Ronald C. D. Breslow (born March 14, 1931) is an American chemist from Rahway, New Jersey. He is currently University Professor at Columbia University, where he is based in the Department of Chemistry and affiliated with the Departments of Biological Sciences and Pharmacology; he has also been on the faculty of its Department of Chemical Engineering. He has taught at Columbia since 1956 and is a former chair of the university's chemistry department.
He is interested in the design and synthesis of new molecules with interesting properties, and the study of these properties. Examples include the cyclopropenyl cation, the simplest aromatic system and the first aromatic compound prepared with other than six electrons in a ring. His seminal contributions concerning the mechanism of the vitamin B1 catalyzed benzoin condensation and the rate enhancement gained by performing organic transformations on water, among many others, sparked new avenues of chemical research. He also co-discovered the histone deacetylase inhibitor SAHA (Vorinostat) which is FDA-approved for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Breslow earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University, where his doctoral advisor was R. B. Woodward. Among Breslow's former Ph.D. students is Robert Grubbs, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005, and Doug La Follette, Secretary of State of Wisconsin.
Breslow has received many honors and awards, including the National Medal of Science in 1991, the Welch Award, the Arthur C. Cope Award (1987), the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences, the American Chemical Society's ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1966), the Othmer Gold Medal (2006), the Priestley Medal, and the 2014 American Institute of Chemists (AIC) Gold Medal. In recognition of his classroom skills, Columbia has awarded him both its Mark Van Doren Award and its Great Teacher Award. He served as president of the ACS in 1996 and chaired the chemistry division of the National Academy of Sciences from 1974 to 1977. In 1997 he was named one of the top 75 contributors to the chemical enterprise of the past 75 years by Chemical & Engineering News. He was the Myron L. Bender distinguished lecturer at Northwestern University in 1999. The Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry, awarded annually by the ACS, is named in his honor.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He is also a foreign member of the Royal Society and an honorary member of many other scientific bodies around the world.
In 2012, his paper "Evidence for the Likely Origin of Homochirality in Amino Acids, Sugars, and Nucleosides on Prebiotic Earth" was retracted from the Journal of the American Chemical Society due to copyright concerns, leading to a debate on self-plagiarism and the distinction between a personal review and a paper.
First prepared by mixing 3-chlorocyclopropene with antimony pentachloride, aluminum trichloride, or silver fluoroborate. Carbon NMR shows singlets with a JC-H coupling constant of 265 +/- 1 Hz. The authors suggest that this coupling constant is suggestive that the C-H bond is 53% s character. The overall bonding framework then consists of sp orbitals to all hydrogens, two sp3 orbitals for each sigma bond, and one p orbital for the pi framework.
It had been suggested that carbanion-sulfone double bonds will not show aromatic character-primarily as a result of the nodes present in d-orbitals. Straight chain analogs were chosen based on the comparable acidity, combined with previous studies indicating that steric effects are largely negligible. The straight chain analogs are shown below.
Compound II was treated with dimethoxyethane/D2O/triethylamine and was found to be completely deuterated upon recovery. The deuterated compound was then treated with butyllithium in ether, with dimethoxyethane and 2N HCl regenerating the starting material. The cyclic analog (III, shown below) was deuterated in the same manner, and addition of deuterated I, followed by quenching to regenerate the protonated form, was analyzed by NMR. There was one proton peak, and it was shown to equilibrate equally between compounds II and III, indicating that compounds had similar acidity. From this result, the researchers concluded that compound III was not aromatic, because stabilizing effect of aromaticity on the anion should increase the acidity of the parent compound.
The ester analogs were prepared (IV and V) and were found to be acidic enough for titration. The compounds were titraed under nitrogen with 0.2N NaOH with a Beckman Model GS meter with an E-2 electrode. Compound IV was found to have a pKa of 8.9 +/- 0.1, while compound V had a pKa of 11.1 +/- 0.2.
The essential building blocks of life (amino acids and key sugars-ribose and deoxyribose) can exist in one of two forms-L or D. However life has evolved such that the vast majority of amino acids are L and the sugars are D. If the amino acids and sugars present in life were racemic (consisting of both L and D), then proteins, DNA, and RNA would not adopt a well defined conformation, resulting in a loss of function. The question of how this preference first occurred has puzzled scientists for years-and while several theories have been proposed; there is still no clear answer. There is growing evidence that the chiral preference came from outer space as scientists discovered α-methyl amino acids inside the Murchison meteorite that have a slight enantiomeric excess (ee) for the L conformation. These α-methyl amino acids are believed to be from outer space as a result of their high abundance of 13C and deuterium. Furthermore, α-methyl amino acids are generally not present in terrestrial chemistry. A common critique is that these amino acids would not be able to tolerate the high temperatures upon entering earth's atmosphere as the meteorite crashed into the planet. However, the amino acids have been found inside the meteorite, with the meteorite acting as an insulator. Unlike regular amino acids, α-methyl amino acids are not capable of racemizing by enolization on an evolutionary time scale, shown below.
However, there is considerable debate as to how the L conformation of α-methyl amino acids was selected for. The most widely accepted theory is that right circularly polarized light in outer space (somewhat) selectively destroyed the D conformation. In theory, synchrotrons produce light of opposite handedness (right and left) above and below the circulation plane. This has been demonstrated in experiments on earth. The theory continues then that neutron stars could act as synchrotrons-with right polarized light pointing in our direction of the universe, and left polarized light pointing in the opposite direction. However, other astronomers claim that the polarization only occurs in the infrared region, which only has sufficient energy to cause molecular vibrations and stretches-far from being capable of destroying molecules. A second problem encountered with the L α-methyl amino acids is how to generate enantiomerically pure regular amino acids from the slight excess. The issue is illustrated in the below figure.
Decarboxylative transamination. Note that the final product shown can be protonated from either face, generating a racemic mixture after hydrolysis of the imine.
Note that the above product can be protonated from either face with equal probability. The final acid is generated by hydrolysis of the imine.
It's worth noting that the alpha keto acid is believed to be formed from a Strecker-like reaction, shown below.
Formation of alpha keto acids. The product shown above is believed to be oxidized to the final alpha keto acid by oxidation by iron oxide, as oxygen was not present on prebiotic earth.
From figure 5, we see that the L alpha-methyl amino acids do not directly act as a chiral directing group to generate the normal L amino acid. Researchers hoped that a second molecule of the alpha-methy amino acid could act as a directing group, however they found that the D enantiomer was slightly favored when only L alpha-methyl amino acids were present. The figure below shows how the D enantiomer is favored.
The conformation of the alpha-methyl amino acid favors protonation on the top face of the molecule, leading to the D-enantiomer. Hydrolysis of the decarboxylation product generates the D-amino acid.
Interestingly, when researchers added copper to the reaction, the resulting product was the L enantiomer. Meteors have been found to contain both copper and zinc-justifying the researchers use of the metal. However, when zinc was used in the same reaction, the L enantiomer was not preferentially formed. Based on computational calculations, the copper forms a square planar complex (shown below) and sterics facilitate protonation to generate the L amino acid.
Copper complex leading to the formation of L-amino acids.
When a slight enantiomeric excess is present, the solubility's of the pure and racemic crystal can be manipulated to generate large ee's of the pure enantiomer. If we define certain solubility's as such: KL= [L] represents the solubility of the pure enantiomer KDL= [D][L] represents the solubility product of the racemic mixture such that [D]= KDL/[L] We can then define the ratio of [L]/[D] = [L]2/KDL When both enantiomers are present, a racemic crystal structure is formed-however it is lower in energy, has a higher melting point, and is less soluble than the enantiomerically pure crystal structure. As a result, when a slight excess of one enantiomer is present, the ee can be amplified by evaporating solvent-causing the racemate to precipitate. Researchers have been able to start with an ee of 1% L, and ultimately end up with 95:5 solution of L: D. The results discussed above (particularly the synchrotron argument) led Breslow to propose that the D amino acids and L sugars could generate life in other parts of the universe-and more specifically dinosaurs.
↑ Paul A Marks; Ronald Breslow (2007). "Dimethyl sulfoxide to vorinostat: development of this histone deacetylase inhibitor as an anticancer drug". Nature Biotechnology. 25 (1): 84–90. doi:10.1038/nbt1272. PMID 17211407.
↑ Zurer, Pamela (28 June 2006). "At Heritage Day, Honors For Chemists". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
↑ "American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal". Chemical Heritage Foundation. January 28, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
↑ Daniel Cressey (25 Apr 2012). "Eminent chemist denies self-plagiarism in 'space dinosaurs' paper". Nature News Blog.


