text:
(written from a Production point of view)
When Riker is charged with the murder of a prominent scientist, each side uses the holodeck to show their side of the story.
Captain Picard is attending figure drawing class with two other crewmembers, Ensign Williams and Lieutenant Wright, and all three are painting canvasses of an unknown figure – later revealed to be a nude model. Lieutenant Commander Data enters and informs the captain that the USS Enterprise has arrived at Tanuga IV, and that the away team has completed its survey of Dr. Nel Apgar's research and is ready to return to the ship. Picard acknowledges Data while he tries to subtly get a better look at the captain's painting.
Picard notices and makes a gesture allowing Data to examine his work and that of the other students. Data compliments the work of Ensign Williams and Lieutenant Wright, but he is much more critical of Picard's work, saying that it is disorganized, using too many disparate techniques. Picard grimaces while Data makes his assessment but "thanks" him when he feels that Data has said enough, and the android leaves.
- "Captain's log, Stardate 43610.4. After completing a delivery of dicosilium to the Tanuga IV research station, our away team has received an update from Dr. Nel Apgar on his efforts to create Krieger waves, a potentially valuable new power source."
Picard enters the bridge, welcoming Lieutenant Commander La Forge back from the station. The captain asks where Commander Riker is. La Forge replies that he is still on the station where Dr. Apgar is working as Apgar wanted to speak to Riker. Although La Forge replies evenly, Picard notices some tension in his speech, and asks if there were any problems.
The chief engineer seems unsure of how to reply but says that nothing went wrong with the scientific portion of the mission. Picard becomes even more curious about what happened on the station due to La Forge's explanation, but La Forge is spared when Riker's exasperated voice is heard through the communicator asking to leave the station immediately. La Forge tells the captain that Riker will explain when he returns.
Chief O'Brien engages the transporter to bring Riker back, but nothing happens, and when he reads the console, he immediately calls engineering, informing them of a power drain. Without warning, the station suddenly explodes, to the horror of Picard and the bridge crew seeing the event on the viewscreen. O'Brien has not beamed Riker back yet as he is having trouble clearing the first officer's signal, but eventually Riker is brought aboard. Riker asks why O'Brien is so surprised that he brought him back; O'Brien informs him that the science station just exploded. Riker turns to the transporter, with a visibly shocked look.
Act One[]
- "Captain's log, supplemental: Commander Riker has informed me that Dr. Apgar was the only one aboard the space station when it exploded. We remain in orbit investigating the accident…"
O'Brien tells the captain (over the com) that he has checked throughout the transporter system and has found no malfunctions, or indeed anything that could have caused such an explosion as the one that has just destroyed the station. He cannot explain the brief power drain just before the explosion, either. Picard tells O'Brien that he will want an explanation, and he is certain that the Tanugan government will demand one as well. Data informs Picard that the radiation and debris are consistent with an overload of the station's reactor core, but neither La Forge nor Riker saw any indications of problems with the reactor while they were on board the station.
Picard turns his attention to Riker and asks him about the mission not going quite so routinely. Riker is slightly dismissive and doubts that it had anything to do with the explosion. Worf informs the captain that Chief Investigator Krag of the Tanugan security force is requesting permission to beam aboard; Picard grants permission and asks Worf to escort him to the bridge. While Worf is escorting Krag, Picard wants Riker to explain everything that happened on board the station as best as he can before the chief investigator arrives on the bridge.
Upon Krag's entry to the bridge, Picard introduces himself and Riker. As soon as he hears Riker's name mentioned, Krag dismisses Picard and approaches Riker informing him that he is to take him into custody on suspicion of murder. Riker responds angrily, but Picard interrupts saying that he and the rest of the Enterprise crew are willing to fully co-operate. Krag, though, insists on extraditing the "prisoner" and Picard asks Krag to accompany him to the ready room, as the bridge is not the best place to discuss such a delicate topic. Riker walks to join them but Picard dismisses him, telling him that he has the bridge, and the bridge staff cannot help looking at Riker in surprise about the recent serious accusation against him.
In the ready room, Picard asks Krag what evidence he has against Commander Riker. Krag says that two witnesses have come forward to describe Riker's threats against Apgar. Picard is surprised on hearing about threat allegations, saying that there was only an altercation, but Krag claims that it was much more than that. He says that Riker will be given the opportunity to prove his innocence – in the Tanugan jurisprudence, the accused is "guilty until proven innocent," while the Federation's own works on the opposite basis. Krag informs Picard that he has consulted Federation regulations and because the alleged incident happened within Tanugan space, they have jurisdiction, but Picard says that the regulations also state that the captain will decide if extradition of an officer is warranted and that, if there is sufficient evidence is brought forward, he will release Riker into Krag's custody.
Krag asks about Picard's closeness to Riker but the captain refuses to answer, saying that it is irrelevant in this instance. Krag feels that it is relevant, though, as he would not expect an impartial decision from Picard, but Picard feels compelled to protect the rights of those who serve with him. Krag appreciates his situation but says that he will do it on the planet as the Enterprise can leave the Tanugan system at any moment; Picard gives his word that, as a Starfleet officer, he will not do so. Krag has little faith in Picard's statement and demands that Riker be turned over for interrogation immediately. Picard says that Krag can interrogate him on the Enterprise. Krag says that interrogation would be impossible on the ship, as great resources would be needed, from witness accounts to the ground computer data.
Picard considers a compromise and says that perhaps it would not be impossible, calling Data into the ready room. Upon entering the ready room, Picard introduces Data to Krag and asks if it would be possible to recreate the events that took place on the station based on testimony from both the away team and witnesses. Although it would require extensive resources, including design specifications of the equipment used, visual representations, and voice analyses, Data replies that it would be possible to do so. Krag considers what Picard and Data have just said – because the captain has no intention of releasing Riker as of yet, Krag agrees and will make arrangements to provide all of the available information. He will also return with his witnesses, he says. Data escorts Krag to transporter room three.
Picard leaves the ready room, telling La Forge and Wesley Crusher that they are going to recreate the station in the holodeck: both La Forge and Riker will give the computer depositions with detailed descriptions of what they witnessed on the station, and Counselor Troi will assist Picard during the inquiry. Picard then considers what he will say next and firmly (although quietly) tells Riker (and the other staff) that his decision on whether or not to extradite him will be based on the evidence presented in the holodeck re-creations. Riker asks for a private word with Picard. But the captain refuses, as it would be inappropriate under the circumstances, and returns to the ready room.
Act Two[]
- "Second officer's log, Stardate 43611.6. Programming of the holodeck has taken eighteen hours and eleven minutes and is now complete. All participants have entered their depositions. Technical schematics and complete records from the lab's ground computers, as well as Dr. Apgar's personal logs, have been included. The recreations will have a nominal 8.7% margin of error."
Picard, Riker, Krag, and Troi enter the holodeck and take their seats at a table in a holographic facsimile of the laboratory on board the space station. Before the inquiry begins, Riker makes a statement that he was not a murderer, but a representative of Starfleet sent to make a progress report on Dr. Apgar's development of the Krieger wave converter, and that he acted accordingly throughout the mission.
Riker then runs a simulation recalling events as he remembers them. Holograms of Dr. Apgar and his assistant, Tayna, appear and the holograms of Riker and La Forge beam aboard the station. Throughout Riker's simulation, the hologram of Riker maintains a neutral, business-like demeanor while Apgar is somewhat impatient and far from pleased with Starfleet's arrival, although he makes an effort to be polite. A simulation of Apgar's wife, Manua, enters, apologizing for the doctor's less than accommodating behavior. Throughout the simulation, she cannot seem to take her eyes off Riker and treats her husband Apgar like an afterthought.
La Forge accompanies Tayna to one of the stations, talking about the Lambda field generator while Manua escorts Riker (while Apgar follows) for a welcoming drink. The three share glasses of champagne, but Apgar has little interest in pleasantries and asks Riker why Starfleet came so soon, especially as Apgar was not due to update them on his progress for another three months. Riker explains that the Enterprise was in the sector on another mission studying a protostar cloud, and since Apgar had requested additional dicosilium for his research, they felt that it was a good opportunity to check-up on his progress.
The Federation flagship would be returning the following day, with the hearing of which statement Apgar was less than pleased. But Riker told him that he and La Forge had already arranged for accommodations on the planet below. Manua, however, insisted that they stay to keep her company and further apologizes for her husband's shortcomings in spite of his scientific prowess. Krag interrupts asking if it was Riker's testimony that it was Manua's idea for Riker and La Forge to stay on the station; Riker confirms this and says that it is also the truth.
The simulation resumes now in the station's guest quarters with Riker and Manua present. Manua shows Riker around the quarters but does not leave and begins to proposition Riker, lowering the light levels in the room and partially undressing. Riker insists that she leave but as he redresses her, Apgar walks in, catching the two in an extremely uncomfortable position. The scientist reacts furiously, hitting his wife and taking a swing at Riker. But Riker moves out of the way of Apgar's punch, and he falls to the floor.
