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Posts Tagged 'Cyprus'
Book on the Plight of the Embattled Christians of Palestine
Said K. Aburish, The Forgotten Faithful: The Christians of the Holy Land (London: Quartet 1993).
Aburish is a Palestinian, born in Bethany, and the author of several books about the Arabs and specifically the Palestinians and their persecution by the Israelis – A Brutal Friendship, Children of Bethany – The Story of a Palestinian Family and Cry Palestine: Inside the West Bank. In The Forgotten Faithful he tackles the problems of the Christians of Palestine, talking to journalists, church official, charity workers, educationalists, businessmen and finally of the leaders of the PLO, Hanan Ashrawi. Christians used to constitute ten per cent or so of the Palestinian population before the foundation of Israel. Now they're down to one per cent. Much of this decline has been due to emigration, as educated, skilled Christians leave Israel to seek better opportunities elsewhere, and the indigenous Christian future in the Holy Land, the in which Christianity first arose, is uncertain.
Said states clearly the issues driving this decline early in his book – persecution by the Israelis, and particularly their attempt to wrest the lucrative tourism industry from them on the one hand, and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism on the other. He writes
Twenty-five years of Israeli occupation have been disastrous for Palestinian Christians. In addition to the widely known closures of schools, imprisonment and torture of children, deportation of dissenters and activists, the expropriation of land owned by individuals and church-owned property, the Christians' primary source of income, tourism and its subsidiary service businesses, have been the targets of special Israeli attempts to control them. In other words, when it comes to the Israeli occupation, the Christians have suffered more than their Muslim countrymen because they have more of what the Israelis want.
Furthermore, the rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism is confronting the Christians with new problems against most of which they cannot protest without endangering the local social balance, indeed their Palestinian identity. Muslim fanatics have raise the Crescent on church towers, Christian cemeteries have been desecrated, the statues of the Virgin Mary destroyed and, for the first time ever, the Palestinian Christians are facing constraints on their way of life. In Gaza a Muslim fundamentalist stronghold, Christian women have to wear headscarves and long sleeves or face stoning, and Christian-owned shops have to close on the Muslim sabbath of Friday instead of on Sunday.
These combined pressures come at a time of strain between the local Christian communities and both their local church leadership and the mainline churches of the West. The mainline churches in the West are accused of not doing enough to help them financially or drawing attention to their plight, for fear of appearing anti-Semitic and to a lesser degree anti-Muslim. The local church leaders are caught between their parishioners' cry for help and the attitude of their mother churches and have been undermined by their identification with the latter. In addition to problems with the mainline churches, Christian evangelist groups from the United States, Holland and other countries support the State of Israel at the expense of local Christians. The evangelists accept the recreation of Israel as the prelude to the second coming to the extent of ignoring local Christian rights and feelings, a fact overlooked by Muslim zealots who blame the local Christians for not curbing their insensitive pro-Israeli co-religionists.
Two subsidiary problems contribute towards closing the ring of helplessness which is choking the local Christian communities of the Holy Land. The suffering inflicted on them by others and the direct and indirect results of the neglect of outside Christianity still haven't induced their local church leaders to cooperate in establishing a common, protective Christian position. The traditional quarrel, alongside other disputes between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, continues and its stands in the way of creating a constructive Christian front. Furthermore, the Israelis make the appearance of favouring them against their Muslim nationals, a divide-and-rule policy which contributes towards inflaming the feelings of ignorant Muslims who do not understand the reasons behind the Israeli actions and use them to justify whatever anti-Christian feeling exists. (pp. 2-4).
The Palestinian Christian community has largely been middle class, assimilated and patriotic. They have provided the Palestinian people with a large number of businessmen and professionals, including a significant part of the membership and leadership of Palestinian nationalism and the PLO, as well as the civil rights lawyers working to defend the Palestinian people from persecution by the Israeli state and military. They have also been active establishing charities to provide for the Palestinians' welfare. Said visits one, which specialises in rehabilitating and providing training for people physically injured and mentally traumatised by the Israeli armed forces. Visiting a Palestinian hospital, he also meets some of the victims of the IDF wounded and crippled by the IDF, including a young man shot by a member of the Special Forces simply for spraying anti-Israeli graffiti on a wall.
This isn't an anti-Semitic book, as Aburish talks to sympathetic Israeli journalists and academics, but he describes very clearly the violence and bigotry that comes not just from the Israeli state and army, but also from Jewish religious fanatics. In the first chapter he describes a group of Israeli soldiers sneering at Christian Palestinians, and how he deliberated placed himself between a group of Jewish schoolboys and an elderly Ethiopian nun going through one district of Jerusalem. The boys had first started insulting her, and then began throwing stones at her and Aburish before the local, Jewish inhabitants rushed into the street to drive them away. The churches and monasteries in that part of town are close to an area of Jewish religious extremists. They're not usually physically aggressive, but they make it very clear they don't like Christians being there.
Nor is it anti-Muslim. The Christians community itself sees itself very firmly as part of the Palestinians. Many Christian men have adopted the name Muhammad in order to show that there is no difference between themselves as their Muslim fellow countrymen. And historically they have been fully accepted by the Muslim community. Aburish talks to the headman of a mixed Christian-Muslim village. The man is a Christian, and historically Christians have formed the headmen for the village. The Christians also point with pride to the fact that one of the generals of Saladin, the Muslim leader who conquered Palestine back from the Crusaders, was a Greek Orthodox Christian. Aburish is shocked by how extremely religious the Muslim community has become, with Friday services packed and one of his aunts traveling to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to pray. This, like the less obvious religious revival among the Christians, is ultimately due to Israeli pressure and the failure of secular Palestinian politicians. There is no truth in politics, so they seek it instead in Islam and the pages of Qu'ran. And behind this rise in Islamic intolerance are the Saudis. Aburish recommends better Muslim-Christian dialogue to tackle this growing intolerance.
Aburish hears from the Palestinians how their land is seized by the Israelis for the construction of new, Israeli settlements, how people are shot, beaten, injured and maimed, and the attempts to strangle Palestinians businesses. This includes legislation insisting that all tourist guides have to be Israeli – a blatant piece of racism intended to drive Christians out of the tourist business through denying them access to the many Christian shrines, churches and monuments that are at the heart of the industry. Christian charities and welfare services don't discriminate between Christian and Muslim, but they are oversubscribed and underfunded. And the churches are more interested in defending their traditional institutional privileges than in helping their local flock. They look west, and are more interested in promoting and defending the churches' response to the worlds' problems as a whole, while the Palestinians are also being pulled east through their Arab identity. Senior Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox clergy are often foreigners, who cannot speak Arabic and may be to a greater or lesser extent indifferent to the needs and problems of their congregations. The Palestinian Christians are also hampered by the fact that they don't want to acknowledge that they have specific problems as a minority within the wider Palestinian nation, partly for fear of further antagonising the Muslim majority.
Nevertheless, some Palestinian Christians choose to remain, stubbornly refusing to emigrate while they could get much better jobs elsewhere. And all over the world, expatriate Palestinian communities are proud of their origins and connection to the land. Aburish even talks to one optimistic Palestinian Christian businessman, who believes that Cyprus provides the model for a successful Palestine. There local people have built a thriving commercial economy without having the universities and educational institutions Palestine possesses. And some Palestinian Christians believe that the solutions to their crisis is for the community to reconnect with its oriental roots, reviving the traditional extensive Arab family structure, which has served Arabs so well in the past.
The book was published a quarter of a century ago, in 1993, and I've no doubt that things have changed since then. But not for the better. There have been recent magazine articles by National Geographic, among others, that report that the Palestinians are still suffering the same problem – caught between the hammer of the Israeli state and the anvil of Islamic fundamentalism. Christian Zionism, however, has become stronger and exerts a very powerful influence on American foreign policy through organisations like Ted Hagee's Christians United for Israel. Netanyahu's vile Likud is still in power, and Israeli politics has lurched even further to the right with the inclusion of Fascist parties like Otzma Yehudat – Jewish Power – in the wretched coalition. And some British churches maintain a very determined silence on the problems of the Palestinians. According to one anti-Zionist Jewish blog, the Methodist Church has passed regulations at its synod preventing it or its members officially criticising Israel. Because of the church's leaders was friends with members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
I am very well aware of the long, shameful history of Christian anti-Semitism and how real, genuine Nazis have also criticised Israel's oppression of the Palestinians and claimed that they're just anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to provoke further bigotry against the Jewish people. But Israel is oppressing the Christians of Palestine as well as the Muslims, but we in the West really don't hear about it. And I'm not sure how many western Christians are really aware that there is a Christian community in Palestine, or how its members largely identify totally as Palestinians. Certainly Ted Cruz, the American politico, didn't when he tried telling a Middle Eastern Christian group that they should support Israel. He was shocked and disgusted when they very firmly and obviously didn't agree. He made the mistake of believing they had the same colonialist attitude of western right-wing Christians, while Middle Eastern Christians are very much the colonised and know it. Hence the fact that according to Aburish, many Palestinian Christians look for theological support to South American Liberation Theology and its Marxist critique of colonialism. And they also supported Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, as a secular Arab state that would allow them to maintain their religious identity and culture.
The book's dated, and since it was written the Christian presence in the Holy Land has dwindled further. Aburish describes in strong terms what a catastrophe a Palestine without indigenous Christians would be. He writes
The growing prospect of a Holy Land Christianity reduced to stones, a museum or tourist faith without people, a Jerusalem without believers in Christ, is more serious than that of a Rome without a Pope or a Canterbury without an archbishop. It is tantamount to a criminal act which transcends a single church and strikes a blow at the foundations and the very idea of Christianity.
I thoroughly recommend this book to every western Christian reader interested in seeing an alternative view of the religious situation in Palestine, one of that contradicts the lies and demands of the right-wing press. Like an article by the Torygraph's Barbara Amiel back in the 1990s, which quoted a Christian mayor as stating that the Christian community welcomed the Israeli occupation. His might, but as the book shows, most don't. Or that scumbucket Katie Hopkins telling us that we should support Israel, because it represents Judaeo-Christian values and civilisation, a claim that would outrage many Jews.
Tags:'The Telegraph', anti-semitism, Archbishop of Canterbury, Armed Forces, Barbara Amiel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bethany, Board of Deputies of British Jews, Businesses, Christianity, Christians United for Israel, Churches, Clergy, Colonialism, Cyprus, Emigration, Evangelical Christians, Greek Orthodox Church, Hanan Ashrawi, Islamic Fundamentalism, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, Jews, Katie Hopkins, Land Confiscation, Liberation Theology, Likud, marxism, Methodism, Monasteries, Museums, Nationalism, Otzma Yehudat, Palestine, Palestinians, PLO, racism, Second Coming, Shootings, Ted Cruz, Ted Hagee, Tourism, Universities, Virgin Mary, Zionism
Posted in Agriculture, America, Arabs, Charity, communism, Disability, Education, England, Ethiopia, History, Industry, Iraq, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Justice, Law, LIterature, Nazis, Netherlands, Persecution, Politics, Roman Catholicism, Secularism, South America, The Press, Theology | 1 Comment »
Hypocrite Brextremist James Dyson Abandons Britain for Singapore
Mike over at Vox Political has put up a piece reporting that James Dyson, the multimillionaire inventor of the vacuum cleaner that bears his name, has abandoned Britain for Singapore after strongly promoting Brexit. He was one of the leading industrialists in Britain supporting the 'Leave' campaign, and when they won, he told the rest of us that leaving the EU's single market would liberate the UK's economy and allow us to make other trade deals with the rest of the world. He also said that we should leave the EU without worrying about an interim deal, because 'uncertainty is opportunity', and that they would come to us if we just walked away.
Dyson has shown how much faith he has in the British economy now that they're due to leave the EU and the possibility of a 'No Deal' Brexit is unfortunately all too strong: he's decided to abandon his present headquarters in Malmesbury for Singapore. He hasn't any, and Mike's article on this has a series of tweets from people criticizing him for his decision. One of those is 'Shop Steward', who tweeted
"The thing is he's a multimillionaire so he could stay here and still make a profit In fact he could stay here, improve workers pay & conditions, and still make a profit …but greed won't allow that. No, profit must be maximised at all costs because enough is never enough."
Quite. Another commenter, Paul Bernal, asked how many other Brexiters have to leave the UK, either personally or just their businesses, before voters realise they were being conned. Gavin Esler, who I remember was the name of one of the Beeb's foreign journalists, reported that P&O has just re-registered its UK fleet to Cyprus before Brexit.
Deeply Unhelpful Shelly responded to this with the observation that are probably very many others, who won't make it public because they fear being attacked by the ladies and gentlemen of the media. Mike also observes that while P&O didn't promote Brexit, they are sending a message to other businesses that they should get out while they can.
As for Dyson, Mike says
Dyson is on record, not just as a Brexiteer but as a Brextremist, and his decision reeks of the worst kind of hypocrisy.
He supported Brexit; he influenced other people to support it; and now he is abandoning us to the consequences while he scarpers, taking his business and any benefit it has for the economy with him.
Make no mistake: This man is toxic.
He has helped inflict economic ruin on the UK, both by encouraging us into Brexit and by taking his business out of the country before it happens.
See: https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2019/01/23/taking-vac-control-how-many-brextremist-bosses-will-leave-before-we-realise-weve-been-conned/
I'm not surprised that Dyson has run off to Singapore. He has previous on this. Here in the West Country, Dyson was regarded as one of the great molten gods of local business. Following the success of his vacuum cleaner, he appeared several times on the local news programme in the Bristol/ Somerset/Gloucestershire/Wiltshire are, Points West, whenever there was an item about local authority initiatives to boost business. But as I reported in a previous article, Dyson has moved his business out of Britain before. A few years ago he demanded that Bath council should allow his factory in the area more space to expand. The council told him they couldn't. So Dyson picked up his ball like a grumpy child unable to get its way, and went elsewhere. I think he moved his business to Indonesia, or somewhere else in the Far East.
He didn't have to do that. His business was perfectly profitable here in the UK. If there wasn't enough space for it to expand in the area around Bath, he could have moved it elsewhere in the West Country or Britain. There would have been plenty of other places in Britain which would have been delighted to have him bringing work and jobs, particularly in the depressed areas of the North.
But Dyson didn't take that option. He went to the Far East, where he knew he could make even bigger profits through exploiting the lower wages and poorer working conditions in the Developing World. This is the logic of neoliberalism. It's done to allow capital to move their businesses around the world in order to reduce wages and take advantage of lower taxes in these countries. Just as Jacob Rees-Mogg has part of his money invested in Far Eastern companies through his capital management firm. And you can bet that the wretched authors of Britannia Unchained, who also believe that Brits should work longer hours for less pay in order to compete with the Developing World, are likewise also ready to run out on Britain the moment it suits them.
