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Today was ridiculous for the Cubs and the game was nowhere near as close as the final score makes it look. Out of 21 Cubs who came to bat, only two of them (Theriot and Ramirez) looked any good and once again…way to many oh-fers! Cubs lost to the Brewers today (AGAIN! Opening day is coming guys!) by a score of 6-4 and its not even like we left a lot of opportunity out on the bases. They only stranded 2 runs. It never ceases to amaze me how a team can destroy one day and get destroyed the next. Rich Hill was roughed up something fierce pitching 2 2/3 innings giving up 8 hits and 4 ER's. Piniella has announced he will officially be our fourth pitcher in the rotation. I know its only one game and in the Spring nonetheless, but still. Spring lineups your pitcher is facing are not the same caliber they will be facing in the regular season. It would make much more sense to see them punishing people now and hope it continues later than seeing them flounder now and hope it turns around when the season starts given the types of players who are getting into the games right now. I don't know. Shake it off Hill and let's all just move on to the next game.
On a positive note Lahey (that's right Lahey…he's earned the right to not be called "Not Scott Kazmir" as I have been calling him with his pitching lately) looked great again pitching out of a bases loaded jam in 1 1/3 innings giving up no hits and picking up another strike out. What a great surprise this kid has been.
Pie has me a little concerned, or should I say his groin has me concerned. If this 'minor groin surgery' he's coming off, resulting in him missing up to 5 days, is taking care of the twisted testicle he suffered from earlier this Spring, then fine it's done with. But given I'd like to see Pie as our guy in CF for the entire '08 season, I hope this isn't something that keeps coming back. It'll be interesting to see if Fuld takes advantage of this additional playing time.
One thing that did come back was Derosa and it was great having him back. Hearing what he's been saying in interviews sounds like he's in a great place mentally. He just has to get over the fear of something happening since he did just come off heart surgery. The fact that he put the ball in play in all three at-bats with his mind not quite right, I believe is a great start and sign of things to come. He may have gone 0-3, but he'll get to where he needs to be after he gets used to seeing live pitching again and becomes more comfortable with playing after surgery. Welcome back Mark…good to see you back.
And on a more "Wait, what?" note…Billy Crystal will sign a one day contract with the Yankees on Wednesday and he will play in their game against the Pirates on Thursday. As if Clemens, Petitte and Hank Steinbrenner aren't making the Yankees a big enough laughing stock already. Have fun Billy. 700 Sundays and one Thursday. Billy Crystal: Yankee. I look forward to hating you for the day. GO CUBS GO!


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STARmeterTop 5000
Up 147 this week
Steve Zahn
Steve Zahn was born in Marshall, Minnesota, to Zelda, who worked at a YMCA, and Carleton Edward Zahn, a Lutheran pastor. His father is of German and Swedish descent and his mother is of German ancestry. Zahn's career kicked off in his native Minnesota when he crashed the audition of a local stage production of "Biloxi Blues" and won the lead role. ... See full bio »
Born:in Marshall, Minnesota, USA
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro

subset: commoncrawl


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The Lighthouse Keepers' tasteful, jangly brand of country-tinged folk rock was at odds with prevailing trends on Sydney's early 1980s, Detroit-besotted independent scene. The band nevertheless issued a number of albums and singles, and always lived up to audience expectations.
Sydney independent label Hot reissued The Lighthouse Keepers' 'Gargoyle' single (August 1984), as well as putting out the band's full-length debut album Tales of the Unexpected (November). 'Ocean Liner'/'Sad Tale' was lifted as a single (November). Hot issued a third single, 'Ode to Nothing'/'Seven Years', in August 1985, and the band flew to the UK for a series of shows (including supporting fellow Australians The Triffids in London).
The Lighthouse Keepers broke up in early 1986. As a farewell gesture, the band compiled the 'Gargoyle' and 'Ode to Nothing' singles, the Exploding mini-album and two previously unissued tracks, 'Mr Wicked' and 'Lair', on the album Imploding (November 1986). Greg Appel and Juliet Ward went on to The Rainlovers, which becameThe Widdershins; Dalton joined The Honeys; O'Neil joined The Cannanes.
The compilation CD, Lipsnipegroin was released in 1992, six years after the band's break-up. Do yourself a favour and check out this record 'Ocean Liner' and 'Gargoyle' are classics.
Disc 1
Disc 2


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Plan D
You shudder to think about dying. But imagine if you died suddenly—and left your family with no financial cushion?
"That's why life insurance should be at the top of your To Do list—but it isn't, because it makes you think about things you don't want to think about," says Jackie, 36, who has a 14-month-old daughter.
Jackie, a long-time DailyWorth reader, is determined to purchase life insurance policies for herself and her husband—and she is willing to share her experience with us.
Come to terms with it
Jackie, who works in sales for a food company, wanted to get started—but didn't know where to start.
We walked her through the two types of life insurance: term insurance (uncomplicated) and permanent insurance, also called whole life (complicated).
Term life insurance is similar to home insurance. You pay a monthly premium for coverage in case of catastrophe—fire, flood or in this case, death. If your house went up in flames, your policy would cover $X amount. If you died, your life insurance would pay your survivors $X amount (charmingly called the "death benefit").
- The policy only lasts for a certain number of years, i.e. the term.
- Like homeowner's insurance, you only get money if something bad happens. There's no cash value to the policy.
Permanent life insurance would cover you for your entire life. By and large these are cash-value policies that operate like complex savings or investment accounts, as this easy-to-read article from Money magazine explains here.
What Jackie found appealing about term is that it's straightforward—and inexpensive. According to Money: "A $1 million permanent policy for a healthy 40-year-old woman can run as much as $13,900 a year; she could get a $1 million 20-year term policy for $750 per year."
Next: Jackie discusses these options with her husband.


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Eugene "Rick" Jackson, 77, Wabash, died at 8:47 p.m., Saturday, June 22, at Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne. He was born June 4, 1936 in Salyersville, Ky. to Smith and Goldie (Ramey) Jackson.
Rick married Doris Hall on July 10, 1984, in Elko, Nev. She died Nov. 2, 2012. He was a US Army veteran and worked for Conrail Railroad Company for 42 years. He attended Wabash Christian Heritage Church.
He is survived by three step-daughters, Debra Ann Rand, Marion, Brenda Sue Regnault, Huntington, and Nancy (Marvin) Yeakle, Marion; three brothers, Junior (Thelma) Jackson, Twin Lakes, Kelly (Lilly) Jackson, Wabash, and Roy Jackson, South Whitley; sister, Carma Jean Barton, Fort Wayne; seven step-grandchildren and 10 step-great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service, 1241 Manchester Avenue, Wabash, on Thursday, June 27, at 2 p.m. with Pastor Tim Prater officiating. Burial will be in Friends Cemetery, Wabash. Friends may call from 12-2 p.m., Thursday at the funeral home.
The memorial guest book for Rick may be signed at www.grandstaff-hentgen.com.


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One of the pratfalls you have to overcome as a baseball beat writer is being hyperbolic when describing the now. You have to be careful about saying something is the best or worst of the season because it just happened.
It's human nature to say that whatever's fresh is the most important. And I really, truly try to avoid that. Because unlike football, in which you have 16 games, baseball has 162. And as Orioles manager Buck Showalter likes to say, this happening doesn't necessarily mean that will happen as a result.
All that said, the Orioles' 13-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox was, in my opinion, the worst of 2013. Statistically, it tied an 11-0 defeat to the lowly Houston Astros on July 31 at home for largest margin of defeat.
But that was July. This one is in late August. And it kicks off a crucial nine-game road trip to Boston, New York and Cleveland – three postseason contenders – that could make or break the season.
Several players said after the game that a loss is a loss – as Adam Jones eloquently put it, "Losing 2-1 hurts a little more than losing 13-2, so stop crying. Come back tomorrow and play the game of baseball."
And that is the key here. The Orioles need to come back and play their butts off Wednesday. Or Tuesday's butt-kicking could really snowball on them. And at this point in the season, one prolonged losing streak will end your season.
Now, to Orioles fans who want a little sunshine, I will say that this club has been tremendous about not letting one ugly defeat bleed into another.
Conversely, the Orioles' longest winning streak of the season is five games. There is little time left to put a run together. They need to have a sense of urgency now, and it starts Wednesday (it should have started on the West Coast trip, frankly.)
Wei-Yin Chen was particularly brutal Tuesday. But he's allowed a terrible outing every now and then. What disturbs me most about Chen is that he has now allowed two homers in each of his past three outings for a total of six. In his first 14 starts this season, he allowed a total of six.
That statistic isn't just alarming to me. I asked Chen about it and this is how he answered: "I don't want to comment on that. Just a lot of hitters swinging the bat really well." His 'No comment' said plenty.
** Wilson Betemit made his 2013 debut in the bottom of the eighth in the field and then grounded out to end the game in the ninth.
Who knows what kind of contributor he can be down the stretch. He is a useful bat, especially against right-handers, but he hasn't basically played for a year.
That said, give the guy credit for working his way back from a serious knee injury. Betemit loves to play the game, and he's giving it his all. I'm not sure how effective he can be, but his return was a silver lining to an awful game in Boston.


