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UL LISTED Canada / USA. Electric Floor Warming Cable System, #xA0.Your Choice of Thermostat From Pull Down Menu Above. Choose if you want Prodeso Cable Membrane from menu above. 60 SQUARE FOOT - 120 VOLT.
##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0; #xA0. This "CABLE" type electric floor heating system is designed to be installed under flooring to heat the floor making the entire room comfortably warm.
Some have even compared the warmth to walking on a sandy beach on a warm summer day. The CABLE is laid out in the areas that heat is desirable such as kitchens, bathrooms, basements, bedrooms, sunrooms or any room you would enjoy the comfort of a heated floor. This system is very easy to install allowing the average handyman or homeowner to install it. The system is operated using electricity, so the utmost care must be taken when installing and hooking up the electrical connections.
You simply lay out the heating Cable covering the area you would like to heat and hook the wires up to the thermostat. The RED heating element CANNOT be cut to adjust its length. These systems are pre-sized at the factory. This CABLE type electric floor heating system is a heating cable rolled on a spool that is laid out by the installer 3 inches apart across the area to heat. The wire is run back and forth across the area to heat, using the INCLUDED Cable Guides to secure the wire to the floor.
##xA0; If you choose the Prodeso Heating Cable Membrane you will not receive cable guides. ##xA0; These heating systems will allow you to easily heat any shaped area including odd angles and turns.
It also gives you the ability to heat around objects. This system is designed to be in the mortar under the flooring. The heating element is less than 1/8 thick, so the rise in flooring height is negligible. The heating system must also be GFCI protected with a GFCI breaker, a GFCI outlet, or a GFCI thermostat. ##xA0; This system is BRAND NEW and manufactured by Warming Systems Inc.
It is common to connect multiple units together by wiring them in Parallel at the thermostat to heat larger areas. If this listing is larger than 80##xA0;sq. For a 120V system or 160 sq. For a 240V system, it will consist of multiple cable spools.Manufactured by Warming Systems Inc. Which is located in Spring Grove, IL.
Is the premier low cost leader of electric radiant floor warming systems in North America. This is how we are able to offer this high quality product at very competitive prices.
You will not find snow melting systems, towel warmers, or mirror defoggers. We are 100% focused on Electric Floor Warming Systems. For over 15 years, Warming Systems has been offering safe, simple, and affordable electric radiant heat floor warming systems for your home or office.
Warming Systems is manufactured in the U. Warming Systems is dedicated to providing our customers with the best products and best service possible. We strive to make Warming Systems your first choice for radiant floor heating systems. CHOOSE THERMOSTAT TYPE FROM PULL DOWN ABOVE.GFCI PROTECTED - PROGRAMMABLE FLOOR SENSING THERMOSTAT with FLOOR SENSOR. Honeywell (AUBE) Part # TH115-AF-GA. NON - GFCI PROTECTED - PROGRAMMABLE FLOOR SENSING THERMOSTAT with FLOOR SENSOR. ##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B; Honeywell (AUBE) Part # TH115-AF.
TOUCH SCREEN - PROGRAMMABLE FLOOR SENSING THERMOSTAT with FLOOR SENSOR. ##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B; OJ Electronics Part # UDG4-4999.##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;##x200B;#x200B. This thermostat is designed to work with 120V or 240V electric floor heating systems.
It gives you the ability to accurately control the floor temperature for maximum comfort and energy savings. This Floor Sensing Thermostat is DIGITAL, PROGRAMMABLE and includes the FLOOR SENSOR. Easy to operate, factory pre-programmed to meet standard household requirements. This model is 120V or 240V, rated for 16 amps, easily switching between F and C temperature scales.
Simply fasten wires into screw terminals, fit it into a standard 2x4 electrical box, and set the date and time. Thermostat is fully programmable to turn floor heat on/off at specific times and days. Two temperature sensors: one in floor measuring the floor temp and one in thermostat measuring the air temperature.
Advanced temperature control ensures total comfort by minimizing temperature variations. ON/STANDBY switch enables thermostat shutdown at end of heating season for added security. PRODESO HEATING CABLE MEMBRANE SYSTEM.
Combines the benefit of an underlayment membrane with the comfort and convenience of electrical radiant floor heating. Can be installed directly over the entire subfloor as an uncoupling, crack isolating and waterproofing membrane, making it possible to install underfloor electric heating even on problematic substrates such as wood and cracked screeds.
The Warming Systems Heating Cable is installed in the areas where heat is desired and tiling can begin immediately after the heating cable is in place. No additional steps are required. Cost effective way to add warmth and comfort to your cold surfaces. Underfloor Electric Heating Membrane System with uncoupling/ vapor management/load distribution and waterproof properties.
Polypropylene uncoupling crack isolation waterproofing membrane, with rounded square shaped reliefs. Thanks to the thinness of the PRODESO HEAT MEMBRANE (5.5mm / 1/4 inch) it's the ideal choice when the new tile floor meets an existing surface and height difference is a concern. ADVANTAGES OF HEAT MEMBRANE SYSTEM.Eliminates the need for backerboard. This includes cement board, Durock, Wonderboard, etc. Installs directly on any subfloor. Overall floor height is reduced since you don't have to use a backerboard. Easy to install - Heating cable installation is very easy and the wires are protected during tile installation. Time saving installation - Can install in a single step, installing tile on top of cable and membrane immediately. Uncoupling crack isolation - Allows installation on wood subfloor and cracked substrates.
Highest quality product on the market. UL LISTED for USA and Canada. Very fast and easy to install ##xA0; ##xA0; ##xA0;#xA0. Single cold lead for easy installation.
Extremely thin floor heating cable (less than 1/8). Thousands of installations across North America. Zero Electro Magnetic Field (EMF). Free design and layout service available. Any product you return must be in the same condition you received it and in the original packaging.
The item "60 Sqft, 120V, ELECTRIC RADIANT WARM FLOOR TILE HEAT SYSTEM + THERMOSTAT" is in sale since Tuesday, December 17, 2013. This item is in the category "Home & Garden\Home Improvement\Building & Hardware\Flooring & Tiles\Floor & Wall Tiles". The seller is "warmingsystemsinc" and is located in Lake Villa, Illinois. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada.


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Former NSA Lawyer Thinks American Bar Association Should Be Equally Outraged By Chinese Hacking Of Attorney-Client Communications
from the because-all-hacking-is-equal,-whether-it's-your-own-govt-or-not dept
Stewart Baker is still defending the NSA, but his latest piece advancing the agency's cause deploys a particularly disingenuous argument. He feels the American Bar Association acted hypocritically when it sent a letter to the NSA asking it to respect attorney-client privilege.
Baker begins his questionable attack by presenting actual hypocrisy in defense of his forthcoming argument.
When the Justice Department's indicted six People's Liberation Army hackers, it directly accused the PLA of stealing "privileged attorney-client communications related to Solar World's ongoing trade litigation with China."When the DOJ made a lot of ridiculous noise with its indictment, it only managed to further highlight the double standard the US deploys in its foreign relations. The NSA's hacking of Huawei's servers went unmentioned, as well as its numerous interception programs (both for hardware and communications) currently in place worldwide.
This is not a surprise to knowledgeable observers. Chinese attacks on large U.S. law firms have been widely acknowledged, and last summer the American Bar Association condemned "unauthorized, illegal intrusions into the computer systems and networks utilized by lawyers and law firms." But the ABA flinched from actually mentioning China or the PLA in the resolution…
Baker believes the ABA's silence on China's hacking efforts is hypocritical in light of its letter to the NSA on the subject of attorney-client privilege. This letter was the result of another leak that showed the agency had offered a solid "whatever" when an Australian intelligence agency informed the NSA that it was listening in on privileged communications between Indonesian clients and American lawyers. Baker pretends to cede some ground on the ABA's complaint before arriving at his supposedly damning "point."
Fair enough. But it's now been three days since we saw a much more direct accusation that the PLA was spying on privileged attorney-client communications in the US.This is Baker's knockout punch, apparently, one that only manages to come within several inches of its target.
Who's taking bets on whether the American Bar Association will be as quick to call out the Chinese government as it was to call out its own?
Of what possible use would it be for the ABA to call out the Chinese army? Even if US attorney communications were being intercepted, there's very little the Association could hope to accomplish with a strongly-worded letter. As the NSA's defenders often point out, foreigners are not provided with the same protections as natural citizens. The same undoubtedly goes double for China, which isn't exactly extending a great deal of rights to its own citizens.
Sure, the ABA could make a lot of noise about Chinese spying, but limiting its complaints to an agency of its own government makes more sense. Baker seems to want Americans to be more offended by something everyone expects the Chinese government to be doing, rather than by their own government doing things they never would have expected.
