Tupelo Honey comes from the blossoms of the white Ogeechee Tupelo Trees in Georgia and Florida. This raw unprocessed honey has a very low sucrose with an excellent glycemic index, and will never crystalize.
A perfect ingredient for DIY face masks and an ideal replacement for sugar to use in smoothies, coffee, tea, or by itself. It's delicious!


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Former Hastings ace plays in World Cup
Chris Morris batting for Hastings Priory back in 2008. Picture courtesy Jake Badger
Published: 18:30 Sunday 02 June 2019
A former Hastings Priory cricketer has been in action at the ICC World Cup 2019 today (Sunday).
Chris Morris, who was Priory's overseas player during the 2008 Sussex Cricket League season, played for South Africa against Bangladesh at The Oval.
The 32-year-old all-rounder was one of three South Africa bowlers to take two wickets as Bangladesh amassed 330-6 batting first. He then scored 10 off as many balls batting at number eight as South Africa reached 309-8 in reply, losing by 21 runs.
See also: * Former Priory ace plays against England
* Hastings beaten despite Hooper hundred
* Johnson shines as Bexhill record back-to-back wins
Morris didn't play in South Africa's opening match of the tournament against England last Thursday, but was drafted in to the side in the wake of the Proteas' 104-run defeat.
It was his 35th One Day International appearance and first since February 2018. He has also played in 23 T20 Internationals and four Test matches.
Morris, a right-arm fast medium bowler, took 31 league wickets for Priory at an average of 24.23 with a best of 5-8 against Brighton & Hove. He also scored 402 runs at an average of 40.2, including a superb 113 against Stirlands.
He isn't the first Priory player to represent South Africa because Morne van Wyk played in 13 One Day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals between 2003 and 2011.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


On the first Friday of the month we have a literature table outside M & S. On Friday 3rd February it was one of the quietest days we have ever had but we had one good conversation at the end.
On Sunday 12th February Nick Garrity spoke on where does faith come from, why do some believe and not others?
2 Thessalonians 2 v 13 "But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth"


October, 2018 | PEB Steel Buildings Co. Ltd.
Construction, Power & Mining Myanmar 2018 – In a joint event with 200 companies representing 500s of brands from 7 National Pavilions from 6 countries e.g. Singapore, Thailand, China, Korea, Malaysia, and India, PEB Steel Buildings presented as key pre-engineered steel buildings company.
Early this year, PEB Steel extends its regional reach to Myanmar with a $25 million investment in the latest steel manufacturing facility, capitalizing on the country's booming construction industry.
This exhibition is the leading event for Building & Construction, Electric Power & Renewable Energy, and Mining & Minerals Recovery. It is truly the No. 1 and largest industry event of its kind in Myanmar and provides the best platform to connect to the country's rapidly expanding infrastructure industries.


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Farm Bill Issues; and, the Ag Economy
Categories: Agricultural Economy /Farm Bill
In a telenews conference with reporters yesterday, Senate Ag. Comm. Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) commented on how quickly the panel's Farm Bill will move from the Committee to the Senate floor: "I don't know if this is a record, but it's got to be one of the — possible records for getting a bill from committee on to the floor for consideration, so I'm very pleased about that…after coming out of the committee with 15 to five strong bipartisan vote, we did not have objection to moving to the bill, and there are very few things that have occurred this year, or in — in over the last number of years, that did not require a motion to proceed, and several days of waiting, and a cloture vote, and so on, in order to get to the bill.
"We did not have to do that, there was not an objection to going to the bill, and I hope that bodes well for — for moving things through next week."
Later, Chairwoman Stabenow indicated that, "We're going to start debate, and we'll be moving on amendments, you know, as quickly as possible. So I absolutely expect to be on amendments next week, and you know, urging people now to put their amendments together, let them know — let us know what they are so we can work with them."
Speaking yesterday on the Agriculture Today radio program (Red River Farm Network), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) stated that, "[The Farm Bill] went directly to the floor, I don't think people– usually when you guys ask me questions its, 'Okay, you got it through the Committee what's next?' And I say, 'Well, we hope in the next six months we will go to the floor.' This time it was six hours, and we have the bill on the floor."
Sen. Klobuchar added that, "there's good amendments and dumb amendments and we'll hear them all, get through them and get the bill passed before Memorial Day."
A news release earlier this week from Sen. Bob Casey (D., Penn.) indicated that, "With frost hitting farms throughout the state, [Sen. Casey], today, pushed for passage of a 5 year Farm Bill before the Senate's Memorial Day recess. During a conference call, Senator Casey discussed data showing the benefits that farm bill will have for all Pennsylvanians and highlight the Farm Bill's inclusion of a crop insurance provision which could aid farmers hit by the recent frost."
Beyond procedure, when asked yesterday about the House Ag. Comm. passed Farm Bill, which contains much larger cuts to nutrition programs than the Senate version, Chairwoman Stabenow stated: "Well, first of all, I absolutely reject the level of cuts and the way this is done in the House. They eliminate something called categorical eligibility, which we've now voted down either two or three times on the Senate floor on a bipartisan basis. It came up in committee this week, it was voted down on a bipartisan basis. So that policy does not have support in the U.S. Senate. I won't support it in conference, and so we will look for ways that we can continue to provide savings by tackling abuse, or misuse."
AP writer Mary Clare Jalonick reported yesterday that, "The two chambers are far apart on how much the $80 billion-a-year program [SNAP] should be cut, however, reflecting a deep ideological and at times emotional divide on the role of government in helping the poor… At both committee meetings, debate over the food stamp cuts was heated, with defenders of the program saying the bills would take food out of the mouths of children and the elderly."
With respect to the House Ag Committee debate on nutrition, Jerry Hagstrom reported this week at National Journal Online that, "But since the 2010 election, the panel's membership has consisted of very different types of people, who seem to enjoy being hostile to each other…[W]hen it came time to talk about nutrition, Republicans and Democrats couldn't wait to show how differently they view the world."
Rep. Joe Crowley (D., N.Y.) spoke on the House floor recently about cuts to the SNAP program (video replay here), and on the floor Wednesday, Rep. Barbara Lee (D., Calif.) noted that, "Every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.70 in economic activity. Yet the Republican farm bill cuts nearly $21 billion from our Nation's antihunger program while millions of Americans continue to struggle from the impacts of the Great Recession."
Speaking yesterday with Mike Adams on the AgriTalk radio program, Rep. Steve Fincher (R., Tenn.) indicated that, "And let me be clear about this. The cuts [in nutrition programs] that we're making are not cutting people. They're reforming programs, existing programs that have been abused. There's fraud. So what we're doing is tightening these up. The duplicate programs, we're reforming those and putting them together, and still making sure that our most vulnerable in our society are taken care of.
"But at the same time, this is a huge, huge program that's really slipping away from us, and we've got to do our part. I mean, our job in Congress is to make sure that the taxpayer money that's being sent to Washington is being spent in a responsible way, and in a lot of these areas they're not. We think probably, in the end, we will be tickled if we can end up with that $20 billion number. This is going to be a dog fight on the House floor. So hopefully we end up with that number."
On potential procedural movement of the Farm Bill in the House, Mr. Hagstrom indicated in his National Journal article that, "[Chairman] Lucas has said the House leadership has told him the bill will come up on the floor in June. That would follow Senate consideration of the legislation, which is expected to begin Monday. Senate and House leaders want to finish a conference before Sept. 30, when the current extension of the 2008 farm bill is scheduled to expire."
In addition to nutritional differences in the Committee passed legislation in each chamber, a reporter on yesterday's conference call noted to Chairwoman Stabenow: "You were unable to get that egg bill into your mark… Yet the House, as you know, last night, had a contentious debate and included this amendment of Steve King's to basically block states from being able to impose rules on other states. What do you think about that particular amendment, and how do you expect to address this issue?"
(Note that a FarmPolicy.com transcript of the debate on the King Amendment is available here, while a video replay can be found here).
Chairwoman Stabenow stated that, "Well, our egg producers need some help. Right now there's a patchwork of regulations around the country. I mean, what happened last night in the debate is exactly the reason why we need a national standard. And the egg producers came together to develop something that's workable only for them. I know others in the livestock community think somehow that creates a slippery slope and the possibility of pressure on them to do the same thing.