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Tests of suspect pet food killed 7, FDA says
Eukanuba, Iams, Nutro and store brands tied to kidney failure, deaths
"During those tests, the company fed its product to 40 to 50 dogs and cats and some seven animals — the mix of species was not immediately known — died, Sundlof said. The contamination appeared more deadly to cats than to dogs, he said."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17650075/wi ... 3?GT1=9145
On March 20 2007, 7:41 AM, SpiritFngrz wrote:Yikes! The story that just aired on the Today show just referred to Eukanuba as a "high end" food
On March 20 2007, luvmyangels wrote:There paid to say that. Many of these companies are sponsors.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users


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Dan Barker
Dan Barker (born June 25, 1949) is a prominent American atheist activist and co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). In 1984, Dan Barker became an ex-Christian. Barker was a Christian minister and musician for 19 years.
See also: Atheism and rape and Atheism and women
Christian apologist Kyle Butt wrote: "In fact, in my debate with Dan Barker, Barker admitted that fact, and stated that under certain circumstances, rape would be a moral obligation (Butt and Barker, 2009)"[1] (see: Atheist Dan Barker Says Child Rape Could Be Moral).
Atheism offers no condemnation of rape and it provides no moral basis a society to attempt to prevent and deter rape. Western atheists often assert there are no absolutes in morality and argue for moral relativism (see: Atheism and morality).
Commenting on Western atheism and rape, the Christian apologist Ken Ammi wrote:
|When considering any and every atheist condemnation of any action whatsoever it is of primary importance to keep in mind that they are expressing personal opinions about the act(s) they are condemning. They are merely telling you their personal preferences in the form of morality borrowed from the Judeo-Christian worldview. They are piling unfounded assertion, upon unfounded assertion, upon unfounded assertion, and building a tel of arguments from outrage, arguments from personal incredulity, arguments for embarrassment, etc.[2]


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June 2012
6 June 2012
Crikey! Australia Zoo's two newest stars, cheetah cubs William and Josh, celebrated their first birthdays yesterday (Josh) and today (William).
They started their special day by getting stuck into an enrichment session with one of their favourite toys, playing with a cordial bottle on a rope with rocks in it; William and Josh absolutely love their toy sessions!
After that they were taken on an exciting walk through the back of the Zoo, where they were allowed to explore to their heart's content, before heading over to our African savannah for visitors to see.
Naturally their keepers found the time to sing "Happy Birthday" to them while they rounded off their day by enjoying their favourite treat, a yummy tuna ice-block. Wooo-hoo!
The brother cubs were born in captivity and held in a Cheetah Centre in De Wildt, South Africa until they moved to Australia Zoo in February 2012. "Our two new cheetahs have settled in nicely at Australia Zoo and it is great to welcome them into our family as Ambassador Cats to help continue educating the public about the plight of the cheetah" said Australia Zoo's curator, Kelsey Mostyn.
Get Involved with Cheetah Conservation!
0 Zoo Comments


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In this dizzying, effects-driven drama, two scientists, played by Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, chase tornadoes in their quest to deploy a new recording device to study the storms. Taking a backseat to the wild and visually mesmerizing storms are subplots concerning a failing marriage, childhood trauma, and corporate ethics. The film received multiple Academy Awards for its spectacular sound and visual effects, including the famous flying cow.
After the film, a panel of graduate researchers from the University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences will share their own experiences tornado chasing and dive into the science behind severe storms.
Directed by Jan De Bont
Rated PG-13 | 113 min. | 1996 | U.S.A.
Science Movie Night is presented by the Natural History Museum of Utah in partnership with the Utah Film Center.
We thank the Salt Lake City Public Library, our presenting sponsor.
This event is free and open to the public.


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Storage Solutions For Kids' Books
19 Unique Ways to Store and Display Your Tots' Books
19 Unique Ways to Store and Display Your Tots' Books
Rack 'em up! Books can educate, inspire, and more, but they can also clutter up a room if there's no proper place to store them. Rather than fill a traditional bookcase with your lil one's tomes, consider some unique ways to show off your tot's favorite stories. From inspirational gallery displays to home-built furniture, we've rounded up 19 ways to declutter the book corner in your kids' rooms. Check them out!
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26 Nov 2009, 4:47 AM
I had the <body id="myid"> tag on my page and the GXT/GWT throws the error "undefined is null or not an object". When I replace it with <body> it works fine. I have to include id to make some stuff work. Can someone explain it why does it happen and how to solve it.


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Rosco LitePad Axiom Tungeten (3800K) 6×12
- LitePad Axiom: A ruggedized, high-output LitePad with an upgraded mounting system.
LitePad Axiom is a whole later class of LitePad. Designed specifically for the film and TV market, this more rugged and versatile product is a LitePad HO+ (see next page) in a metal housing. LitePad Axiom has LEDs on all four sides and an "internal" power connector. This slim-profile metal housing allows for a more durable LitePad that is perfect for both owner-users and rentals. The housing also enables users to quickly and easily mount the LitePad using one of the new Axiom brackets or by conventional LitePad mounting methods even Velcro or rubber bands! The LitePad Axiom housing has a gel slot for color correction or other filters and is deep enough to hold more than one filter. On the back of the unit, there is a universal LitePad Axiom mounting system, allowing different Axiom brackets to be slid into the mounting system for various applications. For example, a 1/4-20 bracket could slide on for use with one of the new accessories or a Baby Pin could be used for attachment to a C-Stand. The Axiom brackets will work with any size LitePad Axiom. All LitePad Axiom units are available in both daylight and tungsten. LitePad Axiom is meant to be a stand-alone unit. The housing was not designed for the LitePad to come out nor be taken apart. However, LitePad Axiom conversion kits will be available so customers can put their older LitePads in the newer housing. Available Sizes: 3″ x 6″ 3″ x 12″ 6″ x 6″ 6


