text:
Mental Health C. Brian Smith July 1, 2020
The People Who Dream of Being Amputees
People who suffer from BIID — Body Identity Integrity Disorder — go through life believing their arms or legs don't belong to them. How far will they go to feel 'complete'?
Sofi didn't hate her feet, she just never really felt like they belonged to her. In fact, everything below her knees seemed more like stilts, due to an ever-present identity dysphoria causing lifelong, emotional anguish. Even a passing glance at her toes could incite months of depression and suicidal ideation.
And so, in 2005, at the age of 19, Sofi began contemplating ways to chop them off. The freight train was an option. It hauled cement and trundled past her seaside home in Scotland at 2 p.m. every day. She considered draping her shins across the tracks, but envisioned being dragged by her legs for miles and opted against it. A shotgun could work, but firearms are nearly impossible to obtain in the U.K. She even thought about staging a car crash, but the unpredictability of an "accident" that could injure others seemed imprudent.
"Something had to be done," the 34-year-old web designer writes via email. "I had these things attached to me that I didn't want, but couldn't do anything about."
Willingly amputating healthy limbs is anathema to rational thought, but the condition is common enough to have a name, Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), coined in 2004 by Michael B. First, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University who describes BIID as "a rare, infrequently studied and highly secretive condition" involving a mismatch between the mental and physical body. BIID has been the subject of multiple documentaries and tabloid segments, though due the intense secrecy surrounding the condition, no one knows exactly how many people suffer from it. The Guardian estimated the number was around 300 in 2012; roughly a thousand are thought to have it today, though, again, no one really knows.
The participants in First's study insisted that they didn't want amputations, they needed them (all BIID sufferers use the word "need" rather than "want" to describe their desired body modification). Of 52 participants, nine had already completed amputations; 38 needed a leg amputation, the overwhelming majority seeking it above-the-knee on the left side, far outnumbering the seven who wanted to cut their arms off.
BIID has an onset in early childhood, and 80 percent of sufferers are men. The main rationale given for desired body modification is to feel "complete" or "satisfied inside," with sexual motives offered secondarily, if at all. A disproportionate percentage of male BIID sufferers identify as gay or bisexual, while most females are straight. They all, though, share "an intense desire to amputate a major limb," First tells me, or to become paralyzed by severing their spinal cord.
Sofi had met with a psychiatrist, but says he didn't really tell her anything she didn't already know. Instead, for therapy and support, she turned to a Reddit community of 600 BIID-identifying people from around the world who recognize that her condition has no cure. Nor is there a doctor in the U.S. (or anywhere in the developed world, for that matter) who openly conducts illegal voluntary amputations. As such, the BIID subreddit serves as a de facto tutorial for best practices on self-amputation, using a tourniquet and saw, or more commonly, dry ice.
Sofi attempted the latter in 2007, at the age of 21, which she says was "a complete disaster." While sourcing dry ice from a party supplier was surprisingly easy, it burned so much that she had to withdraw her feet from the bucket immediately, leaving her with blisters so bad she couldn't walk for weeks.
Sofi is one of a dozen BIID sufferers I speak with, six men and six women, each battling a lifelong war with their own bodies. (To protect their anonymity, I've used pseudonyms throughout — including for Sofi.) All have had some form of mental health therapy; none has been helped. "I told my latest psychiatrist about my BIID," says Diana, a middle-aged, heterosexual married mother who needs to be a C2 complete quadriplegic. "He was fascinated and knew enough to know he couldn't do anything to cure it." Alexandria, a 19-year-old woman in Arkansas who needs to be paralyzed from the waist down, has "tried every skill in the books, to no avail," fruitlessly meeting with a half dozen mental health professionals about her condition.
And Sergei, a 40-year-old IT specialist in a small town in Russia who needs to amputate his left foot, has seen a psychologist only once, who prescribed Prozac. After taking the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, Sergei tells me he "didn't see any changes in my desires, except that the idea to cut off my foot with a sharp knife stopped scaring me. I have a real photo from a guy who did it."
Meanwhile, Sofi has remained chronically suicidal despite a lifetime of mental health evaluations. "Obviously, I wondered if I was insane," she says, adding that unilateral amputation would be "almost worse than having both feet," so if she went through with it, it had to be all or nothing. She's wary, however, of the "clearly insane and delusional" people who message her all the time, mentioning voices telling them to borrow the neighbor's chainsaw. Others are just "a massive cry for help," or "attention-seeking fantasists hoping to become living torsos."
The BIID community terms them "wannabe wannabes." (There are actually multiple internal subdivisions: "devotees," who are fascinated by and often sexually attracted to amputees, but don't want amputations themselves; "wannabes," who strongly desire an amputation of their own; and "realized wannabes," who complete the desired body modification.)
First chose the name "Body Integrity Identity Disorder" to distinguish the condition from paraphilia, a term introduced in 1977 by John Money, then the best-known sexologist in the world, who co-published the first academic paper on the subject in the Journal of Sex Research with psychologist Gregg Furth. "One early hypothesis about the condition was that the sufferers fetishized the stump because it resembled a phallus," explains Moheb Costandi, a molecular and developmental neurobiologist-turned-science writer, who tells me that few psychiatrists know about the condition today, and the ones who do, consider it a fetish.
That's understandable, perhaps, given how BIID came into the public eye in the early 1970s. Costandi discovered a series of letters in Penthouse, sent in response to a one-legged woman describing men getting off to her amputation. (Again, now such stump lovers are called "devotees.") The series became so popular that it led to a regular Penthouse column, Monopede Mania.
Jerry, a 72-year-old retired banker in the Southwest, is one such devotee. Emails from Jerry were lengthy and thorough, explaining that his obsession with amputees began as a 5-year-old and has "dominated his consciousness" ever since.
Every BIID sufferer I speak with echoes some iteration of this. For example, at age 5, Sofi recalls spotting a woman with bilateral, above-knee amputations shuffling down the sand toward the sea, remembering it as a "very significant" moment in her BIID evolution. Juan, a 38-year-old gay man in Mexico, realized his desire to be a double leg amputee, "all the way up with very small stumps," at age 6, after seeing a man with the same disability. Alexandria would play a game with her sister racing up and down the slide without using their legs. ("I always won.") Joanna, a 26-year-old woman in Spain, recalls the happiest moments of her childhood as being "whenever someone dragged me on the floor."
