the United States will avoid quite rightly any kind of U.S. military intervention. We will not see that. We will see Turkey and the other Arab countries decide they have to both increase their support to the opposition in Syria and try to find ways to enact further sanctions to isolate the Assad regime. He is a pariah, President Assad, and he is now responsible for the worst human rights violation seen anywhere in the world this year.
BANFIELD: He's a pariah except for in places like Iran and Iraq and Lebanon. We all know why Lebanon. But I suppose the question is really, this and I'll make it quick. I've met Bashar Al-Assad. I sat in a room with him, seems quite nice, but can we really negotiate with this man or does this have to be a heavy-handed response?
BURNS: I don't anyone believes we can negotiate with him any longer after a year of violence by the Syrian government. You have right now, you know, at least, the elements of a civil war forming, unfortunately.
So I think Syria is going to descend into further chaos. The United States has done what it can do. I think as Secretary Clinton is right to say the Arab world now needs to really think about what it can do to weaken the Assad regime further.
But we simply can't sit by and not criticize this government. He deserves all the criticism he's getting.
BANFIELD: Ambassador Burns, thank you. Appreciate your perspective on it this morning.
BURNS: Thank you.
SAMBOLIN: It's 9 minutes past the hour. Ahead on EARLY START, two dead, dozens injured in a three-story building collapse in Pakistan. Rescue workers are scrambling to save over 30 people trapped underneath all of that.
BANFIELD: And also, a virus outbreak on a cruise. I know you've heard it before. This time it's 200 passengers sick. How does this happen and why does it keep happening so many times?
SAMBOLIN: And the cancer charity, Susan G. Komen still dealing with a lot of fallout after reversing its decision to defund Planned Parenthood. Who are Komen staffers blaming for the decision now? You're going to find out straight ahead.
BANFIELD: First, though, a quick check on our travel weather forecast. The man to do it, Mr. Rob Marciano.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. Mild day yesterday in Atlanta. I know you will celebrate it next year. Take a look at this picture of the parade route down Peachtree for National Weatherman's day. How the crowd was building around 2:00 p.m.
It was an insane scene. One person showed up. Yes, of course it wasn't a parade, but it was 70 degrees in Atlanta. If that wasn't cookie enough, the National Hurricane Center is watching this item, might develop into something, but regardless of that, it doesn't look too impressive this morning.
Some rain across parts of South Florida. Elsewhere, it's pretty quiet today. Mild temperatures continue, but some wind in New York and Boston and some fog in Chicago and Minneapolis and St. Louis if you are traveling to those cities.
Elsewhere, we continue our very mild winter, 40s in Chicago and lower 50s in New York. That's a quick check of weather. EARLY START is coming right back.
BANFIELD: Yes. This is the story that doesn't seem to want to go away.
We've got some new details this morning about that very public fight between Susan G. Komen's Foundation for the Cure and Planned Parenthood, nation's leading Breast Cancer Research Organization. If you will remember, last week reverse that controversial decision to end its money grants to Planned Parenthood.
SAMBOLIN: So today, the Huffington Post says it saw -- saw e- mails approved Komen's Vice President for Public Policy Karen Handel, there's a picture of her, was behind that decision. Several online petitions are calling for Handel's removal now. And one on the website, CREDO Action, has more than 25,000 signatures.
This is how the petition reads. Quote, "Komen may have apologized but they still need to clean house, starting with the person who drove this atrocious decision. If Komen wishes to rehabilitate its devastated reputation, and gain back trust, Handel needs to be fired."
Laura Bassett, political reporter from the Huffington Post spoke to the source and she is joining us now. Thank you for being with this morning.
LAURA BASSETT, POLITICAL REPORTER, HUFFINGTON POST: Thanks for having me.
SAMBOLIN: There's a lot of speculation about this. A lot of politics are involved here. We want to know who the source is. And how do you know this person does not necessarily have an ax to grind with this particular person?
BASSETT: The reason I know that is because I actually saw some e-mails between the leadership that happened on the day that the Planned Parenthood decision was announced. So I have proof that the person was telling the truth.
There's no ax to grind. Unfortunately this is a case of Komen lying to the public about their intentions and people are furious about it.
SAMBOLIN: And you saw these e-mails. We have not been able to see them. What specifically does it say? What is so damning?
BASSETT: Basically it just shows that Karen Handel, who was recently hired as the Vice President of Public Affairs for Komen, is handling and driving the decision behind defunding Planned Parenthood and also driving the PR effort to sort of clean up what happened and to pretend like it wasn't about politics.
The e-mails show that despite the fact that everyone at Komen is claiming that -- that Karen Handel had nothing to do with it. In fact, she had everything to do with it and she was the sole creator of the strategy.
SAMBOLIN: Now, Susan G. Komen has a board. It seems really unusual that one person could make a decision like this that -- that could affect this organization so much. Was the board in support of the organization -- of the decision?
BASSETT: The board did have to sign off on the decision. And I spoke with one member of the board on Friday who said that he takes full blame for the board signing off on it and Karen, while she -- while she wrote the criteria, she did have to pass it through leadership and then through the board.
So this was, you know, this was a combined effort to get this passed, but she was the one who wrote the rules in the first place.
SAMBOLIN: Do you think Karen Handel is going to lose her job over this?
BASSETT: I do. I think there's a lot of internal pressure as well as external pressure for her to resign. If she doesn't resign I have a feeling that she'll be forcibly ousted. It doesn't seem like anybody is a big fan of her right now.
SAMBOLIN: You know, I saw a piece online, I believe it was an Op-Ed piece, that was saying that now the Susan G. Komen Foundation is going to be looked at with more scrutiny, right? And one of the examples that was given was Komen gave $7.5 million to Penn State's Medical Center and, you know, one of the reasons why Planned Parenthood lost their funding was because no organization that was under federal investigation could actually receive any funds.
So do you think that Susan G. Komen is going to be under more scrutiny now or do you think that if this woman gets fired that this will -- this will make folks happy with that decision?
BASSETT: This is not going to blow over any time soon, even if Karen Handel leaves. I think what people are most upset about, aside from the actual defunding of Planned Parenthood, they're upset about being lied to. And they were lied to multiple times last week by Komen's PR Department unfortunately and by Nancy Brinker, herself, went on "Andrea Mitchell" Friday and bold-faced lie.
So I think that they're going to have to operate with more transparency going forward and they're going to have to apologize to the public for not being straightforward.
SAMBOLIN: All right, Laura Bassett, Political Reporter for the Huffington Post. Thank you for joining us.
And I just wanted to mention that we did call the Komen Foundation for a response. They have not returned our phone calls.
It is 16 minutes past the hour. It's time to check the stories that are making news this morning.
The New York Giants came from behind in the last minute in a nail biter to beat the New England patriots, 21 to 17. That was the Super Bowl XLVI. The Ticker Tape Parade is scheduled for tomorrow for the Giants here in New York City's Canyon of Heroes.
Explosion levels a factory building in Lahore, Pakistan. At least two people were killed, 13 others rescued. While you're looking at those pictures there, dozens of people may still be trapped inside.
BANFIELD: The State Department says it is deeply concerned about Egypt's plan to put 19 Americans on trial, including the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Military leadership in that country is cracking down on non-profit organizations and actually accusing those NGOs of helping stir up the political unrest in Egypt.
And also, former Panamanian Dictator Manual Noriega, remember that name? He's been hospitalized apparently after suffering a stroke. Seventy-seven years old. He's been transferred from his prison cell in Panama City where he's serving time for crimes committed during his rule. That man has been in a prison cell for decades in a couple of countries now because of his crimes.
SAMBOLIN: And ahead on EARLY START, President Obama says the economy is recovering and that he actually deserves a second term. We're going to let our panelists weigh in on that.
BANFIELD: And General Motors' remarkable turn around. Bailout to billions and it only took three years. So now GM is setting its sites even higher. How high and why?
You're watching EARLY START.
BANFIELD: The Eagles. Oh, Don Henley. I don't know why I've always had such a crush on him, but --
SAMBOLIN: News, news, news.
BANFIELD: Yes, I know, but -- the news -- sorry.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: We're dating ourselves when we love The Eagles.
BANFIELD: Yes. That's really embarrassing. "Hotel California" is also one of the best albums ever.
SAMBOLIN: Ashleigh, news.
BANFIELD: OK. The big three automakers, life in the fast lane, in Detroit making a big comeback, from car sales, earnings, to last night's Super Bowl ads.
Christine Romans is here with us to sort of bring the business angle. SAMBOLIN: Oh, we're talking about Wall Street and bailouts, right? They're reporting that General Motors wants to make $10 billion a year but what about the $50 billion in the bailout?
BANFIELD: I know.
SAMBOLIN: That was a good question this morning. How much do they get?
ROMANS: I know. They got $49.9 billion. I mean, look, GM was going to go down the tubes, right? The government made a decision to step in and funnel tens of billions of dollars to this company, so that it wouldn't go out of business. So that the auto workers who work there, all the companies that supply Detroit, wouldn't go out of business.
And now, you've got front page of the "Wall Street Journal," a story about how GM is targeting $10 billion in profit. That was almost unthinkable three years ago when this was a company on its heels (INAUDIBLE) ushered through bankruptcy. Took a bunch of our money and now has come out the other side.
I'm going to tell you something, some people are outraged by this. Others are saying this shows this shows that the bailout worked. Now, one of the things that's interesting, too.
SAMBOLIN: So many didn't, right? So then this --
SAMBOLIN: Actually we see --
ROMANS: Well, I mean, we caught -- bailouts being bailout. I mean, it will cost us a lot of money.
ROMANS: I mean, in the end, the American taxpayer, we gave them money so they could turn around and make $10 billion a year. But this company is hiring -- hiring 13,000 workers. It's re-opening a plant in Tennessee. And all of the automakers quite frankly are pretty resurgent.
Ford -- one thing about GM is it doesn't have to pay taxes for years as part of its bailout, which is something that I mean, I think if you were Ford which didn't take a bailout, you would be like, hmmm.
And another thing about --
BANFIELD: Gee, you know what? The head of Ford should not run for president because that's going to come back to bite him.
Hey, why should the average guy out there if he's feeling really angry about that, why should he maybe not feel so angry about that?
ROMANS: Well, I mean, this was -- whether you believe in bailouts or not, they happened. And would you be more angry if you bailed them out and they failed and then there was all the money down the tube?
ROMANS: Or would you be less angry if you bail them out and they were actually turning a profit and looking at the good old days of the '60s and '95 when they're making $10 billion.
I want to quickly, though, show you -- and I know they're telling me to wrap but I want to show you if we can the Silverado ad just this -- this whole Ford, GM spat from last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn't drive the longest lasting, most defendable truck on the road. They drove a Ford.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Ford didn't want
SAMBOLIN: Chevy post apocalypse, we should say.
ROMANS: Yes. Ford didn't want Chevy to do that, but they did anyway. And that just show you kind of a resurgence, a funky, a feisty -- a feisty Detroit.
You know, of course, I mean, I don't think we have time to run it but that Clint Eastwood --
BANFIELD: I loved it.
ROMANS: Chrysler, they say, no, we don't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't have time to run it.
ROMANS: That -- that was -- to me, that shows a resurgence in Detroit. I mean, that shows, you know, the auto industry, American halftime, you know, don't count us out. That was pretty cool.
BANFIELD: Let me tell you when that commercial was airing, I literally was standing in front of my television like this, holding my heart.
ROMANS: I know.
BANFIELD: It was --
SAMBOLIN: -- that you want to hear, right?
ROMANS: I mean, you want to be -- yes, thank you. SAMBOLIN: Thank you, Christine.
BANFIELD: Thanks, Christine. Thanks.
Still ahead on EARLY START, does Obama deserve another term? He says he does. What do you think and what does our political panel think?
SAMBOLIN: And we have best and worst Super Bowl ads. Listen to this, folks. There is a scientific way to measure facial coding. We have the geeky person here to tell us all about it.
You are watching EARLY START.
BANFIELD: And geek a good.
SAMBOLIN: Oh, this is a very good geek, yes.
SAMBOLIN: It is 30 minutes past the hour. Time to check the stories making news this morning.
Syrian forces continuing their shelling of the city of Homs. The violence coming on the heels of Russia and China rejecting a U.N. resolution to isolate and oust President Bashar al-Assad.
An appeal hearing in Florence, Italy, this morning will determine whether the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship will remain under house arrest, be jailed, or go free. The decision is expected later this week.
Two Ft. Lauderdale-based Princess Cruise ships are now cleaned and they are returning to sea after nearly 500 cases of norovirus were reported. The CDC is still trying to determine the source.
BANFIELD: President Obama sounding pretty darn confident pre-Super Bowl and it had nothing to do with football.
SAMBOLIN: He deserves a second term.
BANFIELD: Saying he deserves. Yes. I mean, those are the words he used. This is that annual interview he does before the big game. He gave it to Matt Lauer of the "Today" show and basically said the economy is doing well, the jobs report just out on Friday, so says he wants to finish what he started.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I deserve a second term but we're not done. We created 3.7 million jobs over the last 23 months. We've created the most jobs since 2005, the most manufacturing jobs since 1990. But we're not finished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: But we're not finished, he says.
And live from Washington, our Democratic strategist Jamie Harrison joins us, as well as CNN's political editor Paul Steinhauser. And then, from Chicago, conservative commentator Lenny McAllister.
Let me start with what you knew there was going to be response fast and furious right away to that "I deserve" comment. So, let's start with Mitt Romney and how he responded to that. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MTIT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not so fast, Mr. President. This is the 36th straight month with unemployment above the red line your own administration drew. And if you take into account all the people who are struggling for work or just stopped looking, the real unemployment rate is over 15 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: You know what's amazing is that Mitt Romney actually said that before the president's comments actually came out on Super Bowl Sunday.
But you can bet your bottom dollar that this is kind of where the stump is going to go.
Lenny, you know, everybody thought the numbers sounded so good on Friday, and then came the reality check. So where will the reality checks be in terms of how the Republicans see it?
LENNY MCALLISTER, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Well, the reality checks start with this, 63.7 percent. That's the lowest percentage of participation the American job market in 30 years. That includes the height of the recession.
So how can we celebrate the unemployment rate going down when participation has gone down as well? To me, that means people are falling out of the job market once again. Same thing with the African-American unemployment rate going down from 15 percent to 13 percent in one month.
When you have participation going down, that doesn't mean that people are getting back to work. That means a people are giving up hope. And when you put those numbers together and the CBO coming out and saying that unemployment is going to rise over the next 12 months, possibly going back over 9 percent, this doesn't look good at all for the president regardless of how we try to spin it to Matt Lauer yesterday.
BANFIELD: Although I just assumed there would be talk of lagging indicators as well. But who knows? I'm not the one strategizing these campaigns.
Let me turn to the Super Bowl because 'tis the season. Christine Romans brought up this great ad with Clint Eastwood that just sounded so American and so patriotic that talked about the economy. For a minute there I thought it was a political ad until I learned it wasn't.
Let's have a look at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: It's halftime in America, too. People are out of work and they're hurting. They're all wondering what they're going to do to make a comeback. And we're all scared because this isn't a game.
The people of Detroit know a little something about this. They almost lost everything. But we all pulled together. Now, Motor City is fighting again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: You know, I love Clint Eastwood for so many reasons. And now, I just love him all over again for that ad. Then I was left scratching my head.
Jamie, I want you to weigh in on this one. At first, I thought it sounded like an ad for the Democrats. And then I started to think, oh, no, no, no, this is something the Republicans can seize on.
And then I started to wonder, what affiliation is Clint Eastwood? And I had to look it up. And there's a reason I had to look it up because he's been all over the map. He supported John McCain. He supported Gray Davis in California.
Do you think there was a deeper message here or am I just reading in to things?
JAMIE HARRISON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, I think the message is that America's back, that manufacturing in the country is improving and, you know, the heartbeat of America is back. And so I think that's the under-riding message in all of it. And I think that's the message that President Obama and the Democrats will be echoing all this fall.
BANFIELD: I love how you say America is back, glass half full if you're answering a question like that. But I'm sure if I asked Lenny, he would say the glass is half empty.
By the way, Paul Steinhauser, I want you to jump in on this. I saw some stats out in the "Washington Post" and ABC have a new poll out on a national head-to-head matching between Romney and Obama, and Newt and Obama. And it's kind of surprising. The numbers show that Obama would win over Mitt Romney 52-45. Over Gingrich, he'd win 54- 43.
But you have other numbers that are more telling. Why?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, take a look at that poll and you break it down just among independent voters, not Democrats, not Republicans. You know, the indies who are the ones who usually, you know, sway elections.
Look at this. And what a change. The president and Mitt Romney right now basically all dead even among independents. But look three weeks ago, Romney's lead among independent voters has disappeared.
I guess two things here. One maybe the negative campaign on the Republican side. It has gotten a little uglier and that maybe turning off independents. The other thing, the economy as well. This poll is conducted half before and half after those unemployment numbers came out on Friday.
But, you know, the unemployment rate coming down a little bit and a little bit each month seems to be helping President Obama.
One other number from that poll that you play that sound of the president saying he deserves another term -- well, the poll asks that: does President Barack Obama deserve to be reelected and have another term in the White House? And it was dead even, 49 yes, 49 no -- Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Whoa. So, it's going to be a nail biter.
All right. Jamie, Paul, Lenny, thanks so much, guys.
SAMBOLIN: Thirty-seven minutes past the hour.
Still ahead on EARLY START: A different look at Super Bowl ads. How do people respond emotionally to them? We're going to find out.
You're watching EARLY START.
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back to EARLY START.
The Super Bowl is not only the year's biggest sporting event, or it is also the biggest advertising event. Three-point-five million dollars spent for 30 seconds. Advertisers went all out to connect with viewers.
How did they do?
Our next guest tested emotional response of dozen of students, using a technique called facial coding.
Dan Hill is the president of Sensory Logic and he is joining us from Indianapolis.
We've been excited about this interview all morning long because we want to know how this works. So, we know that you had college students that you tested. They watched six Super Bowl commercials on Sunday night, three car ads, three dotcom ads.
This facial coding technique, could you explain how it works?
DAN HILL, PRESIDENT, SENSORY LOGIC: Sure.
Facial coding originated with Charles Darwin, the first scientist to take emotions seriously. Darwin realized that in your face, you best reflect and communicate your emotions. That's universal, that's hard wired into the brain. And because the face is the only place in the body with a muscles attached right to the skin.
So, in this test, we programmed the computers so that we're remotely capturing the students' facial expressions as they see the commercials and then the miracles of technology, the video file stream automatically back to our server so we can capture and quantify the emotional response of the students to these $3.5 million ads.
SAMBOLIN: How cool and geeky is that? Why college students and maybe somebody like me, a mom who spends a lot of money?
HILL: We thought this was the target audience they're trying to get the brand loyalty to going forward over the years. It's very common for advertisers to focus on this demographic. So, we took students both at Emerson College in Boston and the University of Northern Kentucky.
So we had some geographical diversity as well.
SAMBOLIN: OK. So you said Chevy's happy grad did the best. We're going to watch it and then you'll explain it to me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm blindfold, mom, really? Is this necessary?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy graduation, sweetie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah! Ah! Whoa! I can't believe you got me this car!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: I watched it this morning. I bet if I was one with the facial recognition, you would have really liked the results. Why did this one do so well?
HILL: First of all, it engaged the students. If your emotions turn on, it's fabulous for advertisers because emotion and motivation have the same root word in Latin, to move, to make something happen. You want to drive purchase behavior so you've got to get them emotionally engaged. It did that fabulously.
The other thing it did was deliver top-level happiness. When you're really happy, the muscle around the eye relaxes, that's why you get the twinkle in the eye, the lower eyebrow kind of lowers a little bit. It delivered a lot of top-level happiness. So, it's a fabulous ad. And that's important because most advertising is not so effective.
The old joke half my advertising dollars wasted but I don't know which half, we have found in the same careful study, found like 10 percent of advertising really effective.
SAMBOLIN: Listen, you got me twinkling.
HILL: My average grade in this is C plus.
SAMBOLIN: You got me twinkling. I want to get through this. I want to get through a lot of them.
SAMBOLIN: So the next one that we have is an Audi run, or an ad, it's called vampire party. Let's take a look.
HILL: Exactly. OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Party's arrived.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: You said attention grabbing but that it wasn't necessarily positive. Can you explain that?
HILL: Yes, it did not bring it home. It was engaging, absolutely. But about two-thirds of emotions for this commercial were negative.
The students were often puzzled. Their eyebrows knit together and there was a fair amount of contempt as well, like these are my friends and you're blowing them up? It just didn't make sense to the students. They didn't come home with it.
SAMBOLIN: OK. So dotcom ads. Godaddy.com did not fare well at all. Why is that?
HILL: Well, TV is a visual media. What do they do in the first Go Daddy ad? They're writing on the woman's body. So, that turned some people off certainly, but it just wasn't compelling TV viewing.
And so, people hardly emotive at all for this commercial.
SAMBOLIN: Yes, I wasn't crazy about that.
OK. Cars.com did much better. We're going to listen a bit and you can tell me why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Hey baby I want that car, hey baby I really want that car --
That's my confidence. It's been coming out on me ever since I won on cars.com.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: I thought it was creepy. How about the students? How did they feel about it?
HILL: It was a bit creepy. I can't say that it won them over emotionally like the Camaro ad did but it did engage them. I think the reason for that is now you have two heads and you have two faces. The part of the brain that reads faces is eight times more sensitive than the part of the brain that reads objects. We're always looking at faces to understand how other people feel. So, to that extent, it worked.
But overall, no, it also didn't bring it home successfully.
SAMBOLIN: Now, I would have had puzzled expression on my face. As you see, you know, that other head coming from behind, the back shot was really, really kind of weird.
I got to ask you this because I put this out on Facebook. My first reaction was, this is your job?
Somebody on Facebook also wants to know, this is your job? This is what you do for a living?
HILL: It is absolutely. We do it for blue chip clients week in, week out. And the truth is that focus groups and traditional ad copy doesn't really cut it.
As I was saying earlier, most advertising is not as effective as it could be. The key here is not just to be on-message, it's to be on-emotion, to create the right emotion at the right time.
We need to move from talking points to feeling points. As Mick Jagger said, I don't need more useless information, I want satisfaction. And satisfaction is emotional.
SAMBOLIN: Well said here. Dan Hill, president of Sensory Logic, thank you for joining us.
BANFIELD: I love the vampire ad.
SAMBOLIN: I thought it was so creepy.
BANFIELD: Did you really?
SAMBOLIN: Totally, yes.
BANFIELD: The last part when we walked in front of his own headlights and goes poof.
SAMBOLIN: The blowing up.
BANFIELD: Maybe I'm crazy. I loved it.
Soledad O'Brien is now here with a -- first of all, I know this is a tease but look ahead. But were you watching all these ads?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, HOST, "STARTING POINT": I was. And you know what? I don't like the vampire one at all, but I like the one with the guy's head saying hey --
BANFIELD: I thought that was creepy.
SAMBOLIN: Did you see it from behind though? It's kind of weird coming out of his body.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it's cool. I like it. I like it.
And you know what? Cars.com, it stuck. I like that.
BANFIELD: That was what was most important.
O'BRIEN: But that's not what we're talking about this morning. First, we're going to talk about Syria, the U.N. Security Council resolution has failed and that's because Russia and China have vetoed it. We're going to talk this morning to the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, about what the next steps could be.
Also this morning, President Obama says he deserves four more years. We will chat with the Republican legislator who represents the great state of Texas, of course, about whether he thinks that's true.
And we'll talk to Steve Perry. He'll join us to talk about education in the wake of Claremont McKenna College pretty much making up their SAT scores. We'll discuss exactly how wide spread that is and what it all means.
That's ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, which begins in just 12 minutes.
EARLY START is back right after this short break. Stay with us.
BANFIELD: Oh that beautiful New York skyline. And if you look at the Empire State Building, you can see visions of blue. Ah, for propinquity the Giants that this city has and this Empire State Building has. Congratulations, Giants.
My kids are dying over this because at 4 and 6 years old when they barely know how to speak, they're Patriots fans.
SAMBOLIN: How is that?
BANFIELD: You know, we lived in Connecticut. I think they're only Patriot fans because they have friends in first grade and preschool classes who are fans. I don't think they know anything else about football, though.
SAMBOLIN: All right. I like to se that all lit up in blue. That was very nice.
SAMBOLIN: Fifty-two minutes past the hour. Time to check the stories making news this morning.
Authorities in Washington state say Josh Powell, a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife two years ago, blew up his home yesterday, killing himself and his beautiful two young sons. Memorial vigils are scheduled today at elementary schools for those two boys.
U.S. officials are deeply concerned that 19 Americans could face criminal trial in Egypt as part of the crackdown on the foreign financing of non-profit groups.
And insiders at Susan G. Komen blame the cancer charity's vice president, Karen Handel, for the decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood. Komen has since reversed that decision after facing a backlash.
BANFIELD: Animal rights group PETA is challenging Sea World in federal court today. PETA is claiming five whales are being held in slavery. And wait until you hear how they're challenging. They say this is a violation of the 13th Amendment regarding slavery -- very unusual challenge.
Also in the news, a 69-year-old grandmother in New York is releasing a tell-all book claiming she had a lengthy sexual affair with President John F. Kennedy. All of this back when she was just a 19-year-old White House intern. And the details are disgusting.
Virginia legislature is considering a so-called Tim Tebow bill that would permit home-schooled students to play sports at local high schools, like Tim Tebow was allowed to do in Florida.
And still ahead, did you se it? Madonna's half -- were you awake for that?
SAMBOLIN: I was not awake for that but I did watch it this morning.
BANFIELD: She watches everything on TiVo in the morning.
SAMBOLIN: I do.
BANFIELD: But look at --
SAMBOLIN: Or YouTube.
BANFIELD: I mean, say what you want about Madonna, but this production, it was incredible. Just incredible.
However, there was one little thing that you might not have scene because the cameras didn't catch it, that is the video cameras. But we have the still shot of what might be the malfunction of, say, an appendage.
You're watching EARLY START.
BANFIELD: Welcome back to EARLY START.
The good news, it was not a wardrobe malfunction. But the bad news, rapper M.I.A. on stage last night with Madonna off video cam but on still cam happened to just flip someone the bird, or as she likes to call it, flip them the G-6, that went out to the worldwide audience.
Hello. Who is that directed to?
SAMBOLIN: I don't know. But NBC and the NFL apologized, calling the gesture inappropriate and disappointing.
This is a family affair, friends. Madonna's halftime show generated 8,000 tweets a second.
BANFIELD: You know -- well, you don't know but you assume that M.I.A. was trying to get some buzz about who M.I.A. is, because when it's Madonna on stage, it's a little hard to get some attention.
SAMBOLIN: Well, she got a lot of attention.
BANFIELD: She's getting it now. I wonder how many of those tweets were about her.
SAMBOLIN: I don't know, 8,000.
BANFIELD: Should we take that upon ourselves after the show just to do some counting?
BANFIELD: Forget about it.
That is EARLY START.
SAMBOLIN: -- for us this morning.
BANFIELD: She's hating me right now for this.
I'm Ashleigh Banfield.
SAMBOLIN: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin.
"STARTING POINT" with Soledad O'Brien is right here.
O'BRIEN: Right here. Right now. Good morning.
BANFIELD: We will report those numbers back to you in a moment.
O'BRIEN: You let me know when we're ready for them. We'll stop down the show and go back to EARLY START and then we'll come back to "STARTING POINT". It's totally cool. We're flexible that way.
SAMBOLIN: OK. Thanks, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Good morning, ladies. Thank you. | <urn:uuid:5429c76d-3bc2-4335-9e2a-f0fcc950856b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1202/06/es.02.html | 2013-05-25T19:56:21Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968658 | 10,359 |
Community Calendar for April 13
Updated: May 20, 2012 8:16AM
Based upon space availability, The Review prints calendar announcements and items for columns, including campus news, newsmakers and others for local organizations and individuals. The deadline is 14 days before the desired publication date, however there is no guarantee for publication. Send releases and items of local interest to: Skokie Review or Lincolnwood Review, 3701 W. Lake Ave., Glenview IL 60026.
Skokie Chamber of Commerce will present the following programs.
Fifth Third Bank Presents Women in Business. Lord & Taylor will present: “Dressing for Success.” Join them and network with over 60 attendees. The event takes place noon - 1:30 p.m. April 25 at the Skokie Public Library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie. Cost is $12; includes lunch $15 for walk-in and non-members.
State of the Village takes place from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. April 26 at Evanston Golf Club, 4401 W. Dempster, Skokie. Cost: $35, before April 19 and $40, after April 20; $40, for non-members; and $265, for a table of eight.
The Second Annual Spring Greening Event & Expo takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 29 at Niles North High School (Field House), 9800 N. Lawler Ave., Skokie.
Lincolnwood Public Library, 4000 W. Pratt Ave., (847) 677-5277, www.lincolnwoodlibrary.org.
Beginning with Books meets on Wednesdays, through May 9. Stories, songs and activities geared for very young children and their caregivers. Participants are invited to stay for Playtime program following. Registration required. Contact the Youth Services Department at (847) 677-5277,Ext. 234 or [email protected].
Kid Flicks is held Mondays at 3:30 p.m. April 23: “Hop.”
Tween Reads will be held from 4-5 p.m. April 25. Read and chat at the book club. The April discussion features “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. Especially for sixth- through eighth-graders.
Playtime is held on Wednesdays, through May 9. A relaxed play experience that helps young children develop social skills. Toys and kosher snacks are provided.
Poet-Tree runs through April 30 during library hours. April is Poetry Month and we invite all patrons to help us celebrate by writing poems on spring leaves to decorate our Poet-Tree in the Youth Services area.
Stories and More meets Tuesdays, through May 8. This fun, interactive storytime is tailored for children ages 3-5 and emphasizes letters, numbers, shapes, colors and other concepts. Through a combination of picture books, online stories, magnetic board stories, songs, fingerplays, and crafts, each session provides a language-rich experience. Registration required. Contact the Youth Services Department at (847) 677-5277, Ext. 234 or [email protected].
Acting Class meets from 2-3 p.m. Mondays for theater games, improv, bit parts, and more for third- through fifth grades. Directed by Debbi Brodsky. Registration required. Contact the Youth Services Department at (847) 677-5277, Ext. 234 or [email protected].
Thursday Club meets from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursdays. Exclusively for sixth- through eighth-grade students. Games and group activities.
Afterschool Café is held on Mondays from 2:30-3:15 p.m. so Lincolnwood School students can relax and buy a snack before tackling homework on early release Mondays.
Knitting for All Ages meets from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Fridays. Adults and children, ages 10 and up, can learn to knit or work on a project.
Northwestern University’s specialized Speech and Language Summer Camp helps children improve speech and language skills in a fun environment that features indoor and outdoor play, local outings, parades, fire truck visits, and more. Designed for children ages 3-7, the camp will run June 20 through Aug. 8 and offers morning and afternoon sessions. Highlights include and ongoing targeting of IEP/current goals. The camp welcomes a select number of peer models, who are children without language or speech needs, at a discounted rate. Services are directed by faculty who are licensed and certified speech-language pathologists and supervise graduate students in therapeutic camp activities. The camp is located in the Speech, Language, and Learning Clinic, in The Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders on the Evanston campus. For enrollment information, call Camp Director Tracy Cafferty-Killian at (847) 491-2410 or visit communication.northwestern.edu/speechsummercamp.
A Socialization Group for Children meets on Mondays from 3:30-5 p.m. This 10-week group is for children ages 3-5 who have challenges with social interactions. It will be held at Virginia Frank Child Development Center, 3033 Touhy Ave., Chicago. $350 series fee. Contact Joni Crounse, LCSW, or Kathy Ham, LCSW. Call (773) 761-4550 or visit www.jcfs.org.
Socialization Group for Children meets Tuesdays from 3:30-5 p.m. at Virginia Frank Child Development Center, 3033 Touhy Ave., Chicago. This 10-week group is for children ages 3-5 who have challenges with social interactions. $350 series fee. Contact Maggie Faulkenberry, LCSW, or Mollie Reed, LCSW, (773) 761-4550, www.jcfs.org.
The Old Town School of Folk Music will hold sessions of its Wiggleworms Class at Northshore School of the Arts, 319 Park Ave., Glencoe and St. Matthew’s Church, 2120 Lincoln St., Evanston. For schedule information or to schedule a free trial class visit oldtownschool.org or call (773) 728-6000.
Club Maccabee is a free children’s club for students in kindergarten- through fifth-grade that combines fun and games with Hebrew, Jewish education and Scripture study. Call (847) 674-9146. Club Maccabee is sponsored by Devar Emet Messianic Synagogue.
Temple Judea Mizpah, 8610 Niles Center Road, Skokie, offers preschool and kindergarten to children of nonmembers. Space is limited. Call Cantor Richard Bessman, (847) 676-1566.
The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) has provided a variety of electronics recycling programs for residents in its member communities. Programs offered include permanent drop-off locations, the At Home Pickup Program, and one-day events. As of Jan. 1, 2012, under the Illinois Product Recycling and Reuse Act, the following electronics are prohibited from being thrown away in the garbage. Computers – PCs and laptops, Computer Monitors, Peripherals – mice, keyboards, zip drives, scanners, mobile phones, MP3 Players, televisions, PDAs, printers, VHS players, fax machines, DVD players, video game consoles and DVR/cable boxes. This spring, summer and fall, the Agency is coordinating one-day events, at no cost. The next event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 29 at Niles North High School, 9800 N. Lawler Ave., Skokie. Electronics from businesses, institutions or schools will not be accepted.
The Village of Skokie seasonal, weekly yard waste collection program resumes on Wednesdays through Nov. 14. Grass clippings will not be collected. To schedule a brush and yard waste collection, contact the automated phone request system at (847) 933-3333 or visit www.skokie.org, to make a request online. The deadline for requests for same-week collection is Monday at noon. Collection requests received after noon on Monday will be scheduled for Wednesday of the following week. For more information regarding yard waste collection, contact the Village of Skokie Public Works Department at (847) 933-8427.
All Village of Skokie Board meetings are now broadcast live on SkokieVision Cable Television (Channel 25 on RCN and Channel 17 on Comcast). Meetings are held the first and third Mondays of each month at 8 p.m. at Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St. As always, meetings will be re-broadcast at noon and 8 p.m. on the Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday following a Board Meeting.
The Authority Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. May 14 and on the second Monday of each month unless noted, at the Centre East Metropolitan Exposition, Auditorium and Office Authority, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd.
The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) has recently updated its web-based reference to include an expanded General Resources Section and other areas of sustainability such as: Appliances and Electronics; Energy Conservation; Home Reuse, Deconstruction and Salvage; Indoor Air Quality; Natural Lawn Care; Travel and Transportation and Water Conservation. Be an educated “greener” consumer and check out swancc.org.
A representative from the Niles Township Clerk’s office is available 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and evenings by appointment, and on second and fourth Mondays of each month to accommodate residents with passport applications, voter registrations and temporary handicapped parking placards. For an appointment at Niles Township in Skokie, call (847) 673-9300.
The Village of Lincolnwood now has a presence on the two most popular social media pages, Facebook and Twitter. Facebook “fans” and Twitter “followers” can now receive information such as press releases, breaking news, special event information, agendas for meetings, videos, and photos. Links to the social media pages can be found on the Village’s homepage at www.lincolnwoodil.org or directly on Facebook by searching “Village of Lincolnwood” or Twitter “LincolnwoodlL.” The Village encourages all residents, business owners, and friends of the community to “follow us” on Facebook and Twitter. The Village’s website and newsletter remain the primary information sources for news for the Village. For more information, contact Douglas Petroshius, assistant village administrator at [email protected] or (847) 745-4711.
The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) recently established a Battery Recycling Program for rechargeable and alkaline batteries. The Agency has partnered with Interstate Batteries in Skokie to provide the recycling at no cost to SWANCC communities, as a corporate product stewardship initiative. Common household batteries are no longer accepted at Illinois EPA-sponsored household chemical waste events and facilities due to their benign nature and high recycling costs. Rechargeable batteries contain heavy metals which pose a threat to our environment, and have a marketable recyclability. Batteries Accepted in SWANCC’s Program includes: Alkaline: AA, AAA, C, D and 9V; and Rechargeables: NiCd, NiMh, lithium ion, lithium polymer. Before dropping off rechargeable batteries, residents need to tape the contact points on each battery or place in an individual self-locking plastic baggie to avoid sparks. For more information about Interstate Batteries, visit interstatebatteries.com. Drop-off details are posted at swancc.org.
The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County has established a location for residents to drop off electronics on a weekly basis at no cost at the Glenview Transfer Station, 1151 N. River Road, 9-11:30 a.m. Saturdays; and Winnetka Public Works, 1390 Willow Road, 10 a.m. - noon Tuesdays and 1-3 p.m. Thursdays. Under the new Electronics Products Recycling and Reuse Act (SB2313), only the following items will be accepted: Computers - PCs and laptops, scanners, computer monitors, mobile phones, peripherals -mice, keyboards, zip drives, MP3 players, televisions, PDAs, printers, VHS players, fax machines, DVD players, video game consoles, and DVR/cable boxes. Electronics from businesses, institutions or schools will not be accepted. Visit swancc.org.
A program on Food, Stress, & the Brain will be offered on May 24 at the Holiday Inn, 5300 W. Touhy Ave., Skokie. Presented by the Institute of Natural Resouces, seminar registration will be held from 7:45 to 8:15 a.m. Class begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. Some of the topics by Instructor Michelle Albers Ph.D., R.D., will include “Hungy Brain: Biological vs. Psychological Hunger”; “The New Science of Hunger and Appetite”; “Food Addiction: Evidence That a Poor Diet Dulls the Dopamine/Reward System”; “Is the Medicine Cabinet Making People Fat? Antipsychotics, Antidepressants, and Others” and “OTC Supplements: Is It Possible to “Trick” Hunger Away”? CEU hours available for health professionals. Tuition is $81. To register visit www.lNRserninars.com or call (800) 937-6878.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness—Cook Country North Suburban will feature “Nami Basics: Education and Support for You, Your Family and Your Child with Mental Health Issues” from 6:30-9 p.m. Wednesdays, April 25-May 30 at the Scott Nolan Center, 555 Wilson Lane, Des Plaines. To register, call (847) 716-2252.
Literacy Class meets from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturdays, through May 26 at the Lincolnwood Public Library, 4000 W. Pratt Ave. Free weekly class for adults who want to improve reading and writing skills. Sponsored by Oakton Community College. Call (847) 635-1426.
English as a Second Language Class meets from 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays through May 28 at the Lincolnwood Public Library, 4000 W. Pratt Ave. Free weekly class for adults who want to learn to speak English. Sponsored by Oakton Community College. Call (847) 635-1426.
Become a pilates club member at the Niles Family Fitness Center, at 987 Civic Center Drive, Niles. Purchase two mat pilates classes and receive a Pilates membership card. The card gives you the ability to join all the Mat Pilates classes whenever you wish. Call (847) 588-8400 or visit www.nilesfitness.com for the schedule of classes.
Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy Inc., is now offering “Introduction to Animal Assisted Therapy,” dog training classes at various locations, including 6042 W. Oakton St., in Morton Grove. The fee is $60. Contact Dorida King at [email protected] or call (773) 736-9021 for schedules and locations. Knitting for Adults is offered 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Lincolnwood Library, 4000 W. Pratt Ave. Adults can learn to knit or work on knitting projects. All skill levels welcome.
The Chinese Cultural Education Association has room for additional students in its Parent & Tot program for 3-year-olds. Basic, day-to-day Chinese (Mandarin) language phrases, along with Asian culture, games, songs and dances are taught to parents and children in a stress-free environment. Classes are from 10:30 a.m.-noon Saturdays at the St. Lambert Education Center, 8141 N. Kedvale Ave., Skokie. Call (847) 674-0348, or e-mail [email protected].
World Politics is a red-hot topic. Join expert Lester Mehlman as he discusses what is happening in the world at 1 p.m. Wednesdays, at Temple Judea Mizpah, 8610 Niles Center Road, Skokie. Bring your opinions to these lively group sessions. Call (847) 676-1566.
Adult Hebrew classes are offered Sunday mornings at Temple Judea Mizpah, 8610 Niles Center Road, Skokie. Enrollment is limited for the hour-long class. Call (847) 676-1566, for details.
Professionals in Learning Disabilities and Special Education will be holding its culminating dinner at 6 p.m. May 8 at Gusto Ristorante Italiano, 1470 Waukegan Road, Glenview. Fee is $35 for members/students, $40, for non-members. Featured speakers in attendance will be the mentors of teen, Michael McCarthy as they relay their part in successfully enabling and inspiring Michael in spite of overwhelming odds. Born without legs, raised in an orphanage in Russia, and adopted by Julie and David McCarthy, Michael has overcome multiple obstacles. Professionals and parents are invited. For information, contact Carrie Parks at (847) 831-4259 or [email protected].
Glencoe/Northbrook/Winnetka Group of Hadassah North Shore Chapter will meet at the Chicago Botanical Gardens at 10 a.m. May 24 to see the spring plantings. After touring the gardens the group will meet in the dinning area for lunch on your own at 11:45 .am. On Oct. 4 they will return to see how the fall weather changes the colors of the season. Call (847) 205-1900, e-mail: [email protected] or visit the web at www.northshore.hadassah.org.
The Nehara Group of Hadassah North Shore will meet at 12:30 p.m. April 29, for a self guided tour at the Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Drive, in Skokie. Museum admission is $12 for adults, $8 for students and seniors 65 and older. Nehara will start the morning with brunch at 11 a.m. at the Bagel Restaurant Old Orchard, in Skokie. Reservations required. Contact the Hadassah North Shore office at (847) 205-1900, e-mail: [email protected] or visit www.northshore.hadassah.org.
The Business & Professional Hadassah of North Shore Chapter will meet at 11:30 a.m. April 19 for a “Taste and Tell” Luncheon at the North Shore office, 3000 Dundee #313 in Northbrook. Come and join new friends at this fun afternoon. The cost is $20 benefiting stem cell research at Hadassah Hospital. Contact the Hadassah North Shore office at (847) 205-1900, e-mail: [email protected] or visit www.northshore.hadassah.org.
Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois will host the following meetings. Visit http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsi or call (312) 666-0100.
The next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois (JGSI) will be devoted to family history research methods. A special program called “The 1940 Census and Online Finding Aids” will be presented by Dr. Joel Weintraub, an emeritus biology professor at California State University, Fullerton, on April 29. This lecture program will be free to JGSI members. Nonmembers will be charged $10, which can be applied to JGSI membership until June 1, 2012. Check-in begins at 1 p.m. at Temple Beth Israel, 3601 W. Dempster St., Skokie.
“A Chicago Story of Sex, Murder and Genealogy” will be presented by Mike Karsen, president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, at 2 p.m., May 20. In a temporary change of location, this meeting will be held at Anshe Emet Synagogue, 3751 N. Broadway St., Chicago. Karsen will tell the story of Dora Feldman McDonald, the daughter of German Jewish immigrants, who made the front pages of Chicago’s newspapers in 1907 when she shot her lover. Dora, who was married to a powerful Chicago political boss, used murder to end the affair and her lover’s blackmail. Family history researcher Karsen will set the record straight about what happened to McDonald after her dramatic acquittal. The JGSI help desk will open at 12:30 p.m. at Anshe Emet Synagogue for anyone who wants to ask genealogical questions before the main program.
Henrietta Szold Hadassah invites all to their Fashion Show Luncheon “The Magic of Hadassah” at 11 a.m. April 29 at the Hyatt Deerfield, 1750 Lake Cook Road, in Deerfield. This is Henrietta Szold Group’s annual opportunity to bring together members, their mothers, daughters and friends for a lovely ladies day out prior to Mother’s Day. The new Life members of Hadassah will model the beautiful fashions of Chico’s of Northbrook Court. The proceeds from this special day, includes a spectacular array of raffle prizes, benefiting the Medical Research at Hadassah Hospitals. The cost is $40. For more information contact the Hadassah North Shore office at (847) 205-1900 or e-mail: [email protected] or visit www.northshore.hadassah.org.
Hadassah North Shore Chapter is continuing their Mitzvah Project of collecting notions, gift cards to grocery stores and glasses for distribution to Women’s Shelters. Drop off items at the Hadassah North Shore office at 3000 Dundee, #313, in Northbrook. Call the office at (847) 205-1900 or e-mail:www.northshore.hadassah.org.
Chai Hadassah Knitters, or those who prefer to crochet, invites you to bring your needles and yarn and join them on Wednesdays, April 25, May 30 and June 27. They meet for two hours starting at 1 p.m. to work on blankets for the Linus Project or the project that has been waiting for you to finish. The meetings are at a member’s home in Highland Park with a $5 donation to Hadassah. Contact the Hadassah North Shore office at (847) 205-1900, e-mail: [email protected] or visit www.northshore.hadassah.org.
The National Council of Jewish Women’s Illinois State Policy Advocacy Committee will feature Illinois Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon and other expert panel members discussing women’s issues at 5:30 p.m. May 2 at 1107 Central Ave., Wilmette. The fee is $10. Pre-registration is required by April 23. Visit www.ncjwcns.org.
VFW Snell Post 7186 Veterans of Foreign Wars of Evanston, is looking to enroll new members due to the loss of elderly veterans. All new members will have their first year membership paid for by Snell Post 7186. Meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Fleetwood Jordain Center, 1655 Foster in Evanston. Call Commander Clifford Washington at (847) 331-7965.
Northern Illinois Stereo Camera Club meets from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at Morton Grove Library, 6140 Lincoln Ave., Morton Grove. The group is devoted to preserving and promoting all aspects of three-dimensional art and photography. Meetings free and open to public. Beginners welcome. Call T.J. Adamczyk (773) 631-7068 or e-mail: Mike Cosentino at [email protected]. Also visit http://site.google.com/site/northillinoisstereocameraclub.
The Chicago Rocks & Minerals Society meets monthly on the second Saturday of each month (except July and August) at 7:30 p.m. at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, 8013 Laramie Ave., Skokie. Visitors are always welcome. The objectives of the society are to study, disseminate, and promote interest in the earth sciences emphasizing the various aspects of geology, paleontology, paleobotany, mineralogy, and the lapidary arts, as well as to collect minerals, fossil specimens, and cutting material. Call Jeanine N. Mielecki at (773) 774-2054 or e-mail [email protected]. Visit www.chicagorocks.org.
The Rotary Club of Skokie Valley meets from 12:15-1:30 p.m. Tuesdays at McCormick & Schmick’s restaurant at 4999 Old Orchard Shopping Center, North Ring Road, Skokie. Lunch is $14, for members and $15 for visitors and guests. Call (847) 763-9811.
A New Personal Growth Book Club meets from 9:30-11 a.m. on the second Friday of each month at the Levy Senior Center, 800 Dodge Ave., in Evanston. The book club is free and open to individuals ages 55 and older. It is facilitated by a licensed, clinical social worker who specializes in positive psychology. Call (847) 448-8250.
The following clubs meet at the Lincolnwood Public Library, 4000 W. Pratt Ave.; (847) 677-5277; www.lincolnwoodlibrary.org. The Friends of Lincolnwood Library meets 7:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month, except December.
Knitting for Adults meets 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Adults can learn to knit or work on knitting projects. All skill levels welcome.
The Adult Stamp Club meets 7 p.m. the third Thursday of the month.
The Mac Users Club meets 7-9 p.m. the second Thursday of each month.
Humanities Treasures meets 1-3 p.m. Wednesdays.
The Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois, North Shore Practice Group, meets the last Wednesday of each month from noon-1:30 p.m. at Ruby Tuesday Restaurant, Old Orchard Road, Skokie. Group is comprised of attorneys, financial and mental health professionals, committed to helping people through divorce without litigation. Contact Sara Stolberg: [email protected] or (847) 325-5554. Also visit www.collablawil.org.
The Kiwanis Club of Skokie Valley meets at noon Thursdays at North Shore Holiday Inn, 5300 Touhy Ave., Skokie. Call Lisa, (847) 329-0400, or e-mail [email protected].
Skokie Photographic Society meets 7 p.m. the third Thursday of each month on the lower level of Skokie Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St., Skokie. Photographers at all levels welcome. Call (847) 677-8324.
Skokie Lions Club meets 6:30 p.m. every third Tuesday at North Shore Holiday Inn, 5300 Touhy Ave., Skokie. Call Lion Walt Holden, (847) 679-7457.
Niles Township Toastmasters meets 7:15-8:45 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at Morton Grove Public Library, 6140 Lincoln Ave. Come and hone your speaking skills, learn to speak extemporaneously or tell a joke. Call (847) 583-9328.
Chicago Photographic Collectors Society meets at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month, except in July, November and December, at the Ridgeview Grill, 827 Ridge Road, Wilmette. Visit www.chicagophotographic.org.
The Couples Social and Dance Club meets 7:30 p.m. the third Saturday of each month on the lower level of the Leaning Tower YMCA, 6300 Touhy Ave., Niles. The evening features live band music. Call Marilyn Katz, (847) 299-5827.
National Scrabble Association Club 340 meets 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Thursdays at Oakton Community Center, 4701 Oakton St., Skokie, and 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Sundays at the Macy’s food court (third floor), 2171 Northbrook Court Mall, Northbrook. The fee is $2 for the day; admission is free to newcomers. Call Robert, (847) 945-7150, or Elizabeth, (847) 433-8591.
The Chicago Bar Association (CBA) Lawyer Referral Service and the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) will host a special Law Week Call-A-Lawyer program from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 28. Volunteer attorneys will give free legal advice over the phone to Chicagoland residents who call (312) 554-2001. Attorneys will be available to answer general questions on a variety of legal issues including Bankruptcy, Domestic Relations, Immigration, Personal Injury and Social Security. Callers can explain their situation to an attorney who will then suggest self-help strategies to resolve their legal issues. If callers need further legal services, they will be advised to see their attorney or to contact the CBA Lawyer Referral Service at (312) 554-2001 during business hours or through the website at www.chicagobar.org.
Hadassah North Shore Resale Shop, 1710 First St., in Highland Park, provides a unique shopping opportunity to the North Shore community. The Hadassah Resale Shop is a reliable source for quality furniture, house wares, toys, art work and clothing-- including designer labels for the whole family. Shop hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call (847) 433-6352 or e-mail: [email protected]. Donations of lightly used clothing, household items, furniture and toys are accepted and welcomed at the store during business hours six days a week. Proceeds benefit Nobel Prize nominee Hadassah Medical Center. A special discount to military service personnel and their families.
Polish National Alliance invites Sox fans to join them, along with the vice presidents of the Polish Roman Catholic Union, Polish Falcons of America and Polish Women’s Alliance for the annual Polish-American Night at U.S. Cellular Field (Sox Park) at 7:10 p.m. July 3 for the Chicago White Sox vs. the Texas Rangers. The cost of tickets for the lower box seats are only $20, (half price of original cost). Tickets can be purchased from the Polish National Alliance (800) 621-3723, Ext. 316) Polish Roman Catholic Union (800) 772-8632, Ext. 2601; Polish Falcons of America (574) 289-2140; or the Polish Women’s Alliance (888) 522-1898, Ext. 1208). Sox game tickets are limited and going fast, and will be sold as first come, first served.
Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago will host the following free programs at 10:30 a.m. at 7574 N. Lincoln Ave., Skokie. Coffee Hour after talks. All are welcome. Childcare is available. Call (847) 677-3334 or visit www.ethical human.org.
The annual Spring Festival is on April 22. Led by Tom Hoeppner and Sharon Appelquist, celebrate Earth Day and the seasonal renewal of life. The Sunday School children will display their remarkable musical talents, present a short dramatic salute to spring, and give out colorful spring flowers in hand-painted pots for planting in home gardens.
Steven Davis, professor of International Business and Economics at the University of Chicago, speaks April 29. His topic is “Has Policy Uncertainty Held Back Our Economic Recovery?” Davis will discuss the causes of uncertainty in government policies and the possible impact of the uncertainty on job growth and living standards.
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie, (847) 967-4800, www.ilholocaustmuseum.org, offers the following:
Holocaust Remembrance Day—Yom Hashoah and Illinois Holocaust Museum’s third Anniversary will be held from 6:30-8 p.m. April 19. Abraham Foxman, Holocaust survivor and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, will discuss “A 21st Century Challenge: Protecting the Memory and Meaning of the Holocaust.” Foxman, whose life was saved by his Polish Catholic nanny, has devoted a lifetime to fighting antisemitism, discrimination and prejudice. Free with Museum admission. Reservations required; (847) 967-4889.
An Holocaust Remembrance Concert will be presented in cooperation with Chicago’s Cantors will be held from 3-4 p.m. April 22. The Museum’s “Celebrating the Cantorial Arts of Europe” will be performed by cantors from Chicago-area congregations. The program will feature the music of Jewish communities that were destroyed in the Holocaust. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Free. Reservations required; (847) 967-4889.
A Special Exhibition: Ours To Fight For: American Jews in the Second World War continues through June 17. The display explores and celebrates the achievements of Jewish men and women who were part of the American war effort on and off the battlefield. Through their artifacts, letters, and photographs, the “Greatest Generation” tells the stories of what the war was like for all its participants, and for Jews in particular. Ours To Fight For brings to life the actions and feelings of these courageous young men and women.
The Village of Skokie is collecting non-perishable food to benefit the Niles Township Food Pantry. A large food collection box is located at the main entrance of Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St. Consider donating non-perishable goods while purchasing a vehicle sticker, dropping of a permit application or doing other business at Village Hall. Acceptable items include: boxed cereals, canned vegetables and fruits; canned stews, soups, pork & beans; canned meats (tuna, chicken, etc.; boxed juices and milk; pasta, rice; peanut butter and jelly (plastic jars only); pudding cups, fruit cups, fruit bars, raisins; and crackers. No glass jars/bottles or perishable foods. Village Hall is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Call the Human Services Division at (847) 933-8208.
The 50-50 Rule, a new local program, offers strategies for overcoming sibling differences to help families provide the best care for elderly parents. At the core of the 50-50 Rule public education program is a family relationship and communication guide of real-life situations that features practical advice from sibling relationships experts. Research conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care network reveals that an inability to work together often leads to one sibling becoming responsible for the bulk of care giving in 43 percent of families. And that can result in the deterioration of relationships with brothers and sisters. For information about a free guide and other resources call (847) 673-1250 or visit www.solvingfamilyconflict.com.
CJE’s Consumer Assistance staff can answer questions about Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, including the shrinking “donut hole” and other changes in Part D coverage for 2011 and beyond. Representatives can explain the differences between Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans and how to choose a plan that best suits one’s individual needs. If you or your loved ones have questions regarding healthcare reform and how it affects you, call CJE’s Consumer Assistance at (773) 508-1000, for a free consultation. Russian-speaking staff is also available.
SASI, a nonprofit organization, recently announced its new name-- Services for Adults Staying in Their Homes (SASI), to better reflect the agency’s mission to help adults who, due to aging, illness or injury, need assistance in the home. It was formerly called Senior Action Service Inc. Based in Evanston at 1123 Emerson St., SASI serves several other communities, including Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Northfield, Glencoe, Skokie, Morton Grove, Lincolnwood, Deerfield, Des Plaines and Chicago. Call (847) 864-7274 or visit www.SASIathome.org.
The Village of Skokie Health Department offers a short-term infant/toddler car seat loan program. The program is available to Skokie residents and is ideal when young guests are visiting. A $10 cash deposit is required for each seat borrowed. The participating resident receives $5 of the deposit back once the seat is returned in good condition. Health Department personnel are able to assist residents with ensuring the proper installation of loaned seats. Seats are loaned subject to availability and are loaned for up to six weeks. Contact the Skokie Health Department at (847) 933-8252 or visit www.skokie.org.
Pet licenses are available at Village Hall. With a veterinarian’s statement of spay/neutering, the pet license fee is $6. Without the statement the fee is $12. A current rabies certificate must be presented at the time of purchase whether purchasing in-person or by mail. Pet licenses cannot be renewed online. Pet licenses purchased 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday at Skokie Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St.
The Village of Skokie offers the TeenLink program that unites Skokie residents who are in need of outside seasonal yard work, such as snow shoveling, raking and lawn care with teens who are available for hire to do the work. The TeenLink program list provides contact information for Skokie teens available to do seasonal yard work. The list includes the name and address of the teen, days available, type of work they are willing to do and their expected rate of pay. Residents can receive the list by mail or e-mail. The resident is responsible for contacting the teen and for making financial and scheduling arrangements. For a copy of the TeenLink contact list, call the Village manager’s office at (847) 933-8210. Skokie teens can also complete an application to be added to the TeenLink program by contacting the Village manager’s office or by visiting www.skokie.org, to download an application.
For information about a free meeting space for groups or committees, call Lindsey at the Lincolnwood Place Retirement community, (847) 673-7166.
The Village of Skokie’s Human Services Division hosts a drop-in class for anyone who wishes to become a U.S. citizen. The class meets 1-3:30 p.m. Thursdays at 5120 Galitz St., Skokie. The tutorial reviews citizenship test questions, prints testing applications and submits completed applications to the federal government. Call (847) 933-8208.
The Smith Activities Center, 5120 Galitz St., Skokie, offers the following programs. Call (847) 933-8208 if registration is required.
Bright Ideas ESL Class meets 9:15-11:15 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays. Registration required.
Chess is played from noon-4:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.
Socialization and Needlework takes place 10:30 a.m.-noon every Tuesday.
News and Views Discussion is set at 10 a.m. every Friday.
A Simple Will/Durable Power of Attorney/Living Will program for low-income seniors who meet requirements is offered. A fee is charged by the attorney. Call (847) 933-8208 for program details and registration information. Woodcarving meets 9:30-11:30 a.m. with instructor Irv Marion. Fee required.
NA’AMAT USA, Toladah Club will deliver a top-notch, great quality, first rate Lox Box on the morning of April 29. This box will be filled with eight ounces of lox, a half dozen bagels, cream cheese, an onion, a tomato, orange juice, cake and taffy apples. All of this, including handling charges and delivery, is only $24. Lox boxes will be delivered to Rogers Park in the city, many north and northwest suburbs. Contact Sue at (773) 761-1954 or e-mailing [email protected] to determine if a location is within the acceptable range. The purchase of a Toladah Lox Box will help NA’AMAT USA continue to fulfill its mission to aid the women and children of Israel.
A representative from the Niles Township Clerk’s office will be available weekdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and evenings by appointment on the second and fourth Mondays of each month to accommodate your schedule to assist with passport applications, voter registration and temporary handicapped parking placards. For an appointment at Niles Township in Skokie, call (847) 673-9300.
Skokie Public Board generally meets at 7:30 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month in the board room at the library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie. Agendas may be obtained before the meeting by calling the administrative office, (847) 324-3128.
The month of May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and NorthShore University HealthSystem is offering a free skin cancer screening from 9 - 11:30 a.m. May 6 at NorthShore Skokie Hospital’s Ambulatory Care Center, 9600 Gross Point Road, in Skokie. Board certified dermatologists will perform the free screenings and will give participants their results immediately, recommending follow-up if necessary. Registered participants are asked to wear a bathing suit under their clothing for the examination and to arrive just 15 minutes before their scheduled appointment. The screening is free, but participants must schedule an appointment ahead of time. To register call (847) 570-5020 or visit www.northshore.org/calendar and search for ‘Cancer care’ and ‘Skokie.’
Immunization Clinics will be offered from 9 a.m.-noon Tuesdays and Thursdays. The clinic fee is $5 per person and participants must register in advance.
Pediatric developmental screenings are offered at no cost. LYNX Therapeutics, 9436 Ozark Ave., Morton Grove, provides specialized occupational therapy services and learning instruction programs to children with physical, social, emotional and learning difficulties. Contact Ingrid Kenron at (847) 791-1631 or (847) 966-1505.
The village of Skokie Health Department offers microwave-oven testing to measure for possible radiation leaks. Testing is recommended for older microwave models. Microwaves that have damaged doors or seals may leak harmful radiation. There is no charge, but an appointment is required. Skokie residents should call the Environmental Health Division, (847) 933-8484.
An Arthritis Foundation education-and-support group meets 2-3:30 p.m. the first Friday of the month in Room 105 of the Weber Center, 9300 Weber Park Place, Skokie. This group will be facilitated by a clinical social worker and a foundation-certified group leader. Call (847) 674-1500, Ext. 2600.
Jewish Child & Family Services, 5150 Golf Road, Skokie, will present Community Education for People with Disabilities, Their Families and Professionals. Classes are held from 6 – 8 p.m. and include: “Know Your Special Education Rights” on April 26, led by Micki Moran, J.D.; “Adaptive and Accessible Interior Design,” May 17 with Leslie Markman Stern; and “Anger Management Strategies for People with Developmental Disabilities,” June 14 with Emily Tegenkamp. Three programs, no fee, and sign up for as many as you wish. CEU’s and CPDU’s available for all presentations. Registration required. Contact Emily Tegenkamp at (773) 467-3741 or www.jcfs.org.
Community Education for People with Disabilities, their Families and Professionals. Jewish Child & Family Services offers free monthly/bimonthly community education on a variety of topics related to disability at 5150 Golf Road, Skokie location. CEUs and CPDUs are available for all presentations. Visit www.jcfs.org. Contact Emily Tegenkamp, (773) 467-3741, www.jcfs.org.
Jewish Child & Family Services will hold a social group for adults with disabilities. Adults In Transition will meet from 5:45-7 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at the Goldie Bachmann Luftig Building, 5150 Golf Road, Skokie. Social support group for adults with disabilities who are in their 20s to mid-50s. Social support, conversation, and a safe environment to explore issues. Cost is $7 per session. Contact Sheri Fox, LCSW, (847) 412-4356. Visit www.jcfs.org.
Finding Resources in the Community Chest will be offered from 6–7:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month at JCFS, 3525 Peterson, Chicago. There are services in the community for people needing food, financial help, employment assistance and resources. This group will help identify options and create a plan of action to rebuild. Contact Lawrence Sodeinde, (773) 516-5526, [email protected]. or www.jcfs.org.
Haikufest will be held from 2-3:30 p.m. April 28 at the Skokie Public Library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie. The event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. Call (847) 673-3733.
Litlounge, a book group co-sponsored by Skokie Public Library and Morton Grove Public Library, meets in the Irish pub, The Curragh, 8266 Lincoln Ave., Skokie. The group will review “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson at 7 p.m. May 15. Nearing the end of his days, Reverend John Ames writes a letter narrating his life for his young son, telling a story that traces his own past and that of previous generations stretching back to the Civil War.
Lincolnwood Public Library, 4000 W. Pratt Ave. offers the following programs. Call (847) 677-5277 or visit www.lincolnwoodlibrary.org.
Cinematic Classics shown Thursdays at 1 p.m. April 19: “Singin’ in the Rain”; April 26: “The Court Jester.”
Friday Films shown weekly at 1 p.m. April 20: “The Descendants”; April 27: “Footloose.”
Morning Matinees are held Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. April 26: “The Three Musketeers.”
World Book Night Reception takes place at 7 p.m. April 23. World Book Night is a charity dedicated to the promotion of literacy and the celebration, sharing and enjoyment of reading among teenagers and adults.
The Lincolnwood Library Board of Trustees will meet at 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise noted.
Poetry Spot runs through April 29. Hours are posted in the library lobby. Stop by the Friends of the Library’s table and read a short poem, original or borrowed. Or compose a haiku in honor of the library and drop it into a box on the table. In return for either one, you will receive a sweet treat.
Travel Through Time Presentation will be held at 10:30 a.m. April 20 with Elise Ginsparg discussing “Sites and Stories of Jewish Warsaw.”
Parenting a Child with Special Needs? Join other parents and consult with professionals on specific parenting issues for children with special needs. Single seminars and ongoing sessions offered at Jewish Child & Family Services, 255 Revere Drive, Northbrook. Call for more information and start dates. Groups are ongoing and run year-round. For dates, times and fees, contact Meredith White, (847) 412-4336, www.jcfs.org.
Group Firefly, for children ages 10-14 diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder or Autism meet Tuesdays, from 5–6 p.m. at Jewish Child & Family Services, 255 Revere Drive, Northbrook. Group focuses on teaching and building social skills and encouraging prosocial engagement with peers. Three series, 10 weeks each. $250 per series fee. For dates and times, contact Rachel Riley, PsyD, (847) 412-4355, www.jcfs.org.
Get Together for Parents and Children: Ages 4 and Under meets Tuesdays, 10- 11:30 a.m. at Virginia Frank Child Development Center, 3033 Touhy, Chicago. The group offers an opportunity for parents to meet other parents with young children; get away from feeling ‘cooped up’ and ‘isolated’; share experiences, ideas, and concerns with other parents and staff whose skills are in family and child development; discuss developmental issues and watch them unfold as children play. $15 per session per family. Contact Joanne Kestnbaum, LCSW, at (773) 761-4550. [email protected]. www.jcfs.org.
Adopt-A-Park has been established so that neighborhood groups or other organizations can work in conjunction with the Lincolnwood Parks & Recreation Department in maintaining and improving the community’s parks. Through fund-raising, volunteer clean-up and program/activities are held in the park. Adopting groups will be able to have a part in addressing the needs of their adopted park. School classes can use their adopted park as an outdoor classroom to learn ecology and give students the opportunity to have a deeper role in the Lincolnwood community. When a group decides to Adopt-A-Park, the Lincolnwood Parks & Recreation Department will work closely with the group’s Adopt-A-Park volunteers to plan events, clean-ups and other activities. Adopting organizations will be recognized with a sign placed at “their” park. If your group is interested in adopting a park, contact the Lincolnwood Parks & Recreation Department at (847) 677-9740 to discuss possible park locations. A meeting will be arranged to discuss the program as well as ideas a group might have for an adopted park.
The Lincolnwood Community Center, 6900 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincolnwood, is available for rent to businesses, individuals and families of Lincolnwood as well as those living nearby. Rent the center for various functions including birthday parties, bat/bar mitzvah parties, family reunions/celebrations, annual holiday parties, wedding engagements, retirement parties, classroom enrichment programs and more. Amenities includes round or rectangular tables, banquet chairs, kitchen, TV, podium with microphone, coffeepot, and tablecloths. To tour building, inquire about availability, or a renter information packet, call (847) 677-9740.
Maine-Niles Association of Special Recreation offers individuals with physical and mental challenges, behavior and learning disorders, hearing and visual impairments and emotional disabilities the opportunity to enjoy a variety of recreation activities. To receive a seasonal brochure or to offer support for individuals with special needs by volunteering, call (847) 966-5522.
Temple Judea Mizpah Mitzvah Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 22 at 8610 Niles Center Road, Skokie. Blood and bone marrow drives open to the community. Each blood donor can save three lives. Also, Project Linus will be there to help volunteers make handmade blankets to keep hospitalized children warm. To register for blood drive, call (847) 676-1566. Walk-ins welcome.
Congregation Kol Emeth, 5130 W. Touhy Ave., Skokie, will hold Spring Adult Education from 10 a.m. to noon April 29. The topic is “The Lives of Jewish Women in Israel,” taught by Moshe Pomerantz. The lecture is $13, including lunch. Call (847) 673-3370.
Movie Night will be held at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 8201 N. Karlov Ave., Skokie, at 7:15 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month. Join them for a feature film, popcorn and discussion. Call (847) 966-8445.
Jerusalem Lutheran School, 6218 Capulina Ave., in Morton Grove, holds Sunday services at 8 and 10:30 a.m. Adult Bible study, children’s Sunday school and C4L (Christians for Life) teen group meet at 9:15 a.m. Two other Bible classes are offered on Wednesdays. Call Pastor Prange at (847) 965-7340 or visit www.jerusalemlutheran.org.
Navy and Marine Corps shipmates who served on the USS Columbus CA-74/CG-12 from 1944 through 1976 and the USS Columbus (SSN-762) past and present, if you would like to share memories and camaraderie with old friends and make new ones, contact Allen R. Hope, president, 3828 Hobson Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46815-4505. Call (260) 486-2221 from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. eastern time, fax: 260-492-9771 or e-mail: Hope4391@ frontier.corn.
The Illinois Sons of Italy Foundation announced that graduating high school seniors who are full or partially of Italian ancestry are invited to compete for $1,000 college scholarships. The Scholarships will be awarded to qualified students who will graduate this year from any recognized public or private high school in Illinois. Applicants will be selected on the basis of financial need, scholastic achievements, activities in high school showing character and leadership, applicant’s personal essay and faculty recommendations. Applications can be obtained by contacting the Illinois Sons of Italy Foundation, in writing, at 9447 West 144th Place, Orland Park, IL 60462. Including a self-addressed, stamped envelope, or via e-mail at [email protected]. Applications are available now and must be completed and returned to the Foundation office by July 1. Winners will be notified on or before Aug. 31.
Variety of Illinois invites interested athletes ages 8 to 21, who are passionately pursuing dreams of athletic glory, to apply to the Live to Achieve Program for a $1,000 grant. Applications can be downloaded from Variety of Illinois’ website at varietyofillinois.org. For print copies, call Variety at (312) 822-0660, and an application will be mailed. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Applicants will be notified by mail of Variety of Illinois’ decision, which will take into account overall personality and goals of the applicant, not just sheer athletic talent. Applicants are eligible to receive one Live to Achieve grant per calendar year.
“Immigrants Aspire!” scholarships and essay competition offers three scholarship awards – a grand prize of $2,000 and two runner-up prizes of $500 – will be payable directly to each winning student’s college or university. Winners will be honored at a special reception and their essays will be featured on the website of the sponsor, Immigration Law Associates. Contestants must prepare a 750-1,000 word essay on the topic: “If you could make one major change in the immigration laws, what would it be and why?” Essays must be in English. Entrants must be graduating high school seniors residing in Illinois who will be entering an institution of higher learning in the fall of 2012. They must be immigrants themselves or have at least one immigrant parent or stepparent. The immigration status of contestants and their families will not be a factor in eligibility. Interested students should submit their essays online along with the “Immigrants Aspire” application form posted on the Immigration Law Associates website at http://www.immig-chicago.com/pages/Scholarship. The submission deadline is midnight May 31. Winners will be announced no later than June 30. Contact Christine Futia at [email protected] or (847) 763-8500 for additional information.
A weekly senior drop-in group meets from 10:30 a.m.-noon Wednesdays at 5150 Golf Road, Skokie. Participants discuss politics, current events, health, relationships and more. The fee is $7 per session. Contact Sandy Posner at (847) 745-5448 or [email protected], www.jcfs.org.
Bright Ideas ESL is held from 9:15 – 11:15 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays at the Smith Activities Center, 5120 Galitz St., Skokie. The Ongoing English as a Second Language class is for Russian-speaking refugees 60 and older. Interactive, fun, conversational. Beginners are welcome. Class is based on Bright Ideas ESL Curriculum, developed by the Coalition of Limited English Speaking Elderly (CLESE), specifically for the older learner. No fee. Contact Barbara Urbanska-Yeager, (773) 866-5035. www.jcfs.org.
CJE SeniorLife offers support groups on a wide variety of topics of interest to seniors and their families. Fees vary according to program and individual circumstances and some groups may be partially covered by Medicare and supplemental insurance. To join a group, call CJE SeniorLife at (773) 508-1000.
Linkages Parent Information Meeting takes place from 10:30 a.m. to noon May 10 at the Linkages at Bernard Horwich Building, 3003 W. Touhy, Chicago. Guest speaker Mayra Salazar, public affairs specialist with the Social Security Administration, will be sharing information on social security programs for people with disabilities - SSI, SSID, Medicare and the PASS program. Eligibility, application process and additional resources and services that SSA can provide will be addressed. Free. Registration required. Call Rosann Corcoran at (773) 508-1694.
Total Memory Workout; a seven-week memory enhancement program takes place 10-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays, May 1 to June 12 at the Weinberg Community for Senior Living (Gidwitz Place Social Hall), 1551 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield. Forgetfulness is part of being human, but you can develop skills to enhance your memory. Join CJE SeniorLife’s certified instructors, Andrea Kaplan and Barbara Milsk, from its Center for Healthy Living for this wellness series and learn about tips, tools and habits to enhance and maintain your memory. Cost is $50 per person. Call Barbara Milsk (773) 508-1169 for additional information. Registration required. RSVP to (773) 508-1073.
Take Charge of Your Diabetes: A free, interactive 8-week program designed for people with Type 2 Diabetes takes place 9:30 a.m. to noon Thursdays May 10 to June 28 at Weinberg Community for Senior Living, 1551 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield. Meet new people, share experiences and learn about ways to improve your life. Each participant will receive an individual assessment by a registered dietician to help you manage your diabetes and reach your personal goals: coping with fatigue, frustration, pain and isolation that may be related to diabetes; exercising to maintain and improve strength, flexibility and endurance; using medications and practicing good nutrition; communicating with family, friends and health professionals; monitoring diabetes and managing low blood sugar levels; and making positive changes in your life through goal setting and problem solving. Registration required. RSVP to AgeOptions at (708) 383-0258 by May 8.
Scrabble Club is for word lovers and game players of all levels. Learn the classic game of Scrabble or get tips to sharpen your skills, with instructor and tournament director Joe Cortese. Meets at 11 a.m. Wednesdays at Bernard Horwich Building, 3003 W. Touhy Ave. Chicago. Free. Monthly meeting dates: April 25, May 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30. Call (773) 508-1000.
Holocaust Survivors — Coffee and Conversation meets every Monday and Thursday throughout the month. Group meets from 1-2:30 p.m. Monday, April 23 and 30, at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie. Free. Call (847) 568-5200 to register. Also held from 2-3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19 and 26 at JCFS Joy F. Knapp Center, 3145 W. Pratt Blvd., Chicago. Free. Call (847) 568-5100.
Living Life Through Loss, a drop-in bereavement support group, meets every Wednesday from 1-2:30 p.m. at CJE SeniorLife, 3003 W. Touhy Ave., Chicago. Any adult over the age of 60 who has lost a loved one in the past three years is encouraged to attend. Monthly meeting date: April 25. There is a $5 fee for each session. Call (773) 508-1129.
Making Connections: Seniors with Adult Children with Disabilities meets from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of every month at the Bernard Horwich Building, 3003 W. Touhy Ave., Chicago. The program offers families an opportunity to connect, share experiences and learn about benefits and community resources. Those interested in attending must register in advance by calling (773) 508-1694. Monthly meeting dates: May 1 and 15.
A support group for family caregivers whose loved one has been diagnosed with an atypical dementia (Frontotemporal Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia) will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month at Weinberg Community for Senior Living, 1551 Lake-Cook Road, Deerfield. Drop-ins are welcome. On-site respite care available during the support group; pre-registration is only required if bringing a loved one to respite care. Call Sara Sanderman at (847) 236-7863. Monthly meeting date: May 16.
Caregiving for Loved Ones with Dementia is a support group for individuals who are involved in the care of a loved one with dementia. Meets first and third Wednesday of each month 11 a.m. to noon at CJE’s Adult Day Services, 1015 W. Howard St., Evanston. RSVP to Amy Zann, LCSW, (773) 508-1690. Monthly meeting dates: May 2 and 16.
Community Senior Adults is open to new members. Lunch, socialize and entertainment are offered on a weekly basis. Purchase Kosher lunches at affordable prices. Meets 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Tuesday at Lieberman Center for Health and Rehabilitation, 9700 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Call Esther Craven at (773) 508-1047. Monthly meeting dates: May 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29.
Coping with the Stress of Aging, a new therapy group meets on a weekly basis and offers an opportunity to meet with others age 60 and older coping with the stress of aging. Designed to reduce the symptoms of depression and anxiety, group members offer support and insight to one another to promote more effective coping and enhance relationships as one ages. Participation requires advance screening and evaluation in order to be billable to Medicare and secondary insurance. Meets from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. every Wednesday, at Bernard Horwich Building, 3003 W. Touhy Ave., Chicago. Call Sharon Dornberg-Lee, LCSW at (773) 508-1088. Meeting dates: May 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30.
CJE SeniorLife is working with senior citizens and families across the Metropolitan Chicago through its new home safety assessments program to help spot possible safety hazards in the home. Through the service, a Certified Aging in-Place Specialist (CAPS) comes out to the home to discuss changes that may help the resident remain in their house longer. CAPS walks through the residence and presents a list of suggested modifications, repairs and preventative safety measures, and also provides a list of available resources for making these changes. Some overlooked items that a CAPS professional can help with include eliminating hazards caused by area rugs and from walkways, installation of grab bars, carpeting, reduction of clutter in the bathroom, securing railings that lead up and down staircases, fixing uneven steps, rerouting of electrical cords, modification of how to organize cabinets to avoid unnecessary reaching and bending and more. CJE SeniorLife’s home safety assessments by a CAPS professional provides an objective review of the home’s safety. The service costs $125 and most assessments last 90 minutes. For information, or to schedule an appointment, call CJE SeniorLife at (773) 508-1000.
Staff from nonprofit agency SASI will answer questions about home care and ways to stay home safely from 9-11 a.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at North Shore Community Bank, 7800 Lincoln Ave., Skokie. For details, call SASI-Services for Adults Staying in Their Homes at (847) 864-7274 or visit www.SASIathome.org.
SASI’s Celebrating Experience: A Gallery of Art by senior citizens is open from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. every Wednesday and Friday, or by appointment. SASI is in the professional building above the retail shops at 1123 Emerson St., Evanston. Directions at www.sasiathome.org/contact/contact.html.
Super Seniors, a Jewish senior group for those 60 or older meets from 3-4:30 p.m. on first and third Sundays at the North Shore University Health System Skokie Hospital, 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Topics include current events, books, jokes and Israel. Call (847) 583-9328.
SASI’s Celebrating Experience: A Gallery of Art by senior citizens is open from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. every Wednesday and Friday, or by appointment. SASI is in the professional building above the retail shops at 1123 Emerson St., Evanston. Directions at www.sasiathome.org/contact/contact.html.
The Village Center Apartments, a low-income subsidized senior citizen residence in Skokie, will take application requests to apply to the waiting list for a limited number of future vacancies. Applicants must be at least 62 years of age and must meet current eligibility guidelines and income limitations. To receive an application, along with a description of the qualifications needed to apply, send a letter or postcard with the name and address of the prospective applicant to 5140 Galitz St., Skokie IL 60077. Do not come to the management office, as no applications will be distributed from there. The application forms will be sent out in approximately one month from receipt of the request.
CJE SeniorLife is now accepting applications for Robineau Residence, 7550 N. Kostner Ave., in Skokie, for immediate move-in. The age requirement for residency at Robineau was recently lowered to 55 years of age (from 62). In addition, the income level for a single occupant was raised to $42,100 per year. Robineau is designed to serve senior citizens who may need a helping hand. Applicants should qualify for subsidized housing under the provisions of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 program. An additional monthly service fee is required. A Robineau service fee assistance program is available for residents. For an application and a tour of Robineau, contact Dorothy Levant at (847) 675-8580.
Join in knitting, needlepoint, crocheting or embroidery from 10:30 a.m.-noon every Tuesday at the Smith Activities Center, 5120 Galitz St., Skokie. Have fun with the social group while chatting and crafting. All interested persons are invited for free. Call (847) 933-8208.
Jewish Senior Singles Social Club meets throughout the months for dinner and a variety of programs. Call (847) 676-2872.
Lincolnwood Mayor Jerry Turry’s Rescue Rangers is a program for senior residents or anyone with disabilities who lack the resources, and are unable, to complete daily living tasks, such as shoveling snow, walking a pet or placing garbage toters. Local teens assist senior’s Office. Call (847) 745-4717.
Join the Lincolnwood Social Club (55+) Individuals do not have to be a resident of Lincolnwood to join. The group visits exciting places every week in addition to the numerous special events held at the Community Center.
Lincolnwood Social Club 55+ in the Lincolnwood Community Center, 6900 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincolnwood, features a Weights & Movement exercise class from 9-10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cost is $2 for members per class; $3, guests. Call the Parks & Recreation Office at (847) 677-9740 for registration.
Lincolnwood Social Club 55+ meets for Bridge from 1-3:30 p.m. Mondays (excluding legal holidays) at 6900 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincolnwood. Admission free for members. Call Parks & Recreation office at (847) 677-9740.
Lincolnwood Social Club 55+ meets for Mah Jongg from 12:30-3 p.m. Thursdays (excluding legal holidays) at 6900 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincolnwood. Admission is free for members. Call the Parks & Recreation office at (847) 677-9740.
Super Seniors, a Jewish Seniors group for those over 60 meets from 3-4:30 p.m. on first and third Sundays at the North Shore University Health System Skokie Hospital, 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Topics include current events, books, jokes and Israel. Call Phyllis (847) 583-9328.
Lincolnwood Place Retirement Community, 7000 N. McCormick Blvd. RSVP to Lindsey, (847) 673-7166, Ext. 4204, hosts the following events: An Tai Chi class with Francesca at 10 a.m. every Monday and Wednesday in Auditorium II; Gitta’s Yiddish Music Discussion Group meets at 1:30 p.m. Fridays in the Card Room; A free stretch-and-tone class take place at 10 a.m. Tuesdays, with a free strength-training class follows at 11 a.m. (847) 673-7166; A free low-impact fitness class is held at 10 a.m. Fridays.
A low-vision support group meets 1:30 -3 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month at the Smith Activities Center, 5120 Galitz St., Skokie. Anyone interested is invited to attend. Call (847) 933-8208.
A hearing-loss support group meets 1:30-3 p.m. the second Thursday of every month at the Smith Activities Center, 5120 Galitz St., Skokie. Call (847) 933-8208.
The Silver Singers perform at 1:30 p.m. the last Monday of each month at the Smith Activities Center, 5120 Galitz St., Skokie. Call (847) 933-8208.
The Skokie Park District seniors enjoy movies at 1 p.m. every other Wednesday at the Oakton Community Center, 4701 Oakton St., Skokie. There is no fee for the movie. Call (847) 933-4969.
The Skokie Park District’s Gratitude Club meets the first Tuesday of each month to discuss a variety of topics, including self-improvement and self-awareness. Fee is $3 for Skokie residents; $5, nonresidents. For reservations, call (847) 933-4969.
Seniors and make new ones at a weekly discussion group, meets 9:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesdays at Weber Center, 9300 Weber Park Place, Skokie. Free. Call Marvin, (847) 674-9656, Monty, (847) 674-4441, or Irving, (847) 967-7979.
The Family Caregiver Circle is an educational support group for family members caregiving seniors. Meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month from 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the Morton Grove Community Church, 8944 Austin Ave. Drop-ins are always welcome. If in need of respite care during the meeting, call (847) 965-2982, in advance.
NorthShore Hospice sponsors the following Grief Support Groups: Soul Mates, an ongoing support group for those who have experienced the death of a spouse or life partner. Group meets on second and fourth Tuesday of the month 6:30-8 p.m. at NorthShore Hospice office, 4901 Searle Parkway, Skokie. Legacy, an ongoing support group for adults who have experienced the death of a parent. The group meets on the first and third Tuesday of the month 6:30-8 p.m. at NorthShore Hospice office, 4901 Searle Parkway, Skokie. Handicap accessible and parking available. Pre-register with Thom Dennis, (847) 982-4364 or e-mail him at [email protected].
The National Alliance on Mental Illness, Cook County North Suburban will hold meetings from 9-10:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of every month at Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., Room 1700, Evanston. Parking is free. Call (847) 716-2252.
The Bethany Terrace will host its monthly Alzheimer’s Association affiliated Dementia Support Group meets from 1:30-2:30 p.m. on the third Fridays of every month at 8425 Waukegan Road, in Morton Grove. Light refreshments will be served. Support Groups are an excellent way for family members to share their experiences meeting the challenges and rewards of living with a family member who has dementia/ Alzheimer’s and to learn about the disease. All members of the community are welcome to attend. Call (847) 965-8100.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness, Cook County North Suburban, invites the public to attend its “Family Support Group” for families of adults coping with a mental illness. Program is free and meets from 7-8:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month, at the Nesset Center, 1775 Ballard, north of Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. Free parking. Call (847) 716-2252.
Weight No More, a friendly weight loss support group, is welcoming new members. Meetings take place from 9:15-10:15 a.m. Fridays at the Howard Leisure Center, 6676 Howard St. Niles, elevator accessible. Weigh in: 9:15-9:30 a.m. Discussions include weight loss tips, recipes, and helpful ideas to help participants reach their goals. Fees are $5 monthly to defray the room rental costs and small fines for weight gain. Call (847) 679-4229.
Families Anonymous is a support group for family members and friends who are concerned about and affected by the substance abuse or behavioral problems of a loved one. Group 831 meets at 10 a.m. every Friday at Carter Westminster Church, 4950 W. Pratt Ave., Skokie, in the basement; enter from parking lot in the rear. Group 173 meets at 7:30 p.m. every Monday (except holidays) at First United Methodist Church, 418 W. Touhy Ave., Park Ridge, in Parlor Room, south center portion of main level. Use the entrance at the rear (Grant Place) across from the parking lot. No dues or fees are required. First names only are used at meetings to preserve individual anonymity. This is a non-professional and non-religious program. Visitors are always welcome. For more information and a list of other local meeting locations call Families Anonymous at (773) 777-4442 or visit www.familiesanonymous.org.
Tops Club, Inc. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), an international weight-loss network of support groups, holds a local meeting weekly on Mondays beginning at 5 p.m. at the Niles Park District Center, 6676 West Howard St., Niles, on the lower level. The building is handicap accessible. TOPS has helped individuals live healthier lives since 1948 with a combination of sensible eating, regular exercise, and ongoing support to help members achieve and maintain their weight-loss goals. Women, men, teens and preteens committed to attaining and maintaining a healthy weight are all invited to join. Visitors are welcome to visit their first TOPS meeting free of charge. Call (847) 966-4871; to find another local chapter, visit www.tops.org or call (800) 932-8677.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness, Cook County North Suburban invites the public to attend its “Family Support Group” for families of individuals with a mental illness. The program is free and meets from 7-8:30 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month, at the Nesset Center, 1775 Ballard Road, Park Ridge, north of Lutheran General Hospital. Free parking. Call (847) 716-2252.
The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance-Greater Chicago has free support groups for people with mood disorders and support groups for their families. Meetings take place from 6:30-8 p.m. on the first Monday of every month at the Evanston Hospital, 2650 Ridge, Evanston, in Rooms G952 and 954. Call Elaine at (847) 674-6376.
Overeaters Anonymous, an organization for people with eating disorders (compulsive overeating, anorexia, bulimia, etc.) meets every Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Lieberman Health Center, 9700 Gross Point Road, in Skokie. Overeaters Anonymous is a 12-step program based on the principles of Alcoholic Anonymous. There are no dues or fees to pay and the only requirement for participation is a “desire to stop eating compulsively.” Call Hasha at (847) 507-9118.
The Les Turner ALS Foundation Support Group meets from 7-8:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month at Temple Beth Israel, 3601 W. Dempster St., Skokie. For directions, call (847) 675-0951. Those attending are asked to notify Claire Owen, director of patient services, (847) 679-3311 or [email protected].
FOCUS is a support group for visually impaired, working-age adults. The group meets 7-8:30 p.m. one evening per month. Participants have stimulating discussions, share ideas, and plan and participate in social activities. For meeting information and location, call Juanita, (847) 933-8208.
Rush North Shore Medical Center, in collaboration with the Cancer Wellness Center, hosts a cancer support group at 11 a.m. the third Thursday of the month at 9701 N. Knox Ave., Skokie. People diagnosed with cancer and their family members are invited to share information and receive support. Call (847) 509-9595.
Crossroads is a free, ongoing group for adults whose spouse died one year ago or more. Focus of the group is to provide an environment for socialization with other people who have experienced a similar loss. Activities and topics discussed will be generated by the group. The group meets 1-2:30 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of the month at the NorthShore University HealthSystem Home & Hospice Services office, 4901 Searle Parkway, Skokie. Registration is required; call Thom Dennis, (847) 982-4364.
The Treatment and Research Advancements Association for Personality Disorders holds a monthly support group for people suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder. The group meets 6:30-8:45 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month at Rush North Shore Medical Center, 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Space is limited. For reservations, e-mail [email protected]. To learn more about The Treatment and Research Advancements Association for Personality Disorders, go to TARA4bpd.org.
A weekly senior drop-in group meets from 10:30 a.m.-noon Wednesdays at 5150 Golf Road, Skokie. Participants discuss politics, current events, health, relationships and more. The fee is $7 per session. Call (847) 468-5105.
Starting Over: Adjusting to Life in the United States meets from 9:30-11 a.m. Mondays at 5150 Golf Road, Skokie. The free program is for Russian-speaking immigrants age 55 and older from the former Soviet Union. Call Sheri, (847) 568-5200, or Lina, (773) 866-5035.
Coffee and Conversation for Holocaust Survivors is from 1-2:30 p.m. Mondays at the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, 4709 Golf Road, Skokie. Participants discuss challenges of aging, politics and current events, news from Israel and family celebrations. Free. Call (847) 568-5200.
Compulsive Eaters Anonymous meetings are as follows: 7-8 p.m. Mondays in Room 259 of the Lieberman Center, 9700 Gross Point Road, Skokie, call Charlene, (847) 679-2505; 7-8 p.m. Tuesdays at Rush North Shore Medical Center’s administrative center, 2 S. 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Call Cherri, (847) 933-9501; 7-8 p.m. Wednesdays at Rush North Shore Medical Center’s administrative center, 2 S. 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Call Linda, (773) 387-4247; and 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. Sundays at Rush North Shore Medical Center (Sharfstein East), 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie. Call Charlene, (847) 679-2505.
La Leche League of Evanston and Wilmette welcomes all mothers and babies to meetings offering breastfeeding information and support. Meetings are twice a month at 9:30 a.m. the first Wednesday at Skokie Valley Baptist Church, 1050 Skokie Blvd., Wilmette, and at 7 p.m. the second Thursday at St. Francis Hospital, 355 Ridge Ave., Evanston. Call Elaine, (773) 545-2673, or Claudia, (847) 251-6407.
Turning Point’s outpatient group program offers groups for children and adults with chronic mental illness. Members receive support, education and therapy both from other group members and a certified staff member. Groups may be used as an alternative to individual psychotherapy, or as an additional opportunity for personal growth, learning coping skills or recovering from mental illness. Groups offered include: Bipolar disorder, substance-abuse recovery, anger management, support for those with a mentally ill family member and social-skills building for children. More groups added in the future. Groups meet in 10-week sessions. Fee is $16 per session. Call Julie (847) 933-0051, Ext. 438.
Willow Creek North Shore Community Church will hold Celebration of Hope 2012 – Seed Packing. Volunteers are being sought to pack seed packs to serve families in Zimbabwe from 12:30-2:30 p.m. April 27; 9-11 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 2-4 p.m., and 4:30-6:30 p.m. April 28; and 2-4 p.m. April 29 at 315 Waukegan Road, Northfield. Contact Kelli at [email protected] to sign up a group of 10 or more.
Looking for Court Watchers at the Skokie Courthouse for Domestic Violence. Domestic violence affects up to 50 percent of all families in the U.S. Being a Court Watcher is easy, convenient and rewarding. If you can be a volunteer for this very important program, contact Joanne Liberman at (847) 412-1577 or e-mail Joanne at [email protected].
CJE SeniorLife is in need of more volunteers for its Home Delivered Meals program in the north side of Chicago, Evanston, Skokie, and Morton Grove areas. Hot and cold meals are delivered weekdays from 11 a.m. -12:30 p.m. Volunteers work in teams of two, where one person drives his/her car with the other person delivering the meals to the client’s door. Volunteers can choose one or two weekdays on a regular basis to deliver meals or assist as their schedule permits. For more information on becoming a Home Delivered Meals volunteer, call Anne Schuman at (773) 508-1064.
The Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs is seeking volunteers of all races, national origins, ages and physical abilities to assist in collecting data about their home-seeking experiences. Experience is not required, training will be provided. A small stipend and expenses will be paid. Call Viki at (847) 501-2029, Ext. 408, or e-mail [email protected].
Lincolnwood Place Retirement Community, 7000 N. McCormick Blvd., Lincolnwood, is seeking volunteers over age 16 to assist with resident programs. If interested, call Brad Howell at (847) 673-7166.
CJE SeniorLife is in need of more volunteers for its home-delivered meals program in the Evanston, Skokie and Morton Grove areas. Hot and cold meals are delivered between 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. weekdays. Volunteers work in teams of two; one person drives and the other delivers the meals to the client’s door. Volunteers may choose on what basis to deliver meals or assist one or two weekdays regularly as their schedules permit. Call Cookie, (773) 508-1014.
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Hospice’s volunteer program offers opportunities to work with patients and families dealing with a terminal illness. Daytime hospice volunteers are needed to provide companionship and emotional support to patients and relief for their caregivers, provide transportation, run errands and perform light household tasks. An eight-week training course is 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesdays at 4901 Searle Parkway, Skokie. To register, call (847) 982-4365.
Rush North Shore Medical Center seeks hospital volunteers for day, evening and weekend positions including: emergency-room liaison, patient visitor, transporting patients, delivering flowers and greeting guests. Volunteers work four-hour shifts during the day and three-hour shifts in the evening. To obtain a volunteer application form, call (847) 933-6540, or visit www.rnsmc.org.
The Home Delivered Meals Program for the village of Skokie seeks drivers to deliver meals to Skokie’s homebound seniors. If you can spare an hour per week from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., call Terri Williams, (847) 933-8208.
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Orientation will meet from 2:30-4:30 p.m. May 8 at the Morton Grove Public Library, 6140 Lincoln Ave., Morton Grove. Presented by National Able Network. Registration is required. Go to www.worknetncc.com or call (708) 724-3119.
A Job Seeker Workshop will meet from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. April 26 at the Morton Grove Public Library, 6140 Lincoln Ave., Morton Grove. All-day Job Seeker Workshops are provided by employment coaches from Illinois WorkNet. Bring your own lunch; coffee and water will be provided. Topics include: Résumé/cover letter: expert guidance on writing résumés and cover letters that get results. Job search techniques: focuses on effective techniques to find jobs in today’s market; includes Internet job search tips and networking strategies. Interviewing: get the guidance and direction needed for interview preparation. Review the common questions and learn effective ways to answer them. Mock interviews will be conducted to practice your new-found skills and reinforce others. Registration is required. Call (847) 929-5101 or visit www.worknetncc.com. | <urn:uuid:e9e98af8-5802-4345-b9b0-c0b572a9220b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lincolnwood.suntimes.com/lifestyles/11881498-423/community-calendar-for-april-13.html | 2013-05-25T20:11:02Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907822 | 19,443 |
[b]Chinese medicine videos[/b]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw-N1psSjGc&feature=related]YouTube - How does traditional Chinese medicine work?[/url]
In Search of Acupuncture with Leonard Nemoy
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6NEoWyPwrE]YouTube - 5-09 In Search Of... Acupuncture (Part 1 of 3)[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okbp1hZaBoM&feature=related]YouTube - 5-09 In Search Of... Acupuncture (Part 2 of 3)[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdNVdbRnL2s&feature=related]YouTube - 5-09 In Search Of... Acupuncture (Part 3 of 3)[/url]
Here is some research that proved Chinese medicine is very real, and was televised on TV as it happened.
[url=http://www.open2.net/alternativemedicine/]BBC/OU Open2.net - Alternative Medicine[/url]
[url=http://www.veoh.com/videos/v11124359dPnbdgmy?rank=4&jsonParams=%7B%22order%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22range%22%3A%22a%22%2C%22query%22%3A%22acupuncture%22%2C%22numResults%22%3A20%2C%22rlmax%22%3Anull%2C%22rlmin%22%3A0%2C%22sId%22%3A%22646614349416831019%22%2C%22veohOnly%22%3Atrue%7D&searchId=646614349416831019&rank=5]Alternative Medicine, Acupuncture-The evidence | Free Lifestyle Videos - Watch Lifestyle Videos Online | Veoh[/url]
Acupuncture anasthesia, a girl receives open heart surgery while fully concious and without a general anesthetic and minimal sedation-
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-dWMpuYnwQ]YouTube - Ancient Wisdoms?[/url]
Ancient Chinese Anti-toxin and anti-cancer Herbal Medicine long known in China, proven to be effective against cancer and is being used to make Anti-Cancer drugs in the west
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDAGqnmxFEQ]YouTube - Using Chinese Mint to make Anti-Cancer drugs[/url]
Chinese medicine video-
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi2sQ1QS8vQ]YouTube - Chinese Medicine[/url]
Example of Cerebral Palsy-
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0xvAJYexPU&mode=related&search=]YouTube - The Brycen Chronicles: Chair :cerebral palsy[/url]
Acupuncture Cerebral Palsy Miracle
Acupuncture Cerebral Palsy Miracle Cure Malaysia[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3n2fk4OQFA&mode=related&search=]YouTube - CP Cerebral Palsy Acupuncture Treatment Research[/url]
[url=http://www.open2.net/alternativemedicine/]BBC/OU Open2.net - Alternative Medicine[/url]
[url=http://www.physorg.com/news10216.html]Study: Acupuncture Does Combat Pain[/url]
Article about scientific data proving acupuncture is real-
[url=http://www.naturalnews.com/024248_medicine_acupuncture_scientific_studies.html]Acupuncture and Its Slow Acceptance in Mainstream Science Circles[/url]
Here are some scientific studies which demonstrate how sophisticated instruments can prove that electrical skin impedance is much lower at acupoints than other locations on the body-
[quote]Studies of Skin Impedance
Having established a healthy skepticism for the conclusions of any one study, it is commonly the case that when overwhelming amounts of scientific investigations point to a similar result, that result is eventually accepted as 'truth' -- at least in part.
For acupuncture, it has been overwhelmingly shown that skin impedance (the skin's resistance to electrical current) is lower on the acupoints, in other words, the points on the body that correspond to the TCM meridian system conduct electricity better than other points.
Let us review a short cross-section of some of the findings. The China Academy of TCM in Beijing conducted an experiment which appeared in a 1999 issue of the Acupuncture and Electro-Therapeutics Research journal where a specific point on the pericardium meridian was found to have consistently lower impedance than other non-acupoints (Zhang, Xu, Zhu) (4), .
In 2005, the American Journal of Chinese Medicine published a study demonstrating higher conductivity between two acupoints than between an acupoint and a non-acupoint. The results clearly show lower impedance on the path of the traditional TCM meridians (Lee MS, Jeong SY, Lee YH, Jeong DM, Eo, Ko) (5),
Similar results were discovered in another 2005 study conducted at the Department of Internal Medicine at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel, and published in The Israel Medical Association Journal (IMAJ). This study took an important step further by observing how the amount of impedance found at an acupoint can serve to diagnose problems with the corresponding internal organ (Zimlichman, Lahad, Aron-Maor, Kanevsky and Shoenfeld) (6),
A 2006 study from the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro in Mexico was published in the Complementary Therapies in Medicine journal and also found lower electrical impedance on acupoints. This study also demonstrates how common illnesses might be diagnosed by measuring the impedance factor on acupoints (Prokhorov, Prokhorova, González-Hernández, Kovalenko, Llamas, Moctezuma and Romero) (7),
[url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WCS-4HBTDCX-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=76109a9d31df78f11855128891bb9ca1]ScienceDirect - Complementary Therapies in Medicine : In vivo dc and ac measurements at acupuncture points in healthy and unhealthy people[/url]
In 2007, the peer-reviewed medical journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM) published a study from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Graduate Institute, in which lower skin impedance was systematically found on acupoints (Colbert, Yun, Larsen, Edinger, Gregory and Thong) (8),
[url=http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/nem060]Skin Impedance Measurements for Acupuncture Research: Development of a Continuous Recording System -- Colbert et al. 5 (4): 443 -- Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine[/url]
The studies on this subject number in the hundreds and the case seems overwhelming -- flesh at the acupoints conducts electricity better than non-acupoints. But what does that mean?
Since acupuncture follows the TCM meridian system, a theory which contends that bio-electricity (electric phenomena occurring in living organisms) has a tendency to follow certain paths in the body, scientific evidence of low skin impedance (higher electrical conductivity) on the points along the meridians seems to fit with TCM theory.[/quote]
Some people have attempted to prove acupuncture false by using a needle that feels like it pricks the skin but doesn't really penetrate the skin, as a placebo. The problem with that is that appraoch knows nothing about acupuncture. If you see in the videos, the insertion of the needle has nothing to do with the effects, it's only the manipulation after it is inserted that has strong effects that you physically feel, and it's the manipulation of the needle that can do real things and increase health.
Remember, the pin prick has nothing to do with it, it's the manipulation after the insertion, and de qi, that makes it real
what is considered the most necessary part of acupuncture treatment is the "de qi", or what western studies are now seeming to call "needle grasp". This happens after the needle is inserted due to manipulation by the doctor, and to the doctor feels like a subtle feeling like a fish pulling a fishing line a little bit, like a magnetic current pulling on the needle. It's not hitting a nerve or anything easily explained by western science. This needle grasp creates many strong sensations like numbing, heaviness, electricity, tingling, warmth, vibrating, etc. in the patient. It is essential for curing diseases with acupuncture. Other methods are Intensive acupressure massage, cupping, herbal medicine, external qi emission from doctor to patient, and Qigong and meditation exercises,
What I am really getting at is that there have been some western doctors who tried to make a faulty and incorrect kind of test for acupuncture. They made some needles that feel like they were pricking you, but weren't actually going in. They decided then to test 2 groups of people, one group they inserted needles into certain known acupuncture points that supposed to treat a certain thing. Then they gave the fake needles to the other group who thought they were real. The testers said their test showed "real"acupucnture was no more effective than "sham"acupucnture. However, since they were not acupuncturists and knew nothing about neelde grasp or de qi, what they were really testing was sham acupuncture vs. sham acupuncture, not real acupucnture vs. sham acupuncture.
Others tried to test it by comparing needles put in "fake" points vs. needles put in "real" acupuncture points. These tests are also invalid because they didn't understand de qi.
[url=http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2002/A/2002801.html]A 2,000 year-old technique may hold the key to acupuncture's therapeutic effect[/url]
[url=http://www.medicalacupuncture.com/aama_marf/journal/vol13_1/pov2.html]Medical Acupuncture Online Journal, Volume 13 #1, pov 2[/url]
[quote]A 2,000 year-old technique may hold the key to acupuncture's therapeutic effect
A new study establishes a link between needle manipulation and biomechanical effects
Bethesda, MD -- Western medical experts have been inherently skeptical of acupuncture's therapeutic value for the treatment of pain and other medical conditions. One reason is that it seems very unlikely that the simple act of inserting fine needles into tissue could elicit any effect at all, let alone wide-ranging and long-lasting therapeutic effects. Acupuncture needles are of a finer gauge than even the finest hypodermic needles (not considered therapeutic); acupuncture rarely results in a single drop of blood being discharged.
What skeptics are not aware of is that acupuncture typically involves manual needle manipulation after needle insertion. Manual needle manipulation consists of rapidly rotating (back-and-forth or one direction) and/or pistoning (up-and-down motion) of the needle. The manipulation can be brief (a few seconds), prolonged (several minutes), or intermittent depending on the clinical situation. Manipulation occurs even when electrical stimulation is used (a relatively recent development in the history of acupuncture).
Traditionally, manipulation is performed to elicit the characteristic reaction to acupuncture needling known as "de qi." De qi has a sensory component, known as "needle grasp," which is perceived by the patient as an ache or heaviness in the area surrounding the needle and a simultaneously occurring biomechanical component that can be perceived by the acupuncturist. During needle grasp, the acupuncturist feels as if the tissue is grasping the needle such that there is increased resistance to further motion of the manipulated needle. This "tug" on the needle is classically described as "like a fish biting on a fishing line."
Needle grasp can range from subtle to very strong, with pulling back on the needle resulting in visible tenting of the skin. During acupuncture treatments, needle manipulation is used to elicit and enhance de qi, and de qi is used as feedback to confirm that the proper amount of needle stimulation has been used.
De qi is widely viewed as essential to acupuncture's therapeutic effectiveness. Needle manipulation, de qi, and needle grasp, therefore, are potentially important components of acupuncture's therapeutic effect, yet the mechanisms underlying de qi and needle grasp are unknown. As a first step toward understanding the physiological and therapeutic significance of de qi, researchers quantified needle grasp by measuring the force necessary to pull an inserted acupuncture needle out of the tissues (pullout force). They also hypothesized that:
* Pullout force is greater with two different types of needle manipulation commonly used in acupuncture practice [bidirectional (BI) and unidirectional (UNI) needle rotation] than with needle insertion with no manipulation (NO). If proven true, this will demonstrate that needle manipulation has measurable biomechanical effects.
* These measurable effects could suggest that needle manipulation may indeed play an important role in acupuncture therapy as de qi is traditionally believed to be greater at "acupuncture points."
* Pullout force is greater at classically defined acupuncture points than at nonacupuncture control points.
To test these hypotheses, an experiment was performed in which normal human subjects received different types of acupuncture needle manipulation at eight acupuncture points and eight corresponding control points.
The authors of the research study, "Biomechanical Response to Acupuncture Needling in Humans," are Helene M. Langevin, David L. Churchill, James R. Fox, Gary J. Badger, Brian S. Garra, and Martin H. Krag, all from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont. Their findings are published in the December 2001 edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Healthy volunteers, ages 18-55, were invited to participate. Exclusion criteria were a history of diabetes, neuromuscular disease, bleeding disorder, collagen vascular disease, acute or chronic corticosteroid therapy, and extensive scarring or dermatological abnormalities in the areas tested. Volunteers taking anti-inflammatory or antihistamine medications were asked to discontinue their use three days before testing. Female volunteers were excluded if they were pregnant. Testing was not scheduled during menstruation to avoid possible discomfort due to cessation of anti-inflammatory medication.
Thirty-eight women and 22 men completed the testing protocol. The mean age and body mass index of the participants was 37.1 ± 10.2 years and 26.5 ± 5.3 kg/m2, respectively. There were no significant differences with respect to these subject characteristics between the groups of subjects randomized to the three needle-manipulation types.
Eight traditional acupuncture point locations were investigated. For each location, pairs of corresponding acupuncture points on the right and left sides of the body were identified and marked with a skin marker (16 acupuncture points total). Acupuncture points were identified according to traditional methods. Approximate position was determined in relation to anatomic landmarks (e.g., bones, tendons) and proportional measurements (e.g., fraction of the distance between wrist and elbow creases). Palpation, feeling for a slight depression or yielding of tissues determined the precise position of each acupuncture point. For each location, right and left sides of the body were then randomly selected for acupuncture point and control point. On the side selected for control point, a disk-shaped template was centered on the acupuncture point.
Throughout testing, subjects were neither told nor able to see or hear any indication of which side was used for each point (acupuncture and control) and which needle manipulation type (NO, BI, or UNI) was being performed. All needling procedures (insertion, manipulation, pullout, and pullout-force measurement) were performed by a computer-controlled acupuncture needling system. This ensured consistent experimental conditions and eliminated many potential sources of investigator bias.
The measurements of pullout force are the first quantification of needle grasp, a biomechanical aspect of the characteristic de qi reaction widely viewed as essential to the therapeutic effect of acupuncture. The research found 167 and 52 percent increases in pullout force with UNI and BI, respectively, compared with NO. Needle manipulation increased pullout force at both acupuncture points and control points. Although 18 percent difference in mean pullout force between acupuncture points and control points existed, the magnitude of this difference was much smaller than the difference caused by manipulation of the needle. Together, these results indicate that needle grasp is strongly influenced by needle manipulation and that this effect is not unique to acupuncture points.
Needle grasp has been described in acupuncture textbooks for over 2,000 years. This study constitutes a first step toward determining the biological and clinical significance of this phenomenon. For the first time, a link has been demonstrated between acupuncture needle manipulation and biomechanical events in the tissue. These biomechanical events are potentially associated with long-lasting cellular and extracellular effects. Developing an understanding of these effects in future studies may eventually lead to insights into acupuncture's therapeutic mechanisms. In the shorter term, these same effects may also provide important biological markers that can be used in clinical trials of acupuncture.
December 2001 edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology.
The American Physiological Society (APS) was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied science, much of it relating to human health. The Bethesda, MD-based Society has more than 10,000 members and publishes 3,800 articles in its 14 peer-reviewed journals every year.[/quote]
Previous studies on acupuncture have focused on the ancient art’s therapeutic effects, but recent UVM research has established scientific evidence of the body's response to acupuncture needling.
No previous research has looked at the effect of the manipulation of the acupuncture needle on the tissue. The two-year College of Medicine study takes a major step towards establishing credibility among Western medical practitioners for the therapy long considered "alternative." A report on the study, titled "Biomechanical Response to Acupuncture Needling in Humans," will be featured in the December issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Much of the skepticism about acupuncture stems from the fact that use of hypodermic needles, although routine in Western medicine, is not in itself considered therapeutic. Lead investigator Dr. Helene Langevin says the key to acupuncture’s biomechanical effect is not the insertion of each ultra-fine acupuncture needle, but its manipulation.
During an acupuncture session, each needle is manipulated in order to elicit the de qi (pronounced "day-chee") response. De qi is traditionally believed to be essential in achieving acupuncture’s therapeutic effect. A phenomenon called "needle grasp" is a component of de qi that is often described by acupuncturists as feeling like a fish tugging on a line. When de qi occurs, patients typically experience an aching sensation.
To establish a scientific basis for acupuncture’s effect, the Vermont researchers sought to measure the force required to overcome the tissue-needle connection that occurs during needle grasp. Using a unique, computer-controlled, acupuncture-needling device, Langevin and her colleagues found that a much greater pullout force – 167 percent – was required when the needle was rotated in one direction after insertion than when it was not rotated. When the needle was rotated back and forth, the pullout force was 53 percent greater. This clinical study – which had a total of 60 participants – was the first to measure this effect using an objective methodology.
"We now know that needle manipulation has a measurable, biomechanical effect on the tissue," says Langevin, research assistant professor of neurology and licensed acupuncturist. "This effect was present at the control and acupuncture points that we measured, but somewhat more at the acupuncture points."
Although previously believed to be a muscle contraction, Langevin’s research indicates that layers superficial to the muscle – skin and/or subcutaneous connective tissues – may be involved in the body’s response to acupuncture needling. When the needle is pulled back during needle grasp, the biomechanical phenomenon is visibly recognizable as the tissue below the skin maintains its grasp on the needle, causing the skin to "tent."
"Our working hypothesis right now is that the needle grasp is due to connective tissue winding around the needle," says Langevin. "We also think that the needle may come into contact with more connective tissue at the acupuncture points identified in ancient texts. This may explain why the pullout force was slightly greater at those points."
Langevin also is the lead author of a hypothesis paper on research that supplements these findings. "Mechanical Signaling through Connective Tissue: A Mechanism for the Therapeutic Effect of Acupuncture" appeared in the October issue of The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal. She and her colleagues plan to focus future research on trying to prove that connective tissue is indeed involved in needle grasp.
In addition to Langevin, the research team included David Churchill, Gale Weld and Jason Yandow, neurology; Dr. Martin Krag, and James Fox, orthopaedics and rehabilitation; Gary Badger, medical biostatistics; and Dr. Brian Garra, radiology. [/quote]
The scientific data shows that-
1. Acupoints and acupunture meridians have real physical existence, as already demonstrated above
2. Acupuncture has real therapeutic effects on disease-
More studies on the effects of acupunture on disease-
CONCLUSION: Acupuncture combined with Yizhi Jiannao Granules has a significant therapeutic effect on Alzheimer's disease, which is better than that of Yizhi Jiannao Granules or Aricept.
[url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19565731?ordinalpos=13&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum][Clinical observation on acupuncture combined with...[Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2009] - PubMed Result[/url]
CONCLUSION: Acupuncture of Jiaji (EX-B 2) is an effective therapy in the treatment of cervical hypertension.
[url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17691579?ordinalpos=14&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum][Analysis on the therapeutic effect of acupuncture...[Zhen Ci Yan Jiu. 2007] - PubMed Result[/url]
CONCLUSION: The therapeutic effect of the treatment group is better than that of the control group. Acupuncture combined with western medicine has cooperation for treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage with a better therapeutic effect.
[url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16642607?ordinalpos=15&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum][Clinical observation on effect of acupuncture on ...[Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2006] - PubMed Result[/url]
Acupuncture Relieves Pain and Improves Function in Knee Osteoarthritis
[url=http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2004/acu-osteo/pressrelease.htm]Acupuncture Relieves Pain and Improves Function in Knee Osteoarthritis [NCCAM News and Events][/url]
[quote]Acupuncture provides pain relief and improves function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee and serves as an effective complement to standard care. This landmark study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), both components of the National Institutes of Health. The findings of the study—the longest and largest randomized, controlled phase III clinical trial of acupuncture ever conducted—were published in the December 21, 2004, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.[/quote]
CONCLUSION: Combined TCM and western medicine treatment has rapid and definite therapeutic effect in reducing pain and improving mobility of knee joints and daily living ability in Caucasian patients of knee osteoarthritis.
[url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18630549?ordinalpos=18&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum][Comparative study on Chinese medicine and western...[Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2008] - PubMed Result[/url]
Here the actual brain was monitored-
[url=http://acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=27585]New Studies Confirm Acupuncture Relieves Pain[/url]
CONCLUSIONS: The combined use of acupuncture andChinese medicines is more effective for treating menopausal syndrome.
[url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18416072?ordinalpos=27&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum]The combined use of acupuncture and Chinese medici...[J Tradit Chin Med. 2008] - PubMed Result[/url]
List of diseases Acupuncture successfully treats-
[url=http://tcm.health-info.org/WHO-treatment-list.htm#_treat]Acupuncture Research: WHO - World Health Organization Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine information (Vancouver, Chinese herbal medicine, tuina massage, Chinese herbs, pictures, women's health, Chinese medicine history, common disease treatme[/url]
[quote]Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture
The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below. Click on the condition to see summaries of the supporting studies.
1. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved— through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment:
Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
Dysentery, acute bacillary
Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
Induction of labour
Low back pain
Malposition of fetus, correction of
Nausea and vomiting
Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
Periarthritis of shoulder
2. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed:
Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
Alcohol dependence and detoxification
Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
Competition stress syndrome
Craniocerebral injury, closed
Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
Female urethral syndrome
Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
Hepatitis B virus carrier status
Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
Pain due to endoscopic examination
Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein–Leventhal syndrome)
Postextubation in children
Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
Raynaud syndrome, primary
Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic
Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
Spine pain, acute
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Whooping cough (pertussis)
3. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult:
Choroidopathy, central serous
Irritable colon syndrome
Neuropathic bladder in spinal cord injury
Pulmonary heart disease, chronic
Small airway obstruction
4. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture may be tried provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment:
Breathlessness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Convulsions in infants
Coronary heart disease (angina pectoris)
Diarrhoea in infants and young children
Encephalitis, viral, in children, late stage
Paralysis, progressive bulbar and pseudobulbar [/quote]
Acupuncture In The Treatment Of Chronic Urticaria: A Double Blind Study- we suggest that acupuncture can be used for the treatment of chronic urticaria especially in the resistant forms.
[url=http://www.ispub.com/journal/the_internet_journal_of_dermatology/volume_7_number_1_18/article/acupuncture_in_the_treatment_of_chronic_urticaria_a_double_blind_study.html]ISPUB - Acupuncture In The Treatment Of Chronic Urticaria: A Double Blind Study[/url]
A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Acupuncture for the Treatment of Childhood Persistent Allergic Rhinitis- This study showed that active acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture in decreasing the symptom scores for persistent allergic rhinitis and increasing the symptom-free days
[url=http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/114/5/1242]A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Acupuncture for the Treatment of Childhood Persistent Allergic Rhinitis -- Ng et al. 114 (5): 1242 -- Pediatrics[/url] | <urn:uuid:f6d06d26-b46e-4656-8350-bd2e1d7f5304> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/chinese-medicine-and?xg_browser=iphone | 2013-06-20T09:18:38Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877969 | 6,702 |
American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion,
Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century
by Kevin Phillips
Viking, 480 pages, $26.95
The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us
by James Rudin
Thunder’s Mouth, 300 pages, $26
Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
by Michelle Goldberg
W.W. Norton, 224 pages, $23.95
Thy Kingdom Come: How The Religious Right Distorts the Faith
and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament
by Randall Balmer
Basic, 242 pages, $24.95
This is a paranoid moment in American politics. A host of conspiracies haunt our national imagination, and apparent incompetence is assumed to be the consequence of a dark design: President Bush knew about the attacks of September 11 in advance, or else the Israelis did; the Straussians took us to war in Iraq, unless the oil companies did; the federal government let the levees break in New Orleans, unless it dynamited them itself.
Perhaps the strangest of these strange stories, though, is the notion that twenty-first-century America is slouching toward theocracy. This is an old paranoia: Back in 1952, the science-fiction libertarian Robert Heinlein’s Revolt in 2100 envisioned a religious tyranny toppled by a Freemason-led rebellion; in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale imagined America as a Christian-fascist Republic of Gilead, with its capital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its public executions staged in Harvard Yard. But the fear of theocracy has become a defining panic of the Bush era, reaching a fever pitch in the weeks after the 2004 election, when a host of commentators seized on polls suggesting that moral values had pushed the president over the top”and found in that data point a harbinger of Gilead.
Later, more cool-headed polling analysis suggested that the values explanation was something of a stretch: The movement of religious voters into the GOP played a role in Bush’s victory, but the uptick in his support between 2000 and 2004 seems mainly to have reflected national-security concerns. Still, these pesky facts didn’t stop Garry Wills from announcing the end of the Enlightenment and the arrival of jihad in America, or Jane Smiley from bemoaning the ignorance and bloodlust of Bush voters in thrall to a fire-and-brimstone God, or left-wing bloggers from chattering about Jesusland and fundies and plotting their escape to Canada.
The paranoia hasn’t yet burned down to embers. The term theocrat has become a commonplace, employed by bomb-throwing columnists, otherwise-sensible reporters, and centrist Republicans such as Connecticut’s Christopher Shays, who recently complained that the GOP was becoming the party of theocracy. And now the specter of a looming Khomeini’ism has migrated into the realm of pop sociology, producing a spate of books with titles like The Baptizing of America, Kingdom Coming, Thy Kingdom Come -and, inevitably, American Theocracy , the Kevin Phillips jeremiad that shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list this spring.
Most of these books aspire to be anthropologies, guides for the perplexed that lead the innocent reader through what the subtitle of American Theocracy calls the perils and politics of radical religion. There isn’t perfect agreement on what to call the religious radicals in question: Everyone employs theocrat, but Kingdom Coming also proposes Christian nationalist, while The Baptizing of America favors the clunky Christocrat. Others have suggested Christianist, the better to link religious conservatives to Osama bin Laden”and of course there’s the ubiquitous theocon, suggesting a deadly mixture of Oliver Cromwell and Paul Wolfowitz.
But the various authors are in agreement about the main point, which is that something has gone terribly wrong with the separation of church and state in this country, and that America is poised to fall into the hands of people only one step from the ayatollahs. Today’s battles aren’t just a matter of ordinary political factionalism, they insist. The hour is much later than that, and nothing less than the republic itself hangs in the balance.
To understand what, precisely, the anti-theocrats think has gone so wrong, it’s necessary to understand what they mean by the term theocracy . This is no easy task. The word is often used to connote government by a specific institutional faith”Shia imams in Iran, say, or Wahhabi clerics in Afghanistan”with the clergy writing laws and a temple guard enforcing them. But the clout of institutional religion is at low ebb in American politics. No prelate wields the kind of authority that Catholic bishops once enjoyed over urban voters, no denomination can claim the kind of influence that once belonged to the old WASP mainline, and the evangelical Protestantism that figures so prominently in anti-theocracy tracts is distinguished precisely by its lack of any centralized ecclesiastical government.
Occasionally, the anti-theocrats flirt with the possibility that one institutional church or another might pose a threat to the democratic order. In American Theocracy , for instance, Kevin Phillips waxes paranoid about the Southern Baptist Convention’s role as the state church of the South, and he tallies, darkly, the number of Baptists who have insinuated themselves into the highest levels of American government. But for the most part, the sum of all secular fears is slightly”but only slightly”more plausible than a Southern Baptist caesaropapism. The real danger, the anti-theocrats suggest, is an ecumenical theocracy that would install a right-wing Mere Christianity as its established religion, subject unbelievers to discrimination, and enshrine the Mosaic code as the law of the land.
In The Baptizing of America , Rabbi James Rudin”the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser”offers a sketch of what America will look like if the theocrats get their way. All government employees”federal, state and local”would be required to participate in weekly Bible classes in the workplace, as well as compulsory daily prayer sessions, as would employees of any company or institution receiving federal funds. There would be a national ID card, identifying everyone by their religious beliefs, or lack thereof”and such cards would provide Christocrats with preferential treatment in many areas of life, including home ownership, student loans, employment and education. Non-Christian faiths would be tolerated, but younger members . . . would be strongly encouraged to formally convert to the dominant evangelical Christianity. Gay sex would be prosecuted, and known homosexuals and lesbians would have to successfully undergo government-sponsored reeducation sessions if they applied for any public-sector jobs. Political dissent would be squashed, religious censors would keep watch over the popular culture, and the mainstream press and the electronic media would be beaten into submission.
Sadly, Rudin’s book is thin on examples of significant political actors who are proposing taking any of these steps, let alone all of them. What he has instead are the Christian Reconstructionists”the acolytes of the late R.J. Rushdoony”who are genuine theocrats, of a sort, and who also rank somewhere between the Free Mumia movement and the Spartacist Youth League on the totem pole of political influence in America. Yet this doesn’t prevent them from figuring prominently in nearly all the anti-theocrat anthropologies, playing the same role that international communism played for right-wing paranoiacs in the 1950s: the puppet master working from the shadows and the hidden hand behind every secular setback.
Like a diehard John Bircher poring over Dwight D. Eisenhower’s speeches in search of the Supreme Soviet’s marching orders, Rudin scans the utterances of evangelicals and their allies for Reconstructionist language. Did Billy Graham once advise evangelicals to run for public office and take control of the various branches for government? Then he must believe, with the Reconstructionists, that all adversaries must be completely eliminated from positions of authority and that to achieve a divine end by any means”including cruelty, deception, and brute force”is justified. Did Antonin Scalia suggest that government derives its moral authority from God? Well, he doubtless intended to issue a legal green light to theocrats seeking to destroy all existing political systems . . . and replace them with their own religion-soaked political regimes.
Perhaps most religious conservatives, Rudin generously allows, are unaware of the potent ideology that calls for the dismantling of American democracy . . . and its replacement by an authoritarian Christian commonwealth. But then, of course, most Eisenhower voters were unaware, in the 1950s, that Ike’s administration was infiltrated and controlled by Communist agents”and more fool they.
Similarly, Kevin Phillips announces that for all practical purposes, Pat Robertson is a Christian Reconstructionist”not because Robertson has ever identified himself as such but because his start-up university bears the sinister sobriquet Regent, an obvious reference to the Rushdoonian notion of Christians as God’s viceroys on Earth. Phillips doesn’t precisely accuse President Bush of being a Reconstructionist, but he notes that Bush’s GOP gets an awful lot of votes from the Mormons”who have created a de-facto establishment of religion in the inner mountain West”and that the Bush family has been close to the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his cultish Unification Church. And then there’s Bush’s habit of encoding private scriptural invocations into his speeches. Not only did the president use the biblically loaded phrases hills to climb and seeing the valley below in his 2004 convention acceptance speech, but he also mentioned the resurrection of New York City. The resurrection. Clearly something sinister is afoot.
Michelle Goldberg’s Kingdom Coming : The Rise of Christian Nationalism is marginally less ridiculous than this, perhaps because Goldberg, a reporter for Salon, actually spent some time among the believers and even found herself liking them. I was treated with remarkable openness and hospitality, she notes, and speaks with sympathy of the Christian nationalists’ eagerness to engage in passionate discussion about the meaning of life, and about how we understand morality and reality. But within a page, she’s quoting Hannah Arendt on the origins of totalitarianism and warning balefully that individual decency can dissolve when groups are mobilized against diabolized enemies.
Goldberg’s approach, like that of all the anti-theocrat authors, is to assume that the most extreme manifestation of religious conservatism must, by definition, be its most authentic expression. So she analyzes contemporary evangelicalism without once mentioning Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, or any other prominent pop theologian, and her description of mega-churches”at once temples of religious nationalism and tightly organized right-wing political machines”suggests a fairly thin acquaintance with the variegated world of entrepreneurial Protestantism. The continuum of conservative Christian belief, in her telling, runs from Rushdoony on the Right to D. James Kennedy on the Left. And the taint of theocracy is everywhere, infecting everyone from Timothy McVeigh (a potential harbinger of theocratic authoritarianism, despite his distinct lack of Christian beliefs) to Marvin Olasky (who seems to be drawn to totalitarian ideologies).
You can even be a totalitarian-theocrat-authoritarian without realizing it. Describing a speaker at a rally following the death of Terri Schiavo, Goldberg admits that the lawyer David Gibbs is a Baptist, not a Reconstructionist. But then comes the kicker: But whether he knew it or not, Reconstructionism shaped his thinking, just as it shaped the thinking of the Christian nationalist movement as a whole.
These inanities are almost excusable, since Goldberg is such an obvious prisoner of her biases and preconceptions. Whereas Randall Balmer’s Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical’s Lament is less forgivable, because Balmer ought to have known better. He is an evangelical Christian, a professor of religious history at Columbia, and the author of Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory , a largely sympathetic exploration of evangelical belief in America. Yet Thy Kingdom Come -a glorified pamphlet, despite its endless subtitle”is indistinguishable from the general run of secularist hysterics, save for a smug reference to Balmer’s spotless Sunday school attendance record and a patina of real Baptist outrage over how the Religious Right has supposedly hijacked his heritage.
There’s certainly room, after thirty years of culture war, for an informed and evenhanded critique of Christian conservatism, and Balmer’s background would seem to make him an ideal writer for the job. But while he occasionally nods in the direction of intelligent criticism”noting the disparity between the Christian Right’s fixation on gay marriage, say, and its long-running silence on divorce; or zinging religious conservatives for writing the Bush administration a blank check in the war on terror”these arguments are quickly dropped in favor of the usual litany of anti-theocrat complaints, flavored with the usual apocalyptic rhetoric.
What would America look like if the Religious Right had its way? Balmer wonders. The best answer is that Christian conservatism hankers for the kind of homogeneous theocracy that the Puritans tried to establish in seventeenth-century Massachusetts. A few attempts to insert Intelligent Design into public school curricula constitute an insidious plot to overturn the Enlightenment, while the campaign to allow voluntary prayer in public schools is an attempt to dismantle the First Amendment. In the debate over vouchers and homeschooling, Balmer (who opposes both) assures his readers that the future of American democracy hangs in the balance.
Once again, all roads lead to Rushdoony. Reconstructionism, Thy Kingdom Come asserts, has driven evangelicalism’s radical tack to the right, influencing everyone from Pat Robertson to Richard Land to Jerry Falwell to Roy Moore. But unlike Rudin or Phillips, Balmer doesn’t bother to do close readings of conservative speeches, teasing out the Reconstructionist code words and theocratic allusions. He has all the evidence he needs: The Rushdoonian Chalcedon Foundation’s website, Balmer announces with the air of a lawyer delivering an airtight summation, once published a defense of Roy Moore, which was penned by an associate professor at Falwell’s Liberty University. So Rushdoony is Moore is Falwell: Case closed.
When the evidence for Rushdoonian infiltration of the Religious Right grows thin for even the most diligent decoder, the subject is usually changed to the Rapture, another supposed pillar of the emerging theocratic edifice. Premillenarian dispensationalism’s emphasis on the imminent collapse of all institutions, foreign and domestic, would seem an odd fit with Reconstructionism’s idea of hastening Christ’s coming by building his (political) kingdom on Earth. But every 1950s conspiracist knew that when Communists seemed to differ”Tito and Stalin, Stalin and Mao”it only concealed a deeper concord. Similarly, everyone on the Christian Right is understood to be on the same side, no matter their superficial disagreements.
And the Rapture thesis has too much explanatory power to be ignored. Why did George W. Bush go to war in Iraq? The answers are all in the Book of Revelation”or perhaps on the Christian fiction aisle of your local Barnes and Noble. It is eerie, writes Phillips, to see so many Bush administration foreign-policy qualities anticipated in the Left Behind novels. One step further into absurdity, Balmer informs his readers that the belief in dispensational premillennialism explains the lousy church architecture of the last fifty years: Why invest your resources in building or ornamentation when Jesus will return at any time?
Or again, why are Christocrats fiddling while the Late Great Planet Earth burns? In a New York Review of Books essay on The Evangelist Menace, Bill Moyers explained the theocrats’ reasoning this way: Why care about the earth when the droughts, floods, famine, and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why care about global climate change when you and yours will be rescued in the Rapture?
Never mind that conservative Catholics tend to be relatively supportive of environmental regulation, that evangelicals are divided on the issue (and perhaps trending leftward), and that the Bush administration’s refusal to take dramatic steps to combat global warming”like the Clinton administration’s refusal before it”probably has more to do with economics than eschatology. Never mind, too, that the main evidence for the pernicious influence of apocalypticism seems to be the success of a series of bestselling thrillers, which is rather like trying to divine a widespread gnostic political conspiracy by tabulating sales of The Da Vinci Code .
Never mind, because the Rushdoony-and-Rapture theory’s implausibility is crucial to its appeal. Just as a plausible account of American politics in the 1950s would have left no room for the fantasies of the John Birch Society, a reasonable account of the Religious Right would have to accept the possibility that religious conservatives are fairly normal American political actors, seeking to further their agenda through normal political channels. Or as National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru put it, in an essay written amid the values voter hysteria of 2004:
It may be instructive to think about the wish list of Christian-conservative organizations involved in politics. They would generally prohibit abortion, and perhaps research that destroys human embryos. They would have the government refuse to accord legal standing to homosexual relationships. They would restrict pornography in various ways. They would have more prayer in the schools, and less evolution. They think that religious groups should be able to participate in federal programs without compromising their beliefs. They would replace sex education with abstinence education. They want the government to promote marital stability . . . . Nearly every one of these policies”and all of the most conservative ones”would merely turn the clock back to the late 1950s. That may be a very bad idea, but the America of the 1950s was not a theocracy.
This reality poses no particular problem if you simply disagree with religious conservatives about abortion or gay marriage or prayer in public schools. But if you’re committed to the notion that religious conservatives represent an existential threat to democratic government, you need a broader definition of theocracy to convey your sense of impending doom. Which is why the anti-theocrats often suggest that it doesn’t take mullahs, an established church, or a Reconstructionist ban on adultery to make a theocracy. All you need are politicians who invoke religion and apply Christian principles to public policy.
If that’s all it takes to make a theocracy, then these writers are correct: Contemporary America is run by theocrats. Of course, by that measure, so was the America of every previous era. The United States has always been at once a secular republic and a religious nation, reflexively libertarian and fiercely pious, and this tension has been working itself out in our politics for more than two hundred years. It’s often been a mixed blessing, giving us Prohibition as well as abolition, Jesse Jackson as well as Reinhold Niebuhr, the obsession with free silver as well as the zeal for civil rights. But there’s no way to give an account of American history without grappling with this tension”and with the role played, for good and ill and sometimes both, by religious reformers from Jonathan Edwards all the way down to Jerry Falwell.
Yet this is a history that the anti-theocrats seem determined to reject. The Christian Right isn’t just bad for America because of its right-wing misapplication of religious faith, they suggest-it’s bad for America because any application of faith to politics is inevitably poisonous, intolerant, and illiberal.
Religion in America has always functioned best from the margins, Randall Balmer explains, urging Christians to retreat into a countercultural role that he claims is closer to what both the gospel and the Founders had in mind. (In Balmer’s world, homeschooling your children doesn’t count as being countercultural, but voting Democratic does.) There is no such thing as a Christian politics, Garry Wills intoned recently in a New York Times op-ed, warning liberals against trying to turn religion to their advantage. If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. In a Time magazine essay defending his use of the Osama-inflected term Christianist to describe religious conservatives, Andrew Sullivan announced his opposition to any politicization of the gospels by any party, Democratic or Republican, by partisan black churches or partisan white ones. My kingdom is not of this world,’ Jesus insisted. What part of that do we not understand?
In Kingdom Coming , Michelle Goldberg dismisses any talk of a Christian influence on the American founding as right-wing revisionism and then offers a bowdlerized history of her own, in which we were bequeathed a pristinely secular republic that the fundamentalists have been chipping away at ever since. Several times in our history, she notes, apparently innocuous references to God have been injected into public life during national crises, only to be used later to legitimate further erosions of church-state separation. These erosions include the In God We Trust added to the currency in 1863, the elimination of Sunday mail in 1912, and the 1954 insertion of under God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Obviously, the theocrats play a long game.
Whenever politicians invoke religion, Kevin Phillips suggests in a characteristic passage, the people perish: The newly Christian fourth-century Rome of the Emperor Constantine and his successors held up the cross as Rome faced military defeat and crumbling frontiers from Hadrian’s Wall to Assyria. So did seventeenth-century Spain, the proud but ill-omened command post of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Vestments of crusaderdom also cloaked imperial Britain’s overreach in World War I and its aftermath.
In addition to casting religious conservatives as mullahs, proto-fascists, and agents of American decline, this strict-separationist interpretation of world history frees the anti-theocrats from the messy business of actually arguing with their opponents. From sex education and government support for religious charities to stem cells and abortion, it’s enough to call something faith-based and dismiss it. Indeed, reading through the anti-theocrat literature, one gets the sense that the surest way to judge if a political idea is wrong, dangerous, or antidemocratic is to tally up the number of religious people who support it.
Except that nobody really believes this line. Just a few weeks before he announced that a Christian politics was a contradiction in terms, Garry Wills was in the New York Review of Books celebrating the role of the clergy in the civil rights movement and wiping a nostalgic tear from his eye as he declared that there was a time, not so long ago, when religion was a force for liberation in America. After years of blasting any religious encroachment on the political sphere as a threat to the Constitution, the New York Times editorial page awoke to find Cardinal Roger Mahony advocating civil disobedience by Catholics to protest an immigration bill”and immediately praised the cardinal for adding a moral dimension to what has largely been a debate about politics and economics. After spending two hundred pages describing all the evils that would pour through any breach in the wall between church and state, Michelle Goldberg suggests that liberals should hope that leaders on the Religious Left will find a way to channel some of America’s moral fervor into a new social gospel.
And just a chapter before launching into a florid denunciation of the Christian Right’s lust for political power and cultural influence, Randall Balmer celebrates Victorian evangelicals for taking on the task of reforming society according to the standards of godliness, and seeking generally to make the world a better place. He praises William Jennings Bryan for being a political liberal by today’s standards and even defends the Great Commoner against a brutal character assassination at the hands of H.L. Mencken during the Scopes trial”this from an author who devotes thirty pages to attacking Intelligent Design as a battering ram for theocrats bent on the conquest of American society. Bryan, Balmer explains, had fewer qualms about Darwinism itself than he did about the social effects of evolutionary theory.
A Christian is allowed to entertain such doubts, in other words, and allowed to mix religion and politics in support of sweeping social reforms” but only if those reforms are safely identified with the political Left, and with the interests of the Democratic party.
There are ways to avoid this contradiction, but none of them are particularly persuasive. Sometimes it’s argued that what sets the contemporary Christian Right apart from previous iterations of politically active religion isn’t its Christianity per se but its unwillingness to couch argument in terms that nonbelievers can accept”to use public reason, in the Rawlsian phrase, to make a political case that doesn’t rely on Bible-thumping. As a prudential matter, the case for public reason makes a great deal of sense. But one searches American history in vain”from abolitionist polemics down to Martin Luther King’s Scripture-saturated speeches”for any evidence of this supposedly ironclad rule being rigorously applied, or applied at all.
And besides, religious conservatives do, frequently and loudly, make arguments for their positions on non-theological grounds. Perhaps not as often as they should, to judge by the movement’s repeated political and cultural defeats (defeats that the anti-theocrats gloss over, since it would complicate their portrait of an all-powerful Christofascism on the march). But the evils of abortion, the value of heterosexual monogamy, the costs of promiscuity and pornography”all these issues are constantly being raised by social conservatives without appeals to the divine inspiration of the Bible. Tellingly, when a professor at Patrick Henry College explains to Goldberg how he teaches students to use terms and facts that the other side accepts as reasonable, she calls it a rhetorical two-step and casts it as yet another example of the devious Christianist project of political infiltration: Heads you’re a theocrat, tails you’re a theocrat.
Again, perhaps today’s Christians are too comprehensive in their political aims; religious involvement in politics is acceptable, this argument runs, so long as it takes place on an issue-by-issue basis, but the more sweeping the goals, the stronger the whiff of theocracy. For Jeff Sharlet, for instance, writing a Rolling Stone profile of Sam Brownback, it’s the senator’s willingness to talk about a sweeping Christian renewal that makes him creepy. Brownback, echoing John Paul II, says he hopes for a cultural springtime in America, and Sharlet sums up this vision as a theocratic order that is pleasant and balmy.
Except that it’s hard to imagine anything more sweeping than Martin Luther King’s dream for a Sermon on the Mount-style revolution in the South. King was a single-issue activist, in a sense, but his issue was the mystic renovation of an entire society. Similarly, the social gospel of Bryan’s era aimed at bringing an entire industrial society into line with biblical principles, making it easily as comprehensive as anything that Sam Brownback has ever dreamed up. So too with the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, whose bishops have over the years taken positions”often ill-advisedly but never theocratically”on issues ranging from marriage law to nuclear war to immigration. If anything, the single-issue argument is often used against Catholic conservatives, who are accused of being too narrowly focused on questions of life and death rather than the larger seamless garment of Catholic social teaching.
So maybe it’s not the issues, but the actors”the Christian Right’s narrow base of supporters, for instance, and its identification with a single political party, both of which contrast unfavorably with the supposed ecumenism and bipartisanship of the civil rights movement. This is the argument of Sullivan, among others; he admits that the civil-rights movement was indeed a fundamentally religious phenomenon, but . . . it was also multi-denominational and included Democrats and Republicans. Its core religious principle was non-violence, and it drew enormous inspiration from Gandhi. It included Jews and Muslims, Catholics and Protestants, atheists and agnostics. And it never, in King’s time, became a vehicle for one political party to win elections.
There’s a great deal of confusion here”the Religious Right is nothing if not multidenominational, for one thing”but also a grain of truth. No religion-infused movement can afford to be used by a political party as a way to gain votes and nothing more. That’s how the Democrats have used the Al Sharpton / Jesse Jackson-era civil rights establishment and, sadly, how the GOP has often used the Religious Right. But this is less of a danger to the nation’s self-government than to the integrity of religious witness. When Tom DeLay cloaks himself in the perfect redeeming love of Jesus Christ to brush off charges of corruption, it’s not the separation of church and state that’s in danger but DeLay’s own Christian faith. When preachers echo GOP talking points rather than shape them, they risk going down the same path trod by the liberal clerics of the 1960s, whose sermons became indistinguishable from the gospel according to the New York Times -until, as David Frum once put it, their parishioners began to wonder why they should spend a Sunday morning listening to the same editorial twice?
But any idealistic movement has to risk such compromises if it intends to leave the mountaintop and make a difference in the valley below. It’s telling that the obvious alternative, the purer-than-thou Christian quietism suggested, at times, by writers like Balmer and Wills, was often urged on believers by segregationist clerics in the civil rights-era South. The realities of politics don’t necessarily make for the most Christlike displays: I’ve got all my votes, and I’ve got a suitcase, Martin Luther King Sr. remarked after John F. Kennedy helped get his son released from jail, and I’m going to take them up there and dump them in his lap. But every moral crusade in American history has ultimately become intertwined with one or both of the political parties”because political parties are how movements get things done.
As for why the Religious Right has become so tightly bound to the GOP, rather than becoming as Democratic as the Populists once were, or as bipartisan as the civil rights movement was (albeit ever so briefly)”well, that’s a question that the anti-theocrats rarely address in any detail, beyond dark references to the nefarious activities of Karl Rove. Only Phillips has the honesty to analyze the political trends that have brought about this supposedly theocratic moment”and he does so with almost charming obliviousness, quoting experts such as John Green, Geoffrey Layman, and Louis Bolce, as if unaware that their arguments vitiate his thesis.
What all these observers point out, and what the anti-theocrats ignore, is that the religious polarization of American politics runs in both directions. The Republican party has become more religious because the Democrats became self-consciously secular, and the turning point wasn’t the 1992 or the 2000 elections but the putsch of 1972, when secularist delegates”to quote Phillips, quoting Layman”suddenly constituted the largest religious’ bloc among Democratic delegates. Yet having noted this rather significant fact, Phillips sets it aside and returns blithely to his preferred narrative, which is the transformation of the GOP into America’s first religious party. But that’s not what happened at all”or rather, it’s the second half of the story, the Republican reaction against the Democrats’ decision to become the first major party in American history to pander to a sizable bloc of aggressively secular voters.
This was very much a strategic electoral move on their part. As Mark Stricherz pointed out last year in a Commonweal essay titled Goodbye Catholics, Democrats in the McGovern era were faced with the crack-up of the old New Deal coalition and made a conscious decision to jettison blue-collar voters in favor of what a 1969 memo called a different political and social group with rising educational levels, affluence, and . . . greater cultural sophistication. At the time, pursuing a coalition of younger voters, minorities, and affluent suburbanites seemed a better bet than trying to hang on to socially conservative voters, especially given that all the energy in the party seemed to be coming from the Left. But it required the Democrats to identify with a segment of the population”self-identified secularists and nonbelievers”that has grown rapidly over the past three decades and grown more assertive along the way. Which in turn has alienated the devout plurality of Americans and left the Democratic party stuck just shy of majority status for the better part of a generation.
So the rise of the Religious Right, and the growing religion gap that Phillips describes but fails to understand, aren’t new things in American history but a reaction to a new thing: to an old political party newly dependent on a bloc of voters who reject the role that religion has traditionally played in American political life. The hysteria over theocracy, in turn, represents an attempt to rewrite the history of the United States to suit these voters’ prejudices, by setting a year zero somewhere around 1970 and casting everything that’s happened since as a battle between progress and atavism, reason and fundamentalism, the Enlightenment and the medieval dark.
The tragedy is that so many religious people have gone along with this revisionism”out of sympathy for the lifestyle liberalism of the secular Left, or out of disdain for the crudity and anti-intellectualism of some religious conservatives, or out of embarrassment in the face of a culture that sneers at anyone who takes their faith too seriously. In the process, they have become everything they claim to oppose: bigoted and hysterical, apocalyptic and self-righteous. What’s worse, they have corrupted themselves for the sake of a politics that cares nothing for their faith”that would tame it to suit the needs of secular society or do away with it entirely.
Garry Wills is half-right: There is no single Christian politics, and no movement can claim to have arrived at the perfect marriage of religious faith and political action. Christianity is too otherworldly for that, and the world too fallen. But this doesn’t free believers from the obligation to strive in political affairs, as they strive in all things, to do what God would have them do. And the moments when God’s will is inscrutable, or glimpsed only through a glass, darkly, are the moments when good-faith arguments between believers ought to bear the greatest fruit.
In today’s America, these arguments are constantly taking place”over issues ranging from abortion to foreign policy; over the potential, and potential limits, of interfaith cooperation; over the past and future of the Religious Right. But they are increasingly drowned out by cries of theocracy, theocracy, theocracy and by a zeal, among ostensibly religious intellectuals, to read their fellow believers out of public life and sell their birthright for the blessing of the New York Times .
Ross Douthat is an associate editor at the Atlantic Monthly and the author of Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class. | <urn:uuid:3cd38dfe-9646-4312-83b3-5fc5fc3605af> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.firstthings.com/article/2006/08/theocracy-theocracy-theocracy | 2015-03-30T10:38:54Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299261.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00252-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945335 | 7,544 |
RECORD: Armstrong, Patrick. 1991. Under the blue vault of heaven: A study of Charles Darwin's sojourn in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Nedlands: Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies.
REVISION HISTORY: Scanned by John van Wyhe, transcribed (single key) by AEL Data 9.2009. RN1
NOTE: Reproduced with the kind permission of Patrick Armstrong.
Books by the same author:
Charles Darwin in Western Australia: A young scientist's perception of an environment. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1985. Text
Charles Darwin's last island: Terceira, Azores, 1836. Geowest no. 27, 1992. Text
Darwin's desolate islands: A naturalist in the Falklands, 1833 and 1834. Chippenham: Picton Publishing, 1992. Text
The English Parson-Naturalist. Gracewing, 2000.
All Things Darwin: An Encyclopedia of Darwin's World. Greenwood: Connecticut, 2 vols., 2007.
Darwin's Luck. Continuum, 2009.
Charles Darwin spent 12 days at the Cocos (keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean during the Voyage of HMS Beagle in 1836. He explored many parts of the archipelago, and collected a large number of geological, plant and animal specimens. He paid particular attention to the form of the islands, and the surrounding coral reefs, for he had, only a few months before developed his coral atoll theory; this was his first flirtation with the though-form of gradualism that was to be so important in his later work.
This book seeks to reconstruct the young naturalist's activities on the island during his visit, using Darwin's notes and diary, the log of the Beagle, and other contemporary documents, and also to assess the importance of the few days he spent on the beautiful tropical atoll in the broad sweep of his work. In a number of the ways in which he recorded his observations, and arranged his data, can be seen signs that he was using techniques and ideas that were to be important to him later. The Galapagos Archipelago was not the only group of islands visited during the famous voyage that influenced Darwin's thinking. This book also shows how, to some extent at least, the way in which Darwin evaluated the island environment, was a product of his personal background, education and previous experience.
This work is jointly published by the Department of Geography of the University of Western Australia, and the recently launched Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies. The link with the Centre is not inappropriate for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, together with their population of Cocos Malays, illustrate many of the problems (strategic, economic, environmental) that are typical of remote islands in the modern world. The writings of Darwin and his contemporaries about the islands provide an interesting basis for comparisons with the present environment.
The author is senior lecturer in geography at the University of Western Australia, and has made an extensive study of Charles Darwin's life, work and influence.
Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies
Geography Dept, University of Western Australia
A Study of Charles Darwin's Sojourn in
the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Foreword by Carolyn Stuart, sometime Administrator of the Territory
of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
© Patrick Armstrong 1991
Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies, Nedlands, Western Australia, 6009
ISBN 0 86422 121 5
This project was commenced in 1987, with the support and encouragement of the Centre for Indian Ocean Regional Studies (as it then was) at Curtin University of Technology. Subsequently Curtin University has joined with the University of Western Australia to transform the Centre into a joint Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies.
Despite this work on Darwin having been largely completed before the new alignment of the Centre was considered, the new focus is not inappropriate. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, tiny in area and population though they may be, encapsulate on a micro-scale a host of the problems of the modern world, and of the Indian Ocean Region in particular.
Thus the islands have been important strategically since World War II, and the airfield retains considerable military significance. The juxta-position of the Cocos Malay people and a group of "expatriate" mainland Australians poses problems in community relations. The build-up of the Malay population on the tiny atoll earlier this century resulted in the archipelago becoming something of a demographic laboratory. The recent economic collapse of the coconut industry illustrates the single-crop dependence of a number of island micro-states and territories. The 160 years of settlement have resulted in substantial human impacts of the environment (for example the introduction of cats and rats, intermittent falls in the water table, and the disappearance or reduction of certain plant and animal species).
The atoll environment that we see at Cocos today, and the problems it poses, are the results of a long-continued dialogue between a human community (both European and Malay) and biophysical resource base. Charles Robert Darwin, who visited the group of islands in 1836 was able to record, in striking detail, the nature of this relationship very soon after the first human settlement. An attempt to reconstruct this environment, and the network of linkages within it, is perhaps therefore, a not entirely inappropriate study for a publication in the Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies occasional paper series.
I thank, as so often before, Peter Gautrey and his staff at the Department of Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library; Peter's knowledge of the Darwin Archive held there is unrivalled. I also thank the Master and Fellows of Darwin College, Cambridge who provided me with an superb base for Darwin studies during the first half of 1989, not to mention access to an Apple Mac.
Staff of many other libraries and museums in both England and Australia, have helped with access to particular sources (books, manuscripts or specimens); these include: the Mitchell Library, New South Wales; the Reid Library, University of Western Australia; the Zoology Department Library, the Botany School Herbarium, and the Zoological Museum, all of University of Cambridge; the Public Record Office at Kew; the Archives Section of the Ministry of Defence Hydrographic Survey Office at Taunton; the British Museum (Natural History), London. The Australian National Library also provided access to microfilm of archives of documents held in the British Library.
For assistance on the Cocos Islands I am deeply indebted to Carolyn Stuart, former administrator of the Territory, and Dr David Williams whose knowledge of the natural history of the island was invaluable. I also thank Carolyn for so kindly agreeing to write the Foreword. Pauline Bunce's knowledge of the the history of the islands, and deep affection for the Malay people, was of enormous benefit to me, both on Cocos, and subsequently. All these persons, my wife Moyra, and my colleague Viv Forbes, read and early draft of parts of the text, to its considerable benefit. Guy Foster drew the diagrams.
Australian Airlines made the journey from Western Australia to Cocos rather more comfortable and speedy that that endured by Charles Darwin in HMS Beagle in 1836.
I am also pleased to acknowledge the financial support of the Indian Ocean Regional Studies Centre (as it was formerly known) of the Curtin University of Technology, and my own employer, the University of Western Australia, for fieldwork on the islands. Ken McPherson, Director of the Centre at Curtin, has displayed a level of interest in the project that has been a constant encouragement.
My wife Moyra has long tolerated Charles Darwin's presence at the breakfast table, as well as her husband's absence from it during his occasional disappearances to remote islands. Bless her.
Finally I acknowledge my debt to my late father, Edward Armstrong, to whom I am indebted for a delight in the living world, a sense of the past, and an interest in the natural history of islands.
"The sea is blue", wrote Paul Colinveaux1. "This is a very odd thing because the sea is also wet and spread out under the sun". To explain this oddity, we must ask the right question – the Darwininan question. When we see a coral atoll in the middle of this sea, what better way to approach this oddity than through Darwin's mind?
Patrick Armstrong takes us into the mind of the great scientist on his visit to the Cocos (Keeling) Island. We are with him as his ship "swept in" to the Cocos lagoon on Saturday 2 April 1836, as he moves around the islands during the following days, and in his later deliberations on the questions aroused by his visit. By means of careful historical research Dr Armstrong draws together from many disparate sources everything Darwin wrote about his visit and about coral atolls. We know how Darwin organised his research writings, what he saw, what he jotted down in his notebooks, what he collected, his method of collection, and even what the weather was like. Most important, perhaps, we know how he approached the question of atoll formation.
By April 12, on leaving Cocos, Darwin was able to form the question: "In time the central land would sink beneath the level of the sea and disappear, but the coral would have completed its circular wall. Should we not then have a Lagoon Island?" His later papers extend the theory: "… we may feel sure that the movement has been slow as to have allowed corals to grow up to the surface, and so widely extended as to have buried over the broad face of the ocean every one of these mountains, above which the atolls now stand as monuments, marking the place of their burial." As so, reading this book, we are in a sense present, able to observe the process by which one of the great wonders on this earth – these great monuments" - may be explained.
Patrick Armstrong's researches into the Darwin papers, the additional information he is able to provide as a result of his expertise and and visit to the islands, and references to other scioentific writings ensures that this book will be of great interest to scientists, historians, and those interested in atoll islands. But it will also be fascinating to those who have been privileged to know and love Cocos. Patrick Armstrong himself is one of the small number of scientists who have visited Cocos, and writings about Cocos, because of their remoteness and unique history, have been difficult to obtain.
This account of Darwin's visit is important from another point of view. It reveals the ecological changes that have taken place in the island since their first occupation. Almost none of the hardwood trees remain
on the South Keeling atoll, having been cut down for housing and boat-building. The vegetation consists mainly of coconut trees. The birds have also all but gone from South Keeling (though they are still numerous on the tiny, remote North Keeling atoll), as have the giant robber crabs, the turtles and the giant clams. It Darwin's observations are not brought to general attention it is all to easy to believe that these precious flora and fauna were never present in any great number, and therefore to argue that no action need be taken to preserve and protect the few which remain.
Despite the changes the lagoon still dazzles the eye with its magnificent sweeps or irridescent blue, turquoise and green, causing us to wonder, as did Darwin, what processes brought it into being in this vast sea – this monument "under the blue vault of heaven". This book gives us a rare insight and a fitting record of Darwin's progress toward an answer.
Administrator of the Cocos
(Keeling) Islands (1985-1987)
1 Why big fierce animals are rare, Penguin Books, 1980.
|List of Figures||viii|
|Chapter 1. The Sources, and the Relationships amongst them||5|
|Chapter 2. Island Days||16|
|Chapter 3. The Naturalist at Work||30|
|Chapter 4. A Human Community||50|
|Chapter 5. "A Sketch of the Natural History of these Islands"||66|
|Chapter 6. The Theory of Coral Reefs||85|
|Chapter 7. Concluding Summary||105|
|Notes and References||111|
List of Figures
|1. HMS Beagle in the Straits of Magellan.||3|
|2. Map of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, showing places mentioned in the text. Inset: Track of HMS Beagle in the Indian Ocean, 1836.||4|
|3. Some of the relationships amongst Darwin's note-books, and other materials from the Beagle voyage.||15|
|4. "Low islets … covered with palm-trees … encircling a large shallow lagoon." Pulu Maria, from West Island.||18|
|5. Outer beach, coconut palms and Scaevola scrub, West Island.||18|
|6. Direction Island: north shore, showing pounding surf: "On the outer coast, a solid broad flat of coral rock serves to break the violence of the sea."||19|
|7. Direction Island: south, inner shore: "On the lagoon side is a white calcareous beach."||19|
|8. Home Island (Water Island): "The settlement … situated on the point of an Islet thickly covered with tall cocoa-nut trees."||21|
|9. Home Island: the kampong, September 1987.||21|
|10. West Island: "Generally the trees grow separate, but here the young ones flourished beneath their tall parents & formed with their long & curved fronds, the most shady arbors."||27|
|11. Coral rock, with "petrified" corals, on outer beach, West Island.||33|
|12. Pandanus roots. Darwin thought it possible that robber crabs might be able to ascend the mass of branching aerial roots.||34|
|13. Ochrosia parviflora (modern scientific name Neiosperma oppositifolia). "Forms straight handsome trees … The fruit is bright green, like that of a walnut."||34|
|14. Map of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in about 1829.||49|
|15. Morina citrifolia; cheesefruit or mengkudu.||60|
|16. Grave on Home Island, said to be that of the first imam; note the spoon-shaped mesan or headboard.||61|
|17. A species of Scarus collected by Charles Darwin from the Cocos Islands, as illustrated in The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle, Part IV, Fish, by Leonard Jenyns.||70|
|18. Scaevola sericea, (S. Koenigii) growing on West Island.||73|
|19. "Refuge for the destitute." Seedlings of coconuts and other plant species germinating adjacent to the top of a Cocos beach.||73|
|20. A page from Darwin's notes on the Robber crab (Photo: Cambridge University Library Syndicate).||83|
|21. Charles Darwin's subsidence theory for the origin of coral atolls.||86|
|22. Idealised cross-section of coral islet, after the sketch in chapter 1 of The structure and distribution of coral reefs.||90|
|23. Outer, windward edge of West Island, close to the modern settlement.||91|
|24. "[W]ithin the lagoon I noticed in several places … old cocoa-nut trees falling with their roots undermined, and the rotten stumps of others on the beach."||98|
Photographs, except where stated, are by the author
|Table 1. Time chart showing the development of the coral atoll theory.||103|
In many ways Darwin's brief stopover in the Cocos Islands was a high point in his voyage. He had left Australia "without sorrow or regret"; although he found the plant and animal life of the Great South Land fascinating, he thought the landscape, particularly that around King George's Sound, in Western Australia, "uninviting". And although he felt that Australia would some day reign as "a great princess in the south", there were many aspects of Australian life that he deplored – the convict system, the grasping outlook of some of the British colonists, the isolation. The exquisite beauty of an unspoilt tropical island with its coral lagoon, the green palm trees silhouetted against the "blue vault of heaven" (as he put it in one of his more lyrical moments), the brilliance of the light, the almost unimaginable beauty of some of the corals and other creatures of reef and lagoon must have formed a striking contrast with the subdued green-greys of the Australian bush.
Moreover, the Beagle was well and truly homeward bound after more than four years of voyaging, exploring, collecting, observation and recording. In his letters to his sister, Charles Darwin had written more than once of his dislike of ships and the sea, and a few days respite from the dreadful weather that the Indian Ocean had thrown at the little ship as it struggled northwards from Cape Leeuwin must have been welcome. Every league of the voyage from here on would bring him closer to England, and his beloved family waiting anxiously in Shrewsbury.
He knew he had done well. Thousands of specimens were aboard the Beagle on their way to enrich the scientific collections of London and Cambridge; thousands more had already been dispatched to his friend and mentor, the Reverend Professor John Stevens Henslow1: all the feedback had been good. The first draft of his coral atoll theory was already down on paper, partly based on observations in the Pacific. It fitted in well with other ideas he was pulling together concerning sea-level change along the coast of South America. Frank Sulloway2, in a study published in 1985, on the basis of a careful quantitative analysis of the words used in some of Darwin's personal letters, suggested that the young naturalist's morale and self-confidence were higher during this segment of the voyage that at any other time during the Beagle's circumnavigation.
Charles Robert Darwin came from a reasonably prosperous, somewhat intellectual, upper-middle class family. He had been brought up in the Church of England and was, at least at the start of the voyage, when he was but 22 years of age, considering entering Holy Orders. (We may
note that divine service was conducted aboard HMS Beagle while she lay at anchor in the lagoon near Direction Island, on Sunday 3 April 1836. Darwin attended.) His family adhered to the Whig political tradition. He had been to Shrewsbury School, although he left it very willingly at the age of sixteen to spend two years, also somewhat unhappily, at Edinburgh Medical School. He then took a degree in Arts from Cambridge, although a good deal of the time he spent in residence at Christ's College was spent "shooting and ratcatching" to the chagrin of his doctor father. He had had since early boyhood, an interest in natural history, particularly the collection of beetles, and the years in Cambridge also gave the young Charles Darwin the opportunity of extending this interest. He became acquainted with the Professor Henslow mentioned above, Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, and Curate of the Cambridge church Little St Mary's. Darwin used frequently to go for natural history walks with Henslow into the Cambridgeshire countryside, and attended some of his lectures: Henslow seems to have been an excellent teacher. It was Henslow who was partly responsible for Darwin's invitation to sail on HMS Beagle - indeed the position was offered to Darwin only after Henslow had turned it down. The other friendship that Darwin made while he was in Cambridge was the Reverend Professor Adam Sedgwick, the distinguished geologist, who gave Darwin most of the geological training he ever had on a three-week excursion to North Wales in the summer before the Beagle sailed.
The voyage was supported by their Lordships of the Admiralty for the purposes of hydrographic survey, and the fixing of "a chain of meridians around the world". Natural history was very much an addendum, and Darwin always a supernumerary.
From Portsmouth, from whence HMS Beagle departed on 27 December 1831, the ship proceeded via the Cape Verde Islands and St Paul's Rocks to the coast of Brazil (landfall 29 February 1832) and the Beagle remained in South American waters for the next three-and-a-half years (see Figure 1). The expedition then left the west coast of South America for the Galapagos Islands ( September-October 1835), Tahiti (November 1835), New Zealand (Christmas 1835) and Australia (January-March 1836). The visit to Cocos (or the Keeling Islands, as they were generally known in Darwin's day) took place three weeks after the little ship "stood out" from King George Sound, Western Australia (see Figure 2 – inset).
The aim of this work is to reconstruct Darwin's days on the remote Indian Ocean atoll, as far as is possible from the documents, and also to consider how Darwin's character and background, lifestyle and
previous experiences influenced the manner in which he perceived and recorded the islands. Further, an attempt will be made to place the Cocos sojourn in perspective against the broad sweep of the Victorian Naturalist's life and work through a discussion of the way in which some aspects of the later development of Darwin's ideas were influenced by the interlude he spent on the idyllic islets, or at least reflect concepts that were already partly formed during his stay.
H.M.S. "Beagle" in the Straits of Magellan
Figure 2. Map of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands showing places mentioned in the text. Inset: Track of HMS Beagle in the Indian Ocean.
The Sources, and the Relationships amongst them
Charles Darwin, throughout his life, was a prodigious note-taker and letter writer. This was especially the case during the Beagle period; there are thousands of pages of notes from this stage in his life, and the young naturalist must have spent many of his hours on board ship in writing them up. Moreover, he, and his family, kept almost everything he wrote, and in the Darwin Archive in Cambridge many of these papers are preserved, so that it is often possible for the modern enquirer to trace the development of his ideas with some precision, and also, very often, to say exactly what Darwin was doing at any given time.
Another prime source is Darwin's personal diary, which he maintained from his arrival at Devonport on 24 October 1831 until the Beagle docked in Falmouth on 2 October 1836. He did not write it up on a daily basis – sometimes days or even weeks at a time went by without an entry. Probably it was often written up retrospectively, while the Beagle was sailing between ports. Darwin wrote several times to his father and sisters how much he enjoyed writing his journal1: it often gives the impression of being written with great spontaneity and at high speed. In another letter he wrote: "I have taken too little pains with it. My Geological notes and descriptions I treat with far more attention."2 Nevertheless from time to time he spent portions of his diary home for his father and sisters to read, so it cannot be said he was writing just for himself.
On his return from the sea Darwin edited and polished the journal considerably for its inclusion as Part III of Captain FitzRoy's official Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, published in 1839. Darwin's manuscript had in fact been ready for the presses in 1837, but there had been a delay through the Beagle's Captain's ill-health. Considerable material was incorporated from other sources – for example an account of the robber crab on the Cocos Islands was brought in, based on detailed notes on the species in the Zoological Diary (see below), and a comment on the arrival of species on the islands by long distance dispersal, taken from Holman's Travels, was added to his own notes, and those of Henslow, on the plants.
A second edition appeared in 1845. Darwin found revision a quite onerous task; it took him four months – 25 April – 25 August 1845, and he noted that he "rested idle for a fortnight" in order to recover. By then Darwin had adopted an evolutionary outlook, although of course he was not to publish anything explicitly on his ideas on the "transmutability of species" for many years. Gruber3, however has shown that the revisions in the 1845 edition gave the work a subtly more evolutionary timbre.
Later editions were without significant alterations, although the book came to be known as The Voyage of the Beagle. The original diary was edited by Charles' granddaughter, Nora Barlow, and published in 1933.4 A completely new edition has recently appeared.
A useful source for the student of much of Darwin's journeyings is that preserved in his letters to his family and friends, most of which have been preserved, and indeed published5. However, no letter actually written from the Cocos is known, and as letters were usually written in port when there was a ship close by that was about to sail for England, and as there were no other ships at Cocos while the HMS Beagle was there, it is likely that none was written. A letter to his sister Caroline, from Port Louis in Mauritius on 29 April 1836, does however, record, something of his researches on the atoll, and is in fact quite important.
But it is the piles of scientific notes that provide particular insight to the way in which Darwin worked. Most of Darwin's observations about animals – fish, reptiles, crabs, sea anemones and so on – were set down in his Zoological Diary. These notes are full of interest and exemplify the young scientist's careful observation and attention to detail.
Charles also usually recorded his geological observations with similar precision in a set of manuscripts known as the Geological Diary. There are no entries in the main batch of geological notes between he descriptions of the rocks around King George's Sound, Western Australia, made in March 1836 and his observations on the coral reefs of Mauritius made between 29 April and 9 May 18366. However, a manuscript exists, partly in ink, partly in pencil, partly in more-or-less continuous prose, and partly in note-form, that records much of Darwin's geological work at Cocos. In a few places there are headings – Monday, Wednesday, etc – that allow stages in the progress of the work to be dated. The writing shows many later insertions, and in places is struck through in pencil: this last was Darwin's custom when he had made use of material in a publication. These notes have every appearance of being written immediately on return from fieldwork, or possibly in some cases actually in the field. They do not bear a title, but will be referred to here as the Cocos Coral Manuscript, they are held in the Darwin Archive at the Cambridge University Library at DAR 41 – they were kept separate from the Geological Diary. As will be shown, Darwin constantly reworked his notes, adding comments and cross-references, and geological notes from several localities have annotations concerning the Cocos on the reverse. These brief scribblings too, can sometimes provide an indication in the way in which he was thinking.
It should be noted that the first draft of the "Coral atoll theory" was prepared a little earlier (probably in December 1835, or early January 1836)7.
Some parts of the Zoological and Geological Diaries were written up when Darwin had a little leisure, possibly during the voyages from port to port, from hurriedly scribbled jottings in what he called his "little notebooks" – small leather-covered brown or red notebooks used in the field of recording observations. The book, sometimes referred to as Number 1.6, includes some soundings from the Cocos; and a brief comparison of some of the living corals of Cocos with those is Mauritius appears in 1.58.
Throughout the voyage Darwin collected many thousands of specimens; the period of the Cocos was no exception; while on the atoll he accumulated hundreds of specimens – corals, shells, rocks, plants, fish, insects and crabs. These were taken back to England, but are now dispersed: it was Darwin's custom to give away groups of specimens to those known to be interested in a particular biological group, or other class of material. Professor Henslow examined the Cocos plants, and thus most of the specimens that Darwin collected there are now in the Botany School Herbarium in Cambridge; they are described in Porter's paper on Darwin's plant specimens in the Linnean Society Journal that appeared in 19869 The rocks eventually found their way into the Earth Sciences Collection at the same University. A number of Darwin's zoological specimens (e.g. the fish) are now in the British Museum (Natural History) in London. The notes relating to these various groups of specimens often survive, or in a few cases can be reconstructed, having been copied by someone else. Darwin wrote comments on his Cocos plants on small labels, for example, which were of value to Henslow, and indeed some are included in Henslow's Annals of Natural History10 article on the Cocos plants published in 1838.
Darwin marked his geological specimens with numbered labels, listing and describing them briefly in red, cloth-bound note-books that he kept for the purpose (also now held in the Cambridge Darwin Archive). A number of Cocos specimens of coral rock were recorded in this way.
Darwin's Insect Notes are preserved in the Entomology Library of the British Museum (Natural History) under the little Copy of Darwin's notes in reference to Insects collected by him written on the cover in Darwin's own hand; they were published (edited by K G Smith) in September 198711. It should be noted, however, that F Sulloway, in his important 1982 paper, expressed the view that the Insect Notes were written in August 1836.
Although he collected many of his specimens himself, he employed his servant, Syms Covington, to assist him, and some of the notes about specimens appear to be in Syms' handwriting. A list headed "Mr Darwin's shells", including many from "Keeling" may well have been complied by Covington12. On a few occasions Darwin included specimens in his collection that were given to him by others.
Besides The Voyage of the Beagle, there were two other major publications with which Darwin was associated that stemmed from the voyage. The Zoology of the Voyage was given his general oversight, with the different volumes being written by specialists.13 The volume on mammals (Part II), published in 1839, was by George Waterhouse, and contains a brief description of the "Keeling rat". That on fish (part IV) was written by Leonard Jenyns (Henslow's brother-in-law), and published in 1842 with descriptions of several fish collected at Cocos.
Jenyns' own note-book containing the descriptions of the fish, including those from Cocos, is stored in the Zoology Museum in Cambridge.14
Perhaps even more important is the Geology of the Voyage. This was published in three volumes. Part I being entitled The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs15. This contains a detailed description of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands as a case-study in chapter 1, and a good deal of the material in this, and other chapters of the book, can be traced to notes made on the atoll or shortly after the visit, particularly the Cocos Coral Manuscript mentioned above.
It seems that from about the time of Darwin's sojourn in Australia onwards he appreciated that the time for observation and collection was almost complete, and the time for reflection, collation and evaluation was at hand. For it was at about this time that he opened his Red Note Book (RN), a note book into which he wrote references and ideas – and indeed the location of the first known unambiguous Darwinian writings on the "transmutability of species", a jotting on the rheas (ostrich-like flightless birds) of South America made some months after his return to England. RN (the initials appear in Darwin's hand on the cover of the book) contains few direct references to the Cocos Islands ("Keeling" as Darwin usually called the atoll), but a scanning of the entries that were written during the crossing of the Indian Ocean can provide an indication of what Darwin was reading and what ideas were in his mind.16
There were others on HMS Beagle that were keeping journals and records while Charles Darwin was aboard, and it is frequently instructive to compare their observations with those of the ship's naturalist.
The brilliant, charismatic, aristocratic but often rather difficult Commander of the ship, Captain Robert FitzRoy, RN, wrote the official Narrative of the Voyage, the second part of the volume in which Darwin's Voyage first appeared17. Often the accounts of the two overlap, and we know that they showed each other their writings, and indeed the odd notation apparently in FitzRoy's hand can be detected in Darwin's journal; both include a cameo account of the catching of turtle in the lagoon at Cocos by the Malay islanders (see page 56). But sometimes an anecdote or observation was noted only by one of the two. Such is FitzRoy's note on the "fish-catching dog" (page 57). On the other hand there is no equivalent in the Commander's account of what appears to be a funeral ceremony, described in some detail in the Darwin diary, and in very slightly more polished prose in the Voyage of the Beagle (see pages 59-60). FitzRoy is always stronger, as one would expect, on matters such as hydrographic survey, meteorological observations and descriptions of the state of the sea. An Appendix to FitzRoy's Narrative includes details of meteorological observations (and also some geomagnetic observations that were made throughout the voyage), and thus one can say with some certainty what he weather was like for each day that Darwin was aboard the ship, or working nearby. Other sources that reflect FitzRoy's view of the voyage include the log of the Beagle (held in the Public Record Office at Kew under Reference ADM 51/3055). This source may sometimes give valuable clues as to timings, positions, weather conditions, stores taken aboard an such practical matters. Occasionally the log (usually written in a hand other than that of FitzRoy, but countersigned by him) gives some detail not mentioned elsewhere, but it is frequently somewhat pedestrian in character, having little of the colour and diversity of the diary and letter sources described above. Marginally more interesting are FitzRoy's letters to the Admiralty (Reference PRO/ADM 1) summarising the ship's progress and outlining immediate plans. That written from Hobart informs the Admiralty that as late as February 1836, Captain FitzRoy was intending "probably" to visit the Swan River Colony (which was in fact omitted from the itinerary) and only "possibly" the Keelings.
Mention has already been made of Darwin's servant, Syms Convington, who also kept a journal (now in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, New South Wales),18 that contains observations on the Cocos. Charles' relationship with Covington is interesting. Syms was engaged on the ship as "fiddler and boy to poop cabin" and was appointed Darwin's assistant and secretary in about May 1833. In a letter to Caroline Darwin19 dated July 1834 Charles wrote of his servant as "an odd sort of person"; he went on: "I do not much like him; but he is perhaps from his very oddity very well adapted to all my purposes" and indeed at one
stage Darwin described Syms as "invaluable"20, for he left a lot of the shooting and skinning of bird specimens, and other collecting work to his assistant in the later stages of the voyages. To judge by comparisons between their two diaries, Syms Covington often accompanied Charles on his excursions, although he is only seldom mentioned in the naturalists's letters or diary. The relationship appears to have been a distant one, and confined to business matters. Probably the social gulf between the well-to-do young Cambridge man and the "boy to poop cabin" was too great for the relationship to have ever been close.
Although in most particulars Covington's journal echoes that of Darwin, it contains occasional fragments not recorded in either the Darwin or FitzRoy journals. Darwin, for example, writes of the Malay kampong on Home Island:
The whole place bore a rather desolate air, because there were no gardens to show signs of care & cultivation.
FitzRoy, however, commented that when they left the islands they had with them supplies of coconuts, poultry, pumpkins and turtle and that "Maize and sugar-cane might have been had if wanted". Covington observantly noted that the poultry were of the Chinese breed, and that bananas, and tobacco, were also grown the latter producing well. He also mentions the growing of coffee, although he carefully states that he "never saw it". He also noted that the Java sparrow had been introduced to the islands, a fact which, rather surprisingly, Darwin does not seem to record.
Although most of Covington's diary is in rather attenuated style, and is anything but a literary work, there occur some quite evocative snatches of description:
The water always being clear the beautiful branches of coral can be seen from the ships side, the fish passing & repassing amongst the coral, has (sic) a most beautiful effect…
… in the small lagoons or pools on reefs are immense numbers of small fish of differences (sic) species & the most brilliant colours I ever saw, or fancy could paint…
Yet Syms Covington's observations must be treated with a measure of caution; he is not infrequently in error. Sometimes he is essentially accurate, but gives the wrong impression. For example he asserts that "about 50 or 70 Malays from the Cape of Good Hope live on the Islands".
Most of he Malays in fact came originally mainly from south-east Asia, although to be fair, Hare had resided in Cape Colony with his entourage after being required to leave Borneo, and indeed there does seem to have been a small amount of African blood.
The main objective of the circumnavigation, from the point of view of the Admiralty, was the compilation of hydrographic charts, a task at which FitzRoy was first rate. Early in the voyage Captain (later Admiral) Beaufort, to whom FitzRoy reported in the hydrographic department of the Admiralty, wrote to the Beagle's Captain:
Were my letters to lie in any degree proportionate to the deep interest I take in your voyage or to the extent of the materials you send me home, I should have time for nothing else. (5 September 1832)
It is particularly agreeable to me to hear such strong language about your survey … All agreeing that none worked so hard, so well and so pleasingly as you – Long may you enjoy the delightful pleasure of just praise. (5 June 1833).21
The originals of these letters are also preserved in the Mitchell Library Sydney, New South Wales.