Baker also seems to be childish enough to believe that pointing out the wrongdoing of others somehow excuses the wrongdoing of the agency he's defending. This is particularly galling considering how often the NSA reminds world citizens that they simply aren't protected by US law and that their communications and data are fair game. The ABA addressed the real issue -- spying on communications historically awarded confidentiality by US statutes -- and the real problem in its letter. Its silence on the issue of Chinese spying isn't hypocrisy. It's reality. By petitioning its own government, it was able to have its complaint addressed. Complaining about China would be nothing more than angrily yelling into the void. The DOJ doesn't mind being greeted with little more than faint echoes, but those on the outside of government agencies aren't going to be nearly as reassured by the sound of their own reflected voices.
Filed Under: attorney-client, china, hacking, lawyers, nsa, stewart baker, surveillance
Companies: aba, american bar association

subset: commoncrawl


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Impact Kids Ministry
GBC understands the importance of family in the spiritual development of our children. Children ages 3 through 5th grade will enjoy an environment where they can have fun and learn about Jesus on their level. It is important to note that, ultimately we believe that parents know what is best for their families. Children are welcome in the sanctuary for the entire service if the parents choose.
Impact is divided into three groups:
Learning and experiencing, in motion, the impact of Jesus
Preschool children ages 3 -5 (pre-k)
Acceleration into the impact of Jesus by learning and living out faith
Kindergarten- 5th grade
Turning Point
As children enter the 6th grade we encourage them to become actively involved in the life of the church. Many choose to help with In-Motion and Accelerate making this a real turning point in their young lives.


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OSTP Sponsored Game-Based Learning Summit
The Game-Based Learning Summit is a 3-day event for gaming innovators, scholars, teachers, and students to experience serious gameplay, game development, and game-based learning. Summit Structure The summit features panel discussions from experts who will articulate the benefits of legitimate game-based curricula in K-16 classrooms. Seminars for teachers will include an introduction to game development, resources for... more »


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - MA Linguistics - Research or Coursework? :?: Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in MA Linguistics - Research or Coursework? :?: Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Australia/New Zealand View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message moemancoJoined: 11 Apr 2005Posts: 8Location: Japan Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:58 am Post subject: MA Linguistics - Research or Coursework? :?: Hello all, hope all is going well. Needed some advice and I thought where better to turn then to you fine people of this world wide web with your wealth of experience and all. So my three years in Japan are coming to a close due to the birth of my first baby boy and it's time to get it together. After I finished my Business degree in Australia, where I was born and raised, I came to Japan for a working holiday and here I am two and a half years later thinking I've enjoyed this job so much that I think I want to continue with it. I speak,not read or write, native Arabic and I'm fully native in English of course. I was thinking of starting an MA in Linguistics in the hope of it allowing me the opportunity to work anywhere around the world at any in teaching English. I was even thinking of this MA in Linguistics rather then an MA in TESOL because I figure it would help me if and when I improve my Arabic to a level where I can teach it or translate. Does my track of thought appear to be sound thinking to you all out there? Just need to know I'm not setting unrealistic goals. So with this in mind I'm looking around and I realise I'm going to have to choose between a coursework based MA or a research MA. Now I'd love to get a Scholarship so I think I might have to do a research based MA but I'm loosing hope of getting such a scholarship mainly because I don't think I can work out how to go about it, so any information on that would be really handy too. Finally here are the two courses I'm thinking about. Master of Applied Linguistics by research http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ling/postgrad/ma.html Master of Applied Linguistics by Coursework http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/lcl/postgraduate_coursework/masters-appling.html I just can't work out which one is going to be more beneficial for me in the long run. I also don't have the first clue as to how or what I'd do a research for a MA of Linguistics as this is kind of a new field for me. My B.B was in E-Commerce and Transport Logistics. I hope I've provided enough info for you to be able to enlighten me with your wisdom oh wise one of the web. Moe Back to top Super MarioJoined: 27 May 2005Posts: 1022Location: Australia, previously China Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:54 am Post subject: I'm assuming you are going to do this in Australa, and not by distance. If this is the case, I think you'll find [unless rules have changed in the last 2 years] that you can get a PG loan to pay for coursework, but not research. This may influence your decision. Did you mean interpreting Arabic, as opposed to translating? Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Australia/New Zealand All times are GMT Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Where to Begin----------------General DiscussionNewbie ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumOnline Teaching Forum Africa Forums----------------General Africa Forum Asia Forums----------------CambodiaChina (Job-related Posts Only)China (Off-Topic)Hong KongIndiaIndonesiaJapanMalaysiaPhilippinesSingaporeTaiwanThailandGeneral Asia ForumVietnam Caribbean Forums----------------General Caribbean Forum Europe Forums----------------Czech RepublicFranceGermanyGreeceItalyMacedonia and the BalkansPolandRomaniaRussia & C.I.S.SpainTurkeyUkraineUnited KingdomGeneral Europe Forum Latin America Forums----------------ArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaCosta RicaMexicoMexico (off-topic)PeruGeneral Latin America Forum The Middle East Forums----------------BahrainEgyptIsraelKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab EmiratesGeneral Middle East Forum North America Forums----------------General North America Forum Oceania----------------Australia/New Zealand You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group Teaching Jobs in China


text: Hi guys, I have a little project making a handle knife that I would like to attach to ........ Artifex Gyuto 240mm. I am planning to convert the handle to wa version. I am using a flame wood on the bottom, 2 metal spacer and on top is a black african ebony. I tried to stabilized them with Minwax wood handler and attached all of them with gorilla glue and some power glue. Am I doing it right? I really would love some input from all of you since I am sure most of you know better than me. I just started this about a month ago from reading this forum and some other forum. (by the way, pardon my English since it's not my first language) One more question, how do you post picture in this forum? Thanks a lot guys, Joe


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Chevron Blue Platter
Regular price $48.00
Our chic personalized melamine platters pack plenty of posh and are perfect for entertaining in style. Perfect for serving snacks, appetizers or just running to a school event with a special treat, these platters add a memorable customized touch to any celebration. Our platters are also great gifts for your friends or a favorite teacher!
- Personalization and font only as shown.
- Please make sure to enter your personalization exactly as you want it to appear. For example, if you want all capitalized letters on the platter, make sure to enter your personalized text in the box provided in all capital letters. If you want the platter to say "The Jones Family" make sure to enter all three words in the box provided, do not just enter "Jones".
- Platters measure 14" x 10" and are made in the USA from durable melamine.
- Dishwasher safe.
- Do not microwave. Wash before use. Do not use abrasive cleaners.


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Iceland, with a population of 300 thousand, is a constitutional republic and a parliamentary democracy; executive authority is vested in the prime minister, the president is head of state, and the unicameral Althingi parliament constitutes the legislative branch. In June 2004 Olafur Ragnar Grimsson was reelected as president in free and fair elections. In September 2004 Foreign Minister Halldor Asgrimsson (Progressive) replaced Prime Minister David Oddsson (Independence) based on a coalition agreement. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of addressing individual instances of abuse. The following human rights problems were reported:
- violence against women
- societal discrimination against minorities and foreigners
- isolated reports of women trafficked to the country
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The law prohibits such practices, and there were no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
Prison conditions generally met international standards.
Following retraining of staff in 2004 on proper procedures for safeguarding prisoner welfare, prison officers' calls to a staff psychiatrist increased, demonstrating greater responsiveness to prisoner needs. However, in a December report the Council of Europe (COE) Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern that prisoners did not have access to specialized mental health care services. The commissioner urged the authorities to arrange for treatment outside the prison system if necessary to meet individual care requirements.
The government maintained a separate minimum-security prison for women inmates; however, because so few women were incarcerated, some men were also held there. In the rare instances when juvenile offenders were incarcerated, they were held with adults, since there was no separate facility for juveniles. Pretrial detainees were held together with convicted prisoners.
The government permitted visits by independent human rights observers, and from July 4 to 6 the COE Commissioner for Human Rights visited the Reception Center for Asylum-seekers in Njardvik, the police station at Keflavik Airport, the police headquarters and its detention facility in Reykjavik, and the Litla Hraun Prison.
During the year 77 persons placed in custody spent 8.2 days on average in solitary confinement. The total amount of time that they spent in isolation was more than a month in 5 percent of cases. The daily average number of remand prisoners in isolation was 1.7, while the total number of days they spent there was 630 out of a total of 5,884 days in custody. All 11 reported cases of minors placed in custody involved some use of isolation.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus
The minister of justice heads the police force. The national commissioner of police administers and runs police operations that require centralized coordination among various offices. Various district chiefs of police have responsibility for law enforcement in their areas, investigate criminal offenses, and have prosecution powers. The police force was effective, and corruption was not a problem. Complaints regarding police abuses could be directed to a state prosecutor, which in turn would seek investigative assistance from the national commissioner or, if the national commissioner were the subject of the investigation, the Reykjavik police department.
