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Essential Question
How were American's divisive opinions over the Vietnam War articulated by musicians in the 1960s and early 1970s?
In the years following World War II, a brief period of American euphoria gave way to fear of a new antagonist: communism. Though the U.S. and the Soviet Union were allies during the war, Soviet efforts to rebuild Eastern Europe in its own image led to an American fear of ever-spreading communism and caused a rift between the two countries. Allies no longer, the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in an indirect conflict known as the Cold War from 1947 until the communist government collapsed in 1991.
Regardless of tensions, the United States and the Soviet Union, now the world's two nuclear superpowers, knew that a direct war would lead to "mutually assured destruction" in which both countries would lose. Therefore, each nation sought to pursue its aims "by proxy" in other nations. In 1956, with the aid of the Soviets, the League for the Independence of Vietnam overthrew the U.S.-supported French colonial government in Vietnam, leaving the country divided into a Soviet-backed communist North and U.S.-backed republic South. Fighting erupted between the two sides in the early 1960s.
What began as an envoy of U.S. "advisors" to South Vietnam in 1964 quickly escalated, and by 1969, 500,000 U.S. troops were involved in the conflict. As the American body count rose–nearly 17,000 U.S. soldiers died in 1968 alone–Americans became divided on the war's merit. The pro-war "Hawks" feared loss in Vietnam would signal a victory for the Soviet Union, and that protecting the United States from the perceived "communist threat," wherever it might appear, was one's patriotic duty. The anti-war "Doves" felt the war was barbaric, and the casualties on both sides served little to no purpose. In 1970, division over the Vietnam War reached a point of crises: in May that year, the National Guard shot and killed four anti-war student protesters at Kent State University.
Today, the tragedy at Kent State might not be best remembered through a news article, but a song: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's "Ohio," which powerfully articulates the moment when the violence of the Vietnam War was turned inward, upon American students. But "Ohio," was one of many songs in the 1960s and 1970s that signified the cultural division between the Hawks and Doves.
In this lesson, students examine how Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's "Ohio," Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" and Edwin Starr's "War" articulated the divisive feelings Americans had about the war in the late 1960s and early 1970s. To supplement these songs, students will also watch clips from CNN Soundtracks and analyze polling data, news articles, and photographs from the era.
- Know (knowledge):
- Seminal events during the Vietnam War, including the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, The Tet Offensive, the My Lai Massacre, the election of Richard Nixon, and the Kent State shootings
- The feelings Americans had about the Vietnam War, including the division between the "Doves" and "Hawks"
- The way popular music either directly contributed to discussions about the Vietnam War, or was appropriated by pro- and anti-Vietnam War groups
- Mastery Objective:
- Students will be able to define the differing political viewpoints Americans had during the Vietnam War by examining the music, journalism, and photography of the era.
Motivational Activity:
- Pass out Handout 1 – "4 Kent State Students Killed by Troops" and read the article aloud as a class. Ask students to clarify the "5 Ws" of this event:
- What is being discussed in this article?
- Where did the shootings occur?
- When did they occur?
- Who were the principal actors in this event?
- Why did the shootings occur?
- Play Clip 1, "Ohio," and ask students:
- What does the story of the song "Ohio" say about the effect the Vietnam War era had on musicians?
- In what ways do you think the song "Ohio" might have been a more effective method of expressing shock and opposition than any journalism could have been? (Encourage students to consider the emotional power of a song, the ability to sing "four dead in Ohio" as the chorus, and the power of popular culture.)
- Display Image 1, Ohio Lyrics on the board and ask:
- Who might Neil Young be referring to in the line "found her dead on the ground"?
- What do you think Neil Young means in the song with the lyric "we're finally on our own?"
- In what ways does this song represent an "in your face" protest? What is it calling into question? (Encourage students to consider the placement of the President of the United States as a predator towards his own citizens; the war has been shifted from Vietnam to Ohio.)
- Do you think everyone agreed with Neil Young's view of what occurred at Kent State? Why do you think "Ohio" might have also been a "touchstone of opposition" for people that supported the Vietnam War?
- Show Image 2, Poll on Vietnam. Ask students:
- Show Image 3, Vietnam Poll with Timeline. Read over each timeline entry as a class. Then ask:
- At what point does the public view on Vietnam change? What events might have prompted that change?
- Why might have Americans been increasingly against the Vietnam War after 1968? What sort of events occurred which might have furthered their disapproval?
- Tell students that during much of the Vietnam War, Americans were split between groups known as the "Hawks," and the "Doves." Ask students:
- Based on the label, what might have the "Doves" believed about the Vietnam War?
- What line on the chart might have been represented most strongly by the Doves?
- What might have the "Hawks" believed about the Vietnam War?
- What line on the chart might have been represented most strongly by the Hawks?
- According to the poll, when were there more Hawks? When were there more Doves?
- Divide students into groups, and pass out to each student Handout 2 – Comparing Hawks and Doves. Tell students they will be watching clips from Soundtracks and doing a Gallery Walk to examine more closely how the Hawks and Doves differed.
- Place the Hawks and Doves Gallery Walk images around the classroom, and show Image 4, Gallery Walk Guiding Questions. Have students examine each image and make notes on their handout on the differences they see between the Hawks and Doves, using the questions displayed as a guide.
- Play Clip 2, "Okie From Muskogee," and then display Image 5, Lyrics to Okie From Muskogee. Ask students:
- The clip mentions that Nixon, in his election, made an appeal to the "Silent Majority." What kind of people might he have been referring to with this term? What sort of people was he NOT referring to?
- How might Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" also speak for "The Silent Majority"?
- Craig Werner describes the song as "Directed against the excesses of the Anti-war movement." Based on the lyrics, how does Merle Haggard describe such excesses? How does he characterize the anti-war movement?
- Do you agree with Craig Werner's assertion that the song was not a pro-war song, but an anti-anti-war song? Is there a difference between these two type of songs? Why or why not?
- Play Clip 3, "War." Ask students:
- As Roger Steffens mentions, Richard Nixon campaigned for president on the promise to end the war in Vietnam. According to the clip, what happened instead? (Nixon expanded the war by invading Cambodia).
- According to the clip, was Kent State the only school in which the national guard shot students? Where else were students shot?
- Display Image 6, Quotes by Edwin Starr and Muhammad Ali. Ask students:
- What might Edwin Starr be referring to when he says "neighborhood and racial wars?"
- What might Muhammad Ali mean when he says "We've been in jail for four hundred years." Who is he referring to?
- Based on the quotes and the clip, how might the anti-war movement had particular relevance to African Americans? Are there any ways it might have been less relevant for them?
- Both Edwin Starr's "War" and Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" were not originally intended to be about the Vietnam War. What was it about the songs that led to their appropriation by the Hawks and Doves?
Summary Activity:
- Ask student groups to review the notes they took on Handout 2, and complete the following sentences:
- "The Doves opposed the Vietnam War because. . . ."
- "The Hawks supported the Vietnam War because. . ."
- Have each student group read their sentences out loud, and discuss the ways the statements between groups may be similar or different.
Extension Activities:
- Watch the full Soundtracks episode on Kent State and the Vietnam War here. Choose another song discussed in the episode, and some further research on it. Did it represent the feelings of the Doves, Hawks, or neither?
- Humans have a strong, powerful, and motivating need to belong. Throughout history, this need has caused some to ignore factual information that contradicts their beliefs, searching instead for opinions that support their own views. This concept can be illustrated with these six psychology terms. Research and apply one to three of these Social Psychology concepts to the polarization occurring during the Vietnam War. How might have these concepts strengthened the divide between the Hawks and the Doves?
- Confirmation bias
- Belief perseverance
- Availability Heuristic
- Fixation
- Conformity
- Groupthink
Common Core State Standards
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading
- Reading 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
- Reading 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
- Craft and Structure 4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
- Craft and Structure 6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
- Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 10: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing
- Text Types and Purposes 2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
- Production and Distribution of Writing 4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- Research to Build and Present Knowledge 7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language
- Language 1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- Language 2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
- Language 3: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listing.
- Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in a word meaning.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening
- Comprehension & Collaboration 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
- Comprehension & Collaboration 2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
- Comprehension & Collaboration 3: Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
- Presentation of Knowledge 4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies – National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
- Theme 1: Culture
- Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change
- Theme 3: People, Place, and Environments
- Theme 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
- Theme 6: Power, Authority, and Governance
- Theme 10: Civic Ideals and Practices
National Standards for Music Education – National Association for Music Education (NAfME)
Core Music Standard: Responding
- Interpret: Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators' and/or performers' expressive intent.
- Evaluate: Support evaluations of musical works and performances based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.
Core Music Standard: Connecting
- Connecting 11: Relate musical ideas and works to varied contexts and daily life to deepen understanding.
Career Technical Education Standards (California Model) – Arts, Media and Entertainment Pathway Standards
Design, Visual and Media Arts (A)
- A1.0 Demonstrate ability to reorganize and integrate visual art elements across digital media and design applications.
A1.1 View and respond to a variety of industry-related artistic products integrating industry appropriate vocabulary.
A1.4 Select industry-specific works and analyze the intent of the work and the appropriate use of media.
A1.9 Analyze the material used by a given artist and describe how its use influences the meaning of the work. ia, and Entertainment |
A3.0 Analyze and assess the impact of history and culture on the development of professional arts and media products.
A3.2 Describe how the issues of time, place, and cultural influence and are reflected in a variety of artistic products.
A3.3 Identify contemporary styles and discuss the diverse social, economic, and political developments reflected in art work in an industry setting.
A4.0 Analyze, assess, and identify effectiveness of artistic products based on elements of art, the principles of design, and professional industry standards.
A4.2 Deconstruct how beliefs, cultural traditions, and current social, economic, and political contexts influence commercial media (traditional and electronic).
A4.5 Analyze and articulate how society influences the interpretation and effectiveness of an artistic product.
A5.0 Identify essential industry competencies, explore commercial applications and develop a career specific personal plan.
A5.1 Compare and contrast the ways in which different artistic media (television, newspapers, magazines, and electronic media) cover the same commercial content.
A5.3 Deconstruct works of art, identifying psychological content found in the symbols and images and their relationship to industry and society.
Performing Arts (B)
- B2.0 Read, listen to, deconstruct, and analyze peer and professional music using the elements and terminology of music.
B2.2 Describe how the elements of music are used.
B2.5 Analyze and describe significant musical events perceived and remembered in a given industry generated example.
B2.6 Analyze and describe the use of musical elements in a given professional work that makes it unique, interesting, and expressive.
B2.7 Demonstrate the different uses of form, both past and present, in a varied repertoire of music in commercial settings from diverse genres, styles, and professional applications.
B7.0 Analyze the historical and cultural perspective of multiple industry performance products from a discipline-specific perspective.
B7.1 Identify and compare how film, theater, television, and electronic media productions influence values and behaviors.
B7.3 Analyze the historical and cultural perspective of the musician in the professional setting.
B7.4 Analyze the historical and cultural perspective of the actor and performance artist in the professional setting.
B8.0 Deconstruct the aesthetic values that drive professional performance and the artistic elements necessary for industry production.
B8.1 Critique discipline-specific professional works using the language and terminology specific to the discipline.
B8.2 Use selected criteria to compare, contrast, and assess various professional performance forms.
B8.3 Analyze the aesthetic principles that apply in a professional work designed for live performance, film, video, or live broadcast.
B8.4 Use complex evaluation criteria and terminology to compare and contrast a variety of genres of professional performance products.
Punk as Reaction
How was Punk Rock a reaction both to the commercialization of Rock and Roll and to the social climate in late 1970s Britain?
Protest as Event
Since the 1960s, how have artists used musical events to promote change?
Liverpool: The Birthplace of the Beatles
How did growing up in post-WWII Liverpool influence the Beatles?
The Impact of 1960s Antiwar Music
How did antiwar protest music provide a voice for those opposed to the Vietnam War?


