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College football fans, especially those in Big 12 country, will long remember Baylor 52, Kansas State 24 as the night when the Wildcats' wildest dreams — and those of the conference's top star, Collin Klein — were dashed.
No national championship opportunity for K-State.
No legit shot at the Heisman Trophy for Klein.
But that game, and that resounding final score, resonates for very different reasons in Waco, Texas.
The Bears indicated that night that their 2012 season — otherwise knows as Year 1 ARG3 — wasn't a bust. And they proved, in winning their final three games to finish 7-5, that both the present and future for Baylor football are bright.
And there was something else: the long-awaited breakout performance for Lache Seastrunk.
If coach Art Briles is correct, that blowout of K-State will go down in Baylor history as the night a banner 2013 season was born.
— Holiday Bowl: UCLA (9-4) vs. Baylor (7-5), Dec. 27, San Diego, 9:45 p.m. ET, ESPN
"We think we certainly have the potential to win the Big 12 conference championship—without question," Briles told Sporting News this week.
And the biggest single part of that potential is Seastrunk. Life after Robert Griffin III won't be as difficult to manage for the Bears because they—and how many programs out there can truly say this?—have a player with the potential to be similarly transcendent.
Briles says he hasn't seen a more gifted college running back since Adrian Peterson.
Seastrunk, who'll be a redshirt junior nest season, says he's merely the best back in the country right now.
"I feel like there's no back who can do what I do," he told SN. "I know I'm the fastest back in the country. I know I'm the best back in the country. Nobody's going to work harder."
But that's not all. Are you listening?
"I'm going to win the Heisman. I'm going to win it in 2013. If I don't, I'm going to get very close.
"I'm shooting for that goal. I will gladly say it."
Briles says that's "certainly a goal that's realistic." We say he's absolutely right. That win over K-State also was the night a Heisman campaign was born.
Seastrunk had a season-high 185 yards on only 19 carries vs. the Wildcats. And about that only: the 19 carries also was a season high.
Imagine it: a running back who ripped up Big 12 defenses for 693 yards rushing over his final five games—and who commanded the attention of fans around the country with 499 yards and five TDs in his last three games—has yet to have 20 totes in a game. He topped off at seven carries (twice) in his first seven games when he rushed for 181 yards (6.2 yards per carry).
Wisconsin's Montee Ball has had 10 games with at least 20 carries in 2012. Kenjon Barner, the star running back at Oregon—where Seastrunk began his college career—has had eight.
Those season highs are also career highs for the 21-year-old Seastrunk. He redshirted at Oregon in 2010 before transferring to Baylor—amidst a recruiting scandal that still circles the Ducks' program—and sitting out all of 2011.
Then he languished on Briles' bench for seven games in 2012—while many fans around the country stopped caring about the long-anticipated debut of the No. 1-rated high school running back of 2009. At Baylor, though, fans waited. And waited.
So did Seastrunk, for whom the wait was tolerable, if not easy.
"He had a good attitude when he wasn't playing," quarterback Nick Florence said. "Actually, he had a great attitude."
It was all part of a learning process for the native of Temple, Texas.
At Oregon, he'd wanted—expected—to walk right in and dominate. As a freshman, though, he wasn't about to unseat LaMichael James or his then-backup, Barner.
"It was very, very, very hard, I'm not going to lie. It was very painful," Seastrunk said. "I don't like talking about it, but I will.
"When I came out, I was a top-ranked athlete. I could've gone anywhere I wanted to. I felt I couldn't be touched. I was in the sky. I was a little arrogant. That year humbled me. But I think God wanted me to learn something about myself."
Seastrunk says—and both Briles and Florence provide compelling backup to his story—that his attitude and approach completely changed at Baylor, and that, even though he wasn't playing, it actually helped his team withstand a frustrating first two months of this season.
After a year away from football, Florence said, "Lache really just needed some time to get the offense under his belt."
"I knew it would come in time," Seastrunk said. "I'm a lot more disciplined now. I stay more focused during practice than I did at Oregon. I listen more. I analyze defenses now. I know what coverages they're in.
"I'll tell you why I had such a good game against Kansas State: I knew where the holes were going to be at."
Seastrunk's season total of 874 yards won't land him on 2013 preseason Heisman lists, but his 7.6 yards per carry (entering next Thursday's bowl game vs. UCLA) might. And it should; only one FBS player, Kent State's Dri Archer, had a higher average.
But Seastrunk isn't just a big-play-waiting-to-happen type like Archer or, for a more fitting comparison, Oregon burner De'Anthony Thomas.
Seastrunk has major-league workhorse potential.
"His strength and ability just takes over," Briles said.
If Seastrunk isn't RG3-fast, he's close. "The way we judge speed is if he's ever been caught," Briles said. "I've never seen Robert caught and have yet to see Lache caught."
At 5-10 and nearly 210 pounds, he's a powerhouse, too.
"What this guy can do is unreal," Florence said. "It's kind of crazy that someone that big can move like he does and still go in the weight room and squat 500, 600 pounds."
Barring the unforeseeable, Seastrunk's 20-carry breakthrough is just a week away vs. UCLA.
In 2013, it'll be a regular occurrence.
"Without question," Briles said. "I think he'll average in the low 20s throughout the season."
Even at 5.2 yards per carry, Ball—the workhorse of workhorses in the college game—is working on a 1,700-yard-plus season. How high can Seastrunk go?
High enough that the Heisman hype can officially begin right now.


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A few weeks ago I announced a big change for my little company as we expanded to include boys in our work. So much of childhood has boys and girls separated for reasons I cannot understand. I want my company to reflect childhood as it ought to be, not how it is currently marketed and depicted in the media.
In my mind, childhood is full of awesome, colors are for everyone, children are whimsical and curious, and children redefine the stereotypes that exist around them.
My company is Childhood Inspired. I wanted and needed to create a new line of designs that showed boys and girls playing together. I cannot recall seeing a shirt like that anywhere, as the sexes are so segregated in the current marketplace. I wanted to give families, but most importantly children, happy and joyful designs that show kids being kids.
I want my son and daugther growing up playing and making memories with a great variety of friends. I'm really excited to introduce Cannonball!, our new line for boys AND girls. This line is "childhood inspired", and was created from suggestions from our Facebook and Twitter communities.
I decided to call the line "Cannonball!" because when I think back to my own childhood and that delicious, excited feeling kids get in their tummies while completely lost in play, I think back to doing cannonball after cannonball off the side of the pool. And sailboat. And quarry wall. I remember working as a nanny in college, and teaching my little three year old fella how to do cannonballs. He would scream "CANNA-LOPE!" and hurl his little self into the water. I wanted that moment, on a t-shirt.
Each season we'll be releasing some new designs for this line, and all will feature boys and girls playing together (usually outside). Childhood is supposed to be big, bright, and bold. Let's keep it that way, and support the businesses that allow your children the chidhood they deserve.

subset: commoncrawl


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See used Dodge Journey listings in your area.Used Listings
The Dodge Journey is a midsize sport-utility that offers the smoother ride and better fuel economy of a car with the cargo space and roominess of an SUV. It seats five or seven, depending on options. And with a significant price reduction, Chrysler claims the 2013 Dodge Journey to be the most affordable seven-seat crossover sold in the U.S.
Dodge Journey offers lots of choices: four or six cylinders, five or seven seats, basic trim or full-lux leather. And like most crossovers it offers front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.
Journey is considered a crossover vehicle because it straddles the line between car and SUV. It uses a lightweight unit-body structure similar to that used by cars, instead of a body-on-frame truck chassis. Available all-wheel-drive traction adds confidence in bad weather.
Up-level models are powered by the same modern 3.6-liter V6 that's becoming ubiquitous in Chrysler Group vehicles. It has plenty of power but is ill-matched to the 6-speed automatic transmission, making it feel less powerful than it actually is. The V6 produces 283 horsepower at 6350 rpm, 260 pound-feet of torque at 4400 rpm.
The Journey's standard motivation is a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine of 173 horsepower. We found the four-cylinder engine rough and noisy, with too little power for a vehicle of this size. The V6 is the one to get, in our view.
Inside is where the Journey shines. Its interior design and materials give it one of the nicest cockpits in the class. It comes standard with seating for five, with a two-passenger third row optional. Either way it has useful, though not class leading, cargo space. Filling the Journey with adults won't make all your passengers happy, but the rear seat should work well for children. Seats flip and fold to provide ample versatility for hauling people, cargo, or both. The Journey offers a fold-flat front passenger seat that will allow loading items up to nine feet long. It features some unique storage solutions owners will find useful. Among them: a bin under the front passenger seat, storage under the floor in the second row and behind the last row of seats, a dual glove box with Dodge's Chill Zone that cools soda cans, and all the usual cubbies up front, including a fairly deep center console. Entertainment options are plentiful, as the Journey has a CD player standard and offers a rear DVD entertainment system and a hard-drive radio.
2013 Journey R/T models come with new perforated leather seats, a dimpled leather heated steering wheel and dimpled shift knob, red accent stitching on the steering wheel and a new performance suspension for even more responsive handling.
New for all 2013 Journey models is the addition of a max air conditioning setting for the climate controls, and an instantaneous fuel consumption indicator in the color Electronic Vehicle Information Center screen.
With prices starting at $18,995 the Journey offers affordable utility. We recommend the V6 engine, which provides that extra margin of power that many buyers will want, as well as much more refinement. Be careful when it comes to options, though, as it is easy to get the Journey over $30,000, money that can buy larger and/or more premium SUVs.
The 2013 Dodge Journey is offered in five trim levels: AVP (American Value Package), SE, SXT, Crew, and R/T. The AVP and SE are only available with front-wheel drive and the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with 4-speed automatic transmission. The 3.6-liter V6 and 6-speed automatic are standard on Crew and R/T. The mid-range SXT can be ordered with front-wheel drive and the four-cylinder or V6, or with the V6 and AWD.
