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Experiencing Inner Calm
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami , 2000-06-20
An e-devotee in Luxemburg writes to Gurudeva asking about his experiences of profound inner peace that he finds while meditating. Gurudeva explains that he is experiencing Sat-chit-ananda, the natural state of the mind, and that the energies have been raised above the instinctive and intellectual spheres into the heart chakra and beyond.
Unedited Transcript:
A question from Luxembourg, a little country in Europe. Devotee wanting to know about the calmness that's being experienced within himself.
This calmness that you're experiencing as a result of your meditation is called sat-chit-ananda, the natural state of the mind. To arrive at that state, the instinctive energies have been lifted to the heart chakra and beyond and the mind has become absolutely quiet. This is because you're not using your memory faculty, you're not using your reason faculty, you're not trying to move the forces of the world with your willpower faculty. You're simply resting within yourself. So therefore, if you're ever bothered by the external part of you, simply return to this inner, peaceful state as often as you can. You might call it to yourself, "home base". And from here you can have a clear perception of how you should behave in the external world, a clear perception of your future and a clear perception of the path ahead. This is a superconscious state, meaning "beyond normal consciousness". So simply deepen this inner state by being aware that you are aware. And looking forward to seeing you in Europe.
(click for information on next year's travel study program to Europe.)


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Welcome to the HTA
HTA combines the experience of four of Europe's leading research institutes in microelectronics.
The HTA is a novel approach to creating and developing microtechnologies, nanoelectronics, and smart systems for next-generation products and solutions. By pooling the capabilities and facilities of
- CEA (Leti www.leti-cea.fr and Liten www.liten.cea.fr)
- CSEM (www.csem.ch)
- the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics (www.mikroelektronik.fraunhofer.de)
- and VTT (www.vtt.fi)
the HTA creates coherence and synergies between leading teams and research infrastructures in the fields of miniaturization and systems integration. Operated as a one-stop shop for complete system solutions, the HTA guarantees simple access to an enlarged portfolio of technologies and is structured to facilitate technology transfer to European and non-European companies. With a combined staff of more than 5,000 scientists and a portfolio of more than 3,000 patents, the HTA is de facto the largest European organization in the field.

subset: commoncrawl


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Give me back my face, pleads pensioner
Edward Crook has been left with no nose and had part of his mouth and most of the muscles in his shoulder removed during the surgery in 2008, leaving him disabled and barely able to leave his home.
The 71-year-old retired engineer claims he was initially told the surgery would just be to remove the sore and a small piece of his shoulder would be taken to replace what they cut away.
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Hide AdBut two and half months after the surgery, Edward, who originally comes Scholes, woke from a coma to discover what they had done to him and despite his pleas for reconstructive surgery, says he still hasn't been referred by Manchester Royal Hospital.
"I can't do anything, they have totally ruined my life," he said.
"I get comments from people all the time, I don't really want to go out.
"I just wanted my day in court, not for the money - although that would have helped - but to make sure they can't do this ever again to another person."
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Hide AdDespite repeated requests for a comment to Manchester Royal Infirmary they failed to provide one. Edward used to love fishing and playing darts.
Now he is afraid to leave his house because of the cruel comments and stares he receives from the public following an operation at Manchester Royal Infrmary eight years ago to remove a cancerous growth on his face.
He said he was told by doctors that during the operation they would also take a small amount of skin and muscle from his shoulder to replace what they had removed and he would be home in 10 days.
Two and a half months later, Edward, now 71, woke up in hospital with no nose, part of his mouth removed and a huge amount of tissue and muscle taken from his shoulders.
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Hide AdThe retired engineer has been battling ever since for answers from Manchester Royal, where he had the surgery in April 2008, and for some form of reconstruction to give him back some semblance of a normal life.
But he said he doesn't believe doctors at Manchester have referred him for the surgery, leaving him in limbo for eight years. Barely willing to leave his home because of the cruel comments he receives, Edward can no longer play darts or go fishing, activities he used to love.
Edward, who is from Wigan originally but now lives in Bolton, said: "It was just a sore on my upper lip, under my nose, but it kept getting bigger and bigger.
"It was more than two years before my doctor sent me to see a specialist. He did a biopsy on me, found out I had cancer. I underwent surgery but they totally butchered me.
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Hide Ad"They said they would just remove the sore and they would take a piece off my shoulder, about two inches, and replace what they had removed from my face. But they removed my nose and my mouth. They took most of the muscle from my shoulder and my shoulder blades.
"They put me in a coma for two and a half months. They cut me to pieces but I was in a coma so I didn't know anything about it. I was never told why they did it either - they just said it was necessary. I have spoken to a lot of people who said they shouldn't have done it."
Edward has sought legal advice but claims to have been messed around by solicitors who led them on for three years before telling him he had no case.
But it isn't money that Edward wants, he just wants to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.
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Hide Ad"I had a solicitor and for three years they told me we would be going to court and all that but when it came down to it they said 'I'm sorry, you've not got a case'," he explained.
"I've tried to speak to other solicitors but they said because it has been three years they can't do anything legally.
"We went to Manchester to see a dental surgeon. He said he had contacted Liverpool Hospital for us and we should wait to hear him from them about reconstructive surgery within a month.
"We waited months and months and never heard anything. So we rang Liverpool but they said they hadn't heard anything about it.
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Hide Ad"I have got a statement that was written by two district nurses to see if they could get me some extra money to help with my travel costs because I am now disabled. I can only eat processed food and I can't walk very far without having to stop. I used to love fishing and I can't do that anymore because they cut me to pieces. I used to play darts and make a bit of money out of it too but I can't do that anymore because of the muscle they took from my shoulders. I can't do anything, they have totally ruined my life."


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"Being Your Best Self" teaches a young adult how to be a good person, how to think positively, how to be open to opportunity and pursue knowledge (and more). The author, Kathy Poodiack, has gathered what she believes to be important life lessons and put them together in a way that young adults can relate to.
Each chapter introduces a concept, followed by a short story illustrating the concept, then affirmations and exercises to help the reader internalize the idea and the feeling associated with it. Kathy Poodiack is a medical professional, an oncology Physician Assistant, who has cared for people with cancer for over 35 years and has personally witnessed many of her patients make miraculous life transformations.
"Growing up, I experienced intolerance and judgment. I personally know what it feels like to be ostracized and ridiculed. I know about dedication and perseverance. I know about love, commitment and compromise. I have learned about compassion. I have learned how to follow my dreams." Through this book, "Being Your Best Self" Kathy Poodiack has created a guidebook for living a life that is not only deeply happy, but profoundly self-aware. The reader will learn to lead a fuller life through "conscious living". This book provides the steps for a creating a new and positive transformational lifestyle for young adults (and older adults, too).


