There are a couple of ways to read the title of Marilynne Robinson's essay collection What Are We Doing Here? On one level, it invites us to consider our present situation, reflect on the kind of society we are creating for ourselves. But it might also be read, rather more grandly, as an evocation of existential wonder. Why is there something rather than nothing? Is it not strange that our insignificant little planet should have nurtured a species capable of asking such an abstract question?
For Robinson, these are not separate issues. She has never concealed the fact that her religious faith is the bedrock of her political views. She is a practising Calvinist and a liberal theologian with a particular interest in the intellectual history of the modern era. The version of religious humanism she defends in her essays is characterised by its firm opposition to anything that smacks of rationalism or materialism or determinism — modes of thinking she sees as pervasive and pernicious.
The admiration with which Robinson has come to be regarded is undoubtedly warranted. She earned her literary reputation with four immaculately crafted novels. She commands all the respect that has accrued from her long association with one of the most prestigious creative writing schools in the United States, the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her five volumes of essays and lectures (rather incongruously, she has published a sixth non-fiction book on the British nuclear power industry) have established her as an elder of American letters: a measured but insistent cultural commentator, drawing her readers back to the long view of history and the fundamental importance of the Christian virtues she takes as the subject of a long essay in What Are We Doing Here? — faith, hope and love. Her eminence is such that in 2015 Barack Obama travelled to Iowa to interview her.
But note the two 'everythings' in the previous quote. Robinson may be the moderate face of American religiosity, but she takes some pretty wild swings. The more you read her essays, the more it becomes apparent that she is positing a few simplicities of her own. Whatever manifestation of modern thought she happens to be criticising, her argument is basically the same: she proposes, in essence, that such thinking is too narrow, that it ignores or denies aspects of lived experience, and that its understanding of human nature must therefore be considered inadequate. She returns again and again to the core claim that modern thought is, as she puts it in Absence of Mind (2012), a 'closed circle' — by which she means, quite specifically, that its assumptions do not and indeed cannot account for her personal experience of religious belief, her intuition that the universe is a place of wonder and abundant meaning.
The primary importance Robinson places on her religious intuitions would seem to suggest an affinity with William James, whom she cites in Absence of Mind, in a passage that makes a point of drawing a clear distinction between religious experiences and religion in its various social, doctrinal and institutional manifestations. And she does broadly endorse his open-ended definition of religion as 'the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine'.
Yet Robinson is not a Jamesian, strictly speaking. James was a philosophical pragmatist and a psychologist — a scholar trained in one of those inadequate modern disciplines. In Varieties of Religious Experience, he is careful to limit himself to a consideration of the psychological and practical consequences of his nominal subject, placing to one side any awkward questions about the validity of religious truth-claims. Robinson is not so coy. She writes as an unabashed religious partisan. Throughout her work, she insists that her intuition is what Whitman called the 'hardest basic fact': it is the truth before which other truths must kneel. The various conflations and generalisations of her thought all follow from her appeal to the ontology of the mind, which she understands as a kind of revelation in itself. As she declares at the beginning of her first collection The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (1998), 'it all comes down to the mystery of the relationship between the mind and the cosmos'.
Where Robinson is peculiar, she is peculiar on this point. At its most expansive, her theological stance begs the question, in the true meaning of that phrase: she is assuming the thing she wants to prove. All of her work proceeds from a theistic understanding of mind and cosmos. For Robinson, the significance of these phenomena cannot be gainsaid: she takes their immanent divinity as a given. In 'Mind, Conscience, Soul', she suggests the confluence of those key terms, arguing that in the Puritan tradition to which she belongs 'conscience [puts] the mind or soul in relation to God'. In the short essay that opens What Are We Doing Here?, titled 'What is Freedom of Conscience', she proposes that 'the capacity for moral self-awareness is the God-given basis for the freedom and respect we owe one another'. Having thus placed the foundations of her reasoning safely beyond the reach of any rational explanation, she then takes every opportunity to criticise 'modern thought' for having failed to explain them.
Robinson's allegiance to a specific theological tradition places her at an interesting angle to the culture of the United States, that emblematic modern nation, with its remarkable ability to embrace extremes of individualism, materialism and religiosity. Like many writers before her, she conceives of the great American experiment in metaphysical terms, and aligns its idealism with her own. The essays in What Are We Doing Here? develop a series of arguments about the historical origins of her nation's democratic principles, one of her particular concerns being to insist that the early Puritans made 'crucial contributions to what is best in American culture'.
She reminds us that it was a Puritan, John Winthrop, who in 1630 delivered the famous 'city upon a hill' speech, a seminal declaration of American exceptionalism in the form of a cautionary sermon, which Robinson interprets as a 'utopian vision of a society whose relations are based on charity, using the word in its biblical sense, meaning love'. Against the popular image of Puritans as joyless fanatics, she argues (testily at times) that they founded enduring civic and educational institutions, respected the life of the mind, and placed a great value on the integrity of the individual conscience — a view with its foundations in the Protestant conviction that religious faith was ultimately a matter of the unmediated relationship between the individual and God, and the historical fact that Puritanism was a movement with its origins in political dissent.
On these grounds, Robinson speaks of democracy as 'my aesthetics and my ethics and more or less my religion'. The Puritan veneration of conscience, she proposes, not only anticipated the secular republic's formal separation of church and state, it contributed to the emergence of a distinctly American sensibility. In 'Old Souls, New World', she links the Puritan concept of the 'exalted mind' to the emphasis on attentiveness and self-awareness one finds in the work of canonical nineteenth-century writers — Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson — all of whom were either 'brilliantly critical of their own perceptions, opening a vastness in every shortfall, like a Puritan sermon', or possessed of an ability to 'see through all convenient or dismissive categories to the actual, the vital and essential'.
That Robinson considers herself an inheritor of this distinctively American sensibility is evident in her fiction no less than her essays. Her four novels — Housekeeping (1980), Gilead (2004), Home (2008) and Lila (2014) — all have provincial settings (the last three take place in a fictional Iowan town named Gilead) and their events are largely confined to the first half of the twentieth century. It would be unjust to characterise the distance this creates from the unwholesome clamour of the present as merely nostalgic or parochial ('I am touchy on the subject of parochialism,' cautions Gilead's narrator, the Reverend John Ames), but it does nevertheless convey an appreciation for a certain kind of unhurried, traditional, small-town American life. Robinson's novels depict a world that is anchored in domesticity and old-time religion, a world that is yet to be ravaged by postwar consumerism and technological distraction.
Any writer willing to preface such a precisely worded statement of intent with the disarming phrase 'I suppose' is a writer you need to watch very carefully indeed. Robinson doesn't mind playing up to her materteral image in order to smooth the way for her arguments. Her essays are seasoned with wry references to the unfashionability of her views. She likes to present herself as an unfailingly polite midwesterner who believes what she believes, and who has seen more than a few newfangled notions come and go in her time.
Yet the unwavering sense of intellectual purpose that informs her work makes the paradoxes of her stance hard to ignore. It is one thing to dramatise the reflections and personal crises of God-fearing fictional characters, who invite us to sympathise with them in their particularity and understand them as inheritors of the cultural assumptions of their time and place. It is something else entirely to adopt a philosophical position that ultimately rests on an irreducible 'mystery' and then tilt at the better part of the intellectual legacy of modernity.
Robinson is eager not to be seen as some kind of evangelical or mystic. She rejects the idea that the old argument between religion and science is one in which — as she writes in an essay titled 'The Sacred, The Human' — 'fact and reason lie always on one side'. Throughout her essays, she maintains that the scientific method is perfectly valid, but only within its presupposed material parameters. In a long essay on 'Darwinism' in The Death of Adam, for example, she is careful to state that she does not dispute the well-established principles of evolutionary biology, which she claims pose no real threat to religious belief. Her specific target, she claims, is the tendency to extrapolate from Darwinian science an ideology that would reduce all human motivation to self-interest. In Absence of Mind, in which she repudiates the positivism of the New Atheists, she similarly insists that she is not attacking science per se, but what she calls 'parascience', which presumes to step beyond the boundaries of legitimate scientific discourse to present itself as a source of values and the ultimate arbiter of reality. Elsewhere, she adjusts her terminology to criticise 'scientism' and 'neo-Darwinism'.
On the face of it, this seems like a clear line of demarcation: a straightforward application of the good old fact-value distinction. And yet it is a distinction that Robinson is inclined to disregard when it suits her argument. On a fundamental level, she does not regard facts as morally neutral. Christianity she defines at one point as a 'narrative of cosmic altruism'. Though she adopts an intellectually scrupulous air, she is not above using tendentious language to reflect this conviction.
In Absence of Mind, for example, she asserts on multiple occasions that atheistic scientists like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett believe the universe in all its complexity is an 'accident'. This is a stock creationist canard, a debater's trick designed to readmit the concept of intention into the argument via the back door. The loaded word is deployed instead of an appropriately neutral formula — 'non-teleological', say — because it is emotive: it invites incredulity and thus implies that the opposite must be the case. But the word is inapt enough to qualify as a misrepresentation. Explain a natural phenomenon as an 'accident' and you will fail Science 101, as surely as if you were to attribute it to the mysterious workings of an unknowable creator. There is nothing 'accidental' about a planet's orbit, or the structure of a molecule, or the shape of a mountain range, or a primate's opposable thumb — and unless one is prepared to posit a cosmic consciousness that is capable of making decisions about the forms of such things and guiding natural processes toward those specific ends, there is nothing intentional about them either.
When it comes to the trajectory of modern thought, Robinson is often far less subtle than this. In an essay titled 'Integrity and the Modern Intellectual Tradition', she prosecutes a well-rehearsed argument about the 'extreme declension of our species' and the rise of a doctrine of self-interest that 'strips everyone of individuality and seriousness, and the possibility of actions that are original and free'. She goes on to deplore the 'flattening of experience … gloom, nostalgia, disillusionment, atomization, secularization, and other assorted afflictions of the same kind … resentment, desolation, and self-pity'. That's quite a list of symptoms, and the bleak vision it presents is reinforced elsewhere in What Are We Doing Here?, where she writes of the 'ugly determinisms' of philosophy and psychology, the 'narrowness and aridity' of secular thought, and scientific understandings of human nature that 'diminish us' and make us 'tedious and small'.
Near the beginning of The Death of Adam, Robinson insists that 'when I find fault I am not suggesting decline'. But it is hard to ignore the Spenglerian overtones of this kind of pejorative rhetoric. That there would seem to be more than a touch of cognitive dissonance about her condemnations of modernity is suggested by the curious inclusion of 'secularization' in her list of modern 'afflictions'. This is a distinctly strange thing to be lamenting, when one considers the amount of energy Robinson devotes in What Are We Doing Here? to claiming credit, on behalf of her own religious tradition, for the secular principle of freedom of conscience — a principle she rightly recognises as a necessary precondition of any democracy worthy of the name, and which, by definition, must allow for the possibility that a person might examine their conscience in good faith and find no trace whatsoever of the oceanic feeling she takes to be decisive.
No one could deny that modernity has taken many catastrophic turns, or that its disparate intellectual endeavours have led to any number of wretched ideologies and false conclusions, or that its dislocations and injustices have created all kinds of festering social problems. In the face of all this, there is much to admire about Robinson's principled humanism. She is right to resist the crudely utilitarian and instrumentalist ideologies of the present; she is right to reject political pressure to 'accept the legitimacy of economic theory that overrides our declared values'. In essays such as 'The American Scholar Now', in which she draws on Emerson and Tocqueville to mount a spirited defense of public education, and 'Our Public Conversation: How America Talks Itself', in which she develops her historical argument about the religious origins of secularism, Robinson displays a commitment to the ideals of intellectualism, self-realisation, civic virtue and civility of public discourse that it would be churlish to condemn. At their most forceful, the moral clarity of her essays renders unimportant any philosophical objections that one might raise about her specific religious convictions. As she observes at one point, there is a sense in which such disputes often boil down to little more than the banal truth that some people believe in God and some people don't.
Yet there is often a sense in Robinson's essays that all the blame for present ills flows in one direction, that the culprit is always disbelief, and that her cultural diagnoses and her implied remedies have been cut to fit her theological predisposition. For all its scientific and technological advances, modernity has arguably been defined as much by its virulent strains of irrationalism as its positivistic inclinations. In the age of Trump, it is difficult to sustain the idea that we are suffering from a surfeit of rationalism. Nor it is clear how our many tangible political problems would be remedied in the unlikely event that all those disbelieving types who have busied themselves investigating the nature of reality in irreligious ways were to experience a sudden collective attack of the numinous.
It depends how one defines 'modern thought', if course, but Robinson's repeated claim that its atheistic tendency has 'stripped humanity of minds, moral natures, and selves' is questionable at best. Inquiries into the nature of mind, being and selfhood are major themes in the literature and philosophy of the modern era — in fact, the very same year that she published Absence of Mind, one the targets of her disapproval in that book, the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, published his own book called Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, in which he considered how our perceiving brains might give rise something we would experience as a 'mind', and how this in turn might manifest itself as a unified sense of being we would understand as a 'self'.
Robinson is, unsurprisingly, not at all persuaded by Max Weber's famous thesis about the origins of capitalism in Protestant theology — an argument she condemns in The Death of Adam as the product of anti-Calvinist bigotry. 'I suppose,' she writes, 'I am unfair in saying that for Weber a prejudice is a proof.' (I suppose it would be equally unfair to point out that this is coming from someone who rejects great swathes of modern thought because it does not validate her 'sense of things'.) It is a corresponding quirk of her terminology that she prefers to characterise the neoliberal orthodoxy that has dominated our recent history with such devastating consequences as 'neo-Darwinist' or 'social Darwinist', rather than reflect on its intellectual foundations in the work of economic thinkers such as Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman.
And it is on this point that her thought can be seen most clearly to devolve into a reflexive assertion of her religious bias. Social Darwinism — a thoroughly discredited notion that does not follow from the Darwinian science Robinson claims to accept — is a common enough characterisation of the worst excesses of the pinched and inhuman ideology of neoliberalism. But the phrase is merely a form of pejorative labelling; it is not an analytical category. It does not account for the curious fact that the United States, the global standard-bearer for unbridled capitalistic excess, is unusual among developed nations for its high levels of religious belief. Given that Robinson is happy to claim credit on behalf of her religion for all of the positive aspects of secular society — elbowing to one side a more conventional reading of her nation's history that would trace many of its founding ideals to the work of Enlightenment thinkers — it is not unreasonable to expect her to reflect a little more deeply about the fact that the monied political class that elevated the incorrigibly selfish doctrines of neoliberalism to the status of prevailing orthodoxy has historically consisted almost entirely of people who have professed allegiance to one or another Protestant denomination.
If Puritanism is indeed as definitive of her nation's culture as Robinson claims, then it can't be responsible only for the good things. In her essays, she makes a point of distancing herself from various forms of evangelical loopiness and the God-wants-you-to-be-rich megachurches that (for some reason) arose in the United States and continue to thrive there, providing succour to the kinds of destructive reactionary politics she opposes. She suggests at one point that adherents of these regressive manifestations of Christian faith are 'falling back on resentment and indulging the notion that they are embattled and abused by rampant secularism'. But this does not explain why people might find such doctrines appealing or validating in the first place. It is almost as if there might be something about a theological disposition that places a primary importance of the individual conscience that makes it amenable to such crass distortions.
One of the most astonishing assertions in all of Robinson's work appears in her essay on 'Darwinism', where she writes: 'The churches generally have accepted the idea of evolution with great and understandable calm.' While it is true that many religious believers have made their peace with Darwin (the Catholic Church officially admitted the validity of evolution in 1996, a mere 137 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species — which, to be fair, is a relatively swift response from an organisation that took 358 years to admit they were wrong about Galileo), the suggestion that evolution has not faced strenuous resistance from religious institutions is disingenuous in the extreme. Hostility to the demonstrable principles of natural selection survives to this day among many fundamentalist religions, which remain obsessed with Darwin's legacy to a far greater extent than that of any other major scientific figure.
There are some understandable reasons why this should be the case. Post-Darwin, it is no more than entry-level intellectual honesty to recognise that we, as a species, came about as a result of the same natural processes that produced jellyfish, pine trees and earwigs. And this does change things on a cosmic level. Though it does not offer a justification for any particular socio-economic order, it demands a shift in the way we think about ourselves. We are part of nature; we are not above it. As Robinson observes in her essay on the theological virtues, 'if we simply and utterly perish with the beasts, the conceptual universe contracts sharply'.
Robinson regards this as a self-evidently unwelcome conclusion, but I am not so sure. One of the recurring ideas in her essays is that our species is unique. She locates this uniqueness in the remarkable cognitive and perceptual powers of the human mind, and takes it as confirmation of her religious belief. 'There is a persistent tendency in modern thought to deny the anomalous character of the human presence in the world,' she argues. 'We are never more unique than in our long struggle to deny our exceptionalism.' But if the tendency of modern thought has been to deny this exceptionalism, the reality of human behaviour suggests the opposite. For the past few centuries, our species has acted in accordance with biblical lore as if we have been granted dominion over the earth, as if the natural world can be plundered and destroyed with impunity. The consequences of this hubris are now upon us. In this context, it seems increasingly as if the belief in our uniqueness, the vanity that has led us to regard ourselves as in some sense exceptional or anomalous, has been a major part of the problem. For believers and unbelievers alike, when we are considering what we are doing here, it is our levelling animality rather than our elevating divinity that must now be regarded as the most pressing issue.