"I really personally disagree. I think this is something that an industry has done to step up and form an agreement so that the egg producers in Michigan are going to be able to stay in Michigan and sell around the country. But unfortunately, we did not have the support in committee to put this bill into the farm bill.
"And I'm going to continue to look for ways to help the egg producers, because I think they've stepped up in a responsible way."
Dan Charles noted yesterday at the salt blog (NPR) that, "When the agriculture committees of both House and Senate finished their versions of the farm bill this week, all mention of guaranteed living space for egg-laying hens had vanished.
"In fact, the House committee adopted a provision that could make it more difficult for states to set such standards. This amendment, offered by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, would prohibit any effort by state governments to control the way that their food is produced by out-of-state farmers. The measure is aimed specifically at California's Proposition 2, which is set to ban farmers in Iowa or Idaho from selling their eggs in California if those eggs come from chickens housed in traditional cages."
On the issue of crop insurance, Chairwoman Stabenow noted yesterday: "Well, this is the number one most supported program in the farm bill, from a farmer perspective. Everywhere we've gone, as I've traveled around the country, farmers have said we're willing to give up direct payment subsidies. We know, from a taxpayer standpoint, that doesn't make sense that we receive help in good times, but crop insurance is what works for us."
Meanwhile, differing perspectives on Title I of the Farm Bill continue to percolate.
Speaking with reporters yesterday, Sen. Mike Johanns (R., Neb.) noted that, "This year's farm bill presents some different problems though. This draft, in my judgment — judgment, represents a step backward for Ag policy. Instead of moving forward with a free market type system, what this farm bill does, is it doubles down on something called, target prices, which is really a subsidy for certain commodities.
"That was eliminated in last year's farm bill. With bipartisan support, it actually got 64 votes in the Senate, got out of committee, but now it's back in this bill. The government should not be involved in setting prices for commodities. The government should not be involved in raising target prices, which is exactly what's happening."
And earlier this week on the AgriTalk radio program with Mike Adams, Sen. Pat Roberts (R., Kans.) expressed similar concerns with respect to the target price concepts and noted that he did not think the current committee bill was "a reform oriented Farm Bill like we passed last year"- Sen. Roberts audio here (MP3- 4:00).
Mikkel Pates reported yesterday at AgWeek Online that, "Will farmers who opted out of the farm program so they could drain wetlands to grow valuable crops now be forced to restore those wetlands if they want to keep vital premium subsidies on their crop insurance?
"Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., hopes not. North Dakota's senior senator tried in vain to pass a half-dozen amendments to the Senate Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry Committee version of the 2013 farm bill that would have kept crop insurance disconnected from conservation compliance, or at least reduce the regulatory burden of compliance.
"That didn't work in the Senate Ag Committee bill, passed May 14, but Hoeven says he's still working to keep the insurance and conservation 'decoupled.' He says an opportunity is in a conference committee with the House Ag Committee farm bill, also passed this week."
Mr. Pates added that, "The House version, passed hours later on May 15, does not tie crop insurance to compliance with conservation programs. Additionally, the House bill saves $6 billion by consolidating duplicative conservation programs and streamlining the delivery of incentive funds to farmers, ranchers, and landowners.
"'The voluntary, incentive-based method of encouraging conservation in the House bill is the right approach,' says U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. 'Farmers in North Dakota do not need Washington instructing them on how to farm and care for their land. Ensuring crop insurance is decoupled from conservation programs is a top priority for our farmers and ranchers.'"
Additional lawmaker perspective on the House Ag. Committee passed Farm Bill included:
Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R., Tex)- "The bill strengthens Title I by putting in place a new safety net, one that will offer ranchers and farmers choices in how to manage risk while reforming outdated policy. This move creates regional equity among agriculture producers, increasing their choices and implementing a broad approach to production agriculture."
Rep. Kristi Noem (R., S.D.)- "I fought for policies that are most important to South Dakota, such as livestock disaster programs, forestry provisions to help fight the pine beetle, conservation and a permanent office of tribal relations within the Department of Agriculture. I am proud they were included in this bill and will keep fighting on behalf of South Dakota as the Farm Bill moves forward."
Rep. Bill Owens (D., N.Y.)- "Owens also applauded the inclusion of a number of local initiatives he either sponsored or co-sponsored earlier this year. H.R. 1297, the Agricultural Credit Expansion Act, and H.R. 1298, legislation to increase export opportunities for local apple growers, were both originally introduced by Rep. Owens and included this week in the Agriculture Committee's markup of the Farm Bill. In addition, H.R. 1272, the Maple Tapping Access Program Act, was also included in the bill. Rep. Owens joined Rep. Peter Welch as a co-sponsor in introducing that legislation earlier this year."
Rep. Adrian Smith (R., Neb.)- "Passage of a responsible, long-term Farm Bill is among my highest priorities and yesterday's markup in the Agriculture Committee was a step in the right direction."
Rep. Rick Crawford (R., Ark.)- "The House Farm Bill reflects the regional diversity in American agricultural production, including the heavily irrigated Mid-South. The Senate farm bill takes a positive step in sharing this goal, which brings us closer than ever to a final product."
Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R., Tex.)- "I think there's more room to target our nutrition funding better."
Rep. Tim Walz (D., Minn.)- "Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor should bring this bipartisan bill forward for a vote without delay… [I]'m especially concerned about the large cuts to SNAP, which helps hardworking families and seniors who are struggling to put food on the table. Americans don't want a handout, just a hand-up in times of need. I'm hopeful much of this funding will be restored in conference with the Senate."
Rep. John Garamendi (D., Calif.)- "While there's room for improvement, particularly in light of the shortsighted cuts to food assistance, I believe passing a Farm Bill out of the House Agriculture Committee is a good first step."
Rep. Jim Costa (D., Calif.)- "We still have more work to do to ensure the 2013 Farm Bill works for all Americans, including revisiting cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but we are moving this process forward…There is too much good in this bill to let it die before it is heard on the House floor. Rural America cannot afford inaction. We owe them a vote."
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D., Wash.)- "Today's bill will benefit our local producers of specialty crops, such as fruits and vegetables, with programs to help them expand and enter new international markets. The funding for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative and Specialty Crop Block Grant Program increased significantly and will help our farmers who rely on partnerships with our local universities to improve crop quality and yields."
Rep. Kurt Schrader (D., Ore.)- "Overall, I was very pleased with our ability to secure increased funding for our specialty crop programs. The funding will allow the specialty crop industry to continue to exceed innovative expectations, generate greater economic output and make sure that our food continues to be the safest in the world. This industry is a big piece of the puzzle in making sure that Oregon and American agriculture remain as competitive as possible in the global marketplace for years to come."
Rep. Annie Kuster (D., N.H.)- "I am gravely disappointed that this legislation undermines assistance for hungry families, and I fought hard to protect this essential program. At the same time, this Farm Bill contains many important reforms: it eliminates wasteful direct payment subsidies, streamlines more than 100 duplicative programs, and includes both an amendment I sponsored to support rural colleges and an amendment I cosponsored to expand access to local, healthy food."
Rep. Bob Gibbs (R., Ohio)- "As past President of the Ohio Farm Bureau, I believe that agriculture policy should be based on market-driven principles. Including language for dairy farmers that effectively equates to supply management is the exact opposite of a free market system. Ohio dairy farmers need to be able to grow with the market, and artificially setting limits on the milk they can produce will only keep them more dependent on government subsidies.
"Finally, I believe the commodity title, Title One, is drastically unfair to Ohio farmers. The commodity title now includes target prices that are set so high for certain crops, that some farmers may have guaranteed profits. I believe farmers should be making decisions on what to plant based on market signals, not on which crop will give them the most government subsidy. I fully support a Farm Bill that gives farmers and producers ways to mitigate their risk to continue to provide a safe and affordable food supply."
Agricultural Economy
Gregory Meyer reported yesterday at The Financial Times Online that, "Farmland prices in the US corn belt have risen at double-digit clip this year despite weaker grain markets in a move that will intensify debate over whether loose monetary policy and congressional largesse are inflating a bubble.