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CONTACT: Elizabeth at 281-989-6556 or email@example.com
WEB: http://executionwatch.org; http://kpft.org; facebook: Execution Watch
HOUSTON -- The most significant death-penalty stories of 2011 have been named by Execution Watch, a news program on Pacifica Radio Network's KPFT FM 90.1 that broadcasts and streams live whenever Texas puts a prisoner to death:
1. Troy Davis is executed in Georgia despite lingering doubts about his guilt. The rush to execution was not as unusual as the broad international awareness of, and support for, Davis.
2. Mumia Abu-Jamal makes the metaphorically giant leap from Pennsylvania's death row into general prison population after the Philadelphia district attorney announces it will stop its 30-year effort to obtain a durable death penalty against him.
3. Texas executes Mexican national Humberto Leal, flouting international law by refusing to give him a new hearing despite the failure by police to tell him at arrest that he may contact the Mexican Consulate for legal help.
4. Illinois abolishes the death penalty, reducing the number of states with capital punishment to 34. In a related story, Oregon's governor says no executions will take place during his term but neither commutes any death sentences nor stops prison officials from selling excess execution drugs to other states.
5. The European Union escalates its activism against American use of the death penalty by banning the export to the United States of barbiturates that could be used to in lethal-injection executions.
6. The number of new death sentences in the United States reaches an historic low of 78, the first time in more than three decades that fewer than 100 people were condemned to death.
7. Anthony Graves, exonerated from death row for a murder he did not commit, successfully sues the State of Texas for compensation owed to him by law, accepting from the comptroller a check for $1.45 million.
8. The Texas death penalty is declared unconstitutional by State District Judge Teresa Hawthorne of Dallas, echoing Harris County District Judge Kevin Fine's earlier ruling, made moot by a plea deal.
9. The death penalty becomes part of the GOP primary race when Rick Perry elicits applause from a debate audience for presiding over more executions than any governor in history and disbelief from the media for declaring he has never lost sleep over an execution.
10. Director Werner Herzog successfully releases INTO THE ABYSS, a gritty documentary describing from several points of view a triple murder in Texas and its aftermath. Another documentary involving capital punishment, INCENDIARY, premieres and wins an award at Austin's South by SouthWest Film Festival.
Other stories in 2011 that Execution Watch designated as especially noteworthy include:
- A district judge in Georgetown takes under advisement a request for a special inquiry into alleged wrongdoing by the top prosecutor in a murder trial that put an innocent man behind bars for 25 years. Michael Morton presented evidence that ex-district attorney Ken Anderson knowingly withheld evidence that might have led to his acquittal.
- The U.S. Supreme Court vacates a $14 million jury verdict against former New Orleans District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. for withholding evidence that might have averted the wrongful conviction and near-execution of John Thompson. A divided court said a prosecutor's office cannot be held liable for a member's illegal withholding of exculpatory evidence due to inadequate training.
- The Texas Forensic Science Commission releases its final report on the Todd Willingham case, directing the Innocence Project of Texas to work with the state fire marshall to review more than 700 arson cases for possible wrongful convictions based on outdated science.
- Literary critics respond enthusiastically to the publication of AUTHOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EXECUTION, a highly personal and humanistic memoir by David Dow, litigation director of Texas Defender Service.
- A Louisiana-based coalition of civic and religious groups called I Want to Serve launches a campaign to outlaw the exclusion from capital juries of people who oppose the death penalty.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Top Ten Death Penalty Stories of 2011 by Execution Watch
Posted by Texas Moratorium Network at 8:47 PM 0 comments
Executions in U.S. by State Since 1930 and 1977 (Texas number one in both time periods)
Texas Moratorium Network revised the BJS table to include executions in 2011 and also added executions in Hawaii and Alaska that occurred after 1930, which were left out of the BJS table. Neither Alaska or Hawaii conducted any executions since becoming states in 1959. In the table below, a handful of states had zero executions since 1930, but there were executions in various numbers in all those states before 1930. The total number of all executions in the U.S. since 1930 is 5,104 . The total since 1977 is 1277. The table below does not include all the many executions in states prior to 1930. If you count all known executions from the year 1685 to the present, Virginia is the number one state with 1,386 followed by Texas with 1,232. You can see a list of executions since 1685 here, to which you have to add the ones in the modern era.
Note: Statistics on executions under civil authority have been collected by the federal government annually since since 1930. These data exclude 160 executions carried out by military authorities between 1930 and 1961.
Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics Program and Texas Moratorium Network
State Since 1930 Since 1977
|New York
|North Carolina
|South Carolina
|New Jersey
|District of Columbia
|West Virginia
|Federal system
|New Mexico
|South Dakota
|New Hampshire
|North Dakota
|Rhode Island
Posted by Texas Moratorium Network at 2:18 PM 2 comments
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Another Texas Judge Rules Texas Death Penalty Unconstitutional
If you live in the Dallas area, we hope you will come to the hearing. We will post the date as soon as we find out.
From the Dallas Morning News:
A state district judge in Dallas County has ruled that a Texas death penalty statute is unconstitutional because it allows prosecutors to arbitrarily seek capital punishment.
Prosecutors are appealing Judge Teresa Hawthorne's decision and have filed a motion to recuse her from Roderick Harris' capital murder case.
Hawthorne acknowledged when making her ruling last week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and other courts have "consistently rejected" the reasons that she found the statute unconstitutional, according to a transcript of the hearing. But she said changes in the law can still be made.
Hawthorne, who could not be reached for comment later, said she refused to be a "rubber-stamp judge." The Democrat took office in January and is a former public defender.
"My decision is not an act of unabashed judicial activism," she said Monday from the bench. "I remember when women and blacks could not vote. I remember when so-called witches were burned. I remember when gays had to hide to be in the military. My decision is not to buck the system or stir the waters."
Hawthorne ruled that she believed:Sphere: Related Content
The Legislature failed to define terms like "continuing threat" and "moral blameworthiness" for jurors deciding between a life or death sentence.
The Legislature's definition of mitigating evidence is vague.
State law prevents jurors from knowing that one vote for life can keep a defendant from receiving a death sentence.
The law allowing a judge to enter into evidence "any matter that the court deems relevant to sentence" means that each judge hearing a case has the power to influence a sentence.
"The law should not be arbitrary or capricious," Hawthorne said in court.
The Dallas County district attorney's office and special prosecutor Kevin Brooks declined to comment about the ruling or the recusal motion.
Brooks was appointed special prosecutor in the case because he had already been working on the case when he left the DA's office earlier this year.
Brad Lollar, one of Harris' defense attorneys, said he believed that the appellate court would be interested in issues surrounding the lack of definitions and the fact that jurors consider whether a defendant would continue to be a threat based on his release into society.
"That's not going to happen" after sentencing in a capital murder case, Lollar said. "He'll either get life without parole or death."
A Harris County judge made a similar ruling on the constitutionality of the death penalty in March 2010. State District Judge Kevin Fine eventually withdrew his ruling and refused to recuse himself from the case.
That case ended in a plea agreement earlier this year when John Edward Green Jr. pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of murder. He fatally shot a Houston woman and wounded her sister in a June 2008 robbery.
The chance that a higher court will agree with Hawthorne is "a long shot," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington. But he said changes in an appeals court's makeup can produce different rulings on the same issues.
"That's sometimes how laws get changed," Dieter said. "What's been rejected before could be seen differently."
Lollar pointed to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy as an example of a jurist changing his opinion on death penalty issues. Lollar said that within a 10-year span, Kennedy changed his mind on whether the mentally retarded and those who are 17 at the time of the crime could be executed for capital murder. Executions of the mentally retarded and juveniles are no longer allowed in the United States.
"Unless you give the court the opportunity to reconsider, how do you change the law?" Lollar said.
A hearing on the recusal motion is scheduled for January before another judge. Testimony in Harris' trial is expected to begin in May after a months-long process of jury selection.
Posted by Texas Moratorium Network at 1:48 AM 0 comments
Monday, December 19, 2011
Charlie Baird Files For Travis County District Attorney
Posted by Texas Moratorium Network at 11:04 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Video of Exoneree Juan Melendez at 12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty
Sphere: Related Content
Juan Melendez spent seventeen years,eight months and one day on Florida's death row for a crime he did not commit. His story highlights the many problems that plague the death penalty system, including its high risk and inevitability of being imposed on the innocent,its unfair application on the basis of race and ethnicity and its almost exclusive imposition on our most vulnerable members of society—the poor.
12th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty
Austin, Texas
October 22, 2011
Posted by Texas Moratorium Network at 1:00 AM 0 comments
Monday, December 12, 2011
Clarence Darrow: "A Plea for Mercy" delivered September 1924
"A Plea for Mercy"
Now, your Honor, I have spoken about the war. I believed in it. I don't know whether I was crazy or not. Sometimes I think perhaps I was. I approved of it; I joined in the general cry of madness and despair. I urged men to fight. I was safe because I was too old to go. I was like the rest. What did they do? Right or wrong, justifiable or unjustifiable -- which I need not discuss today -- it changed the world. For four long years the civilized world was engaged in killing men. Christian against Christian, barbarian uniting with Christians to kill Christians; anything to kill. It was taught in every school, aye in the Sunday schools. The little children played at war. The toddling children on the street. Do you suppose this world has ever been the same since? How long, your Honor, will it take for the world to get back the humane emotions that were slowly growing before the war? How long will it take the calloused hearts of men before the scars of hatred and cruelty shall be removed?
We read of killing one hundred thousand men in a day. We read about it and we rejoiced in it -- if it was the other fellows who were killed. We were fed on flesh and drank blood. Even down to the prattling babe. I need not tell you how many upright, honorable young boys have come into this court charged with murder, some saved and some sent to their death, boys who fought in this war and learned to place a cheap value on human life. You know it and I know it. These boys were brought up in it. The tales of death were in their homes, their playgrounds, their schools; they were in the newspapers that they read; it was a part of the common frenzy -- what was a life? It was nothing. It was the least sacred thing in existence and these boys were trained to this cruelty.
It will take fifty years to wipe it out of the human heart, if ever. I know this, that after the Civil War in 1865, crimes of this sort increased, marvelously. No one needs to tell me that crime has no cause. It has as definite a cause as any other disease, and I know that out of the hatred and bitterness of the Civil War crime increased as America had never seen before. I know that Europe is going through the same experience today; I know it has followed every war; and I know it has influenced these boys so that life was not the same to them as it would have been if the world had not made red with blood. I protest against the crimes and mistakes of society being visited upon them. All of us have a share in it. I have mine. I cannot tell and I shall never know how many words of mine might have given birth to cruelty in place of love and kindness and charity.
Your Honor knows that in this very court crimes of violence have increased growing out of the war. Not necessarily by those who fought but by those that learned that blood was cheap, and human life was cheap, and if the State could take it lightly why not the boy? There are causes for this terrible crime. There are causes as I have said for everything that happens in the world. War is a part of it; education is a part of it; birth is a part of it; money is a part of it -- all these conspired to compass the destruction of these two poor boys.
Has the court any right to consider anything but these two boys? The State says that your Honor has a right to consider the welfare of the community, as you have. If the welfare of the community would be benefited by taking these lives, well and good. I think it would work evil that no one could measure. Has your Honor a right to consider the families of these defendants? I have been sorry, and I am sorry for the bereavement of Mr. And Mrs. Frank, for those broken ties that cannot be healed. All I can hope and wish is that some good may come from it all. But as compared with the families of Leopold and Loeb, the Franks are to be envied -- and everyone knows it.
I do not know how much salvage there is in these two boys. I hate to say it in their presence, but what is there to look forward to? I do not know but what your Honor would be merciful to them, but not merciful to civilization, and not merciful if you tied a rope around their necks and let them die; merciful to them, but not merciful to civilization, and not merciful to those who would be left behind. To spend the balance of their days in prison is mighty little to look forward to, if anything. Is it anything? They may have the hope that as the years roll around they might be released. I do not know. I do not know. I will be honest with this court as I have tried to be from the beginning. I know that these boys are not fit to be at large. I believe they will not be until they pass through the next stage of life, at forty-five or fifty. Whether they will then, I cannot tell. I am sure of this; that I will not be here to help them. So far as I am concerned, it is over.
I would not tell this court that I do not hope that some time, when life and age have changed their bodies, as they do, and have changed their emotions, as they do -- that they may once more return to life. I would be the last person on earth to close the door of hope to any human being that lives, and least of all to my clients. But what have they to look forward to? Nothing. And I think here of the stanza of Housman:
Now hollow fires burn out to black,
And lights are fluttering low:
Square your shoulders, lift your pack
And leave your friends and go.
O never fear, lads, naught's to dread,
Look not left nor right:
In all the endless road you tread
There's nothing but the night.
I care not, your Honor, whether the march begins at the gallows or when the gates of Joilet close upon them, there is nothing but the night, and that is little for any human being to expect.
But there are others to consider. Here are these two families, who have led honest lives, who will bear the name that they bear, and future generations must carry it on.
Here is Leopold's father -- and this boy was the pride of his life. He watched him, he cared for him, he worked for him; the boy was brilliant and accomplished, he educated him, and he thought that fame and position awaited him, as it should have awaited. It is a hard thing for a father to see his life's hopes crumble into dust.
Should he be considered? Should his brothers be considered? Will it do society any good or make your life safer, or any human being's life safer, if it should be handed down from generation to generation, that this boy, their kin, died upon the scaffold?
And Loeb's the same. Here are the faithful uncle and brother, who have watched here day by day, while Dickie's father and his mother are too ill to stand this terrific strain, and shall be waiting for a message which means more to them than it can mean to you or me. Shall these be taken into account in this general bereavement?
Have they any rights? Is there any reason, your Honor, why their proud names and all the future generations that bear them shall have this bar sinister written across them? How many boys and girls, how many unborn children will feel it? It is bad enough as it is, God knows. It is bad enough, however it is. But it's not yet death on the scaffold. It's not that. And I ask your Honor, in addition to all that I have said to save two honorable families from a disgrace that never ends, and which could be of no avail to help any human being that lives.
Now, I must say a word more and then I will leave this with you where I should have left it long ago. None of us are unmindful of the public; courts are not, and juries are not. We placed our fate in the hands of a trained court, thinking that he would be more mindful and considerate than a jury. I cannot say how people feel. I have stood here for three months as one might stand at the ocean trying to sweep back the tide. I hope the seas are subsiding and the wind is falling, and I believe they are, but I wish to make no false pretense to this court. The easy thing and the popular thing to do is to hang my clients. I know it. Men and women who do not think will applaud. The cruel and thoughtless will approve. It will be easy today; but in Chicago, and reaching out over the length and breadth of the land, more and more fathers and mothers, the humane, the kind and the hopeful, who are gaining an understanding and asking questions not only about these poor boys, but about their own -- these will join in no acclaim at the death of my clients.
These would ask that the shedding of blood be stopped, and that the normal feelings of man resume their sway. And as the days and the months and the years go on, they will ask it more and more. But, your Honor, what they shall ask may not count. I know the easy way. I know the future is with me, and what I stand for here; not merely for the lives of these two unfortunate lads, but for all boys and all girls; for all of the young, and as far as possible, for all of the old. I am pleading for life, understanding, charity, kindness, and the infinite mercy that considers all. I am pleading that we overcome cruelty with kindness and hatred with love. I know the future is on my side. Your Honor stands between the past and the future. You may hang these boys; you may hang them by the neck until they are dead. But in doing it you will turn your face toward the past. In doing it you are making it harder for every other boy who in ignorance and darkness must grope his way through the mazes which only childhood knows. In doing it you will make it harder for unborn children. You may save them and make it easier for every child that sometime may stand where these boys stand. You will make it easier for every human being with an aspiration and a vision and a hope and a fate. I am pleading for the future; I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men. When we can learn by reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life is worth saving, and that mercy is the highest attribute of man.
I feel that I should apologize for the length of time I have taken. This case may not be as important as I think it is, and I am sure I do not need to tell this court, or to tell my friends that I would fight just as hard for the poor as for the rich. If I should succeed, my greatest reward and my greatest hope will be that for the countless unfortunates who must tread the same road in blind childhood that these poor boys have trod -- that I have done something to help human understanding, to temper justice with mercy, to overcome hate with love.
I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar Khayyam. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all:
So I be written in the Book of Love,
I do not care about that Book above.
Erase my name or write it as you will,
So I be written in the Book of Love. Sphere: Related Content
Posted by Texas Moratorium Network at 11:52 PM 0 comments
Friday, December 02, 2011
Sister of Troy Davis, Martina Correia Dies; She Fought to Prove His Innocence and Save Him From Execution
I just learned a few moments ago that Martina Correia, the courageous sister of Troy Davis died today. As many of you know she was fighting breast cancer and had become very ill and weak in the last few months.
For all of you that were lucky enough to meet Martina, they met someone with incredible conviction and determination.
In one of my last conversations with Martina she told me someone in France had emailed her to say they were sorry that despite all of their efforts and protests for Troy, they had failed. Martina said, "I want people to know that we didn't fail. As long as we keep hammering away at this thing, as long as we refuse to give up, we haven't failed. We'll be doing what Troy would have wanted us to do. Our efforts made an impact and we'll continue to make an impact."
That is always how she was. She refused to be defeated. She always looked to the positive, she always looked to ways we could mobilize to win.
I feel so proud and honored to have fought alongside Martina and Troy's family.
And I know many, many of you feel the same way.
This news came to me in a phone call from Mark Clements, someone who spent 28 years wrongfully incarcerated in IL, he said, "We will miss her, she was a warrior in this fight. To the best of our ability we must continue this fight she started for Troy and for others."
Her life was consumed by the fight to win justice for her brother and to raise the banner for abolition of the death penalty.
She was an inspiration to us all.
Now it will be up to us all to fight on in her memory and in Troys memory -- and to not give up.
As we learn more details on services and arrangements, we will post them on the list serve and on our website.
Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Posted by Texas Moratorium Network at 12:56 AM 0 comments