All five models provide seating for five in their standard configuration, or for seven with the optional Flexible Seating Group ($1,050) which adds not only a 50/50 folding and reclining third seat, but a 60/40 tilt-and-slide second seat, tri-zone automatic climate control, and a cargo compartment cover.
Journey AVP ($18,995) comes with cloth upholstery; cruise control; dual-zone manual air conditioning with air filtering; tinted glass; Uconnect 4.3 with AM/FM/CD/MP3/WMA stereo with six speakers, 4.3-inch touchscreen, auxiliary input jack, and USB port; power windows; power heated exterior mirrors; power door locks; remote keyless entry; tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio controls; driver's seat height adjustment; 60/40-split-folding second-row seat; headlights with time-delay off; a grille with bright accents; and P225/65R17 all-season touring tires on steel wheels.
Journey SE ($20,995) adds LED taillamps and a longer list of available options.
Journey SXT ($22,995) adds deep-tint sunscreen glass, SiriusXM satellite radio, floor mats, fog lamps, and 17-inch aluminum wheels. Mirrors are body color rather than black, and the front fascia is more elaborate. The front-drive SXT can be ordered with the V6 ($1,600). Journey SXT AWD ($26,395) comes standard with the V6, which also gets bright exhaust tips, black roof rails, a performance-tuned suspension and a slightly larger fuel tank.
Journey Crew ($27,995) upgrades further with the V6 engine as standard; fully automatic halogen headlamps; dual-zone automatic climate control; Uconnect 8.4 with 8.4-in. touchscreen, AM/FM radio, SiriusXM radio, CD/DVD player, MP3/WMA/AAC, audio input jack, remote USB port and SD card slot; six-way power driver's seat with four-way lumbar support; fold-flat front passenger seat with in-seat storage; leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls; illuminated vanity mirrors; one-touch control for power windows; 115-volt power outlet; and new 225/55R19 all-season touring tires on 19-inch Satin Silver aluminum wheels. Door handles, exhaust tips, and roof rails are all chromed. Journey Crew AWD ($29,795) includes all-wheel drive.
Journey R/T ($28,995) and AWD ($30,795) are the sporty models. They add firm-feel power steering; high-performance suspension; heated front seats; black leather upholstery with red stitching; dimple-leather wrap for the steering wheel with matching red stitching; INFINITI 368-watt premium sound; and 19-inch alloy wheels finished in Satin Carbon. Door handles revert to body color, matching the body color trim in the grille; and roof rails revert to optional status ($125).
The Navigation and Sound Group ($995) includes Garmin navigation with audible turn by turn directions, POI and Lane Guidance, Uconnect Voice Command, Bluetooth streaming audio, hands-free texting and preprogrammed response, SiriusXM Travel Link, HomeLink universal garage door opener, rear park assist, and rearview camera; Rear DVD entertainment ($795) comes with a 9-inch screen, remote control, and two wireless headphones. Stand-alone options include the six premium Infinity speakers with subwoofer and 368-watt amplifier ($395); an engine block heater ($95), sunroof ($895), heated front seats ($295), integrated second-row child safety seats ($225), and a Trailer Tow Group ($145) with an engine oil cooler and a four-pin connector. Many more options are available, and the model you order and the combination of options you order can affect option prices.
Safety features on all Journey models include advanced multistage front airbags; torso-protecting, seat-mounted front side air bags; head-protecting curtain side airbags that cover all seating rows; driver's knee bag; front-seat active head restraints; a tire-pressure monitor; traction control; electronic stability control with rollover mitigation; ABS with Electronic Brake-force Distribution and Brake Assist; and Dodge's trailer sway control. Available all-wheel drive improves stability in slippery conditions.
On the outside, the Journey announces its presence with the familiar Dodge crosshair grille. The look might be described as bold. But the upright shape of the grille and its relation to the aluminum hood and windshield is very reminiscent of the current Dodge Grand Caravan, and no SUV ever earned sales by looking like a minivan.
That said, the Journey's front end is somewhat simpler than the Grand Caravan's, with more straight lines and straightforward shapes. Journey AVP and SE breathe through a full-width lower air intake, superficially resembling the Grand Caravan's but again more decisively shaped and divided into three segments. Upmarket SXT, Crew, and R/T Journeys sport a more aggressive front fascia with a single, centered lower opening arched at the top and defined by a faux skidplate below. Flanking it are round fog lights set into ersatz brake ducts.
Around the sides, the Journey features pronounced wheel arches and a creased character line that starts at the top of each headlight, angles upward, and wraps completely around the vehicle. The roofline flows nicely from the windshield, curving down slightly front to rear. The B- and C-pillars are blacked out to, as Dodge puts it, give the look of a car-like greenhouse and an SUV-like lower half.
At the back, the Journey's taillights wrap around the sides of the vehicle and continue into the tailgate, which opens upward. The taillights themselves are LEDs on all but the base model. The rear bumper has an integrated step pad that matches the height of the load floor. Models with the V6 engine can be distinguished by their dual chrome exhaust tips.
The Dodge Journey is bigger than it looks. In overall dimension, it is actually longer than such seven-passenger crossover competitors as the Toyota Highlander and Subaru Tribeca (although the Journey is just an inch longer than the 2013 Honda Pilot). The Journey's size translates to plenty of interior cargo room, but the design isn't as space efficient as some of its competitors.
The Dodge Journey features an inviting cabin, offering plenty of room for passengers and cargo, available seating for seven, and several smart and convenient storage solutions.
Rich, soft-touch surfaces form an attractive layout. The dash top, door panels, armrests and center console are all soft to the touch. Generous sound-deadening material makes the Journey quiet underway. The look, feel and calm places the Journey at or near the top of the class for interior quality.
The center stack features three low-set knobs surrounded by several buttons. The climate controls are arrayed around the center knob, and they're easy enough to use.
Infotainment choices (Chrysler calls them Multimedia Systems) begin on the base model with Uconnect 4.3, which has a 4.3-inch touchscreen, standard audio input jack and USB port; add SiriusXM satellite radio and this setup becomes Uconnect 4.3S. The next step up (Uconnect 8.4) comes with an 8.4-inch touchscreen and a 30-gigabyte hard drive that can hold up to 6700 song files. There is also a premium version of this unit (8.4N) that adds Bluetooth streaming audio, voice command, a Garmin navigation system with SiriusXM Travel Link, Lane Guidance and pre-programmed hands-free texting responses. We've had limited exposure to this system but it works fairly well. Given Garmin's reach, more people should be familiar with the navigation system, but we think it looks cartoonish. We also like the idea of hands-free texting.
The Journey offers plenty of entertainment features for all occupants. An AM/FM radio with in-dash CD player and six speakers is standard. An available rear DVD entertainment system has a nine-inch screen and wireless headphones. Dodge's Uconnect phone hands-free cell phone link and a premium Infinity sound system are also offered.
Cabin space in the Journey is good but not great. The driver's seat offers plenty of head and leg room for just about any occupant. The view is generally unobstructed front and rear. The Journey's unique storage and convenience features, however, are what really make it shine. All Journeys have a dual-level glove box with Dodge's Chill Zone up top. Chill Zone uses the air conditioning system to keep up to four soda cans cool.
The center console/armrest has a lid that slides forward three inches. It has enough storage space for up to 10 DVD cases. Two cupholders are located in front of the console, along with a tray for cell phones and the like. An additional, more discreet storage space is standard in R/T and Crew and optional on SE and SXT. The front passenger seat bottom flips up to reveal a storage bin that has about enough room for a good-sized purse. The seat back also folds flat, allowing items up to nine feet long to be loaded into the Journey. And to help drivers keep an eye on the kids, there is a popular minivan feature, a fisheye conversation mirror.
The second row is equally as ingenious. The three-passenger bench seat is 1.6 inches higher than the front seat to give passengers a better view of the road. It slides forward and back up to 4.7 inches in seven-passenger models, and can be ordered with integrated child booster seats for the outboard positions. The Journey also has two in-floor storage bins with removable liners. Each bin can hold up to six soda cans plus ice. The seat backs are split 60/40 and fold flat. When the optional Flexible Seating Group is ordered, the second-row seats fold in a scissors action, with the seat bottoms tilting up, the seatbacks tilting forward, and the seats sliding forward, to provide easy access to the third row. The rear doors also open 90 degrees, making entry and exit easy.
Base seating is for five, but the Flexible Seating Group expands seating capacity to seven. The third row is 0.6 inches higher than the second row, is split 50/50, and folds flat. Dodge says it offers enough head room for a 95th-percentile male. That's all well and good, but leg room is tight and the bottom cushion is low to the floor, so adults sit with their knees up. It will be possible to fit seven adults in the Journey, but the third-row passengers and second-row middle occupant will be none too happy about it. Younger children will have plenty of room, though.
Both the five- and seven-passenger Journeys have a shallow under-floor storage bin that extends from the rear of the vehicle forward to just behind the last row of seats. That means the five-passenger version has considerably more space under the floor than the seven-passenger version. The cover for this bin is reversible, too, with carpet on one side and plastic on the other. The plastic will allow for worry-free stowage of items such as muddy boots.
Cargo space expands to 67.6 cubic feet with all the seats down, which is average for the class but bested by the Toyota Highlander and even the smaller Honda CR-V. Loading cargo shouldn't be tough, as the liftover height is relatively low. It would be nice, however, if the tailgate had a separate opening glass. As an added bonus, a removable, rechargeable flashlight is included in the rear cargo area in higher line models.
The Dodge Journey is nondescript when it comes to road manners, even after chassis changes for the 2011 model year that included stiffer springs and shocks, lower rolling resistance tires with more grip, a retuned steering gear and linkage, and modified rear suspension geometry.
Ride quality is generally good, with little pounding over bumps. The head sway that is associated with a high seating position is also minimal. Even with the available 19-inch wheels, the Journey does a good job of ironing out most jolts. But there are plenty of midsize crossovers and SUVs with similar ride characteristics.