Riker insists that what just happened was a terrible misunderstanding, but Apgar assures him that he will make a formal complaint to Starfleet. The first officer interrupts the simulation and says that he did not see Dr. Apgar until the following morning, when Apgar asked to speak to him alone. La Forge later returned to the Enterprise.
The simulation resumes, returning to the laboratory, where Apgar asks if his complaint will result in Riker giving a less-than-favorable report on his work. Riker insists that the complaint will not affect the report in any way and asks that he call Manua in so they can all resolve the misunderstanding, but both she and Tayna have since returned to the planet. Apgar is frustrated with not knowing where he stands with Starfleet and asks Riker if he feels that there is no justification for the additional dicosilium that he ordered. He insists that he can explain why he needs it, but Riker needs no explanations. Apgar dismisses him and Riker calls the Enterprise, saying that he is ready to leave now. Riker freezes the simulation and says that this was when he left the station.
Krag asks if Riker has anything to add, such as firing a phaser. Riker denies having fired a phaser on the station at all, and Krag is somewhat perplexed by Riker's denial because the lab's ground computers indicated that a focused energy pulse was fired just as the Enterprise's transporters were engaged. Furthermore, analyses of the trajectory and angle of the pulse were traced back to Riker's exact position. Krag then runs a hypothetical simulation of what he believes Riker did. The simulation returns to the point just before Riker departs. Riker calls the Enterprise saying that he is ready to leave now and as the materialization effect of the transporter begins, he quickly draws his phaser and fires at the reactor – three seconds later, the station explodes.
Act Three[]
Data, La Forge, and Wesley are all observing the monitors on the first science station on the bridge where there is a graph displaying the results of a composite radiation traceback analysis. There is an extremely large spike on the far right of the graph that indicates the explosion of the station but there is an anomalous smaller spike just before the larger one. Unfortunately, the energy signature is consistent with that of a phaser discharging and there was nothing else on board the station that La Forge saw that could produce a similar energy signature.
Wesley openly says that it could not have been Riker who fired the phaser and thinks that there is something else that caused the discharge but, although La Forge agrees, he cannot explain why the discharge came from Riker's exact position. La Forge laments that he should have stayed with Riker the whole time they were on the station together. Worf then reports that there is a radiation burst on Deck 39, just outside of Cargo Bay 12. The computer cannot identify either the source or the type of radiation, but it soon subsides.
La Forge and Wesley are now studying the recent burst of radiation with a tricorder which has melted a section of the bulkhead, but both are baffled, as neither knows of any type of radiation that could have done this. Not even the ship's main deflector puts out this much radiation spillage, but what they do know about this radiation is that it is a serious threat to the ship as it can melt a hole in solid duranium.
Returning to the holodeck, Krag escorts (the real) Manua Apgar into the room. She is much more modestly dressed, and her demeanor is much less sensual than the hologram of her in Riker's simulation. Before the next simulation is shown, she makes no statement – she just "knows" that Commander Riker killed her husband. Krag runs Manua's recollection of events on board the space station. Holograms of Manua and Apgar appear in their quarters and Apgar is extremely anxious about Starfleet arriving and worries that they will stop sponsoring his research because he feels that he has not progressed as far as expected. Manua tries to assure him that just a bit of charm would be needed to persuade Starfleet to give him more time.
The simulation returns to the lab where Riker introduces himself and La Forge and Manua enter, but throughout this simulation, Riker has a much more relaxed, charming, less formal attitude – in some respects, much like the real Riker. In addition, Riker pays more attention to Manua than Apgar's progress and looks at her in a very provocative way, making her feel uncomfortable. Tayna shows La Forge the station, describing the field generator while Manua takes Apgar (whom she takes company of this time) and Riker away for a drink.
During the drink, Riker again shows little interest in what Apgar has to say, continuously looking at Manua, and asks if he and La Forge can remain on the station; Apgar reluctantly agrees. Manua shows Riker the modestly-sized quarters but Riker says that it has her charm, making her feel more uncomfortable with each move he makes. He then closes the door on her and makes more, stronger advances on her. Since she is smaller and much weaker than Riker, Manua is almost powerless to stop him although she resists as much as she can, pleading for him to stop.
(The real) Riker interrupts with an angry outburst, leaving his chair, unable to take any more and Picard pauses the simulation. Riker is furious at Manua's accusations and categorically denies having propositioned her or, certainly, tried to rape her. He demands to know why Manua was doing this, but she said that this was exactly what happened. Troi calls for Riker to return to his seat to prevent him from doing or saying something that he may regret later. Visibly frustrated, Riker returns to his seat, and Krag resumes the simulation.
Apgar walks in, sees Manua in Riker's arms, and is immediately enraged, taking a swing at Riker. But Riker blocks Apgar's punch and lands two jabs in the scientist's stomach, causing Apgar to fall back onto the floor. Manua runs over to try to protect her husband, and Apgar promises that this will be Riker's last mission, but Riker threatens him by saying that he will be making a terrible mistake if he lodges his complaint. Krag freezes the simulation and Manua says to Riker that his career in Starfleet was secure despite Apgar's promise – as a scientist, he would have been distracted by some technical trivia and would have forgotten all about his complaint to Starfleet. The memory of her dead husband has become too much for Manua and she leaves the holodeck crying.
Picard calls for a recess and reassuringly taps Riker's shoulder as he and Krag exit, knowing that the evidence against Riker is mounting. Riker turns to Troi and asks why Manua would have lied about what happened, but the counselor does not respond. He notices and asks if she thought that he could have done what Manua accused him of. Troi reassures him that she knows that he could never even have contemplated such an act, even though she sensed no kind of deception from Manua – they are both telling the truth as they remember it. Unfortunately, Manua's recollection of events would result in Riker's extradition and likely conviction.
Dr. Crusher and Martinez are treating a crewwoman in sickbay who has recently injured her arm. Crusher feels that the healing of her injury has advanced enough for her to start restoring the strength of her muscles, but Worf (on the com) calls for Crusher and those present to evacuate immediately as a radiation burst has been detected in sickbay; part of the wall in sickbay begins to burn away.
Act Four[]
La Forge and Wesley are studying the newly-melted spot in the wall. Data confirms that it is the same radiation that had previously penetrated the section of wall on Deck 39 – a highly-focused, powerful emission of radiation but it is of unknown origin. La Forge warns Captain Picard that if this radiation were to form in either the warp core or the antimatter storage pods, they would be in serious trouble.
Picard asks if any of the three have any theories; none do. However, Data has noticed something that was too strange to be a coincidence – the two radiation events aboard the Enterprise occurred five hours, twenty minutes and three seconds apart while the space station exploded at almost four times that interval the previous day – there is a 0.0014 second variance that none of them have been able to explain. Although there is no evidence at present to connect the events, it appears that they may be linked, but if they are correct, they would be able to predict the next radiation event occurring – just over five hours from now. Picard orders them to take the necessary precautions to protect the ship's most vital areas and if they cannot find the source of the radiation by the next interval, the Enterprise is to leave orbit of Tanuga IV.
In the holodeck, the hearing resumes with (the real) Tayna describing what Dr. Apgar told her about the alleged incident between himself, Commander Riker and Manua. She and Krag have made a reconstruction of what happened on the station in the guest quarters based on her deposition. Picard interrupts, protesting that Tayna's accounts are nothing more than hearsay evidence. But because Apgar is dead, Tayna's evidence is admissible under Tanugan law, and Krag insists that Picard consider it; Picard reluctantly agrees to listen to the supposed "evidence." Tayna's simulation runs, beginning similarly to where Manua's simulation ended.
Apgar walks in catching Riker and Manua sharing a passionate kiss; Riker takes a swing at Apgar. The scientist ducks, however, and he then strikes Riker, knocking him to the floor and assuring him that he will be lodging a complaint to Starfleet. But Riker thereupon threatens him, calling him a "dead man." Tayna's next simulation (set in the lab) with Tayna and Apgar; he wants her to take his wife and return to the planet, but Tayna protests and says that he should come down too because Riker threatened him. Apgar, though, feels compelled to protect their work, noting that a man like Riker is capable of doing anything and does not want to leave him alone on the station.
She agrees and decides to contact the authorities, but Apgar tells her not to – he will take care of Riker himself. The simulation stops and Tayna recalls hearing about the station exploding, also "knowing" that Riker killed Dr. Apgar, then leaves. Krag has now established motive, method, and opportunity for Riker to have murdered Apgar – in any court within the Federation, these are sufficient criteria to warrant the extradition of a suspect and Krag awaits Picard's decision.
Picard and Troi are in the ready room, and it seems all but certain that Picard will have little alternative other than to hand Riker over to the Tanugans, as the evidence gathered against Riker warrants a trial. Although both he and Troi know that Riker is totally innocent, they cannot yield to their feelings and unfortunately, there is little evidence to prove their friend's innocence. They are interrupted when Data calls them over the com, telling them that the source of the radiation has been discovered; they return to the bridge.