"I've had the feeling inside me since I was a child that my legs didn't belong to me," Joanna says, echoing Sofi. Pretending to be amputated was the only way to cope, so she made a contraption that folded her legs back at the knee to appear amputated. "That helped me a lot for many years, until my accident," she explains. One day, as she was walking to work, she claimed a motorist ran her over. "I was hit by a car and due to the pressure exerted on the muscles and the accumulation of blood, they had no choice to amputate or I could die," she continues. "It wasn't something I'd planned, but I'm glad it happened. If it hadn't, maybe I would've done the amputations myself, which would have been much worse."
To avoid such "accidents," for harm-reduction reasons, Costandi endorses voluntary surgical amputations, which have been outlawed since January 2000, when U.K. surgeon Robert Smith amputated the legs of two patients at their own request. The hospital director called the amputations "inappropriate," and since then, no hospital in the U.K. (or anywhere in the developed world) has performed a voluntary amputation. Instead, people suffering from BIID dangerously take matters into their own hands. Costandi references a New Yorker who traveled to Albuquerque to have his leg amputated by an amateur healer and died from gangrene a week later. "People are literally risking life and limb and many end up dying to get rid of these unwanted limbs. Isn't it better to at least do them in a clean, sterile environment with medical professionals?"
As for Jerry the devotee, "I was always on the lookout for amputee girls throughout junior high and high school," the married father of three tells me. He'd regularly stop by the library, just to look up "amputation" in the card catalog. When he wasn't recalling its Dewey Decimal classification (371.1), he'd hang in the parking lot of a nearby prosthetics office, hoping to spot the "perfect girl," though he says "any amputee would do."
Jerry admits to being "terribly reckless" in the first years of his marriage and had "several flings" with amputees; he couldn't help himself, despite loving his wife dearly. "I even risked a successful business career as a result of playing around. At least that part of my life is behind me. Though if I see a female amputee on the street, I still sometimes get a sexual rush." (While some devotees, like Jerry, admit to being sexually attracted to amputees, it's rare, and he's the only one of the 12 BIID sufferers I speak with who expressed such an attraction.)
In 2014, Jerry amputated his left leg below the knee after lying to doctors about "unbearable pain" from an old leg fracture. He was referred to a surgeon, who agreed to do the amputation. "I remember lying on that gurney like it was yesterday," he recalls. "I got up to use the bathroom and realized it would be the last time I'd walk on my own two legs!"
While Jerry says it was "amazingly easy" for him to find a surgeon willing to do the amputation, many others seek the services of "The Gatekeeper," a 73-year-old retired telecommunication executive in Washington State named Andrew (again, a pseudonym), who over the last 16 years has matched more than 50 BIID sufferers with licensed surgeons abroad for covert amputations, thereby "relieving the BIID mental torture" and allowing them "to become the amputee they need to be." A standard, above-the-knee amputation is approximately $26,000, which includes surgeon fees, hospital costs, follow-up care, transportation and meals and accommodations for Andrew and the patient for two weeks. (Double amputations are far more dangerous, complicated and expensive, requiring additional recovery time.)
On top of that, Andrew charges $1,000 for a single amputation, which pays for odds and ends like transportation to the airport and care for his German Shepherds while he's gone. The income definitely doesn't support him, but gatekeeping is his full-time job and he spends countless hours evaluating potential clients, answering questions and providing support before, during and after the procedure.
He is also a realized wannabe himself, having voluntarily amputated his left leg above the knee in Southeast Asia in 2004, among the first to do so at the time. He'd met Furth, the aforementioned psychologist who had published a book about BIID in 2000 titled AMPUTEE IDENTITY DISORDER: Information, Questions, Answers, and Recommendations About Self-demand Amputation, and after an exhaustive psychological evaluation, including questions about what age Andrew first realized he needed to be an amputee, how the condition impacted his life and how he was handling these desires, Furth determined that Andrew indeed had BIID and connected him with a surgeon to amputate his leg. (Furth, also a wannabe, longed to have his right leg amputated above the knee since early childhood, but felt he could serve the community more effectively with both legs.)
A few months after the surgery, Furth explained that he was dying from cancer and asked Andrew if he would assume the gatekeeping duties. "I agreed," Andrew says, "because Gregg made my surgery happen in the first place, and I wanted to help others suffering from BIID. So for the last 16 years, it's been my mission to help them find a surgical solution to their mental torture. It's my raison d'etre."
The process begins when a patient contacts Andrew, who conducts an evaluation via email or Skype to see if they actually have BIID, asking their age, gender, where they live and how BIID has impacted their lives. It's a red flag if someone says they realized the need to be an amputee after puberty; Andrew assumes this to be more of a fetish, which he wants nothing to do with.
If Andrew deems the client to be BIID positive, he refers them to a medical professional to be evaluated and connects them with one of a network of overseas surgeons to schedule the amputation. He gladly accompanies them on the journey, so they're not alone in a foreign country. He refuses to tell me where the amputations take place since the surgeons could lose their licenses if found out. "Hopefully, someday, we'll be able to get BIID amputation surgeries in the U.S. and in Europe, but we aren't at that point yet."
It's worth adding once more that most BIID sufferers deny any sexual attraction to other amputees. As Alison, a 19-year-old woman in Oregon who needs to amputate both of her arms, puts it, "If I think a woman is cute, I think she's cute regardless of any other qualifiers. I don't fetishize people with disabilities, and none of the dozens of people I know with BIID are attracted to people with disabilities, nor do they have erotic fantasies of themselves being disabled." (That said, Alison does think she would be more sexually appealing without arms.) She denies that the childhood trauma she experienced — "grossly sexual" behavior from her mother — contributed to her BIID. She also was in an online "relationship" when she was 14 with someone in their late 20s who threatened to kill herself if they broke up. "Do I believe this trauma had any relationship to my BIID? Probably not," she tells me.
"This doesn't come from childhood trauma," Juan agrees. "I had a normal upbringing with happy parents in a healthy marriage." Assuming BIID sufferers must be a product of childhood trauma is reflective of a deeply ingrained bias toward able-bodiedness, corrects Clive Baldwin, a professor of social work and narrative studies at St. Thomas University in Canada, who has been studying 53 people with BIID since 2012. "People interpret this phenomenon through the resources they already have, so we're left with madness and badness: If you don't want to be able-bodied, you must be mad or deficient in some way. We need to be more compassionate."
Despite First's efforts to include the disorder in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5), BIID hasn't yet been added, though it's mentioned in the appendices and will be included in the 11th revision of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases as "Body Integrity Dysphoria" (listed in the "Disorders of Bodily Distress or Bodily Experience" section, not the "Body Dysmorphia" section).
