text:
Description: It''s Buffy-and Andrew-on a mission in Italy . . . together! Awkward? Yes!Since Harmony''s television stunt, the ensuing of general vampire-love from the masses, and the destruction of the Scotland base, operations at Slayer headquarters have been somewhat strained. Rogue Slayers-Simone and her gang-have not been helping Slayer-civilian relations with their attacks against the military, bank robbing, and occasional snitching at Hot Topic. Now, Andrew has a lead on how to gain intel on Simone''s plans . . . but he has to go to Italy-now! With Xander and Willow busy holding together their Slayer legions Buffy seems to be the only one with an open schedule to act as Andrew''s backup. Hours of travel . . . just Buffy and Andrew . . . Really
Views: 5027 Rating: 4.00 out of 5 (Number of votes: 1)


text:
Our strands of delightful fairy lights features mini LED lights strung along a bendable wire. The string can be wrapped or woven without the worry of finding the nearest outlet. String around a plant, inside a glass mason jar or along a dining table for a touch of enchantment.
Product Details
– Each wire cord 76″ in length, with 20 bright lights at 4″ between each light
– Silver bendable wire cord, ideal for wrapping
– Working time: 10–15 hours
– Battery pack 2″ x .875″ x .25″ includes href="">2–CR2032 batteries, replaceable
– From battery pack to first light is 7.875″
– Cord is waterproof, battery pack is not waterproof
– Pack includes: 3 – 20 Light cords (60 total lights)
– Light color: pink
Each LED light looks like a glimmering water droplet, the size of a rice kernel, clinging to a shiny silver wire. 3 – 20 lights on a bendable 76″ string, with a total of 60 lights in this pack. The battery pack includes 2 CR2032 batteries, and can be replaced. The cord and lights are completely submersible and waterproof, the battery pack is not.
– Perfect for wrapping around or in a vase, gift box, centerpiece or flower arrangement
– Decorative mini string lights are ideal for weddings, Christmas holidays, patriotic events, fund raisers, halloween, birthdays, new years eve, dorm rooms, family reunions, St. Patricks day, Valentines day, Easter and everyday home décor
– Stock up now to use throughout the year and keep on hand in case the lights go out

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Teaching Listening Skills: Is It Time for a Change?
By Ellen Freed
Listening looks easy, but it's not simple. Every head is a world.
—Cuban Proverb
Effective communication is at the heart of establishing the trust so necessary for developing and maintaining long-term business relationships. Whether you are a manager, professional sales representative, or account executive, it is crucial to continually strengthen your ability to accurately decipher and appropriately handle verbal and non-verbal signals received from a speaker.In particular, listening becomes even more important during those defining moments that may indicate subtle forms of resistance. Handling these moments successfully often can pay off in big dividends.
Listening With Your Ears, Eyes, and Mind
What really happens when one is communicating effectively as a listener in the real world outside the training room?
In an instant, you need to simultaneously identify a mix of verbal, vocal, and visual cues, some of which may convey a double or mixed message. In a sense, you take a synergistic snapshot of all the signals being sent by the speaker. This means listening with ears, eyes, and mind, recognizing positive and negative voice tones, word choices, and body language in an attempt to receive the true, clear message. All of this must occur in real time on the spot.
Traditional Listening Workshops
"Many 'active listening' seminars are, in actuality, little more than a shallow theatrical exercise in appearing like you're paying attention to another person. The requirements: Lean forward, make eye contact, nod, grunt, or murmur to demonstrate you're awake and paying attention, and paraphrase something back every 30 seconds or so. As one executive I know wryly observed, many inhabitants of the local zoo could be trained to go through these motions, minus the paraphrasing."
—Robert K. Cooper, Ph.D.,Author of "Executive EQ"
Being able to take synergistic snapshots of verbal and non-verbal signals on the spot may go beyond what traditionally is taught in training programs on communication skills. Discrimination exercises, behavior models, and even role-plays can fly out the window when one is confronted with a tough and important real-life interaction.
In a typical workshop, discrimination exercises on body language, voice tone, and word choice are taught separately first. Then all the content usually is put together for practice in the context of role-plays, which do not simulate the speed of real time. Also, any application activity is contingent upon the participants' abilities to use body language, voice tone, and word choices appropriately and effectively.
"The Zone Less Travelled"
To truly excel as a listener, one must enter a zone seldom discussed by behaviorists—the illusive territory of the preconscious and instinctive. Here, the mind and senses are cleared for takeoff, ready to receive the speaker's complex set of signals. It is similar to the zone one encounters in playing tennis where conscious strategy is replaced by an intuitive response of instant movement toward the ball. Most players agree that the best shots are hit when you are in this zone.
Most training workshops on listening do not deal with this issue. Perhaps the time has come to address it as an important element in conquering the challenges of effective communication.
Getting into "The Zone"
You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.
—M. Scott Peck, MD
Man's inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively.
—Carl Rogers
Bracketing refers to the temporary setting aside of one's own prejudices, frames of reference, and desires so the listener can experience as far as possible the speaker's world from the inside. Dr. Peck considers "bracketing" an essential part of effective listening. It sends an important message to the speaker, who, sensing the implied acceptance by the listener, will be inclined to open up with a more honest response. Also, he believes new knowledge is always gained from the ability to step into the speaker's shoes. Easier said than done!
How can you prepare to get into the zone by clearing your mind of prejudicial and judgmental clutter?
Enter Carl Rogers and philosopher Eugene Gendlin, who created a six-step process called "focusing" that originally was designed to help clients succeed in therapy. However, it soon became apparent that step one, Clearing a Space, a method for enhancing receptivity, could be useful in the fields of education, theology, health care, and business.
Clearing a Space is a 10-minute exercise that guides participants into explicitly naming and setting aside each person's current stressors. Each issue that arises is acknowledged, and then respectfully placed outside the body, using imagery such as depositing the problem on a boat and sending it out to sea, or finding an appropriate spot to store it. Gradually, as each concern travels outside the body, more space is created inside, precipitating openness to someone else's experience.
Taking Synergistic Snapshots
Listening from a cleared space paves the way for the ability to be present without judgment and provides a clear lens for the challenging task of taking synergistic snapshots in real time. Here's a cost-effective exercise designed to strengthen this skill:
Prepare a set of 10 to 15 scripted, customized speaker statements that represent challenging defining moments for the participant population. In addition to the text, indicate body language and voice tone. Also, create a worksheet checklist designed to capture the true message being sent.
Then hire live actors to play the speakers in real time. Remember: They will be better able to demonstrate the verbal and non-verbal cues more accurately than workshop members.
Using the worksheet, participants observe the actors and within seconds, identify the type of message being demonstrated. The next statement is presented immediately, simulating real-time interactions.
One thing is certain: Effective communication is dependent upon one's ability to listen openly with ears, eyes, and mind. Only then can the listener become a successful speaker!
Ellen Freed is a New York City instructional designer/writer. She develops e-learning and instructor-led training (ILT) materials for the financial services and pharmaceutical industries and specializes in professional selling and communication skills.


text:
On Wednesday, Richard Keys resigned from his position with Sky Sports, the latest chapters in the saga that started Sunday, when audio of sexist comments from Keys and broadcast partner Andy Gray was made public. With Gray having been terminated by Sky on Tuesday, Keys' resignation marked the final piece in the demise of one of Premier League broadcasting's prominent teams.
On this edition of the EPL Talk Podcast, co-host Kartik Krishnaiyer and myself discuss that week that's been in the the Gray, Keys, Sian Massey affair, a week that's put English football culture in the spotlight as one of the ugliest, least talked about aspects of the game received a new a pointed round of scrutiny. We talk about our reactions to the developments, the surreptitious nature of the initial recording, and the manner in which Sky handed the problem.
At the end of the show, Kartik and I shift our focus back to the pitch and talk about midweek wins from Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool as well as the Carling Cup, where Arsenal and Birmingham City are on to Wembley.


