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Freedom of religion is a centuries-old expression. In most cases freedom of religion does not exist.
Freedom of religion is not accepted by the Supreme Court of the USA, as seen in Sandra Day O'Connor's rant that the USA is a Christian nation (it is not). The Roman Catholic majority of justices side with their faith and rule in favor of Christianity. There is little interest in defending the rights of Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, free-thinkers and non believers. This is seen in the repeated demands for a god oath or affirmation to tell the truth. God oath's are distinctly religious (Ide, Arthur Frederick (1988), Vows, Virgins, Oaths and Orgies. Arlington, TX: Liberal Arts Press). This has become the rallying cry for sectarian judges at all levels, from the traffic courts in Des Moines, Iowa, to petty courts in Louisiana and the nefarious local courts in Texas. Most courts or jurists. It is not enshrined in the nation, nor in separate states. At best freedom of religion is a buzzword. In reality freedom of religion is a fantasy that has enchained and enslaved the mentality and academic advance throughout the USA since its inception as American colonies.
From Maine to Georgia, the North American colonies were not founded as bastions of theological freedom or the right to disbelieve. What came from pulpits and stages of colonial churches was the same hot loathing of predatory pastors that existed in Europe, with special condemnation of Jews, "pagan" (i.e. Muslim) slaves, and those who did not express exaltation and conviction of the Christian perspective of males who saw in Christianity justification for gynephobia and misogyny, racism and radicalization of theology that still saw Jews as "killers of the Christ" and "naked savages" (American aboriginal Indians) who did not bow before raised bibles, and later were damned as sinners by Joseph Smith Jr–one of the greatest plagiarist and ignorant speakers in USA history.
Those who came to the shores of the Eastern coastline were greedy, self-serving, and self-loathing Puritans, Pilgrims, people in quest of gold and land, and who had little interest in a truly encompassing society freed from the fetters of religion. Instead, these colonists were determined to create a "New Salem" (Jerusalem) and bring about a theocracy led by theocrats–as with the Matthers, Willis, and other bible bleaters. The colonists had a narrow definition of what religion was. Their god had to be prayed to daily, Their god would appoint "ministers of the faith" who would lead congregations like a ram herding sheep into judgemental assemblies in vocal or silent prayer while calling out witches, warlocks, and disbelievers for execution as with the Salem Witch Trials. The colonial Christians chartered congregations that would give a non-biblical tenth of their possession and production to sustain the slovenly spokespersons of the community's god.
Plymouth colony (Massachusetts) was among the most intolerant colonies. In part this was due to its Puritan background. In part this was due to Plymouth colony's mephistophelean misogyny of its leaders who were more prone to seduce young girls and a few boys but hushed it up under claims of clerical immunity while reading gynophobia plastered across the pages of what copyists claimed were the epistles (or letters) of a mythological Paul written by various hands from 200-1000 CE.
When any person would speak out in favor of a different form of worship, or for the rights of women to participate in a discussion of a biblical text or a pastor's sermon (as was the case with Anne Hutchison), the heavy hand of hardened clerics came crashing down with excruciating éclat. Their denial of human and civil rights for women, people of color and existing LGBT people who were dispatched from the worldly life as "abominations" became routine (read my article on LGBT and Jewish people in colonial America).
Mistress Anne Hutchinson was chastised, defamed, libeled and slandered for her outspokenness and denunciation of those who would not let her speak or preach. Hutchinson cited bible verses to justify her reading and speaking with other women–and some men–in defiance of the male antagonists who would keep her quiet based on wrongful readings of the letters of "Paul".
Anne Hutchinson was better read and more articulate about the scriptures that she interpreted and commented on far more accurately than the pretensions and modestly educated Puritan preachers who acted more like popes than presbyters within her ossified and odious community.
Born Anne Marbury (1591–1643), Hutchinson was a Puritan woman. She served as a spiritual adviser for many when not performing domestic chores and being an attentive mother of 15. Birth control was unheard, and the misinterpreted line in Genesis 9:7 was not an injunction to act like rabbits or guinea pigs/cuyes, but was an admonition to minister to others so that a group would find freedom in thought.
The controversial Anne Hutchinson was an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy. Antinomianism is the belief that under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to obtain salvation. It was in part the teaching of Martin Luther (who had a far greater impact on English theology than did the strictness of Jean Calvin of Geneva), although he qualified his rejection of good works by writing that faith is: "a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn't stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone asks, it already has done them and continues to do them without ceasing. Anyone who does not do good works in this manner is an unbeliever…Thus, it is just as impossible to separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire" (Luther, Martin. Vermischte Deutsche Schriften, Johann K. Irmischer, ed. Vol. 63 (Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854), pp. 124-125. [EA 63:124-125]). It was Antinomianism, with its view that salvation was for the soul only and not the body, rejecting most of the Old Testament and responding to critics that it matched the debate of the Council of Jerusalem (c. 50 CE) that rejected the necessity of circumcision (Acts 15:5, 19-22, cp. Acts 10:9-16) that was on part of the Laws of Moses, that doomed early Puritanism to play a minor role in the devolution of faith in Massachusetts.
A charismatic and popular preacher who threatened Puritan pastors, Hutchinson who was expelled from her colony in 1637. She was walked to the border of Plymouth as her penalty for the crime of challenging the authority of the male ministers who minced words to justify good works that had nothing in common with the Reformation of John Knox, Martin Luther, John Calvin and other would-be reformers turned revolutionaries.
A woman who refused to be silent, Hutchinson exposed the subordination of women in the culture of colonial Massachusetts. Citing scripture Hutchinson spelling out articulate arguments against the reading of the most heated passages in the Epistles of Paul. The mother of 15 children rejected the staid sentence sourly secreted into the vastly plagiarized First Letter to the Church of Corinth. She noted that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 claimed, wrongly, that women were to be silent. Hutchinson called attention to the full passage as being a reference to the church, and not a permanent position in discussion of sermons or scripture solely against the preaching of women. Women, such as Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, and Noadiah, were prophets in the Old Testament, and greeted as "sisters in the faith" in the New Testament (Romans 4:20), becoming judges, priests, and even bishops in the early Church.
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 has traditionally been linked with 1 Timothy 2:8-15. This is the mark of an addition by a copyist, that modern theologians are only now beginning to understand. While there is no substantial evidence that the Plymouth pioneer knew of this, Hutchinson fought for the right of women to read and study scripture without the menacing mention of women being silent based on the idea that all people were like little children whom Jesus invited to visit him (Matthew 19:14). Even the Paul of the New Testament saluted women, as in the case of Phoebe (Romans 16:1–2) Priscilla, wife of Aquila (both being tent makers; Acts 18:2) and recognized as leaders in 1 Corinthians 16:19 and Romans 16:3.
What Hutchinson did not argue is the text itself. Such an education was forbidden women by men who were threatened by any thought of equality between the sexes. Only ennobled women, wealthy women, had any formal education, and then quietly in their homes. The transmogrification of equality is the leftover garbage of the establishment of Christianity as an official religion by the Emperor in the fourth century CE.