"Agricultural land values increased 15 per cent on last year during the first quarter in a district that includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said on Thursday. The region's farmland values have trebled in the past decade.
"Whether the market is overheating has become a feverishly discussed question among land shoppers from farmers to pension funds. Past booms have ended in prolonged declines, with US prices plunging by 66 per cent from 1919-1940 and more than 40 per cent from 1981-1987, according to research published by the Kansas City Fed."
Keith Good
Posted by Keith Good • May, 17, 2013 • 3:27 am


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The American President: From Cincinnatus to Caesar
By Clyde Wilson|2019-05-07T14:29:50-05:00February 28th, 2017|Categories: American Founding, Character, History, Presidency|
The American president was to be the hero of republican virtue. At the beginning of the new millennium, we can see only too well how misplaced was the hope. From Cincinnatus to Caesar was a long road. From Caesar to Caligula is but a few short and easy steps…
"The great body of the nation has no real interest in party."
— James Fenimore Cooper, The American Democrat, 1838
The American presidency offers many fascinating questions for historical exploration. And by historical exploration I do not mean the all-too-common form of pseudohistory that puts the presidential office at the center of our experience as a people. That scenario in which presidential Lone Rangers—Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan—gallop in to save us from dark forces that threaten divinely ordained progress toward the universal triumph of "American democracy." (The dark forces are often discovered to be ourselves. The American people must be saved by presidential heroes from their ignorant prejudices against such things as foreign wars, affirmative action, and unlimited immigration.)
That scenario is not history at all but a part of the mythology of empire. Its origins can be traced to nineteenth-century Massachusetts when Calvinists lost their theology but none of their aggressive belief in their own chosenness, when the godly City upon a Hill was replaced by "American democracy" (that is, Bostonian arrogance) as the end goal of the universe.
No, I mean real historical questions to be explored. How did the chief magistrate of a confederacy of republican states evolve into the leader of the world? Historians of the remote future, should there be any such after the disintegration of Western civilization, will see this as a central factor in the rise and fall of the American empire.
But here let us take a more limited and manageable question. How did we come to the present system of choosing our elective monarch? Of determining what citizen has the qualifications necessary for an office which surely requires patriotism, intelligence, and character of a high order? Or to put it another way, what could possibly cause an apparently normal person to stand on a chair and cheer at the prospect of an Al Gore or a George W. Bush assuming such grave responsibilities, as many did in the most recent election?
Part of the answer lies in the invention of the two-party political system, something utterly unknown to the Framers of the Constitution, and particularly to the invention in the early nineteenth century of the diabolically-devised political nominating convention. The intent of this nominating convention was to take the choice of candidates away from the people and ensure control by professional politicians: that is, persons who seek profit and place by the pursuit of power rather than by honest, productive work.
There was a time when candidates for high office were expected to show their achievements and services for the commonwealth—successful leadership in arms, wise executive administration which met public necessities while relieving the burden of taxes, forethought and eloquence in the legislative hall in dealing with hard issues. Compare recent occupants and aspirants of the presidential office with this standard. What does the absence of this or any other standard from our electoral discourse tell us about our state as a people? In fact, presidential candidacy is and has been for some time a factor not of achievement or service but of celebrity, or what patriots who decried the emergence of this phenomenon in the nineteenth century called "availability."
One of those patriots. James Fenimore Cooper, wrote in his American Democrat:
Party is an instrument of error, by pledging men to support its policy, instead of supporting the [true] policy of the state…. Party leads to vicious, corrupt and unprofitable legislation, for the sole purpose of defeating party.
The discipline and organization of party, are expedients to defeat the intention of the institutions, by putting managers in the place of the people; it being of little avail that a majority elect, when the nomination rests in the hands of a few.
Party is the cause of many corrupt and incompetent men being preferred to power, as the elector, who, in his own person, is disposed to resist a bad nomination, yields to the influence and a dread of factions.
Party pledges the representative to the support of the executive, right or wrong, when the institutions intend that he shall be pledged only to justice, expediency and the right, under the restrictions of the Constitution.
When party rules, the people do not rule, but merely such a portion of the people as can manage to get control of party.
The effect of party is always to supplant established power. In a monarchy it checks the king; in a democracy it controls the people.
Party, by feeding the passions and exciting personal interests, overshadows truth, justice, patriotism, and every other public virtue, completely reversing the order of a democracy, by putting unworthy motives in the place of reason.
It is a very different thing to be a democrat, and to be a member of what is called a democratic party.
Cooper's hope was for a Washingtonian presidency who would be above party—Andrew Jackson. It was not an unreasonable hope in the beginning. But there were two problems with this appeal to a noble executive such as the constitution had designed the office to be. By the time anyone achieved the distinction necessary, he had more than likely reached the stage of declining mental powers. This was true of Jackson as it had been of George Washington. Though not in the same category as Washington and Jackson, it is likely that some of the worst mistakes of Wilson, FDR, and Reagan can be traced to this fact of life. Those who hope to manipulate a powerful officeholder for their own ends are many, wily, and adept at raising plausible public clamor for their goals.
An even greater problem was the hope for a president above party, which both Washington and Jackson believed themselves, erroneously, to be. No sooner had the government been founded than Alexander Hamilton and his northeastern friends began to force through an agenda that boldly disregarded all the understandings that had been reached at Philadelphia, in the ratifying conventions, and in the first ten amendments—under the cover of Washington's prestige. The Jeffersonians managed to halt this initiative in mid-course and hold it in abeyance for a quarter century. But Thomas Jefferson should not be regarded as a player in the leftist scenario of presidential Lone Rangers. He did not regard the presidential office in that way, but as a consensual and restraining force. He walked to his inauguration rather than riding, like "plain" John Adams, in a carriage with white horses, sent his messages to Congress in writing rather than delivering them from the throne, and established Virginia country pell-mell as etiquette in the executive mansion. But he could not help being the leader of a party, however, he wished otherwise.
Jeffersonians did establish for a time the dominance, at least rhetorically, of a limited collegial presidency, and more importantly, the dominance, at least rhetorically, of a confederal central authority restricted in its jurisdiction. This was the bedrock public feeling when Jackson was elected president. The majority was disgusted with John Quincy Adams's efforts at neo-Hamiltonian expansion of the government and regarded Jackson as honorable and safe. But, as Washington had his Hamilton, so Jackson had his Martin Van Buren, the American solon of party.
One may interpret Van Buren's motives in constructing the American party system in two different ways. He was a devotee of Jeffersonian principles who realized that under the conditions of mass democracy only a strong party organization could defend them. Or, as most observers at the time and later have believed, he was a shrewd pursuer of political preferment for its own sake, troubled no more by principles than was necessary to keep the hayseeds in line. Motive really does not matter. The effects were the same, either way.
These effects were the substitution of party machinery and patronage for public opinion and the transformation of electoral contests into trials of celebrity rather than of issues. As an 1829 newspaper commented:
Mr. Van Buren seems disposed to take a conciliatory course. He looks toward to a higher station in the General Government, and his whole air and manners evince it. He desires, therefore, to make as many friends, and as few enemies, as possible.
It would be hard to find a better description of the way our aspirants to the highest office have been addressing the issues most of the time since. Perhaps the most important issue of the late 1820's and early 1830's was that of free trade versus tariff protection. President Jackson took a bold and decided stand for "a judicious tariff." The Jeffersonian principle of free trade had become a party trick. One could be for or against free trade as long as one supported the party. Though it was assumed that Jackson's party leaned toward free trade, his supporters among Mr. Van Buren's friends in the northeast were free to vote for all the tariffs they wanted.
The key, of course, was organization. New York, because it had more patronage than other states, because political contests were close, and because Hamilton and Burr had left a legacy of competing organizations, provided the model for the nation. And federal patronage grew with the phenomenal expansion of the country in every measurable dimension. One need not be troubled with public opinion or issues. All you needed was to control the meetings. So appeared the party convention, which was actually thought of as an advance in popular control over the legislative caucuses which had previously nominated candidates, now decried as aristocratic evils.