text:
Jump to Content
Series 1: Correspondence 1911-1972
Correspondence 1911-1962
Correspondence 1962-1968
Correspondence 1968-1972,
Series 2: Subject files circa 1903-1970
Subseries 2.1: General forestry circa 1903-1972
Alabama, Trees for 1947
Altitudinal Races of Pinus Ponderosa Confirmed 1959
Arboreta and tree lists 1966
Arcata plot figures 1922-1963
The Aristata Pine in California 1960
T.R. Bard Ranch trees and plants undated
Batelle Memorial Institute circa 1960
Beginnings of Forestry at the University of California 1963
Belmont, California, Census of Trees in circa 1969
Berkeley Campus, Trees of the 1965
Berkeley, Trees in 1966
Bradford and Frazier Land Exchange plans (Mendocino County) 1931
Cabinet and Furniture Manufacturer's Guild circa 1965
California Agriculture (journal) 1962 August
California Coastal Districts, Trees for 1949
Campbell, California, Trees in circa 1963
Campbell, California, Trees in approximately 1963
Campbell Creek plantation circa 1921-1925
Campbell Creek plantation circa 1921-1925
Campbell Creek plantation circa 1921-1925
Capital Park, Sacramento, Trees in circa 1966
Central California, introduced trees commonly planted in 1964
Christmas trees circa 1940-1970
Coast redwood cira 1929-1961
Coastal and Valley Areas of California, Check List of Introduced Trees Growing Up in 1963
Community forests circa 1950-1960
Conifers frequently seen in Central California circa 1971
Conservation miscellany (Michigan) circa 1960-1971
Contra Costa County tree lists circa 1962
Cork Oak circa 1917-1960
Cottonwood circa 1945-1962
Covina mater street tree plan report 1952
Dos Palos, California, Trees in 1963
Eagle Rock Project on Forestry by Robert E. Burton 1946
East Bay Municipal Utility District Land/Forestation 1937-1938
East Bay Municipal Utility District Land/Forestation 1937-1938
Eddy Arboretum, Trees in the 1960
El Dorado County plans (relating to federal grant to the University of California) undated
Entomology and pathology circa 1939-1950
Fall Creek demonstration forest circa 1947
Famous and notable trees circa 1920-1960
Farm forestry progress-notes and letters for talk 1950
Fence posts, Penta treated 1954
Field planting reports, miscellaneous circa 1903-1937
Finch Arboretum undated
Fir Tree Arboretum (Grass Valley, California) circa 1966-1970
Forest facts (teacher's handbook) circa 1960
Forest management circa 1950-1971
Forest management research in the Redwood - Douglas - Fir region of California 1958
Forest research in California (report) 1955
Forestry Land Corporation 1910-1912
Forestry pamphlets 1950-1970
Fuller Park, Napa County circa 1932
Giant Sequoia circa 1922-1962
Gnall-Henry versus United States circa 1966
Growing Coast and Sierra Redwoods 1964
Hollister, California, Trees in 1961
Humboldt County circa 1913-1952
Illustrations for trees circa 1950
Interesting trees in California circa 1950
International Shade Tree Conference circa 1956-1966
Jackson State Forest status report circa 1944-1959
Kern County, Sanctuary of the Pines circa 1927
Lolo National Forest map 1961
Los Posadas Forest, History of (compiled by Edith Gregory) 1938
Los Posadas Forest, manual of information 1938-1954
Los Posadas Forest, miscellaneous 1926-1954
Los Posadas Forest, miscellaneous 1926-1954
Longhorn Recreation Laboratory 1959
Lopez Canyon circa 1960
Management plans circa 1946
Markets for woodland products in California 1966
Maxims for Public Foresters circa 1950
Menlo Park, Tree Census of and Trees in 1970-1971
Michigan, 1971 trip to 1971
Miller property (Santa Cruz County) circa 1948-1950
Muir, John circa 1957-1965
Muir Manor, Trees at circa 1958
Muir Woods, Redwoods at circa 1941
Native trees, reports on 1959
Norfold Island Pines 1965
North Central States Extension Foresters' Conference 1961
Northwest Forest Tree Seed Committee 1959
Notes on a trip to the amazing country along the Colorado River 1968
Ornamental plants and trees circa 1940-1960
Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station 1964-1967
Parks circa 1950-1960
Pines circa 1950-1960
Plant Materials for Northern California Climatic Zones 1961
Plates by E.O. Murman circa 1953
Pleyto Rancho plans (relating to federal grant to the University of California) undated
Redwoods circa 1921-1970
Redwoods circa 1921-1970
Reforestation activities and survival report, Summary of (Los Angeles County Forestry Department) circa 1930
Regulating Trees on Private Property 1966
Reprints and publications, assorted circa 1940-1970
Richfield Western Wild Flowers 1962
Ross, Marin County, California, Trees in 1965
Roth, Filbert 1955
Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys of California, Trees for the 1949
San Anselmo, Trees in 1968
San Benito County project #3705 1947-1957
San Francisco Bay Area, trees of (various manuscripts) circa 1957-1960
San Francisco Bay Area, trees of (various manuscripts) circa 1957-1960
San Francisco Bay Area, trees of (index card file) circa 1957-1960
San Jose and Oakland, trees of 1938-1948
Santa Barbara, Trees of (assorted manuscripts and notes) 1961-1962
Santa Barbara, Trees of (assorted manuscripts and notes) 1961-1962
Santa Clara County, Mount Hamilton tree plots and buildings map 1940-1943
Santa Clara County, Mount Hamilton tree plots and buildings map 1940-1943
Seed miscellany, catalogs and brochures circa 1960
Schrubs 1950
Shasta Lake Recreational Area, General Development Plan, Central Valley Project and Shasta Lake map 1946
Silvical description notebooks circa 1908-1940
Sonoma Farm Forestry Demonstration Project 1942
Southern California, Trees in (assorted manuscripts and notes) circa 1937-1962
Spring Dell Range study 1954-1955
State Civil Service exams for Forestry 1950
State forests, data on sale of circa 1948-1951
Street trees and Street Tree Symposium circa 1964
Strybing Arboretum circa 1962
Sudworth, notes on circa 1966
Suggestions on trees (assorted) circa 1950-1965
Surplus property circa 1947
Trees, assorted general circa 1940-1970
Tree growth control with MH-30T circa 1960
Tree farming circa 1956
Tree lists circa 1940-1970
Trees, miscellaneous printed items circa 1940-1970
Tree planting in California 1949
Tree surgery/wounds 1952
Tree table undated
Tuolumne County, Strawberry Camp site undated
Tuolumne County, Port Stockton Cement Company limestone deposit maps undated
University lands circa 1930-1935
University of California Santa Monica Forestry Station map 1917
Up and Down California in 1860-1864 by William H. Brewer (excerpt) undated
Urania Lumber Company Sawmill, field study 1938
Utah and Colorado, A trip to 1966
Visit of R.D. Johnston 1964
Walnut Creek, California, Trees of 1958
Walnut Creek, California, Trees of 1958
Washington Short Course for Christmas Tree Growers 1968
Water in California circa 1957
West Virginia forests, data on circa 1950
Western Forest Trees (Dover Books) 1965
Whitaker's Forest circa 1950-1961
Whitaker's Forest circa 1950-1961
Wildland Ownership in California-History, Present Patterns, and Problems (draft of report for American Forestry Association) undated
Windbreaks circa 1924-1960
Windbreaks circa 1924-1960
Wisconsin forests, miscellaneous publications circa 1940-1960
World Forestry Congress 1960
Yerba Buena Island, proposed tree topping and removal 1958
Subseries 2.2: Eucalyptus circa 1910-1970
Eucalyptus project files circa 1912-1920
Eucalytus project files circa 1912-1920
Fires subject files circa 1920-1965
Fire subject files circa 1920-1965
Fire subject files circa 1920-1965
Series 3: Work-Related Organizations and Institutions circa 1928-1970
American Forestry Association circa 1940-1965
American Forestry Congress 1963
Aboretum committees 1968-1969
Boy Scouts 1956-1968
California Conservation Council circa 1953-1967
California Division of Forestry circa 1958-1962
California Forest and Range Experiment Station 1958
California Horticultural Society (journal) 1966
California Small Woodland Council circa 1958
Camp Fire Girls circa 1957
Contra Costa Park and Recreation Council circa 1958-1963
FSX Club circa 1950-1970
FSX Club circa 1950-1970
Redwood Conservation Council circa 1959-1967
Saratoga Horticultural Foundation circa 1969-1970
Society of American Foresters, Northern California Section circa 1957-1967
United States Department of Agriculture circa 1955-1968
United States Department of the Interior circa 1963-1965
University of California Agricultural Extension circa 1928-1967
University of California Agricultural Extension circa 1928-1967
University of California, Davis circa 1960-1963
University of California, Santa Cruz, Arboretum circa 1968
Young Men's Christian Association circa 1958-1967
Series 4: Teaching circa 1917-1948
Teaching files circa 1917-1948
Teaching files circa 1917-1948
Series 5: Notebooks and Clippings circa 1940-1970
Notebooks and clippings circa 1940-1970
Notebooks and clippings circa 1940-1970
Series 6: Personalia circa 1886-1972
80th birthday wishes 1968
Biographical materials circa 1920-1970
Passports 1936-1956
Certificates circa 1940-1970
Certificates circa 1940-1970
Plaques and name tags circa 1930-1970
Distinguished Service Award materials circa 1956-1957
Woodbridge genealogy 1969
Fragments of a narrative by unidentified Metcalf (possibly Woodbridge's father) of a journey to Canada in 1886 1886
Clippings scrapbook of Charles H. Metcalf's trips to the mining regions of Alaska (kept by his wife) 1894-1900
School composition book circa 1898
Biology notebook circa 1908
Completed exam bluebooks from the University of Michigan 1909-1911
Verses by Metcalf and others circa 1930-1970
Society of Mayflower Descendants circa 1960-1969
Society of Mayflower Descendants circa 1960-1969
Diabetic Youth Foundation circa 1958
Berkeley Senior Center circa 1966-1971
City of Berkeley, Committee on Aging circa 1962-1968
Berkeley First Congregational Church circa 1965-1968
Yachts of the International Star Class on San Francisco Bay, 1923-1936 (paper by Metcalf and Glenn Waterhouse) undated
San Francisco Yacht Club circa 1955
Sons in Retirement 1971
Businesss cards 1971
Safe Driving Course 1960-1969
Thoughts on Retirement undated
University of Michigan miscellany circa 1964-1967
Michigan Women magazine (includes article by Woodbridge Metcalf's mother on her travels through the California Redwoods with her son) 1931 January
Sabbatical leave 1950-1951
Diaries and appointment books 1915-1941
Diaries and appointment books 1941-1951
Diaries and appointment books 1952-1965
Diaries and appointment books 1966-1972
Birthday book and address book undated
Norah Metcalf diaries 1922-1924
Miscellaneous personal undated