Amongst the charts that were produced following the voyage was one of the Cocos (Keeling) archipelago, published in 1845, which in the distribution of the soundings and certain other information it contains, provides evidence of where members of the ship's company went during their few days in the islands. The original manuscript charts are still in existence in the Ministry of Defence Hydrographic Office's Archives at Taunton, Somerset. They bear the stamp: Hydrog Office 10 My 37. Even a cursory inspection of these charts shows that Captain Beaufort's remarks were fully justified.22
Sometimes a source entirely independent of the Beagle can throw light on a particular incident or stage of the voyage, perhaps only to corroborate the writings of Darwin, Covington or FitzRoy, but occasionally to bring some quite different aspect into view. In New South Wales, Darwin stayed with the king family, and certain items in the archives of this family, now in the Mitchell Library, Sydney can throw light on incidents in Darwin's sojourn in the Colony; at King George's Sound, Darwin and FitzRoy called on Sir Richard Spencer, and reference to the visit can be found in a report written by Sir Richard, now in the Battye Library, Perth. There is one documents that is in some respects comparable with these sources for the Cocos visit, but, for
reasons that will become clear, it was not used as extensively in compiling this account as it could have been. Nevertheless, the circumstances of its creation are so strikingly interesting, that despite questions about its reliability, some notice of it is given here.
When HMS Beagle came to anchor at Cocos in 1836, Captain John Clunies Ross, proprietor and self-styled ruler of the island group, was away, and so never got to meet Darwin, FitzRoy and the crew of the little ship. Both the ship's naturalist and the Captain obtained a good deal of information about the archipelago from Mr Liesk, Ross's assistant, a fact that Ross bitterly resented, partly no doubt because he (justifiably) considered him unreliable, and partly because he came to regard him as a "treacherous plotter". Because of Liesk's information, and what they they saw, the accounts of the remote settlement written by both Darwin and FitzRoy were less than complimentary. Ross also disputed Darwin's theory of origin of coral reefs. The result of all this was that Ross developed a blazing hatred of both Darwin and FitzRoy, and for the rest of his life wished to discredit them: possibly living or long periods in isolation influenced his sense of proportion. Clunies Ross prepared an account that he entitled: Voyage of the Adventure and the Beagle: Supplement to the 2nd and 3rd Appendix Volumes of the First Edition. On the title page of the documents he appended "written for and in the name of Author or these volumes by J.C. Ross, sometime master of a merchant ship".
This account, well over a hundred pages in length, although prepared as though written by FitzRoy, is in fact a vicious attack on both FitzRoy and Darwin.
It is couched in terms of vitriolic sarcasm, and in places it is intemperate to say the least. It is so libellous that no publisher would ever accept it. Although obviously the work of someone of considerable ability and education, and not devoid of insight, in a few places it lapses almost to incoherence, as though written by a person utterly consumed with rage. It seems to have been written in the late 1840s, some ten years after the Beagle's visit to the remote Indian Ocean group, and in relation to Darwin and FitzRoy's activities on the islands, describes (probably largely on the basis of the account of Mrs Ross who remained at Cocos during her husband's voyage) incidents that he did not personally experience. It is frequently in conflict with other writings. It view of all these factors it cannot be regarded as a very reliable source.
An extract from an early part of this extraordinary diatribe will indicate its rich flavour. Remember that although written by Clunies Ross, it effects to be FitzRoy speaking:
I naturally wished to have a savant at my elbow in the position of a humble toadyish follower – who would do the Natural History department – on my account – but not being able to obtain such a one I was (in a mariner) compelled to take Mr Darwin on a far too independent footing. – He was indeed, perhaps he still is "very fond of Natural History" - but by way of ascertaining that fondness involves fitness – Mr Ross has promised … he shall … exhibit evidence to (show this) … in Mr Darwin's instance, especially in respect to the super sublimity and deeply diving profundity of his "Theory of Origin of the low and lagoon encircling Islands of the Coral formation".
(Clunies Ross Papers, British Museum Additional MSS No 37631)
The document purports to demonstrate a large number of errors in published FitzRoy's accounts, and maintains in thinly veiled fashion that he (FitzRoy)P is guilty of plagiarism, for example, in that the charts prepared by FitzRoy and his others were based on surveys previous conducted by Ross.
But Ross's sarcastic venom in sprayed alike onto hydrographic surveyor and the naturalist:
… Mr Darwin is exceeding "fond" of dry bones – and charmed into raptures by the discovery of a Skeleton.
Although this material must obviously be use with the very greatest caution, in a few instances its record can, however, perhaps be usefully placed alongside others.
Another source of material available to the enquirer attempting to reconstruct what Charles Darwin did and thought about during the voyage should be mentioned: the books that Darwin read. Darwin's little cabin (about 3m x 3.5m) also served as the ship's library, an the shelves adjoining the "great table" on which he spread his notes and specimens contained hundreds of books23 to which he frequently made reference in writing his notes. For example in his description of the giant robber crabs of Cocos Darwin note that:
In the 'Voyage par un Officer du Roi' to the Isle de France there is an account of a crab which lives on Cocoa Nuts in a small island North of Madagascar: probably it is the same animal. (DAR 31.2/361, Reverse)
Darwin seems to have made good use of this source24 throughout the Indian Ocean sector of the voyage, for he also quotes the Officer in his geological notes on Mauritius, particularly with regard to coral reefs now raised above the level of the sea. Other "Voyagers' accounts" to which Darwin frequently made reference were those of Freycinet25, Dampier26 Beechey27 and Flinders28.
But probably the work that was most frequently open upon the "great table" was Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology,29 which had a profound influence on the way in which Darwin perceived the world around him throughout the voyage, and was of particular significance during the stay at Cocos, because Darwin's "coral island theory" amounted to a disproof of the notion, espoused by Lyell, that atolls formed as the result of the growth of coral upwards from the lip of a submarine volcanic crater. The Red Note Book (RN) contains many references to Lyell.
By comparing these printed sources with Darwin's notes it is possible to reconstruct something of the way in which the young Darwin absorbed the ideas of others during the voyage. By a cross-comparison of the different manuscript materials, and by comparing the Beagle notes with later published writings by Darwin is is possible to see how his own notions developed over time. The "flow" of ideas can be followed – from printed page to note book, from note book to rewritten manuscript, later to be reworked yet again and combined with material from some other part of the voyage, and finally to some writings of Darwin's later life. Some of these relationships are shown in Figure 3.
And then there are the islands themselves. I was fortunate in September of 1987 to the able to spend a week on Cocos, staying on West Island, but visiting several of the other islands visited by Darwin just over 151 years previously. Certainly much has changed: West Island now supports an airstrip of major strategic importance, and the islands provide air-traffic control for a substantial part of the Indian Ocean region. There is a wind generator on Home Island, and a large satellite dish on West Island. The scientist visiting the atoll today (it is now an overseas territory of the Commonwealth of Australia) can stay in an air-conditioned chalet, and have meals prepared for him in a modern mess – a far cry from the poop cabin of the Beagle! Yet most of the atoll would be recognisable to members of the crew of the ten-gun bring. Today's visitor can marvel at the brilliant blue of the lagoon, and the contrast between the green palms and the white sand, just as did the nineteenth century voyagers. In walking along the coral reefs, thrashing through the dense thickets of coconut palms, and watching the fish amongst the coral of the lagoon with photocopies of Darwin's
notes in hand the modern enquirer can probably get as close to Charles Robert Darwin as he can anywhere, with the possible exception of the Old Study at Down House, in Kent. In seeing the plants collected by Darwin in their natural habitat, and examining the coralline rock platforms that he described, I felt that I understood the man that little bit more clearly.
Finally, it must be stressed that it is the totality of the rich, but scattered treasury of Darwin materials that allows the modern student to attempt a reconstruction of the young Victorian naturalist's doings and thoughts during those important few days in April 1836 when Darwin's ideas on the nature of coral atolls seemed to be gaining confirmation, and perhaps, just perhaps, vague ideas on the nature of life in islands were forming in his mind. By comparing the accounts of the different actors in the drama, different insights on the nature and importance of incidents during HMS Beagle's visit can be gleaned. By examining Darwin's writings on particular subjects before, during and after the Keeling experience the development of his ideas can be traced. By examining the islands themselves, alongside the printed sources available to Darwin aboard the Beagle, one can be some extent reconstruct the array of stimuli to which he was exposed. The whole really is greater that the sum of the parts!
Captain Robert FitzRoy's instructions, issued by their Lordships of the Admiralty at the start of His Majesty's Surveying Sloop Beagle's historic voyage, included the suggestion that the ship might call at the Keeling Islands and "accurately fix their position", providing that the northern or Torres Strait route from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean was followed. In the event the Beagle arrived at Port Jackson (Sydney) on 12 January 1836, at the height of the southern hemisphere summer, and thus it was possible for the Captain to take his ship by the southern route via Hobart Town and King George's Sound, and around Cape Leeuwin into the southern Indian Ocean. Captain FitzRoy's letter to the Admiralty written from Port Jackson on 29 January 1836 reads:
The Beagle … will sail tomorrow for Van Diemen's Land. Thence she will proceed towards England, touching at King George's Sound, the Mauritius, Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena…1
It was also planned to visit the Swan River Colony. But instead of calling at Swan River, and making a direct traverse thence across the Indian Ocean, the Beagle deflected northwards to Cocos.
There is thus every indication that the decision to visit Cocos was taken very late in the day.
The voyage around Cape Leeuwin, and northwards parallel to the coast of Western Australia, was a difficult and stormy one, and thus although the Beagle "stood out of the Sound of King George" on 14 March, it was not until 8.45am on the 1 April 1836 that the ship came within sight of the Cocos Islands. Darwin's diary describes the Voyage:
Our passage would have been very good one, if during the last five days when close to our journey's end, the weather had not become thick & tempestuous. Much rain fell, & the heat & damp together were very oppressive: in the Poop cabin the thermometer, however, only stood at 81° or 82°
The night before the Cocos landfall, the Captain and officers of the Beagle had not been entirely sure in which direction lay the islands – unsurprising in view of the stormy weather experienced during the last few days of the passage, and the fact that one of the tasks of the expedition was to fix their position, and FitzRoy recorded:
[We] were in much doubt whether they lay eastward or westward of us. There was reason to induce me to steer eastward – indeed I was about to give orders to that effect just as the sun was setting, (no land being seen from the masthead, though the horizon was clear) – when a number of gannets2 flew past the ship towards the west. We steered directly after them, and the next morning (after making but little headway during a fine night) saw the Keelings right ahead, about sixteen miles distant. (Narrative)
FitzRoy's account goes on to describe the first sight of the archipelago:
A long but broken line of cocoa-palm trees, and a heavy surf breaking on a low white beach, nowhere rising many feet above the foaming water, was all we could discern till within five miles of the larger Keeling, (there are two distinct groups) and then we made out a number of low islets, nowhere more than thirty feet above the sea, covered with palm-trees, and encircling a large shallow lagoon. (See Figures 4 and 5.)
Although the weather was fine that April morning – the log shows the symbol "b" or "bc" for "blue sky" or "blue sky with passing clouds" - the winds were light an variable in direction (force 1 or 2) and progress was slow. At 10.30am the ship "altered course of WNW and trimmed" her sails. An hour later all scuddy sails were taken in, and sails were again trimmed. At noon the position was noted as 12°15″ S, 96°58″E by dead reckoning and 12°8″S, 97°01″E from instrumental observations, and the nearest point of the islands was to the west-north-west at a distance of about six-and-a-half or seven miles. At 2.00pm signal guns were fired for a pilot and at 3.00 the ship's boat was sent ahead. An hour later the log records that the "Pilot came on board". The "pilot" was Mr Liesk (Darwin wrote in his diary that "Mr Liesk, an English resident came off in his boat")3, and he assisted in bringing the ship into "Port Harrison" just outside Direction Island, and the vessel was anchored in 4 ¾ fathoms at 5.20pm. Boats were then put out.
The following morning (Saturday 2 April 1836), at 10.00 am, the log records that the anchor was weighed and the ship "swept in" to the lagoon on the powerful current that exists between Director Island and Horsburgh Island. The anchor was then cast in "Port Refuge", the part of the lagoon with a sandy bottom 3 to 5 fathoms (5.5m to 9m) in depth inside Direction Island. Frequently today a number of ocean-going yachts are to be seen at anchor in precisely this location, and it is not hard to imagine the Beagle on the brilliant blue-green lagoon, a couple of hundred metres out from that island. As Darwin noted that it was
Fig 4 (above). "Low islets … covered with palm-trees … encicling a large shallow lagoons." Pulu Maria, from West Island. 5 (below). Coconut palms and Scaevola scrub, West Island.
Figs 6 and 7. Direction Island. Above: north shore showing pounding surf: "On the outer coast, a broad flat of coral rock serves to break the violence of the sea." Below; inner shore: "On the lagoon side is a white calcareous beach."
"still morning" when he "went on shore on Direction Island" (see Figures 6 and 7, he obviously wasted very little time; from the character of his descriptions, he seems to have walked around a good deal of the shore of the islet, and botanising and collecting probably occupied much of the rest of the day.
The next day (3 April) was Sunday, and the Captain's log records:
11 – Mustered by Divisions, & performed Divine Service.
The young naturalist, once destined for the Church of England priesthood, attended. His record goes on:
After Service I accompanied Captain FitzRoy to the settlement, situated at a distance of some miles, on the point of an islet thickly covered with tall cocoa-nut trees. (Voyage)
The Captain and his young scientific colleague seem to have spent the better part of the afternoon and evening on Water or Home Island (the site of the settlement – see Figures 8 and 9) for he describes in detail the Malay kampong, its inhabitants, and the wells from which water was obtained. The meal, that evening seems to have been taken with Mr Liesk's family, and perhaps Mrs Ross, for the Ship's Naturalist notes: "After dinner we stayed to see a curious half superstitious scene acted out by the Malay women … The dance did not commence until the moon had risen" (see page 59).
Evidently the visitors remained quite late (there is a hint in the Clunies Ross account, see page 11, that they stayed the night) and they must have enjoyed themselves, for Charles writes quite lyrically of the scene. Probably the conversation spread over the natural history of the islands, their formation and the settlement, for Charles Darwin quotes Liesk quite frequently in his notes in all these subjects.
Of the next day (Monday 4 April) Darwin recorded "I employed myself in examining the very interesting yet simple structure and origin of these island". The weather was mainly fine; the "occasional squall" or passing shower that occurred that day would not have deterred the enthusiastic young scientist. It seems, from his descriptions that he visited West Island, for he describes an inlet surrounded by trees, which may have been North Lagoon (Telok Jambu) and Darwin's descriptions, of coral reefs seems to be at least partly based on the outer coast of West Island. Thus we may picture the by now sun-bronzed young Englishman collecting and observing, at times wading out into the breakers to examine corals, at time thrashing his way through coconut thickets seeking plant specimens.
Figs 8 and 9. Home (Water) Island. Above: "The settlement … situated on the point of an islet thickly covered with tall Cocoa-nut trees. Below: the kampong, September 1987.
For much if HMS Beagle's sojourn in the islands the log give rather little information, although we know from it that on 4 April some of the crew were "employed watering" - carrying water from the wells on Water Island (Home Island) to the ship. Watering continued on 5 and 6 April. For the most part, however, for several days of the Beagle's stay in Cocos, the log says only that the crew were "Employed variously on ship's duties" or something similar. But Captain FitzRoy, Midshipman Stokes (Assistant Surveyor) and several of the other officers and members of the crew must have been busy with hydrographic survey. The manuscript maps show a dense pattern of soundings in the northern half of the lagoon - the area adjoining Home, Director, Horsburgh Islands and northern West Island – implying a whole series of traverses back and forth across that part of the lagoon. Detailed navigational measurements were also made (to "accurately fix the position of the islands"), probably under the supervision of Lieut Sullivan, from an "observatory" on the westernmost point of Director Island.
On Wednesday 6 April Charles accompanied the Captain on an expedition in one of the ship's boats to the extreme south of the lagoon. He wrote in his diary: "The channel was exceedingly intricate, winding through fields of delicately branching corals". They saw several turtle, and Malays hunting them. Detailed observations were made on the corals, fish, molluscs and the other varied and beautiful creatures in the calm, shallow water. Notes in Darwin's Cocos Coral Manuscript give some detail:
The upper parts of the Lagoon are much filed up with Coral. Extensive flats are nearly awash at low water, and only here & there a circular hole of 12 fathoms deep is left & these are clearly being filled up. The more common depth is about 6 fathoms, so that this is a shallow lagoon. … The commonest species are the (Seriatopora, crown coral, a yellow sort ) … Fungia, Escara, Chama, Meadrina in great loose balls.- Astrea (the bulwark species) infrequent, as are the two other kinds which are found outside … These Corals are brittle & soft, & on standing on them a person breaks through to some depth.
The boat eventually reached the southern part of South-East Island (Pulu Atas). The position of the soundings recorded on the manuscript maps in Taunton, as well as aspects of Darwin's descriptions, such as the mention of expanses of turtle grass, and "hillocks of blown sand about 14 ft" confirm this.
When we reached the head of the lagoon, we crossed a narrow islet, and I found a great surf breaking on the windward coast.
The contrast between the quiet waters of the lagoon, and the pounding Indian Ocean surf of the outer reef – just a short walk through he coconut thicket and scrub apart – obviously impressed Darwin.
I cannot explain the reason, but there is to my mind much grandeur in the view of the outer shores of the lagoon island. There is a simplicity in the barrier, the margin of green bushes and tall cocoa-nuts, the solid flat of dead coral-rock, strewed here and there with great loose fragments, and the line of furious breakers, all rounding away on either hand.
(Voyage of the Beagle)
The intrinsic beauty of the scene, Darwin's appreciation of the exotic, and the elegance of the coral atoll theory, already partly-formed in his mind, were probably sufficient reason for him to pause awhile on this lonely tropical beach after he had worked his way through the tangled palm groves and Scaevola scrub that afternoon, before he returned through the thickets to where the boat was drawn up on the inner shore of the narrow islet.
Even when Darwin and FitzRoy, and their accompanying crew members, had returned to the boat and cast off again into the lagoon, they did not hurry back to where the Beagle lay at anchor near Direction Island. Darwin recalls:
We did not return on board till late in the evening, for we staid a long time in the lagoon, examining fields of corals and the gigantic shells of Chama, into which if a man were to put his hand, he would not, as long as the animal lived, be able to withdraw it.
Few of the very large clams (Tridacna gigas) are to be found in the lagoon today, but smaller individuals abound, and a number of shells of the larger species (up to 1m in length) can be seen in the settlement on Home island – quite sufficient to give a vivid impression of the organisms that so impressed Darwin.4 He was also much interested in the fields of dead coral that the boat encountered on its return trip to the ship. These are discussed on page 97.
From 7 April (Thursday) onwards, as far as the fragmentary annotations in the log enable one to judge, the crew of the Beagle were preparing to sail on the next leg of the voyage. On the morning of 7th, many of the
crew were "Employed cleaning lower decks", and it is also recorded that the ship "Received Wood per boat" - this may well have been firewood for cooking. On the 8th the Armourer was at work at the forge, and carpenters were working on the spithead yard. The 11th saw the sailmakers repairing the topsail. Food supplies – turtle, poultry, vegetables and coconuts – were taken aboard.
There are clues in Darwin's diary that some of this activity was "filling in time", for he writes of the latter part of the stay:
April 7th -11th. During these days nearly every one was employed in parts of the examination of the Island: but the winds being very strong rendered the most important part, the deep sea sounding, scarely practicable. I visited Horsburgh & West Isd. …
An examination of the meterological record confirms that high winds – force 6 and 7 – were experienced on the 6, 7 and 8 April. At 6 am on 7 April the wind reached force 8 ("fresh gale"); clearly the exacting work of measuring the depths of water close to a coral reef would be virtually impossible, and certainly extremely dangerous, under such conditions.
FitzRoy's account suggests that some survey work, mainly in the lagoon, continued until 12 April.
In the evenings, and whenever they were not otherwise required for ship's duties, the seamen probably spent their time relaxing in the sun, fishing or swimming (see note from Covington's diary, page 31). One day FitzRoy seems to have baptized some of the European children in the settlement. He recorded:
As no Christian minister had ever visited the place, and there was no immediate prospect of one coming there, I was asked to baptize the children of Mrs Leisk. So unusual a demand occasioned some scruples on my part, but at last I complied, and performed the appointed service in Mr. Ross' house; where six children of various ages were christened in succession.
(In the Church of England, as in many other denominations, any baptized Christian is entitled, when the occasion demands it, to baptize but it was no doubt thought that the Captain of one of the His Majesty's naval vessels would add a certain dignity to the occasion. The Ross papers have it that only three children were baptised.)
In fact FitzRoy must have quite a lot of contract with the Liesk family, probably drawing on Mr Liesk considerably for his information on the islands. Despite the intemperance that characterises any of Clunies Ross's remarks about either FitzRoy or Liesk, there is a description of one incident in the Ross manuscript (see page 12) that has something of a ring of truth to it. Here again, is Ross writing as though he were FitzRoy:
Knowing as I think I did, that some of the Malays could speak – and nearly all understand English, and of whom some were within earshot – I therefore hesitated not to utter my thoughts to Mr Leisk – whilst walking to and fro with him in the shade of the coco-nut trees. A peripatetic academical mode which I preferred to any other – 1st as being classical – and 22nd that altho' near the house – the walk was far enough distant for our not being overhead by Mrs Ross – who however (with true woman's tact) guessed by our gesticulations and squinting alternately towards the Malay bystanders and towards the house – that our confabulations were not of any very fair – above board or honourable nature – and expressed her suspicions thereof to Mr Ross, when the returned. (Clunies Ross Papers, BM Add Mss 37631, Adventure and Beagle Document, page 110)
FitzRoy was always a slave to what he considered to be his duty, and would never be a party of anything that he thought to be dishonourble. (His particular perspective, however, got him into trouble several times in his career). Yet the picture of the aristocratic FitzRoy, walking up and down in the shade of the coconut palms "in classical mode", in enthusiastic converse with Liesk about the status of the Cocos Malays has every appearance of being accurately drawn.
Darwin meanwhile, probably continued his collecting of plants, insects, fishes, rocks, corals and other marine invertebrates, and his careful observations of the island environment. No doubt he would sometimes have been ferried by one of the ship's boats to an islet in the morning, and collected later in the day. It is likely also that he was at least sometimes accompanied by his servant Covington (the pronoun "We" is occasionally used, and FitzRoy generally prohibited members of the crew of the Beagle from wandering off on their own). But it is not easy to date precisely Darwin's activities during the latter part of the stay. However, in the Cocos Coral Manuscript a section headed "Horsburgh Isd" follows the account of the southern part of the lagoon and South-east Island. On the other hand this section precedes some notes headed "Monday" (ie 11 April). The notes made on the basis of work on Wednesday 6 April are
very detailed, and will have taken some time to write up; as the 6th was a very full day's outing, the notes are not likely to have been completed that evening, so possibly part of Thursday 7 April was devoted to this task. This would suggest that Friday 8th, or Saturday 9 April was the date of the Horsburgh Island excursion. Sunday 10 April is less likely, but not impossible.
On Horsburgh Island Darwin noted that small area on the lagoon side had been accidentally cleared by fire; this seems to have facilitated some of his geological observations. He comments on the sand heaped up on the lagoon side, and the breccia deposit close to the beach.
Confirmation of the date of the Horsburgh Island visit is found on page 15 of the Cocos Coral Manuscript; clearly the visit to West Island took place after that to Horsburgh:
Monday [11 April]
Crossed over to West Isd.- Found one part of Beach exposed beds of Calc Sandstone precisely resembling those of Horsburgh Isd. Here then the lagoon eats out its own formation. In several other places old trees have been undermined & fallen.
In another part a large lagoon covered with the finest white sand is only covered at Spring Tides. It is formed … of bits of branched coral thrown up by gales of wind … On the outer coast, which is the leeward Coast, the reef is very broad. … There is however, in parts, a little way inland, a high beach and some sand hillocks…
Much of this description of West Island (now the site of the runway, and the home of the Australian "expatriate" community) is still appropriate. The sandy hillocks are not far from the settlement. The inlet is clearly North Lagoon (Telok Jambu) – in his diary Charles mentioned the way in which "smaller creeks penetrate the surroundings woods". And clearly this inspection of West Island (the name Ross Island appears on some of the manuscript charts at Taunton) must have been after the visit to Horsburgh.
Darwin also reports of West Island:
… the vegetation is perhaps more luxuriant than in any other part. Generally the Cocoa trees grow separate, but here the young ones flourished beneath their tall parents & formed with their long & curved fronds, the most shady arbors.
(See Figure 10.)
He also describes what it was like to be seated in such a shady place and there drinking the "cool pleasant fluid" of the coconuts. Once again our young scientist friend is impressed by the picturesqueness of the scene:
… thus to see a field of glittered sand … around the border of which the Cocoa nut trees extend their tall waiving fronds, formed a singular & very pretty view.
(Diary, April, 7th – 11th, 1836)
Figure 10. West Island: "Generally the … trees grow separate, but here the young ones flourished beneath their tall parents & formed with their long & curved fronds, the most shady arbors."
The fine detail of some of the hydrographic notes in the Cocos Manuscript (depths of water, character of sea bottom) suggests that Darwin may have been present when hydrographic work was being conducted during the last day or two of the stay. On the other hand is is quite possible that some of these particulars could have been obtained from FitzRoy, Sulivan or Stokes; in some cases, the pencil notes include a day of the week by way of heading upon which Darwin was occupied ashore.
In the evenings, after fieldwork, and sometimes after dining with FitzRoy, Darwin would write up his notes, and sort his specimens in the poop cabin of the Beagle - rocks, plant specimens, instruments, notes and reference books spread out in the dim light of a lantern on the table, while the gentle waters of the lagoon lapped against the ship's hull. Sometimes he probably sat on deck, chatting idly to friends among the ship's company, beneath the rising moon, with a gentle tropical breeze in the rigging and amongst the canopies of the palm trees on the island a short distance away, before he turned in to his hammock.
But Charles Darwin, and probably everyone else on board the Beagle, would have been up early on 12 April. The day was fine, with some clouds amidst the light blue of the early morning tropical sky; there was a light haze. The wind was quite strong (force 5), although it weakened somewhat later in the day, and the swell seems to have been less than for some days. Once or twice in the course of the morning there were squally, passing showers, and indeed occasionally in the course of the day the sky was described as "gloomy or threatening".
At 6.00am the ship's boats were taken aboard, and the ship was "unmoored". Top gallant yards were set at 10.00, but it was not until 11.30 that the anchor was weighed and the crew "made sail to top gallant sails". The ship briefly hove to just off Port Refuge, close to the tip of Direction Island, around noon. Just after midday Royals and starboard topmast scuddy sails were set, although it was necessary to take in some sails at 12.30pm. 1.30 saw the HMS Beagle making "all sail" to the nor' nor' west.
Some soundings appear to have been taken as the ship set off, and this may account for the slight delays – FitzRoy seems to have been awaiting exactly the right conditions for this work (see page 24). Darwin recorded in his Diary:
April 12th. – In the morning we stood out of the lagoon on our passage to the Isle of France [Mauritius] … Captain FitzRoy found no bottom with a line at 7,200 feet in length at a distance of only 2,200 yards from the shore; hence this island
forms a lofty submarine mountain, with sides steeper even than the most abrupt volcanic cone.
This last observation must have been gratifying to Darwin, providing as it did support for the notion that coral atolls formed atop a subsiding volcanic cone.
Under full sail, and with a good wind it would not have taken more than an hour or so before the ship was within sight of the tiny atoll of North Keeling, about 24km (15 miles) north of the main group. No one from the Beagle landed, although a few soundings were taken as the little brig rounded the islet in a counter-clockwise direction, just a few hundred metres away at the closest point. The form of the atoll was sketched, probably partly from the masthead, as the inner lagoon of the little atoll was recorded approximately correctly. Despite the apparent superficiality of this inspection of North Keeling, the survey stood the test of time, for on hydrographic charts of the Cocos Keeling group, there appeared, until 1986, an inset of the northern islet partly attributed to "Captain R FitzRoy, RN, 1836". Darwin was no doubt watching very carefully; he was deeply interested in the northern islet, as a representative of particular category of islands – the nearly circular, virtually closed atoll. He had earlier discussed the form of North Keeling with Mr Liesk, and scribbled a few notes about it on the back of his Cocos Island Manuscript.
At 4.43pm, the crew of the Beagle had their last glimpse of Cocos. At that time the north-west tip of North Keeling Island lay N 27° E, and Direction Island S 29°E. The afternoon sun may have lit up the distant palm trees, and there must have been a touch of sadness in the hearts of some of those aboard who had enjoyed this place of beauty and tranquility. Niether Darwin, nor FitzRoy, not indeed, as far as we know, any of the crew, ever returned.
The Naturalist at Work
Let us now examine some aspects of the way in which the Ship's Naturalist of the Beagle worked during the ten days that he sojourned at the remote Indian Ocean archipelago. His studies of the topography and the origin of the islands are described elsewhere in this publication, and will not be discussed in detail here. Attention will be concentrated upon the manner in which he set about making his natural history collections, and the way in which he perceived and evaluated this extraordinary environment.
Charles Darwin was a copious but careful collector. In advising those about to depart upon voyages similar to his own he was later to write that for a few types of specimens the student "can hardly collect too copiously".1 He lived and worked in the great age of natural history collections. But he also cautioned:
In the present state of science it may be doubted whether the mere collection of fragments of rock, without some detailed observations on the district whence they are brought, is worthy of the time consumed and the carriage of the specimens … A mere fragment, with no other information than the name of the place where found, tells little …
In the few days that HMS Beagle lay at the Cocos or Keeling Islands Darwin (with his servant Covington) collected about nine species of fish, one mammal, one bird, several species of corals and sea anemones, a specimen of the vast robber crab (now rare on the southern atoll) and thirteen insects, as well as at least nineteen species of flowering plants, a moss, a fungus, several dozen shells and about seventeen rock specimens. The methods used for collection we can infer from his notes, and the comments that are attributed to him in some of the published descriptions of specimens. In a few cases, where we do not have a great deal of information on collecting techniques actually used at Keeling, we must generalize from other locations, for collection methods are likely to have been fairly standard.
Fish were sometimes caught by means of a seine net, but the lagoon and reefs around Keeling hold fish in such abundance that, as sailors habitually do, probably some members of the Beagle's crew fished with a line, giving or selling to "the philosopher" anything that they caught which was of special interest. Sometimes Darwin records the eating
qualities of fish in his scientific notes, so some collecting was done with more than one purpose in view! An interesting, and very human sidelight on the fishing (and other) activities pursued the crew of the Beagle while the ship lay at anchor off Direction Island is provided by the following extract from Syms Covington's journal:
On Sunday the 3 of April caught a shark 8 feet long which put a stop to out bathing which before was [for done del] at every evening by moonlight.2
Fish, along with other organisms with soft parts, were often preserved in spirits. A few other specimens were dried. Darwin was careful always to take note of their colours when fresh, for both preservation in spirit and the drying of skins caused some colours to be lost, others to change. He described, for example, a specimen identified by Jenyns in the Fish volume of the Zoology of the Voyage as Diacope marginata, in the following terms:
Upper part pale lead colour: pectorals yellow; ventrals and anal orange, sides very pale yellow.
But Jenyns commented: "In spirits, the colour appears almost uniform grayish-white".3 Darwin's co-workers had cause to be grateful for his perceptive, vivid, descriptions of the colours of fresh specimens.
Insects were probably collected mainly by sweep netting – Darwin used a sweep net extensively in Australia and South America, and one of the entries in Darwin's book of "Insect Notes" (3593) reads: "Insects sweeping: the small ant swarms in countless numbers Keeling Island".4 It is likely that the "Keeling rat" was caught in a trap baited with cheese; Darwin noted that he caught rodents at several localities using this method. The bird, a specimen of what was later identified as Rallus philippensis (the banded land-rail; the Cocos form is an endemic sub-species), was presumably shot. Fragments of coral rock, and perhaps living coral, were probably broken off with the help of his geological hammer: we know that he found some coral rock particularly hard to break, and had to use a chisel. However FitzRoy mentions unsuccessful attempts to obtain samples of coral from below five fathoms, just offshore; small anchors, hooks, grappling irons and chains were all employed, and all were broken as soon as the strain was taken up. Soft sediments were sometimes taken from the sea bottom from the side of the Beagle using a dredge or by a tallow-loaded sounding lead. Shells, including many specimens of species noted by Darwin, are
abundant on the outer coasts of the atoll, and he, or perhaps Syms Covington, would have to do nothing more than to stroll along a short stretch of beach to pick up several dozens. Among those that Darwin collected, that are still to be found along the coasts of the atoll are Trochus maculates, Turbo argyrostomus, Nerita albicilla, and species from the genera Spondylus, Purpura and Perna. Shells of the giant clam (Tridacna gigas) were collected from the lagoon.
It seems that Darwin had a good deal of assistance with collecting from local residents, both European and Malay, for Henslow, presumably on the basis of conversations with Darwin, recorded in his 1838 article5: "Florula Keelingensis – An account of the native plants of the Keeling Islands", as follows:
Thrown as these men are so completely upon their own resources, they have accurately investigated the natural productions of the islands, and readily pointed out to Mr. Darwin the different species of plants, and assured him that he had seen them all except one.
They were wrong in this last point: there are a number of species thought to be indigenous which he does not appear to have noticed. Or else Darwin misunderstood his informants.
Throughout his travels Darwin from time to time took specimens given to him by others. He always records their provenance. At Cocos he was given at least two rock specimens: "fragment of coral, picked up by C. Ross, I know not where", and a specimen of greenstone from North Keeling "in the possession of Capt. Ross.-" As Captain John Clunies Ross was away from the islands at the time of the visit, Darwin must have been given the specimens by Mr C Liesk, Captain Ross's deputy, or a member of Ross's household.
The specimens were usually numbered, and in this way linked to detailed descriptions and notes elsewhere. In the case of the rock specimens, short notes were kept in a red cloth-covered notebook; descriptions a couple of lines in length, each accompanied by a four-digit number identifying the specimen, follow one another in exactly the same form, from Hobart Town, King George's Sound, Keeling, Mauritius, and so on. Typical such notes for two of the Keeling specimens run:
3598 White petrified hard coral from the solid floor at foot of the beach. [Compare Figure 11.]
3617 Excessively fine white sand or mud from 8 fathom water at anchorage at Keeling Isds.
In all this Darwin was practicing what he was later to preach, for in his contribution to the Admiralty's Manual of Scientific Enquiry6 he was to write:
Figure 11. Coral rock with "petrified" corals, on outer beach, West Island.
Figure 12 (above). Pandanus roots. Darwin thought it possible that robber crabs might be able to ascend the mass of branching aerial roots. 13 (below) Ochrosia parviflora (modern scientific name Neiosperma oppositifolia) "Forms handsome trees … the fruit is bright green, like that of a walnut."
Every single specimen ought to be numbered with a printed number … and a book kept exclusively for their entry. As the value of many specimens depends on the stratum or locality whence they were procured being known, it is highly necessary that every specimen should be ticketed the same day when collected.
Frequently a specimen number appears in the margin of the more detailed descriptions to be found in the notes of the Zoological and Geological Diaries. With the plants, labelled tags with numbers were attached to each specimen. These were later removed by Henslow. With his flowering plants Darwin was careful to record enthobotanical or ecological details when he thought these of interest. The following examples are typical:
Partitium tiliaceum (now known as Hisbiscus tiliaceus)
Common on one of the islands. It is exceedingly useful throughout the Pacific; and in Otaheite particularly, the bark is employed in the manufacture of cordage, whilst the light wood is used by fishermen for floats. The natives readily procure fire from the wood by friction.
No sooner has a new reef become sufficiently elevated by the accumulation of sand upon its surface, but this plant is sure to be the first which takes possession of the soil.
On the whole Darwin was systematic in his collection, preservation, labelling and note-taking, although there were, during the voyage, occasional lapses. (The most notable of these was at the Galapagos Islands, where Darwin "intermingled" bird specimens from the different islets.) It was probably thus in the grim light of experience that Darwin later wrote that if specimens were not carefully ticketed the day they were collected "in after years the collector will never feel an absolute certainty that his tickets and and references are correct".
There are some obvious omissions. Although Darwin was told of a Cocos species of tree "bearing a large square, and very hard nut" he was not able to see it (it was probably Barringtonia asiatica, Box fruit or kayu besagi which is quite rare on the islands today). There was another species of tree which was not in flower but which attained a trunk diameter of about five or six feet, and has a "particularly soft wood" which he saw but did not collect. This may well have been Pisonia grandis or ampol. This species grow to a height of 9m (30 feet) and is
not now common on the main island group, although it occurs on North Keeling. Nor did he take any specimens of the coconut (Cocos nucifera), although he refers to it extensively: he probably thought it was too familiar to be of interest, and a specimen would in any case be very bulky for the confined space he had available. He mentions in the Voyage of the Beagle account, sugar cane, several types of vegetables and some introduced grasses growing close to the settlement, but did not concern himself with them either. A more odd omission is the pandan or screw pine (Pandanus tectorius), which although far from abundant, is not unusual on the islands today, and indeed grows on Home Island close to the settlement (see Figure 12). This is referred to obliquely by way of comparison in the Voyage, in a reference to the giant Robber crabs:
It has been said by, some authors that the Birgos crawls up the cocoa-nut trees for the purpose of stealing the nuts: I very much doubt the possibility of this; but with the Pandanus the task would be very much easier.7
But the Voyage was written after the return to England, and although based on Darwin's diary, quite a lot of material from publications not available on the Beagle was incorporated. Probably the plant was already familiar to Darwin from elsewhere and for this reason he did not think it worth collecting.
Darwin, although his collections of flowering plants, shells and insects were fairly thorough, could, I suppose, have taken more specimens of invertebrates, of fish, birds or some other groups. But possibly he had, at this late stage in the voyage, to be selective: his cases must have been very full. His interests were at that time particularly focused on the coral island problem, and perhaps also to a lesser extent on that of the origins of island biotas, and his collecting may have reflected these preoccupations to some degree. Considering the short time he had available, and the many dozens of specimens he was able to collect, he did not do badly!
The eye for detail
Darwin had extremely good powers of observation. Whether he was writing of the mineralogical composition of a rock, the arrangement of petals in a flower, or a ceremony of some native people, his descriptions were excellent. In later life he wrote exhaustive monographs on subjects as diverse as the barnacles (Cirripedia), the reproductive strategies of orchids, the movements of climbing plants, and a pioneer
work on animal behaviour; all were models of detailed description and analysis. But even during the days aboard the Beagle his accounts were extraordinarilyperceptive. To assist him in his descriptions of organisms he had a microscope and hand lens, as well as dissecting instruments. The account given below of a species of coral from Cocos is typical:
1836 April Keeling Is Madepora 3560 This stony branching elegant coral is very abundant in the shallow still waters of the lagoon: it lives in the shoalest parts which are always covered by water to a depth of 15 ft & perhaps more. Its color [sic] is nearly white or pale brown. The orifice of the cells is either nearly simple or protected by a strong hood; the polypus is similar in both. The upper extremity or mouth of the polypus is closely attached to the edge of the orifice: it cannot be drawn back out of sight; it consists of a narrow fleshy lip which is divided into 12 tentacula or subdivisions of the lip. These tentacula are very short & minute & are flattened vertically; are brown colored, tipped with white. The animal possesses very little irritability on being pricked, the mouth is folded into an elongated figure & partially drawn back. The body of the polypus fills up the cell & is so excessively delicate, transparent & adhesive, that I in vain tried to examine its structure. I could see a sort of abdominal sack & attached to the side of this there were intestinal folds of a whitish color. These when separated from the body possessed a sort of peristaltic motion. I examined the Madrepora (3584) also common in the lagoon & found the same sort of polypus & from a shorter examination I believe such will be likewise found in kinds (3612)(3586). (DAR 31.2 354-355)
Darwin was no artist but simple sketches in the margin illustrate points of the structure of the creature.
There are several aspects of this extract that are worthy of note – the attention to detail with sections on macroscopic and microscopic observation; the comparative approach; the notes on habitat and behaviour (or at least irritability), as well as morphology and appearance. There is also the hint of scientific caution so often found in Darwin's writing: he describes his difficulties in working, and notes when his examination was superficial. When he was not certain he said so.
His descriptions of plants are usually more brief than those of animals, but show a similar concern that no particle of detail should be missed. Notes on the plants' ecology or distribution are frequently included along with other details that would not be apparent from herbarium specimens.
Cordia orientails (the Keeling-teak, now called Cordia subcordata) he described as "A large tree abounding in some of the islands, very leafy, with scarlet flowers; but only a few blossoms were expanded at the time and they easily fell off". Ochrosia parviflora (now known by the scientific name of Neisosperma oppositifolia) he described as forming "straight handsome trees, with smooth bark which are commonly dispersed two or three together. The fruit is bright green like that of a walnut". He commented on these fruits in his notes: ".. milky green, grows in pairs or threes" (see Figure 13).
He used all his senses. Two species of coral were recorded as possessing "a strong & disagreeable smell" while the flowers of Guettardia speciosa Darwin described as possessing "a delightful perfume". The sugar cane that had run wild on some of the islands8 was said to have lost much of its flavour and the flesh of the large land crabs constituted "very good food". The milk of the coconut was "pleasant and cool—. Some corals were described as "slimy", others as "stony" or "pulpy—. Darwin had a musical ear and noticed the singing of the Cocos Malay women and the chatter of the children. For other localities visited he commented on the sounds of birds and other creatures.
The integrated view
Yet despite this passion for detail, this feeling that sometimes almost amounted to an obsession that no fragment of information should be lost, Darwin was also able to see the big picture, and the way in which the varied components of an environment related to each other. There was a beauty in the way in which the vegetation of an area reflected the climate, and the landforms were a function of the geology. This approach, which he had probably to some extent assimilated from his reading of the works of Alexander von Humboldt, is admirably summarized in the final few pages of the Voyage of the Beagle:
…there is a growing pleasure in comparing the character of the scenery of different countries, which to a certain degree is distinct from merely admiring its beauty. It depends chiefly on an acquaintance with the individual parts of each view: I am strongly induced to believe that, as in music, the person who understands every note will, if he also possesses
a proper taste, more thoroughly enjoy the whole, so he who examines each part of a fine view, may also thoroughly comprehend the full and combined effect.
Darwin was also able to convey in a few words a remarkably accurate impression of what an environment was like. Who can fail to be transported by a near-rhapsodic description such as the following?
On entering [the lagoon] the scene was very curious and rather pretty; its beauty, however, entirely depended on the brilliancy of the surrounding colour. The shallow, clear, and still water of the lagoon, resting in its greater part on white sand, is, when illuminated by a vertical sun, of the most vivid green. This brilliant expanse, several miles in width, is on all sides divided, either by a line of snow-white breakers from the dark heaving waters of the ocean, or from the blue vault of heaven by the strips of land, crowned by the level tops of the cocoa-nut trees. As a white could here and there affords a pleasing contrast with the azure sky, so in the lagoon, bands of living coral darken the emerald green water.
. … …
On some of the smaller islets, nothing could be more elegant than the manner in which the young and full-grown cocoa-nut trees, without destroying each other's symmetry, were mingled into one wood. A beach of glittering white sand formed a border to these fairy sports.
(Voyage of the Beagle, 1845, chapter 20)
Yet perhaps Charles Darwin the scientist was just a little self-conscious of his own lapses into lyricism, for in his Diary entry for 4 April 1836 he wrote:
I was employed all day in examining the very interesting yet simple structure & origin of these islands. The water being unusually smooth, I waded in as far as the living mounds of coral on which the swell of the open sea breaks. In some of the gullies & hollows, there were beautiful green & other colored fishes, & the forms & tints of many of the Zoophytes were admirable. It is excusable to grow enthusiastic over the infinite numbers of organic beings with which the sea of the tropics, so prodigal of life, teems; yet I must confess I think those Naturalists who have described in well known words the submarine grottoes, decked with a thousand beauties, have indulged in rather extravagant language.
(The balance between the objective scientist and the romantic in Darwin is discussed a little further below, on page 44-48).
It was not, of course, just the painting of the picture that was important. In his diary, and in the Voyage of the Beagle account that was derived from it, he was often able, in a few succinct sentences to indicate how a landscape worked - to indicate the network of relationships that existed within it. In the few pages that encompass Darwin's description of the Cocos archipelago he refers to the coral rock and the soil that developed from it, the plants and the animals, the human community – the appearance of its members, their customs and from whence they came, as well as how they interacted with their environment. The nature of the surrounding sea, its depths and the creatures that lived within it, the weather and climate – these too are mentioned, however briefly. The Ship's Naturalist of the Beagle was, however, much more than a cataloguer and a collector, he was in many cases able to see with remarkable perspicacity, the linkages within the system that were significant. The extract below, from the diary entry of 3 April 1836 shows an advanced understanding of the relationships amongst the several elements of the island: - the nature and porosity of the substratum, the tidal range in the surrounding ocean, underground hydrology and water supply. Darwin is referring to Home Island (he uses the name Water Island):
On this island the wells occur from which ships obtain water; at first sight it appears not a little remarkable that the fresh water ebbs & flows with the usual tide. We must believe that the compressed sand & porous Coral rock act like a sponge, & that the rain water which falls on the ground, being specifically lighter than the salt, merely floats on its surface and is subject to the same movements. There can be no actual attraction between salt & fresh water, & the spongy texture must tend to prevent all mixture from slight movement; on the other hand, where the land consists of loose fragments, a well being dug, salt or brackish water enters, of which facts we saw an instance.
"The habit of comparison"
In the final few pages of the Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin, in a short retrospection, lists for his readers "the advantages and disadvantages, the pains and the pleasures" of a long voyage. He deals at some length with the excitement of novelty that may stimulate the traveler to increased activity. He admits that there are dangers in being continually
on the move so that
…descriptions must generally consist of mere sketches, instead of detailed observations. Hence arises, as I have found to my cost, a constant tendency to fill up wide gaps of knowledge, by inaccurate and superficial hypotheses.
Useful advice although this may be to the young enquirer, Darwin was not altogether being fair to himself. He had been profoundly influenced, in his undergraduate career by J F W Herschel's Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy,9 and Herschel set high standards for the adequacy of a scientific explanation, the search for order and pattern in nature. He resisted ad hoc explanations, emphasizing the search for verae causae, the ultimate causes of phenomena, laws which had a measure of universality in their power of explanation. One of the routes to this goal, besides accuracy, precision and detailed observation, was the technique of comparison. Almost Darwin's final words in the Voyage were:
. .as a number of isolated facts soon becomes uninteresting, … the habit of comparison leads to generalisation.
Comparison allowed amorphous collections of facts to lead to generalisations, and generalisation led onward in the search for "laws" or ultimate causes. Comparison also allows new facts or observations to be put onto an existing framework of ideas, it permits the unfamiliar or the disturbing to be reconciled to some extent with the familiar. Even in collection Darwin advocated the comparative method:
A collection of shells (both those living on the coast and those to be procured by the dredge off it) from the same country or island at which a collection of … fossil shells is made, is generally of very great service…10
We may also note that when Darwin was writing for other men of science, he occasionally found it useful, in the days before the widespread availability of photographs, and with the expense and difficulty of including woodcuts in publications, to compare unfamiliar organisms from distant places with those of Britain.
In this entry in Darwin's personal diary, from his first day at Cocos, the slightly homesick traveler is comparing the raucous clamour of the island sea-bird colony with the springtime gatherings in the canopies of woodlands in England, perhaps those close to his home in Shrewsbury, or
in the villages of Cambridgeshire where he used to walk with Henslow:
Overhead, the trees are occupied by numbers of gannets, frigate birds & terns; from the many nests & smell of the air, this might be called a sea rookery; but how great the contrast with a rookery in the fresh budding wood of England! The gannets, sitting on their rude nests, look at an intruder with a stupid yet angry air. The noddies, as the name expresses are silly little creatures…
Behind some of his comparisons, therefore, dwelt a homesickness, and a longing for the familiar scenes of youth.
Darwin not only compared his observations made in a locality with those he had made elsewhere, he also made comparisons between his own annotations and those of others. His geological and zoological notes frequently contain marginal notes, often added later, linking one description or suggestion with another. For example, Darwin's notes on the calcareous deposits of King George's Sound, Western Australia, which was visited in March 1836, have a comment in the margin:
The sand on the shores of the Lagoon Island of Keeling is entirely calcareous.- I could not discover in the sand a particle otherwise constituted.
The remark is dated April 1836, and was clearly written after the Cocos visit. Charles Darwin was obviously re-reading his notes of a few weeks earlier and saw comparisons both in the nature of the sediments and in evidence of changes in sea level, for elsewhere amongst his Australian geological notes are the following hurried scribblings: "recent" elevation on SW & W extremity of New Holland. – Put in Coral Paper … The Monument of Lagoon Is? … Quote extent of formation & rise in land…" He often seemed to have reviewed his notes from earlier parts of the voyage, adding notes on anything that occurred to him as being relevant from his later experiences.
Similarly on the reverse of Darwin's pages of notes on one of the Cocos "Millepora" corals (3583) is a note comparing it with specimens of the same form that he collected on the island of Mauritius:
I saw this coral at the Isle of France forming great bushes 2 ft high.- Not infrequently it coats any foreign body in place of forming distinct branches - of which specimen (3634) is an instance.
Darwin's most frequent method of working was to write up detailed notes, perhaps some little time after field observations were made, from fragmentary notes made at the time or immediately afterwards, amplifying them with detailed descriptions of specimens, and material obtained from books in the extensive library aboard the Beagle. Many dozens of accounts of the voyages of previous mariners and explorers, and important scientific texts, were but an arm's length away from the "great table" at which he worked.11 While the sails of the ship were billowing before the Trade Winds as she traversed the Indian Ocean, along with specimens on the poop cabin table was the Voyage a I'lsle de France … par un officier du Roi, by Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint Pierre, published in 1773, for his notes contain several references to this source: describing the giant crabs he encountered on Cocos Darwin noted:
They are exceedingly strong. – The back is colored [sic] dull brick red; the under side of the body & legs is blue, but the upper side of the legs clouded with dull red. In the 'Voyage par un Officier du Roi' to the Isle of France there is an account of a crab which lives on Cocoa Nuts on a small island North of Madagascar: probably it is the same animal, but the account is very imperfect.
Darwin here typically shows his fine eye for detail, taking the utmost care over describing the colours of organisms, adopts a comparative approach, as well as assuming appropriate scientific caution when giving an opinion. He also included in his notes the observations of those who he met, although he is careful to distinguish information gleaned from others from his personal observations. His principal informant while he was actually on the Cocos Islands was Mr Liesk.
Darwin's account of the giant robber crab ends:
Mr Liesk informs me that the crabs with swimming plates toposterior claw employ this tool in excavating burrows in the fine sand and mud & that he has repeatedly watched the process.
It goes almost without saying that this comparative method in which Darwin trained himself from the very early days of his scientific career was of the greatest use to him later when evolutionary ideas were beginning to develop in his mind. It might even be that it was a factor that predisposed him towards an evolutionary outlook.
The eye of the beholder
The The remarkable powers of observation and deduction possessed by Darwin, and manifest in his writings are no doubt partly explained by his intellect and intelligence. But any observer sees the world through the lens imposed by his background, upbringing and education. Let us now consider the extent to which Darwin's early life and training may have influenced the way in which he perceived the Cocos Islands, and the manner in which he interpreted and recorded his observations.
His reading at Cambridge, probably more than any lectures he attended, influenced his perception of the world, "its varied productions" and its peoples. His reading of Alexander von Humboldt's writings not only gave him a profound desire to see something of the world, but contributed tohis remarkably integrated view of it. His debt to Herschel, particularly in his use of the comparative method, has been described above.
Darwin's eye for detail perhaps was a function of experience – he had been finding, collecting and identifying beetles since he was a teenager. He had been known as the one "who walks with Henslow" while at Cambridge, and the country rambles along the River Cam valley no doubt helped him to notice, and also to know what was worthy of notice, amongst the objects of the living world. Three weeks of fieldwork in North Wales the summer before the commencement of the voyage in the company of Sedgwick, were all the formal geological training Darwin ever had, but this proved sufficient to assist the young naturalist in the identification of rocks and minerals, and to train him in the rudiments of stratigraphy. By the time the Beagle had reached Cocos these skills would have been honed by over four years of experience in the field.
It is possible that the miserable time at Medical School in Edinburgh also paid dividends in strengthening Darwin's powers of observation, and indeed there are times when evidence of the medical training shines rather strongly from the naturalist's note-book; he was not averse to performing simple experiments on himself. Of a pair of species of "Millepora" corals he wrote:
They … agree in the very remarkable property, hitherto unnoticed in such productions, of producing on contact a stinging sensation. Mr Liesk first observed this fact by accident in the place kind, & I find it as strong in the branched sort, - The power appears to be very generally speaking, on pressing or rubbing a fragment on tender skin of the face or arm, a pricking sensation will be felt an interval of a
second, & which lasts for a very short time. But on rapidly touching with the specimen (3609) of the branching kind the side of the face the pain was instantaneous, but increased as usual after a very short interval; the sensation continued strong for a few minutes but was perceptible half an hour afterwards. The sensation was as bad as that of a sting of a Physa12.- On touching the tender skin of the arm, red sports were produced, & which had the appearance, if the stimulation had been a little stronger of producing watery pustules.
Here again is a strong comparative treatment, as well as fine level of detail. But the experimental approach, the use of terms such as "pustules" (small absesses on the surface of the skin) and the detailed notes on the sensations and their longevity, probably reflect the days of medical training in Edinburgh, or assisting his father, Dr Robert Darwin, with patients.
At the time HMS Beagle was engaged in her hydrographic survey, Britain's naval power was at a high point, and the empire was expanding apace. As an educated young Englishman, particularly perhaps after spending several years in the company of naval officers of the cut of the patrician Captain FitzRoy, Darwin would naturally believe in the advantages of European civilisation, and the appropriateness of the British imperial role. Just a few weeks before the visit to Cocos he had written to Henslow describing the colony of New South Wales as "a wonderful place. Ancient Rome might have boasted of such a Colony." He went on to comment that the prosperity, expanding trade, and rapid rate of development of the colony bespoke the "Giant force of the parent country". It is therefore unsurprising that he compared the ways of life of native peoples that he encountered somewhat unfavourably with his own culture.
The Malays of the Cocos, he felt, were "discontented", their kampong "had a desolate air" because there were not any gardens "to show the signs of care and cultivation", and "they appeared poor & their houses were destitute of furniture". The rituals conducted as part of a funeral ceremony he describes as "foolish" and "half superstitious". Darwin is clearly commenting on the way of life of the Cocos Malay families from the point of view of his own value system – one which emphasised order, hard work, the significance of possessions, and the Protestant Christian tradition.
Yet, reared in Whig liberalism as he was, the young Darwin was anything but an ignorant bigot, and reserved his most trenchant scorn for those of
his own countrymen who mistreated those (particularly of other races) who were in their care. For example, he castigated the English and Scots settlers in New Zealand who exploited the Maoris shamefully. He thus similarly expressed his disapproval for the way in which the Malays of Cocos had been treated. He wrote that they were, at the time of his visit "nominally in a state of freedom, & certainly so, as far as repects their personal treatment; but in most other points they are considered as slaves." He added that it might well be because of the repeated removals from island to island that followed quarrels between a "very worthless" Mr Hare (who had subsequently left, see chapter 4) and Captain Ross's party, in the early years of the settlement, and perhaps also "from a little mismanagement", that things were "not very prosperous".
And Darwin strove to be fair to the Malay people; he wrote in his Diary that he "liked both their general expression and the sound of their voices". Despite their appearance of poverty the children appeared plump and well-fed.
Thus Darwin was certainly not always the detached, cold, scientific observer and collector. There was something of the romantic in him: like others of his nation and class before and since he had a penchant for the exotic, the weird and the unusual. "[M]asses pf naked rock" grouped "in the wildest forms … afford a sublime spectacle", and when painted "with bright and varied colours, as in Northern Chile, they will become fantastic", he enthused at one stage. The "power of life" and the "grandeur" of the Tropics particularly appealed to him. "[T]he scenery", he wrote, "of the intertropical zones", was in "a class by itself"/
The strange rituals of "primitive" people also had a fascination for the young Englishman. He wrote in detail in his diary of the nose-rubbing greeting of the Maoris in a village close to the Bay of Islands, and of an Aboriginal coroboree at King George's Sound, Western Australia. No bizarre detail escaped his notice.
Witnessing the curious ceremony that was accompanied by the songs of the Malay women, while a full moon shone through the gently waving palm trees on his third evening at Cocos had a powerful effect on Darwin. The scene had all the ingredients a seeker of the exotic could wish for. He described the occasion in his diary:
These scenes of the Tropics are in themselves so delicious, that they almost equal those dearer ones to which we are bound by each best feeling of the mind.
A little cryptic, this, but I take it that Darwin is expressing such delight at the strange beauty of the occasion, that it almost overcame the homesickness brought on by the familiar scenes of youth and home, seen in the mind's eye of a young man after nearly four and a half years at sea.
Darwin's description of what is obviously the white tern (Gygis alba) also hints that inside the observant naturalist lay something just a little poetic:
… there is one charming bird, it is a small & snow white tern, which smoothly hovers at a distance of an arm's length from one's head, its large black eye scanning with quiet curiosity your expression. Little imagination is required to fancy that so light & delicate a body must be tenanted by some wandering fairy spirit.
Certainly he expressed a liking for this isolated palm-clad atoll, surrounding its brilliant lagoon. In his diary he wrote "I am glad we have visited these Islands" and just over a fortnight later in a letter to his sister Caroline he wrote of Cocos: "I am very glad we called there". In each case he makes it clear that the principal reason for hissatisfaction was the opportunity the stay presented for the testing of his coral reef hypothesis. But as lyrical extracts quoted above (and pages 38 and 39) suggest, it was perhaps not entirely so.
Despite the shortness of his sojourn at the Cocos-Keeling islands, and the his preoccupation with his coral atoll theory whilst he was there, Darwin was very through in his evaluation of almost all aspects of the geography of the island group. His collections were extensive. Necessarily he was to some extent constrained in his perception and evaluation by his upbringing and the ideals that imbued his social class and his generation, yet he was usually capable of making a balanced, objective statement. Through his writings he comes across as a most precise and accurate observer, anxious to preserve the most minute detail, yet able to take an overview of the workings of an environment, and describe the processes operating within it. Yet there was the touch of the romantic in him; he took a enthusiastic delight in the beautiful living world about him, and had a lively curiosity concerning people and places. A particular characteristic of almost all the work that he did was that it was dominated by a distinctive comparative approach. He was sufficient of a polymath to be able to record with perception almost every aspect of the living and non-living environment, including the human community. Further details of his investigations of this
human component of the microcosm that was the atoll of South Keeling in April 1836 will be given in the next chapter.
Figure 14. Map of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in about 1829. Captain Clunies Ross is shown living at New Selma, at the southern end of the lagoon, and both Hare and Keating are still in residence.
A Human Community
The origins of the settlement
In 1836, probably about a hundred and thirty souls1 made up the the human population of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a human community which had existed for about ten years. Darwin in his diary described the founding of the settlement in the straightforward economical way:
The history of the inhabitants of this place, is, in as few words as possible as follows:- About nine years ago a Mr Hare, a very worthless character, brought from the E Indian Archipelago a number of Malay slaves which now, including children, amount to more than a hundred. Shortly afterwards, Capt. Ross who had before visited these Isls in his merchant ship, arrived from England brining with him his family goods for settlement: along with him came Mr Liesk, who had been a Mate in the same ship. The Malay slaves soon ran away from the Isd on which Mr Hare was settled & joined Capt. Ross's party; Mr Hare upon this was ultimately obliged to leave these Islands.
For some reason the next sentence is deleted:
Capt. Ross then occupied a more convenient place which is now called Water Island, where all the inhabitants are now collected.
The facts seem to be that in February 1827, following an earlier reconnaissance visit in 1825, Ross's party settled first on Gooseberry Island (Pulu Pandan, sometimes known as Goose Island), and then, partly because of tension with Hare who had established his own settlement nearby on Home Island (Water Island), they moved to South Island (see Figure 14). The final move, to Home Island, after Hare's departure, had only taken place a short perod before the Beagle's arrival. William C Liesk is described in some sources as one of the ten "apprentices" that Captain John Clunies Ross had brought with him, intending as he did to establish a ship-repair and provisioning business. John Clunies Ross in his account denied that Liesk (he uses the spelling Leisk) ever had the status of "Mate". By April 1836 all the other apprentices had left on passing ships. One reason that Liesk stayed may be that he had married Mrs Ross's maid.
Captain FitzRoy's account differs in a few details from that of Darwin:
These lonely islands (also called Cocos) were discovered in 1608-9 by Captain William Keeling, who was in the East India Company's service, and held a commission from King James I. Little or no notice was taken of them from that time till 1823, when one Alexander Hare, a British subject, established himself and a small party of Malays, upon the Southern Keeling Island, which he thought a favourable place for commerce, and for maintaining a seraglio of Malay women, whom he confined to one island, -almost to one house.
In 1826, or within a year of that time, Mr J C Ross, some time master of a merchant ship, took up his abode on the south-eastern island of the group; and in a very short time Hare's Malay slaves, aggrieved at his harsh treatment of them, especially by his taking away the women, and shutting them up on an island which the Malay men might not approach, deserted as a body, and claimed protection from Mr Ross. Hare then left the Keelings, and about a year afterwards was arrested in his lawless career by death, while establishing another harem at Batavia.
FitzRoy will not countenance, it seems, giving John Clunies Ross the dignity of "Captain"! FitzRoy was Royal Navy, Clunies Ross merely a merchantman! There is also some difference as to the date: FitzRoy stating Hare's arrival was 1823, Darwin suggesting that it was "about" 1827. In actuality it seems to have been in May 1826, but many details of the Alexander Hare incident are impossible to establish with any certainty. Both Darwin and FitzRoy will have obtained their stories from Liesk, Ross's assistant, who though he seems to have been a reliable informant on some matters, was anything but infallible; he is reputed to have been "plotting" against Ross at the time and may have had his own reasons for giving a less than entirely balanced account. Hare dying so soon after the events (some say in Singapore, not Batavia, and the Ross papers say "Belcoolen" or Benkulu, in Sumatra), we cannot compare his interpretation with that of Ross or Liesk. Liesk himself does not seem to have stayed very long in the islands after the Beagle's visit; it is clear that he too eventually found it impossible to live on the same islet with Ross, leaving in about December 1837.2
Alexander Hare apparently held a government post in South Borneo during the period of British administration, and tried, according to some accounts to "assume the status of an independent ruler"3 which on the reestablishment of Dutch authority he could not maintain. He resided for several years in South Africa, then retiring to the Cross with a "large
harem of various nationalities and numerous slaves". He seems to have been a man of considerable fortune. All the accounts agree, however, that he treated his entourage with great harshness, and that there was s good deal of tension between the Hare and Ross camps, Hare Surreptitiously but unsuccessfully attempting to engineer a Dutch take-over of the islands.
F Wood-Jones wrote some account of the incidents in Coral and Atolls, published in 1910. Some of his informants may well have been children of Malays who have been Hare's slaves – Nek Basir and his wife Daphne – the former only dying in 1893, at the age of 88 years. His account may well be quite reliable. He writes of Hare's strange establishment on the Cocos islands, and its eventual demise:
His attempt to realise his ideal – to be the monarch of a slavish Eastern court amidst the luxurious setting of a tropical coral island – had proved a failure. His band of musicians, his slaves, his courtiers, his harem, and his splendid sovereignty had slowly but surely slipped from his grasp, and the more stubborn, more practical rule of Ross Primus had ruined his Utopia.4
The Cocos Malays
Darwin describes the ethnic origin of the Cocos Malay people in some detail:
The natives come from different islands of the east Indian Archipelago, but all speak the same language; we saw the inhabitants of Borneo, Celebes, Java & Sumatra. In color of the skin they resemble the Tahitians, nor widely differ from them in form of features; some of the women, however, showed a good deal of Chinese character. (Diary)
The Beagle's Captain echoes some of this, but the emphasis in his account is a little different; FitzRoy commented:
No material difference was detected by me between the Malays on these islands, and the natives of Oetaheite [Tahiti] or New Zealand … I merely say there was not one individual among the … Malays whom I could have distinguished from a Polynesian Islander, had I seen him in the Pacific. (Narrative)
Although the term "Malays", or more recently "Malay people" or "Cocos Malays" has consistently been used for the Cocos islanders, from before the time of the visit of H M S Beagle, the ethnic origins of the original settlers were, as Darwin's account suggests, quite complex. The community was formed as the result of the melding of the fugitives from Hare's despotic regime, together with those that arrived with Ross, who, apart from the members his own and Liesk's family and the apprentices, seem to have included a Portuguese and a couple of Javanese.5
Darwin, although he emphasises the East Indian component in the population, and hints at a Chinese element (sources vary on the importance of the latter), does not mention either the Papuan or the African negro component, but these were certainly of some importance; the term "Sudanese" has been used for some of the population. Covington's diary, and certain other early accounts confirm that some of the "Malays" came from the Cape of Good Hope, taken there by Hare after his ousting from Borneo. Other sources suggest that a small number of "Zulus" from the Cape were included in the original party.6 There was also some intermingling with European blood. FitzRoy wrote in his Narrative:
Two boys attracted my notice particularly, because their colour was of a brighter red than that of any South American or Polynesian whom I had seen, and upon enquiry I found that these two boys were sons of Alexander Hare and a Malay woman.
He adds a note: "Brighter by comparison; their colour was that of copper in its very reddest state - without any tinge of yellow." The Clunies Ross Papers maintain that the children in question were a boy and a girl, not two boys, and that while one was the offspring of a union between Hare (said to have been a "fair-haired man") and a dark-skinned Malay woman, the other was the child of Mr Ogilvie (Mr Hare's overseer), and a "pale-coloured Dyak" woman.
There is some difference in the accounts with regard to the number of Cocos Malays at the time of the Beagle's visit. FitzRoy refers to "two hundred Malays", a total that is not inconsistent with John Clunies Ross's claim. Darwin refers to "a number of Malay slaves which now including children amount to more than a hundred"; Syms Covington's diary mentions "about 60 or 70 Malays". Covington is frequently inaccurate (for example he refers to Ross as the Governor, whereas he had not any such official status), but he may have been including only adults. A total number of a little over one hundred Malay people is probably not far from the truth.
Charles Darwin refers in his diary to the Malays as
now nominally in a state of freedom, & certainly so as respects their personal treatment; but in most other points they are considered as slaves.
His Captain explains a little further:
By some strange misconception, not intentional act of injustice, Mr Ross had refused to give Hare's slaves their freedom for fear that the executors of that man should demand their value from him; but he paid them two rupees, in goods (at his own valuation), provided that they worked for him, both men and women, as he thought proper. Mr Leisk told me this, and said that many of the Malays were discontented, and wanted to leave the island. "No wonder," thought I, "for they are still slaves, and only less ill used than they were by the man who purchased them."
A surprisingly enlightened view for FitzRoy, who had defended slavery in conversations with Darwin in South America; perhaps nearly five years of discussions with the more liberal young Darwin had mellowed him. At any event we see here the birth of the system, variously called exploitation or paternalism, whereby the Cocos Malay folk were employed by five generations of the Clunies Ross family to work on their estate for minimal wages, or for tokens (latterly "plastic rupees") redeemable in the estate-owned shop. The system was only brought to an end following the take-over of the islands by the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1978.
FitzRoy records that in 1836 the Malay women were required to "husk" a hundred nuts a day, collected for them by the men.
It is perhaps only fair to say that Clunies Ross stoutly defended the arrangements existing in 1836 in his "reply" to the FitzRoy and Darwin accounts (see page 12), written in the late 1840s, giving many pages of complex legal and theological argument on the subject. He also took FitzRoy to task for saying that the Cocos Malay women were expected to husk a hundred nuts a day, arguing that they were quite capable of dealing with a thousand! It is in fact possible that FitzRoy misinterpreted some of the things that wre told him by Ross's employee, Mr Liesk, and it is more than likely that to some extent Liesk deliberately distorted certain aspects for his own purposes.
Daily life in the Malay kampong
The visitor going ashore on Home island today for the first time finds a good deal that echoes the accounts of Darwin and FitzRoy. The Naturalist recorded:
We found on a point thickly scattered over with nut trees, the town … the houses of the Malays are arranged along the shore of the lagoon.
Thick tangles of coconut palms still grow in places along the shore of Home Island, and although the "town" is now more extensive than in Darwin's day, many of the houses still have a view of the lagoon. Captain Ross and his family, and Mr William C Liesk with his, are said to have lived "in a large barn-like house open at both ends & lined with woven bark", so it may be assumed that the houses of the Malays were smaller, similar structures, probably roofed with palm-leaves. Fibre from the bark of Hibiscus tiliaceus was used for the manufacture of cordage – and it still is. Most of the materials for the construction of simple dwellings would thus have been conveniently to hand. Darwin also records that fibre from robber crab burrows (the husks of coconuts removed by the crabs) was also collected by the Malays. There are several mentions of boats and canoes (almost certainly the latter were Malay "dugout" canoes or koleks) in the accounts of both Darwin and FitzRoy, and along the lagoon a line of locally built wooden open boats still lie just above the level of the water. Alas, many of them now contain a scattering of fragments of palm-leaves, drifted there on the breeze, for few are now in use. Aluminium "runabouts" with powerful Johnson outboards have little of the grace of the traditionally built local Cocos craft but are preferred for their speed, lightness and ease of maintainance. The timber traditionally used most for boat-building on the island in Cordia subcordata, referred to by Henslow as Cordia orientalis. Darwin's notes, repeated by Henslow, report:
The settlers have named this Keeling-teak, because it furnishes them with excellent timber. They have built themselves a vessel with it. A large tree, abounding on some islands, very leafy, with scarlet flowers; but only a few blossoms were expanded at the time and they easily fell off.7
The flowers are convolvulus-like, hence the name "sea trumpet". Another names used is "ironwood" and this timber was and is that used most extensively for carving. Elsewhere Darwin mentions "a small schooner" built on the island – this must be the "vessel" mentioned above. She was named the Harriet, and was built in 1835.
Syms Covington's diary noted that the islands were "a very short distance" apart. He reported, in his somewhat confused rustic manner, that it was possible to "walk from one to another when the tide is low to nearly all except the entrance to Basin"! This is still the case, although the wade from the most southerly point of West Island across the two-and-a-half kilometres of coral reef via the islets of Pulu Maria, Pulu Blan Madar and Pulu Klapa Satu to the most southerly point of South Island was one of the more adventurous tasks undertaken during the field-work for this book. In many places I was in quite turbulent water up to my waist, jagged coral underfoot, curious reef sharks a metre or so in length coming to inspect my legs every few minutes!
Clearly boats would be virtually essential, and were frequently used in Darwin's day, for hunting, fishing and for visiting the more remote islands of the archipelago for food collecting.
At the time of the Beagle's visit, turtle seem to have been very common. Those seen in the lagoon were probably green turtle (Chelonia mydas), although hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) are very occasionally sighted off Direction Island. Darwin's diary account records that on 6 April 1836 he and FitzRoy ventured in a ship's boat to the southern end of the lagoon:
We saw several turtle & two boats were employed in catching them. The method is rather curious; the water is so clear and shallow that although at first the turtle dives away with much rapidity, yet a canoe or a boat under sail, will after no very long chase overtake it; a man standing ready in the bows at this moment dashes through the water upon its back. Then clinging with both hands by the shell of the neck, he is carried away until the turtle becomes exhausted & is secured. It was quite an interesting chase to see the two boats doubling about, & the men dashing into the water till at last the prey was seized.
Captain FitzRoy's description of the chase is almost identical, he merely adding that the turtle was "secured" by turning it on its back.
Such has been the pressure on the turtles, and also their eggs, that few turtles are today seen in the southern part of the lagoon. They used to feed on turtle grass close to West Island, however, and for a while an attempt was made to "farm" them on Home Island. The remnants of the enclosure close to the jetty near the settlement can still be made out. The size and number of the turtles that swam in the lagoon in 1836 can
however be imagined by Covington's note that the Beagle was supplied with two turtles per day during her stay at Cocos, each of them "about 150lb weight" (approximately 70kg).
Darwin says little about the methods used in fishing by the Cocos people, apart from the annotation amongst his Plant Notes that the light wood of the Hibiscus (Particum tiliaceus) was "used by the fishermen for floats", All contemporary accounts suggest that fish were very abundant in the lagoon - as they are today - that they must have formed an important part of the Cocos Malays' diet. Fish traps may have been sued at the time of Darwin's visit, as well as nets and lines. Captain FitzRoy, however records:
Mr Stokes [Mate and Assistant Surveyor] saw a dog, (bred on the island), catch three … fish in the course of a few hours by chasing them in shallow water, springing after them almost as a kangaroo springs on land. Sometimes one would take shelter under a rock, when the dog would drive it out with his paw, and seize it with his mouth as it bolted. (Narrative)
The vast clams (Darwin says chama, Covington mention "clamp" shells, FitzRoy the old scientific name Chama gigantea) appear to have been numerous, and they along with some of the other 500 species of mollusc recorded from the atoll would have been eaten.
Crabs were also consumed. Land crabs of a number of species are abundant throughout the island group, but the large robber crab (Birgus lato) was particularly esteemed. Darwin's Zoological Diary records:
Their flesh is very good food: in the tail is a large lump of fat which when melted down gives a bottle full of oil.
The robber or coconut crab has been virtually exterminated on the main atoll, so eagerly is it sought after. It is believed by some peoples of the Indo-Pacific region that the flesh has aphrodisiac properties! It survives on North Keeling and is locally quite abundant on Christmas Island (about 900 km east of Cocos).
The birds of Cocos, like the robber crabs and the turtle have declined in number since the Beagle visited the archipelago. Darwin's wistful account, comparing the bustle of the sea-bird breeding colony with that of the rookeries of the fresh-budding woodlands of the English spring (see page 42) implies that many islands of the group were alive with boobies, noddies and terns. Covington commented that the seabirds were
"very tame, as to let you come quite close to them or within a yard". The land rail (Rallus philippensis), Covington noted, was "common". The visitor to West Island or Home Island today will see few birds apart from the occasional fishing egret or a flock of turnstone. Conservation measures are in hand but a century and a half of slaughter (simply by grabbing the tame birds as they sat on their nests, by using firearms and with a type of whip or flail-like contraption called a cambuk in Malay) has taken its toll.8 It is reasonable to assume that birds were taken freely in substantial numbers at the time of Darwin's visit.
Darwin asserts firmly that domestic animals included only the pig, which he said grew very fat on a diet of coconuts! But there seem to have been some thoughts of introducing goats. In Henslow's article on the plants of the island group (written after lengthy discussions with Darwin) it is written:
Three species of grass had been introduced … from Java under an impression that goats would not eat the rank herbage of the island; but the settlers were surprised to find that one of these animals left on the islands by Capt. Fitzroy preferred the native to the introduced species.
The Beagle, like many other ships, had goats on board for fresh milk, and it looks as though one of them was tethered on one of the islands for a while to feed it up. Covington's diary says that there were "plenty of poultry (Chinese breed)", and both Darwin and FitzRoy mention ducks.
Plant foods were also available in extreme abundance. Quite apart from the coconuts9 which covered, and still cover, almost every islet, Covington mentions "2 sorts of indigenous fruits". One of these may have been the cheesefruit, mengkudu, or Morinda citrifolia. This shrub, up to about three metres high was not included in Darwin's collection although it is today quite common several of the islands. It bears a fleshy fruit shaped a little like a pine-cone about seven centimeters in length, which although not attractive to European taste is cut into slices by the Malays and eaten (see Figure 15).10
Darwin in his diary entry for 3 April states that he saw "no gardens"; this was written early during the course of his stay for he must have told Henslow of the sugar cane, tobacco and maize mentioned in the Annals of Natural History article. From the writings of FitzRoy and Covington we may add the following crops: water melon, bananas, pumpkins and possibly coffee.
"A strange half superstitious scene"
After having dinner with Mr Liesk on Home island on the evening of 3 April, Darwin and FitRoy remained for a while ashore to watch what Darwin described as:
a strange half superstitious scene, acted by the Malay women. They dress a large wooden spoon in garments – carry it to the grave of a dead man - & then at the full of the moon they pretend it becomes inspired & will dance & jump about. After the proper preparations the spoon held by two women became con-vulsed & danced in good time to the song of the surrounding children and women. It was a most foolish spectacle, but Mr Liesk maintained that many of the Malays believed in its spiritual movements. The dance did not begin till the moon had risen & it was well worth remaining to behold her bright globe so quietly shining through the long arms of the Cocoa nuts as they waved in the evening breeze.
The ceremony was almost certainly a funereal ritual, and according to Ms Pauline Bunce, a longtime resident of the Cocos islands, several of the elements described in Darwin's account are recognisable in the death rituals that were still being practiced by the Malay people of Home Island in the late 1980s. The "spoon" mentioned in the diary entry is probably a "mesan", the wooden spade-like head-piece, pairs of which are placed on male graves – note that that the object is described above as being carried "to the grave of a dead man". (Female graves have distinctively different thistle-flower-shaped head-pieces). They are typically a little less than a metre in length, and do indeed rather resemble spoons. Darwin mentioned the "spoon" being dressed in garments: today, during the mourning rituals these objects are, according to informants in the Malay community, wrapped in white cloth. The cloth was described as being tied "like a tie" around the mesan. Singing, particularly by order women, was said to be repeated during the seven days of the mourning period. The rising full moon in Darwin's description may also have been significant: there is said to still be a strong lunar element in the Cocos Malay's pattern of activities.
Captain FitzRoy noted that the Malay people were "Mahometans". He continues, however by saying that although one of their number "officiated as priest" [imam], "exclusive of an extreme dislike to pigs, they showed little outward attention to his injunctions." But perhaps his impression was just one gained from a short stay, without a great deal of close contact with the Malay people.
Figure 15. Morina citrifolia: cheesefruit of menkudu
The Cocos Malays remain a predominantly Islamic community: today (1987) there are three mosques conspicuously displaying the Islamic crescent on their roofs, and three imams on Home Island. The imams, who apparently learn their duties locally, have an important social role.11 Arabic inscriptions are painted on the side of the mosques, although few people on the island understand enough of the language to be able to translate it into Malay. Despite, however, the strength of the Islamic faith in the Home Island community, elements of an older animist or spiritualist tradition remain. The spirits of the departed are said to make their presence felt on the living in certain ways. Although the material is fragmentary, this is at least compatible with Darwin's report that the "spoon" became "inspired" and the assertion by Liesk that "many of the Malays believed in its spiritual movements".
The grave-yard at the time of Darwin's visit was quite close to the village, and indeed a regularly tended grave, said to be that of the first imam (presumably the one mentioned by FitzRoy, see above), lies at the foot of a large coconut palm, fifty metres north-east of the Primary School on Home island (see Figure 16). But relatively early in the history of the settlement a cemetery was established away from the kampong on the island of Pulu Gangsa, although this islet has now been joined to
Figure 16. Grave on Home Island, said to be that of the first imam; note the spoon-shaped mesan or headboard.
Home Island.12 The graveyard is regularly tended each year at Hari Raya (the first day of the month after Ramadan). Objects are frequently left on graves, and the grave yard is said to be particularly the haunt of spirits: a Malay man describing an early morning boat-trip along the shore of Pulu Gangsa, was heard to comment, not entirely jokingly, that no-one was yet up and about!
A number of the people show a fear of the island of North Keeling, believing that it is the particularly the haunt of evil spirits: young women especially will not land there, some saying that children born to them will be deformed.
Much of this suggests that the belief in the widespread presence and influence of spirits, hinted at very obliquely in the Darwin narrative, remained part of the Cocos Malay way of life in the 1980s.
"A favourable place for commerce"
Captain Ross's aims in colonising the islands were intensely practical. His plan, after inspecting the islands during his trading voyages around the Far East, and bringing out his wife and family of several children, was to establish a fitting and provisioning centre for ships sailing to the Far Fast and Australia, and to grow coconuts for sale. When he arrived in 1827 he brought a number of English apprentices, but most of these left fairly early, partly because the estate was not able develop as rapidly and profitably as had been hoped on account of the long-running dispute with Hare. Mr W C Liesk was the only one of these apprentices who remained by 1836; by then he had been married (apparently quite legally by a visiting Royal Navy Captain) to Mrs Ross's maid, who had born him several children (see account of baptism, page 24). There do not seem to have been any Europeans resident on the island at the time of the Beagle's visit apart from the Ross and Liesk families, and, apparently, an American seaman, a deserter from a ship called the Trusty, one Joseph Raymond by name. He is not mentioned in the accounts of Darwin, FitzRoy or Covington: perhaps he adopted a low profile – he has been said to have been plotting with Liesk against Ross at this time.13
The settlement was at one established in the southern part of the archipelago, on South Island (sometimes called South-east Island, Pulu Atas). This was not very satisfactory, because the shallowness of the lagoon made it impossible to bring any but the smallest craft close in. The settlement, with both its European and Malay communities, had moved to Home Island (known as Water Island at the time of the Beagle's visit) not long before the time of which Darwin writes, a point that he acknowledges in his somewhat unflattering account. The principal advantage of the new location was its adjacency to Port Refuge (the name is used by Darwin, and appears on modern hydrographic charts), a sheltered anchorage between Horsburgh and Direction Islands, with a depth of about 5 fathoms (about 9 metres).
The Clunies Ross family were later to build a succession of imposing residences of Home Island – the last was Oceania House, built around the turn of the century – but at the time the two European families lived in something rather more humble. Captain FitzRoy recalls "the whole party residing in a large house of Malay build – just such a structure as one sees represented in old japanned work." Darwin adds, that the house was "barn-like", open at both ends and lined with mats of woven bark.
We should perhaps at this point glance at what Clunies Ross himself had to say about his house, once again purporting to write from FitzRoy's point of view, but as usual with lashings of sarcasm:
My mention of the "house in which the whole party were residing together" would certainly not be worth noticing here – otherwise than as an instance of my indefatigable attention and ready ingenuity in noticing and turning to account every particular that appeared at all suseptible of being so turned.- Accordingly although I saw in reality two houses – but for convenience in describing these so as best to serve my main purpose, I made one out of two – and then had no difficulty in making that one considerably unlike either.
That one (in which the whole party were residing) constructed for Mr Leisk's habitation – and certainly has nothing very large in its aspect or dimensions – being about ten feet from the ground to the eaves of the roof. The other was Mr Ross's – standing then on the S.E.n islet at the time awaiting his convenience for removing it to the Island on which he had recently placed (as he had always intended to place) the Settlement. It's [sic] floors and partitions had been put together so as to be removable in compartments, floated down to the Settlement and there again set up.
Mr Darwin and myself having visited and slept the night.- I can therefore speak as I do from personal observation. The beams were or Norway deals brought out from England by Mr Ross. The floors and partitions of Singapore boards – and the pillars of the Island timber. Two Englishmen (Thomas Dealey and George Bailey) of the party brought out with him.- the one a carpenter and the other a joiner prepared and assisted in putting it together and setting it up, and except in putting the thatch on the roof, no Malays were employed in it's [sic] construction.- But even these were not Malays but Javanese that Mr Ross brought to the Isles. The form was, and is, a square of forty eight feet on the ground and twenty feet
thence to the eaves of the house. The resemblance of the entire fabric to such a structure as one sees on old japanned work was no doubt exact – providing that the said representation corresponds to the foregoing – but if not –why then – not.-
(Clunies Ross Papers BM Add Ms No 37631, Adventure and Beagle, account, page 99)
There is no evidence whatever that Darwin and FitzRoy visited any house of the Ross family on South Island, the point where they landed on that islet seems to have been to the south of "New Selma" the site of the original Ross settlement. Neither of them mentions any signs of construction or of former indications of habitation at the point where they landed: the whole community seems to have been completely relocated on Home Island shortly before their visit. It is just possible that the building they mention was the comparatively slight structure of the Liesks, but I believe it to have been the Ross home. Although Ross may be entirely accurate in saying that it was originally erected on South Island, and pre-fabricated in such a way as to allow its later removal and re-erection, I think the Clunies Ross account is inaccurate in saying it was still awaiting removal to Home Island. Bearing in mind that Ross was away at the time, and that his account was written years later, it is possible that he was confused about the exact date the structure was transported. And it must be admitted that he seems determined to show Darwin and FitzRoy to be in error at every possible turn, so it is just possible that the inaccuracy was deliberate. In any event as regards the actual form of the building, the Beagle accounts do not seem to be entirely incompatible with Ross's own description.
FitzRoy has some interesting details about the trading activities of the young enterprise, which also provide an insight into the the character of its somewhat despotic proprietor in relation to his "employees":
These Malays were allowed to rear poultry, which they sometimes sold to shipping. They were also allowed to have the produce of a certain number of cocoa-nut trees, and might catch fish and turtle for their own use: but the sale of turtle to shipping, when they touched there, and the immense crops of cocoa-nuts which are produced annually on all the islets of the group were monopolised by Mr Ross for his sole advantage.
Oil was extracted from the nuts by the Malay men, after husking by the women – a gallon from every ten – and this was also traded, along with
turtle, and their shells (tortoise shell). Vegetables and pigs were also sold to passing ships. Both Covington and FitzRoy mention trade in beche-de-mer (bicho do mar, Opisthobranchia): Covington describes "Beech de la mar like large black English slug only about 10 times the size".
Captain Ross sold the coconuts, oil and other products of the islands in Singapore (this is where he was at the time the Beagle visited the island group), and also traded with the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Madras and Batavia and other ports of the East Indian Archipelago. From these centres, according to Darwin, he brought back "rice & goods for the Malays". Although the Cocos Islands did not, in April 1836, represent the important trading and profitable copra production enterprise of later years, it certainly already had the makings, as seafarer FitzRoy put it, of "a favourable place for commerce".
"A Sketch of the Natural History of these Islands"
Although human communities had a fascination for Darwin, to the extent that throughout his voyage he took careful note of the physical appearances, customs, dwellings and activities of the varied peoples with whom he came into contact, it was nevertheless natural history that had been his first love since he collected beetles in the Shropshire countryside and "walked with Henslow" in the woods and meadows around Cambridge. Charles Darwin's powers of observation and eye for detail have already been commented upon (Chapter 3). Here emphasis will be placed on a search for evidence that the young naturalist was beginning to arrange the observations that he made on the plants and animals of the islands upon the distinctive conceptual frameworks that so characterise much of his later work. The task is not easy, but there are, I believe some fragmentary writings from the Cocos-Keeling interlude that give a hint that ideas which came to be of fundamental importance in later life were already being used as an aid to the understanding of the complex living community of organisms of which the atoll comprised. In this chapter I try also to indicate briefly the way in which ideas that were triggered by observations and specimens from Cocos were later developed.
A theme that characterises a good deal of Darwin's later work is that of the adaptation of plants and animals to their environment and way of life. Phrases such as "perfectly adapted" and "exquisite adaptation" litter, for example, the Sketch of 1842, the Essay of 18441 and On the Origin of species. Although the notion that organisms are adapted to their surroundings forms an important component of the theory of natural selection, it was not, of course, in any sense a Darwinian innovation: it forms an important component of the doctrine of natural theology – the idea that the existence and character of God can be deduced by observation of the natural world and through reason. Writers such as Paley (whom Darwin had read while at Cambridge) argued that the perfect way in which each creature fitted into its position in the scheme of things was evidence for the existence of a divine Creator. Darwin actually quoted Paley in Chapter 6 of On the Origin: "No organ will be formed, as Paley has remarked, for the purpose of causing pain or for doing an injury to its possessor". And indeed there is a body of opinion that Darwin's best-known publication should be considered as the last of the great works of natural theology rather than the first of a new generation of volumes on evolutionary biology. The idea that each organ had a particular purpose that reflected the creature's way of life, and that each plant or animal had a particular part to play within the whole
pattern, was therefore, an old one, and one with which Charles was quite familiar when he went on shore on Direction Island on 2 April 1836. Nevertheless the concept had such a powerful part to play in the development of his evolutionary ideas, that it is worth noticing that it was in use in his diary description, written on that day, of the hermit crabs:
The large claw or pincers of some of them are most beautifully adapted when drawn back, to form an operculum to the shell, which is as perfect as the proper one which the living molluscous animal formerly possessed. I was assured, & as far as my observation went it was confirmed, that there are certain kinds of these hermits which always use certain kinds of old shells.
The commonest red hermit crab on the islands is Coenobita perlata, which very often inhabits the shells of the mollusk Turbo argyrostomus. Modern observations confirm that hermit crabs tend to restrict themselves to particular species of shell. It may, however, be noted that there exist fewer alternatives for older, larger crabs.
Here is the phrase "beautifully adapted", the idea of an individual organ being structured for a particular task, and less obviously, that of different organisms fitting into a wider network of relationships.
Darwin seems to have been particularly pre-occupied with the idea of adaptation in relation to different types of crabs. He appreciated that behavioral characteristics could represent adaptations, as well as morphological ones. After describing the alleged ability of robber crabs to open coconuts and extract the food he wrote that this was "as curious a piece of adaptation" as he had ever seen. (Further comments on Darwin's interest in animal behaviour are offer below.)
Darwin was of course particularly interested in the coral formations of the Cocos-Keeling Islands and spent a good deal of time collecting specimens of the many species of coral, examining and dissecting them. He appreciated the way in which the different species were adapted to the subtly different environments posed by the complexity of the reef structure – robust, compact forms from the breaker zone (he waded out to collect them), and slender, filamentous, branching corals in the lagoon. For examples:
The second species of Millepora grows in strong vertical plates, which frequently intersect each other & so form a coarse honeycombed mass. In such masses the outer parts
alone of the plates are alive. This coral flourishes in the outer part of the reef where the sea violently breaks.2
With plants Darwin was less explicit, although his notes on the plant specimens are replete with mentions of associations with particular habitats. The notion of adaptation is at least hinted at by such statements as that Lepturus repens "occurs in salt places in the interior of the islands".
Struggle and interaction
The idea of the existence of a continuing "struggle" within the natural world was of course fundamental to the Darwinian idea of natural selection, and it is interesting to notice a use of this type of metaphor in Darwin's diary entry for his first day ashore:
The aspect and constitution of these Islands at once calls up the idea that the land & the ocean are here struggling for the mastery: although terra firma has obtained a footing, the denizens of the other think their claim at least equal. In every part one meets Hermit-Crabs of more than one species.
A few lines later he refers to the terrestrial hermit crabs "carrying on their backs the houses they have stolen from the neighbouring beach".
The figurative use of the words and phrases "struggling for mastery", "obtained a footing" and "stolen" gives the passage a distinctly pugilistic flavour, and although the struggle to which Darwin refers is between land and ocean, organisms as well as the inanimate forces of nature are involved.
The metaphor of conflict between the ocean and the apparently fragile coral island's structure is even more clearly demonstrated in the diary entry made a few days later (6 April):
The ocean throwing its waters over the broad reef appears an invincible all-powerful enemy, yet we see it resisted & even conquered by means which would have been judged most weak & inefficient.
The struggle between land and ocean will be disscused further in Chapter 6.
Although the establishment of the science of ecology lay many decades in the future, Darwin's notes from the Beagle period are full of
observations of the relationships between organisms, and between organisms and their surroundings. These vary from simple descriptive comments about the habitat of a plant or animal, to analyses of more sophisticated ecological linkages. The Darwinian use of the notion of organisms being adapted to their surroundings has already been discussed. Less obvious is the idea that plants and animals actually contribute to a two-way "dialogue" with their environments.
Once again this was not a particularly novel idea. It is stressed in Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology3, a copy of each of the three volumes of which Darwin had with him in the poop cabin of HMS Beagle. (Ironically one of these was gifted and signed by FitzRoy, who in later years was to make himself appear ridiculous by adhering to fundamentalist and extreme creationist views long after they had largely been discarded by others.) A little surprisingly Lyell writes particularly fluently about the relationship that exists between living things and their physical environment on remote islands, although he had no personal experience of such places. In the second volume of the Principles is written: "The cocoa, pandanus and mangrove take root upon the coral reef before it had fairly risen above the waves" (p158). It is not difficult to imagine that these words, or something like them, were at the back of Darwin's mind when he wrote the note on his specimen of Pemphis acidula: "No sooner has a new reef become sufficiently elevated by the accumulation of sand upon its surface, but that this plant is sure to be the first that takes possession of the soil". Note again the metaphor with the slight military allusion.
Darwin also appreciated the way in which organisms might affect the physical environment. He was particularly impressed by the fish of the genus Scarus that consumed the stony corals on Cocos (see Figure 17), and the way in which sea-cucumbers or holuthurians (of which several species are abundant in the lagoon and on the shallower reefs) affected the material of the sea bed. He wrote later:
Two species of fish, of the genus Scarus, which are common here, exclusively feed on coral: both are coloured of a splendid bluish-green, one living invariably in the lagoon, and the other amongst the outer breakers. Mr Liesk assured us, that he had repeatedly seen whole shoals grazing with their strong bony jaws on the tops of the coral branches: I opened the intestines of several, and found them distended with yellow calcarious sandy mud. The slimy disgusting Holuthuriae (allied to our star-fish), which the Chinese gourmands are so fond of, also feed largely, as I am informed by Dr Allan, on corals; and the bony apparatus within their bodies seems well adapted to this
end. These holuthuriae, the fish, the numerous burrowing shells, and the nereidous worms, which perforate every block of dead coral, must be very efficient agents in producing the fine white mud which lies at the bottom and on the shores of the lagoon.
Figure 17. A species of Scarus collected by Charles Darwin in the Cocos Islands, as illustrated in The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle Part IV, Fish, by Leonard Jenyns.
This passage, from the Voyage of the Beagle, chapter 20, was put together after Darwin's return from the sea, but was based on material he collected at Cocos: specimens of both species of fish were taken, and are described, partly on the basis of Darwin's notes, by Leonard Jenyns in Volume IV of the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle (see Figure 17). Indeed, the strange green species seems to have attracted a good deal of interest on board; FitzRoy mentions them and even Covington, who does not often display great interest in natural history in his diary, mentions the "green fish or coral eater". A specimen of the fine mud was also collected (specimen No 3617) and briefly described in the red geological specimen book. The paragraph displays many Darwin characteristics - the comparative approach, the careful separation of his observations from those of others, the detailed descriptions, the "ecological" emphasis.
Many examples of descriptions of subtle relationships between the species of organisms found at Cocos could be mentioned. In dissecting a coral he found delicate branching filaments, which he thought might be "a minute microscopical parasitical plant or animal". He also noticed, like many subsequent naturalists, the interesting tripartite relationship between hermit crab, mollusc shell and sea anemone:
Actinia The specimen which I found was adhering to old shells, (1415) which were inhabited by hermit crabs; they lay beneath the large stones on the outer reef. …
(Zoological Diary: DAR 31.2/361)
As he wandered along the palm-backed beaches and through the coastal thickets, splashed across the reefs and around the edges of the lagoon, and while he careful examined and described his specimens at the table in his tiny cabin, Darwin was frequently conscious of the complexity of nature and the subtlety of the network of relationships within it. These ideas, while not so well developed as during the drafting of the first essays on natural selection and in later work, nevertheless to a remarkable extent influenced the way in which he collected material, and organised it in his mind. Moreover, he quite frequently attempted a crude analysis of situations in terms of the metaphors of stuggle and warfare that were later to dominate his thinking on evolution. It must also be stressed here, that in these early stages of the journey, as later on the trek that led to On the Origin of Species, Charles Lyell was his constant companion. Aboard HMS Beagle the association was through the Principles of Geology, later they became close personal friends.
"A refuge for the destitute"
It may be said that the concept of long-distance dispersal is the natural companion of the theory of evolution. If all living plants and animals are derived from a few simple forms instead of being independently created, living things must have dispersed throughout the world. The plants and animals now found upon remote islands must at some time made the journey thither. In his later years Charles Darwin spent a great deal of time and energy investigating the means by which this transference of living beings might have occurred. He tested the floating capacities of seeds and whether seeds would survive passage through the gut of a bird. He wanted to know whether seeds would germinate from mud washed from a bird's foot. He corresponded widely on these matters, and paid the children of the village of Downe in Kent small sums to collect specimens for him to experiment upon.
It is quite clear that while on the Cocos-Keeling atoll the poverty of the floras and faunas of remote islands was in the upper part of his mind. It should be remembered that the Cocos visit came about six months after the sojourn on the Galapagos, and that HMS Beagle had called at several other oceanic islands and island groups, including Cape Verde, St Paul's Rocks, the Falklands (twice) and Tahiti: Darwin by now knew what he was looking for.
While he was on the islands Darwin was impressed by the apparent lushness of the vegetation, despite the poor soil:
In such a loose, dry, stony soil, nothing but the climate of the intertropical regions could produce such a vigorous vegetation. … Yet the woods, from the dead branches of the trees, & the arms of the Cocoa nuts, is as thick as a jungle.
But the observant young naturalist was not deceived:
Besides the Cocoa nut which is so numerous as the first appear the only tree, there are five or six other kinds. One called the Cabbage tree, grows to a great bulk in proportion to its height, & has an irregular figure; its wood is very soft. Besides these trees the number of native plants is exceedingly limited: I suppose it does not exceed a dozen.
(Diary: 2 April 1836)
The Cabbage tree was Scaevola sericea (Scaevola Koenigli in Henslow's account of Darwin's plants of the Cocos), and it is indeed one of the most conspicuous plants of the islands, often forming a near-continuous but
Figure 18 (Above) Scaevola sericea (S. Koenigli) growing on West Island.
Figure 19 (Below) "Refuge for the destitute." Seedlings of coconuts and other plant species germinating close to the top of a Cocos beach.
rather loose bright green shubby barrier along the top of a beach (see Figure 18). Darwin's estimate of the flora was something of an underestimate; a recently compiled list of the plants of the archipelago4 included about 70 native species, (plus a number of that have been introduced since Darwin collected). But he clearly understood the nature of the poverty of island biotas in general. His diary continues:
There are no true land birds a snipe & land-rail are the only two "waders", the rest are all birds of the sea. Insects are very few in number: I must except some spiders & a small ant, which swarms in countless numbers at every spot and place.
The "snipe" was probably in fact a turnstone, Arenaria interpres. The land rail was mentioned earlier (page 31). Darwin wrote in the Voyage that he "was at pains to collect every kind" of insect. There is, among Darwin's zoological notes from the Cocos, a fragment of paper that bears a careful list of the insects he collected there (DAR 29.3/35):
One minute elater
—& one with fissile wings
2 Homopterus 2
1 Hemipterous insect
The note appears very little altered, but with one or two further identifications, as a footnote to the Voyage. Again it is quite clear that he was impressed with the poverty of the terrestrial fauna and flora.
Throughout his writings on the land plants and animals of the islands words such as "poorer", "poverty", "paucity", "few" and "only" abound. The contrast between the paucity of the land forms and the richness of the surrounding seas could not escape the naturalist with such a penchant for the comparative approach: "Although the productions of the land are thus scanty", he was later to write, "if we look at the surrounding sea, the number of organic beings in indeed infinite."
There is not much evidence that Darwin gave a great deal of thought to the mechanisms of dispersal while he was actually on the islands. However his careful distinction between the richness of the sea-bird colonies in comparison with the poverty of the terrestrial bird fauna,
and his distinguishing in collecting plant specimens between those species that naturally occurred in the islands and those he felt had been introduced suggests that he might have given the mattersome consideration. Darwin also seems to have made a study of the plant material washed up on the strand line (probably of Director, Horsburgh and Home Islands, all of which he visited), for Henslow in his paper on Darwin's plants from the archipelago comments:
Mr Darwin heard of the trunks of trees, of many seeds, and of old cocoa-nuts being washed on the shore from time to time.
(See Figure 19.)
Although there are vague hints of a changing outlook in the later stages of the voyage (particularly from Australia onwards) he is thought not have fully adopted a truly evolutionary position until March 18375, six months after his return to England. Once he had assumed that position, the matter of the colonisation of remote islands became increasingly important.
In modifying his diary for publication as the Voyage of the Beagle, originally A Naturalist's Voyage, Darwin noted that the Florula (list of the flora) of the islands had "quite the character of a refuge for the destitute". This statement implies not only of the poverty of the flora, but the idea of a long and difficult journey for those that eventually became successfully established. Elsewhere in the same passage Darwin wrote:
As the islands consist entirely of coral, and must at one time have existed as mere water-washed reefs, all their productions must have been transported here by the waves of the sea.
And of a solitary tree growing near a beach he commented "without doubt the one seed was thrown up by the waves".
Clearly in the months and years following his return to England in late 1836 Darwin followed up the related problems of the poverty of island biota (particularly those of the Galapagos and the Cocos-Keeling Islands) with some vigour. He badly wanted to know how many species there were amongst the Cocos specimens he collected, which he regarded (mistakenly) as comprising "a nearly complete flora". On 28 March 1837, a few days, according to Frank Sulloway, after Darwin's "conversion" to an evolutionary outlook (see note 5), the naturalist wrote to his friend and former teacher Henslow:
At some future time I shall want to know number [sic] of species of plants at Galapagos and Keeling, and at the latter whether seeds could probably endure floating on salt water. I suppose, after a little more examination you would be able tosay, what was the general character of the vegetation of the Galapagos.-?
Darwin was at the time working very hard hard on preparing his diary for publication, and in increasing desperation he wrote again to Henslow on either the 12 or 13 of July 1837:
I am now hard at work, cramming up learning to ornament my journal with, you may guess the object of this letter is to beg, a few hard names, respecting my plants. I believe I shall really begin printing in beginning of August, so there is no time to lost, - Will you look over the list of question, & try to answer some of them. – For instance it will not take you long just to count the number of species in my collection from the Keeling Isls:- You can tell me something about the Galapagos plants, without further examination…
In fact the publication of the account of the voyage was delayed because of FitzRoy's illness, but Henslow did get on with examining the plants from the Cocos Islands, for an account of them appeared in the Annals of Natural History exactly a year later.
Darwin's desperate desire for information on the number of species in the "Keeling Florula", linked with a similar request for information about the Galapagos flora, plus the clear evidence of interest in the possibility of Keeling seeds floating in salt water, so soon after the probable date that Darwin adopted an evolutionary outlook is hardly likely to be coincidental. Darwin was in fact thinking a good deal about the Galapagos at the time; there exist several letters from him writer in May, June and July of 1837, to naturalists about the peculiarities of the plants and animals of that archipelago, which assumed such importance in the development of his evolutionary ideas.
Further evidence of the reading and thinking that Darwin did in the years following his return, on the subject of the poverty of the Cocos Islands' biota and the mechanism of its dispersal, can be gained by setting the diary account of his visit beside that in the Voyage on the Beagle, particularly later editions. Such a comparison shows that one result of Darwin's "cramming up" was the inclusion of a number of other examples from the literature. For instance he quotes the following from Holman's Travels vol 1, page 378, an account based on information from a Mr A F
Keating6 who lived for about a year in the islands:
Seeds and plants from Sumatra and Java have been driven up by the surf on the windward side of the islands. Among them have been found the Kimiri, native of Sumatra, and the peninsula of Malacca; the cocoa-nut of Balci, known by its shape and size; the Dadass, which is planted with the Malays with the pepper-vine, the latter intwining round its trunk, and supporting itself by the prickles on its stem; the soap-tree; the castor-oil plant; trunks of the sago palm; and various kinds of seeds unknown to the Malays who settled on the islands. These are all supposed to have been driven by the NW monsoon to the coast of New Holland, and thence to the islands by the SE trade-wind. Large masses of Java teak and Yellow wood have also been found, besides immense trees of red and white cedar, and the blue gum-wood of New Holland, in a perfectly sound condition. All the hardy seeds, such as creepers, retain their germinating power, but the softer kinds, among which is the mangostin, are destroyed in the passage. Fishing canoes, apparently from Java, have at times been washed on shore.
This is an excellent account, that must have fitted with Darwin's developing views on the importance of long distance dispersal perfectly. Seeds and fruits are to this day to be found in large numbers on the outer shores of Direction and Home Islands, and some of the plants mentioned (for example the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis) are to be found growing on the islands today. Darwin added to the Voyage text a comment from Henslow that many of the plant species found on Cocos were littoral species from the East Indies.
Typically Darwin's comparative approach helps him to bring his own observations and those of others into a comprehensible framework. He quotes Chamisso's remarks on the Radack Archipelago (now often known as the Ratak Chain in the Marshall Islands) of the western Pacific:
…the sea brings to these islands the seeds and fruits of many trees, most of which have not yet grown here. The greater part of the seeds appear to have not yet lost the capability of growing.
Darwin goes on:
It cannot be doubted that if there were land birds to pick up the seeds when first cast on the shore, and a soil better adapted for growth than loose blocks of coral, that the most isolated of
the lagoon islands would in time posses a far more abundant Flora than they have now. (Voyage, chapter 20.)
Out of a comparison of his own observations of the Cocos Islands with those of other authorities Darwin has pulled a generalisation about the colonisation of remote islands by sea-born plant invaders.
In the nest paragraph of the Voyage Darwin uses exactly the same technique – comparing his own observation on Cocos with those of others elsewhere, adding some of his observations made under different circumstances – in an attempt to provide a more general statement on the avifauna of remote islands. After mentioning the occurrence of a rail on Cocos (see page 31), he continues:
Birds of this order are said to occur on a number of the small low islands in the Pacific. At Ascension, where there is no land bird, a rail (Porphyrio simplex) was shot near the summit of the mountain, and it was evidently a solitary straggler. At Tristan d'Acunha, where according to Carmichael there are only two land birds, there is a coot. From these facts I believe that the waders, after the innumerable web-footed species, are generally the first colonists of small isolated islands. I may add, that whenever I noticed birds, not of oceanic species, very far out to sea, they always belonged to this order; and hence they would naturally become the earliest colonists of any remote point of land.
Darwin also uses Chamisso's account of the Radack Archipelago for a succinct comparison of the entire biota:
… it is remarkable how closely its inhabitants, in number and in kind, resemble those of Keeling Island. There is one lizard and two waders, namely of snipe and a curlew. Of plants there are nineteen species, including a fern; and though some of these are the same as those growing here, though on a spot so immensely remote and in a different ocean.
Darwin was thus able to go on, after comparing his observations on the plants and animals of the Cocos group, with the observations of other naturalist, and his own observations made at other places and times, to adduce certain generalisations about island biota: they were depauperate in animal and plant species; many of the species occurring on islands reached them "by the action of the waves", or by some such mechanism of long distance dispersal; some types of organisms had a particular
propensity to be dispersed to islands.
Darwin also of course, appreciated the possibility that some of the plants and animals on Cocos had been introduced, accidentally or deliberately, by human action. He saw that sugar cane had "in some parts run wild"; FitzRoy mentioned the presence of both rats and mice, and Darwin described a rat specimen from the Cocos in the following terms:
This rat is exceedingly numerous on some of the low coral islets forming the margin of the Lagoon of Keeling Island, in the Indian Ocean. The Climate is dry and hot. The rats are known to have come in a vessel from Mauritius, which was wrecked on one of the islets, which is known as Rat Island [Direction Island]. They appeared stunted in their growth, and many of them were mangy. They are supposed to live chiefly on cocoa-nuts, and any animal matter the sea may chance to throw up. They have not any fresh-water; but the milk of the cocoa-nut would supply its place.
(Zoology of the Beagle, vol II, page 32.)
Amongst Darwin's Zoological notes is also the following fragment:
Keeling Rat (3591)
Differs from common rat in being smaller & brighter colour, rather yellower, no other difference, perhaps tail rather longer.
It would be interesting if this had been written by Darwin during the visit to the islands, as it would suggest that at this early time he appreciated the uniqueness of some island creatures, but it is possible that it was written after he had discussed the specimen with Waterhouse. The note is included in the archives with papers recording discussions with Waterhouse on the subject of rodents from Australia. Waterhouse describes the Keeling specimen in the Zoology of the Voyage (Volume II, page 32) as follows:
The general hue of the Keeling island specimen, is deep brown, the longer hares of the upper parts of the body being, as usual, black: but the shorter hares, instead of having the pale yellow tint which we observe in the European (or, rather British), specimens of Mus Decumanus, are of a deep rusty yellow. The most remarkable difference, however, consists in the colouring of the under parts being a yellowish tint, and, towards the root of the tail, of a very distinct buff yellow; the feet are brownish.
A table immediately beneath Waterhouse's description of the Keeling Rat shows that the tail is indeed slightly longer than other specimens Darwin collected on the voyage (from South America and the Falklands). My guess is that the note was written after Darwin had had a talk with Waterhouse about the specimen, but before Waterhouse had completed his detailed comparison of the several rat (now known as Rattus norvegicus) specimens that Darwin had obtained.
As well as the notes on the "vegetable and animal" productions of the islands, Darwin also seems to have made a couple of observations on some "mineral" material which appears to impinge on the matter of long distance dispersal. In the Cocos Coral Manuscript appear the words: "small pumice pebbles on beach from Sumatra, like the seeds". Fragments of bubble-filled volcanic material, sometimes 15-20 cm in diameter are still frequently washed up on the shores of Cocos. I picked up several on Home Island in 1987. And in the little red note book used for recording the numbers of his geological specimens from Cocos we see the following:
3581 A piece of a well rounded boulder of compact greenstone found in the coral breccia of the Northern Isd: in possession of Capt. Ross.-
The "Northern Island" must presumably be North Keeling, not visited by Darwin.7
The diary is silent on this strange lump of greenstone (basic igneous rock) although the Voyage adds that is was "rather larger than a man's head"; Darwin in the latter work ventures the opinion, once again on the basis of comparison with Chamisso's comments, on the finding of similar stones amonst the roots of trees cast on the beach in the Marshall Islands, that it must have arrived in similar fashion. Darwin suggests that stone may often be thus carried, the tree-trunks often being unnoticed, as they drift below the surface of the ocean. Darwin as though to convince the reader, and himself, perhaps, of the importance of this particular form of long distance dispersal, remarks: "The island has scarely ever been visited, nor is it probable that a ship had been wrecked there." In this last Darwin was probably mistaken, for Captain FitzRoy (who would have known about such matters) says the following about North Keeling:
… two English vessels have been lost since 1825, and probably other ships met a similar fate there in earlier years, when its existence was hardly known.
Despite this, it seems that the Cocos Islands played a significant role in providing evidence for natural long distance dispersal, as well as the poverty of island floras and faunas: ideas that were later built into his evolutionary schema.
The beginnings of the behavioural approach
It is not always widely appreciated that Darwin was one of the pioneer students of animal behaviour. He wrote extensively in later life on psychology, including the comparative psychology of humans and other animals. Such works included the The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), and, what has been called "a deeply psychological work" The Descent of Man (1871). His Diary of an Infant, compiled from observations on the psychological development of his son William (compiled 1839-1842) was the basis of an article in Mind (1877), and represented one strand in Darwin's psychological interest; his last major work The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits shows his concern for invertebrate as well as vertebrate behaviour.
Naturalists of the early and mid nineteenth century were not very greatly concerned with the behaviour of organisms: the science of ethology lay far in the future. The typical zoological work of Darwin's generation emphasised the morphology and classification of the animals. It is therefore all the more remarkable that the young naturalist aboard the Beagle so frequently included notes on the behaviour of the creatures he encountered.
He undertook experiments with even the simplest animals he encountered, testing their "behaviour" or at least irritability. Here is a description of a "purplish red" sea anemone (Actinia, specimen No 1415) found at Cocos:
The animal has the remarkable power when irritated of emitting from its mouth & 24 glands or pore bunches of viscous threads. These threads are colored [sic] "Peach & Aurora Red", they can be drawn out when in contact with any object to the length of some inches, & are emitted with considerable force.- They are no at all strong. The pores near the part most irritated only at any time ejected this substance. The animal having been kept for a day still retained this power. Within the body in the basal parts, large numbers of these red threads are laid. I know not their nature or use.8
They were in fact the cnidoblasts, the stinging cells, containing poison-bearing threads, used for defence and the capture of food by animals of this sort. The threads spring out of their capsules when a bristle-like trigger or cnidril is touched; hence their release following irritation notice by Darwin.
Darwin was throughout his scientific work interested in instinctive behaviour in animals. Chapter seven of On the Origin is devoted to a discussion of the phenomenon of instinct in a variety of animals, from ants to ostriches! His use of the term in connection with the behaviour of the robber crab of the Cocos Islands is therefore of particular interest. The account of the behaviour of this creature is remarkably detailed. Some aspects of the description were referred to on page 67 (see also Figure 20); some slight repetition occurs here:
These monstrous crabs inhabit in numbers the low strips of dry coral land; they live entirely on the fruit of the cocoa nut three. Mr Liesk informs me he has often seen them tearing, fibre by fibre, with their strong forceps the husk of the nut. This process they always perform at the extremity, where their three eyes are situated. By constant hammering the shell in that soft part is broken & then with the aid of pincers the food is extracted. I think this is as curious a piece of adaptation and instinct as I ever heard of. The crabs are diurnal in their habits: they live in burrows which frequently lie at the foot of the trees. Within the cavity they collect a pile, sometimes as much as a large bag full of the picked fibre and husks & on this they rest. At night they travel to the sea: there also the young are hatched & during the early part of their life they remain & probably feed on the beach.9
The above represents a remarkably comprehensive account of the behaviour of the creature, even if it has been compiled partly from the account of someone else. Some authorities have disputed whether this species does in fact open coconuts in the way described; but they may well be able to open a nut that is already damaged. Be that as it may, the account clearly implies, in the phase "adaptation and instinct" an appreciation of the innate nature of certain bahaviour patterns, ideas so important in Darwin's later writing.
One of the ways in which Darwin's accounts are so stimulating and refreshing, compared with that of other nineteenth century naturalists, is that the creatures he describes are alive. Animals and birds are more than just specimens; Darwin describes the way in which terns hover at arm's length from the visitor; fish graze off the ends of the branches of
coral; hermit crabs retreat into their stolen shells blocking the opening with their claw. Not only do we share in the beginnings of Darwin's innovative behavioural studies, it is an though we are with him as he walks along the coral beaches and through the coconut thickets, noticing every aspects of his surroundings on this remote atoll.
Figure 20. A page from Darwin's notes on the Robber crab (Photo: Cambridge University Library Syndicate).
It cannot be said that Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas were well formed by April 1836; but, with careful scrutiny some fragmentary evidence may be found that the young naturalist was beginning to look at the world in ways that were later to assist him with his evolutionary insights. While Darwin was on the remote Indian Ocean atoll he clearly appreciated that organisms were adapted tot heir environment; he also seems to have analysed parts of the natural world in terms of competition and struggle, as well as appreciating the complexity of relationships between organisms. He certainly was starting to realise the paucity of island floras and faunas and the great importance and nature of long distance dispersal. He displayed a real interest in the behaviour of animals, and placed emphasis on instinct. when, on 12 April 1836 HMS Beagle "stood out of the lagoon" Darwin was not an evolutionist, but there were in his mind certain ideas that put him part way along the road to becoming one. The material he collected was probably not so important as the specimens he collected in the Galapagos six months earlier, but he seems to some extent to have bracketed the two island experiences together. Where the Cocos experience was unique was that while he was working hard on the natural history of the islands, he was also putting the finishing touches on another of the ideas, for which he will be remembered, the Theory of Coral Reefs. To this we will now turn.
The Theory of Coral Reefs
Besides his extensive collecting programme, his careful descriptions of the plants and animals of the atoll, and his perceptive annotations on the human community, while he was at Cocos, Darwin was at work in developing one of his best-remembered theoretical constructs: the theory of the origin of coral reefs and atolls. It is possible that Darwin's enthusiastic interest in coral atolls was one of the factors that influenced Captain FitzRoy's decision to include Cocos (Keeling) in the Beagle's itinerary. The instructions from their Lordships of the Admiralty directed FitzRoy to take the route north from Sydney, through the Torres Strait, and thence to the Keeling Islands, should HMS Beagle reach Australia during the winter months. In the event of the ship arriving in Australia in the southern summer, the southern route, via Tasmania and King George's Sound was to be taken. After rounding Cape Leeuwin, and calling at the Swan River, Captain FitzRoy was to sail directly across the southern Indian Ocean to Mauritius. The compromise route that was in fact taken, quite correctly as the Beagle had arrived in Sydney in January, at the height of the southern summer, took the expedition to Hobart Town, across the Great Australian Bight to King George's Sound. But instead of diverting to the Swan River Colony, the little ship struggled on northwards to the Cocos Islands before crossing to Mauritius. Certainly this may have allowed FitzRoy to make better use of the prevailing winds, but it is also certain that Darwin and FitzRoy discussed the germinating ideas on coral islands from time to time, and the Captain could hardly fail to have been impressed by his colleague's enthusiasm.
The origins of the theory
We have already noted that one of the most important influences on Darwin during the Beagle period was Lyell's Principles of Geology. In this work Lyell expressed the view that the low circular or horseshoe-shaped islands and groups of islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans were formed by the growth of coral upwards from a circular volcanic crater. The idea did not appeal to Darwin; he wrote to his sister Caroline:
The notion of a lagoon island, 30 miles in diameter being based on a submarine crater of equal dimensions, has always seemed a monstrous hypothesis.1
Charles Darwin saw "the three great classes of coral reefs" - fringing reefs, barrier reefs and atolls – as members of a single sequence. Coral
grew upwards on an oceanic island as the island sank, and in this way a fringing reef was first converted to a barrier reef, and finally, as the last vestiges of the original island disappeared, into an atoll, Figure 21. Darwin assumed that there were some areas of the world where the land was rising, some where subsidence was taking place, and others where land and sea were approximately in balance.
Fig 21 Charles Darwin's subsidence theory for the origin of coral reefs
He had been first drawn to this view on the west coast of South America, where he had observed the existence of beach deposits and marine shells far above the present shore-line, and regarded this as clear evidence of a rise in the level of the land relative to the sea. There is fragmentary evidence in some of Darwin's note-books and letters that he was thinking, in April 18352, in terms of a compensating movement somewhere in the Pacific. Darwin first viewed coral atolls from the masthead of the Beagle on 13 November 1835, as the ship billowed its way through the "Low or Dangerous Archipelago" (Tuamotu).3 He then spent several days at Tahiti investigating the barrier reefs there and climbed a high mountain; his diary account reads as follows:
From this point there was a good view of the distant island of Eimeo … On the lofty & broken pinnacles white massive clouds were piled, which formed an island in the blue sky as Eimeo itself in the blue ocean. The island is completely encircled by a reef, with the exception of one small gateway. At this distance a narrow but well defined line of brilliant white, where the waves first encountered the wall of coral, was along visible. Within this line was included the smooth glassy water of the lagoon, out of which the mountains rose abruptly. The effect was very pleasing & might be compared to a
framed engraving, where the frame represents the breakers, the marginal paper the lagoon, & the drawing the island itself.
Darwin's first draft of his coral atoll theory was probably written a few weeks later, while the Beagle was en route from Tahiti to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. A 23 page, hastily-written manuscript in Darwin's hand, headed " Coral Islands"4 includes almost every detail of the final theory that emerged in Volume 1 of The Geology of the Voyage: The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Darwin, in the manuscript, distinguishes the different types of coral reef, expressing the notion that the one might transform itself into another through subsidence. He repeats his description of Eimeo (today known as Moorea):
The mountains rise out of a glassy lake which is separated on all sides by a narrow defined line of breakers, from the open sea.- Remove the central group of mountains, & there remains a Lagoon Isd.- I ground this opinion from the following facts.- There is a general similarity in the two cases in the form & size of the reefs; their structure appears identical, we have scarcely fathomable water in each case, at a very short distance from the outer margin; within is a shallow basin more or less filled up by knolls of growing Corall [sic] or converted to dry land.- In the Lagoon Isds, there are some, which do not deserve this title, for they consist solely of a circular reef, of which scarcely a point projects above the water; while others have a more or less complete, but narrow ring of dry land …
Darwin is perceptive in his description and in accounting for the smaller scale variations in the form of coral reefs. Elsewhere in the manuscript he describes, on the basis of his fieldwork in Tahiti, the way in which an outer "mound" or "breakwater" is built up, the coral dipping gently inwards towards the smooth water of the lagoon.
The sea, breaking violently on the outer margin, continuously pumps over in sheets the water of its waves. – hence the surface is worn smooth & gently declines towards the lagoon …
Darwin noted that coral growth was most rapid on the outer fringes of the reef, suggesting that this might be due to "the motion of the fluid, or the quantity of insolved air".
… in certain parts of the Pacifick, a series of subsidences have taken place; of which no one exceeded in depth, the number of ft at which saxicolous polypi will flourish. The intervals … [between the subsidences] were sufficiently long to allow their growth [and that of] … those species of Lithophytes, which build the outer solid wall where the sea violently breaks.
In short, Darwin in the "Coral Island" draft analyses the form of coral reefs in fine detail, on the basis of his fieldwork in Tahiti, his view of Eimeo (Moorea) from afar, and his masthead views of atolls. He associates the variety of coral reef forms, of varying scales, to a series of processes including wave action, coral growth and the subsidence of oceanic islands. The subsidence he saw as a compensation for the elevation of land which he noticed elsewhere, particularly in South America. This last idea probably received confirmation during the Australian sojourn, for his geological notes on Australia, particularly those made after fieldwork at Hobart Town and King George's Sound contain many references to changes in sea level.
The significance of the Cocos experience
Darwin thus arrived at Cocos with a clear hypothesis on the origin of atolls in his mind. This was despite the fact that although he had seen barrier reefs close at hand, he had only seen atolls from several miles distant. Nor had he had any substantial experience of the third form of reef in his sequence, fringing reefs.
When he left the Cocos archipelago some ten days later he must have felt extremely satisfied. He had seen nothing to contradict his theory, substantially erected on theoretical grounds, and a good deal that he felt confirmed it. In both his diary, and in a letter written a little over a fortnight later to one of his sisters, he wrote enthusiastically about the stay at the Cocos-Keeling Islands.
In his diary entry for 12 April 1836, after the Beagle had "stood out of the Lagoon" Darwin wrote:
I am glad we have visited these Islands; such formations surely rank high amongst the wonderful objects of the world. It is not a wonder which at first strikes the eye of the body, but rather after reflection, the eye or reason. We feel surprised when travellers relate accounts of the vast piles & extent of some ancient ruins; but how insignificant are the
greatest of these, when compared to the matter here accumulated by various small animals.
And part of his letter, dated 29 April 1836, to Caroline reads:
We … proceeded to the Keeling Isds.- These are low lagoon Isds about 500 miles from the coast of Sumatra.-I am very glad we called there, as it has been out only opportunity of seeing one of these wonderful productions of the Coral polypi.- The subject of Coral formation has for the last half year been of particular interest to me. I hope to be able to put some of the facts in a more simple & connected point of view, than that in which they have hitherto been considered.
The Keeling Atoll case study
The untitled account of Darwin's observations on the structure of the Cocos archipelago, referred to here as the Cocos Coral Manuscript (also in the Archive at DAR 41) provides the main basis for our knowledge of Darwin's developing ideas on coral reefs and atolls during his stay. This set of notes commences with a neat cross-section (cross-sections and the transect technique were widely used by Darwin in his geological investigations in many parts of the world) but the connected prose of the first few pages degenerates to a series of pencil jottings, including a series of hydrographic notes. It was probably commenced after the first few days of the stay at Cocos, but added to, modified, and scribbled upon later in the sojourn, and afterwards. Despite the names of days of the week that appear at the head of certain sections, it is difficult sometimes, to say whether a particular comment or observation dates from the days on the archipelago, or much later. It did, however, clearly from the basis for the very polished case study of the Keeling Islands, as Darwin often called them, published in chapter one of The Structure and Distribution of Coral-Reefs: a similar elegant sketch-section appears early in the chapter (see Figure 22). But other sources were used too: detailed descriptions of some of the corals are almost word for word from the Zoological Notes: snatches of descriptions of rock types echo the brief descriptions in the red geological specimen book; a few phrases used are the same as those used in the "first draft" -the "Coral Islands" manuscript. There is also a certain amount of hydrographic material, information on the depths of water offshore, that Darwin may obtained either directly from Captain FitzRoy, or Lieut Sulivan, or from reports and accounts prepared by them. Some of the notes appear to be actually in Sulivan's hand.
Sufficient material is available from the Cocos Coral Manuscript, the "first draft" of the Coral atoll theory written at sea late in 1835, letters, the Keeling chapter in the Coral Reefs volume and other sources to trace the broad sweep of the development of Darwin's ideas on the subject from South America onwards.
The Keeling Atoll account in the first chapter of Coral Reefs is remarkably well integrated, showing the relationships that existed amongst coral growth, physical environment and the micro-topography of the reefs. Its author also provides a careful link between the physical
Figure 22. Idealised cross-section of a coral islet, after the sketch in chapter 1 of The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Darwin's caption reads as follows:
A.- Level of the sea at low water: where the letter A is placed, the depth is twenty-five fathoms, and the distance rather more than one hundred and fifty yards from the edge of the reef.
B.- Outer edge of the flat part of the reef, which dries at low water; the edge either consists of a convex mound, as represented, or of ragged points like those a little farther seaward, beneath the water.
C.- A flat of coral-rock, covered at high water.
D.- A low projecting ledge of brecciated coral-rock washed by the waves at high water.
E.- A slope of loose fragments, reached by the sea only during gales: the upper part, which is from six to twelve feet high, is clothed with vegetation. The surface of the islet gently slopes to the lagoon.
F.- Level of the lagoon at low water.
The reader might care to compare the bove sketch with the photograph in Figure 23.
Figure 23. The outer windward edge of West Island, close to the modern settlement. Note shelving beach of coral rock, littered with fragments of coral. The top of the beach is marked by Scaevola scrub and coconut palms.
and biological nature of the reefs, and the processes involved in their development. (It will be referred to extensively here, but material from other sources will be introduced as appropriate.)
Darwin, for examples, starts this account with a careful description of the zonation in coral types from the outer barrier, where the waves break, inwards towards the shore and in the lagoon. He describes the type of environment associated with each coral (or community of corals), and the form of the reed in which their growth results. To put it in modern terms it shows a clear awareness of ecological principles. A few quotations from the early part of the essay illustrate its general temper:
… the reef-building polypifers, not being tidal animals, require to be constantly submerged or washed by the breakers … an exposure to the rays of the sun for a very short time invariably causes their destruction. Hence it is only possible under the most favourable circumstances, afforded by an unusually low tide and smooth water, to reach the outer margin, where the coral is alive. I succeeded only twice in gaining this part, and found it almost entirely composed of living Porites, which forms great irregularly rounded masses … from four to eight feet broad, and little less in thickness. These mounds are separated from each other by narrow channels, about six feet deep, most of which intersect the line of the reef at right angles. On the furthest mound, which I was able to reach with the aid of a leaping-pole, and over which the sea broke with some violence … the polypifers in the uppermost cells were all dead, but between three and four inches lower down on its side they were living, and formed a projecting border round the upper and dead surface. The coral being thus checked in its upward growth, extends laterally, and hence most of the masses, especially those a little further inwards, had broad, flat, dead summits. On the other hand I could see, during the recoil of the breakers, that a few yards further seaward, the whole convex surface of the Porites was alive …
On the margin of the reef, close within the line where the upper surface of the Porites … is dead, three species of Nullipora flourish. One grows in thin sheets like the lichen on old trees; the second in stony knobs, as thick as a man's finger, radiating from a common centre; and the third, which is less common, in a moss-like reticulation of thin, but perfectly rigid branches. The three species although able to exist above the level of true corals, seem to require to be bathed by breaking water, for they are not found … in the protected hollows in the back part of the reef … It is remarkable that organic productions of such extreme simplicity … should be limited to a zone so peculiarly circumstanced.
The lagoon is inhabited by a quite distinct set of corals, generally brittle and thinly branched; but a Porites, apparently of the same species with that on the outside, is found there, although it does not seem to thrive, and certainly does not attain the thousandth park in bulk of the masses opposed to the breakers.
Almost all the facts and ideas in this extract can be traced to the Cocos Coral Manuscript, written while Charles was actually on the islands, although the style has been much improved.5 The whole of the passage is a most careful analysis, far ahead of its time in many respects, of the ecology of the coral reef. Not only is the concept of zonation fully understood, but the account shows an understanding of the relationships amongst life-form, microtopography and environmental conditions.
Darwin is equally at home describing the broader scale geomorphology of the atoll:
It is [the] reef which essentially forms the atoll. In Keeling atoll the ring encloses the lagoon an all sides except at the northern end, where there are two open spaces, through one of which ships can enter. The reef varies in width from 250 to 500 yards; its surface is level, or very slightly inclined inwards towards the lagoon, and at high tide the sea breaks entirely over it: the water at low tide thrown by breakers on the reef, is carried by the many narrow and shoal gullies on its surface into the lagoon: a return stream sets out of the lagoon through the main entrance. The most frequent coral in the hollows on the reef is Pocillopara verrucosa, which grows in short sinuous plates, or branches, and when alive is of a beautiful pale lake-red … As soon as an islet is formed, and the waves are prevented from breaking entirely over the reef, the channels and hollows become filled up with fragments cemented together by calcareous matters; and the surface … is converted to a smooth hard floor, like an artificial one of freestone. [Compare Figure 11, page 33] The flat surface varies in width from 100 to 200, or even 300 yards, and is strewed with a few fragments of coral torn up during gales … Nothing can be more singular than the appearance at low tide of this 'flat' of naked stone …
The islets on the reef are first formed between 200 and 300 yards from its outer edge, through the accumulation of a pile of fragments, thrown together by some unusually strong gale. Their ordinary width is under a quarter of a mile. Those on the S.E. and windward side of the atoll, increase solely by the addition of fragments on their outer side; hence the loose blocks of coral, of which their surface is composed, as well as the shells mingled with them, almost exclusively consist of those kinds which live on the outer coast. The highest part of the islets (excepting hillocks of blown sand, some of which
are 30 feet high), is close to the outer beach and averages from six to ten feet above ordinary high-water mark. From the outer beach the surface slopes gently to the shores of the lagoon [see Figure 22]; and this slope no doubt is due to the breakers, the further they have rolled over the reef, having less power to throw up fragments. The little waves of the lagoon heap up sand and fragments of thinly branched corals on the inner side of the atoll; and these islets are broader than those to the windward, some being 800 yards in width …
The lagoon alone remains to be described; it is much shallower than most atolls of considerable size. The southern part is almost filled up with banks of mud and fields of coral, both dead and alive; but there are considerable spaces, from three to four fathoms, and smaller basins from eight to ten fathoms deep. Probably about half its area consists of sediment, and half coral-reefs.
But Darwin was geologist first and foremost, and was at least as interested in the rocks to which the growth and eventual death or the corals gave rise as in the corals themselves. The following is an extract from his notes made at the time:
Beneath this beach … is a breccia, the rock is very solid, white coloured and sonorous beneath the hammer; this breccia consists of calcareous sand, cemented & the fragments blending into one another, generally it is composed of [any deleted] fragments of all sizes of [the del] coral, which are nearly perfectly petrified: there are large masses in which hardly any trace of any organic structure can be discovered: the rock would be as a yellow or white calcareous rock with an almost crystalline fracture; containing a few minute cavities. The horizontal extent of this varies much; in thickness it can hardly exceed 3 ft,- it is a very curious and interesting rock … the mass is irregularly stratified.
(Cocos Coral MS: DAR41/3; compare Figure 11, page 33)
Darwin also described the offshore part of the atoll:
At a distance of 2,200 yards from the breakers, Captain FitzRoy found no bottom with a line 7,200 feet in length; hence the submarine slope of this coral formation is steeper than that of any volcanic cone. Off the mouth of the lagoon, and likewise, off the northern point of the atoll, where the currents act violently, the inclination, owing to the
accumulation of sediment is less. As the arming of the lead from all greater depths showed a smooth sandy bottom, I at first concluded that the whole consisted of a vast conical pile of calcareous sand, but the sudden increase of depth at some points, and the fact of the line having been cut, when between 500 and 600 fathoms were out, indicates the probable existence of submarine cliffs.
In these passages, again, together with a most careful description of the form of the atoll, we have an attempt at an analysis of the processes that gave rise to it. It is only, however, towards the end of the Keeling Atoll case study of Chapter 1 of the Coral Reefs volume that Darwin hints at the conceptual framework that provides the raison d'etre for the whole work, the notion that atolls are formed through the submergence of a volcanic island surrounded by reefs, and thus that an atoll is the end-member of a series: fringing reef – barrier reef – atoll. Even there he does so obliquely.
Struggle, depression and transformation
The way in which the metaphor of"struggle" or "contest" influenced Darwin's natural history writing has already briefly been noticed. It can hardly be too strongly emphasised that Darwin saw the development of the atoll in terms of a struggle between those processes that tended to build up the land, and "increase … the diameter of the atoll" and "those having an opposite tendency". It is against the background of this notion of a form of combat between land and ocean that Darwin's work on his coral atoll hypothesis must be seen. Certainly he felt at the end of his ten-day stay that his submergence theory was correct. But he acknowledged that other processes – wave erosion, deposition, dune building by the wind – were also at work, some of these having effects contrary to that of submergence: the network of relationships was a complex one.
Darwin described most perceptively, after only a few days on the island, the processes leading to the infilling of the lagoon, appreciating that they were to some extent self-limiting:
The shores at the head of the lagoon have a different character from any other part, here there is an extensive bed of mud, which reaches far into the bay at a very small angle – Here flourishes the Turtle grass – This mud is entirely calcareous.- I can only account for its presence by the Trade Wind drifting across the finer particles of sand which is accumulating on the Weather coast. If we imagine the future state of the lagoon,
we see a perfect ring of land [formed, & with a new tidal opening del], complete excepting by one orifice.- The corals will have grown up over the whole extent, to their highest limits, that is to the lowest low water … their comminuted fragments will form a fine band in which turtle grass will grow. … It is difficult to imagine how it would ever entirely be silted up.- We must not allow false appearances to misguide & compare a lagoon with a lake surrounded by higher land, from which detritus may be carried.- These facts may account for infrequence of Lagoons, being converted into absolutely dry land.- Moreover, when the lagoon was nearly filled up the impurity of the water might add much to the slow growth of the corals-
(Cocos Coral Manuscript DAR 41/11-12)
On the other hand he wrote of Horsburgh Island a day or two later:
Certainly taking the whole lsd together, the Breccia is wearing away in a large proportion.
(Cocos Coral Manuscript DAR 41/13)
Darwin mention an old chart described to him by Mr Liesk "in which the recent long island on the SE side was divided by several channels into as many islets".6 Darwin notes how on a few islets only young coconut trees grew at the extremities and "older and taller trees grew in regular succession behind them". There are places today where on South Island the trees appear lower. Charles also described in some detail a field of largely dead coral in the southern part of the lagoon:
… I was much surprised by finding an irregular field of at least a mile square of branching corals, still upright, but entirely dead… they were of a brown colour, and so rotten, that in trying to stand on them I sank half way up the leg, as if through decayed brushwood. The tops of the branches were barely covered by water at the time of lowest tide.
(Coral Reefs, Chapter 1, page 21.)
At first Darwin felt that the death of the coral was the result of the elevation of the atoll, but after some thought decided that there was insufficient evidence for this.
Upon reflection … it appeared to me that the closing up of the above mentioned channels would be a sufficient cause; for before this, a strong breeze by forcing water through them into the head of the lagoon, would tend to raise its level. But now
this cannot happen, and the inhabitants observe that the tide rises to a less height, during a high S.E. wind at the head thanat the mouth of the lagoon. The corals which under the former condition of things, had attained the utmost possible limit of upward growth, would occasionally be exposed for a short time to the sun and be killed. (Coral Reefs, page 22.)
The existence of the field of dead coral, along with the existence of isolated areas of accretion was thus seen as evidence for a local tendency for an increase in the area of the atoll. There is however another interpretation. Occasionally in recent years serious fish kills have occurred in the Cocos lagoon – for example in 1962 and 1983. Dr David Williams, a biological scientist resident on the island in 1987, informed me that these kills may have their origin in occasional changes in the intensity of the South Equatorial Current, coupled perhaps with the flushing effect of rain brought by a tropical cyclone (typhoon); algal blooms have in a few instances been noticed to coincide with the fish kills. It might be therefore that the Beagle's visit closely followed a particular combination of climatic phenomena that resulted in the destruction of much of the life of the southern lagoon.
On the tendency for the lagoon to subside, and thus the area of land to be reduced, Darwin is more definite, although the modern sceptic might not be entirely convinced:
On the western side … of the atoll, where I have described a bed of sand and fragment with trees growing out of it, in front of an old beach, it struck both Lieut Sulivan and myself, from the manner in which the trees were being washed down, that the surf had lately recommenced an attack on this line of coast. Appearances indicating a slight encroachment of water on the land are plainer within the lagoon: I noticed in several places, both on its windward and leeward shores, old cocoa-nut trees falling with their roots undermined, and the rotten stumps of others on the beach [see Figure 24], where the inhabitants assured us the cocoa-nut could not grow. Capt. FitzRoy pointed out to me, near the settlement, the foundation posts of a shed, now washed by every tide, but which the inhabitants stated, had seven years before stood above high water-mark… From these considerations I inferred, that probably the atoll had lately subsided a small amount; and this inference was strengthened by the circumstance, that in 1834, two years before our visit, the island had been shaken by a severe earthquake, and by two slighter ones during the ten previous years.7
But while actually on the island Darwin seems to have been rather less than certain in his own mind; in his rough notes we find the jotting:
Perhaps the island ought to be considered as at rest after changes consequent on some change in level. = It is scarcely possible to follow out all the consequences in slow or sudden depressions: & outward growth, too many uncertain elements.
(Cocos Coral MS DAR41/13)
But a line or so later the idea of combat emerges again:
When land & water are opposed such equal & antagonist powers, a depression of an inch or two would turn the balance of of [sic] degradation. The depression must have been trifling from fields of dead coral.
Fig 24. "[W]ithin the lagoon I noticed in several places … old cocoa-nut trees falling with their roots undermined, and the rotten stumps of others on the beach.
Close to the conclusion of Darwin's essay on Keeling in the Coral Reefs volume there appear the words:
Whether this view be correct or not, the above facts are worthy of attention, as showing how severe a struggle is in progress on these low coral-formations between the two nicely balanced powers of land and water.
The notion of "struggle", hinted at in some of the diary entries, the Cocos Coral Manuscript, and other writings actually made on the islands (see chapter 1) is here expanded to an important sub-theme. Not perhaps raised to the importance the idea held in On the Origin of Species, but nevertheless, serving to link Darwin's fragmentary observations on the remote Indian Ocean atoll with one of the main thrusts of his later work.
When the Beagle stood out of the lagoon at Cocos on the morning of 12 April 1836 Darwin had, through several days of careful observation, confirmed the essential validity of his hypothesis – that fringing reefs, barrier reefs and atolls were members of a series, and that submergence resulted in one form being converted into another. He accepted, after his observations at Cocos that there were complicating factors, but by and large he was convinced that the core of his subsidence model was valid.
The idea had germinated while he was in South America; he had seen his first atolls from the Beagle on 13 November 1836, immediately before extensive work on barrier reefs in Tahiti (see page 86). The first draft of the theory had been written, probably at sea between Tahiti and the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Darwin's understanding of the importance of sea-level changes, firmly established during the years in South America, probably received confirmation during his brief visits to Australia, for his geological notes on both Hobart Town and King George's Sound contain many references (not all of them correct) to changes in the relative levels of land and sea. Darwin also believed that as some areas were uplifted, others subsided. A note on the reverse of page 6 of the Cocos Coral Manuscript expresses the idea succinctly: "Cocos Isd connected with volcanic force of Sumatra, that rises, this falls".
Darwin concludes his Diary entry for 12 April 1836 with the following passage:
Throughout the whole group of Islands, every single atom, even from the most minute particle to large fragments of rocks, bear the stamp of once having been subjected to the power of organic arrangement. Capt. FitzRoy at the distance of but little more than a mile from the shore sounded with a line 7200 feet long, & found no bottom. Hence we must conclude the Isd as the summit of a lofty mountain; to how great a depth or thickness the work of the Coral animal extends is quite uncertain. If the opinion that the rock-making Polypi continue to build upwards as the foundations of the Isd from volcanic agency, after intervals, gradually subsides, is granted to be true; then probably the Coral limestone must be of great thickness. We see certain Isds in the Pacifick, such as Tahiti & Eimeo, mentioned in this journal, which are encircled by a coral reef separated from the shore by channels & basins of still water. Various causes tend to check the growth of the most efficient kinds of Coral in these situations. Hence if we imagine such an Island, after long successive intervals to subside a few feet, in a manner similar, but with a movement opposite to the continent of S. America; the coral could be continued upwards, rising from the foundation of the encircling reef. In time the central land would sink beneath the level of the sea & disappear, but the coral would have completed its circular wall. Should we not then have a Lagoon Island? - Under this view, we must look at a Lagoon Isd as a monument raised by myriads of tiny architects, to mark the spot where a former land lies buried in the depths of the ocean.
Mauritius – the missing link
Yet despite the satisfaction that Charles expressed both in his diary on 12 April, and when he wrote to Caroline about his theory a fortnight later (see page 6), there remained a significant gap. Darwin had not yet seen a fringing reef. By good fortune the next port of call on the voyage of the Beagle was St Louis, Mauritius. Between 29 April and 9 May 1836 Darwin was able to walk or ride around a good deal of the coast of the northern part of the island; he recorded his observations in 20 pages of notes in the Geological Diary, and a good deal of this was ultimately to see the light of day in Chapter 3 of the Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, that entitled "Fringing or Shore Reefs". Here were the missing pieces of the jig-saw; not only was Darwin able to see over coral reefs attached, or nearly attached, to what was essentially a volcanic island, but he was able to find evidence of the elevation of reefs. This was important, as Darwin was to emphasise later that while barrier reefs and atolls were usually associated with
submergence, fringing reefs might be associated with either elevation or still-stand. A single quotation is sufficient to demonstrate the importance of the Mauritius visit:
On the NW, W & SW of the island, coral rock such as now forming the reefs is commonly found in masses elevated considerably above the reach of any but the highest tides. I will describe in detail some of these cases.
To the northward of Port Louis the surface of the country to a height of 30 or 40 ft, & to a considerable distance inland is created by a bed of partially cemented fragments of stony branching corals. Some of the layers are hard & compact and contained feruginous matter. The rock is composed of precisely the same materials such as are now are lying on the beach: comminuted fragments of the … more delicate stony corals, which flourish on the quite side of the island are mingled with calcareous sand.8
A theory completed
Table I illustrates how the whole integrated coral reef theory was built up. Its elevation can be compared to the construction of a large modern building: the skeleton or framework is first erected – the initial theory – and this is then clad with solid material until the whole edifice appears complete – the slotting in of ideas and evidence gained from fieldwork in South America, the Pacific, Tahiti, Australia, Cocos and Mauritius. The theory was first formally presented to the scientific community in a paper given to the Geological Society of London of 31 May 1837, just eight months after Charles Darwin's return from the sea, and incidentally just a matter after weeks of Darwin's "conversion" to the evolutionary view, if Sulloway's date of mid-March 1837 is accepted (see page 75). It seems appropriate that Darwin's close frind and companion on many a geological walk, Lieut Sulivan, was in the audience.
It is worth mentioning that two other ideas appeared quite inconspicuously in the 1837 paper. The first was the suggestion that remote islands might have a part to play in the development of new Species:
… Certain coral formations acting as monuments over subsided land, the geographical distribution of organic beings (as consequent on the geological changes as laid down by Mr Lyell) is elucidated, by the discovery of former centres whence the
germs could be disseminated … and some degree of light might be thrown on the question, whether certain groups of living beings peculiar to small spots are the remnants of a former larger population, or a new one springing into existence.9
(Emphasis not in original.)
Second, Darwin ended his paper putting forward the idea of an area passing through a cycle of change. He seems to have been thinking of a broader scale than that of the individual island passing from fringing reef, through barrier reef to atoll, emphasising that on a broad oceanic or continental scale there were regions of uplift and others of submergence.
Lastly, when beholding more than one hemisphere, divided into symetrical areas, which within a limited period of time have undergone certain known movements, we obtain some insight into the system by which the crust of the earth is modified during an endless cycle of change.10
Both were ideas that were ultimately to prove of some consequence.
The book on the Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Part 1 of The Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle gave the polished, complete version of the theory when it appeared in 1842. That volume concludes as follows:
Finally, when the two great types of structure, namely barrier-reefs and atolls on the one hand, and fringing-reefs on the other, are laid down on the map, they offer a grand and harmonious picture of the movements which the crust of the earth had undergone within a late period. We there see vast areas rising, with volcanic matter every now and again bursting forth. We see other areas sinking without any volcanic outbursts; and we may feel sure that the movement has been slow as to have allowed corals to grow up to the surface, and so widely extended as to have buried over the broad face of the ocean every one of those mountains, above which the atolls now stand like monuments, marking the place of their burial.
The final sentence in the above is remarkably similar to the sentence with which Darwin closed the brief entry in his diary describing the theory when he left the Cocos Group on 12 April 1836 (page 100). He liked the idea of atolls as "monuments"!
TABLE 1. TIME CHART SHOWING THE DEVELOPEMTN OF THE CORAL ATOOL THEORY
|Pre-April 1835||South America||Evidence for change in levels of land and sea accumulated||Misc. notes and letters|
|April 1835||South America||First glimmerings of coral island theory||Entries in "little note-books"|
|13 November 1835||Low Archipelago||First glimpse of atoll (probably from masthead)||Diary entry|
|15-26 November 1835||Tahiti||Observations on barrier reefs||Diary entries Geological Notes|
|December 1835 (possibly early January 1836)||On board HMS Beagle||First written draft of theory||"Coral Islands" DAR 41:1-22|
|5-17 February 1836||Hobart Town||Observations on sea level change||Geological Diary DAR 38.1|
|6-14 March 1836||King George's Sound||Observations on sea level change||Geological Diary DAR 38.1|
|1.12 April||Cocos Islands||Only visit to atoll detailed observations on living coral and Cocos coral reefs||Diary entries Zoological Diary DAR 31.2 Cocos Coral MSS DAR 41|
|29 April 1836||Mauritius||Satisfaction with theory expressed||Letter to Caroline DAR 223|
|29 April – 9 May 1836||Mauritius||Observations on Fringing Reefs Evidence of elevation||Entry in "little note book" Geological Diary DAR 38.1/2|
|31 May 1837||Geological Society of London||First formal presentation of theory||Paper: "On certain areas of elevation and subsidence …"Proceedings 2, (1838) 552 - 554|
|1842||London||Publication of full statement||The Structure and distribution of Coral Reefs|
It is not for nothing that the coral atoll theory has been described as showing the young Darwin as a "theoretician upward and outward bound". In the theory, and within its development, we can detect almost every component that made Darwin so successful in his later scientific work. In its emphasis on gradual change, and in its appreciation of changes in sea level, it can be seen as a quest for a vera causa, or as Darwin put it so elegantly in the paragraph quoted above "a grand and harmonious picture". Here we see also the notion of "struggle" that characterised Darwin's work on natural selection. Here too is the idea of plants and animals being "exquisitely adapted" to their surroundings, as well as the subtlety of the dialogue between organism and their environment.
It has often been emphasised that there were significant connections between Darwin's various intellectual enterprises. It is perhaps just coincidence that The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs appeared in the same year that Darwin's first essay on evolution, the Sketch of 1842.1 Yet there are important links:- the experience on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands provided vital components for Darwin's first flirtation with the thought-form of gradualism; it provided also an early if not the first use of the model of "struggle" or "conflict"; it was partly on the basis of Cocos material that long distance dispersal became an important theme in Darwin's work; the coral reef ecosystem provided many instances of organisms' adaptations to their environment, and of that environment becoming modified by the activities of organisms; we can also see some early indications of the interest in behaviour and instinct that later formed important components of both his evolutionary and psychological work.
The Cocos (Keeling) interlude provides us with a glimpse of the young naturalist at work – collecting, observing and recording, certainly – but also beginning to build theoretical systems. At the same time he was wrestling with the complexity of reality. Time and again in Darwin's notes or letters from those island days, or from immediately afterwards we can perceive, maybe a little crudely, ideas that were to reappear again and again in the years and decades that followed. Darwin's Cocoa experience thus had a significant influence on the development of his philosophy – not perhaps as a locale in which significant ideas originated but certainly a place where ideas already in his mind were strengthened and developed. Were it not for those 12 days in April 1836, Darwin's later scientific output might have been rather different.
The documents relation to the sojourn in the Cocos islands also provide us with evidence, in a particularly vivid way, of the manner in which the young Darwin worked. An insight is to be gained from a letter to his sister just a couple of weeks after leaving Cocos, from Port Louis, Mauritius (the Beagle had just arrived and Darwin had presumably not seen the name written; he heads his letter "Port Lewis"; later he spells the place-name correctly):
Whilst we are at sea, & the weather is fine, my time passes smoothly, because I am very busy. My occupation consists in rearranging old geological notes: the rearrangement consists generally in totally rewriting them.
(Charles Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 29 April 1836; DAR 223)
The archives completely support this assertion; Darwin in the weeks and months following his visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago was constantly reworking his material, transplanting notes from one set to another, combining his own observations with material from the reference books that he had available. The student can trace a group of facts from, say, the Cocos Coral Manuscript, written on the islands, and its combination with an idea from the first draft of the theory of formation of atolls, written at sea between Tahiti and New Zealand - " Coral Islands" - to his Geological Society paper of 1837, and ultimately his Coral Reefs book published in 1842. In the book also appear extracts from his Zoological Notes, usually with just a minimum of rewriting. Material from both the Zoological and other sources written aboard the Beagle, along with some of Henslow's comments on the plants enlivened Darwin's diary entries, to make what eventually became the immortal Voyage of the Beagle. Figure 3 shows some of these relationships. Sometimes, during this "rearrangement" new relationships became clear: notes written on the reverse of pages of geological notes show where, perhaps as the ship billowed southwards towards the Cape of Good Hope, or perhaps much later in his rooms in London or Cambridge, or even in the Old Study at Down, Darwin added an annotation of comparison with some exposure in a distant part of the globe, or from something he had read. He compared the reefs at Cocos with those at Tahiti, he saw similarities between the sediments in the lagoon with some at King George's Sound. The "habit of comparison" was at the heart of Darwin's approach, and it perhaps one of the keys to his genius. It was in part technique that enabled him to build sophisticated conceptual systems.
Darwin's Cocos writings also enable us to see something of The Man. His eye for detail, his past experience, his feeling for the exotic, his determination to get to the root of a problem despite the complexity of a situation – and his occasional errors – all shine through.
It is perhaps worth mentioning that the last paragraph in Darwin's last scientific work of consequence: The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms2 provides a surprising link with his coral island work. After describing the way in which earthworms contributed to the denudation of the land, and were responsible for gradual changes that occurred in the soil and the landscape, Darwin concluded:
… long before he [Man] existed the land was in fact regularly ploughed and still continues to be thus ploughed by earth-worms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures. Some other animals, however, still more lowly organised,
namely corals, have done far more conspicuous work in having constructed innumerable reefs and islands in the great oceans; but these are almost confined to the tropical zones.
The Vegetable Mould and Earthworms volume, could be described as the end-point in Darwin's development of the notion of gradualism. The whole work is not only thoroughly evolutionary in character (witness the phrases "history of the world", "lowly creatures" and "before man existed" in the above quotation), but is imbued with the idea that "tiny effects over long periods of time can wreak great changes". Darwin's gradualist adventure began on the coral and atolls of the South Seas and Indian Ocean. It continued in his geological, biological and psychological works over nearly five decades. There is a fitting symmetry in the fact that the final remarks in his last substantial, and in some ways most extreme work with a gradualist theme, published in the final few months of his life, included a return to the tropical coral islets "under the blue vault of heaven" experienced in his early manhood.
It was explained in Chapter 2 that Captain John Clunies Ross, proprietor and self-proclaimed ruler of the Cocos Islands was absent on a trading voyage when HMS Beagle called in April 1836, his wife, being left in charge, with Mr Liesk to assist. Captain Ross was disappointed not to meet the members of the crew of one of His Majesty's ships, and felt strongly that Liesk had not conveyed a favourable enough impression of the little isolated community. Moreover, he seems to have been enraged by some of the things that Darwin and FitzRoy wrote about the settlement – it will be remembered that some of the observations in both the Narrative and the Voyage were not particularly favourable. Clunies Ross probably seethed over these matters for years, and wrote a lengthy, vitriolic diatribe against Darwin and FitzRoy some time in the 1840s, some fragments of which have been quoted in this book. This attack, preserved in the Clunies Ross papers in the British Library, does not seem to have been published at the time.
His opportunity for another attempt at revenge came in 1855, when he published a scornful attack on Darwin's Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs in a somewhat obscure Dutch journal, published in Batavia (now Jakarta), Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie (Deel viii, 1-43). Perhaps it was simply because Batavia was the nearest centre to Cocos that had a suitable scientific journal that he selected this periodical, but maybe he suspected that an British journal would be reluctant to publish quite such an outspoken piece.
The article (which is in English) amounts to an attempt at a point by point refutation of the susbsidence theory of the origin of coral atolls. Ross's view seem to coincide most closely with those earlier held by Charles Lyell, but, by 1855, long since abandoned by him, that atolls had formed as the result of the growth of a coral material upward from then rim of a submarine crater. Ross denied that coral growth was confined only to shallow water, and dismissed the notion of "three great classes of coral reef". Nor did he like the idea of gradually subsiding atolls.
But it is not the ideas expressed in this rejoinder to Darwin's book that are of especial interest; rather it is the manner in which Clunies Ross conducted his side of the debate. His dismissal of Darwin's ideas is conducted in the most vicious and sarcastic tones. Instead of the measured language usually found in learned journals, "weighted" words and innuendo abound. Darwin's account is a "palaver"; he does not "describe" or "explain" but "assert". A few quotations will illustrate the general temper of the Captain's analysis.
He starts in relatively moderate tones:
… it is impossible for him, or any one for him to shew even a probability in support of [his subsidence theory]. (p4)
Mr Darwin forgets the fact … (p6)
Mr Darwin, an enlightened modern geologist, should have remarked … (p6)
But in due course Captain Ross warms to his task:
Mr Darwin is not merely a master of the art, but a perfect adept of the science of assertion… (p7)
Mr Darwin certainly sets Eolus [the God of the winds] to perform an extremely long-wind task [that of carrying material from the outer shore to the lagoon]. (p15)
[In associating earthquakes with both uplift on one Pacific island and subsidence on Cocos] we are left to imagine, that the phenomenon can only be accounted for on the principle, that is said to have been memoranded by a certain physician, to wit eating a red herring is a cure for a sick Englishman, but death for a sick Frenchman. (p18)
Doubtless I have to blame my own dunctishness, not Mr Darwin's logic for not being able to perceive … any reasonable solution. (p19)
Ross was a real master of the art of sarcasm; some of the ideas in the earlier attack reappear. Still later in the article he wrote:
Mr Darwin's assertions and inferences are both alike erroneous and untenable. (p 22)
Mr Darwin's theory … [is] at once hors de combat. (p27)
Mr Darwin should be very careful of the books and charts, on whose authority he sets forth these assertions, for assuredly those documents are unique, or at least, have been engraved and printed for geologists of his class and calibre; therefore, if lost, will most likely be lost to the world. (p27)
Clunies Ross also takes issue with Charles Darwin's use of the term "recent period" in his geological writing, remarking, that he "has no where defined its duration, nor beginning nor ending etc." The reader is therefore, according to Clunies Ross
reduced to guess, that it may mean, the whole or part of the time elapsed since the creation of Adam (according to the commonly received chronology). (p11)
The former sea Captain is evidently someone of somewhat traditional views.
It is somewhat unfortunate that the intemperate language, together withthe abundance of typographic, spelling and punctuation errors (possibly due to the letterpress having been typeset by someone whose first language was not English) combine to have an almost comical effect. The more so because buried amongst the invective are some valid points. Having lived on the archipelago for many years, Clunies Ross had a much more detailed knowledge that Darwin was able to acquire during his short sojourn. He pointed out that corals did in fact grow very vigorously on the sides of "gateways", or gaps between the islands, and felt that they grew better there than on the outer reef. And he also felt, as might the skeptical modern inquirer, that more evidence than that of a few undermined coconut trees was required to establish subsidence!
Perhaps most ironic of all is the idea expressed in the final few lines of Clunies Ross's essay. Here, affecting to attack Darwin's subsidence hypothesis, fundamentalist Clunies Ross, arch-enemy of everything that appertained to Darwin, makes a plea for the recognition of the fact that all things are mutable:
… we have to remark, that if the geologist has information worth of his profession he needs no theory, much less one, so wild and as worthless a this of Mr Darwin's conception, to be deeply impressed with the fact, that the levels of land and sea are, in common with every other created entity, always in a state of mutability, motion being are primary agent, employed through all time, in the evolutions of creation throughout the universe. (p43)
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1 See Jean Russell-Gabbett, Henslow of Hitcham, Terrace Dalton Ltd, Lavenham, 1977.
2 F J Sulloway, Darwin's early intellectual development: an overview of the Beagle voyage (1831-1836), in D Kohn (ed), The Darwinian Hertiage, pp 121-154, Princeton University Press, 1985.
The Sources and the Relationships Amongst Them
1 For example:
Whenever I enjoy anything I always their look forward to writing it down either in my log Book (which increases in bulk) or in a letter. (Charles Darwin to Dr Robert Darwin, 8 February 1832).
2 Charles Darwin to Catherine Darwin, 20 July 1834.
3 H Gruber, Appendix: The many voyages of the Beagle, in Darwin on Man: A Psychological Study of Scientific Creativity, 2nd edition, Chicago University Press, 1981.
4 Nora Barlow (ed), Charles Darwin's Diary of the Voyage of the Beagle, Cambridge University Press, 1933. Mrs Barlow, the last surviving grand-daughter of Charles Darwin died in the early summer of 1989. The original Diary is held at Down House, Downe, Kent, the Darwin family home from 1842 – 1896. The house is now owned by the Royal College of Surgeons, who maintain it as the Charles Darwin Memorial. (A fresh transcript of the Diary, edited by R D Keynes, was published by Cambridge University Press in 1988.)
The Family letters from the Beagle period are held in the Darwin Archive in the Cambridge University Library at DAR 223. They are published in F Burkhardt and S Smith (eds). The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Volume 1 (1821-1836). Cambridge University Press, 1985.
6 Darwin's complete title for this batch of notes was "Diary of observations on the geology of pieces visited on the voyage"; they are held at DAR 38.1.
7 See D R Stoddart, ed, Coral Islands, by Charles Darwin, with introduction, map, and remarks, Atoll Research Bulletin, 88, Pacific Science Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, 1962.
8 The "little notebooks" are held at Down House, Kent (see note 4). Microfilms are available in the Darwin Archive at Cambridge. See also P H Armstrong, Charles Darwin's geological notes on Mauritius, Indian Ocean Review, 1(2), 2 and 16-20, 1988; 3(1), 4-5, 1990
9 D M Porter, Charles Darwin's vascular plant specimens from the voyage of HMS Beagle, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 93, 1-173, 1986.
10 J S Henslow, Floura Keelingensis. An account of the native plants of the Keeling Islands. Annals of Natural History, 1, 337-347, 1838.
11 Darwin' insect collection is listed and described in: K G Smith, ed, Darwin's Insects, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), 1, 1-147, 1987. The text is partly based on a documents in the Entomology Library of the British Museum (Natural History), is Syms Covington's hand, entitled "Copy of Darwin's notes in reference to Insects collected by him". A number of specimens from Cocos are in the museum.
The Cocos plants specimens held in the Botany School Herbarium at Cambridge are extremely well curated, and working, on them is a genuine pleasure. The Darwin specimens are held separately from the remainder of the collection. A unified Darwin-material card-index allows the enquirer to go direct from the modern scientific name to the numbered specimen in the Darwin Collection; a label on the folder containing the specimen gives the complete entry for that species in D M Porter's Linnean Society paper on Darwin's plant specimens, giving virtually everything that is known of the provenance of the specimen including all former scientific names. Some specimens have noted by Henslow on them.
12 DAR 29.3/3.
13 C R Darwin, The Zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle under the command of Captain FitzRoy, RN, during the Years 1832-1836, Parts I – V, Smith. Elder and Co, London 1840-1843.
14 Zoologist Museum, University of Cambridge, List of Fish from the Voage of HMS Beagle. A number of fish specimens (preserved in spirit are in the British Museum (Natural History), South Kensington, having
been deposited there from the Cambridge University Zoological Museum in 1917. Thus it is possible to examine the specimens of Salarius quadricornis (BM (N Hist) 1917.714 65 and 66) which were the basis of Leonard Jenyns description of this species in volume IV of the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, and compare them with Jenyns' notes.
15 C R Darwin, The structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, being the First Part of The Geology of he voyage of the Beagle, under the Command of Capt. FitzRoy, RN, during the years 1831-1836, Smith, Elder and Co, London, 1842.
16 Thus pages 10 and 11 of the Red Notebook (RN) made reference to submarine volcanoes; page 15 the gently shelving coasts of some coral coastlines, important concepts in the development of the coral atoll theory – see chapter 6 of this work. See also: Sandra Herbert (ed), The Red Notebook of Charles Darwin, British Museum (Natural History) and Cornell University Press, London and Ithaca, 1980.
17 The full title of the complete work was: Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of Her Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 1826-1836 Describing Their Examination of the Southern Shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the Globe, Henry Colburn, London, 1839. Darwin's section was simply headed: "Volume III, Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836".
18 Syms Covington's Diary is owned by the Linnean Society of New South Wales, and is held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, at ML MSS 2009/108, Item 6. A photocopy was made available to me by the library.
19 DAR 223, see note, 5.
20 Charles Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 23 October, 1833, although dated in error by Darwin "23 September" (DAR 223).
21 King Papers, Mitchell Library, Sydney, NSW, at Af 75.
22 The principal chart of the Cocos Island held in the Ministry of Defence Hydrographic Office Archives at Taunton is drawn at six Inches to the mile, and is numbered 1985. Another chart is numbered L986, and a sketch of north Keeling showing HMS Beagle's route around it. L984.
23 Appendix IV of Volume I of the The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (see note 5) gives a list of books known to have been available to Charles Darwin aboard the Baegle.
24 J H B de Saint Pierre, Voyage a l'Isle de France . … par un Officier du Roi, Amsterdam, 1773.
25 L C D de Freycinet, Voyage autour du monde, enterpris par ordre du Roi, 1817-1820, Paris, 1824.
26 W Dampier, A New Voyage round the World, London, 1697.
27 F W Beechey, Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait … 1825, 26, 27, 28, London, 1831.
28 M Flinders, A Voyage to Terra Australis, London, 1814.
29 C Lyell, Principles of Geology, an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface by Causes Now in Operation, London, 1830-1833.
1 ADM 1 1820 Cap F 56. In Captain FitzRoy's letter to the Admiralty from Hobart Town, dated 12 February 1836. (ADM 1 1820 Cap F 58), he said he was "probably" going to the Swan River, and "perhaps to the Keeling Islands" on the way to Mauritius.
2 Almost certainly either masked boobies (Sula dactylatra) or brown boobies (Sula leucogaster), both of which still nest on North Keeling, but are now seldom seen on the southern atoll.
3 The relationship of Mr Liesk and Captain Ross, proprietor of the Cocos Islands, is described in Chapter 4. Ross used the spelling "Liesk".
4 The giant clam is not in fact as dangerous as Darwin implied! A semi-popular account of the large scale examination of the clam throughout the Indo-Pacific, the creature's ecology, and an attempt at conservation appeared in: Stephanie Ocko, The return of the giant clam, Earthwatch, June, 1989, pages 28-33.
The Naturalist at Work
1 C R Darwin, Manual of Geology, extracted from Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry, third edition, 1859, page 4.
2 Mitchell Library, ML MSS 2009/108 item 5/678
3 Zoology of the Beagle, Part IV, page 13, and Leonard Jenyns notes in Cambridge. See chapter 1, notes 13 and 14.
4 See chapter 1, note 11. The specimens appear to have been lost.
5 See chapter 1, note 10.
6 Manual of Geology, from Admiralty Manual, page 7, see note 1, above.
7 Voyage of the Beagle, chapter 20.
8 The plant grows in the Oceania House area, and in a number of gardens in the kampong on Home Island.
9 Darwin's own copy is in the Archive at Cambridge at DAR LIB. Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, by john Frederick William Herschel, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, London, 1830, rebound as The Cabinet Cyclopedia, 1831. One of several passages in this book scored by Darwin is the following on page 167:
It is in precise proportion that a law once obtained endures this extreme severity of trial, that its value and importance are to be estimated; and our next step in the verification of an induction must therefore consist in extending its application to cases not originally contemplated; in studiously varying the circumstances under which our causes act, with a view to ascertain whether their effect is general; and in pushing the application of laws to extreme cases.
It is worth remembering that Darwin met, and dined with Sir John Herschel in Cape Town, a few weeks after leaving Cocos.
10 Manual of Geology, page 12, see note 1, above.
11 See chapter 1, notes 23 – 28, for some of the accounts of previous voyagers that Darwin had available to him.
12 Physa is the scientific name for a type of gastropod (snail). Could Darwin have, meant Physalia, the Protugese man o' war, a stinging jellyfish?
A Human Community
1 A census conducted during a Royal Naval visit on 15 December 1837 revealed a total population, including the Clunies Ross party, of 138. PRO Admiralty Records, quoted in Appendix of: Pauline Bunce, The Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Australian Atolls in the Indian Ocean, The Jacaranda Press, Milton, 1988.
2 Pauline Bunce, in her book (see note 1, above) gives a concise summary of the early settlement history of the islands. It is worth emphasizing that many of the written accounts are based on Clunies Ross sources, and that these may be coloured by the fact that Alexander Hare, once a business associate of John Clunies Ross, later bacame a rival. Latterly at least, they seemed to have a fairly vigorous detestation of one another.
3 H Forbes, A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, Samson Row, London, page 14, 1885.
4 F Wood-Jones, Coral and Atolls, Lovell Reeves & Co, London, page 20, 1910.
5 H van der Jagt reported in 1829 that Hare's group included 98 Malays (Gibson-Hill Documents, quoted by Pauline Bunce, 1988, see above, note 1). The Clunies Ross paper (see chapter 1) suggest a rather larger number, and give a quite detailed breakdown of the origins of the members of the community. Besides "a native of Mozambique … perfectly African . . and his wife a negress of the Papuan variety and their seven sons and daughters" there were folk from several parts of Sumatra, Celebes, Timor and Malacca, Dyaks from Borneo, and about fifty "Java-Chinese". The Clunies Ross estate did not commence regularly recruiting labour from Batavia in any quantity until after 1860.
6 For example, F Wood-Jones, 1910, note 4, above, page 21. The African element will have largely been added when Hare lived with his entourage on a farm near Cape Town for a while after having been displaced from his estates in Borneo. See note 5 above.
7 J S Henslow, 1838, see chapter 1, note 10.
8 A brief account of the modern Malay people's hunting methods and other customs is given in: Pauline Bunce: Cocos Malay Culture, Australian Department of Territories, Cocos Islands, 1987.
9 FitzRoy mentioned the strength and agility with which the Malay people climbed the tall coconut trees for nuts, again comparing them with the Tahitians. Step-like nicks to ease the ascent of some of the coconut trees on Home Island can be seen today.
10 The species is found widely on islands, and along seashores throughout much of the Indo-Pacific region. It grows, for example along the coasts of Hawaii, where the fruit was traditionally eaten by the Hawaiians. The local name there is Indian mulberry (noni).
11 Pauline Bunce describes, for example, the imam's role in wedding rituals and festivities in her 1987 and 1988 publications.
12 It may have been H B Guppy, who, on his visit in the 1880s made the suggestion that for health reasons the burial ground should be relocated.
13 Raymond's sojourn on the islands is mentioned by Pauline Bunce, see note 1 (above). The Clunies Ross Papers make a number of scathing references to a "certain British-American" plotting with Liesk.
"A Sketch of the Natural History of These Islands"
1 The Sketch of 1842 and Essay of 1844, Darwin's two "trial runs" in his development of evolutionary theory, were unpublished during his lifetime, but are available with an introduction by Sir Francis Darwin and a foreword by Sir Gavin de Beer in Evolution by Natural Selection: Darwin and Wallace, Cambridge University Press, 1958.
2 Zoological Diary: DAR 31.2/358.
3 Chapter 1, note 29.
4D G Williams, Cocos (Keeling) Island – Plant Species Checklist, August 1987, personal communication.
5 F J Sulloway, Darwin's conversion: the Beagle voyage and its aftermath. Journal of the History of Biology, 15, pages 327-398, 1982.
6 Arthur G Keating, along with Normal Ogilvie were recruited by Alexander Hare from a passing ship in 1828. Keating left a year later, but Ogilvie remained, but was drowned off North Keeling in 1834.
7 H. B Guppy, in his paper: The Cocos-Keeling Islands, Scottish Geogaphical Magazine, 5, pages 281-297, 1889, as well as describing large masses of pumice being floated ashore following the Krakatoa eruption in 1883, mentioned a "large volcanic bomb" in the mangrove-fringed lagoon on Horsburgh Island. This is described as being there since the very early years of the settlement, and being of "a dark reddish cellular lave". It had been largely destroyed by the time of Guppy's visit, just a few fragments remaining. Guppy noted that the celluar part of the "bomb" was light, and floated, but "the more solid parts of the outer crust" upon which he also experimented, sank. The possibility that the fragment mentioned by Darwin had a similar origin remains, but in view of the nature of the rock, this appears unlikely.
8 Zoological Diary, DAR 31.2/361 (Reverse)
9 Ibid, DAR 31.2/362. Howard Gray, in his Christmas Island - Naturally, published by the author, Geraldton, 1981, refers to "the apparently mistaken belief" that robber crabs can open coconuts, but mentions that they can climb some types of trees. Here he seems to be at one with Darwin for, in the slightly expanded version of the account of the robber crab in the Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin wrote:
It has been stated by some authors that the Birgos crawls up the cocoa nut trees for the purpose of stealing the nuts: I doubt very much the possibility of this; but with the Pandanus the task would be much easier. I was told by Mr Liesk that on these islands the Birgos lives only on the nuts that have fallen to the ground.
The Theory of Coral Reefs
1 Charles Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 29 April 1836, DAR 223.
2 Notebook 1.18, pages 6-8, 12, 15; letter R E Alison to Charles Darwin, 25 June 1835.
3 Captain R FitzRoy's letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty, dated 12 February 1836 stated:
… after the Beagle and completed the survey of the Galapagos Islands; - (in October) – she went to Tahiti – passing through the Dangerous Archipelago – and adding two, if not three, new islands to the list of those known. (PRO ARM 1 1820 F 58)
4 DAR 41/1-22; here referred to as the "Coral Islands" Manuscript.
5 Compare the first and last paragraph from the extract with the following from the Cocos Coral Manuscript, DAR 41/3 – 4, 10:
It being very low water & spring tides, & extraordinary smooth water, by the aid of the leaping pole, we reached very far into the seaward breakers.- Here we found great masses with a curvilinear outline up to 8 ft in diameter. … The Astea was on its surface to a depth of 3 or 4 inches was [sic] dead, to seaward without doubt the whole surface was living…
The upper parts of the lagoon are much filled up with coral … Astrea (the bulwark species) infrequent, as are the two other kinds which are found outside … These corals are brittle & soft …
6 It is possible that William Liesk was mistaken in this, as he was in one or two of the other "facts" he put before Darwin.
7 The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, chapter 1, pages 24-25. Once again the text of the Coral Reefs volume closely reflects passages in the Cocos Coal Manuscript. During his stay on the islands, Darwin was obviously thinking very carefully about some of the evidence for submergence:
Cocoa nut trees & old store encroached on by Lagoon
There are on Water Isd several stores & other buildings, built 6 – 8 years ago, which were built on the beach above common high water mark: now these are surrounded by water during every tide: fact agrees with cocoa nut trees.
(DAR 41/11 Reverse)
There is in fact little sign of measurable submergence since Darwin's day, although partially undermined coconut trees can be seen in many places around the lagoon, and elsewhere on the islands.
It has been suggested more than once that despite the essential truth of his subsidence theory, some of the evidence on which it was based is suspect! Not for the only time the great naturalist reached the right conclusion on the basis of evidence that might well not satisfy the modern enquirer.
8 DAR 38. 1/885. See also P H Armstrong, Charles Darwin's geological notes on Mauritius, Indian Ocean Review, 1 (2) pages 2 and 16 – 20, 1988, and 3(1), 43-5.
9 C R Darwin, On certain areas of elevation and subsidence in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as deduced from the study of coral formations, Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, 2, 1837, pages 552 – 554, 1837. Reprinted in P H Barrett (editor), The Collected Papers of Charles Darwin, The University of Chicago Press, 1977.
10 The idea of the earth's crust undergoing "an endless cycle of change" has a Lyellian ring. But it is also oddly prescient, presaging the ideas of "the cycle of erosion" of W M Davis. See, for example, P H Armstrong, The evolution of an idea: the influence of Darwin, Davis and Clements on the development of the cultural landscape concept, National Geographical Journal of India, 34(2), pages 156 -167, 1988.
