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Baby grand piano $40 – I can help load into truck
San Diego Reader Classified ads, November 20, 2019
3 p.m., Nov. 20
Sweetwater Union High School District parents who live east of I-805 in Chula Vista are demanding that the district account for the way their Mello-Roos homeowner assessments are being spent. Parents are paying, in addition to property tax, a special assessment that goes to the school district, yet they believe the quality of their children's education is declining.
Sweetwater parent Mark Witcher said in an August 11 interview, "Mello-Roos taxes keep going up — they were just raised 2 percent — but we weren't even informed of the increase and haven't had a chance to give our input about them."
One of Witcher's main concerns is that the Mello-Roos money collected by the Sweetwater district is being misspent. The district used $1.5 million in Mello-Roos monies to purchase iPads for all of its seventh graders. Witcher said, "I don't believe that was appropriate. The money is supposed to be used for new schools or infrastructure, not for iPads."
Witcher also said he listened to a video made by Sweetwater interim superintendent Ed Brand in which Brand talked about the millions in Mello-Roos funds the district has collected. Witcher wondered if the district has millions in the accounts, why hasn't there been a swimming pool built at Otay Ranch High School, as promised. His son, who is on the water-polo team, had to be bused to a distant west-side swimming pool for his daily practice.
The Sweetwater Union High School District has 17 Mello-Roos districts, all but one located on the east side. Overlapping most of these districts are the Chula Vista Elementary School District's 13 Mello-Roos districts and the City of Chula Vista's 13 bond-issuing Mello-Roos districts, as well as the city's Mello-Roos maintenance districts. Mello-Roos homeowners pay property tax in addition to Mello-Roos taxes; however, unlike property taxes, Mello-Roos taxes are not deductible.
The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 set up the new tax in the wake of Proposition 13; the taxes provided developers with money for infrastructure. Bonds were sold in order to pay for the construction of schools, roads, sewers, and parks.
Prior to Proposition 13, which was passed in 1978, school boards and city councils looked to local property taxes to finance these projects. Ironically, the popular Proposition 13 vote that sought to reduce and control taxes tied new homeowners to a higher parcel tax that, in the case of the Sweetwater Mello-Roos districts, has a built-in annual increase of 2 percent.
In the early 1980s, shortly after the passage of Prop 13, vast tracts of undeveloped land in eastern Chula Vista lay heavy on developers' hands. Because property tax was no longer available for development, Mello-Roos became the tool to finance the city's east-side expansion.
Gerald Hanono, a native Chula Vistan and Stanford University student, wrote a 110-page thesis titled "California Dreamin'" on the effects of Mello-Roos on Chula Vista. Hanono wrote, "Mello-Roos made its entrance to Chula Vista in 1986 when, after being petitioned by the EastLake Co., the [Chula Vista Elementary School District] Board of Trustees voted 4-1 to begin the process for the EastLake I development. The [Sweetwater Union High School District] soon followed suit. Since the EastLake Co. held all the land (the houses were constructed but not sold), the rest of the process was academic; homeowners were to be forced to pay the bond assessments."
According to information Hanono obtained from the San Diego County tax assessor, Mello-Roos assessments vary dramatically. In 2011, the total median annual Mello-Roos tax paid by a resident of EastLake I was $970.64; Rancho del Rey, $1145.00; EastLake II, $1146.02; Otay Ranch, $3255.54; and EastLake III, $3487.82.
The total Mello-Roos tax collected from a resident is shared between the agencies that administer the Mello-Roos districts. Hanono demonstrates the disbursement: "For fiscal year 2011–2012, the median EastLake I resident, whose home was constructed in l988, will pay $970.64 in Mello-Roos assessments, which breaks down to $727.60 for its Sweetwater facilities district and $242.68 for its Chula Vista Elementary facilities district."
At the other end of the spectrum is an Otay Ranch home, built in 2001, that pays a total of $3255.54 in Mello-Roos taxes, with $1008.14 for the Sweetwater Union High School District, $815.40 for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, and $1432 in other Mello-Roos assessments.
While all the homeowners claim the same educational benefits, the numbers indicate that some subdivisions are paying more than others. The disparity between subdivisions is further exacerbated by the fact that another eastern subdivision, Rolling Hills Ranch, pays no Mello-Roos.
Many people moved to Mello-Roos districts because of the schools — they are willing to pay more if it buys their children a better education. But Sweetwater has not enjoyed a good reputation in the past few years, and when some Mello-Roos homeowners found out that their fees had just been increased, they requested a meeting with Sweetwater superintendent Ed Brand. They scheduled a meeting in an Eastlake school for Thursday, August 30, but had to relocate to the Otay Ranch Town Center mall when Brand backed out.
At the meeting, parents discussed their discontent — both with Brand backing out and with Mello-Roos issues. They argued that the benefit from the extra money they pay is being diluted because of a recent policy instituted by Brand referred to as "open boundaries." The policy allows any child in the district to transfer to any school in the district. As a consequence, parents say, there was a migration of students from west-side schools into east-side schools at the beginning of the 2012 school year. According to the Mello-Roos parents, this influx caused traffic problems, classroom overcrowding, delays in students getting textbooks, and difficulty for students getting through long lunch lines.
Parents claim that many of the students coming to the east-side schools are escaping low-achieving schools on the west side.
At the Otay Ranch mall meeting, parent Jeff Jackson asked, "Why am I paying for someone else's poor performance? If Imperial Beach [west side] schools are having problems, don't take it out on my kid's education."
Instead of attending the meeting, Brand posted a video on the district website explaining the open-boundaries program and the way the district spends the Mello-Roos money.
Brand explains the district's use of Mello-Roos funds in this way: "Let's say I'm a student at Eastlake, and I apply and go to the program at Mar Vista High School. The money from the Mello-Roos area that I come from actually can follow me to that school. So, district-wide, approximately 25 percent of our students are in Mello-Roos attendance areas and 25 percent of the building can be charged as a result of that. At Mar Vista High School, if we wanted to build a fence, for instance, we could charge approximately 25 percent, or the number of students who are at Mar Vista High from a Mello-Roos district, for the cost of that fence and its installation."
Parents think the message equivocates. Is Brand saying he can spend 25 percent of the Mello-Roos funds anywhere in the district, or is he saying the school district will spend on a school only the percentage of Mello-Roos money proportionate to the Mello-Roos students who attend that school?
Luis and Veronica Cruz, parents of Eastlake High students, attended the Otay Ranch mall meeting. They said the overcrowding was so bad at their son's school that he had to miss lunch for four days while he stood in line to sign up for the PSAT test.
They also stated that their daughter's biology/forensics teacher's budget for the year was only $47. They told me the teacher was reduced to using road kill for assignments. In a follow-up interview, their daughter told me the teacher is currently using a road-kill specimen to demonstrate how bodies decompose.
Veronica Cruz said the conditions at the school have begun to remind her of when she went to school in Tijuana. She said you had to bring the school's supplies — bleach, toilet paper, everything.
She said she and her husband have worked hard to move to a good location so their kids can have a good education.
This is a very good introduction into the world of Mello-Roos.
For the next lesson, we would need Sweetwater to open their books and tell us exactly what they have been doing with Mello-Roos funds for the past 20 years--because there have been all sorts of indications that all is not well with Sweetwater finances.
Large sub-topic: that Mello-Roos funds have been used for payroll. This first emerged in 2008, I believe--it was the topic of an editorial in the Eastlake High School newspaper at that time. Obviously, while that wasn't an approved application of funds, the attempts to correct the situation fell on deaf ears.
Clear evidence of the lack of respect for students, teachers, parents and taxpayers here in Sweetwater. What can we do about it?
I would like to make a request that there be a formal, forensic audit of Sweetwater that would have authority to research as far back as is necessary.
If that were to be done, other problems would appear, such as Categorical funds being applied wrongly.
The history of Sweetwater is not pretty, but if we face up to it, and get some good people working on it, things can get better.
Oh--and for a big change, get a Superintendent who is capable instead of corrupt, and a Board of Trustees in whom we can have trust.
when the numbers did not add up regarding the amount of mello roos monies being used for ipads dr. brand's response was this "we have students from the east side who have chosen to transfer to the west side, those mello roos dollars follow them"........ you know i was born of a day but it was NOT yesterday. i would, and i am sure YOU would like to see the real numbers on that stretch. something is telling me that the numbers of east side students attending west side schools pales in comparison to the number of west side kids that are now attending east side schools.
now i live on the west side, i believe that our schools are equal to the east side schools. my children attended west side schools and they have turned out fine. both are college graduates and in the teaching field. i believe the west side teachers are as good as east side teachers. having said that, i would be pretty torked off if i lived on the east side and was paying mello roos yet was seeing my tax dollars being spent elsewhere.
back in march there was a board meeting held at sweetwater high school, when challenged about the way he was overseeing our tax dollars - dr brand said "you stopped us from borrowing from prop o and so we are now having to borrow from the mello roos to keep the district running and make payroll" (paraphrase, but an entire gym heard him)
the leadership of brand is in question. how many of your mello roos dollars are going to be spent on brands new brain child of a 2nd charter school - now this one will be on the east side - so yes folks something tells me he is going to say "it is ok to do so". the first charter school on L street that offers free day care, ipads - guess where the charter school got the money? well, we, the suhsd are paying for it. now wouldn't you think that brand would be focusing on 7-12?
why do we have so many consultants? we are one of the largest school districts in the nation - and the best we deserve under brand are consultants?????????????
funds for education? remember that slick move by brand? he brought in a consultant for that too - mike ellis, a convicted felon, and good friend of brand. convicted of manufacturing meth. fortunately the taxpaying community pushed back and the committee was disbanded.
asb funds - how many of you are aware that 5% of each and every penny your children raise goes back to the district? so on top of your taxes paying for salaries, etc. they are now expecting our children via all of you to pay as well.
why were the school boundaries taken down by brand WITHOUT board approval? heck, brand does not care, he does not even live in our community so why would he care about the impact of such a poor decision. it is your children who are packed into classrooms like sardines thanks to this ill conceived idea
hopefully a board member who is focused on fiscal responsibility will step up and speak out for change - i am hearing many are looking to mccann. i would love for mccann to prove me wrong, i would love for cartmill to prove me wrong as well. these two gentlemen have long prided themselves as persons who are vested in their communities, that listened - they can no longer ignore the pleas of their neighbors - their neighbors want a new direction. they see brand as an extension of 'the gandara'.
but what has unveiled the real dr. brand is the fact that he resigned effective 8-31-12 even though he had a contract with the district until 12-31-12. dr. brand abandoned our children, will mccann and cartmill stand for that? monday night we will see - mondays votes wlll show their neighbors what they place value in - their neighbors children or themselves.
Mr. John McCann PLEASE, prove me wrong.
Sorry,anniej McCann is a self serving politician just like Cartmill. McCann claims he got rid of Gandara,not true as we all know. He seeks credit for all the positive decisions after the fact. Arlie Mcann and Cartmill vote as a block most of the time Quinones is with them. Watch and see at Mondays board mtg. They will vote Brand in 4:1. The only time mCCann voted out of the block was when he didn't vote for the Mello-Roos increase. He lives in Eastlake is why. He doesn't care otherwise.Look he hasn't helped his community why didn't he say no to open boundaries this effected his entir community. He didn't even insist on a board vote to attempt to fix the matter. Please do not hold your breath, he doesn't care,watch on Mon. Brand will get a big contract and McCann vote for it.
I hope you are wrong.
I hope that Quinones will figure out that she should do the right thing.
I hope that Ricasa wakes up. I hope that Cartmill begins to see what selling out the community is doing. I hope that McCann realizes that his only hope (if he wants any sort of a career in this part of the country) is to respond to the community's wishes. I hope Bertha Lopez will finally be treated with respect by the other members of the board, who ought to be ashamed of themselves for reasons to numerous to list.