text:
Mike Dougherty
Beautiful Halloween blog
Burning Smile
The Embalmer's Nightmare blog
Necropolis Labs
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Jars Of Witch
Posted by Rot at 9:29 AM
7 comments:
- crudedoodle.com said...
Very cool to see all the different takes on the witch jar.
- September 21, 2010 at 1:10 PM
- Erin | Bygone Living said...
Love the Mike Dougherty blood-spattered jar... might have to steal that idea this Halloween!
- September 21, 2010 at 11:16 PM
- JHMDF said...
I think some guy named Pumpkinrot starting making these a while back....
- September 22, 2010 at 12:54 AM
- Jay's Shadow said...
These were fun to make....
- September 22, 2010 at 8:03 AM
- Autumnleaf said...
JS, your's look like trees in a forest when they are lit. VERY cool. Did you use creepy cloth in them?
Love them!
- September 22, 2010 at 10:14 AM
- Ghastly said...
Awesome jars by all. I love how they have all taken the idea and applied their own techniques.
Here is a question . . . Can you make these somewhat waterproof?
This is a great, cheap and creepy prop!
- September 22, 2010 at 12:19 PM
- Rot said...
I used a silicon spray sealer for camping gear on mine. So that should seal them nice and tight from the elements.
- September 22, 2010 at 12:22 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
International small islands conference ends with declaration supporting Maui Community College sustainability initiativesMaui College
Janet Six, (808) 974-3670
Maui Community College
KAHULUI, Maui, Hawaiʻi — At the recent Islands of the World IX conference hosted by Maui Community College (MCC), delegates of the International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA) adopted The Maui Declaration, which, among other recommendations, stated its intentions to support the college's initiatives related to sustainability.
The association, made up of scholars, researchers and island enthusiasts from around the world interested in issues of importance to small islands, issued its declaration of recommendations based on global interest as well as Maui's emergent interest in sustainability. The declaration also recognized the especially important role played by educational institutions in advancing the concept of public, private and corporate co-responsibility in the sustainability of small islands.
According to MCC Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto, "We were excited, gratified and reinforced by the declaration supported by our international colleagues. With ʻThe Maui Declaration,' they have recognized our sustainability progress both at the community and college levels. That our global island-based and oriented scholars observed Maui's movement and potential as noteworthy will stimulate even more interest and enthusiasm in island and institutional sustainability."
Among its goals, ISISA intends to promote renewable energy initiatives and support new and innovative educational systems on small islands designed to promote sustainable living. On Maui, this will involve working with MCC on the development of a sustainable technologies program and collaboration with the Sustainable Living Institute of Maui (SLIM).
SLIM was established by MCC, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. and EARTH University of Costa Rica, to foster sustainable and innovative methods of community development and management. The institute offers sustainable agriculture and sustainable technology internships for both high school and MCC students. SLIM, funded by CASE and Cole Family Foundations, will be inviting other partners to join in the co-responsible partnership among private, public and academic sectors.
ISISA's Maui Declaration is built upon declarations issued at previous Islands of the World conferences, including The Mauritius Declaration it issued in 1998 and The Kinmen Declaration it issued in 2004. It seeks to add to a growing pattern of processes, research and networks that support the development of sustainable solutions and approaches to challenges and issues faced by all small islands.
The International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA), made up of scholars, researchers and island enthusiasts from around the world, is a voluntary, non-profit and independent organization. Its objectives are to study islands on their own terms, and to encourage free scholarly discussion on small island related matters such as islandness, smallness, insularity, dependency, resource management and environment, and the nature of island life. For more information, visit www.geol.utas.edu.au/isisa .
With its main 78-acre campus located in Kahului and education centers located in Hana, Kīhei, Lahaina, and on the islands of Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi, Maui Community College (MCC) is the only community college in the UH system that specifically serves the population of more than one island. With an average enrollment of nearly 3,000 students, the college offers comprehensive opportunities and special programs, including a bachelor's degree in applied business and information technology—the first four-year degree to be offered by a UH community college. Because it is a tri-island college community, MCC has pioneered and developed expertise in distance education and technology, providing a model for the entire University of Hawaiʻi system. For more information, visit www.maui.hawaii.edu .
For more information, visit: http://www.maui.hawaii.edu


text:
Charlie's Benchmen
Playing in front of a sold out Miller Park in what many perceive as a postseason match, Cole closed the door on the Brewers on Thursday night.
He tossed a complete game, the 17th for the Phillies, which is the most in the majors since the Orioles staff had the same number in 1999.
Once again, the Phillies offense came to life with two outs, this time the sixth inning. They scored six times to really seal the game. The Phillies have scored 283 runs with two out, the most in the majors.
Playing without Howard or Utley or Rollins for the first time since September 12, 2004, didn't matter. Charlie's Benchmen, Mayberry Jr., Valdez, Martinez and Francisco, combined for 7 hits in 16 at-bats, three runs scored and three RBI.
The win boosted the Phillies record against teams above .500 to 42-23 and tied Charlie with Harry Wright for the second most wins for a Phillies manager, 636. Gene Mauch is the leader at 645.
One more number note: Phillies are 111-62 in September since 2005, best in the NL.
Down On The Farm
**Lehigh Valley didn't hit a home run in any of its last 10 games but rode the long ball from Erik Kratz, Brandon Moss and Freddy Galvis in beating Pawtucket, 4-2, in Game 1 of the best-of-5 playoff series. David Bush got the win with Justin DeFratus, the save. Ryan Edell starts Friday night in Game 2 at Coca-Cola Park.
**Reading was blanked, 2-0, on four singles at New Hampshire in the first game of a best-of-5 playoff round in the Eastern League. Tyler Cloyd was the loser; J. C. Ramirez starts in Game 2 Friday night. Series then shifts to Reading on Saturday night and Sunday, if necessary.
Fall Ball
Phillies will have seven players on the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League, which runs from October 4 through November 19.
The group includes 1B Cody Overbeck, 1B/DH Darin Ruf, OF Tyson Gillies, RHS Tyler Cloyd, LHR Jacob Diekman, RHR B. J. Rosenberg and RHR Colby Shreve.
Alumni Views
What changes would you like to see in Major League Baseball? That question was posed to Phillies Alumni.
Kevin Jordan (INF, 1995-2001)
"No DH, no instant relay (four sets of eyes should be enough to call the game), more day games during the season and especially the postseason. Teachers could wheel TVs into classrooms for the kids to watch the games. More MLB games in other countries to share the MLB experience."
Today in Phillies History
Getting a call from your general manager around 4 in the morning usually isn't good news. On this date in 1997, the news was shocking….Richie Ashburn had died in his New York hotel room.
Whitey goes down as one of the most beloved sports figures this city has known.


text:
Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins LLP is a boutique law firm located in the heart of New York City. Our lawyers are among the most renowned, nationally and internationally, in their areas of expertise. Getting the job done is what we do for some of the world's largest corporations; for some of the world's largest law firms; for some of the wealthiest individuals; and for those who are just beginning their journey.
Kaufmann Gildin's unique expertise, nationwide reputation, outstanding accomplishments and devotion to our clients are well known in the fields of franchising, licensing and distribution; litigation and appeals; corporate/mergers and acquisitions; real estate; franchise securitization financings; securities industry representation: Investors and brokers, and estate planning.
Leading Franchise Law Firm
David Kaufmann authored the franchise statute in New York. Franchise attorneys nationwide recognize Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins LLP for our ability to provide every type of legal counsel and representation that a franchisor may need. We provide a wide range of services for franchisors, including:
- Guiding start-up franchisors and mature franchisors
- Franchise litigation
- Structuring, implementing and documenting franchise programs
- Commercial litigation, contract disputes and commercial appeals
- Real estate and Nationwide leasing.
At Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins LLP, we take pride in getting the job done right. Our attorneys possess remarkable credentials and decades of experience ... all devoted to getting it done for you, expertly, extraordinarily and efficiently.


text: At its November meeting, the Ripon Public Library Board of Trustees voted to increase fines from five cents per day to ten cents per day on non-video adult materials, effective on materials checked out after January 1, 2012. The fine increase will affect books, magazines, audio books and compact discs in the adult collections. The maximum fine limit on audio/visual items has also increased to $5 per item. Fines on children's materials and on all videos remain the same. Please contact the library with any questions.


text:
Farmer Profiles
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3.
Josey Fieldfarmers_and_growersKipscombe Farm is part of West Exmoor National Trust; some 3,500 acres of woodland, heathland, and enclosed pasture, of which the farm makes up 880...Kipscombe Farm, Lynmouth, DevonIntegrated Farming
Georgie Brayfarmers_and_growersThe RSPB bought Hope Farm, a conventional arable farm in Cambridgeshire, in 2000, with the aim of developing and trialling farming techniques which produce food...RSPB Hope Farm, Knapwell, CambridgeshireIntegrated Farming
Joe Rolfefarmers_and_growersRBOrganic is a vegetable growing business that forms part of Houghton Hall Estate in Norfolk. We have a long-term relationship with Houghton and are a...RBOrganic Farm, Houghton, NorfolkOrganic
Learn more from farmers and growers using agro-ecological farming practices to enhance production and sustainability in the field.
Filter by farming theme:
- (-) Remove Environment & wildlife filter Environment & wildlife
- Crops, forage & horticulture (3) Apply Crops, forage & horticulture filter
- Farm management & economics (3) Apply Farm management & economics filter
- Soil management (3) Apply Soil management filter
- Weeds, pests and diseases (2) Apply Weeds, pests and diseases filter
- Agroecological approaches (1) Apply Agroecological approaches filter
- Livestock husbandry (1) Apply Livestock husbandry filter
Filter by approach:
Filter by region:
Filter by key farming practices:
- (-) Remove Green manures filter Green manures
- (-) Remove Organic fertilisers filter Organic fertilisers
- (-) Remove Soil monitoring filter Soil monitoring
- (-) Remove Trap crops filter Trap crops
- Biological control (3) Apply Biological control filter
- Cover crops (3) Apply Cover crops filter
- Habitat creation (3) Apply Habitat creation filter
- Integrated Pest Management (3) Apply Integrated Pest Management filter
- Leys (3) Apply Leys filter
- Mechanical weeding (3) Apply Mechanical weeding filter
- Direct drilling (2) Apply Direct drilling filter
- Diverse leys (2) Apply Diverse leys filter
- Mulching (2) Apply Mulching filter
- Biopesticides (1) Apply Biopesticides filter
- Companion crops (1) Apply Companion crops filter
- Diversified rotation (1) Apply Diversified rotation filter
- Mixed farming (1) Apply Mixed farming filter


text:
Caught On Tape: Toddlers Forced To Fight!
ABC reports "A Fort Bragg soldier is in hot water for videotaping toddlers fighting and making it available to millions by posting it on YouTube."
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Sold Out
Washington Wizards Travel Pillow
Brand Pegasus Sports Shop
This product is unavailable
Calling all sports fans! Take the Washington Wizards with you on your trip with these travel pillows. Detailed with your favorite team colors and logo, these travel pillows come in both poly or memory foam. Show your team pride at home, traveling, or in the office with these NBA licensed travel pillows.
- Measurement approximately 13" x 14"
- Cover is removable for easy wash
- Plush outer cover
- Sublimated graphics
- Machine wash
- Official NBA Licensed
- Imported


text:
Sundays at 6pm
- Hosted by Carla Eckels
Soulsations takes listeners on an engaging musical journey of R&B and Gospel music.
You'll hear the sounds of Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly, dubbed the best kept secret in the industry, musical innovators Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye along with other tunes from Motown's golden era. You'll discover the distinct sounds of contemporary gospel from Yolanda Adams to the long-time a cappella gospel quartet the Fairfield Four, known as house wreckers because they "bring down the house" when they perform.
We'll also showcase new works from seasoned R&B veterans including Al Green and Aretha Franklin plus gospel siblings BeBe & CeCe Winans. Join Carla Eckels Sunday evenings for an hour of pure musical enjoyment.
Listen to the most recent Soulsations show:
Archive is updated between midnight and 3am after the show airs.
Click "previous episode" to hear more from the archive.