"BIID should be distinguished from Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)," explains Alexandre Baril, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and one of the most published scholars on the condition. "With BIID, the subject doesn't see the concerned limb as ugly, they just have the feeling it isn't truly belonging to their body. While in BDD, all parts of the body come into question, BIID wishes are mostly legs and arms."
BIID falls under the umbrella of transableism, which refers to the desire to acquire a disability through choice rather than happenstance. The current thinking, based on studies undertaken by neuroscientist Paul McGeoch of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, is that BIID is a neurological condition in which neurons in the brain don't work properly, and as a result, the mental map of the body and the physical body don't align, causing severe distress.
McGeoch recruited four BIID sufferers seeking leg amputation (i.e., apotemnophiles), and then prodded the affected limb while recording their brain activity using magnetoencephalography (i.e., a non-invasive technique for investigating brain activity on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis) that shows where in the brain activity is being produced. "They went in the scanner, and we tapped their feet and thighs with a fiber-optic probe that allowed the scanner to capture exactly when they were touched," McGeoch tells me. In the three apotemnophiles who wanted one leg amputated, tapping the unaffected leg evoked a response in the right parietal lobe (in which we hold our body map) but tapping the affected leg did not. In the fourth apotemnophile, who sought amputation of both legs, neither evoked a response.
McGeoch resolved that the desire to amputate a limb is likely a neurological developmental disorder of body image. "Basically, their body functions as able-bodied, but their mental map indicates that their body doesn't have, for example, the left leg below the knee," agrees Baldwin, who says that nearly all the BIID amputees he's studied report the limb in question "just shouldn't be there." "Imagine waking up with a third arm," he describes. "You'd look at it and think, What the hell?"
In the 10 years he's been studying individuals with BIID, Baldwin hasn't met one person who regretted modifying his or her body and says there are no such reports in the medical literature. "Those acting on BIID desires all feel relieved, empowered, self-confident and true to themselves," Baldwin explains. "Paradoxically, for most with BIID, a physical disability is empowering."
Andrew, the gatekeeper, says the only regret shared by him and his clients is that "we weren't able to amputate sooner. Once the offending limb(s) are gone, the BIID mental torture is over and we are finally free."
There are, unsurprisingly, some critics in the disabled community. "Transability has virtually nothing to do with disability," writes Rob J. Quinn, an anti-ableism advocate and author of I'm Not Here to Inspire You: Essays on Disability From a Regular Guy Living With Cerebral Palsy. "They aren't truly disabled," agrees director-writer and consultant Dominick Evans, who is trans, queer, disabled and wheelchair-bound. "They aren't deserving of the title of 'person with a disability.' I don't accept them into my community because they are fakers, liars, deranged, worthless, hopeless, messed-up jerk-offs and losers. I want nothing to do with them."
Others, like triple amputee John Morris, host of the site WheelchairTravel.org, welcome realized wannabes into a world he proudly says is more accessible than ever. "Individuals who pursue an elective amputation as a result of Body Integrity Identity Disorder will greatly benefit from the accessibility that has been won by the tireless efforts of disabled advocates over many decades," he tells me.
"I'm not a hater of transabled people," adds Bethany Stevens, clinical instructor and policy analyst at the Center for Leadership in Disability at Georgia State University. "[BIID sufferers] aren't well-liked among many in this community because it's presumed that they only want pity and coddling, are taking benefits away from other disabled people and get to decide when they want to be disabled. But they certainly have a body dysmorphia issue, which is a mental health disability, so they are in our community. I don't think it's me who gets to be the arbiter of disability identity."
There are, it should be noted, limits as to how far realized wannabes can go. For instance, there's only been one double above-knee amputation performed on Andrew's watch, due to limitations on what his surgeons will perform. And triple and quadruple amputations are completely off the table, as is amputating both arms. The same goes for paralysis from the waist down, as Andrew knows of no surgeon in the world who will accommodate a C-2 complete paraplegic surgery (severing the spinal cord). "I can't envision a time when that kind of surgery would be available, because it's too risky and the client would require lifelong assistance," he tells me. "My surgeons won't do any surgery that would require the client to be totally dependent on someone else caring for them."
That's a tragedy for Diana, a fiftysomething wife and mother of two with a graduate degree in public health. Asked as a little girl to draw pictures of what she wanted to be when she grew up, she imagined herself as a paralyzed princess in a power chair. And for as long as she can remember, she's felt that she should be unable to move or feel her body from the neck down, shrug her shoulders or breathe independently. She aspirationally envisions herself relegated to a power wheelchair, partially tilted back, with her arms and hands resting motionless in trough armrests, a tracheostomy connected to the ventilator on the back of her chair via plastic tubes.
She thinks about this "every hour of every day."
"I would accept living in a nursing home as a possible outcome," Diana says. "That would be tough, but at least I'd be in the right body." The more Diana's husband realizes her BIID isn't a temporary phase, the more he hates it, urging her to suppress it even if it leads to severe depression. "He's said he prefers me to commit suicide than get the body I need, so this will likely be the end of our marriage," she continues, which is why Andrew also asks if his clients are married and if their partners have signed off. "Unfortunately, I've watched BIID destroy many marriages," he says.
For now, Diana makes do by pretending to be incapable of movement and hooked up to a ventilator. Roleplaying also means engaging with a devotee partner. The interaction takes place via text or, less commonly, voice chat, though occasionally she'll roleplay with a partner in Second Life. "I have a friend who will help me try out being on a ventilator with endotracheal intubation while conscious," she says, adding that when she pretends, she stops breathing and has a strong urge not to start up again. "I might get a tracheostomy so I can really be attached to a ventilator, seeing that it's a reversible procedure."
Given how unanimously happier BIID sufferers are following their desired disabling procedure, Costandi, First and others contend that the most compassionate thing to do may be to allow them to go through with it. "Virtually everyone I've spoken to who's completed an amputation is now living a normal life and is no longer obsessed with this," First says. As for that pesky Hippocratic Oath that pledges to do no harm, First contends that the mantra depends on interpretation. "If you believe that having a limb is harmful, then an amputation does no harm," he argues.
