Fred L. Lowery

Fred Lynn Lowery (born March 16, 1943) is the retired former senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bossier City in northwestern Louisiana, whose Sunday sermons under the title "The First Word" were broadcast between 1983 and 2013 on KTBS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Shreveport, and on several cable television outlets. The broadcasts reached a total weekly audience of 15 million.
Lowery announced on May 5, 2013, that he would retire that year from his ministry. On September 8, 2013, the Reverend Bradley Lynn Jurkovich (born 1973), known as Brad Jurkovich, formerly of the Victory Life Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, succeeded Lowery as pastor at the Bossier City congregation. Jurkovich's Sunday morning sermon is now carried on "The First Word".
Background.
A native of Montevallo in Shelby County in central Alabama, Lowery is the second of four children born to a late pastor, also named Fred L. Lowery, and the former Esther Burkhalter (c. 1923-2013), who spent her later years in Hurst in Tarrant County, Texas. The senior Lowerys are interred at the Providence Baptist Church Cemetery in Montevallo. Lowery's maternal uncle, the late Clark Burkhalter, was also a pastor. Lowery's brother, John Daniel Lowery of Aiken, South Carolina, a former automobile salesman, died in 2013 at the age of sixty-eight, less than four months prior to the passing of their mother. His other siblings are Dr. Charles S. Lowery (born 1948), a motivational speaker, who with his wife, Penny, lives in Denton County, Texas, and Norma Jean "Jeannie" Metts (born 1941), wife of Dr. Harold Leroy "Roy" Metts (also born 1941), of Colleyville in Tarrant County, Texas. Metts is a professor of Greek and New Testament at Criswell College in Dallas.
Before he received the call to the ministry, Lowery wanted to be an airline pilot. Lowery received his Bachelor of Arts from Samford University in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, a Master of Theology degree in 1969 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Luther Rice University, then in Jacksonville, Florida, and since relocated to Lithonia, Georgia. At SWBTS, Lowery was accepted into the honors program and was a teaching fellow in the fields of evangelism and church growth. After seminary, Lowery worked full-time in evangelism.
Lowery and his wife, the former Lisabeth Leigh Jones (born 1951), married in 1974, have two daughters, Christy Camille Lowery Faciane and husband, Ky, of Collierville, near Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee, and Shelby Lynn Lowery Koch (born 1977) and husband, Jon, of Austin, Texas. Lowery previously lived in Avon Park in Highlands County in southern Florida and Inman in Spartanburg County in northwestern South Carolina.
Pastor and author.
In 1960 at the age of seventeen, Lowery was called as the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Aiken, South Carolina. For a time after he completed seminary, Lowery was the pastor of First Baptist Church of North Spartanburg in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He then moved to Pisgah Baptist Church in Spartanburg, where he expected to remain for his preaching career, but then came the call to First Baptist Bossier.
Lowery came to First Baptist Bossier in 1983, when he was forty. The next year, a fire erupted in the baptistry and burned much of the church; temporary quarters were found, and rebuilding was completed in 1986. In 1997, additional land was acquired, and First Baptist Bossier thereafter added a 2,500-seat worship center, remodeled each building, and added a children's addition and a state-of-the-art preschool building called "Tiny Town". On November 19, 1998, FBC raised $1.3 million in one day for its expansion program. In 2009, he asked the members of the congregation to leave their shoes at the altar for the needy and demonstrate in a tangible way they were willing to break out of their routine to promote the cause of Christ. More than a thousand did so.
First Baptist Bossier has more than seven thousand members. Lowery's website describes himself as having "a wonderful sense of humor, [who] goes straight to God's word and offers fresh insight as he communicates the truth of Christianity in practical ways. To him, life's bottom line is faith, family and friends." "The First Word" broadcasts began in June 1983. The program airs at 7 a.m. Central Time Sundays. For a number of years, it has been the top-rated Sunday program in the tri-state area of northwestern Louisiana, east Texas, and southwestern Arkansas.
In November 1989, Lowery was elected as the president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention at its 142nd annual meeting, which was held that year at Louisiana College in Pineville. He won the position by a four-vote margin, 723 to 719, over Dr. Sid Young (died 1999), the pastor from 1988 to 1991 of the First Baptist Church of Haynesville in northern Claiborne Parish. Lowery was the conservative candidate in the contest; most in the "moderate" faction supported Young. At the convention, Lowery stressed the needed for greater evangelism when he warned that "oil and politis have failed us." He also affirmed his pro-life credentials: "I stand strongly against abortion. I'm as pro-life as anyone could ever be. I would [also] oppose the lottery as an answer to our problems in the state."
Lowery is also a former vice president and president of the Pastor's Conference, an influential position in the Southern Baptist Convention, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. According to Lowery, "We have a moral and spiritual crisis in America today. ... To me our choices are revival or judgment." At the 1993 Pastor's Conference in Houston, when Lowery was the president, the speakers focused on II Chronicles 7:14"to encourage ... our pastors as they deal with hurting people. The path of our society is causing incredible problems in the lives of our people."
Lowery has been a trustee of both Louisiana College and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans.
With Charles Stanley of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia, Lowery is the co-author of "Making the Bible Clear" (1980). Lowery has written "Starting Here, Starting Now: A Christian's Guide to Getting Unstuck" (1986),
Lowery's "Covenant Marriage: Staying Together for Life" was published in 2002. According to his website, a covenant marriage is one designed by God who knows that an otherwise simple "contract, easily cancelled, would not sustain the pain of a flawed marriage. God knew that the inevitable hurts and hassles, storms and struggles, difficulties and disappointments would tear at the heart of a contractual agreement, and it would disintegrate into a thousand pieces scattered along a trail of hurt, horror and hell. ... Covenant marriage is ... a spiritual binding of the hearts and a mystical connection where two people become one in a relational covenant that is broken only by death."
Other Lowery works are "Faith, Family, and Friends" and "Four Steps to Restoring Relationships". Still other Lowery books are "Home Improvement 101", "Jogging Through The Bible", "Seven Habits of Highly Successful Marriages", and "How to Be Happy and Stay Married."
In addition to the television ministry, Lowery delivered daily radio broadcasts. Articles and devotionals can be accessed from his website.
In retirement, he will continue to host marriage seminars. He will be a guest preacher in other churches but not in the Shreveport-Bossier City area so as not to be seen as in competition with First Baptist Bossier.
Political activity.
In 2012, Lowery invited the Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, to speak at First Baptist Bossier. Before Lowery's congregation, Santourm related his personal and emotional story of the loss of his newborn son, Gabriel and the trials of a physically-handicapped daughter, Bella. On that same Sunday, Santorum delivered a similar address an hour later at the large Calvary Baptist Church in Shreveport. Days later, he handily won the Louisiana primary but still withdrew from the race early in April after defeat in Wisconsin. Lowery called Santorum a politician "who really is a statesman, and he believes exactly what I believe about faith and family."
On the occasion of Lowery's announcement of retirement, Louisiana State Representative Jeff R. Thompson of Bossier City introduced a unanimously-approved House resolution praising Lowery for his 30-year ministry at First Baptist Bossier. The resolution declares June 2, 2013 as "Fred Lowery Day" in Louisiana.
First Baptist Bossier honored Lowery a final time on January 12, 2014, when in a service extending for more than two hours, the outgoing pastor presented his successor, Reverend Jurkovich, with a shepherd's crook. Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker presented Lowery, who in youth had aspirations of flying, with United States Air Force command pilot wings which Walker, a retired Air Force colonel had once worn. Speaking at the service was the Rev. Dr. Ronnie Floyd of the Southern Baptist Cross Church of Northwest Arkansas in Springdale, Arkansas, who had recommended Jurkovich to the search committee as Lowery's successor. Not long afterwards, Floyd was named president of the Southern Baptist Convention.


Fernando Casanova (actor)

Fernando Casanova (born Fernando Gutiérrez López; 24 November 1925 – 16 November 2012) was a Mexican actor who began his career during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and in the 1960s reached the height of his success, becoming one of the most popular actors at the time.
Life and career.
Casanova was born Fernando Gutiérrez López on 24 November 1925, though some sources state 1922. As a teenager, he aspired to be a bullfighter, eventually leaving his studies to follow said occupation. He had the opportunity to debut in the Toreo de la Condesa in Mexico City, where he was gored on his right leg. Afterwards, Casanova would return to the bullring, but a few years afterwards, he decided to leave the profession.
Casanova made his film debut in "The Private Life of Mark Antony and Cleopatra" (1947), and began appearing in secondary roles. In one of the films he appeared in, "Si Adelita se fuera con otro", Jorge Negrete, the star of the film, demanded to director Chano Urueta to not have scenes at Casanova's side, due to Casanova being taller than him. He also participated "School for Tramps" (1955), by Rogelio A. González, alongside Miroslava and Pedro Infante. According to an anecdote, when Infante died and Casanova attended his funeral, a producer approached Casanova and told him "You should have died instead!".
Casanova sought to enter the Guinness World Records for being the actor with the most starring roles.
Personal life and death.
In 2010, at the age of 85, he married his partner of several years, María Gunariz, although he already had other previous marriages.
Casanova died in Mexico City on 16 November 2012 due to pulmonary complications caused by prostate cancer. He was survived at the time of his death by his wife María and their children Fernando, Adriana and Ligia.