text:
The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2016/02/10/malpass-americas-prison-problem/)
MALPASS | America's Prison Problem
By Soren Malpass | February 10, 2016
More on america
Subscribe to america
There are plenty of pressing issues at hand — the environment, our foreign policy regarding the Middle East and the economy to name a few. We hear these topics covered in the presidential candidate debates nonstop and as important as they are, they can draw attention away from other issues important to this country, specifically our broken justice system. There is plenty to be said on this issue — I'd say its most pressing concern is racial bias — but I would like to discuss another worrying trend in our justice system: the increasing privatization of our prison system.
Privatizing prisons does nothing for us in the long run. I don't care what you think the point of prisons are (be it to punish the guilty, or rehabilitate them back into society), when the system becomes private, prisoners begin to become a financial bottom line. It's in a private prison's best interest to have a lot of prisoners, because with more prisoners comes more funding and more business. It's in their best economic interest to keep people in jail and keeping recidivism rates high. I know that sounds a little conspiracy theory-ish, but consider that the some of the biggest entities fighting against marijuana legalization are private prison lobbies, along with police unions and drug companies. And non-violent drug offenders are exactly the sort of people private prisons want: the low risk type.
And this is all still supposing that private prisons are in fact cheaper, but the evidence suggests otherwise. In 2011, The New York Times reported that in Arizona private prisons are not only more expensive, but they even cut costs by only taking the prisoners who would be the least amount of work for them. Sure, they are helping to deal with the spillover in the justice system, but they're still leaving the more problematic criminals for the state and federal systems to handle.
States fund private prisons because they believe they're cheaper, but prisoners should be a financial obligation of the state, and nothing will influence a politician to make changes more than money — particularly money that is being lost. If we can just foist our inmates onto a corporate body, they cease being our problem. Thus, we don't have any incentive to take steps to rectify the root cause of crime. However, if prisons are entirely our financial responsibility, we're going to want to make sure we need as few of them as possible. We can start really focusing on eliminating the reasons people break the law which is vastly more effective than locking up everyone who commits a crime. As it goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Which is fundamentally what I believe the U.S. Department of Justice should be working on. Sending someone to prison may as well be a death sentence for their careers because very few employers are going to hire someone with a past conviction on their record. And before you accuse me of being "soft on crime," I'm not referring to murderers and rapists, simply nonviolent offenders (particularly those concerning drug charges) or even those who made a dumb choice early in their lives, such as thievery. Recidivism rates are still intolerably high; a study released in 2014 reported that 76.6 percent of convicts were arrested again within five years of being let out of jail. Having these individuals without jobs, without a chance at making a life for themselves is only putting a drain on our economic resources. As of now, most put nothing into the system, but draw plenty out, not only during their stay in prison but over their entire lives. Sure, the old maxim applies "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime," but that's not doing anything to alleviate the financial burden being placed on the taxpayer, and private prisons are certainly not helping.
Both Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have pledged to end the privatization of prisons, which is a step forward. However, we should be a little suspicious in the former's conviction on the matter, considering Clinton has accepted donations from private prison lobbies before, to the tune of over $130,000. On the other hand, in past months Sanders has put forth a bill to stop these practices. And while I can't tell you who to vote for, please consider this matter alongside the other, more fashionable issues being debated in this election season.
Leaderboard 2
Soren Malpass is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at skm94@cornell.edu. Sorenity Now appears alternate Thursdays this semester.
About Soren Malpass
Soren K. Malpass is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a columnist for the Opinion department and can be reached at smalpass@cornellsun.com
More by Soren
Death Row Inmate Describes Exoneration by DNA Evidence, Prison Reform Activism
By Alana Sullivan October 10, 2016
With these words, Bloodsworth opened his talk in Myron Taylor Hall Thursday, speaking to students in a Psychology and Law class taught by Prof. Valerie Hans, law, and Prof. Jeffrey Rachlinski, law.
WELCOME TO THE ZOO | Guantanamo Bay
By Katie Barlow and Rebecca Saber March 9, 2016
With an open mind and two sides of the story, you're bound to learn something new. Welcome to the zoo!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The 1967 Progressive Conservative leadership election was held to choose a leader for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.  The convention was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 4 and 9, 1967.  Robert Stanfield was elected the new leader.