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Roland Emmerich Snags War Horse Lead For Historical Drama Stonewall
Roland Emmerich is known for helming such massive Hollywood movies as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012. But for his follow-up to the box office dud that was White House Down, Emmerich is scaling back to tell a true and transgressive story from American history.
Yahoo reports Emmerich is working on Stonewall, a docudrama about the June 28, 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, which proved a starting point for the gay rights movement. While the equality movement is still a hot button issue in the U.S., English actor Jeremy Irvine isn't afraid to take it on, and as such has become the first actor to sign on to Stonewall, which will be penned by Brothers and Sisters creator Jon Robin Baitz.
Irvine is best known for his film debut as Albert Narracott, the young soldier at the center of Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated drama War Horse. Since then, he has appeared in a handful of British features including the Dakota Fanning-fronted romantic drama Now Is Good, Mike Newell's Great Expectations, and the harrowing biopic The Railway Man, which opens in theaters Stateside today. In Stonewall, it looks like Irvine might be lined up to play the film's hero, described as a young man who goes through a political awakening because of the riots resulting from this Stonewall event. Simply put, it could be a major role that could cement Irvine in the minds of American moviegoers.
To understand Stonewall, let's step back for a brief history lesson on the Stonewall riots. Back in the 1960s, America had various laws that essentially attempted to outlaw homosexuality. But as the decade chugged along, gay communities began to form in major cities--like New York City's Greenwich Village--despite social pressure and threat of police involvement (and, in some cases, police brutality).
The Stonewall Inn became a sort of sanctuary to outcasts, like gay men, drag queens and transsexuals. Admittedly, it was a sordid sanctuary that was owned by the mafia and also played host to prostitution. But with so few establishments willing to open their doors to the LGBT community, this seedy bar was better than hiding. Still, police raids on places like these were very common because of laws that outlawed serving alcohol to an openly gay person, and laws barring men from wearing women's clothing in public.
But on Friday night June 28, 1969, what could have been just another routine bit of legally backed oppression became a fight when those present demanded their civil liberties be recognized. A riot broke out involving thousands. The violence was terrible. But it proved to be the breaking point, where this marginalized community forged a movement to make their voices be heard.
You can listen to veterans of the Stonewall riot talk about that night and its meaning, decades later:
The picture painted in the video above is one of revolution with drag queens prying up parking meters to use as battering rams, and kick-lining while singing a song of rebellion. It's not exactly the kind of action sequence that has Hollywood rushing to throw down funding. Emmerich still has Independence Day 2 on his slate, but this passion project is expected to shoot beforehand.
From here, it will be fascinating to see what other actors Emmerich will wrangle into this rebellious drama.
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Dear Dr. Norquist:
I have a neighbor who talks about me to the other people in our condominium. I know this because one of them reports to me about it. This neighbor makes up stories about me to put me down. She and I used to be friends, but when I saw the way she treated others, I decided I didn't want to be friends with her. She is angry at me for ignoring her phone calls and she is getting back at me by spreading rumors that my husband is having an affair.
I am so angry and humiliated. I have to face my neighbors every week, wondering if they think my husband is having an affair and I don't know about it. Now I don't feel comfortable in my own condo. I'm irritable and angry a lot and I keep it to myself. I spend a lot of time thinking of what I could do to get back at her. I spend a lot of time alone when my husband is at work because I don't want to be around my neighbors. I'm miserable most of the time. What should I do about this?
Dr. Norquist responds:
There are two levels to look at in addressing this situation. One is the interpersonal level, and the other is your internal state. On the interpersonal level, you can choose to take some action so that you do not feel victimized by this neighbor's actions. Call her and let her know what you have heard from others, and ask her if it's true that she has been talking about you in this way. If you face her directly, you will find she will not have as much power, and you will not need to isolate yourself from your neighbors.
The most important thing you can learn here, for your own growth and upliftment is to not let someone else's words bring up bad feelings in yourself. One of the most important and most difficult things to learn in life is how to manage our own inner state. Do not let outside circumstances control how you feel inside. Practice taking control of your own experience of life. Remember, life situations affect us according to how we choose to perceive and react to the situation rather then according to what actually happened in reality. The external world reflects back to us our own subjective internal state. If we are happy, the world looks and feels positive and beckoning to us. If we are feeling hurt and mistrustful, the world looks and feels like a threatening and unsafe place.
Practice observing your perceptions and attitudes. See how you can change your inner state by changing your perception or your attitude. Life continuously gives us opportunities to practice this. Remember, your life is what you make of it, with regard to in your internal experiences as well as in the external world.
(Dr. Sallie Norquist is a licensed psychologist (NJ #2371) in private practice and is director of Chaitanya Counseling Services, a center for upliftment and enlivenment, in Hoboken.) Dr. Norquist and the staff of Chaitanya invite you to write them at Chaitanya Counseling Services, 51 Newark St., Suite 202, Hoboken, NJ 07030 or www.chaitanya.com or by e-mail at email@example.com, or by fax at (201) 656-4700. Questions can address various topics, including relationships, life's stresses, difficulties, mysteries and dilemmas, as well as questions related to managing stress or alternative ways of understanding health-related concerns. 2016 Chaitanya Counseling Services


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While high-end Android devices have come a long way in the past few years, apps still run in constrained environments compared to desktop or server brethren. And Android is used for many low-end devices in emerging markets as well. In this half-day workshop, we will examine
how you can:
Attendees should have basic Android app development experience. Attendees will walk away with a set of action items of things to test, plus understanding of how to conduct the testing.