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First Tibetan Olympian wins medal for China
On any other day and in any other situation, the Tibetan exiles who gathered excitedly in groups next to Buckingham Palace would never have come to cheer for an athlete wearing the colors of China, a country they regard as their oppressor, a country that invaded and has governed their Himalayan homeland with an iron fist for six decades.india Updated: Aug 12, 2012 11:57 IST
On any other day and in any other situation, the Tibetan exiles who gathered excitedly in groups next to Buckingham Palace would never have come to cheer for an athlete wearing the colors of China, a country they regard as their oppressor, a country that invaded and has governed their Himalayan homeland with an iron fist for six decades.
But this was exceptional.
Because, apparently for the first time at an Olympics, the athlete was one of them, a Tibetan.
Standing apart but, just this once, both wanting the same thing, groups of Chinese supporters shouted "Jia You!" while the Tibetans yelled "Gyuk!" -- both meaning, "Go on!"
The Chinese waved their red flags. The Tibetans waved the flag of Tibet that is banned in China, with a bright yellow sun rising over a snow-clad mountain.
They could hear and see each other, but they studiously ignored each other, too.
The athlete -- Qieyang Shenjie to the Chinese, Choeyang Kyi for the Tibetans -- could hear the yells of encouragement.
But she kept her head down and concentrated on not putting a foot wrong. It seemed a fitting metaphor for a Tibetan competing for China, one smart enough not to get sucked into the politics that have swirled around her Olympic participation.
Not only did Qieyang make history for Tibetans, she won a medal, too -- bronze in the women's 20-kilometer race walk Saturday.
She beamed when she crossed the finish line, a picture of delight. If she felt discomfort at all as a Tibetan in Chinese colors, she didn't show it.
"I'm extremely honored to take part as the first representative of the Tibetans at the Olympic Games and to win a medal," she said.
She said she heard Tibetans encouraging her along the route that went past the residence of Queen Elizabeth II.
"I heard it! Really. I heard a Tibetan cheering me on. At the time, I looked backward but couldn't see who that person was," Qieyang said.
But she looked alarmed when asked if she saw the Tibetan flags, shaking her head and refusing to answer. Because Tibet is ruled by China, it does not have its own team or athletes at the Olympics or other international competitions, like the football World Cup.
So, for Tibetans, this was the first time they'd been able to cheer on one of their own. But it also was a shock to some of them to see Qieyang striding past them in Chinese red. "Am I really cheering for Tibet or China?" wondered Ugyen Choephell, who said his parents fled Tibet in the 1960s to India, where he was born.
Still, he yelled "Choeyang Gyuk!" and was thrilled when she went past.
"Great, really. Very emotional," he said. "History in the making."
If there was another Tibetan at previous Olympics, history has forgotten them. In China, the government-run Xinhua News Agency and other media said Qieyang was the first Tibetan to make a Chinese Olympic team.
Olympic historian Bill Mallon said Tibet has never fielded an Olympic team and that he and other Olympic experts he consulted weren't aware of any previous Tibetan Olympian.
The Tibetan government in exile in India said likewise.
"As an individual, we wish her well," said Dicki Choyang, the exiled administration's minister for information and international relations. "She must have put in a lot of effort to reach there. But we are sad that she cannot represent a free Tibet."
"China uses things like this for their political gain. The fact that a Tibetan is participating in the Olympics does not take away anything from the dire situation prevailing inside Tibet," Choyang added.
First Published: Aug 12, 2012 11:24 IST


