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Storage
Communicore can develop safe, secure and fast data storage for your business’s sensitive data and information. Whether security and protection of data and information is your chief concern, or simply storing a large amount of data that can be quickly accessed, or both, Communicore can build cloud-based solutions customized to your situation.
Many cloud-based services are generic and involve shared servers, where your data is in the hands of third parties and companies that want to sell your data for profit. With Communicore’s cloud services, you control everything if that’s what your business needs.
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Spin
Adamn Killa takes us for a "Spin."
Like a deli meat platter, Adamn Killa makes us smile, dipping into his darkest delicacies to deliver his next waviest single "Spin." With production from the highly friend-requested Shlohmo, "Spin" is ethereal, and much better sounding than it needs to be. These guys had us at hello.
Listen to Adamn Killa's "Spin," and let us know your thoughts below in the comments. Do you think Mr. Killa picking up the youth vote with his nuevo riche wave? You can read our interview with Adamn Killa right here.
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Town puts wheels in motion to add bike share
The program has formed congruence with other developments throughout the township.
Gloucester Township launched a bike share program on Aug. 16. The 10-unit kiosk is located on West Church Street and Washington Avenue, next to the Gloucester Township Health and Fitness Trail.
The dinging of bells and ticking of brakes have been resounding throughout Gloucester Township.
The sounds are a testimony to the township’s new bike share. Since its launch on Aug. 16, the program has provided both recreationally and environmentally beneficial transportation to the community.
“We’ve seen an increase week upon week,” Mayor David R. Mayer said. “We’re seeing an increase in usage and more and more people are utilizing the app.”
The kiosk, located at the corner of West Church Street and Washington Avenue, houses 10 glistening white cruiser bicycles, each adorned with brown leather seats and silver bells.
The maintenance of the bikes and parking station is managed by Gloucester Township Public Works.
The rental is free of charge, encouraging local residents to exercise and soak in the final few weeks of summertime. Participants must download and sign-up with Movatic, a smartphone app, that grants access to and gives availability of the bikes. The bikes’ locations are monitored through the app.
The 10 bikes are protected with solar-powered Bluetooth locks. Although they’re free to use, bikes must be secured with credit cards.
The program was purchased through the Camden County Open Space Grant, which preserves parks, natural areas, historic sites and farmland, not only for their scenic value, but for their use and enjoyment, according to Camden County’s website.
Aside from recreational development, the bike program’s installation works in tandem with other advancing aspects of the township. As Gloucester Township undergoes financial gains, it’s important the township’s greenery germinates simultaneously.
“There always needs to be balance in the community,” Mayer said. “As we’re seeing commercial and economic growth, we have to balance that out with open space.”
That balance will, in due course, lead to the expansion of the Gloucester Township Health and Fitness Trail, formerly known as the Blackwood Railroad Trail.
The route, which is about 2.7 miles, has received additions each year since 2010. Running parallel to the Black Horse Pike, it weaves all the way up to Brown Avenue at Atlantic Avenue and Main Street at Glenloch Lake in Washington Township. Over the next year, the township plans to expand the bikeway to Landing Road and Lower Landing Road in Blackwood. The township has even proposed to extend the route to Evesham Road, near Runnemede over the next few years, growing to a total distance of 4.4 miles.
Although the bike share is only in its infancy, Mayer hopes that as the trail lengthens, the program will innately evolve, acquiring more bike units and parking docks over the next couple of years.
“The bicycle kiosk adds another dimension to the bicycle path,” he said. “And depending upon usage, if we see greater usage, we’ll try to add more.”
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The couple who killed two Las Vegas police officers and the man who shot to death three Mounties in Canada don’t fit the ideology of right-wing extremism despite their anti-government rhetoric online, according to criminology experts.
Authorities in Las Vegas say Jerad and Amanda Miller gunned down the officers at a pizzeria, then left a Revolutionary War-era “Don’t Tread on Me” flag on the bodies along with a note reading, “The revolution is beginning” and a swastika meant to equate police with Nazis.
"That makes very little sense," said Dr. Jack Levin, a professor of criminology and sociology who is co-director of the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict at Northeastern University and has written extensively on mass murderers and serial killers.
He said right-wing extremists typically focus their anger on federal authorities, not local law enforcement officers like these.
"They weren't the ATF, they weren't the FBI. They couldn't be seen as the representatives of a repressive government,” Levin told NBC News. "There are some militia group members who believe that the only valid authority is at the county sheriff level. In fact, many right-wing extremists love the police. They feel kinship to local law enforcement."
Dr. Michael Arntfield of Western University in Ontario also called the Las Vegas killings unusual — even beyond the rarity of an ambush aimed at police officers.
“I can never remember an attack in which an officer’s body is desecrated,” said Arntfield, a criminologist and professor who spent 16 years as a police officer and is the subject of the cold-case television show “To Catch a Killer” on the Oprah Winfrey Network in Canada.
Arntfield also sees similarities between the Vegas ambush and the attack on officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Moncton, New Brunswick, last week.
“Both of these sets of shooters were very prolific on social media over a short period of time,” he said in an interview.
And he said the short span between the attacks can’t be dismissed as coincidence.
“There is also strong evidence that mass shootings cluster in space and time based on what we call the learning theory of crime, and that most people in a pre-contemplative stage of offending (even fantasizing about offending) are often disinhibited upon seeing it done elsewhere,” he said in an earlier email.
“While Moncton and Vegas aren't near each other, I have little doubt that reportage of the Canadian killings had some bearing on the Vegas killings, right down to the motive,” he added.
In Moncton, authorities say, officers responding to a call about a man with a gun wandering a neighborhood were ambushed June 4. Three were killed and two wounded. The gunman was captured less than 30 hours later. A Facebook page believed to be suspect Justin Bourque’s includes posts railing against the police and gun control and lamenting the supposed loss of personal freedom.
The Millers had traveled to Mesquite, Nevada, where rancher Cliven Bundy was in a standoff with federal agents over unpaid grazing fees. Hundreds of armed protesters gathered there after federal authorities began rounding up Bundy’s cattle. Eventually, the federal government backed off and released the cattle.
Despite the public anti-government views of the attackers in both cases, it would have been difficult for police to pick up on the threat for a variety of reasons, Arntfield said.
“It’s nearly to impossible to foresee or prepare for these kind of ambush attacks,” he said.
The primary reason is the disorganized and “lone wolf” nature of the attackers, who are untethered to a structured extremist organization that might be monitored, he said. Then there’s public resistance to police surveillance of social media — along with the sheer volume of posts, tweets and videos involved.
Arntfield said law enforcement agencies should focus on “intelligence-led policing” that depends on developing sources who are plugged into social media and will report suspicions about threats.
“Both these attacks will be interesting case studies for what the barometer is for determining what threats online are worth acting on,” he said.
And that’s not just an issue for the police.
He said that in some recent mass murder cases – such as the shooting of college students in Santa Barbara – people who saw threats on social media didn’t take them seriously, didn’t think the police would take them seriously or were too confused or frightened by them to bring them to authorities’ attention.
He said the police need to court the public’s help in identifying such threats.
He and Levin said changes in policing already underway have helped reduce the number of officers killed by criminals — from 74 in 1995 to 48 in 2012, according to the latest numbers from the FBI’s annual report on law enforcement deaths. That follows general downward trends in the murder rate and crime overall, Levin said.
“There’s a qualitative difference in the way the police relate to the local community. In many cities, community policing is the rule now,” he said. “They’re not seen as the army of occupation as they might have been 20 or 30 years ago.”
Still, Levin said, the sort of violence in Las Vegas points to a “much more general problem: Predicting dangerous behavior.”
“We like to think that we can predict family killers or workplace annihilators or cop killers. But we only see the warning signs after the fact,” he said. “We live in a country where we value personal freedom. We’re not going to turn our buildings into fortresses. We’re not going to put cameras in every place.”
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Sign Up and Save
How Roach kept Tacoma off the scoreboard until the sixth inning is a mystery worth dwelling on. He walked the leadoff batter in the first, third, and fourth innings —usually a recipe for disaster. Roach was fortunate the Rainiers had several hard-hit balls that went directly at El Paso defenders.
“We hit line drives all over the place and they didn’t hurt him,” said Howell. “Those walks will usually get you in trouble, but we just couldn’t get anything to fall in.”
Roach walked the leadoff man for a fourth time in the sixth inning, allowing Chris Taylor to reach first base. After Corey Hart lined out sharply to the shortstop, Justin Smoak pulled a double to the right field corner for Tacoma’s first hit of the game.
Smoak’s hit led to two runs scoring — Ji-Man Choi grounded out to plate Taylor, and Gabriel Noriega singled in Smoak. But that still left Tacoma a run shy of the lead, at 3-2.
El Paso added an insurance run in the seventh inning, on a long two-out RBI double by former Rainiers and Mariners catcher Adam Moore.
Hart led off the eighth with a long double to right field, and was replaced by pinch runner Abraham Almonte, who scored on Nick Franklin’s two-out single off the glove of former Mariners and Rainiers pitcher Bobby LaFromboise to make it 4-3.
Short Hops
Choi made his first career appearance in the outfield, starting in left field. Only one ball was hit his way, a flare off the bat of Travis Buck which fell in for a single. … Stephen Kohlscheen pitched 11/3 scoreless innings. He has not allowed a run in his first 62/3 innings of Triple-A ball.
On Tap
To make up for Thursday’s postponement which was due to the Rainiers equipment not arriving to the ballpark in time, a day/night doubleheader will be played Saturday. The first starts at 11:05 a.m. PDT and pits Tacoma’s Andrew Carraway (3-4, 4.52) against El Paso’s Chris Smith (PCL debut). The second game starts at 6:05 PDT and Jordan Pries (4-5, 2.65) will face Matt Wisler (4-4, 5.62). Both games will broadcast on 850-AM.
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The Doomsday Clock is an internationally recognized design that conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making. First and foremost among these are nuclear weapons, but the dangers include climate-changing technologies, emerging... Read More
Most experts agree that the greatest risk associated with climate change is pretending that the problem does not exist, or that it does not require immediate attention and action. That said, the potential pathways for mitigating the effects of greenhouse gas emissions are not created equal in terms of the risks and benefits they entail. Public discourse tends to focus on the most optimistic scenarios for implementing new technologies and to ignore not only the hazards but also the non-climate-related benefits associated with some approaches. Climate mitigation strategies currently undergo economic and engineering analyses, but they are not consistently subjected to rigorous risk assessment and risk management. The author offers the beginnings of a more cohesive decision-support analysis framework. Assessments of various mitigation strategies by the world’s largest industry—insurance—are critically important in this process because insurers can provide a dispassionate view and internalize the costs of risk through pricing. Bank financing cannot be mobilized without insurance, and the public sector may be forced to assume many of the risks associated with emerging technologies if insurers opt out. A century of dangerously blending technological enthusiasm with lack of care in assessing the comparative risks of energy and land-use choices ushered in today’s climate crisis. Continued inattention threatens to saddle society with new risks from poorly prioritized efforts to solve the climate problem. Procrastination is painting humankind into a corner in which progressively riskier and unproven technologies will be required to mitigate climate change.
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RPG Maker Fes allows you o download other games created by other users. You can use the in-game searches to browse different games to play, and you can look for games made from specific users. check out games created by ExecuteCode.com right here! We will provide our ID numbers for the games so you can play them!
Page updated: July 8th, 2017 @ 12:02 PM Eastern Time
Game Making TutorialsFind tutorials about your favorite game creation software! Use the navigation below!
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Pages
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sunrise in Cleveland
The one down side to living in the city is all the wires and clutter that exists in your view of the world! That said, I had to take a photo of the sunrise this morning, I noticed after I took this that the clutter exists, in my eye, I ignore it!That's probably why I became an artist!:o) It's still pretty
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CNN courts the YouTube generation by partnering with Casey Neistat
CNN is preparing its second major effort to appeal to a younger generation of news consumers. And this time it’s tapping one of YouTube’s biggest stars.
CNN is teaming up with Casey Neistat to launch a new standalone company that will use smartphones to create video content.
As part of the move, CNN is buying Neistat’s Beme app, which launched in July 2015. CNN did not disclose the terms of the deal.
The Beme app will be shut down in the coming weeks while the rest of the company will fold into the new venture owned by CNN. Matt Hackett, the chief technology officer of Beme and formerly the head of engineering at Tumblr, will help lead the new company. Read more…
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Sponsors
About Me
This blog is my blissful journal of happiness. It’s about everything I adore and people I love. Thanks for stopping by. If you would like to write me, please feel free to email me: [email protected] a jolly good day!
Daily Reads
What are you up to this weekend? It's been one of those weird weeks in our home where I had to make myself stay put and rest my ankle while my brain was not having any of it. The good part is that the ankle is healing and it feels better than it looks. Before I sign off for the weekend I just want to say a HUGE thank you to all your comments, notes and emails for the past few days. You, darlings are the best and I wish I could give you all a hug right now. Love you lots and here are a few fun links for your weekend. Enjoy!Super quick and scrumptious breakfast idea.
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If I Can Make it There…
They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway,They say there’s always magic in the air…
Perhaps George Benson said, or rather sang, it best in his 1978 hit “On Broadway.” Broadway connotes a sense of wonder and majesty, not just as a destination of evening entertainment for tourists and natives, but also as the ultimate goal of the aspiring theater actors of New York City. Thousands devote years of preparation– and heartache–in the hope of someday standing on a Broadway stage as the curtain falls to rapturous applause.
…But when you’re walkin’ down that street, And you ain’t had enough to eat, The glitter rubs right off and you’re nowhere…
However, the journey to Broadway is not one to be taken lightly. Despite the reality of sporadic employment, every year countless would-be stars flock to New York City with the belief that they will be the one to make it big. In a tricky economic climate, and an already competitive field, thousands of actors in the city go months between acting gigs and turn to other forms of employment to stay afloat. Of the 28,812 members of the Actors Equity Association who live in the Eastern Region (New York, Washington D.C, Boston and Philadelphia), an average of just 13 percent work on a weekly basis. More than half of these members reside in New York City. And, there are hundreds more hopefuls who don’t possess the coveted equity affilifation. Nevertheless, this does little to deter the determined, dazzling stars who are willing to make financial and lifestyle sacrifices for their craft. Maybe their blind passion will serve them well. “The ones who are passionate are the ones who will get somewhere and make it in the business,” says Jodi Kipperman, president and owner of Kipperman Castings, Inc. in New York, who makes a point to note that luck and timing play a big part in most success stories.
Some actors begin the process with a BA from one of the city’s drama schools; others find an agent, take headshot photos and audition. New York is the city of dreams but it is also the city of unsuccessful auditions, vicious competition, no-thank-yous and a whole lot of waiting. So in the meantime those aspiring actors wait tables, pour drinks and attend classes.
In a cozy and convivial West Village restaurant on a brisk, November Saturday afternoon, Faller, 27, is playing her thrice-weekly role. With dark hair tightly swept back in a low bun, bright-red lacquered lips, and impeccable posture, she artfully balances five bottles of ketchup as she weaves between tables, with soft jazz music as her accompaniment. She carries herself with poise and gesticulates with long fingers as she presents the menu to customers, clears tables with a flourish and retreats with a gentle bow. She is clearly a performer.
For Faller acting was always the goal. Growing up in a small town in Long Island, which she calls “the home of the strip mall,” getting to the razzmatazz of New York City was the first step. After graduating high school Faller gained a scholarship to study drama at Marymount Manhattan College. At first being in the city was overwhelming for Faller, a feeling that wasn’t abated by a heroin addict roommate. But even that experience — the girl went on to marry a member of the Russian mafia, before being kicked out of school — provided fodder for later creative production. “It’s these kind of experiences you can draw on later in writing and acting,” says Faller.
Some weeks Faller finds herself with numerous auditions and multiple offers, yet other weeks she won’t get a single callback. “Auditioning can be f**king stupid,” she says. “An awful lot of auditions are just not for normal projects. You can be misled. It’s not that they’re nefarious it’s just that they’re humiliating and ridiculous. You get all amped up and do the work to prepare for something and then realize it’s just not worth it.” Some of Faller’s auditions-from-hell stories include being sent by an agent to audition for a hip-hop music video seeking African American males; Faller is white and female. Then there was the time she attended call back, after call back for a role in a low-budget play that required her to master 27 different accents, only to be told at the last hurdle that the role required someone who looked believable as a waitress. Faller was late to her restaurant job that day due to the long-running audition. Nonetheless, she contends that the process of auditioning and being rejected can be both cathartic and useful. “If you’re going to go through all that disheartening hell, you’ve got to turn it into a story,” she says.
For Faller a big struggle is the expense of living in New York while trying to keep acting. “It gets exponentially harder and harder,” she says. “Rent gets higher and higher and the pay for the small jobs doesn’t.” Still, even at the toughest moments Faller says she couldn’t give up that world. “You just have to find a way to do it,” she says.
Rising Above the Competition
Jason Liles towers above the competition, literally. At 6’10,” Liles credits his “specific skill” for landing him many of his roles. “It’s been a good niche for me,” he says. Perhaps the most famous role his vertical prowess helped him reach was that of an alien in “Men In Black 3.” When first called about the role and asked if he’d be willing to be head-to-toe in makeup and prosthetics, Liles immediately signed up. “I had no idea what saying yes would entail,” he says in hindsight. “That’s the most demanding stuff I’ve ever done in my life. It’s claustrophobic and heavy. I felt like I’d worked out for 15 hours after we finished for the day.”
Tennessee native Liles, now 26, didn’t always see acting as his career path. He had only completed one year of his theater degree in “middle-of-nowhere, Tennessee” when he decided that acting was what he wanted to do and New York was the place to do it. “If I was going to act I needed to go somewhere where acting actually was, where I could go as far as possible and really pursue it,” says Liles.
And pursue it he did. For five years Liles has been living and acting in New York. Of course there are quiet periods but Liles has another secret weapon “I stay really positive even when I don’t have work,” he says. “I know it’s going to come, I know how the business works, I know sometimes there’s nothing and sometimes there’s too much, that’s just how it goes.” It is this attitude and his easy-going nature that has landed him many of his parts over the last few years. “A lot of people I work with will see how friendly I can be on set and so I’ll get calls saying ‘hey this director told me you were awesome we’d love to have you play this character.’”
For Liles, the competition in New York is also a positive. “There’s so many people to meet and make projects with, to do a play reading or a short film, or just people who can support and encourage you,” he explains. “Every day you can do something to remind yourself that you’re an actor. It’s a great city anyway and doing something so crazy and fast paced just compliments it.”
The New Kid On The Block
Shannon Spangler’s name alone suggests glittering success. The 21-year-old, Dallas, Texas native is on the cusp of graduating NYU’s Tisch with a BSA in drama. On Thanksgiving eve, as others pack up to head home for the holiday or feverishly fight their way through the crowds at Trader Joe’s, Spangler finishes acting class and has just 15 minutes to make it across town for a play rehearsal. The production, “The Place We Built,” designed to showcase student actors, was written by Sarah Gancher, based on the interests and personalities of the cast. To garner as much exposure as possible, Spangler and her fellow student performers are frantically sending out postcards to influential figures they know of, inviting them to the play’s opening next week. “The hope is they’ll come see it and think ‘we like you! Do you want to sign with us?’ That would be ideal,” she says with a laugh.
Spangler admits that her heart is split between stage and screen. Luckily she has a solution. “My dream is to be on a period piece on HBO, like “Mad Men,”” she says. “There’s a hell of a lot of money in television, so if I was fortunate enough, like if a comet fell out of the sky and hit me in the face and I got a part like that, I would work for seven to ten years and then never have to worry about working again. So then I could do plays which don’t pay shit.” With a pale complexion, strawberry blonde hair and an elegant grace, it is easy to envision Spangler in such period parts, no falling comet necessary.
Spangler is realistic when it comes to the struggles of trying to make it as an actor in New York, noting, “Almost every teacher I’ve ever had has said ‘Don’t do this, if you can do anything else in the world. If you can write, or produce, or cook, or do anything else vaguely interesting, do it.’”
She fully understands that “perpetual unemployment” will likely be part of her career path. “I’m already a waitress with a very understanding boss so I’ll keep working there,” she says. “That’s part of what this is and that’s why you hear so many stories about someone who waited tables for 15 years then finally got their break; that’s a real thing.”
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The Temple of Edfu Edfu, Egypt
INR 4270
Popularly known as the Temple of Horus in Edfu.The best thing is that it looks so better preserved that one easily gets into the era, the temple was actually formed.The Birth House of Horus depicted on the pylon,Court of offerings,Horus statues
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Apparent consumption of alcohol decreased by 1.1% in 2010-11 to 182.0 million litres, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
In 2010-11 there were 182.0 million litres of pure alcohol available for consumption, compared with 184.0 million litres in 2009-10. This was the first decrease recorded since 2001-02, and was due to decreases in the volume of pure alcohol from beer (down 3.4%) and wine (down 0.6%).
Over the past year, apparent consumption of spirits increased 4.8%, while Ready to Drink (pre-mixed) (RTDs) beverages have remained stable.
The changes in consumption patterns meant that beer accounted for 42% of all pure alcohol available for consumption in 2010-11 (down from 43% in 2009-10), wine 37% (unchanged), and spirits and RTDs 20% (up from 19% in 2009-10).
Overall, there were 10.0 litres of pure alcohol available for consumption per person aged 15 years and over in 2010-11, down 2.6% from 2009-10. This equates to around 2.2 standard drinks per person per day in 2010-11.
Estimates of 'apparent consumption' are obtained from information related to supply (for example, excise data on alcohol produced for domestic consumption, and data on imports) and do not represent actual consumption. No account is taken of changes in stocks, duty-free alcohol imported by individual overseas travellers, or for alcohol that has been stored or cellared, used in the preparation of food or discarded as waste. All alcohol available for consumption in a particular year is assumed to have been consumed in that year.
When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
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The Knights Hospitaller battle ancient evil in medieval Rhodes as mysterious disappearances and insane devil-worshippers threaten to turn the entire island into a bloodbath…
When three Hospitallers go missing from a local village outraged Grand Master Foulques de Villaret sends the English knight Sir Richard-at-Lee and his trusted sergeant-at-arms Jacob to discover their fate. Met with resistance from frightened locals and rumours of a blasphemous sect performing unspeakable rites beneath the village Sir Richard must overcome not only the devil-worshippers but the faceless, unstoppable demon that stalks his dreams.
Fans of the best-selling Forest Lord books “Wolf’s Head” and “The Wolf and the Raven” will enjoy this spin-off novella that sees the much-loved English knight up against a foe that threatens…
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Download Pulsar 200NS @ Waptrick
There are many popular motorcycle wallpaper photos and get them into your phone. Discover this mobile site for unique motorcycle artworks and download high quality content free. Free download this content: Pulsar 200NS.
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Xiaomi is hosting an event in China tomorrow, and it is widely expected to launch the Redmi 4 smartphone. The company has released teasers where two of its brand ambassadors are holding a smartphone, and has announced that 'a new Redmi product' is joining the family. In the meanwhile, a report is resurfacing speculation that the Redmi Note 4 may instead be launched at the event.
The teasers were released on the company's forum confirming the previously tipped launch date of August 25. The Redmi 4 has been subjected to numerous leaks and it is expected to sport a full metal body. In the teaser, actress Liu Shishi is holding a metal device further attesting to it, while actor Wu Xiubo is seen holding a glowing smartphone.
Based on a leaked retail box for the phone, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 will feature a 5.5-inch display with a 1080 x 1920 resolution. A MediaTek Helio X20 chipset is under the hood carrying a deca-core 2GHz CPU. One version of the phone comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The second version offers 3GB of RAM with 64GB of native memory. A 13MP camera graces the back of the device with a 5MP selfie shooter in front. Keeping the lights on is a 4100mAh battery.
Xiaomi is also expected to launch the Mi Note 2 on September 2, and is expected to don a dual camera setup, dual-edge display, and 64GB and 128GB storage offerings. It is pegged to be priced at CNY 2,499 (approximately Rs. 25,000) and CNY 2,799 (approximately Rs. 28,000) respectively.
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Secure Loan Application Form
Individual Credit: You must complete the Applicant section about yourself and the Other section about your spouse if:
you live in or the property pledged as collateral is located in a community property state (AK, AZ, CA, ID, LA, NM, NV, TX, WA, WI)
your spouse will use the account, or
you are relying on your spouse's income as a basis for repayment. If you are relying on income from alimony, child support, or separate maintenance, complete the Other section to the extent possible about the person on whose payments you are relying.
Joint Credit: Each Applicant must individually complete the appropriate section below, If Co-Borrower is spouse of the Applicant,- mark the Co-Applicant box.
Guarantor: Complete the Other section if you are a guarantor on an account/loan.
Are you applying for individual or joint credit ?: Individual
Joint
Type of Loan Applied For:
NOTE:
You must have a minimum of 6 mos. employment to be eligible to apply for a vehicle/secured loan, 2 yrs. for a signature loan, or 5 yrs. for a premium personal loan.
Please fax a copy of your most recent paycheck stub to our office @ (630) 416-4918.
Signature (up to $5000)
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New Car
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Please indicate your marital status if you are applying for joint credit, secured credit or if you live in a community property state:
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Employment Information
EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME: In order to expedite the processing of your loan application, please fax a copy of your most recent paycheck stub to (630) 416-4918. If you have a joint applicant (cosigner) their paycheck stub must be faxed as well. If you are self employed or retired, you may fax a financial statement or tax return for income verification.
Applicant Employer's Name:
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Date Hired (MM/DD/YY):
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Other Income ($):
per Month
Source of Other Income:
Complete if current employment is less than 2 years:
Previous Employers Name:
Yrs Employed:
NOTE: Alimony, child support, or separate maintenance
income need not be revealed if You do not choose to have it considered
as a basis for this credit request.
References (Nearest relative not living with you)
First Name:
Middle Name:
Last Name:
Suffix:
Cell Phone Number:
555-555-5555
Home Phone Number:
555-555-5555
What is their home address?
Street:
City:
State:
Zip:
What is the relationship?
Debts & Assets
Applicant
Joint Applicant
Lender
Mo. Payment
Lender
Mo. Payment
Housing
Rent
Own
None
$
.00
Housing
Rent
Own
None
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
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$
.00
$
.00
$
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$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
$
.00
Child Support Payments / Alimony
$
Assets:
Description:
Value:
Description:
Value:
Have you ever filed for bankruptcy or had debt adjustment under Chapter 13?
Are you a party in a lawsuit?
Have you ever had property foreclosed or repossesion in the last 7 years?
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Complete the following sections if you are applying for a vehicle loan:
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The World's Most Powerful Passports [Infographic]
The latest edition of the Henley Passport Index has revealed that the U.S. passport is one of the world's most powerful, granting its holders visa-free access or visa-on-arrival access to 186 countries.
We hear a lot about India’s e-commerce battle between Walmart, which bought Flipkart for $17 billion, and Amazon. But over in the B2B space, Moglix — an e-commerce service for buying manufacturing products that’s been making strides — today it announced a $23 million Series C round ahead of a bigger round and impending global […]
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Detailed Screen Exposing Machine is Used in the filed of plate-making such as pad plate, screen plate, hot stamper plate, resin plate Used in the filed of plate-making such as pad plate, screen plate, hot stamper plate, resin plate.
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English Dictionary
The overthrow of the Orthodox czar and Lenin’s victory don’t fit Putin’s preferred narrative of continuous Russian greatness....
Source : The Russian Revolution: Then and Now
Courtesy : The New York Times
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Prospect Capital Corporation (PSEC) and Hennessy Advisors Inc. (NASDAQ:HNNA) Comparing side by side
We will be comparing the differences between Prospect Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:PSEC) and Hennessy Advisors Inc. (NASDAQ:HNNA) as far as dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and valuation are concerned. The two businesses are rivals in the Asset Management industry.
Earnings & Valuation
Gross Revenue
Price/Sales Ratio
Net Income
Earnings Per Share
Price/Earnings Ratio
Prospect Capital Corporation
705.17M
3.50
182.57M
0.50
13.39
Hennessy Advisors Inc.
52.42M
1.49
15.49M
2.49
4.21
We can see in table 1 the earnings per share (EPS), gross revenue and valuation of Prospect Capital Corporation and Hennessy Advisors Inc. Hennessy Advisors Inc. appears to has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Prospect Capital Corporation. The business with the higher price-to-earnings out of the two companies is considered for more expensive of the two firms currently. Prospect Capital Corporation’s currently higher price-to-earnings ratio means it is more expensive than Hennessy Advisors Inc.
Profitability
Table 2 provides the return on assets, return on equity and net margins of the two firms.
Net Margins
Return on Equity
Return on Assets
Prospect Capital Corporation
25.89%
0%
0%
Hennessy Advisors Inc.
29.55%
22.4%
14.6%
Dividends
Prospect Capital Corporation shareholders receive an annual dividend of $0.72 per share which is subject to 10.75% dividend yield. Hennessy Advisors Inc. has an annual dividend pay of $0.41 per share while its annual dividend yield is 4.29%.
Analyst Ratings
The table shown features the ratings and recommendations for Prospect Capital Corporation and Hennessy Advisors Inc.
Sell Ratings
Hold Ratings
Buy Ratings
Rating Score
Prospect Capital Corporation
1
0
0
1.00
Hennessy Advisors Inc.
0
0
0
0.00
Prospect Capital Corporation has a -10.85% downside potential and an average price target of $6.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
The shares of both Prospect Capital Corporation and Hennessy Advisors Inc. are owned by institutional investors at 13.31% and 17.4% respectively. Insiders held 17.41% of Prospect Capital Corporation shares. Insiders Competitively, held 40.8% of Hennessy Advisors Inc. shares.
Performance
In this table we provide the Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, Yearly and YTD Performance of both pretenders.
Performance (W)
Performance (M)
Performance (Q)
Performance (HY)
Performance (Y)
Performance (YTD)
Prospect Capital Corporation
-2.33%
-1.18%
-3.72%
-8.94%
2.44%
6.5%
Hennessy Advisors Inc.
-0.1%
-9.02%
-2.96%
-28.08%
-41.95%
4.8%
For the past year Prospect Capital Corporation has stronger performance than Hennessy Advisors Inc.
Prospect Capital Corporation is a business development company. It specializes in middle market, mature, mezzanine finance, later stage, emerging growth, buyouts, recapitalizations, turnaround, growth capital, development, subordinated debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations, cash flow term loans, and bridge transactions. It also makes real estate investments particularly in multi-family residential real estate asset class. The fund makes secured debt, senior debt, unitranche debt, first-lien and second lien, private debt, mezzanine debt, and equity investments in private and microcap public businesses. It focuses on both primary origination and secondary loans/portfolios and invests in situations like debt financings for private equity sponsors, acquisitions, dividend recapitalizations, growth financings, bridge loans, cash flow term loans, real estate financings/investments. The fund typically invests across all industry sectors, with a particular expertise in the energy and industrial sectors. It invests in aerospace and defense, chemicals, conglomerate services, consumer services, ecological, electronics, financial services, machinery, manufacturing, media, pharmaceuticals, retail, software, specialty minerals, textiles and leather, transportation, oil and gas production, coal production, materials, industrials, consumer discretionary, information technology, utilities, pipeline, storage, power generation and distribution, renewable and clean energy, oilfield services, healthcare, food and beverage, education, business services, and other select sectors. It prefers to invest in the United States and Canada. The fund seeks to invest between $10 million to $500 million per transaction in companies with EBITDA between $5 million and $250 million, sales value between $25 million and $500 million, and enterprise value between $5 million and $1000 million. It fund also co-invests for larger deals. The fund seeks control acquisitions by providing multiple levels of the capital structure. The fund focuses on sole, agented, club, or syndicated deals.
Hennessy Advisors, Inc. is publicly owned investment manager. It provides its services to Hennessy Funds and investment companies. The firm launches and manages equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds. It invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth stocks of companies. It conducts in-house research to make its investments. Hennessy Advisors, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in Novato, California with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Disclaimer: StocksBeat inform you that the data in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All prices are not provided by exchanges and prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Stocksbeat doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using the data.
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THE ARBOR
THE ARBOR
Clio Barnard's distinctive and highly accomplished documentary won Best First Feature and London Film Festival and was nominated for the BAFTA for Outstanding British Debut in 2011.
'The Arbor' is the powerful story of playwright Andrea Dunbar ('Rita, Sue and Bob Too!'). Dunbar, described as 'a genius straight from the slums,' wrote honestly and unflinchingly about her upbringing on the notorious Buttershaw Estate in Bradford. When she died at the age of 29 in 1990 her daughter Lorraine was just ten years old. Lorraine, now also at 29, is ostracised from Buttershaw and serving a sentence in prison. Through compelling interviews with Lorraine and other members of the Dunbar family we're presented with contrasting views of Andrea.
★★★★ "Barnard has created a modernist, compassionate biopic" - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
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Journalists charged with criminal trespass, released on bond
Mayuge, 23rd/February/2017; Two journalists, Dean Lubowa Saava and Fidel Arinaitwe, were on 23rd February 2017, arrested by Special Forces Command Unit for photographing the home of the head of the Shia Community in Uganda.
The duo, from an Investigative media company Tazan Concept, were handed to police in Mayuge and charged with criminal trespass. They were released on police bond and ordered to report back on Saturday 25th February 2017.
The head of the Shia Community, Omar Bongo Patur, is also the LCV chairperson ofMayuge district. The journalists told HRNJ-Uganda in an interview that they were following up a story of an alleged fraud by Omar Bongo Patur, who is accused by some family members of forging documents to become heir of his late father Sheikh Doctur Kadir Muwaya who was killed on 25th December 2014.
“We decided to go to Mayuge to get Bongo’s side of the story, we found guards from the Special Forces Command who called Bongo, we spoke to him using the guard’s phone and he explained to us that he was not available”, Dean Lubowa Saava told HRNJ-Uganda.
On their way back, they took some pictures which prompted SFC guard, Jackson to intercept them. “He ordered us to delete the photos but we refused. We had an exchange with him that attracted the attention of local people who thought we were dangerous and wanted to lynch us. We were saved by the village local leader Bashir Kamiri,” the journalists said.
The SFC officers later handed them to police where they were charged with criminal trespass. The Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations (OC CID), Mayuge Police Station, Nasser Mulimira told HRNJ-Uganda that, “the journalists were apprehended and brought to the police station, we managed the situation and the journalists were released on bond, they are coming back on Saturday and we hope the whole matter will be resolved on that day.”
The police should disregard the tramped up charges against journalists on the line of duty. We commend to local council chairman who made efforts to save the journalists from mob injustice that was looming on them. We are sure to stand with the journalists against such charges” Said the HRNJ-Uganda National Coordinator, Robert Ssempala.
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Central AL Chapter of the Sickle Cell Association of America
The Sickle Cell Foundation, Inc.
Sickle cell disease symptoms can be debilitating, interfering with daily life. In 2008 there were a number of studies that laid the groundwork for advances in disease treatment options. Sickle cell anemia is a disease that affects 500 million people around the world annually. The disease is caused by a mutation in the gene that makes hemoglobin. The abnormal hemoglobin causes an individual's red blood cells to sickle and clump which clogs blood vessels causing the characteristic debilitating symptoms and pain. The pain affects an individual's day to day life and as such researchers are constantly working on ways to alleviate the symptoms or cure the disease.
Bone Marrow & Umbilical Cord Stem Cells Transplant
Bone marrow transplants have been used as a safe permanent cure for sickle cell anemia. In a study that appeared in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation in 2008 researchers performed reduced intensity conditioning (a less toxic procedure) bone marrow transplants that are safer and more effective for people afflicted with severe sickle cell anemia. Traditional bone transplants can be a life-threatening procedure for patients whose health is already compromised by the sickle cell disease. Generally speaking transplants are rare because of the difficulty of finding a compatible donor but this may be a hurdle of the past because of a new transplant procedure called sickle cell unrelated transplants (discussed below).
Gene Therapy
Researchers are studying and identifying the genes that are related to the abnormal hemoglobin production in patients suffering from the disease. This new treatment's precept is based on the fact that it may be possible to repair the damaged gene or restore the function of the gene used to produce fetal hemoglobin. Fetuses produce a type of hemoglobin called fetal hemoglobin which has a high affinity for oxygen and is found in individuals with both the normal and abnormal adult hemoglobin gene. In sickle cell anemia patients whose bodies continued producing fetal hemoglobin, disease symptoms were not as severe. Normally, fetal hemoglobin disappears soon after birth, and in an individual with the sickle cell anemia, disease symptoms start appearing. Gene therapy can be used to allow the body to continue producing fetal hemoglobin which can alleviate the disease associated symptoms. In another study that appeared in the journal Molecular Therapy, December 2008, a group of scientists used gene therapy to introduce the normal gene into the mice’s hemoglobin genetic code to produce fetal hemoglobin. This procedure still requires more testing before it can be attempted in the human population.
Future Sickle Cell Therapies
In another study that appeared in the journal Science in December 2008 researchers suppressed the gene BCL11A which lead to an increase in fetal hemoglobin production. The newly discovered gene promises to be a target site for future gene therapy. Increasing levels of fetal hemoglobin have successfully alleviated symptoms associated with sickle cell anemia. Advances in transplant cures are also coming down the pike; a recent US National Phase II clinical trial, donor marrow and umbilical cord from an unrelated individual will be transplanted into patients with severe sickle cell disease. The results of this study will hopefully pave the way for Sickle Cell Unrelated Transplants (SCURT) cutting the wait time for suitable bone marrow matches.
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The org.eclipse.releng.basebuilder and org.eclipse.releng.eclipsebuilder projects are still in CVS (/cvsroot/eclipse)
They need to be migrated to Git by the end of 2012. The basebuilder project should really be 1) In its own repo because of it's binary content or 2) Convert the build to use a product build from the repo of SDK bundles and consume the custom bundles separately or 3) Just extract a SDK and add custom bundles to it
If you look search for "buildProjectTags" in this file, you'll see something like this
This indicates the tag of the the three releng projects (org.eclipse.releng.eclipsebuilder, org.eclipse.releng.basebuilder, eclipseInternalBuildTools) used to run the build. If you need to run the build with a new version of the builder, update this tag.
buildProjectTags=v20120305
Rsync
The build is rsynced from eclipsebuildserv to fullmoon.ottawa.ibm.com to download.eclipse.org. Look in kmoir's crontab for the scripts.
Common build failures
"Error occurred while transforming repository" usually means that the bundle couldn't be fetched from Orbit. For example
Build M20090825-1330 (Timestamp: 200908251330): The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/org.eclipse.releng.eclipsebuilder/buildAll.xml:166: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/org.eclipse.releng.basebuilder/plugins/org.eclipse.pde.build_3.5.1.R35x_20090721/scripts/build.xml:78: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/org.eclipse.releng.eclipsebuilder/eclipse/buildConfigs/master/customTargets.xml:18: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/org.eclipse.releng.eclipsebuilder/eclipse/buildConfigs/master/allElements.xml:16: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/org.eclipse.releng.basebuilder/plugins/org.eclipse.pde.build_3.5.1.R35x_20090721/scripts/genericTargets.xml:59: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_master.xml:11: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_master.xml:73: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_org.eclipse.sdk.xml:11: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_org.eclipse.sdk.xml:41: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_org.eclipse.platform.xml:11: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_org.eclipse.platform.xml:904: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_org.eclipse.equinox.p2.user.ui.xml:10: The following error occurred while executing this line:
/builds/M200908251330/src/fetch_org.eclipse.equinox.p2.user.ui.xml:304: Error occurred while transforming repository.
Since our build runs in an IBM lab, the http gets for orbit bundles from eclipse.org are usually redirected from download.eclipse.org to fullmoon.ottawa.ibm.com by the foundation. This redirection can be avoided by changing the url in the orbit.map from download.eclipse.org to www.eclipse.org/external. Sometimes it will take a day or so for the internal mirror to get the latest orbit build.
Missing dependancies due to erroneous map file submission. Check that the map file refers to a version of a project that exists in the repo. If the version of a bundle in cvs doesn't match the one in the map files, ask team to resubmit and start a new build.
Build doesn't proceed - connent not updated etc. Check for stale cvs checkouts on eclipsebuildserv. ps -ef | grep cvs. If there is a cvs connection that's over an hour old, kill it and allow the build to proceed.
Dependancies expressed in manifest and feature don't match. This means that the p2 director cannot resolve the dependencies for the product it is trying to build. The resultant zips for that platform are 0 size. For instance, see bug | bug 258489. Also, you can see the .log files that the directory built by following the Release Engineering build logs link off the Test results build page.
Message "Build failed, map files unchanged". This means either one of two things. One - a build ran and the map files were unchanged so it didn't need to run. Two - you restarted a failed build but the map files didn't change. In the second case, you should update this /home/users/releng/buildTools/eclipse36/mapTag.properties to reflect the build id of the last successful build.
Message "A problem occured while invoking the director". If there is a compile error in the build, the bundle with the compile error will not be published to the repository. Thus when the director is invoked to build zips, the director operation will fail.
/builds/transfer/files/master/download/drops/<buildId>/buildlogs. If the build has failed invoking the director, the director logs may not be copied to this location yet. In this case, there will be director logs in /builds/<buildId>/org.eclipse.releng.basebuilder/configuration directory.
All build tasks are invoked via the userid kmoir on the internal build machine, test machines and eclipse.org.
Missing test results
The test results page of the build isn't updated until all the test results have completed. To see what machines are currently being used for tests look the the following directory. There will be marker files that correspond to the machine operating system and build number.
The windows machines run tests via rsh. The linux and mac machines run tests via ssh. The windows machines need to be rebooted every so often. The old build artifacts are cleaned automatically by cron jobs.
The windows tests machines crash every so often. The event logs don't indicate that anything is wrong with the build. They are on the KVM next to the Eclipse rack in lab, on number 5 and 6. They can just be rebooted and logged into as the build user. I usually reboot these machines once a week so this doesn't happen.
Restarting the build
Each build has a corresponding directory on eclipsebuildserv in /builds. For instance /builds/I201004291549/. If you cd to the org.eclipse.releng.eclipsebuilder directory, there is a script called buildAll.xml. The main target looks something like this
If the build fails, you can restart it by commenting out the sections of the build that have already completed in the main target. Then cd to /builds/I201004291549/org.eclipse.releng.eclipsebuilder, for example, and run sh command.txt. This will allow the build to continue. Alternatively, you can add a cron entry to restart the build. For example,
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linkliciousme36t
Why You Need To Cloak Your Affiliate Hyperlinks
Affiliate marketing isnt new. Men and women have been using affiliate links for years, so a great deal of readers will know an affiliate hyperlink a mil...
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There are these out there, nevertheless, who recommend maintaining the link as is, no matter what the factor appears like, to refrain from any appearance of dishonesty. This can go properly with your personal affiliate philosophy, or you might have difficulty with the technical aspects. Browse this URL linklicious.me alternatives to compare how to engage in it. Either way, there are still sales out there to be produced, but you can anticipate losing a couple of to hyperlink changers. When trying to make a decision regardless of whether to cloak, you should certainly take a look at your web page and try to see what other consumers see. For one more viewpoint, people are asked to check out: linklicious service. Does the hyperlink look easy and non-threatening? How really hard would it be to just cut out the affiliate quantity? What is the content material like on the rest of the web page? If the web page is all about honesty and trust, do you seriously want to then cloak the link? The links should certainly match in with the style and content material of your page. Cloaked or naked, as lengthy as the link flows well on the page and will invite readers to click, there will still be sales created..
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Always carry spare batteries! They're an easy way to score points with your girlfriend when her GPS dies 500 feet from the cache.
Lear to use the track feature on your GPS. Waypointing the car will get you back to the car, but backtracking will get you back out the way you came in (One method often works much better than the other, depending on the situation).
"Found it" log means you FOUND the cache - or at least remnants of one - not just the spot where it was.
"Didn't find it" log means you DIDN'T find it. Whether because you just didn't look in the right place, or you found where it was and it was gone and may be missing, you still didn't find it! Cache owners ned this information to properly maintain their cache.
Remember that the GPSr will usually get you within 30 feet of the cache in ideal conditions (no tree cover, clear day, accurate coords from the hider). When you get close stop staring at that little screen and look for what may seem out of place.
This is probably THE BEST hint for any cacher. I've always had an EXCELLENT sense of direction, but when you're been watching an arrow on GPSR for 20 minutes, you absolutely lose all sense of where you are.
Now I ALWAYS waypoint the car when I start, and it's always a fast trip back.
I also waypoint the car when I go hunting. It's nice to know the fastest way back when you either bag your deer or decide it's time to give p because it's almost dark.
My hints
1. As others have said, always mark your car as a waypoint....
2. Bring a bottle of water with you -- especially on hot days. You may not think you'll need it, but if you get way out in the woods for a longer period of time than you expected, you'll be thankful you have it.
3. Cache with a buddy, if possible. It's easy to slip and fall and get hurt...trust me on this one. Also, believe it or not, it's easy to get disoriented and perhaps lost in the woods -- even with a GPS in your hand.
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Any reason why the puck is so hard and heavy?
When I played floor / street hockey, we used an orange ball that was hard enough to have little bounce but light enough to not require protective equipment. Do there exists similar hollow-core plastic pucks so that players without equipment can play safely?
I realize that even with those softer pucks, we probably have to wear full gear to protect against collisions & sticks.
I've played insane amounts of shinny hockey with normal pucks and no protective gear (generally just gloves, skates, stick), and nobody ever got hurt. You just don't raise the puck. When you play truly competitive hockey, hard shots in traffic tend to go hand in hand with hustle, physicality, etc., so you need gear anyways because you'll be hitting the ice/boards decently often. Once you get used to hockey pucks, the weight just feel "right" for puck handling, passing, shooting, etc. I'd imagine a light puck would bounce a lot more, especially when the ice gets all chopped up and snowy.
I have a plastic puck (not sure where I got it) that is basially the same orange, hollow plastic as a road hockey ball, but in puck shape. But it's useless on anything but a frictionless surface (ice, maybe a smooth gym floor). With the light weight and puck shape, all it wants to do is flip up on end anytime it starts moving.
They use them here at rec centers for young kids/tots to play pond/ice hockey. Anything more than that and it's just more frustrating than a ball or real puck.
There are "lighter" blue pucks, but never used one. They are only 4oz, compared to black ones that are 6oz.
I've played insane amounts of shinny hockey with normal pucks and no protective gear (generally just gloves, skates, stick), and nobody ever got hurt. You just don't raise the puck. When you play truly competitive hockey, hard shots in traffic tend to go hand in hand with hustle, physicality, etc., so you need gear anyways because you'll be hitting the ice/boards decently often. Once you get used to hockey pucks, the weight just feel "right" for puck handling, passing, shooting, etc. I'd imagine a light puck would bounce a lot more, especially when the ice gets all chopped up and snowy.
Unfortunately, most "pond hockey" and shinny hockey places I've played at requires pretty much full gear. I guess it's a liability issue as newer skates don't have good control and can result in some significant collisions with each other.
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Stuart's goal 1:13 into overtime gave the Sharks a 3-2 victory over the Flames on Tuesday.
Stuart jumped up in the rush, drove the net and had Joe Thornton's shot deflect sharply off his elbow and past Reto Berra for the winner.
"It's been a long time since I've had an overtime goal," Stuart said. "It wasn't pretty, but I'm not going to tell anybody how it went in, it just went in."
San Jose dominated play, outshooting Calgary 35-13, yet weren't able to put the game away.
"We've had a lot of close games and just haven't been able to finish it," Stuart said. "Tonight, we let them back in it and we shouldn't have but for us to get the points, it'll be a good positive for us moving forward."
Calgary's work ethic was absent at the beginning and that was a source of frustration for the coaching staff.
"That was the biggest spanking that we've taken in the first period," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "We didn't touch the puck. The only way that we could have touched the puck is if we would have had two pucks out there."
San Jose got a goal from Logan Couture on its second shift of the game and then a power-play goal from Patrick Marleau in the final minute, taking a 2-0 lead in a period in which they outshot the Flames 17-3.
"In the first period, we didn't see our team at all," Hartley said. "I asked (assistant coach) Marty Gelinas, should I change my lines and he said yes. I started looking and I couldn't find three guys that I felt that had decent energy."
Down 28-6 in shots after 40 minutes yet only trailing 2-0 thanks to Berra, Calgary got enough going in the third to rally and tie it.
Calgary's comeback bid began when it got its first power play of the game six minutes into the period. The Flames would need just five seconds to convert.
The goal snapped a 0-for-30 drought on the power play for Calgary that had lasted nine games and covered more than 54 minutes.
Less than four minutes later, Mike Cammalleri tied it on a backhand at 10:25.
But that momentary surge would be the long bright spot for the Flames, who were kicking off a three-game homestand.
"We're all proud people and that's been something from day one, we've been a team that played with pride and we don't want to be beat, playing in games where our shot totals look like that," Cammalleri said. "I don't see any moral victories in that."
After missing the first seven games with a hand injury, the pending unrestricted free agent leads the Flames with eight goals in 11 games.
"In the third, we were desperate and I felt that we saw our good old team again but all that said. If not for Reto Berra, the Sharks can get on the plane after the first period and they'd already have the two points," Hartley said.
San Jose (11-2-5) snapped a five-game winless skid. During the span, they had three shootout losses and one loss in overtime.
"We've been playing good hockey, we just haven't been winning shootouts. To get the full two (points), it's finally nice," Thornton said. "We had two hiccups but we played good tonight. That's how we need to play every night."
Calgary (6-9-3), kicking off a three-game homestand, is winless in its past four.
Berra's record falls to 1-2-1 while Stalock continues his unusual distinction of having won more games than he has started in his brief NHL time.
He won his NHL debut in relief on Feb. 1, 2011. Replacing Antti Niemi halfway through the second period with the Sharks down 3-0 to Phoenix, he made nine saves as San Jose rallied to beat the Coyotes 5-3.
In his first NHL start just over two weeks ago, it was a much busier evening as he was peppered for 40 shots in San Jose's 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators.
"The other guy played pretty good. He saw a lot of rubber and played a heck of a game for them," said Stalock, the 26-year-old from St. Paul, Minn.
"On my end, it was pretty quiet for two periods. It was a little tougher. You've got a lot more time to think about the next puck than just reacting."
Game notes
Partnered most of the night with Derek Smith, Smid played 16:50. He had a penalty and was credited with two blocked shots and one hit. ... Scratched for the Flames were forwards Tim Jackman and Max Reinhart, who just celebrated his 500th NHL game. ... San Jose made two lineup changes: D Brad Stuart returned after sitting out a game and C John McCarthy was inserted. ... Mike Cammalleri is off to his fastest start since he scored 10 goals in his first 11 games in 2007-08. ... In his past five games, Niemi has a 3.82 goals-against average and .878 save percentage.
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Nearly half of Iraq's 18 provinces are now either semi-autonomous or considering a plan to break from Baghdad.
Baghdad, Iraq - The divisions in Iraq are not just personal: Nearly half of Iraq’s 18 provinces have either declared semi-autonomy from the government in Baghdad or are planning such a split in the near future.
The Iraqi constitution allows any province, or group of provinces, to become an autonomous region, which gives the local government more control over managing its internal affairs. One such region exists already: The Kurdistan Regional Government, which has authority over Irbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah provinces in northern Iraq.
But now at least four other Iraqi provinces are pushing for autonomy, a move which some Iraqis fear will irreparably break their country apart.
The bids for autonomy are fueled by a sense of neglect; Iraqis in these provinces feel they receive an unequal share of essential services and government jobs from Baghdad.
And there are indeed some stark regional differences: The unemployment rate in Anbar province is twice that of Baghdad; just one per cent of residents in Basra say they use the public water network (as opposed to 65 per cent nationwide), because the salinated water is often undrinkable, according to the United Nations.
‘Second-class citisens’
Of the four provinces considering autonomy, Diyala has so far gone the furthest: The provincial council announced on Monday, by a vote of 18 to 11, that Diyala would become an autonomous region.
A fragmented IraqProvinces in orange are part of the Kurdish regional government; in yellow, considering autonomy; and in blue, the "disputed territories." (click to enlarge)
But the announcement sparked large protests outside the council building in Baquba, the provincial capital; some of the protesters threatened to burn down the governor’s house unless he backed down. And so the decision was reversed within days, with local lawmakers saying they needed more time to discuss the issue.
The vote in Diyala’s provincial council fell largely along sectarian lines, with Sunni and Kurdish legislators voting in favor and the Shia voting against. But the protesters were a mixed group.
“Those who declared this province an autonomous region represent only one sect, but there are many sects and ethnicities in Diyala, and nobody asked all these people what they want,” said Sheikh Hussein al-Tai, the head of the local council in Khalis.
Neighbouring Salah al-Din province tried to organise a public referendum on autonomy in October. But Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, blocked the referendum, calling it a sectarian bid to turn the province “into a secure refuge for Baathists,” members of Saddam Hussein’s former regime.
“This region will not see the light of day,” Maliki said in a statement. So the provincial council is now trying to organise its own referendum, independent of the electoral commission in Baghdad.
In Anbar province, where residents complain of neglect from the central government - poor basic services, limited job opportunities - a majority of the provincial council supports a bid for autonomy.
“Everything is in the hands of the prime minister, not even ministers... the provincial council has lost all its power to the centre,” said Eid Amash al-Kerbooli, a member of the council. “If the centre was really fair, all Iraqi provinces should have equal opportunities... we don’t accept to be second-class citisens.”
The issue has not yet come to a vote; members of the council are discussing it with local leaders. The governor of Anbar has tried to remain neutral, but said Baghdad’s neglect is pushing people towards autonomy.
Political infighting
The desire for a degree of independence is not limited to Iraq’s majority-Sunni regions, either. The provincial council in oil-rich Basra also wants to break from Baghdad, over what it considers an unfair distribution of the province’s energy revenues. Sabah al-Bazouni, the head of the council, called Basra “the most suitable province to become an autonomous region.”
Local leaders are particularly angry over a $17bn deal with Shell to develop three oilfields in southern Iraq, which they say the central government negotiated without their input.
Maliki has tried to block Basra’s bid as well: The province sent Baghdad a formal request for autonomy last year, and has not yet received a response.
“It is clear that the Kurdistan region is stable to a large extent because the governing parties there are a known factor,” said Ghanem Abdul-Amir al-Maliki, a member of the council. “In Baghdad, everyone is trying to satisfy his own party at the expense of others. We want to get rid of the political infighting in Baghdad by setting up a region.”
And finally there is the Kurdish region, where local leaders want to expand their jurisdiction. A population battle of sorts has played out in Ninewa, Kirkuk and Diyala over the last few years: Kurds have moved into these provinces, arguing that they are returning to homes from which they were displaced years ago by Saddam Hussein’s government.
Sunni Arabs say they are really are trying to tip the region’s demographics, to allow the Kurdish government to take control of more territory.
The issue of autonomy will be one of the most contentious in Iraqi politics over the next few years. Supporters say it is the only way to ensure their provinces are not neglected by Baghdad; opponents say it will weaken Iraq, allowing outside powers to gain influence in the autonomous regions. “Saudi Arabia will take one piece, Iran will take another, the Kurds will take another,” said Mohamed al-Jaburi, an architect in Baghdad. “What will be left?”
“There is a political and outside project to break the unity of Iraq and cut regions from it,” said Hikmat Suleiman, a member of Anbar’s provincial council who opposes the autonomy bid. “If in such circumstances we ask for a federal region in Anbar, we will enforce this project.”
Omar Al Saleh contributed to this report.
Source:Al Jazeera
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About Fairview Drive-in
The most rural of Illinois' remaining outdoor cinemas is located in southern Illinois about 200 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles south of Terre Haute, IN. This single screen drive-in opened in 1953 and was purchased in 1993 by its current owner. They operate seasonally from April thru September and is inexpensive at $6 for adult admission. If you want to bring in outside food and drink, you will need to pay an additional $5.
Suggest an Edit for Fairview Drive-in
Have any information we are missing or that we have incorrectly about this drive-in? Let us know below and we will get it updated!
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account found
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About
Chambers Bay Golf Club
Chambers Bay is a unique tribute to the historic links of Scotland and Ireland. With Puget Sound providing a serene backdrop to Chambers Bay, this breathtaking layout winds through a stunning coastal setting, among windswept dunes and native fescue grasses. The snow-capped Olympic Mountains rim the western shore and eagles keep silent watch overhead. In every sense, Robert Trent Jones II has created an awe-inspiring design that is as spectacular as the beauty surrounding it. This Washington state golf course is home to the 2015 U.S. Open and 2010 U.S. Amateur Championships and is conveniently located just outside of Tacoma, in Pierce County. Less than an hour’s drive South from Seattle, this 18 hole championship golf course provides a traditional, links-style layout featuring impressive emerald greens, dazzling fairways, and brilliant tees. The overall views are just as spectacular as your soul escapes into the history of the game. This walking only, public resort links-style golf course.
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There's a basement
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
The Cheating Woman
Guys have a weird way of dealing with infidelity. They act like they are the supreme court, trying to figure out every bit and piece in the case and then reach a final verdict as if the entire nation’s future depends on their monogamous relationship working out.
When the woman is out they call her repeatedly to ask where, with who, for what. Now I see some of them even asking for the lady’s whatsapp location. Key loggers have always been around. I think the next stage would in this love survelliance program would be to install a firewall at home, enable SSL inspection and do a packet capture. Something I’d try myself for sure. Works for the learning too.
While I understand a guy watching out for his interests with such snooping, I’d at least recommend doing it covertly without the lady of the house knowing. Once the whole thing is out in the open to where you ASK her all those above questions, you might as well walk out than listen to a female hamster spin.
And while you are conducting the one man NSA program don’t forget to draw a line on how many times you want to put in the effort.
Having said this, do you even want to know? Most guys so miss that the fact that she’s done something to make him feel as if she is cheating is enough. End it. Show her the door. It doesn’t even matter if she’s actually tasted some other dude’s cock yet! The fact that set your instincts off like that is more than enough. But most guys insist on proof, might as well wait for the video to be up on pornhub for fuck’s sake.
But it’s understandable guys wanting to hold on to the fact that they are going to be proven wrong. Let’s fact it. As a man it’s fucking hard to get women. And depending on the tons of other factors unique to your circumstances—country, income, social circle, age. Things do not become easy.
It is because of this insecurity of “not finding someone else” or “as good as her” or “the best I can do” that most guys hide behind the charade of “finding proof” that their sweetheart bae is infact sucking some side dick. They want their suspicions to be false. They need them to be false.
So how much exactly is forgivable in this? What if she lies about meeting her mom and just meets her ex bf, but didn’t “do” anything? And you find out because your friend saw her with so and so. Acceptable?
I think most men today are confused about women on the whole. They are being braninwashed with feminism’s drum banging with platitudes like “women too can just have sex”. Nope, not at all the way men can.
This is not to argue that women do not like or enjoy sex, which is the spin most feminists try to put on a position like this so they can then beat it in argument. Age old straw man theory.
I want to take this from the position that the very fact that a woman would have sex with a guy, talking about the horny-fucking-like-rabbits-sex and not the lying deadfish-i-am-here-do-what-you-gotta-do-sex which they give to their arranged marriage husbands. The very fact that she wanted to fuck a guy that much is proof of the underlying love, emotions and respect she has for him.
This is very far from the pointless pussy men can indulge in. Simply look at the biomechanics here.
Women are not built for meaning-emotion-respect less fucking. The testosterone(T) is missing. An average male has 18 times more T than the most physically fit woman on the planet. The whole feminist meme that she just saw a guy, was turned on with the abs and fucked him. Simply does not stand.
In fact there’s an entire other meme which supports this. The meme that women always end up fucking a guy in the drunk state or in an emotional turmoil. Situations in which it’s easy to work her up to the fuck. Just makes her both bold and weak at the same time making her chase the physical gratification.
A sober woman cheating simply means that the guy she ended up fucking had a sense of humor, an emotional bond was formed and there was comfort. You can throw in the looks factor in there too.
But think about it, if looks played a major role than most women would be cheating all the fucking time—simply because of the high no. of hits even an average unfuckable fat monster woman gets every single day of her life. You bet a lot of those guys are the “good looking” type however you define good looks.
But that simply isn’t how it works. An emotional bond formed over a sense of humor and wit earns a woman’s respect, lot faster than simple toned abs and stronglift shoulders.
And a woman’s sincere heartfelt attraction always comes with respect. This sounds all old fashioned and outdated now because the left liberal feminist culture has turned the narrative very well. But evolution and biology are not turned that easy.
They can brainwash the minds of people using the establishment infrastructure—schools, universities, media, NGOs, governments but human instincts which evolved over millions of years, which has kept the race alive cannot be simply turned off. That explains their repeated failure to get men all hot and crazy for the fat whales and the cock carousel riding sluts—simply not going to happened.
Getting to conscious minds of the people is easy for the left. They have huge power with the estabishment infrastructure and hence are able to get to young minds right in the schooling years. And given how most parents especially mothers are just the by products of that establishment system, the kids grow up eating all the dogma of the left having never questioned it.
At the end you have grown women all shocked and surprised when they learn in their let’s get married years that most men don’t seem to dig promiscous women.
And men who are suprised that they were afterall not so okat letting their wife fuck someone else.
The survival instinct of which reproduction is an integral part rages through a man, while his liberal indoctrinated brain fights a losing battle to remain true to the feminist dogma “women are has horny as men”.
His million year old instincts to pass on his genes to live forever through them are firing away because they see that his only at that immortality—a child through his woman is in danger. Or might not be his. This he cannot take lightly. Not in 200 BC or in 2017.
While the philosophical debate of whether our childrean are really a way to immortality will always go on, man’s survival instinct simply does not know any better. Probably why sex is so much fun and people will go to great lengths for it.
Hence the woman cheating in a relationship or the sudden feminist cultural support for open marriages isn’t about women having high libidos—not in most cases but just a setup to convince the man to remain as a productive partner while she gets the sex she really wants from the men she really respects and to convince him that her lust for the extras is just a physical gratification with no real roots in her respect and admiration.
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Patrick Rishe has done it again! He previously wrote an article about the worst franchises in pro sports. The San Francisco Giants were listed in the top 3 of worst MLB Franchises. That was using data from the last 5 years. Read about the “Top 3 Inefficient Franchises in the MLB”.This time Patrick is using a similar methodology, efficiency assessments were made for the first half of the 2010 MLB season. Not every team is listed in his article, but he did tell me (via email) that the Giants are not in the bottom 3 of least efficient teams this year.Patrick said so far this year, the story is a vast improvement. The Giants are the 18 most efficient or 12th least efficient. Not great, but in a relatively terms, a huge improvement.~King of Cali
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Ronin 5 - Martial Arts T-Shirts
The essence of martial arts, printed on fabric.
Ray Sefo Youtube Videos
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Ray Sefo Bio
"Sugar" Ray Sefo (born February 15, 1971) is a semi-retired New Zealand kickboxer, boxer, mixed martial artist and fight promoter of Samoan descent. He is a six-time Muay Thai World Champion and eight time K-1 World Grand Prix Finals tournament participant, currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada and training with Xtreme Couture. He is the president of the MMA promotion World Series of Fighting.
Contents
1 Background
2 Career
3 World Series Of Fighting
4 Titles
5 MMA accomplishments
6 Retirement, Life Beyond Fighting, and Personal Life
7 Kickboxing record
8 Mixed martial arts record
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
Background
Training in Wing Chun as a youth, Sefo moved to Muay Thai under Thai fighting legend Kiosot, then continued training under Lollo Heimuli at the infamous Balmoral Lee Gar Gym.
Career
Sefo had an impressive unbeaten record as an amateur and a professional in the Oceania kickboxing league. Early in his career Sefo trained at Balmoral Lee Gar gym alongside Jason Suttie, Jayson Vemoa, Doug Viney, John Conway and his brother Rony Sefo.
Some would say his fight against Andre Manaart was his first major challenge on the world stage. In this fight he overwhelmed Manaart with devastating speed and elusive footwork, knocking him down on numerous occasions. In the ring after the fight, Manaart took the microphone and said "...you should call him Sugarfist, not Sugarfoot"...
His first major breakthrough was becoming a WKA Cruiserweight Champion, after which he also acted as a sparring partner for fellow New Zealander David Tua when Tua first returned to New Zealand for a fight after turning pro.
Ray made his K-1 debut against future four-time World Grand Prix Champion, Ernesto Hoost. Sefo held his own against the much more experienced Hoost, but was finally knocked out in the 4th round by a leg kick. Sefo gained respect for standing up to such an elite fighter in just his first fight.
Sefo gained more respect in his third K-1 fight where he knocked out K-1 legend Jerome Lebanner in round 1. Sefo's hard right hand was enough to break the Frenchmans jaw in four places.
Sefo had an up down first few years in the K-1, unable to make it past the quarter finals in the K-1 World Grand Prix against the likes of Sam Greco and Andy Hug. In 2000 he made it to the WGP final after knocking out Japanese star Musashi and French kickboxer Cyril Abidi before losing again to Hoost.
In 2002 he defeated Dutch legend Peter Aerts in the quarter finals but lost again to his nemesis Hoost in the semi finals.
In 2007, he was thought to be a legitimate challenger to dethrone four-time World Grand Prix Champion Semmy Schilt for the new Super Heavyweight title. In Round 1, Sefo became only the second man in history to knock Schilt down. However, he would go on to lose by KO in the second round.
He went on to lose five more fights and would not find the winners circle again till he beat Hong Man Choi, Yosuke Nishijima and Ionut Iftimoaie all by decision.
He was then asked to fight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Seoul Final 16 on ten days notice against Tyrone Spong. Ray put up a decent fight for a short preparation but was beaten by decision. At the moment Ray is unsure about whether he will continue to fight in the K-1, though he is still considered one of the sport's oldest and still entertaining fighters.
In mid February 2011 he had his third MMA fight in a reserve fight for the Strikeforce Heavyweight tournament. He fought Valentijn Overeem, brother of Alistair Overeem, the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix champion. Overeem had 50 MMA fights behind him and beat Sefo by submission in the first round. Sefo's striking on the feet looked good, but as an inexperienced grappler he lost early on by neck crank.
World Series Of Fighting
Sefo is the current president of the World Series of Fighting and has inked a deal with NBC Sports to air 8 to 10 events for the network.
On 15 May 2013, WSOF announced a 4-man tournament to crown an Inaugural Middleweight Champion. One Semi Final fight will take place at WSOF 4 & the other will take place at WSOF 5. The participants announced are as followed: Jesse Taylor, Elvis Mutapcic, David Branch & Danillo Villefort.
On 12 June 2013, WSOF president Ray Sefo announced he will return to fighting at this event. At WSOF 3, Sefo announced that he will be facing Dave Huckaba. The two fought at World Series of Fighting 4 on 10 August 2013. Sefo lost the fight via TKO in the second round.
Titles
2000 K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Runner Up.
1997 WKA World Super Heavyweight World champion.
1996 WMTF World Heavyweight champion.
1996 ISKA World Super Cruiserweight Champion.
1995 ISKA World Cruiserweight Champion
1994 ISKA World Light Cruiserweight Champion.
1992 WMTF World Light Heavyweight Champion.
1992 South Pacific Cruiserweight Champion.
1991 New Zealand Cruiserweight Champion.
1990 New Zealand Heavyweight Champion.
MMA accomplishments
Hero's
Superfight winner at K-1 Hero's 2
Retirement, Life Beyond Fighting, and Personal Life
On an interview in April 2015, Ray Sefo said "I actually made a promise to myself that this year will be my last year. He has not fought since losing a MMA bought against Dave Huckaba in the WSOF cage.
Sefo is the current president of the MMA promotion World Series of Fighting.
He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, and continues to train out of Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts.
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January 20, 2013
Google Self-Driving Car, 6WRE501
Google self-driving car, 6WRE501.
Google’s self-driving cars are being tested extensively in
real-world conditions.
For example, it is getting increasingly common to see
Google’s self-driving Lexus SUV, California 6WRE501, on Bay Area roads at
different times of the day and, that is just one of the self-driving vehicles
being tested.
Very encouraging.
How can you tell if it is a self-driving car – the rotating
LIDAR on top of the car – that constantly provides a 3D view of the
surroundings to the car’s algos.
The self-driving cars will completely change driving as we
know it, for the better.
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Presented in partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the covers will debut throughout October.
"It's rewarding to see the partnership between Marvel and Susan G. Komen For The Cure produce such exciting art to raise awareness about the risk of breast cancer to both women and men," said Marvel publisher and president Dan Buckley in a statement. "We hope that all our fans take a moment this month to educate themselves on the ways to fight and reduce this risk of this disease by checking out the free resources Komen has to offer."
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Satanism is a word that has several different meanings. It can describe different religions and philosophies.
Sometimes the word Satanism is just used to say that the person using it does not like a group, but the group themselves do not think of themselves as Satanists. Used like this, it is just used to say the speaker disapproves of a group. A lot of groups, like Pagans, or even Protestants have in the past been called Satanists by some people.
The word is often used by people who do not know much about or do not like Satanists, who think that Satanism means worshipping an evil being called Satan, and that Satanists want him to win in a war against good represented by "God". This is not true of most Satanists. For them Satan is only a symbol for the freedom to be themselves, also the word satan is used as symbol for man's inner desires and for knowledge. These people like the writings of Anton LaVey and are sometimes called LaVeyan Satanists. There are several modern Satanic groups of different types, but the most well known is the Church of Satan created in 1966 by Anton LaVey who also wrote The Satanic Bible. Even though these types of satanists are atheists, meaning they do not believe in a higher being, they do practice magic. They believe that there is no afterlife.
Other types of Satanist do worship Satan. They are called theistic or traditional Satanists, because they believe their religion is older. They think their religion is similar to that of Witches.
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OPRAH WINFREY OPENS UP TO “ACCESS HOLLYWOOD’S” SHAUN ROBINSON ABOUT PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SPEECH FOR AMERICA’S SCHOOLS
Oprah Winfrey told “Access Hollywood’s” Shaun Robinson that she was “stunned” by the backlash to President Obama’s speech to America’s schools. The interview will air on “Access Hollywood” tomorrow, Wednesday, September 9th. http://www.accesshollywood.com/oprah-winfrey-says-she-is-stunned-at-backlash-to-presidents-speech_article_22668
Robinson, speaking to Winfrey about the start of the new season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” brought up the speech that President Obama gave earlier today to children around the country and the controversy surrounding it.
When asked by Robinson if she understood the concerns that many people had about President Obama speaking to their children, Winfrey replied, “No, I do not. No, no, no, no and no. I’m just really stunned by people who feel that the President, the leader of our country and of the free world, saying to your children it’s important for your success, the success of your families and our country for you to stay in school, that education is vital to your well-being…I don’t understand it. I do not understand it.”
Robinson asked if Winfrey felt that children who were not permitted to watch the speech, missed out on a great opportunity. “I think those children missed out and I think that’s the message we’re trying to send,” said Winfrey. “If you’re a country that doesn’t want your children to hear that message, then who are we really? That’s what I think.”
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Introduction
This article is part 3 of a series of three articles that I am going to post. The proposed article content will be as follows:
Part 1: This one will be an introduction into Perceptron networks (single layer neural networks)
Part 2: Will be about multi-layer neural networks, and the back propagation training method to solve a non-linear classification problem such as the logic of an XOR logic gate. This is something that a Perceptron can't do. This is explained further within this article.
Part 3: This one is about how to use a genetic algorithm (GA) to train a multi-layer neural network to solve some logic problem, ;f you have never come across genetic algorithms, perhaps my other article located here may be a good place to start to learn the basics.
Summary
This article will show how to use a Microbial Genetic Algorithm to train a multi-layer neural network to solve the XOR logic problem.
A Brief Recap (From Parts 1 and 2)
Before we commence with the nitty griity of this new article which deals with multi-layer neural networks, let's just revisit a few key concepts. If you haven't read Part 1 or Part 2, perhaps you should start there.
Part 1: Perceptron Configuration (Single Layer Network)
The inputs (x1,x2,x3..xm) and connection weights (w1,w2,w3..wm) in figure 4 are typically real values, both positive (+) and negative (-). If the feature of some xi tends to cause the perceptron to fire, the weight wi will be positive; if the feature xi inhibits the perceptron, the weight wi will be negative.
The perceptron itself consists of weights, the summation processor, and an activation function, and an adjustable threshold processor (called bias hereafter).
For convenience, the normal practice is to treat the bias as just another input. The following diagram illustrates the revised configuration:
The bias can be thought of as the propensity (a tendency towards a particular way of behaving) of the perceptron to fire irrespective of its inputs. The perceptron configuration network shown in Figure 5 fires if the weighted sum > 0, or if you are into math type explanations.
Part 2: Multi-Layer Configuration
The multi-layer network that will solve the XOR problem will look similar to a single layer network. We are still dealing with inputs / weights / outputs. What is new is the addition of the hidden layer.
As already explained above, there is one input layer, one hidden layer, and one output layer.
It is by using the inputs and weights that we are able to work out the activation for a given node. This is easily achieved for the hidden layer as it has direct links to the actual input layer.
The output layer, however, knows nothing about the input layer as it is not directly connected to it. So to work out the activation for an output node, we need to make use of the output from the hidden layer nodes, which are used as inputs to the output layer nodes.
This entire process described above can be thought of as a pass forward from one layer to the next.
This still works like it did with a single layer network; the activation for any given node is still worked out as follows:
where wi is the weight(i), and Ii is the input(i) value. You see it the same old stuff, no demons, smoke, or magic here. It's stuff we've already covered.
So that's how the network looks. Now I guess you want to know how to go about training it.
Learning
There are essentially two types of learning that may be applied to a neural network, which are "Reinforcement" and "Supervised".
Reinforcement
In Reinforcement learning, during training, a set of inputs is presented to the neural network. The output is 0.75 when the target was expecting 1.0. The error (1.0 - 0.75) is used for training ("wrong by 0.25"). What if there are two outputs? Then the total error is summed to give a single number (typically sum of squared errors). E.g., "your total error on all outputs is 1.76". Note that this just tells you how wrong you were, not in which direction you were wrong. Using this method, we may never get a result, or could be hunt the needle.
Using a generic algorithm to train a multi-layer neural network offers a Reinforcement type training arrangement, where the mutation is responsible for "jiggling the weights a bit". This is what this article is all about.
Supervised
In Supervised learning, the neural network is given more information. Not just "how wrong" it was, but "in what direction it was wrong", like "Hunt the needle", but where you are told "North a bit" "West a bit". So you get, and use, far more information in Supervised learning, and this is the normal form of neural network learning algorithm.
This training method is normally conducted using a Back Propagation training method, which I covered in Part 2, so if this is your first article of these three parts, and the back propagation method is of particular interest, then you should look there.
So Now the New Stuff
From this point on, anything that is being discussed relates directly to this article's code.
What is the problem we are trying to solve? Well, it's the same as it was for Part 2, it's the simple XOR logic problem. In fact, this articles content is really just an incremental build, on knowledge that was covered in Part 1 and Part 2, so let's march on.
For the benefit of those that may have only read this one article, the XOR logic problem looks like the following truth table:
Remember with a single layer (perceptron), we can't actually achieve the XOR functionality as it's not linearly separable. But with a multi-layer network, this is achievable.
So with this in mind, how are we going to achieve this? Well, we are going to use a Genetic Algorithm (GA from this point on) to breed a population of neural networks that will hopefully evolve to provide a solution to the XOR logic problem; that's the basic idea anyway.
So what does this all look like?
As can be seen from the figure above, what we are going to do is have a GA which will actually contain a population of neural networks. The idea being that the GA will jiggle the weights of the neural networks, within the population, in the hope that the jiggling of the weights will push the neural network population towards a solution to the XOR problem.
So How Does This Translate Into an Algorithm
The basic operation of the Microbial GA training is as follows:
Pick two genotypes at random
Compare scores (fitness) to come up with a winner and loser
Go along genotype, at each locus (point)
So only the loser gets changed, which gives a version of Elitism for free; this ensures the best in breed remains in the population.
With some probability, copy from winner to loser (overwrite)
With some probability, mutate that locus of the loser
That's it. That is the complete algorithm.
But there are some essential issues to be aware of when playing with GAs:
The genotype will be different for a different problem domain
The fitness function will be different for a different problem domain
These two items must be developed again whenever a new problem is specified. For example, if we wanted to find a person's favourite pizza toppings, the genotype and fitness would be different from that which is used for this article's problem domain.
These two essential elements of a GA (for this article problem domain) are specified below.
1. The Geneotype
For this article, the problem domain states that we had a population of neural networks. So I created a single dimension array of NeuralNetwork objects. This can be seen from the constructor code within the GA_Trainer_XOR object:
2. The Fitness Function
Remembering the problem domain description stated, the following truth table is what we are trying to achieve:
So how can we tell how fit (how close) the neural network is to this ? It is fairly simply really. What we do is present the entire set of inputs to the Neural Network one at a time and keep an accumulated error value, which is worked out as follows:
Within the NeuralNetwork class, there is a getError(..) method like this:
Then in the NN_Trainer_XOR class, there is an Evaluate method that accepts an int value which represents the member of the population to fetch and evaluate (get fitness for). This overall fitness is then returned to the GA training method to see which neural network should be the winner and which neural network should be the loser.
So how do we know when we have a trained neural network? In this article's code, what I have done is provide a fixed limit value within the NN_Trainer_XOR class that, when reached, indicates that the training has yielded a best configured neural network.
If, however, the entire training loop is done and there is still no well-configured neural network, I simply return the value of the winner (of the last training epoch) as the overall best configured neural network.
This is shown in the code snippet below; this should be read in conjunction with the evaluate(..) method shown above:
//check to see if there was a best configuration found, may not have done
//enough training to find a good NeuralNetwork configuration, so will simply
//have to return the WINNER
if (bestConfiguration == -1)
{
bestConfiguration = WINNER;
}
//return the best Neural network
return networks[bestConfiguration];
So Finally the Code
Well, the code for this article looks like the following class diagram (it's Visual Studio 2005, C#, .NET v2.0):
The main classes that people should take the time to look at would be:
GA_Trainer_XOR: Trains a neural network to solve the XOR problem using a Microbial GA.
TrainerEventArgs: Training event args, for use with a GUI.
NeuralNetwork: A configurable neural network.
NeuralNetworkEventArgs: Training event args, for use with a GUI.
SigmoidActivationFunction: A static method to provide the sigmoid activation function.
The rest are the GUI I constructed simply to show how it all fits together.
Note: The demo project contains all code, so I won't list it here. Also note that most of these classes are quite similar to those included with the Part 2 article code. I wanted to keep the code similar so people who have already looked at Part 2 would recognize the common pattern.
Code Demos
The demo application attached has three main areas which are described below:
Live Results Tab
It can be seen that this has very nearly solved the XOR problem; it did however take nearly 45000 iterations (epoch) of a training loop. Remembering that we have to also present the entire training set to the network, and also do this twice, once to find a winner and once to find a loser. That is quite a lot of work; I am sure you would all agree. This is why neural networks are not normally trained by GAs; this article is really about how to apply a GA to a problem domain. Because the GA training took 45000 epochs to yield an acceptable result does not mean that GAs are useless. Far from it, GAs have their place, and can be used for many problems, such as:
Sudoko solver (the popular game)
Backpack problem (trying to optimize the use of a backpack of limited size, to get as many items in as will fit)
To name but a few, basically, if you can come up with the genotype and a Fitness function, you should be able to get a GA to work out a solution. GAs have also been used to grow entire syntax trees of grammar, in order to predict which grammar is more optimal. There is more research being done in this area as I write this article; in fact, there is a nice article on this topic (Gene Expression Programming) by Andrew Krillov, right here at the CodeProject, if anyone wants to read further.
Training Results Tab
Viewing the target/outputs together:
Viewing the errors:
Trained Results Tab
Viewing the target/outputs together:
It is also possible to view the neural network's final configuration using the "View Neural Network Config" button.
What Do You Think?
That is it; I would just like to ask, if you liked the article, please vote for it.
Points of Interest
I think AI is fairly interesting, that's why I am taking the time to publish these articles. So I hope someone else finds it interesting, and that it might help further someone's knowledge, as it has my own.
Anyone that wants to look further into AI type stuff, that finds the content of this article a bit basic, should check out Andrew Krillov's articles at Andrew Krillov CP articles as his are more advanced, and very good.
History
v1.1: 27/12/06: Modified the GA_Trainer_XOR class to have a random number seed of 5.
Comments and Discussions
I'm trying to calculate the rsquared value after training is complete and I need the coefficient values which would be the final weights. I see that there are 3 properties under the neural network. Hidden, InputToHiddenWeights, and HiddenToOutputWeights. Which one of these is what I would want?
That is what I thought but I must be doing something wrong because I have 3 inputs and 1 output so I initialize the neural network with 3 hidden layers and 3 input layers and 1 output layer. I'm getting 4 double arrays in the HiddenToOutputWeights and it seems that the more training times that I do the training with, the more inaccurate the weights seem to get. I'm trying to run code that compares multiple regression with the neural network in your code and then I create a rsquared value for each method and choose the closest one. All I have changed in your code was the inputs and outputs. Is there anything that I need to change to make sure it isn't still trying to solve the xor code?
All I'm trying to do is perform a multiple regression equation using 3 inputs and 1 output. I feed in the 3 input arrays and I'm just trying to find the weight for each that best matches the output data. I don't know how I should change the fitness function if at all. I read that section on it but I guess I'm not seeing what to do.
getError() currently takes the error, gets the square of it and then the squared root, so the result is the modulus of the original error value.Instead it should return the square error, so Math.Sqrt() should be removed.
As a suggestion to get better results already with less train loops, initialiseNetwork() should be called when creating new NeuralNetwork .
There seem to be a problem with this program.I edited the program, and it looks like most seeds would make it stuck on a local minima.I think the error for this is that he used a bad genetic algorithmMaking the winner spread his genes over the loser's genes.
Do u know how to create a Neural network application that read a data from excel file? then show output in GUI diagram.. Maybe u will understand more when u refer to this link (http://www.jpier.org/PIER/pier116/13.11022601.pdf[^] ) this project previously is done by matlab . Do u know how to convert it to C# programming.
I use Aforge implement a back properagation network,I use sigmoid as ativation function, it have 282 input, 6 output, the second of output instant bigger than 0.5 in traing sample. we trained the network till error is 0. but the second output instant less than 0.5. it is very strange, why it report error is 0?
great article!Question: what is the optimal layout for specific inputs/outputs to choose? E.g. why for xor function & 2 inputs & 1 output - 1 hidden layer with 2 nodes?What will happen if increase number of hidden layers & nodes? If I have more inputs and outputs, should it be equal amount of nodes in hidden layer? Is layout of nn also depends on purpose of network?
Hello Mr. Barber, at first, i would like to say that i think your 3 steps tutorial a great base for AI, helped me a hot, but when i tryed to pass the XOR problem to C++, i am encountering unnexpected behavior of the ANN's, the learning rate is too slow! i think the problem is the random number generation...
Hi Mr. Sacha, I want to train a neural network to recognize the characters [A-Z] U [a-z] U [0-9] from a user-drawn image in a panel (Java) or picture box (VB6). The picture is divided into a 10 by 10 matrix and each intersection in the matrix represents 1 input neuron. Based from what I have read in your discussion above, genetic algorithms tend to be slow relative to BP when used to train neural networks. But you also said that it could be remedied if only you could come up with a good fitness function as well as a genotype... (Did I get it right?)Can you recommend me a good link so that I will have something to read regarding my project? I want to use GAs in evolving weights.
By the way, your article is quite easier to understand than the article in generation 5. But the code presented there when run, achieves (in only 1000 cycles) the performance of your code (in 45000 cycles). Why is that? I am a beginner in this field and I hope you could somehow help me. Also, could you recommend of a good data structure to use in storing the weights (100 input neurons, 10-15 hidden neurons, and 26 output neurons, fully connected)? Or maybe a good architecture for the network itself.
You know you say my code took 45000 cycles and it does but it is training a Neural Network using a GA, this takes a long time. I bet the one at generation 5 is hust using BP. If you look at 2nd articl in this series, it only took 2500 cycles to solve the XOR using BP.
As far as how to represent the network, you could use my code directly or use Andre Kirillov Neuural Network stuff, also here at codeproject.
Thanks, haven't read the stuff you mentioned yet but I will after finishing this reply. Uhm, actually, the one I mentioned in my first post in this article is a Neural Network trained by GA. You can follow this link if you want proof of what I am saying. http://www.generation5.org/content/2000/nn_ga.asp
Hi, I think rather than constant repetition of the same back-propagated, sigmoid-driven, multilayer networks that we see practically everywhere, it would be more interesting if you were to present an algorithm (with measured stability metrics) regarding the implementation of mutation and crossover in neural networks.
For example, what do you mutate? A neuron? (Value? Activation Function? Type of Synapse?) A neuron layer? (Number of neurons? Arrangement? Bias values?)
And how do you implement network crossover? What defines a slice of the network, and how do you insert it into a different one?
But as a newbie to AI While I agree there was other stuff on the net that possibly says the same thing, I did actually feel that Sacha's article was at the "right" level and more importantly in the "right style" ( for me at least) I have have looked at the other articles I had seen on the net again after reading Sacha's stuff and they made more sense to me the second time. Yes they probably were saying the same thing in the end but their writing style just lost me too quick.
While I am no where near being able to say I understand fully ANN, I can at least now understand the terms you mention
<small>"if you were to present an algorithm (with measured stability metrics) regarding the implementation of mutation and crossover in neural networks.
For example, what do you mutate? A neuron? (Value? Activation Function? Type of Synapse?) A neuron layer? (Number of neurons? Arrangement? Bias values?)
And how do you implement network crossover? What defines a slice of the network, and how do you insert it into a different one?
"</small>
You use terms like Mutate Activation functions and cross over networks which I am only now at a point where i realize I need help next on. ( and that is what they are called )
I liked Sacha Writing style ... it worked for me ( at this moment in time) and I agree there is loads of other stuff out there but I for one am glad he did write what he did.
Now Could some one write the follow up Please I need to learn how to "Mutate my crossed over function network activation " thingnbobby watsit and Quickly
Now Could some one write the follow up Please I need to learn how to "Mutate my crossed over function network activation " thingnbobby watsit and Quickly
This really made me laugh, yeah ANN are a bit like that. Those books I refer to are good, and you should also check out Andrew Kirillovs articles. I mentioned those in my article.
I am a big fan of his actually.
Im glad you like my writing style. I try to make easy to grasp. These were always meant to be beginners articles. At uni we did, spiking, DRNN, and all sorts of others, but the style described by my articles is by far the easiest to follow. So if I only helped one person thats really cool.
Im glad I helped you in particular, I like what you said it made me smile.
Hmm, maybe I will. It seems that Neural Network articles are universally popular on CodeProject. But, on the other hand, I'm not sure that anyone is really interested about the more advanced stuff (GA, committee machines, parallelization, etc.)... but I will sit on the idea and maybe come up with something.
I have been reading all your articles and they are very good. I am new to the AI world but I have a problem that needs it now.
I understand ( sort of) the coding side of things but my questions are higher level than that. how do you define your inputs , nodes , Biases etc.
For example how do define the number of nodes you use/need and how many layers deep should it be and when do you need backpropagation ( Is backpropagation only needed if you have an XOR situation you want to test for?)
Sorry if these are very general questions.
Just to give you a very basic description of my problem which is basically document categorization .... I have a situation where I have to recognise a variable number of documents when I see them... The catch is the documents while having "Roughly" the same content each time i see them it will rarely be identical There will always be Extra stuff that could be considered "noise" and the location of the "Functional" content with in a document can vary..... I really don't care about the content of the document my issue is to recognise that the document is one Ive seen before or a new one and catagorize it appropriately.
A simple example would be say... Um ... I know!!! a cooking web site... I am interested in seeing when ever and how often different recipes are visited. I don't care about the actual recipes but I want to know that I have seen this one before or its a new one. so I know what pile to put it under ( Baking, Cakes, apple pies)
( for the purpose of this example assume i only have access to the page data nothing else) each time a recipe is displayed there will be loads of different Ads wrapped around the page and at random there might be News type articles relating to the history of the dish.... and to top it off say it is a supermarket web site and they modify the recipe text to include product brands that are on special that week. so the actual Recipe text will differ slightly. This is not my actall situation but it sums it up pretty well
How would you recommend defining the sort of network I would need?
In my situation I think I can find about 5-6 "parameters" that have a fairly High correlation to the document "catagory" each parameter on its own would not be unique but as a set would be a "reasonable" good fingerprint ( but rarely 100%)
Do i just have one neuron per Parameter I want to match against? do I need to have multiple layers of nurons? do I need set up any special Back propergation rules? ( in my case it parameter I would be looking at would all be addative)
Is it possible to avoid having to supply a test file as I would never know all the possible documents i might see beforehand?
There is a certain amount of structure and a few "general" key words I can rely on.Would you suggest someform of GA to get it to "learn" each new page by itself as it comes across it or would I have to build a test set of all the pages I am interested in first?
Sorry if this is getting too long, Please tell me to go some where else if this is not the right place to ask.:(
For an XOR with 4 inputs, I would need 4 inputs if you see what I mean. Then I would look at what state I trying to get out of the neural network for the problem domain. For an XOR, I simply want a 0 or a 1. So The network only needs 1 output. The bit in between inputs and outputs (hidden node layers) is kind of your choice.
As far as recognising entire strings, that may be a bit over ambitious. I would try and get your head around single characters first (this is hard enough, and takes lots of training, just to do this)
Ther are some very good articles, and possible you should pose your questions to these fellows
Oh I do think you should have gotten the prize. As an almost complete beginner, Your articles must have been one of the "friendliest" introduction to AI Neural networks I have seen so far. As long as you are still enjoying doing them please keep it up.
I will look at your references and do some more head scratching.
In the meantime maybe one of the other readers may have some suggestions...
Maybe a good article for some one to write is "problem analysis" wrt using neural nets ....Who knows if I learn enough I might have a go at writing some thing.I don't know if other people are as Slow as me at picking up this AI "thinking" up
can you recommend any good references that show real world examples ( even simple ones) and the Neural nets chosen , and WHY it was chosen. I feel that with Neural nets libraries I have just been given my first "Swiss Army pocket knife" with a 101 "gadgets" on it and i don't know where/how to choose which which one i need
Yet, it is really sad. I totally agree and I personally think that there is some sort of cheating. That guy was not so close to be winner, so he just made something mean to become winner. If it is so, than it is really low of him.
Yes, you are right. We need just to write good articles. Personally I am not a great fun of prizes I got and think they could be much better. But I understand why they are so. These prizes are just a way for advertisement and nothing more.
I am really glad that you agree with me, it just doesnt seem possible I mean for something like 11 days there were 2 clear leaders, then in 1 day one article tripples its votes.
Mmmmm I think not.
I am totally annoyed by this, But as I say I am not going to bother with that stuff any more, just do my own thing and let things happen.
You know I generally write stuff I am interestd in, sometimes this means lots of interest, other times not so much, but I like what I write, and thats the main thing for me. So i will continue in this route.
As for this competitoon, I am over it. There was some cheating me thinks. But sod it.
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Profiling Software
Jarrut is a tool that makes developing and debugging Java ME applications (application using CLDC to be more specific) a bit less of a pain. Jarrut enables proper stack traces for exceptions, also when running a MIDlet on a real device
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Physicians of Somerset, N.J. Hold Inaugural Gala
More than 200 people attended the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) – Somerset, NJ chapter’s on Dec.9 at The Marigold, to enjoy an evening with friends and colleagues and seek to strengthen and rejuvenate the organization.
“This is the first gala event for our chapter which was approved by AAPI on Nov. 17,” Dr. Binod Sinha, president of the Somerset chapter said. “The goal of the Chapter is to unite Indian-origin doctors in New Jersey,” he added. The chapter is hoping to involve young physicians and sees itself as a vehicle to achieve that by networking, reaching out to communities and doing good works. According to Dr. Sinha, 250 people came to the successful event.
Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh speaks at the AAPI NJ Gala.
Among the speakers at the event was Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, publisher of Desi Talk. “I started the Federation of AAPI 20 years ago, and we achieved so much especially for foreign medical graduates,” Dr. Parikh said, adding, “This group should be active not just for themselves but for involvement in federal level policymaking.”
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Parikh Worldwide Media is the largest Indian-American publishing group in the United States. The group publishes five periodicals – “News India Times,” a national weekly newspaper; “Desi Talk in New York,” a weekly newspaper serving the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region; and “Desi Talk in Chicago,” a weekly newspaper serving the Greater Chicago area and the Midwestern states; and “The Indian American,” a national online quarterly feature magazine, and the Gujarat Times, a Gujarati language weekly. The combined circulation and readership of these publications make the media group the most influential in the ethnic Indian market.
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Cheering for the Home Team
6/26/2016
We’ve always believed that we owe everything to our community and our customers. That’s why you’ll always find MNB cheering for the home team and supporting activities like American Legion Baseball that make our community better.