While the high seating position affords a good view of the road, it seems to hurt the feel behind the wheel. This is not an off-road oriented SUV, and as such it seems that Dodge could have made it sit a bit lower, which would have made it feel more carlike. The way it's engineered, however, means the Journey leans more in turns than other crossovers. The steering is light, but predictable, and the brakes are easy to modulate.
The engines are comparable to the handling: capable but not as good as the best in the class. The base four-cylinder, Chrysler's 173-hp 2.4-liter World Engine, is loud in the Journey and delivers too little power in this 3800-pound package. The four-cylinder will certainly get you and your kids around town, but passing will require some planning and it's not rated for towing. With a 0-60 mph time of somewhere between 11 and 12 seconds, a four-cylinder Journey is one of the slower vehicles in its class.
The 3.6-liter V6 produces 283 horsepower at 6350 rpm, 260 pound-feet of torque at 4400 rpm. The V6 is plenty modern, equipped with double overhead camshafts (that's four cams) and four valves per cylinder. However, it seems hampered by transmission and throttle tuning.
Power is decent from a start, but the transmission shifts up as quickly as it can, meaning power is no longer readily on tap. It requires a deep stab of the throttle to coax a downshift and you practically have to floor it to get a two-gear downshift needed for highway passing. The problem is exacerbated by numb throttle response. We also found that with front-wheel drive, those foot-to-the-floor blasts can cause some torque steer (felt as a slight tug on the steering wheel) that temporarily disrupts fine steering control.
On the positive side, the 3.6-liter engine should provide 0-60 mph runs in the high seven-second range. Towing capacity is 2500 pounds, but a Dodge Grand Caravan minivan with the same engine can tow 3600 pounds, nearly have again as much.
Fuel economy numbers are decent. With the four-cylinder engine, the Journey is EPA-rated at 19/26 mpg City/Highway. The V6 is rated at 17/25 mpg with front-wheel drive, and with AWD it's rated 16/24 mpg.
The all-wheel-drive system is mainly meant for slippery surfaces, not off-roading. It does not have low-range gearing. It sends the power to the front wheels in most conditions, but when more traction is needed, such as in wintry conditions, rain or on any slippery surface, it can send some of the power to the rear wheels. It can also aid handling, at least a bit. When traveling over 25 mph into a turn, the system sends power to the rear wheels to help the vehicle turn. It's not as sophisticated as systems from Acura and BMW that send the power to the outside rear wheel in turns, but it's a help.
The Dodge Journey has one of the nicest interiors in the class, as well as an intelligent design with family-friendly entertainment and versatility features. Its handling is controlled and reasonably carlike. The four-cylinder engine lacks refinement, but the V6 doesn't, though it could use better transmission programming. Still, for the young family on the go, the Journey offers a pleasant ride, plenty of room, and enough space and entertainment options to keep the kids comfortable and occupied.
Kirk Bell filed this NewCarTestDrive.com report after his test drive of the Dodge Journey in and around Las Vegas and Sonoma, California. Additional material by John F. Katz.
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Greetings my fellow readers! It is I, The Duke, back from the gutter, and this time I've brought something back with me! I know it has been a while since I last regaled you with my acumen on all things cinematically awesome, but I swear the results will be worth the wailing and gnashing of teeth that my absence no doubt caused you all.
The holiday season saw me taking my annual trip to Roma for Saturnalia, and as typical during this festive time, I consumed way too much food, and had my way with way too much young flesh. Let us start from the beginning: A rather long train ride, during which I could only amuse myself by counting the gypsy dung carts that I saw passing by the window outside, and suddenly I was in the outskirts of Rome, in a little village called Nomentano. This year the festival was being held in the church Corpus Domini, a fitting name given what was about to take place.
As luck would have it, I had been elected Saturnalicius princeps due to a rather large donation that I had sent the Vatican earlier in the year, a gift consisting of several man-eating boars reared in Sardinia, a gilded cross depicting a nude Jesu, and 52 coupons to Taco Bueno for $1 off a taco with purchase of a large soft drink. This meant, of course, that I would preside over the festival and generally bear the brunt of all the fornication, something that I welcomed with much satisfaction.
Donning a loose toga, I reclined on a silken couch and watched the merry-making. Such sights I beheld! A Moor, who bore a striking resemblance to a rotten tree trunk, presented a staged version of Hamlet using only trained monkeys. A troupe of nymphs from Moldavia took the stage only to disrobe and begin fondling each other, which went on for 5 solid hours until someone thought to ask them how much longer the show was, much to their surprise and embarrassment. Seems they weren't part of the show at all and instead had thought the central stage open to public lounging. The list goes on and on.
A week later, I awoke facedown in a gutter, nude except for a crown of thorns on my head. I vomited, righted myself, looked around for my clothes, only to instead pick up a half-empty goblet of wine. Suddenly, the monkey-trainer was at my side, one of his leashed charges ambled over to me. "Josephus wants you to have something, sir", the Moor mumbled. I glanced down to see what the monkey proffered to me, and it was…
Satanico Pandemonium. The name rolls off the tongue like a hot Jujube. As most of you are well aware, my dedication to all things nunsploitation knows no bounds and so it was with bated breath that I put this one in the royal DVD player. I was greeted by a never-ending cavalcade of depravity, a movie that enters the exclusive company of Alucarda and School of the Holy Beast.
Our movie tells the story of one Sister Maria, a hot young nubile nun who blissfully wiles away the day, picking flowers, never knowing the hidden sexual desires hovering barely beneath her tanned flesh. Whilst out picking flowers one fine summer day, Sister Maria is rudely interrupted by a nude man. As with anyone who suddenly finds themselves staring at naked Mexican genitals, she flees in a blind panic. Coming upon a shepherd boy named Marcello, she relaxes, but not for long as the Mexican dude shows up again, only this time with clothes, offering Maria an apple (see where they are going here?)
Thinking back on his throbbing Latino member, Sister Maria flees in terror, back to the convent. Seems Mr. Handsome Latin-dude is none other than the Prince of Darkness Himself. His Infernal Majesty has nothing on his normally busy schedule, so he decides that today he's going to corrupt a sexy young nun. Note to Self: Upon reaching life goal of becoming The Devil, put this at the top of your to-do list!
Life in the convent is just how you usually see 16th century convents depicted, i.e. – lots of nuns singing in chorus, lots of nuns eating with wooden spoons, lots of nuns doing nun things. This particular convent has two dark-skinned servant nuns, who are treated as outcasts by everyone but the kind Sister Maria. Finding one of them crying, she consoles her. Sister Outcast is suicidal, it seems, but Maria assures her that if she is steadfast and loves God, then all will be well. At this point I'm wondering why they don't start making out, and am disappointed when this fails to happen. Luckily, my patience was about to pay off!
Maria heads to her room, which is perfect for cloistering. Doing just that, she begins to pray, only she can't stop thinking about Mr. Juan Long Dong who so fabulously introduced her to cock earlier in the day. Deciding, rightly so, that the only cure is self-flagellation, Sister Maria employs the use of a spiked belt and a whip. Baring herself to the waist (ahh, yes!), Maria wraps a leather belt, studded with spikes, around her midsection, then begins to whip her back via the tried and true over-the-shoulder method, commonly employed by priests and nuns alike.
The servant nuns interrupt this personal time with news of a sick cow. Sister Maria heads to the barn, where she quickly concocts an herbal remedy for the hapless bovine. Satan beams himself directly into the barnyard, eating another apple, as is his custom. Tossing the half-eaten apple at Maria, he teleports out again. Maria spies the apple and flees back to her room in horror. Upon entering the room she strips to the waist again, revealing that she's still wearing The Punishment Belt™. She doesn't notice, however, the nun hiding behind the door!
Turns out this nun is in love with Sister Maria (as we all are, by this time), and proceeds to confess her love. Not being able to contain herself, she jumps Maria's bones, furiously kissing her on the mouth and teats. Suddenly, this sex-starved Sister is replaced by Naked Gypsy Satan! The Son of Darkness sure does love teleportation. He finally reveals himself as Satan (as if we weren't already aware, come on, he's eating apples for Christ's sake, the Devil's Own Fruit!) and tells Sister Maria that should she ever want or need him, then she has but to speak his name and he'll come a'runnin' (or in his case, teleporting into her shower, bed, etc).
This visitation causes Maria to slide off into the precipice of darkness. Suddenly, the paintings in the hallways take on new meanings, revealing devil faces and such. She has dark thoughts, naughty thoughts that won't go away even with the employment of The Punishment Belt™ or the liberal use of a Sham-Wow™. This is evidenced by her accosting of poor Marcello, the shepherd boy. Maria finds him sitting on a riverbank as the sheep graze nearby. Sitting down next to him, she wastes no time in revealing too much leg, before finally jumping on Marcello and kissing him. Obviously fearing eternal damnation (and, perhaps, hairy Mexican vagina), he flees in terror.
Sister Maria is conflicted by the thoughts she's having, and contemplates suicide via scissors after having a vision of snakes inhabiting her drinking cup at the evening meal. The Mother Superior tries to help, offering Maria solace, but she's having none of it. The Naked Gypsy Devil's pull is too much to resist! Not content with molesting under-aged shepherd boys, Maria goes prowling the convent at night. Entering the kitchen, she sees the suicidal servant nun about to hang herself by climbing upon the kitchen table and stringing a rope through the rafters. Instead of just watching like anyone would, Sister Maria goes the extra mile by rushing into the kitchen and shoving the girl off the table, then satisfactorily watching her swing!
Performing assisted suicide is just the beginning of this night's activities for Sister Maria, however. Next she sets off to young Marcello's house, to finish what she started earlier. Marcello lives with his elderly grandmother, who welcomes Sister Maria into the house. While the old lady nods off in the living room, Maria sneaks into sleeping Marcello's bed, naked, and begins to sex him up. Horrified beyond belief to be this close to a naked woman, Marcello struggles mightily, until Maria gives up, grabs a nearby knife, and stabs him repeatedly!