1 See chapter 5, note 1.
2 C R Darwin, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, John Murray, London, 1881, corrected edition 1882.
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Kamal Haasan at Vishwaroopam promotions
7 November 1954 |
Paramakudi, Tamil Nadu, India
|Residence||Alwarpet , Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India|
|Occupation||Film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, playback singer, lyricist, choreographer,song writer|
|Spouse(s)||Vani Ganapathy (m. 1978–88)
Sarika Thakur (m. 1988–2004)
|Children||Shruti Haasan (b. 1986)
Akshara Haasan (b. 1991)
|Awards||Padma Bhushan (2014)
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian film actor, screenwriter, director, producer, playback singer, choreographer and lyricist who works primarily in the Tamil film industry. Haasan has won several Indian film awards including four National Film Awards and 19 Filmfare Awards. With seven submissions, Kamal Haasan has starred in the highest number of films submitted by India for the Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film. Haasan's production company, Rajkamal International, has produced several of his films. Kamal Haasan received the Padma Shri in 1990 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.
After several projects as a child, Haasan's breakthrough as a lead actor came in the 1975 drama Apoorva Raagangal, in which he played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. He won his first National Film Award for his portrayal of a guileless schoolteacher who cares for a childlike amnesiac in Moondram Pirai (1983). Haasan was noted for his performances in Mani Ratnam's crime film Nayagan (1987), rated by Time magazine as one of the best films in cinema history as well as Shankar's vigilante film Indian (1996) which saw him playing dual roles of a father and a son. Since then he has appeared in a number of films including Hey Ram (2000), Virumaandi (2004), Vishwaroopam (2013) which were his own productions and Dasavathaaram (2008) in which he played ten different roles.
- 1 Early life
- 2 Career
- 3 Personal life
- 4 Awards and honours
- 5 Critique, professional and public perception
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Haasan was born in 1954 into a Tamil family in Paramakudi (now a part of Ramanathapuram district), Tamil Nadu. His father, D. Srinivasan was a lawyer. Kamal is the youngest child in his family; his brothers Charuhasan (born 1930) and Chandrahasan (born 1936) are also lawyers, and Charuhasan became an actor during the 1980s. Haasan's sister, Nalini (born 1946), is a classical dancer. He received his primary education in Paramakudi, moving to Madras (now Chennai) as his brothers pursued their higher education. Haasan continued his education in Santhome, Madras; attracted by film and the fine arts, he was encouraged by his father. When a physician friend of Haasan's mother visited Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar (AVM) to treat his wife, she brought Haasan with her. Impressed by Haasan's demeanor, M. Saravanan (AVM's son) recommended him for their upcoming production Kalathur Kannamma.
Child actor (1959–1963)
Haasan won best actor the President's Gold Medal – Rashtrapathi Award for his performance in Kalathur Kannamma at age four, and starred in five more films as a child. He debuted in the Malayalam film industry in Kannum Karalum (1962). With his father's encouragement Haasan joined a repertory company (T. K. S. Nataka Sabha) headed by T. K. Shanmugam, continuing his education at the Hindu Higher Secondary School in Triplicane. His time with the theatre company shaped Haasan's craft, and kindled his interest in makeup.
Lead roles, 1970–1975
After a seven-year hiatus from films Haasan returned to the industry as a crew member, playing a few supporting roles. His first role as an adult was in the 1970 film Maanavan, where he appeared in a dance sequence. Haasan also had a supporting role in Annai Velankani (where he was assistant director), and appeared in K. Balachander's 1973 film Arangetram. He played the antagonist in Sollathaan Ninaikkiren and Gumasthavin Magal. Haasan's first serious role was in K. Balachander's Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974). His last supporting role was in Naan Avan Illai, also in 1974.
Haasan's second Malayalam film was 1975's Kanyakumari, for which he won his first regional Filmfare Award. Other Malayalam films were Kanyakumari and Raasaleela. He played the lead in the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal, directed by K. Balachander (for which he won his first Filmfare Award in Tamil). Its plot involved a young man in love with an older woman, and the film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. Haasan learned to play the mridangam for his role.
In 1976, Balachander cast Haasan as a womaniser in Manmadha Leelai; this was followed by Oru Oodhappu Kan Simittugiradhu, which won him his second consecutive Regional Filmfare (Tamil) Best Actor Award. Haasan later appeared in the Balachander drama Moondru Mudichu. Avargal (1977) concerned the women's movement; for this role, he learned ventriloquism. The film was remade in Telugu as Idi Katha Kaadu (1979), with Haasan reprising his role. 16 Vayathinile, in which he played a village bumpkin, won him a third consecutive Best Actor award. In 1977 Haasan starred in his first Kannada film, Kokila, the directorial debut of friend and mentor Balu Mahendra. That year he also appeared in a Bengali film, Kabita, a remake of the Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai. In 1978 Haasan made his Telugu film debut with a lead role in the cross-cultural romantic film, Maro Charithra, directed by Balachander. His fourth consecutive Filmfare Award resulted from Sigappu Rojakkal, a thriller in which he played a psychopathic sexual killer.
In the 1978 Telugu film Sommokadidhi Sokkadidhi, Haasan played two parts. He also appeared in the musical Ninaithale Inikkum, a snake-horror film (Neeya) and Kalyanaraman. At the end of the 1970s he had a total of six regional Best Actor Filmfare Awards, including four consecutive Best Tamil Actor Awards.
Haasan's films during the 1980s included 1980's Tamil-language Varumayin Niram Sigappu, in which he played an unemployed youth; he also made a cameo appearance in Rajinikanth's 1981 Thillu Mullu. Haasan made his Bollywood debut in Ek Duuje Ke Liye, the remake of his Telugu-language film Maro Charithra directed by K. Balachander (which earned him his first Filmfare Hindi-language nomination). He made his 100th film appearance in 1981 in Raja Paarvai, debuting as a producer. Despite the film's relatively poor box-office performance, his portrayal of a blind session violinist earned him a Filmfare Award. After a year of starring in commercial films, Haasan won the first of three National Awards for Best Actor for his portrayal of a schoolteacher caring for an amnesia patient in Balu Mahendra's Moondram Pirai, later reprising his role in the Hindi version, Sadma. During this period he focused on Bollywood remakes of his Tamil films, including Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya and Zara Si Zindagi. In 1983 he appeared in Sagara Sangamam, directed by K. Vishwanath. His portrayal of an alcoholic classical dancer won him his first Nandi Award for Best Actor and his second Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award.
After 1984's Raaj Tilak Haasan appeared in Saagar (released 1985), winning the Filmfare Best Actor Award and nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award. The film was India's representative for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1985. He appeared in Geraftaar and later featured in Japanil Kalyanaraman (a sequel to his 1979 Kalyanaraman).
In 1986 Haasan again collaborated with K. Vishwanath in Swathi Muthyam, playing an autistic person who tries to change society; it was India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 1986. These Tollywood films found him a large audience in Andhra Pradesh, and many of his later Tamil films were dubbed into Telugu.
Following Punnagai Mannan (in which he played two roles, including a satire of Charlie Chaplin as Chaplin Chellappa) and Vetri Vizha (where he played an amnesiac), Haasan appeared in Mani Ratnam's 1987 film Nayakan. He received his second Indian National Award for his performance; Nayakan(inspired from Hollywood movie The Godfather ) was submitted by India as its entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1987 Academy Awards, and is on the Time's All-Time 100 Movies list. In 1988 Haasan appeared in his only silent film to date: Pushpak, a black comedy. He appeared in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi (a remake of the Telugu film Rudraveena), Sathya(remake of Hindi film Arjun (1985 film)) in 1988 and Apoorva Sagodharargal in 1989. Haasan played two parts in Indrudu Chandrudu, winning the Filmfare Best Actor and Nandi Awards for his performance. He ended the decade with his last starring role in an original Malayalam film to date, in Chanakyan. By the end of the 1980s Haasan was successful in the Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi film industries, with Filmfare Awards in each industry and two national awards.
In 1990, Michael Madhana Kamarajan saw Haasan build on Apoorva Sagodharargal by playing quadruplets. It began as a collaboration with writer Crazy Mohan for future comedy films. Haasan won successive Best Actor awards for his portrayal of deranged, obsessive protagonists in Guna and Thevar Magan (which was remade in Hindi as 1997's Virasat). He was credited with the story for the latter, and won his third National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil as a producer. The film was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. A series of films followed: Singaravelan, Maharasan, Kalaignan, Mahanadi, Nammavar, and Sathi Leelavathi (based on the British film She-Devil). The film (produced by Haasan) featured Haasan, Kannada actor Ramesh Arvind and comedienne Kovai Sarala. He resumed his collaboration with Kasinadhuni Viswanath in the Telugu film, Subha Sankalpam, and starred in the police story Kuruthipunal (remake of govind nihlani's movie Drohkaal ) with Arjun Sarja. Haasan's success in the latter was followed by his third National Film Award for Best Actor for Indian.
He became the first Indian actor to get Rs 1 crore as his remuneration for a single film in 1994. Before him, it was Rajesh Khanna who was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970–1987.
After Indian Haasan played a woman in the comedy Avvai Shanmughi (inspired by Mrs. Doubtfire), which was a box-office success. He chose Shantanu Sheorey to direct the Hindi remake of Avvai Shanmughi, Chachi 420, but after dissatisfaction with five days of shooting Haasan took over as director. In 1997 Haasan began directing an unfinished biopic of Mohammed Yusuf Khan, Marudhanayagam; a half-hour of film and a trailer was shot. Marudhanayagam was expected to be the biggest, most expensive film in Indian cinematic history; a number of well-known actors and technicians had been signed, and it was launched at a public ceremony by Queen Elizabeth during her 1997 visit to India. Although the film failed to materialise due to budget constraints, Haasan expressed an interest in reviving the project. In 1998, he appeared in Singeetham Srinivasa Rao's romantic comedy, Kaathala Kaathala opposite Prabhu Deva. The film was a commercial success and was also dubbed in Hindi as Mirch Masala, which was never released.
After a two-year hiatus from Indian cinema, Haasan decided against reviving Marudhanayagam. He directed his second film, Hey Ram, a period drama, told in flashback, with a fact-based plot centering around the partition of India and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Haasan produced and choreographed the film, writing its screenplay and lyrics; it was India's submission for the Academy Awards that year. Hey Ram was a box-office failure in India (partly due to Congress enforcing a ban on the film) but was successful worldwide. Also in 2000, Haasan appeared in the comedy Thenali (inspired from Hollywood movie What About Bob?) as a Sri Lankan Tamilian with PTSD who is under a psychiatrist's care. Thenali, starring Malayalam actor Jayaram, was a box-office success. Haasan's next film was 2001's Aalavandhan, in which he played two roles: For one he had his head shaved and gained ten kilograms. To play the other Army major in Aalavandhan, he went to the NDA for a crash course. The Hindi version was distributed by Shringar Films. Despite pre-release publicity, the film was a commercial failure and Haasan repaid distributors who had lost money.
After a number of successful comedies (including Pammal K. Sambandam and Panchathantiram (inspired from the Hollywood movie Very Bad Things) and guest appearances, Haasan directed Virumaandi, a film about capital punishment which won the Best Asian Film Award at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. He also appeared in Anbe Sivam with Madhavan. Priyadarshan, its original director, left and Sundar C. completed the film. Anbe Sivam tells the story of Nallasivam, portrayed by Haasan as a communist. His performance was praised by critics, with The Hindu saying that he "has once again done Tamil cinema proud".
In 2004 Haasan appeared in Vasool Raja MBBS, a remake of Bollywood's Munnabhai MBBS, with Sneha which was a box-office success. The following year, he wrote and starred in the comedy Mumbai Express. Released during Tamil New Year with Rajinikanth's Chandramukhi and Vijay's romantic comedy Sachien, it was a disappointment at the box office despite positive reviews. In 2006 Haasan's long-delayed project, the stylish police story Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, was a success. Directed by Gautham Menon, the film is about a police officer sent to the US to investigate a series of medical murders. In 2008's Dasavathaaram, he played ten roles; the film was released in a number of languages (including Tamil, Telugu and Hindi) throughout India and overseas. Dasavathaaram, written by Haasan and director K. S. Ravikumar, is one of the first modern science-fiction films made in India. Starring Haasan and Asin Thottumkal, it was the highest-grossing Tamil film (as of 2008) and his performance was critically praised. In Canada, Dasavathaaram was the first Tamil film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.
After Dasavathaaram Haasan directed a film tentatively titled Marmayogi, which stalled after a year of pre-production. He then produced and starred in Unnaipol Oruvan, a remake of the Bollywood film A Wednesday, where he reprised the role originally played by Naseeruddin Shah with Malayalam actor Mohanlal playing Anupam Kher's role. It was released in Telugu as Eeenadu, with Venkatesh reprising the role played by Kher. Both versions were critically acclaimed and commercially successful.
Haasan collaborated for the fifth time with Ravikumar in Manmadan Ambu, also writing the screenplay. The story concerns a man who hires a detective to find out if his fiancée is cheating on him. The film was released in December 2010 to mixed reviews, with Behindwoods calling it "an entertainer, but in parts" and Sify saying it "lacks the punch to captivate the audiences".
Haasan's next film after Manmadhan Ambu was 2013's Vishwaroopam, released in Hindi as Vishwaroop. It won two National Film Awards (Best Production Design and Best Choreography) at the 60th National Film Awards. In May 2014, he was appointed as the official Indian delegate to the 67th Cannes Film Festival. As of June 2014, he was working on two films: Uthama Villain and Vishwaroopam II, the sequel of Vishwaroopam.Haasan's upcoming film name is "Attrai thingal" coming soon.
In addition to acting, Haasan is noted for his involvement in other aspects of filmmaking. He has written many of his films, including Raja Paarvai, Apoorva Sagodharargal, Michael Madhana Kamarajan, Thevar Magan, Mahanadhi, Hey Ram, Aalavandhan, Anbe Sivam, Nala Damayanthi, Virumaandi, Dasavathaaram, Manmadhan Ambu and Vishwaroopam. Haasan's production company (Rajkamal International) has produced several of his films, and he directed Chachi 420, Hey Ram, Virumaandi and Vishwaroopam. He considered directing full-time if Hey Ram was successful, but changed his mind when the film failed at the box office. In his earlier career, he has also choreographed for MGR in Naan Yen Pirandhen, Sivaji Ganesan in Savaale Samaali and Jayalalithaa in Anbu Thangai In 2010 Haasan said he wanted to do more directing, since young actors wished to work for him. When he played supporting roles early in his career he wanted to become a technician, and joked: "Film makers like K. Balachander told me that I won't be able make much money by being a technician. So the end result is that the star Kamal funds the technician Kamal in pursuing his dreams". Kamal attended workshops for makeup technicians in the US for several years, and trained as a makeup artist under Michael Westmore.
Haasan has also written songs for his films. He wrote the lyrics for a single in Hey Ram, songs in Virumaandi and Unnaipol Oruvan and the album for Manmadhan Ambu. Haasan's musical work has been well received by his peers in Tamil film. He is also a playback singer, singing in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and English. Currently Haasan is part of the Mission "Clean India" set by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi nominated 9 important VIPs to spread it to people via media or by their own example and one in nine people is Kamal Haasan who is chosen for his sincere work towards social welfare moves.
Haasan was born in the town of Paramakudi, in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, to criminal lawyer D. Srinivasan and Rajalakshmi a housewife. One source says that his parents originally named him Parthasarathy. In an interview with Karan Thapar, Haasan said his father was literate in Sanskrit. Kamal was the youngest of four children; his siblings are Charuhasan, Chandrahasan and Nalini (Raghu). His two older brothers followed their father's example and studied law.
Haasan referred to his parents in Unnaipol Oruvan and the song "Kallai Mattum" in Dasavathaaram. His oldest brother Charuhasan, like Kamal, is a National Film Award-winning actor who appeared in the Kannada film Tabarana Kathe. Charuhasan's daughter Suhasini is also a National Film Award winner married to director (and fellow award-winner) Mani Ratnam, who collaborated with Haasan on 1987's Nayakan. Chandrahasan has produced several of Haasan's films and is an executive with Rajkamal International. Chandrahasan's daughter Anu Hasan has had supporting roles in several films, including Suhasini's Indira. Haasan's sister, Nalini Raghu, is a dance teacher for whom he named an auditorium (Nalini Mahal). Her son, Gautham, played Haasan's grandson in Hey Ram.
Early in his career, he co-starred in several films with Srividya. They were reported to have had an affair during the 1970s, and their relationship was explored in the 2008 Malayalam film Thirakkatha by Renjith (with Anoop Menon as Haasan and Priyamani as Srividya). Haasan visited Srividya when she was on her deathbed in 2006.
Haasan and the actress Sarika began living together in 1988, marrying after the birth of their first child, Shruti Haasan (born 1986). Shruti Haasan is a singer and a Tollywood-Kollywood actress. Their younger daughter, Akshara (born 1991), was assistant director for 2013's Vishwaroopam. Sarika stopped acting soon after their marriage, replacing Vani Ganapathy as Haasan's costume designer for Hey Ram. In 2002, the couple filed for divorce, which became final in 2004.
Haasan's affair with co-star Simran Bagga (22 years younger than him) triggered the breakup. His relationship with Simran (who appeared in Pammal K. Sambandam and Panchathantiram) was brief, since Simran married her childhood friend in late 2003. Haasan has been living with former actress Gouthami Tadimalla (who starred with him in several films during the late 1980s and early 1990s) since 2005. Shruti, Akshara and Gouthami's daughter Subbalakshmi (from an annulled marriage) live with them.
Haasan has often questioned the existence of God and has highlighted the theme BEST OF INDIA in his films like Anbe Sivam and Dasavathaaram. He has been thought to be Muslim because of his Arabic-sounding name, most notably when he was denied preclearance by U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2002. In Sanskrit Kamal means "lotus", but it was rumoured that his name originated with a friend of his father (Yaakob Hassan, a Muslim freedom fighter who was imprisoned along with Kamal's father by the British). In a BBC interview with Karan Thapar Haasan said that his last name derives from the Sanskrit word hasya, and although the Yaakob Hassan connection was publicised by the media it was only "a story". Although he has abstained from politics, Haasan is considered left-leaning or independent and has said that his politics would result in his death within a year.
Haasan is the first Tamil actor to convert his fan clubs into welfare organisations and is involved in social-service activities through the clubs under the name Kamal Narpani Iyakkam (Kamal Welfare Association). His fan clubs help organise blood- and eye-donation drives, and donate educational materials to students.
Haasan received the first Abraham Kovoor National Award for his humanist activities and secular life in 2004. He was project ambassador for Hridayaragam 2010, which raised funds for an orphanage for HIV/AIDS-affected children. In September 2010 Haasan launched a children’s cancer relief fund and gave roses to children with cancer at Sri Ramachandra University in Porur, Chennai. He has pledged his product-endorsement income to social causes. Haasan won 5 million on Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi in March 2013 and promised that his prize money would be used for Petral Thaan Pillaya, supporting children with HIV.
Kamal Haasan was nominated by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Swachch Bharath Campaign, he chose to clean the Madambakkam lake in Chennai with the Environmentalist Foundation of India's Arun Krishnamurthy on 7 November 2014.
Haasan publishes the magazine Mayyam, by the Kamal Haasan Welfare Association (Narpani Iyakkam). His views on cinema, child and drug abuse, and the Kashmir conflict have been published as Thedi Theerpom Va (Come, Let's Solve Together) by his fan club. Haasan is also interested in Tamil literature.
Awards and honours
Haasan received in 1990 the Padma Shri and in 2014 the Padma Bhushan for his contributions to Indian cinema. At age six he won the President's Gold Medal for Best Child Actor for his debut film, Kalathur Kannamma. Haasan is tied with Mammootty and Amitabh Bachchan for the most Best Actor National Film Awards with three. He won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for producing the 1992 Tamil film, Thevar Magan. Haasan has a record 19 Filmfare Awards in five languages; after his last award, in 2000, he wrote to the organisation requesting no further awards. In 2003, his films Hey Ram, Pushpak, Nayakan and Kuruthipunal were showcased in the "Director in Focus" category at the Rotterdam Film Festival. In 2004, Virumaandi won the inaugural Best Asian film award at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan).
In 2005, Sathyabama Deemed University awarded Haasan an honorary doctorate. He received the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema at the inaugural Vijay Awards in 2006. Haasan received the Living Legend Award in 2007 from FICCI. In 2010, the United Progressive Alliance government organised a retrospective of his films. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the actor was unique, since his films broke regional and language barriers. That year, the government of Kerala honoured him for 50 years in Indian cinema during statewide Onam celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram.
Haasan received the Kalaimamani Award from the government of Tamil Nadu in 1979. Other honours include Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Nandi, Screen and Vijay Awards, including four awards for his performance in Dasavathaaram. In 2009 Haasan was appointed chairman of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Media and Entertainment Business Conclave, organised by FICCI's entertainment division. He is on the academic advisory council for ISFM (International school of Film+Media), and was the first Indian actor invited aboard an American ship as a special friend of the US. In April 2013 Haasan received an award on behalf of Indian cinema from Chris Brown, executive vice-president for conventions and business operations of the National Association of Broadcasters, as part of the New York Festivals International Film & TV Awards. He is one of 20 film celebrities recognised by Coca-Cola India with the launch of the 24th edition of the Limca Book of Records in 2013.
Critique, professional and public perception
Mani Ratnam, who directed Haasan in Nayakan, has said that there are many things he can do that no other actor can. Veteran Tamil actor Nagesh called Haasan the best actor he had ever seen. Haasan's contributions to film have been praised by his peers in the Indian film industry, including Sridevi, Meena, Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan. Younger actors (Suriya and Madhavan) and filmmakers (Bala, Ameer and Gautham Menon) have been inspired by him. M. F. Husain said Haasan was the most exciting Indian filmmaker-actor he had ever seen.
The animated action sequence in Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, Kill Bill, was inspired by 2D animated sequences in an Indian film believed to be Aalavandhan. Hollywood filmmaker Barrie M. Osburne called Haasan's knowledge of literature, history and films "encyclopedic", and Ang Lee said he was stunned by his brilliance and knowledge of films.
Haasan has been accused of self-indulgence and criticised for sexually explicit scenes and themes, offensive religious sentiments and superficiality about the social issues depicted in his films. Other criticism includes complaints about his obsession with perfection, which may have caused some of his films to run over budget.
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Mr. Bacon. Good afternoon. Welcome to the professor here. Glad you could all make it. I have no opening statement, so I'm ready to take your questions. Yes.
Q: Would you give us an idea, Ken, what efforts are being expended by this department to aid in the embassy explosions?
A: Well, yes. I can give you a fairly extensive rundown, but let me start by saying that, so far, we've flown 17 missions or flights over to East Africa. We've delivered approximately 400 military and civilian personnel to the area, and several hundred, I guess, 140, short tons of equipment.
So that's 17 missions over 120,000 miles, and these have been from Washington, from the Middle East, and from Germany -- 418 passengers and 140 short tons of equipment.
Let me break down what we've delivered so far:
We moved in a forward surgical team of 20 people, a combat stress control team of seven people.
We moved in two Marine Corps Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Teams of about 100 people. That's about 50 people each. One of those went to Nairobi and one went to Dar es Salaam.
Thirty Navy Seabees were moved in from Guam to assist in the recovery operations.
We've also moved in a mortuary affairs team, an Air Force aeromedical evacuation crew of seven people, a three-person critical care transport crew to help bring people out in medevac planes.
We've moved in over 200 units of blood. One of the crucial requirements was blood, and we moved that into Nairobi, primarily.
So that gives you a flavor of what support the military has provided over the last couple of days, and we stand ready to provide additional support if called upon but, as you know, there is a fairly large team there.
We have been supported by people from several different countries, including Israel, which sent a team of experts at finding bodies in bombed buildings, in rubble. There are British and Australian security personnel helping us, and South Africa also supplied the medical evacuation support.
Q: When will the embassy personnel who lost their lives in the bombing be coming home, and how will they be transported home?
A: They will be transported back from Germany in a C-17 on Thursday. They will arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, and there will be a ceremony presided over by President Clinton and involving Secretary Cohen, Secretary Albright, and Secretary Shalala. That is scheduled to take place at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday morning at Andrews Air Force Base.
As you know, Secretary Albright will leave and fly to Germany tomorrow. She will meet with some family members and talk to people in the hospitals there, and she'll come back with the caskets on the C-17 from Germany.
Q: How many remains are actually coming back to Andrews?
A: Well, 12 people were killed in this terrorist act, and I believe that one set of remains is staying in Kenya to be buried there, and another set of remains will come back, maybe it already has come back, the remains of Master Sergeant Olds, in the Air Force, will be buried in Florida. And I believe those remains, if they haven't been sent back already, will be sent back before the other ones.
Q: So are we going to have 10?
A: That's my understanding right now, that there will be ten sets of remains.
Q: There will be 10.
Q: Have there been any requests, or have you considered allowing any of those, of the ten, to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery?
A: I don't know the answer to that question right now.
Q: There is a precedent for it.
A: Well, certainly the three peace negotiators in Bosnia, including Joe Kruzel [former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Affairs], were buried in Arlington Cemetery, those who died in 1995, I guess. But I don't know how many, if any, will be buried in Arlington. I just don't know the answer to that question.
Q: Is it still the case that, after Andrews, all the remains go to Dover for...
A: My understanding is that the three -- well, that the two -- that military personnel, the remains of military personnel, active duty military personnel, go to Dover, and that the other sets of remains probably will not, that they will go directly to other points, whether they're undertakers or funeral homes.
Q: Can I just ask you to take that question, because there's been a lot of conflict about whether -- very conflicting information about whether there will be criminal autopsies performed on those remains, as well. Will they go to Dover? Could you just take that question?
A: I'll take the question.
Q: Thank you.
Q: The uniformed military people, on the Arlington question again, I think, would be entitled to burial in Arlington, in any event.
A: I've said I'll take the Arlington question.
Q: Ken, any first-blush indications on the background for this attack, these attacks? Does it appear to be state-sponsored? Does it appear to be -- have you identified the explosive involved? And was there any indication or forewarning of an attack on these facilities?
A: All of those are very good questions, and I'm not going to answer any of them. These are the types of issues that are being considered by the FBI. They're part of an ongoing investigation.
I think that frequently, in cases like this, the early information turns out to be wrong, or fragmentary, and I think it makes much more sense just to let the investigators do their work, and when they finish, they'll report their findings.
Q: Now, what about the arrests, then, today, by the Kenyans?
A: My understanding is that local law enforcement authorities are questioning some people. I don't know whether they have been arrested or detained for questioning. That's really up to them to describe. But there has been some questioning taking place by local law enforcement authorities.
Q: A related question if I may. Israeli television is reporting now that the explosive found in one of the sites was Semtex. Has it ever been released here or determined what the explosive was at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran two years ago?
A: I would have to go back and refresh my memory on that. My recollection is that that was in the report that we released in 1996, but I just don't recall what we said. You can go back and look at the report, but I'll ask Colonel Bridges to look it up for you and get you the information.
Q: Mr. Bacon, some of the anecdotal stuff coming out of particularly Nairobi, perhaps unfortunately, has been along the lines of where was the cavalry. Ambassador Bushnell has referred to this issue, rather than [have any] misunderstandings.
But there is some contrast between the quick and forceful action of the Israelis, which everybody agrees the situation would have been a lot worse without them. Was the U.S. slow out of the gate here? And if so, why?
A: First of all, let me compliment the work of the Israelis. Minister Mordechai called Secretary Cohen to offer him condolences and he also offered him help; specifically asked if it would be useful for the Israelis to send a team of people experienced in dealing with rubble and extracting bodies and, we hope, living people. And Secretary Cohen readily accepted that offer.
Second, I think we responded very quickly to this. As I said, we flew 17 missions right away. We had medical people on the ground relatively quickly. We had a number of support activities. Remember, Africa is not really close to Europe or close to Andrews Air Force Base. We put together teams of people within hours of the disaster and had not only new security teams on the way, but medical teams on the way. We had 64 civilian rescue experts from Fairfax County shipped over there. We had dogs shipped over there. We had over 200 units of blood shipped there relatively quickly. So I don't buy that allegation that we didn't respond quickly enough.
Q: The rescue team from Alexandria claims it sat on the ground cooling its heels for 17 hours because the Air Force couldn't come up with an airplane. The first mercy flight out of Ramstein, the C-141, did not get off the ground until 13-1/2 hours after the bombing. It did not arrive in Nairobi until 26 hours afterwards. If you call 911 and you don't get an ambulance for 26 hours, I subscribe you're in trouble. How is that a fast response?
A: I think we had planes leaving from Andrews Air Force Base at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We had to assemble teams. We had to make sure we had the right people. We had to get the FBI people on board. And I submit to you that in the life of press people, this may seem like a long period of time, but in terms of putting together complex teams of experts, I think we operated relatively quickly here.
Q: Was this not a field hospital or something related, all containerized, supposedly ready to go?
A: We had containerized equipment, but one of the issues here was assembling more blood. We realized immediately that we needed special expertise in surgery and that we needed augmentation of blood supplies, so it took a little bit of time to put those together.
QThere's been a report that there were several incidents foiled against embassies in the past. Is there any way that you can discuss any similar incidents involving military bases at all?
A: Ambassador Pickering said last week that 30,000 threats a year are received against U.S. diplomatic installations around the world. And all these threats are taken seriously. They are processed. They are considered. They are analyzed. We receive thousands of threats every year about U.S. military personnel and U.S. military installations. It is the nature of intelligence and the nature of security that failures are public and successes are private, so I cannot go into detailed accounts of threats that we've foiled.
I can tell you that during a period of time when everybody realizes that terrorism has become a greater threat -- that's over the last decade or so -- that the number of attacks against U.S. military and diplomatic personnel has declined quite dramatically. There were 200 attacks against military and diplomatic personnel in 1986. There were eight in 1997. So over approximately a 10-year period, there has been a rather dramatic decline, and it was a steady decline. This is not just a matter of good luck. It is a matter of increased attention to security, increased attention to intelligence and increased vigilance on the part of soldiers and diplomats all over the world.
I might point out that if you look at casualties suffered by Americans in 1997, far more were suffered most -- the majority was suffered by American business personnel rather than by American diplomats or American soldiers. Now, I don't cite that for any other reason but to point out that Americans are vulnerable all around the world and I think that all Americans, public -- those who work for the government, and private -- those who don't, are paying more attention to security. It is not always a benign world out there and I think all Americans are working much harder to protect themselves.
Q: I'm sorry, what casualty numbers are you referring to?
A: I was referring to casualties suffered in attacks against Americans in 1997. There were 126 casualties in 1997, 104 of them were of business people.
Q: When Secretary Cohen received the offer made from Minister Mordechai, did he check with Secretary Albright or was that not necessary as far as he was concerned?
A: Secretary Albright was then in the process of coming back from Rome. I assume he checked immediately with the Joint Staff, which at that point was coordinating the requests for assistance and decided that this assistance would be helpful, so we accepted it.
Q: Could you please tell us more about the official who will replace Mr. Lodal and if he is going to get involved extensively with the Greek-Turkish affairs too as Mr. Lodal here at the Pentagon?
A: Mr. Lodal will be replaced by James Bodner. He has been nominated for the job by the White House, I think about two weeks ago. He is yet to be confirmed by the Senate, but we hope he will be confirmed by the Senate relatively soon. Mr. Lodal told Secretary Cohen that he would remain in -- that he wanted to return to private business, but that he would remain in the job until the transition could take place, and we anticipate that transition will take place soon. Mr. Bodner is currently a special assistant to Secretary Cohen. He has worked for him since 1983 when he went to work for Senator Cohen, then Senator Cohen, and he specializes in national security affairs and foreign policy.
I do not know whether he will pay particular attention to the Greek-Turkey account as Mr. Lodal has. I suspect that will have to be sorted out between Mr. Bodner and Walter Slocombe who is the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
Q: (Inaudible) with the (inaudible) involvement, the two sides in Cyprus are almost ready to reach an agreement on moratorium over the air space of the island. Do you have anything on that?
A: I'm afraid I don't.
Q: And on the current military exercise?
A: I hope it's true, but I don't have any facts on it.
Q: Okay. On the current military exercise in FYROM, in Albania, are you planning to use also your installations in Greece?
A: My understanding is we do not plan to use our installations in Greece for that exercise just because they're too far away.
Q: And the last one, anything on the consistent reports for U.S. military involvement in Kosovo?
A: Well, first of all, our goal in Kosovo is to reach a diplomatic solution to the problem. I think we've been very clear about that from the very beginning. Second, if there is any military involvement in Kosovo, it will be done through NATO, not unilaterally by the United States.
Q: Secretary Cohen has threatened a very harsh response to anyone that's found responsible for these bombings, but we still don't know who did the Khobar Towers; is that right?
A: That is correct.
Q: How can the American public expect a vigorous response from this administration if -- what is it, four years later -- we still don't know who attacked those bases there?
A: Well, first of all, it's two years.
Q: A long time.
A: And second -- well, it has been a long time. And no one is more frustrated about that than Secretary Cohen or President Clinton, who has also promised a vigorous response and did so after the Khobar Towers bombing case.
These are very complex cases. They require a lot of intelligence work and investigative work. And that work is continuing. I think it's very clear from the amount of time we spent successfully tracking down the people responsible for the World Trade Center bombing, the amount of time we spent tracking down the person who shot people outside of the CIA, that we're serious about locating these terrorists and bringing them to justice.
We have done so in a number of cases, two of which I've just mentioned. We cannot expect instant responses in these cases. But as Secretary Cohen pointed out, there is no statute of limitations for terrorists. And we will work long and hard in order to find them. And when we do, we will take the appropriate response.
Q: Different subject. I understand that Linda Tripp has formally communicated with the Pentagon in some fashion and asked to -- she's stating her intention that she wants to come back to work here. Is she expected back? When? And is there any impediment on the Pentagon side to her returning to the job she held before she went on this flexi-place program?
A: I have nothing to add to what Capt. Doubleday said about those same questions several weeks ago. Is there another question? Yes.
Q: Well, he said he might have something soon. So --
A: Well, he's not here.
Q: We're not -- okay.
A: Yes, do you have a question?
Q: Well, excuse me, though. You would still, though, be in charge of Linda Tripp's position, is that correct?
A: I'm not in charge of this issue. I've recused myself from dealing with this issue.
Q: Well, who would it be?
A: There will be nothing to say on this until we've had a chance to review the current situation. That review is ongoing and, as I say, there's nothing to add to what Capt. Doubleday said several weeks ago.
Q: I just wanted to ask -- you said you're not able to answer questions on this so --
A: You're right.
Q: Who is the appropriate person to even put a question to, then?
A: The appropriate person will probably be Capt. Doubleday when he returns.
Q: There is a strike going on by the Turkish employees at Incirlik Air Base. We've been getting reports that all -- virtually all of the facilities of that base are shut down, including places to get food; that people are living off of MREs; that baby formula is not available, that diapers are not available; that it has become dangerous to go off base; that people are ordered to only go off in groups; that at least one person was beaten off base apparently by strikers. Do you have a handle on the situation there? And what is the Defense Department or the State Department or the U.S. Government doing to deal with that situation?
A: Well, you're right there is a strike by approximately 1,400 Turkish employees. That strike has been going on now for -- I think, 18 or 19 days. We are negotiating in an effort to resolve the dispute with the Turkish employees.
In the meantime, a number of civilian services provided by the Turkish workers at the base have been interrupted. We have responded to that by setting up field kitchens and other ways to feed the military community at Incirlik. It is a Turkish air base, as you know, where we operate with the Turkish Air Force. There are approximately 5,300 Americans on the air base. I think 2,200 are Air Force service members, and then the rest are dependents.
We are doing several things. The first is we're doing our best to protect the security and safety of the Americans on the air base. Second, we are doing our best to keep them supplied. And that has been difficult because of the strike. But we are bringing in food and other necessary supplies. And the third thing we're doing is negotiating with the Turkish labor unions to try to resolve the strike. And those negotiations are now ongoing.
Q: Are people living off of MREs on the base?
A: There was a period of time when people were living on MREs, but we have now set up field kitchens. And my understanding is that most, if not all the people, should be getting hot meals from field kitchens now. But --
Q: You were talking about tents.
A: Well, I don't know whether they're being prepared and served in tents or in buildings. There are plenty of buildings at Incirlik. So I don't know --
Q: Are they being flown in?
A: I don't know specifically whether they're being flown in or taken by train. But they're being brought in, yes.
Q: Do you have a handle on what facilities are operating on the base versus what facilities they're not?
A: I do not, no. Many facilities have been shut down including recreational centers. But we've been able to operate Northern Watch during this whole dispute. Military operations have not suffered at all. There have been several earthquakes over the last month and American military people have helped, where appropriate, in dealing with the earthquakes.
So the basic operations and mission of our force at Incirlik goes on. The Americans are carrying these out under difficult circumstances. We're trying to do our very best to resolve the problem.
Q: And as for the reports of people being beaten off-base by groups of strikers.
A: There was one American NCO attacked in a parking lot outside a store, as I understand it, and he has filed charges with the Turkish police against the people who attacked him.
Q: Now people are only allowed to leave the base in groups, is that correct?
A: That is part of the -- of our effort to maintain safety and security -- to have people travel only in groups off the base.
Q: Do you know what the demands of the strikers are? I'm told that they're asking for a 450 percent increase in pay plus medical and retirement benefits, plus, plus, plus.
A: They're asking for many things. And that's what's being negotiated now. I don't know the specifics of what they're requesting.
Q: Do we have any personnel who are living off-base that have had to move on --
A: I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that. We can try to find out. I believe that most of the -- there is a fairly extensive housing on the base. And I believe most of the people live on the base. But whether all live on the base, I can't be sure.
Q: Is there any consideration being given to allow the civilians or the dependents to go home for the time being, given the difficulties there?
A: Well, new dependents who were on the verge of being shipped over there have not gone. And I suppose some of the dependents have come home for leave or summer vacation or to get ready to go college or whatever. But I don't know yet. No decision has been made to ship back dependents at this stage.
Q: And what's the status of the security situation? Have they augmented security or added additional security people to the base?
A: I don't know whether they have augmented the security forces with new people but certainly security has been one of the primary concerns. And you pointed out one of the actions that's been taken by the Air Force to protect people, and that is, to make sure that they travel in groups.
Q: Have there been any problems between our people there and the Turkish military people?
A: My understanding is that there have not been such problems; that they work well together.
Q: Are there prospects of this being resolved any time soon? Who's doing the negotiating?
A: The negotiating is being done by a team out of EUCOM, as I understand it. General Jumper has been down there and reviewed the situation, and there is -- I think negotiating has been going on since at least August 6th and maybe before that. But the negotiating continues and we are hopeful that we will reach an acceptable settlement.
Q: Two quick ones. A serious question on South Korea. Have US troops in South Korea, have they aided -- done anything to help out or have they been the victims of these floods?
A: Well, I assume since many of the floods have been around Seoul that we've been affected by them. The American military in Seoul lives on a hill so I assume the water is running down from where they live, but I'll get an answer as to what assistance we provided. I'm sure we've been working with the South Korean military to help them. We'll get an answer to you on that.
Q: We know the Lockheed Martin's theater missile program has been pretty much of a disaster, but are they charging us now $1 billion more than the negotiated contracts? Have they got a billion dollar overrun on this program?
A: No, that's not entirely true. There is a big cost overrun. My understanding is that the overrun is $732 million so far, and that largely results from the delays -- reflects the delays in the program that obviously a program delayed is a program that becomes more costly.
Q: Is this cost-plus?
A: They do -- it is a cost-plus program. They do not receive any fee -- it's a cost-plus fee program, cost-plus fixed fee. They receive no fee, as I understand it, on cost increases caused by delay.
In addition, we have changed the requirements of the program to a certain extent and that has created another $265 million in cost increases. So the combination of the delay plus the enhanced DoD requirements has generated about a billion dollars in increased costs.
Q: For nothing though, right? We've got nothing out of this. Though we've got a string of disasters so far.
A: That's true. We have not been able to hit the target. We do have a number of successful components of the program. One is the radar system which works very well. As you know, because we've been through this many times here and I don't have to go through a lengthy repetition of all of this, but there have been five failures and each failure has been attributed to a different cause so it has made it difficult to trace down and fix the failures. But both the program managers and the contractor are determined to make it work.
Q: Is there any increased consideration of finding a second supplier for this?
A: Right now, my understanding is that we are working aggressively with Lockheed to try to make the program work. A second supplier is always a possibility, but one of the problems we have right now is that there has been a substantial amount of investment in the program and there is a reluctance to start from scratch with another supplier.
Q: What were the changes that -- what did you say, 275 million?
A: $265 million, and I do not know what those new requirements are, but we will find out.
Q: Will you find out and let us know?
A: Yes, we will.
Q: You talk about forces that DoD has sent to East Africa. Are there additional forces on the way or is there a plan to send any additional forces to that area to assist in the investigation or to provide security for the people who are already there?
A: My understanding is, not right now. We have sent in a fairly substantial security enhancement, a hundred Marines. We'll obviously play it by ear and respond to the requests we get from the State Department, but my understanding is, right now we have enough people on the spot. We've been concentrating, of course, primarily, on first, finding people who are still alive -- that's largely over; taking care of the injured and evacuating those who need to be evacuated; and, of course, dealing with those who perished in this disaster and dealing with their families.
Q: A couple of hours ago, President Clinton sent a letter to Congress advising Congress that he's going to send troops. Is that covering the troops that have already been sent or is this --
A: I have heard that is the case, but I haven't -- I can't comment on it. In fact, one of the reasons I was delayed was I was waiting for a fax from the NSC but it didn't come so, rather than keep you all waiting, I decided to come out here. And I gather that that's a question that should go to the White House since he sent the letter.
Q: Just a point of clarification. Can you say why you recused yourself from the Linda Tripp matter and was that dealing with the DoD legal advice or private legal advice for some reason?
A: I just felt that given some of the charges the press has raised about me that it would be better for me to recuse myself, so that is what I have done.
Q: A new study coming out of the University of Texas, medical researchers there who are printing the study of the American Journal of Epidemiology this month are challenging government studies performed about Gulf War Syndrome and, among other things, the study says that the government's methodology was flawed and that government -- and that Gulf War vets were far more likely to die and be hospitalized than the general public.
I'm wondering if you know about this report and what the reaction is of the Department of Defense.
A: Well, I have looked at the report briefly and, basically, from the best I can tell, the report, which is by Dr. Robert Haley, is based on a fairly complex statistical analysis. Other epidemiologists challenge his methods and also challenge his conclusions.
We have asked the Rand Corporation to review these competing statistical interpretations of the data and the conclusions that flow from them. That's all I can tell you about that. I mean, you know, there were a set of reports in the New England Journal of Medicine, I believe, or the Journal of the American Medical Association last year that focused on mortality, hospitalization and birth defects. They were done by epidemiologists who, of course, study figures and try to deduce patterns. Dr. Haley has reviewed those reports and decided that there were statistical imperfections in the way they were done. The authors of those reports dispute Dr. Haley's findings, and those disputes are carried in segments called "counterpoints" in the American Journal of Epidemiology. You probably read those. The doctors who did the initial study do not believe that Dr. Haley's interpretation is correct so we've hired the Rand Corporation to look at these competing claims and to try to advise us on what's correct.
In the meantime, we continue to work aggressively to find out what caused Gulf War illnesses. We financed, I believe, 121 research projects, including one by Dr. Haley himself, and those medical research projects are underway. And we are also concentrating on trying to make sure that the people who were suffering illnesses attributable to the Gulf War get the best possible care they can.
Q: If the Rand Corporation does find some validity to Dr. Haley's criticisms, what kind of action might you take then?
A: Well, I think that's a hypothetical question and we'll just have to figure out -- we'll have to wait until the result comes out. All we're looking at here is one set of studies on hospitalization, mortality and birth defects. These are very important findings, but we'll just have to wait and see how the Rand Corporation sorts them out. There may be other statistical methods available that scientists haven't used yet in trying to figure out these results.
Q: Wasn't it also found that Gulf War veterans were 50 percent more likely to die in car crashes than the general public?
A: That's what the initial study found that was published last year, as I recall.
Q: Approximately how long will it be until the Rand study is available?
A: I don't know. I don't know. Anybody who has had -- this stuff is literally all Greek to me. The formulas are filled with sigmas and deltas and pis and other things, and I don't know how long it will take the Rand Corporation to sort this out.
Q: I'd like to return to the embassy bombings for one last question. We've heard a lot from the President and the Secretary of State as to improving security or taking a look at security at embassies around the world and that appropriate actions would be taken, if necessary. Where are we along those lines in studying the amount of security we have with U.S. embassies and are we close to seeing anything changing from present methods?
A: Well, first of all, this happened on Friday. Today is Tuesday. I'm sure the State Department is looking at its requirements all around the world, but as I explained earlier, the initial burst of energy here has been spent on figuring out how to help the people in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and dealing with the large human disaster there.
Second, the State Department, the FBI, and other investigators, the intelligence agencies, have focused on trying to figure out who did this and to preserve as many of the clues, the early clues, as possible and to work with other intelligence agencies to begin to piece together how this happened and who is responsible for it.
The State Department has spent approximately a billion dollars since 1986 improving the security of its embassies. They have constructed 27 new embassies that are, according to the so-called Inman standards that, I suppose to most Americans, would look fortress-like there, surrounded by nine-foot walls. They're typically far away from streets. They have big security perimeters and they look, sort of, like fortresses inside. You've probably seen these in places like -- well, Caracas, Venezuela, is where one exists. There's another one in Mascat, Oman. There are 27 of them.
In addition, they have spent a lot of money to improve security in existing embassies rather than build new ones to improve security in existing embassies. As State Department officials said on Friday, and they have said since and they will probably say again today when they have another briefing on this, they are now looking at ways to improve the security of embassies all around the world. I don't know where they stand on that.
I can tell you from the military standpoint that right after this tragedy occurred, Gen Shelton, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a message out to all of the ten commanders-in-chief, the area commanders-in-chief around the world, asking them to review their security and to make any necessary changes in light of the terrorist act in Africa. And so the CINCs have, as they do on a day-to-day basis, reviewed their security posture in light of the press they're receiving and events taking place in other parts of the world and made whatever changes were appropriate.
Q: The Air Force grounded the fleet of B-2s the other day. Is there any fix at this point as to how long this grounding may last or who will --
A: Well, first of all, my understanding was that they were fixing a specific problem, and that as that problem was either checked and found out it -- and in some cases, it might not have to be fixed. They were going to look at each one of these planes and what -- there are 48 of them, I guess. No, no -- 20, 18, 16, something -- I don't know how many have been built. They will..
Q: I've asked the Air Force and ACC and Whiteman Air Force Base, where they keep them, how many they have and I'm still waiting for an answer. They've definitely been very (inaudible) --
A: Well, they're stealthy so they're hard to count. At any rate, as soon as they determine whether a repair is necessary and if so, they fix it, the planes will go back into flying.
Q: So that's 48 stealth bombers...
A: No, no, no, no. I can't remember how many are built. I mean, there's supposed to be 20, right? And I can't remember how many of those have actually been built yet.
Q: So, we expect that they'll come back on line one at a time and we won't have a fix on what the cost will be for quite some time?
A: Well, I think that that's a very good question for you to ask the Air Force, but my understanding is they will come back one at a time, yeah.
Q: A quick question -- any movement on a new Air Force Secretary nominee?
A: Not that I'm aware of.
Q: Is that something you don't expect will happen till next year? I mean, obviously, Congress doesn't have very much time.
A: Well, I don't really know what to expect. There isn't much time left to nominate and confirm somebody. Obviously, we'd like to fill that vacancy as soon as possible, but I just can't make a prediction for you.
Q: Well, the thing why -- how about the Navy Secretary? There's understanding that there's a nominee selected but his name hasn't gone to the Hill yet.
A: Oh, this just in. B-2s are okay. Do you have any expatiation on that?
Q: They're all flying.
A: They're all flying?
Q: They're all (inaudible).
A: So, whatever the -- do we know how many are flying? [There are 10 operational at Whiteman AFB and 11 more in production at Northrup.]
Q: (Inaudible) find out.
A: The crisis is over. Okay, I'm sorry. What were you asking me?
Q: The Navy Secretary. When is that nomination going out?
A: I don't know the answer to that question, either. It should go up relatively soon.
Q: (Inaudible) when the bombings occurred, I believe there was a JCET team that was waiting to leave Rwanda?
Q: Were they deployed down to Dar es Salaam or somewhere?
A: They were going to be deployed to Dar es Salaam to enhance security there but, in fact, they weren't because we moved in some Marine Fleet Anti-terrorism [Security] Teams and the JCET has returned to its home in EUCOM.
Q: Are you looking at migrating any of the technology that was used at the Khobar bombing? Is TRW in a contract for sensor equipment? Is there any possible migration of that kind of sensor equipment to these...
A: Well, that's a good question and that's something the State Department will have to answer. Obviously, the State Department has to rebuild these embassies and presumably will -- it's up for them to comment on, but I doubt if they will rebuild the Nairobi embassy in exactly the same place. But this is one of the decisions they have to make over the next few weeks or months.
Q: Thank you.
A: You're welcome. | <urn:uuid:ca2f60d8-71ab-4238-8f8d-01c44b51ab7f> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=1719 | 2015-03-29T00:07:15Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298015.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00260-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982123 | 7,973 |
Robert Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer
Bob Greifeld assumed leadership of Nasdaq in 2003, when the company's primary business was operating one equity market in the U.S. Today, Nasdaq is a leading participant in the exchange and technology sector.
Adena Friedman, President
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Hans-Ole Jochumsen, President
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Mr. Andersson has more than 16 years of experience in the development and deployment of trading and post-trade solutions. Prior to his current role, he was Vice President at Nasdaq where he led the implementation of the Nordic IT roadmap, involving a major upgrade of the Nordic trading and clearing systems to company’s Genium INET and INET platform. He also held various positions with OMX overseeing infrastructure initiatives for the Nordic market systems as well as back-office services and solutions to banks and brokers.
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Joan Conley is Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., and its global subsidiary organizations and in that role is responsible for the Global Nasdaq Corporate Governance Program. Ms. Conley is also responsible for the Nasdaq Global Ethics and Compliance Program. Lastly, Ms. Conley is Managing Director of the Nasdaq Educational Foundation and a member of the Nasdaq NLX Ltd. Board of Directors.
Ms. Conley is a contributor to NACD publications including the NACD Blue Ribbon Commission 2013 Report on “Talent Development: A Boardroom Imperative” and the 2011 Report on “Effective Lead Director”. Ms. Conley received the award "The Best Corporate Secretary in an M&A Transaction" by Corporate Secretary Magazine in 2008.
Prior to joining NASDAQ in 2001, Ms. Conley was the Senior Vice President and Corporate Secretary at the NASD (now FINRA) from 1994 – 2001 and Director of Human Resources from 1986 – 1994. Prior to her tenure at NASD ( FINRA) Ms. Conley was a Research Associate/ Writer at the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C. and Business Analyst at an advertising agency in Chicago, Illinois.
Ms. Conley holds a Bachelor’s of Arts/Science with a double major in Economics and Communications from Dominican University and a Master’s of Science, with honors, in Industrial & Labor Relations from Loyola University of Chicago. Ms. Conley studied Economics at the London School of Economics and the University of London.
Ms. Conley serves on the Board and Audit Committee of two non-profit organizations in Washington, D.C. and mentors several young women. In 2014 she was elected to the SIFMA Foundation Board of Directors.
Michael Cotter is the Senior Vice President of the Corporate Solutions business at Nasdaq. In this role, Mr. Cotter is responsible for managing all aspects of the Corporate Solutions business, including strategy, product development and operations. The Corporate Solutions business provides SaaS platforms, products and consultative services that serve the needs of strategic functions within the enterprise: Investor Relations, Public Relations, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Corporate Governance and Board of Directors. Nasdaq Corporate Solutions is the global market leader, working with 10,000 companies worldwide including 90% of the Fortune 500, 96% of the S&P 500, 81% of the FTSE 100 and 90% of the DAX 30.
Mr. Cotter joined Nasdaq in 2013 as part of the company’s acquisition of the Thomson Reuters Investor Relations, Public Relations and Multimedia businesses. Prior to Thomson Reuters, Mr. Cotter held senior leadership positions at CCBN Inc., FreeMarkets, Inc., IBM and Lotus Development Corporation. Mr. Cotter has a degree in MIS from the University of Massachusetts, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Magdalena Hartman serves as Senior Vice President of Global Information Services for The Nasdaq. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing various global teams, including Product Management, System Management, Research, Index data and Operations for the Index business, the Nordic Market data generated from the Nordic & Baltic Exchanges and Nasdaq.com, one of the leading financial web sites.
Ms. Hartman was previously Vice President of the Global Index Group. During this time Nasdaq transitioned from a local US and Nordic indexer with 1.600 indexes in 2008 to a global provider with more than 41.000 indexes and $1.4 trillion USD in assets under management.
Prior to this, Ms. Hartman was responsible for the OMX index business. She has been working in the exchange industry since 2000 and has vast experience from business development within the industry. Ms. Hartman has served on numerous boards and committees. She holds a MSc in business administration and economics from the Stockholm University.
Ronald Hassen is Senior Vice President and Finance Controller of Nasdaq, a position he has held since March 2002. He is also the company's Principal Accounting Officer. Mr. Hassen also served as interim Chief Financial Officer from February 2011 to September 2011. Previously, Mr. Hassen served as Treasurer from November 2002 through January 2007.
Prior to joining Nasdaq, Mr. Hassen served as Controller of Deutsche Bank North America, after the company's acquisition of Bankers Trust Company. Mr. Hassen served as Principal Accounting Officer at Bankers Trust until the acquisition by Deutsche Bank in 1999.
Dr. Frank M. Hatheway is Chief Economist for Nasdaq, and leads the Economics & Statistical Research Department. His team is responsible for a variety of projects and initiatives in the U.S. and Europe to improve market structure, encourage capital formation, and enhance trading efficiency. A regular participant in industry events for both issuers and traders, he has appeared before the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Congress to discuss a variety of issues around the equities and derivatives markets. His research work includes identifying the causes of the May 6, 2010 market break, evaluating enhancements for the markets, and exploring the implications of proposed exchange mergers.
Dr. Hatheway's background prior to joining Nasdaq combines academics and regulation with industry experience. Frank was a finance professor at Penn State University and a researcher in market microstructure. He has authored academic articles in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Intermediation and other leading finance journals. He has served as an Economic Fellow and Senior Research Scholar with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, worked as a derivatives trader, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.
Gunilla Hellqvist is Senior Vice President, Global Head of Market Operations for Nasdaq. Her responsibilities include oversight of the business operations for all Nasdaq exchanges, clearing and custody services worldwide. Prior to this she headed the Nordic Market Operations.
Ms. Hellqvist has been with Nasdaq since the merger, and joined OMX in 1995. During the consolidation of the Nordic exchanges, and later the merger between NASDAQ and OMX, Ms. Hellqvist was responsible for the integration of all operations units.
With more than 25 years of experience from the financial markets, Ms. Hellqvist has vast experience from business and product development, fixed income and trading operations. She has held various positions with listed companies and at The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank. Ms. Hellqvist serves on the board of Nasdaq Broker Services and on the board of FSPOS, The group for private-public co-operation in the financial sector. She holds a Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Linköping and an executive MBA.
Brian Hyndman is Senior Vice President, of Nasdaq, Global Data Products, the business unit responsible for the creation and dissemination of valuable quoting and trading information from in Nasdaq's trading systems worldwide. He oversees various teams, including Sales, Product Management, Content Administration & Policy, and New Business Development.
He previously was Senior Vice President of Nasdaq Transaction Services U.S., responsible for running the firm's U.S. equities trading platforms, including The Nasdaq Stock Market, Nasdaq BX and Nasdaq PSX.
Prior to joining Nasdaq in 2004, he was President of BRUT, an electronic communications network (ECN) that competed with the various equity markets in the U.S. While at BRUT, he oversaw the firm's merger with Strike Technologies in 2000, the sale of BRUT to Sungard Data Systems in 2002 and eventual sale of BRUT to The Nasdaq in 2004.
Before BRUT, he was Vice President of Execution Services for the National Discount Brokers Group. He holds a BA degree in Psychology from the State University of New York at Oswego, as well as numerous licenses from National Association of Securities Dealers (now FINRA), including series 4, 7, 24, 27, 53 and 63.
Peter JessupSenior Vice President of Global Software Development & Head of Development for Market Technology Systems
Peter Jessup is Senior Vice President of Global Software Development and Head of Development for Market Technology Systems at Nasdaq. In this role, he leads the software design, development and support functions for many of the Company’s leading trading and clearing solutions, including GENIUM INET Trading and X-stream INET Trading, X-stream CSD and Clearing, and Sentinel Post- trade Risk Management, serving a global client base.
Peter has more than 30 years of experience in designing, building, and supporting IT systems in the financial services sector. Since joining Company in 1996, he has held various technology roles, including product manager for the X-stream trading platform and as a technical architect and system designer supporting several exchanges and market operations worldwide.
Prior to Nasdaq, Peter spent several years at Tandem Computers as a Securities Industry Expert. He also worked with the New Zealand Stock Exchange, where he designed and developed the FASTER system which provided electronic messaging between the Exchange’s Settlement Systems and five different Share Registry Systems to streamline transfers.
Adam Kostyál is Senior Vice President of Listing Services, Europe. In addition to Nasdaq Nordic Exchanges, where there are more than 800 companies listed, Adam is also responsible for the more than 120 European companies that are either primarily listed or dual listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market in the U.S.
Adam has been with Nasdaq for the past 10 years. He started his career at OMX as a Sales Director, and then became Head of the Strategic Initiative Groups in 2006. Most recently, Adam was Vice President of Market Technology Sales responsible for sales, account management, and business development for the Eastern and Western Europe.
Prior to Nasdaq, Adam held various positions with Enron, Cell Network and Bloomberg. He holds a BSc in Economics and Marketing from Vrije Universiteit de Bruxelles and speaks four languages including English, Swedish, Italian and French.
Jean-Jacques Louis is Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Nasdaq. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic and financial analyses and execution of all corporate and business unit investments such as merger and acquisitions, joint-ventures and other business combinations.
Jean-Jacques has been a financial professional in the capital markets and investment banking industries since 1992. Prior to joining Nasdaq in 2004, he was an M&A banker with UBS Investment bank in New York, NY in its Financial Institutions Group. In this role, Jean-Jacques provided counsel and executed a number of US and international transactions in the financial institutions, financial technology and broker-dealer industries.
He started his career with Viel Tradition where he led the development of the short-term interest rate derivatives desk (interest rate swaps, forward rate agreements, swaptions, cap/floor). Viel Tradition is one the largest interbank dealers in the world. Jean-Jacques received a Master of Science in Management from the Reims School of Management at Reims, France and an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business in Hanover, NH.
Robert H. McCooey, Jr. is a Senior Vice President of Nasdaq’s Listing Services unit. He is responsible for Relationship Management with Nasdaq’s 3,400 listed companies and leads the firm’s Global Key Account Management program. Previously, Mr. McCooey ran New Listings and the Capital Markets Group at Nasdaq. In this role, Mr. McCooey managed Nasdaq’s new listings efforts domestically, in the Americas and throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Prior to joining Nasdaq in 2006, Mr. McCooey founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Griswold Company, a brokerage firm, from 1988 until 2006. He was a member of the New York Stock Exchange Board of Executives from 2003-2006. Mr. McCooey served on the NYSE’s Group Market Performance Committee, was chairman of the NYSE’s Technology and Planning Oversight Committee and served on the Boards of the NYSE Foundation, the Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC) and the Committee for Review, part of NYSE Regulation. He is a member of the National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP).
Mr. McCooey is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
Paul McKeown is a Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Solutions at Nasdaq and is responsible for Sales, Service & Client Operations. In this role, Mr. McKeown manages the global expansion of the Corporate Solutions business as well as global customer support and operations for the Corporate Solutions products. Following the acquisition of Thomson Reuters’ Corporate Services business in 2013, Nasdaq Corporate Solutions provides technology, analytics and consultative services to more than 10,000 investor relations, public relations, corporate secretaries, governance and communications professionals worldwide.
Previously, Mr. McKeown was Vice President of Market Technology and Global Head of Nasdaq’s compliance and surveillance offerings. Paul joined Nasdaq in 2000, and has 18+ years of sales and marketing experience within financial markets across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. He has been involved in a wide spectrum of sectors including retail banking, international treasury, retail and institutional securities, trade finance, investment banking, exchange trading, clearing and settlement.
Paul was educated in the United Kingdom and holds a BA (Hons) in Business from Nottingham Trent University. He gained his Asia-Pacific regional experience during his 12 years living in Sydney. Paul has been based in New York since 2009.
Louis Modano is Senior Vice President and Global Head of Infrastructure Services for Nasdaq. In this role, he is responsible for the development and implementation of Nasdaq’s global technology infrastructure and services, including networks, systems, storage, databases, cloud computing, office automation and data center facilities. Mr. Modano and his global team support the underlying infrastructure behind Nasdaq’s trading and market systems, as well the Market Technology and Corporate Solutions businesses within the Global Technology group.
Mr. Modano has more than 25 years of experience in building business value through strategic and innovative product development and information technology initiatives within the financial services industry. Prior to joining Nasdaq in August of 2009, Modano served as Senior Vice President at NYSE Euronext, where he held various senior leadership positions in operations, engineering, business development, sales, product development, and as head of the Sector/SFTI technology subsidiary.
Mr. Modano earned a Master of Business Administration from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic University.
Ann Neidenbach is responsible for overseeing the development and delivery teams for our U.S. and Nordic Markets. By combining the oversight of our market systems under Ann’s leadership, Nasdaq leverages common architecture, technology and processes that are aligned with best practice standards.
Ann most recently served as Senior Vice President of Global Technology Products and Services for Nasdaq, managing the strategic planning and development of the Global Technology products and services for Nasdaq’s markets and commercial offerings. She was also responsible for the delivery team serving Market Technology customers across the globe.
Ann rejoined Nasdaq from Citi, where she served as Managing Director and was responsible for the technology, infrastructure and support of Citi's Electronic Trading Group in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Prior to this, she was Global Head of Operations for Lava Trading Inc., managing all aspects of Lava's operations of its equities and F/X platforms, overseeing 24/7 datacenter and network operations, customer support, market data development, and business services support.
Ann previously spent nearly 20 years at Nasdaq and held positions as COO/CIO of Nasdaq Europe and Nasdaq Deutschland. She was responsible for defining the market structure and technology solution for Nasdaq’s European markets. Ann also served as VP of Trading Application Services, where she was responsible for overseeing the application development efforts for the Nasdaq Trading Systems.
Joseph C. Noviello is Senior Vice President of Nasdaq eSpeed, a division of the Global Trading & Market Services business unit. Mr. Noviello leads the strategic planning and global product development for eSpeed, Nasdaq’s purely electronic U.S. Treasury securities trading platform. He joined Nasdaq in 2013 through the acquisition of eSpeed from BGC Partners, Inc.
Prior to joining Nasdaq, Mr. Noviello served as Executive Vice President and Chief Product Architect leading BGC Partners’ ELX product management and technology deliverables. He has also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for eSpeed Inc., where he was responsible for the global technology organization and initiatives supporting core businesses with emphasis on software engineering and e-commerce development. Mr. Noviello began his Cantor Fitzgerald career in 1995 as Managing Director of the Distributed Development Group, which founded the eSpeed platform offering.
Prior to joining Cantor Fitzgerald, Mr. Noviello was Vice President of Product Development at Micrognosis, a software company specializing in trading room data distribution platforms. He earned his bachelor's degree in computer science from Oswego University in 1987.
Brian O'Malley is Senior Vice President and General Auditor for Nasdaq. In this role, he reports directly to the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors. Brian oversees the internal audit function, which assesses the risk and controls for all products, and services offered to Nasdaq clients. Prior to Nasdaq, he held various positions at the United States General Accounting Office, JP Morgan and First USA Bank. He has extensive experience in systems development, security, internal audit and program evaluation.
Brian has a Master of Science in Information Systems from George Mason University, a Bachelors of Science in Accounting from Saint Vincent as well as the Executive Information Systems Program at the University of Pennsylvania at Wharton.
Lauri RosendahlSenior Vice President of European Equities and Equity Derivatives, Global Trading & Market Services
Lauri Rosendahl is Senior Vice President of Global Trading & Market Services for Nasdaq. He is responsible for equity and equity derivatives trading and products at Nasdaq in Europe, and he is also President of NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd since 2009.
From February 2013 to May 2014, Mr. Rosendahl oversaw Nordic Equities and Equity Derivatives within Nasdaq’s Transaction Services Nordic division. Since joining Nasdaq in May 2009 until February 2013, Mr. Rosendahl was Head of Product Management for Nordic Equities and Nordic Equity Derivatives. During this time, Nasdaq Nordic implemented CCP clearing for cash equities and launched INET trading system for cash equities and GENIUM INET for equity derivatives. From January 2012 to February 2013, he was, in parallel, responsible for the Baltic and Armenian operations of Nasdaq, during which time the Baltic operations was re-organized and integrated into one regional operation.
Mr. Rosendahl has over 20 years of experience in the financial markets, having held several senior management positions within securities trading, equity research and investment banking with several banks and brokers including Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro / Alfred Berg, Carnegie and Kaupthing. He also has a long renowned career as a telecom equipment analyst, in particular for his highly ranked research work on Nokia.
As Head of the Helsinki Stock Exchange, Mr. Rosendahl is also a board member of the Securities Market Association in Finland, which is responsible for Corporate Governance and Takeover issues in Finland.
Mr. Rosendahl has been a founding member of The Finnish Financial Analyst Society and a board member from 1989 to 1993. He has further acted as member of the board of The Finnish Brokers' Association (1992-1996, 2004-2005), The Private Brokers' Association (1992-1996) and on the Supervisory Board of the Helsinki Stock Exchange (1993-1995). Mr. Rosendahl has also acted as a Member of the Board in the Finnish Deposit Guarantee Fund (2008 – Feb 2009).
Johan Rudén is Senior Vice President of Global Trading & Market Services at Nasdaq and responsible for overseeing market operation and the post-trade services, including developing the Nordic Clearing House for the Nordic Exchange business.
He is Chairman in the Board of Directors of Nasdaq Broker Services. Johan Rudén has been working in the exchange industry since 2000. Prior to his current role he was President for the Baltic Markets business. He holds a Master of Science in Industrial Economics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Bjørn Sibbern is Senior Vice President Global Trading & Market Services. He heads the Global Commodities Markets and Broker Services at Nasdaq and is President of the Nasdaq Copenhagen Exchange A/S.
In his role, Bjørn Sibbern brings experience from both sides of the transaction business as Mr. Sibbern has held leading positions at Nordic broker firms and covered diverse leading positions at the Nordic exchanges.
Prior to his role as global Head of Nasdaq Commodities, Mr. Sibbern headed the Nordic Cash Equities and Derivatives Markets at Nasdaq, and from 2006 to 2008 Mr. Sibbern was Director of E*TRADE Bank A/S. Prior to that he was responsible for all listed companies, ETFs and Funds listed at OMX in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
Before joining OMX, Mr. Sibbern was Head of Trading at Stocknet Norway and E*TRADE Bank Denmark.
As President of the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen exchange, Mr. Sibbern also serves on the board of the Committee for Corporate Governance under the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs.
Mr. Sibbern holds an Executive MBA, a Diploma in Business Administration and an MSc in Economics & Business Administration and Law from Copenhagen Business School.
Jeremy Skule is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Nasdaq. In this role, he is responsible for the Nasdaq Global Marketing Group and all corporate communications. Mr. Skule brings more than 15 years of global brand building experience to our team, including a special emphasis on reputation/issue management, integrated business marketing, strategic communications and investor relations--in both agency and corporate settings. Mr. Skule joined Nasdaq in 2012, having previously served as the Chief Communications Officer at MF Global, Senior Vice President and Partner at Fleishman-Hillard, and Vice President at Ruder Finn.
Bryan Smith joined Nasdaq in 2012 and is responsible for all aspects of global human resources, including HR business advisement, talent management, compensation, benefits, and recruitment.
Mr. Smith previously served as an executive compensation advisor to the senior management team of Nasdaq for six years. Mr. Smith was a founding Partner with Meridian Compensation Partners LLC, an independent executive compensation advisory firm. At Meridian, Mr. Smith provided advice to Boards of Directors and senior management teams on the full range of executive and Board of Director compensation issues.
Prior to his tenure at Meridian, Mr. Smith was a Principal at Hewitt Associates LLC (now Aon Hewitt), a global human resources consulting and outsourcing firm. At Hewitt Associates, Mr. Smith held various senior HR outsourcing and consulting roles. In outsourcing, he served as a Multi-Process Transformation Leader and a Defined Contribution Practice Leader. In consulting, he advised companies and Boards of Directors on talent management, executive compensation, and broad-based total rewards. He also provided HR consulting services to companies undergoing corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPOs, spin-offs, joint ventures, and other restructurings.
Lex Speal is Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance for Nasdaq and responsible for leading the firm's financial planning activities. Reporting to the CFO, Lex's team provides long-range financial forecasting, annual budgets, intra-year forecasts, product profitability tracking and internal management reporting that help achieve the solid financial record and fiscal discipline the company is known for.
The team also provides financial support to the corporate support organizations such as Legal, Finance, Facilities, Corporate Services and HR.
Peter Strandell is the Senior Vice President and Group Treasurer for Nasdaq. As the Treasurer, Strandell oversees the Group's Debt/Funding, Asset and liquidity management. In this position he is also responsible for all Counterparty, Currency, Interest rate and Foreign Exchange rate Risk Management.
In addition to Managing Treasury Services, Mr. Strandell also oversees the Risk Management in the Groups Clearing Houses. Since assuming his position, Mr. Strandell has been the financial architect over Nasdaq transformation to a solid Investment Grade company with a well-diversified debt structure and access to multiple sources of capital.
Since the break out of the financial crises in 2008, Peter and his Risk Management team has been focused on implementing new capital adequacy and liquidity models which improves the Groups capacity to better navigate and withstand financial turmoil. Before the current role, Mr. Strandell was the Group Treasurer for the Nordic Exchange group, OMX AB, which he joined 1998.
He holds a degree in Business Administration and Finance from Stockholm University. Peter Strandell also serves at the Board of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, New York (SACC).
Stacie Swanstrom was appointed Senior Vice President of Nasdaq Global Access Services in December 2013. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing a wide-range of solutions and services targeted to the global trading community to serve their various trading needs. These products include market connectivity, co-location services, web- based trading applications, risk and compliance tools, the FINRA/NASDAQ Trade Reporting Facility and the Nasdaq Test Facility.
Ms. Swanstrom has over 21 years of industry experience. She has held various leadership roles at Nasdaq including Product Development, Global Marketing, and Human Resources. She also is a member of several industry boards including the Boston Stock Exchange Clearing Corp, The Stock Clearing Corporation of Philadelphia and the FINRA/NASDAQ Trade Reporting Facility, LLC.
Ms. Swanstrom holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business with a concentration in Marketing from Towson University.
John Zecca is Senior Vice President of MarketWatch and head of market regulation for the U.S. markets operated by Nasdaq. He is also chief regulatory officer of NASDAQ BX, Inc In these capacities he oversees a team of regulatory analysts, programmers and attorneys responsible for maintaining fair and orderly markets. He also oversees regulatory services performed by FINRA for Nasdaq's markets. Mr. Zecca previously served as NASDAQ's senior corporate counsel and was responsible for public company compliance and mergers and acquisitions. He is a frequent speaker on market regulation, corporate governance and Sarbanes-Oxley issues.
Prior to joining Nasdaq, Mr. Zecca served as legal counsel to an SEC commissioner and in the SEC's Office of General Counsel. He practiced corporate securities law at the firms of Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) and Kaye Scholer. He served as law clerk for the Hon. John H. Pratt of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Mr. Zecca received his Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. | <urn:uuid:a535bec6-ad53-4a43-b1b4-3770891a5259> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.nasdaqomx.com/aboutus/company-information/ourleadership | 2015-03-29T06:03:37Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298228.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00092-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95506 | 7,174 |
Midsummers' Night Dream
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
THESEUS Duke of Athens.
EGEUS father to Hermia.
| in love with Hermia.
PHILOSTRATE master of the revels to Theseus.
QUINCE a carpenter.
SNUG a joiner.
BOTTOM a weaver.
FLUTE a bellows-mender.
SNOUT a tinker.
STARVELING a tailor.
HIPPOLYTA queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus.
HERMIA daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander.
HELENA in love with Demetrius.
OBERON king of the fairies.
TITANIA queen of the fairies.
PUCK or Robin Goodfellow.
Other fairies attending their King and Queen.
Attendants on Theseus and Hippolyta.
SCENE Athens, and a wood near it.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE I Athens. The palace of THESEUS.
[Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and
THESEUS Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame or a dowager
Long withering out a young man revenue.
HIPPOLYTA Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow
New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.
THESEUS Go, Philostrate,
Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
Turn melancholy forth to funerals;
The pale companion is not for our pomp.
Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.
[Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS]
EGEUS Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
THESEUS Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?
EGEUS Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her.
Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
And interchanged love-tokens with my child:
Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,
With feigning voice verses of feigning love,
And stolen the impression of her fantasy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers
Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:
With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,
Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
Be it so she; will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death, according to our law
Immediately provided in that case.
THESEUS What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:
To you your father should be as a god;
One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax
By him imprinted and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
HERMIA So is Lysander.
THESEUS In himself he is;
But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,
The other must be held the worthier.
HERMIA I would my father look'd but with my eyes.
THESEUS Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.
HERMIA I do entreat your grace to pardon me.
I know not by what power I am made bold,
Nor how it may concern my modesty,
In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;
But I beseech your grace that I may know
The worst that may befall me in this case,
If I refuse to wed Demetrius.
THESEUS Either to die the death or to abjure
For ever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.
HERMIA So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
THESEUS Take time to pause; and, by the nest new moon--
The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,
For everlasting bond of fellowship--
Upon that day either prepare to die
For disobedience to your father's will,
Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;
Or on Diana's altar to protest
For aye austerity and single life.
DEMETRIUS Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield
Thy crazed title to my certain right.
LYSANDER You have her father's love, Demetrius;
Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.
EGEUS Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,
And what is mine my love shall render him.
And she is mine, and all my right of her
I do estate unto Demetrius.
LYSANDER I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius';
And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I then prosecute my right?
Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
THESEUS I must confess that I have heard so much,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of self-affairs,
My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will;
Or else the law of Athens yields you up--
Which by no means we may extenuate--
To death, or to a vow of single life.
Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?
Demetrius and Egeus, go along:
I must employ you in some business
Against our nuptial and confer with you
Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
EGEUS With duty and desire we follow you.
[Exeunt all but LYSANDER and HERMIA]
LYSANDER How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
HERMIA Belike for want of rain, which I could well
Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
LYSANDER Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth;
But, either it was different in blood,--
HERMIA O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low.
LYSANDER Or else misgraffed in respect of years,--
HERMIA O spite! too old to be engaged to young.
LYSANDER Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,--
HERMIA O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.
LYSANDER Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentany as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confusion.
HERMIA If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,
It stands as an edict in destiny:
Then let us teach our trial patience,
Because it is a customary cross,
As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,
Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.
LYSANDER A good persuasion: therefore, hear me, Hermia.
I have a widow aunt, a dowager
Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
Where I did meet thee once with Helena,
To do observance to a morn of May,
There will I stay for thee.
HERMIA My good Lysander!
I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the false Troyan under sail was seen,
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke,
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
LYSANDER Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
HERMIA God speed fair Helena! whither away?
HELENA Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
O, teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
HERMIA I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
HELENA O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
HERMIA I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
HELENA O that my prayers could such affection move!
HERMIA The more I hate, the more he follows me.
HELENA The more I love, the more he hateth me.
HERMIA His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
HELENA None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!
HERMIA Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
Lysander and myself will fly this place.
Before the time I did Lysander see,
Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:
O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,
That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!
LYSANDER Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:
To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,
A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,
Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.
HERMIA And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
To seek new friends and stranger companies.
Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight.
LYSANDER I will, my Hermia.
As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!
HELENA How happy some o'er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know:
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities:
Things base and vile, folding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity:
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
So the boy Love is perjured every where:
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither and back again.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE II Athens. QUINCE'S house.
[Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and
QUINCE Is all our company here?
BOTTOM You were best to call them generally, man by man,
according to the scrip.
QUINCE Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is
thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our
interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his
wedding-day at night.
BOTTOM First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats
on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow
to a point.
QUINCE Marry, our play is, The most lamentable comedy, and
most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.
BOTTOM A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a
merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your
actors by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves.
QUINCE Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver.
BOTTOM Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed.
QUINCE You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus.
BOTTOM What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant?
QUINCE A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love.
BOTTOM That will ask some tears in the true performing of
it: if I do it, let the audience look to their
eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some
measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a
tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to
tear a cat in, to make all split.
The raging rocks
And shivering shocks
Shall break the locks
Of prison gates;
And Phibbus' car
Shall shine from far
And make and mar
The foolish Fates.
This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players.
This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is
QUINCE Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
FLUTE Here, Peter Quince.
QUINCE Flute, you must take Thisby on you.
FLUTE What is Thisby? a wandering knight?
QUINCE It is the lady that Pyramus must love.
FLUTE Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.
QUINCE That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and
you may speak as small as you will.
BOTTOM An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll
speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne,
Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear,
and lady dear!'
QUINCE No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby.
BOTTOM Well, proceed.
QUINCE Robin Starveling, the tailor.
STARVELING Here, Peter Quince.
QUINCE Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother.
Tom Snout, the tinker.
SNOUT Here, Peter Quince.
QUINCE You, Pyramus' father: myself, Thisby's father:
Snug, the joiner; you, the lion's part: and, I
hope, here is a play fitted.
SNUG Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it
be, give it me, for I am slow of study.
QUINCE You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.
BOTTOM Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will
do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar,
that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again,
let him roar again.'
QUINCE An you should do it too terribly, you would fright
the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek;
and that were enough to hang us all.
ALL That would hang us, every mother's son.
BOTTOM I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the
ladies out of their wits, they would have no more
discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my
voice so that I will roar you as gently as any
sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any
QUINCE You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a
sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a
summer's day; a most lovely gentleman-like man:
therefore you must needs play Pyramus.
BOTTOM Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best
to play it in?
QUINCE Why, what you will.
BOTTOM I will discharge it in either your straw-colour
beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain
beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your
QUINCE Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and
then you will play bare-faced. But, masters, here
are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request
you and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night;
and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the
town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse, for if
we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with
company, and our devices known. In the meantime I
will draw a bill of properties, such as our play
wants. I pray you, fail me not.
BOTTOM We will meet; and there we may rehearse most
obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect: adieu.
QUINCE At the duke's oak we meet.
BOTTOM Enough; hold or cut bow-strings.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE I A wood near Athens.
[Enter, from opposite sides, a Fairy, and PUCK]
PUCK How now, spirit! whither wander you?
Fairy Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dewdrops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:
Our queen and all our elves come here anon.
PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night:
Take heed the queen come not within his sight;
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she as her attendant hath
A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she perforce withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy:
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
But, they do square, that all their elves for fear
Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.
Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery;
Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
Are not you he?
PUCK Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.
But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon.
Fairy And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!
[Enter, from one side, OBERON, with his train;
from the other, TITANIA, with hers]
OBERON Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
TITANIA What, jealous Oberon! Fairies, skip hence:
I have forsworn his bed and company.
OBERON Tarry, rash wanton: am not I thy lord?
TITANIA Then I must be thy lady: but I know
When thou hast stolen away from fairy land,
And in the shape of Corin sat all day,
Playing on pipes of corn and versing love
To amorous Phillida. Why art thou here,
Come from the farthest Steppe of India?
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon,
Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love,
To Theseus must be wedded, and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity.
OBERON How canst thou thus for shame, Titania,
Glance at my credit with Hippolyta,
Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?
Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night
From Perigenia, whom he ravished?
And make him with fair AEgle break his faith,
With Ariadne and Antiopa?
TITANIA These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never, since the middle summer's spring,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,
By paved fountain or by rushy brook,
Or in the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land
Have every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents:
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard;
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;
The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud,
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green
For lack of tread are undistinguishable:
The human mortals want their winter here;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest:
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound:
And thorough this distemperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.
OBERON Do you amend it then; it lies in you:
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my henchman.
TITANIA Set your heart at rest:
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votaress of my order:
And, in the spiced Indian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side,
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
Marking the embarked traders on the flood,
When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait
Following,--her womb then rich with my young squire,--
Would imitate, and sail upon the land,
To fetch me trifles, and return again,
As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake do I rear up her boy,
And for her sake I will not part with him.
OBERON How long within this wood intend you stay?
TITANIA Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day.
If you will patiently dance in our round
And see our moonlight revels, go with us;
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
OBERON Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.
TITANIA Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away!
We shall chide downright, if I longer stay.
[Exit TITANIA with her train]
OBERON Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove
Till I torment thee for this injury.
My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememberest
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.
PUCK I remember.
OBERON That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west,
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts;
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial votaress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
PUCK I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.
OBERON Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.
The next thing then she waking looks upon,
Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,
She shall pursue it with the soul of love:
And ere I take this charm from off her sight,
As I can take it with another herb,
I'll make her render up her page to me.
But who comes here? I am invisible;
And I will overhear their conference.
[Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA, following him]
DEMETRIUS I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.
Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;
And here am I, and wode within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.
HELENA You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.
DEMETRIUS Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth
Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?
HELENA And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worser place can I beg in your love,--
And yet a place of high respect with me,--
Than to be used as you use your dog?
DEMETRIUS Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit;
For I am sick when I do look on thee.
HELENA And I am sick when I look not on you.
DEMETRIUS You do impeach your modesty too much,
To leave the city and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not;
To trust the opportunity of night
And the ill counsel of a desert place
With the rich worth of your virginity.
HELENA Your virtue is my privilege: for that
It is not night when I do see your face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night;
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
For you in my respect are all the world:
Then how can it be said I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?
DEMETRIUS I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.
HELENA The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
Run when you will, the story shall be changed:
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger; bootless speed,
When cowardice pursues and valour flies.
DEMETRIUS I will not stay thy questions; let me go:
Or, if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
HELENA Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!
Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;
We should be wood and were not made to woo.
I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,
To die upon the hand I love so well.
OBERON Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,
Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love.
Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.
PUCK Ay, there it is.
OBERON I pray thee, give it me.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady: thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love:
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
PUCK Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE II Another part of the wood.
[Enter TITANIA, with her train]
TITANIA Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence;
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,
Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats, and some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep;
Then to your offices and let me rest.
[The Fairies sing]
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby.
Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm nor snail, do no offence.
Philomel, with melody, &c.
Fairy Hence, away! now all is well:
One aloof stand sentinel.
[Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps]
[Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids]
OBERON What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take,
Love and languish for his sake:
Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,
Pard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near.
[Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA]
LYSANDER Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;
And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:
We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
HERMIA Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed;
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
LYSANDER One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;
One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth.
HERMIA Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.
LYSANDER O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!
Love takes the meaning in love's conference.
I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit
So that but one heart we can make of it;
Two bosoms interchained with an oath;
So then two bosoms and a single troth.
Then by your side no bed-room me deny;
For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.
HERMIA Lysander riddles very prettily:
Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,
If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.
But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy
Lie further off; in human modesty,
Such separation as may well be said
Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,
So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:
Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!
LYSANDER Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;
And then end life when I end loyalty!
Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!
HERMIA With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!
PUCK Through the forest have I gone.
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence.--Who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid;
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe.
When thou wakest, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:
So awake when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon.
[Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running]
HELENA Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.
DEMETRIUS I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.
HELENA O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.
DEMETRIUS Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.
HELENA O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!
The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.
Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;
For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.
How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:
If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.
No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;
For beasts that meet me run away for fear:
Therefore no marvel though Demetrius
Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?
But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!
Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.
Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.
LYSANDER [Awaking] And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.
Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,
That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.
Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word
Is that vile name to perish on my sword!
HELENA Do not say so, Lysander; say not so
What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?
Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.
LYSANDER Content with Hermia! No; I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia but Helena I love:
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason sway'd;
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will
And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook
Love's stories written in love's richest book.
HELENA Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
That I did never, no, nor never can,
Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
But you must flout my insufficiency?
Good troth, you do me wrong, good sooth, you do,
In such disdainful manner me to woo.
But fare you well: perforce I must confess
I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
O, that a lady, of one man refused.
Should of another therefore be abused!
LYSANDER She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there:
And never mayst thou come Lysander near!
For as a surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings,
Or as tie heresies that men do leave
Are hated most of those they did deceive,
So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
Of all be hated, but the most of me!
And, all my powers, address your love and might
To honour Helen and to be her knight!
HERMIA [Awaking] Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here!
Lysander, look how I do quake with fear:
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel pray.
Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.
No? then I well perceive you all not nigh
Either death or you I'll find immediately.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE I The wood. TITANIA lying asleep.
[Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and
BOTTOM Are we all met?
QUINCE Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place
for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our
stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house; and we
will do it in action as we will do it before the duke.
BOTTOM Peter Quince,--
QUINCE What sayest thou, bully Bottom?
BOTTOM There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and
Thisby that will never please. First, Pyramus must
draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies
cannot abide. How answer you that?
SNOUT By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
STARVELING I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
BOTTOM Not a whit: I have a device to make all well.
Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to
say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that
Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more
better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not
Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put them
out of fear.
QUINCE Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be
written in eight and six.
BOTTOM No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
SNOUT Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
STARVELING I fear it, I promise you.
BOTTOM Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to
bring in--God shield us!--a lion among ladies, is a
most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful
wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought to
look to 't.
SNOUT Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
BOTTOM Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must
be seen through the lion's neck: and he himself
must speak through, saying thus, or to the same
defect,--'Ladies,'--or 'Fair-ladies--I would wish
You,'--or 'I would request you,'--or 'I would
entreat you,--not to fear, not to tremble: my life
for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it
were pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am a
man as other men are;' and there indeed let him name
his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
QUINCE Well it shall be so. But there is two hard things;
that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; for,
you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight.
SNOUT Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
BOTTOM A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanac; find
out moonshine, find out moonshine.
QUINCE Yes, it doth shine that night.
BOTTOM Why, then may you leave a casement of the great
chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon
may shine in at the casement.
QUINCE Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns
and a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to
present, the person of Moonshine. Then, there is
another thing: we must have a wall in the great
chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby says the story, did
talk through the chink of a wall.
SNOUT You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?
BOTTOM Some man or other must present Wall: and let him
have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast
about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his
fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus
and Thisby whisper.
QUINCE If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down,
every mother's son, and rehearse your parts.
Pyramus, you begin: when you have spoken your
speech, enter into that brake: and so every one
according to his cue.
[Enter PUCK behind]
PUCK What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor;
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
QUINCE Speak, Pyramus. Thisby, stand forth.
BOTTOM Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,--
QUINCE Odours, odours.
BOTTOM --odours savours sweet:
So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.
But hark, a voice! stay thou but here awhile,
And by and by I will to thee appear.
PUCK A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.
FLUTE Must I speak now?
QUINCE Ay, marry, must you; for you must understand he goes
but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
FLUTE Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew,
As true as truest horse that yet would never tire,
I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.
QUINCE 'Ninus' tomb,' man: why, you must not speak that
yet; that you answer to Pyramus: you speak all your
part at once, cues and all Pyramus enter: your cue
is past; it is, 'never tire.'
FLUTE O,--As true as truest horse, that yet would
[Re-enter PUCK, and BOTTOM with an ass's head]
BOTTOM If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine.
QUINCE O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray,
masters! fly, masters! Help!
[Exeunt QUINCE, SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING]
PUCK I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
BOTTOM Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to
make me afeard.
SNOUT O Bottom, thou art changed! what do I see on thee?
BOTTOM What do you see? you see an asshead of your own, do
QUINCE Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art
BOTTOM I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
from this place, do what they can: I will walk up
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
I am not afraid.
The ousel cock so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill,
The throstle with his note so true,
The wren with little quill,--
TITANIA [Awaking] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
The finch, the sparrow and the lark,
The plain-song cuckoo gray,
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer nay;--
for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish
a bird? who would give a bird the lie, though he cry
'cuckoo' never so?
TITANIA I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:
Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
BOTTOM Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason
for that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and
love keep little company together now-a-days; the
more the pity that some honest neighbours will not
make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.
TITANIA Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
BOTTOM Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out
of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
TITANIA Out of this wood do not desire to go:
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate;
The summer still doth tend upon my state;
And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;
I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!
[Enter PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, and MUSTARDSEED]
COBWEB And I.
MOTH And I.
MUSTARDSEED And I.
ALL Where shall we go?
TITANIA Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,
And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed and to arise;
And pluck the wings from Painted butterflies
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
PEASEBLOSSOM Hail, mortal!
BOTTOM I cry your worship's mercy, heartily: I beseech your
BOTTOM I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master
Cobweb: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with
you. Your name, honest gentleman?
BOTTOM I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your
mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good
Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more
acquaintance too. Your name, I beseech you, sir?
BOTTOM Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:
that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath
devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise
you your kindred had made my eyes water ere now. I
desire your more acquaintance, good Master
TITANIA Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.
The moon methinks looks with a watery eye;
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Tie up my love's tongue bring him silently.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE II Another part of the wood.
OBERON I wonder if Titania be awaked;
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.
Here comes my messenger.
How now, mad spirit!
What night-rule now about this haunted grove?
PUCK My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake
When I did him at this advantage take,
An ass's nole I fixed on his head:
Anon his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
Rising and cawing at the gun's report,
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly;
And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls;
He murder cries and help from Athens calls.
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears
Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;
Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all
I led them on in this distracted fear,
And left sweet Pyramus translated there:
When in that moment, so it came to pass,
Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.
OBERON This falls out better than I could devise.
But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
PUCK I took him sleeping,--that is finish'd too,--
And the Athenian woman by his side:
That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed.
[Enter HERMIA and DEMETRIUS]
OBERON Stand close: this is the same Athenian.
PUCK This is the woman, but not this the man.
DEMETRIUS O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
HERMIA Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse,
For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse,
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.
The sun was not so true unto the day
As he to me: would he have stolen away
From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon
This whole earth may be bored and that the moon
May through the centre creep and so displease
Her brother's noontide with Antipodes.
It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;
So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.
DEMETRIUS So should the murder'd look, and so should I,
Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty:
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
HERMIA What's this to my Lysander? where is he?
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
DEMETRIUS I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.
HERMIA Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds
Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?
Henceforth be never number'd among men!
O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake!
Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake,
And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!
Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
DEMETRIUS You spend your passion on a misprised mood:
I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;
Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
HERMIA I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.
DEMETRIUS An if I could, what should I get therefore?
HERMIA A privilege never to see me more.
And from thy hated presence part I so:
See me no more, whether he be dead or no.
DEMETRIUS There is no following her in this fierce vein:
Here therefore for a while I will remain.
So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe:
Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
If for his tender here I make some stay.
[Lies down and sleeps]
OBERON What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true.
PUCK Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth,
A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
OBERON About the wood go swifter than the wind,
And Helena of Athens look thou find:
All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer,
With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear:
By some illusion see thou bring her here:
I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.
PUCK I go, I go; look how I go,
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
OBERON Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of his eye.
When his love he doth espy,
Let her shine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky.
When thou wakest, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.
PUCK Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
OBERON Stand aside: the noise they make
Will cause Demetrius to awake.
PUCK Then will two at once woo one;
That must needs be sport alone;
And those things do best please me
That befal preposterously.
[Enter LYSANDER and HELENA]
LYSANDER Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
Scorn and derision never come in tears:
Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,
In their nativity all truth appears.
How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?
HELENA You do advance your cunning more and more.
When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?
Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,
Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.
LYSANDER I had no judgment when to her I swore.
HELENA Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er.
LYSANDER Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
DEMETRIUS [Awaking] O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
HELENA O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
To set against me for your merriment:
If you we re civil and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in souls to mock me too?
If you were men, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so;
To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
And now both rivals, to mock Helena:
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
With your derision! none of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin, and extort
A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.
LYSANDER You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so;
For you love Hermia; this you know I know:
And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;
And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
Whom I do love and will do till my death.
HELENA Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
DEMETRIUS Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none:
If e'er I loved her, all that love is gone.
My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd,
And now to Helen is it home return'd,
There to remain.
LYSANDER Helen, it is not so.
DEMETRIUS Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.
Look, where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.
HERMIA Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
The ear more quick of apprehension makes;
Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
It pays the hearing double recompense.
Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound
But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
LYSANDER Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?
HERMIA What love could press Lysander from my side?
LYSANDER Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,
Fair Helena, who more engilds the night
Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.
Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,
The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so?
HERMIA You speak not as you think: it cannot be.
HELENA Lo, she is one of this confederacy!
Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three
To fashion this false sport, in spite of me.
Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid!
Have you conspired, have you with these contrived
To bait me with this foul derision?
Is all the counsel that we two have shared,
The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,
When we have chid the hasty-footed time
For parting us,--O, is it all forgot?
All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our needles created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
Both warbling of one song, both in one key,
As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds,
Had been incorporate. So we grow together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition;
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
Due but to one and crowned with one crest.
And will you rent our ancient love asunder,
To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
Though I alone do feel the injury.
HERMIA I am amazed at your passionate words.
I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.
HELENA Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
To follow me and praise my eyes and face?
And made your other love, Demetrius,
Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,
To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,
Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this
To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander
Deny your love, so rich within his soul,
And tender me, forsooth, affection,
But by your setting on, by your consent?
What thought I be not so in grace as you,
So hung upon with love, so fortunate,
But miserable most, to love unloved?
This you should pity rather than despise.
HERNIA I understand not what you mean by this.
HELENA Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;
Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up:
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
You would not make me such an argument.
But fare ye well: 'tis partly my own fault;
Which death or absence soon shall remedy.
LYSANDER Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse:
My love, my life my soul, fair Helena!
HELENA O excellent!
HERMIA Sweet, do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
LYSANDER Thou canst compel no more than she entreat:
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do:
I swear by that which I will lose for thee,
To prove him false that says I love thee not.
DEMETRIUS I say I love thee more than he can do.
LYSANDER If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too.
DEMETRIUS Quick, come!
HERMIA Lysander, whereto tends all this?
LYSANDER Away, you Ethiope!
DEMETRIUS No, no; he'll [ ]
Seem to break loose; take on as you would follow,
But yet come not: you are a tame man, go!
LYSANDER Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! vile thing, let loose,
Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent!
HERMIA Why are you grown so rude? what change is this?
LYSANDER Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out!
Out, loathed medicine! hated potion, hence!
HERMIA Do you not jest?
HELENA Yes, sooth; and so do you.
LYSANDER Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.
DEMETRIUS I would I had your bond, for I perceive
A weak bond holds you: I'll not trust your word.
LYSANDER What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?
Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so.
HERMIA What, can you do me greater harm than hate?
Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love!
Am not I Hermia? are not you Lysander?
I am as fair now as I was erewhile.
Since night you loved me; yet since night you left
Why, then you left me--O, the gods forbid!--
In earnest, shall I say?
LYSANDER Ay, by my life;
And never did desire to see thee more.
Therefore be out of hope, of question, of doubt;
Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest
That I do hate thee and love Helena.
HERMIA O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom!
You thief of love! what, have you come by night
And stolen my love's heart from him?
HELENA Fine, i'faith!
Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
HERMIA Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urged her height;
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem;
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
HELENA I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;
I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
I am a right maid for my cowardice:
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
Because she is something lower than myself,
That I can match her.
HERMIA Lower! hark, again.
HELENA Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
I evermore did love you, Hermia,
Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you;
Save that, in love unto Demetrius,
I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him;
But he hath chid me hence and threaten'd me
To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I bear my folly back
And follow you no further: let me go:
You see how simple and how fond I am.
HERMIA Why, get you gone: who is't that hinders you?
HELENA A foolish heart, that I leave here behind.
HERMIA What, with Lysander?
HELENA With Demetrius.
LYSANDER Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
DEMETRIUS No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
HELENA O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!
She was a vixen when she went to school;
And though she be but little, she is fierce.
HERMIA 'Little' again! nothing but 'low' and 'little'!
Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
Let me come to her.
LYSANDER Get you gone, you dwarf;
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
You bead, you acorn.
DEMETRIUS You are too officious
In her behalf that scorns your services.
Let her alone: speak not of Helena;
Take not her part; for, if thou dost intend
Never so little show of love to her,
Thou shalt aby it.
LYSANDER Now she holds me not;
Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right,
Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
DEMETRIUS Follow! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jole.
[Exeunt LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS]
HERMIA You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you:
Nay, go not back.
HELENA I will not trust you, I,
Nor longer stay in your curst company.
Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray,
My legs are longer though, to run away.
HERMIA I am amazed, and know not what to say.
OBERON This is thy negligence: still thou mistakest,
Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully.
PUCK Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
Did not you tell me I should know the man
By the Athenian garment be had on?
And so far blameless proves my enterprise,
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;
And so far am I glad it so did sort
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
OBERON Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight:
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fog as black as Acheron,
And lead these testy rivals so astray
As one come not within another's way.
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
And from each other look thou lead them thus,
Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:
Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,
And back to Athens shall the lovers wend,
With league whose date till death shall never end.
Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release
From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.
PUCK My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;
At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,
Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all,
That in crossways and floods have burial,
Already to their wormy beds are gone;
For fear lest day should look their shames upon,
They willfully themselves exile from light
And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
OBERON But we are spirits of another sort:
I with the morning's love have oft made sport,
And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.
But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:
We may effect this business yet ere day.
PUCK Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down:
I am fear'd in field and town:
Goblin, lead them up and down.
Here comes one.
LYSANDER Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now.
PUCK Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where art thou?
LYSANDER I will be with thee straight.
PUCK Follow me, then,
To plainer ground.
[Exit LYSANDER, as following the voice]
DEMETRIUS Lysander! speak again:
Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?
Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?
PUCK Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child;
I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled
That draws a sword on thee.
DEMETRIUS Yea, art thou there?
PUCK Follow my voice: we'll try no manhood here.
LYSANDER He goes before me and still dares me on:
When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
The villain is much lighter-heel'd than I:
I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;
That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
And here will rest me.
Come, thou gentle day!
For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
I'll find Demetrius and revenge this spite.
[Re-enter PUCK and DEMETRIUS]
PUCK Ho, ho, ho! Coward, why comest thou not?
DEMETRIUS Abide me, if thou darest; for well I wot
Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place,
And darest not stand, nor look me in the face.
Where art thou now?
PUCK Come hither: I am here.
DEMETRIUS Nay, then, thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear,
If ever I thy face by daylight see:
Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.
By day's approach look to be visited.
[Lies down and sleeps]
HELENA O weary night, O long and tedious night,
Abate thy hour! Shine comforts from the east,
That I may back to Athens by daylight,
From these that my poor company detest:
And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye,
Steal me awhile from mine own company.
[Lies down and sleeps]
PUCK Yet but three? Come one more;
Two of both kinds make up four.
Here she comes, curst and sad:
Cupid is a knavish lad,
Thus to make poor females mad.
HERMIA Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers,
I can no further crawl, no further go;
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
Here will I rest me till the break of day.
Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
[Lies down and sleeps]
PUCK On the ground
To your eye,
Gentle lover, remedy.
[Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eyes]
When thou wakest,
In the sight
Of thy former lady's eye:
And the country proverb known,
That every man should take his own,
In your waking shall be shown:
Jack shall have Jill;
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE I The same. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HELENA, and HERMIA
[Enter TITANIA and BOTTOM; PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH,
MUSTARDSEED, and other Fairies attending; OBERON
TITANIA Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
BOTTOM Where's Peaseblossom?
BOTTOM Scratch my head Peaseblossom. Where's Mounsieur Cobweb?
BOTTOM Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get you your
weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped
humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good
mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret
yourself too much in the action, mounsieur; and,
good mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not;
I would be loath to have you overflown with a
honey-bag, signior. Where's Mounsieur Mustardseed?
BOTTOM Give me your neaf, Mounsieur Mustardseed. Pray you,
leave your courtesy, good mounsieur.
MUSTARDSEED What's your Will?
BOTTOM Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help Cavalery Cobweb
to scratch. I must to the barber's, monsieur; for
methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face; and I
am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me,
I must scratch.
TITANIA What, wilt thou hear some music,
my sweet love?
BOTTOM I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let's have
the tongs and the bones.
TITANIA Or say, sweet love, what thou desirest to eat.
BOTTOM Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch your good
dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle
of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.
TITANIA I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
BOTTOM I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas.
But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me: I
have an exposition of sleep come upon me.
TITANIA Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
Fairies, begone, and be all ways away.
So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
Gently entwist; the female ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
OBERON [Advancing] Welcome, good Robin.
See'st thou this sweet sight?
Her dotage now I do begin to pity:
For, meeting her of late behind the wood,
Seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool,
I did upbraid her and fall out with her;
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
With a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes
Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
When I had at my pleasure taunted her
And she in mild terms begg'd my patience,
I then did ask of her her changeling child;
Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent
To bear him to my bower in fairy land.
And now I have the boy, I will undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes:
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
From off the head of this Athenian swain;
That, he awaking when the other do,
May all to Athens back again repair
And think no more of this night's accidents
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
But first I will release the fairy queen.
Be as thou wast wont to be;
See as thou wast wont to see:
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.
Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
TITANIA My Oberon! what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.
OBERON There lies your love.
TITANIA How came these things to pass?
O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!
OBERON Silence awhile. Robin, take off this head.
Titania, music call; and strike more dead
Than common sleep of all these five the sense.
TITANIA Music, ho! music, such as charmeth sleep!
PUCK Now, when thou wakest, with thine
own fool's eyes peep.
OBERON Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me,
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
Now thou and I are new in amity,
And will to-morrow midnight solemnly
Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
And bless it to all fair prosperity:
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.
PUCK Fairy king, attend, and mark:
I do hear the morning lark.
OBERON Then, my queen, in silence sad,
Trip we after the night's shade:
We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wandering moon.
TITANIA Come, my lord, and in our flight
Tell me how it came this night
That I sleeping here was found
With these mortals on the ground.
[Horns winded within]
[Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train]
THESEUS Go, one of you, find out the forester;
For now our observation is perform'd;
And since we have the vaward of the day,
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.
Uncouple in the western valley; let them go:
Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.
[Exit an Attendant]
We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
And mark the musical confusion
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
HIPPOLYTA I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, every region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
THESEUS My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:
Judge when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs are these?
EGEUS My lord, this is my daughter here asleep;
And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:
I wonder of their being here together.
THESEUS No doubt they rose up early to observe
The rite of May, and hearing our intent,
Came here in grace our solemnity.
But speak, Egeus; is not this the day
That Hermia should give answer of her choice?
EGEUS It is, my lord.
THESEUS Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
[Horns and shout within. LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS,
HELENA, and HERMIA wake and start up]
Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
LYSANDER Pardon, my lord.
THESEUS I pray you all, stand up.
I know you two are rival enemies:
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy,
To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
LYSANDER My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,
I cannot truly say how I came here;
But, as I think,--for truly would I speak,
And now do I bethink me, so it is,--
I came with Hermia hither: our intent
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
Without the peril of the Athenian law.
EGEUS Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius,
Thereby to have defeated you and me,
You of your wife and me of my consent,
Of my consent that she should be your wife.
DEMETRIUS My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither to this wood;
And I in fury hither follow'd them,
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,--
But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia,
Melted as the snow, seems to me now
As the remembrance of an idle gaud
Which in my childhood I did dote upon;
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:
But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food;
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,
And will for evermore be true to it.
THESEUS Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.
Egeus, I will overbear your will;
For in the temple by and by with us
These couples shall eternally be knit:
And, for the morning now is something worn,
Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.
Away with us to Athens; three and three,
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.
[Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train]
DEMETRIUS These things seem small and undistinguishable,
HERMIA Methinks I see these things with parted eye,
When every thing seems double.
HELENA So methinks:
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
Mine own, and not mine own.
DEMETRIUS Are you sure
That we are awake? It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think
The duke was here, and bid us follow him?
HERMIA Yea; and my father.
HELENA And Hippolyta.
LYSANDER And he did bid us follow to the temple.
DEMETRIUS Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him
And by the way let us recount our dreams.
BOTTOM [Awaking] When my cue comes, call me, and I will
answer: my next is, 'Most fair Pyramus.' Heigh-ho!
Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout,
the tinker! Starveling! God's my life, stolen
hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare
vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to
say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go
about to expound this dream. Methought I was--there
is no man can tell what. Methought I was,--and
methought I had,--but man is but a patched fool, if
he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye
of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not
seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue
to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream
was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of
this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream,
because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the
latter end of a play, before the duke:
peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall
sing it at her death.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE II Athens. QUINCE'S house.
[Enter QUINCE, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING]
QUINCE Have you sent to Bottom's house? is he come home yet?
STARVELING He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is
FLUTE If he come not, then the play is marred: it goes
not forward, doth it?
QUINCE It is not possible: you have not a man in all
Athens able to discharge Pyramus but he.
FLUTE No, he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft
man in Athens.
QUINCE Yea and the best person too; and he is a very
paramour for a sweet voice.
FLUTE You must say 'paragon:' a paramour is, God bless us,
a thing of naught.
SNUG Masters, the duke is coming from the temple, and
there is two or three lords and ladies more married:
if our sport had gone forward, we had all been made
FLUTE O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a
day during his life; he could not have 'scaped
sixpence a day: an the duke had not given him
sixpence a day for playing Pyramus, I'll be hanged;
he would have deserved it: sixpence a day in
Pyramus, or nothing.
BOTTOM Where are these lads? where are these hearts?
QUINCE Bottom! O most courageous day! O most happy hour!
BOTTOM Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not
what; for if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. I
will tell you every thing, right as it fell out.
QUINCE Let us hear, sweet Bottom.
BOTTOM Not a word of me. All that I will tell you is, that
the duke hath dined. Get your apparel together,
good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your
pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look
o'er his part; for the short and the long is, our
play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have
clean linen; and let not him that plays the lion
pair his nails, for they shall hang out for the
lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions
nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I
do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet
comedy. No more words: away! go, away!
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
SCENE I Athens. The palace of THESEUS.
[Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Lords and
HIPPOLYTA 'Tis strange my Theseus, that these
lovers speak of.
THESEUS More strange than true: I never may believe
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
HIPPOLYTA But all the story of the night told over,
And all their minds transfigured so together,
More witnesseth than fancy's images
And grows to something of great constancy;
But, howsoever, strange and admirable.
THESEUS Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.
[Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA]
Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love
Accompany your hearts!
LYSANDER More than to us
Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!
THESEUS Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have,
To wear away this long age of three hours
Between our after-supper and bed-time?
Where is our usual manager of mirth?
What revels are in hand? Is there no play,
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
PHILOSTRATE Here, mighty Theseus.
THESEUS Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?
What masque? what music? How shall we beguile
The lazy time, if not with some delight?
PHILOSTRATE There is a brief how many sports are ripe:
Make choice of which your highness will see first.
[Giving a paper]
THESEUS [Reads] 'The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.'
We'll none of that: that have I told my love,
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
'The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.'
That is an old device; and it was play'd
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
'The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of Learning, late deceased in beggary.'
That is some satire, keen and critical,
Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
'A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.'
Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!
That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
How shall we find the concord of this discord?
PHILOSTRATE A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
Which is as brief as I have known a play;
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
Which makes it tedious; for in all the play
There is not one word apt, one player fitted:
And tragical, my noble lord, it is;
For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
Which, when I saw rehearsed, I must confess,
Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
The passion of loud laughter never shed.
THESEUS What are they that do play it?
PHILOSTRATE Hard-handed men that work in Athens here,
Which never labour'd in their minds till now,
And now have toil'd their unbreathed memories
With this same play, against your nuptial.
THESEUS And we will hear it.
PHILOSTRATE No, my noble lord;
It is not for you: I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
Unless you can find sport in their intents,
Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
To do you service.
THESEUS I will hear that play;
For never anything can be amiss,
When simpleness and duty tender it.
Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies.
HIPPOLYTA I love not to see wretchedness o'er charged
And duty in his service perishing.
THESEUS Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.
HIPPOLYTA He says they can do nothing in this kind.
THESEUS The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:
And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
Takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practised accent in their fears
And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome;
And in the modesty of fearful duty
I read as much as from the rattling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity
In least speak most, to my capacity.
PHILOSTRATE So please your grace, the Prologue is address'd.
THESEUS Let him approach.
[Flourish of trumpets]
[Enter QUINCE for the Prologue]
Prologue If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think, we come not to offend,
But with good will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then we come but in despite.
We do not come as minding to contest you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight
We are not here. That you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand and by their show
You shall know all that you are like to know.
THESEUS This fellow doth not stand upon points.
LYSANDER He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
enough to speak, but to speak true.
HIPPOLYTA Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child
on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.
THESEUS His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing
impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?
[Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion]
Prologue Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.
This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder;
And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.
This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,
Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,
By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
Did scare away, or rather did affright;
And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:
Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast;
And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain
At large discourse, while here they do remain.
[Exeunt Prologue, Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine]
THESEUS I wonder if the lion be to speak.
DEMETRIUS No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do.
Wall In this same interlude it doth befall
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
And such a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a crannied hole or chink,
Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
Did whisper often very secretly.
This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show
That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
THESEUS Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?
DEMETRIUS It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
discourse, my lord.
THESEUS Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!
Pyramus O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!
O night, which ever art when day is not!
O night, O night! alack, alack, alack,
I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!
And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
That stand'st between her father's ground and mine!
Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne!
[Wall holds up his fingers]
Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
But what see I? No Thisby do I see.
O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!
Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!
THESEUS The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.
Pyramus No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me'
is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to
spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will
fall pat as I told you. Yonder she comes.
Thisbe O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones,
Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.
Pyramus I see a voice: now will I to the chink,
To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby!
Thisbe My love thou art, my love I think.
Pyramus Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;
And, like Limander, am I trusty still.
Thisbe And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.
Pyramus Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
Thisbe As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.
Pyramus O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!
Thisbe I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.
Pyramus Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?
Thisbe 'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.
[Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe]
Wall Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.
THESEUS Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.
DEMETRIUS No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear
HIPPOLYTA This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
THESEUS The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst
are no worse, if imagination amend them.
HIPPOLYTA It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.
THESEUS If we imagine no worse of them than they of
themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here
come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion.
[Enter Lion and Moonshine]
Lion You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now perchance both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am
A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam;
For, if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.
THESEUS A very gentle beast, of a good conscience.
DEMETRIUS The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.
LYSANDER This lion is a very fox for his valour.
THESEUS True; and a goose for his discretion.
DEMETRIUS Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his
discretion; and the fox carries the goose.
THESEUS His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour;
for the goose carries not the fox. It is well:
leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon.
Moonshine This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;--
DEMETRIUS He should have worn the horns on his head.
THESEUS He is no crescent, and his horns are
invisible within the circumference.
Moonshine This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;
Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be.
THESEUS This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man
should be put into the lanthorn. How is it else the
man i' the moon?
DEMETRIUS He dares not come there for the candle; for, you
see, it is already in snuff.
HIPPOLYTA I am aweary of this moon: would he would change!
THESEUS It appears, by his small light of discretion, that
he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all
reason, we must stay the time.
LYSANDER Proceed, Moon.
Moonshine All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the
lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this
thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.
DEMETRIUS Why, all these should be in the lanthorn; for all
these are in the moon. But, silence! here comes Thisbe.
Thisbe This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?
Lion [Roaring] Oh--
[Thisbe runs off]
DEMETRIUS Well roared, Lion.
THESEUS Well run, Thisbe.
HIPPOLYTA Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a
[The Lion shakes Thisbe's mantle, and exit]
THESEUS Well moused, Lion.
LYSANDER And so the lion vanished.
DEMETRIUS And then came Pyramus.
Pyramus Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;
For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
I trust to take of truest Thisby sight.
But stay, O spite!
But mark, poor knight,
What dreadful dole is here!
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!
Thy mantle good,
What, stain'd with blood!
Approach, ye Furies fell!
O Fates, come, come,
Cut thread and thrum;
Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!
THESEUS This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would
go near to make a man look sad.
HIPPOLYTA Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.
Pyramus O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame?
Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear:
Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame
That lived, that loved, that liked, that look'd
Come, tears, confound;
Out, sword, and wound
The pap of Pyramus;
Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop:
Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.
Now am I dead,
Now am I fled;
My soul is in the sky:
Tongue, lose thy light;
Moon take thy flight:
Now die, die, die, die, die.
DEMETRIUS No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one.
LYSANDER Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.
THESEUS With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and
prove an ass.
HIPPOLYTA How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes
back and finds her lover?
THESEUS She will find him by starlight. Here she comes; and
her passion ends the play.
HIPPOLYTA Methinks she should not use a long one for such a
Pyramus: I hope she will be brief.
DEMETRIUS A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which
Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, God warrant us;
she for a woman, God bless us.
LYSANDER She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.
DEMETRIUS And thus she means, videlicet:--
Thisbe Asleep, my love?
What, dead, my dove?
O Pyramus, arise!
Speak, speak. Quite dumb?
Dead, dead? A tomb
Must cover thy sweet eyes.
These My lips,
This cherry nose,
These yellow cowslip cheeks,
Are gone, are gone:
Lovers, make moan:
His eyes were green as leeks.
O Sisters Three,
Come, come to me,
With hands as pale as milk;
Lay them in gore,
Since you have shore
With shears his thread of silk.
Tongue, not a word:
Come, trusty sword;
Come, blade, my breast imbrue:
And, farewell, friends;
Thus Thisby ends:
Adieu, adieu, adieu.
THESEUS Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.
DEMETRIUS Ay, and Wall too.
BOTTOM [Starting up] No assure you; the wall is down that
parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the
epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two
of our company?
THESEUS No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no
excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all
dead, there needs none to be blamed. Marry, if he
that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himself
in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine
tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably
discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your
The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:
Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn
As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled
The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
A fortnight hold we this solemnity,
In nightly revels and new jollity.
PUCK Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon;
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
All with weary task fordone.
Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night
That the graves all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide:
And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic: not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door.
[Enter OBERON and TITANIA with their train]
OBERON Through the house give gathering light,
By the dead and drowsy fire:
Every elf and fairy sprite
Hop as light as bird from brier;
And this ditty, after me,
Sing, and dance it trippingly.
TITANIA First, rehearse your song by rote
To each word a warbling note:
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.
[Song and dance]
OBERON Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be;
And the blots of Nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand;
Never mole, hare lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,
Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew consecrate,
Every fairy take his gait;
And each several chamber bless,
Through this palace, with sweet peace;
And the owner of it blest
Ever shall in safety rest.
Trip away; make no stay;
Meet me all by break of day.
[Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and train]
PUCK If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
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Oral History Transcript — Dr. Norman Ramsey
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Pavlish:This is interview number five with Professor Norman F. Ramsey. It is February 28th, 2007. My name is Ursula Pavlish. Professor Ramsey will be leading this interview, speaking on what we left out of our previous discussions.
Ramsey:I can’t do that well because I haven’t had the opportunity to read what was in the last interview. I’ll talk about it in more general terms.
Pavlish:That’s my fault that I haven’t had a chance to transcribe it fully.
Ramsey:That’s all right, no problem. One of the topics that I think is missing is how closely I collaborated with my graduate students in this work. My students and I always both felt that each of their projects was a joint undertaking. We each contributed freely as if we had been collaborating on a paper after they had gotten their PhDs. This worked very well. I gave them a lot of responsibility. They had to debug and often construct the apparatus. They would manage the experiments. We’d argue whether a plan was a good one or if we should do a different one. It was very enjoyable. During the time when I had graduate students, if I were asked to name my fifteen best friends, at least half of them would have been my current graduate students. That was the way we operated on a first name basis. I learned a lot from them, and they learned a lot, I hope, from me. A second thing that did not quite come through clearly in the interviews was the research after the apparatus was built and you tended to talk about new methods which I had invented and how they worked. Then there was an additional often long period for using those methods for a bunch of measurements. Particularly on the properties of molecules using separated oscillatory field magnetic resonance methods, using other sensitive techniques and looking at quite different and important things, whatever we could think of. This, I think, is missing in the other interviews. I have published about five hundred papers of which I was author or a co-author. Now, I would say a third of those are partial repeats, such as historical reviews and things of that kind that I had to write. But then there are also quite a large number, I would say 200-300, which were original, creative papers. Those were mostly done with students, though sometimes on my own. When they were theoretical I would usually, but not always do them on my own. The students, also, had some theoretical papers of their own. The collaboration with students is one of the most pleasant aspects of teaching in a University. I had 84 graduate students plus of minus four. The reason I say plus or minus four is not because I cannot count eighty four but because four of them were either half time my students and half time Dan Kleppner’s students. It is hard to say which was the primary advisor.
Pavlish:That’s extraordinary, not an average even amongst your colleagues.
Ramsey:I had a larger number of students almost all have done very well subsequently.
Pavlish:How did the students choose to work with you?
Ramsey:That’s a good question. They had a free choice. They would come around for interviews. I would tell them what we were doing, what I could see there might be for them to do. They also heard from other students about whether they liked to work with me or not.
Pavlish:Those students were already in the department at Harvard?
Ramsey:Usually the Ph.D. students at Harvard take the first two years of graduate study learning advanced topics in Physics. They take a preliminary reading course with different members of the faculty to see how they like it. By the end of the second year they are supposed to choose with whom they would like to work. They can change. I have had a few students who started with me and moved to someone else. I have had students who started with someone else and then moved over to work with me.
Pavlish:How did you balance your teaching, your research, advising graduate students, and the other work you were doing?
Ramsey:That is the worst problem of teaching at a university [laughs]. Each of them should be a full time job. I could easily spend full time with my graduate students on theses. I could easily spend full time making better lectures and talking to the undergraduates. I could easily spend full time on other things, writing papers, et cetera. You just have to seek a balance. Some people don’t or can’t do that, and choose not to do teaching and research in Universities.
Pavlish:Now, you did additional work. You neglect to mention your leadership roles. For example, your management activities as President of the University Research Association.
Ramsey:That was particularly important since we managed the establishment and operation of Fermilab which constructed and operated the world’s highest energy accelerator. I was in that position for 16 years while on half time leave from Harvard University. I also had other management activities that you feel you should do and others that you want to do. I have had both. Some were minor ones, such as chairman of various committees in the [Harvard Physics] department and some where important , big very heavy ones such as being Science Advisor to NATO for a year and a half.
Pavlish:You were the first Science Advisor to NATO. I remember reading about it that you were not necessarily excited about it.
Ramsey:It was off my main desire, which was to do fundamental research. On the other hand, we got a lot of good research started amongst the NATO countries.
Pavlish:What did that involve?
Ramsey:It involved visiting different countries and giving them advice on what they should do to recover from the war, when they had not been able to do much research. I was responding to them when they sought advice. We invented a couple of very key programs, which are still operational. One was a NATO fellowship program, which we persuaded NATO to do by getting money from the countries that could most afford to pay and giving it to the countries that most needed it. The countries contributed money according to so-called NATO cost-sharing. On the other hand the number of fellowships were proportional to the number of eligible candidates, basically by population. The aim was to encourage more to become scientists.
Pavlish:What date is it that you were the science advisor to NATO? I will look it up, because I am thinking of contextualizing this in relation to C. P. Snow’s 1959 Reed Lecture on ‘The Two Cultures’ at Cambridge University. He bemoaned the lack of collaboration between scientists and humanists and portrayed the scientists as looking toward the future, and potentially helping developing nations. I wonder if you would have seen this work in that frame?
Ramsey:Yes, I am familiar with the C.P. Snow ‘Two Cultures’ lecture. No, I did not see this work in that frame. [Indeed, Norman F. Ramsey served as science advisor to NATO between 1958 and 1959.]
Pavlish:Do you remember what countries you visited?
Ramsey:Oh yes. They varied from (advanced) countries like England where I was getting this program approved. I also visited two countries that don’t get along with each other; Greece and Turkey (two of the least well-developed countries in Europe).
Pavlish:Did you travel alone or did you take your family with you?
Ramsey:Usually I went alone.
Pavlish:There wasn’t much time for sight-seeing?
Ramsey:No. They were hard working trips. I set up new scientific programs. And I found on these trips, is that the poorer countries had been given a fair amount of scientific equipment but they had no spare parts so their equipment was not operating. We established a special NATO fund to which they could apply for spare parts. Those countries also had a big currency shortage, which meant that you had to get a lot of approvals to get government money. It required almost as many approvals to buy a spare vacuum tube as it took to buy an airplane. There was too much red tape. The goal was to have less red tape and also to establish a fund from which they could provide vacuum tubes if that was what was needed.
Pavlish:You had a translator traveling with you?
Ramsey:No, not usually, the scientists usually spoke English quite well. I guess there were translators sometimes but the scientists even at that time were speaking English or trying very hard to speak.
Pavlish:These travels were through Europe mostly?
Ramsey:Europe. We established a fellowship program. [Note, here I ought to have asked how the idea for the fellowship program came about and what Ramsey’s role was in its genesis. Also, did he travel with other emissaries or alone as scientific representative of NATO.]
Pavlish:When you traveled to England initially to help set up the program did you meet with some of your colleagues or teachers from the Cambridge days?
Ramsey:Yes, and also several I knew during World War II, in connection to radar research.
Pavlish:You might have met them in London or someplace else?
Ramsey:Sure. Well, I went to different places, Oxford and Cambridge, but London usually was the main location.
Pavlish:Would a few names stand out to you of the physicists you met with there?
Ramsey:Oh yes, I met with John Cocknoft, P.I. Dee and others.
Pavlish:I think I came across a popularization of Relativity by Dee in the library the other day. Because of my discussions with you, the name rang a bell.
Ramsey:I see the library’s a good place to be.
Pavlish:This is a question from a different direction, but I was wondering if you ever met Einstein.
Ramsey:No, I didn’t. He was somewhat before my time. He was doing interesting but rather unrewarding research after I became active in physics.
Pavlish:You mean physics-ally unrewarding? His physics wasn’t…
Ramsey:Well, actually, it intrigued me. He was working on a great problem; how to get a unified theory of forces. But, it was too early. Indeed, one of the key interests now is unification of the fundamental forces. But, the work that this made possible hadn’t even been done. For example, Einstein was mostly trying to get a unified theory of elementary particles and electromagnetic theory. People hadn’t yet found out how to even start doing that properly. And he was very interested in gravity. He was working on the right problems, but at too early a time to make progress.
Pavlish:May I ask you a somewhat personal question about the way physics is done. Einstein’s Relativity contains a lot of thought experiments, say the twin paradox where a twin goes off to a distant star, Alpha Centuri, and comes back younger than the twin who stayed on Earth. These thought experiments, there’s also Schrodinger’s cat, are things that do not really happen. That is one mode of doing physics. It seems like your work is much more like A. P. French’s textbook on Special Relativity, which is about what can we actually measure in the lab rather than these fictional scenarios. I wonder if you ever used these thought experiments?
Ramsey:Yes, I have, but less. I am primarily an experimentalist and my primary research interest is in designing better experiments. In the process of doing that, you do a number of thought experiments. One thinks: suppose you do it this way, what would happen? One finds that it wouldn’t work at all, so one forgets it. If it looks as if it might work, then it gets beyond a thought experiment. Thought experiments are very helpful and they’re essential for theorists. [According to his facial expressions and this response to my previous question, I think Professor Ramsey seemed to disagree with my objection to the usefulness of thought experiments in science.]
Pavlish:Returning to your leadership activities. One might trace several trajectories through your career. One might focus on your laboratory work or your theoretical developments. Let’s say we traced an arc of your leadership. During World War II you were the head of the delivery group…
Pavlish:…and then afterwards you were one of the founders of Brookhaven…
Ramsey:Yes, that is right.
Pavlish:…and subsequently the head of the Physics department there.
Ramsey:Yes, that is right. Co-founding Brookhaven, was my first major leadership position within physics. That led to my heading the physics department at Brookhaven, at which time I learned a rather intriguing phenomenon. The problem with doing administrative work and leadership work is that it distracts from your fundamental thinking about physics. Always, the administrative activity subconsciously takes precedence. Here’s a member of your staff who comes to your office asking a question as to what he should do with a problem. You have to give him priority and see him. That takes time from your own projects and plans. I made a discovery, actually at Brookhaven, that if I did my personal research primarily in one location and my administrative work and policy things in another, I could keep them fairly separate.
Pavlish:That was around the time when you were at Brookhaven, is that when you’d say you discovered that?
Ramsey:I guess I discovered it first, and then confirmed it, as science advisor to NATO. I had an administrative office in Paris. I kept my research going with my graduate students, in the United States. I found that worked quite well. Originally I had thought I would spend the evenings in Paris thinking about physics and do my administrative work during the day. Well, it did not work that way. For me, I tend to concentrate on whatever it is I am doing at the time. Having one kind of work in Paris, and the other kind of work in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I could do quite well. That does not mean that I never thought about the other activities, but I gave priority to the work in whatever place you were at. My personal research with graduate students went very well during that period.
Pavlish:There was no email back then, for students to send you quick questions.
Ramsey:There wasn’t e-mail that is right. I did make a trip back home every month or so, and when I was there I spent most of my time in Harvard with my students or at home with my family.
Pavlish:Your family moved with you to Paris?
Ramsey:That was one disadvantage. They moved with me to Paris during the summer. We decided that for the children’s school it would be better for them to stay put during the winter. But they came over for visits, and I likewise got back for visits. However, that big a separation was a great disadvantage. Later, my biggest administrative activity was President of the Universities Research Association, which was the group of Universities, that under contract with the Atomic Energy Commission, (later the Department of Energy), designed and built the accelerator at Fermilab, which is still the world’s highest energy accelerator. In another month or two it will probably cease to be such, because there will soon be a big international accelerator modeled after what we had made.
Pavlish:The LHC [Large Hadron Collider at CERN]?
Ramsey:The LHC. That will be even higher energy.
Pavlish:I’m sorry, I’m a little bit ignorant of the history here. Is the history of the founding of Fermilab already written up?
Ramsey:Yes, there is some write-up of it. The Director of Fermilab asked me at one time to write up my end of the endeavor. That is included in the annual reports of Fermilab and is in the Fermilab 1987 Annual Report 20, 157 (1988).
Pavlish:The reason I ask, is that I do not want to burden you by asking questions about what you have already put on paper.
Pavlish:Rather, if we could talk about things that you haven’t written. You have written a lot, even about the history.
Ramsey:My impression is that history of science publications tend to fall into two groupings. There are histories written by the active scientists who were doing the work and these tend to end up as scientific reports or papers in proceedings of scientific meetings. Then there is the writing of specialists in History of Science. Those two types of publications tend to be separate, which I think is too bad. Frequently if you look at a history of science collection you may not find the history papers written by the research scientists themselves.
Pavlish:I do have one historical article you wrote, called I think “Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: The Early Years”. In it, you actually address this problem, but slightly differently. You say that for a scientist to write history there is a dilemma. The scientist naturally has his or her inner perspective, and it is understandable if the scientist expresses this aspect of the history. However, this might leave out the work that other people have done. The goal in the history of science would be to stay true to the history of the discipline [of physics] while integrating the different viewpoints. It seems like since the beginnings of quantum mechanics and relativity, it seems like the history of physics written by historians of science is written about particle physics and high energy physics mostly.
Ramsey:I have that impression too. Those tend to be pretty conspicuous fields. They also have some money associated with them, so that they can pay to get their histories written up, whereas the other smaller fields aren’t as well funded. A large fraction of the magnetic resonance budget would be small compared to the high-energy budget.
Pavlish:Your work on molecular beams, your work in magnetic resonance, the separated oscillatory field method, all fit within the larger framework. The interesting thing would be to show it from a holistic perspective but also to connect it to particle physics because it also connects.
Ramsey:Oh yes, it connects.
Pavlish:You also do work in particle physics. That might connect it to the historiography in a nice way. Historians of particle physics would be able to relate to it, through the connections.
Ramsey:Definitely it relates, but frequently the relation is not emphasized.
Pavlish:Your textbook, Nuclear Moments, grew out of the two parts you wrote for this collected volume Experimental Nuclear Physics edited by Segre.
Ramsey:Yes, that’s right.
Pavlish:This was published in…
Pavlish:1960 [sic, that was the second printing. It was first published in 1953]. And your textbook came out one or two years later [sic, 1953, same year]. One part written by Hans Staub on “Detection Methods,” one part written by Bethe and Ashkin on “Passage of Radiation Through Matter,” your parts on “Nuclear Moments and Statistics” and “Nuclear Two-Body Problems and Elements of Nuclear Structure,” and Bainbridge on “Charged Particle Dynamics and Optics, Relative Isotopic Abundances of the Elements, Atomic Masses.” Here we have a [textualized] program of nuclear physics, an umbrella concept. There is the theoretical and particle aspects, and then you are addressing more the…
Ramsey:That was done fairly early. The field has grown a lot since then. That is probably the reason the publisher branched of one of the things I wrote because a lot of people in that field would read it. It is hard to write an equally detailed book on all those topics in a finite sized book.
Pavlish:You did do work in nuclear and particle physics? Am I correct in assuming that the part you wrote for this book is not that, is it?
Ramsey:No. What I wrote about was standard nuclear and particle physics. At Harvard I was in charge of the construction of the Harvard Cyclotron which we used for nuclear physics experiments, but only up to about a hundred GeV [giga electron volts].
Pavlish:That was more of an administrative position when you were getting that up and running?
Ramsey:Yes, but I was also doing nuclear physics research experiments.
Pavlish:Would you relate that to your leadership as President of the Universities Research Association?
Ramsey:I was asked to manage this construction of the Harvard Cyclotron because Bob Wilson (with whom I later collaborated quite closely at Fermilab) left Harvard to go to Cornell. An intriguing thing is that the accelerator was designed primarily by Bob Wilson and built primarily by my associates and me. Later when I was at Fermilab, Bob and I were again in close cooperation. I was President of the Universities Research Association (URA), which is the organization with the government contract to building and operating the accelerator. We chose Bob Wilson to be the director of the laboratory.
Pavlish:That might be somewhat analogous when you chose Maurice Goldhaber to come to Brookhaven where he later became Director.
Ramsey:That’s right. Up to that time I became President of URA. I had been doing both molecular beam fundamental experiments, and also high energy nuclear and particle physics experiments. When I took on the URA responsibility, I decided I would drop all my personal research in the high energy and nuclear field and limit my high energy activity to running the new laboratory and making it work well. I would channel all my personal research efforts, work with graduate students and so forth, into molecular beams and low energy research. If you look at my successive papers, you’ll see that my nuclear and particle physics work dropped off, within an extra year or so of publications coming out. But basically, it stopped.
Pavlish:That was a conscious choice.
Ramsey:That was a conscious choice.
Pavlish:You liked the molecular beam experiments more?
Ramsey:I thought that I had a better chance of doing fundamental things. I could do small experiments with graduate students, which I enjoyed. The high energy activities had to be done with larger groups. I didn’t feel that I could play as key a role there as I would in the lower energy experiment. Also, I had a feeling that it would help me retain my sanity. With the administrative job of running the lab, of managing a place like Fermilab, there are all sorts of headaches that come up. It is a nuisance. Most of these, the director of the lab, Bob Wilson, would take care of. I was heavily involved in the major decisions.
Pavlish:That involved collaborating with and meeting with politicians?
Ramsey:It involved all sorts of things; meeting with the Atomic Energy Commission, later with the Department of Energy representatives. There I had the following separation: When I was at Harvard, I was concentrating on low energy molecular beam research but there was an important meeting pertaining to Fermilab I would give that priority, but I would try to keep myself free while I was at Harvard. That went very well. Fermilab prospered and we did some very good molecular beam experiments, fundamental physics experiments at Harvard. I did not attempt to do any personal proton scattering experiments nor high energy particle experiments. But I was busily concerned in trying to make it possible for the best experiments to be done at Fermilab.
Pavlish:You were appreciated for that.
Ramsey:Yes, I think the scientists appreciated that. I had to be reelected every year and they kept me there for about sixteen years before I retired.
Pavlish:Did you go to Washington a lot?
Ramsey:I went to Washington and Fermilab approximately one day a week.
Pavlish:Throughout your career did you travel a lot?
Ramsey:Yes, I did a fair amount. Usually, I’d say the trips were giving colloquia on my experiments or going to Washington or Fermilab. Then there were large international meetings. In fact, I helped found the organization, the so-called International Conference on Atomic Physics (ICAP). This meets in all sorts of countries: the US, Europe, Japan, Russia. The last meeting was a very good one, in Austria.
Pavlish:That gets together physicists from all over the world. I would like to look into that a little more: when was it founded? Did you get together with a group of your colleagues and say, “Hey, let’s do this?”
Ramsey:That one had a funny history. The first meeting was not on atomic physics. We had these good methods for measuring nuclear magnetic moments. I was at that time, chairman of the Physics Department at the new Brookhaven National Lab. But we hadn’t any equipment there yet. One of the things I did was to arrange a summer meeting to consider a particular question, which was: what was the best method of measuring the magnetic moments of radioactive nuclei? We had been measuring magnetic moments for about seven years because we did that before the war, starting in 1937. By that time, Purcell and his associates, and Felix Bloch and his associates, had [independently] invented NMR. Which is essentially the same kind of magnetic resonance but you detect transitions not by the effect on the molecule but by the effect on the oscillator that induces the transition. Also, microwave spectroscopy of a Charley Townes and others was coming along well. The obvious thing for us at the Physics Department at Brookhaven to do was to measure nuclear magnetic moments of radioactive nuclei because Brookhaven would have facilities for handling the radioactivity. One of the first people I hired there was Victor Cohen, a former graduate student of Rabi’s who had done some of the early experiments on molecular beams. But, with these new experiments that had been recently invented, we did not want to start off with an obsolete technique. So, we called a conference with all the leading people in that field. It included Townes, Rabi, Purcell, and Bloch. The primary purpose was to decide whether we should start a big program to measure the magnetic properties of the nuclei of radioactive isotopes at Brookhaven. We invited all the key people [in the field]. The meeting was in one sense a great success, in that everybody learned a lot from each other. It was the first time we had an organized meeting since Brookhaven by that time had a budget. We could afford to invite people.
Pavlish:This was held at Brookhaven?
Yes, this was actually at Brookhaven. We decided it was a great meeting and that we should do it every other year, at least. But, in one sense, the meeting was a disaster. The object was to decide whether there should be a big push to use molecular beam techniques for measuring nuclear magnetic moments. At that time, in the molecular beam field, we had been measuring nuclear magnetic moments for five, six years. We knew we could do them, but we knew each one was difficult. We had to develop a source. We had to heat the sample. Then, it corroded the slit-jaws that guide the beam. There were all sorts of problems. A new element usually took between two weeks to a month to work. But we could do it, and it was worth doing. The other techniques represented were new and had only measured one nuclear magnetic moment, hydrogen. They also knew approximate the value of that magnetic moment was when they started. So they just re-measured it more accurately. They were enthusiastic that they could probably do a nuclear magnetic moment every day or so, and that this would clean up the field. It seemed obvious that the molecular beam technique was a bit obsolete. So we did not start it there. So, Bill Cohen started at Brookhaven to measure atomic hyperfine structures. Well, time went on. It was time for our next meeting two years later, and the other techniques had not discovered/ measured a new nuclear magnetic moment.
For various reasons it was very difficult when they did not know where to look. For example, in NMR you have to have a very strong field in order to get a big signal. On the other hand, in a very strong field the resonances are separated a long distance apart. They also are intrinsically very narrow. Therefore it was just a long search when they did not know where to look. Likewise in microwave spectroscopy, the search was difficult. But there was one person, K. F. Smith, in molecular beams who had not been invited to the conference, because we did not know he was working in the field. He was in England. He did not get the “benefit” of our meeting so he went along and began measuring a couple of nuclear magnetic moments of radioactive isotopes by molecular beam techniques, which worked out very well. So we discovered that this first meeting had given us misinformation as to that particular question. After that, I encouraged one of my best graduate students, Bill Nierenberg, to go to Berkeley to set up a highly successful program to measure radioactive isotopes. Now a large number of them have been made. Most of the first measurements have all been by molecular beams. After those results were available, NMR techniques could re-measure them more accurately.
Pavlish:When you say that all the experiments had been with hydrogen, was that across the board? Was that true for molecular beams, as well as for NMR, and for Townes’ work?
Ramsey:No. The molecular beam method worked well for first, measurements but the others did not because of their difficulty in searching. Hydrogen is the biggest magnetic moment, easily available and it value was well known form molecular beams. And it is abundant; it is in water. It is very easy to measure by NMR.
Pavlish:At the time of the conference, people had not started looking for radioactive elements?
Pavlish:Because you did that even before the war, when you were working as a graduate student you looked at hydrogen and others elements.
Ramsey:Yes, but we did that with molecular beams.
Pavlish:I know that. The conference was held at a time when there had not been any measurements of nuclear magnetic moments of radioactive elements. There had been experiments using all these techniques to find nuclear magnetic moments of non-radioactive elements.
Ramsey:Yes, but the final measurement was usually by molecular beams.
Pavlish:The main interest for looking at nuclear magnetic moments of radioactive isotopes?
Ramsey:Well, to understand nuclear structure, basically. In other words, a good theory of the nucleus, (and now, there are quite good theories available) has to account for, is the magnetic moment of the nucleus.
Pavlish:And that changes as the atom decays.
Ramsey:Well, it changes when the atom decays: it is a different atom.
Pavlish:It is a discrete jump?
Pavlish:Did you tell the others when you were holding the conference what your motivation for organizing it was?
Ramsey:Yes. They were told what it was for. And they all very honestly described what they were doing. But they were fooled by the fact that the one thing they had looked at was too easy.
Pavlish:Many of them were your close collaborators, your friends.
Ramsey:Sure, they were good friends of mine. In any case, coming back to your question about the International Conference on Atomic Physics. We did have a second meeting even though at that time we realized that in some ways we had reached the wrong conclusion. We did have a second meeting. It was still a molecular beam meeting. Then, some other atomic physicists doing other kinds of measurements wanted to join in. Over the next few years we developed a broader conference. What’s called the First International Conference on Atomic Physics was probably six years after this minus six meeting that started it. They were periodic from that point on.
Pavlish:Every two years?
Ramsey:They still are going every two years. One of the best meetings we’ve ever had was this last one.
Pavlish:That is good to hear that people are still doing exciting research [in the field].
Ramsey:Very exciting. A lot of new things have come about, and some of the old methods are still very interesting. Particularly interesting are some of the new investigations on ultra-cold atoms. There’s even getting to be some theoretical interconnection between atomic physics and condensed matter physics.
Pavlish:You would say that back in the last fifty years or so, there has been a separation between atomic and condensed matter physics.
Ramsey:Oh yes. And there still is. They are different but they are coming closer. What happens is that you make Bose-Einstein condensations and now they can make condensates also with fermions. You can observe phenomena with those condensed gases that are analogous to what you get in solid state. You can investigate them under a wider variety of transitions. For example, one of the more exciting things is that you can start with atoms and condense atoms as fermions. Change circumstances a bit and those atoms pair up, and in pairs they become the equivalent of bosons.
Pavlish:The same atoms would be condensing as either fermions or bosons?
Ramsey:Yes, depending on the circumstances. And you can go from one to the other. [pause] There is another category of my molecular beam experiments that I have not said anything about. The last major apparatus that we built was very good. We took advantage of everything we had learned previously and we had very good students, and associates. We built a long apparatus, much longer than this room. So far, I’ve only discussed when we did deflecting with inhomogeneous magnetic fields. In this one, we had the choice of doing the experiment with either electric fields or magnetic fields, focusing or not. That one we used for quite a large number of students’ PhDs. Rick Freeman, for example, did his thesis on it. When I finally fully retired from Harvard, Jim Cederburg, one of my former graduate students asked if Harvard would be willing to give that apparatus to his college. So, they could use it for research and teaching. I persuaded Harvard University to do so, so it was given to St. Olaf’s College, MN. I checked by phone recently and it is still running and producing good, publishable results. It investigates the internal properties of molecules whose properties can be measured only with it. There is no other operating machine at the time that can measure these. There are many many molecules so they have an unlimited field.
Pavlish:Why would that be? Why hasn’t somebody replicated it?
Ramsey:The first thing, it is chemical molecular physics, which is interesting physics. In fact, in the work we have done before, we found that when we have gotten results from it, then it is possible to develop a theory of the molecule that is reasonably consistent. They are not necessarily expecting to find revolutionary new discoveries. It is still important and on different molecules. Different people need different properties of different molecules. But it is not as much forefront physics as it would be if it were at Harvard and we were finding out a new property of a nuclei or a quark.
Pavlish:Why would that be? To me, perhaps it is a personal bias and wrong to say it. It seems that finding out the properties of molecules might be at least as interesting, if not more interesting than finding the properties of quarks.
Ramsey:Well, as a result of these experiments, there is now a fairly good theory of the molecules. So, you can calculate many of these things.
Pavlish:I see, so you may be able to calculate a property and be 97.5% sure that it is correct.
Ramsey:Maybe it is being only eighty percent sure of the calculation. But pretty sure that you know what the phenomenon is, then, you can do calculations that are more accurate. It is interesting physics and chemistry.
Pavlish:Whereas with quarks the theory is up in the air?
Ramsey:Exactly. It is a little analogous to what it was like some generations ago in condensed matter physics, where just measuring the density and other properties of matter was fundamental measurement. But, there was not so much [theoretical] understanding that followed. Now, there is more understanding.
Pavlish:That is in condensed matter?
Pavlish:The reason I ask is that when I hear the word “standards” associated with physics I think of ‘National Frequency Standards’ and I think of atoms and transitions between energy levels.
Ramsey:There are many standards. Standard of time, length, color, etc. One of the standards is the standard of mass. That is one of the hot topics now. At the present time, the standard unit of mass, which is the kilogram, is a particular substance, which they store in a safe in Paris. And there are half a dozen exact duplicates of it. But the ratios of these duplicates change a little with time. What they are trying to get is a fundamental constant for measuring mass. Ideally, in terms of saying how many atoms you put in, and defining Avogadro’s constant rather than measuring it.
Pavlish:It would be fantastic to get you speaking next to this instrument, to make an instrument like this one [now at St. Olaf’s], understandable to people outside physics. One problem is how to make something that is cool, hip, interesting, neat for physicists, likewise enticing for non-scientists who do not have the theoretical training or background. I think Feynman did this popularization really well. How might one lead a law student, say, to appreciate the beauty of this experiment [gesture outside window at law school campus]?
Ramsey:I think you can do that. Enough of it is on the outside. It is true that the delicate parts and the vacuum inside where the particles go are on the inside. On the other hand, the coils that support them, and the place for the electrostatic field show from the outside. I think you can do a pretty good job of showing what you do, show what the forces look like and how it works. But yes, it is too bad that of course the smaller experiments are the ones that get thrown away.
Pavlish:This one wasn’t!
Ramsey:That is right, it is still in use. In fact, St. Olaf’s college is primarily an undergraduate college. They are doing publishable research with undergraduates using this machine. The only complication is that the machine is too big to move from there to here. It means that a group would have to go there to see it. [turn off tape to discuss travel plans to St. Olaf for filming]
Pavlish:Professor Ramsey is traveling to Jordan in May to attend a conference or a meeting, of a group of Nobel prize-winners?
Ramsey:It is a meeting to see if we can’t think of something to help the international situation in that area.
Pavlish:You were recently at a conference, a meeting of Nobel Prize-winners in New York City, a few weeks ago?
Pavlish:Is that something that has increased traveling?
Ramsey:Yes, the one in New York City was more social, a very nice dinner and celebration put on by the Swedish Council. One meets a lot of friends there.
Pavlish:The meeting in Jordan is more of a thinking time.
Yes, that will occur in May. | <urn:uuid:a555dc5c-176a-4ea5-8c24-ed042a130e87> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/31413_5.html | 2015-03-31T05:37:13Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300313.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00040-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98342 | 8,737 |
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Well this claim was overblown, however there are a lot of statist things in there. a zillion new Federal agencies, commissions and boards to determine:- best practices- fee payments- acceptable insure--21 (I didnt count, but a lot, seriously) for womens health issues alone :)
In other words, this section of H.R. 3200 would require Medicare to pay doctors when they counsel their patients about such things as living wills, but no more frequently than once every five years, unless there’s a significant change in health status.These people don't understand basic economics.If doctors can get paid for it, they'll do more of it.And how is the government going to know whether or not the patient initiated the discussion?The doctor will just mark on her Medicare bill sheet that she gave the counsel, and the government will pay her, and the patient will never know that he “elected” to receive it.End result: more end of life counseling given in a treatment environment that will indisputably be penurious, if Obama gets his way.
It doesn't push suicide, it just pushes the elderly to refuse "active treatments" in favor of hospice care. That is, no more investigation or therapy for new symptoms, cancer, or disease, just drugs to manage discomfort and pain.For example, no dialysis after age 70, like in Canada and the UK. Renal failure is a good painless way to die, and quick. Plus it will save us a lot of dough.No bypasses, hip replacements, or chemo for you, either, granny. But you can have all these yummy narcotics.Not suicide, no; not even euthanasia. Those options will seem more attractive, however, to end the inevitable suffering.
I agree with you, at one level: the bill only encourages (?mandates?) periodic review about end of life care (Do you want full CPR? Food and water only? etc. etc.) This is not all bad, and I think many conservative sites opposed to the bill have gone way too far in concluding that it is a Trojan horse for euthanasia. Silly -- and it demeans the value of many of their other arguments against this horrendous piece of legislative crapola.However, clearly the focus is on "wasted" resources (aka money) at the end of life, and the administration and Congress are listening to utilitarian bioethicists such as Ezekiel Emmanuel (brother of Rahm), whose philosophy about health resource allocation I find very chilling -- sacrifice the individual for the good of society, essentially. Scary stuff, which should be read by anyone interested in how these folks think. It comes dangerously close to eugenics, IMO.When you combine this utilitarian philosophy with the burgeoning physician-assisted suicide movement (now legal in 3 states, soon in many more), you may well have something of a perfect storm. Oregon is already telling cancer patients it will not pay for palliative chemotherapy, but will cover PAS.
Two notes:1) FactCheck is not a neutral 3rd party in this discussion. Just looking at the "FactCheck" which follows this one on "Boehner's Baseless Claim." Even they're forced to admit that his claim isn't "baseless" at all despite their own headline. They spend paragraph after paragraph adding "nuance" to the subject and even have to add "Obama's Response." All for a topic on which Boehner's claim is factually accurate. Neutral? Not in the least.2) Maybe if Obama wasn't trying to jam this bill through at Warp 9 then people would have time to figure out what actually is and isn't, but when you have to try to decipher 1000 pages overnight because Democrats are threatening to hold votes on it every day, mistakes are bound to be made.I can easily see how someone would read the definition page without understanding the greater context of that definition given that Democrats are purposely not giving people time to sit down and obtain that greater context because their poll support is melting down at exponentially faster rates every day.
National suicide, however, is part of the package.
Agree with Pogo--narcotics are much cheaper than life prolonging interventions esp when you reach your life expectancy--simply hand out morphine and withold surgeries. these old coots are going to die anyway.
If you follow the money, they in effect are saying the govt will pay for these services once every five years.So you can expect to see "End of Life Counseling Stores Founded By Kirk Kevorkian" located very conveniently right next to "The Scooter Stores"!
Seems to me as Jim and Dr. Bob have pointed out, the "rahm it through approach" is leading to precisely these kind of bogus stories. On the bright side for opponents of this terrible legislation, this is fine by me, because it makes the administration have to try to explain what they want. And Obamas' numbers keep declining personally and on the health care issue overall.Voting on this piece of garbage is now apparently deferred until October. For all the leaked bogus stories about "progress in the house," there isnt any. The honorable members will go home for the August recess and get hammered at home--Which, of course, is why the administration was hoping for a July bill.At this point, Obama might want to go back and look at Hillary's attempt in 1993--the longer it took, the more it fizzled.And I note that in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the great depression, Mr. Obama has sprung for a 20 million vacation get away on Martha's Vinyard. hmmmmmm
My own internal factchecker tells me that factcheck.org has a dog in this fight.
Pretty sad day for conservatives when fact checking is considered "liberal". It is odd there aren't any conservative counterparts to C&L and Thinkprogress that fact check liberals.
It may not say it explicitly, but does anyone doubt that most liberals would care one way or the other? I mean, it funds abortion so what's the diff?
"It may not say it explicitly, but does anyone doubt most liberals would care one way the other? I mean, it funds abortion, so what's the diff?"None. One is a useless clump of cells getting in the way and the other's a useless husk hogging up precious resources.Once you've convinced youself there's no such thing as life woth living BEFORE a certain age, you can very easily be convinced there's no such thing as life worth living BEYOND a certain age.
Stop treating Ted Kennedy now!!
I made a half hearted effort to read the relevant passage. Perhaps lawyers read it differently, but I found the prose to be obfuscatory and confusing. There seems to be room to hide just about anything behind those hedging clauses. And there are 1000 more pages of this. It's not that no one has read it, but that no one can read it.
The problem is when conservatives make outlandish claims like this, it besmirches the entire movement. Every time Rush Limbaugh opens his mouth, that's 1000 more votes for Democrats nationwide./hyperbole off
garage - there are plenty of conservatives who fact-check like Charles Johnson and Michelle Malkin. Both of them bash birthers regularly.
BTW, we should rename this "The Thanatos Bill".
I'm old enough to have seen this before, and I don't believe FactCheck's disclaimer. Affirmative action wasn't supposed to create quotas, either. But for a long time the reality was that it did.
Fred Thompson wakes up long enough to say "I'm not dead yet! I'm just sleeping!"
Big voting block:Baby boomers 1946-1964 Estimate 76 million?Begin retiring in 2011Will be interested rationed cared and end of life issues.
Alex:I've been wanting to rename it the "Omnibus Freedom Rollback Bill", but my view has obviously been too narrow.
However, clearly the focus is on "wasted" resources (aka money) at the end of life Right. I don’t care about counseling, I care about denied treatment! That may not be euthanasia, but the results are going to be the same for some patients. You either get a potentially life saving treatment, or you die. That is not a decision I want anybody making but family.
When politician propose extreme legislation, people will respond in the extreme.The health-care industry is estimated by 2016 to be 20% of the US GDP.Between banks, auto industry and health-care Obama would have created the USSofA.
None of this will matter once I complete my time machine.
"It may not say it explicitly, but does anyone doubt that most liberals would care one way or the other? I mean, it funds abortion so what's the diff?"Obviously I meant "wouldn't care one way of the other."
Any end of life provision for the news media?Dan Rather Calls for White House to Save Journalism from Financial Hardship
knox - "My own internal factchecker tells me that factcheck.org has a dog in this fight."The answer is right in the header of the website "A Project Of the Annenberg Public Policy Center"Annenberg...Annenberg...where have I heard that name before?Oh yeah. Now it rings a bell.But they don't have a dog in this fight. Nope. Not at all. Nothing to see here. Move along. Annenberg never ever ever would be caught engaging in spin as they are here and have been found to do elsewhere as well. Even thinking that they would be as crazy as throwing millions of dollars at a domestic terrorist fronted by some uncredentialed, inexperienced nobody named Barack Obama. I mean who would believe something so utterly ridiculous?You guys are funny. Ha Ha
Yeah, these claims really are outlandish and overblown. I mean, it's not as if there has been a big physician-assisted suicide movement and euthanasia movement the last several years. And it's not as if many people have been killed by assisted "suicide" and euthanasia, including by starvation and dehydration. It's not as if people have been pushing utilitarian and eugenic medicine for over a hundred years. It's not as if bioethics "experts" at Ivy League universities are pushing ideas like denying care to old people and the disabled.Yeah, all that culture of death talk is just crazy talk.
Reality check time. In professions the ethics are pointed to do the best for the client/patient who is the customer who pays the money for THAT PURPOSE. When the hiring customer is the Government, then a whole different set of purposes are a target aimed at and hit. As individuals we hire someone for our good. As a government, we get Jeremy Bentham's point of view that always calls for less for us and more for the "Greatest Good for the Greatest Number". Humanism turns out to be fierce and heartless destroying force to the one person, who is you and me. As an example, I changed insurance plans one time and had to pick a primary care doctor from a new primary care panel. In the bios of the doctors was a new Harvard Med school, black woman doctor, and I tried her. She was a trip. She was very efficiency oriented and never really saw me, but had a statistical approach to public health in which my vitals were not me but were my statistical grouping under age, sex, and race. All she wanted was fodder for her mill. I had to be treated for what I should be at risk for whether it was real or not. It was like Robert McNamara's way of running a war in Viet Nam. Hitting all the wrong targets out of an arrogance that they knew stuff that no one else did. If you want a real doctor who respects reality treating you, and not a statistician guessing at your needs, then steer clear of Harvard educated people. Ergo, steer clear of Obama's new world of health care where you will become the last important player in a scheme that is really all about money and power elites. That is my answer to whether Obama's plan is morbid...yes it definitely is for you and me.
Look I'm just not buying the idea that this plan will decrease quality. The only thing that really matters is the public option which would be a brand new entitlement program with a new tax hike to fund it. Even liberals agree on that.
Here's an idea, those that support these kind of "end of life" finacial balancing acts should go ahead and sign up now. Why wait until you are 70, Rahm and Barack? Chances are that at 48, if you have a serious life threaterning health issue, there be several more and that will add up to some big bucks.Just do the country a favor and refuse treatment or better yet just don't even go to the doctor. Patriotism and concern for others begins at home.
All the bases covered with birthers and deathers.
Quayle: "If doctors can get paid for it, they'll do more of it."Yes, most doctors go into the profession to maximize their incomes.
FactCheck.org is a statist joke, regardless of this particular issue.
Pogo said..."It doesn't push suicide, it just pushes the elderly to refuse "active treatments" in favor of hospice care."It doesn' "PUSH" anything on anybody.You're lying.
What part of this do many here not understand...Pogo?Page 425 does deal with counseling sessions for seniors, but it is far from recommending a "Logan’s Run" approach to Medicare spending. In fact, it requires Medicare to cover counseling sessions for seniors who want to consider their end-of-life choices – including whether they want to refuse or, conversely, require certain types of care. The claim that the bill would "push suicide" is a falsehood.
FactCheck.org is a statist joke, regardless of this particular issue..Oh rest assured by the time a particular claim has been thoroughly debunked there are 10 more waiting, so there is always a nice lag. But I can see why you guys hate fact checkers.
Nope, nothin' ahead but sunshine and roses in state-controlled medicine.The new Medicare motto:Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Jeremy, by approving payment for a service, the govt in effect is endorsing & promoting it.As I noted in a comment above, the "end of life counselors" will be advertising their govt-paid services on TV and radio ads just like The Scooter Store does now. Ask yourself this- if health care costs are so high, why did they feel the need to include this in the bill??
AJ Lynch said..."Jeremy, by approving payment for a service, the govt in effect is endorsing & promoting it."You mean things like testing for AIDS?Inoculations for the flu?Regular check-ups?Deciding how and when one want to die is certainly none of the government's business, but it doesn't hurt to provide specific counseling so all the facts are at hand. My father spent the last 6 months of his life in constant pain because he was in a Catholic hospital that did not believe in pain medications (didn't want him "hooked" on drugs) or hospice (because it was considered a form of "giving up.")It's pretty much changed at this point, but before their was open counseling it was purely up to the doctors and staff and whatever their religion- based policies were.I just don't understand what the gripe is here, other that the usual whining and bitching about everything and anything.
New Medicare motto: Got hospice?
New Medicare questionnaire:Still paying income taxes greater than the sum of all government benefits received?If yes, see doctor.If no, see hospice.
Jeremy:My point is end of life counseling or a govt paid scooter are "nice to have" but not necessities.IF WE HAVE A HEALTH CARE SPENDING CRISIS, WHY ARE THEY ADDING MORE NON-ESSENTIAL STUFF? Let the individual pay for this stuff. I have no objection to your examples btw.
@Jeremy: Do you really contend that the Obama/Dem bills will not result in limitations to health care for the elderly that will bring about earlier deaths?(BTW: I think the phrase you were looking for was: "empújela en el culo.")I notice limited effectiveness posting on this subject from the utilitarian euthanasia-loving lefties. Witness garage's non sequiturs.
End-of-life counseling is the very mechanism by which the government plans to withhold care.
Do you remember the famous Doctor Zhivago's line, "I have always worked." when the marxist thugs ruling over his life tried to find reasons to kill him, and anyone else they could, for any reason, but really because he was a better man than them. The good Doctors who will to serve patients instead of serving the State will be the biggest losers in the Obamination.
Pogo said..."End-of-life counseling is the very mechanism by which the government plans to withhold care."I've read absolutely nothing that relates to any plan to "withhold care."When a doctor "counsels" a patient, and has to tell them that they have little chance of survival, it's the patient's choice as to what course the doctor should take. No doctor is going to "withhold care," based on what he or she feels is appropriate, without the patient's consent.You're full of shit.
traditiona dolt - "The good Doctors who will to serve patients instead of serving the State will be the biggest losers in the Obamination.""Serving the state?"You get dumber by the minute.
elHombre said..."Jeremy: Do you really contend that the Obama/Dem bills will not result in limitations to health care for the elderly that will bring about earlier deaths?"Yes.Show me any evidence to the contrary.
You people are getting distracted on nonsense. The only thing that matters here is the public option. The rest of the stuff about quality of care is fluff. Even Jeremy would admit that.
elHombre - "euthanasia-loving lefties"What does that even mean?Are you saying only liberals feel they have the right to choose how and when they die?Those on the right aren't interested in the right to die with dignity?Who the fuck are YOU or is anybody for that matter, to tell others how or when they make that decision?
@Jeremy: No insensitivity toward your father's plight intended, but please cite the specific religious prohibition against prescribing pain killers or "giving up."Your 1:09 post is just a gratuitous dump on religious hospitals. My 85-year-old mother was denied pain killers by doctors at a state university hospital who claimed to be worried about addiction.Let me repeat my question: Do you really contend that the Obama/Dem bills will not result in limitations to health care for the elderly that will bring about earlier deaths?The "gripe" underlying that question ought to be obvious, even to you.
We need a single-payer system.Just like Medicaid.
We need a single-payer system.Just like Medicaid. No we don't. Ask the Britons how wonderful their single-payer system is.
BTW, I will pine for the day that RahmBo is frog-marched out of the White House on charges of bribery and extortion.
"We need a single-payer system.Just like Medicaid."I want to be kind because it is my nature, but insanity is the only way to describe this kind of thinking.
Barney Frank admits the public option is just a path to the single-payer plan Jeremy wants.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3BS4C9el98Higher costs, lower quality, rationing . . . just what Doctor Obama ordered.
elHombre said..."Jeremy: No insensitivity toward your father's plight intended, but please cite the specific religious prohibition against prescribing pain killers or "giving up."This was a Catholic hospital, and number of years ago, before many of these same hospitals began to loosen up.They felt pain medication over and above the basic low level meds were overboard and would lead to "addiction." My father was already "addicted" to death, the doctors told him he had less than a year, and in fact died within months...so whatever pain meds would have only alleviated his pain and suffering. (Today it's common for patients to get morphine, etc.)As to the hospice program, many of the more religious hospital didn't buy into providing counseling and comfort as the death was a given. They felt it was a form of "giving up" before God made that decision for them. (Today hospice is common, with many patients allowed to pass on in their own homes, surrounded by family and friends.)Right now, one of the problems we have is over-testing, continued treatment when it's obvious survival is not possible, and not allowing patients to control their own destiny, as is their right.Living wills are the best means of controlling one's destiny, and most people don't even have those. Had Terri Shivo had a living will she would have saved everybody a ton of grief.
Jeremy...Good doctors who will to serve the patient will be enslaved to the State aparatchiks who set all rules and set compensation as low as it can get. The good doctors will go elsewhere and you and me will not have a free country to go for quality care unless we are wealthy enough to pay for our care in Thailand by Israeli doctors
Jeremy wrote (1:35): Are you saying only liberals feel they have the right to choose how and when they die?No I'm speaking of the lefties who think they have the right to choose how and when others die -- "with dignity," of course.Jeremy wrote: Who the fuck are YOU or is anybody for that matter, to tell others how or when they make that decision?Spare us the indignation, you jackass. You know perfectly well we are talking about the state bureaucracy making decisions determining who lives and who dies.
This is a paraphrase of liberal DEM Congressman Joe Sestak on the 1,000+ page healthcare bill which he supports:1-The fewer govt regulations, the better the health care system.2- Doctors should be paid based on the health of their patients. We should review the health of 100,000patients or so to determine if the doctor gets paid a lot or not so much.
Soylent Green is tonsils!
"No doctor is going to "withhold care," ...without the patient's consent."1. Ha ha ha!! Yes indeedy, they will; see HMO capitation from the 1990s for the template.2. But the care is withheld most often well before the patient gets in the door, by restricting available specialists, technology, and treatments. Delays, long queues, and cumbersome protocols serve to deny care as well.
TRO - Single-payer is the most logical way to go.Medicare and Medicaid are both single-payer systems and you'll find very few who do not like what they get.*When asked in a new Harris Poll 76% said they strongly support the treatment they receive through Medicare and 71% supported Medicaid.The Veteran's Administration also is a single-payer system and other than a few of the recent hospital condition scandals, the treatment and service has been in place for a long, long time, treated millions of American vets, and given high marks.*In 2003, when the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a study that compared veterans health facilities on 11 measures of quality , in all 11 measures, the quality of care in veterans facilities proved to be "significantly better." Once we actually have a national health care system, Americans will wonder what took so long...and why we paid so much for so little...for so many years.
Pogo - You need to find yourself a new doctor.I have friends who are doctors and nurses and if they read what you apparently think of them they'd be appalled.
VA hospitals have been shit-holes for years.And your doctor and nurse friends are idiots.
elHombre said..."No I'm speaking of the lefties who think they have the right to choose how and when others die -- "with dignity," of course."Again, I have absolutely no idea what the fuck you're talking about.What "lefties" are making such decisions?And who do YOU know who has ever had someone make that decision for them?You're full of shit.
Pogo said..."VA hospitals have been shit-holes for years. And your doctor and nurse friends are idiots."And once again, Pogo reveals himself to be an ignorant, uneducated boor.Maybe if you were to actually read up on veteran's hospitals and the turnaround they've achieved over the past ten years you wouldn't sound like such an uninformed idiot.As for my friends, they practice medicine, versus yourself, who practices being a fool.
Factcheck is liberal. Every thing is liberal....that I don't agree with.I hate liberal things.I hate...therfore I am.thank you.
Keep government hands off my medicare!I want my country back!Obama is a racist, he hates white people!That's all we need to keep saying until 2012 and the next election will be in the bag.
VA Hospital Warns Colonoscopy Patients of Exposure to HIV, HepatitisTuesday March 24, 2009"Worried military men and women flooded Miami Veterans' Hospital telephone hot lines Tuesday after Monday's announcement that improperly cleaned colonoscopy equipment might have exposed them to hepatitis and HIV."
"Medicare and Medicaid are both single-payer systems and you'll find very few who do not like what they get."A couple problems there. First, a big part of the emphasis for health care reform is a result of the reality that Medicare is fast going bust. Secondly, that is even without taking into consideration that more and more of the Medicare, Medicaid, etc. care is massively cross-subsidized by everyone else getting health care - primarily by those evil insurance companies. How is this done? By setting reimbursement levels below cost. And every time you hear about all the money that Medicare, etc. are saving by cutting costs, remember what they are doing is cutting reimbursement levels, which are already mostly below cost. That means that they aren't saving money, just forcing the public to subsidize them more.One big problem with trying to expand these programs nationwide, or, indeed, impose either single payer, or public option, is that the only way that these programs work right now is due to the fact that there are a lot more people outside the programs cross-subsidizing them, than there are in the programs.So, just imagine what would happen with a single payer system that tried this trick of driving down reimbursement rates in the face of rising costs. Many, if not most, doctors are already running extremely highly leverage operations. This would tilt them almost immediately into the loss territory, and if there isn't anyone left from which to recoup, then they are just going to quit. But, at least it would be single payer.
Report: Poor Care at VA Hospital Caused 9 Deathsby DAVID SCHAPERNPRJanuary 28, 2008"Investigators say the surgical unit at a southern Illinois veterans' hospital was in such disarray that doctors were allowed to perform operations they weren't qualified to perform and that hospital administrators were too slow to respond once problems surfaced, leading directly to the deaths of at least nine surgical patients and as many as 19.Two internal Department of Veterans Affairs investigations also found that the medical mistakes seriously harmed more than a dozen additional veterans who were patients at the Marion, Ill., VA Medical Center."
V.A. Hospital in Philadelphia: Substandard prostate cancer care for our veteransJune 29"This is a summary of events that occurred in a V.A. Facility in Philadelphia Pennsylvania 2002-2008:When the Veterans hospital started their brachytherapy* program in 2002 it provided vets with an additional, less invasive therapy for prostate cancer that had not yet spread to other areas of the body. The new service was staffed via contract with staff and professional radiation oncologists from the University of Pennsylvania. The particular physician in question was trained at both Johns Hopkins and Penn.Between 2002 and 2008 the implantation error ratio was 96:116 procedures.Errors: Radiation seeds were implanted incorrectly, not sufficiently within the prostate and worse, implanted in adjacent organs and/or body tissue (i.e. bladder, rectum, and perineum). Patients believed they were receiving the correct dosage needed to treat the cancer, however their prostates were undertreated and other organs were exposed to radiation they not only didn’t require but were damaged significantly."
I was so angry about Bush Derangement Syndrome.But now I can totally understand Obama Derangement Syndrome.I can barely enjoy the summer and wear cute tankys because I hate Obama, who is a racist.Beaurugard Jefford Sessions III...from Alabama-2012.
Pogo - you can keep citing VA horror stories till your blue in the face, Jeremy will keep insisting that public health care is wondrous.
"*When asked in a new Harris Poll 76% said they strongly support the treatment they receive through Medicare and 71% supported Medicaid."Why shouldn't they? It is almost entirely paid for by everyone else, both through their Medicare taxes, income taxes (for Medicaid), and cross-subsidization by everyone else's health care payments. Of course, they think it is a great deal. I would too, if I had a set up like that. The problem is that by its very nature, of being supported by everyone else, it cannot scale like you would like.
Tell those veterans to get their own health care! Now!
Details emerge about VA doctor's firingThe Associated Press"FORT HARRISON, Mont. - A doctor at Fort Harrison's VA Medical Center who is accused of improperly conducting patient exams and altering records to reflect care that was never given was fired based on the findings of an investigation that began last year.The hospital declined to release the name or specialty of the doctor, who was fired March 13. But a spokeswoman for the center said his patients were told of the findings and were assigned to another practitioner."
Wow, I'm shocked that seniors only give 70+ percent approval for their government run health care! Obviously 1/4 realize what a shit deal they're getting!
"Medicare and Medicaid are both single-payer systems and you'll find very few who do not like what they get."I thought Barry promised his health care plan was going to lower costs. Medicare and Medicaid are about broke and have only resulted in higher costs."The Veteran's Administration also is a single-payer system and other than a few of the recent hospital condition scandals, the treatment and service has been in place for a long, long time, treated millions of American vets, and given high marks."Been there, done that, it ain't all that you believe it is. And it is on a much smaller scale and dealing mostly with specific veteran's health care issues. Neither it nor the military health care system can be easily transferred to a total system for all Americans."Once we actually have a national health care system, Americans will wonder what took so long...and why we paid so much for so little...for so many years."Yes, and unicorns exist.
Britain's cancer shame:http://tinyurl.com/kkoxv3http://tinyurl.com/kj6wxpJustify that Jeremy.
I am fucking mad.Fucking veterans getting free health care.Fucking liberals.Fucking government.Fuck I am mad.
Canada's medical nightmare:http://tinyurl.com/kuwct7* High Costs, Low Quality* Dying in Queues* Bare-Bones Health Care
Had Terri Shivo (sic.) had a living will she would have saved everybody a ton of grief. (1:44)Well, shame on her for causing all that grief. She should be killed. Oh ....And who do YOU know who has ever had someone make that decision for them?You're full of shit. (2:02)I am really speaking prospectively, aren't I? But let's see, um, Terry Schiavo. That's it! Also, decisions are made everyday in single payer, government run health care systems to deny treatment based on cost-effectiveness. For example, limiting an expensive drug treatment for breast cancer was a major issue in the last New Zealand election.But we digress. Let's see, what was that pesky question you keep ducking? Wasn't it: Do you really contend that the Obama/Dem bills will not result in limitations to health care for the elderly that will bring about earlier deaths?
" TitusLovesEveryoneBigHugs said..."Fucking veterans getting free health care."What do the veterans you're fucking think about this?
Oh, Dr. Strangeloaf, your mask is slipping.Go take a dump, willya?We already got one Jeremy too many.
I really wish that Althouse was as trigger happy on the ban-stick as Charles Johnson sometimes.
elHombre - Terri Shivo represents the perfect example of someone who has literally no control over her own destiny, being taken advantage of by others.She was brain dead, it's been proven beyond a shadow of doubt through doctor's reports and the autopsy, yet people like yourself still think the poor woman should have remained alive so the nutcases on the Christian right could use her as some kind of standard bearer.You're a disgusting and selfish person and should be ashamed.
The Veteran's Administration also is a single-payer systemVA hospitals have been shit-holes for years.You are both wrong. VA does a lot of things well (and has missteps like any other hospital), but people going to the VA have an option to go somewhere else if they aren’t happy. That is what we need to preserve.
Alex - Why can't you ever just accept the fact that some people don't agree with you?What's the point of a discussion if every is saying the same thing?If you're so upset over not having everybody on board with your opinions, here's a suggestion: Leave.
Pogo - Be sure to visit the sites I provided.Educate yourself...for a change.
I read those all long ago.Bullshit puff pieces.VAH care is variable: average to to poor to good.Not a template for the country, except by avoidance.
Shanna, some VA hospitals are in fact pretty poor, and although 'shit-holes' may be excessive, they're no reason to celebrate.My older patients avoid them except to show up and get free medications. They do not trust them to diagnose jack shit.
They felt pain medication over and above the basic low level meds were overboard and would lead to "addiction." My father was already "addicted" to death, the doctors told him he had less than a year, and in fact died within months...so whatever pain meds would have only alleviated his pain and suffering. (Today it's common for patients to get morphine, etc.)So instead of it being the Catholic Hospital, it will now be Sally Satchelbottom the government clerk who witholds treatment.After all it was Obama who said that people will have to give up treatment that doesn't make them well. Since your father was going to die anyway, why waste money and time on him with pain killers that really aren't going to make him well. Same thing for those with AIDS, Parkenson, Diabetes and other illness from which you will never get 'well'.What do we want to keep your father alive for anyway? He is old, using up resources and the sooner he goes the better for the State.Brave new world. Welcome to it.
H.R. 3200, page 425: Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the term ‘advance care planning consultation’ means a consultation between the individual and a practitioner described in paragraph (2) regarding advance care planning...What FactCheck left out was that the "practitioner described in paragraph(2)" of the bill has to be an employee of ACORN.Kidding;)
Shanna, some VA hospitals are in fact pretty poor, and although 'shit-holes' may be excessive, they're no reason to celebrate.VA hospitals are variable, like all other hospitals. Plenty of regular hospitals are poor too, it just doesn’t make the front page of the NY times every time anything happens. Lord knows I’m not trying to hold it up as an excuse for Obama Care because I really don’t want that. But, they are often unfairly maligned. I imagine some of your older patients remember the old days when things were very bad indeed, but they have improved quite a lot since then. One thing with the VA is that they are dependent on congressional funds, and so they go though fat and lean times, wholly dependent on what is politically popular at any given moment. It would be a really bad idea to make that true of the entire government’s health care. And as I mentioned, you can choose to go or not to go. That should be preserved.
Dust Bunny Queen said..."So instead of it being the Catholic Hospital, it will now be Sally Satchelbottom the government clerk who witholds treatment."As usual, you're on the wrong page.Things have changed dramatically as far as pain medications and hospice are concerned.I described my father's situation, and as I mentioned, it was a number of years ago.I suggest, when your time comes, instead of relying on the medical staff you refer to as "Sally Satchelbottom the government clerk who witholds treatment" (which makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever - other than being the standard wing nut insanity), you stay right there in your little trailer and let whatever God you believe in handle matters.
HR 3200 (America's Affordable Health Choices Act 2009) = THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND HEALTHCARE.
Pogo, you don't know jack shit about anything.Denigrating the veteran's hospitals is just plain stupid and it really reveals just how full of shit you are.
1. My mom was a veteran of WWII. In order to get her FREE! healthcare from the VA, she had to travel two and a half hours to the nearest VA hospital. Never saw the same doctor twice. When it became difficult for her to travel, she still had to make the trip because the VA wouldn't refill her meds without seeing her.2. Husband of a friend had a seizure in Paris. Ambulance took him to the finest hospital in Paris (largest in the world, I'm told). An MRI would help them figure out the cause of his seizure; the soonest he could get the MRI was in a month. He flew home to the US and had the MRI the next day.
Pogo describes articles via U.S. News and World Report and The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as..."puff pieces."Duh.
prairie wind - Anecdotal drivel.There are good and bad experiences via any form of health care.There are good doctors and bad doctors.Get used to it...it's called "life."
Quayle: "If doctors can get paid for it, they'll do more of it."Jeremy: "Yes, most doctors go into the profession to maximize their incomes."Yes, Jeremy. Yes, they do.Because becoming a Doctor is HARD. You know, like pull Barbie's string and she says, "Math is Hard." Really and truly HARD. Not only do you have to be really smart, but you have to spend the better part of your 20's busting your butt instead of having fun or having babies. The school just never ends.So anyone who is SANE, Jeremy, who contemplates becoming a Doctor is going to be looking at what they will get out of it.Because if they just want to feel good about themselves... they can volunteer at the local soup kitchen and get the exact same good feelings about helping their fellow human beings as if they spend a decade in an excessively difficult school first.