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Holes in the Wall
Homeland Security won't say why the border wall is bypassing the wealthy and politically connected.
This article has been updated. Last update: February 22, 2008.
As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security marches down the Texas border serving condemnation lawsuits to frightened landowners, Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez, 72, has one simple question. She would like to know why her land is being targeted for destruction by a border wall, while a nearby golf course and resort remain untouched.
Tamez, a nursing director at the University of Texas at Brownsville, is one of the last of the Spanish land grant heirs in Cameron County. Her ancestors once owned 12,000 acres. In the 1930s, the federal government took more than half of her inherited land, without paying a cent, to build flood levees.
Now Homeland Security wants to put an 18-foot steel and concrete wall through what remains.
While the border wall will go through her backyard and effectively destroy her home, it will stop at the edge of the River Bend Resort and golf course, a popular Winter Texan retreat two miles down the road. The wall starts up again on the other side of the resort.
"It has a golf course and all of the amenities," Tamez says. "There are no plans to build a wall there. If the wall is so important for security, then why are we skipping parts?"
Along the border, preliminary plans for fencing seem to target landowners of modest means and cities and public institutions such as the University of Texas at Brownsville, which rely on the federal government to pay their bills.
A visit to the River Bend Resort in late January reveals row after row of RVs and trailers with license plates from chilly northern U.S. states and Canadian provinces. At the edge of a lush, green golf course, a Winter Texan from Canada enjoys the mild, South Texas winter and the landscaped ponds, where white egrets pause to contemplate golf carts whizzing past. The woman, who declines to give her name, recounts that illegal immigrants had crossed the golf course once while she was teeing off. They were promptly detained by Border Patrol agents, she says, adding that agents often park their SUVs at the edge of the golf course.
River Bend Resort is owned by John Allburg, who incorporated the business in 1983 as River Bend Resort, Inc. Allburg refused to comment for this article. A scan of the Federal Election Commission and Texas Ethics Commission databases did not find any political contributions linked to Allburg.
Just 69 miles north, Daniel Garza, 76, faces a similar situation with a neighbor who has political connections that reach the White House. In the small town of Granjeno, population 313, Garza points to a field across the street where a segment of the proposed 18-foot high border wall would abruptly end after passing through his brick home and a small, yellow house he gave his son. "All that land over there is owned by the Hunts," he says, waving a hand toward the horizon. "The wall doesn't go there."
In this area everyone knows the Hunts. Dallas billionaire Ray L. Hunt and his relatives are one of the wealthiest oil and gas dynasties in the world. Hunt, a close friend of President George W. Bush, recently donated $35 million to Southern Methodist University to help build Bush's presidential library. In 2001, Bush made him a member of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, where Hunt received a security clearance and access to classified intelligence.
Over the years, Hunt has transformed his 6,000-acre property, called the Sharyland Plantation, from acres of onions and vegetables into swathes of exclusive, gated communities where houses sell from $650,000 to $1 million and residents enjoy golf courses, elementary schools, and a sports park. The plantation contains an 1,800-acre business park and Sharyland Utilities, run by Hunt's son Hunter, which delivers electricity to plantation residents and Mexican factories.
The development's Web site touts its proximity to the international border and the new Anzalduas International Bridge now under construction, built on land Hunt donated. Hunt has also formed Hunt Mexico with a wealthy Mexican business partner to develop both sides of the border into a lucrative trade corridor the size of Manhattan.
Jeanne Phillips, a spokesperson for Hunt Consolidated Inc., says that since the company is private, it doesn't have to identify the Mexican partner. Phillips says, however, that no one from the company has been directly involved in siting the fence. "We, like other citizens in the Valley, have waited for the federal government to designate the location of the wall," she says.
Garza stands in front of his modest brick home, which he built for his retirement after 50 years as a migrant farmworker. For the past five months, he has stayed awake nights trying to find a way to stop the gears of bureaucracy from grinding over his home.
A February 8 announcement by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the agency would settle for building the fence atop the levee behind Garza's house instead of through it, which has given Garza some hope. Like Tamez, he wonders why his home and small town were targeted by Homeland Security in the first place.
"I don't see why they have to destroy my home, my land, and let the wall end there." He points across the street to Hunt's land. "How will that stop illegal immigration?"
Most border residents couldn't believe the fence would ever be built through their homes and communities. They expected it to run along the banks of the Rio Grande, not north of the flood levees-in some cases like Tamez's, as far as a mile north of the river. So it came as a shock last summer when residents were approached by uniformed Border Patrol agents. They asked people to sign waivers allowing Homeland Security to survey their properties for construction of the wall. When they declined, Homeland Security filed condemnation suits.
In time, local landowners realized that the fence's location had everything to do with politics and private profit, and nothing to do with stopping illegal immigration.
In 2006, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act, authored by Republican Congressman Peter King from New York. The legislation mandated that 700 miles of double-fencing be built along the southern border from California to Texas. The bill detailed where the fencing, or, as many people along the border call it, "the wall," would be built. After a year of inflamed rhetoric about the plague of illegal immigration and Congress's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, the bill passed with overwhelming support from Republicans and a few Democrats. All the Texas border members of the U.S. House of Representatives, except San Antonio Republican Henry Bonilla, voted against it. Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn voted for the bill.
On August 10, 2007, Chertoff announced his agency would scale back the initial 700 miles of fencing to 370 miles, to be built in segments across the southern border. Chertoff cited budget shortages and technological difficulties as justifications for not complying with the bill.
How did his agency decide where to build the segments? Chad Foster, the mayor of Eagle Pass, says he thought it was a simple enough question and that the answer would be based on data and facts. Foster chairs the Texas Border Coalition. TBC, as Foster calls it, is a group of border mayors and business leaders who have repeatedly traveled to Washington for the past 18 months to try to get federal officials to listen to them.
Foster says he has never received any logical answers from Homeland Security as to why certain areas in his city had been targeted for fencing over other areas. "I puzzled a while over why the fence would bypass the industrial park and go through the city park," he says.
Despite terse meetings with Chertoff, Foster and other coalition members say the conversation has been one-sided.
"I think we have a government within a government," Foster says. "[This is] a tremendous bureaucracy-DHS is just a monster."
The Observer called Homeland Security in Washington to find out how it had decided where to build the fence. The voice mail system sputtered through a dizzying array of acronyms: DOJ, USACE, CBP, and USCIS. On the second call a media spokesperson with a weary voice directed queries to Michael Friel, the fence spokesman for Customs and Border Protection. Six calls and two e-mails later, Friel responded with a curt e-mail: "Got your message. Working on answers…" it said. Days passed, and Friel's answers never came.
Since Homeland Security wasn't providing answers, perhaps Congress would. Phone conversations with congressional offices ranged from "but they aren't even building a wall" to "I don't know. That's a good question." At the sixth congressional office contacted, a GOP staffer who asked not to be identified, but who is familiar with the fence, says the fencing locations stemmed from statistics showing high apprehension and narcotic seizure rates. This seems questionable, since maps released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers showed the wall going through such properties as the University of Texas at Brownsville-hardly a hotbed for drug smugglers and immigrant trafficking.
Questioned more about where the data came from, the staffer said she would enquire further. The next day she called back. "The border fence is being handled by Greg Giddens at the Secure Border Initiative Office within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office," she said.
Giddens is executive director of the SBI, as it is called, which is in charge of SBInet, a consortium of private contractors led by Boeing Co. The group received a multibillion dollar contract in 2006 to secure the northern and southern borders with a network of vehicle barriers, fencing, and surveillance systems. Companies Boeing chose to secure the southern border from terrorists include DRS Technologies Inc., Kollsman Inc., L-3 Communications Inc., Perot Systems Corp., and a unit of Unisys Corp.
A February 2007 audit by the U.S. Government Accountability Office cited Homeland Security and the SBInet project for poor fiscal oversight and a lack of demonstrable objectives. The GAO audit team recommended that Homeland Security place a spending limit on the Boeing contract for SBInet since the company had been awarded an "indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for 3 years with three 1-year options."
The agency rejected the auditors' recommendation, saying 6,000 miles of border is limitation enough.
In a February 2007 hearing, Congressman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat and the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, had more scathing remarks for Giddens and the SBInet project. "As of December, the Department of Homeland Security had hired a staff of 98 to oversee the new SBInet contract. This may seem like progress until you ask who these overseers are. More than half are private contractors. Some of these private contractors even work for companies that are business partners of Boeing, the company they are supposed to be overseeing. And from what we are now learning from the department, this may be just the tip of the iceberg."
Waxman said of SBInet that "virtually every detail is being outsourced from the government to private contractors. The government is relying on private contractors to design the programs, build them, and even conduct oversight over them."
A phone call to Giddens at SBI is referred to Loren Flossman, who's in charge of tactical infrastructure for the office. Flossman says all data regarding the placement of the fence is classified because "you don't want to tell the very people you're trying to keep from coming across the methodology used to deter them."
Flossman also calls the University of Texas at Brownsville campus a problem area for illegal immigration. "I wouldn't assume that these are folks that aren't intelligent enough that if they dress a certain way, they're gonna fit in," he says.
Chief John Cardoza, head of the UT-Brownsville police, says the Border Patrol would have to advise his police force of any immigrant smuggling or narcotic seizures that happen on campus. "If it's happening on my campus, I'm not being told about it," he says. Cardoza says he has never come across illegal immigrants dressed as students.
Flossman goes on to say that Boeing isn't building the fence, but is providing steel for it. Eric Mazzacone, a spokesman for Boeing, refers the Observer to Michael Friel at Customs and Border Protection, and intercedes to get him on the phone. Friel confirms that Boeing has just finished building a 30-mile stretch of fence in Arizona, but insists other questions be submitted in writing.
Boeing, a multibillion dollar aero-defense company, is the second-largest defense contractor in the nation. The company has powerful board members, such as William M. Daley, former U.S. secretary of commerce; retired Gen. James L. Jones, former supreme allied commander in Europe; and Kenneth M. Duberstein, a former White House chief of staff. The corporation is also one of the biggest political contributors in Washington, giving more than $9 million to Democratic and Republican members of Congress in the last decade. In 2006, the year the Secure Fence Act was passed, Boeing gave more than $1.4 million to Democrats and Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
A majority of this money has gone to legislators such as Congressman Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who championed the Secure Fence Act. In 2006, Hunter received at least $10,000 from Boeing and more than $93,000 from defense companies bidding for the SBInet contract, according to the center. During his failed bid this year for the White House, Hunter made illegal immigration and building a border fence the major themes of his campaign.
In early February 2008, Chertoff asked Congress for $12 billion for border security. He included $775 million for the SBInet program, despite the fact that congressional leaders still can't get straight answers from Homeland Security about the program. As recently as January 31, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee members sent a letter to Chertoff asking for "greater clarity on [the Customs and Border Protection office's] operational objectives for SBInet and the projected milestones and anticipated costs for the project." They have yet to receive a response.
Boeing continues to hire companies for the SBInet project. And the congressional districts of backers of the border fence continue to benefit. A recent Long Island Business News article trumpeted the success of Telephonics Corp., a local business, in Congressman King's congressional district that won a $14.5 million bid to provide a mobile surveillance system under SBInet to protect the southern border.
While Garza and Tamez wait for answers, they say they are being asked to sacrifice something that can't be replaced by money. They are giving up their land, their homes, their heritage, and the few remaining acres left to them that they hoped to pass on to their children and grandchildren.
"I am an old man. I have colon cancer, and I am 76 years old," Garza says, resting against a tree in front of his home. "All I do is worry about whether they will take my home. My wife keeps asking me, 'What are we going to do?'"
Besides these personal tragedies, Eagle Pass Mayor Foster says there is another tragedy in store for the American taxpayer. A 2006 congressional report estimates the cost of maintaining and building the fence could be as much as $49 billion over its expected 25-year life span.
"They are just going to push this problem on the next administration, and nobody is going to talk about immigration reform, and that's the illness," Foster says. "The wall is a Band-Aid on the problem. And to blow $49 billion and not walk away with a secure border-that's a travesty."