Presumably, Sofi used a similar line of reasoning in 2017 when the courier delivered two additional polystyrene boxes of dry ice pellets, midday. She'd been chatting with someone online who had successfully frozen his left leg below the knee and suggested numbing the leg first with ice-cold water. After two hours and eight minutes (the length of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which she watched in an armchair while guzzling Jack Daniel's), her feet were sufficiently numb. She swaddled them in Saran Wrap and slipped on a pair of flight socks, pausing briefly to be sure she wanted to go through with it.
The pellets fizzed and crackled upon meeting her pale white feet; her lips curled in delight as the smoky cauldron bubbled. After a couple of hours of "unbridled power and control, almost like a celebration," Sofi removed what looked like "frozen chicken" from the bowl, and had to pee. Her frozen toes "clanked" against the hardwood floor as she crawled to the bathroom and she "feared they were going to snap right off! But it didn't matter, I knew my feet were gone forever."
A few hours later, she called an ambulance, calmly repeating to the dispatcher that she had, in fact, voluntarily frozen her feet to death. When the ambulance arrived, deeply confused paramedics were a "a bit creeped out."
By the time she got to the hospital, her feet had already begun to thaw, sending thunderous jolts of pain up her spine. The on-call psychiatrist sectioned her immediately, prohibiting her from leaving the hospital or making decisions about her treatment. (Sofi is estranged from her parents, but did call her younger sister, who was "surprisingly understanding.")
For a week, the surgical team resisted amputation, but by then, Sofi's feet had turned black and she'd become septic, which felt "really, really awful." Mostly, though, she was frustrated that the surgery had been delayed. As the pain worsened and her fever crept dangerously high, doctors eventually relented and executed a bilateral, below-the-knee amputation. Sofi recalls being "so relieved," and also "a little afraid of dying." "There was no turning back, though," she says. "In a few days, I was going to be complete."
Three years later, Sofi says she's never been happier, giddily describing her collection of prosthetic legs as if it's Carrie Bradshaw's shoe closet: "…and then I have one pair with pink sparkly sockets and another with black with carbon fiber. I even have a pair of 'wet' legs, to wear in the shower or down the beach!"
She asks that I try to understand that the BIID community is neither delusional nor insane. "Outside of this condition, I'm quite a normal woman," she says — one with a job, a significant other and her own place to live.
"We're really not so fucked up," she continues. "I wish I was born normally like you, but please remember we didn't choose to be like this. It's a burden we have to carry with us our whole lives, and for most of us, it's a matter of life and death."
Mental Health: Psychologists on How to Fill the Emptiness You Feel After Bingeing a Great Show
Mental Health: My Afternoon With Dr. Don, the Male-Spanking Therapist
Mental Health: This Is What Happened When I Tried to Bully My Plant to Death
Mental Health: Why You're the Ugliest Version of Yourself on FaceTime


What is this business about observers? What are the other quantum theories without observers? How do they compare to each other? Why should we care?
Standard textbook quantum mechanics has observers at the very heart of the theory. It discusses what happens when a measurement is performed. This is fine as a phenomenological prescription, but it is meaningless for a fundamental theory, a theory which is to explain the existence of those experiments.
It would seem that the theory is exclusively concerned with 'results of measurements' and has nothing to say about anything else. When the 'system' in question is the whole world where is the 'measurer' to be found? Inside, rather than outside, presumably. What exactly qualifies some subsystems to play this role? Was the world wave function waiting to jump for thousands of millions of years until a single-celled living creature appeared? Or did it have to wait a little longer for some more highly qualified measurer — with a Ph.D.? If the theory is to apply to anything but idealized laboratory operations, are we not obliged to admit that more or less 'measurement-like' processes are going on more or less all the time more or less everywhere? Is there ever then a moment when there is no jumping and the Schrödinger equation applies?
Bohmian mechanics is one theory that satisfies the need to avoid measurement and observers in the formulation of the theory. But there are others.
What is the theory about? Decide this before equations and deductions are made. What is the ontology of Bohmian mechanics?
Can we modify the wave evolution so that collapse is occurring independently of measurement? What is the ontology of such a theory?
Is it possible not to collapse the wave function and to avoid using particles with positions? What is the ontology of such a theory?
How much can we do with focusing on theories as information? What is the ontology of such a theory?
Other quantum theories without observers may exist. What are they?


text:
London's Uber decision unjustified, says Wilbur Ross
Published: Sept. 22, 2017 at 10:55 a.m. ET
Commerce head calls city's cabbies 'a little slow in adjusting to the new system'
'Not very justified' Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on the London Uber decision
Count U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross among the critics of the decision to not renew Uber's license to operate in London.
Ross, speaking Friday on CNBC after the Uber announcement by Transport for London, said the ride-sharing service has worked "very, very well" in cities he's used it in. And while he said it's up to U.K. authorities to decide how to treat the company there, the soft-spoken Ross made it clear how he feels.
""I think what's happening with Uber is really not very justified in London." "
— U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
TfL, which is responsible for Greater London transport, said Friday a review of the service found Uber demonstrated a lack of corporate responsibility on issues including its approach to reporting serious criminal offenses.
Read: Uber stripped of right to operate in London in latest blow to ride-sharing app.
Asked if he would contact London officials about the decision, Ross said he would not since he isn't officially involved.
But that didn't stop him from praising the company or tweaking drivers. "I think the London cabbies have probably been a little slow in adjusting to the new system," Ross said.
Opinion:The Uber reality show is now over.
U.S. inflation leaps 5.8% in 2021, PCE shows, and hits 40-year high
A measure of U.S. inflation preferred by the Federal Reserve leaped 5.8% in 2021 after another sharp increase in December, underscoring why the central bank is moving to raise interest rates for the first time in four years.
Federal judge throws out Biden administration's Gulf of Mexico oil lease sale
The IRS will stop sending out one type of taxpayer notice to try to cut down on aggravation this tax season
YouTube takes down House Republican's campaign ad claiming the 2020 election was rigged
5 facts about Willow the first cat, who has finally arrived at the White House

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
How should I go about investing in Africa?
The Telegraph.co.uk
Ask an Expert: the continent is tipped as the next region to boom but how can investors take advantage?
There are several approaches. First, there are a handful of specialist funds. Alquity Africa, recommended by Darius McDermott of Chelsea Financial Services, the fund shop, is completely unconstrained and is a lot more diverse than most funds, which tend to have a large majority invested in South Africa and just small amounts in other African markets. This fund currently has 34pc in Nigeria, 20pc in South Africa and 19pc in Kenya.