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Making Civics Real: A Workshop for Teachers
Professional Development > Making Civics Real: A Workshop for Teachers > 4. Constitutional Convention > 4.6 Constitutional Convention — Other Lessons
Constitutional Convention Constitutional Convention — Other Lessons
Student Exercise in Democracy
In this article, Cathy Travis, a long-term Congressional staff person for Congressman Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.), presents a lesson on how to amend the U.S. Constitution and engages students in consideration of the pros and cons of potential new amendments. She focuses particularly on current topics and those of special interest to students, e.g., the voting age, smoking, campaign finance. The lesson is written in a manner that can be shared directly with students.
excerpted from Constitution Translated for Kids by Cathy Travis. Dayton, Ohio: Oakwood Publishing, 2001. Pages 69-72, 75-77.
If you had the chance to add to the United States Constitution now, or in the next few years, to improve or perfect our democracy, what would you want to add?
Since the Constitution is not finished, what are some other ideas for amendments to the Constitution? Debate them to understand why some things are just too hard to get agreement by two-thirds of any group.
Remember that the Constitution has only been amended 27 times in over 200 years, so an amendment should be extraordinarily necessary to make it part of the Constitution. Also remember that the Founders gave Congress the ability to make laws to deal with anything they saw fit, so just about any issue people want to add to the Constitution can be dealt with by passing a law.
In every debate about a new amendment, the most important question is: how vital is this that it must be added to the Constitution, or can Congress or local governments just make a law or a rule to deal with this issue?
Assume your group has succeeded in convening a constitutional convention. Below are suggestions for amendments, along with a suggestion or two to consider as arguments for and against the various amendments. Don't limit anyone's imagination by only using these suggestions or by sticking strictly to the way it is written.
If you can get two-thirds of any group to support any of these amendments, remember the actual process of adopting an amendment to the United States Constitution would also require that the amendment be adopted by two-thirds of the United States Congress and three-fourths of the states as well. 1
Incidentally, many of these amendments are actually proposed by someone in Congress or the states to amend the Constitution.
Proposed Amendment: The Balanced Budget Amendment
What it is: This amendment requires the government of the United States to balance the budget of the United States every single year from now on.
Points to discuss for the amendment:
The United States should never spend more money than it takes in; that just makes good sense.
Families have to balance their budgets, so why can't the government?
Points to discuss against the amendment:
What if the United States goes to war, or has a national emergency like a hurricane or floods, or something that would require us to spend more money than we have right then to further the national cause?
Most families carry some sort of debt, either a mortgage on their house, a car note, or some credit card bills.
Proposed Amendment: Protection of the United States Flag
What it is: Burning the American flag will never be permitted and anyone who does that will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
The flag is the symbol of the country, and burning it diminishes the nation.
People who burn the flag are traitors and deserve punishment for disrespecting the flag.
Our flag flies over people who fight for our nation; burning it demeans their effort.
The Constitution is the foundation of the country and the flag, while inspirational, is only a piece of cloth.
The Constitutional lays out a clear definition of what treason is: to aid and comfort enemies. Burning a flag doesn't comfort an enemy; more likely it would just confuse them.
There is not currently a problem with lots of people burning flags. Why amend the Constitution to tend to a problem that doesn't exist?
Proposed Amendment: Campaign Finance Amendment
What it is: All candidates for federal office must accept limits on the amount of money they can spend on campaigns for office. Congress, along with the states, gets to decide what that limit is and how candidates can get money for campaigns.
Far too much money is collected by candidates for federal office each year, largely from corporations and businesses—organizations that will be governed by the rules made by the Congress and the President.
Democracy is hurt when money has more influence on elections than voters.
Everybody in our democracy, including companies and businesses, should be able to participate in elections, to whatever extent they choose.
Our laws have never been more strict on how candidates can collect and spend money. It does not need to be, and should not be, part of the Constitution.
Proposed Amendment: Lowering Voting Age to 16
What it is: This amendment will offer the right to vote to 16-year-old citizens.
People mature earlier now, and 16-year-old people are better educated and should have the opportunity to vote for people who are making decisions on their behalf.
Some 16-year-olds work and pay taxes.
Points to discuss against the amendment
Most 16-year-olds are not that mature and haven't even gotten out of high school yet. We should be very careful how young our electorate may get.
The age of 18 is generally the age of reason in our laws. The consent to marry, to make health-related decisions, and to be drafted for war begins at age 18.
Proposed Amendment: Prohibition of Tobacco
What it is: This amendment will make the growing, possession, or selling of tobacco illegal in every U.S. state and territory.
We abolished alcohol once, so this has been done.
Doctors have been telling us for years that tobacco is deadly; this is not just a bad habit, it is killing people, and costing us billions of dollars in health care costs.
The best evidence against this amendment is the existence of the 21st Amendment.
Attempts to prohibit tobacco will only make it more expensive and jail tobacco farmers and smokers.
Note that in addition to the amendment procedure in which 2/3rds of the Congress agrees on an Amendment, Article V provides that if 2/3rds of the states so ask Congress, Congress shall call a constitutional convention for the purpose of amending the Constitution.
Under "Points to discuss against the amendment," in relationship to the proposed amendment to protect the American flag, you might add: Contradicts the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech, since flag burning may be considered a form of political "speech" or expression.
1 Freedom of Religion
1 Freedom of Religion — Workshop Session
2 Freedom of Religion — Lesson Plan
3 Freedom of Religion — Teacher Perspectives
4 Freedom of Religion — Student Perspectives
5 Freedom of Religion — Essential Readings
6 Freedom of Religion — Other Lessons
2 Electoral Politics
1 Electoral Politics — Workshop Session
2 Electoral Politics — Lesson Plan
3 Electoral Politics — Teacher Perspectives
4 Electoral Politics — Student Perspectives
5 Electoral Politics — Essential Readings
6 Electoral Politics — Other Lessons
3 Public Policy and the Federal Budget
1 Public Policy and the Federal Budget — Workshop Session
2 Public Policy and the Federal Budget — Lesson Plan
3 Public Policy and the Federal Budget — Teacher Perspectives
4 Public Policy and the Federal Budget — Student Perspectives
5 Public Policy and the Federal Budget — Essential Readings
6 Public Policy and the Federal Budget — Other Lessons
4 Constitutional Convention
1 Constitutional Convention Workshop Session
2 Constitutional Convention — Lesson Plan
3 Constitutional Convention — Teacher Perspectives
4 Constitutional Convention — Student Perspectives
5 Constitutional Convention — Essential Readings
6 Constitutional Convention — Other Lessons
5 Patriotism and Foreign Policy
1 Patriotism and Foreign Policy Workshop Session
2 Patriotism and Foreign Policy — Lesson Plan
3 Patriotism and Foreign Policy — Teacher Perspectives
4 Patriotism and Foreign Policy — Student Perspectives
5 Patriotism and Foreign Policy — Essential Readings
6 Patriotism and Foreign Policy — Other Lessons
6 Civic Engagement
1 Civic Engagement — Workshop Session
2 Civic Engagement — Lesson Plan
3 Civic Engagement — Teacher Perspectives
4 Civic Engagement — Student Perspectives
5 Civic Engagement — Essential Readings
6 Civic Engagement — Other Lessons
7 Controversial Public Policy Issues
1 Controversial Public Policy Issues — Workshop Session
2 Controversial Public Policy Issues — Lesson Plan
3 Controversial Public Policy Issues — Teacher Perspectives
4 Controversial Public Policy Issues — Student Perspectives
5 Controversial Public Policy Issues — Essential Readings
6 Controversial Public Policy Issues — Other Lessons
8 Rights and Responsibilities of Students
1 Rights and Responsibilities of Students — Workshop Session
2 Rights and Responsibilities of Students — Lesson Plan
3 Rights and Responsibilities of Students — Teacher Perspectives
4 Rights and Responsibilities of Students — Student Perspectives
5 Rights and Responsibilities of Students — Essential Readings
6 Rights and Responsibilities of Students — Other Lessons
4.1 Constitutional Convention Workshop Session
4.2 Constitutional Convention — Lesson Plan
4.3 Constitutional Convention — Teacher Perspectives
4.4 Constitutional Convention — Student Perspectives
4.5 Constitutional Convention — Essential Readings
4.6 Constitutional Convention — Other Lessons
Support Materials: Workshop 4: Constitutional Convention
Supplemental material for educators
Assessment: Constitutional Convention Rubric
Supplemental material for educators and students
Lesson Materials: Basic Data Sheet: PERMISTAN
Lesson Materials: Executive Branch Worksheet
Lesson Materials: Legislative Branch Worksheet
Lesson Materials: Judiciary Branch Worksheet
Workshop 1 Freedom of Religion
Ninth-grade civics teacher Kristen Borges involves her students at Southwest High School in Minnesota in a simulation of a U.S. Supreme Court hearing on a First Amendment case. Students assume the roles of Supreme Court justices, attorneys for the school district, and attorneys for the families. They first work in groups to prepare for the hearing, then participate in the hearing, and finally, debrief their experiences and write short papers stating their positions on the case. The methodologies highlighted in this lesson include questioning strategies and mock trials.
Workshop 2 Electoral Politics
This program shows the conclusion of a 12-week civic engagement unit developed by the national Student Voices program. José Velazquez's 12th-grade students at University High School in New Jersey divide into small groups to brainstorm and research community issues, prioritize the issues on the basis of what they have learned, present their findings to the class both orally and through a visual presentation, and develop a whole-class consensus on a youth agenda that they present to the mayoral candidates in a televised question-and-answer forum. The methodologies highlighted in this lesson include issue identification and consensus building.
Workshop 3 Public Policy and the Federal Budget
Leslie Martin's ninth-graders at West Forsyth High School in North Carolina create, present, revise, and defend a federal budget, and then reflect on what they have learned. After assuming the roles of the President and his or her advisors to create a federal budget, students are introduced to the actual 2001 federal budget, and in a whole-class discussion, discuss some key concepts involved in creating it. Next, students return to cooperative learning groups, revise their budgets based on what they learned, present their revised budgets, and simulate a Congressional hearing. This lesson highlights the integration of teacher-directed instruction with small-group work.
Workshop 4 Constitutional Convention
Matt Johnson teaches an AP Comparative Government class to seniors at Benjamin Banneker Senior High School in Washington, DC. In this lesson, his 12th-grade students create a constitution for a hypothetical country called Permistan. Matt Johnson uses this lesson to help students review for their final exam and the AP exam by having them draw on what they have learned during the semester about international governments. Students work in cooperative learning groups to discuss and debate issues relating to the executive and legislative branches of government. The lesson closes with a simulation of a constitutional convention. Simulation is the primary methodology highlighted in this lesson.
Workshop 5 Patriotism and Foreign Policy
The students in this program are seniors at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, a public magnet school in Washington, DC. In this lesson, U.S. government teacher Alice Chandler has her students create a Museum of Patriotism and Foreign Policy. The lesson alternates between whole-class discussion and small-group committee work as students create a gallery for the museum using their respective arts concentration as the medium. The lesson concludes with students presenting their gallery contributions in dance, music, theatrical performances, and visual presentations, along with rationales for their selections. This lesson highlights small-group work as a constructivist methodology.
Workshop 6 Civic Engagement
This program shows a group of 11th- and 12th-grade students at Anoka High School in Minnesota engaging in service learning — a requirement for graduation. In this human geography class taught by Bill Mittlefehldt, students work in teams to define a project, choose and meet with a community partner who can help educate them about the issue and its current status, conduct further research, and present the problem and a proposed solution first to their peers, and then to a special session of the Anoka City Council. The primary methodology presented in this lesson is service learning.
Workshop 7 Controversial Public Policy Issues
In this 12th-grade law class at Champlin Park High School in Minnesota, JoEllen Ambrose engages students in a structured discussion of a highly controversial issue — racial profiling — and connects student learning both to their study of due process in constitutional law and police procedure in criminal law. Students begin by completing an opinion poll, which they discuss as a group. Students are then put into pairs in which they conduct research on the topic. Next, students participate in a debate in which each partnership argues both sides of the issue. A debriefing discussion completes the lesson. The methodologies highlighted in this lesson include role playing and structured academic controversy.
Workshop 8 Rights and Responsibilities of Students
Students in Matt Johnson's 12th-grade law course at Benjamin Banneker Senior High School in Washington, DC, engage in a culminating activity to help them review and apply what they have learned. Students write and distribute one-page briefs of Supreme Court cases they have studied. Next, students are assigned to small groups and given hypothetical cases related to student rights cases from the Supreme Court's 2001-2002 term. Students prepare their cases and present them to the Justices. Justices deliberate and present majority and dissenting opinions, after which the class discusses both the process and the disposition of the cases. This lesson highlights the use of case studies for synthesis and analysis.
Supporting Materials Introduction: Making Civics Real
Supplemental material for educators/facilitators
Supporting Materials Appendix