Eastlaker: i too hope erupting is wrong, but i am called the eternal optimist by those who know me. i just have to believe that mccann and cartmill will draw a line in the sand after reading the interviews brand gave to the ut and star news, which basically made them out to be obstructionists to the community i.e. they kept the fact that he had resigned and they failed to advise us of the real reason for the special board meeting. surely mccann and cartmill realize the time for change is now, surely they want to be part of that process.
"Arlie Mcann"
There's a scary thought!
anniej... Unfortunately, yours is a pipe dream. You speak truth when you say John McCann brought us Brand, and everyone knows Juim brought us Gandara. For those sins both MUST GO!
Jim brought us Gandara.
Ok gang be prepared, word on the street is that Ed Brand is making outrageous contract demands. He will be asking for a large raise, much more than he makes now, in addition to all the supplemental stuff that you can imagine. He does not care about students, teachers, staff, parents, taxpayers or anyone else in our community. I just cant fathom why Ricasa, Cartmill and McCann cant see this. Many people are suffering in our community with job losses, foreclosures, cuts in services at the district, teachers making contract concessions, etc., yet this fatcat has the audicity to ask for more, more, and more! Reminds me of the robber barons of the industrial age!! Incredible!!!
It has occurred to me that Ed Brand might actually be operating under the disadvantage of a personality disorder, as his perceptions and demands are so incredibly "out there".( I could try and make a joke about this, except I'm not really joking). Pretty sure Sweetwater needs to cut its losses ASAP when it comes to Brand.
Why doesn't the board ever ask him to back up any of his ideas or claims with data? Why can't we find out the results of the Compact for Success (his big claim to fame), in terms of students accepted, students continuing, students graduating, how many years it takes for graduation, majors selected, etc.? We need feedback, and I think the students should know what the track record is so they can be realistically prepared. Is it a successful program, or over-hyped verbiage?
A true educator would be all over this kind of thing. A true educator would share progress or setbacks and be open about tweaking the program to make it better. A true educator wouldn't be bleeding a district dry for himself while there are still dozens of teachers still pink slipped and out of work.
A true educator would speak out, tell the truth, open the books, encourage the students, teachers and staff and aim for real leadership.
Ed Brand does none of these things. He schemes, juggles the books, lies, disappears for a few days, gives interviews to newspapers while not speaking directly to the community.
If the board of Trustees can't figure out that Ed Brand needs to go, there is no hope for the board of Trustees.
As Mr. Brickley said, Ed has already hit the trifecta of "no confidence" votes; the board needs to pay attention.
bvagency: if what you say is true, we need to be prepared. when brand was here before the district allegedly paid for a leased car, that he took with him when he left. some say the district continued to pay the lease even after he was gone. let us not forget brand said he would work the month of september for free - he made that statement to honor his promise that if the employees of our district agreed to cuts so would he - instead what did he do? he resigned 8-31 - abandoned the students and taxpayers. this community will simply NOT TOLERATE a- brand being offered a contract or b- a rich contract.
there is more to the relationship than superintendent and certain board members - working as professionals dealing with school business. there is more to the relationship than board member and 'some' administrators (allegedly, in the past some administrators have interacted with a certain board member outside of the district). hopefully no current administrators.
for the record what i speak has nothing to do with mccann. stay tuned.
it is time for brand to go - as he so eloquently put it time for him to walk off into the sunset.
for the record it also has NOTHING to do with any kind of interpersonal relationships.
The BOARD of trustees needs to be voted out. Many of them have felony corruption indictments against them to boot.
Ya know, the people who live there (on the 'East Side'), and bought those homes, did not HAVE to move there. That was a decision made by them, and I'm sure that Mello-Roos was clearly disclosed during the escrow process. If they are not happy with the outcome, they can move again. I do not defend developers, and I do not defend the school district. I DO believe in personal responsibility and owning ones decisions. I am a 50 year resident of Chula Vista, long before 805 was ever constructed. That 'physical barrier' was only the beginning of the division that currently exists in our town. There is a lot of emotion swirling around this issue, and if it continues in this tone, we will create our very own "West Side Story"! Be careful what you ask for, because you will get it.
So you are saying because we bought homes there, we need to shut up when the school district raids our funds? For NON-COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT projects?
tpjaia: you know you are exactly what this community does NOT NEED. we do not need a divide of any kind. what we need to do is stand up ALL OF US, against the hiring of brand as permanent superintendent and speak up to bring about change by driving the alleged corruption out of our community.
i TOO am a 50+ year resident of Chula Vista , long before 805 was ever constructed. there is no division, there is no physical barrier - funny i have never noticed a barbed wire fence around the east side. i drive over there and shop, eat, visit friends - i am not asked to prove i live there. while i do not mean to speak for them i will say they CHOSE to move there and PAY EXTRA, so why shouldn't they get what they are paying for? there is no emotion swirling around this issue - the emotion that is swirling is around what the board will do with their votes on monday night, will they support the will of the taxpayers or will they cave to the will of greedy brand. will they help to bring about the positive change that is needed.
for the record how many city council meetings have you been to? how many board meeting have you been to? how much research have you done on the issues? what have you done to promote positive change? hopefully you are not one of those who simply bangs away on the computer keyboard yet does nothing. while we all have freedom of speech along with that comes the responsibility to show up, stand up, and speak up - this isn't something you can simply phone in.
Tpjaia, I'm sure the homeowners knew about the Mello-Roos. That's not the issue.
The issue is that Mello-Roos CFD's are intended to get new schools built in new subdivisions. Not intended to be an indefinite cash cow for the school districts slush funds. Also, there is no reason to raise the tax every year as the vast majority of required facilities in those CFD'S have already been completed.
The Mello-Roos is being greatly abused by both Sweetwater Union AND Chula Vista Elementary school district. Those board members ate on notice.
Exactly--if the title of your position is Trustee, you are in your position to maintain the public's trust.
Maintaining the public's trust would have to include playing by the rules, being honest in your bookkeeping and not playing a shell game with the accounts.
This includes Mello-Roos, it includes all the "categorical" funds that have been raided (as Ed Brand thinks everything is a free-for-all, all there as his private candy store), as well as essentially stealing ASB funds from the school children (for what--for Brand's $20,000/mo. fee as a consultant?).
Some "trustees".
Once begun, the pattern of "no rules" when it comes to financial matters essentially means that we in Sweetwater can be robbed blind. Are we being robbed blind? Maybe--because we aren't allowed to know what is going on with the financials.
A recent news report mentioned that the company handling Sweetwater's bonds is in trouble for mishandling funds. Is anyone surprised? Can we please get the full story of who is in charge, what they are doing and how much is being stolen?
It isn't east side versus west side. It is the community versus Ed "the Non-Educator" Brand and the majority Board of untrustworthy Trustees.
The community demands clarity, transparency and honesty when it comes to all the accounts. We also demand that unless the Board of Trustees step up, do their homework and work for the schools and the community, it is time for them to be gone.
And it is long past time for Ed Brand to be gone.
Won't Back Down - true life story made into a movie. the promo's should do much to help turn the taxpayers out in force.
is this community ready to stand up for what is right? is it asking too much for a school district to handle our tax dollars in a fiscally responsible manner which would result in a quality education for all 7-12 grades? is it asking too much for our school board to provide us with a superintendent who is focused on district business solely?
should our superintendent and a member of the board be involved in an outside business venture(s) together?
should a board member and administrators be involved in outside business venture(s) together?
there is a great deal riding on the upcoming vote that the board will take monday night.................. a great deal.
How come no one sees how bad of a teachers union sea is? Curious.
I'm not defending Brand of any of this other drama either.
How bad? Care to put flesh on those dried bones. Or, are they just some dried twigs that look like bones?
greatness83: while they may not be perfect i would ask one to look at which candidates the unions are backing. which union, if any, is backing pearl quinones???????????
i rest my case..............................................................
I would recommend everyone really interested in the Mello-Roos topic take a look at Hanono's thesis. It's about 100 pages long and focuses on Chula Vista. For resources he used the archives of the Union Tribune and Star News, County Assessor's Office and interviews with former city administrators and residents.
I think there are short term and long term questions that need to be answered for people who live in Mello-Roos areas and this would be a resource.
Thanks, Susan.
I wonder if anyone in Mayor Cox's office or anyone on the Chula Vista City Council has an opinion on any of this.
I am sure no one wants to go on record, but it would certainly be encouraging to hear that someone in authority is in favor of getting things cleaned up and straightened out.
THE CONTRACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! folks, it is going to be all about THE CONTRACT.
board docs will be up anywhere from 5:00pm to 6:01pm then we, the TAXPAYERS will get to see the contract that our board members quionones, mccann, cartmill and ricasa will be offering brand - can't wait to see it - let us keep ever present on our mind WE ARE BROKE ACCORDING TO BRAND -
the contact will become a mute issue if the board chooses to not offer brand a job. the whole community will be watching to see what they do.
my hopes are that those who say they know mccann are right and that john mccann will lead the board is a NO vote.
Time for Ed "Bad News" Brand to clear out. I certainly hope the Board of Trustees can get that straight.
Eastlaker, unfortunately Mayor Cox has no authority over the school districts. The school board members are voted into office by the public and they are only answerable to the voters. Ed Brand is an employee if the SUHSD BOARD also. Also, the Chula Vista Elementary school district is still spending Mello Roos like crazy on non-facility items.
I know that the Mayor has no direct authority over the school districts, but would it be so hard to make a statement to the effect that, "All of us in Chula Vista are in favor of honest bookkeeping, and we would hope that those put in a position of responsibility over our childrens' education would live up to the task that has been given them".
Would that be so hard?
On occasion some "leader" has to step out and declare. Who better than the mayor of the county's second-largest city, CV? The mayor, for better or worse, has a sort of bully pulpit and could make some noise. If she doesn't do anything, it does tell the people who put her in office just what sort of leader she is not. She could call them out and "demand" they start to act responsibly, accept the consequences of their actions, stop the secrecy, and do a thorough clean-up. It would carry no legal clout, but might focus the apathetic locals on the corrupt and dysfunctional school board. It would be worth a try.
That's what I'm thinking, but apparently I am in the minority.
Eastlaker: while i have the utmost respect for Ms. Cox, i am thinking making such a statement would not serve her well. no doubt she is concerned (Ms. Cox) as this negatively impacts anyone looking to move into our area. most responsible persons will research the school districts prior to committing to that kind of expense. hard to believe two leaders could have totally different views on integrity - but then again THIS IS NOT BRANDS COMMUNITY - he lives up north, so in reality we are just a paycheck down here
Yet, speaking up for right should be considered a plus.
It is a sad world when people who campaign for leadership positions, get them and then do not step up when their voices are needed.
Mayor Cox, what do you have to say?
eastlaker: we the voters got ourselves into this mess - we need to get ourselves out of it. those board members that the community voted in, they are the ones who need to act on the voices of the community, they are the ones who need to take action, not Mayor Cox. Mayor Cox has no power in this issue - but alas no doubt she is as sick of the situation as we are.
Don't want to quibble, just want to bring up what appeared in another comment section--that someone thinks Cheryl Cox might be interested in the positoin of Superintendent after her term as mayor is over, so that there would need to be a placeholder for a couple of years. That same person mentioned Jerry Rindone. Thoughts?
"Many feel the funds should stay in the areas where they're collected."
Huh... do they feel that way about property taxes collected in La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe, or is that "different", and it's good to move that money away from the area where it's collected... and into their own district?
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.