Data reports that he, La Forge, and Wesley have been looking for a phenomenon that occurs every five hours, twenty minutes and three seconds. They have discovered one such phenomenon on the planet's surface – the field generator that Apgar used in his research. When it is fully charged, it emits an energy pulse, then requires the same amount of time to recharge itself – it was left on after the station had exploded. Picard asks why the generator was affecting the Enterprise as it had been – it should not have done so, as it was a harmless generator, but they knew that it was connected to the radiation bursts and the pieces soon fell into place. They have now determined not only the cause of the radiation bursts, and the cause of the explosion that destroyed the space station – but also who killed Dr. Apgar.
Act Five[]
Picard, Riker, La Forge, Troi, Krag, Manua, and Tayna are all present in the holodeck, where Picard says that despite all the evidence and events shown on the station, they have not seen all of what really happened. As Krag does not understand, Picard enlists La Forge's assistance to prepare their arguments with a few excerpts from their previous recreations:
First is an excerpt from Manua's testimony, in which Apgar says that he has suffered several setbacks and was upset at Starfleet's early arrival to check on his progress. Manua acknowledges her testimony, adding that her husband was under extreme pressure to make his breakthrough. Picard then posits that Apgar was lying to Starfleet, and had, in fact, already succeeded in creating Krieger waves. La Forge fills in Krag about the mysterious radiation bursts that have been hitting the Enterprise, which they have identified as Krieger waves. Baffled, Tayna says that is impossible – even if Apgar had succeeded in creating them, there is nothing to generate them after the station was destroyed.
La Forge explains that the waves are being created by the holodeck's facsimile of Apgar's lab, which includes the Krieger wave converter that Apgar had falsely claimed did not yet work. The field generator on the planet has been sending out harmless energy pulses to the Enterprise, which were converted to Krieger waves by the facsimile of the converter. Riker is confused, since the holodeck cannot create anything dangerous unless the safety protocols are disabled. La Forge acknowledges this and says that technically, it did not do so, since the converter is essentially little more than a complex series of mirrors and reflective coils. The energy pulses from the field generator were reflected off elements in the converter that changed them into focused Krieger waves, which have been striking different areas of the ship as it orbits the planet and its angles to the generator have changed.
Krag asks why Apgar would lie about his progress. Picard runs extracts of two simulations, one in which Apgar promises Manua that his work will yield rich rewards, and another in which Manua references these same rewards as she, Apgar, and Riker are toasting her husband's anticipated breakthrough. Troi explains that Apgar would not have made substantial profits from selling a new power source to Starfleet, but he could have made a much greater profit by turning it into a new weapon and selling it to the Romulans, the Ferengi, and other adversarial species. Dr. Apgar's orders for extra dicosilium were a good indicator that he was trying to create larger reflective coils, to build a more lethal version of his existing converter.
When the Enterprise arrived early, Picard theorizes that Apgar became worried that Starfleet had become suspicious of him. In all three simulations, Apgar claims that he needs more time for his research. Picard further theorizes that Apgar became convinced Riker was on to him and decided to kill Riker to protect himself. (Having found Riker with his wife, Picard adds, did not improve matters.)
Manua finds Picard's submission ridiculous, but Picard replays Tayna's simulation from the lab, when Apgar assures Tayna that he would take care of Riker instead of taking the matter to the authorities. When Apgar sits at a console, Picard freezes the simulation and asks Tayna what Apgar is doing. She says he is activating the generator on the planet, but she does not know why. Picard suggests that Apgar was thinking ahead to his next confrontation with Riker.
Picard replays Riker's simulation at the point where Riker and Apgar discuss what Riker would put in his report. After Riker says that he needs no explanation for Apgar's extra orders for dicosilium, Picard freezes the simulation and surmises that Apgar felt that Riker was confirming his worst fears, and this was when he decided to kill Riker.
Krag reminds Picard that the energy pulse that blew up the reactor (causing the station's destruction) came from Commander Riker's exact position, not Dr. Apgar's. La Forge picks up the explanation, hypothesizing that at the moment Riker beamed out, Apgar energized the converter to fire an energy pulse at Riker, hoping to make his death look like a transporter accident, but Apgar's plan went awry – the pulse instead reflected off the transporter beam into the reactor, causing the explosion that destroyed the station.
Krag finds the hypothesis interesting but dismisses it as impossible to prove. La Forge disagrees, as they have already established that the generator has been discharging and recharging at regular intervals except for the 0.0014-second variance between the first discharge and the explosion of the station. The only logical explanation for this variance is the split-second it took for the energy pulse to bounce off the transporter beam back to the reactor.
Picard and La Forge then deliver their final effect, running a new simulation that has been deliberately synchronized with the next discharge from the generator. The simulation resumes with Apgar returning to the console that he was working on (as seen also in Tayna's simulation) while Riker calls the Enterprise saying that he is ready to leave. As the transporter beam engages, a Krieger wave beam fires from the generator at Riker's position, but it reflects off the transporter beam into the reactor, resulting in an explosion, destroying everything in the simulation.
Only the "real" people remain in an empty hologrid, where Picard summarizes that Dr. Apgar killed himself during his attempt to kill Commander Riker. After having seen this new evidence, Krag withdraws his request for Riker's extradition and offers Riker his apologies. After Krag, Manua and Tayna return to Tanuga IV, the Enterprise leaves the system on a course for Emila II.
Log entries[]
Memorable quotes[]
"Riker to Enterprise, I'm ready to leave. Now."
- - Riker, before beaming over from the station.
(Relieved) "Transporter room to bridge – he's aboard…"
"Why do you sound so surprised, Mr. O'Brien?"
"Well, for a moment we weren't sure you left the space station in time…"
"In time for what?"
"It just exploded, sir."
- - O'Brien and Riker
"I must apologize for my husband's lack of social graces. He may be one of the great scientific minds in the galaxy… but he does come up a bit short in other areas."
- - Manua, on Dr. Nel Apgar
"Damn it, I should have stayed with him!"
- - La Forge, during Riker's murder investigation
"Investigator, in our system of jurisprudence a man is innocent until proved guilty."
"In ours, he is guilty until he is proved innocent, and you are under our jurisdiction."
- - Picard, arguing with Krag over Tanugan legal procedures
"I didn't proposition her, and I certainly didn't try to rape her!"
- - Riker, on Manua Apgar's accusation
"A man more interested in Krieger waves than a lovely woman like you, how is that possible?"
- - Holographic Riker, to Holographic Manua (in Manua's simulation)
"She's lying! That never happened!"
- - Riker, responding to Manua's accusation
"We can't both be telling the truth."
"It is the truth… as you each remember it."
"But her version puts a noose around my neck."
- - Riker and Troi
"I'm going to report this, Riker. You can count on that."
"You're a dead man, Apgar! A DEAD MAN!!!"
- - Holographic Apgar and Holographic Riker (in Tayna's simulation)
"I submit he decided to murder Commander Riker."
"Is it?"
- - Picard and Manua
"I never said that."
"Nevertheless, it seems clear that your husband was motivated to earn the rewards that pleased you."
- - Manua and Picard, suggesting a possible motivation for the events on the station
"Dr. Apgar killed himself – during his attempt to kill Commander Riker."
- - Picard, revealing the truth
Background information[]
Production history[]
- Final draft script: 27 November 1989 [1]
- Premiere airdate: 12 February 1990
- First UK airdate: 22 January 1992
Story and production[]
- According to Ronald D. Moore, the script of this episode received an uncredited "gang-bang" rewrite by the entire writing staff. This constituted Moore's first assignment after joining the team. (AOL chat, 1997)
- Scientific consultant David Krieger recalled that this episode was one of the few times that he was invited in person to a story conference. According to Krieger, the main problem faced by the writing staff was how to threaten the ship, while still maintaining the proposition that holodecks should not, of themselves, create dangerous objects. Krieger noted, "At the whiteboard in Michael Piller's office, I explained my idea of making the holodeck construct act merely as a reflector/concentrator for an outside radiation source. The reconstruction of the dead scientist's laboratory was not itself inherently 'dangerous' (as per the series bible), but in combination with an external radiation source, its geometry made it as effective as the real concentrator in creating the destructive phenomenon the scientist had been studying." Pleased with this solution, the writers decided to temporarily call the radiation field Krieger waves. Krieger was surprised when he discovered that the name was retained in the final episode. [2]
- According to Krieger, he had included a pseudo-scientific explanation on what the waves actually were ("a field that suppressed the strong nuclear force, making any matter exposed to it fissionable"), but the line was cut from the final episode. As a result, the waves ended up as a MacGuffin. [3]
- The plot of this episode has been likened to the classic Japanese film Rashômon. (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 135)
- This episode is considered a bottle show. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 115)
Sets and props[]
- The model used for Dr. Apgar's science station is a re-use of the one used as Regula I in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan which in turn was a re-use of the one for an orbital office complex as seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was subsequently used again several times in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
- The set regularly used for the observation lounge was redressed to serve as the art studio as seen in the teaser. The table and the wall with the models of the ships named Enterprise were removed making the room a lot bigger.
- Picard is never seen painting again. A deleted scene had Picard throw red paint at his painting after Data's crushing criticism of his work.