Alternatives include Investec Pan Africa, Neptune Africa and JPM Africa Equity. If you want a fund with more geographical diversification but still extensive exposure to Africa, Mr McDermott tipped the Fidelity EMEA fund, which has 64pc of its money in Sub-Saharan Africa. The fund invests in 50 and 70 companies of all sizes. The manager sets target prices for each holding, which ensures that profits are taken regularly. The Templeton Frontier Mark ets fund has 14.5pc in Nigeria.
More emerging markets fund ideas
But there are strong arguments for choosing an investment trust when you want to buy into "frontier" markets. Unit trusts normally allow investors to put in or withdraw money every day, which requires the trust to buy or top up its holdings in response.
But this can be costly - or even impossible - in less developed markets. Investment trusts do not face this difficulty because they raise their money once, after which new investors can buy into the trust only by buying from an existing shareholder - the trust itself is not involved.
The BlackRock Frontiers investment trust has 9.1pc exposure to Nigeria and 1.1pc to Morocco, said Jason Hollands of Bestinvest, another fund shop. The Advance Frontier Markets investment trust has 36pc in Africa and "has a good track record", said Patrick Connolly of Chase de Vere, the advisory firm.
There are also some Aim-listed alternatives including the Africa Opportunity Fund and PME African Infrastructure. "To be clear, we don't recommend any of these," Mr Hollands said.
Other ways to gain exposure are through commodities funds, frontier market funds or simply to invest in some of the UK-listed resource companies operating in Africa, such as African Barrick Gold. The Aim market is littered with resources companies focused on African but these are extremely volatility, ultra high risk investments, advisers warned.
If you prefer tracker funds there is also the DB X-Trackers MSCI EFM Africa Top 50 Cap exchange-traded fund or ETF, which is denominated in dollars. It has 51pc of its money in South Africa, 28pc in Nigeria, 12pc in Egypt and 8pc in Morocco.
ETFs are traded on the stock market but unlike investment trusts do need to be able to trade in their holdings on a daily basis as investors add or withdraw money.
Mr Hollands said: "Investable opportunities in Africa are principally focused around resources and financial firms. The risks are very high and include poor standards of corporate governance, endemic corruption, political and social instability and currency risk."
Original article by Richard Evans
Infrastructures générales (379)
TIC (278)


We lived at 3704 Custer Loop, which was the second house on the left just inside the loop. Our roof, floors, and hall bath seemed as if they'd been recently replaced. I know some others on the opposite side of the street had some water/mold damage so I'd check on that before signing for one of those houses.
There's a decent amount of space on the front porch and sidewalk that adjoins the porch to the carport.
Just past the large window there is a large outdoor closet that locks and we used it to store sports equipment and our golf clubs. There are three shelves in there too. I didn't get any photos of the back yard, but there is a small (lockable) shed out there. We had several boxes of books damaged after some severe rains. I wouldn't store anything of great value on the floor. Also, it is not climate-controlled.
This is just inside the front door. There is a fair amount of space just inside the entry way.
Just past the entry way, off to your right is a large family room. The ceilings are low in these houses, but the natural light and white walls in our house made up for that. Something else to note, is that these houses are not regulated in their energy/water use.
This is the view from the other end of the room. There is a set of windows on the far left, and in the center and on the right, there are two sets of French doors that open up to the sun porch.
To me, the sun porch is what seals the deal on these houses. Many have used them as a fifth bedroom, a second living area, a play room, or a homeschool room. We had a new puppy and porch furniture, so we treated it as an indoor porch.
As you can see, there's tons of natural light, doors to the back yard on both ends, and a separate wall AC unit. We never had any issues keeping the temperature regulated in this room, despite the fact that it wasn't on central heat or air.
Typical galley kitchen and TERRIBLE light fixture. Plenty of cabinet storage and a gas stove. It seems that there isn't much consistency in the appliances from house to house on this street. My neighbor at 3702 had an awesome stainless steel commercial grade oven/stove.
Also, these houses DO NOT come equipped with a microwave, so you will need to provide your own.
This is just around the corner on the right at the end of the kitchen. Those folding doors open to a large pantry. We housed my husband's gun safe in there. In addition, there are several spacious shelves. I wish they'd thought to put the washer/dryer hookup in the closet, because there was no noise barrier when the appliances were running.
This was taken just inside the front door to my immediate right. Again, you can see the abundance of cabinets.
I loved the natural light, but with the blinds open, we'd frequently have neighbor kiddos stopping by to wave or peer into our dining room while we were eating or working at the table.
We utilized the large closet in the dining room as our homeschool closet. It was a nice, walk-in size with great shelving.
From the front door looking back down to your left is where all four bedrooms and two full baths were located.
Past that closet was my oldest daughter's (12) bedroom. It had the smallest closet. I didn't hang curtains in this house and these photos are making me think that was a mistake.
Lots of floor space and great light. All bedrooms were equipped with ceiling fans!
There wasn't much floor space left in there.
The bathroom is also TINY. Aside from three tiny shelves inside the mirror (medicine cabinet) there is NO STORAGE of any kind in the master bath. You can see I had my nightstand just outside the bathroom and kept most of my toiletries there.
Heading back down the hall, (this time on your right), is the kids' or hall/guest bath. Not much room to turn around in there. Not much storage for three kids or guests but we made it work. Those mirrored doors opened up for some small storage.
Not to brag, but our hall bath was one of the few that had been refitted or updated. Most of the others on the loop had original colored tile walls in the showers/tubs.
Just past the bathroom is the fourth bedroom, and the only one that faces the front of the house. Our son (14) had this room and didn't mind the street noise or early morning light. He had the largest closet too!
There is a really nice closet in the hallway for linens. Lots of deep, sturdy shelving.


Every year across America, police stations and fire crews have fun with the sounds and lights on their vehicles. This year, the Laramie County Fire District #2 put a new spin on the Christmas classic, "The Nutcracker." They also picked a Rock version of "The Nutcracker" that adds a little more grit to it. The folks at LCFD#2 did a great job and always do a great job at keeping us safe. Thanks for what you do and keeping a smile on everyone's face. Enjoy!


It has long been recognized that a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating foods that lower cholesterol and engaging in regular exercise to help lower blood pressure naturally, may help reverse some of the factors involved in causing heart disease. What is less commonly recognized, however, is that the very same health habits that lower blood pressure and cholesterol naturally don't just prevent heart disease; they may actually reverse the progression of heart disease, along with other chronic conditions.