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Return to Men's Classic Black Leather Motorcycle Vest #VM400SP
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
leather vest
May 1, 2019
Reviewer: STEVEN BRODIE from Virginia Beach, VA United States
exactly what i was looking for. light weight and well made.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Leather vest
April 7, 2019
Reviewer: Jesus Carlin from Beach park, IL United States
Liked it a lot good place to shop!!!
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October 11, 2018
Reviewer: Slinger from REDDING, CA United States
I've ordered many items from Jamin' Leather & have not been disappointed!!! Great price, excellent quality, & super quick delivery time!!! Always impressed!
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
very nice
August 14, 2018
Reviewer: hector g from CA
very nice. too small.
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3x men's vest
July 25, 2018
Reviewer: Mary Tucker from Shreveport, LA United States
I was very happy about the prompt arrival but I purchased a man's vest because I'm a plus size l day n wanted a better fit. That did not happen. It ran very small and seemed to fit the same as a woman's would have.
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very happy
July 19, 2018
Reviewer: Raymond Stone from west lebanon, NH United States
I measured wrong the first time and had to do an exchange. The customer rep I spoke with was very helpful and the return/exchange went very smooth. The replacement fits and looks great! Thanks for everything.
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March 28, 2018
Reviewer: Bruce Tecza from Las Vegas, NV United States
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Pleased as always
October 13, 2016
Reviewer: Joseph Browning
Looks and fits great. Once again the product looks better in person. I have no complaints at all.
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Great Product Great Customer Service
September 6, 2016
Reviewer: Emily
I bought this vest for my fiancé. The first one was a bit small, but Jammin Leather courteously and promptly let us exchange it for a larger size, even calling us to confirm that the package was on it's way, and got it to us in plenty of time for our event. Love this company.
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August 7, 2015
Reviewer: VAN HORN from TN
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Golen and Rutzen have been named co-captains for the 2012-13 season.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Harvard women's basketball team announced its captains for the 2012-13 season and presented its four major awards Wednesday night at its annual postseason awards banquet at The Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge.
Rising seniors Emma Golen and Miriam Rutzen have been voted by their teammates as captains for next season. Golen also received the Most Improved award, while Rutzen was named the Best Defensive Player for the second consecutive year.
Golen earned a starting spot in the lineup after playing just 7.1 minutes per game a year ago. She averaged 9.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in 2011-12, and was the Crimson's best shooter from behind the arc. Golen connected on 40.4 percent of her three-point attempts, good for second in the Ivy League, and averaged 1.5 per contest.
Rutzen started all 30 games for the Crimson, leading the team and ranking sixth in the Ivy League with 6.3 rebounds per game. Rutzen also ranked sixth in the conference with 0.8 blocks per contest while adding 1.2 steals per game and 5.5 points.
Senior co-captain Lindsay Louie earned the Harvard Pride Award, an accolade given to the individual that best exhibits the true definition of what it means to be a Harvard student-athlete. Louie appeared in 15 games for the Crimson this season, but it was her dedication to her team on and off the court which made her stand out. Louie is a two-time recipient of the award, having also been honored at the conclusion of the 2009-10 season.
For the third consecutive season, senior co-captain Brogan Berry was honored as the team's Most Valuable Player. Berry led the Ivy League in assists with 4.2 per game, and also ranked first in the conference and 32nd in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.8. She was the seventh-leading scorer in the Ivy League at 12.9 points per game and was a first team All-Ivy League selection. Berry will graduate as the only student-athlete in Ivy history to score more than 1,400 points and dish out more than 500 assists, ranking sixth in school history with 1,458 points while coming in second with 524 assists.