Background

The leader was elected by the approximately 2,200 delegates to the convention who voted. Most of the delegates were elected from the party's associations in each riding (electoral district), as well as from the party's women's and youth associations.

However, many delegates were ex officio delegates, i.e., they received delegate status as a result of their positions on the national executive committee of the party, the executives of its affiliated provincial parties, and the party's national women's and youth organizations.  Former and current Progressive Conservative (PC) Members of Parliament and Senators were also ex officio delegates.

Traditionally, once elected, leaders of the party remained in the position until they resigned or died. In this case, however, the convention was called after the party membership passed a resolution to force a leadership convention even though party leader John Diefenbaker was unwilling to resign.  Many in the party believed that his mercurial leadership when the party was in government from 1957 to 1963, and his failure to win the support of Canadian voters the 1963 and 1965 federal elections meant that he would be unable to lead the party back to government.  Party president Dalton Camp organized the successful campaign within the party to force a leadership convention.

Issues

The campaign for the leadership hinged on two main issues:
 where the candidates stood on the question of Diefenbaker's leadership, and
 where the candidates stood on the controversial Deux Nations policy.

Diefenbaker had engendered considerable loyalty amongst Conservatives during his time as leader because of his passionate speaking style, and his fierce commitment to Canada. Diefenbaker had led the party to the biggest victory in a Canadian federal election (to that time) in the 1958 election, winning 208 of the 265 seats available in the House of Commons. On the other hand, divisions and infighting in his Cabinet had led to the party's defeat in the 1963 election, with the following election two years later failing to improve the party's position.

The controversial Deux Nations policy had been proposed by the party's "Thinkers' Conference", held in August 1967 at Montmorency Falls, Quebec, as a way of reconciling the role of the Province of Quebec within Canadian confederation.  The Thinkers' Conference described the policy as a statement that "English Canadians and French Canadians form two distinct societies with differing backgrounds, personalities and aspirations."  The phrase "distinct society" returned in the 1980s to be a key component of proposals to amend the Canadian constitution during the debate over the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord.

The policy proposal was endorsed at the convention by the party's Policy Committee by a vote of approximately 150 to 12.

Opponents of the policy were concerned that the French deux nations would be interpreted in English as "two nations", i.e., the end of a united Canada.  The proponents argued that deux nations meant "two founding peoples".