text:
(part 1, password carbots)
(part 2, password stobrac)
(part 3, password carbots)
MUSIC CUE: "Love Lost" by Temper Trap, very softly at first, then gradually louder as the scene progresses. [or is this too on the nose? consult with music supervisor later]
ALISON, in a wool hat and jacket, sits in a plastic chair on her shitty patio and types at her computer. She takes a pensive sip of coffee, then resumes typing.
BRIAN, sitting on his sofa reading a book, hears his phone beep and checks it to see a text from ALISON. The text has a link in it. He reads the text, taps the link to open it and begins to read.
BRIAN continues to read the letter, which we hear in ALISON'S voiceover. He takes off his glasses and wipes tears from his eyes. He finishes reading the letter, stands up and gets his car keys.
[VOICEOVER OF BEAUTIFUL LETTER CONTINUES] ALISON closes her laptop, goes back inside her shitty [not shitty in the dirty or unsafe sense, just shitty in the yellow walls, not enough windows, poor layout sense] apartment, pets MOKI on the head, and lies down on the sofa to read. It begins to rain.
[VOICEOVER OF BEAUTIFUL LETTER CONTINUES] BRIAN'S car pulls up outside ALISON'S house. He jumps out of his car, runs to her door and knocks.
[VOICEOVER OF BEAUTIFUL LETTER FINISHES, MUSIC SWELLS] Alison hears the knock on the door. She gets up and opens the curtain to see BRIAN standing on her doorstep, rain (or tears?) streaming down his face. Surprised, she opens the door and lets him in. They embrace.
This would never happen in real life. I know that. One flaw in it is that if you showed up on my doorstep I would have a few questions for you before I let things get all embrace-y. No matter what the beautiful letter said, you'd still have to explain some things to me about your thought process.
The other flaw is that we talked a lot about writing (you don't write, but you wish you could), but you never, ever wanted to see any of mine. I mentioned this once. "You're talking about my writing as if it's any good, but you've never read it. I might really suck for all you know."
"Well, you told me that other people like your writing, so I assume it's good."
It hurt to hear you say that. I have had boyfriends who read my writing, and I've had those who didn't, and the latter always bothered me. Why would a person who loves me not care enough about one of my creative endeavors to want to see it? One guy said, "I'd rather have you talk to me about your thoughts and feelings, not read them in your writing." But reading and talking are not the same.
I know that you weren't, aren't, and never will be my boyfriend or a person who loves me. But when someone you are falling in love with declines your oblique offer to share something like that with them, it hurts no matter what. So how could I know if any letter I wrote you would affect you at all? You might think I really suck for all I know.
And anyway, Life Is Not Like A Poorly Formatted Screenplay, and I Told You I Wasn't Going To Contact You So I Need To Stick To That, and I Don't Want To Have To Talk Someone Into Wanting Me, and other stories.
You and I have talked a lot about loneliness. We talked about the nature and quality of loneliness on our first (only, I guess) date. I'd asked you what your favorite book was, and you said it was Maggie Nelson's Bluets. You mentioned a quote from it that you really liked about loneliness. I went home and bought the book immediately and found it:
I have been trying, for some time now, to find dignity in my loneliness. I have been finding this hard to do. It is easier, of course, to find dignity in one's solitude. Loneliness is solitude with a problem.
(Reading Bluets, by the way, was when I knew I would fall for you.)
When we talked about loneliness on that date, it was in the context of OkCupid. You said you didn't know anyone in St. Louis besides your sister and her family, and though you weren't sure about your interest in long-term dating, you were lonely and you needed to get out of your house and meet people. You found joining clubs and doing group activities difficult, so you joined OkCupid because it felt easier somehow.
"I find it easier, too," I said. "It has a nakedly transactional aspect to it that makes things more straightforward. With group activities you have to find people you like in the group and then try to bridge the gap between the group activity and becoming actual friends. Meeting someone from OkCupid is more like, we're both here to see if we like each other and maybe want to hang out more. It's refreshing."
I didn't remember why I cried on that date, but now I do. It was when I told you that sometimes I went on OkCupid dates just to have someone to fucking talk to.
I have been lonely a lot of times in my life. Cripplingly, breathtakingly lonely, for lengthy periods of time, in relationships and out of them. I told you once that I thought the loneliness inside a relationship was much worse than the loneliness outside of one. If I waited the rest of my life and never found the perfect person for me, a person who saw me in all my intensity and stubbornness and sadness and loudness and oddity and wanted me not in spite of these things but because of them, I'd rather be alone-lonely than settle and be relationship-lonely ever again.
You disagreed.
Two things occur to me now.
- If it's true that you'd rather settle for someone not quite right than be alone, you must have thought I was really not right.
- You saw me in at least some of my "intensity and stubbornness and sadness and loudness and oddity" and didn't want me, so technically you're not right for me either.
Someday soon this will be a consolation to me.
It's true that loneliness is solitude with a problem. Solitude is you floating alone on a ship in the ocean. Loneliness is you floundering in the ocean surrounded by debris from the ship, grasping for any piece of it you can whether it will keep you afloat or not.
We don't always know what we're grasping at when we're lonely. During my loneliest times I've reached for some of the weakest, most terrible things, hoping that they'll hold me afloat long enough to make me okay, but they never do. They only make me sink faster.
The truth is that we can't count on just one or two of those little pieces of debris to make us complete. We have to rebuild the whole ship.
One of the last texts I sent to you was about a quote from a Shins song we'd been trying to remember, but neither of us could think of it. I looked it up later and sent it to you. "…but the lonely are such delicate things."
"Solitude," you wrote back. "I'm trying to turn my loneliness into solitude a la Maggie Nelson."
Well, sure.
As silly as it may sound, the best way I've found to turn my loneliness into solitude is to think of myself not as an entity trapped alone inside my body trapped alone inside my shitty apartment, but as a separate person I'm hanging out with and caring for. What are the best things I can do with/for myself today? Thinking of my aloneness that way keeps me from wallowing, keeps me moving around and going for walks and making things and writing and eating food that's good for me and trying to make friends. It helps me rebuild my ship.
It doesn't always work. Sometimes I am so sure that I'd be happy if you'd wanted me, or if someone else wanted me, that it seems like I'll never be happy otherwise. But I can't let another person be my permanent life raft like that, particularly not someone who is too busy floundering around and grasping at their own debris to notice me.
I'm starting to be glad I let you go.