Dyson is a massive hypocrite, but he's just one of many rich, Brexiteer businessmen, who promise that Brexit will bring prosperity and jobs to Britain, but realise only too well that it won't. They're now running off to the real low wage, low tax havens in the rest of the world, whose people they really want to exploit.
He's toxic, and so are the rest of them. And they're determined to wreck Britain. His attachment to Britain and the West Country was always questionable. We've lost nothing by his departure, but we should never have listened to him and those like him in the first place.
Tags:'Deeply Unhelpful Shelly', 'Points West', Bath, Brexit, Bristol, Britannia Unchained, Business, Cyprus, Developing World, Free Trade, Gavin Esler, Gloucestershire, James Dyson, Low Wages, Malmesbury, Mike Sivier, Millionaires, P&O, Paul Bernal, Somerset, Tax, Twitter, Vox Political, Wiltshire
Posted in Economics, European Union, Indonesia, Industry, Politics, Singapore, Technology, Television, Wages, Working Conditions | Leave a Comment »
Neve Gordon on the Double Standards of British Government's Anti-Semitism Legislation
Last week, the British government used its new definition of anti-Semitism to ban National Action, a vile neo-Nazi 'youth organisation', whose members have openly called for another Holocaust in Britain against the Jews. Hope Not Hate, one of the anti-Fascist, anti-religious extremism organisations, cautiously welcomed the ban, but said they could not understand why it could not have been done much earlier using existing legislation.
I wondered when it was introduced whether it could be a first attempt by the government to legitimise a piece of problematic legislation by using it to ban a group, about whom there is little controversy, before using it to ban more problematic organisations. I said in my blog post that there seemed to be nothing controversial about the definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the British government, but was suspicious about how the legislation would be used.
It now seems I was right to do so.
Neve Gordon, an Israeli activist, who fights for the rights of the Palestinians to civil rights and their own independent state, has written a short piece in this weekend's Counterpunch criticising the legislation. She begins by stating that anti-Semitism is on the rise globally and needs to be tackled. But she states clearly that the working definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the British government is hypocritical and dangerous, as
says that anyone who subjects Israel to 'double standards by requiring of it behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation' is an anti-Semite.
She then goes on show how the British government uses double standards all the time when criticising human rights abuses by China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. These could be used to show that the British government was Islamophobic, and, in the case of Sudan, guilty of 'another type of racism'. She concludes
The definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the British government is itself a manifestation of a double standard, since it treats Israel differently from every other country in the world rather than as a nation among nations.
See: http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/16/anti-semitism-double-standards/
From this it appears to me that the purpose of the anti-Semitism legislation to criminalise criticism of the state of Israel, under the guise of tackling ant-Semitism. This was, after all, the reason behind the anti-Semitism allegations in the Labour party in the summer. Those slandered of anti-Semites were not. They were in most cases principled men and women, with proud personal histories of campaigning against racism, including anti-Semitism. What they were guilty of was standing up for the rights of the Palestinians against decades of horror by the Zionist state. They were also terribly guilty of being historically well informed. Jackie Walker, who is half Black and half-Jewish, with a Jewish partner and daughter, was condemned as an anti-Semite because she dared to state that the Holocaust, horrific as it was, was not a unique event and was comparable to other cases of ethnic cleansing and persecution, such as the slave trade in the case of Black Africans. She also discussed the way many Jews were also active in the slave trade, while recognising that the overall responsibility for it lay with White Christian nations. And Ken Livingstone was attacked and suspended because he was entirely accurate about the way the Zionist settlers had co-operated with the Nazis in the colonisation of Israel before the implementation of Hitler's revolting Final Solution.
The Israel lobby vehemently attacks any criticism, no matter how warranty, with accusations of anti-Semitism. The definition of anti-Semitism enunciated by Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly links it to anti-Zionism. Critics of Israel are also smeared as anti-Semites by the allegation that they are especially critical of Israel, more so than any other nation. Mike, over at Vox Political, had just this accusation thrown at him by a commenter to one of his blog posts about Israel and the anti-Semitism accusations. This commenter claimed that Mike was hypocritical in attacking Israel for human rights violations, while tolerating the behaviour of the Turkish government in Cyprus. Mike responded by pointing out that he didn't agree with that, either. Now it seems Theresa May has passed legislation that would allow her to smear and prosecute people like Mike using the new legislation by making the same allegations, no matter how demonstrably false and risible they are.
While there are Nazis and anti-Semites, who do use anti-Zionism as a cover for their real Jew hatred, the reason why left-wing critics of Israel, including many Jews and Israelis, like Neve Gordon, is because Israel is a western country. And its persecution of the indigenous inhabitants, the Palestinians, is exactly like the way other western nations, like Britain, treated the indigenous peoples of the countries they colonies. Such as the genocide of the Native Americans, the Aboriginal Australians, slavery, segregation in America and apartheid in South Africa, and the Nazi Holocaust and extermination of other groups, such as the mentally handicapped and ill, Gypsies, and Poles and Russians. And I have absolutely no doubt that very many of the same people are also concerned about human rights violations in the rest of the world, like Communist China and its treatment of Tibet, dissidents and people of faith, the rise of Hindu extremism and the persecution of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Hindu dissidents and moderates by Modi and his wretched BJP. Nor are they complacent about the brutality and thuggery committed by the various African kleptocrats and despots.
They criticise Israel and its brutal treatment of the Palestinians, because Israel has not been subject to the same criticism and isolation as many of these other nations.
It also seems to me that the new legislation follows similar laws passed in America, which are designed to prevent the American state or local authorities from supporting the BDS movement. This is the movement that encourages people to boycott and divest from Israeli companies operating in the occupied West Bank. So far 30 per cent of the companies located there have been forced to move out. It is dangerously successful, and many, especially younger, American Jews are becoming increasingly indifferent or critical of Israel and its brutality towards its indigenous people.
Hence this malign piece of legislation, which is intended to protect a vicious, intolerant regime while claiming to protect Jews from vicious intolerance.
It also show the mendacity of the British press and media. The piece of the legislation that was cited in the I newspaper made no mention of criminalising criticism of Israel. It just followed the standard definition of anti-Semitism as hatred of Jews for being Jews. There was no mention of Israel. Now it may be that Neve Gordon is wrong, but I honestly don't believe this. This government has lied again and yet again, without any qualms. And when it has not lied, it has attempted to defend itself by withholding information and official documents. And the media has also shown itself consistently mendacious about the anti-Semitism smears in the Labour party, endlessly recycling the lie that those smeared were anti-Semites when the opposite was true. The silence on this part of the legislation shows how little the British media really values free speech and journalistic independence.
Neve Gordon is right. Anti-Semitism is on the rise globally. You can see amongst the Alt-Right Nazi goons that turned up a few weekends ago at the Ronald Reagan room to scream 'Hail Trump! Hail our race!' It's there in the Jobbik party in Hungary, and other viciously racist parties across eastern Europe. And its there in Britain, with Jack Renshaw and the other junior storm troopers of National Action. They've been banned. But the purpose of the legislation wasn't to criminalise them. It was to close down free speech. Their ban was simply to make it all seem respectable.
Tags:'Counterpunch', 'I' Newspaper, Aboriginal Australians, Alt Right, anti-semitism, Anti-Semitism Smears, Apartheid, BDS Movement, Benjamin Netanyahu, BJP, Blacks, Business, Christians, Colonisation, Cyprus, Dissidents, Donald Trump, Gypsies, Hinduism, Holocaust, Hope Not Hate, Islamophobia, Jack Renshaw, Jackie Walker, Jews, Jobbik, Ken Livingstone, Labour Party, Modi, Muslims, National Action, Neve Gordon, Palestinians, racism, Segregation, Sikhs, Theresa May, Tibet, Vox Political, West Bank, Whites, Zionism
Posted in Africa, America, Arabs, Australia, China, communism, Disability, England, Fascism, History, Hungary, Industry, Iran, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Law, Mental Illness, Nazis, Persecution, Poland, Politics, Radio, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slavery, South Africa, Television, The Press, Turkey | Leave a Comment »
Mark Steel on the Press' Hypocrisy over Polish Immigrants
Much of the debate about immigration is now dominated by concerns about the mass influx of asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East, rather than about migrant workers from the rest of the EU. However, concerns about the rise in immigrants from eastern Europe were extremely prominent a few years ago, and my guess is that the same fears are still present and underlie much of the debate about Brexit, although on the surface much of the argument is about the potential harm to the British economy and industry.
I found the following piece by Mark Steel attacking the British press and media for stirring up fears about EU migrants, and specifically the Poles, in the collection of radical tracts and writings, The People Speak: Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport, edited by Colin Firth and Anthony Arnove (Edinburgh: CanonGate 2013). It's taken from his weekly column in the Independent for 9th September 2009.
The Poles Might Be Leaving But the Prejudice Remains
Over the last few years it's become one of our quaint English traditions that on any day following the announcement of immigration figures, certain newspapers display headlines such as 'TEN MILLION OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT POLES TO SWARM INTO BRITAIN LIKE PLUMBING LOCUSTS!!! And they plan to BUGGER OUR KITTENS!!!'
These newspapers would compete with each other until they seemed to insist the number of Poles coming was more than the number of Poles in the world, but even then they'd have replied, 'Yes-well, that's because they['re planning to bring ten million of their dead, to make use of our soft-touch spirit welfare scheme.'
But the latest figures, released yesterday, have spoilt this game becaue it turns out half the Poles who came here have gone back to Poland. Presumably these newspapers will get round that by screaming 'Poland on brink of disaster as it's invaded by millions of Poles!!!'
'Our hospitals simply can't cope with the numbers coming in,' said an unnamed doctor. 'I'm not racist but we're already full up.'
Like all panics about immigration, the anti-Polish version has created an almost artistic level of irrationality. A landlord of a pub in Lincolnshire who seemed otherwise charming and eloquent told me, 'The trouble with Poles is they walk in groups of four on the pavement, so you fall in the road trying to get round them.' I said, 'I'm sure just as many English people walk in groups of four on the pavement.' He said, 'Yes, but at least they do it in a language I can understand.' Which at least is an original way to be annoyed, to snarl: 'I don't mind falling in a puddle, as long as it's with the right mix of vowels and consonants, but when it's with three or even FOUR Zs it's time we took a stand.'
Now that more are leaving than coming, the anti-immigration newspapers have to revert to more traditional complaints. For example, one paper told us that, 'One immigrant is arrested every four minutes.' But they must have been short of space, because they left out how the average for the whole population is one arrest every THREE minutes. Now they'll print a story that: 'Immigrants are refusing to adapt to our way of life by only being arrested once every four minutes. If they don't want to follow our customs they should go back to where they came from.'
Even then it turned out these figures were taken disproportionately from London, where the immigrant population is higher than across Britain, and anyone arrested for murder who didn't fill in the box marked 'nationality' was assumed to be an immigrant. Because say what you like about a British murderer, at least they have the manners to complete a form in full afterwards.
But the most peculiar side of the obsession with foreigners coming over here disturbing our population figures is they have little to say about the British citizens living in other countries, the number of which has now passed five million. And yet they often have features about finding the perfect retirement home abroad: 'Judith and Roger eventually settled on their delightful rustic cottage in the heart of the Loire, complete with two acres of arable pastures and a goat, from where they could suck dry the overstretched resources of the long-suffering local council. "I'm a stranger in my own bleeding village," said one fed-up neighbour.'
There are 760,000 of us living in Spain, one-twelfth of the population of Cyprus is now British, five per cent of New Zealand and so on. And we can hardly claim that on our travels we 'adopt the customs of the local community', unless the travel companies claim: 'Our popular party game of seeing who's first to drink a bottle of absinthe and puke in an egg cup topless is not only lots of fun, but also a tribute to an ancient fertility ritual here in Crete, and as such enhances the tourists' understanding of regional history and culture.'
Most of the apocalyptic warnings of Eastern European takeover could be traced back to the organisation MigrationWatch, quoted uniformly by the most hysterical anti-immigration papers. But now the Poles are going the other way: Instead of issuing a statement reading, 'Whoops, sorry,' they've declared the UK population is still destined to rise to an unsustainable 80 million in the next forty years, because millions are coming here from Africa. That's it – Africa, BILLIONS of them, and they're bringing Mount Kilimanjaro because of our soft-touch summit payments, and all their giraffes and the Sahara desert…'
This is very relevant, because the papers that do report the migration crisis in such terms are exactly the same that have encouraged their readers to travel abroad and buy homes there. And while it seems to have died down recently, it is a serious problem. I read a piece a little while ago – I'm afraid I can't remember where from – but it said that there was a problem with rich people from northern Europe buying homes and colonising the poorer areas in the south, such as Greece. And thirty years ago, when I was at school, I can remember reading a story in the Sunday Express about protests in either Greece or Crete about the way Brits were buying up the available homes there. The local politicians were objecting to it and attempting to pass measures against it on the grounds that it was more British imperialism. I haven't heard of anything like that since then, but if it did recur, then they would certainly have a point. As opposed to the Express, the Heil and pretty the whole of the right-wing press, which has long ago lost any decent reason for its existence. Except possibly to provide sources of outrage and comedy for writers and broadcasters like Mr Steel.
Tags:'The People Speak: Democracy Is Not A Spectator Sport', Anthony Arnove, Brexit, Colin Firth, Crete, Cyprus, Dail Mail, Housing, Immigration, Imperialism, Lincolnshire, Mark Steel, Middle East, MigrationWatch, Mount Kilimanjaro, Poles, Retirement Homes, Statistics, Sunday Express
Posted in Africa, Crime, European Union, France, Hospitals, LIterature, Poland, Politics, Spain, The Press | Leave a Comment »
Peace, Love and Lebanese Rockets
The Lebanese Rocket Society
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige
Soda Film + Art
Arabic with English, French and Arabic subtitles
Running time 95 minutes.
With the news full of the horrors of ISIS and their genocidal war in Iraq and Syria, I thought I'd turn to a far more optimistic and inspiring episode of recent Middle Eastern history: how a group of Lebanese students in 1962 were inspired to join the nascent space race and begin building their own rockets. It's a piece of history that has been all but forgotten. The film not only documents the rise and fall of the Lebanese space programme, but the film makers' own attempts to jog people's memories of it on Lebanese radio. They then turned the rocket programme into an art project, constructing a full-scale statue of one of the rockets, which they presented to the Lebanese Armenian college at the centre of the rocket programme. They also made their own version of the Golden Record, the disc containing the sounds of Earth, which was carried into space on the Voyager 2 probe destined to leave the solar system for the depths of interstellar space and possible contact with aliens. In the hands of the film's producers, the record held the sounds of Lebanon.
They also created an animated film, by Ghossein Halwa, depicting what Lebanon might be like in 2025, if the programme had continued. In Halwa's film, the Lebanon of the near future is a prosperous, bustling space age state. Space technology has given the country security by allowing it to guard its borders against foreign invasion. It has also contributed to the country's material wealth by discovering oil reserves off its coast. Beirut and its suburbs are a true, futuristic city like the vast megalopolis' in Japanese manga films and the SF classic, Blade Runner. Vast space craft, Arab versions of the Space Shuttle, are launched to explore the depths of space. But it's also a fun a place, where you can trip the light fantastic in zero-gravity nightclubs.
One of the new generation of spacecraft from the alternative Lebanon of 2025.
The Founder, Manoug Manougian