text:
You can't make this up. See Enoch Sanders in action yesterday at the regular meeting of the Jackson City Council.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Sanders speaks: KKK gives guns to blacks so they will kill each other.
You can't make this up. See Enoch Sanders in action yesterday at the regular meeting of the Jackson City Council.
21 comments:
One of Jackson's finest citizens.
- May 18, 2016 at 1:28 PM
We, Jackson and the whole state is in a downward spiral---some people will believe Sanders---there is little to no hope left for our state and we (white people) just sit by and watch the last swirl of the toilet. All my college educated children left the state and have made wonderful lives elsewhere and say that they will never move back to Mississippi. AIN'T IT WONDERFUL !!!!!
- May 18, 2016 at 1:48 PM
I will not listen to him. But if he means "gives" them guns by them breaking into our houses and cars and taking guns and other goods, I wouldn't be able to disagree with him...
- May 18, 2016 at 1:58 PM
This makes me think of the Black cop that shoots himself in the foot while teaching gun safety. YouTube it for a good laugh.
- May 18, 2016 at 2:03 PM
- exjxnres said...
Just another Stokes supporter. Brilliant...!
- May 18, 2016 at 2:05 PM
At first I thought Bernie Sanders said it. Then I read it and realized...not much difference, both loony tunes.
- May 18, 2016 at 2:10 PM
Who the hell is this joke and why would a sane person even listen to him. I could feel my IQ dropping just the few seconds I listened to the clip.
- May 18, 2016 at 2:31 PM
That hat he wears says it all.
- May 18, 2016 at 2:32 PM
2:10, I had the same thought. Sort of pissed me off when I saw who it really was. I wasted a couple of seconds of my life.
- May 18, 2016 at 4:09 PM
My closets have less carpet than that! This guy needs to check into a vet clinic for a flea-bath.
- May 18, 2016 at 4:37 PM
I thought it was Bernie too...
- May 18, 2016 at 4:55 PM
So the KKK is in league with state lawmakers to put guns in the hands of blacks so that they kill one another and there will be no one left to defend the Jackson airport from a state takeover. Those evil genius bastards!
- May 18, 2016 at 7:10 PM
Does this mean that if I don blackface the NRA will give me an M1 carbine? Really need one to round out my WW2 collection.
- May 18, 2016 at 9:52 PM
Who screens those signing up to speak before Council?
- May 19, 2016 at 4:06 AM
Thanks KF-- I needed a good laugh!!
- May 19, 2016 at 7:21 AM
No wonder the city council can never get anything done. Who could be serious after a comedy act such as that?
- May 19, 2016 at 1:00 PM
You all can make fun of him cuz you know its truth.
If white people would leave the black community alone, there would be no violence.
- May 19, 2016 at 1:41 PM
Enoch for Mayor!!!
- May 20, 2016 at 10:04 AM
Wish this man would consider running for mayor. He is very well qualified. At least he would have an excuse for the things happening in Jackson. Probably a lot more believable than the present and former mayors. Certainly a lot more entertaining.
- May 20, 2016 at 10:18 AM
Enoch's hat for Mayor.
- May 20, 2016 at 11:57 AM
It warms my heart to see that Jackson has a bigger ass than Atlanta's Hosea Williams once was.
- May 20, 2016 at 7:05 PM
Marshall Ramsey
PACER: Southern Dist.
The Rez News
And The Valley Shook
Ms. Business Journal
Naked Capitalism
Calculated Risk
Ace of Spades
Recent Comments
Most popular posts last week.
Special Coverage
- Lamar Adams/Madison Timber Case
- The Gold Coast of Rankin County
- Mississippi government online services
- PERS Coverage
- Hinds County Coverage
- Frazier coverage
- JPS & Education
- Madison County coverage
- Heather Spencer Murder
- Steadivest fraud case
- Jackson interest-rate swaps/refinance of bonds
- Evans case
- Jackson Airport stuff
- ► 2020 (1091)
- ► 2019 (1730)
- ► 2018 (1553)
- ► 2017 (1442)
- Wow!
- Update on Wayneland home
- MAC suing Siemens (Updated)
- People have gone crazy.
- Deputies nab the creature of the Flowood lagoon
- The Mayor & his mortgage
- Update: Elderly lady found dead under house was el...
- Checking the returns
- Smuggler's blues at MDOC
- Bedwetter alert.
- Jutland
- No comment.
- Ole Miss responds to NCAA in an "exemplary" fashion.
- Kishia quits. (Updated)
- Mississippi leads the way
- Wayneland woes
- Rick Cleveland sings Kumbaya
- What is going on at JRA?
- Jeff Good wins JJ poll.
- How to handle a bully
- Lock & Load
- Meanwhile back at the Rev....
- Blinded Reporting: The Cleveland "desegregation" c...
- MHP will be out in force
- MDE has been very good to a deputy superintendent
- Board of Ed backs Governor
- Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh
- Woodham seeks chance at parole.
- JPD catches armed robbers
- Feds send duo to jail for using firearms in murder.
- Mike VI has cancer
- Hold the Door
- 50 years for a "first-time offender"? Here is the...
- Hillspox trolls himself
- Clarion-Ledger does it again
- Security guard saves day at Freelons using his 2A ...
- Stolen car alert
- State Auditor: Dr. Wright overpaid Deputy & violat...
- Antar throws his hat into the ring.
- If we build it, will they come?
- The latest crime stats
- JPD Officer and a bunch of Patels busted for visa ...
- Louis gets another day in court
- JPD captures kidnapper
- Obamacare shrinks in Mississippi
- Madison Walgreen's ATM hit.
- For those who are about to run, we salute you.
- Burton arrested for second-offense DUI
- Sanders speaks: KKK gives guns to blacks so they w...
- Are Cleveland schools already integrated?
- Dr. Wright reverses
- Rick Cleveland: Where is the ball?
- Senator defends budget "cuts"
- Attempted gun robbery at Walmart
- No comment.
- JPD & HCSO have a Pimp & Ho party
- Superintendent responds to "misinformation" on raises
- Yes, it's been 30 years.
- The latest Bar sanctions
- Suits gonna suit. Want a raise, go to MDE.
- New JPD class begins training
- Meanwhile, Stamps wants to go behind closed doors
- Consultants to Jackson: Freeze, cut, & collect
- About that Target boycott
- Preparing for takeoff
- Wall Street Journal slams Ridgeland
- MDE caves to feds on bathrooms
- Hood refuses to say "illegal alien"
- Jackson + budget deficit = meat cleaver
- FBI issues warning on laser strikes
- Third grade reading scores improve.
- Laurel Street Park holdup
- Make this part of the Dixie National Rodeo
- MDA to Costco developers: The rules are the rules.
- Dupes!!!
- Put this guy in charge of the Jackson budget.
- Fund-raiser for Judge Hannan
- Watch the Muni Melee
- Is Jackson broke?
- Uncle Sam wants you
- The $56.8 million error
- Snapshot: JPS finances
- Lock & load. Northtown homicide suspect on loose.
- Here today, gone tomorrow: Drug bust
- WSJ: Stores that don't use the chip will eat the f...
- Mitchell crusading or muckracking?
- 4 arrested in Noble Street murder.
- No comment
- Silver alert in Madison
- JPS needs mo' money.
- The Cruz collapse
- Happy Mother's Day.
- SEC investigating Kemper
- Parchman on lockdown
- JPD catches carjacker
- Meet the beers of Slowboat
- Rollins goes to MDOC for his birthday
- Eat at your own risk?
- Forest Hill fights
- Madison County Court Judge gunning for Court of Ap...
- ▼ May (118)
- ► 2015 (1587)
- ► 2014 (1314)
- ► 2013 (1080)
- ► 2012 (1088)
- ► 2011 (1047)
- ► 2010 (942)
- ► 2009 (976)
- ► 2008 (931)
- ► 2007 (398)
The Kingfish's Favorite Posts
- Presenting the Mississippi State Capitol (Video)
- Editorial: The airport belongs to Jackson. Period.
- Kelly arrested for taking pics of Rose Cochran
- The Real Face of Mississippi Government
- PERS gets mo' money but funding level falls
- Majority black public school districts spend more, waste more, fail more
- Jackson's water bond failure: The REST of the story.
- Time to return fire on Banks
- Supervisor votes on projects next to land he owns
- Throwdown at the Levee Board
- Door shuts on another life
- Truth begins to come out in Irby case
- Judge orders interview of Irby
- Steadivest: Snakes or snake-bitten?
- Post-election thoughts
- Rest of the story about Crisler's shooting
- Jackson paying $4 million in fees
- Will Jackson end up like Birmingham
- Record-breaking fraud?
- FBI contacted MVT about Evans
- Heather Spencer police reports
- An open letter to John McCain
- Are your 401k's safe from Democrats?
- Democrats' Plans for Controlling the Media
- Who is Teresa Ghilarducci?
- Kingfish wins at Ethics Commission
- Tribe of Obama
- Berry V. Aetna (rankin County Cesspool)
- Incest in Dixie: Mississippi Legal Profession
- Jim Hood: Liar
- JFP Tax Problems? (See comments)
- The SafeCity Bill
- Isn't this called secession?
- A Black Governor in Mississippi?
- Time to grade Miles' exam
- Domestic Violence & Divorce in Mississippi
- Truthwatch, eh?
- What is Jackson Jambalaya?
- Election Night Thoughts
- Counter-Insurgency for Beginners
- Jazz for Beginngers
- Mayor Melton's Soljah
- A Leopard Can't Change His Spots, Can Jere Nash?
- Harborwalk Hoax?
- A Pox on All Your Houses
Local Media & Blogs
- Clarion Ledger (Jackson, MS Gannett Newspaper)
- Mississippi Magazine
- The Rez News
- West Jackson Facebook page
- Y'all Politics
- Portico
- Downtown Jackson Partners
- Mississippi Litigation Review
- Jackson Free Press (Jackson, MS Alternative Weekly)
- The Magnolia Report
- Majority in Mississippi
- The Northside Sun
- Mississippi Magazine
- The Mississippi Link
- Cottonchicken
- Tom Head's Civil Liberties Website
- Blog on Mississippi Sovereignty Commission
- Harborwalk Thread (Jackson's Latest Boondoggle)
Trollfest '09
Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and "Big Cat" Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).
Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.
Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".
In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The "Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless" booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word "jackass" was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.
In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.
Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.
Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!
This is definitely a Beaver production.
Note: Security provided by INS.
Trollfest '07
There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.
If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!
This is definitely a Beaver production.
Note: Security provided by INS.