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JR Mitch fresh off his success at round 2 of the Super Cup series took his talent to Dallas, TX to compete in the 2011 Bigfoot Extravaganza. Located at the famous Mikes Hobby Shop, the Bigfoot race attracts racers from all around and with over 200 entries the race is a continued success.
JConcepts / Team Associated driver JR Mitch was the driver to beat all weekend in the Modified Short Course class by first taking the overall TQ over Quincy Hughes and Gary "Bigfoot" O'Brien. JR continued his roll into the mains where he used the TQ position to get a clean start and pull away from the competition earning wins in A-1 and A-2 to pad his lengthy resume. JR used the popular JConcepts Raptor body, Double Dees and Bar Codes tires and Rulux wheels all weekend long.
In one of the first large events to feature the Hyper TT 1/10th truck class, Mike Debusk took a big win utilizing JConcepts 1/10th truck Double Dees front and rear.
Congratulations to all the winners the Bigfoot crew and Mikes Hobby Shop on another spectacular race event.


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Assata Shakur After Her Capture on May 2, 1973 in New Jersey
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire Photo File
Chris Megerian
NJ State House Bureau
April 21, 2009 20:11PM
Three decades after convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard's escape from prison, New Jersey is making a renewed effort to extradite her from Cuba, Attorney General Anne Milgram said today.
Milgram said President Obama's plan to normalize relations with Cuba is an opportunity to push for the return of the state's most wanted fugitive, who was found guilty of killing a state trooper in 1973.
"It's critically important that we try and get Chesimard back," Milgram said, responding to a question from Assemblyman Joe Cryan (D-Union), during a budget committee hearing.
"Here, here," responded Cryan, an undersheriff in Union County.
David Wald, spokesman for the attorney general, said Milgram and State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes will write to Obama to request her extradition.
"If the president is trying to establish a different relationship, this is something he needs to talk to them about," Wald said.
Fuentes said the issue is still an emotional one for New Jersey troopers, who lost one of their own to Chesimard in 1973.
"With help from the FBI, we haven't let up the pressure on her return," he said. "We know she's in Cuba, and we have no intent of letting up that pressure now."
According to police, Chesimard was a well-known black nationalist linked to a number of robberies and assaults. In 1973, a gunfight broke out after two state troopers, Werner Foerster and James Harper, stopped her and two companions on the New Jersey Turnpike in Middlesex County. Foerster and one of Chesimard's companions, her brother-in-law, were killed. Harper was injured in the gun battle.
Chesimard was convicted of murder in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison. But two years later she escaped in dramatic fashion.
Three gunmen posing as visitors broke her out of what is now called the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton.
After hiding out for years, Chesimard resurfaced in Cuba in the mid-1980s. Since then, the now 61-year-old fugitive has been living under the protection of Fidel Castro and going by the name Assata Shakur. New Jersey has made numerous efforts to extradite her, including a $1 million bounty and an appeal to Pope John Paul II, who made a historic trip to Cuba in 1998.
Chesimard's surviving accomplice, Sundiata Acoli, born Clark Edward Squire, is still in a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania. He was denied parole in 2004.
Castro has criticized the state's pursuit of Chesimard In 2005, he called the charges against her "an infamous lie." Others have described her a revolutionary and an activist.
Last week, state Sen. Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) sent a letter to Pres. Barack Obama asking him to delay normalizing relations with Cuba until they agree to the extradition.
An e-mail request for comment to an organization of Chesimard supporters, Assata Shakur Speaks, was not returned last night.
State Troopers Fraternal Association President David Jones said there's no question that Chesimard shot Foerster in the back of the head in cold blood.
"She's your classic urban terrorist, and she should be in jail," he said. "Anybody who tells you different is a liar."
Jones said extraditing America's most wanted from Cuba should be a priority for the Obama administration.
"Long before we normalize relationships with this island that's 90 miles from our shores, we have to ensure the return of these convicted criminals," he said.
Statehouse Bureau reporter John Reitmeyer contributed to this report.