Now, my dear readers, what follows are one of the greatest mind-fuck scenes ever. We see Maria stab Marcello (with the most obvious use of a stunt knife in the history of film), she stands up, covered in blood, looks at the bed with a horrified look, the camera pans over and… it's Marcello's aged grandmother in the bed, dead! WTF?! The confusion is further compounded by the fact that, during their initial struggle, Marcello grabbed the necklace from around Sister Maria's neck, clutching it in his dead hand. Only, when the camera pans back, his body is nowhere to be seen! Sister Maria sets the house on fire and flees.
Not having any other real use, the convent also doubles as dead body storage. Marcello and his grandmother are both brought to the convent, I guess to await burial. Sister Maria uses this opportunity to sneak down and pry the necklace from Marcello's lifeless hand. Somehow both Marcello and his grandmother were killed by Maria, yet Maria was making out with Marcello AND the grandmother? I re-watched this scene 3 times and still couldn't figure out what the director intended. Ahh well, suffice it to say that Maria's secret was safe, though just for the moment, as Mother Superior sees Maria fleeing the makeshift morgue.
Maria goes to her room, and the Mother Superior follows, confronting her. Sister Maria decides there's no going back, so she promptly denounces God, which causes the Head Nun to turn her back and begin praying for Maria's immortal soul. Maria realizes through some buried instinct that since she's the instrument of Satan on earth that she can do anything she damn well pleases. Muttering a quick prayer to the Devil, she conjures an Infernal Strangling Rope™ out of thin air, and proceeds to strangle the Mother Superior with it!
She wraps the body in a sheet and drags it down into the crypts, hiding it in a handy tomb. A funeral is had for the grandmother and dear Marcello, which causes Maria to have 2nd thoughts as to her current life situation. She flashes back to taking communion and what that meant (obviously, it means she's a cannibal), and this causes her to begin to repent her sins to God.
Suddenly, Naked Gypsy Devil ports straight in, dressed to the nines. Using his smarmy Mexican good-looks, he purrs to Maria that she now has a choice. He points down the hill, and we see a procession of nuns, bearing flaming crosses and torches. He informs Maria that they've found out about the Mother Superior's death, and know that Maria did it, and they are coming to hand her over to the Spanish Inquisition (which she obviously didn't expect, since NO ONE EXPECTS THE… eh, you know the rest).
He fills her mind with visions of what they'll do to her, visions that resemble quite well the last party that the Vicar threw in my honor. We see them pouring boiling liquid down her throat, we see them using a yard rake on her tits, plucking her eyes out, and generally giving her what we call The Satanic Make-Over™. His Infernal Majesty informs her that he can make it all go away, that he can give her the world, if she will just accept him.
At first she rejects him, but as the torch-bearing nuns get nearer, she reconsiders and cries out that she'll accept Lucifer's bargain. Suddenly, the burning crosses turn to crosses covered with flowers, as the Sisters crest the rise and inform Sister Maria that she's the new Mother Superior! She will lead them into a new realm of nunnery.
Heading back to the convent, with Satan in tow, Maria opens the door to… the Best Little Convent in Mexico! Debauchery is in full swing. The director gives us a nice panoramic shot of the corruption. A naked, singing nun stands in the doorway, strumming a guitar whilst displaying her cultivated bush. Other nuns dance in a drunken circle around a large table. One nun, naked, holds another in her lap, also naked. The mind struggles to take all of this in. Satan turns to Maria and says, "You should go to the window and address your people, they are waiting to hear from their new Mother Superior."
Maria walks over to the window, opens it, and sees a crowd of sheep. I'm sure there's a deep meaning here, about how the Devil corrupts and we follow blindly like sheep, but I just chose to nod sagaciously and to get back to watching the naked nuns. Suddenly, all of the nuns, naked or otherwise, rise up and stab poor Sister Maria to death! Before we can wonder why, a quick star-wipe takes us to Maria, lying dead upon her bed. The convent is back to normal and we learn from some passing nuns that Sister Maria has died in her sleep due to the plague! The End!
Now, I'm sure we can all agree that the use of the "Oh, it was all just a dream!" ending is typically NOT something we can accept, but I feel in this case it works. I'm sure the plot of this movie can be explained away by some existential mental meanderings: Naked Gypsy Devil represents the plague, the evil plague corrupts young life, nuns like debauchery and playing the guitar whilst naked, etc. However, I choose to believe that the plague was the means, not the end, that the Devil used it as his instrument to deflower the minds of young, sex-starved nuns, before they succumbed to the ravages of The Great Mortality.
The final shot of the film shows The Devil following yet another young nun while she goes about gathering flowers, or perhaps she's off to paw a shepherd boy. The cycle continues.
Satanico Pandemonium has been made semi-famous by Quentin Tarantino's evangelizing of it, and he even named Salma Hayek's character in From Dusk Till Dawn after the film's title. I'm glad he approves, and makes me wish he'd throw caution to the wind and make a big budget nunsploit film. Make it happen, Quentin! I, for one, loved it, and as I said earlier, rank it right behind Alucarda and School of the Holy Beast in terms of nun defilement. I highly recommend to all my readers that you should hunt down a copy and your earliest convenience.
Three enthusiastic Thumb's Up!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Satanico Pandemonium (1975): Or, Spiked Penance Belts Save Lives
Posted by The Duke of DVD at 4:06 PM
Labels: '70s, 3+ Thumbs, Deal with the Devil, Nunsploitation
4 comments:
- The Vicar of VHS said...
Duke! I'm so happy to hear that you've returned to the castle safely and are up to your old tricks again! Of course the Blood Moon a fortnight ago should have been my first clue that something Ducal this way came...
And what a stellar return. Satanico Pandemonium is definitely one of my top nunsploitationers as well--it has everything you want and more. The "more" of course being Nude Gypsy Satan.
As to the "it was all a dream" ending here, I took the movie to be the spiritual temptations the plague-ridden Sister Maria was going through on her deathbed, given visual representation. Thus her embrace of Satan right before her actual death is a sign that, despite a life of nunnery and devotion, at the last moment she pitched headlong into the very pits of Hell. It's a very medieval morality-play type story, the moral being: God's just waiting for one little excuse to roast your ass, so watch it.
You know I share your love for Alucarda, and recently I got to see School of the Holy Beast for the first time. I agree that SP comes in 3rd to those two (or perhaps fourth...details to come soon, I hope), but what rarefied company.
This brings up an interesting point: Alucarda and Satanico Pandemonium both have the Devil and supernatural happenings as part of their narrative, while School of the Holy Beast, The Killer Nun, and others take a more worldly, non-supernatural approach. I think the latter is much more cynical, don't you? It's not the Devil making them do these things, but mere human corruption in a universe where God either doesn't exist or else has thrown up His hands and turned away. I know which variation *I* prefer, but I'd be interested to hear what your subjects and my parishioners think.
Welcome back!
- January 19, 2009 at 5:52 PM
- Tenebrous Kate said...
Excellent review as always, Duke! Thanks for gracing us with your noble wisdom. And Nude Gypsy Satan. I must posit that the Satan in this movie is perhaps the suavest ever committed to film--he's one cool dude, and he demonstrates in the end that can rock a devilish Liberace cape like no other.
As to the Vicar's point regarding the supernatural forces at play in "Alucarda" and "Satanico Pandemonium"--both are Mexican films, and I think it reflects the culture that these movies are less erotic fare (like most of their Euro and Asian counterparts) than they are allegorical films that include erotic elements. The nunsploitation genre is basically "Women In God's Prison" at its core, and here it's a spiritual, rather than a literal, imprisonment. I don't perceive either approach as being more or less cynical--if you look at "Flavia the Heretic," for example, that is not a cynical film in spite of its distinctly un-supernatural stance. And "School of the Holy Beast" isn't cynical--it's fucking INSANE ;)
Word verification--Conves! I'm a couple letters short of hilarious synchronicity.
- January 20, 2009 at 7:53 AM
- The Duke of DVD said...
First of all, thank you both for the kind comments. I do aim to please.
Second of all, my #1 dream in life is now to see made a movie called "Women in God's Prison". I shall be the executive producer, of course, as well as talent scout. Vicar, you shall direct, and perform the duties of nipple icer. Kate, you can be the cinematographer, and I will accept no less than 30 iced-nipple close-ups per hour of footage.
We'll shoot entirely in 70mm, use THX-rated sound, and spend around $30 million on promotion alone, which will include Crucifix Fleshlights handed out at the premiere.
Too bad Alfred Bailou has passed. He would be the perfect warden...
- January 20, 2009 at 8:19 AM
- Karswell said...
Hmmmm, a bride of Christ, or slave to Satan... the choice for some of us is pretty obvious.
Now where'd I leave that pitchfork polish?
- January 27, 2009 at 1:05 PM


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For 17 days, the 2012 Big E in West Springfield will dish up all sorts of family entertainment when New England's largest fair opens Friday, Sept. 14. In addition to an emphasis on the region's agricultural industry, the festival will offer live music and comedy, parades, a circus and, of course, lots of food.
The thousands of fair-goers who make the annual jaunt to the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds do bring their appetites. The Big E doesn't disappoint, serving up a seemingly endless smorgasbord of safe, familiar and quirky foods.
"Food makes everybody happy," says Rosie Okinsky, owner of the New Britain-based Rosie's Chocolates and creator of such delicacies as chocolate-covered bacon, dill pickles and jalapenos. "It tickles the soul."
The array of foods at the annual festival is legendary, but let's get one thing out of the way first. A fair like the Big E is no place to count calories or worry about cholesterol counts, although vendors make concessions with offerings such as fresh salads, veggie-stuffed baked potatoes and smoothies.
The true favorites begin with the culinary "F" word — fried. If frying is good, then deep frying is better, and no one argues that fat makes foods taste more delicious. Fried applies to the fair's newest taste sensation, fried lasagna, as well as returning favorites such as Samoas (deep-fried), butter, Kool-Aid, Whoopie Pies and Twinkies, peanut butter and banana sandwich, cheese curds and Shepherd's Pie.