In their final speeches to the convention, all of the candidates addressed the issue, but the issue did not "ignite" the delegates:

 Stanfield tried to distance himself from the issue by arguing that the Policy Committee resolution was not clear enough, and the French Canadians wanted more than just the right to enjoy linguistic distinctiveness.
 Roblin supported deux nations, explaining that two European cultures had decided to live as one nation.
 Fulton also tried to avoid the argument saying that it was about semantics, and that the real point was that Canada was founded by "two races, two cultures, two peoples".
 Fleming tried to straddle the fence, saying that the meaning was unclear, and would oppose it if Diefenbaker's "two nations" interpretation were correct, but accepted that it meant "two founding peoples".
 Hees supported the resolution as meaning "two founding peoples".
 McCutcheon said that he was "not afraid to say" deux nations because it meant "two cultures", not "two sovereign entities".
 Starr argued that the policies would be unfair to other cultures in Canada, that all provinces should be equal, and that the party should not adopt a policy on the issue because Quebecers themselves were not clear on what they wanted.
 MacLean supported the policy.

Candidates

Robert Stanfield, the 53-year-old PC Premier of Nova Scotia, was a late entrant to the campaign, and was the eventual victor. He had disclaimed any interest in running for the federal leadership having won a healthy mandate in the spring 1967 Nova Scotia election. He finally bowed to pressure from Dalton Camp and other Ontario opponents of Diefenbaker, and joined the race.   According to reportage in the Toronto Star, it was his "honesty, forthrightness, and quiet demeanour" that set him apart from other candidates. Stanfield was supported by many party members from the Maritime provinces, but had little support from Quebec or the Western provinces.  Running as a "right-of-centre" candidate, his successful convention presence, and especially his very well received speech at the Tuesday night policy session, attracted many of the anti-Diefenbaker delegates, and made him "the man to beat".

Dufferin Roblin, the 50-year-old PC Premier of Manitoba, was another late entrant to the campaign.  He was the youngest serious contender, and was reported to have the behind-the-scenes support of the conservative Union Nationale party in Quebec.  He portrayed himself as having been outside of the fighting over Diefenbaker's leadership, and independent of the Diefenbaker and Camp bloc. He would therefore be able to bring the party together.  Roblin was seen to be on the left of the party, i.e., supported by Red Tories. He delivered an emotional appeal at the policy session for harmony between English-speaking Canadians and French-speaking Canadians.  His call for party unity struck a chord with delegates, and it appeared as though he might lead on the first ballot. His Quebec delegates, however, were very critical of Diefenbaker at the convention, and undermined Roblin's image as a compromise candidate.

E. Davie Fulton, a 51-year-old lawyer from British Columbia had been defeated in the 1956 leadership convention by Diefenbaker. He had served as Minister of Justice and then Minister of Public Works in the Diefenbaker government, and left federal politics in 1963 to take over the leadership of the British Columbia PC Party. His attempt to revive that party's fortunes failed, and he returned to federal politics in the 1965 election. His campaign was run by Lowell Murray, later to be an important figure in the next PC government under Joe Clark. To support from his home province, he added considerable support from Quebec because of his ability to speak French. He was plagued with the reputation of being a bad politician, but he dispelled that notion during the campaign.  He campaigned under the slogan, "It's Fulton - All across Canada!"

George Hees, the 57-year-old former Minister of Transport and then Minister of International Trade and Commerce in the Diefenbaker government, was described as a "millionaire bon vivant". Hees had been successful as trade minister, aggressively promoting Canadian trade in other countries, but left politics before the 1963 election.  As head of the Montreal Stock Exchange, however, he had done nothing innovative, and returned to politics in the 1965 election. Hees did not come across as an intellectual, but injected glamour into the campaign, spending the most of any of the candidates, an estimated $200,000. The Globe and Mail newspaper noted that, surrounded by chanting young supporters, the "arrival of Hees was like something from Hollywood".  Hees descended from one of two red London double-decker buses that he had hired to transport his campaign workers between his headquarters at the Royal York Hotel and the convention centre at Maple Leaf Gardens.  Hees's speech, delivered in carnival-barker style, at the Tuesday night policy session, however, was not well received by delegates, and his support began to drift off to other candidates.

John Diefenbaker, the 72-year-old party leader and former prime minister, kept the other candidates, the delegates, observers and pundits waiting for his decision on whether or not he would run to succeed himself until the very last minute. He filed his nomination papers for the convention very close to the closing of nominations.  Although he could not reasonably have expected to win, putting his name into the race allowed him one more opportunity to address the convention, and to appeal to the party to reject the ''Deux Nations'' policy. By letting his name stand, however, he was pledging his support for the winner under the rules of the convention.

Wallace McCutcheon, a 61-year-old Senator joined the campaign to be the voice of the party's right-wing. He had served as Minister without Portfolio in Diefenbaker's government, and then as Minister of Trade and Commerce. He campaigned aggressively against "big government" and "creeping socialism".  McCutcheon was seen as the candidate of Bay Street (Toronto's financial district).  He used dozens of attractive young women in his demonstration at the convention (dubbed "blonde goddesses" by the Toronto Star). He advocated a guaranteed annual income of $10,000 per adult as an alternative to the various social programs offered by different levels of government. He proposed a "made-in-Canada" constitution to replace the British North America Acts and to guarantee the rights of Canadians, including language and cultural rights.