So, if enough postmasters and pensioners and contractors and their friends and relatives and those who expect to be postmasters, contractors, etc. when their ticket wins, and their friends and relatives show up, that settles the matter. Whatever resolutions and platforms and nominations emerge from the meetings, already carefully designed by the managers, are, by definition, public opinion. The people have spoken. If you don't believe it, just ask the newspapers (who are getting most of their profits from public printing).
Meanwhile, you have been busy putting into place all those nice, new devices to better express the will of the people (that is, make the managers' job easier). Let us suppose that twenty percent of the electorate of Massachusetts is Democratic and eighty percent of that of Mississippi. But in the convention states are represented by population. Your Massachusetts Democratic voter is going to have several times the power per capita of my Mississippi one in writing the platform and choosing the candidate. The real effect, of course, is to allow a well-organized minority of a minority to choose the president. As Cooper pointed out: It is "'of little avail that a majority elect, when the nomination rests in the hands of a few." And the minority which controls is a stealth minority, with a vested interest in disguising its agenda and avoiding any real public debate and decision of issues, since controversy might scare off voters. And have you noticed those new-laws, unknown and unanticipated by the Constitution, which mandate that the party that wins New York by fifty-one percent or even by lethree-wayhree way race, gets 100 percent of New York's votes in the Electoral College? Thus do our leaders labor ceaselessly to bring us ever and ever greater democracy.
Despite historians' endless blather about "Jacksonian democracy," pro or con, there was now a president and party ruling by patronage and popularity with no principle in sight. True, there was much talk in the air about the common man, which meant that the party managers had learned to get his vote, after the options had been carefully culled down to the safest ones. (Rather, there were two Jacksonian principles in sight: an insistence on maximum presidential prerogative—and one the historians never mention in this context—firm opposition to abolitionism.) Even the vaunted war against the national bank—put forward as a campaign for hard money—actually resulted and probably was intended by the President's managers to result in a host of government-protected banks, inflating the currency happily for private profit.
It is true that Van Buren opposed this, as he did anything so decisive as to make enemies. As he reported unblushingly in his autobiography, he once missed a key vote because he had promised to accompany a friend on a cemetery visit. This method failed him at last when he lost the 1844 nomination by attempting not to take a stand either way on Texas annexation. Still, it made him president for a term. When elected in 1836 he was a veteran officeholder, but he had no real achievements to rank with Adams, Jackson, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and many others. Cincinnatus had been called from the plow and turned out to look a lot like Uriah Heap rather than the natural aristocrat for whom the presidential office had been designed.
But the game was not over. Two could play. The Whigs, on the outs while Jackson was popular, had learned a few tricks from Van Buren. In 1840 their managers, who had been busy building up their own patronage network, devised a new strategy.
They found another quondam military hero. General William Henry Harrison, who was completely unburdened by any political opinions or record. They adopted no platform, thus reducing the chance of offending any potential voter. Instead of a platform there was a campaign—torchlight parades carrying log cabins, coonskin caps, and jugs of cider to symbolize their candidate's identity with the common people, and whooping it up for "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."
A traveling circus had been sent to find Cincinnatus and had come back with his distinguished-looking but rather dimwitted cousin, who did not have a clue as to what he had been called for. This was just what the managers had in mind. The real leader of the party, Clay, announced that the electoral victory had been a mandate for the policies of the party (which had hardly been mentioned in the campaign)—a national bank, high protective tariff, distribution of tax money for internal improvements. For the moment the agenda stalled because Cincinnatus' cousin ungraciously died and was succeeded by a junior member of the electoral coalition, a "states' righter" who had opposed Van Buren without going for the Whig program.
But the party men had managed to co-opt the process by which the people were to find their Cincinnatus and corrupt it beyond repair. The Whigs, soon to be Republicans, had designed a formula that they have clung to since. Never address a real issue if you can help it, and if you have to, redefine it till it's harmless. Serve big business (that is, safe, as opposed to entrepreneurial capital) but never mention it. Always be the party of the respectable middle class, a sure vote-getter everywhere outside the South. In pursuit of this goal, the party has for more than a century and a half, with very rare interruptions of talent, produced a succession of presidential and vice-presidential candidates who have astonished the world with their mediocrity.
Calhoun, who shared Cooper's distaste for party and preference for an independent presidency and was in a much better position to assess the real state of affairs, described it thus:
The existing party organization[s] look only to plunder. The sole object of strife is to elect a President, in order to obtain the control through him of the powers of the government. The only material difference between the two parties is, that the Democraticks [sic] look more exclusively to plundering through the finances and the treasury, while the Whigs look more to plundering by wholesale, through partial legislation, Banks, Protection and other means of monopoly. The one rely for support on capital and the other on the masses; and the one tends more to aristocracy and the other to the power of a single man, or monarchy. Both have entirely forgot the principles, which originally gave rise to their existence; and are equally proscriptive and devoted to party machinery. To preserve party machinery and to keep up party union are paramount to all other considerations; to truth, justice and the constitution. Everything is studiously suppressed by both sides calculated to destroy party harmony…. It is impossible for anyone, who has not been an eyewitness, to realize the rapid corruption and degeneracy of the Government in the last few years. So callous has the sensibility of the community become, that things are now not only tolerated, but are scarcely noticed, which, at any other period, would have prostrated the Administration of Washington himself…. It is time for the people to reflect.
Calhoun's description of the end effect could serve as an epitaph for the late twentieth-century presidency:
When it comes to be once understood that politics is a game; that those who are engaged in it but act a part; that they make this or that profession, not from honest conviction or intent to fulfill it, but as the means of deluding the people, and through that delusion to acquire power; when such professions are to be entirely forgotten, the people will lose all confidence in public men. All will be regarded as mere jugglers—the honest and patriotic as well as the cunning and the profligate—and the people will become indifferent and passive to the grossest abuses of power, on the ground that those whom they may elevate, under whatever pledges, instead of reforming, will but imitate the example of those whom they have expelled.
Remember George Bush and "Read my Lips." In some quarters there has been much emphasis on the disgrace brought on the presidential office by Bill Clinton and his obvious sleaziness. So what else is new? In fact, the Bush deception of the people is by far the worse of the two. Clinton's lies were mostly to cover up his misdeeds. Bush's lie was a deliberate deception of the people made publicly in presenting himself as an aspirant to their highest office, a corruption of the democratic process at its very root. But, of course, our sensibilities have become so callous that neither the deceiver nor the deceived thought much of it.
It is in fact possible to praise what Calhoun decried, to glory in the fact that American political parties present the people with no real alternatives. Freedom from ideological strife can be seen as a great boon when compared to the havoc wrought in Europe by struggles over irreconcilable visions of the political good. This has been a basic theme of left and right democratic capitalist penmen: for instance, respectively, Arthur Schlesinger in The Vital Center and Daniel Boorstin in The Genius of American Politics. Instead of wasting themselves on class struggle, Americans have been busy manufacturing more refrigerators and automobiles for everyone. There is indeed much to be said for a nonideological regime that promotes peace and prosperity. One may wonder, however, if that accurately describes a country that killed 600,000 of its men in a civil war. Or if any number of fridges, or even of guided missiles, can save a people with a leadership unable or unwilling to address honestly its real necessities.
Can a lack of principle—a refusal to contest real issues—be covered by an appeal to the evils of ideology? Would not a more accurate description suggest that since the Progressive Era of the late nineteenth century the driving force of American history has been a quasi-socialist ideology, whether it is called Progressivism, Liberalism, or Neoconservatism? There has not been an absence of ideology but rather a two-party agreement on one. For those who believe in Clinton's worldview, mistaken though they be, a vote for Clinton or Gore is a rational choice. In the same circumstances, a vote for a George Bush (junior or senior) is a vote for "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" if it is thought of as a vote for an alternative.
The Whig frustration after 1840 was compounded by Calhoun's eloquent and intransigent stand for free trade, free banking, and strict construction, which had rallied the latent Jeffersonianism of the people. The Democratic Party, after the breaking of Van Buren's power in 1844, returned to principle and held to it until principle was rendered irrelevant by blood and iron.