"I imagine some of your older patients remember the old days when things were very bad indeed, but they have improved quite a lot since then."Actually, these guys have had recent bad experiences in Iowa, MN and WI VAs, and so will only go there for the free meds.And your point needs to be put in bold, because it is so very very true:"One thing with the VA is that they are dependent on congressional funds, and so they go though fat and lean times, wholly dependent on what is politically popular at any given moment. It would be a really bad idea to make that true of the entire government’s health care."The 'fat and lean' times mean wide variations in quality, of course, responding only when there are scandals, such as the Walter Reed debacle last year:'WRAMC's Building 18 is described in the article as rat- and cockroach-infested, with stained carpets, cheap mattresses, and black mold, with no heat and water reported by some soldiers at the facility.'
the Walter Reed debacle last yearI'm sorry, just have to say this real quick...WALTER REED IS NOT A VA. It is Walter Reed ARMY hospital. That is all.
When it became difficult for her to travel, she still had to make the trip because the VA wouldn't refill her meds without seeing her.You can get them by mail now, I think.
Somehow that separation (military vs. VA) doesn't seem to help me.'It Is Just Not Walter Reed'Soldiers Share Troubling Stories Of Military Health Care Across U.S.By Anne Hull and Dana PriestWashington Post Staff WritersMonday, March 5, 2007; Page A01"His own VA hospital in Livermore was a mess. The gown he wore was torn. The wheelchairs were old and broken."It is just not Walter Reed," Oliva slowly tapped out on his keyboard at 4:23 in the afternoon on Friday. "The VA hospitals are not good either except for the staff who work so hard. It brings tears to my eyes when I see my brothers and sisters having to deal with these conditions. I am 70 years old..."Look, I am not trying to bash them, but when people try to uphold VA hospitals as an example of the goal of national health care, it gives me the shivers, and their skeletons need to be shown.
Taxes. Socialism. Complicated. Great Britain. Rationing. Euthanasia. Bureaucrats. Chew chew chew!
I'd say induce vomiting.
Most military hospitals are very good. (They also don't have to deal with the same patient demographic... to even get into the military you have to be healthy. Some dependents need care for various genetic conditions or diseases but for the most part military hospitals are dealing with healthy young men and women having babies. That and trauma and injuries, of course.)The issue with Walter Reed, I'm convinced, was that it cared for soldiers separated from their units and then sent them on. People who need care are not able to deal with any more than their day to day crisis's, rehabilitation and even just staying alive. Civilian family members simply can't navigate the military system and even if they could, they are likely unable to deal with their loved one's condition, much less anything additional to that. Which is why being separated from your unit is such a big deal. Your whole support network might still be in Iraq or Afghanistan or else back home but in some other part of the country. The people whose job it is to watch out for their troops are not there. Your whole chain of command is elsewhere. You're a bit of an orphan.So then you get well enough to do something about conditions but that means you're well enough to *leave* too. When the Walter Reed scandal hit the news there were people posting to Blackfive.net that they'd been there and were feeling guilty that after they left they didn't follow through to make sure that the soldiers who arrived after them didn't face the same conditions. But the thing is... they weren't *there* anymore and they were still dealing with their own recovery.In a local military hospital the members of your unit will stop by to see you and even if you don't have energy for more than your own recovery, they *do*. You aren't an orphan. And when you are better, you're still *there*.That said... like all things military, you can really get screwed over by the system and heaven help you if you have some sort of non-standard situation that must be resolved.Also, in the end... you CAN go to a civilian hospital and civilian doctors.When my husband had his herniated disks (three of them) and could get no MRI or exam or anything but muscle relaxants and pain meds, we knew several Airmen that were trying to decide if they could afford to go outside of the (free) military hospital system to get an MRI they could bring back to their military doctor.We don't know if he'd have gotten better care at our next base because during our leave enroute we were technically far enough from any military hospital that the Air Force would pay for a visit to a civilian doctor, so we had the MRI in hand when we arrived at our next base... they had my husband in surgery with their neurosurgeon before he even in-processed. He was in the hospital for 14 days... and yet, his previous doctor wouldn't even order an MRI.Yes... the idea of government "fixing" our health care system frightens me.
Yes, how dare anyone question a massive, vague, government takeover. Forget that Obama can't even give a coherent, convincing argument for it in his own press conference!Those of you who make fun of people questioning this really come across as lapdogs. A lot of democrats are even backing away from this now, and quickly. More and more Americans are against it every day.Are all these people ignorant? Reactionary? Paranoid? Greedy?People have real, legitimate concerns. I should say, adults have real concerns. Fanboys just want Obama's plans to go through.
The pragmatic Obama has never run a lemonade stand. Nancy Pelosi, a multi-millionaire, denigrates for-profit insurance companies today.The Cash-for-clunkers programs is hitting all kinds of bureaucracy snags due to its complexity or inanity or both. Ted Kennedy, Henry Waxman, Barbara Boxer, Joe Biden are all examples of longtime pols who have never run a private enterprise.
GovernmentCare’s Assault on Seniors"The assault against seniors began with the stimulus package in February. Slipped into the bill was substantial funding for comparative effectiveness research, which is generally code for limiting care based on the patient’s age. The harshest misconception underlying the legislation is that living longer burdens society. Medicare data prove this is untrue. A patient who dies at 67 spends three times as much on health care at the end of life as a patient who lives to 90, according to Dr. Herbert Pardes, CEO of New York Presbyterian Medical Center.Nevertheless, Medicare is running out of money. The problem is the number of seniors compared with the smaller number of workers supporting the system with payroll taxes. To remedy the problem, the Congressional Budget Office has suggested inching up the eligibility age one month per year until it reaches age 70 in 2043, or asking wealthy seniors to pay more.These are reasonable solutions—reducing access to treatments and counseling seniors about cutting life short are not. Medicare has made living to a ripe old age a good value. ObamaCare will undo that."
AJ Lynch said..."Nancy Pelosi, a multi-millionaire, denigrates for-profit insurance companies today."God knows you wouldn't want to "denigrate" insurance companies. I mean, hey...just look at how wonder they are and how fair they are.Probably why there have been multiple lawsuits won by the government over the past few years because they were screwing customers, canceling coverage or delaying coverage.And don't even think about "denigrating" those wonderful oil companies.By the way: While more people are losing their health insurance every day, and despite seeing a 10 percent drop in commercial enrollment to 1.4 million, UnitedHealthCare Profits Doubled Compared to Same Quarter Last Year. Can you say...obscene?
Synova said..."Yes, Jeremy. Yes, they do."You believe most doctors become doctors to maximize their incomes?You sound like a very sad and cynical person indeed.
If whining and bitching was a tonic for health, this would be the healthiest group of people on the internet.
And yet, Jeremy... even knowing the evil present in human beings... you want to give more power to other people over your own life.Because the SAME people, Jeremy... the exact same ones! Vile, grasping, venal human beings, will be in charge of the government programs. Money will be no less an issue, perhaps even more.I only point this out to you to explain why what you *think* may be an argument against the private sector really is not at all.In other words... I do not think this means what you think it means.
Synova said..."And yet, Jeremy... even knowing the evil present in human beings... you want to give more power to other people over your own life."Between you, Pogo, Alex, and elHombre I don't know who makes less sense.Exactly WHO would I be giving this "power" to?Right now we're all dependent upon for profit insurance companies who's primarily goal is to pay as little as possible for out health care needs, you appear to believe by upsetting that wonderful situation, we're going to get fucked.I have news for you: We're already getting fucked and have been getting fucked for years on end.Americans pay MORE for their insurance and treatment than any other country on the planet, and rank quite a bit down the ladder as far as treatment, longevity, infant mortality, and other aspects of health care.If you don't mind paying...keep on paying.
"You believe most doctors become doctors to maximize their incomes?"Yes. Within certain parameters, certainly.Sane people weigh the various elements of any life choice they make. They weigh probable income against the investment of time and effort and money. They weigh other elements as well, if they'll enjoy the job, have time for their family, do something worth while that is important.Very very few people do not try to maximize their income.The rather formidable investment necessary to become a doctor, time-money-sweat... all that is undertaken with the expectation of compensation adequate to make up for those years and financial debt.This is not cynicism. Not at all.Because I do not believe, at all, that the measure of virtue is some fuzzy-bunny utopic altruism or that human beings, in order to be "good", have to have it or that freaking public policy can depend on it.I do understand that support for public healthcare for all, so we can show how much we care and are not *mean* people, does depend on the belief in this altruistic ideal, because if people don't really behave according to this self-less sacrificial version of human nature... many *many* people will decide that it's not worth the years of medical school, the debt, or the stress in their personal relationships.And we will soon be short of doctors.
"And we will soon be short of doctors."Already there, actually.
Synova said..."Yes. Within certain parameters, certainly."Ohhhhhhhhhh, so suddenly we have "certain parameters."Quit digging, fool.You're already up to your chin in shit.
Mythbusting Canadian Health Care -- Part IBy Sara Robinson / February 4, 2008 - 5:23pm EThttp://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/mythbusting-canadian-health-care-part-i
UnitedHealthCare Profits Doubled Compared to Same Quarter Last Year. I suppose the horse already left the barn as far as investment opportunity.
Mythbusting Canadian Health Care, Part II: Debunking the Free MarketeersBy Sara Robinson / February 11, 2008http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/mythbusting-canadian-healthcare-part-ii-debunking-free-marketeers
chickenlittle said..."I suppose the horse already left the barn as far as investment opportunity."Not if we don't get some kind of national health care policy.Their average stock price was right at $50 up until the current downtrend.Right now you can buy in at about 30.If they stay on top...there's no telling where it will go if a bill does not pass.
Jeremy wrote (2:23): [Terri Schiavo] was brain dead, ... yet people like yourself still think the poor woman should have remained alive so the nutcases on the Christian right could use her as some kind of standard bearer.I don't believe I expressed an opinion about that. My point was that Schiavo did not die from an atrophied brain. She died as a result of an order issued by a government official, a judge, directing that she be denied any sustenance.I would think that you, particularly as someone who is dangerously close to being brain dead, would be concerned about legislation that may expand the right of government officials to set priorities on matters of life and death.
So Jeremy, when are you gonna answer my question you chickenshit, euthanasia-loving putz? Once again:Do you really contend that the Obama/Dem bills will not result in limitations to health care for the elderly that will bring about earlier deaths?
Americans pay MORE for their insurance and treatment than any other country on the planet, and rank quite a bit down the ladder as far as treatment, longevity, infant mortality, and other aspects of health care.Those figures have been repeatedly debunked, and I cannot believe that you don't know that.For example, why does the U.S. rate lower on infant mortality? Because of the way that the statistics are kept, and what is considered a live birth. If you were to ignore premies and multiple births, as most of those countries do, we would look a lot better. And when comparing the U.S. to Canada, if you added all the difficult births sent down here from Canada to their statistics, instead of ours, things would shift a bit there too.
Exactly WHO would I be giving this "power" to?Right now we're all dependent upon for profit insurance companies who's primarily goal is to pay as little as possible for out health care needs, you appear to believe by upsetting that wonderful situation, we're going to get fucked.I can understand why you may prefer the nameless bureaucrat over the evil capitalist, but can you understand why we don't? Why we think of the DMV, IRS, etc., and aren't excited about nameless bureaucrats making those decisions for us.And, you forget one big distinction. When the insurance company denies coverage, and under the terms of your policy, it should have been covered, then you can sue the insurance company, and if they lose, they will often get hit with bad faith and outrageous conduct punitive damages. This has the effect of significantly reducing the wrongful denials. But, if that nameless bureaucrat denies coverage, you are typically SOL. You can't sue the government, because it is protected from suits like that through the doctrine of Sovereign Immunity. You can, of course, write a letter to your Congressman, your Senator, President Obama, the head of the agency, or even the tooth fairy. But unless you are on a first name basis with one of them, you are still going to be SOL.
Do you really contend that the Obama/Dem bills will not result in limitations to health care for the elderly that will bring about earlier deaths?Given around 60% of patients at a typical hospital are funded by Medicare or Medicaid (most of whom are elderly and whose numbers are poised to expand) that seems inevitable under any plan; either that or just ramp up the printing presses until the last boomer dies off.
You believe most doctors become doctors to maximize their incomes?Whether they do it to save the world, or just to make money, it doesn't really matter, when you are talking about destroying their livelihoods. Most people who are seriously considering a career as a doctor are going to be scared away if they discover that they can't earn a living at it. It is just too much time and effort for no financial reward. We are talking school and training from age of 5 up through maybe the age of 30 or so. Add in a couple hundred thousand in educational debt, and the picture looks even worse. Add in the hours and the time on-call. No wonder physicians today are often counseling their kids to go into other lines of work. And there is no reason to believe that ObamaCare, as it currently exists right now, would not make this significantly worse, through an attempt to impose Medicare type system of payments to the rest of us (without the rest of us being able to cross-subsidize those being covered by such a system).
Given around 60% of patients at a typical hospital are funded by Medicare or Medicaid (most of whom are elderly and whose numbers are poised to expand) that seems inevitable under any plan; either that or just ramp up the printing presses until the last boomer dies off.But keep in mind that Medicare, Medicaid, etc. only work right now because they are massively cross-subsidized by all the rest of the paying patients.
Bruce - then answer is we need more government run medical schools.
If we do nationalize health care, I will do everything within my power to be on the committee that decides Jeremy's benefits and, for that matter, in every blue state.They're gonna get national health care good and hard. My motto as a Natl. Medicare drone? Just Say No.
Pogo - no need to spout such nonsense. Jeremy is simply misinformed. Besides, 92% of Canadians love their health care.
The father of Canadian single-payer says to start privatizing:http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=2976Castonguay advocates contracting out services to the private sector, going so far as suggesting that public hospitals rent space during off-hours to entrepreneurial doctors. He supports co-pays for patients who want to see physicians. Castonguay, the man who championed public health insurance in Canada, now urges for the legalization of private health insurance.Sick with ovarian cancer, Sylvia de Vires, an Ontario woman afflicted with a 13-inch, fluid-filled tumor weighing 40 pounds, was unable to get timely care in Canada. She crossed the American border to Pontiac, Mich., where a surgeon removed the tumor, estimating she could not have lived longer than a few weeks more.The Canadian government pays for U.S. medical care in some circumstances, but it declined to do so in de Vires' case for a bureaucratically perfect, but inhumane, reason: She hadn't properly filled out a form. At death's door, de Vires should have done her paperwork better.I think Jeremy's world view just imploded.
Most Americans says "best days behind us" in Rasmussen poll:http://tinyurl.com/24f5wf48% say yes, 38% say noI guess its human nature to be more pessimistic. It's in the human DNA. We are a species that no doubt deserves extinction.
I think Jeremy's world view just imploded.I think Jeremy is busy trying to think up shit he can fling at you, Alex. Given the seriousness of your challenge, he may have to resort to that greatest of insults; charging (without evidence) that you listen to Rush Limbaugh.
Do you really contend that the Obama/Dem bills will not result in limitations to health care for the elderly that will bring about earlier deaths?Given around 60% of patients at a typical hospital are funded by Medicare or Medicaid (most of whom are elderly and whose numbers are poised to expand) that seems inevitable under any plan; either that or just ramp up the printing presses until the last boomer dies off.I suspect both will be necessary to keep a public system afloat, current or future. Extended suffering and/or early death due to rationing, while printing money as fast as possible to keep the rationing at "tolerable" levels to prevent a patient rebellion.It is a balancing act that will ultimately fail.
chickenlittle wrote: "Given around 60% of patients at a typical hospital are funded by Medicare or Medicaid (most of whom are elderly and whose numbers are poised to expand)[limited health care leading to early death] seems inevitable under any plan...."Maybe, but that is not currently proposed under existing Medicare, particularly for patients with "Medigap" insurance. It certainly seems inevitable under Obamacare. My question to Jeremy, the euthanasia-loving putz, however, was whether he claimed it was not going to happen under Obamacare.
"Whether they do it to save the world, or just to make money, it doesn't really matter,..."Because, in the end, there are all sorts of other ways to save the world that... cost less... give you more time with your family... are less constraining... and are less likely to result in people suing you for millions of dollars.
I am always thrilled to learn of those magnaminous altruistic doctors, the ones that did not go into medicine for money, who simply donate their services for breadcrumbs and a bite of cheese. Even room and board they shun, these secular saints, not to let filthy lucre stain their lily-white hands.Bless them, these saints, these angels of mercy. But still, I want to see their 1040s please.
AJ Lynch said..."The Cash-for-clunkers programs is hitting all kinds of bureaucracy snags due to its complexity or inanity or both."Yeah, it's REALLY hit a snag:CNBC:The Obama administration announced this morning that it won't be suspending its "cash for clunkers" program.According to some rough math, the clunkers program could bring July car sales to an annual rate of more than 12 million, which would be a 27 percent increase and the highest sales since September.Kurt Karl, chief economist at Swiss Re in New York, said he thinks the program could even turn third-quarter GDP positive."That's big enough with production and sales to give a solid punch to the third quarter," Karl explained. "That would take my slightly negative [projection] and take it to the definitely positive area."
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News and Recent Developments
- September 2013: Haiti Solar Oven Partners will be traveling North Dakota, USA with its Haitian leaders, Montas Joseph and Raymonde Joseph, to spread the word about solar-powered ovens utilized in the poverty-stricken nation of Haiti, and to bolster potential volunteers for the cause. Montas Joseph, Haitian director of HSOP, and Raymonde Joseph, HSOP training director, will visit 29 United Methodist churches in North Dakota and South Dakota throughout September. Read more about the project.
- February 2013: Changes are coming to Tilori, Haiti as well. Twenty-five families are learning to cook Haitian meals like soup, beans, potatoes, yucca, plantains and rice with energy-efficient stoves and solar ovens — little or no wood or charcoal is needed. Solar Household Energy (SHE), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that introduces solar and alternative cooking to communities, recently distributed the stoves that were purchased with Nature Conservancy funding. Louise Meyer, trainer from SHE, will continue to provide on-going technical assistance and encourage the women to support each other as they learn this new way of cooking. Read more at Solar Cookers: Making Life Easier for Women
- January 2013: Scheffler Community Kitchen installed in Hinche, Haiti - Alec Gagneux of GloboSol helped facitate the construction of a Scheffler Reflector Solar Cooker at a workshop held in Hinche, Haiti from August 10th through October 15th, 2010. The first reflector was installed in front of the cafeteria of the education center. The students themselves installed the second reflector in an orphanage in the village of Dospalais. They were supervised minimally in order to make the workshop as self-reliant as possible. They also received information about possible income generation approaches to be able to raise their standard of living. Read more of the project. A portion is English, but it is primarily in French.
- November 2012: With the intent of promoting Solar Fire powered businesses and gathering usage data, ASTRA traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and began training local workers to build Phaeton solar cookers. Unfortunately, near the end of production a devastating fire swept the workshop, destroying tools and progress. The project lacked the resources to restart. We are very excited to start fresh and explore ways we can prove the economic, environmental, social and health benefits of Solar Fire technologies. Lorin Symington writes that ASTRA (Agency for Solar Technology Research & Application) has developed a powerful and versatile solar cooker called the Phaeton. Calculations show that the Phaeton is one of the most cost effective solar thermal systems in the world. According to principles embodied by the open-source family of technologies known as Solar Fire, the Phaeton is built from globally available and workable materials. The array of glass mirrors focus sunlight such that users can bake, boil, fry, deep fry, roast, pasteurize, distill or dehydrate. The amount of useable energy harnessed is ~2kWh seven hours a day. Based on energy values of US$.25 kWh, and 300 operating days a year, at a cost of $500 a fully utilized Phaeton will see return on investment in less than 5 months and will last 20 years. We expect exponential growth of a properly managed project and ASTRA is searching for the means to mount a series of projects designed to test the limits of solar thermal implementation.
- November 2012: Haiti Solar Oven Project board members and partners met the last weekend in October to set goals for 2013. In the next fiscal year, Haiti Solar Oven Partners will provide 2,280 units to Haitian families participating in training and ownership of a solar oven.
- October 2012: Students, parents, faculty, staff and friends gathered at Miami Country Day School located in Miami, Florida, USA on Friday, April 20, 2012 and set the Guinness Book of World Records™ for “The Most Cookies Baked in One Hour Using Solar Ovens”. Trays of unbaked cookies were placed in 40 smaller solar ovens, as well as, two Villager solar ovens. After the cookies were baked and 1225 counted....a World Record was set! The event raised over $18,000 USD, which was used to send the 40 solar ovens and a Villager oven to Haiti. The cookies baked in the event were donated to Feeding South Florida. The event was lead by Matthew Cohen, a high school junior who has been actively involved in the solar oven movement for the past nine years. Cohen launched the website Power from the Sun to educate people worldwide on the benefits of solar cooking and help raise money to send solar ovens to needy families in Haiti. Cohen’s latest project is aptly named “The Life Of The Traveling Solar Oven” and encourages students, parents, teachers, and local businesses to sponsor a solar oven. Participants are asked to use the solar oven, document their experience with video or photos and share it on their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/PowerFromTheSun. The event will conclude on Earth Day 2013.
- July 2012 - After a successful first trip, Lorin Symington is following up on advances made in Haiti and is working towards a pilot project in Haiti.
- January 2011 - Lorin Symington will soon be traveling to Hispaniola and will spend much of 2011 in Haiti where the need for solar cookers is paramount. He is seeking sponsors, investors, collaborators and people with experience on the ground.
- November 2011: Kevin Adair of El Fuego del Sol, reports they are working on a major proposal for USAID for Haiti featuring solar cooking. The request for proposals from USAID appears to be terribly skewed in the direction of low pressure gas (LPG), at the expense of considering other alternatives. There are currently active programs in Haiti and the Dominican Republic promoting solar cookers used in conjunction with alternative fuel efficient stoves. This approach is explained in the Integrated Cooking Method. Read the USAID for HAITI Request for Proposals
- May 2011: Solar Household Energy (SHE) has begun a cooperative relationship with Grupo Jaragua, a highly respected non-governmental organization in the Dominican Republic, to support a solar cooking initiative. Grupo is aided by a Dominican eco-tourism and solar cooking advocate El Fuego del Sol, which conducts the local assembly and subsidized sale of Sun Oven box cookers in rural communities near the Haitian border. They are also supporting The Nature Conservancy’s office in the Dominican Republic to add the integrated cooking method as a component of their reforestation project in Haiti. Read more in the SHE spring update 2011.
- February 2011: Solar cooker manufacturer offers additional aid to Haiti. - Sun Ovens International is pledging to match each Sun Oven bought through the company’s website or through any Sun Oven distributor. The company will match every Sun Oven purchased dollar for dollar and will donate all the proceeds of the sales to the disaster-stricken people in Haiti through the Friends of Haiti Organization (FOHO). Cash donations are also accepted and will also be matched. More Information...
- January 2011: Clean Currents Donates 100 Solar Cookers to Primary Schools in Port-au-Prince Joining the movement to train primary school students and provide them a solar cooker is Clean Currents, a Mid-Atlantic green energy provider. Announced on Jan. 12th, it will be purchasing 100 solar cookers to benefit schools in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Solar Cookers International will be distributing the solar cookers and will provide on-site training through its network of staff and volunteers in Haiti. "Reaching students in their classrooms and teaching them a new lifestyle habit like solar cooking is a positive and accessible way to improve lives and the global environment," said AmyJo Mattheis, Executive Director of Solar Cookers International.
- January 2011: Haiti - One year later: Haiti continues to benefit from solar cooking. Solar Cookers International (SCI) and International Child Care Ministries (ICCM) are working to expand a project in the schools around Port Au Prince to integrate solar cooking into the 5th grade science curriculum. The goal is that each student will receive a CooKit to use each day in preparing and cooking their lunch, all the time learning about science. Training and certification of teachers continues, as do SCI’s efforts to secure funding to provide 2000 more CooKits for this school project. To date, SCI has provided 200 CooKits, pots and Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs) for four schools. With your help, we will achieve our goal of 2000 more! Reaching students in their classrooms, teaching a new lifestyle habit, while at the same time providing environment education is a winning program. Background: SCI, in collaboration with Sun Ovens International and ICCM, distributed over 400 CooKits in Haiti immediately following the devastating earthquake there. Near the community of Pigeon, 135 Haitians were trained in solar cooking by Programme Energie Solaire. Each participant received a CooKit, a pot and a WAPI, giving these earthquake survivors a method to cook their food and pasteurize their water without need of scarce and expensive fuel. Solar cooking is technology that offers relief in disaster situations: 1) When infrastructures are in ruins and no energy or gas is available, solar cooking utilizes the sun to cook hot food; 2) When fuel is scarce, cooking with the sun offers a clean, workable solution; 3) Solar cookers fight cholera by heating water to pasteurization temperatures (65°C or 150°F); and 4) Using a solar cooker requires only the sun, and does not necessitate searching for other forms of fuel. Families can stay together and remain safe. SCI thanks you for your ongoing support for solar cooking in Haiti.
- January 2011: InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) focused on the world’s poor and most vulnerable people, has developed a Haiti Aid Map of projects conducted by its member organizations. Solar Cookers International's efforts to provide solar cookers to survivors of last year's devistating earthquake are included. Please consider supporting SCI's relief efforts in Haiti.
- November 2010: Celebrity chef helps in Haiti. This past year José Andrés, an internationally known chef and social activist, has been doing his part to help the people of Haiti. When he had lost power at his own home for a few days, following a severe snowstorm, he discovered the magic of solar cooking. He was amazed how efficiently a parabolic solar cooker, which had been given to him and had sat unused, performed on a cold but cloudless day. In spring 2010 he was part of a team from Solar For Hope, which headed to Haiti to help with earthquake relief. As part of their efforts they distributed parabolic solar cookers and provided training. He feels the parabolic cooker is well-suited to prepare the traditional local fried food recipes. Andrés believes a pressurized cook pot is also a valuable asset to promote with solar cooking. It can shorten cooking times, and provide additional cooking, once the pot is removed from the oven. Listen to a recent interview with José about the project. Inspired by his initial experience in Haiti, José created the World Central Kitchen, a foundation focused on feeding vulnerable people, supporting the local agricultural economy through local food purchases, and promoting nutritious foods, recipes, and environmentally sustainable cooking fuels and technologies. José is returning to Haiti, and the World Central Kitchen, in partnership with Grameen Creative Lab, is planning to build a commercial kitchen with the capacity to feed 10,000 people daily. The goal is to create a sustainable "social business" for the people that have the least. They plan to serve a nearby orphanage, school, hospital, and local residents. Solar cookers will be play a central role in the project.
- October 2010: John McGreevy, a recent graduate of Elon University in North Carolina, spent three weeks in Haiti, two before the earthquake and one after. Prior to the earthquake his time was spent conducting research on solar cooking. He took ten solar cookers to the rural village of Layaye, put on demonstrations and delivered cookers to families. He also recorded his findings in order to understand the potential for solar cooking in that area. His research was presented at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research in Montana and a photojournalism article was published in Visions Elon University's environmental magazine.
- August 2010: The devastating 2010 earthquake crippled the fragile infrastructure of the Haitian capital leaving millions with no way of preparing meals and no solution in sight. Solar Liberty Foundation was also able to provide help. The foundation provided a shipment of solar cookers to the Haitian Bouske organization. More Information...
- May 2010: So far, 3,600 solar ovens have been distributed to trained solar cooks through Solar Oven Partners. Experienced, passionate Haitian leaders have been directing the program. Positive feedback and frequent use of ovens for cooking, baking and water pasteurization has been reported. In March, the self-motivated Haitian trainers and Assembly Lady completed a series of three seminars, with the assembly and distribution of 241 ovens. In April, another 80-85 participants completed a seminar. Solar Oven Partners hope to reach a total distribution of 5,000 solar ovens in near term.
- April 2010: A Solar For Hope team headed for Haiti to help provide earthquake relief. As part of their efforts, they distributed ten AlSol 1.4 parabolic solar cookers. The package included accessories and equipment for cooking with retained heat, and also workshop training for preparation of indigenous foods. Noted international chef and social activist, Jose' Andre's, was part of the team that also included writers, environmental activists, and members of Engineers Without Borders.
- April 2010 Four hundred and fifty Sol*Saver Water Pasteurizers have recently been shipped to Haiti to assist with safe water availability. This is happening through the efforts of John Grandinetti, a solar inventor.
- April 2010: Bethesda Evangelical Mission has been promoting inexpensive solar cookers, both CooKits and homemade, as well as simple photovoltaic systems in Haiti. More Information...
- April 2010: A recent training occurred in Pigeon, Haiti for people from the areas affected by the earthquake. 135 people participated in eight hours of training over a two day period. It was led by two Haitian trainers, a cook from the Programme Energie Solaire of the Free Methodist Mission, and Paul Munsen. Lunch was prepared in CooKits and Sun Ovens and served to the participants both days. As part of the written training materials, each participant was given a log to keep track of the number of times they use the CooKit, the amount of charcoal they saved and the amount of money they saved by not buying charcoal. Those who keep the log for 30 days and used the CooKit on the majority of sunny days can use their log as the down payment on a subsidized Global Sun Oven. They can purchase a Global Sun Oven for $25 USD and have up 12 months to pay it off using money they save by not buying charcoal. From past experience we estimate that 2/3 of the people who receive the CooKits will follow though and receive a Sun Oven. 90 Global Sun Ovens have been made available for this project. A Villager Sun Oven, which was donated by the Rotary Clubs of Rotary District 6450 (Chicago), was also installed. The Villager Sun Oven will be used to cook lunches for the school and in the afternoon bread will baked. The bread will be sold to help generate income for the school.
- February 25, 2010: With hundreds of thousands of Haitians homeless and living in tent camps, Sun Ovens International is continuing to place as many ovens in camps as possible. In late February, Paul Munsen traveled to Haiti and initiated distribution and training in seven tent camps. A committee was formed in each camp to determine who would receive the Sun Ovens and look for ways to increase utilization. At each location many people who were not able to receive a Sun Oven pleaded for additional ovens. For additional information about Sun Ovens International's work in Haiti, click here. As shown in the photos below, camps are in open fields, schoolyards or anywhere space is available. Previously trained staff from Programme Energie Solaire of the Free Methodist Inland Mission have been employed to conduct training sessions. Paul Munsen loaded his rental car with ovens to take to the camps where he met with a camp committees. Training on the use of WAPIs for water pasteurization was also provided. Children and adults were eager to learn how to cook with the sun.
- February 15, 2010: Jack Anderson reports: Paul Munsen is going to Port-au-Prince next week to establish some connections with the Free Methodists and others. There could be as many as 80 Sun Ovens there that didn't get crushed or damaged. Right now I am trying to connect with experienced trainers that might take jobs in any of the projects that surface. So it is a planning and capacity building phase that we are in. The energy, consciousness and cooperation among all of our solar colleagues is very inspiring and somewhat humbling in the face of such a huge catastrophe.
- February 7, 2010: Jupiter church has solar ovens for Haiti that can't get there - Palm Beach Post News
- February 1, 2010: Solar Cooking briefing document for Haiti
- January 30, 2010: Solar ovens "cooking up a storm" for quake victims in Petite Riviere De Nippes, Haiti.
- January 29, 2010: Sun Ovens International Update: Much progress has been made in the efforts to expand the use of Sun Ovens to Haiti. On January 28, 2010, 2 large Villager Sun Ovens, 160 Global Sun Ovens, 200 CooKits and 2,000 Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs) have been shipped. In addition, arrangements are underway for 297 Haitian made Global Sun Ovens from the assembly plant in Lambert Haiti to be distributed to families left homeless by the recent earthquake. A shipment of parts to reopen the assembly plant is scheduled for February 8. A partnership has been initiated with Bright Hope International, an NGO which has been working in Haiti for more than 15 years. The majority of the Sun Ovens will be distributed to families living in a tent city which has sprung up at a garbage dump in Port au Prince. Bright Hope is currently providing food and medicine to 429 families at this location. Some of the ovens will also be used in tent cities in Pignon which is 79 miles north of Port-au-Prince and has doubled in size from 35,000 to 65,000 people in the past two weeks. I will be traveling to Haiti in early February to assist in the distribution and training. Bright Hope plans to send additional shipments to Haiti of food, medicine and Sun Ovens throughout the month of February. With hundreds of thousands of Haitians homeless and living in make shift tent camps the need for Sun Ovens is immense. Most of the tent camps and are using charcoal to cook. The smoke in these camps strains the health of women and children who are all ready malnourished and dehydrated. The cost of each Sun Oven with two pots and WAPIs is $199. Donations of any amount will be greatly appreciated. Donations should be made out to Friends of Haiti Organization, PO Box 222, Holland, OH 43528, USA (Please note the donation is for the Sun Oven project.)
- January 2010: Water Pasteurization Indicators set to go to Haiti - Recorder Online
- January 2010: Solar Cookers Head to Haiti (Audio) - Capital Public Radio
- April 2008: Sun Ovens International is now assembling the Global Sun Oven in a factory in Haiti. A microfinance system is being used to make these ovens available to poor people who need them. An average family spends $2.30 (U.S.) per week to purchase charcoal. A Sun Oven can be used for 70% of their cooking and will save an average of $1.61 a week in charcoal expenditures. Weekly payments are set at $ .97 (60% of the savings); the remaining $ .64 per week creates an incentive to solar cook and takes money that literally was going up in smoke, distributing it through the local economy. Initially, the challenge of implementing this system was that women in Haiti live very much one day at a time and even though they saved a high percentage of their income by using a Sun Oven, they rarely had a long enough view to understand that they were saving money. To overcome this problem, cardboard solar panel cookers were introduced. Women received 3 days of training centered around the construction of a cardboard solar panel cooker, the principals and concepts of solar cooking, and the frailty of the Haitian environment. The training occurs over lunchtime, and the first two days, Haitian foods are cooked in Sun Ovens and served for lunch. On the third day, a solar potluck is held. Each student prepares food in their own cardboard cooker and shares it with fellow trainees. As part of the training, participants receive a log allowing them to document the use of their cardboard cooker and the amount of money they saved by not using charcoal. Participants who use their solar panel cooker on sunny days, for 90 days or longer, can use their log as a down payment on a Sun Oven. The Sun Ovens cook food much faster and can be used to cook the evening meals. After 90 days of documenting the use of the cardboard cooker, women have a much better understanding of the financial benefits of cooking with the sun and are eager to agree to a payment plan to obtain a Sun Oven.
- March 2008: For nearly a decade, Solar Oven Partners (SOP) has been providing Haitians with needed relief from wood-fueled cooking in the form of solar ovens. Volunteers in Brookings, South Dakota (USA) use donated or discounted raw materials to build numerous solar oven components, which are then boxed up and shipped to Haiti for final assembly. The wooden, box-style solar ovens cost about $60 to make with volunteer labor, and are based on one of Richard Wareham’s SunStove® designs. Each solar oven is packaged with three black cooking pots, a Water Pasteurization Indicator (WAPI), and a recipe booklet. Haitians pay a modest fee for the ovens, which they receive upon completion of a training course. Last July, a team of SOP volunteers visited Haiti for the 22nd time. They assembled 74 solar cookers and trained 80 families how to cook and pasteurize water with solar energy. Throughout the year, Haitians Montas and Raymonde Joseph conduct additional SOP trainings and sell solar ovens. They historically relied on the volunteer teams to come to Haiti and assemble cookers, which was not always sufficient to meet demand. In response, SOP has contracted with a young Haitian woman named Italis Jeanne Milcar to assure that enough ovens are available for the trainings. In just a few short months, Milcar had already assembled nearly 350 cookers and 100 WAPIs! Two years ago, SOP converted a 12.2-meter sea container for use as a storage facility for solar cookers in Haiti. They recently purchased a second container, and after 10 months of hard work, were able to fill it to capacity with components for an additional 1000 cookers, soon to be shipped to Haiti.
- April 2007: The Kyoto Twist Solar Cooking Society (KTSCS) continues its efforts to raise funds for solar cooking projects that reduce poverty in sun-rich, fuel-poor countries while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (The “twist” part of the name comes from the idea that those living in wealthier nations can change, or twist, their priorities and lifestyles to better share limited resources with those most in need.) KTSCS works with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have solar cooker experience and a proven track record in countries where solar cookers are an appropriate technology. NGOs can request an application packet for consideration of funding. Project structure, recipient family selection parameters, training procedures, and follow-up services must be described in detail. To track the effectiveness of the projects, and to provide accountability to its donors, KTSCS will track the success of recipient families, their financial savings due to solar cooker use, and their greenhouse gas emission reductions. KTSCS funded its first pilot project in November 2005. The group that received funding -- Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT) -- has worked in Haiti for over 15 years and has experience conducting solar cooker projects. “The Spirit of the Kyoto [Protocol] is international cooperation on what is now being called the biggest challenge mankind has ever faced ¬ massive and rapid climate change,” states the KTSCS Web site. “At an average cost of ten dollars per tonne, donating to KTSCS is an effective way to help make a difference. Cooking fires in the world today consume an estimated one billion cubic meters of wood or biomass annually, which produces an estimated one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. Those are easy figures to remember and very significant in the mitigation of global warming.”
- November 2006: Solar Oven Partners, based in Brookings, South Dakota (USA), recently shipped 500 unassembled solar box cookers to Haiti as part of its ongoing efforts there. Working with local volunteers, a United Methodist Volunteers in Mission team assembled 250 of the cookers and also helped to convert a donated 40-foot (12.2-meter) sea container into a solar cooker storage and assembly facility. Solar Oven Partners is working to train a local Haitian woman to lead future production efforts in Haiti. Contact: Solar Oven Partners, Brookings 1st United Methodist Church, 625 Fifth Street, Brookings, South Dakota 57006, USA. Tel: 605-692-3391, Web: www.gbgm-umc.org/solarovenshaiti
- November 2006: Global Sun Ovens® — the durable box-type solar cookers developed by Sun Ovens International — are now being assembled in the Dominican Republic for use there and in Haiti, the Caribbean, and Central America. Kevin Adair, owner of Force of the Sun, says his company offers the ovens for sale at a significant discount to nonprofit organizations. He predicts the company will distribute 50,000 solar cookers regionally in the next three years. Force of the Sun began full production of Global Sun Ovens® in May, and shipped its first cookers to Haiti in June. The factory was designed by solar cooking expert Jack Anderson and is located in the Higuey Zona Franca Ecological in Altagracia Province. Additional space is available for rent to other nonprofits and manufacturers of ecologically sensitive products. Adair believes that by networking with other groups in the Dominican Republic, he will be able to spread the solar cooking idea faster. The company offers training to nonprofits that will distribute solar cookers. Force of the Sun is seeking volunteers to teach solar cooking skills in Haiti. Contact: Kevin Adair, Force of the Sun, c/o Adair Performance CxA, Higuey Zona Franca #7, Higuey, Dominican Republic. E-mail: [email protected]
- August 2006: Solar Oven Partners, based in Brookings, South Dakota (USA) has been active in Haiti for years, where it has distributed thousands of solar cookers. In a recent edition of their newsletter, Solar Oven Partners presented the results of a survey of 15 Haitian solar cooks. Asked how many days they would use their solar cookers during a 10-day sunny period, seven said every day, two said seven to eight days, and the remaining six would solar cook two to five of the ten days. Solar meals have included meat, macaroni, cake, rice, beans, fish, vegetables, bread, eggs, and cornbread. Eleven of the 15 surveyed said they had explained solar cookers to others who then became interested in acquiring their own. On average, families indicated that charcoal now lasts two to three times longer than it did before solar cooking. Solar Oven Partners plans to distribute 1,000 more solar cookers during 2006. Contact: Solar Oven Partners, Brookings 1st United Methodist Church, 625 Fifth Street, Brookings, South Dakota 57006, USA. Tel: 605-692-3391, Web: http://www.gbgm-umc.org/solarovenshaiti
- July 2005: Communities in Partnership, a Canadian organization that promotes solar cooking in Haiti, has introduced a new twist — the "Kyoto Twist." Canada’s government is encouraging its citizens to fight global climate change by reducing individual emissions of greenhouse gasses by one ton per year. Solar cookers in developing countries that displace the use of firewood save an estimated one to two tons of greenhouse gasses per year. The Kyoto Twist — named for the world’s greenhouse gas reduction treaty — enables Canadians to buy a solar cooker for a family in Haiti. The Haitian family gets immediate relief from firewood scarcity, high fuel prices and smoky kitchens, while the Canadian chalks up at least a one-ton reduction in greenhouse gasses. Contact: Jack Anderson, Box 191, Lund, BC V0N2G0, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]
- November 2003: Solar Oven Partners -- a joint effort of the United Methodist Church of the Dakotas, Rotary District 5610 and established Methodist development programs in Haiti -- promotes solar cooking in Haiti. Teams of volunteers travel to Haiti to build solar cookers and lead educational seminars. The most recent team of thirteen volunteers returned in August after successfully accomplishing their goals. These goals included offering a three-day solar cooking seminar in the village of Anous, constructing 100 solar cookers both for sale in Anous and for distribution in the coming months, and the presentation of an innovative puppet presentation for children called “Solar Oven Puppet Theater.” Volunteer Diane Rieken had this to say, “Observing the pride of ownership following the three-day solar cooking seminar -- with the latest group of trained solar cooks purchasing 27 of the 100 newly minted solar ovens -- was a truly amazing scene!”
- November 2001: Another Busy Year for Free Methodists in Haiti
The History of Solar Cooking in Haiti
As mentioned above in the discussion of Canada, early work in solar cooking was done by a Canadian organization, Communities in Partnership, a charitable group founded in 1984 in Powell River, British Columbia. Their work, in turn, was inspired by a 1977 feasibility study in Haiti, accomplished to assess the suitability of the county from a climatic/insolation perspective. This work of Dr. Tom Bowman, James Sharbar and Joel Blatt focused on factors of weather in the different parts of Haiti. They measured insolation in more than a dozen areas, some at different seasons of the year. Without providing all of the detail of their research, the document's overall conclusion is that good solar cooking conditions, generally speaking, exist in Haiti, with, as everywhere, seasonal and some regional variations, probably enabling families to save at least half of their fuel costs.
The original Canadian partnership was with a small community called Saint Marc, but later the program expanded to a number of communities in Haiti. They began by building solar cookers jointly with residents of Saint Marc, and were preparing to start an ambitious pilot project when a major coup interrupted normal life in Haiti (1991). In that disturbed time, the Canadians decided to turn their efforts to a survey of all solar cooking activity in the country. They had heard bits and pieces of other small projects but had no overall picture of the situation. In the next months, they devised a questionnaire that was sent to over 30 locations in the country where solar cooking had been tried or » demonstrated. Thus, while the information is now dated, a picture does exist (even if admittedly not complete) of what is a substantial portion at least of solar activity in the country at the time.
The conclusions of this study proved to be difficult (or impossible?) to summarize numerically, but excerpts from reportsreceived give the flavor of work in a wide range of communities, allowing some generalizations to be made. Short reports are provided from 19 of the 30 communities surveyed. Key figures in solar promotion in this country included the Brace Research Institute of McGill University, a number of religious organizations, the Canadian Communities in Partnership group, a number of individuals, and one enterprise promoting a particular cooking model.
Commonalities and differences are seen in the reports. A variety of cooker designs are in use: the box cooker (the most common), a steam cooker, and parabolics, all in a variety of materials, wood, cardboard, metal, two different approaches were seen, one believing that uptake would be higher and longer lasting if people made their own cookers, investing their own time and energy. Other disagreed and felt that efficiency, perhaps more certain with a manufactured product, was more important than the "ownership" conveyed by self-building. Strong and regular usage was fairly rare, despite the extreme need. The various groups were not working together for the most part, thus not maximizing their learning from one another's' experiences. Need was everywhere great, but cost of the cookers was nearly prohibitive for many.
Two additional resources in Haiti in the early days of solar promotion are: the solar cooking resource center, created in the Haitian-American Institute by librarian Eleanor Snare and, in 1992, a first Haitian National Solar Cooking Conference held in Port-au-Prince. In that same period, a number of Haitian solar cooks traveled to other solar cooking conferences, regional and worldwide.
Since the early years, a range of sporadic attempts continues the good beginnings of the earlier era. The country has however continued to experience political unrest, always hampering any development efforts. Nonetheless, efforts at promotion have continued. The Free Methodist Church of Haiti, located in the capital Port-au- Prince, has worked diligently, despite personnel changes, at solar promotion. Over the years, they have distributed over 1,000 solar cookers, primarily of the panel variety, the least expensive version available today. To help with follow-up, they have formed committees of solar cooks in several towns.
The Rotary Club of Brookings, South Dakota, U.S.A., along with other clubs in its Rotary district, have joined Solar Oven Partners, a cooperative project with the United Methodist Church. The collaboration began in 1998 and by December of 2002, the project had distributed more than 300 ovens (on a subsidized basis) and trained 2,500 Haitians to use them. An on-site infrastructure is being organized, working with the Methodist Church of Haiti. Using a basic philosophy of "empowering people through self help", the Rotarians and Methodists are continuing the long tradition of "harvesting sunlight" in this nation. Deforestation here is already at an extreme stage, hence need continues to be great.
A long time advocate of solar cooking in Haiti, Jack Anderson (an early Communities in Partnership leader), has tried a range of dissemination methods, employing "animatrices" or extension workers initially, then re-conceptualizing them as small-scale entrepreneurs. His knowledge of Haiti is extensive, but political events have continued to make efforts very difficult. In the last project described below for Haiti, Jack has played an important role in yet a different method of promoting solar cooking. That most recent addition to the range of solar offerings in Haiti is structured differently from its predecessors. In this instance, a business, Sun Ovens International, has begun operating in the country, using a very interesting distribution mechanism. As described on the Sun Oven website (http://www.sunoven.org)> the plan includes a number of components.
The project selected 500 women in one area of Haiti for initial training in solar cooking, using the cardboard panel cooker called the CooKit This device serves as a teaching tool; participants are requested to keep records of their cooking attempts, results, and fuel savings for a periodof three months. Those who prove to be regular users of the CooKit can turn in their logs, along with an account of the money they have saved, to obtain a SunOven, sometimes thought of as the "Cadillac" of box cookers. Initially, Sun Ovens International has established an assembly plant in Haiti, in which U.S. manufactured components will be put together in country (and perhaps even for export?)
When demand justifies, a full scale manufacturing plant will be established that can serve the needs of the Caribbean basin for this top of the line solar cooking model. (A similar plan is in effect for Ethiopia) It is too soon to know how this will progress, but it is clearly an interesting and unusual tactic for promotion - and one to be watched carefully.
This activity is at least partially supported by a loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and arrant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Sun Oven owner, Paul Munson, was recently honored in the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert (Munsen's congressman), with the award of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Export Achievement Award for this innovative work in Haiti. Given the desperate situation of the forest situation in Haiti, combined with favorable insolation in most of the country, the country will remain a prime possibility for solar cooking promotion, particularly if or when the political climate improves.
Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations
Solar Cookers International has rated Haiti as the #18 country in the world in terms of solar cooking potential (See: The 25 countries with the most solar cooking potential). The estimated number of people in Haiti with fuel scarcity in 2020 is 3,100,000. An average Haitian family spends $2.30 (U.S.) per week to purchase charcoal.
Jack Anderson has confirmed that very little wood was used in the construction of buildings in Haiti which means that there isn’t much wood in the rubble to use for cooking after the earthquake. That must make the need for cooking fuel even more acute. Before the quake, more than 90% of all the energy used in Haiti was for cooking fires, mostly in the form of charcoal.
- The most successful model we have found in Haiti is to have women go through training on how to make a CooKit. We found much greater success when the women made them due to the pride they took in making it themselves. The readymade CooKits are less expensive and much less hassle than bringing in cardboard, glue, and foil but we found the pride factor to be worth the additional cost and effort.
- The training sessions where 3 hours a day for 3 days and included lunch. The first two days the lunches were cooked in Sun Ovens so the women could see how much faster the food cooked. The last day the food is cooked in the home made CooKit. Part of the training is to teach the women to keep a log on how often they used the Cookit, how much charcoal they saved and how much money they saved not buying charcoal. At the end of 90 days they turn in the log as a down payment on a Sun Oven and pay for the Sun Oven out of the charcoal savings. (See Microcredit.)
- We have distributed approximately 400 Sun Ovens in Haiti using this system. In most counties we try not to start projects in areas where CooKits had been introduced in the past because we have found it much easier to start with Sun Ovens than to overcome negative ideas about CooKits. We have found that if the women do not pay something for the Sun Ovens they most likely will not use them beyond the time that the person who gave it to them is around. We have found the most important factors to be the percentage of household income spent for cooking fuel and how we get women who live one day at a time to understand how much money they can save by not buying charcoal.
- March 2010: A Rapid Assessment of Cooking Fuel Needs in Post Quake Haiti
- Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables
- Haiti's Energy Problems - The Oil Drum
Possible funders for solar cooking projects in Haiti
- Haiti Solar Energy specializes in helping residential and commercial owners supply their own energy needs.
- Solar Cooking Resources for Haiti
Articles in the media
- September 2013: Solar Oven Project to Help Haiti - KDLT News
- September 2013: Haitian to say thanks for solar ovens - The Bismark Tribune
- June 2013: Faith effort creates solar ovens for Haiti - The Bismarck Tribune
- October 2012: A Solar Stove for Haiti -The Sag Harbor Express
- July 2010: Otro Haiti es posible - Yo Cambio (English version)
- July 2010: Sun Ovens International Continues To Help Victims Of Haiti Earthquake Through Solar Cooking - PRLog
- April 2010: Solar Powered Products in Haiti - New York Times
- February 2010: Haiti's Tomorrow May Be Rooted In Trees, Fertilizer - The Huffington Post
- February 2010: Haiti’s (Solar) Power - The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities Blog
- January 2010: Haitian Student Heads Home to Help - University of Buffalo Reporter
- January 2010: Solar Cookers Head to Haiti (Audio) - Capital Public Radio
- January 2010: Solar Salvation for Haiti? - MSNBC
- July 2008: Rotary ships dinners, ovens to Haiti - The Brooking Register
- February 2007: Niedert marvels at Haitian people - Madison Daily Leader
Audio and video
Resources by state or province
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) | <urn:uuid:3a4766d7-b2c5-4932-a35d-d08ff075c5bb> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Haiti?diff=next&oldid=62855 | 2015-03-27T17:25:18Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131296587.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172136-00224-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954504 | 8,751 |
|Scheme of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet|
|Pinyin test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator|
Pinyin, or Hanyu Pinyin, is the official phonetic system for transcribing the Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China), and Singapore. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese and a pinyin without diacritic markers is often used in foreign publications to spell Chinese names familiar to non-Chinese and may be used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into computers.
The Hanyu Pinyin system was developed in the 1950s based on earlier forms of romanization. It was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as an international standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the official standard in Taiwan in 2009, where it is used for romanization alone rather than for educational and computer input purposes.
- 1 History before 1949
- 2 History after 1949
- 3 Usage
- 4 Overview
- 5 Initials and finals
- 6 Rules given in terms of English pronunciation
- 7 Orthography
- 8 Tones
- 9 The ü sound
- 10 Pinyin in Taiwan
- 11 Comparison with other orthographies
- 12 Other languages
- 13 See also
- 14 References
- 15 Further reading
- 16 External links
History before 1949
In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji (《西字奇蹟》; Xīzì Qíjī; Hsi-tzu Ch'i-chi; "Miracle of Western Letters") in Beijing. This was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, issued his Xi Ru Ermu Zi (《西儒耳目資》; Hsi Ju Erh-mu Tzu; "Aid to the Eyes and Ears of Western Literati") at Hangzhou. Neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese.
One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, Fang Yizhi (方以智; Fāng Yǐzhì; Fang I-chih; 1611–1671).
The first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu (1862–1910). A student of the great scholars, Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the stunning effect of the kana syllabaries and Western learning there. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script. While Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts.
In the early 1930s, Communist Party of China leaders trained in Moscow introduced a phonetic alphabet using Roman letters which had been developed in the Soviet Oriental Institute of Leningrad and originally intended to improve literacy in the Russian Far East. This Sin Wenz or "New Writing" was much more linguistically sophisticated than earlier alphabets, with the major exception that it did not indicate tones.
In 1940, several thousand members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy (in characters) for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Society's new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sen's son, Sun Fo; Cai Yuanpei, the country's most prestigious educator; Tao Xingzhi, a leading educational reformer; and Lu Xun. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies (including Lincoln, Franklin, Edison, Ford, and Charlie Chaplin), some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks. In 1940, the movement reached an apex when Mao's Border Region Government declared that the Sin Wenz had the same legal status as traditional characters in government and public documents. Many educators and political leaders looked forward to the day when they would be universally accepted and completely replace characters. Opposition arose, however, because the system was less well adapted to writing regional languages, and therefore would require learning Mandarin. Sin Wenzi fell into relative disuse during the following years.
History after 1949
Pinyin was developed as part of a Chinese government project in the 1950s. One of the prominent figures was Zhou Youguang, who is often called "the father of pinyin", as he led a government committee in developing the romanization system. Zhou was working in a New York bank when he decided to return to China to help rebuild the country after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Zhou became an economics professor in Shanghai, and in 1954, when China's Ministry of Education created a Committee for the Reform of the Chinese Written Language, Zhou was assigned the task of helping to develop a new romanization system.
Hanyu Pinyin was based on several preexisting systems: (Gwoyeu Romatzyh of 1928, Latinxua Sin Wenz of 1931, and the diacritic markings from zhuyin). "I’m not the father of pinyin," Zhou said years later, "I’m the son of pinyin. It’s [the result of] a long tradition from the later years of the Qing dynasty down to today. But we restudied the problem and revisited it and made it more perfect."
A first draft was published on February 12, 1956. The first edition of Hanyu Pinyin was approved and adopted at the Fifth Session of the 1st National People's Congress on February 11, 1958. It was then introduced to primary schools as a way to teach Standard Chinese pronunciation and used to improve the literacy rate among adults.
Beginning in the early 1980s, Western publications addressing Mainland China began using the Hanyu Pinyin romanization system instead of earlier romanization systems; this change followed the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979. In 2001, the PRC Government issued the National Common Language Law, providing a legal basis for applying pinyin. The current specification of the orthographic rules is laid down in the National Standard GB/T 16159-2012.
Pinyin superseded older romanization systems such as Wade-Giles (1859; modified 1892) and Chinese postal map romanization, and replaced zhuyin as the method of Chinese phonetic instruction in mainland China. The ISO adopted pinyin as the standard romanization for modern Chinese in 1982 (ISO 7098:1982, superseded by ISO 7098:1991); the United Nations followed suit in 1986. It has also been accepted by the government of Singapore, the United States' Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and many other international institutions.
The spelling of Chinese geographical or personal names in pinyin has become the most common way to transcribe them in English. Pinyin has also become the dominant method for entering Chinese text into computers in Mainland China, in contrast to Taiwan where Bopomofo is most commonly used.
Families outside of Taiwan who speak Mandarin as a mother tongue use pinyin to help children associate characters with spoken words which they already know. Chinese families outside of Taiwan who speak some other language as their mother tongue use the system to teach children Mandarin pronunciation when they learn vocabulary in elementary school.
Since 1958, pinyin has been actively used in adult education as well, making it easier for formerly illiterate people to continue with self-study after a short period of pinyin literacy instruction.
Pinyin has become a tool for many foreigners to learn the Mandarin pronunciation, and is used to explain both the grammar and spoken Mandarin coupled with Chinese characters (汉字; 漢字; Hanzi). Books containing both Chinese characters and pinyin are often used by foreign learners of Chinese; pinyin's role in teaching pronunciation to foreigners and children is similar in some respects to furigana-based books (with hiragana letters written above or next to kanji, directly analogous to zhuyin) in Japanese or fully vocalised texts in Arabic ("vocalised Arabic").
The tone-marking diacritics are commonly omitted in popular news stories and even in scholarly works. This results in some degree of ambiguity as to which words are being represented.
When a foreign writing system with one set of sounds and coding/decoding system is taken to write a language, certain compromises may have to be made. The result is that the decoding systems used in some foreign languages will enable non-native speakers to produce sounds more closely resembling the target language than will the coding/decoding system used by other foreign languages. Native speakers of English will decode pinyin spellings to fairly close approximations of Mandarin except in the case of certain speech sounds that are not ordinarily produced by most native speakers of English: j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, and r exhibiting the greatest discrepancies. (When Chinese speakers call out these letters, they read them as: ji, qi, xi, zi, ci, si, zhi, chi, shi, and ri. The i in the last four sounds more like r and the use of i is purely a matter of convention.)
In this system, the correspondence between the Roman letter and the sound is sometimes idiosyncratic, though not necessarily more so than the way the Latin script is employed in other languages. For example, the aspiration distinction between b, d, g and p, t, k is similar to that of English (in which the two sets are however also differentiated by voicing), but not to that of French. Z and c also have that distinction, pronounced as [ts] and [tsʰ]. From s, z, c come the digraphs sh, zh, ch by analogy with English sh, ch. Although this introduces the novel combination zh, it is internally consistent in how the two series are related, and reminds the trained reader that many Chinese pronounce sh, zh, ch as s, z, c (and English-speakers use zh to represent /ʒ/ in foreign languages such as Russian anyway). In the x, j, q series, the pinyin use of x is similar to its use in Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Basque and Maltese; and the pinyin q is akin to its value in Albanian; both pinyin and Albanian pronunciations may sound similar to the ch to the untrained ear. Pinyin vowels are pronounced in a similar way to vowels in Romance languages.
The pronunciation and spelling of Chinese words are generally given in terms of initials and finals, which represent the segmental phonemic portion of the language, rather than letter by letter. Initials are initial consonants, while finals are all possible combinations of medials (semivowels coming before the vowel), the nucleus vowel, and coda (final vowel or consonant).
Initials and finals
Unlike European languages, clusters of letters – initials (声母; 聲母; shēngmǔ) and finals (韵母; 韻母; yùnmǔ) – and not consonant and vowel letters, form the fundamental elements in pinyin (and most other phonetic systems used to describe the Han language). Every Mandarin syllable can be spelled with exactly one initial followed by one final, except for the special syllable er or when a trailing -r is considered part of a syllable (see below). The latter case, though a common practice in some sub-dialects, is rarely used in official publications. One exception is the city Harbin (哈尔滨; 哈爾濱), whose name comes from the Manchu language.
Even though most initials contain a consonant, finals are not always simple vowels, especially in compound finals (复韵母; 複韻母; fùyùnmǔ), i.e., when a "medial" is placed in front of the final. For example, the medials [i] and [u] are pronounced with such tight openings at the beginning of a final that some native Chinese speakers (especially when singing) pronounce yī (衣, clothes, officially pronounced /í/) as /jí/ and wéi (围; 圍, to enclose, officially pronounced /uěi/) as /wěi/ or /wuěi/. Often these medials are treated as separate from the finals rather than as part of them; this convention is followed in the chart of finals below.
In each cell below, the bold letters indicate pinyin and the brackets enclose the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
1 r may phonetically be [ʐ] (a voiced retroflex fricative) or [ɻ] (a retroflex approximant). This pronunciation varies among different speakers, and is not two different phonemes.
2 y is pronounced [ɥ] (a labial-palatal approximant) before u.
3 the letters w and y are not included in the table of initials in the official pinyin system. They are an orthographic convention for the medials i, u and ü when no initial is present. When i, u or ü are finals and no initial is present, they are spelled yi, wu, and yu, respectively. The conventional order (excluding w and y), derived from the zhuyin system, is:
b p m f d t n l g k h j q x zh ch sh r z c s
The following chart gives the combinations of medials and finals based on an analysis that assumes just two vowel nuclei, /a/ and /ə/; various allophones result depending on phonetic context.
In each cell below, the first line indicates IPA, the second indicates pinyin for a standalone (no-initial) form, and the third indicates pinyin for a combination with an initial. Other than finals modified by an -r, which are omitted, the following is an exhaustive table of all possible finals.1
The only syllable-final consonants in Standard Chinese are -n and -ng, and -r, which is attached as a grammatical suffix. A Chinese syllable ending with any other consonant either is from a non-Mandarin language (a southern Chinese language such as Cantonese, or a minority language of China), or indicates the use of a non-pinyin romanization system (where final consonants may be used to indicate tones).
|[u̯ɤŋ], [ʊŋ] 4
1 [ɑɻ] is written er. For other finals formed by the suffix -r, pinyin does not use special orthography; one simply appends r to the final that it is added to, without regard for any sound changes that may take place along the way. For information on sound changes related to final r, please see Erhua#Rules.
2 ü is written as u after j, q, x, or y.
3 uo is written as o after b, p, m, or f.
4 weng is pronounced [ʊŋ] (written as ong) when it follows an initial.
Technically, i, u, ü without a following vowel are finals, not medials, and therefore take the tone marks, but they are more concisely displayed as above. In addition, ê [ɛ] (欸; 誒) and syllabic nasals m (呒, 呣), n (嗯, 唔), ng (嗯, 𠮾) are used as interjections.
Rules given in terms of English pronunciation
All rules given here in terms of English pronunciation are approximations, as several of these sounds do not correspond directly to sounds in English.
Pronunciation of initials
|b||[p]||spit||unaspirated p, as in spit|
|p||[pʰ]||pay||strongly aspirated p, as in pit|
|m||[m]||may||as in English mummy|
|f||[f]||fair||as in English fun|
|d||[t]||stop||unaspirated t, as in stop|
|t||[tʰ]||take||strongly aspirated t, as in top|
|n||[n]||nay||as in English nit|
|l||[l]||lay||as in English love|
|g||[k]||skill||unaspirated k, as in skill|
|k||[kʰ]||kay||strongly aspirated k, as in kill|
|h||[x]||loch||roughly like the Scots ch. English h as in hay or, more closely in some American dialects, hero is an acceptable approximation. The best way to produce this sound is by very slowly making a "k" sound, pausing at the point where there is just restricted air flowing over the back of your tongue (after the release at the beginning of a "k")|
|j||[tɕ]||churchyard||No equivalent in English, but similar to an unaspirated "-chy-" sound when said quickly. Like q, but unaspirated. Not the s in Asia, despite the common English pronunciation of "Beijing". The sequence "ji" word-initially is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of じ(ジ) ji.|
|q||[tɕʰ]||punch yourself||No equivalent in English. Like punch yourself, with the lips spread wide with ee. Curl the tip of the tongue downwards to stick it at the back of the teeth and strongly aspirate. The sequence "qi" word-initially is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of ち(チ) chi.|
|x||[ɕ]||push yourself||No equivalent in English. Like -sh y-, with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee. The sequence "xi" is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of し(シ) shi.|
|zh||[tʂ]||junk||Rather like ch (a sound between choke, joke, true, and drew, tongue tip curled more upwards). Voiced in a toneless syllable.|
|ch||[tʂʰ]||church||as in chin, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to nurture in American English, but strongly aspirated.|
|sh||[ʂ]||shirt||as in shoe, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to marsh in American English|
|r||[ʐ], [ɻ]||ray||Similar to the English z in azure and r in reduce, but with the tongue curled upwards, like a cross between English "r" and French "j". In Cyrillised Chinese the sound is rendered with the letter "ж".|
|z||[ts]||reads||unaspirated c, similar to something between suds and cats; as in suds in a toneless syllable|
|c||[tsʰ]||hats||like the English ts in cats, but strongly aspirated, very similar to the Czech, Polish and Slovak c.|
|s||[s]||say||as in sun|
|w||[w]||way||as in water.*|
|y||[j], [ɥ]||yea||as in yes. Before a u, pronounce it with rounded lips.*|
- * Note on y and w
Y and w are equivalent to the semivowel medials i, u, and ü (see below). They are spelled differently when there is no initial consonant in order to mark a new syllable: fanguan is fan-guan, while fangwan is fang-wan (and equivalent to *fang-uan). With this convention, an apostrophe only needs to be used to mark an initial a, e, or o: Xi'an (two syllables: [ɕi.an]) vs. xian (one syllable: [ɕi̯ɛn]). In addition, y and w are added to fully vocalic i, u, and ü when these occur without an initial consonant, so that they are written yi, wu, and yu. Some Mandarin speakers do pronounce a [j] or [w] sound at the beginning of such words—that is, yi [i] or [ji], wu [u] or [wu], yu [y] or [ɥy],—so this is an intuitive convention. See below for a few finals which are abbreviated after a consonant plus w/u or y/i medial: wen → C+un, wei → C+ui, weng → C+ong, and you → C+iu.
- ** Note on the apostrophe
The apostrophe (') is used before a syllable starting with a vowel (a, o, or e) in a multiple-syllable word when the syllable does not start the word (which is most commonly realized as [ɰ]), unless the syllable immediately follows a hyphen or other dash. This is done to remove ambiguity that could arise, as in Xi'an, which consists of the two syllables xi ("西") an ("安"), compared to such words as xian ("先"). (This ambiguity does not occur when tone marks are used: The two tone marks in Xīān unambiguously show that the word consists of two syllables. However, even with tone marks, the city is usually spelled with an apostrophe as Xī'ān.)
Pronunciation of finals
The following is a list of finals in Standard Chinese, excepting most of those ending with r.
To find a given final:
- Remove the initial consonant. Zh, ch, and sh count as initial consonants.
- Change initial w to u and initial y to i. For weng, wen, wei, you, look under ong, un, ui, iu.
- For u after j, q, x, or y, look under ü.
|Pinyin||IPA||Form with zero initial||Explanation|
|-i||[ɨ], [ɯ]||(n/a)||-i is a buzzed continuation of the consonant following z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh- or r-.
(In all other cases, -i has the sound of bee; this is listed below.)
|a||[ä]||a||like English "father", but a bit more fronted|
|e||[ɯ̯ʌ], [ə]||e||a diphthong consisting first of a back, unrounded semivowel (which can be formed by first pronouncing "w" and then spreading the lips without changing the position of the tongue) followed by a vowel similar to English "duh". Many unstressed syllables in Chinese use the schwa [ə] (idea), and this is also written as e.|
|ai||[aɪ̯]||ai||like English "eye", but a bit lighter|
|ei||[eɪ̯]||ei||as in "hey"|
|ao||[ɑʊ̯]||ao||approximately as in "cow"; the a is much more audible than the o|
|ou||[oʊ̯]||ou||as in "so"|
|an||[än]||an||like British English "ban", but more central|
|en||[ən]||en||as in "taken"|
|ang||[ɑŋ]||ang||as in German Angst (starts with the vowel sound in father and ends in the velar nasal; like song in some dialects of American English)|
|eng||[ɤŋ]||eng||like e in en above but with ng added to it at the back|
|er||[ɑɻ]||er||similar to the sound in "bar" in American English|
|Finals beginning with i- (y-)|
|i||[i]||yi||like English bee.|
|ia||[i̯ä]||ya||as i + a; like English "yard"|
|ie||[i̯ɛ]||ye||as i + ê; but is very short; e (pronounced like ê) is pronounced longer and carries the main stress (similar to the initial sound ye in yet)|
|iao||[i̯ɑʊ̯]||yao||as i + ao|
|iu||[i̯oʊ̯]||you||as i + ou|
|ian||[i̯ɛn]||yan||as i + ê + n; like English yen|
|in||[in]||yin||as i + n|
|iang||[i̯ɑŋ]||yang||as i + ang|
|ing||[iŋ]||ying||as i + ng|
|Finals beginning with u- (w-)|
|u||[u]||wu||like English "oo"|
|ua||[u̯ä]||wa||as u + a|
|uo, o||[u̯ɔ]||wo||as u + o where the o (compare with the o interjection) is pronounced shorter and lighter (spelled as o after b, p, m or f).|
|uai||[u̯aɪ̯]||wai||as u + ai like as in why|
|ui||[u̯eɪ̯]||wei||as u + ei;|
|uan||[u̯än]||wan||as u + an;|
|un||[u̯ən]||wen||as u + en; like the on in the English won;|
|uang||[u̯ɑŋ]||wang||as u + ang;|
|ong||[ʊŋ], [u̯ɤŋ]||weng||starts with the vowel sound in book and ends with the velar nasal sound in sing; as u + eng in zero initial.|
|Finals beginning with ü- (yu-)|
|u, ü||[y] ( listen)||yu||as in German "über" or French "lune" (To pronounce this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips)|
|ue, üe||[y̯œ]||yue||as ü + ê; the ü is short and light|
|uan||[y̯ɛn]||yuan||as ü + ê + n;|
|un||[yn]||yun||as ü + n;|
|iong||[i̯ʊŋ]||yong||as i + ong|
|ê||[ɛ]||(n/a)||as in "bet".|
|o||[ɔ]||(n/a)||Approximately as in "office" in British accent; the lips are much more rounded.|
|io||[i̯ɔ]||yo||as i + plain continental[clarification needed] "o".|
Pinyin differs from other romanizations in several aspects, such as the following:
- Syllables starting with u are written as w in place of u (e.g., uan is written as wan). Standalone u is written as wu.
- Syllables starting with i are written as y in place of i (e.g., ian is written as yan). Standalone i is written as yi.
- Syllables starting with ü are written as yu in place of ü (e.g., üe is written as yue).
- ü is written as u when there is no ambiguity (such as ju, qu, and xu), but written as ü when there are corresponding u syllables (such as lü and nü). In such situations where there are corresponding u syllables, it is often replaced with v on a computer, making it easier to type on a standard keyboard.
- When preceded by a consonant, iou, uei, and uen are simplified as iu, ui, and un (which do not represent the actual pronunciation).
- As in zhuyin, what are actually pronounced as buo, puo, muo, and fuo are given a separate representation: bo, po, mo, and fo.
- The apostrophe (') is used before a syllable starting with a vowel (a, o, or e) in a multiple-syllable word when the syllable does not start the word (which is most commonly realized as [ɰ]), unless the syllable immediately follows a hyphen or other dash. This is done to remove ambiguity that could arise, as in Xi'an, which consists of the two syllables xi ("西") an ("安"), compared to such words as xian ("先"). (This ambiguity does not occur when tone marks are used: The two tone marks in "Xīān" unambiguously show that the word consists of two syllables. However, even with tone marks, the city is usually spelled with an apostrophe as "Xī'ān".)
- Eh alone is written as ê; elsewhere as e. Schwa is always written as e.
- zh, ch, and sh can be abbreviated as ẑ, ĉ, and ŝ (z, c, s with a circumflex). However, the shorthands are rarely used due to difficulty of entering them on computers, and are confined mainly to Esperanto keyboard layouts.
- ng has the uncommon shorthand of ŋ.
- The letter v is unused (except in spelling foreign languages, languages of minority nationalities, and some dialects), despite a conscious effort to distribute letters more evenly than in Western languages. However, sometimes, for ease of typing into a computer, the v is used to replace a ü.
Most of the above are used to avoid ambiguity when writing words of more than one syllable in pinyin. For example uenian is written as wenyan because it is not clear which syllables make up uenian; uen-ian, uen-i-an and u-en-i-an are all possible combinations whereas wenyan is unambiguous because we, nya, etc. do not exist in pinyin. See the pinyin table article for a summary of possible pinyin syllables (not including tones).
Word formation, capitalization, initialisms and punctuation
Although Chinese characters represent single syllables, Mandarin Chinese is a polysyllabic language. Spacing in pinyin is based on whole words, not single syllables. However, there are often ambiguities in partitioning a word. The Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Orthography (汉语拼音正词法基本规则; 漢語拼音正詞法基本規則; Hànyǔ Pīnyīn Zhèngcífǎ Jīběn Guīzé) were put into effect in 1988 by the National Educational Commission (国家教育委员会; 國家教育委員會; Guójiā Jiàoyù Wěiyuánhuì) and the National Language Commission (国家语言文字工作委员会; 國家語言文字工作委員會; Guójiā Yǔyán Wénzì Gōngzuò Wěiyuánhuì). These rules became a Guobiao standard in 1996 and were updated in 2012.
- Single meaning: Words with a single meaning, which are usually set up of two characters (sometimes one, seldom three), are written together and not capitalized: rén (人, person); péngyou (朋友, friend); qiǎokèlì (巧克力, chocolate)
- Combined meaning (2 or 3 characters): Same goes for words combined of two words to one meaning: hǎifēng (海风; 海風, sea breeze); wèndá (问答; 問答, question and answer); quánguó (全国; 全國, nationwide); chángyòngcí (常用词; 常用詞)
- Combined meaning (4 or more characters): Words with four or more characters having one meaning are split up with their original meaning if possible: wúfèng gāngguǎn (无缝钢管; 無縫鋼管, seamless steel-tube); huánjìng bǎohù guīhuà (环境保护规划; 環境保護規劃, environmental protection planning); gāoměngsuānjiǎ (高锰酸钾; 高錳酸鉀, potassium permanganate)
- Duplicated words
- AA: Duplicated characters (AA) are written together: rénrén (人人, everybody), kànkan (看看, to have a look), niánnián (年年, every year)
- ABAB: Two characters duplicated (ABAB) are written separated: yánjiū yánjiū (研究研究, to study, to research), xuěbái xuěbái (雪白雪白, white as snow)
- AABB: Characters in the AABB schema are written together: láiláiwǎngwǎng (来来往往; 來來往往, come and go), qiānqiānwànwàn (千千万万; 千千萬萬, numerous)
- Prefixes (前附成分; qiánfù chéngfèn) and Suffixes (后附成分; 後附成分; hòufù chéngfèn): Words accompanied by prefixes such as fù (副, vice), zǒng (总; 總, chief), fēi (非, non-), fǎn (反, anti-), chāo (超, ultra-), lǎo (老, old), ā (阿, used before names to indicate familiarity), kě (可, -able), wú (无; 無, -less) and bàn (半, semi-) and suffixes such as zi (子, noun suffix), r (儿; 兒, diminutive suffix), tou (头; 頭, noun suffix), xìng (性, -ness, -ity), zhě (者, -er, -ist), yuán (员; 員, person), jiā (家, -er, -ist), shǒu (手, person skilled in a field), huà (化, -ize) and men (们; 們, plural marker) are written together: fùbùzhǎng (副部长; 副部長, vice minister), chéngwùyuán (乘务员; 乘務員, conductor), háizimen (孩子们; 孩子們, children)
- Nouns and names (名词; 名詞; míngcí)
- Words of position are separated: mén wài (门外; 門外, outdoor), hé li (河里; 河裏, under the river), huǒchē shàngmian (火车上面; 火車上面, on the train), Huáng Hé yǐnán (黄河以南; 黃河以南, south of the Yellow River)
- Exceptions are words traditionally connected: tiānshang (天上, in the sky or outerspace), dìxia (地下, on the ground), kōngzhōng (空中, in the air), hǎiwài (海外, overseas)
- Surnames are separated from the given names, each capitalized: Lǐ Huá (李华; 李華), Zhāng Sān (张三; 張三). If the surname and/or given name consists of two syllables, it should be written as one: Zhūgě Kǒngmíng (诸葛孔明; 諸葛孔明).
- Titles following the name are separated and are not capitalized: Wáng bùzhǎng (王部长; 王部長, Minister Wang), Lǐ xiānsheng (李先生, Mr. Li), Tián zhǔrèn (田主任, Director Tian), Zhào tóngzhì (赵同志; 趙同志, Comrade Zhao).
- The forms of addressing people with suffixes such as Lǎo (老), Xiǎo (小), Dà (大) and Ā (阿) are capitalized: Xiǎo Liú (小刘; 小劉, [young] Ms./Mr. Liu), Dà Lǐ (大李, [great; elder] Mr. Li), Ā Sān (阿三, Ah San), Lǎo Qián (老钱; 老錢, [senior] Mr. Qian), Lǎo Wú (老吴; 老吳, [senior] Mr. Wu)
- Geographical names of China: Běijīng Shì (北京市, city of Beijing), Héběi Shěng (河北省, province of Hebei), Yālù Jiāng (鸭绿江; 鴨綠江, Yalu River), Tài Shān (泰山, Mount Tai), Dòngtíng Hú (洞庭湖, Dongting Lake), Táiwān Hǎixiá (台湾海峡; 臺灣海峽, Taiwan Strait)
- Monosyllabic prefixes and suffixes are written together with their related part: Dōngsì Shítiáo (东四十条; 東四十條, Dongsi 10th Alley)
- Common geographical nouns that have become part of proper nouns are written together: Hēilóngjiāng (黑龙江; 黑龍江, Heilongjiang)
- Chinese names of Non-Chinese names are written in Hanyu Pinyin: Āpèi Āwàngjìnměi (阿沛·阿旺晋美; 阿沛·阿旺晉美, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme); Dōngjīng (东京; 東京, Tokyo)
- Words of position are separated: mén wài (门外; 門外, outdoor), hé li (河里; 河裏, under the river), huǒchē shàngmian (火车上面; 火車上面, on the train), Huáng Hé yǐnán (黄河以南; 黃河以南, south of the Yellow River)
- Verbs (动词; 動詞; dòngcí): Verbs and their suffixes -zhe (着; 著), -le (了) or -guo ((过; 過) are written as one: kànzhe (看着; 看著, seeing), jìnxíngguo (进行过; 進行過, have been implemented). Le as it appears in the end of a sentence is separated though: Huǒchē dào le. (火车到了; 火車到了, The train [has] arrived).
- Verbs and their objects are separated: kàn xìn (看信, read a letter), chī yú (吃鱼; 吃魚, eat fish), kāi wánxiào (开玩笑; 開玩笑, to be kidding).
- If verbs and their complements are each monosyllabic, they are written together; if not, they are separated: gǎohuài (搞坏; 搞壞, to make broken), dǎsǐ (打死, hit to death), huàwéi (化为; 化為, to become), zhěnglǐ hǎo (整理好, to sort out), gǎixiě wéi (改写为; 改寫為, to rewrite as)
- Adjectives (形容词; 形容詞; xíngróngcí): A monosyllabic adjective and its reduplication are written as one: mēngmēngliàng (矇矇亮, dim), liàngtángtáng (亮堂堂, shining bright)
- Complements of size or degree such as xiē (些), yīxiē (一些), diǎnr (点儿; 點兒) and yīdiǎnr (一点儿; 一點兒) are written separated: dà xiē (大些), a little bigger), kuài yīdiǎnr (快一点儿; 快一點兒, a bit faster)
- Pronouns (代词; 代詞; dàicí)
- Personal pronouns and interrogative pronouns are separated from other words: Wǒ ài Zhōngguó. (我爱中国。; 我愛中國。, I love China); Shéi shuō de? (谁说的？; 誰說的？, Who said it?)
- The demonstrative pronoun zhè (这; 這, this), nà (那, that) and the question pronoun nǎ (哪, which) are separated: zhè rén (这人; 這人, this person), nà cì huìyì (那次会议; 那次會議, that meeting), nǎ zhāng bàozhǐ (哪张报纸; 哪張報紙, which newspaper)
- Exception—If zhè, nà or nǎ are followed by diǎnr (点儿; 點兒), bān (般), biān (边; 邊), shí (时; 時), huìr (会儿; 會兒), lǐ (里; 裏), me (么; 麼) or the general classifierge (个; 個), they are written together: nàlǐ (那里; 那裏, there), zhèbiān (这边; 這邊, over here), zhège (这个; 這個, this)
- Numerals (数词; 數詞; shùcí) and measure words (量词; 量詞; liàngcí)
- Numbers and words like gè (各, each), měi (每, each), mǒu (某, any), běn (本, this), gāi (该; 該, that), wǒ (我, my, our) and nǐ (你, your) are separated from the measure words following them: liǎng ge rén (两个人; 兩個人, two people), gè guó (各国; 各國, every nation), měi nián (每年, every year), mǒu gōngchǎng (某工厂; 某工廠, a certain factory), wǒ xiào (我校, our school)
- Numbers up to 100 are written as single words: sānshísān (三十三, thirty-three). Above that, the hundreds, thousands, etc. are written as separate words: jiǔyì qīwàn èrqiān sānbǎi wǔshíliù (九亿七万二千三百五十六; 九億七萬二千三百五十六, nine hundred million, seventy-two thousand, three hundred fifty-six). Arabic numerals are kept as Arabic numerals: 635 fēnjī (635 分机; 635 分機, extension 635)
- The dì (第) of ordinal numerals is hyphenated: dì-yī (第一, first), dì-356 (第 356, 356th). The chū (初) in front of numbers one to ten is written together with the number: chūshí (初十, tenth day)
- Numbers representing month and day are hyphenated: wǔ-sì (五四, May fourth), yīèr-jiǔ (一二·九, December ninth)
- Words of approximations such as duō (多), lái (来; 來) and jǐ (几; 幾) are separated from numerals and measure words: yībǎi duō gè (一百多个; 一百多個, around a hundred); shí lái wàn gè (十来万个; 十來萬個, around a hundred thousand); jǐ jiā rén (几家人; 幾家人, a few families)
- Shíjǐ (十几; 十幾, more than ten) and jǐshí (几十; 幾十, tens) are written together: shíjǐ gè rén (十几个人; 十幾個人, more than ten people); jǐshí (几十根钢管; 幾十根鋼管, tens of steel pipes)
- Approximations with numbers or units that are close together are hyphenated: sān-wǔ tiān (三五天, three to five days), qiān-bǎi cì (千百次, thousands of times)
- Other function words (虚词; 虛詞; xūcí) are separated from other words, including:
- Adverbs (副词; 副詞; fùcí): hěn hǎo (很好, very good), zuì kuài (最快, fastest), fēicháng dà (非常大, extremely big)
- Prepositions (介词; 介詞; jiècí): zài qiánmiàn (在前面, in front)
- Conjunctions (连词; 連詞; liáncí): nǐ hé wǒ (你和我, you and I/me), Nǐ lái háishi bù lái? (你来还是不来？; 你來還是不來？, Are you coming or not?)
- "Constructive auxiliaries" (结构助词; 結構助詞; jiégòu zhùcí) such as de (的/地/得), zhī (之) and suǒ (所): mànmàn de zou (慢慢地走), go slowly)
- A monosyllabic word can also be written together with de (的/地/得): wǒ de shū / wǒde shū (我的书; 我的書, my book)
- Modal auxiliaries at the end of a sentence: Nǐ zhīdào ma? (你知道吗？; 你知道嗎？, Do you know?), Kuài qù ba! (快去吧！, Go quickly!)
- Exclamations and interjections: À! Zhēn měi! (啊！真美！), Oh, that's so beautiful!)
- Onomatopoeia: mó dāo huòhuò (磨刀霍霍, honing a knife), hōnglōng yī shēng (轰隆一声; 轟隆一聲, rumbling)
- The first letter of the first word in a sentence is capitalized: Chūntiān lái le. (春天来了。; 春天來了。, Spring has arrived.)
- The first letter of each line in a poem is capitalized.
- The first letter of a proper noun is capitalized: Beǐjīng (北京, Beijing), Guójì Shūdiàn (国际书店; 國際書店, International Bookstore), Guójiā Yǔyán Wénzì Gōngzuò Wěiyuánhuì (国家语言文字工作委员会; 國家語言文字工作委員會, National Language Commission)
- On some occasions, proper nouns can be written in all caps: BĚIJĪNG, GUÓJÌ SHŪDIÀN, GUÓJIĀ YǓYÁN WÉNZÌ GŌNGZUÒ WĚIYUÁNHUÌ
- If a proper noun is written together with a common noun to make a proper noun, it is capitalized. If not, it is not capitalized: Fójiào (佛教, Buddhism), Tángcháo (唐朝, Tang dynasty), jīngjù (京剧; 京劇, Beijing opera), chuānxiōng (川芎, Szechuan lovage)
- Single words are abbreviated by taking the first letter of each character of the word: Beǐjīng (北京, Beijing) → BJ
- A group of words are abbreviated by taking the first letter of each word in the group: guójiā biāozhǔn (国家标准; 國家標準, Guobiao standard) → GB
- Initials can also be indicated using full stops: Beǐjīng → B.J., guójiā biāozhǔn → G.B.
- When abbreviating names, the surname is written fully (first letter capitalized or in all caps), but only the first letter of each character in the given name is taken, with full stops after each initial: Lǐ Huá (李华; 李華) → Lǐ H. or LǏ H., Zhūgě Kǒngmíng (诸葛孔明; 諸葛孔明) → Zhūgě K. M. or ZHŪGĚ K. M.
- Line Wrapping
- Words can only be split by the character:
guāngmíng (光明, bright) → guāng-
míng, not gu-
- Initials cannot be split:
Wáng J. G. (王建国; 王建國) → Wáng
J. G., not Wáng J.-
- Apostrophes disappear in line wrapping:
Xī'ān (西安, Xi'an) → Xī-
ān, not Xī'-
- When the original word has a hyphen, the hyphen is added at the beginning of the new line:
chēshuǐ-mǎlóng (车水马龙; 車水馬龍, heavy traffic: "carriage, water, horse, dragon") → chēshuǐ-
- Words can only be split by the character:
- Hyphenation: In addition to the situations mentioned above, there are four situations where hyphens are used.
- Coordinate and disjunctive compound words, where the two elements are conjoined or opposed, but retain their individual meaning: gōng-jiàn (弓箭, bow and arrow), kuài-màn (快慢, speed: "fast-slow"), shíqī-bā suì (十七八岁; 十七八歲, 17–18 years old), dǎ-mà (打骂; 打罵, beat and scold), Yīng-Hàn (英汉; 英漢, English-Chinese [dictionary]), Jīng-Jīn (京津, Beijing-Tianjin), lù-hǎi-kōngjūn (陆海空军; 陸海空軍, army-navy-airforce).
- Abbreviated compounds (略语; 略語; luèyǔ): gōnggòng guānxì (公共关系; 公共關係, public relations) → gōng-guān (公关; 公關, PR), chángtú diànhuà (长途电话; 長途電話, long-distance calling) → cháng-huà (长话; 長話, LDC).
Exceptions are made when the abbreviated term has become established as a word in its own right, as in chūzhōng (初中) for chūjí zhōngxué (初级中学; 初級中學, junior high school). Abbreviations of proper-name compounds, however, should always be hyphenated: Běijīng Dàxué (北京大学; 北京大學, Peking University) → Běi-Dà (北大, PKU).
- Four-syllable idioms: fēngpíng-làngjìng (风平浪静; 風平浪靜), calm and tranquil: "wind calm, waves down"), huījīn-rútǔ (挥金如土; 揮金如土, spend money like water: "throw gold like dirt"), zhǐ-bǐ-mò-yàn (纸笔墨砚; 紙筆墨硯, paper-brush-ink-inkstone [four coordinate words]). (The AA-BB reduplication above is an instance of this.)
- Other idioms are separated according to the words that make up the idiom: bēi hēiguō (背黑锅; 背黑鍋, to be made a scapegoat: "to carry a black pot"), zhǐ xǔ zhōuguān fànghuǒ, bù xǔ bǎixìng diǎndēng (只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯; 只許州官放火，不許百姓點燈, Gods may do what cattle may not: "only the official is allowed to light the fire; the commoners are not allowed to light a lamp")
- The Chinese full stop (。) is changed to a western full stop (.).
- The hyphen is a half-width hyphen (-).
- Ellipsis can be changed from 6 dots (……) to 3 dots (…).
- The enumeration comma (、) is changed to a normal comma (,).
- All other punctuation marks are the same as the ones used in normal texts.
The pinyin system also uses diacritics to mark the four tones of Mandarin. The diacritic is placed over the letter that represents the syllable nucleus, unless that letter is missing (see below). Many books printed in China use a mix of fonts, with vowels and tone marks rendered in a different font from the surrounding text, tending to give such pinyin texts a typographically ungainly appearance. This style, most likely rooted in early technical limitations, has led many to believe that pinyin's rules call for this practice and also for the use of a Latin alpha (ɑ) rather than the standard style of the letter (a) found in most fonts. The official rules of Hanyu Pinyin, however, specify no such practice.
- The first tone (Flat or High Level Tone) is represented by a macron (ˉ) added to the pinyin vowel:
- ā (ɑ̄) ē ī ō ū ǖ Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū Ǖ
- The second tone (Rising or High-Rising Tone) is denoted by an acute accent (ˊ):
- á (ɑ́) é í ó ú ǘ Á É Í Ó Ú Ǘ
- The third tone (Falling-Rising or Low Tone) is marked by a caron/háček (ˇ). It is not the rounded breve (˘), though a breve is sometimes substituted due to font limitations.
- ǎ (ɑ̌) ě ǐ ǒ ǔ ǚ Ǎ Ě Ǐ Ǒ Ǔ Ǚ
- The fourth tone (Falling or High-Falling Tone) is represented by a grave accent (ˋ):
- à (ɑ̀) è ì ò ù ǜ À È Ì Ò Ù Ǜ
- The fifth tone (Neutral Tone) is represented by a normal vowel without any accent mark:
- a (ɑ) e i o u ü A E I O U Ü
- (In some cases, this is also written with a dot before the syllable; for example, ·ma.)
These tone marks normally are only used in Mandarin textbooks or in foreign learning texts, but they are essential for correct pronunciation of Mandarin syllables, as exemplified by the following classic example of five characters whose pronunciations differ only in their tones:
媽 麻 馬 罵 嗎
妈 麻 马 骂 吗
The words are "mother", "hemp", "horse", "scold" and a question particle, respectively.
Numerals in place of tone marks
Before the advent of computers, many typewriter fonts did not contain vowels with macron or caron diacritics. Tones were thus represented by placing a tone number at the end of individual syllables. For example, tóng is written tong2. The number used for each tone is as the order listed above, except the neutral tone, which is either not numbered, or given the number 0 or 5, e.g. ma5 for 吗/嗎, an interrogative marker.
|Tone||Tone Mark||Number added to end of syllable
in place of tone mark
|First||macron ( ¯ )||1||mā||ma1||mɑ˥|
|Second||acute accent ( ´ )||2||má||ma2||mɑ˧˥|
|Third||caron ( ˇ )||3||mǎ||ma3||mɑ˨˩˦|
|Fourth||grave accent ( ` )||4||mà||ma4||mɑ˥˩|
or dot before syllable (·)
Rules for placing the tone mark
Briefly, the tone mark should always be placed by the order—a, o, e, i, u, ü, with the only exception being iu, where the tone mark is placed on the u instead. Pinyin tone marks appear primarily above the nucleus of the syllable, for example as in kuài, where k is the initial, u the medial, a the nucleus, and i the coda. The exception is syllabic nasals like /m/, where the nucleus of the syllable is a consonant, the diacritic will be carried by a written dummy vowel.
When the nucleus is /ə/ (written e or o), and there is both a medial and a coda, the nucleus may be dropped from writing. In this case, when the coda is a consonant n or ng, the only vowel left is the medial i, u, or ü, and so this takes the diacritic. However, when the coda is a vowel, it is the coda rather than the medial which takes the diacritic in the absence of a written nucleus. This occurs with syllables ending in -ui (from wei: (wèi → -uì) and in -iu (from you: yòu → -iù.) That is, in the absence of a written nucleus the finals have priority for receiving the tone marker, as long as they are vowels: if not, the medial takes the diacritic.
An algorithm to find the correct vowel letter (when there is more than one) is as follows:
- If there is an a or an e, it will take the tone mark.
- If there is an ou, then the o takes the tone mark.
- Otherwise, the second vowel takes the tone mark.
- If there is an a, e, or o, it will take the tone mark; in the case of ao, the mark goes on the a.
- Otherwise, the vowels are -iu or -ui, in which case the second vowel takes the tone mark.
If the tone is written over an i, the tittle above the i is omitted, as in yī.
The placement of the tone marker, when more than one of the written letters a, e, i, o, and u appears, can also be inferred from the nature of the vowel sound in the medial and final. The rule is that the tone marker goes on the spelled vowel that is not a (near-)semi-vowel. The exception is that, for triphthongs that are spelled with only two vowel letters, both of which are the semi-vowels, the tone marker goes on the second spelled vowel.
Specifically, if the spelling of a diphthong begins with i (as in ia) or u (as in ua), which here serves as a near-semi-vowel, this letter does not take the tone marker. Likewise, if the spelling of a diphthong ends with o or u representing a near-semi-vowel (as in ao or ou), this letter does not receive a tone marker. In a triphthong spelled with three of a, e, i, o, and u (with i or u replaced by y or w at the start of a syllable), the first and third letters coincide with near-semi-vowels and hence do not receive the tone marker (as in iao or uai or iou). But if no letter is written to represent a triphthong's middle (non-semi-vowel) sound (as in ui or iu), then the tone marker goes on the final (second) vowel letter.
Using tone colors
In addition to tone number and mark, tone color has been suggested as a visual aid for learning. Although there are no formal standards, there are a number of different color schemes in use.
- Dummitt's color scheme was one of the first to be used. It is tone 1 - red, tone 2 - orange, tone 3 - green, tone 4 - blue and neutral tone - black.
- The Unimelb color scheme is tone 1 - blue, tone 2 - green, tone 3 - purple, tone 4 - red, neutral tone - grey
- The Hanping color scheme is tone 1 - blue, tone 2 - green, tone 3 - orange, tone 4 - red, neutral tone - grey.
- The Pleco color scheme is tone 1 - red, tone 2 - green, tone 3 - blue, tone 4 - purple, neutral tone - grey
- The Thomas color scheme is tone 1 - green, tone 2 - blue, tone 3 - red, tone 4 - black, neutral tone - grey
Third tone exceptions
In spoken Chinese, the third tone is often pronounced as a "half third tone," in which the pitch does not rise. Additionally, when two third tones appear consecutively, such as in 你好 (nǐhǎo, hello), the first syllable is pronounced with the second tone. In pinyin, words like "hello" are still written with two third tones (nǐhǎo).
The ü sound
An umlaut is placed over the letter u when it occurs after the initials l and n in order to represent the sound [y]. This is necessary in order to distinguish the front high rounded vowel in lü (e.g. 驴; 驢; "donkey") from the back high rounded vowel in lu (e.g. 炉; 爐; "oven"). Tonal markers are added on top of the umlaut, as in lǘ.
However, the ü is not used in the other contexts where it could represent a front high rounded vowel, namely after the letters j, q, x and y. For example, the sound of the word 鱼/魚 (fish) is transcribed in pinyin simply as yú, not as yǘ. This practice is opposed to Wade-Giles, which always uses ü, and Tongyong Pinyin, which always uses yu. Whereas Wade-Giles needs to use the umlaut to distinguish between chü (pinyin ju) and chu (pinyin zhu), this ambiguity cannot arise with pinyin, so the more convenient form ju is used instead of jü. Genuine ambiguities only happen with nu/nü and lu/lü, which are then distinguished by an umlaut.
Many fonts or output methods do not support an umlaut for ü or cannot place tone marks on top of ü. Likewise, using ü in input methods is difficult because it is not present as a simple key on many keyboard layouts. For these reasons v is sometimes used instead by convention. For example, it is common for cellphones to use v instead of ü. Additionally, some stores in China use v instead of ü in the transliteration of their names. The drawback is that there are no tone marks for the letter v.
This also presents a problem in transcribing names for use on passports, affecting people with names that consist of the sound lü or nü, particularly people with the surname 吕 (Lǚ), a fairly common surname, particularly compared to the surname 陆 (Lù), 鲁 (Lǔ), 卢 (Lú) and 路 (Lù). Previously, the practice varied among different passport issuing offices, with some transcribing as "LV" and "NV" while others used "LU" and "NU". On 10 July 2012, the Ministry of Public Security standardized the practice to use "LYU" and "NYU" in passports.
Although nüe written as nue, and lüe written as lue are not ambiguous, nue or lue are not correct according to the rules; nüe and lüe should be used instead. However, some Chinese input methods (e.g. Microsoft Pinyin IME) support both nve/lve (typing v for ü) and nue/lue.
Pinyin in Taiwan
Taiwan (Republic of China) adopted Tongyong Pinyin, a modification of Hanyu Pinyin, as the official romanization system on the national level between October 2002 and January 2009, when it switched to Hanyu Pinyin. Tongyong Pinyin ("official phonetic"), a variant of pinyin developed in Taiwan, was designed to romanize languages and dialects spoken on the island in addition to Mandarin Chinese. The Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) resisted its adoption, preferring the Hanyu Pinyin system used in Mainland China and in general use internationally. Romanization preferences quickly became associated with issues of national identity. Preferences split along party lines: the Kuomintang and its affiliated parties in the pan-blue coalition supported the use of Hanyu Pinyin while the Democratic Progressive Party and its affiliated parties in the pan-green coalition favored the use of Tongyong Pinyin.
Tongyong Pinyin was made the official system in an administrative order that allowed its adoption by local governments to be voluntary. A few localities with governments controlled by the Kuomintang (KMT), most notably Taipei, Hsinchu, and Kinmen County, overrode the order and converted to Hanyu Pinyin before the January 1, 2009 national-level switch, though with a slightly different capitalization convention than mainland China. Most areas of Taiwan adopted Tongyong Pinyin, consistent with the national policy. Many street signs in Taiwan today still display Tongyong Pinyin but some, especially in northern Taiwan, display Hanyu Pinyin. It is still not unusual to see spellings on street signs and buildings derived from the older Wade-Giles, MPS2 and other systems.
The adoption of Hanyu Pinyin as the official romanization system in Taiwan does not preclude the official retention of earlier spellings. International familiarity has led to the retention of the spelling Taipei ("Taibei" in pinyin systems) and even to its continuation in the name of New Taipei, a municipality created in 2010. Personal names on Taiwanese passports honor the choices of Taiwanese citizens, who often prefer the Wade-Giles romanization of their personal names. Transition to Hanyu Pinyin in official use is also necessarily gradual. Universities and other government entities retain earlier spellings in long-established names, budget restraints preclude widespread replacement of signage and stationery in every area, and questions remain about the ability of the national government to enforce the standard island-wide. Primary education in Taiwan continues to teach pronunciation using zhuyin (MPS or Mandarin Phonetic Symbols).
Comparison with other orthographies
Pinyin is now used by foreign students learning Chinese as a second language.
Pinyin assigns some Latin letters sound values which are quite different from that of most languages. This has drawn some criticism as it may lead to confusion when uninformed speakers apply either native or English assumed pronunciations to words. However this is not a specific problem of pinyin, since many languages that use the Latin alphabet natively assign different values to the same letters. A recent study on Chinese writing and literacy concluded, "By and large, pinyin represents the Chinese sounds better than the Wade-Giles system, and does so with fewer extra marks."
Because Pinyin is purely a representation of the sounds of Mandarin, it completely lacks the semantic cues and contexts inherent in Chinese characters. Pinyin is also unsuitable for transcribing some Chinese spoken languages other than Mandarin, languages which by contrast have traditionally been written with Han characters allowing for written communication which, by its unified semanto-phonetic orthography, could theoretically be readable in any of the various vernaculars of Chinese where a phonetic script would have only localized utility.
Chart of comparison with other romanizations
Computer input systems
Simple computer systems, able to display only 7-bit ASCII text (essentially the 26 Latin letters, 10 digits and punctuation marks), long provided a convincing argument in favor of pinyin over Chinese characters. Today, however, most computer systems are able to display characters from Chinese and many other writing systems as well, and have them entered with a Latin keyboard using an input method editor. Alternatively, some PDAs, tablet computers and digitizing tablets allow users to input characters directly by writing with a stylus.
Pinyin-like systems have been devised for other variants of Chinese. Guangdong Romanization is a set of romanizations devised by the government of Guangdong province for Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka (Moiyen dialect), and Hainanese. All of these are designed to use Latin letters in a similar way to pinyin.
In addition, in accordance to the Regulation of Phonetic Transcription in Hanyu Pinyin Letters of Place Names in Minority Nationality Languages (少数民族语地名汉语拼音字母音译转写法; 少數民族語地名漢語拼音字母音譯寫法) promulgated in 1976, place names in non-Han languages like Mongolian, Uyghur, and Tibetan are also officially transcribed using pinyin in a system adopted by the State Administration of Surveying and Mapping and Geographical Names Committee known as SASM/GNC romanization. The pinyin letters (26 Roman letters, ü, ê) are used to approximate the non-Han language in question as closely as possible. This results in spellings that are different from both the customary spelling of the place name, and the pinyin spelling of the name in Chinese:
|Customary||Official (pinyin for local name)||Traditional Chinese name||Simplified Chinese name||Pinyin for Chinese name|
- Transcription into Chinese characters
- Chinese postal map romanization
- Combining character
- Erhua (儿化)
- Jyutping (most similar to IPA)
- Legge romanization
- List of ISO romanizations
- Pinyin input method
- Pinyin table
- Romanization of Japanese
- Simplified Wade
- Tibetan pinyin
- Tone number
- Tongyong Pinyin
- Snowling, Margaret J.; Hulme, Charles (2005). The science of reading: a handbook. Blackwell handbooks of developmental psychology) 17. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 320–22. ISBN 1-4051-1488-6.
- "Pinyin celebrates 50th birthday". Xinhua News Agency. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
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- "Government to improve English-friendly environment". The China Post. 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
- The on-line version of the canonical Guoyu Cidian (《國語辭典》) defines this term as: 標語音﹑不標語義的符號系統，足以明確紀錄某一種語言。(A system of symbols for notation of the sounds of words rather than for their meanings that is sufficient to accurately record some language.) See http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?cond=++%AB%F7%AD%B5&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&ukey=2123466121&serial=1&recNo=2&op=f&imgFont=1, accessed 14 September 2012.
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- Brockey, Liam Matthew (2009). Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579–1724. Harvard University Press. p. 261. ISBN 0674028813. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
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- Norman, Jerry (1988). Chinese, Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge University Press. p. 261. ISBN 0521296536. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- Jensen, Lionel M.; Weston, Timothy B. (2007). China's Transformations: The Stories Beyond the Headlines. Rowman & Littlefield. p. XX. ISBN 074253863X.
- Chen, Ping (1999). Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521645727. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
- John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984), pp. 246-247.
- "Father of pinyin". China Daily. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2009. Reprinted in part as Simon, Alan (21–27 Jan 2011). "Father of Pinyin". China Daily Asia Weekly (Hong Kong). Xinhua. p. 20.
- "Zhou Youguang". China Digital Times. China.
- "Tag: Zhou Youguang". Chinadigitaltimes.net. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- Branigan, Tania (2008-02-21). "Sound Principles". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
- Rohsenow, John S. 1989. Fifty years of script and written language reform in the PRC: the genesis of the language law of 2001. In Zhou Minglang and Sun Hongkai, eds. Language Policy In The People's Republic Of China: Theory And Practice Since 1949, p. 23
- Branigan, Tania (2008-02-21). "Sound principles". The Guardian (London).
- "Hanyu Pinyin system turns 50". Straits Times. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
- Terry, Edith. How Asia Got Rich: Japan, China and the Asian Miracle. M.E. Sharpe, 2002. 632. Retrieved from Google Books on August 7, 2011. ISBN 0-7656-0356-X, 9780765603562.
- Terry, Edith. How Asia Got Rich: Japan, China and the Asian Miracle. M.E. Sharpe, 2002. 633. Retrieved from Google Books on August 7, 2011. ISBN 0-7656-0356-X, 9780765603562.
- "New Pinyin Standards (2012). On Derk Zech’s blog, with links to PDF documents". 2012-12-31. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
- Lin Mei-chun (2000-10-08). "Official challenges romanization". Taipei Times.
- Ao, Benjamin (1997-12-01). "History and Prospect of Chinese Romanization". Chinese Librarianship: an International Electronic Journal (Internet Chinese Librarians Club) (4). ISSN 1089-4667. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
- R.F. Price (2005). Education in Modern China. Volume 23 of "China : history, philosophy, economics". (2, illustrated ed.). Routledge. p. 123. ISBN 0-415-36167-2.
- Price (2005), pp. 206–208
- Hashimoto, Mantaro (1970). "Notes on Mandarin Phonology". In Jakobson, Roman; Kawamoto, Shigeo. Studies in General and Oriental Linguistics. Tokyo: TEC. pp. 207–220
- You can hear recordings of the Finals here
- "Apostrophes in Hanyu Pinyin: when and where to use them".
- "Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Orthography". Qingdao Vocational and Technical College of Hotel Management (in Chinese). Department of Educational Administration. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
- "Release of the National Standard Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Orthography". China Education and Research Network (in Chinese). China Education and Research Network. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
- "Use of the Hyphen; Abbreviations and Short Forms". Pinyin.info. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
- Swofford, Mark. "Where do the tone marks go?". Pinyin.info. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
- Nathan Dummitt, Chinese Through Tone & Color (2008)
- "Hanping Chinese Dictionary color scheme". 2013-01-10. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
- Huang, Rong. "公安部最新规定 护照上的"ü"规范成"YU"". Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- Li, Zhiyan. ""吕"拼音到怎么写？ 公安部称应拼写成"LYU"". Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- "Google Reader". Google.com. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
- Taylor, Insup and Maurice M. Taylor (1995), Writing and literacy in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, Volume 3 of Studies in written language and literacy, John Benjamins, p. 124.
- Yin Binyong/尹斌庸 and Mary Felley (1990). Chinese Romanization. Pronunciation and Orthography (Hanyu Pinyin he zhengcifa 汉语拼音和正词法). Beijing: Sinolingua. ISBN 7-80052-148-6 / ISBN 0-8351-1930-0.
- Gao, J. K. (2005). Pinyin shorthand: a bilingual handbook = [Pinyin su ji fa]. Dallas, TX: Jack Sun. ISBN 1-59971-251-2
- Kimball, R. L. (1988). Quick reference Chinese: a practical guide to Mandarin for beginners and travelers in English, Pinyin romanization, and Chinese characters. San Francisco, CA: China Books & Periodicals. ISBN 0-8351-2036-8
- Uy, Dr. Tim and Jim Hsia (ed.) (2009). Webster's Digital Chinese Dictionary: Advanced Reference Edition. Mountain View, CA: Loqu8 Press.
- Wu, C.-j. (1979). The Pinyin Chinese–English dictionary. Hong Kong: Commercial Press. ISBN 0-471-27557-3
Pinyin reading matters
|Wikisource has original text related to this article:|
- (Proper sound of pinyin from zdic.net with sounds, require java script turned on)
- Pinyin-Hanzi-English Chinese-English dictionary
- Pinyin-English news summary for learners of Chinese language
- Free Pinyin Tutorial (Chinese & Beyond)
- Basic Rules of Hanyu Pinyin Orthography by Zhou Youguang (Pinyin.info. Now superseded by GB/T 16159-2012 below.)
- Basic Rules for Hanyu Pinyin Orthography (National Standard of the People's Republic of China (ICS 01.140.10), 1996. Now superseded by GB/T 16159-2012 below.)
- Basic rules of the Chinese phonetic alphabet orthography (The official standard GB/T 16159-2012 in Chinese. PDF version from the Chinese Ministry of Education.)
- The Chinese phonetic alphabet spelling rules for Chinese names (The official standard GB/T 28039-2011 in Chinese. PDF version from the Chinese Ministry of Education.)
- Interactive Pinyin Table
- Mandarin Chinese Pinyin Table
- Table of Combinations of Initials and Finals (Pinyin.info)
- Free Chinese Pronunciation Online
- Pinyin Listening Test for 4 Tones
- Pinyin Tone Recognition Test
|Official romanization adopted
by the People's Republic of China
|de facto used romanization
by the People's Republic of China
|Official romanization adopted
by the Republic of China (Taiwan) | <urn:uuid:623942c1-5314-4aa8-aad5-acadf848f5cf> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_pinyin | 2015-03-28T01:27:43Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297146.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00056-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.841649 | 19,898 |
Supernatural (season 9)
|Supernatural (season 9)|
DVD cover art
|Country of origin||United States|
|No. of episodes||23|
|Original channel||The CW|
|Original run||October 8, 2013– May 20, 2014|
|Home video release|
|Region 1||September 9, 2014|
|Region 2||June 8, 2015|
|Region 4||October 8, 2014|
|Blu-ray Disc release|
|Region A||September 9, 2014|
|Region B||October 8, 2014|
- Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester (23 episodes) / Gadreel (10 episodes)
- Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester (23 episodes)
- Misha Collins as Castiel (11 episodes)
- Mark A. Sheppard as Crowley (9 episodes)
- Tahmoh Penikett as Gadreel (6 episodes)
- Curtis Armstrong as Metatron (5 episodes)
- Alaina Huffman as Abaddon / Josie Sands (5 episodes)
- Osric Chau as Kevin Tran (4 episodes)
- Erica Carroll as Hannah (3 episodes)
- Adam Harrington as Bartholomew (2 episodes)
- Kim Rhodes as Sheriff Jody Mills (2 episodes)
- Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer (1 episode)
- Felicia Day as Charlie Bradbury (1 episode)
- Tiio Horn as Dorothy Gale (1 episode)
- Gil McKinney as Henry Winchester (1 episode)
- Timothy Omundson as Cain (1 episode)
- Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi as herself (1 episode)
- DJ Qualls as Garth Fitzgerald IV (1 episode)
- Julian Richings as Death (1 episode)
- Richard Speight, Jr. as Gabriel (1 episode)
- Lauren Tom as Linda Tran (1 episode)
In this table, the number in the first column refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode's number within this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to how many Americans watched the episode live or on the day of broadcast.
|Title||Directed by||Written by||Original air date||Production
|173||1||"I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here"||John Showalter||Jeremy Carver||October 8, 2013||4X5052||2.59|
|Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) is dying from the events of the previous season. He dreams that he's talking with his brother Dean (Jensen Ackles), who is trying to convince him to fight to live, and their late friend Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver), who is trying to convince him to let go and die. Sam decides to follow "Bobby's" advice and crosses paths with Death himself (Julian Richings) again. Death explains that he has come to pay Sam the honor of reaping him personally, and Sam agrees to go with him so long as his death is permanent this time in attempt to prevent the suffering and death his and Dean's resurrections have caused in the past. Meanwhile, the angel Castiel (Misha Collins) has been turned into a human. He meets another angel, who is later revealed to have plans to possess him, as the body she is in now is deteriorating due to its inability to contain her. Castiel kills her to prevent her going through with her threat of disclosing his location to other angels, who seek revenge on him for locking them out of Heaven. Not knowing this, an increasingly desperate Dean prays to angels for help in saving Sam's life; this causes them to come attack Dean. However, one angel, Ezekiel (Tahmoh Penikett), has come to answer Dean's prayers. Due to the extensive damage wrought on Sam's body, he finds that he is unable to heal Sam with a touch as angels normally can. As he has been injured in the fall from Heaven, he suggest that he possess Sam so he can heal him from the inside while at the same time healing himself. Dean agrees to this, and Ezekiel takes on Dean's form to talk to Sam in his head, using Dean's appearance and ambiguous wording to trick Sam into letting Ezekiel possess him. With Dean's agreement, Ezekiel erases Sam's memory of the event and stays hidden in Sam while secretly healing him.|
|174||2||"Devil May Care"||Guy Bee||Andrew Dabb||October 15, 2013||4X5051||2.33|
|Sam and Dean take the captive King of Hell Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard) to the Men of Letters bunker to try to get the locations of all the demons on Earth from him. Meanwhile, his demonic rival Abaddon (Alaina Huffman) starts a movement to take over Hell. With the help of three demons that take soldiers as hosts, Abaddon captures two hunters and uses them to lure Sam and Dean into a trap outside Eugene, Oregon. Ezekiel briefly takes control of Sam and kills the three demons, causing Abaddon to flee. Sam continues to be unaware of his possession, as Ezekiel made it look like Dean killed the demons. The Winchesters' prophet ally Kevin Tran (Osric Chau) searches for a way to reverse Metatron's spell and kill Abaddon. He confronts Crowley, who claims that Kevin's mother Linda isn't dead. Kevin tries to leave the bunker to find Linda himself, but Dean convinces him not to go by telling him that he's family and that even if his mother is alive, she is as good as dead.|
|175||3||"I'm No Angel"||Kevin Hooks||Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming||October 22, 2013||4X5053||2.34|
|An angel faction led by Bartholomew (Adam Harrington) uses an internet preacher to encourage devout people to agree to being possessed by the multitude of fallen angels now wandering the earth. Bartholomew is also actively hunting for Castiel, who is out on his own and struggling to find any stable shelter and food. Increasingly desperate, Castiel meets April Kelly (Shannon Lucio), who offers him food, takes him into her home, and tends to him, leading to them having sex. The morning after, however, April reveals herself to be a rogue reaper hired by Bartholomew to find him. After torturing Castiel for information on Metatron, she kills him when Sam and Dean arrive to rescue him. Dean kills her in retribution and has Ezekiel resurrect Castiel, lying to the others by saying that he had tricked April into resurrecting Castiel before he killed her. Castiel is relieved to finally have a place to stay at the bunker with his friends, but Ezekiel, fearing that Castiel will draw angry angels to them, forces Dean to kick Castiel out.|
|176||4||"Slumber Party"||Robert Singer||Robbie Thompson||October 29, 2013||4X5054||2.19|
|In 1935, hunter Dorothy (Tiio Horn) of The Wizard of Oz fame captures the Wicked Witch of the West (Maya Massar) and brings her to the Men of Letters bunker. Unable to find a way to kill her, Dorothy traps herself and the Witch inside a jar. In the present, Sam and Dean discover that the bunker's map table is connected to an ancient computer. They call in their tech-savvy friend Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day) in the hopes that she can rewire the computer to track the fallen angels, but while they're in the room containing the computer, Dean accidentally releases Dorothy and the Witch. The four hunters work together to stop the Witch's plan to use a key to Oz somewhere in the bunker to bring her minions in Oz to the human world. Dean recognizes the key from his sorting through the bunker's artifacts, but the Witch takes advantage of his knowledge to steal it for herself and begin opening the door to Oz. The witch kills Charlie but Dean forces Ezekiel to bring her back , still hiding everything from Sam. She puts Sam and Dean under her control to find the girls and kill them. Charlie figures out that the Oz books held clues from Man of Letters L. Frank Baum to Dorothy—his daughter—on how to defeat the Witch. After Charlie stabs the Witch to death using the pointed heel of the ruby slippers—thus freeing Sam and Dean from the Witch's control—Dorothy uses the key to return to Oz and free it from the evil forces. Charlie takes her up on her invitation to go with her, as she has been longing for fantastical adventures of that kind ever since she became a hunter.|
|177||5||"Dog Dean Afternoon"||Tim Andrew||Eric Charmelo & Nicole Snyder||November 5, 2013||4X5056||2.15|
|A taxidermist (Forbes Angus) in Enid, Oklahoma is constricted to death by a man with snake-like traits, and a shelter worker (Kris Neufeld) is killed by the same man but now with cat-like traits after eating a cat whole. Sam and Dean investigate and find the taxidermist's dog, The Colonel, who witnessed both murders. Dean casts a spell that allows him to communicate with animals but causes him to take on dog-like traits. They question The Colonel (voiced by Al Rodrigo) and various other animals, discovering that the killer is a man named Chef Leo (Steve Valentine) is using shamanism to take on the traits of various animals by eating them. Chef Leo attacks and mortally wounds Sam, but Sam quickly recovers due to Ezekiel healing him. Chef Leo witnesses this and captures Sam. Chef Leo has been trying to find a way to cure his cancer by gaining the abilities of different animals, and now he hopes to acquire Sam's healing power by eating him. Dean calls a pack of dogs to maul Chef Leo to death. Dean takes The Colonel to a new home with loving owners and the spell wears off, returning Dean to normal.|
|178||6||"Heaven Can't Wait"||Rob Spera||Robert Berens||November 12, 2013||4X5057||2.36|
|Four people mysteriously combust in Rexburg, Idaho, where Castiel is working as a sales associate at a gas station. He calls Dean, who leaves Sam and Kevin at the bunker doing research, to investigate with Castiel. They visit the crime scene of the newest victim, and Castiel recognizes it as the work of a Rit Zien, a class of angel healers who are able to mercy-kill mortally wounded angels. Unable to differentiate between the temporary and permanent pains of humans, the Rit Zien has been killing those suffering from any distress. Castiel leaves the investigation to go to his boss's house, thinking she'd asked him for a date, but finds that she'd actually wanted him to babysit her infant daughter. There, Castiel is attacked by the Rit Zien angel Ephraim (Ashton Holmes), who heard his inner pain and is there to kill him. With Dean's assistance, Castiel kills the Rit Zien instead. Dean then leaves Castiel to his normal life. At the bunker, Kevin is only able to translate the angel tablet into an obscure form of cuneiform. Sam and Kevin make a deal with Crowley: in exchange for allowing him to contact Abaddon with a blood spell, he will translate the tablet for them. After communicating with Abaddon and having her tell him that she has seized control of Hell and is stamping out all his work and followers to remove his influence, a subdued Crowley translates the tablet for Sam and Kevin and tells them that Metatron's spell is irreversible. Later, Sam catches Crowley injecting himself with Kevin's blood for an unknown reason.|
|179||7||"Bad Boys"||Kevin Parks||Adam Glass||November 19, 2013||4X5055||2.01|
|Dean gets a call from Sonny (Blake Gibbons), an old friend who runs a reform school in Hurleyville, New York, asking for his help when a man is mysteriously killed at the school. Sam learns that Dean (Dylan Everett in flashbacks) spent two months at the school in 1995 after he got caught stealing food. Instead of it being a hard time for Dean, he enjoyed it and flourished, along the way having his first romance with a girl named Robin (Sarah Desjardins). On the night of a school dance, Dean's father returned to collect him and, despite Sonny's offer to let him stay permanently, Dean elects to leave to reunite with Sam (Hunter Dillon in flashbacks). In the present, Dean meets up with Robin (Erin Karpluk) again, though she initially pretends not to recognize him out of hurt that he had abandoned her without a word back then. They eventually patch things up. Sam and Dean go to the reform school, where they talk with a boy named Timmy (Sean Michael Kyer), whose mother is a ghost who has been protecting him from perceived threats at the cost of going murderously insane from being tied to Earth. She tries to kill Sam, Dean, and Robin, but is stopped by Timmy with Dean's encouragement. Timmy tells his mother to move on and she listens to her son, returning to her normal self as she departs.|
|180||8||"Rock and a Hard Place"||John MacCarthy||Jenny Klein||November 26, 2013||4X5058||2.39|
|Suspecting that the mysterious disappearances she is investigating in Hartford, South Dakota, are linked to the supernatural due to unusual reports she is getting, Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) calls in Sam and Dean to help her with the case. Sam and Dean realize that the victims all belong to the same church chastity group and so go undercover as new members to continue investigating. Dean discovers that the group councilor, Suzy Lee (Susie Abromeit), is one of his favorite porn stars; unhappy with her old life, she has quit the porn industry and is trying to turn over a new leaf. Wooing her with his genuine admiration for her and her work, he seduces her at the same time that Sam and Sheriff Mills realize that the people taken are members of the chastity group who have broken their vows of chastity. Before Sam and Sheriff Mills can get to them, Dean and Suzy are kidnapped and imprisoned in an old fallout shelter where the rest of the victims are being kept (save one who has already been taken away). Dean manages to call Sam and though the call cuts out quickly, the sound of a train whistle in the background clues Sam and Sheriff Mills in to Dean's location. They also deduce that they are dealing with the goddess Vesta (Lindy Booth), who has been posing as a member of the chastity group to select her victims. Sheriff Mills manages to kill Vesta and she, Sam, and Dean (who breaks free of confinement) rescue the surviving victims. However, Sam remains troubled by Vesta's words about him barely being kept alive. Seeing his brother's distress, Dean is about to tell him the truth, but Ezekiel reemerges and warns him not to.|
|181||9||"Holy Terror"||Thomas J. Wright||Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming||December 3, 2013||4X5059||2.42|
|A civil war starts between angels working for Bartholomew and angels working for Malachi, an anarchist, both of whom want to rule the fallen angels, which will end in disaster. Sam and Dean initially investigate with Castiel, but Ezekiel makes Dean send Castiel away. Desperate, Castiel prays for help and is met by an angel named Muriel who is neutral in the war. Castiel convinces her to hear him out and she explains what she knows, but he is captured by Malachi and another angel named Theo who were tracking Muriel. Malachi tortures Castiel for information on Metatron, killing Muriel to try to force him to tell him what he knows. He reveals that many angels died in the Fall from Heaven, including Ezekiel. Malachi leaves Castiel alone with Theo who wants to defect to Metatron's side. Castiel tricks Theo into releasing him, then steals his grace, turning him back into an angel and at least partially restoring his powers. After escaping, Castiel calls Dean to warn him about "Ezekiel." At the same time, Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) meets with "Ezekiel," who is revealed to actually be Gadreel, the appointed guardian of the Garden of Eden until he let Lucifer in and fell into disgrace in the eyes of the Heavenly Host. He was imprisoned in Heaven's dungeon for not stopping Lucifer and was only released by the Fall. Metatron, having grown bored with his solitary rule of Heaven, proposes working together to restore Heaven with angels that they like. Gadreel is initially reluctant, but agrees and is given orders by Metatron to kill Kevin to prove his allegiance. After learning the truth from Castiel, Dean uses a sigil to knock Gadreel out so that he can tell Sam the truth, but "Sam" knocks him out and reveals himself to really be Gadreel, having altered the sigil so it gave him control rather than Sam. Gadreel kills Kevin and leaves, taking with him the angel and demon tablets, but leaves Dean alive to mourn the loss of Kevin and Sam.|
|182||10||"Road Trip"||Robert Singer||Andrew Dabb||January 14, 2014||4X5060||2.21|
|Metatron orders Gadreel to carry out two more murders, including an old friend of Gadreel's (Dan Payne). Though Gadreel hesitates to kill his friend, he goes through with it in the end. Back at the bunker, Castiel informs Dean that Crowley can bypass the angel and help them talk directly with Sam, who can then cast Gadreel out. After they find and capture Gadreel, he proves immune to Crowley's methods of torture so Dean reluctantly agrees to allow Crowley to possess Sam to communicate with him directly. With Crowley's encouragement, Sam manages to expel Gadreel who repossesses his old vessel to continue his work for Metatron. Abaddon, having tracked them down, arrives and Crowley stays behind to hold her off while Sam, Dean and Castiel escape. Crowley tells Abaddon that rather than the bloody battle between the two of them she has been anticipating, they are in the middle of a "campaign" to win the hearts of their demonic subjects for rulership of Hell. He then leaves before Abaddon can attack him. Meanwhile, it is discovered that Gadreel has restored enough of Sam's health that Castiel can take over healing him through conventional means. Dean tells Sam that he is going to hunt Gadreel alone as he believes that he causes too much hurt to those around him. Hurt by Dean's trickery, Sam tells him that Gadreel is not their problem, but refuses to elaborate, instead bidding Dean to go.|
|183||11||"First Born"||John Badham||Robbie Thompson||January 21, 2014||4X5061||2.65|
|Crowley approaches Dean for help with finding the First Blade, the only known weapon that can kill Abaddon. Following clues, Dean and Crowley discover that Dean's father had once worked with a hunter named Tara who spent years searching for the Blade. Finding Tara, they cast a locator spell she found that leads them to the "retired" demon Cain (Timothy Omundson), who had trained—and then killed—all the other Knights of Hell except Abaddon, who had escaped his wrath. Cain refuses to help them, even letting in a group of other demons to fight Dean and Crowley, who kill them. Cain reveals that he wants revenge on Abaddon, as she murdered his wife, but is unable to exact it himself because he is bound by his promise to his wife not to kill anymore. Cain also reveals that the spell led them to him because his Mark (the brand Lucifer marked him with when he turned him into a demon) is the source of the Blade's power and he can transfer it to someone worthy. Despite Cain's warnings of an unknown but terrible cost, Dean agrees to bear the Mark so that he can kill Abaddon. Cain asks for Dean to kill him after killing Abaddon and sends him and Crowley to safety as he single-handedly defeats a swarm of demons that arrived to kill them. Having picked up on Crowley giving himself away in small but tell-tale ways, Dean confronts Crowley on having been deceiving and manipulating him all along, including having allowed Tara to be questioned, tortured, and killed by demons so that they would find him and Dean and Dean could prove himself worthy to Cain for the Mark. However, Dean can't retaliate against Crowley yet because he still needs Crowley to retrieve the First Blade from the bottom of the ocean. Running parallel to this plot is Sam and Castiel's attempts to harvest the part of Gadreel's grace that is still inside Sam so that they can use it to track the angel. Removing the grace causes Sam to start reverting back into the state he was before Gadreel possessed him, but Sam refuses to let him stop until they get all the grace they need, even if it means his death. Due to his own brief humanity, Castiel empathizes with Sam's desire to make up for the people who've died from the choices he, Sam, and Dean have made, but refuses to risk killing Sam, instead stopping and finishing healing Sam and eliminating the last of the grace. The spell turns out to be unsuccessful because they didn't get enough grace. Castiel leaves to track Metatron, who he believes holds the key to fixing everything.|
|184||12||"Sharp Teeth"||John Showalter||Adam Glass||January 28, 2014||4X5062||2.76|
|After Garth (DJ Qualls) is hit by a car after mutilating a cow in Grantsburg, Wisconsin, Sam and Dean arrive separately to investigate where their friend has been for months. Claiming to remember nothing, Garth escapes the hospital and Sam and Dean follow him to discover that Garth is married to a werewolf and is now one himself after being bitten six months before on a hunt. Garth insists that he and his pack don't harm humans and peacefully coexist. While Sam is more willing to trust Garth, Dean isn't after his long disappearance and due to his suspicious nature. As everything seems to be fine, Sam and Dean are lured into a trap by the local sheriff who is also a werewolf and are forced to kill him when he attacks. Looking for Garth, Sam finds him and his wife Bess missing and is kidnapped by a few members of the pack while Dean finds out that they worship Fenris and believe that when Ragnarok comes, they will rule over mankind. The wife of the minister plans to murder Garth and Bess and frame Sam and Dean to goad the rest of the pack who is willing to live in peace into action, but Dean arrives and kills the three werewolves running the plot. In the aftermath, Garth offers to return to hunting using his new werewolf powers to help, but Dean tells him to enjoy his new life, having realized that all werewolves aren't so bad. Dean tries to make up with Sam who agrees to return to hunting with Dean, but doesn't fully trust him anymore.|
|185||13||"The Purge"||Phil Sgriccia||Eric Charmelo & Nicole Snyder||February 4, 2014||4X5063||2.46|
|Dean finds a case in Stillwater, Minnesota where a 316 pound man was killed in his car and was 98 pounds afterwards. Thinking witchcraft, Sam and Dean investigate, leading them to weird suction marks on the man and another victim. After finding the same mark on a personal trainer, Sam and Dean go undercover at a nearby health spa where people mysteriously lose a lot of weight very fast. While tasting the spa's pudding, Dean gets drugged by roofies and they realize the spa's owner is a monster after Dean catches her eating refrigerated fat. At the same time Sam and Dean confront the woman, Maritza, her brother Alonzo kills her husband after he confronts him about the murders. Maritza explains she and Alonzo are Pishtaco, Peruvian parasitic monsters that feed on fat. Maritza set up the spa to harmlessly feed on human fat from her customers without harming anyone, but her brother wasn't content with that and wanted to feed on people until death. Tracking down Alonzo, Sam and Dean kill him and pass it off as a psycho serial killer to the police. Although Dean wants to kill Maritza too, Sam convinces him not to and they send her back to Peru instead. Later, Dean tries to clear the air between him and Sam about what he did to save him, but Sam points out that Dean did it for himself so he wouldn't be alone. When Dean tries to contend that Sam would do the same for him, Sam tells him he wouldn't, leaving Dean stunned.|
|186||14||"Captives"||Jerry Wanek||Robert Berens||February 25, 2014||4X5064||2.12|
|To Sam and Dean's surprise, they are visited by Kevin's ghost; since his death, he has trapped in the veil between worlds because spirits have been barred from Heaven by Metatron. Kevin has learned that his mother's alive and asks them to rescue her. Sam and Dean locate Linda (Lauren Tom) in a storage facility in Wichita, Kansas, but are captured by a demon there in the guise of a storage facility employee who is working for Crowley and keeping Linda prisoner. The three manage to break free and Linda gets the satisfaction of killing the demon herself. She is reunited with Kevin's ghost and, despite the risks, decides to take him home with her. Before they leave, Kevin asks Sam and Dean to set aside their issues. Despite promising him they will, they go back to ignoring each other when he's gone. Meanwhile, Castiel is captured by Bartholomew, revealed to be a former subordinate of his who wants Castiel to ally with him to unite all of the angels. However, Castiel doesn't agree with Bartholomew's savage ways and wants to bring an end to the in-fighting he's causing. In a fight, Castiel is forced to kill him in self-defense. Afterwards, some of Bartholomew's followers approach Castiel to join him in his way of doing things.|
|187||15||"#THINMAN"||Jeannot Szwarc||Jenny Klein||March 4, 2014||4X5066||1.93|
|In Springdale, Washington, a teenage girl taking pictures of herself is killed in her own bedroom by what appears to be Thinman (a pastiche of Slender Man), some kind of monster that appears in various videos and pictures of unnatural deaths. Sam and Dean find their old ghost hunting rivals Ed and Harry of the Ghostfacers are also there investigating, collecting more stories on Thinman. Sam and Dean are confused because the deaths don't seem related to the supernatural and the pictures seem faked, but then Thinman is caught on-camera murdering a diner manager. After Harry himself narrowly escapes Thinman, Ed confesses that he had invented Thinman to keep Harry from leaving to lead a normal life as their old teammates had, a revelation that infuriates the other man. Sam and Dean are taken captive by the local deputy, who reveals that he and his psychopathic partner-in-crime, a busboy who had killed his boss the diner manager and the girl for petty reasons, have been using Thinman as a cover to go on a killing spree, disguising themselves as Thinman and staging the murders as supernatural occurrences to make it seem that Thinman is real in order to feed the legend. They plan to have "Thinman" kill Sam and Dean next, but when Ed and Harry arrive, they get distracted, allowing Sam and Dean to break free and fight back; in the ensuing struggle, Dean kills the busboy and Harry is forced to kill the deputy to save Ed. Dean then covers up their involvement by staging the scene so it looks like the killers killed each other. At the end of the episode, Harry refuses to forgive Ed for his deception and leaves the Ghostfacers and Ed behind for good.|
|188||16||"Blade Runners"||Serge Ladouceur||Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming||March 18, 2014||4X5065||1.86|
|Crowley is addicted to human blood, but after the demon he uses to get it betrays him to Abaddon, he calls in Sam and Dean. Crowley, Sam, and Dean team up to locate the First Blade which has passed among various owners since its discovery by an unmanned submarine in the Mariana Trench. Finally, they track the Blade to a rogue Man of Letters named Cuthbert Sinclair (Kavan Smith). Locating his lair, Sam and Dean learn that Magnus is a collector of creatures and rare objects such as the Blade and as he needs Dean to use the Blade, he imprisons him and sends Sam away. Sam and Crowley manage to get back in, but Sam is captured. Crowley frees Dean who kills Magnus with the First Blade, after which Sam realizes the Blade is having a strange effect on Dean. Crowley then takes the Blade as he doesn't trust Sam and Dean not to kill him and will only give it back to them once they have tracked down Abaddon.|
|189||17||"Mother's Little Helper"||Misha Collins||Adam Glass||March 25, 2014||4X5067||2.25|
|While Dean continues to research Abaddon—something he soon takes a break from to visit a dive bar, only to be pestered there by Crowley—Sam opts to go investigate a report of the good people of Milton, Illinois spontaneously turning into violent killers. He meets ex-nun Julia Wilkinson (Jenny O'Hara) who had encountered the Men of Letters under similar circumstances in 1958. She reveals that Abaddon had been present at her convent and removing people's souls before encountering Henry Winchester (Gil McKinney) and Josie Sands (Alaina Huffman) of the Men of Letters. When Abaddon was about to possess Henry, Josie persuaded Abaddon to take her instead. Abaddon left with an oblivious Henry with the intention of studying the Men of Letters from within before destroying them. Now she has demons working for her stealing souls again in order to turn those souls into an army of demons. Sam kills the demon responsible for stealing souls in Milton and releases the captive souls to return to their bodies. Disturbed by Abaddon's plan, he is now as determined as Dean to stop her.|
|190||18||"Meta Fiction"||Thomas J. Wright||Robbie Thompson||April 15, 2014||4X5068||1.60|
|In Ogden, Utah, several angels have been slaughtered for refusing to join Metatron, who claims he can get them back into Heaven. Several angels want Castiel to lead them against him, but Castiel refuses. Castiel is approached by Gabriel, who says he survived and came out of hiding to be the leader against Metatron. Castiel realizes this is an illusion created by Metatron. Metatron views the whole angel war as a story and wants Castiel to play the villain by leading angels against him, and even though he will fail, Metatron claims he will let him back into Heaven and give Castiel a power supply for his new grace which will burn out and kill him if he cannot soon recharge it. Sam and Dean capture Gadreel, and while Dean is alone with him, Gadreel goads him about what Sam really thinks of him. Dean is heavily tempted by the Mark of Cain to kill him, but is just barely able to resist the urge. Metatron tells Sam he will trade Castiel for Gadreel. At the trade, Metatron easily puts out holy fire and erases angel warding. He says Sam and Dean cannot stop him, but it will be fun watching them try, as he departs with Gadreel. Castiel seems to somberly accept the mantle of leader of a group of angels as Metatron had wanted.|
|191||19||"Alex Annie Alexis Ann"||Stefan Pleszczynski||Robert Berens||April 22, 2014||4X5069||2.10|
|In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a young woman named Alex (Katherine Ramdeen) is arrested, but while the police officers are gone, is attacked by a vampire who shows a familiarity to her. Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) kills the vampire and calls in Sam and Dean for help. They discover that Alex was kidnapped eight years ago by a "family" of vampires led by Celia (Ashley Crow) and that they are now after her as she ran away from them. Tracing the nest to O'Neill, Nebraska through a bus ticket, Sam and Dean confront one of the vampires while Jody protects Alex. Before being killed, the vampire reveals that Alex lures humans to the nest for the vampires to feed on and is not innocent after all. Before Sam and Dean can reach them, the "family" attacks Jody and Alex and kidnaps Alex who is revealed to have run away out of guilt over her actions. Returning to the nest to kill the vampires, Sam, Dean and Jody are captured and Jody finds Alex turned into a vampire. Jody realizes Celia kidnapped Alex to replace a daughter she lost a long time ago and admits that she herself sees Alex as a way to cope with her own dead family. Alex saves Jody from Celia who Jody kills. At the same time, Dean breaks free and kills the other two vampires, but shows pleasure in doing it, disturbing Sam. As Alex has not fed, Sam and Dean are able to cure her and Jody decides to take care of Alex as long as she needs her as they can relate, both having lost their entire families.|
|192||20||"Bloodlines"||Robert Singer||Andrew Dabb||April 29, 2014||4X5070||2.03|
|In this back-door pilot for a proposed new TV series (Supernatural: Bloodlines), five different mafia-esque monster families are running the underbelly of Chicago, Illinois. One is a family of shapeshifters run by Margo Lassiter (Danielle Savre), whose leadership is thrown into question when her younger brother David (Nathaniel Buzolic) returns home to claim his place in the family business. The other reigning family in town is made up of werewolves, lead by Julian Duval (Sean Faris). The Families paths with Sam and Dean cross when they meet Ennis (Lucien Laviscount), a man with a personal vendetta against the monsters when his girlfriend is murdered by a mysterious figure with silver claws who kills David's brother Sal. The Winchesters warn Ennis about heading into the hunter lifestyle, but Ennis refuses to listen and starts down a dangerous path. David is revealed to be having a romance with Violet, the werewolf sister of Julian, which could bring on a full-scale war between the Five Families with the humans caught in the middle. After Violet is kidnaped, Sam, Dean, David and Ennis team up to save her, learning that the thing that killed David's brother and Ennis' girlfriend is actually a man driven insane with revenge by the death of his son at what he believes to be the Families hands and wants to drive them to war. Ennis kills the man in revenge for his girlfriend's death and decides to take up hunting to protect Chicago from the monsters despite a mysterious phone call from his supposedly-dead father while Sam and Dean must leave due to a lead on Metatron. At the request of his father, David rejoins his family and prevents the war by revealing the truth of the murders to his sister who is not happy with his return.|
|193||21||"King of the Damned"||P. J. Pesce||Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming||May 6, 2014||4X5071||1.59|
|Castiel calls Sam and Dean in to interrogate one of Metatron's followers (Gordon Michael Woolvett). Sam and Dean are able to trick the prisoner into revealing that Metatron has a secret portal into Heaven for his followers and is amassing an elite ground force for an unknown reason. Before they can get more out of him, however, he is assassinated by a spy in Castiel's ranks. In response, Castiel meets with Gadreel (Tahmoh Penikett) to discuss him becoming a spy for his faction. Castiel is ambushed at the meeting, but Gadreel insists he had nothing to do with it. Castiel attempts to convince Gadreel that he is fighting for the wrong side and that he should become Castiel's spy. At the same time, Abaddon (Alaina Huffman) travels back in time to 1723 and kidnaps Crowley's son Gavin to use as leverage against him. Crowley agrees to help Abaddon kill the Winchesters and leads them to where he has hidden the First Blade, but secretly warns Dean of the trap. After sending Sam on a wild goose chase, Dean confronts Abaddon alone and succeeds in killing her, with the Mark of Cain protecting Dean from her powers. The Winchesters allow Crowley to live, but he teleports Gavin away so he won't be returned to his own time to die. In the aftermath, Dean refuses to be parted from the First Blade, claiming that it grants him a calmness and strength despite Sam's worries of what it's doing to him.|
|194||22||"Stairway to Heaven"||Guy Bee||Andrew Dabb||May 13, 2014||4X5072||1.74|
|In Dixon, Missouri. an angel blows himself up in an ice cream parlor claiming to do it for Castiel, killing one of Metatron's angels and several humans. This causes several angels to doubt Castiel's leadership despite Castiel saying he would not order such attacks. Metatron's side is outnumbered so he meets with Tyrus, the leader of an independent faction of angels at a bowling alley. Tyrus refuses to join saying if Metatron killed him the rest of his angels would join Castiel. Another suicide bomber attacks Metatron and the blast kills Tyrus. Dean finds another bomber who turns out to be Tessa the Reaper. The other angels view Dean as a savage killer and insist he only talk to her for answers. Tessa says she was tormented by pain from the human souls trapped on Earth since Heaven was closed and although she was too much of a coward to kill herself before, she will happily die for Castiel's cause. Tessa impales herself on the First Blade, making it look like Dean killed her. Metatron contacts Castiel's side saying Tyrus's angels have joined him and Castiel does not care about the other angels, only winning the war before he dies when his new grace burns out. Metatron offers the rest of Castiel's angels amnesty if they join him now. The angels demand Castiel kill Dean to prove he is a worthy leader. Castiel refuses, so all his angels abandon him for Metatron. Gadreel is disturbed to learn Metatron planned all this by brainwashing the suicide bombers into thinking they were dying for Castiel. Dean completely refuses to be separated from the First Blade even if it brings out an uncontrollable rage in him. Gadreel offers to tell Castiel and the Winchesters everything about Metatron to stop him, but Dean brutally cuts Gadreel with the First Blade, causing Sam and Castiel to restrain him.|
|195||23||"Do You Believe in Miracles?"||Thomas J. Wright||Jeremy Carver||May 20, 2014||4X5073||2.30|
|After Dean attacks Gadreel with the First Blade, Sam and Castiel lock him in the bunker's dungeon out of fear of what the Blade is doing to him and heal Gadreel who reveals that Metatron intends to convert humanity into following him instead of God. As the power Metatron draws from the angel tablet makes him unstoppable, Gadreel and Castiel decide to infiltrate Heaven to break the tablet and his power while Sam goes after Metatron himself. Dean summons Crowley who helps him escape and start tracking down Metatron, but Dean has Crowley leave after Sam agrees to help him. The two track down Metatron, but Dean proves no match for him and is fatally wounded. In Heaven, Gadreel and Castiel are found out and locked in Heaven's dungeon, but Gadreel sacrifices himself to free Castiel and convince the angel Hannah to help him. Castiel finds and shatters the angel tablet, reverting Metatron to a regular angel and forcing him to flee before Sam can kill him. Metatron confronts Castiel, arrogantly telling him that he will rule both humanity and the angels who he sees as beneath him, not knowing that Castiel is broadcasting his words to every angel in existence. The angels turn on Metatron, overpowering him and Castiel locks Metatron in Heaven's dungeon rather than kill him. While the other angels look to Castiel as their leader once more, Castiel would rather be a regular angel and is faced with the fact he will die soon unless he replenishes his grace. Dean succumbs to his injuries and dies, and while Sam tries to summon Crowley to make a deal to resurrect him, Crowley visits Dean, revealing that the Mark of Cain won't let go of him. Crowley tells him about Cain and how he never lied to Dean. He then places the First Blade in Dean's hands, and Dean opens his eyes, which are now black.|
On February 11, 2013, CW president Mark Pedowitz confirmed an early renewal of Supernatural for its ninth season, with the season premiere debuting on Tuesday, October 8, 2013. It was later confirmed, on February 25, 2013, that Misha Collins would return as a regular cast member, after being a recurring cast member for the previous two seasons. It was also announced that he would direct an episode in season 9.
A new character named Ennis was introduced in episode twenty of this season, which would serve as a backdoor pilot for Supernatural: Bloodlines. On May 8, 2014 it was announced that the spin-off had not been picked up by the CW Network.
- Lambert, David (June 11, 2014). "Supernatural - 'The Complete 9th Season ' Announced: Date, Extras, Package Art ***UPDATED EXTRAS***". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
- "Supernatural - Season 9 [Blu-ray] [Region Free]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
- "Supernatural: Season 9". EzyDVD. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
- Roots, Kimberly (July 29, 2013). "Fall Premiere Shuffle: Vampire Diaries, Originals and Supernatural Get Earlier Start Dates". TVLine. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (October 9, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.', 'NCIS' & 'The Voice' Adjusted Up; 'Chicago Fire', 'The Goldbergs' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
- Bibel, Sara (October 16, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: NCIS, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, The biggest Loser, Dads & Person of Interest Adjusted Up; 'Chicago Fire' & 'Supernatural Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (October 23, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice', 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' & 'Supernatural' Adjusted Up; 'NCIS: Los Angeles' & 'The Mindy Project' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
- Bibel, Sara (October 30, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice', 'The Originals' & 'Person of Interest' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (November 6, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice' Adjusted Up; 'Trophy Wife' Adjusted Down + No Adjustment for 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- Bibel, Sara (November 13, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'NCIS', 'Supernatural' & 'The Mindy Project' Adjusted Up; 'The Biggest Loser' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (November 20, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
- Bibel, Sara (November 27, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.', 'The Voice', 'Supernatural' & 'Person of Interest' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (December 4, 2013). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Biggest Loser' & 'The Voice' Adjusted Up; 'The Originals' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (January 15, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Mindy Project' Adjusted Down; No Adjustment for 'Chicago Fire' or 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- Bibel, Sara (January 23, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Originals' & 'New Girl' Adjusted Up; 'Trophy Wife' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (January 29, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: No Adjustment for 'Supernatural', 'Dads' or 'The Originals'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
- Bibel, Sara (February 5, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'NCIS', 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' & 'The Originals' Adjusted Up; 'NCIS: Los Angeles', ' The Goldbergs'. 'Supernatural' & 'Trophy Wife' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (February 26, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Bachelor', 'NCIS: Los Angeles', 'Person of Interest' Adjusted Up; 'Supernatural' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
- Bibel, Sara (March 5, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice', 'NCIS' & 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Adjusted Up; 'About A Boy, 'The Goldbergs' & 'Growing Up Fisher' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
- Bibel, Sara (March 19, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice', 'Marvel Studios: Assembling A Universe', 'The Goldbergs' & 'Supernatural' Adjusted Up; 'About A Boy' & 'Person of Interest' Adjusted Down". TV by the numbers. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (March 26, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice', 'Mind Games' & 'Supernatural' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
- Bibel, Sara (April 16, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Originals', 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.', 'The Voice', 'NCIS', 'New Girl' & 'Person of Interest' Adjusted Up; 'Supernatural', 'About A Boy' & 'Growing Up Fisher' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (April 23, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice' and 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- Bibel, Sara (April 30, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.', 'Glee', 'The Goldbergs', 'New Girl' & 'Trophy Wife' Adjusted Up; 'About A Boy' & 'Growing Up Fisher' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (May 7, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice' & 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
- Bibel, Sara (May 14, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'The Voice', 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' & 'The Goldbergs' Adjusted Up; 'The Originals', 'Supernatural' & 'About A Boy' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (May 21, 2014). "Tuesday Final Ratings: 'Dancing With the Stars: Road to the Finals' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
- MacKenzie, Carina Adly (February 11, 2013). "'Vampire Diaries' Season 5, 'Supernatural' Season 9, and 'Arrow' Season 2 picked up by The CW". Zap2it. Retrieved February 11, 2013.
- Gelman, Vlada (February 25, 2013). "Supernatural Scoop: Misha Collins to Return as Series Regular for Season 9". TVLine. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- Roots, Kimberly (July 21, 2013). "The CW Developing Supernatural Spin-Off". TVLine. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
- Hibberd, James (May 8, 2014). "CW cancels 3 shows plus 'Supernatural' spinoff". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
- "Supernatural: Season 9 (2013-2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
- Official website
- List of Supernatural episodes at the Internet Movie Database
- List of Supernatural season 9 episodes at TV.com
- Supernatural at epguides.com | <urn:uuid:c0269ffc-33a6-46c8-bbeb-fbe4f83980f9> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_(season_9) | 2015-03-31T15:43:00Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300735.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00288-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958745 | 10,741 |
Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.
This article is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's spotlight on global corporations.
Pfizer Inc. is the world's largest pharmaceuticals corporation that manufactures brand names Viagra, Celebrex, Norvasc, and Lipitor. It also manufactures animal care products such as Revolution, an anti-parasitic. In 2009, Pfizer acquired its rival Wyeth for $68 billion. Wyeth's over-the-counter brands included Advil, Centrum, Robitussin, and ChapStick. The majority of its sales are conducted through the wholesale companies McKesson and Cardinal Health. See also a complete listing of the company's prescription drugs here.
- 1 Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
- 2 Overview and History
- 3 Political Influence
- 4 Corporate Policies
- 5 Social Responsibility Initiatives
- 6 Public Relations
- 7 Drug Controversies
- 8 International
- 9 Clinical Trials and Drug Testing Issues
- 10 Personnel
- 11 Contact
- 12 Articles and Resources
Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Pfizer is a corporate member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as of March 2015. Its legislative affairs director, Josh Brown, sits on its corporate "Private Enterprise Board." Michael Hubert, Vice President for "Leadership Communications," was Pfizer's representative on ALEC's corporate board as of 2011.
A Pfizer spokesperson said of the company's participation in ALEC in 2012, "We don't agree with every ALEC position, but we participate in ALEC's healthcare forums because state legislators that are the members in ALEC, they make decisions that impact our business and the country's business every day."
A list of ALEC corporations can be found here.
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.
In 2014, a group of Pfizer shareholders requested that the Board of Directors review its participation in third-party organizations, citing ALEC as a "significant reputational and business risk" and stating that some of ALEC's positions run counter to Pfizer's own policies and values. The Board of Directors recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution, arguing that "it is fundamental to our business that we engage on public policy issues" and that because of Pfizer's healthcare knowledge, "we regularly collaborate with policy makers to help create and maintain an innovative environment where we can cultivate new medicines, bring them to market and ensure that patient health and safety remain a priority."
Overview and History
See History of Pfizer.
The Center for Responsive Politics writes that "Pfizer is one of the biggest players in what is widely considered the most influential industry in Washington: pharmaceutical manufacturers."
Pfizer is a member of several major trade groups and business lobbying groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). CEO Ian Read serves on the board of PhRMA.
Pfizer is "aggressive" in its lobbying efforts, according to Open Secrets. In 2014, Pfizer reported spending $9,493,000 on lobbying at the federal level, of which $2,830,000 was contracted to 14 different outside lobbying firms. Its top issues were in the categories Health Issues, Taxes, Medicare & Medicaid, Trade, and Copyright, Patent & Trademark.
Since 2006, Pfizer's federal lobbying spending has generally ranged from between $9 million and $14 million per year, but spiked to $25.8 million in 2009. Its federal lobbying from 2006 to 2014 totaled $89.89 million.
The Center for Responsive Politics reported in 2002:
- "Over the last two years, Pfizer has been waging a legal battle to extend its patent on the epilepsy drug, Neurontin, and in its merger with Pharmacia, the company will gain access to dozens of new drugs whose patents expire in coming years. Even before its announced merger, Pfizer was among the most aggressive in the industry when it comes to fending off legislation that would seemingly make patent laws more lax, claiming that such legislation would curb the industry's research and development into drugs that could cure rare diseases.
- "To make that argument, Pfizer has retained some of Washington's best known lobbyists, including former Reps. Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.) and Norman Lent (R-N.Y.) and former Sen. Dennis DeConcini (R-Ariz.). The company also retains Scott Hatch, son of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who authored the drug patent law that remains in effect today. Since 1997, Pfizer has reported nearly $20 million in lobbying expenditures, according to the Secretary of the Senate. (Pharmacia spent $13.4 million during the same period.)"
Avoiding Billions in Federal Taxes
Pfizer received at least $52,556,694 in federal subsidies from 1992 to early 2015, mostly in the form of federal grants.
In addition, according to Good Jobs First:
- "Pfizer is one of the numerous pharmaceutical companies that for many years took advantage of a provision in the Internal Revenue Code (Section 936) that gave special tax credits for their operations in Puerto Rico and was widely criticized as a form of corporate welfare. A 1992 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office found that Pfizer was enjoying $156,400 in tax savings for each of its 500 employees on the island. The amount was said to be 636 percent of the company’s compensation costs."
During the 1990s, when there was a push to eliminate the tax provision, lobbyists succeeded in getting it slowly phased out instead, and many companies re-registered as foreign entities in Puerto Rico "to escape taxes entirely as long as they did not send the profits back to the mainland United States." Then in 2005, when Congress enacted a repatriation tax holiday, Pfizer "repatriated more foreign profits than any other company -- $37 billion -- and enjoyed an $11 billion tax break while cutting rather than increasing its U.S. workforce."
State and Local Subsidies
Pfizer and its affiliated companies received at least $268,122,031 in state and local subsidies from 1992 to early 2015, according to Good Jobs First's subsidy tracker. The majority of these were received since 2007. Some of the largest deals include:
- $84.2 million in Michigan in 2001, including a $25.8 million tax credit over 20 years, $10.7 million in state property tax abatements over 12 years, and $47.7 million in local property tax abatements over 12 years;
- $60 million in Connecticut in 1998, including $20 million in tax exemptions, $30 million in property tax abatements, and a transfer of land worth $6.2 million to support 1,000 new jobs. "In 2011 Pfizer eliminated many of the jobs at the facility and transferred them to Cambridge, Massachusetts";
- $18.1 million in North Carolina in 2008, tax credit/rebate; and
- $12.1 million in New Jersey in 1998, grant/low-cost loan.
2014 Federal Contributions
In 2014, Pfizer and its employees reported $2,205,242 in contributions to federal political candidates, putting it in the top 0.1 percent of the organizations profiled by the Center for Responsive Politics (117 out of 16,793). Of this total, 56 percent to Republicans and 43 percent went to Democrats.
Forty members of Congress owned shares in Pfizer in 2014.
Pfizer's political action committee, Pfizer Inc. PAC, spent $2,626,633 in 2014. Of direct contributions to candidates, 52 percent to Republicans and 48 percent went to Democrats.
Top PAC Contributions to U.S. House Candidates:
- Eric Cantor (R-VA): $14,250
- Kevin McCarthy (R-CA): $12,500
- John Barrow (D-GA): $10,000
- Joe Courtney (D-CT): $10,000
- Joseph Crowley (D-NY): $10,000
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR): $10,000
- Fred Upton (R-MI): $10,000
- Greg Walden (R-OR): $10,000
- Rush Holt (D-NJ): $9,000
- Ann L. Wagner (R-MO): $9,000
Top PAC Contributions to U.S. Senate Candidates:
- Cory Booker (D-NJ): $17,500
- Mark Udall (D-CO): $11,000
- John A. Barrasso (R-WY): $10,000
- Mike Rounds (R-SD): $10,000
- John Cornyn (R-TX): $9,500
- Thad Cochran (R-MS): $9,000
- Mark Pryor (D-AR): $9,000
Open Secrets reports that in 2010, Pfizer gave $1,581,836 to candidates. $826,045 was given to federal Democratic candidates and $738,791 to federal Republican candidates.
Pfizer was among several companies giving record political contributions four years after a law was passed attempting to reduce the impact of corporate money in U.S. politics. According to Bloomberg:
- "The companies are working around the law, which banned unlimited contributions to parties, by giving more money through their political action committees than ever before in the first year of an election cycle, and writing checks to loosely regulated independent groups, financial disclosures show."
Pfizer and Health Care Reform
In January of 2006, Pfizer, through its public affairs agency Spectrum Science, hoped to, "open dialogue about, and ultimately reform, the nation's health care system." Spectrum started organizing the "Ceasefire on Health Care" town meetings for Pfizer in June 2005. The idea, originated from former U.S. Senator John Breaux. According to Spectrum's director of public affairs, Claire Barnard:
- "The thrust of the campaign ... is to make incremental changes. I think the public is really yearning for this. I think people are tired of turning on the TV and seeing all the name calling."
The "Ceasefire on Health Care" town meetings are funded by Pfizer and American University. They have featured Senator Hillary Clinton and former Congressman Newt Gingrich. C-Span has covered the events, which have been held at the Brookings Institution, Heritage Foundation and National Press Club.
Shareholders may attend and vote in annual meetings and add items to the agenda. They may also nominate candidates for board member elections. There are no exceptions to the one share, one vote principle. Pfizer has initiated a series of reforms to improve shareholder control, including annual elections for all directors.
Pfizer has two stakeholder specific engagement policies: Pfizer’s Global Policy on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals and Pfizer Principles for Working in Partnership with Patient Advocacy Groups. Both identify key principles that should underpin engagement with health care professionals and Patient advocacy groups, respectively.
Both make a commitment to being open about how shareholders affect decisions, but they do not identify when shareholders may participate in company decisions. Furthermore, there is no assurance that Pfizer will change policy as a result of stakeholder wishes (or even provide explanations). The two policies are overseen by a number of senior executives. The Global Policy on Interaction with Healthcare Professionals is overseen by multiple senior executives. It covers global marketing, research and development; and global business conduct. The Vice President of Global Alliance Development and the Senior VP of Philanthropy and Stakeholder Advocacy, oversee Pfizer’s Principles of Working in Partnerships with Patient Advocacy Groups. Each policy is disseminated through multiple mediums and translated into at least 20 languages. Pfizer does not provide training for staff on stakeholder engagement issues. Also, Pfizer has not institutionalized external stakeholder engagement in corporate decision-making. The company created a Worldwide Public Affairs and Policy department dedicated to philanthropy and shareholder advocacy, which solicits feedback from stakeholders. However, shareholders do not participate directly in any committee or group.
Ranking for LGBT Rights
Pfizer's Corporate Equality Index Rating from Human Rights Watch, an LGBT rights advocacy organization, was 100 in 2015.
Social Responsibility Initiatives
In 2001, Pfizer announced that it would provide an unlimited free supply of Diflucan, a drug that combats fungal infections associated with AIDS, to 50 of the world’s poorest countries. The New York Times reported that Pfizer had "been under pressure for several years from the makers of generic copies of Diflucan," and that some critics said the free drugs would "boost the image of the company" as it aimed to keep its market share. Previously, Pfizer had conducted a successful pilot program in South Africa. The patent on Diflucan expired in 2004.
In the wake of a CEO change in 2006, Pfizer changed the name of its corporate affairs practice to public affairs, in order to "better reflect the increasing importance of influencing public policy and opinion to the company's success." The change was described as, "a larger reorganization of Pfizer's management structure," that included Jeff Kindler's promotion from head of corporate affairs to CEO:
- "Rich Bagger will head Pfizer's new worldwide public affairs and policy division, which previously had been called the corporate affairs division." In that role, Bagger will oversee "public policy development, government relations, communications, media, philanthropy, and stakeholder advocacy."
According to a memo from the new CEO to employees, the changes would help Pfizer make decisions more quickly, an important goal, as "patients and their families are using newly available information to take more control over their health care decisions."
Americans for Medical Progress
Pfizer personnel sit on the board of AMP. See also Americans for Medical Progress.
In September 2008, Pfizer resumed advertising for its cholesterol drug Lipitor. In February 2008, the drugmaker pulled its Lipitor ads, over charges they were misleading. The old ads featured artificial heart inventor Robert Jarvik, who appeared to be giving medical advice though he isn't a practicing physician. The new ads feature "John E.," a baby boomer and heart-attack survivor who "didn't take a cholesterol-fighting drug before his heart attack ... despite a history of high cholesterol." A Pfizer marketing executive said, "When we did testing with consumers ... John really resonated with them." Pfizer is eager to maximize sales before its patent on Lipitor ends in 2011.
In November 2004 Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, part of the WPP Group; took over accounts for Pfizer's Celebrex and Bextra pain medications. In December of 2004, a report linked high doses of Celebrex (a member of the class of drugs referred to as Cox-2 inhibitors) to increased risk of heart attacks. The co-managing director of the WPP Group's health and medical practice, Sherry Pudloski, told O'Dwyer's PR Daily that they still held the account, but would not elaborate on what they did for the company.
Off-Label Promotional Practices (Neurontin)
Access to pharmaceutical industry documents in 2006 revealed marketing strategies used to promote Neurontin for off-label use. In 1993, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved gabapentin (Neurontin®, Pfizer) only for treatment of seizures. Warner-Lambert, which merged with Pfizer in 2000, used activities not usually associated with sales promotion. This included continuing medical education and research, sponsored articles about the drug for medical literature and alleged suppression of unfavorable study results, to promote gabapentin. Within 5 years, the drug was being widely used for the off-label treatment of pain and psychiatric conditions. In 2004, Warner-Lambert admitted to violating FDA regulations by promoting the drug for pain, psychiatric conditions, migraines and other unapproved uses. The company paid $430 million to resolve criminal and civil health care liability charges.
Pfizer has been involved in controversies over the medicine Diflucan (generic name fluconazole). In 1998, a campaign by Thai public health groups led to the elimination of the Pfizer monopoly on selling fluconazole in Thailand. Subsequently, the price decreased from 200 baht to 6.5 baht in nine months. Faced with pressure for compulsory licenses to the Pfizer patent on this drug, the company later established a program for limited access to the medicine in Africa.
Drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS are various classes of toxic chemotherapies known as "antivirals" or "antiretrovirals". AIDS drugs manufactured by Pfizer include Viracept (protease inhibitor), Maraviroc and Maraviroc Rescriptor (entry inhibitors). See also AIDS industry.
According to company information, in the U.S., 46% of all new HIV/AIDS cases occur in the South. From 2003 to 2006, the Pfizer Foundation funded 23 innovative HIV/AIDS prevention programs and strengthened the capacity of community-based organizations to reach and serve their communities. Since 2003, the company has committed a $3 million dollar grant supporting a southern HIV/AIDS prevention (by way of Pfizer pharmaceuticals). However, according to he European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), collection of activists from 31 European countries:
- "The design of the trial for Pfizer's CCR5 inhibitor Maraviroc (previously known as UK-427,857) is putting people with HIV infection at unnecessary risk of developing AIDS."
On June 20, 2007 Maraviroc was received a letter of approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory board. The letter was a product of expedited review of the novel HIV compound.
Premarin & PMU Ranches
Premarin was approved by the USDA in 1942 for manufacture by Wyeth (now Pfizer). Premarin, a drug derived from pregnant mares’ urine (PMU), is prescribed for "symptoms of menopause". The urine is collected from mares confined in barns on over 70 "PMU ranches" in the United States and Canada. Despite the availability of humane and safer alternatives, Premarin is among the most widely prescribed and profitable drugs in America. The industry is "self-regulated through manufacturer Pfizer’s Code of Practice". Mares in Premarin production commonly suffer from abrasions, leg swelling, excessive boredom, stress, and early death. Strapped to urine collection bags six months out of the year; they are tied to stalls too narrow to turn around or lie down in and are denied free access to water. There is no minimum code of practice for exercise or even that they be exercised at all.
Studies of Premarin Health Risks
Premarin has been classified as a "dangerous drug" and the number one most likely to cause disability or other serious outcome. Premarin increases risks of uterine cancer, heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer and blood clots.
See also Premarin.
Nigeria: Alleged Antibiotics Testing on Children without Parental Consent
In May 2006, The Washington Post published a Nigerian government report that had remained unreleased for five years. In this report, a panel of Nigerian medical experts found that Pfizer violated international law, stemming from the company's alleged testing of an unapproved, oral form of Trovafloxacin on children with meningitis in Nigeria without receiving consent from their parents.
According to Pfizer, they conducted the trial with full knowledge of the Nigerian government. These allegations have been the subject of litigation in both America and Nigeria. On June 5, 2007 the Nigerian government filed a civil lawsuit for $7 billion in damages against Pfizer, in relation to the experimental meningitis treatment given to children. Two hundred children received Trovan in Kano, Nigeria, in 1996, according to Pfizer. The Nigerian and Kano state governments alleged that the antibiotic was administered without parental consent and that it disabled or killed some children.
In July 2007, the Nigerian government filed criminal charges against Pfizer over the trials. In turn, Pfizer hired investigators to unearth embarrassing information about Nigeria's attorney general Michael Aondoakaa, in hopes that the charges would be dropped.
Philippines: Pfizer Sues Government Over Importing Generics
In March of 2006, Pfizer sued the Philippine government and government health officials, to prevent Philippine drug regulators from allowing the importation of less expensive versions of a Pfizer heart disease drug.
In 2001, Pfizer requested the U.S. government pressure the Brazilian government against issuing compulsory licenses for the patents on the AIDS drug nelfinavir.
In 1998, the Thai government acquiesced to requests by public health groups and eliminated Pfizer’s monopoly on fluconazole, a leading AIDS drug, reducing the price of the drug from 200 baht to 6.5 baht within a year.
Clinical Trials and Drug Testing Issues
Drug Trials and Off-Label Use of Antipsychotics on Foster Children
According to Time, children in foster care are disproportionately likely to be prescribed antipsychotic medication, including drugs that have not been approved for use in children. Manufacturers of these drugs, including Pfizer as well as Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, and others, have been fined by the FDA “for illegal marketing practices—in part, for marketing the drugs for unapproved use in children,” and Pfizer paid $301 million to settle a case related to charges of illegally marketing its antipsychotic, Geodon. According to the San Antonio Current,, an investigation by the Texas Comptroller’s office found that in 2004, some 3,330 prescriptions for Pfizer’s anti-psychotic Geodon had been written for children in foster care; the drug had not been approved by the FDA for use in children. Based on court records it examined, the San Antonio Current reported that:
- "Pfizer sought to seed the medical literature with studies praising off-label use of Geodon, some of which the federal government described as little more than a marketing gimmick in their lawsuit"
- In a practice the federal lawsuit called “information laundering,” the company had a contract with “Dr. Neil Kaye, a prominent psychiatrist with Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, to promote off-label prescribing of Geodon in medical journals, at speaking gigs, and in continuing medical education seminars for psychiatrists,” paying him “as much as $4,000 a day on top of expenses, and even flew him around the country in his own private helicopter.”
- “In 2009, Pfizer again sought approval to market Geodon for use in children; the FDA rejected the application late that year. Further, the FDA issued a report after looking into Pfizer’s data on clinical trials in kids and adolescents, detailing some 24 cases where children experienced serious complications, including cardiac arrhythmia. While Pfizer told the FDA cardiac concerns were no different in children than in adults, the FDA did its own analysis that showed otherwise. The FDA in 2010 scolded three doctors who participated in Geodon’s children trials, saying they improperly dosed patients, and in a few instances overdosed patients.”
See also Foster child drug trials.
Pfizer does animal testing.
Facility Information, Progress Reports & USDA-APHIS Reports
For links to copies of a facility's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Animal Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) reports, other information and links, see also Stop Animal Experimentation NOW!: Facility Reports and Information. This site contains listings for all 50 states, links to biomedical research facilities in that state and PDF copies of government documents where facilities must report their animal usage. (Search: Pfizer, Inc., New York, New York; Wyeth, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Wyeth Vaccines, Marietta, PA; Fort Dodge Laboratories, Fort Dodge, Iowa.)
This facility performed animal experiments involving pain or distress but no analgesics, anesthetics or pain relievers were administered. For links to copies of this facility's USDA-APHIS reports, other information and links, see also Facility Reports & Information: Fort Dodge Animal Health, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey.
This facility performed animal experiments involving pain or distress but no analgesics, anesthetics or pain relievers were administered. For copies of this facility's USDA-APHIS reports, other information and links, see also Facility Reports & Information, Pfizer, Inc., White Hall, IL.
USDA AWA Reports
As of May 26, 2009, the USDA began posting all inspection reports for animal breeders, dealers, exhibitors, handlers, research facilities and animal carriers by state. See also USDA Animal Welfare Inspection Reports.
Pfizer contracts tests out to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). Huntingdon Life Sciences is the 3rd largest contract research organization (CRO) in the world and the largest animal testing facility in all of Europe. Firms hire HLS to conduct animal toxicity tests for agrochemicals, petrochemicals, household products, pharmaceutical drugs and toxins.HLS has a long history of gross animal welfare violations. See also Huntingdon Life Sciences.
Read first joined Pfizer in 1978. He also serves as a Director on the boards of Kimberly-Clark, the Partnership for New York City, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where he also serves as Pfizer's representative on the International Section Executive Committee.
- Ian C. Read, CEO and Chairman of the Board. Read also serves on the board of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. (Total compensation: $18,947,747)
- Albert Bourla, Group President, Vaccines, Oncology, and Consumer Healthcare
- Frank A. D’Amelio, Executive Vice President, Business Operations; Chief Financial Officer (Total compensation: $7,124,330)
- Mikael Dolsten, President, Worldwide Research and Development (Total compensation: $6,453,404)
- Geno J. Germano, Group President, Global Innovation Pharma Business (Total compensation: $5,254,047)
- Charles (Chuck) H. Hill, III, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Human Resources
- Rady A. Johnson, Executive Vice President, Chief Compliance and Risk Officer
- Doug Lankler, Executive Vice President and General Counsel
- Freda C. Lewis-Hall, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President
- Anthony J. Maddaluna, Executive Vice President
- Laurie J. Olson, Executive Vice President, Strategy, Portfolio and Commercial Operations
- Sally Susman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs
Board of Directors
As of March 2015:
- Dennis A. Ausiello
- W. Don Cornwell
- Frances D. Fergusson
- Helen H. Hobbs
- Constance J. Horner, former guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, White House staff member under George W. Bush
- James M. Kilts
- George A. Lorch
- Santanu Narayen, President and CEO of Adobe Systems
- Suzanne Nora Johnson, retired Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs
- Ian C. Read, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer
- Stephen W. Sanger, Chairman of General Mills
- James C. Smith, President and CEO of Thomson Reuters
- Marc Tessier-Lavigne
235 E. 42nd St.
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Articles and Resources
Related SourceWatch Articles
- AIDS industry
- American Cancer Society
- Animal testing
- Consensus Research Group
- Foster child drug trials
- Glover Park Group
- Humane Movement
- Human rights
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
- National Primate Research Center System
- Pfizer Inc/stats, details
- Pfizer Australia Neuroscience Research Grants
- Pharmaceutical industry
- SANE Australia
- Spectrum Science Communications
- War on Animals
- War on Cancer
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- FDA urges alternatives to Celebrex,"MSNBC.com" 12/18/2004
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- Michael A. Steinman, MD; Lisa A. Bero, PhD; Mary-Margaret Chren, MD & C. Seth Landefeld, MD Narrative Review: The Promotion of Gabapentin: An Analysis of Internal Industry Documents, Annals of Internal Medicine, Volume 145, Issue 4, pg. 284-293, 2006
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- Camillus Eboh The Nigerian federal government has filed criminal charges against U.S. drugmaker Pfizer alleging improper behavior in a 1996 drug trial in the northern state of Kano in which it says 11 children died., ABUJA (Reuters), 2007
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- Pfizer, "Meet Our Board," organizational website, accessed March 9, 2015. | <urn:uuid:38dea768-75dd-42b4-8224-713f2f4cd2ac> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pfizer_Inc | 2015-04-02T09:45:39Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427132827069.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323174707-00112-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933401 | 7,889 |
Global spread of H5N1 in 2006
- Source WHO Confirmed Human Cases of H5N1
- "[T]he incidence of human cases peaked, in each of the three years in which cases have occurred, during the period roughly corresponding to winter and spring in the northern hemisphere. If this pattern continues, an upsurge in cases could be anticipated starting in late 2006 or early 2007." Avian influenza – epidemiology of human H5N1 cases reported to WHO
- The regression curve for deaths is y = a + ek x, and is shown extended through the end of April, 2007.
WikiDoc Resources for Global spread of H5N1 in 2006
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While prior H5N1 strains have been known, they were significantly different from the current H5N1 strain on a genetic level, making the global spread of this new strain unprecedented. The current H5N1 strain is a fast-mutating, highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) found in multiple bird species. It is both epizootic (an epidemic in non-humans) and panzootic (a disease affecting animals of many species especially over a wide area). Unless otherwise indicated, "H5N1" in this article refers to the recent highly pathogenic strain of H5N1.
In the first two months of 2006 H5N1 spread to Africa and Europe in wild bird populations possibly signaling the beginning of H5N1 being endemic in wild migratory bird populations on multiple continents for decades, permanently changing the way poultry are farmed. In addition, the spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 to wild birds, birds in zoos and even sometimes to mammals (example: pet cats) raises many unanswered questions concerning best practices for threat mitigation, trying to balance reducing risks of human and nonhuman deaths from the current nonpandemic strain with reducing possible pandemic deaths by limiting its chances of mutating into a pandemic strain. Not using vaccines can result in the need to kill significant numbers of farm and zoo birds, while using vaccines can increase the chance of a pandemic.
By April 2006 scientists had concluded that containment had failed due to the role of wild birds in transmitting the virus and were now emphasizing far more comprehensive risk mitigation and management measures.
In June 2006 WHO predicted an upsurge in human deaths due to H5N1 during late 2006 or early 2007. In July and August 2006 significantly increased numbers of bird deaths due to H5N1 were recorded in Cambodia, China, Laos, Nigeria, and Thailand while continuing unabated a rate unparalleled in Indonesia. In September, Egypt and Sudan joined the list of nations seeing a resurgence of bird deaths due to H5N1; followed by Vietnam and South Korea in December.
- A second Turkish child from the same family died from bird flu on Thursday at a hospital in eastern Turkey where she was being treated, a regional governor said. Her brother, 14-year-old Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, had already died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, officials said on Wednesday, confirming the first human death from the disease outside China and southeast Asia. "We lost Fatma Kocyigit this morning," Niyazi Tanilir, governor in the eastern province of Van, said on the CNN Turk news channel. Newspapers said Fatma was 15-years-old. She died around 6:30 a.m. (0430 GMT).
- Two more children in Turkey are hospitalized after contracting bird flu like symptoms then later test positive for H5N1. They are both from the same area as the prior three children that died from H5N1 bringing the total number of cases in Turkey to 5, with 2 of them fatal. 76 people have died since the outbreak began in 2003.
- Three people are hospitalized after developing suspected H5N1 in the Turkish capital.
- A woman is diagnosed with bird flu, as Turkey struggles to contain the outbreak.
- China announces that two more people had died of bird flu before 2006 began.
- Indonesia confirms that a 29 year old woman has died from suspected bird flu.
- Birds begin dying in Nigeria. It is not known until February that it is an H5N1 outbreak.
- China and Turkey each confirm another human death from H5N1.
- A 13-year-old boy dies in Indonesia, he is the brother of the girl who died on January 16.
- Donor nations pledge 1850 million US dollars to combat bird flu at the two day International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Influenza held in China.
- The WHO confirms that the two Indonesian children died of H5N1.
- H5N1 is found in dead birds in northern Cyprus. The European Commission freezes transfers of animals and animal products from the north of the island through the green line to the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus and to the rest of the European Union.
- According to WHO:
- The Ministry of Health in Iraq has confirmed the country's first case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case occurred in a 15-year-old girl who died on 17 January following a severe respiratory illness. Her symptoms were compatible with a diagnosis of H5N1 avian influenza. Preliminary laboratory confirmation was provided by a US Naval Medical Research Unit located in Cairo, Egypt. The girl's 39-year-old uncle, who cared for her during her illness, developed symptoms on 24 January and died of a severe respiratory disease on 27 January. Both patients resided in the town of Raniya near Sulaimaniyah in the northern part of the country, close to the border with Turkey. Poultry deaths were recently reported in their neighbourhood, but H5N1 avian influenza has not yet been confirmed in birds in any part of the country. Poultry samples have been sent for testing at an external laboratory. A history of exposure to diseased birds has been found for the girl. The uncle's source of infection is under investigation. The Ministry of Health has further informed WHO of a third human case of respiratory illness that is under investigation for possible H5N1 infection. The patient is a 54-year-old woman, from the same area, who was hospitalized on 18 January. Specimens are on their way to a WHO collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom for diagnostic confirmation and further analysis. An international team, including representatives of other UN agencies, is being assembled to assist the Ministry of Health in its investigation of the situation and its planning of an appropriate public health response. WHO staff within Iraq have been directly supporting the government's operational response, which was launched shortly after the girl's death. Iraq is the seventh country to report human H5N1 infection in the current outbreak. The first human case occurred in Viet Nam in December 2003.