Alvin Hamilton, the 55-year-old former Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources and Minister of Agriculture in the Diefenbaker government, had stayed out of the leadership campaign while Diefenbaker dithered about running. He appealed to Diefenbaker loyalists, but remained in the race even when Diefenbaker decided at the last moment to seek the leadership again, and continued to call himself a Diefenbaker loyalist. Hamilton warned the party that the delegates to the convention were out of touch with the grassroots of the party, and presented himself as the main alternative to the "reactionary conservative" candidates, and was opposed to the "continentalism" of the Liberal Party. His campaign used signed that portrayed a red-yellow-green traffic light with the slogan "Stop - Think - Go Hamilton".

Donald Fleming had run for and lost the PC leadership twice already.  Having served as Minister of Finance and then Minister of Justice in Diefenbaker's government, he had left Parliament in 1963, and had only reluctantly agreed to run for the leadership this time.  His campaign had a promising start, attracting many Diefenbaker loyalists, but had fizzled when Roblin and then Stanfield joined the campaign. Over the two months leading up to the campaign, Fleming's supporters steadily left his campaign to join those of the two provincial premiers, and then to Diefenbaker when he finally joined the campaign.  Fleming was seen as an old man who had little to offer but sound fiscal policy. He had been promised a large bloc of Quebec votes by Jean-Paul Cardinal, an organizer for Quebec premier Daniel Johnson, Sr, but these votes failed to materialize. Fleming's campaign slogan was "Unite with Fleming".  He had the support of many Diefenbaker loyalists, and was rumoured before the convention to have the support of Diefenbaker himself.

Michael Starr, former Minister of Labour in Diefenbaker's government, MP for Oshawa, Ontario, and PC House Leader in the House of Commons, was considered to be the most loyal of the Diefenbaker supporters, and declared that he was running only because Diefenbaker was not. Many believed that he was just a "stalking horse" for Diefenbaker, i.e., trying to hold delegates' support until Diefenbaker himself joined the campaign. Starr did not, however, withdraw when Diefenbaker joined the campaign, and even stayed for the second ballot even though he had won only a few votes.  Starr did little campaigning prior to the convention because he said that he did not have the resources of the other candidates.  He focused on meeting delegates at the convention, but by then, most of his campaign team, headed by future Deputy Prime Minister Erik Nielsen, had quit in frustration over the lack of organization, and joined other campaigns. Starr proposed a "wage and price freeze" to fight inflation – a policy that ended up as the centrepiece of the 1974 PC campaign, and replacing personal income taxation by a "trading tax" on goods and services – a policy that was implemented by the PC government of Brian Mulroney in 1990.  He also proposed that the British North America Acts be brought back to Canada without amendments. During the campaign he suggested that Canada withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a comment that he later regretted and withdrew.

John MacLean was an unsuccessful PC candidate in the 1965 election who was the first to declare his candidacy for the leadership.  The 40-year-old was the operator of a Hertz car rental agency and British Petroleum gas station in Brockville, Ontario. MacLean had worked as a journalist for the Toronto Telegram, Quebec Chronicle, Ottawa Journal, Financial Post and Toronto Star newspapers. In the 1965 election, he was narrowly defeated, receiving 10,066 votes (47.1% of the total vote), compared to Liberal candidate Ross Matheson's 10,365. Maclean set himself up as the spokesperson for youth in the party, and ran largely in order to create a larger role for himself in the party.  He was not successful in doing this: he failed to win a delegateship from his home riding of Leeds, and was also defeated for the PC nomination in the riding during the campaign by Desmond Code, who was the sitting MP for neighbouring Lanark riding. He said that the party should declare a moratorium on tax increases, and aim to "squeeze" government spending in order to reduce taxes, and train a corps of military specialists for civilian emergencies in Canada and abroad.  His speech at the convention also did not increase the party's respect for him: he spoke without a prepared text for only 12 of the 19 minutes allotted to him.

Mary Walker-Sawka, a 51-year-old movie producer and freelance writer, was a surprise last-minute candidate. She was the first woman ever to seek the leadership of a major political party in Canada. She said that she was a Diefenbaker supporter, but was running because she felt she could "add a few things" to Diefenbaker's program.  She gave a short speech setting out her ideas for PC party policy:
 Canada should withdraw from NATO and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD);
 Canada should closely supervise its foreign aid programs to ensure that aid does not end up on the black market;
 all houses more than 20 or 30 years old should be torn down and re-built;
 Old Age Security payments should be increased to $100 per month;
 the education system should be modernized, and at least six languages should be taught in schools;
 the 11% federal sales tax should be eliminated.
When she was nominated at the convention, she had no seconder. Some time passed before a female Hees supporter seconded Walker-Sawka's nomination in order to save her the embarrassment. Walker-Sawka called upon the women of the party to stand with her. She won only two votes on the first ballot, and was dropped from the ballot.

The campaign

John MacLean was the first candidate to enter the race in January 1967. As an unknown, he was not taken seriously, and the campaign did not begin in earnest until George Hees and Davie Fulton joined the campaign. For most of the campaign, Hees and Fulton appeared to be the most likely winners.  Stanfield's entry on July 19 changed the situation dramatically. Duff Roblin's entry on August 3 – a little more than a month before the vote—changed the campaign again as the campaign began to focus more on the two popular premiers.  Support for Donald Fleming's campaign, in particular, began to decline as his supporters left to join the Stanfield and Roblin campaigns.