text:
USER EDITORradrobd
Season 2019 : Episode 20190201
General Hospital, the multi Emmy Award-Winning drama series hailed by critics as the 'The Greatest Soap Opera of All Time', will celebrate 55 years of broadcasting in 2018. The tradition of passion, intrigue, and adventure takes place in the fictional town of Port Charles, set in upstate New York. The glamour and excitement of those who have come to find their destinies in this familiar seaport town intertwine with the lives, loves, and fortunes of beloved, well-known faces. And, as always, love and danger continue to abound whether on the docks, in the ER, at brownstones, or trespassing on Quartermaine property with contemporary story lines and unforgettable characters. In the past several years, General Hospital has been praised by national organizations for elevating the public awareness of several important social issues. It has received three SHINE awards for its continued contribution to the awareness of sexual responsibility. The Ryan White Foundation presented its 1996 Ryan's Angels Award to "General Hospital" for the moving and thorough examination of HIV/AIDS through the characters of Robin, Stone, and the Nurses' Ball. The show was further honored by the American Red Cross for its HIV/AIDS-related storylines. Several other prestigious awards have been bestowed upon "General Hospital" for confronting sexual child abuse, organ donation, and other social issues as well. The program inspired Port Charles, the spin-off series that premiered in June 1997, and ended October 2003. In 2007 the 3rd spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift premiered which revolves around the interns and the doctors working the night shift at the hospital and ended October 2008. GH has had lots of movie and tv stars (and those in the making) over the years such as Demi Moore, Jack Wagner, Vanessa Marcil, Elizabeth Taylor, Ricky Martin, Rick Springfield, John Stamos, among others, as well as other soap opera stars. General Hospital is the longest-running dramatic serial on the ABC Network, and is the longest-running daytime drama produced on the West Coast. In May of 2000, General Hospital made Daytime Emmy history as the only Daytime drama to ever receive the prestigious Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama series a record seven times, marking the show's fifth win in six years (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000). It had also garnered the Emmy Award as Outstanding Daytime Drama Series in 1980-81 and 1983-84. In the 40th Anniversary Special Edition of TV Guide, General Hospital was hailed as the "All-Time Best Daytime Soap." General Hospital was created by Frank and Doris Hursley. General Hospital currently airs Monday-Friday (2:00-3:00 p.m., ET; & 1:00-2:00 p.m., PT) on the ABC Television Network. GH also reruns current episodes at 10pm, 3am, and 10am-as well as a weekend marathon on SOAPnet, the 24 hour Soap Opera Network.moreless
|S 2019 : Ep 20190201
|Aired 2/1/19
|S 2019 : Ep 20190131
|Aired 1/31/19
|S 2019 : Ep 20190130
|Aired 1/30/19
|S 2019 : Ep 20190129
|Aired 1/29/19
|S 2019 : Ep 20190128
|Aired 1/28/19
Anthony Geary
Luke Spencer / Bill Eckert
Jane Elliot
Tracy Quartermaine
John J. York
Mac Scorpio / James Meadows
Finola Hughes
Anna Devane
Maurice Benard
Sonny Corinthos
S 51 : Ep 204
Aired 1/24/14
S 51 : Ep 183
Aired 12/19/13
1/1/63 (00:29)
1/1/63 (01:07)
1/1/63 (00:42)
1/1/63 (01:22)
high stake situations, Medical, Love & Romance, Family Dramas, for women


text:
Today's Jenna Bush Hager visited the Jurassic World set and talked to the cast. Mostly they discussed Chris Pratt's abs, but there were also some tantalizing glimpses of what the park is going to look like.
Meanwhile, it looks like AMC has renewed Turn for a second season. As much as I like having some Rev War fare on TV, I'm not a fan of putting a fictional love triangle at the center of the story. I'd much rather see the plot unfold from the circumstances of what the Culper Ring was actually doing. You'd think there would be drama enough involved without manufacturing all these romantic interests for the characters.
And they really need to stop teasing us with the prospect of showing iconic battles without following through. That stunt where one of the main characters was unconscious during Trenton? That was just mean.


text:
The first anonymous masseur who accused John Travolta of sexual harassment and battery has hired celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, just a day after he dropped out of the lawsuit he was pursuing along with another accuser.
"We are in the process of conferring with him regarding the next steps, which he may wish to take," Allred told People magazine Wednesday, declining to comment further.
The former John Doe 1 had filed a notice Tuesday with the Los Angeles federal court that he was dropping his claims in the $2 million suit. His claims were dismissed without prejudice, meaning he is free to make the same claims in a new complaint.
U.S. & World
"Let's just say we had differences in opinion of how to handle the case and decided to part ways," the lawyer who had represented him in the first suit, Okorie Okorocha, told People magazine.
The former plaintiff had faced heightened scrutiny over the past week as Travolta proffered proof he was in New York on Jan. 16, when the masseur had alleged the sexual misconduct occurred in Los Angeles. In response, John Doe 1 had admitted he may have gotten the date wrong.
John Doe 2, meanwhile, is still pursuing his claims with the original suit, claiming that during an in-room massage at an Atlanta hotel, the "Pulp Fiction" star completely disrobed, asked to be massaged in the buttocks area and continued to make unwanted advances — inculding exposing himself — to the masseur.
Travolta's lawyer for has earlier called the charges "absurd" and promised to vindicate his client in court.
After the two anonymous accusers sued the actor, a third accuser — a Chilean cruise worker named Fabian Zanzi — came forward last week.
Zanzi told a Spanish news website that Travolta had propositioned him on a cruise where he worked in 2009 and offered him $12,000 to have sex with him, which he declined.
"When he got close to me, he took off his white robe and he was naked," Zanzi told a Chilean news show, according to E! Online. "He hugged me and asked me to give him a massage."
Travolta's lawyer vehemently denied that accusation, too, saying Zanzi was "simply hopping on the bandwagon to get his 15 minutes of fame."


text:
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report last week on the fiscal accountability of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS). While their analysis suggests that DCPS has "enhanced internal controls over federal payments for school improvement," it also clearly shows that the well-known inefficiencies of the school system persist.
According to the Washington Times:
The Government Accountability Office report said the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) "continues to be designated as a "'high risk' grantee" and that D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) continues to have "systemic problems in its internal controls" of federal funds.
An example of the mismanagement of these funds is outlined in the GAO report:
For the period between 2004 and 2008, D.C. provided expenditure data showing that DCPS used federal payments to fund a variety of programs.
However, DCPS "could not locate detailed programmatic information on most expenditures to explain the goals, objectives, activities, and outcomes of these programs and we cannot, therefore, fully describe the use of federal payments for these years."
Furthermore, GAO reported problems with accountability and oversight, noting "inconsistent documentation of monitoring activities" and a "lack of required evaluations on contractors' performance" for many of these federally funded programs.
Moreover, in some cases, when a program officer left, no one was reassigned to monitor the program.
It is not surprising then that, "4 of the 14 contract files … reviewed—totaling $2.7 million—were missing performance evaluations, and evaluations of 3 additional contractors were not completed within the required time frames."
Building on such facts, it should also come as no shock that DCPS produces the worst student test scores in the nation.
However, what should be shocking is that an effective education program in D.C.—the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP)—that is helping students succeed academically, is loved by parents, and allows students to attend safer schools, is currently being forced to fight for its survival. The program effective is not only effective but also efficient: The scholarships are worth $7,500 each, compared to the nearly $19,000 per-pupil spending by DCPS.
Yet while DCPS continues to receive ever-increasing funding, Congress has diminished funding for this successful scholarship program and is barring new students from entering. Interestingly, for the scholarship program to be authorized in the first place, Congress had to agree to give D.C. public schools additional money, enough to match the amount that would go to the DCOSP ($13 million). But while the public funds continue to flow to the public schools, a program that has proven itself and has the potential to help many more children is hanging on for life.
Said Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA):
The D.C. Public School system continues business as usual and is plagued by a lack of accountability. … In cutting off Opportunity Scholarships, it's deeply troubling that poor D.C. school children have no alternatives for getting an education.
Instead of throwing more money into an inefficient system, let's pursue a policy that "works" and open the doors of education opportunity with successful programs like the DCOSP.


text:
In this series, I am providing pictures of tombstones from Latvian cemeteries, all with death dates prior to 1945. I do not have any further information on the people mentioned.
Photo taken by me, September 2012. Click to enlarge.
Top Inscription: "Še dus Dieva mierā" ("Sleeping here in God's peace")
Name: Jānis Kreišmanis, born February 18, 1873, died May 23, 1920.
Bottom Inscription: "Kā rasa nozūd dzīvība, Kā vakarējā dienā, Kad vel ir domāt nedoma, Jau labu nakti jāsaka" ("How life disappears like dew, like yesterday, when the thought has not yet been thought, that one must say good night already")
Location: Torņakalns cemetery, Rīga
Words on the tombstone are in old Latvian orthography, my transcription is in modern orthography.