Also returning are two classics: the Big E Cream Puff, which will be served in the New England Center and the Food Court, and the Big E Craz-E-Burger, a bacon cheeseburger sandwiched in a grilled glazed doughnut. The burger will be sold in the Big EZ Café on New England Avenue.
In the Connecticut Building, where the emphasis is on the state's agriculture industry, snacks play an important role in introducing fair-goers to local food and beverage producers. Among the vendors will be Randy's Wooster Street Pizza with shops in Storrs, Southington and Manchester; Kathie's SuperSeedz's flavored pumpkin seeds; Smokehouse Grill in South Windsor; Connecticut Mountain Brew Soda; PEZ Candy, and Rita's Italian Ice of Rocky Hill.
Okinsky of Rosie's Chocolates will bring bacon, Slim Jims, dill pickles, jalapenos and Twinkies — all covered in chocolate — but will unveil her chocolate covered bacon. "The chocolate-covered bacon is our superstar," says Okinsky who returns to the Connecticut Building for the fifth year, "although our chocolate-covered pickles and jalapenos do well, too. People who love pickles eat one and come back and buy another one."
The chocolatier says she felt the need to offer an unusual item when customers told her that her dried fruit and nuts selection, which account for a large part of her regular sales, was too "healthy." She decided to do chocolate covered applewood-smoked bacon "out of frustration," she says.. "We introduced it that first year on Connecticut Day. I realized that the Big E has a lot to do with crazy foods. I want to please the public and keep customers happy, so I always try to do something unique."
John D'Arcangelo, owner of J. Foster ice cream shops in Simsbury and Avon, uses bacon in a different way at the Big E. His maple bacon ice cream stands out as one of the more unusual flavors in his scooping freezer.
D'Arcangelo, a member of the farm-to-chef program through the state Department of Agriculture, buys bacon from Eagle Wood Farms in Barkhamsted and maple syrup from Sweet Wind Farm in East Hartland. The inspiration for the blending of sweet and smoky flavors reverts to D'Arcangelo's childhood.
"As a kid, I always liked to dip my bacon in maple syrup," he says. The ice cream "was a big hit last year, so we decided to keep it on the menu. If you get past the mental aspect of bacon in your ice cream, it's very nice."
J. Foster's pumpkin pie ice cream, a seasonal treat, will be among the flavor choices that include best-selling graham central station and sweet cashew caramel as well as sugar-free and dairy free frozen treats.
The Big E also will celebrate the 250th birthday of the sandwich with 250 varieties. The fair's run isn't long enough to sample them all, but fair-goers will find classic combinations, grinders, hot dogs, burgers and lobster rolls, unusual offerings such as bison, elk and wild boar burgers, and ethnic takes on the hand-held food like tacos, burritos, gyros and waffle burgers.
For more information about the Big E, visit http://www.thebige.com or call the information line at 413-205-5115.


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OSWEGO, NY – Oswego Speedway's racers will once again put it all on the line for a little something extra in 2013.
The weekly Hard Charger and Up & Comer Awards will be back for this coming racing season with the help of D&S Landscaping, Nice Price Auto Sales, and the Lighthouses Lanes bowling center in Oswego.
Both the Novelis Supermodified and Pathfinder Bank SBS divisions will be in on the action, with two special bonuses awarded each week their respective division hits the Speedway.
Lighthouse Lanes will present both the Hard Charger and Up & Comer Awards to the Novelis Supermodified division in 2013. The Lighthouse Lanes Hard Charger Award will be presented to the driver that advances the most positions from his/her starting spot in that night's feature, while the Lighthouse Lanes Up & Comer Award will be presented to the highest finishing driver in the feature order that has never won a Novelis Supermodified main event.
Each award winner will earn a certificate from Lighthouse Lanes for a free sheet pizza, 25 chicken wings and a lane of cosmic bowling for their race team.
Lighthouse Lanes was built in 2003 and spearheaded by owners Bob Hoefer and Nick Sereno. With the assistance of veteran manager Dana Hollister, Oswego's home for bowling has become one of the premier locations in the Central New York area.
To learn more about the Lighthouse Lanes bowling center visit www.lhlanes.com
The Pathfinder Bank SBS Series Hard Charger Award will be presented by D&S Landscaping for the coming season, while Nice Price Auto Sales has come on board with the Speedway for the Up & Comer Award. Each award in the SBS series will be based on the same criteria as the Supermodified division. Both recipients will receive an extra $25 cash on a weekly basis.
D&S Landscaping of CNY, owned by veteran SBS racer Jason Simmons, is licensed and insured in all of your landscaping needs including snow plowing, snow removal, roof shoveling, salting, mowing, excavating and more.
For more information visit D&S Landscaping of CNY on Facebook or call (315) 591-4303.
Nice Price Auto Sales, located in New Haven, is a first time partner with the Speedway specializing in quality cars, trucks, and SUVs at a nice price.
For more information, including inventory, visit Nice Price Auto Sales on Facebook or call (315) 887-0170.
For more information on Oswego Speedway visit online at www.oswegospeedway.com or LIKE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway or FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway. Those interested in Speedway video programming online can subscribe to the Speedway's YouTube Channel, 'OswegoSpeedwayOnline'
To purchase tickets for the 2013 racing season call the Speedway box office at (315) 342-0646.


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"I just saw a bunch of copies of RedEye; I'm in Chicago right now!" Fred Armisen said during a recent conference call in which he and his "Portlandia" co-creator/star, Carrie Brownstein, phoning from Portland, were promoting their the hit IFC sketch comedy show.
Armisen, who lived in Chicago in the 1980s and '90s, when he played drums with punk band Trenchmouth and worked as a drummer for "Blue Man Group," and Brownstein, the guitarist-vocalist from riot grrrl band Sleater-Kinney and indie-rock group Wild Flag, are in the midst of a nationwide tour to promote Season 2 of "Portlandia." On Wednesday, they'll both be in Chicago for a sold-out show at the Hideout to play music, screen sneak-peek clips from Season 2 and share anecdotes about the series and the various characters they've created.
What was the inspiration behind the tour? Did you want a direct audience connection?
Carrie Brownstein: That's part of it. I think that Fred and I, in different aspects of our lives—for Fred, "SNL," but also he does a lot of live shows and I perform with my band—we're used to it; we really appreciate the direct connection that a live show brings with the audience and it's kind of an earnest, palpable way of just relating to the people that watch what you do.
With "Portlandia," we've never really had the opportunity to visit with and spend an evening with some of the people that are enjoying the show. For us, it's a natural extension of what we like to do anyway. When we were given the opportunity to do that with "Portlandia," we jumped on it.
The Hideout is a perfect venue atmospherically but it sold out in a minute. Why didn't you choose a larger venue?
Fred Armisen: We want it to feel kind of like you're visiting us in a living room. One of my favorite things about the show is the use of all those crazy wigs. Will you be breaking out any wigs during the live show?
CB: Potentially. I think one or two wigs might be—
FA: Yes, they might make their way up there.
Do you know which ones?
FA: Yes. Is it a secret or should we say something?
CB: I think we should keep it a secret.
In "Portlandia," a lot of the humor comes from these confused characters who are trying—but failing—to do the right thing. What are some of those situations like in real life for the two of you?
CB: I just feel constantly flummoxed in situations—the recycling one is definitely true for me. There are coffee shops here that break down the recycling and compost into five or six different categories and it really just brings out the contrarian in me where I just want to throw everything on the floor or in the trash. It's very hard.
I have a Whole Foods near my house and I do have a reusable bag but I always forget to bring it. Even though I should, like, not care and just get the paper bag, I end up buying another reusable bag and making a big performance thing out of it, like, "Hey, everybody, I'm buying another reusable bag." So basically now I'm a hoarder of reusable bags because I just buy a new one every time I go. I feel like I'm constantly up against those kinds of things.
FA: For me, I always feel bad for people who are, like, cab drivers. And it's really dumb of me to feel bad for them—they're apparently doing fine—but I always think, "I don't want to pay with a credit card; I'll pay cash because they probably could use the cash." It's this false sense of being responsible for everybody in the world and feeling bad for everyone, which is not even asked of me, you know?
It also makes no sense. I mean, they have a credit card machine; it's fine, but I always feel like, "Sorry, I hope you don't mind if I use a credit card." It's just silliness.
"Portlandia" makes use of so many iconic Portland-area locations. What are your favorite iconic Chicago locations?
FA: I would say the Rainbow. And that whole run along Milwaukee Avenue, right by Damen and North. There is something about that corner—that Flat Iron building and then the train tracks right next to it. That, to me, is iconic for Wicker Park and because of that, Chicago.
Julia Borcherts is a RedEye special contributor. email@example.com


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Keeping Animal Protein Natural
Yet safe, affordable and on-trend. These are the challenges faced by processors of meat, poultry and seafood.
When it comes to meat, poultry and seafood, processors are faced with numerous challenges that begin with flavor and trend fulfillment -- consumers want food that's tasty and exciting -- and end with safe-food practices and packaging.
Commodity meat, poultry and seafood have seen drastic changes in production methods over the past few decades. Increasing demand for plentiful and inexpensive products has forced much of the production away from the family ranch or farm and toward large factory-like facilities with all the problems associated with size and speed. Yet the rush for speed, volume and competitive pricing created some high-profile food safety lapses, which ushered in major corrective paradigm shifts that forever changed the face of animal protein processing.
Today a growing number of consumers are weighing cost against food sources that promise free-range, grass-fed and antibiotic-free environments and product. All of that affects consumer perception of the end product, giving quality and value a more complex meaning and putting safety paramount — where it should be.
Even in stressed economic times, consumers are still focusing on taste and nutrition, according to Issac Wiesenfeld, president of Wise Organic Pastures, Brooklyn, N.Y., a family business devoted to supplying double-certified Kosher and organic poultry and meats.