text:
7 Swoon-Worthy Tech Gifts for Fashionistas
Giving a gift is meant to be a selfless act, but it's easy to become overwhelmed by frustration when that someone on your list has interests and inclinations entirely opposite of your own.
After a few trips to the mall, you realize it's a waste of gas and time to go from store to store in the hopes the perfect present will catch your eye. And sorting by age and gender on shopping websites might merely turn up sweaters of different shades and sizes. Looking through the recipient's favorite magazines for hints can leave you puzzled and perplexed about what to select. Without your own preferences or a clear idea of theirs to guide you, you could end up with a generic and forgettable gift when you instead wanted to give them something they'd cherish.
It's at these times tech presents can fill the bill. Tablets and smartphones routinely top the wish lists of most every type of person, but as welcome as those might be, they aren't very personal. That's not to say tech should be stricken from holiday shopping lists when you want to convey a connection. There are gadget-y choices beyond the pale aluminum for a whole spectrum of people you're shopping for this holiday season.
PCMag has some stylish suggestions if your list this year includes a fashionista—someone who can delineate the many differences between Issey Miyake and Isaac Mizrahi. We promise she'll think of you every time she carries the Marc Jacobs bag (with a very special iPad compartment) we picked out.
And while fashionistas are reliably topping best-dressed lists, there are others on your shopping list you have to buy for too. So check back with us for some unexpected suggestions for (of course) the geeks in your life, but also the foodies, the fans of Japanese "cutery," the hipsters, the design lovers, and fans of the Anthropologie aesthetic.
Find more of the best deals on electronics and other gifts in our Best Deals Today section.
1 Birchbox
2 Knucklecase
3 CFDA USB Bracelet
4 Frends Taylor Gold headphones
5 Marc Jacobs Quilted Lambskin iPad Case
6 Vogue – Digital Edition
7 Lauren Ralph Lauren Suede Ruffled Touch-screen Gloves