The programme was the brain child of Manoug Manougian, a professor of mathematics at Haigazian college, an Armenian college in Lebanon. Manougian's interest in space travel seems to have been sparked, like many a child's, by reading Jules Verne. Now teaching maths at university in Tampa, Florida, he says during one interview that it may not be accident he ended up there. Verne made it the location for his astronaut's journey into space in his Voyage to the Moon as it was at the right latitude for launching a flight to the Earth's companion world. Inspired by the achievements of the Americans and Russians, Manougian was inspired to begin his own experiments. He and a group of his students began making and launching a series of rockets. At first these were tiny 'baby rockets', not much larger than fireworks and about the same size as some of the model rockets hobby rocketeers enjoyed by hobby rocketeers. The rockets became increasingly larger and more sophisticated, until they reached the end of what could legally be built. The fuel used by the rockets was strictly limited to the armed forces. Furthermore, there was a problem with funding as any further increase in size would make the rockets prohibitively expensive for a small, civilian project. Manougian's group had caught the interest of the Lebanese army under Captain Wehbe, who stepped in to give the young rocketeers the money and equipment they needed.
Involvement with the Army
The alliance with the army brought its own problems, however. Manougian and his students were only interested in peaceful research. The college's founder, a Protestant pastor, was very much afraid that the rocket would be used as a weapon, and was initially strongly opposed to the research. He resolved to put a stop to it when he saw his own 12 year old daughter come out of one of the campus' laboratories, her forearms grey from mixing the rocket fuel. He decided to go round and tell Manougian to put a stop to it.
He was persuaded otherwise by the massive publicity the programme was giving Lebanon and his college. The newspapers were full of stories about Manougian and his band of space cadets. Other, similar groups sprang up elsewhere in Lebanon. One such was a group of 13-15 year old boys, who launched their own baby rockets. The Lebanese also received international assistance and co-operation from France and America. Col. Wehbe attended a course on rocketry and the American space programme in Florida. He also attended the launch of a French experimental rocket in North Africa.
International Tensions and War
The programme was doomed by the political tensions in the Middle East. The film makers point out that the 1960s was a period of tension and conflict between the superpowers, America and Russia, and their allies and clients in the Arab world. Against them was Arab nationalism, led by the Egyptian president Abdel Nasser, which briefly resulted in the union of Syria and Egypt, and the anti-imperial forces. Lebanon was buzzing with spies and political intrigue. One of the speakers recalled how one frequent drinker at a hotel bar in Beirut was none other than Kim Philby, the notorious British traitor. The Lebanese's success in building larger and more sophisticated missiles attracted attention and alarm from other nations. Their last missile was to have a projected range of 500 km, bringing into range Cyprus, Syria and Israel. Manougian's rocketeers received a sharp message from their diplomatic staff in Cyprus. The British authorities were understandably annoyed after they made a mistake with one of their rocket's trajectory, so that it almost landed on a Cypriot fishing boat.
Other Arab nations were also keen to acquire Lebanon's success and expertise. Manougian recalled how he was approached at an official party by another Armenian, whom he didn't know. The man asked him if he was looking for funding. When Manougian said he was, the unknown man replied that he knew someone who wanted to meet him. And so Manougian found himself driving through Beirut with the man at 2.30-3.00 O'clock in the morning, before ending up at hotel, in front of which was a crowd of people. He was then approached by the heir of one of the other Arab states, who asked him if he'd like to come and do the same in his country as he'd done for Lebanon. Manougian states that he felt it would have been impolite to refuse the offer, and so simply replied that he'd have to think about it. He then fled back to Texas to complete his education, explaining that at the time he only had a B.A., and not even an M.A.
The Army's Takeover and End of the Project
With Manougian absent, the rocket programme began to experience a series of disasters. Three of the rocketeers were badly burned in an accident when the perchlorate rocket fuel being mixed exploded. The College decided the rocket programme was too hazardous, and so had them removed from campus. it was then gradually taken over by the Lebanese army. Manougian, Joseph Sfeir and the other leading rocketeers were peaceful visionaries, but the army made it clear that they had always been interested in developing it as a weapon. They just didn't tell the project's civilian leaders. Well, said one of the officers, if you told Manougian it would be all over Haikazian college, and if you told Sfeir, it would be all over his home province. Under the army's control, the tests became more secret and closed to the public, unlike the earlier launches. Eventually the project was closed down due to international pressure. One of the rocketeers identified the French as responsible. Another recalled how he knew the then-president personally, and asked him, which country was responsible. 'Was it from the north?' he asked. 'From the north, from the south, and elsewhere', came the reply. Clearly Lebanon's success at creating such a missile had made a lot of people understandably very nervous.
The film laments how very, very few Lebanese now remember the programme, despite the massive publicity it had at the time. They feel that the 1967 War and the losses of Arab territory to Israel and subsequent conflicts have blotted out all memory of the programme, and made Arabs afraid to dream and strive for utopias. There is very little Science Fiction in the Middle East, they opine, because there's always the danger that someone in the future will consider it subversive.
Peaceful Idealism
What actually comes out of the film, in contrast to the militarism and political intrigue, is the peaceful idealism and patriotism of the projects leaders and founders. Manougian states that Lebanese Armenians are very loyal to their adopted country for taking them in after the Armenian massacres that occurred throughout the Turkish Empire and the Middle East. It's a situation the film's producers strongly sympathise with. One of them has an Armenian grandparent, while the other is part Palestinian. They see the space programme as what their country, and the Arab peoples themselves, can achieve if only they dare to dream and look for utopias. The film was made in 2009-10, during the Arab Spring, which they hail as the Arab people once more daring to dream of better societies without tyrants or despots. As for Manougian, he is still very much a visionary and campaigner for peace. He's active in a project, 'Peace through Education'. The film makers hoped by making the film they would restore its memory. The sculpture of the rocket was painted white to show that it wasn't a real missile, and taken through the streets of Beirut to Haikazian College to show what Lebanon had achieved peacefully, through idealism.
The Lebanese Rocketeers – The Arab 'Mice that Roared'
The film and its rocketeers remind me somewhat of the Ealing comedy, the Mouse on the Moon. This was the successor to the comedies about the minuscule state of Little Fenwick, an English village that manages to gain independence from the rest of the UK, Passport to Pimlico and The Mouse that Roared. The Mouse on the Moon chronicles the events as Little Fenwick joins the space race, rushing to land on the Moon ahead of the Americans and Russians. Apart from well-known Ealing stars like Margaret Rutherford, it also has Bernard Cribbins, known to grown-up children of a certain age as the narrator of The Wombles, and to a new generation of children as one the friends of David Tenant's Doctor. It shows what small nations and ordinary people can do with skill, vision and military backing. Sadly, from the perspective of 2014 the film's optimistic embrace of the Arab Spring seems misplaced. The despots throughout the Middle East have either successfully clamped down on the civil rights movements, or else the dissident movements themselves have led to the raise of dangerous and unstable Islamist militias. Egypt's brief experiment with the democracy and the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood has collapsed, and the country is once more under the control of the army. Nevertheless, for a brief moment another world of peace and freedom seemed possible.
Human Progress Made when Peoples and Cultures Come Together
The other point that comes out of the film is the amazing advances in science and civilisation when difference peoples and cultures come together in peace to try to learn from one another. Lebanon was known as the Switzerland of the Levant. It's a mosaic of different peoples and religions, including Christians, Muslims and the Druze, a highly unorthodox form of Islam. Islam was able to make great strides in science in the Middle Ages, because the early caliphs were keen to draw on the knowledge and expertise of their empire's subject peoples. The caliph Al-Ma'mun founded a bayt al-hikma, or House of Wisdom dedicated to science and medicine. They drew on Greek, Persian and Indian science and mathematics, and employed Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus, as well as Muslims, to translate scientific and medical works into Arabic. Al-Ma'mun himself sent a scientific mission of scholars, including the pioneering mathematician al-Khwarizmi, who gave his name to word 'algorithm', to acquire scientific knowledge and texts from the Byzantine Empire, the Greek Empire of the East. Western science, in its turn, because massively enriched from the 12th century onwards when European scholars acquired copies of the lost Greek classics and Arabic scientific and medical texts. Peaceful contact between nations and cultures, and the great advances they could make by learning from each other, is now threatened today by the rise in militant xenophobia and, in the Middle East, by the genocidal Islamism of groups like ISIS.
Bill Hicks' Vision – 'We Can End World Hunger and Colonise Space'
This film shows the opposite, of what can be achieved through peaceful co-operation. It goes some way to proving the point the late comedian, Bill Hicks, used to make at the end of his gigs. Hicks used to state that if the world spent the amount of money it spends on arms instead on developing, we could feed the world. 'Not one person would starve. Not one. And we could go and colonise space, in peace, together.'
Bill Hicks sadly died of cancer, but the dreams lives on.
Here's the great man in action, taken from Youtube.
Tags:'algorhythm', 'Passport to Pimlico', 'Peace Through Education', 'The Mouse on the Moon', 'The Mouse that Roared', al-Khwarizmi, Al-Ma'mun, Animation, Arab Spring, Armenia, Armenian Massacres, Army, Beirut, Bernard Cribbins, Bill Hicks, Blade Runner, Byzantine Empire, Col. Wehbe, Cyprus, David Tenant, Dr. Who, Ealing Comedies, Florida, Ghossein Halwa, Greece, Haikazian College, ISIS, Islamism, Joana Hadjithomas, Joseph Sfeir, Jules Verne, Khalil Joreige, Lebanon, Manga, Manga Comics, Manoug Manougian, Margaret Rutherford, Persia, Rockets, Space Programme, Tampa, the Moon, The Wombles, Voyager 2
Posted in Africa, America, Arabs, Art, Comedy, Comics, Democracy, Education, Egypt, Film, France, Greece, History, India, Iran, Islam, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Mathematics, Medicine, OIl, Politics, Poverty, Radio, Science, Space, Syria, Technology, Terrorism, The Press | Leave a Comment »
King David and the Foundations of Solomon's Temple
Yesterday's reading was 1 Chronicles 29:1-9. This describes how David gave some of his own great wealth to the Temple, and encouraged his leading courtiers, generals, and the wider Israelite people to do the same.
King David ruled from 1000 to 965 BC. According to the Bible, he established an empire stretching from the Negev in the south to the Euphrates in the north, comprising most of Palestine, transjordan, with the exception of the Philistine cities on the coastal strip, parts of Syria and some of the Phoenician coast. No contemporary texts exist for this period of Israel's history apart from the Bible, and the archaeological evidence is sparse. It is difficult to date precisely buildings or objects to the beginning of the 10th century, and some of the buildings attributed to him may have been built by his son, Solomon. As a result of this, some of the Biblical minimalist historians have claimed that King David was either mythical, or if he existed at all, then he and Solomon, were merely pastoral clan chieftains rather than the rulers of a rich and impressive kingdom. This view was discredited by the discovery of the Tell Dan stele in 1993 and the decipherment of part of the inscription on the Moabite Stone by the French linguist, Andre Lemaire, in 1994. The Tell Dan stele had been put up by King Hazael of Damascus to commemorate his victory over northern Israel. In it Hazael claims that he defeated "[Jeho]ram king of Israel and kill[ed Ahaz]yahu son of (gap) [I overthr]ew the house of David". The Moabite Stone was put up by King Mesha of Moab to celebrate his successful rebellion against Israel's king Ahab, during which Mesha had sacrificed his own son to the Moabite national god, Chemosh. The Stone was broken up into small fragments by the bedouin, who found it in order to gain more money from European archaeologists. Studying a 19th century copy of the text before it was smashed, Lemaire found a reference to the 'House of David'. Literary examination of the Biblical texts shows that much of this was written either in David's or Solomon's time, and so represents a reliable witness to the events of their reigns. Although the archaeology does not support the image of King David as the founder of a great empire, it is consistent with Biblical accounts of his reign, which do not describe him as engaged on any great building operations.
The philistine town of Megiddo, stratum VIA and the Canaanite town of Tell Qasile stratum X were destroyed by fire, possibly by King David. The first half of the 10th century BC saw the Israelites establishing an urban culture. A number of small village sites have been attributed to David's reign. There was a roughly circular settlement at Khirbet Dawara defended by a casement wall. Stratum VII at Tell Beer-Sheba consisted of several dwellings built around an open area. New types of pottery also appeared at this time, with different shapes and a distinctive hand burnished red slip.
David also conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites in 995 BC. Jebusite Jerusalem was situated on the hill of Ophel, between the Kidron Brook and the Tyropoeon valley. Excavations on the eastern slope of this spur above the Gihon spring revealed a 'stepped structure' with walls surviving to a height of 16.5 metres (c. 49 1/2 feet). This may have dated to the tenth century. It supported a monumental structure, which has not survived. The Israeli archaeology Yigal Shiloh showed that this was built on top of ruins dating from 1300 to 1200 BC. The 'Stepped Structure' itself dates from the 10th century BC. In 2005 another Israeli archaeologist, Eilat Mazar, ,discovery a large stone building at the top of the Hill of Ophel associated with the 'Stepped Structure'. Pottery found with this building dated to the 10th century BC or earlier. This indicated that the building may have been the 'Fortress of Zion' occupied by King David after he took Jerusalem.
David appealed to the Israelite people to donate to the Temple's construction, not because it needed more money, but so that as many people as possible would be involved in its construction. This truly made the Temple of the Jewish people, rather than a place built purely for the service of the monarchy. It was a practical demonstration that God's call is not just for the few, but to all.
The Temple later built by King Solomon was a massive rectangular structure of 50 x 100 cubits, about 25 x 50m. This is larger than any known Canaanite or Phoenician temple. It was also very tall, at 30 cubits in height. Its walls were 12 cubits in width, similar to the Middle Bronze Age temple at Shiloh. The interior was divided into three sections: a porch, ulam, the sanctuary, hechal, and the Holy of Holies, debir. The entrance to each of these was along the Temples central axis. On either side of this was a series of auxiliary chambers, which probably acted as the kingdom's treasury. In its plan and interior decorations, the Temple was similar to other, pagan temples in Palestine and the Ancient Near East, particularly those at Ebla, Megiddo, and Tell Mumbakat and the Bit Hilani palace and its attached temple, the last two both in north Syria. The use of cedar wood was similar to the Philistine and Canaanite temples at Lachish and Tell Qasile. The Temple's cult objects included the sacrificial altar and and the 'molten sea'. This was a huge bronze basin supported by 12 bulls. These can be reconstructed finds and depictions from Phoenicia, Cyprus and Palestine. The Temple's two columns, Jachin and Boaz, are similar to column bases at the Late Bronze Age temple at Hazor and those on the pottery model of a similar shrine found at Tell el-Far'ah. The cherubim which sat above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies were very different from our modern view of cherubs. Instead of chubby, cute babies, these were sphinx-like, with the body of a lion or bull, wings of an eagle and head of a man. This was a well-known figure in Canaanite, Phoenician and Syrian Bronze Age art. The Temple was also decorated with palmettes, network designs, fringes and chains. These also appear in Phoenician images of the 9th and 8th centuries BC. Many art historians consider the 10th century BC a Dark Age in the art of the Ancient Near East. The only example of monumental arat from this period is the sarcophagous of Ahiram, king of Byblos, in modern Lebanon. The Bible's description of Solomon's Temple is thus important evidence for the existence of monumental art in the 10th century BC.
James K. Hoffmeier, The Archaeology of the Bible (Oxford: Lion 2008).
Kathleen Kenyon, Archaeology in the Holy Land, 3rd Edition, (London: Ernest Benn Ltd 1970)
Amihai Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible 10,000 – 586 B.C.E. (New York: Centre for Judaic-Christian Studies/ Doubleday 1990)
Tags:Ahab, Ahazyahu, Ahiram, Andre Lemaire, Art, Bible, Byblos, Canaan, Chemosh, Cyprus, Damascus, Ebla, Eilat Mazar, Hazael, Israel, Jebusites, Jehoram, Jerusalem, King David, King Solomon, Megiddo, Mesha, Moab, Moabite Stone, Philistines, Phoenicia, Shiloh, Syria, Tell Beer-Sheba, Tell Dan Stele, Tell el-Far'ah, Tell Mumbakat, Tell Qasile, Temple, Yigal Shiloh
Posted in Archaeology, Art, Bible, Biblical Archaeology, Biblical History, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »


Hello guys, first off I do not want anyone to think I am downplaying anyone's hustle by doing this article but this is what is.
Well according to some sources Cameroonian Comic personality Senior Pastor is planning an upcoming comedy show.
Well so far nothing much has been revealed concerning the venue or dates of the event but here is what we know "Laughter Heals Comedy show" with Senior pastor will take place some time in May and will be bringing healing laughter from Cameroon and Nigerian finest Comedians.
Contact the above numbers for sponsorship.


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Are there any chemicals in the product?
NOXO Odor Defense Pro™ is natural and after over 10 years of use and with improving the product over the years, we have not had one untoward reaction reported and it is perfectly safe.
We sell the product in 3 oz tins that give over 100 applications or about 50 cents per use, Each use lasts over 2 hours
Who is Olfactory Biosciences Corp.
Olfactory Biosciences Corp, is a public company ( OTC : OLFC ) that focuses on the advanced science of the Olfactory system. Our understandings of odorants coupled with the NOBEL Winning Science (Nobel Prize in Medicine of 2004, Richard Axel, Linda B. Buck) of Olfaction have enabled us to create ground breaking Medicine with Natural Ingredients you can trust.
Where is Olfactory Biosciences Corp.
Our main offices are in Philadelphia, other locations that specialize in manufacturing, fulfillment and research are found in New Jersey, Utah and Texas respectively.
What kind of product history can you tell me about?
The best, by offering NOXO Odor Defense Pro™ you offer a product used effectively at 9/11, Katrina, Haiti and hundreds of first responder situations around the world, We can also affirm there is no other product available that can be used indoors and outside and give personal protection to the person that applies it under their nostrils.
Does Olfactory Biosciences Corp. offer a money-back guarantee?
Yes, if any customer isn't completely satisfied, that customer can return the unused portion of the product and get full payment in return
How is the gel product used?
The gel is designed to be applied just below and at the end of the nostrils. It will absorb into the skin and not be visible while it still provides doses of molecules that are inhaled and received by the Olfactory System
Olfactory Science © 2015