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Tag: male chauvenist
Henry and Kristl have a brush with The last stand (2013)
24/08/2013 Posted in movie, reviewTagged discrimination, henry and kristl, male chauvenist, movie, movie reviews, review, the last standLeave a comment
"That was an explosive movie." Henry gave Kristl a broad smile knowing full well from her face where this review was heading, "Never mind about the plot holes and the lack of anything that resembles a coherent plausible story, but that is the beauty of the thing. Bang away!"
"Is it me or has scrip writing of late become a redundant profession? Like: who needs a script anyway when a movie is nothing more than a series of scenes strung along? Nonsensical scenes actually." Kristl said.
"It isn't that bad." Henry said.
"Not bad in comparison to all the other nonsensical action movies?"
"That is what I mean."
"It's actually truly bad."
"Oh come one."
"It is an utterly shameful white male supremacist movie." Kristl said annoyed.
"Huh? You might have to explain that."
"Well. Note this. The bad guy is latino. The federal agent that is corrupt is latino. The federal agent that is fooled is black. When Arnold and his crew decided to make a last stand at the town the only two who protest are the mexican and the girl. All the white guys are of one mind : they will stop the bad drugs lord even if it means that the whole town is burned down."
" The bad guys are mostly white."
"True, but look at the women in the movie. The only woman cop can not shoot straight and she has to be saved all the time by the men and I can't recall her ever killing anyone. Why she is handling a sniper rifle in the end battle is beyond me as she never ever hits anything with it but one sniper guy and then she only hits him in his arm. And the only other woman of note is a corrupt cop. Oh and there is this girl who runs across the street just when the last battle commences just to show how perfectly dumb women are."
"You know, you are just overreacting. I am sure it has not be done on purpose."
"Either whomever calls the shots in this movie has done this deliberately and then it is utter shameful to portray women and non-whites this way or it has not be done on purpose, which is as much shameful as apparently when people are not thinking they start discriminating people."
….I still like the mindless actions scenes..Like that scene at the end where a guy is sneaking up the stairs to shoot the women cop and he gets cornered between her and one of the male cops."
"And who shoots him?"
"Uhmm well."
"A guy. See!"
"The only thing that really bothered me was Arnold. He is just getting too old to make a believable action hero. And he simply can't act and should just face the fact that he is getting grey." Henry said.
"Funny thing is that he reminds me of Clint Eastwood."
"They both are more less started out as a kind of action figure and became known by that. Arnie with Conan and Terminator. Eastwood as that no name cowboy and dirty harry."
"That is a rather strange comparison."
"Yeah, but the big difference is the Clint Eastwood outgrew those shabby roots and became a great director and finally even played characters that were the opposite of those earlier ones."
"While Arnie…"
"Is still a shabby actor that never will get any better." Kristl said.
"No redemption for his poor soul?"
"He is old enough to know better."
"He is too old to change."
"Eastwood changed." Kristl said
"Yeah, he did, but Arnie will not change because he lacks the talent."
"Right. You know what I liked about this movie the best?"
"The end titling. Where they show the images from the movie in a kind of arty way."
"Well. At least you should be happy to have seen that." Henry grinned.