- Indonesia confirms three new cases, two of which were fatal.
- A dead swan near the city of Vidin, Bulgaria is found to contain the H5 strain. Further testing begins to determine if the bird died from the H5N1 type of the disease. Over 20 dead birds are found along the Danube and in lakes near the Black Sea.
- Preliminary report is sent from Nigeria to OIE on a massive bird die off that began January 10. Report was sent by Dr. Junaidu A. Maina, Acting Director, Department of Livestock and Pest Control Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abuja, Nigeria.
- OIE/FAO Reference Laboratory for avian influenza and Newcastle disease in Padova, Italy, confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5N1 in Nigerian isolates from samples taken January 16.
- The Nigeria situation is announced to the world. Nigeria is the first African country to have an H5N1 outbreak confirmed. It affected a commercial chicken farm (owned by Nigeria's sports minister, Saidu Samaila Sambawa) in which ostriches and geese were also kept, in Jaji village in Igabi administrative division (local government area or LGA) in Kaduna State in Nigeria. The control measures said to be used include killing poultry, quarantining poultry, poultry movement control, and disinfection; however there are complaints that these measures are in fact not being carried out. 40,000 out of 46,000 caged chickens died of H5N1 despite being treated by their owner with broadspectrum antibiotics. The remaining 6,000 have been killed to try to control spread of the disease.
- Four new farms in Nigeria are confirmed to have H5N1 outbreaks: two in Kano State, one in Plateau State and a second farm in Kaduna State.
- Veterinarians from Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria in South Africa offer their expertise to assist in tracking occurrence of the virus in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.
- The United States, OIE and WHO are sending experts, supplies and money to Nigeria to help with this H5N1 crisis.
- H5N1 flu in Africa is expected to spread and create a very severe situation.
- Farmers in northern Nigeria are rushing to sell dead chickens at cut-price rates before government bans are put into place. Promised measures to contain the disease are still not in place.
- European countries are facing an increased probability that spring bird migrations from Africa will bring H5N1.
- Countries in Africa near to Nigeria are responding with "dread" and import restrictions.
- Officials in Azerbaijan say H5N1 virus has been identified in wild birds floating dead in the Caspian Sea near Baku
- The government of Italy confirms that H5N1 has been found in wild swans in Sicily and elsewhere in the country. It is also found in wild birds in Greece and Bulgaria.
- The government of Slovenia confirms that the virus subtype H5 has been found in a wild swan by the Drava river near Maribor. The samples have been sent to the United Kingdom to determine if it is the deadly H5N1 strain.
- Nihat Kabil, Bulgaria's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, confirms a second case of a swan with the H5 virus. While the first case was in Vidin (in the country's northwest), the second one was near Krajmorie, a Black Sea port in the Burgas region (in the country's southeast), about 3.5 km (2 mi) from an egg farm. Several other cases have been reported in other parts of the country, and Mr. Kabil has said that there is a high probability that Bulgaria will have its first mass case within days.
- Health authorities report the first case of the H5N1 virus in Austria. 2 dead Swans at Mellach near Graz were found to be carrying the virus.
- Following the discovery of four dead swans suspected of carrying the H5N1 virus on the island of Rügen in North-east Germany, authorities in Germany and several other EU countries make it compulsory for all poultry to be kept inside enclosures effective as of February 20.
- Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food declares entire Slovenia a bird-flu high risk zone after tests confirmed the dead swan (found on 9 February) was carrying H5. It is sent to Great Britain for further subtype determination.
- Avian influenza H5N1 is identified in some dead swans in Hungary. Not known until the end of February whether they carried the human-infecting strain (genotype Z) of H5N1.
- Iran reports cases in wild birds.
- The presence of H5N1 in Slovenia is confirmed.
- Egypt has detected its first cases in several parts of the country, the government detailed three separate sites where birds where found carrying the virus.
- France has recorded a case of a duck infected with the H5 virus in Ain, near Lyon. It was later confirmed that the duck was infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus. A swan earlier tested negative for the disease.
- Iraq confirms a second person has died of H5N1 - he was the uncle of the country's initial death.
- Officials in India's western Maharashtra state are planning a poultry cull after the country reported its first cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
- Croatia has recorded a new case of a swan infected with the H5 virus in C(iovu, near Trogir. In the same time, H5 is confirmed in dead swan found in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- A United Kingdom laboratory confirms the three cases of H5N1 in dead swans found near the cities of Dobrich, Varna and Burgas, in Bulgaria's northeastern and southeastern regions. The previous H5N1 case was recorded near Vidin in the northwest.
- The Malaysian government confirms 40 chickens died of H5N1 in Selangor.
- Croatia confirmed the previous day's case to be H5N1.
- Professor Neil Ferguson, Imperial College London biologist, says:
- "This is a disease which doesn't go away so we are going to be living with H5N1 in Western Europe, I believe, in wild bird populations - even endemic in wild bird populations - for decades perhaps, or even sporadically in those populations every year."
- The respected science journal Nature says:
- "The virus is highly likely to become endemic, says Peter Openshaw, head of the respiratory viral infections section at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London, UK. We have to change the way poultry are farmed. [...] Jan Slingenbergh, an animal health expert at the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy, points out that H5N1 may survive in icy lake waters over European winters, potentially infecting any migratory birds that subsequently arrive. The virus could also become established in permanently resident European birds; Openshaw notes that H5N1 has so far been able to infect a wide range of species. If this happens, farming practices will have to be changed, says Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, UK, who is advising the British government on how to deal with possible future outbreaks."
- Slovakia has become the latest EU nation to confirm cases of the virulent H5N1 bird flu strain. One of the dead birds was found in the capital, Bratislava, the other in Gabcikovo, southwestern Slovakia
- France For the first time a EU farm becomes infected and 80% of the more than 11 thousand birds die for the H5N1 flu in the previous week
- Niger confirms a case of H5N1 bird flu in a flock of ducks near the border with Nigeria
- Switzerland says a dead swan has been found on Lake Geneva which the H5 virus.
- Bosnia's veterinary office said that tests at the European Union reference laboratory confirmed its first case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in two wild swans near Jajce. Thousands of birds were culled.
- Confirmed case of highly pathogenic H5 in Sweden
- Finland: The 20 dead ducks and 1 crow at Kotka, Sapokka park, were confirmed not to be carriers of H5N1. The reason for the deaths remains to be solved. On March 13 an insecticide, parathion was confirmed to be the reason for deaths. The toxin is life-threatening to humans. The use of parathion has been banned in Finland since 1992.
- Scientists confirm the dead swan found on Lake Geneva on February 27 had H5N1. It is the first confirmed case of H5N1 in Switzerland.
- A second case of H5 bird flu has been found in Switzerland, this time on Lake Constance, near the town of Egnach, Thurgau.
- Greece confirms three new cases of H5N1 in swans found the northern part of the country, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 19.
- 8 Quebec farms are quarantined after receiving live poultry from France. The province braces itself for its first H5N1 cases.
- A chicken from a farm, 175 km south from Addis Ababa, is being tested for the possibility of having H5N1 in Ethiopia, the first possible case in East Africa.
- Serbia detected the bird flu in a dead swan that was found in northwest Serbia (near Croatia)
- Tests on live ducks imported France to Quebec have come back negative for H5N1.
- Sweden confirms eight new cases of H5 bird flu virus
- Azerbaijan confirms first case of H5N1 bird flu in poultry
- H5N1 was found in a wild goose near Lüneburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, making it the sixth federal state in the country to report a case of the disease.
- Austria's cases of H5N1 rise to 29 with three ducks, a seagull, and a grebe found with the disease in Vorarlberg.
- Poland has reported its first case of H5N1 in a wild swan found dead two days ago in Torun', a city in northern Poland.
- A man in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has died of H5N1. This is the eighth death in the country caused by avian flu.
- A new case of H5N1 was reported in Buzău, Romania in a wild goose found dead a week ago.
- Albania has reported its first case of H5N1, found in a domestic chicken in the village of Cukes, near Sarandë, in the south of the country.
- Myanmar found H5N1 in chickens after an HPAI outbreak on March 8.
- Serbia (and by extension, Serbia and Montenegro) has confirmed that a wild swan found dead near Sombor carried the deadly H5N1 bird flu, the first confirmed case in the country.
- Poland has confirmed that a wild swan found dead near Lublin carried the H5 bird flu, it was the second confirmed case in the country.
- Cameroon reports its first outbreak of the H5N1 in a duck farm in Maroua, in the Far North Province.
- Azerbaijan reports three deaths from the H5N1 virus.
- Sweden has confirmed its first case of H5N1 in two wild ducks found near the Baltic Sea port city of Oskarshamn.
- Denmark has confirmed its first case of H5N1 in one Common Buzzard found dead at a beach near the city of Næstved.
- Egypt has reported its second human case of bird flu, a 30-year-old man who worked on a chicken farm in the province of Qalyoubiya.
- Kazakhstan has reported another outbreak of H5N1 in the western part of the country, found in a wild swan.
- Another outbreak of H5N1 in Malaysia resulted in the death of six chickens in the province of Seberang Perai, in the state of Penang.
- Pakistan confirms its first cases of H5N1 at chickens in two farms in the North-West Frontier Province.
- A dead wild buzzard is found to be the first case of H5N1 in Berlin, Germany.
- H5N1 confirmed in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jordan.
- A peregrine falcon in the Tin Shui Wai, which is in Yuen Long of Hong Kong has been confirmed to have died as a result of H5N1 infection.
- The Czech Republic confirms its first case of H5N1 in a swan on the Vltava River, near Hluboká nad Vltavou.
- The EU reference laboratory in Weybridge, Great Britain confirms the first case of H5N1 found in Denmark a few weeks before.
- First human case of the bird flu was announced in Jordan.
- The World Health Organization confirmed four cases of bird flu in Egypt over the past month, including two fatalities, the first reports of human deaths due to H5N1 in Africa.
- Burkina Faso has detected H5N1 in poultry on the outskirts of the capital, Ouagadougou, making the West African country the fifth nation on the continent to report the disease. Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Egypt have already confirmed the virus in Africa.
- H5N1 is detected in a wild migratory swan (Whooper Swan Cygnus) in Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland.
- British authorities declare a 1,000 mile (1600 km) wild bird risk area around Cellardyke.
- Over one hundred outbreaks have been reported in Myanmar since March 13, the first time since 2004 that H5N1 has been detected in the country.
- A wild swan found in the Sava River, near the Croatian capital of Zagreb, is confirmed to have H5N1.
- "The Scientific Seminar on Avian Influenza, the Environment and Migratory Birds met from 10-11 April 2006 at UN Office in Nairobi, Kenya. The Seminar was organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) in cooperation with the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and its Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). [...] Hepworth identified the Seminar's objectives to: stimulate debate on the role of wild birds in transmitting the virus; provide up-to-date status reports and advice for decision-makers; increase awareness of the recent multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) resolutions among all governments; promote further research on virus behavior and transmission; and encourage international technical cooperation and risk mitigation." The seminar concluded with reaffirmations to disseminate the Seminar's findings and to manage the risks associated with HPAI.
- The Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishes a scientific statement on the role of migratory birds in the spread of the H5N1 form of avian influenza (AI) amongst domestic and wild bird populations in the European Union (EU). The statement was supplemented by a formal opinion released on May 12 2006.
- Sudan reports its first case of H5N1 at a poultry farm in Khartoum, as well as the state of Al Jazirah.
- "Ivory Coast prepared to slaughter chickens and tightened restrictions on movements of poultry on Thursday after reporting outbreaks of bird flu in two heavily populated neighbourhoods of its main city Abidjan. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said late on Wednesday a total of 17 birds infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu had been found in separate outbreaks in the Marcory Anoumabo and Treichville suburbs of Abidjan."
- "Djibouti said on Thursday that one person had tested positive for the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus in the first confirmed human case in the Horn of Africa."
- WHO investigated possible H5N1 human cluster in North Sumatra. According to local tests, five members of an extended family have died of bird flu in the past few days.
- According to local tests, a sixth member of an extended family have died of bird flu in the past few days in North Sumatra.
- The H5 strain of Bird flu is confirmed in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
- An eighteen year old shuttlecock maker from East Java has died of bird flu. It appears that he was not in direct contact with live birds.
- WHO reports cluster of seven victims connected only by each other indicating possible human to human spreading of H5N1
- 56 outbreaks of H5N1 have been found in Romania since the virus reemerged there 12 days ago. "The recent outbreaks have involved some large commercial farms and some poultry in Bucharest, the capital, triggering quarantine orders for some neighborhoods this week."
- The WHO publishes the WHO pandemic influenza draft protocol for rapid response and containment, detailing a proposed method for stopping the spread of a pandemic strain of H5N1 at the source.
- Indonesian tests say that a girl on the outskirts of Jakarta died of bird flu. Her brother died on May 30 with similar symptoms, but died before he could receive medical treatment, and was buried before testing could be performed.
- The EU reference laboratory confirm the presence of the H5N1 viral strain in birds sent from the Kiskunmajsa region of Hungary for analysis.
- A family in Indonesia were confirmed to have had human-to-human spread of H5N1. A mutated strain was found, but it had not mutated into an easily-transmissible strain.
- "This week's issue of the Weekly Epidemiological Record, published online by WHO, sets out results from the first analysis of epidemiological data on all 205 laboratory-confirmed H5N1 cases officially reported to WHO by onset date from December 2003 to 30 April 2006. Data used in the analysis were collected for surveillance purposes. Quality, reliability and format were not consistent across data from different countries. Despite this limitation, several conclusions could be reached.
- The number of new countries reporting human cases increased from 4 to 9 after October 2005, following the geographical extension of outbreaks among avian populations.
- Half of the cases occurred in people under the age of 20 years; 90% of cases occurred in people under the age of 40 years.
- The overall case-fatality rate was 56%. Case fatality was high in all age groups but was highest in persons aged 10 to 39 years.
- The case-fatality profile by age group differs from that seen in seasonal influenza, where mortality is highest in the elderly.
- The overall case-fatality rate was highest in 2004 (73%), followed by 63% to date in 2006, and 43% in 2005.
- Assessment of mortality rates and the time intervals between symptom onset and hospitalization and between symptom onset and death suggests that the illness pattern has not changed substantially during the three years.
- Cases have occurred all year round. However, the incidence of human cases peaked, in each of the three years in which cases have occurred, during the period roughly corresponding to winter and spring in the northern hemisphere. If this pattern continues, an upsurge in cases could be anticipated starting in late 2006 or early 2007."
- "Nigeria has been infected multiple times with H5N1 bird flu probably carried by migratory birds from southern Russia and northern Europe or introduced by imported chickens, scientists said on Wednesday. After analysing samples from infected birds on two farms in south-western Nigeria they found the viruses were genetically distinct from each other and from H5N1 found in the north of the country. So rather than one strain spreading through the country, different strains had been introduced on separate occasions, which could make controlling the spread of the virus more difficult. [...] The analysed samples were similar to strains found in southern Russia and northern Europe but not from southeast Asia"
- "A Spanish laboratory has confirmed the country's first case of H5N1 bird flu after analyzing a sample taken from a wild migratory water bird" (the Great Crested Grebe). Analysis shows that the bird is unlikely to be from Africa.
- "China's official Xinhua news agency says a new bird flu outbreak has killed more than 3,000 chickens in the northwest. The Ministry of Agriculture told Xinhua that the July 14 outbreak in Xinjiang region's Aksu city is under control. No human infections have been reported. Saturday's report says the deadly H5N1 virus killed 3,045 chickens, and nearly 357,000 more were destroyed in an emergency response. Xinhua says the local agriculture department has quarantined the infected area. The government's last reported outbreak was in the northwestern region of Ningxia earlier this month."
- The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on July 26 2006 that a 17-year-old boy who died on July 24 2006 in the Phichit province of northern Thailand had H5N1 avian influenza, marking the country's first case this year. H5N1 was recently detected in 31 dead chickens in Phichit province. Thai health officials have placed several other people from Phichit province under quarantine. "The country's agriculture minister recently announced bans on poultry imports and the transport of birds [and] the Phichit Provincial Livestock Office declared the Bang Mulnarg district an avian flu-infected area, which allows officials to conduct full-scale disease control efforts, including culling, quarantine, screening, and disinfection of affected sites."
- Due to H5N1, about 2,500 chickens died on the Dongbang poultry farm in Xaythany district, Laos beginning July 18 2006. This is the country's first major outbreak since 2004. "The government of Laos has taken immediate action to control the spread of the virus by culling all chickens in the farm, disinfecting the farm and imposed movement restrictions within the five kilometre surveillance zone," said Wantanee Kalpravidh, FAO regional coordinator for Avian Influenza Projects.
- "Experts tracking the dangerous and economically devastating H5N1 virus have been concerned about Indonesia, where inadequate control methods have led to widespread outbreaks across the vast and densely populated archipelago. Indonesia trailed other affected Asian countries in developing human cases, marking its first in July 2005. But since then cases in Indonesia have cropped up at a rate unparalleled elsewhere. And the country's H5N1 death toll recently surpassed that of Vietnam to make Indonesia the country that has lost the most lives to the virus. Indonesia has logged 56 confirmed human cases, 44 of which have been fatal. Globally 236 cases of H5N1 infection have been confirmed in 10 countries since late 2003 and 138 of those people have died."
- "Cambodia has suffered its second outbreak of bird flu this year in the same province where the H5N1 virus killed a boy in April, officials said on Saturday. The virus was confirmed in more than 1,300 ducks that died in Prey Veng province, 70 km (45 miles) southeast of Phnom Penh, but there were no immediate reports of human infections, they said. Yes, bird flu is back, senior Agriculture Ministry official Nou Muth said."
- On August 18 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) changed the H5N1 avian influenza strains recommended for candidate vaccines for the first time since 2004. "Many experts who follow the ongoing analysis of the H5N1 virus sequences are alarmed at how fast the virus is evolving into an increasingly more complex network of clades and subclades, Osterholm said. The evolving nature of the virus complicates vaccine planning. He said if an avian influenza pandemic emerges, a strain-specific vaccine will need to be developed to treat the disease. Recognition of the three new subclades means researchers face increasingly complex options about which path to take to stay ahead of the virus."
- CIDRAP reported on August 25 2006 on a new US government Web site that allows the public to view current information about testing of wild birds for H5N1 avian influenza which is part of a national wild-bird surveillance plan that "includes five strategies for early detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Sample numbers from three of these will be available on HEDDS: live wild birds, subsistence hunter-killed birds, and investigations of sick and dead wild birds. The other two strategies involve domestic bird testing and environmental sampling of water and wild-bird droppings. [...] A map on the new USGS site shows that 9,327 birds from Alaska have been tested so far this year, with only a few from most other states. Last year officials tested just 721 birds from Alaska and none from most other states, another map shows. The goal of the surveillance program for 2006 is to collect 75,000 to 100,000 samples from wild birds and 50,000 environmental samples, officials have said."
- Indonesian officials reported on September 7 2006 that a 14-year-old Indonesian girl who died in June was infected with bird flu. The case was discovered during routine surveillance of blood samples from people who had exhibited flu symptoms. In a change of policy, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari reported that "we did not send (the samples) to the WHO (World Health Organisation) because our positive results are usually positive results at the WHO." IOL reports that "until now, Indonesia has always sent blood and tissue samples from suspected human bird flu cases to a WHO laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation," but that "under a new arrangement Jakarta could confirm infections after two local tests showed the person to have contracted H5N1."
- Sudan authorities announced that all the samples taken from chickens in southern Sudan in August and sent to the United Kingdom for further tests had proven positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
- A 21 year old female from East Java Province in Indonesia was hospitalized for symptoms of H5N1 bird flu. She is the sister of an 11 year old male H5N1 victim who died on September 18. The source of her infection is under investigation. It is believed that she and her brother were both exposed to dead poultry in the household.
- WHO confirmed a resurgence of highly pathogenic H5N1 killing domestic chickens near Aswan, in Upper Egypt. "Animals within a one-kilometre radius of the site of infection have been culled and removed for sterile burial."
- Bird flu no threat so far US government inspectors have stepped up their vigilance against Avian flu after recent scares in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The United States Department of Agriculture and United States Department of the Interior confirmed the presence of H5N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from wild mallard ducks in Pennsylvania, but say testing has ruled out the possibility of this being the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain that has spread through birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. Test results indicate this low pathogenic avian influenza poses no threat to humans. The agencies say the ducks were sampled in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in August 2006.
- An Egyptian woman who was hospitalized on October 4 is confirmed by Egyptian authorities Egypt's first human case of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus since May, according to WHO advisor Hassan el-Bushra.
- 67-year-old Indonesian woman died of bird flu after being treated at a hospital for more than a week, marking the country's 54th death from the virus, an official at the health ministry said.
- A 39-year-old Egyptian woman died of bird flu a month after symptoms first appeared. This was the first case in Egypt since May, 2006.
- In Thailand, a dog succumbs to bird flu, raising the possibility that pets can contract the disease and potentially spread it to their human owners.
- In Indonesia two more cases of H5N1 have been confirmed by the Ministry of Health. One is a 35-year-old female, who developed syptoms on November 7. The second is a 30-month-old male, who developed symptoms on November 5.
- South Korea announced its third major outbreak of deadly H5N1 in less than three weeks (all three in North Cholla province, 170 km (100 miles) south of Seoul). Over a million birds are being killed to try to contain it. In 2003 - 2004 the country destroyed 5.3 million birds to contain H5N1.
- The United States summarized progress the U.S. government has made preparing against an influenza pandemic:
- Federal Pandemic Preparedness Plans: All Federal Departments and Agencies are developing their own pandemic preparedness plans to ensure that they are addressing all elements of a comprehensive checklist. The "meta-checklist" guiding their efforts is available for any institution to use, at www.pandemicflu.gov.
- Statewide Pandemic Planning Summits: Secretary Leavitt and other senior officials from the Department of Health and Human Services have led Statewide pandemic planning summits in all States. We are investing $600 million in State and local preparedness efforts, including the exercising of pandemic plans across communities and at all levels of government.
- Community-Wide Mitigation Strategies: We have focused unprecedented attention on the role of community-wide mitigation strategies, such as early school closure, cancellation of public gatherings, and other "social distancing" behaviors in reducing illness during a pandemic. Interim guidance on the ways communities can use these interventions most effectively will be released in January.
- Vaccine Production: We have invested over $1 billion in the development of new cell-culture technologies for influenza vaccine production, and will soon announce contracts to adapt existing egg-based vaccine facilities for pandemic vaccine production.
- Adjuvants: Very promising results on the testing of "dose-stretching" materials, also known as "adjuvants," have recently been announced by companies involved in this research. If proved to be safe and effective, adjuvants could allow a dramatic reduction in the amount of vaccine necessary to immunize a person against a pandemic virus, thereby allowing us to vaccinate many more people with our vaccine stockpile.
- Rapid Diagnostic Tests: We have invested in the development of rapid diagnostic tests, to allow swift recognition of a pandemic virus in the human population, thereby allowing rapid isolation and treatment of infected individuals.
- Bird Surveillance System: We have put a nationwide wild bird surveillance system in place to provide early warning of an outbreak of H5N1 in the bird population, and are reporting the results of these efforts to the public on an ongoing basis.
- International Efforts: We have invested $434 million in international efforts, far more than any other nation, in an effort to build infrastructure in affected regions of the world to rapidly recognize and respond to an outbreak of a pandemic virus. In addition to improving these nations' ability to control outbreaks of H5N1 in their bird populations, these systems may make it possible to slow, stop, or limit the spread of a pandemic virus to the U.S.
- Vietnam had its first major outbreak of deadly H5N1 in thirteen months on December 6, 2006 due to chickens not being vaccinated because they had been hatched illegally. "There is a real threat now of the disease spreading to other places since the farmers threw away the birds’ carcasses before the outbreak came to light."
- In Egypt a woman died of H5N1, hours after tests confirmed she and two other members of her extended family had been suffering from the highly pathogenic virus. The 30-year-old woman had been in the hospital since December 17 2006, but doctors had not immediately suspected bird flu as she denied having had contact with poultry. The woman was part of an extended family of 33 living in a single house in a village near the town of Zifta in Gharbiya province, about 80 km north of Cairo, and was the third family member diagnosed with bird flu in 24 hours. Earlier, the World Health Organisation confirmed two siblings from the same house, a brother, 26, and sister, 15, had the virus. The family raised ducks in their home, and the brother and sister had slaughtered the flock after a number of ducks had become sick and died.
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- no by-line. "Implementation of the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza: Six-Month Status Report", the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, December 18 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-19.
- Tuong Nhi. "Bird flu recurrence triggers red alert in Vietnam", Thanh Nien, December 19 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-19.
- AAP 2006. "Eighth Egyptian dies of bird flu: WHO", news.ninemsn.com.au, December 25 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-25. | <urn:uuid:3b6d5798-c4de-46e1-a491-a66b349ee083> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://wikidoc.org/index.php/Global_spread_of_H5N1_in_2006 | 2016-07-23T09:11:30Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257821671.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071021-00020-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938061 | 12,087 |
With Walker's $25 million, and counting, it's for sale, too.
Monday, April 30, 2012
The other day I noted the many levels of irony in the announcement by Scott Walker's campaign of the Tuesday fundraisers in the state with NJ Gov. Chris Christie - - as Governors in employment-challenged states - - New Jersey, here: Wisconsin, at #1, here - - had killed Amtrak projects, purportedly fiscal grounds, but each also busted for fudging the numbers.
With all that baggage, I found it amusing that the Walker campaign could claim that the two Governors "have done more to put America back on track than anyone in a generation."
And I included that media malapropism in a list of miscues and Freudian fumbles that seem to be afflicting GOP leaders in Wisconsin these days.
Getting in the spirit was Mike DuHaime, Christie's political strategist, who was quoted by New Jersey media about Christie's upcoming visit to Wisconsin by saying his boss backed Walker because of the two governors' similarities - - but given Wisconsin's unfortunate political black eye at the errant hands of angry State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, I'd say DuHaime should have looked for a better metaphor:
"There was never a doubt that Walker was going to be no-nonsense when he got into the governor’s office," DuHaime said. "He was not going to just be a wallflower. He was going to make chances for what he thought was right. Just like Gov. Christie, he was going to grab problems by the throat and not let go."D'oh! Remind me to add that to my growing list of Walker-related muffs.
For you out-of-staters, here's the reference point:
Justice says court fight led to Prosser chokeholdA member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's liberal faction has accused a conservative justice of choking her during an argument in her office earlier this month — a charge he denied.
Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Justice David Prosser put her in a chokehold during the dispute. She contacted the newspaper late Saturday after Prosser denied rumors about the altercation.
"The facts are that I was demanding that he get out of my office and he put his hands around my neck in anger in a chokehold," Bradley told the newspaper.
Posted by James Rowen at 11:34 AM
The biggest political pander yet.
A fake economic development plan for Milwaukee, on paper, aimed at Tom Barrett, with little behind it except a cheap photo op and some recall ad copy. From Walker, the man who used his County Executive office for nothing but gubernatorial positioning himself, without creating a single job in Milwaukee - - because he had no interest in urban issues.
For eight years.
No one is fooled. The timing tells you everything you need to know about Walker's sincerity.
The blank stare in the Lt. Gov.'s eyes is instructive. This is 100% political, though the focus on Big Governmenti s sure ironic.
Posted by James Rowen at 9:50 AM
At least Nixon's hilarious CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect The President) had an office with an address.
Walker's bunker doesn't, Dan Bice discloses.
No wonder John Dean, Nixon's former lawyer, is warning us.
Posted by James Rowen at 8:00 AM
[originally posted 8:10 p.m., Sunday, April 29] I recommend Lee Bergquist's reporting about the political and financial barriers that have been obstructing removal of dangerous PCB contamination from the Fox River.
Paper mills had profoundly polluted the river, then one firm balked at its share of the cleanup cost; perhaps a recent Federal court order will finally get the project back on schedule.
What is sobering about this story is that Wisconsin was within one vote of approving horrendous, special-interest legislation in the State Senate earlier this year and green-lighting a huge open pit iron ore mine in the Bad River watershed near Ashland - - close to municipal drinking water systems, Native American rice-growing waters and the shore of Lake Superior - - while knowing that chemical-laden mine residue and dust from mountaintop removal, trucking and ore processing was going to create pollutants ending up in the Northern Wisconsin water, land and air.
Industry will tell you that their processes and controls are modern, safe and effective, so there's little to worry about, etc., etc., but you need to look no farther than the Fox River, or the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil well blow-out, or recent pipeline breaks in Wisconsin, Michigan and Montana to see that even a pinhole in an underground pipe can lead to unforgiving and catastrophic consequences.
This is why Scott Walker's having put Cathy Stepp and her "chamber of commerce mentality" at the helm of the DNR was so offensive. For ideological reasons, Walker degraded the public interest and risked Wisconsin waters held in trust - - the principle and policy in the State Constitution that is rightly called the Public Trust Doctrine for a reason.
Dating back to 1787.
This is why projects like the iron ore mine should be approached with caution on behalf of the common good and not their conformity to election-year agendas.
And should not be left in the hands of regulators who will not regulate.
Posted by James Rowen at 12:03 AM
Sunday, April 29, 2012
There has been a stunning drop-off in clean air and water enforcement actions taken by the DNR since Scott Walker installed his pro-business management team at the agency, according to documents cited Sunday by veteran environmental writer Ron Seely at the Wisconsin State Journal.
Recent enforcement numbers show a downward trend in attention to everything from inspections to notifying permit holders of violations. The number of violation notices issued by the DNR in 2011 was far below the annual average for the past 12 years in several crucial areas. In total, the number of violation notices has averaged 516 a year since 2000 compared to 233 last year.
The agency issued 46 air violation notices in 2011 compared to the 12-year average of 128, and eight stormwater permit violations in 2011 compared to the average of 42.
George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, is a former DNR secretary and also was in charge of enforcement at the agency for many years. He described the decreases as "more than a dip."Though dismissed by current agency Secretary Cathy Stepp, the Federal government is concerned:
"The numbers are so dramatic, it is clear there is a different philosophy toward enforcement," Meyer said. "And the message, the culture change, starts at the top. Staff reflects leadership."
"The decline in enforcement activity in Wisconsin raises concerns about whether the state is adequately carrying out its responsibility to enforce the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and other federal laws that WDNR is authorized to implement," Susan Hedman, EPA regional administrator, said in a statement.I had taken note last week of one such federal action.
Kimberly Wright of the public interest law firm Midwest Environmental Advocates issued this statement Sunday:
April 29, 2012For Immediate ReleaseContact: Kim Wright, Midwest Environmental Advocates, (608) 215-1233 or (608) 251-5047 ext 3Madison , WI - A dramatic drop in environmental enforcement threatens public health and the rights of future generations to a clean and healthful environment. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources secretary Cathy Stepp explains the drop in oversight of air and water quality as a “shift in philosophy,” in the Wisconsin State Journal. http://bit.ly/KnvpBMBy law, the Department of Natural Resources has a duty to manage and oversee Wisconsin’s water, air and land resources. The public should take note of the concerns expressed by both former and current DNR staff over the dramatic decline in environmental enforcement, concerns echoed by the regional administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. DNR deputy secretary Matt Maroney is correct in stating the problem didn’t begin with this administration, but the shocking drop in enforcement on their watch requires them to solve it.“The question for the Natural Resources Board is can Stepp’s hand-picked team solve a problem they don’t seem to acknowledge exists,” says Kim Wright, Executive Director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, a non-profit environmental law center that uses the power of the law to support community efforts to protect our water, air and land. “Every day we hear from citizens across Wisconsin who need the DNR to step in and take action against polluters causing them harm. Statewide, people are taking on a growing burden to secure scientific and legal resources to hold polluters accountable, a duty professional DNR staff once had the resources and autonomy to fulfill.”The DNR’s duty to enforce environmental standards isn’t any more optional than the duty of a police department to investigate an assault and battery. Both need to secure the safety of the person or resource under attack and use all the tools at their disposal to bring perpetrators to justice.Whether due to a change in philosophy that focuses on “customer service” or to political interference with professional staff, the unprecedented decline in the enforcement of environmental standards puts the public at risk. The DNR has a legal duty to monitor and enforce permits that control the amount of pollution that can be safely discharged into our air and water.“There are good people within the DNR that are not being allowed to do their jobs and the people of Wisconsin are paying for that in many ways,” Wright states.####
Important Facts· Secretary Stepp insists that DNR’s actions should be used to judge its work. Recent enforcement numbers show a downward trend in enforcement, everything from inspections to notifying permit holders of violations.o The number of violation notices issued by the DNR in 2011 was far below the annual average for the past 12 years. In total, the number of violation notices has averaged 516 a years since 2000, compared to 233 in 2011.o The agency issued 46 air violation notices in 2011 compared to the 12-year average of 128.o The agency issued 8 stormwater permit violations in 2011 compared to the 12-year average of 42.· The politicization of the DNR is no longer just among the management. Act 10, passed in 2011, had a provision that made legislative liaisons, lawyers, and spokespeople political appointees of the Governor.· Lack of enforcing environmental laws is not good for business in Wisconsin. Business that are allowed to get around the law get an unfair advantage. It punishes the responsible, good businesses who follow environmental regulations.· The cost of evidenced-based advocacy, which if not born by the DNR is born by the public, is expensive.o One set of water quality tests can cost over $3500, including a hydro-geologist’s time and sample testing by a state-certified lab. This does not include attorney time.· Midwest Environmental Advocates is a non-profit environmental law center that uses the power of the law to help Wisconsin citizens protect our heritage of healthy water, air, land and government. More information can be found at www.midwestadvocates.org.
Posted by James Rowen at 10:51 PM
[Originally posted Sunday, 4/29, at 3:00 p.m.] I can update and repost this any old time, so send your entries.
Posted by James Rowen at 9:01 PM
Packers' secondary leader Charles Woodson remains an articulate voice for union rights, as he was when citizens took to the streets last year to protest Walker's union-busting scheme.
Oh: He also likes what he sees in the draft just completed, too.
Posted by James Rowen at 5:55 PM
With this fact-deprived statement kicking trial lawyers and flat-out making stuff up - -
But Walker’s claim ignores critical facts -- or, put another way, lacks critical facts -- that would support his claim of a big financial gain for lawyers. After all, not a single lawsuit was filed in state court since the law took effect.- - Walker's PolitiFact record is 30 on the "false," side, 17 in "true" territory.
Try running to the boss for a long-term contract extension with that performance.
Posted by James Rowen at 11:11 AM
Having spent heavily to get Walker elected, and protected him with compliant State Supreme Court Justices, the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce begins a $2 million ad campaign on behalf of itself, Walker and his 1% clientele this week.
Posted by James Rowen at 9:00 AM
Who could have predicted at this time last year that Wisconsin would experience the nation's largest percentage decrease in employment over this 12-month period?
Um ... actually, UW-Madison economist Steven Deller could have. And did.
Last March, Deller, a professor of applied economics, studied the ripple effects of Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill and two-year budget proposal.
Deller felt Walker's plans to balance the state's budget by cutting spending and public workers' take-home pay will slow the state's economic recovery.
In a story that ran March 20, Deller estimated the state would lose more than 21,000 jobs as public agencies and workers were able to spend less in their communities. According to the most recent numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs from March 2011 to March 2012.
Posted by James Rowen at 12:02 AM
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Had to be Jeff Wagner's Friday afternoon second-hand (but anonymous), trust-me account about a woman at a Milwaukee store arguing unsuccessfully with the clerk about whether food stamps covered a certain purchase, then driving off in a relatively new, $90,000-$95,000 Mercedes-Benz.
Posted by James Rowen at 8:54 PM
Painful to watch Department of Workforce Development Secretary Reggie Newsom tell NBC Nightly News correspondent Ron Allen tonight on a national broadcast that while only 6,000 jobs had been created in Wisconsin since Walker took office, his promised 250,000 new jobs after one term was "very attainable."
Allen was in Madison for the network covering Walker's recall election, his big job promise and Wisconsin's #1 rating in job losses over the last year.
Posted by James Rowen at 8:40 PM
I agree with this line of thinking expressed by the Journal Sentinel edit board:
Wisconsin lost nearly 24,000 jobs over the past 12 months - the only state in the union with "statistically significant" job losses over that period, according to a new federal government report. For a governor who promised thousands of new jobs would be created on his watch and who now faces an unprecedented electoral challenge, that had to be troubling news. It's certainly troubling for job seekers across the state.But I disagree that Walker took his eye off the ball.
Certainly, Gov. Scott Walker is responsible for politicizing job creation in Wisconsin - and then taking his eye off the ball as his fellow Republicans embarked on fulfilling a conservative wish list ranging from concealed carry to the castle doctrine to voter ID.
Let's not forget that Walker was all for this extreme GOP conservative social agenda - - he said he's sign any concealed carry law that got to his desk, for example - - because he knew these were red-meat issues for the far right and pushing along those so-called social conservative issues would solidify his tea party base.
And while the newspaper says that a governmental official cannot really create jobs, Walker would have taken full credit had the numbers worked in his favor.
Posted by James Rowen at 7:13 PM
Here's what was most-read here last week. Thanks to the readers.
Posted by James Rowen at 1:30 PM
Stunning achievement in the race pitting citizen candidate Lori Compas against the powerful Republican State Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald in the election to recall him.
Objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear.
Posted by James Rowen at 11:30 AM
Friday, April 27, 2012
The mystery of the 'missing' Monday debate invitation that Citizen Action of Wisconsin sent to Racine debate no-show State Sen. Van Wanggaard, (R), has been solved.
No, a homework eating pooch was not involved.
At first, Wanggaard's staffer said forcefully and definitively to the Racine Journal Times that no such invitation had been received:
Wanggaard’s Chief of Staff Scott Kelly, contacted on Monday, denied the lawmaker ever received an invitation.But after the group produced a postal service receipt for the invitation's delivery, Kelly and Wanggaard remembered something different, but still had a fresh insult for the group.
“I heard that they said Van was invited — that is a lie,” Kelly wrote in a text message. “You can quote me on that. We were not invited.”
Looking for the letter on Tuesday, Kelly said the senator eventually found it among some papers that were in his car. Kelly said that upon finding the letter, Wanggaard told him that he did remember getting something from Citizen Action of Wisconsin.All of which adds meaning to the headline the paper ran over a Wanggaard op-ed the previous weekend:
“He remembers having received a letter from a liberal interest group, and having dealt with it accordingly,” Kelly said.
When asked what “dealt with it accordingly” meant, Kelly repeated his quote. Asked if the senator ever opened the letter he said, “He didn’t tell me whether he opened it.”
Next session, Wanggaard’s focus will remain the same
Posted by James Rowen at 10:06 PM
Cathy Stepp is stirring the pot all over again on the mining issue, and bringing a divisive image to an agency, state government and issues that hardly needs it.
...what we saw happen was just kind of the Senate Democrats and (GOP) Sen. (Dale) Schultz throw it up in the air as if it was confetti at a labor rally...Continuing to attack elected officials only reinforces her identity as a talk radio partisan.
While ignoring the fact that her agency has a policy-making board already displeased with the way she politicized the mining issue:
Stepp's comments did not please Dave Clausen, the chairman of the state Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the DNR. He said Stepp has never talked about the mine legislation with the board.So to what end right now? Walker surrogate?
"By law, the Natural Resources Board sets the legislative agenda and department policy," Clausen said. "Secretary Stepp has never consulted with the board on the mining issue."
Posted by James Rowen at 1:30 PM
In their own words:
* Early in then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's 2010 campaign for Governor, Walker had at-will County employee and political operative Tim Russell shut down overt campaigning that had taken place on public time. Walker emailed Russell:
"We cannot afford another story like this one," Walker wrote to Russell. "No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the work day, etc.* Later during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, then Milwaukee County Executive Walker told the Lakeland Times, on transparency:
* Isthmus reported that Walker said his union-busting bill contained "really, really modest requests."
* Walker testified at a Congressional hearing that his union-busting plan was "truly progressive," and then told Fox's Greta Van Susteren:
"I had fun with that."Oh, too funny! But speaking of fun...
* The Walker campaign, on behalf of a boss who killed a federally-funded Amtrak line between Madison and Milwaukee, is bringing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Wisconsin next week for appearances and fundraisers. Both governors also inflated the projects' estimated costs to justify short-circuiting the rail improvements.
Yet in its Christie announcement, the campaign said, with a straight face, that the Governors "have done more to put America back on track than anyone in a generation."
* DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp last week spun wildly away away from the impact of her public criticism of the agency's mishandling an infected deer carcass, yet managed to tell her entire workforce in an email "the buck stops with me."
* And who could forget Oconomowoc Republican State Rep. Joel Kleefisch's full-salivation news release in support of a new Wisconsin wolf hunting season, emphasis added?
A hunting season will allow for reasonable control of the population, while marinating viable and sustainable pack numbers for this majestic animal.And we close with a few reminders of Walker's exaggerated sense of self-importance, in his own words.
* Walker's Awesome Arrogance:
"They want me dead. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration,” Mr. Walker said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Times after a roundtable discussion Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute.* A week later, Walker's Awesome Arrogance 2.0:
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) gave a passionate speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, rallying against recall election efforts that he said could do lasting damage.* And more recently:
"Lord help us if we fail," Walker said. "I'm not planning on it, but if we were to fail, I think this sets aside any courageous act in American politics for at least a decade if not a generation."
Not because this job is that important to me, 'cuz frankly my wife in some ways would love it if I'd go back to the private sector and make some real money.
Posted by James Rowen at 9:30 AM
Thursday, April 26, 2012
!. The timing could not be better, as the Walker-Christie announcement comes on the heels of a national reminder of just how bad for the entire Northeast was the New Jersey Governor's erasure of a key Amtrak upgrade that cost the region jobs, efficient transit and cleaner air.
And wasn't it just yesterday that the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters serendipitously and synchronistically reminded us of Walker's "#railfail?"
Christie's presence in Wisconsin will give voters a chance to see two Republicans side-by-side who hurt their state's economies and misstated (ahem!) the costs they claimed as justifications for vetoing the projects.
2. And side-by-side with Christie, Walker will shrink to irrelevance. Christie has a pulse, a persona and a presence. The vacuous, monotone Walker will look like Robin in Batman's shadow.
3. Finally, I am convinced that the Walkerites are so guilt-ridden about their reactionary policies that they keep making revealing, Freudian slips in their proofread-free official pronouncements.
* The Walker campaign provided the latest foot-in-mouth delight in its announcement of the Christie visits saying that Christie and Walker "have done more to put America back on track than anyone in a generation."
Really? "Back on track?" How many layers of irony do we want to mine?
And what about this?
This is the banner headline in Wednesday's Journal Sentinel:
* There was Wednesday's blue-ribbon malapropism by DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, spinning away from the impact of her public criticism of the agency's mishandling of an infected deer carcass by telling her entire workforce in an email "the buck stops with me."
State posts largest percentage job loss in U.S. over past year
* And who could forget Oconomowoc Republican State Rep. Joel Kleefisch's full-salivation news release in support of a new Wisconsin wolf hunting season, emphasis added?
A hunting season will allow for reasonable control of the population, while marinating viable and sustainable pack numbers for this majestic animal.Perhaps he meant "managing."
On the other hand, he explained his support for a new sandhill crane hunting season in Wisconsin by noting that the birds were called "the rib-eye in the sky."
So maybe he meant "marinating."
Posted by James Rowen at 5:09 PM
The Boston Globe sends a reminder to prospective GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney that the entire Northeast took a hit when NJ Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a passenger rail upgrade on fiscal grounds - -- in a Scott Walkeresque move - - and then was found to have inflated the cost, again a la Walker.
Posted by James Rowen at 1:00 PM
Thanks to Steve Hanson for this outstanding report.
And remember that the Walker gang over at the DNR - - including several former WMC/road-builder/home builder personnel now in charge - - said 'nothing to see here.'
Posted by James Rowen at 10:00 AM
[first posted, 9:09 Wednesday, 4/25, then updated] For Cathy Stepp, firing away at the DNR must have seemed like the good old days - - except that now Scott Walker had put her in charge of the agency and she needed to engage in some damage control.
After all, there was a serious situation: an infected deer carcass was left in the woods, the head forgotten for months in a shed freezer and lab work on what was found to be a positive test for chronic wasting disease was delayed.
[Update: The Journal Sentinel posted a thorough story late Wednesday night, here.
Speaking Wednesday at the Natural Resources Board meeting, DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp called the time lapse "alarming."]So Stepp tried Wednesday afternoon to explain, and complain about, this earlier story and headline and lede - -
- - Wis. DNR leader blasts agency for CWD test delay TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press: The state Department of Natural Resources' leader blasted her agency Wednesday for mishandling a northwestern Wisconsin deer infected with chronic wasting disease, saying the missteps threaten public confidence in the agency.- - with this email to the entire agency:
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Subject: AP article on CWD deer discussion at the Board meeting today\\
Dear Colleagues:I want to communicate with you directly about an Associated Press article’s portrayal of a discussion about the agency’s handling of the Washburn County CWD positive deer at today’s Natural Resources Board meeting in Madison.In short, it wasn’t accurate.I did not “blast” the agency staff and certainly did not “chastise” Wildlife Management Director Tom Hauge in front of the board.Please know that the Natural Resources Board members and staff present in the meeting were shocked at the inflammatory headline and skewed interpretation of my acknowledgement that we could have done a better job.The current political climate creates challenges for us to effectively communicate with staff. Inflammatory news media articles make it harder. To insinuate that I “chastised” Tom Hauge and his wildlife team is outrageous.I clarified my morning remarks this afternoon in Secretary’s matters and had the reporter invited back so he could hear our reaction. I stated – again – how proud I am of the men and women who make up the Wisconsin DNR.In short, here’s what caused the flap: I acknowledged our internal tracking of samples and communication broke down on the Washburn County CWD deer. Honestly, it took too long to get the sample into the lab.As secretary the buck stops with me and I take full responsibility. To not identify, acknowledge and transparently address missteps would be irresponsible.There are members of the public that have questioned the long interval between taking the sample and testing. My admittance that we could have done better in no way was intended to denigrate our DNR staff – and they know it.This agency has too much integrity to ignore or try to hide this under the rug. We learned from our mistake and are developing a more robust tracking system.DNR staff is passionate about wildlife health and doesn't want delays to happen again. I am proud of the way we are dealing with this by taking responsibility and learning from it, and I applaud the wildlife staff for every day doing the best possible job for the people of this state.These are challenging times for the wildlife team. I respect and appreciate the difficulty they are experiencing during Dr. Kroll’s review of deer management and with the discovery of CWD in the northwest. They have been a model of cooperation and openness with Dr. Kroll. That speaks volumes.I will continue to sing the praises of our agency – something that seems long overdue. And I will accept responsibility when we could have done better.It is a privilege to serve as secretary of this great agency. You all make me proud on a daily basis.CathyCathy Stepp
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
You can add to your Wisconsin Friends of ALEC scorecard US Senate candidate and ex-Governor Tommy Thompson, current Public Service Commission chair and ALEC 2005 "Legislator of the Year" Phil Montgomery, as well as Wisconsin Railroad Commissioner and former ex-Democratic State Senator-turned-Walker water carrier Jeff Plale to your scorecards, according to this 2008 report.
At the 2001 ALEC national convention, Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor and then U.S. Secretary of Health And Human Services, stated:
"It's wonderful to see so many of my friends from the great state of Wisconsin. There are 29 members of the Wisconsin State Legislature who were so eager to come to New York for this conference that they rushed to get the state budget passed last week....My good friend Scott Jensen is among them. Scott holds the only job I ever wanted and never reached - Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly."
In addition to the 29 state legislators that Thompson claimed as ALEC members, I and others working with me found at least three currently sitting Wisconsin politicians who have sponsored bills with ties to ALEC – Wisconsin Senator Ted Kanavas, Senator Jeff Plale and Representative Phil Montgomery, who was given ALEC’s 2005 “Legislator of the Year” award.Montgomery's appointment is significant, as the PSC has control of the state energy generation mix, as well as policy implementation.
ALEC just announced it would go on a national campaign to get states to roll back commitments to renewable energy: all hail, fossil fuels!
And just a few days ago, the PSC announced it would direct funds under its control more for biomass and bio-energy rather than for wind and solar.
Walker blocked implementation of PSC wind turbine siting rules, stalling the development of the industry, its jobs and clean energy generation.
Montgomery also favors nuclear energy, and also hired as his Executive Assistant the former top lobbyist for the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. Details, here.
In Wisconsin, ALEC and the 1% are among friends.
Posted by James Rowen at 7:19 PM
The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters is out with its third installment of the "Walker Fail" series: an analysis of his attack on wind power and the jobs this clean energy industry can deliver.
File III: Wind FailHere is a link to the first two installments and the WLCV website.
Governor Walker was apparently full of hot air when he promised to create jobs in Wisconsin. One of his first legislative goals was to throw wind farm development out the window by imposing extreme restrictions that would have suffocated Wisconsin’s clean energy future. Luckily the legislature voted against Walker’s attack on wind energy with bipartisan support.
Posted by James Rowen at 3:43 PM
This was Walker's message on April 10th when he kicked off his recall campaign for re-election:
"We're headed in the right direction," Walker said. "We're turning things around. We're moving Wisconsin forward."This is the banner headline in Wednesday's Journal Sentinel:
State posts largest percentage job loss in U.S. over past year
Posted by James Rowen at 11:23 AM
[First published Tuesday, 3:35 p.m., then updated] You will remember that the City of Waukesha suggested the City of Milwaukee look to Waukesha County's Regional Development Plan and website for the kind of transit and housing commitment, cooperation and performance that might come on behalf of four smaller Waukesha-area towns to accompany a water sale by Milwaukee.
Milwaukee has said a water deal must include commitments to housing and transportation programs from the water buyers.
[Update: For the towns - - Pewaukee, Delafield, Genesee and Waukesha - - inclusion in the City of Waukesha's application for a diversion of Lake Michigan water under the terms of the multi-state Great Lakes Compact raises separate questions about the Compact's water conservation and public participation requirements imposed on communities receiving diverted Great Lakes water.
Since all eight Great Lakes states must approve the City of Waukesha's application, the Towns may find that one or more of the states - - or the eventual water selling community, such as the City of Milwaukee - - will consider one or more of towns essentially as co-applicants by virtue of their receipt of diverted Great Lakes water via the City of Waukesha, thus being required to supply information, plans, processes and implemented policies - - from water conservation programs implemented to hearings to public participation guarantees of their own - - all of which may be problematic and costly.
So far, the Town of Waukesha has not decided whether to participate, throwing into doubt the City of Waukesha's projected need for the amount of water it wants to divert water.]
So I took the suggestion in the City of Waukesha letter, checked out the County plan, and discovered in "Chapter 8, Transportation," that Milwaukee won't find much of a priority on transit from Waukesha County.
Let's just say the transit "concerns and weaknesses" out-stripped the "strengths," and do not meet the "adopted and implemented" criteria that the City of Milwaukee spelled out for water buyers in a 2008 resolution.
In addition, for purposes of Common Council review, the community which has applied for water service from the City of Milwaukee shall submit a written report to the aforementioned communication file indicating that the community has adopted and implemented:
D-1. A comprehensive plan pursuant to s. 66.1001, Wis. Stats., and, if the plan has not been completed, indicate the status of the community’s compliance with each of the 9 requirements which comprise s. 66.1001 (2), Wis. Stats.D-2. A comprehensive housing plan and can demonstrate that such plan has resulted in the creation of affordable housing opportunities that have resulted in racial, age and income diversification, with data on the percentage of population in assisted and affordable housing that is age 30 or less, above age 30 and below 65, and age 65 and above.
This is how the transportation chapter opens in the plan the City of Waukesha suggested the City of Milwaukee water sale negotiators :D-3. A comprehensive public transportation plan and can demonstrate that such plan has resulted in the expansion and improvement of public transportation links between persons living in the City of Milwaukee and job opportunities in the community which has applied for water service. Such plan may include, but is not limited to, participation and inclusion in the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transportation Authority or an equivalent entity.
STRENGTHS, CONCERNS, AND WEAKNESSES
The Waukesha County Comprehensive Development Plan Land Use, Housing and Transportation Subcommittee expressed the following transportation strengths, concerns, and weaknesses.
• Easy access to the Interstate Highway System • Advanced planning and implementation of highway facility improvements • An established County Trunk Highway System that is effective • Provides appropriate access to roadways • Availability of other modes of transportation (ie. airports, trails) • An increase in official mapping being completed by municipalities for improved inter-connectivity to roadway systems • A continued commitment to funding County road improvements through a capital improvements program.
Transportation Concerns and Weaknesses
• A lack of a dedicated regional institutional structure for a high level inter-county transit system. The County and Region has a mass transit plan in place, but there is a lack of a comprehensive regional mass transit institutional structure and a dedicated source to fund it.
• Municipalities and the County over-rely on State and Federal funding for local transportation initiatives. A lack of a dedicated funding source exists for transit at the municipal or county level of government. • A tendency for municipalities and the County to upgrade highways after volume or impact is realized instead of doing a more effective analysis of projecting these changes. • A lack of county-wide or regional understanding of the impact of road construction (ie. bypass or road widening).
• A lack of continued re-education and endorsement of long-range comprehensive planning and the impact of not planning long-range or failure to implement these plans.
• A lack of grade separation between competing transportation uses such as road and railroad crossings. • Road improvements are not being made because of current jurisdictional control and conflicting plans. • Excessive local street road pavement widths.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Mitt Romney has been saying President Obama isn't creating jobs fast enough.
But even as employment grows nationally, the US Department of Labor says Wisconsin lost more jobs over the last 12 months than any other state.
So by Romney logic, Wisconsin must really need new leadership.
Posted by James Rowen at 11:35 AM
Walker, Wisconsin get official seal of disapproval:
US Department Of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Regional and State Employment and Unemployment SummaryFor release 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Friday, April 20, 2012 Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * [email protected] REGIONAL AND STATE EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT -- MARCH 2012 ...In March 2012, nonfarm payroll employment increased in 29 states and the District of Columbia, decreased in 20 states, and was unchanged in Alabama. The largest over-the-month increase in employment occurred in New York (+19,100), followed by California (+18,200) and Arizona (+13,500). The largest over-the-month decrease in employment occurred in Ohio (-9,500), followed by New Jersey (-8,600) and Wisconsin (-4,500)....The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment occurred in Wisconsin (-0.9 percent).
11:09 a.m. update: The Journal Sentinel posts the data, too.
Posted by James Rowen at 6:58 AM
Posted by James Rowen at 6:30 AM
[First published, Monday, April 23, 7:31 p.m.] Today's political lesson: With a funding advantage in the multi-millions of dollars raised out-of-state, see Walker stay on message, undermine the grassroots citizen-led nature of the recall movement underway against him and inflate his self-importance. Machiavellian Manipulation 101.
* From a terrific Bill Lueders' Isthmus piece more than 14 months ago (and the italics are mine) way before the recall movement took shape:
Last week he was asked by the Wisconsin State Journal whether the measures he's seeking "in more ways than one, if not killing the unions now, would lead to their ultimate irrelevance and probable [demise]" — because without collective bargaining their role would be so limited that employees would stop paying dues, as Walker's bill allows. The governor conceded the point, saying, "Presumably, that's why there's so many national union leaders here because, politically, they want the money."* Then from Politico via Fox nearly a year later, with the recall a growing certainty (again, the italics are mine):
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is likely to face a recall election later this year after organizers looking to oust the governor turned in a whopping million signatures supporting their cause, said Wednesday that the effort to oust him is “all about the union money.”
“The real bottom line is, the national unions want their hands on the money,” Walker said in an interview with Fox News. “It’s all about the union money, it’s not about the workers’ money — they want those automatic dues, and they’ll spend just about anything to get that back.”* And with the recall campaign underway, Walker's tall tale gets taller, as you can see in an interview just this past Sunday, but note that he's still on message, though his nose is getting longer (italics added, again):
“The left, the radical left, and the big labor union bosses are somehow counting on the idea that they can bring enough money and enough bodies into Wisconsin to dissuade voters,” Walker told Newsmax. “... I think that they’re hoping somehow they can defeat us, so that would discourage anybody from making tough decisions again.Then the unproven, unprovable whopper:
The embattled Wisconsin governor has estimated that unions and special-interest groups may pour as much as $60 million into their controversial attempt to send his administration packing.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Walker and his campaign release spun numbers.
Beware - - He's the master of PR and propaganda. Remember he told us his original "budget repair" bill, in which he inserted the union-busting plan he hid during the campaign, was but a "modest proposal?"
Here's another way to look at data and balance sheets and politicized numbers. The state still has a budget shortfall. Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state last year, and Walker has done incalculable damage to the state's environment, legal process, and reputation for fair play.
I'd like to see Walker put a price tag on that.
Posted by James Rowen at 6:16 PM
The City of Waukesha tells Milwaukee in the letter - - read it here - - (I cannot copy it) - - that the four neighboring Towns of Genesee, Waukesha, Delafield and Pewaukee which the City of Waukesha roped into its diversion application without their input via a regional planning committee water service territory map the City requested - - (discussion and map, here) - - do not have transportation or housing plans and defer these matters to Waukesha County.
The letter directs Milwaukee officials to a Waukesha County comprehensive planning website for further details.
That is not a bureaucratic or inter-governmental diversion - - the equivalent of a voice mail system telling you to "press 1 for more options."
That is a problem for the advance of the application and has been for a long time (June, 2009): almost two years ago I said this was the biggest problem with the application - - and I stand by that today.
For one thing, the Town of Waukesha, with a large land mass included by regional planners and the City without the Town's permission or input in the application and map, has yet to give its assent to the inclusion.
And the matter has been hanging fire for a long time.
Yet, Milwaukee has reiterated for years, and is on record through a Common Council resolution signed by the Mayor - - full text here - - that a water sale to Waukesha is conditional on a number of things, including commitments on housing, transportation and other regional socio-economic issues needed in a water sale deal that go beyond a per-gallon price for water.
How is the City of Waukesha going to meet these Milwaukee conditions if Waukesha's Town partners and their residents don't have the service infrastructure to be full partners in a regional process?
A mere letter from the City of Waukesha that says, yes, the smaller municipalities ticketed for getting Milwaukee water are institutionally incapable of meeting the water-selling city's basic cooperative conditions, but here's a website to consult at yet another level of government to consult and we're done with that part of the conversation - - hardly addresses the language of Milwaukee resolution/city policy, to wit:
By the way, that afore-mentioned regional transportation authority included as an example of what the City of Milwaukee expects in a water deal is dead - - killed recently by the pro-road-builder, transit-hating Legislature and Governor, and furthermore - - Waukesha County wanted no part of it when it was still around because it abhorred any linkage with Milwaukee.In addition, for purposes of Common Council review, the community which has applied for water service from the City of Milwaukee shall submit a written report to the aforementioned communication file indicating that the community has adopted and implemented:D-1. A comprehensive plan pursuant to s. 66.1001, Wis. Stats., and, if the plan has not been completed, indicate the status of the community’s compliance with each of the 9 requirements which comprise s. 66.1001 (2), Wis. Stats.D-2. A comprehensive housing plan and can demonstrate that such plan has resulted in the creation of affordable housing opportunities that have resulted in racial, age and income diversification, with data on the percentage of population in assisted and affordable housing that is age 30 or less, above age 30 and below 65, and age 65 and above.D-3. A comprehensive public transportation plan and can demonstrate that such plan has resulted in the expansion and improvement of public transportation links between persons living in the City of Milwaukee and job opportunities in the community which has applied for water service. Such plan may include, but is not limited to, participation and inclusion in the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Transportation Authority or an equivalent entity.
While public funds serving car owners are continually shoveled into highway connections between the two counties, transit links for lower-income residents, or those without access to cars are minimal.
There is one privately-owned coach line connecting downtown Milwaukee to downtown Waukesha; Waukesha interests killed Milwaukee light rail which was initially planned to connect to the City of New Berlin on the two counties' border 15 years ago, cementing, if you will, the isolation of Milwaukee workers from Waukesha housing and employment.
So much for regional cooperation, or finding it at that Waukesha county planning website.
Yet the City of Waukesha letter tells the City of Milwaukee it considers its submission on the Town-and-service territory-map issue matter complete enough to get water sales' negotiations underway.
I can't see how Milwaukee would find that non-responsive response in any way adequate; how does Milwaukee sit down and talk about water sales and distribution to an area including the Town of Waukesha if the Town is not on board with the application, let alone being in the room to talk about it?
Remember, the Town asked the City of Waukesha for a seat at the table, and was rebuffed.
Posted by James Rowen at 9:30 AM
I recommend Lee Bergquist's reporting about the political and financial barriers that have obstructed removal of dangerous PCB contamination from the Fox River.
Paper mills had profoundly polluted the river, then one balked at its share of the cleanup cost; perhaps a Federal court order will finally get the project back on schedule.
What is sobering about this story is that Wisconsin was within one vote of approving horrendous, special-interest legislation in the State Senate earlier this year of green-lighting a huge open pit iron ore mine in the Bad River watershed near Ashland - - close to municipal drinking water systems, Native American rice-growing waters and the shore of Lake Superior - - knowing that chemical-laden mine residue and dust from mountaintop removal, trucking and ore processing was going to create pollutants ending up in Northern Wisconsin water, land and clean air.
Industry will tell you that their processes and controls are modern, safe effective so there's little to worry about, etc., etc., but you need to look no farther than the Fox River, or the Gulf of Mexico oil well blow-out, or recent pipeline breaks in Wisconsin, Michigan and Montana to see that even a pinhole in an underground pipe can lead to unforgiving and catastrophic consequences.
This is why Scott Walker's having put Cathy Stepp and her "chamber of commerce mentality" at the helm of the DNR was so offensive. For ideological reasons, Walker degraded the public interest and risked Wisconsin waters held in trust - - the principle and policy is in the State Constitution and is called the Public Trust Doctrine for a reason.
This is why projects like the iron ore mine should be approached with caution, not election-year agendas.
Posted by James Rowen at 5:27 AM
The AP and Wausau Daily Herald bring us another Happy Earth Day story from Wisconsin:
...Wisconsin is not fully enforcing strict phosphorus limits adopted two years ago to reduce algae blooms that make people sick.The DNR says it's working as hard as it can, but remember that Walker has been obstructing the implementation of the rule for more than a year.
The Wausau Daily Herald says that's despite the Department of Natural Resources secretary's alarm at foul conditions in at least one lake last summer.
The Wisconsin Legislature approved the limits in 2010 They're aimed at wastewater treatment plants, paper mills and factories - which are required to reapply for permits at five-year intervals.
But as of last week, only 19 permits with stricter limits had been issued since September 2010. The DNR still is evaluating applications from over 350 facilities, while hundreds more must apply in the coming years.
And it looks like the DNR is simply acting as if the two-year enforcement delay it wanted last year is the de facto policy.
Anyone seeing the pattern in Walker's environmental 'program'?
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Nor could I find the proclamation on the Governor's official website.
I now see the text on the Governor's website dated Friday - - well, OK, so be it... but all I can say is you might as well have proclaimed it Baloney Sandwich Day.
Is there a separate proclamation floating around the Governor's office that actually discusses Earth Day, and not just the announcement of more details about a project that was, in fact, approved in December, 2011?
Nice project, no doubt, but are we to assume that when its plan comes to fruition, it is the de facto Earth Day proclamation, come to life?
I'll post the entire wording of the release and the non-proclamation's proclamation from Walker's website here:
Governor Walker Issues Earth Day Proclamation (Friday, April 20, 2012)
Posted by James Rowen at 11:09 PM
We hope these stories entertain and inspire you to explore your community in a car-free way. Our small bus investment pays big dividends. ENJOY!!!Clever title, interesting content.
And a good Earth day message. Transit backers, give it a ride.
Posted by James Rowen at 1:57 PM | <urn:uuid:e103a597-d13c-4c29-aaa9-fe8a8a429977> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html | 2016-07-27T07:41:34Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257826736.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071026-00324-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958984 | 10,657 |
Bible (American Standard)/Zechariah
1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,
2 Jehovah was sore displeased with your fathers.
3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts.
4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith Jehovah.
5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,
8 I saw in the night, and, behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white.
9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these are.
10 And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
11 And they answered the angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
12 Then the angel of Jehovah answered and said, O Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?
13 And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me with good words, [even] comfortable words.
14 So the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15 And I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem.
17 Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity; and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
18 And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, four horns.
19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
20 And Jehovah showed me four smiths.
21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head; but these are come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.
1 And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.
2 Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
3 And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,
4 and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, by reason of the multitude of men and cattle therein.
5 For I, saith Jehovah, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.
6 Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north, saith Jehovah; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, saith Jehovah.
7 Ho Zion, escape, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
8 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them; and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.
11 And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts has sent me unto thee.
12 And Jehovah shall inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
13 Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah; for he is waked up out of his holy habitation.
1 And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.
2 And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel.
5 And I said, Let them set a clean mitre upon his head. So they set a clean mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments; and the angel of Jehovah was standing by.
6 And the angel of Jehovah protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee a place of access among these that stand by.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee; for they are men that are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.
9 For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; upon one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
10 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, shall ye invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig-tree.
1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and, behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof;
3 and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4 And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.
7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel [thou shalt become] a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it.
8 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel; [these are] the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
12 And I answered the second time, and said unto him, What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty the golden [oil] out of themselves?
13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
1 Then again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying roll.
2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on the one side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on the other side according to it.
4 I will cause it to go forth, saith Jehovah of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance in all the land
7 (and, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.
8 And he said, This is Wickedness: and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.
1 And again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;
3 and in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grizzled strong horses.
4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.
6 [The chariot] wherein are the black horses goeth forth toward the north country; and the white went forth after them; and the grizzled went forth toward the south country.
7 And the strong went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.
8 Then cried he to me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, they that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.
9 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they are come from Babylon;
11 yea, take [of them] silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;
12 and speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build the temple of Jehovah;
13 even he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah.
15 And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of Jehovah; and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you. And [this] shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of Jehovah your God.
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, even in Chislev.
2 Now [they of] Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of Jehovah,
3 [and] to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
4 Then came the word of Jehovah of hosts unto me, saying,
5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [month], even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?
6 And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7 [Should ye] not [hear] the words which Jehovah cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?
8 And the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 Thus hath Jehovah of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother;
10 and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.
11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts.
13 And it is come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear, so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said Jehovah of hosts;
14 but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
1 And the word of Jehovah of hosts came [to me], saying,
2 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.
3 Thus saith Jehovah: I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth; and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, The holy mountain.
4 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.
6 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith Jehovah of hosts.
7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
8 and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
9 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets that were in the day that the foundation of the house of Jehovah of hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.
10 For before those days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in, because of the adversary: for I set all men every one against his neighbor.
11 But now I will not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former days, saith Jehovah of hosts.
12 For [there shall be] the seed of peace; the vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
13 And it shall come to pass that, as ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear not, [but] let your hands be strong.
14 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: As I thought to do evil unto you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I repented not;
15 so again have I thought in these days to do good unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.
16 These are the things that ye shall do: speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates;
17 and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith Jehovah.
18 And the word of Jehovah of hosts came unto me, saying,
19 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The fast of the fourth [month], and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace.
20 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: [It shall] yet [come to pass], that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities;
21 and the inhabitants of one [city] shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts: I will go also.
22 Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Jehovah.
23 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days [it shall come to pass], that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
1 The burden of the word of Jehovah upon the land of Hadrach, and Damascus [shall be] its resting-place (for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Jehovah);
2 and Hamath, also, which bordereth thereon; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.
3 And Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
5 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also, and shall be sore pained; and Ekron, for her expectation shall be put to shame; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also shall be a remnant for our God; and he shall be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.
8 And I will encamp about my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass.
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the nations: and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I have set free thy prisoners from the pit wherein is no water.
12 Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.
13 For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man.
14 And Jehovah shall be seen over them; and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord Jehovah will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.
15 Jehovah of hosts will defend them; and they shall devour, and shall tread down the sling-stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.
16 And Jehovah their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for [they shall be as] the stones of a crown, lifted on high over his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.
1 Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain, [even of] Jehovah that maketh lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
2 For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain: therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
3 Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4 From him shall come forth the corner-stone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together.
5 And they shall be as mighty men, treading down [their enemies] in the mire of the streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because Jehovah is with them; and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy upon them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am Jehovah their God, and I will hear them.
7 And [they of] Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their children shall see it, and rejoice; their heart shall be glad in Jehovah.
8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased.
9 And I will sow them among the peoples; and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return.
10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and [place] shall not be found for them.
11 And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.
12 And I will strengthen them in Jehovah; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith Jehovah.
1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
2 Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the goodly ones are destroyed: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is come down.
3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste.
4 Thus said Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter;
5 whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not.
6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
7 So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.
9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another.
10 And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
11 And it was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew that it was the word of Jehovah.
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirty [pieces] of silver.
13 And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house of Jehovah.
14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And Jehovah said unto me, Take unto thee yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those that are cut off, neither will seek those that are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat [sheep], and will tear their hoofs in pieces.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
1 The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. [Thus] saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him:
2 behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem.
3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness.
5 And the chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and [they of] Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah.
8 In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
13 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;
14 all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
3 And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive:
5 but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds between thine arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith Jehovah of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.
1 Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, [and there shall be] a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and Jehovah my God shall come, and all the holy ones with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light; the bright ones shall withdraw themselves:
7 but it shall be one day which is known unto Jehovah; not day, and not night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light.
8 And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be lifted up, and shall dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel unto the king's wine-presses.
11 And men shall dwell therein, and there shall be no more curse; but Jerusalem shall dwell safely.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from Jehovah shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.
14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in those camps, as that plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso of [all] the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, neither [shall it be] upon them; there shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLY UNTO JEHOVAH; and the pots in Jehovah's house shall be like the bowls before the altar
21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy unto Jehovah of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and boil therein: and in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of hosts.
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RESEARCH & ISSUES IN MUSIC EDUCATION
A pretest-posttest experimental design was utilized to determine the efficacy of the Yuba Method on inaccurate elementary singers. Testing of pitch accuracy was analyzed using the Sona-Speech Model 3600 software program. Inaccurate singers (N=168) from a population of 320 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students, were divided into three subgroups and a random sample of subjects was selected to be in a treatment group (N=30) and a control group (N=30).
The Yuba Method, which is meant to target training of the cricothyroid muscle utilizing a series of vocal exercises intended to facilitate maneuverability over the vocal register break, was administered to treatment subjects (N=30) in a single 45-minute session. The effect of treatment was highly significant at the p < .001 significance level. Significant differences were also found among singing ability subgroups (before training) at the p = .002 significance level. Among inaccurate singers, the least accurate subgroup benefited the most and the most accurate singers benefited the least. Based on the results, the treatment was highly successful in correcting inaccurate elementary school singers in this study.
Singing is an important skill to be developed in the elementary music classroom. The National Standards for Music Education developed by The Music Educators National Conference (1994) specify that all children should be taught to sing (p. 26).
The condition of inaccurate singing has been found to be a detriment. Greenberg (1970), in discussing the effects of inaccurate singing, concluded that a child that knows something is wrong with his or her singing withdraws from most phases of the music program. Yuba (1998) suggested that inaccurate singing may result in embarrassment, humiliation, and even societal maladjustment.
Statistics indicate that inaccurate singing is an ongoing problem. The National Assessment of Educational Progress for the years 1971-1972, indicated that 50% of the nine-year-olds, 45% of the thirteen-year-olds, 35% of the 17-year-olds, and 30% of the adults were unable to sing the song America with acceptable pitch. According to Roberts and Davies (1975), approximately 18% of children in grade six and below were unable to sing simple songs in tune and were considered to be inaccurate singers. Goetze (1985) reported that 70% of the kindergarten, first- and third-grade subjects in her study were inaccurate singers. Aaron (1991) reported that 69% of the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in his study were inaccurate singers.
Remedial techniques to correct inaccurate singing need to be investigated in order to diminish the dilemma of inaccurate singing. Gordon (1985) concluded that music educators used empirically unproven remedial techniques to work with inaccurate singers. He also found the converse to be true—that empirically proven techniques were not used or known to music educators. Gordon found that music educators often simply increased the amount of time spent on singing in an attempt to improve singing accuracy. He saw this as a sign of frustration by music educators who knew no other empirically corroborated means to adequately deal with singing inaccuracy.
Extant research indicates that there may be a multitude of causes and conditions for singing inaccuracy. This suggests that a multitude of vocal remediation strategies may be necessary in correcting inaccurate singing. Some causes, as indicated by previous research include piano accompaniment (Clayton, 1986), music aptitude (De Yarman, 1972; Jones, 1993; Jaffurs, 2000), development and maturation (Wilson, 1970; Levinowitz, Barnes, Guerrini, Clement, D’April, and Morey, 1998), singing range (Cleall, 1970; Guerrini, 2002), singing an entire phrase versus individual melodic items (Petzold, 1966), age (Mizener, 1993), pitch discrimination (Bentley, 1968; Zwissler, 1972), self concept (Greenberg, 1970), unison versus individual singing (Goetze 1985; Smale 1987), singing with text versus singing on a neutral syllable (Goetze, 1985; Flowers and Dunne-Sousa, 1990), home environment and heritage (Eikum, 1963), the vocal model (Yarbrough, Bowers, and Benson, 1992; Sims, Moore, and Kuhn, 1982; Small and McCachern, 1983; Montgomery, 1988; Green, 1990; Gratton, 1992), and vocal registration (Brown, 1988).
It is relevant to review the existing research on remedial singing techniques to build upon extant information. Additional drills and exercises have been employed as remedial treatment. Roberts and Davies (1975) successfully utilized speech devices to extend the speaking range and exercises in finding a personal note. They were able “to effect some improvement in pitch production among children rated by their teachers as monotones” (p. 236). Richner (1976) found that remedial voice instruction had a significant positive effect on the ability of inaccurate singers to reproduce pitches. Roberts and Davies (1976) investigated vocal range extension. The results indicated that the remedial group showed greater improvements on single note production and interval production. Buckton (1977) found that a vocal program significantly improved the vocal accuracy scores of the vocal group over instrumental and control groups. Rooks (1987) investigated the effects of remedial vocal training on inaccurate singers. Findings indicate that restricted range singers trained in both the high and low range gained significantly more accuracy than those trained in only the high range.
Several studies focused on psychological aspects to aid the inaccurate singer. Jones (1971) investigated the use of a vertically arranged keyboard instrument. The visual representation of the vertical keyboard as it related to "high" and "low" pitches helped the inaccurate singer. Jarjisian (1981) found that young children’s rote singing achievement was benefited by pitch pattern instruction, which included both diatonic and pentatonic patterns. Apfelstadt (1984) investigated the effects of melodic perception instruction. She found significant differences on vocal pitch-pattern accuracy and in rote singing accuracy. Kramer (1985)--found that imagery training improved the ability of inaccurate singers to match pitches vocally. Welch, Howard, and Rush (1989) explored the use of visual feedback using a microcomputer. Subjects improved over the treatment period, and it was concluded that “verbal feedback on its own appears to be less powerful in promoting learning than real-time, meaningful visual feedback” (p. 156). Matthias (1997) investigated the use of sequential games. Vocal accuracy was said to have improved after completing a sequential series of pitch matching games.
Extant physiologically based studies have focused primarily on the area of breath control management. Phillips (1983) found that breath control management significantly improved vocal range, vocal intensity, vocal duration, and pitch accuracy. Gackle (1987) examined the effects of selected vocalizes that employed breath management techniques. She found that the exercises significantly improved pitch perturbation. Aaron (1991) found that vocal coordination instruction was more effective in improving vocal pitch accuracy for boys than for girls and that highly inaccurate boy singers benefited the most from vocal coordination instruction. Phillips and Aitchison (1995) found that vocal range was improved through breath control management instruction. Collins (2000) concluded that breath management may be so interdependent with students' abilities to coordinate the vocal mechanism that it alone may not produce significant results in vocal performance.
Research in the area of physiological perspectives with regard to singing, includes that of Yuba (1998), who developed a vocal training method that was intended to specifically train the cricothyroid muscle, which is used while singing (Yuba 2001, p. 1). Based upon his theory of cricothyroid muscle function, Yuba (2002) explained that mechanically, the cricothyroid muscle determines the pitch like a guitar reel or spool. He said that its main function is to act as tensors, tilting the thyroid cartilage forward and downward, lengthening the vocal folds and making them thinner, resulting in raised pitch. Yuba added that conversely, its relaxation lowers the pitch. He elaborated that the preponderance of the cricothyroid muscle against the closing muscle group, or arytenoid muscles, produces a head voice register made up of breathy sounds because it cannot close the glottis completely. Yuba added that on the other hand, the preponderance of the closing muscle group, or arytenoid muscles, against the cricothyroid muscle, produces a chest voice register, or non-breathy sounds (p. 4).
Figure 1 provides a view of the intrinsic muscles of the larynx.
Yuba explained that the quality of vibration of the vocal folds is determined by the balance of three factors:
Yuba (2000) said that a subsidiary result of the method was to correct inaccurate singing (p. 2). He noted that to date, he has corrected over 900 inaccurate singers (___, 2003).
Yuba (2002) devised a series of musical exercises based on his philosophy. Following are the Yuba Method basic steps in correcting inaccurate singing:
The Yuba Method appears to have had some success in correcting inaccurate singers although there is no existing empirical data to support it. Furthermore, Yuba has not provided adequate evidence (e.g. via laryngoscopy) that indicates his exercises actually target training of the cricothyroid muscle in singing. It is not within the scope of this study to verify cricothyroid muscle functioning while utilizing the Yuba Method exercises. Rather, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of the Yuba Method on the vocal pitch accuracy of inaccurate elementary school singers in grades four, five, and six.
This study used a pretest posttest control group design using the Yuba Method with a treatment group, and no remedial treatment with the control group to determine the effects of the Yuba Method. The subjects were fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students (N = 320) in one public urban elementary school in Honolulu, Hawaii. This group comprised the total enrollment of these grades in the school, and consisted of 165 boys and 155 girls. The fourth grade was comprised of 51 boys and 53 girls. The fifth grade was comprised of 64 boys and 49 girls, and the sixth grade was comprised of 50 boys and 53 girls. The population of fourth, fifth, and sixth graders included all subjects between the ages of 8.5 to 9.4, 9.5 to 10.4, and 10.5 to 11.4 years of age respectively, by September 1, 2002. The ethnic make up of the school population consisted primarily of students of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage. The socio-economic status of the school consisted of a population of 40%, on free or reduced lunch.
Materials and equipment used in the study consisted of a Gateway laptop computer, an Electro Voice Microphone, a Yamaha PSR-540 Electronic Keyboard, a two foot by four foot mirror, a Sony CFD-V17 CD Player, and a Sony Hi-8 Video Recorder. The Sona-Speech Model 3600 software program by Kay Elemetrics was used to analyze the criterion pitches in the Pretest Singing Stimulus and the Posttest Singing Stimulus utilized in the study. The Sona-Speech Model 3600 software program was ordered from Kay Elemetrics Corporation at 2 Bridgewater Lane, Lincoln Park, New Jersey, 07035, USA. The Sona-Speech Model 3600 software program is the software-only component of the Visi-Pitch hardware device used in previous research (Goetze, 1985; Clayton, 1986; Smale 1987; Brown, 1988; Goetze & Horii, 1989; Moore, 1991). The Sona-Speech Model 3600 software program is a clinical package of speech training and analysis programs. The specific program utilized in the Sona-Speech was Real Time Pitch, which calculates frequency in Hertz of recorded pitches. The Yuba Method was obtained from Dream Voice Training: Muscles For Singing Tokyo, Japan: Victor Entertainment, Inc.
The total enrollment of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students was taught to sing the Pretest Singing Stimulus commencing the first week of October 2002. The students were taught using the typical rote method of teaching in their regular general music class instructional period, which met once a week for 55 minutes. Twenty minutes of each subsequent class time was spent teaching the song stimulus. A criterion of 75% was established as a minimum attendance for participation in the study. No students were eliminated on this basis.
The Pretest Singing Stimulus was individually administered to the 320 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students during the first two weeks of November 2002. The Pretest Singing Stimulus was designed by the investigator to classify subjects either as “accurate” or “inaccurate” singers. The Pretest Singing Stimulus consisted of the first phrase of the Israeli folk song Shalom Chaverim in the key of D minor (Figure 2). During the administration of the Pretest Singing Stimulus, the first two starting pitches of the phrase were played on an electronic keyboard and subjects were required to sing the entire phrase “a cappella.” Audio Examples 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 demonstrate VPA scores on the Pretest Singing Stimulus of 14, 48, 115, 289 and 360 respectively.
The Pretest Singing Stimulus test was analyzed and scored. Selected criterion pitches (D4, D5, C5, F4) were used to calculate singing accuracy rather than using a subject’s deviation on all of the notes in the test stimulus. This was based on previous research findings (Goetze, 1985, p. 75), which indicated that an average of selected notes was more descriptive of a subject's singing accuracy than an average of all of the notes sung in a test stimulus.
It was desirable for the purposes of the present study to have the singing stimuli encompass both the chest and head registers since previous research suggests that the vocal register break is a possible cause of singing inaccuracy. Cooper (1995) found that children who had not yet learned to use the head voice register had difficulty matching pitches above the voice break (p. 36), and Guerrini (2002) found that once students were able to sing one song accurately using notes above the register break, they appeared to be able to sing other songs accurately (p. 56).
The vocal register break has been examined in previous research. Cooper (1995) identified the break between the chest and the head voice to occur around G4 or A4 (p. 36). Phillips (1996) noted that the pitch F#4 was where there was a balance between the chest and head voices. The range of the Pretest Singing Stimulus in the present study was thus from A3 to D5 to encompass both the head and chest registers.
A vocal pitch accuracy score (VPA) was obtained for each student on the basis of the Pretest Singing Stimulus. The Sona-Speech Model 3600 software program was used to calculate the score. The vocal pitch accuracy score (VPA) was the average cent deviation of the four criterion pitches in the singing stimulus. The Sona-Speech software program was used to calculate in Hertz, the frequency of each selected criterion pitch of the Pretest Singing Stimulus.
The Sona-Speech sampled the recorded voice and displayed the frequency curve of the criterion patterns on the computer monitor. The investigator then moved cursors to outline the segments of the curve representing the pitch to be analyzed, and the Sona-Speech automatically calculated the frequency, in Hertz of the pitch area between cursors. Because frequencies in Hertz are not equal-interval data, logarithms were used to calculate the interval or deviation in cents, where 100 equal cents equaled one semitone between each response pitch and its corresponding stimulus. Calculation of the size of pitch intervals followed the Campbell and Greated procedure (1987, p. 77). The total deviation in cents between each response pitch and its corresponding stimulus was calculated.
Absolute values were used in these calculations to avoid the possibility of both positive and negative cent deviations. For example, sharp and flat responses, respectively, on different pitches within the pattern might cancel each other out. Therefore, although VPA scores represented overall deviation from the model or actual pitches, they did not provide an indication of the direction of deviation or contour of the response. Because VPA scores represented divergence from the model, lower scores indicated more accurate performance and higher scores indicated more inaccurate performance.
The total enrollment of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students (N=320) was classified into two groups—accurate (N = 152) and inaccurate singers (N = 168), based on the Pretest Singing Stimulus vocal pitch accuracy score (VPA). Subjects with a VPA score of 100 or greater were identified as inaccurate singers. Subjects with a VPA score below 100 were identified as accurate singers. The accurate singers were eliminated from the remainder of the study. The criteria of using the VPA score of 100 or greater to determine the inaccurate singer was used by Goetze (1986), Smale (1987), and Cooper (1995).
The formation of three subgroups utilizing the inaccurate singer VPA scores was the next step. All of the inaccurate singer scores (N = 168) were listed in ascending order from the lowest to the highest scores. The inaccurate singers were divided into three subgroups of equal size (N = 56) to constitute "low," "middle," and "high" VPA scores.
The Komolgorov-Smirnov test for comparing two populations was calculated between the three subgroups of "low," "middle," and "high" to determine if in fact the populations were different. Results of the Komolgorov-Smirnov test indicated at the p < .05 confidence level that the three subgroups were from different populations. The three subgroupings were therefore deemed an appropriate design for the experiment.
Twenty subjects were randomly selected, from each of the three subgroups of "low," "middle," and "high" VPA inaccurate singers, to be either in the treatment group (N = 30) (Yuba Method) or control group (N = 30). There was no differentiation of gender or grade level in this process.
Each subject in the study was assigned a five-digit subject number, which indicated the following: (a) Digit one represented the subject’s grade level; (b) Digit two represented the group assignment. The group receiving the Yuba Method treatment was assigned the number “1.” The control group was assigned number 2; (c) Digit three represented the “low” (1), “middle” (2), or “high” (3) groupings within the experimental or control groups; (d) Digits four and five represented the subject number within the treatment or control groups. For example, subject number 62101 was a sixth grader, the first subject in the control “low” group.
The total duration of the testing and treatment portions of the study was twelve weeks from the Pretest Singing Stimulus administration to the Posttest Singing Stimulus administration. The time period to complete the experimental treatment on all 30 treatment subjects lasted no longer than three weeks.
Each subject in the treatment group received one individual, 45-minute treatment session using the Yuba Method in addition to their regular music class, which occurred once a week for 55 minutes. Each subject in the control group received only instruction in their regular music class, which was the same as that of the treatment group. The regular music class lessons for that semester included singing with no remedial provisions, note reading, playing of the recorder, and audiation exercises. The control group received no instruction other than their regular music class.
All subjects in grades four, five, and six in the school were taught to sing the Posttest Singing Stimulus commencing one month prior to the testing and for a period of four consecutive weeks thereafter for a period of 20 minutes at each session. This occurred in their regular music class, which consisted of a heterogeneous grouping of accurate, control, and treatment singers.
The researcher chose two different songs for the singing stimuli--Shalom Chaverim, first phrase, and The Star-Spangled Banner, first phrase (Figure 3). Two different singing stimuli were chosen due to past research findings that mistakes were often carried over in the same song regardless of training (Goetze, 1985).
The criterion pitches selected for this study were D4, F4, C5, and D5 for both test stimuli (where middle C is C4). The criterion pitches were selected by the investigator in an attempt to span the tones across the vocal register break (D4-D5), a tone below the register break (D4), and a tone around the register break (F4). A song phrase was used rather than utilizing the matching of single tones because past research indicated that the matching of single pitches had no correlation to singing a song in tune (Flowers and Dunne-Sousa, 1990, p. 111).
The pretest and posttest stimuli for the present study were sung on the neutral syllable “loo.” Previous research indicates that students sing more accurately on a neutral syllable (Gould, 1969; Goetze, 1985), and Edwin Gordon (1984) recommends that “students must echo in solo with a neutral syllable” (p. 30). Gordon also added that “the use of words of a song actually inhibits the learning of tonal syntax” (p. 143). As well, the neutral syllable, “loo” was used for the singing stimulus by Goetze, (1985), Smale (1987), and Cooper (1995).
The Yuba Method was administered as the remedial singing method (Yuba, 1998). The exercises were recorded on an audio CD and consisted of a female soprano singer as the vocal model over a synthesized instrumental accompaniment. Audio Example 6 demonstrates Audio Track 12 as used in the Treatment Script (see Appendix). Subjects were to echo the vocal model. Instructions were read from a script by the researcher, who also served as the treatment instructor. Subjects in the control group took the Posttest Singing Stimulus at the end of the three-week treatment period of the treatment subjects following their regular music class session. The subjects in the treatment group took the Posttest Singing Stimulus immediately following their individualized, 45-minute vocal training session, which consisted of the Yuba Method exercises.
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to determine whether or not the treatment improved the singing ability of treatment subjects. The design consisted of a two-way classification, with the sources of variation being (1) the effect of the Yuba Method training, and (2) the pretest ranking of inaccurate subjects into the “low,” “middle,” and “high” subgroups. The analysis also provided an assessment of the variation contributed by the interaction of “main effects” (1) and (2) defined above.
|Grade (N), Gender (N)||
|Grade 4 (104)||40.39 (42)||59.61 (62)|
|Boys (51)||39.22 (20)||60.78 (31)|
|Girls (53)||41.51 (22)||58.49 (31)|
|Grade 5 (113)||47.79 (54)||52.21 (59)|
|Boys (64)||45.31 (29)||54.68 (35)|
|Girls (49)||51.02 (25)||48.97 (24)|
|Grade 6 (103)||54.37 (56)||45.63 (47)|
|Boys (50)||71.00 (23)||24.27 (27)|
|Girls (53)||62.26 (33)||19.41 (20)|
|All (320)||47.50 (152||52.50 (168)|
|Boys (165)||43.64 (72)||56.36 (93)|
|Girls (155)||51.61 (80)||48.38 (75)|
Results of the Pretest Singing Stimulus are summarized in Table 1 by grade level and gender. The researcher-designed Posttest Singing Stimulus results yielded the data that represented the mean number of cents that subjects deviated from all four of the selected criterion pitches. High scores indicated highly inaccurate singing, and low scores indicated more accurate singing. The mean scores for each subgroup are provided in Table 2.
In order to determine the effects of the Yuba Method, subjects’ Pretest Singing Stimulus VPA scores were compared with their corresponding Posttest Singing Stimulus VPA scores. Gain scores were computed by subtracting a subject’s Posttest Singing Stimulus VPA score from the corresponding Pretest Singing Stimulus VPA score. Positive gain scores represented an increase in singing accuracy. Negative gain scores represented a decrease in singing accuracy. Pretest-posttest gain scores were computed for the treatment and control groups and a double classification analysis of variance was computed using gain scores to determine if there was a significant difference in the performance of subjects in the treatment group versus the control group (p < .05).
Table 3 provides the Mean Posttest Singing Stimulus VPA gain scores between groups and subgroups.
|(Most Accurate)||(Least Accurate)|
|Treatment||+51.27||+ 82.91||+ 312.52|
|Control||+ 2.30||+ 7.32||+ 64.26|
Three subjects were unable to produce the Posttest Singing Stimulus in a manner that could be reliably scored and so were dropped from the remainder of the study. Both the Shapiro-Wilk and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests of normality confirmed this and indicated that the raw scores, VPA, were non-normally distributed at p < .0001 and p = .01, respectively. These were subjects 52102, a fifth-grade subject in the "low" control group, 41210, a fourth-grade subject in the "middle" treatment group, and 62308, a sixth-grade subject in the "high" control group.
In analyzing the gain scores, some of the VPA gain scores turned out to be negative numbers due to a decrease in singing accuracy on the Posttest Singing Stimulus. To compensate for this, 300 cents were added to all of the VPA gain scores for the calculations. Moore and McCabe (2003) explained that converting numerical descriptions of a distribution from one unit of measurement to another is a linear transformation of the measurements (p. 51). They explained that linear transformations do not change the shape of a distribution (p. 53).
In order to determine whether or not to employ parametric or nonparametric statistical procedures, tests for normality of the sampled population were calculated. Rainbow and Froehlich (1987) stated that parametric statistics are more powerful than nonparametric tests. They defined “powerful” in statistical terms to mean that a test discriminates between two sets of data in such a way that the null hypothesis may be rejected even if the differences in scores are relatively small. They further explained that because researchers are concerned about minimizing the probability that a null hypothesis is maintained when it is in fact false, the more powerful statistic should be given preference. Rainbow and Froehlich concluded that when presented with the choice of using parametric versus nonparametric tests in a research situation, parametric tests should be employed (p. 256).
The tests of normality were important because otherwise the statements about the probability were not likely to be true. Moore and McCabe (2003) explained that the decision to describe a distribution by a normal model determines the later steps in the analysis of the data (78).
The scores were tested for normality by the SAS Statistical Software Program. The residuals from the Analysis of Variance of were normal. That is, both the Shapiro-Wilk and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were non-significant at the p = .08 and p > 0.15 levels, respectively. Based on the aforementioned results, parametric statistics were employed for the analysis. The ANOVA was calculated by the General Linear Model Procedure (GLM) of SAS which is able to accommodate unequal numbers in experimental groups without introducing error in the probabilities.
|Group x Treatment||2||0.43||0.22||4.01||0.0024|
Table 4 presents the ANOVA General Linear Model Procedure of the log-transformed scores with 300 cents added to each score and 57 observations.
|Level of Treatment||N||Mean||SD|
Table 5 presents the VPA log-transformed gain scores by level of treatment with 300 cents added to each score, and 57 observations.
|Level of Group||N||Mean||SD|
Table 6 presents the data of the log-transformed VPA gain mean scores by level of group with 300 cents added to each score and 57 observations.
|Level of Group||N||Mean||SD|
Table 7 presents the data of the log-transformed general linear model procedure by level of group and level of treatment with 300 cents added to each individual gain score and 57 observations. The equal values of the “middle” subgroup mean and the “low” subgroup mean produced unequal values for the back-transformed VPA gain scores in Table 8 due to the unequal SD values.
|Level of Treatment||N||Mean|
|Level of Treatment||N||Mean|
The “log e” transformed differences were then back-transformed (Table 9) to make the data meaningful in terms of comparisons in cents using the formula by Haan (1977, p. 107). Tables 10 through 12 provide the back transformed mean scores for the General Linear Model log-transformed scores by group with 300 cents added to each score and 57 observations.
Table 10 presents the VPA gain scores by subgroup, log-transformed and back-transformed as a means for comparison.
|Level of Treatment||N||Log-Transformed Mean||Back-Transformed Mean|
Table 11 presents the VPA gain mean scores by group level, log-transformed and back-transformed as a means for comparison.
|Level of Treatment||N||Log-Transformed Mean||Back-Transformed Mean|
Table 12 presents the general linear model procedure on log-transformed scores and back-transformed scores as a means for comparison by level of group. Table 13 provides the General Linear Model Procedure of the log-transformed and back-transformed scores by group and level.
The main effect of treatment was found to be highly significant at the p < .0001 significance level. In addition, some subgroups benefited from the treatment more than others (p < .0024). The treatment "high" subgroup (the most inaccurate singers) benefited the most, followed by the treatment "middle" subgroup, and lastly the treatment "low" subgroup.
The results of this study indicate that the treatment, which consisted of the Yuba Method exercises, was highly effective in improving the vocal pitch accuracy of inaccurate elementary singers (p < .0001). The treatment was also found to be most effective with highly inaccurate singers (p < .0024). An example of an improved posttest VPA score by subject 61310, a subject in the treatment high subgroup, is demonstrated in Audio Examples 7 & 8 (Pretest Singing Stimulus VPA 756, and Posttest Singing Stimulus VPA 25, respectively). Based on the results, the null hypothesis was rejected at the p < .0001 significance level.
The investigator concedes that certain conditions may have compromised the interpretation of the results. As a result, some degree of caution should be maintained by the reader. These conditions follow:
Following are recommendations for future research based on the results of this study:
The implications of this study are that additional exercises such as those employed by the Yuba Method, can possibly help to correct inaccurate singing. This study demonstrates the value of working with inaccurate singers to improve vocal pitch accuracy.
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About the Author - Karen A. Miyamoto serves as a Lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Music Department teaching Music in the Elementary Classroom and also a Lecturer at the Pacific Rim Bible College teaching Class Voice. She has taught with the Hawaii Department of Education as an Elementary General Music and Choral Specialist for the past 20 years and currently produces and teaches the Hawaii Department of Education Distance Learning Program "The Music Factory Live" which provides music education instruction to elementary schools throughout the State of Hawaii. Dr. Miyamoto received a Bachelor of Education Degree in elementary music, Professional Diploma in elementary music education, Master of Music Degree, and Ph.D. in Music from the University of Hawaii. She has written several articles for the Music Educators National Conference Spotlight Series-- Spotlight On Transition To Teaching, Spotlight On Teaching Technology, and Spotlight On Teaching Chorus, as well as writing curriculum for the MENC VH1 Cable in the Classroom Series, and serving as a General Music Mentor for MENC. | <urn:uuid:4afbc22d-7cb5-471f-8ff8-d8a8adb59d39> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.stthomas.edu/rimeonline/vol3/miyamoto.htm | 2016-07-23T21:16:30Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823670.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00058-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925673 | 9,513 |
J. V. Stalin
The period of counter-revolution in Russia brought not only "thunder and lightning" in its train, but also disillusionment in the movement and lack of faith in common forces. As long as people believed in "a bright future," they fought side by side irrespective of nationality – common questions first and foremost! But when doubt crept into people's hearts, they began to depart, each to his own national tent – let every man count only upon himself! The "national question" first and foremost!
At the same time a profound upheaval was taking place in the economic life of the country. The year 1905 had not been in vain: one more blow had been struck at the survivals of serfdom in the countryside. The series of good harvests which succeeded the famine years, and the industrial boom which followed, furthered the progress of capitalism. Class differentiation in the countryside, the growth of the towns, the development of trade and means of communication all took a big stride forward. This applied particularly to the border regions. And it could not but hasten the process of economic consolidation of the nationalities of Russia. They were bound to be stirred into movement.
The "constitutional regime" established at that time also acted in the same direction of awakening the nationalities. The spread of newspapers and of literature generally, a certain freedom of the press and cultural institutions, an increase in the number of national theatres, and so forth, all unquestionably helped to strengthen "national sentiments." The Duma, with its election campaign and political groups, gave fresh opportunities for greater activity of the nations and provided a new and wide arena for their mobilization.
And the mounting wave of militant nationalism above and the series of repressive measures taken by the "powers that be" in vengeance on the border regions for their "love of freedom," evoked an answering wave of nationalism below, which at times took the form of crude chauvinism. The spread of Zionism among the Jews, the increase of chauvinism in Poland, Pan-Islamism among the Tatars, the spread of nationalism among the Armenians, Georgians and Ukrainians, the general swing of the philistine towards anti-Semitism – all these are generally known facts.
The wave of nationalism swept onwards with increasing force, threatening to engulf the mass of the workers. And the more the movement for emancipation declined, the more plentifully nationalism pushed forth its blossoms.
At this difficult time Social-Democracy had a high mission – to resist nationalism and to protect the masses from the general "epidemic." For Social-Democracy, and Social-Democracy alone, could do this, by countering nationalism with the tried weapon of internationalism, with the unity and indivisibility of the class struggle. And the more powerfully the wave of nationalism advanced, the louder had to be the call of Social-Democracy for fraternity and unity among the proletarians of all the nationalities of Russia. And in this connection particular firmness was demanded of the Social-Democrats of the border regions, who came into direct contact with the nationalist movement.
But not all Social-Democrats proved equal to the task – and this applies particularly to the Social-Democrats of the border regions. The Bund, which had previously laid stress on the common tasks, now began to give prominence to its own specific, purely nationalist aims: it went to the length of declaring "observance of the Sabbath" and "recognition of Yiddish" a fighting issue in its election campaign. The Bund was followed by the Caucasus; one section of the Caucasian Social-Democrats, which, like the rest of the Caucasian Social-Democrats, had formerly rejected "cultural-national autonomy," are now making it an immediate demand. This is without mentioning the conference of the Liquidators, which in a diplomatic way gave its sanction to nationalist vacillations.
But from this it follows that the views of Russian Social-Democracy on the national question are not yet clear to all Social-Democrats.
It is evident that a serious and comprehensive discussion of the national question is required. Consistent Social-Democrats must work solidly and indefatigably against the fog of nationalism, no matter from what quarter it proceeds.
What is a nation?
A nation is primarily a community, a definite community of people.
This community is not racial, nor is it tribal. The modern Italian nation was formed from Romans, Teutons, Etruscans, Greeks, Arabs, and so forth. The French nation was formed from Gauls, Romans, Britons, Teutons, and so on. The same must be said of the British, the Germans and others, who were formed into nations from people of diverse races and tribes.
Thus, a nation is not a racial or tribal, but a historically constituted community of people.
On the other hand, it is unquestionable that the great empires of Cyrus and Alexander could not be called nations, although they came to be constituted historically and were formed out of different tribes and races. They were not nations, but casual and loosely-connected conglomerations of groups, which fell apart or joined together according to the victories or defeats of this or that conqueror.
Thus, a nation is not a casual or ephemeral conglomeration, but a stable community of people.
But not every stable community constitutes a nation. Austria and Russia are also stable communities, but nobody calls them nations. What distinguishes a national community from a state community? The fact, among others, that a national community is inconceivable without a common language, while a state need not have a common language. The Czech nation in Austria and the Polish in Russia would be impossible if each did not have a common language, whereas the integrity of Russia and Austria is not affected by the fact that there are a number of different languages within their borders. We are referring, of course, to the spoken languages of the people and not to the official governmental languages.
Thus, a common language is one of the characteristic features of a nation.
This, of course, does not mean that different nations always and everywhere speak different languages, or that all who speak one language necessarily constitute one nation. A common language for every nation, but not necessarily different languages for different nations! There is no nation which at one and the same time speaks several languages, but this does not mean that there cannot be two nations speaking the same language! Englishmen and Americans speak one language, but they do not constitute one nation. The same is true of the Norwegians and the Danes, the English and the Irish.
But why, for instance, do the English and the Americans not constitute one nation in spite of their common language?
Firstly, because they do not live together, but inhabit different territories. A nation is formed only as a result of lengthy and systematic intercourse, as a result of people living together generation after generation.
But people cannot live together, for lengthy periods unless they have a common territory. Englishmen and Americans originally inhabited the same territory, England, and constituted one nation. Later, one section of the English emigrated from England to a new territory, America, and there, in the new territory, in the course of time, came to form the new American nation. Difference of. territory led to the formation of different nations.
Thus, a common territory is one of the characteristic features of a nation.
But this is not all. Common territory does not by itself create a nation. This requires, in addition, an internal economic bond to weld the various parts of the nation into a single whole. There is no such bond between England and America, and so they constitute two different nations. But the Americans themselves would not deserve to be called a nation were not the different parts of America bound together into an economic whole, as a result of division of labour between them, the development of means of communication, and so forth.
Take the Georgians, for instance. The Georgians before the Reform inhabited a common territory and spoke one language. Nevertheless, they did not, strictly speaking, constitute one nation, for, being split up into a number of disconnected principalities, they could not share a common economic life; for centuries they waged war against each other and pillaged each other, each inciting the Persians and Turks against the other. The ephemeral and casual union of the principalities which some successful king sometimes managed to bring about embraced at best a superficial administrative sphere, and rapidly disintegrated owing to the caprices of the princes and the indifference of the peasants. Nor could it be otherwise in economically disunited Georgia ... Georgia came on the scene as a nation only in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when the fall of serfdom and the growth of the economic life of the country, the development of means of communication and the rise of capitalism, introduced division of labour between the various districts of Georgia, completely shattered the economic isolation of the principalities and bound them together into a single whole.
The same must be said of the other nations which have passed through the stage of feudalism and have developed capitalism.
Thus, a common economic life, economic cohesion, is one of the characteristic features of a nation.
But even this is not all. Apart from the foregoing, one must take into consideration the specific spiritual complexion of the people constituting a nation. Nations differ not only in their conditions of life, but also in spiritual complexion, which manifests itself in peculiarities of national culture. If England, America and Ireland, which speak one language, nevertheless constitute three distinct nations, it is in no small measure due to the peculiar psychological make-up which they developed from generation to generation as a result of dissimilar conditions of existence.
Of course, by itself, psychological make-up or, as it is otherwise called, "national character," is something intangible for the observer, but in so far as it manifests itself in a distinctive culture common to the nation it is something tangible and cannot be ignored.
Needless to say, "national character" is not a thing that is fixed once and for all, but is modified by changes in the conditions of life; but since it exists at every given moment, it leaves its impress on the physiognomy of the nation.
Thus, a common psychological make-up, which manifests itself in a common culture, is one of the characteristic features of a nation.
We have now exhausted the characteristic features of a nation.
A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
It goes without saying that a nation, like every historical phenomenon, is subject to the law of change, has its history, its beginning and end.
It must be emphasized that none of the above characteristics taken separately is sufficient to define a nation. More than that, it is sufficient for a single one of these characteristics to be lacking and the nation ceases to be a nation.
It is possible to conceive of people possessing a common "national character" who, nevertheless, cannot be said to constitute a single nation if they are economically disunited, inhabit different territories, speak different languages, and so forth. Such, for instance, are the Russian, Galician, American, Georgian and Caucasian Highland Jews, who, in our opinion, do not constitute a single nation.
It is possible to conceive of people with a common territory and economic life who nevertheless would not constitute a single nation because they have no common language and no common "national character." Such, for instance, are the Germans and Letts in the Baltic region.
Finally, the Norwegians and the Danes speak one language, but they do not constitute a single nation owing to the absence of the other characteristics.
It is only when all these characteristics are present together that we have a nation.
It might appear that "national character" is not one of the characteristics but the sole essential characteristic of a nation, and that all the other characteristics are, properly speaking, only conditions for the development of a nation, rather than its characteristics. Such, for instance, is the view held by R. Springer, and more particularly by O. Bauer, who are Social-Democratic theoreticians on the national question well known in Austria.
Let us examine their theory of the nation.
According to Springer, "a nation is a union of similarly thinking and similarly speaking persons." It is "a cultural community of modern people no longer tied to the 'soil.'" (our italics).
Thus, a "union" of similarly thinking and similarly speaking people, no matter how disconnected they may be, no matter where they live, is a nation.
Bauer goes even further.
"What is a nation?" he asks. "Is it a common language which makes people a nation? But the English and the Irish ... speak the same language without, however, being one people; the Jews have no common language and yet are a nation."
What, then, is a nation?
"A nation is a relative community of character."
But what is character, in this case national character?
National character is "the sum total of characteristics which distinguish the people of one nationality from the people of another nationality – the complex of physical and spiritual characteristics which distinguish one nation from another."
Bauer knows, of course, that national character does not drop from the skies, and he therefore adds:
"The character of people is determined by nothing so much as by their destiny.... A nation is nothing but a community with a common destiny" which, in turn, is determined "by the conditions under which people produce their means of subsistence and distribute the products of their labour."
We thus arrive at the most "complete," as Bauer calls it, definition of a nation:
"A nation is an aggregate of people bound into a community of character by a common destiny."
We thus have common national character based on a common destiny, but not necessarily connected with a common territory, language or economic life.
But what in that case remains of the nation? What common nationality can there be among people who are economically disconnected, inhabit different territories and from generation to generation speak different languages?
Bauer speaks of the Jews as a nation, although they "have no common language"; but what "common destiny" and national cohesion is there, for instance, between the Georgian, Daghestanian, Russian and American Jews, who are completely separated from one another, inhabit different territories and speak different languages?
The above-mentioned Jews undoubtedly lead their economic and political life in common with the Georgians, Daghestanians, Russians and Americans respectively, and they live in the same cultural atmosphere as these; this is bound to leave a definite impress on their national character; if there is anything common to them left, it is their religion, their common origin and certain relics of the national character. All this is beyond question. But how can it be seriously maintained that petrified religious rites and fading psychological relics affect the "destiny" of these Jews more powerfully than the living social, economic and cultural environment that surrounds them? And it is only on this assumption that it is possible to speak of the Jews as a single nation at all.
What, then, distinguishes Bauer's nation from the mystical and self-sufficient "national spirit" of the spiritualists?
Bauer sets up an impassable barrier between the "distinctive feature" of nations (national character) and the "conditions" of their life, divorcing the one from the other. But what is national character if not a reflection of the conditions of life, a coagulation of impressions derived from environment? How can one limit the matter to national character alone, isolating and divorcing it from the soil that gave rise to it?
Further, what indeed distinguished the English nation from the American nation at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, when America was still known as New England? Not national character, of course; for the Americans had originated from England and had brought with them to America not only the English language, but also the English national character, which, of course, they could not lose so soon; although, under the influence of the new conditions, they would naturally be developing their own specific character. Yet, despite their more or less common character, they at that time already constituted a nation distinct from England! Obviously, New England as a nation differed then from England as a nation not by its specific national character, or not so much by its national character, as by its environment and conditions of life, which were distinct from those of England.
It is therefore clear that there is in fact no single distinguishing characteristic of a nation. There is only a sum total of characteristics, of which, when nations are compared, sometimes one characteristic (national character), sometimes another (language), or sometimes a third (territory, economic conditions), stands out in sharper relief. A nation constitutes the combination of all these characteristics taken together.
Bauer's point of view, which identifies a nation with its national character, divorces the nation from its soil and converts it into an invisible, self-contained force. The result is not a living and active nation, but something mystical, intangible and supernatural. For, I repeat, what sort of nation, for instance, is a Jewish nation which consists of Georgian, Daghestanian, Russian, American and other Jews, the members of which do not understand each other (since they speak different languages), inhabit different parts of the globe, will never see each other, and will never act together, whether in time of peace or in time of war?!
No, it is not for such paper "nations" that Social-Democracy draws up its national programme. It can reckon only with real nations, which act and move, and therefore insist on being reckoned with.
Bauer is obviously confusing nation, which is a historical category, with tribe, which is an ethnographical category.
However, Bauer himself apparently feels the weakness of his position. While in the beginning of his book he definitely declares the Jews to be a nation, he corrects himself at the end of the book and states that "in general capitalist society makes it impossible for them (the Jews) to continue as a nation," by causing them to assimilate with other nations. The reason, it appears, is that "the Jews have no closed territory of settlement," whereas the Czechs, for instance, have such a territory and, according to Bauer, will survive as a nation. In short, the reason lies in the absence of a territory.
By arguing thus, Bauer wanted to prove that the Jewish workers cannot demand national autonomy, but he thereby inadvertently refuted his own theory, which denies that a common territory is one of the characteristics of a nation.
But Bauer goes further. In the beginning of his book he definitely declares that "the Jews have no common language, and yet are a nation." But hardly has he reached p. 130 than he effects a change of front and just as definitely declares that "unquestionably, no nation is possible without a common language" (our italics).
Bauer wanted to prove that "language is the most important instrument of human intercourse," but at the same time he inadvertently proved something he did not mean to prove, namely, the unsoundness of his own theory of nations, which denies the significance of a common language.
Thus this theory, stitched together by idealistic threads, refutes itself.
A nation is not merely a historical category but a historical category belonging to a definite epoch, the epoch of rising capitalism. The process of elimination of feudalism and development of capitalism is at the same time a process of the constitution of people into nations. Such, for instance, was the case in Western Europe. The British, French, Germans, Italians and others were formed into nations at the time of the victorious advance of capitalism and its triumph over feudal disunity.
But the formation of nations in those instances at the same time signified their conversion into independent national states. The British, French and other nations are at the same time British, etc., states. Ireland, which did not participate in this process, does not alter the general picture.
Matters proceeded somewhat differently in Eastern Europe. Whereas in the West nations developed into states, in the East multi-national states were formed, states consisting of several nationalities. Such are Austria-Hungary and Russia. In Austria, the Germans proved to be politically the most developed, and they took it upon themselves to unite the Austrian nationalities into a state. In Hungary, the most adapted for state organization were the Magyars – the core of the Hungarian nationalities – and it was they who united Hungary. In Russia, the uniting of the nationalities was undertaken by the Great Russians, who were headed by a historically formed, powerful and well-organized aristocratic military bureaucracy.
That was how matters proceeded in the East.
This special method of formation of states could take place only where feudalism had not yet been eliminated, where capitalism was feebly' developed, where the nationalities which had been forced into the background had not yet been able to consolidate themselves economically into integral nations.
But capitalism also began to develop in the Eastern states. Trade and means of communication were developing. Large towns were springing up. The nations were becoming economically consolidated. Capitalism, erupting into the tranquil life of the nationalities which had been pushed into the background, was arousing them and stirring them into action. The development of the press and the theatre, the activity of the Reichsrat (Austria) and of the Duma (Russia) were helping to strengthen "national sentiments." The intelligentsia that had arisen was being imbued with "the national idea" and was acting in the same direction....
But the nations which had been pushed into the background and had now awakened to independent life, could no longer form themselves into independent national states; they encountered on their -path the very powerful resistance of the ruling strata of the dominant nations, which had long ago assumed the control of the state. They were too late!...
In this way the Czechs, Poles, etc., formed themselves into nations in Austria; the Croats, etc., in Hungary; the Letts, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Armenians, etc., in Russia. What had been an exception in Western Europe (Ireland) became the rule in the East.
In the West, Ireland responded to its exceptional position by a national movement. In the East, the awakened nations were bound to respond in the same fashion.
Thus arose the circumstances which impelled the young nations of Eastern Europe on to the path of struggle.
The struggle began and flared up, to be sure, not between nations as a whole, but between the ruling classes of the dominant nations and of those that had been pushed into the background. The struggle is usually conducted by the urban petty bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation against the big bourgeoisie of the dominant nation (Czechs and Germans), or by the rural bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation against the landlords of the dominant nation (Ukrainians in Poland), or by the whole "national" bourgeoisie of the oppressed nations against the ruling nobility of the dominant nation (Poland, Lithuania and the Ukraine in Russia).
The bourgeoisie plays the leading role.
The chief problem for the young bourgeoisie is the problem of the market. Its aim is to sell its goods and to emerge victorious from competition with the bourgeoisie of a different nationality. Hence its desire to secure its "own," its "home" market. The market is the first school in which the bourgeoisie learns its nationalism.
But matters are usually not confined to the market. The semi-feudal, semi-bourgeois bureaucracy of the dominant nation intervenes in the struggle with its own methods of "arresting and preventing." The bourgeoisie – whether big or small – of the dominant nation is able to deal more "swiftly" and "decisively" with its competitor. "Forces" are united and a series of restrictive measures is put into operation against the "alien" bourgeoisie, measures passing into acts of repression. The struggle spreads from the economic sphere to the political sphere. Restriction of freedom of movement, repression of language, restriction of franchise, closing of schools, religious restrictions, and so on, are piled upon the head of the "competitor." Of course, such measures are designed not only in the interest of the bourgeois classes of the dominant nation, but also in furtherance of the specifically caste aims, so to speak, of the ruling bureaucracy.
But from the point of view of the results achieved this is quite immaterial; the bourgeois classes and the bureaucracy in this matter go hand in hand – whether it be in Austria-Hungary or in Russia.
The bourgeoisie of the oppressed nation, repressed on every hand, is naturally stirred into movement. It appeals to its "native folk" and begins to shout about the "fatherland,'; claiming that its own cause is the cause of the nation as a whole. It recruits itself an army from among its "countrymen" in the interests of ... the "fatherland." Nor do the "folk" always remain unresponsive to its appeals; they rally around its banner: the repression from above affects them too and provokes their discontent.
Thus the national movement begins.
The strength of the national movement is determined by the degree to which the wide strata of the nation, the proletariat and peasantry, participate in it.
Whether the proletariat rallies to the banner of bourgeois nationalism depends on the degree of development of class antagonisms, on the class consciousness and degree of organization of the proletariat. The class-conscious proletariat has its own tried banner, and has no need to rally to the banner of the bourgeoisie.
As far as the peasants are concerned, their participation in the national movement depends primarily on the character of the repressions. If the repressions affect the "land," as was the case in Ireland, then the mass of the peasants immediately rally to the banner of the national movement.
On the other hand, if, for example, there is no serious anti-Russian nationalism in Georgia, it is primarily because there are neither Russian landlords nor a Russian big bourgeoisie there to supply the fuel for such nationalism among the masses. In Georgia there is anti-Armenian nationalism; but this is because there is still an Armenian big bourgeoisie there which, by getting the better of the small and still unconsolidated Georgian bourgeoisie, drives the latter to anti-Armenian nationalism. .
Depending on these factors, the national movement either assumes a mass character and steadily grows (as in Ireland and Galicia), or is converted into a series of petty collisions, degenerating into squabbles and "fights" over signboards (as in some of the small towns of Bohemia).
The content of the national movement, of course, cannot everywhere be the same: it is wholly determined by the diverse demands made by the movement. In Ireland the movement bears an agrarian character; in Bohemia it bears a "language" character; in one place the demand is for civil equality and religious freedom, in another for the nation's "own" officials, or its own Diet. The diversity of demands not infrequently reveals the diverse features which characterize a nation in general (language, territory, etc.). It is worthy of note that we never meet with a demand based on Bauer's all-embracing "national character." And this is natural: "national character" in itself is something intangible, and, as was correctly remarked by J. Strasser, "a politician can't do anything with it."
Such, in general, are the forms and character of the national movement.
From what has been said it will be clear that the national struggle under the conditions of rising capitalism is a struggle of the bourgeois classes among themselves. Sometimes the bourgeoisie succeeds in drawing the proletariat into the national movement, and then the national struggle externally assumes a "nation-wide" character. But this is so only externally. In its essence it is always a bourgeois struggle, one that is to the advantage and profit mainly of the bourgeoisie.
But it does not by any means follow that the proletariat should not put up a fight against the policy of national oppression.
Restriction of freedom of movement, disfranchisement, repression of language, closing of schools, and other forms of persecution affect the workers no less, if not more, than the bourgeoisie. Such a state of affairs can only serve to retard the free development of the intellectual forces of the proletariat of subject nations. One cannot speak seriously of a full development of the intellectual faculties of the Tatar or Jewish worker if he is not allowed to use his native language at meetings and lectures, and if his schools are closed down.
But the policy of nationalist persecution is dangerous to the cause of the proletariat also on another account. It diverts the attention of large strata from social questions, questions of the class struggle, to national questions, questions "common" to the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. And this creates a favourable soil for lying propaganda about "harmony of interests," for glossing over the class interests of the proletariat and for the intellectual enslavement of the workers.
This creates a serious obstacle to the cause of uniting the workers of all nationalities. If a considerable proportion of the Polish workers are still in intellectual bondage to the bourgeois nationalists, if they still stand aloof from the international labour movement, it is chiefly because the age-old anti-Polish policy of the "powers that be" creates the soil for this bondage and hinders the emancipation of the workers from it.
But the policy of persecution does not stop there. It not infrequently passes from a "system" of oppression to a "system" of inciting nations against each other, to a "system" of massacres and pogroms. Of course, the latter system is not everywhere and always possible, but where it is possible – in the absence of elementary civil rights – it frequently assumes horrifying proportions and threatens to drown the cause of unity of the workers in blood and tears. The Caucasus and south Russia furnish numerous examples. "Divide and rule" – such is the purpose of the policy of incitement. And where such a policy succeeds, it is a tremendous evil for the proletariat and a serious obstacle to the cause of uniting the workers of all the nationalities in the state.
But the workers are interested in the complete amalgamation of all their fellow-workers into a single international army, in their speedy and final emancipation from intellectual bondage to the bourgeoisie, and in the full and free development of the intellectual forces of their brothers, whatever nation they may belong to.
The workers therefore combat and will continue to combat the policy of national oppression in all its forms, from the most subtle to the most crude, as well as the policy of inciting nations against each other in all its forms
Social-Democracy in all countries therefore proclaims the right of nations to self-determination.
The right of self-determination means that only the nation itself has the right to determine its destiny, that no one has the right forcibly to interfere in the life of the nation, to destroy its schools and other institutions, to violate its habits and customs, to repress its language, or curtail its rights.
This, of course, does not mean that Social-Democracy will support every custom and institution of a nation. While combating the coercion of any nation, it will uphold only the right of the nation itself to determine its own destiny, at the same time agitating against harmful customs and institutions of that nation in order to enable the toiling strata of the nation to emancipate themselves from them.
The right of self-determination means that a nation may arrange its life in the way it wishes. It has the right to arrange its life on the basis of autonomy. It has the right to enter into federal relations with other nations. It has the right to complete secession. Nations are sovereign, and all nations have equal rights.
This, of course, does not mean that Social-Democracy will support every demand of a nation. A nation has the right even to return to the old order of things; but this does not mean that Social-Democracy will subscribe to such a decision if taken by some institution of a particular nation. The obligations of Social-Democracy, which defends the interests of the proletariat, and the rights of a nation, which consists of various classes, are two different things.
In fighting for the right of nations to self-determination, the aim of Social-Democracy is to put an end to the policy of national oppression, to render it impossible, and thereby to remove the grounds of strife between nations, to take the edge off that strife and reduce it to a minimum.
This is what essentially distinguishes the policy of the class-conscious proletariat from the policy of the bourgeoisie, which attempts to aggravate and fan the national struggle and to prolong and sharpen the national movement.
And that is why the class-conscious proletariat cannot rally under the "national" flag of the bourgeoisie.
That is why the so-called "evolutionary national" policy advocated by Bauer cannot become the policy of the proletariat. Bauer's attempt to identify his "evolutionary national" policy with the policy of the "modern working class" is an attempt to adapt the class struggle of the workers to the struggle of the nations.
The fate of a national movement, which is essentially a bourgeois movement, is naturally bound up with the fate of the bourgeoisie. The -final disappearance of a national movement is possible only with the downfall of the bourgeoisie. Only under the reign of socialism can peace be fully established. But even within the framework of capitalism it is possible to reduce the national struggle to a minimum, to undermine it at the root, to render it as harmless as possible to the proletariat. This is borne out, for example, by Switzerland and America. It requires that the country should be democratized and the nations be given the opportunity of free development.
A nation has the right freely to determine its own destiny. It has the right to arrange its life as it sees fit, without, of course, trampling on the rights of other nations. That is beyond dispute.
But how exactly should it arrange its own life, what forms should its future constitution take, if the interests of the majority of the nation and, above all, of the proletariat are to be borne in mind?
A nation has the right to arrange its life on autonomous lines. It even has the right to secede. But this does not mean that it should do so under all circumstances, that autonomy, or separation, will everywhere and always be advantageous for a nation, i.e., for its majority, i.e., for the toiling strata. The Transcaucasian Tatars as a nation may assemble, let us say, in their Diet and, succumbing to the influence of their beys and mullahs, decide to restore the old order of things and to secede from the state. According to the meaning of the clause on self-determination they are fully entitled to do so. But will this be in the interest of the toiling strata of the Tatar nation? Can Social-Democracy look on indifferently when the beys and mullahs assume the leadership of the masses in the solution of the national question?
Should not Social-Democracy interfere in the matter and influence the will of the nation in a definite way? Should it not come forward with a definite plan for the solution of the question, a plan which would be most advantageous for the Tatar masses?
But what solution would be most compatible with the interests of the toiling masses? Autonomy, federation or separation?
All these are problems the solution of which will depend on the concrete historical conditions in which the given nation finds itself.
More than that; conditions, like everything else, change, and a decision which is correct at one particular time may prove to be entirely unsuitable at another.
In the middle of the nineteenth century Marx was in favour of the secession of Russian Poland; and he was right, for it was then a question of emancipating a higher culture from a lower culture that was destroying it. And the question at that time was not only a theoretical one, an academic question, but a practical one, a question of actual reality....
At the end of the nineteenth century the Polish Marxists were already declaring against the secession of Poland; and they too were right, for during the fifty years that had elapsed profound changes had taken place, bringing Russia and Poland closer economically and culturally. Moreover, during that period the question of secession had been converted from a practical matter into a matter of academic dispute, which excited nobody except perhaps intellectuals abroad.
This, of course, by no means precludes the possibility that certain internal and external conditions may arise in which the question of the secession of Poland may again come on the order of the day.
The solution of the national question is possible only in connection with the historical conditions taken in their development.
The economic, political and cultural conditions of a given nation constitute the only key to the question how a particular nation ought to arrange its life and what forms its future constitution ought to take. It is possible that a specific solution of the question will be required for each nation. If the dialectical approach to a question is required anywhere it is required here, in the national question.
In view of this we must declare our decided opposition to a certain very widespread, but very summary manner of "solving" the national question, which owes its inception to the Bund. We have in mind the easy method of referring to Austrian and South-Slav Social-Democracy, which has supposedly already solved the national question and whose solution the Russian Social-Democrats should simply borrow. It is assumed that whatever, say, is right for Austria is also right for Russia. The most important and decisive factor is lost sight of here, namely, the concrete historical conditions in Russia as a whole and in the life of each of the nations inhabiting Russia in particular.
Listen, for example, to what the well-known Bundist, V. Kossovsky, says:
"When at the Fourth Congress of the Bund the principles of the question (i.e., the national question – J. St.) were discussed, the proposal made by one of the members of the congress to settle the question in the spirit of the resolution of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party met with general approval."
And the result was that "the congress unanimously adopted" ... national autonomy.
And that was all! No analysis of the actual conditions in Russia, no investigation of the condition of the Jews in Russia. They first borrowed the solution of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party, then they "approved" it, and finally they "unanimously adopted" it! This is the way the Bundists present and "solve" the national question in Russia....
As a matter of fact, Austria and Russia represent entirely different conditions. This explains why the Social-Democrats in Austria, when they adopted their national programme at Brünn (1899) in the spirit of the resolution of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party (with certain insignificant amendments, it is true), approached the question in an entirely non-Russian way, so to speak, and, of course, solved it in a non-Russian way.
First, as to the presentation of the question. How is the question presented by the Austrian theoreticians of cultural-national autonomy, the interpreters of the Brünn national programme and the resolution of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party, Springer and Bauer?
"Whether a multi-national state is possible," says Springer, "and whether, in particular, the Austrian nationalities are obliged to form a single political entity, is a question we shall not answer here but shall assume to be settled. For anyone who will not concede this possibility and necessity, our investigation will, of course, be purposeless. Our theme is as follows: inasmuch as these nations are obliged to live together, what legal forms will enable them to live together in the best possible way?" (Springer's italics).
Thus, the starting point is the state integrity of Austria.
Bauer says the same thing:
"We therefore start from the assumption that the Austrian nations will remain in the same state union in which they exist at present and inquire how the nations within this union will arrange their relations among themselves and to the state."
Here again the first thing is the integrity of Austria.
Can Russian Social-Democracy present the question in this way? No, it cannot. And it cannot because from the very outset it holds the view of the right of nations to self-determination, by virtue of which a nation has the right of secession.
Even the Bundist Goldblatt admitted at the Second Congress of Russian Social-Democracy that the latter could not abandon the standpoint of self-determination. Here is what Goldblatt said on that occasion:
"Nothing can be said against the right of self-determination. If any nation is striving for independence, we must not oppose it. If Poland does not wish to enter into lawful wedlock with Russia, it is not for us to interfere with her."
All this is true. But it follows that the starting points of the Austrian and Russian Social-Democrats, far from being identical, are diametrically opposite. After this, can there be any question of borrowing the national programme of the Austrians?
Furthermore, the Austrians hope to achieve the "freedom of nationalities" by means of petty reforms, by slow steps. While they propose cultural-national autonomy as a practical measure, they do not count on any radical change, on a democratic movement for liberation, which they do not even contemplate. The Russian Marxists, on the other hand, associate the "freedom of nationalities" with a probable radical change, with a democratic movement for liberation, having no grounds for counting on reforms. And this essentially alters matters in regard to the probable fate of the nations of Russia.
"Of course," says Bauer, "there is little probability that national autonomy will be the result of a great decision, of a bold action. Austria will develop towards national autonomy step by step, by a slow process of development, in the course of a severe struggle, as a consequence of which legislation and administration will be in a state of chronic paralysis. The new constitution will not be created by a great legislative act, but by a multitude of separate enactments for individual provinces and individual communities."
Springer says the same thing.
"I am very well aware," he writes, "that institutions of this kind (i.e., organs of national autonomy – J. St.) are not created in a single year or a single decade. The reorganization of the Prussian administration alone took considerable time.... It took the Prussians two decades finally to establish their basic administrative institutions. Let nobody think that I harbour any illusions as to the time required and the difficulties to be overcome in Austria."
All this is very definite. But can the Russian Marxists avoid associating the national question with "bold actions"? Can they count on partial reforms, on "a multitude of separate enactments" as a means for achieving the "freedom of nationalities"? But if they cannot and must not do so, is it not clear that the methods of struggle of the Austrians and the Russians and their prospects must be entirely different? How in such a state of affairs can they confine themselves to the one-sided, milk-and-water cultural-national autonomy of the Austrians? One or the other: either those who are in favour of borrowing do not count on "bold actions" in Russia, or they do count on such actions but "know not what they do."
Finally, the immediate tasks facing Russia and Austria are entirely different and consequently dictate different methods of solving the national question. In Austria parliamentarism prevails, and under present conditions no development in Austria is possible without parliament. But parliamentary life and legislation in Austria are frequently brought to a complete standstill by severe conflicts between the national parties. That explains the chronic political crisis from which Austria has for a long time been suffering. Hence, in Austria the national question is the very hub of political life; it is the vital question. It is therefore not surprising that the Austrian Social-Democratic politicians should first of all try in one way or another to find a solution for the national conflicts – of course on the basis of the existing parliamentary system, by parliamentary methods....
Not so with Russia. In the first place, in Russia "there is no parliament, thank God." In the second place – and this is the main point – the hub of the political life of Russia is not the national but the agrarian question. Consequently, the fate of the Russian problem, and, accordingly, the "liberation" of the nations too, is bound up in Russia with the solution of the agrarian question, i.e., with the destruction of the relics of feudalism, i.e., with the democratization of the country. That explains why in Russia the national question is not an independent and decisive one, but a part of the general and more important question of the emancipation of the country.
"The barrenness of the Austrian parliament," writes Springer, "is due precisely to the fact that every reform gives rise to antagonisms within the national parties which may affect their unity. The leaders of the parties, therefore, avoid everything that smacks of reform. Progress in Austria is generally conceivable only if the nations are granted indefeasible legal rights which will relieve them of the necessity of constantly maintaining national militant groups in parliament and will enable them to turn their attention to the solution of economic and social problems."
Bauer says the same thing.
"National peace is indispensable first of all for the state. The state cannot permit legislation to be brought to a standstill by the very stupid question of language or by every quarrel between excited people on a linguistic frontier, or over every new school."
All this is clear. But it is no less clear that the national question in Russia is on an entirely different plane. It is not the national, but the agrarian question , that decides the fate of progress in Russia. The national question is a subordinate one.
And so we have different presentations of the question, different prospects and methods of struggle, different immediate tasks. Is it not clear that, such being the state of affairs, only pedants who "solve" the national question without reference to space and time can think of adopting examples from Austria and of borrowing a programme?
To repeat: the concrete historical conditions as the starting point, and the dialectical presentation of the question as the only correct way of presenting it – such is the key to solving the national question.
We spoke above of the formal aspect of the Austrian national programme and of the methodological grounds which make it impossible for the Russian Marxists simply to adopt the example of Austrian Social-Democracy and make the latter's programme their own.
Let us now examine the essence of the programme itself
What then is the national programme of the Austrian Social-Democrats?
It is expressed in two words: cultural-national autonomy.
This means, firstly, that autonomy would be granted, let us say, not to Bohemia or Poland, which are inhabited mainly by Czechs and Poles, but to Czechs and Poles generally, irrespective of territory, no matter what part of Austria they inhabit.
That is why this autonomy is called national and not territorial.
It means, secondly, that the Czechs, Poles, Germans, and so on, scattered over the various parts of Austria, taken personally, as individuals, are to be organized into integral nations, and are as such to form part of the Austrian state. In this way Austria would represent not a union of autonomous regions, but a union of autonomous nationalities, constituted irrespective of territory.
It means, thirdly, that the national institutions which are to be created for this purpose for the Poles, Czechs, and so forth, are to have jurisdiction only over "cultural," not "political" questions. Specifically political questions would be reserved for the Austrian parliament (the Reichsrat).
That is why this autonomy is also called cultural, cultural-national autonomy.
And here is the text of the programme adopted by the Austrian Social-Democratic Party at the Brünn Congress in 1899.
Having referred to the fact that "national dissension in Austria is hindering political progress," that "the final solution of the national question... is primarily a cultural necessity," and that "the solution is possible only in a genuinely democratic society, constructed on the basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage," the programme goes on to say:
"The preservation and development of the national peculiarities of the peoples of Austria is possible only on the basis of equal rights and by avoiding all oppression. Hence, all bureaucratic state centralism and the feudal privileges of individual provinces must first of all be rejected.
"Under these conditions, and only under these conditions, will it be possible to establish national order in Austria in place of national dissension, namely, on the following principles:
"1. Austria must be transformed into a democratic state federation of nationalities.
"2. The historical crown provinces must be replaced by nationally delimited self-governing corporations, in each of which legislation and administration shall be entrusted to national parliaments elected on the basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage.
"3. All the self-governing regions of one and the same nation must jointly form a single national union, which shall manage its national affairs on an absolutely autonomous basis.
"4. The rights of national minorities must be guaranteed by a special law passed by the Imperial Parliament."
The programme ends with an appeal for the solidarity of all the nations of Austria.
It is not difficult to see that this programme retains certain traces of "territorialism," but that in general it gives a formulation of national autonomy. It is not without good reason that Springer, the first agitator on behalf of cultural-national autonomy, greets it with enthusiasm; Bauer also supports this programme, calling it a "theoretical victory" for national autonomy; only, in the interests of greater clarity, he proposes that Point 4 be replaced by a more definite formulation, which would declare the necessity of "constituting the national minority within each self-governing region into a public corporation" for the management of educational and other cultural affairs.
Such is the national programme of Austrian Social-Democracy.
Let us examine its scientific foundations.
Let us see how the Austrian Social-Democratic Party justifies the cultural-national autonomy it advocates.
Let us turn to the theoreticians of cultural-national autonomy, Springer and Bauer.
The starting point of national autonomy is the conception of a nation as a union of individuals without regard to a definite territory.
"Nationality," according to Springer, "is not essentially connected with territory"; nations are "autonomous unions of persons."
Bauer also speaks of a nation as a "community of persons" which does not enjoy "exclusive sovereignty in any particular region."
But the persons constituting a nation do not always live in one compact mass; they are frequently divided into groups, and in that form are interspersed among alien national organisms. It is capitalism which drives them into various regions and cities in search of a livelihood. But when they enter foreign national territories and there form minorities, these groups are made to suffer by the local national majorities in the way of restrictions on their language, schools, etc. Hence national conflicts. Hence the "unsuitability" of territorial autonomy. The only solution to such a situation, according to Springer and Bauer, is to organize the minorities of the given nationality dispersed over various parts of the state into a single, general, inter-class national union. Such a union alone, in their opinion, can protect the cultural interests of national minorities, and it alone is capable of putting an end to national discord.
"Hence the necessity," says Springer, "to organize the nationalities, to invest them with rights and responsibilities...." Of course, "a law is easily drafted, but will it be effective? "... "If one wants to make a law for nations, one must first create the nations..." "Unless the nationalities are constituted it is impossible to create national rights and eliminate national dissension."
Bauer expressed himself in the same spirit when he proposed, as "a demand of the working class," that "the minorities should be constituted into public corporations based on the personal principle."
But how is a nation to be organized? How is one to determine to what nation any given individual belongs?
"Nationality," says Springer, "will be determined by certificates; every individual domiciled in a given region must declare his affiliation to one of the nationalities of that region."
"The personal principle," says Bauer, "presumes that the population will be divided into nationalities.... On the basis of the free declaration of the adult citizens national registers must be drawn up."
"All the Germans in nationally homogeneous districts," says Bauer, "and all the Germans entered in the national registers in the dual districts will constitute the German nation and elect a National Council."
The same applies to the Czechs, Poles, and so on.
"The National Council," according to Springer, "is the cultural parliament of the nation, empowered to establish the principles and to grant funds, thereby assuming guardianship over national education, national literature, art and science, the formation of academies, museums, galleries, theatres," etc.
Such will be the organization of a nation and its central institution.
According to Bauer, the Austrian Social-Democratic Party is striving, by the creation of these inter-class institutions "to make national culture ... the possession of the whole people and thereby unite all the members of the nation into a national-cultural community." (our italics).
One might think that all this concerns Austria alone. But Bauer does not agree. He emphatically declares that national autonomy is essential also for other states which, like Austria, consist of several nationalities.
"In the multi-national state," according to Bauer, "the working class of all the nations opposes the national power policy of the propertied classes with the demand for national autonomy."
Then, imperceptibly substituting national autonomy for the self-determination of nations, he continues:
"Thus, national autonomy, the self-determination of nations, will necessarily become the constitutional programme of the proletariat of all the nations in a multi-national state."
But he goes still further. He profoundly believes that the inter-class "national unions" "constituted" by him and Springer will serve as a sort of prototype of the future socialist society. For he knows that "the socialist system of society... will divide humanity into nationally delimited communities"; that under socialism there will take place "a grouping of humanity into autonomous national communities," that thus, "socialist society will undoubtedly present a checkered picture of national unions of persons and territorial corporations, and that accordingly "the socialist principle of nationality is a higher synthesis of the national principle and national autonomy."
Enough, it would seem..
These are the arguments for cultural-national autonomy as given in the works of Bauer and Springer.
The first thing that strikes the eye is the entirely inexplicable and absolutely unjustifiable substitution of national autonomy for self-determination of nations. One or the other: either Bauer failed to understand the meaning of self-determination, or he did understand it but for some reason or other deliberately narrowed its meaning. For there is no doubt a) that cultural-national autonomy presupposes the integrity of the multi-national state, whereas self-determination goes outside the framework of this integrity, and b) that self-determination endows a nation with complete rights, whereas national autonomy endows it only with "cultural" rights. That in the first place.
In the second place, a combination of internal and external conditions is fully possible at some future time by virtue of which one or another of the nationalities may decide to secede from a multi-national state, say from Austria. Did not the Ruthenian Social-Democrats at the Brünn Party Congress announce their readiness to unite the "two parts" of their people into one whole? What, in such a case, becomes of national autonomy, which is "inevitable for the proletariat of all the nations"? What sort of "solution" of the problem is it that mechanically squeezes nations into the Procrustean bed of an integral state?
Further: National autonomy is contrary to the whole course of development of nations. It calls for the organization of nations; but can they be artificially welded together if life, if economic development tears whole groups from them and disperses these groups over various regions? There is no doubt that in the early stages of capitalism nations become welded together. But there is also no doubt that in the higher stages of capitalism a process of dispersion of nations sets in, a process whereby a whole number of groups separate off from the nations, going off in search of a livelihood and subsequently settling permanently in other regions of the state; in the course of this these settlers lose their old connections and acquire new ones in their new domicile, and from generation to generation acquire new habits and new tastes, and possibly a new language. The question arises: is it possible to unite into a single national union groups that have grown so distinct? Where are the magic links to unite what cannot be united? Is it conceivable that, for instance, the Germans of the Baltic Provinces and the Germans of Transcaucasia can be "united into a single nation"? But if it is not conceivable and not possible, wherein does national autonomy differ from the utopia of the old nationalists, who endeavoured to turn back the wheel of history?
But the unity of a nation diminishes not only as a result of migration. It diminishes also from internal causes, owing to the growing acuteness of the class struggle. In the early stages of capitalism one can still speak of a "common culture" of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. But as large-scale industry develops and the class struggle becomes more and more acute, this "common culture" begins to melt away. One cannot seriously speak of the "common culture" of a nation when employers and workers of one and the same nation cease to understand each other. What "common destiny" can there be when the bourgeoisie thirsts for war, and the proletariat declares "war on war"? Can a single inter-class national union be formed from such opposed elements? And, after this, can one speak of the "union of all the members of the nation into a national-cultural community"? Is it not obvious that national autonomy is contrary to the whole course of the class struggle?
But let us assume for a moment that the slogan "organize the nation" is practicable. One might understand bourgeois-nationalist parliamentarians endeavouring to "organize" a nation for the purpose of securing additional votes. But since when have Social-Democrats begun to occupy themselves with "organizing" nations, "constituting" nations, "creating" nations?
What sort of Social-Democrats are they who in the epoch of extreme intensification of the class struggle organize inter-class national unions? Until now the Austrian, as well as every other, Social-Democratic party, had one task before it: namely, to organize the proletariat. That task has apparently become "antiquated." Springer and Bauer are now setting a "new" task, a more absorbing task, namely, to "create," to "organize" a nation.
However, logic has its obligations: he who adopts national autonomy must also adopt this "new" task;
but to adopt the latter means to abandon the class position and to take the path of nationalism.
Springer's and Bauer's cultural-national autonomy is a subtle form of nationalism.
And it is by no means fortuitous that the national programme of the Austrian Social-Democrats enjoins a concern for the "preservation and development of the national peculiarities of the peoples." Just think: to "preserve" such "national peculiarities" of the Transcaucasian Tatars as self-flagellation at the festival of Shakhsei-Vakhsei; or to "develop" such "national peculiarities" of the Georgians as the vendetta! ...
A demand of this character is in place in an outright bourgeois nationalist programme; and if it appears in the programme of the Austrian Social-Democrats it is because national autonomy tolerates such demands, it does not contradict them.
But if national autonomy is unsuitable now, it will be still more unsuitable in the future, socialist society.
Bauer's prophecy regarding the "division of humanity into nationally delimited communities" is refuted by the whole course of development of modern human society. National barriers are being demolished and are falling, rather than becoming firmer. As early as the 'forties Marx declared that "national differences and antagonisms between peoples are daily more and more vanishing" and that "the supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to vanish still faster." The subsequent development of mankind, accompanied as it was by the colossal growth of capitalist production, the reshuffling of nationalities and the union of people within ever larger territories, emphatically confirms Marx's thought.
Bauer's desire to represent socialist society as a "checkered picture of national unions of persons and territorial corporations" is a timid attempt to substitute for Marx's conception of socialism a revised version of Bakunin's conception. The history of socialism proves that every such attempt contains the elements of inevitable failure.
There is no need to mention the kind of "socialist principle of nationality" glorified by Bauer, which, in our opinion, substitutes for the socialist principle of the class struggle the bourgeois "principle of nationality." If national autonomy is based on such a dubious principle, it must be admitted that it can only cause harm to the working-class movement.
True, such nationalism is not so transparent, for it is skilfully masked by socialist phrases, but it is all the more harmful to the proletariat for that reason. We can always cope with open nationalism, for it can easily be discerned. It is much more difficult to combat nationalism when it is masked and unrecognizable beneath its mask. Protected by the armour of socialism, it is less vulnerable and more tenacious. Implanted among the workers, it poisons the atmosphere and spreads harmful ideas of mutual distrust and segregation among the workers of the different nationalities.
But this does not exhaust the harm caused by national autonomy. It prepares the ground not only for the segregation of nations, but also for breaking up the united labour movement. The idea of national autonomy creates the psychological conditions for the division of the united workers' party into separate parties built on national lines. The breakup of the party is followed by the breakup of the trade unions, and complete segregation is the result. In this way the united class movement is broken up into separate national rivulets.
Austria, the home of "national autonomy," provides the most deplorable examples of this. As early as 1897 (the Wimberg Party Congress ) the once united Austrian Social-Democratic Party began to break up into separate parties. The breakup became still more marked after the Brünn Party Congress (1899), which adopted national autonomy. Matters have finally come to such a pass that in place of a united international party there are now six national parties, of which the Czech Social-Democratic Party will not even have anything to do with the German Social-Democratic Party.
But with the parties are associated the trade unions. In Austria, both in the parties and in the trade unions, the main brunt of the work is borne by the same Social-Democratic workers. There was therefore reason to fear that separatism in the party would lead to separatism in the trade unions and that the trade unions would also break up. That, in fact, is what happened: the trade unions have also divided according to nationality. Now things frequently go so far that the Czech workers will even break a strike of German workers, or will unite at municipal elections with the Czech bourgeois against the German workers.
It will be seen from the foregoing that cultural-national autonomy is no solution of the national question. Not only that, it serves to aggravate and confuse the question by creating a situation which favours the destruction of the unity of the labour movement, fosters the segregation of the workers according to nationality and intensifies friction among them.
Such is the harvest of national autonomy.
We said above that Bauer, while granting the necessity of national autonomy for the Czechs, Poles, and so on, nevertheless opposes similar autonomy for the Jews. In answer to the question, "Should the working class demand autonomy for the Jewish people?" Bauer says that "national autonomy cannot be demanded by the Jewish workers." According to Bauer, the reason is that "capitalist society makes it impossible for them (the Jews – J. St.) to continue as a nation."
In brief, the Jewish nation is coming to an end, and hence there is nobody to demand national autonomy for. The Jews are being assimilated.
This view of the fate of the Jews as a nation is not a new one. It was expressed by Marx as early as the 'forties, in reference chiefly to the German Jews. It was repeated by Kautsky in 1903, in reference to the Russian Jews. It is now being repeated by Bauer in reference to the Austrian Jews, with the difference, however, that he denies not the present but the future of the Jewish nation.
Bauer explains the impossibility of preserving the existence of the Jews as a nation by the fact that "the Jews have no closed territory of settlement." This explanation, in the main a correct one, does not however express the whole truth. The fact of the matter is primarily that among the Jews there is no large and stable stratum connected with the land, which would naturally rivet the nation together, serving not only as its framework but also as a "national" market. Of the five or six million Russian Jews, only three to four per cent are connected with agriculture in any way. The remaining ninety-six per cent are employed in trade, industry, in urban institutions, and in general are town dwellers; moreover, they are spread all over Russia and do not constitute a majority in a single gubernia.
Thus, interspersed as national minorities in areas inhabited by other nationalities, the Jews as a rule serve "foreign" nations as manufacturers and traders and as members of the liberal professions, naturally adapting themselves to the "foreign nations" in respect to language and so forth. All this, taken together with the increasing re-shuffling of nationalities characteristic of developed forms of capitalism, leads to the assimilation of the Jews. The abolition of the "Pale of Settlement" would only serve to hasten this process of assimilation.
The question of national autonomy for the Russian Jews consequently assumes a somewhat curious character: autonomy is being proposed for a nation whose future is denied and whose existence has still to be proved!
Nevertheless, this was the curious and shaky position taken up by the Bund when at its Sixth Congress (1905) it adopted a "national programme" on the fines of national autonomy.
Two circumstances impelled the Bund to take this step.
The first circumstance is the existence of the Bund as an organization of Jewish, and only Jewish, Social-Democratic workers. Even before 1897 the Social-Democratic groups active among the Jewish workers set themselves the aim of creating "a special Jewish workers' organization." They founded such an organization in 1897 by uniting to form the Bund. That was at a time when Russian Social-Democracy as an integral body virtually did not yet exist. The Bund steadily grew and spread, and stood out more and more vividly against the background of the bleak days of Russian Social-Democracy.... Then came the 1900's. A mass labour movement came into being. Polish Social-Democracy grew and drew the Jewish workers into the mass struggle. Russian Social-Democracy grew and attracted the "Bund" workers. Lacking a territorial basis, the national framework of the Bund became too restrictive. The Bund was faced with the problem of either merging with the general international tide, or of upholding its independent existence as an extra-territorial organization. The Bund chose the latter course.
Thus grew up the "theory" that the Bund is "the sole representative of the Jewish proletariat."
But to justify this strange "theory" in any "simple" way became impossible. Some kind of foundation "on principle," some justification "on principle," was needed. Cultural-national autonomy provided such a foundation. The Bund seized upon it, borrowing it from the Austrian Social-Democrats. If the Austrians had not had such a programme the Bund would have invented it in order to justify its independent existence "on principle."
Thus, after a timid attempt in 1901 (the Fourth Congress), the Bund definitely adopted a "national programme" in 1905 (the Sixth Congress).
The second circumstance is the peculiar position of the Jews as separate national minorities within compact majorities of other nationalities in integral regions. We have already said that this position is undermining the existence of the Jews as a nation and puts them on the road to assimilation. But this is an objective process. Subjectively, in the minds of the Jews, it provokes a reaction and gives rise to the demand for a guarantee of the rights of a national minority, for a guarantee against assimilation. Preaching as it does the vitality of the Jewish "nationality," the Bund could not avoid being in favour of a "guarantee." And, having taken up this position, it could not but accept national autonomy. For if the Bund could seize upon any autonomy at all, it could only be national autonomy, i.e., cultural-national autonomy; there could be no question of territorial-political autonomy for the Jews, since the Jews have no definite integral territory.
It is noteworthy that the Bund from the outset stressed the character of national autonomy as a guarantee of the rights of national minorities, as a guarantee of the "free development" of nations. Nor was it fortuitous that the representative of the Bund at the Second Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Party, Goldblatt, defined national autonomy as "institutions which guarantee them (i.e., nations – J. St.) complete freedom of cultural development." A similar proposal was made by supporters of the ideas of the Bund to the Social-Democratic group in the Fourth Duma....
In this way the Bund adopted the curious position of national autonomy for the Jews.
We have examined above national autonomy in general. The examination showed that national autonomy leads to nationalism. We shall see later that the Bund has arrived at the same end point. But the Bund also regards national autonomy from a special aspect, namely, from the aspect of guarantees of the rights of national minorities. Let us also examine the question from this special aspect. It is all the more necessary since the problem of national minorities – and not of the Jewish minorities alone – is one of serious moment for Social-Democracy.
And so, it is a question of "institutions which guarantee" nations "complete freedom of cultural development" (our italics – J. St.).
But what are these "institutions which guarantee," etc.?
They are primarily the "National Council" of Springer and Bauer, something in the nature of a Diet for cultural affairs.
But can these institutions guarantee a nation "complete freedom of cultural development"? Can a Diet for cultural affairs guarantee a nation against nationalist persecution?
The Bund believes it can.
But history proves the contrary.
At one time a Diet existed in Russian Poland. It was a political Diet and, of course, endeavoured to guarantee freedom of "cultural development" for the Poles. But, far from succeeding in doing so, it itself succumbed in the unequal struggle against the political conditions generally prevailing in Russia.
A Diet has been in existence for a long time in Finland, and it too endeavours to protect the Finnish nationality from "encroachments," but how far it succeeds in doing so everybody can see.
Of course, there are Diets and Diets, and it is not so easy to cope with the democratically organized Finnish Diet as it was with the aristocratic Polish Diet. But the decisive factor, nevertheless, is not the Diet, but the general regime in Russia. If such a grossly Asiatic social and political regime existed in Russia now as in the past, at the time the Polish Diet was abolished, things would go much harder with the Finnish Diet. Moreover, the policy of "encroachments" upon Finland is growing, and it cannot be said that it has met with defeat....
If such is the case with old, historically evolved institutions – political Diets – still less will young Diets, young institutions, especially such feeble institutions as "cultural" Diets, be able to guarantee the free development of nations.
Obviously, it is not a question of "institutions," but of the general regime prevailing in the country. If there is no democracy in the country there can be no guarantees of "complete freedom for cultural development" of nationalities. One may say with certainty that the more democratic a country is the fewer are the "encroachments" made on the "freedom of nationalities," and the greater are the guarantees against such "encroachments."
Russia is a semi-Asiatic country, and therefore in Russia the policy of "encroachments" not infrequently assumes the grossest form, the form of pogroms. It need hardly be said that in Russia "guarantees" have been reduced to the very minimum.
Germany is, however, European, and she enjoys a measure of political freedom. It is not surprising that the policy of "encroachments" there never takes the form of pogroms.
In France, of course, there are still more "guarantees," for France is more democratic than Germany.
There is no need to mention Switzerland, where, thanks to her highly developed, although bourgeois democracy, nationalities live in freedom, whether they are a minority or a majority.
Thus the Bund adopts a false position when it asserts that "institutions" by themselves are able to guarantee complete cultural development for nationalities.
It may be said that the Bund itself regards the establishment of democracy in Russia as a preliminary condition for the "creation of institutions" and guarantees of freedom. But this is not the case. From the report of the Eighth Conference of the Bund it will be seen that the Bund thinks it can secure "institutions" on the basis of the present system in Russia, by "reforming" the Jewish community.
"The community," one of the leaders of the Bund said at this conference, "may become the nucleus of future cultural-national autonomy. Cultural-national autonomy is a form of self-service on the part of nations, a form of satisfying national needs. The community form conceals within itself a similar content. They are links in the same chain, stages in the same evolution."
On this basis, the conference decided that it was necessary to strive "for reforming the Jewish community and transforming it by legislative means into a secular institution," democratically organized (our italics – J. St.).
It is evident that the Bund considers as the condition and guarantee not the democratization of Russia, but some future "secular institution" of the Jews, obtained by "reforming the Jewish community," so to speak, by "legislative" means, through the Duma:
But we have already seen that "institutions" in themselves cannot serve as "guarantees" if the regime in the state generally is not a democratic one.
But what, it may be asked, will be - the position under a future democratic system? Will not special "cultural institutions which guarantee," etc., be required even under democracy? What is the position in this respect in democratic Switzerland, for example? Are there special cultural institutions in Switzerland on the pattern of Springer's "National Council"? No, there are not. But do not the cultural interests of, for instance, the Italians, who constitute a minority there, suffer for that reason? One does not seem to hear that they do. And that is quite natural: in Switzerland all special cultural "institutions," which supposedly "guarantee," etc., are rendered superfluous by democracy.
And so, impotent in the present and superfluous in the future – such are the institutions of cultural-national autonomy, and such is national autonomy.
But it becomes still more harmful when it is thrust upon a "nation" whose existence and future are open to doubt. In such cases the advocates of national autonomy are obliged to protect and preserve all the peculiar features of the "nation," the bad as well as the good, just for the sake of "saving the nation" from assimilation, just for the sake of "preserving" it.
That the Bund should take this dangerous path was inevitable. And it did take it. We are referring to the resolutions of recent conferences of the Bund on the question of the "Sabbath," "Yiddish," etc.
Social-Democracy strives to secure for all nations the right to use their own language. But that does not satisfy the Bund; it demands that "the rights of the Jewish language" (our italics – J. St.) be championed with "exceptional persistence," and the Bund itself in the elections to the Fourth Duma declared that it would give "preference to those of them (i.e., electors) who undertake to defend the rights of the Jewish language."
Not the general right of all nations to use their own language, but the particular right of the Jewish language, Yiddish! Let the workers of the various nationalities fight primarily for their own language: the Jews for Jewish, the Georgians for Georgian, and so forth. The struggle for the general right of all nations is a secondary matter. You do not have to recognize the right of all oppressed nationalities to use their own language; but if you have recognized the right of Yiddish, know that the Bund will vote for you, the Bund will "prefer" you.
But in what way then does the Bund differ from the bourgeois nationalists?
Social-Democracy strives to secure the establishment of a compulsory weekly rest day. But that does not satisfy the Bund; it demands that "by legislative means" "the Jewish proletariat should be guaranteed the right to observe their Sabbath and be relieved of the obligation to observe another day. "*
It is to be expected that the Bund will take another "step forward" and demand the right to observe all the ancient Hebrew holidays. And if, to the misfortune of the Bund, the Jewish workers have discarded religious prejudices and do not want to observe these holidays, the Bund with its agitation for "the right to the Sabbath," will remind them of the Sabbath, it will, so to speak, cultivate among them "the Sabbatarian spirit. "...
Quite comprehensible, therefore, are the "passionate speeches" delivered at the Eighth Conference of the Bund demanding "Jewish hospitals," a demand that was based on the argument that "a patient feels more at home among his own people," that "the Jewish worker will not feel at ease among Polish workers, but will feel at ease among Jewish shopkeepers."
Preservation of everything Jewish, conservation of all the national peculiarities of the Jews, even those that are patently harmful to the proletariat, isolation of the Jews from everything non-Jewish, even the establishment of special hospitals – that is the level to which the Bund has sunk!
Comrade Plekhanov was right a thousand times over when he said that the Bund "is adapting socialism to nationalism." Of course, V. Kossovsky and Bundists like him may denounce Plekhanov as a "demagogue" – paper will put up with anything that is written on it – but those who are familiar with the activities of the Bund will easily realize that these brave fellows are simply afraid to tell the truth about themselves and are hiding behind strong language about "demagogy. "...
But since it holds such a position on the national question, the Bund was naturally obliged, in the matter of organization also, to take the path of segregating the Jewish workers, the path of formation of national curiae within Social-Democracy. Such is the logic of national autonomy!
And, in fact, the Bund did pass from the theory of "sole representation" to the theory of "national demarcation" of workers. The Bund demands that Russian Social-Democracy should "in its organizational structure introduce demarcation according to nationalities." From "demarcation" it made a "step forward" to the theory of "segregation." It is not for nothing that speeches were made at the Eighth Conference of the Bund declaring that "national existence lies in segregation."
Organizational federalism harbours the elements of disintegration and separatism. The Bund is heading for separatism.
And, indeed, there is nothing else it can head for. Its very existence as an extra-territorial organization drives it to separatism. The Bund does not possess a definite integral territory; it operates on "foreign" territories, whereas the neighbouring Polish, Lettish and Russian Social-Democracies are international territorial collective bodies. But the result is that every extension of these collective bodies means a "loss" to the Bund and a restriction of its field of action. There are two alternatives: either Russian Social-Democracy as a whole must be reconstructed on the basis of national federalism – which will enable the Bund to "secure" the Jewish proletariat for itself; or the territorial-international principle of these collective bodies remains in force – in which case the Bund must be reconstructed on the basis of internationalism, as is the case with the Polish and Lettish Social-Democracies.
This explains why the Bund from the very beginning demanded "the reorganization of Russian Social-Democracy on a federal basis."
In 1906, yielding to the pressure from below in favour of unity, the Bund chose a middle path and joined Russian Social-Democracy. But how did it join? Whereas the Polish and Lettish Social-Democracies joined for the purpose of peaceable joint action, the Bund joined for the purpose of waging war for a federation. That is exactly what Medem, the leader of the Bundists, said at the time:
"We are joining not for the sake of an idyll, but in order to fight. There is no idyll, and only Manilovs could hope for one in the near future. The Bund must join the Party armed from head to foot."
It would be wrong to regard this as an expression of evil intent on Medem's part. It is not a matter of evil intent, but of the peculiar position of the Bund, which compels it to fight Russian Social-Democracy, which is built on the basis of internationalism. And in fighting it the Bund naturally violated the interests of unity. Finally, matters went so far that the Bund formally broke with Russian Social-Democracy, violating its statutes, and in the elections to the Fourth Duma joining forces with the Polish nationalists against the Polish Social-Democrats.
The Bund has apparently found that a rupture is the best guarantee for independent activity.
And so the "principle" of organizational "demarcation" led to separatism and to a complete rupture.
In a controversy with the old Iskra on the question of federalism, the Bund once wrote:
"Iskra wants to assure us that federal relations between the Bund and Russian Social-Democracy are bound to weaken the ties between them. We cannot refute this opinion by referring to practice in Russia, for the simple reason that Russian Social-Democracy does not exist as a federal body. But we can refer to the extremely instructive experience of Social-Democracy in Austria, which assumed a federal character by virtue of the decision of the Party Congress of 1897."
That was written in 1902.
But we are now in the year 1913. We now have both Russian "practice" and the "experience of Social-Democracy in Austria."
What do they tell us?
Let us begin with "the extremely instructive experience of Social-Democracy in Austria." Up to 1896 there was a united Social-Democratic Party in Austria. In that year the Czechs at the International Congress in London for the first time demanded separate representation, and were given it. In 1897, at the Vienna (Wimberg) Party Congress, the united party was formally Liquidated and in its place a federal league of six national "Social-Democratic groups" was set up. Subsequently these "groups" were converted into independent parties, which gradually severed contact with one another. Following the parties, the parliamentary group broke up – national "clubs" were formed. Next came the trade unions, which also split according to nationalities. Even the co-operative societies were affected, the Czech separatists calling upon the workers to split them up. We will not dwell on the fact that separatist agitation weakens the workers' sense of solidarity and frequently drives them to strike-breaking.
Thus "the extremely instructive experience of Social-Democracy in Austria" speaks against the Bund and for the old Iskra. Federalism in the Austrian party has led to the most outrageous separatism, to the destruction of the unity of the labour movement.
We have seen above that "practical experience in Russia" also bears this out. Like the Czech separatists, the Bundist separatists have broken with the general Russian Social-Democratic Party. As for the trade unions, the Bundist trade unions, from the outset they were organized on national lines, that is to say, they were cut off from the workers of other nationalities.
Complete segregation and complete rupture – that is what is revealed by the "Russian practical experience" of federalism.
It is not surprising that the effect of this state of affairs upon the workers is to weaken their sense of solidarity and to demoralize them; and the latter process is also penetrating the Bund. We are referring to the increasing collisions between Jewish and Polish workers in connection with unemployment. Here is the kind of speech that was made on this subject at the Ninth Conference of the Bund:
"... We regard the Polish workers, who are ousting us, as pogromists, as scabs; we do not support their strikes, we break them. Secondly, we reply to being ousted by ousting in our turn: we reply to Jewish workers not being allowed into the factories by not allowing Polish workers near the benches.... If we do not take this matter into our own hands the workers will follow others" (our italics – J. St.)
That is the way they talk about solidarity at a Bundist conference.
You cannot go further than that in the way of "demarcation" and "segregation." The Bund has achieved its aim: it is carrying its demarcation between the workers of different nationalities to the point of conflicts and strike-breaking. And there is no other course: "If we do not take this matter into our own hands the workers will follow others...."
Disorganization of the labour movement, demoralization of the Social-Democratic ranks – that is what the federalism of the Bund leads to.
Thus the idea of cultural-national autonomy, the atmosphere it creates, has proved to be even more harmful in Russia than in Austria.
We spoke above of the waverings of one section of the Caucasian Social-Democrats who were unable to withstand the nationalist "epidemic." These waverings were revealed in the fact that, strange as it may seem, the above-mentioned Social-Democrats followed in the footsteps of the Bund and proclaimed cultural-national autonomy.
Regional autonomy for the Caucasus as a whole and cultural-national autonomy for the nations forming the Caucasus – that is the way these Social-Democrats, who, incidentally, are linked with the Russian Liquidators, formulate their demand.
Listen to their acknowledged leader, the not unknown N.
"Everybody knows that the Caucasus differs profoundly from the central gubernias, both as regards the racial composition of its population and as regards its territory and agricultural development. The exploitation and material development of such a region require local workers acquainted with local peculiarities and accustomed to the local climate and culture. All laws designed to further the exploitation of the local territory should be issued locally and put into effect by local forces. Consequently, the jurisdiction of the central organ of Caucasian self-government should extend to legislation on local questions.... Hence, the functions of the Caucasian centre should consist in the passing of laws designed to further the economic exploitation of the local territory and the material prosperity of the region."
Thus – regional autonomy for the Caucasus.
If we abstract ourselves from the rather confused and incoherent arguments of N., it must be admitted that his conclusion is correct. Regional autonomy for the Caucasus, within the framework of a general state constitution, which N. does not deny, is indeed essential because of the peculiarities of its composition and its conditions of life. This was also acknowledged by the Russian Social-Democratic Party, which at its Second Congress proclaimed "regional self-government for those border regions which in respect of their conditions of life and the composition of their population differ from the regions of Russia proper."
When Martov submitted this point for discussion at the Second Congress, he justified it on the grounds that "the vast extent of Russia and the experience of our centralized administration point to the necessity and expediency of regional self-government for such large units as Finland, Poland, Lithuania and the Caucasus."
But it follows that regional self-government is to be interpreted as regional autonomy.
But N. goes further. According to him, regional autonomy for the Caucasus covers "only one aspect of the question."
"So far we have spoken only of the material development of local life. But the economic development of a region is facilitated not only by economic activity but also by spiritual, cultural activity."... "A culturally strong nation is strong also in the economic sphere. "... "But the cultural development of nations is possible only in the national languages."... "Consequently, all questions connected with the native language are questions of national culture. Such are the questions of education! the judicature, the church, literature, art, science, the theatre, etc. If the material development of a region unites nations, matters of national culture disunite them and place each in a separate sphere. Activities of the former kind are associated with a definite territory."... "This is not the case with matters of national culture. These are associated not with a definite territory but with the existence of a definite nation. The fate of the Georgian language interests a Georgian, no matter where he lives. It would be a sign of profound ignorance to say that Georgian culture concerns only the Georgians who live in Georgia. Take, for instance, the Armenian church. Armenians of various localities and states take part in the administration of its affairs. Territory plays no part here. Or, for instance, the creation of a Georgian museum interests not only the Georgians of Tiflis, but also the Georgians of Baku, Kutais, St. Petersburg, etc. Hence, the administration and control of all affairs of national culture must be left to the nations concerned. we proclaim in favour of cultural-national autonomy for the Caucasian nationalities."
In short, since culture is not territory, and territory is not culture, cultural-national autonomy is required. That is all N. can say in the latter's favour.
We shall not stop to discuss again national-cultural autonomy in general; we have already spoken of its objectionable character. We should like to point out only that, while being unsuitable in general, cultural-national autonomy is also meaningless and nonsensical in relation to Caucasian conditions.
And for the following reason:
Cultural-national autonomy presumes more or less developed nationalities, with a developed culture and literature. Failing these conditions, autonomy loses all sense and becomes an absurdity. But in the Caucasus there are a number of nationalities each possessing a primitive culture, a separate language, but without its own literature; nationalities, moreover, which are in a state of transition, partly becoming assimilated and partly continuing to develop. How is cultural-national autonomy to be applied to them? What is to be done with such nationalities? How are they to be "organized" into separate cultural-national unions, as is undoubtedly implied by cultural-national autonomy?
What is to be done with the Mingrelians, the Abkhasians, the Adjarians, the Svanetians, the Lesghians, and so on, who speak different languages but do not possess a literature of their own? To what nations are they to be attached? Can they be "organized" into national unions? Around what "cultural affairs" are they to be "organized"?
What is to be done with the Ossetians, of whom the Transcaucasian Ossetians are becoming assimilated (but are as yet by no means wholly assimilated) by the Georgians, while the Cis-Caucasian Ossetians are partly being assimilated by the Russians and partly continuing to develop and are creating their own literature? How are they to be "organized" into a single national union?
To what national union should one attach the Adjarians, who speak the Georgian language, but whose culture is Turkish and who profess the religion of Islam? Shall they be "organized" separately from the Georgians with regard to religious affairs and together with the Georgians with regard to other cultural affairs? And what about the Kobuletians, the Ingushes, the Inghilois?
What kind of autonomy is that which excludes a whole number of nationalities from the list?
No, that is not a solution of the national question, but the fruit of idle fancy.
But let us grant the impossible and assume that our N.'s national-cultural autonomy has been put into effect. Where would it lead to, what would be its results? Take, for instance, the Transcaucasian Tatars, with their minimum percentage of literates, their schools controlled by the omnipotent mullahs and their culture permeated by the religious spirit.... It is not difficult to understand that to "organize" them into a cultural national union would mean to place them under the control of the mullahs, to deliver them over to the tender mercies of the reactionary mullahs, to create a new stronghold of spiritual enslavement of the Tatar masses to their worst enemy.
But since when have Social-Democrats made it a practice to bring grist to the mill of the reactionaries?
Could the Caucasian Liquidators really find nothing better to "proclaim" than the isolation of the Transcaucasian Tatars within a cultural-national union which would place the masses under the thraldom of vicious reactionaries?
No, that is no solution of the national question.
The national question in the Caucasus can be solved only by drawing the belated nations and nationalities into the common stream of a higher culture. It is the only progressive solution and the only solution acceptable to Social-Democracy. Regional autonomy in the Caucasus is acceptable because it would draw the belated nations into the common cultural development; it would help them to cast off the shell of small nation insularity; it would impel them forward and facilitate access to the benefits of higher culture. Cultural-national autonomy, however, acts in a diametrically opposite direction, because it shuts up the nations within their old shells, binds them to the lower stages of cultural development and prevents them from rising to the higher stages of culture.
In this way national autonomy counteracts the beneficial aspects of regional autonomy and nullifies it.
That is why the mixed type of autonomy which combines national-cultural autonomy and regional autonomy as proposed by N. is also unsuitable. This unnatural combination does not improve matters but makes them worse, because in addition to retarding the development of the belated nations it transforms regional autonomy into an arena of conflict between the nations organized in the national unions.
Thus cultural-national autonomy, which is unsuitable generally, would be a senseless, reactionary undertaking in the Caucasus.
So much for the cultural-national autonomy of N. and his Caucasian fellow-thinkers.
Whether the Caucasian Liquidators will take "a step forward" and follow in the footsteps of the Bund on the question of organization also, the future will show. So far, in the history of Social-Democracy federalism in organization always preceded national autonomy in programme. The Austrian Social-Democrats introduced organizational federalism as far back as 1897, and it was only two years later (1899) that they adopted national autonomy. The Bundists spoke distinctly of national autonomy for the first time in 1901, whereas organizational federalism had been practiced by them since 1897.
The Caucasian Liquidators have begun from the end, from national autonomy. If they continue to follow in the footsteps of the Bund they will first have to demolish the whole existing organizational edifice, which was erected at the end of the 'nineties on the basis of internationalism.
But, easy though it was to adopt national autonomy, which is still not understood by the workers, it will be difficult to demolish an edifice which it has taken years to build and which has been raised and cherished by the workers of all the nationalities of the Caucasus. This Herostratian undertaking has only to be begun and the eyes of the workers will be opened to the nationalist character of cultural-national autonomy.
While the Caucasians are settling the national question in the usual manner, by means of verbal and written discussion, the All-Russian Conference of the Liquidators has invented a most unusual method. It is a simple and easy method. Listen to this:
"Having heard the communication of the Caucasian delegation to the effect that... it is necessary to demand national-cultural autonomy, this conference, while expressing no opinion on the merits of this demand, declares that such an interpretation of the clause of the programme which recognizes the right of every nationality to self-determination does not contradict the precise meaning of the programme."
Thus, first of all they "express no opinion on the merits" of the question, and then they "declare." An original method....
And what does this original conference "declare"?
That the "demand" for national-cultural autonomy "does not contradict the precise meaning "of the programme, which recognizes the right of nations to self-determination.
Let us examine this proposition.
The clause on self-determination speaks of the rights of nations. According to this clause, nations have the right not only of autonomy but also of secession. It is a question of political self-determination. Whom did the Liquidators want to fool when they endeavoured to misinterpret this right of nations to political self-determination, which has long been recognized by the whole of international Social-Democracy?
Or perhaps the Liquidators will try to wriggle out of the situation and defend themselves by the sophism that cultural-national autonomy "does not contradict" the rights of nations? That is to say, if all the nations in a given state agree to arrange their affairs on the basis of cultural-national autonomy, they, the given sum of nations, are fully entitled to do so and nobody may forcibly impose a different form of political life on them. This is both new and clever. Should it not be added that, speaking generally, a nation has the right to abolish its own constitution, replace it by a system of tyranny and revert to the old order on the grounds that the nation, and the nation alone, has the right to determine its own destiny? We repeat: in this sense, neither cultural-national autonomy nor any other kind of nationalist reaction "contradicts" the rights of nations.
Is that what the esteemed conference wanted to say?
No, not that. It specifically says that cultural-national autonomy "does not contradict," not the rights of nations, but "the precise meaning" of the programme. The point here is the programme and not the rights of nations.
And that is quite understandable. If it were some nation that addressed itself to the conference of Liquidators, the conference might have directly declared that the nation has a right to cultural-national autonomy. But it was not a nation that addressed itself to the conference, but a "delegation" of Caucasian Social-Democrats – bad Social-Democrats, it is true, but Social-Democrats nevertheless. And they inquired not about the rights of nations, but whether cultural-national autonomy contradicted the principles of Social-Democracy, whether it did not "contradict" "the precise meaning" of the programme of Social-Democracy.
Thus, the rights of nations and "the precise meaning" of the programme of Social-Democracy are not one and the same thing.
Evidently, there are demands which, while they do not contradict the rights of nations, may yet contradict "the precise meaning" of the programme.
For example. The programme of the Social-Democrats contains a clause on freedom of religion. According to this clause any group of persons have the right to profess any religion they please: Catholicism, the religion of the Orthodox Church, etc. Social-Democrats will combat all forms of religious persecution, be it of members of the Orthodox Church, Catholics or Protestants. Does this mean that Catholicism, Protestantism, etc., "do not contradict the precise meaning" of the programme? No, it does not. Social-Democrats will always protest against persecution of Catholicism or Protestantism; they will always defend the right of nations to profess any religion they please; but at the same time, on the basis of a correct understanding of the interests of the proletariat, they will carry on agitation against Catholicism, Protestantism and the religion of the Orthodox Church in order to achieve the triumph of the socialist world outlook.
And they will do so just because there is no doubt that Protestantism, Catholicism, the religion of the Orthodox Church, etc., "contradict the precise meaning" of the programme, i.e., the correctly understood interests of the proletariat.
The same must be said of self-determination. Nations have a right to arrange their affairs as they please; they have a right to preserve any of their national institutions, whether beneficial or harmful – nobody can (nobody has a right to!) forcibly interfere in the life of a nation. But that does not mean that Social-Democracy will not combat and agitate against the harmful institutions of nations and against the inexpedient demands of nations. On the contrary, it is the duty of Social-Democracy to conduct such agitation and to endeavour to influence the will of nations so that the nations may arrange their affairs in the way that will best correspond to the interests of the proletariat. For this reason Social-Democracy, while fighting for the right of nations to self-determination, will at the same time agitate, for instance, against the secession of the Tatars, or against cultural-national autonomy for the Caucasian nations; for both, while not contradicting the rights of these nations, do contradict "the precise meaning" of the programme, i.e., the interests of the Caucasian proletariat.
Obviously, "the rights of nations" and the "precise meaning" of the programme are on two entirely different planes. Whereas the "precise meaning" of the programme expresses the interests of the proletariat, as scientifically formulated in the programme of the latter, the rights of nations may express the interests of any class – bourgeoisie, aristocracy, clergy, etc. – depending on the strength and influence of these classes. On the one hand are the duties of Marxists, on the other the rights of nations, which consist of various classes. The rights of nations and the principles of Social-Democracy may or may not "contradict" each other, just as, say, the pyramid of Cheops may or may not contradict the famous conference of the Liquidators. They are simply not comparable.
But it follows that the esteemed conference most unpardonably muddled two entirely different things. The result obtained was not a solution of the national question but an absurdity, according to which the rights of nations and the principles of Social-Democracy "do not contradict" each other, and, consequently; every demand of a nation may be made compatible with the interests of the proletariat; consequently, no demand of a nation which is striving for self-determination will "contradict the precise meaning" of the programme!