text:
This mystery woman married my great grandfather Charles Yancy Trice. On her headstone in Belle Vista Cemetery, El Dorado, Kansas, it states "Paralee, Wife of C Y Trice" and the dates 1847-1893.
In the History of Boone County Missouri, "He was married November 19th, 1878, to a daughter of Alfred R Steele." Unfortunately the book doesn't say anything more about her. I have not found her or her father in 1850, 1860 or 1870 census records. The 1880 census records show that she was born about 1857, not 1847, as the headstone. But we know that a wife may not want to indicate that she is older than her husband.
On the death certificate of Odon Charles Trice it states that his mother was Paralee Steen, born in Joplin, Missouri. On the death certificate of his sister Harriet Trice Sheley it says her mother was Perilee Steene, born near Joplin, Missouri.
An obituary for Charles Yancy Trice stated that "By his first marriage to Miss Paralee M Steen…"
So the family has her maiden name as Steen. The history book has her father's surname as Steele. I have been unable to find her, or her father, with either spelling.
So, who is she? Who were her parents? Are there any birth or marriage records for her? Do any of you have any knowledge of her? Do you have access to a death record for her that may give more information?


text:
Reminder that this month's Virtual Tasting is Thursday 2/25 from 7-9pm Pacific Time. Read about it here.
Chris Dowsett was in junior high school when his family purchased a small vineyard in Forest Grove, Oregon. During school breaks he would work at the vineyard and, later, at the winery. He made his first wine with his father in 1983 – ten gallons of an Oregon Gewürztraminer.
Flash forward to 2007. After working in California, Oregon, and Washington, Dowsett was working as the resident winemaker at Artifex, a custom crush facility in Walla Walla. As part of the position he was able to produce 300 cases of his own wine. Dowsett Family Winery was born.
Over the years Dowsett has maintained a passion for the grape he made his first wine from. "I love a dry Gewürztraminer, with good acidity…It works so well with foods that sometimes are difficult matches with wine. Try it with spicy Thai or Mexican, salty foods like Ham or other cured meats or seafood like Scallops or clams," he says. In addition to the Gewürztraminer, Dowsett also makes a Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre blend called Devotion Red.
Dowsett currently works at Walla Walla's Buty Winery, assisting winemaker Caleb Foster. Future Dowsett wines will be made at this facility. While he says he would like to make a bit more of his white wine, Dowsett wants to keep the winery very small.
A fingerprint adorns the Dowsett Family Winery label. In choosing the family name for the winery Dowsett says, "We wanted something that would be reflective of the fact that we were a small family winery, that focused on producing a few wines that were grown, fermented and supplied with packaging by people we considered friends or family."
The 2008 Dowsett Gewürztraminer hails from Celilo Vineyard. Located in the Columbia Gorge, Celilo is one of the premier sites for white wine grapes in Washington State. The vines for Dowsett's 2008 wine come from a block planted in 1984. Unlike most vineyard managers in the state who have to irrigate their vines, Rick Ensmenger and his team at Celilo are able to dry farm this block and others due to the higher-than-average rainfall of the area.
Both the age of the vines and the experience of the winemaker with this grape show on this sensational effort. I purchased this wine from Full Pull Wines which continues to impress with their weekly, handpicked offerings (and take a bite out of my wallet I might add).
Dowsett Family Winery Gewürztraminer Columbia Gorge 2008 $20
Rating: * (Excellent) A thrilling nose with loads of floral aromas, melon, apples, and acidic notes. Crisp and acidic with a dollop of grapefruit on the palate. An excellent wine that demands food to be fully appreciated. 100% Gewürztraminer. 13.9% alcohol. 100 cases produced.
Dowsett Family Winery Gewürztraminer Columbia Gorge 2008
Reminder that this month's Virtual Tasting is Thursday 2/25 from 7-9pm Pacific Time. Read about it here.
7 comments
Jared Says:
Had this about 3 months ago at a friend's house and was floored at how good it was. Easily the best gewurz in the state. Would compliment Thai food extremely well. I'm a buyer!
Paul Zitarelli Says:
Sean - Nice writeup on a truly outstanding wine. I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Jared, indeed, can't think of a better Gewurz I have had from Washington. Paul, keep up the good work! Thanks for the comments.
Steven Washuta Says:
I have not tried the '08 yet - I'll have to do that soon. I know Chris and actually worked harvest last year at Artifex. He's a cool guy - he brought over a New Zealand Gewurztraminer for a little impromptu tasting a couple weeks ago that was quite intriguing.
Steven, definitely a wine to seek out. Thanks for the comment.
Craig Mitrakul Says:
Chris was my neighbor when I lived in Walla Walla. He's a great winemaker and it's great he's got his own line of wines. Dry Gewurtz... awesome! Hard to find dry ones from WA. I've already talked to him about a trade.
Craig, you'll have to barter something precious for this one I'm afraid. Thanks for the comment!