Nancy Northup

Nancy Northup (born 1960) is an American political activist. She is the President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a pro-choice organization, in New York City.
Under her leadership, the Center helped win Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, a Supreme Court case considered the most significant case won by the pro-choice movement since Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992.
Personal.
Northup was born in Kokomo, Indiana in 1960 and grew up in Texas, California and New York. She graduated from Allendale Columbia School in Rochester, New York. She then graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1981 and from Columbia Law School, where she was a Kent Scholar and Managing Editor of the Columbia Law Review. She lives in New York City. Northup is married to Jim Johnson, the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York and a former candidate for New Jersey governor.
Background.
Northup was the founding director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. From 1989 to 1996, she served as a prosecutor and Deputy Chief of Appeals in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
She served as a law clerk to Alvin B. Rubin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. Northup holds adjunct appointments at NYU Law School and Columbia Law School where she has taught courses in constitutional and human rights law.


Charles Conder

Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australian tradition in Western art.
Early life.
Conder was born in Tottenham, Middlesex, the second son, of six children, of James Conder, civil engineer and Mary Ann Ayres. He spent several years as a young child in India until the death of his mother (aged 31 years) on 14 May 1873 in Bombay, when Charles was four; he was then sent back to England and attended a number of schools including a boarding school at Eastbourne, which he attended from 1877. He left school at 15, and his very religious, non-artistic father, against Charles's natural artistic inclinations, decided that he should follow in his footsteps as a civil engineer.
In 1884, at the age of 16, he was sent to Sydney, Australia, where he worked for his uncle, a land surveyor for the New South Wales government. However he disliked the work, much preferring to draw the landscape rather than survey it. In 1886, he left the job and became an artist for the "Illustrated Sydney News", where he was in the company of other artists such as Albert Henry Fullwood, Frank Mahony and Benjamin Edwin Minns. He also attended the painting classes of Alfred James Daplyn and had joined the Art Society of New South Wales.
Career.
In 1888, Conder moved to Melbourne where he met other Australian artists including Arthur Streeton, and shared a studio with Tom Roberts, whom he had previously met in Sydney. Short of cash, the attractive Conder apparently paid off his landlady by sexual means, catching syphilis in the process, which was to plague the later years of his life. During his two years in Melbourne, Conder worked with the other members of the school and produced a number of famous works, including "Under The Southern Sun". This painting clearly shows the burning sunlight and desolation that can be inflicted by an Australian drought.
In 1890, he moved to Paris and studied at the Académie Julian, where he befriended several avant-garde artists.
In Sydney and later Melbourne Conder associated with G. P. Nerli, an itinerant Italian painter and the bearer of new European influences who has been credited with shaping Conder's development. The extent of the influence has been debated, but the fact of it is undeniable. Like Conder, Nerli was a bon-vivant whose appreciation of the 'dam fine' 'Melbourne girls' survives in a letter to a mutual friend, Percy Spence.
Regarded as his greatest Sydney painting, "Departure of the Orient – Circular Quay" (1888) was the culmination of Conder's new mastery of form and brushwork. Painted from the vantage point of an upstairs room at the First and Last Hotel, overlooking the bustling harbour and ferry berths at Circular Quay in Sydney Cove, this work depicts the dockside scene at the moment when the 'Orient' has cast off for her voyage to England. The theme of lively urban streetscapes and rainy atmospheric conditions was one that derived originally from Japanese art and informed the work of the American-born James Abbott McNeill Whistler, who in turn inspired a generation of international artists conversant with the principles of French Impressionism.
Following successful sale of this work to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Conder departed for Melbourne in October 1888 to join Roberts and the circle of painters working there. He returned to Europe in 1890, where he became fully involved with Aestheticism and mixed with leading artists and writers of the day including Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley.
Conder was a fun-loving man who painted with an often humorous touch. While staying with Tom Roberts in his famous Grosvenor chambers studio, he painted "A holiday at Mentone" (1888), which shows men and women at the beach relaxing while clothed from head to foot–the men in suits and hats; the ladies in long, girdled dresses with boots and pretty hats. The man and woman at the front of the painting face away from each other, yet possibly are interested in each other, each watching the other from the corner of their eye. The mood is one of simple elegance and with a relaxed feel, as in the background people are strolling along the beach into the distance. The composition of the painting has possibly been borrowed from a work by Whistler in which a bridge similarly transects the picture. Conder among other painters such as Frederick McCubbin had been directly or indirectly influenced by Whistler.
Europe.
Conder left Australia in 1890, and spent the rest of his life in Europe, mainly Britain, but visiting France on many occasions. His art was better received in Britain than in Paris. In 1892, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted his portrait, this sketch is owned by the Aberdeen Art Gallery.
In 1895, Conder came to Dieppe, attempting to socialise among the artistic community and the English families with their attractive daughters, as described by Simona Pakenham in her study of the English people there in the century before World War I. His friends remembered him as " a sick man, unable to face reality". In spite of drunken spells and disreputable company, Conder's powers as an artist were then at their height. He made a specialty of painting on silk, relatively easy on silk fans, but he excelled on one occasion when he painted a series of white silk gowns worn by Alexandra Thaulow, wife of Norwegian painter Frits Thaulow, while she stood on a table, the gowns becoming "coloured like a field of flowers". He met Aubrey Beardsley in Dieppe, but they did not like each other. He continued to paint, but his output was severely affected by the continual poor health, including paralysis and a bout of delirium tremens.
He married a wealthy widow, Stella Maris Belford (née MacAdams) at The British Embassy Paris on 5 December 1901, giving him financial security. His later works are not nearly as well regarded critically as his earlier Australian paintings.
Later life and death.
He spent the last year of his life in a sanatorium, and died in Holloway Sanatorium of "general paresis of the insane", in modern terms tertiary syphilis. In death, Conder's work was rated highly by many notable artists, such as Pissarro and Degas.
The Canberra suburb of Conder, established in 1991, was named after him. Satirist Barry Humphries is a major aficionado and collector of the artist, and at one time had the world's largest private collection of Conder's work.


Testosterone phenylacetate

Testosterone phenylacetate (TPA; brand names Perandren, Androject) is an androgen and anabolic steroid and a testosterone ester. Analogously to estradiol benzoate having been one of the first estrogen esters to be introduced, testosterone phenylacetate was one of the first testosterone esters to be introduced. However, since its introduction, it has largely been replaced by other esters, such as testosterone propionate.
Testosterone phenylacetate was a 50 mg/mL microcrystalline aqueous suspension under the brand name Perandren. It was used at a dosage of 50 to 200 mg by intramuscular injection once every 2 to 5 weeks. The medication was used to treat hypogonadism and eunuchoidism in males and for palliation of breast cancer in females. It was developed by Ciba Pharmaceutical Company.
A study found that, measured by 17-ketosteroid excretion, 300 mg testosterone propionate in oil solution had a duration of 5 days, 300 mg testosterone propionate in aqueous suspension had a duration of 13 days, 353 mg testosterone cypionate in oil solution had a duration of 24 days, and 354 mg testosterone phenylacetate in aqueous suspension had a duration of 66 days. In 1955, testosterone phenylacetate in aqueous suspension was said to have the longest duration of any clinically used androgen marketed up to that point.
Testosterone phenylacetate in aqueous suspension by intramuscular injection, similarly to other aqueous suspension formulations, causes local injection site reactions, including local pain, swelling, and tenderness. These symptoms last for several days after the injection and then subside. These reactions do not typically occur with oil solutions. The injection site reactions were viewed as less important in the case of testosterone phenylacetate due to its prolonged duration and less frequent administration.


Richard Vahsel

Richard Vahsel (9 February 1868 – 8 August 1912) was a German naval officer who served as second officer on the Antarctic "Gauss" expedition, under command of Erich von Drygalski. In 1911, Vahsel was controversially appointed as captain of the "Deutschland", on Wilhelm Filchner's Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1913. Vahsel and Filchner proved incompatible, and the failure of their relationship fatally undermined the chances of the expedition's success.
Vahsel died during the expedition, of heart failure likely aggravated by the effects of syphilis, as "Deutschland" was drifting while trapped in the ice in the Weddell Sea. He was buried in the ice on 10 August 1912, as the ship drifted across the Antarctic Circle. Vahsel Bay, at the southern extreme of the Weddell Sea, is named after him, as are the Vahsel Glacier on Heard Island, discovered during Drygalski's expedition, and Cape Vahsel on the south-eastern coast of South Georgia.