text:
Website's 3 star rating
Wolverhampton City Council's website has been rewarded for improving the experience it offers customers visiting its website.
The site which is visited by 1.3 million people each year, has been awarded a 3 star rating by leading technology body SOCITM.
SOCITM - the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM) - is the professional body which represents people involved in the leadership and management of IT and public digital services.
Earlier this year, SOCITM reviewed 409 council websites across the country and gave them a rating of between 1 and 4 stars based on how easy they are for customers to use.
Wolverhampton City Council's website has seen its star rating go up from 1 star to 3 stars in just 2 years.
SOCITM assessors look at how easy it is for a customer to find the information they want on a council website, how easy it is to complete tasks and whether customers leave the site feeling that their question has been answered or problem solved.
Comments from the assessor who reviewed Wolverhampton's site included: "This is a very modern site with a good task focus".
There was particular praise for the mobile version of the site - which can be viewed on smartphones and tablets - with the assessor concluding that it was a "lovely, easy experience on a mobile".
Emma Cleary, Wolverhampton City Council's web development manager, said: "We are thrilled to get the 3 star rating from SOCITM which is a nationally recognised standard and puts us up there with bigger cities like Birmingham and Manchester.
"Our rating has gone up from just 1 star over the past 2 years due to the significant improvements we've made to the site to enhance the customer experience.
"Everything we've done is based on what we know about how our customers use the site. We know that the most popular tasks are looking for jobs, school term dates, finding council housing and renewing library books - so we've made it really simple to find information such as these and other top tasks.
"We've also redesigned the site, launched a mobile version, dramatically reduced the number of pages and ensured what content is there is written clearly and concisely.
"Our aim now is to keep making the site better because we want the best 4 star rating."
The council's web team is always keen to hear any comments or suggestions for how people think the site can be improved, these can be emailed to webmaster@wolverhampton.gov.uk. People can even get involved in a website user testing group via: Type=links;Linkid=3267;Title=Website user testing group;Target=_blank;.
released: Wednesday 2 April, 2014
Released: Wednesday 2nd April, 2014


Many social programs are designed in such a way that individuals must make active decisions and go through a series of steps in order to benefit from them. They must decide which programs to apply to or participate in, complete forms, attend meetings, show proof of eligibility, and arrange travel and child care. Program designers often assume that individuals will carefully consider options, analyze details, and make decisions that maximize their well-being. But over the past thirty years, innovative research — much of it in the area of "behavioral science" — has shown that human decision-making is often imperfect and imprecise. People — clients and program administrators alike — procrastinate, get overwhelmed by choices, miss details, lose their self-control, rely on mental shortcuts, and permit small changes in the environment to influence their decisions. As a result, programs and participants may not always achieve the goals they set for themselves.
The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was the first major opportunity to apply a behavioral research lens to human services programs that serve poor families in the United States. The project, led by MDRC in partnership with behavioral science experts across the United States and MEF Associates, applied behavioral insights to the operations, implementation, and structure of social service programs and policies in an attempt to improve their efficacy.
Between 2012 and 2015, 15 state and local agencies participated in the project, and the team launched 15 tests of behavioral interventions — involving close to 100,000 clients — with eight of these agencies. These tests spanned three domains: child support, child care, and work support. All BIAS sites achieved a statistically significant impact on at least one primary outcome of interest. The magnitude of the improvements typically ranged from 3 to 5 percentage points (in line with other behavioral research findings) — but impacts at 4 of the 8 agencies were much larger. The costs for the interventions ranged from $0.50 per person to $10.46 per person.
The BIAS project initiated a larger research agenda at the Administration for Children and Families and MDRC. The Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) project is furthering the application of behavioral insights to child support contexts by developing promising behavioral interventions and building a culture of regular, rapid-cycle evaluation and critical inquiry within the child support community. The BIAS-Next Generation initiative is expanding the use of behavioral science to a wider range of ACF programs, going beyond testing simple "nudges" to include more implementation research and developing tools to help program administrators and operators apply lessons from behavioral science to their work. To manage these projects and similar initiatives, MDRC launched the Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS). CABS trains and provides technical assistance to practitioners incorporating behavioral insights into programs and conducts rigorous evaluations to increase the evidence base in social and education policy.
To stay abreast of research developments, please sign up for the Behavioral Buzz, the quarterly newsletter for these ACF projects. Past issues of the Behavioral Buzz can be accessed through the project's Related Content page.
The BIAS project consisted of four phases. In the first phase, the team engaged in knowledge development to inform the application of behavioral principles to programs and populations served by the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF). In the second phase, a peer learning practicum brought together policymakers, program administrators, other ACF stakeholders, and behavioral experts to jointly study ways behavioral concepts might be applied to human services programs. Insights and applications generated from these first two phases are described in the report Behavioral Economics and Social Policy: Designing Innovative Solutions for Programs Supported by the Administration for Children and Families.
In the third phase, the team conducted on-the-ground pilots to refine the project's research methodology and apply behavioral insights to several human services agencies. The fourth phase of the project consisted of additional applications of behavioral science and random-assignment tests of designed interventions. Findings from these 15 studies are reported in a series of site reports. Those findings will also be synthesized in a report scheduled for release in early 2017, Nudging Change in Human Services: Final Report of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) Project.
The first two phases of the project involved substantial engagement with the major stakeholders. The remaining phases have included work with various ACF client populations and programs in order to conduct 15 evaluations in three main domain areas: child care, child support, and work support. The effectiveness of each intervention was determined using a random assignment research design. Administrative records from the programs will be the primary data sources for these evaluations. Findings from these studies are reported in a series of site reports.


text:
Q: Capture groups in Python regex issue I'm searching for a string Number of copies: in a text file and once it's found, I want to print the digits associated with it, so I'm searching for, (\sNumber of copies: (\d{1,2})) and I want to return (\d{1,2}). I've been researching nested groups in REGEX, but I don't have the syntax down for it in Python. Any help would be appreciated.
zDiscs = re.search(r'(\sNumber of copies: (\d{1,2}))', fi2Content, re.M|re.I)
print(zDiscs.group(1))

Here what the line I'm looking for in a text file looks like:
12/13/2013 08:11:25  Number of Discs in Set: 2 - Number of copies: 2

My desired output would just be 2 and 2 because I'm looking for the number that follows the text.
fi2Content represent a whole text file read by Python.
I can print(zDiscs) but I can't print(zDiscs.group(2)). Why?
I get the following error:
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'group'

when I try to print(zDiscs.group(2))
Here's my whole script if that helps troubleshooting
fo = open('outputFile', 'w')
fo.write("Col1|Col2|Col3\n")
# 1.walk around directory and find lastjob.txt file in one of folders
rootDir = "C:\\Users\bob\Desktop\Path Parsing Project"
for path, dirs, files in os.walk(rootDir):
for filename in files:
    fullpath = os.path.join(path, filename)
    if filename=="text.txt":
        print(fullpath)
        # 2.open file. read from file
        fi2 = open(fullpath, 'r')
        fi2Content = fi2.read()
        zDiscs = re.search(r'(\sNumber of copies: (\d{1,2}))', fi2Content, re.M|re.I)
        print(zDiscs.group(2)) #This is where the error occurs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A: You must be looking for:
import re
zDiscs = re.search(r'(\sNumber of copies: (\d{1,2}))', " 12/13/2013 08:11:25  Number of Discs in Set: 2 - Number of copies: 2", re.I)
print(zDiscs.group(2))

See IDEONE demo
Output: 54
Mind that re.M is redundant in your regex as you do not have anchors ^ and $ in your pattern (only their behavior is impacted by that option).
If you use (\sNumber of copies: (\d{1,2})), there are 2 capturing groups, and the number will be in group 2.
If the file you search for the expression does not contain that text, and you want to skip it, check if you obtained a match object:
zDiscs = re.search(r'(\sNumber of copies: (\d{1,2}))', fi2Content, re.I)
if zDiscs:
    print(zDiscs.group(2))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Thomisus scrupeus es una especie de araña cangrejo del género Thomisus, familia Thomisidae. Fue descrita científicamente por Simon en 1886.