text:
For example, one will I received was quite specific (and lengthy) about who was bequeathed what, with individual persons stated in bequests with the term, "in the event of their death, it shall be passed to (----------) and not (----------). Lots of words like executors, messuages, trustees, exonerate, hereditaments, had me in a five-page tailspin. My 3 x great-grandfather was either very meticulous or just plain paranoid. It took almost 3 weeks transcribe it.
|Image courtesy of National Archives
Another example, from a 3 x great-grandfather on my father's side:
"To the said (---------) my large Bible, To my son (-------) the case of Stuffed Birds and the bed bedding and furniture in the large bedroom To my said son (-------) the two pictures "Daniel" and "Jeremias" the oak chest in the living room the large chest of drawers now standing in the parlour and all the beds and bedding not hereinbefore bequeathed..."
"I give and bequeath all my ready money, money in the Bank monies --- interest securities for money and all other monies whatsoever which may be due or become due to me at my decease together with all my household goods and furniture plate linen and china whatsoever and whensoever situate unto (--------)..."
The Will of my first cousin 3 x removed is rather concise but all the same, to me it is rather poignant. He was killed in action in 1918:
"I (---------) at present a Captain in His Majesty's Essex Regiment hereby declare this to be my last Will I give devise and bequeath all and singular the real and personal property of which I shall be possessed unto and to the use of my wife (--------)..."


text:
5701 Northwest Lady Marna Avenue
Lawton, Oklahoma, 73505
Commute to Downtown Lawton
Almost all errands require a car.
5701 Northwest Lady Marna Avenue has a Walk Score of 15 out of 100. This location is a Car-Dependent neighborhood so almost all errands require a car.
This location is in Lawton. Nearby parks include Stephens Park, Harold Park and Hunter Hills Park.
Explore how far you can travel by car, bus, bike and foot from 5701 Northwest Lady Marna Avenue.
View all Lawton apartments on a map.
Popular apartment searches include fireplace, pool and top floor.
This location is in the city of Lawton, OK. Lawton has an average Walk Score of 34 and has 96,867 residents.Learn More About Lawton


text:
Show Less
Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development, Selected Essays of Herman Daly
Herman E. Daly
Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development comprises a carefully chosen selection of some 25 articles, speeches, congressional testimonies, reviews, and critiques from the last ten years of Herman Daly's ever-illuminating work.
Show Summary Details
Chapter 8: Ecological Economics: The Concept of Scale and its Relation to Allocation, Distribution, and Uneconomic Growth
Herman E. Daly
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text:
Where have you been in the last few years? I don't mean in the real world. I mean in that other world. The one where Skyrim's customs officer checks your bags for juniper berries, or where amidst the rubble of a post-apocalyptic society someone found a working sticker machine.
British artist AJ Hateley (who we've featured before) has been to those places, and more. And has the suitcase to prove it.
Passenger name: A.J. Hateley [A.J. Hateley]


text:
The Flash CS5 Symmetry Brush
Adobe Flash Creative Suite 5's Symmetry Brush lets you draw cool symmetrical artwork with symbols for your Flash CS5 project. Follow these steps to use the Symmetry Brush:
Click the New Layer button to insert a new layer on the timeline.
If the Deco tool isn't active, select it from the Tools panel.
In the Property inspector, select the Symmetry Brush from the Drawing Effect drop-down list.
To the right of Module, click the Edit button.
From the Select Symbol dialog box that appears, select a symbol from your library to use with the Symmetry Brush and then click OK.
On the stage, click and drag to begin drawing with the Symmetry Brush.
The symbol you chose is duplicated in a rotating pattern around the brush point. Release the mouse button to stop drawing.
The new pattern displays two handles — one to adjust pattern size and one to adjust the distance between each symbol.
Move the cursor over the top of the vertical handle until you see a black arrow; click and drag to readjust the size of the pattern.
Move the cursor over the end of the horizontal handle until you see a black arrow; click and drag clockwise or counterclockwise to reduce or increase the distance between symbol instances, respectively.
If you look at the advanced options for the Symmetry Brush (at the bottom of the Property inspector), you see quite a few other interesting modes that let you reflect symbols or reconfigure them into a grid. Experiment with them and try different symbols from your library for contrast.


text:
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan suffered a public rebuke from a senior minister and long-time ally on Friday over his criticism of mixed-sex student housing, signaling a growing rift in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of elections next year.
Erdogan suggested this week that regulations be drawn up to stop male and female students living together. His comments caused uproar in Turkey, where critics fear encroachment of Islamic religious influence on the affairs of a secular state.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, also government spokesman and a co-founder of the AKP, had previously denied press reports that Erdogan had made such a suggestion during a closed-door party meeting last week.
In an unusually blunt riposte, Arinc said in an interview on state broadcaster TRT on Friday that Erdogan had left the government unnecessarily open to criticism.
"I would like to make a call to our prime minister as a friend and brother that there is a clear contradiction between his speech as prime minister and my statement as the government spokesman," he said. "I am not responsible for this contradiction."
It is not the first time Arinc has appeared at odds with Erdogan, who bristles at criticism of his style of governance and particularly loathes public challenges to his authority.
Where the prime minister dismissed participants in anti-government protests over the summer as looters and oversaw a heavy-handed police crackdown, Arinc offered an olive branch, apologizing for police excesses.
Both men are founders, along with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, of the AKP, which has run Turkey for the past decade.
However, their increasingly public disagreements have raised speculation of a damaging rift as the AK party gears up for a cycle of local, presidential and general elections over the next two years.
"We are brothers in arms, rowing in the same boat," Arinc said, defending his status in the party in a way that seemed to suggest to Erdogan he had support that should be heeded.
"My responsibility in government is not just as a minister. I am not just a minister who occupies a post. I am someone who represents the opinions and thoughts, the past, the present and the future of this party. This is how everyone sees me," Arinc added.
AK was founded in 2001 from an assembly of Islamist, center-right and nationalist elements.
Critics say that since Erdogan's third electoral victory in 2011, he has increasingly tended to the Islamist wing from which he hails.
Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan has earned praise for reforms aimed at bringing the EU candidate nation closer to EU norms and for liberalizing an economy that has seen unprecedented prosperity.
He has brought powerful generals to heel in a country which saw three outright military coups and an Islamist-led government forced from power in the second half of the 20th century, and remains Turkey's most charismatic leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular republic 90 years ago.
However, his uncompromising and emotional manner and his reluctance to tolerate dissenting voices, including at times those around him, has led to growing concern within parts of the AKP, according to those familiar with the party.
Erdogan cannot run again as prime minister in general elections in 2015 according to AKP rules, and had been long expected to stand for a newly created executive presidency; but his plans to establish such an enhanced role have stalled.


text:
06 Oct Timber Milling & Shop Macleod | Simpson's Tree Service
Posted at 12:18h in Uncategorized
Timber Milling Macleod
At Simpson's Tree Service we are trying to make better use of the trees we cut down and rather than mulch the trunks or cut it up into firewood. We recently purchased a timber mill and crane truck to enable us to remove logs from local Macleod areas. We remove trees and cut the timber up into slabs.
Subject to the tree locations and health we can remove the tree trunks when a client is getting a tree removed and then can cut the trunk into varying widths at our yard. We then deliver the timber slabs back to the property they came from or add them to the timber shop stock.
To learn more about how we can help you, or to discuss your tree removal needs with our friendly team call us today on 03 9438 2238.