This was the ground-breaking discovery of Dr. Dean Ornish, a pioneer in research on the benefits of lifestyle medicine in general and the use of yoga as therapy for chronic disease more specifically. For the past three decades, Dr. Ornish has conducted numerous studies demonstrating that holistic lifestyle changes can not only affect the precursors of heart disease by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol naturally, but can even turn around coronary conditions without prescription medications or surgery.
Dr. Ornish's work first received national attention in the early 1990's, when he was the first to show that a comprehensive lifestyle program, including a low fat, low cholesterol diet and regular yoga therapy for heart disease, did more than just prevent heart disease: it actually reversed it.
The study divided patients with coronary artery disease into two randomized groups. One group followed the holistic lifestyle program, which incorporated yoga therapy, a low-fat, low cholesterol diet, and meditation. Participants in this group were also required to abstain from smoking during the one year course of the study. The control group simply followed standard medical advice.
At the end of the 12 month study, results showed that the group which engaged in natural ways to lower blood pressure and cholesterol had fewer cardiac episodes than the control group. Even more significantly, the clogging of their arteries had actually begun to reverse. The control group, which was prescribed drugs to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, not only failed to improve, but even suffered further degeneration.
A slew of studies over the years have confirmed Dr. Ornish's initial results, even showing that adopting other lifestyle habits, such as meditation to reduce stress, can also be a means to not just lower blood pressure naturally, but even reverse the progression of heart disease.
Dr. Ornish's work is an important reminder of how much we can do to take our health in our own hands. A diet rich in cholesterol lowering foods, regular exercise and/or yoga therapy, and even just finding ways to cut back on stress in our lives can not only help us prevent disease, but may turn the clock back on conditions we have already developed.


A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the health insurance market in New Jersey for individuals is decidedly non-competitive. Indeed, only two healthcare insurance carriers currently have more than 5 percent of the market for offering insurance for individuals and the largest has 73 percent of the market.
The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, which measure competitiveness in the insurance market, awards New Jersey a 5,717 score on a scale of 0 to 10,000. The more competitive, the closer to zero your score is. Nationally, the score is 3,761.
New Jersey performed slightly better with offering small group plans but again, only four carriers have more than 5 percent of the market. New Jersey's 3,325 score is slightly better than the national score of 3,595.


The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences, presents several CME accredited courses each year. These include departmental faculty as well as invited faculty renowned in the field, broadcast of live surgery, and simulation labs.
Please contact Angela Kinnunen at 412-648-6342 or email CTSurgCME@upmc.edu for additional course or registration information.


text:
Qlimax Mp3
Sms Men Mp3
Ezekiel Saw Da Wheel.mp3 0.6 03.07.23 19:24:28 Sms Men's Chorus Mp3 Ezekiel Saw Da Wheel Mp3 Get On Board Mp3 0:00:50 96 S 44
All Aboard.mp3 0.6 03.07.23 19:24:51 Sms Men's Chorus Mp3 All Aboard Mp3 Get On Board Mp3 0:00:50 96 S 44
I'm Just A Poor Wayfaring Stranger.m 0.6 03.07.23 19:30:09 Sms Men's Chorus Mp3 I'm Just A Poor Wayfaring Stra Mp3 Get On Board Mp3 0:00:50 96 S 44
I Want To Be Ready.mp3 0.6 03.07.23 19:29:23 Sms Men's Chorus Mp3 I Want To Be Ready Mp3 Get On Board Mp3 0:00:50 96 S 44
Sms Men's Quartet--jesus Is Coming A 0.6 04.05.02 00:17:00 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Jesus Is Coming Again Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--deep River--get On 0.6 04.05.02 00:36:14 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 Deep River Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--isn't The Love Of 0.6 04.05.02 00:11:38 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Isn't The Love Of Jesus Someth Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--the Love Of God-- 0.6 04.05.02 00:16:39 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 The Love Of God Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--ezekiel Saw The Whe 0.6 04.05.02 00:38:01 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 Ezekiel Saw The Wheel Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--onward Christian 0.6 04.05.02 00:10:35 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Onward Christian Soldiers Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--o Mary, Don't You W 0.6 04.05.02 00:39:04 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 O Mary, Don't You Weep Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--lay Up Your Treasur 0.6 04.05.02 00:36:57 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 Lay Up Your Treasures In Heave Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--seeking For Me--b 0.6 04.05.02 00:13:03 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Seeking For Me Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--hush, Somebody's Ca 0.6 04.05.02 00:37:39 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 Hush, Somebody's Calling My Na Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--in The Same Wonde 0.6 04.05.02 00:10:56 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 In The Same Wonderful Way Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--be Not Discourage 0.6 04.05.02 00:17:22 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--mighty Rivers Of Gr 0.6 04.05.02 00:36:36 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 Mighty Rivers Of Grace Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--my Lord, What A Mor 0.6 04.05.02 00:37:18 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 My Lord, What A Morning Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--i'm Just A Poor Way 0.6 04.05.02 00:40:29 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 I'm Just A Poor Wayfaring Stra Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--only A Boy Named 0.6 04.05.02 00:13:24 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Only A Boy Named David Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--the Gospel Train--g 0.6 04.05.02 00:40:50 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 The Gospel Train Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--saved By Grace--b 0.6 04.05.02 00:12:21 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Saved By Grace Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--thistrain Is Bound 0.6 04.05.02 00:39:47 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 Thistrain Is Bound For Glory Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--he Was Wounded Fo 0.6 04.05.02 00:16:18 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 He Was Wounded For Our Transgr Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--i Want To Be Ready- 0.6 04.05.02 00:35:32 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 I Want To Be Ready Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--why--be Not Disco 0.6 04.05.02 00:14:53 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Why Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Choir--saved By Grace Alon 0.6 04.05.02 00:35:11 Sms Men's Choir Mp3 Saved By Grace Alone Mp3 2002 Get On Board Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--ride On, King Jes 0.6 04.05.02 00:11:17 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Ride On, King Jesus Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:28 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--i Want To Be Ther 0.6 04.05.02 00:15:35 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 I Want To Be There Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22
Sms Men's Quartet--men Of God, Arise 0.6 04.05.02 00:12:42 Sms Men's Quartet Mp3 Men Of God, Arise Mp3 2001 Be Not Discouraged Mp3 0:01:29 56 S 22


KnightHawk has performed research and development projects for clients in many diverse markets. Our experience and integrated systems approach allows us to thoroughly execute the R&D process. Our numerical methods process is unmatched in accurately assessing a design's abilities to meet any process condition that can be defined.