If Anne Hutchinson had an education in Biblical text and interpretation, she would have noted that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is a declarative statement and the passage does not match the rest of the text. Translation and interpretation have never been strong suits in theological studies from the ancient world to this day when school pretend to teach both sciences not only in the Third World but in most schools in the First World.
A more careful study of the questionable declarative verse would note that the writers of the Pauline epistle to the church at Corinth ignored the scripture's declaration that women will prophesy (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17-18) and did so in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:5). The persecutor of Christians including at Corinth, Saul of Tarsus (who later takes for himself the name of Paul that means "small", "humble" and even a "limited gathering of scholars". The name Paul is a family's surname at the time of the first century CE. It is Roman in heritage and spelled Paulus or Paullus. Nowhere in the New Testament considered an Apostle except by Saul, himself. The name Paul had no Hebrew or ancient Greek equivalent. It is introduced in Biblical Greek. The man is a self-created legend, and the Bible says nothing about Paul's death. Only in 2 Timothy 2, do we read Paul writing about anticipating his death.
What is unique is the writers of the Epistles, especially the letters to the congregation (there was no church) is that they are filled with repetition and self-rejection. This is seen, dramatically, in the two verses 34 and 35. They are self-contradictory, with 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 being at best a gloss or marginalia eased into the text by a medieval monk.
The Paul of the New Testament permitted women to participate when properly adorned (1 Corinthians 11:2-16). 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 stands out in sermons of all Christian cults and creeds–and has no biblical foundation except for itself (as I tell my students, you cannot use one book to prove the validity and credibility of that same book). It is plagiarized from Old Testament lore that justifies the murders committed by Saul who was nothing more than a poor imitation of Joshua and Gideon who launched a Holocaust quit in keeping with that pushed by Adolf Hitler.
Few have had the courage of Hutchinson to strike back at the theological terrorists machinations and insipid insanity of the patriarchy that then and now controls Christianity. This patriarchy, using select sentences that were added to a book compiled and plagiarized from far older sources and passed off by those who would control others who were denied an education. It was submissively accepted by those who bowed before alleged superiors who threatened their lives, limbs and property in the stagnant claim of being intercessor between god and man (ignoring woman). Like ancient priests, Plymouth pastors prattled that they controlled all in the name of fear of a wrathful demon known as YHWH who unleashed holocaust after holocaust in the Torah and Book of Prophets (Old Testament) through the mass murderers Joshua and Gideon. The source from the beginning of the innovation and creation of Christianity claimed their authority from a deliberate misreading of Matthew 16:18-19.
The Bible has always been a sponge of blood, from Genesis through Revelation. Its pastors dined from burnt sacrifice and were given seats at the head of tables where they would invoke their deity to look upon food and heart with a jubilant spirit while the ecclesiastics ate first. The idea of a "burnt sacrifice" is Akkadian in origin, passing through the language of Syria. The Hebrew feminine noun qorban (plural qorbanot קָרְבֳּנוֹת) first occurs in the Hebrew Bible in Leviticus 1:2. It is found in 80 other passages is pronounced similarly in the Arabic language (Arabic kurban قربان). Women were allowed to participate in the sacrifices–a fact that male preachers ignored, claiming that women were to be "meek and mild like Jesus".
There was nothing "meek and mild" (a phrase that applies only to the Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew 11:28-30. In the original Greek (πράος) meek means "in control" and "with great power that is under control". It defines someone who is not subject to anger) about the Mistress who rattled the Puritan community and distressed the Fathers of the Colony. None of the male ministers had anything in common with the Jesus of the New Testament.
Anne Hutchinson heartily made her displeasure known with the fools she suffered. This was especially the situation with witless John Wilson and his rogue interpretation of religion "of one of works". Having enough of his prattle praising tithing that was barely substantiated within scripture, Mistress Hutchinson got up and left whenever the millstone minister rose to pray or preach parched words of damnation and demons. Tithing, actually, refers to a bribe (Deuteronomy 12:5-11):, extortion (Numbers 28:20-32), or payment under duress or to obtain spoils of war and theft (Genesis 14:20, 28:20-22) or a forced bribe to keep god from destroying his people (Malachi 3:8-10).
Repeatedly, Goodwife Hutchinson was reprimanded to mind the ministry of men. She was to "silence herself" as being less than a man in the eyes of a critical, cruel and wrathful god.
Expelled by the "men of god" who declared End Times was "neigh [near]" and an apocalyptic war was about to begin with Jesus (defying the law of gravity) would ride out on a horse from the clouds with sword in hand to take blood from non-believers (Matthew 10:34), Hutchinson was exiled from her original home and community. With many of her supporters, Hutchinson established the settlement of Portsmouth (that would become the Colony of Rhode Island) and Providence Plantations. There was no rest for the outspoken Hutchinson. As at Plymouth, so it was at Portsmouth. Hutchinson's heroic stand for her opinions and interpretations were met with scorn. The chauvinistic chorus of misanthropic ministers damned her, "for she is but a woman" enfeebling every effort at blind justice and direct democracy.
A feisty firebrand who insisted on faith and with no emphasis on good works, Hutchinson ultimately found a home on the ancient landmark called Split Rock in what later became The Bronx in New York City. Her aspiration to help others, including the original aboriginal population (who became known as Indians), the city fathers launched acidic arguments against her, and leagued with "forces unknown." In August 1643, Hutchinson and all but one of the 16 members of her household were massacred during an attack by the native Siwanoy. Her 9-year-old daughter Susanna was taken captive.
The travail threaded through the life of Hutchison gave a tortured birth of a hatred-inspired fear of women throughout most of New England. It spilled its poison into other colonies with a speed unmatched since the imaginary war in heaven between the Advocate of Job 2:1 (a Babylonian tale) known as Satan, and the mythical Akkadian god incorporated into the Bible under the name of Michael. Religious rites were galvanized, ministers obtained a near god-like authority. Religious freedom was curtailed, and colonies settled by one group of religionists were forced out by other religionists determined to draft their own ideologies into their charters, as happened to Maryland.
Maryland was established as a colony for Roman Catholics by Lord George Calvert in 1625. Roman Catholics were quickly disenfranchised as being "papists" and too attached to the plutocracy of the Vatican and the demands of the papacy. "Good Christians" [Protestants] of Maryland, exploded intemperate against Roman Catholic priests who were rejected as following a foreign potentate determined to turn the New World colonies into vassal states of the Vatican. According to broadsheets, the Pope was to rule over splintered states by bishops loyal only to the Vicar of Christ. This Vicar was caricaturized as a diabolical demons surrounded by vipers who would grow fat on the food denied the poor.
Roman Catholics in Maryland quickly lost their freedom of religion. They were disenfranchised in 1646. They were, however, allowed along with "all [other] Christians" (emphasis mine) to live and work in Maryland in 1649 by means of the Maryland Toleration Act.
The Maryland Toleration Act became the source for the First Amendment of the fledgling United States of America. It was never, originally, a popular document nor a well-received First Amendment.
Virginia's House of Burgesses recognized the Church of England as the official religion of the colony in 1619. The tie to the Established Church in England was, however, weak, and Anglicans in Virginia frequently pursued a course different from their counterparts in London.