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July 6, 2005
The ACLU settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of several students who wanted to form a gay-straight alliance (GSA) club at Boyd County High School in Ashland, Kentucky. The settlement requires that the district treat all student clubs equally and conduct anti-harassment trainings for all students and staff. Several students had first petitioned the school to form the gay-straight alliance in March 2002. The school initially refused to approve the club, and then later took the extraordinary step of suspending all student clubs rather than recognize the GSA.
Status: Victory! The school officially recognized the GSA club and implemented anti-harassment training for students and staff.
Follow The Case
February 3, 2004


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ISLAMABAD, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- An island that emerged off the coast of Pakistan after an earthquake is shrinking, raising concerns among researchers and local residents, officials say.
The island appeared a half mile off the port city of Gwadar several hours after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit interior Pakistan Sept. 24, Voice of America reported. The epicenter of the quake was in Baluchistan, about 250 miles from the coast.
Initial reports from scientists said the island was about 60 feet above sea level, about 500 feet long and 600 feet wide.
Abdul Rahim, a biologist with World Wide Fund Pakistan, described the island's surface as "mostly muddy" and covered with large rocks and stones.
The island has begun to disappear and is now about 10 feet underwater "and the process is ongoing," he said.
The island is projected to vanish completely in several months, a forecast Rahim said had upset local residents for whom it had become a source of income.
Tourists pay "handsome amounts of money" to hire local boats to take them to the island, Rahim said.
A survey he conducted found a diverse biology on the island, with an unusually large of small fish swimming in its waters. Those fish had attracted other fish, which had given local fishermen the opportunity to catch bigger fish than they had been accustomed to.


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Did Noah have to take on board the ark creatures that lived their entire life cycles in water?
Without a doubt, one of the most intriguing sections of Scripture is the account of the Genesis Flood, recorded in Genesis 6-8. Over the years, various questions have arisen in regard to the specific details of that account. For example, how did Noah get the animals to the ark? How could Noah have constructed a vessel large enough to carry all these creatures? How did he (and the seven people who accompanied him) care for them during a year-long trip? And so on.
One question that frequently arises has to do with whether Noah was required to take water-living creatures into the ark. Common sense alone would dictate that Noah was not required to do so, since such creatures already were accustomed to living in water. But the Bible provides the answer—which raises this issue above the level of mere "common sense."
Let us examine what the biblical text itself has to say on this subject. Genesis 6:19 reads: "And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female" (emp. added). The phrase "all flesh" has been interpreted on occasion to mean that God commanded Noah to take even water-living creatures on board the ark. What is the meaning—in the context—of the phrase "all flesh"? The text that follows in Genesis 6:20 goes on to explain. "Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive." God therefore limited "all flesh" by specifying three categories: (1) birds; (or fowl); (2) cattle; and (3) creeping things. In her book, Science in the Bible, Jean S. Morton presented an excellent treatise on how the Bible classifies animals, and the differences between biblical classification schemes and modern-day classification schemes. "Animals," she wrote, "are classified in Scripture according to simple characteristics that give quick recognition. For example, animals are classified as creeping, crawling, flying, and so forth" (1978, p. 154). Biblical commentator Adam Clarke noted that God's command to Noah in Genesis 6:19-20 was that "a male and female of all kinds of animals that could not live in the waters [were] to be brought into the ark" (n.d., 1:68). Furthermore, Genesis 7:21-22 records: "All flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died" (emp. added).
The English word for birds (or fowl) is the translation of the Hebrew 'owph, which means flying creatures, fowl, or birds. Therefore, the first classification clearly is referring to those creatures that fly. Water-living creatures, by definition, would be omitted from this group.
The word "cattle" (King James/American Standard versions) is a generic term that can refer to domesticated (or wild) land animals or beasts. The Hebrew term (behemah) is used 188 times in the Old Testament. In the KJV, it is translated as beast 136 times and as cattle 52 times, depending on the specific context (Young, 1974). Neither of these two terms is descriptive of water-living creatures; therefore, water-living creatures clearly may be omitted from the second category as well.
The final classification, "creeping things" (Hebrew, remes), refers to reptiles, insects, and other small creatures (Strong, 1996). Davidson, in his Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, defined remes as "a reptile; that which moves on the earth; ...any land animal, in opposition to fowls" (1970, p. 685b). Remes is used in a variety of ways in the Bible. In Genesis 9:3, it refers to the realm of living, moving creatures—in contrast to plants. In not a single instance in which the word remes is used is a specific creature described. T.C. Mitchell of the British Museum of Natural History noted that remes "is unlikely to correspond exactly to any modern scientific category, referring rather to all creatures which appear to the observer to move close to the ground" (1974, p. 274). The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon suggests that the word remes conveys the idea of anything that has the motion of creeping, crawling, etc. (Brown, et al., 1979, pp. 942b-943a). H.C. Leupold, in his Exposition of Genesis, defined remes as:
...from the root meaning "to move about lightly" or to "glide about." "Creepers" almost covers the term, however, "creeping things" is too narrow, for it does not seem to allow for bigger creatures like reptiles. "Reptiles" again is too narrow, for it does not allow for the smaller types of life. Everything, therefore, large or small, that moves upon the earth or close to the earth, having but short legs, may be said to be included (1942, 1:83-84).
Remes, used in reference to land creatures, is different from the Hebrew sherets, which apparently includes a broader spectrum of creatures. In Leviticus 11:20, for example, sherets is used to describe certain animals. The word describes "teeming, swarming, creeping things" (see Harris, et al., 1980, 1:957). The word remes is used to describe the movement of those animals under the category of sherets. So, God said: "Let there be moving creatures [sherets]," and He created creatures that moved by creeping (remes). Remes (a noun) includes reptiles and most insects (sherets) because they remes (a verb). As it is employed in Genesis 6:20, the term remes clearly excludes water-living creatures.
Furthermore, the terms used in Genesis 6:20 must be interpreted in light of their use in previous verses. In Genesis 1:26, for example, the terms are used in contrast to other animal groups that specifically include fish: "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish [dagah] of the sea, and over the birds ['owph] of the heavens, and over the cattle [behemah], and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing [remes] that creepeth upon the earth'" (emp. added). The same three terms are used in Genesis 6:7, where God pledged to destroy "man, and beast [behemah], and creeping things [remes], and birds ['owph] of the heavens." With the exception of man, the other three categories in Genesis 6:7 match those used in 6:20 where God told Noah which creatures were to be taken on board the Ark. God never pledged to destroy fish in the first place. Water-living creatures were not among the categories of living creatures that God told Noah to take into the ark.
The question sometimes is asked as to how fresh-water fish could survive in the salty seawater that covered the Earth during the Flood. Obviously, fresh-water deposits would have been contaminated with salt water as the flood waters covered "every high mountain over the whole earth" (Genesis 7:19-20). One of the problems here, of course, is that we cannot speak with certainty regarding the salinity of the oceans before the Flood. Nor do we know very much about the predecessors of many present-day fresh-water fish. Thus, any suggestion that fresh-water fish could not have survived in a post-Flood world assumes three things not in evidence: (1) that the salinity of the oceans and seas in Noah's day was the same as the salinity of those today; (2) that fresh-water fish cannot live in diluted salt water; and (3) that the ability of water-living creatures in Noah's day to survive in saline environments was the same as that of creatures found in today's oceans and seas.
The first assumption—that the salinity of the oceans and seas of Noah's day has remained constant—does not agree with the available scientific evidence. Based on a study of various factors of the past and present, some scientists believe that the salinity of the oceans may have been one-half of what they are currently (see, for example, Austin and Humphreys, 1990, 2:27, and Walter Lammerts as quoted in Whitcomb and Morris, 1961, p. 70). There is no reason that the fresh-water fish of Noah's day could not have survived, provided the salinity of the waters was less than it is today. Leonard Brand has noted: "[W]e would expect changes in the chemistry of seas and lakes—from mixing fresh and salt water.... Each species of aquatic organism would have its own physiological tolerance for these changes" (1997, p. 283). In addition, as Brand commented regarding the fresh/salt water mixture that would have ensued during and immediately after the Flood: "[T]he less dense fresh water may not mix quickly with the salt water and it stays on top long enough to provide a temporary refuge for fresh-water organisms. Perhaps, too, many animals have a greater potential for adaptation to changing water conditions than we have recognized" (1997, p. 301-302).
The second assumption—that fresh-water fish cannot live in diluted salt water—is now known to be false, as Whitcomb and Morris point out as long ago as 1961 in their classic text, The Genesis Flood (p. 387, footnote).
The third assumption—that the ability of water-living creatures in Noah's day to survive in saline environments was the same as that of creatures found in today's oceans and seas—similarly is known to be incorrect. Many fresh-water fish have relatives that once lived in saline environments (see Batten and Sarfati, 2000). Furthermore, even today there are fish (e.g., large-mouth bass) that thrive in brackish waters such as those where the Mississippi River dumps its fresh water into the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, in the end, the skeptics' claim that Noah's ark likely included giant fish tanks is wrong.
Austin, Steven A. and D. Russell Humphreys (1990), "The Sea's Missing Salt: A Dilemma for Evolutionists," Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creationism—1990, ed. R.E. Walsh and C.L. Brooks (Pittsburgh, PA: Creation Science Fellowship).
Batten, Don and Jonathan Sarfati (2000), "How Did Fish and Plants Survive the Genesis Flood?," [Online], (Answers in Genesis), http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/444.asp.
Brand, Leonard (1997), Faith, Reason, & Earth History: A Paradigm of Earth and Biological Origins by Intelligent Design (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press).
Brown, F., S.R. Driver, and C.A. Briggs (1979), The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson).
Clarke, Adam (no date), Clarke's Commentary: Genesis—Deuteronomy (New York: Abingdon).
Davidson, Benjamin (1970), The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Harris, R.L., G.L. Archer, and B.K. Waltke (1980), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago, IL: Moody).
Leupold, H.C. (1942), Exposition of Genesis (Columbus, OH: Wartburg Press).
Mitchell, T.C. (1974), The New Bible Dictionary, ed. J.D. Douglas (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Morton, Jean Sloat (1978), Science in the Bible (Chicago, IL: Moody).
Strong, James (1996 reprint), The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Nelson).
Whitcomb, John C. and Henry M. Morris (1961 reprint), The Genesis Flood (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).
Young, Robert (1974 reprint), Analytical Concordance to the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).