Arrest and Detention
Police may make arrests: when they believe a prosecutable offense has been committed; where necessary to prevent further offenses or destruction of evidence; to protect the suspect's safety; or when someone refuses to obey police orders to move. Arrest warrants were not always required. Persons placed under arrest are entitled to legal counsel, which is provided by the government if they are indigent; receive a form for their signature that outlines their rights and options; and within 24 hours of the arrest appear before a judge who rules whether they need to remain in custody during the investigation and may grant conditional release subject to assurances that the accused will appear for trial. In his December report, the COE Commissioner for Human Rights recommended that only judges, rather than police and prosecutors, be permitted to place detainees, especially minors, in solitary confinement. There were no reports of political detainees.
In June the case of three men who alleged they had been wrongfully detained when protesting the official visit of Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin in 2002 was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. In February Reykjavik district court awarded a fourth man $1,406 (ISK 90 thousand), with interest, for wrongfully arresting him in connection with the same protest.
In November the Supreme Court upheld the April conviction of a police officer for a 2004 incident in which he pulled his police car in front of a speeding motorcycle, causing a crash that injured the motorcyclist; however, the Supreme Court suspended for two years the lower court's imposition on the officer of an approximately $3,200 (ISK 200 thousand) fine.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The law provides for an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected this provision in practice.
There are two levels of courts: district courts, of which there are eight, and the Supreme Court. The minister of justice appoints all judges, who serve for life.
Trial Procedures
Courts do not use juries, but multijudge panels are common, particularly in the Supreme Court. The courts presume defendants' innocence and generally try them without delay. Defendants receive access to legal counsel of their own choosing. For defendants unable to pay attorneys' fees, the government covers the cost; however, defendants who are found guilty must reimburse the government. Defendants have the right to be present at their trial, to confront witnesses, and to participate in the proceedings; they and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. At the discretion of the courts, prosecutors may introduce evidence that police have obtained illegally. With limited exceptions trials are public and conducted fairly. Defendants have the right to appeal, and the Supreme Court handles appeals expeditiously.
Political Prisoners
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
The law prohibits such actions, and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
In order to obtain a permit to stay in the country based on marriage with a citizen or holder of a resident permit, a partner or spouse must be at least 24 years of age. In August and December, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the COE Commissioner of Human Rights, respectively, expressed concern about this requirement.
In May 2004 the parliament amended the law to give authorities the power to conduct house searches without a prior court order when there is a significant risk that any delay would jeopardize an investigation of immigration fraud, as well as to request DNA tests in cases where they suspect immigration fraud. Human rights and immigrants' advocates criticized the amendments for infringing on individuals' privacy. In practice neither home searches without warrants nor DNA tests have taken place.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic freedom or the Internet. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The law provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right in practice. The state financially supported and promoted the official religion, Lutheranism.This adversely affected other religions in that they did not receive equal time or deference in school curricula or comparable subsidies for their faith-based programming.
The law specifies conditions and procedures that religious organizations must follow to be registered by the government. Such recognition was necessary for religious organizations other than the state church to receive a per capita share of church tax funds from the government. The government did not place any restrictions or requirements on unregistered religious organizations, which had the same rights as other groups in society.
All citizens 16 years of age and older must pay an annual church tax of approximately $127 (ISK 7,800) and an annual cemetery tax of approximately $48 (ISK 2,952). For persons who were not registered as belonging to a religious organization, or who belonged to one that was not registered and officially recognized, the tax payment went to the University of Iceland, a secular institution. Atheists and humanists objected to having their fee go to the university, asserting that this was inconsistent with the right of freedom of association.
The law mandates religious instruction in Christianity in the public schools; however, students may be exempted from attending the classes.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There are no official groups representing Jews in the country, and the community numbers under 100 individuals.
There were no reports of physical violence against Jews or acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Jewish community institutions during the year.
The law establishes penalties of fines and up to two years in prison for verbal or physical assault on an individual or group based on their religion. In March a prominent public figure made strongly anti-Semitic comments that were widely reported in the media. Despite numerous calls from human rights advocates for him to face prosecution under the law, authorities did not pursue a case.
In April the government faced media criticism after the prime minister declined to apologize for the country's deportation of Jews to Germany in the period immediately preceding World War II.
In August 2004 a Jewish visitor reported in an online newsmagazine that he and a friend had been harassed by a group of young teenagers who pointed at his yarmulke, gave a "heil Hitler" salute, and then briefly blocked the visitors' exit from a parking lot and intimidated them. A daily newspaper reported the story, sparking over 30 online comments from correspondents based in the country. Some of the comments were themselves anti-Semitic or xenophobic in tone and content. The visitor also complained about a swastika-like emblem on a prominent Reykjavik building. The emblem was in fact a Thor's hammer, an ancient Icelandic symbol and the logo of a national shipping line headquartered in the building. In May new owners of the building covered the emblem to avoid confusion and offense to those not familiar with its origin.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2005 International Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The law provides for these rights, and the government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice the government provided some protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The government granted refugee status or asylum.The government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees but had no fixed refugee acceptance requirements.
Processing of asylum cases may take a year or more, during which time asylum seekers were eligible for state-subsidized health care, could enroll their children in public schools and apply for work permits; however, human rights advocates criticized the law for not specifying which "significant human rights reasons" must underpin granting of such permits. The law stipulates that children of asylum seekers have to be in the country for three months before they may attend public schools. Some children of asylum seekers were enrolled in public schools during the year.
In August the CERD expressed concern about reports that asylum requests were not always properly handled by border guards; and encouraged the government to intensify its efforts to provide systematic training to these officials.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation
The last presidential election was held in June 2004, when Olafur Ragnar Grimsson won 85.6 percent of the valid votes for his third term. While the office of the president is mostly ceremonial, there are no limits on how many times an incumbent may run for office. Elections to the parliament in 2003 were free and fair. Center-right coalitions have governed since 1991.
There were 21 women in the 63-seat parliament and 3 women in the 12-member cabinet. Two of 9 Supreme Court members and 10 of 38 district court judges were women. Foreigners who have resided in the country legally for 5 years (3 years for Scandinavian citizens) may vote in municipal elections. There were no minorities in the legislature.
Government Corruption and Transparency
There were isolated reports of government corruption during the year. Following an investigation, the state auditor found in June that the prime minister's official participation in the 2001 privatization of the state-owned Bunadarbanki was lawful, despite his personal financial connections with the bank. In September the ombudsman of parliament agreed that there were no grounds for further inquiry (see section 4).
The law provides for public access to government information, and the government provided access in practice for citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media. Appeals against refusals by government authorities to grant access to materials may be referred to the information committee, three persons appointed to four-year terms by the prime minister. Members of the committee may not be permanent employees of government ministries.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.
In November 2004 the parliament eliminated direct government funding for the Icelandic Human Rights Center. Funded primarily by the government, but operated as an nongovernmental organization (NGO), the center had acted as the country's leading human rights organization, vetting government legislation and reporting to international treaty monitoring bodies as well as promoting human rights education and research. The new funding mechanism resulted in the center receiving 28 percent of what had previously been allocated by the government for its operations. NGOs, unions, and the city of Reykjavik assisted the center with funding to remain open. Public figures, human rights advocates, and several of the center's European partner institutes unsuccessfully appealed to the parliament to earmark institutional support for the center, arguing that having to apply to the executive branch for individual project grants undermined its independence and disabled it from criticizing the government. In August the CERD encouraged the government to ensure adequate funding of institutions such as the Human Rights Center. In December the COE Human Right Commissioner urged authorities to ensure that the country would continue to benefit from the services of an independent national human rights institution.
The government cooperated with international organizations and permitted visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
An independent ombudsman, elected by parliament, monitors and reports to national and local authorities to ensure equal protection of persons residing in the country, whether citizens or aliens. Individuals may lodge complaints with the ombudsman regarding decisions, procedures, and conduct of public officials and government agencies. The ombudsman may demand official reports, documents, and records; may summon officials to give testimony; and has access to official premises. He has complained that government agencies were slow to respond to requests for information and documents, causing delays in his handling of cases. By year's end the government had not responded. While the ombudsman's conclusions are not binding on authorities, his recommendations generally were followed. There was also a children's ombudsman (see section 5).
Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides that everyone shall be equal before the law and enjoy human rights irrespective of gender, race, social status, or language. Various laws implement this principle and the government effectively enforced them.
The law prohibits domestic violence; however, violence against women continued to be a problem. Police statistics indicated that the incidence of violence against women, including rape and sexual assault, was low; however, the number of women seeking medical and counseling assistance indicated that many incidents went unreported. During the year up to 92 women sought temporary lodging at the country's women's shelter, mainly because of domestic violence, and the shelter offered counseling to approximately 465 clients. Also during the year, some 130 individuals sought assistance at the national hospital's rape crisis center.