text:
Lincroft Moving Company
Tiger Moving and Storage is the right choice, whether you are moving your business or your home.
1. State-of-the-art equipment
2. Highly trained personnel
3. Top quality furniture protection
4. Competitive rates
5. Licensed and fully insured
6. Local and Long distance
We will concentrate on moving, while you concentrate on your family and business.
Our Storage facility is conveniently located in Parsippany, NJ.
1. Easily accessible to all major highways
2. Safe & secure environment
3. Climate control for year round protection
4. Containerized storage vaults
5. Affordable rates
Make an appointment to tour our facility.
Packing and Unpacking
Packing and unpacking can be a daunting task. Leave the packing to us, so you can worry about more important things. Our packing services include:
1.Trained packers
2. Highest quality packing materials
3. Accurate labeling of cartons
4. Same day removal of unpacked cartons
We value our customers and know that every move has special needs. Let us help you tailor a relocation package that would best suit your family or business. Please fill out the contact form to help us better assess your needs.
Call today for a FREE no-obligation estimate 888-227-6642 FREE


text:
Detail Calendar View
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: January 11PTO Board Meeting
Later Event: January 17Parent Meeting for Baseball and Softball
Supporting Excellence in Academics, Athletics & the Arts
Calendar of events hosted by the Frank Black Middle School Parent Teacher Organization in Houston, Texas.
The Frank Black Middle School Parent Teacher Organization is an active and collaborative organization that exists to provide support to Frank Black Middle School in Houston, Texas.
Please take time to patronize ALL of our Panther Partners! You can visit each business' website by clicking on their name below, and all have local branches.
Learn more about becoming a sponsor.
Frank Black Middle School PTO
1575 Chantilly Ln.
Houston, TX 77018-4197


text:
AUBURN HILLS >> After a 16-year absence, Christine McVie has re-joined Fleetwood Mac bandmates Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks as they bring the On With The Show Tour to The Palace of Auburn Hills on Oct. 22.
Tickets at $179.50, $129.50, $79.50 and $49.50 reserved go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, April 7, at Palacenet.com, Livenation.com, The Palace Ticket Store and all Ticketmaster locations. Tickets may be also charged by phone to American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard by calling 800-745-3000.
American Express Card members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Monday, March 31 at 10 a.m. through Sunday, April 6 at 10 p.m.
The reunion marks the first time the multi-Grammy Award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and one of rock's most beloved bands, has toured together since 1998's The Dance Tour. During Fleetwood Mac's 2013 tour, the four members happily welcomed Christine back on the stage during their show at London's O2 Arena, where she performed their classic "Don't Stop" and received a wild ovation from the crowd.
"It was so comfortable being back onstage with them as if no time had passed, and then we all started talking and it feels like the time is right. I'm really happy," McVie said.
"As far as we're concerned, she's never really left," said Fleetwood Mac members in a joint statement. "We are overjoyed to have Christine back on stage with us."
Visit www.fleetwoodmac.com for the latest information on the band, tour and ticketing.


text:
Complex partial seizures occur in children and adults with certain
forms of
epilepsy. They are the most common type of seizure in
Most people who have complex partial seizures do not remember having
them. After a seizure, the person will be confused or disoriented and may have
a hard time speaking and swallowing for several minutes.
Complex partial seizures are often confused with absence seizures, a
type of generalized seizure. Absence seizures, though, never begin with an
aura and last only 5 to 15 seconds. Also, a person is fully alert after an
absence seizure and may continue with whatever he or she was doing before the
seizure as though nothing has happened.
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Last Revised:
August 26, 2011
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Susan C. Kim, MD - Pediatrics & Steven C. Schachter, MD - Neurology
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This class is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
In conjunction with her Round 43 installation Muhammad School of Language and Martial Arts, artist Nsenga Knight has collaborated with Third Ward's Five Element Kung-Fu/Wusu to present martial arts classes to the public every Saturday from 2-3pm. Classes will be taught by Mwalimu Bomani.
About the Instructor
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European Football Weekends trouser prestigious prize
We are not ones to blow our own trumpet here at European Football Weekends*. *We are. But last week saw the inaugural NOPA awards take place in London village. It was the best award ceremony I'd ever been to - in Hoxton, and was designed to acknowledge the cream of football blogging and podcasts. And EFW. Oh, and we don't like to talk about it, obviously, but it was all for charity. So dig deep this Christmas time and donate what you can to DSActive.
European Football Weekends was nominated in three categories; the best contribution to a blog, best blog and the people's choice award. It was hard to keep a straight face for the first of those, because I was up against Sid Lowe from The Guardian. Hardly fair sides. As it happened Iain Macintosh walked away with that prize for his splendid contribution to In Bed With Maradona.
The night was hosted by Welsh wizard Tim Morgan. I don't belong to the school of thought that labels the Welsh lazy, because they don't cross their i's and dot their t's in their language - which is full of ll's. Morgan was actually the perfect host, shoe-horning in jokes, better than that one, willy nilly throughout the evening.
The real stars of the show though were the lads from the Football Ramble and Barry Glendenning from The Guardian. They waged a (phoney) war on each other all night. Glendenning waltzed up to the stage flicking v's at the Ramblers as he collected the award for best football podcast, and moved the microphone over to their side of the stage to mock and milk them for all he was worth. He was to pay for that later as the Football Ramble collected the people's choice award, "the people have spoken" said Lukey Moore as Barry tucked into his humble pie.
As well as filling up on free beer and food, it was a great opportunity to put a face to all those people I spend talking to on Twitter and perusing their respective websites. Michael from Zonal Marking, Kieran (Swiss Ramble), David (The Seventy Two), James Appell, Magic Spongers, The Gib Football Show, The Equaliser, Two Footed Tackle, Two Hundred Percent, Tim Hill, Girl that loves the Gunners, Ubecha blog. Hell, even Clive Tyldesley took time out from discussing that night in Barcelona to put in a show.
You could have knocked me down with a feather when EFW received a huge cheer upon being read out amongst the nominees for the best blog award. Barry Glendenning then proceeded to bring the house down with a few funnies, opened the envelope in the style of Sepp Blatter, and uttered the words "And the winner is Danny Last and European Football Weekends" - just how I dreamt it. I rocked back in my chair, gulped down a bit more red wine, shuffled up to the stage and mumbled something or other about Qatar before retaking my seat.
The rest of the night was a drunken blur, obviously.
There's so many people to thank; Ana who is my long suffering wife, Stuart Fuller, Big Deaks, Cynical Dave, Andy Hudson, Dan Richardson, Nick Ames, Ulas Gürsat, Lewes FC, Michael Hudson, Garreth Cummins of the FSF, the lads at the Guardian and so many more. And to you the reader, you are lovelier than lovely.
For the record, the full list of awards were as follows:
- Best Young Blogger – Sian Ranscombe for From A Girl Who Loves the Gunners
- Socrates Award – Ian King for Two Hundred Percent
- Best New Blog – Michael Cox for Zonal Marking
- Best Contributor to Blog or Podcast – Ian McIntosh for In Bed With Maradona
- Best Podcast – The Football Weekly
- Best Blog – Danny Last & European Football Weekends
- Peoples Choice award – The Football Ramble


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DailyMotion Mode
Dailymotion-mode facilitates downloading and running external programs on the embedded videos from DailyMotion. Conkeror has a built-in "media" browser object class that is selected by the "e" prefix key. This browser object class uses a "media scraper", which by default just looks for URLs matching certain patterns in the webpage HTML source code, in order to prepare a list of embedded media files from which the user can choose using the completion mechanism. This page mode overrides the default media scraper with a more sophisticated one that works correctly on those sites. Furthermore, it sets the media browser object class to be the default browser object class for the save, shell-command, and shell-command-url commands. As a result, for example, the save command invoked without a prefix while this these page mode is enabled will automatically choose the embedded flash video file as the target to download.