Consumer interest in Kosher meats is steadily growing due in no small part to the fact that Kosher laws are stricter than USDA standards with regard to the health of animals that can be eaten. The laws strictly dictate how the animals are fed, killed and processed. "I would say in the protein category the demand for Kosher foods is growing at 5 to 7 percent annually," says Wiesenfeld.
Wiesenfeld also sees more growth in the "natural" product category, although "customers are waiting to see USDA legislation on defining the 'natural' claim," he says. At the forefront of this natural movement is the Niman Ranch, Alameda, Calif.
From an 11-acre ranch in a small coastal town north of San Francisco, the Niman Ranch has grown to include more than 650 independent American farmers and ranchers united by traditional humane husbandry methods. Whether raising hogs, beef or lamb, these traditional farmers share Niman Ranch's dedication to the strictest animal husbandry practices and the belief that all-natural, humane and sustainable methods consistently produce the highest quality, best tasting meats.
"We go beyond the USDA definition of natural — minimally processed, no artificial ingredients — because we believe natural should also mean the animals have been raised humanely, without antibiotics or added hormones and fed an all-natural vegetarian diet," says Jeff Tripician, Niman's chief marketing officer. "At Niman Ranch, 'naturally raised' isn't a trend. It's been our business and our passion for more than 30 years. Our mission has remained steadfast: to raise livestock traditionally, humanely and sustainably."
Natural also is part of the "quality equation" at Sanderson Farms. So are taste, nutrition, price, safety, convenience, according to Hilary Burroughs, manager of marketing services for the Laurel, Miss., producer of all-natural chickens. At Sanderson the term "all-natural" excludes injection of chickens with salt water, a process called "plumping," even though the FDA allows "enhanced" chickens to be labeled "100 percent natural."
So must all meat and poultry be produced in free-range, grass-fed, antibiotic-free environments? "When consumers are asked about [those kinds of] offerings, they are very interested. However, the cost of these products eliminates many consumers from purchasing it," says Burroughs. "It's challenging in that this type of farming will decrease the amount of protein processed, because you cannot treat ailing animals with antibiotics. And free-range animals are more susceptible to bacterial infections and predators.
"Our food supply would decrease tremendously if all farming practices were to be of this format," adds Burroughs. "There is a market for these items and a consumer willing to pay for them, however the growth rate seems to be miniscule. Consumers are still confused as to what these labels actually mean in terms of how the animal was raised, what they were or were not fed and how it affects the consumers' health, if at all."
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The 30-megawatt wind farm in Kahuku has remained offline since a fire in the project's battery warehouse Aug. 1. Twelve wind turbines that rise above Kahuku remained motionless Friday, like frozen giants sitting among the Koolau Mountains. It's been nearly three months since a fire knocked the Kahuku wind farm offline, and local residents are wondering when the project by Massachusetts-based First Wind will once again generate power. "A lot of Kahuku residents feel since it's here, that the sooner they find a solution and can get this facility up and running again, the better it is for everybody," said Kent Fonoimoana, a board member of the Kahuku Community Association. The 30-megawatt wind farm, capable of powering 7,700 homes, was crippled Aug. 1 after a fire erupted inside the project's battery warehouse. It was the third fire inside the 7,000 square-foot warehouse since the wind farm began generating power in March of 2011. First Wind spokesman Kekoa Kaluhiwa tells KITV4 the cause of the fire remains undetermined, and it's not known when the project might get back online. "Unfortunately, we still haven't come to a conclusion on the exact cause of (the fire)" said Kaluhiwa. "We are working with Hawaiian Electric on steps forward, and seeing how we can bring the project back online." Although First Wind could face sanctions under a 20-year contract with Hawaiian Electric Co. if power generation doesn't resume, HECO spokesman Darren Pai said the focus right now is getting the wind farm back online. "That's our principal concern right now, and we're not focused on contract provisions that don't have any immediate impact," said Pai. Meanwhile, First Wind has abandoned plans to add five wind turbines to a parcel of land below the current wind farm footprint in Kahuku. The decision comes after the KCA voted in May not to support the expansion. "They made it quite clear that they do not want to see more turbines in the Kahuku area," said Kaluhiwa. Although the KCA board voted to support construction of the original wind farm, some board members like Fonoimoana are now openly wondering whether the project was the right fit for the area. That's especially true now that the wind farm has ceased generating power. "I consider wind turbines a huge blight on the community," said Fonoimoana. "We are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, and in my honest opinion, the answer to our energy problems or energy challenges, are surrounding us." The battery energy storage system used by First Wind in Kahuku and the Kaheawa Wind II project on Maui was developed by Texas-based company Xtreme Power. The batteries are needed to evenly distribute energy along the electrical grid. State Sen. Mike Gabbard is concerned enough about the Kahuku wind farm being rendered useless, he's planning an informational briefing at the state Capitol sometime in December. "We haven't set a date yet, but when we bring all the parties together, that will be able to provide some of the answers for the community," said Gabbard, who chairs the Committee on Energy and the Environment. "Bringing together First Wind, Xtreme Power, also Castle and Cooke (and) the Department of Health, so we can just see what's going on." Kahuku residents receive no discount on electrical rates after supporting construction of the wind farm. Instead, First Wind provides $45,000 a year in the form of a benefits package. However, Fonoimoana and other members of the KCA want to know exactly how the money is being spent. The KCA received $2,500 from First Wind as part of the deal, but hasn't received a list of other expenditures. "We have requested in writing and in person an accounting of who's getting what," said Fonoimoana, "But to date, we have yet to receive that from First Wind." Kaluhiwa was unable to provide a list of organizations receiving funds from the benefits package, but said First Wind supports efforts in education, erosion control, health care and perpetuation of the Hawaiian culture.
First Wind abandons Kahuku expansion as wind farm remains offline
KITV - Oct 27, 2012


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Wofford senior offensive lineman Ty Gregory from Greer High School and six teammates on Tuesday received All-Southern Conference honors.
Wofford senior offensive lineman Ty Gregory from Greer High School and six teammates on Tuesday received All-Southern Conference honors.
Gregory made first team in the media vote and second team in the coaches' vote. He played both left guard and left tackle this season, finishing with 120 knockdown blocks. Gregory also scored a touchdown when he caught a fumble in mid-air and went 2 yards into the end zone against Samford. He finished his career with 36 consecutive starts.
Fellow offensive lineman Jared Singleton, a senior center, was named first team by the coaches and second team by the media. Defensive end Tarek Odom and linebacker Alvin Scioneaux were first team in both. In addition, linebacker Mike McCrimon and running back Donovan Johnson made second team in the coaches' vote, which also put offensive lineman Anton Wahrby on the all-freshman team.
Singleton, a senior from Lugoff-Elgin High, led Wofford with 175 knockdown blocks, including a career best and Division I program record of 35 in the season finale at Furman. That was the second-best in Wofford history, two short of the record set by Brad McAbee against Wingate in 1992 and two more than Eric Deutsch against Western Kentucky in the 2003 playoffs. Singleton set the school record with 224 knockdowns last season.
Odom, a junior from St. Augustine, Fla., led Wofford this season and ranked third in the Southern Conference with 13 tackles for loss. Scioneaux, a senior from Garyville, La., was sixth in the league with 9.5 tackles for loss. He was named first team all-conference for the third straight season.
McCrimon a four-year starter from Center Hill, Fla., led Wofford this season with 90 tackles, ninth-best in the league. He finished his career with a combined 21 tackles against Furman and Appalachian State. He had a season-best 13 tackles against Elon.
Johnson, a senior from McDonough, Ga., ran for 854 yards and didn't have carries in three games because of injury. He still ranked third in the Southern Conference in yards per game with 94.9 despite not getting an attempt in one after suffering a concussion. He finished his career with 2,647 yards, eighth-best in school history.
Wahrby is from Sweden and played one season at Lexington High School as a foreign exchange student. He started seven games at right tackle on the offensive line, helping the Terriers rank fifth in the nation with 270 rushing yards per game.
Chattanooga quarterback Jacob Huesman was named offensive player of the year by the coaches and Samford quarterback Andy Summerlin won the honor from the media. Davis Tull of Chattanooga repeated as defensive player of the year in the coaches' vote, and Justin Shade of Samford was the media pick. In the vote for coach of year, Russ Huesman of Chattanooga was named best by his peers and Bruce Fowler of Furman was named best by the media.
Appalachian State running back Marcus Cox was the winner for freshman of the year in both votes and Furman offensive lineman Dakota Dozier won the Jacobs Blocking Award.


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The root directory of Maemo5 is limited to 256MB on the N900. This is a serious limitation, and users often and easily fill it up (especially if using the extras-devel repository). It is unfortunate in other ways too. For example, the standard Debian distro officially supports Arm7, so with a better partitioning, much of Debian would be directly usable through apt-get. We could use the full gamut of GNU/Linux commands instead of the settling for the Busybox replacements - imagine, "less" and "man" included by default!
The current solution is "optification". However, that solution is brittle since it requires active adaptation of all packages so that they are placed in /opt instead of in their usual locations. This means added burden on developers and makes packages slower to move into stable repositories.
As far as I know, the total set of mass storage available for the N900 is:
* 256MB Root partition (in a fast 256MB flash)
* 768MB Swap
* 2GB /home
* 27GB FAT32 USB storage
(Swap, /home and USB storage are all in a 32GB slow flash)
If I understood this correctly, the main reason for the small root partition is that it is in a faster flash than the home partition. To keep the device responsive, the speed sensitive stuff is placed in that flash, and other stuff is placed in /opt (/opt in turn is mounted in /home).
There are a few more constraints, in summary:
1) There is a fast 256MB flash and a slow 32GB flash
2) The device needs to be capable of getting to a guaranteed stable functioning state from a reflash
3) A reflash should not delete the user's document data (i.e. pics, music, etc) in the large flash storage
4) A reflash will always replace the entire contents of a flash memory.
Right now I am using a home grown solution, but it breaks each time the distro has an upgrade, forcing me to spend days rebuilding and moving everything again. And newbies end up having to reflash just because they tried out a few beta-level apps and filled the root partition to a point where booting fails. We need a better standard solution!