Women's rights advocates expressed concern that the law makes no distinction between domestic and stranger violence. The Ministry of Justice committee on criminal law proposed to amend the law to exhort judges to take the perpetrator's and victim's intimate relationship into account at the sentencing stage with enhanced punishments for domestic abusers. New legislation had not yet gone before the legislature at year's end. Neither the Ministry of Justice nor the State Prosecutor's Office maintained statistics on prosecutions and convictions for domestic abuse.
The government helped finance various facilities and organizations that provided assistance to victims of violence. The government, in addition to partially funding such services, provided help to immigrant women in abusive relationships, offering emergency accommodation, counseling, and information on legal rights. Courts could issue restraining orders, but there were complaints that the police were reluctant to recommend them and that the courts granted them only in extreme circumstances. Victims of sexual crimes were entitled to lawyers to advise them of their legal rights and help them pursue cases against the alleged assailants; however, a large majority of victims declined to press charges or chose to forgo trial, in part to avoid unwanted publicity. Some local human rights monitors also attributed underreporting to the fact that convictions are rare due to the heavy burden of proof and traditionally yield light sentences. While sentences for domestic violence were gradually increased, the courts still considered precedent in most cases and, therefore, rarely made full use of available leeway under the law. According to statistics from the women's shelter, 12 percent of their clients pressed charges in 2004, up from 7 percent in 2003.
The law criminalizes rape and establishes a maximum penalty of 16 years in prison for the crime. Spousal rape is not explicitly addressed in the law. Judges typically imposed sentences of one to three years in prison. The sexual violence counseling center in Reykjavik has noted that the rate of increase in complaints of rape during the year was higher than the number of convictions. In March the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern that a heavy burden of proof for rape complainants was leading to a low conviction rate.
Although there have been no reported cases of female genital mutilation, in May the government banned it by law.
Prostitution was legal but rare. It was illegal to engage in prostitution as a main source of income or to act as an intermediary in the sale or procurement of sex.
There were concerns that some foreign women were trafficked to work as exotic dancers or in massage parlors where sexual services are offered (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment and stipulates that violations are punishable by fines; however, the law was not effectively enforced in practice. There was no central authority reporting violations and from which to seek redress, and employers had the freedom to decide whether they will make information regarding sexual harassment available to their employees. While gender equality advocates reported receiving several complaints a year, the charges never became court cases, suggesting that victims are unsure how to proceed with their claims and skeptical as to their reception.
Women enjoy the same rights as men, including under family law, property law, and the judicial system. Despite laws that require equal pay for equal work, a pay gap existed between men and women. According to one of the largest labor unions, during the year women on average earned 14 percent less than men. Additionally, in June a respected business college reported that its female graduates went on to earn up to 50 percent less than their male classmates. Some women's rights activists also expressed concern that only 14 percent of the Supreme Court bar and 24 of 148 professors at the national university were women.
In January the Supreme Court ruled against the municipality of Akureyri in a gender wage discrimination case in which a female department head was paid considerably less than a male counterpart. The court ordered the municipality to pay restitution as well as adjust the woman's salary.
The government funded a center for promoting gender equality to administer the Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men. The center also provided gender equality counseling and education to national and municipal authorities, institutions, companies, individuals, and NGOs. The minister of social affairs appoints a Complaints Committee on Equal Status to adjudicate alleged violations of the act; the committee's rulings are nonreviewable. The minister of social affairs also appoints an Equal Status Council, with nine members drawn from national women's organizations, the University of Iceland, and labor and professional groups, which makes recommendations for equalizing the status of men and women in the labor market.
In December a study sponsored by the Ministry of Education concluded that women receive substantially less television airtime than men and that the gap has increased since this issue was last examined in 1999.
In 2004 the Complaints Committee on Equal Status found that there was demonstrable gender bias in the justice minister's 2003 appointment of a Supreme Court justice where the minister did not provide an adequate explanation for appointing a man instead of a woman. The candidate delayed legal action while her application for another Supreme Court seat was under consideration, but, following the appointment in September 2004 of another male to the court, declared her intention to sue unless she could reach a settlement with the government. In December the woman settled her case in return for a paid year-long leave with the possibility of retiring thereafter.
The government was strongly committed to children's rights and welfare; it funded public education and health care. School attendance is compulsory through the age of 15 and free through public university level. According to the government-funded Agency for Child Protection, approximately 85 percent of students continued to upper secondary education.
The government provided free prenatal and infant medical care, as well as heavily subsidized childcare; girls and boys had equal access.
There were reports of abuse of children during the year. The Agency for Child Protection received 833 reports of abuse cases. While 233 reports were due to emotional abuse, 290 were related to physical abuse and 319 to sexual abuse. The agency operated eight treatment centers and a diagnostic facility for abused and troubled minors. It also coordinated the work of approximately 34 committees throughout the country that were responsible for managing child protection issues (for example, foster care) in their local areas. The local committees hired professionals knowledgeable about sexual abuse.
In an effort to accelerate prosecution of child sexual abuse cases and lessen trauma to the child, the government maintained a Children's Assessment Center (Barnahus). During the year, the center conducted 182 investigative interviews, and 125 children underwent assessment and therapy, while 10 medical examinations were performed. The center was intended to create a safe and secure environment where child victims might feel more comfortable talking about what happened to them. It brought together police, prosecutors, judges, doctors, and officials from child protection services. District court judges did not have to use the center and could hold investigatory interviews in the courthouse instead, a practice that concerned some children's rights advocates.
The children's ombudsman, who is appointed by the prime minister but is independent from the government, fulfilled a mandate to protect children's rights, interests, and welfare by, among other things, exerting influence on legislation, government decisions, and public attitudes. When investigating complaints, typically regarding physical and psychological abuse and inadequate accommodations for illnesses and disabilities, the ombudsman had access to all public and private institutions and associations that house children or otherwise care for them; however, the ombudsman's conclusions were not legally binding on parties to disputes.
Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, there were isolated reports that women were trafficked to the country for exploitation.
The law prohibits trafficking in persons with the aim of sexual abuse or forced labor and provides for imprisonment of up to eight years. During the year police did not charge any persons with trafficking; however, a Chinese citizen won a civil judgment of approximately $65 thousand (ISK 4 million) when he sued for unpaid wages at a Kopavogur massage parlor. The ministries of justice, foreign affairs, and social affairs were involved in antitrafficking efforts.
Police, airport authorities, and women's aid groups reported that there was evidence of foreign women trafficked to the country, primarily to work in striptease clubs or massage parlors offering sexual services. The larger municipalities have banned private dancing, believed to serve as a front for prostitution and possibly trafficking, but clubs appeared able to circumvent the regulations with impunity. One club in the Reykjavik suburb of Kopavogur, markets private dances on its Web page and in full-page newspaper advertisements that depicted a semi-nude woman reclining on a bed. The Baltic countries were the main region of origin for women working in such clubs and parlors, with others coming from Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. There were no statistics on the number or origin of women actually trafficked. To work as an exotic dancer, any person from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) must first obtain a work permit, which is typically valid for three months. Social workers suspect that most foreign women working in this field come from within the EEA and are thus impossible to track through work permit applications.
Trafficking victims could seek help at the women's shelter, counseling center, and hospital, all of which received government funding. There were no domestic NGOs dedicated solely to assisting victims of trafficking, nor was there an established government assistance program. Some NGOs provided government‑supported counseling and shelter to women and children who were victims of violence or sexual abuse. The Human Rights Center and Intercultural Center were also available to assist with trafficking cases and make referrals.
Persons with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities, and there was no such official discrimination in employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other state services. The law also provides that persons with disabilities receive preference for a government job when they are at least as qualified as other applicants; however, advocates asserted that common practice and implementation of the law fell short of full implementation to the extent that such persons constitute a majority of the country's poor.
Building regulations require that public accommodations and government buildings, including elevators, be accessible to persons in wheelchairs; that public property managers reserve 1 percent of parking spaces (a minimum of one space) for persons with disabilities; and that, to the extent possible, sidewalks outside the main entrance of such buildings be kept clear of ice and snow. Violations of these regulations are punishable by a fine or a jail sentence of up to two years; however, the main association for persons with disabilities complained that this regulation was not enforced regularly, and authorities rarely assessed penalties for noncompliance.
Some mental health advocates criticized the government for not devoting sufficient attention and resources to the care of persons with mental disabilities. Although the law safeguards their rights, a large number of persons with mental disabilities remained on waiting lists for housing, education, and employment programs. Advocates alleged that government funding for the care of persons with mental disabilities was generally inadequate and that the government-financed health system funded too few hospital places for acute patients and thus exacerbated a shortage of publicly funded preventative and follow-up mental health care.