Distribución
Esta especie se encuentra en África.

Referencias

scrupeus
Arácnidos descritos en 1886
Arácnidos de África

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
InduSoft ISSymbol ActiveX Control Buffer Overflow
Original release date: September 30, 2011 | Last revised: October 28, 2013
ICS-CERT has received a report from independent security researcher Dmitriy Pletnev of Secunia Research about ActiveX control buffer overflow vulnerabilities with proof-of-concept exploit code affecting the InduSoft ISSymbol product. Secunia has coordinated with InduSoft, who has produced a patch that mitigates these vulnerabilities. ICS-CERT has not validated the patch.
The vulnerabilities affect InduSoft Web Studio Versions 7.0B2 (Build: 0301.1009.2904.0000) and 7.0 (Build: 0301.1102.0303.0000).
An attacker who successfully exploits any of these vulnerabilities may be able to execute arbitrary code on the target system.
Impact to individual organizations depends on many factors that are unique to each organization. ICS-CERT recommends that organizations evaluate the impact of these vulnerabilities based on their environment, architecture, and product implementation.
InduSoft Web Studio is used to develop human-machine interfaces, SCADA systems, and embedded instrumentation systems. InduSoft is often integrated as a third-party application in control systems.
Boundary errors on processing the "Open," "Close," and "SetCurrentLanguage" methods for this ActiveX control can be exploited to cause heap and stack-based buffer overflows via overly long strings assigned to the properties.
CVE-2011-0342 has been assigned for these vulnerabilities.1 A CVSS base score of 10.0 has been assigned.
These vulnerabilities are remotely exploitable.
Public exploits are known to target these vulnerabilities.
An attacker with a low skill level can create the denial of service; an attacker would require more skill to execute arbitrary code.
InduSoft recommends that customers of InduSoft Web Studio software upgrade to the latest version and install the latest service pack. The latest service pack is available for download at InduSoft's Security Updates and Hotfixes webpage.
ICS-CERT encourages asset owners to take additional defensive measures to protect against this and other cybersecurity risks:
Minimize network exposure for all control system devices. Critical devices should not directly face the Internet.
When remote access is required, use secure methods such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), recognizing that VPN is only as secure as the connected devices.
The Control Systems Security Program (CSSP) also provides a section for control system security recommended practices on the CSSP web page. Several recommended practices are available for reading and download, including Improving Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity with Defense-in-Depth Strategies. ICS-CERT reminds organizations to perform proper impact analysis and risk assessment prior to taking defensive measures.
1. b. http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2011-0342, website last accessed September 30, 2011.


Felt F95 Team Issue – 6061 Lightweight Alloy Frame, Shimano Sora/FSA Tempo 18 Speed Drivetrain, Satin Black 'Team Issue' Paint Job. Outstanding value at only £699!
This entry was posted in Bike Hut Updates, Road Bikes on March 26, 2013 by Erin Bike Hut.


text:
Home About FAQ My Account
Home > Journals > THEBRIDGE > Vol. 9 (1986) > No. 1
Danish-American Literature in Transition
Dorothy Burton Skardal
literature, heritage, culture, immigrants
Danish-American literature was written by Danish immigrants in the United States mainly about and for members of their own group. Their lives were lived in constant psychological and cultural flux undergoing the pressures of assimilation; therefore their literature both grew out of and recorded multifaceted processes of transition. Today the literature Danish immigrants wrote is itself in transition: long unread or forgotten, it is now being rediscovered by Americans of Danish heritage. This brief introduction to the main Danish-American writers is meant to stimulate still more to reclaim their heritage preserved in Danish-language fiction and poetry.
Skardal, Dorothy Burton (1986) "Danish-American Literature in Transition," The Bridge: Vol. 9: No. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge/vol9/iss1/8
European History Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Regional Sociology Commons
All Issues Vol. 43, No. 2 Vol. 43, No. 1 Vol. 42, No. 1 Vol. 41, No. 2 Vol. 41, No. 1 Vol. 40, No. 2 Vol. 40, No. 1 Vol. 39, No. 2 Vol. 39, No. 1 Vol. 38, No. 2 Vol. 38, No. 1 Vol. 37, No. 2 Vol. 37, No. 1 Vol. 36, No. 1 Vol. 35, No. 1 Vol. 34, No. 2 Vol. 34, No. 1 Vol. 33, No. 2 Vol. 33, No. 1 Vol. 32, No. 2 Vol. 32, No. 1 Vol. 31, No. 2 Vol. 31, No. 1 Vol. 30, No. 2 Vol. 30, No. 1 Vol. 29, No. 2 Vol. 29, No. 1 Vol. 28, No. 2 Vol. 28, No. 1 Vol. 27, No. 1 Vol. 26, No. 2 Vol. 26, No. 1 Vol. 25, No. 2 Vol. 25, No. 1 Vol. 24, No. 2 Vol. 24, No. 1 Vol. 23, No. 2 Vol. 23, No. 1 Vol. 22, No. 2 Vol. 22, No. 1 Vol. 21, No. 1 Vol. 20, No. 2 Vol. 20, No. 1 Vol. 19, No. 2 Vol. 19, No. 1 Vol. 18, No. 2 Vol. 18, No. 1 Vol. 17, No. 2 Vol. 17, No. 1 Vol. 16, No. 2 Vol. 16, No. 1 Vol. 15, No. 2 Vol. 15, No. 1 Vol. 14, No. 1 Vol. 13, No. 2 Vol. 13, No. 1 Vol. 12, No. 2 Vol. 12, No. 1 Vol. 11, No. 2 Vol. 11, No. 1 Vol. 10, No. 2 Vol. 10, No. 1 Vol. 9, No. 2 Vol. 9, No. 1 Vol. 8, No. 2 Vol. 8, No. 1 Vol. 7, No. 1 Vol. 6, No. 2 Vol. 5, No. 2 Vol. 3, No. 2 Vol. 2, No. 2 Vol. 1, No. 8 Vol. 1, No. 7 Vol. 1, No. 6 Vol. 1, No. 5 Vol. 1, No. 4 Vol. 1, No. 3 Vol. 1, No. 2 Vol. 1, No. 1


Women Composers webring welcomes web sites of women composers of classical music and music publishers and CDs with music by women composers.
Reviews of women composers and MP3 excerpts of works.
GENESSA is an online shopping mall, specializing in jewelry but providing sponsored products and services and unsponsored content in selected categories. The MUSIC page recommends CDs and features links to the humble compositions of GENESSA's webmaster, Lady G, who has never composed a woman but happens to be one. If anyone likes them she may even compose more! (She might anyway.


text:
Temera hardwickii est une espèce de raies électriques de la famille des Narkidae.

Répartition
Temera hardwickii se rencontre dans l'ouest du bassin Indo-Pacifique.

Description
La taille maximale connue pour Temera hardwickii est de .

Sa forme générale est celle d'une torpille.

Étymologie
Son nom spécifique, hardwickii, lui a été donné en l'honneur du naturaliste Thomas Hardwicke (1755-1835), qui a collecté l'holotype.

Notes et références

Liens externes
Genre Temera

Espèce Temera hardwickii

Torpediniformes
Torpediniformes (nom scientifique)


text:
Q: How to create columns based on date in DataFrame in Python Pandas? I have DataFrame like below:
rng = pd.date_range('2020-12-01', periods=5, freq='D')
df = pd.DataFrame({"ID" : ["1", "2", "1", "1", "2"],
                   "Date" : rng,
                   "kind" : ["active", "not_active", "active", "active", "not_active"],
                   "status" : ["b2", "b2", "g8", "g8", "v10"]})

And i need to create DataFrame which will show what was the status of the last active and the last not active agreement. Below I upload example of result:

A: If datetimes are sorted you can use DataFrame.pivot_table:
df = (df.pivot_table(index='ID', columns='kind', values='status', aggfunc='last')
        .reset_index()
        .rename_axis(None, axis=1))

If not sure if sorted add DataFrame.sort_values:
df = (df.sort_values(['ID','Date'])
        .pivot_table(index='ID', columns='kind', values='status', aggfunc='last')
        .reset_index()
        .rename_axis(None, axis=1))
print (df)
  ID active not_active
0  1     g8        NaN
1  2    NaN        v10


The National Safety Council just sent out an article about drugs in the work place. It states that for the first time in the last 10 years, the percentage of positive drug tests have increased. Scientists have reviewed over 8 million drug tests from urine, saliva, and hair. The results show an overall increase in identified drug use of 3.5% between 2012 & 2013.
Marijuana use has risen as well. Over 6% in the overall workforce. It's even higher, over 20% in states that have legalized recreational marijuana use.
What does that mean for the safety professional? Most construction jobs have transient workers. These workers travel from state to state and job to job. Some of these workers might not be able to hold a regular job and have a background in drugs. In the workplace, drug testing is common. Even if a worker passes a drug screen, there is still a large percentage of workers that will find their way back to drugs.
With known drug use on the rise, we must be aware of the possibility of drug use by our employees. We also can not forget about supervisors and management. Keep a watchful eye on all of your workers and be viligant to maintain a drug free workplace.