text:
*Elizabeth Peredo Beltrán is a Bolivian Social Psychologist, researcher, author and activist. She has worked with civil society organizations for women, indigenous and labor rights in Bolivia, and written researches, books and reflections on water and climate justice. Elizabeth belongs different social nets and campaigns like Blue October for water, she was the Executive Director of Solon Foundation and has created the Bolivian Observatory on Climate Change, currently is member of the board of directors of Food and Water Watch and belongs the Social Comitee of the UITC.
We reprint this text that Elizabeth Peredo has written in 2014.
Elizabeth Peredo is part of the delegation of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation at the UN Climate Summit COP21 in Paris. [more...]
It has rained incessantly in the Bolivian Amazon and in the Valleys. The waters that have flooded our territory since January, are thought to be the result of the worst rains in 40 years. More than 60,000 families have been affected-at least 350,000 people have had to leave their homes.
They have lost almost everything they own: their animals, their crops, their daily lives. UNICEF has reported that 60,000 Bolivian children have been affected. Nine hundred schools have had to suspend activities for almost a month due to high risk. More than fifty people have died and some of their bodies have still not been recovered. And we cannot yet tell what the magnitude of the impact on health, food and the ability of communities to rebuild their lives will be as the floodwaters recede and the extent of the destruction is slowly revealed. One small example of how poverty triggers the vulnerability of communities comes from the situation of the indigenous people in the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) communities.
Climate change is not just a scientific issue: It is already present and it comes with violance
Though reports speak of huge losses of corn, rice, potatoes, soybeans, vegetables and livestock-with estimates of more than 250,000 head of cattle missing-it remains to be seen in the next few months what the economic impact of floods will be for these peoples themselves, and what the impact will be at both regional and national levels. In the face of the dramatic situation presented by this disaster both authorities and civilians across the whole country have mobilized to collect food, medicines and everything necessary to bring help to the affected communities. Above and beyond, these good intentions to come together to provide aid for those affected by the floods in the Amazon region and in the Bolivian valleys, we were far from being capable of confronting the dimension of such a disaster. Rainfalls are also far from being recognized as not an occasional event but rather as climate change events that will only repeat more frequently in the future. Not far from this region, droughts are hitting hard: in both the Chiquitanía region and the Chaco regions of Santa Cruz and Tarija there have been losses of thousands of hectares of crops, which is resulting in a silent forced migration to the cities. Just some months back the Bolivian Defence Ministry reported 247,000 hectares of land affected by the lack of rain, by snow or by fire. Meanwhile the loss of our glaciers is a sorrow to which we are becoming accustomed.
Climate change is not just a scientific issue, nor is it just something which is of exclusive interest to UN negotiations, nor it is a warning for the future: it is already present in our times, in our territories and it comes with violence. Climate change affects people's lives and it is already claiming many victims.
We share this grief with millions of people across the planet who are suffering the same consequences. Just a few months back more 6.000 lifes were lost and than 11 million people were affected by super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. A million people were without electricity after snowstorms caused by the late winter polar vortex in the U.S. Thousands of people affected in the UK in what was considered the worst flooding in 200 years. Thousands of hectares of forest burned annually in Australia by the alarming drought and heat. Thousands affected in Central America, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay and other countries. Twenty-five million souls were driven into uncertainty by water shortages, the result of droughts and heat waves in California. A deadly landslide with more than one hundred people missing in Washington State, the result of heavy rains. Millions of humans and ecosystems at risk in various parts of the world ... News that nobody wants to hear, but which we will inevitably be forced to confront in our own lifetimes, even though the news appears first as cold statistics in the press.
An obsolete idea has been inculcated into our lives
We need to connect the dots to realise that climate change is a phenomenon that challenges us to overcome short-term visions and the empty rhetoric of "Mother Earth," devoid of concrete actions. Climate change is a consequence of the violent exploitation of nature, of endless economic growth systems based on fossil fuel consumption, understood as an irreplaceable condition for human "welfare." This obsolete idea has been inculcated into our lives on a social, a psychological and on a cultural level.
What can we do to finally get on board that the emissions from burning fossil fuels, of large scale cattle exploitation and of deforestation emissions-both in the North and in the South-are destroying our atmosphere? Where are the effective means of caring for the common goods kidnapped by corporations and the global addiction to unlimited growth? How long do we have to wait till the polluters begin to stop poisoning us and prevent worse consequences? When and how will there be compensation for the damage? (almost 71.5 percent of global emissions are from developed countries where only 17.3 percent of the world population reside). What can we do to avoid the likelihood that the so-called "development" of the global South will repeat that same destructive patterns (disguised by the promises of progress and of happiness)?
Unfortunately-and not only in Bolivia-this theme has become distorted. It became an issue of political and economic interest, rather than simply being recognised as a matter of life or death, a challenge for survival.
The Fifth IPCC report has established in an unequivocal way that climate change is caused by human activity and that it is causing climate chaos everywhere. This report has warned that climate change presents enormous risks related to the access to water, food and livelihood. Some scientists and activists have been highly critical of this report for being-when all is said and done-conservative in nature, especially when it comes to expressing the urgency of the matter. They note that climate change is occurring faster than the IPCC scenarios had indicated, and that the Arctic ice-melt-and its consequent methane release (one of the greatest global threats)-has been underestimated due to pressure mounted by the rich nations and by the oil lobby. Other voices are questioning the possibility that the IPCC report has opened up opportunities for false solutions like geoengineering and unproven technologies, instead of insisting in a stronger way on the restriction of the use of fossil fuels.
Denialism Around the World
In the context of this global emergency, surprisingly, a political/ideological current called "denialism" has emerged. Denialists claim that these phenomena do not correspond to the saturation of the atmosphere as a direct result of human action, rather they claim that it is simply due to the planet's "natural cycles." Denialists, as if we have need of such a service, have devoted their activism to denial of scientific reports. They have become a strong global current that accompanies the rhythms of economical development and investment, blaming environmentalists for creating unnecessary uncertainty. Their position is in essence linked with the corporate oil lobby, large corporations and private capital dedicated to the continued exploration for-and exploitation of-fossil fuels. Their political/industry alliances are indestructible.
Bill McKibben, activist founder of 350.org has claimed that if oil reserves recognized by the world stock markets were exploited, this would consume five times the remaining atmospheric carbon budget. A calamity! Meanwhile, denialism among U.S. Republican representatives commands an impressive lobby so that the U.S. doesn't even contribute to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) nor the UN platform on Economic and Social issues (ECOSOC), even more: they promote the "persecution" of their country's scientists who assert that anthropogenic climate change is a reality. James Hansen, a NASA scientists, is one of their favorite targets.
Denialism does have definite concrete political realities as describe above, but the term also describes an attitude in society, a broad social space of indifference to both global and climate change. This attitude holds significant weight in civil society because people find it very difficult to change their lives in order to prevent global disaster. They prefer to close their eyes to the future. In the field of social psychology this is called "cognitive dissonance." Clive Hamilton, Professor at the Australian Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, has concluded that denialism is an expression of the failure of humanity to confront this crisis of global dimensions.
The dictates of the capitalist system are stronger and more binding than the multilateral agreements
Another form of denialism-although they don't much like it mentioned-is that which comes from governments and from other circles of power and decision-making who disregard the urgent need for action despite the information is available to them. Through their decisions they deny the urgent need to change the current model of development, the energy grid and the management of the response to the crisis of global climate change. The alarming information provided by science is available to governments first hand. Just remember the Philippine climate change negotiator who moved a global audience to tears during the climate talks in Poland 2013, demanding "an end to this madness," after super-typhoon Haiyan devastated part of his country. Though negotiators responded to his words with minutes of silence and expressions of solidarity, negotiations continued as if nothing had happened. Business continued "as usual," and the production and consumption of fossil fuels throughout the world continued "as usual." Convention agreements fall paradoxically by the wayside; the dictates of the capitalist system are at once stronger and more binding than the multilateral agreements. Negotiators seem to speak in unison: "We can vouch for what we have accomplished in the negotiations, but not for the policies in our own countries." The big decisions-those linked to the economic system, to the energy matrices and to capitalist production, that permanent engine of depredation-are kept in place by regional governments at the territorial and local levels.
A new world based on solidarity and empathy
The hard droughts and heavy floods in Bolivia have brought us one step closer to these big questions. To a greater or lesser extent, our understanding is framed by the controversies that are taking place across the globe. We observe the impacts of the climate crisis: polarisation, crisis, demands, the taking up of positions and proposals that go beyond the scope of the climate negotiations.
In Bolivia this has also brought about controversy. This is mediated by national and regional political tensions. Thus the people from the Amazon villages wonder: "What do we do now? What will sustain our families? Are we less important than cattle?" The tensions unleashed by the floods demonstrate how far we are from responses on the scale that is required. Distancing oneself from that which the government says, from local government demands, from Brazilian silence (motivated by the possible causal effects of recently constructed mega-dams), from the political declarations ... what really matters is the construction of a society which is resilient to these global changes, and, therefore, a society able to build a new world based on solidarity and empathy.
Some lessons
There are some lessons that I venture to pinpoint from the dramas that we have lived through in the recent floods in our country:
- We do not need heroes, nor do we need the usual political battles. Rather, we require a long-term view that takes into account climate change and other global changes, seeing the incorporation of cross-cutting measures as critical at every level of public administration and of public life. Nurturing nature and the human rights of the population, especially the poorest people, should be high priorities.
- While negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) are now the only multilateral scenario for global commitments (though they are near to collapse due to their own inefficiency), today local priorities are more important than ever. This is where we can see whether or not we are making progress in stopping this catastrophe and changing the world to care for and regenerate life.
- Resilience must be considered in a multi-dimensional way, from what it means to meet the challenge of sustainable energy and to restore harmony, to the development of technical skills in agriculture, water management, human settlements, etc. Resilience also means ensuring a healthy social tissue, strengthening solidarity, respect and mutual recognition.
- Resilience means also developing a more complex viewpoint that redefines "development" for these times of global changes. To face properly climate change, states must take seriously the fossil fuels use menace. They have to think how to stop and change "fossilized" economies and societies.
- The care and restoration of nature should become an obsession for all-particularly for governments-learning from the capability of the people (amply expressed in those days of rain) to give solidarity. Learning from Mother Earth itself and from its diversity, from the local knowledge of each people and town from the positive progress of mankind.
We need to neutralize "denialism" as a collective attitude; it is not an unalterable condition. It is simply because people are unable to change their depredatory habits, because the channels for proactive and restorative activity are blocked by the systems of political power, by energy systems and by the markets that surround us.
We need discipline, rebelliousness and creativity
There is a growing global consciousness which is looking for ways to activate itself; it is trying to pave the ways to do so and to enable people to build resilient communities not just using technologies and systems, but also in more intimate fabrics-solidarity, love, compassion-which strengthen the possibilities for healthy interactions, and feed the desire to heal nature, nourishing empathy and sentiments for others.
Climate change is challenging humanity. It demands a huge effort from all of us to restore and heal the planet. This requires discipline, rebelliousness and creativity in order to confront a truly global emergency with substantial implications for life and civilization. It is an emergency that by whatever political calculation-from wherever it comes-is simply... unacceptable.
Translation by: Tony Phillips


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text:
Only in the upside-down, Orwellian doublespeak of Washington would proposed federal legislation boasting "enhanced privacy protections for American consumers" actually reduce privacy protections. A law proposed by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) would have done just that.
Email, mobile phones, cloud computing and social networking all provide opportunities for privacy to be invaded. While many things on these devices might not be illegal, they certainly can be embarrassing. The fourth amendment guaranteed that government agents would not be able to go on fishing expeditions into our private lives without good reason.
Sen. Leahy sought to revise the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) with the effect of reducing the privacy standards enshrined by the fourth amendment to our Constitution.
Under current law, law enforcement agents need a warrant supported by probable cause before they can search the hard drive on your home computer or tap your phones. Why should email be treated differently?
Individuals and companies continue to push for reform of ECPA to reflect the new technological realities and our continuing expectation of privacy in communications.
At the behest of law enforcement groups, Leahy reworked an earlier version of the legislation to give over 22 federal agencies the right to search your email or similar communications with only a subpoena and not a warrant supported by probable cause, according to CNET's Declan McCullagh.
"There is no good legal reason why federal regulatory agencies such as NLRB, OSHA, SEC, or FTC need to access customer information service providers with a mere subpoena," a legal expert told CNET. "If those agencies feel they do not have the tools to do their job adequately, they should work with the appropriate authorizing committees to explore solutions."
Leahy's proposed law would have allowed almost everyone short of the DMV to scour your emails: the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and the Mine Enforcement Safety and Health Review Commission.
The proposed amendments also grant state and local law enforcement agents the power to search email or similar communications stored on closed systems, including those of universities. They are not required to have a warrant for this.
Leahy has since backed down, withdrawing his support for the misbegotten proposal. Score one for personal liberty.
This time around.


text: If you're trying to pay down some debt, you might be wondering what the impact would be if you simply increased your monthly payment each month by just a little, or even a lot. When you increase your monthly payment, the amount of the increase gets applied directly to reducing the amount owed, or principle. Reducing the amount of money you owe will reduce your interest charges each month, as the interest rate will be applied only to the outstanding loan balance. An increase in your monthly payment will lessen the amount of interest charges you will pay over the repayment period and shorten the number of months it will take to pay off the loan.