The Ministry of Social Affairs is the lead government body responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. It coordinates the work of six regional offices that provide services and support persons with disabilities and a diagnostic and advisory center in Reykjavik that aims to create conditions to allow persons with disabilities to lead normal lives.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
While the population remained largely homogeneous, family- and employment-sponsored immigrants were more visible and suffered occasional incidents of harassment based on their race and ethnicity. According to a survey conducted for the country's Red Cross in August, 19 percent of respondents felt immigrants had a positive effect and 5 percent a negative effect.
The minister of social affairs announced in April that the government would establish an Immigrant Council in order to coordinate the work of four ministries and the municipalities on immigrant and refugee issues. The council, set to begin work in early 2006, would be charged with gathering statistical data on immigration; coordinating outreach efforts; distributing information to immigrants; and conducting research on the adaptation process to assist with successful integration.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The law allows workers to form and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements; and workers exercised these rights. Labor unions were independent of the government and political parties. Approximately 85 percent of all eligible workers belonged to unions.
The law requires employers to withhold union dues (1 percent of gross pay) from the pay of all employees, whether or not they are union members, to help support disability, strike, and pension funds, and other benefits to which all workers are entitled.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the government protected this right in practice. The law allows workers to bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice. Nearly 100 percent of the workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreement. Workers had the right to strike and exercised this right in practice.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
The government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits the employment of children younger than age 16 in factories, on ships, or in other places that are hazardous or require hard labor; this prohibition was observed in practice. Children 14 or 15 years old may be employed part-time or during school vacations in light, nonhazardous occupations. Their work hours must not exceed the ordinary work hours of adults in the same occupation. The administration of occupational safety and health enforced child labor regulations effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The law does not establish a minimum wage, but the minimum wages negotiated in various collectively bargained agreements applied automatically to all employees in those occupations, regardless of union membership. While the agreements can be either industry- or sector-wide, and in some cases firm-specific, the minimum wage levels are occupation-specific. Labor contracts provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The standard legal workweek was 40 hours, which included nearly 3 hours of paid breaks a week. Work exceeding eight hours in a workday must be compensated as overtime. Workers were entitled to 11 hours of rest within each 24-hour period and to a day off every week. Under defined special circumstances, employers may reduce the 11-hour rest period to no less than 8 hours, but they then must compensate workers with 1.5 hours of rest for every hour of reduction. They may also postpone a worker's day off by a week. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration effectively enforced these regulations.
Labor unions criticized the government for not tightening regulations on employment agencies following the expansion of the EEA agreement in 2004. The expanded agreement has allowed large numbers of foreign workers, particularly in construction, to work in the country through service agreements for very low wages and without official monitoring. The unions argued that the employment agencies regularly disregarded worker rights, failed to observe collective bargaining agreements and labor legislation, and often failed to pay fees and taxes in accordance with the law. In September, to better enforce labor laws for foreign workers, the unions formally urged the government to enact legislation ensuring that employers and employees would have a direct relationship without any role for intermediaries such as employment agencies.
The legislature set health and safety standards, and the Ministry of Social Affairs administered and enforced them through its administration of occupational safety and health, which could close workplaces until they met safety and health standards. Workers had a collective, but not individual, right to refuse to work at a job that did not meet occupational safety and health criteria. It is illegal to fire workers who report unsafe or unhealthy conditions.


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Template:Mountaineering (Ranger Award elective)/req
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
Mobile Menus: Cub Scouts - Scouts BSA - Venturing - Sea Scouts
You must complete the first aid core requirement before you begin this elective.
- Requirement 1.
- a. Explain the difference between bouldering and technical climbing.
- b. Tell how bouldering can help your crew get ready for more advanced climbing.
- c. Demonstrate bouldering using the three-point stance and proper clothing.
- Requirement 2.
- a. Explain the classification and grades of climbing difficulty in technical rock climbing.
- b. Tell how weather can change the difficulty of any ascent.
- Requirement 3. Learn and then teach the following climbing knots to your crew, another crew, a Scout group, or another group:
- Requirement 4.
- a. Learn about the different types of ropes available for climbing and explain the uses of each and the characteristics of each.
- b. Learn proper climbing rope care. Know and practice proper coiling and storage.
- c. Know how to keep proper records on climbing rope and how to inspect it for wear and damage. Know when to retire a rope.
- d. Using the knowledge acquired above, make a tabletop display or a presentation for your crew, another crew, a Cub Scout or Boy Scout group, or another group.
- Requirement 5.
- a. Demonstrate the difference between natural and artificial anchors.
- b. Be able to identify and describe the use of at least three different types of hardware and setups.
- c. Tell about proper climbing safety both before and during a climb.
- d. Learn about rescue equipment and techniques.
- e. Learn about appropriate clothing, footwear, gloves, helmets, and other climbing gear.
- Requirement 6. Be able to correctly put on and then be able to teach others how to put on at least two of the following:
- Commercially made climbing harness
- Diaper sling
- Knotted leg-loop seat
- Swiss seat sling
- Requirement 7.
- a. Demonstrate three types of belays.
- b. Learn and then demonstrate that you know proper verbal climbing and belaying signals used between climber and belayer.
- Requirement 8. Do (a) and (b), or do (c).
- a. Under the supervision of a qualified rappelling or climbing instructor, rappel at least 30 feet down a natural or artificial obstacle.
- b. Under the supervision of a qualified climbing instructor, climb at least 30 feet up a natural or artificial obstacle.
- c. Attend a two-day rock climbing clinic/course led by a qualified climbing instructor. This course should include some instruction on technical rock climbing.
- Requirement 9. Lead your crew, another crew, an older Boy Scout group, or another teenage group on a climbing and/or rappelling activity. Recruit adequate, qualified adult instructors and assist in instruction.
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Executive Summary
**The below information is from the 2006-2016 UIS Strategic Plan. For information on the current 2018-2028 Strategic Compass, visit https://www.uis.edu/strategiccompass/ **
This is the first comprehensive strategic plan for the University of Illinois at Springfield since 1992, when we were still known as Sangamon State University. We have been part of the University of Illinois for 10 years, and it is time for fresh planning, new thinking, and "Stretch Ideas" to move us well beyond what we have been and to lead us well into this century.
Download a PDF booklet of the Executive Summary (8Mb)
Mission Statement
The University of Illinois at Springfield provides an intellectually rich, collaborative, and intimate learning environment for students, faculty, and staff, while serving local, regional, state, national, and international communities.
Vision Statement
UIS will be a premier small public university offering innovative, high-quality liberal arts education, public affairs activities, and professional programs dedicated to academic excellence, to enriching individual lives, and to making a difference in the world.
Statement of Strategic Intent
UIS will be recognized as one of the top five small public liberal arts universities in the United States.
We will achieve this by creating a world class liberal arts oriented undergraduate educational experience reflecting many of the characteristics and best practices of small private liberal arts colleges, while building on our many strengths. Among those strengths are professional academic programs, graduate education, and public affairs activities.
Competitive Analysis/Distinctive Competencies
The competitive analysis with other public and private colleges and universities indicates that UIS has some of the most prized attributes of private colleges – small class sizes, high-quality programs, most courses taught by faculty with terminal degrees, personalized interaction between faculty and students, and hands-on, experiential learning. Our students say, "My professors know me." Classes and faculty are accessible when students want them – daytime, evenings, and online. As a high-quality small public university, UIS is far more affordable than the private institutions. Moreover, no other university or college has the advantage of being located in the vibrant Illinois state capital. In short, we compare favorably in terms of quality, personal attention, affordability, and location.
Six Strategic Goals for UIS
The first three goals are considered our primary goals: Academic Excellence, Enriching Individual Lives, and Making a Difference in the World. The final three, dealing with the UIS culture, enrollment and retention, and resources – will assist in the achievement of our vision and the implementation of our goals.
Goal #1: Academic Excellence
- UIS will achieve academic excellence through excellence in teaching and learning and excellence in scholarship.
- At UIS, teaching remains the central function and student learning is our overriding goal. UIS will create an environment that promotes engaged, active, and interdisciplinary learning with the ultimate goal of preparing students to be thinkers and leaders in the world. UIS affirms its commitment to high standards of scholarly excellence. Believing that active scholarship is essential to excellent teaching, UIS is committed to developing a faculty of teacher-scholars, students who collaborate with faculty on research and service projects, and staff who are engaged in advancing the professional practice in their fields. UIS is in the process of enhancing its undergraduate curriculum while maintaining an emphasis on providing excellent graduate programs. It is unique by reaching out aggressively to new, younger undergraduate students even as it continues to reach out to non-traditional students with on-campus and an increasing number of online programs.
- Selected initiatives: Expansion of support for faculty and student scholarship; Experiential and Service Learning Institute; focus on lifelong learning and engagement in general curriculum; establishment of high-visibility collaborative projects such as the Emiquon Field Station.
Goal #2: Enriching Individual Lives
- The University of Illinois at Springfield seeks to establish an atmosphere that contributes to the intellectual, cultural, social, and personal enrichment of all its participants.