The economic centralists, whose drive had always since the time of Hamilton been presented as a moral imperative, needed other cards to play. The American presidency required two more steps to Caesarism. First, the party men must learn how to combine predatory patronage and predatory policy, which separated the Democrats and Whigs, into one power, something best accomplished in crisis. This Lincoln was able to lay the groundwork for in the midst of war, though the final consummation would not come until a century later when the Great Society discovered how to buy both sides by shifting the costs to posterity.
Ronald Reagan came to power, like Jackson, on a wave of protest over what the party men had done to the people's property and principles. He spoke like, and perhaps even believed himself to be, the Jeffersonian who would turn back to states rights and limited government. But as Jackson had his Van Buren, Reagan had a phalanx of handlers ready to reinterpret the revolution into a Hamiltonian form. The patronage thrown up by the Great Society was too great a temptation to be spurned. The bakery would not be closed; the cake would just be sliced a little differently. In order for the Reagan revolt to work, there would have to have been a real opposition party determined to take wealth and power from the federal government and give it back to the people.
The war allowed Lincoln to combine patronage and policy by eliminating effective political opposition. But a second step was needed before the presidential office metamorphosed from CEO to Caesar. This was the establishment of American history as a salvation drama. The groundwork for this had to be religious and cultural. It required a country in which superficial education emanating from New England schoolmarms had replaced, in a substantial part of the population, tradition and common sense.
Since the War of 1812, New England had declined severely in prestige and power. Its intellectuals had lost their religion but had retained their sense of themselves as The Elect. The Calvinist mentality, even without its theology, reasoned diabolically. That which stood in its way was by definition evil. By the time this impulse got to the hustings in the greater New England of the Burnt Over District of New York and the upper Midwest, it took on strange forms.
The New England clergy had preached rabidly that Jefferson was a tool of the Bavarian Illuminati who would set up the guillotine, kill Christians and declare women common property. A generation later came the belief that the harmless fraternal order of Masons was conspiring to subvert the country, and that fantasy was soon transferred to the Catholics. In the meantime, the religious dissolution of New England spun off many strange subcults including vegetarianism, feminism, communalism, Mormonism, Adventism. The underside edge of this great Age of Reform was the psychopathic gang of John Brown, in the same way that Charles Manson was the underside of the great Sexual Liberation of the Sixties. (Late bloomers of the latter include the Unabomber and Timothy McVeigh, whose crimes have been blamed by the intelligentsia on the "'right wing Southern gun culture.")
The more respectable side of this phenomenon was a conflation of Christianity and Americanism, America as the fulfillment of God's plan for mankind, a seductive bit of blasphemy that has remained a strong motif in our national consciousness ever since. Out of this matrix came a thirst for vanquishing the devils that stood in the way, a thirst satisfied perfectly by the idea of the Slave Power. The South which stood in the way of Northern progress, economic and moral, was not simply a region defending its own interests within a federal system, it was a diabolic conspiracy of degenerate and imperious slaveholders to spread their evil ways to the North, threatening all things good and decent. Since domestic slavery had been a feature of American society from its first days, and since all American law and tradition forbade interference by one section with the internal affairs of another, this strategy could only work politically by the fantasy that the "Slave Power" was the aggressor. (And convenient forgetting of the fact that most of the most stalwart founders and defenders of American liberty and the American Union had been Southern slaveholders.)
It was the combination of economic agenda and cultural hysteria that brought Lincoln to power, thanks to the tricks that the party managers had played with the Electoral College. Lincoln was far too shrewd to really believe the conspiracy theory, but he was willing to allow it to benefit himself and his party. As long as the South remained a large, prestigious, and skillfully-led minority, there was an irreducible body of opposition to both economic nationalism and the cult of Americanism.
The trauma of war followed by the assassination provided the final missing ingredient in the drama of presidential salvation. The president had begun as the CEO of a federal republic, expected to have extraordinary republican virtue in the exercise of his powers. He was now the martyred savior in the world historical drama of American uniqueness. The Northern clergy and their business lobbyist allies were not slow to use the opportunity for all it was worth. There developed a huge literature in which Lincoln is literally a Christ figure who died for our sins. (They had tried this out on a limited scale with John Brown before the war, but it had not flown.) To read the Lincoln hagiography is to understand easily how the Romans came to grant divinity to their emperors (the difference being that those Romans did not claim to be Christians).
The conflation of America with God's plan for the perfection of human history was complete. And the president as savior was essential to the drama. It could not, of course, be used every day. But it would ever after be there as a potential to clothe dubious objectives with sacredness. And there would always be a portion of the people ready to follow. So Wilson could lead the country into the insane mayhem of the European war, kill and be killed in order to end killing, and make the world safe from democracy. Many would believe that Franklin Roosevelt had personally saved us from Depression and fascism.
Perhaps the strangest eruption of all in the salvation drama occurred after the assassination of the youthful President Kennedy. This dubiously elected, questionably competent, and churlish power-seeker became in death a sacrificed god. You have to be old enough to have been there to really remember what an orgy of adulatory hysteria was whipped up for that occasion.
It was that emotional eruption which provided the fuel for the Great Society, a salvation drama against the sins of poverty and discrimination, the chief result of which was to engross for the presidency ever more of the power and wealth of the country. Something which could not have happened, however, if there had been a real opposition party. The Great Society did not create the moral breakdown of the Sixties. Rather it was a product of moral breakdown in which the intelligentsia, through the grace bestowed upon them by the martyred president and their paternal egalitarianism, liberated themselves from morality and into irresponsible power and privilege to remake the world.
What was new about this was that the president no longer had to be even a dim copy of Cincinnatus. By the time we get to Clinton, the imperial office itself had become the object of worship. It does not matter how tainted the credentials of its occupant. In the drama of salvation, a sleazy prevaricator can be the saviour of the oppressed. It does not matter if this requires the murder of innocent women and children at home or abroad. The emperor can do no wrong.
This was in part because the presidency had become enmeshed in the public the business of the public, but a popularity contest. So the Republicans of my state were treated, during the 1996 presidential campaign, not to a declaration of Mr. Dole's principles and policies, but to a visit from his daughter who regaled us with the assurances of what a wonderful fellow he was.
I can recall as an undergraduate student the reiterated lesson that the American press was owned by big business, and therefore could always be expected to support the reactionary side in American politics. It was up to the working stiffs of the media to correct this terrible imbalance as best they could. A prime example of the corruption of American politics by public relations, I was taught, was the fact that Eisenhower had taken elocution lessons from a Hollywood actor. In a remarkably short time, the brave crusaders of the media became slavish lickspittles of the imperial Kennedys, who had pretended to regard them as wise and important.
The Federalists who designed the presidency at Philadelphia wanted a vigorous and independent power that could preserve the honor of the Union against all foes. In constructing the office, they violated all the wisdom of American experience. The Revolution had been in essence a struggle of the representative bodies of the thirteen colonies against the executive power, the monarchical prerogatives represented by the royal governor and his placemen. Because of these struggles, the colonies emerged from the Revolution with weak executive power, a governor elected annually by the legislature, a magistrate with very limited initiative in the vital matters of purse and sword.
The prevailing element at Philadelphia designed an office unlike any other n the world, a monarch with more than monarchical powers and in all respects except the requirement for election by the people of the states. (The Electoral College was designed not so much to take the decision out of the hands of the people as to guarantee weight to the states. If there was no majority, as might happen often, the House would choose, with each state having an equal vote. Patty management once more triumphs over the intent of the Constitution in selecting the president.) Theory prevailed over experience.
All three branches of the federal government, and thus the people too, are guilty in the transformation of America from a Constitutional federal Union to an empire. But it was the president who was meant to check evil tendencies in the body politic. This is why he was given the power to negate acts of Congress and to appoint the judges and generals. He was to be the hero of republican virtue who would represent all the people as a historic community of freedom rather than a coalition of interest groups and ideological agendas.
At the beginning of the new millennium, we can see only too well how misplaced was the hope. From Cincinnatus to Caesar was a long road. From Caesar to Caligula is but a few short and easy steps.
Republished with gracious permission from the Abbeville Institute (February 2017).