text:
But Weeza and Phil, Z and the Sage are pulling together as always and it'll work out. We all have additional concerns of our own and honestly I'm best talking about the past for now. It'll get better, it usually does.
Weeza was working today and couldn't leave z with the childminder as she's contagious, so I slept at their house overnight and brought z home with me. I stopped on the way to stock up on sweets, chocolate and that awfully healthy yoghurt drink that's supposed to restock *good* bacteria. Even the nurse suggested sweet treats to take away the flavour of the medicine. Did I mention that it's administered 4 times daily? The sound of z's bitter cry as I made her drink it still rings in my ears, and poor Weeza and Phil have to do it for most of next week.
Still, we did have some fun too. I threw a tennis ball and she turns out to have a pretty good eye and quite often returned it - okay, that was sometimes because I hit the racquet, but she also swung it and hit well. We picked runner beans and sweet peas for Weeza, we made cakes and we watched cBeebies, because television is sometimes the best thing when you're played out.
Tonight, I mostly drank gin.
Tomorrow, back to the past.


text:
This entry refers to a departed business that has closed or left town. All information here is for historical reference only. |
Location |
110 F Street |
On the corner of 1st Street & F/G Streets in Downtown Davis |
Next to Seasons |
Hours |
Check-in: 3pm Check-out: 12pm |
Front Desk Staff available 24 hours a day |
Phone |
(530) 753-3600 or (800) 753-0035 |
Fax |
(530) 758-8623 or (530) 758-7421 |
Contacts |
Marisa Schaffer, General Manager - ext. 395 |
Emily Ziser, Sales Manager - ext. 397 |
email@example.com |
Website |
http://www.hallmarkinn.com/ |
Facebook page |
Twitter page |
The Hallmark Inn at UC Davis was the largest hotel centrally located in the the heart of Downtown Davis with 120 rooms and suites. It was within walking distance of UC Davis, art galleries, an array of restaurants, and an award-winning Farmer's Market. For those visitors interested in the Mondavi Center for the Arts, Institute for Wine & Food Science, UC Davis Extension or any of the many entertainment options in bike friendly Davis, the hotel offered free bicycle rentals to guests!
In 1998, the hotel was renovated with a new lobby, bar and breakfast room to become Hallmark Inn. Seasons restaurant opened next door in 2003 replacing Lyons. The hotel underwent a full renovation of all hotel guestrooms and suites in 2009. In 2013, a beautiful new lobby and gallery space was added along with on-site Cafe 110 and a variety of retail spaces. Hallmark Inn was owned by the Youmans family and was part of the local property management company, Hallmark Properties. Prior to becoming Hallmark Inn, it was a Ramada during the 1980s.
A Hilton Garden Inn has now taken its place.
General Manager's Corner
Check out our Special now on through the month of January, Call us & Reserve Today Accommodations Include Deluxe King Size Room with Breakfast Credit for up to 2 guests in Cafe 110
- $5 donation to Yolo CASA receive a $115 + Tax per night rate for King Rooms (Upgrades available at an additional charge)
- subject to availability, not available on special holidays & weekends
Download our free app on iTunes or Android , to receive special promotions.
Features & Amenities
- Breakfast Credit of $8.50pp for selections in Cafe 110 included in some rates
- Courtyard Lounge cocktail reception from 5 to 7 PM showcases local wine & beer, open to public
- 24-hour fitness room; also available is reduced fee access to a local athletic club
- 24-hour computer center with internet access, faxing, copying, and printing
- Free, password protected wireless internet in all guest rooms and public spaces
- Outdoor swimming pool/patio with 1000' mural by local artist Stephanie Taylor
- Free parking for overnight guests with permit can also accommodate tour buses
- Complimentary bicycle rental program available for guests
- BeeKind amenities by Gilchrist & Soames in all guest rooms
- Co-located with Seasons, which offers takeout, outdoor, and private dining options
- Cafe 110, just off of hotel lobby, is open for breakfast and lunch to public
- F Street Gallery is located in hotel lobby and features works by local artists
All guest rooms are spacious with plush bedding, 32" LCD flat screen televisions, cordless phones, desk and Keurig coffee brewers. About 50% of the rooms have two Queen sized beds that can accommodate up to 4 people. The single King rooms are upgraded to include leather chairs and ottomans with some having balconies and microwave/fridge combinations for a minimal additional charge. There are four suites available that have separate parlor areas, two LCD televisions, microwave/fridge combinations and sofa beds.
Two conference rooms are available in the East Wing of the hotel and can accommodate 20-50 people in various sitting arrangements. Meeting details can be arranged with the hotel sales staff Monday through Friday, 9am - 5pm.
Hallmark Inn is used by many groups visiting Davis for conferences, Mondavi performances, athletic tournaments/camps, or social gatherings. The rooms facing the train tracks have been dual paned with additional insulation to buffer as much noise as possible. If you are a light sleeper or concerned, ask for a room facing the pool when you make your reservation or check in.
Public Transportation - Hallmark Inn is located just steps from the Amtrak Train Station and has close access to Unitrans A, and E. Just a few blocks away on 5th Street, there are two Yolobus route stops that will take you to Sacramento, West Sacramento, Woodland and Sacramento International Airport
Bicycle - The Hallmark Inn offers free bicycle rentals for guests to enjoy Davis the way it is meant to be seen, over the handlebars of a bike. Everything that Davis has to offer can be easily accessed by bike. Join the Davis Bike Loop just behind the Davis Commons Shopping Center. The bike lane on 3rd Street going west will take you past Central Park and into the heart of UC Davis in about 3 minutes. The nearest grocery store is the recently renovated Davis Food Co-op, which has ample bicycle parking just half a mile to the north on G Street or Whole Foods one block away in the Davis Commons on 1st and E Street
Pedestrian - For recreational adventures, a beautiful 3.5 mile walking path loop in the 100 acre UC Davis Arboretum can also be accessed behind the Shopping Center. All of Downtown Davis and it's innumerable activities are within walking distance of the hotel.
Automobile - Entrances and exits to I-80, either to San Francisco or Sacramento, are just 0.5 miles away and located on the southern side of the Richards Underpass. More shopping choices are available on the other side of I-80 at the Oakshade Town Center.
Parking - The hotel offers ample parking both underground and at street level for overnight guests with hotel permit. The underground lot has a clearance of 6'8" and provides elevator access to all guestroom floors above. The East lot can accommodate tour buses and large vehicles, however arrangements must be made in advance to ensure availability.
ADA Accessibility - 4 guest rooms are completely accessible and the entire hotel is visitable. Also, the hotel offers TDD equipment to enhance rooms for guests with hearing impairment.
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2008-05-10 18:30:18 It seems that the Hallmark Inn has undergone a series of upgrades over the past year. I've stayed here several times over the past two years, and last weekend when I was there I discovered that the big old televisions in the rooms have been replaced with wall-mounted flat screen TVs. This is a welcome change as the old televisions were the annoying type where they'd be extremely loud every time you'd turn them on. The phones have also been replaced, I'm pretty sure the bedding is new, and there is definitely new paint on the walls. Overall this place is a lot nicer now than the last time I was there, which was actually just last summer. —OscarSabino