- This document offers many ways to provide an intellectually rich and culturally diverse campus environment, including expansion of arts facilities and programs. All will be exposed to a campus community that is infused with an appreciation of diverse cultural perspectives. The campus environment will be an inclusive and safe place for different perspectives to be explored.
- Selected initiatives: Annual Campus Dialogue; development of comprehensive master plan for the arts, including a new bachelor's degree in Fine Arts; more bridges to the community with civic engagement and volunteer and service learning opportunities; enhancement of intercollegiate athletics.
Goal #3: Making a Difference in the World
- With its location in the state capital, UIS has always had a special emphasis on public affairs, citizen engagement, and effecting societal change. This goal echoes and updates those traditions through the theme of Making a Difference in the World. This theme is conceptualized as a series of activities related to reflection, dialogue, and action on public policy and civic culture, resulting in engagement with the world outside the university. The focus includes local, state, national, and global concerns. All undergraduates will participate in engagement activities; graduate students will continue to have numerous opportunities for hands-on learning and research. The campus will continue to build on its solid record of accomplishment in public affairs, applied research, and training activities – paying special attention to public policy and the civic culture.
- Faculty, staff, students, and alumni from every part of UIS engage in activities that make a difference in the world. Each individual and discipline provides a unique contribution: education, business, professional programs, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. In other words, Making a Difference in the World is a shared responsibility.
- Selected initiatives: Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) as part of the general education curriculum; entrepreneurial activities in the College of Business and Management; faculty involvement in policy development in Illinois; Illinois Democracy Project; international collaborations; more bridges to the nonprofit sector in central Illinois.
Goal #4: Strengthen Campus Culture
- Efforts will increase significantly to make UIS staff, faculty, students, alumni, and friends aware of the university's identity and direction. UIS will be known for its high level of responsiveness to students and as an institution where respect and civility prevail in all interactions. Tolerance for a diversity of opinions will be a hallmark of the UIS culture.
- Selected initiatives: Focus on civility in all interactions; Campus Welcome Committee as part of orientation process; focus on personalized customer service for students, faculty, staff, and visitors; environmental sustainability and preservation in all plans to enhance the physical environment.
Goal #5: Enrollment and Retention
- By improving access and opportunity, the University of Illinois at Springfield will enroll, retain, and graduate a larger and more diverse student body engaged in classroom and technology-enhanced education. UIS plans to grow to 6,000 on-campus students and will always be a "small university" in the best sense of the word.
- Selected initiatives: A one-stop enrollment services model that includes the entire array of student enrollment services; assertive programs to help students make the transition from high school or community college to the university; Center for First-Year Programs.
Goal #6: Resources and Infrastructure
- UIS has lofty goals and an inspiring vision. Many of the action steps to pursue our vision require the allocation of new resources and the reallocation of current resources – financial, human, and physical. UIS will make bold decisions and will find the resources to implement the goals in this strategic plan. This plan not only allows us to focus more specifically on what UIS wants to become but also gives us a framework within which to allocate and reallocate resources.
Resource Needs
This plan identifies many specific needs, including physical enhancements: more internal and external gathering spaces (sometimes called "third spaces"), a Student Center, another residence hall, more laboratory facilities, and a renovation of Brookens Library and the metal buildings. The plan also highlights the need to find more extracurricular opportunities for students, to create a comprehensive plan for cultural and arts activities, and to address salary equity issues and salary competitiveness for staff and faculty. We estimate needs of $4.351 million in annually recurring funds and $95,000 in onetime, nonrecurring funds over the next five years to implement our goals. We have also identified a need for $89 million in capital funds for some of the initiatives in this strategic plan and for buildings identified in the campus master plan of 2000.
This plan sets UIS in pursuit of a bold vision: to become one of the top five small public liberal arts universities in the U.S.
This has exciting implications for students, faculty, staff, and the community we serve. Students will benefit from the personalized attention, small classes, and high-quality programs. Faculty will benefit from the unique emphasis that UIS places on teaching and expanding opportunities for scholarship and service. UIS, the high-quality liberal arts university in Springfield, will offer high-quality professional and public affairs programs. And the local community, the nation, and indeed the world will be visibly and recognizably enhanced by the expertise and outreach of the UIS community.


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This post from William Cronon entitled "Who's Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn't Start Here)," reprinted here in its entirety, summarizes the Great and Powerful Oz behind the curtain… (Note: For his efforts, William Cronon has subsequently come under attack from right-wing extremists, seeking his every email. Methinks they doth protest too much.)
A Study Guide for Those Wishing to Know More
After watching the sudden and impressively well-organized wave of legislation being introduced into state legislatures that all seem to be pursuing parallel goals only tangentially related to current fiscal challenges–ending collective bargaining rights for public employees, requiring photo IDs at the ballot box, rolling back environmental protections, privileging property rights over civil rights, and so on–I've found myself wondering where all of this legislation is coming from.
The Walker-Koch Prank Phone Call Reveals A Lot, But Not Nearly Enough
The prank phone call that Governor Scott Walker unhesitatingly accepted from a blogger purporting to be billionaire conservative donor David Koch has received lots of airplay, and it certainly demonstrates that the governor is accustomed to having conversations with deep-pocketed folks who support his cause. If you've not actually seen the transcript, it's worth a careful reading, and is accessible here:
But even though I'm more than prepared to believe that David and Charles Koch have provided large amounts of money to help fund the conservative flood tide that is sweeping through state legislatures right now, I just don't find it plausible that two brothers from Wichita, Kansas, no matter how wealthy, can be responsible for this explosion of radical conservative legislation. It also goes without saying that Scott Walker cannot be single-handedly responsible for what we're seeing either; I wouldn't believe that even for Wisconsin, let alone for so many other states. The governor clearly welcomes the national media attention he's receiving as a spear-carrier for the movement. But he's surely not the architect of that movement.
So…who is?
Conservative History Post-1964: A Brilliant Turnaround Story
I can't fully answer that question in a short note, but I can sketch its outline and offer advice for those who want to fill in more of the details.
I'll start by saying–a professorial impulse I just can't resist–that it's well worth taking some time to familiarize yourself with the history of the conservative movement in the United States since the 1950s if you haven't already studied the subject. Whatever you think of its politics, I don't think there can be any question that the rise of modern conservatism is one of the great turnaround stories in twentieth-century American history. It's quite a fascinating series of events, in which a deeply marginalized political movement–tainted by widespread public reaction against Senator Joe McCarthy, the John Birch Society, and the massively defeated Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964–managed quite brilliantly to remake itself (and American politics) in the decades that followed.
I provide a brief reading list at the end of this note because many people from other parts of the political spectrum often seem not to take the intellectual roots of American conservatism very seriously. I believe this is a serious mistake. One key insight you should take from this history is that after the Goldwater defeat in 1964, visionary conservative leaders began to build a series of organizations and networks designed to promote their values and construct systematic strategies for sympathetic politicians. Some of these organizations are reasonably well known–for instance, the Heritage Foundation, founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, a Racine native and UW-Madison alumnus who also started the Moral Majority and whose importance to the movement is almost impossible to overestimate–but many of these groups remain largely invisible.
That's why events like the ones we've just experienced in Wisconsin can seem to come out of nowhere. Few outside the conservative movement have been paying much attention, and that is ill-advised. (I would, by the way, say the same thing about people on the right who don't make a serious effort to understand the left in this country.)
It's also important to understand that events at the state level don't always originate in the state where they occur. Far from it.
Basic Tools for Researching Conservative Groups
If you run across a conservative organization you've never heard of before and would like to know more about it, two websites can sometimes be helpful for quick overviews:
Right Wing Watch: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/
SourceWatch: http://www.sourcewatch.org
Both of these lean left in their politics, so they obviously can't be counted on to provide sympathetic descriptions of conservative groups. (If I knew of comparable sites whose politics were more conservative, I'd gladly provide them here; please contact me if you know of any and I'll add them to this note.) But for obvious reasons, many of these groups prefer not to be monitored very closely. Many maintain a low profile, so one sometimes learns more about them from their left-leaning critics than from the groups themselves.
I don't want this to become an endless professorial lecture on the general outlines of American conservatism today, so let me turn to the question at hand: who's really behind recent Republican legislation in Wisconsin and elsewhere? I'm professionally interested in this question as a historian, and since I can't bring myself to believe that the Koch brothers single-handedly masterminded all this, I've been trying to discover the deeper networks from which this legislation emerged.
Here's my preliminary answer.
Telling Your State Legislators What to Do:
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
The most important group, I'm pretty sure, is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which was founded in 1973 by Henry Hyde, Lou Barnett, and (surprise, surprise) Paul Weyrich. Its goal for the past forty years has been to draft "model bills" that conservative legislators can introduce in the 50 states. Its website claims that in each legislative cycle, its members introduce 1000 pieces of legislation based on its work, and claims that roughly 18% of these bills are enacted into law. (Among them was the controversial 2010 anti-immigrant law in Arizona.)