Ellen Malcolm

Ellen R. Malcolm (born February 2, 1947) is an activist with a long career in American politics, particularly in political fundraising. She founded EMILY's List in 1985 and served as its president until 2010. Her great-grandfather is A. Ward Ford, an IBM founder.
Early life.
Malcolm grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of parents who met while working in the sales department at IBM. After her father died when she was 8 months old, she became the heir to an IBM fortune, which she was to inherit at age 21. Malcolm attended Montclair Kimberley Academy, graduating in the class of 1965. Upon entering Hollins College, an all women's school, in 1965 Malcolm says she was "apolitical" and didn't even realize the country was at war. She went to work for the campaign of Eugene McCarthy in 1968. McCarthy was a democratic and anti-war senator for the state of Minnesota. After he won the popular vote in the Democratic presidential primary, Malcolm was eager to become more involved in politics. Malcolm cites the Vietnam War, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the riots that followed, the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the counterculture of the 60's as the factors that led to her political awakening. Though both of her parents, and much of her community was Republican, Malcolm says the turmoil of the time was shocking, and she felt compelled to help make a change. In the summer of 1968 she began volunteering at the Manpower Development Program in Newark. After graduating from Hollins College in 1969, she worked for Common Cause in the 1970s.
Political activism.
Malcolm began working for Common Cause in the very early stages of the organization. She was charged with overseeing a number of volunteers who were putting pressure on representatives to end the Vietnam War. Malcolm credits her time at Common Cause with teaching her the "nuts and bolts" of campaigning.
Malcolm became the press secretary of the National Women's Political Caucus after leaving Common Cause. Through her work at the NWPC, she came to know Lael Stegall, the development director for the organization. Stegall expressed her interest to advise wealthy philanthropic women on where to direct their money. Malcolm, inheriting her fortune at age 21, was just such a woman. Malcolm's interest in giving money to worthy non-profits conflicted with her desire to advance her career based on her own merit, rather than her deep pockets. With Stegall as the executive director, together they started the Windom Fund in 1980.
After leaving the NWPC in 1979, Malcolm found work as the press secretary for Esther Peterson, who was then the special assistant for consumer affairs for the Carter administration. Malcolm cites both Peterson and Millie Jeffries, the head of the NWPC, as major influences on her political beliefs.
In 1982, Malcolm became involved with the campaign of Harriet Woods, a Democratic woman running for a spot in the US Senate. Woods lost the seat due to running out of funds a few weeks before the election, causing her television ads to lose air time. Because of her involvement in the campaign, Malcolm discovered that not a single woman had been elected to the US Senate, instead they had all been appointed. Malcolm identified the main cause of this to be insufficient funds for women's campaigns.
In 1983, Malcolm hosted a breakfast for a small number of women that she knew were interested in political activism. Together, they identified a clear goal: use early funds or seed money to elect a woman to the US Senate. This was the beginning of EMILY's List (Early Money Is Like Yeast), which Malcolm founded in 1985. EMILY's list effectively set up a donor network composed mostly of women who, in exchange for their money, got information about whom to vote for from people they knew had similar interests to themselves. These interests were clear: elect pro-choice democratic women to public office.
In 2007, she served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton's election campaign, and in 2010 she was appointed to the National Park Foundation Board of Directors.
Malcolm served as president of America Coming Together from 2003 to 2004.
Currently, Malcolm serves on the board of EMILY's list, the National Partnership for Women and Families, and the National Park Foundation.
Books.
Malcolm, along with Craig Unger, wrote "When Women Win: EMILY's List and the Rise of Women in American Politics", published in 2016.
Accolades.
She was named one of the Women of the Year by "Glamour" (1992), one of America's most influential women by "Vanity Fair" (1998), one of the 100 Most Important Women in America by "Ladies' Home Journal" (1999), one of "Time" magazine's 50 Women Who Made American Political History (2017), and Most Valuable Player by the American Association of Political Consultants, and given the Margaret Sanger Award by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.


Fred Mecklenburg

Fred Emil Mecklenburg (1935 - April 6, 2020) is an American obstetrician-gynecologist who has been active in opposition to legal abortion. He was a founder of the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, American Citizens Concerned for Life, and chairman of the National Right to Life Committee from 1973 to 1975.
Life and career.
Mecklenburg grew up in Minnesota. His wife, Marjory Mecklenburg grew up in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, and they were high school debating partners before marriage. He and his wife have four children, one of whom is Karl Mecklenburg, a former American football player for the Denver Broncos.
Mecklenburg attended University of Minnesota, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1957 and an additional degree in 1958. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1960 and was certified in obstetrics and gynaecology in 1968. His residency was interrupted when he served for two years in the United States Army Medical Corps. He served as Director of Family Planning Programs, at University of Minnesota at a time when they opened a clinic off campus for married and unmarried students seeking family planning services.
He had a practice in Edina, Minnesota until relocating to the Washington, D. C. area in 1981, when his wife was appointed by Ronald Reagan to Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She had previously served on an advisory panel for the Office of Technology Assessment investigating fertility planning technologies. She later became Director of the Office of Population Affairs where she served until 1985.
Mecklenburg held an OB/GYN position with Kaiser Permanente in Reston, Virginia in the 1980s. Mecklenburg later joined the Inova Fairfax Women's Center in Virginia, and he is currently Chairman of the OB/GYN department.
Opposition to abortion.
Mecklenburg and his wife became involved in the opposition to legal abortion in 1967. Mecklenburg served as president of the pro-life organization Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, and his wife succeeded him in that position. Mecklenburg was a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood and urged the antiabortion movement not to object to family planning.
In 1972, he authored a book chapter, "The Indications for Induced Abortion: A Physician's Perspective", which argued in part that pregnancy from rape "is extremely rare." The chapter appeared in a book titled "Abortion and Social Justice", written in response to arguments before the Supreme Court regarding legalizing abortion in "Roe v. Wade". Mecklenburg added that a woman exposed to the trauma of rape "will not ovulate even if she is 'scheduled' to." Mecklenburg said researchers in Nazi death camps observed this effect by "selecting women who were about to ovulate and sending them to the gas chambers, only to bring them back after their realistic mock-killing, to see what the effect this had on their ovulatory patterns. An extremely high percentage of these women did not ovulate." Journalist Blythe Bernhard stated, "That article has influenced two generations of anti-abortion activists with the hope to build a medical case to ban all abortions without any exception."
In 1975, Mecklenberg testified as an expert witness in a manslaughter prosecution against a Boston obstetrician, and criticized the abortion procedure used by the defendant.
In the 1980s, Marjory Mecklenburg served as president of the National Right to Life Committee.
In 1988, Pennsylvania state Republican representative Stephen Freind, claiming to rely on Mecklenburg, publicly argued that rape prevents pregnancy with the odds of pregnancy being "one in millions and millions and millions." Mecklenberg responded in a prepared statement that he regretted his opinions were used to support Freind's position. In 2012, Mecklenburg's 1972 article was mentioned as a possible source for similar comments made by U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin.


Cineffable

Cineffable is a French organization whose purpose is to promote lesbian cinema, especially through the International Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival in Paris: When lesbians make movies.
The association was born in 1989 out of the lack of sufficient spaces reserved for female homosexuality in the International Women's Film Festival of Créteil. Cineffable's goal is to organize a lesbian film festival for lesbians.
Paris International Film Festival : When Lesbians Make Movies.
Organisation.
This film festival, has been created for an exclusively female audience. Historically it has given rise to debates and meetings between participants and is a hotbed of discussion on lesbianism and feminism.
The association Cineffable is self-managed and the festival is financially independent, being self-financed since 2003. However the association receives a grant from the city of Paris under the Observatory of equality between men and women of the Paris City Hall.
History.
Created in 1989, the festival was held in 1992 and 1993 at the Cultural Center of La Clef in Paris, then at the Cultural Center André Malraux (Le Kremlin-Bicêtre) until 2000, when it took place at the theater Le Trianon. From 2010 until 2016, the festival screened l'Espace Reuilly (Paris 12e).
Since 1996, the festival has received around 7000 entries.