In 1775, the bishop of London (Richard Terrick, 1710 – 1777) appointed James Blair to represent his interests in the colony, but there was scant attention to the authority from London in matters of religion, except that all prayer books and services followed the Church of England style that were far more closely related to the doctrines of Martin Luther than those of John Calvin.
The German, a former Augustinian monk who wrote numerous tracts in defence of the papacy and Rome, Martin Luther became over time contemptuous of Jews (whom initially he had written in defense of) and argued for a strict interpretation of the words of the Bible with little to no tolerance for apostasy or heresy. Jews were not welcome anywhere in the New World when the colonies were formed. They were slandered as being slayers of "the Christ"–a title Jesus never used in the original New Testament.
Little is known about the first Jew to visit the colonies. The "sons of Israel" were poorly tolerated in colonial America (cf. Warren Blumenfeld (2012), "On The Discursive Construction of Jewish "Racialization" And "Race Passing": Jews As "U-boats" With A Mysterious 'Queer Light'", Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis Vol. 1, Issue 1, pp. 1-28). Jews were accepted only if they could bring supplies to the colonies, as was the case with the second Jew who sailed to the New World: Solomon Franco.
Solomon Franco was a Sephardic Jew from Holland. There is scant record of this enterprising man, except it is believed that he settled in the city of Boston in 1649.
Franco delivered "needed" supplies to Edward Gibbons, a Major General in the Massachusetts militia. Franco quickly wore out his welcome when he demanded payment.
Gibbons was astonished that anyone would expect payment from a man of his rank–especially a Jew. A dispute broke out over who should pay Franco (Gibbons or Perada a Dutch merchant who arranged for the shipment of goods). On May 6, 1649, the Massachusetts General Court that Franco was to be expelled from the colony, but granted Franco "six shillings per week out of the Treasury for ten weeks, for sustenance, till he can get his passage to Holland". The "sustenance allowance quickly ran out.
Five years later Solomon Pietersen, a merchant from Amsterdam, sailed into Boston. In 1656, Pietersen became the first known Americanized Jew to intermarry with a Christian. This action was deemed scandalous, being tantamount to "race mixing" that was illegal. Pietersen's marriage to a Christian woman (referred even then to miscegenation, coming from the Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind") is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation. The same bigotry that has been the lot of LGBT people by such biblical illiterates as Bob Vander Plaats of Iowa, Timothy Dolan of New York, Francis George of Chicago, Bryan Fischer, Ann Coulter and the ever-ignorant Benedict XVI (who declared he would resign as pope on February 28–an action that has not occurred since 1415 in the Middle Ages).
Those who spew hatred against marginalized groups painfully mistranslated and misinterpreted the universal myth of Ham {Greek Χαμ, Kham ; Arabic: حام, Ḥām, "hot" or "burnt"} in reference to skin pigmentation: Black for Africans, "dark brown" for Jews and "Arabs" {the Semitic or Abrahamic people of Mesopotamia Africa}, and so forth; Genesis 9:20-27), "force" Ham's later generations, according to some records, to formally convert to Christianity. To this end Black slaves in Virginia and other states demanded that their slaves go to Christian churches, and if they went with their white masters, to sit either on benches in balconies or in near-by cabins (some were allowed to sit at the back of the church if it did not have a full congregation).
There are no records showing Pietersen formally converted. His daughter Anna, however, was baptized in childhood. The action was one of the forced/enforced requirements of that day to stay in the colony.
The third Jew to arrive at New Amsterdam (lower Manhattan, where Wall Street is today) was Jacob Barsimson. Barsimson was born in Holland and worked for the Dutch East India Company. He was among the refugees who was aboard the Peartree on August 22, 1654, fleeing the Portuguese Inquisition when Portugal conquered Batavia (Jakarta).
Around this time 23 more Jews (four couples, two widows, and thirteen children) arrived as refugees from Brasil (that had been a Dutch colony before it was conquered by the Portuguese. The refugees' spokesperson was Asser Levy, primarily because he represented the legendary priestly class of the ancient Hebrews. Levy argued for Jewish rights in the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam. Levy won for the Jews basic civil rights including admission into the House of Burghers and was also granted the privilege of serving guard duty for the colony–something no non-Christian was allowed to do, so great was the colonists fear of angering their god of wrath. Levy's victory was not without a fight.
The Christians of the local Dutch Reformed Church, led by local merchants, appealed to the colonial governor, Peter Stuyvesant, to have the Jews expelled, on the grounds, as Stuyvesant wrote to the Dutch West India Company (September 22, 1654), that the Jews practiced usury and were "deceitful trading with the Christians … [praying] that the deceitful race—such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ—ne [be] not allowed to further infect and trouble this new colony to the detraction of your worships and the dissatisfaction of your worships' most affectionate subjects".
The Dutch West India Company declined because of several influential Jews in New Amsterdam who promised to provide "the poor among them shall not become a burden to the company or to the community, but be supported by their own nation". To the consternation of "good Christians" in New Amsterdam, the Dutch West India Company went further:
"We would have liked to effectuate and fulfill your wishes and request that the new territories should no more be allowed to be infected by people of the Jewish nation, for we foresee therefrom the same difficulties which you fear, but after having further weighed and considered the matter, we observe that this would be somewhat unreasonable and unfair, especially because of the considerable loss sustained by this nation, with others, in the taking of Brazil, as also because of the large amount of capital which they still have invested in the shares of this company. Therefore after many deliberations we have finally decided and resolved to apostille [annotate] upon a certain petition presented by said Portuguese Jews that these people may travel and trade to and in New Netherland and live and remain there, provided the poor among them shall not become a burden to the company or to the community, but be supported by their own nation. You will now govern yourself accordingly."
After New Amsterdam fell to the British, in 1737, the General Assembly, of what was renamed New York, voted that no Jew was to be allowed to vote for members of that body. Disenfranchised the Jews spent most of their time in business pursuits.
Few Jews moved beyond New York City. There were not sufficient Jews in Upstate New York to form a congregation until 1838, and there were no rabbis to serve until 1846.
There was no recognized Jewish community or congregation in Boston before 1840, and while an occasional Jew made it into Vermont and New Hampshire, there were no congregations until 1882. While there were a few Jews in Massachusetts, there was no significant record of any Jew or of any Jewish congregation before 1800. Even fewer lived in Maryland.
Pennsylvania had its first Jewish emigrant, Joseph Simon, in 1730, but there was no synagogue or cemetery for Jews until 1732 at Shaefferstown. A synagogue was established at Easton in 1839, but its rabbi was not welcomed by any Christian pastor or congregant.
Pennsylvania was carved out for Quakers. While the Quakers were far more tolerant than any other Christian in Colonial America, they were to the far left of the Church of England that was too "popery". Quakers' aversion to war, violence, and argument made them as distrusted as were the animosities between chrestianos and christianos until the Emperor Constantine I created his crated "catholic [universal] church" in 325 CE (Eusebius, Vita Constantini 36-37, in Greek) by decree with no reference to Matthew 16:18. There is no biblical proof that Jesus ever anointed a pope nor called for worship centers beyond an empty field (Matthew 18:20) or prayer in secret (Matthew 6:6). There was never, to this day, a person in the USA who ever followed the teaching of Jesus, those who claim to be Christians are Paulinists, with Roman Catholics in the USA fleeing the teaching of Jesus more than any group.