- The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 115 notes the similarity to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Wolf in the Fold".
- Michael Piller recalled that the episode was "probably the hardest story to break. It was a technical nightmare for the director. I was very, very, happy with the script and I thought the show was disappointing. I guess it didn't translate properly. It was very ambitious, but the casting was off. If you had put Lana Turner in the role of the woman in that show, you would have understood it all – but I don't think it played as it was intended. That's about the best murder mystery I've been involved in developing in my career, because every detail falls into place, every line comes together to explain how, what, when and where, and it really worked from a mystery standpoint. It's so complicated a mystery. In fact, it's like The Big Sleep in space. It's very complicated, yet if you take that script apart, nothing falls out of it. It ought to win an Edgar Allen Poe Award for best mystery of the year. I've been involved in a lot of crime caper shows, but this was a very proud script turned out. I just didn't think it was great television." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 192)
- Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore were even more scathing in their opinions of the episode, with both naming it as the worst episode of the third season. Behr in particular called the episode "a disaster," and arguably even his least favorite of all the Star Trek episodes he ever worked on. (TNG Season 3 Blu-ray, "Yesterday's Enterprise" commentary)
- Director Cliff Bole remarked that "A Matter of Perspective" was "one of the toughest shows I've ever shot from the standpoint of keeping continuity and having to shoot something three different ways." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 192) He further remembered, "It was a real challenge and, I thought, a very clever show. Keeping everybody aware was the big challenge in doing that show, because many people started getting confused. The tougher they are, the better I like them." (²Cliff Bole – Of Redemption & Unification", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 17, p. 31)
- A mission report for this episode, by Robert Greenberger, was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 13, pp. 10-13.
- This episode was due to be given a repeat airing on 25 June 1990, but because he believed that people voting in the technical categories of the Emmy Awards would be carefully watching on that date, Michael Piller suggested otherwise to Rick Berman (in a memo dated 18 April 1990). Piller commented, "I'd like to pull 'Perspective' out of the mix," and went on to propose that 25 June be instead reserved for the repeat of an episode he considered more likely to garner an Emmy – specifically, "Yesterday's Enterprise". However, in a reply memo (dated 8 May 1990), Berman implied that 25 June was essentially irrelevant to the voting of the Emmy Awards, as the "best" dates to focus on for episode airings were 30 June, 1 July, 7 July, and 8 July 1990. (The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise, pp. 91-93)
Video and DVD releases[]
- Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 31, 6 December 1991
- UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 3.5, 3 July 2000
- As part of the TNG Season 3 DVD collection
- As part of the TNG Season 3 Blu-ray collection
Links and references[]
Also starring[]
- LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
- Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
- Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
- Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
- Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
- Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher
Guest stars[]
- Craig Richard Nelson as Krag
- Gina Hecht as Manua Apgar
- Mark Margolis as Nel Apgar
- Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien
- Juli Donald as Tayna
Uncredited co-stars[]
- Majel Barrett as USS Enterprise-D computer voice
- Michael Braveheart as Martinez
- Debbie Marsh as command division officer
- Tim McCormack as Bennett
- Parker McPhinney as art class model
- Keith Rayve as command division ensign
- Dan Sachoff as Williams
- Unknown performers as
Stunt doubles[]
- Dan Koko as stunt double for Jonathan Frakes
- John Nowak as stunt double for Mark Margolis
- James G. Becker – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
- Jeffrey Deacon – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
- Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
- Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner
- Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
- Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Wil Wheaton
2366; "a long face"; accused; alternative; angle; answer; antimatter containment tanks; area; arrival; art; assistant; authority; away team; blast; career; cargo bay 12; champagne; chance; charm; charge; chief investigator; clockwork; coincidence; color; complaint; computer; conclusion; confrontation; construction specification; conversation; course; court; cubist; custody; Dadaism; danger; data; death; debris; deception; delivery; demonstration; deposition; Deposition Program Riker One; design specification; dicosilium; discussion; door; duranium; Emila II; emission; energy; energy discharge; energy drain; energy pulse; energy signature; engine core; Engineering; environmental control; event; evidence; experiment; experimental data; explanation; explosion; extradition; facsimile; fact; Fauvism; fear; Federation; Federation regulations; Ferengi; fight; figure drawing class; fool; Galaxy class decks; geometric constructivism; grievance; ground computer; guest; guest quarters; guilt; hearing; hearsay evidence; hole; holodeck; holodeck programs; hologram; hour; husband; hypothesis; Hypothetical Krag One; idea; information; innocence; inquiry; interrogation; irrationality; jurisdiction; jurisprudence; juxtapose; kilometer; knowledge; Krieger waves; Krieger wave converter; La Forge One; Lambda field generator; leak; Léger, Fernand; main deflector; malfunction; margin of error; Manua Simulation One; megawatt; Milky Way Galaxy; mind; minute; mirror; mission; mistake; mister; month; morning; motive; Mrs.; Much Ado About Nothing; murder; murderer; muscle; navigational deflector; neck; night; noose; nudity; number one; opportunity; orbit; overload; panel; patience; percent; permission; personal log; phaser; phenomenon; Picasso, Pablo; "point of view"; power drain; power source; "princess in a very high tower"; prisoner; privacy; problem; profit; proto-Vulcan; protostar cloud; quarters; question; radiation; rape; reactor core; recess; record; reflective coil; research; research station; reflective coil; report; representative; right; Romulans; room; sanctuary; schedule; science lab; science station; scientist; second; sector; sector containing Tanuga system; sensor; sickbay; simulation; social graces; space station; speculation; "stand by"; standing; Starfleet; Starfleet material supply command database; statement; "step by step"; story; student; success; surface; surrealist; suspicion; Tanuga IV; Tanuga IV research station; Tanuga system; Tanugan; Tanugan law; Tanugan security force; Tayna Simulation Three; Tayna Simulation Four; technical schematics; testimony; theory; thousand; threat; time code; time index; time interval; toast; trajectory; transportation; transporter accident; transporter beam; Transporter Room 3; transporter system; trial; tricorder; truth; update; voice analysis; warp core; weapon; wife; witness; work
External links[]
- "A Matter of Perspective" at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- "A Matter of Perspective" at Wikipedia
- "A Matter of Perspective" at MissionLogPodcast.com
- "A Matter of Perspective" script at Star Trek Minutiae
- "A Matter of Perspective" at the Internet Movie Database
Previous episode: "Deja Q" |
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 |
Next episode: "Yesterday's Enterprise" |


text:
Biography: Carolyn Lord (1956 - ) Southern California native Carolyn Lord was introduced to the "California Regionalist Watercolor" tradition by James Green in the mid 1970's while attending Principia College, in Elsah, Illinois. During college she also attended watercolor workshops with Rex Brandt, George Post, and Robert E. Wood. Two months...... read more
Bee Boxes Under the Oaks, 2019, an original watercolor painting by California artist Carolyn Lord.
This painting is available as a fine art giclée print on premium watercolor paper.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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One year ago, President Clinton set the course of the Nation's budget policy with his charge to "Save Social Security First." The President recognized that we were entering a new era as we left behind the decades of large budget deficits. He was building the foundation for budgeting in this new era of surpluses.
Fiscal progress has produced a strong economy
The year 1998 was one of the most extraordinary in modern U.S. economic history. We enjoyed the first budget surplus in 29 years -- the largest ever in dollar terms, the largest as a percentage of the economy in more than 40 years. And this budget surplus was not the result of a temporary wartime policy, as was the last surplus in 1969. We will have a budget surplus again in the ongoing fiscal year -- at an estimated $79 billion, larger than last year's -- which will mark the first back-to-back surpluses in more than 40 years. The budget I present to you today proposes a third consecutive surplus -- the first time that will have happened in half a century. And our 1998 budget surplus was the sixth consecutive year of improvement in the U.S. fiscal position -- the first time that has happened in American history.
The private sector is the key to economic progress, but we have clearly seen in the decade immediately past that the Federal Government can either hinder or promote economic progress. If the Federal budget deficit is high, so that the cost of capital is driven up and the financial future is uncertain, the private sector cannot yield the progress of which it is otherwise capable. But if, instead, the Federal Government declares its intentions of responsible fiscal behavior, and lives by those intentions -- and if the Federal Government supplies the public investments that America needs -- then the economy is free to prosper. This is the path that this Administration has taken.
In 1998, we reaped the fruits of five years of fiscal responsibility. After the best sustained growth of business investment since the 1960s, the U.S. economy fueled that decades-absent budget surplus. And the economy itself defied the pundits, staying on a pace of solid, above-trend expansion, in the face of an international financial disruption that broke the stride of most other economies around the world. Unemployment and inflation both hit three-decade lows, with the lowest unemployment rates for African Americans and Hispanics in the history of those statistics; real wages continued to grow after more than a decade of stagnation, and a record percentage of adult Americans worked in those higher-paying jobs; the percentage of Americans on welfare fell to a 30-year low; the 10-year Treasury bond rate reached its lowest level in 30 years; and a higher percentage of Americans attained home ownership than at any time in our history.