Tyler Curry

Tyler Curry (born September 23, 1983) is an American LGBT activist and columnist. He is the editor-at-large for "HIV Plus", a contributing editor of "The Advocate", and the creator the Needle Prick Project. The Needle Prick Project is "an editorial campaign to elicit a candid and open conversation on what it means to be HIV positive today".
Curry is a freelance columnist and fiction writer for online publications such as "The Huffington Post", "Volttage Buzz", and "Instinct". In August 2014, Curry was named as one of HIV Plus Magazine's '20 Amazing HIV-Positive Men of 2014'.
Advocacy.
A Dallas, Texas resident, Curry is on the board of the Dallas Red Foundation, "a nonprofit organization focused on providing financial support to organizations in the North Texas area that serve individuals affected by HIV/AIDS."
Curry is a senior editor and head writer at "HIV Equal Online", an online magazine described as "an international multimedia campaign that aims to end HIV stigma and promote HIV testing by creating a social art movement that changes the way people think about HIV and which reopens the national dialogue about HIV." Curry's role includes publishing editorial content for the website and working with freelance writers.
A gay man who is open about his HIV-positive status, Curry is a proponent of others who are HIV-positive addressing and owning their status, stating, "HIV isn't a character flaw, it is a reality that someone either understands or they do not." Stemming from that belief, Curry created The Needle Prick Project (TNPP) as an opening to discussions on what being HIV-positive means in today's world. As an editorial and education campaign, TNPP works for the fight against discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS. On the receiving end of discrimination due to HIV, Curry was not allowed back into South Korea after teaching English for a year. South Korea had a policy of not issuing work permits for people that have HIV, but that policy has since been amended.
In 2015, Curry released the children's book "A Peacock Among Pigeons", illustrated by Clarione Gutierrez. The book was awarded The Enchanted Page Book Award in 2016 by the Literary Classics website.
Curry supports Beat AIDS Project Zimbabwe, a group dedicated to combating HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe.
Bibliography.
Curry, Tyler. "A Peacock Among Pigeons" (2015).


Michael Bentine

Michael Bentine, (born Michael James Bentin; 26 January 1922 – 26 November 1996) was a British comedian, comic actor and founding member of the Goons. His father was a Peruvian Briton. In 1971, Bentine received the Order of Merit of Peru following his fund-raising work for the 1970 Great Peruvian earthquake.
Biography.
Bentine was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, to a Peruvian father, Adam Bentin, and a British mother, Florence Dawkins, and grew up in Folkestone, Kent. He was educated at Eton College. With the help of speech trainer, Harry Burgess, he learned to manage a stammer and subsequently developed an interest in amateur theatricals, along with the Tomlinson family, including the young David Tomlinson. He spoke fluent Spanish and French.
His father was an early aeronautical engineer for the Sopwith Aviation Company during and after World War I and invented a tensometer for setting the tension on aircraft rigging wires.
In World War II, he volunteered for all services when the war broke out (the RAF was his first choice owing to the influence of his father's experience), but was initially rejected because of his father's nationality.
He started his acting career in 1940, in a touring company in Cardiff playing a juvenile lead in "Sweet Lavender". He went on to join Robert Atkin's Shakespearean company in Regent's Park, London, until he was called up for service in the RAF. He was appearing in a Shakespearean play in doublet and hose in the open-air theatre in London's Hyde Park when two RAF MPs marched on stage and arrested him for desertion. Unknown to him, an RAF conscription notice had been following him for a month as his company toured.
Once in the RAF he went through flying training. He was the penultimate man going through a medical line receiving inoculations for typhoid with the other flight candidates in his class (they were going to Canada to receive new aircraft) when the vaccine ran out. They refilled the bottle to inoculate him and the other man as well. By mistake they loaded a pure culture of typhoid. The other man died immediately, and Bentine was in a coma for six weeks. When he regained consciousness his eyesight was ruined, leaving him myopic for the rest of his life. Since he was no longer physically qualified for flying, he was transferred to RAF Intelligence and seconded to MI9, a unit that was dedicated to supporting resistance movements and helping prisoners escape. His immediate superior was the Colditz escapee Airey Neave.
At the end of the war, he took part in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He said about this experience:
Millions of words have been written about these horror camps, many of them by inmates of those unbelievable places. I’ve tried, without success, to describe it from my own point of view, but the words won’t come. To me Belsen was the ultimate blasphemy. ("The Reluctant Jester", Chapter 17.)
Comedy career.
After the war Bentine decided to become a comedian and worked in the Windmill Theatre where he met Harry Secombe. He specialised in off-the-wall humour, often involving cartoons and other types of animation. His acts included giving lectures in an invented language called Slobodian, "Imaginative Young Man with a Walking Stick" and "The Chairback", with a broken chairback having a number of uses from comb to machine gun and taking on a demoniacal life of its own. Peter Sellers told him this was the inspiration for the prosthetic arm routine in "Dr Strangelove". This act led to his engagement by Val Parnell to appear in the Starlight Roof revues starring Vic Oliver, where he met and married his second wife Clementina, with whom he had four children. Also on the bill were Fred Emney and a young Julie Andrews.
He co-founded "The Goon Show" radio show with Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe, but appeared in only the first 38 shows on the BBC Light Programme from 1951 to 1953. The first of these shows were actually called "Crazy People" and subtitled "The Junior Crazy Gang"; the term "Goon" was used as the headline of a review of Bentine's act by "Picture Post" dated 5 November 1948. Only one of this first series (and very few of the following three in which he did not appear) has survived, the rest of the original disc recordings having apparently been destroyed or discarded as no longer usable, so there is almost no record of his work as a radio "Goon". He also appeared in the "Goon Show" film "Down Among the Z Men".
In 1951 Bentine was invited to the United States to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show". On his return he parted amicably from his partners and continued touring in variety, remaining close to Secombe and Sellers for the rest of his life. In 1972, Secombe and Sellers told Michael Parkinson that Bentine was "always calling everyone a genius" and, since he was the only one of the four with a "proper education", they always believed him.
His first appearances on television were as presenter on a 13-part children's series featuring remote controlled puppets, "The Bumblies", which he also devised, designed and wrote. These were three small creatures from outer space who slept on "Professor Bentine's" ceiling and who had come to Earth to learn the ways of Earthling children. Angelo de Calferta modelled the puppets from Bentine's designs and Richard Dendy moulded them in latex rubber. He sold the series to the BBC for less than they had cost to make. He then spent two years touring in Australia (1954–55).
On his return to Britain in 1954, he worked as a scriptwriter for Peter Sellers and then on 39 episodes of his own radio show "Round the Bend in 30 Minutes", which has also been wiped from the BBC archive. He then teamed up with Dick Lester to devise a series of six TV programmes "Before Midnight" for Associated British Corporation (ABC) in Birmingham in 1958. This led to a 13-programme series called "After Hours" in which he appeared alongside Dick Emery, Clive Dunn, David Lodge, Joe Gibbons and Benny Lee. The show featured the "olde English sport of drats, later known as nurdling". Some of the sketches were adapted into a stage revue, "Don't Shoot, We're British". He also appeared in the film comedy "Raising a Riot", starring Kenneth More, which featured his five-year-old daughter "Fusty". He joked that she got better billing.
From 1960 to 1964, he had a television series, "It's a Square World", which won a BAFTA award in 1962 and Grand Prix de la Presse at Montreux in 1963. A prominent feature of the series was the imaginary flea circus where plays were enacted on tiny sets using nothing but special effects to show the movement of things too small to see and sounds with Bentine's commentary. One, titled "The Beast of the Black Bog Tarn", was set in a (miniature) haunted house.
He was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in April 1963 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre.
In 1969–70 he was presenter of "The Golden Silents" on BBC TV, which attempted authentic showings of silent films, without the commentaries with which they were usually shown on television before then.
From 1974 to 1980 he wrote, designed, narrated and presented the children's television programme "Michael Bentine's Potty Time" and made one-off comedy specials.
From January to May 1984 Bentine put out 11 half-hour episodes, in two series, of "The Michael Bentine Show" on Radio 4. These have subsequently been repeated, several times, on the BBC's archive radio station BBC7 (now BBC Radio 4 Extra).
He was the writer of 16 best-selling novels, comedies and non-fiction books. Four of his books, "The Long Banana Skin" (1975), "The Door Marked Summer" (1981), "Doors to the Mind" and "The Reluctant Jester" (1992) are autobiographical.
Other interests.
In 1968, travelling on the British Hovercraft Corporation (BHC) SR.N6, "GH–2012", Bentine took part in the first hovercraft expedition up the River Amazon.
In 1995, Bentine received a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II "for services to entertainment". He was also a holder of the Peruvian Order of Merit (as was his grandfather, Don ) for his work leading the fundraising for the Peruvian Earthquake Appeal.
Bentine was a crack pistol shot and helped to start the idea of a counter-terrorist wing within 22 SAS Regiment. In doing so, he became the first non-SAS person ever to fire a gun inside the close-quarters battle training house at Hereford.
His interests included parapsychology. This was as a result of his and his family's extensive research into the paranormal, which resulted in his writing "The Door Marked Summer" and "The Doors of the Mind". He was, for the final years of his life, president of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena.
On 14 December 1977, he appeared with Arthur C. Clarke on Patrick Moore's BBC "The Sky at Night" programme. The broadcast was entitled "Suns, Spaceships and Bug-Eyed Monsters" – a light-hearted look at how science fiction had become science fact, as well as how ideas of space travel had become reality through the 20th century. In the opening of the programme, Moore introduces Bentine with Bentine confirming that he was the possessor of a "Readers Digest Degree". This remark was typical of Bentine's comic approach to most things in life that concealed his knowledge of science. Bentine appeared in a subsequent broadcast on a similar theme with Moore in 1980. Following the death of Arthur C. Clarke, "BBC Sky at Night" magazine released a copy of the 1977 archive programme on the cover of their May 2008 edition.
Family and health.
Bentine was married twice. With his first wife Marie Barradell, married 1941–1947, he had a daughter:
In 1949, he married his second wife, Clementina Stuart, a Royal Ballet dancer. They had four children:
Of his five children, the two eldest daughters, Elaine and Marylla, died from cancer (breast cancer and lymphoma) in the 1980s. His elder son, Stuart, was killed with a pilot friend when a Piper PA-18 Super Cub crashed into a hillside at Ditcham Park Woods near Petersfield, Hampshire, on 28 August 1971. Their bodies and the aircraft were not found until October 1971. The AAIB after an 11-month investigation found that the aircraft went into clouds when taking action to avoid power cables while flying low in poor visibility, and subsequently, went out of control. Bentine's subsequent investigation into regulations governing private airfields resulted in his writing a report for Special Branch into the use of personal aircraft in smuggling operations. He fictionalised much of the material in his novel "Lords of the Levels".
From 1975 until his death in 1996, he and his wife spent their winters at a second home in Palm Springs, California, US.
Shortly before his death from prostate cancer at the age of 74, he was visited in hospital by Prince Charles.
Programmes.
Some of the programmes Bentine appeared in were:


Randy Neugebauer

Robert Randolph "Randy" Neugebauer (born December 24, 1949) is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for , having served from a special election in 2003 to 2017. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes a large swath of West Texas, including Lubbock and Abilene. According to a 2011 survey by the "National Journal", Neugebauer was "the most conservative" member of the House.
On September 17, 2015, Neugebauer announced he would not seek reelection to an eighth term in 2016.
Early life, education and career.
Neugebauer was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and reared in Lubbock. His father was an insurance salesman and his mother a real estate agent and interior designer. He has two brothers, Jon and Bradley, and a sister, Virginia Volpe. When Randy was nine years old, his parents divorced, and his father died in 1985 after remarrying. In 1963, his mother married Joe W. Smith, a bank manager. Neugebauer graduated from Coronado High School and later from Texas Tech University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the College of Business Administration (now Rawls College of Business).
Like his mother, Neugebauer has long been involved in the real estate business, having served as president of the development company Lubbock Land before his election to Congress. He is a former president of the Texas Association of Builders from 1996 to 1997.
Early political career.
From 1992 to 1998, Neugebauer was a Lubbock city councilman. He was mayor "pro tempore" from 1994 to 1996. While involved in Lubbock government, Neugebauer worked to reduce taxes and to privatize municipal services.
U.S. House of Representatives.
"Baby Killer" remark.
On March 21, 2010, during the debate in the House of Representatives of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Neugebauer yelled out "Baby killer!" The remark was believed to have been directed at Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, a leader of the anti-abortion Democrats in the House, who was discussing a motion filed by the Republicans. While immediate inquiries began to determine who shouted the words, more than 12 hours later, on March 22, 2010, Neugebauer publicly identified himself as the person, apologized for the incident and argued that his words were "It's a baby killer", referring to the bill, not Stupak himself.
However, reporters and others in the room insisted Neugebauer precisely shouted "Baby killer!", referring to Stupak. Stupak said that he does not "buy" Neugebauer's description of the outburst, said his words were "very clear", and believes Neugebauer should apologize for his remark on the floor of the US House. In contrast to Neugebauer's "baby killer" comment, Stupak and the Politifact watchdog group agree, "there will be no public funding of abortion in this legislation" that Neugebauer detests.
The "New York Times" and "Colorado Springs Gazette" have compared Neugebauer's comment to Joe Wilson shouting "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's September 2009 address to Congress, and to racial and sexual slurs said to have been shouted at Democratic legislators outside the Capitol building by members of the public who opposed the bill during the 48 hours preceding Neugebauer's March 21, 2010, outburst. Neugebauer's comment was covered by media worldwide, including Canada's "Maclean's" magazine, the United Kingdom's "The Times", and Australia's "Sydney Morning Herald".
Legislation sponsored.
Neugebauer has sponsored the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 1155; 113th Congress) (), a bill meant to reduce the regulatory costs of complying with multiple states' requirements for insurance companies, making it easier for the same corporation to operate in multiple states. The bill would transform the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB) into a clearing house that set up its own standards that insurance companies would be required to meet in order to do business in other states. In this new system, however, the insurance company would only have to meet the requirements of their home state and the NARAB (only two entities), not their home state and every other state they wished to operate in (multiple entities).
Proponents of the bill argued that it would help lower costs for insurance companies and make insurance cheaper for people to buy. It passed the House on September 10, 2013.
On April 26, 2013, Neugebauer introduced the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014 (H.R. 1786; 113th Congress), a bill that would reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP), which was created to improve the understanding of windstorms and their impacts and to develop measures to reduce the damage they cause.
National World War II Memorial confrontation.
On October 2, 2013, during the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, Neugebauer publicly scolded a National Park Service ranger who was enforcing the agency's closure of the National World War II Memorial due to the lapse in appropriations. His actions were widely criticized in the media, and he has responded that the phrase "The Park Service should be ashamed of themselves" was taken out of context.
Political campaigns.
Neugebauer was elected to Congress after a hotly contested special election runoff in the spring of 2003. The seat came open after 18-year Republican incumbent Larry Combest announced his retirement not long after having been reelected to a 10th term in 2002. Although Combest had been the only Republican ever to represent this district, the 19th has long been one of the most conservative areas of Texas (indeed, in the entire nation), and it was virtually taken for granted that Combest would be succeeded by another Republican. The 19th has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964, and Combest's first bid for the seat was the only time in the previous two decades that a Democrat won more than 40 percent of the vote.
Neugebauer was one of seven candidates to run in the primary, all Republicans, though the district was so heavily Republican that any Democratic candidate would have faced nearly impossible odds in any event. Neugebauer stressed his conservative credentials; he described himself as a "pro-family, pro-life Christian who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" and believed that "our region's most precious resources are our values."
Neugebauer led the primary field, but finished well short of a majority. He was forced into a runoff with Mike Conaway of Midland, the chairman of the Texas Board of Public Accountancy and a friend of President George W. Bush. In a close third-place finish in the first round of balloting was then-State Representative Carl Isett of Lubbock. In the runoff election, Neugebauer defeated Conaway by only 587 votes, becoming only the fourth person to represent the 19th since its creation in 1935. Soon afterward in 2004, Conaway won election to Congress in the newly reconfigured 11th District.
Neugebauer ran for a full term in 2004, facing 26-year incumbent Democrat Charles Stenholm of Abilene. Stenholm had previously represented the Abilene-based 17th District, but that district had been dismantled in the 2003 Texas redistricting. The largest chunk of Stenholm's former territory, including most of Abilene, was thrown into Neugebauer's district. Although Stenholm had more seniority, the new district retained about 60 percent of Neugebauer's former territory, a disadvantage Stenholm was unable to overcome despite his seniority. Neugebauer won by 18 points, and was reelected four more times with little substantive opposition, each time taking well over 60 percent of the vote.
2010.
In the 2010 Texas House of Representatives election, Neugebauer supported the election of the conservative Jim Landtroop to the District 85 seat. Landtroop had worked in past Neugebauer campaigns and is a member of the congressman's campaign finance committee. Landtroop upset the Democratic incumbent Joseph P. Heflin of Crosbyton but was himself unseated after one term in a revised district by Republican Ken King of Canadian in Hemphill County.
2012.
Neugebauer faced opposition in the May 29 Republican primary from Chris Winn, who resigned as the Lubbock County Republican chairman to enter the race. Neugebauer defeated Winn, 45,372 (74.3%) to 15,675 (25.7%).
2014.
In December 2013, Chris Winn announced that he would again challenge Neugebauer in the Republican primary scheduled for March 4, 2014. A third Lubbock Republican also filed for the seat, Donald R. May, a retired retinal surgeon. Neugebauer easily won re-nomination to a seventh term in the House. He polled 39,584 votes (64.4 percent); May and Winn trailed with 14,486 votes (23.6 percent) and 7,422 (12.1 percent), respectively.
2017.
Press reports indicated that Neugebauer was under consideration to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the incoming Trump Administration. The job was ultimately given to Mick Mulvaney.
Campaign funding.
During the first seven years of his political career, from 2003 to February 2010, he has raised $6.4 million, most of these funds coming from the oil and gas, real estate, commercial banking and crop production/processing industries, and leadership PACs. His largest corporate and association donors have been the National Auto Dealers Association, National Association of Home Builders, Quantum Energy Partners, the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the National Association of Realtors. Outspoken against abortion during Congress' debate on health care reform legislation, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Neugebauer has received a total of $3,000 during his career from people and committees associated with pro-life groups.
Investigation.
In October 2015, the Campaign for Accountability asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Neugebauer for allegations of bribery and illegal gratuity related to $8,000 given to Neugebauer by Pay Day Loan financers for his co-sponsorship of H.R.1121 - Responsible Consumer Financial Protection Regulations Act of 2011 which provided additional protection and lack of regulation to Pay Day Loan lenders.
Personal life.
Neugebauer married his high school sweetheart, the former Dana Collins, and they have two sons, Todd Neugebauer, President of Aspect Holdings, LLC, and Toby Neugebauer, the co-CEO of Quantum Energy Partners. They also have four grandchildren. As of 2010, Neugebauer served as a deacon at a Southern Baptist church.