They pay no heed to logic....
It was this absurdity that gave rise to the now famous resolution of the conference of the Liquidators which declares that the demand for national-cultural autonomy "does not contradict the precise meaning" of the programme.
But it was not only the laws of logic that were violated by the conference of the Liquidators.
By sanctioning cultural-national autonomy it also violated its duty to Russian Social-Democracy. It most definitely did violate "the precise meaning" of the programme, for it is well known that the Second Congress, which adopted the programme, emphatically repudiated cultural-national autonomy. Here is what was said at the congress in this connection:
"Goldblatt (Bundist): ...1 deem it necessary that special institutions be set up to protect the freedom of cultural development of nationalities, and I therefore propose that the following words be added to § 8: 'and the creation of institutions which will guarantee them complete freedom of cultural development.'" (This, as we know, is the Bund's definition of cultural-national autonomy. – J. St.)
"Martynov pointed out that general institutions must be so constituted as to protect particular interests also. It is impossible to create a special institution to guarantee freedom for cultural development of the nationalities.
"Yegorov: On the question of nationality we can adopt only negative proposals, i.e., we are opposed to all restrictions upon nationality. But we, as Social-Democrats, are not concerned with whether any particular nationality will develop as such. That is a spontaneous process.
"Koltsov: The delegates from the Bund are always offended when their nationalism is referred to. Yet the amendment proposed by the delegate from the Bund is of a purely nationalist character. We are asked to take purely offensive measures in order to support even nationalities that are dying out."
In the end "Goldblatt's amendment was rejected by the majority, only three votes being cast for it."
Thus it is clear that the conference of the Liquidators did "contradict the precise meaning" of the programme. It violated the programme.
The Liquidators are now trying to justify themselves by referring to the Stockholm Congress, which they allege sanctioned cultural-national autonomy. Thus, V. Kossovsky writes:
"As we know, according to the agreement adopted by the Stockholm Congress, the Bund was allowed to preserve its national programme (pending a decision on the national question by a general Party congress). This congress recorded that national-cultural autonomy at any rate does not contradict the general Party programme."
But the efforts of the Liquidators are in vain. The Stockholm Congress never thought of sanctioning the programme of the Bund – it merely agreed to leave the question open for the time being. The brave Kossovsky did not have enough courage to tell the whole truth. But the facts speak for themselves. Here they are:
"An amendment was moved by Galin: 'The question of the national programme is left open in view of the fact that it is not being examined by the congress.' (For – 50 votes, against – 32.)
"Voice: What does that mean – open?
"Chairman: When we say that the national question is left open, it means that the Bund may maintain its decision on this question until the next congress" (our italics. – J. St.).
As you see, the congress even did "not examine" the question of the national programme of the Bund – it simply left it "open," leaving the Bund itself to decide the fate of its programme until the next general congress met. In other words, the Stockholm Congress avoided the question, expressing no opinion on cultural-national autonomy one way or another.
The conference of the Liquidators, however, most definitely undertakes to give an opinion on the matter, declares cultural-national autonomy to be acceptable, and endorses it in the name of the Party programme.
The difference is only too evident.
Thus, in spite of all its artifices, the conference of the Liquidators did not advance the national question a single step.
All it could do was to squirm before the Bund and the Caucasian national-Liquidators.
It remains for us to suggest a positive solution of the national question.
We take as our starting point that the question can be solved only in intimate connection with the present situation in Russia.
Russia is in a transitional period, when "normal," "constitutional" life has not yet been established and when the political crisis has not yet been settled. Days of storm and "complications" are ahead. And this gives rise to the movement, the present and the future movement, the aim of which is to achieve complete democratization.
It is in connection with this movement that the national question must be examined.
Thus the complete democratization of the country is the basis and condition for the solution of the national question.
When seeking a solution of the question we must take into account not only the situation at home but also the situation abroad. Russia is situated between Europe and Asia, between Austria and China. The growth of democracy in Asia is inevitable. The growth of imperialism in Europe is not fortuitous. In Europe, capital is beginning to feel cramped, and it is reaching out towards foreign countries in search of new markets, cheap labour and new fields of investment. But this leads to external complications and to war. No one can assert that the Balkan War is the end and not the beginning of the complications. It is quite possible, therefore, that a combination of internal and external conditions may arise in which one or another nationality in Russia may find it necessary to raise and settle the question of its independence. And, of course, it is not for Marxists to create obstacles in such cases.
But it follows that Russian Marxists cannot dispense with the right of nations to self-determination.
Thus, the right of self-determination is an essential element in the solution of the national question.
Further. What must be our attitude towards nations which for one reason or another will prefer to remain within the framework of the whole?
We have seen that cultural-national autonomy is unsuitable. Firstly, it is artificial and impracticable, for it proposes artificially to draw into a single nation people whom the march of events, real events, is disuniting and dispersing to every corner of the country. Secondly, it stimulates nationalism, because it leads to the viewpoint in favour of the "demarcation" of people according to national curiae, the "organization" of nations, the "preservation" and cultivation of "national peculiarities" – all of which are entirely incompatible with Social-Democracy. It is not fortuitous that the Moravian separatists in the Reichsrat, having severed themselves from the German Social-Democratic deputies, have united with the Moravian bourgeois deputies to form a single, so to speak, Moravian "kolo." Nor is it fortuitous that the separatists of the Bund have got themselves involved in nationalism by acclaiming the "Sabbath" and "Yiddish." There are no Bundist deputies yet in the Duma, but in the Bund area there is a clerical-reactionary Jewish community, in the "controlling institutions" of which the Bund is arranging, for a beginning, a "get-together" of the Jewish workers and bourgeois. Such is the logic of cultural-national autonomy.
Thus, national autonomy does not solve the problem.
What, then, is the way out?
The only correct solution is regional autonomy, autonomy for such crystallized units as Poland, Lithuania, the Ukraine, the Caucasus, etc.
The advantage of regional autonomy consists, first of all, in the fact that it does not deal with a fiction bereft of territory, but with a definite population inhabiting a definite territory. Next, it does not divide people according to nations, it does not strengthen national barriers; on the contrary, it breaks down these barriers and unites the population in such a manner as to open the way for division of a different kind, division according to classes. Finally; it makes it possible to utilize the natural wealth of the region and to develop its productive forces in the best possible way without awaiting the decisions of a common centre – functions which are not inherent features of cultural-national autonomy.
Thus, regional autonomy is an essential element in the solution of the national question.
Of course, not one of the regions constitutes a compact, homogeneous nation, for each is interspersed with national minorities. Such are the Jews in Poland, the Letts in Lithuania, the Russians in the Caucasus, the Poles in the Ukraine, and so on. It may be feared, therefore, that the minorities will be oppressed by the national majorities. But there will be grounds for fear only if the old order continues to prevail in the country. Give the country complete democracy and all grounds for fear will vanish.
It is proposed to bind the dispersed minorities into a single national union. But what the minorities want is not an artificial union, but real rights in the localities they inhabit. What can such a union give them without complete democratization? On the other hand, what need is there for a national union when there is complete democratization?
What is it that particularly agitates a national minority?
A minority is discontented not because there is no national union but because it does not enjoy the right to use its native language. Permit it to use its native language and the discontent will pass of itself.
A minority is discontented not because there is no artificial union but because it does not possess its own schools. Give it its own schools and all grounds for discontent will disappear.
A minority is discontented not because there is no national union, but because it does not enjoy liberty of conscience (religious liberty), liberty of movement, etc. Give it these liberties and it will cease to be discontented.
Thus, equal rights of nations in all forms (language, schools, etc.) is an essential element in the solution of the national question. Consequently, a state law based on complete democratization of the country is required, prohibiting all national privileges without exception and every kind of disability or restriction on the rights of national minorities.
That, and that alone, is the real, not a paper guarantee of the rights of a minority.
One may or may not dispute the existence of a logical connection between organizational federalism and cultural-national autonomy. But one cannot dispute the fact that the latter creates an atmosphere favouring unlimited federalism, developing into complete rupture, into separatism. If the Czechs in Austria and the Bundists in Russia began with autonomy, passed to federation and ended in separatism, there can be no doubt that an important part in this was played by the nationalist atmosphere that is naturally generated by cultural-national autonomy. It is not fortuitous that national autonomy and organizational federalism go hand in hand. It is quite. understandable. Both demand demarcation according to nationalities. Both presume organization according to nationalities. The similarity is beyond question. The only difference is that in one case the population as a whole is divided, while in the other it is the Social-Democratic workers who are divided.
We know where the demarcation of workers according to nationalities leads to. The disintegration of a united workers' party, the splitting of trade unions according to nationalities, aggravation of national friction, national strikebreaking, complete demoralization within the ranks of Social-Democracy – such are the results of organizational federalism. This is eloquently borne out by the history of Social-Democracy in Austria and the activities of the Bund in Russia.
The only cure for 'this is organization on the basis of internationalism.
To unite locally the workers of all nationalities of Russia into single, integral collective bodies, to unite these collective bodies into a single party – such is the task.
It goes without saying that a party structure of this kind does not preclude, but on the contrary presumes, wide autonomy for the regions within the single integral party.
The experience of the Caucasus proves the expediency of this type of organization. If the Caucasians have succeeded in overcoming the national friction between the Armenian and Tatar workers; if they have succeeded in safeguarding the population against the possibility of massacres and shooting affrays; if in Baku, that kaleidoscope of national groups, national conflicts are now no longer possible, and if it has been possible to draw the workers there into the single current of a powerful movement, then the international structure of the Caucasian Social-Democracy was not the least factor in bringing this about.
The type of organization influences not only practical work. It stamps an indelible impress on the whole mental life of the worker. The worker lives the life of his organization, which stimulates his intellectual growth and educates him. And thus, acting within his organization and continually meeting there comrades from other nationalities, and side by side with them waging a common struggle under the leadership of a common collective body, he becomes deeply imbued with the idea that workers are primarily members of one class family, members of the united army of socialism. And this cannot but have a tremendous educational value for large sections of the working class.
Therefore, the international type of organization serves as a school of fraternal sentiments and is a tremendous agitational factor on behalf of internationalism.
But this is not the case with an organization on the basis of nationalities. When the workers are organized according to nationality they isolate themselves within their national shells, fenced off from each other by organizational barriers. The stress is laid not on what is common to the workers but on what distinguishes them from each other. In this type of organization the worker is primarily a member of his nation: a Jew, a Pole, and so on. It is not surprising that national federalism in organization inculcates in the workers a spirit of national seclusion.
Therefore, the national type of organization is a school of national narrow-mindedness and stagnation.
Thus we are confronted by two fundamentally different types of organization: the type based on international solidarity and the type based on the organizational "demarcation" of the workers according to nationalities.
Attempts to reconcile these two types have so far been vain. The compromise rules of the Austrian Social-Democratic Party drawn up in Wimberg in 1897 were left hanging in the air. The Austrian party fell to pieces and dragged the trade unions with it. "Compromise" proved to be not only utopian, but harmful. Strasser is right when he says that "separatism achieved its first triumph at the Wimberg Party Congress." The same is true in Russia. The "compromise" with the federalism of the Bund which took place at the Stockholm Congress ended in a complete fiasco. The Bund violated the Stockholm compromise. Ever since the Stockholm Congress the Bund has been an obstacle in the way of union of the workers locally in a single organization, which would include workers of all nationalities. And the Bund has obstinately persisted in its separatist tactics in spite of the fact that in 1907 and in 1908 Russian Social-Democracy repeatedly demanded that unity should at last be established. from below among the workers of all nationalities. The Bund, which began with organizational national autonomy, in fact passed to federalism, only to end in complete rupture, separatism. And by breaking with the Russian Social-Democratic Party it caused disharmony and disorganization in the ranks of the latter. Let us recall the Jagiello affair, for instance.
The path of "compromise" must therefore be discarded as utopian and harmful.
One thing or the other: either the federalism of the Bund, in which case the Russian Social-Democratic Party must re-form itself on a basis of "demarcation" of the workers according to nationalities; or an international type of organization, in which case the Bund must reform itself on a basis of territorial autonomy after the pattern of the Caucasian, Lettish and Polish Social-Democracies, and thus make possible the direct union of the Jewish workers with the workers of the other nationalities of Russia.
There is no middle course: principles triumph, they do not "compromise."
Thus, the principle of international solidarity of the workers is an essential element in the solution of the national question.
Zionism – A reactionary nationalist trend of the Jewish bourgeoisie, which had followers along the intellectuals and the more backward sections of the Jewish workers. The Zionists endeavoured to isolate the Jewish working-class masses from the general struggle of the proletariat.
See "Report of the Ninth Conference of the Bund."
See "Announcement of the August Conference."
See "Announcement of the August Conference."
See R. Springer, The National Problem, Obshchestvennaya Polza Publishing House, 1909, p. 43.
See O. Bauer, The National Question and Social-Democracy, Serp Publishing House, 1909.
See his Der Arbeiter und die Nation, 1912.
South-Slav Social-Democracy operates in the Southern part of Austria.
See V. Kossovsky, Problems of Nationality, 1907.
The Brünn Parteitag, or Congress, of the Austrian Social-Democratic Party was held on September 24-29, 1899. The resolution on the national question adopted by this congress is quoted by J. V. Stalin in the chapter IV, "Cultural-National Autonomy."
See Springer, The National Problem.
See Bauer, The National Question and Social-Democracy.
"Thank God we have no parliament here" – the words uttered by V. Kokovtsev, tsarist Minister of Finance (later Prime Minister), in the State Duma on April 24 1908.
The representatives of the South-Slav Social-Democratic Party also voted for it. See Discussion of the National Question at the Brünn Congress, 1906.
In M. Panin's Russian translation (see his translation of Bauer's book), "national individualities" is given in place of "national peculiarities." Panin translated this passage incorrectly. The word "individuality" is not in the German text, which speaks of nationalen Eigenart, i.e., peculiarities, which is far from being the same thing.
Verhandlungen des Gesamtparteitages in Brünn, 1899.
See Proceedings of the Brünn Social-Democratic Party Congress.
See Chapter II of the Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.
The Vienna Congress (or Wimberg Congress – after the name of the hotel in which it met) of the Austrian Social-Democratic Party was held June 6-12 1897.
See K. Marx, "The Jewish Question," 1906.
The reference is to an article by Karl Marx entitled "Zur Judenfrage" ("The Jewish Question"), published in 1844 in the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher.
See K. Kautsky, "The Kishinev Pogrom and the Jewish Question," 1903.
See Forms of the National Movement, etc., edited by Kastelyansky.
See Minutes of the Second Congress.
The Eighth Congress of the Bund was held in September 1910 in Lvov.
Report of the Eighth Conference of the Bund, 1911, p. 62.
See Nasha Zarya, No. 9-10, 1912, p. 120.
In an article entitled "Another Splitters' Conference," published in the newspaper Za Partiyu, October 2 (15) 1912, G. V. Plekhanov condemned the "August" Conference of the Liquidators and described the stand of the Bundists and Caucasian Social-Democrats as an adaptation of socialism to nationalism. Kossovsky, leader of the Bundists, criticized Plekhanov in a letter to the Liquidators' magazine Nasha Zarya.
See Concerning National Autonomy and the Reorganizatzon of Russian Social-Democracy on a Federal Basis, 1902, published by the Bund.
Nashe Slovo, No. 3, Vilno, 1906, p. 24.
Iskra (The Spark) – The first all-Russian illegal Marxist newspaper founded by V. I. Lenin in 1900.
See the words quoted from a brochure by Karl Vanek in Dokumente des Separatismus, p. 29. Karl Vanek was a Czech Social-Democrat who took an openly chauvinist and separatist stand.
See the Georgian newspaper Chveni Tskhovreba (Our Life), No. 12, 1912. Chveni Tskhovreba was a daily paper published by the Georgian Mensheviks in Kutais from July 1 to 22 1912.
See the Georgian newspaper Chveni Tskhovreba, No. 12, 1912.
Nasha Zarya, No. 9-10, 1912, p. 120.
See Nashe SIovo, No. 8, 1906, p. 53.
The reference is to the first Balkan War, which broke out in October 1912 between Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro on the one hand, and Turkey on the other.
See his Der Arbeiter und die Nation, 1912.
See the resolutions of the Fourth (the "Third All-Russian") Conference of the R.S.D.L.P., held November 5-12 1907, and of the Fifth (the "All-Russian 1908") Conference of the R.S.D.L.P., held December 21-27 1908 (January 3-9 1909). (See Resolutions and Decisions of the C.P.S.U.(B.) Congresses, Conferences and Central Committee Plenums, Vol. 1, 6th Russ. ed., 1940, pp. 118-31.)
E. J. Jagiello – A member of the Polish Socialist Party (P.P.S.) was elected to the Fourth State Duma for Warsaw as a result of a bloc formed by the Bund, the Polish Socialist Party and the bourgeois nationalists against the Polish Social-Democrats. By a vote of the seven Menshevik Liquidators against the six Bolsheviks, the Social-Democratic group in the Duma adopted a resolution that Jagiello be accepted as a member of the group. | <urn:uuid:2a63935b-257c-4145-86f2-ecb358c4b012> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1913/03a.htm | 2016-07-27T21:33:56Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257827079.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071027-00035-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952418 | 26,391 |
2014 Bateson Prize, Society for Cultural Anthropology
The Open Whole
By a feeling I mean an instance of that sort of element of consciousness which is all that it is positively, in itself, regardless of anything else.... [A] feeling is absolutely simple and without parts-as it evidently is, since it is whatever it is regardless of anything else, and therefore regardless of any part, which would be something other than the whole.
Charles Peirce, The Collected Papers 1.306-10
One evening while the grown-ups gathered around the hearth drinking manioc beer, Maxi, settling back to a quieter corner of the house, began to tell his teenage neighbor Luis and me about some of his recent adventures and mishaps. Fifteen or so and just beginning to hunt on his own, he told us of the day he stood out in the forest for what seemed an eternity, waiting for something to happen, and how, all of a sudden, he found himself close to a herd of collared peccaries moving through the underbrush. Frightened, he hoisted himself into the safety of a little tree and from there fired on and hit one of the pigs. The wounded animal ran off toward a little river and ... "tsupu."
Tsupu. I've deliberately left Maxi's utterance untranslated. What might it mean? What does it sound like?
Tsupu, or tsupuuuh, as it is sometimes pronounced, with the final vowel dragged out and aspirated, refers to an entity as it makes contact with and then penetrates a body of water; think of a big stone heaved into a pond or the compact mass of a wounded peccary plunging into a river's pool. Tsupu probably did not immediately conjure such an image (unless you speak lowland Ecuadorian Quichua). But what did you feel upon learning what it describes? Once I tell people what tsupu means, they often experience a sudden feel for its meaning: "Oh, of course, tsupu!"
By contrast, I would venture that even after learning that the greeting "causanguichu," used when encountering someone who hasn't been seen in a long time, means "Are you still alive?" you don't have such a feeling. Causanguichu certainly feels like what it means to native speakers of Quichua, and over the years I too have come to develop a feel for its meaning. But what is it about tsupu that causes its meaning to feel so evident even for many people who don't speak Quichua? Tsupu somehow feels like a pig plunging into water.
How is it that tsupu means? We know that a word like causanguichu means by virtue of the ways in which it is inextricably embedded, through a dense historically contingent tangle of grammatical and syntactic relations, with other such words in that uniquely human system of communication we call language. And we know that what it means also depends on the ways in which language is itself caught up in broader social, cultural, and political contexts, which share similar historically contingent systemic properties. In order to develop a feel for causanguichu we have to grasp something of the totality of the interrelated network of words in which itexists. We also need to grasp something of the broader social context in which it is and has been used. Making sense of how we live inside these kinds of changing contexts that we both make and that make us has long been an important goal of anthropology. For anthropology the "human," as a being and an object of knowledge, emerges only by attending to how we are embedded in these uniquely human contexts-these "complex wholes" as E. B. Tylor's (1871) classic definition of culture terms them.
But if causanguichu is firmly in language, tsupu seems somehow outside it. Tsupu is a sort of paralinguistic parasite on the language that somewhat indifferently bears it.Tsupu is, in a way, as Peirce might say, "all that it is positively, in itself, regardless of anything else." And this admittedly minor fact, that this strange little quasi-word is not quite made by its linguistic context, troubles the anthropological project of making sense of the human via context.
Take causanguichu's root, the lexeme causa-, which is marked for person and inflected by a suffix that signals its status as a question:
Are you still alive?
Through its grammatical inflections causanguichu is inextricably related to the other words that make up the Quichua language. Tsupu, by contrast, doesn't really interact with other words and therefore can't be modified to reflect any such possible relations. Being "all that it is positively in itself," it can't even be grammatically negated. What kind of thing, then, is tsupu? Is it even a word? What does its anomalous place in language reveal about language? And what can it tell us about the anthropological project of grasping the various ways in which linguistic as well as sociocultural and historical contexts form the conditions of possibility both for human life and for our ways of attending to it?
Although not exactly a word, tsupu certainly is a sign. That is, it certainly is, as the philosopher Charles Peirce put it, "something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity" (CP 2.228). This is quite different from Saussure's (1959) more humanist treatment of signs with which we anthropologists tend to be more familiar. For Saussure human language is the paragon and model for all sign systems (1959: 68). Peirce's definition of a sign, by contrast, is much more agnostic about what signs are and what kinds of beings use them; for him not all signs have languagelike properties, and, as I discuss below, not all the beings who use them are human. This broader definition of the sign helps us become attuned to the life signs have beyond the human as we know it.
Tsupu captures to some extent and in some particular way something of a pig plunging into water, and it does so-weirdly-not just for Quichua speakers, but to some degree for those of us who may not have any familiarity with the language that carries it along. What might paying attention to this not-quite-wordlike-kind-of-sign reveal? Feeling tsupu,"in itself, regardless of anything else," can tell us something important about the nature of language and its unexpected openings toward the world "itself." And insofar as it can help us understand how signs are not just bounded by human contexts, but how they also reach beyond them. Insofar, that is, as it can help reveal how signs are also in, of, and about other sensuous worlds we too can feel, it can also tell us something about how we can move beyond understanding the human in terms of the "complex wholes" that make us who we are. In sum, appreciating what it might mean "to live" (Quichua causa-ngapa) in worlds that are open to that which extends beyond the human might just allow us to become a little more "worldly."
In and of the World
In uttering "tsupu," Maxi brought home something that happened in the forest. Insofar as Luis, or I, or you, feel tsupu we come to grasp something of Maxi's experience of being near a wounded pig plunging into a pool of water. And we can come to have this feeling even if we weren't in the forest that day. All signs, and not just tsupu, are in some way or another about the world in this sense. They "re-present." They are about something not immediately present.
But they are also all, in some way or another, in and of the world. When we think of situations in which we use signs to represent an event, such as the one I've just described, this quality may be hard to see. Sitting back in a dark corner of a thatched roof house listening to Maxi talk about the forest is not the same as having been present to that pig plunging into water. Isn't this "radical discontinuity" with the world another important hallmark of signs? Insofar as signs do not provide any sort of immediate, absolute, or certain purchase on the entities they represent, it certainly is. But the fact that signs always mediate does not mean that they also necessarily exist in some separate domain inside (human) minds and cut off from the entities they stand for. As I will show, they are not just about the world. They are also in important ways in it.
Consider the following. Toward the end of a day spent walking in the forest, Hilario, his son Lucio, and I came upon a troop of woolly monkeys moving through the canopy. Lucio shot and killed one, and the rest of the troop dispersed. One young monkey, however, became separated from the troop. Finding herself alone she hid in the branches of an enormous red-trunked tree that poked out of the forest canopy high above.
In the hope of startling the monkey into moving to a more visible perch so that his son could shoot it Hilario decided to fell a nearby palm tree:
I'll make it go pu oh
Ta ta and pu oh, like tsupu, are images that sound like what they mean. Ta ta is an image of chopping: tap tap. Pu oh captures the process by which a tree falls. The snap that initiates its toppling, the swish of the crown free-falling through layers of forest canopy, and the crash and its echoes as it hits the ground are all enfolded in this sonic image.
Hilario then went and did what he said. He walked off a little way and with his machete began chopping rhythmically at a palm tree. The tapping of steel against trunk is clearly audible on the recording I made in the forest that afternoon (ta ta ta ta ... )-as was the palm crashing down (pu oh).
Lowland Quichua has hundreds of "words" like ta ta, pu oh, and tsupu that mean by virtue of the ways in which they sonically convey an image of how an action unfolds in the world. They are ubiquitous in speech, especially in forest talk. A testament to their importance to Runa ways of being in the world is that the linguistic anthropologist Janis Nuckolls (1996) has written an entire book-titled, appropriately, Sounds Like Life-about them.
A "word" such as tsupu is like the entity it represents thanks to the ways in which the differences between the "sign vehicle" (i.e., the entity that is taken as a sign, in this case the sonic quality of tsupu) and the object (in this case the plunging-into-water that this "word" simulates) are ignored. Peirce called these kinds of signs of likeness "icons." They conform to the first of his three broad classes of signs.
As Hilario had anticipated, the sound of the palm tree crashing frightened the monkey from its perch. This event itself, and not just its before-the-fact imitation, can also be taken as a kind of sign. It is a sign in the sense that it too came to be "something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity." In this case the "somebody" to whom this sign stands is not human. The palm crashing down stands for something to the monkey. Significance is not the exclusive province of humans because we are not the only ones who interpret signs. That other kinds of beings use signs is one example of the ways in which representation exists in the world beyond human minds and human systems of meaning.
The palm crashing down becomes significant in a way that differs from its imitation pu oh. Pu oh is iconic in the sense that it, in itself, is in some respect like its object. That is, it functions as an image when we fail to notice the differences between it and the event that it represents. It means due to a certain kind of absence of attention to difference. By ignoring the myriad characteristics that make any entity unique, a very restricted set of characteristics is amplified, here by virtue of the fact that the sound that simulates the action also happens to share these characteristics.
The crashing palm itself comes to signify something for the monkey in another capacity. The crash, as sign, is not a likeness of the object it represents. Instead, it points to something else. Peirce calls this sort of sign an "index." Indices constitute his second broad class of signs.
Before exploring indices further, I want to briefly introduce the "symbol"-Peirce's third kind of sign. Unlike iconic and indexical modes of reference, which form the bases for all representation in the living world, symbolic reference is, on this planet at least, a form of representation that is unique to humans. Accordingly, as anthropologists of the human we are most familiar with its distinctive properties. Symbols refer, not simply through the similarity of icons, or solely through the pointing of indices. Rather, as with the word causanguichu, they refer to their object indirectly by virtue of the ways in which they relate systemically to other such symbols. Symbols involve convention. This is why causanguichu only means-and comes to feel meaningful-by virtue of the established system of relationships it has with other words in Quichua.
The palm that Hilario sent crashing down that afternoon startled the monkey. As an index it forced her to notice that something just happened, even though what just happened remained unclear. Whereas icons involve not noticing, indices focus the attention. If icons are what they are "in themselves" regardless of the existence of the entity they represent, indices involve facts "themselves." Whether or not someone was there to hear it, whether or not the monkey, or anyone else for that matter, took this occurrence to be significant, the palm, itself, still came crashing down.
Unlike icons, which represent by virtue of the resemblances they share with objects, indices represent "by virtue of real connections to them" (Peirce 1998c: 461; see also CP 2.248).Tugging on the stems of woody vines, or lianas, that extend up into the canopy is another strategy to scare monkeys out of their hidden perches (see frontispiece, this chapter). To the extent that such an action can startle a monkey it is because of a chain of "real connections" among disparate things: the hunter's tug is transmitted, via the liana, high up to the tangled mat of epiphytes, lianas, moss, and detritus that accumulates to form the perch atop which the hiding monkey sits.
Although one might say that the hunter's tug, propagated through the liana and mat, literally shakes the monkey out of her sense of security, how this monkey comes to take this tug as a sign cannot be reduced to a deterministic chain of causes and effects. The monkey need not necessarily perceive the shaking perch to be a sign of anything. And in the event that she does, her reaction will be something other than the effect of the force of the tug propagated up the length of the liana.
Indices involve something more than mechanical efficiency. That something more is, paradoxically, something less. It is an absence. That is, to the extent that indices are noticed they impel their interpreters to make connections between some event and another potential one that has not yet occurred. A monkey takes the moving perch, as sign, to be connected to something else, for which it stands. It is connected to something dangerously different from her present sense of security. Maybe the branch she is perched on is going to break off. Maybe a jaguar is climbing up the tree ... Something is about to happen, and she had better do something about it. Indices provide information about such absent futures. They encourage us to make a connection between what is happening and what might potentially happen.
Asking whether signs involve sound images like tsupu, or whether they come to mean through events like a palm crashing down, or whether their sense emerges in some more systemic and distributed manner, like the interrelated network of words printed on the pages that make up this book, might encourage us to think about signs in terms of the differences in their tangible qualities. But signs are more than things. They don't squarely reside in sounds, events, or words. Nor are they exactly in bodies or even minds. They can't be precisely located in this way because they are ongoing relational processes. Their sensuous qualities are only one part of the dynamic through which they come to be, to grow, and to have effects in the world.
In other words signs are alive. A crashing palm tree-taken as sign-is alive insofar as it can grow. It is alive insofar as it will come to be interpreted by a subsequent sign in a semiotic chain that extends into the possible future.
The startled monkey's jump to a higher perch is a part of this living semiotic chain. It is what Peirce called an "interpretant," a new sign that interprets the way in which a prior sign relates to its object. Interpretants can be further specified through an ongoing process of sign production and interpretation that increasingly captures something about the world and increasingly orients an interpreting self toward this aboutness. Semiosis is the name for this living sign process through which one thought gives rise to another, which in turn gives rise to another, and so on, into the potential future. It captures the way in which living signs are not just in the here and now but also in the realm of the possible.
Although semiosis is something more than mechanical efficiency, thinking is not just confined to some separate realm of ideas. A sign has an effect, and this, precisely, is what an interpretant is. It is the "proper significate effect that the sign produces" (CP 5.475). The monkey's jump, sparked by her reaction to a crashing palm, amounts to an interpretant of a prior sign of danger. It makes visible an energetic component that is characteristic of all sign processes, even those that might seem purely "mental." Although semiosis is something more than energetics and materiality, all sign processes eventually "do things" in the world, and this is an important part of what makes them alive.
Signs don't come from the mind. Rather, it is the other way around. What we call mind, or self, is a product of semiosis. That "somebody," human or nonhuman, who takes the crashing palm to be significant is a "self that is just coming into life in the flow of time" (CP 5.421) by virtue of the ways in which she comes to be a locus-however ephemeral-for the "interpretance" of this sign and many others like it. In fact, Peirce coined the cumbersome term interpretant to avoid the "homunculus fallacy" (see Deacon 2012: 48) of seeing a self as a sort of black box (a little person inside us, a homunculus) who would be the interpreter of those signs but not herself the product of those signs. Selves, human or nonhuman, simple or complex, are outcomes of semiosis as well as the starting points for new sign interpretation whose outcome will be a future self. They are waypoints in a semiotic process.
These selves, "just coming into life," are not shut off from the world; the semiosis occurring "inside" the mind is not intrinsically different from that which occurs among minds. That palm crashing down in the forest illustrates this living worldly semiosis as it is embedded in an ecology of disparate emerging selves. Hilario's iconic simulation of a falling palm charts a possible future that then becomes realized in a palm that he actually fells. Its crash, in turn, is interpreted by another being whose life will change thanks to the way she takes this as a sign of something upon which she must act. What emerges is a highly mediated but nevertheless unbroken chain that jumps from the realm of human speech to that of human bodies and their actions, and from these to events-in-the-world such as a tree crashing down that these realized embodied intentions actualize, and from here to the equally physical reaction that the semiotic interpretation of this event provokes in another kind of primate high up in a tree. The crashing palm and the human who felled it came to affect the monkey, notwithstanding their physical separation from her. Signs have worldly effects even though they are not reducible to physical cause-and-effect.
Such tropical trans-species attempts at communication reveal the living worldly nature of semiosis. All semiosis (and by extension thought) takes place in minds-in-the-world. To highlight this characteristic of semiosis this is how Peirce described the thought practices of Antoine Lavoisier, the eighteenth-century French aristocrat and founder of the modern field of chemistry:
Lavoisier's method was ... to dream that some long and complicated chemical process would have a certain effect, to put it into practice with dull patience, after its inevitable failure, to dream that with some modification it would have another result, and to end by publishing the last dream as a fact: his way was to carry his mind into his laboratory, and literally to make of his alembics and cucurbits instruments of thought, giving a new conception of reasoning as something which was to be done with one's eyes open, in manipulating real things instead of words and fancies. (CP 5.363)
Where would we locate Lavoisier's thoughts and dreams? Where, if not in this emerging world of blown glass cucurbits and alembics and the mixtures contained in their carefully delimited spaces of absence and possibility, is his mind, and future self, coming in to being?
Lavoisier's blown glass flasks point to another important element of semiosis. Like these curiously shaped receptacles, signs surely have an important materiality: they possess sensuous qualities; they are instantiated with respect to the bodies that produce and are produced by them; and they can make a difference in the worlds that they are about. And yet, like the space delimited by the walls of the flask, signs are also in important ways immaterial. A glass flask is as much about what it is as it is about what it is not; it is as much about the vessel blown into form by the glassmaker-and all the material qualities and technological, political, and socioeconomic histories that made that act of creation possible-as it is about the specific geometry of absence that it comes to delimit. Certain kinds of reactions can take place in that flask because of all the others that are excluded from it.
This kind of absence is central to the semiosis that sustains and instantiates life and mind. It is apparent in what played out in the forest that afternoon as we were out hunting monkeys. Now that that young woolly monkey had moved to a more exposed perch Lucio tried to shoot at it with his muzzle-loading black powder shotgun. But when he pulled the trigger the hammer simply clicked down on the firing cap. Lucio quickly replaced the defective cap and reloaded-this time packing the barrel with an extra dose of lead shot. When the monkey climbed to an even more exposed position, Hilario encouraged his son to fire again: "Hurry, now really!" Wary of the precarious nature of his firearm, however, Lucio first uttered, "teeeye."
Teeeye, like tsupu, ta ta, and pu oh, is an image in sound. It is iconic of a gun successfully firing and hitting its target. The mouth that pronounces it is like a flask that assumes the various shapes of a firing gun. First the tongue taps on the palette to produce the stopped consonant the way a hammer strikes a firing cap. Then the mouth opens ever wider as it pronounces the expanding elongated vowel, the way lead shot, propelled by the explosion of powder ignited by the cap, sprays out of the barrel (figure 4).
Moments later Lucio pulled the trigger. And this time, with a deafening teeeye, the gun fired.
Teeeye is, at many levels, a product of what it is not. The shape of the mouth effectively eliminates all the many other sounds that could have been made as breath is voiced. What is left is a sound that "fits" the object it represents thanks to the many sounds that are absent. The object that is not physically present constitutes a second absence. Finally, teeeye involves another absence in the sense that it is a representation of a future brought into the present in the hopes that this not-yet will affect the present. Lucio hopes his gun will successfully fire teeeye when he pulls the trigger. He imported this simulation into the present from the possible world that he hopes will come to be. This future-possible, which orients Lucio toward taking all the steps needed to make this future possible, is also a constitutive absence. What teeeye is-its significate effect, in short, its meaning-is dependent on all these things that it is not.
All signs, and not just those we might call magical, traffic in the future in the way that teeeye does. They are calls to act in the present through an absent but re-presented future that, by virtue of this call, can then come to affect the present; "Hurry, now really," as Hilario implored his son moments before he fired his gun, involves a prediction that there will still be an "it" up there to shoot. It is a call from the future as re-presented in the present.
Drawing inspiration from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu and his reflection on how the hole at the hub is what makes a wheel useful, Terrence Deacon (2006) refers to the special kind of nothingness delimited by the spokes of a wheel, or by the glass of a flask, or by the shape of the mouth when uttering "teeeye" as a "constitutive absence." Constitutive absence, according to Deacon, is not just found in the world of artifacts or humans. It is a kind of relation to that which is spatially or temporally not present that is crucial to biology and to any kind of self (see Deacon 2012: 3). It points to the peculiar way in which, "in the world of mind, nothing-that which is not-can be a cause" (Bateson 2000a: 458, quoted in Deacon 2006).
As I discuss later in this chapter, and in subsequent ones as well, constitutive absence is central to evolutionary processes. That, for example, a lineage of organisms comes to increasingly fit a particular environment is the result of the "absence" of all the other lineages that were selected out. And all manner of sign processes, not just those associated directly with biological life, come to mean by virtue of an absence: iconicity is the product of what is not noticed; indexicality involves a prediction of what is not yet present; and symbolic reference, through a convoluted process that also involves iconicity and indexicality, points to and images absent worlds by virtue of the ways in which it is embedded in a symbolic system that constitutes the absent context for the meaning of any given word's utterance. In the "world of mind," constitutive absence is a particular mediated way in which an absent future comes to affect the present. This is why it is appropriate to consider telos-that future for the sake of which something in the present exists-as a real causal modality wherever there is life (see Deacon 2012).
The constant play between presence and these different kinds of absences gives signs their life. It makes them more than the effect of that which came before them. It makes them images and intimations of something potentially possible.
Considering crashing palms, jumping monkeys, and "words" like tsupu helps us see that representation is something both more general and more widely distributed than human language. It also helps us see that these other modes of representation have properties that are quite different from those exhibited by the symbolic modalities on which language depends. In short, considering those kinds of signs that emerge and circulate beyond the symbolic helps us see that we need to "provincialize" language.
My call to provincialize language alludes to Dipesh Chakrabarty's Provincializing Europe (2000), his critical account of how South Asian and South Asianist scholars rely on Western social theory to analyze South Asian social realities. To provincialize Europe is to recognize that such theory (with its assumptions about progress, time, etc.) is situated in the particular European context of its production. Social theorists of South Asia, Chakrabarty argues, turn a blind eye to this situated context and apply such theory as if it were universal. Chakrabarty asks us to consider what kind of theory might emerge from South Asia, or from other regions for that matter, once we circumscribe the European theory we once took as universal.
In showing that the production of a particular body of social theory is situated in a particular context and that there are other contexts for which this theory does not apply, Chakrabarty is making an implicit argument about the symbolic properties of the realities such theory seeks to understand. Context is an effect of the symbolic. That is, without the symbolic we would not have linguistic, social, cultural, or historical contexts as we understand them. And yet this kind of context does not fully create or circumscribe our realities because we also live in a world that exceeds the symbolic, and this is something our social theory must also find ways to address.
Chakrabarty's argument, then, is ultimately couched within humanist assumptions about social reality and the theory one might develop to attend to it, and so, if taken literally, its application to an anthropology beyond the human is limited. Nonetheless, I find provincialization useful metaphorically as a reminder that symbolic domains, properties, and analytics are always circumscribed by and nested within a broader semiotic field.
We need to provincialize language because we conflate representation with language and this conflation finds its way into our theory. We universalize this distinctive human propensity by first assuming that all representation is something human and then by supposing that all representation has languagelike properties. That which ought to be delimited as something unique becomes instead the bedrock for our assumptions about representation.
We anthropologists tend to view representation as a strictly human affair. And we tend to focus only on symbolic representation-that uniquely human semiotic modality. Symbolic representation, manifested most clearly in language, is conventional, "arbitrary," and embedded in a system of other such symbols, which, in turn, is sustained in social, cultural, and political contexts that have similar systemic and conventional properties. As I mentioned earlier, the representational system associated with Saussure, which is the implicit one that underlies so much of contemporary social theory, concerns itself only with this kind of arbitrary, conventional sign.
There is another reason why we need to provincialize language: we conflate language with representation even when we don't explicitly draw on language or the symbolic for our theoretical tools. This conflation is most evident in our assumptions about ethnographic context. Just as we know that words only acquire meanings in terms of the greater context of other such words to which they systemically relate, it is an anthropological axiom that social facts can't be understood except by virtue of their place in a context made up of other such facts. And the same applies for the webs of cultural meanings or for the network of contingent discursive truths as revealed by a Foucauldian genealogy.
Context understood in this way, however, is a property of human conventional symbolic reference, which creates the linguistic cultural and social realities that make us distinctively human. However, it doesn't fully apply in domains such as human-animal relations that are not completely circumscribed by the symbolic but are nevertheless semiotic. The kinds of representational modalities shared by all forms of life-modalities that are iconic and indexical-are not context-dependent the way symbolic modalities are. That is, such representational modalities do not function by means of a contingent system of sign relations -a context- the way symbolic modalities do. So in certain semiotic domains context doesn't apply, and even in those domains such as human ones where it does, such contexts, as we can see by attending to that which lies beyond the human, are, as I will show, permeable. In short, complex wholes are also open wholes-hence this chapter's title. And open wholes reach beyond the human-hence this anthropology beyond the human.
This conflation of representation with language-the assumption that all representational phenomena have symbolic properties-holds even for those kinds of projects that are explicitly critical of cultural, symbolic, or linguistic approaches. It is apparent in classical materialist critiques of the symbolic and the cultural. It is also apparent in more contemporary phenomenological approaches that turn to the bodily experiences we also share with nonhuman beings as a way to avoid anthropocentric mind talk (see Ingold 2000; Csordas 1999; Stoller 1997). It is also, I should note, apparent in Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's multinaturalism (discussed in detail in chapter 2). When Viveiros de Castro writes that "a perspective is not a representation because representations are a property of the mind or spirit, whereas the point of view is located in the body" (1998: 478), he is assuming that attention to bodies (and their natures) can allow us to side step the thorny issues raised by representation.
The alignment between humans, culture, the mind, and representation, on the one hand, and nonhumans, nature, bodies, and matter, on the other, remains stable even in posthuman approaches that seek to dissolve the boundaries that have been erected to construe humans as separate from the rest of the world. This is true of Deleuzian approaches, as exemplified, for example, by Jane Bennett (2010), that deny the analytical purchase of representation and telos altogether-since these are seen, at best, as exclusively human mental affairs.
This alignment is also evident in attempts in science and technology studies (STS), especially those associated with Bruno Latour, to equalize the imbalance between unfeeling matter and desiring humans by depriving humans of a bit of their intentionality and symbolic omnipotence at the same time that they confer on things a bit more agency. In his image of "speech impediments," for example, Latour attempts to find an idiom that might bridge the analytical gap between speaking scientists and their supposedly silent objects of study. "Better to have marbles in one's mouth, when speaking about scientists," he writes, "then to slip absent-mindedly from mute things to the indisputable word of the expert" (2004: 67). Because Latour conflates representation and human language his only hope to get humans and nonhumans in the same frame is to literally mix language and things-to speak with marbles in his mouth. But this solution perpetuates Cartesian dualism because the atomic elements remain either human mind or unfeeling matter, despite the fact that these are more thoroughly mixed than Descartes would have ever dreamed, and even if one claims that their mixture precedes their realization. This analytic of mixture creates little homunculi at all levels. The hyphen in Latour's (1993: 106) "natures-cultures" is the new pineal gland in the little Cartesian heads that this analytic unwittingly engenders at all scales. An anthropology beyond the human seeks to find ways to move beyond this analytic of mixture.
Erasing the divide between the human mind and the rest of the world, or, alternatively, striving for some symmetrical mixing between mind and matter, only encourages this gap to emerge again elsewhere. An important claim I make in this chapter, and an important foundation for the arguments to be developed in this book, is that the most productive way to overcome this dualism is not to do away with representation (and by extension telos, intentionality, "aboutness," and selfhood), or simply project human kinds of representation elsewhere, but to radically rethink what it is that we take representation to be. To do this, we need first to provincialize language. We need, in Viveiros de Castro's words, to "decolonize thought," in order to see that thinking is not necessarily circumscribed by language, the symbolic, or the human.
This involves reconsidering who in this world represents, as well as what it is that counts as representation. It also involves understanding how different kinds of representation work and how these different kinds of representation variously interact with each other. What sort of life does semiosis take beyond the trappings of internal human minds, beyond specifically human propensities, such as the ability to use language, and beyond those specifically human concerns that those propensities engender? An anthropology beyond the human encourages us to explore what signs look like beyond the human.
Is such an exploration possible? Or do the all-too-human contexts in which we live bar us from such an endeavor? Are we forever trapped inside our linguistically and culturally mediated ways of thinking? My answer is no: a more complete understanding of representation, which can account for the ways in which that exceptionally human kind of semiosis grows out of and is constantly in interplay with other kinds of more widely distributed representational modalities, can show us a more productive and analytically robust way out of this persistent dualism.
We humans are not the only ones who do things for the sake of a future by re-presenting it in the present. All living selves do this in some way or another. Representation, purpose, and future are in the world-and not just in that part of the world that we delimit as human mind. This is why it is appropriate to say that there is agency in the living world that extends beyond the human. And yet reducing agency to cause and effect-to "affect"-side steps the fact that it is human and nonhuman ways of "thinking" that confer agency. Reducing agency to some sort of generic propensity shared by humans and nonhumans (which in such approaches includes objects) thanks to the fact that these entities can all equally be represented (or that they can confound these representations), and that they then participate by virtue of this in some sort of very humanlike narrative, trivializes this thinking by failing to distinguish among ways of thinking and by indiscriminately applying distinctively human ways of thinking (based on symbolic representation) to any entity.
The challenge is to defamiliarize the arbitrary sign whose peculiar properties are so natural to us because they seem to pervade everything that is in any way human and anything else about which humans can hope to know. That you can feel tsupu without knowing Quichua makes language appear strange. It reveals that not all the signs with which we traffic are symbols and that those nonsymbolic signs can in important ways break out of bounded symbolic contexts like language. This explains not only why we can come to feel tsupu without speaking Quichua but also why Hilario can communicate with a nonsymbolic being. Indeed, the startled monkey's jump, and the entire ecosystem that sustains her, constitutes a web of semiosis of which the distinctive semiosis of her human hunters is just one particular kind of thread.
To summarize: signs are not exclusively human affairs. All living beings sign. We humans are therefore at home with the multitude of semiotic life. Our exceptional status is not the walled compound we thought we once inhabited. An anthropology that focuses on the relations we humans have with nonhuman beings forces us to step beyond the human. In the process it makes what we've taken to be the human condition-namely, the paradoxical, and "provincialized," fact that our nature is to live immersed in the "unnatural" worlds we construct-appear a little strange. Learning how to appreciate this is an important goal of an anthropology beyond the human.
The Feeling of Radical Separation
The Amazon's many layers of life amplify and make apparent these greater than human webs of semiosis. Allowing its forests to think their ways through us can help us appreciate how we too are always, in some way or another, embedded in such webs and how we might do conceptual work with this fact. This is what draws me to this place. But I've also learned something from attending to those times when I've felt cut off from these broader semiotic webs that extend beyond the symbolic. Here I reflect on such an experience that I had on one of the many bus trips I made from Quito to the Amazon region. I relay the feeling of what happened on this trip, not as a personal indulgence, but because I think it reveals a specific quality of symbolic modes of thinking-the propensity that symbolic thought has to jump out of the broader semiotic field from which it emerges, separating us, in the process, from the world around us. As such, this experience can also teach us something about how to understand the relation that symbolic thought has to the other kinds of thought in the world with which it is continuous and from which it emerges. In this sense, this reflection on my experience is also part of a broader critique, developed in the following two sections, of the dualistic assumptions at the base of so many of our analytical frameworks. I explore this experience of becoming dual, of feeling ripped out of a broader semiotic environment, that I had on a trip down to el Oriente, Ecuador's Amazonian region east of the Andes, by means of a narrative detour. Apart from serving as a bit of a respite from the conceptual work done in this chapter, I hope it will give some sense of the way in which Ávila itself is embedded in a landscape with a history. For this trip traces the trajectories of many other trips, and all of these catch this place up in so many kinds of webs.
The past few days had been unusually rainy on the eastern slopes of the Andes, and the main road leading down to the lowlands had been intermittently washed out. Joined by my cousin Vanessa, who was in Ecuador visiting relatives, I boarded a bus headed for theOriente. With the exception of a group of Spanish tourists occupying the back rows, the bus was filled with locals who lived along the route or in Tena, the capital of Napo Province and the bus's final destination. This was a trip I had made many times by now, and it was our plan to take this bus along its route over the high cordillera east of Quito that divides the Amazonian watershed from the inter-Andean valley and then to follow this down through the village of Papallacta, the site of a pre-Hispanic cloud forest settlement situated along one of the major trade routes through which highland and lowland products flowed (I refer you to figure 1 in the introduction). Today Papallacta is an important pumping station for Amazonian resources such as crude oil, which since the 1970s has transformed the country's economy and opened up the Oriente for development, and, more recently, drinking water for Quito tapped from the vast watershed east of the Andes. Nestled in a mountain chain that still experiences frequent geological activity, it is also the site of some very popular hot springs. Papallacta is, like many of the other cloud forest towns we would pass on our route, now mainly inhabited by highland settlers. The road is carved out of the precipitous gorges of the Quijos River valley, which it follows through what was the stronghold of the pre-Hispanic and early colonial alliance of Quijos chiefdoms. The ancestors of the Ávila Runa formed part of this alliance. Farmers regularly expose thousand-year-old residential terraces as they clear the steep forested slopes to create pastures. The route continues along the trajectory of the foot trails that until the 1960s connected Ávila and other lowland Runa villages like it, by means of an arduous eight-day journey, to Quito. We would take this road through the town of Baeza, which, along with Ávila and Archidona, was the first Spanish settlement founded in the Upper Amazon. Baeza was almost sacked in the same regionally coordinated 1578 indigenous uprising-sparked by the shamanic vision of a cow-god-that completely destroyed Ávila and left virtually all its Spanish inhabitants dead. Today's Baeza bears little resemblance to that historical town-having been relocated a few kilometers away following a large earthquake in 1987. Just before Baeza there is a fork in the road. One branch heads northeast toward the town of Lago Agrio. This was the first major center of oil extraction in Ecuador, and its name is a literal translation of Sour Lake, the site where oil was first discovered in Texas (and the birthplace of Texaco). The other branch, the one we would take, follows an older route to the town of Tena. In the 1950s Tena represented the boundary between civilization and the "savage" heathens (the Huaorani) to the east. Now it is a quaint town. After winding through steep and unstable terrain we would cross the Cosanga River where 150 years ago the Italian explorer Gaetano Osculati was abandoned by his Runa porters and forced to spend several miserable nights alone fending off jaguars (Osculati 1990). After this crossing there would be a final climb through the Huacamayos Cordillera, which is the last range to be traversed before dropping down to the warm valleys that lead to Archidona and Tena. On a clear day one can catch from here the shimmering reflections off the metal roofs in Archidona down below, as well as the road that goes from Tena to Puerto Napo, where it cuts a swath of red earth in the steep grade of a hill. Puerto Napo is the long abandoned "port" on the Napo River (indicated by a little anchor in figure 1), which flows into the Amazon. It had the misfortune of being situated just upstream from a dangerous whirlpool. If there are no clouds one can also see the sugar cone peak of the Sumaco Volcano on whose foothills Ávila sits. An area of close to 200,000 hectares making up the peak and many of its slopes is protected as a biosphere reserve. This reserve, in turn, is surrounded by a much larger area, which is designated as national forest. Ávila territory forms a border with this vast expanse on its western boundary.
Once out of the mountains the air becomes warmer and heavier as we pass little hamlets settled by lowland Runa. Finally, at another fork an hour before arriving at Tena, we would hop off to wait for a second bus that works its way along this decidedly more local and personal route. On this tertiary road a bus driver might stop to broker a deal on a few boxes of the tart naranjilla fruits used to make breakfast juice throughout Ecuador. Or he might be persuaded to wait a few minutes for a regular passenger. This is a relatively new road, having been completed in the aftermath of the 1987 earthquake with the not entirely disinterested help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It winds through the foothills that circle Sumaco Volcano before heading out across the Amazonian plain at Loreto. It ends at the town of Coca at the confluence of the Coca and Napo Rivers. Coca, like Tena, but several decades later, also served as a frontier outpost of the Ecuadorian state as its control expanded deeper into this region. This road cuts through what used to be the hunting territories of the Runa villages of Cotapino, Loreto, Ávila, and San José, which, along with a handful of "white"-owned estates, or haciendas, and a Catholic mission in Loreto, were the only settlements in this area before the 1980s. Today large portions of these hunting territories are occupied by outsiders-either fellow Runa from the more densely populated Archidona region (whom people in Ávila refer to as boulu, from pueblo, referring to the fact that they are more city-wise) or small-time farmers and merchants of coastal or highland origin who are often referred to as colonos (or jahua llacta, in Quichua; lit., "highlanders").
Right after crossing the immense steel panel bridge that traverses the Suno River, one of several such structures along this route donated by the U.S. Army, we would get off at Loreto, the parish seat and biggest town on the road. We would spend the night here at the Josephine mission run by Italian priests. The following day we would retrace our steps, either by foot or by pickup truck, back over the bridge and then along a dirt road that follows the Suno River through colonist farms and pastures until we hit the trail leading to Ávila. Roads in eastern Ecuador extend in fits and starts over many years. Their growth spurts usually coincide with local election campaigns. When I first started visiting Ávila in 1992 there were only foot trails from Loreto, and it would take me the better part of a day to get to Hilario's house. On my most recent visit one could, on a dry day, get to the easternmost portion of Ávila territory by pickup truck.
This was the route we had hoped to traverse. In fact, we didn't make it to Loreto that day. Not too far after Papallacta we encountered the first of a series of landslides set off by the heavy rains. And while our bus, along with a growing string of trucks, tankers, buses, and cars, waited for this to be cleared we became trapped by another landslide behind us.
This is steep, unstable, and dangerous terrain. The landslides reawakened in me a jumble of disturbing images from a decade of traveling this road: a snake frantically tracing figure eights in an immense mudflow that had washed over the road moments before we had gotten there; a steel bridge buckled in half like a crushed soda can by a slurry of rocks let loose as the mountain above it came down; a cliff splattered with yellow paint, the only sign left of the delivery truck that had careened into the ravine the night before. But landslides mostly cause delays. Those that can't quickly be cleared become sites for "trasbordos," an arrangement whereby oncoming buses that can no longer reach their destinations exchange passengers before turning back.
On this day a trasbordo was out of the question. Traffic was backed up in both directions, and we were trapped by a series of landslides scattered over a distance of several kilometers. The mountain above was starting to fall on us. At one point a rock crashed down onto our roof. I was scared.
No one else, however, seemed to think we were in danger. Perhaps out of sheer nerve, fatalism, or the need, above anything else, to complete the trip, neither the driver nor his assistant ever lost his cool. To a certain extent I could understand this. It was the tourists that baffled me. These middle-aged Spanish women had booked one of the tours that visit the rain forests and indigenous villages along the Napo River. As I worried, these women were joking and laughing. At one point one even got off the bus and walked ahead a few cars to a supply truck off of which she bought ham and bread and proceeded to make sandwiches for her group.
The incongruity between the tourists' nonchalance and my sense of danger provoked in me a strange feeling. As my constant what-ifs became increasingly distant from the carefree chattering tourists, what at first began as a diffuse sense of unease soon morphed into a sense of profound alienation.
This discrepancy between my perception of the world and that of those around me sundered me from the world and those living in it. All I was left with were my own thoughts of future dangers spinning themselves out of control. And then something more disturbing happened. Because I sensed that my thoughts were out of joint with those around me, I soon began to doubt their connection to what I had always trusted to be there for me: my own living body, the body that would otherwise give a home to my thoughts and locate this home in a world whose palpable reality I shared with others. I came, in other words, to feel a tenuous sense of existence without location-a sense of deracination that put into question my very being. For if the risks I was so sure of didn't exist-after all, no one else on that bus seemed frightened that the mountain would fall on us-then why should I trust my bodily connection to that world? Why should I trust "my" connection to "my" body? And if I didn't have a body what was "I"? Was I even alive? Thinking like this, my thoughts ran wild.
This feeling of radical doubt, the feeling of being cut off from my body and a world whose existence I no longer trusted, didn't go away when several hours later the landslides were cleared and we were able to get through. Nor did it subside when we finally got to Tena (it was too late to make it to Loreto that night). Not even in the relative comfort of my old haunt the hotel El Dorado did I manage to feel much better. This simple but cozy family-run inn used to be my stopping point when I was doing research in Runa communities on the Napo River. It was owned by don Salazar, a veteran-with the scar to prove it-of Ecuador's short war with Peru in which Ecuador lost a third of its territory and access to the Amazon River. The hotel's name, El Dorado, appropriately marks this loss by paying homage to that never quite attainable City of Gold that lies somewhere deep in the Amazon (see Slater 2002; see also chapters 5 and 6).
The next morning after a fitful night I was still out of sorts. I couldn't stop imagining different dangerous scenarios, and I still felt cut off from my body and from those around me. Of course I pretended I wasn't feeling any of this. Trying at least to act normal, and in the process compounding my private anxiety by failing to give it a social existence, I took my cousin for a short walk along the banks of the Misahuallí River, which cuts the town of Tena in half. Within a few minutes I spotted a tanager feeding in the shrubs at the scruffy edges of town where molding cinder blocks meet polished river cobbles. I had brought along my binoculars and managed, after some searching, to locate the bird. I rolled the focusing knob and the moment that bird's thick black beak became sharp I experienced a sudden shift. My sense of separation simply dissolved. And, like the tanager coming into focus, I snapped back into the world of life.
There is a name for what I felt on that trip to the Oriente: anxiety. After reading Constructing Panic (1995), a remarkable account, written by the late psychologist Lisa Capps and the linguistic anthropologist Elinor Ochs, of one woman's lifelong struggles with anxiety, I've come to an understanding of this condition as revealing something important about the specific qualities of symbolic thought. Here is how Meg, the woman they write about, experiences the suffocating weight of all of the future possibles opened up by the symbolic imagination.
Sometimes I get to the end of the day and feel exhausted by all of the "what if that had happened" and "what if this happens." And then I realize that I've been sitting on the sofa-that it's just me and my own thoughts driving me crazy. (Capps and Ochs 1995: 25)
Capps and Ochs describe Meg as "desperate" to "experience the reality that she attributes to normal people" (25). Meg feels "severed from an awareness of herself and her environment as familiar and knowable" (31). She senses that her experience does not fit with what, according to others, "happened" (24), and she thus has no one with whom to share a common image of the world, or a set of assumptions about how it works. Furthermore, she can't seem to ground herself in any specific place. Meg often uses the construction, "here I am," to express her existential predicament, but a crucial element is missing: "she is telling her interlocutors that she exists, but not where in particular she is located" (64).
The title Constructing Panic is intended by the authors to refer to how Meg discursively constructs her experience of panic-their assumption being that "the stories people tell construct who they are and how they view the world" (8). But I think the title reveals something deeper about panic. It is precisely the constructive quality of symbolic thought, the fact that symbolic thought can create so many virtual worlds, that makes anxiety possible. It is not just that Meg constructs her experience of panic linguistically, socially, culturally, in other words, symbolically, rather that panic itself is a symptom of symbolic construction run wild.
Reading Capps and Ochs's discussion of Meg's experience of panic, and thinking about it semiotically, I think I have come to an understanding of what happened on that trip to the Oriente, the factors that produced panic in me, and those that led to its dissipation. As with Meg, who locates her first experiences of anxiety in situations in which her legitimate fears were not socially recognized (31), my anxiety emerged as I was confronted with the disconnect between my well-founded fear and the carefree attitudes of the tourists on the bus.
Symbolic thought run wild can create minds radically separate from the indexical grounding their bodies might otherwise provide. Our bodies, like all of life, are the products of semiosis. Our sensory experiences, even our most basic cellular and metabolic processes, are mediated by representational-though not necessarily symbolic-relations (see chapter 2). But symbolic thought run wild can make us experience "ourselves" as set apart from everything: our social contexts, the environments in which we live, and ultimately even our desires and dreams. We become displaced to such an extent that we come to question the indexical ties that would otherwise ground this special kind of symbolic thinking in "our" bodies, bodies that are themselves indexically grounded in the worlds beyond them: I think therefore I doubt that I am.
How is this possible? And why is it that we don't all live in a constant state of skeptical panic? That my sense of anxious alienation dissipated the moment the bird came into sharp focus provides some insights into the conditions under which symbolic thought can become so radically separate from the world, as well as those under which it can fall back into place. I do not, by any means, wish to romanticize tropical nature or privilege anyone's connection to it. This sort of regrounding can happen anywhere. Nonetheless, sighting that tanager in the bush at the messy edge of town taught me something about how immersion in this particularly dense ecology amplifies and makes visible a larger semiotic field beyond that which is exceptionally human, one in which we are all-usually-emplaced. Seeing that tanager made me sane by allowing me to situate the feeling of radical separation within something broader. It resituated me in a larger world "beyond" the human. My mind could return to being part of a larger mind. My thoughts about the world could once again become part of the thoughts of the world. An anthropology beyond the human strives to grasp the importance of these sorts of connections while appreciating why we humans are so apt to lose sight of them.
Novelty out of Continuity
Thinking about panic in this way has led me to question more broadly how best to theorize the separation that symbolic thought creates. We tend to assume that because something like the symbolic is exceptionally human and thus novel (at least as far as earthly life is concerned) it must also be radically separate from that from which it comes. This is the Durkheimian legacy we inherit: social facts have their own kind of novel reality, which can only be understood in terms of other such social facts and not in terms of anything-be it psychological, biological, or physical-prior to them (see Durkheim 1972: 69-73). But the sense of radical separation that I experienced is psychically untenable-even life negating in some sense. And this leads me to suspect that there is something the matter with any analytical approach that would take such a separation as its starting point.
If, as I claim, our distinctively human thoughts stand in continuity with the forest's thoughts insofar as both are in some way or other the products of the semiosis that is intrinsic to life (see chapter 2), then an anthropology beyond the human must find a way to account for the distinctive qualities of human thought without losing sight of its relation to these more pervasive semiotic logics. Accounting conceptually for the relation this novel dynamic has to that from which it comes can help us better understand the relationship between what we take to be distinctively human and that which lies beyond us. In this regard I want to think here about what panic, and especially its resolution, has taught me. To do so I draw on a series of Amazonian examples to trace the ways in which iconic, indexical, and symbolic processes are nested within each other. Symbols depend on indices for their being and indices depend on icons. This allows us to appreciate what makes each of these unique without losing sight of how they also stand in a relation of continuity with each other.
Following Deacon (1997), I begin with a counterintuitive example at the very margins of semiosis. Consider the cryptically camouflaged Amazonian insect known as the walking stick in English because its elongated torso looks so much like a twig. Its Quichua name is shanga. Entomologists call it, appropriately, a phasmid-as in phantom-placing it in the order Phasmida and the family Phasmidae. This name is fitting. What makes these creatures so distinctive is their lack of distinction: they disappear like a phantom into the background. How did they come to be so phantasmic? The ontogenesis of such creatures reveals important things about some of the "phantomlike" logical properties of semiosis that can, in turn, help us understand some of the counterintuitive properties of life "itself"-properties that are amplified in the Amazon and Runa ways of living there. For this reason, I will return to this example throughout the book. Here I want to focus on it with an eye to understanding how the different semiotic modalities-the iconic, the indexical, the symbolic-have their own unique properties at the same time that they stand in a relation of nested continuity to each other.
How did walking sticks come to be so invisible, so phantomlike? That such a phasmid looks like a twig does not depend on anyone noticing this resemblance-our usual understanding of how likeness works. Rather, its likeness is the product of the fact that the ancestors of its potential predators did not notice its ancestors. These potential predators failed to notice the differences between these ancestors and actual twigs. Over evolutionary time those lineages of walking sticks that were least noticed survived. Thanks to all the proto-walking sticks that were noticed-and eaten-because they differed from their environments walking sticks came to be more like the world of twigs around them.
How walking sticks came to be so invisible reveals important properties of iconicity. Iconicity, the most basic kind of sign process, is highly counterintuitive because it involves a process by which two things are not distinguished. We tend to think of icons as signs that point to the similarities among things we know to be different. We know, for example, that the iconic stick figure of the man on the bathroom door resembles but is not the same as the person who might walk through that door. But there is something deeper about iconicity that is missed when we focus on this sort of example. Semiosis does not begin with the recognition of any intrinsic similarity or difference. Rather, it begins with not noticing difference. It begins with indistinction. For this reason iconicity occupies a space at the very margins of semiosis (for there is nothing semiotic about never noticing anything at all). It marks the beginning and end of thought. With icons new interpretants-subsequent signs that would further specify something about their objects-are no longer produced (Deacon 1997: 76, 77); with icons thought is at rest. Understanding something, however provisional that understanding may be, involves an icon. It involves a thought that is like its object. It involves an image that is a likeness of that object. For this reason all semiosis ultimately relies on the transformation of more complex signs into icons (Peirce CP 2.278).
Signs, of course, provide information. They tell us something new. They tell us about a difference. That is their reason for being. Semiosis must then involve something other than likeness. It must also involve a semiotic logic that points to something else-a logic that is indexical. How do the semiotic logics of likeness and difference relate to each other? Again, following Deacon (1997), consider the following schematic explanation of how that woolly monkey that Hilario and Lucio were trying to frighten out of her hidden canopy perch might learn to interpret a crashing palm as a sign of danger. The thundering crash she heard would iconically call to mind past experiences of similar crashes. These past experiences of crashing sounds share with each other additional similarities, such as their co-occurrence with something dangerous-say, a branch breaking or a predator approaching. The monkey would in addition iconically link these past dangers to each other. That the sound made by a crashing tree might indicate danger is, then, the product of, on the one hand, iconic associations of loud noises with other loud noises, and, on the other, iconic associations of dangerous events with other dangerous events. That these two sets of iconic associations are repeatedly linked to each other encourages the current experience of a sudden loud noise to be seen as linked to them. But now this association is also something more than a likeness. It impels the monkey to "guess" that the crash must be linked to something other than itself, something different. Just as a wind vane, as an index, is interpreted as pointing to something other than itself, namely, the direction in which the wind is blowing, so this loud noise is interpreted as pointing to something more than just a noise; it points to something dangerous.
Indexicality, then, involves something more than iconicity. And yet it emerges as a result of a complex hierarchical set of associations among icons. The logical relationship between icons and indices is unidirectional. Indices are the products of a special layered relation among icons but not the other way around. Indexical reference, such as that involved in the monkey's take on the crashing tree, is a higher-order product of a special relationship among three icons: crashes bring to mind other crashes; dangers associated with such crashes bring to mind other such associations; and these, in turn, are associated with the current crash. Because of this special configuration of icons the current crash now points to something not immediately present: a danger. In this way an index emerges from iconic associations. This special relationship among icons results in a form of reference with unique properties that derive from but are not shared with the iconic associational logics with which they are continuous. Indices provide information; they tell us something new about something not immediately present.
Symbols, of course, also provide information. How they do so is both continuous with and different from indices. Just as indices are the product of relations among icons and exhibit unique properties with respect to these more fundamental signs, symbols are the product of relations among indices and have their own unique properties. This relationship also goes only in one direction. Symbols are built from a complex layered interaction among indices, but indices do not require symbols.
A word, such as chorongo, one of the Ávila names for woolly monkey, is a symbol par excellence. Although it can serve an indexical function-pointing to something (or, more appropriately, someone)-it does so indirectly, by virtue of its relation to other words. That is, the relation that such a word has to an object is primarily the result of the conventional relation it has acquired to other words and not just a function of the correlation between sign and object (as with an index). Just as we can think of indexical reference as the product of a special configuration of iconic relations, we can think of symbolic reference as the product of a special configuration of indexical ones. What is the relationship of indices to symbols? Imagine learning Quichua. A word such as chorongo is relatively easy to learn. One can learn that it refers to what in English is called a woolly monkey quite quickly. As such, it isn't really functioning symbolically. The pointing relationship between this "word" and the monkey is primarily indexical. The commands that dogs learn are very much like this. A dog can come to associate a "word" like sit with a behavior. As such, "sit" functions indexically. The dog can understand "sit" without understanding it symbolically. But there is a limit to how far we can go toward learning human language by memorizing words and what they point to; there are just too many individual sign-object relationships to keep track of. Furthermore, rote memorization of sign-object correlations misses the logic of language. Take a somewhat more complex word like causanguichu, which I discussed earlier in this chapter. Non-Quichua speakers can quickly learn that it is a greeting (uttered only in certain social contexts), but getting a sense of what and how it means requires us to understand how it relates to other words and even smaller units of language.
Words like chorongo, sit, or causanguichu do of course refer to things in the world, but in symbolic reference the indexical relation of word to object becomes subordinate to the indexical relation of word to word in a system of such words. When we learn a foreign language or when infants acquire language for the first time there is a shift away from using linguistic signs as indices to appreciating them in their broader symbolic contexts. Deacon (1997) describes one experimental setting where such a shift is particularly apparent. He discusses a long-term lab experiment in which chimps, already adept in their everyday lives at interpreting signs indexically, were trained to replace this interpretive strategy with a symbolic one.
First, the chimps in the experiment had to interpret certain sign vehicles (in this case keyboard keys with certain shapes on them) as indices of certain objects or acts (such as particular food items or actions). Next, such sign vehicles had to be seen as indexically connected to each other in a systematic way. The final, and most difficult and most important, step involved an interpretive shift whereby objects were no longer picked out in a direct fashion by the individual indexical signs but instead came to be picked out indirectly, by virtue of the ways in which the signs representing them related to each other and the ways in which these sign relations then mapped onto how the objects themselves were to be thought to relate to each other. The mapping between these two levels of indexical associations (those linking objects to objects and those linking signs to signs) is iconic (Deacon 1997: 79-92). It involves not noticing the individual indexical associations by which signs can pick out objects in order to see a more encompassing likeness between the relations that link a system of signs and those that link a set of objects.
I am now in a position to account for the sense of separation-which I experienced as panic on the bus ride I described earlier-that the symbolic creates. I can now do so with regard to the more basic forms of reference to which it relates and with which it is continuous.
The symbolic is a prime example of a kind of dynamic that Deacon calls "emergent." For Deacon, an emergent dynamic is one in which particular configurations of constraints on possibility result in unprecedented properties at a higher level. Crucially, however, something that is emergent is never cut off from that from which it came and within which it is nested because it still depends on these more basic levels for its properties (Deacon 2006). Before considering symbolic reference as emergent with respect to other semiotic modalities it is useful to think about how emergence works in the nonhuman world.
Deacon recognizes a series of nested emergent thresholds. An important one is self-organization. Self-organization involves the spontaneous generation, maintenance and propagation of form under the right circumstances. Although relatively ephemeral and rare, self-organization is nonetheless found in the nonliving world. Examples of self-organizing emergent dynamics include the circular whirlpools that sometimes form in Amazonian rivers, or the geometric lattices of crystals or snowflakes. Self-organizing dynamics are more regular and more constrained than the physical entropic dynamics-such as those involved, for example, in the spontaneous flow of heat from a warmer to a colder part of a room-from which they emerge and on which they depend. Entities that exhibit self-organization, such as crystals, snowflakes or whirlpools, are not alive. Nor, despite their name, do they involve a self.
Life, by contrast, is a subsequent emergent threshold nested within self-organization. Living dynamics, as represented by even the most basic organisms, selectively "remember" their own specific self-organizing configurations, which are differentially retained in the maintenance of what can now be understood as a self-a form that is reconstituted and propagated over the generations in ways that exhibit increasingly better fits to the worlds around it. Living dynamics, as I explore in greater detail in the following chapter, are constitutively semiotic. The semiosis of life is iconic and indexical. Symbolic reference, that which makes humans unique, is an emergent dynamic that is nested within this broader semiosis of life from which it stems and on which it depends.
Self-organizing dynamics are distinct from the physical processes from which they emerge and with which they are continuous, and within which they are nested. Living dynamics have a similar relation to the self-organizing dynamics from which they, in turn, emerge, and the same can be said for the relation that symbolic semiosis has to the broader iconic and indexical semiotic processes of life from which it emerges (Deacon 1997: 73). Emergent dynamics, then, are directional both in a logical and in an ontological sense. That is, a world characterized by self-organization need not include life, and a living world need not include symbolic semiosis. But a living world must also be a self-organizing one, and a symbolic world must be nested within the semiosis of life.
I can now return to the emergent properties of symbolic representation. This form of representation is emergent with respect to iconic and indexical reference in the sense that, as with other emergent dynamics, the systemic structure of relationships among symbols is not prefigured in the antecedent modes of reference (Deacon 1997: 99). Like other emergent dynamics symbols have unique properties. The fact that symbols achieve their referential power by virtue of the systemic relations they have to each other means that, as opposed to indices, they can retain referential stability even in the absence of their objects of reference. This is what confers on symbols their unique characteristics. It is what allows symbolic reference to be not only about the here and now, but about the "what if." In the realm of the symbolic, the separation from materiality and energy can be so great and the causal links so convoluted that reference acquires a veritable freedom. And this is what has led to treating it as if it were radically separate from the world (see also Peirce CP 6.101).
Yet, like other emergent dynamics, such as the vortex of a whirlpool formed in a river's current, symbolic reference is also closely tied to the more basic dynamics out of which it grows. This is true in the way that symbols are constructed as well as in the way in which they are interpreted. Symbols are the outcome of a special relationship among indices, which in turn are outcomes of a special relationship that links icons in a particular way. And symbolic interpretation works via pairings of sets of indexical relations, which are ultimately interpreted by recognizing the iconicity between them: all thought ends with an icon. Symbolic reference, then, is ultimately the product of a series of highly convoluted systemic relations among icons. And yet it has properties that are unique when compared to iconic and indexical modalities. Symbolic reference does not exclude these other kinds of sign relations. Symbolic systems such as language can, and regularly do, incorporate relatively iconic signs, as in the case of "words" like tsupu, and they are also completely dependent on iconicity at a variety of levels as well as on all sorts of pointing relationships among signs and between systems of signs and the things they represent. Symbolic reference, finally, like all semiosis, is also ultimately dependent on the more fundamental material, energetic, and self-organizing processes from which it emerges.
Thinking of symbolic reference as emergent can help us understand how, via symbols, reference can become increasingly separated from the world but without ever fully losing the potential to be susceptible to the patterns, habits, forms, and events of the world.
Seeing symbolic reference and by extension human language and culture as emergent follows in the spirit of Peirce's critique of dualistic attempts to separate (human) mind from (nonhuman) matter-an approach that he acerbically characterized as "the philosophy which performs its analyses with an axe, leaving as the ultimate elements, unrelated chunks of being" (CP 7.570). An emergentist approach can provide a theoretical and empirical account of how the symbolic is in continuity with matter at the same time that it can come to be a novel causal locus of possibility. This continuity allows us to recognize how something so unique and separate is also never fully cut off from the rest of the world. This gets at something important about how an anthropology beyond the human seeks to situate that which is distinctive to humans in the broader world from which it emerges.
Panic and its dissipation reveal these properties of symbolic semiosis. They point both to the real dangers of unfettered symbolic thought and to how such thought can be regrounded. Watching birds regrounded my thoughts, and by extension my emerging self, by re-creating the semiotic environment in which symbolic reference is itself nested. Through the artifice of my binoculars I became indexically aligned with a bird, thanks to the fact that I was able to appreciate its image now coming into sharp focus right there in front of me. This event reimmersed me in something that Meg, on her sofa, alone with her thoughts, was not so readily able to find: a knowable (and shareable) environment, and the assurance, for the moment, of some sort of existence, tangibly located in a here and now that extended beyond me but of which I too could come to be a part.
Panic provides us with intimations of what radical dualism might feel like, and why for us humans dualism seems so compelling. In tracing its untenable effects panic also provides its own visceral critique of dualism and the skepticism that so often accompanies it. In panic's dissolution we can also get a sense for how a particular human propensity for dualism is dissolved into something else. One might say that dualism, wherever it is found, is a way of seeing emergent novelty as if it were severed from that from which it emerged.
By watching birds on the banks of the river that morning in Tena I certainly got out of my head in the colloquial sense, but what was I stepping into? Although the more basic semiotic modes of engagement involved in that activity quite literally brought me back to my senses and in the process regrounded me in a world beyond myself-beyond my mind, beyond convention, beyond the human-this experience has led me to ask what kind of world is this that lies out there beyond the symbolic? In other words, this experience, understood in the context of the anthropology beyond the human that I seek here to develop, forces me to rethink what we mean by the "real."
We generally think of the real as that which exists. The palm tree that came crashing down in the forest is real; the shorn branches and crushed plants left in the wake of its fall are proof of its awesome facticity. But a restricted characterization of the real as something that happened-out there and law-bound-can't account for spontaneity, or life's tendency for growth. Nor can it account for the semiosis shared by the living-a semiosis that emerges from and ultimately grounds us humans in the world of life. Furthermore, such a characterization would dualistically reinscribe all possibility in that separate chunk of being we delimit as the human mind with no intimation of how that mind, its semiosis and its creativity, could have emerged from or otherwise be related to anything else.
Peirce was quite concerned with this problem of how to imagine a more capacious real that is more true to a naturalistic, nondualist understanding of the universe and, throughout his career, strove to situate his entire philosophical project-including his semiotics-within a special kind of realism that could encompass actual existence within a broader framework that would account for its relationship to spontaneity, growth, and the life of signs in human and nonhuman worlds. I turn here to a brief exposition of his framework because it provides a vision of the real that can encompass living minds and nonliving matter, as well as the many processes through which the former emerged from the latter.
According to Peirce there are three aspects of the real of which we can become aware (CP 1.23-26). The element of the real that is easiest for us to comprehend is what Peirce called "secondness." The crashing palm is a quintessential second. Secondness refers to otherness, change, events, resistance, and facts. Seconds are "brutal" (CP 1.419). They "shock" (CP 1.336) us out of our habitual ways of imagining how things are. They force us to "think otherwise than we have been thinking" (CP 1.336).
Peirce's realism also encompasses something he called "firstness." Firsts are "mere may-bes, not necessarily realized." They involve the special kind of reality of a spontaneity, a quality, or a possibility (CP 1.304), in its "own suchness" (CP 1.424), regardless of its relation to anything else. One day out in the forest Hilario and I came across a bunch of wild passion fruits that had been knocked down by a troop of monkeys feeding up above. We took a break from our trek to snack on the monkeys' leftovers. As I cracked open the fruit, I caught, just for an instant, a pungent whiff of cinnamon. By the time I brought the fruit to my mouth it was gone. The experience of the fleeting smell, in and of itself, without attention to where it came from, what it is like, or to what it connects, approaches firstness.
Thirdness, finally, is that aspect of Peirce's realism that is the most important to the argument in this book. Drawing inspiration from the medieval Scholastics, Peirce insisted that "generals are real." That is, habits, regularities, patterns, relationality, future possibilities, and purposes-what he called thirds- have an eventual efficacy, and they can originate and manifest themselves in worlds outside of human minds (CP 1.409). The world is characterized by "the tendency of all things to take habits" (CP 6.101): the general tendency in the universe toward an increase in entropy is a habit; the less common tendency toward increases in regularity, exhibited in self-organizing processes such as the formation of circular whirlpools in a river or crystal lattice structures, is also a habit; and life, with its ability to predict and harness such regularities and, in the process, create an increasing array of novel kinds of regularities, amplifies this tendency toward habit taking. This tendency is what makes the world potentially predictable and what makes life as a semiotic process, which is ultimately inferential, possible. For it is only because the world has some semblance of regularity that it can be represented. Signs are habits about habits. Tropical forests with their many layers of coevolved life-forms amplify this tendency toward habit taking to an extreme.
All processes that involve mediation exhibit thirdness. Accordingly, all sign processes exhibit thirdness because they serve as a third term that mediates between "something" and some sort of "someone" in some way. However, it is important to stress that for Peirce, although all signs are thirds, not all thirds are signs. Generality, the tendency toward habit, is not a feature that is imposed on the world by a semiotic mind. It is out there. The thirdness in the world is the condition for semiosis, it is not something that semiosis "brings" to the world.
For Peirce everything exhibits, to some degree or other, firstness, secondness, and thirdness (CP 1.286, 6.323). Different kinds of sign processes attend to and amplify certain aspects of each of these to the neglect of others. Although all signs are intrinsically triadic, in that they all represent something to a someone, different kinds of signs attend more toward either firstness, secondness, or thirdness.
Icons, as thirds, are relative firsts in that they mediate by the fact that they possess the same qualities as their objects regardless of their relation to anything else. This is why Quichua imagistic "words" like tsupu cannot be negated or inflected. There is a way in which they are just qualities in their "own suchness." Indices, as thirds, are relative seconds because they mediate by being affected by their objects. The crashing palm startled the monkey. Symbols, as thirds, by contrast, are doubly triadic because they mediate by reference to something general-an emerging habit. They mean by virtue of the relationship they have to the conventional and abstract system of symbols-a system of habits-that will come to interpret them. This is why understanding causanguichu requires a familiarity with Quichua as a whole. The symbolic is a habit about a habit that, to a degree unprecedented elsewhere on this planet, begets other habits.
Our thoughts are like the world because we are of the world. Thought (of any kind) is a highly convoluted habit that has emerged out of, and is continuous with, the tendency in the world toward habit taking. In this manner Peirce's special kind of realism can allow us to begin to envision an anthropology that can be about the world in ways that recognize but also go beyond the limits of human-specific ways of knowing. Rethinking semiosis is the place from which to begin such an endeavor.
It is through this expanded vision of the real that we can consider what it was that I was getting out of when that bird came into focus through the glass of my binoculars, and what it was in that process that I stepped into. As Capps and Ochs astutely point out, what is so disturbing about panic is the feeling of being out of sync with others. We come to be alone with thoughts that become increasingly cut off from the broader field of habits that gave rise to them. In other words, there is always the danger that symbolic thought's unmatched ability to create habit can pull us out of the habits in which we are inserted.
But the living mind is not uprooted in this way. Thoughts that grow and are alive are always about something in the world, even if that something is a potential future effect. Part of the generality of thought-its thirdness-is that it is not just located in a single stable self. Rather, it is constitutive of an emerging one distributed over multiple bodies:
Man is not whole as long as he is single[;] ... he is essentially a possible member of society. Especially, one man's experience is nothing, if it stands alone. If he sees what others cannot, we call it hallucination. It is not "my" experience, but "our" experience that has to be thought of; and this "us" has indefinite possibilities. (Peirce CP 5.402)
This "us" is a general.
And panic disrupts this general. With panic there is a collapse of the triadic relation linking my habit-making mind to other habit-making minds vis-à-vis our ability to share the experience of the habits of the world that we discover. The solipsistic enfolding of an increasingly private mind onto itself results in something terrifying: the implosion of the self. In panic the self becomes a monadic "first" severed from the rest of the world; a "possible member of society" whose only capability is to doubt the existence of any of what Haraway (2003) calls its more "fleshly" connections to the world. The result, in sum, is a skeptical Cartesian cogito: a fixed "I (only) think (symbolically) therefore I (doubt that I) am" instead of a growing, hopeful, and emergent "us" with all its "indefinite possibilities."
This triadic alignment that results in an emergent "us" is achieved indexically and iconically. Consider Lucio's running commentary after he shot the woolly monkey that had been scared out of her treetop perch by the palm tree that Hilario felled:
what's gonna happen?
there, it's curled up in a ball
Hilario, whose eyesight is not as good as Lucio's, wasn't immediately able to see the monkey up in the tree. Whispering, he asked his son, "Where?" And as the monkey suddenly began to move Lucio rapidly responded, "Look! look! look! look!"
The imperative "look!" (Quichua "ricui!") functions here as an index to orient Hilario's gaze along the path of the monkey's movement across the length of the branch. As such it aligns Hilario and Lucio vis-à-vis the monkey in the tree. In addition, Lucio's rhythmic repetition of the imperative iconically captures the pace of the monkey's movement along the branch. Through this image that Hilario can also come to share, Lucio can "directly communicate" his experience of seeing the wounded monkey moving through the canopy, regardless of whether his father actually managed to see her.
It is precisely this sort of iconic and indexical alignment that brought me back into the world the moment that tanager came into focus in my binoculars. That crisp image of the bird sitting right there in those shrubs grounded me again in a shareable real. This is so even though icons and indices do not provide us with any immediate purchase on the world. All signs involve mediation, and all of our experiences are semiotically mediated. There is no bodily, inner, or other kind of experience or thought that is unmediated (see Peirce CP 8.332). Furthermore, there is nothing intrinsically objective about this real tanager feeding on a real riverbank plant. For this animal and its shrubby perch-like me-are semiotic creatures through and through. They are the results of representation. They are outcomes of an evolutionary process of ever-increasing alignment with that series of proliferating web of habits that constitutes tropical life. Such habits are real, regardless of whether or not I can appreciate them. By acquiring a feel for some of these habits, as I did with that tanager on the river's edge that morning, I can potentially become aligned with a broader "us" thanks to the way others can share this experience with me.
Like our thoughts and minds, birds and plants are emergent reals. Life-forms, as they represent and amplify the habits of the world, create new habits, and their interactions with other organisms create even more habits. Life, then, proliferates habits. Tropical forests, with their high biomass, unparalleled species diversity, and intricate coevolutionary interactions, exhibit this tendency toward habit taking to an unusual degree. For people like the Ávila Runa, who are intimately involved with the forest through hunting and other subsistence activities, being able to predict these habits is of the utmost importance.
So much of what draws me to the Amazon is the ways in which one kind of third (the habits of the world) are represented by another kind of third (the human and nonhuman semiotic selves who live in and constitute this world) in such a way that more kinds of thirds can "flourish" (see Haraway 2008). Life proliferates habits. Tropical life amplifies this to an extreme, and the Runa and others who are immersed in this biological world can amplify this even further.
Being alive-being in the flow of life-involves aligning ourselves with an ever-increasing array of emerging habits. But being alive is more than being in habit. The lively flourishing of that semiotic dynamic whose source and outcome is what I call self is also a product of disruption and shock. As opposed to inanimate matter, which Peirce characterized as "mind whose habits have become fixed so as to lose the powers of forming them and losing them," mind (or self) "has acquired in a remarkable degree a habit of taking and laying aside habits" (CP 6.101).
This habit of selectively discarding certain other habits results in the emergence of higher-order habits. In other words, growth requires learning something about the habits around us, and yet this often involves a disruption of our habituated expectations of what the world is like. When the pig that Maxi shot plunged-tsupu-into the river, as wounded pigs are known to do, Maxi assumed that he had gotten his quarry. He was wrong:
foolishly, "it's gonna die," I'm thinking
it suddenly ran off
Maxi's feeling of bewilderment occasioned by the supposedly dead peccary suddenly jumping up and running off reveals something of what Haraway (1999: 184) calls "a sense of the world's independent sense of humor." And it is in such moments of "shock" that the habits of the world make themselves manifest. That is, we don't usually notice the habits we in-habit. It is only when the world's habits clash with our expectations that the world in its otherness, and its existent actuality as something other than what we currently are, is revealed. The challenge that follows this disruption is to grow. The challenge is to create a new habit that will encompass this foreign habit and, in the process, to remake ourselves, however momentarily, anew, as one with the world around us.
Living in and from the tropical forest requires an ability to make sense of the many layers of its habits. This is sometimes accomplished by recognizing those elements that appear to disrupt them. On another walk in the forest with Hilario and his son Lucio we came across a small bird of prey, known in English as the hook-billed kite, perched in the branches of a small tree. Lucio shot at it but missed. Frightened, the bird flew off in a strange manner. Rather than fly rapidly through the understory, as raptors are expected to do, it lumbered off quite slowly. As he pointed in the direction in which it went Lucio remarked:
it just went off slowly
tca tca tca tca
Tca tca tca tca. Throughout the day Lucio repeated this sonic image of wings flapping slowly, hesitantly, and somewhat awkwardly. The kite's cumbersome flight caught Lucio's attention. It disrupted the expectation that raptors should exhibit swift and powerful flight. Similarly the ornithologists Hilty and Brown (1986: 91) describe the hook-billed kite as having unusually "broad lanky wings" and being "rather sedentary and sluggish." Compared to other raptors that exhibit swifter flight, this bird is anomalous. It disrupts our assumptions about raptors, and this is why its habits are interesting.
Another example: upon returning home one morning from a hunt Hilario pulled out from his net bag an epiphytic cactus (Discocactus amazonicus) dotted with purple flowers. He called it viñarina panga or viñari panga, because, as he explained, "pangamanda viñarin,""it grows out of its leaves." It has no particular use, although, like other succulent epiphytes such as orchids, he thought that the macerated stem might make a good poultice to apply to cuts. But because the leaves of this plant appear to grow out of other leaves, Hilario found this plant strange. The name "viñari panga" gets at a botanical habit that extends deep into the evolutionary past. Leaves do not grow out of other leaves. They can only grow out of the meristematic tissue located in buds on twigs, stems, and branches. The ancestral group within the cacti, from which D. amazonicus is derived, originally lost its laminar photosynthetic leaves and developed succulent rounded photosynthetic stems. Those flattened green structures that grow out of each other in D. amazonicus are therefore not true leaves. They are actually stems that function as leaves and for this reason they can grow out of each other. These leaflike stems appear to put into question the habit that leaves sprout from stems. This is what makes them interesting.
Wholes Precede Parts
In semiosis, as in biology, wholes precede parts; similarity precedes difference (see Bateson 2002: 159). Thoughts and lives both begin as wholes-albeit ones that can be extremely vague and underspecified. A single-celled embryo, however simple and undifferentiated, is just as whole as the multicellular organism into which it will develop. An icon, however rudimentary its likeness, insofar as it is taken as a likeness, imperfectly captures the object of its similarity as a whole. It is only in the realm of the machine that the differentiated part comes first and the assembled whole second. Semiosis and life, by contrast, begin whole.
An image, then, is a semiotic whole, but as such it can be a very rough approximation of the habits it represents. One afternoon while drinking manioc beer at Ascencio's house we heard Sandra, Ascencio's daughter, cry out from her garden some way off, "A snake! Come kill it!" Ascencio's son Oswaldo rushed out, and I followed close behind. Although the creature in question turned out to be an inoffensive whipsnake, Oswaldo killed it anyway with a blow from the broad side of his machete and then severed and buried its head. As we walked back to the house Oswaldo pointed out a little stump that I had just stumbled on and noted that he had seen me stumble on the very same stump the day before on our return along that path after a long day out hunting with his father and brother-in-law in the steep forested slopes west of Ávila.
On those walks with Oswaldo back to the house my ambulatory habits had only imperfectly matched the habits of the world. Because of fatigue or mild inebriation (the first time I had stumbled on that stump we had hiked more than ten hours over very steep terrain and I was exhausted, the second time I had just finished off several big bowls of manioc beer) I simply failed to interpret some of the features of the path as salient. I acted as if there were no obstacles. I could get away with this because my regular gait was an interpretive habit-an image of the path-that was good enough for the challenge at hand. Given the conditions that we faced it didn't really matter if the way I walked didn't perfectly match the features of the path. If, however, we had been running, or if I had been burdened by a heavy load, or if it had been raining heavily, or if I had been a little bit more tipsy, that lack of fit may well have become amplified, and instead of slightly stumbling I might well have tripped and fallen.
My tipsy or fatigued representation of the forest path was so rudimentary that I failed to notice its differences. Until Oswaldo pointed it out to me I never noticed the stump, or that I had stumbled on it-twice! My stumbling had become its own fixed habit. By virtue of the regularity my imperfect walking habit had assumed-so regular that I could repeatedly kick the same stump on successive days-it became visible to Oswaldo as its own anomalous habit. And yet, however imperfect its match to the path, my manner of walking was good enough. It got me home.
But there was something lost in that "good enough" habituated automatization. Perhaps that day walking back to Ascencio's house, I had become, for a moment, more like matter-"mind whose habits had become fixed"-and less a learning and yearning, living and growing self.
Unexpected events, such as the sudden appearance of a stump across our path-when we manage to notice it-or Maxi's peccary suddenly reviving can disrupt our assumptions of how the world is. And it is this very disruption, the breakdown of old habits and the rebuilding of new ones, that constitutes our feeling of being alive and in the world. The world is revealed to us, not by the fact that we come to have habits, but in the moments when, forced to abandon our old habits, we come to take up new ones. This is where we can catch glimpses-however mediated-of the emergent real to which we also contribute.
The Open Whole
Recognizing how semiosis is something broader than the symbolic can allow us to see the ways we come to inhabit an ever-emerging world beyond the human. An anthropology beyond the human aims to reach beyond the confines of that one habit-the symbolic-that makes us the exceptional kinds of beings that we believe we are. The goal is not to minimize the unique effects this habit has but only to show some of the different ways in which the whole that is the symbolic is open to those many other habits that can and do proliferate in the world that extends beyond us. The goal, in short, is to regain a sense of the ways in which we are open wholes.
This worldbeyond the human, to which we are open, is more than something "out there" because the real is more than that which exists. Accordingly, an anthropology beyond the human seeks a slight displacement of our temporal focus to look beyond the here and now of actuality. It must, of course, look back to constraints, contingencies, contexts, and conditions of possibility. But the lives of signs, and of the selves that come to interpret them, are not just located in the present, or in the past. They partake in a mode of being that extends into the future possible as well. Accordingly, this anthropology beyond the human aims to attend to the prospective reality of these sorts of generals as well as to their eventual effects in a future present.
If our subject, the human, is an open whole, so too should be our method. The particular semiotic properties that make humans open to the world beyond the human are the same ones that can allow anthropology to explore this with ethnographic and analytical precision. The realm of the symbolic is an open whole because it is sustained by, and ultimately cashed out in, a broader, different kind of whole. That broader whole is an image. As Marilyn Strathern once said to me, paraphrasing Roy Wagner, "You can't have half an image." The symbolic is one particular human-specific way to come to feel an image. All thought begins and ends with an image. All thoughts are wholes, however long the paths that will bring them there may be.
This anthropology, like semiosis and life, does not start with difference, otherness, or incommensurability. Nor does it start with intrinsic likeness. It begins with the likeness of thought-at-rest-the likeness of not yet noticing those eventual differences that might come to disrupt it. Likenesses, such as tsupu, are special kinds of open wholes. An icon is, on the one hand, monadic, closed unto itself, regardless of anything else. It is like its object whether or not that object exists. I feel tsupu whether or not you do. And yet, insofar as it stands for something else, it is an opening as well. An icon has the "capacity of revealing unexpected truth": "by direct observation of it other truths concerning its object can be discovered" (Peirce CP 2.279). Peirce's example is an algebraic formula: because the terms to the left of the equals sign are iconic of those to the right we can learn something more about the latter by considering the former. That which is to the left is a whole. It captures that which is to its right in its totality. And yet in the process it is also able to suggest, "in a very precise way, new aspects of supposed states of things" (CP 2.281). This is possible, thanks to the general way it stands for this totality. Signs stand for objects "not in all respects but in reference to a sort of idea" (CP 2.228). This idea, however vague, is a whole.
Attending to the revelatory power of images suggests a way to practice an anthropology that can relate ethnographic particulars to something broader. The inordinate emphasis on iconicity in lowland Quichua amplifies and makes apparent certain general properties of language and the relation that language has to that which lies beyond it, just as panic exaggerates and therefore makes apparent other properties. These amplifications or exaggerations can function as images that can reveal something general about their objects. Such generals are real despite the fact that they lack the concreteness of the specific or the fixed normativity of those putative universals that anthropology rightly rejects. It is to such general reals that an anthropology beyond the human can gesture. It does so, however, in a particularly worldly way. It grounds itself in the mundane strivings and stumblings that emerge in the ethnographic moment, with a view to how such contingent everydays make apparent something about general problems.
My hope is that this anthropology can open itself to some of the new and unexpected habits just coming into being that might catch it up. By opening itself to novelty, images, and feelings, it seeks the freshness of firstness in its subject and method. I ask you to feel tsupu for yourself, and this is something I cannot force upon you. But it is also an anthropology of secondness in that it hopes to register how it is surprised by the effects of such spontaneities as they come to make a difference in a messy world that is the emergent product of all the ways in which its motley inhabitants engage with and attempt to make sense of each other. Finally, this is an anthropology of the general, for it aims to recognize those opportunities where an us that exceeds the limits of individual bodies, species, and even concrete existence can come to extend beyond the present. This us-and the hopeful worlds it beckons us to imagine and realize-is an open whole.
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Volume 11, Number 12—December 2005
Pandemic Strain of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Serotype O
A particular genetic lineage of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype O, which we have named the PanAsia strain, was responsible for an explosive pandemic in Asia and extended to parts of Africa and Europe from 1998 to 2001. In 2000 and 2001, this virus strain caused outbreaks in the Republic of Korea, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France, and the Netherlands, countries which last experienced FMD outbreaks decades before (ranging from 1934 for Korea to 1984 for the Netherlands). Although the virus has been controlled in all of these normally FMD-free or sporadically infected countries, it appears to be established throughout much of southern Asia, with geographically separated lineages evolving independently. A pandemic such as this is a rare phenomenon but demonstrates the ability of newly emerging FMDV strains to spread rapidly throughout a wide region and invade countries previously free from the disease.
Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV, family Picornaviridae, genus Aphthovirus) causes an acute vesicular disease of pigs and wild and domesticated ruminants such as cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, and deer (1). It can cause high death rates in young animals and production losses in adults and is considered to be the single most important constraint to world trade in live animals and animal products. Spread of FMDV is predominantly associated with the legal and illegal movement of infected animals or their products.
The Food and Agriculture Organization World Reference Laboratory for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (WRLFMD) is established within the high-security laboratory at the Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright, United Kingdom (2). From 2000 to 2004, WRLFMD received an annual average of 536 samples to diagnose FMD from regions of the world where the disease is endemic, predominantly Africa and Asia. Seven serotypes of FMDV exist: SAT 1, SAT 2, and SAT 3 are usually restricted to Africa; Asia 1 is restricted to Asia; and O, A, and C are present in Africa, Asia, and South America and occasionally Europe. In each of the last 5 years, serotype O has been isolated from >60% of the positive FMD samples received.
The economic consequences of FMD incursion into disease-free regions may be severe. For instance, in the first 3 months of the 1997 outbreak in Taiwan, >6,000 farms were affected, 4 million pigs were destroyed or died from the disease, and >21 million doses of vaccine were used (3). The cost of controlling the disease was estimated at US $378.6 million. An additional $1.6 billion was lost in export trade, and >65,000 jobs in pig farming and associated industries were lost (3). To control the FMD outbreak without using vaccination, animals were slaughtered on >10,000 farms in the United Kingdom in 2001; only one fifth of these animals were actually infected. Four million animals were slaughtered for control measures and 2.5 million more for animal health reasons (4). The direct and indirect losses were estimated at ≈£8 billion (5).
FMDV has a genome consisting of a single strand of positive-sense RNA. Consequently, the virus has a high mutation rate and may change, on a random basis, 1–8 nucleotides (nt) per replication cycle (6). Nucleotide sequencing of part or all of the genome region coding for the outer capsid polypeptide VP1 was first used to study the epidemiology of FMD by Beck and Strohmaier (7), who investigated the origin of outbreaks of types O and A in Europe over a 20-year period. Since then, genetic variability has been used to individually characterize strains of FMDV and track their movement across international borders (8), and a large number of epidemiologic studies have been published (9). Previously, on the basis of comparisons of partial VP1 sequences (≈170 nt at the 3´ end of the gene) of FMD type O viruses, differences between 2 isolates within 4% have been suggested to indicate a recent common origin, whereas differences of >15% signify geographic isolation over many years (10), similar to the distinctions made between human polioviruses (11). Isolates with >85% nt sequence identity have been placed within groups or topotypes, which tend to be restricted in their geographic distribution (10,12). The 10 topotypes have been named Europe-South America (Euro-SA), Middle East–South Asia (ME-SA), Southeast Asia (SEA), Cathay (CHY), West Africa (WA), East Africa 1 (EA-1), East Africa 2 (EA-2), East Africa 3 (EA-3), Indonesia-1 (ISA-1), and Indonesia-2 (ISA-2). The Indonesian topotypes, which have not been identified since 1983, are considered extinct.
Knowles et al. (13) described the emergence and spread of the PanAsia strain from 1990 to 2000 on the basis of comparisons of partial (and some complete) VP1 sequences from 60 virus isolates. This article extends the molecular epidemiology of this virus strain by comparing 188 complete VP1 sequences for FMD type O viruses mostly isolated from 2000 to 2005 with published sequences of selected viruses from the previous decade and some reference virus strains (N = 151).
Viruses and Primers
The designation and origin of FMDV isolates studied are listed in Table A1.
Three alternative primer combinations were used for reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR): O-1C244F/NK61, O-1C272F/NK61, and O-1C283F/NK61, which have amplicon sizes of 1,181, 1,153, and 1,142 bp, respectively (Table). Forward and reverse primer amounts were 20 and 40 pmol, respectively. We used 4–6 internal sequencing primers to ensure coverage of the VP1 region on both DNA strands (Table).
RT-PCR of vRNA
Total RNA was extracted from 460 μL of a 10% epithelial suspension or cell culture supernatant by using RNeasy kits (Qiagen Ltd., Crawley, West Sussex, UK), according to the manufacturer's instructions, and resuspended in 50 μL nuclease-free water. This RNA (5 μL) was used as the template in a 1-step RT-PCR (Ready-To-Go RT-PCR Beads; Amersham Pharmacia Biosciences, Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks, UK). The following thermal profile was used: 42°C for 30 min; 94°C for 5 min; 35 cycles of 94°C for 60 s; 60°C for 60 s; and 72°C for 90 s; followed by a final extension of 72°C for 5 min. PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis on a 1.5% agarose-Tris-borate-EDTA gel containing 0.5 μg/mL ethidium bromide. DNA weight markers (GeneRuler 100 bp DNA Ladder Plus, Ready-To-Use; Fermentas, Inc., Hanover, MD, USA) were run alongside the samples to facilitate product identification and quantification. Post-PCR removal of deoxynucleoside triphosphates and primers was achieved enzymatically by using ExoSAP-IT (USB Corporation, Cleveland, OH, USA), according to the manufacturer's instructions.
PCR amplicons were sequenced by using the DTS Quick Start Kit (Beckman Coulter Inc., Fullerton, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions and with the sequencing primers listed in the Table. The sequencing reactions were run on a CEQ8000Automated Sequencer (Beckman Coulter) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The sequences determined in this study have been submitted to the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ databases; accession numbers are shown in Table A1.
An unrooted neighbor-joining tree was constructed by using MEGA version 3 (14). The robustness of the tree topology was assessed with 1,000 bootstrap replicates as implemented in the program.
Virus RNA was extracted from 188 FMD type O viruses, and each VP1-coding region was successfully amplified by RT-PCR by using at least 1 of the 3 described primer sets. The complete VP1 sequences were determined by directly sequencing the amplicons. For all these isolates, the VP1 gene consisted of 633 nt coding for 211 amino acids (previously VP1 was considered to be 2 amino acids longer at its carboxyl-terminus; however, the VP1-2A cleavage site is actually between a conserved glutamine [VP1211 in most type Os] and a variable residue [2A1, often a leucine in serotype O]) (15).
The 188 VP1 sequences we report were compared to 151 VP1 sequences previously published or awaiting publication (database accession numbers are listed in Table A1). A bootstrapped neighbor-joining tree containing all 339 sequences was constructed by using MEGA 3 (Figure 1). Figures 2–4 show various parts of the tree depicted in Figure 1 in greater detail. The bootstrap support for the 10 FMDV O topotypes was generally high (96%–100%; Figure 2). The topotype distributions of the 299Asian FMD type O viruses (including those reported elsewhere) were as follows: ME-SA (253), SEA (18), and Cathay (49) (Table A1). Additionally, 26 European viruses (from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France) belonged to the ME-SA topotype. The PanAsia strain accounted for 168 (66%) of the 253 ME-SA isolates.
Some FMDV O topotypes had a more limited spread than the ME-SA topotype. Virus isolates from Hong Kong and the Philippines all fell within the Cathay topotype; all the recently isolated (2000–2004) Philippines isolates form a distinct lineage. This topotype was first introduced into the Philippines in 1994, probably from mainland China or Hong Kong (the only known places where it existed at that time). Earlier isolates from the Philippines (e.g., O/PHI/5/95) were closely related to Hong Kong viruses (Figure 2). This topotype was first seen in Vietnam in 1997 and continued to occur there until 2004 (Figure 2) but has not, as far as we know, spread to neighboring Southeast Asian countries. A Cathay topotype virus also spread to Taiwan in 1997, where it caused an extensive epidemic that lasted until at least 1999 (3) (Figure 2). Viruses belonging to the SEA topotype continue to be isolated throughout Southeast Asia (Figure 2; Table A2), despite the recent introduction and widespread dissemination of the PanAsia strain. No examples of either of the Indonesian topotypes have been detected in the field since 1983.
Viruses belonging to the ME-SA topotype occur in many genetic sublineages (Figure 3). These were often initially found in India and subsequently spread to other geographic regions. The reference/vaccine strains (O5/IND/1/62, O1/Manisa/TUR/69, O1/Sharquia/EGY/72, and O/IND/R2/75) all occur in a single lineage distinct from later isolates. The O5/IND/1/62 sequenced by Hemadri et al. (16) is different (9.6%) from the same strain that we and others sequenced (17,18) (all 3 sequences are identical, and the virus stocks probably all originated from WRLFMD), and the origin of these isolates requires further investigation. Two other reference/vaccine strains (O/Geshur/ISR/85 and O/Dalton/ISR/2/88) fall on another lineage but are not closely related to each other. Within the ME-SA topotype, several sublineages have been defined as strains, such as PanAsia, Ind2001, and Iran2001, on the basis of phylogenetic relationships and a nucleotide difference of <5% (9,16). However, these are artificial groupings, the edges of which become blurred as viruses evolve in different directions. For example, the nucleotide sequences of 2 viruses that are on the PanAsia lineage, O/VIT/1/2004 and O/BHU/27/2004, differ from O/TAW/2/99 by 5.4% and 5.0%, respectively, but differ from each other by 7.9%. Thus trying to define "strains," particularly using percentage nucleotide relationships, may not be relevant, except in special circumstances, such as a pandemic caused by a cluster of closely related viruses.
Viruses that we consider part of the PanAsia strain (within the ME-SA topotype) are shown in Figure 4. Within the PanAsia strain, different sublineages can be distinguished despite some low bootstrap values. Some of them correspond to well-defined geographic areas in which these isolates have been collected through the years and show evolutionary relationships. Others are mixtures of FMDV isolates from different regions. In such cases, the phylogeny gives clues to the probable source of some isolates. The PanAsia strain shows a limited degree of variability of the VP1 gene during the outbreak in 2001 in the United Kingdom. Indeed, the degree of genetic variability of the VP1 gene of 24 isolates collected between the beginning and the end of the outbreak was <1.29%, and very few amino acid changes were observed (a maximum of 3 in any 1 sequence).
According to our current analysis, the PanAsia strain is an emergent sublineage of FMDV that, after several years in India, spread through southern Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. This strain apparently was confined to India for longer—and then spread much faster—than previously believed. In 1994, Samuel et al. (19) first noted the arrival of a new FMDV type O lineage in Saudi Arabia. Previously, we had considered this lineage to be part of the PanAsia strain (13). However, analysis of complete VP1 sequences with the neighbor-joining algorithm, rather than unweighted pair-group method analysis on partial VP1 sequences, indicated that these viruses, along with others isolated between 1994 and 1997 in Asia (except India), actually belong to 1 of 2 distinct lineages that we have termed Ind2001 and Iran2001 (Figure 3). Therefore, viruses that we would now classify as PanAsia first appeared in Bahrain, Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen much later (i.e., in 1998); in Israel, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates in 1999; and in Malaysia in 2000 (Figures 3 and 4; data not shown). In Nepal in 1990, viruses were found that were closely related to the earliest PanAsia isolates from India in the same year. However, from 1991 to 1996, only viruses belonging to non-PanAsia lineages of ME-SA were found in Nepal. During the years 1997–1999, PanAsia viruses were once again found. This virus lineage may have persisted in Nepal in the intervening years (since only a few virus isolates have been examined) or may have been reintroduced in 1997. This extension and reanalysis of the sequence data indicate that the spread of the PanAsia strain from the Indian subcontinent was probably more explosive than once thought and principally occurred from 1998 to 2001.
Retrospective examination of viruses from India indicated that the PanAsia strain was present in the north of that country as early as 1990 and may even have been present as far back as 1982 (16). From 1991 to 1997, the new lineage appeared to spread to other parts of India (16).
The presumed initial spread from India in 1998 was to Bhutan, Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the Yemen Arab Republic. In May 1999, the People's Republic of China reported FMD outbreaks in Tibet, Hainan, and Fujian Provinces (20). Sequencing viruses from the outbreaks in Tibet (O/CHA/1/99, O/CHA/2/99, and O/CHA/3/99) and Hainan (O/CHA/4/99) showed that they belonged to the new lineage (13) (Figure 4). In June 1999, FMDV was isolated from subclinically infected or carrier cattle in Kinmen Prefecture of Taiwan Province of China (POC) during routine surveillance. Sequence analysis of this isolate (O/TAW/2/99) showed it also belonged to the new lineage (Figure 4). Later that month, FMDV was detected in Tainan Prefecture on the main island of Taiwan, again in cattle showing no signs of disease. In January 2000, the first clinical cases in cattle were found in Taiwan (Yunlin and Chiayii Prefectures) and in February 2000, ≈71 young goats in Kaoshiung and Changhwa Prefectures died suddenly from FMD, although no disease was seen in adult goats that had been vaccinated. The distribution of this sublineage throughout Asia justified its name of the PanAsia strain.
Towards the end of 1999, the PanAsia virus was clearly moving into Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Lao People's Democratic Republic) (Table A2), where the FMDV type O SEA topotype had existed exclusively (at least until the Cathay topotype was introduced into Vietnam in 1997) (10). By April 2000, all mainland Southeast Asian countries had experienced outbreaks due to the new strain.
In March 2000, FMD type O appeared in South Korea and Japan, and sequence analysis indicated that the PanAsia strain was responsible (13) (Figure 4). In April 2000, a severe outbreak of FMD type O in occurred in pigs in the Ussuriysk District of eastern Russia. Of 625 pigs affected, nearly 37% died from the disease. Sequencing the VP1 gene showed that the PanAsia strain was responsible (13). At the end of April 2000, an outbreak of FMD type O was reported in Ulaanbadrakh Soum County, Dornogovi Province, Mongolia. In this outbreak sheep, goats, and cattle were affected. Again, sequence analysis of the VP1 gene showed the virus to be of the PanAsia lineage (13). In September 2000, the PanAsia strain spread to KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa (13,17) (Figure 4); the origin was traced to feeding pigs with uncooked swill from a ship in the port of Durban (21). This FMD outbreak is the first since 1957 in this region of South Africa and the first recorded outbreak in that country due to serotype O. In February 2001, FMD was diagnosed in the United Kingdom; by the end of July, >1,900 farms were affected. The PanAsia strain was responsible for these outbreaks (13,22,23). In late February 2001, the disease spread from the British mainland to Northern Ireland, and in March and April outbreaks of FMD type O were also reported in the Republic of Ireland (n = 1), France (n = 2), and the Netherlands (n = 26). In 2003, the PanAsia strain was detected for the first time in Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan; however, because of lack of samples or sequencing data, the strain may have been present earlier. Since 2003, the PanAsia strain has not been detected in any new countries.
The PanAsia strain has not yet been detected in Africa (except South Africa in 2000) or South America, despite extensive unpublished sequence studies by ourselves; the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, South Africa (W. Vosloo, pers. comm.); and the Pan-American FMD Center, Brazil (I.E. Bergmann, pers. comm.). However, the PanAsia strain is present in many countries in which FMD is endemic and occurs in countries in which the incidence of FMD is sporadic.
The extent of this spread is unique for a single strain of FMDV, and its presence in most recent samples from the Middle East indicates that it has dominated and outcompeted the other strains of FMDV previously observed (19). While we acknowledge that the sampling of virus isolates is not random (i.e., the samples examined are those submitted to WRLFMD by some of the countries experiencing outbreaks), the same sampling technique has shown a marked increase in the number of isolations of the PanAsia lineage over the preceding years.
The appearance of the PanAsia virus in countries that have been FMD-free for many years shows that this strain is capable of spreading to countries where strict control measures are normally effective at preventing importation of animal pathogens. Whether this fitness to survive is related to particular features of the transmissibility of the virus strain or its ability to spread subclinically in certain breeds of animal, as found in Taiwan in 1999 or in Japan in 2000 (24), is not clear. The PanAsia virus strain has been isolated from a wide variety of host species, including cattle, water buffalo, pigs, sheep, goats, and gazelle (Qatar in 1999), and its ability to infect a wide range of species could be a contributing factor in its success. Within the PanAsia strain, differences in behavior of the virus, such as host species or virulence, remain unexplained on a genetic basis, according to comparison of the full genome sequences from viruses from this group (25). However, these characteristics can also be biased by practices such as vaccination, the animal population targeted for vaccination, or the animal species that are farmed in a particular area.
We have no evidence of increased or altered trade in the region that could explain the sudden spread of the PanAsia virus. Additionally, the lack of efficacy of existing FMDV vaccines does not seem to be responsible for the spread of this strain in countries in which vaccination is practiced. Indeed, antigenic matching analysis has shown good cross-reactivity between field isolates of the PanAsia strain and current vaccine strains such as O1 Manisa (WRLFMD, data not shown), and this finding has been confirmed for O/UKG/2001 virus by cross-protection studies (26,27).
The spread of the PanAsia strain across most of Asia and into Europe and South Africa demonstrates how a newly evolved virus may become established, in spite of control measures at international borders. FMD in a previously disease-free country can seriously interfere with the local and export trade in susceptible animals and their products. A large outbreak of FMD in northern Europe or the United States could result in losses of several billion US dollars. The emergence of this strain of FMDV, and its spread within the territory bounded by Ireland in the west and Japan in the east, provides an example of the economic damage that can result. It also demonstrates the difficulty of containing such a transmissible virus within a defined region. The emergence of such strains highlights the necessity to constantly monitor and characterize field isolates responsible for outbreaks in FMD-endemic countries and the need for countries to be rapidly alerted so that appropriate control measures can be instituted. For this purpose, an international early warning system must be established to share information on the characteristics of the latest FMDV isolates in real time.
Mr Knowles is a molecular virologist at the Institute for Animal Health. His research interests focus on the molecular epidemiology and evolution of picornaviruses of animals, particularly FMDV.
We acknowledge the work of Nigel Ferris and colleagues in receiving and serotyping the viruses submitted to WRLFMD.
This work was supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom (Reference Laboratory contract and research grant no. SE 2921). The submission and serotyping of samples were supported by DEFRA and a grant from the European Commission for the Control of FMD.
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Suggested citation for this article: Knowles NJ, Samuel AR, Davies PR, Midgley RJ, Valarcher JF. Pandemic strain of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype O. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2005 Dec [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1112.050908
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|Explore our past: 1990|
|The Boeing 767 entered British Airways’ service on its European routes, predominately to Charles de Gaulle, Paris.|
|May||Plans were announced to increase British Airways’ services between the UK and Japan to 15 a week from the autumn, following a new agreement with the British and Japanese governments.|
|June||A proposal was unveiled to develop a new £70m aircraft engineering base, to be built at Cardiff Airport in Wales, creating 1,200 jobs. The facility would be used to carry out heavy maintenance on the airline’s growing fleet of Boeing 747s. Plans were announced for a new £37m catering base at Heathrow to replace the airline’s existing shorthaul facility at the airport, producing 29,000 meals daily.|
|July||21 Boeing 747-436s were ordered and 12 options were placed. The airline’s total order for the aircraft type was 42.|
|November||Two new brands were announced in the airline’s economy cabin, in an effort to win a greater share of the air travel market. World Traveller, on intercontinental services, and Euro Traveller on shorthaul, would offer passengers more comfortable seats, improved catering and a wide range of in-flight entertainment. Most importantly, they were to provide a new approach to service. The new brands were to be commence flying on 15 January 1991.|
|Explore our past: 1991|
|February||The Gulf War caused a significant loss of traffic, resulting in job losses and the deferral of several aircraft deliveries.|
|March||A campaign was announced that was designed to bring back traffic after the Gulf War. 'The World's Biggest Offer' aimed to give away every seat free on the airline’s international services on 23 April.|
|29 March||Cuts in a number of uneconomic services were announced, including the withdrawal of all services from the UK to the Republic of Ireland. Also to be withdrawn were services to Amsterdam (from Gatwick), Banjul, Freetown, Karachi and Nassau, and Concorde services to Miami.|
|June||A £10m package of customer service enhancements was announced designed to maintain the airline’s competitive edge on the North Atlantic. 'Mission Atlantic' included new lounges and check-in facilities in the USA and new Club World catering and passenger service enhancements at Heathrow, all of which were to be introduced during the month on services to 21 destinations in North America.|
|July||An agreement was signed to begin work on creating a new international airline based in Moscow to be known as Air Russia. British Airways would have a 31% stake.|
The airline ordered 15 Boeing 777 aircraft powered by General Electric GE90 engines with an option on 15 more. The aircraft formed part of a £4.3 billion package, including orders and options for 24 Boeing 747-400s and 11 British Aerospace ATPs.
British Airways agreed in principle to sell the business previously carried on by British Airways Engine Overhaul Limited to General Electric of the US for around £272m.
|October||The airline took delivery of its first three 141-seat Boeing 737-436 aircraft. By the end of March 1992, 13 of the aircraft would be in scheduled service with 14 more due for delivery by December 1993. The last of the operating Lockheed Tristar aircraft were withdrawn.|
|Explore our past: 1992|
|January||A three-year plan to restore the airline's Gatwick operation to an acceptable level of profitability was announced.|
|February||The airline agreed the sale of its property maintenance branch to Drake and Scull.|
|March||British Airways Regional, a new business to run and improve the profitability of services from Birmingham, Manchester and Scotland, was announced.|
ATP aircraft replaced the last HS748 aircraft.
Deutsche BA, the company formed by a consortium of German banks and British Airways, announced the acquisition of the German regional airline, Delta Air.
British Airways and USAir Group Inc announced an agreement to forge links through an investment by British Airways of US$750m in convertible preferred shares in USAir. The transaction was conditional upon obtaining the necessary regulatory and legal consents and the approval of USAir shareholders. The agreement was terminated in December of the same year after the US Government indicated the transaction would not be approved without unwarranted and unilateral concessions by the UK Government under the two countries' bilateral air services agreement.
Lord King announced he was to step down as Chairman in July 1993 after 12 years.
|September||British Airways announced that it intended to acquire 49.9% share in TAT European Airlines (TAT) for £17.25m, subject to adjustment at the time of completion (January 1993).|
|November||British Airways acquired for £1 the assets of the holding company for Dan-Air. The charter side of Dan-Air was closed down but its Gatwick scheduled service routes and fleet of Boeing 737-300/400 aircraft were retained with a view to creating a low-cost BA operation at Gatwick, operating a much-enlarged network of European services.|
|Explore our past: 1993|
British Airways announced a new alliance with USAir, including an immediate investment of US$300m (£198m) by British Airways in new convertible preferred shares in USAir, for an initial 19.9% voting interest. The agreement gave British Airways options over the next five years to invest up to a further US$450m in preferred shares in USAir in two tranches if financial and regulatory conditions permitted. Commercial arrangements that were announced simultaneously covered codesharing on USAir flights in the USA, and the launch by British Airways of three new transatlantic services using USAir crews and aircraft leased from USAir. Both parties intended to explore other areas in which they would be able to work together to their mutual benefit.
British Airways paid £610,000 in settlement of a libel action brought by Mr Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited.
|February||Lord King retired as Chairman and became the first President of British Airways. The Board appointed Colin Marshall as Chairman and Robert Ayling as Group Managing Director.|
British Airways purchased a 25% stake in Qantas.
BA Regional began two-class services from Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow to New York, and from Manchester to Los Angeles.
The US Government approved British Airways' alliance with USAir, with clearance for the normal period of one year for codesharing and wet-lease operations. The two airlines commenced a phased programme of codeshare flights to 38 cities.
British Asia Airways, a wholly owned subsidiary, inaugurated direct services between the UK and Taiwan using dedicated Boeing 747-436 aircraft with specialy designed chinese style tail logos.
In conjunction with USAir's sale of ten million shares of common stock, British Airways exercised its right under the investment agreement of January 1993 to invest US$101m additional preferred stock to maintain its 24.6% holding in USAir.
Fast Track, a dedicated channel for premium passengers opened at Heathrow Terminal 4, providing a fast service from check-in to the departure lounge.
TAT European Airlines commenced operations from Gatwick's North Terminal.
British Airways raised approximately £442m, net of expenses, by way of a Rights Issue on the basis of one New Ordinary Share for every four Ordinary Shares. Acceptances were received in respect of 92% of the shares offered.
British Airways and Maersk Air of Denmark announced a conditional agreement to each inject £6m into The Plimsoll Line to enable it to meet its outstanding debts and restructure. Brymon Aviation and Plymouth City Airport were to become wholly-owned British Airways subsidiaries and Maersk Air Ltd (formerly Birmingham European Airways) became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maersk Air. Following approval of the restructuring by the Office of Fair Trading, British Airways announced in August that flights operated by Brymon and Maersk Air Ltd were to fly in the colours of British Airways.
British Airways launched daily flights between Gatwick and Pittsburgh using a USAir Boeing 767 in British Airways livery and staffed by USAir crews in British Airways uniforms. Similar services were launched to Baltimore in October and Charlotte in January 1994.
British Airways Maintenance Cardiff (BAMC), the new £70m aircraft maintenance base at Cardiff Airport, was formally opened.
British Airways announced a new marketing agreement with CityFlyer Express. From August Cityflyer Express operated all scheduled services under the name British Airways Express, with British Airways' livery, uniforms and service standards. The agreement, for an initial five years, was designed to increase feeder traffic at Gatwick to the benefit of both airlines.
BA’s final BAC 1-11 aircraft were retired at Birmingham.
|August||As a result of the redeployment of aircraft in the fleet and the airline's drive to improve utilisation, the last four Boeing 737-436 aircraft due for delivery in the period September-December 1993 were to be placed into storage pending disposal.|
|December||The airline opened a new £23m avionics facility in South Wales, which was to create some 375 jobs by October 1994. The new workshop would be capable of handling over 130,000 avionic components a year, more than double the workload at Heathrow, with a three day turnaround compared with the industry norm of up to 28 days.|
|Explore our past: 1994|
|January||The US Department of Transportation (DoT) approved British Airways' and USAir codesharing to 65 destinations across the USA until 17 March 1994.|
The DOT renewed approval for one year and said it would not act on British Airways' application to extend these arrangements to further destinations.
British Airways launched "World Offers" fares to more than 50 destinations, cutting prices by an average of a third, to sell seats that otherwise probably would have been unsold.
|April||British Airways and Loganair announced plans to protect loss-making Scottish routes with British Airways redeploying resources on strengthening cross-border routes. Loganair would enter into a franchise arrangement to provide services on several Scottish routes in the British Airways Express livery from July.|
|June||British Airways announced changes on services to the Caribbean from Gatwick, which included discontinuing the under-utilised First Class cabin to provide more Club World seats.|
|August||British Airways and Qantas announced a much greater level of co-operation on services between Europe and Australasia. The airlines were to co-ordinate scheduling, sales and marketing on their 35 weekly Boeing 747-400 Kangaroo route services and the Qantas network of Boeing 767 services between Australia, Singapore and Bangkok.|
|September||British Airways launched its new Club Europe brand, with a £70m package of improvements including new seats, lounges at key business destinations throughout Europe, telephone check-in, Fast Track through passport and security checks at Heathrow's Terminal 1, better food and a choice between a snack and a full meal.|
|November||Concorde services to Washington were discontinued after 18 years of operation.|
|December||GB Airways, 49% owned by British Airways, announced that from February 1995 it was to operate scheduled services as a franchisee in the British Airways livery.|
|Explore our past: 1995|
|January||Eight additional destinations were added to the British Airways route network as Manx Airlines Europe became a franchise operator.|
British Airways sold its charter airline subsidiary Caledonian Airways, including its fleet of five Lockheed Tristar aircraft, to Inspirations plc.
British Airways and BAA plc restructured leases covering 224 acres at Heathrow, giving the airline security of tenure on its core maintenance base for 150 years.
HM Government reached agreement with the US Government on a new 'mini-deal' annex to the Bermuda 2 air service agreement, which secured US approval for British Airways' outstanding codeshare requests, and confirmed that the airline could operate a double-daily service from Heathrow to Philadelphia. Under the agreement, the US DoT approved applications to add 57 codeshare points to the 65 previously approved.
British Airways announced the transfer of eleven weekly Central and East African services to Gatwick in Spring 1996. The transfer would release slots and terminal capacity at Heathrow for the launch of additional intercontinental services.
British Airways announced a £500m three-year plan to revolutionise air travel. The programme kicked off with the relaunch of Club World and the Executive Club frequent flyer programme. A completely new First Class service, renamed First, was to lift off in the winter, with every other cabin then following suit.
USAir reported preliminary conversations with both American Airlines and United Airlines concerning possible strategic relationships up to and including the acquisition of USAir. British Airways said it would evaluate a number of options in relation to its investment in USAir and the airline's future alliance strategy in North America.
|October||British Airways and Qantas commenced services on the 'Kangaroo routes' between Europe and Australia under the Joint Services Agreement (JSA) between the two airlines.|
United Airlines announced it would not pursue talks on the possibility of acquiring USAir.
British Airways took delivery of its first Boeing 777 and entered service from Heathrow to Dubai and Muscat.
|Explore our past: 1996|
Bob Ayling became Chief Executive of British Airways Plc. Sir Colin Marshall continued as Chairman on a non-executive, part-time basis.
British Airways confirmed that it would not be exercising its rights to subscribe for additional preference shares in USAir.
|April||The airline announced a codesharing agreement with America West, enabling British Airways’ Gatwick-Phoenix passengers to fly on to selected America West destinations.|
The airline announced the Business Efficiency Programme for the three years from 1997/8, worth £1 billion.
Canadian Airlines International and British Airways announced codesharing on selected routes and reciprocal frequent flyer programmes.
British Airways announced its first franchise agreement with a company based outside the UK. Sun-Air, the Danish regional airline, would fly as British Airways Express from August on a network linking with British Airways at Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.
|June||British Airways and American Airlines announced plans for a broad alliance. From April 1997, the two airlines planed to co-ordinate their passenger and cargo activities between Europe and the USA, introduce extensive codesharing across each other's networks and establish full reciprocity between their frequent flyer programmes.|
|July||British Airways announced it was to switch its Latin American services from Heathrow to Gatwick from March 1997.|
The European Commission approved British Airways' purchase of the remaining 50.1% of the share capital of its French partner TAT European Airlines.
British Airways announced that from March 1997, its services to Faro, Malaga and Oporto would be operated by GB Airways as a British Airways franchise.
|September||British Airways announced the closure of its Contract Handling unit, which carried out ground handling for other airlines at Heathrow. All 750 staff were to be offered the choice of voluntary redundancy and severance payments, or redeployment and retraining.|
British Airways submitted a bid, in conjunction with Paris-based Groupe Rivaud, to offer to invest FFr630m of share capital in Air Liberté.
The airline signed a franchise agreement with the Johannesburg-based South African regional airline Comair, starting from October. The airline’s fleet, which included two Boeing 727-200 aircraft, began to appear in BA’s colours.
Deutsche BA (DBA) and Regional Airlines of France agreed the sale of DBA's turboprop activities to the French company, freeing DBA to concentrate on its core jet operations.
British Airways announced a £10m programme of improvements to its UK domestic services. The programme included more frequencies, more capacity, more lounge space and new electronic ticketing and self-service machines for speedier check-in.
USAir served notice to end its codeshare and frequent flyer relationship with British Airways, with effect from 29 March 1997.
Under a franchise arrangement with British Airways, the Airlines of Britain Group were to take over six loss making routes serving Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
British Airways gave notice of its intention to sell all of its shares in USAir and in January announced the resignation from the Board of USAir of its three nominated directors.
The President of the Board of Trade announced that the alliance between British Airways and American Airlines should be approved without referral to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission if suitable undertakings were given. The undertakings included the two airlines making available up to 168 weekly slots (equivalent to 12 slot pairs a day) at Heathrow for use exclusively on UK-US services. These slots would be made available over a phased period with some of the slots being leased to other carriers until competitors obtained slots of their own through normal channels.
|Explore our past: 1997|
British Airways and American Airlines submitted a joint application to the US Department of Transportation, requesting formal approval of their alliance. The application requested anti-trust immunity which would permit the two carriers to co-ordinate their activities between the US and Europe, and introduce extensive codesharing across each other's networks.
Deutsche BA introduced major changes on its domestic routes including an expanded network, simplified pricing and a standard on-board service with a single class product.
British Airways and British Mediterranean Airways announced a new franchise partnership on routes between Britain and the Levant.
British Airways announced a £250m investment in a new World Cargo centre at Heathrow.
The airline announced that was to combine its general accounting activities at a new Global Accounting Centre at Ruislip, which would result in a reduction of 290 jobs over three years.
British Airways and American Airlines linked their frequent flyer programmes, enabling members to 'earn and burn' on each other's networks, excluding transatlantic services.
The airline transferred its Ground Fleet Services vehicle maintenance business at Heathrow and Gatwick to Ryder plc on a five year contract.
British Airways announced a US$100m investment to improve facilities for passengers travelling to and from New York. The project included expanding the airline's terminal at JFK, major new road access to the building and new premium passenger facilities at Newark.
|April||British Airways and Canadian Airlines International announced an expansion of their codesharing to all flights from London to Toronto and Vancouver.|
|May||British Airways sold its investment in US Airways, realising total proceeds of US$625m.|
|10 June||British Airways unveiled its new corporate identity and aircraft livery, featuring images on the aircraft tails from around the world. The Concorde fleet displayed the 'Chatham Historic Dockyard' design, which would eventually became standard throughout the subsonic fleet.|
British Airways extended its network in Australia with codeshares on certain Qantas domestic flights, and Qantas extended its network in the UK and Europe by codesharing on certain British Airways flights from Heathrow.
British Airways sold 45.7% of its holding in Galileo International for net proceeds of US$136.8m.
British Airways announced that it had agreed a memorandum of understanding with Iberia, which committed the two airlines to discussing a co-operation agreement.
British Airways Engineering announced a strengthened focus on maintaining British Airways' own aircraft. It was to continue to sell services to other operators, but on a more selective basis. This would result in a streamlined organisation and a reduction of 450 managerial and support jobs.
British Regional introduced Britain’s first Embraer EMB-145 regional jets.
|September||British Airways announced the sales of its landing gear business to Hawker Pacific Inc. and its wheels and brakes business to Allied Signal Aerospace.|
British Airways announced that it was to introduce a new reward scheme in the UK and US for travel agents. The airline was also to modify its commission structure in other markets.
British Airways confirmed that it was to launch a new low fare, no frills airline, which would start flying in Europe in early 1998. The new airline was to be based at Stansted and operate as a separate business with its own name, identity, management and employees. The airline would eventually be launched as Go.
|December||British Airways sold its Heathrow catering production units to Gate Gourmet, which was part of the SAir Group. The 1,200 staff transferred to Gate Gourmet.|
|Explore our past: 1998|
British Airways opened a new business centre at the Club Europe lounge in Terminal 1. It was equipped with personal computers, modem connections for laptop computers, faxes, phones and printers, photocopying and scanning facilities.
British Airways introduced electronic ticketing on international routes. It was available on all routes between the UK and Germany and on all internal German routes with Deutsche BA.
British Airways announced a link up with Finnair, codesharing on 15 return flights a day between London and Helsinki as well as Stockholm, which would be effective from March. Deutsche BA would also codeshare with Finnair from March on seven routes. As well as codesharing, the agreement enabled frequent flyers to earn and redeem miles on each other's networks.
An order for five Boeing 777-236ER aircraft replaced an order for four 747-436 aircraft. Six Boeing 757 aircraft were also ordered. Two of the 777 aircraft and six 767 aircraft from Heathrow were to replace the Gatwick-based DC-10.
British Airways and Qantas announced an expansion of their co-operation on the 'Kangaroo route', with the launch of codesharing services via Bangkok.
Deutsche BA became fully-owned by BA.
Manchester Airport's new £75m terminal - named Terminal 1 British Airways - was officially opened. The new terminal, funded largely by Manchester Airport Plc, was capable of handling up to six million passengers a year and enabled all British Airways domestic and international flights, and those of its partners, to be brought together under one roof, offering a minimum connection time of just 30 minutes for transfer passengers.
|22 May||Low cost airline Go, a BA subsidiary, opened its first ‘no-frills’ route from Stansted to Rome Ciampino. Initially, the airline used a fleet of seven leased Boeing 737-300 aircraft.|
|June||British Airways and Canadian Airlines expanded their codesharing to include new flights between London and Ottawa and an additional daily service between London and Toronto.|
The European Commission (EC) published its draft remedies on the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Airlines. The draft opinion said that the Commission intended to approve the alliance provided that certain conditions were fulfilled.
British Airways announced a codeshare agreement with LOT Polish Airlines covering eight weekly flights between the UK and Poland starting from August. Frequent flyers would also be able to earn and redeem miles on the codeshare flights.
British Airways resumed services to Nigeria after a break of 14 months. The move followed the lifting of a ban by the Nigerian government on all UK-registered aircraft from operating to Nigeria.
British Airways announced a further realignment of capacity in the Asia-Pacific region. From October, flights between Jakarta and London would decrease from six to two a week; services to Seoul, Nagoya and Osaka were suspended. A new route connecting the UK and Australia via Kuala Lumpur would be opened, with Qantas to come off the Kuala Lumpur to Sydney leg. British Airways also announced a 14th weekly flight between London and Tokyo.
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry published the advice of the Director General for Fair Trading which set out the basis on which he would recommend approval of the alliance with American Airlines. His advice included the making available of 250 slots at Heathrow and Gatwick and the suggestion that slots might be sold.
British Airways ordered 59 aircraft in the Airbus A320 family with options on a further 129. The airline also ordered 16 Boeing 777 aircraft, with options on a further 16, whilst cancelling 5 firm orders and 7 options for Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
The airline announced that Rolls Royce had won the contract to supply the engines to power the new Boeing 777 aircraft.
British Airways announced that it was to suspend services to Osaka as a result of worsening passenger demand and the continued fall in the value of the Japanese yen.
British Airways and Malév Hungarian Airlines began codesharing on Malév's services between Gatwick and Budapest.
Members of both airlines' mileage programmes were also able to earn and redeem miles on the codeshare flights.
American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Qantas Airways announced the new the oneworld® global alliance. From early 1999, the five airlines came together to launch a wide range of initiatives designed to provide greater customer benefits, including more information and support, greater value and increased opportunities for rewards and recognition.
British Airways and Nigeria Airways announced an agreement over services between London and Lagos which had the approval of the UK and Nigerian authorities. A three times a week Boeing 747-436 service was to be operated by British Airways in co-operation with Nigeria Airways.
On the third day of open skies discussions between the UK and US, the US negotiators called an end to the discussions. The US DoT also postponed evidentiary hearings. British Airways and American Airlines continued to press for approval of their proposed alliance on commercially acceptable terms, but reiterated that the terms of the EC proposal were too harsh.
British Airways and Emirates signed a codeshare agreement covering selected flights between Britain and the United Arab Emirates. Subject to government approval, British Airways' flights between Heathrow and Abu Dhabi from December would carry Emirates' EK code, and Emirates services between Manchester and Dubai would bear the BA prefix.
British Airways and LOT further extended their codesharing to their six weekly flights between Krakow and Gatwick. At the same time, LOT moved its operations from Gatwick's South Terminal to the North Terminal. The agreement was supported by a link-up of mileage award programmes, enabling frequent flyers to earn and redeem miles on the codeshared flights.
The New York City Industrial Development Authority launched a $115m 34-year tax-exempt bond to assist in financing improvements to the British Airways terminal at JFK.
The first jumbo jet to join a British airline retired from British Airways service as part of the sale of the airline's Boeing 747-136 fleet.
British Airways announced that it would not be resuming regional transatlantic services to New York from Glasgow and Birmingham for Summer 1999. Neither of the services operated in the winter season due to poor demand and financial performance.
British Airways launched a comprehensive range of new services and benefits for World Traveller passengers. New features included new seats with adjustable headrests and footrests, more leg room and personal video screens for every passenger.
British Airways and Qantas announced six new codeshare routes with flights to Australia from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester connecting over Paris or Frankfurt.
British Airways and Finnair announced codesharing on two daily British Airways flights from Heathrow to Glasgow and Edinburgh. The airlines also joined their codes on four daily services between Birmingham and Helsinki, operated via European hubs, offering the most convenient connecting times. British Airways also added its code to Finnair flights from Helsinki and Stockholm to Turku in Finland.
British Airways and Malev announced codesharing on services between Budapest and Birmingham and Manchester. The codeshare flights operated via Frankfurt, which Malev served from Budapest twice daily, where passengers could connect to British Airways' three daily flights each to Manchester and Birmingham.
Finnair became the first new recruit to oneworld.
British Airways opened its new Concorde Room at New York's JFK airport.
|Explore our past: 1999|
|January||British Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) announced a deepening of their relationship. Members of the British Airways Executive Club and JAL's Mileage Bank would be able to earn and redeem miles on both international networks from June. The airlines also planned, subject to both governments' approvals, to codeshare on JAL's daily service between Heathrow and Osaka from late summer.|
The oneworld alliance became effective on 1 February.
British Airways confirmed that it was to take a 9% stake in Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA as part of the Spanish airline's privatisation programme. The expected price was in the region of £200m with a maximum of £215m. The final price would depend on a number of adjustments, such as the eventual value of Amadeus in which Iberia had a 29% stake and which was planning an Initial Public Offering. American Airlines confirmed that it would take a 1% holding in Iberia. British Airways and American Airlines would have the right to appoint two directors to Iberia's 12 person board as well representation on all Board sub-committees. Iberia announced that it had accepted an invitation to join oneworld.
British Airways and Iberia signed a commercial agreement under which they planned to co-operate in a wide area of activities, including codesharing on flights beyond the UK and Spain, reciprocal frequent flyer programmes, and common ground handling and cargo.
British Airways sold just under 30% of its holding in Equant, the telecommunications company, for a profit of £49m.
Base Airlines of Holland became the airline's 10th franchise partner and would offer services between Eindhoven and Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester and Zurich.
British Airways and LOT announced additional codesharing and deeper frequent flyer integration. The two airlines' combined Heathrow to Warsaw services would increase to 35 per week.
The airline's last McDonnell Douglas DC10 aircraft left service as part of the new fleet strategy. The DC10 fleet had been sold for conversion to freighters.
The 59th and final Boeing 747-436 aircraft was delivered to BA.
British Airways announced that it was to develop radical new products that would redefined longhaul business travel and set new benchmarks in comfort and design. The plans included improved Club World, featuring completely flat beds, a new state-of-the-art entertainment system with bigger screens, in-seat power for lap top computers, e-mail, phones and fax.
Linea Aerea Nacional de Chile (LanChile) became the eighth member of oneworld.
British Airways officially opened its new World Cargo Centre which was fitted with state-of-the-art technology. Business was scheduled to transfer to the new facility progressively over the following 18 months, enabling an increased focus on higher-yielding loose freight and significant improvements to the customer offering. This would raise average yields and the new technology and working practices were expected to improve productivity by 30%.
British Airways sold to Galileo International Inc its subsidiary that indirectly held 7,000,400 shares of Galileo International Inc. The disposal realised a profit before tax of £149m.
British Airways sold its in-flight catering facility at Gatwick to ALPHA Catering Services for £14m. In addition, ALPHA and British Airways entered into a new ten-year agreement for the supply of in-flight catering service at Gatwick and eight UK regional airports.
British Airways and American Airlines re-affirmed their commitment to developing their alliance, despite US DoT rejection of their application for anti-trust immunity for joint venture operations on North Atlantic routes. Both airlines envisaged many opportunities to broaden the alliance in ways which did not require anti-trust immunity, both jointly and through the oneworld alliance.
The Irish Government endorsed plans for the British Airways alliance with Aer Lingus. The two airlines planned to codeshare extensively and offer reciprocal benefits to frequent flyers. In the longer term both companies intended to deepen the alliance, co-operating in many areas.
British Airways announced that it was to suspend its own services between Heathrow and Basle, and codeshare with Crossair on that route.
British Airways announced plans for a £14m upgrade to Concorde. The plans included new seats, new toilets, interiors, tableware and a new lounge at Heathrow.
British Airways announced the disposal of 34 of its 53 Boeing 757 aircraft. They were to be converted by Boeing into freighters for DHL. Deliveries would begin in July 2000. The airline also welcomed a new generation of aircraft with the arrival in Britain of its first Airbus A319.
The airline announced a £50m programme of improvements to Club Europe, including faster check-in, and re-designed seats and interiors.
British Airways ordered 12 new 100-seat Airbus 318 aircraft, with options to purchase 12 more.
British Airways and LanChile announced an agreement to co-operate further on air travel between the UK and Chile. Frequent flyer miles would be redeemable on each other's services, with further exploration into codeshare opportunities.
The new benefits would begin in June, shortly after which LanChile would join the oneworld alliance.
British Airways announced that it was to increase services between Heathrow and Lagos, Nigeria, in conjunction with Nigeria Airways from three to six services a week.
British Airways and Aer Lingus signed a co-operative agreement to codeshare on 14 routes across the Irish Sea and to eight continental European destinations from March. Both airlines' frequent flyers would be able to earn and redeem miles on each other's networks.
British Airways and American Airlines filed an application with the US DoT to codeshare on flights serving some 75 destinations in the UK, USA, Europe and Africa.
British Airways completed its purchase of CityFlyer Express. This followed approval from the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, subject to undertakings which were offered by British Airways during the Competition Commission's investigation of the transaction.
British Airways launched a new £25m transfer baggage sorting system at Gatwick.
The first operation into London City Airport by an aircraft in British Airways' livery occurred when British Regional Airlines began their 3 per day weekday operation from Sheffield.
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The NUC-size Byte Plus is far from a powerhouse PC, but it runs silent and covers the basics quite well, considering its low price. It's a decent fit for digital signage or basic productivity and Web use.
The Access Plus stands out in the small but crowded field of Windows 10 PC sticks with its Ethernet port, fanless design, MicroSD card slot, and attractive price.
If you’re looking for understated looks and a tiny footprint, shop on. But if you’ve got the space for a full-tower gaming rig that looks like one, this Strix model delivers the goods, the upgradability, and even a customizable chassis.
The latest rev of Acer's Aspire Z3 AIO prizes performance over modern amenities such as SSDs and USB-C. It delivers power in a legacy chassis, but we'd like to see a design update with less screen bezel.
This enterprise-minded all-in-one boasts the latest Intel CPUs, a crisp 4K screen, and robust support, but a noisy cooling fan and outdated looks lessen its appeal.
Part game console, part compact PC, the GR8 II straddles both worlds, with snappy performance for 1080p gaming and everyday work. It's better than the 2015 original, but upgrade limits and fan noise push this sequel closer to "very good" than to "GR8."
Seeking serious power for 1440p or 4K gaming in a small PC? Aggressive speed, cooling, and pricing force Corsair's elegant first desktop to the front of the line.
This highly configurable, compact business PC works with a special Dell stand to convert into a do-it-yourself all-in-one. It's way more future-proof than your typical business AIO.
MSI's Aegis 3 is a menacing light show of a compact PC, with funky angles, LEDs galore, and Pascal power to grind through your AAA games. And it's a surprising value.
The prettiest PC to land on our test bench, the Studio has a tilting screen and a pen that will appeal to digital artists with lots of cash or credit. The hardware is a step behind for the price, though, so waiting for an updated model might be smart.
Tested with a Xeon processor and Quadro graphics, the Z2 Mini G3 packs workstation power and ISV certification into a small-form-factor PC that's eminently mountable—and capable, for its size.
Outfitted with a unique transparent-LCD side panel customizable with images, widgets, or motion video, the Snowblind Pro is a boutique gaming PC that doesn't cost a big premium, given its way-out-there chassis.
This latest revision of the iconic Tiki packs "Kaby Lake" silicon and GTX 1080, both overclocked, into a tightly designed, handsome chassis that will make gamers slobber. Only its premium price keeps it from the fore of our must-buy list.
The Y710 Cube brings high-end GeForce graphics, all-the-way i7 muscle, and good value to a lean, mean gaming PC you can grab by the handle.
Gamers will wish for faster graphics, but music lovers will literally be blown away by the super-loud, luxurious sound of Dell's revamped all-in-one.
Razer and GeForce loyalists looking to game at 4K will love Maingear's premium-priced R1 Razer and its twin GeForce GTX 1070 cards. Just be sure you're keen on gazing at (and spending!) all that green—and that your choice games support SLI.
A fine fit for light productivity usage, media playback, and digital signage, the NUC6CAYS is one of the best values in mini-PCs today—and it's upgradable.
The second generation of HP's curved-screen desktop makes the original look dowdy, while providing sparkling performance and transcendent sound. Alas, it falls just a bit short of satisfying 1080p gamers.
An overworked, noisy cooling fan and so-so performance sidetrack this slim, 27-inch system's quest for AIO greatness.
HP's Omen X delivers high-end PC-gaming performance in a quiet, high-quality case at a reasonable price. And examined part by part, the pricing surprised us.
Lenovo's Razer-co-branded Y900 desktop is a powerful, quiet performer, bundled with excellent gaming peripherals. But its LED lighting doesn't quite outshine its single-channel RAM setup and somewhat high price.
Palm-size but powerful enough for basic home and office needs, the Cubi 2 is a handy bare-bones PC with a "Kaby Lake" CPU, two-SSD support, and leading-edge connectivity. Just mind the total cost of fitting it out.
With its innovative expansion scheme, superb support for conference calling, and overall sleek design, the Elite Slice for Meeting Rooms may be the ultimate PC for people who spend much of the day in conference calls.
Packing Core i7 power, an all-out GeForce GTX 1070 or 1080 card, and a high-refresh 27-inch IPS screen, the Ideacentre AIO Y910 is among the best gaming AIO PCs you can buy. (Plus, it's upgradable.)
The Envy 27 All-in-One offers sleek style, ample display real estate, and strong performance for creative pros, but it might make an even better home PC for power users.
Sized like a gaming console, MSI's Trident is a very compact gaming PC that delivers great 1080p gameplay (via the GTX 1060) and VR-readiness. Available bare-bones or pre-configured, it's a good value.
Monitor-mountable and able to host two drives, the refreshed XPC Nano is a solid if unsexy sample of the modern small-form-factor mini-PC, made for living rooms or basic business use.
The boldly designed Asus RoG GT51C churns through 4K games with ease, thanks to dual GTX 1080s, an overclocked i7, and the fastest boot drive we've tested to date. But this desktop beast could use more storage and quieter cooling.
Asus's Republic of Gamers G11CD packs powerful GeForce GTX 1080 graphics for 4K gaming grunt, plus efficient, quiet cooling. Just know that internal expansion is limited, and the interior isn't as nice and tidy as it could be.
Compact, quiet, and capable, this XPS Tower is a right-priced VR-ready PC with a fine chassis design and gaming oomph, but it really needs an SSD boot-drive option at this price.
Its design is polarizing and external power bricks bulky, but with GeForce GTX 1080 graphics and a smart component mix, the compact Predator G1 is powerful enough for 4K gaming, and surprisingly quiet.
One of Lenovo's most basic desktop PCs, the 300s has just enough power for everyday computing tasks, plus a modicum of upgradability.
We adore the slick design and surprising storage potential of the Brix Gaming UHD. We'd just like to see one with an Nvidia "Pascal" chip inside, not a last-gen GTX 950.
This mid-tower PC gets a big graphics upgrade for 4K gaming, thanks to a GTX 1080 graphics card. Its interior is also clean and ready for upgrades.
With benchmark-busting speed (thanks to two GTX 1080 cards) and clean cable routing, the Avant is an attractive gaming power tower that doesn't cost loads more than its component parts.
A little PC that will satisfy legacy-minded business users and space-strapped consumers alike, the VC65 is small enough to tuck anywhere, but big enough to deliver all the features and ports you’re likely to need.
A study in minimalism among all-in-one PCs, this $349 model is made for Web surfing and light office work, decked out in keeping with its rock-bottom price.
Digital Storm's big, bold gaming tower sports superb looks and stunning speed, with two Nvidia GTX 1080s and an eight-core Intel CPU in our review unit. But we found a few details a bit lacking, more than a minor issue when you're buying a tower at $6,000-plus.
Gigabyte's ready-built mini-PC is an able, impressively small Core i5 "Skylake" unit, though we think the bare-bones DIY-kit version is a better value.
One of the most compact VR-ready desktops you can buy, the EN980 packs serious muscle and liquid cooling in a distinctive, densely outfitted chassis.
Intel's Core m3 version of its Compute Stick gets extra RAM, storage, and CPU power, making it a better PC for more than basic productivity and media playback. But at close to $400, it makes sense only if you need the truly tiny form factor.
An all-in-one with all-out desktop components and a curved 34-inch screen, the Aura is a killer machine that you can actually upgrade down the line.
The Ideacentre AIO 510S offers mainstream performance at a fair price. But the real star of this show is its frameless touch-screen display and uber-thin chassis.
A light-duty, Atom-based Windows 10 stick PC, the VivoStick stands apart, with apps for remote control via phones and tablets. A MicroSD slot is all that stands between it and stick supremacy.
Rocking overclocked, high-end hardware (including a GTX 1080 and an NVMe boot drive), Origin's VR-ready Chronos PC is extremely powerful—and just a sliver of the size of a typical mid-tower.
MSI's 23.6-inch all-in-one puts Nvidia's GeForce GTX 960M to good use for not-quite-top-level gaming, but we wish the company had opted for a 970M instead.
Impressively dense with PC-gaming power, the rebooted Aurora packs flair and fast frame rates in equal measure. Only some quibbles about the case materials keep it from an Editors' Choice pick.
With its compact design, peppy performance in our test model, and copious USB connectivity, the highly configurable OptiPlex 7040 SFF is a solid pick for businesses big and small.
The thin, sleek Lenovo ThinkCentre X1 all-in-one makes a great showpiece for business reception areas. (It's a compact, capable cubicle PC, too.)
This HDMI-stick Win 10 PC delivers much the same value (and guts) for basic computing as Intel's original Compute Stick, but the competition is a little stiffer now than then.
A bit beefy (but also affordable and versatile), this all-in-one packs some impressive features and strong performance for a fair price. We'd just like to see a chassis update.
A loud cooling fan keeps its internals in check, but this killer-equipped gaming desktop, packing a GeForce GTX 980M, sets a new standard for all-in-one performance.
Alienware adds more capable graphics (and external-graphics support!) to its set-top-box-shaped gaming desktop. It's slick and a capable 1080p gamer, but we'd suggest making sure you choose a solid-state storage option.
The edgy look of "Skull Canyon"—Intel's killer new Core i7 NUC PC kit—hints at a first among these truly tiny PCs: graphics upgradable via Thunderbolt 3. It's the most forward-looking mini-PC ever.
The performance won't wow you, but the Zbox BI323, not much larger than some streaming boxes, is a surprisingly capable bare-bones system that should satisfy light computing needs, and perhaps a little more.
MSI's compact, cylindrical gaming tower packs more muscle than most machines three times its size. If you're looking for a semi-portable system for VR and general gaming, it will serve you well, but it's extremely expensive.
InFocus' latest micro-desktop adds a dock loaded with ports and a hard drive bay. But at twice the price of the $99 original (with the same modest CPU, RAM, and storage), it's less broadly appealing as a ultra-budget Windows PC.
PC builders seeking the fast track to a neat, compact gaming PC can't do much better than the Nightblade x2, a "Skylake" bare-bones kit that can host the biggest, baddest video cards.
iBuypower's second rev of the Revolt gaming PC delivers the goods, with a handsome custom case, good connectivity, and highly custom-configurable power to spare.
No, it's not a curved HDTV set—it's HP's flagship all-in-one desktop, with a luxurious 34-inch display, plus ample power, storage, and audio.
You may or may not be keen on the industrial-looking outside--and the cramped inside gave us pause—but the Predator G6 undeniably brings on the frames for PC gamers tied to 1080p and 1440p monitors.
Adept at crunching numbers (if not turning heads), the OptiPlex 24 7440 is a good fit for offices looking for a highly customizable, manageable business all-in-one PC—even one with a 4K screen, like our test model.
This Core i7- and GeForce GTX 970-based gaming desktop delivers plenty of punch for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with upgradability and smart touches to spare.
The IdeaCentre Y700, in our $999 test configuration, achieved a nice balance of "just enough" power for mostly cranked-up 1080p gaming.
Striking a good balance of price and performance, the Gamer Xtreme 4000 will meet the needs of most serious gamers for gaming up to and including 4K. (We'd just like to hear—or rather, not hear—a better cooling scheme.)
Maingear’s squat X-Cube Z170 gaming box looks good and performs well, but its "compact" Corsair chassis actually has a larger footprint than most mid-tower cases.
Intel's updated Compute Stick sports an extra USB port and a better wireless chip for improved streaming. It's still an impressively compact and affordable, but unless every inch of space counts, you can buy cheaper alternatives with more features.
The Chromebit is a cheap and easy way to add smarts to an old HDTV or turn an extra monitor into a Chrome OS-based all-in-one.
The Kangaroo is a versatile, battery-equipped Windows 10 desktop that can use an iPad as a screen and costs less than a stand-alone Windows license. Even if you aren't sure how you'll use it (yet), it's still worth considering.
The XPC Nano Ultra-Slim NC01U is a complete mini-PC that impresses with its versatility and low price, while providing just enough performance for mainstream productivity and most media tasks.
Inspired by Apple’s iMac, HP’s newest all-in-one trades an aluminum frame and faster performance for a much lower price. It's a fine trade-off for light- to medium-duty computing.
With powerful components, quiet operation, and a slick case with built-in color-changing lights, this Phoenix is the best gaming rig we've seen from HP in years. It's pricey in our review configuration, but unless 4K gaming's your thing, you can configure one much lower.
Friends will compliment you on your new iMac, but you'll know that your 23.8-inch Asus all-in-one is a 4K touch-screened top performer for Windows 10.
With a pixel-dense 4K display, refined design, and now-rechargeable peripherals, Apple's $1,499 compact iMac is an eye-pleasing, premium computing machine. (As good as it is, just know that the larger-screen 5K model doesn't cost that much more.)
Space-efficient design and the simplicity of Chrome OS combine in this basic value desktop. It's good for light Web-based productivity work or use strictly as a Web/e-mail station.
The E810 is a straightforward corporate mini-box PC that gets the job done quietly. Just assess the parts you get for the price carefully before diving in.
One of the most potent mini-PCs on the graphics front, the Magnus is well-outfitted for serious play on a single 1080p monitor or HDTV, and it fits nicely in an A/V rack with your set-top boxes and consoles.
With Windows 10 pre-installed, this mainstream AIO brings a good 23-inch display at a competitive price, but the value proposition gets muddled in some of its other feature details.
The ThinkCentre Chromebox Tiny gets the Chromebox recipe right: a tiny OS inside a tiny case for a tiny price.
With a powerful CPU and plenty of internal expansion options, the D510MT is a well-designed business PC for the long haul. But we’d like to see an SSD option (not to mention Wi-Fi and more USB ports).
A couple of minor demerits keep it from earning top honors, but we like what we see from the aggressively styled and powerful MSI 24GE gaming all-in-one.
Delivering wide connectivity—plus support for dual drives and dual monitors—in a 4.5-inch-square box, the Cubi is a robust mini-PC that will please business implementers and the DIY-minded alike.
Judging by our first review system with Intel's new CPU, "Skylake" is here to stay—and iBuypower, for one, is putting it into tempting, affordable desktops.
One of our favorite all-in-one desktops from 2013 returns, with surprisingly few upgrades aside from a great IPS screen and the Webcam above it (Intel's intriguing RealSense 3D camera).
This compact bare-bones PC delivers dedicated Nvidia graphics and decent gaming at 1080p (plus support for two drives), but also shop Alienware's Alpha for relative value before diving in.
Triple Titan X graphics and an exceptional liquid-cooling and case-lighting build make Origin's huge "Haswell-E" gaming rig a wonder to behold, if you can spare its $9,776 price.
Apple trims maybe $200 worth of performance and $500 off the price of its stunning 5,120x2,880 all-in-one desktop, making a hard-to-resist photographers' and videographers' machine that much harder.
The Lenovo C40 is about as basic as basic gets, but this 21.5-inch touch-screen all-in-one can be a useful Internet portal for the budget-minded.
There's a lot to like about Chromebooks and Chromeboxes, not least their small sizes and generally small price tags. But does Acer's top-of-the-line offering, the Chromebox CXI-i38GKM, offer enough to justify a price that seems more in line with compact Windows desktops than with most Chrome OS offerings?
One of a very few PCs we'd call cute, the Acer Revo One packs a fully equipped Core i5 desktop into a tiny package. Its two open modular drive bays let it double as a teensy but roomy server. There are cheaper options, but few let you fit so much storage into such a small case.
For light office workloads and HTPC use, the CI321 is an intriguing, kit-style micro-PC that operates in complete silence. Just know your needs—and the economics of bare-bones PCs—before diving in.
Not quite a Steam Machine, though you'll be forgiven if you mistake it for one, the Asus RoG GR8 will let you do some moderate PC gaming in a form factor that looks more like a console than a gaming rig. But can it live up to the GR8ness in its name?
An amazingly small, fully configured Windows 8.1 system, the Compute Stick is an excellent value as an HDTV streamer, a light-duty productivity PC, and more.
An impressively speedy, compact DIY PC, this "Broadwell" Core i7 PC kit pumps up the graphics and supports two storage drives. It faces stiff competition, however, in Alienware’s cheaper Alpha, which sports spunkier Nvidia graphics.
An all-in-one throwback of sorts, the Lenovo B50 sticks to the basics and delivers strong performance for the price, a gorgeous multi-touch screen, and a pair of surprisingly capable speakers.
This year's version of Maingear's mid-tower features two GeForce GTX 960 cards in an SLI setup. That may be a mixed blessing, but the $1,690 system is a great platform for 1080p gaming.
CyberPower's compact (OK, semi-compact) console PC doesn't do anything a more expandable conventional desktop can't already do, but it isn't a bad choice for beginners looking to get into Steam gaming.
Though it looks more like a streaming box than a desktop, the HP Pavilion Mini offers more full-fledged PC goodness than you'll get from a Roku or Chromebox. But as with all things, the added functionality comes at a price.
Intel's "Broadwell"-based Next Unit of Computing kit adds a wireless chip, replaceable covers, and a nice compact power cable. But it's pricier than last year's model, and you still need to add extra components, making a complete system (without monitor) about as costly as an ultrabook.
With excellent performance and good looks at a fair price, Digital Storm's compact Eclipse is a fine choice for gamers looking for high-quality 1080p play without spending big bucks.
Lenovo's clever modular approach to the all-in-one PC delivers a space-saving, clutter-free design that is also easy to service and flexible to upgrade, making it a sure hit for businesses.
They say you get what you pay for, so you'll want to think twice before buying the $199 Lenovo H500 desktop. The question is: Are you getting enough PC for your needs, or should you bite the bullet and spend two or three times as much?
This Inspiron desktop is wonderfully affordable and super-slim, but its performance woes and scanty expandability and connectivity weigh it down and ultimately sink it.
Dell aims for the business desktop (or the back of the business monitor) with a compact Core i7 system that trades expandability for elegance. It's a formidable rival to Apple's Mac Mini and Lenovo's M83 Tiny.
Alienware returns with a vengeance with the new Area-51 gaming desktop, which delivers an unparalleled design and terrific performance in a package that looks like nothing else we've seen.
If you're looking for a compact, budget-friendly gaming PC, or something to get your Steam games running on your TV, Alienware's Alpha is packed with potential. But at least until a future software update, you'll have to bust out a mouse to install and launch non-native Steam titles.
The long-overdue upgrade to "Haswell" power is welcome news for the Mac Mini family, though we're disappointed that no quad-core CPU option is available. Overall, a worthy refresh with a few annoying flaws.
Mediocre battery life sours the deal on the otherwise stellar Lenovo Horizon 2s, a 19.5-inch tabletop PC that handles its dual roles (all-in-one desktop and jumbo tablet) well as long as you stay plugged in.
Hoping to attract budget-minded gamers, Lenovo gives us the Erazer X315, an AMD-based alternative to the X510. But while this tower may look the part, its performance comes up a little short of what you might expect from a gaming system.
Maingear has optimized this version of its innovative Shift for high-resolution, high-detail gaming. As long as that’s what you want to give it, it’s an ideal playmate.
The most affordable of Lenovo's portable all-in-ones, the Horizon 2e gets closer to the ideal table PC than the company's prior attempts and boasts innovative software. But it's still a bit heavy and short on battery life.
Apple brings unbelievable 5K resolution to the all-in-one desktop, lifting photo and 4K video editors to ecstasy and delivering a nearly flawless hardware/software/visual experience.
Asus' compact tower requires two power packs and its graphics card is middle-of-the-road, but it's hard to ignore its bottom line: 1080p gaming at mostly high settings without costing a fortune.
The silent and compact Zotac Zbox CI320 Nano Plus home theater PC is as unobtrusive to your checking account as it is nestled in your living room.
Convergence is always a challenge, but the "Haswell" and SSD-equipped flagship version of the Dell XPS 18 boasts the right size and design to function ably as both a small desktop and large tablet.
Zotac’s amazingly small Win 8.1 micro-PC hits a very low $199 price point for a complete desktop PC, of sorts. It’s a decent value as a hideable home theater PC (used with Plex or XBMC) or a basic workstation to use with an existing monitor.
The Lenovo C260 Touch may go light on some specs, but it ultimately fulfills a wide swath of home computing needs for an appealing under-$500 price.
Stuffed to the gills with top-shelf hardware and crafted with meticulous attention to detail, this liquid-cooled system offers super-premium performance and aesthetics, though bang-for-the-buck shoppers will balk at its $5,252 price tag.
This LAN party luggable packs first-class gaming performance into a unique lightweight case with an integrated carrying handle. We like almost everything about it except for its limited expandability.
Lenovo's Horizon 2 is an attractive, futuristic desktop/"table PC" with a large screen and unique features. But this configuration is hampered by a slow hard drive. And don't expect more than two to three hours of battery life.
A good option for small business environments where space is at a premium, the sleek and slim Dell OptiPlex 9030 Touch all-in-one offers solid functionality at a reasonable price.
So often, when reviewing gaming systems, we talk about the compromises that have to be made to keep costs down. But with the Origin Millennium, a hulking beast that can take just about any game you throw at it, we get to see the other side of the equation.
Ultra-modern and compact, the Digital Storm Bolt II packs an extraordinary amount of gaming power into a custom-painted and -illuminated case less than half the size of a traditional desktop. It's all-around impressive, but bears a premium price.
A retail gaming system that looks the part at a reasonable price, Lenovo's Erazer X510 offers plenty to attract moderate gamers, including the allure of one-button overclocking. But can it walk the walk?
A rare attempt at an Android all-in-one PC, the mySmart misses the mark, with some of the same design and component stumbles as HP's similar Slate 21.
Landing between value-priced and sky's-the-limit gaming rigs, the Maingear Vybe delivers a solidly performing system with plenty of configuration options at ordering time and room to grow later.
Gigabyte marries a solidly performing compact PC with a tiny LED projector. It's an idea with promise, but the projector's low resolution and weak output limit the system's usefulness.
With its bright, touch-enabled display and middle-of-the-road components, the Acer Aspire Z3-615-UR15 is a fine entry choice for families who don't demand blazing performance.
The "Haswell"-powered heir to MSI's groundbreaking gaming all-in-one is even faster on the game grid, yet fairly priced for a 27-inch touch-screen AIO.
Aimed at those who don't want to spend a fortune on a desktop gaming rig, the Vanquish II offers solid performance for the price. But Digital Storm's use of a MicroATX motherboard leaves you unable to take much advantage of the spacious midtower case.
Apple's most affordable iMac yet offers an immaculate user experience, but feels a little underpowered for $1,099. It faces stiff competition from Windows all-in-ones and especially the $1,299 iMac.
Whimsical and spherical, this unique micro-PC lets you let your geek flag fly. Plus, our preconfigured test model delivered decent performance for productivity and light media creation.
If you're looking for a small-form-factor desktop with blazing gaming performance and looks to match, the 2014 edition of Falcon Northwest's Tiki will be hard to beat.
There's plenty to like about the Asus M70AD, a desktop that offers a few neat features you won't find in most other systems. But facing stiff competition in a crowded field, does it deliver enough to win over buyers at its $1,199 price point?
With a high-end Core i7 processor and Intel's Iris Pro graphics, the Brix Pro is by far the most powerful tiny PC we've tested—and there's room inside for a standard 2.5-inch SSD. But if you're bothered by fan noise, you should opt for something with a larger case and better cooling.
Still the only one of its kind, the HP Z1 G2 is an all-in-one workstation that boasts smart design and ample configuration options, now including a touch screen and Thunderbolt 2.
Lenovo's ultra-wide all-in-one makes room for multitasking windows and broadens gamers' field of view. All it lacks is a touch screen.
The HP Z230 SFF is an appealing entry-level workstation that fits almost anywhere and runs almost any app. PC buyers will suffer the usual workstation sticker shock, but this is a fine system for work alongside big rigs.
For those with limited computing needs—particularly those upgrading from an old desktop—Asus' Chromebox is a great alternative to a pricier Windows 8 or OS X machine, though getting used to doing everything in a browser window will take some time.
A great choice for those who want a gameworthy compact desktop, the CyberPower Zeus Mini is a system that proves big performance can come in small packages. And while no SFF comes without some compromises, we feel they're outweighed by how much this PC has to offer.
The Velocity Micro SmallBlock packs a tower's worth of high-powered parts into an impressively compact chassis that is sure to appeal to gamers if not upgraders and tinkerers.
Intel's updated NUC sports your choice of new processors, plus much better connectivity than its predecessor. But our Core i5 test model is expensive at about $380 with no RAM, storage, Wi-Fi, or OS included.
The AMD-based Brix micro-PC kit is a solid (if very similar) alternative to Intel’s NUC. It handles HD media playback well, and it’s capable of some light gaming. Just know you’ll have to provide your own OS and special RAM, plus a spendy mSATA SSD.
This little Android desktop PC is an impressive debut from a new company, bolstered by its excellent cloud-based parental controls. A faster processor would make it a much more complete budget gaming console and family computer.
It won't beat gaming tower PCs, but MSI's is the first Windows all-in-one we've seen that delivers adequate frame rates for 1080p play.
Origin manages to pack a powerful collection of components, including two of today's fastest graphics cards, into a compact system with the Chronos. But fan noise, as well as gaming performance that isn't quite what we'd expect, make us wonder about the merits of squeezing SLI into an SFF.
Maingear's Rush X79 is a powerful, quiet extreme gaming desktop that, while expensive in our test configuration, isn't far outpaced by much larger systems costing thousands more.
The Lenovo Flex 20 is as tempting a "table PC" as you'll find, but questions remain about this convergence concept that tries to be both all-in-one PC and family tablet at once.
If you're looking for an attractive all-in-one that also does double duty as a semi-portable tablet for the couch or kitchen, Sony's Tap 21 is one of the nicest models we've seen. Just don't expect long battery life.
Almost as small and tough as a brick, Lenovo's latest is a fine example of the new breed of ultra-compact workplace desktops. Primarily a corporate PC, it may even tempt some home office workers.
An Intel fourth-generation Core and Nvidia 700-series graphics refresh keeps Dell's flagship, super-screened all-in-one up to date as the Windows world's best (and arguably only) rival to Apple's 27-inch iMac.
Dell's latest little touchable tabletop PC is sleek, tough, and ideally suited for small offices as well as bargain-seeking families, but it looks its best in low ambient light.
The HP ProOne 600 G1 All-in-One offers excellent security features and a 3-year on-site warranty, but its clunky design, middling components, and steep price keep it from being an appealing business PC.
A low-cost Android all-in-one PC with a big screen, the Slate 21 is a pioneer, but too many of its design and component choices miss the mark. Cash-strapped households may find it workable as an Internet and media-consumption appliance, but little more.
If you've ever dreamed of spending more than $10,000 on a gaming PC, this Origin Genesis is the thrill you've been looking for. But ordinary people with ordinary budgets won't have to sacrifice much to get a (nearly) comparable system for (a lot) less.
With the Lenovo Erazer X700 gaming desktop, you get solid productivity performance and very playable 1080p frame rates in an edgy, liquid-cooled chassis. It doesn't use the latest CPU architecture, though, and the interior is a bit of a mess.
While a bit spendy for what it delivers, the XPS 8700 Special Edition hits all of the right notes for a 2013 power tower: solid graphics, speedy processing, and mSATA storage acceleration with room to grow.
The Inspiron 23 boasts a sleek design, speedy performance, and a flexible touch screen that lets the system look and act like a tethered Windows tablet. It's a winner among all-in-ones.
AVADirect's Quiet Gaming PC is nicely priced, considering its high-end components, and keeps operating noise low. The NZXT case could, however, use a few refinements.
The Asus M51AC seeks to attract office workers and students with its few-frills, low-price appeal. It's a capable workhorse but not an exceptional one.
This mainstream gaming rig, with a roomy hard drive and fast "Haswell" CPU, can handle today's games at 1080p and high settings. Just note that some of the gear could be sturdier, and you're paying extra for RAM you'll likely never leverage.
Gateway offers a small all-in-one that is thrifty, feels solid, and handles simple tasks well. Buyers seeking gaming pep or touch input for Windows 8, however, will want to shop on.
It's all right as a media consumption device, but if you've got a $1,000 budget for a 23-inch touch-screen all-in-one desktop, you can find better-looking, better-performing options than the Acer Aspire Z3-605-UR23.
HP's Envy Rove 20 has a nice screen and a wonderfully designed kickstand. But despite a new Haswell CPU, this nearly $1,000 oversized tablet/AIO underperforms and suffers from some design flaws.
Its performance is a mixed bag, but the Vizio CA24T-B0 is a sleek and versatile all-in-one for dorm rooms, bedrooms, and apartments.
Alienware's updated X51 delivers good performance in a compact package, thanks to a new Intel CPU and a solid Nvidia graphics card. But competing systems offer better design and higher-end component options.
An attractive and strong-performing all-in-one desktop with a great-looking screen and fine sound system comes at a fair price, but cheap-feeling peripherals and a poorly anchored display diminish its overall value.
Maingear's latest Shift tower is immaculately crafted and has all the performance you'd expect from a cadre of brand-new Nvidia and Intel core components. Just don't expect these parts and this level of build expertise to come cheap.
Those looking for a serious mid-range gaming rig with brand-new components at a reasonable price would do well to consider the ODE Level 3. Just tweak the configuration a bit before buying if you want to save a couple of hundred dollars without reducing performance.
HP's mid-range workstation is an exemplary if somewhat plain vanilla example of the category, solidly built and a speedy performer.
This compact, thin, and light all-in-one PC doubles as a tabletop Windows 8 tablet with a highly responsive and gorgeous screen. The 18.4-inch display is small for an AIO desktop, but just the right size for its double-duty functionality.
A clever yet functional design along with a separate, unique interface when the system is lying flat combine to make Lenovo's IdeaCentre Horizon tabletop PC worth a look for all-in-one shoppers.
This top-value mini-PC is like a cheap, reliable compact car: It’s not super-fast or flashy, but it’s inexpensive and has the performance you need for everyday tasks, such as productivity work and media playback.
An elegantly thin design makes the Acer Aspire 5600U-UB13 an all-in-one to consider for light duty in your home. Don't be tempted by its sleekness should you require anything approaching heavy lifting.
Maingear's F131 Super Stock makes room for dual-graphics and multi-drive setups without occupying much floor space. In our GTX Titan review configuration, it bested other SFF systems we've tested, but also costs a good deal more.
Its small price, big screen and space-saving design make the Lenovo C540 fine as a kitchen or kid's room PC where most of its duties center around the Internet. But when it comes to performance, you get what you pay for.
The four-inch-square AD13 Plus, a refresh of last year’s AD12 Plus, performs quiet, low-key HTPC duties on a budget. The only catch: You supply the OS and peripherals.
The Samsung Series 7 All-in-One is well put together, but you pay a slight premium for its sleek design while leaving some performance on the table.
The sleek, minimalist design of the Lenovo IdeaCentre B540 is a pleasure to look at, and the 23-inch touch screen lets Windows 8's strengths shine. Better yet, behind the big, bright display lurks a fairly powerful PC with loads of features for the price.
Acer's latest budget all-in-one works fine for basic tasks, is pleasant to look at, and lets you watch DVD movies. Just don't expect much hand-holding from tech support.
Big performance in a small package for a medium price: that's the recipe for success that the iBuypower Revolt R770 follows in its attempt to woo gamers from both competing PCs and consoles.
We wouldn't exactly call it a no-frills gaming rig, but the HP Envy Phoenix h9-1420t serves up a fairly plain chassis and instead devotes your budget to delivering stellar gaming performance.
This convertible PC is a peppy all-in-one desktop with a screen that detaches to become a huge tablet. It's a fascinating concept and a reasonably well-executed one, if not without a few software kinks.
With the welcome addition of a touch screen, Dell's powerful XPS One 27 Touch is the best Windows 8 all-in-one we've seen yet. We just miss the iMac's aluminum shell and wish Dell offered a more powerful graphics chip.