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An Articles Archives
Diet - Diseases - Enzymes - Exercise - Health - Herbs - Longevity - Medicine - Minerals - Natural Health - Nutrition - Stress - Vegan - Vegetarian - Vitamins
Food Hazards
in Animal Flesh and By-products
These are some of the reasons why we are vegans
No Poultry
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2002 — Fairbank Reconstruction Corp., doing business as Fairbank Farms, an Ashville, N.Y., establishment, is voluntarily recalling approximately 320,000 pounds of fresh ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.
The products subject to recall bear the establishment code "EST. 492" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The products were produced on November 5 and November 6 and distributed to retail stores nationwide.
"Consumers need to be aware of this recall," said Dr. Garry L. McKee, FSIS administrator. "I strongly encourage purchasers of ground beef to ask their grocers if they carried the recalled product and to check their refrigerators and freezers. If consumers are in possession of the recalled product they should return it to the point of purchase."
E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration. The very young, seniors and persons with compromised immune systems are the most susceptible to food-borne illness.
There is absolutely no reason to have humans or animals suffer and die because of the production of food. From our research, we believe all food-borne illnesses (so-called "stomach flu," for example) originate within the meat and dairy industries or from cross-contamination. We believe that one day, in the not too distant future, the meat and dairy industries will be held financially responsible much in the same way that the tobacco industry has been held responsible for the illnesses and deaths that result from their products.
In this single recall, we estimate that approximately 600 cows suffered and died needlessly because of the human greed and carelessness involved in this industry. Humans have a choice whether or not to eat these animal products - the cows were not given a choice concerning their lives.
We don't need to eat animals or their by-products to live. There is an abundance of plant based foods to satisfy our every need; and plant foods don't have the food-borne illness risks and hazards. See our Recipes section for some helpful and healthful suggestions.
No Beef-Lamb-Pork
We began this archive as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health. We believe the articles and information contained herein are true, but are not presenting them as advice. We, personally, have found that a vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found. Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body. If you have a health problem, see your own physician.
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text: As expected, our Retiring With Security Seminars are beginning to fill up fast. In fact, South Burlington's session on Sept. 30 is already at capacity, and closed to further registration. On the registration page, you will notice that once a session reaches its registration limit you won't be able to register for it. If you have questions or want to be on a waiting list, please contact Yolly Turner at


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
A few months ago, a Jerualem court finally convicted "Jewish terrorist" Jack Teitel with killing two Palestinians Arabs and trying to kill two Israelis, including Messianic Jewish youth Ami Ortiz. The court rejected the argument that Teitel was not sane.
One of the aspects of the case that stuck out to the Messianic community was the decision that Ami Ortiz would not be awarded the damages typically paid to a victim of terrorism.
The Israeli Defense Ministry approves damages to Arabs attacked by Jews, or Jews attacked by Arabs as victims of terrorism. But Jew-on-Jew violence is classified as crime, not terrorism, and therefore ineligible for such damages.
Wait, Jew-on-Jew violence? But doesn't the state officially reject the notion that Messianic believers in Yeshua are still Jewish? That's the question that many Israeli believers were asking following the ruling.
The State of Israel in many cases has refused to recognize Messianic believers as Jews when it came to the "Right of Return," the right to immigrate to the Jewish state.
Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz, told Israel Today that the situation is simply absurd. "When it is convenient, we are Jews, when it is inconvenient, we are not," noted Leah.
The Ortiz family is pleased that Israel is finally recognizing them as Jews, but that doesn't change the fact that the attack on Ami was a hate crime no less serious than Teitel's murder of two Palestinian Arabs.
"We have begun a campaign along with our lawyer to change Ami's status in the ministry of Defense which is responsible for declaring our attack as a terror attack," Leah said, explaining that Ami has decades of ongoing and expensive treatment ahead of him.
The Ortiz family has asked for all those concerned to please write to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and request he change the classification of the attack against Ami. Minister Ya'alon's email address is: email@example.com
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A U.S. Air Force search and rescue helicopter pilot killed in a helicopter crash in England earlier this month has been laid to rest at the Air Force Academy.
Capt. Christopher S. Stover was buried at the academy's cemetery Monday following a funeral Mass in the chapel.
About 100 people attended, including academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson and the head of his squadron.
The 28-year-old Stover is a 2008 graduate of the academy. He is a native of Vancover, Wash. and is survived by his wife Sarah and his parents.
He was one of four Air Force crew members killed when their Pave Hawk helicopter—a modified Black Hawk—came down Jan. 7 in a marshland nature reserve on the Norfolk coast on a training mission.


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Arizona Bullheads
Bullhead City, Arizona hosted an event like no other. With sandstorms and 30mph winds, the stage was set for a show down. The event took place on the Colorado River at Riverfest. The thing about the Colorado River is that it flows around 10mph, literally. The water is chilly but very clean to the bottom. A huge turn out of pro wakeskaters converged on this little city in the middle of the desert for a showdown.
After spending 2 days of straight busting his ass, Jeff Engen finally finished the rails for the event. Without Jeff working on everything so hard nothing would of got done. The event format was simple, 2 rails made up the wakeskate winch course. A 30ft Incline and a 24ft flat bar being pulled by a winch. The extreme current made for a fun time loosing boards and riders.
A winch company out of Arizona supplied the winches, but didn't know how to actually drive their own winches, so that just added fuel to the fire. The contest was a jam setup. Each rider took 3 passes and best pass won. Nick Taylor and Grant Roberts were a shoe in for the win until Ben Horan jumped on his board to blast out of a huge nose slide on the incline to a nose slide back 270 out on the flat bar. Ben Horan took home a 1,000 dollars for his winning run. Ben was seen at the black jack table after the event, doubling his winnings.


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Hey, #TeamBlackBerry, dreaming of getting away this summer to some place warm and sunny? Well, listen up because we want to send you to Australia! Check out the "Travel Better with BlackBerry®" Contest and enter for your chance to win† a trip for two to Australia, plus a USD $2,500 gift card. You could soon be hanging out Down Under.
In addition to the grand prize, we're giving away two great prizes each week (winners will be contacted directly) – one consists of a BlackBerry® smartphone and a travel gift pack and the other includes luggage, a travel gift pack and a $1,000 gift card. You can enter on Twitter® using the #TravelBetter hashtag or on the Contest Website, or both. See the Official Contest Rules for complete Travel Better with BlackBerry contest details.
And stay tuned, travel lovers – we're introducing cool new features into BlackBerry® Travel v1.1 arriving in BlackBerry® Beta Zone soon. (You can check back here, or follow us on the @BlackBerry Twitter account and we'll announce when it's available. For now, check out this hands on demo of the BlackBerry Travel application currently in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.)