AIDS Information Centre

AIDS Information Centre-Uganda (AIC) is a Non-Governmental Organization in Uganda established in 1990 to provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) for Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). The Organization was founded as a result of growing demand from people who wanted to know their HIV status. At this time the HIV/AIDS in Uganda was high.
AIC currently offers HIV counselling and testing services through 8 branches of Kampala, Jinja, Mbale, Mbarara, Arua, Lira, Soroti and Kabale, selected hospitals, health centres, and antenatal clinics. AIC also conducts HCT outreaches to communities and institutions targeting the Most-at risk populations. AIC supported the Uganda Ministry of Health to extend HCT services nearer to the communities by supporting HCT in 33 districts in Uganda with over 200 district health facilities benefiting.
By December 2010 AIC had served over 2,959,193 clients. The number keeps growing and for the last 3 years over 300,000 clients annually are being served using the different approaches for HCT.
To consolidate its HIV counselling and Testing services in the country, AIC has adopted a new vision as ‘Universal knowledge of HIV status in Uganda’ and its mission as ‘to provide HIV and AIDS information and quality HCT services’ and this will be through to 2015.
How AIC works.
AIC is now a membership organisation, with a functional Board of Trustees (BOT), 8 Branch Advisory Committees (BACs) and just over 3000 members all over Uganda. Headed by the Executive Director, AIC now employs 140 full-time staff that include Managers, coordinators, supervisors, medical and no medical counselors and medical officers and support staff.
AIC has a wide range of stakeholders with whom it works including government ministries, development partners and other agencies involved in HIV and AIDS work. Major stakeholders include Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DFID), European Union (EU), Ministry of Health (MoH), Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), the AIDS Support Organization (TASO), District Local Governments among others.
Services offered by AIC.
HIV counselling and Testing Services.
AIC uses a multi-faceted approach in order to increase accessibility and HCT utilisation. Client initiated HCT is provided at the 8 AIC stand alone branches and outreaches. Targeted outreaches for the Most At Risk Populations (MARPs) are also conducted for these hard to reach populations that included commercial sex workers, Long Distance Truck Drivers and their clients, Fishing communities and Institutions of Higher learning. Commercial sex workers access HCT services during the peak hours of service delivery in order to benefit their clients. The truck drivers with their "service providers" are also another target group that AIC serves during evenings and nights at their transit stations. This HCT service delivery strategy is now referred to as the "Moonlight HCT services". For distant areas with difficult terrain, the community camping strategy is used. This is where HCT service providers camp in a community and provide services from the community for several days. This strategy is cost effective in terms of fuel, wear and tear and ensured service delivery to all potential clients. This strategy also promotes community involvement as mobilisation is done through the existing community structures. HCT is also offered to pregnant women both at the branches and at the supported health units where HCT is offered to all pregnant women as part of their routine ante-natal medical check up.
HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) service are offered daily (even on Sundays and public holidays on appointments) at an affordable user fee in AIC main branches. Free HCT is also provided to children and youth below 24 years of age and Most At Risk Population. AIC is currently the largest single Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) HCT service provider in the country contributing at least 26 -30% of the total number of individuals tested for HIV in the country in any a given year.
Palliative care.
AIC contributes to the goal of the National Strategic Plan in care and treatment by offering Palliative Care Basic –Health Care (PCBHC). PCBHC includes psychosocial support, screening for and treatment of opportunistic infections (including Tuberculosis), as well as the provision of the basic health care package. The basic health care package includes prevention of malaria, respiratory and central nervous system diseases among PLHAs.
Psychosocial Support.
Clients that are HIV positive are encouraged to live positively. This is provided by counselors to clients during one on one session or in Post Test clubs.
TB/HIV Integration.
AIC is guided by the National Policy guidelines for TB/HIV collaborative activities in Uganda. The overall goal of the policy is to decrease the burden of tuberculosis and HIV in Uganda through improved TB and HIV collaborative interventions. AIC employs a screening tool developed in collaboration with Centres for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) to screen HIV positive clients for TB This is done in the 8 branches of AIC and the supported sites
Screening and treatment of other opportunistic Infections.
AIC screens and treats sexually transmitted infections like syphilis and Herpes simplex type II and other opportunistic infections like skin infections, pneumonias and others in all its eight branches. Among the integrated services offered are education and counseling on Reproductive health issues for the HIV positive and offering of Family Planning (FP) suitable to individual circumstances and choice.
Basic Care Packages (BCP).
HIV positive clients receives basic care packages consisting of mosquito nets, water guard chemical and a safe water vessel, condoms, Septrin for prophylaxis and reading material on psychosocial counseling to all HIV positive clients. This Package helps in prevention of malaria, respiratory, central nervous system diseases among PLHAs. This was achieved through partnership with PSI.
Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis.
A daily dose of Cotrimoxazole has been proven to prolong life (25-50% decrease in mortality) and reduce the incidence of malaria, diarrhoea, toxoplasmosis, certain respiratory infections, blood infections (Septicaemia) and other illnesses affecting PLHA.
CD4 Monitoring.
AIC started offering this service in 2004 at AIC Kampala but has now expanded to cover all the 8 branches. The service is offered to the all HIV positive clients after VCT and are able to pay the user fee for the CD4/CD8+ count, any client with evidence of a positive HIV test and referral document from a recognized centre and clients already on ARVS with referral for monitoring.
Research and Documentation.
AIC being the pioneer HCT organization in Uganda, and with over 20 years of work, AIC is well placed to play a leading role in driving or influencing policy and practice in the area of HCT. AIC has made deliberate efforts to promote its corporate image among its clients, development partners and central government agencies.
AIC conducts operational research to generate answers to emerging questions and provide evidence-based data on HCT. Through its research and documentation activities with its partners, AIC has supported to the public to access evidence-based information on HCT and its related services through various channels, including the print materials, radio, video, the resource centre and website.
Capacity Building for HIV Counselling and Testing.
AIC trains HIV/AIDS Counselors, Trainer of Trainers, Counselor supervisors, Laboratory technicians, Data entrants, Voluntary counseling and testing promoters, and People living with HIV/AIDS who have accepted to go public. AIC provides training within and outside Uganda in HCT; HIV prevention, care, adherence, and support.
Youth Friendly Services.
AIC provides specially designed HCT to meet the special needs of young people, aged 12 to 24 free of charge with same day results. This followed a study conducted to identify opportunities and barriers for providing VCT to youth. With trained peer counselors, a private waiting room and lab, the environment is youth friendly, satisfying the need for privacy. Youth can also access all other AIC services including referral to youth friendly service organizations. AIC also provides HCT for children below age 12. To date AIC has established seven youth corners at seven AIC branches.
HIV Prevention Programme.
AIC has continued to contribute towards the national efforts to fight the drivers of the epidemic. Appropriate messages are delivered depending on the nature of the client and community.
Abstinence, Be faithful and condom use.
Abstinence messages encourage young clients to abstain or delay their sex debut. The messages delivered give the client the advantages of abstaining, and give role models in society who abstained and have been successful in their lives. AIC delivers abstinence messages to young people in and out of school through educational talks, music and drama outreaches and HIV counseling sessions at HCT service delivery sites.
Recent studies indicate an escalating HIV prevalence among people who are currently married or cohabiting and those that have ever been married. Statistics from the AIC database corroborate these findings. AIC uses community dialogues, music and drama and HIV counseling in the provision of "Be faithful" messages to the target audience who are sexually active clients.
The need for promotion of correct and consistent use of condoms remains vital because majority of high risk populations (MARPS) do not know the correct use of the condoms while those that know, do not use them consistently. Condoms are distributed through PTC condom distribution outlets, AIC branch offices and other targeted points such as bars and lodges.
Know Your HIV Status Clubs.
The Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), 2006 indicated that although most people had some knowledge about HIV only about 30 percent of women and 40 percent of men had comprehensive knowledge. In order to bridge this gap and increase comprehensive knowledge about HIV and to increase access to care and support for clients who have tested HIV positive, AIC established the Know Your HIV Status Clubs at parish level in 9 districts of Uganda in 2010.
A Know Your HIV Status Club (KYHSC) is an association of 20 members at parish level who have been selected by the community to pass on messages to households on HIV and AIDS prevention and care. These members are drawn from the existing district structures such as Village Health Teams, Community Resource Persons, PHA Network Support Agents, Post Test Club members and other structures. The major role of the twenty members is to disseminate information on comprehensive HIV and AIDS prevention package at household level.
Post Test Services.
The AIC Post Test Club (PTC) was established on August 4, 1990, in support of the national effort to prevent further spread of HIV and AIDS and to provide psychosocial support to those infected and affected by HIV. The purpose of the club is to respond to the expressed needs of the clients for ongoing support services. The major objective is to offer on-going psychosocial support to the members irrespective of their HIV status. All the eight AIC regional centres have PTC's and over 20 district based PTCs in Uganda are supported .
The services range from on-going support counseling, educational talks, condom promotion, community mobilization to distribution of Information Education Communication (IEC) materials among others.
AIC Couple Club.
In the recent past, AIC realized that the cases of HIV discordance among couples were on the rise. HIV test results showed that at least 8% of all couples tested have one HIV positive while the other is negative. The Couple Club support couples socially and psychologically, enabling them cope with denial, avoid blame, or violence. At the Discordant Couple Club, AIC provide: Ongoing psychosocial support; continuous education to prevent the infection of the HIV negative partner; peer psychosocial support groups through sharing experiences; promote positive living and provide education on treatment options. We also impart income generation skills for many of the clients.
Philly Lutaaya Initiative (PLI).
The PLI was established in September 1991 through the collaborative efforts of TASO, World Learning Inc., AIC and UNICEF. PLI was formed after the death of the renowned Ugandan musician Philly Lutaaya Bongole the first Ugandan to publicly declare that he was infected with HIV. The objective of the PLI was to bring the reality of HIV and AIDS to the general affected communities and to demonstrate that people living with HIV and AIDS (PHAs) can lead a healthy and productive life.