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Rajab is the seventh month in the Islamic lunar calendar. This month was regarded as one of the sacred months (Al-Ashhur-al-hurum) in which battles were prohibited in the days of the Holy Prophet . It is also a prelude to the month of Ramadan, because Ramadan follows it after the intervening month of Sha'ban. Therefore, when the Holy Prophet sighted the moon of Rajab, he used to pray to Allah in the following words:
"O Allah, make the months of Rajab and Sha'ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan (i.e. prolong our life up to Ramadan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings)."
Yet no specific way of worship has been prescribed by the Shari'ah in this month. However, some people have invented some special rituals or practices in this month, which are not supported by reliable resources of the Shari'ah or are based on some unauthentic traditions. We would like to explain here the correct position about them.
1. Celebration of Lailatul Mi'raj
It is generally believed that the great event of Mi'raj (ascension of the Holy Prophet to the heavens) took place in the night of 27th of Rajab. Therefore, some people celebrate the night as "Lailatul- Mi'raj" (the night of ascension to heavens).
Indeed, the event of mi'raj was one of the most remarkable episodes in the life of our beloved Holy Prophet . He was called by Almighty Allah. He traveled from Makkah to Baitul-Maqdis and from there he ascended the heavens through the miraculous power of Allah. He was honored with a direct contact with his Creator at a place where even the angels had no access. This was the unique honor conferred by Allah to the Holy Prophet alone. It was the climax of the spiritual progress which is not attained by anybody except him. No doubt the night in which he was blessed with this unparalleled honor was one of the greatest nights in the history of this world.
But, Islam has its own principles with regard to the historic and religious events. Its approach about observing festivals and celebrating days and nights is totally different from the approach of other religions. The Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet did not prescribe any festival or any celebration to commemorate an event from the past, however remarkable it might have been. Instead, Islam has prescribed two annual celebrations only. One is Eid-ul-Fitr and the other is Eid ul-Adha. Both of these festivals have been fixed at a date on which the Muslims accomplish a great 'ibadah (worship) every year. Eid-ul-Fitr has been prescribed after the fasts of Ramadan, while Eid-ul-Adha has been fixed when the Muslims perform the Hajj annually. None of these two eids is designed to commemorate a particular event of the past which has happened in these dates. This approach is indicative of the fact that the real occasion for a happy celebration is the day in which the celebrators themselves have accomplished remarkable work through their own active effort. As for the accomplishments of our ancestors, their commemoration should not be restricted to a particular day or night. Instead, their accomplishments must be remembered every day in the practical life by observing their teachings and following the great examples they have set for us.
Keeping this principle in view, the following points should be remembered with regard to the "Lailatul-mi'raj":
(1) We cannot say with absolute certainty in which night the great event of mi'raj took place. Although some traditions relate this event to 27th night of the month of Rajab, yet there are other traditions that suggest other dates. Al-Zurqani, the famous biographer of the Holy Prophet has referred to five different views in this respect: Rabi-ul-Awwal, Rabi-u-Thani, Rajab, Ramadan and Shawwal. Later, while discussing different traditions, he has added a sixth opinion, that the mi'raj took place in the month of Zulhijjah.
Allama Abdulhaq Muhaddith Dehlawi, the well-known scholar of the Indian subcontinent, has written a detailed book on the merits of Islamic months. While discussing the 'Lailatul-mi'raj' has mentioned that most of the scholars are of the view that the event of mi'raj took place in the month of Ramadan or in Rabi-ul-awwal.
(2) It is also not known in which year the event of Mi'raj took place. The books of history suggest a wide range between the fifth-year and the twelfth year after the Holy Prophet was entrusted with prophethood.
Now, if it is assumed that the event of Mi'raj took place in the fifth year of his prophethood, it will mean that the Holy Prophet remained in this world for eighteen years after this event. Even if it is presumed that the mi'raj took place in the twelfth year of his prophethood, his remaining life-time after this event would be eleven years. Throughout this long period, which may range between eleven years and eighteen years, the Holy Prophet never celebrated the event of mi'raj, nor did he give any instruction about it. No one can prove that the Holy Prophet ever performed some specific modes of worship in a night calling it the 'Lailatul-mi'raj' or advised his followers to commemorate the event in a particular manner.
(3) After the demise of the Holy Prophet also, no one of his companions is reported to celebrate this night as a night of special acts of worship. They were the true devotees of the Holy Prophet and had devoted their lives to preserve every minute detail of the sunnah of the Holy Prophet and other Islamic teachings. Still, they did not celebrate the event of mi'raj in a particular night in a particular way.
All these points go a long way to prove that the celebration of the 27th night of Rajab, being the lailatul-mi'raj has no basis in the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet or in the practice of his noble companions. Had it been a commendable practice to celebrate this night, the exact date of this event would have been preserved accurately by the Ummah and the Holy Prophet and his blessed companions would have given specific directions for it.
Therefore, it is not a Sunnah to celebrate the Lailatul-mi'raj'. We cannot declare any practice as a sunnah unless it is established through authentic sources that the Holy Prophet or is noble Companions have recognized it as such, otherwise it may become a bid'ah about which the Holy Prophet has observed in the following words: "Whoever invents something in our religion which is not a part of it, it is to be rejected."
Being mindful of this serious warning, we should appreciate that the 27th night of the month of Rajab is not like 'Lailatul-qadr' or 'Lailatul-bara'ah' for which special merits have been mentioned expressly either y the Holy Qur'an or by the Holy Prophet .
However, all the recognized modes of 'ibadah (worship) like Salat, recitation of the Holy Qur'an, dhikr, etc. are commendable any time, especially in the late hours of night, and obviously the 27th night of Rajab is not an exception. Therefore, if someone performs any recognized 'ibadah in this night from this point of view nothing can stop him from doing so, and he will be entitled to the thawab (reward allocated for that recognized 'ibadah insha-Allah.) But it is not permissible to believe that performing 'ibadah in this night is more meritorious or carries more thawab like 'Lailatul-qadr' or 'Lailatul-bara'ah', because this belief is not based on any authentic verse or on a sunnah of the Holy Prophet . Similarly, it is not a correct practice to celebrate this night collectively and to invite people to special ritual congregations.
(4) Some people suggest some special modes of worship to be performed in this night. Since no special mode of worship is prescribed by the Shari'ah in this night, these suggestions are devoid of any authority and should not be acted upon.
It is believed by some that the Muslims should keep fast on 27th of Rajab. Although there are some traditions attributing special merits to the fast of this day yet the scholars of hadith have held these traditions as very weak and unauthentic reports which cannot be sufficient to establish a rule of Shari'ah. On the contrary, there is an authentic report that Sayyidna 'Umar, Radi-Allahu anhu, used to forbid people from fasting on this day, rather to compel them to eat if they had started fasting.
It should be borne in mind here that a "nafl" fast can be observed any day (except the six prohibited days of the year); therefore, fasting on 27th of Rajab is not prohibited in itself. What is prohibited is the belief that fasting on this day is more meritorious than fasting in other normal days. One should not fast in this day with this belief. But if someone fasts therein, believing it to be a normal nafl fast, there is no bar against it.
Sacrifice (qurbani) in the month of Rajab
In the days of ignorance (jahiliyyah) the Arabs used to offer the sacrifice of a goat in the month of Rajab. This sacrifice used to be called "Atirah' or 'Rajabiyyah'. This sacrifice was offered in the name of different so-called gods and their icons. In the beginning of Islam, this custom was retained, but the Muslims modified it by offering the sacrifice of 'Atirah in the name of Allah instead of the false gods. But finally, this custom was abandoned and the Holy Prophet prohibited the offering of 'Atirah. In a tradition of Sayyidna Abu Hurairah, Radi-Allahu anhu, reported by both al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Holy Prophet has said: "Fara' is nothing and 'Atirah is nothing."
Abu Hurairah, Radi-Allahu anhu, has explained in the same tradition that 'Fara" was the first child of a she-camel. Whenever a she-camel delivered its first child, the Arabs used to sacrifice it in the name of their so-called gods, while the 'Atirah' was a goat used to be sacrificed in the month of Rajab. Since the Holy Prophet stopped both these customs, 'Atirah is no longer a recognized practice.
'Umrah in the month of Rajab
Ibn 'Abidin, the well-known scholar of the Islamic jurisprudence, has mentioned that the people of Makkah (in his days) used to perform 'umrah in the month of Rajab. Perhaps they believed that performing 'umrah in this month is more meritorious than in other months. Then Ibn Abidin himself has rejected the authenticity of this practice, because no tradition of the Holy Prophet is found to this effect. Conversely Sayyidah 'Aishah, Radi-Allahu anha, has expressly negated the presumption by saying that the Holy Prophet never performed an 'umrah in the month of Rajab (Sahih Muslim 1:409)
However, Ibn 'Aibidin has quoted a narration that 'Abdullah ibn Zubair, Radi-Allahu anhu, completed the renovation of Ka'bah shortly before 27th of Rajab, and as a sign of gratefulness he performed 'umrah and slaughtered some animals. But this report cannot form the basis of a recognized annual practice, firstly because the report is not very authentic, and secondly because it does not mention that Abdullah ibn Zubair, Radi-Allahu anhu, had adopted it as a continuing practice. At the most, he performed 'umrah once as a sign of gratefulness on the completion of Ka'bah. It does not mean that he performed it as a characteristic of the month of Rajab. Therefore, performing 'Umrah in this month is like performing it in any other month and no special merit can be attached to it merely because it has been performed in the month of Rajab.
The Salat of "Ragha'ib"
Another special mode of worship attributed by some people to this month is the Salat of Raghai'b. According to the custom of such people, this Salat is performed in the night of first Friday of the month of Eajab. The Salat of Raghaib is said to consist of twelve rak'ats to be performed in pairs with six salams, and in each rak'at the surah al-qadr is recited three times followed by the Surah-al-ikhlas. This type of Salat is also not based on any sound source of Shari'ah. Therefore, almost all the jurists and scholars of Shari'ah have held that the Salat of Raghaib is a baseless practice and it is not permissible to treat it as a recognized practice of this month. It is true that there is a tradition, narrated by Razin, the author of a book of hadith, which attributes the origin of this practice to the Holy Prophet but almost all the scholars of the science of hadith have held it to be absolutely unauthentic. Therefore, no importance can be attached to it.
Distribution of Breads:
Another baseless practice in the month of Rajab is that the people bake special types of breads and, after reciting some verses and prayers on them, distribute them among their friends and neighbors. This custom has two different shapes.
1). In some communities, this custom is celebrated on 17th of Rajab on the assumption that Sayyidna Ali, Radi-Allahu anhu, was born on 11th of Rajab and the 17th of Rajab is the day on which his 'Aqiqa (Shaving of his head) was performed. In order to celebrate this happy event, the breads of some special type are prepared and after reciting Surah Al-Mulk on them, they are distributed among the relatives and friends. These breads are generally called "breads of Tabarak" because Surah Al-Mulk is usually recited on them.
This practice is baseless because it is never proved that Sayyidna Ali, Radi-Allahu anhu, was born on 11th of Rajab or that his Aqiqa was performed on 17th of this month and, as explained earlier, even if these events are proved to have happened in those days, their commemoration through these specific rituals is not warranted by the Shari'ah.
2). A more common practice of this type is observed on 22nd of Rajab whereby some breads and meals of a special type are prepared and distributed among the people. Since these special meals are usually placed in some bowls made of clay, the custom is usually known as "Koonda", an Urdu equivalent of such bowls. It is usually believed that the custom is designed to make 'isal-al-thawab to the soul of Sayyidna Jafar Al-Sadiq who himself has directed his followers to observe this custom and has promised them that whoever observes it, his desires will be fulfilled.
All these assumptions also have no basis at all, neither historically, nor according to the principles of Shari'ah. In fact, the date of 22nd of Rajab has no concern whatsoever with Sayyidna Jafar al-Sadiq, Rahimah-u-Allah. According to the historians, he was born on 8th of Ramadan 80 A.H. and died in Shawwal 148 A.H. No specific event of the life of Sayyidna Jafar al-Sadiq is proved to have happened on this date. The people believing in the custom refer to a coined story mentioned in an unauthentic book named "Dastaan-e-Ajeeb".
Briefly stated, the gist of the story is that a poor woodcutter lived in Madinah in the days of Jafar Al-Sadiq. He went abroad to earn his livelihood. His wife was employed in the house of the Prime Minister. Once she was cleaning the courtyard of the Prime Minister when Sayyidna Jafar al-Sadiq passed by her. It was 22nd of Rajab. He advised her to bake some breads of a special type and make 'isal-al-sawab to him. According to this story, he promised her that if her desire is not fulfilled after this practice, she can catch hold of him at the doom's day. On hearing this, the woman made a vow that if her husband will come back with a considerable wealth, she will observe the custom of "Koonda". On the same day her husband, who was in another country, found a valuable treasure in the earth and came back with it to Madinah where he established himself as a rich man and started living in a magnificent castle. When his wife told the story to the wife of the Prime Minister, she disbelieved her and because of this disbelief, she and her husband, the Prime Minister, were punished by Allah. He was removed by the king from the prime minister-ship and was imprisoned in a jail and was ordered to be hanged. While being in the prison, the wife of the Prime Minister remembered that she had disbelieved the story of Jafar al-Sadiq told to her by her maidservant and their misery might be the punishment of their disbelief. On this point, she and her husband repented before Allah and made a vow to observe the custom of "Koonda", if they are released from the jail. After they made such a vow, the whole scenario of the events changed suddenly. The king released the Prime Minister from the jail and reinstated him on his former position.
As it can be seen by any reasonable person, this story is totally forged on the face of it. The person who has coined this story did not even know that Madinah had never a king nor a Prime Minister. All the Muslim rulers were named as caliphs and had no Prime Minister at all. In the days of Umayyads, their capital was Damascus and in the days of Abbasids, their permanent seat was in Baghdad.
It is ironical that the story of such a woodcutter is not even known to anybody in Madinah, nor in any city of the Arab countries. No Arabic book has ever referred to it. It has no mention except in an Urdu book 'Dastaan-e-Ajeeb', the author of which is unknown. One can easily see that a custom based on such a fallacious and mythical story can never be an Islamic custom. Islam has always been far away from such superstitions.
Therefore, this baseless custom should completely be avoided by the true Muslims. Some historians have opined that in fact, this custom has been coined by some Shi'ites because the date of 22nd of Rajab is the date of the demise of Sayyidna Mu'awiyah whom they take as their biggest enemy. They took that date as a happy occasion and made the Sunni Muslims also to celebrate it on the pretext of the above mentioned story.
Be that as it may, it is evident that such customs have crept into the Muslim society by their long association with Hindus who commemorate different historical events of their religion in the like manner. The Muslims must be careful about these customs, because they are not only an invention of ignorance but also the imitation of non-Muslims in their religious rituals. No doubt the "'isal-al-thawab' to the soul of a deceased Muslim, and particularly to a pious person is not only permissible but also a commendable practice but the Shari'ah has not prescribed a particular date, nor a particular mode to do so. If someone wants to make "'isal-al-thawab" to Sayyidna 'Ali, Radi-Allahu anhu, or to Ja'far al-Sadiq, he can do it any day and by performing any act of worship, like Salat, fast, Sadaqah, dhikr etc. There is no reason why it should be restricted to a special type of meal or bread distributed on a particular date. What makes this practice worse is the fact that the people accustomed to this practice deem it as necessary as a fard (obligation); rather they treat it as more necessary than fard because they do not care to perform the obligatory Salat or to fulfill the rights of men obligated on them, but they are very strict and punctual to perform these activities. Moreover, if a person does not observe this practice, they reproach him and call him with bad names. Such behavior makes this custom a bid'ah which is condemned by the Holy Prophet as a misguidance. Therefore, the Muslims must abandon all such practices and should not cling to it only because it has been the practice of their society for many years. A Muslim is supposed to follow the dictates of Shari'ah and not the practice of the society, if it violates any of its principles.
Conclusion
The upshot of the above discussion is that the Shari'ah has not prescribed any specific way to observe the month of Rajab or to perform a specific mode of worship or a ritual in any one of its dates. However, being a prologue to the month of Ramadan, it should be availed of for preparing oneself for Ramadan and one should pray Allah to make him reach the blessed month and to benefit from its unique merits.
'Fiqhi School is basically the name of different trends which have been adopted to derive solution of matters from the principal Shariah sources. The concept of Fiqhi schools was not prevalent in the period of the Prophet and the companions as it is today, but the basis of these trends was found and they were known in the period of the companions. These trends turned in to the form of Fiqhi schoos in the last period of the Sahaba (companions) and their successors. These trends got more accurate and new building erected at the foundation of separate rules and regulations.
Background of Fiqhi Schools
In the previous lines, it has been mentioned that at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) sometimes two different companions used to differ in understanding the saying of the Prophet. In these examples, there was possibility of taking different meanings since these examples were related to non-principal and partial matters. There is no place for such difference of understanding in the basic principles of religion. Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) held right two opposite meanings of a guidance. Even, in the Glorious Quran, at many places there was possibility of taking various meanings. This difference of understanding sometimes was based on the word having two opposite meanings. Sometimes, the word had two meanings; one real and the other metaphor. Sometimes, the outer condition of the word gave a meaning and after contemplating the word or looking in to the context it gave another meaning. Some of the companions have adopted the first trend, so they used to stick to the outer meaning of the verses and Hadith. While some others tried to go in to the depth of the matter keeping the spirit of the Shariah and context in their view, and they used to issue orders accordingly. There is a famous account that once the Prophet (pbuh) ordered a group of the companions to offer the prayer of Asr in the locality of the Banu Quraizah. The companions went out and the time of Asr approached in the mid way. A group of the companions said that the Prophet meant that we reach quickly, so they offered Asr prayer in the mid way. While the rest, acting upon the outer meaning of the order, first reached to Banu Quraizah and they could only offer Asr prayer after Isha. When the Prophet (pbuh) was apprised of the incident, he objected none of the two.
When the Prophet (pbuh) left for his heavenly abode, the companions faced new issues about which there were no clear orders in the Glorious Quran and Hadith. So, the companions contemplated in to those matters in the light of the Quran and Hadith. As before, this contemplation was of two kinds and their opinions differed because of the difference in trends. The Tab’een (those who followed the companions) learnt the knowledge of Islam from the companions and thus theses trends shifted to them. The new issues and matters came up in abundance and they solved them according to their trends. Basically, it was this difference of trends which was associated with some other reasons that caused the formation variant jurisprudential interpretations. These Fiqhi scholars were in different cities of the Muslim rule and each had a circle of students and followers around him. Thus, their interpretations got the shape of a Fiqhi Maslak.
Logic of the Prevalent Fiqhi Schools
In the beginning, there were many Fiqhi schools and their followers. But as the time passed by, the followers of some schools, under various reasons, got lesser and lesser. All of their Fiqhi opinions and interpretative judgments were not compiled, and they became a part of the history. Only some of their opinions are found in few books and writings of the early authors. The other Fiqhi schools succeeded to win such scholars and jurists who compiled all the opinions and findings the particular school. They set up the rules and regulations and propagated them. Later, these Fiqhi schools enjoyed such scholars of Fiqh who transferred this asset to their successors and rendered a marvelous service to safeguard this treasure. These schools survived. In Ahlus Sunnah, there are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali Fiqhi schools, while in the Shiites there are Ja’fariyah and Zaidiyah Fiqhs.
Fiqh Hanafi is the oldest of all four Sunni Fiqhi schools. The Fiqhi rules and matters were first compiled in this school. This school spread the most in the Islamic world and it was followed by a majority of the Muslims. This Fiqh is attributed to Imam Abu Hanifah and therefore is called Hanafi. It came in to being at Kufa and the compilation was carried out by collective research and interpretations. This Fiqh is originally based on the opinions, fatwas, judgments and thinking methods of the outstanding Companion Hadhrat Abdullah bin Mas’ood and fourth Caliph Hadhrat Ali bin Abu Talib. These opinions, fatwas, judgments and thinking methods reached Abu Hanifah by the channel of Hammad bin Abi Sulaiman, Hadhrat Ibrahim Nakh’ee and Hadhrat Alqamah. Imam Muhammad bin Hasan Shaibani, the renowned disciple of Imam Abu Hanifah, recorded the thousands of mas'alas (issues or cases) in to form of a book which were derived and compiled by a panel of forty ablest students and friends of Imam Abu Hanifah. Imam Abu Yusuf Ya’qub bin Ibrahim Ansari, the other student of Imam Abu Hanifah, played a prominent role in compiling and spreading Fiqh Hanafi.
Imam Abu Hanifah
The name of Imam Abu Hanifah is No’man bin Sabit Zooti. Abu Hanifah is his nickname. He was born in 80 Hijri in Kufa, a city of present day Iraq. As a profession, his family was cloth merchant and he also took in the same profession. A famous scholar of Kufa, Sha’bi apprehended his sharp-mindedness and sought him to achieve education. So, he joined the prominent circle of Hadhrat Hammad bin Abi Sulaiman and remained in his company till his demise. He benefited from all the scholars of Hadith in Kufa. He traveled Hijaz many a times and learned from the scholars and other educated ones. He benefited from Imam Malik in Medina and Imam Malik also benefited from him. He had so many teachers; among them are senior Tab’een (the successor of the companions of Prophet) from Makkah, Medina, Iraq and Syria. He himself was a Tab’ee, since he had the honour of visiting some companions of the Prophet (pbuh), though he did not narrate from them. After the demise of Hadhrat Hammad, all of his students agreed that Abu Hanifah, the youngest of them, is ablest among them to succeed their Shaikh. So they forced him to take over his position. This circle had the grand collection of the derivation method of Hadhrat Umar Farooq, traditions and fatwas of Hadhrat Abdullah bin Mas’ood, rulings and thoughts of Hadhrat Ali and the Hadiths and traditions of scholars of Hadith in Kufa. Imam Abu Hanifah was bestowed matchless mind, power of understanding and derivation, expansion and depth in knowledge. He had good moral characters and held a high position in fearing Allah, piety, righteousness and nobility. He was prosperous, so he used to spend wealth wholeheartedly in the path of Allah. He was famous in honesty in dealings and business. Because of these virtues, his circle of teaching earned fame far and wide and prominent scholars started to attend his classes where this generous teacher encouraged them and discussed the academic matters openly. He observed the Umayyad sultanate and witnessed its decline. The Abbasid caliphate was established before his eyes. Some Alvis also made armed efforts to gain power. Realizing them as able for the position, he extended oral and financial support to them. When the Abbasid caliphate was established the Caliph Mansoor offered him the post of Qazi, most probably, in order to test his loyalty to his government. He denied it and as a punishment was whipped lashes at public place and was put in to prison. He was then about seventy years old. He continued teaching while he was in prison and the punishment of whips also continued. Ultimately, he died in prison in 150 H in the month of Rajab and was buried in the graveyard of Khaizuran.
Method & Characteristics
The Fiqh of Imam Abu Hanifah bears this characteristic that it was collectively formulated. Hadhrat Umar Farooq populated the city of Kufa with keen interest and sent Hadhrat Abdullah bin Mas’ood as teacher and Qazi with this letter: “O people of Kufa! I prefer you on myself by sending Ibn Mas’ood.” So much of the companions turned to Kufa that it accommodated more than one thousand companions. Hadhrat Ali Murtuza, the fourth Caliph of Islam, made it his capital. Later, this city competed the cities of Makka and Medina in Hadith and Islamic sciences. This city was newly built, therefore the new coverts, who were from urban background and brought with them an asset of Greek and Persian sciences and philosophy, inhabited there in a big number. The mixing of Arabs with Iranian culture created countless many new problems and issues. On the other side, there came up so many sects due to political differences and amalgamation of religions and nations. Some of them were secretly involved in anti-Islamic efforts. One of these phenomena was to forge false Hadith. Every sect forged Hadith to support its view. The cities of Hijaz; Makka and Medina, were secure from such kinds of special cases to an extent.
Hadhrat Umar Farooq had a special relation with Iraq. He himself sent Hadhrat Abdullah bin Mas’ood to Kufa. Hadhrat Umar was given the title of Muhaddith from the Prophet (pbuh) i.e. 'his tongue and heart spoke according to the revelation'. There were several verses in the Glorious Quran which were revealed according to his opinion. Hadhrat Umar Farooq prevented the companions to go out of Medina in his time of caliphate. He formed two groups among the companions. He used to consult smaller group of the elder companions in special cases. And, whenever there happened to occur any important matter he used to assemble all of the companions for consultations. His style of derivation was that he used to deliberate in the depth of the Quran and Hadith, used to keep the objectives of Shariah and the interest of the Muslims before his eyes, observed the circumstances and used to reach a conclusion by collective decision. His interpretative judgments and Awwaliyaat (pioneering judgments) are well known, and they not only played a key role to enliven the Islamic Shariah in the wide Islamic caliphate but also provided a firm basis for his successors. This style of derivation was circulated in Kufa by Hadhrat Ali and Abdullah bin Mas’ood. Hadhrat Ibn Mas’ood and his disciples, Alqamah and Ibrahim Nakh’ee, on one hand applied strict laws in accepting narrations so that no false Hadith is accepted. On the other hand, they avoided attributing Hadith directly to the Prophet (pbuh) and liked to narrate attributing to companions and Tab’eens lest an incorrect meaning is associated to the Prophet (pbuh). Thirdly, they applied their reasons and issued fatwas. These were the characteristics and styles that Imam Abu Hanifah inherited.
Collective Compilation of Fiqh
When Imam Abu Hanifah formed his penal to compile Fiqh he selected forty people from among his students. They were experts of Quranic exegesis, Hadith, Asmaur Rijal (complete record of the narrators), language, literature, logic, philosophy, analogy, history, mathematics and several other sciences. He himself had the experience of trade and marketing. He started this noble mission of compiling Fiqh. It was thus that a matter was presented before the panel and each member used to express his view, and he himself put his opinion. Sometimes, the discussion continued till a month on a single matter. When a decision was reached on he ordered to record it down. The matter was discussed in the light of Quran and Hadith. If they did not find any evidence in any of them, they turned to the sayings of the companions. Having failed they used to apply analogy. All the members also sometimes discussed analogy and some times discrete in legal matters. The conclusions of the discussion were written down in registers. Thus, the Mas'alas of Fiqh were compiled in a new order. This order was known as Fiqhi order; starting from chapter of prayers, dealings and ending at inheritance. It is said that thus 500,000 matters were compiled and 38000 matters of them were related to prayers.
Method of Derivation
Imam Abu Hanifah himself describes his method of derivation: "First of all I look in to the Noble Quran, then search the matter in the Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) and take the narrations of the Faqeeh (jurist) narrators. If the matter is not found in the Quran and Hadith, then I turn to the sayings of the companions. If their opinions differ then I prefer any of them. If the opinions of the companions contradict the opinions of others I never go against the opinions of the companions. And, when it come to the opinions of Ibrahim Nakh’ee, Hasan Basari, Ibn Seereen, Saeed bin Musayyib and others then I also apply mind and interpret as they do.
Principle Books
After the collective compilation of the Fiqh matters, some companions of Imam Abu Hanifah wrote books. There is no book recorded on Fiqh by Imam Abu Hanifah. But, the books of his disciple Imam Muhammad Shaibani are considered to the first and foremost source of Hanafi Fiqh. In Fiqh Hanafi there are three types of books:
The contents of Zahir Al-Riwayah are most trusted ones. Zahir Al-Riwayah is a collection of six books written by Imam Muhammad.
1. Al-Jame’ Al-Sageer: Eisa bin Aban and Muhammad bin Sama’ah narrated this book from Imam Muhammad. In this book, Imam Muhammad narrated from Imam Abu Hanifah through Imam Abu Yusuf. But, this book does not contain proofs. 2. Al-Jame’ Al-Kabeer: This book is like the previous one, but it deals with the subjects in details. 3. Ziyadaat: This is the complementary of Al-Jame’ Al-Kabeer. 4. Al-Mabsoot: This is also known as ‘Al-Asl’. In this book, Imam Muhammad has collected the thousands of Mas'alas that were derived by Imam Abu Hanifah. This book deals with Ahadith that is followed by Mas'alas and the variant opinions of the contemporary Ulama. 5. Al-Siyar Al-Sageer: This book deals with the subject of Jihad and international laws.6. Al-Siyar Al-Kabeer: This is his last Fiqhi book that was narrated by Abu Sulaiman Jauzjani.
Muhammad bin Ahmad Marwazi, known as Hakim Shahid, amassed all of Imam Muhammad’s books with the name of ‘Al-Kafi’ after the deletion of repeated matters. Imam Sarkhasi has written its detailed commentary named as ‘Al-Mabsoot’.
Nawadir comprises the matters that are found in books other than the books of Imam Muhammad or in the books of Imam Abu Yusuf or Imam Hasan bin Ziyad. The collection of Nawadir consists of:
1. Harooniyaat: Imam Muhammad dictated it in the reign of Caliph Haroon Al-Rashid, this book is attributed to the Caliph.2. Kisaniyaat: The narrations of his student Shoaib bin Sulaiman Kisani.3. Ruqyaat: These are the matters that he expressed while he was Qazi in Ruqa area.4. Kitabul Mujarrad: It is written by Hasan bin Ziyad. 5. Kitabul Amali: It is attributed to Imam Abu Yusuf.
Nawazil were the Mas'alas about which there was no mention in the aforementioned books and the succeeding scholars of Fiqh derived solutions keeping these books before them. Kitab Al-Nawazil of Abul Lais Samarqandi, Majmoo’un Nawazil wal Waqi’aat of Natifi and Al-Waqi’aat of Sadr Shahid are well known among scholars.
Fiqh Maliki came in to being after the Fiqh Hanafi in historical order. This was a good mixture of Hadith and reason. It was founded in the city of the Prophet Medina and was called Maliki after the name of Imam Malik bin Anas. Medina was the holly city where each and every house was enlightened with the rays of the Prophet. The citizens of Medina had the honour to accompany the Prophet for a long time and they were directly addressed in the revelations and the matters of Shariah. When the Prophet (pbuh) left for his heavenly abode, there were a many companions who stayed at Medina. Specially, the environment of Madinah was resounding with the traditions, narrations and fatawa of Hadhrat Umar, Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar, Hadhrat Aaishah, Hadhrat Zaid bin Sabit, Hadhrat Abu Hurairah and so on. The Fiqh Maliki is based on the traditions and opinions of these companions of the Prophet (pbuh).
Imam Malik
Imam Malik bin Anas bin Malik bin Abu Aamir Asbahi was born in Medina in 93 Hijra. His father, uncle and grandfather were great scholars of Hadith. His great grandfatherAbu Aamir was a companion of the Prophet (pbuh) who embraced Islam in second year of Hijra and participated all the battles with the Messenger except Badr. The environment of Medina was resonating with the voices of Hadith when Imam Malik was born. The elder Tab’een and their students were busy in teaching and learning Hadith. Imam Malik obtained the knowledge of Hadith from senior Tab’een and their successors. First of all, he attended Abdur Rahman bin Hurmuz and benefited from him for a long period. From among his prominent teachers is Hadhrat Nafe’, (the freed slave of Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar and his academic heir), Muhammad bin Shihab Zuhri, Imam Jaffar bin Sadiq, Muhammad bin Yahya Ansari etc. He gained the knowledge of Fiqh exclusively by Rabi’ah bin Abdur Rahman who is known as Rabi;atur Rai. Apart from these scholars of Hijaz, selected Ulama, Scholars of Hadith and sheikhs would come from every nook and corner of the Islamic world to Medina at the time of Hajj and there would hold circles and classes of learning and narration. Imam Malik benefited greatly from these occasions and attended the circles of great scholars. When he reached the scholarly position that, according to Sufyan bin Uyainah, the foretelling of the Prophet (pbuh) befitted him that ‘people will travel the world for knowledge and they will not find any scholar greater than that of Medina' and seventy other sheikhs certified that he became able to start his own circle, then he started his circle in the Mosque of the Prophet with a elegance that his circle was an ideal of staidness and sedateness. He would take bath and put on best of dresses, apply perfume and then would go to class. Scented woods and perfumes also were incensed occasionally. He used to give lectures with such an elegance that no noise was heard when the pages were turned. He would not tolerate even a petty improper movement or noise. When anyone posed him a question he used to answer him. Generally, his students used to read out and he would rectify the mistakes. His lectures were attended by many of his significant teachers as well.
Imam Malik was bestowed with special privileges. On one hand, he was a great Muhaddith and has a high and authentic chain of narration. Those who narrated from him were Rabi’atur Rai, Yahya bin Sa’eed and Musa bin Uqbah (from among his teachers), Imam Abu Hanifah, Sufyan Sauri, Lais bin Sa’d, Awza’ee, Imam Abu Yusuf etc (from among his coetaneous). Among his prominent students are Imam Shafi’i, Abdullah bin Mubarak, Imam Muhammad bin Hasan Shaibani and so on. His second characteristic was that he was a great scholar of Islamic Jurisprudence and Mujtahid (authority to interpret in Islamic matters). Outstanding Ulama and Imams of Fiqh have benefited from his Fiqhi views. The Caliphs Haroon Al-Rasheed, Abu Jaffar Mansoor and Mahdi and Mamoon also attended his lectures. In the beginning of Abbasid period he also had to pass through troubled conditions. In the reign of Caliph Mansoor, when Nafs Zakiyyah raised the claim of caliphate, Imam Malik supported him. Mansoor disliked it and tried to look for a pretext to catch him. Imam Malik was of the opinion that forced Bai'ah (pledge of allegiance) conditioned with divorce is unacceptable. The Governor of Mansoor in Medina asked him to avoid issuing such fatwas. When he did not stop he was so lashed at his naked arms that it was disjointed.
He stayed throughout of his life in Medina. He was so conscious about the honour of Prophet’s city that he did not even like to ride at places where the Prophet (pbuh) set his steps. He died in Medina in 179 Hijra and was buried in Jannat-ulBaqee, the famous graveyard of Medina.
Characteristics & Salient Features
Fiqh Maliki has acquired this prominence that it is a beautiful composite of narration and reason. Imam Malik, on one hand, was a great Muhaddith and has absorbed the Ahadith of the companions of Medina. He himself compiled the pioneering Hadith book named ‘Muwatta’. While, on the other hand, he is a torchbearer of Fiqh. He has recorded his Fiqhi views with the views and opinions of the companions and their successors. He derived Mas'alas keeping the commonweal and objective of Shariah in view. He gave commonweal so importance that it is counted one of the characteristics of Fiqh Maliki.
The Style of Derivation
Imam Malik obtained knowledge staying in Medina and there he started teaching. He benefited fully from the Ahadith and fatwas of companions in Medina and get enlightenment from them. He was well aware of the Ahadith of the companions of Medina and he used to trust them more. So this impression seems to overshadow Fiqh Maliki. The people of Medina witnessed the life of Prophet very closely and were directly trained by the Prophet. Hence, a general practice of people of Medina was very important to him and he used to consider their practice as Ijma (consensus). He gave it such importance that if Khabr-e-Wahid (narration of single person) contradicted their practice he would not trust the Hadith of the single narrator.
The style of his derivation was that first of all he looked in to the Quran, then in the traditions of the Prophet. In traditions he used to rely more on the scholars of Hadith from Hijaz and practice of Medina citizens. He preferred the fatwas and rulings of Hadhrat Umar and Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar, then the fatwas of the other companions of Medina and then those of the seven Scholars of Fiqh in Medina. When he did not find any proof in Hadith he would turn to analogy. Also, he tried his level best to shut the door of evil sources. Instead of looking in the incident he would look in to the cause of the matter and prevent the causes that may lead to Haram or evil.
Fundamental Books
The first and foremost of Fiqh Maliki books is Muwatta of Imam Malik in which he collected Hadith with Fiqhi views. The second book is ‘Al-Mudawwnatul Kubra’ that contains matters that were answered by Imam Malik. First, his pupil Asad bin Furat recorded it from Abdur Rahman bin Qasim. But, Abdus Salam Saeed Sahnoon prepared a copy of it and presented it to bin Qasim who made corrections. This manuscript was known as Mudawwanah. Among the early books of Fiqh Maliki are ‘Al-Waziha’ of Abdul Malik bin Habib, ‘Utaibah’ of Muhammad bin Abu Bakr and ‘Muwaziyah’ of Muhammad bin Muwazi Misri. Among his promninent pupils are Abdullah bin Wahab, Abdur Rahman bin Qasim, Ashhab bin Abdul Aziz and Abdul Malik bin Majishoon.
Fiqh Shafi’i is the third Fiqhi school of Islamic Jurisprudence attributed to Imam Shafi’i. Imam Shafi’i, on one hand, is a student of Imam Malik, he learnt the Fiqh Maliki and Hijazi thoughts from him. On the other hand, he attended Imam Muhammad bin Hasan Shaibani and learnt Fiqh Hanafi and Iraqi style of Fiqh. Apart from having acquired these two Fiqhs, he directly benefited from other Fiqhi trends and the Imams. So, he benefited from Umar bin Abu Salma, a disciple of Imam Awzai whose Fiqh was prevalent in Syria. In Egypt, the Fiqh of Imam Lais bin Sa’d was followed so he benefited from his disciple Yahya bin Hassaan. Thus, the Fiqh Shafi’i accumulated all the virtues of all known Fiqhi schools and trends. Being a towering Islamic Jurist, Imam Shafi’i was a great Muahddith. He had aquired the narrations of the Muhaddith of Makka Sufyan bin Uainah and the narrations of Muhaddith of Medina Imam Malik bin Anas. The Fiqh of Imam Shafi’i was founded at Makka. Then, passing from Medina, Iraq and Baghdad it arrived in Egypt. There it reached its peaks. As the Fiqh Hanafi is greatly impressed by the views of Hadhrat Abdullah bin Mas’ood and Hadhrat Ali and the Fiqh Maliki has heavily benefited from the opinions of Hadhrat Umar and Hadhrat Abdullah bin Umar, the Fiqh Shafi’i has drew inspiration from the views of Hadhrat Abdullah bin Abbas.
Imam Shafi’i
The name of Imam Shafi’i is Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Idrees. His family tree joins that of the Prophet at his ninth great-grandfather Muttalib bin Abd Munaf. He was a member of Quraish tribe. He was born in 150 Hijra in Gaza city of Palestine. This was not his native place but his father happened to visit that place and expired there. At the age of two, his mother took him to his ancestral home at Makka. He learnt the eloquence and nuance of Arabic language in the tribe of Huzail and memorized the Holy Quran. Then, he associated himself with Muslim bin Khalid Zanji, the Sheikh and Mufti of Haram, and completed his education. Then, he came in Medina to Imam Malik to learn the Quran and Hadith. He had already memorized the Muwatta of Imam Malik. Imam Malik was very impressed by him. Imam Shafi’i was not financially well so he looked for a source of income. Eventually he was given the governorship of Najran. He went Najran and discharged his duties with much honesty and trustworthiness. Haroon-ur-Rashid was then Caliph and he was disturbed on the account of Alvis’ uprisings. Somebody complained him that Imam Sha’ee tends to the Alvis. As a result, he was summoned to Baghdad and later discharged after clarification and some recommendations. Utilizing his presence in Iraq, he joined the circle of Imam Muhammad and learnt Hanafi Fiqh. He held discussions with Imam Muhammad and studied the books of Hanafi Fiqh. Then, he returned to Hijaz and stayed there for nine more years. In this span of time, he busied himself in learning and teaching. He used to meet the selected scholars of Islamic world who visited Makka at the time of Hajj. He would narrate from them as they narrate from him. Again, he visited Baghdad. Till this time his method of derivation and interpretation had been set up. So, many scholars joined him and he dictated some of his books to them. These opinions are called ‘Old Maslak’ or Iraqi Views. After about two years, he left Baghdad and till that time there came up a team of scholars who followed his Fiqh. Thrice, he returned to Baghdad and after a few months’ stay proceeded to Egypt. Here, he reviewed his previous opinions and in many matters he retracted and adopted new opinions. In Egypt, he authored his new books and with the power of his interpretations spread his school of Islamic Jurisprudence . Previously, the Maliki School of Fiqh was prevailing in Egypt, but with the advent of Imam Shafi’i his Fiqhi School dominated there. The new books he compiled in Egypt and the new ideas which he expressed there are called ‘New Maslak’. He died in Egypt in 204 H and was buried therein.
Characteristics & Distinguishing Qualities
Imam Shafi’i was luckiest among all the Imams that he was bestowed ‘comprehensiveness’. Due to stay in Hijaz. He gathered a pile of Ahadith and traditions. Makka was his native place; he attended Imam Malik in Medina. Then, he explored Iraq and Egypt. Thus, he became a great scholar of Hadith in his age. In the field of Fiqh, he learnt the derivation style of Hadhrat Abdullah bin Abbas in Makka and that of Hadhrat Umar and Abdullah bin Umar in Medina from Imam Malik. Then, in Iraq he learnt Hanafi Fqih from Imam Muhammad, in Syria he learnt the Fiqh of Imam Awza’ee and in Egypt the Fiqh of Imam Lais bin Sa’d. Besides, he was conferred with a tremendous power of imagination and accumulation and best of interpretative styles. So he absorbed the virtues of all the Fiqhi schools and avoided the positions that were not up to his standard. Till his age, the compilation of Hadith had begun and he himself had collected Ahadith exploring different cities. He observed that the other schools of Fiqh have applied analogy in matters about which Hadith is found so he extracted rulings according to Hadith. So, the tendency to support and defend Hadith overpowered him. The scholars of Fiqh in Iraq had conditioned that only the Ahadith will be accepted that are narrated by a number of people, and the scholars of Medina were of the opinion that only the Ahadith will be accepted that match the practice of Medina citizens. He opposed them and did not allow widening the area of analogy.
The Fiqh Shafi’i bear this characteristic that the founder of this Fiqh himself compiled a big part of his School. Thus, he recorded the rules and regulations and the derivation method of his Fiqhi School in the shape of a book. And, with his best power of interpretation he proved his methods and styles. The other distinct feature of this Fiqh is that the founder himself spread and publicized his Fiqh traveling in different cities. This was the reason that great Islamic scholars were among his followers and students. Great scholars of Hadith and compilers of Hadith books tended to this Fiqh and genius personalities of Islamic history followed it.
Principle Books
Imam Shafi’i himself authored the principle books of his Fiqh. His master piece of work is "Al-Umm' which he wrote in Baghdad and made some modifications while his stay in Egypt. His second famous book is 'Al-Risalah' that deals with the rules of derivation and inference. It is the first book on the subject. This book contains the complete compiled principles of Fiqh Shafi’i. There are some other books that are attributed to him but the aforementioned two books are well known. The other significant books on Fiqh Shafi’i are 'Mukhtasar' of Imam Buwaiti (student of Imam Shafi’i) and the book of Imam Muzani. Among his distinguished students are Rabi bin Sulaiman Muradi who narrated and propagated his books, Ismail bin Yahya Muzani whose books are considered base for Fiqh Shafi’i and Yusuf bin Yahya Buwaiti. The trios benefited from him in Egypt. His students in Iraq were Ibrahim bin Khalid Kalbi, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, Hasan bin Muhammad bin Sabbah bin Zafrani and Ahmad bin Yahya bin Abdul Aziz Baghdadi.
Derivation Method
Imam Shafi’i has described his derivation method in his book 'Al-Umm' in detail. Concisely, it is that first of all he looked in to the Glorious Quran and took the outer meaning unless there is a proof that the outer meaning is not intended. Then, he would turn to Hadith. In Hadith, he used to take Khabr Wahid (traditions narrated by one to one person). Then, he would opt for Ijma (consensus) and finally he would go for analogy.
This is fourth Fiqhi school of Ahlus Sunnah attributed to Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. Fiqh Hanbali falls in the last in historical order. The personality of Imam Ahmad is more Muhaddith than Faqeeh, therefore this aspect seems to dominate his Fiqh. Imam Shafi’i who accumulated all the Fiqhi trends and interpretations, was his main teacher. He paid most of his attention to Hadith. So he became a genius Muahddith and compiled the great encyclopedia of Hadith 'Al-Musnad'. Despite the fact that he was enjoying the virtues of Fiqh and Ijtehad, he did not like to compile his opinions and interpretations. But, it was destined that his Fiqhi School not only survived but also developed in the Islamic world as one of the dominant Fiqhi schools of Ahlus Sunnah. The Hanbali Fiqh was evolved and passed through all the stages of development in Iraq.
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbali
His name is Ahmad bin Hanbal bin Hilal Zuhli Shaibani. He was born in 164 H in Baghdad and grew up in orphan-hood. His father was a prominent soldier, but he died in Imam Ahmad's childhood. He was not financially strong, so he inherited hard work, determination and firmness against troubles. To begin with, he memorized the Glorious Quran. Then, he busied himself in learning in Baghdad and paid special attention to Haidth. He attended the famous Muhaddith of Baghdad Hushaim bin Bashir. Then, he started traveling from place to place in search of Hadith. He journeyed five times to Basra and five times to Hijaz. He learnt from Imam Shafi’i in Baghdad and acquired the knowledge of Fiqh and Hadith. When Imam Shafi’i was leaving Baghdad he said that Ahmad bin Hanbal has a leading position in seven things: Quran, Hadith, Fiqh, Linguistics, asceticism, dispense with the world and piety. Similarly, he learnt from Sufyan bn Uyainanh, Abu Bakr bin Ayyash, Waki bin Jarrah, Abdur Rahman bin Mahdi and Saeed bin Qattan. The historic incident of his life is the matter of 'Khalq-e-Quran' which he faced with determination and courage. The Caliph Mamoon asked him to believe that 'Quran is a creature of Allah' with so strictness that the most valorous people were shaken. But, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal demanded proof from the Quran and Hadith. He was given severest of punishments and put in trouble for a long period, but he stood firm. This incident was written with golden ink in the History of safeguarding the beliefs and faith of Muslims.
Characteristics & Important Features
Fiqh Hanbali owns some characteristics as other Fiqhi schools have special qualities. Though, Imam Ahmad was expert of Hadith and Fiqh, but Hadith was his favourite subject. Therefore, instead of compiling his Fiqhi views and fatwas he took interest in compiling Hadith. From his early age, he started compiling Hadith. His 'Musnad' consists of more than forty thousand traditions. His interest in Sunnah was so established that it dominated his school of Fiqh. So, he regarded the Holy Quran and Hadith as basic source and benefited from the fatwas of the companions. Then, he would refer to Weak and Mursal Ahadith (that were not directly narrated by the Prophet). Finally, he resorted to analogy.
The main characteristic of Fiqh Hanbali is that they, unlike other Fiqhi Schools, have regarded wisdom (Hikmat) more important than reason (Illat). They have utilized the rule of 'Isteshab' which means that the already proved matter will be maintained until there happens something contradictory. Then, they have the principles of 'public interest' and 'shutting down the door of evils'.
Principle Books
As mentioned above, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal did not like to compile his Fiqhi opinions and interpretative judgments. But, his able students, among whom are his two sons as well; Salih bin Ahmad and Abdullah bin Ahmad, who recoded it. The most brilliant among his students are Abu Bakr Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Hani, Ahmad bin Hajjaj Marwazi and Ishaq bin Ibrahim known as Ibn Rahwaih. The trios have authored 'Kitabus Sunan' in Fiqh. But, the credit of recording and compiling all the fatwas and views of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal goes to Abu Bak Khallal who compiled his fatwas in two hundred parts. This was later summarized by Abul Qasim Kahrqi and Abdul Aziz bin Jaffar Ghulam Khallal. The summary of Kharqi earned so popularity that three hundred commentaries were written on it, among which the 'Al-Mughni' of Ibn Qudamah stands out as most distinguished one.
Style of Derivation
Imam Ahmad's style of derivation was so that he used to put the Quran and Hadith foremost. Thereafter, he preferred the fatwas of the companions. Then, he would turn to Weak and Mursal Ahadith (that were not directly narrated by the Prophet). At last, he resorted to analogy. To him analogy was the last option in unavoidable circumstances. He used to state: I like Weak Hadith in comparison to applying reason.
By 'Allamah Anwar Shah KashmiriTranslated by Zameelur Rahman[Translator’s note: The following is the translation of an Arabic speech delivered by ‘Allamah Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri when Shaykh Rashid Rida visited Dar al-‘Ulum Deoband in 1912 CE. He explained the historical and intellectual background to the seminary and the school’s methodology in hadith-commentary.]
All praise to Allah and He suffices. Peace be upon His chosen bondsmen.
This humble servant offers the greeting of Islam before this esteemed audience. Allah – Exalted is He – preserve you. We have sensed from you signs of nobility and interest in our condition. We feel an Islamic uprising turning towards us and you, and indeed we are needier of you than you are of us.
These are my teachers, my elders and my treasures before Allah in my day and my morrow. They asked me to extend gratitude to you for your generosity and for honouring us by your blessed presence. May Allah reward you and us, and elevate your ranks in religion, the worldly life and the afterlife. O Allah, accept! From Him we seek assistance.
Mawlana! Our story is a mixed story, and one part leads to the memory of another part. These lands of ours are a long distance away from the lands of Islam like Iraq, Sham and Egypt, so the symbols of Islam here are weak and the lighthouses of knowledge are hidden, except what Allah wills and who He wills, and these are few.
This group of ours is a group walking along an ancient path, not a new one. Our chain in religion is connected to the great fountainhead, the luminous moon, the famous imam, the great Shaykh Waliullah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahim al-Faruqi al-Dahlawi. The condition of the shaykh is more manifest than needs mentioning, for his writings have spread to the east and the west. However, some of the conditions of the shaykh need verbal retelling as do events I have received from our mashayikh.
From the conditions of the shaykh was that he had initially excelled in the religious sciences and their principles under his father, the great scholar, the erudite Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahim. Then he travelled to the two Harams – Allah increase them in honour and nobility – and he benefited from their scholars and their jurists. He accompanied Shaykh Abu Tahir al-Kurdi in pursuing hadith and he exerted himself therein until he became accomplished in the subject. Shaykh Abu Tahir would say: “He learnt the words from us and we learnt the meaning from him.” He meant thereby clarification of the parts of hadith that require attention and specifying the intent of the lawgiver.
Then Shaykh Waliullah returned to his lands and he became occupied with amending what the people had corrupted from the Sunnah of the Noble Prophet – Allah bless him and grant him peace. Allah placed in his heart a light by which he could see the consequences of affairs, and he foresaw the coming of a battle between truth and falsehood, so he – Allah have mercy on him – began preparations to defend the religion. From that which he prepared for this [coming battle] is that he translated the Mighty Qur’an in the Persian language and he called it Fath al-Rahman. He shed it completely of Israelite accounts. By this he attempted to lay the foundations of Tawhid.
Then he commented on the Muwatta’ and he called it Al-Musawwa. [He commented on it] in the manner of the juristic scholars of hadith by verifying legal causes, selecting them and extracting them. By these are meant what is in the nomenclature of the scholars of Usul:
“Verifying a legal cause” (tahqiq al-manat) is that a ruling is issued from the lawgiver in a particular form, then that is established and is realised in all of the particulars of the type of that form. An example of this is evaluating the compensation for hunting [in the Haram during Hajj or ‘Umrah] so the price is recognised in a specific case. This is “verifying legal causes.” This is not analogy (qiyas), which is why the specific and the general are common to it, and it does not require ijtihad.
“Selecting a legal cause” (tanqih al-manat) is that a ruling is issued from the lawgiver in a form where different matters come together, and some of those things concur with the legal cause of that ruling and some of them have no bearing on it. So identifying the matter which is the legal cause is “selecting a legal cause.” An example of this is the hadith from Abu Hurayrah – Allah be pleased with him – he said: “A man came to the Prophet – Allah bless him and grant him peace – and said ‘I have perished!’ He said ‘What is your problem?’ He said: ‘I had intercourse with my wife during Ramadan.’ He said: ‘Can you free a slave?’ He said: ‘No’ He said: ‘Can you fast two consecutive months?’ He said: ‘No’ He said: ‘Can you feed sixty poor people?’ He said: ‘No’ – to the end of the hadith.” Abu Hanifah and Malik selected the legal cause of that ruling – the obligation of atonement (kaffarah) – as the act being a breaker of the fast, whether intercourse as in this scenario or eating and drinking intentionally. Thus, it being intercourse in this scenario is coincidental like all coincidents. Ahmad and Al-Shafi‘i opined that the legal cause was it being intercourse, so the ruling does not extend to eating and drinking. Another hadith is adduced as proof on the authority of Abu Hurayrah – Allah be pleased with him – he said: Allah’s Messenger – Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “Whoever breaks the fast during a day of Ramadan without a dispensation offered by Allah, fasting a lifetime will not make up for it.” They understood it as eating and drinking intentionally and said “fasting a lifetime will not make up for it.”
“Extracting a legal cause” (takhrij al-manat) is that a ruling issued from the lawgiver in a form wherein a number of matters come together all of which are suited to be the legal cause, so the mujtahid selects a matter from those matters for the legal cause and makes that the legal cause. An example of it is the hadith prohibiting interest from the six things wherein a number of matters come together: quantity and type, foodstuff and price, and edibility and storability. Abu Hanifah opined that the legal cause of the ruling is the first quality [quantity and type], Al-Shafi‘i that it is the second [foodstuff and price], and Malik that it is the third [edibility and storability], in accordance with where their judgements led.
Hence, the difference between “selecting a legal cause” and “extracting it” is that in the first a number of matters come together which have no bearing on the legal cause, so the mujtahid selects the legal cause, and in the second a number of matters come together all of which are suited to be the legal cause, so the mujtahid prefers one of them to be the legal cause. “Selecting a legal cause” and “extracting it” are the tasks of a mujtahid, each of them rivalling the other.
Another example of this is the hadith: “The key to prayer is purification, its sanctification is glorification and its release is salutation.” The majority of the imams have opined that the wording of glorification [i.e. Allahu akbar] and the wording of salutation [i.e. al-salamu ‘alaykum] are integral, while Abu Hanifah extracted the legal cause from it as the first being any litany indicating glorification and the second being an exit [from prayer] by the [deliberate] action of the worshipper, and he opined that these two are obligatory (fard). However, the continuous practice of the Prophet – Allah bless him and grant him peace – has been established as the wording of glorification [i.e. Allahu akbar] and the wording of salutation [i.e. al-salamu ‘alaykum], so they ought to be obligatory (wajib), and Shaykh Ibn al-Humam has asserted that the wording of glorification is obligatory. The well-known opinion [in the Hanafi madhhab] is that it is an established practice (sunnah). In both of them [i.e. the wording of glorification and of salutation], a litany indicating glorification and an exit by the action of the worshipper are realised, like the realisation of a universal in a particular, so they ought to be obligatory (fard). There are many examples like this.
This is what Shaykh Waliullah attended to in the commentary of Al-Muwatta’. He also preferred therein a comprehensive jurisprudence. The shaykh also concluded in his book Al-Insaf fi Bayan Asbab al-Ikhtilaf and ‘Iqd al-Jid fi Masa’il al-Ijtihad wa al-Taqlid that the truth in the locus of ijtihad is multiple. He transmitted this from the four imams and preferred it. By “the locus of ijtihad” is meant where there is no [verse from] the Book or mass-transmitted Sunnah. So, the truth therein is multiple. Whenever there is a clear decider, that is not a “locus of ijtihad,” and the truth then is that which coincides with that clear decider, so whoever agrees with it has agreed with the truth and whoever opposes it has opposed the truth.
The shaykh – Allah Exalted is He have mercy on him – compiled many works on the system of legislation and true beliefs, which became a lamp and a standard for all who came after him. From them are: Hujjat Allah al-Balighah, Al-Budur al-Bazighah, Al-Tafhimat al-Ilahiyyah, Al-Khayr al-Kathir and others.
Then he was followed by his children and grandchildren. From his children were: the great shaykh, the perfect wellspring, Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, then Shaykh Rafi‘ al-Din, then Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir.
Then Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz was succeeded by his grandson, the benefiter of the age and its transmitter famed in all regions, Shaykh Muhammad Ishaq, and his nephew, the reviver of the Sunnah, the magnificent scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Isma‘il. Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz would recite: “Praise be to Allah, Who has given me in old age Isma‘il and Ishaq” (Qur’an, 14:39). Allah benefited these lands through them. Shaykh Muhammad Ishaq studied Prophetic hadith and took to travelling long distances [in search of knowledge]. Shaykh Muhammad Isma‘il wrote books on the difference between Sunnah and dark innovation, so he revived the Sunnah when it was made to die, and he died a martyr – Allah have mercy on him.
The shaykh of our mashayikh, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ghani studied under Shaykh Muhammad Ishaq. He became the pivot of transmission in his time, and he eventually migrated to the Pure City [i.e. Madinah] and became the transmitter of those lands and many people took from him there.
The sun of Islam and Muslims, the Gnostic, the hafiz, the verifier, Shaykh Muhammad Qasim al-Nanotwi, the founder of this glorious seminary, and the jurist, the hafiz, the mujtahid saint, Shaykh Rashid Ahmad studied under Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ghani. Shaykh Muhammad Qasim compiled books on the sciences and the realities and books in refutation of the opponents [of Islam] like the materialists, so Allah brought much benefit through him. I had composed these lines of poetry on his merit:
[The complete poem is not included in the transcript of the speech]
When truth became mixed with falsehood, many questions were presented to Shaykh Rashid Ahmad so he answered them soundly. He was a mujtahid jurist. So we adopted that [i.e. Shaykh Muhammad Qasim] as an imam in the principles (usul), and this [i.e. Shaykh Rashid Ahmad] as an imam in the peripherals (furu’). A purified and select knowledge was extracted for us from them.
Then when foreigners took power over these lands [i.e. the British ruled India], a war took place between truth and falsehood, and Shaykh Muhammad Qasim founded this glorious seminary, and Allah benefited thereby many. Allah reward him the best of rewards. The end goal of the seminary is study and understanding of hadith. He believed that the foundations were necessities [and not end goals], and necessities are limited to the degree of necessity; such that Shaykh Rashid Ahmad proscribed philosophy and removed it for some years [from the curriculum] of this seminary.
This is our chain.
The path of our mashayikh in hadith and the understanding of hadith is an exemplary, balanced path, between extremes. I mean by this that the four imams each have an additional principle; that is, that Imam Malik follows the example of the practice of the inhabitants of Madinah, rather he prefers it over marfu‘ hadiths; and Al-Shafi‘i adopts the most authentic [hadith] in every chapter; and Ahmad adopts the most authentic, the authentic, the good and the weak when the weakness is slight, and he allows this and that [i.e. he allows acting according to all the hadiths], and based on this principle he compiled his Musnad; and Abu Hanifah takes these categories of hadiths and construes all the hadiths [on a subject] according to a common understanding, which is why interpretations are common with the Hanafis, and criticisms of narrators are common with the Shafi‘is. Al-Shafi‘i was the first to reject proof using mursal hadiths except when it is supported [by connected hadiths].
The imam of this science, the erudite Imam al-Bukhari – Allah have mercy on him – adopted the principle of Malik and Al-Shafi‘i – Allah have mercy on them – and rode amongst them, so he produced the most authentic of what is in the chapter and added support from the practice of the predecessors, which is why he did not produce a single hadith contradicting another hadith in his book. Hence with regards to the eclipse prayer he did not produce [any hadiths] besides the hadith of two bowings, basing this on his principle. Muslim – Allah have mercy on him – relied on the trustworthiness of the narrators so he produced the hadith of three bowings and the hadith of four bowings and even the hadith of five bowings halted (mawquf) at the Commander of the Faithful ‘Ali – Allah be pleased with him. Hence, Al-Bukhari was selective and Muslim was principled.
Our mashayikh took a middle ground in the like of this. They did not adopt extremism or laxity, and they explain conflicting hadiths using explanations which nearly all listeners will accept. An example of this is the hadith of two qullahs [a volumetric unit of measurement], for it was narrated by Yazid ibn Harun and Kamil ibn Talhah and Hadiyyah ibn Khalid and Ibrahim ibn al-Hajjaj from Hammad ibn Salamah, and these are firm memorisers and trustworthy narrators, with the wording: “When the water reaches two qullahs or three it does not carry filth.” They said regarding this hadith that it is not a legal limit for he said “two qullahs or three” indicating variety, so it is an estimation and is [in reality] a reference to purity from the traces of filth from one side [of a container] to the other side, and this is the rule in the madhhab of Abu Hanifah and his two companions as stated by Shaykh Ibn al-Humam and Shaykh Ibn Nujaym. The hadiths conflicting the hadith of two qullahs are secured [by this explanation], like the hadith prohibiting urinating in stagnant water, and the hadith prohibiting inserting the hand in a vessel when having woken up from sleep, and the hadith commanding washing a vessel which was licked by a dog.
Another example of this is the hadiths of recitation behind the imam, for when they adduced as proof for omitting recitation behind the imam in prayer His – Exalted is He – statement: “When the Qur’an is recited listen to it attentively and be silent that you may receive mercy,” and his – Allah bless him and grant him peace – statement: “When he recites, be silent,” and the hadith: “Whoever has an imam, the imam’s recitation is his recitation,” they interpreted the hadith “Don’t do [this i.e. recite behind the imam] except with the mother of the Qur’an [i.e. Surah al-Fatihah], for indeed there is no prayer for one who has not read it.” This interpretation was because there is no authentic narration about the circumstance for the revelation of the verse, so the consideration is upon the generality of the wording. Also, Al-Bayhaqi narrated in Kitab al-Qira’ati Khalf al-Imam from Imam Ahmad that the ‘ulama are agreed that this verse is about recitation in prayer.
And the hadith, “When he recites, be silent” is an authentic hadith, authenticated by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, then his companion Abu Bakr al-Athram, then Muslim in the chapter of tashahhud from the hadith of Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari, and he referred to it in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, then Ibn Khuzaymah authenticated it, and Hafiz Abu Ja‘far ibn Jarir al-Tabari, and Hafiz Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, and Hafiz Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi al-Zahiri, then Hafiz Zaki al-Din ‘Abd al-‘Azim al-Mundhiri, then the seal of the memorisers Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani in Fath al-Bari. This is from the perspective of the chain. As for the practice of the predecessors and the imams, multitudes of the Sahabah acted upon it, as did Malik, Ahmad and Abu Hanifah. When the narrators of a hadith are trustworthy, and then supported by the practice of the predecessors, that is undoubtedly authentic, not harmed by any disapproval nor affected by any criticism.
The hadith, “Whoever has an imam, the imam’s recitation is his recitation” was related by Shaykh Ibn al-Humam from the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Mani‘ (160 – 244 H) and he authenticated it, for its chain is according to the criterion of the two shaykhs [Al-Bukhari and Muslim], and we have not till now come across any defect in it. Its chain is: Ishaq ibn Yusuf al-Azraq reported to us: Sufyan and Sharik narrated to us from Musa ibn Abi ‘A’ishah from ‘Abd Allah ibn Shaddad from Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah he said: Allah’s Messenger – Allah bless him and grant him peace said – the hadith. It is supported by the mawquf hadith according to Al-Tirmidhi and the mursal according to others. Therefore, it is authentic. Thus, the explanation of the shaykh of our mashayikh Shaykh Rashid Ahmad of the hadith of ‘Ubadah through the route of Muhammad ibn Ishaq, the text of which is “Perhaps you recite behind your imam?” They said “Yes, O Messenger of Allah, we recite it quickly.” He said: “Don’t do [this]” – to the end of the hadith; he [i.e. Shaykh Rashid Ahmad] said this is proof of permissibility not proof of obligation. They would recite without a command from him – Allah bless him and grant him peace – which is why he asked “perhaps you recite behind your imam?” and when they said “yes” he said “don’t do [this] except the mother of the book” for it is a stipulated chapter from the rest of the Qur’an, apart from the chapters besides it. Hence, the Prophet – Allah bless him and grant him peace – justified its permissibility behind the imam its being stipulated from the chapters and there being no prayer without it. There being no prayer without it becomes manifest with respect to the imam and the individual worshipper (munfarid), and the effect of that is in terms of permissibility with respect to the follower (muqtadi). The issue of permissibility and undesirability is differed upon amongst the Hanafis, although they agree it is not obligatory.
They said in the issue of raising the hands and audible amin that raising and audibility have been authenticated from the Prophet – Allah bless him and grant him peace – and the Companions, and omitting raising and inaudibility have been authenticated, with an authentic chain for inaudibility in Abu Dawud, and omitting raising has been authenticated from the Commander of the Faithful ‘Umar and the Commander of the Faithful ‘Ali – Allah be pleased with them – and likewise inaudible amin has been authenticated from a group of the Companions and the pious predecessors. Hence, both matters ought to be sunnah, and only the matter of preference remains. This [being said], Allah gives accordance to what is right in the original abode and the return.
Our shaykh, the reliable proof, the transmitter of his age, Shaykh Mahmud al-Hasan – Allah benefit the Muslims by extending his life – studied under Shaykh Muhammad Qasim, and he is the shaykh of the seminary now, and upon him is the pivot of transmission in these lands. He follows the path of his mashayikh. Divine accordance helped him to reconcile between contradictions and to solve problems [in hadiths]. An example of this is what he said to me once that “The plurality of bowing in the eclipse prayer was established from the Prophet – Allah bless him and grant him peace – due to a circumstance specific to him, but he advised the community to make one bowing as he said, ‘Pray as the most recent prayer you prayed from the prescribed prayers.’” I revised the matter and I said, “The Shafi‘i masters consider the comparison to be for the number of cycles (rak‘at) not for one bowing” and he said that “This makes the self-evident (badihi) theoretical (nazari), for when the Prophet – Allah bless him and grant him peace – had prayed the eclipse prayer with multiple bowings himself before the eyes of the people and the heads of witnesses, were he to legislate multiple bowings for the community, why did he omit reference to what they witnessed and shifted it to comparison with the morning prayer? This is because the multiplicity of bowing was for a temporary reason, and he instructed the community with what is recognised in prayer.” Allah gives accordance and assistance. Our final call is that all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani (born November 1956 at Jala, Darbhanga, Bihar) is the General Secretary of Islami Fiqh Academy, India and founder member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He is an eminent Islamic scholar with expertise in Islamic jurisprudence. With his deeper understanding of the Quran, Sunnah, Shariah and knowledge disciplines, Moulana guides the Muslim community on modern problems. He has inherited rich scholarly traditions from his family of reputed scholars, specifically his father Moulana Zainul Abidain and grandfather Moulana Abdul Ahad Jalavi. Due to his versatile and dynamic approach, Moulana is well known in media. He regularly delivers lectures and sermons in Hyderabad on current topics to guide the community.
Maulana Rahmani learned and practiced Islamic jurisprudence under the aegis of famous Islamic jurists like Moulana Minnatullah Rahmani and Moulana Mujahid-ul-Islam Qasmi. He also wrote more than 50 books on a wide range of topics and pioneered more than fifteen institutions of Islamic education, research and jurisprudence across the country. He has introduced specialization and super specialization in Islamic education, a pioneering work. He has attempted to introduce new disciplines in Madrasa education through adding practical affairs like Dawah and Media in the curriculum. His broad outlook, ability to provide solutions to the modern problems and represent Islam in media has made him popular in all sections and sects of the Muslim community in India.
Family background
His grandfather Moulana Abdul Ahad Jalavi was a renowned Islamic scholar and an apostle of Moulana Rasheed Ahmed Ganguhi, Shaikh-ul-Hind Mahmudul Hasan and Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi. His father Moulana Zainul Abidain, Islamic scholar and tabeeb, writer of the books Deen-e-Ibrahimi, Seerat-ul-Mustafa, Makarim-ul-Hadeeth. His paternal uncle Moulana Mujahidul Islam Qasmi was a renowned Islamic scholar, community leader and thinker, former President of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Founder of Islamic Fiqh Academy and All India Milli Council).
Positions held and Achievements
Founder and Rector of Al Mahad al Aali al Islami Hyderabad, a unique centre in the subcontinent for the academic, ideological and dawah training of the graduates of Deeni Madaris
Founder and Rector of Darul-uloom Sabil ul Falah Jala, Distt Darbhanga Bihar, where Alim course education is given along with modern education, primary education and Quran memorizing
One among the founders of Jamia Aisha Niswan, one among the four major women’s Islamic educational institutions in the country.
Founder and Patron, Centre for Peace and True Message Hyderabad, a Dawah organization
Patron, Peace Foundation Hyderabad, institution that works for guiding and training the Muslim youth
Columnist, Sham-e-Farozan column is regularly published in Munsif Hyderabad and also in Inquilab Mumbai, Hindustan Express Delhi and Qaumi Tanzeem Patna and Ranchi, Sharii Masael column is published weekly in Munsif Hyderabad
Editor, quarterly Bahes-wa-Nazar, a unique journal in the subcontinent
Member Shariah Advisory Board, Al-Noor Takaful Insurance Company South Africa
There has been long debate between Muslims and Christians and even it still continues over Jesus Christ (Peace be upon him, (PBUH), his mission, his birth, his teachings and his so-called crucifixion. If the Bible itself be studied minutely, the fact will be known that the beliefs, teachings, rituals and tenets which Christians spread all over the world, contradict fully what Jesus Christ (PBUH) taught the people in the New Testament .Interestingly, Christians claim about themselves to be the followers of Jesus Christ and blame Muslims for not believing in him while in reality the Christians are far away from the real instructions and dogmas preached by Jesus Christ. In this article, we shall discuss who the real followers of Jesus are, Christians or Muslims.
All Muslims have the faith that Jesus was a Prophet and a Messenger of Allah Almighty. In this world, the purpose of his advent was to guide the strayed mankind toward the right path. He kept preaching the people and telling them for worshipping only One God, acting upon His commandments and being kind to one and all. On the other hand, Christians have put this belief aside and considered him as Son of God or God which is totally untrue.
It is the faith of Muslims that Jesus Christ was not sent by Allah Almighty to establish a new religion but to renew the religion brought by the prophet Moses (PBUH). He preached the mosaic teachings, acted upon them and ordered the people to do the same. Jesus Christ himself unveils this reality in a clear cut way.
"Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tilt will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled”. (Mathew, 5: 17-18)
See, how clearly Jesus Christ denies having come with a new religion but with the law introduced before and that is Mosaic Law. This statement of Jesus plainly makes the base of Christians null and void who have established a new religion after Jesus Christ. They, instead of founding the new religion, making up fabricated beliefs, and spreading the unsaid things of Jesus, should have stuck to the true teachings brought by Jesus.
When Jesus saw that no one even the Jew clerics seemed to carry out the Mosaic Laws, he apprising his disciples of the Jews' lack of interest and indolence in the Law, exhorted thus:
“The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but don’t do according to their works’ for they say and don’t do.” (Mathew 23,)
In those days, Scribes and Pharisees were two Jewish groups who used to explain the Law and were responsible for religious matters. This statement also reiterated that Jesus did try to carry out the Law, commanded his disciples for this too. In this view point, Christians are wrong to make separate religion from Judaism. Surely, they have derailed from the right track shown by Jesus Christ and that was to observe and follow the Law.
Muslims believe that there is only One God and Jesus Christ preached the same belief as well. There is plenty of places wherein Jesus Christ conveyed the message of Unity of God such as: It is in Luke: “Why do you call me good? No one is Good but One, that is God.” (18: 19)It is in Mark: “Hear, O; Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” (12:29)It is in Mathew: “Why do you call me good? No is good but one that is God” (19:17) It is in John “And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (17-03)
The Gospel is full of incidents which illustrate that Jesus was not a God but a God's slave who was unable to know happening occurring around him. Once, a woman touched Jesus' garments in a crowded place and he could not know who it was. So he said furiously who touched my clothes (Mark 05, 27 to 30). On a day, Jesus was feeling hungry like other human beings, he wanted to have something, he saw a fig tree in a far off place. On the expectation to eat fruits but unfortunately the tree had no fruit, he walke and cursed it. (Mark 11,12,13).
Once upon a time, the mother of Zebedees children with her sons with her sons and requested him to grant her sons sit, one on his right hand and the other one on the left, in your kingdom but he voices obviously his helplessness and says: “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to those for whom it is prepared by my Father” (Mathew, 20:20 to 23).
These quotations from the Gospel evidently nullify the doctrine of Christians that Jesus was a God. They have distorted the Gospel revealed to Jesus from Allah Almighty, altered the cherished message of Jesus Christ and misrepresented the Bible. Pitifully, they, in place of believing in Unity of God sermonized by Jesus and worshipping Him lone, regarded Jesus himself a God, adopted new ideology and groundless dogma befooling the people. Christian history itself tells that it was done with great conspiracy.
Muslims believe that Jesus Christ was not the son of God. he was a human being, a noble man, a rightful person, the son of Mary, and a salve of Allah Almighty. This very tenet is widely found in the Bible. The Holy Quran and the Bible state broadly the miracle birth of Jesus born to Mary. There are more than 55 places wherein Jesus has said about himself of being the son of Man rather than being a God. See in the Bible: 1. "For, the son of Man did not come to destroy men‘s lives but to save them." (Luke, 09, 56)2. "Jesus as the son of Man did not come to be served but to serve" (Mathew, 20,28)3. "Whoever confesses me before men, him the son of Man also will confess before the angels of God."(Luke, 12,08)4. He (Jesus) asked his disciples saying, "Who do men say that I am the son of God?" (Mathew, 16,13)
On the contrary to this open fact, Christians proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. It is exceedingly an unwise and irrational speech to declare that Jesus Christ is or was Son of God. It is nothing but a big trick which Christians play with their own Sacred Book i.e. the Bible. Any one studying the Gospel with calmness of mind will certainly come to know that Christians have nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ. They do on their choice whatever they want. Their dogmas absolutely go against the teachings of Jesus. No where in the Gospel any saying of Jesus is found in support of the prevailing canons of Christians as namely some of their cannons or dogmas were annulled in light of the Gospel itself. Justly, it is Muslims who follow Jesus Christ, believe him to be Prophet, a slave of Allah Almighty, the son of Mary, having being risen up to the Sky. He will come down again on the earth before the Day of Judgment and will kill Anis-Christ (Dajjal) as a leader of Muslims. So the true followers of Jesus are Muslims not Christians.
Salahuddin Qasmi is a ResearchFellow and Translator at Dept of Study of Christianity in Darul Uloom Deoband. He can be accessed at: [email protected] / +919759420836
by Mohammad Najeeb Qasmi*, Riyadh One of the oldest places in District Moradabad, Sambhal, holds an important position in the historical Rohailkhand region for its academic and intellectual bountifulness. The great luminaries like Sheikh Hatim lit the light of intellectualism and Mullah Abdul Qadir Badayuni and Abul Fazl came here to acquire knowledge and wisdom.
There has been no dearth of people who sacrificed their lives for their country. During the 1857 upheavals when Prince Feroz Bakht came to Sambhal, Munshi Imamuddin who has been Deputy Mir Munshi during the reign of Akbar Shah II welcomed Prince Feroz Bakht with great passion and galore. Furious over this, the British hanged him in Moradabad and threw his body in lime kiln and confiscated his property which was later auctioned. His friend Maulana Ghulam Rasool Sambhli was also sentenced to death. Munshi Nooruddin, the grandson of Munshi Imamuddin also participated in Khilafat Movement. He was sent to jail when he was President of Meerut Congress. The rioters attacked his residence at Garhmukteshwar and killed him.
In the context of Freedom Fighter Maulana Ismail Sambhli Welfare Society, a personal profile of Maulana Mohammad Ismail Sambhli and his national and community services is presented here to help the new generation get acquainted with his exemplary deeds so that his life remains to serve the people as path showing torch of enlightenment.
Maulana Ismail Sambhli belonged to the famous city of UP, Sambhal in district Moradabad. His correct date of birth is, even though, unknown however, to guess, he might have taken birth in 1899 at Mohallah Deepa Sarai. He belonged to the Sarwar Waley family of Turk community. His father, Munshi Kifayatullah was considered among the educated people of the area and was famous with the nickname ‘Munshiji’. His grandfather’s name was Sarwar Husain who was a native to village Mundha in J. P. Nagar. Later he shifted to Sambhal. His family surname, Sarwar Waley was due to his grandfather’s name.
He read the Holy Quran and received primary education HHe receat Madrasatul Mohammadia, Deepa Sarai and was admitted to class VI t continue further education in English against his mother’s wish. She wanted him to get Arabic education and finally her will prevailed. Meanwhile, his father passed away and he was sent to his elder brother at Bahawalpur where he had the honour to receive education from Maulana Farooq Ahmad, Sheikhul Hadees and Head, Jamia Usmania. Maulana Farooq Ahmad was the disciple of Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan and relative of Maulana Mansoor Ansari who was put on exile on the pretext of abetting and participating in the freedom movement. He was extremely unhappy with British and a staunch supporter of freedom struggle. It was his company that helped instill a sense of nationalism in the heart of Maulana Ismail Sambhli and inspired him to participate in the freedom struggle.
After completing education at Bahawalpur, Maulana Ismail Sambhli returned back to his native place, Sambhal and continued with his education at Madrasa Sirajul Uloom. IN the meantime the barbaric incident of Jalianwala Bagh took place that put the whole of India on fire. A public strike was observed in Sambhal as well and a mass gathering f all communities was organized at the gardens of Gul Chhatar. Maulana Ismail Sambhli delivered a very inspiring lecture at the mass convention. Maulana was the youngest among all orators yet his oration impressed the public most and thus his national and political life began. Mualana gained popularity as Raeesul Muqarrareen (master orator).
When the British defeated Turkey, the resulting loss and the sense of defeat made the Muslims furious. On November 22, 1919 the Khilafat Committee was founded and the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind took birth in Delhi. The Khilafat Movement was pronounced through out the country. Just months after the sad demise of Sheikhul Hind Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan, Maulana Ismail Sambhli took admission in Darul Uloom Deoband where his nationalist ideas and concepts received firmness. He started partaking in the nationalist activities with much vigour and zeal and despite him being a student he was arrested on February 22, 1921 for his radical ideas and inflammatory speeches. After two – three days his case was heard at Moradabad Jail and he was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment. Then the political detainees were generally subject to extreme brutalities. Maulana and his companions borne all types of atrocities. They were put under penal servitude, were imprisoned in small cages and were compelled to sleep handcuffed. Precisely, they were put to all types of brutalities but did not tender apology despite the initiation on the part of the Collector. Finally, he was released after the term of his punishment was over. Back to home he concentrated on completing his education. He joined Madrasatul Sharã at Katra Moosa Khan, Mian Sarai where he received education in various arts with full concentration from Maulana Abdul Majeed, Maulana Kareem Bakhsh and Maulana Mohammad Ibrahim. He went to Darul Uloom Deoband again to gain certificates from Maulana Syed Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani and other teachers. After completing courses at Darul Ulloom Deoband he joined Jamia Qasmia Madrasa Shahi, Moradabad as a teacher in later 1924. The country’s condition had changed by the time, Khilafat had come to an end, there were communal disturbances through out the country and Congress had suspended its Civil Disobedience Movement. Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned for six years and radical organizations had started gaining prominence. The distinguished people too were feeling let down but Maulana Mohammad Ismail Sambhli’s feet did not staggered and he kept moving ahead with full confidence.
In 1930 a radical change took place. The Congress proclaimed complete freedom. On January 26, 1930 independence day was celebrated throughout the country. On March 13 Mahatma Gandhi commenced his famous Dandi March in violation of the laws of salt. A Civil Disobedience Movement was also commenced.
The government put the nationalist people to extreme brutalities. They were mercilessly beaten, shot by guns and imprisoned. The Jamiatul Ulema sense the need of the hour and vowed to support Congress in its Civil Disobedience Movement. It established a Daira-e-Harabia (Circle of War). Mufti Kifayatullah, Mualana Ahmad Saeed, Maulana Husain Ahmad and Maulana Mubarak Husain Sambhli were arrested one by one as the dictator of Jamiatul Ulema. Maulana Mohammad Ismail Sambhli was the seventh in this order to be arrested and was sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment. He was initially put in the B class of Delhi Jail but was later transferred to Multan Jail. He was finally released after the completion of punishment.
After the announcement of Central Assembly elections in 1934 a Muslim Unity Board was constituted under the president ship of Raja Saleempur. The Board was entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring elections in United Provionce, Centralk Province and Bihar and Madras provinces. Shahjahanpur and Bijnor seats witnessed close fight between Sir Yaqub and Mr. Kareemur Raza Khan who was Board’s candidate. The Unity Board Incharge of Moradabad Board was Maulana Mohammad Ismail Sambhli. He participated in the elections very actively and the Board candidate won the election. It was in fact the success of Jamiatul Ulema and Maulana Ismail Sambhli and it added to his personal influence immensely.
When the time came for Provincial Assembly elections, the Muslim League Parliamentary Board came to existence. On behalf of Maulana Ahmad Saeed, Nazim of Jamiatul Ulema Mohammad Ali Jinnah was given the right to nominate members to the parliamentary board. Mr. Jinnah nominated 22 members from 56 out of which 20 were of Jamiatul Ulema and two of Ahrar. The Provincial Boards were under the control of Central Board. Maulana Ismail Sambhli was admitted to UP Board. He was also declare candidate from Sambhal of Moradabad and Tehsil Bilari constituencies. Those days the land lords, nawabs, kings and English title holders enjoyed great immunity and British supported people were considered prominent in the society. The nationalists participated in the election to defeat the pro-British candidates. The eminent personality of Sambhal, Nawab Ashiq Husain Khan was given ticket against Maulana Mohammad Ismail Sambhli. Nawab Ashiq, being chairman of Sambhal Board for twenty years and special magistrate for almost same period, was a respectable man and used to render a tax of rupees ten thousand per annum to the government . He also enjoyed an influence over the electorate yet he was miserably defeated in the election. Maulana Ismail Sambhli’s success was historic and this provided as a great boost to the nationalists. At other places the candidates of Muslim League won but after elections Mr. Jinnah tried to included the members of pro-government parties in Muslim League while they had been against the League. Some of them were of ill character. However Mr. Jinnah succeeded in getting the resolution of the admission of these members in Lucknow session and did not give ear to the objections raised by other members. Mr. Zaheeruddin Farroqui and others tried to object and said that we should consider the fact that Jamiat has helped the League and it is lenient towards Congress but Mr. Jinnah out rightly silenced them saying that these people had been admitted in the Board and Jamiat or Ahrar had no right to against the principle. Hearing these words, Maulana Ismail Sambhli rose in his seat and with an exemplary confidence said that we joined hands with you for the election purpose and not because we had left our beliefs, principles and objectives. We have the right to follow our own resolution. The full text of Maulana Ismail Sambhli’s speech has been reproduced by Maulana Husain Ahmad Madni in his book. Mr. Jinnah admitted all those people in the League who had been against the freedom of the country and were loyal to British. Maulana Ismail Sambhli and his likeminded colleagues who were a Congress and Jamiat sympathizer formally joined the Congress.
In 1939, the war in Europe started and the Indian government without taking the members in confidence sent the Indian army to war. The Congress opposed the move and boycotted the Assembly. It convened its session at Ramgarh on March 20-21, 1940 under the president ship of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The Civil Disobedience Movement was pronounced in the session and finally in the last of 1940 the non-violent civil disobedience movement commenced. A programme was chalked out for individual speeches. Maulana Ismail Sambhli was arrested in Moradabad during the movement and was sentenced for nine months’ imprisonment. In August 1942, Congress gave the famous ‘Leave India’ slogan. Mahatma Gandhi was arrested and sent to Sabarmati Jail. There were arrests every where in the country. Maulana Ismail Sambhli was again arrested in Sambhal and was put under house arrest at Moradabad Jail for indefinite period. Later he was released after one year.
In 1946, when the elections were declared, the tussle between Congress and Muslim League was at the height. Muslim League carried venomous but impressive slogans. Supporting the Congress was a daring step and Mualana Ismail Sambhli dared to fight against Muslim League. Initially he was declared defeated due to the cheatings but after the election petition on the part of Maulana, he was declared elected without any fight in the re-election. He remained MLA till 1952 and had to leave the teaching at Madrasa Shahi Moradabad in 1946 due to his preoccupation.
Maulana Ismail Sambhli did not participate in the 1952 elections and stationed at Delhi as the Nazim-e-Ala of Jamiatul Ulema. He served Jamiat for four years and remained busy in social and political affairs. In 1957 he resigned from Jamiat and returned to Sambhal. On the order of his spiritual master Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani and requests of administrators of Madrasa Chilla he accepted to serve it as Sheikhul Hadees.
In 1962, he was appointed as Sheikhul Hadees at Madrasa Imdadia, Moradaba and served there for about three years. Later on repeated requests he joined Madrasa Taleemul Islam, Anand, Gujarat and remained there for eight years as Sheikhul Hadees teaching Bukhari and Muslim. In 1974, he shunned the idea of service and returned back to Sambhal and engaged himself in the literary work only to complete the half hatched books. “Maqalat-e-Tasawwuf”, “Akhbarul Tanzeel” (the Quranic prophesies) and “Taquleed-e-Aimma” are some important books authored by him. Meanwhile he went to Mawana, Meerut on the request of people and stayed there for about eight months. He taught Quran’s translation and analysis at Mawana. In his last age, he spent a few Ramadhan months in Bombay delivering lectures on the translation and analysis of Quran every night after Taraweeh. He fell sick in the last Ramadhan of his life yet he, disregarding the opposition of family members, went to Bombay on the request of people. Everyday after Iftar he used to take injection to be able to deliver the lecture after Taraweek and the whole Ramadhan passed this way. After returning to Sambhal he succumbed to the weakness and was admitted to the Moradabad government hospital. People of all faith, belief, opinion and social and political association came in flocks to see him at the hospital. Several teams of doctors was attending him. The former health minister Mr. Daudayal Khanna along with is companions and the CMO came to see him but nothing could help and his condition kept deteriorating. He insisted family members to take him home. The unconsciousness had engulfed him. He was given the oxygen aid and life saving injections to take him live to Sambhal by an ambulance. He was under deep unconsciousness on the way to Sambhal when he suddenly raised his right hand towards the sky and recited the Kalma loudly in the same typical manner as was seen in his speeches. After one hour from arriving home, he bid last farewell to the world at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, the 23rd November 1975 after one and half months’ prolonged illness.
----------------------------------------*Mohammad Najeeb Qasmi is based in Riyadh and can be accessed at: [email protected]
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Peter Millington… First Big Beat Reunion – 14th November 1987 – Hastings Pier – what a great event! The surprise guests included Cliff Bennett being backed by a group comprising of Ray Fenwick, Pete Shaw, Chris Sayer, Pete Head and others from the show.
Chris Giles… And a brilliant night was had by me and hubby
Peter Millington… 1963 was the hey day of the big names playing the Pier – this “Big Beat” reunion was 24 years later. We’ve now moved on another 28 years – b****y frightening! A night I shall never forget, playing with my long term friends in the Confederates and being on the stage with all these legends, Wow! lump in the throat stuff.
Mick O’Dowd… I was there. I thought The Searchers looked too young to be any of originals but they were.
Pete Prescott… I was at the first show. Brilliant gig. Fantastic line up. Packed. Crowd loved it. Some came in their original old clothes (the ones who could still fit into them !) Cliff Bennett was great ! The organisers didn’t know if many would show up so there were only a few people behind the bar. Very difficult to get a drink, so a lot of people were sober. lots of dancing. Fun night. The next one was packed. Lots of people behind the bar. Lots of drunk people. Not such a good night. Obviously just my opinion. I often watch people get plastered and pay less attention to what they came for and stagger and shout their way through the night. the music was great on that night as well.
Pete Millington… I played with Confederate friends at all 3 “Big Beat Reunions” but the first in 1987 was the best
Robert Searle… Great stuff
Mark Hardwick… I Believe i have a 45 of The Talismen (whispering bells) given to me by a relative of theirs 30ish years ago. I’ve found the record on CREZENT label 1978 Whispering bells b/w Sounds in our minds. taken from LP album Sounds in our minds (Lightning records) b/w was written by M.Swift and B Baker. the wife was a lady cleaner from Hastings College, Archery Rd can’t remember her name, hope this helps.
Pete Millington… The Talismen broke up in 1966/67 if not earlier. Without the wife’s name and her husband’s surname we can’t do any verification. Let me know if you find any names that might help in validating this mystery
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Yep. This one from Griots Garage. I love it, use it to organize and store my car cleaning supplies (Speed Shine, Window Cleaner, Interior Cleaner, Water Blade, 4 different types of towels of different weaves for things like quick details, glass, drying).
Yep. This one from Griots Garage. I love it, use it to organize and store my car cleaning supplies (Speed Shine, Window Cleaner, Interior Cleaner, Water Blade, 4 different types of towels of different weaves for things like quick details, glass, drying).
It also collapses and folds up and all the dividers are movable.
Looks good. How sturdy is it? What I like about the one I linked is the base is solid, so should make is a fairly substantial unit.
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Posted by jocradmin on Jul 10, 2015 in Volume 5|Issue 3|July-Sep 2015 | Comments Off on Single Stage Tibial Osteotomy and Long Stem Total Knee Arthroplasty to Correct Adverse Consequences of Unequal Tibial Lengthening with an Ilizarov Circular Fixator
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Monday, February 25, 2013
I'm putting up a quick blog post for those that have procrastinated about signing up for TechMentor in Orlando, FL and missed the early bird special. Turns out you can still get the 5 day all-access Package at a $400 savings if you use a special code. They assigned mine as TMSK5 - so feel free to use it to get the discount - the easiest way is to hit the link off the promotion image below.
Hope to see lots of folks there. I will be presenting some sessions on IPv6, excited to start getting IT Pros more involved in what is going on in IPv6 and why they need to start paying attention to it.
- Ed
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Industrial
When you need to get the best out of your industrial shoot, you need a photographer who has the experience and skills to produce the highest professional results.
Our industrial photographers understand the restrictions that working within the confines of industrial environments often present. And they have the knowledge and experience to make the best use of their equipment in surroundings with unique characteristics and challenges.
If you need imagery that portrays your environment in a realistic and stylish manner, Talk to our Team
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In the United States, culture has come to serve as the dividing factor between "races" and skin color (Domínguez).
That is to say that, according to sociologists, white Americans take part in culture not shared by Asian Americans, Latin Americans or Black Americans.
In most countries and regions of the Caribbean realm, culture is shared by everyone, regardless of skin color or ancestral origins. In Haiti as well as the Dominican Republic, rice and beans, traditionally considered an "ethnic dish" in the United States, is eaten and prepared in the homes of white, mixed, black, and Arabs of both nationalities. In Aruba, Papiamentu, a Portuguese-based Creole language, is spoken by the entire island, regardless of skin color or ancestral origins.
Louisiana is no exception to this rule. Gravy and rice, red beans, boudin, gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya, all "ethnic" dishes are eaten and savored by all Louisianians practicing both Black and White French Creole or one of the French cultures of Louisiana.
In addition, the colonial (Creole) architecture of Louisiana bares striking resemblances with architecture in the Caribbean. For example, the architecture of the Vieux Carré of New Orleans, is modeled after part of the architecture of Old Havana, Havana, Cuba. The distinct raised roof, gallery-wrapped Creole plantation homes of Louisiana resemble those of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Cuba, Haiti and those painting the landscape of many Caribbean islands, though they are also heavily modeled after traditional European architecture.
It is therefore not odd, either, to find a Louisianian that carry Spanish or French features, even some with African features, carrying the family name Romero, Hernández or Rodríguez who can find their roots in Haiti and Mexico, as well as France and
(officially admitted into statehood in 1812) and the arrival of Anglo-Saxons from New England ignited an outright cultural war. Anglo-Saxons, reportedly disgusted by the cultural and linguistic climate of the newly acquired territory, the United States' first Louisiana governor,swiftly moved to thoroughly Americanize the Louisiana people in making English the official language. Outraged,
Louisiana Creoles in New Orleans allegedly paraded the streets of New Orleans renouncing the Americans' effort to transform them into Americans overnight. Realizing that he needed the local support to make any progress in Louisiana, Claiborne restored French as an official language of the newly acquired state, and in all forms of government, public forums and in the Catholic Church, French continued to be used. Most importantly, Colonial French and Creole French remained the language of the majority of the population of the state.
New Orleans remained a city divided between Latin (French and Creole) and Anglo-Saxon populations until well into the late 19th century (Hirsch & Logsdon). Among the eighteen governors of Louisiana between 1803-1865, six were Creole and were monolingual speakers of French: Jacques-Philippe Villeré, Pierre Augustin Charles Bourguignon Derbigny, Armand Julien Beauvais, Jacques Dupré de Terrebonne, André Bienvenue Roman, and Alexandre Mouton. When Americans began to arrive in Louisiana, locals began identifying themselves overtly as Creoles to distinguish themselves from the "nouveaux-arrivés" from New England and the American South.
The Diversity of the Louisiana People
Identity Issues
Since the conception of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana and the resurgence of Cajun pride in the late 1960s, Creole identity and pride has been neglected both by Creoles and non-Creoles.