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So we all know about Lincoln's assassination, but what about the plot to kill him that failed? This starts out with the number of threats that Lincoln got:
At the new year, 1861, he was already beleaguered by the sheer volume of correspondence reaching his desk in Springfield. On one occasion he was spotted at the post office filling "a good sized market basket" with his latest batch of letters, and then struggling to keep his footing as he navigated the icy streets. Soon, Lincoln took on an extra pair of hands to assist with the burden, hiring John Nicolay, a bookish young Bavarian immigrant, as his private secretary.
Nicolay was immediately troubled by the growing number of threats that crossed Lincoln's desk. "His mail was infested with brutal and vulgar menace, and warnings of all sorts came to him from zealous or nervous friends," Nicolay wrote. "But he had himself so sane a mind, and a heart so kindly, even to his enemies, that it was hard for him to believe in political hatred so deadly as to lead to murder." It was clear, however, that not all the warnings could be brushed aside.
This is a long article about the plot to kill him before his inauguration and the involvement of the Pinkerton agency. Enjoy!
Friday, February 08, 2013
The Plot to Kill Lincoln
3 comments:
- Matt said...
Lincoln was amazing. I watched a documentary that said Lincoln essentially knew he was going to die prematurely. Both he and his wife dreamed of it. Can you confirm?
- Matt Blood said...
Lincoln was amazing. I watched a documentary that said Lincoln essentially knew he was going to die prematurely. Both he and his wife dreamed of it. Can you confirm?
- Jennie W said...
Lincoln did have a lot of dreams and did seem to take them to heart. On your question, check out this website: http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln46.html
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Wolk Children's Center
Welcome! The JCC Wolk Children's Center is an early learning center located on the campus of the JCC and open to all children regardless of race, religion, creed, color or physical disability.
The Center is directly connected to the JCC enabling our young children to take advantage of the outstanding facilities' the JCC has to offer. Children have access to the gym, PlayGym and the pool. In order to maintain a safe and secure environment, all entrances and exits require a key FOB which is issued to parents of the children enrolled in the school.
The Wolk Children's Center provides:
- A safe nurturing environment with dedicated educators who are passionate about making a positive impact on the lives of young children, and who understand that children learn best through hands on experiential play.
- The main focus of our program is to provide experiences for children to develop their social, emotional, cognitive, physical and spiritual growth.
- A developmentally appropriate general and Judaic curriculum, offering learning opportunities in the areas of values, literacy, language development, cognitive development, gross and fine motor skills, social science, music and movement, and much more.
- Full (7am – 6pm) and half (7am – 1pm) day options. Infants 8 weeks through 18 months are required to attend a minimum schedule of 4 full days a week as cribs are not shared. All other age groups have a 3 day minimum weekly schedule. Parents never need to compromise an exemplary early education and outstanding care for their children.
- Enrichment activities including music, PlayGym, gym classes and swim (for 3's & 4's).
- A gross motor/multi-purpose room specifically designed of our young population.
- Beautiful, fully equipped classrooms with individual children's cubbies, windows which allow plenty of natural light, and kitchenettes, allowing accommodations for individual diets and respect for Kosher dietary laws.
- One-way windows to observe your child in his or her classroom.
- Direct access from classrooms to age-appropriate outdoor play areas.
- Therapy spaces for children requiring services such as speech, occupational/physical therapy.
Read more about the JCC Child Care Program at the Wolk Children's Center.


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Why is waiting on God so difficult?Question: "Why is waiting on God so difficult?"
Answer: Waiting on God is not only difficult; sometimes it seems impossible. We want things to happen in our own timing, according to our plans. But God doesn't operate on our schedules, and expecting that He will is when disappointments come. God has a greater perspective of life's events, and His perspective, plans, and schedules are perfect and holy, because He is perfect and holy. The Psalmist tells us "As for God, His way is perfect" (Psalm 18:30). If God's ways are "perfect," then we can trust that whatever He does—and whatever His timing—is also perfect. When we come to grasp that fact, waiting on God is not only made less difficult, it actually becomes joyful.
The promises of God are clear on this matter—if we wait on God, He will renew our strength (Isaiah 40:31). But we are human and we live in a culture that demands everything now or even yesterday. That's why waiting on God is difficult. Sometimes, the prayers we lift up to the Lord of Hosts are answered immediately, and that encourages us to further trust and confidence. However, sometimes over a period of time, the Lord tests our faith, and that's when we can really struggle. That is when things can get hard and that is when we wonder whether the Lord is really listening to our prayer, whether it is for a son or daughter to come to faith or guidance on the right type of job or even regarding a God-honoring relationship.
The apostle Paul exhorts the church at Philippi to not be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6). The King James Version translates it that we are to be "careful for nothing." This means we are not to be full of care over anything and mindful of nothing that might cause concern. Anxiousness in the believer suggests a lack of faith and that grieves God, not only because He doesn't want us to be anxious for anything, but also because He knows our anxieties stem from an incomplete understanding of who He is.
The most important aspect of God's nature and character and the one attribute that will enable us to patiently wait on Him in complete confidence is His sovereignty. God's sovereignty is defined as His complete and total independent control over every creature, event, and circumstance at every moment in history. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent, God does what He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases, and nothing can stay His hand: "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please" (Isaiah 46:10). Once we grasp this understanding, waiting for our perfect God to work and act in His perfect time not only enables us to wait patiently, but it also allows us to wait confidently.
Recommended Resource: Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
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Why is waiting on God so difficult?


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(My bold) Totally! Here's the latest.bensmomjo wrote:Thanks for posting this interesting correspondence. My husband has also on occasion corresponded with Mr. Smalley about various topics, to little avail. Very frustrating.
Hi John,
Thanks again for your reply. I don't think it's too hard to follow. WSJ repeatedly published that Walker "balanced the budget" without explaining that it was a "cash accounting" balance that came about because of Walker's $558 million loan Wisconsin will be paying off until the 2030/31 fiscal year, with payments currently at $98 million a year. I have yet to see the loan mentioned at all.
And without explaining the difference between cash accounting V. the more accurate GAAP accounting method that reflects Wisconsin's actual debt. Forbes Magazine does a nice job of that in the middle of page 2:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2 ... t-deficit/
Along with is: "... it was necessary for the Walker Administration to tell HHS that his state is running a deficit while attempting, at the same time, to convince voters of the precise opposite—all so he can hold onto the opportunity to place more than 50,000 Wisconsinites in danger of losing their only access to health care."
I would think that reporting on the actual debt/deficits (and their effects) instead of stating the exact opposite just a week prior to a recall over his qualifications to old the job would be pretty important stuff.
But WSJ did this instead on May 27th, 2012 in a featured Sunday article just before the recall: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ ... 963f4.html
In the gray area on the left side of the page:
"Balanced the state's budget and closed a $3.6 billion hole without a widespread increase in taxes, and without relying on one-time funds to cover big gaps."
The budget isn't balanced: Walker's administration has run deficits both years by their own admission. There was no $3.6 billion "budget hole." That was a figure the appointed heads of various State agencies asked for and nevertheless, wasn't wiped out either way since our debt is $320 million + higher right now than when Walker took office (by their own admission). And Walker did, in fact, depend on more than several "one-time funds": The $558 million loan, $25.6 million taken from the mortgage relief fund, along with cutting $56 million from the Earned the Income Tax Credit, another $13 million from not indexing the Earned Income tax Credit for inflation, along with $107 million in tuition increases at the UW. That's $750 million in essentially "one time" funds along with another $156 million in interest on the $558 million loan we now owe until 2031.
You said earlier that you urged Walker to use the GAAP figures (for obvious reasons, I assume). So why not cite them, since you prefer them?
I agree that you've reported on jobs endlessly, but never (that I know of) in the context of when we gained jobs under Doyle's budget for the first 6 months in 2011, and then lost jobs for the next 6 out of 8 months after Scott's budget became law on July 1st, 2011. If you take out the 41,000 jobs gained under the previous Governor's policies, before Walker's budget went into effect, what are we left with in regards to jobs?
3-3-2012: http://www.jsonline.com/business/us-add ... 33083.html
"Wisconsin has lost more private-sector jobs (an estimated 27,700) than any state in the country since the middle of last year (July through December), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only one other state, Missouri, is close, losing about 19,000 jobs in that stretch.
Although the state added more than 41,000 private-sector jobs in the first half of 2011, losses in the second half of the year have wiped out most of those gains, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Despite an uptick in December, Wisconsin has the biggest six-month decline in manufacturing jobs in the nation after California. That's significant because Wisconsin depends more on manufacturing for jobs than any state but Indiana. It's also significant at a time when a renaissance in manufacturing is helping drive the national recovery."
The BLS showed no significant gains from July 2011 to July 2012, meaning less than 6,000 jobs gained or lost. This link used to show that, but it's updated now to show December 2011 to December 2012, which also shows no significant jobs gained or lost for Wisconsin: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
How did we fall from being in the top 15 in job creation in the 1st 6 months of 2011 to the bottom 10, often ranking dead last, after Walker's budget went into effect? Considering that Wisconsin's deficits/debt and job creation were the 2 biggest issues in the State, I fail to understand your confusion over publishing more accurate figures, and the "hows and whys" in a more descriptive way over these issues.
--- On Fri, 1/25/13, John Smalley <email@example.com> wrote:
From: John Smalley <email@example.com>
Subject: RE: So I take it...
To: "jon"
Date: Friday, January 25, 2013, 11:15 AM
I know you will think I'm thick-headed on this, but I'm just not sure that I'm following your concerns. We have reported extensively on the budget, and, like everybody else, we use the Legislature Fiscal Bureau as the arbiter on what's what when it comes to the numbers. Are you saying the LFB is wrong or playing partisan politics? And on the jobs and the timing, again, we've reported almost endlessly on the various jobs numbers, and the various disputes about which numbers are more accurate. So I guess I'm missing the point on that one, too.
-- John
From: jon
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:56 PM
To: John Smalley
Subject: RE: So I take it...
(geez) I'm just talking about the actual debt/loan which you haven't given the truth, and in fact stated the opposite about it. Sorry about the way I worded it...
--- On Thu, 1/24/13, John Smalley <firstname.lastname@example.com>wrote:
From: John Smalley <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Subject: RE: So I take it...
To: "jon
Cc: "Mark Pitsch" <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013, 6:04 PM
No, Jon, it's not too much to ask to give people the truth. That's what we shoot for every day.
-- John
From: jon
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 12:42 PM
To: John Smalley
Subject: So I take it...
... that leveling with the people of Wisconsin about the actual debt and deficits of the last 2 years isn't something WSJ is concerned about? It would be kind of appropriate to tell them the truth after misleading them just prior to the recall, in my opinion, since it was such a big issue. Likewise with the jobs figures/timeline.
"Give people the truth and the freedom to discuss it, and all will go well." ~ William Evjue
Is that too much to ask?