The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
About the Author: Clyde Wilson
Clyde N. Wilson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition and Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture. He is also editor of The Essential Calhoun in Russell Kirk's Library of Conservative Thought, as well as the editor of the multivolume The Papers of John C. Calhoun.
The Magi and the Obstinacy of Belief
The Past as Battlefield: The Power of Historiography
John Inglis Mar 1, 2017 at 5:34 pm - Reply
Some of the criticisms he makes of the party system could equally be made of the Electoral College, which were part of the Constitution. For the same reasons I reject modern criticisms of the Electoral College, I reject those of the party system on the same merits. I will concede that the establishment controlling the party has been a bad thing in politics, but that seems to me to be more of a cultural issue than an issue with the system.


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The legacy of the National Wrestling Alliance is tied to the great list of champions who have represented this great organization.
in 2017, the NWA focused their efforts on the famous TEN POUNDS OF GOLD covering the stories and lives of Tim Storm, Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes.
Starting at #NWA70, the NWA National Championship returns bringing with it the legacy of the men who have carried that title and all titles like it in the past.
On 10/21/18 in Nashville, TN, eight men will walk in hoping to be the next champion. Scorpio Sky, Mike Parrow, Ricky Starks, Willie Mack, Colt Cabana, Samuel Shaw, Jay Bradley, and Samuel Shaw will compete at this historic event to be the first to hold this new Championship.


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Shawn Layden hints that Sony's next-gen console might get its own first-party version of Call of Duty or Fortnite.
The AIAS chose Kratos and Atreus over Arthur and Dutch for 2018's top honors.
A God of War documentary reveals the game's boss count was at one point closer to previous titles than what we ended up with.
You get two guesses what the most-downloaded PlayStation 4 game of 2018 was.
Unsurprisingly, FIFA, Call of Duty, and Red Dead Redemption 2 were the Brits' favorite games of 2018.
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If you're wondering what the winning game of The Game Awards 2018 is all about, Sony has a new trailer for you.
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Published on September 13, 2011 by Wade Shepard Follow me on Twitter here.
Icelandic culture seems to be as extreme as the weather of the country itself: kind and soft spoken men can quickly turn into ranging vikings plowing through a crowd on the way to the bar, and otherwise astute women can transform into raging beasts on the prowl at the turn of a switch. While this metamorphosis in national character is stark, but, almost always, alcohol is the catalyst. For five days a week Iceland is a quiet, quaint sort of country, but on Friday and Saturday nights the streets go manic and the party rages. Watch out, this is a country that takes partying seriously.
To put it bluntly, the people of Iceland are cultured. At 99.9%, Iceland boasts one of the highest literacy rates on the planet. Icelanders are highly educated people, and it is estimated that over 90% can speak English — let alone the high percentages that can speak Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish. The streets of most of the country's cities are lined with libraries, art galleries, cafes, theaters, bookstores, and museums.
Icelanders tend to not be ashamed of their Viking ancestry, and speak of such not only as a point of humor, but pride as well.
Religiously, Iceland is a Christian country, but, in reality, practice seems to be lax among the lay populace. Although paganism is suppose to be a belief system of the past, there are still remnants of it today, found mostly in nature and solstice based celebrations. A belief in elves and "hidden people" is also present throughout Iceland, and very few people will say that they outright don't believe in them. There has even been noted cases where modern construction projects were rerouted to avoid damaging areas where elves are reputed to live.
Friday night, otherwise known as "bottle night," is the big drinking night in Iceland, while, to quote the movie 101 Reykjavik, "Saturday nights are Friday nights, part II. Everyone is talking about last night, like it's a sequel. Except that everyone who died in part I dies again in part II." Real beer (over 2.5% alcohol) and other spirits are highly taxed by the government, so most people can only afford to drink on the weekend.
The party nights usually start with drinking at the home of a friend, and then slowly escalates as everyone gets drunker. Once everyone is feeling good, you only then go out to the bars. It is my impression that few people in Iceland can really afford to get all the way drunk in a bar (at $8 per beer, who could?) so the house party warm up is essential.
Around midnight, the streets begin to fill with people walking between bars, drinking, and getting merry. By 2 AM the nightlife districts of cities are rocking — things are being smashed, crowds are singing, and some girls may be yelling. With only 50 cops total in Iceland's largest city, the police presence in this country is extremely limited. By 4 AM, people begin to pair up and go home. Only those who have not yet found a mating partner are still out in the streets by 5 AM — it is a real sad scene.
A tourist handed a bottle of beer over to an Icelander he was drinking with on a Friday night rager. He tasted it, the beer was warm. Without another thought he smashed the nearly full bottle of beer on the sidewalk. Not only did he waste an $8 beer, but he smashed the bottle right in front of a cop. The cop did nothing, of course — he was probably wishing that he could be drunk and smashing bottles too.
"What did you do that for?" the American asked.
It is. All throughout the "bottle nights" you can hear a resounding chorus of bottles being smashed in the cities of Iceland.
"It is illegal to break bottles," I was once told as a warning by an Icelandic woman.
If you do bed down with an Icelander during your travels there, consider it a rare catch, as there are only 300,000 of them on the planet.
In general, Icelandic society is incredibly honest, trust worthy, direct, upright, genuine, and hospitable. Icelanders tend to treat travelers respectfully, and they are some of the best people in the world to travel among.
Next post: Why Haven't I Been Taking More Photos?


You turned me into a criminal.
I did everything I was supposed to: got the cash, the ATM cards and didn't tell anyone what the plan was.
The timing was perfect: it was impossible to supervise school trips in such a crowded area, with so many other teenagers mingling in the venue. And an outing so close to the end of the mid-term break was also perfect. That was how I got the cash, and the cards.
And that's probably why the cards hadn't been blocked: their owners didn't notice they were missing.
We met during the trip, remember?
No one would think it odd if two people in different uniforms who seemed to know each other went into the bathroom together.
Two words per kiss. That was the standard, wasn't it? The rhythm of how we talked.
Conversations with you were music.
And you stopped, looked me right in the eye and spoke.
A change of clothes in my bag. Two changes of clothes in yours, because you thought my school would be too strict to let us carry too much stuff with us for a 6-hour trip.
But they hadn't been, and I was thrilled that you thought to carry that stuff for me.
We got changed. I'm surprised no one saw us, or noticed. I guess it was like we transformed into other people once our uniforms were off.
Trousers. No more skirts or dresses for the likes of us.
But you had to get your luggage, which you'd kept in your aunt's house and I was to wait for you at the bus stop. We'd be harder to find if we split up, or so wisdom dictated.
And I waited. The sun rose higher in the sky. Set. Darkness covered the trees. I refused to eat: couples did that sort of thing together.
Waited until the bus began to drive off.
And you didn't show up.
Someone who sometimes writes things.


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Secondo Amore is Puglia's answer to a woodland hideaway, except the woodland here is an olive grove, and the property is no log cabin, but a trilla (TM!): a super-chic, architect-designed trullo renovation with a villary twist! Relaxation is unavoidable and peace and quiet is on tap but for the more active there is plenty to do and see on the doorstep of this little Puglian piece of paradise.
¹ why not organise for a "pizzaiolo" to come and make your pizzas for you?
Inside: accommodation at Secondo Amore is all on one floor and is organised extremely simply. To one end of the house is the original trullo section, home to two cosy interconnected living rooms, one with an alcove with day bed (perfect for supine pursuits) and one with comfortable sofas, a fireplace and TV. Both have glass doors accessing the outdoor areas and the latter leads through to the delightfully stylish kitchen-diner with its wall-length glass sliding doors accessing the outdoor dining area and gardens. A cleverly positioned skylight allows the Puglian sun to flood in, adding to the airy, bright feeling. A small corridor and a couple of steps lead from the indoor dining area to the main sleeping quarters, comprising a master double with en-suite shower room and a further two bedrooms (a double and a double-twin) sharing a shower room. All bedrooms have French windows accessing the gardens. The accommodation is completed by a fourth bedroom (with en-suite shower room) in the dependence just a few steps away across the courtyard from the main house. Secondo Amore has been designed to calm and charm. Stylish modern furnishings sit easily on the simple stone and wood background, and original wrought-iron artworks complement the angular simplicity and clutter-free nature of the design, resulting in an extremely attractive contemporary home.