text:
Mary Ireland
Home / Mary Ireland
Mary Lloyd Ireland, MD: A Brief Biographical Sketch Mary Lloyd Ireland is an Orthopaedic Surgeon and Professor in the University of Kentucky's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr. Mary Lloyd Ireland. Dr. Ireland received her Medical Degree from the University of Tennessee. Her residency was at the University of California, Irvine and her fellowships in Sports Medicine were at Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts and Hughston Orthopaedic Clinic, Columbus, Georgia. Dr. Ireland served as Team Physician for EKU from 1988 to January 2006, Team Physician for the University of Kentucky from 1985 to 1996. She served as Medical Coordinator and Head Physician for the Bluegrass State Games from 1985 to 1996. She served as Head Physician at the Olympic Sports Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1990 and as a Medical Staff Member at the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. Dr. Ireland serves on the editorial board for numerous journals including the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Journal of Athletic Training, Journal of Sport Rehabilitation and The Physician and Sportsmedicine. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American College of Sports Medicine. She is a member of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society and an affiliate member of the National Athletic Trainers Association. Dr. Ireland has served on the Kentucky Medical Association's Committee on School Health, Physical Education, and Medical Aspect of Sports from 1987 to the present and also has served on the Kentucky State Advisory Council on Athletic Trainers from 1992 until the present. Dr. Ireland has published numerous articles and chapters. She is co-editor of The Female Athlete (Saunders 2002) and editor of the AAOS Instructional Course Lectures - Sports Medicine, published (2005). She is involved in numerous endeavors regarding gender differences, injury patterns, treatment and prevention of injuries of the knee and shoulder. Dr. Ireland was named Southeast Athletic Trainer's Association (SEATA) Sports Medicine Person of the Year in 1997 and was the recipient of President's Challenge Award for National Athletic Trainer's Association (NATA) in 1998. Dr. Ireland is a member of many professional societies and participates in various capacities on a regular basis. Her professional society memberships include: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons American College of Sports Medicine, Fellow American Medical Women's Association American Orthopaedic Association American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine American Medical Association ACL Study Group Arthroscopy Association of North America Fayette County Medical Association Forum Herodicus Society The Hughston Society Kentucky Medical Association National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc. The Orthopaedic Guild Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society Southern Medical Association Southern Orthopaedic Association U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine Society Editorial Board/Reviewer Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, American Journal of Sports Medicine Journal of Athletic Training Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise British Journal of Sports Medicine Sports Medicine ACSM Current Sports Medicine Reports Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
http://www.marylloydireland.com


Reading this headline, extreme Singhalese may say, 'another……. paving the way for a separate state', extreme Tamil nationalists may say, 'another one going against the independent state', but the wisest from both communities may say, 'the right thinking at the right time'.
Twenty five years ago on 29th July 1987, when the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the Sri Lanka President J. R. Jayawardene signed the Indo-Lanka accord, it was a day of mourning in the South of Sri Lanka, a day of confusion in the North and East and a miraculous day for India, especially for the Gandhi family. In the South, half of Colombo was on fire. The majority of the people, politicians, the then Prime Minister, many cabinet Ministers and the present President were angered by India. The people of the North and East were in the dark, knowing nothing about the Indo-Lanka accord. At the same time, it was a miraculous escape for the Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who was attacked by a Sri Lankan Navy soldier with a rifle in an attempted assassination. Fortunately the heavy blow which landed on Gandhi only injured his shoulder, while he was inspecting the guard of honour in Colombo. If the Navy soldier's strike had hit as planned, today's history of Sri Lanka would have been very different.
I read with interest the recent articles by Col. R. Hariharan and Major General Ashok Mehta entitled '25 Years On, IPKF…..'. Both served in the Indian Peace Keeping Force – IPKF in Sri Lanka. Their articles spoke about the shortcomings and pessimistic views of the Singhalese and the Tamils towards the Indo-Lanka accord. In both articles wrong terminology was used to indicate the status of the Tamils in Sri Lanka! But one cannot expect military personnel necessarily to use the correct political terminologies. If Tamils in Sri Lanka are 'minorities', there would have been no Indo-Lanka accord and no third party mediation or involvement.
Considering these facts, India has to admit that it has an unfinished un-accomplished task to attend to – a political solution to the Tamil ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. Also it needs to be recognised that concerning any decision about the Tamils in Sri Lanka, India proceeds at a snail's speed.
As said by Ashok Mehta and Hariharan, if the Indo-Lanka accord was for strategic reasons worked out to prevent US stepping into Sri Lanka, how and where did the Indian decision-makers see the involvement of China in Sri Lanka? Was this an oversight on their part? If so, can we consider that there are Indian decision-makers working for Chinese interests or those of Chinese allies? During the peak hours of the war against the LTTE in Vanni, we heard that few decision-makers objected to Indian support for Sri Lanka and Mahinda Rajapaksa influenced Sonia Gandhi via her relatives in Italy. Was this also a strategic interest?
Unlike India – China doesn't support any ethnic group in exercise of their right to self-determination, whereas they prefer to dominate countries as a whole. India supported the independence of Bangladesh, is in solidarity with Tibet and supported a few other nations. I do agree that the Kashmir issue is unresolved and it is a checkmate between Indian and Pakistan. It is worth noting that exceptionally China supports the Palestinians as do many other UN member states.
When we look at the political struggles in other nations, namely ANC – (Umkhonto we Sizwe – MK), of South Africa and the situation in Northern Ireland (IRA), we see that they were accused of several high profile bombings and killings. For example the killing of Lord George Mountbatten, the bombing of the Conservative party conference in Brighton with the intention of assassinating Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, etc. But neither the South African apartheid government nor the British government ever used these as a pretext to say that many years of insurgency or terrorism cannot be solved in two or three years. Of course, they settled their political problems in a respectful manner.
When it comes to the Tamil question we see a stark contrast! Sri Lanka uses pretext after pretext to prevent a political settlement and India has forgotten its commitment, having given hope to the Tamils by signing the Indo-Lanka accord.
Now three years have passed since Mullivaghzal. The President who told the International community that the Tamil political problem would be settled as soon as terrorism is wiped out, took no initiative, not a single positive step, to settle the long bloody conflict. On the contrary, today the President, his government and the security forces are busy colonising, militarising, buddhistising the Tamil hereditary land, the North and East. They are also encouraging the worst human rights violations by the security forces and the paramilitary in those areas.