There is a related Brainstorm about re-partitioning the 32GB internal flash, though that doesn't solve the root directory problem.
Discus this brainstorm in the forums


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Meet The Writers
The MAC
About Us
Indians Archive
Arrested Development
Arrested Development
Written by
Paul Cousineau
As the Indians scan MLB for the infielder that they've addressed as their off-season need, with Asdrubal and Peralta shifting accordingly in the infield depending upon whether a 2B or a 3B is added, it's hard not to notice how the ultimate failure of the two moves to fill these exact two positions over the last couple of years has put the Indians in an identical position facing 2009 - still looking for an infielder. Paulie C tackles the issue in his latest.
As the Indians scan MLB for the infielder that they've addressed as their off-season need, with Asdrubal and Peralta shifting accordingly in the infield depending upon whether a 2B or a 3B is added, it's hard not to notice how the ultimate failure of the two moves to fill these exact two positions over the last couple of years has put the Indians in an identical position facing 2009 - still looking for an infielder. That is, the Indians have made moves to add a young 2B and 3B to fill the organizational holes there in Josh Barfield and Andy Marte only to find themselves staring at the holes at both positions after each player dropped off the collective radar to the point that neither figures into plans for 2009.
How did it come to this, though, where 2B and/or 3B becomes the annual search in terms or adding a player if the two major trades that the organization has made to add players (note the "add", not simply overall trades) over the last few years were to address both of those positions? Marte was added to take over 3B for years after racing through the Atlanta organization and Barfield was meant to do the same at 2B after a solid rookie season in San Diego.
Before hindsight comes too clearly into focus and these players are simply written off (which seems like has happened within the organization), let's go back to the time when each was added to examine the numbers for each of the players.
At the time of the trade with the Red Sox in January of 2006 that netted Andy Marte (among others), he had just been moved by the Braves to the Red Sox for a starting SS in Edgar Renteria, who was a 5-time All-Star about to turn 30. Why did Marte command such a return in the Renteria deal?
Because he was coming off this season in 2005 in the Braves' organization:
Andy Marte - 2005 Richmond - Age 21
.275 BA / .372 OBP / .506 SLG / .878 OPS with 26 2B, 20 HR in 389 AB
Knowing what we do about how important age is at particular levels of the minors (i.e. a 22-year-old thriving in AAA is much more impressive than a 25-year-old doing so), that's more than just a little impressive.
How impressive, you ask?
Here are the players in the Indians' organization spent significant time in AAA at the age of 21 in the last 15 years:
Grady Sizemore - 2004 Buffalo - Age 21
.287 BA / .352 OBP / .438 SLG / .790 OPS with 23 2B, 8 HR in 418 AB
Jhonny Peralta - 2003 Buffalo - Age 21
.257 BA / .302 OBP / .329 SLG / .631 OPS with 12 2B, 1 HR in 237 AB
Brandon Phillips - 2002 Buffalo - Age 21
.283 BA / .325 OBP / .453 SLG / .778 OPS with 4 2B, 8 HR in 223 AB
David Bell - 1994 Charlotte - Age 21
.293 BA / .349 OBP / .457 SLG / .806 OPS with 17 2B, 18 HR in 481 AB
Manny Ramirez - 1993 Charlotte - Age 21
.317 BA / .424 OBP / .690 SLG / 1.114 OPS with 12 2B, 14 HR in 145 AB
That's it...no Richie Sexson, no Sean Casey, no Brian Giles, no Jim Thome - all of those guys were older than 21 by the time they spent significant time in AAA in the Indians' organization. Doesn't it now become clearer as to how disappointing the disappearance of Andy Marte as even a remotely viable option for 2009 truly is?
Now look again at the numbers that Marte posted as a 21-year-old in the Braves' organization compared to what players who made it to AAA as 21-year-old's while in the Cleveland organization and all of whom went on to varying degrees of MLB success. Only Manny (arguably the greatest RH hitter of his generation) outperformed what Marte did as a 21-year-old in AAA prior to joining the organization. Seeing that in proper context, isn't it plain to see why he was that highly-thought-of given his age and accomplishments?
Of course, all Indians' fans know what happened to "The Dominican Dandy" after he arrived in the Tribe organization as his numbers dipped for him while in AAA and he struggled in his brief time in Cleveland over the course of 2006 and 2007. Over the course of the next 3 years, he was done in by ineffectiveness, injury, and ultimately being underused as he went from "can't miss prospect" to "can't play player" over the course of 456 MLB over those 3 years. Whether the Indians can be blamed for a lack of patience is certainly an argument that can be made, though Marte's performance when given his brief chances didn't make a compelling argument to keep him in the lineup on a regular basis.
Regardless of his overall performance as an Indian, one doesn't have to look too far for an example of a young player who struggled out of the gate (in 2007, no less)
as Marte did
, then was able to rebound successfully when given the opportunity to ride out the storm. Like him or not,
Dustin Pedroia overcame a start similar to what Marte put forth before his injury
to put together a 2007 that garnered him the Rookie of the Year Award, one year before being the first player under five-and-a-half feet to win the MVP.
Would Marte have found his footing the way that Pedroia did in 2007, making the need for an infielder inconsequential this off-season? It's an answer that will never be found, because Marte's 2007 once he got healthy and back in Buffalo and his 2008 (spent intermittently between being stapled to the bench and being pinch-hit for at every possible opportunity) have left the Indians with the sense that he's not in their future, made very clear with the news that Jhonny Peralta is seeing playing time as a 3B in the Dominican Republic.
Truly, who knows if the promise that Marte once showed as a 21-year-old, tearing up AAA, will ever come to fruition in MLB. What is known is that if it ever does, it is not likely to come in an Indians' uniform. Maybe the transition from AAA to MLB proved to be too much for Marte or maybe external factors were at play, but regardless of the reasons, Marte finds himself on the outside looking in at 3B, leaving the Indians to scramble once again to augment their infield.
Of course, the addition in the infield made necessary by the decision to omit Marte from future plans was supposedly addressed about 9 months later after the Indians added Marte as the Indians attempted to fill their organizational hole at 2B by acquiring Josh Barfield from San Diego. If Marte's numbers in the minors seemed to portend a bright future, Barfield arrived to the Indians one step further along than Marte as he spent his 2006 season in MLB as a 23-year-old, posting a very respectable line of .280 BA / .318 OBP / .423 SLG / .741 OPS with 32 2B and 13 HR in his first 539 MLB at-bats.
Barfield had made the leap to MLB successfully as his rookie season numbers put him very respectably around the
middle-of-the-pack among MLB 2B in 2006
, with remarkably similar numbers to those put up by Brandon Phillips in Cincinnati the same year. While attempting not to invoke the name of "The Franchise", Mr. B-Phil, in a discussion of why the Indians presently have a hole in their infield, compare the stats of Barfield and Phillips in 2006, both playing 2B for NL teams:
Barfield - 2006 (age 23) - 539 AB
.280 BA / .318 OBP / .423 SLG / .741 OPS with 32 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 21 SB, 30 BB, 81 K
Phillips - 2006 (age 25) - 536 AB
.276 BA / .324 OBP / .427 SLG / .751 OPS with 28 2B, 1 3B, 17 HR, 25 SB, 35 BB, 88 K
When Barfield arrived to the Indians, then, he had parlayed
his success in the minors
(all at young ages for the respective levels) into success as a legitimate MLB 2B, establishing himself during his rookie season as, at the very least, an adequate offensive player at 2B for the next few seasons.
Of course, Barfield's 2007 turned out to be an unmitigated disaster as whatever ability he had to take a walk disappeared (14 in 420 AB in 2007), resulting in an embarrassingly low OBP of .270 as he apparently struggled to adjust to the AL or his new surroundings or something simply went horribly wrong for Barfield in 2007. After ultimately losing his job to Asdrubal, his nightmarish downward spiral continued into the 2008 season that saw him post a .660 OPS as a now-25-year-old in AAA, then injured himself after being promoted to Cleveland to replace the also struggling Cabrera at 2B for the parent club.
As 2009 looms, the decline of Barfield from being an up-and-coming steady MLB contributor at the age of 23 to a player that isn't likely to factor into the Indians' 2009 plans as a 26-year-old is nearly complete.
So as the decisions of the 2008 off-season include where to find the infielder to complement Asdrubal and Jhonny among 2B, SS, and 3B, it bears mentioning that the need for an infielder has been addressed twice by the Indians in the last 3 years without either player "fixing" the problem. Despite those moves, one for a hotshot "can't miss" prospect and a young player with one successful MLB season under his belt, the Indians find themselves lacking the very positions they thought were addressed when Marte and Barfield were added.
"Arrested" the "Development"
of either of these players (no, not that...but go ahead and lose yourself in hours of "AD" clips - or just go out and by the DVDs), both inarguably have to work their way back into the Indians' plans to become prominent in 2009, much less beyond. Because of the downslide of each, in terms of production and perception within the organization, the Indians find themselves in the same position they found themselves in prior to adding each - looking for a long-term solution at 2B or 3B...again.
Posted by
Paul Cousineau
Dec 02, 2008 7:00 PM
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Eggplant, Tomatoes, Corn: 15 Glorious Vegetable Dishes
As summer draws up to its final height, I feel drunk on vegetables. I gathered a bowlful of tomatoes from the garden yesterday — scarlet, green-striped, fuzzy and gold. Late lettuces wait cool and crisp in the fridge. I have handfuls of tiny white and violet eggplant, and ears of corn from a local farm. What to eat first? Buttered sweet corn? Eggplant crisp and melting from the grill? Tomato salad drenched in its own juices?
If you have a similar dilemma, then take a look at these recipes, chosen with some difficulty from the dozens of glorious vegetable dishes in our archives. There's grilled guacamole, smoky and salty. There are lentils with a heap of rich broiled eggplant, and a gratin of potatoes and goat cheese. There's an old-fashioned yet fresh ratatouille, and caramelized corn with tomatoes and bacon.