For example, it is not odd to arrive in New Orleans, the historic birthplace of the Creole identity and language, and to find signs all over saying Cajun Restaurant or Cajun Music, or to hear local New Orleaneans refer to themselves as Cajun.
Similarly, it is not odd to find historic Creole families west of the Mississippi River referring to themselves as Cajuns now as well. The Cajun movement has ultimately redivided Louisiana latins into white (Cajun), white (French Creole) and non-white (Black Creole and Amerindian).
It should however be noted that "Cajun" originally refers to a different subset of Louisiana francophones. The term is a corruption of "Acadien" and therefore reflects the population of colonists resettled in Louisiana from Acadia following the Great Upheaval of 1755. Most Creoles are no longer fluent in either Louisiana Creole nor Colonial French. This has made the community vulnerable and susceptible to much scrutiny and neglect. Many locals, especially those of relatively pure French and Spanish
Creole descent, have often argued that the traditional usage excluded African lineage. The American Civil Rights Movement called for Black and Mixed Creoles to either join the rest of country in gaining inalienable rights or to continue to exist without social and political rights.
It also called for them to identify as Negro or Black, instead of the Creole identity, because Creole was mainly a culture vs. a race. An identity then and now not consciously recognized by American Blacks. The Louisiana Creole definition, defines Creole people as those who are "generally known as a people of any of the following mixes: French, Spanish, African, and Native American ancestry, most of whom reside in or have familial ties to Louisiana.
Many other ethnicities have contributed to this culture including, but not limited to: Irish, Italian, or German. Creole is now accepted as a broad cultural group of people who share French or Spanish ancestry. A definition from the earliest history in New Orleans (circa 1718) is "a child born in the colony as opposed to France or Spain. (see Criollo)" The definition became more codified after the United States took control of the city and Louisiana in 1803. The Creoles at that time included the Spanish ruling class, who ruled from the mid-1700s until the early 1800s.
is recognized as a unique a style of cooking originating inNewOrleans, which makes use of the same Holy trinity (in this case chopped celery, bell peppers, and onions) as Cajun cuisine, but has a large variety of European, French Caribbean, African, and American influences. Gumbo is a traditional Creole dish. It was created in New Orleans by the French attempting to make bouillabaisse in the New World. The Spanish contributed onions, peppers, and tomatoes, the Africans contributed okra, in which the dish gets its name due to the popularity of the vegetable in the stew, the Indians contributed Filé, which are ground sassafras leaves, and later on the Italians blasted it with garlic.
The Louisiana Creole of Color
The Germans contributed potato salad as a side and even started the practice of eating gumbo with a scoop of potato salad in it. The Germans also dominated the french bread industry in New Orleans and brought the practice of eating gumbo with buttered french bread. The French gave the roux to the stew, and spices from the Caribbean, and over time it became less of a bouillabaisse and more of what is called gumbo. It is a stew consisting of, but can vary depending on the family: seafood gumbo( shrimp, crab, sausage, and oyster) or chicken sausage gumbo( chicken, sausage), and all contain the "Holy Trinity" and are served over rice.
It is often seasoned with filé by Cajuns and Creoles all over Louisiana. History reveals that "Gumbo" (Gombô, in Louisiana Creole, Gombo, in Louisiana French) was the word used in West and Central Africa for the okra plant. Okra is from the regions of Africa, and parts of the Middle East and Spain. The use of the word gombo was used to name the stew, due to its popularity to thicken the mixture before the roux came along. Thus, the stew was named Gumbo, because of the French accent used after first hearing africans call Okra "Gombo," as in a shortening of the word kilogombó or kigambó, and guingambó or quinbombó, in West African. Jambalaya is the second in line of fame of Louisiana Creole dishes.
It finds its origin in the original European city sector of New Orleans; the French Quarter, or vieux carré, in colonial days combining ham with sausage, rice and tomato. Today, jambalaya is prepared two ways: in New Orleans and its immediate environment, in parts of Iberia Parish as well as in parts of St. Martin Parish, jambalaya is red, and has for its base, tomato. Cajuns, generally speaking, prepare a "brown jambalaya", which is roux based with tasso. Jambalaya can combine chicken, sausage, fresh shrimp tails; or chicken and tasso.
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The material presented is only a brief presentation of writings from the
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Jared Kushner: There Was No Collusion Since Our Campaign Was Too Disorganized
Jared Kushner is reportedly telling Congressional interns that the Trump campaign team did not collude with Russia because its members were too disorganized according to Foreign Policy, a periodical dedicated to international relations.
According to Foreign Policy, Mr. Kushner said, “They thought we colluded, but we couldn’t even collude with our local offices,” Kushner told congressional interns during a private talk at the Capitol Visitor Center auditorium on Monday afternoon.”
Donald Trump’s election team could not have colluded with Russia because they were barely talking to each other, according to Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and top White House advisor. “They thought we colluded, but we couldn’t even collude with our local offices,” Kushner told congressional interns during a private talk at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington on Monday afternoon.
The article paints Mr. Kushner as someone who has received too much praise in life for not really doing much of anything himself.
While speaking to the interns, the article notes, the President’s son-in-law, claimed to have personally negotiated the release of Ayan Hijazi, an imprisoned Egyptian-American charity worker. Mr. Kushner, echoing his father-in-law, said that he and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had made a “great deal” to effectuate this prisoner's release. It wasn't.
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Network News
Get the Morning Fix and the new Afternoon Fix delivered to your inbox or mobile device for easy access to the top political stories of the day. All you need is one click to get Morning Fix and Afternoon Fix!
Pawlenty, a near-certain 2012 presidential candidate, will make the announcement at the start of the town hall, which begins at 7:15 eastern time tonight and will feature him taking 30 minutes of live questions.
"Washington is headed in the wrong direction," Pawlenty is expected to say. "These candidates share my common-sense approach to governing, and will work to stop the out-of-control spending in Washington." (Worth noting: Pawlenty isn't backing any incumbents, a move likely aimed at reinforcing his outsider status within the party.)
Pawlenty will also unveil a widget on his website that allows people to directly donate to the candidates he is backing -- a sort of one-stop shop that allies of the Minnesota governor argue will make an endorsement from him have a genuine and lasting impact.
The power of a Pawlenty endorsement will get two quick tests as Burns and Djou are running in special elections in May. Burns will try to win the southwestern Pennsylvania 12th district long held by the late Rep. John Murtha (D) in a May 18 special while Djou is the lone Republican running in what a surprisingly competitive contest on May 22 for former Rep. Neil Abercrombie's (D) seat.
Pawlenty's decision to get into the endorsement game in a major way comes hot on the heels of similar rollouts by former Govs. Mitt Romney (Mass.) and Sarah Palin (Alaska).
All three are seen as potential 2012 candidates and are using the coming midterms to bolster their status within the party and accrue chits with rank and file Republicans in advance of the presidential race.
Of the trio, Pawlenty is the least known nationally and, not coincidentally, the most aggressive in working to establish himself as a force among the party's activist base.
In the final three months of 2009, Pawlenty raised nearly $1.3 million through his Freedom First PAC but made only a handful of donations to candidates. Among those who got contributions during that time included: now Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.), Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), former Rep. Rob Portman (Ohio) and a handful of Minnesota House members.
These seven endorsements suggest that Pawlenty is going to be significantly more involved in spreading around campaign contributions this spring, summer and fall as he ramps up the political operation that, he hopes, will carry him to the presidential nomination in 2012.
Yes it is begging, Jake, what else could you possibly call it? Nobody awaits invitations to respond to posts, and nobody else prompts others to respond. Every one of you "if anyone wants ... let me know" posts is a cry for attention.
As I said, I think everyone else here would have to admit that you would absolutely die under Hypothetical #2 (even the dumbest specialty board certified doctors ; )
bsimon1:
I'm not talking about forcing anyone to vote for him. Under Hypothetical #1, even if Gov. Pawlenty's office and family were the only ones who made it to the polls, that would be more than Obama could personally get out to vote.
"noacoler I truly do not understand how he passed the most difficult bar exam in the country. He is amazingly dense."
Well I have often wondered the same thing about Board Certified doctors. My certification exams were very challenging.
Yet I have worked with specialty board certified doctors who are...I dunno, words fail me, stupid, ignorant, arrogant, preoccupied with autistic stimuli and magic ideas, rigid, these words don't describe how dangerous they are.
I would love to see the GOP run Barbour. A fat white-haired guy with three chins and a drawl, yet, that'd win 45 states. Not.
The southern strategy worked a little too well because, as always, the GOP went too far. Yeah they crafted an appeal to rural southern racists and managed to dog-whistle the really nasty parts, but along the way they managed to alienate everyone with an education and a moral compass. So the rural south is the only demographic where the GOP isn't critically losing ground.
And buy 2012 non-Hispanic white births will be under 50%, and less than a generation later whites will no longer be a majority in the USA. And for a GOP with virtually no nonwhite votes anywhere, that's the end.
one last comment: I would still like to engage some intelligent discussion while I am away about the GOP being a Southern Anglo party that would be best served in 2012 by selecting one of their governors who reflect the values and image of the GOP:
i.e. a Southern Anglo Party.
Traditionally the GOP has taken the easy/safe road in selecting their nominee with Dole, Bush, and McCain and since Barbour was a former GOP Chairman he unlike Pawlenty fits that mold best imh. You see its MY OPINION ONLY, not a fact not a certainty just MY OPINION jake.
"You really think that Gov. Pawlenty (with forces already in State) could not turn out more voters than Obama could (from D.C.), with less than six (6) hours left before the polls close?! What about if there was only ONE HOUR left? At the very least, everyone working in Pawlenty's office would go vote."
'forces'? Can he command the national guard to vote for him?
Though, if you're thinking his political organization, I recall he couldn't muster a win for McCain in the caucuses; nor could he muster a decent showing for McCain in the general, which I remind you Obama won handily.
So perhaps we can construct the hypothetical differently, such that you receive the answer you desire.
Though having said that, I wonder if there are enough voters who would vote for Pawlenty over Obama, just to get him out of the state. (see: babloom | March 31, 2010 8:28 PM )
no jake I am leaving to go help JD the next 10 days. Wish me luck and Happy Easter. Enjoy your mindless games maybe you can find some 2 years to argue with. Easter Egg hunts and Breaking Passover Bread might be more appropriate games for you.
Of course he didn't, the guy has no logical faculties at all. He can't put together the simplest line of reasoning and he can't handle being disagreed with. JakeD couldn't get into a high school debate team, there is zero chance he could get through a year of undergraduate classes, and a doctorate? The guy who only makes sense when he pastes others' writing?
Most rightwing bamboozlement is a no consequences affair for the bamboozlers. Death panels, Manchurian candidate presidents, 'armed IRS' agents busting down your door to ram low deductible health care coverage down your throat. It goes on and on.
But it seems one old yarn from the fever swamp may have some very pernicious consequences for the folks who make their living making up stories to keep the wingnut masses in a state of chronic agitation and moral panic.
Rightwing hullabaloo over the federal Census, particularly the improbable claim that the Census is unconstitutional, is reportedly leading a lot of the most conservative Republicans to refuse to fill out their Census forms, which in theory at least could lead to substantial underrepresentation for these folks in Congress over the next decade -- not to mention a lower cut of services from the federal government.
That at least is what Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the ranking Republican on the committee that oversees the Census, thinks is happening. And he's now taken to Redstate.com itself, Fever Swamp Central, to tell fellow conservatives to do the right thing and fill out their Census forms.
As McHenry notes, it's very hard to reason that the Census can be unconstitutional since it's one of the only things the constitution not only provides broad powers to do but actually expressly enjoins the federal government to do every decade.
"would win" again you don't understand the word hypothetical when you continue to couch your post in absolutes. I have no idea; neither do you except for the REALTY that Pawlenty is another unpopular governor TODAY, end of discussion.
My theory is that the GOP is a southern Anglo party only and that Hailey Barbour embodies the GOP. Curious that GOPers here would not agree with that charcterization. Look at their failed attempt to reach out to African Americans with Michael Steele. Yea choosing a black chairman that wears $2000 suits and finances limousine rides, strip clubs and Ritz Carlton stays is a big hit with minorites. Blackwell was even a bigger flop attracting new voters to the GOP. The GOP is best suited to campaign with their southern governors and continuing to preach to their choir. Forget the north or midwest voters they aren't buying and yes Brown will be toast in 2012, his candidacy was a fluke against an awful candidate, Mass Ds won't make that mistake twice. My money is on the failed governor from the successful state of Mississippi in 2012.
'Just days ago, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) was condemning the “government takeover” of health care, cheering on Tea Party protesters, and denouncing the law’s “special deals” on the floor of the House and on news shows across the country. Kingston joined the Republican effort to repeal the law in Congress and co-sponsored two separate bills to “repeal and replace” the bill.
But yesterday, during a town hall at College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswik, Kingston did what’s quickly becoming a popular trend for Republicans. He walked back from his repeal rhetoric and highlighted some of the benefits of the new law:
Instead Kingston, who had joined all other Republicans in the House in voting against the overhaul, focused on changes he thinks should be made to make it better. He said lawmakers have “unfinished business” and both parties should work together to improve the nation’s health care system….At one point, he assured the crowd there are no “death panels,” a charge made by some conservatives over the course of the year-long debate and echoed by at least one citizen in attendance Wednesday.
“There are a lot of things in this bill I think you and I certainly like,” Kingston said.'
typical:
'
Yesterday, National Review Online (NRO) posted an article by the American Enterprise Institute’s Kevin Hassett arguing that the fact that the recession has been worse for minorities “suggests that discrimination may well still be a factor in the American labor market.” In response, NRO hosted an online “symposium” for “some economics and civil-rights analysts to share their thoughts on the topic.” Their conclusion was that “Discrimination is an insufficient explanation for black unemployment.” Oliver Willis notes that NRO did not include any black participants in the discussion:
The thing is, there’s no law or rule that only black people can talk about issues affecting black people, or the same for white, Latino, Asian people, etc.
But considering the way the conservative movement insists that it is diverse, they couldn’t find one black person for their symposium? Not one?'
You really think that Gov. Pawlenty (with forces already in State) could not turn out more voters than Obama could (from D.C.), with less than six (6) hours left before the polls close?! What about if there was only ONE HOUR left? At the very least, everyone working in Pawlenty's office would go vote.
My prediction for 2012 GOP nominee: Haley Barbour or Mitch Daniels. Barbour would be a safe choice and fits the GOP ideologue mold like a glove. He could campaign on surpassing Texas for social services and education. Daniels would be too intelligent a choice for the GOP. The GOP still remains a predominantly Anglo southern party and I don't see that changing in the next 2 1/2 years, imh.
Barack Obama announces major energy policy initiatives, including the strictest fuel efficiency standards in history and an offshore drilling program that is yet another display of his willingness to adopt GOP ideas and policies and Chris Cilliza devotes an entire column to.............
Tim Pawlenty's chat on Facebook and his efforts to buy political favors?
What a joke.
==
Not as grotesque a joke as the day after HCR passes running a column instead on some former Indiana Senator who wants to get his hooks back in ... by granting an interview to our panting blogger to explain how much he hates President Obama.
Yeah, big news.
And after Boehner wet his pants before the House trying futilely to skew the HCR vote, CC calls him a "winner" in its passage, on a par with the President whose victory it unquestionably is.
For being so blatantly partisan toward Republicans, for showing such a lack of sense of proportion, I maintain this blog needs a new host.
Jake, I think you've milked your noncolloquial take on "nobody" for all it's worth. Ha-ha.
Nobody cares about Tim Pawlenty, nobody cares about his endorsements. You're just being contrary as an excuse to flood the blog with garbage to palliate the turbo-charged tedium of your desperately empty life.
We're all very impressed that you can use Google and post links. I mean, most people can't do that before age six. You're really quite the clever little fellow.
There's less than six (6) hours left before the polls close in Minnesota for the 2012 Presidential election, with only Pawlenty and Obama qualified on this surprise ballot -- assuming that enough polls can even open by then -- do you think that Obama is going to get more local voters to turnout (from the White House) than Pawlenty (from in the State)?
Barack Obama announces major energy policy initiatives, including the strictest fuel efficiency standards in history and an offshore drilling program that is yet another display of his willingness to adopt GOP ideas and policies and Chris Cilliza devotes an entire column to.............
Tim Pawlenty's chat on Facebook and his efforts to buy political favors?
I would assume that turnout would be at historic lows -- not to mention the legal challenges sure to be filed for violating the Constitutional requirements for holding said election -- nonetheless, that was YOUR hypothetical.
noacoler writes, of pawlenty
"His own state doesn't like him, only CC cares about him."
Pawlenty has never won a lot of love from Minnesotans, but his approval ratings have generally been higher than his electoral margins. Largely due to the impact of Independence Party candidates, Pawlenty did not won a majority of either election, though he won. Subsequent job approval ratings tended to give him the benefit of the doubt, and he typically surpassed 50% (i.e. more than ever voted for him). So, in that context, his drop to 42% is somewhat significant. If I recall correctly, Obama won about 60% of the vote in 2008 - about 15 more points than Pawlenty ever won.
But here's the thing about Pawlenty: he comes across well, particularly if you aren't familiar with his record. He's extremely partisan, never passing an opportunity to take a shot at Dems nationally or the DFL locally, yet when he talks about his agenda, he makes it sound very sensible and reasonable. Personally, I don't think he has the kind of charisma that will be necessary to win the GOP nomination for 2012, much less the general election. But I do think he's going to do better than most people here think. While not a social conservative firebrand, he does share their views; he probably won't be their favorite candidate, but they won't seek to undermine him either. He's absolutely got the club for growth vote, and is clearly courting the TEA types (see Hoffman endorsement). He doesn't have the astronomically high negatives of a Palin or the plasticity / flip-floppery of a Romney. Consider that he has been elected governor of a fairly blue state twice, and was majority leader before that; he is very good at playing the game of politics. The Fix is right to watch him.
Do you not think that any of those were "real issues"? Moving onto the prior hypothetical question, there's less than six (6) hours left before the polls close in Minnesota for the 2012 Presidential election -- assuming that enough polls can even open by then -- do you think that Obama is going to get more local voters to turnout (from the White House) than Pawlenty (from in the State)?
In 2002, Pawlenty campaigned on a pledge not to raise taxes to balance the state's budget deficit, requiring visa expiration dates on driver's licenses, a 24-hour waiting period on abortions, implementing a conceal-carry gun law, and changing the state's education requirements. Pawlenty ran for re-election in 2006 on conservative issues (I can look those up for you too), though he was criticized by conservatives on a few specific funding items, including two stadium bills for the Gophers and Minnesota Twins, and a transportation bond which included the Northstar commuter rail line.
Craig: simple question(unscientific as it is) since you are in Minn. Do you think that Pawlenty could defeat Dayton in Nov, if he were running for re-election, since some of us here think that Minnesotans actually know a bit more about their state politics, then let's say some right wing self serving pundit in Ca.
I continue to be surprised that the press, including you Chris, pay so much attention to Pawlenty. He is a back bencher with over ambitious goals, without any real agenda at all.
Craig
Minneapolis, Minnesota
incidentally you are the one that has come here every day 2 1/2 years before an election screaming you absolutely know how the 2012 election will turn out. That is absolute garbage that no one believes other than you. I deal in today's reality not some make believe universe where like you we just get to make up polling data that fits our political leanings and that reality is that POTUS Obama is 7% more poular with Minnesotans then their sitting Governor. Its too bad that you don't want to hear that, but once again NO ONE CARES.
what kind of absolutely stupid racist comment was that? Yea we are dealing with today's reality that Gov. Pawlenty garners only 42% approval rate with his own constituents, period. Oh those darn facts get in the way sometimes don't they. You can scream and kick that you don't agree with Rasmussen or Minnseotan's views of their Governor, but guess what NO ONE CARES.
I'm not saying that an actual turnout of 42% would beat 49%. Under YOUR hypothetical, there's less than six (6) hours left before the polls close in Minnesota for the 2012 Presidential election -- assuming that enough polls can even open by then -- you really think that Obama is going to get all of his 49% out to vote in the State, all the way from D.C., as opposed to a much larger portion of Pawlenty's 42%? Even if Obama took over every radio and TV channel with the announcement to get to the polls now, those with at least SOME local "get out the vote" effort already in place will turn out in a much higher percentage. Look, I'm just working with YOUR hypothetical. It's not my fault you didn't think though the consequences of holding federal elections two and 1/2 years early, with no advance warning, on April Fools' Day no less.
yea jake 42% beats 49% every time in your lala land. But hey what do Minnesotan's know about their own governor, they should be listening to some right wing Ca guy instead. How dare them tell Rasmussen pollsters otherwise.
According to the Minnesota State Demographic Center, Minnesota’s African American population was 218,400 as of 2005. Cities with the largest percentage of African Americans include Minneapolis (18%), St. Paul (12%), Brooklyn Park (14%), and Brooklyn Center (14%). Unless Obama is going to fly to Minneapolis and personally drive them all to the polls today, there's no doubt that Pawlenty's 42% would carry the State for him.
and once again jake Pawlenty has a 42% state wide job approval unless you are wanting to argue with Rasmussen's numbers (that would not surprise any of us here). He is so unpopular in Minn. that he is currently not even garnering more than 42% Job Approval in his home state.
I'm assuming, if the 2012 federal election were being held today (apart from most people thinking it was an April Fools' joke), that T-Paw could in fact get more people to the polls in his own home state before they close than Obama could (Obama would win D.C. though ; )
Obama's job approval in Minn 49%; Pawlenty's 42%. Once again today Pawlenty could not even carry his own state in a general election matchup with Obama, truly pathetic.
"A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows:
"Obama carried Minnesota with 54% of the vote in the November 2008 election, and 49% of voters in the state now approve of the job he is doing as president, including 31% who strongly approve. But the same number (49%) disapprove of his performance as president, with 38% who strongly disapprove"
my referance was to Pawlenty and the GOP's unpopularity in Minnesota, try reading the complete post FOR ONCE:
"that shows how little regard Minnesotans have for Rs"
and for the second time,this is why Pawlenty could not even get re-elected as Governor today:
"Mr. Pawlenty's popularity among state voters has fallen to its "lowest level since he was elected in 2002", according to the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. In an early March poll, 42% approved of his job performance; 52% disapproved"
42% approval in his own state is a pathetic base for initiating a national campaign. Understand Now? The GOP brand did not sell in Minnesota in 2008 and the Pawlenty brand is not selling in Minn. in 2010, get it.
Timothy James Pawlenty was born November 27, 1960 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is of Polish and German ancestry and one of five children of Eugene and Virginia (Oldenburg) Pawlenty. His father drove a milk truck. His mother died of cancer when he was 15. Pawlenty played ice hockey on his high school's junior varsity squad.
In 1983, he received a B.A. degree in Political Science at the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts. In 1986, he graduated with a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. In law school, he met his future wife, Mary Anderson. After their marriage, they settled in Eagan, Minnesota.
Pawlenty's first worked as a labor law attorney at the firm Rider Bennett, where he had interned during law school. Later, he became Vice President for a software-as-a-service company Wizmo Inc.
While living in Eagan, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission by then Mayor Vic Ellison. One year later in 1989, at the age of 28, he was elected to a term on the City Council. Pawlenty was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1992 and re-elected five times, finally being chosen House Majority Leader when the Republicans became the majority party in the State Legislature in 1998. He was elected Governor in 2002 and re-elected in 2006.
"Two Republican lawmakers this week, Rep. Mark Kirk (Ill.), who is running for Senate, and Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), backed away from pledges they made to repeal the health law.
Some Republicans and Democrats have said that the prospect of repealing it is highly unlikely because the GOP would need to win two-thirds majorities in both houses to overcome a veto from President Barack Obama.
Democrats have warned that pushing for repeal would doom GOPers in the fall, because it would mean they would have to advocate for an act that would take away health insurance coverage for over 30 million uninsured. "
Including children with disabilities, who will be covered before the election. You want to run on stripping medical care away from crippled children? Nice visuals.
Pawlenty is Unpopular in his home state according to the latest Star Poll:
Monday, March 22, 2010
"Mr. Pawlenty's popularity among state voters has fallen to its lowest level since he was elected in 2002, according to the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. In an early March poll, 42% approved of his job performance; 52% disapproved"
Mr Kristol, consider this reference to Tim Who to be a standard weekly note by the Fix of who's who amongst Rising Republicans. Perhaps your attention has been too-focused on half-term ex-Gov Palin, or you're more familiar with Tim Who by his frat-boy pseudonym, T-Paw. The Fix typically references T-Paw several times Weekly, as Standard practice. Though apparently some people don't get the joke.
those who don't believe the fallen bridges are not a real problem for Pawlenty are delusional. Who really cares about his campaign contributions to candidates, they have marginal effect at best. Personally I believe Pawlenty would have a difficult time getting re-elected Governor, and as a POTUS candidate would likely be unable to even carry his own state in the general. He couldn't even carry a Senate seat over comedian Franken;that shows how little regard Minnesotans have for Rs.
All these endorsements are hog-wash. Tim
Pawlenty? A nobody nationally. Big Bucks
Romney who won't be able to buy enough votes for anybody, cause the successful HCR was crafted by the Massachusettes reform bearing his siganture. Puke Palin, being President isn't lucrative enough for her, and soon she'll be chokin' on her tea bag string. Endorsements that are an incredible waste of money, and with the
Obama Blitz they are all in a daily frenzy, while they are frantically fracturing their endeavors, he's just getting on with the nation's business. It looks like that is the most effective camapign strategy, it's working now, and will work in November and 2012. 215 days until SWEET TUESDAY!! GO OBAMA,GO DEMS!!!
Peds version of the confederate battle flag. It stands for oppression, death, murder and economic impotence. Hammer and sickly indeed.
The wanton shallowness of this fool is palpable. Dates outside her race only. Obsessed with looks only. What a loser. Yet god made her bald and conversationally intolerable with an inability to procreate. How ironic. No doubt this obsessive compulsive cat lady lives with several cats and mutters to herself as she types.
I thought you'd be interested in this historic move for change and huge movement back toward a balanced US budget.
It was announced shortly after midnight on March 31st.
Peter
WASHINGTON— April 1 - In an effort to reduce wasteful spending and eliminate non-vital Federal services, the U.S. government announced plans late last night to cut the long-standing bicameral program, a move it says will help save hard pressed US taxpayers more than $300 billion each year and dramatically move the US back toward a balanced budget.
According to officials, the decision to downsize the national legislative body was reached during an intense and heated budget review meeting that concluded late Tuesday evening. After hours of deliberation, it was agreed that the cost of financing U.S. Senators far outweighed the benefits they provided. All sides agreed on the wisdom of this good faith decision.
"Now, more than ever, we must eliminate needless spending wherever possible," President Obama said at a press conference early Wednesday. "When we sat down to go over our annual budget, we asked ourselves, where can we safely trim back? What programs can we do away with without negatively impacting the American people? Which bloated and ineffective institutions can we no longer justify having around? The choices were painful."
"The answer was obvious," Obama added. "The U.S. Senate just needed to go."
Still, a portion of the nation's elected leadership vehemently disagreed with Tuesday evening's decision, as had been anticipated by the Administration and Congressional leaders, including the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell.
When called for comments, a weekend Connecticut-area resident and concerned independent citizen who makes more than $170,000 a year, enjoys full health care benefits, and lives comfortably in a large, non-foreclosed home said, "This is outrageous. The U.S. Senate has always looked out for my best interests. It's always done right by me." Mr. Lieberman declined to make any further comments unless asked in front of a TV camera and microphone.
After quickly reversing himself Lieberman then added, "Without it, and to make up for this sudden loss of income, I'll have no choice but to exploit my extensive connections in the insurance, real estate, legal, Mid-east policy, lobbying and pharmaceutical industries. I am confident I will be able to land strictly honorary positions at large companies or foundations that, in exchange for my subservience over the years and the prestige of my name among my colleagues, will compensate me generously and allow me to continue living a privileged life without contributing even a moment of my time to the society that has made it all possible."
Are any of these candidates even having contested primaries? It'd be more worthwhile to do something for Florida or Kentucky Senate races. Unless there's some money or campaign assist involved you might as well just pull names out of a hat for all the importance it brings.
"Many Americans fear that President Obama’s new energy proposal is once again “all talk and no real action,” this time in an effort to shore up fading support for the Democrats’ job-killing cap-and-trade (a.k.a. cap-and-tax) proposals. Behind the rhetoric lie new drilling bans and leasing delays; soon to follow are burdensome new environmental regulations. Instead of “drill, baby, drill,” the more you look into this the more you realize it’s “stall, baby, stall.”
Today the president said he’ll “consider potential areas for development in the mid and south Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, while studying and protecting sensitive areas in the Arctic.” As the former governor of one of America’s largest energy-producing states, a state oil and gas commissioner, and chair of the nation’s Interstate Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, I’ve seen plenty of such studies. What we need is action — action that results in the job growth and revenue that a robust drilling policy could provide. And let’s not forget that while Interior Department bureaucrats continue to hold up actual offshore drilling from taking place, Russia is moving full steam ahead on Arctic drilling, and China, Russia, and Venezuela are buying leases off the coast of Cuba.
As an Alaskan, I’m especially disheartened by the new ban on drilling in parts of the 49th state and the cancellation of lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. These areas contain rich oil and gas reserves whose development is key to our country’s energy security. As I told Secretary Salazar last April, “Arctic exploration and development is a slow, demanding process. Delays or major restrictions in accessing these resources for environmentally responsible development are not in the national interest or the interests of the State of Alaska.”
I’ve got to call it like I see it: The administration’s sudden interest in offshore drilling is little more than political posturing designed to gain support for job-killing energy legislation soon to come down the pike. I’m confident that GOP senators will not take the bait.
Next week I’m headed to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where I look forward to discussing what “Drill, baby, drill” really means."
Everywhere except one place, Pawlenty is a total non-entity, wildly unpopular in his home state and not talked about by anyone. He is not looked at as a 2012 contender by anyone..well except in one place:
"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead -your next stop, the Twilight Zone!"
Sad.
_______________
Is this about the time the grim faced senior editor comes by your news room desk and says, "So-and-so, do you have lunch plans? We need to talk"?
As the comedians used to say,"Take my wife ...please" We Minnesotans would be happy to give TPaw to anyone who will take him. Not only is he generally reprehensible but his drift to the right to get more votes is hurting a lot of vulnerable people here in the Land of Sky Blue Waters.
If we are really reporting legitimate "political news" about Pawlenty, why no mention of this:
"Tim Pawlenty's approval rating as governor of Minnesota has hit an all-time low, according to a new study, a potential trouble spot for his 2012 presidential ambitions.
An analysis of over 70 public polls — 50 of which came from SurveyUSA — since Pawlenty took office more than seven years ago conducted by the University of Minnesota shows that the governor's 42 percent approval rating in a recent poll of 500 Minnesotans is his low point."
That Obama is legally president is a perfectly safe assumption, as he is indeed the president.
I know it's hard for a racist pig such as yourself to accept that a nonwhite man could be the President of the United States and I know it's really hard for you to cope, but you ought to find a more credible and sane way to handle it than this ongoing ridiculous denial.
Not that you care about appearing a fool but it's getting really tiresome.
I agree that Washington is moving the wrong direction. Thanks to continental drift, it's headed west at a rate of 1" per year. How are we ever going to move closer to Europe when we're going in the wrong direction???
I remember getting a phone call from John Kerry's PAC asking me to contribute. Yeah, I'm not contributing to a random leadership PAC.
2. These weapon systems, some fully operational, apparently are being classified as "defensive," in that they can be used for missile defense, when in fact scalar wave directed energy weapons can deliver awesome, precision-targeted lethal force silent, at the speed of light, against military or human targets.
3. Electromagnetic radio frequency weapons also can be used to enslave, impair, subjugate entire populations, or "targeted individuals."
4. A microwave/laser directed energy weapon system, installed on cellular towers, has been deployed in virtually every neighborhood in America -- and is being used by regional Homeland Security-administered "fusion centers" to silently assault, torture and impair "targeted" American citizens.
Are some of the above facts the reason that START does not cover "directed energy weapons?" Why are diplomats fighting the last war by limiting their efforts to traditional nukes? Read:
I still get solicitations from WesPAC from '04 and McC from '00. They never go away. They sometimes change addresses to sneak past your filters.
Imagine: once you give through TP's PAC that you have new junk mail for years and years. You will never be lonely and that his .gif will appear over messages telling you how important you are and how, now, more than ever, he needs you. Enjoy!
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I just finished “Lone Wolf” by Jodi Picoult. She has been one of my “go-to” authors for many years, and she never disappoints. Her writing is always easy to get through, her stories engaging, her characters interesting.
“Lone Wolf” focuses on a man who is torn between a life among humans and his own family in particular, and a life in the wild, learning about and living with wolves. Remember the documentary “Grizzly Man”? This is along the same lines, but not as “out there”. In “Grizzly Man”, we watch Timothy Treadwell taping himself as he lives among Grizzly Bears in Alaska, leading ultimately to his death.
Luke, the wolf activist in “Lone Wolf” goes off to live in Canada with wild wolves, but this is a novel and “Grizzly Man’ was a real story. Regardless, “Lone Wolf” is a very educational and good read. You will learn a lot about wolves (probably more than you ever wanted to know).
As usual in Picoult’s novels, we become entangled in the lives of families and professionals who are involved in their lives. Doctors and lawyers play a large role here. An estranged family, with Luke at the center, struggle to understand their feelings about the man who has loved them, left them, confused them, taught them, inspired them and often disappointed them.
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Women's advancement in corporate leadership continues to stagnate, with virtually no growth seen in women's share of top positions, according to the 2008 Catalyst Census of Women Board Directors of the Fortune 500 and the 2008 Catalyst Census of Corporate Officers and Top Earners of the Fortune 500. Ilene H. Lang, president and chief executive officer of Catalyst, says, "Exceptional circumstances require exceptional leaders. Now more than ever, as companies examine how best to weather an economy in crisis, we need talented business leaders, and many of these leaders, yet untapped, are women."
The reports show little change in the number of women in the upper ranks of major corporations. Specifically among women’s share of board director positions in the Fortune 500:
Women held 15.1% of board director positions, compared to 14.8% in 2007.
Women of color held 3.2% of all board director positions. Little change occurred in the number of companies having zero, one, two, or three or more women.
Little change occurred in the number of companies having zero, one, two, or three or more women directors, and the slight increase in companies with three or more women was offset by the slight increase in companies with zero women.
The number of women audit and compensation committee chairs continued to lag behind the overall representation of women board directors, even as women's share of nominating/governance committee chairs continued to keep pace with their share of all directorships.
Overall representation of women corporate officers and top earners in the Fortune 500 continued to stagnate as well:
Women held 15.7% of corporate officer positions, compared to 15.4% in 2007
Women held 6.2% of top earner positions, compared to 6.7% in 2007.
Little change occurred in the number of companies having zero, one, two, or three or more women corporate officers.
The Catalyst Census also contains additional data on women of color board directors. The findings include:
More than one woman of color serving on a board was rare, with only 4% of companies having two women of color directors serving together.
"No change in a year of change is unacceptable — for business, for investors, for policy makers and for the public, which looks to business leadership for innovative solutions and accountability," said Lang. "Smart organizations will seize this opportunity to create credible, 21st century leadership that looks like the future, and bring women, including women of color, front and center into their leadership — on boards and in senior management."
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Reports indicate that the Trump administration is scrapping the proposed vehicle-to-vehicle communication mandate for new cars. If true, the surprising move could significantly alter the development of "talking cars" and show just how extensively an administration with an anti-regulation zeal can stymie even industry-supported regulatory action.
Government technology mandates have a messy history. While early lifesaving measures forced carmakers to include safety belts and airbags, other mandates resulted in public backlash. As we explored in this episode of "Futurismo," if a mandate arrives before a technology is mature, it could turn into a disaster.
But the V2V mandate is different. Carmakers have spent a decade establishing protocols for dedicated short-range communications so competing-brand vehicles can talk to each other. Governments have started installing DSRC receivers on highways. The first V2V-enabled vehicles have hit the market.
At the close of 2016, a concerted effort from advocates of 5G cellular service who believe a DSRC-based mandate would be insufficient and hinder development of a more robust solution began gaining steam. What's more, a strident anti-regulatory president is in power. While connected cars may not be a hot-button political issue, the mandate's relevance to the big government vs. small government debate puts it in line with other regulations targeted by the administration, including fuel economy mandates and trade deals.
This development wouldn't stop the rollout of V2V technology in cars, but it would significantly complicate standardization across lineups. Connected-car advocates may have to take the battle directly to carmakers to encourage the adoption of this technology and hope that consumers catch on without the helping hand of Uncle Sam.
— Shiraz Ahmed
Krafcik at Web Summit Photo credit: Screen grab
What you need to know
Another one for the record books Waymo marked a major milestone in the deployment of self-driving cars when it announced Tuesday that it has been testing autonomous vehicles without a driver in Phoenix since mid-October. At the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Waymo CEO John Krafcik said the company's self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans could run within a geofenced portion of Phoenix without human supervision — the first fleetwide operation of Level 4 autonomous vehicles on public roads.
Krafcik also said Waymo would offer driverless rides to Phoenix residents within the next few months, easing into a commercial self-driving ride-hailing service.
Get comfortable, Model 3 reservation holders Reports from Jalopnik and Financial Timesinclude more details on Tesla's struggle to ramp up production of the Model 3, including major delays with suppliers, employee-owned production vehicles breaking down, harsh working conditions in the Fremont, Calif., factory and parts of cars being assembled at Tesla retail sites after they had shipped from the factory. It also was reported that Tesla's head of battery engineering has left the company.
A lawsuit waging with Dyson for two years also became public this week, over an employee who worked on the vacuum-maker's secretive car project and moved to Tesla.
Photo credit: Uber
Up in the air Another buzz-worthy announcement was made at the Web Summit this week when Uber's head of product, Jeff Holden, gave more details on the ride-hailing giant's flying car project. The first crafts will launch in Dallas, Dubai and Los Angeles by 2020, according to Holden, and the company is one of several that have signed an agreement with NASA to create an air-traffic-control system.
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Learn to see those thingsWhich you must doAnd those thingsWhich God/Light must do?The spiritual traveler who recognizes the differenceIs on their way to enlightenment.
Most travelers expect enlightenmentTo arrive in a flash of over whelming awareness.They imagine it is like turning onA lamp in their home.This is our expectation and desire for haste;This stems from our greed.
The enlightenment process is much slowerAnd knowledge comes in stages.And once the Light is onIt cannot be turned offAs easily as hitting a switch.-SB
To send a private email message to Stewart Bitkoff...
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Comments on: Ndamukong Suh: I’m open to extension if it helps us winhttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/
ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.comTue, 31 Mar 2015 21:06:08 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: erikd55http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2677773
Fri, 26 Jul 2013 15:42:46 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2677773Let it go people. He made some dirty plays. As far as im concerned hes shown some serious character improvements since then. Its really funny how the media will forget ANY character flaw when talent over shadows it. History shows this is true of most great athletes.
]]>By: jimmylionshttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2677097
Fri, 26 Jul 2013 04:28:53 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2677097Two pro bowl appearances in three years … haters are gonna hate, but his track record does speak for itself.
]]>By: HmongPride28FreeChaiSouaVanghttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2677065
Fri, 26 Jul 2013 04:05:47 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2677065A leg extension to the face!
]]>By: hatesycophantshttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676884
Fri, 26 Jul 2013 01:30:56 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676884Typical jealousy here. Not surprising.
]]>By: jjackwagonhttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676235
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:46:36 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676235Interesting choice of words…”my track record”. I wonder if Dietrich-Smith still has evidence of Suh’s “track record” on his arm.
]]>By: unbiasfanhttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676150
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:24:22 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676150The Lions franchise is a joke by itself…LOL
]]>By: stevent92http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676099
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:09:46 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676099Would he be open to getting kicked to the curb if it helped them win?
]]>By: purpleguyhttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676055
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:00:41 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676055With 2 years left on the deal, provided the Lions aren’t in further cap hell, I’d wait to see how he performs this year on and off the field. He may very well be worth the extension if he approaches his rookie year performance.
]]>By: koolaidcircusbeasthttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676040
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:57:00 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676040Lions should wait out the two years, then try to sign Gerald McCoy. He’ll be a better DT than Suh by then.
]]>By: nyyjetsknickshttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676020
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:52:47 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676020Why didn’t PFT post the censored version? Here’s what was actually said:
Ndamukong Suh: Give me an extension or I’ll stomp you out.
]]>By: thestrategyexperthttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676019
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:52:41 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676019They have massive totals on the books already for the next 2 years, and are forced to do a lot to drive those numbers down. Suh is a convenient outlet to do that and they don’t have any other better options to smooth out the immediate cap problem.
]]>By: ccjcsrhttp://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/25/ndamukong-suh-im-open-to-extension-if-it-helps-us-win/#comment-2676017
Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:51:44 +0000http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=2198492#comment-2676017I thought the headline said he was open to anger management.
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Sponsor
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Olympic Skating: The Essential Guide
Anna Ringsred competes in the ladies 5,000 meter during the U.S. Speed Skating Long Track Olympic Trials at the Utah Olympic Oval on Jauary 1, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah.Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
How long has skating been in the Olympics?
Figure skating is the oldest winter sport, making its debut in 1908. Speed skating was introduced in 1924 and women's events were added in 1960. Short track became an Olympic sport in 1992.
What's the difference between short track and regular speed skating?
For short track races, many racers are skating on the same 111-meter oval (about 121 yards) and the turns are much tighter than on the 400-meter (about 437 yards) speed skating track. In speed skating, two racers go at a time and are racing against the clock. In short track, they're racing against each other.
The skates are also different. Short track skaters use skates with blades firmly affixed to the boot. Speed skaters use clap skates, where there is a hinge at the front of the blade and the back of the blade is not attached to the skate.
Speed skating coach Andrey Zhuikov, who coaches at Midway Speed Skating Club in St. Paul and worked with Olympian Anna Ringsred in Duluth, says short track is much more unpredictable. "Coming in at high speed at tight corners is very difficult and exciting to watch," said Zhuikov.
How about figure skating -- what's the difference between ice dancing and pairs?
Basically, pairs skaters do jumps and throws, while ice dancing doesn't. They both have lifts, but ice dancing does not allow lifts over the head.
Italy's Stefania Berton and Italy's Ondrej Hotarek perform the Figure Skating Pairs Team Short Program at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 6, 2014.Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
How are they scored?
All events have the same program component scores, choreography, interpretation, skating, skills, transitions, and execution. These are judged on a scale from 1-10. There is also a GOE score (grade of execution) for each element, ranging from -3 (if you fall) to +3.
How do they prepare the day of?
Charbonneau says the skates will be sharpened before they leave home, but the U.S. team will also bring their own sharpener with them. Coaches will also carry honing stones in their pockets for last-minute touch-ups.
Minnesota's Olympic skaters:Maria Lamb was born in St. Paul and grew up in River Falls, Wis.; competing in speed skating
Anna Ringsred was born and raised in Duluth; competing in speed skating
Do you have any questions about biathlon -- or any other Olympic sport -- that you'd like to get answered? Submit yours here. We'll pick a number of them to answer and add to our Olympic sport guides.
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Lives in the Yiddish
TheatreSHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THOSE INVOLVED IN
THE Yiddish THEATRE
aS DESCRIBED IN zALMEN zYLBERCWEIG'S "lEKSIKON FUN YIDISHN TEATER"1931-1969
Moshe
Simonoff
Born in 1859 in Kamenets
Podolsk, Ukraine, to a well-to-do family. He learned in
a cheder and with local, prominent melamdim. At
age seventeen he married, and from time to time due to
his beautiful voice he prayed before Emud(ah?). A year
later he became familiar with mashkil Simeon
Ruder, whose daughter taught him Russian, and S. began
to read Russian books and newspapers, as well as Tenach
and Haskalah books . He often sang during various
meetings of mashkilim, and through them bravely
came to study music. He then went to Peterburg, where he
was heard by the professors of the state conservatory
Gabel and Samus, but due to that, his parents didn't
underwrite the necessary papers, and he wasn't able to
enter into the conservatory.
Not being able any longer to
find himself in his home environment, he immigrated in
1886 to America, where he worked for the first time in a
cigarette factory, and then as a refugee(?) worker. In
1887 he was a chorister, engaged to Moshe Zilberman in
the Oriental Theatre, with the condition that he may not
belong to the chorister union, and soon S. performed in
concerts for the organization "Ruski robotshi soyuz",
and there he became familiar with choristers, members of
the chorister union, which took him in as a member.
Since then M. became one of
the activist union workers in the field of the Yiddish
theatre. With his entire youthful energy, he threw
himself into the former conflict of the choristers for
better
conditions, and for the
recognition of their association, which directed a
strike that after two months won. S. then became
appointed to organize the choristers. As punishment for
his organizational work, he was no longer engaged in the
theatres as a chorister, and therefore for the 1887-88
season, he joined the troupe that was put together by
the Israel brothers and Samuel Dorf (former president of
the Independent Order of Brith Avraham) for the Standard
Theatre in Baltimore, where he was a chorister and acted
in small roles, debuting as "Rabbi" in Shomer's "Der
bel-tshuvah". After acting for several months under very
difficult conditions in Baltimore, the troupe moved to
Philadelphia (Thalia Theatre, 4th and Kala HIll), where,
due to the activity of the Yiddish quarter, business
again was bad. In the middle of the season Avraham
Goldfaden put together a troupe for Boston (where Boris
Thomashefsky was also performing), from where M. went
with several actors to Philadelphia, and when
Thomashefsky left -- due to a conflict -- the troupe, S.
performed in the role of "Bar Kochba", and remained from
then on to act in responsible roles.
1888 -- S. organized the
first Yiddish actors' union in America, to which all of
the former Yiddish actors belonged (besides the owners
of the theatres such as Kessler, Feinman, Mogulesko,
Finkel, Chaimovich, et al). This union, together with
the chorister union, writer's union and the Yiddish
branch [section] of the socialistic workers party, were
the four that organized, whcih had founded the United
Jewish Workshops in America.
Since then, S. acted until
1920 in New York in various troupes, whre he took on
prominent positions. Among his other roles, he was in
1894 the first to play the role of "Alter tsipes" in
Gordin's "Di litvishe brider lurie".
Since 1920 S. acted in the
American province, mainly in Philadelphia, where he also
had in the local "Forward" (13, 21 November 1927)
published his autobiography.
S. attempted to write plays,
but without success. Therefore he had "tsugefikst"
{"oysgebesert"] entire plays, including "Dos lebn
in nyu-york", "Kol nidre" and "Bat khn".
A radical, S. participated
in the Jewish Workers Movement in America, and had in
1907, during a crisis, helped found the socialistic
folks-kukh, was a co-founder of a children's' homes,
orphanages, and the moshav-zknim on Jefferson and
Cherry Streets, and he often used to perform in the
rallies for the Yiddish Actors Union, distributing the
union viewpoints.
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Exploring Prince William, Virginia museums is like using Siri, but only more interactive. See, touch, explore, and learn at the many museums and historic sites throughout the destination.
Wander through the centuries of Marine Corps history and heritage at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, walk through the stories footsteps of wounded soldiers at Ben Lomond Historic Site, learn the history of an old river town at the Mill House Museum, or walk through time as you explore 18th, 19th, and 20th century styles at Weems-Botts Museum.
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How to Tell What Type of Car
The simplest answer to that is open your glove compartment and look at your inspection certificate. (shaken-sho 車検証). It should be listed under the category of "usage" (yoto 用途). It will be either marked off as "home use"(jika-yo 自家用) or "goods transport" (kamotsu-yo 貨物用).
The other way of telling if the vehicle in question is for passenger use or transport use is by looking at the license plate. Small cars will usually have a 3 number designation begining with a 4 or 6 while bigger vehicles will have a 1 designation. See LP's great post about license plates in Japan for more info on the subject.
Any care that is designated for carrying goods must have the total maximum load size clearly marked on the back of the car.
What Exacatly is a Goods Transport Vehicle?
Basically, a goods transport vehicle is any auto that is primarily used to carry non-living goods. This classification is a bit tricky as it is further broken down into business use cars (eigyo-yo 営業用) and personal use cars (jikayo 自家用). Transport vehicles can be anything from an 18-wheeler to a small mini-car.
Cars like the Toyota Probox might
look normal but they are actually
considered good carrying vehicles
in most cases
Only certain cars designated by the land transit office can be used as transport vehicles. In the case of non-lorry cars, these are usual micro vans (vans with yellow and black registration plates), mini-trucks, and small to mid sized wagons. Wagons can have rear passenger seats but they must be able to be folded down for carrying use.
If you are looking for new cars, make sure you know what type you are buying as many normal looking cars might actually be designated as good transport vehicle. Unless you need to be carrying stuff around then its generally a good idea to avoid having to get a shaken on a yearly basis. The only exceptions to this rule are light vehicles (kei-jidosha 軽自動車) designated for transport use, which are inspected every two years.
Have you had any experience with non-regular shaken vehicles? If so, let us know in the comments!
Enjoy our articles? Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for our Monday, Wednesday and Friday updates.
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Fognini Thwarts Zverev At Net In Beijing 2017 Hot Shot
Alexander Zverev throws everything he has at Fabio Fognini, including a ‘tweener, but the Italian thwarts the German at the net in this hot shot exchange from the China Open second round
Source: ATP World Tour
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Eastwood's empty chair, the New Yorker cover, the Obama-as-Costanza meme
I never thought I'd see the day when popular culture began to mock Obama. Every other president in my lifetime has received that kind of treatment, but the media kept their hands off of Obama for whatever reason. Until now.
re: Eastwood's empty chair, the New Yorker cover, the Obama-as-Costanza meme(Posted by wickowick on 10/9/12 at 12:57 pm to Robin Masters)
quote:George exhibits a number of negative character traits, among them stinginess, selfishness, dishonesty, insecurity, and neurosis. Many of these traits stem from a dysfunctional childhood with his squabbling parents Frank and Estelle, and often form the basis of his involvement in various plots, schemes, and awkward social encounters. Episode plots frequently feature George manufacturing elaborate deceptions at work or in his relationships in order to gain or maintain some small or imagined advantage or (pretend) image of success. He had success in "The Opposite", in which he begins (with Jerry's encouragement) to do the complete opposite of what his instincts tell him to do, which results in him getting a girlfriend and a job with the New York Yankees.
quote:Though there will be MANY who point to very negative ideas, IF Mr. Obama is not re-elected, I think it is a very positive sign: 1) A black man can get elected to the Presidency of the United States. That really is a WOW moment. 2) That same black man can be judged on his performance and replaced if it is found to be lacking. That, also, is a WOW circumstance.
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Today in History: Master Illusionist Harry Houdini is Born
On this day, more than 138 years ago, one of the most notable and famous illusionists in history was born. Let us look back at the fascinating and magical life of master magician and escape artist Harry Houdini.
Born as Erik Weisz, the future magician was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary, and was one of the seven children of Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz and Cecelia Weisz (nee Steiner). When he arrived in the United States in July 1878 with his mother and four brothers, the family changed their surname into its German counterpart “Weiss” and his name into “Ehrich.” They first settled in Appleton, Wisconsin, then, in 1887, Ehrich moved with his father to New York City. The rest of the family moved in with them soon after Rabbi Weiss found a permanent housing.
Beginning his life of magic and entertainment at a young age, he debuted as a 9-year-old trapeze artist called “Ehrich, the Prince of Air.” In 1891, he pursued a career as a professional magician, heavily influenced by French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. Thus, “Harry Houdini” was born.
Houdini with his “Two Sweethearts,” his mother and his wife. Photo via Amerikai Nepszava
He began as a small-time performer in dime museum and did sideshows, and even became a double for “The Wild Man” in a circus. Among his earliest acts were traditional card tricks, and once, called himself the “King of Cards.” However, it did not take long for him to experiment with escape acts, which eventually he became known for.
Gaining increasing popularity from his escape art as the “Handcuff King,” Houdini accepted challenges to free himself from shackles, handcuffs, ropes, chains, jails, and straitjackets, often as he hanged from a rope for all his audience to see. His escape acts would often begin with a thorough strip search. Another notable act was his escape from a Siberian prison transport van in Moscow.
In the early 1900s, Houdini began entertaining audiences with acts even more daring than his handcuff escapes, due to rising number of imitators. He started escaping from all sorts of outrageous and even insane captive mediums: locked milk cans filled with water, barrel filled with beer, nailed packing crates, mail bags, riveted boilers, and even the belly of a whale that was washed ashore.
In 1912, the master magician introduced what was perhaps his most notable act: the Chinese Water Torture Cell. This extreme escape act involved Houdini suspending upside-down then lowered into a glass tank full to overflowing with water. The restraint that holds his ankles is locked afterwards to the top of the cell.
Despite his life-threatening career, it was not any his daring acts that led to his demise. On October 24, 1926, he passed away due to peritonitis from a ruptured appendix. According to speculations, it was caused by surprise multiple blows to Houdini’s abdomen, which a university student delivered before the magician could prepare himself to avoid serious injury.
Now, in celebration of the master illusionist’s birthday, let’s take a look at some more of the photographs that detail his fascinating career:
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Manito
These are some lies we made up about Manito.
The phantom of a youthful guy in a confederate uniform can sometimes be noticed staring angrily at the viewer up on Hickory Grove Hill. One thing is for guaranteed, this is an unlikable phantom that you shouldn't go searching for.
The ghost of a chained up guy has often been spotted in Spring Lake State Park at midnight yelling at the viewer to go away. Whichever way, it's a bloodcurdling ghost that should be let alone.
The spirit of a young-looking woman covered in blood is repeatedly perceived going out of control by a wild highway close to Manito at midnight. Lots of locals claim this ghost is the ghost of a visitor that was killed while journeying through Manito long ago.
A man with a large hole through his chest has been said to have been witnessed on a handful of instances hunting with a hunting rifle in Sand Ridge State Forest in the early morning hours. In any case, it indisputably is a terrifying ghost that is preferably not disrupted.
A man with the head of a goblin can repeatedly be witnessed standing by a deserted road in close proximity to Manito. Folks here who have perceived this ghost declare this ghost takes pleasure in scaring foolish folks who are fearless enough to disrupt the quiet in Manito.
An martian vacationer from another planet may be made out over and over again riding on a Harley on a gloomy road near Manito.
A space man from Jupiter has now and then been observed in a Manito apartment.
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Presence and absence of macroalgae and their zonation patterns at several localities around Mombasa sampled between April and August 1985. The data were digitized by VLIZ from the original report: Polk, P. (Ed.) (1986). Kenya report. VUB: Brussel. 358 pp.
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English Conditionals: 2nd Conditional
What would you do if you were a millionaire?
Hello! A few days ago we talked about the use of the First Conditional in English, and today we’ll talk about the use of the Second Conditional. I’ll keep the format of these posts similar so it’s easy to compare them. The last post had a video to help illustrate how to use the tense, and so will this one. Listen to this song by Beyoncé and see what you can understand (if you want, you can also follow the lyrics here):
This is a very popular song to illustrate the second conditional, and my students and I have used it in different classes. So, the big question: In the song, is there a real possibility that Beyoncé is a man? No, there isn’t. So in this case, we’re talking about an unreal possibility. That’s what the Second Conditional is all about:
The Second Conditional (Unreal, Improbable Possibility)
Second conditional phrases are used in situations that are not likely to happen. Similar to the first conditional, they have two parts:
1. The “if” part (also called the “if phrase,” “if clause,” or “condition”)2. The “fantasy” part (also called the “would clause” or “result”)
For example, I can say:
If a day had 25 hours, everyone would sleep more.
Obviously, this is an impossible, unreal situation because a day always has 24 hours. But it’s nice to imagine alternate realities sometimes, isn’t it? Like in the first conditional, second conditional phrases can usually be inverted:
Everyone would sleep more if a day had 25 hours.
In both sentences, the “if” part expresses the improbable condition (a day with 25 hours), and the result expresses the outcome (everyone would sleep more).
In the second conditional, the condition is written in a past tense (past simple or past continuous), and the result is written using would/could/should/might + a base verb. Also notice that it’s acceptable or at least common to use was or were with the “if” phrase:
If I found a million dollars, I would travel around the world. If Jane had more friends, she might not be so strange at parties. Tom would be a better basketball player if he were taller. If Costa Rica won the World Cup, the entire world would be amazed.
Can you complete the following phrases?
If I had a Lamborghini, ___________ .
Mary would feel happy if ___________ .
If Jake never had to work again, ___________ .
I might be better at English if ___________ .
As a side note, it’s important to mention that there are some situations where both the first and second conditional are possible. It often depends on the speaker’s attitude or perspective. For example, let’s talk about an iPhone:
If I buy an iPhone, I will sell my old phone.
In this case I’m using the First Conditional, which indicates that there’s a real possibility I will buy an iPhone. But what if I don’t want to buy a phone, and I only want to speak theoretically? In that case, I would use the Second Conditional:
If I bought an iPhone, I would sell my old phone.
Notice that the sentences are very similar, so the conditional tense can often indicate the speaker’s attitude about the possibility. If you want more examples and summaries of the second conditional, check out this page or this page.
For more practice, listen to the song again and try to find some phrases that use the second conditional (there are a lot–remember that I would can be contracted to I’d). Here are the lyrics (I’ll put the second conditional phrases at the end of this post so you can check your answers):
Beyoncé – “If I Were A Boy”
If I were a boy even just for a day
I’d roll out of bed in the morning
And throw on what I wanted and go
Drink beer with the guys
And chase after girls
I’d kick it with who I wanted
And I’d never get confronted for it
‘Cause they’d stick up for me
If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I’d be a better man
I’d listen to her
‘Cause I know how it hurts
When you lose the one you wanted
‘Cause he’s taking you for granted
And everything you had got destroyed
If I were a boy
I would turn off my phone
Tell everyone it’s broken
So they’d think that I was sleeping alone
I’d put myself first
And make the rules as I go
‘Cause I know that she’d be faithful
Waiting for me to come home, to come home
If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I’d be a better man
I’d listen to her
‘Cause I know how it hurts
When you lose the one you wanted
‘Cause he’s taking you for granted
And everything you had got destroyed
It’s a little too late for you to come back
Say it’s just a mistake
Think I’d forgive you like that
If you thought I would wait for you
You thought wrong
But you’re just a boy
You don’t understand
And you don’t understand, oh
How it feels to love a girl
Someday you’ll wish you were a better man
You don’t listen to her
You don’t care how it hurts
Until you lose the one you wanted
‘Cause you’re taking her for granted
And everything you had got destroyed
But you’re just a boy
How many second conditional phrases did you find? Many start with the phrase “If I were a boy,” although she doesn’t repeat the “if” clause or even the “I’d” for every result:
“If I were a boy…
–I’d roll out of bed in the morning
-(I’d) throw on what I wanted
-(I’d) go drink beer with the guys”
“If I were a boy, I think I could understand how it feels to love a girl…”
For some of the instances, the people involved change:
“If I were a boy, I would turn off my phone, (and) tell everyone it’s broken so they would think that I was sleeping alone.”
“If you thought I would wait for you, you thought wrong.”
And in some of the instances, the “if clause” is actually not even included; that’s common with second conditional phrases, especially in songs:
“…you’ll wish you were a better man”
Many other songs use second conditional phrases– do you know of any others? I like Barenaked Ladies’ “If I Had $1,000,000” and “If” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (but neither have videos).
So, that’s it for now! As usual, if you have any questions or problems, please leave a comment below or contact me.
Thanks for reading, and check back soon for information about the third conditional– yes, there’s a third one, too! Have a great day!
Sitzman
Hey! I’m Ryan Sitzman, the person in charge of Sitzman ABC. If you want to know more about me, you can check out my profile on Google or go to my personal site, RyanSitzman.com. You can also click on any of the redundant little boxes to the left and it should take you to my profiles for all kinds of social networks. Thanks!
15 Comments
Now I have a weird pairing of songs running through my head: the folk favorite “If I Had a Hammer” alongside “If I Were a Rich Man” from “Fiddler on the Roof.” Somehow I don’t think this is the food for thought you intended!
But seriously, I love that you’re tackling difficult grammar concepts. This is great reading even for native speakers.
Thanks for the comment! I actually came across those two songs when I was looking for conditionals, but I thought students might like Beyoncé more (especially because students have brought in that song in two different classes I’ve taught). But those are also great songs, although I’d have a hard time with a mash-up of the two playing in my head!
I’m glad that you liked the post. If I had more time, I would do even more of them. They take quite a long time to write, so I’m glad that someone reads them!
Thanks for the comment. Actually, that was sort of what I was aiming for (or at least I THINK that was my intention… I post some of these blogs pretty late in the night) : to show that in normal speech, it’s not as cut and dry as it is in an explanation, and that even native speakers aren’t going to strictly follow the rules all the time.
But looking at it now, I see that it probably just made things more confusing, so I’ve changed that bit. Thanks for the tip!
Homework: If I had a Lamborghini, I would learn how to drive and then I’d drive it.Mary would feel happy if she had no debts with Scotiabank.If Jake never had to work again, he wouldn’t have to wake up early anymore.I might be better at English if I practice it more. 🙂
The sentences look good! Just one comment, though. To be strictly second conditional, the last one would be “practiceD,” not practice, since we’d need a past tense verb in the “if clause.” However, if you talked to “normal” speakers in “normal” circumstances, even they might say the sentence in the present tense. We don’t always use our conditional tenses “by the book.” 🙂
Thanks for your comments. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too.
To your question:
You’re right, “puss” is a confusing word. As you noted, sometimes it can mean “cat,” like the movie “Puss in Boots.” It’s generally not vulgar, but it depends on the context.
“Pussy” can be more problematic, though. It can also mean “cat,” like when someone says “pussycat.” In that case, it’s normal. But it can also be a slang word that means “vagina,” and in that case it’s generally offensive and/or vulgar. So just pay attention to when and how the word is used.
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Didn't he throw a tv when he was playing for Orlando? That was like the same season we traded him.
MIAMI HERALD FILE PHOTO
'I AM HOMOPHOBIC': 'I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people,' Tim Hardaway said.
Retired Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway, known for his candor, said on a radio show Wednesday that he would not want a gay player on his team, would ask for him to be traded, and went so far as to say: ``You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States.''
Hardaway was a guest with host/Herald columnist Dan Le Batard on Sports Talk 790 The Ticket, and at the end of the interview, Le Batard asked Hardaway how he would deal with a gay player, in light of last week's disclosure by retired NBA center John Amaechi that he is gay.
''First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team,'' Hardaway replied. ``And second of all, if he was on my team, I would really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room. But stuff like that is going on and there's a lot of other people I hear that are like that and still in the closet and don't want to come out of the closet, but you know I just leave that alone.''
Asked what he would do if he had a gay teammate, Hardaway said he would ask for the player to be traded or to be bought out of his contract.
''Something has to give,'' he said. ``And I think the majority of players would ask for him to be traded or they would want to be traded. Or buy him out of his contract and just let him go. Something has to give. If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that are upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate.''
Hardaway is the first NBA player -- current or former -- to make anti-gay statements since Amaechi's news came out. In fact, most of the players and coaches quoted last week, including Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, were supportive of Amaechi and said they would not be bothered by a gay teammate.
What if the gay player were a great player, Hardaway was asked.
''If he were that great something would still have to give,'' he said. ``People would feel uncomfortable with that. If you're not gay, nobody in that locker room would feel comfortable with that person on your team.''
Amaechi probably will not be surprised when he reads Hardaway's comments. He said in a phone interview Tuesday he believes there is still a lot of homophobia in society and in professional sports locker rooms.
''We are much further behind than I'd like,'' Amaechi said. ``People in America and England [where Amaechi grew up] would like to think racism is over, sexism is over, and homophobia is over, but it's not. My coming out will show that gay people don't all look like Jack from Will and Grace. Some of us are big, athletic men, and that should be OK.''
Amaechi said he had not heard from a single former teammate or NBA player, that he had only heard from former coach Doc Rivers. He challenged straight athletes ''who feel able'' to stand up for gay rights.
''I would like professional male athletes to be active supporters, and that doesn't mean putting a rainbow decal on their car,'' he said. ``It means letting other guys in the locker room know that it's not OK to make gay jokes, that it's hurtful, and that it's not OK to be homophobic.
``But it's hard to get straight guys to step up. When men stood by women during the suffrage movement, they were called progressive and bold. When whites stood by blacks, they were heroes. But a straight guy standing up for a gay guy faces discrimination, and that's a big part of the battle we're fighting.''
Thespiralgoeson
02-15-2007, 12:50 AM
What a nice guy.
capitalcity
02-15-2007, 01:11 AM
ESPN just reported the story without reporting that he was previously on the ESPN payroll.
chumdawg
02-15-2007, 03:21 AM
From everything I've read, Amaechi isn't doing the gays any good by his self-serving, nellie-acting, asking-for-it-and-then-bitching-about-it brand of bullshit.
Maybe there are still some places gays aren't welcome, and maybe that's not so bad a thing.
(If they are all like Amaechi, it's definitely not a bad thing at all.)
Thespiralgoeson
02-15-2007, 03:41 AM
From everything I've read, Amaechi isn't doing the gays any good by his self-serving, nellie-acting, asking-for-it-and-then-bitching-about-it brand of bullshit.
Maybe there are still some places gays aren't welcome, and maybe that's not so bad a thing.
(If they are all like Amaechi, it's definitely not a bad thing at all.)
Not sure what you're saying, Chum. I guess he does come across as sort of whiny, but that doesn't mean he's not sincere. Or are you saying that he's just doing all of this to sell his book?
EricaLubarsky
02-15-2007, 04:18 AM
How did Amaechi ask for it?
HexNBA
02-15-2007, 07:28 AM
From everything I've read, Amaechi isn't doing the gays any good by his self-serving, nellie-acting, asking-for-it-and-then-bitching-about-it brand of bullshit.
Maybe there are still some places gays aren't welcome, and maybe that's not so bad a thing.
(If they are all like Amaechi, it's definitely not a bad thing at all.)
Just..wow.
Anyway, I'm sure Hardaway will have some bullshit apology soon but these comments are pretty clear cut. Not much recovering to be done from there, but besides cancelled appearances in some cases I doubt it will have much of an effect.
untitled
02-15-2007, 08:46 AM
Hardaway's comments reminded me of that ESPNews commercial with the sports fans "talking out of their asses". I cannot figure out why people care so much about this, even if you do believe it's a sin. How does another person's bedroom activity affect your ability to play basketball as a team?
jthig32
02-15-2007, 09:42 AM
How unfortunate.
And I disagree Hex, I think Hardaway has a hard time recovering from this in any way. The NBA already cut him off from his appearances surrounding the All Star game.
dude1394
02-15-2007, 09:54 AM
Oh he's toast. You can be a deviant and you can be celebrated, but say that you don't agree that being a deviant is okay and you get roasted.
:)
nikeball
02-15-2007, 09:55 AM
Hardaway's comments reminded me of that ESPNews commercial with the sports fans "talking out of their asses". I cannot figure out why people care so much about this, even if you do believe it's a sin. How does another person's bedroom activity affect your ability to play basketball as a team?
I agree. Just because you are gay does not mean you are attracted to every same-sex member out there. Just like we (straight men) are not attracted to every woman out there..nor do we check them all out. However, in the NBA/team sports there is that close bond, I can see how some people may be a little phobic. I guess it could mess with the chemistry..but playing basketball is playing basketball. Usually you forget everything once you get into the game. I am surprised no one is bringing up gays in the military (in the news). Metaphorically speaking you are "going into battle" in both senses...and it is a taboo to be gay in both settings.
Tim Hardaway's sentiments are I believe very sterotypical and close-minded. I do believe being gay is a sin (but we all sin everyday with other aspects of our lives), but Gays are people too and should deserve to have the same opportunities that we all have.
jthig32
02-15-2007, 09:58 AM
Oh he's toast. You can be a deviant and you can be celebrated, but say that you don't agree that being a deviant is okay and you get roasted.
:)
Hmm, not sure how much you're kidding here.
He didn't say he didn't think it was ok, he said he hated them.
I myself don't think it's ok, but it's also not ok to hate people because of their choices, IMO.
dude1394
02-15-2007, 09:58 AM
Just like we (straight men) are not attracted to every woman out there..nor do we check them all out.
Speak for yourself.
Flacolaco
02-15-2007, 10:05 AM
Wow. that certainly was very....honest
wow.
dude1394
02-15-2007, 10:15 AM
Hmm, not sure how much you're kidding here.
He didn't say he didn't think it was ok, he said he hated them.
I myself don't think it's ok, but it's also not ok to hate people because of their choices, IMO.
Well I'm not kidding that it's a deviant lifestyle and I don't condone it. I don't hate someone for having that lifestyle but I'm not going to accept it as anything other than deviant. And it has been celebrated and promoted in our society likes it's the latest greatest thing which I resent.
As far as hate, I assume that's just his way of saying he's not comfortable around them. And certainly not comfortable in the locker room around them.
jthig32
02-15-2007, 10:26 AM
Well I'm not kidding that it's a deviant lifestyle and I don't condone it. I don't hate someone for having that lifestyle but I'm not going to accept it as anything other than deviant. And it has been celebrated and promoted in our society likes it's the latest greatest thing which I resent.
As far as hate, I assume that's just his way of saying he's not comfortable around them. And certainly not comfortable in the locker room around them.
Well, if that's how he feels then he should have said that. I don't have a huge problem someone saying they're uncomfortable around a homosexual.
But saying you hate someone for choices they make is not a good idea. If says he's uncomfortable he probably gets a bit less criticism, and I would actually defend his right to feel that way.
I don't condone it either, btw, but sin is sin, imo. It doesn't really make me uncomfortable to be around, as I do have a family member that chooses to live that lifestyle.
I would be pretty uncomfortable sharing a locker room though.
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 10:29 AM
Just because you are gay does not mean you are attracted to every same-sex member out there. Just like we (straight men) are not attracted to every woman out there..nor do we check them all out.
Do you think heterosexual men and women should be ok sharing a lockerroom with straight members of the opposite sex? If some straight dude wanted to change in the women's lockerroom and shower with them, should he be allowed to? Even if he says he's not attracted to the woman-version of Greg Ostertag?
mary
02-15-2007, 10:31 AM
From everything I've read, Amaechi isn't doing the gays any good by his self-serving, nellie-acting, asking-for-it-and-then-bitching-about-it brand of bullshit.
Maybe there are still some places gays aren't welcome, and maybe that's not so bad a thing.
(If they are all like Amaechi, it's definitely not a bad thing at all.)
Can you give us a sample of everything you've read?
Hardaway is obviously a hate-filled bigot, but I'm sure there are plenty of people that share his opinion.
That aside, I do have to wonder how a gay guy would be accepted in the NBA. If you want to look at homosexuality as being a "transgression", then I think it would depend largely upon who that player is how important he is to the team's success. For example, Quincy Carter wasn't really released because he smoked pot, he was released because he smoked pot and he was a spare.
In sports, you will be tolerated only as much as your production allows you to be. What if Dirk came out of the closet - right now, while in the midst of a historically successful season, would you really think a teammate, even someone like Hardaway, would demand that he be traded? Or use a separate locker room? Or retire? I think its pretty unlikely. What if Shaq came out, or Dwayne Wade, or Kobe, or Steve Nash? These are all players that are vital to their teams success, not to mention their revenue streams.
On the other hand, someone like Brian Scalabrine announced he was gay, I would think it would be much more likely that his teammates, and the organization itself, would reject him.
DevinHarriswillstart
02-15-2007, 10:57 AM
Tim Hardaway is a dumbass, and he sucked on our team. What a has-been does for fun these days.
jacktruth
02-15-2007, 10:57 AM
Hardaway's comments reminded me of that ESPNews commercial with the sports fans "talking out of their asses". I cannot figure out why people care so much about this, even if you do believe it's a sin. How does another person's bedroom activity affect your ability to play basketball as a team?
I'm not siding with Hardaway on this, but why do we have seperate restrooms for men and women?
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 11:13 AM
for purposes of a little disclosure, I'm not necessarily opposed to homosexuality, and in certain cases I'm actually quite in favor of it (http://dallas-mavs.com/vb/showthread.php?p=666716&highlight=poster#post666716)....
but......setting side my personal feelings, or any others' opinions, I've been wondering about the ramifications of Hardaway's comments for the near-to-long term.
obviously, there will follow the obligatory displays of shock and outrage as journalists and their ilk learn that relatively young, testosterone laden african american males aren't card carrying, rainbow wearing members of GLAAD.
that is to say, i may be a bit surprised that tim hardaway has honestly expressed his opinion, but i don't for a second imagine that he is the only nba ball who shares the opinion.
hereafter, i humbly predict, we'll come to see that tim hardaway has (ahem) come out of the closet. he's set the bar.....anything short of "I hate gay people" will become an acceptable part of the dialogue. Let's call it the Hardaway line....any NBA player will be relatively free to say exactly what he's thinking so long as he doesn't step on the hardaway line, so long as he doesn't say "I hate gay people."
Hence, it will now not be terribly controversial for a player to say "I don't want any queers on my team....if a guy wants to be a girly boy, he should play for the pheonix suns."
cheers
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 12:01 PM
I don't know, alexamenos. I think it just as likely that noone will make any comment at all for fear of getting pasted across the top of the drudgereport.
Mavdog
02-15-2007, 12:10 PM
what if tim hardaway said "I hate chinese people".
people who are gay do not make a choice to be gay. they simply are, just like tim didn't make a choice on being black.
it is ironic of course that tim expresses such disdain and prejudice against a group of people that he doesn't know as individuals.
yes tim hardaway, you have a lot in common with people such as david duke.
chumdawg
02-15-2007, 12:14 PM
It's getting to the point where it takes less courage to choose a gay lifestyle than it does to speak out against it.
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 12:18 PM
I don't know, alexamenos. I think it just as likely that noone will make any comment at all for fear of getting pasted across the top of the drudgereport.
...not today certainly, but down the line I think Timmy's provided cover for all the, ummm...., player-haters....
lessay Timmy didn't say what Timmy said......if Elton Brand (eg) says "I'd really rather not have a homosexual on our team. I think it would be an unnecessary distraction and an impediment to our play as a team."... then a bunch of people jump all over elton saying that he's a queer bashing homophobe....and it's easier to say that Elton is a homo-hater if the standard for homo-hatin' is or becomes "i don't want to shower with a homo."
but thanks to timmy, the standard for homo-hatin' is "I hate Gay people". hence, elton can say.....
"I ain't saying that I hate gay people like Tim Hardaway. I'm just saying that having a homo on our team would be an impediment to our play...."
people who are gay do not make a choice to be gay. they simply are, just like tim didn't make a choice on being black.
This is opinion, not fact. There are many people that share your opinion, and there are many who do not.
Doesn't change how much I dislike what he said.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 12:26 PM
Tim Hardaway's comments really do beg the question...is he gay? Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, but you typically only here these kinds of comments from people who hate themselves because they are gay, and refuse to acknowledge it.
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 12:39 PM
Tim Hardaway's comments really do beg the question...is he gay? Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, but you typically only here these kinds of comments from people who hate themselves because they are gay, and refuse to acknowledge it.
this is so over-hyped....it amounts to little more than a taunt, "not only are you an evil bigot for hating homosexuals, but you're also a fag."
i dare so the vast majority of men are disgusted by the prospect of one dude popping another dude in the butt, present company included. It's really as simple as that. It's an aesthetic thing and it has nothing to do with any repressed desire.
alternatively stated, i've got the good sense and common courtesy to not publicize every bit of the sick, twisted and deviant heterosexual stuff that runs through the dark recesses of my mind....perhaps the b-effers could do us all a little courtesy and keep their fudge packing to themselves.
cheers
dude1394
02-15-2007, 12:48 PM
what if tim hardaway said "I hate chinese people".
people who are gay do not make a choice to be gay. they simply are, just like tim didn't make a choice on being black.
that is your "opinion". Being chinese is not a "choice"
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 12:56 PM
so Mary, inasmuch as this is a public forum, and I'm quite content to make my comments public, perhaps you can share what you take issue with?
is it that I think the taunt "the reason you hate homosexuals is that your a repressed homo" is a bit trite?
or is it that I think the image of one dude popping another dude is just really gross?
or is it that sometimes I prefer to use phrases like "fudge packing" rather than searching incessantly for some politically correct way of describing things?
or perhaps its something else.....
cheers
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 01:20 PM
this is so over-hyped....it amounts to little more than a taunt, "not only are you an evil bigot for hating homosexuals, but you're also a fag."
i dare so the vast majority of men are disgusted by the prospect of one dude popping another dude in the butt, present company included. It's really as simple as that. It's an aesthetic thing and it has nothing to do with any repressed desire.
alternatively stated, i've got the good sense and common courtesy to not publicize every bit of the sick, twisted and deviant heterosexual stuff that runs through the dark recesses of my mind....perhaps the b-effers could do us all a little courtesy and keep their fudge packing to themselves.
cheers
It's not a taunt at all. I have met people that this is true of, and I'm not talkig about speculation I'm talking about seeing people come out to their friends and apologizing for having said terrible things about homosexuals in the past. I know people like to think it's a taunt, or it's just something somebody picked up from the American Beauty movie, but it happens every day.
Edit: I don't see any b-effers talking about gay sex anywhere. To what do you refer? For the most part, they do keep it to themselves. If you're referring to Amaechi, it's not like he's talking at all about the "aesthetics" that you refer to.
untitled
02-15-2007, 01:22 PM
I'm not siding with Hardaway on this, but why do we have seperate restrooms for men and women?
Because men stand and women sit?
I lived with a gay guy for 3 years in college (and shared a bathroom with him - Oh, the horror of it all!). I never once got the feeling that he was attracted to me.
Even if a teammate was attracted to another player, as long as they both know that nothing will ever come of it, who cares? They're human beings, give them some credit for having a little bit of self-control.
bernardos70
02-15-2007, 01:25 PM
Do you think heterosexual men and women should be ok sharing a lockerroom with straight members of the opposite sex? If some straight dude wanted to change in the women's lockerroom and shower with them, should he be allowed to? Even if he says he's not attracted to the woman-version of Greg Ostertag?
A very valid point indeed......
Now, I hear choice and not a choice. I think people who say it is a choice are in fact right. It is a choice, just like it is a choice to be straight. If you are a man who likes men, you can still choose to only have sex with women. Much the same way a straight man can choose to have gay sex, even though he's not gay. A bit far fetched, but who you have sex with is definitely your choice. Who you'd like to have sex with....... another matter entirely.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 01:27 PM
re: same sex restrooms
Under the right conditions, there's nothing wrong with them. In my college dorm, I had conversations with girls that continued into the restroom, talking from seperate stalls.
The only problems occur when you have immature people using them, which obviously can happen and means that they're not practical right now for the public, in a sexually repressed society.
untitled
02-15-2007, 01:28 PM
How is fudge-packing between two men anymore disgusting than fudge-packing between a man and woman? Nobody's member wants to suffocate on feces.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 01:30 PM
How is fudge-packing between two men anymore disgusting than fudge-packing between a man and woman? Nobody's member wants to suffocate on feces.
See alexomenos, almost always its heterosexuals who bring up the aesthetics. Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with that. ;)
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 01:50 PM
It's not a taunt at all. I have met people that this is true of, and I'm not talkig about speculation I'm talking about seeing people come out to their friends and apologizing for having said terrible things about homosexuals in the past. I know people like to think it's a taunt, or it's just something somebody picked up from the American Beauty movie, but it happens every day.
Edit: I don't see any b-effers talking about gay sex anywhere. To what do you refer? For the most part, they do keep it to themselves. If you're referring to Amaechi, it's not like he's talking at all about the "aesthetics" that you refer to.
I really didn't mean to suggest you were taunting Hardaway, just that the popularity of the pop-diagnosis that "so-n-so is a homo-hater because he's a repressed homo" is a result of it being quite a useful taunt.
I would say that there is positively nothing in hardaway's comments to suggest he's gay and everything in his comments suggest that he is not gay.
No-one on earth would ever suggest David Duke is a repressed black man, nor would anyone suggest that Mahmud Ahmadinejad is a repressed jew. Why then is the default presumption that someone who hates homos is a homo?
certainly, a certain percentage of homosexuals are responsible for a great deal of homobashing. But if, say, 10% of males are homos, and if 50% of males hate homos, then it can't possibly be that all homo-haters are homos because there are more homo-hating males than homo males.
(and it also can't be that really 50% of all males are homos, because if that were the case there would be no titty-bars and titty-bars are a thriving business)
hence, the presumption that homo-hating is due to repressed homoism is not a rational position, but instead a product of something else....
....to wit, the taunt. every dude, and every dudette for that matter, knows that calling a guy a "fag" is a dis'. Dissin' a homo-hater by calling him homo is what it is, i submit. Dressing it in pop-psychology makes it no less of a taunt.
as for talk of gay-sex....first, let's not pretend that sexual orientation and sexual practices are two discrete subjects. amechi certainly didn't get a book deal because he has a penchant for interior decorating. when a guy writes a book, and the basis of the book is his sexual preferences, then one cannot say that he's keeping it to himself. What a guy does with his own dick is his own business, but once he consults a publicist it's no longer just his business.
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 01:50 PM
Because men stand and women sit?
I lived with a gay guy for 3 years in college (and shared a bathroom with him - Oh, the horror of it all!). I never once got the feeling that he was attracted to me.
Even if a teammate was attracted to another player, as long as they both know that nothing will ever come of it, who cares? They're human beings, give them some credit for having a little bit of self-control.
so you're allright with some dude using the womens lockerroom?
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 01:52 PM
How is fudge-packing between two men anymore disgusting than fudge-packing between a man and woman? Nobody's member wants to suffocate on feces.
it's not any less disgusting in my estimation....if a buddy of mine told me that he likes to pop his wife in the butt, i'd tell him to keep the sick stuff to his-self.
the thing with male homos is....you know where it's going, no further explanation is necessary ergo it's intrinsically gross.
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 02:06 PM
See alexomenos, almost always its heterosexuals who bring up the aesthetics. Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with that. ;)
and all i'm saying is that from aesthetic view of things, sometimes homosexuality is great (http://dallas-mavs.com/vb/showthread.php?p=666716&highlight=poster#post666716).
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 02:08 PM
No-one on earth would ever suggest David Duke is a repressed black man, nor would anyone suggest that Mahmud Ahmadinejad is a repressed jew. Why then is the default presumption that someone who hates homos is a homo?
You have to admit though that it's a lot easier for a gay man to pretend he's not gay then for a black man to pretend he's not black, eh? Colin Powell notwithstanding. ;)
certainly, a certain percentage of homosexuals are responsible for a great deal of homobashing. But if, say, 10% of males are homos, and if 50% of males hate homos, then it can't possibly be that all homo-haters are homos because there are more homo-hating males than homo males.
Fair enough. I didn't mean to imply it was always the case.
amechi certainly didn't get a book deal because he has a penchant for interior decorating.
lol. That's funny.
Still, I just don't have a problem with what the guy has done. For one thing, it's like Cuban said, if you're a pro athlete who is gay, there's a lot of money to make from that! Would you turn that down? I don't think I would if I was gay and could play basketball to save my life.
But I think we're kidding ourselves if we say it's only about money and publicity. I don't see how what John has done cannot be a good thing for people growing up gay who happen to like to play sports, maybe even have a dream to play professionally one day.
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 02:13 PM
wurzborg -- duly noted, cheers....
jthig32
02-15-2007, 02:17 PM
A very valid point indeed......
Now, I hear choice and not a choice. I think people who say it is a choice are in fact right. It is a choice, just like it is a choice to be straight. If you are a man who likes men, you can still choose to only have sex with women. Much the same way a straight man can choose to have gay sex, even though he's not gay. A bit far fetched, but who you have sex with is definitely your choice. Who you'd like to have sex with....... another matter entirely.
Well, there are also people that like to have sex with their siblings, and like to have sex with animals and, for a less out there example, like to have sex with other people's spouses.
Whether they think it's right or wrong, and whether they choose to, is up to them.
So I guess in a way, we agree.
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 02:22 PM
Well, there are also people that ... like to have sex with animals.
for the record, we prefer the term "inter-species erotica."
cheers
sifling
02-15-2007, 02:57 PM
As a gay person who lurks on this board, this is fascinating discourse. I had no idea so much brazen ignorance, hatred and bigotry remained. I am truly shocked and saddened.
For all you who think homosexuality is a "choice," ask yourself this simple question:
Who would ever "choose" a lifestyle that leaves you vulnerable to this degree of hatred and bashing? Who would willingly, voluntarily raise their hand and exclaim: "Yes! I'd love to endure that for the rest of my life!"
This is my first and last post. Clearly, my type isn't welcome here.
Mavdog
02-15-2007, 03:00 PM
This is opinion, not fact. There are many people that share your opinion, and there are many who do not.
Doesn't change how much I dislike what he said.
the data and research do not say "opinion" they say "fact"
it is a FACT that homosexual behavior exists in all animal species.
it is a FACT that almost every species (this of course excludes mankind) does not have the capability to "choose" their sexual orientation.
ask yourself, with all of the hatred directed towards homosexuals, and hardaway is merely the latest to verbalize this deep seated prejudice, why would anyone "choose" to be homosexual?
sure, there are some who want to experiment with alternative lifestyles, and to experiment with homosexual sex. these are however the minority, and these are typically the people who do not proclaim themselves to be homosexual but rather bisexual. in other words, they just want to be kinky.
we don't wake up one morning and say "i think I will be heterosexual...". we are what we are, and so too are homosexuals.
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 03:03 PM
This is my first and last post. Clearly, my type isn't welcome here.
sifling,
i'll let others speak for themselves, but as for me the only type that isn't welcome here is hte type that waltzes in and bitches about not being accepted without ever having posted before.
cheers
TheBlueVan
02-15-2007, 03:10 PM
who the hell cares what tim hardaway says? people are entitled to their own opinions. granted, there is NO WAY that he should have said that, and im not trying to agree with or justify it, im just saying.
everyone has their own beliefs and opinions, some are just stupid enough to say 'em in a public setting. if you remove the moral component, which usually comes from some ones belief system/worldview/upbringing, everything is relative. IF everything is relative, people can say homosexuality is good or bad, neither is right. one opinion conflicts with religious conservatives, another with the politically correct. again, all i'm saying is let the man have his opinion, but there is no excuse for vehemently assaulting a group of people for any reason.
hate, passion and opinions are as human as breathing, so to ignore them or try to cover them up is not good. you could try to change his mind, but people are stubborn as well. in these sort of situations, the LESS ATTENTION THE BETTER. although, you have to wonder both why amaechi made such a big deal about coming out, hiring a publicist who saturated the internet with rumors of a player coming out, and why the hell tim hardaway decided to say what he did on radio
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 03:11 PM
the data and research do not say "opinion" they say "fact"
it is a FACT that homosexual behavior exists in all animal species.
...
are you saying we don't get to choose whether we act on our animal urges?
You'll probably find quite a few scientists who would argue that Tim Hardaway doesn't have a choice in how strongly he holds his in group/out group biases. That doesn't make the scientists right, and it doesn't make Tim's views right.
TheBlueVan
02-15-2007, 03:12 PM
its huge knee-jerk politically correct reactions such as this that are leading to the resurgence of some factions of the KKK. i was watching a documentary about that on the discovery channel, it was one of the scariest, saddest things ive ever seen
mary
02-15-2007, 03:16 PM
This is my first and last post. Clearly, my type isn't welcome here.
This board certainly has its share of idiots. But for the most part, people around here are pretty respectful of each other and each others' opinions, even when they do not agree. I feel pretty confident in saying that you would be welcomed as long as you brought something to the table of discussion.
If you happen to see someone being an ignorant asshole, its best just to ignore them and move on. Unless of course, you feel like jabbing with them, then put your gloves on. If you don't, then don't. In that respect, writing on a internet message board is really not that much different for "real" life.
Personally, if you have something to say, I welcome your opinion and your presence on this forum. Lord knows we could use some fresh thoughts/faces around here.
Unless of course you happen to be a fan of some OTHER basketball team - then you can take a flying leap off of a tall cliff.
jthig32
02-15-2007, 03:19 PM
As a gay person who lurks on this board, this is fascinating discourse. I had no idea so much brazen ignorance, hatred and bigotry remained. I am truly shocked and saddened.
For all you who think homosexuality is a "choice," ask yourself this simple question:
Who would ever "choose" a lifestyle that leaves you vulnerable to this degree of hatred and bashing? Who would willingly, voluntarily raise their hand and exclaim: "Yes! I'd love to endure that for the rest of my life!"
This is my first and last post. Clearly, my type isn't welcome here.
So your tactic to fight what you perceive as closedmindedness is to call people that don't agree with you ignorant. Nice.
This is my biggest problem with the political correctness movement. Is it enough for me to speak out against hatred and shunning of homosexuality (as I have done in this thread). No, that is not enough. I must also agree that it is biological, and natural, and a perfectly fine part of the world. Otherwise I am considered ignorant by the people that simply do not share the same beliefs as me.
I have been perfectly clear in my stance in this thread. Hopefully you weren't talking about me with your comments, but I suspect you were lumping me in there.
I have my beliefs, and I shove them on no one. One of my favorite relatives is openly gay and we have a good relationship. He know where I stand, and I know where he stands. Why is this not enough?
TheBlueVan
02-15-2007, 03:22 PM
So your tactic to fight what you perceive as closedmindedness is to call people that don't agree with you ignorant. Nice.
This is my biggest problem with the political correctness movement. Is it enough for me to speak out against hatred and shunning of homosexuality (as I have done in this thread). No, that is not enough. I must also agree that it is biological, and natural, and a perfectly fine part of the world. Otherwise I am considered ignorant by the people that simply do not share the same beliefs as me.
I have been perfectly clear in my stance in this thread. Hopefully you weren't talking about me with your comments, but I suspect you were lumping me in there.
I have my beliefs, and I shove them on no one. One of my favorite relatives is openly gay and we have a good relationship. He know where I stand, and I know where he stands. Why is this not enough?
YES! i go to one of the most liberal schools in america, and EVERYONE gets so pissed if you dont see things exactly their way. a lot of the PC crowd is even more narrow minded than the people they fight
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 03:37 PM
YES! i go to one of the most liberal schools in america, and EVERYONE gets so pissed if you dont see things exactly their way. a lot of the PC crowd is even more narrow minded than the people they fight
certainly....
take sifling, above.....never posted in here before, but he's gets his panties in wad because he's already decided that many folks here are knuckle dragging hate-mongerers. How much more pre-judgmental can a person get than that?
oops....the panty wadding thing may have been a bit out of line given the context....
cheers
jthig32
02-15-2007, 03:43 PM
certainly....
take sifling, above.....never posted in here before, but he's gets his panties in wad because he's already decided that many folks here are knuckle dragging hate-mongerers. How much more pre-judgmental can a person get than that?
oops....the panty wadding thing may have been a bit out of line given the context....
cheers
Well, just so we're all clear on where we stand, you haven't really been helpful in this thread. Your comments have been pretty borderline and even over at times. You've said some things that I could understand someone getting offended by.
bernardos70
02-15-2007, 03:52 PM
As a gay person who lurks on this board, this is fascinating discourse. I had no idea so much brazen ignorance, hatred and bigotry remained. I am truly shocked and saddened.
For all you who think homosexuality is a "choice," ask yourself this simple question:
Who would ever "choose" a lifestyle that leaves you vulnerable to this degree of hatred and bashing? Who would willingly, voluntarily raise their hand and exclaim: "Yes! I'd love to endure that for the rest of my life!"
This is my first and last post. Clearly, my type isn't welcome here.
Well, it's not a choice that you like men, but you could choose to only have sex with women. Not that you would enjoy it, but like I said, that's another matter entirely. You didn't choose who you like, but you chose who to have sex with. Your actions define you.
Just to be completely clear, I'll tell you a joke where I stand on the whole scheme of things, by Demetri Martin:
"I'm in a weird postion, because I like rainbows, but I"m not gay. So I have a T-shirt with a rainbow, but under that I had to write 'Not Gay.' But I'm not against gay people, so under that I had to write 'But Supportive.'....... It's just weird that a group took refracted light..... that's pretty greedy, gays!"
Murphy3
02-15-2007, 03:53 PM
AGay's make a choice to be agay..
With that being said, it's their choice. I don't agree with the lifestyle, but it really doesn't bother me more than alot of other things in life. If they want to go around having gay sex with each other, so be it. If they want to be agay and go around not having agay sex with each other, then so be it.
Gaydom has never really bothered me other than for the obvious reasons that have been mentioned over and over in this thread.....
The biggest issue here is this... Why in the hell does anyone care what Tim Hardaway has to say? Could he possibly be less singificant?
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 04:06 PM
Well, just so we're all clear on where we stand, you haven't really been helpful in this thread. Your comments have been pretty borderline and even over at times. You've said some things that I could understand someone getting offended by.
duly noted...perhaps you can recommend a PC approved dictionary that i may reference henceforth?
also...if you think that a homosexual act is a sin which may condemn a person to an eternity in hell, don't bust my balls because I make no bones about having an aesthic, not moral but aesthetic, aversion to male-on-male homosexual practices.
cheers
Dirkadirkastan
02-15-2007, 04:13 PM
It's getting to the point where it takes less courage to choose a gay lifestyle than it does to speak out against it.