Intel's tiny desktop kit is impressively small, quiet, and powerful. But it's quite expensive once you add all the necessary parts that don't ship in the box. For media playback or digital signage, you may want to consider an AMD-based alternative.
HP's Envy 23 TouchSmart is pricey (and powerful) in our test configuration. But closer to its $1,049 base price, it's a fine family PC with good audio and a responsive touch screen that tilts down for tapping and swiping around Windows 8.
This supercompact, low-power PC is strong on general performance and value, while unavoidably mediocre on graphics power. For home entertainment, Web, and productivity use, it's a great choice if you’re willing to supply your own OS and peripherals.
HP's premium Spectre One desktop is slim, sleek, and powerful in our test configuration. But with no touch screen, this Windows 8 machine feels incomplete, despite a trio of bundled wireless peripherals.
Where most all-in-one desktops zig toward design aesthetics, the Toshiba LX835-D3380 zags toward performance, providing muscle for more than just passive entertainment.
This entry-level all-in-one has a nice screen and USB 3.0, but its core components limit it to very basic tasks. Most users would be better off spending a bit more and getting a much speedier system.
A gorgeous design, ditto 27-inch touch screen, and Blu-ray are highlights of Acer's Aspire 7600U all-in-one. But performance is lackluster considering its $1,899 price.
Gateway's latest all-in-one has a smaller (albeit 1080p) screen than many peers, and it isn't a benchmark barn-burner. But this sturdy desktop handles basic tasks well, and the price is right, if you don't expect much hand-holding from tech support.
Its beautiful multi-touch display can be positioned horizontally, making the Asus ET2300INTI a great showcase for Windows 8, but mediocre audio and noisy cooling fans detract from the all-in-one experience.
Apple again delivers the all-in-one desktop to beat, with brisk performance and a glorious thin-edged, reflection-fighting display as well as Cupertino's classy, admirable software. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise: Avoid the options, and you (almost) avoid the famous Apple price premium.
Adding touch-screen capabilities to a stunning 1080p display turns Vizio's sleek all-in-one into a worthy Windows 8 contender, but watch out for uncomfortable peripherals and potential Wi-Fi woes.
The Zbox Nano AD Plus is a near-invisibly small and quiet home-theater PC that’s surprisingly capable and connectable for its size and low price. (Just be prepared to supply your own OS and peripherals.)
Apple's latest Mac Mini adds "Ivy Bridge" power, USB 3.0 ports, and a hybrid-drive option for fast, roomy storage. It's an excellent, quiet performer for its size, but spendy, given the $250 premium for the Fusion Drive and the lack of peripherals in the box.
The affordable Pavilion 23 all-in-one offers a big, bright 1080p screen and styling that will complement any family room—as a second computer, mind you. Its AMD "Trinity" processor makes it an underwhelming performer.
The Bolt offers great gaming performance for the price in a flashy, compact package. But compared to similar systems we've seen this year, the custom case is a bit cumbersome and flimsy.
It's not cheap, but the Primordial Gryphon is a mini-ITX gaming PC that is worth the price when you consider the craftsmanship, design, and performance it delivers.
It might not sport the most cutting-edge technology, but the H520s offers a lot of power for small businesses on a small budget.
A small-screened AIO PC that moonlights as a Windows 8 mega-tablet, the VAIO Tap 20 is a reasonable pick (in its lower-cost configurations) for buyers who need a uniquely flexible desktop.
For businesses that don't harbor plans to migrate quickly to Windows 8, and particularly those that engage in frequent Web conferencing, the ThinkCentre M92z all-in-one offers ample performance for the daily grind.
Vizio's first all-in-one PC is a strong first try, with eye-grabbing design, a great screen, and good pep for the money. We'd just tread carefully if you intend to migrate to Windows 8: The screen doesn't do touch.
This AMD-powered minitower is very affordable and gives you room to upgrade. But it's sluggish, especially for productivity applications and other tasks that lean on the CPU.
DVNation's RAM-drive-equipped tower is an enticing variation on the typical gaming PC, but the technology's limitations, combined with some build-quality issues, make this high-priced system hard to recommend.
With good productivity performance, better upgrade options than most machines, and ample RAM, the K430 is a well-balanced PC for the price. Just note the lack of Blu-ray at this price, and that your gaming will often be limited to medium settings.
Seeking a compact Media Center PC with more processing and gaming prowess than most? The Ivy Bridge-equipped D2305 is a decent option—just mind the fan noise, and be ready to bring your own OS.
Those looking for a stunning, forward-looking entertainment desktop that's well-equipped for Windows 8 will appreciate the IdeaCentre A720. But be aware that other big-screen all-in-one PCs deliver better performance for similar prices.
From its top-mounted Blu-ray drive to its granite base, the Tiki is an impressive gaming PC with an elegantly compact chassis. (The excellent design comes at a bit of a price premium, though.)
True to its name, the ThinkCentre M92p Tiny is an ultracompact desktop with a mix of security and remote-management features that's sure to appeal to businesses.
Call it a high-end mainstream desktop or a midrange gaming PC, the XPS 8500 delivers potent parts for the price: an "Ivy Bridge" Core i7 processor, high-end Radeon graphics, and a useful hard drive/SSD combo in our test model. Creative professionals who are also gamers on the side will find this machine a good fit.
Its price ($7,499) may be as stratospheric as its performance, but Origin has taken its new Genesis to near-absolute gaming levels. Everything progresses, but for now, the Genesis is at the pinnacle of gaming.
Whether you view it as a remarkably sleek and slim workstation or an insanely powerful and reliable all-in-one PC, the HP Z1 is unique: it's the first 27-inch all-in-one workstation.
A simple and functional design, strong performance, and useful support options make the Dell Vostro 470 a good fit for small businesses.
The Zbox ID80 Plus is a compact and quiet HTPC system that’s ideal for DIYers on a budget. Just be prepared to supply your own optical drive, keyboard, mouse, and OS.
With its stunning screen, fast next-gen processor and graphics, SSD, and six USB 3.0 ports, Dell's XPS One 27 is the best Windows-based all-in-one we've seen yet.
Samsung's $329 Chromebox might look like a Mac Mini, but its Google Chrome OS, while improved over previous versions, still has major limitations. It's okay as a second or third computer, but budget PCs offer better hardware and a full-blown OS.
Students, families, and multimedia fans will find the new Ivy Bridge version of HP's Omni 27 even more tempting, but it faces formidable competition—not least from HP's Windows 8-ready touch-screen all-in-ones.
If you are willing to trade some raw performance for versatility (and your living space is at a premium), the Sony VAIO L Series will be a good fit. This 24-inch all-in-one delivers a very capable PC and a fully functional stand-alone HDTV in a single machine.
Maingear's $2,099 Potenza is the best Ivy Bridge-based desktop we've seen, thanks to its overclocked processor, novel compact case, and top-tier graphics card.
If you're looking for a powerhouse PC under $2,000 for productivity and high-end gaming, HP's Phoenix h9t delivers the goods. Its aesthetics could be a bit better for this price, however.
The Q180 is incredibly compact and sleekly designed, with a thumb-friendly keyboard remote. It handles high-def media pretty well, but its benchmark performance isn’t great, and you’ll have to live with some fan noise.
The Revolution 2600K configuration we tested used smartly chosen components just shy of the cutting edge. The result: impressive high-end gaming and productivity performance (and a great case) at a competitive price.
With its new-for-2012 Intel Ivy Bridge processor, this Essentio tower is a powerhouse productivity and entertainment system for the price. Plus, once it shows its age, options for internal upgrades will be plentiful.
Those looking for a big-screen machine at a relatively low price will find a lot to like with HP’s Omni 27. But its lack of a touch screen will make an eventual Windows 8 upgrade less appealing.
A reclining display, a powerful component lineup, and a strong security-tool suite make this all-in-one PC a fine fit if your job requires long stretches of touch input.
The Asus ET2700 is more than an all-in-one PC; it’s an entertainment center that delivers a huge display, booming audio, Blu-ray, and an HDMI-in port. We like it for locations where having both a PC and a TV isn't practical.
HP’s Phoenix h9z offers up solid performance and some souped-up styling, but too much bloatware keeps it from flying high. Plus, Alienware’s competing X51 offers slightly better components for about the same price.
This entry-level all-in-one delivers a 20-inch display and decent audio, but the lackluster performance of our test model makes it a better secondary system than primary PC for most users.
The compact X51 is a sleek-looking, console-like gaming PC at a reasonable price. It’s best for those more concerned about enjoying games than getting ultimate performance and extreme upgradability.
No matter how you configure the TouchSmart 520, you’ll get a well-designed entertainment PC with a crisp 23-inch display, booming audio, and the best touch software going.
In our $1,199 test configuration, the Vector packed surprising gaming punch for the price. We'd reconsider the video-card choice in our test model, however.
Those looking for a low-cost family PC-plus-monitor with decent gaming performance will find this $599 Costco in-store bundle a strong value.
A strong performer for the price (and a heck of a looker), the ODE is a good option for most PC gamers, or anyone who wants a very powerful, expandable tower.
An all-in-one PC with surprising power for the price, the Inspiron One 2320 is held back, alas, by a disappointing screen.
Opting for an under-$1,000 all-in-one PC forces some sacrifices, but Asus chose wisely when assembling this model. It's a versatile PC for home or dorm use.
Toshiba's return to the desktop-PC market is a decently performing and sleekly designed entertainment machine. It's catnip for the style-conscious.
For seniors or others unable to master traditional PCs or Macs, this $699 non-Windows computer is a unique, easy-to-use alternative.
This under-$600 Pavilion model is a good fit for those looking for an inexpensive, upgradable PC that won't get bogged down by everyday computing tasks. (Just be prepared to spend time uninstalling unnecessary software.)
An innovate design, full-size drives, built-in security, and remote management features make the M91p Ultrasmall compact business PC a good choice for space-strapped work groups.
If you aren’t interested in Blu-ray or demanding games, the h8-1010 can serve as a fine family or productivity PC. Note, though: Faster models with better features (and less bloatware) cost just a little more.
Excellent speed for the money, plus handy management features and a long warranty, make the 8200 Elite a winning compact PC for business.
This eye-popping home-theater PC impresses with a slim design and low price, but it's frustrating to use at times.
Productivity-application speed and good looks make this $999 mainstream PC a good value. A few advertised features are not as they seem, however, so know what you're getting—and not.
The slender Mac Mini gains muscle, thanks to newer Intel CPUs, but jettisons the optical drive. Whether it's a good value depends on the peripherals you already own.
Serious-but-space-strapped PC gamers, take note: The configurable Enix packs extreme performance into a compact, unique tower.
The Erebus boasts exceedingly high-end performance, impressive water cooling, and intimidating looks. But at over $7,500 in our test configuration, it couldn't fully outpace another recent, much cheaper rig we reviewed—at least until we overclocked the graphics cards.
This compact, budget-friendly PC sports a roomy hard drive and is a good choice for homes or offices with basic productivity needs.
With super-charged components and a best-in-class screen, this top-of-the line iMac provides an excellent platform for digital-graphics-focused users.
Thanks to the help of an expertly overclocked Intel "Sandy Bridge" CPU and a smart choice of components, the Shift Super Stock brings bleeding-edge performance a fair bit closer to affordability.
This all-in-one PC sports entertainment-friendly features and a big, bright display, but competitors offer a better balance of performance, features, and price.
A true speed demon, the Sandy Bridge-based XPS 8300 sets a new standard for mainstream desktop PCs—at least for now.
With serious speed improvements and the promising new Thunderbolt port, the 2011 iMac keeps an iron grip on its position as today's leading all-in-one PC.
This all-in-one has an enticing price and a space-saving design, but it's underpowered for all but the most basic tasks, and its warranty is short for a business PC.
This powerful family PC has a slide-down touch screen that converts it into a huge tablet. The slider needs refining, but we saw little else not to like.
Its design offers little new, but the p6720f is a more-than-capable budget PC with very good performance for its $599 price.
A smart design and strong performance make the Omni 200 Quad a strong contender among under-$1,000 all-in-one PCs.
With an Intel “Sandy Bridge” CPU inside, the Vostro 460 we tested was one of the speediest PCs to date, albeit pricey for a small-biz PC. Most workers will find a less-expensive configuration of it peppy enough for their needs.
This unabashed iMac clone, clad in black, has a sleeker design than most other Windows all-in-one PCs. The look exacts a too-dear premium price, however.
It’s bulky, and its feature set is merely average, but this all-in-one PC packs strong productivity performance, besting other 21.5-inch models we've tested in its price range.
HP’s TouchSmart still has the best desktop touch software we’ve used, but this compact model’s specs and performance are no match for similarly priced all-in-ones.
Other than an aging CPU, we find few faults with the 6000 Pro, an enterprise all-in-one PC with a smart design, an easily accessed interior, and a generous warranty.
With good looks, a space-saving form factor, and a Blu-ray drive, the H320 is a smart choice as midrange family PC.
This small-form-factor model is a speedy, good value for a home-theater or media PC. The power plug needs a redesign, however, and we'd wait for a motherboard update.
Home-theater PCs don't get much smaller than this AMD Fusion-based ZBox, though its diminutive size means paying a premium price and making a few sacrifices.
This PC is speedy enough for everyday tasks and has a spacious hard drive. Media and gaming aren't strong suits, though: The 1080p screen begs for a Blu-ray drive, and the graphics are weak.
The A310’s stunning design masks a PC peppy enough for average computing tasks. Plus, its connectivity options make the most of its 1080p screen.
This high-powered PC ably displays 3D movies, photos, and games. Everything you need is included and easy to set up, but 3D games hold much more promise than movies or photos.
This $649 tower can handle office tasks and dabble in gaming. It's well-rounded for families or anyone seeking more power than most budget desktops.
As a basic all-in-one PC for Net work and homework, this 20-inch-screened model delivers with its pleasing design, adequate performance, and fair price.
Despite its good looks, the A700 can't compete with cheaper all-in-one PCs that are speedier and offer a more fitting feature mix.
Gateway's late-2010 all-in-one packs a big 23-inch screen, a slick new design, a robust feature set, and strong performance for the price.
The Origin PC Genesis is an uncompromising, benchmark-busting gaming machine that restores honor to the reputation of boutique-PC builders.
If you like the looks of this particular Predator, it's a good choice for a mainstream gaming rig. It lacks a Blu-ray drive and has more RAM than most users need, but it's a fine performer for the price.
This all-in-one PC is an average midrange model with a 1080p screen and a TV tuner, but it gets thoroughly outclassed by at least one major-maker competitor.
In our test configuration, the business-oriented M90z is overkill for most office tasks. Configuration options, however, can bring down the price while still delivering a peppy big-screen office PC.
Stellar design and performance keep the 27-inch iMac at the front of the all-in-one PC pack.
If you're seeking a nicely priced, highly upgradable PC for mainstream gaming and watching Blu-rays, this model is a smart choice.
The three-core AMD CPU in this under-$500 PC gives it plenty of pep for everyday computing.
Great performance and a thoughtfully designed case make this machine a serious contender in the sub-$1,000 PC class.
This overclocked Core i5 desktop is a very solid gaming rig with major expansion potential, but comparably priced models do offer quad-core CPUs and more features.
Apple's powerhouse desktop PC gets even beefier components, making it the continued go-to choice for creative professionals.
This $519.99 PC delivers speed you’d expect from a pricier machine. If your needs are modest, this configuration offers fine value.
Quad-core processing, a huge hard drive, and Wi-Fi connectivity set apart this versatile and compact $599 desktop PC.
Digital Storm’s Black Ops Assassin is one killer PC with an asking price that, while certainly not cheap, is impressive considering this PC approaches the performance of über-PCs that cost much more.
For the price, the p6540f provides great performance for most productivity and multimedia applications, but anemic integrated graphics takes 3D gaming out of the equation.
For its $899 price, the 2010 Vector Campus Edition tower is a powerful productivity machine with decent gaming potential.
The Mini-e is a serviceable compact PC for tasks like Web surfing, word processing, and listening to music. If your needs extend to more strenuous tasks, a more powerful budget tower is a smarter buy.
Its stylishly intimidating exterior and solid productivity performance are certainly impressive, but the Acer Aspire Predator's gaming chops don't really live up to its lofty price tag.
The 2010 revision of the iMac, with a slate of new, more powerful components, continues to be the all-in-one desktop computer to beat.
This VAIO all-in-one PC is a decent entertainment or family machine, but at $1,000, its features and performance are far behind the competition at this price.
iBuypower's latest LAN-party rig is a compact powerhouse with gaming performance that meets or beats larger, costlier PCs for the price.
With freshly updated components, field-leading touch apps, a Blu-ray drive, and a bright 23-inch screen, this $1,799 TouchSmart is a top-choice all-in-one PC.
This $979 Blu-ray-capable PC is well-equipped for everyday tasks and older games. It's a good six-core, midrange machine, but other PCs at this price do perform better.
If design is paramount in your PC-purchasing decision, the IdeaCentre A300 certainly is stunning. But you’ll get much better performance and features from competing systems in this price range.
Price aside, the C315 is not a bad entry-level all-in-one PC. But considering what you get for $849, most buyers will want to look elsewhere—at least until the price drops.
Its design may be polarizing, but the gamer-centric B500 is one of the most powerful, feature-packed all-in-one PCs we've seen. (And it's priced less than some of its competition.)
The ZX4300-01e is a capable-enough space-saving PC, but it fails to rise above the crowded field of competitors under $1,000.
The Mac Mini gets a sleek new design and nice new features, but its performance can't keep up with some of its competition.
The business-centric A70z tackles productivity chores better than similarly priced all-in-ones, and it boots quickly out-of-the-box. Though it's bland-looking, its integrated power supply and wireless peripherals make it a good choice for cramped office environs.
The touch-screen apps disappoint, but we found lots else to like about this all-in-one PC: snappy performance, a Blu-ray player, and a big 1080p screen. It delivers excellent value.
Falcon Northwest's latest Talon would be a media star with the addition of a Blu-ray drive and media card reader. But without them it can still run games and productivity software about as well as recent systems that cost much more.
This all-in-one PC handles productivity tasks with relative ease, but similarly priced competing models offer more for the money, such as better gaming performance or a bigger LCD.
The Gamer Ultra 9000 brings six-core computing down to more affordable levels. It can't compete with costlier rigs, but it's a fine gaming machine for the price.
If you're looking for an affordable six-core PC, with future-looking connectivity and upgrade room, the Vybe should serve you well. Just be sure your programs can really use all those cores.
For businesses looking to go green, the Compaq 8000f is a compelling, compact PC that's power-efficient and manufactured minus several harmful compounds.
The latest Eee Top all-in-one is impressively slim, packed with cutting-edge parts, and stingy with power, but we've seen better budget all-in-ones for the price.
The $3,999 Gamer Xtreme XE breaks from the ultra-high-price pattern set by the first Intel-based six-core PCs. Its gaming and productivity performance are among the best we’ve seen.
You'll pay a premium for the peace of mind that comes with ECC memory, but this smartly built, quiet, and powerful workstation should serve you well.
The Javelin delivers a great gaming experience for the price. It's not cheap, but for the performance it delivers, it's a smart choice for the no-compromise gamer.
The MS225 handles simple tasks easily, but competing models offer more features and better performance for just a little more cash.
The p6320f has enough power for most productivity and multimedia applications, but if you’re looking for even modest 3D gaming performance, you’re going to have to invest in a dedicated graphics card.
The p6330f delivers solid application and multimedia performance, as well as upgrade potential aplenty. Just don't aim to game: Its integrated graphics fall far short for 3D gaming.
This 23-inch touch-screen PC looks great, does well with productivity tasks, and has lots of storage space. It's a good family PC, but demanding games are not its forte.
The Affinity plows through productivity apps and tackles Web browsing with ease. But Gateway's similar DX4831-03 offers a better graphics card (and a Blu-ray drive) for just $50 more.
This configurable six-core PC is a hyper-speed performance machine, with a glitzy paint job that makes it look as good as it cooks.
With excellent performance for its price and a configuration that the competition can’t beat, the DX4831-03 is one of the best values in a sub-$1,000 PC.
Sony packs lots of features and capable components into this high-end all-in-one, but the two-kilobuck price will deter many.
Alienware’s latest iteration of its Area 51 gaming PC offers Intel Core i7 and ATI CrossFireX power in a redesigned case. Performance is what you’d expect from a top-tier gamer, but be warned: It's huge and expensive.
This PC, from newcomer Ballistic, is built in the true spirit of gaming performance, and priced more accessibly than most tricked-out rigs.
This quiet slimline PC offers excellent performance for the money. It's a good choice if you don't play 3D games.
This Aspire is a small, stylish-looking budget PC with decent performance for day-to-day tasks. It's well-suited for use as a second PC.
The e9260f offers a decent mix of midrange gaming performance, plus snap for other PC tasks. It's a good family PC or home-office workhorse that can also keep you entertained during downtime.
Gateway's latest gaming rig has had a skillful face-lift, with solidly performing components for the price, but it faces increasingly stiff competition.
A strong productivity machine, the compact Slimline s5370t is a fine fit for mainstream users or students, though not those looking for a PC with substantial upgradeability.
Solid performance, good-looking design, and surprisingly practical software make the HPE-170t a winning performance PC.
The Gamer Xtreme 1000 delivers surprisingly good mainstream performance-for-the-dollar, thanks to its overclocked Intel Core i3 CPU.
Once again, Alienware has created a visually stunning, smartly designed PC, without sacrificing the performance needed for gaming (or just about anything else).
The Q110 nettop is amazingly small and thin, but with its single-core Atom CPU and lack of peripherals, the $400 asking price is high.
If you’re a PC user with a spare monitor, looking to dip your toe into Mac waters, the Mini is a nice introduction to Apple computers. All others, though, should weigh this tiny PC's value versus an iMac.
This slick-looking nettop will appeal to users with serious space constraints who need a PC that can handle the basics and perhaps some light gaming.
Dell combined great performance, an attractive design, and noteworthy extras to create the Studio XPS 8000. We only wish it were slightly less expensive and had better upgradability.
The iBuypower Chimera’s case is sheer eye candy, but the PC inside is a top performer for the price.
The CQ4010F is a great first PC, or a good second computer for basic uses such as e-mail and Web browsing. Taxing tasks like gaming or video editing are not its forte.
This Gateway One is a fairly capable family PC, but if its touch-screen computing isn't a draw for you, you can get much better performance for a little more money with competing products from Dell and Averatec.
An excellent-value mainstream or family PC, this Aspire is less expensive than similarly priced PCs and performs as well as pricier desktops.
The $2,699 Gamer Xtreme XI offers killer gaming performance for tomorrow’s DirectX 11 games at a more moderate price than some of its high-end competition.
It topped $7,000 in our test configuration, but this over-the-top hyper-PC is a true tech showpiece—and its superior custom case is available even in its $2,199 base model.
This understated, compact all-in-one has more muscle than Atom-powered models. It's a safe pick if your budget is locked at $600, but much brawnier PCs cost just $100 more.
Snazzier than most all-in-ones, the Aspire establishes a good price/performance middle ground between Atom-powered nettops and pricier all-in-ones.
Aggressive moves on style, performance, and price help Apple's flagship all-in-one top its competition—and there's simply no ignoring that jaw-dropping display.
Aggressive moves on style, performance, and price help Apple's flagship all-in-one top its competition.
This TouchSmart shines thanks to its entertainment apps and HDMI-in port. Its hardware and speed don't quite match the price, but it's the best-designed touch PC yet.
The first Nvidia Ion-equipped desktop we've seen, the Eee Top can do more than most budget all-in-one PCs, though it can’t handle more than light gaming.
Space-strapped gamers, take note: This touch-screen PC lacks the design of Apple's iMac or Lenovo’s IdeaCentre A600, but it's the most powerful all-in-one desktop we’ve seen.
MSI’s 20-inch AMD-powered all-in-one PC is noticeably snappier than an Atom-powered nettop and a good deal at $649. It can act as a primary PC, though it can't handle Hulu video.
The 7334Ma delivers strong mainstream-app performance and has plenty of upgrade potential, provided you upgrade the power supply.
The P5500C packs a potent component mix into a small case, and Polywell includes an excellent monitor and 5.1 speakers. But the PC is slightly crippled by a 32-bit version of Windows 7, and its design is more than a bit unpolished.
Clearly, the Core i5 is not your father’s low-cost Intel processor: This PC proves that spectacular performance doesn’t require a matching price.
Its design won't appeal to everyone, but the C300 feels more solidly built than any other Atom-based all-in-one PC we've seen. It's a great choice for users with tight budgets and light computing needs.
The Chimera’s case may be sheer eye candy, but its gaming performance lives up to the flames. All but the most extreme gamers will find superior value in this PC.
The HP Pavilion Elite e9120f deftly balances application performance and price in a mainstream PC with some upgrade potential. It's a superior value if dominating graphics performance isn't crucial.
For those looking for a small budget system (monitor included) with just the right amount of power for everyday PC tasks, Acer's Aspire AX3810-B3801A is a smart, good-looking choice.
With its powerful Core 2 Quad processor and 8GB of DDR3 RAM, the Acer Aspire M5800-U5802A is a powerful, good-looking all-around PC with a very reasonable price.
As a relatively powerful, complete PC package, the DX4820-02 is a decent choice. But it's relatively expensive, considering new budget PCs that offer similar speed for most tasks.
At $399, the EZ1601-01 is the least-expensive all-in-one we've seen, by a fair margin. We like its easy portability, but its performance is slower than other nettops.
The p6130 is powerful enough for most general PC tasks and has fair internal-upgrade potential, but its performance lags behind other recent PCs that cost much less.
While it's not quite the supercomputer that Gateway claims it is, the FX6801-03 is a highly competent productivity machine that will easily satisfy the majority of your gaming requirements.
You'll pay a premium for its slim good looks, and you won't get groundbreaking gaming performance, but AVADirect's overall package is impressive.
A performance powerhouse for the money, the SX2800-01 is a bargain if you're not the type to open your computer's case.
The ET1810-03 budget desktop’s performance is unexceptional, but, at $369.99, it's still faster than what you’ll get from similarly priced nettop PCs. It's adequate for basic productivity tasks or as a second PC.
The ViewSonic VPC100's svelte profile and good looks can't compensate for its relatively high price and lackluster performance compared with all-in-one nettops with more features.
The Dell Inspiron 537s is a handsome slimline PC for space-strapped users, but its overall performance doesn't measure up for demanding applications or 3D games.
With its Core 2 Quad CPU and 6GB of RAM, HP's Pavilion Slimline s5160f is powerful for a small-form-factor PC. HDMI-out and a TV tuner are icing on the cake.
It isn't perfect, but with a large 25.5-inch screen, a TV tuner, generous RAM, a decent processor, and classic glossy black looks, the Averatec D1200 is the best all-in-one desktop we've seen for around $1,000.
A good-value, luggable midrange gaming rig with a blazing Core i7 CPU overclocked to 3.83GHz, it's a great fit if raw power and bragging rights are your priorities.
The EL1300G-01W is a good Internet station that will also get you through Microsoft Works without breaking a sweat. But the “02W” model, which comes with a 20-inch LCD for $100 more, is the better value.
Lenovo’s IdeaCentre A600 all-in-one desktop gets high points for style, versatility, and value. We also applaud the integrated TV tuner in our test unit.
The $599 MSI Wind Top AE1900-05SUS is an inexpensive touch-screen-enabled all-in-one desktop, but it’s now outclassed by other all-in-one offerings that cost as little as $100 more.
This touch-screen PC is enticing in its low-end configurations, but the higher-end models are costly considering the screen size. Plus, its design, while sleek, isn’t all that friendly for families with young children.
With a low price, slim design, and netbook-standard specs, the 18.4-inch Averatec All-In-One PC is adequate for secondary-PC use, but we have issues with its screen and the overall value proposition.
The 7308Ma offers plenty of options to connect to your HDTV for Blu-ray playback, and its processor packs muscle for office-productivity apps. But the case design makes the system feel a bit cheap, and the integrated graphics aren’t made for gaming.
Meticulously crafted, the Digital Storm 950Si uses top-shelf components and an overclocked Intel Core i7 CPU to deliver speedy 3D and office productivity performance. However, its numerous cooling fans make quite a racket.
If you associate mediocrity with "middle of the road," then Hewlett-Packard’s midrange, midtower m9600t will surprise you. Though not the fastest gamer in its genre, it’s packed with enough extras to please.
The quad-core Cerise Desktop is a solidly performing, smartly constructed, nearly silent PC that has more than enough muscle to tackle graphics, video, and photo-editing tasks.
The Blu-ray drive suggests the Gamer Dragon 9500 is a media PC, but the Radeon HD4870 X2 graphics card gives it great gaming skills. Cyberpower may just have come up with the perfect blend of the two.
The HP Pavilion Slimline s3750t is a versatile space-saving desktop PC with some nice multimedia features and a budget-friendly price tag. Although it has a dedicated graphics card, it lacks the horsepower needed to play today’s demanding 3D games.
The HP Pavilion Elite m9550f is a great value for a mainstream PC, offering excellent multimedia and gaming performance, as well as smart usability features.
Maingear's Axess HD has enough audio and video pizzazz to make you buy a bigger couch and your own popcorn maker. Just don’t give up your day computer.
The Eee Top ET1602's modest performance brands it as a second or even third PC, but this space-saving nettop offers an easy-to-use interface and an integrated touch-screen display.
Maingear's Dash is a reasonably priced and thoughtfully sized gaming desktop for serious players who don't want to leave the mainstream price range.
Lenovo's IdeaCentre K210 desktop comes with a monitor, a Blu-ray/HD-DVD reader, and a commitment to safe and secure computing—but delivers only average performance.
You get lots of visual zing with Alienware's $1,700 Area-51 750i desktop, but don't expect the potency to keep pace with the price.
In its Gamer Xtreme XE desktop, Cyberpower achieves blistering speed thanks to an overclocked Core i7 processor and two Nvidia GTX 295 video cards.
Dell has incorporated AMD's new Phenom II processors into its mainstream gaming line, and the results should satisfy casual 3D gamers, if not die-hards.
Velocity Micro's Edge Z55 lacks some of the performance oomph of its Core i7 cousins but is nonetheless an attractive and powerful desktop.
Thanks to its 3-Way SLI graphics solution and a bit of overclocking, the Vigor Force Recon T7N churned out some of the highest productivity and 3D benchmark scores we’ve seen.
Maingear's X-Cube offers high-speed, liquid-cooled gaming performance at home or on the road.
The Core i7-based Maingear F131 is one of the fastest systems we've ever tested, but you'll have to pay for that speed.
Eurocom's L390TP Uno is great for saving space and energy, but it lacks the features and functionality of most other all-in-one desktops.
The ZT Affinity 7238Xi offers decent performance paired with a low price tag—but it's the extras that make this budget desktop an astonishing value.
You'll have to sacrifice some everyday performance for the convenience of using HP's well-outfitted Pavilion Slimline s3650f as a Media Center, but compensates for that with impressive gaming capabilities.
One of the best-performing all-in-ones we've seen, Sony's VAIO VGC-RT150Y has it all—including an exorbitant price.
Lenovo's $479 H210 desktop offers little in the way of exceptional performance or expandability, but it gets basic jobs done at a terrific price.
With the $399 eMachines ET1161-03, you get what you pay for—plus a little bit of extra expansion room.
iBuypower's Gamer Paladin Q600-SB looks like the ideal budget gaming machine—too bad it doesn't quite play like one.
If you need a small system at a small price, Shuttle's X27D is better equipped than some we've seen, but its performance still reflects its value status.
Priced for less than $700 and delivering impressive quad-core performance, the Gateway DX4710-05 is an excellent choice for budget-minded buyers.
Gateway's LX6200-01 home theater PC has a nice selection of media features, but its performance prevents it from being an outstanding value.
Dell's Core i7-powered XPS 730x offers performance and features that will appeal to every gamer, but at a price that might give some pause.
Falcon Northwest's Talon, a fine gaming PC based on Intel's new Core i7 processor, falters only because it's priced too far ahead of the similarly equipped competition.
Packed with power, features, and expandability, iBuypower's Core i7-based Gamer Paladin F870-SB offers just about everything a gamer might need—even a big LCD—for $2,500.
Based on Intel's new low-end Core i7-920 CPU, Gateway's FX6800-01e gaming PC catapults high-caliber performance into the mainstream price range.
HP's newest version of its TouchSmart line of touch screen-based home theater PCs introduces some key new features—as well as some new problems.
The eMachines EL1200-05w costs less than $300, and unfortunately, its performance and features match the price.
The Dell Studio Desktop is a fine media-ready machine—with just a few key limitations.
Not surprisingly, the Alienware Area 51 ALX turned in some of the best performance scores we’ve seen, but you’ll need deep pockets to afford this monster of a machine.
The iBuypower Gamer Haf 9SE delivers a credible gaming experience at an enviable price.
The dc5850 makes a competent workstation or Internet surfboard, but it’s expensive for what it offers compared with competing systems.
The energy-efficient Acer Aspire X1200 lacks the features it needs to be the green media solution it wants to be.
If you're looking for an affordable PC to handle your basic e-mail and Internet-browsing needs, the Shuttle KPC K4800 can get you there for under $300—but you'll have to supply your own input devices and monitor.
Dell tries to storm the green market with its small and stylish Studio Hybrid budget PC, but this environmentally friendly machine doesn't offer much computing power.
Asus' Eee Box price is as small as the desktop itself—if you don't mind comparably puny performance, it could suffice as a secondary home system.
The iBuypower Gamer Fire 294 gaming PC delivers impressive 3D performance at a fraction of the cost of some of today's high-octane rigs.
Other budget PCs offer better performance than the ZT Affinity 7221Xa, but it's tough to find one that offers as many extras.
MaxForce's Revolution GTX is a system to grow with. It offers few compromises in return for its down-to-earth pricing.
Strictly a middle-of-the-road budget computer, the GT5692 offers the promise of more of whatever you're looking for—as long you're willing to fork out a bit more cash.
Four cores not enough for you? Then Vigor's Colossus might be the system you've been looking for—assuming you can afford it, and can take advantage of its not-for-everyone potential.
ZT Systems' Affinity 7225Xi helps you get a lot of extra mileage out of your PC-buying dollar.
You won't need to pile yet another job onto your college coursework to afford the feature-packed Velocity Micro Vector Campus Edition desktop.
HP's TouchSmart IQ506 desktop revolutionizes touch computing for the indiscriminating home user—and won't disrupt your décor.
Dell expands its business-angled line of desktops with the performance-oriented Vostro 410, which offers a lot of power to match its fringe benefits.
You don't need to be on a tight budget to appreciate the value of HP's Pavilion a6560f desktop, the money-minding media maven's new best friend.
iBuypower's Gamer Paladin 795-CX may not be the smartest investment for the long term, but its blend of current upscale technologies makes it an excellent buy today.
Dell's Inspiron 530 budget configuration is weak in terms of performance, but offers a strong selection of service and support options.
It's far from ideal for handling games, but the $600 eMachines T5254 desktop is decently equipped for the present—and poised for future upgrade success.
Gateway's FX541XT gaming PC demonstrates a couple of noticeable leaps ahead of its predecessor, the FX540XT. But most of the pleasures—and problems—of that model remain.
Shuttle's $750 G2 6800b desktop is small enough to pass unnoticed under any radar; its lackluster performance, however, is considerably more glaring.
Offering most everything except video-upgrade potential, Cyberpower’s Gamer Infinity 1000 is an outstanding budget gaming box.
If you've been hankering for an Alienware gaming PC but been deterred by your limited bank account, the Area-51 7500 has the deal and the performance you've been looking for—and it only requires a few tiny trade-offs.
The HP Blackbird gaming PC is back, attractive as ever. But this nVidia nForce 780i chipset edition never gives you quite the performance worthy of a system this expensive.
Eurocom's LV220C ViiVA all-in-one satisfies as a basic standalone entertainment PC, as long as you don't intend it as the centerpiece of your living room's décor.
Maingear's Axess HD is a stylish entertainment PC that plays its home theater role well—just don't expect outstanding computing capability as well.
The HP Pavilion Elite m9200t is a powerful, well-equipped desktop primed to handle all of your entertainment-related needs—games included.
The Velocity Micro Edge Z55 offers solid gaming and productivity performance at a price that won't break the bank.
Falcon Northwest's intelligent approach to assembling top-notch components in a small-form-factor case makes the diminutive Fragbox a desirable piece of desktop bling.
You'll pay a decent amount for the Gateway FX540XTG's respectable gaming performance—and get an earful in the bargain.
The Cerise Quad-Core Workstation offers massive amounts of hard drive storage and a speedy Intel Core 2 Quad processor, but its graphics performance could use a boost.
The Reactor, the latest offering from the overclock-everything company ±berclok, is impressively fast—but only when it's working at its best.
The KPC isn't the most full-featured PC, but it's designed for everyone—and has a price that will still allow you to make mortgage and tuition payments.
Designed for areas where space is limited, the HP Pavilion Slimline S3330f delivers a nice assortment of entertainment components in a stylish chassis.
Powered by ATI's dual-GPU HD 3870 X2 graphics card, the Gamer Mage 855 is a capable—if unexciting—gaming box.
The VAIO VGX-TP25 E/B requires a no-compromise, recession-be-damned attitude when it comes to making it fully functional.
It's not intended for go-for-broke gamers, but Dell's XPS 630 is an outstanding entry in the new category of high-quality, reasonably priced mainstream gaming machines.
One of the best all-in-one combinations we've yet seen, Sony's VAIO VGC-LT29U is also as beautiful as it is functional.
With more power and options than the average user needs, the newest eight-core Apple Mac Pro continues to live up to its name and remains the go-to box for creative professionals.
Cyberpower's Gamer Ultra CF 3870 is a vanilla mainstream desktop, but it offers lots of expansion room for the potential of a more-flavorful future.
Gateway's FX7020 mainstream gaming box delivers enough of the goods to keep the whole family happy. It won't set any 3D game records—nor will it push you into foreclosure.
Shuttle's XPC G5 3300G is a respectable media PC that can handle either format of high-definition movies with ease—once you add the right software.
Alienware's Penryn update to its powerful Area-51 ALX gaming desktop is a fine performer, but lacks the superstar prowess to justify its sky-high price.
Serious gamers probably wouldn't give Polywell's Poly A790 a second look, but it's got some shiny 3D capabilities hidden under its unremarkable hood.
±berclok's Ion gaming computer lets you experience the thrill of overclocked speed without doing any messy technical work. But don't expect the system to accommodate tomorrow's high-powered gaming titles.
Gamers specifically searching for the best in DX10 performance will find it in the iBuypower Gamer Paladin 900's 3-Way SLI setup, but users with other needs can find better deals elsewhere.
While it delivers some solid performance, Radioactive PC's Plasma doesn't pack enough oomph for the price—and it probably won't be able to play tomorrow's top titles.
Intel's new fastest processor ever, the QX9770, powers Maingear's impressive ePhex gaming box, and a bevy of extras make attractive icing on the cake—as long as you don't crave high-res DirectX10.
Solaris' Photon XLX nets you good performance at a DIY price.
Boasting unparalleled 3D performance in almost every area, Cyberpower's Gamer Infinity SLI 8800 is a superb gaming system at a remarkably fair price.
It's neither the fastest nor the most expensive of the current top-of-the-line Penryn machines, but Falcon Northwest's Mach V still offers plenty of gaming power, for an expectedly high price.
With the GM5632E, Gateway has done an excellent job of refining an entertainment PC into its basic components without making the resulting computer tedious, boring, or expensive.
Dell's entry into the all-in-one field, the XPS One, is a nice-looking unit, but it falls just short of its competition.
If the ABS Ultimate X Magnum Extreme is any indication, gamers (especially rich ones) are going to go nuts over Intel's latest Penryn processor innovations.
The exterior design is all that's unsettling about War Machine's nicely equipped gaming desktop.
The shape and price of Polywell's Poly i7150 will keep it from being the entertainment-PC choice for everyone, but if you simply need a modest PC for TiVo-style TV recording, it could be the computer for you.
Good performance and the addition of Adobe's killer Elements Studio software suite distinguish Dell's higher-end—and higher-priced—XPS 420 entertainment PC.
The presence of a quad-core processor in the HP Pavilion Elite m9000t helps energize this entertainment PC—and the bevy of media-friendly extras doesn't hurt.
The ThinkCentre a61e is small enough to cram into the tight places in your home or small-business work area, but don't expect big performance from this diminutive desktop.
AVADirect's Gaming Cube is a powerful, luggable PC ideal for taking along to your next gaming party. Its impressive performance and great price make it a terrific option for a stay-at-home desktop, too.
If you're a dyed-in-the-wool PC user who wishes you had a system like the iMac to call your own, the Gateway One mostly fits the bill. Just don't expect to be floored by anything other than the appearance of this all-in-one entertainment PC.
If your goal is to own an upscale gaming rig and you have the means to do so, the Ultimate X Magnum Extreme is a serious contender for your attention.
The Gamer Infinity CrossFire 2900XT certainly isn't entry-level, but Cyberpower takes some of the pain out of buying a high-end PC by offering a superb performer at a midrange price.
Sony's stylish VGX-TP1 raises the bar for low-cost entertainment PCs—but it isn't built to handle much besides media-manipulation chores.
The Vigor Gaming Stealth NE is the clear choice for gamers who want an inexpensive, but strong-performing, desktop with a distinctive look.
The HP Compaq DC7800 expands the idea of what a small-form-factor desktop can be and do. As long as you never need to expand it, you should be all set.
HP and Voodoo have redefined the gaming desktop with the Blackbird 002. There's nothing this PC can't do for you, as long as you can afford it—and lift it.
Attractive industrial design, coupled with excellent features and performance, makes Apple's latest all-in-one desktop a true champ.
Acer's $499.95 Aspire T180 is a budget desktop that delivers poor performance, thanks to its comparatively anemic components.
In most respects a standard budget desktop, the eMachines T5230 distinguishes itself with above-average performance, coupled with a nice mail-in rebate.
The Systemax Venture S925 is an average low-cost desktop, but its free year of antivirus protection helps tip the scales in its favor.
For young adults heading back to school, or anyone looking for a well-equipped midrange PC, the Mage 550-SLI could have the magic touch.
The attractive Compaq Presario SR5130NX has the middling performance you'd expect for its $499 price, but it should suit undemanding users don't expect to upgrade it much.
The Polywell Poly 7025A delivers decent basic performance for everyday tasks in a slim case—and you can upgrade it to serve as an entertainment PC.
The ZT Element 2005Xa delivers middling performance and has lamentable gaming abilities, but its other extras help make it one of the better under-$500 boxes we've seen.
This snazzy-looking desktop can’t match the capabilities of some of its similarly priced competition.
You name it, you've got it in Polywell's powerful Poly P503, a stuffed gaming desktop that won't force you to empty your bank account.
Hobbled by its limited configuration, the Superior $699 PC can't compete with other budget desktops on the market.
Radioactive steps to the forefront of alternative vendors with a PC that keeps do-it-yourselfers in mind—the chassis on the Ion is terrific in almost every way. The PC's performance, however, is a different matter.
For small-business buyers with little or no access to IT help, the Vostro 200 is a terrific value. Just know that it isn't aimed at—and likely won't satisfy—home users.
Built for the upscale mediaphile, the Hangar18 is a well-equipped PC for home media consumption. Just don't expect too much from its computing side.
The Inspiron 531 features a fine, basic collection of components and offerings for anyone looking for a moderately powerful midrange desktop at an impressive price.
Unless you start throwing money at it, the Cyberpower Gamer Infinity 9000 is your basic jack-of-all-trades PC. (Of course, the other half of that old saw is "master of none.")
The ABS Ultimate X8 Stealth Extreme isn't the fastest PC you can buy, but it turns in above-average performance without being ridiculously expensive.
Its good performance, small size, and reasonable price make the Aspire L310 a reasonable choice if you don't play games.
If you're looking to jump on the HD DVD bandwagon with a solid performance PC that's also ideal for games, the FX530XT fits the bill.
A better version of the entry-level home PC, with lots of expandability.
An average configuration saddled with integrated graphics, this desktop stands out only for its long warranty and extensive expandability options.
Need a really basic Vista Business machine as an emergency fill-in for your small-office network? The DX2300 can serve as your spare tire. If you need a PC for anything else, however, keep looking.
The Alienware Area-51 ALX will blast through any game you can throw at it. But if you buy it, will you still be able to afford games?
A unique paint job and well-designed interior compensate for merely average performance for the price.
If you're a gamer on a tight budget, this is the system to consider.
While this svelte PC offers few expansion options, it comes with extra memory and a large monitor.
This system's dual hard drives are perfect when storage is a priority, but skip the 64-bit version of Vista Home Premium.
It’s solidly built and has room to expand, but the integrated graphics and small LCD are shortfalls.
HP’s latest Media Center is packed with ports, software, and connection and expandability options, all under the highly attractive umbrella of a sub-$1,000 price.
A hot new quad-core processor and top-end video cards make Cyberpower's Gamer Infinity Ultimate an excellent gaming machine at a remarkable price.
This desktop is a good choice for budget buyers, but it lacks a dedicated graphics card and needs a processor update.
With Vista on the horizon, a system with this much growth potential is a good investment.
Solidly built, stylish mini-PC shows some graphics power
For undemanding gamers, or anyone looking for a solid midrange computer, the ProMagix PCX is a fine choice.
The Affinity 5002Za delivers modest performance in some areas, but if you're looking for an affordable Media Center PC with HDTV support, the $699 price might be just right.
An impressive warranty helps elevate this otherwise nondescript system to one you should consider for home- or office-productivity use.
If you have the money for an extreme gaming system, consider the Ultimate X-Striker Extreme. It's faster than any of the Intel quad-core systems we checked out last November, and the case certainly makes its presence known.
You'll be reminded of Microsoft's Flight Simulator every time you look at this system, but some performance issues might keep you from getting off the ground immediately.
This hot-looking PC might not be for everyone, but if you need a portable gaming desktop, it’s doubtful one that looks and works this well could leave you cold.
A decent midrange PC with enough power for gaming, video editing, and other applications, but its loud DVD drive and over-the-air TV tuner limit its usefulness as an entertainment PC for the living room.
An outstanding Vista-equipped PC that's priced right and has plenty of room for expansion.
AMD makes respectable Dimension debut
This PC's capable dual-core processor and room to grow outweigh the short warranty.
Blazingly fast and generously configured, the fastest desktop in the pack
A great Media Center PC that also excels at gaming and video editing
A quad-core desktop that combines blazing performance with maximum tweakability
A tiny, full-featured Media Center PC
Intel's latest Extreme CPU meets extreme overclocking
Themed desktop has lots for racing fans to like
Quiet, small Media Center hindered by CPU, GPU
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Sunday, 5 October 2008
A little post-closure post here - I'm writing this to inform all you peeps who've asked for automatic updates that I've transferred you across to my new blog.
I changed the blog from Wordpress back to Blogger so I could imbed better widgets in it, like the email subscription thing.
You can also now get Tolle audios directly from the blog if you want to.
It's also a nicer layout.
Wordpress is dumb.
You'll get a new email confirmation saying that you're now a member. If you don't want to be on the list for my new blog, you are clearly packing the intellectual arsenal of a brain-damaged infant, and I don't want you reading my shit. You can opt out in the confirmation email.
Obviously, as a regular subscriber to the blog you are a ten-foot-tall genius hero covered in golden armour, or a sylph-like genius with beauty and presence so powerful you can melt sand from fifty feet. Whichever you prefer.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
It's entitled 1000 Days Of Presence. You'll see why when you read it at
Thank you everyone who's made this blog more interesting than average. I feel it's time to lay it to rest.
The new one is a diary of a project I'm embarking on. I'll be updating it as regularly as time permits. Anyone who tells a friend about the 1000 Days Of Presence project or posts about it on any blog or internet website officially gets a "cyberhug" from me. This is like cybersex, but less soggy.
If you like the new angle, pass it around. All of the people who've signed up for email updates for this blog I'll try to transfer you onto the next one. I am something of a techno-retard though, so this may take a while. As soon as I find an email signup widget (!?) that works on wordpress where my new blog is I'll stick it up and you can enter your details in there.
I'm going to try not moderating the comments on the new blog, although I'm aware there are some scary ass weirdoes out there who trawl the internet looking for things to swear at. We'll see how it goes.
Remember - the new blog is at
If you like what you see take the link, post it wherever you can. All support is greatly appreciated.
Much love, and thanks again to everyone who's submitted. Deep apologies for not getting back to everyone I've not gotten back to, I have read everything submitted.
Rock on, heroes. This is Dr Jekyll, signing off.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Well, it's been a hectic few months. As any followers of this blog will no doubt be aware, I've not been posting nor responding for a long time. This is for the simple reason that you all smell of wee.
I've been chillin' in the name of, untangling myself from the crazed tomfoolery of the online underworld. I knew I had to get out, and 'just one more response' was keeping me glued to the computer. To coin a phrase, I dropped a portcullis on all things related to the world of seduction. People, places, things - I've just dropped off the radar completely.
All of you who've stayed with the blog, I salute you and give you a great big hug in a non-gay way. Apart from you, Mark. I'm secretly feeling your bottom.
I haven't decided whether or not this blog will undergo a full-scale revival yet - although I will post here and there. I don't want to become an anti-community protest blog - not because I don't think that's worthwhile, but because I'd rather not get sucked into playing another 'guru' role.
Equally, I have been reading my email every now and then, and if you've posted a comment that hasn't been published (there are 126 pending at this moment... eep!) then I will have read it.
As such, I am aware that there are a lot of guys dealing with some really fricked up shit as a result of community exposure. On an ongoing basis I would like to respond to these things as best I can because I really feel for you.
The last couple of posts on the blog, although fine holiday fun, were descending into (from my point of view) a kind of argumentative whak-a-rat. Someone would bring up a load of points, I'd address them, someone would respond to that with 20 more, I'd address them, someone would respond with 50 more, and so on and so forth.
I felt that leaving the blog where it was worked because I think there's enough info in the last 2 posts and response threads to give serious pause for thought. Call it my spanner in the works, if you will.
Now here's what's going to happen - feel free to post some responses. Bear in mind though that it's unlikely I'll be going all out on another serious back-and-forth, point-for-point debate about this, at least in the immediate future.
In other news, have returned to the work of Herr Tolle, have a new job and things are generally looking pretty rosy. Oh, and Lehman Brothers just went under. I told them that CDOs were a bad idea. Did they listen? Did they heck.
Speak soon, peeps.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
That's how long it's taken to pull down the rep I've been building tirelessly for three years. Humbling.
All those of you who have chosen to remain with the blog, I salute you. I realise that there are many things pulling you away from here, and many voices undermining mine.
But you have stayed because you sensed something in what I'm saying. Something that may have hit you like a hammer - or maybe just something that's needling you at the edge of your consciousness and refuses to leave no matter how much you try to ignore it.
Good. What this means is that you are unwilling to simply and easily dismiss something that rings all too true, even if you really want to.
In that, you are already stronger than I was.
And before we go on, I want you to know a couple of things. Firstly, I am no hero. I know that a lot of people are saying and will continue to say that moreover, I am any number of very bad things.
Do not get sucked into caricatures of me in defiance to their venom. If you really respect me, you will not lionise me. I am no lion. I am a leech who wants to be a man again.
Now, I've spoken about a 'new way' and I know that many of you are waiting to hear what I have to say. Before I go on, a couple of things.
1 - This is going to challenge the living shit out of you.
2 - No, really, this is really going to challenge the living shit out of you.
Ok. Another thing I want to say is that I do care deeply about whether or not you get this. I want you to, and as such, all the doubts and questions that you are going to have, that's what the comment function on this blog is for. Shoot from the hip, gents. Don't hold back.
The interesting thing about the community is that the more 'advanced' it gets, the deeper it goes. We started out 10 years ago looking at how to open a conversation, and now we are looking to build our strength right deep down at the spiritual level.
A lot of the reasons for this are that if you have that kind of deep spiritual power, problems with women just evaporate as if they were never there. This is kind of strange and pretty interesting.
Another thing that many people have encountered is that once you get that kind of shit going on, you are suddenly tuned in to the very highest parts of your self. This is absolutely true and deeply revolutionary. It's also one of the main things (addictions notwithstanding) that held me in the seduction community for a long time after I'd achieved way beyond what I'd set out to achieve woman-wise when I got into it.
That is to say, it held my attention, strongly. You'll have heard it referred to in this blog and various community websites as 'nimbus'. And it is a very interesting phenomenon.
To describe it as being 'really on' is not accurate or honest. It is way beyond that. It's much more like a whole new dimension of power and insight which you gain access to. Which feels completely natural, like you at the deepest level. And it's not just your charisma that it supercharges, it blasts into everything. Intellect, sensitivity, vision, clarity, focus - everything.
Now, my question was 'can you trigger and sustain this in the context of seduction.' I spent a lot of time and energy doing my best to do just that, until I realised the simple and inconvenient truth that seduction is a context wherein the sustaining of genuine deep power is impossible.
So what then?
The interesting thing is that firstly, the feeling of this peak state goes way beyond that which you may gain from the adulation of others. In fact it has much less to do with how others see you, and much more to do with how you see them - how tuned in you are to their needs, and how effective you are at meeting them. In fact, it has much more to do with channeling love than with being loved.
Now love is a weak and feeble word, but it is not a weak or feeble thing. The crackling energy of this state gives you access to and turns you into a fountain of pure and genuine love that cuts through all negativity like a floodlight through shadow.
Now, the interesting thing is that when I was at my best, it was because I was going, every week, to a place where I would be exposed to exactly this phenomenon with great intensity.
Every week I would be filled with this thing, with this power.
It's interesting, because the first time I ever went to that place, I reacted very badly. I felt a deep defiance in parts of me I didn't even know I had. I felt a slithering inside my chest, like snakes under rock that had just been lifted. Which to be honest, didn't say very good things about my internals.
I'm going to give you a blast of that place I went to. It's free, you can download it instantly.
Now, before I tell you what that place is, there's something I want to talk about.
Infinity is something which many of us have started to take more seriously recently. The work of men like Eckhart Tolle has given us gateways, if you will, into an unseen realm.
If you don't know anything about this dude, google the fucker, and download his shit. It's good shit. He's a bit of a hippy, but of a very practical and grounded nature.
Now, the thing about the infinite in it's Buddhist conception is that the Buddha, and by extension his followers, see the infinite as a sea in which you dissolve.
They see you, as in you the ego structure, as a static conception in a world of shifting and ever-dynamic intertwined processes.
This is, I believe, pretty fucking astute.
As such, they believe that the way to achieve eternal peace is to dissolve into this infinity.
That's basically Buddhism. Everything else is a route to that - the meditation, the monasticism, the wearing orange, all that jazz.
Now don't get me wrong. I do not think this is stupid, nor inaccurate.
But I do believe it is incomplete.
The difference between the conception of the infinite held by Buddhists, and the conception of the infinite put forward by Christians (at least the ones who aren't too busy gay-bashing or shooting abortion doctors) is that the infinite has a personality.
That it, essentially, is a person. You can interact with it as you would interact with a person. It has a specific plan and agenda for you, as a person would. It has a very distinct character. It talks to you, and it listens to you when you talk back.
That's the first thing. When a Christian talks about 'God' they are referring to precisely the same phenomenon as Eckhart Tolle is when he speaks of 'Being'. When they refer to the 'Holy Spirit' they are talking about the same phenomenon as Eckhart Tolle is when he talks about presence.
The only difference is that they are not just experiencing it directly, but also talking to it directly, and listening to it directly.
Truth is, a great many Christians are shit at this. A great many Christians are much really Christian as Michael Bay is an actual bay.
Nonetheless, it is a very interesting avenue, is it not, to think that there might be something here that is not 'different' to Tolle's conception of the infinite, but is actually deeper and more sophisticated.
Before you turn away in disgust - realise this. I am not, nor will I ever be, a religious man. Religion is fucked - every bit as fucked as seduction. Neither of them is any kind of path to follow. Both will destroy you. I think everyone gets this about religion, and I think in time we'll realise it about seduction also. The big difference is that religion is not a ten-year old underground movement on the internet.
Still, they both have some things in common.
Both of them have their doctrines.
Both have their stock defence mechanisms.
Both have their idols, and both have their heretics. Like me.
Both have evangelists, both have acolytes, both have articles of faith.
Both have their pioneers, both have their standard rationalisations, both have their theologians, and both have the devils they fight.
In fact, I'll go further and say that what we are looking at here is basically the same phenomenon.
The main difference would be that in seduction you get laid quicker and the mid-life crisis hits you a great deal faster.
I've just read over that last sentence and got that feeling you get where you're trying to be funny and you accidentally say something so on point it's mental. A bit like in that film Idiocracy. Hehe.
Ok, here's the thing.
There is no future in either. They are both paths that promise much, and lead nowhere.
There is still 'nimbus' to account for. And there is still the fact that what Christians are attempting, no matter how stupid or counterproductive their methods or their results may be, is something much deeper than dissolving into the sea.
It is forming a relationship, a living, full on, broadband connection, with the infinite.
Now THAT is a definition of nimbus if ever I heard one.
So here is your first challenge.
Greatness. True greatness. There is a guy who's name is Pete, who is a friend of mine. He is, literally, in community parlance, full nimbus.
He a pastor in a non-denominational church and his sermons are searching and penetrating examinations of what genuine greatness is, and how to forge - and maintain - this connection which I speak of.
Here is an mp3. Listen to it. It is fucking awesome. This dude's level of personal wisdom is beyond anything I have ever encountered in real life.
All your comments will be answered.
Apart from the ones trying to goad me into slating Tyler. Stop asking me to do that. It's not going to happen. Not unless you give me a big bag of money.
And some crack.
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Dude WHAT-THE-FUCK are you talking about? lol
Iam in the seduction community cause I want to get better with women. Some guys are good with women, some are not. If you want to get better with women you learn how to get better in a seduction community. If you don't want to be better with girls you don't join a seduction community."
It's not that simple. If you want to get better with girls, and you join the seduction community, not only will you probably not get better with girls (really - the overwhelming majority of guys who try this fail and are worse off with women afterward than when they started) if you do get better with girls then that newfound skill will not better your life.
It will damage you and those around you.
"WHAT IAM TRYING TO SAY IS THIS: Just chill bro'!!! What is all this complex nerd-talk about life good for? Keep it simple man... Let's bang some chicks!! RAWR!!!(H)"
This is not complex. This is chillingly simple. If you 'bang some chicks' you are not going to be better off for having done it. Period.
"...or not if it makes you more happy to sit in your room and read buddha and stuff."
Dude, I have no illusions that I am going to change your mind. None. I know you are set on this path, and I am sorry for you because you deserve better than where you are headed.
At the same time, 'sitting in your room reading buddha and stuff' is just as fucked as seduction if you're doing it because it 'feels good.'
What is good for you does not always feel good.
And frankly if 'what feels good' is the compass by which you are guiding your journey in life - fuck dude. Like, come on, man. Can you not see that this is dangerous? I mean, can you not see that living like this is emotionally unsustainable? And deeper than that - that the part of you that you are feeding by living this way in any area, let alone the all-consuming addiction of the seduction community, is something that will not serve you?
I mean, really, dude - and anyone reading this, listen. If what makes you happy in the short term is your compass needle, you are feeding that part of you that has no depth!
Do not be so blinded by your victories and the rhetoric of others that you believe that you can get away with this! Do not believe you are above the inescapable laws of human nature!
Hell does not give a fuck what you tell yourself! It just doesn't care! It laughs at you when you rebel against what you must know, somewhere in you, is the truth!
"Destructive??? Dark places??? Iam happier then I've ever been and I look around at the people around me who are doing drugs, complaining, mass drinking, consumerism, YOU KNOW ALL TAHT NICE STUFF???"
Do you not think that I had my periods of amazing happiness? Dude, like I have said, I was very good. I was better at this than most guys ever get. There are a lot of professionals with big followings who did not have the abilities I had. And I reveled in them. I felt like a million dollars. I'd never felt that good before or since.
And let me tell you man, that it's not the sex - although I had a shitload of that. That's like a fucking sideshow to the real action. The real action is the pride. The massive pride in who you are.
The pride that I overcame the impossible. The pride that I went from Zero to Hero. The pride that I lived untouched by the insecurities that had dogged me, and the pride that I was always the centre of attention.
That I could see the fucking matrix, man - that I could handle myself in with the hottest chicks like Neo handles himself in a bar-fight with a fat disabled drunk.
You see it changes. Firstly, there's the high of getting laid. That's a big high. It's even bigger when you consider all the shit you've gone through to get there.
Then when you really start to kick ass, there's the high of just being really slick. That's a big high.
Now here's the thing. You'll be pulling shit out of your ass that is awesome, and you'll love it. You'll be like "this is the coolest shit ever!"
And the girls will love it. And your friends will love it. And all the dudes on the internet will love it.
And there will be nothing about it that seems in any way wrong. Nothing. In fact, it will seem like the most natural and cool thing ever.
You will become a turbo-charged version of yourself, and it will rock so hard you will become an evangelical preacher, converting others to this way.
But here's the problem. And before I get into this let me again state that I have no illusions that this will change your mind. I do not think I would have stopped had I got as deep into this as you.
I guess what I want to do is to say to anyone reading this who is sitting on the brink - get the fuck away from the brink.
The problem is simple. The impossible becomes commonplace.
The impossible becomes commonplace.
What I'm saying is this. The human mind can normalise itself to anything. You will normalise yourself to this glory and when you do, you will encounter something.
This is something, incidentally, that I remember raising at a sit down dinner I had not so long ago with some of the best 'ladies men' alive.
Every single one of them nodded. So do not think that what I am about to describe to you is an isolated case, or specifically to do with me.
The problem you will encounter is NOT boredom.
It is NOT 'oh well, let's just do something else'.
You cannot condition yourself for months and years to relentlessly think and behave in a certain way without building up a massive inertia behind it.
The problem is very simply this - a creeping sense of the hollow.
This is not something that leaps upon you like a wolf. It just starts to seep into your life like poison.
Bit by bit, it gets more and more potent. It does this slowly, and you experience it as follows.
You're hitting on a lovely girl and suddenly you realise, maybe 30 minutes in to the conversation, that you are DEFINITELY going to be able to sleep with her.
You can see everything ahead, and you know exactly how to handle it. Short of an act of God, you know you're already fucking her, you're just moving toward a conclusion.
And when you get that realisation, the magic leaves the situation and it feels dull and mechanical.
And you do it anyway. And you fuck her, and you feel 'meh' about it.
Nothing dramatic, nothing massive, just 'yeah, hmm, ok then. Sex."
So you're chasing that rush you used to get and you go for hotter and hotter chicks.
And for a while you get that rush again. Then again, it goes. And you go for threesomes and strippers. And you get another rush.
Then the banality sets in. And it just feels like "ok, here's another mars bar, I'll eat the mars bar and get the sugar rush. Great. Now I need another mars bar."
And that sense of hollowness, all this time, is getting stronger and louder and harder to ignore.
Who the fuck am I?
What the fuck is going on?
Why do I feel so alone all the time?
And you shake it off and say "Don't be such a pussy. Stop bitching. There are a shitload of guys who would kill to get what you have. Buck your ideas up sonny Jim. Go to the club.
So you go to the club. And you pull.
And this time the hollowness doesn't wait for the sex to be over.
It doesn't wait for a week after you get laid, nor a day, nor a minute.
It's right there with you fucking you as you fuck her.
And suddenly you start thinking "who gives a fuck about this?"
But you can't stop.
And by this time the damage you're doing to yourself by each new girl you fuck is like throwing matches on a bonfire. You're already burning.
You're already way beyond fucked. You're just waiting for the least little thing to come tip those scales and drop you the fuck down.
And it will because the house you have built is a house of cards, and it CANNOT stand.
And when you fucking fall man, you fucking fall. And if any of you out there are thinking "what's all this existential nonsense, why doesn't he talk in specifics" let me say this.
It's not fucking nonsense when it's tearing you a new emotional asshole every single minute of every single day.
It's not fucking nonsense when your skills with women, those same skills you spent so much time honing are ripped away from you because no woman will even speak with a man who's so transparently worthless in his own eyes.
It's not fucking nonsense when all the guys who looked up to you are now looking at you like you never had any skill whatsoever and all your bleating claims of "I used to be good" are unconvincing even to you.
Look, I know that a lot of guys are in this and they seem so together. They're fucking the hottest chicks with total impunity and they feel like a million fucking dollars.
But that million fucking dollars is on loan, dude, and when that debt gets called in, you lose a lot more than you ever think you stood to lose in the first place.
I guess I just want to end with one thought. A lot of guys have responded to me saying "what about me, I feel great" or "What about X, he feels great".
Guys, falling feels like flying on the way down.
Falling feels like flying on the way down.
And the guy who wrote this letter to me is right to point at all the things that are fucked about the world.
"doing drugs, complaining, mass drinking, consumerism..."
You are right. These things are fucked. And they're fucked because they ALL - ALL OF THEM - are about building a life based on short-term hits of happiness, superiority and pride.
As seduction is.
AS SEDUCTION IS.
And just as you cannot divorce "doing drugs, complaining, mass drinking, and consumerism" from the short term high and the long term low that are associated with them, that are inextricably bond up in the very foundations of what these things are - ANY project of self-improvement based around seduction is irretrievably interwoven with the short term hit and the long-term low.
But the real killer is this. That long term low will hit you. And it will. There is no way out while you strive to be a better seducer of women.
None. Full stop.
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Ok, as some of you are aware, I've recently left RSD.
Before I go on to explain the reasons behind this, I think it's important to say that there has not been a 'falling out'. Sorry. No drama. Well, not of that kind, anyway.
Also, anyone looking at the RSD forum will notice that my archive has been deleted. This is because I personally requested it's deletion, and I would like to thank Tyler and the guys for doing that for me. They didn't have to and make the waves associated with it, but they did and I thank them for that.
To quote from the email I sent to Tyler asking for him to do this:
" A lot of the stuff I've advised guys to do and a lot of the ways I've
told guys to think are going to lead them into very dark places. It's
something I wasn't prepared to admit while I was still in RSD, but
it's abundantly clear to me now that I've been misusing my gifts as a
writer and a thinker to glorify myself at the expense of what's really
good for the people who trust me and listen to me. "
And that's the truth, guys.
Ok, the reason I left RSD is this. I am done with seduction. I really am. I don't think that there's a future there for me, and I don't think it's what I should be doing. Recently I've been feeling like the darkness inherent in that path is too much for me to take, to handle, or to survive.
There is nothing more seductive than the seduction community. It really, really got under my skin. It really, really went to my head. And the blunt truth is that the deeper I got into it, the more I realised that the vision of the 'happy seducer' that we all cherish and strive for is, I believe, a fiction.
Now, RSD is very open about this. Tyler has said on several occasions that it is in sorting out your life that you sort out your love life, and Jeffy has spoken live in many instances on the fact that seduction will not and cannot 'save' you.
Before I go on, I would like to state that I believe that RSD represents the very best of the community, not simply in their ability to build your confidence and success with women but also in terms of their integrity as men.
However, I do not believe that the mission to 'get good with women' is one which is emotionally sustainable nor ultimately healthy. It is good inasmuch as it provides a focal point for self-improvement, but I feel that there is a fundamental contradiction between detaching yourself from ego, self-worship and pride by embarking on a campaign of short-term superficial physical relationships with strangers.
This is a personal opinion which I have reached myself after extensive testing. I do not want it to be true. I wish that I could believe that there is redemption in charisma, in sex and in the glory of owning a club but the truth is that I have climbed to the top of that mountain and found nothing there but a cliff-face.
This is not a condemnation of any of the guys at RSD, who I still consider my friends. They are a superb group of men, deeply committed to helping everyone they come into contact with. I have accompanied them on several bootcamps and was consistently blown away by the compassion, genius and dedication of the instructor staff.
Also, I am especially happy that I was involved in the launch of Tyler's Blueprint, which is an amazing work - a true piece of modern philosophy from a true philosopher.
Nonetheless, I am glad that I have left the community, and I do not regret my decision to leave RSD. However, I still have a deep love and respect for the guys I worked with, and I will miss them all. With the potential exception of Jeffy. He's a dick. Kidding. Love you Jeff.
So that's all I've got to say for now. It was one hell of a ride, guys.
Oh, and stay tuned to the blog. I will continue to update. And you're not going to want to miss this.
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Basically, the poster asked
"If you fear a woman, and fear rejection from a woman, then you have essentially allowed a woman to dictate what you need to fear or not."
I guess my point wasn't really about women, but the fact that fear entrenches itself in things. This isn't something you allow or don't allow - you can't stop it. Fear creeps in. And when it creeps in it builds fortresses for itself wherever it can. Fortresses of thought, of reason, of what you experience as insecurity.
One of the things it entrenches itself in, and the reasons for this are no doubt complex, is in trying to attract someone of the opposite sex.
I guess what I'd say is that it's not really a case of 'allowing' women to scare you, more admitting the fact that they already do.
If it were just a case of 'not allowing' the fear, guys would be having a lot more sex than they are. It's not a case of allowing or not allowing as I see it - the fact is that when you rock up to a honey you've never met, that calls out a lot of insecurities into the light of day. A lot of things you'd never even think you're subject to.
This gives you an opportunity to call out the deep structures of the 'ego,' and bring them from your subconscious into your conscious mind.
It doesn't need to be about girls either, nor is it necessarily gendered. The crucible can be any situation that is sufficiently intense. A high-octane sales role, for instance, would have similar effects.
The main problem with these high-octane situations is that the extreme levels of confidence and internal unity which they give you access to can lead to intense arrogance. The guy who hits on a lot of chicks and so calls out his insecurities, or the guy who takes a high-octane sales role treads a hard and brutal path, but it will get him powerful results.
The problem is that it is extremely easy to get lost in either the sex or the money respectively, and in doing so to lose touch with the highest part of yourself.
Perhaps this is inevitable, and if it is I would not be surprised. There is something inherently Faustian about both the 'seduction community' and the kind of high-pressure work environments I'm talking about.
At the same time, I cannot help thinking back to the power that I unleashed in myself. The purity of it, the clarity of thought it gave me.
I go back to what I posted earlier in the blog, in Zen/Nimbus Fusion.
The first time I enjoyed sustained access to the state of Nimbus I went in blind, just looking for the best way to pull chicks and accidentally stumbling across a higher state of consciousness, of radiant beauty and power, of total clarity of thought and expression.
The hubris was what pulled me down - and the truth is that this is not my own isolated case. The problem of hubris is intimately connected with the phenomenon of Nimbus, whether that Nimbus is triggered by 'pick up' or by your abilities as a rock-star, or by your ability as a salesman, or by your ability as a politician or whatever.
And yet, throughout history there have been those isolated cases of people who have ignited Nimbus and retained humility. Sort of got the Nimbus, but didn't lose their shit. Saints, for instance. And Gandhi. Moses. Christ. Buddha.
Point is, there's something here, and I don't know if it's just madness to look at it, and I don't know if you can purposefully ignite it without destroying yourself in the process.
Maybe you can't. Maybe it's arrogance even to try. Sometimes I'm reminded of all those Greek legends of the heroes who tried to climb Olympus. Perseus - ended up dead. Prometheus ended up in eternal torment.
These are not idle cautionary tales, these are deep truths about the way of things.
But if a pure Nimbus divorced from any sense of personal accomplishment or sense of self - if such a thing could be mapped, could be discovered, then such a thing could be industrialized.
This is madness, I know it, but if you had felt the giddy brilliance, the total power and clarity of a human mind in a state of complete unleashed flow, you would know as I do that the prize here is no less than a fire that could burn this world to the ground... or save it.
Eckhart Tolle holds a lot of the keys to achieving a state of genuine humility. His work is invaluable, but I feel that while it is potent beyond measure, there are intractable things in this world, deep darknesses that only Nimbus can penetrate.
The difference I think is between stepping back from the world and punching right through the centre.
But before this can be done, that ego, that vast fiction of you (and me) must be undone.
And the quickest way to do that is to enter the crucible - and listen to Tolle as a debrief.
The reason that's such a potent combo by the way is that going out hitting on chicks will rile your ego up like a crazy thing. When you listen to Tolle later (either when you get home if you haven't pulled or the next day if you have) he's not talking in the abstract. His insights will hit the structure of your ego like wrecking balls, because the structure of your ego is exposed.
This will allow you (I hope) to make rapid progress toward a clean kind of Nimbus (and by that I mean a humble Nimbus) that is unbelievably powerful but that will not lead you to the "Icarus-like" destruction that's so common in the 'community' - and in life.
You see, what we're dealing with here is the eternal question of whether or not a man can achieve vast sums of power without fucking himself up doing it.
I think it's possible - but maybe that's because I just refuse to give up hope that it is. If it's not, and life is really no more than the Augustinian story of "Shut up and keep your head down, or God will shoot it off" then, shucks, I just don't want to be part of that world.
Getting a bit sentimental now - but my point remains. Find where the fear is entrenched. Meet it, then hold yourself in that place, do what you can, express yourself as best you can, and when it hurts, use Eckhart Tolle to transform that pain into insight that will drive you further and further into a state of selfless purity and genuine power.
That's of course if you're doing it with pickup. I think that there might be several other ways to make this happen, several different ways to find a crucible that burns at your ego and exposes it for you to transmute into Nimbus.
I mentioned sales jobs, but really anything that places your personality on the line in a major way with no defences would do the trick. Anything that requires continual courage and tests your humanity.
Either that or you could stay at home and watch Power Rangers.
I prefer the green one.
Monday, 5 May 2008
It is the justice of the cliff face, as unforgiving as cruel gravity and as jagged as a granite crag.
The howling waits. It is you at your most vicious, and it is easily provoked.
You see, your insecurity is not a weak or toothless creature. It is the sum total of all your silenced rage, of all the times you bit your tongue and muttered darkly. It is that part of you where the venom goes, where the knives are, where that vicious part of you lurks that would butcher a child just to see a mother cry.
It is the howling, and there is one thing that it cannot stomach.
And the crazy thing is that it is difficult to see the trigger, for once the howling descends upon you, you are torn limb from emotional limb. It will reduce everything in it's path to ash - and why?
Because it is the unleashed power of your unrequited hatred.
Now imagine if you unleash that hatred at someone else. Imagine how it would feel to unleash your hatred on someone - someone you know well.
You could tear them to shreds physically - or you could really hurt them. You could attack those wounds most deep and raw, those deep wounds that will collapse their personality like a house of cards into self-hate and despair.
But how much can you ever really know a person?
The truth is that there are secret wounds that lie buried behind the eyes of every single one of us, wounds so deep and dark that we would never speak of them to others.
What if you knew those wounds?
How fast could you reduce a man to suicidal despair if you knew those secret wounds that would grant you the ability to shatter him with a word?
The answer is seconds.
But you see, there is only one person in the whole world who knows those secret wounds in you, and that, my friend, is you.
And that is why you are the most deadly and savage threat you can or will ever face.
And the thing is, you do not need to go into fully fledged hatred for yourself in order for you to unleash the howling upon yourself.
All you need to do is lose your self-respect for just one second.
And in that second, you are already screaming because the howling will rise in you with the speed and intensity of the shriek of the feedback from a burning Stratocaster.
All it takes is for you to lose your self-respect for one moment, and you're already on your knees begging for the pain to stop.
My point is simple.
The howling cannot be controlled. It cannot even be slowed. All you can do is take the damage, then in it's wake pick up the pieces of what was once your personality and piece them together in some way that seems to work.
The howling is why so many live on their knees - because they compromise on how they allow themselves to be treated in life, and so they are torn to shreds in the holocaust of self-hate that leaves nothing but wreckage in it's wake.
You have to maintain your self-respect.
It is non-negotiable.
It is, as they say in Latin, a 'sine qua non'.
If you don't have it, the howling will take from you all that you do have and leave your vaunted dreams a mass of livid shards rattling between your ears awaiting your faltering attempts to rebuild some kind of personality.
And what is self-respect?
Self-respect is the knowledge that there is nothing in this world, no money, no woman, no man, no messiah, no message, no ideology, no hope, no plan, no crusade, no mission, no quest, no caveat, no quandary, no thing in all of the universe that is worth polluting the integrity of your genuine self for.
Now be warned lest you hide away behind a tantrum. This is not a cop-out for avoiding the shit you need to face to achieve your true potential. That shit is huge, and must be faced.
Remember - you can lie to yourself all you want to. The howling doesn't care about your lies. It is the part of you that sees how weak you are. It is the scourge, the terrible scourge that you wield upon yourself with chilling and callous rage, rendering your excuses and rationalizations as nothing.
There will be disrespect, and darkness and tests and pain to be taken. But have the courage to face it head on, and do not let it slide inside you like a snake.
The truth is that your 'self' such as it is, is infinite and beautiful like the microscopic complexity of a butterfly's wing or a strand of DNA. It is as powerful and unstoppable as a glacier or a tsunami. It is as deep and as creative as the universe itself because in truth, it is the universe itself.
There is nothing on this earth, nothing that can be named no matter how magnificent or majestic, no matter how phenomenal or unique, no matter how precious or wonderful - nothing that is worth compromising the sanctity of that radiant purity.
The funny thing is this - you can't fake this. If something truly owns you, that same thing will destroy you.
Nothing can stop it. You cannot dodge this one. It is the way of things.
If you're not prepared to walk away from something you love, that thing you love will gut you like a fish, because no matter how wonderful it is, it will overstep the boundary you never set, and when it does, the howling will come.
And once it comes, you're naught but ash, and that thing you love will look at you with the contempt you so richly deserve. And then it, or he or she or they will leave you broken.
You may recognise the pattern from those failed relationships with the women or the men you loved too much. I advance that it is a pattern that holds through all your life, through all the things you love.
So how to stop the howling from destroying you, while still holding fast to the things that you love?
It is simple, but pay attention, because simple and easy are very different things.
Everything pushes. Everything.
I remember being in love twice in my life and on both occasions, she pushed at the boundaries. On both occasions I had set none, and on both occasions I failed the test. Because I let myself be belittled, I lost self-respect for myself, just for an instant. And in that instant, the howling came and crippled me, and although a woman can love a man with a crippled body, no woman can love a crippled soul, whining and abject, begging for the least scraps of affection to rain meaning upon the desert I had reduced myself to.
These were not evil women. They were excellent women, the two best that I have yet encountered.
They did not 'compromise my self-respect' by pushing me beyond those boundaries. I did, by setting none.
And what is a boundary?
Is it the moment you open a can of anger? Is it the moment where you unleash the howling upon them? Or storm off in a tantrum? Or even shout "No! NO MORE!"
It is, simply, the moment where you call the bluff.
Where you let her or him or them know they a limit exists in you, and that the limit has been reached, and beyond that limit, there is reality, and the justice of the cliff face. That they stand at the brink and there is nowhere left for them to push you.
That is it. No more, no less.
And how do you call that bluff?
You just look. You just look deep into the eyes in a moment that has no anger and no resentment and chills to the marrow. That gaze that drains all the joking and all the fun from the situation and makes it clear that there is no room left for friendship. That this is the moment where they throw down, walk away or silence themselves and show respect.
Essentially, you hold their gaze and bring forth, into your eyes, the coldest and most chilling part of you. That part of you where all light dies. That part of you they need only glimpse for the briefest of moments to know that they should bite their tongue and watch their step around you from now on in.
You do not unleash the howling.
You leash the howling.
Then you bring the howling in a moment of total clarity where your eyes lock. It needs last but the briefest of moments. It is pure unspoken communication, and all the more powerful for it, because it cannot be faked.
And then, as soon as you see the glee and cockiness die in their eyes, you slide the howling back into the shadows and bring back the sunshine.
The howling is not a toy. It is the darkest part of you, the part of humanity you read about in the news when you read of a massacre.
But in order to live as a human should, you must maintain self-respect, because respect is the only armour the howling cannot penetrate. Without your self-respect, you are not just lost. You are damned. Damned and burning.
The howling is your greatest enemy, but while you retain your self-respect it is the one guardian that no-one will challenge.
Oh, and one other thing.
The sooner you nip shit in the bud, the smaller the bluffs you'll have to call and the easier things will be. If you let things grow out of control, the bluff you will have to call can, and may well end the relationship, or whatever it is that has taken your heart.
And when it ends, it may well take your heart with it.
But as far as I see it, that's the price you pay for the cowardice you showed in letting it get to that point. And when we are talking about the inescapable natural justice that runs through the affairs of men, my life has taught me that you are best paying in pain up front.
Hiding from what you know you have to do is cowardice, and cowardice is something you will not accept in yourself. As soon as you see cowardice in yourself, you will lose your self-respect, and your armour with it. And we all know what is waiting for you then.
I have two questions for you.
My first is this - how much bullshit are you prepared to swallow to achieve the thing you want the most, be it a relationship or a mission or a role or anything in all the world?
My second is this - how will you ever respect yourself enough to sustain your strength through the shit you'll need to face if you are the kind of person who swallows bullshit?
Your self-respect is the only armour you can have or will ever have against the most brutal and sadistic enemy you'll ever face - an enemy who can reduce you to a quivering chunk of ruined and bleeding flesh in moments.
But then, of course, you know who I'm talking about.
You are who I'm talking about.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
It's all about icebergs and battlefields. I think you're going to like it.
The thing is this, I don't think it's stillness. I think it's love.
And not love in the Hollywood sense. Not love in the brotherly sense, nor in the charitable sense. I'm talking about the deep stuff, the deep love. The swirling substrate of reality itself.
God is love, the man said. And the one who lives in love, lives in God, allegedly. And God lives in him, I have heard.
It's all love. There is no stillness, but only flowing love. Deep love, mind you, not some pansy ass bullshit.
That Nimbus that we speak of, it is not authority, nor is it presence, nor is it anything other than the pure love of humanity, the love of God, that flows through us - or that we obscure.
Whatever love flows through (deep love, mind you) is reified and filled with meaning and purpose. Anything filled with love becomes powerful and compelling, beautiful and - to us who are locked in the frozen wastes of hell - an end in and of itself.
Hence many things, not least the preoccupation with sex which fills the mind of many a man. It is not the sex he seeks so much as the glory, the meaning and the fulfillment that comes from that moment where a beautiful woman surrenders beneath his touch.
But you see it is the hunger for love that drives us to cast this world in a lens of division, to demonise men and manners, climates, councils, governments - and ourselves not least - because in demonising we give ourselves something more precious than we can each of us imagine.
We give ourselves the opportunity prove our goodness, our love and our meaning (for each of these is the same) by instigating carnage upon those whom we have arbitrarily decided to hate.
I was once so naive as to believe that the simple understanding of this process could set us free from hell.
Of course, the truth is that the darkness, the division, the fiction and the hate (for each of these is likewise the same) has been driven by you and I deep into ourselves. Deep down. Down beyond forgetting into a place where we cannot even remember the lies we have convinced ourselves are real.
Do we plunge through Zen, and meditation and prayer to shine a light into those dark places?
Of course we do, if we want to live.
But as my life continues I am increasingly of the mind that this is not enough.
There needs be some more proactive approach.
And the more I see, the more I am convinced of the fact that peace can be waged, just as war can be.
Where is your crucible? That is the point of all this, you see. That in this strange pursuit of women, we have discovered something that runs much deeper. That the light of consciousness can only dissolve those parts of you that are visible above the surface. Those deep, dark feelings that cut you inside will remain hidden in shadows forever.
Unless you call them out. Unless you place yourself into positions that drag your insecurities screaming and biting and tearing and shrieking into the light of day where they can die, and be born again as light - as you must be.
Find it. Find your crucible.
Because we are each one of us falling through infinity, and if we do not learn to fly, then we will fall forever.
The darkness in each of us is like an iceberg, and we cannot dissolve it by dissolving only the parts that we can see.
And mediation in stillness allows those deep pains, those deep wounds and those deep divisions in us to creep into the shadows. The Zen of the mountaintop, or the garden, or the lotus will dissolve those parts of you which are still jagged and painful on a mountaintop, or in a garden, or when contemplating a lotus.
And what you will achieve is peace and presence.
But what if you step into the fire, into the battlefield? The Zen of the battlefield can and will dissolve those parts of you which are fearful on a battlefield. Right deep down, down to the core.
And what you will achieve... has yet to be seen.
But you will understand, in time.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
"When you realize that the moment is “the only thing that ever exists,” you’re like “nice… you can shut up now, hippy.” But thinking of it in this way totally changed my perspective: the moment is the only thing that you can ever CONTROL. When you want to be awesome, and you want to live fully, and experience everything to the greatest extent, and you want to be who you want to be… the only way you can do this is by BEING IN THE MOMENT COMPLETELY, ALL THE TIME. If you only do this socially and not by yourself, you’ll feel like a lie. You have to live in this way. That’s how you get in touch with your higher self."
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Do you really want pity?
When you whine - do you really want pity?
That whining voice, that complaining voice that reminds you of all your circumstances and all the things that hold you back - WOULD YOU REALLY WANT THAT VOICE ANSWERED?
Even if life responded in full to that voice, what would it give you?
It would comfort you. Comfort you, and pity you.
Do you really want pity?
Honestly, do you?
What's the best thing that whining could get you? Comfort and pity!
Do you want either!?
Can you not think of anything greater than comfort, or anything better than pity?
What is that whining voice asking for other than your mother to pick you up and hug you because you grazed your knee!
Are you a child!?
Glory and AWE!
Fuck your comfort! I want GLORY!
Fuck your pity! I want your AWE!
You will stand in awe of me one day, looking at me shocked and just saying "how in the living fuck have you done what you've done?"
As children we hungered for pity and comfort.
As adults we still do.
We need to remind ourself that pity and comfort are of no use to us.
I do not want comfort. I want glory.
And I will never, ever need pity, no matter how much damage I have taken, no matter how wronged I have been or am being, no matter how much shit I've gone through or am going through or face in my future.
No pity, not from you. Not from anyone.
I have no use for your pity. And I have no use for your approval.
Everything else is irrelevant.
Monday, 7 April 2008
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A NATURAL??
FIRST: The Paradox of the paradox, WITHIN the paradox.
At first it doesnt seem to make sense, whats the chasm between a doofus and pimp, between a guy whos stifled and cant speak his mind and a guy who just can let loose and flow with the moment.
Its been said, Hes stuck in his head.He just doesnt know what to sayHe doesnt have an idea of who he is.Doesnt know his boundariesHe lacks the center.
What shapes and molds a boy into a man? I think thats a more important question rather then the nerd into the natural.
PAIN, THE SCARS OF EXPERIENCE. The tissue becomes stronger, you become stronger. you evolve.
Pain is the chisel and the hammer on the stone of the self. PAIN if what defines strength. A man is the measure of how much pain he endures and pushes past.
THUS I EVOLVE.
All growth is preceded by and accomplished by great deals of what? say it with me... PAIN, SUFFERING, FRUSTRATION, RESISTANCE, OBSTACLES.
What does a man do, as all the forces of the world push against him, what does a man do when all that stands in his way is pain. He accepts its challenge, he accepts its ravaging impact.
Pain is the great teacher, its a teacher that I have resisted for a long time, in the pursuit of instant gratification and pleasure. In my case its taken a lot of looping my thoughts over the same thing again and again.
its taken me hanging out in different sub cultures, getting into spirituality and meditation but even the so called spiritualists a great deal of them are avoiding pain.
The difference between a natural and someone who is always frustrated is because they are not approaching life as what it is, A GREAT DEAL OF PAIN, OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME and CHALLENGE.
So they accept the lesser pain, and build upon that the rationalizations and the judgements to prove themselves right.
But like a mentor told me the best way to approach life is HEAD ON and by approaching life head on and moving with its flow DESPITE the obstacles you become in alignment with the world. And as soon as you become alignment with the world you become in alignment with yourself and vice versa
For what is the world with you the experiencer? Does the world exist independent of you and your mind? does it have any realness besides the reality of the filters of your perceptions, your beliefs and labels, your ways of holding up your world. Think carefully about this and you will know it to be so that you are the creator of your reality PERIOD.
The centeredness and the trust of knowing yourself is the best the you could strive for and achieve, that of course on side with all worldly goals and accomplishments but it is the center, the core of yourself, the truth that you come to by only going deeper into yourself that you find your true nature.
Its the pushing through of pain, blasting through each concentric ring until you get to the center of the self, which is the place where the moment happens, the place where you observe and are detached YET completely involved in the motions of the world.
As that comes upon your, your going to realize.. as the mind is lazy, as the body is lazy so your going to get to start doing athletics because that would be in alignment with your goals of becoming a better man...
Take me for example, im back in Kung Fu now 5 days a week, as a hobby I have taken up FREE RUNNING, have you ever seen those guys that jump from roof to roof and scale fences, its the art of conquering obstacles in your enviornment, its a very philisophical sport!
Im getting stronger, more awake, feeling more centered, I dont chase woman now, woman appear out of thin air!! they want to be with you, not because of the clever things you say or whatever bullshit you think but because of your INHERENT STRENGTH OF MASCULINITY.
The power that comes to you of onlly BEING A MAN and what happens you BE A MAN. YOU BECOME [I]THE MAN[/I]
So in its utterlly naked simplicity what I have learned and come to as this
You have to BECOME THE CHANGE, TO HAVE MADE THE CHANGE, TO BE THAT CHANGE.
Their is no other way but the gateway of pain and how it will sculpt you and your mind, how your attitudes will change, do you think I learned about pick up from PURE PLEASURE.
NO IT FUCKING SUCKED SO HARD. The frustration at times was unbelievable yet at the same time completely achievable.
The key is knowing that its up to you and because its up to you, you have to know that you can do it, that you can face the pain head on and face it again and again except pain never goes away, it only becomes stronger but in the face of pain you push against it even though pain will ultimatly destroy you, its nature will consume you because PAIN is just the hand of death but through pain your will recognize the truth of your life. The truth of the beauty of yourself and of your gift of being a man in this world
Im beginning to think that we can accomplish anything!! CARPE DIEM!!!!
Sunday, 6 April 2008
This is where you find it, where you find the darkness that's been lurking beneath the surface for all your life.
This is the crucible where all lies die.
For you can lie to yourself when you're sitting in front of your computer. You can lie to yourself when you're on your Xbox 360 destroying fictional aliens with a fictional gun. You can believe that you're the man, that you're the hero. And it is a happy fiction.
But out there, out in the field, you have nothing to hide behind. You have you, the club, and the truth.
One of the things that really fires me up and drives me to get this shit handled is the truth that I am nowhere near as powerful as I tell myself I am.
That for everything I've done, and for everything I'm doing, there is something about a beautiful woman that strips me down to that place we each of us know so well. That place that some call insecurity, and some call fear.
How lucky are we to have a war! To have a battleground and an arena that each of us, as men can stand inside and fight!
How blessed are we to find that place a hundred times a day - that two feet of space in front of beauty, that moment that destroys us.
That is where we each belong. In that moment, there is truth. We face it with the moral simplicity of a soldier, and we are blessed for that.
And the glory is not in the prize, although the prize is beyond compare.
The glory is in that moment where we walk unshielded into that crucible and hold inside it until it feels as if our hearts would break.
The glory is in that moment of defiance, and not defiance of injustice, and not defiance of loneliness - but in defiance of despair.
In defiance of despair we shine like the sun.
When we step up and into that crucible, into the place where all lies die we find out, perhaps for the first time, who we really, really are.
And we are shocked by that weakness.
And we are moved by it.
And we are driven by it.
And there is the glory, that one moment where you stand alone before all your fears, and all your fears rain down upon you, and you hold and throw whatever you've got against it. And whatever you've got fails.
And you break.
And you hate yourself.
And somewhere, as you fall, some part of you reaches out and grabs a hold of something...
And you stand again. And you walk back, once more into the crucible because that is where you forge a self that is stronger than steel, harder than diamond and smoother than silk.
If you want to know how strong you are, the following words will give you a taste. They were spoken by the leader of a bankrupt nation with defeated armies, a nation that had watched it's allies crumble like ashes before the greatest military power that had ever arisen on the earth.
"We shall go on to the end.
We shall fight in France.
We shall fight on the seas and oceans.
We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air.
We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches.
We shall fight on the landing grounds.
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets.
We shall fight in the hills.
We shall never surrender."
Make no mistake about it, this will tear your heart in a thousand ways. You will meet women you would die for, and women you would kill for. You will see glory that you never dreamed of, and see whole vistas of humiliation that you never knew could even exist.
And if you hold fast through all the chaos, and do not compromise who you are, no matter what the temptation to cheat in this way or that... IF YOU HOLD YOUR INTEGRITY....
Then you will walk on this earth like a juggernaut of incorruptible power.
And you will blaze like a beacon of holy light.
A beacon that fuses true goodness with true power.
Take yourself with you on this journey.
Take those parts of you that say "I will not sleep with a girl who's not 100% into me."
Take those parts of you that say "I will not stoop to stealing a woman off another man, because I do not need to stoop - and I will never need to stoop again."
Take those parts of you that say "I will never compromise on what I know is right."
Do not lose that part of you that still believes in the greatness and the goodness of man - and of yourself.
Do not cheat yourself on this. Be the man you know you are - have the principles you already have...
But place those principles... and yourself... into the crucible. Burn.
And if you have the strength within you, if you can find it somewhere inside, then you - yes, YOU - can be the light that shines in the darkness.
You can BE the proof that man does not need to compromise in order to succeed.
A man is nothing if left unforged.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
That is the cry of this planet. The earth itself sings out for an end to the nightmares, and a gateway to the better place that each of us secretly know is inches from us.
We have two options.
We can wait for a saviour, and risk the fact that he will not come before our time is spent.
Or we can be the saviour, and risk the fact that we may not be strong enough to face the horror and survive.
The one way risks ignominy. The second risks hell.
And that is where the only dignity lies.
Not in spires or cathedrals.
Not in hope, and not in safety.
Only in fire are we sure that we are not compromising the highest part of us.
Only when we stare despair full in the face do we fulfill our better natures.
It is going to take a pure, consistent and extreme expression of all the things that are highest and best in humanity to pull us up and out of the shit we're in.
So then let us be pure. Let us be consistent, and let us be extreme.
That fear that claws at you. It likes to hide in context.
I am fear of failure, it says.
I am fear of rejection, or fear of loss.
It is not fear of failure.
It is not fear of rejection.
It is not fear of loss.
It is just fear.
Ha! You think you have phobias?
You think you are afraid of commitment or connection?
Fear is a discrete phenomenon.
It is a thing in and of itself.
It manifests as any number of things.
But in the end, it is only fear.
The chaos, the horror, the loss and the waste that climbs up inside you whenever it can.
Fuck it till it's dead.
Tear that shit down. Place yourself in it's bastions, in those places where it hold you most.
Place yourself there, and fight.
Fight like a psychopath.
Fight like a king.
Fight like a warrior poet until you've banished it forever.
The places it hold you are the places you meet it.
Destroy it with courage, destroy it with flame, destroy it with that one inch of you that refuses ever to give up because 'fuck you' is why.
Because if you want me, God, you can come down and get me.
Because if you want to break me, here I am.
Because there is something in me, always, that stands on the brink of surrender and always says NO.
I will not break today.
I will beat you, no matter what the cost, no matter what the terror, or the humiliation or the shame.
I will take you to pieces because I am stronger than you for one simple reason.
I choose to be.
I choose to be stronger than you.
And although I may not have the strength of thousands, I have the strength of one.
And that strength extends exactly one inch beyond yours, fear.
I will always beat you.
Because I will always throw myself at you, and I will endure for one more second than you can.
I will say yes just one more time than you can say no.
And in that simplicity, I am free.
In that moment, you cannot touch me.
You're already dead.
You just don't know it yet.
But worry not, my friend.
You'll find out soon enough.
Meditation: Why Bother?
Meditation is not easy. It takes time and it takes energy. It also takes grit, determination and discipline. It requires a host of personal qualities which we normally regard as unpleasant and which we like to avoid whenever possible. We can sum it all up in the American word 'gumption'. Meditation takes 'gumption'. It is certainly a great deal easier just to kick back and watch television. So why bother? Why waste all that time and energy when you could be out enjoying yourself? Why bother? Simple. Because you are human. And just because of the simple fact that you are human, you find yourself heir to an inherent unsatisfactoriness in life which simply will not go away. You can suppress it from your awareness for a time. You can distract yourself for hours on end, but it always comes back--usually when you least expect it. All of a sudden, seemingly out of the blue, you sit up, take stock, and realize your actual situation in life.
There you are, and you suddenly realize that you are spending your whole life just barely getting by. You keep up a good front. You manage to make ends meed somehow and look OK from the outside. But those periods of desperation, those times when you feel everything caving in on you, you keep those to yourself. You are a mess. And you know it. But you hide it beautifully. Meanwhile, way down under all that you just know there has got be some other way to live, some better way to look at the world, some way to touch life more fully. You click into it by chance now and then. You get a good job. You fall in love. You win the game. and for a while, things are different. Life takes on a richness and clarity that makes all the bad times and humdrum fade away. The whole texture of your experience changes and you say to yourself, "OK, now I've made it; now I will be happy". But then that fades, too, like smoke in the wind. You are left with just a memory. That and a vague awareness that something is wrong.
But there is really another whole realm of depth and sensitivity available in life, somehow, you are just not seeing it. You wind up feeling cut off. You feel insulated from the sweetness of experience by some sort of sensory cotton. You are not really touching life. You are not making it again. And then even that vague awareness fades away, and you are back to the same old reality. The world looks like the usual foul place, which is boring at best. It is an emotional roller coaster, and you spend a lot of your time down at the bottom of the ramp, yearning for the heights.
So what is wrong with you? Are you a freak? No. You are just human. And you suffer from the same malady that infects every human being. It is a monster in side all of us, and it has many arms: Chronic tension, lack of genuine compassion for others, including the people closest to you, feelings being blocked up, and emotional deadness. Many, many arms. None of us is entirely free from it. We may deny it. We try to suppress it. We build a whole culture around hiding from it, pretending it is not there, and distracting ourselves from it with goals and projects and status. But it never goes away. It is a constant undercurrent in every thought and every perception; a little wordless voice at the back of the head saying, "Not good enough yet. Got to have more. Got to make it better. Got to be better." It is a monster, a monster that manifests everywhere in subtle forms.
Go to a party. Listen to the laughter, that brittle-tongued voice that says fun on the surface and fear underneath. Feel the tension, feel the pressure. Nobody really relaxes. They are faking it. Go to a ball game. Watch the fan in the stand. Watch the irrational fit of anger. Watch the uncontrolled frustration bubbling forth from people that masquerades under the guise of enthusiasm, or team spirit. Booing, cat-calls and unbridled egotism in the name of team loyalty. Drunkenness, fights in the stands. These are the people trying desperately to release tension from within. These are not people who are at peace with themselves. Watch the news on TV. Listen to the lyrics in popular songs. You find the same theme repeated over and over in variations. Jealousy, suffering, discontent and stress.
Life seems to be a perpetual struggle, some enormous effort against staggering odds. And what is our solution to all this dissatisfaction? We get stuck in the ' If only' syndrome. If only I had more money, then I would be happy. If only I can find somebody who really loves me, if only I can lose 20 pounds, if only I had a color TV, Jacuzzi, and curly hair, and on and on forever. So where does all this junk come from and more important, what can we do about it? It comes from the conditions of our own minds. It is deep, subtle and pervasive set of mental habits, a Gordian knot which we have built up bit by bit and we can unravel just the same way, one piece at a time. We can tune up our awareness, dredge up each separate piece and bring it out into the light. We can make the unconscious conscious, slowly, one piece at a time.
The essence of our experience is change. Change is incessant. Moment by moment life flows by and it is never the same. Perpetual alteration is the essence of the perceptual universe. A thought springs up in you head and half a second later, it is gone. In comes another one, and that is gone too. A sound strikes your ears and then silence. Open your eyes and the world pours in, blink and it is gone. People come into your life and they leave again. Friends go, relatives die. Your fortunes go up and they go down. Sometimes you win and just as often you lose. It is incessant: change, change, change. No two moments ever the same.
There is not a thing wrong with this. It is the nature of the universe. But human culture has taught u some odd responses to this endless flowing. We categorize experiences. We try to stick each perception, every mental change in this endless flow into one of three mental pigeon holes. It is good, or it is bad, or it is neutral. Then, according to which box we stick it in, we perceive with a set of fixed habitual mental responses. If a particular perception has been labeled 'good', then we try to freeze time right there. We grab onto that particular thought, we fondle it, we hold it, we try to keep it from escaping. When that does not work, we go all-out in an effort to repeat the experience which caused that thought. Let us call this mental habit 'grasping'.
Over on the other side of the mind lies the box labeled 'bad'. When we perceive something 'bad', we try to push it away. We try to deny it, reject it, get rid of it any way we can. We fight against our own experience. We run from pieces of ourselves. Let us call this mental habit 'rejecting'. Between these two reactions lies the neutral box. Here we place the experiences which are neither good nor bad. They are tepid, neutral, uninteresting and boring. We pack experience away in the neutral box so that we can ignore it and thus return jour attention to where the action is, namely our endless round of desire and aversion. This category of experience gets robbed of its fair share of our attention. Let us call this mental habit 'ignoring'. The direct result of all this lunacy is a perpetual treadmill race to nowhere, endlessly pounding after pleasure, endlessly fleeing from pain, endlessly ignoring 90 percent of our experience. Than wondering why life tastes so flat. In the final analysis, it's a system that does not work.
No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you. And in between those times, life is so boring you could scream. Our minds are full of opinions and criticisms. We have built walls all around ourselves and we are trapped with the prison of our own lies and dislikes. We suffer.
Suffering is big word in Buddhist thought. It is a key term and it should be thoroughly understood. The Pali word is 'dukkha', and it does not just mean the agony of the body. It means the deep, subtle sense of unsatisfactoriness which is a part of every mental treadmill. The essence of life is suffering, said the Buddha. At first glance this seems exceedingly morbid and pessimistic. It even seems untrue. After all, there are plenty of times when we are happy. Aren't there? No, there are not. It just seems that way. Take any moment when you feel really fulfilled and examine it closely. Down under the joy, you will find that subtle, all-pervasive undercurrent of tension, that no matter how great the moment is, it is going to end. No matter how much you just gained, you are either going to lose some of it or spend the rest of your days guarding what you have got and scheming how to get more. And in the end, you are going to die. In the end, you lose everything. It is all transitory.
Sounds pretty bleak, doesn't it? Luckily it's not; not at all. It only sounds bleak when you view it from the level of ordinary mental perspective, the very level at which the treadmill mechanism operates. Down under that level lies another whole perspective, a completely different way to look at the universe. It is a level of functioning where the mind does not try to freeze time, where we do not grasp onto our experience as it flows by, where we do not try to block things out and ignore them. It is a level of experience beyond good and bad, beyond pleasure and pain. It is a lovely way to perceive the world, and it is a learnable skill. It is not easy, but is learnable.
Happiness and peace. Those are really the prime issues in human existence. That is what all of us are seeking. This often is a bit hard to see because we cover up those basic goals with layers of surface objectives. We want food, we want money, we want sex, possessions and respect. We even say to ourselves that the idea of 'happiness' is too abstract: "Look, I am practical. Just give me enough money and I will buy all the happiness I need". Unfortunately, this is an attitude that does not work. Examine each of these goals and you will find they are superficial. You want food. Why? Because I am hungry. So you are hungry, so what? Well if I eat, I won't be hungry and then I'll feel good. Ah ha! Feel good! Now there is a real item. What we really seek is not the surface goals. They are just means to an end. What we are really after is the feeling of relief that comes when the drive is satisfied. Relief, relaxation and an end to the tension. Peace, happiness, no more yearning.
So what is this happiness? For most of us, the perfect happiness would mean getting everything we wanted, being in control of everything, playing Caesar, making the whole world dance a jig according to our every whim. Once again, it does not work that way. Take a look at the people in history who have actually held this ultimate power. These were not happy people. Most assuredly they were not men at peace with themselves. Why? Because they were driven to control the world totally and absolutely and they could not. They wanted to control all men and there remained men who refused to be controlled. They could not control the stars. They still got sick. They still had to die.
You can't ever get everything you want. It is impossible. Luckily, there is another option. You can learn to control your mind, to step outside of this endless cycle of desire and aversion. You can learn to not want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them. This does not mean that you lie down on the road and invite everybody to walk all over you . It means that you continue to live a very normal-looking life, but live from a whole new viewpoint. You do the things that a person must do, but you are free from that obsessive, compulsive drivenness of your own desires. You want something, but you don't need to chase after it. You fear something, but you don't need to stand there quaking in your boots. This sort of mental culture is very difficult. It takes years. But trying to control everything is impossible, and the difficult is preferable to the impossible.
Wait a minute, though. Peace and happiness! Isn't that what civilization is all about? We build skyscrapers and freeways. We have paid vacations, TV sets. We provide free hospitals and sick leaves, Social Security and welfare benefits. All of that is aimed at providing some measure of peace and happiness. Yet the rate of mental illness climbs steadily, and the crime rates rise faster. The streets are crawling with delinquents and unstable individuals. Stick you arms outside the safety of your own door and somebody is very likely to steal your watch! Something is not working. A happy man does not feel driven to kill. We like to think that our society is exploiting every area of human knowledge in order to achieve peace and happiness.
We are just beginning to realize that we have overdeveloped the material aspect of existence at the expense of the deeper emotional and spiritual aspect, and we are paying the price for that error. It is one thing to talk about degeneration of moral and spiritual fiber in America today, and another thing to do something about it. The place to start is within ourselves. Look carefully inside, truly and objectively, and each of us will see moments when "I am the punk" and "I am the crazy". We will learn to see those moments, see them clearly, cleanly and without condemnation, and we will be on our way up and out of being so.
You can't make radical changes in the pattern of your life until you begin to see yourself exactly as you are now. As soon as you do that, changes flow naturally. You don't have to force or struggle or obey rules dictated to you by some authority. You just change. It is automatic. But arriving at the initial insight is quite a task. You've got to see who you are and how you are, without illusion, judgement or resistance of any kind. You've got to see your own place in society and your function as a social being. You've got to see your duties and obligations to your fellow human beings, and above all, your responsibility to yourself as an individual living with other individuals. And you've got to see all of that clearly and as a unit, a single gestalt of interrelationship. It sounds complex, but it often occurs in a single instant. Mental culture through meditation is without rival in helping you achieve this sort of understanding and serene happiness.
The Dhammapada is an ancient Buddhist text which anticipated Freud by thousands of years. It says: "What you are now is the result of what you were. What you will be tomorrow will be the result of what you are now. The consequences of an evil mind will follow you like the cart follows the ox that pulls it. The consequences of a purified mind will follow you like you own shadow. No one can do more for you than your own purified mind-- no parent, no relative, no friend, no one. A well-disciplined mind brings happiness".
Meditation is intended to purify the mind. It cleanses the thought process of what can be called psychic irritants, things like greed, hatred and jealousy, things that keep you snarled up in emotional bondage. It brings the mind to a state of tranquility and awareness, a state of concentration and insight.
In our society, we are great believers in education. We believe that knowledge makes a cultured person civilized. Civilization, however, polishes the person superficially. Subject our noble and sophisticated gentleman to stresses of war or economic collapse, and see what happens. It is one thing to obey the law because you know the penalties and fear the consequences. It is something else entirely to obey the law because you have cleansed yourself from the greed that would make you steal and the hatred that would make you kill. Throw a stone into a stream. The running water would smooth the surface, but the inner part remains unchanged. Take that same stone and place it in the intense fires of a forge, and the whole stone changes inside and outside. It all melts. Civilization changes man on the outside. Meditation softens him within, through and through.
Meditation is called the Great Teacher. It is the cleansing crucible fire that works slowly through understanding. The greater your understanding, the more flexible and tolerant you can be. The greater your understanding, the more compassionate you can be. You become like a perfect parent or an ideal teacher. You are ready to forgive and forget. You feel love towards others because you understand them. And you understand others because you have understood yourself. You have looked deeply inside and seen self illusion and your own human failings. You have seen your own humanity and learned to forgive and to love. When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic. An accomplished meditator has achieved a profound understanding of life, and he inevitably relates to the world with a deep and uncritical love.
Meditation is a lot like cultivating a new land. To make a field out of a forest, fist you have to clear the trees and pull out the stumps. Then you till the soil and you fertilize it. Then you sow your seed and you harvest your crops. To cultivate your mind, first you have to clear out the various irritants that are in the way, pull them right out by the root so that they won't grow back. Then you fertilize. You pump energy and discipline in the mental soil. Then you sow the seed and you harvest your crops of faith, morality , mindfulness and wisdom.
Faith and morality, by the way, have a special meaning in this context. Buddhism does not advocate faith in the sense of believing something because it is written in a book or attributed to a prophet or taught to you by some authority figure. The meaning here is closer to confidence. It is knowing that something is true because you have seen it work, because you have observed that very thing within yourself. In the same way, morality is not a ritualistic obedience to some exterior, imposed code of behavior.
The purpose of meditation is personal transformation. The you that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same you that comes out the other side. It changes your character by a process of sensitization, by making you deeply aware of your own thoughts, word, and deeds. Your arrogance evaporated and your antagonism dries up. Your mind becomes still and calm. And your life smoothes out. Thus meditation properly performed prepares you to meet the ups and down of existence. It reduces your tension, your fear, and your worry. Restlessness recedes and passion moderates. Things begin to fall into place and your life becomes a glide instead of a struggle. All of this happens through understanding.
Meditation sharpens your concentration and your thinking power. Then, piece by piece, your own subconscious motives and mechanics become clear to you. Your intuition sharpens. The precision of your thought increases and gradually you come to a direct knowledge of things as they really are, without prejudice and without illusion. So is this reason enough to bother? Scarcely. These are just promises on paper. There is only one way you will ever know if meditation is worth the effort. Learn to do it right, and do it. See for yourself.
What Meditation Isn't
Meditation is a word. You have heard this word before, or you would never have picked up this book. The thinking process operates by association, and all sorts of ideas are associated with the word 'meditation'. Some of them are probably accurate and others are hogwash. Some of them pertain more properly to other systems of meditation and have nothing to do with Vipassana practice. Before we proceed, it behooves us to blast some of the residue out of our own neuronal circuits so that new information can pass unimpeded. Let us start with some of the most obvious stuff.
We are not going to teach you to contemplate your navel or to chant secret syllables. You are not conquering demons or harnessing invisible energies. There are no colored belts given for your performance and you don't have to shave your head or wear a turban. You don't even have to give away all your belongings and move to a monastery. In fact, unless your life is immoral and chaotic, you can probably get started right away and make some sort of progress. Sounds fairly encouraging, wouldn't you say?
There are many, many books on the subject of meditation. Most of them are written from the point of view which lies squarely within one particular religious or philosophical tradition, and many of the authors have not bothered to point this out. They make statements about meditation which sound like general laws, but are actually highly specific procedures exclusive to that particular system of practice. The result is something of a muddle. Worse yet is the panoply of complex theories and interpretations available, all of them at odds with one another. The result is a real mess and an enormous jumble of conflicting opinions accompanied by a mass of extraneous data. This book is specific. We are dealing exclusively with the Vipassana system of meditation. We are going to teach you to watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behavior. The goal is awareness, an awareness so intense, concentrated and finely tuned that you will be able to pierce the inner workings of reality itself.
There are a number of common misconceptions about meditation. We see them crop up again and again from new students, the same questions over and over. It is best to deal with these things at once, because they are the sort of preconceptions which can block your progress right from the outset. We are going to take these misconceptions one at a time and explode them.
Meditation is just a relaxation technique
The bugaboo here is the word 'just'. Relaxation is a key component of meditation, but Vipassana-style meditation aims at a much loftier goal. Nevertheless, the statement is essentially true for many other systems of meditation. All meditation procedures stress concentration of the mind, bringing the mind to rest on one item or one area of thought. Do it strongly and thoroughly enough, and you achieve a deep and blissful relaxation which is called Jhana. It is a state of such supreme tranquility that it amounts to rapture. It is a form of pleasure which lies above and beyond anything that can be experienced in the normal state of consciousness. Most systems stop right there. That is the goal, and when you attain that, you simply repeat the experience for the rest of your life. Not so with Vipassana meditation. Vipassana seeks another goal--awareness. Concentration and relaxation are considered necessary concomitants to awareness. They are required precursors, handy tools, and beneficial byproducts. But they are not the goal. The goal is insight. Vipassana meditation is a profound religious practice aimed at nothing less that the purification and transformation of your everyday life. We will deal more thoroughly with the differences between concentration and insight in Chapter 14.
Meditation means going into a trance
Here again the statement could be applied accurately to certain systems of meditation, but not to Vipassana. Insight meditation is not a form of hypnosis. You are not trying to black out your mind so as to become unconscious. You are not trying to turn yourself into an emotionless vegetable. If anything, the reverse is true. You will become more and more attuned to your own emotional changes. You will learn to know yourself with ever- greater clarity and precision. In learning this technique, certain states do occur which may appear trance-like to the observer. But they are really quite the opposite. In hypnotic trance, the subject is susceptible to control by another party, whereas in deep concentration the meditator remains very much under his own control. The similarity is superficial, and in any case the occurrence of these phenomena is not the point of Vipassana. As we have said, the deep concentration of Jhana is a tool or stepping stone on the route of heightened awareness. Vipassana by definition is the cultivation of mindfulness or awareness. If you find that you are becoming unconscious in meditation, then you aren't meditating, according to the definition of the word as used in the Vipassana system. It is that simple.
Meditation is a mysterious practice which cannot be understood
Here again, this is almost true, but not quite. Meditation deals with levels of consciousness which lie deeper than symbolic thought. Therefore, some of the data about meditation just won't fit into words. That does not mean, however, that it cannot be understood. There are deeper ways to understand things than words. You understand how to walk. You probably can't describe the exact order in which your nerve fibers and your muscles contract during that process. But you can do it. Meditation needs to be understood that same way, by doing it. It is not something that you can learn in abstract terms. It is to be experienced. Meditation is not some mindless formula which gives automatic and predictable results. You can never really predict exactly what will come up in any particular session. It is an investigation and experiment and an adventure every time. In fact, this is so true that when you do reach a feeling of predictability and sameness in your practice, you use that as an indicator. It means that you have gotten off the track somewhere and you are headed for stagnation. Learning to look at each second as if it were the first and only second in the universe is most essential in Vipassana meditation.
The purpose of meditation is to become a psychic superman
No, the purpose of meditation is to develop awareness. Learning to read minds is not the point. Levitation is not the goal. The goal is liberation. There is a link between psychic phenomena and meditation, but the relationship is somewhat complex. During early stages of the meditator's career, such phenomena may or may not arise. Some people may experience some intuitive understanding or memories from past lives; others do not. In any case, these are not regarded as well-developed and reliable psychic abilities. Nor should they be given undue importance. Such phenomena are in fact fairly dangerous to new meditators in that they are too seductive. They can be an ego trap which can lure you right off the track. Your best advice is not to place any emphasis on these phenomena. If they come up, that's fine. If they don't, that's fine, too. It's unlikely that they will. There is a point in the meditator's career where he may practice special exercises to develop psychic powers. But this occurs way down the line. After he has gained a very deep stage of Jhana, the meditator will be far enough advanced to work with such powers without the danger of their running out of control or taking over his life. He will then develop them strictly for the purpose of service to others. This state of affairs only occurs after decades of practice. Don't worry about it. Just concentrate on developing more and more awareness. If voices and visions pop up, just notice them and let them go. Don't get involved.
Meditation is dangerous and a prudent person should avoid it
Everything is dangerous. Walk across the street and you may get hit by a bus. Take a shower and you could break your neck. Meditate and you will probably dredge up various nasty-matters from your past. The suppressed material that has been buried there for quite some time can be scary. It is also highly profitable. No activity is entirely without risk, but that does not mean that we should wrap ourselves in some protective cocoon. That is not living. That is premature death. The way to deal with danger is to know approximately how much of it there is, where it is likely to be found and how to deal with it when it arises. That is the purpose of this manual. Vipassana is development of awareness. That in itself is not dangerous, but just the opposite. Increased awareness is the safeguard against danger. Properly done, meditation is a very gently and gradual process. Take it slow and easy, and development of your practice will occur very naturally. Nothing should be forced. Later, when you are under the close scrutiny and protective wisdom of a competent teacher, you can accelerate your rate of growth by taking a period of intensive meditation. In the beginning, though, easy does it. Work gently and everything will be fine.
Meditation is for saints and holy men, not for regular people
You find this attitude very prevalent in Asia, where monks and holy men are accorded an enormous amount of ritualized reverence. This is somewhat akin to the American attitude of idealizing movie stars and baseball heroes. Such people are stereotyped, made larger than life, and saddled with all sort of characteristics that few human beings can ever live up to. Even in the West, we share some of this attitude about meditation. We expect the meditator to be some extraordinarily pious figure in whose mouth butter would never dare to melt. A little personal contact with such people will quickly dispel this illusion. They usually prove to be people of enormous energy and gusto, people who live their lives with amazing vigor. It is true, of course, that most holy men meditate, but they don't meditate because they are holy men. That is backward. They are holy men because they meditate. Meditation is how they got there. And they started meditating before they became holy. This is an important point. A sizable number of students seems to feel that a person should be completely moral before he begins meditation. It is an unworkable strategy. Morality requires a certain degree of mental control. It's a prerequisite. You can't follow any set of moral precepts without at least a little self-control, and if your mind is perpetually spinning like a fruit cylinder in a one- armed bandit, self-control is highly unlikely. So mental culture has to come first.
There are three integral factors in Buddhist meditation --- morality, concentration and wisdom. Those three factors grow together as your practice deepens. Each one influences the other, so you cultivate the three of them together, not one at a time. When you have the wisdom to truly understand a situation, compassion towards all the parties involved is automatic, and compassion means that you automatically restrain yourself from any thought, word or deed that might harm yourself or others. Thus your behavior is automatically moral. It is only when you don't understand things deeply that you create problems. If you fail to see the consequences of your own action, you will blunder. The fellow who waits to become totally moral before he begins to meditate is waiting for a 'but' that will never come. The ancient sages say that he is like a man waiting for the ocean to become calm so that he can go take a bath. To understand this relationship more fully, let us propose that there are levels of morality. The lowest level is adherence to a set of rules and regulations laid down by somebody else. It could be your favorite prophet. It could be the state, the head man of your tribe or your father. No matter who generates the rules, all you've got to do at this level is know the rules and follow them. A robot can do that. Even a trained chimpanzee could do it if the rules were simple enough and he was smacked with a stick every time he broke one. This level requires no meditation at all. All you need are the rules and somebody to swing the stick.
The next level of morality consists of obeying the same rules even in the absence of somebody who will smack you. You obey because you have internalized the rules. You smack yourself every time you break one. This level requires a bit of mind control. If your thought pattern is chaotic, your behavior will be chaotic, too. Mental culture reduces mental chaos.
There is a third level or morality, but it might be better termed ethics. This level is a whole quantum layer up the scale, a real paradigm shift in orientation. At the level of ethics, one does not follow hard and fast rules dictated by authority. One chooses his own behavior according to the needs of the situation. This level requires real intelligence and an ability to juggle all the factors in every situation and arrive at a unique, creative and appropriate response each time. Furthermore, the individual making these decisions needs to have dug himself out of his own limited personal viewpoint. He has to see the entire situation from an objective point of view, giving equal weight to his own needs and those of others. In other words, he has to be free from greed, hatred, envy and all the other selfish junk that ordinarily keeps us from seeing the other guy's side of the issue. Only then can he choose that precise set of actions which will be truly optimal for that situation. This level of morality absolutely demands meditation, unless you were born a saint. There is no other way to acquire the skill. Furthermore, the sorting process required at this level is exhausting. If you tried to juggle all those factors in every situation with your conscious mind, you'd wear yourself out. The intellect just can't keep that many balls in the air at once. It is an overload. Luckily, a deeper level of consciousness can do this sort of processing with ease. Meditation can accomplish the sorting process for you. It is an eerie feeling.
One day you've got a problem--say to handle Uncle Herman's latest divorce. It looks absolutely unsolvable, and enormous muddle of 'maybes' that would give Solomon himself the willies. The next day you are washing the dishes, thinking about something else entirely, and suddenly the solution is there. It just pops out of the deep mind and you say, 'Ah ha!' and the whole thing is solved. This sort of intuition can only occur when you disengage the logic circuits from the problem and give the deep mind the opportunity to cook up the solution. The conscious mind just gets in the way. Meditation teaches you how to disentangle yourself from the thought process. It is the mental art of stepping out of your own way, and that's a pretty useful skill in everyday life. Meditation is certainly not some irrelevant practice strictly for ascetics and hermits. It is a practical skill that focuses on everyday events and has immediate application in everybody's life. Meditation is not other- worldly.
Unfortunately, this very fact constitutes the drawback for certain students. They enter the practice expecting instantaneous cosmic revelation, complete with angelic choirs. What they usually get is a more efficient way to take out the trash and better ways to deal with Uncle Herman. They are needlessly disappointed. The trash solution comes first. The voices of archangels take a bit longer.
Meditation is running away from reality
Incorrect. Meditation is running into reality. It does not insulate you from the pain of life. It allows you to delve so deeply into life and all its aspects that you pierce the pain barrier and you go beyond suffering. Vipassana is a practice done with the specific intention of facing reality, to fully experience life just as it is and to cope with exactly what you find. It allows you to blow aside the illusions and to free yourself from all those polite little lies you tell yourself all the time. What is there is there. You are who you are, and lying to yourself about your own weaknesses and motivations only binds you tighter to the wheel of illusion. Vipassana meditation is not an attempt to forget yourself or to cover up your troubles. It is learning to look at yourself exactly as you are. See what is there, accept it fully. Only then can you change it.
Meditation is a great way to get high
Well, yes and no. Meditation does produce lovely blissful feelings sometimes. But they are not the purpose, and they don't always occur. Furthermore, if you do meditation with that purpose in mind, they are less likely to occur than if you just meditate for the actual purpose of meditation, which is increased awareness. Bliss results from relaxation, and relaxation results from release of tension. Seeking bliss from meditation introduces tension into the process, which blows the whole chain of events. It is a Catch-22. You can only have bliss if you don't chase it. Besides, if euphoria and good feelings are what you are after, there are easier ways to get them. They are available in taverns and from shady characters on the street corners all across the nation. Euphoria is not the purpose of meditation. It will often arise, but it to be regarded as a by- product. Still, it is a very pleasant side-effect, and it becomes more and more frequent the longer you meditate. You won't hear any disagreement about this from advanced practitioners.
Meditation is selfish
It certainly looks that way. There sits the meditator parked on his little cushion. Is he out giving blood? No. Is he busy working with disaster victims? No. But let us examine his motivation. Why is he doing this? His intention is to purge his own mind of anger, prejudice and ill-will. He is actively engaged in the process of getting rid of greed, tension and insensitivity. Those are the very items which obstruct his compassion for others. Until they are gone, any good works that he does are likely to be just an extension of his own ego and of no real help in the long run. Harm in the name of help is one of the oldest games. The grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition spouts the loftiest of motives. The Salem witchcraft trials were conducted for the public good. Examine the personal lives of advanced meditators and you will often find them engaged in humanitarian service. You will seldom find them as crusading missionaries who are willing to sacrifice certain individuals for the sake of some pious idea. The fact is we are more selfish than we know. The ego has a way of turning the loftiest activities into trash if it is allowed free range. Through meditation we become aware of ourselves exactly as we are, by waking up to the numerous subtle ways that we manifest our own selfishness. Then we truly begin to be genuinely selfless. Cleansing yourself of selfishness is not a selfish activity.
When you meditate, you sit around thinking lofty thoughts
Wrong again. There are certain systems of contemplation in which this sort of thing is done. But that is not Vipassana. Vipassana is the practice of awareness. Awareness of whatever is there, be it supreme truth or crummy trash. What is there is there. Of course, lofty aesthetic thoughts may arise during your practice. They are certainly not to be avoided. Neither are they to be sought. They are just pleasant side-effects. Vipassana is a simple practice. It consists of experiencing your own life events directly, without preference and without mental images pasted to them. Vipassana is seeing your life unfold from moment to moment without biases. What comes up comes up. It is very simple.
A couple of weeks of meditation and all my problems will go away
Sorry, meditation is not a quick cure-all. You will start seeing changes right away, but really profound effects are years down the line. That is just the way the universe is constructed. Nothing worthwhile is achieved overnight. Meditation is tough in some respects. It requires a long discipline and sometimes a painful process of practice. At each sitting you gain some results, but those results are often very subtle. They occur deep within the mind, only to manifest much later. and if you are sitting there constantly looking for some huge instantaneous changes, you will miss the subtle shifts altogether. You will get discouraged, give up and swear that no such changes will ever occur. Patience is the key. Patience. If you learn nothing else from meditation, you will learn patience. And that is the most valuable lesson available.
What Meditation Is
Meditation is a word, and words are used in different ways by different speakers. This may seem like a trivial point, but it is not. It is quite important to distinguish exactly what a particular speaker means by the words he uses. Every culture on earth, for example, has produced some sort of mental practice which might be termed meditation. It all depends on how loose a definition you give to that word. Everybody does it, from Africans to Eskimos. The techniques are enormously varied, and we will make no attempt to survey them. There are other books for that. For the purpose of this volume, we will restrict our discussion to those practices best known to Western audiences and most likely associated with the term meditation.
Within the Judeo-Christian tradition we find two overlapping practices called prayer and contemplation. Prayer is a direct address to some spiritual entity. Contemplation in a prolonged period of conscious thought about some specific topic, usually a religious ideal or scriptural passage. From the standpoint of mental culture, both of these activities are exercises in concentration. The normal deluge of conscious thought is restricted, and the mind is brought to one conscious area of operation. The results are those you find in any concentrative practice: deep calm, a physiological slowing of the metabolism and a sense of peace and well-being.
Out of the Hindu tradition comes Yogic meditation, which is also purely concentrative. The traditional basic exercises consist of focusing the mind on a single object a stone, a candle flame, a syllable or whatever, and not allowing it to wander. Having acquired the basic skill, the Yogi proceeds to expand his practice by taking on more complex objects of meditation chants, colorful religious images, energy channels in the body and so forth. Still, no matter how complex the object of meditation, the meditation itself remains purely an exercise in concentration.
Within the Buddhist tradition, concentration is also highly valued. But a new element is added and more highly stressed. That element is awareness. All Buddhist meditation aims at the development of awareness, using concentration as a tool. The Buddhist tradition is very wide, however, and there are several diverse routes to this goal. Zen meditation uses two separate tacks. The first is the direct plunge into awareness by sheer force of will. You sit down and you just sit, meaning that you toss out of your mind everything except pure awareness of sitting. This sounds very simple. It is not. A brief trial will demonstrate just how difficult it really is. The second Zen approach used in the Rinzai school is that of tricking the mind out of conscious thought and into pure awareness. This is done by giving the student an unsolvable riddle which he must solve anyway, and by placing him in a horrendous training situation. Since he cannot flee from the pain of the situation, he must flee into a pure experience of the moment. There is nowhere else to go. Zen is tough. It is effective for many people, but it is really tough.
Another stratagem, Tantric Buddhism, is nearly the reverse. Conscious thought, at least the way we usually do it, is the manifestation of ego, the you that you usually think that you are. Conscious thought is tightly connected with self-concept. The self-concept or ego is nothing more than a set of reactions and mental images which are artificially pasted to the flowing process of pure awareness. Tantra seeks to obtain pure awareness by destroying this ego image. This is accomplished by a process of visualization. The student is given a particular religious image to meditate upon, for example, one of the deities from the Tantric pantheon. He does this in so thorough a fashion that he becomes that entity. He takes off his own identity and puts on another. This takes a while, as you might imagine, but it works. During the process, he is able to watch the way that the ego is constructed and put in place. He comes to recognize the arbitrary nature of all egos, including his own, and he escapes from bondage to the ego. He is left in a state where he may have an ego if he so chooses, either his own or whichever other he might wish, or he can do without one. Result: pure awareness. Tantra is not exactly a game of patty cake either.
Vipassana is the oldest of Buddhist meditation practices. The method comes directly from the Sitipatthana Sutta, a discourse attributed to Buddha himself. Vipassana is a direct and gradual cultivation of mindfulness or awareness. It proceeds piece by piece over a period of years. The student's attention is carefully directed to an intense examination of certain aspects of his own existence. The meditator is trained to notice more and more of his own flowing life experience. Vipassana is a gentle technique. But it also is very , very thorough. It is an ancient and codified system of sensitivity training, a set of exercises dedicated to becoming more and more receptive to your own life experience. It is attentive listening, total seeing and careful testing. We learn to smell acutely, to touch fully and really pay attention to what we feel. We learn to listen to our own thoughts without being caught up in them.
The object of Vipassana practice is to learn to pay attention. We think we are doing this already, but that is an illusion. It comes from the fact that we are paying so little attention to the ongoing surge of our own life experiences that we might just as well be asleep. We are simply not paying enough attention to notice that we are not paying attention. It is another Catch-22.
Through the process of mindfulness, we slowly become aware of what we really are down below the ego image. We wake up to what life really is. It is not just a parade of ups and downs, lollipops and smacks on the wrist. That is an illusion. Life has a much deeper texture than that if we bother to look, and if we look in the right way.
Vipassana is a form of mental training that will teach you to experience the world in an entirely new way. You will learn for the first time what is truly happening to you, around you and within you. It is a process of self discovery, a participatory investigation in which you observe your own experiences while participating in them, and as they occur. The practice must be approached with this attitude.
"Never mind what I have been taught. Forget about theories and prejudgments and stereotypes. I want to understand the true nature of life. I want to know what this experience of being alive really is. I want to apprehend the true and deepest qualities of life, and I don't want to just accept somebody else's explanation. I want to see it for myself." If you pursue your meditation practice with this attitude, you will succeed. You'll find yourself observing things objectively, exactly as they are--flowing and changing from moment to moment. Life then takes on an unbelievable richness which cannot be described. It has to be experienced.
The Pali term for Insight meditation is Vipassana Bhavana. Bhavana comes from the root 'Bhu', which means to grow or to become. There fore Bhavana means to cultivate, and the word is always used in reference to the mind. Bhavana means mental cultivation. 'Vipassana' is derived from two roots. 'Passana' means seeing or perceiving. 'Vi' is a prefix with the complex set of connotations. The basic meaning is 'in a special way.' But there also is the connotation of both 'into' and 'through'. The whole meaning of the word is looking into something with clarity and precision, seeing each component as distinct and separate, and piercing all the way through so as to perceive the most fundamental reality of that thing. This process leads to insight into the basic reality of whatever is being inspected. Put it all together and 'Vipassana Bhavana' means the cultivation of the mind, aimed at seeing in a special way that leads to insight and to full understanding.
In Vipassana mediation we cultivate this special way of seeing life. We train ourselves to see reality exactly as it is, and we call this special mode of perception 'mindfulness.' This process of mindfulness is really quite different from what we usually do. We usually do not look into what is really there in front of us. We see life through a screen of thoughts and concepts, and we mistake those mental objects for the reality. We get so caught up in this endless thought stream that reality flows by unnoticed. We spend our time engrossed in activity, caught up in an eternal pursuit of pleasure and gratification and an eternal flight from pain and unpleasantness. We spend all of our energies trying to make ourselves feel better, trying to bury our fears. We are endlessly seeking security. Meanwhile, the world of real experience flows by untouched and untasted. In Vipassana meditation we train ourselves to ignore the constant impulses to be more comfortable, and we dive into the reality instead. The ironic thing is that real peace comes only when you stop chasing it. Another Catch-22.
When you relax your driving desire for comfort, real fulfillment arises. When you drop your hectic pursuit of gratification, the real beauty of life comes out. When you seek to know the reality without illusion, complete with all its pain and danger, that is when real freedom and security are yours. This is not some doctrine we are trying to drill into you. This is an observable reality, a thing you can and should see for yourself.
Buddhism is 2500 years old, and any thought system of that vintage has time to develop layers and layers of doctrine and ritual. Nevertheless, the fundamental attitude of Buddhism is intensely empirical and anti-authoritarian. Gotama the Buddha was a highly unorthodox individual and real anti-traditionalist. He did not offer his teaching as a set of dogmas, but rather as a set of propositions for each individual to investigate for himself. His invitation to one and all was 'Come and See'. One of the things he said to his followers was "Place no head above your own". By this he meant, don't accept somebody else's word. See for yourself.
We want you to apply this attitude to every word you read in this manual. We are not making statements that you would accept merely because we are authorities in the field. Blind faith has nothing to do with this. These are experiential realities. Learn to adjust your mode of perception according to instructions given in the book, and you will see for yourself. That and only that provides ground for your faith. Insight meditation is essentially a practice of investigative personal discovery.
Having said this, we will present here a very short synopsis of some of the key points of Buddhist philosophy. We make not attempt to be thorough, since that has been quite nicely done in many other books. This material is essential to understanding Vipassana, therefore, some mention must be made.
From the Buddhist point of view, we human beings live in a very peculiar fashion. We view impermanent things as permanent, though everything is changing all around us. The process of change is constant and eternal. As you read these words, your body is aging. But you pay no attention to that. The book in you hand is decaying. The print is fading and the pages are becoming brittle. The walls around you are aging. The molecules within those walls are vibrating at an enormous rate, and everything is shifting, going to pieces and dissolving slowly. You pay no attention to that, either. Then one day you look around you. Your body is wrinkled and squeaky and you hurt. The book is a yellowed, useless lump; the building is caving in. So you pine for lost youth and you cry when the possessions are gone. Where does this pain come from? It comes from your own inattention. You failed to look closely at life. You failed to observe the constantly shifting flow of the world as it went by. You set up a collection of mental constructions, 'me', 'the book', 'the building', and you assume that they would endure forever. They never do. But you can tune into the constantly ongoing change. You can learn to perceive your life as an ever- flowing movement, a thing of great beauty like a dance or symphony. You can learn to take joy in the perpetual passing away of all phenomena. You can learn to live with the flow of existence rather than running perpetually against the grain. You can learn this. It is just a matter of time and training.
Our human perceptual habits are remarkably stupid in some ways. We tune out 99% of all the sensory stimuli we actually receive, and we solidify the remainder into discrete mental objects. Then we react to those mental objects in programmed habitual ways. An example: There you are, sitting alone in the stillness of a peaceful night. A dog barks in the distance. The perception itself is indescribably beautiful if you bother to examine it. Up out of that sea of silence come surging waves of sonic vibration. You start to hear the lovely complex patterns, and they are turned into scintillating electronic stimulations within the nervous system. The process is beautiful and fulfilling in itself. We humans tend to ignore it totally. Instead, we solidify that perception into a mental object. We paste a mental picture on it and we launch into a series of emotional and conceptual reactions to it. "There is that dog again. He is always barking at night. What a nuisance. Every night he is a real bother. Somebody should do something. Maybe I should call a cop. No, a dog catcher. So, I'll call the pound. No, maybe I'll just write a real nasty letter to the guy who owns that dog. No, too much trouble. I'll just get an ear plug." They are just perceptual and mental habits. You learn to respond this way as a child by copying the perceptual habits of those around you. These perceptual responses are not inherent in the structure of the nervous system. The circuits are there. But this is not the only way that our mental machinery can be used. That which has been learned can be unlearned. The first step is to realize what you are doing, as you are doing it, and stand back and quietly watch.
From the Buddhist perspective, we humans have a backward view of life. We look at what is actually the cause of suffering and we see it as happiness. The cause of suffering is that desire- aversion syndrome which we spoke of earlier. Up pops a perception. It could be anything--a beautiful girl, a handsome guy, speed boat, thug with a gun, truck bearing down on you, anything. Whatever it is, the very next thing we do is to react to the stimulus with a feeling about it.
Take worry. We worry a lot. Worry itself is the problem. Worry is a process. It has steps. Anxiety is not just a state of existence but a procedure. What you've got to do is to look at the very beginning of that procedure, those initial stages before the process has built up a head of steam. The very first link of the worry chain is the grasping/rejecting reaction. As soon as some phenomenon pops into the mind, we try mentally to grab onto it or push it away. That sets the worry response in motion. Luckily, there is a handy little tool called Vipassana meditation which you can use to short-circuit the whole mechanism.
Vipassana meditation teaches us how to scrutinize our own perceptual process with great precision. We learn to watch the arising of thought and perception with a feeling of serene detachment. We learn to view our own reactions to stimuli with calm and clarity. We begin to see ourselves reacting without getting caught up in the reactions themselves. The obsessive nature of thought slowly dies. We can still get married. We can still step out of the path of the truck. But we don't need to go through hell over either one.
This escape from the obsessive nature of thought produces a whole new view of reality. It is a complete paradigm shift, a total change in the perceptual mechanism. It brings with it the feeling of peace and rightness, a new zest for living and a sense of completeness to every activity. Because of these advantages, Buddhism views this way of looking at things as a correct view of life and Buddhist texts call it seeing things as they really are.
Vipassana meditation is a set of training procedures which open us gradually to this new view of reality as it truly is. Along with this new reality goes a new view of the most central aspect of reality: 'me'. A close inspection reveals that we have done the same thing to 'me' that we have done to all other perceptions. We have taken a flowing vortex of thought, feeling and sensation and we have solidified that into a mental construct. Then we have stuck a label onto it, 'me'. And forever after, we threat it as if it were a static and enduring entity. We view it as a thing separate from all other things. We pinch ourselves off from the rest of that process of eternal change which is the universe. And than we grieve over how lonely we feel. We ignore our inherent connectedness to all other beings and we decide that 'I' have to get more for 'me'; then we marvel at how greedy and insensitive human beings are. And on it goes. Every evil deed, every example of heartlessness in the world stems directly from this false sense of 'me' as distinct from all else that is out there.
Explode the illusion of that one concept and your whole universe changes. Don't expect to do this overnight, though. You spent your whole life building up that concept, reinforcing it with every thought, word, and deed over all those years. It is not going to evaporate instantly. But it will pass if you give it enough time and enough attention. Vipassana meditation is a process by which it is dissolved. Little by little, you chip away at it just by watching it.
The 'I' concept is a process. It is a thing we are doing. In Vipassana we learn to see that we are doing it, when we are doing it and how we are doing it. Then it moves and fades away, like a cloud passing through the clear sky. We are left in a state where we can do it or not do it, whichever seems appropriate to the situation. The compulsiveness is gone. We have a choice.
These are all major insights, of course. Each one is a deep- reaching understanding of one of the fundamental issues of human existence. They do not occur quickly, nor without considerable effort. But the payoff is big. They lead to a total transformation of your life. Every second of your existence thereafter is changed. The meditator who pushes all the way down this track achieves perfect mental health, a pure love for all that lives and complete cessation of suffering. That is not small goal. But you don't have to go all the way to reap benefits. They start right away and they pile up over the years. It is a cumulative function. The more you sit, the more you learn about the real nature of your won existence. The more hours you spend in meditation, the greater your ability to calmly observe every impulse and intention, every thought and emotion just as it arises in the mind. Your progress to liberation is measured in cushion-man hours. And you can stop any time you've had enough. There is no stick over your head except your own desire to see the true quality of life, to enhance your own existence and that of others.
Vipassana meditation is inherently experiential. It is not theoretical. In the practice of mediation you become sensitive to the actual experience of living, to how things feel. You do not sit around developing subtle and aesthetic thoughts about living. You live. Vipassana meditation more than anything else is learning to live.
Within the last century, Western science and physics have made a startling discovery. We are part of the world we view. The very process of our observation changes the things we observe. As an example, an electron is an extremely tiny item. It cannot be viewed without instrumentation, and that apparatus dictates what the observer will see. If you look at an electron in one way, it appears to be a particle, a hard little ball that bounces around in nice straight paths. When you view it another way, an electron appears to be a wave form, with nothing solid about it. It glows and wiggles all over the place. An electron is an event more than a thing. And the observer participates in that event by the very process of his or her observation. There is no way to avoid this interaction.
Eastern science has recognized this basic principle for a very long time. The mind is a set of events, and the observer participates in those events every time he or she looks inward. Meditation is participatory observation. What you are looking at responds to the process of looking. What you are looking at is you, and what you see depends on how you look. Thus the process of meditation is extremely delicate, and the result depends absolutely on the state of mind of the meditator. The following attitudes are essential to success in practice. Most of them have been presented before. But we bring them together again here as a series of rules for application. 1. Don't expect anything. Just sit back and see what happens. Treat the whole thing as an experiment. Take an active interest in the test itself. But don't get distracted by your expectations about results. For that matter, don't be anxious for any result whatsoever. Let the meditation move along at its own speed and in its own direction. Let the meditation teach you what it wants you to learn. Meditative awareness seeks to see reality exactly as it is. Whether that corresponds to our expectations or not, it requires a temporary suspension of all our preconceptions and ideas. We must store away our images, opinions and interpretations someplace out of the way for the duration. Otherwise we will stumble over them.
2. Don't strain: Don't force anything or make grand exaggerated efforts. Meditation is not aggressive. There is no violent striving. Just let your effort be relaxed and steady.
3. Don't rush: There is no hurry, so take you time. Settle yourself on a cushion and sit as though you have a whole day. Anything really valuable takes time to develop. Patience, patience, patience.
4. Don't cling to anything and don't reject anything: Let come what comes and accommodate yourself to that, whatever it is. If good mental images arise, that is fine. If bad mental images arise, that is fine, too. Look on all of it as equal and make yourself comfortable with whatever happens. Don't fight with what you experience, just observe it all mindfully.
5. Let go: Learn to flow with all the changes that come up. Loosen up and relax.
6. Accept everything that arises: Accept your feelings, even the ones you wish you did not have. Accept your experiences, even the ones you hate. Don't condemn yourself for having human flaws and failings. Learn to see all the phenomena in the mind as being perfectly natural and understandable. Try to exercise a disinterested acceptance at all times and with respect to everything you experience.
7. Be gentle with yourself: Be kind to yourself. You may not be perfect, but you are all you've got to work with. The process of becoming who you will be begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.
8. Investigate yourself: Question everything. Take nothing for granted. Don't believe anything because it sounds wise and pious and some holy men said it. See for yourself. That does not mean that you should be cynical, impudent or irreverent. It means you should be empirical. Subject all statements to the actual test of your experience and let the results be your guide to truth. Insight meditation evolves out of an inner longing to wake up to what is real and to gain liberating insight to the true structure of existence. The entire practice hinges upon this desire to be awake to the truth. Without it, the practice is superficial.
9. View all problems as challenges: Look upon negatives that arise as opportunities to learn and to grow. Don't run from them, condemn yourself or bear your burden in saintly silence. You have a problem? Great. More grist for the mill. Rejoice, dive in and investigate.
10. Don't ponder: You don't need to figure everything out. Discursive thinking won't free you from the trap. In mediation, the mind is purified naturally by mindfulness, by wordless bare attention. Habitual deliberation is not necessary to eliminate those things that are keeping you in bondage. All that is necessary is a clear, non-conceptual perception of what they are and how they work. That alone is sufficient to dissolve them. Concepts and reasoning just get in the way. Don't think. See.
11. Don't dwell upon contrasts: Differences do exist between people, but dwelling upon then is a dangerous process. Unless carefully handled, it leads directly to egotism. Ordinary human thinking is full of greed, jealousy and pride. A man seeing another man on the street may immediately think, "He is better looking than I am." The instant result is envy or shame. A girl seeing another girl may think, "I am prettier than she is." The instant result is pride. This sort of comparison is a mental habit, and it leads directly to ill feeling of one sort or another: greed, envy, pride, jealousy, hatred. It is an unskillful mental state, but we do it all the time. We compare our looks with others, our success, our accomplishments, our wealth, possessions, or I.Q. and all these lead to the same place--estrangement, barriers between people, and ill feeling.
The meditator's job is to cancel this unskillful habit by examining it thoroughly, and then replacing it with another. Rather than noticing the differences between self and others, the meditator trains himself to notice similarities. He centers his attention on those factors that are universal to all life, things that will move him closer to others. Thus his comparison, if any, leads to feelings of kinship rather than feelings of estrangement.
Breathing is a universal process. All vertebrates breathe in essentially the same manner. All living things exchange gasses with their environment in some way or other. This is one of the reasons that breathing is chosen as the focus of meditation. the meditator is advised to explore the process of his own breathing as a vehicle for realizing his own inherent connectedness with the rest of life. This does not mean that we shut our eyes to all the differences around us. Differences exist. It means simply that we de-emphasize contrasts and emphasize the universal factors. The recommended procedure is as follows:
When the meditator perceives any sensory object, he is not to dwell upon it in the ordinary egotistical way. He should rather examine the very process of perception itself. He should watch the feelings that arise and the mental activities that follow. He should note the changes that occur in his own consciousness as a result. In watching all these phenomena, the meditator must be aware of the universality of what he is seeing. That initial perception will spark pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feelings. That is a universal phenomenon. It occurs in the mind of others just as it does in his, and he should see that clearly. Following these feelings various reactions may arise. He may feel greed, lust, or jealousy. He may feel fear, worry, restlessness or boredom. These reactions are universal. He simple notes them and then generalizes. He should realize that these reactions are normal human responses and can arise in anybody.
The practice of this style of comparison may feel forced and artificial at first, but it is no less natural than what we ordinarily do. It is merely unfamiliar. With practice, this habit pattern replaces our normal habit of egoistic comparing and feels far more natural in the long run. We become very understanding people as a result. we no longer get upset by the failings of others. We progress toward harmony with all life.
Although there are many subjects of meditation, we strongly recommend you start with focusing your total undivided attention on your breathing to gain some degree of shallow concentration. Remember that you are not practicing a deep absorption or pure concentration technique. You are practicing mindfulness for which you need only a certain degree of shallow concentration. You want to cultivate mindfulness culminating in insight and wisdom to realize the truth as it is. You want to know the working of your body-mind complex exactly as it is. You want to get rid of all psychological annoyance to make your life really peaceful and happy.
The mind cannot be purified without seeing things as they really are. "Seeing things as they really are" is such a heavily loaded and ambiguous phrase. Many beginning meditators wonder what we mean, for anyone who has clear eye sight can see objects as they are.
When we use this phrase in reference to insight gained from our meditation, what we mean is not seeing things superficially with our regular eyes, but seeing things with wisdom as they are in themselves. Seeing with wisdom means seeing things within the framework of our body/mind complex without prejudices or biases springing from our greed, hatred and delusion. Ordinarily when we watch the working of our mind/body complex, we tend to hide or ignore things which are not pleasant to us and to hold onto things which are pleasant. This is because our minds are generally influenced by our desires, resentment and delusion. Our ego, self or opinions get in our way and color our judgment.
When we mindfully watch our bodily sensations, we should not confuse them with mental formations, for bodily sensations can arise without anything to do with the mind. For instance, we sit comfortably. After a while, there can arise some uncomfortable feeling on our back or in our legs. Our mind immediately experiences that discomfort and forms numerous thoughts around the feeling. At that point, without trying to confuse the feeling with the mental formations, we should isolate the feeling as feeling and watch it mindfully. Feeling is one of the seven universal mental factors. The other six are contact, perception, mental formations, concentration, life force, and awareness.
At another time, we may have a certain emotion such as, resentment, fear, or lust. Then we should watch the emotion exactly as it is without trying to confuse it with anything else. When we bundle our form, feeling, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness up into one and try to watch all of them as feeling, we get confused, as we will not be able to see the source of feeling. If we simply dwell upon the feeling alone, ignoring other mental factors, our realization of truth becomes very difficult. We want to gain the insight into the experience of impermanence to over come our resentment; our deeper knowledge of unhappiness overcomes our greed which causes our unhappiness; our realization of selflessness overcomes ignorance arising from the notion of self. We should see the mind and body separately first. Having comprehended them separately, we should see their essential interconnectedness. As our insight becomes sharp, we become more and more aware of the fact that all the aggregates are cooperating to work together. None can exist without the other. We can see the real meaning of the famous metaphor of the blind man who has a healthy body to walk and the disabled person who has very good eyes to see. Neither of them alone can do much for himself. But when the disabled person climbs on the shoulders of the blind man, together they can travel and achieve their goals easily. Similarly, the body alone can do nothing for itself. It is like a log unable to move or do anything by itself except to become a subject of impermanence, decay and death. The mind itself can do nothing without the support of the body. When we mindfully watch both body and mind, we can see how many wonderful things they do together.
As long as we are sitting in one place we may gain some degree of mindfulness. Going to a retreat and spending several days or several months watching our feelings, perceptions, countless thoughts and various states of consciousness may make us eventually calm and peaceful. Normally we do not have that much time to spend in one place meditating all the time. Therefore, we should find a way to apply our mindfulness to our daily life in order for us to be able to handle daily unforeseeable eventualities. What we face every day is unpredictable. Things happen due to multiple causes and conditions, as we are living in a conditional and impermanent world. Mindfulness is our emergency kit, readily available at our service at any time. When we face a situation where we feel indignation, if we mindfully investigate our own mind, we will discover bitter truths in ourselves. That is we are selfish; we are egocentric; we are attached to our ego; we hold on to our opinions; we think we are right and everybody else is wrong; we are prejudices; we are biased; and at the bottom of all of this, we do not really love ourselves. This discovery, though bitter, is a most rewarding experience. And in the long run, this discovery delivers us from deeply rooted psychological and spiritual suffering.
Mindfulness practice is the practice of one hundred percent honesty with ourselves. When we watch our own mind and body, we notice certain things that are unpleasant to realize. As we do not like them, we try to reject them. What are the things we do not like? We do not like to detach ourselves from loved ones or to live with unloved ones. We include not only people, places and material things into our likes and dislikes, but opinions, ideas, beliefs and decisions as well. We do not like what naturally happens to us. We do not like, for instance, growing old, becoming sick, becoming weak or showing our age, for we have a great desire to preserve our appearance. We do not like someone pointing out our faults, for we take great pride in ourselves. We do not like someone to be wiser than we are, for we are deluded about ourselves. These are but a few examples of our personal experience of greed, hatred and ignorance.
When greed, hatred and ignorance reveal themselves in our daily lives, we use our mindfulness to track them down and comprehend their roots. The root of each of these mental states in within ourselves. If we do not, for instance, have the root of hatred, nobody can make us angry, for it is the root of our anger that reacts to somebody's actions or words or behavior. If we are mindful, we will diligently use our wisdom to look into our own mind. If we do not have hatred in us we will not be concerned when someone points out our shortcomings. Rather, we will be thankful to the person who draws our attention to our faults. We have to be extremely wise and mindful to thank the person who explicates our faults so we will be able to tread the upward path toward improving ourselves. We all have blind spots. The other person is our mirror for us to see our faults with wisdom. We should consider the person who shows our shortcomings as one who excavates a hidden treasure in us that we were unaware of. It is by knowing the existence of our deficiencies that we can improve ourselves. Improving ourselves is the unswerving path to the perfection which is our goal in life. Only by overcoming weaknesses can we cultivate noble qualities hidden deep down in our subconscious mind. Before we try to surmount our defects, we should what they are.
If we are sick, we must find out the cause of our sickness. Only then can we get treatment. If we pretend that we do not have sickness even though we are suffering, we will never get treatment. Similarly, if we think that we don't have these faults, we will never clear our spiritual path. If we are blind to our own flaws, we need someone to point them out to us. When they point out our faults, we should be grateful to them like the Venerable Sariputta, who said: "Even if a seven-year-old novice monk points out my mistakes, I will accept them with utmost respect for him." Ven. Sariputta was an Arahant who was one hundred percent mindful and had no fault in him. But since he did not have any pride, he was able to maintain this position. Although we are not Arahants, we should determine to emulate his example, for our goal in life also is to attain what he attained.
Of course the person pointing out our mistakes himself may not be totally free from defects, but he can see our problems as we can see his faults, which he does not notice until we point them out to him.
Both pointing out shortcomings and responding to them should be done mindfully. If someone becomes unmindful in indicating faults and uses unkind and harsh language, he might do more harm than good to himself as well as to the person whose shortcomings he points out. One who speaks with resentment cannot be mindful and is unable to express himself clearly. One who feels hurt while listening to harsh language may lose his mindfulness and not hear what the other person is really saying. We should speak mindfully and listen mindfully to be benefitted by talking and listening. When we listen and talk mindfully, our minds are free from greed, selfishness, hatred and delusion.
As meditators, we all must have a goal, for if we do not have a goal, we will simply be groping in the dark blindly following somebody's instructions on meditation. There must certainly be a goal for whatever we do consciously and willingly. It is not the Vipassana meditator's goal to become enlightened before other people or to have more power or to make more profit than others, for mindfulness meditators are not in competition with each other.
Our goal is to reach the perfection of all the noble and wholesome qualities latent in our subconscious mind. This goal has five elements to it: Purification of mind, overcoming sorrow and lamentation, overcoming pain and grief, treading the right path leading to attainment of eternal peace, and attaining happiness by following that path. Keeping this fivefold goal in mind, we can advance with hope and confidence to reach the goal.
Once you sit, do not change the position again until the end of the time you determined at the beginning. Suppose you change your original position because it is uncomfortable, and assume another position. What happens after a while is that the new position becomes uncomfortable. Then you want another and after a while, it too becomes uncomfortable. So you may go on shifting, moving, changing one position to another the whole time you are on your mediation cushion and you may not gain a deep and meaningful level of concentration. Therefore, do not change your original position, no matter how painful it is.
To avoid changing your position, determine at the beginning of meditation how long you are going to meditate. If you have never meditated before, sit motionless not longer than twenty minutes. As you repeat your practice, you can increase your sitting time. The length of sitting depends on how much time you have for sitting meditation practice and how long you can sit without excruciating pain.
We should not have a time schedule to attain the goal, for our attainment depends on how we progress in our practice based on our understanding and development of our spiritual faculties. We must work diligently and mindfully towards the goal without setting any particular time schedule to reach it. When we are ready, we get there. All we have to do is to prepare ourselves for that attainment.
After sitting motionless, close your eyes. Our mind is analogous to a cup of muddy water. The longer you keep a cup of muddy water still, the more mud settles down and the water will be seen clearly. Similarly, if you keep quiet without moving you body, focusing your entire undivided attention on the subject of your meditation, your mind settles down and begins to experience the bliss of meditation.
To prepare for this attainment, we should keep our mind in the present moment. The present moment is changing so fast that the casual observer does not seem to notice its existence at all. Every moment is a moment of events and no moment passes by without noticing events taking place in that moment. Therefore, the moment we try to pay bare attention to is the present moment. Our mind goes through a series of events like a series of pictures passing through a projector. Some of these pictures are coming from our past experiences and others are our imaginations of things that we plan to do in the future.
The mind can never be focused without a mental object. Therefore we must give our mind an object which is readily available every present moment. What is present every moment is our breath. The mind does not have to make a great effort to find the breath, for every moment the breath is flowing in and out through our nostrils. As our practice of insight meditation is taking place every waking moment, our mind finds it very easy to focus itself on the breath, for it is more conspicuous and constant than any other object.
After sitting in the manner explained earlier and having shared your loving-kindness with everybody, take three deep breaths. After taking three deep breaths, breathe normally, letting your breath flow in and out freely, effortlessly and begin focusing your attention on the rims of your nostrils. Simply notice the feeling of breath going in and out. When one inhalation is complete and before exhaling begins, there is a brief pause. Notice it and notice the beginning of exhaling. When the exhalation is complete, there is another brief pause before inhaling begins. Notice this brief pause, too. This means that there are two brief pauses of breath--one at the end of inhaling, and the other at the end of exhaling. The two pauses occur in such a brief moment you may not be aware of their occurrence. But when you are mindful, you can notice them.
Do not verbalize or conceptualize anything. Simply notice the in-coming and out-going breath without saying, "I breathe in", or "I breathe out." When you focus your attention on the breath ignore any thought, memory, sound, smell, taste, etc., and focus your attention exclusively on the breath, nothing else.
At the beginning, both the inhalations and exhalations are short because the body and mind are not calm and relaxed. Notice the feeling of that short inhaling and short exhaling as they occur without saying "short inhaling" or "short exhaling". As you remain noticing the felling of short inhaling and short exhaling, your body and mind become relatively calm. Then your breath becomes long. Notice the feeling of that long breath as it is without saying "Long breath". Then notice the entire breathing process from the beginning to the end. Subsequently the breath becomes subtle, and the mind and body become calmer than before. Notice this calm and peaceful feeling of your breathing.
What To Do When the Mind Wanders Away?
In spite of your concerted effort to keep the mind on your breathing, the mind may wander away. It may go to past experiences and suddenly you may find yourself remembering places you've visited, people you met, friends not seen for a long time, a book you read long ago, the taste of food you ate yesterday, and so on. As soon as you notice that you mind is no longer on your breath, mindfully bring it back to it and anchor it there. However, in a few moments you may be caught up again thinking how to pay your bills, to make a telephone call to you friend, write a letter to someone, do your laundry, buy your groceries, go to a party, plan your next vacation, and so forth. As soon as you notice that your mind is not on your subject, bring it back mindfully. Following are some suggestions to help you gain the concentration necessary for the practice of mindfulness.
In a situation like this, counting may help. The purpose of counting is simply to focus the mind on the breath. Once you mind is focused on the breath, give up counting. This is a device for gaining concentration. There are numerous ways of counting. Any counting should be done mentally. Do not make any sound when you count. Following are some of the ways of counting.
a) While breathing in count "one, one, one, one..." until the lungs are full of fresh air. While breathing out count "two, two, two, two..." until the lungs are empty of fresh air. Then while breathing in again count "three, three, three, three..." until the lungs are full again and while breathing out count again "four, four, four, four..." until the lungs are empty of fresh air. Count up to ten and repeat as many times as necessary to keep the mind focused on the breath.
b) The second method of counting is counting rapidly up to ten. While counting "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten" breathe in and again while counting "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten" breathe out. This means in one inhaling you should count up to ten and in one exhaling you should count up to ten. Repeat this way of counting as many times as necessary to focus the mind on the breath.
c) The third method of counting is to counting secession up to ten. At this time count "one, two, three, four, five" (only up to five) while inhaling and then count "one, two, three, four, five, six" (up to six) while exhaling. Again count "one, two, three, four fire, six seven" (only up to seven) while inhaling. Then count "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight" while exhaling. Count up to nine while inhaling and count up to ten while exhaling. Repeat this way of counting as many times as necessary to focus the mind on the breath.
d) The fourth method is to take a long breath. When the lungs are full, mentally count "one" and breath out completely until the lungs are empty of fresh air. Then count mentally "two". Take a long breath again and count "three" and breath completely out as before. When the lungs are empty of fresh air, count mentally "four". Count your breath in this manner up to ten. Then count backward from ten to one. Count again from one to ten and then ten to one.
e) The fifth method is to join inhaling and exhaling. When the lungs are empty of fresh air, count mentally "one". This time you should count both inhalation and exhalation as one. Again inhale, exhale, and mentally count "two". This way of counting should be done only up to five and repeated from five to one. Repeat this method until you breathing becomes refined and quiet.
Remember that you are not supposed to continue your counting all the time. As soon as your mind is locked at the nostrils-tip where the inhaling breath and exhaling breath touch and begin to feel that you breathing is so refined and quiet that you cannot notice inhalation and exhalation separately, you should give up counting. Counting is used only to train the mind to concentrate on one point.
After inhaling do not wait to notice the brief pause before exhaling but connect the inhaling and exhaling, so you can notice both inhaling and exhaling as one continuous breath.
After joining inhaling and exhaling, fix your mind on the point where you feel you inhaling and exhaling breath touching. Inhale and exhale as on single breath moving in and out touching or rubbing the rims of your nostrils.
4. Focus you mind like a carpenter
A carpenter draws a straight line on a board and that he wants to cut. Then he cuts the board with his handsaw along the straight line he drew. He does not look at the teeth of his saw as they move in and out of the board. Rather he focuses his entire attention on the line he drew so he can cut the board straight. Similarly keep your mind straight on the point where you feel the breath at the rims of your nostrils.
5. Make you mind like a gate-keeper
A gate-keeper does not take into account any detail of the people entering a house. All he does is notice people entering the house and leaving the house through the gate. Similarly, when you concentrate you should not take into account any detail of your experiences. Simply notice the feeling of your inhaling and exhaling breath as it goes in and out right at the rims of your nostrils.
As you continue your practice you mind and body becomes so light that you may feel as if you are floating in the air or on water. You may even feel that your body is springing up into the sky. When the grossness of your in-and-out breathing has ceased, subtle in-and-out breathing arises. This very subtle breath is your objective focus of the mind. This is the sign of concentration. This first appearance of a sign-object will be replaced by more and more subtle sign-object. This subtlety of the sign can be compared to the sound of a bell. When a bell is struck with a big iron rod, you hear a gross sound at first. As the sound faces away, the sound becomes very subtle. Similarly the in-and-out breath appears at first as a gross sign. As you keep paying bare attention to it, this sign becomes very subtle. But the consciousness remains totally focused on the rims of the nostrils. Other meditation objects become clearer and clearer, as the sign develops. But the breath becomes subtler and subtler as the sign develops. Because of this subtlety, you may not notice the presence of your breath. Don't get disappointed thinking that you lost your breath or that nothing is happening to your meditation practice. Don't worry. Be mindful and determined to bring your feeling of breath back to the rims of your nostrils. This is the time you should practice more vigorously, balancing your energy, faith, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.
Suppose there is a farmer who uses buffaloes for plowing his rice field. As he is tired in the middle of the day, he unfastens his buffaloes and takes a rest under the cool shade of a tree. When he wakes up, he does not find his animals. He does not worry, but simply walks to the water place where all the animals gather for drinking in the hot mid-day and he finds his buffaloes there. Without any problem he brings them back and ties them to the yoke again and starts plowing his field.
Similarly as you continue this exercise, your breath becomes so subtle and refined that you might not be able to notice the feeling of breath at all. When this happens, do not worry. It has not disappeared. It is still where it was before-right at the nostril-tips. Take a few quick breaths and you will notice the feeling of breathing again. Continue to pay bare attention to the feeling of the touch of breath at the rims of your nostrils.
As you keep your mind focused on the rims of your nostrils, you will be able to notice the sign of the development of meditation. You will feel the pleasant sensation of sign. Different meditators feel this differently. It will be like a star, or a peg made of heartwood, or a long string, or a wreath of flowers, or a puff of smoke, or a cob-web, or a film of cloud, or a lotus flower, or the disc of the moon or the disc of the sun.
Earlier in your practice you had inhaling and exhaling as objects of meditation. Now you have the sign as the third object of meditation. When you focus your mind on this third object, your mind reaches a stage of concentration sufficient for your practice of insight meditation. This sign is strongly present at the rims of the nostrils. Master it and gain full control of it so that whenever you want, it should be available. Unite the mind with this sign which is available in the present moment and let the mind flow with every succeeding moment. As you pay bare attention to it, you will see the sign itself is changing every moment. Keep your mind with the changing moments. Also notice that your mind can be concentrated only on the present moment. This unity of the mind with the present moment is called momentary concentration. As moments are incessantly passing away one after another, the mind keeps pace with them. Changing with them, appearing and disappearing with them without clinging to any of them. If we try to stop the mind at one moment, we end up in frustration because the mind cannot be held fast. It must keep up with what is happening in the new moment. As the present moment can be found any moment, every waking moment can be made a concentrated moment.
To unite the mind with the present moment, we must find something happening in that moment. However, you cannot focus your mind on every changing moment without a certain degree of concentration to keep pace with the moment. Once you gain this degree of concentration, you can use it for focusing your attention on anything you experience--the rising and falling of your abdomen, the rising and falling of the chest area, the rising and falling of any feeling, or the rising and falling of your breath or thoughts and so on.
To make any progress in insight meditation you need this kind of momentary concentration. That is all you need for the insight meditation practice because everything in your experience lives only for one moment. When you focus this concentrated state of mind on the changes taking place in your mind and body, you will notice that your breath is the physical part and the feeling of breath, consciousness of the feeling and the consciousness of the sign are the mental parts. As you notice them you can notice that they are changing all the time. You may have various types of sensations, other than the feeling of breathing, taking place in your body. Watch them all over your body. Don't try to create any feeling which is not naturally present in any part of your body. When thought arises notice it, too. All you should notice in all these occurrences is the impermanent, unsatisfactory and selfless nature of all your experiences whether mental or physical.
As your mindfulness develops, your resentment for the change, your dislike for the unpleasant experiences, your greet for the pleasant experiences and the notion of self hood will be replaced by the deeper insight of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness. This knowledge of reality in your experience helps you to foster a more calm, peaceful and mature attitude towards your life. You will see what you thought in the past to be permanent is changing with such an inconceivable rapidity that even your mind cannot keep up with these changes. Somehow you will be able to notice many of the changes. You will see the subtlety of impermanence and the subtlety of selflessness. This insight will show you the way to peace, happiness and give you the wisdom to handle your daily problems in life.
When the mind is united with the breath flowing all the time, we will naturally be able to focus the mind on the present moment. We can notice the feeling arising from contact of breath with the rim of our nostrils. As the earth element of the air that we breathe in and out touches the earth element of our nostrils, the mind feels the flow of air in and out. The warm feeling arises at the nostrils or any other part of the body from the contact of the heat element generated by the breathing process. The feeling of impermanence of breath arises when the earth element of flowing breath touches the nostrils. Although the water element is present in the breath, the mind cannot feel it.
Also we feel the expansion and contraction of our lungs, abdomen and low abdomen, as the fresh air is pumped in and out of the lungs. The expansion and contraction of the abdomen, lower abdomen and chest are parts of the universal rhythm. Everything in the universe has the same rhythm of expansion and contraction just like our breath and body. All of them are rising and falling. However, our primary concern is the rising and falling phenomena of the breath and minute parts of our minds and bodies.
Along with the inhaling breath, we experience a small degree of calmness. This little degree of tension-free calmness turns into tension if we don't breathe out in a few moments. As we breathe out this tension is released. After breathing out, we experience discomfort if we wait too long before having fresh brought in again. This means that every time our lings are full we must breathe out and every time our lungs are empty we must breathe in. As we breathe in, we experience a small degree of calmness, and as we breathe out, we experience a small degree of calmness. We desire calmness and relief of tension and do not like the tension and feeling resulting from the lack of breath. We wish that the calmness would stay longer and the tension disappear more quickly that it normally does. But neither will the tension go away as fast as we wish not the calmness stay as long as we wish. And again we get agitated or irritated, for we desire the calmness to return and stay longer and the tension to go away quickly and not to return again. Here we see how even a small degree of desire for permanency in an impermanent situation causes pain or unhappiness. Since there is no self-entity to control this situation, we will become more disappointed.
However, if we watch our breathing without desiring calmness and without resenting tension arising from the breathing in and out, but experience only the impermanence, the unsatisfactoriness and selflessness of our breath, our mind becomes peaceful and calm.
Also, the mind does not stay all the time with the feeling of breath. It goes to sounds, memories, emotions, perceptions, consciousness and mental formations as well. When we experience these states, we should forget about the feeling of breath and immediately focus our attention on these states--one at a time, not all of them at one time. As they fade away, we let our mind return to the breath which is the home base the mind can return to from quick or long journey to various states of mind and body. We must remember that all these mental journeys are made within the mind itself.
Every time the mind returns to the breath, it comes back with a deeper insight into impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness. The mind becomes more insightful from the impartial and unbiased watching of these occurrences. The mind gains insight into the fact that this body, these feelings, various states of consciousness and numerous mental formations are to be used only for the purpose of gaining deeper insight into the reality of this mind/body complex.
What To Do With Your Body
The practice of meditation has been going on for several thousand years. That is quite a bit of time for experimentation, and the procedure has been very, very thoroughly refined. Buddhist practice has always recognized that the mind and body are tightly linked and that each influences the other. Thus there are certain recommended physical practices which will greatly assist you to master your skill. And these practices should be followed. Keep in mind, however, that these postures are practice aids. Don't confuse the two. Meditation does not mean sitting in the lotus position. It is a mental skill. It can be practiced anywhere you wish. But these postures will help you learn this skill and they speed your progress and development. So use them.
The purpose of the various postures is threefold. First, they provide a stable feeling in the body. This allows you to remove your attention from such issues as balance and muscular fatigue, so that you can then center your concentration upon the formal object of meditation. Second, they promote physical immobility which is then reflected by an immobility of mind. This creates a deeply settled and tranquil concentration. Third, they give you the ability to sit for a long period of time without yielding to the meditator's three main enemies--pain, muscular tension and falling asleep. The most essential thing is to sit with your back straight. The spine should be erect with the spinal vertebrae held like a stack of coins, one on top of the other. Your head should be held in line with the rest of the spine. All of this is done in a relaxed manner. No Stiffness. You are not a wooden soldier, and there is no drill sergeant. There should be no muscular tension involved in keeping the back straight. Sit light and easy. The spine should be like a firm young tree growing out of soft ground. The rest of the body just hangs from it in a loose, relaxed manner. This is going to require a bit of experimentation on your part. We generally sit in tight, guarded postures when we are walking or talking and in sprawling postures when we are relaxing. Neither of those will do. But they are cultural habits and they can be re-learned.
Your objective is to achieve a posture in which you can sit for the entire session without moving at all. In the beginning, you will probably feel a bit odd to sit with the straight back. But you will get used to it. It takes practice, and an erect posture is very important. This is what is known in physiology as a position of arousal, and with it goes mental alertness. If you slouch, you are inviting drowsiness. What you sit on is equally important. You are going to need a chair or a cushion, depending on the posture you choose, and the firmness of the seat must be chosen with some care. Too soft a seat can put you right to sleep. Too hard can promote pain.
The clothes you wear for meditation should be loose and soft. If they restrict blood flow or put pressure on nerves, the result will be pain and/or that tingling numbness which we normally refer to as our 'legs going to sleep'. If you are wearing a belt, loosen it. Don't wear tight pants or pants made of thick material. Long skirts are a good choice for women. Loose pants made of thin or elastic material are fine for anybody. Soft, flowing robes are the traditional garb in Asia and they come in an enormous variety of styles such as sarongs and kimonos. Take your shoes off and if your stockings are thick and binding, take them off, too.
When you are sitting on the floor in the traditional Asian manner, you need a cushion to elevate your spine. Choose one that is relatively firm and at least three inches thick when compressed. Sit close to the front edge of the cushion and let your crossed legs rest on the floor in front of you. If the floor is carpeted, that may be enough to protect your shins and ankles from pressure. If it is not, you will probably need some sort of padding for your legs. A folded blanket will do nicely. Don't sit all the way back on the cushion. This position causes its front edge to press into the underside of your thigh, causing nerves to pinch. The result will be leg pain.
There are a number of ways you can fold your legs. We will list four in ascending order of preference.
1. American indian style. Your right foot is tucked under the left knee and left foot is tucked under your right knee.
2. Burmese style. Both of your legs lie flat on the floor from knee to foot. They are parallel with each other and one in front of the other.
3. Half lotus. Both knees touch the floor. One leg and foot lie flat along the calf of the other leg.
4. Full lotus. Both knees touch the floor, and your legs are crossed at the calf. Your left foot rests on the right thigh, and your right foot rests on the left thigh. Both soles turn upward.
In these postures, your hands are cupped one on the other, and they rest on your lap with the palms turned upward. The hands lie just below the navel with the bend of each wrist pressed against the thigh. This arm position provides firm bracing for the upper body. Don't tighten your neck muscles. Relax your arms. Your diaphragm is held relaxed, expanded to maximum fullness. Don't let tension build up in the stomach area. Your chin is up. Your eyes can be open or closed. If you keep them open, fix them on the tip of your nose or in the middle distance straight in front. You are not looking at anything. You are just putting your eyes in some arbitrary direction where there is nothing in particular to see, so that you can forget about vision. Don't strain. Don't stiffen and don't be rigid. Relax; let the body be natural and supple. Let it hang from the erect spine like a rag doll.
Half and full lotus positions are the traditional meditation postures in asia. And the full lotus is considered the best. It is the most solid by far. Once you are locked into this position, you can be completely immovable for a very long period. Since it requires a considerable flexibility in the legs, not everybody can do it. Besides, the main criterion by which you choose a posture for yourself is not what others say about it. It is your own comfort. Choose a position which allows you to sit the longest without pain, without moving. Experiment with different postures. The tendons will loosen with practice. And then you can work gradually towards the full lotus.
Using A Chair
Sitting on the floor may not be feasible for you because of pain or some other reason. No problem. You can always use a chair instead. Pick one that has a level seat, a straight back and no arms. It is best to sit in such a way that your back does not lean against the back of the chair. The front of the seat should not dig into the underside of your thighs. Place your legs side by side,feet flat on the floor. As with the traditional postures, place both hands on your lap, cupped one upon the other. Don't tighten your neck or shoulder muscles, and relax your arms. Your eyes can be open or closed.
In all the above postures, remember your objectives. You want to achieve a state of complete physical stillness, yet you don't want to fall asleep. Recall the analogy of the muddy water. You want to promote a totally settled state of the body which will engender a corresponding mental settling. There must also be a state of physical alertness which can induce the kind of mental clarity you seek. So experiment. Your body is a tool for creating desired mental states. Use it judiciously.Henepola Gunaratana | <urn:uuid:611aa580-f313-4f57-ab21-d01e93cfbfeb> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://zentransformation.blogspot.com/2008/ | 2017-08-23T13:36:10Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886120573.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20170823132736-20170823152736-00660.warc.gz | en | 0.962908 | 37,286 |
Monday, September 29, 2008
- FREE RIDE ON GAFFES: While the media and the left (sorry for repeating myself) are trying to spin the idea that Sarah Palin is an idiot, cloaked behind GOP operatives and unable to think for herself. Meanwhile, Joe Biden comes up with gems like this and is unscathed:
"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, ‘look, here’s what happened.’"
Of course, TV didn't exist in 1929, and FDR wasn't president at the time. But Katie Couric didn't play a "gotcha" game and call him on it.