An excellent option for those wishing to unwind after a stressful year's work.
Secondo Amore is situated at the southern end of the Valle d'Itria between Ostuni, a beautifully restored baroque town with stunning panoramic views, and the pretty centre of Ceglie Messapica. The Valle d'Itria, however, is probably best known for its trulli, and nowhere are these more in evidence than in the picture-postcard town of Alberobello. Locorotondo, Cisternino and Martina Franca are also well worth a visit. If you are looking for beaches, the Adriatic coast offers endless stretches of sand and some well recommended lidos from which to enjoy it. Further afield, Lecce, Gallipoli, Otranto and Monopoli are justly famous towns waiting for you to unlock their secrets.
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text:
How will end of LIBOR impact domestic banks, companies?
Surabhi Mumbai | Updated on October 15, 2019 Published on October 15, 2019
IBA sets up working group to study transition, assess impact
Banks have begun work to assess the impact to the end of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) after 2021 on their own operations as well as work out transition plans. The Indian Banks' Association has set up a working group to assess the impact of LIBOR.
Related news: Bank of England rings 'last orders' bell for Libor
"It is essential that all the banks are prepared to study the impact, what are the alternatives to the LIBOR, what are the issues which will be facing the banks, corporates, accounting issues, etc and how do we take it forward. IBA has formed a working group," said VG Kannan, Chief Executive IBA.
The findings of the group will be used to educate the various banks some whom may not be fully familiar as to what is expected and how to educate the customers also. The working group is understood to include private, foreign and public sector banks.
Two sub-committees have been set up to study the rates and methodology and the transition, said another member of the committee. The move to study the impact of the end of LIBOR is in sync with global trends where a number of countries have already started preparations for their financial institutes and banks on how to transition from LIBOR.
Also read: The end of Libor: the biggest banking challenge you've never heard of
As of now, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not expected to step in on the issue, as it is not concerned with the borrowing rates of LIBOR. But, if it has some impact on the MIFOR or the Mumbai Interbank Forward Offer Rate, which is derived partly from the LIBOR, the RBI could potentially issue some guidelines, according to analysts.
Globally, LIBOR is a global benchmark rate used by banks for short term interest rates and is based on a poll of quotes submitted by banks. Experts say that in India, end of LIBOR will not impact retail loans. However, transition from LIBOR will impact overseas corporate and syndicated loans, trading and derivatives activities that continue beyond 2021.
Read more: What is LIBOR and how does it work?
"These impacted portfolios need to have a transition plan to new rates and require fall back options for new contracts. For trading and derivative new ISDA Agreement expected by the beginning of 2020 will assist to a great extent, however, for foreign currency loans, which are bilateral in nature requires negotiations between two parties," said Kuntal Sur, Partner, Financial Risk and Regulation Leader, PwC, adding that leading banks need to work with their top corporate clients and help them in their journey of transition.
Sectors which depend on overseas borrowings such as oil and gas, infrastructure, housing finance and capital intensive industries as well as those with long term hedging like IT will be impacted with the end of LIBOR.
However, an assessment in terms of the exact exposure of domestic banks and companies to LIBOR is difficult in monetary terms.
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RBI and other central banks


Each of your devices has a Configure screen, where you can change its settings, move it to a different room, or troubleshoot if the device is unavailable.
Find the device tile on the Home screen or open the room where the device is located.
Tap on the device tile to open the control page for the device.
Tap the Configure button, found in the right-hand side control panel on larger tablets or on the left hand side of the footer toolbar on phones or smaller tablets.
The Details section at the top of the Configure screen contains a number of device settings you can change, each of which are described in this section.
It is important that your devices have unique names when they are used in SwitchThat One. If two or more of your devices have the same name it can cause problems because SwitchThat One may get these devices confused. This might mean, for example, that your Interactions fail to work correctly.
When a device is first discovered and added to SwitchThat One it will automatically be given the same name used for that device in its official app. As a result it may be that a newly-discovered device is given a name that is already in use by another device. If this happens, you should rename one of these devices as soon as possible.
Find the Details section and tap on the Rename button, next to the device name.
Enter the new name in the box and tap Save.
The device must be renamed using the official manufacturer-supplied app. For example, Sonos players must be renamed using the official Sonos app. When this happens, SwitchThat One will automatically update the name of the device accordingly.
The device is currently unavailable. Make sure your device is powered on and connected to your home network.
SwitchThat One will periodically check for devices with duplicate names and warn you if any are found.
When a device is first discovered by your One Hub it will be hidden from guest users. However, you can choose to make some, or all, of your devices visible to guest users. This gives you complete control over which devices your guests can control.
To make a device visible to guest users, go to the Configure screen, find the Details section and tap the Visible to guests setting. A tick will appear, indicating that this device is now visible to guests.
To hide the device from guests, tap the Visible to guests setting again, and the tick will disappear.
You can easily configure a device to stop working with the All on and All off buttons: go to the Configure screen find the Details section and tap the Works with All on/All off buttons setting so that the tick disappears. Tap it again to restore the device to working with the All on and All off buttons.
Most of your devices within SwitchThat are automatically kept up to date with changes made using other apps, or made to the device directly.
There are some devices that your One Hub must periodically check on to make sure it accurately shows the state of the device. The Keep in sync with external changes setting can be used to control whether or not your One Hub keeps these devices up to date.
There is usually no reason to change this setting.
SwitchThat One allows you to organise your devices into rooms. See Chapter 5, Organising your Devices for details. The Configure screen for a device provides a number of ways to move that device into a room.
To move a device into a room, go to the Configure screen for the device and find the Location section. This will show the current location of the device: either the Home screen, or the name of the room it is already inside.
Tap Move and a list of all available rooms will appear. Tap on the room you wish to move the device into (or tap on Home if you wish to move the device back to the Home screen.) Tap Update location to finish.
The page will reload to show that the device has been moved to the selected location.
If you want to create a new room specifically for a device, then go to the Configure screen for the device and find the Actions section.
Tap Create a new room for this device, enter a name for the new room when prompted and tap OK to create the room.
The page will reload to show that the device is inside the newly-created room.
From time to time your One Hub may report a device as 'unavailable'. This means that your One Hub cannot communicate with the device over the network, and attempts to control that device will fail.
Unavailable devices are shown with an orange warning symbol on the device tile, and next to the device name in the title bar of the Control and Configure screens.
The first thing to check is that your device is powered on and that it's connected to your home network – these are the most common reasons why a device might show as unavailable. You should also try to access the device using the manufacturer-supplied app to make certain that the device is functioning correctly.
If you are certain that the device is powered on, connected to your home network and is otherwise functioning correctly, but SwitchThat is still showing it as unavailable, then it's possible that your One Hub has lost its link to the device.
You can try to restore your One Hub's link to the device by 'refreshing' it.
To refresh your One Hub's link to a device, go to the Configure screen for the device and find the Actions section.
Tap Refresh this device and your One Hub will start searching for the device. If the link between your One Hub and the device is restored, the page will update to show the device as available once again.
Another reason why a device might show as unavailable is that you no longer use or own that device. You may have sold it, or it may have broken or otherwise no longer be in use.
In such cases, you will probably want to remove the device from your SwitchThat One environment. You can do this by instructing your One Hub to 'forget' the device.
To forget a device, go to the Configure screen for the device and find the Actions section. Tap Forget this device to remove the device.
There may also be an option to forget this device and all other devices associated with it. For example a Philips Hue light will have options to forget that light and to forget all of your Philips Hue lights.


We are a small clinic and have been in Warwick since 1997. I have been here since we opened and have owned the hospital since 2001. My staff have also been with me many years as it is a great place to work and we genuinely love what we do. We have three vets - myself, Dr Liz Papasergio and Dr Magda Halladin with a combined experience of more than 50 years.
We offer on site blood testing, digital radiology, dentistry, surgery and consultations and have a close working relationship with local veterinary specialists if needed. We like to think we have perfect balance of a cosy, friendly service backed up by great veterinary knowledge and equipment.