Roman Catholicism, having been suppressed in the past (Jenkins, Philip (1 April 2003). The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Oxford University Press. p. 23) throughout the seaboard colonies continued to be feared as being covert workers for a Catholic invasion and take-over orchestrated by the Pope in the Vatican.
Americans, both colonialists and those who came with and after the Revolution, continued to arm themselves against alleged invasion of Roman Catholic Spaniards from Florida, Mexico, Cuba, and other Latin American nations. Fear of Roman Catholics further spurred the KKK to arm themselves, seek out Roman Catholics and execute them. They were supported by legislators and laws in such hate-filled states as Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Georgia, Texas and the rest of the southern tier. Governors, Congressional representatives and senators, and state legislatures from West Virginia to California, Texas to Minnesota turned a blind eye to the carnage of many Christians who declared, like Billy Graham, Richard Land, G.Em Melchert and James Dobson, that Roman Catholics were not Christians. The anger that rang from the roof tops of Nazareth Lutheran Church and College Hill Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was matched in embittered denunciations by the cult of the Wisconsin Evangelical Synod, the Southern Baptist Convention and its Christ for the Nations ministry, buttressed by Pentecostal predators from Jimmy Bakker to Jimmy Swaggart, Scott Lively to James Dobson, with the support of born-again governors from Rick Perry (R-TX) and Scott Walker (R-WI).
Many of the most hate-filled people, from legislators in Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas, found solace only in the Second Amendment that they believed was their buttress for maintaining guns and other weapons, even though the Amendment said it was to sustain "a militia". The people have a right to "keep and bear arms" but for defense. Previously arms had been housed in community arsenals at public expense.
Blacks and Irish Catholics were considered evil, worthless and expendable in early USA history. Irish and Black people were frequently drawn as being equal, with the Irish lampooned as being ape-like.
Cartoons and caricatures depicting the Pope as "the Great Whore" and priests as cutthroats and worse spread from broadsheets to newspapers and books. With the rise of the Khristian Knights of the [KKK] Klan, attacks on Roman Catholics increased along with the slaughter of Blacks and other minorities.
Even the otherwise well-read democrat and orator for human rights and civil liberties for all, Thomas Jefferson, wrote against Roman Catholicism. Jefferson argued: "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government," (Letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813) and that "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own" (Letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814).
By the 1840s the nightmare fantasy fable of End of Times and the invention of a physical hell spawned by ancient Mesopotamian civilizations and plagiarized by most Abrahamic religions and people throughout the Middle East, was directly linked to the influx of Roman Catholics. Roman Catholics were viewed as being more intent on damnation than on salvation even for the most avid Puritans. More and more the papacy was labeled the Whore of Babylon (Dante, Inferno Canto 19, drawn from the ranting of John "of Patmos" (an island where those who were determined
to be insane were housed, with the writer of Revelation being consider "quite mad" even by his coreligionists who thought him suicidal or prone to murder) in Apocalypse 13 and 17:1-2. Both the Apocalypse and other renderings of End Time theology were, plagiarized from old Babylonian tales and Akkadian folklore interwoven into Egyptian records. The verses in Apocalypse 13, 17:1-2 are closely identified with the tale found in the Babylonian Book of Daniel 5, 9:27). This lead to the indiscriminate slaughter of Roman Catholics and the burning of their property 1840-1872 (Jimmy Akin (2001-03-01). "The History of Anti-Catholicism". This Rock. Catholic Answers). No newspaper, no periodical, no Christian minister raised his voice against this attack on civil rights and human liberties.
Today's Roman Catholic Church in the USA. the religion most repressed in early America, is the most oppressive religion within the nation–and within the world. The Roman Catholic Church continues to deny women the right of choice and the right to be priest–a role women held in the early communities and in the congregations set up by Apostles of Jesus of the New Testament. The Roman Catholic Church, especially with the ascent of the two most hate-filled pontiffs in modern history, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, rejects basic human rights for various groups from non-Christians (there has been token efforts to dialogue with Buddhists and Jews, but nothing on the scale of John XXIII who reached out to everyone) to LGBT and other marginalized people. The Roman Catholic Church under John Paul II and his rottweiler cardinal from Germany, Joseph Ratzinger, made a concerted but secretive effort to protect pedophile priests and prelates from Roger Mahoney (Los Angeles) and Timothy Dolan (New York City read here and here and here) intones, in the "name of Jesus Christ". The German Pope, Benedict XVI, is chief of those who are opposed to the Constitution of the USA's proclamation of all people being equal and afforded equality before the law. At the same time, the pontifex maximus continued protecting pedophile priests from the Jesuits in Alaska who sexually assaulted little girls and boys under the age of 12 in tribal villages and in remote areas to secular priests in the Oregon, Iowa, Texas and throughout the USA dioceses and abroad.
While Colonial charters and laws contained specific proscriptions against Roman Catholics by state constitutions, atheists are openly attacked in the same way and with an identical fury as the early Roman Catholics and Jews. Atheists, however, are attacked more frequently than either of the groups of oppressed people. Students in USA schools and universities bullying are among the rising number of self-define "soldiers of Christ" who feel "called upon" to attack atheists. These "soldiers of Christ" are sworn to rid the USA of atheists, either by murdering them in cold blood or by "encouraging those who doubt or deny god" to commit suicide by channeling their hate on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other means of social communication. This vitriol is even more acute in the "soldiers of Christ" in attacking any LGBT who is either self-acknowledge and proud of himself or herself, regardless of age. Even young children are singled out for torment that can lead to suicide, as was the case with ten-year-old Ashlynn Conner, to 15-year-old Jamie Hubley, and more.
The majority of the tormentors being parents, siblings, classmates, evangelical groups. Most of the groups are certified hate organizations, such as Focus on the Family (Alabama), and Bob Vander Plaats' The FAMiLY that leads the charge against women's rights in Iowa. Vander Plaats is sustained by the collective insanity by nine nightmare clinically insane Republican Representatives strangling democracy in the Iowa legislature (House File 153) who seek to enact legislation that would declare sperm, ova, zygote, and fetus a "person" and its "destruction" murder–a tactic used in many other states to deny women personal freedom.
If this barbaric broadside would past, the Tea Party Republicans would many any woman who was raped stand trial for first degree murder). This is especially true in carnivorous cults of the Wisconsin Evangelical Synod, Missouri Lutheran church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and the Roman Catholic Church and the US Council of Roman Catholic Bishops (read here and here). It is acceptable to abuse a child in any of these cults (my uncles sodomized me when I was younger than eight, and one was a minister in the Missouri Lutheran Church, and the other a student of theology, not yet ordained; when I complained first to my mother (who was convinced I had seduced my uncles) and to my pastor (who argued that I was the sinner), I gave up all interest and faith in religion.