text:
Court denies DeBordieu request to lift stay
By Tommy Howard, South Strand News
Picture a juggler performing his act. This juggler is using not three, four or five balls. Instead, he's juggling sand and water, swimming in the surf, storms, beautiful sunsets, one of the most important marine estuaries in the country; state and federal bureaucracy, and a clouded over crystal ball.
It's easy to imagine that something like that has gone through the minds of a judge and the various parties in a lawsuit over whether or not DeBordieu Colony can build new groins and put additional sand on the beach.
In a 15-page order Chief Administrative Law Court Judge Ralph King Anderson, III denied a request by DeBordieu Colony Community Association to lift a stay last week.
The community has obtained a permit from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to build three groins and renourish the beach on Debidue. Construction could not begin, however, without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps has not yet given its OK for the work.
Earlier, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and the Belle W. Baruch Foundation had filed separate requests to keep DeBordieu from building the groins and placing the sand. In May, the two requests were consolidated for hearing purposes. The South Carolina Environmental Law Project handled the case for SCCCL.
DeBordieu wants to build three groins and renourish the beach with sand along a 1.5-mile stretch of beach on Debidue Island. The sand would total about 650,000 cubic yards of beach-compatible sand. The "three permanent sheet-pile-type groins extending from '300 and 400 feet from the back beach/bulkhead to the low tide line'."
In the order the judge states, "In order to secure these groins, the Permit authorizes armor stone scour aprons along both sides of all three groins at the seaward end of the structures. Each of the groins will require approximately 1,500 tons of stone placed on 5,600 square feet of marine mattresses. The Permit also requires DeBordieu to monitor the erosion surrounding the groins and to mitigate the erosion affecting Baruch's Hobcaw property (Hobcaw), which is the adjoining property south of DeBordieu."
Judge Anderson outlined four criteria the Coastal Conservation League and Baruch would have to meet in order for an automatic stay to remain in effect.
While the petitioners didn't cover every point all the way, he wrote, they were also able to show that DeBordieu didn't satisfy the court with some of the statements made.
One of the key sticking points was that the Corps hasn't yet issued a permit for work to proceed. Because of turtle nesting on Debidue Island and other local beaches, any such work has to wait until the end of nesting season before it could be done. DeBordieu wanted to begin its construction work on the three groins and then do the beach renourishment, starting in November. Anderson ruled that he wasn't comfortable with allowing work to begin since there is no guarantee that the Corps would issue a permit, or that it would be issued before Nov. 1. A hearing on the issue is set for February 20210.
Another element against DeBordieu is that it has to post a bond with financial guarantees that if the court ruling went against DeBordieu, the Association would be able to pay to remove the groins and the 4,500 tons of rock from the beach. That would have to be done to return the beachfront to its condition before the work began.
DeBordieu has $250,000 set aside to cover any such removal costs. Separate money is set aside for the beach renourishment project itself.
DeBordieu and its opponents disagree on how much the possible removal would cost. Anderson said that even if DeBordieu's lower projected cost was accurate, it still would take much more than the $250,000 to do that work. A report prepared by Coastal Science and Engineering for DeBordieu said it would cost about $3.5 million to install the three groins. That works out to approximately $1.2 million per groin.
One of Baruch's concerns is that placing the groins on Debidue Beach would alter erosion and sand drift patterns. If correct, those changes could negatively impact the marshland and the North Inlet estuary that makes up a significant part of Hobcaw's 16,000 acres.
The two sides also provided different estimates of rates of erosion and sand drift. Anderson said that while further testimony would be necessary to get a more detailed answer, still the rate that DeBordieu asserts would cause irreparable harm in that "$250,000 is clearly not enough to cover the cost of removal of three completed groins," Anderson wrote, if ultimately a final decision went against DeBordieu. Anderson pointed out that groins and beach renourishment are permitted activities in some circumstances. Because of the uncertainty over whether the Corps would ultimately issue a permit, the differing data offered by witnesses for each side and the lack of commitment of sufficient funds to remove the groins if the courts ultimately finds against DeBordieu, he is leaving the stay in effect.
The Coastal Conservation League looks on that as a win. Anderson also ruled that DeBordieu may continue to pursue a permit from the Corps while the parties await the mid-February hearing on the merits of the case.
Conclusion "I find Respondent DeBordieu should be allowed to proceed with obtaining a permit from the Corps. Respondent DeBordieu may also begin developing and implementing the initial aspects of the groin construction including the process of beach renourishment in anticipation of constructing the groins. However, this Court does not lift the stay to allow construction of the groins at this time. Nevertheless, at the conclusion of the merits hearing, and after the record is more fully developed regarding the nature and impact of the groins, the court may revisit this issue to determine if the stay should be lifted pending the court's decision in this matter."
In response to the order, SCELP Executive Director Amy Armstrong said: "Citizens and communities deserve to know whether projects that would degrade and damage our natural resources meet all of the legal requirements before construction activities proceed, not after," Armstrong said. "In this case, we believe that the permit fails to meet the legal requirements and the groins should never be constructed."
Coastal Conservation League Executive Director Laura Cantral said: "The court's decision is a testament to the importance of the automatic stay."
"In 2018, we fought at state legislature to protect the stay, a legal principle that protects the environment while citizens challenge government decisions that will forever damage their communities or natural resources," Cantal said." The court acknowledged that maintaining the stay in this case was in the public interest."
"Constructing three massive groins on a stretch of fragile beach would absolutely cause irreparable harm — for downdrift beaches, for wildlife, and for one of the country's last remaining pristine estuaries."
"Up and down the coast and in Columbia," Cantral said, "the Conservation League will continue to fight more attempts to meet climate change and sea level rise with hard structures that jeopardize the present and future health of our beaches."
A statement from the Conservation League said: "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found that groins are "probably the most misused and improperly designed of all coastal structures." Groins work by capturing sand as it moves down the beach through longshore transport; however, by capturing sand and holding it in place, groins act to deprive the adjacent and downdrift beaches of sand. The detrimental impacts of groins on adjacent and downdrift beach properties are well documented in scientific and regulatory literature. In 2013, after studying the effects of groins and shoreline armoring on the state's beachfront, a DHEC Blue Ribbon Committee comprised of scientists, developers and elected officials recommended that no new groins be permitted. South Carolina law recognizes that groins interfere with natural sand transport and require special documentation that a project will not result in negative downdrift impacts before the issuance of any permit."


text:
Scott Coker (born October 3, 1962) is an American mixed martial artist, Taekwondoin, former movie stuntman, and combat sports promoter. He is the founder and former CEO of MMA promotion Strikeforce and the current President of Bellator MMA.

Background
Scott Coker was born in Seoul in 1962. His father, an American from Tennessee, had arrived in Korea shortly after the Korean War. He met Scott's mother, a Korean, while she was singing at a USO club. They married in  December 1959. When he was approximately 9 years old, Scott and his family relocated to the United States, where they settled in San Jose, California in 1973.

Coker is an Ernie Reyes protégé and full-contact fight promoter covering Kickboxing, K-1, and MMA. Coker has obtained an 8th degree black belt in Taekwondo under Reyes and was an original member of the West Coast Demonstration Team.  In 1986, Scott Coker became one of the  first directors of ISKA.

Mixed martial arts

Strikeforce
Coker founded Strikeforce in 1985 as a kickboxing organization.

The promotion held its first MMA event, Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Gracie, on March 10, 2006, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. Over the next five years, Coker built the brand into the number two mixed martial arts promotion in the United States, partnering with both Showtime and CBS to televise their events. Strikeforce co-promoted some events with Elite Xtreme Combat, or EliteXC.

In March 2011, Strikeforce was purchased by Zuffa, LLC.  Coker was retained by the company for a contractual period of three years, ending in April 2014.

Bellator MMA
On June 18, 2014, Coker was announced as the new President of Bellator MMA, replacing founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. Coker was brought in to make
it a less tournament-focused promotion.

Awards
Combat Press
2015 Executive of the Year

Film career
Coker has participated in various martial arts movies as a fighter, including Dragon Fight, The Last Dragon, and Surf Ninjas.

References

External links
Short Bio
Short Bio

Scott Coker & Strikeforce

1962 births
Living people
American male taekwondo practitioners
American people of Korean descent
Bellator MMA
Kickboxing executives
Mixed martial arts executives
Strikeforce (mixed martial arts)