If you're as impressed by these numbers as I am, I'm hoping you'll agree with me that it may be time to start paying more attention to ALEC and the bills its seeks to promote.
You can start by studying ALEC's own website. Begin with its home page at
First visit the "About" menu to get a sense of the organization's history and its current members and funders. But the meat of the site is the "model legislation" page, which is the gateway to the hundreds of bills that ALEC has drafted for the benefit of its conservative members.
You'll of course be eager to look these over…but you won't be able to, because you're not a member.
Becoming a Member of ALEC: Not So Easy to Do
How do you become a member? Simple. Two ways. You can be an elected Republican legislator who, after being individually vetted, pays a token fee of roughly $100 per biennium to join. Here's the membership brochure to use if you meet this criterion:
What if you're not a Republican elected official? Not to worry. You can apply to join ALEC as a "private sector" member by paying at least a few thousand dollars depending on which legislative domains most interest you. Here's the membership brochure if you meet this criterion:
Then again, even if most of us had this kind of money to contribute to ALEC, I have a feeling that membership might not necessarily be open to just anyone who is willing to pay the fee. But maybe I'm being cynical here.
Which Wisconsin Republican politicians are members of ALEC? Good question. How would we know? ALEC doesn't provide this information on its website unless you're able to log in as a member. Maybe we need to ask our representatives. One might think that Republican legislators gathered at a national ALEC meeting could be sufficiently numerous to trigger the "walking quorum rule" that makes it illegal for public officials in Wisconsin to meet unannounced without public notice of their meeting. But they're able to avoid this rule (which applies to every other public body in Wisconsin) because they're protected by a loophole in what is otherwise one of the strictest open meetings laws in the nation. The Wisconsin legislature carved out a unique exemption from that law for its own party caucuses, Democrats and Republicans alike. So Wisconsin Republicans are able to hold secret meetings with ALEC to plan their legislative strategies whenever they want, safe in the knowledge that no one will be able to watch while they do so.
(See http://www.doj.state.wi.us/dls/OMPR/2010OMCG-PRO/2010_OML_Compliance_Guide.pdf for a full discussion of Wisconsin's otherwise very strict Open Meetings Law.)
If it has seemed to you while watching recent debates in the legislature that many Republican members of the Senate and Assembly have already made up their minds about the bills on which they're voting, and don't have much interest in listening to arguments being made by anyone else in the room, it's probably because they did in fact make up their minds about these bills long before they entered the Capitol chambers. You can decide for yourself whether that's a good expression of the "sifting and winnowing" for which this state long ago became famous.
Partners in Wisconsin and Other States: SPN, MacIver Institute, WPRI
An important partner of ALEC's, by the way, is the State Policy Network (SPN), which helps coordinate the activities of a wide variety of conservative think tanks operating at the state level throughout the country. See its home page at
Many of the publications of these think tanks are accessible and downloadable from links on the SPN website, which are well worth taking the time to peruse and read. A good starting place is:
Two important SPN members in Wisconsin are the MacIver Institute for Public Policy:
and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI):
If you want to be a well-informed Wisconsin citizen and don't know about their work, you'll probably want to start visiting these sites more regularly. You'll gain a much better understanding of the underlying ideas that inform recent Republican legislation by doing so.
Understanding What These Groups Do
As I said earlier, it's not easy to find exact details about the model legislation that ALEC has sought to introduce all over the country in Republican-dominated statehouses. But you'll get suggestive glimpses of it from the occasional reporting that has been done about ALEC over the past decade. Almost all of this emanates from the left wing of the political spectrum, so needs to be read with that bias always in mind.
Interestingly, one of the most critical accounts of ALEC's activities was issued by Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council in a 2002 report entitled Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States. Although NRDC and Defenders may seem like odd organizations to issue such a report, some of ALEC's most concentrated efforts have been directed at rolling back environmental protections, so their authorship of the report isn't so surprising. The report and its associated press release are here:
There's also an old, very stale website associated with this effort at
A more recent analysis of ALEC's activities was put together by the Progressive States Network in February 2006 under the title Governing the Nation from the Statehouses, available here:
There's an In These Times story summarizing the report at
More recent stories can be found at
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6084/corporate_con_game (about the Arizona immigration law)
and there's very interesting coverage of ALEC's efforts to disenfranchise student voters at
For just one example of how below-the-radar the activities of ALEC typically are, look for where the name of the organization appears in this recent story from the New York Times about current efforts in state legislatures to roll back the bargaining rights of public employee unions:
Hint: ALEC is way below the fold!
A Cautionary Note
What you'll quickly learn even from reading these few documents is that ALEC is an organization that has been doing very important political work in the United States for the past forty years with remarkably little public or journalistic scrutiny. I'm posting this long note in the conviction that it's time to start paying more attention. History is being made here, and future historians need people today to assemble the documents they'll eventually need to write this story. Much more important, citizens today may wish to access these same documents to be well informed about important political decisions being made in our own time during the frequent meetings that ALEC organizes between Republican legislators and representatives of many of the wealthiest corporations in the United States.
I want to add a word of caution here at the end. In posting this study guide, I do not want to suggest that I think it is illegitimate in a democracy for citizens who share political convictions to gather for the purpose of sharing ideas or creating strategies to pursue their shared goals. The right to assemble, form alliances, share resources, and pursue common ends is crucial to any vision of democracy I know. (That's one reason I'm appalled at Governor Walker's ALEC-supported efforts to shut down public employee unions in Wisconsin, even though I have never belonged to one of those unions, probably never will, and have sometimes been quite critical of their tactics and strategies.) I'm not suggesting that ALEC, its members, or its allies are illegitimate, corrupt, or illegal. If money were changing hands to buy votes, that would be a different thing, but I don't believe that's mainly what's going on here. Americans who belong to ALEC do so because they genuinely believe in the causes it promotes, not because they're buying or selling votes.
This is yet another example, in other words, of the impressive and highly skillful ways that conservatives have built very carefully thought-out institutions to advocate for their interests over the past half century. Although there may be analogous structures at the other end of the political spectrum, they're frequently not nearly so well coordinated or so disciplined in the ways they pursue their goals. (The nearest analog to ALEC that I'm aware of on the left is the Progressive States Network, whose website can be perused at
but PSN was only founded in 2005, does not mainly focus on writing model legislation, and is not as well organized or as disciplined as ALEC.) To be fair, conservatives would probably argue that the liberal networks they oppose were so well woven into the fabric of government agencies, labor unions, universities, churches, and non-profit organizations that these liberal networks organize themselves and operate quite differently than conservative networks do–and conservatives would be able to able to muster valid evidence to support such an argument, however we might finally evaluate the persuasiveness of that evidence.
Again, I want anyone reading this post to understand that I am emphatically not questioning the legitimacy of advocacy networks in a democracy. To the contrary: I believe they are essential to democracy. My concern is rather to promote open public discussion and the genuine clash of opinions among different parts of the political spectrum, which I believe is best served by full and open disclosure of the interests of those who advocate particular policies.
I believe this is especially important when policies are presented as having a genuine public interest even though their deeper purpose may be to promote selfish or partisan gains.
Reasserting Wisconsin's Core Values: Decency, Fairness, Generosity, Compromise
ALEC's efforts to disenfranchise voters likely to vote Democratic, for instance, and its efforts to destroy public-sector unions because they also tend to favor Democrats, strike me as objectionable and anti-democratic (as opposed to anti-Democratic) on their face. As a pragmatic centrist in my own politics, I very strongly favor seeking the public good from both sides of the partisan aisle, and it's not at all clear to me that recent legislation in Wisconsin or elsewhere can be defended as doing this. Shining a bright light on ALEC's activities (and on other groups as well, across the political spectrum) thus seems to me a valuable thing to do whether or not one favors its political goals.
This is especially true when politicians at the state and local level promote legislation drafted at the national level that may not actually best serve the interests of their home districts and states. ALEC strategists may think they're serving the national conservative cause by promoting legislation like the bills recently passed in Wisconsin–but I see my state being ripped apart by the resulting controversies, and it's hard to believe that Wisconsin is better off as a result. This is not the way citizens or politicians have historically behaved toward each other in this state, and I for one am not happy with the changes in our political culture that seem to be unfolding right now. I'm hoping that many of my fellow Wisconsinites, whether they lean left or right, agree with me that it's time to take a long hard look at what has been happening and try to find our bearings again.
I have always cherished Wisconsin for its neighborliness, and this is not the way neighbors treat each other.
One conclusion seems clear: what we've witnessed in Wisconsin during the opening months of 2011 did not originate in this state, even though we've been at the center of the political storm in terms of how it's being implemented. This is a well-planned and well-coordinated national campaign, and it would be helpful to know a lot more about it.
Let's get to work, fellow citizens.