Exactly. "Coming out of the closet" these days is overrated.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 04:19 PM
Exactly. "Coming out of the closet" these days is overrated.
I'm not sure what you mean by overrated, but if you're talking about a test of what sells on the market, I have to disagree. I think that plenty of people will buy John's new book, even if I'm not one of them. I'd go as far as to say many Americans think it's a pretty interesting story.
It's news. Perhaps ideally it shouldn't be a big deal at all, but I think there are a lot of reasons why it's a big story and because the media are a bunch of PC liberals isn't high on the list.
jthig32
02-15-2007, 04:24 PM
duly noted...perhaps you can recommend a PC approved dictionary that i may reference henceforth?
also...if you think that a homosexual act is a sin which may condemn a person to an eternity in hell, don't bust my balls because I make no bones about having an aesthic, not moral but aesthetic, aversion to male-on-male homosexual practices.
cheers
I believe it's a sin. Just like lying on your tax returns is. Commital or non-commital of sin is not the determining factor in going to hell. So no, I don't believe that it is an act that condemns anyone to hell.
I don't have a problem with you having an aesthetic aversion to homosexuality. I have a problem with the way you express it, and the way you express yourself in general, at times. But that's not contained to this thread.
That's all.
Mavdog
02-15-2007, 04:27 PM
I have my beliefs, and I shove them on no one. One of my favorite relatives is openly gay and we have a good relationship. He knows where I stand, and I know where he stands. Why is this not enough?
yes, that should be enough.
Flacolaco
02-15-2007, 04:28 PM
This makes me wonder....and I'm asking a rare serious question here....has anyone on this board ever openly said they were gay?
(and please no names obviously, just a yes or no) I haven't been around very long, and would be interested to hear one way or the other.
sike
02-15-2007, 04:29 PM
How unfortunate.
And I disagree Hex, I think Hardaway has a hard time recovering from this in any way. The NBA already cut him off from his appearances surrounding the All Star game.
he is done.
its only ok to hate on Conservative Christians and Mormons...
Murphy3
02-15-2007, 04:35 PM
This makes me wonder....and I'm asking a rare serious question here....has anyone on this board ever openly said they were gay?
(and please no names obviously, just a yes or no) I haven't been around very long, and would be interested to hear one way or the other.
Yes, someone has....
edited... I can't remember whether or not they said they were gay in the forum or gay via PM's... so, don't want anything in my post to give any clues as to who it was/is.
TheBlueVan
02-15-2007, 04:36 PM
i have a side-note question. if you don't have a moral base to say that homosexuality is wrong, then how can you say its wrong if someone else says its bad
my point being, if there is no higher order of right and wrong or judgment, you cant come down on Hardaway for saying what he says, just like you can't come down on Amaechi for being gay. thats ALL politcal correctness is, a new kind of morality based on not hurting the feelings of a select few people, meanwhile insulting others
nikeball
02-15-2007, 04:37 PM
Do you think heterosexual men and women should be ok sharing a lockerroom with straight members of the opposite sex? If some straight dude wanted to change in the women's lockerroom and shower with them, should he be allowed to? Even if he says he's not attracted to the woman-version of Greg Ostertag?
I think there is more to it than that. Society views unisex restrooms as very weird and out of the norm. (However in "Ally Mcbeal", they had a unisex -- and it promotes more team bonding/trust/closeness -- supposedly a study was done). Remember .. it was less than half a century ago when there were separate restrooms/buses/facilities for whites/blacks. Maybe in 50 years men and women will all share same lockerroom/shower/bathroom (ex. the movie "Starship Troopers" lol). But I don't think that will ever happen, because men and women are too different (and think differently). Most women, to be initmate/aroused by someone are caused more by feelings/emotions/closeness to another...and for most men it is purely physical. Thus the unisex will never work. Besides women and men's bodies are different. Women's restrooms have couches, less dirty, tampon dispenser to suit their needs. Where as we have filth, piss on floors, and stank. Also another reason why the co-ed locker room would not work is the way men view women as objects. In the restroom they will feel like they are being checked out the whole time, not private, and objectified.
Back to the topic of gay men sharing lockerroom with straight men. The way I feel is, if you are comfortable being naked in front of other men, why would it matter if he was gay or straight or not? Wouldn't it just be your own security/insecurity? I wouldn't be comfortable in naked in front of any man. It is just too weird.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 04:41 PM
i have a side-note question. if you don't have a moral base to say that homosexuality is wrong, then how can you say its wrong if someone else says its bad
my point being, if there is no higher order of right and wrong or judgment, you cant come down on Hardaway for saying what he says, just like you can't come down on Amaechi for being gay. thats ALL politcal correctness is, a new kind of morality based on not hurting the feelings of a select few people, meanwhile insulting others
In my experience, very few people who don't think homosexuality is wrong think that morality is for the birds.
nikeball
02-15-2007, 04:43 PM
i have a side-note question. if you don't have a moral base to say that homosexuality is wrong, then how can you say its wrong if someone else says its bad
my point being, if there is no higher order of right and wrong or judgment, you cant come down on Hardaway for saying what he says, just like you can't come down on Amaechi for being gay. thats ALL politcal correctness is, a new kind of morality based on not hurting the feelings of a select few people, meanwhile insulting others
morality - is based on how you were raised. a sum of your whole life. thus everyone's will be different. i believe homosexuality is a sin based on what it said in the bible. but that doesnt mean gays should be treated with less respect
Tim Hardaway has his right to his own opinions but he shouldve kept it to himself. He is a public figure and needs to hold himself to higher standards for our children's sake. What separates us from animals is TACT and INHIBITIONS. Without them, we are no different than savage animals.
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 04:44 PM
I believe it's a sin. Just like lying on your tax returns is. Commital or non-commital of sin is not the determining factor in going to hell. So no, I don't believe that it is an act that condemns anyone to hell.
I don't have a problem with you having an aesthetic aversion to homosexuality. I have a problem with the way you express it, and the way you express yourself in general, at times. But that's not contained to this thread.
That's all.
certainly....
......to you, homosexuality is a sin just like lying on a tax return, or murdering a person in cold blood is a sin.
.....to me, homosexuality is gross, kind of like eating sushi. (unless, of course, we're talking about two hot young females. In this case homosexuality is not only acceptable, but quite fantastic in my humble opinion. Inasmuch as I have on several occassions celebrated homosexuality in this thread, I hope that no-one imagines that I'm a homo hater)
as for the way I express myself....i've never ask anyone to like anything I say, just argue back....also, in just this thread I've accused myself of bestiality--i don't ask anyone to take me more seriously than i take myself....
cheers
Dirkadirkastan
02-15-2007, 04:46 PM
As a gay person who lurks on this board, this is fascinating discourse. I had no idea so much brazen ignorance, hatred and bigotry remained. I am truly shocked and saddened.
I go to an extreme PC liberal college, so I know what you're getting at. Anyone who doesn't exactly conform your ideology qualifies for the broad category of "brazen ignorance, hatred and bigotry" which "shocks and saddens" you. Of course, I'm surrounded by those words every day, so I've seen it all and I know what I'm talking about.
For all you who think homosexuality is a "choice," ask yourself this simple question:
Who would ever "choose" a lifestyle that leaves you vulnerable to this degree of hatred and bashing? Who would willingly, voluntarily raise their hand and exclaim: "Yes! I'd love to endure that for the rest of my life!"
This is a very good point.
This is my first and last post. Clearly, my type isn't welcome here.
Oh how noble of you to sulk and wallow in self-pity! You think you're so prejudiced that in a blaze of self-righteousness, you label the entire board as bigoted. How ironic.
TripleDipping
02-15-2007, 04:48 PM
Somewhere in Miami, Tim Hardaway is sitting behind a computer, reading all this hoopla, and laughs and says:"Hahah, I'm relevant again!"
Rhylan
02-15-2007, 04:53 PM
he is done.
its only ok to hate on Conservative Christians and Mormons...
Sad, but quite true.
Doesn't take away from how idiotic Hardaway is, of course. He could've come out and said so many things about not agreeing with, or being uncomfortable with, gay men. If that's his opinion, fine. But, "I hate them?" Gimme a break.
jacktruth
02-15-2007, 04:59 PM
Because men stand and women sit?
I lived with a gay guy for 3 years in college (and shared a bathroom with him - Oh, the horror of it all!). I never once got the feeling that he was attracted to me.
Even if a teammate was attracted to another player, as long as they both know that nothing will ever come of it, who cares? They're human beings, give them some credit for having a little bit of self-control.
Seriously? Do you think that is the only reason?
Here's some reality. Men think about sex all of the time. If men and women shared lockerooms and bathrooms, either men would be in there all of the time, or women would wear depends. Especially lockerrooms.
So, gay men want to say that they are just like other men. Are they or not? Do they think about the same amount as most men? If so, there should be a cover charge to get into the men's lockerroom. I know plenty of men that would pay plenty to undress and shower with the ladies.
It's not at all homophobic to think in those terms.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 05:05 PM
Seriously? Do you think that is the only reason?
Here's some reality. Men think about sex all of the time. If men and women shared lockerooms and bathrooms, either men would be in there all of the time, or women would wear depends. Especially lockerrooms.
So, gay men want to say that they are just like other men. Are they or not? Do they think about the same amount as most men? If so, there should be a cover charge to get into the men's lockerroom. I know plenty of men that would pay plenty to undress and shower with the ladies.
It's not at all homophobic to think in those terms.
Many straight men could use a co-ed bathroom and control their urge to look over into the next stall. Gay men do the same thing in same-sex bathrooms every day.
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 05:29 PM
Many straight men could use a co-ed bathroom and control their urge to look over into the next stall. Gay men do the same thing in same-sex bathrooms every day.
these people are irrelevant. You can either take them at their word that they are not ogling or not, but that's all you have is their word. On the other hand, in this hypothetical, it is the women in the women's restroom/lockerroom and the straightmen in the men's whose trust issues are being forced. To say in this situation, "too bad, you have to trust the dude cause he says he's good" goes against every privacy principle we have.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 05:34 PM
these people are irrelevant. You can either take them at their word that they are not ogling or not, but that's all you have is their word. On the other hand, in this hypothetical, it is the women in the women's restroom/lockerroom and the straightmen in the men's whose trust issues are being forced. To say in this situation, "too bad, you have to trust the dude cause he says he's good" goes against every privacy principle we have.
I'm sorry, I just don't follow what you're saying at all. Are you saying that the right to privacy demands that we set up seperate restrooms for homosexuals?
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 05:46 PM
I'm sorry, I just don't follow what you're saying at all. Are you saying that the right to privacy demands that we set up seperate restrooms for homosexuals?
i think what he's saying is that guys that like girls routinely lie to girls.
...it ain't all that unreasonable to assume that guys that like guys would do the same thing, like....
"seriously dude, go ahead, shower...i may be a homosexual but that doesn't mean that i'm imagining you wearing a ball-gag and me acting out a scene from pulp fiction. yeah, lather up....nice and slow"
endtroducing MASKED
02-15-2007, 05:50 PM
if, in 2007, someone is still feeling this way towards a gay person...just put a fucking bullet in them. humans are so disgusting.
bernardos70
02-15-2007, 05:51 PM
lol, I'm sorry PC, but that was funny.
WurzburgBorn
02-15-2007, 05:51 PM
i think what he's saying is that guys that like girls routinely lie to girls.
...it ain't all that unreasonable to assume that guys that like guys would do the same thing, like....
"seriously dude, go ahead, shower...i may be a homosexual but that doesn't mean that i'm imagining you wearing a ball-gag and me acting out a scene from pulp fiction. yeah, lather up....nice and slow"
I see.
Am I alone then in thinking "who cares if some guy is thinking about that?"
Why should I care whether some guy thinks I'm hot as long as he doesn't stare and keeps his hands to himself?
Thespiralgoeson
02-15-2007, 06:04 PM
It's getting to the point where it takes less courage to choose a gay lifestyle than it does to speak out against it.
You say that like it's a bad thing. That's exactly the way it should be.
Secondly, I will say this one time and one time only. Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice."
And don't you or anyone else dare tell me it is. Unless you're speaking from experience, what the fuck do you know about it? Did you choose to be heterosexual, Chum?
alexamenos
02-15-2007, 06:13 PM
Am I alone then in thinking "who cares if some guy is thinking about that?"
i guess it depends upon whether the guy is good looking, and whether he has a good paying job.
cheers
TheBlueVan
02-15-2007, 06:47 PM
morality - is based on how you were raised. a sum of your whole life. thus everyone's will be different. i believe homosexuality is a sin based on what it said in the bible. but that doesnt mean gays should be treated with less respect
Tim Hardaway has his right to his own opinions but he shouldve kept it to himself. He is a public figure and needs to hold himself to higher standards for our children's sake. What separates us from animals is TACT and INHIBITIONS. Without them, we are no different than savage animals.
i totally agree, the question was more of the general concept of right and wrong after you remove religion from the equation
jthig32
02-15-2007, 06:59 PM
You say that like it's a bad thing. That's exactly the way it should be.
Secondly, I will say this one time and one time only. Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice."
And don't you or anyone else dare tell me it is. Unless you're speaking from experience, what the fuck do you know about it? Did you choose to be heterosexual, Chum?
Once again, LOVE the openmindedness here.
No room for disagreement or personal beliefs that don't hurt anyone. Love it.
Thespiralgoeson
02-15-2007, 07:11 PM
Once again, LOVE the openmindedness here.
No room for disagreement or personal beliefs that don't hurt anyone. Love it.
No, when it comes to a statement like that, there is no room for disagreement. It's just plain wrong. It'd be like someone saying the world is flat. Do you "agree to disagree?" No, you correct them.
Secondly, beliefs like that certainly do hurt someone. If they didn't, we wouldn't be talking about them, would we?
Edit: If one believes homosexuality is a sin for religious reasons, fine. I'm not going to get into a theological discussion. But someone who's not "in the know" telling me what choices I have or haven't made in my life, that's where I draw the line.
jthig32
02-15-2007, 07:25 PM
No, when it comes to a statement like that, there is no room for disagreement. It's just plain wrong. It'd be like someone saying the world is flat. Do you "agree to disagree?" No, you correct them.
Secondly, beliefs like that certainly do hurt someone. If they didn't, we wouldn't be talking about them, would we?
Edit: If one believes homosexuality is a sin for religious reasons, fine. I'm not going to get into a theological discussion. But someone who's not "in the know" telling me what choices I have or haven't made in my life, that's where I draw the line.
Well, unfortunately, we'll have to agree to disagree on the argument of whether or not it is fact.
And no, beliefs do not hut anybody. The way people act on those beliefs are what hut people. And obviously, a lot of people make very poor decisions based on those beliefs. But the people that don't, that simply have their beliefs do not hurt anyone.
dude1394
02-15-2007, 07:26 PM
You say that like it's a bad thing. That's exactly the way it should be.
Secondly, I will say this one time and one time only. Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice."
And don't you or anyone else dare tell me it is. Unless you're speaking from experience, what the fuck do you know about it? Did you choose to be heterosexual, Chum?
Yes I choose to be heterosexual. I also choose to be monogamous.
And whether you believe that or not is irrelevant frankly imo. I do not want popular culture to be promoting a deviant lifestyle as if it's the latest fashion to take on or off.
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 07:28 PM
I'm sorry, I just don't follow what you're saying at all. Are you saying that the right to privacy demands that we set up seperate restrooms for homosexuals?
I'm saying that if it's reasonable to expect women to be uncomfortable enough with straight men in the lockerroom that we separate them, how can we not expect men to be uncomfortable enough with a gay man that we separate them? Sure, there are differences in the analogy that don't have anything to do with the possibility of unwanted sexuality, but I bet that's the the biggest factor in why women don't want men in the lockerroom.
DevinHarriswillstart
02-15-2007, 07:32 PM
I wonder if Tim Hardaway has even met a gay person. I mean he singles them out as "the way they are".....in college, I was convinced this friend of mind was gay. He walked and talked it. Wore shirts 3 sizes too small. You know what, he was getting more girls than I was. He was I guess "metro" sexual. So maybe what Tim Hardaway doesn't like is flamboyant men. (men with "hoe" qualities as he would say) What makes someone homophobic in my opinion is the idea of being gay rather than the actuality. Just like in the NBA it seems perception can become reality.
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 07:33 PM
You say that like it's a bad thing. That's exactly the way it should be.
Secondly, I will say this one time and one time only. Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice."
And don't you or anyone else dare tell me it is. Unless you're speaking from experience, what the fuck do you know about it? Did you choose to be heterosexual, Chum?
I choose to be heterosexual, too. I also choose to be monogomous, too. And spiral, why do you think you are not the one proclaiming that the world is flat? Because someone told you how it is? Because it looks that way? The scientific evidence is nowhere near as clear as mavdog or anyone else might proclaim. And even if it is, are you going to argue that we have no choice but to follow our natural instincts, that in effect, have no free will?
dude1394
02-15-2007, 07:33 PM
I'm saying that if it's reasonable to expect women to be uncomfortable enough with straight men in the lockerroom that we separate them, how can we not expect men to be uncomfortable enough with a gay man that we separate them? Sure, there are differences in the analogy that don't have anything to do with the possibility of unwanted sexuality, but I bet that's the the biggest factor in why women don't want men in the lockerroom.
Very clear to me. Obviously ladies who do not want men waltzing into their dressing areas are sexist, racist misandrists.
Dirkadirkastan
02-15-2007, 07:36 PM
Let's not get stupid now. Of course homosexuals choose their "lifestyles". The question is if they have control over who they're attracted to. I wouldn't think so, but what do I know.
DevinHarriswillstart
02-15-2007, 07:38 PM
I think it depends on the person if you choose the lifestyle or not. I like women. But what if I chose to be gay, even if I didn't like it. If you look at it like that, then yes, you can "choose" your lifestyle. However, since I like women, I wouldn't choose that now would I? If I liked men and women didn't do it for me, I'd probably choose to be gay. Why would I choose for my whole life to be a lie?
Dirkadirkastan
02-15-2007, 07:40 PM
It's getting to the point where it takes less courage to choose a gay lifestyle than it does to speak out against it.
You say that like it's a bad thing. That's exactly the way it should be.
THOUGHT POLICE
Believing this pretty much violates the principle of freedom of speech that this country was founded on. If someone believes homosexuality is wrong, then by God and my country, they have a right to say it.
Usually Lurkin
02-15-2007, 07:40 PM
Let's not get stupid now. Of course homosexuals choose their "lifestyles". The question is if they have control over who they're attracted to. I wouldn't think so, but what do I know.
I think so, even if there's a natural/genetic component. It gets easier and more rewarding, in my opinion, to be monogomous the longer you do it. It also gets easier not to control your anger, or any other natural impulse. These are all attitudes and impulses that change with our patterns of behavior.
dude1394
02-15-2007, 07:41 PM
Let's not get stupid now. Of course homosexuals choose their "lifestyles". The question is if they have control over who they're attracted to. I wouldn't think so, but what do I know.
The question is also whether society if forced to accept who they are "attracted" to. No it is not. See many sexual laws as proof.
endtroducing MASKED
02-15-2007, 07:44 PM
you know what's funny? people still fucking have this attitude. how LOL is that shit
Dirkadirkastan
02-15-2007, 07:45 PM
you know what's funny? people still fucking have this attitude. how LOL is that shit
Yeah, pretty shitty how some people don't give in to every whim of Hollywood society, isn't it?
DevinHarriswillstart
02-15-2007, 07:49 PM
The question is also whether society if forced to accept who they are "attracted" to. No it is not. See many sexual laws as proof.
Society doesn't force me to do anything. Society convinces us that gays are reflected on shows like Will and Grace. I promise you would be surprised who is gay and who isn't. A "lifestyle" choice, to me, has almost nothing to do whether you want to do it with men or women. There are masculine gay men and feminine lesbians. Society thinks its fun to watch American Idol. I don't and never will.
endtroducing MASKED
02-15-2007, 07:49 PM
oh, you mean treating everyone equally? THAT SHIT IS FUCKED UP.
homophobia is just another version of racism, chief. not giving equal treatment to all is totally inexcusable.
jthig32
02-15-2007, 07:52 PM
oh, you mean treating everyone equally? THAT SHIT IS FUCKED UP.
homophobia is just another version of racism, chief. not giving equal treatment to all is totally inexcusable.
Your reading comprehension needs work. No one's arguing here that they should be discriminated against.
jthig32
02-15-2007, 07:54 PM
Society doesn't force me to do anything. Society convinces us that gays are reflected on shows like Will and Grace. I promise you would be surprised who is gay and who isn't. A "lifestyle" choice, to me, has almost nothing to do whether you want to do it with men or women. There are masculine gay men and feminine lesbians. Society thinks its fun to watch American Idol. I don't and never will.
This is rambling and not real coherent. Several points mased into one here.
But in my opionion, and many others, a lifestyle choice has EVERYTHING to do with whether you want to do it with men or women. It also has to do with whether you want to do it with lots of men/women or just one, whether you're willing to do it with married men/women, whether you're willing to do it with under age men/women, the list goes on and on.
dude1394
02-15-2007, 07:56 PM
Society doesn't force me to do anything. Society convinces us that gays are reflected on shows like Will and Grace. I promise you would be surprised who is gay and who isn't. A "lifestyle" choice, to me, has almost nothing to do whether you want to do it with men or women. There are masculine gay men and feminine lesbians. Society thinks its fun to watch American Idol. I don't and never will.
I might have said "coerced" instead of forced. Society "coerces" us into all kinds of things, low-cut slacks, 8 year old girls with "juicy" on their stretch shorts, gay lifestyle acceptance in our movies, culture and print. When society begins to promote a gay lifestyle as non-deviant it has effects on people, just like beer-ads, music videos and television shows.
It's about the only thing that the islamists have a point about, our culture easily could be described as the great satan.
Dirkadirkastan
02-15-2007, 08:01 PM
oh, you mean treating everyone equally? THAT SHIT IS FUCKED UP.
homophobia is just another version of racism, chief. not giving equal treatment to all is totally inexcusable.
See, just like I said. THOUGHT POLICE.
Never mind the fact that just about everyone knows someone who is gay. (e.g. my uncle is gay) Never mind the fact that cases where violence occurs are rare.
Apparently I have a fear of homosexuals because Hollywood has slapped this "homophobe" label on anyone who doesn't agree with them.
The real hypocrisy of the situation is that you don't "give equal treatment to all". The only people you allow to think and speak are those that think and speak in like manner with yourself. The people that agree with you include homosexuals, so that makes you appear "tolerant", but you're not, since you only tolerate those that agree with you to begin with.
mavsman
02-15-2007, 08:23 PM
I bet lil' Timmy wouldn't mind having Kobe on his team cause he's not rapistophobic. Or maybe he is and his homophobia stems from a deeper irrational fear of dropping his soap with the big english guy around.
chumdawg
02-15-2007, 08:37 PM
You say that like it's a bad thing. That's exactly the way it should be.
Secondly, I will say this one time and one time only. Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice."
And don't you or anyone else dare tell me it is. Unless you're speaking from experience, what the fuck do you know about it? Did you choose to be heterosexual, Chum?I have no idea what percentage, if any, of those who identify themselves as homosexual do so because of genetic wiring. But I do know it's not the whole lot of them.
I am always amused by the counterargument that poses the question: "Why would anyone want to put up with all the abuse they get for being gay?" I have my suspicions about the answer, but the question is really not relevant. You do not have to look far AT ALL to find people outright *celebrating* their homosexuality.
Now, I did know one guy who told me how badly he wished he were straight. He said it would have made many areas of his life more comfortable. For example, his parents didn't know--and he was going to make damn sure they didn't find out. By all appearances he was just a regular joe, not a nellie queen. And he even tried to have relationships with women. Had sex with a few, he said, but in the end they just didn't turn him on like the guys did. But hey, sexuality is not a cut-and-dried thing. All sorts of people get off on all sorts of stuff.
In short, the opinion I have formed based on the evidence I've seen is that homosexuality is an outlet, often representing a sort of comfort zone, for many people who can't find acceptance (or don't have interest) in a heterosexual society. That's as concise as I can put it.
untitled
02-15-2007, 08:52 PM
I agree with Spiral's point about being in-the-know. The first question I asked my roommate after he came out to me was: "So, when did you know and was it a choice?"
He's an army brat. His father was a career officer, now retired and working for Gateway. He went to high school in Sioux City, Iowa. One evening (while still at home) he was sitting down at dinner with his older brother (Citadel grad) and younger sister when the conversation turned to a boy at their school that had recently come out. When asked what they would do if one of their kids was gay, his parents replied: "We'd disown you."
Anyways, his response to my question about when he knew and whether it was a choice: "My preteen years, and no. Why would I choose this life for myself? I'm scared to death to tell my parents and don't think I ever will."
And you know what, I had to believe him. Why? Because he knows what it's like, and I don't have a clue - I like girl-next-door type brunettes. :)
Oh, and I don't recall choosing to prefer brunettes to blonds - it's just the way I'm wired.
Murphy3
02-15-2007, 09:40 PM
Do homosexuals deserve to be hung...deserve to be looked at as sub human? No, not at all. Should they be shot for being gay? Nope. Is it ok to speak out against homosexuality as something that you believe to be morally wrong? Yes, of course it is. If you don't like it, deal with it or don't be gay. I'm sorry, but for those of you who are Christian, it is my understanding that it is your duty to speak out against homosexuality. I know that Christianity has become watered down over the years and transformed into something that's more convenient for the majority of people in our society, but I, in no way believe that Christianity was founded on just accepting that someone was in constant sin which is what homosexuality is.
Now, I'm not trying to come off here on the moral high ground because I've done more than my fair share of crappy things to people throughout my life. I've committed sins that are worse than those committed by homosexuals. But, so be it. Speaking out against homosexuality should occur in my opinion. Speaking out against murder, abuse, rape, lying, cheating, stealing.. the same should go for those as well.
AxdemxO
02-15-2007, 11:38 PM
Personally I think Hardaway was a lil harsh..but he was expressing his feelings than why is every1 gettin on him. The man was honest, he is saying its not something he likes and that its not natural..soo let it go. Those are his views
Dtownsfinest
02-16-2007, 12:18 AM
I'll give Hardaway credit for one thing. He was honest. And believe it or not people actually feel this way in america. Hate is a strong word so I won't go that for but I dislike the thought or sight of homosexuality as well. Atleast he was honest though. Charles Barkley meanwhile is all of a sudden spokeperson for GLAAD when back in the 90's numerous times I heard him scream out the term "f**" when playin against players.
Nemesis
02-16-2007, 12:36 AM
Murphy, do you have these same feelings when it comes to strippers?
Murphy3
02-16-2007, 12:53 AM
Yep
jleefilled
02-16-2007, 01:21 AM
Do homosexuals deserve to be hung...deserve to be looked at as sub human? No, not at all. Should they be shot for being gay? Nope. Is it ok to speak out against homosexuality as something that you believe to be morally wrong? Yes, of course it is. If you don't like it, deal with it or don't be gay. I'm sorry, but for those of you who are Christian, it is my understanding that it is your duty to speak out against homosexuality. I know that Christianity has become watered down over the years and transformed into something that's more convenient for the majority of people in our society, but I, in no way believe that Christianity was founded on just accepting that someone was in constant sin which is what homosexuality is.
Now, I'm not trying to come off here on the moral high ground because I've done more than my fair share of crappy things to people throughout my life. I've committed sins that are worse than those committed by homosexuals. But, so be it. Speaking out against homosexuality should occur in my opinion. Speaking out against murder, abuse, rape, lying, cheating, stealing.. the same should go for those as well.
I think you're right in the sense that if a Chrisitian is asked whether he thought it was morally right or wrong to be homosexual, he should respond that it's wrong. I don't know where Hardaway is coming from with his comments -- actually, I only read the headline at ESPN -- but if it has a Chrisitan basis, shouldn't he rather say that he hates the sins, not the sinner?
mqywaaah
02-16-2007, 02:54 AM
I think it would've been better if he said that. Maybe he had a very traumatic experience with a gay dude. And all those things he just said had been bottled up for the past 10 years or so. Maybe a molested child in his early years?
Usually Lurkin
02-16-2007, 07:08 AM
Dirkadirkastan and Murphy have a very good point. Just because you don't agree with someone's actions doesn't mean you hate the whole group of people who chose to participate in those actions. Hardaway hates gays. He said so. Hardaway is homophobic. He said so. I don't think anyone here is defending that attitude. To me, that's the same as racism. It smacks of unforgiving hatred, and it's wrong. But there is a level of disagreement that doesn't include hatred.
But it doesn't make you homophobic and hate-filled to disagree that something is or is not sinful. I think gambling is sinful. That doesn't mean I hate all gamblers.
It is a dirty trick played by the victim crowd (and maybe a couple posters in this thread) to purposefully conflate disagreement with hatred.
mcsluggo
02-16-2007, 09:31 AM
This board certainly has its share of idiots. But for the most part, people around here are pretty respectful of each other and each others' opinions, even when they do not agree. I feel pretty confident in saying that you would be welcomed as long as you brought something to the table of discussion.
If you happen to see someone being an ignorant asshole, its best just to ignore them and move on. Unless of course, you feel like jabbing with them, then put your gloves on. If you don't, then don't. In that respect, writing on a internet message board is really not that much different for "real" life.
Personally, if you have something to say, I welcome your opinion and your presence on this forum. Lord knows we could use some fresh thoughts/faces around here.
Unless of course you happen to be a fan of some OTHER basketball team - then you can take a flying leap off of a tall cliff.
I myself happen to live under the auspices of a deviant lifestyle. To some extent it is my choice. It has been based on my lifestile, and on the previous directions I've allowed my life to wander. I suppose that at any point I could seek help and wipe this antisocial behavior out. But frankly, I don't want to. It may make me a living freak in the eyes of most who behold me, by I am in fact a fan of the Sacramento Kings. Even with Kenny farkin Thomas as a starting "power" forward, and the tough as nails, 6'7" Sharif Abdur Rahim as a starting center. As that team strives to raise its head far enough to be able to even catch a glimpse of mediocrity from below, I have to ask who in their right mind would knowingly CHOOSE this lifestyle?
Oh yeah, the question of gays? why should you care whether somone else is gay, whether or not they chose to be such, whether or not they are just "gay in spirit" or are actually acting out on it? Unless they make a move on YOU, who cares? (and even in that case, as long as they are willing to knock it off when asked to do so, just take it as a compliment... the equivelent of your gross old great aunt <the one with about 20 lbs of extra skin flaps in her face> grabbing your cheeks and saying how cute you are. She may not give you a stiffy, but are you really gonna hate her over it?)
mcsluggo
02-16-2007, 09:35 AM
In my experience, very few people who don't think homosexuality is wrong think that morality is for the birds.
Jeez man, how many negatives can you cram in to one sentence?
few (makes the sentese a negative) don't (two negatives make it a positive) wrong (I think this, as a third negative makes the sentence postive) ... so does "for the birds" make the whole sentence negative now?
mcsluggo
02-16-2007, 09:44 AM
I'm sorry, I just don't follow what you're saying at all. Are you saying that the right to privacy demands that we set up seperate restrooms for homosexuals?
Personally I'd much rather seperate locker rooms for ugly people. And even more importantly for those filthy over-fibered sickos that can't enter a bathroom without ripping the walpaper off with their erupting colons. Oh yeah, and old people too... they're really gross.
mary
02-16-2007, 10:26 AM
I myself happen to live under the auspices of a deviant lifestyle. To some extent it is my choice. It has been based on my lifestile, and on the previous directions I've allowed my life to wander. I suppose that at any point I could seek help and wipe this antisocial behavior out. But frankly, I don't want to. It may make me a living freak in the eyes of most who behold me, by I am in fact a fan of the Sacramento Kings. Even with Kenny farkin Thomas as a starting "power" forward, and the tough as nails, 6'7" Sharif Abdur Rahim as a starting center. As that team strives to raise its head far enough to be able to even catch a glimpse of mediocrity from below, I have to ask who in their right mind would knowingly CHOOSE this lifestyle?
Weirdo.
;)
:D
WurzburgBorn
02-16-2007, 11:52 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by WurzburgBorn
In my experience, very few people who don't think homosexuality is wrong think that morality is for the birds.
Jeez man, how many negatives can you cram in to one sentence?
few (makes the sentese a negative) don't (two negatives make it a positive) wrong (I think this, as a third negative makes the sentence postive) ... so does "for the birds" make the whole sentence negative now?
Fair enough. I'll reword for clarity.
Many people believe that there's nothing immoral about sexual intercourse between two people of the same gender. That doesn't mean those that believe that have no sense of morality.
UsuallyLurkin posted:
Dirkadirkastan and Murphy have a very good point. Just because you don't agree with someone's actions doesn't mean you hate the whole group of people who chose to participate in those actions. Hardaway hates gays. He said so. Hardaway is homophobic. He said so. I don't think anyone here is defending that attitude. To me, that's the same as racism. It smacks of unforgiving hatred, and it's wrong. But there is a level of disagreement that doesn't include hatred.
But it doesn't make you homophobic and hate-filled to disagree that something is or is not sinful. I think gambling is sinful. That doesn't mean I hate all gamblers.
It is a dirty trick played by the victim crowd (and maybe a couple posters in this thread) to purposefully conflate disagreement with hatred.
I agree it is a good point, but in fairness to anyone in the thread who conflated the two, I doubt it is done as purposefully as you might think, or out of ill will. It's really not that difficult to get a bit confused on these issues.
I'm saying that if it's reasonable to expect women to be uncomfortable enough with straight men in the lockerroom that we separate them, how can we not expect men to be uncomfortable enough with a gay man that we separate them? Sure, there are differences in the analogy that don't have anything to do with the possibility of unwanted sexuality, but I bet that's the the biggest factor in why women don't want men in the lockerroom.
I hear you man, but I don't see any use to the analogy. I don't think it's unfair to expect straight men to tolerate the presence of gay men in public restrooms, precisely because they have proven themselves trustworthy. There just aren't any problems! Gay men have been using public restrooms in the USA since we've had public restrooms and 1) the economy, 2) taxes, 3) whatver other big issue you want to insert, all seem to be issues that more people seem to be concerned with. Did you have a bad experience with a homosexual in a restroom once? ;)
Zaknaf3in
02-16-2007, 12:22 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by chumdawg
It's getting to the point where it takes less courage to choose a gay lifestyle than it does to speak out against it.
You say that like it's a bad thing. That's exactly the way it should be.
Secondly, I will say this one time and one time only. Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice."
And don't you or anyone else dare tell me it is. Unless you're speaking from experience, what the fuck do you know about it? Did you choose to be heterosexual, Chum?
__________________
That sums up my thoughts pretty well.
There is NO "choice" of your sexual orientation.
There IS a choice NOT to live your orientation - but why should anyone be forced to do that? Because others feel uneasy or touched by a homosexual? Then these others have to grow up.
Sure, everyone has the right of having his own opinion - as long the fundamental rights of no one else are touched. And that works only one way around in this case - i'm not into the U.S. law, but in germany the constitution says: The human dignity is inviolable.
So your dignity is violated by others having another sexual orientation? No.
Your dignity is violated by others suppressing your choice of lifestyle? Yes indeed.
I myself happen to live under the auspices of a deviant lifestyle. To some extent it is my choice. It has been based on my lifestile, and on the previous directions I've allowed my life to wander. I suppose that at any point I could seek help and wipe this antisocial behavior out. But frankly, I don't want to. It may make me a living freak in the eyes of most who behold me, by I am in fact a fan of the Sacramento Kings. Even with Kenny farkin Thomas as a starting "power" forward, and the tough as nails, 6'7" Sharif Abdur Rahim as a starting center. As that team strives to raise its head far enough to be able to even catch a glimpse of mediocrity from below, I have to ask who in their right mind would knowingly CHOOSE this lifestyle?
Oh yeah, the question of gays? why should you care whether somone else is gay, whether or not they chose to be such, whether or not they are just "gay in spirit" or are actually acting out on it? Unless they make a move on YOU, who cares? (and even in that case, as long as they are willing to knock it off when asked to do so, just take it as a compliment... the equivelent of your gross old great aunt <the one with about 20 lbs of extra skin flaps in her face> grabbing your cheeks and saying how cute you are. She may not give you a stiffy, but are you really gonna hate her over it?)
Pretty good point, made in a pretty good way.
untitled
02-16-2007, 01:32 PM
Sure, everyone has the right of having his own opinion - as long the fundamental rights of no one else are touched. And that works only one way around in this case - i'm not into the U.S. law, but in germany the constitution says: The human dignity is inviolable.
So your dignity is violated by others having another sexual orientation? No.
Your dignity is violated by others suppressing your choice of lifestyle? Yes indeed.
Immanuel Kant, is that you?
WurzburgBorn
02-16-2007, 01:38 PM
Immanuel Kant, is that you?
LOL!
rep from a former philosophy major here. Edit: That really takes me back.
chumdawg
02-16-2007, 01:51 PM
The question I'd like to know the answer to is this: Do more and more people identify themselves as gay, as homosexuality becomes more "mainstream" in our culture? Or are people these days gay in more or less the same proportion as they were, say, fifty years ago?
The answer to that would go a long way...
Usually Lurkin
02-16-2007, 02:09 PM
So your dignity is violated by others having another sexual orientation? No.
Your dignity is violated by others suppressing your choice of lifestyle? Yes indeed.
That sounds simple, but what if someone wants a gay-free lifestyle? Is their dignity violated when a homosexual shows up in their lockeroom? Surely there is some chosen lifestyle you would choose to suppress in some form or another. Sex in public?
bobatundi
02-16-2007, 02:18 PM
This board certainly has its share of idiots. But for the most part, people around here are pretty respectful of each other and each others' opinions, even when they do not agree. I feel pretty confident in saying that you would be welcomed as long as you brought something to the table of discussion.
If you happen to see someone being an ignorant asshole, its best just to ignore them and move on. Unless of course, you feel like jabbing with them, then put your gloves on. If you don't, then don't. In that respect, writing on a internet message board is really not that much different for "real" life.
Personally, if you have something to say, I welcome your opinion and your presence on this forum. Lord knows we could use some fresh thoughts/faces around here.
Unless of course you happen to be a fan of some OTHER basketball team - then you can take a flying leap off of a tall cliff.
Indeed--while I have no problem with anyone being gay--whether it's by choice or in their DNA--there's just no excuse for not being a Mavs fan.
mcsluggo
02-16-2007, 02:28 PM
The question I'd like to know the answer to is this: Do more and more people identify themselves as gay, as homosexuality becomes more "mainstream" in our culture? Or are people these days gay in more or less the same proportion as they were, say, fifty years ago?
The answer to that would go a long way...
I assume what you are saying here is:
"as society has become more tollerant of gays, more people have DISCOVERED they are gay. Hence gay or not gay is a choice."
am I correct?
If that IS what you are saying, then c'mon! The "gay promotion society" is not winning over all that many people from the other team. Straight people have not been INDUCED to gayhood the last several years, rather gays that in previous years would have stayed in the closet (to avoid being bludgeoned to death) are now feeling confident enough to come out. Don'tcha think?
I am perfectly open to the concept of gay. I am comfortable around the gay culture, plenty of gay friends, used to go to gay dance bars. I lived in San Francisco for a little while. Hell, I would even consider wearing a light purple shirt, that was NOT a sports team shirt (well... not really, but you get the idea)
In fact, I would consider changing teams, if it wasn't for the ... you know... having sex with men aspect of it. That is a bit of a deal breaker for me... Although, my gay friends seem to have ALOT more hot straight chicks hanging around them than any of my straight friends do.... (so in THAT sense, perhaps there ARE "poseur gays"----- becoming "gay" to get the hot chicks!! THAT is strategery)
untitled
02-16-2007, 02:33 PM
That sounds simple, but what if someone wants a gay-free lifestyle? Is their dignity violated when a homosexual shows up in their lockeroom? Surely there is some chosen lifestyle you would choose to suppress in some form or another. Sex in public?
So, if YOU want to live a gay-free lifestyle, and if I am a gay person, I have to make sure never to cross your path so as not to interfere with your inherent dignity?
I suppose one who wants to live a gay-free lifestyle should 1) not be gay, and 2) not have any gay friends. Same as the KKK member that wishes to live a Jew-free lifestyle - don't be Jewish (not a choice) and don't have Jewish friends (a choice).
I just can't figure out why this is such a big deal. I have no idea what my friends like when it comes to the bedroom, and I gather many of you are in the same boat. If you found out that a good buddy lived a deviant lifestyle - say, he was really into S&M - would that all of a sudden have an impact on your friendship? Of course not - because that is not the nature of your relationship and as far as you and I are concerned, it's none of our business. There are few areas of one's life that are as private and personal as one's intimate relationships. If your friendship is purely platonic, why would another's intimate preferences matter one iota to you?
untitled
02-16-2007, 02:35 PM
The question I'd like to know the answer to is this: Do more and more people identify themselves as gay, as homosexuality becomes more "mainstream" in our culture? Or are people these days gay in more or less the same proportion as they were, say, fifty years ago?
The answer to that would go a long way...
It's an interesting question, indeed. The ancient Greeks sure liked man-butt (hell, they PREFERRED it - women were considered unclean), so...
Usually Lurkin
02-16-2007, 02:45 PM
So, if YOU want to live a gay-free lifestyle, and if I am a gay person, I have to make sure never to cross your path so as not to interfere with your inherent dignity?
I suppose one who wants to live a gay-free lifestyle should 1) not be gay, and 2) not have any gay friends. Same as the KKK member that wishes to live a Jew-free lifestyle - don't be Jewish (not a choice) and don't have Jewish friends (a choice).
hey, man. Talk to the German constitution. That's how Zaknaf3in described it. If your dignity is violated, is a constitutional issue. I'm just asking who gets to ask how anyone's dignity is violated. The New York Knicks, for instance, violated their own dignity long ago, and violate the dignity of every basketball fan every time they step out to play.
If you found out that a good buddy lived a deviant lifestyle - say, he was really into S&M - would that all of a sudden have an impact on your friendship?
yes, there are lots of things they might tell me that would impact our friendship in one way or another. Is there really nothing that your friend could tell you that they do in private that would impact your friendship?
WurzburgBorn
02-16-2007, 03:03 PM
untitled, the Greeks really didn't have much of a concept of homosexuality though. They distinguished sexuality differences not on the basis of what gender partner one preferred, but whether or not one liked to take it or give it, so to speak.
OzMavs
02-16-2007, 05:57 PM
untitled, the Greeks really didn't have much of a concept of homosexuality though. They distinguished sexuality differences not on the basis of what gender partner one preferred, but whether or not one liked to take it or give it, so to speak.
Is there really nothing that your friend could tell you that they do in private that would impact your friendship?
"In private" can be VERY different than "in the bedroom".
If a friend told me that he liked to privately hack into people's computers to steal credit information, then yeah, I would have a problem with it.
If the same friend told me he liked to have his salad tossed while giving oral sex to half-Asian, half-Mexican midgets, I'd just make fun of him. But I wouldn't stop being his friend just because he's a weirdo in the sack - after all, I'M never going to have my salad tossed by him, and I'm a 6' tall white guy - so why the hell should I care?
untitled
02-16-2007, 08:34 PM
untitled, the Greeks really didn't have much of a concept of homosexuality though. They distinguished sexuality differences not on the basis of what gender partner one preferred, but whether or not one liked to take it or give it, so to speak.
Fair enough. But if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...
And1
02-16-2007, 11:04 PM
bye-bye broadcast gig.:rolleyes:
Usually Lurkin
02-17-2007, 12:33 PM
"In private" can be VERY different than "in the bedroom".
...If a friend told me that he liked to privately hack into people's computers to steal credit information, then yeah, I would have a problem with it.
fair enough. Is there really *nothing* he could tell you about what he does in the bedroom that would affect your friendship? What if he told you he likes to sleep around with on his wife, or is gay but his wife doesn't know it? What if he told you he started smoking crack before having sex? Would that impact your friendship?
Presumably, you'd have a problem with the hacking and stealing because it's bad for your friend, and hurts other people, right? Are you of the mind that there is nothing that can occur in the bedroom that would be bad for your friend and hurt other people, or is the bedroom different for other reasons?
But I wouldn't stop being his friend just because he's a weirdo in the sack - after all, I'M never going to have my salad tossed by him, and I'm a 6' tall white guy - so why the hell should I care?
now, "stop being his friend" is VERY different than "have an impact on your friendship." To me, part of being a friend is helping each other stay in God's will.
untitled
02-17-2007, 12:44 PM
fair enough. Is there really *nothing* he could tell you about what he does in the bedroom that would affect your friendship? What if he told you he likes to sleep around with on his wife, or is gay but his wife doesn't know it? What if he told you he started smoking crack before having sex? Would that impact your friendship?
Adultery = illegal and morally reprehensible, IMO.
Homosexual adultery = ^same.
Smoking crack = illegal (and IMO, not a good life choice - however I wouldn't say it's morally wrong, per se).
now, "stop being his friend" is VERY different than "have an impact on your friendship." To me, part of being a friend is helping each other stay in God's will.
True, but what if your friend doesn't believe in God? What if he/she doesn't believe in the same God as you, and therefore views "God's will" differently? What if he/she does believe in the same God but feels that his perspective on this matter are different than yours?
My point is that I don't really feel comfortable telling others how to live their lives. There isn't one human being on this planet that KNOWS how we got here and what happens after we die. Athiests, agnostics, Mormons, Muslims - they ALL rely on faith for their beliefs. My opinion on how one should live their life is no more or less relevant than anyone else's. So, to me, part of being a friend is accepting others' perspectives but still living my life how I want to live it - as long as my friends' choices do not negatively impact those around him/her, I don't see a reason why I should interfere.
untitled
02-17-2007, 01:13 PM
Adultery is illegal? :confused:
Historically, it has been illegal. Now, it's not a crime and you can't go to jail for it, so I guess I should've used a different word than "illegal". But it is grounds for divorce, and Flaco will make a binding, contractual promise today to never do it.
So, I guess I should say it's against the written law in the sense that it's also against the law to commit the tort of conversion or breach of contract, but it's not criminal. What would be a better word for that?
LAS VEGAS — Former Heat guard Tim Hardaway has become a lightning rod for critics because of his anti-gay comments, but Heat center Shaquille O'Neal said he would protect a gay teammate if he was made a target.
"I was always taught as a youngster to never judge people, so I never judge people and to each their own," O'Neal said Friday during All-Star Weekend media sessions.
"If he was my teammate and people ridiculed him and jumped on him, I would probably have to protect him."
Hardaway, who said Wednesday on a Miami radio show he hates gay people and would not want a gay player on his team, has been rebuked nationwide. He has since apologized but was sent home from Las Vegas, where he was making appearances on behalf of the league for the All-Star Game.
The firestorm began when Hardaway, asked to comment on former NBA player John Amaechi's declaration that he is gay, said there is no room for gay players in the league.
"I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room," said Hardaway, who played five-plus seasons in Miami after being obtained from Golden State in February 1996.
Heat guard Dwyane Wade said he had no comment but then offered these thoughts: "Anybody who knows me knows I'm a guy who loves his teammates and if anything ever comes up like that, I don't look at that.
"I look at what guys can do for you on the court. And in the locker room you have great relationships with guys. I don't have any negative views."
Cleveland guard Damon Jones, usually talkative, said players can easily get in trouble when talking about "social issues and sexual preference, and you shy away from those issues."
Memphis forward Mike Miller played with Amaechi in Orlando and offered support: "He's a great person. Everyone has the right to be how they want be."
Asked if a gay player would be accepted, Miller said, "It would be difficult, but at the same time our league is a league that has taken on anything. We bring on and accept anything, and I think that's what's special about the NBA."
Without condoning his remarks, some expressed sympathy for Hardaway, who is well-liked by many.
"It was pretty shocking," former star Scottie Pippen said. "You hate to see that happen to one of your colleagues knowing the damage he's caused to himself, his family and friends ... I'm very disappointed it happened."
Heat forward Jason Kapono said the rest of the league doesn't agree with Hardaway.
"Everyone has their own views on life, and that's something that's obviously his point of view," Kapono said, "but that's definitely not the point of view of all the rest of us."
kriD
02-18-2007, 05:27 AM
NBA Insider
Hardaway's anti-gay talk amounts to double drivel
By DWAIN PRICE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Tim Hardaway must have lost his mind.
During a radio interview Wednesday in Miami, Hardaway said: "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people, and I don't like to be around gay people.
"I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
What?
When will people like Tim Hardaway learn? Just because you've got a pocket full of money doesn't give you the right to go around spewing words of hatred while criticizing someone else's sexual orientation.
Hardaway, who played 14 years in the NBA -- including half-a-season for the Mavericks -- really put both feet squarely in his mouth when he took on the biggest issue that's making the rounds in the NBA today. Since nearly two weeks ago when former NBA player John Amaechi announced that he is gay, players currently in the league have either declined to comment about Amaechi or have chosen their words carefully.
Not Hardaway.
He kept bashing Amaechi and other gays as if he were on a personal crusade. It was discrimination in its worst form.
"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team," Hardaway said of Amaechi. "And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that's right.
"And you know I don't think he should be in the locker room while we're in the locker room. I wouldn't even be a part of that."
It's amazing that in 2007, someone could say something so stupid.
Give the NBA credit for distancing itself from Hardaway. Commissioner David Stern banned Hardaway from taking part in any of the league's events during All-Star weekend in Las Vegas, and that was the right thing to do.
"It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," Stern said in a statement.
While Hardaway's controversial comments were way out of line, this is an opportunity for the NBA to use its sport to start a dialogue about gay players in its league.
"This is an issue overall that has fascinated America," Stern said. "It's not an NBA issue. This is a country that needs to talk about this issue."
Just don't talk to Hardaway about it.
Hardaway did apologize for his asinine remarks. But only after realizing the firestorm he created.
"As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause," Hardaway said in a statement released by his agent. "I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions.
"I especially apologize to my fans, friends and family in Miami and Chicago. I am committed to examining my feelings and will recognize, appreciate and respect the differences among people in our society."
Unfortunately, Hardaway's apology was late -- and probably hollow. He will probably be remembered as the player who believed homosexuals don't have a place in this world.
rabbitproof
02-18-2007, 07:10 AM
Tim was out of line.
I don't believe it's a choice and I do believe that no man is qualified to judge his fellow man's actions. Just take care of yourself.
WurzburgBorn
02-18-2007, 10:23 AM
Thought police!
What a terrible liberal PC society we live in that won't even allow basketball players to direct hatred at whatever group of people they want without them being called out for it and not being allowed to represent the league anymore. Tim Hardaway is the clear victim of bigoted discrimination by David Stern and the NBA! What happened to freedom of speech?
lol
bernardos70
02-18-2007, 02:05 PM
The whole issue aside, Hardaway is a complete moron. Did he think there was going to be no repercussion to those comments? As a public person, you have to watch what you say. He has a lot to lose, and he in fact lost it.
And anyone thinking about bringing up the "he has the right to say anything he wants, whether I agree with him or not," go ahead, but I'll hit you right back with "he does, so long as he's prepared to deal with the repercussions."
Dirkadirkastan
02-18-2007, 02:42 PM
True, but what if your friend doesn't believe in God? What if he/she doesn't believe in the same God as you, and therefore views "God's will" differently? What if he/she does believe in the same God but feels that his perspective on this matter are different than yours?
What if a ten-year-old believes his or her parents have no authority? Does that make it so?
bernardos70
02-18-2007, 03:10 PM
Seriously, wtf is the post above? I'm gonna go ahead and abstain from pointing out how bad an analogy that is.
Murphy3
02-18-2007, 04:01 PM
I think we're all in agreeance here that homosexuals are pretty much gay in general.
Dirkadirkastan
02-18-2007, 04:11 PM
Seriously, wtf is the post above? I'm gonna go ahead and abstain from pointing out how bad an analogy that is.
"Perception is reality" is bullshit. I just hate the response "What if I don't believe in God?" because that point is irrelevant. The morality or lack thereof of homosexuality (among many other things) may hinge on the actual existence or nonexistence of God, but not on whether you think God exists or not.
WurzburgBorn
02-18-2007, 05:42 PM
"Perception is reality" is bullshit. I just hate the response "What if I don't believe in God?" because that point is irrelevant. The morality or lack thereof of homosexuality (among many other things) may hinge on the actual existence or nonexistence of God, but not on whether you think God exists or not.
huh?
The only reason untitled used the phrase "belief in God" is because people disagree about it. One could just say "okay, since God clearly does not exist, how can homosexuality be immoral?" but not everyone agrees that God does not exist. That's precisely why the question is presented in terms of some people not "believing" in God. Because people don't all agree. Nobody suggested that "perception is reality."
TheTao
02-19-2007, 12:31 AM
Why is this whole discussion about the locker room? Fact: in the overwhelming majority of jobs a employee does not shower at work. Fact: playing basketball is a job. Fact: a gay person can not legally be discriminated against in the work place. The whole argument about men and women sharing a locker room, as an analogy to gay men and hetero-men sharing one, is moot. If a supervisor said that I HAD to shower in front of either a man or a women at the workplace--I'm a teacher--I would look at them like they were insane, then sue them. Fact: an NBA player who showers in a lockeroom is making a personal choice to do so; nowhere in a contract for NBA employment does it say one MUST shower with the team. If an NBA player does not want to shower in front of other men, he does not have to. If an NBA player does not want to play basketball with a gay man, he does not have to, nor does he then get paid: it's his job to play basketball, he can make the choice.
Murphy3
02-19-2007, 12:43 AM
I think you're missing the point of the gay man making subtle thrusts of his hips towards the heteros.. You know it'd happen. When they aren't looking, the gay guy would be licking his lips and visualizing himself making dirty hard gay sex with the other men. You know that's what Johnny Gay-Gay Amaechi was doing. He was visualizing making unsweet and unclean sexual intercourse to the anuses of every player that he ever 'played with'. I'm sorry, but heteros should not be subjected to such.
And here's what's worse. John Amaechi could have been quietly 'taking care of business' while no one was watching... and then all of a sudden one of his teammates feels something hit him in the back.. Surely it was just water, wasn't it? Nope. It was John Amaechi just finishing up his business.
TheTao
02-19-2007, 01:25 AM
I think you're missing the point of the gay man making subtle thrusts of his hips towards the heteros.. You know it'd happen.
Won't quote the rest because it's plainly inappropriate. Reminds me of the homophobic father in American Beauty, who has repressed thoughts, and rather than confront them kills another man he suspects to be gay. Lots of hate here, towards self and others.
Moreover, clearly one who could say such hateful things, thought them first. A question:
wouldn't a man who fantasized similary about a female co-worker be equally troubled, perverse, and despicable?
The truth is men and women everyday create fantasies about others they encounter in the workplace, in the grocery story, at a bar, etc. It's a sickness...
Just kidding. Regardless of sexual orientation, everyone does think about sex: it's human nature. However, our sexual thoughts are for the most part private, except in which case that we decide to post them in a public basketball forum...
TheTao
02-19-2007, 01:37 AM
I think you're missing the point of the... Too vulgar to quote more.
Vulgarity and Sexual Explicitness -- As a community with a diverse variety of members and readers, we ask that our members to post without using vulgarity. Vulgarity not only includes vulgar language and pictures but also sexist, racist, anti-religious and homophobic language which may offend other members. In addition, the "masking" of vulgarity by inserting * or another keystroke in place of one or more letters in a vulgar term is acceptable in most cases. However, all uses of vulgarity are open to editing or deletion by moderators. We realize that there's a "grey area" of judgment with vulgarity but we ask that you'll respect others by avoiding vulgarity and our right to determine what constitutes it and take appropriate action.
untitled
02-19-2007, 01:42 AM
I'm sorry, but heteros should not be subjected to such.
Tell that to just about every hetero woman in this country. I know I'm guilty of undressing more than a few women with my own eyes. Don't you think that might be a little uncomfortable for them, too?
"Why can't I walk down a street free of suggestion?
Is my body the only trait in the eye's of men?
I've got some skin
You want to look in
There lays no reward in what you discover
You spent yourself watching me suffer
Suffer you words, suffer your eyes, suffer your hands
Suffer your interpretation of what it is to be a man
I've got some skin
You want to look in
She does nothing to deserve it
He only wants to observe it
We sit back like they taught us
We keep quiet like they taught us
He just wants to prove it
She does nothing to remove it
We don't want anyone to mind us
So we play the roles that they assigned us
She does nothing to conceal it
He touches her 'cause he wants to feel it
We blame her for being there
But we are all guilty"
- Ian MacKaye, 1989.
TheTao
02-19-2007, 01:58 AM
Private thoughts AND public words can be acts of violence...
If you have read the posts in this thread, ask yourself "where do I hear HATE?"
untitled
02-19-2007, 02:05 AM
Too vulgar to quote more.
Vulgarity and Sexual Explicitness -- As a community with a diverse variety of members and readers, we ask that our members to post without using vulgarity. Vulgarity not only includes vulgar language and pictures but also sexist, racist, anti-religious and homophobic language which may offend other members. In addition, the "masking" of vulgarity by inserting * or another keystroke in place of one or more letters in a vulgar term is acceptable in most cases. However, all uses of vulgarity are open to editing or deletion by moderators. We realize that there's a "grey area" of judgment with vulgarity but we ask that you'll respect others by avoiding vulgarity and our right to determine what constitutes it and take appropriate action.
C'mon man, lighten up a bit. I agree with you, for the most part, but Murph was just being Murph - and I doubt he meant any harm by it.
This discussion has been pretty interesting and entertaining for me, and everyone seems to be debating these issues in a civil manner. Let's not turn this into a pissing contest or call the mods into the thread to referee.
Murphy3
02-19-2007, 06:08 AM
TheTao, I would sincerely hope that you'd be able to read a post such as mine and see just how over the top it is and realize that it surely cannot be a serious one. Perhaps I wrote the thread to such an extreme manner in one direction to prove a point for the other.
I don't know...it's just a thought.
TheTao
02-19-2007, 11:51 AM
TheTao I would sincerely hope that you'd be able to read a post such as mine and see just how over the top it is and realize that it surely cannot be a serious one.
Point taken. I still think the shower imagery is gross and out of place in a b-ball forum, and also was not sure what you meant; that's why my original post was written so it could be interpreted in two ways: if you were serious, I was suggesting you were a self-loathing sexually repressed bigot, but if you spoke in jest, I was also saying (with a wink) don't we all really think about sex everyday. In terms of the latter, our private sexual thoughts are neither here nor there when it comes to the workplace.
As I said in an earlier post, everyone has the right to work......
alexamenos
02-19-2007, 11:59 AM
Private thoughts AND public words can be acts of violence..."
a) care to guess what I'm thinking?
b) do you feel like a victim of violence?
alexamenos
02-19-2007, 12:02 PM
I think you're missing the point of the gay man making subtle thrusts of his hips towards the heteros.. You know it'd happen. When they aren't looking, the gay guy would be licking his lips and visualizing himself making dirty hard gay sex with the other men. You know that's what Johnny Gay-Gay Amaechi was doing. He was visualizing making unsweet and unclean sexual intercourse to the anuses of every player that he ever 'played with'. I'm sorry, but heteros should not be subjected to such.
And here's what's worse. John Amaechi could have been quietly 'taking care of business' while no one was watching... and then all of a sudden one of his teammates feels something hit him in the back.. Surely it was just water, wasn't it? Nope. It was John Amaechi just finishing up his business.
you could probably write harlequin romance novels if you wanted to.
TheTao
02-19-2007, 12:10 PM
[QUOTE=TheTao]Private thoughts AND public words can be acts of violence...
It IS wrong to harbor hateful thoughts towards a particular group of people because quite often such thoughts lead to violence. If we are honest we'll acknowldge that the logical consequence of hating someone is that one who hates wishes the other dead. Hardaway would never admit this much, but if we follow his thinking to it's logical consequences it would result in him living in a world in which he never had to encounter a gay person: such a world could only exist if people who were gay did not exist. Hardaway's comments are violent because they bring to mind images of Hitler, the Klu Klux Klan, and Stalin--people who actualized their hate.
I think what is important here is for someone that hates to be truly honest about the potential consequences of his or her hate...
alexamenos
02-19-2007, 12:35 PM
It IS wrong to harbor hateful thoughts towards a particular group of people because quite often such thoughts lead to violence.
so you're altering your stance a little bit, here....private thoughts and publics aren't violence per se, but rather they can *often lead to violence*.
.....so Tao, what would you do????
a little preventative warfare on things that may lead to violence....so-n-so may be harboring bad thoughts, so-n-so may be building W. M. D.s (Words of Mean Disposition), perhaps we should invade his house and liberate his pets???
anyhoo....
...what was it jesus said, something like "verily if you even think about bitch slapping a homo, it's as much as doing it for real and i'll jack you up bad for doing it." something along those lines, tho I may be paraphrasing.
point being...most folks, thinking folks at least, living in the christian west have thought one time or another about the ramifications of their thoughts. so, it takes a real arrogant fuck to think spouting whacked out commie chinese i ching nonsense is going to enlighten anyone in the least.
cheers
TheTao
02-19-2007, 02:32 PM
most folks, thinking folks at least, living in the christian west have thought one time or another about the ramifications of their thoughts
This thread is about Hardaway's anti-gay comments and his subsequent public retraction of them. Obviously Hardaway said something before he thought about it, and now that he has been called out by so many (Shaq, Stern, the media, NBA fans, etc.) he has reconsidered his words. I suppose if you get down to it, all the posts in this forum essentially challenge us to reconsider our views on things, from the advantage of starting George over Harris to an ex-NBA player making anti-gay statements. While I have a certain bias towards a starting backcourt of Harris and Terry, I am interested to hear what others think, with the understanding that I may in fact re-think my stance and change my mind. I suspect that you, too, believe that even I might re-think my views, or else why would you have sent a response?
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Quelle, Facebook am Dienstag:The maps will be released today in the US, tomorrow in Europe and on Thursday in Japan. They will be live as soon as the PlayStation Store updates in their specific country.
The maps will be added to all Warzones this Thursday in order to not split the community. But you can create your own private Warzone and invite some friends in order to already play the maps before they are available in all Warzones this Thursday.
Facebook heute:We just updated all the Killzone Intercept Warzones with the two new freely downloadable maps. So when starting a Quick, Regular or Long Warzone in Killzone Intercept you can now also choose to play on The Containment City and The Checkpoint maps.
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Nike's New Smart NBA Jerseys Are Evidence We're in the Future
Nike released Cleveland's new "Statement Edition" uniforms on Friday night and, as did the old black uniforms, the new threads feature the Cavaliers "C" upon the chest with a black base. For the Clippers, Blake Griffin unveiled a predominantly black uniform.
According to Nike, the design is inspired by the teams' "desire to make a bold statement the moment they step on the court".
As many would have expected, the Lakers jersey did not see much of a change.
Nike unveiled the new uni's in grand fashion as they invited one player from each team to model their respective cities.
In addition to the jerseys, the players also debuted a new hoody warmup jacket as well.
Nike has taken over the NBA's uniform contract this year and rolled out some new and classic looks. However, one of the more interesting announcement was Nike's new NBA Connected Jersey, which fans can buy. The tags work in conjunction with the NikeConnect app to bring to your smartphone pre-game arrival video, game highlights, and music playlists from National Basketball Association stars.
At the event, Nike had a representative player from every team come out in a hoodie to hide the new jerseys. Fans can get the other new ones starting September 29.
This is one of the four different types of alternate uniforms teams will sport next season.
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In honor of today’s Net Neutrality National Day of Action, Senator Tester challenged Senator Booker to a game of one-on-one basketball—their own little #BattleForTheNet if you will—to highlight the bill gaining steam in the Senate to overturn the FCC’s decision to repeal Net Neutrality (aka a free and open internet).
In the video, Tester and Booker urge folks to “get in the game” by calling their Senators and asking them to sign onto this bill to protect a free and open internet—“We just need #OneMoreVote to #SaveTheInternet and preserve #NetNeutrality.”
Tester has repeatedly slammed the FCC’s decision to repeal Net Neutrality, arguing that “Montanans expect unfettered access to the web, which means absolutely no blocking websites, no paid prioritization, and no throttling speeds” and urging the FCC to “listen to the thousands of Montanans who have contacted my office and preserve our free and open internet.”
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox – 100% Confused what an AG does, 85% Opposes Net Neutrality – Disappeared like a fox in the night when pressed for a stance, most likely favors gutting net neutrality.
Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte – 100% Opposes Net Neutrality, 200% Hypocrite – Likes the moneymaking side of the internet, not the free speech or openness part. “Two years ago the Obama administration imposed regulations on the internet that were a solution looking for a problem that didn’t exist.”
That’s a rational discussion of a complex policy issue from Montana’s only vote that Paul Ryan owns.
Montana politicians vastly differ in their response to the FCC’s decision to gut net neutrality. Some elected officials are working to save net neutrality with cutting-edge solutions like Governor Steve Bullock and Senator Jon Tester, while politicians like junior Senator Steve Daines is “Making Net Neutrality a Thing of the Past”, those are Sen. Daines words from his own press release.
Sen. Daines finds himself relegated to the leftover policy burps of Roger Koopman’s antiquated views of the internet that were hatched in a Heritage Foundation laboratory to maximize the profits of mega-telecommunications giants that would profit from the end of net neutrality. Roger Koopman is the not the type of guy that anyone should be getting policy ideas from, but Steve Daines manages to lower the bar on a consistent basis.
Sadly, Steve Daines is the deciding vote on whether net neutrality will be destroyed by the Trump administration. The fight for net neutrality is not yet over as the U.S. Senate can overturn the decision of the FCC to abandon net neutrality. Currently, only one more vote is needed to overturn the FCC’s decision.
Steve Daines is the deciding vote on whether net neutrality exists or dies.
“We will fight the FCC’s decisions in the courts, and we will fight it in the halls of Congress,” declared [Massachusetts Senator Ed] Markey, who moved immediately to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to undo the FCC’s “historic mistake.”
“With this CRA,” the Democrat who has long been a key congressional leader on communications issues explained, “Congress can correct the Commission’s misguided and partisan decision and keep the internet in the hands of the people, not big corporations.” via The Nation
The battle to save net neutrality is also in the courts as:
A coalition of 22 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia on Thursday refiled legal challenges intended to block the Trump administration’s repeal of landmark rules designed to ensure a free and open internet from taking effect. via Reuters
The Montana Post was the first to report that Montana Attorney General Tim Fox had refused to join this lawsuit to save net neutrality and instead chose to offer to no stance on the issue whatsoever. Not only is this unhelpful, it is cowardly. As an elected official, it is essential to acknowledge where you stand on crucial issues. Attorney General Fox has tacitly sided with ending net neutrality by refusing to intervene in the lawsuit to save it on Montanan’s behalf.
So, that’s the lay of the land on where Montana elected officials stand on net neutrality.
Tester took to the court to fight for it and it’s in the courts being battled over.
Bullock stood up to the FCC and has inspired governors all over America to join him.
While Steve Daines and Greg Gianforte wait for the kickbacks to roll in from their destructive stance against net neutrality.
Tim Fox is waiting to see how it pans out before he weighs in, too controversial an issue for him to comment or maybe just too complicated for him to understand.
If you appreciate an independent voice holding Montana politicians accountable and informing voters, and you can throw a few dollars a month our way, we would certainly appreciate it.
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The essential Amanda Hess gets right to the heart of Robin Givhan’s departure from the Post by assembling a collection of her nastiest snipes at the way people — mainly women — dress. Among the hilari-terrible results:
On then-United States Senator Hillary Clinton, upon the revelation of a hint of cleavage on the Senate floor: “It’s tempting to say that the cleavage stirs the same kind of discomfort that might be churned up after spotting Rudy Giuliani with his shirt unbuttoned just a smidge too far. No one wants to see that. But really, it was more like catching a man with his fly unzipped. Just look away! . . . To display cleavage in a setting that does not involve cocktails and hors d’oeuvres is a provocation. It requires that a woman be utterly at ease in her skin, coolly confident about her appearance, unflinching about her sense of style. Any hint of ambivalence makes everyone uncomfortable.” BONUS DEEPLY UNFLATTERING COMMENTARY ON HILLARY CLINTON’S CLEAVAGE: “unnerving.”
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Latest Magazines
Liverpool, Spurs through to last 16 in dramatic night
Wednesday December 12 2018
In Summary
Liverpool knew victory by two goals or a 1-0 triumph would put them through to the last 16 from Group C, and Salah's cool 34th-minute strike proved enough as they finished ahead of Napoli on goals scored.
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Paris. Mohamed Salah's first-half goal and a stunning late save from goalkeeper Alisson saw Liverpool edge into the Champions League knockout stage after a tense 1-0 win over Napoli on Tuesday, while Lucas Moura's late strike saw Tottenham progress with a draw at Barcelona.
Last year's runners-up Liverpool knew victory by two goals or a 1-0 triumph would put them through to the last 16 from Group C, and Salah's cool 34th-minute strike proved enough as they finished ahead of Napoli on goals scored.
"Wow, what a game. I am not sure a manager could be prouder of a team than I am," Reds boss Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport.
Paris Saint-Germain reached the knockout rounds as group winners thanks to a 4-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade, with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani all on the scoresheet.
Liverpool grabbed the crucial goal at a raucous Anfield, as Salah jinked past Kalidou Koulibaly inside the area and slotted the ball beyond goalkeeper David Ospina.
Salah, who had already wasted an earlier chance with a heavy touch, continued to run Napoli ragged early in the second half, but Ospina saved from Jordan Henderson and James Milner curled wide as Carlo Ancelotti's men stayed a goal from turning the group on its head.
The atmosphere around Anfield became increasingly tense as the Premier League leaders continued to miss opportunities, with Ospina springing to his left to tip away Salah's attempted lob before denying Mane from point-blank range.
Senegal forward Mane was guilty of two further snatched efforts in front of goal, and Napoli almost made the Reds pay in the dying moments.
The ball fell for substitute striker Arkadiusz Milik unmarked in the area, but Alisson raced from his line to keep out the Pole's strike with his legs.
"I have no idea how Alisson made a save like this," gushed Klopp. "It was amazing."
PSG went into their match in Belgrade knowing that victory would send them through, and Edinson Cavani gave the French champions the perfect start by tapping in after an excellent run and pass by Kylian Mbappe.
Neymar's strike five minutes before half-time appeared to have put the game to bed, but Red Star, who had already beaten Liverpool and held Napoli in Serbia earlier in the campaign, pulled one back before the hour mark through Marko Gobeljic.
But PSG finally sealed their spot in the last 16 as Marquinhos headed in Angel Di Maria's free-kick with 16 minutes to go and Mbappe added further gloss to the scoreline in added time.
"We made mistakes, but I really liked the reaction after Belgrade's goal. We controlled the match," PSG coach Thomas Tuchel told RMC Sport.
- Spurs come back from the brink -
Spurs went into their final Group B game at the Camp Nou needing to match Inter Milan's result against PSV Eindhoven in Italy, but Mauricio Pochettino's side fell behind in only the seventh minute as Ousmane Dembele scored a wonderful individual goal.
Hirving Lozano gave PSV a shock early advantage at the San Siro, though, to leave Tottenham heading through as it stood.
|
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30 Roses (30 perfume reviews)
This circle was started by a member called "30 Roses". In her generosity, she (and a few other folks) provided some perfume samples for the group to try. In fact, to be specific,we each get to sample thirty perfumes; each has a rose note or element to them.
Two boxes have been sent around. I got the first go at one of them. Members of the group each take turns sampling the scents and, if they like, writing up their impressions.
I have never been a huge rose fan, to be honest. Well, I mean, I love roses... they're beautiful! I don't really have the patience to grow roses. And I don't particularly want to smell like them. Or so I thought...
Here are my thoughts on the thirty (THIRTY!) perfumes I got to try:
Une Rose Chypree (Andy Tauer)
I could write poetry about this scent! Well, if I were poetic, I could. Instead, let me just explain my experience. First: a little goes a LONG way. This is potent stuff. It opened with what seemed almost like a candied rose, but with that not-so-spicy cinnamon-sugar we used to sprinkle on toast when I was little. I started to smell a citrus - I guessed orange, but I'm clearly not good with citrus notes yet. It was clementine. Bergamot, which I still can't pick out, is also listed.
I was starting to imagine roses in a bowl of Fruit Loops (sans milk), but somehow it wasn't childish or foody. Definitely a "green" aspect I couldn't guess (notes say Bourbon geranium - I guess that's it). About 10 minutes in, the rose opens up fully, but still has a slight tangerine tinge.
Twenty minutes later, I started picking up some slightly-spicy woody nuances, and a half an hour after that: cinnamon + rose + vetiver, all undulating. This has a definite vintage flavor and is neither bright nor brooding. It's amazingly grounded but light, somehow. I'd wear it anywhere, but with only a slight dab... Like I said: powerful! I'm going to get my own sample and decide if this is FBW. I bet it is. :)
NOTE: I stupidly dabbed this near a slight scratch on my hand, and it's itching like mad. If you have sensitive skin, you may want to consider that, though it's probably just me.
Edited to add: the drydown also features an amazing oakmoss and labdanum and vanilla and patchouli blend that make everything super creamy and velvety. I love this scent!
Voluer de rose (L'Artisan Parfumeur)
Patchiuli. Dry patchouli. On me a lot of the time, patchouli takes over all else. This is one of those times. It's a nice patchouli, though!
Bergamot and rose when wet, which then becomes a very linear caramel sugar-dipped rose. It's sweet, like a praline, but not teeth achingly so. I think that's because a faint, gentle tea note balances the sweetness. This is an excellent perfume and I will be getting a decant or sample and then, probably, a bottle.
Harrod's Rose (Bond No. 9)
Perfume + a rose. A blast of sparkling perfume and a rose. It really smelled amusingly like an effervescent generic-but-nice perfume and a big rose to me! It made me giggle. That was only for a moment, then it became big white florals (tuberose, mainly) with a huge white rose in the middle! Not too-much tuberose, not too-much rose. Well-balanced. Really nice, but it reminds me of something (not Fracas) that I think I have...maybe the heart of Carolina Herrera?
Attempt One: Opens with uber-quick aldehydes, and then totally disappears. WTH? Must be a musk I can't pick up. Hubby and eldest child can smell it. Eventually (5-8 minutes later) a soft violet-rose with a touch of powder lying over a base of a faint amber. Despite the very faint nature, I want to say I love this. I get more from sillage than up close; this is the first time I've encountered that as a fledgling purfumista-ita.
Second wearing: Aldehydes? Check.
Missing minutes? Nope. Straight into a rose-tinged, creamy violet and iris. There may be a pinch of patchouli in the base, but only a little. I'm going to have to get my own sample to experiment with. For one thing, I saw a review that suggested the rose is more prominent when sprayed instead of dabbed. Also, I think I love this...or maybe I want to love this. That's not the same thing. Something is bugging me about this. Maybe I just want it to be... more? Have some oomph it doesn't currently have? More research needed.
I was interested to smell this, since I enjoy the real deal smell. I was crushed to find Canabis Rose started with a metallic anisenote that briskly turned into a pile of sweet tobacco. That's it - linear for about an hour at which point I scrubbed. Tobacco notes give me migraines. I wasn't fast enough and the migraine is here. In case you were wondering, the throw is good - hubby asked me from across the room what I was wearing (and said "thank god!" when I washed it off).
I tried to put on another scent but the tobacco kept rebounding - that sh*t is tenacious! I took a hot and long shower to get it off. I never smelled rose, nor did I get the munchies
Coriandre (Jean Couturier)Gorgeous green opening, with oakmoss and vetiver and a floral blend taking over. The slight bite of coriander is perfection! This is pretty linear, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Will seek out a vintage bottle, definitely.
Rose of Kali (Neil Morris)
The first thing I smelled was a pear + chocolate blend, which sounds a lot weirder than it really was. That was quick. The first main theme is a green, chocolatey rose blend. There's a hint of pear there, too. This is so strange, but smells amazing!
Fuchsia rose. Red rose. Lotsa big red rose.And then all of a sudden it pulls back and tingles with a raspberry note (which I would have noticed, but not been able to identify). Then it turned to plastic. :sadface:
American Beauty (Dawn Spencer Hurowitz)
Very sharp and chemical scent. I scrubbed. :(
I hate saying that. I haven't tried any other DSH scents, but aim to do so. This vial was marked "prototype" and I wonder if it has turned? I have to admit, I was so repelled I wouldn't even try this again! I'm sorry, DSH fans... I wanted to be wowed, I really did! I won't be holding this against the line, though, because everyone speaks sooo highly of it.
Edited to add a GIGANTIC retraction/correction! I took a look at Warum's comment below and chastised myself into trying American Beauty again. The opening was a little rough for me (somewhat mentholated and minty - not my favorite), but it wasn't whatever-the-hell-happened the first time! Slowly, a rose bloomed. And bloomed. And bloomed some more. A big vaseful or gorgeous roses. Gradually, a wonderfully woody base was exposed. And I do mean gradually. It's almost molecule by molecule, a subtle switch to a gorgeous base that, on me, is patchouli-dominant but not at all overbearing. Really, really nice. Warum, thanks for unintentionally guilting me into a re-try!
It's pretty much rose to start out (a pretty rose), though there was a tiny bite of something sharp and nasty for a moment at the beginning. I often pick up base notes then, so maybe it was the castoreum?A rose frozen in amber? I dabbed a bit on a second time, and really loved the ambery dry-down. Must try a decant and experience this more!
1000 (Patou)
I love this. Stunning. Woody and honeyed and lovely glowing florals. I am short on words with this one not because it's basic or simple, but because I think it's got so many facets and movements I don't dare talk about it when I only got such a brief sample period with it.
Paris Jardins Romantique (YSL)
Floral burst, slightly soapy. Roses and lilacs are prominent to my nose. Very Spring-y and pretty. Would be a lovely young woman's or wedding scent.
Lierre Rose (Parfums 06130)Ylang-jasmine bomb. An 80's scent like Sung meets Chinatown (Bond No. 9) minus the peach and patchouli (though I do believe there is some patch here, just not a ton). Pretty, strong, floral.
Leaves. Take some strongly scented leaves, toss in blender. That's the opening to this perfume. PS: pine needles are pine trees' leaves - don't forget one or two in your brew! You know... I really like this! Very green. It's pretty intense, though, so memo to self: go lightly.
Sa Majeste la Rose (Serge Lutens)
A pretty Moroccan rose. It starts strong, then becomes a slightly powdered, honeyed beauty on top of some pretty woods. Should I ever want a rose soliflore, this would be it.
So, am I a rose convert? Totally! Well, to a degree. I will give rose scents a chance, definitely, but I think I only need one good rose soliflore in my life. I'm not so into smelling like a giant rose. But rose in a blend? Absolutely
A few of the scents I got to try will definitely find their way into my collection. In fact, a few already have! I stumbled upon a mini Paris and a mini Coriandre while antiquing this past weekend! I'll still add large bottles when I encounter them, though.
Hey, I am the one who added the American Beauty prototype in the mix. Prototype means that it was not the final version. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz was having a sale of these in her Essence studio. She told that it is very similar to the final version.
I am sorry you did not like it, it's an unusual rose I think, but she has other roses as well.American Beauty is Rose #1, and she has roses #2,3, and 4. Her June bride features a rose as well.
Great blog, Jen! you went above and beyond with the reviews, which were a pleasure to read.
Just one comment about the poor longevity of AG Rose Absolue. This is because the sample included is not the Eau de Parfum, which is quite a bit stronger and longer lasting, but the newly released (2010) "Eau Parfumée", which is being sold in 100ml bottles.
Rose Splendide is also a 2010 Eau Parfumée release. The third 2010 Eau Parfumée is a lighter version of Quel Amour; however, the sample in this box is the stronger edp.)
I would particularly caution readers that if they see 100ml bottles of Rose Absolue edp on eBay, they should assume they are actually the weaker Eau Parfumée, and check with the seller before buying. The unfortunatel similarity between the two terms creates confusion among buyers and sellers alike.
bosnishmuslimaThanks so much for your comment and suggestions! I'm deligently taking notes. I admit to being wary of Amouage, though. It's not just the price point, but I'm also confused and overwhelmed by the website and broad selection. Homage is a great place to start, so thank you! Also, I keep hearing about Taif - must check it out.xoxo*jen
Warum, thanks for the kick in the pants! I ammended my notes above to reflect my second try with American Beauty. This time it turned quite lovely, though the opening is still not my favorite. Thanks again!xoxo,*jen
jen, you perfectly described what my experience with Citizen Queen was! That is so bizarre to me... that first you put it on, then BLAMO, then nothing... then... love? I spent more time with this one before making a decision about it than almost any other perfume in my collection. It's a little challenging, but in a really good way. I've since come to adore it, and, since I have the oil version in the purse bullet, I keep it close to hand at all times. A little whiff is guaranteed to make my day!
Ooooops, dear, do you believe that kick in the pants was NOT what I meant? Do I come across not as my normally funny, cheerful and reflective self? :) I did not intend to send you on a guilt trip, but I am glad that you retried. More than one fragrance I tried and got the wrong impression, then tried again and found it lovely! (this is my story of Sensuous -- first try: peppery bugspray, 2nd try -- liquid honey!)
I had similar experiences with American Beauty (found it harsh) and Citizen Queen (I think I am anosmic to something in there, as well as HYPERosmic to a woody amber material in it; I felt it was both harsh and not very rosy). We must have similar noses! (Also, Bond No. 9 Saks en Rose reminded me of Carolina Herrera -- I wonder if the Harrods version is basically the same?)
I'm happy to hear you like Neil Morris Rose of Kali! I just ordered a sample last night. I was unsure of the chocolate note, but Neil himself recommended it upon learning I was a rose lover. He has a new rose fragrance called "A Rose is a Rose" which I also ordered. It's not listed on his site yet, but if anyone is interested in buying a sample, you just order any "Vault" sample, and say you want "A Rose is a Rose" instead. (not affiliated, btw)
I love your blog. I look forward to catching up on your past entries and new posts to come.
Frida, we have some picks in common? Cool! That's always valdidating.:) I wonder if I smelled some of these now what I'd think, now that my nose is a bit more mature? I did end up with Citizen Queen and Une Rose Chypree in my stash, and am searching for a few of the others here. Fun sample pass! xoxo
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About Me
I am a mom who writes and paints faces - not usually at the same time, but if it paid well I wouldn't rule it out. I edit things to make sure them is written goodly. I am a champion napper. I am trying to appreciate the beauty in the world. You probably would hate me in the AM because I am a morning person. In fact, I'm generally positive; my cup is half full (hint: it's booze). My soapbox is domestic violence, specifically emotional, verbal, and financial abuse. Oh, and I like taking pictures of things.
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SOOCAS X3 Sonic Electric Toothbrush
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Ship between:
Jan 07 - Jan 09,
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Description:Taking care of your oral health is easy with SOOCAS electric toothbrush, it can effectively remove bacterial plaque and reduce gingiva necrosis, very practical and convenient. It is also a thoughtful gift for your parents and friends.
Main Features:• Taking care of your oral health is easy with X3 electric toothbrush• This sonic electric toothbrush can effectively remove bacterial plaque and reduce gingiva necrosis • It gives you the new brushing experience•Smart wireless charging: the base can automatically identify the electric brush, very convenient for you to use•Long service time: built-in 1000mAh lithium-ion battery, the charging time is about 16 hours, the usage time is about 25 days•Customized setting: you can set or choose the mode, intensity and brushing time through your phone•Bluetooth connectivity: you can connect the electric brush with your phone by Bluetooth, the APP will show you some information, such as the cleaning degree, the residual electricity, the time for replacing brush head•The whole body is washable: the whole body is IPX7 waterproof level• Fine workmanship: with beautiful and compact appearance, this electric toothbrush also gives you the sense of beauty •Rated voltage: 110 - 240V•Charging time: about 16h
Note:• it is needed to bind the toothbrush before using.• No need to connect Bluetooth during using, and you can syc the data after use in the APP. ( it can not work normally when connecting Bluetooth )
I've never used electric toothbrush before, just the manual one and I'm so happy that I've bought this one. But let's start from the beginning. The delivery was quick and there was no problem at all with it. The package is extraordinary. There is a well-designed box with extra film. Everything is perfect inside. There was also added extra EU plug.The toothbrush design is amazing. It fits very well in the hand and the surface is dull and will not slip easily. The battery seems to be very good. After two weeks it still shows 2/3 dots without charging. I didn't try to connect it to the app yet but will do it soon.The most important thing is the feeling after brushing teeth. It is just awesome. I've never felt so clean teeth before. Moreover, I think it removed all tartar from my lower jaw I use to get very easily, just after two weeks of usage. I'm going definitely to recommend it to my family and friends because it is a great price to quality.
I've never used electric toothbrush before, just the manual one and I'm so happy that I've bought this one. But let's start from the beginning. The delivery was quick and there was no problem at all with it. The package is extraordinary. There is a well-designed box with extra film. Everything is perfect inside. There was also added extra EU plug. The toothbrush design is amazing. It fits very well in the hand and the surface is dull and will not slip easily. The battery seems to be very good. After two weeks it still shows 2/3 dots without charging. I didn't try to connect it to the app yet but will do it soon. The most important thing is the feeling after brushing teeth. It is just awesome. I've never felt so clean teeth before. Moreover, I think it removed all tartar from my lower jaw I use to get very easily, just after two weeks of usage. I'm going definitely to recommend it to my family and friends because it is a great price to quality.
Hello Ataf，We will send an adaptor according to the order's country of delivery.
Q
Does it have a two minute timer?
By Kevin Apr-07/2018 18:55:39
A
Hello Kevin,
Yes, the duration of the cleaning mode is 2 minutes. Thank you.
Q
Is eu plug included?
By Natalia Mar-27/2018 16:43:30
A
Hello Natalia,
We will send an adapter with all our products according to the order's country of delivery.
Q
Hello,
Is it possible to ship this item to the following address in China?
Yu hua qu, Zhufeng 218, Building number 60-2, number 704 ( 裕华区，珠峰大街218号，水榭花都60号楼2单元704, 地址2: 是客户编号)
Regards,
Ararat
By Ararat Mar-18/2018 20:52:56
A
Hello Ararat,
We are sincerely sorry that we are unable to ship the item to China.Hope you may understand us.
Q
Hello,
I want to buy a white oval Soocare X3 toothbrush. However I am unsure how to choose the silver button option over the golden one.
In the pictures you see both. The Video of the girl talking about the brush has also a silver button, but the overlaid picture has a golden one.
Thank you!
By Vitorio Feb-22/2018 21:53:02
A
Hello Vitorio,
The Button is golden oval.Thank you.
Q
Hello.
Is white oval new 2nd updated generation ?
By Konstantin Feb-01/2018 12:21:50
A
Hello Konstantin, Thanks for your inquiry.
Yes, the white oval button is the updated version.
Q
Hello.
Is the white oval the upgraded (updated) version ?
Is there a difference in this ones and xiaomi x3 ones ?
By Konstantin Jan-31/2018 20:26:21
A
Hello Konstantin,
Yes,it is white oval the upgraded (updated) version.
This compared to the smaller toothbrush toothbrush difference is: 1.life is longer than the xiaomi, 2.the internal motor is slightly stronger xiaomi, 3.body buttons are for the metal buttons (millet is plastic ).
Q
I would like to know what is the average life time of the brush head. About how long until it needs to be replaced? Thanks
Hello Ataf，We will send an adaptor according to the order's country of delivery.
Q
Does it have a two minute timer?
By Kevin Apr-07/2018 18:55:39
A
Hello Kevin,
Yes, the duration of the cleaning mode is 2 minutes. Thank you.
Q
Is eu plug included?
By Natalia Mar-27/2018 16:43:30
A
Hello Natalia,
We will send an adapter with all our products according to the order's country of delivery.
Q
Hello,
I want to buy a white oval Soocare X3 toothbrush. However I am unsure how to choose the silver button option over the golden one.
In the pictures you see both. The Video of the girl talking about the brush has also a silver button, but the overlaid picture has a golden one.
Thank you!
By Vitorio Feb-22/2018 21:53:02
A
Hello Vitorio,
The Button is golden oval.Thank you.
Q
Hello.
Is white oval new 2nd updated generation ?
By Konstantin Feb-01/2018 12:21:50
A
Hello Konstantin, Thanks for your inquiry.
Yes, the white oval button is the updated version.
Q
Hello.
Is the white oval the upgraded (updated) version ?
Is there a difference in this ones and xiaomi x3 ones ?
By Konstantin Jan-31/2018 20:26:21
A
Hello Konstantin,
Yes,it is white oval the upgraded (updated) version.
This compared to the smaller toothbrush toothbrush difference is: 1.life is longer than the xiaomi, 2.the internal motor is slightly stronger xiaomi, 3.body buttons are for the metal buttons (millet is plastic ).
Q
Hi, is the Black and Gold the updated version with the Oval button?
By lionel Dec-04/2017 05:59:43
A
Hello lionel, Thanks for your inquiry.
Yes. It is the the updated version with the Oval button.
Q
Hi does this come with an Australia plug? Or do i need to use an adaptor?
By Brian Oct-13/2017 13:47:13
A
Hello Brian,
We will send an adapter with all our products according to the order's country of delivery.
Q
Does it come with Aus plug? Or do we need an adaptor?
By Brian Oct-13/2017 13:22:30
A
Hello Brian,
We will send an adapter with all our products according to the order's country of delivery.
Q
Hi! This item is in stock?
By GreyWolf Jul-11/2017 05:11:28
A
Hello GreyWolf,
Yes, this item in stock now.
Be the FIRST to Ask a Question. Want GB Points? Just Write a Review!
Q
You can specify the shipping cost of € 22 per tax
By Gytis Jun-10/2018 20:09:49
A
Hello Gytis,
If any taxes are incurred, they are charged by the destination country and not by Gearbest. Taxes are beyond Gearbest's control and are charged according to local customs policies and regulations.
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6.84
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Iron nanoparticles could bring organs back from a deep freeze
While the technique still needs to be scaled up, it might one day be possible to store organs at deep temperatures and then defrost them for use when needed without damaging them(Credit: blueringmedia/Depositphotos)
According to researchers at the University of Minnesota (UM), over 60 percent of the hearts and lungs donated for transplantation every year need to be disposed of because they can't be stored on ice for longer than four hours. While deep-freezing techniques exist to preserve organs for longer period of times (cryopreservation), they get damaged when being reheated. The UM researchers believe they've solved this problem thanks to tiny microscopic particles.
The process of vitrification involves cooling biological materials to temperatures of between -160 and -196 degrees Celsius. The rapid cooling of tissue to these temperatures along with a cryopreservative causes the tissue to enter a glass-like state without damaging ice forming. While this has proven a successful preservation method, when it's time to bring the tissue out of the deep-freeze, current convection-based warming techniques cause it to heat unevenly, which makes different parts of the tissue expand at different rates and can lead to tears and cracks. Speed and even heating are the keys to preventing this from happening.
According to the UM researchers, current methods can only warm small volumes of tissue measuring about 1 ml. Their new method can heat samples up to 80 ml and it can heat them at the rate of more than 130 degrees Celsius per minute.
The method involves placing silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles in the cryopreservative before the the tissue is cooled. Then, when it's time to rewarm the tissue, the particles are beamed with electromagnetic waves which causes them to heat up, effectively meaning there are thousands of heaters surrounding the tissue warming up rapidly and at the same time.
The researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of the technique on fibroblasts (connective tissue found in animals), and on pig arteries and heart tissue. Compared to sample tissues that were rewarmed slowly over ice, the new technique showed no signs of harm to the test material.
"We've gone to the limits of what we can do at very high temperatures and very low temperatures in these different areas," said UM mechanical and biomedical engineering professor John Bischof, the senior author of the study. "Usually when you go to the limits, you end up finding out something new and interesting. These results are very exciting and could have a huge societal benefit if we could someday bank organs for transplant."
The researchers say the next step is to scale up the method and try it out on actual organs. They plan to start with the organs of smaller animals like rabbits and rats and then move on to pig organs. If that's successful, they are hopeful that they'll be able to try out the technique on human organs. They also indicate that their system might have applications outside of cryopreservation, and could, for example, be used to deliver deadly pulses of heat to cancer cells.
A preserved heart valve in the foreground with the RF coil used to generate electromagnetic waves behind it(Credit: University of Minnesota)
A transmission electron microscopy image of the iron oxide nanoparticles coated with silica(Credit: Haynes research group/University of Minnesota)
While the technique still needs to be scaled up, it might one day be possible to store organs at deep temperatures and then defrost them for use when needed without damaging them(Credit: <a href="http://depositphotos.com/68678713/stock-illustration-internal-organs.html" rel="nofollow">blueringmedia/Depositphotos</a>)
Professor Bischof removing a cryopreserved sample(Credit: University of Minnesota)
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Search form
The F Word: Why Tax When You Can Freeze?