- PALIN IS THE ENEMY: Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings warned an audience of Jewish Democrats Wednesday of a new political Holocaust at the hands of Sarah Palin, because "anybody toting guns and stripping moose don't care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. ... If Sarah Palin isn't enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention."
At the same event, Tennessee congressman Steve Cohen, recently criticized by the Right (though naturally not the Left) for comparing the Obamessiah to Jesus and Palin to Pontius Pilate, goes further: "A lot of what Jesus talks about is wonderful," Cohen said. "Talks about helping people and lifting them up and caring about people who are sick and all those things. He's a great Democrat."
Remember, when Republicans seek to be on God's side, they're called religious wackjobs. When Dems do it, it's cool because they're just pandering and they don't really mean it.
- GREEN REVOLUTION?: Algore has offiically crossed over into the world of environmental terrorists who firebomb new homes and businesses, urging young people on Wednesday to engage in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants. As with Hastings above, you can guess that his comments were met with great applause.
- STILL WAITING FOR THE MEDIA'S OUTRAGE: A Democrat group led by DNC chairman Howard Dean's brother has a new ad out that attacks McCain .. for having had cancer. The ad opens with a photo of McCain with an ominous Band-Aid on his face and the wording: "John McCain is 72 years old and had cancer 4 times."
- WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA?:
Katie Couric says Palin shouldn't use terms like "Great Depression," even though she was only replying to Couric's question in which the CBS anchor brought it up first.
Luke Russert, Tim's son, says smarter college students vote Obama.
Couric begins a report on Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens by pointing out he's a Republican, but the night before she never got around to mentioning that ethically challenged Congressman Charles Rangel of New York is a Democrat.
- GOON SQUAD: We've already seen examples of how the Obama campaign is trying to intimidate its critics into silence. Now we get word out of Missouri that sheriffs and prosecutors have a "truth squad" to threaten critics of Obama, as KMOV reports: "They will be reminding voters that Barack Obama is a Christian who wants to cut taxes for anyone making less than $250,000 a year. They also say they plan to respond immediately to any ads and statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws." You think if law enforcement in Tennessee supporting McCain had threatened prosecutions of Obama supporters that it might be a tad controversial? Emperor Palpatine would be so proud.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
From what I did see, the movie's funny stuff. There are gutbusters throughout, and the way it skewers Hollywood and war movies never failed to deliver. Robert Downey Jr. deserves an Oscar nomination for his role as a "serious" Aussie actor who dives so deep into his roles that he has his skin colored to play an African-American Army grunt. Make sure you pay attention after the real trailers for the fake ones at the start of "Tropic Thunder" featuring the actors playing over-the-top actors in ridiculous flicks, especially the one featuring a cameo from the "winner of the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss."
* Game 1: Wed., Oct. 1 @ Anaheim, 9pm central time, TBS
* Game 2: Fri., Oct. 3 @ Anaheim, 8:37 pm, TBS
* Game 3: Sun, Oct. 5 @ Boston, TBS
* Game 4: Mon., Oct. 6 @ Boston, TBS (if necessary)
* Game 5: Wed., Oct. 8 @ Anaheim, TBS (if necessary)
Interesting factoids of the day:
Dustin Pedroia (20), Coco Crisp (20) and Jacoby Ellsbury (49) give the Red Sox three players with 20 or more steals for the first time since 1914.
When Boston beat Cliff Lee the other night to solidify a playoff spot, the Red Sox became the first team to clinch a playoff spot by beating a 20-game winner since Oakland beat Wilber Wood to win the AL West in 1973, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
I have simple criteria for this top five, that while watching I was overjoyed, entertained and said, "Holy cow, that rocked!"
1. "The Fifth Element" - On the cruise "ship," the blue opera singer is belting out a rocking hip-hoppy ballad as Milla Jovovich is kicking serious shape-shifting alien tail.
2. "The Untouchables" - The obvious scene would be on the stairs as Andy Garcia shoots the goon in the face while holding the baby carriage. I'm going with the scene on the border when Sean Connery freaks out the accountant by shooting the already dead goon in the head.
3. "Tombstone" - Any scene with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday will do, but one in particular. Kilmer makes fast-shootin' gunslinger Johnny look like a doofus by spinning a tea cup like a gun to diffuse a tense situation in the casino. He's your Huckleberry, indeed.
4. "The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy," "The Bourne Ultimatum" - In each movie there's a fight scene of hand-to-hand combat between Bourne and another assassin. He uses whatever is on hand to win, and it's brutal and awesome.
5. "Lord of the Rings" - Legolas (Orlando Bloom) has one per movie: Mounting the horse from the front in battle, sliding down the shield while firing bows into orcs, and climbing a charging olyphant, killing it and sliding down the trunk as it collapses dead.
There are so many more cool scenes in movies. Five just won't suffice. Here are some more and feel free to tell me I'm an idiot and add your own:
"Die Hard" - As the L.A. cop gets ready to leave, a body lands on his car and the terrorists open fire as Willis uses one of his many great one-liners in the movie, "Welcome to the party, pal!"
"The Quiet Man" - A boxing "match" lands winds through the Irish countryside between The Duke and Victor McLagen.
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - Newman and Redford play nice with the train representative as they blow it up for the safe's cash.
"Top Gun" - Woo hoo! Jester's dead!
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" - Indy takes on an entire platoon of Nazis in a truck, and hilariously easily takes out a motorcycle to his side.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
We bid adieu to comedian Jeffrey Ross, which is unexceptional other than his partner Edyta will have to wear clothes with more than two inches of fabric on Monday nights for once.
Lance was in a boy band and he's gay, so really, is it any surprise that he can boogy as well as those who preceded him: Drew Lachey and Joey Fatone?
Toni is an R&B artist, who no doubt shaked her moneymaker on more than one occasion on stage.
Brooke is a surprise. She looks like one of the pro dancers, and pulled off both a ballroom and Latin dance with ease.
Cody is a young whippersnapper with all kinds of energy and a ginormous crush on partner Julianne, so he'll have to work off those excess hormones.
Maurice is fine, and I like his partner Cheryl, but right now I'm in Don't Care Land.
Kim is famous for having a big butt and a sex tape, and how she got a reality show even on cable is a mystery. She's dead behind the eyes, a vapid personality, and she shook her stuff less than Cloris Leachman.
Speaking of, Cloris, granted, is 82 years old, but the producers did put her on so we have to be honest and say that she shouldn't last. Very entertaining, though I may have to burn out my retinas if she does one more booty-slapping routine.
Misty is a gold medal winner and I adore her for that, but she moves like Monica Seles did last season, and that's not a good thing. Very stiff, has to think about moving her hips in any fashion.
Rocco can cook, but on the stage he just simmers. Funny guy, however, so let's hope he makes it a few more weeks.
Susan Lucci is just so cute! Though the judges were right Monday, she looked awfully tiny and frail. She'll play the elegant leading lady role a la Jane Seymour for a while.
Warren Sapp reminds me of what I like to think I'll look like on the show, a big guy who can still move pretty well.
Ted has potential like The Guttenberg did last year, but you saw how little that mattered when he exited quickly. If we're going to have someone from "Married: With Children," I'd rather see any of the Bundys or even Jefferson or Marcy first.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Sweet: The Red Sox clinched a playoff berth tonight with a win over Cleveland and their Cy Young favorite, Cliff Lee.
Sweeter: They eliminated the dang Yanks from contention in the process, the first time since 1993 that the Evil Empire has missed the postseason (to put into perspective, that's when I graduated high school).
Not sweet: The Orioles were swept by Tampa Bay in a doubleheader, so now Boston is three games back for the AL East title and pretty much has to settle for the wild card now.
Then again, we won the Series from the wild card in 2004, so why worry? Go Sox!
UPDATE - Congratulations to Johnny Pesky, who's No. 6 will be retired by the Sox this weekend! Pesky (known nationally mostly for the right field fair pole named for him) is the sixth Sox to earn the honor, joining Ted Williams (No. 9), Bobby Doerr (1), Carl Yastrzemski (8), Carlton Fisk (27), and Joe Cronin (4).
UPDATE 4:05 p.m. - Poor wittle put upon Hanky Steinbrenner just can't see how his precious Yanks didn't make the playoffs, and it certainly isn't his fault:
"The biggest problem is the divisional setup in major league baseball. I didn't like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now," Steinbrenner wrote. "Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn't fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we're not. This is by no means a knock on Torre - let me make that clear-but look at the division they're in. If L.A. were in the AL East, it wouldn't be in the playoff discussion. The AL East is never weak."Aw, what a tragedy that has befallen the dang Yanks. They just couldn't compete against the Rays and Sox in their own division this season, despite spending $170 million more than Tampa. It's obviously Major League Baseball's fault! In fact, I think the dang Yanks should be given a spot in the National League playoffs to make up for his hardships.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
As you can read at Instapundit, things are pretty bad in the Galveston-Houston area right now. Lots of damage, little power. And yet, the media has already forgotten about it. Why? Here's a guess that it has to do with a people who are not clamoring for federal bailouts and solid GOP-led state leadership dealing with the problem.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
1. "Heroes" - It's the best show on the boob tube, and I'm looking forward to seeing the new villains.
2. "House" - He'll be the same, the cases will be the same, I'll like it the same.
3. "The Amazing Race" - People I largely dislike have troubles around the world.
4. "How I Met Your Mother" - Barney and Robin?
5. "CSI: Miami" - Oh no! Cane was shot! Will he live?! Duh.
Honorable Mentions: "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Biggest Loser."
Note: "Lost" and "24" won't be back until January.
Top 5 new shows I'm anticipating:
1. "90210" - Val and I tried the pilot just for nostalgia's sake, then realized this new version is cover-your-eyes awful.
2. "Kath and Kim" - It will probably end up being unwatched by me and Val like the acclaimed "My Name is Earl" and "The Office," but the previews have made me chuckle.
3. "The Mentalist" - I doubt I'll see it, since I've seen enough crime dramas, but this one has potential for sticking around a while.
4. "Opportunity Knocks" - We'll try any game show once. And I don't want to admit that I've stopped and watched "Hole in the Wall" many times already.
5. "Crusoe" - Will it be more "Tarzan" or "Swiss Family Robinson?" When he ignites coconut grenades, we'll know.
5 new shows I don't care to see at all:
1. "Fringe" - I'm done with "The X-Files," and I don't seek any more "Lost" mysteries.
2. "My Own Worst Enemy" - It will be on hiatus for sweeps, come back for a few weeks in the winter, then go away quietly.
3. "Knight Rider" - Loved the original, but the new one has no charm.
4. "Worst Week" - Meet the Parents was embarrassing and humiliating, so why do I want to watch it weekly?
5. (tie) "Gary Unmarried" and "Do Not Disturb" - Jay Mohr and Jerry O'Connell, respectively, try once again at TV comedies, and once again, will get terrible writing and few laughs.
"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face."Let me know how that works for you.
Which is more unsurprising, that hackers broke into Sarah Palin's email account, or that the Associated Press didn't give copies of the leaked emails to the Secret Service?
Just in case you think Obama is having to fight the meanie Repubs, an analysis of their ads thus far shows that 77% of the Obama campaigns' ads were deemed "negative," compared to 56% for McCain.
What kind of negative ads are being aired by the Obamaniacs? You know, the normal, like a new Spanish-language TV ad that seeks to paint Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as anti-immigrant, including two quotes taken wildly out of context by Rush Limbaugh: “…stupid and unskilled Mexicans” and "You shut your mouth or you get out!”
UPDATE 10:30 p.m. - Here's what Palin's Hacker has to say for himself:
I read though the emails… ALL OF THEM… before I posted, and what I concluded was anticlimactic, there was nothing there, nothing incriminating, nothing that would derail her campaign as I had hoped, all I saw was personal stuff, some clerical stuff from when she was governor…. And pictures of her familyIf he had found something, anything worth talking about, you can bet that the media would be saying "privacy schmivacy" and air it 24-7.
UPDATE 10:44 p.m. - Joe Biden calls high taxes "patriotic". He must feel that paying taxes is like giving to charity, because it turns out he only gives an average of less than $400 a year.
This weekend the Sox are in Toronto for three games, then it's back to Fenway for four against Cleveland and the final three against the dang Yanks. The Rays are home against the Twins for four games, at Baltimore for four (including a doubleheader) and then finish at Detroit with four games.
The chances they'll choke the lead away? Right now I'm saying slim, although I like that they don't have any more off days, and have that doubleheader in Baltimore, so they may be thin on pitching.
I just hope Boston isn't relegated to the wild card, because that means playing Anaheim, and right now no one wants that! (Or didn't my guys notice their 1-8 record against the Halos this year?)
Meanwhile, Curt Schilling may be hurt, but his mouth is working fine, and boy did he come out slamming against Manny, saying the now-Dodger's "level of disrespect to teammates and people was unfathomable.":
"The guy got to dress in a locker away from the team for seven years," said Schilling, talking via telephone with Glenn Ordway and former Sox players Lou Merloni and Brian Daubach. "And then [when] he's on this crusade to get out of here, all of a sudden he's in the locker room every day, voicing his displeasure without even having to play the game that night."
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
1. Okra - Especially at Old Timer's (Where we had our rehearsal dinner in Millington). Also acceptable at Dixie Cafe and Cracker Barrel.
2. Baked Potato - Outback Steakhouse and Cracker Barrel are usually tops, because they twice-cook and season them to perfection.
3. Corn on the cob - Chili's covers theirs in pepper, and it's awesome.
4. Mashed Potatoes - I love my potatoes, have you noticed? TGI Friday's has some good ones, stuffed with cheese.
5. Sautéed mushrooms - The best is when Val orders the Alice Springs Chicken at Outback, with her mushrooms on the side just for me. Val, meanwhile, is wondering where the heck Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole is on this list.
1. Bloomin' Onion, Outback Steakhouse - We make special trips Down Under just to start the meal with this. The steaks are great, but never as enjoyable as stuffing these greasy strips in my mouth.
2. Calamari, Olive Garden - I get these all to myself. Val won't try it, so I get to enjoy dipping all these chewy fried suckers in their tomato sauce. Val likes the toasted ravioli in the meantime.
3. Spinach and artichoke dip, O'Charley's
4. Boneless Buffalo Wings, Chili's
5. Queso Dip and Chips, Applebee's
(Actually, all three of the last three have all of these, so they're interchangeable.)
Bread (Free with the meal)
1. Breadsticks, Olive Garden - Love dipping them in the marinara sauce of the meal. When the waiter asks if we want more, they usually get a "yeah, duh, moron" look back.
2. Yeast rolls, O'Charley's - So hot, so soft, they flake down your food pipe with ease.
3. Corn Muffins, Cracker Barrel - Cornbread is mandatory here for this Southern boy.
4. Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Red Lobster - They have cheese! Cheese!
5. Honey Wheat Bushman Bread, Outback Steakhouse - Even better when the butter is soft and you can dip the hot bread straight in there.
And that is why I have to lose weight.
- Based on their feelings about Sarah Palin, it appears that the loony libs and their feminists are ready to get back to the good old days of the 50s and put women back in kitchens making dinner and out of that man's world of the workforce! As a spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women, noting Palin’s opposition to abortion and support of other parts of the social conservative agenda, told Politico, “She's more a conservative man than she is a woman on women's issues. Very disappointing." Because all women should be liberals, pro-choice and anti-gun, see, lest they get kicked out of the club.
- From a reader to The Corner on National Review Online: "When Obama says he'll "restore America's reputation" what it really means is that people who hate America will be delighted by his election. Why so many Americans don't see it that way astounds me."
[Side note: Actually, it's only the spoiled countries where this is prevalent. This is the opening paragraph of an article by Andrew Natsios, former administrator of USAID: "When President Bush traveled to sub-Sahara Africa in February he was greeted by large and tumultuous crowds of admirers — which mystified many of his critics, who believe that the animosity toward his administration abroad is universal. But polling data from the Pew Foundation shows something different: Approval ratings for the United States exceed 80 percent in many African countries, some with large Muslim populations. In Darfur, many families name their newborn sons George Bush."]
Another reader, on the difference between the candidates: “McCain’s message was that the government needs fixing, while Obama’s message was that the country needs fixing? Quite a difference there.”
- "Democrat Barack Obama says he would delay rescinding President Bush's tax cuts on wealthy Americans if he becomes the next president and the economy is in a recession, suggesting such an increase would further hurt the economy," the Associated Press reports. So he's waiting for the economy to recover before hurting the economy again?
- Obama says that his experience for being president is that he's running for president: "My understanding is, is that Gov. Sarah Palin's town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We have got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So, I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years."
- From the If McCain or Palin Had Said It beat:
Democrat VP pick Joe Biden asks a politician in a wheelchair to "stand up" and be recognized.
A new Obama ad mocks McCain as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate. Of course, as reported in the Boston Globe in 2000: "McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes."
During the Dem convention, Obama appeared on a monitor and told them he was with a family in St. Louis, and then when corrected by his daughter said he was actually in Kansas City.
Tim Kaine, governor of Virginia, appears to believe that his state borders Joe Biden's home state of Delaware. Mr. Geography Wiz is incorrect. Not that Obama would notice, since he thinks there are 57 states. (Understandable, since he thinks he'll get electoral votes from NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, Washington Post, BET and Europe.
Obama introduces Biden as "the next president."
- In case you're wondering why the media isn't as keen on debunking myths about Sarah Palin as much as it has done for Obama, it's because the media is spreading them.
- Liberal chicks are harsh: "South Carolina Democratic chairwoman Carol Fowler sharply attacked Sarah Palin [yesterday], saying John McCain had chosen a running mate 'whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn't had an abortion,' " Politico reports. So the "right to choose" apparently only goes one way.
- Obama needs to control his thugs trying to shut down TV and radio stations who dare to air dissenting voices.
- Tennessee Democrat congressman Steve Cohen (from here in the Memphis area) confirms that indeed, the Obamessiah is Jesus! Cohen then compares Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate. You can imagine how well that's going over.
- Apparently ABC anchor Charles Gibson and his media cronies believe that Sarah Palin seeking to do God's will is akin to asking God to do her will.
Or was Charlie just a part of something else bigger, according to the New York Times: "Mr. Obama and his campaign have seemed flummoxed in trying to figure out how to deal with [Sarah Palin]. His aides said they were looking to the news media to debunk the image of her as a blue-collar reformer."
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I thought about taking a thick rubber band to the hospital with me to ask the doc to wrap it around my stomach while removing my gallbladder. Two birds with one stone and all that.
If they didn't work out, then the surgery itself and the recovery seems to have done the trick. I weighed about 365-370 pounds before the surgery, 362 on Friday morning, and today only 353 at home, so even though I don't recommend this method, it works!
It's a lot easier to get around today, too. I don't need the walker anymore for balance, and though I need Val's help to shower since I can't bend below my waist much, in another week I think I'll be ready to mow the lawn. If I wanted to, I mean. We are enjoying spending time outside on the back patio where afternoon temps are in the 70s and nights in the 50s. I loves me some autumn!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Many, many thanks to all who called me, tried to call me (my cell phone was off since it wasn't charged because I'm an idiot), called the room and talked to Val or Dad, took Val to lunch to get her out of the hospital for a little bit, came by to say hi, offer advice on experience, and all who emailed that I'm catching up on this weekend.
So the surgery put me in the hospital two days longer than expected. Oops. Guess my gallbladder was so goshawful bad that the doc had to do the "major" intensive surgery cut, which left a foot-long strip of staples in my upper belly, plus by my bellybutton where he put the camera at first, plus a couple of other spots to make it look like he made a mistake and kept poking until the gallbladder squirted.
Thanks to Scott for guest blogging and keeping y'all informed. I know he has other things on his mind. I would have expected Ike, being that he's in Waco, but apparently the fear of the world ending is even stronger.
Most thanks go to my darling wife. Val's been a fabulexcellent nurse, taking care of me at every step. I know she and Dad were nervous in the waiting room for the hour and a half the surgery took, and then they had to wait another five hours until I could move from the recovery area surrounded by other surgical patients into my own room.
Val even slept pretty well on the couch in my room. It pulled apart to a good six feet, but the fact that she was cooped all day with me, then me snoring all night, in a freezing hospital room deserves a medal. She fed me when it was difficult to sit up, emptied my pee bucket, and never complained about the crap I watch on television. (Like "World's Most Amazing Videos," though secretly I think she gets into it when the crooks wreck or get beat up by ticked off cops.) Thursday night we did what people will do when held hostage with basic cable in a hospital and nothing is on at 9 o'clock, we tuned in The In-Laws on AMC. And like people with Stockholm Syndrome, we didn't dislike it.
Wednesday morning we got to the hospital at 7:30 a.m., checked in and they took me straight to my own pre-op room where I got nekkid and put on the gown that would be my only wardrobe for three days. I knew I was in good hands when my nurse looked like Lynda Carter as principal of Sky High, even though I said she looked like Lindsay Wagner, which probably just confused her since she later talked about being called "Wonder Woman" by a child patient, and I was like, "exactly!" Anyway, another bonus was during the pre-surgery area where I met with all the staff who would be watching the doc cut me open, my anesthesiologist was named Michelle Pfeiffer. Or at least her last name was pronounced "Fifer." Okay, so she was short and African-American, but close enough.
The five-hour wait in the recovery area is mostly a blur. I was in and out of consciousness, but really thirsty. My nurse could only provide ice chips, which was fine, but never again. NEVER. AGAIN. Need agua. Got me? H2O. Water.
After I'd been moved to my own room, I stayed in bed and tried to keep count of the hospital staff coming and going, poking and prodding and asking to "rate" my pain on a scale of 1-10 (10 being, "Stop putting more holes in me.") I was in and out of the 14 inning Red Sox-Rays game on ESPN, which the Sox lost, 4-1. Probably better that I was unconscious for the most part.
Thursday wasn't much more active, other than a couple of physical therapists getting me up for the first time to walk down the hall and back. It was like a surreal comedy, these two little women, one Asian wearing braces, and an older white woman with a lisp, talking over one another and yet in unison in quick fashion, giggly and upbeat. If it was a horror movie you'd never see when they pulled out the branch cutters. Friday's PT was a young Russian woman with an awesome accent, and we did a couple of laps around the floor while comparing gallbladder surgeries. I won, being that I didn't do that wussy "easy" surgery everyone else did.
After my walk Thursday we decided to sit me in a reclining chair next to the bed instead of laying there all day wallowing in my uncomfortableness. Actually, the chair was preferable, and I stayed there from 11 a.m. until bedtime after 11 p.m. Friday I did the same, hopping in the chair by mid-morning while Val took the bed next to me to watch TV together, do the crossword puzzles and read (courtesy the hospital, "So Your Husband's Doing Gross Stuff Like Drooling That You Have To Clean").
For the most part, the staff of Methodist Germantown is very good, with only a couple of exceptions. But eight of ten nurses were very attentive, responded quickly and answered every question Val had. Awkwardly and slightly disconcertingly, for lunch Thursday they brought me a "soft" meal, and then an hour later a dietitian came in and said that wasn't supposed to happen. So they came in again for dinner and again it wasn't a liquid diet. Unfortunately instead of scarfing down what was brought, we told the nurse and I was back to broth and pudding.
A couple of other miscommunications included not hooking up the oxygen even though I had the tubes in my nose all night Wednesday, and they had these cool leg massagers to keep my blood flowing all night, but they forgot to hook it up Thursday night. So long as the TV worked, I wasn't complaining.
Friday morning my doc came by to check on everything, remove the bandages and look at my staples. He declared everything to be fine, and said we could be gone by 3 p.m. Val got her hopes up. I knew it wouldn't be as soon as she thought. When the hospital's Internist finally showed up at 5:30, we finally did finish up the paperwork and skedaddle. Dad's rental car was bigger than Val's car, so he carted me home while Val tried to find a gas station where consumers hadn't panicked and started lining up to top off their 3/4-full tanks because of Ike. (People are strange.) Hers actually was on empty, but since it had been parked at the hospital for two days we didn't foresee the craze.
Friday night I slept well in our own bed, and sitting on the couch with a remote that works better than the one in the hospital are the little luxuries I enjoy. That, plus not being attached to ten electrodes and an IV.
*****WARNING: TOO MUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION HERE *******
We were so happy that Saturday morning I made a poopie! Doc told me after surgery that there would be three to five days of constipation, so it was nice to get it out of the way, and on its own since it hurts too much to push. Hey, I said this was too much information!
In the hospital much of my worry was about having to go No. 1. Day one I could only stay in bed and use my trusty pee bucket, so even shuffling to the bathroom with Val on my arm was welcome. I think two years of marriage is enough time for the newlywed glitter to wear off so we can share these experiences together.
Finally taking a shower on Friday felt really good, though it's not easy. Strangely, with a lot of assistance from Val, who, again, doesn't complain as soap gets in her eyes, it's not as sexy as I would have hoped.
*** TMI WARNING OVER *****
Now home, I'm a little better every day. I can pull myself off the couch, roll off the bed, even slept on my side for a few hours this morning to relieve my back pain from laying on it for four days straight. If something falls, well, screw it because I'm not picking it up. Not that Val couldn't insert a paintbrush in my hand and guide me around the chair rail to fix the spots in the kitchen that need touching up.
My greatest fear isn't pneumonia or infection or anything silly like that. It's coughing. Granddad and Nana both advised me to cover my stomach tight with a pillow to stifle some of the trauma, but there's no way to prevent it. It sucks. So does sneezing. I'm even avoiding comedies, because laughing ain't so funny sometimes, either. Which is why we watched "Saturday Night live" last night. No worries there. (See below.)
Val heads back to work Monday, leaving me anchored to the couch for the six or seven hours she's gone and with the remote glued to my hand. My mom-in-law brought over tons of food yesterday, so I won't have to scrounge for meals, and my dad-in-law brought over Val's grandfather's walker to help me scoot around. Sure, in another few weeks I'll be begging to go outside and dig holes in the garden, but not now. There be NFL football on, so here I come again, fluffy brown couch!
(Oh, and is it too much to hope that the surgical staff accidentally left a sponge or towel inside me? Not that it would hurt me, just enough that if they had to cut me open again to remove it, I could sue them enough so they'd, say, pay off the mortgage and student loans, like in Sneakers?)
By the time Weekend Update came on, I knew to have the mute button ready, because almost every joke was about Sarah Palin and/or John McCain. And it was sad. Yes, she's new to the national scene, and yes, there's plenty of satire ready to dig up, but there was about Obama last year, too, and they wouldn't touch him.
All Val and I kept saying to one another was, "They've been saving up all summer for this?"
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Jeff must be recovering well from his procedure (doesn't that sound better than surgery?) today. He asked Val to call me (by the way, this is Scott, Jeff's brother) to write an update to tell you that he's doing better. Everybodygetthat? Good.
In other news, The Large Hadron Collider passed its first test today, which may or may not be good news. While some scientific experiments are unsuccessful, they usually pose little or no harm to the rest of us. If the Large Hadron Collider is successful, then we could learn loads (loads? When did I start speaking like an English gentleman?) of information about the origins of the universe. The purpose of the collider is to recreate the moment immediately following the Big Bang by colliding atom particles at the speed of light. Sounds impressive, right?
But the downside is that if the experiment goes bad, there's always the chance that the exploding particles create a black hole and suck the earth into nonexistence. Fortunately for us, someone has created a web site for the purpose of informing us if such an event should pass.
The moral of this story? Maybe Jeff didn't need to go through the exercise of having his gall bladder removed. Someone has already had the gall to experiment with removing all of our organs in the very near future.
By the way, I informed my class that if this scientific experiment does indeed suck our planet into a black hole, then the rest of the semester is canceled. They were a bit too enthusiastic about my announcement!
No? That's not how it works? Will they at least let me watch the Red Sox-Rays game at 6 p.m. on ESPN? Someone call management, tell them "Little Jeffy" is watching the game from his hospital bed and all he wants is to see Josh Beckett throw a no-hitter, see if we can get an inspirational story on Outside The Lines or some overly dramatic tearjerker show.
Speaking of the Sox, tonight me and Val and Dad spent the entire game at Buffalo Wild Wings, eating too much bad food, drinking gallons of iced tea, playing trivia and oh yeah, watching the Sox come back to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth only to watch Papelbon blow it in the top of the ninth. Alas, we can't take the AL East lead this week, but soon.
Today I spent my last day strong and healthy for a while by mowing the lawn and painting the kitchen. Neither went well. I only found two golf balls despite the lawn being roughly high enough to hide Sneezy, and since it rained this morning the grass in the backyard was wet, heavy and tall, and the mower kept stopping on me.
In the kitchen, the red looks great so long as you don't look closely. Red seems to bring out every imperfection, and in a 25-year-old house there are plenty. Plus, when I was taking up the tape I became more and more apoplectically horrified as some of the paint came off with it, leaving little strips of yellow underneath. I primed those strips and touched up with red paint tonight, but it will never look quite right and that will have to do for three weeks or so.
But now's not the time to worry about that, not when I have days of sitting on the couch moaning and sleeping to look forward to. Wish me luck!
Monday, September 08, 2008
My focus has been on figuring out what to do, what to watch and what to eat in the few days after the surgery. I’ve lined up movies to see on cable, magazines and books to read, and I’ll keep a cooler on the couch next to me full of drinks and pudding. Good times.
Meanwhile, Val and I got a brilliant idea while watching HGTV a month ago, we'd repaint our kitchen! How exciting! Wait, no, I mean, how excruciating.
We have black and white checkerboard tile, the show had it, and they painted the room red. BOLD! So we're trying it, including black on the paneling under the chair rail. And then we remembered this week, we HATE painting. Wonder how I forgot that after six weeks of repainting the entire house, walls, ceilings, the tub and even floors, before we moved in.
For some reason painting walls red is hard. We didn't learn our lesson painting the front door red, which still doesn't look quite right (lots of streaking). We even used gray primer first, and it still isn't helping much after two coats. So I re-primed the gray over the red (the paint peeps at Home Depot didn’t approve), and hope it comes out more even after three coats by Tuesday afternoon. You'll know it doesn't work if you play hole No. 14 at Stonebridge behind our house and see half the fairway appear to be bleeding.
Like an idiot, I accidentally took my blood pressure medicine twice Saturday. How do you forget that? I have no idea. And I even have a pill box separated by the days of the week. I'm only 32, folks. In the meantime, I'm trying to start cutting down on fried foods, and nixing soft drinks in favor of juice. I've rediscovered my love for the juice, and a great invention, little packets that you pour into a bottle of water and shake until TA DA! Instant juice! I love this country!
Val had a health scare of her own last week, bless her heart. She's had some pains in her lower tummy, and they almost took out her appendix. We even went to a surgeon, who said that it was fine and the pain should go away on its own. Today we went to a back doc so he could tell her “gosh, that stinks, but what do you want me to do?”, and didn’t get called back until 4:25 for her 3:10 appointment. Doctors out there, that’s just rude. You want a long lunch break? Make it first-come, first serve, and stop teasing us with pesky things like “times” that we plan our days around.
Besides, we had a dinner date scheduled with Dad and Nana. Dad flew in Sunday night for a week, so we ate at this little Italian place called “The Olive Garden” (motto: No olives in sight.). Then me, Val and Dad went to Buffalo Wild Wings to see the important Red Sox-Rays series, which the good guys won, 3-0, to pull within a half-game of first place. We’ll be back there Tuesday night to see if we can get into first place for the first time since the All-Star break.
Sunday, Val and I went up to Millington Sunday morning for church with Val's parents and grandmother, and not just because of the promise of Old Timer's afterwards for lunch.
It always peps me up when we sing praise songs that I can actually sing. Important fact: Anything with the word "hast" is not something that can be sung easily. I loved the singable worship songs in high school and college, especially Rich Mullins songs and from Amy Grant's "Songs from the Loft" album before she got all slutty, taking off to shack up with Vince Gill and divorcing the lovable Gary Chapman.
I still get chills during baptisms every morning, yet spend the entire offering strategizing how to pass the plate down my mostly-empty row to the right.
Congrats to my and Val's alma matter. After suffering disastrous losses to property Feb. 5, Union rebuilt all of the dorms in time for classes to start this week. And they built some sweet, sweet dorms, too. Not that I can complain. We felt spoiled having our own rooms and kitchens. Although, my roommates, Steve and Patrick, may not have agreed during my Atkins Diet when I would grill onions and stink up the place for an entire day.
UPDATE 2:30 a.m. - Just finished putting on the second, second coat of red paint in the kitchen. Here's hoping it turns out better than last time, because it only gets one more coat. If it looks too splotchy, well, we're just going to have to tell people that it's a new form of "texture" that we saw on the DIY network and is that way on purpose.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Our records indicate you do have severe sleep apnea. You snored heavily through the entire study. You stopped breathing over 60 times per hour and your oxygen level dropped well below normal. It was impossible for you to get a very deep sleep.Okay, okay, I get it! Wow, so fierce!
Technical mumbo jumbo alert:
Total Time in Bed: 394.0 min
Total Sleep Time: 330.5 min
Total Wake Time: 63.5 min
Total Stage I Sleep: 28.5
Total Stage II Sleep: 278.0
Total Stage III/IV Sleep: 1.00
Total Stage REM Sleep: 23.0
Lights out: 23:08:26 min.
Sleep Onset from Lights out: 16.5
REM Onset from Lights Out: 284.5
Sleep Efficiency: 83.9%
The average heart rate was 98.9 BPM during wake, 70.1 BPM during non-REM sleep, and 79.2 BPM during REM sleep.
Respiratory Disturbance Summary: There were 41 apneas or periods of complete obstruction in respiratory airflow. Of these apneas 27 were obstructive, 13 were mixed, and 1 were central. There were 304 hypopneas or periods of partial obstruction in respiratory airflow. There were a total of 345 apneas and hypopneas for an Apnea/Hypopnea Index (AHI) or Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) of 62.6 per hour. The AHI or RDI arousal index was 42.66 per hour. The longest respiratory event lasted 74.0 seconds. The minimum oxygen saturation associated with a respiratory event was 79 %. Audio and digital monitoring of respiration revealed snoring in the following body positions: back, right side, light side.
Obviously, accordingly, I go back for another overnight sleep study on Wednesday the 17th to get fitted with a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) breathing assistance device.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
In the past 1000 years, three previous such events -- the Dalton, Maunder, and Spörer Minimums, have all led to rapid cooling. One was large enough to be called a "mini ice age". For a society dependent on agriculture, cold is more damaging than heat. The growing season shortens, yields drop, and the occurrence of crop-destroying frosts increases.Looks like it's time to break out the hair spray and aim for the sky!
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
And yes, this is just a good excuse to post reminders of my and Dad's visits to Fenway, such as two summers ago during the streak when we sat on the Green Monster and behind home plate:
As the Boston Globe's Extra Bases blog notes, some facts about the streak:
* The mark equals the standard set by the Cleveland Indians from June 12, 1995 to April 2, 2001.
* Entering today's game, the Red Sox had a .650 winning percentage at Fenway during the streak (295 wins, 159 losses).
* It's the longest active sellout streak in the four major professional sports.
* The longest streak in any sport belongs to the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, who sold out 744 straight games from 1977-95.
* Only two current Red Sox were in the lineup during the 9-1 victory over the Twins that began the streak: Jason Varitek and David Ortiz.
- Before new McCain VP pick Sarah Palin revealed her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the liberal blogosphere was claiming that Palin is not the mother of her four-month old son, and in fact was covering for her daughter. Fox News anchor Alan Colmes was worse when he posted a blog that pondered if Palin was to blame for her son's Down Syndrome by not taking proper prenatal care.
- What's a little underhanded sexism among VP candidates? Joe Biden on Sarah Palin: “There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent,” Biden said. “She’s good-looking,” he quipped. Ha Ha! Oh those wacky feminist Democrats and the way they'll stay silent on this so long as the GOP loses.
- Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly notes this quote from Obama in 1995 that shows he's been pushing this idea that his white granny is a big fat racist, "telling a story about the first time his grandmother came to Chicago to meet his in-laws":
My grandmother walks in, it's all black people in the room, she's the only white person there except for my mother, and she's feeling a little nervous and a little out of place. And she suddenly sees this table set with fried chicken, and succotash, and a jello mold, and suddenly she realizes that she has a culture that she's sharing with all these people.Remember back in March, Obama defended his racist pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright, by saying it was okay because his grandmother was a racist "who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made (Obama) cringe."
- President Bush is apparently perceived by liberals as everything that annoys them. Fabien Baron, director of an ad for a fragrance that was so racy that TV networks won't air it until after 9 p.m., decided it was Bush's fault: "This country really needs a new president. This country is so messed up . . . I really can't believe this is happening."
During the Olympics, we learned that softball getting cut from the Games in 2012 was all Bush's fault, according to Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts: "One other wild card for 2016 is the exit of the Bush administration. The undercurrent of anti-Americanism within the IOC, which some say has hurt the U.S. because of its softball dominance, may abate somewhat with a potential administration led by Barack Obama, a rock star in Europe."
- Mike Gravel, former senator from Alaska, ran for the Democrat nomination for president earlier this year, in case you don't recognize the name. In early August, he advocated harassing a federal prosecutor who "helped bring criminal contempt charges against a Palestinian activist," Fox News reports. The "activist" pleaded guilty to conspiracy and charged with aiding a terror group. Here's what Gravel said, and see just how much a bully he is dangerously close to inciting violence:
Find out where he lives. Find out where his office is. If you've got some chutzpah--which is a word that you don't hear often--if you've really got it, find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is; picket him all the time. Call him a racist in signs if you see him. Call him an injustice. Call him whatever you want to call him, but in his face all the time. They can't take the heat; deliver it to them. We have to stop laying down to these injustices.
- Washed-up singer Jackson Browne added his name to the list of petty artists who just can't believe a right-wing fascist would use his songs on the campaign stump and have sued to make it stop. ABBA, Frankie Valli and John Cougar Mellencamp, among others, have all thrown hissy-fits over the issue as well.
- National Review columnist received a note from someone in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the art fair recently had a booth dedicated to "supporting the Iraqi resistance," i.e. the ones trying to kill our troops.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
To the last, I will grapple with thee.
From hell's heart, I stab at thee.
For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee. - Shakespeare, as quoted by Klingon General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Alas, Star Trek: The Experience is ending a ten-year run at the Las Vegas Hilton.
When I met Dad out in Vegas in August of '98, besides our trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon this was one of the top must-sees on my list, because I'm that much of a geek:
Monday, September 01, 2008
This weekend, another former Pharaoh and current running back for Navy, Shun White, rushed for a school-record 348 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-13 victory over Towson.
My top five foods at a picnic/cookout:
1. Potato Salad - Everyone has their own version, and naturally I like Mom's the best, but my mom-in-law enjoys making hers for me as well because she knows I'll chow down and stab anyone's hands who dares approach the bowl.
2. Hot Dogs - Yes, even more than burgers. So easy to carry around, easy to decorate with condiments (none of that pesky "lift bun, close bun" nonsense), fits directly into the mouth.
3. Burgers - Cooked correctly, i.e., on a grill, the taste of a thick charred burger makes you feel like a caveman who finished the hunt. Even though you've never even touched a cow before.
4. Baked Beans - Good for the heart. The more you eat them, the more you ... you know the rest.
5. Chips & Dip - This is for those dips that are specialties of attendees. My Mom makes a great salmon dip and spinach dip, for examples, and my mom-in-law brings her Mexican dip (perfect with Fritos) to family gatherings and it lasts about as long as someone waving a "Free $100 bills" sign on a street corner in downtown Memphis.
Honorable Mention: Deviled Eggs; Pie; Fresh baked cookies; Watermelon; Coca-Cola Cake. (Hmm, maybe desserts should have been its own top five!)
This year, of course, well be going to Millington for Val's mom's birthday, so instead of making her cook we'll treat her to her favorite eating joint, Casa Mexicana, and we'll come home and order a pizza to watch while watching the UT-UCLA game at night. Next week, though, after my surgery, we're hoping to have everyone over, including Dad and Nana, for a cookout to celebrate my eating only mashed potatoes and pudding. (Neither of which are probably any good grilled.) | <urn:uuid:2ae208f4-be8c-40b6-ac8e-326271ab75f9> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://eeyorejeff.blogspot.com/2008/09/ | 2017-08-16T15:04:00Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886102307.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170816144701-20170816164701-00300.warc.gz | en | 0.974299 | 11,883 |
The Chargers broke countless hearts when they finally announced they would be relocating to Los Angeles, leaving the residents of San Diego in shock, confused and heartbroken.
Some fans decided to decided to follow them to their new locale, while others decided not to support such horrible ownership and what many believe to be an incredibly poor decision.
I have with me a good friend and fellow staff writer who’s made the decision of choosing a new team, Chris Hoke.
Chris: First off, thank you for conducting this interview. It’s been a long six months since greed and selfishness took my hometown team away from me, leaving me to wonder where the fuck do I go from here.
Charlie: No problem at all! I would like to briefly go over your time as a Chargers fan and ask you a couple of questions about the process of being a free agent fan, so to speak. How long were you a fan of the Bolts? Was it a born-to-now thing? This move must’ve really crushed you.
Chris: I was Chargers fan for 25 brutal seasons. Basically since I was a little kid I grew up watching them with my grandpa and my brother. It become a Sunday tradition in our household. No matter how bad the bolts were my brother and I stuck our team.
Hearing about the bolts was definitively soul crushing. I’ve seen the Chargers get killed in their only Super Bowl appearance. I was there for LT’s last game as a Charger. I was there when the Jets beat us in the playoffs in 2010. I thought those were soul crushing experiences. They pale in comparison to losing your hometown team. It’s like your brother died. I would never wish this kind of pain on any fan. It’s truly been one of hardest times in my life.
Charlie: I’m sure if we take the Spanos family out of the picture, were looking at a much different outcome in this whole process. So that being said, what was a couple of moments being a fan that you’ll cherish for the rest of your life? There’s got to be a part of you that wants to see the players still succeed and do great, right?
Chris: As much as I despise Dean, If you took the Spanos’ out of the picture maybe things would’ve worked out. It wasn’t just his fault though the city of San Diego needs to take some of the blame. For the last 15 years both sides did this dance. Dean would come up with plans to renovate Jack Murphy Stadium or build a multi-purpose center downtown, which would host a number of sporting events. Each time Dean would do this the city turned him down; finally capping it off last November when Proposition C failed miserably. The city and Mayor Faulconer basically left Dean no choice but move the Chargers. So no, I don’t believe the end would be better without Dean. San Diego losing the Chargers was inevitable.
I don’t know if you ever went to any Chargers home games in the Q Charlie, but when the Chargers were winning there was blue and gold everywhere. This city was buzzing. One of the things I will miss about home games was the calm before the storm. The music would start and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” would hit. Then smoke would filter out of the Chargers helmet then the cannon would fire and then the starting units would be introduced. You just got that electric nervous feeling almost like you were in the game. Those nerves would be turned up even more if it was a rivalry or a playoff game.
As far as moments I’ll cherish, every game I went to was with my brother. Win or lose we were always there next to each other for support. The shared experience of moments and memories like that were enough to last a lifetime.
If I had to go back and pick one game. It would be the Colts wildcard game in 2010 when Darren Sproles scored in overtime in one of the craziest overtime endings ever. Shocking the then Super Bowl Champion Colts.
Football and the Chargers were more to me than money or the games I went to. It was family. Not Dean, not Roger Goodell or anybody will ever take that from me. Family is forever and I will forever be a San DIego Chargers fan!
As far as the players, some have handled this in a way where they can put the true San Diego Chargers fan into their perspective. Take Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates for example. They have both expressed how much San Diego meant to not only their careers but to their families as well. For those players I will cheer for them and hope they finish their careers on top.
Now for those players such as Keenan Allen, who by the way was caught wearing a Raiders hat after he was drafted; we know which team he gets soft against. Allen wasted no time burning his bridge with SD fans by tweeting how excited he was to play in LA only moments after news broke about the Bolts departing from San Diego. I would say that in my eyes those players don’t exist to me and that true Chargers fans should question those players loyalty to not only the team but to us the fans.
Charlie: Safe to say that Darren Sproles game winner has to be a top-3 moment in every Chargers’ fan memory. It was amazing. Still gives me goosebumps to this day watching it and seeing Peytons’ helpless face. *Devilish Laugh*. Now that you’re a free agent fan, have you narrowed it down to any teams in specific that you are gonna cheer for from here on out? if so, how did it come down to them? Whats the process on picking a new team? What plays a big role in attracting you to become a fan? I’m sure given this experience, a huge part has to be ownership.
Chris: I have narrowed it down to three teams. Those teams being the:
Green Bay Packers
For me it came down to several reasons,
First of all with the Packers, I’ve always loved the Packers and the history that comes with this franchise. Not to mention they are publicly owned. The team cares about its fan base. It would also be nice to be a fan of a franchise that knows what it takes to get to a Super Bowl and win.
Secondly, the Philadelphia Eagles. One of the oldest franchises in the league. Like my former team the Eagles have struggled to win a championship. They have had two Super Bowl appearances. One was in 1981 where they lost to the underdog Oakland Raiders. The second loss came in 2004 at the hands of the New England Patriots. Why the Eagles though? My best friend comes from Philly. So I’ve already become a secondary Eagles fan. Since I am now a free agent the idea of being a part of a fan base that is loyal to its team no matter what would be a breath of fresh air compared to the fair weather fan base of the San Diego/LA Chargers.
Lastly, the Chargers. I still can’t call them that disgusting cities name because really it makes me sick to my stomach. It’s like the New York Yankees moving to New Jersey and becoming the New Jersey Yankees. It would make a New Yorker sick. I digress though many may call me a hypocrite since I said “I would never cheer for a team in that city.” However, the Chargers have been all I have known for 25 years. I’ve grown up with this team. They are my blood. They are the bond that my brother and I have always shared. The Chargers are like family to me. If I were to pick them it would be not because of that shithead of an owner. Not because the Mayor of San Diego had a stick so far up his ass he refused to see the grander picture. It would be my heart. My heart has belonged to this team. Whether I like it or not it will always belong to this team.
Charlie: It truly sounds like you have limitless love for the Chargers even after this whole disaster. That’s why you and I connect in good ways. The Packers and Eagles are pretty fair choices as well. Both places can get very cold though, so if you plan on taking trips to see the teams, at Lambeau especially, make sure to bundle up. So before we get into the actual team that you’re rocking with, how has this decision affected relationships with fellow Chargers fans? Do they understand why you’re doing this? I’m sure people feel your pain to some degree. Have you lost any followers on social media?
Chris: I live in Missouri and just moved from Nebraska. I’ve adjusted to cold weather I actually prefer it as well. As far as the transition to being apart of the bolt family on social media to a free agent fan. Man, its been rough. In fact its been one hell of a past seven months. Some have accepted it and understand why I have done it. Some have chosen the same path. Such as former BoltBlitz writer Zak Darman. Others who I have considered close followers have shown anger towards myself and others saying “we were never true fans” which is preposterous. I believe as humans we all grieve in certain ways. Of course I haven’t helped my own cause when I have drunkenly mocked the bolts and L.A. For that I apologize. It was a part of the seven steps of grief anger. In fact after this interview I will no longer be talking about the move or how much I hate Dean Spanos. The subject on this matter is now officially closed!
Charlie: Hypothetical question here, lets say you pick a team that isn’t the Bolts and they end up over exceeding expectations and making playoffs, how would that make you feel? Would you consider coming back? I myself would welcome you back with open arms. Everybody makes mistakes right? All 3 teams are good this year so there should be no letdown where ever you choose to land.
Chris: If the Bolts finally exceed expectations that would be a shock. I mean every time this team is predicted to “take over” the AFC West this team falls flat on its face. So I would be shocked and happy for the players like Rivers, Gates and other veteran guys who deserve to go out on top. However I would not change my mind to be Chargers fan again. Though I’ve thought about trying to be a fan for just one year. Like a player does when he signs a one-year contract. That’s not for me though. When I pick my team this is gonna be the team I stand by till I die!
Charlie: Is everybody in the Hoke family going to be following you on this decision or will this be a solo mission? Somebody in your family had to have either helped with your decision or entice you to go a certain route? Joining a fan base alone can be like switching schools as a kid.
Chris: As I’ve stated in an earlier question. My brother will be remaining a Chargers fan. The rest of my family is either fans of different teams or they are not into football in general. So no, this is something I’ve done on my own unfortunately.
Charlie: Alright so by now, I’m pretty sure the people are on their toes. Everybody can feel your pain and love for the Chargers throughout the article. A lot of people understand you and share those same emotions. Hopefully, this article and your decision can help others and their futures as football fans. With all that being said Mr. Man-of-the-hour, what team are you going with? Who are you going to support going forward? This is a huge decision and it has me so ecstatic to find out! I just hope you’re choosing to stay with us!
Chris: Oh man, This is a question I’ve asked myself over and over for the past seven months. Its taken a lot of soul-searching to get to this point. Being that I’m the man of the hour and I’m a man of my word.
I’ve decided to take my fandom with the Chargers to LA. At the end of the day this is my team. No owner can strip that away from me. I’ve seen these players such as Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates come up from nowhere to be the NFL’s elite. More so than this the Chargers are family. As the line in “Fast and the Furious” series always says “You don’t turn your back on family.” As hard as it is to cheer for a team in a city I hate, things change and I will learn to love this team again. I would once again like to apologize to all the bolt family I’ve spurned for the past seven months. It was a part of the grieving process. I hope you all can forgive me and let me back into the bolt family once again.
Again, Charlie I would like to thank you for these wonderful questions and helping me to close a huge chapter in my life. I look forward to cheering with you on Sundays. Go Bolts!!
Charlie: Yesssssss!!! Words can’t describe how hyped I am to hear you say that. I sure as hell speak for the entire bolt family when I say “welcome back”. Something told me all along you were going to stay with the team. Your passion for this team stretches further than most. This would definitely would not be the best time to leave anyways. The talent on this squad has everybody hyped for the future and I’m truly happy that you are able to look past all the destruction and let downs over the years to stay with them. It’s only going to make winning that much better. I truly am grateful to have found out your great decision first! Next round is on me!
Charlie LaFurno and Chris Hoke
Taking the time now to understand why no true stadium plan was ever presented for Mission Valley will help prevent mayor Kevin Faulconer from using false pretenses to not work with the Chargers towards their downtown solution. Faulconer convincingly won re-election in the primary and will be the mayor of San Diego for the next four years. If the Chargers are to stay in San Diego, it’s high likely it will be under his watch.
Faulconer delayed taking a stance on the Chargers initiative for a new stadium downtown before the election with the pretense that he was analyzing the numbers and waiting for a report on the cost to move the MTS bus yard. He also repeatedly claimed that Mission Valley was originally chosen because the costs associated with the that site for a stadium were largely known.
These are red flags that Faulconer could use the bus yard costs as a reason to justify not supporting the Chargers initiative and attempt to pivot back to Mission Valley.
By understanding the costs that were never included in either the Citizen Stadium Advisory Group (CSAG) or the mayor’s plans for a stadium in Mission Valley, we can hold Faulconer accountable and prevent him from misleading us in attempt to further play politics with the stadium issue instead of solving it.
Before unveiling some of the factors that would inflate the costs of a Mission Valley stadium project, let’s be clear, the Chargers are never going to pivot back to Mission Valley. If the Chargers are to stay in San Diego, it will only come with a new stadium downtown.
We know the Chargers are focused solely on downtown because Dean Spanos sent a letter to former councilwoman Donna Frye to assure her that they would never pivot back to Mission Valley. The Chargers have endorsed Frye’s vision that after the Chargers vacate Mission Valley, the land should be used for a river park and education purposes with an expansion of SDSU and/or UCSD.
“We want to be as clear as we can possibly be about this issue,” Spanos wrote, according to NBC Sports. “We did not choose downtown over Mission Valley casually. Downtown is a plan that can work for the community and our fans. We have tried to make it clear that Mission Valley will not work for the NFL or for the community. The Mayor asked us to make a choice. We made the rational business choice, and the rational choice for the community-at-large. That choice is downtown. Mission Valley is not an option for us, now or in the future.”
The letter assured Frye the Chargers will never opt for stadium in Mission Valley that would partially be paid for with a massive development that would prevent her vision from being realized. This partnership in understanding helps enable supporters of the Citizens Plan backed by Frye and the Chargers initiative to work in tandem despite the initiatives appearing to be in competition. Both sides feel they are in an uphill battle against the City, and have taken the approach that their boats can rise together if they do not allow the media and the City to pit themselves against each other.
A substantial reason the Chargers have no interest in Mission Valley is the cost for a stadium project there would be vastly more expensive than their downtown proposal. In downtown, construction costs are saved by sharing expenses with a non-contiguous expansion of the Convention Center. In Mission Valley, Faulconer and (CSAG) ignored several known obstacles that would undoubtedly greatly inflate the cost of the overall project.
A few members of CSAG met with stadium advocates days before the group announced they were focused on Mission Valley. Jason Riggs, the Chairman of the San Diego Stadium Coalition, and myself brought a lengthily list of known obstacles to Mission Valley and we campaigned hard for downtown.
Riggs became frustrated that members of CSAG were clearly focused on Mission Valley, but were not able to come up with substantial obstacles for downtown. Riggs then said I have a list of obstacles for Mission Valley right here and challenged CSAG members to provide the obstacles to downtown. There was a pause, a hem and a haw, and then one prominent member of CSAG admitted the real obstacle to downtown was the hoteliers. He even went as far as to define the hotelier’s political power by the number of rooms their establishments represent.
Our lists of obstacles were politely received and we were told they would be taken under advisement, but neither CSAG nor Faulconer ever addressed them.
CSAG repeatedly justified their decision to choose Mission Valley because the City owns the land. Eighty of the 166 acres of the Qualcomm site is actually owned by city of San Diego’s Water Utilities Department, according to NBC San Diego.
Faulconer has continued to regurgitate the fallacy of the City owning the Mission Valley land in recent interviews. This could be a preview for the foundation for an argument to reject the Chargers initiative after the report on the cost of moving the MTS bus yard is released. The argument would continue to be that the expense of the bus yard would not factor into the stadium if Mission Valley were the site. Therefore downtown is more expensive for taxpayers.
That argument does not hold merit when factoring the fiduciary responsibility that the Water District has to their rate payers to be fairly compensated by the City for their land.
For decades, the city leased the 80 acres for a measly $15,000 a year. The City had been paying rent to Water District until 2005 when the lease ran out. The City then stopped paying and justified withholding of funds by claiming the land had no real value because the stadium was a money losing operation.
“It’s illegal, flat-out illegal,” said City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. “We got to treat the water fund fairly. The water fund is different than tax payers.”
It was also reported that Goldsmith said compensating the water district for past rent and negotiating a future lease with a new appraisal would add millions to any new stadium development in Mission Valley with.
When CSAG released their stadium plan, they recommend selling 75 acres of the Qualcomm Stadium land. CSAG claimed the sale would generate $225 million. There are experts who believe the Mission Valley land is worth nowhere near the valuation CSAG assigned, but within hours Faulconer backed CSAG’s plan giving credence to the valuation for the property.
The acreage CSAG recommended selling is largely owned by the Water District, but there was no plan to compensate them for the land. The Water District was apparently supposed to forgo their fiduciary responsibility to their rate payers so that the funds of the sale could go to the stadium.
In the process, CSAG affectively told the Water District their previously worthless land was now valued at $240 million.
There is no exact science to determining a fair lease value on the land. When speaking to real-estate professionals, a conservative 5% of return for a long-term contract was suggested.
Just for the sake of argument, let’s assume CSAG’s valuation is accurate and assign an annual fair lease value at 5%. That would equate to a $12 million a year lease. This is on-par with Goldsmith’s estimation that compensating the Water District would add millions to the project.
The Water District is now in position to reasonably argue they are entitled to $132 million in back rent plus interest. They would also need to have been fairly compensated for their land if sold. Much of any sale would have to have gone to the Water District and not the stadium project.
“Perhaps the water fund could retain the water rights under Qualcomm, but then get other compensation by having a land exchange for something else owned by the city,” Goldsmith explained. “But you’d better make sure these appraisals are honest and make sure there’s an arm’s-length transaction. Another option is to buy the 80 acres from the water fund.”
If the Water District maintained ownership of the land, then a fair compensation plan would need to be established for the next 30 years, the time expected to payoff stadium construction bonds. With the same 5% rate of return, and with no inflation on CSAG’s $240 million valuation, then it is fair to argue the Water District should be compensated $360 million over 30 years.
Add in the now 11 years of unpaid rent, the total compensation for the Water District’s share of the land could represent a near a half billion shortfall .
Even if CSAG valuation for the land is not correct, this one obstacles illustrates there was no real plan for Mission Valley.
CSAG and Faulconer also completely ignored known infrastructure needs. Ever since the Chargers turned their focus to downtown in 2009, the pre-existence of needed infrastructure was always touted as a major cost savings for building downtown. In 2012, that saving was estimated at $200 million when the Chargers released art work for a downtown stadium.
Steve Cushman has been particular outspoken against the Chargers plan to build a stadium with a non-contiguous expansion of the Convention Center because Cushman has fought for a contiguous expansion. Cushman acknowledged the cost savings of a downtown stadium after he thought he won a contiguous expansion and suggested the Chargers use the site at Tailgate Park for a stadium in a KPBS interview.
“The advantage of downtown is there is already lots of infrastructure,” Cushman said. “The Trolley is there. There is lots of parking.”
Councilman Scott Sherman, who has been out spoken against the Chargers downtown vision, acknowledged the need for infrastructure in Mission Valley in a recent Union Tribune interview where he discussed his vision for development.
“It has to be done right with the infrastructure,” Sherman said. “It just has to be. We’ve got to get the bridge that goes across to Camino Del Rio North down by the stadium, you know, behind IKEA there. That bridge has been proposed and killed several times. And that would just alleviate all kinds of traffic because that road is very underutilized.”
The bridge Sherman referred to is also just one of 16 infrastructure needs that the Chargers made CSAG and the mayor aware of in a website provided by the Chargers that had previous stadium plans the team had proposed. The infrastructure needs were in the Chargers 2003 plan for Mission Valley.
In 2003, when the Chargers offered to pay for the entire cost of building the stadium in exchange for the Mission Valley land, they also offered to pay for these infrastructure projects after conducting engineering studies. This further validates the need for this infrastructure, because it is unlikely the team would have wanted to pay for any additional infrastructure that what was not required.
Since 2003, there has been a substantial amount of development in Mission Valley without the addition of corresponding infrastructure improvements. With a higher density in Mission Valley today, it is likely the infrastructure needed for a major project has only increased.
None of the 16 known infrastructure needs from 2003 were included in either CSAG’s or the mayor’s plan. Let alone any new infrastructure. It’s possible the infrastructure cost alone needed for a Mission Valley stadium project could in itself exceed the cost of moving the bus yard.
16 known road infrastructure needs of 2003 provided to CSAG:
- Friars Road/SR 163 Interchange Roadway & Ramp Improvements including improvements at Friars Road and Frazee Road Intersection
- Friars Road/Interstate 15 Exchange, Roadway and Ramp Improvements
- Friars Road/Qualcomm Way, Ramps and Intersection Improvements
- Texas Street/Camino Del Rio South Intersection Improvements
- Camino Del Rio South/Interstate 15 North bound improvements
- Friars Road/Mission Center Road, Ramp and Intersection improvements
- Rancho San Diego Road/ Ward Road, Intersection Signalization
- Friars Road/Mission Center Drive, Interchange Improvements
- Interstate 8 Hook Ramps Westbound from Camino Del Rio South to near Interstate 805
- Camino Del Rio South to 4 lanes from Fenton Parkway/Mission Center Parkway to Interstate 805
- Camino Del Rio North to 4 lanes, from Fenton Parkway/Mission Center Parkway to Interstate 15
- Mission Center Parkway Bridge over Interstate 8, widen to 4 lanes
- Bridge over San Diego River at Fenton Parkway
- South Development Road Connection offsite, west to Fenton Parkway
- Western Development Road Connection, offsite to Northside Drive
- Extend Murphy Canyon Road South to development area
The issues surrounding fill dirt were also not addressed. One of the biggest obstacle to construction at Mission Valley is that the entire 166 acre site would have to be brought up to Friars Road level, as illustrated in councilman Sherman’s plan he presented for a stadium.
There are several variables with fill dirt, such as where it is coming from and the quality of dirt, so without knowing those variables ahead of time it is hard to estimate a true cost for a project of this magnitude that would likely take multiple millions of cubic yards (CY) of dirt. Consider one dirt truck only carries 16 CY of fill dirt, it would take 62,500 trucks to deliver each million yards of fill dirt.
The Draft EIR for Mission Valley revealed 920,000 CY of contaminated dirt would be exported from the site and may also entail dewatering. The fuel plume that Kinder Morgan is responsible for the mitigating was only a contributing factor to the contamination. Organo-chlorine pesticide is listed is also listed as a contaminate and is pervasive throughout the site, so it is unclear who would be responsible for cleanup costs.
To provide an idea of how much 920,000 cubic yards of dirt is, it would equate to 57,500 truck loads, or roughly three truck loads of dirt for every parking spot currently surrounding the stadium.
It also represents the same amount of ruble that is expected to be created by the demolition of Qualcomm Stadium, according to same Draft EIR. The fact the Draft EIR came up with the same number for the cubic yards of dirt that is need to be exported, and the rubble generated by the demolition of the stadium, may validate the concern that the Draft EIR was indeed rushed.
The difference between the Qualcomm Stadium debris and contaminated dirt is the debris would be trucked to the Miramar Landfill, while the soil will likely have to be hauled out of state. The SF Giants ran into this problem when they built their stadium and it cost them over $1 million to export just 18 thousand CY of dirt to Utah.
The mostly likely destination for Qualcomm’s contaminated dirt is Arizona, according to the contractor who discovered the organo-chlorine pesticide in 2005. An Arizona official said they “may” take the dirt.
After the dirt is removed, it would be replaced and then enough additional clean dirt would need to be brought into raise the entire site to Friar’s Road level.
The same company that discovered the contamination, quoted me a drive time of around $110 an hour to export the dirt. Each trip would also need require a disposal fee and labor to load the dirt. They also said that they said they had several hundred thousand CY of certified dirt available for fill. This dirt was nearby Mission Valley and could be brought in for $60 to $70 a truck load.
That, however, may not even replace what needs to be exported. If not enough fill dirt could be found locally for the project, then same high cost of drive time would need to be applied for importing new dirt.
It is important to note that the fill dirt obstacle was discovered after the proposal the Chargers made in 2003 to develop Mission Valley, and may be a huge contributing factor on why the team decided to look elsewhere for their stadium plans.
Parking was also dramatically underfunded, especially in the CSAG plan that proposed a 12,000 space parking structure. This would be the largest in North America, but CSAG only allocated a $144 million in funding.
The Mickey and Friends Parking Structure, a 10,250 space garage at Disneyland, came in ahead of time and under budget in the neighborhood of $240 million in 2001, according to Michael Tomczak, an assistant construction manager on the project. A 1994 Los Angeles times article supports that claim by estimating the project would cost $223 million.
The 12,000 spaces is also dramatically insufficient. There are currently over 19,000 parking spaces at Qualcomm Stadium. On game days, the parking lot is typically full and the Trolley is extremely busy. The Trolley set a record in 2014 when it carried on average 15,202 passengers to Chargers games.
When factoring in the Trolley, it would take an unattainable four person per car average to accommodate 63,000 fans with only 12,000 parking spaces.
Qualcomm Stadium is a virtual land locked island, so unless there is a significant investment in public transportation, nearly all of the 19,000 spaces would be needed in a new stadium at the location. After speaking to multiple contractors, I learned a fair estimate for a parking structure of that size would be north of $350 million.
These obstacles were brought up again when stadium advocates meet with the team after they announced downtown. They were acknowledged that these and others greatly contributed to the decision to focus on downtown.
None of the estimations made are meant to be set in stone examples. They were not derived from any actual quotes for a job, and estimations can dramatically change based on the contractor. With enough time and money any of these obstacles could likely be overcome.
What is important is these obstacles were either completely overlooked, or dramatically underfunded by both CSAG and the mayor’s plans. With an understanding of the existence of these obstacles, and a rough idea of the costs associated with them, we can hold the mayor accountable.
We must not allow Faulconer to again suggest Mission Valley would be cheaper than downtown in an effort to not embrace the Chargers vision and/or their initiative.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer would like San Diego to believe that he is open to the Chargers downtown Convadium project which would combine a new stadium with a non-contiguous expansion of the Convention Center. He just needs more time to research the project’s viability and the overall economic impact it will have on San Diego and its taxpayers; time that takes him past next week’s primary election on June 7.
Faulconer and his handlers have taken the approach of avoiding controversy with hopes that he can be re-elected in the primary and not have to run in the general election in November.
Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive nominee, is one source of controversy that Faulconer is doing his best to avoid. Faulconer has repeatedly said he will not support Trump because he is divisive. Faulconer’s colleagues, however, believe this is just a pre-election position to appease the masses.
“Well you know in a matter of weeks we’re going to have a primary for many of our officials,” Darrell Issa, the Republican U.S. Representative for California’s 49th congressional district, told the Independent Voter Project. “They would like to get their 51% and end their races; that’s politics. The mayor has absolutely not had his election yet. I would expect him and the local establishment to come on board (support Donald Trump) in July.”
When a politician calls out another politician of the same party for just playing politics to gain support in an election, we should take note and heed it as a WARNING!
For over a year, I have publicly shared an unpopular belief that everything Mayor Faulconer has done on the stadium issue has been nothing more than theater designed to protect the interests of those that prefer a contiguous expansion of the Convention Center over non-contiguous, and to provide political cover for the mayor if the Chargers were to move to LA.
I was told repeatedly that a solution could be found if only the Chargers would come to the table. From the Chargers announcing their decision to focus on downtown, to publishing the language of their citizens initiative, to the official launch of the initiative, the Chargers have received persistent political blowback for their efforts.
Tony Manolatos, former spokesman of the Citizens Stadium Advisory Group (CSAG), District 1 city council candidate Ray Ellis, and accountant April Boling have been particularly outspoken.
Steve Cushman continues behind the scenes to apply political pressure. “If you were going to line up the people in San Diego who have done the most to block a new stadium over the years, there is no doubt that Steve Cushman would be near the head of that line,” Mark Fabiani told Chargers.com.
Let’s take a look at the interconnectivity of relationships that go back years between Faulconer and those that have been most outspoken against the Chargers plan to build a multi-use stadium that includes a non-contiguous expansion of the Convention Center.
By analyzing the actions of these individuals and their relationships to one another, it is clear that Faulconer’s stadium effort has been politically motivated, less than sincere, and most importantly it is unlikely he will ever be supportive of the Chargers downtown plans, even if he wins re-election.
Steve Cushman and Faulconer have worked together to expand the Convention Center since at least 2009. At that time, Cushman chaired the Mayor’s Citizen Task Force to expand the Convention Center and councilman Faulconer was included in the communications of the task force.
Cushman and April Boiling have collaborated on Convention Center issues involving Hoteliers since at least 2004. Both played critical roles to bring the Hilton hotel to the bay front. Cushman then served as the Commissioner of The Port Commission which granted a coastal development permit for the project. April Boling served as vice chairwoman of the Convention Center Corp. board, and she told commissioners that the hotel will play a “pivotal role in the success of the Convention Center.”
Cushman as outgoing Port Board Chairman in 2010 presented an award to Wayne Darbeau for efforts to “Foster a Constructive Port Culture.”
Darbeau was fired as the CEO of the Port in 2014, after a scandal broke that he used his power over people and influence to help get a job for his son. Manolatos was heavily involved in the issue as a consultant for the Port.
Manolatos worked as spokesman for councilman Faulconer until he resigned following an arrest for Domestic Violence and Vandalism in 2012 which came after the police were called to his house on multiple occasions.
Although charges were not brought, it may pay to have friends in high places, Manolatos as spokesman of CSAG shows a clear lack of leadership by Faulconer. It’s reprehensible that Manolatos spoke on behalf of San Diego for our attempt to get a new NFL stadium, especially considering the domestic violence is a huge issue in the NFL.
In 2013, Boling returned to the Faulconer campaign trail as the treasurer for not only the Faulconer campaign for mayor, but also as the treasurer for both Super PACs that supported his campaign.
This sounds legally dubious, as Fabiani might say. We are supposed to believe that there was no coordination between the campaign and the Super PACs to allow a substantial amount of money to flow into the campaign.
In October of 2013, the Coastal Commission ignored its own staff recommendation to not expand the Convention Center contiguously because it would further wall-off public access to the bay. The approval of a contiguous expansion was made under a false premise that contiguous is the only way for expansion. This allowed the Convention Corp and Coastal Commission to go back on previously made promises to the public.
The ruling appeared to kill the possibility of a non-contagious expansion and the Chargers preference of multi-use stadium downtown.
“The result is no surprise, given the influence of the powerful groups supporting the project,” Fabiani said in reaction to the approval. “Now attention will turn to an appeals court ruling on the legally dubious tax that was invented to pay for all of this.”
Cushman thought he had won his contiguous expansion and then appeared on KPBS and suggested the Chargers use the site at Tailgate Park for a stadium that was to be used for a non-contiguous expansion of the Convention Center. At this point, Cushman thought the possibility of including a Convention Center expansion with a stadium was off the table.
Cushman touted the benefits of a downtown stadium. “The advantage of downtown is there is already lots of infrastructure. The Trolley is there. There is lots of parking.”
Contrast that statement to all the public reasons given by the mayor and CSAG to not choose downtown for a stadium.
In March of 2014, Cushman and Manolatos served together on Faulconer’s transition team to mayor in which Cushman was the co-chair.
In August of 2014, Cory Briggs won a lawsuit throwing out the legally dubious tax that Fabiani had warned about. This halted the contiguous expansion of the Convention Center.
With no clear path to a Convention Center expansion available for the City, the Chargers privately engaged Faulconer and tried to revive the multi-purpose concept.
Instead of hashing out a deal that would have secured both the Chargers and Comic-Con to San Diego, it was Faulconer that walked away from the table and announced the creation of CSAG in his State of City Address.
It was clear from the beginning that the formation of CSAG was just political posturing and the Chargers organization did not support this. Fabiani quickly voiced concern that Cushman would be part of CSAG because Cushman had repeatedly been a roadblock to their downtown efforts.
Cushman was ultimately not appointed to CSAG, but Faulconer did re-appoint Cushman to the San Diego Convention Center Corporation (SDCCC) Board of Directors. This appointment allowed the two to continue their work together to achieve their goal of a contiguous expansion of the Convention Center. Work that had been ongoing while CSAG supposedly deliberated between downtown and Mission Valley for a stadium.
Days before CSAG announced Mission Valley, when faced with the question of what were the real obstacles to downtown, a CSAG representative explained to citizen stadium groups that it was the hoteliers.
When you have that knowledge and the fact that Faulconer and Cushman were continuing to work together for a contiguous expansion, the only intellectual conclusion you can reach is that CSAG’s choice between downtown and Mission Valley was nothing more than a political illusion.
At the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s dinner in 2015, Faulconer joked about the Chargers not wanting Cushman on CSAG. Falconer said he was creating a new stadium task force that would have everyone in the room “except for you, Cushman.”
Faulconer also promised to get the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center back on track. “We’re just going to build it wherever Cory Briggs promises not to sue us,” Faulconer said.
Faulconer, however, has yet to endorse the Chargers concept for a non-contiguous expansion which is supported by Briggs. It is clear it is just the opposite
Ellis recently received a $100,000 donation from the political PAC “Neighborhoods, Not Stadiums.” The phone number for this PAC is owned by Boling.
Manolatos is now the communication director for the Ellis campaign. Manolatos recently sent out a press release touting Ellis’ anti-stadium stance.
When you know the history, and connect the dots, it becomes crystal clear how vitally important this primary election is for the future of the Chargers in San Diego. Armed with knowledge, please refer to this voter guide when voting.
Please share the knowledge by sharing this article.
As a part of their ongoing boycott, members of The San Diego Stadium Coalition and Save Our Bolts demonstrated outside a fundraiser for Mayor Faulconer on Thursday night. The event was hosted by hotelier Bill Evans (owner of The Bahia, Catamaran and Torrey Pines Lodge) at his garage on Pacific Highway where Evans stores his high-end car collection.
Approximately thirty concerned citizens demonstrated, holding signs that read “For Sale Mayor” and “Stop Hotelier Cabal.” Participants voiced their concerns that a few hoteliers have had a tremendous negative impact on San Diego. They were particularly concerned that mayor Kevin Faulconer is beholden to the interest of a few hoteliers who prefer a contiguous expansion of the Convention Center over the Chargers’ plan for a multi-use facility stadium downtown that would include a non-contiguous expansion.
Jason Riggs, Founder of the San Diego Stadium Coalition said, “What started as an effort to expose the Hotelier Cabal and their obstructionist maneuvering against a downtown convention center/stadium project, has grown into something much more significant. It is now abundantly clear that this particular special interest group has wreaked havoc on the entire civic landscape of San Diego in a way that goes well beyond one specific issue.” He added, “It’s time to shine a bright light on this systemic plague that has permeated almost every corner of City Hall for more than a decade.”
Marc Angelo, who runs NorCal Dolfan, promised his support of the boycott. “We are coming to San Diego with about 300 or so people. I have already asked for a list of hotels that are cooperating with your guys’ mission. We will book rooms at those hotels only. If there was a hotel that would actually help you guys, I would rather be loyal to them.” Angelo talked about the past spending habits of his group when visiting San Diego. “Almost every night we were hanging in the lobby, spending money in the lobby. People were going into the bar ordering beers. Each person is probably $200 a night.”
Riggs continued, “This boycott has already touched a nerve with the Hotelier Cabal and the politicians who represent them. We’ve barely begun.”
San Diego mayoral candidate Lori Saldaña took note of the protest and shared it on her campaign page. The Saldaña campaign wrote the protest was bad timing for mayor Kevin Faulconer who just two days earlier claimed the hoteliers had no influence over him in a debate.
David Agranoff, co-founder of Save Our Bolts said, “It is not too late for the Mayor to show leadership, but it is impossible for us to ignore a big money fundraiser being organized for the Mayor by Bill Evans who has influenced so many civic failures. This event highlights the underlying problem in San Diego politics and who is really calling the shots. We want the Mayor to prove us wrong.”
Save Our Bolts along with The San Diego Stadium Coalition and their combined 42,000 members have joined forces and received support from various civic leaders and fan groups in solidarity for their boycott against several of the hoteliers hosting Thursday’s fundraiser.
For more information San Diego’s destructive Hotelier Cabal, please visit HotelierCabal.com.
Stadium advocacy groups Save Our Bolts and the San Diego Stadium Coalition have made unified political endorsements that best support development of a new stadium and convention center expansion downtown. These endorsements include both opponents to mayor Kevin Faulconer.
“In this primary there are three elections of critical importance to Chargers fans and the future of a downtown San Diego stadium and Convention Center,” said Chairman of the San Diego Stadium Coalition Jason Riggs. “Based on their voting records, public comments, action and/or inactions with respect to the Chargers, the following are the most ardent anti-Chargers officials in this election.
- NO – Mayor Kevin Faulconer
- NO – Councilman Scott Sherman
- NO – Candidate Ray Ellis”
While Faulconer hasn’t taken a position opposing the Chargers initiative or plans for downtown, it is clear where he stands by the actions of those closest to him and by what stadium groups are hearing from those that are engaged with the mayor.
District 1 city council candidate Ray Ellis and accountant April Boling have been two of the most outspoken voices opposing the Chargers’ downtown vision. Both have deep connections tying them to Faulconer.
Boling served as the treasurer for multiple Faulconer campaigns. When Faulconer ran for mayor, Boling was not just the treasurer of the campaign, but also treasurer both super PACs that supported the campaign.
Ellis recently received a $100,000 donation from the political PAC “Neighborhoods, Not Stadiums.” The phone number for this PAC is owned by Boling.
Tony Manolatos, former spokesman for the Citizens Stadium Advisory Group (CSAG), is the communication director for the Ellis campaign. Last week, Manolatos sent out a press release touting Ellis’ anti-stadium stance.
Faulconer’s allegiances clearly lie with the hoteliers. These same hoteliers are hosting a fundraiser for Faulconer this Thursday at Evans Garage, a venue owned by hotelier Bill Evans. It has become abundantly clear Faulconer’s stadium effort, which include CSAG, was designed to protect the interests of a select few hoteliers that favor a contiguous expansion of the Convention Center.
If Faulconer remains mayor, he will have many opportunities to block the Chargers plan from ever being realized. Hurdles to development would include failing to move the MTS bus yard or not acquiring Tailgate Park, for example.
In addition, sources at City Hall have been actively working to sabotage positive efforts to support a downtown stadium. On Friday, a contact at City Hall leaked a false story to NBC San Diego probably to create chaos among fan groups and delay the endorsements given today. The story indicated that the mayor and the Chargers struck a stadium deal in Mission Valley and was quickly shut down as reporters reached out to those in contact with the team. This serves as another example of purposeful deception targeted against the downtown effort.
The Chargers are currently circulating an initiative with hopes of getting it on the November ballot for the general election. The two pro-stadium organizations would ideally like to endorse candidates that have backed the Chargers plan, but no candidate for mayor has gone that far yet.
“No one has earned our vote,” said co-founder of Save Our Bolts David Agranoff. “Not one candidate has taken action or shown an understanding of what is needed to give San Diego the kind of effort needed in the years to come. Most importantly our fear is that a majority in the primary ends Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s need to campaign. We feel the issues facing the city whether it is downtown, 911 delayed response, the harassment of the homeless with inhumane policies need more discussion than a primary election allows. We are asking San Diegans to vote in the primary for Ed Harris or Lori Saldaña for the primary to ensure that we have more time to weigh the candidates. If in November you choose to change your vote we understand. The future of San Diego is too important to decide as early as June 7th.”
In addition to Harris and Saldaña, Save Our Bolts and the San Diego Stadium Coalition have endorsed councilman candidate Justin DeCesare. All three of these candidates have endorsed the Citizens’ Plan that provides a clear path for a stadium and Convention Center expansion downtown. All three of these candidates have indicated through their campaign management a willingness to implement the Chargers plan when it passes
Harris has promised to facilitate a downtown solution. “The days of Qualcomm are nearly over,” Harris said. “Now, we need to make a path for a downtown stadium, expanded Convention Center, and a public park along the San Diego river. As mayor, I will never stand on the sidelines when real leadership is required to tackle major issues.”
Saldaña echoes this solution-orientated message. “As a native San Diegan and a lifelong Charger fan, I am proud to have the support of my fellow Charger fans,” Saldaña said. “In the absence of leadership from the Mayor who called this his ‘number one issue in San Diego’ I am proud of my fellow San Diegans for taking up their cause and engaging in our political system to achieve what they believe is best for our City. As your Mayor, I will be committed to supporting your efforts and keeping the Chargers in San Diego.”
DeCesare is running against Scott Sherman in District 7. Sherman suggested the Chargers stadium plan is a con in a Voice of San Diego op-ed published on Monday. In a meeting with Riggs and myself, Sherman made it clear his stadium plan for Mission Valley is really a development plan. DeCesare opposes major development in Mission Valley. He favors the Chargers moving to downtown for the positive environmental impact that can be made with the Mission Valley land after the move.
“I’ve always thought that if a new stadium is to be built, downtown would be a far better location in order to protect the environmental concerns of the San Diego River and minimize the traffic impacts on the already overburdened residents of Mission Valley,” DeCesare said. “Once elected, one of my top priorities for the residents of District 7 will be protecting the Qualcomm site from condo development, and instead turning it into a major public park that can be enjoyed by all San Diegans while protecting SDSU’s football program.”
The June 7 primary election will have an impact on the future of the Chargers in San Diego. Its magnitude cannot be underestimated. “It is critically important that all Chargers fans vote. Fans must get their family and friends to vote as well,” Riggs said. “Abstaining in this election is actually casting a vote for the politicians who are trying to drive the Chargers out of San Diego.”
Full List of Save Our Bolts and San Diego Stadium Coalition endorsements for June 7th primary
Mayor: Ed Harris and Lori Saldaña
City Council, District 1: Barbara Bry
City Council District 7: Justin DeCesare
City Attorney: Bryan Pease
In October of 2014, BoltBlitz.com was among the first to report on the conflict between a few hoteliers and the Chargers’ effort to build a new multi-purpose stadium in conjunction with a non-contiguous expansion of the convention center. The obstructionism of these hoteliers, now known as the Hotelier Cabal, has transformed pro-stadium voices into true activists.
On Monday, the San Diego Stadium Coalition, Save Our Bolts and other civic and fan groups came together in support of a national boycott against San Diego hotels that are owned and/or operated by the Hotelier Cabal. The hoteliers identified in the boycott are financially influencing local politicians who are collectively opposing the development of a downtown mixed-use facility.
“Whether you feel strongly about the Chargers and their quest for a new stadium or not, the influence that the hotel industry wields over local officials has created a dysfunctional political ecosystem where voter and taxpayer interests are being mortgaged to the highest bidder.” said Jason Riggs, San Diego Stadium Coalition Founder and Chairman.
He added, “In 2008 we started working with various civic groups to find a stadium solution in San Diego. During that time one roadblock has remained consistent and that’s the hotel industry’s opposition to a downtown multi-use facility. Until these hoteliers and the politicians that represent them come forth to transparently discuss and negotiate the Chargers’ downtown convention center/stadium solution, we are asking everyone not to patronize their hotels.”
Save Our Bolts joined the San Diego Stadium Coalition in taking a hard-line stance against the Hotelier Cabal in organizing the boycott.
“Despite a downtown plan that includes a significant investment from the Chargers and zero general fund dollars, we have been surprised at the lack of support from local politicians and outright characterizations in campaign materials,” said David Agranoff, co-founder of Save Our Bolts.
“We fear that a group of powerful San Diego hoteliers are influencing local politicians and creating a united political front against the Chargers. Follow the trail of donations and it is shameful that these hotels are using politicians to pit neighborhoods against millions of Chargers fans. The reality is this plan doesn’t hurt your neighborhood in any way. It is time to hold them accountable. And our national fan base is ready to make sure when friends and family come to visit they know where NOT to book a room.”
Evidence of hotelier obstructionism has been present throughout the search for a stadium solution. Days before the Citizen Stadium Advisory Group (CSAG) announced they would focus on Mission Valley for a new stadium, a few of their members meet with stadium activists, including the leadership of the San Diego Stadium Coalition and Save Our Bolts.
In that meeting, when faced with the question of what were the real obstacles to downtown, a CSAG representative admitted that it was the hoteliers.
Steve Cushman has been particularly outspoken against the Chargers efforts downtown claiming, “If you were going to line up the people in San Diego who have done the most to block a new stadium over the years, there is no doubt that Steve Cushman would be near the head of that line,” Mark Fabiani told Chargers.com.
Mayor Faulconer re-appointed Steve Cushman to the San Diego Convention Corporation Board of Directors in October of 2015, a move that allowed the two to continue to work together for a contiguous expansion of the Convention Center.
When analyzing Faulconer’s actions and CSAG’s admission to stadium leaders, the only intellectual conclusion that can be reached is that CSAG’s choice between downtown and Mission Valley, and the mayor’s stadium effort last year, was nothing more than a political illusion designed to protect the interest of the Hotelier Cabal.
The cabal will now likely feel financial ramifications for their corruptive influence on San Diego politics. Save Our Bolts along with The San Diego Stadium Coalition have a combined 42,000 members that will be utilized to spread the word of the boycott. Family, friends and Chargers fans who live out of San Diego will be encouraged to avoid Hotelier Cabal properties.
Riggs added, “We know it’s going to take some real financial pressure on these hoteliers before they’ll negotiate in good faith to resolve our lingering Convention Center and stadium issues. We feel this is a good start.”
The hotels identified in the boycott include:
- Lodge at Torrey Pines
Town and Country Hotel
Town and Country Hotel
Pacific Terrace Hotel
Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn & Suites
The Dana on Mission Bay
Sheraton La Jolla
Hilton Harbor Island
Best Western Island Palms Hotel and Marina
- Holiday Inn San Diego Bayside
- Days Inn San Diego Hotel Circle (near Sea World)
For info on the political influence of San Diego Hoteliers, visit http://www.hoteliercabal.com
BoltBlitz.com fully endorses and agrees with the aforementioned parties on boycotting the local hotels of San Diego. They seem to be the ones standing in your way of keeping the Chargers in San Diego.
Thanks a lot for reading.
*submitted to BoltBlitz.com via email from Dan McLellan.
Booga: There is a feeling among the fans in San Diego that the brunt of the work on finding a stadium location has been placed on the Los Angeles area (Carson and Inglewood). Although that sentiment warrants some consideration, over a dozen years have been spent trying to find a solution in San Diego. How would you respond to the fans that feel that way?
Mark: I can’t blame fans for feeling that way, because we have made such quick progress in Los Angeles in just a few months while making so little progress in San Diego even after 14 years of work.
What we’ve tried to explain to fans is that the Los Angeles and San Diego markets are significantly different. In LA, the market is large enough to finance the stadium out of revenues generated by the stadium. In our smaller market here in San Diego, that same type of financing solution simply isn’t possible.
But no amount of explaining will keep our passionate fans from feeling frustrated, and I can’t blame them. After 14 years of work, the fans have every right to expect more progress than they’ve seen here in San Diego.
Booga: To show the readers that you are a fan of the team, what is your favorite moment in Chargers’ history?
Mark: The epic, overtime playoff game against Miami in the early 1980s. The incredible performance by Kellen Winslow and the rest of the team. I’ll never forget watching that game – I still remember to this day that Don Criqui was the announcer. Criqui was old school.
Booga: After CSAG submitted its initial proposal regarding their plan for a stadium in San Diego, what were your thoughts regarding the work they put into devising a plan that they believe would be workable?
Mark: My thought after the CSAG report was released was pretty much the same thought I had when the Mayor announced the creation of CSAG: We are running out of time. With the pressure that Stan Kroenke and the Rams were putting on us in Inglewood, we had hoped to move forward quickly to get something before the voters in San Diego in 2015. We felt this way in January, when the Mayor created the task force, and we have felt this way every day since. And while we are pleased that the city has now assembled a good group of experts led by Christopher Melvin of the Nixon Peabody law firm, it sure would have been nice to have been working with these experts last year – or even starting in January, when CSAG was created. Waiting for CSAG to conclude, and only then starting with the experts on June 2, constituted a huge loss of time – time that we can’t get back.
Booga: It appears to some that Mayor Faulconer and his team have no desire to explore downtown San Diego as an option for a stadium. The Chargers and Dean Spanos seem to be interested in seeking a viable option in downtown. Has the focus turned to downtown, or is the team willing to find a solution at the Mission Valley site?
Mark: Yes, the Mayor and his allies in the hotel industry have made it absolutely clear that they have no interest in the downtown option. CSAG’s chair said that anyone who believed downtown was viable was “delusional.” And the CSAG reports lists reason after reason why the downtown option can’t work. With all of this, it’s hard to see how the downtown option can be revived, at least in the short term.
Booga: How big of a role do the hoteliers have in deciding whether or not a stadium could be built in downtown?
Mark: The hoteliers call the shots on many of the important issues facing the City of San Diego, and they certainly do so on the possibility of a combined stadium-convention center downtown.
Of course, most people don’t follow the machinations of the hoteliers very closely. But if they did, they would be very surprised at what they would see.
For example, for years the hoteliers have insisted that any expansion to the Convention Center be contiguous – which means that the expansion must be connected to the existing facility. The hotel lobby said that a contiguous expansion was essential because that’s what the customers of the Convention Center wanted.
Of course, the hoteliers’ plan for accomplishing this has been thwarted by the courts; the legally dubious taxing mechanism proposed for the project was decisively struck down by the courts, and several environmental challenges against the project are still pending. Through that whole process, more than four years and $10 million in taxpayer money were wasted – only for the city to come up empty in the end.
So, at the behest of the hoteliers, the City is paying for another study of Convention Center customers to re-evaluate the idea of a contiguous expansion. And I’m going to go way out on a limb here and predict that this study is going to show – as Gomer Pyle used to say on The Andy Griffith Show – “surprise, surprise, surprise!” It turns out that our customers have changed their minds and now want a non-contiguous expansion after all! And when this happens, I bet no one will call out the hoteliers for carrying out this elaborate but obvious ruse.
Booga: The NFL owners and the NFL play a bigger role than most are aware of involving the stadium issue. Can you explain to the fans what their impact means to achieving a resolution to keep the Chargers in San Diego?
Mark: Most fans probably know at this point that the relocation of an NFL franchise from one city to another requires a three-fourths vote of the owners – 24 votes out of 32 owners. From the start of our new stadium efforts 14 years ago, we have always shown the utmost respect for the process established by the NFL’s owners. We have done everything possible to keep the League fully informed every step of the way, and the requirements imposed on us by the NFL’s relocation guidelines have been at the top of our minds throughout. In short, we have been very clear on this fundamental point: We will respect the decisions made by the owners about Los Angeles and San Diego.
Booga: Can you explain how the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) affects the situation via the courts?
Mark: CEQA law is pretty turgid stuff, and we only know so much about it because we have paid millions of dollars in legal fees over the years to understand it – because unless you understand CEQA, you will never be able to complete a major construction project in California.
So, despite the complicated nature of the topic, I will take a shot here at summarizing what CEQA means, and why it presents such a challenge for us right now here in San Diego. But readers, please be warned: Prepare to be bored.
CEQA is the landmark California state law requiring that all state and local legislative bodies fully account for the environmental impacts of proposed legislation before the legislation is passed.
For major projects, such as an NFL stadium and a possible ancillary development, CEQA requires that the legislative body conduct a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR), submit the EIR for public comment, incorporate or otherwise account for the public’s input, and then certify the EIR. Once the EIR is certified, the legislative body is free to adopt the project. At that point, for controversial projects in California, complaining parties typically sue to challenge the adequacy of the EIR, and on complex projects the resulting litigation can stall the project and consume several years of time.
What does all of this have to do with the City of San Diego and the Chargers?
An action by the City Council to place a stadium ballot measure before the voters is a legislative act and so must be cleared under CEQA. The standard method of accomplishing this for a complicated stadium project is to conduct a full-blown EIR – a process that usually takes from 12-to-18 months from start to certification by the City Council.
Even though the Mayor Faulconer took office in 2014, the city’s leaders have as of this date not even begun an EIR on the stadium project. Clearly, then there is no longer the opportunity to complete a legitimate, legally defensible EIR in time for a 2015 vote.
To get around this problem, the city has proposed, in three formal negotiating sessions and many informal conversations, four means of circumventing the traditional CEQA EIR process:
- Legislative Exemption: At our first formal negotiation session, the city’s team said that the only way to clear CEQA in time for a 2015 vote was to persuade the California state legislature to pass a law exempting the entire stadium/ancillary development project from CEQA. No other project of this type in California has ever received such a complete exemption, and we do not believe that such an exemption will be forthcoming from the legislation in this case. In any event, an exemption passed by the state legislature in 2015 would not take legal effect until next year and so would not apply to any 2015 ballot measure.
- Categorical Exemption: There are exemptions in CEQA for some projects. At our second formal meeting, the city argued that the stadium project was exempt from CEQA because we would simply be “replacing” the old stadium with the new stadium. This argument received serious legal scrutiny both by our legal team and by experts quoted in the media, and a consensus quickly emerged that this option was legally dubious.
- Reliance on 1983 Stadium Expansion EIR: At our third formal negotiating session, the city proposed to create an addendum for a 1983 EIR that was prepared for a 7,000 seat expansion of the stadium. The city maintained that the addendum could be prepared quickly and would not be subject to public review. Once again, we concluded based on all the advice we received that this approach was legally invalid because the 1983 EIR – which is all of 20-odd pages long – had nothing to do with the construction of a brand new stadium, the demolition of an old stadium, and an ancillary development. Therefore, it would not be possible to create a legally sufficient addendum that would pass CEQA muster.
- Quickie EIR: When it became clear that the city’s first three ideas for circumventing CEQA were untenable, the city proposed to conduct an EIR in time for a January 2016 ballot measure. To accomplish this, the city would have to begin the EIR immediately, spend roughly one month writing the EIR, begin the 45 day public review process, and then take time to account for the public comments – all prior to the mid-October date when the City Council would have to vote to place the matter on the January 2016 ballot.
Preparing a full EIR for a project of this magnitude in such a short period of time is unprecedented in California, and the resulting product would be so slipshod that plaintiffs’ lawyers would have an easy time having the document invalidated by the courts.
Booga: How did the Carson and Inglewood projects avoid the CEQA process?
Mark: Citizen’s initiatives are not subject to CEQA, and both the Carson and Inglewood stadiums were entitled through citizen’s initiatives.
A successful citizen’s initiative must be sponsored by a group or entity that has the financial resources to draft the initiative, gather signatures, and manage an effective election campaign. Starting from scratch today, the soonest a citizen’s initiative could reach the ballot in San Diego, if everything went smoothly, would be April or May of 2016. Finally, there is now a move in the California legislature to close the CEQA loophole that allows citizen’s initiatives of this type, and it is quite possible, even likely, that the law will be changed before there could be a vote on a citizen’s initiative in San Diego.
Booga: Why can’t an EIR be done in a month or two, if the city is prepared to throw significant resources behind the effort?
Mark: There is an entire class of plaintiffs’ lawyers in California that exists solely to challenge EIRs and then collect legal fees from taxpayers when the lawyers win in court. No EIR is legally bulletproof, but to get as close as possible to that goal would require 12-to-18 months of serious work. It is simply not possible to do the necessary work in a month or two.
Booga: San Diego’s mayor believes that the options identified for circumventing CEQA are legally defensible. Why isn’t that good enough for the Chargers?
Mark: The city has a very different tolerance for risk than the Chargers do. For example, four years ago the current city leadership proposed a novel way of increasing the hotel tax, without a public vote, to finance a convention center expansion. Many observers, including the Chargers, said at the time that the tax measure was illegal and that it would be struck down by the courts. The city’s leadership decided to move forward nonetheless and take their chances in court. Now, five years and $10 million in taxpayer money later, the tax was declared illegal by a unanimous court of appeals and the city has no Convention Center expansion plan.
The Chargers are in no position to roll the legal dice in this way. The team would be expected to fund, at a cost of perhaps up to ten million dollars, the election campaign, the vote, and the subsequent legal defense of the vote. And even if the team prevails at the ballot box, the project would be stalled by years of litigation which the team and city are likely to lose in the end.
Booga: Why must there be a public vote? Can’t the City Council simply adopt the stadium funding plan?
Mark: A City Council vote on a stadium plan would still require CEQA clearance and a full EIR.
In addition, a City Council vote would be subject to the California referendum process, which allows citizens who don’t like what the Council did to gather signatures to qualify for the ballot a referendum invalidating the City Council’s action. Opponents of taxpayer funding for a stadium in San Diego would almost certainly gather sufficient signatures to qualify a referendum for the ballot. The entire project would then be put on hold until the next regularly scheduled election. In short, there will likely be a public vote on the stadium project one way or another. The only questions are how the matter reaches the ballot, and when.
Finally, the Mayor and a majority of the City Council and County Board of Supervisors have insisted that there be a public vote on the expenditure of any public money for a stadium. These political leaders are unlikely to reverse their positions.
Booga: The City and County of San Diego are committed to spending several hundred million dollars of public money on a stadium project. Isn’t that significant?
Mark: The City and County haven’t committed anything yet. Any expenditure of public funds would have to be approved by voters. In the case of a tax increase, a two-thirds vote of approval is required under California law.
In addition, even if there is voter approval, the City and County of San Diego are both proposing to finance the project with money from their General Funds. In the City’s case, this would likely require the sale of Lease Revenue Bonds; in the County’s case, this would require several different appropriations over a period of years. Taking money from the General Fund to pay for a stadium will generate a vigorous public backlash and legal challenges by those who believe that vital services — such as police, fire and public pensions — will be imperiled by this funding mechanism.
Booga: How badly do you want the Chargers to remain in San Diego? Or are you strictly focused on what provides the Spanos’ family with the most lucrative deal possible?
Mark: If Dean and his family didn’t want the Chargers to remain in San Diego, we would have given up long ago. There have been stadium options available in LA going back to 2003, when AEG was proposing a stadium near Staples Center. Ed Roski’s stadium site in the City of Industry was fully entitled in 2008. AEG’s Farmers Field site has been fully entitled for years now as well. If the Spanos family wanted to move the Chargers out of San Diego, the team would have been gone a long time ago.
Booga: There has been a dark picture painted of you via the media and other outlets. It would appear that some do not understand that you have a job to do, and that you must do your due diligence to weigh all options in an effort to find a successful model for a stadium. How do you respond to the critics? Or do you?
Mark: We knew we would create plenty of controversy in January that when we decided to increase the pressure on San Diego political leaders to act. But we felt we had no choice, because of the move that the Rams made in Inglewood.
So, when I speak to fans, or e-mail with them, I try to ask a simple question: If we had simply remained quiet and allowed CSAG’s work to continue until the Fall – which is the schedule that the Mayor first proposed – would our chances of solving this problem have increased, or decreased? My strong view is that if we had simply said nothing, right now we would all be sitting around and waiting for CSAG to finish work in October or November – just as the NFL owners are in the process of considering the Los Angeles question.
Of course, fans have every right to their own opinions about the wisdom of our strategy, and I have no business trying to talk them out of those opinions. But I’m comfortable with the new strategy that we pursued once our hand was forced in January by events in Inglewood.
Booga: In closing, do you have anything to say to the fans of the San Diego Chargers that gives them a true sense of hope when it comes to their team staying put in America’s finest city?
Mark: Anyone who tells you how the Los Angeles relocation process is going to play out at the NFL ownership level is engaging in pure speculation. There isn’t anyone who truly knows how the situation will ultimately resolve itself. And whatever resolution occurs is going to be impacted by important events that have not yet occurred.
Finally, a great deal might depend on how the San Diego political leadership decides to treat the NFL and the Chargers going forward. The good news here is that the city has finally assembled experts in stadium finance who might, we hope, advise a different, more sophisticated approach to the Chargers and to the NFL than the one that some of the city’s political leaders have taken so far.
This is another one of those articles that I do not enjoy writing. That being said, I am very interested to see what the fans have to say. But I have a feeling that I know what the majority of the responses will be.
The back-and-forth between the Mayor’s office and the Chargers has gotten a bit ugly at times. Name calling on both sides have polluted social media via interviews on the radio and the internet. It seems to have toned down recently, but I don’t expect it to remain that way. I suppose we’ll all have to remain patient as we wait for the scenario to play out.
Let’s face it, we are now reaching the eleventh hour in this process. Mark Fabiani, special counsel to the Chargers, has repeatedly stated that they have been working with San Diego for 14 years in order to keep the team in America’s finest city. (Go ahead and take a drink) But how much progress has truly been made? At this point, after the shuffling of downtown and the Mission Valley site as being the prime location, it is hard to say if any progress has been made.
I suppose steps in the right direction have commenced, as Mayor Faulconer seems to be genuine in his remarks regarding the team not leaving for Los Angeles. I can say that I know for a fact that the CSAG members are putting in countless hours — of volunteer, unpaid time — to work toward a viable solution. But the clock is ticking.
Honestly, I have no clue exactly how I would feel if they moved. I can guarantee that I would be extremely angry initially, but part of me believes that I would get over it and remain a fan. Again, I don’t know. I really want them to stay in San Diego. I didn’t move here from Charlotte, North Carolina to watch them leave for Los Angeles, or anywhere else for that matter.
In an effort to avoid rambling on and on, I’ll get right to the poll question. Please place your vote on the poll and explain that vote by leaving a comment below. I’ll be doing a follow-up piece on this using your responses on Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks a lot for reading, voting and commenting.
What will a joint venture between the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego mean to the Chargers? To begin with, it does is alter one bone of contention – the vote. Or does it? Secondly, it paves the way for the two entities to (hopefully) meet on mutual ground in the bid to keep the Bolts in San Diego. Third, it perhaps gives the team, and its fan base, hope for the future. Finally, it may prove that the deal in Carson is what many believe it to be – a bluff rather than reality.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced Thursday that the city and the County, behind Supervisor Ron Roberts, will be splitting costs in the hiring of attorneys, consultants and other experts to assist with the impending issue. Each side will present its findings/proposals by the May 20 deadline. It has to be fair to all the involved parties – the city, the county and the team. Keep in mind that this undertaking not only affects Chargers football but that of San Diego State in addition to other events which provide revenue.
Does a new stadium need to be voted on? Since the City and County are pledging to work together, it does not appear that the two-thirds vote is going to be needed. However, Mayor Faulconer has indicated that even if a ballot measure for that two-thirds approval is not required, he feels it is mandatory for San Diego voters to have a say. The likelihood of a “yay” vote occurring in the sole circumstance of the City voting is like paddling your canoe upstream against the current. This team has fans that trek not just from downtown but also fans that travel from inland North County and the coastal communities as well as from East County and South County. Do you see where this is headed? Why should only those registered voters in downtown San Diego be responsible for making a decision that will ultimately affect those who reside outside its boundaries? Let us not forget what has been common knowledge for quite some time: the city coffers are not in the best financial state. Enter the county which is in a better position to assist. To best serve the San Diego Chargers and their many devotees, a county-wide ballot must be proposed, as it was back in the day when San Diego/Jack Murphy/Qualcomm stadium was initially presented in 1964.
The team has tried for many years to gain approval for a new home in San Diego. The city hasn’t always wanted to play ball even though its former mayors had stated that they would help facilitate such a project. Now, at the nth hour with Los Angeles becoming a mecca as it were, the timeframe is tightening. The facility that the San Diego Chargers currently play in is decrepit, falling apart, outdated and before long will not be a viable venue for anything. So, while the City and the County of San Diego each hire and task their chosen attorneys, advisers, and specialists with searching for a plausible, cohesive plan to make dreams reality, Dean Spanos and his special counsel, Mark Fabiani, will continue to pursue Carson, CA as an alternative.
Bottom line, it is do-or-die for Mayor Faulconer, Supervisor Ron Roberts, and the Citizens Stadium Advisory Group.
Thank you for reading! Please share your thoughts below.
It seems everyone has their diaper in a bunch over the Chargers moving to Los Angeles (LA). Sure, we are in the 11th hour and the threat of moving should be taken very seriously, but it is not time to panic. There are many reasons to believe that the Bolts aren’t going anywhere. In fact, it is just a matter of time before they break ground on a new stadium and construction begins! Yes, if you haven’t guessed, this is the optimist’s look at the stadium situation in LA. Let’s take a look at five reasons to believe that the Chargers are staying put in San Diego. If nothing else, they may help you sleep at night.
- The Chargers Want to Stay: They must want to stay, or they would have left a decade ago. They have certainly satisfied the NFL’s requirements that state that a team must make a sincere effort to work things out with their city before a move. They could have paid the City a few million bucks and headed north for the big money in LA at any time, but they didn’t. They chose to stay and try to work something out in their home town. Just because we are 14 years into this issue, it doesn’t mean that there is not chance. There is a new Sherriff in town…and his name is Mayor Faulconer (said in my best Eddie Murphy voice).
- The New Mayor Wants the Bolts to Stay: Sure there have been many new Mayors in San Diego over the last 14 years who could have chosen to tackle the stadium issue. In fact, there have been seven other Mayors since the year 2000 and nothing has been accomplished. That’s okay; let’s not judge Mayor Faulconer using the failures of his predecessors. Give the man a chance! Mayor Faulconer has made it clear that he has knocked out much of the issues that have kept previous Mayors from working on a stadium. He has filled all of the potholes, gotten the City out of bankruptcy, and a few other important issues over his first year in office. Now he is ready to focus on keeping the Chargers in San Diego. In fact, he has made it clear that he does not want the Bolts to bolt on his watch. That would not look good on a resume.
- CSAG: Mayor Faulconer has appointed a nine member group of brilliant and successful people to take a look at the stadium issue and try to come up with a way to finance the stadium and where to build it. This Citizens Stadium Advisory Group (CSAG) has its work cut out for it. The most likely way to get a vote passed in San Diego is to not raise taxes. As you probably know by now, if the taxpayers have to cover a portion of the financing, it must be voted on and passed by 67% of the voters. If they can be creative enough to come up with a plan that does not raise taxes, say a loan that needs to be paid back, it only needs a 55% approval by the voters. Still a tough task, but far more likely than two-thirds.
- Spanos and Faulconer Meet: Finally, the Mayor and the Chargers CEO met to discuss what was going on and how to move forward. Going into this meeting, many shots were sent from the Chargers across the bow of the City by Chargers legal representative Mark Fabiani. It was as if anything the city said or did was not enough for Fabiani. He ripped the Mayor and the “task force” that he created at every opportunity. Then the real bombshell hit when the Bolts announced that they were looking at and moving forward on building a joint stadium in Carson, California with the Oakland Raiders! Enough was enough, at that point, and the Mayor invited Dean Spanos in for a one-on-one conversation. This may have been the best decision the Mayor has made to date. After the meeting, both the Chargers and the City said they were moving forward to work together, with the CSAG, to try to make it work in San Diego. Although the Chargers are still looking at Carson, they made it clear that it was simply plan B in case San Diego didn’t work out. Can’t blame them for wanting a backup plan, can you?
- SOB: No, I’m not just venting. That is the acronym for a new non-profit group that was created recently to raise awareness about San Diego’s need for a stadium. The Save Our Bolts group was created just a few months ago and already has over 12,000 members on Facebook! The members have already been seen on the TV news at important events and the leaders have actually had an audience with the Mayor to discuss how serious the citizens are about wanting the Bolts to stay. They have more events to come, including a rally where members will attend a public forum with the CSAG members to make sure it is known that the citizens of San Diego love their Bolts! If you want to show support or get involved with SOB, please click this link when you have completed reading this article and leaving a comment. http://tinyurl.com/qd5dhpj
I could go on and get into the fact that the Rams are still in the driver’s seat as far as moving to LA is concerned, but that drums up a lot of angles that do not necessarily lend themselves to optimism. Charger fans have a couple of options.
- They can focus on the fact that the Chargers are still here and go out and do everything they can to help keep them in San Diego.
- They can give up and write this upcoming season off as the last time that San Diego will host the NFL.
I choose the former.
Thanks for reading and please leave your comments below. Remember, this article was written from the optimist’s perspective; it obviously was not intended to represent all of the negative facts to this saga.
Go Bolts!….I mean, Stay Bolts!
(Thanks to:bigozine2.com, facebook.com, ocregister.com, youtube.com, and utsandiego.com for the pics) | <urn:uuid:d5b3188f-fef6-4668-ba35-10064fdc1919> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://boltblitz.com/?tag=kevin-faulconer | 2017-08-23T17:40:38Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886123312.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170823171414-20170823191414-00220.warc.gz | en | 0.970706 | 18,472 |
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Feeling constantly driven to write, I have to do it now again, although I wrote a post during the night that no one has responded to yet. It doesn't matter, I write for myself at this point. It's an exercise in being alive and aware and letting my brain work around the details of my life, small and insignificant as they are. Let's face it, I certainly don't live a life of high drama and adventure. I only have high drama when things don't go well and I hit one of my low points and extensively write about it. Adventure never happens in my life anymore, that's a thing of the past, when I was younger and more daring and didn't give a hoot about the consequences. The most adventurous thing I do nowadays is cross four lanes of busy traffic on my bicycle, or ride over cobblestoned streets at high speed because I just came off the incline of the bridge, Yes, I do have to squeeze the hand brakes a little bit then to not hit those absentminded pedestrians that wander into the street.
So anyway, high adventure there is not, but I can write about anything under the sun and make a story out of it. I can dramatize the lives of my dog and cats, if I want. I just took the dog out and I noticed that he is actually a bit of a shy dog, because he saw a window washer and watched him from afar and gave him a wide berth. I don't know how much the glaucoma is influencing his vision, and what he actually sees, but he doesn't like to be surprised and shies away from people who suddenly show up in his immediate surroundings. Of course, he doesn't hear them, which is something people don't understand, and they can make the nicest sounds in the world, but he doesn't know what in the world they are talking about and can only tell by body language what their intentions are. He's not much interested in other people or dogs when we are outside. He really doesn't care very much. It's different if they come into the apartment. He likes visitors and will make sure he gets a lot of attention, and so do the cats, so anybody who comes here has to like animals very much.They will be besieged by them.
Gandhi just escaped into the stairwell and went for a roam around to the very top. I left the front door open on a crack, because rather than chase her, I've found out that she comes back of her own accord and it really doesn't take her that long, because she is afraid that she will miss out on something here. Like when the dog will get his food. I just have to make sure that Toby also doesn't disappear in the meantime, but he will come back too, only he hasn't figured out how to push open the door to come back in and sits there on the doormat meowing mournfully. Sometimes they escape through the outside door, but they know how to make their way around the block into the little patio and back into the apartment through the cat flap. They do it in no time at all. Cats actually are pretty smart animals and have a great homing instinct.
Well, that's what I've got too. You should see me on the way back home from downtown. It's like I'm pulled by magnetic forces toward the apartment. I peddle that bike so quickly, even though I go slightly uphill the whole way. All I can think about is to be home again with Jesker and the cats and to be in my own cozy surroundings where I can do what I will and sit and smoke and drink coffee and be absolutely decadent and anti social, Not that I don't enjoy it to be in good company, but I always look forward to my alone time. I'm just the lonesome cowboy type. Yes, me and a campfire and a pot of coffee, I can picture it now. And my horse Trigger tied up to a tree.
I've got to go to the tobacconist. I'm down to my last crumbs of tobacco. I very rarely let my supply dwindle that low. I suppose I like to live dangerously every once in a while. I'm smoking my second to last cigarette and then all the tobacco will be gone. It takes me three minutes to ride my bike over to the tobacco shop and I have to remember to buy stamps as well, because I have to mail a birthday card to my daughter.
I'm off then. I'm going to ride my bike into the crispy afternoon in which the sun is shining. Have your selfs a nice day and I will do the same.
After dinner, while watching the news, I was sitting in the corner of the sofa, quite upright, not even with my legs tucked underneath me, but that is how I fell asleep. I woke up at 11 pm in just about the same position, but with my right arm dangling off the side and with my hand all swollen up. That just goes to show you, that when I need to sleep, I will do it under all circumstances, no matter what the discomfort level is, because my hand hurt.
Needless to say, when I woke up, I was wide awake and didn't have one ounce of sleep left in me, so I turned on the computer and have been amusing myself with it ever since. I looked up interesting photos on Pixdaus to illustrate my posts with and then cut them down to the proper size in Paintshop Pro. This is the kind of work I like to do, because it is pleasurable, but not difficult, and I takes some amount of time to find the right photos, so an hour flies by in no time. I do have to sort through a lot of photos, because tastes differ and what one person considers pretty, another person does not, and that means, of course, that you may not like my choices either. But I like them and that's the most important thing.
I have completely adjusted to my glasses and the strength of them and they are so very comfortable to wear, I don't know how I ever did without them, or how I ever was satisfied with the other ones. Well, I wasn't, that's why I wore them so seldom. These are just perfect and I can wear them all the time for any kind of job, which is how it should be. I thought it was strange that I had to take my glasses off when I sat behind the computer. It just didn't seem right. If you have to do this, they may not have been adjusted to your eyes properly.
Jesker is very dissatisfied with me, because he really wants to go to sleep in the bedroom, but because I'm not there, he feels that he needs to stay out here with me. He longs to lie down on his comfortable pillow, though. The poor guy, he is so torn. That's loyalty for you. I hope he chooses for his pillow, I would not be the least bit insulted.
When I was downtown today, I was not the least bit tempted to go shopping and there have been times when that has been different, when I thought I had to buy something for myself whenever I was in town. I am so strict with myself nowadays, that I hardly ever permit myself to give in to the urge, not even at the nice store that has continuous sales and where I very often find very good deals. These days, all I do is pay bills and buy groceries and buy the odd little thing for myself now and then. A book or something. Nothing big. I try to buy myself a treat now and then, but I never spend a lot of money on myself and the treat has to be just a little thing, but something I am happy with nevertheless. It seems that life has gotten very expensive for everyone and everybody is feeling the crunch.
Yet when I am downtown, I see people walking around with numerous bags from expensive stores and I wonder how they can afford to shop like that still. It seems that there is a segment of the population that's doing just fine and that can spend money as usual. That surprises me in these times and I think it is so wasteful. If I were in that situation, I would certainly not waste my money on expensive items, although they say that money must roll. I am exposed to too many people who have to make it from one month to the next and really watch their money, and then it seems almost obscene to watch people shop with so much abundance. I think there are people in this society who have no idea what it is like to have to account for every Euro that you spend. Especially not our government leaders, who have such unrealistic points of view about what people can live on. I shouldn't complain, though. I am still much better of than a large majority of the people in this world. On top of that, I have excellent health insurance, something that even a lot of people in 'rich' countries can't afford.
Oh. I have to make sure I don't get bogged down in politics, but you may have noticed that our prime minister is in the running for president of the European Community. They can have him, for all I care, I'm sure he'll do a fine job and make everybody happy. We can get another prime minister easily and maybe one who does a better job at leading the government. It seems he is a quite popular candidate. That's because he doesn't ruffle any feathers.
Okay, that's enough about politics and economics. Back to the domestic scene. Toby is very happily crunching down on the dog food. The next time I will have to get the mini kibbles, they will be easier for him to eat and the dog may like them better too. Anything to make these animals happy. Jesker usually likes the kibbles for small dogs better, he likes to vacuum them up out of the bowl. I had forgotten about that.
I must seriously consider going to bed now. I do want to get some sleep before the day starts and more than that actually. I wish there was an easy way for me to silence my digital alarm clock, but I haven't figured it out yet. So promptly at 7 am I need to shut it off. That's okay really, I can take my medicines then and go back to sleep.
Alright, off I go then. Have a good morning or a good night. I will be sleeping.
Friday, October 30, 2009
I was a smart woman and slept a lot last night. I fell asleep on the sofa some time in the evening and stayed there all night and when I woke up in the morning, I had the feeling that I was not nearly done sleeping, so at 7 am, I called to say I would not be at creative therapy and went to bed where I slept until nearly one pm. It was wonderful, except that I almost forgot that I had an appointment with Von and that I had to go to Specsavers to get the new lenses put in my glasses. So, I was running a bit late and had to get dressed in a hurry and walk the dog and make cigarettes and call Von to let her know that I would not be there on time. Then I took a big deep breath and sat down and had a tall glass of juice, before I hopped on my bike to go downtown.
I met Von at the Our Dear Lady Square and together we walked the short distance to Specsavers. I handed over my glasses and they said they would be done in 15 minutes, so Von and I walked to the café and sat under the awning and had something to drink. I had a hard time with my glasses off, because my eyes had to make the adjustment and at first it was a strange experience to not have them on. The heating under the awning was on, so it was very pleasant there. Von ordered tea and I ordered cappuccino and I must say that it was delicious.
After 30 minutes I walked to Specsavers and got my glasses and put them on and the whole world looked different. Everything was so crisp and bright and clear. Full of confidence I walked out of the store back to the café, where Von was waiting, still nursing her tall glass of tea. I ordered another cappuccino and we sat wrapped in conversation for about an hour, until it was time to go home.
I always find the way back home easier to ride than the way to downtown. I don't know why that is, but I do it more gladly. I'm less bothered by the traffic lights and the traffic and the inclines I need to ride up against. I think maybe I just like going home.
My trusty four footer was happy to see me and the first thing I did was pet him for a while, so we could bond again. Then he got a treat and I got a glass of fruit juice and I turned on the computer. While I was reading my emails it dawned on me that I was reading them with my glasses on, which I had not been able to do with my other glasses that had been the same strength. This leads me to believe that maybe those lenses were not put in right and that the adjustment for the astigmatism hadn't been correct. Maybe the focal point had been in the wrong place. Anyway, now I can see the writing on the computer just fine.
I'm so tired now, that I'm going to put on my pajamas and have something to eat and veg out in front of the television. I feel a lot of sleep coming up.
Have a good evening,
Thursday, October 29, 2009
After I had that bowl of porridge this afternoon, I couldn't resist the temptation and laid down on the sofa for just a little while with my book and, of course, I fell asleep for an hour and a half, but it was very pleasant and I don't feel at all like I've ruined it for tonight, because I still feel that I've got plenty of sleep left in me. As a matter of fact, I'm yawning as I write this and tears are running down my face and I'm yawning so hard, that I'm in danger of dislocating my jaw, which I will have to push back in place myself if it does. Everything is crackling and popping every time I yawn. It will have to be part of my self sufficiency, how to relocate my jaw after yawning. Just like changing light bulbs and reconnecting the computer.
The Exfactor always thought that I didn't know how to do those things. He assumed I was helpless. He didn't know I had 22 years experience at being not helpless, at being competent. He was a rescuing knight on a white horse whether you wanted to be rescued or not. He pulled your survival tools right out of your hands and made you unskilled and all thumbs. Some people are that way. They are Super Good Samaritans and don't let other people figure things out for themselves. There are Mother Theresas all over the world in all guises. They are so eager to do good deeds, that they are constantly looking for victims and if they can't find them, they create them.
It feels like it is very late at night already, but is isn't. I've got my pajamas and my bathrobe on. The pharmacy delivered my medication. I just told them to do it and didn't give them a reason why. I very easily could have picked it up myself, but I didn't feel like going out at the end of the afternoon when my prescriptions were being faxed. There's always a lot of traffic then and I do so hate crossing those two intersections at that time of the day.
I've never gotten quite competent at riding my bike again when I came back to the Netherlands. I do a good job, but I always worry about the traffic. I feel very vulnerable after all those years of always driving a car. I feel especially so when my bike is loaded with groceries and I'm glad I live so close to the grocery store, because I worry even over that short distance. I still yell at pedestrians downtown that step of the sidewalk in front of my bike. They are suicidal, but I will have the biggest injuries and when you live alone, you don't want a broken arm. It's hard to go to the toilet on your own with only one arm functioning. I yell, "Watch out, watch out!" I can't ring my bell fast enough. Or at people who walk on the cobblestoned streets, "Will you please go walk on the sidewalk?" Those cobblestoned streets make you rattle and shake as it is. It's hard to keep control over your bike. You just hobble all over the place.
It's all an effort by the city to make the streets downtown look as authentic as possible, but those cobbletones are murder on your bike, or your ankles when you walk on them. Sturdy shoe wear is advised. Ladies with high heels shouldn't go there, you see evidence of them stuck in the cracks. Not the ladies, but the high heels.
I'm having a terrifically tall glass of fruit juice to quench my thirst. Drinking coffee makes you thirsty and this fruit juice is the greatest stuff. It is freshly squeezed and kept in the cooler at the store. I could drink glasses of it, but I do want to make it last and it is high in calories, but it has all kinds of vitamins in it. I drink two glasses of it a day and that gives me a bunch of the vitamins I need. I also drink a lot of milk and as a result my nails grow very quickly and so does my hair. The porridge I eat is high in vitamin B and iron.
Specsavers called this evening and said that the lenses for my glasses were there, so I'm going in tomorrow afternoon to have them put into the frame. It shouldn't take long to do it and I'm seeing my friend Von at the same time. I haven't seen Von in a while and it will be good to hang out with her. No doubt we will sit by our usual café, but hopefully under the awning where there is heating, although it hasn't been that cold outside the last few days and there has been no rain. The leaves are dropping very quickly off the trees, though. It's going very rapidly right now, but some of the trees look spectacular still. Not all of them are equally pretty and only the imported maples are really awesome. Some trees just turn brown and that is it. Some turn yellow and that is much better.
I found the glasses that I had lost. They were in a box in my bedroom that had photos and photo frames in it. I don't know how they got in there and I found them quite by accident, but now that I have them again, I must say that I don't really like them and that I like my old glasses better and that I'm glad that I'm getting the proper lenses put into those. I've tried them out, of course, and I can't wear them behind the computer and do better with them off. It seems the worse my vision gets for far away, the better it gets for close by. I don't know why I thought these new glasses were better for me, because they are not at all attractive. At least, I don't think so. I think I look like a very stern school mistress who should have her hair in a bun and a pencil behind her ear. I look much kinder in my old glasses.
I have creative therapy in the morning and I will be looking at that last painting I made and try to figure out what's missing in it, because something is. It is too stilted as it is now. There's not enough life in it. It needs more abundance, more joie de vivre. I'll either fix it or ruin it. It's a 50/50 chance that I take. That's what skill is all about. Next I need to do a painting that brings me back to the basics. Just the original elements that I started out with, but very well combined. I'm futzing too much now with other little details and I don't want to do that. It distracts me from my main design. That's what I need to get back to.
Why is it that I get oodles of energy the later the night gets? I really enjoy myself late at night, that's when I feel best. I'm complete in my satisfaction and contentment. I will take my medications now and maybe that will slow me down. I need to get sleepy now and not excited about being up.
Alright, I think I have made this post long enough. I don't want the length to be overwhelming. I hope you all have a good night's sleep and I will "see" you all in the morning, fit as a fiddle.
I actually got six hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. I decided, after getting some good advice from some friends, to make my sleeping pattern more normal and to not stay up all night anymore. What I think is actually happening, is that I'm displaying some hypo manic behavior, without actually being hypo manic, and the reason I am not, is due to the fact that some of my medication has been increased. I am, amongst other things, changing the looks of my blog and adding new blogs, without keeping in mind if I will be able to keep these up. So, I have to keep an eye on myself, so I don't start to run rampant and crash and burn. Enough said about that, I will be good and watch myself better.
I posted a new six sentences on my writings blog, so please go there if you have the time. I wish lots of people would become followers. It would make me feel good if I knew that a lot of people were reading me, because I write to be read and to get feedback from people who themselves write and don't all bloggers do that? These are nuggets of myself that I'm giving away, much more so than my art. My art is a physical manifestation of my outer self, my writings are a psychological manifestation of my inner self, the real me, dressed in prose, in evening wear if you will. I lay bare my soul in them and you can see glimpses, if not outright vistas, of me and my innermost self. That's saying a lot.
While I write this, I'm doing chores at the same time. I've now got dishes soaking in the kitchen sink and I've already cleaned up the kitchen counter and done the trash and picked up the living room. The Exfactor was here and brought me two rolls of whole wheat biscuits. I scolded him for doing so, but he left them anyway. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, except eat them, which I always say I won't, but which I always do. My excuse is that they're good for me, but it's a very flimsy one. They are more bad for me than that they're good for me.
I have to take the dry laundry off the drying rack and hang up the next load to dry. I don't mind doing this, but I get distracted and forget about it and then it sits in the machine while I'm with my head in the clouds. I must make it a point to remember it today, otherwise it will get stinky and I'll have to wash it again. I seriously like doing laundry, because it is such a satisfactory job, but I am forgetful and a load of laundry takes me days to do until it is clean and dry. Thanks goodness that I hardly do any ironing. It would take weeks.
I also don't mind doing the dishes, but I act like I do and let them stack up until it seems unmanageable. Then I get it in my head to do them and I rinse and organize them and suddenly it seems that there aren't that many and they are done in no time. It's sheer intimidation that stops me from functioning sometimes. The intimidation of unorganized things. Once you've sorted everything out, it's always less daunting than it looked in the first place.
There, I've just done the dishes, Now I'll take a break and do the laundry next. I'm using my instant reward system. It works if applied diligently. There must be no wavering and no dawdling about the job. The minute the coffee is gone and the cigarette has been smoked, I must get up and do the next thing, with the expectancy that I get to sit down here again as soon as it's done, but I must think about another job I can do in the meantime. There is always something that needs to get done, even if it is as lowly a job as scrubbing the toilet, and you all know how I feel about that!
My dog is forgetting that he has not been walked yet this afternoon and is sound asleep on his blanket. No doubt he will wake up just as I'm about to hang up the laundry.He will have to wait his turn. I must do everything in the proper order. There will be no chaos reigning here.
Okay, that was the laundry. My psychiatrist just called me to discuss my medication with me. He wanted to make sure that the amounts I was taking were what I should be taking and that I wasn't taking too much of any kind. He was getting ready to fax new prescriptions to the pharmacy. I think he is a very conscientious man, He doesn't just go ahead and write a prescription, he wants to talk to the patient first, even though he has seen me not too long ago. He always calls me when he is about to write a prescription, just to make sure I'm in my right mind, I think. I think he would know fast enough if I were not okay, if there were something wrong with me and I was up front with him and told him I am showing signs of hypo mania.Therefor he knew why I was using up the anti psychotic quicker than usual and why I had not gone back yet to my old dose. It's good to be in good hands. It makes me feel safe.
The laundry just fit on the drying rack. I had sheets and assorted stuff. I have new laundry, but not enough to run the machine. It will have to wait. I must dirty some things first. I even found two pairs of matching socks that had originally been separated, but I knew if I waited long enough they would pair up again. I have clean pajamas for tonight, that will be something to look forward to.
I have to sweep and mop the kitchen floor next. I will need extra courage for that, for the mopping part, because I don't like mopping. It never turns out as well as I want it to. It's an exercise in frustration. First I will walk the dog, I think he is ready now.
The dog wanted to go for a longer walk than we normally do, so we did, although I had to curb his enthusiasm a little bit. I wasn't about to be dragged all over the neighborhood. We made compromises. As soon as we got in the turdy neighborhood I turned around. That's where people don't pick up the dog poop in the little green area. I'm not about to walk around there. It's very much disgusting and somehow they are getting away with it and there's a playground right by it.
I've just eaten a bowl of porridge and it has made me sleepy, so now I long for a nap, but I must not lay down and fall asleep, because then my schedule will get turned upside down again. It's taken the wind out of my sails completely. I will sit down in the armchair and read my book with a cup of coffee or a glass of fruit juice.
Right, so much for sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor.
Have a great rest of the day, be good for goodness sake.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Someone suggested that I start a new blog with only my writings on it instead of adding links all the time to this blog for you to see my writing at other sites. I thought that was an excellent idea and I've set up a new blog called The Green Stone Woman Writings. You can also find the link to it at the top right hand side of this page. If you become a follower, I won't have to refer to it every time I publish a new piece of writing, although I will at first anyway for those of you who haven't caught on yet. What led to this was that the story I had published at Facebook was not accessible to you unless you were a member. You can now read it on the new blog.
I went to bed at 6:30 this morning and slept until 11 am. That is still not enough sleep, but it is better than no sleep at all. It does mean that I missed my creative class again, but I thought it was more important to catch up on my sleep. I feel pretty good now and like I'm fairly well awake. I'm still in my bathrobe and pajamas and I still have to walk the dog, but I will do that shortly, after I have had my second cup of coffee. The dog is sleeping by my feet, ready to go when I make the move.
I talked about all sorts of rubbish in my last post that I wrote during the night, but it may be worth reading it, so I won't have to repeat myself. Not that I never repeat myself, because I know I do. I don't have such a great memory when it comes to the finer details of life and I know I rehash things that I've already discussed, but I'm sure you'll excuse me for this habit.
We have a blue sky streaked with clouds and the sun is shining. We're not expecting any rain and it is 13C outside. It will be nice to walk the dog. It is actually good weather for the time of year, as it is supposed to get as warm as 16C today...
...It was nice out. I could have done without a jacket. At least not one as warm as the one I wore. I've gotten two books in the mail, so that was a nice surprise. They are ones I got in my own country, so they only cost me one point. They weren't on my wish list, but they are nice additions anyway. It isn't always possible to get the books on my wish list, because many people in the USA no longer send books outside their country. I've also stopped sending books outside Europe, with the odd exception if I can afford it. It's too expensive to ship books overseas and you go broke doing it. It does have to stay an enjoyable hobby.
Well, that's all I had to tell you really. Just some information about the new blog that I hope you will enjoy. I'm going to be busy keeping them all straight and updated. I'm going to read now and have something to eat. Feed the mind and the stomach.
Have a good day!
I wrote six sentences in Dutch and then translated them into English and just published them on the Six Sentences website. That was that piece of prose that was getting in the way of my thinking this afternoon when I was trying to write a post. I don't know why I had to write it in Dutch first, but it played in a Dutch rural setting, so maybe that is why. It is also not a bad thing for me to write in Dutch and to see if I can express myself to my liking in that language , which I do surprisingly well. Better than I think I'm capable of anyway. I think I'm going to keep doing this, write in Dutch and then translate into English and keep both versions. Maybe I can turn it into poetry some day for a poetry magazine.
I have walked the dog for the last time and am now in my pajamas and bathrobe. It is very cozy and nice to know that I won't have to go out again. I am already looking forward to going to bed at a decent hour with my book, which is The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble, and which I am enjoying more and more the further I am getting into it. There are many characters in it and that was a bit confusing at first, but now I'm getting them straight in my head and am getting all the relationships figured out. It is definitely a women's book, as many of my books are, because most of my book moochers are women, but there is a solitary man in there who is a repeat moocher. He has mooched four books so far.
It is in the middle on the night in the meantime, because I took some time out to eat and watch the news and, of course, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until a few hours later, sitting upright on the sofa with my head in my hand, which had gone to sleep also. So, needless to say, I am not ready to go to bed now and will stay up for a while.
I just watched Jesker eat cat food, but I was not about to give him more of his own food because he had his share for today. Strange dog, scrounging around in the kitchen looking for food instead of coming to me to ask for some. I would have given him a Bonzo bone if he had asked for it. Toby was sitting by the bowl looking absolutely flabbergasted, so I gave him some dried dog food, which he adores and which the dog ignores completely. I think I have very strange animals.
Some time ago I ordered business cards for myself that say "The Green Stone Woman" on them, so I can never change the name of my blog, just so you know or I would have to order new business cards. As a profession I have "writer." Someone asked me why I had not put down "artist" and I guess that had not even dawned on me, because I see myself as a writer first, but when I run out of business cards, in about ten years time, I will put down "writer and artist." I keep a little box of cards in my purse and try to remember to hand them out to the appropriate people. Often I forget I have them, though, and I have to make it a point to hand one out every day to whomever. Even if it is only the delivery man. I do have to get my name out there.
I have written another six sentences in between everything else. It's really funny, because I put it through the Alta Vista Babelfish translator to see what it comes up with and the translation is great! Of course, it's completely unpublishable and wrong, but it's so funny and interesting to read and it does give me ideas on how to translate some things. You wouldn't be able to make any sense of it unless you knew the original text, though.So don't count on Babelfish too much when you're translating into a language you don't know. It may come out all wrong at the other end.
I hurt my knee while grocery shopping the other day. I was carrying a very heavy shopping basket and letting it rest against my knee. I took a step with my leg stretched and pushed against the weight of the basket and heard something go pop. Since then I have a sore knee. I don't think it is anything serious, but it is amusing that you can get hurt while doing the grocery shopping, as if that is a hazardous occupation. Isn't there a condition called "housewife's knee?" I am sure they weren't talking about this kind of injury, though. That must be from scrubbing the floors, which I don't do. Or don't do enough of, I should say. My knobby knees don't allow it.
I've just remembered to take my medicines. I'm a little bit late with that and according to my inner clock, I'm really late. I don't know about you, but I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting to that hour we gained by setting the clocks back. I keep being one hour ahead of myself. I'm going by what it looks like outside and not by what time it says on the clock, but even in the morning I'm ready too early and sit around waiting for it to be time to go to creative therapy, which is where I have to be in the morning and where I will be in not too many hours and I wonder if I will sleep before that time. I really should try, but I'm so wide awake. I will drink hot milk, that should do the trick.
Okay, without much further ado, although I could sit here forever yet, I will come to an ending. Where before I knew not what to write about, I know not how to shut up this time. I can rattle on for a long time. I do so enjoy a monologue in which I'm not interrupted and in which I can talk about whatever I please. People should always have that pleasure, but in real life I'm not like that at all. I'm a silent water that runs deep.
I hope you are all having a good night or whatever you are having in your time zone and a good morning to those of you who are reading this upon arising.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I've published a story I wrote about 18 years ago on Facebook and have gotten excited responses to it. This is very encouraging and caused me to rewrite two poems as pieces of prose on the Six Sentences website and you can read those here and here. This has gotten me interested in writing more of these kinds of pieces and I'm hard at work to come up with more.
I've been sleeping erratically and have not had a normal night yet. I'm always up some part of the night, if not the whole night. Last night was a little bit better and I actually slept for 5 hours. The night before that I was up all night and functioned all day. I can't believe that I did, although I had a bit of a dip in the afternoon and didn't feel like getting the groceries that I ought to have gotten, so I only picked up a few things and will have the Exfactor do the rest today. Sometimes grocery shopping on my bike is more than I can handle and I gladly leave it to someone else to do.
I am done with my fourth painting and I am mildly pleased with it. I think maybe I need to add something to it and I will look at it again on Friday and see what that is. It has an unfinished feel to it and maybe that is why I only feel mildly pleased and didn't take a photo of it. Things don't always turn out the way you had planned, sometimes they need a little tweaking.
I've just taken a nap on the sofa and feel a bit better now. I was sitting in this chair like a limp dishrag. In the meantime, the Exfactor has come and done the groceries and I see that the store charged me more money for the dog food than I thought it was, but that must be because I buy the senior chunks and the price on the shelf must be for the regular chunks. It's a difference of 2 euros. That's very dear to me. He gets regular chunks from now on. It's expensive enough as it is. Man, why is good dog food so expensive? I don't want to feed him the junk dog food, yet you are almost forced to because of your budget. Anyway. I've got a lot of food in the house now, so I shouldn't have to go to the store soon. I hope not anyway. I can't afford it.
Now that I'm writing literary prose, I'm missing my inspiration to write a really good post. I sit here and try to think of something sensible to write and it just isn't happening. My head is busy doing totally different things. It is composing and becoming confused in the process, because I'm doing it in two languages, while I just need to do it in one. I must be a little bit addled because of lack of sleep.
Forgive me for writing such a short post, but I just can't think of a thing to add that's interesting. I hope I get out of the doldrums fast.
Have a good day, enjoy the weather if it's good. If not, be cozy inside.
Monday, October 26, 2009
After I wrote my last fascinating post, I was pretty tired and after I ate a bowl of pea soup, I went to to bed, even though it was only 8:30. I fell asleep pretty quickly while reading my book, The Reading Group, with my reading glasses still perched on my nose. That's how I woke up a little after midnight with the terrible urge to get up, which I did. I anticipated it to be much later, but much to my disgust it was not and needless to say, I turned on the computer, because that's what I always do when I wake up in the middle of the night.
Luckily, there were emails to answer and since then there have been more emails. Thank goodness that I know people on both sides of the ocean and even on the opposite side of the earth. There never needs to be a dull moment. Of course, I also know people who stay up in the middle of the night like I do and they are always good for an email or two. I am extremely fond of people like that and count them amongst my best friends.
I have run out of milk and fruit juice and now only have tea or coffee to drink and the coffee with artificial creamer, which I am not too fond of. I think I will drink tea, even though it's always either too hot or too cold to drink. Too cold, because I'm waiting for it to cool off and forget about it. Then I gulp it down and that was the end of that dubious pleasure.
With all the dawdling I'm doing, the night is going by quickly and the hour hand is moving towards the morning now. I have to keep myself amused for just a while longer and I don't think that will be any problem. I have some ideas for short stories for Six Sentences and I have to work those out. I also want to look at that map of poetry I was talking about. I think there are some stories in there that are longer, but may give me some more ideas. The whole map may be a source of inspiration, as it may waken some of those old feelings that I had back then and that were very unique to the moment. Maybe it is possible to rekindle some of that specialness.
There's not a lot of poetry in my life now, nor a need to describe my life in poetic terms. I don't feel that romantic about my life, not like I did back then. I don't walk around two feet hovering above the ground with my head in the clouds. I constantly try to stay grounded now and fear that writing poetry will cause me to become unstuck. But actually it would not be a bad idea to write in a simple poetic way about my life now, as long as I don't let too much sentiment seep in. It must be possible to write rational poetry that is grounded in real life and realistic, yet pleasant to read and surprising because of its word choices and sentence structure and brevity. Yet at the same time that makes me think that what I want to write then are very short pieces of prose. It's the structure and the rhythm that determines it, I suppose.
When you find yourself constantly in the state of being in love, but the object of your affliction is always just outside your reach, it makes you live with an unrealistic state of mind. One in which you are constantly bouncing from great happiness to great sadness and these extremes of emotions awaken all sorts of latent feelings inside of you, that look for expression and inspiration in the world around you. Everything you see that is of beauty attaches itself to your feelings and magnifies them to excruciating proportions, until your heart can barely contain them and you have to give expression to them in some way that you are capable of. A painter paints, a writer writes. Painfully so, as if she is crucified and constantly dying. It's a heightened state of mind that in the end is unsustainable and there will be a near death experience.
Anyway, that's how you stop writing poetry, because it scares you to do so. but I think I'm a little bit ready to try it again, though in a totally different manner. I'll pretend I'm writing prose and make it a poem afterwards, after the fact, because I'm not Robert Frost.
Have I given away enough of myself now? Or too much? Only God may know. I'm going in search of poetry now. I hope it is as interesting as I remember it to be.
I hope you all have a wonderful day. I will, because I have creative therapy, but then the groceries...oh no.
My other blog.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
I took one heck of a nap this afternoon and when I woke up, I looked at the wrong clock (the one that I had not turned back one hour yet) and thought half the afternoon had passed, but then I looked at the alarm clock and saw that I had lots of time left. I still had to take my medicines and walk the dog and proceeded to do so. When I came back, I had myself a wonderful cup of coffee and proceeded to read all the blog posts that I had not gotten around to these past few days.
I must admit that I skipped some, as I would have still been sitting here reading them, and I did not leave comments everywhere, because I was not feeling that original all the time and sometimes 25 other people already had said the same thing I would have said. I also had quite a few emails to answer and I got that done as well as I could. You do find yourself repeating yourself at times and feel like you are writing the same story over and over again, so I try to give a new twist to every one. I really need to follow a course in creative writing. No, I'd be too lazy to do that and then I'd have to do it in Dutch and that is not the language I write in.
Some sentences for the beginning of a story in Dutch just entered my head and I went and wrote them down. I will add more as they come to me. It is possible that I'm capable of writing in Dutch also. But I must not let it preoccupy my mind. The sentences must come naturally, as if by themselves. It doesn't matter how long it takes. The story will grow of its own accord.
It’s funny, sometimes phrases enter my head and they are like bits of poetry and I don’t know what they want to be, a poem or a short story. I’ve written lots of poetry in the past, but I think most of it was only somewhat good, if middle of the mote at best. You have a tendency to be really impressed with what you’ve written, until you read it again some years later and wiser and see the folly of it. I think I like writing Six Sentences, because that is just as far as my imagination carries me on a sustainable level. I don’t know if I could keep that up for a longer story. Maybe I can write a poetic short story and boil it down to six sentences and translate it into English. That would get me off the hook. What a solution.
I’ve got a whole map of poetry that I wrote 16, 17 years ago. It would be interesting to look through it now and see if anything could be done with any of the poems. If they could be reworked into short stories. Some of the ideas behind them are okay, but the expressiveness of them is kind of naive and faltering. I have no formal training in this kind of writing and the only help I had was a book on writing poetry that I barely glanced through, thinking I didn’t need it, being so sure of myself. Cocky is the word.
My mind was definitely in a different state then, I lived for the written word and was constantly one with nature all around me. I had to take only a few paces out of the house and I was in the forest with the trees and the creatures that lived there. I saw the raindrops on the leaves and the mist creep through the trees and heard the deer walk through the dried leaves on the forest floor. That’s where I was The Green Stone Woman and I never felt more emancipated as a living being, not as a woman, but as a living being, a creature on this earth and of this earth. I became somebody else there.
Looking back now, it was a very valuable time in my life, even though it was not an easy time. It allowed me to cut ties that bound me to my past. I hold the memories like treasures in my heart and hope to go back there some day again, although I doubt it will happen. It’s a magical place and maybe it is best if it only exists in my memory.
Well, so much serious pondering. I must end on a less serious note. I will tell you that I have to take out the trash. How is that for a bit of realism? It is my least favorite job and I often forget to do it and skip a week. That’s really no big deal, because all the trash is in plastic bags and I don’t have to worry about an overflowing bin.
Now I’m going to eat pea soup and watch some television. It will be a great way to unwind from this day and go to bed early. There’s nothing better than being tired and looking forward to going to a clean bed in clean pajamas with a good book.
Have yourself a good evening. I have creative therapy tomorrow morning. Hurray!
Well, after I wrote my very interesting last post about going in search of Blogger templates, I did just that and found several websites that had free templates that you could install, but it all turned out to be a popcorn fart and in the end, I almost lost my complete blog and had to do some tricky things to get it back and then go to the original templates that Blogger offers themselves and customize one of them and what you see is the result. At least it's a change and it's something different for a while until I change my mind again, and I don't want to hear any complaints about it. You'll just have to adapt to the change along with me and humor me in my fickleness. I am, after all, a woman who is allowed to change her mind repeatedly. I thrive on change when it comes to my blog. Not in real life, I like everything the same there, very predictable, but in my blog I allow myself to make changes.
The clocks did get turned back one hour, because my radio controlled alarm clock woke me at 7 am this morning, when the other clocks and my watch said it was 8 am. So, I guess all of Europe has turned the clocks back this weekend. At least western Europe has, most likely.
I was immediately wide awake when the alarm clock went off. I jumped out of bed and sped into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. It was as if I was a woman with a mission. The only one I have right now is to go walk the dog who just ate his breakfast, so I better go do that right away...
It is 10 degrees and cloudy and windy outside (50 degrees F.). Real Autumn weather. The leaves are changing rapidly and covering all the sidewalks and parking spaces. Soon enough the trees will be bare and we will all be longing for spring instead of winter. That will be that awful cold season that we have to get through and I sure hope that Mother Nature will be kind to us and make it a mild winter and not one in which I am going to freeze my buns off with snow and ice. I'll never forget trying to ride my bike in the snow and slipping all over the place as I got caught in tracks made by car tires that had made icy spots. It was no fun whatsoever. Especially if you're not so young and agile any longer.
Thank goodness for warm leggings that you can wear underneath your skirt and look decent in. They are keeping me warm. And so are the scarves that I'm continually wearing. They've taken the place of the necklaces I normally wear and are keeping me nice and warm.
I am fortunate enough to have one pair of boots that I've had for ages and I'm wearing those now. They were expensive and I bought them when I still lived in California. They are in good shape and I guess it means that it pays off to invest some money in a good pair of boots and not buy the cheaper kind. I have to go look around in some shoe stores to get an idea of the price of boots and I'm purposely not going to look in the cheap stores. I have to buy real leather boots with good soles and solid heels. Not high ones either. I will just start walking funky if I get those. I'm not going to bother to take the other boots to the shoemaker. I think they are not worth it and within the shortest amount of time I will have the same problem again. They are not real leather and weren't very expensive, so it will probably cost more than I paid for them to repair them. I suppose you could say that in the end they weren't a very good buy. That teaches me a lesson about going for the cheap article. It doesn't always work out well.
Is there anything more delicious that a freshly made cup of coffee? I just made one after putting it off for 45 minutes, because I was to busy doing other things, but it sure tastes great. I do love the flavor of coffee. I don't remember when I started drinking it, but in my memory it seems like it has been forever. Those cookies that were so hard to eat that the café on the square served, are biscotti and you are supposed to dunk those in your coffee to make them edible. If you try to eat them without doing that, you'll break a tooth. I dunked my biscotti in my cappuccino on Friday and it worked well. Within seconds I had a soft cookie to eat. If I had waited any longer, it would have fallen apart in my cup. I heard about this from someone else when I complained about the hard cookie I was served.
I just googled Italian cookies and came upon all sorts and they sure made me hungry for some. They have some cookies that look like the kind we have over here too and I'm sure they are very similar in taste. The Netherlands is the land of cookies as well and you can buy many kinds in the store. My favorites are the kinds that are made with real butter and almonds and dark chocolate, not necessarily in that combination. Another thing we are big in is candy and a town of any size has at least one candy store where there are bins of candy with scoops so that you can fill your bag yourself and have it weighed at the counter. And then there are always the bonbon shops where you can pick out handmade bonbons per piece and have them put in an attractive box. Secretly, that is my favorite shop. If you're ever a guest at my house, don't bring me flowers, bring me bonbons. I'll eat them all myself, no sharing!
I'm dubious about cleaning house today. It really is a day off, since it's Sunday, and I should take advantage of that and read blogs and my books. I'm almost done with The God Squad and I will get the chance to finish the other book I already started. The one about the reading group. I must finish it before I go on to the next one, so I do have a mission to accomplish. No doubt I'll take a nap, because I didn't sleep long enough last night. I think I will make this a day of rest and relaxation. The first thing I'm going to do now is eat, because I'm hungry after talking about all those delicious treats.
Have a great day. The sun's come out momentarily. What a thrill!
After I wrote that long post about cleaning the apartment, I took one heck of a long comatose nap on the sofa. I was out cold and didn't hear the alarm clock go off at 6 pm and slept right through it. Didn't take my medicines until I woke up at 8:30. Then I was truly awake, although Jesker had tried to wake me up a few times before that, but I had only in a very grumpy way been aware of that. He kept pulling my arm off the sofa and pushing against it and I kept pulling it back in. I finally tucked it under my body so he couldn't get to it, but he did complain. Just think of that, he was trying to get me to stand up the best way he knew how and I was completely ignoring him. How frustrating that must have been to him. To his great indignity, there were two cats lying on top of me and he can't have liked that very well. The poor critter. Well, I'm not always is my right mind, especially not when I'm stupefied by sleep.
At least I have a semi clean apartment that makes me feel somewhat happy and hopeful that I will get the rest done tomorrow. I completely pooped out after dusting my bedroom. It was like somebody let all the air out and deflated me. I couldn't have pushed that vacuum cleaner around if you had paid me for it. At least it will give me something to do tomorrow, because I'm not nearly done yet. There's the whole bathroom left to clean, which is alway my least favorite job and the one I do last, because I find it so disgusting. All those germs! They are my germs, but still. I'm always very suspicious of the toilet bowl and hate cleaning it. Yuck!
So, it's going to be a late nighter. I have settled myself behind the computer and I'm ready to see if tonight is the night that the clocks need to be moved back. I haven't watched the news and don't know if they are supposed to, but I figure that I'll see it on the computer clock at 2 am. I'll probably still be up at that time. My alarm clock is radio controlled and checks its correct time every hour, so it will also tell me what time it is exactly. In England the clocks are being moved back. I have that from a good source named Maggie May from Nuts in May. She's a reliable English grandmother and if you can't believe them, who can you believe?
The thing I don't like about turning back the clocks is that it will get dark so early in the evenings. Actually, it will still be afternoon when it gets dark. I do so dislike that, because It makes the days seem so short, although the good part is that it will be light earlier in the morning and that is good. It's no good going out in the dark in the morning when you feel you ought to still be in bed. So, I guess it has its pros and cons, but enough sunlight is an important ingredient to someone's mood and attitude. The Scandinavians get depressed during their long dark winters and escape to Minorca. So do many Dutch people, as a matter of fact. I think all retired people escape to Spain and get a tan.
Jesker has given up on me and has gone to the bedroom to sleep. He did give me a long glance over his shoulder as he left, but then continued on to his pillow beside my bed. The cats are lying on my bed also. They are creatures of habit. Even when I'm not. They just go ahead and desert me. It's very unfaithful of them.
I've just spent some time on the Pixdaus website downloading photos that I use at the top of my posts. I pick out the ones that I like and cut them down to the right size in Paintshop Pro.I do this every few weeks to get new photos and there are always oodles of new pages of them to choose from. I have to look through quite a few of them to find what I like, because some of them are not to my taste. Some of them are too cute, with animals doing adorable things or quaint landscapes that are too predictable. After a while, you can't see the forest for the trees and that's when you have to stop looking. You start thinking that everything is good or that everything is bad.
I find my wallpaper there too and frequently change it. I also find it at Foxsaver that comes with Mozilla Firefox. I like to change my wallpaper and go for a new look and have something interesting to look at when I start up the computer, or when I have it at rest. I have wallpaper for every kind of mood and find new ones all the time. I like change and would do more if I could. I like changing my blog template, but I'm always afraid of upsetting my readers. If it were up to me, I'd change it once a week. I wish Blogger had more templates to choose from. Come to think of it, I think there is a website where you can get them. I'll have to look into that.
Jesker has come back and is lying by my feet now. I guess he got a bit lonely. It can't be very comfortable lying on the hard floor, though. The cats are in the kitchen eating. It's a coming and going of animals. It's like a train station with a fast food restaurant.
Well, I'm off to find those Blogger templates and if I don't find those, there are blogs I have to read. I'm awfully behind in that. I'm so self centered, I only write posts and don't read any of the others.
Have a good night, if you're not asleep already.
My other blog.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
After I wrote my smashing middle of the night post, I finally went to bed only to be awakened by the enthusiastic beeping of the alarm clock at 7 am. I couldn't believe it was doing that and took a whole minute before I shut if off. I got up out of habit and made myself a cup of coffee and turned the computer on, still somewhat sleepy headed and yawning. Luckily, there were some emails I could answer to help wake me up and take away that "help, I 'm not quite there" feeling. It took me forever to answer a few of them, proving again that nearly four hours of sleep is not sufficient to function on. Yet now, with my second cup of coffee, that's exactly what I'm doing while I'm listening to my music at Deezer at the same time. I imagine the music to be waking up my brain, although the tempo of this album may be too slow for that.
It's wonderful Saturday again, although what is so wonderful about it I don't know, because I have to clean house. I haven't done a bloody thing all week and now I must catch up on all the things I neglected to do. My heart is making little leaps of joy, ha ha, but not really. The only things I'm looking forward too is hanging up the clean laundry to dry and putting clean sheets on my bed. The rest I will do grudgingly, but stoically. Of course, at the rate I'm going now, not much is getting done. Even Jesker is just lying around doing nothing.
I tell you what, I will get the show on the road and continue this in a while...
...I've done three chores. I've walked the dog, stripped my bed, hung up the laundry to dry and put the dirty sheets in the washing machine. Well, that's actually four, if you want to get real technical about it. Next I'll make the bed with clean sheets and do the dishes and sweep the kitchen floor. I'll take a break every time I do three chores, it's back to the old system that worked so well. Before, I was lucky if I got one chore done. That was a major assault to my system and I could hardly handle it. I felt exhausted and defeated before I began, but since Wednesday that has changed and I'm back in my old mood again. I think I was a bit depressed there for a while.
I'm wearing some super comfortable clothes and I'm not overly concerned with fashion today. I wanted to be warm and practically dressed. I'm so used to wearing my glasses now, that it's uncomfortable not to wear them and I just had to go and get them and put them on immediately when I started to type this. Nobody remarks on them, leading me to believe that it makes absolutely no difference if I wear them or not. Nobody does as much as a double take. There goes all my vanity out the window. My 300 Euros titanium pair of glasses are the best I have to wear and all those other ones I had and traded in were the wrong choices. That's why I never liked wearing them. I never should have listened to the Exfactor and trusted my own taste. I got those titanium glasses for 10 Euros, by the way, by being among the first customers of the day on a special day. I think it was an anniversary of the store or something like that. It was my lucky day, because I had picked out a cheap pair of glasses that I would have been allergic to. Nickel allergy.
Well, on to the next set of three chores...
...Okay, I have done those. It feels real good to accomplish what you promised yourself you would do and a little extra, I also wiped down the stove, although I never use it. Still, the cats walk on it and leave paw prints and hair on it. I tell you, it's the animals who cause me to have most of the work here. When I sweep the kitchen floor, it is hair and grit I sweep up that's from them, not from me.
The next three chores will be to dust the living room and to vacuum it and to water the plants . Now I'm having a glass of juice and a cigarette. I'm still listening to music and I find that it's helping me clean house better. It moves me along. Where before I liked silence, now I like a bit of noise. I've got all sorts of play lists at Deezer, so I've got all sorts of music to choose from.Some of the bands I have are a little obscure even to me and I wonder why I picked them at the time, but I must have liked them then. Now I've got 'Groundation' with some good Reggae. That will be fun to clean house to, except when I have to vacuum, of course. I'll have to do it quickly. I forgot one more chore. I'll also have to walk the dog. The Super Pooper...
...I lost my connection and had to reset my modem. That happens every once in a while and I have to unplug some cables for about five minutes and then plug them in again. Usually that does the trick. It was very frustrating when it first happened and I had to call the help desk, but now that I know what the problem is, it is easily solved. I have done my three chores and the next ones will be to dust my bedroom and vacuum it and the hallway. Since those are such little chores, I'm going to vacuum the junk room as well. Oops, I can't believe I said that. Now I've committed myself, haven't I? I've walked the dog, who is refusing to eat, so I've put his food in the refrigerator out of reach of the cats. Okay, off I go...
...Oh, what the heck, I've dusted the bedroom and I've run out of steam. I don't want to do any more chores. I'll do the rest tomorrow. I've just eaten almost a whole bowl of bean soup and I feel disgustingly full, as in, is it going to stay down? There is great doubt. I should have stopped eating before I did, but I am so used to finishing what's on my plate, or in my bowl in this case. I am going to take a nap now. It's been fun keeping you up to date on what I was doing, but I realize that it was a totally senseless thing to do. But there you have it! I am now one fatigued woman.
I'm sitting here so merrily in the half dark with my glass of juice and my cigarettes and my snoring dog, who doesn't have a good way to let me know that his water bowl is empty, so I don't know what he wants and do a guessing game, until I notice it myself and refill it. I must remember to include this in the possible reasons why Jesker is trying to get my attention. I normally fill it up every day, but it slipped my mind today and the bowl was dry.
Now, if he were a smart dog, I would expect him to pick up his bowl and bring it to me, or at least to go sit next to it and bark beside it, but he does no such thing. He just comes to me and complains in a general sense, that could mean anything and I am preoccupied and think he needs to go out back or that he wants to be petted. Which is fine with him too, but that is not his final goal. So he keeps on fussing and I keep guessing. It's just like having a toddler, except that Jesker doesn't throw a temper tantrum. I guess I'll take the dog then.
Jesker doesn't eat his dried dog food, the cats do that. Today I watched the cats eat the dog food and the dog eat the cat food. I quickly put an end to some of that by feeding Jesker a pouch of his food, but I can't stop the cats from eating the dog food. They eat it with the greatest appetite, preferring it over their own food, and they have their eyes closed in satisfaction as they eat it. They are just an inch short of purring over it. I guess I don't have to worry about the cats having a good life here. They're just plain old scavengers, but they're not getting the smallest chance to eat the dog food from the pouches. Jesker likes it so much, that he doesn't leave it unguarded for one second.
Anyway, enough about the animals already.
I had a great old relaxing time at creative therapy and made great headway with my painting. As a matter of fact, almost every detail is painted and I just have to give some things a second layer. Painting, and being in that space, does wonders for my mood, and it always gets me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the day. As I sit there and paint, I listen to what happens around me and make the odd comment, but mostly I just sit and work and keep silent. That way I get to enjoy all the conversations and all the silliness that goes on and I can participate when and if I want to. I think I have to arrange for my sister to come and pick up the paintings next week, because I'll have four of them ready and it's time to take them home.
When I got home at 12:30, the Exfactor was there and he had already walked the dog, so that was very convenient for me. I think he enjoys doing that for old time's sake. Jesker did come and greet me when I came home, but you can tell that he thinks it is mighty interesting that the Exfactor is here. He is torn between the two of us and doesn't know which one of us to sit beside, although he gets the most attention from me. The Exfactor is not really that much of a dog person. They require too much attention. He likes cats better and their independent spirits. I like bonding with dogs.
After he left, I got ready to go out and I had to make sure my purse was stocked with all the things I needed, wallet, bankcard, mobile phone, keys, you name it. I went to the pharmacy first to pick up a three month supply of mood stabilizers, and then I rode my bike downtown and parked it beside the Our Dear Lady Basilica and walked across the square and down the little cobblestoned street to Specsavers.
They got my information out and could see which lenses I need for my glasses and because one of them is so strong, with the big astigmatism, they have to be special ordered from the factory. That should take about a week and they will call me when they arrive. Then I will go in with my glasses and they will fit in the new lenses while I wait. The man did not want me to go without my glasses that whole week because of my astigmatism. Needless to say, I didn't tell him that I did without them a lot. I left him to believe that I was a faithful glasses wearer, which I will be from now on. He only charged me half the price for the new lenses, because he felt it was such a shame that I lost my glasses after I had not even had them for a year. I thought that was very decent of him. Specsavers gives me a good deal every time I go in.
After that, I walked back to the square and sat on the terrace and had a cappuccino and was immediately recognized by the waiter who wanted to know where my friend was, whom he assumed was my younger sister. I helped him out of that mistaken illusion and told him she had a date, which she did. It was a bit chilly out and the trees are losing their leaves, but it will still be possible to sit under the awning where they have overhead heating. I drank my cappuccino and watched the people walk by and relaxed for a while. You see all types walk by and I especially watch the women and what they wear and I see that I have to invest in some new boots, because my old ones just won't do anymore. I also saw what sort of winter coats women wore and there were some really nice ones, so I have to give that some consideration too. In a town like Maastricht, you have to be well dressed. But for the money, you know?
I rode my bike back home reluctantly, not going shopping at my favorite store, because that would have been unwise, and I got home just in time to have something to eat and have a little nap. I walked the dog and put on my pajamas and watched the news, but fell asleep watching it and laid spread out over the sofa like a comatose person, until Jesker woke me up. That's when I had to start guessing what he wanted. In my semi sleep condition, I couldn't figure it out right away.
If I'm smart with my groceries, I won't have to go shopping until Monday.That means I really have to make things last and be a frugal consumer. I should be able to do that and make it through the weekend. That means I have to eat soup for two meals. I have pea soup and bean soup. That sounds good, doesn't it?
Now, without much further ado, I will go and read blogs. I have been neglecting to do that. I've been too caught up in my own life, how very odd.
Have a nice night and a beautiful morning, wherever you are.
Friday, October 23, 2009
I have no time to sit here and write this, so why in the world am I? Well, I do have some time to kill and I can never let an opportunity go by without at least attempting to write a post. I do have that much ambition, even if I do have to move quickly and barely give a thought to what I'm writing down and do no daydreaming whatsoever. I'll just have to forgo that pleasure.
I have just made my second cup of very strong coffee and it's puckering my mouth before I've even tasted any yet. I've just opened a new bag of coffee pads and the good smell of it was almost more than I could handle. I wanted to push my whole face into that bag. I can actually do that, because there's nobody here to observe me. I should make a note to myself to go ahead and do those kind of things.
Someone has eaten all of Jesker's dried food, but I don't know if it was Jesker himself or if it was the cats. I would like to believe it was Jesker and that he really liked it and that he enjoyed eating it and that it means that I picked the right kind and that it is not money wasted on another bag of dog food. Jesker has been known to have secret eating habits in the middle of the night when I'm not looking. He thinks I won't know that he likes something if I'm not there watching him eat it. I know he wasn't begging for a treat this morning, so maybe that explains why. That silly animal!
I fell asleep on the sofa again last night and when I woke up, I quite drunkenly took my medicines and made it to my bed, where I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. I don't even remember falling asleep, that's how out of it I was. I always wake up very sweaty and I wonder if these are signs of menopause or if I just naturally sweat a lot at night. It's not something I remember doing in the past. I think I'm kind of old to be going through the menopause, but I could be wrong and if this is the worst of it, then that is okay by me. It does mean that I have to change my pajamas and the sheets more often, but I do have those in supply. Oh, that sounds like another fun thing to buy at Ikea. A new duvet cover and pillow cases for my bed. Mmm...!
I better pay the bills first. Every day there's no mail in the mailbox is a good day. I like it when there's absolutely nothing in there, not even a brochure of some company advertising their low rates on some product. I do like it when there's a package with a book from Bookmooch. That's always an exciting moment. Which book will it be? I'm still expecting seven of them, so my life will still be full of surprises. At least those of the kindhearted sort. The other ones I don't care for.
My clothes didn't get here yesterday. When it was almost 6 pm, I decided to look on the website at my order and see if there was a phone number I could call. To my surprise I saw that my order had been canceled. I know why that is. The Exfactor is still registered at this address with an account and they probably thought I was trying to pull a fast one on them by opening my own account. I emailed their service department and hope to hear from them within two days. That's cheaper than calling the service number for which you always have to pay a phenomenal amount of money. I do have all the time in the world to get this figured out.
As I write this, I'm wearing my stunning, intellectually looking glasses. They, beside my bathrobe, are the first thing I put on this morning. They do help me see better behind the computer, although that's not the case with my glasses that are at the correct strength. At least, I seem to remember that I had to take them off when I sat behind the computer, because there was so much correction in the right eye. Well, anyway, I didn't wear them when I sat behind the computer, but these help me. And you know what? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I am the beholder.
Well, that's all I'm going to write this morning, because now I have to get ready. Have yourself a wonderful day and I will do the same.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Well, I slept on the sofa half of the night, because that is where I conked out in front of the TV in my pajamas and bathrobe, but I did, at one point, have enough sense to make it to my bed, where I slept much more comfortably, until I was done with that at some early hour of the morning. I don't quite remember when I got up, but it was before the alarm clock went off and the animals followed me hoping for I know not what, but they are always so full of expectations, giving me a great sense of responsibility and a huge guilt feeling, because I don't know what they want, except for all sorts of things that I'm not going to give them, like lunch meat and cookies.
So, I sit with my cup of coffee and my cigarettes and have these animals staring at me from their different positions and I feel as though they're trying to hypnotize me into doing something against my will. Toby is especially good at it and sits and looks at me quite motionless for a long time while I try to ignore him. I finally get up and pour fresh milk in his dish and sometimes that's what he wants, but not always. It's a guessing game.
The worst culprit, though, is Jesker, who after pondering on it for some time, decides to come and bother me for some unknown thing that I have to try and figure out. After yipping and yapping at me for a while, he decides he needs to go out back, where is does a minuscule piddle and for which he wants to be rewarded. That is after I have petted him extensively, because I'm supposed to do that too, although it is not always very clear, I wish he would just tell me what's on his mind, it would make it so much easier. Of course, that's what he's trying to do.
I got all my Bookmooch packages ready to be mailed and went to the supermarket, along with ten cans of dog food and the cash register receipt. I turned those in at the customer service desk and got my money back without a problem. Then I went to the little post office to mail the books that were going all over the world and I just about had a heart attack at the amount of money it cost me to send them, but these are the last ones and I have no further requests. If they do come, they'll come trickling in from this point forward and I'll have enough points now to mooch more books. It's because I was a new member with a new collection of books that I got so many requests all at once. I spread them out over a couple of months.
I went to the dog food aisle and bought Jesker some senior dog food in pouches, of which he will get one a day, and I bought him some new dried dog food for senior dogs that I hope he will like, because he's not eating what I have now. He's such a finicky dog and we have such food issues. It's like trying to get a little kid to eat what's on his plate.
When I came home, I took away the old food and gave him the contents of one pouch on a clean dish and he liked it very much and is now very contentedly sleeping. If he eats well, he is always very pleased and has a big sleep and is as happy as a pig in a pen. He just oozes happiness from his whole being. He lies there in a big puddle of satisfaction. My effort is to achieve this with the least amount of nutritious food.
I can't find my glasses anywhere. I looked for them this morning before I went out, but all I found were two pairs of reading glasses and two pairs of sunglasses. I have to go look around some more in a little while. I saw them not too long ago, but I don't remember where that was. They are not in their case, which would be the most obvious place for them. I hope they are covered by my insurance, because they would be expensive to replace. All I can think is, that I was wearing them and without thinking took them off and put them down some place, but it could have been anywhere...
...I just spent half an hour looking for my glasses again and I can't find them anywhere. I did find my old glasses that are not quite the right strength, but I'm wearing them and they are better than nothing at all and I quite like the way they look. They were expensive glasses too, because they are made from titanium (anti-allergy). I don't rightly know why I ever switched frames, except that the Exfactor said he didn't like them anymore, but this was during the time that he was falling in love with someone else, so now, in hindsight, I know he wouldn't have liked me in any kind of frames. So, since my new glasses seem to have disappeared, I will get new lenses for the titanium frames and I will be all set. I did call my insurance broker to see if I can claim my lost glasses and he is going to call me back and let me know if there is a way in my policy that I can do that. In other words, we're going to bend the rules a bit.
I'm glad I found the old glasses, because when I put them on and I looked in the mirror, I immediately liked them better than the new glasses and didn't feel that dislike about them that I had about the new ones. They are also very lightweight and I hardly notice that I'm wearing them. So you see, happiness hides in a little corner.
In the meantime, I've forgotten to walk Jesker before noon and I can't walk him now because I'm waiting for the delivery of those clothes. Jesker keeps looking at me and he knows that I'm supposed to take him for a walk, but he'll have to go out back for now. That's not much of a treat for him, but it will have to do.
I'm not wearing my shit kicking boots. I'm wearing my flat soled boots of which I glued one sole and I see I still have to glue the other sole. I'll have to do that tonight so it will be dry in the morning. One heel of the shit kicking boots is worn away unevenly and I can't walk on them anymore until I get it fixed. I'm going to twist my ankle if I keep walking on them. That's what you get if one leg is longer than the other. If you're a cripple!
Well, that's all I'm going to share with you for now. I think I will go do some laundry. That ought to keep me out of trouble.
Have a nice day!
My other blog.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I took a two hour nap this afternoon and when I woke up, my short hair was in as good a shape as when I lied down two hours earlier. That's the benefit of having super short hair, it does not get messed up, which leads be to believe that it wasn't cut properly the last time I went to the hairdresser and it was supposedly cut short, but not short enough and I, with my eagle eyes, did not spot that, but from now on I will be alert to it and always make sure that it's cut to half an inch in the back and on the sides and even shorter in my neck and around my ears.
Tomorrow morning I have to go to the little post office in the supermarket and mail some packages, and I'm going to bring back the cans of dog food that I still have and buy something different for Jesker to eat. Something smaller and more nutritious, that's still flavorful and meaty. I want to do that, because I want him to get the bulk of his nutrition from his dried food, although it's going to be a bit of a stand off between the two of us. He will want to hold out for canned food and I will offer him dried food after he has had his small meaty meal. He won't know I'm doing it for his own good, but he'll have to get used to it.
I also have to go to the pharmacy to pick up my very important mood stabilizer, because I'm almost out of that one. I'm using Topamax, which was developed for epilepsy and migraines, but which is used successfully for bipolar disorder. It is the one medication that has helped me the most. It has made all the difference in how low and how high I get and has really evened me out, as far as that is possible. I still have my ups and downs, but they are nothing compared to what they used to be. I recommend this medication to anyone for whom Lithium hasn't worked. Oh, I'm not a professional. I don't think I'm supposed to make recommendations.
I have to be home all afternoon, because that's when I expect delivery of my new clothes that I ordered. They get here some time between noon and 6 pm, so that is a long wait. I'll have to get my errands done in the morning and walk Jesker before noon. Not that it's a problem. I should be able to get the show on the road on time. I just don't know when the little post office opens, so I'll have to call about that. There's a sign hanging up there with the opening times, but because I'm never wear my glasses, I can't read it, which makes me think I should wear my glasses, because today my right eye was acting funky and I noticed that I was not seeing well with it. Well, it is -3, so what can you expect? It's only vanity that prevents me from wearing my glasses, isn't that shallow of me? And nobody ever notices when I'm wearing them. I'll put them on tomorrow.
Tell me which one of you wears glasses and would rather not, but does it anyway because they see better with them? Help me get over my complex!
Well, it's time to go to bed. I'll put my pajamas on and have something to eat and then snuggle under the duvet with my book. Getting my pajamas on is always the best part. It means I;m officially out of function for the day, although I'm a little bit late with it tonight.
Sleep tight, have a good night.
I was at my Wednesday morning creative therapy class and had a hunkering to paint a canvas there as well, but I didn't know if it was possible, because it is in a different room with a different therapist than the Monday and Friday one, and I had never seen anyone there work on a canvas, but I asked the question anyway and the therapist said she would look if she could track one down for me. A while later, she came back with the same size canvas that I work on in the other creative space, so I was mighty happy and proceeded to draw the picture I had drawn at home of the cow beneath the starstruck sky in the meadow with the pond and the fish in it. So, just out of the blue I was doing that painting and I've already started to paint the sky and the weeds in the pond. I had a mighty fine time and I was very impatient for the coffee break to be over, and the morning went by to quickly as usual.
Then, as I was riding my bike home, I decided to go and get my hair cut decently and rode my bike to the hairdresser where you don't need to make an appointment and had my hair washed and cut and blow dried for the low price of 15 Euros. It was a complete spur of the moment thing and I needed to get it done, because my own cut was not that terrific. I had the woman cut it real short on the sides and in the back and nothing from the top where it is already short enough. She put some gel in my hair for a spunky look and I felt like a million bucks when I walked out of there.
To top it all of, I opened a charge account on line with a store I like and ordered a skimpy dress and a funky cardigan and they will be delivered tomorrow. I suddenly felt like indulging myself and thought it was about time that I did something nice for myself. So, there's a new painting, a new haircut, and new clothes, and to celebrate it all, I'm going to have a nice cup of coffee and some cookies that the Exfactor brought with him when he was here the other day. No, I don't know why he always brings me cookies, unless he just wants to make me happy, because I don't buy them for myself. Perhaps he likes to see me round and chunky.
The woman at the hairdresser kept saying to me, "You have to sit up straight, Ma'am." I kept leaning over to the left, which I think I haven't done in a while. It's a puzzlement why I did it today. Maybe I do it lots of times and just don't realize it.
Now, from all the excitement, I have to go lie down on the sofa and rest my eyes for a while. I am suddenly very tired.
Have a good rest of the day!
I think I did so much sleeping yesterday, that I'm all caught up and that finds me up at this early hour, having had to go to the bathroom and then realizing that I was all done sleeping for the night. Needless to say, all the animals came into action with me. The cats, who were so very cozily sleeping on my bed with me, and Jesker, who was asleep on his pillow beside me. Jesker wanted a bit of airing out back and a bone as a reward for that, and has now gone back to sleep on his blanket under the coffee table. The cats wanted fresh milk from the refrigerator and are now both sitting in the kitchen hoping something interesting will happen.
I've been giving Jesker dried food as his second meal, because he was gaining weight on all the canned stuff, and Toby decided that it was for him and started munching away at it every day. Yesterday there was a stand off between Jesker and Toby, with each one defending his right to the bowl and neither one of them willing to give an inch, Both of them had their nose over the bowl and Jesker was growling ferociously, but Toby didn't move and hit Jesker across the nose with his paw. Jesker didn't move either and kept growling, so I ran interference and removed Toby from the bowl, so Jesker could eat, which he did as quickly as he could with Toby watching from a little distance. As soon as Jesker had his fill, Toby was back at the bowl getting his last share of it. That Toby has guts and is not the least bit intimidated by Jesker's dangerous sounding growling.
You see how Gandhi plays no role in this whatsoever. She doesn't get mixed up in shenanigans like this. Gandhi knows her place in the hierarchy and would never let it get to a showdown with Jesker. That's why he likes her so much better and tolerates her so well.
I've just made my second cup of coffee and some new cigarettes. It's very quiet here and all I hear is the sound of the computer and Jesker's gentle snore. I've read that Cocker Spaniels on the average get to be about twelve years old and that's how old Jesker is now. He was twelve in May. I hope he beats the odds and gets much older. He's overweight and has osteoarthritis. He's almost deaf and doesn't see well with one eye. I'll have to do something about the weight. If I can get him to eat more dried food, it will be better for him. He didn't like to eat it, but that turned out to be because of an infected tooth. Now that it's been fixed, he seems to like the dried food better. I'm also going to cut his treats by halves, I think he's getting too many of them. Let's face it, I spoil that dog and maybe to the detriment of his health. I have to seriously look into his food and nutrition and pay more attention to what is good for him and not to what he wants, regardless of his appetite.
In the meantime, I'm taking forever to write this, as I keep being distracted by my own thoughts and I realize how often that happens. I write something down and this starts a train of thought going in my head and before you know it, I'm lost in a reverie and far away from here, which is the same thing that happened to me when I was a kid in school and forgot to pay attention. It doesn't matter that it happens now, because I've got all the time in the world, but it was a problem back then. There was always some remark about it on my report card, as if my parents could do anything about it. (Does not pay attention!) I was too busy daydreaming.
Now my mind wanders left and right, back and forth. I hop from one subject to the next and somehow they are all connected. It's amazing how much of your life takes place in your own head with unspoken thoughts and words that you don't share with anyone.
Well, another thought that crosses my mind is, that when I do woodworking, I have to wear practical clothes. I can't be all prettied up in a mini skirt and a scarf around my neck. I'll have to wear jeans and a practical shirt, so I have to delve in my closet and find woodworking clothes. I hope I have a pair of jeans that fit me and that don't fall off when I stand up straight, like the last pair did that I wore. It will be fun to try to find them. It will give me a chance to eliminate some clothes from my closet. Oh yes, I do have belts if it comes down to that, but they are such a hassle it you suddenly have to go to the toilet, as happens so often in my case. The incredible suddenness of having to go to the toilet! Near misses! The brain is not registering the upcoming event ahead of time.
Well, as they say, all madness on a stick, but now I have to end this epistle, because Jesker needs my attention. He wants to be petted and I can't type with one hand. I'll see if he wants to eat as well. Oh, how appropriate.
Have a terrific day, everyone. | <urn:uuid:6b5762f6-6472-4afb-bc49-fcc811fe4461> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://themostsplendidday.blogspot.com/2009/10/ | 2017-08-16T17:34:12Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886102309.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20170816170516-20170816190516-00580.warc.gz | en | 0.989354 | 20,628 |
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