Atheists cannot hold public office in Arkansas (Article 19, Section 1), Maryland (Article 37), Mississippi (Article 14, Section 265), North Carolina (Article 6, Section 8), Pennsylvania (Article 1, Section 4, while the wording is tricky, the message that those who differ in their interpretation and belief in a god cannot be disqualified), South Carolina (Article 17, Section 4), Tennessee (Article 9, Section 2), Texas (Article 1, Section 4)—while the 14th Amendment, Section 6 technically makes it moot, the states that discriminate reject that amendment, and several contenders for the presidency of the USA have campaigned to have the Amendment overturned.
Atheists have only limited rights. Atheists and those who do not attend churches, synagogues or private meeting houses (Quakers, Unitarian-Universalists, etc), are openly attacked from Virginia to California, Minnesota to Texas and throughout all other states.
A federal court in Indiana dismissed a claim that an Indiana law prohibiting secular celebrants from solemnizing marriages (Indiana code 31-11-6-1). At the same time the Christian court allowed religious representatives to perform marriages in open violation the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the USA. The federal court in Indiana rejected a brief submitted by the Center for Inquiry in Center for Inquiry, Inc., et al. v Clerk, Marion Circuit Court, et al (read here, pdf). It is an overt, court consciously calculated double standard extensively covered in numerous legal cases.
Humanists enjoy life. They seek out the better in themselves and other people. They do not attack. Humanists teach that all things are open to questioning and debate.
To silence debate is the mark of religion that offers no freedom to the individual. Debate silenced is nothing less than mental, and physical slavery. Socrates was the thinker who best represented humanism: questioning everything, working to change that which could be changed, and accepting fate for what was in store by being a model citizen, an educated teacher, an analytic debater, and a good spouse who made sure all debts were paid:
It was recorded by Plato that Socrates said: "Crito, we owe a rooster (in the original, the word is cock: a male gallinaceous bird: a chicken, turkey, grouse, pheasant, and partridge, grouse, etc., while a rooster is a domestic fowl: a male chicken with no superior powers. The god of health was partial to cocks because of their curative powers and use in ritual worship) to Asclepius. Please, don't forget to pay the debt." Asclepius was the Greek god for curing illness, and for Socrates the greatest cure for illness is death. ( Plato, Phaedo 115b-118a; cp. Waterfield,Robin (2009). Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths. New York:W.W.Norton and Company). Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and of impiety ("not believing in the gods of the state"), cf. Plato. Apology, 24–27.
Distrust in oneself and in those who admit/claim to be atheists is a prime reason for seasoned social ostracization of atheists and atheism. Several psychological studies show that results were consistent with the hypothesis that the relationship between belief in God and atheist distrust was fully mediated by the belief that people behave better if they feel that God is watching them: if you are not a believer you will suffer the pains and fires of hell. Other studies show atheists were systematically socially excluded only in high-trust domains; belief in God, but not authoritarianism, predicted this discriminatory decision-making against atheists in high trust domains (Gervais, Will M.; Shariff, Azim F.; Norenzayan, Ara (December 2011). "Do you believe in atheists? Distrust is central to anti-atheist prejudice". doi: 10.1037/a0025882 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 101(6), 1189-1206).
Many people argue that atheists and nonbelievers are expressing hidden anger against a god that/who offended them or did not give them what they asked for (Exline, Julie J.; Park, Crystal L.; Smyth, Joshua M.; Carey, Michael P (January 2011). "Anger toward God: Social-cognitive predictors, prevalence, and links with adjustment to bereavement and cancer". doi: 10.1037/a0021716 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 100(1), 129-148). This has been repeatedly been disproven, with research on why many elect atheism, being a study of 350 members of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism. Those who vouched that they had no belief in a god had a wide reading of history , science and religion (75 times) that grew throughout their lifetime; disgust with religious hypocrisy (60) as seen in the case of Ted Haggard, Jerry Falwell, Bishop Eddie Long
(whose victims Bishop Eddie Long's boy friends call him a "monster" as the bishop had no less than four boy-toys, while Long claims the charges are false and he was the victim); influence of particular author or book (55); a byproduct of Socialist materialism (30); effects of college education (25); effects of study of sciences (25); and others in lesser numbers. Less frequently emotional factors were mentioned, such as: illness and death in family, the horrors of war, the futility of prayer, the evils and unhappiness in the world, etc. 36% of the atheists were oldest children, while only 15% were youngest children; about 9% were only children (Vetter, G. B.; Green, M. (July 1932). "Personality and group factors in the making of atheists". doi: 10.1037/h0075273 The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol 27(2), 179-194).
Most people who reject god do so after intensive study of history, science, religion, and philosophy: atheists tend to be more educated and broadly versed than do theists (Teo, Thomas (2009), Editorial. doi: 10.1037/ a0017640 Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol 29(2), 61-62). Families do disassociate themselves from members who declare their rejection of any god(s) that the family may believe in and worship, but this is a sign of paternalism and the fear of the family unit not being carried on by future like-minded generations.
By 2013, there is only an abridged form of religious freedom with many states within the union, with many states disenfranchising or denying the right to serve in a public office if the individual does not recognize a god. Even the deity is questioned as it was in the past: Jesus has to be Caucasian white, the name of the creator has to be God (not Allah), and so forth. The act of swearing an oath is said to have religious connotations as it affirms the existence of a deity and a person's confession of the existence of a deity, but this has no biblical support. On the contrary, the Bible expressly forbids people to swear (Matthew 5:34, James 5:12), therefore to swear "So help me god" is actually biblically prohibited since it is a rejection of YHWH and Jesus and an affirmation of a pagan god.
A Christian pastor does not mean that it is a man or a woman in a suit pounding pulpits as if he or she was/is the Wrath of Moses. A Christian preacher is not a man in a red dress covered with delicate lace sitting enthroned in a cathedral.
Christianity from its beginning in 325 CE meant a dictatorship over a group of semi-thinking people. We find this in the pontifications of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, the US Council of Roman Catholic Bishop and similar church councils around the world, as well as in the proclamations of various cults from those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostal group, Ultra Orthodox Jews, and in the estranged world of mind control of Bob Vander Plaats' The FAMiLY in Iowa, or James Dobson's American Family Association in Alabama, or other certified hate groups. The teachings of Jesus of the New Testament is not Constantine's Christianity that details that select individuals have the right to deny other people personal rights, liberties or freedoms, and have the power to require others to believe or disbelieve as predator (priest, pastor, bishop, cardinal, pope, imam, ayatollah, rabbi, and so forth) demands. That is slavery.
Various evangelical groups reject non-evangelical groups with their own interpretation of holy books and leaders. These groups ranged from chrestianos to christianos, concerning the warrior messiah of Matthew 10:34 to the prince of peace in Isaiah 9:6. The two were joined by Constantine who controlled the ultimate canonization of scripture. For this reason, it can truly be written, that Christianity is among the most barbaric of religions and has been since it was created by the Emperor Constantine I for religion (the Church) claims superiority over the state throughout history, even within the USA where politicians ranging from US Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), to Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and former (now Governor) Sam Brownback (R-KS, converted to Roman Catholicism by Opus Dei priest Rev. John McCloskey's guidance) all reject a wall separating state and church.