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Sold Out $1,175.00 $1,175.00
Sold Out $1,250.00
This journey has been more than just creating putters; it's been a profound learning experience. Spending time with some of the world's best players and understanding the intricacies of their game has been humbling. I've poured my knowledge and creativity into every detail, every edge, every radius of these bespoke putters. For me, each putter is not just a tool; it's an idea, a canvas where excellence meets imagination. This is brand new and never used.
This putter has 1/2 toe hang and full offset. This beauty was finished off with a chrome shaft and an extremely tacky Grip Master Leather grip. It is currently set to 35" and comes with the Olson leather headcover pictured. We can bend this to spec so please let us know if you would like it bent otherwise we will assume standard specs, 72* and 4*.
Putter Model: Craft Batch No. 1
Finish: Satin
Neck Style: Plumbers Neck
Offset: Full
Toe Hang: 1/2
Sold Out $1,050.00
After unveiling the Boss a year ago, we've received numerous requests to create a face-balanced version. In response, we've redesigned it to be nearly face-balanced and 5mm wider. This particular model is not for the faint of heart, showcasing our boldest fan favorite, Swagatha. And when your partner inquires, proudly reveal the sole. As Swagatha always says, "Don't Give A Putt."
Unlike other mallet putters in the market today, The Boss made us think outside the box to figure out how to properly machine this style neck all in one piece without bending and polishing the neck or topline. Engineering the one-piece milled small slant neck thatgives an unimpeded view of the ball from address was one of themost important aspects of this design. At nearly 1/4 shaft offset, this configuration encourages toe flow in a low profile solid milled stainless mallet.
This limited-release Swagatha The Boss 2.0 putter comes paired with a matching made-in-the-USA headcover with magnet closures and the softest available furs on the market to ensure the protection of your flat stick. This putter's specs will be 35"length, 3 degrees of loft and 71 degrees of lie.
Sold Out $550.00
This beautiful Bobby Grace Shiloh is made entirely in the USA. This Shiloh is milled from 303 Stainless Steel and features a welded S neck. This putter features the HSM Soft Radial Face Insert. This putter is brand new.
This putter has 1/4 toe hang and 3/4 offset, it is currently set to 35" and will come with a Bobby Grace Headcover and grip. This putter can be bent to specs and cut to length, so please put any modification instructions in the notes section during checkout otherwise we assume standard specs. With 13 major championships and over 200 PGA Tour wins Bobby Grace is well known throughout the golf community and especially on tour as he has fit over 800 PGA players.
Putter Model: Shiloh
Material: 303 Stainless Steel
Insert: HSM Soft (we can change if desired)
Finish: Satin
Head Weight: 360 Grams
Neck Style: Welded S Neck
Offset: 3/4
Toe Hang: 1/4
Our online shop is updated frequently with new, rare, and unique tour clubs all the time. Email us today with any questions about your next custom build.
Email us by clicking the envelope below! Don't forget to sign up for Will's Deals.
Sign up to get the latest on sales, new releases and more …


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Why does it scare me? Because I already have no free time, and this just equals bad news. Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds have officially dropped the Angry Birds Halloween Special Edition in the Apple App Store. The game is priced at $0.99 for the iPhone / iPod touch, and $1.99 for an HD version that runs on the iPad. In terms of what you get, there are 45 brand new levels, the obligatory spooky music, graphics, and loads of pumpkins. One more selling point if you're the bragging type? This special edition is exclusive to iOS.
It's available now in the App Store.


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A good time to rotate your tires is when you get the oil changed, assuming you do that at least once a year and more often if you drive, say, more than 10,000 miles annually. Most vehicle manufacturers recommend that the tires be rotated on the same schedule as oil changes. In most cases that means every 7,500 miles or six months, though some have stretched the oil-change interval to 10,000 miles, such as on many Fords, Volkswagens and Toyotas. BMW allows up to 15,000 miles between oil changes, but that is too long to wait to rotate the tires.
Unless you drive fewer than about 7,500 miles per year, you should probably rotate tires every six months or so.
The tires mounted on the drive wheels of any vehicle perform extra duty because they apply the power to the pavement. On front-wheel-drive vehicles that is amplified by the weight of the engine and transmission, and because the front tires do most of the work in turns. Rotating the tires between front and rear a couple of times a year spreads out the burden so they wear evenly. Automakers that offer all-wheel-drive cars also recommend rotating tires. Subaru, for example, says to do it every 7,500 miles or 7.5 months, whichever comes first.
There are exceptions to these examples, particularly with performance models that may have different schedules for tire rotation. We suggest you follow the recommended schedule outlined in your owner's manual, but rotate the tires (and change the oil) at least once a year. You don't have to go to a car dealership to have this done, and many tire dealers and other repair shops will perform both jobs for about $30 total.


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I'd like to wear VFFs for running, but unfortunately I have odd shaped/length toes and feet that make these almost impossible to wear. Are there any reasonably priced alternatives that I could look at (complete barefoot is not an option)?
Side note:
I visited a store in my area and asked if they carried the NBs. I was then treated to a diatribe as to how all these companies are in it only for the money, they're not for all runners, she studies podiatry and they're horrible, why would anyone recommend them, etc.


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England,February,2-2011:Luis Suarez scored on his debut as Liverpool concluded a turbulent few days with a valuable victory over Stoke.
The Uruguayan slotted home the Reds' second goal of the game in front of the Kop to ensure Fernando Torres' £50million move to Chelsea was no longer the major talking point.
And if questions were being asked about how the Reds would cope in their former striker's absence then efforts by Suarez and Portugal midfielder Raul Meireles – with his third goal in four matches – provided a swift answer.
Record £35million signing Andy Carroll's introduction to the crowd before kick-off was the closest he is likely to get to the pitch for a month as he recovers from a thigh injury.
Unfortunately for Liverpool this was exactly the sort of game from which they would have benefited from the 6ft 3in powerhouse striker.
Conversely, it did not seem that suited his fellow new arrival, although arriving as a second-half substitute with his side already ahead made the task much easier.
The ball spent much of the first half in the air, which benefited Stoke far more than it did their hosts, and as a result Dirk Kuyt found his role as lone frontman a frustrating one at times.
Saying that, he had at least three chances of which at least one would probably have been converted by Torres.
Manager Kenny Dalglish had tailored Liverpool's formation specifically for the Potters, lining up 3-4-2-1 with Lucas Leiva and Fabio Aurelio holding in midfield and Steven Gerrard and Meireles supporting the Holland international up front.
The first chance fell to Sotirios Kyrgiakos, returning to the team in that back three to combat the aerial threat of John Carew, as he headed Gerrard's corner goalwards only for former Liverpool midfielder Salif Diao to clear two yards out.
Jon Walters fired over an angled shot from 10 yards and Carew headed over another ex-Red Jermaine Pennant's right-wing cross, with the hosts having penalty claims turned down when the ball appeared to hit Robert Huth's hand.
Stoke's tactics of keeping everything compact squeezed the life out of Liverpool and disrupted their passing game.
Suarez's appearance off the bench to jog down the touchline brought a standing ovation from the Kop, who as a result almost missed Asmir Begovic's brilliant reaction save to keep out Glen Johnson's close-range header.
Kuyt nodded wide Gerrard's cross and volleyed over from close range before shooting straight at the Stoke goalkeeper when a rare passing move involving Brazilians Lucas and Aurelio cut open the defence.
Within two minutes of the second half resuming Diao was booked for bringing down the advancing Daniel Agger and from the resulting free-kick Liverpool, somewhat fortuitously, took the lead.
Gerrard's low, driven free-kick deflected off Marc Wilson on the end of the wall to Kyrgiakos 12 yards out and although Huth nicked the ball off the defender Meireles was on hand to smash home left-footed.
Carew almost snatched an equaliser on the counter-attack with a shot which flashed across goalkeeper Jose Reina and wide of the far post before, just after the hour Suarez got his chance to start repaying his £22.8million transfer fee – a club record for a few hours on Monday.
His first contribution was to engage Abdoulaye Faye in a sprint which resulted in the Stoke centre-back pulling a hamstring.
One clever backheel to set up Martin Skrtel showed the Uruguayan was not short of confidence, despite not playing a game since December 8 because of a seven-match suspension for biting an opponent while playing for Ajax.
His next involvement was more decisive and was what the Kop had been waiting for.
Kuyt's through-ball sent the forward racing through and having gone round Begovic he rolled the ball goalwards.
For a few seconds it appeared Wilkinson would cut out the shot but his desperate clearance came back off the post and bounced over the line.
While the crowd were still celebrating Reina ensured there was no frantic final few minutes by punching away Walters' shot.