The President deserves a great deal of credit for the virtuous economic cycle that we now enjoy. The announcement of a firm intention of fiscal responsibility in 1993 was greeted by a continued reduction of interest rates, which helped to trigger the investment boom that has proved central to sustained strong, non-inflationary economic growth. The two other pillars of the President's policy -- investing in our people and our technology, and opening foreign markets to U.S. exports -- complete this winning economic strategy.
The 2000 Budget is a defining moment
This extraordinary budget-and-economic performance -- with the budget setting historical standards and the resilience of the economy setting global standards -- tells us something. It tells us that we have developed a winning economic policy and that we must not turn back. We must not discard the economic philosophy that got us here, to this confluence of economic indicators that all sides now agree is the best in modern memory.
So in one sense, our budget policy now clearly should be built on continuity. We have achieved a sustained fiscal improvement, and we should continue to sustain that improvement. We have an economy that achieved a record sustained peacetime expansion, and we should continue to sustain that expansion.
But in another sense, we have stepped into a new world. Where our budget used to be written in red -- for so many years that people came to take it for granted -- now we are in the black. And this change has tempted some to throw away all of the policy principles that got us here.
For two decades now, there has been much discussion about fiscal discipline, restraint, and deficit reduction. Since 1993, we have taken action; and far beyond the expectations of even the most optimistic, we now have budget surpluses as far as the eye can see. But now, as the first surpluses appear, it is important that we not revert to the practice of cutting taxes and raising spending first, and thinking about the fiscal consequences later.
As the President suggested in his State of the Union address two weeks ago, this is a moment that will do much to determine the character of our country at the end of the next century. We can build and strengthen the fiscal foundation that first arose in these last few years. Or we can sweep it away, before it is firm and strong, and set our economy to foundering again. The choice is clear and the President is determined to pursue a balanced program of fiscal discipline and prudent investment for the future. This budget charts that course into an era of surplus.
Fiscal policy since 1993 was pivotal to our current good fortune
To see why fiscal responsibility matters, consider where this Administration started six years ago. In 1992, the budget deficit was $290 billion, the largest in the Nation's history. Between 1980 and 1992, the debt held by the public, the sum of all past unified budget deficits, quadrupled; it doubled as a share of our Nation's production, or GDP -- from about 25 percent to about 50 percent.
These adverse trends showed every sign of accelerating. Both CBO and OMB projected that, without changes of budget policy, growing deficits would add to the Nation's debt, and growing debt service costs would add, in turn, to the Nation's deficits. OMB forecast the 1998 deficit, in the absence of policy change, at $390 billion, or 5.0 percent of GDP; by 2003, we expected the deficit to be $639 billion, or 6.6 percent of GDP. And there was nothing in the forecast to indicate that this exponential trend would stop.
This threat was not turned back by accident. It required tough policy choices, which the Administration and the Congress took in 1993 and 1997. The President's initial economic program cut spending and increased revenues in equal amounts. Since that time, deficit reduction (and ultimately surplus increase) has more than doubled the estimates for the President's plan -- instead of the projected cumulative $505 billion, deficits have fallen by $1.2 trillion. That is $1.2 trillion less in debt that the American taxpayer must service -- forever.
And this deficit reduction has come as much from lower spending as from higher revenues. Spending has declined to its smallest share of the GDP in a quarter of a century. And thanks to the strong economy, receipts have grown beyond expectations, even though the tax burden on individual families is lower than it has been for about a quarter century:
Receipts have risen as a percentage of GDP not because of a heavier tax burden on typical individual families, but rather because of the extraordinary growth of incomes of comparatively affluent Americans (including capital gains and stock options that are not included in measured GDP); and because of the rapid growth of corporate profits.
The historic bipartisan balanced budget agreement of 1997 has reinforced expectations of Federal fiscal responsibility. This has had a favorable effect on interest rates, and the economy at large.
In the last six years, we have enjoyed an extraordinary economic performance because our fiscal policy was responsible and sound. If we want to continue to enjoy such strong economic performance, we must continue our sound fiscal policy. As the experience of the last 20 years clearly shows, budget problems are very easy to begin, and very hard to end.
Reducing debt burden is as important to the Nation as it would be to a family. The Nation must service its debt. If we gratify ourselves today by collecting taxes insufficient to cover our spending, and accumulate debt, our children and our grandchildren will have to service that debt. If, instead, we reduce our debt, our children and our grandchildren will be freed of the obligation to tax themselves more heavily in the future just to pay the interest on the debt they inherited.
The President's proposal will fully reverse the buildup of debt of the 1980s -- and then go further. By 2014, the end of the 15-year horizon of the President's program, the combined effects of the President's commitments to Social Security and Medicare will reduce the Nation's debt burden to an estimated seven percent of GDP. This will be the lowest ratio of debt to income that the Nation has enjoyed since before it entered World War I. And as most experts would tell us, this will be one of the greatest gifts that we could ever give our children, as we exercise our fiscal stewardship of these United States.
The President's policy would devote more than three-fourths of future budget surpluses to reducing the Nation's debt through contributions to Social Security and Medicare; and would dedicate another 12 percent to household savings through Universal Savings Accounts. This is important to our economic performance for four basic reasons: First, it increases the Nation's savings rate, which is critical to productivity gains and economic growth. Second, it reduces the debt. Third, it improves the fiscal position of the country, and puts it on a stronger footing for whatever uncertainties might arise. And finally, it improves the retirement security of all Americans.
The current challenge is to use the surplus prudently
In 1993, we faced the challenge of eliminating projected budget deficits of $4.3 trillion over ten years. Today we face the enormous opportunity of projected surpluses of more than $4.8 trillion over the next 15 years. The challenge is to use this surplus prudently -- to maintain our strong economic and budgetary performance.
We must save Social Security first. A statement of good intentions is not good enough for the millions of Americans, retired and working today, who rely on Social Security for their retirement security -- and for protection for their families against disability and premature death. From the beginning, this Administration has kept its eyes on the future, and taken policies that would benefit the Nation for generations to come. It has paid off. Saving Social Security first is precisely such a future-oriented policy.
The President's FY 2000 budget -- symbolically, as well as financially, "in the black" -- continues firmly on that successful path. The budget maps a course for the Federal Government after Social Security is reformed -- and makes its own policy recommendations for the beginning of the bipartisan Social Security reform process that the President inaugurated last year. But the budget also draws a line that this Administration will not pass without Social Security reform.
Thus, the FY 2000 budget is fully paid for within the existing budget law. Just as in every previous year, the President has specified his own priority initiatives, but has paid for all of them -- line by line, dime by dime -- with savings from elsewhere in the budget.
The President's policy calls for a bipartisan Social Security reform, this year. The President has already committed 62 percent of our projected budget surpluses -- enough to extend Social Security's solvency almost an extra quarter century, to 2055. We hope that this will launch a bipartisan process to address long-term Social Security solvency. We are gratified that several leaders from the Congress have already accepted this principle and hope that both parties, the President and the Congress, can follow through on this commitment and achieve sufficient additional reforms to extend the solvency of the trust fund at least through the traditional 75-year actuarial horizon.
If we achieve that objective, the budget makes further commitments of the surplus to priority National objectives in the future. The President proposes to dedicate 15 percent of the surplus to extending the solvency of the Medicare trust fund. This is a key element of the President's program, because the financial security of Medicare will be threatened even sooner than that of Social Security. In 1997, the President and the Congress, acting together, made Medicare financially sound through 2010. The President's 2000 budget would extend that lifetime ten years further, to 2020. We see the commitment of the surplus as a vital step to facilitate an environment in which a bipartisan effort -- including the current Medicare Commission -- can go even farther; with the time horizon so short, even after the contribution of 15 percent of the surplus, we cannot delay Medicare reform. As the President stated, he wants to consider, as a part of this reform process, expanding Medicare coverage to include prescription drugs.
The President also proposes using 12 percent of the surplus to finance his new Universal Savings Accounts -- "USAs." This proposal includes seed money for Federal contributions, plus additional funds for matching contributions if individual workers contribute their own money. The matching contributions will provide a larger percentage inducement for low-wage workers. The goal is for all Americans to see the rewards of saving building up in these USAs -- and with this introduction to the power of compound interest, to begin to save further on their own. The President believes that this program, with its Government seed contribution, has the potential to reach even those who have failed to respond to the generous subsidies in the current-law Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
The President wants a fiscally responsible tax cut. He believes that the USA is the right kind of tax cut -- targeted toward the future, and helping the many American families who have the most difficulty saving for their retirement. It strengthens perhaps the most neglected of the figurative three legs of the retirement stool -- personal saving, to stand alongside Social Security and employer pension plans -- and for the many who have no employer plan, this initiative may be crucial. Most importantly, it is part of a plan that fixes Social Security first.