The Roman Emperor at the time of the assaults on Rome and the City of Constantine, Constantine I created an ecclesia (ἐκκλησίαa: public court, political assembly of citizens of an ancient Greek state [American Heritage Dictionary] who had the obligation to do business and bring wealth to the emperor) where only his interpretation of Paulinity would be held and upheld, and the actual teaching of Jesus would be watered down, and his private life ignored. There was no placed in the early Church for a renegade man who never had a girl friend, who never married, who never took up arms to defend the empire, who allowed a man to rest his head upon Jesus' chest, who was followed out of the garden by a nude youth, and most likely was gay, since Jewish society all males to marry and procreate–which Jesus never did–save in one Coptic fragment. The problem with the ancient fragment is it is too late to consult with other similar fragments that have disintegrated with time or were consigned to the first of Constantine who was busy working on creating his own church.
The Pauline church was Constantine's make-believe early "church" in opposition to the brothers of Jesus who saw the movement as a reformed Judaism. Determined to be the sole arbiter of thought and expression, Constantine's church would be a national unit that would allow Constantine absolute control over the empire's faiths.
Constantine burned all books, scrolls, records, gospels, epistles that he did not approve–a common practice especially when it comes to religion and its denial of individual freedoms and human rights. Constantine's church [business enterprise] was not known as Christianity after the theological coup. To ensure imperial control over the newly created church, Constantine ordered the works of Arius and other "heretics" were burned, in the manner of the Coptic pope in Egypt demanding that the famed library of Alexandria be destroyed.
It was under the clerical Catholic cannibalism of the pseudo-Christian Coptic Pope Cyril that the famed astronomer, philosopher, mathematician, scientist, librarian and atheist Hypatia was torn apart by Coptic Christian monks who shredded her skin, tearing it off while she lived, and throwing her living body onto a pyre of burning scrolls and writings of ancient thinkers in all then-known fields of academic inquiry. The death of Hypatia was planned by the Coptic monks and set a signal for all bibliolators in the conservative Christian community to rise up against the 'learned scholars' of Alexandria, a center of knowledge throughout the ancient world and destroy all things that were not of, from, and within the Bible. It was the beginning of the Dark Ages in Egypt that spread like a fungus throughout Europe, turning off all lights that pierced the darkness of biblical literalism and enforced belief (George F. Simmons (1992). Calculus Gems: Brief Lives and Memorable Mathematics. New York, NY: MacGraw Hill; Maria Dzielska (1995). Hypatia of Alexandria, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, (Revealing Antiquity, 8), p. xi, 157).
With the message of the mythical Paul cannibalizing Christianity, the law body (the actual meaning of the word in the early centuries, first to fourth, ecclesia, changed by the fifth century when courtiers transmogrified the true meaning of the word by attaching to it the incorrect translation and title of "the Church") gave the world the grotesque Inquisition. The bloody Inquisition did not remain uniquely Roman Catholic. It quickly was taken up by such "reformers" as Martin Luther, John Calvin, Henry VIII and his heirs, Scandinavian potentates, and the most vile representatives of man in Russia and captive provinces. All based their "reformations" on spurious tracts that were current but did not reflect original documents designed to ensure peace or protect people. Few men, after the second century CE, realized that there never was a St. Peter, St. Paul, or Roman Popes (the first does not appear or is catalogued before the second century, not even in the first edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, with some writers arguing that there were no bishops nor a pope in Rome before the end of the fourth century).
The protesting reformer, Martin Luther's war against the Jews and his books (Von den Jüden und iren Lügen, 1543, that the German ex-Augustinian monk wrote: Conversion of the Jews will be the work of God alone operating from within, and not of man working — or rather playing — from without. If these offences be taken away, worse will follow. For they are thus given over by the wrath of God to reprobation, that they may become incorrigible, as Ecclesiastes says, for every one who is incorrigible is rendered worse rather than better by correction; cf. Oberman, Heiko. Luthers Werke. Erlangen 1854, 32:282, 298, in Grisar, Hartmann. Luther. St. Louis 1915, 4:286 and 5:406; cp. Luther, Martin. Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi) that became the supporting arguments for Hitler's extermination of the Jews.
These same arguments sprung up like weeds in the mincing of the madman Richard Land and the Southern Baptist Conventions to use them against the LGBT community. Like slurry it has resurfaced among poorly trained Pentecostal preachers who are personally against Muslims, etc. There is even the absurdity of the "reverend" Terry Jones of Florida who damns everything Islamic, like Fred Phelps and his cult the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS, that even his own granddaughters fled.
When a person is in another nation, the visitor must respect or at least obey the laws of that nation. The visitor has no right to enforce on others his or her own views or theologies. This happens too frequently as with the carnage called for by Scott Lively and his gaggle of evangelical goons, flying to Africa to initiate genocide. Scott Lively, Lou Engle, Caleb Lee Brundidge, and Don Schmierer met at the infamous C Street, Washington, DC "The Family" house that shelters US Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), James Inhofe (R-OK), John Stennis (R-MS), Richard Lugar (R-IN), adulterers Mark Sanford (R-SC), John Ensign (R-NV) and numerous other dominionists, including Rev. Ted Haggard whose seduction and payment for homosexual prostitute to keep him "company" was forgiven "in the name of Jesus Christ": USA leaders who want to throw over democrcy in the USA and establish a theocracy where they would awaken a sleeping Jesus to take up sword for the New Apostolic Reformation and ride a stead from the clouds to Earth and launch an Apocalyptic war (Sharlet, Jeff (2010). C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. New York: Little Brown; Sharlet, Jeff (2008). The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. New York, NY: Harper Perennial). Grassley of Iowa is the least well known–but the most dangerous member of The Family who planned to put his grandson in the Iowa legislature but intends for the youth to take over the USA.
Lively, primarily, is sponsoring the death call to elevate his own desperation to be seen as a pivotal evangelist in the USA and is desperately deceiving members of Parliament in Nigeria and Uganda for personal gain and fame.
Lively is funneling money into the pockets of Speakers of Parliament to launch an unholy war against minorities. He has the support with the great racist Benedict XVI who publicly blessed Uganda Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga when she promised a "cleanings" of all LGBT from Uganda by December 25, 2012. Repeating the words of her hero, Adolf Hitler, Kadaga promised that a "final solution" would be Uganda Parliament's Christmas present for "good Christians".
Roman Catholics of Uganda, led by the Roman Catholic episcopacy: its bishops and clergy (most who are admitted pedophiles) demanded the legislation to pass quickly so that they could help the nation murder all LGBT who threatened the children of the nation. Ugandan Roman Catholics and Anglicans also demanded the slaughter of all Jews and others who do not agree with them, claiming that they had the support of Benedict XVI. Most were furious when they learned that their beloved pope was already named as a subject for trial for crimes against humanity. They protested when "liberal" factions claimed that no evangelist has a right to enter any nation and "convert" others to their insanity, and that a holy war must break out between Christians of Uganda and Muslims in Uganda.