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Sterling Ball and John Ferraro went to school together starting in Junior High; in high school, they started playing music together. After high school, Sterling joined a very small Ernie Ball company and John went on to College at Long Beach State where he met Jim Cox. John joined Layy Carlton's band right out of college but he and Sterling continued to play parties and fun gigs. Sterling's father, Ernie Ball, introduced the Ball boys to the playing of the amazing English country guitarist, Albert Lee, in 1972 with Albert's band Heads, Hands and Feet; where he first recorded the legendary "Country Boy" track. Right after hearing that album, Head, Hands and Feet were opening up for Jethro Tull and Sterling went to see them that night and the next at a club gig at the Whiskey a Go Go in Hollywood. They met at the show, and Albert came to the Ball house the next day. From there, a life-long friendship developed.
In 1983, Sterling wanted to start a band to play the Southern California club scene. He was always the bass player but loved playing guitar. This band was going to be his chance to play guitar. He called John and told him about it; John was in! John also said, "You should ask Jim Cox! Jim is one of the greatest musicians and an even better guy that loves all kinds of music." Done. He then asked his brother Sherwood who was a top LA session singer and voice-over artist. He also roped in his friend Freebo to play bass. He told Albert about it and Albert said, "I want to play in it." Back to playing bass for Sterling...
The band was called Biff Baby's All Stars. It was very loose and really fun. The band had a few slogans. One was, "Long solos and sloppy endings." Sterling would frequently joke that there was always a chance you could make money in Biff Baby's All-Stars and to prove it he actually gave out lottery tickets before one gig. This is when the other guys on the record start to fold in. For Sterling's 30th birthday party, Steve Morse was coming to celebrate. Steve wasn't sure about this and Sterling told him they would have a rehearsal; their only rehearsal ever. They went to the Ernie Ball jam room and the rehearsal consisted of a 45-minute version of Radar Love; a song they had never played before and never played again, but Steve was fine and actually joined the band.
Sterling and Luke became friends through mutual friend and master producer, guitarist, and writer, Jay Graydon. Sterling was asked to participate in a roast of Jay for his 40th birthday. This was 1989. Nobody in this LA session hipster party knew who Sterling was. Luke was also one of the roasters and was hysterical (very blue, almost purple in content).
When Sterling finished his roasting Luke approached him and said, "How come I don't know you? You are hysterical, and my new best friend." Twenty-six years later, and they are still best friends. Luke was the next official member of Biff Baby's All Stars.
Some of the best times were when Sterling would call the band and say, "Time for a gig!" Then he would call a club (like the now-defunct Palomino club) and say, "Pay the band that you hired tonight, but we will be playing. The band is welcome to come; we'll pick up their bar tab."
Other players would come visit would end up sitting in, or would ask to do gigs with Biff Baby's All Stars. There were a few where they had two drummers; John and Chad Wackerman. The guest list is very long; however, one of the guest guitarists that would get roped in for the private Casey Lee Ball Foundation gigs was Steve Vai.
Imagine, all these talented artists on one stage ripping - and then supporting their dear friends.
Biff Baby's All-Stars played together for about thirty years. They toured Europe, Australia, Japan, and the edges of the USA.
Twenty years ago, John Petrucci was thinking of joining the Ernie Ball Music Man roster of signature artists. Sort of like a shotgun wedding, John came to San Luis Obispo and they met at Sterling's house for one of his barbecue parties. I think both were a little nervous. The food broke the ice; they talked guitars, and stayed up very late listening to everyone from Buddy Emmons to Ted Greene.
John joined the team, and Sterling and John went on to create some of the best selling modern guitars. Sterling taught John how to barbecue, and John taught Sterling the modes.
One sunny day on Sterling's patio; Rodney Crowell, John Ferraro, and Sterling were playing music (that's what all of these guys do when they get together). One of the songs called was "Payday." John on cardboard boxes, brushes, tables, and whatever he could make rhythm on, Rodney, and Sterling. The next day, Sterling called John and said, "Let's make a record together, just you and I." It was a good intention, but Mutual Admiration Society ended up being the end result.
John and Sterling would meet at Gordon Rustvold's funky studio at about ten in the morning on tracking days. At 1:00PM there would be a long lunch break and a very large lunch. At 2:30PM, it was roll home for a nap, or maybe back to Gordon's to cut another track. Of course, they couldn't play without Jim so they called him in to catch up with overdubs; he joined the band again.
Steve Morse heard a song and pretty much asked if he could participate. You don't say "no" to Steve Morse if he wants to play on a record. Steve did more than play - throughout the process, he was there helping Sterling; either through praise or very honest critique. Sometimes it was very tough love, but it was delivered with love and kindness. He did so much work and was so appreciated that the team wanted to list him as a producer. He declined. He wanted the focus on us.
Then, Luke heard Steve played and wanted to play on a track. He recorded it at Jay Graydon's studio. He then sent a track to Jay.
Steve Vai heard the tracks and asked if we would consider cutting an old favorite track of his from his youth. Albert saw a picture from the sessions on Facebook from the road and sent a message, "I hope there is room for me!"
John Petrucci was concerned with what he would play. Sterling said, "Easy, a Disney Medley."
What was supposed to be a record by a drummer and bassist/guitarist turned into The Mutual Admiration Society.
An unintended celebration of up to forty years of making music together.
A great example of the importance music plays in our collective relationships.
You cannot fake or try to create the chemistry, love, and respect that these men have for each other.


text:
28 CFR § 50.3 - Guidelines for the enforcement of title VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964.
(a) Where the heads of agencies having responsibilities under title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 conclude there is noncompliance with regulations issued under that title, several alternative courses of action are open. In each case, the objective should be to secure prompt and full compliance so that needed Federal assistance may commence or continue.
(b) Primary responsibility for prompt and vigorous enforcement of title VI rests with the head of each department and agency administering programs of Federal financial assistance. Title VI itself and relevant Presidential directives preserve in each agency the authority and the duty to select, from among the available sanctions, the methods best designed to secure compliance in individual cases. The decision to terminate or refuse assistance is to be made by the agency head or his designated representative.
(c) This statement is intended to provide procedural guidance to the responsible department and agency officials in exercising their statutory discretion and in selecting, for each noncompliance situation, a course of action that fully conforms to the letter and spirit of section 602 of the Act and to the implementing regulations promulgated thereunder.
The ultimate sanctions under title VI are the refusal to grant an application for assistance and the termination of assistance being rendered. Before these sanctions may be invoked, the Act requires completion of the procedures called for by section 602. That section require the department or agency concerned (1) to determine that compliance cannot be secured by voluntary means, (2) to consider alternative courses of action consistent with achievement of the objectives of the statutes authorizing the particular financial assistance, (3) to afford the applicant an opportunity for a hearing, and (4) to complete the other procedural steps outlined in section 602, including notification to the appropriate committees of the Congress.
In some instances, as outlined below, it is legally permissible temporarily to defer action on an application for assistance, pending initiation and completion of section 602 procedures—including attempts to secure voluntary compliance with title VI. Normally, this course of action is appropriate only with respect to applications for noncontinuing assistance or initial applications for programs of continuing assistance. It is not available where Federal financial assistance is due and payable pursuant to a previously approved application.
Whenever action upon an application is deferred pending the outcome of a hearing and subsequent section 602 procedures, the efforts to secure voluntary compliance and the hearing and such subsequent procedures, if found necessary, should be conducted without delay and completed as soon as possible.
Compliance with the nondiscrimination mandate of title VI may often be obtained more promptly by appropriate court action than by hearings and termination of assistance. Possibilities of judicial enforcement include (1) a suit to obtain specific enforcement of assurances, covenants running with federally provided property, statements or compliance or desegregation plans filed pursuant to agency regulations, (2) a suit to enforce compliance with other titles of the 1964 Act, other Civil Rights Acts, or constitutional or statutory provisions requiring nondiscrimination, and (3) initiation of, or intervention or other participation in, a suit for other relief designed to secure compliance.
The possibility of court enforcement should not be rejected without consulting the Department of Justice. Once litigation has been begun, the affected agency should consult with the Department of Justice before taking any further action with respect to the noncomplying party.
A number of effective alternative courses not involving litigation may also be available in many cases. These possibilities include (1) consulting with or seeking assistance from other Federal agencies (such as the Contract Compliance Division of the Department of Labor) having authority to enforce nondiscrimination requirements; (2) consulting with or seeking assistance from State or local agencies having such authority; (3) bypassing a recalcitrant central agency applicant in order to obtain assurances from, or to grant assistance to complying local agencies; and (4) bypassing all recalcitrant non-Federal agencies and providing assistance directly to the complying ultimate beneficiaries. The possibility of utilizing such administrative alternatives should be considered at all stages of enforcement and used as appropriate or feasible.
Title VI requires that a concerted effort be made to persuade any noncomplying applicant or recipient voluntarily to comply with title VI. Efforts to secure voluntary compliance should be undertaken at the outset in every noncompliance situation and should be pursued through each stage of enforcement action. Similarly, where an applicant fails to file an adequate assurance or apparently breaches its terms, notice should be promptly given of the nature of the noncompliance problem and of the possible consequences thereof, and an immediate effort made to secure voluntary compliance.
The following procedures are designed to apply in cases of noncompliance involving applications for one-time or noncontinuing assistance and initial applications for new or existing programs of continuing assistance.
Where the assurance, statement of compliance or plan of desegregation required by agency regulations has not been filed or where, in the judgment of the head of the agency in question, the filed assurance fails on its face to satisfy the regulations, the agency head should defer action on the application pending prompt initiation and completion of section 602 procedures. The applicant should be notified immediately and attempts made to secure voluntary compliance. If such efforts fail, the applicant should promptly be offered a hearing for the purpose of determining whether an adequate assurance has in fact been filed.
If it is found that an adequate assurance has not been filed, and if administrative alternatives are ineffective or inappropriate, and court enforcement is not feasible, section 602 procedures may be completed and assistance finally refused.
Where an otherwise adequate assurance, statement of compliance, or plan has been filed in connection with an application for assistance, but prior to completion of action on the application the head of the agency in question has reasonable grounds, based on a substantiated complaint, the agency's own investigation, or otherwise, to believe that the representations as to compliance are in some material respect untrue or are not being honored, the agency head may defer action on the application pending prompt initiation and completion of section 602 procedures. The applicant should be notified immediately and attempts made to secure voluntary compliance. If such efforts fail and court enforcement is determined to be ineffective or inadequate, a hearing should be promptly initiated to determine whether, in fact, there is noncompliance.
If noncompliance is found, and if administrative alternatives are ineffective or inappropriate and court enforcement is still not feasible, section 602 procedures may be completed and assistance finally refused.
The above-described deferral and related compliance procedures would normally be appropriate in cases of an application for noncontinuing assistance. In the case of an initial application for a new or existing program of continuing assistance, deferral would often be less appropriate because of the opportunity to secure full compliance during the life of the assistance program. In those cases in which the agency does not defer action on the application, the applicant should be given prompt notice of the asserted noncompliance; funds should be paid out for short periods only, with no long-term commitment of assistance given; and the applicant advised that acceptance of the funds carries an enforceable obligation of nondiscrimination and the risk of invocation of severe sanctions, if noncompliance in fact is found.
The following procedures are designed to apply in cases of noncompliance involving all submissions seeking continuation or renewal under programs of continuing assistance.
In cases in which commitments for Federal financial assistance have been made prior to the effective date of title VI regulations and funds have not been fully disbursed, or in which there is provision for future periodic payments to continue the program or activity for which a present recipient has previously applied and qualified, or in which assistance is given without formal application pursuant to statutory direction or authorization, the responsible agency may nonetheless require an assurance, statement of compliance, or plan in connection with disbursement or further funds. However, once a particular program grant or loan has been made or an application for a certain type of assistance for a specific or indefinite period has been approved, no funds due and payable pursuant to that grant, loan, or application, may normally be deferred or withheld without first completing the procedures prescribed in section 602.
Accordingly, where the assurance, statement of compliance, or plan required by agency regulations has not been filed or where, in the judgment of the head of the agency in question, the filed assurance fails on its face to satisfy the regulations, or there is reasonable cause to believe it untrue or not being honored, the agency head should, if efforts to secure voluntary compliance are unsuccessful, promptly institute a hearing to determine whether an adequate assurance has in fact been filed, or whether, in fact, there is noncompliance, as the case may be. There should ordinarily be no deferral of action on the submission or withholding of funds in this class of cases, although the limitation of the payout of funds to short periods may appropriately be ordered. If noncompliance is found, and if administrative alternatives are ineffective or inappropriate and court enforcement is not feasible, section 602 procedures may be completed and assistance terminated.
Special procedures may sometimes be required where there is noncompliance with title VI regulations in connection with a program of such short total duration that all assistance funds will have to be paid out before the agency's usual administrative procedures can be completed and where deferral in accordance with these guidelines would be tantamount to a final refusal to grant assistance.
In such a case, the agency head may, although otherwise following these guidelines, suspend normal agency procedures and institute expedited administrative proceedings to determine whether the regulations have been violated. He should simultaneously refer the matter to the Department of Justice for consideration of possible court enforcement, including interim injunctive relief. Deferral of action on an application is appropriate, in accordance with these guidelines, for a reasonable period of time, provided such action is consistent with achievement of the objectives of the statute authorizing the financial assistance in connection with the action taken. As in other cases, where noncompliance is found in the hearing proceeding, and if administrative alternatives are ineffective or inappropriate and court enforcement is not feasible, section 602 procedures may be completed and assistance finally refused.
In situations in which applications for Federal assistance are approved by some agency other than the Federal granting agency, the same rules and procedures would apply. Thus, the Federal Agency should instruct the approving agency—typically a State agency—to defer approval or refuse to grant funds, in individual cases in which such action would be taken by the original granting agency itself under the above procedures. Provision should be made for appropriate notice of such action to the Federal agency which retains responsibility for compliance with section 602 procedures.
The Attorney General should be consulted in individual cases in which the head of an agency believes that the objectives of title VI will be best achieved by proceeding other than as provided in these guidelines.
While primary responsibility for enforcement of title VI rests directly with the head of each agency, in order to assure coordination of title VI enforcement and consistency among agencies, the Department of Justice should be notified in advance of applications on which action is to be deferred, hearings to be scheduled, and refusals and terminations of assistance or other enforcement actions or procedures to be undertaken. The Department also should be kept advised of the progress and results of hearings and other enforcement actions.