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Toronto, June 20, 2018 – The 2018 winners of the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards were announced today at Toronto's Sprucecourt Public School. The winners were selected by two juries of young readers from the school – a jury of grade 3 and 4 students selected the recipients of the Children's Picture Book Award, and a jury of grade 8 students selected the recipient of the Young Adult / Middle Reader Award. Each student read the books individually and then worked together with their group to reach consensus and decide on a winner. This process makes it a unique literary award in Canada.
Winner of the Children's Picture Book Award Category
Stolen Words
by Melanie Florence (Toronto, Ont.)
illustrations by Gabrielle Gimard (Montréal, Que.)
Second Story Press
"This book tells a difficult story, but in a way that young people can understand," said student jurors in grades 3 and 4. "It has a good balance of sad and happy parts, with beautiful illustrations that show the characters' feelings. It reminds us that children can help adults and bring hope for the future."
"It's an incredible honour to win the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award, a prize with so many notable past winners," said author Melanie Florence. "It's particularly humbling to have been selected by a jury of students from Sprucecourt Public School, from such a distinguished list of nominees. I'm grateful beyond words."
"I want to thank Melanie Florence for writing such a beautiful story – it brought tears to my eyes the first time I read it," said illustrator Gabrielle Grimard. "And thank you to the students of Sprucecourt Public School – this award has a special place in my heart because you are the ones for whom I create these illustrations."
Melanie Florence is a writer of Cree and Scottish heritage. She has also written several young adult novels, including He Who Dreams and The Missing.
She is a first-time nominee and laureate of the Schwartz Children's Book Awards.
About the Illustrator
Gabrielle Grimard has been illustrating books for young readers since 2001, and has contributed to more than 50 books to date.
Winner of the Young Adult / Middle Reader Award Category
The Agony of Bun O'Keefe
by Heather Smith (Waterloo, Ont.)
Penguin Teen
Student jurors in grades 7 and 8 loved the book's personalities - as one juror declared, "Bun and Busker Boy are my favourite characters of all time!" Praising the protagonist as "one-of-a-kind," the jurors also appreciated how close they felt to Bun, and how well they could feel all of her emotions. And as one student admitted, "I stayed up way too late because I couldn't put this book down!"
"Simply put, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Awards are special," said author Heather T. Smith. "Not only do they honour two remarkable women, they are juried by young people which makes it all the more meaningful. Having my book chosen by the readers themselves is an incredible honour – one that I won't soon forget."
Heather T. Smith's East Coast roots inspire much of her writing - including The Agony of Bun O'Keefe, her second novel for young adults.
She is a first-time nominee and laureate of the Schwartz Children's Book Awards.
Two awards of $6,000 each are presented annually to recognize artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian children's literature.
This year's selection committee comprised Heather Kuiper (owner, Ella Minnow Children's Bookstore, Toronto), Ben Robinson (Children and Teen Librarian, Guelph Public Library) and Kristin Fowkes (teacher-librarian, Frontenac Public School, Burlington).
The Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards were established in 1976 by Sylvia Schwartz in memory of her sister, Ruth, a respected Toronto bookseller. In 2004, the family renamed the awards to honour both sisters.
The Ontario Arts Foundation administers the awards with the support of the Ontario Arts Council, which manages the nomination and jury process. These awards are funded through the Ruth Schwartz Foundation.
See the full details on the award and the list of previous laureates.
Shoshana Wasser, Communications Coordinator, Ontario Arts Council
416-969-7434/1-800-387-0058, ext. 7434 | swasser@arts.on.ca
ONTARIO ARTS FOUNDATION INQUIRIES
The Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) is passionately committed to building long-term support for the arts in Ontario. In 2017-2018, the OAF paid $3.35 million in endowment income and $260,000 in awards and scholarships.
For more than 50 years, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians. In 2016-2017, the OAC funded 1,657 individual artists and 1,098 organizations in 212 communities across Ontario for a total of $50.8 million.
Ce document existe ègalement en français.