Niki Chow

Niki Chow (周勵淇, previously 周麗淇; born August 30, 1979) is a Hong Kong actress and singer.
Early life.
Chow was born and raised in Hong Kong. She is fluent in Mandarin. However, netizens have pointed that her Cantonese pronunciation is less than perfect. This is because she grew up speaking Shanghainese in her family. She is the younger sister of the Hong Kong model . Niki's school life ended when she was spotted by an agent who offered her a modeling opportunity. This was the beginning of her life as an artist. She was just about 17 years old at that time.
Acting career.
Several years later, she began her acting career in movies and television series, working mostly with TVB. Cast by Amy Wong, her first TVB series was "Hard Fate". She is well known for her role and performance in Producer Lau Ka Ho's 2005 series "The Gentle Crackdown", which stars Moses Chan and her. She won the Most Improved Actress award at the TVB Anniversary Awards (2005) for her performance in "The Gentle Crackdown". Amy Wong's "Under the Canopy of Love", starring Kevin Cheng, Bosco Wong and her, in the February of the following year also helped establish her popularity. An indirect sequel with the same cast and crew, "The Seventh Day", came out February 2008. Her on-screen partnership with Kevin Cheng was well received by the audience in the years 2004–2008, along with rumours of the two dating in real life (until 2008). Her other series include "The King of Snooker" in 2009, with Adam Cheng and Patrick Tang. She filmed "Sakura Memories" (櫻紅醉), a travel documentary programme on Japan, in the spring of 2009 which aired on TVB in August 2009.
Music career.
Niki signed with BMA Records in 2005 and released her debut EP "Pure Niki" in the August of that year. In 2006, she released "Child-Woman" and a single "Nikikaka". In January 2009, she released "Redefine". In August 2010, she released a charity single "Make a Wish" with proceeds donated to an organization called Make-A-Wish Hong Kong. As well, in November 2010, she released her last EP under BMA Records: "F.L.Y." (which stands for Freedom, Love, and Youth).
Writing career.
She is also the author of several books, including "Girlfriend Diary" (周麗淇·女朋友手記; 2005), a book of the same title as her 2006 album "The Child Woman" (2006), "Detailed Little Things" (細味心事; 2007), "Happiness" (幸福; 2009), and "Cherish" (珍惜; 2010). Her books are published under BMA Publications.


James Robison (televangelist)

James Robison (born October 9, 1943) is an American televangelist and the founder and President of the Christian relief organization Life Outreach International.
Biography.
Early life and ministry.
Robison was born and raised in Pasadena, Texas; a city outside of Houston. Robison's mother, Myra Wattinger, was 40 years old at the time she gave birth to him. Robison has revealed that he was the product of rape and that his mother placed an ad in the Houston newspaper for a Christian couple to take care of him.
H.D. Hale, a local area pastor, and his wife answered the ad and took Robison in, after which he became a born again Christian at one of Hale's church services at the age of 14. He has talked often about his childhood, about the strained relationship with his biological father, who was an alcoholic, and whom he would wind up confronting in a violent manner at the age of 15. Robison eventually met his wife, Betty Freeman, while a student at Pasadena High School, and they wed on February 23, 1963, when both were 19.
Two years later, in 1965, the couple graduated with honors from Middle Tennessee State University. The couple, who now host the daily television program "LIFE Today", started their ministry together in late 1965 and then went into full-time television ministry, through the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, in 1968. James and Betty have three children and 11 grandchildren, and reside in Fort Worth, where their program "LIFE Today" and their ministry "LIFE Outreach" are based. They lost their daughter Robin to throat cancer in late 2012.
Dominionism.
In 1979, Robison lost his regular slot on WFAA-TV in Dallas for preaching a sermon calling homosexuality a sin. He had already made a name for himself when he called "for God's people to come out of the closet" and take back the nation. In response, Robison organized a "Freedom Rally" at the Dallas Convention Center that attracted 10,000 people. According to Mike Huckabee, who was Robison's communications director at the time, that rally was the genesis of Moral Majority.
Robison eventually rose to become one of the more prominent and popular conservative religious leaders in politics during the early 1980s. Some suggested he could, in time, inherit the vaunted mantle held by Reverend Graham. However, in the mid-1980s, Robison abruptly withdrew from his political activities. He instead began focusing on his own church community, on church unity, and on seeking forgiveness.
By his own admission, his demanding schedule had consumed him, and the popularity he had so quickly achieved, together with an increasing desire for more such admiration, had changed him into someone he no longer recognized and did not like. This opinion was held doubly by his wife, Betty. Around this time he changed his religious views from evangelicalism to the charismatic movement, leaving the Southern Baptist Convention in the process
He with his Betty are members of Gateway Church, the DFW megachurch pastored by Robert Morris.
Recently, however, Robison has become active in social conservative circles once again. In 2010, he convened a meeting in Dallas with several prominent conservative religious leaders, including Richard Land and Tony Perkins, in order to make plans to replace Barack Obama with a more socially conservative president in 2012.
"LIFE Today" TV program.
The Robisons' TV program, the daily television program "LIFE Today", airs around the world on various television networks, both secular and Christian, such as Trinity Broadcasting Network, and Daystar. It can also be seen on internet podcasts, as well as the Life Outreach International official website. "LIFE Today" often features guest interviews, musical guests such as Christian recording artists Sandi Patti, Steven Curtis Chapman, Larnelle Harris, as well as mission outreaches. Past guests have included actor Robert Duvall, singer Randy Travis, US President George W. Bush, baseball pitcher Andy Pettitte and other Christian celebrities.
It also features real stories from various guest viewers; people who are ministry partners, their life stories, how they converted to Christ, and how their faith impacts their lives. The third-world mission outreaches include distributing emergency food, drilling water wells, establishing orphanages, rescuing girls from sex trafficking, providing medical care, and abortion alternatives. James Robison also advocates for the pro-life movement and stated on his TV show that he "is the product of his mother's rape and a good life and future is still possible through God regardless of such inconvenient circumstances."
Christian retreat.
In 1974, the James Robison Evangelistic Association purchased a hunting and fishing lodge near Hawkins, Texas, which the association developed into Brookhaven Retreat, a not-for-profit Christian camp and retreat center, still in operation today under different management.
Literary works.
Since 1962, while he was still in college, Robison has spoken to millions of people—first through crusade evangelism, and now today through television. He has authored more than a dozen books, including "True Prosperity", "Thank God I'm Free" and "My Father's Face". His book "The Absolutes: Freedom's Only Hope" (Tyndale House), "Living In Love" (Waterbrook Multnomah), "Indivisible" (Hachette), and "God of All Creation" (Waterbrook Multnomah).
The Stream.
In 2015, Robison launched The Stream, based in Fort Worth, Texas, a "national daily where those concerned about our nation's perilous course can gather for news, wisdom and inspiration."