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AT&T sent an e-mail to iPad owners Sunday explaining a security breach that occurred on its site and laying much of the blame with the group that discovered the hole.
The e-mail, which was signed by AT&T Chief Privacy Officer Dorothy Attwood, blamed "self-described hackers" for uncovering a hole in the company's Web site that allowed for the exposure of 114,000 e-mail addresses belonging to iPad owners, according to a copy posted on Boy Genius Report. Among the iPad users who appeared to have been affected were White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, journalist Diane Sawyer, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, movie producer Harvey Weinstein, and New York Times CEO Janet Robinson.
In the e-mail explaining how the breach occurred, Attwood apologized for the breach and said "unauthorized computer 'hackers' maliciously exploited a function designed to make your iPad log-in process faster by pre-populating an AT&T authentication page with the email address you used to register your iPad for 3G service":
The self-described hackers wrote software code to randomly generate numbers that mimicked serial numbers of the AT&T SIM card for iPad–called the integrated circuit card identification (ICC-ID)–and repeatedly queried an AT&T web address. When a number generated by the hackers matched an actual ICC-ID, the authentication page log-in screen was returned to the hackers with the email address associated with the ICC-ID already populated on the log-in screen.
The hackers deliberately went to great efforts with a random program to extract possible ICC-IDs and capture customer email addresses. They then put together a list of these emails and distributed it for their own publicity.
As soon as we became aware of this situation, we took swift action to prevent any further unauthorized exposure of customer email addresses. Within hours, AT&T disabled the mechanism that automatically populated the email address. Now, the authentication page log-in screen requires the user to enter both their email address and their password.
A group called Goatse Security uncovered the hole by sending HTTP requests to AT&T's site that included SIM card serial numbers for iPads. Because the serial numbers, called ICC-IDs (integrated circuit card identifiers), are generated sequentially, the researchers were able to guess thousands of them and then ran a program to extract the data by going down the list. A spokesman for AT&T said the company turned off the feature that provided e-mail addresses on Tuesday, one day after learning of the problem from someone not affiliated with the hacker group.
The FBI announced on Thursday it had launched an investigation into the situation after learning that numerous U.S. government officials were among the many executives and luminaries that had their e-mail addresses exposed.


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The Roll of Honour at the Northern Golf Club, Glenroy, of which
many Essendon and Flemington men were members. Photo courtesy
of the Northern Golf Club, 2013.
The Northern Golf Club had its origins with the Essendon Golf Club which commenced in 1896 on rented paddocks in Essendon, but in 1912 a meeting of members decided to form a land company to buy land of their own. In 1913 a new club was formed, including members from the Essendon, Moreland, and Royal Melbourne Clubs. The Opening Day was held on 24 April 1913, the centenary of which is fast approaching. Those members which have been identified as being from the Essendon and Flemington areas can be found on this page.


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These tips are courtesy of the National Association of Veterans' Programs Administrator (NAVPA). These are their 10 best suggestions for returning veterans thinking about going to college as reported to U.S. News and World Report.
Start by applying. Whether you are a first-time college student or a transfer student, you must fill out an application. Go to the school's website to find the requirement and deadlines. Provide transcripts and test scores as needed and your DD-214 for credits you might have earned while in the service. Take a tour of the campus—either online or in person.
Meet the School Certifying Official. Find the Veterans Office on campus and introduce yourself. You will be asked to provide various documents and complete different forms so your enrollment can be certified to the VA.
Get your GI Bill benefits. There are many different programs and a wide variety of education benefits offered by the VA. The Post-9/11 GI Bill (including Transfer of Benefits), Montgomery GI Bill, the Yellow Ribbon Program, and Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, to name a few. Additionally, individual states offer varying opportunities to National Guardsmen (some of the benefits come with different levels of eligibility). Whether you are a reservist, in the National Guard, or on active duty, you should check the VA website or discuss your benefits with the school's certifying official. You can find a wealth of information—as well as the application for benefits—at the GI Bill website.
Apply for financial aid. All students can apply for financial aid by filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by going to http://www.fafsa.gov. This aid can be for grants, loans, and/or work-study.
Apply for scholarships. There are many types of scholarships available based on merit, academics, or athletics, as well as private and general scholarships by area of interest. Some schools offer scholarships specifically for veterans. You just have to look. Check the school's website and always remember: do not pay for any scholarship application.
Find a place to live. The key to being placed in housing is making sure you indicate you are a veteran on all forms. By doing so, you may be able to select a roommate from the beginning. Otherwise, you might be assigned a room with traditional students (just out of high school), which can be awkward with your recent military experience. Many colleges have housing set aside for veterans; make use of it.
Get an advisor. Every student is assigned to an advisor. Some schools have advisors specifically for veterans; smaller schools may not, but curriculum is standard for majors at each school. Interaction with the advisor will assist you in developing a suitable educational plan, making your course selections, and determining your major. This person will get to know you and empower you in decision-making skills in education, career, and life choices.
Take the CLEP. The College Level Examination Program is a series of exams you can take to test your college-level knowledge on what you have learned through on-the-job training, professional development, etc. There is a wide range of exams both general and subjective, with up to six credits each. The cost of a CLEP is fractional compared to the cost of tuition and fees. It could assist in skipping general introductory courses, general education classes, or could even demonstrate your ability in a foreign language.
Connect with other veterans on campus. Veterans Centers are popping up on many campuses. They are the place to meet other veterans, to do peer-to-peer networking, to connect student veterans with resources, and to help you to get involved or simply hang out. If there is no center on campus, start one. Student Veterans of America can assist you in forming a chapter at your school.
Get career training and develop skills. Career services and job placement are available for you while getting your education. Resume writing and mock interviews are offered. You can be placed in an internship or co-op program related to your career goal and earn college credits as well as a stipend or small paycheck.
Read more education articles for the veteran community here.
The post 10 Tips for College-Seeking Veterans appeared first on U.S. Veterans.


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There's a new crew vetting the latest batch of N.C. charter applications, and the early signs hint that they're tough judges.
The Heritage plan is based on the Charlotte Mason education model, which the application describes as "developing the habit of narration" and using "relational education" to develop each student's talents.
Subcommittee members said the application didn't explain the method clearly enough, didn't articulate how it would be different from what students can get in CMS, didn't describe the demographics of the students the school hopes to serve and didn't include specific, measurable academic goals. They voiced concerns that salaries budgeted seemed unrealistically low, that the bylaws lacked a clear conflict-of-interest policy and that the board didn't bring enough financial know-how to run a school.
Not surprisingly, the subcommittee didn't recommend an interview for Heritage, either.
How this plays out remains to be seen. Last year's charter advisory panel got 70 applications, eliminated 25 as incomplete, interviewed 45 and recommended approval for 26.
Some charter critics had complained that the new advisory board, appointed by the state legislature last fall, might be too easy on applicants because it was so heavy on charter administrators and board members. Instead, those members seem to be trying to strike a balance between expanding access to charters while screening out applicants they believe aren't ready to pull of a venture they know is difficult.
"You've got charter school leaders who have excellent charter schools," Goodall said. "They know what they're doing and it's pretty tough for an applicant."