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Q: Check different date formats I have function:
sample(date){
  //operations, for example add one week (7 days)

  return date;
}

var one = new Date('2012-07-16');
var two = new Date('07/16/2012');

var new = sample(one); // or sample(two)

var day = new.getDate();
var month = new.getMonth();
var year = new.gerYear();

alert(day + month + year);

and now i would like show this date, but how can i check format this date?
For example:
alert(sample(one));

should show me date with format 2012-07-23
and if
alert(sample(one));

should show me 07/23/2012
but how can i check format current date? is this possible?

A: Date objects don't "remember" the format with which they were created - they're just a wrapper for the standard Javascript "milliseconds since the epoch" time values.
You'll need to either roll your own "date to string" functions, or use one of the popular existing libraries (e.g. Datejs)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Baton Rouge's first Black-owned comedy club fulfills entrepreneur's vision
Former comedian Shedrick "Seddy Sed" Marshall opened Silly Rabbit Comedy Club earlier this year. (Collin Richie)
Baton Rouge entrepreneur and retired comedian Shedrick "Seddy Sed" Marshall has always wanted to open his own comedy club. When he first started his stand-up career in 2001, he remembers writing down this goal on a vision board.
That vision came to life this past January when Marshall opened Silly Rabbit Comedy Club, a Baton Rouge comedy and entertainment venue on Airline Highway.
"This is a place for people to forget what's going on in their lives and laugh the pain away," Marshall says. "I want to heal the world with laughter."
Silly Rabbit Comedy Club is Baton Rouge's first Black-owned comedy club. It includes a small stage, seating for more than 140 people and a stylish bar with drink specials. It hosts comedy shows, poetry readings, open mic nights, crawfish nights and various types of entertainment by local and national performers.
Comedy show headliners so far have included Ashima Franklin from Def Comedy Jam, Shaun Jones from BET's ComicView and Mario Tory from Comedy Central.
The club plans to organize at least two comedy shows a month and weekly open mic events. The space can also be rented for private parties.
Marshall sees the club as the up-and-coming go-to entertainment venue for fledgling and nationally recognized comedians alike. It's the type of space he wanted to perform in during his own stand-up career.
Read the full story from 225 magazine.
Tags: Baton, Blackowned, club, comedy, Entrepreneurs, fulfills, Rouges, vision
Robots are transforming the way we imagine about the hospitality sector
How this 29-yr-outdated turned his side hustle into a $1.5 million small business


How to Create A Powerful Vision to Kick Start The Year!
How To Create A Powerful Vision To Kick Start 2017 And Make It Your Best Year Ever!
How to Create A Powerful Vision. If you feel like you don't know where to start with goal setting and strategic planning, then this episode is for you.
Vision, Strategy & Goal Setting is such an important part of business, particularly as we start the new year in 2017.
The first part of goal setting is setting the stage for where you want your business to be in 3 - 5 years time. These are your stretch goals, your stretch goals will influence and assist in defining your intermediate and immediate goals and targets. Your goals for the next 12 month, 6 months and the next quarter.
This exercise helps you see the vision you already have within you for your business.
What is the biggest vision you have for your business? This vision should scare you.
Allow yourself quiet time to ponder and write your answer on a piece of paper.
Take a moment to imagine that you're 90 years old and are sitting in your rocking chair, on the veranda overlooking the ocean and you are looking back over your IDEAL life. You are happy and healthy and your business succeeded beyond your wildest dreams. Now answer the questions below.
What is it about you and your business that people value?
How are you different from the present day?
What is the same in your business and what is not?
What has your business achieved?
What are you proud of? - Get emotional, personal and specific.
What are your top 1-3 major accomplishments or "big wins"?
Imagine there was a feature article about your success. What did the headlines say? What difference did this make in the world?
In the past X years, what is the most significant breakthrough that launched the organization into a whole new level of wild success? How? What happened? Who helped make it happen? What was different?
What difference has your business made in people's lives? In the local community? In the world?
Whose lives is your work touching? Who are you serving? How exactly are they engaging with you? Why are they choosing to engage with your messages, services or products? What's in it for them?
How has your business added meaning to your life and given you a sense of fulfillment?
Partners: Are there new partners that contributed to your success as an organization? As an individual?
What are the best parts of your business?
What shows you that your business has been a success?
What else…What else do you notice that's different, or the same, in this successful, deeply satisfying future?
What kind of abundance is the organization enjoying? What does that look like, specifically?
This could also be a team exercise. Team Visioning generates a common goal, hope, and encouragement; offers a possibility for impact; gives people a sense of direction; gives a group something to move toward; and generates creative thinking and passion.
This time though ask the team to Imagine 5 years from now. It's 2021 and we've been named the most inspiring company in the world: What three things did we do to get this recognition?
What new products, services, or technology did we introduce to get here?
What areas of the business have grown to reach these goals?
What do you think is our biggest opportunity in the next 1/5/10 years?
What skill set do we need on our team?
Who is working in the organization – what do they look like, demographically? What is the collective culture like? What practices or group norms do you notice?
What else do you notice that's different, or the same, in this successful, future?
Now use post-it notes to brain dump the patterns and arrive at a few core themes that resonated for the whole group. When I've conducted this with my teams previously they always left feeling energized, inspired, and aligned around a whole new level of collective work.
The next step is to document that goals, and start to start to plan "how" you are going to achieve them, and a time line and accountability for implementation. Without action, the above is useless.
Now, over to you our listeners, once you've done the visioning exercise, tell us what came out of it.


A well-placed hidden button at the head of the table flashes three lights above the kitchen sink on the other side of the wall to notify servers that the dinner guests have requests, a subtle yet elegant solution.
Hosts are able to enter in what the guests will be having for dinner and recommendations will be made by the automation system paired with the menu and wine in the collection. Lighting control accents the selection within the racks.
The room comes alive every night as a preset lighting scene turns on with the time of the sun setting.
Simple and elegant solution to be able to manage and monitor an entire estate from a touchpanel. Every subsystem on the estate can be controlled from the interface. Video sources can be viewed from the display.
Elegant hidden TV solution with a pop up TV swivel lift. When not watching, the TV drops into the cabinet.


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HARPER WILDE & CO
The King Collection
The Three Body Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu
Included in the sale:
The Three Body Problem
The Dark Forest
Deaths End
Rights will be included for any future books following the trilogy
Option to purchase
Redemption of Time/Baoshu (Still at publisher, option to purchase at publisher price) Supernova by Cixin Liu (Still at publisher, option to purchase at publisher price) Rights will be included for any future books following Redemption of Time & Supernova
Translated by Ken Liu.Featuring a full-color dust jacket and full-color interior illustrations by Marc Simonetti.Important About the Book:Cixin Liu, China's preeminent science fiction writer for more than twenty years, first came to the attention of English speaking readers with the 2014 publication of The Three-Body Problem, the opening movement of a dazzling, dizzying trilogy called The Remembrance of Earth's Past. Its appearance here was an immediate cultural event, and it became the first work in translation ever to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel. It isn't hard to understand why.The book takes its title from a classical physics problem involving the effects – gravitational and climatic – of three celestial bodies occupying a limited space. It also refers to an immensely sophisticated "game" in which players enter a world (Trisolaris) dominated by three different suns. Under the shifting influence of these suns, Trisolaris cycles repeatedly between "Chaotic Eras" and "Stable Eras" as their planet moves inexorably toward destruction. When a signal from Earth—a compatible planet—reaches them, the Trisolarians initiate an extremely long-range plan to vacate their dying planet and make Earth their new home.This is the central element in an enormously erudite narrative that ranges from the Cultural Revolution of 1967 to the imperiled present, illuminating events from the alternating perspectives of its human and non-human protagonists. Seamlessly combining politics, social history, and rigorous hard science, The Three-Body Problem is an alien invasion story unlike any you have ever read. It offers the sort of speculative pleasures only science fiction can provide, and leaves us waiting, satisfied and anxious, for the unpredictable pleasures still to come.The Subterranean Press edition of The Three-Body Problem will be oversize, printed in two colors throughout on 80# Finch, and feature a number of full-page full-color interior illustrations. The lettered edition will also include a gatefold illustration not in the limited. Those who purchase The Three-Body Problem direct from us will have first rights to preorder the next novel in the trilogy, The Dark Forest. Limited: 500 signed numbered copies, oversized, printed in two colors Lettered: 26 signed specially bound copies, housed in a custom traycase
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text:
Delia Sescioreanu Mask (born 16 March 1986) is a retired Romanian tennis player.