The vegetables of late summer can feel like pure gift, bursting with color and with flavor. Don't waste the opportunity; whether you cook it, slice it in a salad, or eat it raw like the sweet piece of fruit it is — I don't care — just have yourself a tomato tonight.
• 1 Caramelized Corn with Tomatoes and Bacon
• 2 Lentils With Broiled Eggplant
• 3 Dad's Authentic Ratatouille
• 4 Super Easy and Delicious Zucchini Butter
• 5 Grilled Guacamole
• 6 Grilled Eggplant Topped with Goat Cheese and Tomato
• 7 Braised Eggplant and Tomatoes
• 8 Panzanella With Roasted Squash and Tomatoes
• 9 Summer Squash with Baked Eggs
• 10 Potato, Squash, and Goat Cheese Gratin
• 11 Potatoes, Green Beans, and Corn in Lemon Brown Butter Sauce
• 12 Cherry Tomato Bites
• 13 Corn and Zucchini Salad with Chives
• 14 Squash Ribbons
• 15 Slow Roasted Tomatoes with Pomegranate Molasses and Basil
What sort of vegetables are you eating right now? Are you taking advantage of all of summer's good things?
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)


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Our church and one of our pastors (Nate Miller) was mentioned in a Chicago Tribune article. You can read the entire article HERE.
Or you can just read it here:
N.Y. town prayers at issue as Supreme Court takes up religion for 1st time in 30 years
By Greg Stohr, Bloomberg NewsBloomberg
11:20 p.m. CDT, July 26, 2013
On a sultry July evening, Supervisor John Auberger began the Greece, N.Y., town board meeting in his usual way: He invited a Christian minister to seek God's blessing.
"Would you bow your heads with me as I pray?" Nathan Miller of Northridge Church asked the audience. Auberger and 14 other officials on the dais listened silently as Miller asked God to guide the meeting while invoking "your son, Jesus."
The town's solemn prayers are now the focus of a Supreme Court fight that may reshape the legal limits on religious expression at official functions nationwide. The case, a highlight of the nine-month term that starts in October, will mark the first time the court has considered legislative prayer since upholding the practice 30 years ago. Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the court has been receptive to efforts to bring religion into the public square.
"Government should be inclusive," said Susan Galloway, 51, one of the women challenging the practice. "There are people who don't believe, and they're part of this country, too. We all have a right to be part of it and not feel excluded."
The dispute has turned bitter at times. Galloway and her friend Linda Stephens, a retired school librarian, say they have received anonymous letters warning them to "be careful." Stephens woke up one morning to discover someone had dug up her mailbox and placed it on top of her car.
The town rejects their complaint, arguing that it hasn't shut out members of other faiths. Officials say the opening prayer has been delivered by a Jewish man, a Bahai leader and a Wiccan priestess who invoked Apollo and Athena.
"People from other faiths did volunteer, which is great," said one of Greece's lawyers, Brett Harvey of the Alliance Defending Freedom in Scottsdale, Ariz. "The town has no problem with any of that."
The case will test the impact of the court's changed composition over the past decade and the ideological shift that has left Justice Anthony Kennedy as the most likely deciding vote. The justices will probably hear arguments in November or December.
The court has taken up religion cases only sparingly since Roberts became chief justice in 2005. In perhaps the biggest ruling, a 5-4 decision in 2010, it revived a federal law designed to protect a Christian cross erected as a war memorial in a national preserve.
"The goal of avoiding governmental endorsement does not require eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm," Kennedy wrote in the court's lead opinion in that case.
Supporters say legislative prayer has been a widespread practice since the country's founding — and not something that was called into question when the First Amendment, adopted in 1791, barred the "establishment of religion" by the government. The vast majority of state legislative bodies open the day with some kind of prayer, as do both houses of Congress.
"It's part of our historical tradition and the fabric of our country," said Vince DiPaola, the founder of the Lakeshore Community Church, an evangelical congregation, who has delivered the prayer at town meetings at least seven times.
Critics say that tradition doesn't mean government bodies can favor one religion over others. Ayesha Khan, who represents the challengers, says at least half the state legislatures take steps to ensure the invocations are nonsectarian.
"It's not unusual for legislative bodies to ask guest prayer-givers to pray in an inclusive fashion, and that's exactly what we're asking for here," said Khan, a lawyer with Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The prayer tradition is relatively new in Greece, a 96,000- person town about five miles from Rochester. Before Auberger became supervisor in 1998, the town began meetings with a moment of silence. Prayers started the following year, according to a federal appeals court that ruled the policy unconstitutional.
It wasn't until 2007 that the practice became a public controversy. Galloway, a Jewish woman who has lived in Greece since 2000, said she grew uncomfortable after repeatedly hearing Christian prayers while attending board meetings to show her support for public-access cable television.
Stephens, 70, a soft-spoken atheist who has lived in Greece since 1970, developed similar objections after attending meetings that touched on various issues, including the creation of a disc golf course in a public park.
The two women say they sought to discuss the issue with Auberger, only to find themselves meeting with two staff members instead. Galloway and Stephens say they were told at the meeting that they could leave the room during invocation.
Auberger declined to comment on the prayer policy, referring questions to the town's lawyers.
Galloway and Stephens sued in February 2008, saying the town was "sponsoring persistent sectarian — and almost exclusively Christian — prayers." Until that year, they said in their complaint, the town was selecting its monthly prayer- giver from a list of 37 clergy members, all from Christian churches. From 2004 to February 2008, more than three-quarters of the prayers were explicitly Christian, according to the lawsuit.
"There's too much mixing of Christian conservative religion and town politics," said Stephens.
Greece created its list largely by culling names from local directories. The town says it also accepts volunteers of any faith, and in 2008 non-Christians delivered four prayers: two by the Jewish man, one by the chairman of the local Bahai congregation and one by the Wiccan priestess.
Galloway and Stephens fault the town for not publicizing its volunteer policy. They say the result has been that almost all the prayers in recent years have been delivered by Christians.
The July 16 invocation lasted less than a minute, including Auberger's introduction. Miller thanked God for "the many freedoms that we enjoy here in America" and for "the freedom that comes from knowing your son, Jesus." He spoke facing an audience of barely 20 people — including Galloway, Stephens and a group of uniformed police officers there to see a new colleague take her oath.
As he spoke, four of the five board members — all but Auberger — took up Miller's suggestion to bow their heads. As Miller ended with the word "amen," many throughout the room answered in kind.
Galloway and Stephens say that in previous meetings, officials went further in suggesting that the town was adopting the prayer — and the Christian faith — as its own. In their lawsuit, the women describe board members making the sign of the cross, Auberger presenting plaques to the "chaplain of the month," and prayer-givers asking the audience to participate by standing or reciting the Lord's Prayer.
The two women also describe meetings attended by children, there to lead the Pledge of Allegiance to fulfill a school civics requirement.
The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the town's prayer practice "must be viewed as an endorsement" of Christianity, violating the Constitution. The three-judge panel said the selection process "virtually ensured a Christian viewpoint," faulting Greece for relying on clergy almost entirely from places of worship within the town's borders.
The appeals court also said officials failed to explain that the prayers weren't intended to affiliate the town with a particular creed.
"The town had an obligation to consider how its prayer practice would be perceived by those who attended town board meetings," Judge Guido Calabresi wrote for the court.
The town contends the "endorsement test" — a standard created by now-retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor — doesn't apply to legislative-prayer cases.
Such a test "requires courts to parse prayers' content and thus inevitably forces courts to play the role of theologian, making judgments about the prayers' validity based on the supposed religious effect they are likely to have on observers," the town argued in court papers.
Greece says the 1983 Supreme Court decision, Marsh v. Chambers, permits legislative prayers as long as the government doesn't discriminate in selecting the person or use the practice to proselytize or disparage a faith.
The town has the backing of Robert Palmer, a Presbyterian minister whose prayers before the Nebraska state legislature were at issue in the 1983 case. In court papers, he said his prayers were "more identifiably Christian" than those in Greece.
"It's clear that the Constitution allows the government to open its meetings by invoking divine guidance," said Harvey, the lawyer for the town. "And once you do that, you need to let people pray consistent with the dictates of their own conscience."


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Recently, California Senator Alex Padilla made his way by car to the state capitol, only he wasn't driving, nor was he being driven – well not by a person anyways. No, Sen. Padilla was chauffeured by one of Google's self-driving Toyota Prius hybrids.
The senator, who represents California's Senate District 20 (San Fernando Valley), announced he would be holding a press event today, March 1, along with Google officials, regarding the introduction of Senate Bill 1298, which seeks to establish guidelines for autonomous vehicle testing in the state of California, and enforcement protocols by the California Highway Patrol.
"The vast majority of accidents are due to human error. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to reduce traffic fatalities and improve safety on our roads and highways," said Sen. Padilla in a statement.
Sen. Padilla's proposed legislation comes in the wake of similar legislation passed into law by the state of Nevada earlier this month, which outlined requirements for testing autonomous vehicles on public roads.
Why introduce legislation on autonomous driving, even though such technology is still a ways off for the masses? Well, given California's long-standing position as a thriving tech Mecca — and with companies like BMW, Volkswagen, and Google enjoying a presence with various research and testing facilities — it makes sense California would want to establish formal guidelines and rules, which would help further down the road when autonomous vehicles become commonplace.
"California is uniquely positioned to be the leader in the deployment of autonomous technology," said Sen. Padilla.
But what actually constitutes "autonomous technology?" As we previously noted, there are various levels of autonomous driving technology, some of which are already found in certain cars.
According to Sen. Padilla's proposed legislation, cars with semi-autonomous technology ,such as lane departure warning systems, adaptive cruise control, and self-parking technology would not fall under SB 1298, which is defines "autonomous vehicle" as " a motor vehicle that uses computers, sensors, and other technology and devices that enable the vehicle to safely operate without the active control and continuous monitoring of a human operator."
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