William Cronon


text:
Chinese LED Fab Industry Overview
By Daniel Qi, SEMI China
The LED industry started in 1970's in China. In the early stages, China imported LED chips because there were no wafer and chip fabs in the Chinese mainland, which was primarily focused on packaging and the back-end for many years. After 30 years of development, China has achieved its goal of having the integrated chain of wafer and chip, packaging and back-end applications.
Chinese Mainland LED Industry is Booming
In 2003, the Chinese government launched the "National Semiconductor Lighting Project," with Shenzhen, Shanghai, Dalian, Nanchang, Xiamen, Yangzhou and Shijiazhuang as national semiconductor lighting industrial bases in the project. The Chinese mainland LED industry has boosted the growth of semiconductor illumination and lighting markets due to specific policies that support these markets. On the China mainland, there are now over 1,000 LED packaging plants and 2,000 LED application system plants and 68 wafer and chip Fabs (Including On-construction and planned).
In 2009, the gross product value of China LED chips was 2.3 billion RMB which increased 21 percent compared with 2008. The gross product value of LED packaging was 20.3 billion RMB in 2009, an increased of 10 percent over 2008 (Fig.2) even in the serious economy crisis.
Chinese LED Wafer and Chip Fab Plants Characteristics
Up until August 2010, based on SEMI statistics, there were 68 LED wafer and chip fab companies in the Chinese mainland, including 45 companies that are in production or in pilot run stage. Over 85 percent of the companies relate to GaN-based wafers and chips. Meanwhile, there are another 19 new wafer or chip manufacturers which are currently being constructed, 18 of constructing LED fabs which will cover both epitaxial wafer and chip fab. In total, it means that 48 LED fabs which engage in epitaxial wafer process exist in the Chinese mainland.
New LED Fabs and Projects Descriptions
Looking at new LED wafer and chip projects on the mainland, many of the largest investments are from outside of the mainland. We believe that thee LED wafer and chip Fabs in the mainland will be improved and changed remarkably in the next 3 to 5 years.
Table.1 Partial New Plants (Projects) of LED Wafer and Chips Fab in China
2010 Chinese LED Fab Industry IRS Report
SEMI China IRS team will publish the "2010 Chinese LED Fab Industry IRS Report" in coming November In this report, we describe: the LED industry players in the Chinese mainland; trends in LED industry development; supporting plans and policies of central government and local governments; construction plans for new LED Fab plants, MOCVD installation quantities, and new MOCVD planning, in addition to statistics about GaN wafer capacity and forecast and more. For more detailed information, please feel free to contact the SEMI China IRS team:
Lily Feng: firstname.lastname@example.com;
Daniel Qi: email@example.com
SEMI's Opto/LED Fab Watch database tracks individual fab projects very closely. Updates and more information on the reports can be found at www.semi.org/fabs.
October 5, 2010


text:
Kentucky's Red River Gorge
With soaring cliffs and majestic arches, Red River Gorge is an awe-inspiring place to visit. It may be the South's best-kept secret.
The Red River Gorge is a place where mighty sandstone arches rise to the heavens and forest niches hide delicate wildflowers that grow nowhere else on the planet. This rugged region of geological wonders astounds visitors from other places, but it is beloved by Kentuckians and known the world over to rock climbers, partly because of its many overhanging cliffs. "When you fall, you fall into the air," famed local climber Dario Ventura told me. "It's safer."
Easy for You To See
A National Wild and Scenic River meanders among more than 100 sandstone arches―the largest group east of the Rocky Mountains. Picture the magnificent sculptured rocks of Utah's and Arizona's national parks, surround them with a lush forest, and you get a sense of what the Red River Gorge looks like. It is laced with trails, including one that connects to the 260-mile Sheltowee Trace. That's Shawnee for "Big Turtle," the American Indian name for Daniel Boone. The gorge fascinated the Kentucky adventurer.
I'm no Daniel Boone. I'm exploring by car, with easy hikes and a gentle climb here and there, but it fascinates me too. You don't have to be a world-class climber to enjoy it. It's accessible to almost anyone.
That doesn't diminish the wonder of it. I feel as if I'm discovering a long-lost treasure when I drive the 46-mile-long National Scenic Byway that passes through a one-lane former railroad tunnel into the gorge. Spring decorates the woodlands with wildflowers. To see some of the rarest ones, I only have to roll down the car window. White-haired goldenrod grows near the tunnel entrance and a few other locations here―and nowhere else in the world. A river 30 feet wide, with water the color of faded roof tiles, edges close to the road. In the past, several proposals to dam it brought staunch opposition from groups ranging from the Sierra Club to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. (The judge joined a protest hike to help save it in 1967.) Finally, it became the state's first National Wild and Scenic River in 1993.
With rich soils, useful native plants, and the ready-made housing of scores of rock shelters, the gorge boasts a history of habitation dating back thousands of years, but you can almost count on one hand the residents who live here now. Most are as resilient and sturdy as the rock cliffs that poke out of the forest.
Adventure on the River
This morning I stop to have coffee with Judy and Ken Braden. They give me a tour of the spacious house they mostly built themselves, entirely from lumber they cut at their own sawmill. "My wife grew up here, and I knew this is where I wanted to be the first time I saw it," says Ken. He traveled the world as an Army special forces master sergeant. Now they operate Red River Adventure, a kayak and canoe guide and livery service. He takes paddlers 7 miles upriver. It takes about three hours to float one of the most scenic sections.
Some stay the night in a comfortable cabin on stilts that Ken and Judy built at the water's edge. We climb the stairs to the deck to admire the view and check the current, which is slow today. "It's a Class I river. Most of it is shallow, but you can get wet," Ken says.
Walk This Way
The earliest inhabitants of the gorge didn't have to build any housing at all. "Some of the rock shelters range from 5 feet to as long as a football field," explains Johnny Faulkner, archaeologist at Gladie Cultural-Environmental Learning Center. I spend the rest of the morning at the center beside the byway viewing an excellent orientation film, talking with some of the specialists who interpret the National Geological Area for visitors, and listening to Johnny tell about the ancients who dwelled here. "Three thousand years ago, people were here, growing squash and grinding nuts and seeds in hominy holes," he says. "They had small gardens. They were some of the first farmers in America."
Later in the afternoon I take a meandering walk along a section of the Sheltowee Trace, which crosses the river on a swaying footbridge, and hike to a couple of the most visited landmarks along the scenic byway. The side trail to the top of Chimney Top Rock gives me an amazing, 360-degree view of the gorge. Beneath a warming sun, I follow another mile-long path that leads to one of the most dramatic arches in the gorge. I can hear the wind whistling through Sky Bridge when I reach the largest opening, as big as a theater stage, in the rock that tethers the bridge to a mountainside. I'm sweating from the walk. The cool air blowing through the rock feels as welcome as a blast of air-conditioning.
In this wild place, it's easy to pretend you're Daniel Boone, but like most of the tourists who visit, I slip away at the end of the day to rest the night in comfort at the lodge at nearby Natural Bridge State Resort Park.
Rocks That Speak to You
You'd have to look far to find someone who's more inspired by the nature of the region than Brian Gasdorf, naturalist at the state resort. He grew up camping here with his parents. On his first date with his future wife, he took her hiking to Natural Bridge. "It's a beautiful place, but it's a rugged place," he says. "Anyone who comes here can't leave unaffected."
Especially at the peak of wildflower season. One morning after breakfast, Brian points me toward trails in the shadow of the area's most famous arch where I can see showy wild geraniums, fiery red trilliums, and pink lady's slippers.
Before dinner, I start up the steep, half-mile trail that leads to Natural Bridge. Leaves obscure the lofty landmark almost to the moment that I reach the base and it appears magically above the forest. I run my hands over the stone, worn smooth like a monumental piece of sculpture by eons of wind and water. On the way back down, I take the less traveled trail past Battleship Rock. I can hear rain dripping down the towering cliffs. In the antiquity of this timeless place, I'm sure it's only the distant roll of thunder, but I swear I hear the voices of ancients whispering around rock shelters in the gathering dusk. This place of natural wonder speaks to everyone who sees it.
More Information:
- Getting There: Red River Gorge is near Slade, Kentucky, about an hour's drive southeast of Lexington. Take I-64 to Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway East. Take Exit 33 off the parkway, and follow the signs to the Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge State Resort Park.
- Where to Stay: Rooms in the lodge at Natural Bridge State Resort Park start at around $90 per night in April; 1-800-325-1710. If you're taking a canoe trip, rates for the riverside cabin at Red River Adventure start at $99 per night; (606) 663-1012.
- What to Do: Natural Bridge State Resort Park and Gladie Cultural-Environmental Learning Center offer wildflower walks and many other nature programs; (606) 663-8100. Red River Adventure rents kayaks ($25) and canoes ($40), including livery service, life vests, and a river map in a waterproof case.