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Sorry, IT job-hunters: If you're hoping for surprising predictions about what 2014 has in store, you're probably going to come away dissatisfied. That's because it's unlikely there will be any seismic shifts that completely upend the technology skills, roles, and titles that employers want.
"There's nothing that I would say is the new 'hottest thing ever' " coming in 2014, said Jack Cullen, president of IT staffing firm Modis, in an interview.
Indeed, much of what follows should sound familiar. This could be a good thing. Earth-shattering predictions have a knack for missing the mark. (Apocalypse 2012, anyone?) So the job-market calls that Cullen and other industry experts shared with InformationWeek are more realistic and more useful if you're looking for a new position in 2014. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. Big data experts. Yesterday's buzzword is tomorrow's hot job market. While the hype around big data isn't new, Cullen thinks actual hiring in the category will start to gain tangible ground in 2014. "The area where I think we'll see some pickup, that people are still trying to figure out, is this whole world around big data -- whether it's products like Hadoop or big data analytics" or other relevant skills, Cullen told us.
2. Business intelligence (BI) designers. Tom Hart, CMO of staffing firm Eliassen, offered another specific example within the big data universe: the ability to turn all of that information into stuff the executive suite, marketing, and other non-technical business units can actually understand and use. (PowerPoint achieved popularity for a reason, people.) Enter BI designers.
[Are you aiming for the corner office? Read IT Millennials: CEO Or Bust.]
"There are plenty of companies that can help you to store data, build redundancy into storage, and normalize the data for efficient storage and access," Hart said via email. "But there's clearly a shortfall of talented developers that can help you to interpret and present the data in a meaningful way, in the form of executive-level or business-level dashboards, guiding the decision-making process through the intelligent discerning and representation of that stored data."
3. DevOps experts with cloud and mobility skills. We're cheating a bit here. IT pros with serious DevOps chops are in high demand right now, according to Kevin Gorham, recruiting manager at Hollister. That's going to continue in 2014; DevOps experts who build and maintain cloud infrastructure and mobile apps are sitting pretty in the labor market.
"If I have people with this skill set, I can call my clients and easily get several interviews set up for these candidates. They really are a walking placement," Gorham told us in an email. "They can command higher salaries, and I'll often get into a bidding war with my clients over these potential hires. Developers who are more of an engineer and can program and script in Linux -- not your just your run-of-mill admins -- are highly marketable, too."
4. Linux pros. Indeed, while "Linux" and "hot" don't often appear in the same breath, IT pros with Linux expertise will remain in demand in the coming year. In 2013, the "Linux Jobs Report" -- produced by Dice.com and the Linux Foundation -- found that three out of four Linux pros had received calls from headhunters in the previous six months. Meanwhile, 90% of hiring managers reported difficulties filling Linux positions.
Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, expects even more favorable conditions for Linux job seekers in 2014.
"Demand for Linux professionals continues to go up and represents a multi-year trend that is the result of Linux becoming more and more ubiquitous. It is the software that runs our lives, and we need more systems administrators and developers to keep up with the growth," Zemlin said via email. He attributes much of the demand to wider business adoption of open-source technologies in general, and added that the Linux Foundation will ramp up online learning and advanced training opportunities in the coming year to help meet demand. "If you're an IT professional looking for long-term career growth, there is no better place to be than working with open-source."


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Pune Warriors look to arrest slide vs Mumbai Indians
Having lost three successive matches, Pune Warriors will look to arrest the slide when they take on neighbours Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Thursday.
Pune are currently lingering at No 7 in the points table, just ahead of Kings XI Punjab, with four wins from 10 matches.
Their second defeat to bottom-placed Deccan Chargers within a week has made their task to reach the last-four stage of the tournament even more difficult.
In fact, the Sourav Ganguly-led unit will have to win all their remaining matches to make a claim for the semi-final berth.
Mumbai Indians inconsistent
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, are in a comfortable position compared to their opponents, but the team's inconsistent performance has not allowed them to gain any momentum in the series so far.
Harbhajan Singh's boys have so far 10 points from nine matches and are currently placed at No. 3.
Their batting line-up came under fire against the Chargers in their previous encounter at home.
Though the team managed to chase down the small total of 100 runs with five wickets in hand, their discomfort against quality pace bowling of Dayle Steyn was there for all to see.
Sachin Tendulkar hasn't looked his best
The team banks heavily on Sachin Tendulkar at the top, and with the veteran not looking his best since returning from a finger injury, things do not look very good for Mumbai and an unsettled opening pair adds to their woes.
The team has so far experimented with their opening combo with Richard Levi, Adrian Blizzard, James Franklin, Davy Jacobs, Ambati Rayudu and T Suman all having a shot at the top spot.
Their middle order too has looked a bit susceptible, with Rohit Sharma looking good in patches and Franklin too not having a consistent run with the bat. Dinesh Karthik has also been out of colour.
Rayudu has come good with the bat in the last few games and Mumbai will hope that he continues.
Lasith Malinga has done a good job leading the attack
Bowling looks good for the visitors with Lasith Malinga spearheading the pace department.
However, an off-colour Harbhajan Singh has failed to lead the pack from the front. The tweaker has so far managed three wickets from the tournament and apart from his previous outing he has looked a distant shadow of his past.
Pune, meanwhile, have a settled batting line-up with Michael Clarke getting into the mix. Robin Uthappa and Steven Smith have been consistent with the bat and Ganguly too has come good of late.
The real worry, however, is their bowling. Apart from Wayne Parnell and Bhuvneshwar Kumar nobody was impressive with the ball against Chargers and with Ashok Dinda still nursing a side strain, Pune will have to make their choices cautiously.
The team leaked around 80 runs in their last five overs against Chargers, something the skipper will have to address before taking on Mumbai.


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What's New
New Website
Our new website is online. We hope you will like it!!!
All the users database has been migrated to this new website so for people who was registered you can just login with your old login and password.
We will be closed during summer but we will be back with awesome releases in september!!
Enjoy your holidays and stay tuned!!!
FSC Team
DJ KRISS-X "Rolling Hard Ep - The Remixes" [FSC012]
Trance Generator : Street Parade Anthem
Here is the preview of the anthem made by Trance Generator & Philippe Rochard for our love mobile at Street Parade 2011!!
TRANCE GENERATOR meets DJ CODE RED "Oldskool EP Part 2" [FSC011]
TRANCE GENERATOR Presents MANON "It's Time!" [FSC010]