There was considerable pressure on Ontario premier John Robarts to join the race until he announced on September 5 that the province would be holding an election on October 17.

Going into the convention, it appeared that any one of four candidates could win: Roblin, Fulton, Stanfield and Hees.  There were many uncommitted delegates, especially from Quebec.

The convention

Stanfield arrived at the convention with considerable momentum, but it was his speech to the Policy Session of the convention on the Tuesday night that made him the candidate to beat. Hees, on the other hand, delivered his speech to the Policy Session like a carnival barker, and made Hees victory unlikely.

Among the many rumours circulating during the convention was one of a deal between Stanfield and Fulton that whichever candidate won fewer votes would withdraw and support the other.  Speculation mounted further about whether or not John Diefenbaker would let his name stand.  There were rumours that he would step aside if the party agreed to drop its ''Deux Nations'' policy. He also told Roblin that he would lead a walkout from the convention if it were adopted. In the end, this policy was confirmed by the party's Policy Committee, and Diefenbaker stayed at the convention.  Several of the candidates went to Diefenbaker's hotel suite to try to secure his support, but in the end he joined the race at the last minute.

Diefenbaker spoke to the convention as out-going leader, and only decided to make a speech as a candidate -- a few minutes before he scheduled to on stage -- at the urging of Erik Nielsen (Michael Starr's campaign manager) and Joel Aldred.  He spoke for only 8 of the 19 minutes he was allocated because he said that he did not want to gain an unfair advantage over other candidates by speaking to the convention twice in two days.  He appealed to the party once more to reject deux nations.  Half of the crowd rose to applaud his speech vigorously. This was the warmest reception received by any candidate.

Stanfield's speech was well-crafted, but lacked the spark that had made his Tuesday evening speech so effective.  Hees and Hamilton provided the best speeches of the evening, but by this point, the die was cast.

The voting
Stanfield led on the first ballot, holding a solid, but far from decisive lead. Roblin was just barely ahead of Fulton in second place, with a clutch of other candidates following. Most significantly, Diefenbaker finished well off the pace in fifth place, effectively ending his chances of holding onto his position. Walker-Sawka was the first to be eliminated after getting just two votes, with MacLean faring little better and withdrawing through what he claimed to be a desire to keep the convention from "going too long." Neither of them endorsed any of the other candidates, though given the minuscule number of delegates they got, it would have made little difference if they did.

On the second ballot, Stanfield and Roblin were the only candidates to significantly increase their number of delegates, with the remaining candidates either holding steady or losing delegates, and most at the convention concluding that it was now essentially a two-horse race between the top two. What little support Diefenbaker still had collapsed on this ballot, with more than a third of his delegates deserting him, leaving it unlikely that he would even be able to act as kingmaker. Starr polled the fewest votes and was eliminated, with McCutcheon withdrawing and throwing his support behind Stanfield.

The gap between the top two, still Stanfield and Roblin, did not change on the third ballot. However, their support again increased noticeably, whereas Fulton's delegate count remained stagnant, ending any realistic hope of him winning the competition, as even if all the candidates who finished below were to endorse him, he could at best only hope to draw level with Roblin in the next round. Fleming finished last and was eliminated, and Diefenbaker experienced another collapse in support that left him with less half the number of delegates he started out with; knowing that he would likely be the next to be eliminated, and wanting to leave the contest on his own terms, Diefenbaker withdrew, bringing an end to what would ultimately prove the longest tenure of any Progressive Conservative leader. Hees also withdrew after his own delegate count slumped, and he and Fleming both endorsed Stanfield, with Diefenbaker instead endorsing Roblin (and in doing so, breaking the unofficial tradition that outgoing Tory leaders did not publicly endorse any of the contenders to succeed them, albeit none of the leaders prior to Diefenbaker had run to succeed themselves).

Though the fourth ballot still had Stanfield leading, Roblin was able to narrow the gap to the closest it had been percentage-wise throughout the contest. Hamilton, having hovered around near the bottom of the vote for the duration of the contest, was finally eliminated on this round, and did not endorse any of the other candidates. Fulton, whose vote had again remained static, knew that Hamilton's delegates would likely break evenly in favour of the two frontrunners, and that given he was certain to be eliminated in the next round and the gap between the remaining two was still narrow, he was now the kingmaker. He withdrew before the next ballot and ultimately chose to endorse Stanfield, effectively handing victory to the Nova Scotian, which was confirmed on the fifth and final ballot.

Aftermath

After the fifth ballot, although he had been abandoned by his party, and his preferred candidate, Roblin, had been defeated, Diefenbaker returned to the convention, introduced by the convention chairperson as "the greatest Canadian of our century".  Diefenbaker welcomed his successor, Stanfield, and appealed to the party to give Stanfield their "undivided and unconditional loyalty". Diefenbaker continued to sit as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament until his death in 1979.

Because Stanfield was not a Member of Parliament, Michael Starr, who was House Leader for the PC Party in the house of Commons, served as Leader of the Opposition until the 1968 election.

The election saw Fulton, Hamilton, and Starr all fail to be re-elected, while Roblin's attempt to move into federal politics also ended in failure. Diefenbaker successfully defended his Prince Albert seat, however, while Stanfield and Hees saw their previous ridings abolished, but succeeded in being elected in replacement ridings. Hamilton would later re-enter parliament at the 1972 election, while Roblin, after spending a decade focusing on his business interests, was appointed to the senate in 1978.