text:
Medroxyprogesterone tablet
What is this medicine?
MEDROXYPROGESTERONE is a hormone in a class called progestins. It is commonly used to prevent the uterine lining from overgrowth in women taking an estrogen after menopause. It is also used to treat irregular menstrual bleeding or a lack of menstrual bleeding in women.
What should I tell my health care provider before I take this medicine?
They need to know if you have any of these conditions:
- blood vessel disease or a history of a blood clot in the lungs or legs
- breast, cervical or vaginal cancer
- heart disease
- kidney disease
- liver disease
- migraine
- recent miscarriage or abortion
- mental depression
- migraine
- seizures (convulsions)
- stroke
- vaginal bleeding that has not been evaluated
- an unusual or allergic reaction to medroxyprogesterone, other medicines, foods, dyes, or preservatives
- pregnant or trying to get pregnant
- breast-feeding
How should I use this medicine?
Take this medicine by mouth with a glass of water. Follow the directions on the prescription label. Take your doses at regular intervals. Do not take your medicine more often than directed.
A patient information sheet for the product will be given with each prescription and refill. Read this sheet carefully each time. The sheet may change frequently.
Talk to your pediatrician regarding the use of this medicine in children. Special care may be needed. While this drug may be prescribed for children as young as 13 years for selected conditions, precautions do apply.
Overdosage: If you think you have taken too much of this medicine contact a poison control center or emergency room at once.
NOTE: This medicine is only for you. Do not share this medicine with others.
What if I miss a dose?
If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you can. If it is almost time for your next dose, take only that dose. Do not take double or extra doses.
What may interact with this medicine?
- barbiturate medicines for inducing sleep or treating seizures (convulsions)
- bosentan
- carbamazepine
- phenytoin
- rifampin
- St. John's Wort
This list may not describe all possible interactions. Give your health care provider a list of all the medicines, herbs, non-prescription drugs, or dietary supplements you use. Also tell them if you smoke, drink alcohol, or use illegal drugs. Some items may interact with your medicine.
What should I watch for while using this medicine?
Visit your health care professional for regular checks on your progress. You will need a regular breast and pelvic exam.
If you have any reason to think you are pregnant, stop taking this medicine at once and contact your doctor or health care professional.
What side effects may I notice from this medicine?
Side effects that you should report to your doctor or health care professional as soon as possible:
- breast tenderness or discharge
- changes in mood or emotions, such as depression
- changes in vision or speech
- pain in the abdomen, chest, groin, or leg
- severe headache
- skin rash, itching, or hives
- sudden shortness of breath
- unusually weak or tired
- yellowing of skin or eyes
Side effects that usually do not require medical attention (report to your doctor or health care professional if they continue or are bothersome):
- acne
- change in menstrual bleeding pattern or flow
- changes in sexual desire
- facial hair growth
- fluid retention and swelling
- headache
- upset stomach
- weight gain or loss
This list may not describe all possible side effects.
Where should I keep my medicine?
Keep out of the reach of children.
Store at room temperature between 20 and 25 degrees C (68 and 77 degrees F). Throw away any unused medicine after the expiration date.