text:
Rap Battle Turns Into A Scuffle In Canada: Dude Catches Feelings & Jumps The Rapper!
Rap battle gets personal in Canada. Shout out to j fitz
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
What should Republicans do to ensure that this serious Democrat crisis doesn't go to waste?
Rahm Emanuel famous said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." As of today, Avik Roy explains that the Obama administration is facing a serious crisis when it comes to Obamacare:
It's hard to come up with new ways to describe the Obama administration's improvisational approach to the Affordable Care Act's troubled health insurance exchanges. But last night, the White House made its most consequential announcement yet. The administration will grant a "hardship exemption" from the law's individual mandate, requiring the purchase of health insurance, to anyone who has had their prior coverage canceled and who "believes" that Obamacare's offerings "are unaffordable." These exemptions will substantially alter the architecture of the law's insurance marketplaces. Insurers are at their wits' end, trying to make sense of what to do next.
That's just the intro. In paragraph after paragraph, Roy details the disaster facing the administration as it makes up rules on the fly. Like the hydra, every time the administration thinks its lopped off a problem, two or three more pop up in its place.
Presumably, when the dust settles and the private insurance market is destroyed, the Democrats will say, "See, we told you that the private market couldn't be fixed. It's time to socialize our healthcare system." That will be their version of not letting a crisis go to waste. It's scary to think that Americans have been so brainwashed that it's entirely possible that, rather than recoiling in horror and saying, "We will never let you brainless, tyrannical incompetents touch our healthcare again," Americans will instead say, "D'Oh! You're right. You'd better take over the whole thing."
All of which is to say that Republicans and other conservatives ought to figure out ways to capitalize on this crisis too. My instinct is that it's best if Republicans in Congress don't act. After all, when your opponent is busy digging a deeper and deeper hole, you don't throw them a rope ladder. To the extent that Obamacare can never be made workable, Republicans would do well to keep their fingerprints off this disaster. But that doesn't mean they should keep silent.
So, what should Republicans say that will best enable them to capitalize on the Obamacare debacle, not just in the area of healthcare, but regarding Big Government itself?
And if that question is too easy for you, here's a harder one: Even though the media is disappointed with Obamacare, that doesn't mean that its members won't protect Obama and the Democrats to their dying breath. They are the living embodiment of that hackneyed saying "Nobody gets to pick on my little brother except for me." How, then, should Republicans who are saying the right things make sure that the public hears what they have to say?