Stanfield became a well-respected figure in Canadian politics, but never became prime minister. He led the PC Party through three unsuccessful election campaigns against the Liberal Party of Pierre Trudeau in 1968, 1972, and 1974. He is often referred to as "the greatest Prime Minister Canada never had".

Sources: Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail newspapers, August–September 1967.

See also
Progressive Conservative leadership conventions

References

External links
 Hail and Farewell

1967
1967 elections in Canada
Progressive Conservative leadership election

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Where Do I Put You?
"Sell Your Television, It's Crap Anyway." – Richard Pratt
by Nick Darlington | Jun 9, 2016 | Inspiration | 0 comments
Today we interview Richard Pratt who is a Young artist and entrepreneur who is trying to make it on his own. He recently launched an art gallery. Let's take it away…
Nick: Who is Richard Pratt?
Richard: Good question…Well, I was born in Pretoria Park Hospital. My parents got divorced after opening a fairly successful restaurant in little town called Waterval Boven in the Eastern Transvaal.
I then ended up in Cape Town, and from there my mom decided she was bored of getting shot at and mugged so we moved to the UK when I was nine.
I finished the rest of my schooling over there. My original plan was to head into music production(all the mixing and recording), but after being fortunate enough to spend some time with an artist by the name of Gavin Collins I realised that as much as I love music, I really didn't want to spend the next however long stuck behind a computer making minor adjustments to a song stuck on repeat.
So after nearly failing my A-Levels I dropped the idea of pursuing the formal education system and basically worked full time behind a bar for the next two years, painting in my free time and beginning my personal enquiry into what actually fascinated me. At the time it was mainly painting techniques, quantum theory and
At the time it was mainly painting techniques, quantum theory and Chinese philosophies. Eventually I finally paid enough attention to the niggling thought in the back of my mind that was telling me to move back to South Africa, made arrangements to stay with my dad and took the leap.
Nick: What is the philosophy behind your art?
Richard: Tricky question. I'd prefer to answer that by saying art is my philosophy.
I started out with photorealism and after proving to myself I could accurately replicate reality, I began to look into what actually made it tick.
As I moved more deeply into the intellectual affairs my work took a more conceptual approach, which is still there at the moment but hidden in the background.. After realising the utter futility of trying to rationally comprehend the universe I try not to punctuate the question.
Nick: How would you define your style?
Richard: I call it contemporary realism. A fresh take grounded in traditional ideals.
Nick: Is your style constantly evolving?
Definitely so! I've found my aesthetic foundation, so I think the worst is behind me. Now it's basically playing around with tweaking and refining the process, which is ironically similar to what I was trying to avoid with my career in music, but this is a much better fit for me. As much as I love playing with the framework, I'm a romantic at heart.
Nick: Talk to us about how Richard Pratt arts came into being…
Did moving to Franschhoek Play a Role?
Richard: No, Richard Pratt Arts has been around since just after I landed back in Cape Town. The idea was to have a brand tag not limited to fine art, because although oil painting is my main medium, I do a lot of other things.
Once all of that stuff is mastered it'll allow me to launch it without causing too much dissonance in my own mind.
Nick: What made you decide to launch your own gallery (over and above possible other avenues like having your painting feature in a gallery)?
Richard: Freedom, standards and profits.
Basically, I just didn't want to have to rely on someone else to earn my living, particularly since 80% of the galleries that I've encountered don't actually do all that much to sell your work.
You either end up hanging there for the next six months or being squished into some arbitrary space of an already over-cluttered wall.
And then they want to take up to 50% of the sale? No thanks.
As charming as they are, I've put myself through far too much existential anguish to be exhibiting next to Aunty Flo's wilted begonia's, so I'm putting myself through a little more to in order cultivate the right space for my work, and hopefully others.
So I began the journey at the Root 44 market outside Stellenbosch. That was basically the test phase to see if it was feasible. With low overheads and masses of people, it seemed like a good starting point, and it proved to be the case as I ended up selling over 160 paintings over the course of two years and established a reasonable following.
The gallery then happened through following a path of synchronicities, which I believe is a product of claiming your freedom and maintaining a depth of standards. If I hadn't rigorously pursued a more inward journey, I wouldn't have been able to generate the quality of work, enabling quantity of sales and a relative stability of mind to be able to act on subtle opportunities.
There are a few galleries that have caught my attention over the past couple of years, but it's only recently that I've achieved the quality of work that I feel would meet their standards. Let's see!
Nick: Take us through the nuts and bolts of making this a reality…
What were and have been the difficulties you have encountered?
Richard: Funding. Try ask for a bank loan as a young artist.
Really, my dad has been an incredible support and source of quality information. He allowed me to get started at the market and covered my ass in some risky months. It's all balanced in the end, but this is the kinda business where you won't sell anything for three months and then all of a sudden something will change and your next six months of rent will be covered in the space of four hours.
He also studied as an accountant, so his background has enabled me to squeeze as much juice out of the numerical lemon, something I probably wouldn't have engaged in. I don't have nice things to say about bureaucracies, so I try not get myself tarred and feathered.
Be disciplined. Adapt yourself to live comfortably with as little as possible, mental state is the most important factor in all of this, and you will reach rock bottom. Don't let it end you.
Be discerning. We live in the age of information, which is an incredible advantage, but there's so much crap out there that you really have to be willing to dig deep to find the few needles within the many many haystacks.
Be honest. Nobody likes a bullshitter.
Be willing to bend to the market. It's about you, but cash creates a lifestyle. It's a fine balance.
Oh, and don't do it for the money.
Charge what you're worth, but keep it in proportion to your quality, market standards and notoriety(or lack of).
And sell your television, it's crap anyway.
And meditate.
**Richard can be contacted via social media channels (Facebook) or his website where he showcases his work. And if you can why not visit his gallery.
Are you an upcoming artist or someone who is looking to start their own thing? Why don't you share your thoughts?
Join a community of people helping people live happier, more fulfilled lives.
We will send you the latest stories that will inspire you, improve well-being and change the way you see the world. Did we forget to mention? We are also giving away the first eBook I ever wrote - Backpacking 101: Get Inspired. Overcome Fear. Get The Most out of Your Travels.
Please check your inbox and confirm your subscription. Please check your junk folder.
No Spam. Ever. Kapish.
Combine Your Many Interests Into One Digital Business
Julia Selfridge on Living With Depression
The Fulfillment of Giving Back to the Backpacking Community Through Airport Volunteering
How Scott Traded Money and Career Success For a Life of Living Intentionally
How to Land Your First Freelance Writing Gig, As a Beginner (Part 2)
What On Earth Is a Multipotentialite? (A Kick Ass…
A Shifting Perspective: Doing Things For The Sake Of…
Stay True to Yourself and Live a Life of No Regrets
10 Ways Travelling Can Transform You
This Civil Engineer Quit the Comfortable Life to…
How Scott Traded Money and Career Success For a Life…
What Is Education, Actually? – Chris van Niekerk
Why It's Ok to Give Up Your Old Dream For a New One…