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What happened to compassionate conservatism? Did it ever really exist?
In a meeting last week, Josie Molina, an 11 year-old Hispanic child whose father is being deported, asked Tennessee Republican representative Scott Desjarlais if anything could be done to help her family in this time of crisis. He said "no". The crowd of Tea Party members enthusiastically endorsed his answer with clapping and screams of support. Josie Molina looked deflated, wilted, and heartbroken.
The Republican Party faithful have cheered for the idea of using electric fences to kill "illegal" immigrants. The Republican Party faithful have booed gay soldiers on live television. The Republican Party faithful have cheered on someone dying because the latter did not have insurance.
The Tea Party GOP are a death cult. They are also, for all intent and purposes, a White Identity organization, one that is willing to betray all norms of good governance and consensus in order to advance a narrow set of interests which are sold to their public through the politics of white racial resentment and white grievance mongering.
When we survey the various grotesqueries of human history, there is a fundamental question that must be asked: how can human beings treat each other so badly?
To enslave people by the millions, commit genocide and mass rape, steal and destroy the land, territory, and property of others, murder defenseless children and others by bombing them, using the machete, the gas chamber, the machine gun, or by hand, would seem to require some extraordinary act of human will.
Modernity would suggest that such acts are all too easy and common to commit. They are legitimated by the very processes at work when Scott Desjarlais and his supporters cheered the suffering of a little girl: you destroy the shared sense of belonging which grounds human empathy, and thus you create a class of people now marked as some type of "Other".
Josie Molina is an alien outsider to the White Right and the Tea Party GOP. Because she is racialized as being "different", her father is a type of perpetual stranger. For the Authoritarian, especially those in the Tea Party who have now internalized the idea of "white politics" and "white group interests" as being synonymous with "real America", those who are not white--or overly identified with Whiteness through a type of "honorary" status (see George Zimmerman or Clarence Thomas)--are not worthy of dignity or respect.
Once more, the word "herrenvolk" is a perfect descriptor for the Tea Party GOP. The lack of empathy towards a non-white child is a means of reinforcing how the fruits of democracy and liberty are demarcated and limited for conservatives by the color line, and through a sense of "us" and "them", in post civil rights America. Ultimately, if the Tea Party GOP are the herrenvolk, Josie Molina, her father, and people of color, more broadly, are the untermenschen.
Beyond conjecture or mere observation, research in social psychology reveals the power of racial difference to influence how white people perceive and respond to the suffering of non-whites.
For example, The Journal of Experimental Psychology reports that:
"Previous research shows people are less likely to feel connected to people outside their own ethnic groups, and we wanted to know why," says Gutsell. "What we found is that there is a basic difference in the way peoples' brains react to those from other ethnic backgrounds. Observing someone of a different race produced significantly less motor-cortex activity than observing a person of one's own race. In other words, people were less likely to mentally simulate the actions of other-race than same-race people". The trend was even more pronounced for participants who scored high on a test measuring subtle racism, says Gutsell.The researchers who conducted the experiment made the following disturbing discovery:
"The so-called mirror-neuron-system is thought to be an important building block for empathy by allowing people to 'mirror' other people's actions and emotions; our research indicates that this basic building block is less reactive to people who belong to a different race than you," says Inzlicht.
Typically, when people observe others perform a simple task, their motor cortex region fires similarly to when they are performing the task themselves. However, the UofT research team, led by PhD student Jennifer Gutsell and Assistant Professor Dr. Michael Inzlicht, found that participants' motor cortex was significantly less likely to fire when they watched the visible minority men perform the simple task. In some cases when participants watched the non-white men performing the task, their brains actually registered as little activity as when they watched a blank screen.Powerful. How can one have feelings or empathy for someone when they are quite literally invisible to your brain?
Could such a finding help to explain the ruthless efficiency of the plantation, the death camp, or any other social order where race and labor and class are synonymous and co-mingled?
Inzlicht and Gutsell's findings are part of a larger social phenomenon where it is assumed that black people do not feel pain in the same way as white people. This has broad implications. As reported by NPR:
Sure, sure. You know, I think that, look, if we can see that people generally assume that black people feel less pain, you can imagine all of the different social problems that this explains. One area is healthcare, but it's also the criminal justice system. We know that race and empathy impact jury decisions, and we know that black defendants receive harsher sentences for the same crimes. But in particular, if we take a close look at the juvenile justice system, what we start to see is that young youth of color are being tried much more aggressively than white youth. And why is this? We've also seen research that it's because there's a certain perception that black juveniles are not treated as innocents.Racial ideologies are not only a matter of public policy and the distribution of resources. Racial ideologies locate individuals and groups in relation to one another, and by doing so to help determine "who is the most" and "who is the least' among us in a given society.
They're not treated with compassion. But at every stage, they're treated much more like adults and therefore subjected to harsher treatments, tried in adult courts and given adult sentences for things that, for white students or white juveniles, would be just written off as perhaps pranks or something that could be a slap on the wrist.
The status and sense of being the herrenvolk--the chosen people--is a powerful social force. It can mask hypocrisy (To point. Scott Desjarlais is a criminal who is lecturing a child about the inviolate nature of the law) and legitimate contradictions (the Tea Party faithful want to keep social security and government resources for "people like them", but to simultaneously deny it to those "undeserving" black and brown folks).
For the Tea Party members who cheered the breaking up of a child's family, the latter is not really an innocent. Because she is some type of Other, Josie Molina is subjected to a process of "adultification".
By comparison, a white child would be protected and fawned over. She would be in need of help at a minimum; in the best case scenario, a white child would be given assistance and her family made an exception for an "unfair" law.
And just as black youth are not allowed to be either children or innocent in the eyes of the White Gaze and the State, Josie Molina must be cruelly introduced to the realities of the adult world. In all, and as we saw with the smearing of Trayvon Martin by the Right-wing media, one of White Supremacy's most powerful weapons is its capacity to rob black and brown youth of their innocence.
Scott Desjarlais and his White-Right herrenvolk cheerleaders who celebrated the deportation of Josie Molina's father are dream stealers. They may have a sense of empathy for some people...but not for those little brown kids like Josie Molina and their families.


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Constantine I, Roman emperor: A Christian Empire
A Christian Empire
Constantine was now sole ruler of the empire, and in a reign of peace he set about rebuilding the strength of old Rome. Constantine continued to tolerate paganism and even to encourage the imperial cult. At the same time, however, he endeavored to unify and strengthen Christianity.
In 314 he convened a synod at Arles to regulate the Church in the West, and in 325 he convened and presided over a council at Nicaea to deal with the troubles over Arianism (see Nicaea, First Council of). Thus Constantine evolved the idea of the ecumenical council. In 330 he moved the capital to Byzantium, which was rebuilt as Constantinople, a city predominantly Christian and dedicated to the Virgin. He seems to have favored compromise with Arianism, and in 335, in defiance of the Council of Tyre, he exiled St. Athanasius.
As the founder of the Christian empire, Constantine began a new era. He was an absolute ruler, and his reign saw the culmination of the tendency toward despotic rule, centralized bureaucracy, and separation of military and civil powers evolved by Diocletian. Constantine's legal reforms were marked by great humanity, perhaps a result of Christian influence. Though he had done much to unify the empire, at his death Constantine divided it again, providing for his three surviving sons and also to some extent for the sons of his half-brother. These nephews were soon killed (though others, notably Julian the Apostate, survived), but complex contests ensued between Constans I, Constantine II, and Constantius II.
Historians differ greatly in their assessments of Constantine's motives and the depth of his Christian conviction. Early Christian writers portray him as a devout convert, although they have difficulty explaining his execution in 320 (on adultery charges) of Crispus, his son by his first wife, and Fausta, his wife. Some later historians see him as a political genius, expediently using Christianity to unify his empire. An intermediate interpretation pictures him as a pagan gradually converted to Christianity (he was baptized on his deathbed), using his new belief for personal ends much as earlier emperors had used the imperial cult.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- A Christian Empire
- Rise to Power
- Bibliography
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Ancient History, Rome: Biographies


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Johnny Wood Boat
Boats from St. John River area in New Brunswick, that carried cordwood to Maine's lime kilns. More formally called St. John River woodboats, they were well established in the 1830s and last built about 1917. These were small schooners, 40 to 80 feet, and flush decked to make deck loading easier. The foremast was up in the bow, with the mainmast amidships. The masts had stops on them so that the booms could be set 6-10 feet above the deck, above the wood cargo. The boats were shallow draft, 6-7 feet, and were designed with relatively flat bottoms and bilge keels so that they could ground out on a falling tide to make them easy to load where there were no docks. Simply built, they had a small cabin aft for the 2-3 man crew.


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Atmospher Sci & Global Chg
July 2014
Rasch, Guenther Make Highly Cited Researchers 2014 List
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are impacting the atmospheric science community, with the science to prove it. Highly Cited Researchers found that two of PNNL's atmospheric scientists, Phil Rasch and Alex Guenther, are among the top cited researchers in average citations per paper in the category of geosciences. The ranking was found with InCites, a Thomson Reuters analytical tool that combed their database of indexed published papers from 2002-2012. Representing the top 1% in their field, only 250 researchers in each field were selected based on total citations to their papers published during this period.
Read more here: http://highlycited.com/info.htm
For more, see Five PNNL researchers named among the world's most cited
For a searchable list, see: http://isihighlycited.com/


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Diamonds Blade technology is one of the most popular in the artificial grass industry for two reasons. First, the diamond shaped edge of the grass leaf makes it look more realistic and gives it a softness to the touch. Second, the durability of Diamond-shaped leaves is significantly higher than its predecessors, flat and triangle blades.
Artificial grass leaves manufactured using Diamond-blade technology have the range of qualities valuable for use at commercial and residential landscape projects and playgrounds with medium to high traffic.