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By James Wood
The New Yorker
May 7, 2012
Anthony Powell, in wise-facetious mood, once quoted an English publisher on how to write "a good Jewish novel": write a good novel, then change all the names to Jewish ones. The joke came to mind while I was reading Hilary Mantel's "Bring Up the Bodies" (Holt). Both this new book and its predecessor, "Wolf Hall," are mysteriously successful historical novels, a somewhat gimcrack genre not exactly jammed with greatness. One of the reasons for this literary success is that Mantel seems to have written a very good modern novel, then changed all her fictional names to English historical figures of the fifteen-twenties and thirties.
Where much historical fiction gets entangled in the simulation of historical authenticity, Mantel bypasses those knots of concoction, and proceeds as if authenticity were magic rather than a science. She knows that what gives fiction its vitality is not the accurate detail but the animate one, and that novelists are creators, not coroners, of the human case. In effect, she proceeds as if the past five hundred years were a relatively trivial interval in the annals of human motivation. Here, for instance, is Thomas Cromwell, the protagonist of both "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies," reflecting on Gregory, his son. The date is September, 1535, and the location London:
Gregory is a good boy, though all the Latin he has learned, all the sonorous periods of the great authors, have rolled through his head and out again, like stones. Still, you think of Thomas More's boy: offspring of a scholar all Europe admired, and poor young John can barely stumble through his Pater Noster. Gregory is a fine archer, a fine horseman, a shining star in the tilt yard, and his manners cannot be faulted. He speaks reverently to his superiors, not scuffling his feet or standing on one leg, and he is mild and polite with those below him. He knows how to bow to foreign diplomats in the manner of their own countries, sits at table without fidgeting or feeding spaniels, can neatly carve and joint any fowl if requested to serve his elders. He doesn't slouch around with his jacket off one shoulder, or look in windows to admire himself, or stare around in church, or interrupt old men, or finish their stories for them. If anyone sneezes, he says, "Christ help you!"
The historical details in that passage—Thomas More, Pater Noster, the European diplomats, and so on—are not central to its liveliness. Instead, it is girded by a cunning universalism, whereby Thomas Cromwell becomes any parent competitively comparing his son with someone else's; the list of a boy's possible failings (staring around in church, interrupting old men, feeding spaniels at the table), while delightfully specific, seems similarly timeless. By the same token, when a historical fact is central to a novelistic detail, Mantel uses it in a way so novelistically intelligent that the historical fact seems to have been secretly transposed into a fictional one:
This season young men carry their effects in soft pale leather bags, in imitation of the agents for the Fugger bank, who travel all over Europe and set the fashion. The bags are heart-shaped and so to him it always looks as if they are going wooing, but they swear they are not. Nephew Richard Cromwell sits down and gives the bags a sardonic glance.
Do you know if Mantel has manufactured or borrowed from the record this information about the fashionable Fugger bag? In some sense, it doesn't matter, because the writer has made a third category of the reality, the plausibly hypothetical. It's what Aristotle claimed was the difference between the historian and the poet: the former describes what happened, and the latter what might happen.
If you want to know what novelistic intelligence is, you might compare a page or two of Hilary Mantel's work with worthy historical fiction by contemporary writers such as Peter Ackroyd or Susan Sontag. They are intelligent, but they are not novelistically intelligent. They copy the motions but rarely inhabit the movement of vitality. Mantel knows what to select, how to make her scenes vivid, how to kindle her characters. She seems almost incapable of abstraction or fraudulence; she instinctively grabs for the reachably real. Her two most recent novels concern famous historical events—Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, his marriage to Anne Boleyn, her execution at the King's orders, the English split from the Roman Church and the authority of the Pope—but they make the stories fragile again, with everything at suspenseful risk.
In short, this novelist has the maddeningly unteachable gift of being interesting. Quite a few readers would be prepared to yawn at a novelistic scene set in 1530, featuring Thomas Cromwell, then one of Henry VIII's privy councillors, and Thomas Cranmer, the Anglican theologian who gained renown as the author of the Book of Common Prayer. Hasn't this material been worked over—in descending order of quality—by Ford Madox Ford, by Robert Bolt, and by the TV series "The Tudors"? Yet such a scene in "Wolf Hall" exhibits Mantel's stealthy dynamics. There is nothing dutifully "historical" about this encounter. Instead, all is alive, silvery, alert, rapid with insight. The two personages size each other up. Cranmer is a modest gentleman's son, a careful and pious academic from the tiny village of Aslockton, near Nottingham. He is also a Cambridge man, a Fellow of Jesus College, and a little dry and prim. He is two years from being plucked by Henry as the Archbishop of Canterbury. Cromwell is the robust, working-class son of a blacksmith, from Putney, on the Thames, now a member of Parliament—enormously astute, but not schooled like Cranmer, who would seem to have the social advantage here. Yet Cranmer appears a timid provincial alongside Cromwell, who spent years in France and Italy, and who often longs for a southern sun. Cromwell compares his childhood with the cloistered Cambridge academic's, and his reflections open like an estuary:
He thinks, if you were born in Putney, you saw the river every day, and imagined it widening out to the sea. Even if you had never seen the ocean you had a picture of it in your head from what you had been told by foreign people who sometimes came upriver. You knew that one day you would go out into a world of marble pavements and peacocks, of hillsides buzzing with heat, the fragrance of crushed herbs rising around you as you walked. You planned for what your journeys would bring you: the touch of warm terra-cotta, the night sky of another climate, alien flowers, the stone-eyed gaze of other people's saints. But if you were born in Aslockton, in flat fields under a wide sky, you might just be able to imagine Cambridge: no farther.
There is hardly anything in that wonderful passage of prose to identify its content as time-sensitive; it could almost be thought today.
Thomas Cromwell (c. 1485-1540) is one of the most fascinating characters in contemporary fiction—brutal, worldly, reticent, practical, unsentimental but not without tenderness of a kind, Biblically literate but theologically uncommitted, freakishly self-confident but perilously low on friends. He is also the creature of two great sponsors: first, Cardinal Wolsey, the Lord Chancellor, who fell from grace in 1529; and then Henry VIII, who made him his chief minister in 1534. The son of a violent bully ("Wolf Hall" opens with him being beaten by his father), he ran away from home as a young man, and wandered in Europe. He may have fought as a mercenary for the French Army; in Italy, he assisted the Frescobaldi banking family. He returned to England experienced and polyglot.
In Mantel's narrative, Cromwell has been hardened and enlarged by the abuses and travels of his youth. Hugely competent and consumingly diligent, he looks with wariness or disdain upon most of the aristocratic courtiers with whom he must do business. They, in turn, enjoy reminding him of his lowly origins. But those origins have given him his tough, scarred hide. He can go anywhere and do anything he likes, an undaunted empire of one: "His speech is low and rapid, his manner assured; he is at home in courtroom or waterfront, bishop's palace or inn yard. He can draft a contract, train a falcon, draw a map, stop a street fight, furnish a house and fix a jury. He will quote you a nice point in the old authors, from Plato to Plautus and back again. He knows new poetry, and can say it in Italian. He works all hours, first up and last to bed."
Watch how efficiently, in the early pages of "Wolf Hall," Mantel uses the present tense (which she employs throughout both novels) and free indirect style to establish Cromwell's likable bluntness. Again, as in the passage from "Bring Up the Bodies," Cromwell is thinking about his son, Gregory:
He smiles. What he says about Gregory is, at least he isn't like I was, when I was his age; and when people say, what were you like? he says, oh, I used to stick knives in people. Gregory would never do that; so he doesn't mind—or minds less than people think—if he doesn't really get to grips with declensions and conjugations. When people tell him what Gregory has failed to do, he says, "He's busy growing." He understands his need to sleep; he never got much sleep himself, with Walter stamping around, and after he ran away he was always on the ship or on the road, and then he found himself in an army. The thing people don't understand about an army is its great, unpunctuated wastes of inaction: you have to scavenge for food, you are camped out somewhere with a rising water level because your mad capitaine says so, you are shifted abruptly in the middle of the night into some indefensible position, so you never really sleep, your equipment is defective, the gunners keep causing small unwanted explosions, the crossbowmen are either drunk or praying, the arrows are ordered up but not here yet, and your whole mind is occupied by a seething anxiety that things are going to go badly because il principe, or whatever little worshipfulness is in charge today, is not very good at the basic business of thinking.
Cromwell, unlike "il principe, or whatever little worshipfulness is in charge today," is extremely good at "the basic business of thinking." Among the pleasures of being in his fictional company is witnessing his cool command of hundreds of details, from the small to the lofty. In one of many fine scenes in the new novel, Cromwell interrogates Anne Boleyn's father: he instructs Thomas Boleyn to inform his daughter that the King has lost interest in her and wants to shuck her off. When Thomas Boleyn has gone, Cromwell shares a cup of Gascon wine with one of his officers. "I gave Francis Bryan an import license for this," Cromwell dryly comments. "Would be three months back. No palate, has he? I didn't know he'd be selling it back to the king's buttery."
Mantel stays close to Cromwell's acute class-consciousness, to his sense of being different from most of those around him. "All these people," Cromwell thinks at one moment, of the courtly set, "are related to each other. Luckily, the cardinal left him a chart, which he updates whenever there is a wedding." One effect of this authorial proximity, and of Cromwell's impressive self-motivation, is that he emerges from these novels if not quite a hero, then at least someone whose torments have been chosen for comprehension, like the sinful protagonist of a Graham Greene novel. This is brave of Mantel, even bravely peculiar, given the reputation of the actual Thomas Cromwell, who acted as a brutal fixer for both Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII. Stephen Greenblatt, reviewing "Wolf Hall" in The New York Review of Books, likened Cromwell to Beria, Stalin's chief of secret police, and marvelled that Mantel had taken him on. Under Wolsey, Cromwell plundered the English monasteries. He survived his master's demise, in 1530, and as Henry VIII's helper-in-chief managed the annulment of the King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and his remarriage, in early 1533, to his mistress, Anne Boleyn. In 1535, Cromwell presided over Thomas More's execution for treason. That is where "Wolf Hall" closes, with Cromwell's savagely controlled assessment of the ascetic More, now imprisoned in the Tower. As far as Cromwell is concerned, More is the author of his own death: "Bargain all you like. Consign yourself to the hangman if you must. The people don't give a fourpenny fuck."
"Bring Up the Bodies" continues the tale, post-More. If anything, Mantel is even less sentimental in this novel than in the last in her appraisal of Henry and Cromwell. It is 1535-36; the King is weary of Anne Boleyn, and of her inability to provide him with a male heir. He is eying Jane Seymour, and Cromwell, now chief minister and principal secretary to the King, is used again to make the chief players offers they can't refuse. There is a necessary comedy to Mantel's new-old story, as Henry and his royal servants engage, for a second time in only three years, in servicing the King's marital dissatisfactions. "What if . . . there is some flaw in my marriage to Anne, some impediment, something displeasing to Almighty God?" Henry wonders. Cromwell reflects that he has heard those words before, about a different woman. History repeats as farce, and the reader comes face to face with the Henry VIII of Eleanor and Herbert Farjeon's funny poem, once quite familiar in British classrooms:
Bluff King Hal was full of beans;
He married half a dozen queens. . . .
The first he asked to share his reign
Was Kate of Aragon, straight from Spain—
But when his love for her was spent,
He got a divorce, and out she went.
Anne Boleyn was his second wife;
He swore to cherish her all his life—
But seeing a third he wished instead,
He chopped off poor Anne Boleyn's head.
"Bring Up the Bodies" ends with Anne Boleyn's execution—and the prospect of four more Mantel novels of this period, each a variation on the same tragicomic theme, each devoted to a royal wife. (Though what is more likely, to judge from an authorial note, is that Mantel will write a third and final volume, in which we follow Cromwell's own fall from royal favor, and his execution, in 1540.)
Once Cromwell is sure of Henry's marital intentions, he moves against a group of privileged courtiers and aristocrats. He sees an opportunity to avenge the shameful treatment of his beloved master, Cardinal Wolsey. Anne Boleyn has been noisily indiscreet; there are scores of stories about her lovers. If Cromwell can authenticate these tales, he can find Anne and her lovers treasonable. Four young aristocrats stir his most concentrated vengeance: Henry Norris, George Boleyn, William Brereton, and Francis Weston. These men took part in a play at Hampton Court, not long after the disgrace and death of Wolsey. The play, in Mantel's telling, was a raucous allegory entitled "The Cardinal's Descent Into Hell." A man dressed in scarlet, representing the ousted Cardinal, was tossed and bounced by four devils, played by the four aristocrats, each of whom held a limb of the supposed Cardinal. It was their misfortune that Thomas Cromwell, grieving for Wolsey, was watching in the wings.
"Bring Up the Bodies" lolls a bit in its midsection (and perhaps suffers merely on account of coming after the extraordinary freshness of "Wolf Hall"), but becomes menacingly narrow in its last third, as Thomas Cromwell dresses his victims in careful accusation. The scenes of their interrogation are as frightening as anything in "Darkness at Noon" or "1984" (and better written). First comes Henry Norris, known as Gentle Norris: "Gentle Norris: chief bottom-wiper to the king, spinner of silk threads, spider of spiders, black centre of the vast dripping web of court patronage." Full of bravado at first, Norris says that Cromwell will get no confession out of him: "You will not put gentlemen to the torture, the king would not permit it." Cromwell rises and slams his hand on the table. "There don't have to be formal arrangements. . . . I could put my thumbs in your eyes, and then you would sing 'Green Grows the Holly' if I asked you to."
Even after this outburst, Norris remains confident, until Cromwell calmly asks his prisoner to recall a certain play, "in which the late cardinal was set upon by demons and carried down to Hell." Four men, Cromwell thinks, "who for a joke turned the cardinal into a beast; who took away his wit, his kindness and his grace, and made him a howling animal, grovelling on the boards and scrabbling with his paws." Norris's indignation gives way to "blank terror," as he comprehends the fragility of his fortune and the persistence of his prosecutor. Watching Norris's fear, Cromwell thinks that at least "the fellow has the wit to see what this is about: not one year's grudge or two, but a fat extract from the book of grief, kept since the cardinal came down." He goes on:
Would Norris understand if he spelled it out? He needs guilty men. So he has found men who are guilty. Though perhaps not guilty as charged.
A silence falls. He sits, waits, his eyes on the dying man. He is already thinking what he will do with Norris's offices, his Crown grants. He will try to oblige the humble applicants, like the man with fourteen children, who wants the keeping of a park at Windsor and a post in the administration of the castle.
This long, flawlessly dramatic scene ends with Cromwellian terseness, as the interrogator takes his leave of the unfortunate captive—"Henry Norris: left forepaw."
And so it goes: the calmer Cromwell becomes, the more productively terrifying he is. When George Boleyn tremblingly asks, "Are you threatening me with the rack?," Cromwell mildly answers, "Well, now, I didn't rack Thomas More, did I? I sat in a room with him. A room here at the Tower, such as the one you occupy. I listened to the murmurs within his silence. Construction can be put on silence. It will be." Indeed, the four men who once tossed around a dramatic likeness of the late Cardinal end their lives much as Thomas More did. "Bring Up the Bodies" fills its final pages with their trial and execution. After them comes Anne Boleyn, kneeling and blindfolded, as the executioner approaches from behind with his sword: "There is a groan, one single sound from the whole crowd. Then a silence, and into that silence, a sharp sigh or a sound like a whistle through a keyhole: the body exsanguinates, and its flat little presence becomes a puddle of gore."
Like its predecessor, "Bring Up the Bodies" has a distinctively Protestant, not to say secular, tone. Henry and Cromwell are monsters, but familiar ones, whereas in "Wolf Hall" Mantel seemed to find the saintly monster Thomas More alien and forbidding. In the new novel, Thomas Cranmer is tediously devout, a flinty bore. Mantel has the novelist's dislike of asceticism. She is drawn to the worldly ego, with its irreligious experiences and unforgivable sins. There is something refreshing about this secularism, as if she were throwing the weight of the novel, that secular, tragicomic form, behind her historical protagonists, and against the hagiography that distorts the remembrance of this riven period. (This novelistic revisionism perhaps explains Mantel's need to return to England's early sixteenth century.) At least, she seems to think, Henry and Cromwell would have a good drink with you before squeezing you to death; More and Cranmer would probably drown you in Scripture. Cromwell is interestingly indifferent in matters of religion, and at times almost skeptical or near-atheist. He is not a religious officer but, supremely, a servant of what will become the modern state, for good and ill.
And although he is comprehended, sometimes tenderly, that ill, that terror, is squarely seen in this book. For what Cromwell becomes, in the last third of the novel, is the forerunner of O'Brien in "1984." Henry Norris cries out to Cromwell that "you cannot make my thoughts a crime," but that is precisely what Cromwell does. What is the evidence for Anne's adultery? the poet Thomas Wyatt asks. The King, Cromwell replies, has always known of Anne's crimes: "He knows if she was not false to him in body she was so in words, and if not in deeds then in dreams." These may be the most frightening words in Hilary Mantel's novel, words pregnant with all the future miscarriages of the totalitarian state. Cromwell's mind may drift into reverie and fond anecdote, but he does not have loose or undisciplined thoughts. He is reticent, taut, controlled: a master of his silences, and prosecutor of other people's. ♦


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