text:
In 1993, then-Washington Post reporter Michael Weisskopf dismissed followers of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command." A correction came the next day: "There is no factual basis for that statement." Post ombudsman Joann Byrd later confessed that "several able editors" passed right over that inaccurate dollop of snobbery without recognizing its bias.
Almost 20 years later, that same contempt for religion continues. In fact, in some quarters of the media, religious bigotry has become acceptable.
In the words of Time writer Amy Sullivan, Democrats and their media friends are either "spooked or bored" by religion. They don't really pay attention to the beliefs of the vast majority of Americans who say they believe in God – unless and until religious people stall the secularist agenda. Then religion becomes a strange, undemocratic force that must be scorned and stopped.
As part of its 25th anniversary, the Media Research Center has assembled a report revisiting the "objective" media's hostility to organized religion, especially whenever it leans toward tradition or conservatism. For "Secular Snobs," the MRC has compiled 45 quotes in six broad categories:
I. Simple-Minded Christianity: The "complex, intellectual ideology" of liberalism is seen as a much more impressive worldview than the old-time "fundamentalist faith" that provides a false sense of security to the less-educated American.
II. Republican Theocracy: From Falwell's Moral Majority in the 1980s to Rick Santorum's campaign in 2012, journalists continually proclaim that conservatives in the Grand Old Party want to impose something "punitive" and "puritanical" on America that is not unlike the ayatollahs in Iran.
III. Liberal Saviors: The media elite's fear of GOP theocracy is matched by a willingness to entertain – without embarrassment – that leftist icons and Democratic Presidents from Clinton to Obama bear a striking resemblance to Jesus Christ.
IV: Bible-Thumping Death-Dealers: On hot-button issues like abortion and homosexuality, the religious right has been blamed for encouraging a "climate" of violence, no matter how kind and generous their rhetoric.
V. Rome's Rottweilers: Journalists report and approve of Vatican City when the Pope is opposing capital punishment or U.S. wars, but when it comes to social issues and church governance, recent pontiffs have been slammed as vicious enforcers of "rigid" orthodoxy.
VI. Religion Slammed by Non-News Media Celebrities: For years, leading entertainers from Bill Maher to Rosie O'Donnell have ridiculed the American majority for how their religious beliefs have led to violence, extremism, and cults of "organized pedophilia."
The report recommends the news media take religion seriously. If the Post apologized for Weisskopf's snide "easy to command" verbiage, why does this long-standing journalistic disrespect for religion continue?
Modern liberals resent the role that religion plays in American political culture. They want the separation of church and state to be so all-encompassing that no one would ever breathe a word of their religion in a political conversation.
In 2003, Howard Dean announced: "I am tired of coming to the South and fighting elections on guns, God, and gays." Obama said about small-town Pennsylvanians in 2008 that "it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
In their 1979 and 1980 survey research of the national media, Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman found 86 percent of journalists seldom or never attend religious services, and 50 percent openly described their religion as "none." A survey of Columbia University journalism students at the time also found 46 percent described their religion as "none."
For many years, the symbol of the major media's contempt for religion was CNN founder Ted Turner, who in 1989 insisted Christianity was a "religion for losers." He thought the Ten Commandments were insufficient and composed his own "Ted Commandments." In 2001, he greeted Christian colleagues at CNN on Ash Wednesday with this: "What are you, a bunch of Jesus freaks? You ought to be working for Fox."
In 2005, Steven Roberts recalled "I worked for the New York Times for 25 years. I could probably count on one hand, in the Washington bureau of the New York Times, people who would describe themselves as people of faith....I think one of the real built-in biases in the media is towards secularism."
Today, those secularizing attitudes have trickled down to where the American public will profess faith, but is wary of encouraging national leaders to consult their own faith in their daily duties. In March, Bloomberg News asked, "In your mind, do you think a president's religious beliefs should influence his federal policy decisions all of the time, most of the time, just some of the time, or never?" It landed largely on "never" – 58 percent, and another 25 percent said just some of the time.
ABC News also asked in March "Do you think a political leader should or should not rely on his or her religious beliefs in making policy decisions?" The "no" side won 63 to 31 percent.
The public was more mixed in that survey when asked if the country has gone too far to avoid mixing government and religion (36 percent said yes), or too much involvement of religion in government (25 percent), while 34 percent thought the mix "struck a good balance."
The media rarely show interest in organized religion inside its own buildings. They typically notice religion only when journalists feel they're intruding unfairly into politics. As part of its 25th anniversary, the Media Research Center has assembled a report revisiting the "objective" media's hostility to organized religion, especially whenever it leans toward tradition or conservatism.
I. Simple-Minded Christianity
The "complex, intellectual ideology" of secular liberalism is seen as a much more impressive worldview than the old-time "fundamentalist faith" that provides a false sense of security to the less educated American. For the media elite, religion is truly the "crutch of the ignorant" and the separation of church and state isn't intended to protect religion from being spoiled by the affairs of state. It's to separate the rational and the bizarrely irrational, and keep religion from having any influence on government.
"Corporations pay public relations firms millions of dollars to contrive the kind of grass-roots response that Falwell or Pat Robertson can galvanize in a televised sermon. Their followers are largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command."
— Washington Post reporter Michael Weisskopf, February 1, 1993 front-page news story.
"She was a ninth-grade dropout thrust at random into the headlights of a divisive social movement -- but she was a powerful symbol. It's no wonder, analysts say, she flipped over last week from the complex, intellectual ideology of the abortion rights movement to the security of a fundamentalist faith dedicated to 'saving babies.'"
— Los Angeles Times staff writer Lynn Smith on Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe), August 15, 1995.
"The Rapture, and I quote, 'is the immediate departure from this Earth of over four million people in less than a fifth of a second,' unquote. This happily-volatilized mass of the saved were born again in Jesus Christ. Everybody left behind will basically go to Hell, but not before experiencing Armageddon, which is a really bad end of the world. If you find yourself in this situation, there isn't much you can do except, one, starve yourself to death or, two, get your head cut off. This loving Christmas message coming as it did amid the jungle of the mall Santa and the twinkling manger at the corner of Canal and the Ramparts made it clear that the Rapture is indeed necessary. The evaporation of four million who believe this crap would leave the world an instantly better place."
— NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu, December 19, 1995 All Things Considered.
"Do I need to be concerned that I'm going to go live with a church family, are they going to proselytize me, are they going to say, 'You better come to church with me or else, I'm, you know, you're not going to get your breakfast this morning'?"
— Co-host Harry Smith asking author/pastor Rick Warren about church families taking in those displaced by Hurricane Katrina, on CBS's Early Show, September 6, 2005.
Co-host Rosie O'Donnell: "As a result of the [9/11] attack and the killing of nearly 3,000 innocent people, we invaded two countries and killed innocent people in their countries."
Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "But do you understand that, that the belief funding those attacks, okay, that is widespread. And if you take radical Islam and if you want to talk about what's going on there, you have to-"
O'Donnell, interrupting: "Wait just one second. Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam [loud applause] in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state. We're a democracy."
— Exchange on ABC's The View, September 12, 2006.
"When doctors pronounced the Rev. Jerry Laymon Falwell, Sr. dead at 12:40 p.m. EST Tuesday....my first thoughts were not of what to say or write. In fact, my very first thought upon hearing of the Rev. Falwell's passing was: Good. And I didn't mean 'good' in a oh-good-he's-gone-home-to-be-with-the-Lord kind of way. I meant 'good' as in 'Ding-dong, the witch is dead.'"
— Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani in her May 18, 2007 piece, "Sigh of relief over Falwell death."
Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, talking about radical Muslims: "Somehow, the idea got into their minds that to kill other people is a great thing to do and that they would be rewarded in the hereafter."
Host Tavis Smiley: "But Christians do that every single day in this country."
Ali: "Do they blow people up every day?"
Smiley: "Yes. Oh, Christians, every day, people walk into post offices, they walk into schools, that's what Columbine is — I could do this all day long."
— PBS's Tavis Smiley, May 25, 2010.
"We have, in many ways, been a victim of the Scriptures and theology that have been used to keep us as slaves. It's been ingrained us (sic), and now we use it against gay people without thinking about things objectively."
— Openly gay CNN anchor Don Lemon in a November 2011 online interview with the Windy City Times, a gay newspaper.
"'First of all, I just have to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ' — and you know what I want to say: S.T.F.U. [shut the f*** up]. I'm tired of hearing Tim Tebow and all this Jesus talk....Tim Tebow, everybody wants to make him a hero. I think he's a disgrace! I think he's a disgrace! I think he's an embarrassment!"
— Former CNN host Bill Press on the December 15, 2011 edition of his radio program.
II. Republican Theocracy
When Martin Luther King spoke from a metaphorical mountaintop about legislating a political vision of his faith, liberals were thrilled. But whenever conservatives bring faith into their politics, journalists continually proclaim that conservatives in the Grand Old Party want to impose something "punitive" and "puritanical" on America that is not unlike the ayatollahs in Iran.
"The only excited, demonstrative delegates any of us could find were the ones from the religious right, Pat Robertson's God and Country rally. They remind me of those Goldwater delegates of 28 years ago, far more interested in imposing ideological purity on this party than they are on winning the election. They were happy today. They got the platform they want. No room for a pregnant woman to make any decision at all, even if she was raped. It's a platform tough on welfare, tough on taxes and guns and gays and pornography, tough even on public radio and public television. They cheered Dan Quayle this afternoon and they will cheer Pat Buchanan and Ronald Reagan tonight, but will they help elect George Bush? It's almost as if they haven't thought of that, Dan."
— Charles Kuralt during August 17, 1992 CBS Republican convention coverage.
"Bush, the exponent of a 'kinder, gentler' approach to government at the 1988 convention, was presented with a 1992 platform loaded with puritanical, punitive language that not only forbade abortions but attacked public television, gun control, homosexual rights, birth control clinics and the distribution of clean needles for drug users."
— Boston Globe reporter Curtis Wilkie, August 18, 1992 news story.
"Howard, who are the Republicans who are not happy with the way this event looked tonight and similar groupings of these six, meaning, and it's red meat for conservatives, the positions rather strident tonight: anti-gay, pro-Jesus, and anti-abortion and no gray matter in between?"
— Brian Williams, after a debate amongst Republican presidential candidates, to Newsweek's Howard Fineman, Jan. 6, 2000 MSNBC's The News with Brian Williams.
"In John Ashcroft's America, he said in 1999, 'We have no king but Jesus.' But President-elect George W. Bush has nominated Ashcroft to the position of Attorney General of the United States. In the venerable halls of the Justice Department, where he will work, it is the Constitution that is king....Ashcroft will need to assure the nation that he can enforce the Constitution and the laws of Congress when they run contrary to the laws of Jesus, as they surely will. A larger question, spoken or unspoken, will be: Can a deeply religious person be Attorney General?"
— Opening of Jan. 16, 2001 USA Today op-ed piece by former USA Today Supreme Court reporter Tony Mauro.
"The [President's Council on Bioethics] will be navigating a scientific and ethical landscape significantly more complex than the one that existed...last summer. In November, researchers announced that they had made the first human embryo clones, giving immediacy to warnings by religious conservatives and others that science is no longer serving the nation's moral will. At the same time, the United States was fighting a war to free a faraway nation from the grip of religious conservatives who were denounced for imposing their moral code on others."
— Washington Post reporter Rick Weiss in a January 17, 2002 "Federal Page" article.
"If you like the Supreme Court that put George W. Bush in the White House, you will swoon over what's coming. And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture."
— Bill Moyers' commentary on PBS's Now November 8, 2002, a few days after Republicans won the midterm congressional elections.
"Attorney General John Ashcroft has earned himself a remarkable distinction as the Torquemada of American law. Tomas de Torquemada...was largely responsible for... [the] torture and the burning of heretics – Muslims in particular. Now, of course, I am not accusing the Attorney General of pulling out anyone's fingernails or burning people at the stake (at least I don't know of any such cases). But one does get the sense these days that the old Spaniard's spirit is comfortably at home in Ashcroft's Department of Justice.'
— Former CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite in his syndicated column published in the September 22, 2003 Philadelphia Inquirer.
"Look at the little empires that people like James Dobson or Pat Robertson run. They are despotic, Third World fiefdoms where these guys fly around with bodyguards and Lear jets and amass hundreds of millions of dollars taken from people who live on the margins of American society...The image that they present of Jesus and of the Christian is essentially a warrior cult. I mean, it is that obsession with violence, it's that notion that America can use its imperial power and use its violence to create a Christian society. They condemn...other religion as satanic, I mean, they're constantly blasting Islam, nominal Christians, liberals. It is a message that's deeply anti-Christian and I think filled with a lot of bigotry and a lot of intolerance."
— Former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, author of the book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, on the February 8, 2007 Colbert Report on Comedy Central.
"Do you think God belongs in American politics?...[Sarah Palin] knocks the McCain campaign because she didn't have anybody in the campaign to pray with. That is an amazing public statement to me....I mean, this is a little bit theocratic, isn't it? A little scary?...Is he [John McCain] the Anti-Christ? I mean what, she's portraying him as some ungodly figure in which a campaign, a national campaign, where all the people surrounding her, and she couldn't find anybody that shared her Christianity. Is that what she's saying?...Why does everything sound like The 700 Club with this party now? I mean, everything seems to be a religious discussion."
— MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Hardball, March 26, 2009.
"You then have Rick Santorum representing the theocrats and the Republican Party, which is also part of the base — theocracy, of course, like perhaps the one in Iran, they would like to see that created here."
— Former CNN reporter Bob Franken on MSNBC's Politics Nation, January 6, 2012.