Corporate profits are up, especially in finance, and yet hiring and wages aren't. No matter how much productivity spikes, wages stay stagnant. They haven't budged. That means workers doing more work for less pay. So what's a Democratic administration to do?
Freeze federal workers' wages! That's what. President Obama on Monday announced a two year pay freeze for civilian federal workers. "The hard truth" is that controlling the deficit's going to "require some broad sacrifice" that public workers are going to have to share in, said the Pres.
A brave move to take on those overpriced slackers on the federal dime. . . Right?
Not quite. Federal workers are an easy target because it's been drilled into us that public workers are soaking up taxpayer largesse. But it's not true. As Lawrence Mishel at the Economic Policy Institute notes, federal workers' pay actually lags behind the private sector about 22%--according to the government's own figures.
And although that $2 billion Obama estimates he'll save in cost-of-living increases for federal employees sounds like a lot of money, it isn't. I mean, compare it to the $700 billion that we handed over to Wall Street, or the $700 billion we pour into the war budget...
But where else is the government going to get $2 billion? Well, journalist and Das Krapital blogger Moe Tkacik points out that if we wanted to raise taxes on the wealthiest one percent instead, we'd have to raise them a whole lot! Like, 0.072 percentage points! (“Tax only billionaires and centimillionaires, and you could do it with an extra 0.275% in taxes at most," she notes.)
But why tax bailed-out billionaires when there are struggling federal workers you can squeeze?
And a public employees union you can stick it to?
I mean, who ELSE are they going to vote for?
The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv and editor ofAt The Tea Party, out now from OR Books. GRITtv broadcasts weekdays on DISH Network and DIRECTv, on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter and be our friend on Facebook.
Liked this article? Join our email listStay up to date with the latest headlines via email
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Why Should You Put Onions In Your Socks Before Going To Bed?
Most of us must have heard it at some point that the bottom of our feet is connected to our organs in one way or the other. In the Chinese medicine, it is believed that there are direct access points on our feet called ‘meridians’. They work as pathways to different organs.
There are those who don’t agree to the existence of meridians. But there are experts who understand Chinese medicine and claim that the meridian system has close correlation with our nervous system. We all know that we have a nervous system with nerves. Similarly, you must also know that we have meridians.
You will be amazed to know that there are around 7,000 meridians on the bottom of your feet where you have the nerve endings. These meridians are directly connected to the different organs. These points are usually dormant, as we wear shoes most of the time. Most of us don’t do any acupuncture for helping the nerves or meridians. But they are quite powerful electrical circuits. If you can’t get acupuncture, there is a simple way to stimulate your meridians. You can simply start walking barefoot.
Don’t just walk barefoot; you can add more to the treatment by using this method. Onions are great air purifiers. When you apply them topically on your skin, they help in killing bacteria and germs too. So you don’t have to just walk barefoot. Besides, walking barefoot will also help get the benefits of the negative ion field of the earth. Onions also have phosphoric acid, which when it enters your bloodstream, helps in purifying your blood. This is the same substance that brings tears to your eyes when an onion is cut.
Make sure that you don’t reuse onions because they can gather bacteria and germs when left as such. The following methods will help you in purifying your blood and killing bacteria and germs.
1. Take organic onions and cut them into slices (Red/white onions)
Organic onions are recommended, as they don’t have all the chemicals such as pesticides. This will ensure that these chemicals don’t enter your bloodstream through your feet. Cut flat slices out of the onion that can be easily applied on your feet’s bottom. You would want to keep your feet immersed with onion when you are asleep.
2. Insert an onion slice into a sock and sleep wearing it
When you are asleep, onion’s natural healing powers will take action through the skin. This process is known as trans-dermal application, and it helps in so many ways:
– Purification of blood
– Destruction of germs and bacteria
– Absorption of toxins
Besides, onion is also great in purifying the air.
In fact, there is an interesting story of how onions were used during the plagues in the U.K. Onions would be chopped and left in rooms for purifying the air and preventing infections and flu.
Why Add an Onion Slice in Your Sock Before Sleeping?
There are so many benefits of putting a slice of onion in your sock before sleeping:
– It helps in killing germs, bacteria and pathogens. Both onion and garlic are known for their powerful anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.
– Onion also helps in purifying the air. Bad odor is a common problem associated with your feet. The onion slice will not only help in purifying the air, it will also remove foot odor. It will also help in absorbing all the chemicals and toxins around you.
– Onion slices also help in purifying your blood. The phosphoric acid present in onion gets absorbed by your skin. It will enter your bloodstream and help with blood purification.
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A MOVING DISPUTE
The city says the owner of the shop near YSU doesn’t have the needed zoning to expand there.
YOUNGSTOWN — Joseph Grenga is considering whether to keep fighting Youngstown State University’s attempt to take his West Rayen Avenue building for a campus expansion project.
The 80-year-old machine shop owner is convinced the city and university have wronged him by opting to take his property via eminent domain, but he wanted to put off a decision until after Christmas.
He said the building is worth fighting for even though he has used it only to store his industrial equipment for the past seven years.
He operates Grenga Machine and Welding Co. about a mile away on the South Side, and he’d like to begin rebuilding lathes, grinders, drill presses and other equipment at the Rayen Avenue site. His other location on Wayne Avenue is so packed with equipment that he doesn’t have room to work on them, he said.
To retain the Rayen Avenue building, he would have to win an appeal of last week’s decision by Magistrate Dennis Sarisky and Judge James C. Evans, both of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Their rulings allowed the city to take the property so Hazel Street could be extended to better connect downtown with the university. The street project is part of the construction of YSU’s new $34 million business school.
Grenga has until Tuesday to appeal.
City officials, however, dispute that Grenga could use the Rayen Avenue building for an expansion of his business, even if he did win the case.
City officials said the property is zoned institutional, but he would need industrial zoning to operate a machine shop or repair machines.
The city’s planning commission is unlikely to approve that zone change, said William D’Avignon, the city’s community development agency director, who runs the planning and zoning department.
An industrial use of the building wouldn’t be in compliance with Youngstown 2010, the city’s development plan, D’Avignon said. The building was used for commercial purposes before Grenga bought it, he said.
“He couldn’t use it as industrial because it was never zoned industrial and was never used as an industrial site,” D’Avignon said. “It was only used for storage, which is permitted there.”
Grenga said he thinks he already has industrial zoning.
On a tour of the building this week with The Vindicator, no electricity or heat was on. In order to navigate his way through the building, Grenga used a flashlight.
In a storage area that is lit with light from windows, Grenga keeps a variety of industrial machines that are lined up tightly next to each other. He said he wants to rebuild and sell some of them and repair others so they could used in his business.
Grenga said he has 10 full-time employees at his South Side machine shop. On a recent visit to the Wayne Avenue building, two employees were fabricating metal spools that Grenga said a customer would use to wind steel into coils.
He said his father, Anthony, started the business in 1933. It’s clear that over the years Grenga has acquired a large number of machines. In addition to a cramped production floor, the business has a large storage room that is packed with a variety of machines designed to cut, shape and drill holes into steel.
Grenga said about half of his company’s revenues come from processing steel products, while the other half is from selling steel rods and shapes to area companies.
To meet his need for more space, Grenga bought the 102-year-old Rayen Avenue building for $95,800 at a sheriff’s sale in 2001. The city offered Grenga $205,000 for the property and has placed that amount in escrow, pending resolution of the case.
Grenga said the offer isn’t enough even though it is more than double what he paid.
He said he mortgaged his Boardman home in order to buy the building and has been paying interest. He also said he has repaired the roof, performed some cement work and painted the area where the machines are stored.
Besides, he just isn’t interested in a sale. In addition to creating an area for rebuilding equipment, he said his plans include putting up a new building in the parking lot and using the building as an office for his company and another owned by a family member.
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The app has been updated with the ability to like and dislike videos, play videos in portrait mode while taking a gander at other information, and more tidbits we have yet to take a dive into.
I don’t want to say I told you so, but if you don’t believe that we have some hardcore information on Gingerbread now, then this should be our first step to proving just that. We are still digging for more on Gingerbread to share with you in the near future, but for now, just know that that YouTube app we talked about back then is now available for anyone and everyone to download.
[Update]: As far as we can tell, this looks to be for devices running Android 2.2 (and higher). We can’t find it on our 2.1-enabled Fascinate and I’ve checked in with a few friends to see if their Eclair phones could find it. No sale.
Featured
First! But this is pointless without being able to finally see all videos
http://twitter.com/verspasian Versp
Sweet, but not seeing it here in the UK.
Alex
I still think your source is holding back. All I’m saying is that blurry pic is easily replicated. Perhaps, your source is giving you info, but not showing you the real homescreen because he wants you to be surprised. Anyway, the youtube app is great.
Dave
I like Phandroid a lot, and I think you do great work, but…
.
You reported that a major feature of Gingerbread was an update to the YouTube app. Now the updated app gets released for older versions, and you claim that’s evidence you were right about Gingerbread?
.
On the contrary, someone showed you the ongoing post-Froyo app work (think Gmail, Maps…) and told you it was part of Gingerbread.
.
You was duped!
mohammad
I can’t find it in the market :/
GreenLeaf
I hope this is not how gingerbread itself will look like. I was expecting it more along the lines of gallery 3d app. This app UI still looks mediocre. Google should invest some of their billions of cash in hiring some deviant artists. seriously!
http://cconover.com Christiaan
I’m getting an error when I try to install that says “Package file was not signed correctly.” I’m using a Motorola Droid running CyanogenMod 6. Anybody else having this issue on any other device/ROM?
Quentyn Kennemer
@Dave the YouTube app had just recently started showing up in recent builds of what we know to be Gingerbread. If you download Froyo from Google’s servers now, this version (1.6) does not come with the app. I don’t know what more we can do. But there will always be skeptics, so all I can say is stay tuned.
Andrew
I want to see the “new” videos for the channels I subscribe to like you can on the web site, instead of just a list of the channels themselves….. still a fail on that count.
dave
Just installed 2.0.26 from the Android Market on a stock Nexus One. This is a muuuuch better app.
jerbear
I couldn’t get it to install right away but after uninstalling the old one in Titanium and then rebooting, it installed just fine.
bobbert
yeah this ui looks cool-for a third party app. i expect more from google. all the new features are cool but it doesnt flow with the other ui at all. the gradient part of the old youtube widget should have been implemented into the whole app, it looks classy
bigmerf
got it on my nez.. saaaweet
Pandalero
Moto Droid CM6… unsuccessful installation. Poop.
sha
Seems there’s an issue with cm6 devices
Steve
@Christiaan
uninstall the current one with titaniumbackup then reboot then install the new one.
Steve
@sha No issue, just silly noobs.
http://zalzalaweb.com/jens anakin78z
Awesome, but really there isn’t anything about this app that says ‘gingerbread’ to me.
Nice though!
(oh, and scrolling through the list also seems plenty fast… well done, big G)
Largan
Look under google’s “view more applications” you should see it there.
Tristan
Damn, was hoping for a much much much more refined look…also was hoping it’d be white instead of black…I feel black (as done by google) tends to look cheap…
Quentyn Kennemer
It isn’t literally supposed to be Gingerbread-centric, anakin. I emphasized so heavily on Gingerbread because our source confirmed that this YouTube app comes stock with Gingerbread. (And that’s why I put “Gingerbread Version” in quotes.) We didn’t know at the time that it would also head to the Market for Froyo devices. The point was to let people know that we have solid information about Gingerbread and that they should stay tuned.
http://cconover.com Christiaan
@Steve I’ll give it a shot.
That said, I’ve been using the mobile web interface since they released it this summer and haven’t missed the app for a second. For these kinds of services that don’t need full integration into the phone I’d much rather have a web application so that I don’t have to worry about app compatibility.
Quentin Biles
I hate how 60% of my damned favorite videos aren’t available on mobile.
http://zalzalaweb.com/jens anakin78z
@Quentyn Heh, well, that only confirms that your source knew about a new version of YouTube, which of COURSE would be in Gingerbread ;).
Actually, having used it just a bit more, it’s damn slick. The interface is fantastic, and super smooth. If this is a sign of things to come, I’m all for it!
elnene20
Jus downloaded it on my evo loving it easy to use and as soon as finished replaced the other without me doing nothing all on its own!!
WOW this is ugly.. I REALLY hope this is not how Gingerbread will look like! Horrible.
Simon
Is the video and audio quality still absolutely atrocious? I’ve never seen YouTube look or sound half-decent on anything other than a PC.
NicksGarage
I kind of like it. It’s definitely geared for using in portrait mode but I do like how it switches when you rotate the phone.
Still have problems with a lot of videos not playing. Have to keep selecting them and they eventually start going. At least now there is a default for HQ mode. It was always annoying when a regular quality version would start playing and when switching to HQ I’d get that not available on mobile message and have to start reloading to get it to play.
LaptuaZ
Anyone else getting “There was a problem with the network(401)” when viewing subecriptions?
chimphappyhour
@ 36. LaptuaZ
I am getting that too when trying to view anything under my channel header. I’m on a stock Froyo N1 too!
JJJ
Just downloaded it from the market. So much better than the last version!
Android4lyf
So freaking tired of everything coming out for 2.2 as if eclair doesn’t exist.. WTF.. Tired of waiting on samsung for this update.
Graham
Installed just fine on a G2. I like the double tap to rotate. I always found that my N1 and now my G2 were really finicky with rotating the screen. The G2 can at least lock orientation by opening the keyboard.
Alexander
Yay, this works on my DInc running Skyraider Vanilla. I haven’t had a YT app for a while since I installed this ROM.
Inspiron41
wow, this is what the youtube app needed!! i love portrait and landscape modes! very clever of google!
ad
wow they make big change!i really like it -nexus one froyo
Orison
* Looks at his Motorola Cliq again and sighs *
I’m giving Motorola until the 15th of November to upgrade this thing, or else I’m rooting it. Mind you, I still won’t be able to run this..
Droidman
i dont like how all these companys forget about there old phones and just focus on the new ones. i have a g1 still and its running great just i cant get any apps because it has like no space. i am thinking about getting one of the custom android phones
Sean
Hey was the any talk with your source about a new keyboard with Gingerbread. I know they wanted to improve the stock keyboard and remember they bought that company blind type too. The demo on that keyboard was awesome and I hope Google implements that real soon.
destardi
Youtube app is hugely improved….excellent.
Aztec
made my G2 freeze o_O scared to try it again.
apollo
The new version is better but there are a couple flaws. You watch the videos in landscape mode in which i mean it won’t let u post comments, etc.. the only way to do anything is to have it in portrait mode which let’s you view related vids, scroll up and down for other videos, etc… and by the way does anyone know how to post a comment I can’t seem to figure it out
galaxysdroid
So freaking suckish my vibrant cant download it :(
Manuel
Can´t install on Nexus One, help please
meeeeeeeee
used it for about 2 hours straight over 3g…
what an improvement for my old droid 1
GOO ANDROID!!
Rod
Just got it on my N1 2.2.1 and it’s plain AWESOME, the quality of the videos and the new interface is much better since you can multitask within the app. I’ve been watching videos for 30 minutes now and it’s very solid. Great job Phandroid and Congratulations to Google on an Awesome App.
I hope this app is a sign of Gingerbread for my daily breakfast diet :)
Victor
Just got it for my N1
Joe
I’m running it on my Captivate. It is way better!! Haven’t had a singe issue with it.
I’m running a leaked Froyo on my phone that’s why it works.
RaduD
So, i just tested this app with my mate on a HTC Desire , its’ working greath. Atleast at us, it is 100% bugfree . Working smoother than ever, Thumbs up for google.
E.
I think this requires 2.2 because it’s like the rest of the Google Apps. In 2.2 they split it from the rest of Android so it can be updated seperatly instead of keeping people waiting on a new Android update to get new version of the Google Apps.
Blacklight82
This is sweet. The old Youtube app stopped working on my Incredible for no reason but this update fixed it. Too bad the videos don’t play on my Droid 2.
Blacklight82
I take that back. The Droid 2 just needed a reboot. All is great!
Tom
Running fine here! (HTC Desire, Froyo, UK)
iLHaN
Version 2.0 is available in the market (original/untouched Desire with official froyo – Sweden)
iLHaN
Prev version (1.6) size was 304 Kb, new version is 1.32 Mb & no a2sd support.
FYI…
Teemu S
Found it on market. Nexus One 2.2 (Finland)
Garrett
It freezes up my G2 when I hit the back button while watching a video on hq in landscape mode. Kinda annoying cuz I have to do a battery pull everytime ugh…
Manuel
Now I got aswell on N1: package file was not signed correctly
what can I do?? any suggestions???
Daniel
Just updated on my nexus 2.2.1 and the app looks a lot better. Its showing up in the UK Market….BOOM
alexjoje
Can’t install in my Nexus One (FRF91, Vodafone Spain).
“Application can’t be installed” (aprox. translation from spanish)
Seeing in forums that there are lots of people having similar problems in Spain with N1s from Vodafone.
:(
TF
I’m a big fan of this change… now if we can just get an updated “Gingerbread Version” (in quotes for you Quentyn ;-) ) of Google Talk that allows me to send pictures, I’ll be happy… of course if they include video chat, that’d be even better – even if I have no means to use it right now.
TareX
I think the source didn’t give away a decent homescreen shot because: It was too underwhelming.
To tell you the truth, I was expecting a much bigger UI change, rather than “cleaner icons” and “lime green intonations”.
Josh
Wish this update fixed the “This video cannot be played.” error on EVERY video I have EVER tried to watch on my phone. I have -never- been able to get YouTube to work on my phone. NEVER.
Adrian
not on my HTC Legend it isn’t :(
bk
WOW. VERY nice. Can play in a small window at the top of your screen with Info, Related Videos and Comments below. Slide to the right to go through those options, and rotate your phone to go full screen!
Makes me much more excited for Gingerbread!
Froggmann
BTW for all of you that can’t install the new version on CM6 imaged devices you will need to remove youtube manually by using a file explorer tool with R/W access to \system\apps like root explorer and rename youtube.apk to youtube.old or something like that. Then reboot and install the new one.
Tyler
So does anybody have an explanation for why like half youtube videos don’t show up on mobile devices? It’s so frustrating to tell your friend “look at this awesome video!…… wait, I can’t find it…. umm… let me look at the main website in full page mode…. oh here!” And they’ve lost interest by then.
Jackson
I tried yesterday and today but all i get is installation unsuccessful… fml
ilh
Very good update. Don’t know how but they’ve managed to make the landscape-portrait transition and vice versa quicker than any other app i’ve used even while playing a video.
http://www.androidcookie.blogspot.com Dom
Seems there is an issue with Desire HD + Z (G2) devices, after backing out of playing videos in landscape the app slow right down, playback isn’t slow just causes general menu navigation slow down and has forced many battery pulls.
HTC Desire HD.
Skye
Just intalled the updated app on my G2. Runs beautifully when first opened, but crashes my phone when I exit and have to battery pull. Anyone with similar issues? I unintalled the update and the previous version is working just fine.
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Ziganda: We Do Not Intend On Changing Our System Against Girona
On Sunday Athletic Club will play their third La Liga match of the season when they will host newly promoted Girona at the San Mamés. The Lions currently sit tied for fourth in the La Liga table and will be looking to take another vital three points at home. Following training on Saturday, manager Kuko Ziganda gave his pregame press conference and was noncommittal on whether or not Aritz Aduriz would feature after the striker missed some practices with lower back pain. He also revealed that Kepa Arrizabalaga is dealing with a fever and may sit this one out as well.
Kuko Ziganda said Athletic will not change their system against Girona (DEIA)
“Aduriz was able to complete training today and we will assess whether he will play tomorrow or get a rest, but he is available. Adu is decisive and necessary. He’s an important player but he will not play every game. Somedays it will be better for him to rest, but if he is in the squad list it is because he can play. He’s been dealing with these discomforts since facing Panathinaikos. Kepa had a bad night with a fever and he is still feverish. We will wait to see how he evolves and what condition he is in for tomorrow. As for his renewal, I am optimist. We know the type of person he is so I’m optimistic.”
When asked whether or not Iñaki Williams would start as the striker, Ziganda said there are several options if Aduriz is unable to play. He went on to say that rotations are very important, even early in the season, and that it is something that managers need to think about ahead of time.
“We will see. Sabin Merino and Kike [Sola] are also options, but we’ll see what decisions we need to make. If Aduriz doesn’t play, then we have Iñaki and Sabin who can do it. The team has a lot of competition. I am a coach and I am trying to polish Iñaki who can play on the wing or as the center forward. We have time to work with him which is incredible and he will continue improving. At Bilbao Athletic he played many games there and I like when he plays as the nine. Rotations are something that you have to keep in mind. I have to plan them and think ahead. I do not want to compromise or overwork anyone. I want to see the trainings, the matches, and what kind of energy the team has. I see the players very plugged in and do not see big differences.”
Aritz Aduriz may no feature due to lower back pain (La Liga)
In closing, Ziganda said that Athletic are not planning on changing their style of play against Girona. He recognizes that the Catalans will be a very difficult opponent and says that the Lions have a lot of respect for them. Of course, he also mentioned that this will be a very special game for Gorka Iraizoz who joined Girona over the summer after a decade as Athletic Club’s starting goalkeeper.
“We do not intend on changing the system against Girona, at least in the beginning. They are doing things very well, with a coach who maintains his system. They were one of the best teams in the Segunda and won the prize of promotion. They come with the euphoria of promotion and without any pressure. They are enjoying their football and working hard every match. We have a lot of respect for them and they can be similar to Eibar. I believe it will be a more open match than the one against Getafe. We will have more options to attack and launch counterattacks. For Gorka [Iraizoz] it will be a very special match. We know what he has done for Athletic and you have to be very proud. We welcome him and he deserves recognition, but from there on we will try to score goals on him.”
It will be very interesting to see what type of lineup decisions are made on Sunday. The Lions will be traveling to Germany on Thursday for the first match of the Europa League group stage so Kuko Ziganda does have some important decisions to make. Xabi Etxeita and Mikel Vesga were left out of Sunday’s squad list which could mean that they are in line to start midweek. Regardless, the key to a successful season is taking it one game at a time and that is exactly what Athletic Club is looking to do.
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Offers convenient, nonstop bus service to and from Los Angeles International Airport.
Public Observation Area
Features permanent displays, special children’s exhibits and a continuous live broadcast of air traffic controllers in the airport’s control tower. Open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. Located off of Woodley Avenue at the end of Waterman Drive, adjacent to the east side of the airfield.
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Note: I'm not going to detail the various different names under which Palm has operated over the years, such as PalmSource, PalmOne, and so on. For the sake of clarity, I'm just referring to all of them as 'Palm'.
In order to understand Palm, its origins, its history, and its philosophy, you really have to take a close look at just four products: the GRiDPad, the Zoomer, the Pilot 1000, and lastly, the Palm V. Not entirely coincidentally, these four products were all the brainchildren of Jeff Hawkins - founder of Palm.
Let me just throw all the cards on the table so hard they slice it in two: there is no single person who has had a greater and more everlasting impact on the mobile computing industry than Jeff Hawkins. His achievements include the first consumer tablet computer, one of the first PDAs, the first successful PDA, and the first successful smartphone. Not entirely coincidentally, as you read through this chapter, you'll see that his philosophy on product design bears a striking resemblance to that of another industry heavyweight.
Much of the information in this chapter (specifically that related to Hawkins) comes from the following sources:
Jeff Hawkins Oral History - a fascinating in-depth interview with Jeff Hawkins from 2002, covering his entire career up until that point.
All of these are very interesting and quite entertaining. Definitely worth a watch and read.
GRiDPad
Jeff Hawkins already had a rather diverse education and employment history before he joined GRiD. After growing up with an adventurous inventor as a father, he earned a B.S. in electrical engineering at Cornell University. With that degree in hand, he was employed by Intel in 1979, where he took on several different roles over the years - among others, he worked on single-board computers and training and teaching others about microprocessor design (including the ambitious but ill-fated Intel 432).
He left Intel behind in 1982 to go work at GRiD, a startup at the time. GRiD had literallyjust invented the modern laptop, and Hawkins was responsible for putting together the training material for this device. In other words, from relatively early on in his career, he was involved in mobile computing. He also developed GRiDTask, a high-level RAD programming language.
However, his real passion was neuroscience. Before he joined GRiD, Hawkins had already tried to get into MIT with a research proposal concerning a big problem in neuroscience - namely, that despite everything we know about the brain, we don't really have any idea how it actually works. Hawkins wanted to work on this problem, but MIT basically told him it was a waste of time. He didn't drop the idea, though, and during his time at GRiD he kept working on the problem in the evenings.
After trying Stanford, which turned him down because they didn't have any activity in the field he wanted to study, Hawkins ended up at Berkeley, where he was allowed to do an independent study. He took two years off at GRiD, but during those years, he didn't make the progress he wanted - he started to doubt himself, so he decided to go back to work at GRiD "for a few years", and maybe he could pick it up later. This was 1988.
It's during this second stint at GRiD that Hawkins first gave the world a taste of what was to come. During his two years away from GRiD, and as part of his study into neuroscience, he also came into contact with neural networks, a field which spawned a number of companies trying to apply neural networks commercially. One of these companies was Nestor, which had developed a handwriting recognition system based on neural networks. They asked a million dollars for the system - something which surprised Hawkins.
I thought, "What? A million dollars for this thing that I don't think is even very useful? I can do that." So I went home that night and created my own handwriting mechanism software. I said, "If they can sell it for a million dollars, I can do it better." So I did it without using neural networks, using some of the math I was doing for the brain stuff.
He wrote it in one evening, or so the legend goes. This is when the idea for the GRiDPad was born; he took his handwriting recognition engine to GRiD, and told them he wanted to build a tablet, with a stylus and everything. He would be responsible for the entire project - hardware, software, the whole thing. GRiD was a bit nervous about it, according to Hawkins, but they agreed.
And so, in 1989, the GRiDPad saw the light of day. It was the first tablet computer with pen input in a self-contained unit (the Linus Write-Top was released a few years earlier, and was very similar, but consisted of two separate units connected via a cable), and used Hawkins' handwriting recognition system, then dubbed PalmPrint.
Hardware-wise, it weighed a hefty 2 kilograms, and ran on a Intel 80C86 at 10Mhz. It sported 1MB of RAM, two RAM card expansion slots, and a serial port. The display was a 10" LCD with 32 grayscales, 80×24 text or 640×400 pixels, and the stylus was attached to the device. It ran MS-DOS 3.3, and was aimed squarely at vertical markets. The United States military and Chrysler supposedly bought quite a few of them, and GRiD claimed that 10000 were sold in 1990 - which is not bad for one of the first products in its category, and cost $2370 a pop.
Regular consumers couldn't actually buy a GRiDPad - only businesses who needed dozens or more of them were eligible to buy them. Still, those that did use GRiDPads were fascinated by the device, and some of them told Hawkins - why don't you make a smaller version of this? Something I could carry in my pocket, which holds all my personal stuff, and is a lot cheaper?
Click.
Zoomer
Hawkins knew what to do. GRiD wanted him to do it, but he was apprehensive about doing the product at GRiD, because it was an enterprise company, and in his mind, he envisioned the as-of-yet unnamed product as something for ordinary consumers. Hawkins mentioned his product idea to a lot of people, and some of them suggested he start his own company. He was scared about this at first, but after investors started coming to him, basically begging he'd go through with it, he did so. Tandy had acquired GRiD in 1988, and also decided to invest in Hawkins' new company.
And so, in January 1992, Palm was born.
Still, it wasn't until March 1996 that the Palm Pilot 1000 - the first Palm Pilot - was launched. What did Palm do in between? Well, Palm contributed to a product that looked a lot like a Palm Pilot in many ways, but was actually a complete and utter disaster. It was a design-by-committee hodgepodge of parts from different companies, neither of which seemed to have a very good idea of what Hawkins was trying to achieve.
This product was the Zoomer. Try to keep up, but the Zoomer consisted of Casio hardware, the GEOS operating system, Palm's PIM applications and handwriting recognition, and Tandy marketing. According to Hawkins, they couldn't agree on anything, and nothing got done. Worse yet, in comes Apple, out of nowhere, with the Newton. Apple hyped the Newton and the PDA concept into the stratosphere, and they managed to ship before the Zoomer could. "Everything is falling apart! No matter what happened, we would have failed. The Zoomer was a terrible product," Hawkins reminisces about those days.
The Zoomer was slow, clunky, and unpleasant to use. There's a great video on YouTube that shows wait cursors, the clunky handwriting recognition (with a dialog box!), slow redraw, and so on. To be honest, I didn't think it was as bad as Hawkins describes it in later, more current interviews, but it's still clear this is miles behind what we came to know from Palm OS.
Hardware-wise, the Zoomer ran on a NEC V20 processor - which was a bit of an oddball to begin with. It sported 1 MB of RAM, a 4MB ROM, a miniature RS-323 port, infrared receiver, and a PCMCIA slot (type 2). It had a 320×256 monochrome LCD, and had a promised battery life of 100 hours on 3 AA batteries. It cost a rather whopping $700.
The Zoomer became a market failure, but in a surprising turn of events, Apple's involvement in the PDA market was a blessing in disguise for Palm, because the Newton was just as terrible as the Zoomer. Apple hyped the Newton to an insane degree, and Sculley claimed it would reinvent personal computing - this meant Apple got all the press and attention, but when the Newton turned out to be a dud, it also got all the flack.
Palm remained largely under the radar, which gave the company the chance to realign its goals. Nobody wanted to invest in the PDA category anymore, no company wanted to devote resources to it, which turned out to be another blessing in disguise: it meant Palm had to do everything on its own - software and hardware.
While the Zoomer was a failure, it taught Palm and Hawkins a number of very valuable lessons, and because of those lessons, it was still a very important product in Palm's - and therefore the mobile industry's - history. First and foremost, Hawkins realised that in order for a consumer product to work, you had to do both the software and the hardware (as Alan Kay already noted).
Secondly, the failure of the Zoomer prompted Palm to do something no other company in the industry had yet done: instead of guessing what consumers wanted, why don't we just ask them? After talking to consumers, Palm came to a rather crucial realisation. Hawkins summed the survey responses up as follows:
I don't want a complex thing. I was just trying to figure out a way to get my life organized. Today I use paper, and I'm always trying to coordinate with my assistant. And we can never keep calendars. We're always printing things out. I'm just trying to get my life organized. All I really care about is calendars and address book and trying to coordinate with my secretary. All this other stuff? I don't need all this other stuff. Just solve my basic organizational problem.
Palm realised that they didn't need to revolutionise computing. They weren't competing with computers, but with paper. They also learned that synchronisation should be a core part of the product - keeping things organised - and that it should be simple and straightforward.
With the blessing of Palm's board, and the realisations from the survey in hand, Hawkins set to work. In one evening, he created a wooden model of what would become the Palm Pilot and its cradle.
Palm Pilot
After the failure of the Newton and the Zoomer, the PDA market - which had never gotten off the ground to begin with - was pretty much dead. GO had gone bust, and EO and General Magic were about to follow. Palm had no PDA products, and Apple was peddling the Newton which nobody bought (it was one of the first product lines Steve Jobs axed when he returned to the company). It was a failed market category, and nobody was interested in investing in it.
So, Palm had Hawkins' model for the Pilot, and they knew pretty well what they wanted to build. Hawkins defined four core criteria the Palm Pilot had to fulfil:
It had to be pocketable. You had to be able to carry it around without being bothered by it.
It had to be the ideal price point: $299.
Synchronisation with the desktop had to be built-in (as opposed to an aftermarket add-on as it had been treated as up until then).
It had to be fast, without any wait cursors. Remember: it had to compete with paper, and paper is instant.
And Palm only had $3 million to do it, which is a laughably low budget for a complicated product like this. This lack of funds initially forced them to make some interesting decisions, like opting for a small, local, two-person low-budget design shop for the industrial design. Luckily, though, US Robotics was fascinated by the idea for the Palm Pilot, and decided to flat-out buy Palm, which provided Hawkins and his team with the required funds (3Com then bought US Robotics in 1997).
The Palm computing division of U.S. Robotics today announced Pilot, a line of handheld electronic connected organizers designed to work as companion products to a desktop or laptop computer.
Created by U.S. Robotics to be the first connected organizer, the Pilot family of products is designed to meet the needs of PC users who want to manage their activities both remotely and on their desktops.
The Pilot 1000 - the first model - used a Motorola Dragonball processor, a low-power processor based on the design of the 68000 family of processors, with a speed of 16 Mhz. It had 128 KB RAM built-in (512 KB for the Pilot 5000 model) and 512 KB of ROM for the operating system and applications, but this could be upgraded to a maximum of 12MB of RAM and 4MB of ROM via slots behind a plastic cover on the back of the device (in fact, the Pilot 1000/5000 could be upgraded to Palm OS 2.0 this way).
The display was a 160×160 grayscale LCD (no backlight), with the characteristic Graffiti input panel underneath. The input panel was flanked on both sides by permanent tappable shortcuts to home, calculator, search, as well a button to open the current application's drop-down menubar. Underneath the display sit two scroll buttons (up/down), buttons to access the most important PIM applications, and a power button. The casing was plastic, and the device weighed 160 g.
It came with a cradle, which was connected to the PC via a serial cable. Place the Pilot in the cradle, press the HotSync button, and the synchronisation software would do its thing. It was compatible with all major PIM suites at the time, and more support was added as time went on and the product proved to be a hit. The desktop-side synchronisation software initially only supported Windows 95 and Windows 3.11 through Win32s, while version 2.0 added support for Windows NT. Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X support was added in later versions. Linux was never officially supported, but third party solutions existed.
The Palm Pilot 1000 and 5000 ran Palm OS 1.0, but we'll get to the operating system later.
After the Pilot 1000 and 5000, Palm launched the upgraded versions, the PalmPilot Personal and Professional, in 1997. A year later, in 1998, they followed up with the Palm III. The Palm Pilot was a success - by 1 December 1999, Palm had sold over 5 million PDAs - and this attracted others to the PDA market. Most notably: Microsoft.
Hawkins had one last trick up his sleeve to deal with the Redmond behemoth.
Palm V
The success of Palm's products got the attention of Microsoft, and the company pretty much announced it was going to crush Palm. According to Hawkins, Microsoft had a sales conference, where, at some point, a big target appeared on the projecter screen, with the Palm logo dead in the centre of it: "we are going to crush and kill these guys", was the central message. Hawkins recalls that he got condolence letters after that, stating things like "Sorry Jeff. Too bad."
Remember that in the late '90s, Microsoft was at the very pinnacle of its power, and pretty much had the entire computer industry on a leash. BeOS a possible threat? Microsoft forced OEMs into not selling it preinstalled. Microsoft wanted to enter the PDA market? Let's tell our OEMs to make a bunch of PDAs running our Windows PocketPC operating system, and we'll surely crush Palm and own the market before Hawkins can say "what the...".
Even though everyone assumed Microsoft would win, Hawkins devised a rather crazy-sounding and, at the time, controversial idea. This idea was based on how Hawkins viewed Microsoft: according to him, Microsoft simply didn't understand why Palm was successful. Sure, they could throw lots of money around, and wield unimaginable amounts of influence, but at the of the day, they don't build the entire product. Microsoft can only do the software, but for the hardware, they have to rely on others - and those others "just aren't very creative".
Microsoft was stuffing Windows PocketPC full of features. Palm OS was eclipsed by all the things you could do with it, and all the functionality that was packed into these PocketPCs. There was increasing pressure within Palm to try and match Microsoft feature-for-feature, but Hawkins realised that as a small company, Palm would never be able to do so. It would be a battle lost before it even began.
And I said, "No, we're not going to add any features. Nothing. We're going to make a beautiful product. They can't make a beautiful product because they don't make products. They just make software." And if I tried to catch up to them on features, the reviews are going to be: "Palm tries to catch Microsoft features. Doesn't do it." If I don't do any new software and I just make a beautiful piece of hardware, the reviews are going to be: "Palm does beautiful piece of hardware. Microsoft hardware looks ugly!" We had this big battle internally where I basically said: "We're not going to chase after Microsoft on features."
No new features.
A decade later, Apple's Bertrand Serlet stood on a stage during WWDC 2009, to announce Mac OS X 10.6. He proudly proclaimed that it had "no new features". According to Serlet, a move that was "unprecedented" in the PC industry. The audience clapped enthusiastically. The press ate it up.
But I digress.
In any case, this was the premise behind the Palm V: no new features, focussing entirely on the industrial design instead. Palm worked together with industrial design firm IDEO, and out of this collaboration the iconic and revolutionary Palm V was born. The Palm V was a huge leap forward compared to the Pilots that had come before, and it introduced an iconic shape that many will, to this very day, associate with Palm.
The Palm V was built out of anodised aluminium, and was only half as thick as its predecessors - a mere 10 mm. It was also smaller and lighter, but retained the same screen dimensions. Several other aspects were revolutionary too - it was the first Palm powered by a lithium ion battery instead of AAA batteries. The battery was non-removable, a 'feature' which sent ripples across the smartphone industry when Apple did the same for the iPhone eight years later. For aesthetic reasons, the device had no screws - the case was glued in place.
There's an interesting story to this, actually. The manufacturer was very apprehensive about using only glue, and was afraid that the glue would melt if users, say, left the device on the dashboard of a car in the sun. The manufacturer wanted to delay the release of the Palm V by four months to redesign the product to use screws instead. Hawkins had to personally go down to the manufacturer and convince them the glue would work - Hawkins' father was a prolific inventor, and Hawkins grew up with loads of different materials all around him in the house, including loads of different types of glues. In other words, Hawkins knew his way around product materials, including glue.
The Pilots that had come before were strictly utilitarian, focussed on businessmen and women instead of general consumers. The Palm V changed all this. Its shape would define the company's products for years to come. It had smooth curved sides with a slightly wider bottom than top section, making it all not only look distinct and beautiful, but also very comfortable to hold. Whether you looked at other PDAs, smartphones, or mobile phones of its era - there was nothing else like it. Everybody else was building plastic monstrosities.
I personally never owned a Palm V (sadly), but two PDAs in my collection still sport the same general design - a Tungsten E2 and a Palm T|X.
The Palm V was a smashing success. For the first time, a mobile computing device was designed to be beautiful, and "it turned out to be very successful. We turned it into a personal artefact, or a personal piece of jewellery or something and [Microsoft] couldn't compete with that," according to Hawkins. Palm was riding high at this point, and the Palm V succeeded in keeping Microsoft at bay. Of all the PDAs sold between January 1999 an July 2002 (in the US), 68% were Palm devices, while Handspring and Sony (both Palm OS licensees), brought Palm OS' PDA market share up to 90%. The remaining 10% was Microsoft, through Casio, Compaq, and HP (source).
In other words, Microsoft had failed to "crush and kill" the company.
Defining Palm
The four products discussed in detail - the GRiDPad, Zoomer, Pilot, and Palm V - have all played a crucial role in defining Palm's success and brand. The GRiDPad made Hawkins realise what people really wanted out of a mobile computer. The Zoomer taught him how not to do it. The Pilot proved there was a market for a simple, easy-to-use, mobile computer. Finally, the Palm V made it clear that a focus on beautiful hardware formed the final piece of the puzzle in appealing to a wide audience.
During its heydays, Palm enjoyed the kind of dominance Android currently enjoys. However, unlike most Android device makers, Palm enjoyed Apple-like margins - in 2000, almost 40%. Palm proved that there was a huge, profitable market for easy-to-use, beautifully designed mobile computing devices - long before iOS and Android came along.
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How Big is the New Jerusalem?
The new Jerusalem is not a physical city. It is not going to literally descend onto the earth. If it did, its top would stretch hundreds of miles beyond earth’s atmosphere into outer space. People living there wouldn’t be able to breathe!
Everything John described in the book of Revelation, he saw in the spiritual world, not in the material world (see Revelation 1:10; 4:1–2; 17:3; 21:10). Even if we interpreted the book of Revelation literally, there would be no reason to believe that what John saw happening in the spiritual world will take place in the physical world.
It helps to understand that “heaven” and “earth” could also be translated “sky” and “land.” What John saw visually was not really a new heaven and a new earth, but a new sky and a new land: the sky and land of the spiritual world.
But what I’m most interested in right now is how big this new Jerusalem is.
Revelation 21:15-16 says:
The angel who was talking to me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city is laid out in a square, its length equal to its width. He measured the city with his rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.
If we convert the ancient “stadia” into modern units of measurement, it turns out that the city is about 1,400 miles (or about 2,200 kilometers) in length, width, and height!
Yes, if it were a physical city (which it is not) it would reach far beyond the stratosphere.
Now let’s look at its length and width.
Since I live in the United States, in order to give an idea of how big the new Jerusalem is, I used to say that it would stretch from Boston to Kansas City—almost halfway across the country.
But that’s not the best way to think about it.
To really understand the meaning of 12,000 stadia, we need to think of that distance as John and others in Bible times would have thought of it. These people lived in the ancient Near East. They didn’t even know North America existed. The horizons of their world were much smaller than ours.
Though there was some vague awareness of more distant lands, the world that John knew stretched from Media and Persia (present day western Iran) in the east to Egypt and Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) in the west. It stretched from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea in the south up to the Black Sea in the north.
The Old Testament World
If we measure that distance, we find that the world John lived in was about . . . yes . . . 1,400 miles across from east to west, and about 1,000 miles from south to north.
So when John saw the new Jerusalem as 12,000 stadia (1,400 miles) long and wide, this is what it meant to him:
The new Jerusalem fills the whole world!
The new Jerusalem is not some sect or creed or ism or institution that will include only a select few Christians. The new Jerusalem includes all people, all nations, all races, all religions. It is a new spiritual era that reaches, enlightens, and includes everyone on earth who is willing to be a part of it.
I believe that we are witnessing the new Jerusalem descending into the world all around us right now.
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Lee Woofenden is an ordained minister, writer, editor, translator, and teacher. He enjoys taking spiritual insights from the Bible and the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and putting them into plain English as guides for everyday life.
56 comments on “How Big is the New Jerusalem?”
How do you know that the new Jerusalem will not ascend in physical form? Where is you proof? What scripture do use to verify this theory? Also, if God is powerful enough to build this city(as well as the entire universe), is He also not intelligent enough to help us breathe at 14,000 ft?
As I said in the article, everything John described in the book of Revelation, he described as happening in heaven, not on earth. He speaks of being “in the spirit,” and of seeing heaven opened. The whole book is describing a spiritual experience. There’s just no good Biblical reason to think that it is going to happen physically.
Plus, if it did happen physically, it would either cause the destruction of the earth or it would require God to violate the laws of physics wholesale. God is the one who established the laws of physics, and I don’t believe God would violate God’s own laws.
The New Jerusalem is described as being 12,000 stadia, or about 1,400 miles, long, wide, and high. The lack of breathable air would not be the only problem. Even if the city were sealed like a spaceship, with an atmospheric system inside, the sheer size of it would prevent the earth from rotating smoothly on its axis.
At 1,400 miles high, it would be over 1/6 the diameter of the earth. We don’t know how massive it would be, but something that big resting on one side of the earth would move the earth’s center of gravity well away from its current center of gravity, which is roughly the same as the center of the spheroid of the earth. This offset center of gravity would cause the whole earth to wobble and shake in its rotation like an off-balance washing machine. The results would be catastrophic.
Such a large mass added to the earth’s mass would also throw the earth out of its current orbit around the sun. If a violently off-kilter and shaking earth didn’t destroy all higher life forms on earth, getting thrown out of its orbit would finish the job.
That just isn’t how God works.
If you still want to believe that it’s going to happen physically, I won’t try to argue you out of it. But the Bible itself describes the whole thing as a spiritual experience, not a physical one. John was talking about spiritual events, not physical events.
well a spiritual experience could be like he had a vision ..not so? it also mentions that a mans measurement is used in this …144 cubits ..besides it could be literal as God says it will be a new heaven and new earth being of new sizes and dimensions ..so all physics laws will be renewed…could be a mix of the physical world with the new spiritual world..a new heaven and new bodies
As I said to Daniel, if you want to believe that the New Jerusalem is going to be a physical city on this earth, you’re welcome to believe it, and I won’t try to argue you out of it. But as I explained in the article and in the various comments, I believe that is a complete misunderstanding and misinterpretation of what the book of Revelation is saying.
Does it not occur to anyone that although the New Jerusalem is seen “coming down from heaven”, nowhere does it say In the Book of Revelation that it comes right down on to the earth!
Obviously it couldn’t, because gravitational forces would rip it apart, and probably the earth as well. In fact, John actually confirms this because he says he had to be “taken up to a high mountain” to even view it, so it obviously never came down low enough to be seen in any detail with the naked eye!.
When the New Jerusalem visits earth, it will do as any visiting physical “body” does when “visiting”. It will go into orbit around the earth, which is why the people of earth will need to be “caught up into heaven to meet the Lord in the air” as the Bible says, an act we have come to refer to at being “raptured”
As stated in the article, I don’t think John ever intended to convey that this was a physical event at all. All the events he describes, including the New Jerusalem, are seen “in the spirit” and “when heaven was opened” to him. So it’s going well beyond what John wrote to think that there will be a physical New Jerusalem. Biblical literalists are making a lot of unwarranted assumptions when they teach that there will be a physical city New Jerusalem. The Bible simply doesn’t say that, and it strongly implies that it will not be a physical city.
You’re quite right that Revelation never says that the New Jerusalem touched down on earth. However, the idea that it will orbit the earth couldn’t possibly have been in John’s mind. People in those days believed that the earth was a flat disk. They had no concept of something orbiting the earth. Even the sun, they believed, just traveled across the sky each day, perhaps pulled by heavenly horses. If anything, John saw the New Jerusalem floating above the earth. (But once again, he saw all of this in the spiritual world, not the material world.)
Also, if the New Jerusalem were as massive as described, there would be no need to go up onto a high mountain to see it. It would be very visible from everywhere on earth even if it were orbiting the earth. Consider that the moon is 2,159 miles (3,474 km) in diameter, while the New Jerusalem is described as being about 1,400 miles (about 2,200 kilometers) in length, width, and height, which is nearly 2/3 the diameter of the moon. Presuming that the New Jerusalem is largely open space for people to live in rather than solid like the moon, it would be far less massive than the moon, and would therefore orbit the earth much closer, assuming it traveled at a reasonable speed. This means that for people on earth, it would appear far larger than the moon. No one could miss it, no matter where they lived.
Of course, it would have very little gravity even in its outer parts. And it would not be the right shape (a ring or cylinder) to create apparent gravity by spinning on its axis. So unless it had Star Trek style artificial gravity generators, people would float around in it rather than walking, and there wouldn’t be much need for those golden streets.
But all of this is pure speculation and goes far beyond anything said in the Bible. Those who think that there will be a physical New Jerusalem just aren’t paying attention to what the Bible actually says.
And who said the people in the New Jerusalem needed to breath Rev 21:4,1 Cor 15:53.
You said John saw this things in the spirit does that now mean the entire Rev 6-19 of the antichrist,
second coming of Christ and etc, all happened in the spirit and are not literal.
Beside various physical laws will be broken before this event of the New Jerusalem in the rapture, the wrath of God and the plagues etc.
God has even broken His physical laws quite a number of times recorded in scripture with Joshua Josh 10:12-13, Moses,Elijah etc and even Jesus himself on many occasions.
You said earlier that God doesn’t violate His own Law but that statement is to His Eternal Laws not temporal laws 1 Peter 3:10. As we see there this earth is temporary and will pass away and be destroyed and why must the New Earth have the old laws of physics when God said “Behold I make all things new” and note He said all things not things in the spirit.
Peter’s prophecy in this context is clearly literal.
There is something called the law of precedence, and it is that a law can be broken if another law superceding it seeks to accomplish something opposite. The Ultimate Law in all of existence is The WORD OF GOD and whether there is a contradicting law or not once He (not it) speaks everybody and everything complies.
Seeing in the spirit simply means seeing by the empowerment of God’s Spirit whether it is the physical or spirit realm.
Thanks for stopping by, and for your comment. However, the book of Revelation never says that all of these things will happen literally. That is human opinion and speculation. In fact, John several times says he saw these things in the spirit, and when heaven was opened to him, indicating that he saw them happening in the spiritual world, not in the physical world. For more on this, please see:
All these literalist ideas about not needing to breathe and so on are pure speculation in an attempt to support nonsensical physical-minded (“fleshly,” in biblical terms) interpretations of the Bible. The Bible never says anything like that. So you can believe these things if you want. But they are purely human opinions, not anything the Bible says.
I am actually replying to something you said earlier in this about all religions and all people will be in the new Jerusalem . The bible says noone shall come to the father except thru Jesus Christ. If a religion doesn’t believe that Jesus was the son of God and died on the cross for our sins was dead 3 days raised up and is living still. If that’s not believed by a religion they cannot be in God’s kingdom. Am I missing something here or is this your beliefs . I know there are many religions some believe in Buddah , some Mohammed these religions are not of my God. I know I am writing this under another post but I read that somewhere in this and wasn’t sure how to ask about it so I saw reply and this is where it lies but I’m curious as to what your teaching because there is but one way to the kingdom of heaven and that the blood of Jesus Christ . I have often thought how sad that some children had parents that never taught then of Jesus but God’s word says every corner of the Earth shall hear of Him and have the chance to accept Him. My grandson is 21 and going to Bible college here in Florida. He has already been on a missions trip to South Mexico where he got to witness to Indian people who lived inna remote part of Mexico. His desire when he graduates is to go into the depths of Iran Iraq and nation’s that believe in other God’s . He said God called him at 7 years old and he has stayed faithful to that calling and will if Jesus doesn’t come back before he gets the chance to go to these places to try and convert these people that hate Americans and Christians. I am not the least bit worried about him because I know God has got him by the hand and trust God to protect him. Although he said if they kill him he will just be with Jesus sooner than later. This is the first I’ve read or been on this site maybe I should have studied all you’ve written before asking this but immediatly after reading that I couldn’t continue until I understand if you are teaching from the Holy Bible or just your beliefs . Or I could have possibly read it wrong or out of context if so forgive me. But please give me some insite into this. Because I know what the Bible says and it says not to add to or take away anything. Jesus Christ is the only way
Yes, what we teach here is from the Holy Bible. In fact, it is from a careful reading of exactly what the Bible says. We do not accept the centuries of human theologians, councils, and creeds that have said that the Bible says this or that, when the Bible doesn’t actually say any of those things. See:
There are many articles linked from these ones that present what the Bible actually says, compared to the human dogmas and traditions that have taken over in today’s “Christianity.” Unfortunately, the present-day Christian Church has done exactly what Jesus upbraided the religious leaders of his day for doing:
He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” (Mark 7:6–8)
Most of the “Christian doctrines” taught in today’s Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches simply aren’t in the Bible. They were made up by human beings hundreds or even thousands of years after the Bible was written. Many of them are flatly rejected in the Bible’s own plain words.
Yes, the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. But that passage does not say that the only way is through believing in Jesus Christ. Traditional “Christianity” has added a word to the Bible that is not there, and has therefore misunderstood and misinterpreted what Jesus was saying. For a full explanation, and an answer to your question, please see:
Meanwhile, Godspeed to your grandson. Though it is true that some Muslims hate America and Christianity, given that the U.S. and other “Christian” nations have been bombing their cities, towns, and villages for decades, and tearing apart their countries and their communities, it is not surprising that some of the more radical and fundamentalist among them have turned to hatred. But most Muslims do not hate America or Christianity. They just want to be left alone to run their own countries and determine their own affairs. My daughter visited a Middle Eastern country several years ago, and found that nearly everyone she came in contact with welcomed her with open arms. Most ordinary Muslims love Americans. But they do not like what the U.S. government is doing in their region. Many of them have lost fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and relatives in the U.S.-led bombings and military campaigns in their countries. This, unfortunately, gives Christianity a very bad name in the eyes of those who have suffered at the hands of a supposedly “Christian” nation. Jesus came as the Prince of Peace. We are not following his commandments when we continue to wage war all around the world.
Good article, thanks for the many interesting points. But on the issue of a physical new Jerusalem, I have to agree with Daniel; there’s no reason to assume the new Jerusalem won’t be physical. Christ’s resurrected body was physical, and we’re told that we will be like him in a resurrected body. And who’s to say that the earth isn’t actually flat, like the Scriptures suggest? There may be a limitless plane horizontally, and “outer space” may be nothing more than fiction NASA has cooked up to make us feel even more insignificant than we already do here on earth. We just don’t know what’s out there, and how it’s all going to look.
Christ’s resurrection body was physical in the sense that it was solid. But it could also pass through locked doors. So it was not physical in the same way that our bodies are physical. Also, he remained on earth only forty days after his resurrection. After that he ascended to heaven. So his resurrection body clearly was not meant to stay here on earth indefinitely. There is no support in Christ’s resurrection body for the idea that we humans will live forever here on earth after our resurrection.
There is also no reason to assume the New Jerusalem will be physical. As I said to Daniel, John’s entire vision is described as being in heaven, not on earth. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the New Jerusalem will be physical.
And if you want to believe that the earth is flat, then there’s probably nothing I can say to dissuade you.
But I’ll just state it plainly:
The earth is not flat.
It’s not just NASA, but the space agencies of many other nations, such as China, Russia, India, and the countries of the European Union that have been up into space and taken millions of pictures of a spherical earth, and of many other spherical planets and moons. The idea that all these governments, some of which have been mortal enemies during most of our spacefaring years, would collude with each other in a vast conspiracy to deceive the public into thinking that the earth is spherical when it is actually flat is just too ludicrous for words.
And now there are private, profit-making companies that regularly send payloads up into space to orbit the earth. Millions of people both in government and in the private sector would all have to be in on the conspiracy. It’s just plain silly.
Further, there are thousands of satellites orbiting the earth beaming signals back and forth. Unless you live in a hut deep in the woods hunting and foraging for food using only wood and stone tools and weapons, you use technology every day that depends upon the earth being spherical.
But if you’re willing to reject things like this that we know to be true beyond any shadow of a doubt, then you will believe whatever you want to believe regardless of what science or the Bible says. If you insist on believing that the world is flat against massive amounts of evidence to the contrary, and regardless of the fact that the Bible never actually says that the earth is flat, then even if God himself were come down and tell you that the earth is spherical, you would keep right on believing these fantasies about a flat earth.
I strongly urge you to stop burying your head in the sand and open your eyes to reality as it actually exists. The Bible does not encourage us to deny the truth when it is looking us right in the face.
“Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. NKJV 1 Cor 15:46-54
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. NKJV Eccl 12:7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. NKJV
Pretty evident that we are not raised as a physical body/entity. Those of you who have an ‘agenda’ will believe what you will. A spiritual body would have no need of a physical city nor would it make sense. God is not the author of confusion or contradiction.
hi! Laws of nature and science all try to explain what God did not necessarily explain them. God is too powerful enough to do anything beyong human imaginations. Remember John said i saw a new earth and a new heaven for the old one has passed away. How does this new earth looks like? Is it the same as the old one? How can you have a revelation from God without being in the spirit? Remember Daniel? Paul talks even about a spiritual body.
Thanks for your comment. That’s not quite how the book of Revelation itself describes the situation. It says of the New Jerusalem that:
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. (Revelation 21:24-26)
Not only the Christian nations, but all the nations.
And it is not non-Christians, but evildoers who will be outside the city:
Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:15)
Read also Matthew 25:31-46 on how the people of all the nations will be judged for eternal life or eternal punishment.
You have taken Revelation 21:24-26 and Matthew 25:31-46 out of context. In your statement of the New Jerusalem you included all people, all nations, and then added all religions. That is where you made your mistake. Go back to those references you used to justify your reply to Son of Man, and you will see that, yes, all people from all over the world of every tongue, nationality, country and the like WILL enter into the Kingdom of Heaven IF THEY HAVE RECEIVED JESUS AS THEIR SAVIOR. There is no other option. In both Scripture references you give, the “all people” who enter in takes place after the judgment. There is another judgment for the righteous, but that has to do with something else entirely. Jesus said He was the only way to the Father. Either that is true or Jesus is a liar. And if Jesus is a liar you might as well throw out Revelation, since it was given BY Jesus Christ.
Thank you for stopping by, and for your comments. Before you comment further, I would ask you to read our comments policy. Meanwhile, I will also respond to some of the points you made in your two other comments that I did not approve for public viewing.
It is you, my friend, who are adding to the words of the prophecy of the book of Revelation, and to the rest of the Bible.
Take your own challenge, and read the passages that I quoted, and their context. Those passages do not say that people “will enter the kingdom of heaven if they have received Jesus as their Savior.” You are adding those words. In fact, Paul is crystal clear that people who do not accept Jesus as their savior will enter the kingdom of heaven if they live a good life according to their conscience:
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. You say, “We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.” Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.
All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all. (Romans 2:1–16, italics added)
Here Paul says plainly that there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good. And he does not leave any room for doubt that this applies to non-Christians. He says, “The Jew first, and also the Greek.” Jews are not Christians. “Greeks” (pagan polytheists) are not Christians. And Paul says that they will have glory, honor, and peace if they do good.
Further, he says that Gentiles, which includes all people who are not Jews or Christians, will be judged by Jesus Christ according to their secret thoughts, and according to whether they have lived according to the law of their conscience.
In this saying this, Paul is simply following the teaching of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 25:31–46 Jesus says that the people of all the nations who do good deeds for their fellow human beings, as judged by Jesus Christ, will go to eternal life, while those who do not do good deeds for their fellow human beings will go to eternal punishment. Read it for yourself. Jesus doesn’t say a word about any requirement that the people of all the nations must believe in him in order to go to eternal life. Only that they must do good deeds for their fellow human beings.
Here is the situation, then:
Jesus Christ says that the people of all the nations will be given eternal life if they do good deeds for their neighbors in need.
The Apostle Paul says that Jews, Greeks, and Gentiles will be given glory, honor, and peace if they do good, and live according to their conscience.
David Brollier says that only those who have received Jesus Christ as their savior will be saved.
If David Brollier disagrees with Jesus Christ and with the Apostle Paul about who is saved and who is damned, who do you think we should believe?
It is true that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. That is why the judgment on all people, Jews, Greeks, and Gentiles, takes place through Jesus Christ, exactly as Paul says. If Jesus Christ is God, and there is only one God, then Jesus Christ is the God of all people, not only of Christians. There is no other God. There is no other judge of the people of all the nations. See:Is Jesus Christ the Only Way to Heaven?
You are in error, my friend, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. I urge you to abandon the false human teachers who have filled your mind with unbiblical falsities, substituting human traditions for the Word of God. Learn the true teachings of the Bible from the lips of Jesus Christ himself, and from his Apostles. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
To respond to one more point from one of your unapproved comments:
Yes, please do read Revelation 2–3, the so-called “letters to the churches.” But they are not actually letters to the churches. You will see, if you read carefully, that every single letter is addressed, not to the churches, but to the angels of the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Not a single letter is addressed to the church itself, but to the angels of those churches.
Now, angels are spiritual beings. And the letters are addressed to the angels of those churches, meaning to their spiritual guardians. The very example you give provides one more proof that the entire book of Revelation is about spiritual events, not physical events, and that it is addressed to the spiritual state of humanity, not to kings, nations, and empires here on earth.
It is you, my friend, who are adding to, and subtracting from, the book of Revelation by contradicting its own words when it says that all of these things were witnessed and took place in the spirit and in heaven. You are contradicting the book of Revelation’s own words when you claim that these events will take place here on earth.
Read the Scriptures for yourself, my friend. Read the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels and in the book of Revelation. These are the words of eternal life. Abandon the teachers of the false doctrines of Martin Luther and John Calvin, and listen to the words of life from the Lord’s own lips, and from the lips of his Apostles.
Thanks God that there are people like you because what you just explained it’s indeed a true revelation from the Father not every one would understand the way Holy Ghost has revealed to you, others. Jesus He is the only Holy temple as He said so himself, I believe that he is the new Jerusalem, that Jerusalem is the Spirit of the Lord descending upon the people of God so this new Jerusalem is already within other people and God He’s giving them the ability to make changes in the world to be a better place like heavenly Jerusalem
the new earth and the new heaven it is a transformation from the old spiritual realm which was corrupted by evil spirits so as I am writing now the old spiritual realm it is being destroyed by the Lord now, there is outpouring fire of volcano that is overflowing right now melting the elements of the spiritual realm of the past age, the wrath of the Lord is released against all evil spirits whom polluted the physical realm with evil……..
Thanks for stopping by, and for your comment. Yes, the New Jerusalem is a spiritual event that is happening all around us right now, as the spirit of the Lord comes to people on earth in new and more spiritual ways.
We cannot get to heaven by works . To get to heaven you must admit your a sinner , ask for forgiveness, beleive Jesus died for your sins and have a personal relationship with him . The first birthday let verse I can remember learning as a child John 3:16 For God so loved the world he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life . John 14:6 I am the way the truth and the life. Noone comes to the father except thru Me. John 3:5 Jesus answered , Very truly I tell you Noone can enter the kingdom of God unless you are born of the water and spirit . Many many times the Bible tells us we cannot see God by works , by might , but only thru Jesus . Jesus is a mystery and we will all know that answers to these questions we ask one day .The Bible tells us this. But you can’t get to heaven or to New Jerusalem , or Even near God without Jesus . If you can show me a place in the Bible where it says if you live a good life or be a good person or give alot of money to the church you can get to heaven please show me now. Because it’s not in the Bible I read . I’m sure there are alot if people that would love to believe this but it’s a lie from Satan and I stand on that and noone can prove me wrong . One way to heaven ,JESUS CHRIST, It’s a one way street people and Jesus is the one way .
Unfortunately, most of what you are saying here simply isn’t stated in the Bible. And the Bible verses that you do mention do not say what you say they do.
In many, many places the Bible says that we must do good works in order to be saved. Here are just four examples, two from the Old Testament, and two from the New Testament:
Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?” No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:11–20)
And:
But if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die. None of the transgressions that they have committed shall be remembered against them; for the righteousness that they have done they shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live? But when the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and do the same abominable things that the wicked do, shall they live? None of the righteous deeds that they have done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which they are guilty and the sin they have committed, they shall die. (Ezekiel 18:21–24)
And:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”
The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.”
They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?”
He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:31–46)
And:
Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:4–11)
Meanwhile, there is not a single passage in the entire Bible that says that we do not have to do good works in order to be saved. Yes, Paul talks about being saved by “faith apart from the works of the Law” (Romans 3:28). But in those passages, by “works” he means getting circumcised and being an observant Jew, as explained in this article:
If you read Paul’s letters carefully, you will see that he never says that we are not saved by good works. Only that we are not saved by “works.” That’s because he is not talking about not being saved by good works. He himself says, in the above quote from Romans 2:1–11, that people who do good will be given eternal life, while those who do evil will experience wrath and fury. And Paul does not contradict himself. If he had wanted to say that we are not saved by good works, he could very easily have done so. But he never did.
Paul also never said that we are saved by faith alone, nor did he say we are saved by grace alone. “Grace alone” never appears anywhere in the entire Bible. And in the one and only passage in the entire Bible that mentions faith alone, it is specifically rejected:
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)
This, incidentally, is yet another passage in the Bible saying that we are saved (“justified”) by works. There are dozens, if not hundreds, more such statements in the Bible.
Unfortunately, you have been taught things that the Bible doesn’t actually say.
You cannot show me a single passage in the Bible that says we are saved by faith alone.
You cannot show me a single passage in the Bible that says we are not saved by doing good works.
You cannot show me a single passage in the Bible that says that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins.
You cannot show me a single passage in the Bible that says that only Christians are saved.
You have been taught all of these things, but they are simply not taught in the Bible.
It is true that technically, we are not saved by doing good works. Neither are we saved by having faith. We are saved by God’s love and by God’s power. But if we do not have faith and do good works according to the Lord’s commandments, then we have rejected God, and have rejected the Lord’s salvation.
I could go on, but there are many articles here that cover these subjects in more detail. Here are a some to get you started, if you really want to know the truth of what the Bible teaches about salvation:
I know that’s a lot of articles, some of them quite lengthy and detailed. But if you want real answers to your questions, you will have to put in the time to get those answers. Unfortunately, your preachers and teachers have filled your mind full of a lot of unbiblical falsity that you will have to unlearn before you can understand the Bible’s message, and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Hi My name is Carlos,
I’m not quite in agreement with your statements base on the argument of a stadia measurement of the city. The Bible says that ..and I quote….He measured the city…it does not say he measured only one side of the city. If I were to measure your house and told you I just measured your house and it is 2,300 ft. Would you agree that I took the time to measure it completely…is it not possible that the complete measurement of the city equals to 12000 furlongs. Revelation 21:16. The city is perfectly square. Its perimeter is 12,000 furlongs, or 1,500 miles (a furlong is 1/8 mile). It is 375 miles long on each side. Also is the following correct…”And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits. … And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.” Revelation 21:17, 18. A wall 144 cubits, or 216 feet high (a cubit is 18 inches), surrounds the city. The wall is made of solid jasper, with radiance and beauty beyond description. Think of it! Nearly 20 stories high and solid jasper!
To me a city that is made of these materials and size is speaking in literal terms not necessarily spiritual terms. I don’t think God would allow John to see something that was real and later tell Him it was all spiritual only.
Let’s not forget that…Few shall be chosen! God knows exactly how big and how many will fit in His new Jerusalem! Not only that but God knows perfectly well how to balance the scales of the universe as the creator of the universe he is in complete control of all things!
Thank you for hearing me out! and GOD Continue His blessings on you!
Carlos
However, about the measurements of the city, there is no word for “perimeter” in the original Greek, and it would be very unnatural to translate Revelation 21:16 as saying that. I’m not aware of any Bible translation that interprets that measurement as a measurement of the perimeter of the city. The clear intent of the Greek is to say that the city is 12,000 stadia (about 1,400 miles) on each side, and also 12,000 stadia high.
And even if that were what the Greek means (which it is not), a city 375 miles high would still stretch far beyond breathable atmosphere, and it would still cause the destruction of the earth as it threw the earth’s rotation off axis and shook the earth to pieces.
As for the measurement of the wall, the Greek text does not say exactly what it’s measuring. Most Bible scholars believe it is referring to the height of the wall, but another common measurement of the walls around ancient walled cities was how thick they were, and thus how capable they were of resisting battering rams and other means of breaching them. So although the text is likely to be referring to the height of the wall, we can’t say for certain that it’s referring to the height and not to the width.
But to the larger point: Contrary to what you’re saying, there’s no reason at all, based on the text of Revelation itself, to think that the city in John’s vision was meant to be a literal city. As pointed out in my article, “Is the World Coming to an End? What about the Second Coming?” throughout the book of Revelation John regularly speaks of being in the spirit when he saw the things he describes in that book. See, for example, Revelation 1:10, 4:2, 17:3, 21:10. So the text itself presents all of these things as taking place in the spiritual world (i.e., in heaven), not in the physical world.
Those Christians who think that there is going to be a literal New Jerusalem coming down out of the sky onto the physical earth simply aren’t paying attention to what John himself says in the book of Revelation.
a new earth doesnt mean it will be another earth ball .it could be flat forever in all the directions with this big jerusalem in the middle of it all. ..thinking ahead into the future with the nations growing in population cant be done on another new small earth..otherwise God will have to undo it again and make it bigger again. or over population…so making it big for the future of all nations growing is the way to go…there is said there will be no more night and the 12 gates wont shut close for God will live amongst his people..so all of this has to be in the to come new earthly realm
Sure, all of this could happen. But it assumes that God did a bad job of designing the world and the universe the first time around. I don’t think God made a mistake in designing the universe, and I don’t think that God will have to fix that mistake the second time around. I believe God designed the universe exactly as God wanted it, and that there is no need for an Earth 2.0 to upgrade or fix the mistakes of the first one.
As I said to Carlos, everything John saw, he saw in the spiritual world, with his spiritual eyes, not in the physical world with his physical eyes. There is no good biblical reason to think that the things he saw happening spiritually in the spiritual world are going to happen physically in the physical world.
The whole idea that Revelation is talking about future physical events has no basis in the book of Revelation itself.
But once again, if you want to believe that these things are going to happen physically, that’s your choice. But I predict that you and others who believe as you do will be waiting a very long time (like, forever) for any of these things to take place in the physical world.
God can do whatever he desires. Logic always makes God subject to laws of physics, when God doesn’t have to subject to rules he created. Jesus walked on water. God can create a literal city this size. You are saying that God can’t do all things when he vs created the heavens and earth from nothing. Remember his mind is as far as the heaven and earth in comparison to ours. You will never rationalize his capilbilities.
Hi Lee…Regarding not being able to breathe because of 1400 mile height of the New Jerusalem. We are given an incorruptible body. Jesus being 100% God, and yet 100% man, was transfigured, and He sits at the right hand of the Father. The word says that we will be like Him. So with that in mind, we should not discount what John saw in the spirit, and think that it could not happen in the physical.
As for the earth rotating “smoothly,” God said He will make all things “new.” He has everything already worked out. He also said that the “righteous shall inherit the earth.”
The Lord returns to earth AFTER it is purged from sin. Revelation speaks of the angels coming first, to kill the unbelievers and gather them (“tares”) to a place where the birds of the air will feast on their corpses. Then fire comes upon the earth.
Now, you tell me, who will be left? Like Daniel in the fiery furnace who was protected by the fire because Jesus was there with him, so shall it be for the righteous. THEN the New Jerusalem will (imho) “hover,” above the earth. And ONLY those who are righteous will be able to travel back and forth from earth to it.
Best not to mock John for what God showed him.
God bless all who hear what the Spirit says.
Of course, we could engage in various mental exercises to try to explain how all of these predictions about the Last Days and the New Jerusalem are going to happen physically in this world.
However, if you read the book of Revelation carefully, you will see that John saw all these visions taking place, not here on earth, but in the spiritual world. He says that “heaven was opened to him” and that he was “in the spirit.” So everything he saw took place in heaven, meaning the spiritual world, not here on earth. It doesn’t make much sense to think that everything John saw it the spiritual world is going to take place in the physical world.
This is the basic mistake made by all of the Christians who think that these things are going to take place physically on this earth. Those Christians simply aren’t paying attention to what the book itself actually says.
Lee, you are spot on. People either do not have the Spiritial eyes to “see” or they are not reading the bible with a new mind. What I mean by that is the mind has been programmed to believe what it’s been taught and it doesn’t seek answers. The Holy Spirit has placed it on my heart to hear and see truth. The new Jerusalem is here. The old Jerusalem has passed. Jesus ushered in ALL
things new. Amen. The Spiritial kingdom of God is within us today. God breathed HIS Spirit into us. Not all but many folks are missing this just as the Jews missed Christ. Be blessed,
Cassie
Regarding the New Jerusalem…I am in a quandary. Does the New Jerusalem come down from heaven BEFORE the earth is destroyed by fire? All evil will be burned up, so how could there be any sinners? I am thinking during the Millennium. This verse, “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood? (Revelation 22:15) Christ though returns AFTER the earth is destroyed by fire, and made new…
In Revelation 21: 27 “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Once we realize that the book of Revelation is talking about spiritual events rather than physical ones, these problems and quandaries disappear.
The “fire” in the book of Revelation is not literal, physical fire, but rather the spiritual fire (in a negative sense) of burning anger and hatred of evil people against all who do not bow down to them and worship them as gods, or who get in their way in any way whatsoever. This evil spiritual fire destroys their souls spiritually in that they become burnt out cinders of human beings, living only for themselves instead of for others as they were created to do. They do continue to exist, but it is not a truly human existence, so they are said to be spiritually dead.
All such people remain outside of the New Jerusalem, which is the home of people who are spiritually alive, meaning who love God and love their neighbor, and show that love through daily acts of kindness and service to their fellow human beings.
But where in the book of Revelation does it say that the things John saw in the spiritual world would take place on earth?
Keep in mind that the Greek words usually translated “heaven” and “earth” mean, in their more ordinary sense, “sky” and “land.” When John saw a “war in heaven” (Revelation 12:7-18), and Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, what John was seeing visually was a war in the sky, and the dragon being thrown down to the land upon his defeat. And John is seeing all of this “in the spirit,” meaning in the spiritual world. So both “the heaven” (the sky) and “the earth” (the land) are the sky and the land of the spiritual world, where John saw all of these events taking place.
There is certainly no good reason to conclude from the text of Revelation itself that any of this is going to take place here in the physical realm. That’s not where John saw it happening, and nowhere in the book does it say that it is going to take place in the material world.
In fact, it is precisely the other way around: It is a remarkable stretch to the point of error to ignore John’s own words about where he saw these events taking place, and to jump to the conclusion that these things will all take place on earth. Those who believe this simply aren’t paying attention to what the book says.
Being in the spirit John sees a “vision” of things that will occur. To categorize this to mean the events as occuring in the “spiritual realm” instead of a warning to earthly inhabitants of events literally coming upon earth is problematic from the onset.
A warning is a warning to those facing literal judgement on earth.
Having read Rev. several times it is clear that a New Heavens AND a New Earth will be the residence of God on earth in a city called the New Jerusalem. It will have gates and streets and people walking in and out.
To take away the meaning of the literal warnings of literal events coming upon the inhabitants of this world given by God in Revelation may incur the Judgement given in Rev. 22:19.
You’re welcome. And I do understand that you and many other Christians believe that the things described in the book of Revelation are going to happen literally in this world.
However, that is simply an opinion. The book never actually says that these things are going to happen literally and physically, in this material world. It simply describes the events as things John saw while he was in the spirit, and when heaven was opened to him.
You are, of course, welcome to your opinion that these events will take place physically and literally. But it is just that: an opinion and a human interpretation. It has no particular basis in the book of Revelation itself.
Jesus said, ” my kingdom is not if this world”
A new heaven and a new earth is now. The old covenant is passed. Amen.
The new covenant has come. The new heaven and the new earth. Thank you Jesus!!
It’s a spiritual kingdom.
Good Day to you brother in Christ,
If you could seek the Holy Spirit guidance for me in agreement I would appreciate it. In the Fall of 2010 while sleeping I was shaken lightly out of sleep and heard, ” you will be a keeper of the flame” two nights later the same thing happened but I heard, ” the spirit of Elijah and the seed”
Since then I receive a lot to go to Zechariah 4. When I hear this I open right to the chapter. Coincidence? I don’t believe so. One thing this morning did JUMP out at me. Verse 6 ” Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying Not by my might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. The rebuilding of the temple which has begun would be accomplished not by human hands but by the POWER OF GODS SPIRIT. Amen. IT IS FINISHED. I ask please pray in agreement with me on what was spoken to me.
Thank you.
Cassie
I won’t comment on the messages you received since they are personal to you, and only you can know their meaning for you. But I’ll keep you in my prayers, as you request. And whatever messages you may receive, keep reading the Scriptures, because that is where God especially speaks to us. Godspeed on your spiritual journey!
The Kingdon has come. Jesus said,” thy kingdom is within you”
Does Jesus not dwell within believers? Isn’t HIS kingdom within you?
Let’s look at Rev. 22:15 For without are dogs, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and make a lie. Are they still not among the kingdom?
Oops, looks like I missed this comment when you first made it. Sorry about that!
I agree that the kingdom has come—for those who accept it—and that it is within, or as some translations say, among us (the Greek word can be translated either way). The people who are outside are there by their own choice, because they have rejected the kingdom of God by their selfish and evil actions.
I believe our minds as people are too simple to understand the very complex and eternal plans of God. Therefore no one on earth is qualified to boldly make a claim that the New Jerusalem is in fact not a real physical city or that it is a real physical city. Some questions are best unanswered until we see Jesus in the days to come. However I do appreciate your 1,400 miles measurement conversion.
By the same token, no one on earth is qualified to boldly make a claim that the New Jerusalem is a physical city when the Book of Revelation never describes it as one. Instead, it says that everything John saw, he saw “in the spirit” and “when heaven was opened to him.” The idea that it is a physical city is merely humans jumping to conclusions without carefully reading what the Bible actually says.
Thanks for stopping by, and for your comment. However, eternal bodies are still bodies. That means they still need food, air, water, and so on. Otherwise what would be the point of living in a city, with all of the infrastructure that a city has to supply our human needs? What would be the point of having a body at all? Why wouldn’t we just be wispy things floating around here and there?
The Bible truth cannot be half true it’s either completely true or completely false. Do you ignore that the new Jerusalem that John saw in a vision was a prophetic event of things to happen seen in a vision? (Yes, i suppose you know it!). This particular event of the new Jerusalem descending is made of the Bride of Jesus-Christ coming down on a new earth from God (Heaven) not as old creatures but as new creatures in their glorified body (Theophany) which are celestials bodies just like angels have got some entirely free from this actual world natural conditions and laws completely corrupted by sin when Eve fall in Eden to let death plant it roots into everything as we know it today.
The raptured Bride of the Lord can breathe beyond the atmosphere nothing can limit her simply because she’s God Himself in another form after that the marriage of the lamb has already taken place! The countenance of God is with her, God dwells within them.
read Revelation 21:1-3
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
As I said, in the beginning, a single line of the scripture wrongly interpreted makes all the storyline false. I pray that God will open your understanding of His Word to see what I am pointing to your attention here.
However, nowhere does the Bible say that what John saw in the spiritual world will take place in the physical world. Those Christians who believe this are jumping to conclusions due to their fleshly and literalistic view of the Bible and of the teachings of Jesus Christ, who said to us:
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63)
Similarly, Paul said:
Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:5–6)
Unfortunately, many Christian preachers have focused on the useless flesh and the letter that kills rather than on the spirit that gives life. Nowhere is this more true than in their fleshly and physical-minded reading of the Book of Revelation. For more on this, please see:Is the World Coming to an End? What about the Second Coming?
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15 Essential Tools For An RV Toolkit–Don’t Travel Without These!
(Links in this post are affiliate links. I will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking those links. See mydisclosure page for more information)
RV troubles never seem to happen where it is convenient. Instead, they happen miles from an RV dealership during a tightly packed travel agenda- which is why having the right tools in your RV toolkit is essential.
15 Essential Tools For An RV Toolkit
Gorilla Glue saved the day quite a few times. The biggest being when there was an accident in the trailer that caused some flooring to be gouged and we were able to smooth it out and re-glue it almost as good as new. It takes several minutes to find it–well at least it does for everyone but the person who accidentally caused it–they still feel terrible about that one. Eh! Mistakes happen and Gorilla Glue fixes them.
Our roll of Gorilla Tough & Wide Duct Tape was a life saver! My husband used at least half the roll during our 22-week trip. One thing it helped fix were holes in our awning caused when we slipped on ice and hit a building. Luckily that was the only damage. My husband also used this tough and wide duct tape to help seal a small hole that developed in our roof (we don’t know what caused it).
There are of course hundreds of different brands of duct tape out there, but my husband insists the Gorilla Tough & Wide Duct tape is the best out there. It sticks better than any other duct tape we have tried.
If your travel trailer or RV didn’t come with a handy ladder attached to it, you are going to want to purchase one. You need to be able to get up on the roof of your rig to perform regular maintenance and repair. If you have a slide-out, you need the ladder to clean off the roof before you pull it in for travel. This particular type of ladder folds small, making it easier to store.
Sometimes you have to crawl under your travel trailer to figure out the source of whatever problem you might be having. When you do, putting down a drop cloth first will make the job much more comfortable. You could also use a tarp that could double as backup roof protection should your roof spring a leak, but a plastic tarp it isn’t as comfortable to work on as a cotton drop cloth.
If you want to make s’mores, you are going to need firewood. Even if you get the pre-cut stuff available at the campsite, a hatchet could still come in handy to break a piece into kindling to get your fire going faster. My husband also used the blunt end of the hatchet as a hammer a few times. Of course, you could just add a hammer to your RV toolkit.
We used our 18-volt drill every single time we set up our trailer at a new campsite with #9 attached to it (more on why in a second). The drill also came in handy numerous times for various fixes including tightening up the screws in the camper’s dining room table several times. Those dinette tables get wiggly fast–especially if you are breaking them down into a bed each night like we were.
Our RV repairman showed us the power of a leveling scissor jack socket attached to a drill as we were hooking up our trailer after its first repair before our long road trip with it. When my husband saw how much time it saved over doing the job manually, he was sold. The leveling scissor jack socket was in the Amazon shopping cart the minute we got home.
Make sure your wrench is large enough to adjust and maintain your hitch. If you don’t have a travel trailer like us, but instead an RV or a fifth wheel you might not need one as big, but having one in your toolkit will still be handy.
If you are not an electrician, it is, of course, unwise to do major electrical repairs–but that isn’t what we used these tools for. Our battery wasn’t working properly, and the electrician’s pouch with tools and the electrical test kit helped us find the source of the problem and get it fixed with the help of a handy retired RV mechanic who just happened to be camping next to us.
This kit also came in handy when our trailer signal lights were not functioning properly. Using the tools allowed us to figure out where the problem was originating and then YouTube how to fix it. With this knowledge, we discovered all we needed was a small fuse that could be picked up for a few dollars at a local auto parts store.
2 Tools To Add For The Serious RV Traveler
These last two tools probably are not needed if the only place you take your RV to is the campsite an hour outside your town on long weekends. However, if you are planning to travel farther and longer, you might want to consider these purchases.
Tire inflation is pretty important when it comes to safe RV traveling. Having an air compressor with an air impact gun along on your travels will make tire inflation a lot easier. Who wants to try and maneuver a big travel trailer or fifth wheel around a gas station to get to their self-pay air stations when you don’t have to? Plus the air compressor comes in super handy for filling bike tires, inflatable beach toys and more.
If you are wondering where to store such a big item, my husband stored ours in the back of our truck, but it could have fit under our bed in the travel trailer too -it just would not have been as easy to gain access to.
Truth time:I thought my husband was going overboard with this purchase, but within a few weeks of our five and a half month trip I saw he wasn’t. He used it at least once a week and sometimes more. One time it saved us from having to wait around for a tow truck to rescue us after our trailer tire started leaking air during a long travel day. He was able to fill the tire up enough to get us to our campsite and then use his Hydraulic Bottle Jack (#15 on this list) to hold up the trailer while he got the tire off to take in for repair. Meaning we kept our home to sleep, eat and hang out in, instead of losing it to the repair shop.
If you do need to get your tire off for repair, having a hydraulic bottle jack is essential–that and the knowledge of how to use it properly (YouTube should help with that). As I said above, having the jack saved us from having to take our whole trailer to the repair shop. This saved us money and time.
Fellow RV owners–have I missed anything? Tell me in the comments what you would add to my list.
Comments
Hi,
My Lady and I plan o purchasing a class “A” rv sometime after april of next year. Naturally, I’m scouring the inter-webs for information, ideas and whatever else I can glean.
Thanks for taking the time to make your list.
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Hi, I'm Victoria
Welcome to the Snail Pace Transformations blog where I share my tips for improving finances and home management one small step at a time. Why small? Because small changes are more likely to transform your life.
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Category Archives: Susan Jimison
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Growing up in a military family and having married a navy pilot, I suppose I had a predilection for Susan Jimison and her story. We met at a book event hosted by Deeds Publishing where I heard Susan talk about Dear Mark, her first book. It’s the story of her brother, a helicopter pilot who was killed in Vietnam over forty years ago. Just saying his name aloud brought tears to her eyes and a lump to her throat, and maybe mine and the others who sat listening that evening under the stars.
Susan wanted to tell her brother’s story, but struggled for a decade with the task of describing the Vietnam War and its horrors. It was a world she had not experienced and could not fathom. She was to the point of giving up when a writing class partner suggested she try to tell the story in epistolary style, as if she were writing letters to her brother. Susan went back to the drawing board and began Mark’s story again. The change made all the difference. The words flowed as if she were talking to her brother, telling him of the events he missed, good times and bad times.
Today, readers often write Susan to mention how moved they were by his story and how much they appreciate Susan writing the book to honor Mark’s service and sacrifice. It’s a story that might not have been so well received in the 60s and 70s, Susan says, when the war was fresh and controversial. But today, it’s found an audience with survivors and families of those lost in our war in the Middle East.
After Dear Mark, Susan picked up the pen again, or perhaps more accurately, sat down at her computer to write the story of her cousin John Donovan, one of WWII’s Flying Tigers. John was lost in that war, amazingly, as Susan would discover, in the same country but one thousand kilometers away from where her brother had been killed. Though well known in some circles, Susan thought there was still much to say about the Flying Tigers, many of whom fought and lost their lives far from home.
It would take Susan another decade to write The John Donovan Story. Once again, she turned to letters—ones John’s brother had saved and which are preserved in the Pensacola Florida Naval Air Station Museum. John’s brother and Susan had a common bond, both had lost brothers and neither wanted their legacy to be forgotten.
Despite the tragedies in Susan and her family’s lives, there is a silver lining to her personal story. At a Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Reunion, Susan met Mike Jimison, a member of Mark’s company and fellow helicopter pilot. Soon after, Mike and Susan married and later Mike contributed a chapter to Dear Mark.
Even after two successful books to her credit, Susan is still a much self-deprecating author. She tells audiences where she and I along with Valerie Connors and Connie McKee appear as The Book Widows that she wouldn’t know where to begin to write a novel. We all laugh and just hope she’s working on something new, and that it doesn’t take a decade to come to market.
Susan and her husband Mike Jimison live in Woodstock, Georgia. Their children are grown but they have a furry one, Dude, who they claim is the best dog in the world.
Look for Susan at one of our area’s many veteran gatherings where she often speaks about her stories. You can also read more about Susan Jimison and her books at susanclotfelterjimison.com
Featured Bookstore Nearby: FoxTale Book Shoppe
FoxTale Book Shoppe has been named the best bookstore in Atlanta by Atlanta Magazine. Take a drive over there, if you’ve never been. Look for the inviting store (some say “homey”) tucked away like a fox’s den in a half block of stores just the other side of the railroad tracks that mark downtown Woodstock. The “foxes” that own and operate and make things tick at FoxTale include Karen Schwettman, Jackie Tanase and Ellen Ward. Be prepared to find the store filled with other new customers as well as long-standing fans, well-known and emerging authors, and children discovering a first book. FoxTale is known for the many events the store hosts.
Click here for more information about this independent book store in Woodstock, Georgia.
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Architect Brigitte Shim to Give Last Lecture in this Year's SoADA Lecture & Exhibition Series
(Elgin, Ill. April 4, 2011) Judson University's School of Art, Design & Architecture is pleased to welcome Brigitte Shim as the final lecturer in the 2010-11 SoADA Lecture & Exhibition Series. Shim's lecture will be held at 4:30 p.m., Friday, April 8, in the Herrick Chapel and is free and open to the public.
Brigitte Shim is an architect, partner in the firm Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, and a professor at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica, trained at the University of Waterloo with degrees in environmental studies and architecture, and resides and works primarily in Toronto. Among her many recognized appointments, she has served as the Eero Saarinen Visiting Chair at Yale University, a visiting professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and an invited visiting professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.
Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe's design practice was formed in 1994 and reflects their shared interest in and passion for the integration of architecture, landscape, and furniture. With her partner Howard Sutcliffe, she has been honored with eight Governor General's Medals and Awards for Architecture from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada for public and private projects such as Ledbury Park, Laneway House, Moorelands Camp Dining Hall, Weathering Steel House, and Muskoka Boathouse, along with design recognition from the American Institute of Architects. Buildings, landscapes, and furniture designed by Shim-Sutcliffe have represented Canadian design in international exhibitions, and their built work has been published widely in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Brigitte has also served as a juror on many notable award and competition panels, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
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Love online | Dating 100% free, easy and fun
Find love online at mobifriends' chat. You can find boys and girls, find love online and chat for free, see their photos and check their profiles, send them messages, mobis (funny animated messages), or chat on the video chat, whenever you want and wherever you want, on the Internet and mobile phones.
Boys and girls
to find your love online in mobifriends. All for free at mobifriends, with an attractive design and great usability.
Join a big community of boys and girls who want to find love online for free with people like you!
Worldwide country list to find love online
Bellow there is a list of all the available countries where you can sign up to mobifriends and find your love online. After it you can find the detailed listings for each country. Browse through the regions where you can find your love online at mobifriends.
If your region is not present, sign up and be a pioneer!If your country is not in the list and you would like us to add it, let us know at the Contact's page.
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Mad As Hell
About this item
It can be hard keeping track of all the different little side-projects and sub-labels Bristol's Banoffee Pies are involved in. The relatively young firm have been pivotal in releasing some really quite inspired dance music over the last few years which seems deliciously mellow & biotic in contrast to some of the more icy cold, abrasive dance styles that occupy the scene. Up to record eight on the original stable, Gallegos, a Bristol native, presets four tracks from his studio for our listening pleasure.
"Mad A Hell" opens proceedings with a low-slung breakbeat supporting a vicious, flailing ADSR syth line, shuddering and juddering into focus and sure to cause a rising tide of excitement on the dancefloor. "Beach Feet" contrasts Balearic-tinged Strat guitar lines with gentle propulsive perc and a bubbling b-line to great effect, adding the final embellishment of meandering jazz sax; this is one of those deep coastal burners that'll keep the outdoor terraces simmering nicely as the evening draws in.
Flip for "Be Who You Want To Be", which switches back to the simple, breaks-n-synth formula of the opening track but losing none of its urgency or impact. Finally, "England Is A Bitch" pairs Linton Johnson's powerful spoken word poem ("Inglan Is A Bitch") with riotous flute passages, intricate jazz drumming and mellow Rhodes for a spiritual-jazz-dance hybrid perfectly tailored for 2018's turbulent times. Banoffee Pies ride again! Recommended.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Mad As Hell
A2. Beach Feet
B1. Be Who You Want To Be
B2. England Is A Bitch
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I was hoping the golf cart grand prize was one of those Helmet carts I could keep and use around the neighborhood to promote my future FCS program.
Well Rodney just sent out his letter saying he is open for business in the fall.....provided he doesn’t change his mind before the fall...I wish he would just provide a Plan A and a Plan B. Not that hard to do.
"There was a great deal of character on that field today. They are for real, no doubt about it. This was no fluke." - Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant
...They Just found the Cure!!! Our Football Season is Saved!.. HALLELUJAH!!
Scientists on Wednesday announced the first effective treatment against the coronavirus — an experimental drug that can speed the recovery of COVID-19 patients — in a major medical advance that came as the economic gloom caused by the scourge deepened in the U.S. and Europe.
The U.S. government said it is working to make the antiviral medication remdesivir available to patients as quickly as possible.
“What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious-disease expert. “This will be the standard of care.”
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Step 2) Interview several realtors. Do this with an eye to finding out who will be truthful and represent your interests well when the time comes to buy.
I just got back from a talk with a realtor. I walked in off the street, no appointment.
I asked questions like:
how's the market between this year and last?
Where do you think this market is going?
How many people took out ARM's in this area?
Do you think we're heading for a lot of foreclosures?
Many of us would like to eventually purchase a home, once the market settles down, so the subject of how to select a real estate agent (or whether to go through an agent at all) is definitely a relevant one.
Personally, I've got a black list of people I'll definitely never work with, consisting of the various agents that have emailed me or left comments on here basically telling me how stupid I am not to jump into real estate NOW.
So are you using this interesting time in the market to screen agents for the future when you are ready to buy? What kinds of questions would you suggest asking to separate the wheat from the chaff?
Question: I'm attempting to research the housing market, but I don't want to even think about buying for at least a year because I am committed to a one-year lease. How can I efficiently do the research without a real estate agent? I assume most agents would not be interested in working with a client who will not be buying a home for at least a year. I've attended numerous Sunday open houses, but I feel I may be missing valuable properties.
B.G., Bellevue
Answer: You are wise to get to know the local housing market before you make an offer on a house. In real estate, as in most areas of life, knowledge is power. You will not be able to recognize a good deal until you have done your homework.
You are on the right track. At this point in your search, Sunday open houses are the best way to research the market. You should also read the home sale ads in the newspaper every week. After a few weeks of touring homes and scanning ads, you should get to the point where you can drive up to a home and guess its price within $10,000 before setting foot inside.
When you can do that on a consistent basis, you will know that you have a good feel for the market value of homes in your area.
Once you know what a home is likely to sell for, you can quickly recognize a bargain when you see one.
Since the reader apparently isn't in a hurry to buy a house, shouldn't they also spend some time researching whether it is a good time to buy into the market at all? The columnist admits that "the market may be slower by next year," but they fail to address any type of market trend research.
How would you answer B.G. in Bellevue? What kind of research should he be doing to find out for himself whether it really is a good time to buy or if he'd be financially better off renting for a while longer?
Monday, May 29, 2006
Most readers of this blog know that renting versus owning right now is almost a no-brainer, and buying real estate in order to rent it out right now is just plain foolish. Now, I haven't been following the commercial real estate market as closely as residential, but I would have a hard time believing that things are drastically different there. But leave it to a company from California to try to convince businesses otherwise:
A California developer of an office complex that will break ground next month in Snoqualmie aims to convince small business owners here that it's better to own their space than to rent one....While the company prefers to call its units "individual business properties," as opposed to condos, the concept behind its Venture Commerce Centers is "almost identical to the residential model," said Berryhill.