Finally, the budget proposes that the remaining 11 percent of the surplus be dedicated to other important priorities -- including education, National security, and health care. In last October's negotiations on the Omnibus appropriations for fiscal year 1999, Congressional leaders argued that our National defense needs had outgrown the existing discretionary spending caps -- and, indeed, defense received the largest share of the additional emergency funds made available in that legislation. Likewise, the American people have recognized that the quality of their children's education will determine how they progress in life -- and also the strength of the future economy. The President's budget is a sound, disciplined way to provide the additional resources for these priorities that both sides recognize will be needed if our country is to survive and prosper in the next century.
The President's framework for Social Security reform and long-term fiscal discipline works
The President's contribution of the surplus to Social Security will use many of the existing financial management tools of the Federal Government. It will be in addition to the accumulation in the Social Security trust fund that would occur with no change in the current law.
After the trust fund is credited for all of its own receipts, exactly as in current law, the Treasury will be left with the unified budget surplus. Each dollar of that unified surplus can be used only once -- for cutting taxes, increasing spending, or buying down the debt. The President has brought the debate right to the point: What should we do with that surplus? Or to put it another way: If we were to look back fifteen years from now, or at the end of the next century -- what would we want to be able to say that we had accomplished with this opportunity? The President wants to leave a legacy of building for the future: saving Social Security and Medicare; encouraging Americans to save for their own futures, build wealth, and prepare for retirement; investing in education; ensuring our National security; and making other key investments.
So the President started by committing 62 percent of the surplus to save Social Security first. Most of the share committed by the President to Social Security will be used to buy down the publicly held Federal debt through the periodic debt refundings of the Treasury Department, in exactly the same way as debt was retired last year. That same amount will be credited to the Social Security Trust Fund, in the form of Treasury securities. This same procedure will be followed for the President's contribution to the Medicare trust fund.
This commitment will significantly extend Social Security solvency. At the end of 1999, the currently estimated combined balances of the OASDI trust funds is about $850 billion. Through 2014, we estimate that additional contributions to the trust funds under the current law, including interest, will total about $2.7 trillion, leaving a total balance of about $3.5 trillion. The President's program would contribute an additional $2.8 trillion to the trust funds over the next 15 years. Taking into account additional interest earnings, that would leave a balance in the trust funds of more than $7 trillion -- instead of the approximately $3.5 trillion under the current law. The President's program will more than double the balances in the trust funds over the next 15 years -- without accounting for higher earnings on the portion of the surplus invested in corporate equities.
Because the President's plan will reduce the public debt, the total obligations of the Federal Government will not increase. We are already committed to paying benefits beyond 2032, when the trust fund is now expected to be exhausted. The President's proposal would deposit assets in the Social Security trust fund to pay these obligations, and reduce by an equal amount the debt borrowed from the public. Interest payments will go to the trust fund, to cover future Social Security benefits, rather than to banks, individuals and other investors in Government bonds.
A small portion of the President's commitment to Social Security (21 percent of the commitment) will take the form of holdings of corporate stock. Because the Social Security trust fund will need that amount of the cash surplus to purchase the shares, this contribution will not reduce the public debt. However, it will improve the Federal Government's implicit balance sheet -- to the same degree, but in a different way. While the reduction of debt will reduce the Federal Government's liabilities, the corporate shares will increase the Federal Government's assets. The salutary effect on the Government's balance sheet will be the same, but it will appear on the other side of the balance sheet.
Thus, the President's policy in no way increases the total obligations of the Federal Government. In fact, by retiring part of the public debt, it strengthens our economy in exactly the same way that reducing the budget deficit, and avoiding the accumulation of debt, has helped the economy over the last six years. The President's program does shift the Federal Government's commitments to Social Security, however, and in that way improves Social Security's solvency for the next century. This will give Social Security a first call on the economic benefits associated with long-term reductions in publicly held debt.
The President believes that budgeting in an era of surpluses requires a focus firmly on the future. We must put money aside against our current obligations before we incur any new obligations. The President's program does that, by retiring debt and accumulating assets against the Social Security commitments that we already have.
We must balance fiscal discipline with prudent investments for the future
In addressing these priorities, the FY 2000 budget builds upon the investments in our people and our technology that were set in motion by past budgets.
Last year's budget implemented the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, maintained fiscal discipline -- reserving the surplus until we save Social Security first -- and provided a strategy of targeted investments to help sustain economic growth. For example, last year's budget provided resources for:
Over the past six years, the President also worked with the Congress to establish and build upon significant investments in education and training, the environment, law enforcement and other priorities to help raise the standard of living and quality of life for average Americans both now and in the future. For example, the President's commitment to fund key domestic investments has:
This year's budget builds on the President's efforts to invest in the skills of the American people. It continues his policy of helping working families with their basic needs -- raising their children, sending them to college, and expanding access to health care. It also invests in education and training, the environment, science and technology, law enforcement and other priorities, to help raise the standard of living and quality of life of Americans.
Families and Children: For six years, the President has sought to help working families balance the demands of work and family. In this year's budget he proposes a major effort to make child care more affordable, accessible and safe -- by expanding tax credits for middle-income families, and for businesses to expand their child care resources; by assisting parents who want to attend college meet their child care needs; and by increasing funds with which the Child Care and Development Block Grant can help more poor and near poor children. The budget proposes an Early Learning Fund, which would provide grants to communities for activities that improve early childhood education and the quality of childcare for those under age five.
Education: The President has worked to enhance access to, and the quality of, education and training. The budget takes the next steps by continuing to help States and school districts reduce class size by recruiting and preparing thousands more teachers and building thousands more new classrooms. The President proposes improving school accountability by funding monetary awards to the highest performing schools that serve low-income students, providing resources to States to help them identify and change the least successful schools, and ending social promotion by funding additional education hours through programs like the 21st Century Learning Centers. The budget also proposes further increases in the maximum Pell Grant to help low-income undergraduates complete their college education, and more funding for universal reemployment services to help train or find jobs for all dislocated workers who need help.
Environment: This Administration proposes a historic interagency Lands Legacy initiative to both preserve the Nation's Great Places, and advance preservation of open spaces in every community. This initiative will help address sprawl and air and water pollution, through land acquisition, preservation efforts, environmental protection and local growth management. The Administration also proposes a new financing mechanism, Better America Bonds, to further creation of open spaces in urban and suburban areas. The Better America Bonds initiative is an example of our use of targeted, paid-for tax cuts to achieve the Nation's priority goals. In addition, the budget would restore and rehabilitate national parks, forests, and public lands and facilities; expand efforts to restore and protect the water quality of rivers and lakes; continue efforts to double the pace of Superfund clean-ups; and better protect endangered species.
Defense: The President is committed to maintaining world military leadership to provide for the safety of American citizens and the primacy of American Armed Forces. To ensure America's Armed Forces are fully prepared to meet the challenges of the next century, the President proposes a long-term, sustained increase in defense spending to enhance military readiness, improve recruitment and retention, and provide the most modern and effective weapons. In addition, these resources will reinforce the ability of the Defense Department to counter emerging threats such as terrorism, reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, maintain the nation's nuclear deterrent, and provide humanitarian and disaster assistance.
Health Care: The President has worked hard to expand health care coverage and improve the Nation's health. The budget gives new insurance options to hundreds of thousands of Americans aged 55 to 65, and it advocates bipartisan national legislation that would reduce tobacco use among the young. The President's budget proposes initiatives to help patients, families and care givers cope with the burdens of long-term care; and it helps reduce barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities. The budget also enables more Medicare recipients to receive promising cancer treatments by participating more easily in clinical trials. And it improves the fiscal soundness of Medicare and Medicaid through new management proposals, including programs to combat waste, fraud and abuse.
Embassy Security: The bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania highlight the dangers faced daily by Americans who work in U.S. facilities abroad. The budget proposes an increase to the State Department's operating budget to ensure protection of embassies and other facilities, and the valuable employees who work there. The budget also includes a request for $3 billion in advance appropriations for a multi-year security construction program.
The 2000 Budget saves the surplus until we fix Social Security first
The President's FY 2000 budget is fully paid for, in compliance with the discretionary caps and the pay-as-you-go budget rules. The budget allows for appropriations for important domestic and national security priorities by limiting other discretionary spending and achieving mandatory savings. Offsets to discretionary spending include the President's tobacco policy (which would reimburse the Federal Government for tobacco-related discretionary health care costs), FAA user fees, health care savings, Superfund receipts, student loan savings and the recall of additional federal fund reserves at lending guaranty agencies, and reform of the existing harbor maintenance excise tax. With the use of these offsets, in keeping with longstanding budget practice, the 2000 budget complies with the discretionary spending caps.
The budget provides targeted tax reductions, financed by the elimination of tax loopholes, and inefficient or obsolete tax subsidies. Important tax cuts and incentives, in addition to the President's USA retirement savings program, include the tax credit for long-term care needs, the public school construction and modernization bonds, the expansion of the child and dependent care tax credit, the new Better America Bonds, extension of the R&E tax credit, the work opportunity tax credit, the welfare-to-work tax credit, and the tax incentives for reductions of carbon emissions that cause global warming. Important mandatory initiatives include child care, the Medicare buy-in, disability and cancer clinical trials programs, and extension of health-care programs to immigrants. Taking all of these policy steps together, the budget complies with the pay-as-you-go rules, and the tax cuts and mandatory initiatives are fully paid for.