Erika Bachiochi

Erika Bachiochi is a pro-life feminist legal scholar and fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her BA is from Middlebury College, her MA in Theology as a Bradley Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Politics and Religion at Boston College, and she received a law degree from Boston University School of Law. She has edited "Women, Sex & the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching" and "The Cost of Choice: Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion".


Gaetano Kagwa

Gaetano Jjuko Kagwa is a Ugandan actor and broadcaster. He currently co-hosts a breakfast show "Gaetano & Lucky in the Morning" at 91.3 Capital FM with Lucky Mbabazi as well a judge on East Africa's Got Talent alongside Dj Makeda, Jeff Koinange and Vanessa Mdee.
He played Abe Sakku on Nana Kagga's TV series, Beneath The Lies - The Series. He rose to fame when he represented Uganda in the first edition of "Big Brother Africa" in 2003. He has also hosted the television show "Studio 53" on Mnet. Between the years 2004 to 2008, Gaetano was the host of the "Capital in the Morning Show" on Kenyan radio station 98.4 Capital FM.
Gaetano was born Gaetano Jjuko Kagwa on 22 June 1972 in Kampala, Uganda. Gaetano moved to Kenya when he was five years old and then to Lesotho when he was nine. It was in Lesotho that he completed his high school education. In 1993, he joined the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA where he graduated with a degree in political science in 1997.
Gaetano's career as a radio presenter goes back several years before signing up with Kenya's Capital FM. Prior to moving to neighboring country Kenya as a radio presenter, Gaetano worked for Capital FM Uganda as well as "Vision Voice", a Ugandan radio station.
Big Brother Africa.
While a third year law student at Makerere University, Gaetano kaggwa went to represent Uganda in the premier "Big Brother Africa" series in 2003. Gaetano made it to the final day of the competition, finishing in fourth place ahead of Namibian representative Stefan Ludik but behind Botswana's Warona Setshwaelo.
He is most remembered for starting a romantic relationship with South African housemate Abby Plaatjes. While at the house, Gaetano won the chance to swap places with "Big Brother UK" contestant Cameron Stout. He won the chance to swap places to the UK house after he won a cocktail making challenge. His stint at the UK house caused media outrage when he called representative Tania a "piggy", something that made her shed tears and threaten to leave the house for good.
Personal life.
Gaetano married Enid Kushemeza in August 2009. Gaetano has for most of his life been an advocate of awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS and, in 2007, he was appointed UNAIDS special representative.


Jade Elektra

Jade Elektra (born Alphonso King Jr.) is a Black queer and HIV activist, drag queen, singer, recording artist (DJ Relentless), and stage performer originally from Tampa, Florida, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jade is openly living with HIV and through activism and outreach, has strived to make a positive impact for HIV-positive, queer people of colour, and LGBTQ communities in Toronto and around the world. Jade is a founder of POZPLANET and POZ-TO, which fight HIV/AIDS stigma by hosting social events, partnering with AIDS Service Organizations, and fundraising for community-based HIV/AIDS organizations.
Jade is a Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research ambassador. Her local performance of "Undetectable," a rendition of the Nat King Cole's classic "Unforgettable," has led to her performing this song for the U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) campaign at various events, including the U.S. Conference on AIDS in Washington D.C. in 2019.
Jade is married to John Richard Allan and lives in Toronto.


Leon Benoit

Leon Earl Benoit (born July 7, 1950) is a Canadian politician.
Career.
Benoit was a Conservative Party of Canada Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Vegreville—Wainwright from 2004 to 2015, Lakeland from 1997 to 2004 and Vegreville from 1993 to 1997. He has also been a member of the Canadian Alliance (2000-2003) and the Reform Party of Canada (1993-2000). Benoit is a former economist and farmer. As an Opposition MP Benoit was the official opposition critic of Public Works and Government Services and of the Canadian Wheat Board, Intergovernmental Affairs, Citizenship and Immigration, and National Defence.
In May 2007 when Benoit was the chair of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade he came under scrutiny when he adjourned the committee after the opposition overruled him. His move was "unprecedented". After he abruptly adjourned the committee, the Vice-Chair took over and the meeting resumed after he and three of the four other Conservative members had left.
The meeting had to do with North American Energy Security. Gordon Laxer presented a talk in which he questioned why Canada's oil exports were being used to guarantee US energy security, as opposed to Canada using its energy resources to provide for the security of Canadians first, and then others. Benoit felt Laxer had not been on topic.
Regarding the Citizen's Arrest and Self-Defence Act, Benoit stated that the legislation would expand the circumstances in which citizens can make arrests, as well as it simplifies the self-defense and defense of property provisions in the Criminal Code.
In 2013, Benoit joined two other Conservative MPs (Saskatchewan MP Maurice Vellacott and Ontario MP Wladyslaw Lizon) in writing a letter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police requesting a homicide investigation into some late term abortions that may have resulted in live births. The letter was criticized as an attempt to reopen the abortion debate. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "I think all members of this House, whether they agree with it or not, understand that abortion is legal in Canada and this government, myself included, have made it very clear that the government does not intend to change the law in this regard." In 2017 Benoit endorsed Brad Trost for the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election he was the first MP in 2017 to have endorsed Trost before Maurice Vellacott in April 2017.


Maximum androgen blockade

Maximum or maximal androgen blockade (MAB) or complete or combined androgen blockade (CAB) is a medical treatment involving the combination of both androgen receptor (AR) antagonism and inhibition or suppression of androgen production to attain maximal effectiveness in androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). An example of MAB is the combination of bicalutamide, an AR antagonist, with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogue such as leuprorelin or cetrorelix. MAB was developed for and is employed in the treatment of prostate cancer.
Triple androgen blockade (TrAB) is a method of ADT in which a 5α-reductase inhibitor such as finasteride or dutasteride is added to CAB.
MAB has been found to produce higher rates of gynecomastia (7 to 28%) than orchiectomy and GnRH analogues alone (1 to 16%), but lower rates than nonsteroidal antiandrogen monotherapy such as with bicalutamide (30 to 85%).


Jacqueline de Chambrun

Jacqueline de Chambrun (1920-2013) was a French physician and activist. She was a member of the French Resistance during World War II. She campaigned for abortion rights as well as human rights for the homeless and undocumented immigrants in France.
Early life.
Jacqueline de Chambrun was born as Jacqueline Retourné in 1920 in Casablanca, Morocco. Her father, Henri Retourné, was a veteran of World War I. Her mother was a dressmaker.
De Chambrun graduated from the University of Montpellier, where she studied medicine.
Career.
De Chambrun was a paediatrician.
In 1942, in the midst of World War II, de Chambrun joined Combat, a group within the French Resistance. She escaped from the Gestapo in Montpellier in July 1943, and she served in Combat in Paris, Marseille and Lyon. She escaped from the Gestapo once again in January 1944, this time in Lyon. Taking the pseudonym of Lieutenant Noëlle, she joined the Maquis du Mont Mouchet, serving until June 1944. She subsequently joined another maquis which focused on sabotaging trains.
De Chambrun was a member of the Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme, where she championed the human rights of the homeless and undocumented immigrants. She campaigned for abortion rights in France. She also volunteered for Planned Parenthood and served on the board of trustees of the Secours populaire français.
De Chambrun was the subject of a 2008 documentary, "Sans jamais renoncer", directed by her grandson, Axel Ramonet de Chambrun. She was a Commander of the Legion of Honour.
Personal life and death.
De Chambrun married Gilbert de Chambrun. They had four children. She died on 24 September 2013 in Marvejols, France. She was 92 years old. Her funeral was held at the église Notre-Dame de la Carce in Marvejols.