It is obvious that no Sri Lankan government will find a viable political solution to the Tamil question in the Island. A thousand years after Lord Buddha lived, the religious text "Mahavamsa", written in Pali language by a Buddhist monk conveyed the political message that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhala Buddhists only. Therefore the Buddhist hierarchy is never willing to give equal rights to the Tamils in the island. Of course, the Mahavamsa has been discredited and is considered fiction by various scholars.
In Sri Lanka, if one looks closely at the 1971 JVP uprising, they clearly understood that the Chinese had been waiting for a long time to swallow-up Sri Lanka. Who filed the case against the merger of the North East in the Supreme Court? Which country is the ally of this party?
It is to be noted that this article threw many, from top to bottom, into panic in Sri Lanka. Individuals from various ranks from the South, applied pressure on certain individuals, preventing me from writing further articles.
I hope that serious Indian decision-makers will carefully consider the right path to implement the Indo-Lanka accord without any further delay. Every minute that India delays, the regional superpower and economic power which seeks a permanent seat in the UN Security Council will be forced to a status like Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taking revenge for a killing, or accusation of a killing, of a Prime Minister doesn't mean that India should gamble its strategic interest, to become a colony of another.
Major General, this war memorial was constructed neither to the IPKF nor to India nor in good faith. It was constructed to remind every Sri Lankan or the people in the South to be cautious of India. India didn't construct anything for the IPKF because they do not want the people of India to be reminded of India's unfinished, unaccomplished mission in Sri Lanka.
I take this opportunity to remind Ashok Mehta that on 15 August 2010, when the Indian Ambassador to Sri Lanka participated in the first official memorial service at this war memorial, not a single Sri Lankan government representative attended this memorial service, a fact which was observed widely.
In the same 1988 interview given by Rajapaksa, he referred to the JVPers as "Patriotic boys". The JVP was terrorising, abducting, torturing and killing – academics, intellectuals, professionals, security forces and Buddhist monks. But the hypocrisy of President Rajapaksa and the majority in the South branded the LTTE as terrorists and the JVP as "Patriotic boys"! Which law in this world would justify this racist view? In the same way, Sri Lanka is willing to be friendly with or to be colonised by China. I presume that the Mahavamsa and Mahinda chinthanay will allow this because China is a Buddhist country.
Another good example of institutional racism in Sri Lanka is when one compares the situation of the captured detainees of the JVP in 1971 to the Tamil detainees or LTTE after Mullivaighzal. Most of the JVPers who were involved in the 1971 uprising were brought to justice – 'Criminal Justice Commission – CJC' within 15 months of their arrest or surrendered. Within a period of five years, all the JVPers were released unconditionally and offered amnesty, including the JVP leader who had been sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. Also the ban on the JVP was lifted.
When we look at Tamil prisoners or the LTTEers, there are detainees in various prisons held without charge for more than a decade and after Mullivaighzal the situation is worse. Even today, after 3 years, no-one knows who is in detention, who has been killed or disappeared and the exact number of ex-combatants captured or surrendered. Of course the government propagandists read out various figures in international arenas but these figures vary and are unreliable.
If India wants to retain pride and dignity, their international agreement with Sri Lanka has to be implemented at the earliest, at any cost. If reluctant to do this, they will regret in coming years.
I take this opportunity to request Tamil nationalists to use all viable methods and diplomacy to safeguard the people in the island. This action should not be counterproductive to the people's livelihood but should save them and the land. If this is done, the future generation or a change of geopolitics can address the matter of destiny.
The paths presently available have the support of the international community. Ignoring these paths and selfishly trusting in mini conferences and meetings with persons of non grata will put the people on the ground once again in deep trouble. I am not appealing or advising anyone to give up their political ambition, ideology or destiny, but reminding everyone of the realities and the present possibilities.


text:
ALLISON, MARGHARITA M. (CAIN)
Margharita M. (Cain) Allison, of Quincy, formerly of Melrose, died on (August 23, 2005) at the Quincy Medical Center at the age of 83. Margharita was born & raised in Melrose and was a graduate of St. Mary's High School Class of 1939. She went on to receive her degree from Bentley School of Accounting and worked as an Accountant for the Cole, Frago & Co. of Hartford, CT for more than 30 years until her retirement in 1990. Margharita had a love for cooking, religion and her family. She was the beloved wife of the late Donald E. Allison Sr. Loving mother of Roberta L. Allison of Quincy, Donald E. Allison Jr. of Weymouth, Richard K. Allison and his wife Rosemary of Haddam and the late Dayle L. Allison. Cherished grandmother of Kyle and Kevin Allison, both of CT. Caring sister of the late Robert and Frank Cain. Also survived by several nieces and nephews. Funeral from the Gately Funeral Home 79 W. Foster St., Melrose on Friday August 26th at 9 a.m. Funeral Mass in St. Mary's Church, Herbert St., Melrose at 10 a.m. Relatives and friends invited. Visiting hours TODAY from 5-8 p.m. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Dayle L. Allison Scholarship Fund at Rosemont College, 1400 Montgomery Ave., Rosemont, PA. 19010-1699. For directions, obituary and to sign guest book visit www.gatelyfh.com


This is a farm ranch and independent experimental ecologically sustainable intentional community that has began to form officially as of September 01, 2013. The property was Christian revival camp until April and was devastatingly deforested, so now we need help to restore the land to make it more productive (enhanced ecosystem) than ever using best practices, advances, and recent lessons in ethnoecology, deep ecology, agroforestry, permaculture, aquaculture, indigenous knowledge, and sustainable alternative technologies.
We are located in the Northern Amazon in the foothills of the Guiana Highlands on a navigable clear water river. We are geographically located on the ESE portion of the Guiana Shield at the eastern edge of a 1,000,000 square kilometer wilderness area that has no roads or private property. Our project is a doorway to this region and we feel responsible to preserve it this way, our indigenous neighbors and residents agree.
We are a French couple with two little girls running a guesthouse in Santa Fe, only a few meters from the beach and not very far from the market as well.
We are found of snorkeling. We like nature, music and books. But we would be more than happy to discover new activities or interests with you.
We have a peaceful life, we like watching movies, reading books and listening to music. Our village is quite calm so if you're searching for party and disco it won't be the good place for you!!
We need volunteers (no single man, only couplse or girls) all year long for at least one month and possibly more, depending on how we feel sharing time and how you get involved. We would also be interested in a couple who wish to get involved in the long term (contact us to learn more about it).