"Most people have discovered it's more advantageous to own your own home than to rent," said Berryhill. His company believes the same holds true for business owners.
"If you know you're going to do the same thing for the next five, 10 or 30 years, rather than pay a landlord for 30 years, it makes a heck of a lot more sense to own your own property," Berryhill said.
I'll give them that if you're talking about 20-30 years, then owning is probably better. But buying 5 years from now after prices either drop or "stagnate" would be even better, don't you think?
Sunday, May 28, 2006
While the real-estate market is cooling in some parts of the U.S., demand continues to surge in the Seattle area. That has prompted developers to step up their search for properties — even old, abandoned addresses.
The North Coast Casket Factory, a red timber building used to assemble and store caskets for 71 years, was scheduled for demolition until the Port of Everett decided to seek bids from developers.
Now it might become meeting space or artists' live/work lofts as part of a $300 million, 600-condominium redevelopment of the Everett waterfront.
The funny thing is that the article goes on to talk about how demand is still going up and supply is going down compared to a year ago, when in fact we know that the opposite is true. I think the way they get their numbers is by focusing only on downtown Seattle, which is amusing considering that the story is about a casket factory in Everett.
Could the real estate action be shifting to the heartland, the vast swath of middle America that wasn't really touched by the hyperinflationary housing boom?
That's what a new statistical analysis of housing price cycles in 100 major metropolitan areas suggests could be over the horizon. Its author, Christopher L. Cagan, director of research and analytics for First American Real Estate Solutions, examined historical housing price movements and concluded that metropolitan real estate markets can be classified into three behavioral categories...Hybrid markets, which have linear, slow-growth characteristics for periods, followed by periods of moderate cyclic-style appreciation. They never boom quite like Florida or California, but they also never need to correct like the more volatile markets either. Cagan includes Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit and Phoenix in this category....Most of the cyclic markets "are at, or have already passed, the peak" of their cycles, he says. Absent unseen economic shocks, the shooting-star markets aren't likely to crash or burn. They're just not likely to see anywhere near the price growth they have gotten used to in the recent past.......if you're in a linear or hybrid market where the local economy is adding jobs and population, who knows? If Cagan is correct, you just might be poised for higher-than-average price gains over the coming few years. Make the most of it.
The unbridled optimism of some of these "analysts" is almost enviable. None of the "shooting-star markets" are "likely to crash or burn"? Nice. I also love how this analyst had to perform a complex "statistical analysis" to place cities into three categories that basically equate to mild, hot, and hot HOT HOT—a task most of us could probably have done just by sitting down with a paper and pencil. Seattle isn't as hot as South Florida or the San Francisco Bay? You don't say.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Here's a delightful story for everyone out there that's cheering on huge "price gains" in real estate and rooting for rents to climb.
The King County Housing Authority, which recently reopened its waiting list for rental assistance for poor residents, received 11,778 applications in a two-week period — an all-time high for the agency.
That is a 74 percent increase over the number of applications received when the waiting list was last reopened in June 2002, housing authority officials said....Housing officials say the high demand reflects a countywide shortage of affordable housing....A recent Seattle P-I analysis revealed that in King and Snohomish counties — the state's most prosperous region — nearly 300,000 people live in poverty even though at least one family member works full time.
As long as home prices keep going up and up, everything's dandy, right? I mean, who cares about working class people being able to afford a roof over their heads? Yes, I've talked about this at length in the past, and apparently the problem has only gotten worse since then. Shocking!
It's true, Zag11, that rents have not kept up with purchase prices for homes and condos, so rentals represent a better bargain right now — IF you don't count appreciation. And since appreciation isn't guaranteed, it shouldn't be counted when calculating one's monthly expenses....Since the housing market is cyclical and rents are extremely low compared to mortgage payments, that part of the cycle is due for what we laughingly call a "correction." I'm sure you're feeling that your rent needs to be "corrected."...Say you jump right in and snag that 2k a month condo. As rents begin to rise, your payment starts to seem not-so-out-of-line. Before you know it, your payment starts to seem downright cheap when you see what your friends' newly inflated rent payments are and note that their money goes to line their landlord's pocket, while you've been raising your net worth with every payment....All of this makes now a good time to buy — before rents go up — because housing prices will likely be higher then too. This assumes that it is not excessively burdensome for you to make the seemingly-large-at-the-moment payment. Stretching your budget to buy a home = good. Breaking the bank, putting yourself in financial peril, risking bankruptcy with the slightest decrease in your income = very very not good.
You heard it folks, straight from the real estate professional. Rents are going to experience a 200-300% upward correction "before you know it."
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
nice clean spacious condo w/territorial view, lots of storage, assigned parking in garage. located near public parking and shopping. gated community w/lots of amenities. new plumbing, new elevator. wont last long at this price.
Setting aside the author's apparent disdain for the Shift key, what I find most amusing is the claim that it "wont last long." According to ZipRealty, this gem of the 70's has been on the market for 75 days. At first I thought that they forgot to type the apostrophe in "won't," but maybe "wont" (see definition 2) is exactly what they meant to type.
Washington Mutual Inc., the nation's largest savings and loan, notified 1,400 workers in Washington and Florida on Tuesday that they will lose their jobs as part of the company's cost-saving strategy.
About 850 workers at the company's call center in the Seattle suburb of Canyon Park were told they will be laid off by the end of July, spokeswoman Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot said...."It's part of our strategy announced last year to move back-office jobs to lower-cost locations," Donahoe-Wilmot said.
I certainly wouldn't call a shifting of employees from one part of the country to another much of a portent of industry trouble, but it still translates to 850 jobs lost in Washington, and at least bears mentioning.
Since 1998, voters have passed five levies: $117 million for education, $86 million for low-income housing, $72 million for the Seattle Center and community centers, $198 million for parks and $167 million for fire-fighting facilities.
The result is a four-fold increase over the past 10 years in what the average homeowner pays for levies. The owner of the average home in Seattle 10 years ago paid $104 for voter-approved levies. This year, the owner of the average home — assessed at $399,200 — will owe $459.
Today, Mayor Greg Nickels is expected to propose a new levy and other taxes — not for shiny new buildings, but to repair roads and bridges. His citizen advisory committee has suggested a levy of $25 million a year, and Nickels may choose to go higher.
"The need is clear, not only for the routine work of paving streets but also for the bigger projects, such as our aging bridges," Nickels said in his State of the City speech in March when he announced that he would explore a new way to fund repairs....The new road-repair levy would signal a departure from how Seattle has used levies in the past. Previous levies were sold to the voters like Procter & Gamble products — offering something new and improved, such as new parks, fire stations and community centers.
This levy would improve roads but not pay for any new ones. The money would fill potholes, repaint crosswalks, repave roads — in other words, pay for tasks voters have come to expect government to include in its general budget.
Granted, Seattle homeowners seem only too happy to spend far more money than necessary for overpriced real estate and granite countertops—and a few hundred dollars per year isn't going to break anyone's bank. But what is the deal with begging for more money just to do (supposedly) routine maintence? What in the heck are they doing with the general budget?
Nickels said the city needs new money for road repairs to make up for funding that used to come from the state.
I don't quite buy that argument, and as it turns out, neither does the state legislature.
State Senate Transportation Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, said she was "aghast" at Nickels' complaints about state funding. In the $8.5 billion gas-tax package the state passed in 2005, Seattle received $2.8 billion for projects like the viaduct and the 520 bridge, and an additional $2 million a year for maintenance, she said.
"The largest share certainly went to Seattle," Haugen said. "That was one of the things that people had heartburn about in the rest of the state."
So, we're getting billions of State dollars for all kinds of fancy projects, but we have to jack up the tax on (already stretched) homeowners to afford to fix potholes? Something just doesn't add up. I could be way off base here, but I can't help picturing Mayor Nickels sitting at his desk with dollar signs in his eyes, thinking about the soaring property "values" in Seattle and wondering just how much more in taxes the populous will tolerate.
Don't get me wrong—Bellingham is a beautiful place to live. I've spent a fair amount of leisure time in the area. And no doubt, a 23-story building is going to have some spectacular views of the ocean and mountains. But you have to wonder—can Bellingham support condos from $330,000 to a couple million dollars? The answer apparently is yes—50% are reserved, including the most expensive penthouses.
It's just a sign that the condo craze is everywhere. One expert used the phrase, "a perfect storm." Demand from baby boomers trying to downsize, combined with young, more affluent buyers and investors looking for second homes have really pushed demand from all age groups. But here's what makes some people nervous. Is the condo market overheated? If the market tanks, are you safer investing in a single-family home, where you own a chunk of land? Are people going to get tired of the condo lifestyle after a few years?
Personally, I don't "get" condos. I mean, the monthly mortgage payment on a $330,000 condo (after putting 20% down) would be nearly $1,800. And most condos I've looked at have $200-$300 per month association dues. So why on earth would I spend $2,000+ per month on what is basically a glorified apartment, when I can rent a dang nice apartment for $1,500 or less?
I think that kind of reasoning is probably why condos historically are the first to fall in value when housing falters. Because I think a huge factor that influences people's decision to purchase a condo is the speculation—the thought that when they sell in three years, they'll walk away with $100,000 profit. Take that away, and what is the draw of a condo?
Monday, May 22, 2006
I guess Elizabeth Rhodes must be on vacation or something, because lately all the real estate stories in the Seattle Times have been refreshingly less biased than I've become accustomed to. For instance, take a look at this report from Jane Hodges on the huge increase in the number of real estate agents in our state.
In Washington state, the flight into real-estate mirrors national trends. The number of adults who took courses to qualify for state real-estate licensing tests here has almost quadrupled over the past four years.
In 2001, 1,172 adults completed training; last year, 4,561 did. The number of practicing agents statewide also has nearly doubled from the 22,356 in 2001. At the end of April, 42,712 were working, Department of Licensing data show.
But at a time when mortgage rates are heading north and many prognosticators say the real-estate boom is about to stall, how will all these agents find business?
Glenn Crellin, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University, says the rise in the number of agents in the state isn't surprising. However, it's likely that number will drop as the market cools.
But I thought the market was never going to cool? Aren't we going to see continued wild appreciation from now until the next World War? Well... maybe not quite—and Ms. Hodges actually has the guts to admit it.
Some say the slowdown has begun.
Erin Sullivan, a registrar with Windermere Education in Seattle, said she sees fewer new agents these days.
When Windermere brokers hire new agents, they typically send them to Sullivan's department for in-house training, a practice common at most brokerages.
During much of the past three years, new-agent-training classes have been packed, Sullivan said, with a dozen or so people on wait lists for 48-person classes. Now classes fill up only at the last minute.
"The plateau started a few months ago," Sullivan said.
Even as the public face of Realtors pulls a Baghdad Bob in the face of the inevitable slowdown, the boots on the ground belie their official position. One other tidbit I found interesting in this article was the statistics on real estate agent wages:
NAR reported in August 2005 that the median income of agents with less than two years' experience was only $12,850, while that of agents with six to 10 years' experience was $58,700.
If they're only making just barely over the median wage after 6-10 years of experience, it's no wonder they want so badly for house prices to keep on rising. Although, I believe that is a national statistic, not a local one.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Apparently over at WSU there's a group called the Washington Center for Real Estate Research. Last week they released a report on home sales in the first quarter of 2006 in the state of Washington. Surprise surprise, the report shows that home sales are slowing down in Washington! But as the Associated Press is all too happy to remind us, "prices continued to climb."
There are signs the pace of home sales in Washington is slowing down, but prices continued to climb in the first quarter of 2006, according to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University....The report is produced in conjuction (sic) with Washington Realtors.
[Center director Glenn] Crellin said the raising of interest rates by the Federal Reserve Board is the main reason for the flat statewide market.
But he cautioned that the market appears flat only in comparison to the superheated housing sales of recent years.
"The market remains very strong," he said, especially compared with the rest of the country....Buying a house continues to become more difficult in Washington.
The Housing Affordability Index – which measures the ability of a middle income family to buy a median price home with a 30-year mortgage – slipped further below 100 in the first quarter.
The statewide rate of 93.3 meant that a typical family had only 93 percent of the income required to buy a median-price home. Buyers in seven counties faced index values below 100, with the problem especially big in San Juan, Jefferson and King counties, which had values ranging from 37.1 to 77.1.
The full numbers from the report are available in PDF form directly from the WCRER. In my opinion, the most important bit of the report is the "affordability index," which is described by WCRER as follows:
Affordability index measures ability of typical family to make payments on median price resale home assumes 20% down payment. First time buyer affordability assumes a less expensive home, lower downpayment and lower income.
A score of 100 means that the "typical family" can afford the median home. Take note that the "first time buyer affordability" rating in King County is just 43 percent. Not that this is particularly new information, I just think it needs to get more press. Seattle has basically become a place where only the rich (or those who already own) can afford to buy a home. Apparently the local press doesn't have a problem with that.
The Affordability Index has never really been all that great for first time homebuyers in King County, hovering between about 60 and 70 from the early nineties through about 2003, but ever since then it's just been tanking. Take a look:
I created this graph using the WCRERBuild Your Own Report tool, which has data for the Washington housing market going back through 1994. For reference, I have overlaid the median home price (red line). You can see that as soon as the median price started shooting up at an abnormal rate, the affordability index began plummeting.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
As amazing as it may seem to readers here, there are in fact many people that are completely convinced that Seattle is not in a housing / real estate bubble of any kind. Not that our bubble is less extreme than Florida or California, but that all of Seattle's home price gains have been 100% justified, and furthermore that we are likely to see continued strong gains in home prices. With that in mind, I present the following two reports (both in PDF format), which come to very different conclusions about the future of real estate in Seattle. Neither of these are new, but they're quite interesting when compared side-to-side like this.
Our first report is from none other than our favorite organization, the National Association of Realtors®. Surely you already know who the NAR is, but I want to quote from their NAR Overview page anyway: "The core purpose of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® is to help its members become more profitable and successful." This is what their 10 page report, Home Price Analysis for Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (published during the third quarter of 2005), pruports to prove:
With home prices rising strongly in most parts of the country, there has been widespread media coverage on the possibility of a housing market bust. A thorough analysis of the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro market, as detailed below, reveals that there is little danger of this. In fact, the local housing market is in excellent shape with a potential for significant housing equity gains, particularly for homebuyers who plan to remain in their house for the long run.
Furthermore, in a section called "Stress Test," they claim that:
Price declines in the local market are unlikely according to our stress test.
The local housing market will experience a price decline of 5% only under extreme unlikely scenarios. For example, mortgage rates rising to 10.5% in combination with 3,000 job losses could lead to a price decline.
Such scenarios are highly unlikely. Most credible forecasts predict the region will create 60,000 to 100,000 jobs over the next 24 months and mortgage rates will hover around 7% by the end of 2006, which bodes well for future price gains.
Even in the unlikely event of prices declining by 5%, most homeowners will maintain sizable equity build-up in their homes.
But I think my favorite part of their report is the "Additional Discussion Points" section. I believe in political circles they are known as "talking points."
Home price declines are very rare. In fact, the national median home price has not declined since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Stock market collapses, the OPEC oil crunch, economic recessions, and even wars have not negatively impacted national home prices since the 1930s.
There have been few times when local prices declined. In nearly all these cases, the price declines were accompanied by sharp prolonged job losses. It is difficult to foresee a price decline in a job creating economy.
Homes trade far less frequently than financial assets (about one home sale every 7 to 10 years for most homeowners). There are also larger transaction costs associated with selling a home due to the lengthy careful examination demanded by home buyers and sellers. Therefore, home prices are not prone to fluctuations as in the stock market. There are neither panic sells nor margin calls associated with homes.
Many non-quantifiable factors could be important for this metro market in determining home prices. Access to cultural life, the quality of museums, nearby local and national parks, water views, exclusive neighborhoods, weather, the international airport, city vibrancy, restaurants, and a host of other non-quantifiable factors could have an important influence on the overall pricing.
There are immense tax benefits to owning a home.
If all of this sounds strangely familiar, it's probably because the local media has been dutifully repeating it nearly every chance they get. Or maybe it's because you spend a lot of time over at the Rain City Guide (I kid, I kid).
Our second report is from HSBC, which in their own words is "one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world." Here is the summary paragraph from their 110 page report, A Froth-Finding Mission - Detecting US housing bubbles (published January 2006):
We suggest that about half of the US housing market is frothy and that this 'bubble zone' may be overvalued by as much as 35-40%, after taking into account low interest rates and tax advantages. Current valuations imply a large permanent reduction in the risk premium and/or a sizable step up in future capital gains, not all of which, we think, is justified. The 'bubble zone' accounts for 50% of US GDP, or over USD6trn, nearly the size of the German, French, and UK economies put together. In other words, it’s big. Therefore, when these housing bubbles begin to deflate, it is likely to have substantial macroeconomic consequences.
As you can see, HSBC's report is not focused specifically on our area. However, Seattle does show up rather prominently in their table of "Potential over/undervaluation: cities" (page 6). Coming in at the 12th-most overvalued market, Seattle is rated as 34% overvalued. Doing a little quick math, taking 34% off the 2005 year-end median price for King County of $393,000 comes to $259,380. Along with their (very) detailed report, HSBC has released an incredibly fancy Excel spreadsheet, HomePulse, that allows you to choose specific cities across the country and see a plethora of graphs detailing all the facts and figures that the report was based on.
In stark contrast to the NAR report, HSBC found that
Using HomePulse, we find evidence that about half the housing market is 'frothy', even after taking into account the benefits of low mortgage rates and tax advantages. We suspect around 40% of US housing units are frothy, but by value, that proportion rises to about 60%. Annual homeowner costs relative to rent or income are higher than in the late 1980s for the US as a whole and as high as the early 1980s (when mortgage rates were over 16%) for the ‘bubble zone’. As a result, the required capital gains to financially justify buying versus renting have never been higher for many areas.
So there you have it. The heavy hitters come out and argue both sides of the bubble debate, each supposedly analyzing the facts, but coming to completely opposite conclusions. Are both (or either) of these sources trustworthy? I guess that's for you to decide.
Friday, May 19, 2006
When discussing a real estate bubble with "non-believers," one subject that often comes up is emotions. Some real estate enthusiasts go so far as to claim that everyone who believes in a bubble is a bitter, scared, renter. On the other end of the spectrum, Marlow Harris of the P-I's Seattle Real Estate Professionals blog is a good example of a real estate enthusiast that is less condescending. Regarding the conversations on Seattle Bubble, she observed:
People are scared. Outraged. And angry. Upset that they can't buy a house or upset that they did.
Certainly there is some truth in her observations, but I'm not sure that she has it entirely right. Are some of us outraged, angry, or upset? Sure. Although (thankfully) the back and forth here is nothing compared to the Craigslist housing forums, there's definitely a degree of anger at just how ridiculous the whole situation has gotten. But scared? Fear is something that I just don't see in the comments here. Most of you don't own a house, so what is there to be afraid of?
Although there are many emotions wrapped up in the bubble debate, I personally believe that most bubble believers base their conclusions on logic and a reasonable assessment of the situation. Of course, for people that are totally wrapped up in real estate, that's a difficult thing to comprehend. Difficult, but perhaps not totally impossible, as demonstrated by another comment from Ms. Harris:
Being the consummate real estate professional that I am (tee-hee!), my first reaction is to run to these folks and offer assistance to help them become proud homeowners. Imagine my surprise to find that many of the people who comment on Seattle Bubble do NOT want to own a home! Or, at least, they don't want to own a home if it means living in a crappy house with a huge mortgage.
In our real estate office, it's constant rah-rah for real estate and we spend hours helping buyers figure out how to get the home of their dreams. So it's just interesting to read another opinion when it comes to owning a home.
If you decide to comment on Marlow's post, please be nice. Unlike some of those in real estate, she is clearly willing do have an open dialog about the issue.
So what's your bubble belief driven by? Are you angry and upset, and just looking for "facts" to fit your perception, or is it the facts that are making you angry? What other emotions do you feel about the bubble?
Thursday, May 18, 2006
A number of readers pointed out the latest series of rah, rah, real estate stories from Money Magazine that sing the praises of real estate in Washington State. The gist of the articles is that while the slowdown in real estate is undeniable in most of the country, the crystal ball predicts that a number of areas in Washington State will defy all logic and economic reason and continue to experience double-digit appreciation, so you should totally invest all your money in Washington real estate so you can cash in on the party.
As forecasts for housing price growth have cooled for most of the country, they are calling for booming values in the state of Washington.
For the June issue of MONEY Magazine, Fiserv Lending Solutions and Moody's Economy.com provided forecasts for the coming 12 months for 380 metro areas - they predict that five of the top 10 fastest growers will be in Washington. Ten of the top 17 will be...."Although price growth has been steady in Washington, it has not been outstripping the economic fundamentals," says Celia Chen, Director of Housing Economics for Economy.com.
The real estate markets have been pretty much balanced in the Northwest while many others have been sellers-markets for years.
Lennox Scott, who runs John L. Scott real estate, one of the biggest brokers in the Northwest, attributes much of the future market strength in Washington to job growth. "Microsoft announced it's hiring 10,000 more people," he says. "Boeing is hiring. The anomaly of historic low mortgage rates drove prices for the past few years. Job growth will drive them for the next few."
By their reckoning, the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett region (why so encompassing?) is sitting pretty in position to gain another big 10% in the coming year. That would bring the median house price in King County to roughly $465,000 by April 2007. I suppose it's possible, but my gut feeling tells me that just ain't gonna happen. Of course, I don't even own a crystal ball, so what do I know?
Here are their forecasts for various cities in Washington. "Historical" refers to home appreciation from 2001 to 2005 (an amusing usage of the word "historical"), while "Forecast" is what the crystal ball predicts for June 2006 - June 2007:
Update: A reader pointed out in the comments section that a mere eighteen days ago the very same reporter (Les Christie) at the very same news source (CNN Money) presented a forecast from the very same firm (Fiserv Lending Solutions) that was mysteriously very different. In fact, the highest forecasted appreciation for a Washington metro area in the May 1st report is lower than the lowest forecast in today's report. Hmm.
The city council's housing committee voted May 16 to put off a motion that would grant $1.5 million in tax breaks to a University District developer in exchange for "affordable" rental units that would cost nearly $200 more than the average rent for the neighborhood. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $757, according to local rental analysts Dupre + Scott.
In exchange for the tax break, the developer, Lothlorien Apartments, would make 30 percent of its units "affordable" (that is, costing no more than 30 percent of a renter's monthly income) to renters making up to 70 percent of the Seattle median, or $38,150 for one person. For a one-bedroom, that works out to $1,022 a month.
For most of the Seattle area, "affordable housing" isn't really an issue—as long as you rent. In many neighborhoods rent comes in well below the 30% "affordable" threshold. Before we moved to our current free digs, my wife and I were paying just $850 per month for a nice two-bedroom townhouse in Woodinville, which figured out to under 20% of our monthly income (which consisted of only my paycheck, and was almost exactly at the median). I imagine that there is a need for more "low income" housing, but for people making the median household income down to as low as 60% of the median, there are plenty of "affordable" options.
As you may be aware, Blogger has a feature that allows an email to be sent to the owner of a blog whenever a comment is made on any post. It's a handy feature that allows me to easily stay on top of the lively discussions that take place on this blog. It also allows me to know instantly when someone is using the comments section as a venue for their worthless spam. While my usual policy is not to delete any comments made to the posts in my blogs, the one exception I make is for spam (I would probably delete excessive profanity as well, but thankfully that has not been an issue here). Requiring you to enter a captcha (the distorted text) every time you comment is a bit of a pain, but it makes it pretty much impossible for spammers to use automated methods to spread their worthless garbage. Plus, the rel=nofollow tag in the code makes comment spamming pointless since search engines won't follow the links anyway. Therefore, usually spam is not much of a problem here.
However, yesterday morning I was quite surprised to find my inbox flooded with over a dozen nearly identical comments—all from the same person—and more flowing by the minute. What was going on? Well, see for yourself in this screenshot of Seattle Bubble comments in my inbox:
Tim Dunn, Realtor, decided that a story that classifies Seattle as a "fair value" was so important that he should manually post it 23 times (only 22 are shown, because one more straggler came in after I took this screenshot). I guess that makes him Tim Dunn, Comment Spammer. Well, in case you're reading this now, Mr. Dunn, I want to make this absolutely clear: comment spam is not acceptable.
When people come here and argue opposing positions, that's fine. I don't even mind if the discussions get a little heated sometimes—that's natural. But pasting a link (one that we have already talked about, no less) two dozen times is not a discussion, it's spam.
Because you have abused the open commenting policy, you are no longer welcome here, Tim Dunn, Spammer. If you post again from this point forward, it will be deleted.
Shortly after they were married, Aaron and Lacey Blank, now 25 and 27, wanted just what you'd expect: to buy their first home and start a family.
But like many young couples, the Blanks had trouble scraping together a down payment for a house in pricey Seattle.
By the time they found their three-bedroom, newly built home 40 minutes from downtown last year, they had set aside just $16,000. "We weren't planning to buy a place so soon, but we fell in love with the home and the area," says Lacey, a family therapist....Though Lacey and Aaron, who works in public relations, earn a combined income approaching six figures, their $90,000 in student loans made it hard for them to qualify for a fixed-rate loan.
Their solution amounted to a financial high-wire act.
The Blanks took out a $271,000 interest-only hybrid ARM with a rate of 6.4 percent and monthly payment of $1,440 for five years. To cover the rest, they used a $51,000 variable-rate home-equity line of credit...."I want to build some equity, but we haven't really been making much headway," says Aaron. The rate on their HELOC has already hit 10.6 percent, or another $115 a month. The $1,900 Aaron and Lacey spend on their home loans every month is still manageable, but with their first child due any day, they are understandably nervous.
In theory, the Blanks could see their mortgage rate jump as high as 11.4 percent in 2009. Add in principal payments and a 14 percent rate on their HELOC, and their worst-case scenario is a monthly nut of $3,445.
The solution: Refi with a fixed-rate loan; pay down the HELOC
So let me see if I've got this scheme straight.
Step 1: Buy a house you can't afford—use suicidal financing if necessary.
Step 2: Ride the market up until your house has appreciated 25% for no good reason.
Let's talk about jobs for a minute. Not the iPod selling, Pixar-owning kind, but the working for a living kind. I'm going to keep this really basic. Jobs make people money. People use money to buy things. One thing that people buy is houses. Therefore, in my opinion, one good indicator of what the housing market is likely to do is what is happening with jobs. Are people in our area making enough money to buy the houses in our area? Are there enough jobs for everyone in our area, or are there not enough? Or perhaps there are more jobs than there are qualified people, so new people are being brought in. Depending on what specific segment of the market you look at, many of these may be true.
What I believe is most useful is to look at overall trends. Incidentally, there happened to be an article about that very topic in this morning's Seattle Times.
Washington added jobs last month, but at a slowing pace, while the increased number of people entering the labor market nudged up the unemployment rate....So far this year, each month since February has seen fewer jobs added than the month before....Despite the slowing pace, job growth continues to run ahead of predictions.
Okay, so our general jobs picture looks pretty good, although the rate of improvement is slowing. So which specific industries are responsible for the most new jobs?
Driven by a sizzling housing market and a resurgence in commercial real estate, the construction industry added 1,100 jobs last month and has grown by 20,000 jobs, or 11.4 percent, over the past year.
In addition, the real-estate sector of the financial-services industry added 800 jobs last month and 1,600 over the past year.
Professional and business services, a motley category that includes everything from architecture to waste disposal, added the most new jobs in April, 1,700.
Aerospace added 400 jobs last month.
It has grown by 6,700 jobs, or 10.3 percent, over the past year.
The strength of the real-estate and aerospace industries particularly benefited the Puget Sound region.
What do you know... construction and real estate are among the leading sources of new jobs, together accounting for 21,600 new jobs in just the past year. Interestingly, while "aerospace" is probably mostly Boeing, one thing I did not see in this article was any mention of the darling of the real estate cheerleaders—Microsoft. Didn't we just see an article yesterday about a humongous Microsoft expansion? Aren't they bringing thousands of high-paying jobs to our area every year? Well, not quite. While the headline shouted Microsoft plans big expansion, the article tells [insert Paul Harvey voice here] the rest of the story.
Overall, Microsoft said in February that it would spend $1 billion to add room for 12,000 employees in 3.1 million square feet of additional space over the next three years. That plan includes the space at Lincoln Square, company spokesman Lou Gellos said Monday. But not all of the space is slated for new hires. Part of the goal is to alleviate overcrowding, Gellos said.
The Lincoln Square lease will also address the fact that Microsoft's sales team is spread across a number of buildings, Gellos said.
"This is really an effort to consolidate and get the whole sales group together in one spot," he said....Microsoft isn't altering its employment projections for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, Gellos said. The company, which employed 61,000 people as of June 2005, has said it expects to add a total of 4,000 to 5,000 employees worldwide this year, 40 percent of them in the United States, and most of those in the Puget Sound region.
That would be in line with the steady but relatively slow growth that Microsoft has experienced since the 2000 tech bust.
Let's see, 40% of 4,500 is 1,800 new MS jobs in the USA. "Most" could mean as low as 51%, but I'll be generous and assume that 75% of those jobs will be in the Puget Sound. 75% of 1,800 makes a whopping 1,350 new jobs that Microsoft is predicting they will bring to our area in the coming year.
Hey, 1,350 is almost enough to balance out the 1,600 real estate jobs that were created in the last year. Hmm, but what about the 20,000 construction jobs? "But wait," you say. Microsoft hires highly paid professionals. Surely 1 job at Microsoft is the economic equivalent of at least half a dozen construction jobs, right? Well, maybe not quite.
Base compensation has become a bigger issue since the value of Microsoft options fell with its stock. In 2003, the company phased out options and began using smaller stock awards to supplement salaries, ending the era of the fabled Microsoft Millionaire....[Internal Microsoft pay documents] indicate that in Microsoft's current fiscal year ending June 30, the company budgeted for average merit increases of 3.2 percent for workers in technical positions. It also budgeted for a 1.7 percent rise in promotion-related compensation.
Also disclosed are salary ranges for technical jobs, not including sales and service-related positions. The salaries range from a minimum $25,500 up to a maximum $285,000.
So here's my thesis: Jobs (at least partly) drive housing. The job situation in Washington (and the Seattle area) has been doing pretty well lately. However, a large amount of the job growth has been in housing-related industry. Therefore, when housing slows due to other forces (such as increasing interest rates or higher lending standards), the job market will slow, thus causing housing to slow further. Lastly, high tech jobs—including Microsoft—are not growing at a fast enough rate to rescue us when/if construction and real estate experience a significant slowdown.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Marlow Harris of 360 Digest forwarded me this great example of the kind of story you won't be seeing anymore in the coming years.
We were to present our offer the next evening as one of 10 offers (!). I told my realtor that I'd rather pay too much for the house than lose it. We debated how far over list price we needed to go to win the bidding war. We decided on a strategy to just go in with a blank check and I went to the store to buy little pink running shoes for the soon-to-be-born baby girl as a sweetener to the deal.
We gave them a signed contract with the amount line left blank and told the sellers to fill in whatever amount it would take to get the house.
That story happened in 2003. It's hard to believe that the madness lasted as long as it did, but at least it is finally coming to an end.
You may have seen the generic story in the news yesterday about home prices finally slowing down. What you may not have noticed was that the Seattle Times reprinted the story from Bloomberg News and added their own little gloating bit to it.
Home prices fall in some U.S. cities, but not here
Home prices in the first quarter fell in several U.S. cities for the first time in at least 15 years, more proof that the Federal Reserve is winning its campaign to cool off the housing market, a trade group report says....But 60 metropolitan areas, including Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, saw double-digit appreciation. The median price of an existing single-family home in the Seattle area jumped 16.4 percent, to $338,600, from the first quarter of 2005....The pace of home sales in Washington shows signs slowing, but prices continued to climb in the first quarter of this year. About half of Washington's 39 counties reported fewer sales this year than in the first three months of 2005, but "the market remains very strong," said Glenn Crellin, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research in Pullman.
Has anyone else here read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books? (Although I enjoyed the movie, the books are still much better.) In the third book, Life, the Universe, and Everything, the main character Arthur happens upon a flying party. Allow me to quote from this brilliant novel:
The mess is extraordinary, and has to be seen to be believed, butif you don't have any particular need to believe it, then don't go and look, because you won't enjoy it....So other factors come into operation, like when the drink is going to run out.
Now, because of certain things which have happened which seemed like a good idea at the time (and one of the problems with a party which never stops is that all the things which only seem like a good idea at parties continue to seem like good ideas), that point seems still to be a long way off.
One of the things which seemed like a good idea at the time was that the party should fly - not in the normal sense that parties are meant to fly, but literally.
One night, long ago, a band of drunken astro-engineers of the first generation clambered round the building digging this, fixing that, banging very hard on the other and when the sun rose the following morning, it was startled to find itself shining on a building full of happy drunken people which was now floating like a young and uncertain bird over the treetops.
Not only that, but the flying party had also managed to arm itself rather heavily. If they were going to get involved in any petty arguments with wine merchants, they wanted to make sure they had might on their side.
The transition from full-time cocktail party to part-time raiding party came with ease, and did much to add that extra bit of zest and swing to the whole affair which was badly needed at this point because of the enormous number of times that the band had already played all the numbers it knew over the years
They looted, they raided, they held whole cities for ransom for fresh supplies of cheese crackers, avocado dip, spare ribs and wine and spirits, which would now get piped aboard from floating tankers.
The problem of when the drink is going to run out is, however, going to have to be faced one day.
The planet over which they are floating is no longer the planet it was when they first started floating over it.
It is in bad shape.
The problem of when the drink is going to run out is going to have to be faced one day.
Monday, May 15, 2006
This is rich. A little blurb in the Seattle Times on Saturday pointed out that the cable network HGTV is adding three (or maybe four) new shows focusing on—you guessed it—real estate. Check out the sidebar:
A new HGTV show called "My House is Worth What?" is coming to Seattle to find folks who'd like a free home evaluation — and a TV appearance. Here's what they're looking for:
Energetic homeowners who are:
Planning to move or refinance.
Wondering how much value a recent renovation has added.
Willing to submit a photo of their families, along with their home's exterior and interior.
Considering using equity to finance a wedding, college education or other milestones.
Considering major renovations.
Way to be late to the party, guys. It's no wonder they're looking in Seattle, since we've got to be one of the few places left that you can find "energetic homeowners" that are excited about the prospect of "using equity to finance...milestones." I predict that if these shows even last on season, they definitely don't make it past 2007.
Many first-time buyers swiftly learn that if they want to get into a home they'll have to make accommodations.
Although there are several types — buying with friends or others, thinking smaller, driving farther — the most popular are buying fixers and finding cheaper neighborhoods.
There's a particularly interesting number given in the article:
A household of four earning median income in King County can, conservatively, pay $327,180 for a home. But they won't have many options on the single-family home front except along the King County line, said Elizabeth Grebenschikoff, a real-estate agent with Quorum Real Estate Laurelhurst in Seattle.
If you put 20% down ($65,436—tell me, who has that much?) on a $327,180 house, you'll have a mortgage of $261,744. At an interest rate of 6%, the monthly payment on this mortgage would be about $1,570. The median household income in King County is $55,114, or almost $4,600 per month. $1,570 is 34% of that. Again, I would like to point out that "the generally accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing." (US Dept. of Housing & Urban Development) So, I don't know where Ms. Hodges pulls that $327,180 number from, or how she can consider it "conservative," but whatever.
Using conservative lending estimates from the National Association of Realtors, a household would have to bring in $96,428 to buy that $405,000 home — and that's with a 20 percent (or $81,000) down payment. With nothing down, make that $120,535.
Now we're actually using the word "conservative" correctly. $96,428 per year is $8,035 per month. 30 percent of that is $2,410. Monthly payments on the $324,000 mortgage ($405,000-$81,000) would be just under $2,000. So by my calculations, that actually is a conservative estimate. The way I figure, you would "only" need to make $77,000 (and somehow have $81,000 in the bank) to afford the median home in King County. Again, whatever.
While Seattle isn't considered a "bubble" market, the median price of single-family homes in King County has been rising by double digits every year for several years — 11.9 percent (from $362,000 to $405,000) from March 2005 to March 2006 alone.
Median income in King County hasn't risen as quickly as home prices. Last year, median income in King County was $77,900 for a family of four; $63,120 for a two-person household; and $55,230 for singles.
Okay on this one I'm going to have to call bull. The most recent figures that I've seen are from 2004, and as I said above, they put the "median household income" at $55,114. How could the median household income be lower than even the median single income quoted above of $55,230? Furthermore, the most recent data (again, 2004) on "median family income" for King County puts it at $71,814, not $77,900. Either the author of this article has seen some new numbers that are quite a bit higher than the 2004 data, or they're just making things up.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Where are these numbers coming from?
Saturday, May 13, 2006
I was cleaning off my desk and I found a full color flier filled with exclamation points!!! It advertises a house down the street (pictured). I picked it up a few weeks ago while out on a walk with my wife and my dog. The house is around 2,300 square feet and sits on over a third of an acre in a relatively "private" setting backing a nice city park. It was listed at $475,000. Given that Kenmore is a fairly desirable neighborhood and that there was nothing obviously wrong with this house, one would expect it to be quickly snatched up in a fury of over-bidding, right?
Well, I headed on over to the Parcel Viewer to look for the official government record of a sale, only to find that the most recent sale listed was in May 2004, when the current owner bought it for $327,000. Hmm, so it hasn't sold yet... is it still on the market? Why yes, yes it is—and according to ZipRealty, it has been languishing on the market for 74 days now. The seller must not be very motivated (or they're counting on the spring selling season to rescue them), because they have only dropped the asking price by $25,000.
Before anyone jumps all over me, I'm perfectly aware that this is only one example and doesn't "prove" anything. But it is a typical example of what is going on in the numbers we've been seeing posted in the comments here (thanks Dukes!). Price reductions galore and consistently more "new listings" than "solds" every day. Make of this example what you will.
As communities develop their visions for the future, they are deciding how much land is needed for their growing populations. Washington State, under the 1990 Growth Management Act, and dozens of cities and counties around the country, have drawn geographical boundaries designed to halt sprawl and concentrate development into urban growth areas (UGAs). By channeling growth into these urban areas, and assuring the appropriate infrastructure is available, government intends to encourage economic development even as it preserves environmental quality.
But early examples of how these policies actually play out in real life demonstrate that growth management can have serious, unintended consequences. It has contributed to increases in land prices and development costs. These, in turn, have driven up new housing prices and placed an upward pressure on prices for existing housing....The debate has also heated up in King County. In line with the state's Growth Management Act, King County established its urban growth boundary in 1994. Combined with soaring job and population growth in the mid to late 1990s, housing prices in the UGA skyrocketed.
Wow, if they thought housing prices had "skyrocketed" in 2001, I can only imagine what the authors of this paper must be thinking now. (Interestingly, a recent blog post at the Washington Research Council—currently on their front page—claims that "...the supply/demand balance will remain tight in this market, and that argues for house prices to remain firm here.") It should be noted however, that the word "bubble" does not appear anywhere in the above article.
Personally, I think that King County entered bubble territory around 2002-2003, and while the Growth Management Act certainly isn't putting any downward pressure on prices, I don't think it is responsible for pushing us into this crazy unaffordable mess. What do you think?
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Google just released an interesting new feature yesterday: Google Trends. One of the interesting features of Google Trends is that it gives you a list of the top ten cities that have searched the most for whatever terms you put in. Obviously, I decided to try it out with the search term "housing bubble." Here is the resulting graph:
Not surprisingly, interest in a housing bubble seems to have peaked late summer of last year, around the same time that the housing bubble was getting the most news coverage. Also not surprisingly, Seattle doesn't appear in the top ten list of cities searching for "housing bubble" online. Here's the top ten list, as of today:
Actually that's more like a top five list. San Francisco (1, 2, 3, 6), Los Angeles (4, 7), San Diego (5), Washington, DC (8, 9), and Sacramento (10). Apparently people in the greater San Francisco area are more worried about a housing bubble than anyone else in the country—by a pretty wide margin—and Californians in general are the by far the most worried about their precious bubble being burst.
Unfortunately Google Trends only provides the top 10 so we don't have any way of knowing how far down the list Seattle would have come in. I suspect it would have been pretty low. I get the general impression that the thought of a housing bubble hasn't even crossed the minds of most people in our area.
In other Google-related news, does anyone else find it strange that this blog comes in as the #1 result for the search "Seattle bubble" on MSN Search and Yahoo Search, but isn't even in the top 100 on Google? What's with that? I don't know how much good it will do, but Google does provide a quality feedback form that you can complain on if like me, you think that's somewhat bogus.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Okay this post is going to come across a little harsh, but seriously, I thought professional news outlets were supposed to be, you know, professional. However, they're apparently letting five year old children write real estate news briefs in Federal Way:
Median price of homes hits $519,000
The median price for homes in King County last month was $519,000, a 16 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
Bzzt—wrong. The median price for houses was $419,500, an 18 percent increase over a year ago. The median price of homes (houses + condos) was *achem* "just" $377,000 (up 17%).
According to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NMLS(, a residential real-estate organization that tracks the housing market regionally, the median asking price in King County in April 2005 was $447,000.
The correct abbreviation for the Northwest Multiple Listing Service is NWMLS. You know, as in NWMLS.com? Also, the key you were looking for is ")".
In its report on last month's market activity, King County was one of only three counties in western Washington that had fewer houses on the market than it did 12 months ago, according to NMLS.
Bzzt—wrong again. Only two counties had fewer houses on the market in April than they did last year (Cowlitz: -1%, Grant: -2%). However, King County did have slightly fewer homes on the market than last year (-1%), since condo inventory decreased almost 14%.
J. Lennox Scott, chairman of John L. Scott Real Estate, called the job centers in Bellevue and Seattle "the epicenter of sales activity." He added, "We continue to see a quick-action market and a strong surge of buyers, but there simply isn't enough housing supply to meet the demand."
I don't think I've ever seen an article with so many errors, and the whole thing—title included—is only 211 words! I'm no big fan of the real estate reporting in the Seattle papers, but at least their writers passed high school English. You would think with five days to prepare (NWMLS stats were released on Friday), they could have at least gotten the headline correct.
Sometimes selling your own home is easy, especially in a hot market like Seattle. Sometimes it's tough. Either way, it's work....While FSBOs might look great on the surface, industry experts and those who sold their own homes agree that homeowners need to consider plenty of caveats and potential pitfalls when they think about selling without an agent.
"When people start to pull back the covers on everything involved in selling their own home, they may decide that hiring a professional real-estate agent is the best path after all," said Brett Clifton, co-owner of Personal Real Estate Support Services in Seattle, which provides consumer real-estate information and links buyers with agents.
So you have the Times propping up the notion that real estate in Seattle is hot, HOT, HOT, while simultaneously actively discouraging people from trying to sell homes without a real estate agent—which by the way should be much easier in a red hot market, right?
Just how much advertising revenue does the Seattle Times receive from real estate interests, anyway?
The dream of buying a million-dollar home is unattainable for most working families.
Yet 2005 saw a huge increase in luxury home sales throughout the Puget Sound area - including Snohomish County, where 83 homes valued at $1 million or more changed hands. That's up from 23 in 2004.
Whether it's a two-bedroom older rambler on acreage in Arlington or a posh condominium in Edmonds, there is something for everyone in the price range of our dreams - and more people are buying high-end homes than ever.
"I don't necessarily think it's a trend," said Greg Hoff, owner of the Edmonds Windermere Real Estate office. "I would call it just the general housing market."
What used to be a $500,000 home is now a $1 million home in many areas. Although Hoff is always a little surprised when he sees a home sell for seven figures, he's no longer taken aback.
Perhaps Herald writer Christina Harper read the Times and P-I articles the day before and felt that Snohomish County needed similar coverage, perhaps it was a total coincidence, or perhaps "Christina Harper" is yet another pseudonym used by our favorite real estate reporter Elizabeth Rhodes. Who knows.
Whatever the case, one thing that the Herald article amazingly leaves out is the obligatory declaration by a local realtor that "the notion of a bubble is definitely dead."
Monday, May 08, 2006
I have a question about the "houses on the market" stat that you called the press to task on for not reporting. Is it an absolute measure or a relative measure? Because certainly hundreds of new houses came on the market last year- definitely enough such that the case is that inventory has DECREASED as a % of total homes. It sounds as if you are saying that it's purely an absolute measure, which doesn't seem very helpful to me. And not only have the number of houses increased, but I'm guessing that the population increased also.
Just to make my case using extremes, suppose last year there were 4 million people in the area and 5,000 homes out of, say, 1.5 million total. That would be a "for offer" rate of 3.33%. Now let's say 200,000 net new residents moved into King County, 5,000 net new homes were built, and 5,100 were "for offer". OK, so the "for offer" rate would have increased to 3.38%- a 1.4% increase in listings. But the population has increased 5%. So, when considering all the moving parts, have they really "gone up". I don't know, you tell me.
Yes, the NWMLS figure of "active listings" (inventory) is an absolute measure. Unfortunately figures like "total homes in region X" isn't something that we have available to us, so we can't really know what percentage of "total homes" the "active listings" represents. The reader brings up a good point though, that when compared to factors like total homes and population, an inventory that is holding steady is actually decreasing, and even a slightly increasing abolute inventory is relatively decreasing. However, even though we don't have a "total homes" figure, we do have one useful thing to compare inventory to in order to gauge the market: pending sales.
To try to understand the inventory versus pending sales situation a little better, I created this chart using the NWMLS data for "res only" in King County from 2001 to the present. I plotted the year-to-year percent change in inventory and pending sales. The thin lines are the actual data for each month, and the darker lines are a smoothed average using Excel's polynomial "trend line" function.
Here's what I find interesting about this chart. Around July 2002—arguably around the time that the Seattle market really started to heat up—the trend lines crossed, meaning that pending sales were increasing faster than new listings were being added. That is probably at least one of the reasons behind the extreme ramp-up in prices. However, about halfway through last year the active listings started on the road to recovery, and around December or January the lines crossed again in the opposite direction. Pending sales have been on a steady downward trend since late 2003, but now (absolute) inventory is actually increasing at the same time.
This is what I was referring to when I pointed out the positive numbers in the "% chg. Total actv" column and negative numbers in "% chg Pending sales" column. Despite the lack of statistics on population or total homes, increasing inventory coupled with decreasing sales volume is a clear sign of a slowing market, and it's frankly quite disappointing that the local press is turning a blind eye to it. If this trend continues, there is no possible way that the median price can continue to rise like it has been lately. It's just not economically possible.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Clearly Seattle (and many other cities) are lagging the hottest markets in the housing bubble burst and in Seattle at least one thing that's perpetuating the bubble and keeping prices up is a remarkably low inventory. So the question is: why is inventory so low? The bulls would say it's high demand (new jobs, inflow from CA, etc) combined with low new listings ("Seattle is such a great place to live people don't leave") All this doesn't pass the smell test. I wonder if new listings aren't low because increasingly, more and more people aren't becoming "trapped" in their houses. I'm not just talking of those with exotic mortgages and negative equity or adjustable loans on the verge of resetting here. Normally, in a healthy market, besides those forced to sell (divorce, job loss, etc) there is a lot of "discretionary" selling for many reasons.
I wonder if the discretionary selling isn't now falling because:
Rising interest rates reduces discretionary selling since it would force people to buy a new home at newly higher interest rates. Since so many people are maxed out on their current mortgage there's not way they could afford to move without a major "step down".
The rapid increase in property values and the concomitant meteoric rise in property taxes means that anyone moving now will immediately "reset" to the current higher tax bill.
It would be interesting to hear why inventory is low from other readers perspectives.
Also, if you refer to the basic math I tried explain to Ardell the RE Agent, you can see that even at a low interest rate, a family with a house that has appreciated will be facing a huge jump in monthly payments if they want to "upgrade" to a slightly nicer house. This is the kind of thing that the local reporters should be looking into and writing the big stories about. So what is the deal with the low inventory—what do you think is the real reason behind it?
Home prices are still going up, even though sales have dropped dramatically when compared with 2005.
And now that it's spring – prime home-shopping weather – more for-sale signs are popping up in neighborhoods around the South Sound. (Sellers: Read that as "more competition.")...More homes on the market
The Pierce County market has seen a surge of home listings, up 29 percent compared with this time last year.
Fewer transactions
Pending sales, in which offers are made and accepted but not yet closed, dropped by 12 percent last month versus 2005....Local brokers are puzzling over what this means as they look toward the traditional summer selling season. Dick Beeson, MLS director and broker with Windermere Real Estate/Commencement Associates in Tacoma, said the market seems to be "taking a bit of a breath." "We just don't know how big a breath," he added. "We don't know if it's a big gulp or kind of a sigh."
Kudos to Ms. Clements for actually telling the full story of the housing situation in Pierce County. It's only a matter of time before King County starts to see numbers like these. Maybe then our local reporters won't be able to ignore the reality that the slowdown is upon us. Maybe.
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AMD built the processor by adapting an ATI graphics processor for compute-only systems such as workstations and servers, according to Dinesh Sharma, director of enterprise stream computing at AMD. "It was designed to light up pixels on the screen, but we can use those capabilities to solve problems or do financial analysis," he added. "We're using the [graphics processor] in a non-traditional manner."
The stream processor will have 48 floating point cores. Sharma noted that at peak floating point performance, AMD's dual-core processor runs in the 30 gigaflop range. The stream processor should hit 360 gigaflops.
A floating point is a number with a decimal point. Doing calculations with floating points are much more difficult and power consuming. Many scientists, animators, and movie producers base much of their work on floating point calculations.
Stream computing leverages massively parallel processors generally used to calculate and render millions of pixels onto computer monitors hundreds of times each second for 3D graphics applications.
"This is pretty darn clever," said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64, a market research and consulting firm based in Saratoga, Calif. "This gives users the ability to really dramatically increase the floating point processing capability of a standard X86 based server. Historically, if you wanted to get this kind of performance, you had to buy great big supercomputers. Then AMD realized they had all this floating point ability that they were practically giving away in 3D chips that people were using for gaming. They took the chip, built a more robust platform, and surrounded it with more memory."
Brookwood said ATI, which was bought by AMD this fall, had been working on turning the gaming or graphics processor into a streaming processor for a few years. "ATI did all the work and AMD gets all the glory," he said, adding that this processor should outperform dual-core processors when it comes to floating point intensive tasks.
X86 chips in a dual-core configuration can handle floating core calculations, he explained, but they're not designed to do them at maximum speeds. "They're general purpose processors," Brookwood added. "For the enterprise, [streaming processors] will be important for business supercomputing. For example, if you're a Wall Street firm and your analysts and traders are using very complicated algorithms to figure out if a bond deal is going to be profitable, then they need more floating point capability than they can get with the fastest Opterons or Xeons today."
The streaming processor will be good for calculations, such as seismic migration analysis in the oil and gas industry, according to Sharma. They won't be as good, for instance, for tasks like searching Excel databases. "It's good if you have a lot of data parallelism where you do the same kind of operation on multiple pieces of data. That's where it shines."
According to AMD, hardware platform providers GraphStream Inc., Panta Systems, and Rackable Systems introduced new stream servers to the market on Tuesday. Stream servers use the new AMD Stream Processor and are aimed at the high-performance computing and enterprise markets.
Sharma said the streaming processors are ready for shipment.
"This is a big deal," said Brookwood. "This is going to give some folks doing scientific processing a way to get a lot more bang for their buck."
As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.
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February192014
The third edition of the Egyptian Luxor African Film Festival again has a wide-ranging programme scheduled for next month. Selected films will be showing in different competitions: Long Narrative, Short Narratives, Short Documentaries and Long Documentary. Below you’ll find a couple of the selected documentaries’ trailers (set in Togo, Senegal, Ghana, Somalia, South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Angola) that were recently uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo, plus links to the films’ websites — where available.
Asha Ismail was born in a Somali village and subjected to FGM when she was just 5 years old. She promised herself that she would never let her own daughter suffer such torture. Currently, she directs the organization Save a Girl, Save a Generation, which campaigns against FGM and other practices that violate women's rights such as forced marriage.
Asked whether about the practice's cultural and religious ties, a factor that could complicate efforts to combat it, she said that FGM violates women's rights and dignity, and in many cases, women stay in situations in which their own will is totally defeated.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlighted in his message for the day, “Just because a harmful practice has long existed does not justify its continuation. All ‘traditions’ that demean, dehumanize and injure are human rights violations that must be actively opposed until they are ended.”
Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. This week's report begins in Somalia, where the nation’s two main ISPs—Hormuud Telecom and Nationlink—have caved to demands from Al Shabab that they block Internet access in central and southern Somalia. Company officials, who tried in vain to negotiate with the terrorist group, believe the threat originated from the highest ranks of the organization. In a statement issued by radio, the group warned that any institution or individual who violates the ban will be “considered to be working with the enemy and…will be dealt with in accordance [with] Sharia law.” Observers suspect that Al Shabab leaders are forcing the ban out of fear that the Internet will aid authorities and other actors in tracking their movement and activities. Although just over 1% of Somalis use the Internet, mobile 3G is increasingly popular in urban areas.
Free Expression: Watchdogs and ‘Wolf’ Face Censorship in Kenya
A new media law in Kenya could leave bloggers and independent journalists facing sky-high fines over infractions on an impossibly vague series of provisions. Local bloggers are warning that the law’s broad definition of who is considered a “journalist” — one that could apply to bloggers, citizen reporters, and even social media users — will have a chilling effect on independent reporting across the country. The legislation enables government-appointed judges to issue fines of up to KSH 2 million (US$23,310) for media institutions and up to KSH 500,000 (US$5,827) for individuals.
Two individuals selling pirated copies of Hollywood blockbuster “The Wolf of Wallstreet” were arrested last week not for piracy, but for the film itself, which has been banned by Kenya’s Film Classification Board. A flurry of comments criticizing the ban has since appeared on the Board’s Facebook page.
Index on Censorship reports that the UK’s controversial new porn filters are exhibiting classic flaws in broad filtering systems by blocking sites covering “LGBTI issues, sex education and even domestic violence and rape” but somehow underfiltering pornography. Way to go, David!
The largest Internet blackout in Chinese history was most probably caused by the country’s notorious “Great Firewall”. Internet monitoring companies suspect that Chinese censors mistakenly re-directed the entire country’s web traffic to servers belonging to a company called Sophidea, which appears to be located in the US. The company’s servers reportedly crashed under the load for approximately eight hours. Greatfire.org offered a technical analysis of the event, pointing to potential explanations for the error.
The Ukrainian government targeted Euromaidan protesters last week with a deluge of mobile SMS messages reading: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.” Although a brand new local law criminalizes participation in violent protest, the messages had little effect in stemming violent clashes with riot police. Three Ukrainian cellphone companies have denied any involvement in the effort, noting that the government may have pirated protesters’ data from nearby cellphone towers.
A Kuwaiti court sentenced Twitter user Abdullah Fairouz Abdullah Abd al-Kareem to five years in prison after being found guilty of insulting the Emir over the social network. Local law prohibits any message that “objects to the rights and authorities of the Emir or faults him.” Al-Kareem will soon appeal his case before a higher court.
Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti, founder of Uyghur Online and an advocate for autonomy in the ethic minority region of China was arrested last week, allegedly for promoting a separatist agenda, though he does not actually support this platform. Despite an online petition signed by more than 1,000 Chinese intellectuals and an appeal by the US State Department, Tohti remains detained. His family is under house arrest, and seven of his students have been questioned by local authorities.
Surveillance: Spying on India, NETRA-style
The Indian government is once again stepping up its ability to intercept and spy on citizens’ online communications. Earlier this month, officials announced the launch of the NETRA spy system intended to monitor keywords in all major forms of online communication — email, social networking platforms, VoIP, chat, and online forums — in real time. There will be no judicial oversight of NETRA activities and Internet service providers will have no involvement (or knowledge) of government snooping via NETRA.
A new rule requires Chinese netizens to use their real names when uploading videos to Chinese websites. The government says the measure is intended to “prevent vulgar content, base art forms, exaggerated violence, and sexual content…having a negative effect on society.”
Internet Governance: Fighting for “.gov” (in Chinese)
The challenges the Internet poses to national sovereignty were highlighted this week around a battle between China and Taiwan for control of the top-level domain (TLD) .政府 (the Chinese character equivalent for .gov). The Chinese government complained to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) after a Taiwanese government-affiliated company submitted an application for the TLD, arguing that the company, Net-Chinese, isn’t “vested with the authority or mandate to endorse claims of government status on behalf of all governments.”
The Vietnamese government’s enthusiasm for censorship is well known, but the country’s sketchy pro-government hackers are targeting even non-Vietnamese people with malicious phishing campaigns. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, recent targets include a US-based blogger who operates a popular dissident website, a British journalist based in Hanoi, a France-based Vietnamese math professor and democracy activist, and an American activist. Although it lacks China’s advanced censorship capabilities, Vietnam’s authoritarian regime has admitted employing 900 people “to counter online criticism.”
Netizen Activism: “Free our friends,” bloggers say
Bloggers, activists, journalists, and artists from across the Arab region gathered in Amman, Jordan last week for the 4th Arab Bloggers Meeting, organized by Global Voices and 7iber. Over four days of training, collaboration, discussion and debate, the group issued calls for the release of imprisoned rights advocates Alaa Abd El Fattah in Egypt and Bassel Safadi in Syria, along with kidnapped Syrian human rights advocate Razan Zeitouneh.
July142013
Laure Hammond explains how a recent decision by Barclays Bank to close the accounts of 250 money transfer organisations working around the world will have a particularly severe effect on Somalia’s efforts to emerge from two decades of conflict.
January182013
The French military intervention in Mali, known as Operation Serval [en] started on January 11, 2013 following the advance of terrorists groups towards Bamako. Lauded by a substantial part of the Malian population [en] and many outside observers, the military intervention diverts, however, from the non-interventionist line professed by French President Hollande in Africa.
The French have now intervened more than 50 times in Africa since 1960. They fought in Chad, in the war with Libya, protected regimes in Djibouti and the Central African Republic from rebels, prevented a coup in the Comoros and intervened in Côte d'Ivoire. Whether to preserve economic interests, protect French nationals or showcase the still imposing power of France, the main tenants of the Palais de l'Élysée, either from the left or from the right wings, have frequently expressed their penchant for unilateral action. But … nobody has ever protested. If … the United States intervened in such a manner, there would be an endless sequence of protests in Europe. U.S. embassies would see angry diplomats coming through their doors, starting with the French ones.
Map of the Tuareg rebellion in Azawad, Northern Mali showing rebel attacks as of April 5, 2012 (CC-BY-3.0)
Below is a chronology of these interventions [There are indeed quite a few of them but contrary to what the Cech newspaper stated, there were less than 50 french interventions in Africa ]. It is based on two articles: one is a review written by Nestor N’Gampoula for Oeil d'Afrique and another one by Jean-Patrick Grumberg for Dreuz Info. Grumberg adds that most of the French interventions in Africa took place on former colonial soil :
In 1964, airborne french troops landed in Libreville, Gabon after an attempted coup against the regime back then.
In 1978 in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), 600 French legionnaires went into the town of Kolwezi, in the south-east to help thousands of Africans and Europeans threatened by Katangan rebels. The mission was in response to a call for help made by President Mobutu Sese Seko to help his country. The operation cost the lives of five legionnaires, but allowed the evacuation of 2700 Westerners.
From 1983-1984 in Chad, France undertook Operation Manta, a 3,000 men strong operation to face armed rebels supported by Libya. Two years later, another French military action, composed of mostly aerial attacks called “Operation Epervier“, was deployed after an anti-government attack.
In Comoros in 1989, after the assassination of President Ahmed Abdallah and the takeover of the country by the French mercenary Bob Denard, about 200 French soldiers arrived in the country to force them to leave the country.
In 1990, Paris sends troops to Gabon in Libreville and Port-Gentil in reinforcement of the French contingent after violent riots erupted. The operation allowed the evacuation of some 1,800 foreigners.
In 1991 in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), the Belgian and French troops managed to evacuate foreigners after violent riots and looting occurred in the country.
In 1991 still, French troops based in Djibouti help the Afar rebellion to disarm Ethiopian troops that had crossed the border following the overthrow of Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam.
In 1996 in the Central African Republic (CAR), operation Almandin secured the safety of foreigners and the evacuation of 1,600 people after the army mutinied against President Ange-Félix Patassé. The following year in 1997, specifically after the murder of two French soldiers, a French operation against the mutineers was mandated in Bangui (Central African Republic).
The same year, 1997, some 1,200 French soldiers rescued French and African expatriates during fighting between the Congolese army and supporters of the military leader Denis Sassou Nguesso, now President of the Republic of Congo.
In 2002, French forces undertook Operation Licorne to help Westerners trapped by a military uprising that effectively divided Côte-d’Ivoire in two regions.
In 2003, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), Operation Artemis in Ituri secured the area and put an end to ongoing massacres. This was followed by the deployment of 2,000 peacekeepers, 80% of which were French.
In 2004 in Côte-d’Ivoire, France destroyed the small Ivorian airforce after government forces bombed a French base.
In 2008 a new French intervention strengthens the regime of Chadian President Idriss Deby and evacuated foreigners while rebels from neighboring Sudan attacked.
In March 2011 in Libya had the French airforces were the first to bomb Gaddafi forces after the vote at the United Nations authorized intervention in Libya to protect civilians caught up in the rebellion against Gaddafi. NATO took command of the overall mission on March 31, a mission that helped the Libyan rebels to defeat the forces of the government and take power.
In 2011 in Côte-d’Ivoire, French forces alongside UN forces tip the balance in favor of Ouattara during the civil war. The war broke out after the refusal of Laurent Gbagbo to resign and accept the verdict of the election that pronounced Alassane Ouattara as president.
In 2013 in Mali, French bombarded Islamist rebels after they tried to expand their powerbase towards the Malian capital, Bamako. France had already warned that control of the north of Mali by the rebels posed a threat to the security of Europe.
At the same time, France has mounted a commando operation to try to save a French hostage held by al Shabaab militants in Somalia, also allied with al-Qaeda. The hostage was killed by the militants.
December152012
The shooting of a Zambian worker allegedly by his Somali employer after a wage dispute, on 13 December, 2012, has triggered a series of revenge attacks against Somali residents in Ndola, Zambia’s third largest city, 400 km north of the capital Lusaka.
Ndola residents have taken to the streets damaging property, particularly those belonging to Somali nations following the shooting of a Zambian in a wage dispute.
Somali nationals are also being targeted for beatings as a sign of revenge.
The riots started early this morning in Northrise forcing Copperbelt riot police to descend on the city to quell the volatile situation. The situation was particularly worse in Masala and Ndeke township where majority of Somalians reside in Ndola.
Zambians are rioting in Ndola the provincial capital of the Copperbelt.
The riot started this morning and by press time 9:30 am local time the residents were still rioting looting a shop of a Somalian in the Second Class area in the Central district. Zambian Eye reporter at the scene says there was no presence of the police yet.
Goods wealth millions of kwacha has been rooted [sic].
“The situation is tense here right now people are looting the shop grabbing assorted groceries such as sugar and cooking oil, Zambian Eye reporters said.
The riot follows the shooting of a Zambian who is reported to have been demanding for his money on Thursday by a Somalian
@NkhataTemwani: @ caesarcognac yeah we good people bt nw its gettin outa hand…u knw nw they hv become disrespectful and arrogant to us as a peole,enuf! [yeah, we are good people but now it is getting out of hand… you know now they have become disrespectiful and arrogant to us people, enough!]
On Facebook, netizens disagreed with someone who blamed the entire Somali community for the incident. Richard Banda Lcgi Meiz wrote:
A Zambian was shot dead yesterday by a Somalian national and it has sparked riots /looting in Ndola. The issue is that Zambia is going to be in trouble not many years or decades from now following the influx of Somalians. These are guys who are coming from a war-torn or failed state and came in Zambia without anything. They are bearing children who are sarcastically claiming to be Zambians and so they are considering the provisions of our citizenship clause.
[…] We must have control on the influx of Somalians in this country otherwise our great-grand children will curse us while we will be in our graves for the current failures to set things straight.
The Somalians have their own buses and schools and we dont know whether they are teaching those children of theirs hate for the non-Muslims or not.
Damn you stereotypes! Just because one Somalian commits a crime, you condemn everyone of Somalian decent? Learn to embrace equality and diversity! Deal case by case not this rubbish racism you are posting!
There was no official statement from the police at the time of writing on whether there has been any arrests among looters apart from an earlier statement attributed to provincial police commissioner Mary Tembo on the arrest of the Somali suspected killer.
In July 2012, the Zambian Police thwarted a xenophobic attack on a national who was burnt to death in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. A number of Somali nationals are settled in and around Ndola where they run businesses ranging from transportation to supermarkets.
December022012
An annual competition has been launched for the public to vote for the seven best natural wonders of Africa, with the voting currently underway. The competition is organized by global grassroots endeavor Seven Natural Wonders and at this point includes 12 sites from across the African continent.
Discover the shortlist and other suggested contenders which didn't make the cut this year.
The Okavango Delta, Botswana
Hippos bathing in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, the world's largest inland delta by John on Wikipedia CC-license-by
The Okavango Delta is the world's largest inland delta, created from the rains that fill the Okavango River. The Namibian government has plans to build a hydropower station which would regulate the Okavango's flow, but environmentalists fear that this project could destroy most of the fauna and flora in the Delta.
The Red Sea Reef, Egypt, Sudan and Eritrea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its Reef stretches over 1,240 miles along the coast of Egypt, Sudan, and Eritrea and contains more than 1,100 species of fish.
Anthia goldfish in the Red Sea from Wikimedia commons. Image in the public domain.
Mount Kenya, Kenya
Mount Kenya wall by Radu vatcu CC license-BY-3.0
Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. The Mount Kenya ecosystem provides water directly for over two million people. The park receives over 16,000 visitors per year.
The Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar
Local people on the Avenue of the Baobabs, Morondava, Madagascar. Image on Wikimedia commons, in public domain.
The Avenue of the Baobabs is located between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina in the Menabe region in western Madagascar. Baobab trees, up to 800 years old, stand about 30 meters in height and this particular species is endemic to Madagascar. The site was present in the news recently because it was victim of a wild fire that burnt down newly planted trees around the giant trees.
Tsingy de Bemaraha is a nature reserve located near the western coast of Madagascar in the Melaky Region. This National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the main attraction is the stone forest that is composed of limestone needles originating from erosion patterns from groundwater and winds.
Zuma Rock, Nigeria
Zuma Rock near Abuja by Jeff Attaway on FlickR license (CC-BY-2.0).
Zuma Rock is a 725 meter high monolith found in Nigeria on the road out of Abuja. Its nickname ‘Gateway to Abuja' is derived from this road.
The Peak of Furnace, Réunion Island
Eruption at the Peak, April 2007 on FlickR by zatiqs (CC license-BY-NC-SA).
Le Piton de la Fournaise (The Peak of Furnace) is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island in the Indian Ocean. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
The Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles
Aldabra Island, Seychelles on FlickR by Johny Shaw (CC-BY-2.0).
Aldabra isthe world's second largest coral atoll and forms part of the Seychelles. Aldabra is almost entirely free of human interference and is home to the world's largest population of giant tortoises.
Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Kibo on Mt Kilimanjaro by Chris 73 (CC-NC-BY).
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest freestanding mountain in the world at 5,895 meters. The current shrinking and thinning of Kilimanjaro's ice field is similar to other glacier retreat in mid-to-low latitudes across the globe. At the current rate, Kilimanjaro is expected to become ice-free some time between 2022 and 2033.
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
A young male lion at the hunt in Ngorongoro Crater by Brocken Inaglory on Wikimedia (CC-BY-3.0).
The Ngorongoro Crater is a large, unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera located in the west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. The crater plays host to almost every individual species of wildlife in East Africa, with an estimated 25,000 animals within the crater.
The Serengeti Migration, Tanzania
Wildebeest crossing the river by Stefan Swanepoel in Wikipedia (CC-BY-3.0).
The Serengeti migration is the longest and largest overland migration in the world. Each year, the great wildebeest migration begins in the Ngorongoro area of the southern Serengeti of Tanzania in January to March, when the calving season begins; some 750,000 zebra precede the migration of 1.2 million wildebeest.
The Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world. The desert encompasses, at least in part, the countries of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan, and Tunisia. The southern border of the Sahara is marked by a band of semi-arid savanna called the Sahel.
Bloggers' suggestions
A number of natural wonders were omitted from the shortlist, so a few bloggers have added their own suggestions via their blogs. A slight controversy was the fact that a few countries were featured several times while others were not mentioned at all, despite having worthy candidates.
The Victoria Falls, Zambia and Zimbabwe
The Victoria Falls at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe is already selected as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Swimming at the edge of Victoria Falls in a naturally formed safe pool, accessed via Livingstone Island. Image on wikimedia commons, released into public domain by Ian Restall.
Blyde River Canyon, South Africa
The Blyde River Canyon is located in Mpumalanga and forms the northern part of the Drakensbergescarpment. It is 16 miles (26 kilometers) in length and is on average around 2,500 feet (762 meters) deep. The Canyon consists mostly of red sandstone.
The Weeping Face of Nature located in Blyde River Canyon. Image by Ptosio on Wikipedia (CC-BY-3.0).
Feel free to add any sites that you feel were omitted in the selection process in the comments section below.
August302012
Deborah Brautigam from China in Africa provided more background information about the importation of Chinese Weapons in African countries and explained the incentive of arms sale is from private sector:
As we saw in the notorious Libya case, it appears that Chinese companies with their own balance sheets are “going global” and making arms export decisions and deals.
August102012
In her blog post about the very first humanitarian customer calling center, Anahi Ayala Iacucci describes “a quick and convenient way for Somali beneficiaries to give feedback about projects funded or services provided by the Danish Refugee Council using an SMS feedback system”: “This project has started in September 2011 and since then, “beneficiary SMS feedback has been implemented in 31 towns and villages in the North and East of Somalia…You can discover more about this project on the dedicated blog.”
After political discussions in Ethiopian, leaders of various Somali parties agreed to political steps to end the transitional period and elect a new president. One of the steps outlined in a detailed timetable is the drafting of a new constitution.
Military portrait of Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, Somalia's longest-serving President. Source: U.S. Library of Congress (Public Domain)
A four-day working session with the Signatories’ Technical Revision Committee has been concluded in Nairobi. The working session is a follow up to the recent Addis Signatories’ meeting were most of the constitutional issues were agreed and some of the provisions – prepared by the Independent Federal Constitution Commission – have been amended after congenial political negotiations between the signatories of the Roadmap to end the transition, which was adopted in Mogadishu last September. The technical Revision Committee’s mandate as per Addis Ababa’s Communiqué is to complete the constitutional process.
The Minister of Constitutional Affairs who convened the meeting explained to the participants and the media that “that road towards ending of the transition is getting closer and closer by the day, and we need to collectively work towards delivering a constitution that Somalia deserves and which serves its people.
Members of the Technical Revision Committee in Nairobi. Photo courtesy of http://horn.so/
Fearmongers use scare tactics to influence public opinion to impede change and progress by disseminating false information about the draft constitution and the planned Constituent Assembly meeting. Naysayers, natural skeptics and cynical people among us, habitually express negativity about the accomplishment of others and are pessimistic about change. Dale Carnegie’s famous quote fittingly describes the nature of Naysayers when he wrote “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, and most fools do.”
These Naysayers often spread blatant lies to oppose anything other people do. In the case of the Constituent Assembly, they assert that the constitution can only be approved by popular referendum, disregarding discernible historical fact that the Somali Republic itself was founded by the 1960 Constitution, approved by Constituent Assembly of only 110 delegates, and a process that took only 29 days, whereby public referendum was held 21st of July 1961, after more than one year.
However, Mohamed Ali Hassan, Chairman of the Somali-American Peace Council and Manuela Melandri, PhD candidate at University College London, note that most Somalis look at the draft constitution with deep skepticism:
The optimism of the international community is not shared by Somalis themselves, who instead look with deep skepticism at a document that they perceive as externally-imposed, faulty and fundamentally undemocratic.
To understand this dynamic, one should start by questioning the facts. What is wrong with the new Somali Constitution and why has the adoption of this document been met with resistance by educated Somalis, religious figures, secularists, former Somali Prime Ministers, women, scholars and by Somali Diaspora organizations?
First, there are issues concerning the content of the Constitution and the substance of its provisions.
Above all, the question of federalism remains deeply divisive. Views can be found both in support of and against Somalia adopting a federal structure.
Whether we like it or not, when we see images of the Somali people around the world and we compare our own situation (at least, those in the Diaspora that live in peace), do we feel that those brothers and sisters need a constitution that works for them now since they are dealing with horrible situations? Think about this: maxay ku gaaraan mustaqbalka?
You have to know that I did not write those news articles mentioned above, Iam not part of the group that put together of the new constitution and I am not here to justify whether the new constitution is good, bad or ugly. All I want to remind you is that: those that are in need may not have time to wait a new perfect and pretty constitution; they need one that works for them for the time being. More importantly, I am not here to oppose anyone’s idea – I am just expressing my own views as anyone else. However, the best solution that I see, at least in my opinion, let us commence discussing how to improve the new constitutions in the future.
Mohamud Uluso considers the draft constitution “a hurried job, with the latest version available only in Somali language while various outdated or fake versions are circulating on the web”:
It appears that the UN-wise roadmap for Somalia is nothing but part of a plan of perfidy to keep Somalia and the Somalis in turmoil. Instead of liberating the true Somalis, who need and want to continue living in and developing their own country and their communities inside Somalia, the planned constitution appears as the manifestation of the shackles of foreign as well as internal oppression of the indigenous Somali people in perpetuity.
—
Most Somalis and their scholars doubt that it is the right time to engage in the process of forming a new constitution during an era of civil strife and turmoil in Somalia and wonder why millions of dollars have been spent by the players from the so-called international community to re-invent the wheel, while the existing Somali constitution could just be amended if any real need would be given and legally as well as representatively expressed - reflecting the true and free will of the Somali people.
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According to insiders FGM [Transitional Federal Government] is now permitted by the newly proposed Somali constitution, which will be presented for adoption to selected “traditional leaders”. A typical scheme how the UN and their stooges want to get it their way - or the way their master wants it.
Abduallhi Jamaa analyses various arguments about the draft constitution appearing online, vernacular radios and in village meetings and cafes:
Analysts say the proposed law is seemingly a milestone, but one that may fracture Somalia further into autonomous and semi-autonomous regions as well as ministates.
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“There is absolute confusion. There wasn’t any civic education to put across the letter and spirit of the proposed laws and this means that most people are not comfortable with the contents, many more have not heard about the whole process,” he [Hassan Sheikh, the leader of the Party of Peace and Development] told Somalia Report.
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Amongst the contentious issues include the proposed model of government, the controversial issue of natural resources and the religious influence. Some players argue that the language of the draft is not understandable, an issue that can lead to various kinds of misinterpretation.
—-
“The issue isn't just about the dispute over the contents. It is related to an absence of public representation. I do not wish to be part of a constituent assembly that does not represent Somalia’s vision and mission,” said traditional elder Mohamed Hersi.
Google Ideas developed a pilot project with the Somali service, Africa Division of Voice of America (VOA) to help Somalis register their opinions with just a few clicks. The poll shows, among other things, that Somalis want a Somalia based on the civil and criminal codes of Sharia, a strong central government and are divided over the inclusion of women in government.
May022012
The UK Guardian newspaper's Global Development blog reports that an international coalition of researchers and NGOs has released the world's largest public database of international land deals. This marks an important milestone in highlighting a developmental issue that has received little attention in the international news cycle.
The report states that almost 5% of Africa's agricultural land has been bought or leased by investors since 2000, and emphasizes the fact that this is not a new issue, yet points out that the number of such land deals has increased tremendously in the past five years.
Many observers are increasingly worried that these land deals usually take place in the world's poorest countries and that they impact its most vulnerable population, the farmers. The benefits seldom go to the general population, partially because of a lack of transparency in the proceedings of the transactions.
An additional report by Global Witness, entitled Dealing with Disclosure, emphasizes the dire need for transparency in the making of land deals.
World's poorest nations targeted
The Global Witness report lists that 754 land deals have been identified, involving the majority of African countries for about 56.2 million hectares.
Target countries of land deals from the Land Matrix Project
The nations targeted are usually some of the poorest in the world. The countries with the most deals in place are Mozambique (92 deals), Ethiopia (83), Tanzania (58) and Madagascar (39). Some of those deals have made headlines because they were conducted to ensure control over food imports, when the targeted regions faced major food crises.
Today’s food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab. On the one hand, “food insecure” governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production. On the other hand, food corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result, fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated. If left unchecked, this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in numerous places around the world.
In Malawi, land deals have grown increasingly prevalent to the detriment of the local farmers. A report from Bangula explains the challenges faced by Malawian farmers, Dorothy Dyton and her family:
Like most smallholder farmers in Malawi, they did not have a title deed for the land Dyton was born on, and in 2009 she and about 2,000 other subsistence farmers from the area were informed by their local chief that the land had been sold and they could no longer cultivate there. […] Since that time, said Dyton, “life has been very hard on us.” With a game reserve on one side of the community and the Shire river and Mozambique border on the other, there is no other available land for them to farm and the family now ekes out a living selling firewood they gather from the nearby forest.
Land construction in Madagascar. Photo by Foko Madagascar, used with the author's authorization
Farmers in Madagascar share similar concerns because they do not own the rights to the land they farm and an effective land reform is yet to be implemented. The Malagasy association Terres Malgaches has been at the forefront of land protection for the local population. They report that [fr]:
Malagasy families do not usually own an estate property document that enable them to secure their lands against land grab. In fact, since colonial times, one has needed about 24 steps, 6 years and up to 500 US dollars to get such documents. There are merely around 33 agencies in the country that deliver such documents for a country that is 589,000 kilometres square […] In the face of the increasing land grabs that Malagasy land is currently at risk of, this certificate is the only document that can trigger legal action in case of conflict.
The association also reports on the practices of a mining company Sheritt, in Ambatovy, which have created a buzz in the local blogosphere because of environmental concerns for the local population and business malpractices (via MiningWatch Canada):
Sherritt International’s Ambatovy project in eastern Madagascar – costing $5.5 billion to build and scheduled to begin full production this month – will comprise a number of open pit mines (..) it will close in 29 years. There are already many concerns about the mine from the thousands of local people near the facilities. They say that their fields are destroyed ; the water is dirty ; the fish in the river are dead and there have been landslides near their village. During testing of the new plant, there have been at least four separate leaks of sulphur dioxide from the hydro-metallurgical facility which villagers say have killed at least two adults and two babies and sickened at least 50 more people. In January, laid-off construction workers from Ambatovy began a wildcat strike, arguing that the jobs they were promised when construction ended have not materialized. The people in nearby cities like Moramanga say that their daughters are increasingly engaged in prostitution.
The plight of Madagascar's farmers' plight may be slowly changing though. Land reform discussions are in progress, according to this report:
According to a paper presented at the 2011 International Conference on Global Land Grabbing, about 50 agribusiness projects were announced between 2005 and 2010, about 30 of which are still active, covering a total land area of about 150,000 ha. Projects include plantations to produce sugar cane, cassava and jatropha-based biofuel.
To prevent the negative impacts of land grabbing, (The NGO) EFA has set up social models for investors, with funding from the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The goal is to help investors negotiate with the people in the area where they want to implement projects, as a way to prevent future problems.
It is in the long-run interest of investors, host governments, and the local people involved to ensure that these arrangements are properly negotiated, practices are sustainable, and benefits are shared. Because of the transnational nature of such arrangements, no single institutional mechanism will ensure this outcome. Rather, a combination of international law, government policies, and the involvement of civil society, the media, and local communities is needed to minimize the threats and realize the benefits.
Far too many people are being kept in the dark about massive land deals that could destroy their homes and livelihoods. That this needs to change is well understood, but how to change it is not. For the first time, this report (Dealing with Disclosure) sets out in detail what tools governments, companies and citizens can harness to remove the shroud of secrecy that surrounds land acquisition. It takes lessons from efforts to improve transparency in other sectors and looks at what is likely to work for land. Companies should have to prove they are doing no harm, rather than communities with little information or power having to prove that a land deal is negatively affecting them.
April182012
Hands Off Somalia is a campaign originally organised to oppose any upcoming corporate, political and military intervention in Somalia by the British government, which was signalled at their conference held on 23 February 2012.
March122012
On February 23, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has come to a historic judgment, that Italy violated the European Convention on Human Rights by intercepting and sending back Eritrean and Somali migrants to Libya.
The Hirsi case and others versus Italy pertains to the first push back operation carried out on May 6, 2009, in international waters, 35 miles south of Lampedusa. Italian authorities intercepted a boat carrying some 200 Somalis and Eritreans, including children and pregnant women. The migrants were then taken on board an Italian ship, sent back to Tripoli, and handed over against their will to Libyan authorities. They were not identified, no one listened to them or informed beforehand of their actual destination. In fact, the migrants were convinced that were heading toward the Italian coast. After this operation, 11 Somali citizens and 13 Eritrean citizens, who were found and helped in Libya by the Italian Council for Refugees, brought action against Italy before the European Court of Justice. Assistance was provided by Anton Giulio Lana and Andrea Saccucci, from the Union of Lawyers for Protection of Human Rights.
The Libyan police were awaiting them on the dock with container trucks ready to pick them up, like livestock onto cattle cars, and then send them to various prisons around the country. A photojournalist, Enrico Dagnino, who was on board the patrol boat, described in detail the violence in this operation. After that, the proceedings were censored.
This action led to the non-implementation of the principles governing the treatment of people fleeing from danger, Henry Oliver explains on the UK Human Rights blog:
The return involved a violation of Article 3 (anti-torture and inhumane treatment), Article 4 of Protocol 4 (collective expulsion of aliens), and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy). The patrols that returned migrants to Libya were in breach of the non-refoulement principle.
An immigrant's t-shirt saying "I am an immigrant using soap and water" to avoid abuse. By Cristiano Corsini on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
The old Italian government, formed by Silvio Berlusconi's party, Popolo della libertà (People of Freedom), and Umberto Bossi's extreme right party, the Northern League, created a legal arsenal and took steps against immigration in Italy, which have been denounced on several occasions by civil society and the Catholic Church. Italy has also been condemned on various instances for its anti-immigration [it] policy, which is inconsistent with European treaties.
Gabriele Del Grande's blog fortresseurope.blogspot.com [it] publishes information about Fortess Europe's activities for the defense of immigrant rights. The association has produced a great number of reports, first hand accounts and films on refugee treatment in Italy as well as in other European countries.
We are in Misratah, 210 km east of Tripoli, in Libya. All the prisoners here are Eritrean asylum seekers, arrested offshore of Lampedusa or in immigrant neighborhoods in Tripoli. Collateral victims of Italy's and Libya's cooperation against immigration. More than 600 people, of whom 58 are women, there are also several children and babies in the group. They have been in prison for over two years, but none of them has been tried. Up to 20 people sleep laid out on mats or foam mattresses in windowless rooms measuring 4 meters by 5. During the day, they are placed under the police's vigilant eye into a courtyard, measuring 20 meters by 20, onto which the rooms open. They are all between 20 and 30 years old. And what did they do wrong? Attempt to reach Europe in search of asylum.
The principle of non-refoulement, enshrined in the 1951 in the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, prohibits sending a person back to a country where his life or freedom may be threatened. …
From May to July 2009, some 602 migrants were intercepted at sea and immediately turned away. They were chiefly sent back to Libya, a country where “every person arrested risks being subjected to serious mistreatment,” or of being sent back to a country where such risks do exist, the CPT remarked (Committee for the Prevention of Torture).
Of course, the CPT admits, “States have the sovereign right to protect their borders and control immigration,” but Italy should review its procedures to ensure that all intercepted migrants first receive care and can apply for asylum.
Unfortunately in Europe, Italy is not the only country to carry out forced mass repatriations. This association reports [it] that:
Since 1988, at least 18,058 [it] people have died along Europe's borders. Of this only 2,251 have died since the beginning of 2011. This data was updated on December 7, 2011, and was based on the census data from the international press archives over the past 23 years. The real figure could be much higher. No one knows how many ships have wrecked since we have never heard. Only the families of the missing persons know. These families, from Morocco to Sri Lanka, have been questioning for years what has happened to their children who left one day for Europe and never came back.
Paolo Lambruschi, for his part, wrote [it] on website of the Italian Episcopal Conference's newspaper:
And, something which concerns all EU countries, the operations of Frontex patrols in the Mediterranean will be revised, because for the first time the pushing back of groups at borders and on the high seas is tantamount to mass deportations. Italy will have to pay 15,000 euros plus legal costs to 22 of 24 plaintiffs, 11 Somalis and 13 Eritreans. The other two are dead.
One day, at Lampedusa and at Zouara, at Samos at Evros, at Las Palmas and at Motril, shrines will be erected with the victims' names from these years of repression of freedom of movement. And we won't be able to tell our grandchildren that we didn't know. Here you can find a comprehensive presentation and updates of information, from 1988 until today. For an analysis of the statistics, border by border, read the map Fortezza Europa (Fortress Europe).
March072012
Mohammed Keita (MK): I run the Africa desk of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which is based in New-York.
AB: What are the aims of CPJ?
MK: CPJ is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide since 1981. CPJ was founded by a group of eminent American journalists, including the late Walter Cronkyte and Dan Rather, to support their colleagues around the world during a period of kidnappings and murders of journalists in Lebanon and Latin America in the 1980s. CPJ cherishes its independence from any government and does not take any contributions from any state.
Abdoulaye Bah (AB): First of all, who is Mohamed Keita ?
Mohammed Keita (MK): I run the Africa desk of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which is based in New-York.
AB: What are the aims of CPJ?
MK: CPJ is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide since 1981. CPJ was founded by a group of eminent American journalists, including the late Walter Cronkyte and Dan Rather, to support their colleagues around the world during a period of kidnappings and murders of journalists in Lebanon and Latin America in the 1980s. CPJ cherishes its independence from any government and does not take any contributions from any state.
Logo of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Image source: http://cpj.org/.
AB: What are the African countries where freedom of expression is most at risk?
MK: Eritrea: President Isaias Afewerki brutally closed down the independent press in this Red Sea nation in a September 2001 crackdown on dissent. Since then, Isaias' information minister Al Abdu runs and directs the propaganda machine of the state-controlled press. The government directs journalists what and how to report on. It is the African country whose prisons are holding the largest number of journalists (at least 28). All the journalists are held in secret prisons without charge or trial and without contact with their families, with many of them thought to have died in custody. Only Iran is imprisoning more journalists worldwide.
Ethiopia: In February 2011, Ethiopian police threatened to throw into prison dissident blogger Eskinder Nega if he did not stop comparing the Arab Spring uprisings to Ethiopia’s 2005 pro-democracy protests. Eskinder was arrested 9 months later on terrorism charges and faces a possible life sentence in a politicized case based on his critical online writings. Ethiopia operates sub-saharan Africa’s most extensive snd sophisticated Internet censorship infrasctructure and was ranked among CPJ’s top 10 Online Oppressors.
The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is trailing only Eritrea in imprisonment of journalists. Almost all the journalists, including two Swedish reporters, have been charged with terrorism for reporting on opposition and rebel groups. With a series of restrictive laws, Meles' ruling EPRDF has tightned absolute grip over media licensing and regulation, the public state media and all public institutions. The independent press is limited to a handful of private newspapers and one radio station. The government also jams radio programs from Voice of America and Deutsche Welle and bans journalists’ access to the Ogaden where a rebellion is taking place. Meles' government has driven into exile the largest number of journalists in the world over the last decade.
Gambia: President Yahya Jammeh's years of intimidation of the press, a series of arson attacks on media houses, the closure of newspapers and radio stations, the unsolved murder of Deyda Hydara and the disappearance in government custody of reporter Ebrima Chief Manneh, have created a climate of terror for journalists in Gambia and forced the best journalists into exile.
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe arrested and prosecuted a man last year for posting a political comment on Facebook. President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF has allowed only a handful of independent newspapers to operate in Zimbabwe while retaining absolute grip over media licensing and regulation and national airwaves. Journalists operate under some of the world's most restrictive security and media laws.
Equatorial Guinea: President Teodoro Obiang's grip on the oil-rich nation is based on strict control of news and information. The president and his associates control all the media outlets in the country and no journalist is able to report independently about national priorities or spending or corruption.
Rwanda: Paul Kagame justifies restrictions on the press by invoking Radio Milles Collines, which in fact was a government-sponsored radio station, not an independent station. Kagame's government also abuses laws against “genocide ideology” and “ethnic divisionism” to prosecute and jail critical journalists and opinions contradicting the official version of the 1994 genocide.
Somalia: all belligerents in Somalia's conflict target journalists who are caught in the crossfire between rival militias, warlords, government and insurgents. Somalia is the deadliest country for the press in Africa: at least 40 journalists have been killed since 1992.
South Africa: President Jacob Zuma's ruling African National Congress has faced press criticism over its record on corruption, crime and poverty. To silence the critics, the government has introduced a series of legislative proposals that would criminalize investigative journalists, including the controversial Protection of State Information Bill, which critics have called the secrecy bill. Verbal and physical intimidation of journalists, particularly by the ANC’s youth league is on the rise.
Angola: President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos and his associates of the ruling MPLA control most of Angola's media outlets and enforce censorship of news and information. only 2 newspapers and 2 radio stations were not controlled by the government. Journalists reporting about official corruption are prosecuted and given prison sentences. Security forces attacked and intimidated journalists reporting on anti-government protests by youths calling for Dos Santos to step down.
Angola and Cameroon have introduced legislative measures to combat “internet crime” but the laws punish the electronic dissemination of photos and videos of public events with prison terms.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Journalists operate at the mercy of security forces, rebel groups and powerful politicians who abuse journalists in total impunity. at least 8 journalists have been murdered since 2005 with justice falling short of solving the murders.
AB: Bloggers from North Africa have contributed significantly to the success of revolts in the countries of North Africa. Is it conceivable that in sub-Saharan Africa bloggers play a similar role?
MK: Social media tools have become platforms for the kind of dissent that is repressed offline and they are used to organize protests offline. Some governments, such as Ethiopia, Angola, and Cameroon, are beginning to crack down on this use of the Internet, by passing laws against “cyber crime” or intimidating bloggers. In addition, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube users who are posting photos and videos from the streets using their cell phones are breaking some of the biggest news in Africa these days, and traditional media is trying to keep up with them.
AB: In Mozambique, in 2008 and 2010, well before the revolutions in the Arab world, the civil society was able to organize a demonstration against the rising cost of living using SMS. In Ghana, in 2010, citizens participated massively in constitutional review by using Facebook and mobile phones. Should these examples be regarded as exceptional cases or other similar events may occur elsewhere?
MK: Social media in the hands of young citizen journalists is fueling protest movements in Angola, Nigeria and Senegal.
The cover of CPJ
AB: What role do you attribute to social media in Africa and what are the obstacles?
MK: They have democratized news and information - making it more difficult for governments and the enemies of press freedom to keep a nation into the dark. it has created a virtual bridge between Africans in the Diaspora and those in the home countries. but the users are still largely unprepared to the dangers lurking online. Zimbabwe arrested and prosecuted a man last year for posting a political comment on Facebook. and many governments regularly demand email passwords of journalists in custody. Data security is the next challenge for journalists as more of them start to mostly work online.
AB: What can we expect from the African Union?
MK: The AU has a Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression but she works only part time and lacks the resource to do her job. AU member states still lack the political will to respect press freedom and protect journalists. Regional human rights instruments like the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) give us hope. The court issued landmark rulings against the Gambia on cases of disappearance and torture of journalists, but the problem is enforcement.
AB: The year 2011 was difficult for the press freedom in Africa, how do you see the year 2012?
MK: Each new year brings new challenges in this battle to keep the press free. The secrecy bill in South Africa has to be defeated, because South Africa is a model of democracy and free press for the continent, and this bill threatens to undo 18 years of progress since the end of Apartheid. South Sudan, the world's newest nation, is already abusing press freedom, this is also worrying. Ethiopia and Burundi's abuse of terrorism laws to prosecute and jail critical journalists is a disturbing new trend that has to be stopped. Press freedom is on the brink of extinction in Ethiopia, Angola, Gambia and Rwanda. Niger is probably the best example of a country where press freedom has advanced.
January172012
Nowadays, it is a common occcurence to witness African-born women having successful careers in Europe. Despite the evident challenges, many of them have also distiguished themselves in politics. Still, it was not so long ago that such success would have seemed impossible. To achieve greatness, these women have often come a long way, both literally and figuratively.
In order to better appreciate the progress made, one needs to think back to the 19th century and consider the image of black women in Europe then. For the purpose of this article, we will only address the story of women from the African diaspora who have been elected to positions of leadership in countries other than the colonial powers that previously ruled their home countries.