What maintains religious officiates is the absurdity of tithing. The "tithe" was an ancient law to appease a jealous king who was also considered a god (Genesis 14:20) and came from the "spoils" [theft] of wars. Tithing became a special bribe mortals made to kings/gods (Genesis 28:20-22) and became a part of "the Laws of Moses". The Ten Commandments, of which there are three distinct sets in Exodus, were plagiarized from the Code of Hammurabi and other ancient Middle Eastern texts with the arrival of the Egyptian mercenaries known as Apiru (prototypes of the Hebrews) who served in the Akkadian army (Leviticus 27:30-32). The Apiru leaders declared that tithes would be the main support of temple priests (reclassified as Levites in Numbers 18:20-32) whose primary duty after appeasing a cannibal god was to guard the warriors' wealth (Nehemiah 13:4-12).
There is nothing spiritual about tithing, as throughout the Middle East it was extortion money paid to the most unscrupulous elements of society. TIPS, however, were medieval in origin and meant To Insure Prompt Service that were given out by lords and clergy to get immediate service–it was never a wage paid at the end of a meal, nor required, but, like in the bible, was a bribe. Only through TIPS and bribes can there be freedom of religion for the few who conform the most to the dictates of the wealthy and those in power.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Tuna Snack Spread
Total TimePrep: 10 min. + chilling
Makes1-1/2 cups
- 1 can (6 ounces) tuna, drained and flaked
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 2 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon onion salt
- 3 to 4 drops hot pepper sauce
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients until well mixed. Shape into a ball; roll in parsley. Chill. Serve with crackers.
Nutrition Facts2 tablespoons: 83 calories, 7g fat (4g saturated fat), 25mg cholesterol, 256mg sodium, 1g carbohydrate (0 sugars, 0 fiber), 5g protein.
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Feb 25, 2014
This was the first time I prepared this recipe! I used a 5-oz. can of water-packed bumble-Bee tunafish, drained well and flaked. I also adjusted the recipe by adding 2 tsp. dried minced chives, 1 small onion, diced, & 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper. I kept the cream cheese amount the same and just used 2 tsp. lemon juice (bottled). The onion salt I kept as is! Instead of parsley, I used 3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans), DIVIDED: I added 1/2 cup to the cheese spread and sprinkled the top of the ball with 1/4 cup chopped nuts. I did notice that this spread is quick sticky! I had to put the spread in a Cool Whip bowl and shape it into a ball with a large spoon and then smooth it with a knife! I covered the container and am chilling this spread until firm! I'm sharing it with my Mom! It is a tasty spread! And it DEFINITELY comes in very handy for a sandwich -type spread!Thank you for sharing this recipe, Denise Goedeken! It was Appetizer recipe challenge this week on "Cook's Corner"! This is one of the recipes I tried! delowenstein
Jan 3, 2014
This seemed to be bland. I will not make it again.
Aug 6, 2011
This recipe is always a hit! And, easy to boot! Have been using it for years and no one ever guesses that there's tuna in it.


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This section provides visitors access to city documents that include information regarding the annual reports, City's finances, the city manager's report, community cable channels, Coordinating Council, crime stats, disaster services, meeting agendas, Planning Department, monthly reports, police blotter, the AM radio station, latest press releases, public notices, RFPs, social media and the City's water concerns.
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We are happy to welcome you back on board and brighten your everyday once again. Starting now, we'll be offering flights to Europe, the South, the United States and within Canada, as well as packages to the South and Europe.
Our flight schedule may change, depending on the evolution of travel restrictions and demand.
To address the concerns raised by COVID-19 and to ensure your safety and that of our employees, we created Traveller Care, a program featuring new health and safety measures. As part of our program, we've also assembled a practical guide full of tips and information on destination entry requirements, a vital one-stop tool for everything you need to know before you go.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 and its impact on the tourism industry are forcing us to extend the suspension of some of our flights, significantly reduce our capacity and completely cancel certain routes. Learn more about the resumption of our operations.


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Valeant Pharmaceuticals Acquires Visudyne® From QLT
Sep 24, 2012, 07:30 ET
MONTREAL, Sept. 24, 2012 /CNW/ - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX andTSX: VRX) announced today that it has acquired Visudyne®, used to treat abnormal growth of leaky blood vessels in the eye caused by wet age-related macular degeneration, from QLT Inc. (Nasdaq:QLTI) (TSX:QLT). Valeant paid $62.5 million upfront for all U.S. rights and available inventories for Visudyne, which had U.S. revenue of approximately $21 million in 2011, and another $50 million upfront for rights to non-US royalties on Visudyne sales, which were approximately $14 million in 2011. Valeant has also agreed to pay an additional $5 million in contingent payments relating to the development of QLT's laser program in the United States and up to $15 million in contingent payments relating to the non-U.S. royalties. Additionally, Valeant has manufacturing rights and assumed a supply agreement for outside of United States. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive.
"We are excited about the opportunity to add a complementary product to our growing ophthalmology business," stated J. Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer. "Not only will we be able to use Visudyne to better leverage our current ophthalmology sales force with a complementary product to Macugen, we are pleased to add a product that retinal specialists around the county can use as an adjunctive to products like Macugen to improve treatment options."
About Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE/TSX: VRX) is a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products primarily in the areas of neurology, dermatology and branded generics. More information about Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. can be found at www.valeant.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the impact of Visudyne on Valeant's current ophthalmology portfolio, the ability to leverage Valeant's ophthalmology portfolio, the impact of such assets on Valeant's product portfolio, and the expected timing of the acquisition to be accretive. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "continue", "plan", "project", "will", "may", "should", "could", "would", "target", "potential" and other similar expressions. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations include, among other things, the impact of Visudyne on Valeant's current ophthalmology portfolio, the ability to leverage Valeant's ophthalmology portfolio, the impact of such assets on Valeant's product portfolio, and the expected timing of the acquisition to be accretive, and the risk factors as detailed from time to time in Valeant's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and the Canadian Securities Administrators ("CSA").
Contact Information:
Laurie W. Little
[email protected]
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101025/LA87217LOGO)
SOURCE: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.
For further information:
PRN Photo Desk, [email protected]


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As part of their Teacher Summer Seminar series, the U.S. Department of Education will be hosting a seminar on What Teachers Need to Know about Personalized Learning on Tuesday, July 10 from 6:00 to 7:30pm EST. The purpose of this seminar is to provide department perspective on creating adaptive learning environments for every student in the class, focusing on the future of personalized learning and using real-time data to individualize teaching and instruction for students.
This seminar is available for free, either online or at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. Space is limited, however, so register soon! For more information, please click here.


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Early Claiming of Social Security Retirement Benefits Increased During the RecessionApril 2013
The percentage of workers claiming retirement benefits at age 62 increased more than two percentage points during the recession
Fully insured men claiming benefits at age 62 increased from 33.5 percent in 2007, the year before the recession, to 35.8 percent in 2009, at the lowest point of the recession. Fully insured women claiming benefits at age 62 increased from 36.3 percent in 2007 to 38.9 percent in 2009.