"Remember earlier in the campaign when Newt Gingrich was worrying everyone about Sharia law: the Muslims were going to impose Sharia law in America? Sometimes Santorum sounds like he's creeping up on a Christian version of Sharia law."
— Ex-New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, now a columnist for the paper, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, February 28, 2012.
III. Liberal Saviors
Ironically, the media elite's fear of GOP theocracy is matched by a willingness for some to entertain -- without embarrassment – that leftist icons and Democratic Presidents from Clinton to Obama bear a striking resemblance to Jesus Christ. The public might wonder if the media elite are suggesting these left-wing saviors are seen as superior secular examples to take the place of Jesus in all offerings of homage and glory.
"Roger [Clinton]'s life is in some ways the story of any younger sibling clobbered by the spectacular success of the one who came before. The presidential brother syndrome. If your brother is Christ, you have a choice: become a disciple, or become an anti-christ, or find yourself caught somewhere between the two."
— Washington Post reporter Laura Blumenfeld, January 24, 1993 "Style" section story.
"He's simultaneously endowed with the humility of an everyman and the larger-than-life presence of a hero....In the proliferation of his image since his death (he'd be 69 today), he's remained an ever-youthful demi-god. Chesucristo, superstar."
— Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight honoring communist guerrilla fighter Che Guevara, October 18, 1997.
"When I watched him [former President Bill Clinton] at Mrs. King's funeral, I just have never seen anything like it....There are times when he sounds like Jesus in the temple."
— MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Hardball, February 28, 2007.
"People have called you 'The Savior,' 'The Messiah,' 'The Messenger of Change.' The expectations have been raised to such a level....If you are, as you just say, lucky enough to be elected the next President, are you going to have to consciously manage expectations during the first several months of your administration?"
— NBC's Matt Lauer to Barack Obama on Today, October 20, 2008.
IV. Bible-Thumping Death Dealers?
In the early days of AIDS in the 1980s, the hard left insisted "silence = death." But then they added the idea that spoken opposition to homosexuality as a sin against God also equals death -- to either the beating of gays or their suicides. Catholics were "dealing death" when they refused to provide condoms for illicit sexual activity that led to AIDS. Reporters also asserted that the pro-life movement spawned the murder of abortionists and a kind of "terrorism" outside abortion clinics. The religious right has been blamed for encouraging a "climate" of violence by preaching from the Bible, no matter how kind and generous their rhetoric. .
"Gays and lesbians are beaten to death in the streets with increasing frequency — in part due to irrational fear of AIDS but also because hatemongers, from comedians to the worst of the Christian right, send the message that homosexuals have no value in our society....In the post-cold-war era, gays have been drafted to replace communists as the new menace to the American Way: We're told gays corrupt youth and commandeer art and entertainment to win converts."
— Dan Rather in The Nation, April 19, 1994.
"Then the fallout from the death of Matthew Shepard. The tragic beating of the college student in Wyoming has some activists in this country saying there is a climate of anti-gay hate that's been fostered by a provocative advertising campaign by the political right in this country. We're going to get into that debate after news and weather."
— Today co-host Katie Couric opening the October 13, 1998 show.
"Even as friends of Matthew Shepard held a candlelight vigil in his honor, gay rights groups rushed to condemn the killing, portraying Shepard as a casualty of a new cultural war against gays and lesbians, a war declared this summer by a coalition of religious-right groups, including the Christian Coalition, which funded advertisements in major newspapers and commercials on TV promoting a campaign to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality.... The ads were controversial for portraying gays and lesbians as sinners who had made poor choices, despite the growing belief that homosexuality may be genetic.... Have the ads fostered a climate of anti-gay hate that leads to incidents like the killing of Matthew Shepard? Gay rights activists say the ads convey a message that gay people are defective."
— NBC reporter David Gregory, later in the October 13, 1998 Today.
"The Christian Right per se and some particular members on Capitol Hill have helped inflame the air so that the air that these bad people breathed that night was filled, filled with the idea that somehow gays are different, and not only are they different in that difference, they're bad and not only are they bad, they are evil and therefore evil can be destroyed. The next step to that to me, it's a three-step process, and that ends in destruction. I don't say that they were told to do that, they certainly weren't part of any plan to do that, but again, what air are they breathing now? It's the air filled with that hate....I mentioned Trent Lott, Jesse Helms and Dick Armey particularly. The Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council and the Concerned Women for America."
— Deborah Mathis of Gannett News Service on who inspired the murder of Matthew Shepard, Oct. 17, 1998 Inside Washington.
"Let's talk a little bit more about the right wing because I know that's something you feel very strongly about. But this is actually not necessarily about the right wing, but perhaps a climate that some say has been established by religious zealots or Christian conservatives. There have been two recent incidents in the news I think that upset most people in this country, that is the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. and the beating death of Matthew Shepard. I just would like you to reflect on whether you feel people in this country are increasingly intolerant, mean-spirited, etc., and what, if anything, can be done about that because a lot of people get very discouraged when they hear and see this kind of brutality taking place."
— Today's Katie Couric to former Texas Governor Ann Richards as she hosted a 92nd Street Y appearance in New York City on March 3, 1999 shown by C-SPAN April 3.
"Since September 11, the word 'terrorist' has come to mean someone who is radical, Islamic and foreign. But many believe we have as much to fear from a home-grown group of anti-abortion crusaders."
— Reporter Jami Floyd on ABC's 20/20, November 28, 2001.
V. Rome's Rottweilers
Journalists have a love-hate relationship with Vatican City. They love when the Pope is opposing capital punishment or U.S. wars, but when it comes to social issues and Catholic church governance, they portray the church hierarchy as a group of white male celibate authoritarians viciously enforcing a "rigid" and ancient orthodoxy. Like Phil Donahue, they pose as hip modernists against the prehistoric "fairy tales" of Christ establishing a church on Earth that would last until the end of time.
"The [Catholic] Church has always thrived on ignorance and oppression."
— Phil Donahue, interviewed by Pat Buchanan on CNN's Larry King Live, May 31, 1988.
"But most of his fellow countrymen do not share John Paul's concept of morality.... Many here expect John Paul to use his authority to support Church efforts to ban abortion, perhaps the country's principal means of birth control. And this, they say, could deprive them of a freedom of choice the communists never tried to take away from them."
— CBS News reporter Bert Quint on the June 1, 1991 Evening News.
"One paradox of the Polish Pope is that while he is rightly revered for helping bring down the godless Communists, he has replicated something very like the old Communist Party in his church. Karol Wojtyla has shaped a hierarchy that is intolerant of dissent, unaccountable to its members, secretive in the extreme and willfully clueless about how people live."
— New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, May 4, 2002.
NBC's Bob Faw: "Embraced by multitudes....John Paul also alienated others. Lifelong Catholic Serra Sippel [of the pro-abortion group Catholics for a Free Choice] was so angered by his teachings she quit going to Mass....She's outraged even now the Vatican didn't do more to stop sexual abuse by priests. Outraged, too, because the late Pope refused to ordain or even consider ordaining women...."
Rea Howarth, Catholics Speak Out: "This Pope didn't care to learn from the likes of women."
Faw: "Her left-of-center Catholic group also complains that John Paul, rather than affirming life, actually affirmed death when he refused to permit the use of condoms to fight the spread of AIDS."
Howarth: "That teaching is death-dealing."
— NBC Nightly News, April 6, 2005, four days after Pope John Paul II died.
"It was Joseph Ratzinger's job as head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the old office of the Inquisition — that led to him being labeled by some as 'God's Rottweiler'.... The new Pope Benedict has described homosexuality as a moral evil. He said the sex abuse scandal in the Church has been exaggerated by the media, and in the last U.S. election he said pro-choice candidates on the abortion question should be denied communion — in other words, denied salvation. As a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger took no prisoners. As the Pope, his policies now have the stamp of infallibility."
— Mark Phillips on the April 19, 2005 CBS Evening News.
"There's widespread doubt here that he will be able to overcome his reputation as the intimidating enforcer, punishing liberal thinkers and keeping the Church in the Middle Ages."
— ABC News producer Christel Kucharz reporting on German reaction to Cardinal Ratzinger's election during live coverage on April 19, 2005.
"He [Cardinal Ratzinger] said in his homily, on the death of Pope John Paul, that the world faces the menace of a dictatorship of relativism. And what he seems to represent is a dictatorship of certitude. I mean, one of his biographers said that he wanted to fight political totalitarianism in the world with ecclesiastical totalitarianism."
— Roll Call Executive Editor and FNC contributor Mort Kondracke on Special Report with Brit Hume, April 19, 2005.
"Some of the values, depending on your perspective... may be deemed wholesome, but in other ways, I think, people will see this community as eschewing diversity and promoting intolerance....Do you think the tenets of the community might result in de facto segregation as a result of some of the beliefs that are being espoused by the majority of the residents there?...You can understand how people would hear some of these things and be like, wow, this is really infringing on civil liberties and freedom of speech and right to privacy and all sorts of basic tenets that this country was founded on. Right?"
— NBC's Katie Couric on the March 3, 2006 Today, questioning Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan and real-estate developer Paul Marinelli, who are building a community based on Catholic values in Florida.
"After acquiring a reputation as an aggressive, doctrine-enforcing Cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI has surprised many with his gentle manner and his writings on Christian love. But with the Christmas season upon us, there is growing proof that the 82-year-old Pope is also quite willing to play the part of Scrooge to defend his often rigid view of Church doctrine."
— Time's Jeff Israely in a December 3, 2008 column, "The Pope's Christmas Gift: A Tough Line on Church Doctrine".
"Rome's misogynous declaration, tossed into its new guidelines on reporting clerical sexual abuse, did more than just highlight the church's hoary horror at the idea of female priests...It also pointed up an increasingly spiteful rhetoric of bigotry. When Argentina in mid-July legalized gay marriage, the country's Catholic bishops weren't content to simply denounce the legislation; they used the occasion to argue for the subhumanity of homosexual men and lesbians, the way many white Southern preachers weren't ashamed to degrade African Americans during the civil rights movement. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio not only called the new law 'a scheme to destroy God's plan'; he termed it 'a real and dire anthropological throwback,' as if homosexuality were evolutionarily inferior to heterosexuality."
— Time's Tim Padgett in a July 19, 2010 online column titled "The Vatican and Women: Casting the First Stone."
VI. Religion, Slammed by Non-News Media Celebrities
For many years, the leading entertainers in New York and Hollywood have ridiculed the American majority, accusing them of holding religious beliefs that have led to violence, extremism, and cults of "organized pedophilia." From their very prosperous perch, celebrities often knock religious figures for self-righteous arrogance, and never consider if that's the impression they give the public.
"I wondered to myself during 'Shock and Awe,' I wondered which of the megaton bombs Jesus, our President's personal savior, would have personally dropped on the sleeping families of Baghdad?"
— Actress Meryl Streep at a John Kerry fundraiser, as quoted by the July 9, 2004 Boston Globe.
"I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an even larger child-abusing religious cult. Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. That's right, the Pope is coming to America....If you have a few hundred followers, and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If have a billion, they call you 'Pope.' It's like, if you can't pay your mortgage, you're a deadbeat. But if you can't pay a million mortgages, you're Bear Stearns and we bail you out. And that is who the Catholic Church is: the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia.... The Church's attitude: 'We're here, we're queer, get used to it,' which is fine. Far be it for me to criticize religion."
— Bill Maher on HBO's Real Time, April 11, 2008.
"I mean, if there was an organization, let's just say the- you know, the- I don't want to say that, but the Boys' Club, or one of the- you know, had the history of child abuse- you know, child torture and rape that the Catholic Church has, would you ever give money to the Boys' Club or the Girls' Club?...I'm saying that, to support an organization that- at the top of the infrastructure, are people willing to ignore the mass child abuse and torture and sexual molestation of its own constituents. I mean, it's almost like when you read about- you know, cults, Jonestown and all these cults- that they allow- you know, sexual perversity and sexual behavior.
— Rosie O'Donnell on the April 5, 2010 edition of her satellite radio show.
"I mean, when society as a whole has told -- has basically told the kids that it's okay, that we're a group that you can pick on, that you that don't have to treat as equal. In the laws and everything else that's out here, in the churches that they preach that homophobia [sic] is wrong. You pretty much have given kids permission to disrespect and, you know, and to cause harm to the gay and lesbian community."
— Wanda Sykes on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, October 4, 2010. (This is the same performer who "joked" in front of the president that she hoped Rush Limbaugh's kidneys failed and he died.)
"Are you watching these debates? I mean, yes, the politicians are bad, but the people who egg them on. There, these crowds cheering for executions, cheering for letting people without health insurance die. In today's Republican Party there's a term for people who hate charity and love killing: Christian."
— Bill Maher on his Real Time program on HBO, September 16, 2011.
When the Washington Post reporter Michael Weisskopf dismissed evangelical Christians as "largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command," ombudsman Joann Byrd reported: "Hundreds of callers offered proof that they don't fit the description. One man said there was a Jaguar parked in his driveway; people revealed their incomes in detail normally reserved for a Form 1040. A woman ran through the degrees of the six people living under her roof: two PhDs and another on the way, three master's degrees. A Florida man said that in his 'multimillion-dollar business, none of my employees commands me.'"
Byrd wrote "The simplistic Journalism 101 answer: Go back through a story and challenge every sentence for its factual basis."
If the Post quickly apologized for Weisskopf's snide "easy to command" verbiage, why does this long-standing journalistic disresepect for religion continue? Is it a "fact" that Republicans want to install theocracy and repeal the First Amendment? Is it a "fact" that abortion providers or gay people are killed by a "climate" inspired by the Bible? Reporters have a nasty tendency to uncork attacks on religion that are short on documentation and long on editorializing.