Sescioreanu has won five singles and two doubles titles on the ITF tour in her career. On 11 October 2004, she reached her best singles ranking of world number 145. On 5 April 2004, she peaked at world number 235 in the doubles rankings.

Career

2004
Sescioreanu then won three qualifying matches to advance to the main draw in Palermo. she played Italian Rita Grande in the first round, defeating the former world number 24 in straight sets. In round two, she lost to  Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik.

2005
Sescioreanu made her WTA tour main draw debut at the 2005 Hyderabad Open. She lost in the first round to Indian Sania Mirza.

ITF finals (7–5)

Singles (5–2)

Doubles (2–3)

External links

Living people
Romanian female tennis players
1986 births
People from Timiș County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
July 8, 2010 by Renee
It's Time to Vote!!
Okay, the contest is over and thanks so much to everyone who participated. Now, it's time to pick a winner. Everyone can vote, whether you submitted or not. You can vote anonymously, or you can be a man and put your John Henry on your post. Whatever. We totally won't make fun of the chickens.
So here are the stories you're voting on. Remember, we're looking for Best overall, Funniest, and a random pick so feel free to vote for three if you like but remember to tell us why you voted for them. Writers need stroking now and then and we're an accomodating bunch here at the Edge.
Now, the stories:
First Prize: Best Story $25 Amazon Gift Card And your story featured on my blog
Second Prize: Funniest Story Book of your choice And your story featured on my blog
Third Prize: Random pick Mystery Prize
He looked so beautiful in the moonlight. The strange pallor of his skin always seems luminous at this hour. Sirens draw closer, the bright halogens flick on. Our perfect dark world thrust out of the shadows into this sterile light. They take my love away from me zipping him into a plastic bag. My love preserved in the shadows.
By Milo James Fowler
She wondered how things might have turned out differently, if she hadn't majored in that, followed this career path, married him, had those children, lived there and there along the way. When given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to step through the cosmic membrane between realities, she jumped at the chance. She had to know. Was she happy, this alternate version of herself? Did she love her life?
No more than should have been expected.
by JM Prescott
Magic is just another word for a wish. Asha's wishes always came true except for one; Asha wished she had my eyes. She said blue was her favourite color and she hated brown. "When the flowers die they always turn brown," she said.
She grew up happy, having everything she ever wished for, until I got sick. The cancer bit and chipped at my body until I was nothing but empty bones and blue eyes.
She wished for healing, but her magic never worked on me. I died the day before the flowers bloomed. Every one of them was blue.
Kerfluffled
Anna chomped down on the end of the pickle that came with her deli sandwich. Sour, green juice launched forward, splattering on her friend, Liz's, blouse. Liz didn't notice. Her focus centered on the French fries she constructed into a hut and the conversation spoken in hushed tones into her cell phone.
Anna chewed, loudly, as she waited. Liz had been in the middle of a bitch-fest about her chauvinistic boss when her phone rang. Whatever name showed up on the caller ID morphed Liz's expression from disgust to a red-cheeked grin.
Anna had no doubt it was a man. She watched Liz twist her fingers in her hair in between intermittent, girlish giggles. Definitely a man.
Finally, Liz hung up and leaned over to put her phone in her bag.
"So who was that?"
"Huh?" Liz shot up, wide eyed. "Who was who?"
Anna smirked. "Who do you think? The mysterious caller who has you all… kerfluffled."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Liz studied the soda in her glass as she sipped from her straw.
"Yes you do. You're fidgety, your face is like a tomato, and you're playing stupid." Anna took another bite of her pickle. "Spill."
Liz looked down at her fry hut. She slowly disassembled it, pushing the fries over with her fork. "I don't know…"
"We've been best friends for almost ten years. You can tell me. Who is he?"
Liz took a deep breath. "There is no 'he.'"
"Bullshit. What's his name?"
"Her name…" Liz folded her hands to keep them from shaking, "… is Lucy."
No Peace
By Susan Griscom
Shelby went to window and slammed it down. Locked it just to make sure it was tight. When was it going to end? Her head ached from the pounding and sawing. What were they building over there anyway?
She was all for improving the neighborhood, but damnit, it was her day off. Her first one in two weeks and all she wanted was a little peace and quiet. Was that too much to ask?
Even with the window closed, the raucous still clamored throughout the house. There was no escape. She went upstairs, grabbed her iPod off her nightstand, stuck the little headset around her ears, and cranked up the volume. Plopping down on the bed, she twirled the knob, searching for something to drown out the racket next door.
"Let's see, something lively, some rap? No. Bon Jovi… that should do it."
She closed her eyes and sang along. "Wanted, dead or alive, I'm a cowboy…"
Life was, once again, blissful.
A deafening kerfluffle jostled Shelby and she bolted up, yanked the earplugs from her ears and ran down the stairs.
The roar happened again, sounding like walls tumbling down. The house shook around her as if the world was coming to an end. Shelby grabbed on to the newel at the bottom of the stairs for support. After several seconds, the shaking stopped and men's shouting replaced the kerfluffle.
"What in the name of Christ was that?"
Shelby wobbled toward the horrifying sound, stopped at the kitchen door and gasped. Her quivering jaw hung open as her shoulder slumped against the frame. A huge yellow bulldozer sat in the middle of the floor, the man inside wiped at his brow shaking his head looking befuddled. He looked at Shelby, scrunched his shoulders and raised his hands.
The wall and bay window she loved, crumbled around the gigantic machine. It smashed the refrigerator, toppling it over on its side, the door smashed and propped open. A carton of milk pooled out over the floor among the cheese, butter, and a chocolate cake with a pickle sticking out of the top. Broken glass and pickle juice mixed in with the milk and seeped its way toward the antique Oriental rug, once owned by the late Marilyn Monroe.
Shelby sunk down in the middle of the mess and cried.
A present from Mao Tse-Tung
by Cath Barton
He would show you round his country house, the elder statesman, wave airily at a hideous vase, sigh, and say in a world-weary way – "A present from Mao-Tse Tung….."
The stateman never married and had no children. He left all his money for his house to be kept as a museum. If the vase is some day broken by a coat carelessly swished by one of the few who visit, it will not be reported, even in the local press. Of course, there are many such vases. Like a child's goldfish, it can be replaced and no-one will know.
by Janet Richards
As revellers gathered to celebrate a nation's birthday, Margaret sat in her small living room nursing a cup of tea. The arthritis in her fingers made it difficult to hold the cup.
Too often now she would find herself suddenly old after slipping back in time. It had become harder to hide the confusion and she saw the concern loved ones tried to conceal.
At dusk the sky exploded with the flash of bombs. Margret cowered paralyzed with fear. The London of her youth already stolen, she braced herself as the Blitz continued wondering if she would survive this attack.
Voting will go until July 20th and I'll announce the winners shortly after that. Deal? Cool. Get voting.
Posted in Contests, Drabbles, flash, six sentences, voting, winners.
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42 thoughts on "It's Time to Vote!!"
Gertrude says:
My vote: "If Only" – thought-provoking and a wee bit convicting for such a short piece"Kerfluffled" – a close second
Katrina says:
Best: FlashbackFunniest: KerfluffledRandom Pick: *Closes my eyes and points* A Present from Mao Tse-Tung
Oops forgot to put why.Flashback is thoughtful and realistic. There was no description of the woman, but I saw her.Kerfluffled, well, I wrote it.And the random pick – self explanatory.
Renee Miller says:
So we have one for 'Flashback' as best story.Milo has two votes for 'If only', one for best and one for 'random' and 'Kerfluffled' has two votes for funniest. Interesting. So Janet, Milo and Katrina are so far in the lead. Thanks for your votes guys.
Terri Coop says:
Greetings! I am Terri, and am dropping by via Maria's blog party. Fun to walk into the middle of a contest!I would like to make two votes:Best Overall: "Magic Eyes"Random Pick: "Flashback"Nicely done on all the tales, but I am a big fan of flash fiction and those to conveyed the best sense of story in a few words. My best to all the contestants and I will be back to see who wins!Terriwww.whyifearclowns.com
Thanks for stopping by Terri and welcome to The Edge. Good choices. I love flash fiction too. Writing it and reading it. Now, off to check out your blog there. The title has me intrigued, as I am not crazy about clowns either. Damn Stephen King, ruining clowns for me.
Cath Barton says:
Hi ReneeMy vote for overall winner goes to "Magic Eyes" – powerful and moving.Random pick: " No peace"All bestCath
Thanks Cath. Good picks.
Rita J. Webb says:
For Best, I picked Lauren's. I liked the line, "He looked so beautiful in the moonlight. The strange pallor of his skin always seems luminous at this hour." When you think about the ending and the fact that he's dead, these sentences seem very powerful. She seems to be standing outside herself as she watches him.For funniest, I pick Katrina's. I liked this line: "Anna smirked. "Who do you think? The mysterious caller who has you all… kerfluffled."" I also like how she staged the scene and the dialog.For random pick, "No Peace" by Susan.
Like all contests, someone has to win. But there aren't any losers in this bunch either.For Best Overall Entry, I vote for Janet Richard's "Flashback." For Funniest, I vote for Katriana's "Kerfluffled"… (Best overall use of the word 'Pickle'?)Random Pick: Susan Griscom's "No Peace." I love the imagery of the visual interaction between the protagonist and the operator of the wrecking crane.
Oooh, it's close. Thanks for your votes guys. I can't wait to see how they tally up at the end. So far it looks like Katrina is in the lead for funniest and Janet and Milo are neck and neck for best over all. Random pick is too close to tell right now, and since it's random we'll never know until the end anyway. We still have nine days of voting left. Thanks for participating everyone!
Milo James Fowler says:
May we invite our friends to vote? Or is this competition strictly "in-house" (for lack of a better term)?As far as my vote goes: 1. "If Only" (because I'm a big fan of Amazon.com) 2. "Kerfluffled"3. "Flashback"
Of course you can invite friends to vote, Milo. The more the merrier on The Edge. Good choices and I'd vote for my story too if I entered. I mean, of course our own should be the favorite. Katrina's hanging on tightly to that funniest lead.
Best: "If Only"Funniest: "Kerfluffled"Random: "Magic Eyes"It is so nice to see so many writers from the 6S community on here. Good luck to all of you!
Thanks for the vote Jen. I miss 6S, one of these days I'm going to get back over there. Glad you stopped by. 🙂
Just Another Sixer says:
Here's my vote, and I'm sticking to it:A Present from Mao Tse-Tung, Kerfluffled, and If Only for first, funniest, random
Well thanks, Just Another Sixer. We won't try to persuade you to change your mind. Well, I won't. Good picks.
Aaron McQuade says:
I liked "If Only." It really grabbed my attention and provoked a lot of interesting thoughts.
I vote for "If Only" as the best story overall. In just a few sentences, it reveals truth about human nature. Made me go hmmm and remember that old saying… "wherever you go there you are."
SassySmurf says:
First place: "If Only": because Milo is the bomb.
Jeanette Cheezum says:
This is tough they are all so good. I'll come back later and vote.
Andrew Thai says:
Best First Place: "If Only" because it's awesome, thought provoking, and awesome. 😛
DukTape says:
My vote's for "Flashback" for best overall — it feels like a real, complete story even though it's very short and more of a vignette. I can feel the character. "No Peace" is my pick for funniest because it just is funny, with the character trying to shut out the noise. It's not a complete story to me, and I'm not sure if it was supposed to be. I would have liked it just a tad tighter and tied up a bit at the end, but it's still the funniest of the bunch. "Kerfluffled" is funny, too, and will probably win for funniest, but I felt like I knew how it was going to end as soon as the friend answered the phone. The description was great. Was it coincidence that two stories used that word, but in such different ways? Made me smile.Then for random I like "If Only." I didn't fit either of the other categories, but it makes you think. I wanted more specificity, stronger nouns, but maybe the lack of that is what makes it work. I am not sure. Maybe naming the character would make it even better.
Pierson says:
I think I'd have to pick If Only for first place. It reminds me of a game I used to play in addition to scifi stories I used to read. And you can't forget about the proverbial greener grass.I couldn't really tell if Kerfluffled was supposed to be funny, but it did make me laugh at the end so I'd have to vote for that as the most funny.Random, I'm going to go with No Peace. I enjoyed how the story steadily built up to the ending which kind of came right out of left field, and was indeed quite random.Overall, I enjoyed most of the stories and thought they were definitely worth the read, and time voting. It's unfortunate that there can only be one per category.-Pierson
I wish I could give them all a prize, but sadly, I am a writer and funds are, well, limited. Duk Tape, excellent critiques and spot on. Thank you.Kerfluffled and Pickle had to be included if the writer chose to write a ten minute flash, that's why they used it in different ways.Pierson and all you sixers, thank you for your votes and for stopping by The Edge. I'm going to have some fun tallying the votes. I will definitely do another contest soon, so this won't be the only opportunity to win.
jumpyleg says:
Best: If Only because it makes a good point of the uselessness of wondering so succinctly.Random Pick: Flashback — also succinctly makes a good point of the terror of war even 65 years after the war is over.Funniest: Renee Miller saying we should put our "John Henry on our post." John Henry drove steel rods into rock with a nine-pound hammer to make holes for dynamite. John Hancock, on the other hand signed his name on the Declaration of Independence. I will sign my name. I will NOT hit my computer screen with a nine-pound hammer!Jill Carper
cavenable says:
Best: If Only2nd Best: Kerfluffed..made me laugh!Angela
Haha! You, Jill, should win a prize for catching that. My dad says 'John Henry' and we always make fun of him and he says, "Well that's what we call it in Canada. Where the hell are you from?" So, that's why I posted it that way. I'll show him your post so he knows it's not just a Canadian saying, it's wrong. Thanks.
Best – "If Only"…well, because the author is a genius!!!!Funniest – "Kerfluffled"…that scenario pretty much is hillarious!Random – "Magic Eyes" its so morbid but seems so real. I related to the girl with brown eyes.I hope I voted right…I also dont have an account but dont want to go anonymous, so my name is Jessica.
Peggy Loftis says:
I am going to pound my computer with a nine-pound hammer and say…Best – "If Only"Second – "Kerfluffed"Great stories everyone!!Peggy
The best one is "If Only", that deserves first place!
Best: "If Only" the author made the whole story flow so nicely! "If Only" should win!
"If Only" has my vote for first place, I've been following the author and he has got some good stuff out there!
Margaret A. Allen says:
My votes are as follows: (1) "Magic Eyes" – beautiful and sad. (2) The obvious choice: "Kerfluffled". (3) "Untitled" – short, sweet, sad. Guess I'm a sucker for the sad ones!And about these "anonymous" votes: grow a pair and leave your names, people!(Now stepping off my soap box…)
#1 Milo's "If only" was a work of genious.#2 I have to say that Janet Richards "Flashback" story tugged at my heart.
Thanks guys. Margaret…I love you. But you messed up the feathers on my soapbox. This always happens. Sigh.
Milo's "If Only" is both thought provoking and quite possibly true…it gets my vote for #1.
Grey Johnson says:
My vote goes to Cath Barton, for "A Present From Mao Tse-tung". I like her exploration of the idea that the value of a gift is in the eyes of the receiver.
Olson says:
"If only" by Milo for first place because he was my english teacher.
Janet Richards says:
Okay, since I can't bring myself to vote for myself…1. Magic Eyes2. kerfuffled 3. If Only
Oh Janet, I'd totally vote for myself. But I understand. Those are excellent choices.
Best Overall = "If Only" because the writing drew me in. Funniest = "Kerfluffled" because is was funny. Random Pick = "Untitled" because of the understanding about death.