text:
Gerhard Wolfram (15 June 1922 – 20 January 1991) was a German dramaturge, theatre director and theatre artistic director.

Life
Born in Naumburg, Wolfram began training as an actor in Dresden during the Second World War. He was a member of the Hitler Youth and joined the NSDAP in 1940. He received his first theatre contract as an actor, dramaturge and director in 1945 at the Stadttheater Köthen. From 1946 to 1948, he worked as a consultant, director and dramaturge for Landessender Halle and Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk.

In 1948/49, he was a director and actor at the Volksbühne Leipzig. From 1949 to 1951, Wolfram acted as head of department and literary editor at Berliner Rundfunk. In the  he came under criticism from the Soviet occupying power, but Bertolt Brecht placed himself protectively before him. From 1951 to 1952, he was employed at the DEFA dubbing studio, and from 1952 to 1953 he worked as an editor at the  in Berlin.

From 1953 to 1965, he was chief dramaturge at Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater under , later also deputy artistic director. From 1966 to 1972, he held the post of artistic director at the Halle Opera House. At the height of his success in Halle, he was given the directorship of the Deutsches Theater Berlin in 1972. Wolfram was artistic director there until 1982, when he was appointed artistic director of the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, where he worked until his retirement in October 1990.

Wolfram, a candidate for the Central Committee of the SED from 1971 to 1976, a member of SED district leaderships, the central executive board of the art union and the presidium of the theatre association of the GDR, strove above all to implement socialist contemporary drama. He placed lived socialism at the centre and enforced the performance of difficult contemporary texts such as Hermann Kant's novel Die Aula and the world premieres of Passage and Ritter der Tafelrunde by Christoph Hein. Classics such as Goethe's Faust and The Robbers were radically questioned. He is considered the discoverer of Alexander Lang, Kurt Böwe, Jutta Wachowiak, Wolfgang Engel and .

Wolfram was married to the actress Sabine Krug, who died in a car accident in 1969.

On 3 October 1990, the ensemble of the Staatsschauspiel Dresden appointed him its honorary member. Wolfram died in Berlin at the age of 68. His grave is located on the  in Berlin.

References

Further reading
  (ed.): Theaterlexikon. Autoren, Regisseure, Schauspieler, Dramaturgen, Bühnenbildner, Kritiker. Von Christine Dössel und Marietta Piekenbrock unter Mitwirkung von Jean-Claude Kuner und C. Bernd Sucher. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2nd edition 1999, .
 Theater der Zeit (ed.): Maxim Gorki Theater. 50 Jahre und kein Ende. Berlin, 2002.
 Karen Hoffmann: Hallenser Anregungen. Das Landestheater Halle von 1966–1972. Magisterarbeit, Universität Lüneburg, 2005.
 Staatsschauspiel Dresden/Sächsische Zeitung (ed.): Sein oder Nichtsein? Theatergeschichten. Dresden, 1995. pp. 99f.
 Aune Renk, Bernd-Rainer Barth: Wolfram, Gerhard. In  5th edition. Vol. 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, .

20th-century German dramatists and playwrights
German theatre directors
Nazi Party members
Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
1922 births
1991 deaths
People from Burgenlandkreis
Hitler Youth members