We need adequate resources for a strong defense and critical domestic priorities
For future years, the budget includes the discretionary resources contemplated as a part of the plan for Social Security reform. While these funds will only be available if Social Security reform is enacted, the Administration's policy is categorically defined including those resources. Social Security reform is one of the President's highest priorities for this year and we must work on a bipartisan basis to accomplish this important goal. The comprehensive framework for allocating the surplus will also provide these critical discretionary resources.
The President believes that his discretionary priorities are important to economic growth, and to the Nation's well being and quality of life. Some have disagreed, and have argued that Federal spending in general is too high. This debate requires some perspective.
First, and perhaps most fundamentally, consider the record. Over the years 1980-98, Federal spending averaged 21.9 percent of GDP. But Federal receipts averaged only 18.5 percent of GDP. Thus, the Federal budget averaged a deficit of about 3.4 percent of GDP. When this Administration set out to cut the budget deficit that we inherited, our original plan called for roughly equal spending cuts and revenue increases (with spending cuts in fact slightly larger). While the results of this plan have been far beyond what we ourselves anticipated -- with the deficit falling by more than twice as much as our original estimates -- they did maintain the balance between spending cuts and revenue increases.
In balancing the budget, this Administration has controlled Federal spending well beyond the record of its predecessors. As a percentage of GDP, spending in every year for which President Clinton submitted a budget has been lower than in any year of the two preceding Administrations. In every budget year from 1994 through 1998, Federal spending as a percentage of GDP fell. Spending as a percentage of GDP in 1998, at 19.7 percent, was the lowest in almost a quarter century.
Some argue that "Federal spending is still going up." In the simplest terms -- total dollars with no discounting for inflation, no allowance for the growth of the economy, and no allowance for the growth of the population government serves -- that is true. But even in this format, the analysis tells a great deal about the record of Federal spending under this Administration.
From 1993 through 1998, 31 percent of the simple dollar increase in Federal outlays came because more elderly people retired on Social Security benefits, and prior retirees received cost-of-living increases; 26 percent arose because of additional beneficiaries and higher costs under Medicare; 18 percent arose because, even with a rapidly declining budget deficit -- and by 1998, a budget surplus -- there was more debt to service, and so net interest costs went up; and 10 percent came from increased costs under Medicaid, more than two-thirds of which went for the expenses of the indigent elderly, blind, disabled, and mentally retarded, many of those in long-term care.
Thus, there has been almost no spending growth in programs other than Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and net interest. Spending of the entire remainder of the Federal Government over 1993 to 1998 shrank by 5.4 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars, and fell from 11.5 percent to 8.8 percent of the Nation's GDP.
This shrinking of core government operations cannot go on forever if government is to accomplish the missions assigned to it. We all take for granted the obligation to maintain critical core functions like the FAA, the FBI, and the administration of Medicare. As we consider how to budget in this era of surpluses, we must consider carefully the resources available for these often-anonymous functions that the Nation has a right to expect its government to perform well.
A key element in the Administration's ability to expand strategic investments, while balancing the budget, is the reinvention of government -- doing more with less. Efforts led by Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinvention have streamlined government, reduced its workforce, and focused on performance to improve operations and delivery of service. And these efforts, by reducing the cost of government operations, have improved the bottom line and contributed to our strong economy.
Since 1993, the Administration, working with Congress, has evaluated and eliminated hundreds of unnecessary programs and projects. The Administration has cut the size of the Federal civilian work force by more than 365,000 people, creating the smallest work force in 35 years and, as a share of total civilian employment, the smallest since 1931.
The Administration, however, is working to create not just a smaller Government, but a better one -- a Government that best provides services and benefits to its ultimate customers, the American people. It has not just cut the Federal work force, it has streamlined layers of bureaucracy. It has not just reorganized headquarters and field offices, it has ensured that those closest to the customers can best serve them.
For 2000, this Administration once again is turning its efforts to the next stage of "reinventing" the Federal Government. It plans to dramatically overhaul 32 Federal agencies to improve performance in key services, such as expediting student loan processing and speeding aid to disaster victims. It also plans to tackle critical challenges, such as ensuring that Government computers can process the year 2000 date change, and making more Government services available electronically.
Under the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act, Cabinet departments and agencies have prepared individual performance plans that they will send to Congress with the performance goals they plan to meet in 2000. These plans provided the basis for the second Government-wide Performance Plan which is contained in this year's Budget. For the first time in 2000, agencies will submit to the President and Congress annual reports for 1999 that compare actual and target performance levels and explain any difference between them.
We have an historic opportunity for long-term prosperity if we rise to the moment
There is much to be proud of in America today. By balancing the budget, we have not just put our fiscal house in order; we have left behind an era in which the budget deficit, as the President said recently, "came to symbolize what was amiss with the way we were dealing with changes in the world." Today we have risen to the challenge of change -- by preparing our people through education and training to compete in the global economy, by funding the research that will lead to the technological tools of the next generation, by helping working parents balance the twin demands of work and family, and by providing investment to our distressed communities to bridge the opportunity gap.
If the deficit once loomed over us as a symbol of what was wrong, our balanced budget is proof that we can set things right. Not only do we have well-deserved confidence, we have hard-earned resources with which to enter the next century.
As the President said, what we do now -- after having balanced the budget -- will shape the character of the next century. We can build upon our newfound firm economic foundation; or we can squander it.
The President has brought the debate right to the point: What should we do with the surplus? Or to put it another way: If we were to look back fifteen years from now, or at the end of the next century -- what would we want to be able to say that we had accomplished with this opportunity?
The President wants to leave a legacy of building for the future: saving Social Security and Medicare; encouraging Americans to save for their own futures, build wealth, and prepare for retirement; investing in education; ensuring our National security; and making other key investments.
There is no more pressing issue facing us as a nation than the need to guarantee that Social Security will be there for generations to come. And there is no better time to act than now while the system is still strong. This is truly an exceptional moment in America -- the economy is prosperous, the budget is in balance, and the President's commitment to national dialogue has created conditions for constructive action. We must seize this moment.


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With many families across the UK still dealing with the consequences of last winter's flooding, the International Journal of River Basin Management has just published 10 'golden rules' for strategic flood management (SFM).
Written by an international team of experts, the study provides an overview of emerging good practice in strategic flood management (SFM), as well as a historical overview of the events –– like the Boxing Day tsunami –– that have changed approaches to flood management forever. The article also discusses the purpose and goals of today's SFM and the inevitable challenges associated with its implementation.
While the authors acknowledge the 'remarkable progress in cultivating the concepts of flood risk management' that has taken place over the last few decades, they also recognize that 'the challenge now is to turn the now commonly accepted concepts of managing risks and promoting opportunities into common flood-management practice'.
The authors argue that SFM can play a pivotal role in promoting desired 'societal, environmental and economic outcomes'. In contrast to the often narrowly defined single-objective nature of flood control, they observe that SFM places an emphasis not only on reducing risk (to people, economics and the environment) but also on seeking opportunities to working with natural processes and promoting multiple benefits across a range of criteria (ecological, societal and economic).
Sound flood management planning requires an effective collaborative solution, which 'blurs the distinction between the disciplines of spatial, coastal zone, river basin and water resources planning as well as flood defence engineering and environmental management.'
The list of 10 'golden rules' that are central to achieving sound SFM in practice are:
1. Accept that absolute protection is not possible and plan for exceedance. 2. Promote some flooding as desirable. 3. Base decisions on an understanding of risk and uncertainty. 4. Recognize that the future will be different from the past. 5. Do not rely on a single measure, but implement a portfolio of responses. 6. Utilize limited resources efficiently and fairly to reduce risk. 7. Be clear on responsibilities for governance and action. 8. Communicate risk and uncertainty effectively and widely. 9. Promote stakeholder participation in the decision-making process. 10. Reflect local context and integrate with other planning processes.
To read the full article, please click here.
This free educational webinar will provide a detailed process for climate-driven "pre-response" in a variety of key areas including: Supply Chain Disruptions, Employee Safety and Productivity, Regulatory and Compliance Risks …and many more areas.


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When ghastly ghouls and spooky specters come looking to paint the town dead, the Ghostbusters are ready to answer the call! The mouth of the Ghostbusters team, Peter Venkman could probably talk a ghost into trapping itself if he tried.
Kids and collectors alike can imagine slimy struggles and eerie ecto-encounters from the Ghostbusters Universe with figures from the Ghostbusters Plasma Series! Featuring premium design, detailing, and articulation, this highly poseable collection of action figures embodies the quality and realism Ghostbusters fans are looking to trap. The Ghostbusters Plasma Series includes figures and vehicles from the Ghostbusters entertainment. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability.)
This six-inch-scale Peter Venkman action figure is detailed to look the character from the 1984 Ghostbusters movie, featuring premium detail and multiple points of articulation. By the way, it includes build-a-figure piece, too!