text:
RANDALL MELL Staff WriterSUN-SENTINEL
Almost six months have passed since Dana Quigley's heart-wrenching breakthrough on the Senior PGA Tour, but time will never completely heal the wound.
That mysterious day of joy and sorrow will always haunt him.
How could the greatest day of his professional life be the saddest of his personal life?
Why did his father have to die in the middle of the final round of the biggest victory of his life?
"I still haven't come to terms with it," Quigley said.
Quigley, 50, of West Palm Beach, is the long-time club pro who made the most of a second chance at a pro career by winning the Northville ** txt: End of column 1 **Long Island Classic last August. It was his first victory as a tour pro. He crumpled in tears in the grass when he learned of his father's death moments after accepting the winner's trophy.
His father, Wallace, lost a 10-year bout with lung cancer in a Massachussetts hospital about an hour after Quigley teed off in the final round.
"I'm still emotional about it," Quigley said. "I still cry about it, and I dream about it and I wish he were here. I talk to him in my prayers at night. He will always be with me."
Quigley will be among the 78 players teeing off Friday in the first round of the Royal Caribbean Classic at Crandon Park Golf Course. His story touched thousands of golf fans. The post office delivered him "boxes and boxes" of mail after the victory. He's still getting mail.
"There were so many uplifting letters, people rooting for him and praying for him," said Angie, Quigley's wife. "We sat in the kitchen reading and crying."
Quigley's quite a senior success story. He made the PGA Tour in his 30s, but he struggled for five seasons while waging a battle with the bottle. He shot a 61 once at the Hartford Open, and he shot a 63 at Pinehurst in another tour stop. He recorded seven top-10 finishes. But he said he drank and partied too much. And he never really believed he was good enough to win out there.
Quigley quit. He went home and took a job as a club pro in Rehoboth, Mass., near where he grew up.
A legend there, Quigley tore up the state competition. He set 30 course records in the Northeast and recorded 15 holes in one. And he quit drinking. He will celebrate his eighth anniversary of sobriety Sunday.
"I just decided what I was doing was crazy," Quigley said. "It was just too much. I had broken enough hearts. I haven't needed to go to meetings. I would go to meetings if I thought I needed them, but I haven't. My life has been 100 percent better."
The Senior PGA Tour offered Quigley a second chance at his golf dreams, and after tearing up national club pro tournaments as a 49-year-old, he chased the senior tour in Monday qualifiers. He made it into the Northville Long Island Classic as a Monday qualifier.
"It was the most-stressful day I can remember in my life," Angie said of the final round.
Quigley took his 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son to visit his father in the hospital the day before the tournament began. He sensed his father slipping away, but his father wanted him to play.
Wallace Quigley's condition grew critical the eve of the final round, but Angie was instructed by the family to keep the news from Dana until the tournament was over. Doctors told the family Wallace would probably die sometime Sunday.
"I watched Dana play, and I wore sunglasses because I didn't want him to see my eyes," Angie said. "I was crying. I knew his father was probably going to die sometime that day."
Quigley said he was remarkably calm down the stretch.
"We feel it was divine intervention," Angie said. "He won, and his father was there to see it. It was the only way he could be there."
Wallace believed in his son, but Dana didn't always believe in himself.
"The whole time I played the regular tour, I didn't think I was good enough, never thought I could compete and it's the way I played golf, I guess," Quigley said.
Quigley credits sports psychologist Bob Rotella with boosting his confidence and outlook. Quigley spent three days at Rotella's Virginia home more than a year ago. They talked about playing to win.
"It's easy to go from a club pro to a senior tour pro and feel like you're just happy to be there," Rotella said. "You have to get past that. You have to see yourself as somebody who can win, and ** txt: End of column 3 **you have to totally believe in yourself.
"I applaud Dana to have the guts to say, 'This is what I really want to do' and pursue the senior tour. He took a huge risk leaving the comfort and safety of home and the security of a club pro job. To risk throwing it all away to see how great you can be, that's inspiring.
"When anybody in our culture dares to have dreams that are really, really big, I'm always excited when one of those dreams comes true."
Notes: Jose Maria Canizares shot the low individual round in Wednesday's Pro-am with a 68. The Walter Morgan team of Jim Wilson, Bob Dolan, Jim Gilbride and Rosemary Gilbride took low team honors with a net 53.


text:
Julien Fišera (né en 1978) est un metteur en scène et dramaturge français.

Biographie
Directeur de la compagnie Espace Commun, ses spectacles sont salués par la critique qui voit dans le travail de l'artiste le . Attaché aux auteurs vivants il cherche avant tout à faire "entendre une voix : celle de l'écrivain."  et est à l'origine en 2013 de la création mondiale de la pièce Belgrade d'Angélica Liddell. Il s'essaie aussi à l'opéra et propose en 2015 pour le Festival d'Aix-en-Provence la création Be With Me Now.

Œuvres

Metteur en scène

 2004 : Titus Tartare d'Albert Ostermaier, Festival Frictions / Théâtre en mai, Dijon
 2006 : Face au mur de Martin Crimp, Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne
 2008 : Syndromes d'un autre temps, Mains d'oeuvres
 2009 : Histoires d'ordre et de désordres, Arts in Marrakech, Marrakech
 2011 : Le Funambule de Jean Genet, Théâtre Paris-Villette
 2013 : Belgrade d'Angélica Liddell, Comédie de Saint-Etienne
 2013 : Dom Juan de Molière, Théâtre d'Art de Moscou
 2015 : Eau sauvage de Valérie Mréjen, Comédie de Béthune
 2015 : Be With Me Now, Festival d'Aix en Provence
 2016 : Opération Blackbird, Comédie de Béthune
 2017 : La Grande Montée de Cheveu, Nanterre Amandiers
 2018 : Un dieu un animal de Jérôme Ferrari, Atelier du Plateau, Paris puis en 2021 au Théâtre du Train Bleu à Avignon
 2020 : Raconter la ville, Théâtre Dunois
 2021 : Dans le cerveau de Maurice Ravel de Julien Fisera et Vladislav Galard, La Pop, Paris
 2021: L'Enfant que j'ai connu d'Alice Zeniter, Théâtre Dunois et Théâtre de la Ville, Paris

Auteur
 2008 : B.Mania
 2014 : Opération Blackbird
 2021 : Dans le cerveau de Maurice Ravel

Adaptations
 2004 : Le Chemin de Damas d'August Strindberg, mise en scène Robert Cantarella, Théâtre national de la Colline
 2015: Eau Sauvage de Valérie Mréjen
 2017 : Un dieu un animal de Jérôme Ferrari