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Does Juniper have too many SDNs
Does it have too many The addition of the new QFX10000 spine switch and Junos Fusion fabric may mean some product rationalization is in the works.
"There is some level of complexity in product positioning," acknowledges Juniper CEO Rami Rahim. "But if customers decide to move from one fabric or SDN to another we provide the flexibility to move with investment protection. Customers care about the attributes of the product itself. That drives their decisions more than anything else."
With the introduction of the Junos Fusion data center fabric -- not to be confused with the Junos Fusion announced a year ago for service provider routers -- Juniper now has four or five different switching and/or data center fabrics: Virtual Chassis, Virtual Chassis Fabric, QFabric and MetaFabric -- if that can be considered one -- being the others.
+MORE ON NETWORK WORLD:Juniper needs to get it right this time+
Some of these overlap to some extent, some are "open," some proprietary. Junos Fusion, which includes some properties from QFabric Director, uses a standard tagging scheme based on IEEE 802.1BR, whereas QFabric's is proprietary.
The proprietary characteristics of QFabric helped cool the market reception for the product.
Junos Fusion will make its way onto other Juniper platforms as well, including the EX9200 programmable core switch for enterprise campuses and data centers, says Jonathan Davidson, executive vice president and general manager of Juniper Development and Innovation.
"It's a key component in the data center as well as in the enterprise," Davidson says of Junos Fusion.
Analysts predict that Junos Fusion may eventually replace the three-and-a-half year old QFabric.
"Juniper initially positioned QFabric as a foundation for cloud-ready, virtualized datacenters, but it seems SDN and network virtualization, which are even better suited for cloud-ready and virtualized datacenters, have put QFabric's future prospects in doubt," says IDC's Brad Casemore. "Juniper also says that Junos Fusion shares common switching building blocks with QFabric System, and that it 'enables coherency through automation and manages the entire data center as a single network rather than individual network elements.' Again, it makes one wonder where QFabric will be positioned going forward."
Juniper says QFabric is still being offered for a particular customer segment and that a development roadmap remains intact for the product line.
Virtual Chassis and Virtual Chassis Fabric are complementary in that one evolved from the other. Virtual Chassis Fabric, for leaf-and-spine designs, is a 1G/10G/40G fabric optimized to support small and medium-sized data centers that scale to 768 10G ports by combining up to 32 Juniper QFX and EX top-of-rack switches into a single-tier, single logical switch.
VCF requires a Juniper QFX5100 to serve as the spine switch.
It grew out of Virtual Chassis, which debuted in 2008. Virtual Chassis allows up to 10 member switches to be configured into and managed as a single switch, with increased fault tolerance, high-availability and a flatter Layer 2 topology designed to minimize or eliminate the need for Spanning Tree and other protocols.
Says Casemore, "Juniper positions VCF as being for small- to mid-size datacenter environments. This positioning is likely to continue, in my estimation."
Lastly, there's MetaFabric which was introduced in the fall of 2013. MetaFabric combines QFX and EX switches, MX routers, SRX security systems and Contrail SDN controller into an intra- and inter-data center network.
MetaFabric is intended to enable rapid application provisioning within and across multiple data centers using existing Juniper equipment already installed in customer sites and with gear from Juniper partners.
It's also designed to allow customers to pool network resources across data centers, Juniper says, so that these resources are more readily available for applications.
On the SDN front, Juniper also has four or five different SDN controllers: Contrail, OpenContrail, QFabric Director and NorthStar, and OpenDaylight if Juniper chooses to offer a distribution of that. Contrail appears to be the strategic offering for data center switching fabrics, while OpenContrail is Juniper's contribution of it to the open source community.
NorthStar is a traffic optimizer for IP/MPLS WANs designed to automate the creation of traffic-engineering paths across service provider and enterprise networks. QFabric Director programs the QFabric environment, which appears to be heading for obsolescence.
Juniper may also offer a distribution of the OpenDaylight open source SDN controller. Juniper is a Platinum member of the OpenDaylight Project and contributed an OpenContrail plugin to the effort almost a year ago.
The company is not wowed by the OpenDaylight controller's progress to date and has no current plans to offer a Juniper-branded ODL product.
"There's no multivendor network management, no network virtualization," says Ankur Singla, Juniper corporate vice president and general manager for cloud software. "It's not gone where we would like it to be. You can't solve a real customer use case with it."
Singla says multivendor VLAN configuration still needs to develop in the ODL controller.
"Maybe in one year, if it solves a use case, we will offer a commercial distribution," he says. "We'd like to; it would expand our total addressable market."
Singla says Juniper has more than 100 customers for the Contrail controller, including Symantec, Bloomberg, and a Fortune 5 industrial company with three "massive" data centers running Cisco Nexus 9000 switches. Symantec also appears to be a Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure SDN customer.
Though there appears to be no functional redundancy between all of Juniper's SDN controllers -- save for QFabric Director -- better integration between them could be articulated.
"Juniper probably should provide further elaboration on how Contrail/OpenContrail will work with Northstar and OpenDaylight, but there's no conflict or overlap," Casemore says.
Juniper's product launch last week was also big on emphasizing speeds and feeds, with the company trumpeting the 100G density supremacy of the QFX10000. But speeds and feeds are yesterday's news with the current industry emphasis on software abstraction and programmability.
Or is it
"The QFX10000 is a spine switch, and Juniper wanted to make the case that its ASIC technology was necessary to drive that switch's performance characteristics, which is why we heard so much about speeds and feeds," says Casemore. "If this had been a ToR announcement, you would have heard more about the software capabilities. I think Juniper does understand what's happening in cloud datacenters, and I expect them to place considerable emphasis on network abstraction, automation, programmability, orchestration, and network disaggregation as we move forward."
Another ASIC development during Innovation Day was a custom 500G chip for Juniper's PTX core router. The ExpressPlus silicon performs more than 1.5 billion filtered operations per second and can drive 5x100G interfaces, Juniper says, which readies the router for 400G Ethernet.
Juniper also unveiled new line cards for the PTX 5000 and PTX 3000 which enable the PTX5000 to deliver 24Tbps of bandwidth in a single rack, or 30x100G per slot, the company says.
Juniper's optimistic that its Innovation Day innovations will be well received, perhaps having learned a hard lesson from the QFabric experience.
"We have a lot of confidence in these products because we pushed the limits of silicon and software, but with a true sense and understanding of the sweet spots in the market," Rahim says.


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Monsanto, DuPont settle lawsuits, set new $1.75 billion deal
Monsanto Co and DuPont have settled a bitter legal battle over rights to technology for genetically modified seeds and will drop antitrust and patent claims against each other while forging a new collaboration, the companies said on Tuesday.
The deal tosses out a $1 billion jury verdict DuPont was ordered to pay Monsanto last August. Instead, the companies agreed that DuPont would make at least $1.75 billion in royalty payments over several years in exchange for broad access to develop products using Monsanto's leading genetic technology.
Monsanto shares rose nearly 4 percent on the news, while DuPont shares fell nearly 1 percent.
Still, DuPont officials said the agreement was a win for shareholders and sets up its Pioneer agricultural seed unit for future growth.
"This is a smart deal for DuPont," Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer, said in an interview. "We've got access to two additional technologies that we can now combine with our existing technologies as well as the technologies that are in our pipeline."
DuPont Pioneer will have broad rights to key new technology that include stacking of traits, Schickler said.
Monsanto, which generates revenues both through seed sales and licensing of its genetic seed technology to other companies, said the deal should bring in far more than the minimum $1.75 billion as DuPont pushes the company's technology through its broad customer base.
"They were and are the largest soybean company in the world, the United States for sure," said Scott Partridge, vice president/strategy for Monsanto. "We are pleased to have them again as a customer for our newest technology. It is another avenue to put the highest-performing product in the hands of farmers."
Under the agreement, which Schickler said came together over the last week, DuPont is to make four annual fixed royalty payments totaling $802 million to Monsanto from 2014 to 2017.
Beginning in 2018, DuPont will also pay royalties on a per-unit basis for Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean technology and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend for the life of the agreement in exchange for continued technology access. Annual minimum payments through 2023 will total $950 million.
DuPont can start testing Monsanto's material in the field this year and will be able to sell Roundup Ready 2 Yield in 2014. And if regulatory approvals are in place, DuPont will be able to start selling the Xtend product in 2015, according to Schickler.
Pioneer will integrate the technology into its own seed germplasm over time, he said.
Access to Xtend is key as it is seen as part of a next wave of herbicide-resistant crop technology aimed at dealing with a wave of herbicide-resistant weeds spreading across U.S. farmland.
The deal also calls for Monsanto to receive access to certain DuPont Pioneer disease resistance and corn defoliation patents.
The settlement comes after a jury in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis awarded Monsanto $1 billion in August, agreeing with the company that DuPont and Pioneer violated a licensing agreement for use of the Roundup Ready trait by trying to stack several traits together.
DuPont was pursuing a separate case against Monsanto, alleging anti-competitive behavior, and a hearing in that matter was set for this fall. But under the settlement, each side is dropping its claims against the other.
Both DuPont and Monsanto hold strong positions in the U.S. seed industry. They and other competitors have been racing to develop improved crops through genetic modifications and other means.
Pioneer, which generated sales of $7.3 billion in 2012, has been gaining market share in North American soybean and corn markets, and its brands have been popular with farmers.
Monsanto, which had $13.5 billion in sales last year, is seen as the market leader in developing genetically altered crop technology and is the world's largest seed company.
Monsanto introduced its Roundup Ready soybean technology in 1996. Roundup Ready crops can tolerate sprayings of Roundup, or glyphosate-based, herbicide. And the technology has become a foundation for many key crops, including corn, alfalfa, cotton, canola and sugar beets.
Shares of DuPont were down 0.9 percent at $48.63 in midday trading, while Monsanto rose 3.7 percent to $103.08.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)


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