A history of racism
Postcard depicting Sarah Baartman, Wikipedia (public domain)
The story of the “Hottentot Venus” is symptomatic of the relationship between the West and African women in the last two centuries. Sébastien Hervieu, an Africa correspondent for Le Monde newspaper in France, tells the story of Sarah Baartman from South Africa, better known as the “Hottentot Venus”. In an article published in October 2010 in his blog afriquedusud.blog.lemonde.fr, he reviews [fr] Abdellatif Kechiche's [fr] film about her tragic story, Black Venus:
At the beginning of the 19th century, this servant was brought to Europe and became a fairground attraction because of her prominent physical attributes. Some “scientists” used her presence to support the theory that the “black race” was inferior. When she died at only 25, her genitals and her brain were placed in jars of formaldehyde. Her skeleton and a molding of her body were exhibited at the Museum of Man in Paris. It was only in 2002 that France agreed to return Sarah Baartman's remains to South Africa, thereby drawing to a close a long running legal and diplomatic imbroglio [fr].
Sarah Baartman died in Paris on 29th September 1815. More than 100 years later, the Khoïkhoï people in South Africa called on Nelson Mandela to demand the restitution of Sarah's remains. The demand was met with the refusal of the French authorities and the scientific community citing the inalienable heritage of science and the state, but France eventually repatriated the body to South Africa where, in accordance with the rites of her people, it was purified and placed on a bed of dried herbs which were set alight.
Norway
Two centuries later, the position of black women in Europe has drastically changed. Amongst others, many have now been elected to political office.
Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen on Wikipedia (Norway) (CC-BY 3.0)
Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen in Norway is one of these women, and one of the most interesting because she shows the contradictions that still exist within some countries. She had to step down from a ministerial post in the Norwegian government just four months into her job. An article on Grioo.comsets out her career [fr]:
Born in Martinique, 44 year old Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen gained her post as Minster for Children and Equality in the centre-left Norwegian government on 18th October 2007 […] She is married to Terje Osmundsen, a politician and member of the Norwegian conservative party. After their marriage she took Norwegian nationality and renounced her French nationality as the country does not allow dual nationality.
In an interview with Patrick Karam from the website fxgpariscaraibe.com in 2008 she explains [fr] some of the things that played in her favour in being appointed and why she stepped down following a controversy over an alleged conflict of interest in the hiring of a political appointee:
In Norway there must be parity of representation between the two sexes within the administrative councils, with a minimum of 40% women. We are also pursuing a policy which encourages men to take more responsibilty at home, leaving women able to pursue a career. I also worked on child endangerment, violence, abuse… I worked for four months without criticism and it was a real success. The criticism began with the appointment of an ombudsman for children. In hindsight everyone can see it was something being made out of nothing. I gave in to the power of the media.
Sweden
Nyamko Sabuni, Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA)
Nyamko Sabuni [fr] is a former minister in Sweden, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Born in Burundi in 1969, her father fled the country due to persecution. She was elected to the Riksday as a member of the parliament in 2002, and at 37 years old became a Swedish goverment minister from 2006 to 2010. An article published on congopage.comsets out [fr] her progress.
In 1981, at the age of 12, she arrived in Sweden with her mother and three of her brothers and sisters. There she was reunited with her father, an opposition politician imprisoned several times in Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), who had come to the Nordic country with the help of Amnesty International.
Born in Somalia in 1969 and circumcised at the age of 5, Ayaan Hirsi Ali went to a Muslim girls school. Subjugated by her parents, her clan and her religion up to the age of 23, she took advantage of a trip to visit family in Germany to flee and escape a forced marriage. Taking refuge in Holland, she adopted Western liberal values to the extent that she became a young member of parliament in The Hague and declared herself to be an athiest. After having worked in the country's social services she knows, at first hand, the horrors tolerated against women in the name of multiculturalism.
A fierce apponent of some of the aspects of Islam and African traditions that go against basic human rights, she founded an NGO whose aims are set out, on her website Ayaan Hirsiali in the following terms:
In response to ongoing abuses of women’s rights, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her supporters established the AHA Foundation in 2007 to help protect and defend the rights of women in the West from oppression justified by religion and culture.
Italy
The first black person to be elected to the Italian parliament is Mercedes Lourdes Frias from the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean. This is how she is described [en] on the blogging site Black Women in Europe:
Mercedes Lourdes Frias was born in the Dominican Republic. She was the first black person elected to the Italian Parliament in 2006 where she served through April 2008. She was a member of the Commission on Constitutional Affairs and the Parliamentary Committee on the Implementation of the Control of Schengen Agreement, and the Control and Surveillance on Immigration. She works on anti-racist activities and welcoming immigrants. From 1994 1997 she was a member of the Council of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy. In the town of Empoli Ms Frias served a councilor for the environment, rights of citizenship, equal opportunities.
The most surprising of the black women to have been elected via universal sufferage or appointed to positions of elevated responsibility in European countries is Sandra Maria (Sandy) Cane, elected in 2009 on a Northern League ticket; the most racist and xenophobic of Italy's political parties. One of the party's objectives is the secessoin of some of the northern part the Italian peninsula (though the boundary is not clearly undefined) because the party leaders do not like Southern Italians.
The blog stranieriinitalia.it (foreigners in Italy) gives a brief outline of her career [it]:
Italy's first coloured mayor wears a green shirt [the colour worn by Northern League supporters]. Sandra Maria (Sandy) Cane won the tricolour scarf of the Mayor of Viggiù, a town of five thousand inhabitants in the Valceresio region, between the town of Varèse and the Canton of Tessin, with a margin on only 38 votes.
A past with a long history of migration. The new mayor's family on her mother's side were stone masons, originally from Viggiù, who migrated to France. During the Second World War, her father, an African-American soldier from the United States arrived in France. The new Mayor was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1961, but ten years after the separation of her parents she followed her mother back to her home village.
This, according to the blog associazioneumoja.wordpress.com, is how she found herself [it] in politics, with a rather unlikely ideological platform:
I have always supported the Northern League without ever being very active. When I was a little girl their posters used to make me laugh, they were curious and had a big impact. Then, around fifteen years ago I became a little more involved. […] I see it as being “very American”, even the Northern League, because they insist on a rigorous respect for the law, even for illegal immigrants. Even so, she points out that there are no problems of integration and still yet security in Viggiù. One of her priorities is to reignite tourism in the area, with events and a focus on culture.
Despite the marked progress in the inclusion of African women in European politics, they represent isolated cases as, beyond the difficulties they face due to racism or culture and religion, even within their own families and their own societies, they also have to face up to the challenges that all women across the world face [fr]: domestic violence, the challenge of bearing children, marginalisation and under-representation.
January132012
Kenya's military incursion into Somalia against the militant group Al Shabaab dubbed “Operation Linda Nchi” (Swahili for “Operation Defend the Country”) has turned into Twitter war. This came after the official military spokesperson Major E ChirChir going by the Twitter handle @MajorEChirchir posted old photos claiming that a Kenyan Al Shabaab recruit had been stoned to death recently by the group members because of “a difference of opinion”. Image of the now deleted tweet can be seen at this here
It later became apparent that the photos were actually taken by a Somalian journalist in 2009 and does not even feature a Kenyan Al Shabab recruit. The Kenyan military spokesperson has displayed a sense of responsibility by acknowledging responsibility and stating in one tweet:
The Kenyan military spokesperson may have thought that the tweet would be easily consumed by unsuspecting netizens and believed as gospel truth. The veracity of his statements are not only being put to test by the Al Shabaab and its sympathizers but also by Kenyan citizens as “Tweet war” and social media warfare continue.
The Kenyan capital, Nairobi, saw two deadly grenade attack incidents linked to Al Shabaab last year: one at a popular entertainment club and the other at a crowded bus stop in downtown Nairobi.
January082012
In recent weeks Global Voices has continued to present to its readers more examples how citizen media is used to empower refugees and displaced people. However, while blogs and social networking sites clearly have a role to play in amplifying marginalized voices, so too do ICTs in general.
Refugees in Uganda are using SMS and cellphones to reconnect with family members and close friends. Photo via MobileActive
Refugees often experience a compound trauma: The situation that caused them to flee in the first place, as well as the fact that many families become separated during migration. For refugee's health and well-being and ability to resettle, it is vital to know the whereabouts of relatives, their safety, and their ability to remain in contact. Today, mobile phones are the most important technology for refugees to find relatives and remain in contact.
The Forced Migration Review Issue 38, The Technology Issue covers technologies for refugees in particular. Two chapters shine a light on the use of mobile phones among refugees, as well as some of the problems with this tech to find and contact family member such as issues of security, and accessibility.
Superficially at least, today’s refugee camps do not appear significantly different from those that existed 30 or 40 years ago. Modernisation seems to have passed them by. But upon a closer look, it becomes apparent that things are changing.
Today, refugees and IDPs in the poorest of countries often have access to a mobile phone and are able to watch satellite TV. Internet cafés have sprung up in some settlements, the hardware purchased by refugee entrepreneurs or donated by humanitarian organisations such as UNHCR. And aid agencies themselves are increasingly making use of advanced technology: geographic information systems, Skype, biometric databases and Google Earth, to give just a few examples.
In one article, the example of a tracing project implemented by the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) in cooperation with Refugees United (RU) is highlighted.
In 1991 Ahmed Hassan Osman* fled the conflict in Somalia, leaving his family in Kismayu, and made his way to Kenya in search of asylum. Ahmed lived for a while in Ifo refugee camp before being resettled to Colorado in the US where he was granted full US citizenship.
In 1992, his cousin Abdulahi Sheikh arrived in Kenya in search of support. Granted refugee status, Abdulahi ended up in Dagahaley camp in Dadaab. He believed Ahmed was either in Dadaab or had been there but his efforts to find him were unsuccessful and he soon gave up hope of ever finding him. In fact, Abdulahi believed Ahmed had gone back to Somalia.
In early 2011 RCK employed Abdulahi to assist the RU project in Dagahaley refugee camp. Abdulahi registered with the tracing project and began a search for missing loved ones. Coming across a name that was familiar, he contacted the person through the RU message system. When he received a reply he realised that, after 20 years of separation and search, he had found his beloved cousin. They exchanged phone numbers and Ahmed called, breaking 20 years of silence. Today, the two keep in touch regularly and both Abdulahi and Ahmed continue to search for more friends and family members.
In some areas of Africa, there is no telecommunications coverage. Workshop participants commented that where it does exist, phone connections are regularly cut off, and some of them had also experienced intrusion in communication such as crossed lines. The strength of the network signal overseas is weak, and the lack of a reliable or steady source of electricity in a recipient’s country can be a major problem, although this varies by region. Growth of populations in some areas weakens network strength, due to the drain on power. Individuals may also have difficulty accessing electricity to charge their mobile phones.
[…]
Finding the best technology to use for different family members can be difficult, particularly if they themselves are displaced, because of factors such as the variety of available services, whether the family member could afford them and whether they have the skills to use them. One participant observed that the majority of their family members overseas needed to access communication technology through others. One participant described the difficulties she had in contacting her husband in a camp. She sent money to him to buy a phone but other people in the camp would also use it leaving her often waiting for hours to get in touch.
Cheap options such as email, voice-over-internet or instant messaging may not be accessible or affordable, and access to the internet in Africa is very expensive. Furthermore, displaced family members overseas may not know how to use these facilities.
From providing refugees with access to information on health and educational opportunities to using Facebook, Gmail Chat and Skype to maintain connections with family members and friends across geographical divides, the issue provides a comprehensive overview of how ICTs are being used.
Somalia Speaks is a collaboration between Souktel, a Palestinian-based organization providing SMS messaging services, Ushahidi, Al Jazeera, Crowdflower, and the African Diaspora Institute. “We wanted to find out the perspective of normal Somali citizens to tell us how the crisis has affected them and the Somali diaspora,” Al Jazeera's Soud Hyder said in an interview.
[…]
The goal of Somalia Speaks is to aggregate unheard voices from inside the region as well as from the Somalia diaspora by asking via text message: How has the Somalia Conflict affected your life? Responses are translated into English and plotted on a map. Since the launch, approximately 3,000 SMS messages have been received.
[…]
For Al Jazeera, Somalia Speaks is also a chance to test innovative mobile approaches to citizen media and news gathering.
In October 2010, MobileActive also profiled a mobile-based project implemented by Refugees United in Uganda with the support of Ericsson, UNHCR and the Omidyar Network, noting that one blog called it “the social network that is more important than Facebook.”
The Technology Issue by Forced Migration Review can be read online here.
December302011
In a post published on december, 27th, The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) declares that: “In 2011, 4 journalists were murdered in Mogadishu alone, making it the only place where the utmost repulsive crimes against journalists were committed. A further 7 journalists were wounded, 5 in Mogadishu, while the remaining 2 were wounded in Bossasso and Galkayo.” Furthermore 19 medias worker were arrested and 7 media houses targeted with aggressive, repressive and violent actions.
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The only lost and found reported was an umbrella…..although on course takedown we did find a few lungs and broken dreams on the hills! As always if you have any feedback or comments please contact Race Director directly [email protected] or through the Contact Us form on our web site.
The BikeReg registration is OPEN for the Church Creek Time Trial #2 – MABRA Masters TT Championships on August 18. Same Bat time, Same Bat channel. And just think, it can’t be any hotter than it was a week ago!
Be sure to note your start time and keep in mind the Approximate Transfer Times. Please allow ample time to ride from the middle school to the start line. The following table should help you determine the minimum amount of time your transfer will take. Do not overestimate your average speed during your transfer as traffic and wind conditions may adversely affect your transfer time. Obey all traffic laws while riding to the start line. The event staff will supply a synchronized clock at the exit of the middle school parking lot to assist riders.
Parking: Parking will be provided at the Mace’s Lane Middle School, 1101 Mace’s Lane, Cambridge, MD 21613. No participant parking will be allowed at the Start / Finish Areas. Parking along either Route 355 / Route 16 may result in receiving a parking citation from the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Department. The Park & Ride area will be reserved for Event Staff, Emergency Personnel, and USAC Officials ONLY. Time trial participants who park in the Park & Ride will be disqualified and will forfeit all awards and prizes. Parking will not be allowed in the Church Creek volunteer Fire Department parking area.
Registration is open on BikeReg: https://www.bikereg.com/aacxsportif-cross-cup-series. Online registration closes on Wednesday, October 12th at 11:45pm. Same Day Late Registration is available, there is an additional $10 same day registration fee. Head over to the registration page for all the event notes!!
Thanks to all who braved the weather today to make it out to the Time Trial. True to the spring we have been having, the rain began in ernest at about race time and came down hard for the next 3 hours. But the officials did a great job of getting everyone off on time and reports were that riders warmed up a lot once underway.
Our Sponsorship
ABRT is proud to be a corporate sponsor of BikeAAA who advocates for safe cycling in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. Through our sponsorship all ABRT members are automatically given membership in BikeAAA.
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Posts
How can you detect your fake ID?
An individual doesn’t check your id before using it. It is banned to sell alcoholic beverages or taking entry in the bars and clubs, especially for the teenagers. So they use this way to take entry and enjoy with your friends and for buying alcohol. If you use the false id, then there are also ways to detect your identity card.
If you make your id as like the original from the professionals, then no one can examine your false identity card easily. The bouncers and bartenders who check your fake id then they is experienced in this work, and they feel it by touching. We will tell you after having My experience with fake id detect.
Ways to detect the ID:-
Feel
This is the best way to detect your id it is fake or not. Original identity card has smooth edges, and we don’t feel any dryness on their card. If your bouncer checks your id, then you can feel it when you touch. Those cards have a rough surface, and we know by a simple touch. We use glue on that card then it becomes thicker so that we feel it easily after touching the fake identity cards.
Changes look
In your false identity card, you must fill your real information but not actual. If you are big in your fake identity card, but your real age is very small, then you take a look according to the fake ID card. They look that you are according to your photograph which is on the fake ID card. If you don’t have a look as like that so you can easily catch and you face punishment for using the false identity card.
Your body reactions
Most of the person is habitual that if they are caught by someone, then our body reactions automatically changes. We are sweating and our expression changes so that they are able to examine your fake identity card. It is the easiest way to detect your id because most of the person changes their expressions. They are easily caught, and it takes less time to detect.
Conclusion
Hope that you are satisfied with this information I can tell you because My experience with fakeid is so much interesting. If you are going to use your fake id, then you must be sure that you don’t face these problems because the bouncers are so much experienced in detecting the false ID.
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IAU Course Steady For The Future
12/25/2016 5:26:00 PM
Sunday, December 25, 2016 - 17:26
Ayatollah Hashemi stated that IAU is a national treasure and the results of its work should be seen in the society.
According to an ISCA report, in his visit of Bushehr IAU and its achievements, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke of IAU’s 450 branches throughout the country and stated that the university is moving toward research and innovation with all its might and academic resources.
Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani noted that, “people must see the result of scientific investigation in their life” and pointed to IAU’s numerous research programs, emphasizing that “one of the most important research areas of the Islamic Azad university is plasma physics, which has potential in protecting the environment and removing waste pollution. In this regard, IAU has taken important measures and plans are in place to further develop these technologies.”
The head of the IAU board of trustees recognized the creation of jobs, innovation, invention and commercialization of academic output to be the most important national requirements which guide the plans and programs of the university.
“Recently, and as a result of the JCPOA, Iran has been invited to join the ITER project, the seven countries working in France to create the first fusion-based power plant, practically bringing the energy of a new sun to the Earth,” added Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani.
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People power triumphs over Wall Street’s bid to end the protests mayor bloomberg and Brookfield Inc. back down on eviction world prepares for day of action Saturday October 15 in 950+ cities in 82 countries. We Are Winning!
NEW YORK, NY – Over 3,000 people gathered at Liberty Plaza in the pre-dawn hours this morning to defend the peaceful Occupation near Wall Street. The crowd cheered at the news that multinational real estate firm Brookfield Properties will postpone its so-called “cleanup” of the park and that Mayor Bloomberg has told the NYPD to stand down on orders to remove protesters. On the eve of the October 15 global day of action against Wall Street greed, this development has emboldened the movement and sent a clear message that the power of the people has prevailed against Wall Street.
“We are winning and Wall Street is afraid,” said Kira Moyer-Sims, a protester from Portland, Oregon. “This movement is gaining momentum and is too big to fail.”
“Brookfield Properties is the 1%. They have invested $24 billion in mortgage-backed securities, so as millions face foreclosure and eviction due to predatory lending and the burst of the housing bubble that Wall Street created, its not surprising they threatened to evict Occupy Wall Street,” said Patrick Bruner, an organizer with Occupy Wall Street from the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. “But Brookfield and Bloomberg have backed down and our movement is only growing as the 99% take to the streets world wide to call for economic justice.”
The early morning announcement from the Mayor’s office in New York came after 300,000+ Americans signed petitions to stop the eviction, and flooded the 311 phone network in solidarity with those in Liberty Square. At 6 AM this morning, 3,000+ New Yorkers, unions, students, and others joined the occupiers in the square to send a clear message to the 1% who want to silence this peaceful assembly of the 99%. Donations poured into the protesters from Italy, England, Mexico and many other countries by everyday people hoping to help the movement grow.
“For too long the 99% have been ignored as our economic system has collapsed. The banks got bailouts and we’ve been sold out, ” said Harrison Schultz, business analyst from Brooklyn . “Wall Street’s greed has corrupted our country and is killing our planet. But today we celebrate victory and vow to keep fighting for justice and change on Wall Street, and in over 100 cities in the US and over 950 cities globally.”
On October 15th, Occupy Wall Street will demonstrate in concert over 951 cities in 82 countries and counting as people around the globe protest in an international day of solidarity against the greed and corruption of the 1%.
Occupy Wall Street is a people powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations on the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, Greece, Italy and the UK, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people who are writing the rules of the global economy and are imposing an agenda of neoliberalism and economic inequality.
765 Comments
Today was a sad day for Occupy Denver. Colorado State Patrol forcibly removed occupiers from the site and arrested 23 people. They have also decided to close the park indefinitely, which may be a violation of the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly.
Also, this might be a good chance to set a precedent. If Occupy Denver could return to the streets as "Recall Hancock". I'm sure getting thrown the hell out after only 3 months would be humiliating to him. Also, remember that many protesters are registered Democrats and thus have more clout and connections within the party.
Scroll down to the second half of the page and you'll see all the members of the Denver Democrats that qualified for election in 2011, along with their phone numbers and e-mails.
We need to call and e-mail them expressing how unbelievably dissatisfied we are and swear to vote against them unless Michael Hancock makes a public apology. They'll likely listen since city representatives usually only win elections by a couple hundred more votes than their opponents.
Fight law with law. There are plenty of genius new law students getting screwed right now. They would take up the case, for the cause, right? the funny thing to me about 99% vs. 1% is that.. even they would place a bet on those odds.. make a freaking Tshirt.
I'm from the 99%. For sure. But I wanna point out that we're in the position to reach out to these "1%" folks. It's past late to parcel out blame individual by individual. Even more, what would it do?
If we can detach certain people from the ability to pour money into our government, I'd like to ask you to remember that at that point they become not only a part of the ordinary population again but a part of the market again.
Some folks in this 1% are, as we know, part of the 100%. In order for this to be a historic success, we have to create a real 100%, not dash the former 1% on the rocks to be picked at by vultures.
Whether or not him-her-or-the-other deserves a second or fifteenth chance is irrelevant. Having rehabilitated feral cats, I know that a fifteen pound animal attached to your hand by its teeth for the tenth time can, in fact, get with the program.
A lot of these folks are genuine. They genuinely believe they deserve where they're at and what they have. Maybe, for them, it's because their god or gods loves them, or maybe it's because they really did work their way to the top, or maybe they even lied, cheated and stole their way to the top but did it exceptionally well and have the pride of a craftsman.
It doesn't matter, because now is the time to repair our country, not pick a fight. Let's say one billionaire who invests in charity and the well being of his or her workers because of a heartfelt love of humanity. Another billionaire who does the exact same thing white quietly seething, reeking hate and resentment and regret. The one's a guy I'd have a beer with and the other's only looking out for #1. Well, good for both of them.
It doesn't matter if the 100% is acting from gooshy love feelings or rational self interest as long as the country is revitalized. So, I wanna ask ya'll to remember a healthy America is the goal and not SWEET REVENGE. <3
Getting back the trillions of dollars the 1% have sucked out of the economy's growth in the last 30 years would not be revenge, but justice! People who work smarter and harder should get and have more - but not 500 times more like American CEOs - maybe 10 times more than the people at the bottom. And remember that those over-compensated CEOs are just the hired gunslingers for the REAL wealthy, their stockholders.
You make some great points. There are some of the 1% who are intune to the 99%... Oprah Winfrey,Warren Buffet,Bill Gates,Russell Simmons to name a few. But you are AWARE that everytime they make a "charitable donation" they get a "TAX write off" because of the tax loopholes created to serve the purpose of the 1%. This legistration has been put in the tax laws by bought out elected officials who no longer to serve the 99%.
This is one of the main reasons the 99% have occupied wallstreet and varioues cities and towns around the country.
Our goverment has been "Hijacked" by the 1% and their corrupt banking and financial institutions.
BOA,GoldmanSachs and Wells Fargo is tops on the list of robbing the middle/working class.
Withdraw your funds from these robber barons and invest in a credit union near you or put your money under your mattress.
You are 100% right about everything you say except perhaps a couple of the people you mention. Near as I can tell, Oprah is a media tool, although I know saying that will probably piss off most the females here. Buffet deserves respect, he earned his wealth. And Bill Gates is an evil sumbitch. He got where he's at through outright theft, crushing the little guy, and ruthless business practices (let's not even talk about the quality of the product he's continually fostered on the public). Don't let the smile fool you. The ONLY reason he gives away tons of money is exactly the reason you mention: tax write-offs. Once you get so rich, you have to give some away or you get taxed to death. In fact, you should always be skeptical when the very wealthy contribute to charity; it's usually more business than altruism. And I'm not sure how on the "up and up" the foundation of Def Jam was (doesn't matter) but Russell Simmons seems like a good man. He probably deserves the respect. He does help the less fortunate among us.
If billionaires like buffet or gates didn't make donations you guys would still be whining about them having so much money and not doing anything good with it. Why do you hate people who have more money then you? You understand that 1% of the population pays 40% of the nations taxes right? If there weren't multi billionaires around that would make more tax burden on the middle class, because we would have to pick up the slack where they left off.
Personally, I have nothing against Buffet. And if you had been paying attention to the real story about Gates' rise to power, like I have, you probably wouldn't like him too much either. He literally stole the GUI from Apple that became Windows, and crushed countless small time companies with the typical, "if you don't sell me your company or idea, we'll bankrupt you." You are one of the countless people on this site that just don't "get it." It's been said over here, ad nauseam, there's nothing wrong with someone having a lot of money. It's how they achieved it. Get with the program or stop commenting.
I'm not sure about Oprah. I know she had a big fight with the meat industry early in the 90s. They tried to destroy her and she got pretty traumatized since then. Seems like she doesn't want to tackle the giants anymore.
If we had tried for the whole 100%.. the world would have laughed... "dreamers".... "We the 99%" is and will work.. people always need a bad guy to go after... hehe,,, the truth is many if not most of the 1% are with us,,, but some of those 1% and their partners need to go to jail...
I'm a really cynical person, and as a really cynical person I see the feel-good sweet revenge as completely counterproductive to the more difficult resource-assimilation and social-reassimilation that would appear to me to be the pragmatic option.
Punishing people for doing what they genuinely believe was right and genuinely believed they deserved to do breeds resentment.
I would speculate the best end result might come from something like: "Hey, bro, I don't agree with you, but imma let your company smoothly transition back into competitive capitalism. I am firmly encouraging you to make some charitable donations to improve your public image and we'll all politely, disinterestedly pretend you care but actually nobody cares if you do or not, just act straight, bro."
Humans love to breed these generation-long resentments and to imagine that people who presently hold one model of ideas are some kind of physical manifestation of those ideas when better practice is that those ideas can readily and easily change in a short period of time.
But, seriously, I hear people dissing the Tea Party, and I keep up with websites like Townhall.com and see the pundits going on and on about dirty, unwashed Obama fellating liberal mobs on Wall Street.
In the real world, well paid white pundits are working for their blindingly rich white corporate masters to sell a narrative that, see, look at how white they all are! They're white, and they have scared working class white folks' best interests at heart. And if you come to their rallies Jesus will love you!
So then folks find out things like some ridiculous % of Tea Party members are on some welfare program or another but don't know it. And what do they do? Say bitter, derisive things about Tea Party folks. (Hey, I've done it myself, I'm not proud. T_T)
The truth is there /is/ a class war going on and it's being won by keeping a politically valuable segment of working class whites segregated from the rest of the working class. What do we really need to do? We need to be patient with these people, recognize they're being exploited and recognize, too, their interests are common, even identical to ours and their prejudices, no matter how genuine, shouldn't get in between us and American unity.
In other words, my general standpoint is we would do best to demand civil behavior in public forums and act in the country's best interests whether it makes us feel pissy or fluffy inside, not demand recompense.
"Class" is a convoluted phrase that carries more import than it should. What is being waged is an economic war. If our government were not complicit in aiding the already super wealthy, We the People would not be losing. The notion that businesses that flagrantly break the law and/or rob the people should be coddled and gently ushered back with some b.s. PR is contrary to Democratic principles. This country and consequently the world, has been ruined by "wealth" worship and the struggle will only begin to end when we stop offering up our consciences to the status quo, even when it is failing us.
It's fine to say all that, but it's been said and said and said again. In fact, the general scheme of these things over thousands of years where the tides have historically turned is that the 99% do, in fact, win, and things end bloody for that stubborn, entitled 1%. See: The French Revolution, The Communist Revolution, etc. etc. etc.
It turns out a concept of "liberté, égalité, fraternité" that motivates any oppressed majority to round up, make mockery of and summarily punish (and in so many cases actually execute) the transgressing minority breeds a poor sort of unity that only holds up as long as there's an enemy to rail against.
Please understand that what you are describing is the status quo. It is old. It is tired. It's tried and done. It is not progress. It's a period of chaos and backsliding. It's the discovery that justice cannot ever be meted out for the crime of exploiting a populace over decades that substitutes feel good flogging in lieu any successful transitional stage in which resources are rationally renegotiated.
And what crime did this 1% commit? None. They did everything by the books. They bought politicians. They controlled laws. They used legal loopholes. Most of this was not crime: it was completely legal. So do we change the laws so say "This is no longer allowed, and anyone who did it in the past ten years will be taken out into public and egged!"?
Like I said, I have no personal feelings for these people. A lot of other people are also jerks and some are much worse except without the ability to influence so many lives. If we take for granted the jerks are jerks then we can pretty much take for granted they thought they were right to and deserved to do anything they did. It's so typical for so many other people it's just not worth getting worked up over.
And, hey, the folks who aren't jerks, who are out there and we know are out there and have been mentioned above, those folks were just getting by day to day in the life they knew, maybe even were born into. And, hey, times are a changin'. Cool beans. Do we wanna screw them over with some kind of radical dismemberment of "Wall Street"? No practical way of sorting wheat and chaff here.
For those folks who didn't play nice, but played by the rules, what I'd like to see happen is they are reintegrated into a society whose structure now disallows their former transgressions and we ensure the highest possible stability for a transitional structure that prevents any fresh economic crisis. They don't deserve it, but everybody else does.
Buying politicians is not "by the books," it is considered highly unethical, albeit convenient. Your description of the Bolshevik Revolution is far too simplified. We need to emphasize the nuances of human potential. If I get the gist of what you are saying, which is that if we mindlessly tear down the status quo, we may fall victim to history repeating, this is absolutely valid. However, we have made strides in the midst of the madness, of this I am sure and We the People can start meting out our needs better than government and industry have ever been or ever will be capable of...at least this is what Elinor Ostrum asserts in a more complex and academic presentation, for which she shared the Nobel Prize in Economics just a few years back :).
For some reason it won't let me reply to your other comment. :O But, I absolutely agree the ethics of government must always be considered. And it's time for a LOT of reform.
I was going back to the earlier/above point that because it was legal when it happened there's not going to be a legal recourse for punishing a lot of these folks. You'd said: "The notion that businesses that flagrantly break the law and/or rob the people should be coddled and gently ushered back with some b.s."
It's that I'm more of the "Let's just let it go and have a good transitional period that works for everybody" because without laws being broken there's really no way to quantify what is and is not deserved in most of these cases.
A lot of it was "Lots of harm and no foul" from a legal standpoint but from my perspective what I'd like to see isn't coddling them so much as rehabilitating them and where impossible treating them as functional units in the economic system well positioned to perform certain tasks under supervision.
If you look at some of the studies like Lois Rogge's 1960's followup to the communications network studies by Art Bavelas and his associates at MIT in 1950, where you have people who are put in a position of delegating to a business a person's personality can change in a short period of time.
The MIT guys would take groups of folks and assign them to tasks and basically map the efficiency of data transmission. Rogge recreated the experiment putting the shyest/least self confident/most awkward individual of the study group in charge of delegation, in the central position, and people who were "natural" leaders she placed in subordinate positions, and over the course of the experiments how they ranked in decisiveness/self-confidence reversed.
The Stanford prison experiment is a very famous example of a study along those lines, but basically what we know about the human brain is that personality traits are to a big extent a function of the structural properties of a social network. So it's realistic, it's even predictable that when these people are taken out of these positions and control proportionally less human labor than they control now they'll shape up. Most of them are likely to be perfectly capable of shaping up after a restructuring of the business sector.
Thank you for those references and I see what you are saying, except for that those who need to be rehabilitated appear to be indignant and are not going to turn themselves in. You see, if society wants to curtail what it deems to be poor behavior, the "it wasn't illegal" loophole is not helpful. You are right, as this is what the SEC is up against, proving guilt of actions that were detrimental but not illegal.
From one of the millions of us 99 percenters who stand with you in spirit, who can't be with you in person because we are sick, or poor, or imprisoned, or enlisted, or overworked and in fear of losing our jobs, THANK YOU ALL for standing up for us and bringing real hope to this day!
We support you in your fight to clean up our streets, parks, politicians and CEOs--today the park, tomorrow the planet!!
people should be occupying washington DC. that's where the real problems arise. those who set the rules to allow those in Wall Street to legally act as crooks. we need to change our political system, and I feel focusing all the attention towards Wall Street is detrimental to the cause. start calling out the real parasites and virus' ruining this country. our politicians. get money out of politics, make shorter term limits, do something to stop our politicians from making millions of a job that is supposed to be a civic duty, not a lifelong career.
i completely agree with you. i don't even know if we can call it "both" parties, as they seem to have coalesced into one. we need to avoid the subjects that divide our parties, like abortion and gay marriage, and come together on the issues that bring us together. everyone is looking for a better future for themselves and future generations, but with current state of our system, and the politicians working for the mega corps, this will never come to fruition.
WE ARE! There are in fact two encampments in DC: Occupy DC is holding McPherson Square, and Stop the Machine is holding Freedom Plaza. Occupy DC focusses on the banksters while Stop the Machine is disrupting Congressional hearings on free trade deals and war. Both will stage a major march on the banks tomorrow, October 15
that's good to hear. i'm just concerned that people aren't taking the protest as serious as i hoped they would. people i know are led to believe all the protests are asking for is handouts, and bailouts for college loans and such, when to me, this clearly isn't the case. if people are asking for that, i don't support them. but if people are looking to uproot the current state of our political system, both dems and reps, then i am all for that. corporations are so entrenched in our system, that the politicians no longer work for us, and anyone who can't get behind that, is blind, and should be left behind.
They (OSW) are correct. Wall Street, or more specifically, Wall Street's greed is the root cause of the mortgage fiasco by creating such an insatiable demand for mortgages to slice and dice into derivatives that banks and mortgage companies threw normal caution to the winds. Unfortunately the rot infected Fanny May and Freddie Mac as well, exposing the taxpayers to their nefarious schemes. What ishould the corrective action be?
And can I add the Obama plan of HAMP to help troubled homeowners has been a huge disappointment! The banks have lobbied against any form of change thus allowing the real estate market to drown in the ugly mess they made. To add insult to injury the banks pretend that they will help homeowners with a modification plan (for which they will receive government payed incentive), only to find out once again the banks are to busy robo signing foreclosures. The restoration of our housing market would take care of a large burden of this economic downturn by: 1. A new modification program for struggling homeowner, one that holds the banks accountable, unlike HAMP this would be mandatory since we know the banks are not eager to comply. 2. Making sure that our treasure secretary does not undermine this program by his own conflict of interests and alliances. 3. working out a deal for underwater mortgages so that homeowners do not walk away from house that was overvalued and depreciating. 4. Preventing a glut of homes on the market, thereby protecting the value of our own homes and like many previous generations restore the increasing value of our investments. 5. Many jobs have been lost as a result of the mortgage fiasco, by restoring our market we generate the need for work in this area= JOBS!
My cousin is 16 years old. Though I admire his fervor to support the amazing people that have chosen to sacrifice their time and energy to protest the corruption that has plagued our great country for decades,my cousin does not belong there. He has run away from home in order to show his support and we, his family are desperate to get him home. The police will not go into Zuccotti Park in order to locate him for fear of causing a misunderstanding between themselves and those camped out in the park. We are the 99% and we must band together in order to create a better future for our country. What better way to protect our future than to help a young man that had lost his way. I ask of all you staying in the park to help us find Josh so we may get him home. if you have any information about my cousin, please contact me at [email protected]
Do not consider anything a win, until the forces of evil all collapse.The Joker, The Obama, The Congress, The Lobbyists.
Maintain a severe sense of direction and follow through.
This may take many more months, or years.
Nothing that is fought hard for, is attained in a short time.
Other civil rights actions show that.
A minor win, adds a little sugar to your pallette.
Root for unification on Saturday, worldwide.
See what happens afterward.
Time is on your side, if you wait long enough all the bad guys eventually die from old age or disease.
But please, move any accounts you have out of the national banks
Talk about mortgages! When I purchased my home I had plenty of money saved to put over 20% down and the bank still kept trying to pressure me into an 80/20, variable rate etc. I kept telling them 30 or 15 year FIXED! It was a small bank too so don't let the corporate run media and republicans tell you that its Fannie, Freddie and individual responsibility when all the banks large and small were pushing this crap to swindle us.
That one bank CEO that said it was his "right" to rip people off was the last straw for me.
The very next morning I closed my account with Bank of AntiAmerica. The begged me to stay, and I told them to talk to the hand, cause MY money was no longer listening.
huh? All I know is that the banks I worked with and others I was considering were trying to jam these crap mortgages down my throat and I kept insisting I do not want this. I did not fall for it. I will let my story be known so it won't happen to others. I care for my fellow americans. I am a true patriot, not a flag pin wearer. Actions speak louder than words. Banks are snake oil salesman.
Socialism and Progressivism is slavery. If you study the Antebellum South, the slave holders tried to justify slavery by saying blacks were "too dumb" to fend for themselves. The slave owner was a "good Christian" providing food and shelter. Of course, Fredrick Douglas and others proved the South wrong.
Now, the government and liberals want to control you by giving you entitlements such as Social Security and Obamacare, saying that you are too dumb to fend for yourself.
What ever happened to self reliance, rugged individualism, and living within your means? I have no pity for you if you bought a house that you couldn't afford and then took out multiple home equity loans to keep up with your neighbors who were buying pools, boats, etc. Show some personal responsibility!
Its like the sharecropping system of the 20th century, or the serfdom system of the middleages rembraced by the 1%.
We the 99% work to see all our money to pay taxes on everything...food,clothes,cars,houses , basic necessaties. I get taxed on my car every year,even thought I brought the car 2006 and paid the tax on it. How many times does a car get taxed?!
Then there is Property tax just to live in a home you paid for. My poor old mother paid her house off 17yrs ago when my dad passed. She's on a fixed teachers pension. She has to pay close to $6,000.00 in property tax. Riducules!!
All this money,overtaxation,banking fees,cheap products made overseas then sold to the 99% at walmart etc goes to line the pockets of the elected politicians & banks...the new lords and masters of the manor..the wallstreet and those people on "The Hill" !
We've been bambozzled!
exactly what i said .the only things is .they are not gone let that sweet pie go to every body look europe you dont see homless why becuse by law every body must have roof on head and food to eat the thing is this day every where you look you see homless and most of them once had job by losing that they lost every things and money gone to banker and their body polition and they call homless bomb and onl way you can take which in first place were belong to peopl is force
rayy4444 is right in a sence...this is 21st century slavery. Credit & debit cards are slavery. Over taxation is slavery. Mortgages are slavery.college loans are slavery. CBI reports is a big form of Slavery...shackles and chains so you can't run. DEBT is SLAVERY.
Think of what BOA is trying to do today to their banking "customers" charge a 1 month fee of $5.00 dollars for use of the debit card. They already have ridicules fees on their other banking "products"
I close my account at BOA and other banks in 2005. I suggest everyone close your accounts and go to a credit union!
Please be cool and work with the property owner (Brookstone). Keep it clean and orderly. Is anyone looking into renting porta johns? Do you need for cleaning supplies to be donated? Has anyone proactively reached out to the property owners? You will show a lot of class and maturity by attempting to work with them and diffuse some of the bs criticism. Be cool stay on the high road and continue to conduct yourselves with dignity. You are in the right and do not need to be provoked into behaving less than dignified. If the property owner wishes to access their property be accommodating and work with them. Maybe they could even be convinced to allow you to have tents tarps and sleeping bags if you show respect for their property. They may be part of the 1% but you are on their land so they are some of the 1% you are going to have to deal with directly. And frankly it may be good practice because sooner or later this movement is going have to engage in true dialogue with the opposition not just chanting and locking of arms. But to have the dialogue one must first conduct themselves with utmost dignity and show the opposition we must be respected. Clean, orderly, respectful of law and order yet purposefully civilly disobedient when called for. Leave the knee jerk reactions and overreactions for the other side. OWS has SO much support and it grows daily. Believe me even among the workers who are employed by the big banks, many of them are part of the 99% and know it but fear for their livelihood just as you do. Stay on the high road. The world is watching and listening.
I love the fact that people have finally banded together and stuck together for longer than a week. The only problem i have, is that the protests are being led against the wrong people. The so called 1% which is more along the lines of 3%, got to where they are because of the greed and neglect of our politicians. This awesome movement is failing to penetrate the people truly responsible for the problems we are all facing now. Please let us not have perfectly good cause become a blunder due to ignorance. With truth comes knowledge and with knowledge comes power. we need to right the ship before its too late
Some guy in a tie, stating he is against Occupy Wall Street, was just on CNN. He listed a website (I think it was oows.org, if I heard correctly) - I went to that site and it seems to be duplicating your site though it's not the same content (?) Just thought I would let you all know about that.
Probably that lying shit wannabe journalist that started the bullshit "we are the 53%" website.
That weasel would try anything to discredit and mock the movement. Figures the jackwagons at CNN would give him airtime.
As everyone knows the middle class has been losing ground now for decades and the divide between rich and the middle class has become larger and larger. The middle class finds itself under assaulted from both political parties. The Demarcates spend money that we do not have and the Republicans carter to the rich. And to top this all off, the best and brightest of our society often work for the very forces that continue to take money from middle class Americans and send it to the powers brokers whether they be union bosses, politicians, or Wall Street insiders.
So how do we fight back? A simple message to politicians regarding what to do to balance the budget…DO NOT RAISE MY TAXES AND DO NOT CUT MY SERVICES (social security, Medicare, Medicaid). GO FIND THE MONEY!
It is a simple message but think about what it does to address corruption and waste in government and stop the slide to the middle class safety net. If they cannot get the money from the middle class to bail them out of the mess they got us into, then finally they will be forced to come up with real reform that does not come at the expense of the middle class.
DO NOT RAISE MY TAXES AND DO NOT CUT MY SERVICES. GO FIND THE MONEY!
Let's use this energy to get our jobs back from illegal aliens who drove down the cost of wages because of corporate greed. They hire them to make more money cause of cheap labor. What's wrong with e verify so we can take back our jobs and higher wages. They are also why are public schools are broke and why almost every city runs a deficit. Wake up people these are our jobs and our country. Illegals help corporation's make more money then they should. The voice is here, so let's make it happen e verify should be a must ... The greed is why they don't want to use it.
politicians and big business in collusion is one of the big problems. Definitely not one or the other. Greed, hands down, is definitely the biggest problem. It's the cause of most of the world's problems. Illegals shouldn't be allowed here at all. How can an illegal in California qualify for a college grant? WTF? And one reason the public schools and local municipalities are broke is because they spent all their surplus years ago thinking the spigot would never run dry. Remember the tobacco settlement a while back? Millions paid by the tobacco industry to city and state coffers that was supposed to go for health care but instead was spent on shit like a new Lincoln for the mayor and groundskeeping at the country club. Health care got squat. Then what happened? The price of a pack of cigarettes skyrocketed meaning, once again, the common man wound up footing the bill and big business made huge profits (and the lawyers). The collusion runs from top to bottom. It's like one big f-ed up spider web. The problem is big, and complicated.
is Brookfield wrong for not wanting their park destroyed??? not sure i would want people sleepin in my backyard for weeks........what exactly do you guys want???? more taxes on financial firms?? that will mean more layoffs and higher unemployment.
Why do you keep buying into the blackmail? Since Reagan taxes have gone down and more and more jobs are sent out of this country! These corporations are making record profits!!! This is simply greed and blackmail. As long as we go along with these threats they will continue. If corporations want the same rights as people then they also need to have the same responsibilities. That means paying their taxes and being a responsible citizen of this country. Not making terroristic threats to take our jobs away if they don't get their way.
Everyone defines free markets incorrectly. Yes, free markets should be unencumbered from useless regulation that increases the cost of doing business and provides no societal good. However, in order for a market to be free as defined by Adam Smith and Milton Friedman a market must be overseen by an umpire and in this case the umpire is the government.
Can you imagine an NFL football game without referees? It would be like the Romans watching the gladiators. The government has failed to do its job of being the referee to markets and industries. Ever since the 1980's our representatives have enacted a "Don't Ask, Don't tell" regulatory policy that has destroyed our free markets.
Markets need to be free from destructive, costly and harmful regulations; however, they also must be free from private entities lacking scruples and striving to take over markets at the expense of individual citizens. These entities have over time managed to buy the control of our politicians who are suppose to protect us from both external and internal tyranny The only solution to the problem is amending the constitution to prohibit campaign contributions from corporations and unions,. More: http://bit.ly/nLY5A3
You guys are awesome. You make me proud to be an American. My heart is with all of the protesters, in NYC, around the country, throughout the world. Keep up the great work that you are doing. People power will prevail.
When your` re taking a small break from fighting this struggle for freedom and justice, please take time to watch this excellent 2011 lecture by Noam Chomsky on the economy “Global Hegemony: the Facts, the Images” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iebK7VVDayY
Let Chomsky enrich our minds :)
Just watched Chomsky. I had read much of his work. Also reviewed your blog and learned much. I am right now editing the final draft of a novel I expect to release as a series of word docs--free--to anyone committed to the revolution. The book is about a citizen alliance that takes full responsibility for all needs, including armed defense. Mainly, it is about right now--and an end to handing off responsibilities to bigness, as we have done for so long. Thank you for your good work.
You wrote a book about forming a Republic? The people in your novel might be able to establish and preserve one, but wouldn't it be great if the people alive in this country today would actually recognize and help those who are trying to SAVE the one that WAS established in a revolution more than 200+ years ago?
The “Working Families Party” which is run by Obama’s “Karl Rove type of guy” (White House political director Patrick Gaspard). This is a white House operation people! Obama political advisor Patrick Gaspard holds the same White House position his Bush-era predecessor, Karl Rove, did. But before he was the White House political czar he worked in several far left organizations as activist and agitator.
One of the more disturbing aspects of the Obama-ACORN connection is that the White House political affairs director is one Patrick Gaspard.
New York’s Working Families Party was first organized in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, ACORN and other community organizations, members of the now-inactive national New Party, and a variety of public interest groups such as Citizen Action of New York.
Indeed! I hope they enjoy their 30 pieces of Silver. Guess it's one way of giving people jobs. :P Why do they even have to bother if OWS is so "insignificant" one wonders. Keep fighting - the truth must be heard over all of their attempts to dilute the signal and derail the movement! Stay true to it's core values and continue to protest nonviolently! Peace!
Scared of things you don't understand because you haven't taken time to understand them? That's not a new quality among human beings; it dates back to the beginning of the recording of time.
In fact, it's a reaction that can be observed in animals, too.
Rise up, educate yourself, realize who is taking what is rightfully yours; it ain't OWS.
OWS collected none of the $16.4 trillion the Federal Reserve let out the back door, and received none of the TARP money. Nor have they ever bought a politician's vote in trumping your representation.
OWS is owned by no one, and is beholding only to a set of messages and ideas.
From what I can gather, those messages and ideas are;
One person-One vote,
and
It's Citizens (People as individuals) who are supposed to exercise influence, on an equal basis, in government action.
and
Stop selling our representation and donating our prosperity to the wealthy national and international corporations.
When the average persons can overcome the fear of the new, strange, or unknown, and abandon unfounded faith and trust in the spin doctors who poison what's now accepted as media, then they may realize that there is very little to fear, and much to support, in those ideas.
"...OWS collected none of the $16.4 trillion the Federal Reserve let out the back door, and received none of the TARP money..."
Good point....but the figure you give should be $16.4 BILLION. "Our" government would probably give away $-TRILLION of OUR tax money to the 1%....IF millions of us WEREN'T behind the OWS Movement. Let's all remember what the IWW constitution said: "The Working Class and the Owning Class have NOTHING in common!"
I used the word 'Trillion' because that is what is reflected in the first-ever audit of the Federal Reserve, which resulted from Bernie Sanders, Ron Paul, and a variety of others attaching a rider to a bill, causing the audit to take place; an audit which Bernanke testified would destroy us.. No doubt because he knew what the audit would reveal.
And not all of that money went to U.S. corporations. Deutche Bank is on the list, as is a Swiss bank. A person might even take it as a 'tipping of the hand' as to which banks are on the list of entities making up the IMF..
The audit and its results can be viewed at Bernie Sanders (Vt) web site.
$16.4 Trillion, out the back door of the Federal Reserve. Approximately $2 Trillion greater than our entire Nat'l debt.
Difficult to fathom, isn't it??
And you heard about it on which, right, left, or centrist news program?? 'None,' is the answer I have to give when asked.
I wouldn't have known about it at all, had someone not forwarded the link to me, which took me to Bernie Sanders' web site.
While some of that money has been, or will be, paid back on 0% interest loans (You and I get those 0% APR loans all the time, right?), the massive influx of currency, while owing what the U.S. owes to China, et al, means an inherent devaluation of one sort or another to the U.S. dollar, especially from 2007 to 2011.
Why should that bother us?
'Cause your and my kids just (potentially) went further into poverty by needing more deneros to buy a gallon of milk, dozen eggs, gallon of gas, insurance, etc.,
That's aside from the issue of preferential treatment the Fed gifted to the mega-corps, while the unemployment rates, foreclosures, costs of food, rent, and -especially- fuel (of all types), continued to sky-rocket for the average Joe and Jane.
I'm new to this group and am joining in the protest tomorrow where I live. This is the fourth protest I've been involved in against Corporate greed since 4/15/11 and finally the media is picking up on it. Thanks to OWS. I don't know who you are permalink but you write well and state the cause meaningfully.
I'm both sinner and saint, older than I used to be, soured on much of the human race, dreams on life-support, having failed myself and others, blacklisted from my former profession for many reasons, including being perceived as irreverent and a threat to the entrenched gate-keepers, and, for the first time in decades, I see a spark of hope... shining from Wall St !
WALL ST. OF ALL PLACES!!
Who would've thought a light of hope would emerge between the buildings and offices of those who bought our freedom, futures and representation..
I hope one day we ALL lock arms in solidarity, political differences aside,, and hold on tight. What a hug that would be, huh??
One thing for sure, we're not the second wave of Teabaggers like CNN and other gits would like to believe. With the exception of a handfull of lugnuts trying to usurp the movement, I'm not seeing much in the way of openly brandished firepower, racial slurs, or neo-Naziism that wound up being the Teabagger badge of shame.
All we're saying is that there's a tumor that's eating America alive, and we're pointing it out. It's up to the politicians to grow a pair and think about the people instead of their wallets.
I think the Global Uprising that is happening is on it's way towards the scenario you describe - and it's very inspiring after feeling as if so many years have passed where we have been helpless and apathetic in attempts to let people know what is really going on and exposing corruption. Finally people are taking a stand in numbers - we refuse to be ignored!
No one is flooding Asia with millions of non-Asians and saying 'You are going to LOSE your jobs. You are going to lose your homes. There's NOTHING you can do about it. That's life.'
No one is flooding Africa with millions of non-Africans and saying 'You are going to LOSE your jobs. You are going to lose your homes. There's NOTHING you can do about it. That's life.'
No one is flooding Mexico with millions of non-Mexicans and saying 'You are going to LOSE your jobs. You are going to lose your homes. There's NOTHING you can do about it. That's life.'
They ONLY get away with this in EVERY White country and ONLY in White countries. But, if I point to this obvious truth about the genocide of MY race, the White race. Progressive Liberals and Respectable Conservatives agree that I am a "RACIST."
They try to silence us while claiming they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-White.
Remember demands imply negotiation. Demanding change from those who have no place in the new order is not productive. We don't demand anything of a tumor because we are not negotiating with it. We cut it out plain and simple. So keep it up and remember you can change things radically it has been done before and the time is ripe for it to happen again.
Please everyone read my web page at www.mybetteramericaplan.com and on the Current events of my web page are ideas on how to legally shut down Wall Street, the Chicago mercantile Exchange, Congress and the Republican Convention in Tampa this summer. It is not enough to shout at those that do you wrong. You must get those that oppress you to pass laws and initiate policies that will insure that they can't harm you anymore. It's been a long while ago that this economic revolution has started yet nothing has changed. My plan will FORCE those that oppress us to change their ways. If those that oppress you can't get to work or when they do get to work they cannot work then they will HAVE TO give in to demands so that they can work again. We have to close them ALL down! We have to tie up the vehicle traffic, pedestrian traffic, bus and train traffic, elevators, phone lines, offices and every other form of business that those that oppress us use. Fight back in a way that will get RESULTS! Much more information is on my web page.
By the way, all of the celebrities and national figures who tout they support you, show up around NY, etc. Don't you think if you are fighting greed, they are being hypocritical???? They are very wealthy people. In fact, Michael Moore himself is worth about $50 million. Yet, they say they support you. If they really did, then wouldn't they be giving millions to help you???? Just a thought.
Put your posters down and get back to work. Life is not fair-you should have learned that on the playground in grade school. Don't take out a loan you can't pay back. Don't live outside your means and expect sympathy when it all comes crashing down......Put in an honest days work for an honest days pay-if you are creative enough and willing to take the risk, maybe one day you'll get to reap the benefit and live even more comfortably than the 99% of the world's population that you are already ahead of just because of where you happened to be born. Playing the blame game will get you nowhere; it will get you a whiny, poor, pitiful me, attitude. Where's the honor in that?
We don't need a President, a Puppet, a Dictator, or a Queen. What we need is a new PARADIGM. You can't fix a corrupt system with a bandaid, or the evil will just come back. Start with basic human rights for all. Nutritious Food, Clean Water, Clothing, Housing and Bartering for all, treat the people right and the people will treat each other right. It won't be easy, but we must do it!!
OWS needs to suggest and propound rational, non-sophomoric and respectable ideas around which the movement can coalesce and which the majority would support. THEN, we'll we be able to effect MEANINGFUL CHANGE in this country.
Why limit the focus to Wall St and corporate greed, why not include those feudal corporations, like WalMart, that generate lower expectations, take manufacturing jobs out of the country to sell us cheap goods made elsewhere and without options, now keep Americans in low paying jobs without health and other benefits. Occupy Wal Mart ! Support your local green markets, find better clothing at second hand stores, live a healthy lifestyle with great expectations, right now.
Naive folks. Do You really think that we, the 1%, will ever give up ? In the street You may gather a billion of noisy idiots who cannot even self-organize and formulate their political demands. Nothing will change. We own everything in this country-the businesses, the government, the congress, the mass media, the police. All congressmen and president are members of our "1%" class. We will decide, not You.
Maybe as usual we'll send You a couple of food stamps and 100 bucks in order to make You shut up.
I am a japanese in Japan. I always thought it was wrong that the great ressesion like last one were caused too often by the those 1 % and caused too many trouble to the rest. I really admire the principle of this movement and I wish to join and change the system.
I am a japanese in Japan. I always thought it was wrong that the great ressesion like last one were caused too often by the those 1 % and caused too many trouble to the rest. I really admire the principle of this movement and I wish to join and change the system.
I am a japanese in Japan. I always thought it was wrong that the great ressesion like last one were caused too often by the those 1 % and caused too many trouble to the rest. I really admire the principle of this movement and I wish to join and change the system.
Let's use this energy to get our jobs back from illegal aliens who drove down the cost of wages because of corporate greed. They hire them to make more money cause of cheap labor. What's wrong with e verify so we can take back our jobs and higher wages. They are also why are public schools are broke and why almost every city runs a deficit. Wake up people these are our jobs and our country. Illegals help corporation's make more money then they should. The voice is here, so let's make it happen e verify should be a must ... The greed is why they don't want to use it.
Reverse Citizens United. Make clear Corporations are not people in the Constitution.
Separately Elect the U.S. Attorney General, in non-partisan race: i.e., not appointed by the President. This will make sure the people have a lawyer protecting their interests vis-a-vis the Gov’t (most state-level AGs are separately elected from the Gov).
Conscript Presidential Military Power to instigate wars and military actions abroad, without Congressional authorization.
International Human Rights Treaties Enforcement: Create a Private Right of Action to enforce International Treaties domestically, or alternatively, providing that the Gov’t must abide by them, enforceable by the U.S. AG perhaps.
U.S. Domestic Policy:
Natural Resource Usage Tax & Energy Policy: Tax the use of natural resources where ever they come from, and use this to create a zero-oil/coal energy policy (along with huge investment in solar, which is already at market readiness, and on-grid in Nevada).
Corporate Responsibility Law & Wealth Tax: Create legal code of ethics and transparency for corporations, and tax standing wealth of Corporations (to get them moving assets, not hording them, close all foreign holding loop holes).
Lobbyist Prohibition: Have a prohibition on former Congress people (and perhaps Gov’t employees) becoming Lobbyist for 20 years (eliminate influence peddling).
International:
WTO Accountability: Make the WTO have a public process component, transparency, and accountability.
Create Standing for Private Citizens/NGOs at World Court: International treaties (except WTO treaties) are not enforceable, except by gov’t against gov’t, and they don’t do that. We need a real Int’l legal & enforcement mechanism to enforce International Human Rights treaties.
I agree there need to be demands that really work. Close tax loopholes, single payer healthcare, NO CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS, but the way to change things is to take away their real funding. each time we buy products, deposit in a bank, we vote. If we are to take them down, EVERYONE not in the top 1% (or even if they are but support the movement) needs to take every dime out of big banks and put it in credit unions, finally, everyone should buy local/small business when they do make purchases, local farms, local Etsy merchants for gifts, local restaurants, local hotels when you travel to other cities, etc. They have the power because we give our salaries right back to big corporate behemoths. Stop buying at Wal Mart, etc. ALWAYS support small, local. Leave money in local communities and we will eventually take the money out of Washington.
I agree there need to be demands that really work. Close tax loopholes, single payer healthcare, NO CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS, but the way to change things is to take away their real funding. each time we buy products, deposit in a bank, we vote. If we are to take them down, EVERYONE not in the top 1% (or even if they are but support the movement) needs to take every dime out of big banks and put it in credit unions, finally, everyone should buy local/small business when they do make purchases, local farms, local Etsy merchants for gifts, local restaurants, local hotels when you travel to other cities, etc. They have the power because we give our salaries right back to big corporate behemoths. Stop buying at Wal Mart, etc. ALWAYS support small, local. Leave money in local communities and we will eventually take the money out of Washington.
I agree there need to be demands that really work. Close tax loopholes, single payer healthcare, NO CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS, but the way to change things is to take away their real funding. each time we buy products, deposit in a bank, we vote. If we are to take them down, EVERYONE not in the top 1% (or even if they are but support the movement) needs to take every dime out of big banks and put it in credit unions, finally, everyone should buy local/small business when they do make purchases, local farms, local Etsy merchants for gifts, local restaurants, local hotels when you travel to other cities, etc. They have the power because we give our salaries right back to big corporate behemoths. Stop buying at Wal Mart, etc. ALWAYS support small, local. Leave money in local communities and we will eventually take the money out of Washington.
Please don't give up - remember the European occupation of central and south America after Columbus, millions died and Europe added 4% wealth from the Potosi, Bolivia silver mines. Remember Clara Lemlich and the 20,000 strike force of 1909 of the garment industry in NY. Remember the Triangle Waistshirt Company ( N.Y.) fire victims of 1911, 140 young girls who jumped to their deaths out of windows, half of them teens who reported unsafe work conditions. Remember the victims of the psychotic greed fed stock market crash of 1929 - 14 million out of work, foreclosures at 1,000 a day, the hungry and the dead. AND last but not least, George W. Bush - " we are FOREVER in YOUR debt. "
I believe like you all we need change. I have read about the grievances but what are your solutions? The protests are good but if you don't have good solutions to make a difference, then what good would be protesting? An example, Egypt. They protested ousted the govenment officials but then chaos. What are the ideas of the protesters? Such as government as whole taking a 20% pay cut? Have all of the government officials have the same crappy health insurance we all do. What are the ideas for reducing government spending and having govenment be less invasive in the every day life of people? What are your ideas for changes on Wall Street? How will you change big business without losing the ideas of the right to capitalism? What ideas for cutting taxes that plague the American public? Higher education for our children? These are my questions, maybe you have put them out there but I couldn't find any ideas on changes. Thank you
On Friday morning, I really enjoyed how you created an unsafe situation at the front entrance of a school on New Street. My students were terrified and scared. Next time you run through the streets at 730 in the morning, I suggest picking a better route. It will make the children a little less scared to come to school. Thank you.
If you want to be taken seriously by the mainstream you should focus your protest on Campaign Finance Reform, that is the only way to get Wall Street out of the Government. A CFR amendment to the constitution that would prohibit businesses, groups and individuals from donating to candidates would mean a truly level playing field. It would require TV and Cable operators to donate debate time in order to be licensed and in this age of the internet a great deal of campaigning can now be done for free so there is no need for anyone to have influence in the government other than the voters. Move your protest to D.C. where it belongs.
Happy to see this has grown....You must however keep it civil and not allow anyone to bring in their personal agenda of violence. The message must be clear that America needs JOBS! That large corporations must stop builidng factories out of our country to then fired American workers here for cheaper wages their in order to earn even larger profits. Most of all remember that their are plenty of responsible wealty Americans that support the idea of taxing fairly and support this cause BUT keep it clear , foucsed, and most of all civil even though their will be many their on both sides looking to confuse and end this revolution...
Happy to see this has grown....You must however keep it civil and not allow anyone to bring in their personal agenda of violence. The message must be clear that America needs JOBS! That large corporations must stop builidng factories out of our country to then fired American workers here for cheaper wages their in order to earn even larger profits. Most of all remember that their are plenty of responsible wealty Americans that support the idea of taxing fairly and support this cause BUT keep it clear , foucsed, and most of all civil even though their will be many their on both sides looking to confuse and end this revolution...
Also remember Gandhi's salt march to the sea. Denver could start a march somewhere or from multiple directions, gathering thousands of people and momentum along the trail and end up at Lincoln Park and occupy it.
If you pull out all your cash from the banks, default on your mortgage and credit cards, the bankters will disappear on the spot. The whole problem in Europe is a liquidity crisis. The Fed just bailed out European banks on US taxpayer $ a few weeks ago, rather unknown to most people.
It is sad news about Denver; it should make more resolved than ever to turn out. Why not target Brookfield buldings then? Republic Plaza downtown is owned; same owners at Zuccotti park. The power is in the masses. Remember civil disobedience. And since when did Freedom need a permit? The parks belong to the people. Insane that Zuccotti Park is a "privately owned public park." Keep things public not private!
How about a worldwide international strike day? Invite everybody to join in. Invite all to stop paying their credit card, mortgage, withdraw all their cash from the bank. That will stop the banksters in their tracks and they will melt down immediately.
Let's not lose focus here. It's been class warfare for a long time, the wealthy have been pitting the middle class against the poor for decades. The effective tax rate for the wealthy has been a lot less than blue collar workers for a long time. The corporations they run are huge tax evaders and the middle class pays the majority of the bills for everyone. Over paid corporate executives tanked the economy and now with billions in cash reserves they're holding back jobs like a kids that selfishly take their toys home because of new regulations that requires them to play fair. Hold the uber wealthy accountable, make them play fair and pay dearly.
Herman Cain, hear this, a flat tax would be great, lets do 15% over a $15k standard deduction for individuals and eliminate all other deductions except for natural disaster, catastrophic health care and secondary education costs. Corporations get no write offs, 20% tax rate straight up, no exceptions...fire the accountants and hire someone that actually brings in money for your company honestly.
No wonder the NYPD led protesters onto the Brooklyn Bridge and then arrested 700 - lots of overtime pay and exceeding arrest quotas... and no wonder they're arresting so many innocent people involved in the protests. It's the classic, "2fer."
Please spread the word. The protesters should be handing out leaflets with this information in EVERY city and then chant in front of the police: "USA, USA, USA!"
Nice, I am of the ones who has been hit by this powerplay by the big corps, this writing started as I was thinking, pouring my writing onto the page and listening to "Genesis" "Land of Confusion" simultaneously. I found myself angry and writing what I think and do think Occupy Wall Street Represents...then I was confronted by all the barriers to being able to POST(dd I regsiter? what is my email? I registered and now everthing I wrote is gone!!)!!!!!!!! Hello Ellay Poppit...got by you didn't I...you are expecting 95% to give up...The corp is here trying to stop us..sound paranoid? THINK!!! why can"t I type!! Here is the 99%..yes I am one..!. You can't give out high risk loans then short these loans by shorting credit default swaps on the loans YOU WROTE and not go to jail. Just like any other broker would have, a credit default swap is an inurance policy that says that a high risk loan will not go into default. BOC and several others POLICY ..CAN NOT REMOVE THE OVERRIGHT...HMM WHO IS KEEPING CONTROL OF THIS WEBSITE, FIRE THE BASTARDS!!!!!!!had anything to do with it), hmm raise interest rates? There are a few that were bailed out that need to be wearing orange jumpsuits. 2. The jobs bill needs to be passed, the idea that lower taxes is going to somehow create jobs...ummm ELLO!!! f'nging idiots we have had ten years of that, most of the lay offs took place BEFORE OBAMA was ever OMINATED on the deomcrate ticket...ohh yahh Kader(MOST OF AMERICA LIKES TO BE LEAD BY THE NOSE BY CORPORATE AMERICA IT APPEARS)
need to reorganize this system, for the people and by the people is broken, government, the two party system of who can get enough money to make commercials getting the massis to follow is really really borcken, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are rolling in their graves, not because one party is spending money and one is not or vice a versa, but becuase it has all been used to destroy the democratic process, remember, these two were as far apart as Busch and Clinton, yet ended their lives the greatest of friends, this country now appears to be one so divided it doesn't care if a Nazi party (ie Tea Party,,,and yes I said it) couldn't take control and usurp enverything,
The problem is not too much capitalism but too much socialism in the form of business subsidies in favor of big pharma and big agri etc. The only way that wall street has gotten powerful in the first place is the federal reserve a sophisticated debt creating machine that siphons off our tax money in the form of income tax to pay off the interest on the principal. See this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc3sKwwAaCU
The only way monopolies can be formed is by government coercion through FDA regulations that knock out competition and not allow us the liberty to drink raw milk. Check for example the recent rawsome food raid:
Only by small government that the neoliberalists can have nothing to lobby and hence expand its power.
Expecting government who is the servant of wall street to turn against wall street is only providing a pretext to oppress us even more by expanding its powers. The best you can get from the wall street cabinet of Obama is a shuffling of musical chairs:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13208
The NBC Nightly News coverage of the victory today was appalling. They interviewed ZERO occupiers, but instead got comments from one woman who thought it was dumb and another guy who "kinda agreed with some of what they're saying." How blatant can the skewed coverage be? Don't even talk to any of the people your story is about...crazy. We got a lot better coverage of our (much smaller) group here in MT. http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/29490270/detail.html
Keep up the good work there guys. We're all pulling for you, out here under the Big Sky.
Okay people, lets take a logical approach to the last sentence of this article, particularly about Tunisia. I am in no way saying that Wall Street is good or even respectable, but I dont think Tunisia is an adequate example, and here's why: the Tunisian street vendor who lit himself on fire did so because his stand was confiscated by the government. The government was overregulating and that is what caused the confiscation. Now, de-regulation is a principal of neoliberalism, so I think we are hurting our own cause by citing Tunisia as an inspiration.
Been contemplating "next moves." Thinking it would be fun if a "Bailout of the Banks" action could be organized...try to convince everyone who's pissed about the gov't bailout to "Bailout" of BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase, etc in favor of credit unions and green investment funds...Think we could inspire a bank run? Only this one would be caused not by fears of the banks failing, but anger about their not being allowed to do so. Just a thought.
General comment from a newbie. I support OWS as a force for positive change, and agree the country has become too beholden to large corporate interests. However, I think it would be beneficial to the OWS cause to remain pro- business. Business in of itself is not evil. Businesses,large and small, run responsibility, can be a forces of tremendous positive social change. I think OWS has an opportunity to write the blueprint, a manifesto possibly, by which entrepreneurs and socially responsible business people measure the social responsibility of their business, which in turn can help leverage the engine of capitalism to save the world.
How many of you have actually read the Constitution of the United States?? Many people on here say "the Constitution says......." In many cases they are wrong. Just the other day, someone responded to one of my post saying that separation of church and state is guaranteed in the Constitution. That is an incorrect statement. http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html#church
There are a lot of comments on here about Constitutional rights. I would suggest you actually check this site. Just like it guarantees the freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. All of you are gathering for justice, but outside of huge cities, this really is a joke. Here in Charlotte, NC there are only 24 people camped out. A reporter went down and tried to find out what they were protested. No one really had a good answer for him. 24 people. That is a great turn out. Most of your retirements are tied up in Wall Street, or in some way your jobs depend on it. No, I don't work for any Wall Street company or bank, but I realize that here in Charlotte, Bank of America is a major employer of thousands of people. This also affects many small businesses who rely on BofA and there employees. Things like this are only going to make employers less likely to hire, it creates more uncertainty, and those of us who are gainfully employed and paying taxes are doing what we can to keep our jobs. By the way, all of these companies that took "bail outs" have paid back all the tax money, with interest, so as the tax payer, we got our money back, plus some. The tax payers made a profit!!! We might see if it this administration hadn't wasted so much money on programs that accomplished NOTHING. That is why this "jobs bill" need to not pass.
Sorry. I know it is bad, but some industries are doing well. The Information Technology sector is doing well, at least here in the South. I checked, and on Careerbuilder.com, in New York alone there are 137 pages of job openings in the IT field.
Yes, I have read the Constitution. I am a history buff, and enjoy studying our early history. I have also toured place like Gettysburg and Valley Forge.
http://willrichardson.net/funhouse/occupyfoxnews.htm
This is getting interesting! In the last 24 hours, Support for OWS on
the Fox News viewer vote is taking a nose-dive. "Yes" votes hit a high
of 70.44% of the vote on 10/12. The anti-occupy wall street side (no)
has gained 31,867 votes in the last 24 hours, (nearly a tenfold increase
over "yes" votes in the same time period.) dropping the "yes" lead
to 56.11 %. In contrast, "yes" votes have gained only 3,599 votes
in 24 hours. And Fox doesn't even have a link on the Drudge Report yet.
I've got over 27 screenshots documenting the vote since 10/9. Haven't calculated the votes per minute yet, (it was 132 votes per minute for "yes" at one point on 10/9) but this seems like a phenomenal gain. Guess the anti-OWS cavalry is coming. Fox hasn't mentioned the results on their front page since the voting
began on 10/7. But at this rate, expect "no" to be in the lead within a few hours if not sooner. Then it'll hit the front page. I haven't updated the page linked at the top in a couple of days, but will later tonight
i've read many of the comments below and it reminded me of something my daughter pointed out and which she believes everyone on this planet is capable of understanding.
In the movie "A beautiful mind" Russell Crowe shows how if they all go after the girl they all lose. He proves that it is always better for a group to behave collaboratively than each for his/her own interest.
With that concept grasped and kept foremost in one's mind surely loads of current skeptics / nay-sayers can come around?
Fully agree that it would be best if the exceptionally wealthy are NOT pilloried. We want to change the system not target specific people.
I want to see some OWS personel run for office (congress or senate). Call it the 99% party to replace the blue dog democrats (they’re conservatives anyway) and replace the ones who voted yea on the free trade act (job killing bill). The demonstrators and the occupiers thru out the country are ready to help campaign. The Tea party elected officials have dragged their party to the extreme right and threaten the moderate republicans to follow their lead. We need the 99% party as elected officials to counter act them.
WE DESERTALEY NEED THE 99% IN OFFICE TODAY.
Since Herman Cain's 999 plan eliminates all tax deductions, Cain's plan ensure the rich pay taxes and will provide incentive for workers to make more money without the fear of moving into a higher tax bracket. The economy will boom and tax revenues will increase.
Let's use this energy to get our jobs back from illegal aliens who drove down the cost of wages because of corporate greed. They hire them to make more money cause of cheap labor. What's wrong with e verify so we can take back our jobs and higher wages. They are also why are public schools are broke and why almost every city runs a deficit. Wake up people these are our jobs and our country. Illegals help corporation's make more money then they should. The voice is here, so let's make it happen e verify should be a must ... The greed is why they don't want to use it.
That is a crude way that protestor put it -- but I don't disagree that corporations are paid to be skilled manipulators and scam artists. I've been scammed before by a "free trial" whose terms I didn't read carefully enough. The way they verbalized it to me was intentional. There should be protections for consumers and liars should be held accountable.
My cousin is 16 years old. Though I admire his fervor to support the amazing people that have chosen to sacrifice their time and energy to protest the corruption that has plagued our great country for decades,my cousin does not belong there. He has run away from home in order to show his support and we, his family are desperate to get him home. The police will not go into Zuccotti Park in order to locate him for fear of causing a misunderstanding between themselves and those camped out in the park. We are the 99% and we must band together in order to create a better future for our country. What better way to protect our future than to help a young man that had lost his way. I ask of all you staying in the park to help us find Josh so we may get him home. if you have any information about my cousin, please contact me at [email protected]
You know, in two years he'll be old enough to use the ballot box, and therefore legally say that lugnuts like Rick Perry, Sarah Palin and Herman Cain gets kicked to the curb, and guard the future so that this shit doesn't happen again. In all fairness he should learn that the issues that fuel the protest are vitally important.
Where's he gonna get that info? The distilled bullshit coming out of Faux News and CNN? Hah! The brainwashing agenda going on at public school? Hah, again! Propaganda machines, the lot of them.
He might as well hang around. The truth we're telling may be ugly, but it's still the truth.
Perhaps it is a good idea to show our gratitude to the family that owns the park who called off the dogs. It's important to be grateful and if I've learned anything from my midwestern boyfriend, a thank you card is always a good way to show gratitude. Maybe 1,000 thank you cards would be even better?
My cousin is 16 years old. Though I admire his fervor to support the amazing people that have chosen to sacrifice their time and energy to protest the corruption that has plagued our great country for decades,my cousin does not belong there. He has run away from home in order to show his support and we, his family are desperate to get him home. The police will not go into Zuccotti Park in order to locate him for fear of causing a misunderstanding between themselves and those camped out in the park. We are the 99% and we must band together in order to create a better future for our country. What better way to protect our future than to help a young man that had lost his way. I ask of all you staying in the park to help us find Josh so we may get him home. if you have any information about my cousin, please contact me at [email protected]
I think this citizen movement is great. To counter Wall Street's greed, we need to get money out of our politics. Our Representatives vote for where the money comes from not for what is good for the country. Money, whether from Wall Street or not, is corrupting our congress.
Think about what money is and those who serve it. It never sleeps and never stops. Those of us who believe this to be antihuman and against the grain of why we are here as human beings, must be as vigilant in the desire to end this madness we are a part of!
Let us never end the fight for human justice, and human dignity by becoming the best of what we can be! Money, and those who've created this system has for so long denied us that!
We are all human beings dammit! We are not numbers and digits nor are we disposable!
The only disposable ones we can afford to lose are the ones who gave us this crappy and evil system.
This system is created by evil for evil and must be destroyed into oblivion, never to be seen again!!
End the fed and the IRS, and lets get those only in government who have the peoples best interests at heart. The current folks in Washington have to go and never be seen as public servants ever again! Let them go and try to survive on $7 as so many have to.
Rise up everyone--we can do it!!
From the Declaration of Independence. Not only do you have the right to overthrow your government, it is a responsibility placed on us by a founding fathers. If our government betrays us, acts other then in accordance to our wishes or we feel changes need to be made it is our obligation to do so
Hey y'all! I had a peek at the local CBS news channel, and what did I hear?
Positive commentary and honest reporting on the Occupy movement! Not a single "dirty hippy" slur, little to none negative spin, though they had a word or two aimed at BoA.
We're finally getting some positive attention from the mainstream press, and about time.
WOOT!!
Nice!!! We won!!! This one small step for change, one giant leap for mankind!
Let's keep on fighting, lets keep being non-violent. This movement is a example for all occupation movements. What started in New York, it ends in New York. Lets keep bring more signs, lets point out the ill practices of greedy investors and big businesses. Lets keep in mind that many politicians are members of secret societies. We need to stop and end their influences in politics and end media bias. Lets propose a new system of democracy! Direct democracy! Instead of electoral votes, elections should be run on popular, and a multi-party system. More common people participating and running for public office positions. But in theory, we can't trust no party.
Lets keep on moving forward! We shall occupy together until our demands are met!
The idea of "too big to fail" worries me. The amazing protesters and all of us who support them accomplished a fantastic feat, but it is not nearly over. We can't stop thinking, looking, guessing, or questioning, and we must persistently try harder. Logic tells me the 1% will be as conniving and vicious as ever in their desperate attempts to maintain the status quo. They will try something so we can't drop our guard. Not a single person can give up. Try harder than the day before. We've tasted victory with the first success and we'll taste more after the next.
Oh yeah, there's no doubt they'll fight back, with everything from more putdowns in the media, to throwing more po at us. And it's all too obvious they've bought local politics and DC almost completely.
They've already seen what happens when they try brutality and coverups: We get the word out anyway and it goes viral, drawing in more and more support.
They've seen what happens when they try evictions: Massive public backlash from all corners.
They've been trying slurs, trolling, misinformation and outright lying. Again and again, we counter bullshit with uncut truth.
Remember the movie "A Bug's Life"? They see us as the ants, and they're the ruthless gang of no-account punk grasshoppers stealing from and terrorizing the ants. You know what happened when the ants wised up to the scam.
I agree. They know they are losing. Their only hope is to take away the credibility from this movement and to ignore it and not let it enter into the mainstream. This is what we are really fighting! edit: the "Mainstream" is really their own talking points.
The idea of "too big to fail" worries me. The amazing protesters and all of us who support them accomplished a fantastic feat, but it is not nearly over. We can't stop thinking, looking, guessing, or questioning, and we must persistently try harder. Logic tells me the 1% will be as conniving and vicious as ever in their desperate attempts to maintain the status quo. They will try something so do not let your guard down. Not a single person can give up. Try harder than the day before. We've tasted victory with the first success and we'll taste more after the next.
GENERIC REPLY TO TROLLS - OWS is not about taking down the government, wallstreet, or capitalism. It's about making those in the government, big business, and banking industries - who engage in financial and economic activities which are harmful to the general public - accountable. It's about changing the way corporations affect our government so that the negative affects as per the first statement are not allowable, and so the voice of the people to be heard in the democratic process is not dependent on how much money you earn. OWS is not specifically affiliated with any political party, as these issues do not affect one political party or another, but all Americans. OWS protesters are not a bunch of hippies, but demographically come from all religions, educational backgrounds, ages, races, genders, and political affiliations. The system is broken - we cannot appeal to it to fix itself. We cannot be foolish enough to think that corporations and other institutions will police themselves left to their own devices. OWS is leaderless, and decisions are based on those who vote at the general assembly disscussions held in each city. Please educate yourselves.
I'll be showing up for the one in my town tomorrow, hope everybody else does as well. WE, every single one of us puts more fear into the elites than any military weapon on earth, because when WE become one, they know they are done.
It is why they put so much effort into keeping us divided, it seems to be Washingtons only purpose anymore.
The machine is churning at maximum output right now, the think tanks, the teams of psychologists and psychiatrists that make up the tactics for physiological warfare are in overdrive plotting how to derail this movement before it gains more traction.
Remain leaderless and grow, the powers that be know very well what the issues are. It's psychological warfare we are fighting and has been for many years. Right now they have nothing to attack and it's totally screwing up how the machine is designed to destroy.
Wasn't that the same logic behind the housing bubble, the CDO market, the financial system, etc.
I'm not sure how the protesters are "winning". What are they winning? Exposure? Costing tax payers more money?
I agree that our financial and political system needs some serious work, but I just don't believe that future changes will come as a result of the protests.
Here's a question for you... exactly how did you run up the balance on the credit cards you plan on not paying? Did you buy an iphone , laptop or other "toy" under the pretense that it was a necessity? Designer clothes or perhaps a night out on the town? Our parents and grandparents had a great idea that seems to have been lost these days. When they couldn't afford something, they did without. It seems that frugality seems to be a lost art to the " I want it, and I want it now" generation.
I have 2 no fee cards that Chase makes absolutely no money on ( Well not from me at least). The balances are paid in full at the end of the month, so they haven't gotten one cent in interest from me in over seven years. I'm far from being one of the 1%. I make about 30k a year, shop at thrift stores and generally live within my means.
Just remember, when you openly embrace consumerism, you freely offer your arms to the shackles the banks want to place on you.
I am thinking Occupy deserves somthing for its efforts. Particularly, I am thinking that the movement, and all of its associated members, anti-capitalists, socialists, anarchasits, academic elitists, leftists, etc., be given a homestead to form their own society. I am thinking that the Dakotas might work ,or perhaps Texas, minus the oil wells. You guys can live off organic farming, bartering, and sales of promotional materials preaching higher moral worth. No US citizenship for you anymore, however...and there will absolutely be a very large border fence. The only downside: the next 100 generations of your offspring will likely be spending all of their time trying to climb the border fence to get back into the U.S.
Well, if you deleted all those groups you mention from the population of the US, you'd be left with a bunch of uneducated slobs, rightwing religious freaks, neo-nazis, pampered selfish rich folks, and just plain stupid people. You're made for each other! Have a nice time!
GENERIC REPLY TO TROLLS - OWS is not about taking down the government, wallstreet, or capitalism. It's about making those in the government, big business, and banking industries - who engage in financial and economic activities which are harmful to the general public - accountable. It's about changing the way corporations affect our government so that the negative affects as per the first statement are not allowable, and so the voice of the people to be heard in the democratic process is not dependent on how much money you earn. OWS is not specifically affiliated with any political party, as these issues do not affect one political party or another, but all Americans. OWS protesters are not a bunch of hippies, but demographically come from all religions, educational backgrounds, ages, races, genders, and political affiliations. The system is broken - we cannot appeal to it to fix itself. We cannot be foolish enough to think that corporations and other institutions will police themselves left to their own devices. OWS is leaderless, and decisions are based on those who vote at the general assembly disscussions held in each city. Please educate yourselves.
Occupy: What a fricken joke you people are. 99% v. the 1%? Yeah right. Try this: NYC has 8,175,000 people and you have all of 3,000 protesting. Guess who is the ridiculously small (and soon to be forgotten) group of elitist trying to push their views on everyone else?
Go visit the recent Fox news poll - out of 200,000+ people, 70% said they were in favor of Occupy Wall St. Not everyone can come to a protest due to circumstances in their lives. The great majority of people are in favor however.
I hate the pandering to "patriotism", most of it false. If anything has ever made me feel patriotic or proud of Americans OWS is it!!!!
Even here in Atlanta a shout out to 98.5 FM DJ (Cox communications sub) Jordan Graye for sneaking in a comment of support for Occupy Atlanta on the air...her overlords didn't catch her and we've corresponded since. That little "resistance" on her part is another symbol of how serious the support across the country for OWS is!!!
What we need to aim for is world wide legislation that gives shareholders a direct vote in executive remuneration.
It would be great to have worldwide restrictions on executive wages - something like no one in the company can earn or be rewarded in any way more than 20 times that given to the lowest paid worker or contractor in that company.
Damn right!
They can bribe politicians and get away with it, but they'll never bribe an informed and pissed off Body Public!
We have proven in the past few weeks that we're corruption proof. What're they gonna do, pay us to go away? We'll just buy what we need, and yell at them louder!
I am hoping that some real legislation changes will be made as a result of this occupation.
Large companies who practice poor environmental policies should be fined and/or taxed accordingly to their corruption of the environment. The development of an "environmental burden tax" is a great way to generate government jobs, and revenue.
The elimination of socialist policies in the U.S., such as mandating health coverage by employers. People should be able to purchase Health Insurance on a free market, not forced to buy over priced policies from their companies.
Corporations that exceed $1Billion a year in revenue should mandate their top salary earners to donate 10% of their salaries to the social security fund. Every dollar collected by the corporation in this manner will then be counted twice for tax write-offs.
Sales tax should be elimated for businesses who qualify as a "buy local" organization, farmers markets, craft fairs, artists, musicians, performing arts, street vendors and any individual selling their own hand made products.
People should be allowed to vend, sell and trade anywhere on public property without a permit.
Cell phone companies, Insurance Companies, Banks, and Cable Companies should not be allowed to force contracts with their customers in order to provide services. Customers should have the right to cancel services without penalty at any time.
Car companies should be rewarded when their newer car model's CO2 emissions decrease, and penalized if they make cars with worse CO2 emissions.
Public Transportation committees developed and "community focused" overhauls to Public Transportation systems country-wide should be endorsed and funded by a percentage of the profits investors earn on Wall Street. The “Wall Street Tax” will be a specialty tax on profits earned via investments through Wall Street, and the allocated funds to be used on development of better public transportation methods.
The United States Post Office should remain 6 days a week.
College loans should not be "untouchable" and allowed to be dismissed in bankruptcy cases.
Legislation should be passed to forbid any government department, official or agency the ability to grant funds to any company for "bail-out" purposes.
Money spent on improving the environment for any individual, company or small business owner should be tax deductable and ALSO given a 1% cash back reward tax return on said purchases.
(give the bigger companies new incentives)
Any corporation that uses pesticides or any known harmful chemical on, around or by their company’s and worksites should be fined $100 per ounce.
Some interesting, and valid, ideas. You can't expect too much right off the bat, tho. One step at a time. I think you should submit those ideas to the OWS (not just here on the comment page). You never know.
last words if after oct 15 you leav and think everythings will be ok you must be out of your mind you must put the presure up to the end and they said they got massage you are in for bigger hole so if start somthing which is right for country better finished with any cost and stay a way from democ and repub polition both are no good and corupt do not give up at any situation and get stronger and orgnaize with out polition other wise its gone be same story
Please prepare yourselves for the ultimate 'victory' - what the 'fight' is ultimately all about -- re-storing a meaningful voice and presence for all citizens within the democratic process. Worldwide.
Preparing for such a victory requires an inclusive form of engagement among people - human bridge-building, not fighting and polarization.
This movement is genuinely about the 99% ... please begin NOW with the practice of seeing that 99% in each of the people who are around you. Police, businessmen, road crews.... (The 1% are invisible, out of sight and seemingly out of reach ... those working on their payrolls are not them - do not mistake & attack the messengers.)
Commonality and inclusivity are the only way forward. This is how Gandhi and King's messages prevailed. You are already practicing living in common with one another in the many cities of 'occupation'. Extend these human bridges from your minds and hearts to encompass the 99% of people who may not yet seem to be 'with you', but ARE YOU.
Then, you can 'win' the only possible 'victory' - being seen and heard and understood as a constructive voice of responsible intelligent governance, restoring the voice and will of the many to democracy.
Millions of hearts are with you - mine included.
Thank you for your dedication.
Patty
TO the FRONT DESK Staff... .... are there any notifications as to YOU being behind the offers on Line for OWS Buttons.. We need to know that the proceeds go to supporting the Protest. Please print something about this. TY, and, you may want to look into anyone willing to Donate those Buttons to this Universal Cause. Let me know if you need someone to work on that for you..
And the "liberal/progressive" agenda organizations that actively and openly campaigned for Obama? Most of them are openly supporting OWS as well. Did you catch that? The same groups and Democratic politicians are backing OWS that backed the Bank Bailout, the stimulus package, legislation that BENEFITS banks, and that accept millions of dollars from the 1% every year.
SEIU (the Unions who came down to support you)
The Tides Foundation
Acorn (not gone, just renamed-in New York City, Acorn became New York Communities for Change)
Color of Change (Van Jones-who came down to support OWS)
Moveon
"The enemy is among us." It should be expected that "the other side" would try to infiltrate this movement for their own aims. I assume OWS and the others are smart enough to know this. Let's hope so. They (we) should be skeptical about ANY corporation, media outlet, politician, 1%er, entertainer, etc. that claims to be "behind" the movement. They have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain, by undermining this thing. This is going to be a much harder uphill battle than most people realize.
I'm not at all surprised. The liars and thieves (and the ignorant saps they manged to dupe) think that we're Teabagger 2.0, or are trying to turn us into Teabagger 2.0, and/or are openly trying to crush us. I think most of us are onto that bullshit.
Take this to heart. Any blood money they try to pay us off with can and will be used as a weapon against them. The Occupations need supplies, that's a fact. Those supplies aren't free, that too is fact. But we're not shutting up, we're not going away. We'll simply use those "donations" to entrench deeper and harden our positions. They're not fucking us, oh no, not any more. The line has been drawn and it won't be crossed. We're fucking them.
If you can insure that everyone in the movement will see the truth and rise up to use that information against them in the future-then more power to you. The truth will be in who ends up smoking the cigarettes after the final screwing and who are tossed to the curb as yesterday's news.
Can I personally insure that? No. I'm just one voice in a choir of thousands. I don't lead the band and honestly wouldn't want to. The movement so far has been democratic by consensus, and I hope it stays that way. There are no presidents among us, nor should there be.
I can only toss out reasonably educated ideas to be thinktanked, kicked around, and voted on, and I'm cool with that. That's how a real republic should work, you dig?
The scene going down in DC is a farce, only pretending to be a republic.
I guess that's what the naysayers and venom spitters in the media can't wrap their minds around. Their loss.
To expand on that while I'm thinking about it, I'm glad some of the military is behind our cause.
To hear the soldiers say, "I went over there to get shot at and blown up by people that didn't want me there, so Big Petro can steal their oil. Then come home, only to find Big Bank has ripped me off. Is this what I fought for, those god damned leeches? That is bullshit man!"
No need to convince those guys.
Wall Street's icon is a big bull, and it manages to produce a lot of bullshit. Yup, makes perfect sense.
"Too big to fail" are the same words that were used to describe the bailout for the banks when people speculated that it would only result in a collapse later. Watch your syntax so protestors don't end up spouting the same rhetoric that we hear from lying officials.
When housing prices began to take a dive, revenues to state and local governments plummeted. Housing construction shuddered to a halt, creating ranks of unemployed workers who began drawing unemployment benefits rather than paying local taxes on their previously middle-class salaries. The businesses of suppliers and service-providers to contractors were forced into downturn. And many states continued to cut taxes, causing a perfect storm of budget woes for the states.
Yet who got the blame for this economic morass? Public-sector employees and their unions, who have been made the scapegoats for a budget crisis that had nothing to do with them—convenient targets for the right-wing forces that seek an end to unionization in all sectors.
According to the FBI, the mortgage crisis was almost entirely the fault of lenders behaving unethically and, at times, illegally. They informed Bush all the way back in 2004. He refused to act. They told Obama in 2008. He refused to act. Both presidents blocked the FBI from pursuing the matter.
We elected representatives that encouraged riskier loans in the name of greater home ownership, We looked the other way when our representatives failed to enforce regulations over the investment firms that created the risky mortgage backed securities. In 2008, we again elected incompetents that promised to fix the problems.
I think it sucks when uninformed people blame the little guy for this country's problems. When politicians are elected, there's an expectation they will do right for the people, but time and again they say one thing while running, then do another once they're elected. The last three elections were a farce. 2000 and 2004 were a downright crime. Literally. And let me let you in on a little secret. We don't elect the president, vice president, etc. The election process is an illusion. The electoral college is a smoke screen. They're chosen by those in power, then go thru the song-and-dance of an "election" to hoodwink the population into thinking we have a "say" in our government. We don't. Why do you think nothing seems to get any better? The elite never have, and never will, give the masses that kind of power. That's not a conspiracy theory, that's a fact. A few of us have finally figured that out.
Then the banks also have personal responsibility to not try and attempt to screw people. It did not work for me but some people are not as smart as others. We cannot elect people to represent us when the elections are dominated by wealthy and corporate money. Can I afford to run for office at a local level even? No. Wealthy money is now inundating local races. We need money out of politics.
Remember the days when it was honorable for kids to look up to the teacher, police, fireman, and other civil servants? Now the corporate scum and their cowardly politicians are demonizing the people who give us our services and help society. They want us to worship greedy bankers and ceos that are ruining our country by shipping our jobs and manufacturing overseas. I support my civil servants. They are honorable and serve the public. They are not in this to bleed profits from anything or everything like leeches they are. They hate government except when they want corporate welfare /public giveaways.
Well Done! I am so impressed with your peaceful and creative tenacity. Amassing morning support and moving forward with your own "clean up" was a perfect response to this thinly veiled attempt to end the occupation. I am hopeful you can work out some solutions (port-a-pots, dumpsters, etc.) to encourage a continued presence that does not as adversely affect the surrounding neighborhood. Should we all continue to call 311 to request that support?
Could OWS get behind these suggestions by Warren Buffet? They are fresh, vital ideas. A place to start.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12 . The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
I believe that the protests should be in front of local, state and federal official buildings and not on Wall Street....that said, your post has it wrong in several ways........
Congress gets "No Tenure / No Pension" - A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
Obviously, there is no tenure for Congress - they must be re-elected full" pensions - the fact is that they retire with no more than 80% of their highest salary while in office. they have "choices" in what pension benefits they will receive and pay into their pension plans just like we do. Members of Congress are not eligible for a pension until they reach the age of 50,if they've completed 20 years of service. Members of Congress have to serve at least 5 years to even receive a pension.