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In Toyota Motor Credit v. Director, Div. of Taxation, Docket No. 002021-2010 (Aug. 1, 2014), the New Jersey Tax Court held that Toyota Motor Credit Corporation ("TMCC") was entitled to increase its tax basis in leased vehicles to the extent of prior year depreciation deductions that hadn't produced a New Jersey tax benefit.
TMCC is a California corporation that operates a vehicle leasing business in New Jersey. In a typical lease transaction, an automotive dealer enters into a lease agreement with a customer for a Toyota vehicle. TMCC purchases the leased vehicle from the dealer, the dealer assigns the lease agreement to TMCC, and TMCC collects the lease payments from the customer. At the conclusion of the lease, TMCC sells the vehicle.
During periods prior to 2003, TMCC had depreciation deductions of $2.041 billion in excess of what was needed to reduce TMCC's entire net income to zero. This gave TMCC a net operating loss of $2.041 billion prior to the 2003 tax year. For federal tax purposes, in 2003 and 2004, TMCC disposed of vehicles and recognized depreciation recovery gain of $484 million and $1.278 billion, respectively. TMCC could not use these losses for New Jersey Corporation Business Tax ("CBT") purposes in 2003 and 2004 because the CBT prohibited loss carryovers for depreciation in 2003 and 2004.
TMCC initially reported gains for CBT purposes for 2003 and 2004 on the sale of leased vehicles because of its federal adjusted basis. Relying on the New Jersey Tax Court's holding in Moroney v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 376 N.J. Super. 1 (App. Div. 2005), TMCC amended its 2003 and 2004 CBT return to eliminate gains of $484 million and $1.278 billion, respectively, by increasing its basis in vehicles sold during those two years by the amount of depreciation that was unused for CBT purposes. TMCC argued that disallowing the basis adjustment for CBT purposes imposes a tax on phantom income.
Moroney involved individual taxpayers challenging New Jersey's Gross Income Tax Act ("GIT"). In Moroney, the taxpayers sold rental properties. Despite taking federal depreciation deductions on the property during the course of ownership, the taxpayers used the properties' purchase price as the basis for calculating gain under New Jersey law. The taxpayers took this position because the operating expenses exceeded rental income in each year the Moroneys owned the properties and the GIT Act prohibits loss carryforwards. The taxpayers prevailed and TMCC argued that the same principle should apply to its facts under the CBT.
The New Jersey Division of Taxation argued that Moroney did not apply in this case because the CBT Act, unlike the GIT Act, directly ties taxable income in New Jersey to federal taxable income. The GIT Act has "long been recognized as not mirroring federal statutes."
The Court, instead, focused on the existing provisions of the CBT Act, which paralleled relevant statutes in the GIT Act. Specifically, the Court examined N.J.S.A. 54:10A-4(k) also imposes a tax on "net income," including "profit gained through a sale . . . of capital assets." Looking at the legislative intent, the Court found that the CBT Act "expresses the intent to tax only the gain a taxpayer realizes from the sale of property [and] permitting TMCC to employ a Moroney adjustment to the basis of its property would further this statutory objective."
The Court also found in favor of TMCC regarding income apportionment under New Jersey's Throw-Out Rule. The Throw-Out Rule, enacted as part of the Business Tax Reform Act of 2002, amended the receipts factor for CBT apportionment. It changed the income tax apportionment sales factor from a ratio of New Jersey receipts to total receipts (NJ receipts/total receipts) to a ratio of New Jersey receipts to taxed receipts (NJ receipts/taxed receipts). The rule excludes receipts from the denominator of the sales factor that would be assigned to a state or foreign country in which the taxpayer is not subject to tax.
The Director removed TMCC's receipts from the denominator of the receipts factor for Nevada, South Dakota, and Wyoming, because TMCC did not pay tax in those jurisdictions. TMCC had lease receipts in Nevada and paid between $25 million and $56 million in tax from 2003 to 2006. TMCC also had significant receipts in South Dakota and Wyoming. The Director argued that the receipts from each state should be "thrown out" because the tax paid to Nevada was actually a sales tax and TMCC did not pay tax in South Dakota and Wyoming. The Court rejected the Director's arguments. The Court held that "sufficient constitutional nexus is all that is required" to preclude the removal of TMCC's receipts from the denominator of the receipts fraction in all three states.
Read the full opinion here: Toyota Motor Credit Corp. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, Docket No. 002021-2010 (Aug. 1, 2014)


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I'm (was?) a Twitter user. This past week I found it utterly weird that none of the words #wikileaks, #cablegate, #cables, #Assange were actually "trending". I even tweeted about this 5 days ago. Today, my fears of secret censorship seem to be coming true. It appears that Twitter is censoring all these words, so they don't appear in the (much-used) Twitter "trends" list. Update 1: A Twitter staffer replied to the blog post saying that their trending algorithm doesn't always result to the most popular terms. Update 2: More investigation about what might be going on.
Wikileaks-related terms did not really trend almost at all last week. The only related trend today that currently trends in a few countries is the much less popular #imwikileaks! Pretty suspicious. If this is real censorship, it is much more profoundly unacceptable than just deleting someone's account, because it's not like trying to block that one account, that one voice, but like censoring and manipulating the collective voice.
Now, I'd probably could give them the benefit of the doubt, but seeing how Twitter suspended their own scheduled server maintenance last year in order to not interrupt its users from tweeting on Iran's protests, for me, this is a good indication about how one-sided, and political, their motivations could be in nature. If Twitter indeed censored Wikileaks from trending, then this is akin to have tried to manipulate public opinion by enabling/disabling the right bits each time, as they see fit, and then serving the result back to us, as something that traditionally was considered "democratically popular". And who knows how many times this could have happened in the past.
Like Digg.com, Twitter became what it is today because it made its users believe that they're part of an internet force that embodied democracy on the way information is becoming popular. Therefore, Twitter has no real excuse if it's censoring trends, because it's like going against its own roots. I hope that Twitter comes clean and explains the situation. One thing is for sure though, trends were not representative of the Twitter community this past week. Not by a long shot.


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Horse Stall Mats - 10' x 12' Stall Kit - Interlocking
Horse Stall Mat
Model: MAR1012-75Brand: Humane
Kit Size: 10' x 12' (Actual Size = 9'10 5/8" x 11'10")
Number of Mats Per Kit: 5
Thickness: 3/4"
Edge: Interlocking
Surface Texture: Diamond
Color: Black
Order Lead Time: 10-15 Days
Minimum Order Quantity: 5
Horse Stall Mat Kits
We know when you are looking for new flooring for your horse's stall, aisle ways, and trailer floors you are looking for a mat which is both comfortable for your horse but will also hold up well over time. We offer an assortment of horse stall mats by Humane Manufacturing to meet horse's needs. Humane is widely known for producing some of the finest mats in the industry, has been producing mats for over 40 years and covers their mats by a 12 year warranty.
The Humane water jet cut process for creating an interlocking design offers the very best, tight-fitting rubber horse mats anywhere. All of the mats are manufactured in the USA and offer a non-slip diamond top pattern surface. This design ensures durability that is very long lasting. These mats come with a flat bottom surface that will allow a much cleaner product for a longer period of time.
There is no adhesive required for installation, just lay down the sections onto any hard, flat, level surface and interlock the pieces together for a perfect fit. Our horse stall mats are designed to provide excellent quality and long life. These stall mats are manufactured from 100% recycled rubber.
These stall mats are very flexible and can be utilized for stalls, aisle ways, grooming areas, and on trailer floors. We offer kits for various stall sizes from 12x26 ft to 16x20 ft. If you need a specific size, we also provide customer orders to meet your needs.
Our 3/4-inch thick sections provide a thickness tolerance of =/- .045-inch. See the "actual size" in the specification list above for the actual size of this stall kit.
Using a pH cleaner, simply hose off the mat to keep it clean.
Provides excellent traction
Shorter clean up times and lower bedding costs
Made in the USA from 100% recycled rubber
Provides comfort and protection
Antibacterial and anti-fungal
12 year limited warranty
Questions? (800) 748-5647 |


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I shared about our use of Preschool Work Trays {boxes, drawers, etc.} awhile back, and I also shared the My Little Pony labels I made for her!
I asked for suggestions and was able to make a few new sets with some of the suggestions that were left in the comments and emailed to me! I hope some of these will be of use to some of you!
I have the following Preschool Packs in the works:
My Little Pony {almost done}
Sofia the First {reader request, and Ladybug likes it}
Spring Fairies {Ladybug's request}
Littlest Pet Shop {Ladybug's request}


text: 15 Hi friends! Dani here and today I'm sharing with you an easy value scale I created for the new Tombow MONO Drawing Pencil Set! A value scale is just a fancy name for a guide that shows the shades of lightness and darkness you can achieve with a particular medium […] Value Scale Using Tombow MONO Drawing PencilsJanuary 16, 2017 in Design Team / Free Downloads / General / Tutorials, Tips & Tricks tagged Dani Manning / Drawing Pencil Set / Pencil test / Tombow / Tombow MONO Drawing Pencil Set / Tone Scale / Value Scale by Dani Manning