text:
In a locked, guarded courtroom in a compound surrounded by razor wire, Immigration Judge Jerome Rothschild waits -- and stalls.
A Spanish interpreter is running late because of a flat tire. Rothschild tells the five immigrants before him that he'll take a break before the proceedings even start. His hope: to delay just long enough so these immigrants won't have to sit by, uncomprehendingly, as their futures are decided.
"We are, untypically, without an interpreter," Rothschild tells a lawyer who enters the courtroom at the Stewart Detention Center after driving down from Atlanta, about 140 miles away.
In its disorder, this is, in fact, a typical day in the chaotic, crowded and confusing U.S. immigration court system of which Rothschild's courtroom is just one small outpost.
Shrouded in secrecy, the immigration courts run by the U.S. Department of Justice have been dysfunctional for years and have only gotten worse. A surge in the arrival of asylum seekers and the Trump administration's crackdown on the Southwest border and illegal immigration have pushed more people into deportation proceedings, swelling the court's docket to 1 million cases.
"It is just a cumbersome, huge system, and yet administration upon administration comes in here and tries to use the system for their own purposes," says Immigration Judge Amiena Khan in New York City, speaking in her role as vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges.
"And in every instance, the system doesn't change on a dime, because you can't turn the Titanic around."
U.S. & World
The Associated Press visited immigration courts in 11 different cities more than two dozen times during a 10-day period in late fall. In courts from Boston to San Diego, reporters observed scores of hearings that illustrated how crushing caseloads and shifting policies have landed the courts in unprecedented turmoil:
--Chasing efficiency, immigration judges double- and triple-book hearings that can't possibly be completed, leading to numerous cancellations. Immigrants get new court dates, but not for years.
--Young children are everywhere and sit on the floor or stand or cry in cramped courtrooms. Many immigrants don't know how to fill out forms, get records translated or present a case.
-- Frequent changes in the law and rules for how judges manage their dockets make it impossible to know what the future holds when immigrants finally have their day in court. Paper files are often misplaced, and interpreters are often missing.
In Georgia, the interpreter assigned to Rothschild's courtroom ends up making it to work, but the hearing sputters moments later when a lawyer for a Mexican man isn't available when Rothschild calls her to appear by phone. Rothschild is placed on hold, and a bouncy beat overlaid with synthesizers fills the room.
He moves on to other cases -- a Peruvian asylum seeker, a Cuban man seeking bond -- and punts the missing lawyer's case to the afternoon session.
This time, she's there when he calls, and apologizes for not being available earlier, explaining through a hacking cough she's been sick.
But by now the interpreter has moved on to another courtroom, putting Rothschild in what he describes as the "uneasy position" of holding court for someone who can't understand what's going on.
"I hate for a guy to leave a hearing having no idea what happened," he says, and asks the lawyer to relay the results of the proceedings to her client in Spanish.
After some discussion, the lawyer agrees to withdraw the man's bond petition and refile once she can show he's been here longer than the government believes, which could help his chances.
For now, the man returns to detention.
In a federal building in downtown Manhattan, the docket lists stretch to a second page outside the immigration courtrooms. Crowds of people wait in the hallways for their turn to see a judge, murmuring to each other and their lawyers, pressing up against the wall to let others through.
Security guards pass through and chastise them to stay to the side and keep walkways clear.
Immigration judges hear 30, or 50, or close to 90 cases a day. When they assign future court dates, immigrants are asked to come back in February or March -- of 2023.
The country's biggest immigration caseload is in New York City, spread over three different buildings. One in 10 immigration court cases are conducted there, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
On average, cases on the country's immigration docket have been churning through the courts for nearly two years. Many immigrants have been waiting much longer, especially those who aren't held in detention facilities.
With so many cases, immigrants are often double- and triple-booked for hearings. That can turn immigration court into a high-stakes game of musical chairs, where being the odd man out has far-reaching consequences.
Rubelio Sagastume-Cardona has waited two years for a New York judge to consider whether he should get a green card.
The Guatemalan had a hearing date in May but got bumped by another case. On this day, he finds himself competing for his space on Judge Khan's calendar with someone else's case -- a space Sagastume-Cardona only nabbed because his lawyer switched him with another client, who now must wait until 2023 for a hearing.
"It's been more difficult to get my client's case heard than to litigate" it, says his attorney, W. Paul Alvarez. "It's kind of crazy."
The protracted delays are agonizing for many immigrants and their relatives, who grapple anxiously with the uncertainty of what will happen to their loved ones -- and when.
And it isn't confined to New York. In myriad courtrooms, similar scenes play out as immigrants and their lawyers jockey for space on too-cramped calendars.
Courts in San Francisco and Los Angeles each have more than 60,000 cases. And cases have been pending an average of more than two years in courts from Arlington, Virginia to Omaha, Nebraska, according to TRAC.
In Boston, Audencio Lopez applied for asylum seven years ago. The 39-year-old left a Guatemalan farming town to cross the border illegally as a teenager in 1997 and soon found a job at a landscaping company where he still works, maintaining the grounds at area schools. But it was just this past November that he headed to the imposing Boston courthouse to learn his fate.
He brings his wife and three children into the courtroom, including a baby girl who munches on Cheerios while sitting on her mother's lap until his case is called.
Lopez tells the judge about his devout Christianity and Bible studies, his kids' education at a charter school and dreams of going to college, his fear of having to move his children to a dangerous place they've never been.
He's hoping to stay in the country under a provision for immigrants who have lived in the country more than a decade and have American children who would suffer if they were they gone.
After about an hour of questioning, Judge Lincoln Jalelian tells Lopez he'll take the case under advisement. The government attorney says she won't oppose granting Lopez a visa due to his "exemplary" record and community service, which means he'll likely be able to stay.
But even as he dreams of his family's future in America, Lopez admits the hope and joy are tempered by uncertainty because his wife's status is still unresolved. She applied separately for asylum five years ago and has yet to have her immigration court hearing.
"It's a good first step," Lopez says a week later. He praises God, "but we hope He can show us another miracle."
A toddler's gleeful screams fill the immigration courtroom in a Salt Lake City suburb as he plays with toy cars while his mother waits for her turn to go before the judge.
Ninety minutes later, the boy is restless, and the 32-year-old woman from Honduras is still waiting. She pulls out her phone, opens YouTube and plays children's songs in Spanish to calm his cries.
There are many children in the immigration courts, though the courts are hardly a place for kids.
In Chicago, a plastic box of well-worn books in English and Spanish sits in the corner of the court waiting room. But the chairs don't move and there are no changing tables in the bathrooms, leading a mom to change her newborn's diaper on a narrow counter between sinks.
Many children have immigration cases of their own. AP reporters saw appearances by children as young as 3. They sit on wooden benches with their parents, grandparents or foster families.
Teenagers scroll through smartphones; a toddler with a superheroes backpack swings his tiny, sneakered feet.
There are also American-born kids tagging along with immigrant parents the government seeks to deport.
The number of children in these courts has swelled since the Obama administration and continues to grow under Trump, with border arrests -- many of them children and families -- soaring in May to a 13-year high.
Now, nearly one in 10 cases in the immigration courts is a child who came to the country without parents, court data shows. Since September 2018, another 118,000 cases involving parents and children were placed in fast-tracked proceedings aimed at deciding cases in a year.
The administration aggressively tried to slow the arrival of young migrants by separating families -- a policy that was later reversed -- and tightening rules for relatives to get them out of detention. But thousands still arrive each month and end up in immigration courts -- sometimes, into adulthood.
Veronica Mejia left El Salvador as a young teen and has now lived a third of her life in the United States.
And it took her that long to get her day in a Los Angeles immigration court.
Now 20, Mejia raises her right hand and vows to tell the truth. She says she was barely a teen when a classmate who belonged to the MS-13 gang pressured her to be his girlfriend. After being assaulted and harassed by gang members, she moved to live with her adult sister in a new city and her family later decided to send her north.
Six years later, she has a job in a California warehouse, a boyfriend and an 8-month-old daughter with chubby cheeks and pierced ears waiting down the hall.
Immigration Judge Ashley Tabaddor asks why she didn't stay with her sister. The government lawyer questions Mejia's credibility.
The hearing ends, and Tabaddor takes a five-minute break. Mejia sits and waits in the courtroom, tears streaming down her face.
When Tabaddor returns, she says she believes Mejia. But she says she doesn't qualify for asylum under the law and issues an order for her to return to El Salvador.
Mejia walks down the hall with her lawyer. Her boyfriend hands her the baby.
"We're going to appeal," she says, sitting down to nurse the wide-eyed infant. "For her -- how am I going to leave her here?"
A piece of toast with jam sits on the desk in Tabaddor's office, half-eaten from the morning's breakfast though it is nearly lunchtime.
On her computer, there are eight color-coded dashboards showing how close she is to meeting goals set by the Department of Justice for the country's 440 immigration judges. Like many, she's nowhere near completing the annual case completion target, and her dashboard is a deep red.
"So far, everyone has told us they're failing the measure," says Tabaddor, speaking in her capacity as president of the immigration judges' union.
While they wear black robes and preside over hearings, immigration judges are employees of the Department of Justice and don't have the same power or autonomy as criminal court judges.
The Trump administration has made that clear, issuing new quotas and rules for the judges and placing them under tight scrutiny in a push to move cases more quickly through the clogged courts.
The measures have pitted the judges against the agency in a full-on fight. The judges' union has called for the courts to be made independent and free of government influence. In turn, the Department has asked federal labor authorities to put an end to the union.
"All of this is frankly psychological warfare," Tabaddor says. "I've had so many people say, "I have a mortgage; I have a child who needs braces. I don't want to fight.'"
In the immigration courts, the friction has taken its toll. Judges are overbooking calendars to try to meet quotas, while the Trump administration has limited their ability to manage dockets as they see fit, adding to the mounting backlog.
Officials also issued rulings making it tougher for immigrants fleeing gangs or domestic violence to win asylum, leading to more denials and potentially more appeals.
In a glass building overlooking the Potomac River from Fall Church, Virginia, officials at the Department's Executive Office of Immigration Review try to find ways to stay ahead of the ever-growing backlog.
They're adding interpreters in Spanish and Mandarin, judges and clerks. They've started special centers to handle video hearings for immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border, while smaller cities like Boise, Idaho, that were once served by traveling judges are now video-only.
They're moving to an electronic system to try to put an end to the heaps of paper files hoisted in and out of courtrooms.
The entire effort is a quest for efficiency, though director James McHenry acknowledges "we're still getting outpaced" by new cases.
The agency hopes tightening the system can make proceedings more efficient, while remaining fair to all. "We are trying to break down the false dichotomy between fair and efficient," he says.
The attorneys for Immigration and Customs Enforcement tasked with upholding the country's immigration laws also feel the crunch. Their numbers haven't changed even as the docket has swelled, says Tracy Short, the agency's principal legal adviser.
They're in court four days a week with caseloads that have doubled from a decade ago, leaving minimal time to prep for hearings.
"I feel like I'm already stretching them to the breaking point," says Wen-Ting Cheng, who oversees the agency's 100 trial attorneys in New York.
The disorder stretches well beyond the bustling courts of the country's cities. A lawyer takes a red eye from Los Angeles to Houston, then flies to Louisiana, rents a car and drives for an hour to reach a remote detention facility.
Michael Navas Gomez, a political activist from Nicaragua, is wearing a jail jumpsuit, and ready for his day in court after being detained five months. He and attorney Joshua Greer watch a video monitor for their hearing before an immigration judge who sits 1,000 miles away in Miami, Florida, along with the government's attorney.
But the stack of documents recounting how Navas Gomez was captured, beaten and burned by pro-government forces is missing. The judge searches for the files while Navas Gomez's lawyer scrambles to get them sent again so the judge can read them.
The system requires careful choreography among judges, lawyers and language interpreters. Immigration attorneys travel long distances to reach remote courts and follow clients shuffled to different detention facilities, while interpreters crisscross the country to provide translation to immigrants when and where they need it.
There's so much chaos it's hard to keep track. At times, an interpreter is missing, or stumbles over dialects or local slang. Video systems fail.
And there are papers everywhere -- except, sometimes, where they are supposed to be.
Adding to the problem is that many immigrants don't have lawyers, and there's no requirement for the government to provide any for them. So oftentimes, immigrants wind up arguing their cases on their own in an incredibly complex area of law.
At the facility in Lumpkin, Georgia, most attorneys' offices are hours away from the town, which has more detainees than residents. Immigrants have no access to email or fax machines and the phones don't always work. When they do, immigrants must pay for expensive calls to relatives to ask for help finding records to back up their cases.
And that's also the case in other detention facilities like the Louisiana one where Navas Gomez has his hearing.
The 30-year-old is lucky to have a lawyer who gets a detention officer to scan and email his files in time. The judge steps out to read them, and his hearing goes ahead.
Navas Gomez tells the judge how his captors scalded him with boiling water, leaving a scar, and released him days later in a remote sugarcane field. The judge agrees to consider his case, and nearly a month later, he is granted asylum and leaves the detention center a free man.
"It was truly beautiful, thank God," he says weeks later, living in Los Angeles.
Not all are so fortunate. At the Stewart facility in Georgia, a Honduran man who wants to apply for asylum isn't sure he'll be able to get the documents he will need to make his case. His mother fled to Costa Rica, and his daughter is here with him.
He asks the judge if there's way for him to let the court know if he decides before his next hearing that he'd rather just be deported.
Judge Jeffrey Nance tells him he can request deportation by putting a note in a box by the facility's cafeteria, and he'll call the man back to court.
The man nods and returns to take his seat in the gallery, his cheeks damp with tears.
The stakes are high for those vying to remain in the country. Some want to stay under a provision that opens the door for those without legal papers who have American relatives.
Others, who arrived recently, are seeking asylum to protect them from violence or persecution.
Those hearings are especially daunting, and most asylum seekers don't win.
The rest are mostly slated for deportation and often have little chance of being able to stay legally in the United States -- at least for now.
Their fate often depends on the luck of the draw in a system with extreme disparities from judge to judge. There are judges who reject 99 percent of asylum cases before them; others approve more than 90 percent, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
The Trump administration last year started forcing some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until the day of their hearings, and families often stay in ramshackle border cities for weeks with their children, with virtually no shot at finding a lawyer. Many of them appear in tent courtrooms on the border that are closed to the public and difficult for lawyers to access.
In El Paso, Texas, immigrants waiting in Mexico show up on the border before dawn and are loaded U.S. government vans and driven to a downtown federal building for their hearings. They appear in courtrooms so crowded the government has barred observers from attending, and immigration detention guards patrol the hallways and escort immigrants on trips to the bathroom.
Immigration Judge Lee O'Connor, who hears these cases in San Diego, snaps at a Honduran mom whose infant bangs on audio devices in court and warns a Salvadoran woman she'll be at a disadvantage without a lawyer.
"I can't defend myself because I don't know anything about the law," she tells him, sobbing.
Miguel Borrayo, a 40-year-old mechanic who sits before an immigration judge in a courtroom outside Salt Lake City, tried to find a lawyer to help him argue he should be allowed to stay in the country with his American children, despite lacking legal papers.
But he was told it would cost up to $8,000, and he didn't have a strong case.
So he goes it alone.
Borrayo tells the judge he never had any trouble with the law since slipping across the border from Mexico in 1997 until he turned his car into a McDonald's parking lot on a family outing for ice cream and came close to a man who was passing by.
The man was an immigration agent. Shortly after pulling into the drive-thru, Borrayo was arrested.
But Immigration Judge Philip Truman spends little time on how Borrayo ended up in his courtroom. He asks about the immigrant's two teenage children.
Borrayo tells Truman they are both healthy and good students. His 16-year-old daughter dreams of someday becoming a veterinarian. His 13-year-old son wants to become a mechanic, like his dad.
His wife, the teens' mother, works part-time so she can care for them.
Ironically, this all dooms his case. Truman says it doesn't seem like his children would suffer tremendously if Borrayo returned to Mexico. Regrettably, he must deport him.
He's given a month to leave the country — one last Christmas in his family's home surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
He shrugs off the loss and leaves the courtroom. But days later, he wonders what went wrong.
"I just tried to tell the truth so that they would help me," he says.
The Associated Press' immigration team sent journalists based around the country to courts from Nov. 12, 2019, to Nov. 22, 2019. Those contributing reporting to the project include:
Philip Marcelo, Boston; Sophia Tareen and Noreen Nasir, Chicago; Cedar Attanasio, El Paso, Texas; Nomaan Merchant, Houston; Amy Taxin, Los Angeles; Kate Brumback, Lumpkin, Ga.; Adriana Gomez Licon, Miami; Deepti Hajela, New York; Astrid Galvan, Phoenix; Brady McCombs, West Valley City, Utah; Elliot Spagat, San Diego, and Colleen Long, Falls Church, Virginia.