We are open 8-7 weekdays with consultations by appointment between 9-11 and 3-7. We are open Saturdays 8-2 with consults 9-2. Appointment for consults including vaccination and microchips can usually be made with a few hours notice. We perform surgery every weekday with 24 hours notice usually sufficient. Appointments can be made by calling 9243-1997.


There are classic Bean Boots, sure. For a deeper cut there's Schnee's out of Bozeman, Montana—a personal favorite. But if you're the type that gets off having the rarest, hardest to find, most esoteric of foul weather boots, then you may be interested in a pair of vintage (80s probably) Land Rover branded duck boots. Available on Etsy, eBay, and beyond, the boots are just as rugged and good looking as their namesake vehicles, and come in a variety of shapes and styles, but are of course, a much more fuel efficient way to own a pair of Land Rovers. Happy hunting, my friends.
I had a pair of Chris Craft shortie duck boots in the 80's and wore them until they had holes in the soles. I tried to see if LL Bean would repair them but no luck so I bought a pair of Bean Boots which I also wore into the ground but just had resoled in time for this winter. Nothing is better for winter!


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Senators introduce the 'Artificial Intelligence in Government Act'
The bill would "improve the use of AI across the federal government by providing resources."
A cadre of senators is looking to prompt the federal government to be a bit more proactive in utilizing artificial intelligence technologies.
To this end, the bipartisan group including Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., introduced the Artificial Intelligence in Government Act on Wednesday. Per a news release, the bill would seek to "improve the use of AI across the federal government by providing resources and directing federal agencies to include AI in data-related planning."
The bill aims to do a number of things, including establishing an AI in government advisory board, directing the White House Office of Management and Budget to look into AI as part of the federal data strategy, getting the Office of Personnel Management to look at what kinds of employee skills are necessary for AI competence in government and expanding "an office" at the General Services Administration that will provide expertise, do research and "promote U.S. competitiveness."
"Artificial intelligence has the potential to benefit society in ways we cannot imagine today," Harris said in a statement. "We already see its immense value in applications as diverse as diagnosing cancer to routing vehicles. The AI in Government Act gives the federal government the tools and resources it needs to build its expertise and in partnership with industry and academia. The bill will help develop the policies to ensure that society reaps the benefits of these emerging technologies, while protecting people from potential risks, such as biases in AI."
The proposed legislation is supported by a bunch of companies and advocacy groups in the tech space including BSA, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Intel, the Internet Association, the Lincoln Network, Microsoft, the Niskanen Center, and the R Street Institute.
The senators are hardly alone in their conviction that AI will be a powerful tool for government. At a summit in May, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy created a Select Committee on artificial intelligence, comprised of senior research and development officials from across the government.
"As artificial intelligence transforms everything from agriculture to manufacturing to transportation, the potential for AI remains breathtaking," Michael Kratsios, deputy CTO at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in his remarks at the event. "But we cannot be passive. To realize the full potential of AI for the American people, it will require the combined efforts of industry, academia, and government."
And just this week, Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., made a call for an AI national strategy. Specifically, Hurd and Kelly said in comments, Congress should take a more proactive role in shaping governance around the technology.
Brian Schatz
General Services Administration (GSA)
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Robin Kelly
Will Hurd
President Joe Biden signs a bill into law in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Federal workforce AI training bill lands on president's desk
The AI Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act would require acquisition officials involved with AI procurement to receive instruction.
President Biden signs CHIPS and Science Act on White House Lawn. (Photo by Brandi Vincent)
Biden signs CHIPS and Science Act to spur US-made national security technologies
By Brandi Vincent
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 21: Chairman Gary Peters (D-MI) listens as Transportation Security Administrator David Pekoske speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images).
Bill to streamline federal agency tech acquisition introduced in Senate
Senate committee to attempt Login.gov-sharing bill mark-up for third time
GSA won't use facial recognition with Login.gov for now
Lawmakers want task force designing national AI resource staffed with experts
Legislation to improve federal workforce understanding of AI passes Senate


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The Volunteers
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National LGBTQ Resources
Jackson Pride Center Mission
Jackson Pride Center MissionJackson Pride Center MissionJackson Pride Center Mission
To connect our diverse community to opportunities and each other.
LGBTQ+ Advocacy
To serve as the public face and advocate for Greater Jackson, Michigan's LGBTQ+ community.
From eating smarter and online personal protection, to secondary schooling and family planning.
We strive to create and strengthen inclusion, connection, interaction, safety, and community.
A community comes together
TOGETHER, A community STANDs for justice
Nationwide, people came together this year to stand firmly with the Black and Indigenous People of Color(BIPOC) community to call for racial equality. This includes gay and straight alike, men and women, and Transgender and gender non-conforming BIPOC persons.
Often, violence towards Transgender BIPOC nationwide, go unreported. Those who have participated in underground economies often report elevated levels of police violence (this includes 16% of all trans people, 34% of Latinx trans people, and 53% of Black trans people), and are more than twice as likely to report physical assaults by police officers and four times as likely to report sexual assault by police, according to the Report on the National Transgender Discrimination Survey entitled, "Injustice at Every Turn."
A Community Counted during a year of firsts
For the first time ever, LGBTQ couples were given the option to identify a relationship as same-sex. This vital information from the LGBTQ+ community, a historically undercounted community, provided reliable data to inform advocates, policymakers, and researchers working on LGBTQ+ issues, such as Housing and Adoption assistance, HIV Emergency Relief Project Grants, Community Development Block Grants, and more.
The nation also experienced self-reporting option via the internet for the first time. 57.6% of households in Jackson County adopted this method of reporting during a pandemic, putting Michigan in the Top 13% nationwide for overall Self reporting. We helped push the confidence level for new technology and being counted overall.
Community Answered the call to Queer the vote
More that 80% of LGBTQ Voters said they were more motivated to vote this year, according to a poll by the LGBTQ organization GLAAD. Many said they felt like their lives depended on this vote.
LGBTQ voters represented 7% of the 2020 electorate, while representing 4.5% of the adult population, according to an Exit Poll conducted by Edison Research. LGBTQ voters represented 6% of the electorate in the 2018 midterm election and 5% in the 2016 Presidential Election.
We didn't stop there. We worked together to help others, and will continue.
Join our community of support
The voice of the community is volunteerism put into action, which shapes and molds the present into a future of which we can all be proud. Be that seed of change.
In a gentle way, making a monetary gift hands you an opportunity as an invested partner, to create a more equitable society, meeting our objectives through advocacy and education.
In participating, we help change happen quicker, as opposed to being a passive spectator, allowing others to work harder and longer.
Be a part of it all.
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Baker College - Jackson
Baker College of Jackson is located just outside of the city of Jackson. With a small campus atmosphere, students are able to benefit from small class sizes and individual attention from instructors while learning in high-tech classrooms and labs designed to replicate real-world workplaces. This campus features an Academic Resource Center, a cutting-edge engineering facility, and free campus-wide WiFi.
Dawn Foods is committed to serving and improving the communities where our nearly 4,000 team members work. From volunteering our time and talents, to providing financial support, the Dawn Corporate Giving Program invests in the communities where we have facilities and offices. With a focus on hunger prevention and health, education, and community improvements, we support our team members in their efforts to give back.
Drug Free Jackson
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Drug Free Jackson is a collaborative body of community members that convenes regularly to address the issue of substance use prevention needs for Jackson County.
Together we collect and coordinate information about substance use prevention and create policies in order to create priorities and determine effective prevention strategies for Jackson County.
Now a 475-bed health system, Henry Ford Allegiance Health is comprised of more than 40 different facilities that serve the entire region. Our traditional acute care services are complemented by mission-based services to support the care continuum for all members of the community.
In 2020, they have become the proud recipient of a perfect score of 100, on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Healthcare Equality Index (HEI).
LifeWays Community Mental Health has provided behavioral health services to residents of Jackson and Hillsdale counties since 1966.
We primarily serve county residents who have Medicaid, Healthy Michigan Plan, uninsured or under-insured who also have a diagnosed severe mental illness, intellectual/ developmental disability, substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders.
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