Références

Liens externes

Metteur en scène français
Dramaturge français du XXIe siècle
Naissance en 1978


text:
Listening Chaos
The Listening Chaos – February 2017
by Clayton Michaels March 8, 2017 March 15, 2017 0
Man, another month is in the books already. That means it's time for another roundup of last month's best new releases. it was another good one, so let's get to it…
Crystal Fairy – Crystal Fairy
From my review of the album:
On paper, the combination of Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, and powerhouse Le Butcherettes/Bosnian Rainbows vocalist Teri Gender Bender seems like a can't miss, but the recent spate of seemingly can't miss 'supergroups' (Killer Be Killed, Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, Gone is Gone, Serpentine Dominion) have proven to be anything but. Fortunately, in the case of Crystal Fairy, I needn't have worried – their self-titled debut record is a phenomenal collection of psychedelic sludge pop that sees Buzz and Dale in particular sounding more inspired than they have on anything since The Bride Screamed Murder
Crystal Fairy by Crystal Fairy
Kairon; IRSE! – Ruination
[I]t brilliantly takes the elements that made classic progressive rock so engaging and updates them in such a way that they sound fresh again. Ruination manages to be retro-influenced without being derivative, which isn't an easy thing to do […] In the end, Kairon; IRSE! might not be the most metal album you're likely to hear this year—in fact, I'm hesitant to call it metal at all—but anyone who likes the direction Opeth has taken on their last few records and wants to dive a little deeper into prog-rock, Ruination would be an excellent place to start. Anyone into unpredictable, challenging music will find a lot to like here as well.
Ruination by Kairon; IRSE!
Manetheren – The End
This is one of those albums that wasn't really on my radar, but it took all of about 30 seconds for it to totally win me over. Manetheren play a highly melodic style of atmospheric/post-black metal that scratches the same itch for me as bands like Woods of Desolation, Amesoeurs, and Alcest – it's aggressive, but it's also surprisingly beautiful. Carefully composed and flawlessly executed, the album tells the story of one man's journey through the apocalypse to eventually become a sort of god of the wastes, but you don't need to get into the story to be moved by the music. This one's going to be on heavy rotation for a while.
The End by Manetheren
Power Trip – Nightmare Logic
From my review of the album, which is definitely a strong candidate for Album of the Year:
There are a couple of things that really make this album work. The first is the tightness of the songs. Given that the album is all of eight tracks and a relatively brief 33-minutes, it's kind of remarkable how many killer riffs and nimble leads guitarists Blake Ibanez and Nick Stewart manage to pack into these songs without making them feel overstuffed. There are honestly so many awesome riffs that it's difficult picking out one or two highlights, but the breakneck intro/verse of "Firing Squad" is a definite standout, and it's doubly effective in light of how it contrasts with the heavy mosh riff of the bridge. The long outro section of "If Not Us Then Who" is a total neck-wrecker, mixing speedy, staccato palm-muted chugs with a half-time turnaround that might be the coolest part of the whole record.
Nightmare Logic by Power Trip
Iron Reagan – Crossover Ministry
From my review:
On Crossover Ministry, though, the party-to-political ratio seems to have been reversed. Yeah, there are some party songs on the new album—most notably "Fuck the Neighbors," which reminds me a bit of Sloppy Seconds in terms of it's attitude—but on the whole, Crossover Ministry is a much more lyrically serious album than what they've released in the past. Tracks like "A Dying World," "More War," and especially "Dead With My Friends" have a different kind of anger to them that makes the album feel a lot more urgent than either Worse Than Dead or The Tyranny of Will.
Crossover Ministry by Iron Reagan
Palace of Worms/Ecferus – Split
Ecferus is a highly prolific one-man black metal project out of Indiana (I think Alp hails from Fort Wayne, but don't quote me on that) that's gotten quite a bit of buzz lately based on the strength of last year's excellent Pangaea and a strong split with Jute Gyte. On this split he's paired with Palace of Worms, another one-man project from the guy behind dulcimer-driven black metal outfit Botanist. It's a good pairing, with Palace of Worms a little more on the punkish side and Ecferus opting for something a bit rawer than his usual output, and both sides are really solid. Highly recommended for fans of USBM.
Palace of Worms & Ecferus by Ecferus
Resonance Cascade/Järnbörd – Hyperakusi
Resonance Cascade's brand of grind is steeped in the Swedish death metal tradition. I don't know if they actually use HM-2 pedals, but that's definitely the dominant aesthetic here – their half of the split kind of sounds like Wolverine Blues played at five times the speed, which is more than fine by me. […] Järnbörd spike their grind with a heavy dose of crust, and as a result, their half of the split is a much rawer, more frenetic affair. I actually wasn't familiar with them at all prior to this, so I was pleasantly surprised by their tracks. "Kvarnstenen," which somehow manages to both blast and swing, is probably my favorite of their tracks, but the dynamic "Du och ditt arbete" is a very close second.
Hyperakusi, the split LP/CD with Järnbörd by Resonance Cascade
Sunless – Urraca
Sunless has a directness to what they do that is uncommon among bands of this style. Consider a band like Pyrrhon, where the dissonance comes as a result of their chaotic arrangements, or the wonky time signatures and inhuman-sounding drum patterns of someone like Ulcerate. Sunless sound deceptively straightforward in comparison. There's not a lot of contrapuntal push-and-pull between the guitar and bass, resulting in riffs that are almost catchy by tech-death standards, particularly the deep groove they lock into during "Gathering at the Skull's Eye" and the last few minutes of closing track "Disintegration of Man."
Urraca by Sunless
Sunlight's Bane – The Blackest Volume
This record is flat-out fucking caustic. If you invite it into your home, it will hold you down and strip the enamel from your teeth […] Sunlight's Bane is anything but one-dimensional. Their sound is an amalgamation of crust, d-beat, black metal, post-metal, hardcore, and grindcore that makes for a much more dynamic listening experience than one might ordinarily expect from a band that's broadly classified as grind. No two songs on The Blackest Volume sound quite the same, but the songwriting here is deft enough the disparate elements and influences come together to form a remarkably cohesive, relentlessly pissed-the-fuck-off whole.
Sunlights Bane "The Blackest Volume" by Innerstrength Records
Crystal FairyEcferusIron ReaganJärnbördKairon; IRSE!ManetherenPalace of WormsPower TripResonance CascadeSunlessSunlight's Bane
An Interview With Drew Smith (Archarus) and Tucker Thomasson (Thorr-Axe)
Kreator and Obituary with Midnight and Horrendous – Win Tickets!
Clayton Michaels
Clayton T. Michaels (Senior Editor) is a mild-mannered college English teacher by day, and a black metal loving misanthrope by night. He's also an award-winning poet and rabid Red Sox fan. Send him your promos at [email protected]
Split Review: Sacred Reich and Iron Reagan
Staff Writer April 23, 2019 April 23, 2019
11 Bands to Hold You Over Until the Next Gorguts Album
Kyle J. Messick March 13, 2019 March 13, 2019
Live Shots: Gwar and Iron Reagan
Staff Writer January 23, 2019 January 23, 2019
Track Premiere – Enon Chapel – "Miasma From the Charnel House"
Clayton Michaels January 9, 2019 January 19, 2019
Short Sharp Shock #7: Satisfying Your Metal Desires
Nigel Holloway March 15, 2018 October 29, 2018
Split Review: Iron Reagan/Gatecreeper
Jared Mullis February 23, 2018 February 23, 2018
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What Causes Product Defects in Medical Devices?
Why File a Defective Medical Device Claim?
Medical devices are critical for many people to move, to breathe properly, and even to live. We rely on them for comfort and health, and we trust those who provide the devices to make safety their top priority.
When a device is defectively designed or improperly implemented by a doctor, the damage to your body can be catastrophic. It represents an inexcusable breach of trust that can inflict irreparable damage on your family and cause physical and emotional trauma that you shouldn't have to deal with.
For more than 35 years The Oshman Firm has represented victims of medical device defects, reaching settlements and winning verdicts of millions of dollars in compensation for their injuries. We don't tolerate manufacturer negligence or medical malpractice, and neither should you.
Call our offices today at (800) 400-8182 for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation on your case, and find out how we may be able to help you get the justice you deserve.
In spite of oversight by the Food and Drug Association, medical devices are often defective in their design or manufacture, or they may be misleading in their marketing. These devices include pacemakers, heart valves, prosthetic knees or hips, x-ray machines and many more products that are important for comfortable living.
The FDA requires manufacturers, distributors and facilities that provide medical devices to patients to report all defects or failures that have caused an illness, a serious injury or death to a user. These Medical Device Reports are used to notify the public of these defects and to identify the flaws that need to be addressed.
Approximately 105,000 MDRs are received by the FDA each year, making it clear that defective medical products are as common a problem as they are serious.
Before they are released for private use, the manufacturer of a medical device is required to prove that the device is safe and effective.
Unfortunately, the tests these products undergo to determine safety normally involves just a few hundred patients, and are not tested in functional, or "real world," applications. This limits the extent of what the testers can learn about the device's safety during extended, day-to-day periods of use, and puts users of the device at extreme risk.
Further, the individual components of the product may not have been separately tested, which can lead to one faulty part causing the rest of the device to fail.
Perhaps most shockingly, some products – like many hip implants on the market – can be expedited through the FDA approval process with reduced scrutiny if they are similar to other approved devices.
The medical device attorneys at The Oshman Firm have extensive experience investigating the parts, design and manufacture of a defective device and holding accountable those responsible for its release.
As many of these medical devices are placed inside your body, the potential for serious injury is greatly enhanced should they stop functioning, or begin functioning incorrectly. Treating injuries from defective medical products often requires multiple surgeries, and may result in damage to vital organs, your immune system, infection and even death.
When you use a medical device, you are putting your life into the hands of the manufacturer, hospital and doctors responsible for giving it to you. They have an obligation to uphold their duty, which is to provide safe, reliable products that will function the way they are intended. When these products fail, there are often drastic consequences that are devastating to your health, as well as your finances.
You may be able to seek financial compensation for the pain you have experienced as a result of negligence.
Fighting back is the best way to ensure you receive it. Nothing can erase the trauma of a serious injury or the death of a loved one, but holding the neglectful parties responsible will aid in financing your recovery and restoring some peace of mind.
Each defective medical device case may be different. Depending on our investigation, there are a number of parties we may seek damages from on your behalf. We will hold anyone involved in your suffering accountable. Defendants are identified by their place on the 'chain of distribution' – that is, the path the faulty device took from the manufacturer to you.
The manufacturer. The enormous and lucrative market for medical devices means that device manufacturers may rush products into circulation in efforts to make as much profit as possible, as soon as possible.
The testing laboratory. The laboratories that performed tests on the device may be liable for negligence if they missed defects in the design or application. It may be particularly useful to pursue action against them if they operate independent of the manufacturer.
The medical sales representative. Sales representatives often meet with doctors and physicians on behalf of the manufacturing company. If the sales rep recommended the device that ultimately proved defective and caused your injury by mischaracterizing its safety, they may be liable for damages.
The doctor. If the doctors who recommended the device failed to provide proper instructions on its use, or about the potential dangers of its use, they may be liable for your injuries.
The hospital or clinic. As part of the chain of distribution, the hospital or clinic in which you were given the device may also carry liability for your injuries.
The retail supplier. Retail supply stores are also part of the chain of distribution between the manufacturer and you. This includes drug stores, pharmacies and other retail suppliers.
If your claim includes doctors, hospitals or clinics as defendants, you may qualify for a medical malpractice claim. Your defective medical device attorney will be able to provide more information on what kind of lawsuits The Oshman Firm may be able to file on your behalf.
That the medical device in question was designed or manufactured with defects, or that it was defectively marketed.
That the defect or improper marketing caused the injury.
The first issue will likely be self-evident – you or a loved one has suffered an injury, and are seeking restitution for your pain and suffering. A good defective medical device attorney will use all of their resources to prove the second and third issues.
Each state places a statute of limitations on product liability claims. In New York, you have three years from the time the injury occurs to file a claim and seek damages. However, the longer you wait, the more difficult it may be to prove important facts in your case.
Contact a defective medical device lawyer as soon as possible after an injury. The faster we can begin our investigation, the stronger we can build your case.
If you have been injured by a defective medical device, it's likely that other people have as well. In cases where multiple persons have suffered similar injuries, a class action lawsuit may be filed against a common defendant. Or, you may be able to join in on a class action lawsuit that is already being litigated.
Lawyers involved with the lawsuit will essentially become your representation as well. This could prove beneficial if they have experience in suing larger companies.
A class action lawsuit is not always the best answer. You should speak with an attorney about your options.
The defective medical device lawyers at The Oshman Firm have over 35 years of experience in manufacturer negligence and medical malpractice law. Contact our legal team today at (800) 400-8182 for a free consultation.
We'll discuss your best options for filing a claim and tell you what we can do to help.
Complete this form to learn about your legal rights. All information is held in the strictest of confidence.
© 2019 The Oshman Firm. All rights reserved.


text:
My American Journey
By Colin L. Powell and Joseph E. Persico
Read by Colin L. Powell
Category: Biography & Memoir | 20th Century U.S. History
Category: Biography & Memoir | 20th Century U.S. History | Audiobooks
Dec 29, 2010 | ISBN 9780307763686
Sep 19, 2006 | 222 Minutes
About My American Journey
"A great American success story . . . an endearing and well-written book."—The New York Times Book Review
Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history—Vietnam, the Pentagon, Panama, Desert Storm—but a history that until now has been known only on the surface. Here, for the first time, Colin Powell himself tells us how it happened, in a memoir distinguished by a heartfelt love of country and family, warm good humor, and a soldier's directness.
My American Journey is the powerful story of a life well lived and well told. It is also a view from the mountaintop of the political landscape of America. At a time when Americans feel disenchanted with their leaders, General Powell's passionate views on family, personal responsibility, and, in his own words, "the greatness of America and the opportunities it offers" inspire hope and present a blueprint for the future. An utterly absorbing account, it is history with a vision.
Praise for My American Journey
"The stirring, only-in-America story of one determined man's journey from the South Bronx to directing the mightiest of military forces . . . Fascinating."—The Washington Post Book World
"Eloquent."—Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Profound and moving . . . Must reading for anyone who wants to reaffirm his faith in the promise of America."—Jack Kemp, The Wall Street Journal
"A book that is much like its subject—articulate, confident, impressive, but unpretentious and witty. . . . Whether you are a political junkie, a military buff, or just interested in a good story, My American Journey is a book well worth reading."—San Diego Union Tribune
"Colin Powell's candid, introspective autobiography is a joy for all with an appetite for well-written political and social commentary."—The Detroit News
Also by Joseph E. Persico
See all books by Joseph E. Persico
About Colin L. Powell
One of the most prominent figures in American public life, General Colin L. Powell served as the twelfth Chairman of… More about Colin L. Powell
About Joseph E. Persico
Joseph E. Persico was the author of Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage; Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour:… More about Joseph E. Persico
Published by Ballantine Books
Mar 04, 2003 | 656 Pages | 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 | ISBN 9780345466419
Dec 29, 2010 | 656 Pages | ISBN 9780307763686
Published by Random House Audio
Sep 19, 2006 | 222 Minutes | ISBN 9780739342398
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