text: On May 4, CPJ reported the murder of two Mexican photographers and a former photojournalist in the Veracruz state of Mexico. Also in Veracruz, a month prior, CPJ documented the killing of journalist Regina Martinez Perez and recognized Veracruz as one of the most dangerous places for the press. Senior America's Program Coordinator, Carlos Lauria, speaks to National Public Radio (NPR) Tell Me More in New York on the alarming number of journalists killed in Mexico.


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There's an undeniable poignancy to the ghost bikes that are scattered throughout the city, and I have a lot of respect for the sentiment behind them. However, I have to say that I personally don't like them. In fact, I don't like any memorials. I don't like tombstones, or mausoleums, or urns filled with ashes, or graffiti murals in peoples' memory, or tinted rear SUV windshields etched with murdered victims' names in gothic letters. Certain memorials are like submissions to the fixedgeargallery, in that they're more a testatment to the maker's vanity than they are to the thing they're supposed to represent. I don't think I'm the only one who's seen somebody with an elaborate crying Jesus tattoo in memory of a dead relative and thought, "Wow, you were just waiting for someone to die so you could have an excuse to get that."
Still, though, as memorials go, the ghost bikes do have a certain dignity--unlike the clustercoitus on Broome Street this morning:
Commuting by bicycle in a city like New York has an added dimension in that you're often interacting with the very machinery that drives our popular culture. Film shoots, Presidential visits, parades, protests, and world-altering terrorist attacks are just a few of the things that you're liable to encounter on your commute here. And today it was a bunch of idiots pointing their cameras at a dead actor's building.
Certainly this is a juicy story, and while there are certainly more important things going on in the world (like the fact that people who are rich and dumb enough to eat sushi every day are apparently risking mercury poisoning), it would be naive not to expect the media and the public to be obsessed with it. Still, though, I'm not sure why people have to stand there filming the actual building, or just what it is they expect to happen. Are they hoping to score an interview with his ghost? Do they think his corpse might come back for that massage? Are they expecting Jake Gyllenhaal to ride up on a horse in full cowboy regalia, bawling and bellowing, "Oh, Heath, I cain't quit you!"?
In the hope that seeing things from their perspective might help me understand, I stepped in amongst the cameramen, set aside my dignity, and took a photo myself. For an instant, I was one of them, and I suddenly knew what it was like to join a fraternity, watch the ball drop in Times Square, or take part in any other mass act of stupidity far greater than yourself. Becoming part of that group temporarily diffused all sense of shame and personal accountability I might have had. I then looked at the photo I had taken:
I was wrong. They hadn't been shooting the building. They had been filming the flowers. If you look closely you'll even see a camera on the sidewalk, getting a rat's-eye view.
I was now even more confused.
But there was one thing of which I was now certain. On a commute bookended by memorials, I had been forced to contemplate my own mortality, and I was surer than ever that should my demise "drop" prematurely and I join that great "collabo" in the sky, I don't want anybody to make a ghost bike for me. Fortunately, though, I think I've engendered enough ill-will in the cycling community that it's pretty unlikely anybody will.
But if you must do something, you can ghost ride a Trek Madone 6.9 straight off the Manhattan Bridge. In fact, you're more than welcome to do it even while I'm still alive.