Discussion in 'Announcements' started by May, Jun 6, 2017.
First of all... happy birthday to our community!!
On this day in 2014 our community went online! We started as a website and after a year we changed to our actual board.
What? Well, happy birthday everyone!
Amazing job!! Cheers to PokemonTrainer.com and its hopeful future!


text:
Ray Rice saga: NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller denies receiving punch video
Law enforcement source says video of Rice knocking his fiancee unconscious was addressed directly to Miller at the NFL
Jeffrey Miller denies he received the Ray Rice video. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP
Associated Press in Atlantic City
Thu 25 Sep 2014 23.15 EDT
Last modified on Tue 28 Feb 2017 12.10 EST
The NFL security chief Jeffrey Miller has denied receiving a video of Ray Rice punching his fiancee inside a casino elevator, after a law enforcement official said it was sent directly to him in April.
The NFL has repeatedly said no one with the league saw the violent images until TMZ Sports released the video earlier this month. Miller said on Thursday through an NFL spokesman that he never received the video.
The law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to release details of the case, said he didn't know if Miller ever saw the DVD or opened the package. His only communication with the NFL was a 12-second voicemail on 9 April from league offices confirming receipt of the package, in which a woman says, "You're right. It's terrible."
The law enforcement official told Associated Press two weeks ago that he sent the video to the NFL, but asked AP not to report that he had addressed the package to Miller. He removed that restriction on Thursday.
"Since the NFLPA and NFL have launched separate investigations into the league and the Ravens' handling of Ray Rice's case, I want to make a few things clear. No one from the NFL ever asked me for the inside-elevator video," the official said. "I mailed it anonymously to Jeff Miller because he's their head of security. I attached a note saying: 'Ray Rice elevator video. You have to see it. It's terrible.' I provided a number for a disposable cellphone and asked for confirmation that it was received. I knew there was a possibility Mr Miller may not get the video, but I hoped it would land in the right hands."
Miller, who is in London preparing for Sunday's Raiders-Dolphins game, issued a statement to AP on Thursday night through an NFL spokesman.
"I unequivocally deny that I received at any time a copy of the video, and I had not watched it until it was made public on September 8," he said.
It remains unclear what happened to the video once it arrived at NFL offices. There are two NFL executives named Jeffrey Miller, but the law enforcement official insisted the video was addressed to the chief of security. The official said he wanted to make sure the NFL had the video before deciding on Rice's punishment.
"My intention wasn't to bring down commissioner [Roger] Goodell or anyone else at the NFL," he said.
He said he didn't know the identity of the woman who left him the voicemail. He said he chose Miller because of his law enforcement background, even though he didn't know him personally.
Rice, a running back for the Baltimore Ravens, was arrested in Atlantic City on an assault charge for hitting Janay Palmer in February. A police summons stated that Rice had struck Palmer with his hand, knocking her unconscious. Rice has been accepted into New Jersey's pretrial intervention program, which enabled him to avoid jail time and could result in having the charge expunged from his record.
Initially, Goodell suspended Rice (who has since married Palmer) for two games. After criticism, Goodell announced new stiffer penalties for future domestic violence cases. After video of the punch in the casino elevator was released, the Ravens cut Rice and Goodell suspended him indefinitely.
League and Ravens officials said they requested the video from law enforcement but were denied. ESPN and others have reported that the Ravens had a detailed description of the video shortly after Rice was arrested.
After AP reported that the video was sent to NFL headquarters, Goodell announced that former FBI director Robert Mueller would lead an internal investigation. That is under way, with no timetable for its completion.
The law enforcement official said he did not want to speak to NFL investigators, and Mueller, who is now in private practice with a Washington law firm with deep ties to the NFL, has no subpoena power.
"I know nothing else about this case," the official said.
Former FBI chief of staff Aaron Zebley, who is working with Mueller on the investigation, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.