"Prior to 1984, neither Members of Congress nor any other federal civil service employee paid Social Security taxes. Of course, they were also not eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Members of Congress and other federal employees were instead covered by a separate pension plan called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act required federal employees first hired after 1983 to participate in Social Security. These amendments also required all Members of Congress to participate in Social Security as of January 1, 1984, regardless of when they first entered Congress. Because the CSRS was not designed to coordinate with Social Security, Congress directed the development of a new retirement plan for federal workers. The result was the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986." http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm
See 2. above
Technically, they are voting on whether or not they will receive a Cost of Living Adjustment.Apparently they have "rejected" a COLA for two out of the last four years but only after a public outcry against their getting raises while the majority of Americans were getting "pink slips" and hourly cuts and benefit cuts during the Great Recession and while our Senior Citizens had not received a COLA since 2008. I think I might support something that says that if our Senior Citizens don't get a COLA based upon the inflation rates then our Congress doesn't get one based upon the same data...that only seems fair doesn't it?
Members of Congress are covered by private insurance under the same system that covers all federal workers; the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, (covers more than 8 million other federal employees, retirees and their families). "Like other large employers, the government pays a large share of the cost of coverage. On average, the government pays 72 percent of the premiums for its workers, up to a maximum of 75 percent depending on the policy chosen. For example, the popular Blue Cross and Blue Shield standard fee-for-service family plan carries a total premium of $1,120.47 per month, of which the beneficiary pays $356.59. Washington, D.C.-based employees who prefer an HMO option might choose the Kaiser standard family plan. It carries a total premium of $629.46 per month, of which the employee pays only $157.36." http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/health-care-for-members-of-congress/ This is not much different than for any of us working for a larger company.
In 1994, when Republicans were in control of both House and Senate, Congress passed the Congressional Accountability Act (PL 104-1), which makes Congress be in compliance with Civil Rights Laws, Labor and Workplace Safety laws it had previously enacted. But it would be nice if the IRS went after those who cheat on their taxes the same way they go after average Americans now wouldn't it?
Part of this statement is factual - the Founding Fathers did expect that folks would serve for a time and then go home and live under the laws they had enacted and we've come a long way from that expectation when we have lifelong congress folks like Strom Thurmon who continually was re-elected even when he could no longer actively serve. But whose fault is that ultimately? WE elect these folks over and over again.
This is from a viral e-mail that has been shown to contain many inaccuracies, for example, the social security claim and the salary increase claim. Congress pays social security taxes, just like everyone else does. They have since 1984. Also, Congress does not vote themselves pay raises. Their salaries are determined by a cost-of-living formula unless they vote to decline them, which they have done the past two years.
Wall street created the real estate bubble and is responsible for all those foreclosures - really!!!!! Where is the personal responsibility of those who signed for the mortgage. They know what they make on a monthly basis and should know what they can pay. If this basic budget exercise is too much for the American people there is a serious problem with the American education system. We should be placing much of the blame on those who took on too much....personal responsibilty is lacking in the US. It is the give give give mentality that has failed us.
I couldn't sleep last night I was so worried about the OWS heroes. What a joyful day it is that thousands heeded the call to join the link of human protectors of freedom and liberty! They can CLAIM the decision was made last night, but that is nonsense. This morning they realized they either had to call off the dogs, or start the sort of revolution EVERYONE should want to avoid. I have gathered 15 people for tomorrow's protests, and I'm hoping to get at least 10 more. If everyone brings 5 people, just imagine how the numbers would compound! What a backdrop for October 15th: OWS 1, the elite: 0
as a hard worker in the finance industry, i feel like i'm a target. i don't make big bucks and just started working again after being unemployed for over a year and a half. There are tons of people who work in this industry like me and i hope you do not condemn all of us.
I make a decent living and pay more than my fair share of taxes - I do not want to pay more!! The wealthy need to spend money to turn this recession around in my opinion.
Trust me, YOU ARE NOT the 1%. My parents make a combined $190,000/yr...The highest income out of all of my good friends where I come from (there are some non-friends with higher incomes). That number puts my parents in between the 75th and 85th percentile of income earners...the reason for such a wide gap is because it is hard to figure out by using the IRS tax data.
Besides in my opinion, people who make less than 1,000,000/yr but more than 500k/yr are either doctors, college professors CEO's who pay themselves honestly, or CEO's who have built their company from the ground up. Households that make less than 2,000,000/yr. These folks and Athletes/Artists, who make a shit ton of money as well are not the problem.
Hell, the category of people I just described comprise the 97th and 98th percentile of this country, i.e. they are in the bottom 99%. And they work damn hard.
If a CEO is making 500k a year or more, I don't think they've done so by working from the ground up. 500k is a shitload of money, and I don't think they're paying themselves honestly. And it's hard to believe a college professor would make that much or even a doctor. I can see a lawyer making that much, since the going rate (in my area) is $300/hr.
College professors easily make that much money. There is a professor at my school, Georgia Tech, who you have never heard of, and he gets paid 250k/yr. He drives a Ferrari. Imagine what Noam Chomsky, Alan Dershowitz and Michiu Kaku get paid. Those are names recognizable by even the average American. The average salary of a Neurosurgeon is 790k/yr. The good ones easily make over 1 M. What do you think Sanjay Gupta gets paid? probably over 1 M. really good docs get paid a lot.
500k/yr is not at all exorbitant. Like I said, my parents make 190k/yr and they are struggling to send me to college. Me and my brother are going to be in college at the same time for probably 2 yrs...they won't have enough money without going into debt. They make so much money that I do not qualify for certain student loans. In order to pay for me to go to GT they will have to co-sign a loan. Keep in mind that GT is one of the cheapest colleges in the country. 8k a semester is all it costs.
If someone starts a chain of restaurants in Atlanta and over the course of 25 years they build 20 in the Atlanta area, they could easily be making around 500k/yr and they deserve to.
500k and 250k are quite different, aren't they? And I never said anything about your parents making too much, did I? For what you have said about them not being able to afford sending both you and your brother to college at the same time, you should be agreeing with me. As I said, some people's salaries are inflated beyond reason.
I agree about someone who starts a chain of restaurants. Do all CEOs do that? I highly doubt it.
True, not all CEO's do that...I guess I never said it here, but on a different post I said a CEO that makes 750k while the next guy in line makes 200k is reasonable. I mean it is reasonable to get paid 4-5 times the next guy...too much more than a factor of 5 though and you become unreasonable...that's just my view.
I never implied you said anything about my parents. The Fed says they make too much. And the whole point of my parents was that 190k/yr is not all it's cracked up to be, if it's cracked up at all. I have no more luxuries than my friends whose parents make less. In fact, I go shopping less often than my friends...I feel less wealthy than or as wealthy as them, even though my parents make more money. This has led me to the conclusion that 250k/yr probly isn't all it's cracked up to be either. It's not until you get into the 1.2 and 2 M/yr range that income becomes exorbitant. There is such a thing as reasonable luxury and my belief is that somewhere in between 1M/yr and 1.5M/yr is the upper limits of reasonable luxury, except in the case of Athletes, Doctors, Professors, Artists (of all kinds), and self-made CEO's.
The reason I voice concern is that there seem to be a lot of people who think 250k/yr is a lot of money...well, unless you move into a piece of shit house (shit can be defined as the house itself and/or it's property value as both greatly affect the price), it isn't that much money. Now, I'm not a parent, so I have no idea the thoughts that go through ones mind when they imagine living next to thugs/rednecks and having their kids develop friendships with these people and possibly try to emulate them, but as of right now I would not mind living in a rather crappy house that way I can get cool stuff, but as a parent I may find myself wanting as nice a neighborhood as possible for my kids sake, which is why the reasonable luxury income has such a high upper limit. and of course being able to afford nice cars, multiple cars, a boat, and vacations all go into the reasonable luxury income calculation as well. Just for clarification so that I don't sound like a "defend the rich" guy, notice reasonable luxury, with luxury being the operative word. Those things are all luxuries, but they are luxuries that are reasonable to afford if you work hard.
I also don't think $250k a year is an extreme amount of money. I see it as upper middle class/lower upper class (the borderline of getting into upper class). 500k is much different though. Even though it still isn't extremely extreme, it is a lot of money. A lot of the salaries out there for certain fields are out of control. The jobs that are the toughest, most valuable, and the most dangerous to do do not get rewarded as such, while those that are more superficial do.
Please read some of the posters again. It's not about six figure salaries, even Sanjay's one million. It is about huge corporations who do not pay their fair share, continue to outsource jobs, and crooked politicians.
andrewpatrick46 - I totally agree with you. Since I have been at OWS NYC for two weeks today, I can tell you that the true message there is NOT criticizing six figure salaries or even a million. You are the 99% and pay huge amounts of taxes and struggle while GE made a $14.2 billion profit but received a $3.2 billion federal tax refund. It probably helped that they are the biggest lobbying group in DC ($6.8 million a quarter) (now there's some tuition and book money huh?!) :-)
I never said people making less than a million are thieves. I'm talking about people making 500k and more and not doing the work to justify that. Should a college basketball/other sports coach make 500k or a million or more.... especially at a public university when other university workers are paid poverty-level wages?
actually yes, Nick Saban is worth every dime Alabama pays him. If their team was not good, they would not bring in anywhere near the amount of revenue from merchandise sale (Think Julio Jones and Mark Ingram jerseys), boosters, television contracts, ticket sales, etc. Not to mention that the more high paid NFL players graduate from your school the more money you make when they donate part of their fortune to you. Same goes for Coach K at Duke. Notre Dame is the best example of this. If ND hires a good coach that fields a good team, the amount of money that NBC pays them in the TV contract goes through the roof. ND could pay a crappy coach 100k/yr and get a $2M contract, or they could pay a good coach 1M/yr and get a $25M contract. Plus getting to a BCS bowl gets the school an automatic $5M reward or something like that, so a good coach that gets your team to a BCS Bowl gets you a a lot of money. Besides, at public and private universities only janitors are paid poorly.
Football and Basketball pretty much pay for all other sports at a school plus a little extra, which is why college baseball and softball and volleyball coaches don't make a lot of money at all and only the football and basketball coaches do.
These aren't the most obvious things in the world though. the only reason I know this is cause I'm a huge sports fan and have talked with my friends about it and have come to conclusions through research.
If you aren't the 1%, then you aren't the target. There are a lot of you out there in the finance industry who are just trying to make an honest living. The difference is, you didn't bankrupt the nation, and you haven't taken from the taxpayers after doing so. It's the 1% and the government who are guilty in this. Good luck to you, and stay honest.
I also work in the banking and financial services industry. I don't feel like a target. I support OWS 100%. This is not about the people who make a "decent" living. This is about the people who make an obscene amount of money by corrupting our government. We want EVERYONE to be able to make a decent living.
Finance is needed to create businesses and jobs. The problem is not this area. The problem is in the areas of finance that have degenerated into simple gambling with the wealth of the entire nation. I am a professor of finance and every year take satisfaction from seeing my graduates found real businesses employing real people. Yours is a great profession, if only the sociopaths could be kicked out, or better yet, find that finance has no place for them.
I wish I could feel sorry for you but I don't. I worked as a scientist and ended up quitting my job when I realized that my research was being skewed toward corporate interests. I dropped my lab coat and walked out and since then, I have faced enormous challenges...forced to change career because whistleblowers are not liked by their peers, almost homeless at one point. But, all that adversity made me stronger and wiser and now I own my own small company. Despite your struggles, you have chosen to advance the corrupt bankers of this country by keeping them operating as they do. My brother is a VP of Wells Fargo and I make no excuses for him either even though I know he's a very upright honest man who would never do anything illegal or wrong. But, even so, he gets up every morning and contributes to Wells Fargo's corrupt agenda. Again, I'm sorry that I cannot be more forgiving. I'm totally fed up and as long as there are people like you who will work for these crooks, then the crooks will always be in business. Come work for me pulling weeds. You may not make as much money but I guarantee you will have great karma, a nice tan, loads of Vitamin D3, and a happier and more fulfilled spirit.
you're comment is a form of 'competitive altruism', not good for YOUR karma.
think about it...you're approach condemns everyone in the financial industry...oil industry?...armed services?...insurance? ...there's a lot of corruption within large organizations including all forms of government, religion and business endeavors.
Actually it is good for my karma because I live every day knowing that I'm not contributing to the demise of my country. There's no corruption in my business and never will be. The worst thing that I do is pay taxes that are used to fund wars that I do not approve of but I must pay those taxes in order to keep my employees working. If someone like my brother or the fellow above feels the need to work in the financial sector, then they should at the very least openly show their support of what is right and be internal instruments of change but that's really tough and will probably lose their job and they know it. So why are they there? Just for income? Isn't it time that we assign more value to our purpose in life?
Gillian wrote "isn't it time that we assign more value to our purpose in life?"
That sounds awesome. Yet how do we implement it? You say those people should, like you, quit their jobs. Are you going to employ all of those who heed your call? Will you donate to their grocery bill, their light bill, their rent or mortgage, the gas in their cars? I guess they could quit and go to Wall Street and live in that park and have their food donated to them right? And what about afterwards?
Please, suggest real life solutions to this issue - not sentimental ideas that promise a utopia that is not a realistic outcome of this occupation.
When I see the encampments move to the Government Buildings, then I'll begin to support this movement.
My ideas are not utopian and would be quite effective if people would actually have the courage to leave their banks, quit their jobs if they are working for a crook and do the right things in the presence of wrong doings. People are fearful because they have been brainwashed to believe that they are all alone in this country and that no one will be there to help them or support them. BTW, I do hire the unemployed folks in my area as often as I can even if it's just enough to put some food on their table each week. I can't tell someone else how to live their lives but for me, it's important that I align my life and work with my ethics and values and yes, it's never easy but I know that I'm doing the best I can in every moment to make the best choices that I can for humanity. When I quit my job as scientist, I felt terribly disillusioned and betrayed by my peers who I believed had integrity. I thought they would be glad that I was honest and did the only right thing. I was wrong. I spent two years wondering if I was a loser because I couldn't just row with the flow of the status quo.. But, today I would do it again because I know that I can't go to my grave contributing to anyone's suffering in this world. In every thing you do, you have a choice and complying with what you know is wrong because it's easier is one of those choices. If that works for you, fine. But, every one of us commands good or bad character from others, our government and corporate america. Change will only begin when we command better character from ourselves.
Now, in this post of yours, there is nothing to disagree with. But commanding "better character from ourselves" doesn't require marching on Wall Street with a "Trojan Horse" hiding the fact that the originators of this movement - in their own words on August 12th - truly are after the "overthrow of Capitalism". In that I don't believe they represent the "99%" despite the accusations thrown out that if you don't support them you are a "brain washed slave" to the system.
Officially the DOL says that the unemployment rate is at 9.1%. But people whose unemployment benefits have run out are no longer considered "unemployed", which is ridiculous in a recession. The "accepted" unofficial unemployment rate hovers around 15%. According to several watchdog groups, the unofficial unemployment rate in the U.S. is actually a hair under 24%. 9% is unacceptable in itself.
We are in a recession? OH MY! ( wink, wink) according to the news, we were just preparing for the ' double dip'. Excellent point about the unemployment rate. 45 percent of my church members alone are unemployed. It's the worst we've ever seen. None of the stats that we receive regarding anything in this country are accurate.
It is not aimed at workers like you notallbad. You ARE part of the 99%. People working hard anywhere at any job, those unemployed by the economic turndown, those whose pensions, 401k's have disappeared, those who have lost their homes, their dreams. Occupy "Wall Street" is a symbolism of the greed of the 1% destroying our country and way of life, and the politicians they buy who assist them. You mentioned you had been unemployed for a year and a half. I take it you are not a "bum" like many who criticize the movement like to portray us. Yet because of
outsourcing and lack of jobs, you were negatively affected and unable to find work. We wish you well notalllbad. Stop by one day and see that
we are notallbad either and there is no hatred here. We are everyday people for the people.
there are some things I don't like about unions, but one of the things I like is the fact that they have balls. they will stand up to anybody and they have such a large money pot and great connection that they will not succumb to fear of the consequences.
GE was the largest lobbying group in DC. GE's CEO doubled his salary from the previous year to $15.2 million. GE's PROFITwas $14.2 billion. GE's FEDERAL TAX REFUND was $3.2 billion. Right now McCain (R) and Hagan (D) have a bill proposed to give corporations a tax holiday so they will bring some of the trillions of dollars they have offshore (which is not taxable - think Cayman Islands). Think tanks on the left and right both have said it will probably create few, if any, jobs in America. Rather, corporations will use loopholes to not pay any tax at all as they did under Bush in 2004. Outsourcing is made lucrative for corporations by politicians. The free trade agreements made two days ago with Panama, Columbia and South Korea already has companies outsourcing to those countries. It is not about equality of salaries. It is about corruption. America is no longer the country I grew up in where you had a chance to work hard and achieve the American dream.
Think Cayman Islands? OMG, this is exactly what is harming this movement. There is a tax treaty in place to avoid double taxation for international companies. The bill you are talking about is addressing this - not criminally place money in offshore accounts to hide it from taxation....geez.
You do make a few valid points though but please, get your facts straight.
Sorry, but Harry Reid cast the last "no" vote in order to bring it to the floor again in bits and pieces. You do know who Harry Reid is right? He is the Democrat that heads up the Senate and is responsible for allowing any bill to hit the floor in the first place. Why did he wait so long to bring it to the floor? Could it be that not all Democrats supported that bill?
Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.
It wasn't the cops or The Man that defeated them, it was the weather and lack of resources. There's only so much you can do when you're starving and freezing your asses off, and worrying about your kids.
They gave it their best shot and held out as long as they could. Salute!
it is good to hear such a nice news of winning and the way students, the trade unionists and other folks from different walk of life are participating reflects the change in their thinking . this victory is the victory of the 99% not only in the USA but globally.
it is good to hear such a nice news of winning and the way students, the trade unionists and other folks from different walk of life are participating reflects the change in their thinking . this victory is the victory of the 99% not only in the USA but globally.
NYPD made pretense to look like they postpone the cleanup and then trap protesters into clash so that they can use propaganda to say how human they are and what is wrong with protesters. I don’t believe the protesters want to be violent. Otherwise the protesters won’t clean up the park. Otherwise they won’t endure the brutal treatment again and again. Regardless how the mainstream media cover this, I believe what protesters do is peaceful demonstration. The media does not show how brutally the protesters were treated, but look at pictures posted on the Internet how the police rolled over the one person’s feet near the pavement. Protesters were arrested walking on the bridge, and protesters were arrested walking on the street and protesters were arrested on pavement, inside and outside a building. That simply intends to oppress down peoples’ peaceful protest because they are afraid people would rise up against the special privileged interest.
Every time the po goes on a powertrip rampage and starts beating up on protesters, it winds up going viral over the internet. The mainstream media may try real hard to keep it silent, but because we effectively bypass the censorship, they can't. The phrase epic fail fits the media like a well worn sneaker in this case.
We need to do a large scale banner drop campaign. Overpasses on Major freeways and on the pedestrian bridges as well. Large letters, painted dark on white sheets. Cut vent holes. Attach bungee cords to the corners for quick set up. DO NOT LET IT FALL ON TRAFFIC! Keep it on the inside on the chain link fence, make it big. 4 foot tall each letter, or it is hard to see from a distance. We are everywhere. Let each other know this!
OWS and the movement won this battle, but don't let your guard down for a moment.
You can bet your asses the bastards aren't done yet, and are even now brainstorming another plot to undermine the revolution.
WOOOOOO!!!! I am sooooo happy that they backed down!! I was worried about you guys and where you would make your homebase. I am excited about tomorrow and will be at the Occupy movement in my SMALL town!! #SOLIDARITY MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!! I LOVE U ALL SO MUCH & AM SO PROUD OF HUMANITY!!!! MY HEROS!!!! <333333
WOOOOOO!!!! I am sooooo happy that they backed down!! I was worried about you guys and where you would make your homebase. I am excited about tomorrow and will be at the Occupy movement in my SMALL town!! #SOLIDARITY MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!! I LOVE U ALL SO MUCH & AM SO PROUD OF HUMANITY!!!! MY HEROS!!!! <333333
I am a 56 father of two wonderful children. I went to college, paid my student loans, and even went on to earn graduate degrees. I have 22 years in as an educator in New Jersey and have been a school administrator since 1995. I have worked hard, sometimes two or more jobs to pay the bills. What's my point? I have been (quietly) predicting a revolution for some time now. I have asked my own high school and college aged children why don't young people rise up and demonstrate for their rights and they say they are afraid to be arrested. It is about time people across the world speak on behalf of THE MIDDLE CLASS. And despite what the corporate media would have us all believe there is a clear agenda. Banks, corporations, insurance companies, doctors, lawyers, high level executives and yes Wall Street getting rich on the backs of us all. I have watched as a silent American the decline of our great nation due to greed. During our economic boom we all did pretty well financially but as our salaries lost ground corporate greed raised costs in gas, food and all goods and services. This has to stop! In 2003 gas was a buck. Now it is 3-4 times that much. Did your salary increase that much? All other goods and services have gone up exponentially while income has not kept up at all. I lost all I had in home equity, as I had to take everything out just to pay college tuition for my child. Some American Dream! Since Reganomics I watched American manufacturing go to other countries that have become wealthy on the backs of middle class America while the bottom line for big business increases and jobs are lost. I do not support any political party but Republican policies are detrimental to the Middle class yet the sheep keep voting them in. This bully and creep Gov. Christie is a bloated big mouth who adds insult to injury by freezing middle class workers salaries and taxing us all with increases in deductions due to his party raping the pension formula. What is the matter with you sheep who buy into the anti-union rhetoric? Unions built America and you are destroying everything they did for us. I loved this country but this is not the America my father fought 2 wars for and I believed in. I am disgusted with, health care, fuel prices, party politics and corp. greed and you wimps in the media, the rebellion have a loud and sound agenda political hacks and greed. Pay attention as we will be another Egypt soon if we do not take care of our people.
I am so proud this morning, listening to Democracy Now, hearing the response of all of the protestors. Reacting in such a rational and peaceful manner to the threat of eviction strengthens the credibility of the movement exponentially, and makes this victory all the more sweet. I wish I could be there with you, but I am in the process of starting a small permaculture homestead in CA (my way of opting out of this corrupt system ). I will be marching in San Francisco on Saturday. Power to the people!
Haha, even the mere threat of eviction brought a ginormous public backlash. Bloomberg's phone rang off the wall. Imagine that magnified 1000% if Bloomberg went through with it. Exponential if there was more po brutality; Bloomberg would be committing political sueside by not backing down, and he knows it.
Campaign Finance needs to be reformed. The Supreme Court's decision on this is just unbelievable. Between this and lobbyists (who need to work under tighter rules) our government is run by big business. We also need to get rid of the Electoral College. It is outdated. It was set up in a time where we did not have the technology we do today. The President should be elected by a MAJORITY of the people as intended.
Campaign Finance needs to be reformed. The Supreme Court's decision on this is just unbelievable. Between this and lobbyists (who need to work under tighter rules) our government is run by big business. We also need to get rid of the Electoral College. It is outdated. It was set up in a time where we did not have the technology we do today. The President should be elected by a MAJORITY of the people as intended.
Tell your businesses you frequent to drop the Chamber of Commerce; a treasonist organization that has been behind the outsourcing to China craze. They are responsible for the job losses for 30 years or so.
Slavery? So, Americans are forced by Wall Street to work for no money? They are whipped and lynched from a tree for choosing to leave and go to other employment? They can't move from one town or county or state or even another country by Wall Street? They are forced by "debt slavery" to work indefinitely for one company or person?
I guess if you consider needing to pay for electricity and water and food and shelter rather than having it provided to you for "free" and so being forced to earn an income as "slavery", which is what it appears your definition is, then yes - I guess my not joining you is interpreted by you as my supporting slavery.
But maybe that is because my understanding of the definition of slavery is different from yours.
A flash lesson in Modern Slavery 101 for dummies, Republicans and Teabaggers:
My American job that I could have been making a decent wage at got shipped off to China. I got left holding the bag by a company that doesn't give a shit.
Meanwhile the Chinaman that's now working my American job is getting paid peanut husks, if he's getting paid at all, likely with an AK pointed at his head, by a company that doesn't give a shit.
That's the definition of slavery these days. Have you learned anything yet?
I'm inclined to think you're rattling your empty skull just to make noise, "Concerned". You don't sound very concerned at all.
I apologize for the jabs, but you were sort of asking for it. You were coming off as an uppity git from how I was reading it, and I'm self taught to put jerks in their place in no uncertain terms. Mistakes happen, and I come to realize we're on the same team. No hard feelings?
After all, we have bigger jerks to slap down, and we should be focusing our fighting energy on them, not each other.
Keep focused on the unified vision and do not get distracted by problems, eviction from the park, for example. As John Lennon once wrote, "There are no problems, only solutions." I am sure that the people who cannot be there for whatever reasons are with you in spirit and will offer solutions. Right now, we also have to figure how to stay several steps ahead and how we are going to keep all of you warm and healthy when it gets colder. I forget what you call them, but people might want start donating those little things you put in your hands to keep them warm. They might be useful in other ways too. Remember to spray Eucalyptus in the air to help fight infection and be sure to get extra Vitamin C (not medical advice). Great good luck to all of you! Thanks for your courage!
WTG!!!!!!!!! I will be joining forces at Woodruff Park in Atlanta GA on OCTOBER 15TH!!!! It is waaaaaaaay past time that 'we' 1% let our voices be heard for freedom and 'financial justice'!!!!! (like NYC, we are also being 'evicted' on Monday!!!!) hope it remains peaceful........
Enough of us can Win, change the World, and save the Planet. I watched you bullied and handcuffed, and dragged off, bleeding, and Brave. And then, the streets filled, and Victory! Thank You All 3000! The real Patriots have stood up and won! And all 300000 who contributed, and all, around the globe, who are fair minded, and who love freedom.
The “Working Families Party” which is run by Obama’s “Karl Rove type of guy” (White House political director Patrick Gaspard). This is a white House operation people! Obama political advisor Patrick Gaspard holds the same White House position his Bush-era predecessor, Karl Rove, did. But before he was the White House political czar he worked in several far left organizations as activist and agitator.
One of the more disturbing aspects of the Obama-ACORN connection is that the White House political affairs director is one Patrick Gaspard.
New York’s Working Families Party was first organized in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, ACORN and other community organizations, members of the now-inactive national New Party, and a variety of public interest groups such as Citizen Action of New York.
Former UFT NYC teacher and current NEA/Bridgeport Education Ass'n teacher here. What we couldn't do against the coming war in Iraq with 100,000 on 2nd avenue in the winter of 2003, you are beginning to accomplish with both fewer -- those in Liberty Park, and more -- those of us with you in spirit, online, and watching the live feed. God speed.
Former UFT NYC teacher and current NEA/Bridgeport Education Ass'n teacher here. What we couldn't do against the coming war in Iraq with 100,000 on 2nd avenue in the winter of 2003, you are beginning to accomplish with both fewer -- those in Liberty Park, and more -- those of us with you in spirit, online, and watching the live feed. God speed.
You said "We are Winning" and "Wall st. is afraid". I don't get it... What exactly have we won?
Don't get me wrong, I am all for this protest, but I feel there NEEDS to be a common list of demands that actually DO something for the cause, where media and the masses have no choice but to take this revolution seriously. Otherwise people are just saying protesters are dirty hippies causing chaos.
What has happened is more that Bloomberg realized that by outing the protestors - it will incite and further enrage the movement. It will give a larger rallying cry.
The assumption is that you will fold as nothing changes. Something I'm starting to believe as well as I watch the movement become co-opted by a political ideology rather than the mindset of getting a voice for 99% of Americans.
Political ideology? Which one, the Republicans/Teabaggers that would like see the movement crushed and silenced, and hurl lies, vitriol, and police at us from the sidelines? Or the Democrats, who pretend to be passively interested but won't lift a finger except to take bribes to do nothing? One can't be trusted, and the other is fuckin' useless. Evil is evil either way.
The liberal co-opting. This movement seems very intent on trying to be the mirror image of what the Tea Party became. Whereas the Tea Party became an ultra-right wing movement co-opted by the Republican party. This movement is sowing seeds of becoming an ultra-left wing movement co-opted by the Democratic party.
Maybe not the 'liberal' that got the bad press and scorn, mostly heaped on by Repubs by the dump truck load, but rather 'liberal' as in liberated from the debt entrapment and royal screwing we're all getting. But then the Repubs don't want that brand of 'liberal' either, it gets in the way of their extremist Christianity, turning schools into churches and fleecing the sheep and beating gays, women, children, commies and hippies up, and their favorite sport of blowing shit up and killing people.
Yeah, like we really want to be like Republicans. Never in a billion years. At least Dems don't have to pretend to be religious to cover for a lack of soul.
Dems are just useless politically these days, at least for the Occupancy movement's causes.
It's not about political ideology. No political thought or position will be represented properly in this broken and corrupt system.
So, when I see the liberal aspect taking hold and insulting the conservative/Republican base -- I think the movement has lost it's way.
The movement should be about uniting to get our government to represent the people again and no longer serving the corporate masters. This isn't partisan and everyone can agree.
They say 75-85% of Americans are unhappy with the way things are. If you can motivate 10% of that number, regardless of political ideology, you will have an amazingly strong movement and force change. If you get 40-50% of the liberal base motivated, you'll be fewer in number and fight tooth and nail against those that would otherwise support you.
"t's not about political ideology. No political thought or position will be represented properly in this broken and corrupt system."
True.
"So, when I see the liberal aspect taking hold and insulting the conservative/Republican base -- I think the movement has lost it's way."
Yeah, I let my spirited old mouth slide into full-auto mode there. My bad. As soon as the movement started to pick up speed, here came the slurs, negativity, and full-on assholeness from the press and media. I took note of the loudest and nastiest offenders, noticed they were all conservative Repubs, and coincidentally the same jerks that give Obama and Ron Paul a hard time. It was connecting the dots and digging around the networks from there, and it is a concerted, organized effort to slur and discredit the movement straight from the most hardline guys running the GOP. Not kidding. One has to wonder why they despise a grassroots movement of concerned patriots so much. Follow the money trail, man, follow the money trail.
"The movement should be about uniting to get our government to represent the people again and no longer serving the corporate masters. This isn't partisan and everyone can agree."
Right on, dude. I seriously hope it's possible.
"They say 75-85% of Americans are unhappy with the way things are. If you can motivate 10% of that number, regardless of political ideology, you will have an amazingly strong movement and force change. If you get 40-50% of the liberal base motivated, you'll be fewer in number and fight tooth and nail against those that would otherwise support you."
'Unhappy' is a nice way of putting it. I think the sentiment is somewhat stronger than that, to be honest. But yeah, agree with you there. Politically, I'm Indy leaning progressive. I did put one behind Obama, though; like many others I believed he actually could kick ass, clean house, and deliver the reform we desperately needed and still do, and his tan job didn't matter. Why the hell should that be an issue? He was the right guy for the job, or so he told us. The conservatives made it an issue, but I bet it was more than that. Follow the money.
Oh yes, it's clear, the money has DC by the short hairs. It's going to be a bitch to root it out, but I'm in for the long haul, or as long a haul as I can afford.
Every small victory is a step in the right direction. The strength of this movement is that it has no leader - no One person or One ideology to be attacked. The general assemblies are a working model of real democracy in action - their very structure does not allow the movement to be co-opted.
But I ask if the general assembly is actually getting a true representation of the people's voice? As the movement becomes internally co-opted by a political ideology - it naturally repels people of different ideals. Thus fostering and adopting the current divide that is ripping apart our nation.
So, in theory, I do agree. I'm wondering what is happening outside the laboratory.
I know I am slowly losing affiliation with the group because of this mentality. What once started as a movement to end money in politics has devolved into this plethora of purely liberal ideals ... it has diluted the original pillar that seemed to start the movement.
In think that is all the more reason why we should continue to be involved and make our voices heard within the movement - to not let it get sidetracked from the primary root of getting money out of politics. General assemblies may be just in a 'laboratory' stage, but it has to start somewhere. We can't all be physically present in NY to add our voices to the general assemblies there. But we can stand up right where we are and work with those around us. This is YOUR movement too, if you make it so. Don't get discouraged if it appears that a political ideology is taking over, continue to remind anyone who will listen that this is much deeper than mere politics. If we keep bringing attention to the root causes (such as money in politics) we can keep the movement focused on the 'original pillar'.
I need a real definition of what this movement considered the beginning of greed - at what point is someone considered "greedy"? Because if the war is against "greed" and greed has too loose of a definition - then many of the so called 99% may actually be the enemy...
You are laughing at this? Try to buy a light bulb made in America lately? In my neck of the woods, you have to go online to purchase a light bulb made here and not in China. Just where were the light bulbs in the place you lay your head at night purchased? From a company - like GE - that has outsourced all light bulb manufacturing to China or from one of those on line made in America companies that are fighting to survive?
I'm just laughing at the hypocrisy by repub party regarding China and Communism. I also have to make most of my purchases on the internet in order to find Made in USA products. Whatever I have to do I will do. Check out the osram sylvania for a Made in USA bulb. Very nice lumination too! Unfortunately, I had to buy them at the big box store Lowes. The link also contains other retailers that carry it.
I am glad people are protesting however they need to go to Washington to the government buildings i.e. White House, Congress and protest there. There should be one day where millions of people would be gathered - how about the movement sell white t-shirts with 99% in large black letters on the front of it (like a football jersey) to raise some money - or better yet get a sponsor to make the t-shirts and have a printer put on the 99%. This would make a great statement (who would wear a 1%). ASk some of the celebrities to throw in the money for the t-shirts (i.e. Michael Moore) as well as get some big names organizing the event. The international press would be all over it and the government couldn’t ignore it.
Because who controls the money supply is the critical question, I think you should advocate for an en masse default on credit card payments, student loans, on mortages that are underwater, and other loans.... The mega-banks, and politicians, that have wrecked our economy and destroyed our individual freedom, have been empowered by the cash flow from ordinary households. In essence, we have created a Frankenstein monster by just being honest and paying our bills on time. If the cash flow stops, the monstere will die. Strike a blow for freedom. Stop being a debt slave. Use your credit card bill for toilet paper. I also believe that we should boycott the coming election. To vote is to give new life to the monster. Angle Iron in Seattle
That is a great idea. Because Wall Street forced us all to get credit cards to pay for the large flat screen tv's we all own as well as the Blue Ray DVD player and the iphone, ipad, kindle and so on we "the poor" all have. And Wall Street forced us to buy a house instead of renting one.
How about this instead? The government has forced us all to wire our homes for electricity and public water supplies and then has outsourced the providers to monopolies where we cannot shop for the best price and service. How about we all stop paying for the electricity they force us to put in our homes and for the water they force us to pump into our homes? How about we demand free electricity and water?
Because who controls the money supply is the critical question, I think you should advocate for an en masse default on credit card payments, student loans, on mortages that are underwater, and other loans.... The mega-banks, and politicians, that have wrecked our economy and destroyed our individual freedom, have been empowered by the cash flow from ordinary households. In essence, we have created a Frankenstein monster by just being honest and paying our bills on time. If the cash flow stops, the monstere will die. Strike a blow for freedom. Stop being a debt slave. Use your credit card bill for toilet paper. I also believe that we should boycott the coming election. To vote is to give new life to the monster. Angle Iron in Seattle
Do not count on Congress to pass any laws that will further the cause of Occupy Wall Street. If we are to have any results, it will be though our own self-created laws == written by the 99%, nationally ratified with enough signatures to force a national vote, and voted on nationally. It should be an act of racketeering to lobby a public official -- by anyone, especially big business. The idea that companies like Monsanto can lobby congress to pass laws that will benefit them is disgusting. Secondly, force accountability of congress -- their vote must reflect the vote of their home constituency in all matters, especially spending. The horse and buggy days are gone. We no longer need congress-people to speak for us. We can speak for ourselves. That's the benefit of the internet. We all have it. If they cannot be forced to vote based on our will == then it's time for a constitutional convention, or worse. Wall Street and big business many be smart enough to steal all our assets from us, but how much smarts does it take to pull the release cord on a guillotine?
The Get Money Out movement, just two weeks old, is making amazing progress at doing just that. Nearly 200,000 signatures on a petition to return control to the 99% by amending the constitution so that money no longer is an influence.
Despite media claims to the contrary (they have A LOT to lose), this CAN BE DONE. We did it forty years ago to lower the voting age to 18. This cause is just as important, if not more so.
Every supporter of the 99% should go to getmoneyout.com and add their signature. The Occupy movement in solidarity with the Get Money Out movement can and will revolutionize America.
You keep cleaning and document I am a business owner who has not missed one payment and our damn bank is trying to just kick our ass further after pulling our seasonal line of credit. It just goes on stay the course the country save f in rush is with you
My college educated experienced son took one year to find a job I am a business owner and I employ but to place an ad today. Is heartbreaking due to the sheer numbers of over qualified who show up for one or two jobs many have lost homes your comment is at best wholly uninformed or worse you are just cruel
To paraphrase 'Scott Cruickshank' recently : "IF you can stay long enough to make the 1% realise that there's NO HOPE of ending the conflict on Their Terms & IF you can resist the urge to take The Token Olive Branch of NOTHING BUT EMPTY WORDS & IF you can make The 1% really hurt to the point they they can’t sleep at night knowing tomorrow the pain may be worse" ... then THE 99& will win this battle & get what WE want !
If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.
George S. Patton
In Italy there wasn't any uprising before the occupation. Now they re doing something. They started occupy Banca d' Italia and protesting in front of GS. Not very peaceful actually...but still. Thanks to you guys...you' re waking up even italian people. This is a miracle :)
God bless all of you, all of you, men women of every race color and religion!
This is what America is about, and its because of #OWS efforts that makes me glad to be an American. We go through so much all of us, America needs this.
Reminds me of the remake of the Genesis song by disturbed, Land of Confusion. But we are peaceful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV4oYkIeGJc&ob=av3n I love all of you!
"@Tiffeh2009 Money is everything that i hear of ALL the FREAKING TIME! I am fucking tired of that. FUCK MONEY, I want freedom, life, happiness and love. Alright, we can't live without money, but do people need to have too much and want to take it from the ones who don't even have enough for themselves? This so called modern and technological world is full of lies, inequality and virtual exclusion. This XXI century is seeming to me more like the feudalism era, back in the IV or V century!"
Stop lying, bankster assholes. If you can't delude this kid, then you've lost.
A refreshing comment from a young person. Thanks for sharing. The younger generation has hope if they understand this. I will be a parent very soon, and I am taken back by the pride, power and determination OWS and their supporters have.
I wish you and America positive change MadAsHellInTX.
If you want to hurt the Robber Barons, hit them in the pockets by only purchasing MADE IN USA products. They are cheaper since you do not have to keep replacing foreign junk over and over. It actually saves you money. Why do you think the rich are so against this. I keep getting attacked by the corporate hacks on here.
Do you have a list of manufacturers and retailers that make things here? If so, could you post them somewhere? Target carries some Made In USA products and so do some other places, but they are hard to find. I ALWAYS read labels when purchasing something.
Now, there is something we agree upon SwissMiss - Buying American - start with your light bulbs since GE (Jeffrey Immelt Obama's Jobs Tzar) now makes them entirely in China....you can find American made bulbs on line...just google them.
SwissMiss: here are few. Please remember, if you can't find something on these sites then just google the product you are looking for and then add made in usa. e.g. "table lamp made in usa". In addition certain items are not made in usa anymore like a ceiling fans. Search hard if you don't see something at first since most products are still made in usa. If you are not sure contact the manufacturer to verify and get in writing/email.
I agree that there are a variety of businesses and banks that largely contributed to our current situation. But what about individual responsibility? If we are going to protest about what caused our economic issues, what about all of the people who can afford to pay their mortgages, but choose not to because their homes lost value. What about all the people who spend more than they make every month for things they don't really need. I go through a local credit union, and buy local, because I object to the way the big companies treat me as a customer. But lets not pretend that the so called 1% put a gun to our heads and forced us to buy things that were more than we could reasonably afford. Its takes two to tango.
I don't think people have walked away from their mortgages just because their homes lost value. I know plenty of people who own homes who've been victims of falling house values, and they haven't left their homes. I just bought a house, and I never would do that. I'd wait it out. Eventually, things will get better if we keep fighting.
Maybe a few people have done what you suggest, but that IS NOT the problem and the cause. And the jackasses on Wall Street and in the lending industry are the ones who caused those falling house values, so please stop blaming the people who own homes.
Actually there are people across the country who have chosen not to pay their mortgages because their homes have lost value, there have been several news stories about exactly this type of thing. I am glad you wouldn't do that, and don't know anyone who has. I agree the dropping home values have hurt many, myself included.
When you say that Wall Street and the lending industry are the ones to blame- Are you saying that people who agreed to buy and pay for homes that they couldn't afford have absolutely no responsibility in this? Are you saying that people in these situations aren't smart enough to be held accountable for their decisions or broken promises?
There is a family on my street who held a mortgage for 12+ years... but due to illness and 'under' employment fell behind in payments, and their home lost value. Were they smart enough...? Did someone hold a gun to their heads...? These are the wrong questions and wrong sentiments...they didn't share in Wall St's massive profits before and after WS's bailout, but certainly shared in their massive losses and paid a high personal price for WS fraudulent behavior and practices.
What does their home losing value have to do with them being unable to pay their mortgage? Did their mortgage payments change? Or did they not plan and save in advance for the possibility of an emergency?
True there are times when we can try our best to plan ahead and make good decisions, and things still fall apart. And that truly stinks. I am not sure what your neighbors situation was, maybe it was just a truly difficult situation. I hope that they are doing well.
Home values go up and down, so varying values are always a possibility. If you choose to ignore that possibility and take on a loan which will break you when home values plummet, then yes you share some of the fault for your situation. As do the do the unethical lenders.
Maroon -- people who make deals and have the means to keep them should -- agreed. But what about the very many who had a dream and were sold into rotten deals by very convincing money-grubbers? A daughter of a friend is one of those very many. She and her husband were persuaded by the mortgage lender that they could afford their balloon mortgage by simply refinancing or selling a few years down the road when the house increased in value. A few years down the road they couldn't make the "ballooned" monthlies and the house had lost 25% of its value. By the way, she works for the State and was forced by "austerity" measures to accept reduced pay and furloughs. Was she smart enough to be held accountable? Certainly. Was she culpable? Yes. But what could she and her husband do? Negotiate with the mortgage holder or walk away and foreclose. The lender would not negotiate (this after the 2008 bailout!). They walked away. So I ask you, were the mortgage lenders "innocent" in this deal? ... By the arguments you present, I can only assume that you favor the 1%. Who do you think will prevail in this argument in the end?
I don't claim that the financial industry is innocent. I have a cousin who also ended up in a mortgage they were unable to afford. Their mortgage lender was incredibly unethical and in the end he lost his job and his ability to work in the lending industry, and also received some fines. I have no problem with nailing people who lie and break the law to the wall.
At the same time, my cousin and her family had a responsibility to understand what they were getting into. Unfortunately they are still paying for this mistake today.
I agree that there are some situations where people end up in over their head, and there is no other choice but to foreclose. But the responsibility still lies on both sides of the table.
I can understand why it may seem that I favor the 1% from my comments. That is not the case. What I favor is personal responsibility and accountability from all parties. The 1% and the 99%.
So what does that personal responsibility look like? Yeah, they shouldn't have let themselves be sucked into unethical deals that got them what every American had come to expect with working 40 hour weeks (actually, two 40hr weeks since the two income family became the norm). But they did. So what now? But back to the key point: Wall St. is very much to blame for this situation. What created this situation was plain and simply greed -- which manifested itself in the form of lending instruments that were blatantly unsustainable and unethical. Those who created these instruments knew it, and then sold borrowers (as well as brokers, realtors, etc.) a bill of goods. Sure, personal responsibility is extremely important -- but don't let the greediest off the hook with that red-herring argument. Think it out!
I agree. But this actually all started with George Bush when he told America during one of his ' American Dream Initiative' speeches back in 2001 or 2002 that he wanted ALL Americans to be able to have a slice of the pie and that he was going to make it easy for every american to buy a home. As I listened to him I almost felt myself being lured into his ruse and I was SO wanting to buy a home. I kept thinking, ' This sounds too good to be true, certainly there will be consequences. But, after all, he is our president and he wouldn't lie to us, right?". yeah, right. Fortunately, my good Aussie economist friend told me NOT to purchase any home in order to stay mobile because the bottom would drop out, people would lose their jobs and may need to relocate. I guess we could blame some for being peter pans and believing in fairy tales Truth is that the government and corp america manipulated that situation in order to make trillions of dollars and they did. They want us to trust them and yet they are so quick to blame us when we are stupid enough to do so. We are constantly living between a rock and a hard place today. We are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Meanwhile, the fat cats at the top just sit back enjoying our suffering because they can now capitalize even more by preying on the weak and desperate. It's a brilliant plan that works really well for them.
See this is where so many of you lose me. You believe that the political movement to have all "Americans able to buy a home" began with Bush. Sorry, my friend, but it began before that.....In 1977 with the Community Reinvestment Act that lowered lending standards and allowed groups like Acorn to threaten discrimination suits against mortgage companies. Was Bush culpable? To a certain degree, but he also went before Congress asking for more regulations on the lending industries warning that the world's economy would be affected by the bubble that was forming. Its easy enough for you to research this online if you don't rely on only the liberal media to inform you.
You are so defensively right wing that it's almost laughable. You can't come up with a better defense than a video from Fox news? At least the video I posted was the actual Bush speech.
I'm not a liberal nor am I just out to blame Bush. That's silly and childish. Surely you can be more objective?
How can you possibly deny that Bush didn't send us over a cliff? I wasn't just born yesterday and I was quite awake during the Reagan and Clinton years as well. Bush's ' SUV' tax credit was not geared toward any SUV and all businesses did benefit from that. the SUV rebate only applied to the larger SUV's that weighed something like 7 thousand pounds ( can't remember exactly)- trucks like Hummers. I purchased a smaller Honda SUV that did not qualify under Bush's plan. I thought it was truly nuts for me to buy a super gas guzzling monster and it didn't take a PhD to know why he encouraged such irresponsible consumerism. The prior/existing tax code regarding depreciation for company vehicles only allowed 25 percent depreciation but Bush's plan increased that to 75 percent and in some cases ( for the most wealthy) the full amount could be depreciated IF you purchased one of those giant monsters. That's a very large difference and again, illustrates another one of the many Bush gifts that drove us over the cliff and benefited the wealthy and the Big Corps.
I'm defensive? Instead of accepting that the video is of actual hearings that actually show republicans repeatedly asking for regulations - when the MSM repeatedly claim they want no regulations...with accusations of "silly" and "childish". Typical of those who have no real argument to start name calling.
I repeatedly stated that Bush was culpable (definition is....Deserving of blame or censure as being wrong, evil, improper, or injurious) so, even if you weren't born yesterday, you appear to be deliberately attempting to misconstrue what I wrote and the intent of what I wrote.
And I'll just copy and paste this again....The so called SUV tax credit you are referencing was for Small Business Owners - a tax credit that tax preparers and accountants were able to manipulate for their clients. And it began in - surprise - 1997 and was extended under Bush - so once again, your blaming of Bush for all we face today is simply not justified. And I'll add this...For the 2010 tax year, the deduction was still in place.........
When, in one of your posts, you actually admit that changes in policies from administration to administration always have consequences that are not anticipated or wanted and that both parties share equal responsibility for the policies, then I'll believe that you aren't a "liberal".......
http://www.section179.org/section_179_vehicle_deductions.html
Your posting have all "just" blamed Bush. At what point do you acknowledge that any blame should be placed on anyone else?
You're right and wrong..... When Clinton tried this, his efforts did NOT destroy families, companies and the stock market but when Bush legislated to subsidize mortgage lending to folks that could not qualify otherwise, THEN he destroyed the economy. I saw it coming and it was a brilliant maneuver. Watch Bush's speech video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNqQx7sjoS8&feature=related this speech is FULL of double messages. Look, I'm no economist or psychic but when I heard this speech the first time, I KNEW we were in trouble and that's why I didn't buy a home or a Hummer- which Bush also encouraged and even gave Hummer buyers a 60 percent tax deduction on that vehicle.
Excuse me, but here we go again with the same old "Bush" did it all...unfortunately, you are incorrect. In 1995, the CRA was enhanced and mortgage lenders like Country Wide grew tremendously and the sub prime lending increased. Between 1995 and 2003, over $1 trillion in bad loans were issued by the banks based upon the standards imposed under the Clinton Administration. These standards were no longer that the Banks were held accountable for the process by which they determined to whom to lend - but that they were to be evaluated by how much they lent to low income and high risk credit seekers.
Again, was Bush culpable? Yes. But was he fully responsible? No. The Congress voted several times to increase the FHA limits on the dollar amount of loans; this combined with the near elimination of the requirement to put any money down at closing and the lowered lending standards begun in the Clinton Administration all contributed the market crash. As did all the "fancy financing" that came about as a means for the lenders to meet the requirements of lending to a government mandated number of low income high risk minority families. And then, of course, there was the bundling of this high risk loans in the market.
The so called SUV tax credit you are referencing was for Small Business Owners only - a tax credit that tax preparers and accountants were able to manipulate for their clients. And it began in - surprise - 1997 and was extended under Bush - so once again, your blaming of Bush for all we face today is simply not justified.
Yeah, and what did that lying and stealing get them? Filthy rich on ill-gotten gain, sure, that's obvious. And thousands and thousands of unemployed, underemployed, robbed, cheated, very very pissed off people who are now in their face, all united to put an end to The Big Ripoff.
I sure hope it's over but sadly, I'm a cynic who lost faith in my country years ago- actually in 2002. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that these mighty courageous and very intelligent protesters restored my faith in the American people.
The law that was passed to allow more people to buy homes IS NOT THE REASON THIS HAPPENED. The law states that lenders should not be careless as to give out high-risk mortgages that borrowers couldn't pay back, because it would threaten the survival of their companies, but they did it anyway. The LENDERS are at fault above anyone else. They KNEW what they were doing and did it ON PURPOSE. The government DIDN'T tell lenders to be careless and give out high-risk mortgages to anyone. People love to say that, though.
Swiss Miss you are quite wrong. If the banks are forced by the government to lend money to high risk individuals - who have to put little to nothing down on the mortgage - who is it who is taking the "risk"? Before the Reinvestment Act, there were government programs - such as the 235 Program to help folks buy homes. The government paid half the mortgage payment and effectively half the interest rate. The homeowner would eventually take over the whole payment due to increased income and ability to pay or could refinance the home and pay back half of the equity to the government. If their income never rose, the original terms remained the same - this was only one of the programs.
With the re-investment act, those plans went by the way side and were replaced with high risk loans to those low income folks. The government and groups like Acorn filed lawsuits against banks who did not make enough of these high risk loans.
In fact, the Obama Administration is still at this - you can look at Detroit Mich for examples of this - banks are being threatened with lawsuits for alleged discrimination and are then - in settlements meant to avoid lengthy court battles, being forced to lend to low income high risk folks, put money into "revitalization" projects and so on.
If you truly care about what is going on, educate yourself. These facts are easily seen in the court documents available on line. When you read a document for yourself, there is no left or right spin on it. You might want to try it before you tell others - who don't agree with your assessment that this is all Bush's fault - that they are the ones in the wrong.
I didn't say those who bought homes above their means don't have any fault. But, I think the ones who were paying their mortgages and then stopped because of falling home values are a very small percentage. Wall Street and the lending institutions are NUMBER ONE at fault for what happened. They lied to a lot of people about getting mortgages, paying them back, refinancing, etc. Those people (the ones who got the bad mortgages) should have used caution, but the people who caused the mess are the ones who flat out committed fraud on purpose.
Then it sounds like we agree on that point. And I have no problem crediting a lion share of the blame to the institutions. This is why I have been instituting my very own personal boycott of them. I left the big banks for local credit unions a while ago. I cut up every credit card to ensure the big guys aren't making money by charging me interest. The great thing about accepting responsibility for the financial issues I had in the past, was that I realized that I was responsible for and completely capable of fixing it!
Those who are stopping paying their mortgage because they don't want to pay are a small percentage. I consider what they are doing absolutely terrible. They are trivializing the plight of those who are really suffering.
The problem for many, including myself, is that if I cut up my credit cards, then my fico score goes down. Unfortunately, I need the credit and it's a lot of work every single month trying to keep my accounts active enough that they don't close them, trying to charge just a small amount and NOT pay them off like I used to. THREE of my credit cards were cancelled due to the simple fact that I paid off my balance each month. Nice, eh? I try to do the right and responsible thing and I get screwed.
I am leaving my bank next week to join a local credit union. I will refinance my mortgage with the credit union as soon as I can. I haven't had any credit cards for years, so at least I haven't been paying the banks any money from them.
I agree that it's terrible to stop paying your mortgage just because home values have gone down. If one loses their job, has huge medical debt because of a major illness or injury, or has been screwed over like someone else described, etc., though, then I don't blame the person who stops paying their mortgage.
Before I bought my house recently, I had put an offer on another house a street over. That house was a foreclosure house that had been sitting on the market for a long time. I liked it but wanted to see other houses before making a decision. Two weeks after I first saw it, I decided to put an offer on it. The day before I did that, the bank that owned it dropped the price $3,000. I put in an offer slightly below the new asking price (from the advice of my real estate agent). No one had put an offer in before I did.... or at least the bank didn't accept any if they did. I put the offer in on a Friday. On Monday, the bank told my agent that 2 other offers had come in over the weekend, and they wanted me to offer my highest and best. So, my agent said to offer the original asking price, and I did. The bank claimed that I lost the bidding and that someone else got the house.
Funny.... a couple of months later, my agent called the bank's agent who was handling the sale of the house to see if someone actually did buy it. The bank claimed that the other two offers fell through and wondered if I was still interested. She told the bank that I already had purchased another house.
So, that tells me that the bank was playing games (and my intuition told me that after they told me my bid didn't win). I guess if they want to continue playing games and doing that, then they deserve to lose money and pay taxes on houses that no one lives in when they could've sold them. Dumb asses.
Swiss, very interesting that you mention this because this is exactly what they planned. In fact, those houses have been bought and paid for at least twice by now so they are just sitting on them as investments, waiting for the market to improve. In some cases, they are not even sure which bank actually owns the house! They are not losing any money. Remember when the lenders were evicting people and just leaving houses sitting there with food in the frig, swimming pools full of algae, etc... for months? They didn't care because they had already made the lion's share and then some ( including the bail out money).
Did you consider that the offer that was accepted perhaps led to a home inspection which found things that the buyer didn't want to take on? Or that maybe the second offer, that was not accepted, like you had moved on to another home?
To assume that this was the bank playing games is well....too easy in this particular case.
IF however, they had decided that since three of you were interested, they would raise the price even higher than it was before it was dropped $3000, THEN you could say the bank was playing games.
Um.... there was nothing wrong with the house.... maybe some very minor things that the bank may have required to be fixed, but there was absolutely nothing visible. The previous owners had remodeled most of the house.
My bank even played games with me..... making me spend thousands to hire a licensed contractor to fix all kinds of petty shit that I could've fixed myself and planned to fix as soon as I had possession of the house. The same thing happened to my friend. Her bank made her paint a door that she was planning to replace.... so she had to spend time and money painting a frickin' door that she ended up throwing in the trash.
Perfect example- do business in a crumby manner, and you'll get crumby results. There is a good way to do business, there are many who don't do it that way. But that doesn't make ALL business bad. Good for you!
I agree not all businesses are bad. Never said that. But the banks have been bad asses and continue to be. Mine put me through hell to get my mortgage, even though I make plenty of money, have good credit and a good credit score, etc. Now, the banks have gone to the other end of the spectrum, because of the big mess they've caused (along with mortgage companies and a few others). And, of course, as usual, the common citizen is the one who has to pay for their bullshit.
I agree with you Maroon about individual responsibility and I was one of the wiser folks who didn't get hoodwinked by Bush's american dream initiative. However, I almost did! After all, when your president is telling you that he's going to make it possible for you to purchase a home even though this was never in your dreams, then it's a bit like tempting a starving dog with a piece of meat and then kicking it in his mouth when he takes it. We should have leaders that we can trust and we should be able to question their authority when we want to without being jailed ( another one of Bush's tactics when someone questioned his motives).
I hear you, it would be nice if we could trust what politicians and lenders say. But the fact is they lie.
I am glad you guys didn't fall for that. And I have no problem speaking up about these folks lies.
I personally am standing up against the corporate practices I feel are wrong by refusing to ever use debt again. I have been lied to and mistreated enough. It was my fault for falling for it, and I have paid my price. Now the banks will pay theirs, because I wont be paying them interest or bank fees. And yes I have moved my accounts to local credit unions.
You simply need to understand the entire system is rigged from voter disenfranchisement now in over 20states to banking and finance ....the poor guys in Washington are enslaved by the masters who bought them.... Think justice in supreme court.... Nope most bought n paid for so we all need to hit the streets and stay there until oligarchs get that they overplayed their hand this time. There are more of us. It's math
Voter Disenfranchisement in over 20 states? How so? Requiring people to prove they are a citizen of this country and a resident of the polling place is "disenfranchisement"? Sorry, but I am part of the 99% and don't agree with you here. And please don't give me the tired old "but some folks can't get their birth certificate"; there are ways to get around that built into the laws and if there aren't, build those into the laws. But, I forgot that this movement supports "open borders"...again, something that I, as part of the 99% do not support.
And those "poor guys" in DC who are "enslaved"? Why are they enslaved? Because they chose to accept bribes in the form of election funding. Again, I am part of the 99% and believe these protests should be on the grounds of the State and Federal buildings not in the public parks and on the streets of our cities and towns.
OWSNY, you are an inspiration. I was very worried about you last night, thinking about what might happen this morning. I kept thinking what will happen to the movement. I called NY, signed the petition, and hoped the solution would turn out as it did. Am so proud to be an American at this time in history. Will be sitting in Harrisburg in support and extremely proud of all of you, and those that showed up to support you.
Thank you to the OWS protestors, one and all! We love you! Power to the 99%. Get neoliberals like Clinton and Obama out of public office and the neocons too. In fact, let's end this career politician stuff for good. In fact, let's end capitalism while we're at it! We support you 150% and congratulations to you for dodging Bloomberg's eviction attempt with grace and aplomb!
Well, I thought that you actually got it at first when you realized that the politicians are the ones who should actually be being protested....but then, you threw it your real goal...overthrowing capitalism...and you lost me.
Well Done!!!!....thanks to everyone who phoned/txt/emailed the mayors office!!!!!...Looking forward to joining you all tomorrow! in NY!!...I heard November 15th people are planning to withdraw all of their money from big banks....anyone else hear about that?...again...Congratulations!!!
WE must use the momentum of this victory to strengthen our organization, and begin to institute CONSTRUCTIVE WORKS (Ghandi).
We have won this battle, but it is simply a signal to them that they actually have to prepare for WAR. and WAR they will.
More GA's, more NYC Occupations (BROOKLYN/QUEENS/BRONX/STATEN STAND UP). Ideally we need a GA for each NYC congressional district.
Let US not forget that there are MORE people out of work, MORE people without healthcare, MORE people with student debt, MORE Oppression EVERYDAY. We are not simply fighting what has passed, but what continues to pass.
Since the eviction at OWS has only been postponed, perhaps the establishment realized that the should simply not announce the eviction before they plan to do it.
A system/network should be set up where a FLASH MOB can immediately be convened in the chance that the police/city unexpectedly come with buses to evict the protestors. 1000s of people would flood the area, disrupt the action taking place, and create an outer wall of solidarity to defend the nexus being threatened.
This is an EMERGENCY ONLY TACTIC designed to upset the balance of power in the midst of an immediate threat, and cannot be used lightly.
So the rules of society for the average citizen does not apply to OWS? What about the 99% who is just trying make ends meet and actually live in the area that you are occupying. Have you ever considered the effects on them of your protests?
So you are saying times cannot change and do not change? As an FYI, downtown is among the fastest growing residential neighborhoods in NYC. And when New York was founded it was also a residential neighborhood, but I guess according to you, sdcheung, it should noty have been even back then, or?
I certainly believe in the right to freedom of speech and of assembly, however, I do not think it is fair that your freedom speech should take precedence over any other individuals right. Additionally, you do not even abide to your own collective rules posted on this very website . Promises has been made to keep disturbances down at night out of the respect for the "community" in which the movement is supposedly living. Yet, the movement is consistently breaking or not adhering to its very own rules. Hence, it gets increasingly difficult to believe in your stated message since the movement does not even hold up its own promises.
Then the idea is to reimburse those venders who can't hold their festivals because the encampment is in the only place large enough for them to set up their trucks for the income they lost? After all, that is only fair right?
i think the idea is more to channel the funds for food for the occupation to the vendors so that they can still support their families while the occupation is taking place and build a relationship to the occupation.
Vendors are down on wall st. full time year round with food and nik-naks - for the office workers, city staff, and tourists. They are poor, usually immigrants, who are trying to feed their families. Often they are targeted for exorbitant tickets by the city, police and have to pay unfair prices for their vending licensees since the city refuses to reform the system. Point being the are a central part of the 99%.
With the nik-nak/tourist vendors we need OWS t-shirts, etc. that they can continue to sell to tourists rather than little wall st. bulls and I <3 nyc t-shirts. I deally the profit would be split with the vendors and OWS.
It certainly did not seem as if you were working together with the community over the last few days. Disturbance levels has steadily increased, in particular last night.
I certainly believe in freedom of speech and assembly, but it must also respect the citizens of the community in which it wishes to assemble which I fail to see is the case in this very instance. A key cornerstone of this movement is supposedly building a community and at the moment it is aggravating the very community in which it operates.
If the message is important enough, it should not matter where you assemble, right?
that being said, a movement cannot foresee the spontaneous actions of individuals or a crowd. As this develops daily the challenges that arise, including the one you have mentioned, it requires deeper structural foundations, self-discipline, and compassion. Being in the heart of wall st. is surely not the most hospitable environment for organizing, but the grievances of the people in this movement are rooted there. This is the reality we are struggling to come to terms with, politically, spiritually, and logistically.
Please have faith in the people to work this out with you and all our neighbors, and please do not be afraid to come down and voice your opinions at the general assemblies so that people on the ground can hear. we are not all on the forums everyday, and the words should really come from you to put a face to these concerns.
ghost1love - I truly appreciate your response and I share in some of the values that the movement stands for. However, the methods I somewhat disagree with, and it certainly was not the spontaneous few over the last few days but rather the spontaneous majority. If the movement has recognized that Wall St. is not the most hospitable environment, why does it not move to more hospitable environment one might wonder?
I am sure the think-tank of this movement is well aware that none of the organizations it is targeting resides or operates on or around Wall Street, but is spread around the country at other locations. Hence it is nothing but a PR attempt by a movement, which is severely and negatively affecting the community that it has occupied.
I have been down and discussed with several of the supposed supporters and more often than not been heckled and not taken serious. I am big believer in the democratic process, this is simply not it. The majority of individuals I have met with in your movement admits they did not vote in the last election. To me, they have then elected not to do their fair share of democratic society and accordingly does not have the right complain. By not voting they have elected not to participate. The argument of no candidates to vote for is flawed at so many levels, for one you can always vote blank. At least then you respect the democratic process.
Swede - thank you for your compassion. Wall St. is symbolic which is why it started there. As the movement grows, and the message gains footing, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that it may move. It may also stay. It may also shrink to a core group, but not go away completely, as people move to other spots of occupation across the city. I still recommend voicing yourself at the G.A. rather than individuals.
All that I can suggest, as I have to other skeptical sympathizers, is to have patience, faith, and to do good works for your fellow humans. While some may be waiting for us to leave Wall St., the poor, the voiceless, the compassionate, and the oppressed have been waiting for this moment for a long long time. We want the best for it, including the best possible new relationships we can build with all people who sympathize with we. you.
The issue of not voting does not hold true for all of those demonstrating, nor even the majority. However, we know from history that the existence of democratic mechanisms does not produce a functioning, inclusive, egalitarian democratic society. At any rate, our democracy, in all its various manifestations and aspects, has long fallen into an ignorant sleep that allowed things to get so bad. We, particularly the young, are waking up to a new day, and discovering what democracy needs to look like for a sustainable future in the US and Globally.
hey! the sun just came out!
anyways thanks for the conversation, I pray that peace will prevail, a constructive, participatory peace, that is a testament of our ability to work together compassionately.
they will now be planning a diversion, an israeli attack on iran or a HAARP induced quakes in USA to declare a state of emergency, that we are terrorists financed by the enemy, and then they will use draconian powers to clear the park and evict occupywallst. any thing to maintain their tyrannical power. that's the truth we must face down on the road to freedom.
In 2010 the 1% paid over a third of of America's income tax, The top 5% paid well over half of America's income tax! When you consider that just under half of americans with income pay NO income tax, it sounds rather FAIR to me.
that only shows how much money they make comparing to the rest of us. the numbers mean NOT THAT THEY PAY A LOT, BUT THAT THEY MAKE A LOT. we make so little that we simply can't contribute more. if someone makes $12.000 how much does he/she contribute compared to a person who makes $12.000.000.000? it takes like 10 000 000 low-income people or more (i am counting in my head) to equal that amount! of one rich person!
Excellent point! It depends on what you define as 'a Lot'. The top 1% account for one fifth of the income in America, which is a significant portion, but then they invest trillions in America, hire millions of people, and still pay 38% of our bills.
when i was making $50K+(3-5years ago), I paid $14K+ in taxes, gave something to charities, paid my college tuition (and so i have no school debt now), and whatever was left was enough for me to live on and i was doing OK. and I was happy. and even managed to save a little.
and every time i went to have a pedicure done i gave my chinese pedicurist $10 tip. and that felt good. i was generous.
now, i am offered 2/3 for doing the same job. everything is 1/3 more expensive and it is becoming difficult to make ends meet for what i make. before i felt independent and i could contribute a little to the society. now, charity is what the rich do, since only they can afford it, and they are seen in the good light because they can give or invest or whatever. and i am reduced to a friggin' hippie.
the chinese woman has no clients, because her clients can't afford a damn pedicure.
What is unreasonable? It is natural that the rare talent be compensated for their ability. This is true in government, education, sports, and business.
They must hire and fire, that is business.
The purpose of a corporation is to increase the wealth of the investors, which include millions of private citizens that have pension plans, retirement plans, and ordinary people trying to save for retirement.
Agree and disagree. Talent should be compensated. And unfortunately many corporations feel their sole purpose is to increase the wealth of their investors. But if that is their only purpose they are really missing somethings.
Money is made by serving others and providing them with something they deem valuable. If I create a widget, people will only purchase it if it brings value to their life. I therefore am serving them by creating the widget. At the same time if my widgets become so popular, that my company grows and I am able to employ more and more people- i am now serving not only those whose purchase my products, but also those I employ. Yes profits will surely come after that- but the core value of any company should be service. And its a nice perk the serving others in this manner often leads to earning money.
Its not that way for all companies. Making a profit is part of doing business responsibly. But if that is your "sole"purpose of a business its missing out on a huge opportunity.
Altruism has nothing to do with it. When we serve others in this manner, we get so many benefits including profits. I also agree over staffing hurts, but not just investors. It hurts EVERYONE, the employees who loss job security, the consumers who end up paying more for the products and services, as well as the investors.
Rare talent.... you consider being a CEO rare talent.... one who makes millions upon millions? Really? And athletes are justified to make millions upon millions, for playing sports.... and celebrities for making movies/TV? It's rare talent to lie and cheat and steal, so that one can make millions and millions?
The pay scale of many is skewed in a BIG way. You already said, "Don't raise my taxes." I bet I know where you sit.
So, their talent that you speak of should garner millions upon millions in salaries and millions upon millions in bonuses while helping to bankrupt the nation? Their talent is so exclusive that they should be entitled to that, while the workers who are the ones actually providing most of the work for their companies make squat?
And you didn't answer about the athletes and celebrities who make millions upon millions.
Socialism is part of our government, much in the same way capitalism is. Neither are bad, as long as a balance is maintained. Personally, I like the fact that I can work hard, capitalize on getting a nice car, and drive it on my socialist-installed roads, while drinking tap water which was cleaned by socialist-installed purification systems.
I don't know why socialism has suddenly become this big scary tag word for anything that they disagree with, when every city of every state in this country has socialist programs in place that no one seems to mind.
[EDIT: Also, on point? Obama's about as socialist as George W. Bush, considering he's done almost the exact same things but presented in a different way. About the only thing that could be defined as specifically socialist is "Obamacare", but considering it expects nothing from taxes and everything from your personal pocket, Republicans should like it more than Democrats should.]
What is unreasonable? How about making the American taxpayer provide the money to those corporations under the premise of "too big to fail," lay off people anyway, then still take your unreduced "rare talent compensation" on top of that? How's that for unreasonable for you?
I totally agree, but that is the fault of our representatives and the voters that elected them...not the corporations. At one point, the big banks were FORCED to take bailouts. Some did not want to but they were actually forced to take them.
At one point. But not at all points. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying corporations are solely to blame in this scenario; on the contrary, Congress has and will always have the power of the purse, which means that they ultimately dictate what happens in the United States financial realm above any and all other entities, corporate or governmental. However, insofar as the government is concerned, one can't help but wonder: would they have been bailed out if lobbying was restricted for corporations? Would they have gotten the same amount in bailouts if corporations weren't donating to personal and partisan campaigns? It's impossible to say, given that wasn't the situation, but even in government, corporate influence is still there.
My point as to it being unreasonable, however, is that even when they received money due to being supposedly near bankruptcy, their focus was not on alleviating mortgages or ensuring employment at the expense of their bonuses and/or salaries, their focus was -solely- on their salaries and how to make those stay at their pre-existing level while still keeping the doors open.
You want to talk about being a "job creator"? Then suffer a pay cut and keep your employees in work. That's the big kicker for me: seeing people proclaim themselves as the arbiters of employment, and then cut employees when faced with the potential of not getting that lucrative "talent compensation".
[EDIT: Also, I have a real problem with calling their pay "talent compensation", when a fair number of them inherit their companies through nepotism and not by being the best man for the job. Just saying.]
Lets not be naive here. Politicians will takes positions that helps them get elected. If that means voting to increase social programs that they know we cannot afford, they continue to do so. If that means saying illegal aliens are a problem, but attacking state governments that try to stop the hiring of illegals, they will do so. If that means giving subsidies, kick backs, and contracts to corporations to buy their support, well they are all over that!
Is this what would be defined as corrupt, telling the people what they want, but then doing another? Don't get me wrong, I believe politicians are corrupt as well; in fact, I've made a few posts on this website pointing out examples: elected judges who take bribes to fill jails (since jails receive funding dependant on their need), appointee judges receiving their current pay at the time of retirement for life and then getting another federal job to double dip into the federal kitty, and politicians not having to pay into Medicare or SSI but being in a position to make determinations about it.
But, giving them to corporations unbaded? When's the last time you gave someone money without first being asked? The relationship between politicians and corporations is a very mutually beneficial one to both parties involved; if it wasn't, politicians and/or parties would refuse corporate money, and corporations wouldn't offer it in the first place.
[EDIT: Insofar as corruption by saying one thing, doing another, would that constitute promising, say, a satisfactory relationship between company and consumer and instead garnering wholeheartedly deserved customer dissatisfaction? Because, you know, I haven't handled cases like that in ever...]
We apear to mostly agree. Maybe where I differ is that I expect politicians to take the higher road. I elected them to look out for my best interests. Which includes not prostituting themselves to corporations.
For the most part, yes, we agree. Politicians should take the high road in all things, including political contributions. Unfortunately, due to the clout politicians carry with creating or striking down commerce and finance laws, corporations will always feel the draw to pay towards politicians and expect favorable results for those donations. (For example, did you know Congress has actually spent money trying to make people eat more popcorn? True story; effort was made by a senator who represented a state which chiefly exported corn.)
Personally, I feel the best solution while still giving corporations a voice in elections (because they do still deserve to have a voice; they are affected by politicians, after all) is to eliminate their ability to donate unlimited money to partisan groups and instead let them stick with hard money contributions directly to the campaigner, which has always been limited to a set amount whether it's a corporation or an individual person doing the donating.
As for lobbyists, who knows there. I'm not one to eliminate free speech, and they have just as much right to petition the government as any individual does: their livelihood and the livelihood of all their employees depends on it. But lobbyists are definitely a tricky beast that need to be reduced somehow.
Suppose that every day, ten people go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.” Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get their “fair share”?
They realised that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everyone’s share, then the fifth and the sixth would each end up being paid to drink their beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each drinker’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:
The fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the drinkers began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth. She pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!” “Yes, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I did” “That’s true!!” shouted the seventh. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks” “Wait a minute,” yelled the first four in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor”
The nine drinkers surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.
Nice story. Where have I heard it before? Oh, well, it doesn't matter whether you use "fancy restaurant" or "bar" or anything, because it doesn't change the fact that your story is flawed.
First of all, if you're implying that people with no jobs should pay taxes to help lessen the burden on the rich, I'd be happy to hear how you're proposing to do that since they have no income. I mean, I know 97% of us have refrigerators (the horror!), but I'm not exactly sure what that would fetch on the open market, considering it belongs to my landlord.
Second, so you're suggesting that the tenth man has more of a right to a tax break than those that might be making the decision between keeping their lights on, putting food on the table, or putting gas in the car? Newsflash, boss: Most of us don't view 400k a year after paying for food and utilities a tight budget. In fact, in order for you to make that 400k, you've likely managed costs, be it in quality of services (cheaper freight will still get it there, after all), amount of employees (too much labor, too many paychecks going out), or employee wages (too much on the paychecks going out, not enough to come back home with). So, while you're making enough to 'scrape by', odds are you're either: sending people home with just enough to live paycheck to paycheck, and that's assuming an emergency doesn't come up (and it always does); or, you're sending prospective employees home without a job (hello, first four people!).
Third and finally, again, you get taxed the most because you take the most home. Let's look at your numbers one more time, champ. Now, granted, I'm just pulling these numbers off the top of my head and in no way do they represent accurate pay scales in every scenario. But let's assume that they're actually paying taxes:
The first four pay nothing (because they have no job, obviously; and if you think someone actually -wants- to have no source of income in a money-driven society, you've clearly lost your freaking head). The fifth, making about 12k a year, would pay $120, leaving him 11.72k for expenses. The sixth, making about 30k a year, would pay $900, leaving him 29.1k for expenses. The seventh, making 50k, would pay 3.5k a year, leaving 46.5k. Eighth, making 75k a year, pays 9k, leaving 66k. Ninth, making 100k a year, pays 18k, comes home with 82k. The tenth, assuming a flat amount of 1,000,000 (since we're talking 'protesting millionaires' here), would pay 590,000, leaving 410,000. (And that's not even counting his non-taxed income, such as direct dividends, tax loopholes, and so forth.)
Now, since we've looked at the math in a more logical amount and we can see just how much bank they're taking home after "paying for the drinks", you want to tell me just how unjust it is to raise taxes as a person taking home 410k? If you're having trouble living off that amount of money, even if taxes were raised to where you were only taking home 200k a year, you need a severe shock to your system and a dose of reality in your life.
So, let's cut the garbage, shall we? You may have to sell off your house in the Hamptons and take the kids out of private school, but you would in -no- way suffer with 200k instead of 410k.
"For those of you who agree with me, you are right. For those of you who don't, you are wrong." That's what that sentence means. I'm a man of evidence, krdrj. And the evidence has shown you full well that the more your wealth increases, you continue to take home more after taxes. You may be taxed more, this is true; you may be carrying the largest weight of taxes, but after the toll has been paid? You're still sitting pretty with six figures if you're in the 1%.
And even if we increased that tax to 80%, you're still in six figures. We'd have to tax you 90.001% until you actually saw five figures for an after-taxes income, and that would still be enough to live off of; trust me, many employees of corporations have lived off far less than 99k a year.
But, as I said, I'm a man of evidence. If you have some, deliver it. But I'm willing to wager that since you're resorting to pre-printed and intentionally deceptive (again, lawyer; I can smell the stench of mislead a mile away) stories to make your point, and then trying to condescend to me when I'm calling you on your story's deception, I'm willing to wager your evidence is non-existent.
On the other hand, however, we do have my points: your billing of $100 represents the 100% of sum taxes paid, their dollar amount representing the percentages. Just by applying a sample pay scale (based loosely off the pay scales of myself and others close to me in my life, in case you didn't figure that out), I pointed out how there's more money coming to the tenth man after taxes than all the others combined, without even counting money that person might be getting from non-taxables, tax loopholes, and so forth.
If that slips you up enough that your only response is, "You don't get it and you never will," I'm more than happy to let that constitute your apology for not being able to formulate your own words.
don't you think it would be much fairer if the top 20% would earn one fifth of the income, invest trillions as you say, hire millions and pay 38% of bills. I am sure that people would just love to be the ones to contribute in such a way.
Do not try and sell the people this neoliberal trickle down crap economics that has proved so blatantly wrong over the last 30 years. People are not dumb
GE was the largest lobbying group in DC at $6.8 million a QUARTER
GE's CEO doubled his salary to $15.2 million from the previous year
GE's PROFIT was $14.2 billion
GE's FEDERAL TAX REFUND was $3.2 billion
I don't know where you get your figures from, but I don't know anyone who works and who doesn't pay taxes. My mom didn't make much money at all when she worked (for a public university)..... poverty-level wages.... and she paid taxes, and now she pays taxes anytime she draws money out of her retirement account.... 20% taxes. I just don't buy your argument.
And, for those who barely make any money, the REAL issue is that there needs to be BETTER PAYING jobs in order for them to be able to pay taxes. People love to overlook that.
I know people who own small businesses and who make a very nice living for themselves, and they write off so many things that they end up not paying anything in taxes. One of my friends even brags about doing so. Perhaps you should be going after them.
The numbers I stated come from the IRS. Regarding jobs, there will be better paying jobs out there once our government gets out of the way. Obamacare's cost is a big reason employer's are hesitant to hire people. Oppressive regulations are another.
It is not so simple.... It is also where the money goes... Back to subsidies no bid contracts military to support and protect industries courts to support and maintain monopolies and all the tax deductions for lobbyists and 501c3 donations for now super pacs to continue and expand the oligarch hold. Just hurts your head stay out and keep going!
While that is true you have to consider that the top 5% made the vast majority of the income. They could not have made that money unless they in some way finessed it away from the 99%. Wall Street and big business many be smart enough to steal all of the assets from the 99%, but how much smarts does it take to pull the release cord on a guillotine?
KnightBlnc, I'm sorry but your reply doesn't get the job done. To simply quote "pre-Reagan" tax rates leaves out too much of the story. Reagan had one tax cut early in his eight years - that lowered the top rates but it also closed loopholes that had allowed those taxed at that rate to pay nowhere near 50% of their income. There were two more tax changes that actually raised taxes. It also leaves out the out of control inflation rate, the 20 % interest rate that was in place in "pre-Reagan" years under the Carter Administration; it leaves out the 7% unemployment rate (1980) when Carter left office as compared to the 5% unemployment rate when Reagan left office (and the interest rate which had dropped to 10%) .
You say we need to raise the Capital Gains tax but neglect to point out at which point that tax is raised....on everyone or on those making more than $100,000 a year? $200,000? Why does this matter? Because we have a small amount of investments - on occasion, we need to cash out some of this money to pay for an emergency - like last year when our Heat Pump went out - the replacement cost was $5,000 so we cashed out $5000 of our investments. We paid little to no capital gains on that money due to our income level (well below $100,000) - if that Capital Gains tax is raised on everyone we would pay 15% on cashing out that money....even though we take that money out of our income every month to cover our retirement and these current emergencies (and were already taxed on that income when we earned it).
Perhaps you can see why your answer just isn't good enough. Many of you also call for a Financial Transaction Tax but again, you don't explain who you want to pay that tax. A blanket across the board tax is going to hit everyone who gets a paycheck and uses a bank; everyone who has a 401K or a savings account at a bank. It effectively taxes and re - taxes money - taxed when it is deposited, taxed when it is withdrawn, taxed on when it is transferred from account, or to another bank....
This "movement" needs to define itself and its demands or it will NOT have my support.
Concerned: I really wonder what you are concerned about. You want the Occupy Wall Street movement does not have to run to define themselves, they have said time and time again they are in the process of formulating their plan. They do not have to allow themselves to be pinned down by sound bites or new clips. They are being ultra-democratic and allowing everyone their say.
But I digress. I use pre-Reagan a starting point but to be honest retooling the tax code is just the start, we also need to end our insane trade policies.
It is simply not enough to say that there should be a Financial Transaction Tax - for what if it is instituted and the 99% still get screwed? Many of the 99% have 410k's and investments true? Many of those who have lost their jobs are now living on those 401K's - should they also be caught by that FTT?
Same with the Capital Gains tax - many of those 99% who are now living off their 401k's due to a job loss pay little or no Capital Gains at the current rates. If this rate is increased across the board then they will all be hit by it....
You want broad support to continue with this movement, it Will Be Necessary to define certain demands so that the repercussions of those demands being met will be understood by all.
I am sorry to disagree again. But that is playing party politics - I repeat that this movement should protest the Federal, Local and State Governments who are in the pockets of the rich. Until they are forced to stop accepting the lobbying and the bribery then nothing will change....
I have a job, the problem is that it don't pay shit! There are plenty of jobs out there. The whole issue is the distribution of money. I work my ass off, and for what? Some fat prick who just sits and watches us sweat to make him money!!!
Yep. Some people don't get that. Jobs not being available isn't the only problem. The fact that too many jobs don't pay a living wage is an even bigger problem. They say it's so easy to make a living making minimum wage. Then I'd like to see them try it.
Many of those who went today joined our friends before heading to work such as myself. You can work and still feel that this economy is not working for you. It is easy to paint this movement as full of lazy complainers but if you go down and see for yourself you will see that that is simply not true.
Check your local fast food restaurant, i know the army navy and marines increased their enlistment age to 39. Problem is most people want 100k jobs with little to no experience. Most these people that are protesting are wondering why their 60k liberal arts degree can't get them a good job and bitch about 8 dollars a hour. Well maybe you should of tried harder. You think the CEO of City Bank has an associates degree in art. And i bet he worked is ass off for his position, but these protesters probably don't know anything about that. Most of these protesters are jealous immature people who have no clue what they are talking about and are further ruining America.
GENERIC REPLY TO TROLLS - OWS is not about taking down the government, wallstreet, or capitalism. It's about making those in the government, big business, and banking industries - who engage in financial and economic activities which are harmful to the general public - accountable. It's about changing the way corporations affect our government so that the negative affects as per the first statement are not allowable, and so the voice of the people to be heard in the democratic process is not dependent on how much money you earn. OWS is not specifically affiliated with any political party, as these issues do not affect one political party or another, but all Americans. OWS protesters are not a bunch of hippies, but demographically come from all religions, educational backgrounds, ages, races, genders, and political affiliations. The system is broken - we cannot appeal to it to fix itself. We cannot be foolish enough to think that corporations and other institutions will police themselves left to their own devices. OWS is leaderless, and decisions are based on those who vote at the general assembly disscussions held in each city. Please educate yourselves.
If Americans weren't so lazy to do manual labor I'm know there is plenty of work for you. The problem with most Americans today is they want everything handed to them and forget how hard of our fore fathers had it and even our great grandparents had it during the depression. If you dont have money then do something about it instead on sitting on your butts just waiting.
"blah blah blah forget how hard of our fore fathers had it and even our great grandparents had it during the depression, blah blah blah"
Holy shit, did Ann Coulter take over your brain? You sound just like that stupid bitch!
The Great Depression happened and continued because just like today, the government got soft and did nothing to reign in runaway corporate and bankster greed, until the public demanded a fix, and the politicians grew balls and made a fix happen. Ergo, we're living a repeat of history, got that? You're not helping!
I don't think a lot of people are against manual labor. The problem is (one of the problems) that a lot of that work pays minimum wage, and it's really hard to support oneself, let alone a family, on minimum wage. Sure, it's better than nothing for a short period of time, but to work for minimum wage long-term isn't going to solve anything. Companies need to anty up and start paying living wages.
It's based upon REAL needs, but it is completely unfair that companies pay those who actually do most of the work shit wages, while their top execs and managers make a ton of money and can afford umpteen houses, cars, luxury vacations, etc. when they don't do much of the work.
You make it sound like the middle class people are the only ones guilty of buying those items you mention.... while the assholes at the top get to buy way more than that while screwing the middle class.
Why would you want 'minimum wage' to be considered a living wage? Minimum wage is just that, a minimum businesses must pay. It helps kids and those just entering the work force get a start. It should take a little time and experience/education to earn a 'living wage'.
If you aren't earning a 'living wage', then don't start a family. If you lose your 'living wage' job, then get two minimum wage jobs to compensate for awhile.
Problem is most available jobs are minimum wage, including hard working labor jobs and positions where you do the work of 3 people. The amount of jobs that give a livable income are so limited and the experience you need to even get slightly noticed are so great that you see people lining up to work at places like McDonalds.
So many of these jobs paying such a small amount give people low income so they have less to spend. The less they have to spend the tighter their budget. The tighter their budget the less they buy causing alot of other businesses to struggle with sales. This in-turn makes for less demand in fields effected by the drop in sales.
This trend will only continue with some being lucky enough to work in a field with high demand but most finding tougher and tougher times. Those lucky people will be pressured to do more and more work as others move to do their job in hopes for a better life. Anyway.. we can see a trend.. quality of life will continue to drop for most, we will see a bigger and bigger gap between upper and lower class all because of greed.
This movement is a struggle to fight against this greed and corruption. So for all of you who say "shut up and work" get a fucking clue.
So, someone just out of college should earn minimum wage, because they have no experience in the workforce? The problem with a low minimum wage is that a lot of companies don't value their employees and will give them minimum wage, instead of a living wage. Not everyone making minimum wage is a student.
So many keep saying "get any job, even if it's minimum wage". That's just not realistic.
It mostly depends on what your degree is in whether you will need to take a minimum wage position. Some degrees have a higher demand, therefore value, than others. If there is little demand for your degree, expect to make minimum wage starting out.
If you do not think the company you are working for values your contribution, find another job.
If there are no jobs in your area...MOVE.
Bottom line is, America does not OWE you a living wage. You must EARN it by making reasonable life decisions. Such as, get a degree that has a value, do not start a family that you cannot afford, and be willing to adapt.
you guys are so stupid cant understand this is new world order means new way of slavery 99 persent work hard 1 persent on top take everythings and in past use to bring slaves by ships and work for free now days make their country so bad they run to become slave for that 1 persent so fuck you all think other wise
How can that be true if you have the opportunity to start your own local business and be your own boss? Do odd jobs for now, and save some cash, then start a business. Be your own boss- if you do it without debt you wont be a slave to anyone.
And whose fault is that Ray? Is it just Wall Street Corporations or is it the political system itself?
Aug. 6: Massachusetts State police shut down the stand of a 12-year-old refugee from Fukushima, Japan, who was selling green tea he brought with him when he and his family evacuated after the tsunami.
Aug. 1: Police officers in Coralville, Iowa, ordered at least three sets of children to quit selling lemonade during the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa unless they first got a vendor’s permit and a health inspection. This is the first known example of a coordinated set of shutdowns at a single time.
July 19: In McAllen, Texas, authorities shut down a girl’s lemonade stand for failing to obtain a food permit and threatened a grandmother who protested with a $50 fine.
July 17: Police in Appleton, Wis., inform children that despite legally selling lemonade and cookies in their front yard during an annual city festival for the past several years, a new city ordinance bans these sales. The reason? To protect licensed vendors from competition. How’s that for a great example of how America works?
July 15: Cops in Midway, Ga., shut down a lemonade stand some children were running in their own front yard, saying the kids had to obtain a peddler’s license and a food license and pay $50 per day for a temporary business permit.
June 16: A county inspector in Maryland closes kids’ lemonade stand and fines parents $500 for violating county law.
June 10: The Philadelphia Department of Health shuts down a lemonade stand operated by a cancer charity because it lacked a necessary permit and — get this — didn’t install a hand-washing station.
March 7: Officials in Hazelwood, Mo., said a cookie stand in a family’s driveway violated local ordinances and ordered an end to the Girl Scouts cookie sale.
Feb. 26: Georgia police demanded the closure of a Girl Scout cookie stand until the girls obtained a peddler’s permit.
Feb. 26: Savannah, Ga., officials determined that city ordinances require an end to a 40-year tradition of Girl Scouts selling cookies outside the historic home of the organization’s founder.
You are picketing and protesting the wrong place - this needs to be a protest against local governments and the things going on above. This sends a real message to the Federal Government that we will no longer stand still while they erode our basic rights to earn a living.
It is the politicians who have crawled into the pockets of the various businesses - and not just Wall Street - who need to be protested.
you guys dont understand me the reality is we are slave to hole system and only you can win and get back tha country is force other wise you be back in first place you started and no way they let you have pice of pie unless you sweep all and start new stablishment with new law this is not hard to understand
Reverse Citizens United. Make clear Corporations are not people in the Constitution. (Constitutional Amendment)
Separately Elect the U.S. Attorney General, in non-partisan race: i.e., not appointed by the President. This will make sure the people have a lawyer protecting their interests vis-a-vis the Gov’t (most state-level AGs are separately elected from the Gov). (Constitutional Amendment)
Conscript Presidential Military Power to instigate wars and military actions abroad, without Congressional authorization. (Constitutional Amendment)
International Human Rights Treaties Enforcement: Create a Private Right of Action to enforce International Treaties domestically, or alternatively, providing that the Gov’t must abide by them, enforceable by the U.S. AG perhaps. (Con. Amend)
Natural Resource Usage Tax & Energy Policy: Tax the use of natural resources where ever they come from, and use this to create a zero-oil/coal energy policy (along with huge investment in solar, which is already at market readiness, and on-grid in Nevada). (Fed Law).
Lobbyist Prohibition: Have a prohibition on former Congress people (and perhaps Gov’t employees) becoming Lobbyist for 20 years (eliminate influence peddling). (Fed law)
WTO Accountability: Make the WTO have a public process component, transparency, and accountability. (United Nations)
Create Standing for Private Citizens/NGOs at World Court: International treaties (except WTO treaties) are not enforceable, except by gov’t against gov’t, and they don’t do that. We need a real Int’l legal & enforcement mechanism to enforce International Human Rights treaties. (United Nations)
Let's use this energy to get our jobs back from illegal aliens who drove down the cost of wages because of corporate greed. They hire them to make more money cause of cheap labor. What's wrong with e verify so we can take back our jobs and higher wages. They are also why are public schools are broke and why almost every city runs a deficit. Wake up people these are our jobs and our country. Illegals help corporation's make more money then they should. The voice is here, so let's make it happen e verify should be a must ... The greed is why they don't want to use it.
You guys are idiots. Well, 99% of you are. Your views are simplistic and your motives are immature. Your need to scapegoat trumps common sense. Unfortunately, you're missing the bigger picture which is ironic since you seem to think everyone else does. Its sad. And funny that you have so much in common with the 'redneck' Tea Party'ers you get off on ridiculing. Enjoy wasting yours and everyone else's time. When you and other equally useless and unhelpful peopke finish, then we can get serious about having practical and meaningful dialogue about changing this nation's course.
I'm no politician nor do I calim to understand how our government works, but when a family works their asses off and has nothing to show for it, I'd say there are some major issues here. A household with 2 incomes can't even make ends meet? What's wrong with this picture?
I don't think anyone is asking for free money, just fair distribution. What about the fat lazy fuckers in major corps. that just sit and collect all the wealth while the rest of america is fighting over scraps?
But what "ends" are they trying to meet? That is the real question - if that family has a large flat screen tv and computer and blue ray player in every bedroom, and their family room are they really "poor"? If that family goes out to dinner 3 times a week instead of staying home and cooking meals that cost much less, is that family really poor? If they get their hair cut colored and styled every six weeks and their pedis and their mani's done every week, is that family really "poor"?
You are a complete douche bag and waste of a human being. Don't come on here to spew your venom you racist prick. Go outside and stand in the street and close your eyes. No one will miss you I promise.
" If we dont stop the special interests, Wall Street Banksters, and lobbyist, this country will cease as a Republic and Democracy as our founding fathers had intended it."
I am paraphrasing a little know quote by Warren Beatty way back in 2000 when he was considering running for President . I added the "wall street banksters" line to update. Point is he was so right over 11 years ago.
Cheers to all who are in this fight. We in the rest of the country love you guys.
Where is the great protest music like the 60s? Has this generation artists been bought out, or fear reprisals? Are they cowards? Hope I am wrong but their silence is deafening. "Something happening Here"
Yup....that's the ticket, protest music. That should solve all problems. While we're at it, maybe a good slogan or two? Nice ripoff of a cliched phrase: "their silence is deafening".
C'mon...we need concrete solutions not this crap.
Hilarious!
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