The increase in claiming at the earliest eligibility age of 62 interrupted a declining trend
For both men and women, the percentage claiming at age 62 began to decrease after 1997. Before then, the rate of women claiming at age 62 was about 50 percent while the rate of men claiming at age 62 increased from 37 percent in 1975 to 49 percent in 1993.
At the state level, higher rates of claiming retirement benefits at age 62 are correlated with higher rates of unemployment
In 2009, when the national unemployment rate was 9.3 percent, state-level unemployment rates varied from 4 percent in North Dakota to 13 percent in Michigan. The four states with the lowest rates of claiming at age 62 (less than 33 percent) had unemployment rates between 6 percent and 8 percent. The four states with the highest rates of claiming at age 62 (greater than 53 percent) had unemployment rates between 10 percent and 13 percent.
- The global financial crisis that began in 2008 resulted in a sharp decline in wealth and employment.
- Declines in wealth tend to encourage workers to claim benefits at later ages to rebuild their retirement savings.
- Declines in employment tend to increase claiming at age 62 as a replacement for lost earnings.
- The net effect of the above two responses is uncertain and the result can have significant implications for retirement security.
Key Terms
- Early claiming refers to the percentage of each birth cohort that claims at age 62, the earliest eligibility age.
- Fully insured means the worker has 40 quarters of work covered under Social Security.
SOURCE: All data not otherwise referenced is from Fichtner, Jason J., John W.R. Phillips, and Barbara A. Smith. 2012. "Retirement Behavior and The Global Financial Crisis." In Reshaping Retirement Security: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis. 81–100. USA: Oxford University Press.
NOTES: All content is simplified for presentation. Please see source material for full details and caveats.
The findings and conclusions presented in this summary are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the agency.


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LIVONIA, Mich. – A Ram's Horn restaurant in Livonia caught fire Tuesday afternoon.
The restaurant, which is on Middlebelt Road just south of 8 Mile Road, was open for the lunch hour, but no injuries were reported.
Firefighters told Local 4 the fire started in a deep fryer during the lunch rush.
"This lady came and she said 'I'll help you up,' and I looked to where the kitchen is and I saw all these flames," said Marian Zurcicki, a customer in the restaurant when the fire broke out. "I was scared. I mean I've never been that close to something that was starting to go on fire."
A cook in the kitchen was the first one to notice the fire and he immediately told a manager that the restaurant needed to be evacuated.
"I looked over and saw the flames coming out the back of it (the deep fryer). I told the manager to make sure she got everyone out of the restaurant," said Ram's Horn cook Michael Anuszkiewicz.
Parts of the building collapsed as fire fighters worked more than 3 hours to put out the flames.
"If it is a total loss, if it has to be demolished, we'll just build it back up and start fresh," said owner Stephen Diehr. "Most importantly, everyone got out OK. All the customers, all the employees, and that was the main concern."
Some homes behind the restaurant were damaged by smoke and water as firefighters fought the flames.


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Renowned action choreographer Yuen Wo-ping is set to direct and produce English-language action thriller Vigilantes - The Lost Order as a co-production between China and Canada.
Canada's Dragon Star Pictures and China's Film Can Production, founded by Yuen and Anthony Wong, will produce the film. Birch Tree Entertainment is handling worldwide sales
Scheduled to shoot next year, Vigilantes is the first of planned trilogy and will feature a North American cast to be announced soon. The story follows a woman who loses her father to a hit squad as a young girl and grows up to become an assassin who uncovers a global financial conspiracy.
Yuen was action director on films such as The Matrix, Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
"Master Yuen Wo Ping's action directing has contributed greatly to the success of many of the industry's top action films,",said Birch Tree president Art Birzneck, who founded Dragon Star with hedge fund manager Nicolas Merzeau.


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This text is re-printed with permission from a publication released in conjunction with the exhibition The Politics of Friendship (Anicka Yi / Carissa Rodriguez / Jordan Lord / Lise Soskolne) at Studiolo in Zurich.
Jordan Lord, Carissa Rodriguez, Lise Soskolne, Anicka Yi, Man-Child, Young-Girl, Girl-Child, Man-Girl (2013).
Not having read Preliminary Materials for a Theory of the Young-Girl —or, to be honest, any texts by the French collective Tiqqun—I am hesitant to comment on the figure of the "Man-Child," which was developed in response to that of Tiqqun's "Young-Girl." Instead, pleading lack of time and putting a little faith in contingency, I offer up some thoughts from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's final book, Touching Feeling, which I just happened to be reading at the time a friend sent me a link to Moira Weigel and Mal Ahern's essay, "Further Materials Toward a Theory of the Man-Child."


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Sara Riaz in Tonight's Menu on Ary Zauq is the new Cooking Expert that is bound to keep viewers glued to their television sets, regardless of whether they enjoy cooking or not. Not only does she teach the most delectable dishes from around the globe, she regales audiences with quick-fix solutions to culinary disasters. She also proffers expert advice on which cooking gadgets to buy and for what, and which to avoid as unnecessary expense, suggesting tips of how mundane kitchen utensils could be used to serve the same purpose instead. A show not to be missed.
Each layer of the Cabbage or Band Gobi is packed with an abundance of natural anti-oxidant properties that help you fight cancer.. This parcel of vegetable is nutrient-packed and low in calorie. KhanaPakana.com contains hundreds of free, trusted, authentic and KP community tested recipes and cooking videos that contain Cabbage or, Band Gobi, all categorized into easy-to-navigate recipe collections. These recipes and cooking videos are handpicked and contributed by home, professional and celebrity cooks across the world - you're sure to find a favorite recipe from our collection. Our recipe section expands every week, so visit us often. We welcome your contribution, please upload via myKP or email us with your favorite recipes, and we will post them up to share with others.
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Despite widespread expectations for another rate cut, the Reserve Bank of India left its key interest rate at 8% Monday, citing growing inflation concerns.
The move, or lack thereof, puts greater pressure on India's government to get its fiscal house in order.
The central bank aggressively cut its interest rate in April for the first time in three years in an effort to boost growth "based on the premise that the process of fiscal consolidation critical for inflation management would get under way, along with other supply-side initiatives."
Though little has happened, the Reserve Bank said "further reduction in the policy interest rate at this juncture, rather than supporting growth, could exacerbate inflationary pressures."
India's economic growth slowed sharply in the first three months of 2012, growing at a 5.3% annual rate compared to 6.1% rate in the final three months of 2011.
Related: Invest in India? Patience will pay off
Fitch Ratings also chimed in, putting India's outlook on "negative watch" for a possible downgrade.
The rating agency cited heightened risks that India's "growth potential will gradually deteriorate if further structural reforms are not hastened" and India's limited progress on reducing the central government deficit. Fitch affirmed India's credit rating at 'BBB-,' the lowest debt rating that is still considered investment grade.
"Against the backdrop of persistent inflation pressures and weak public finances, there is an even greater onus on effective government policies and reforms that would ensure India can navigate the turbulent global economic and financial environment and underpin confidence in the long-run growth potential of the Indian economy," said Art Woo, Director in Fitch's Asia-Pacific Sovereign Ratings group.
Though India's central bank is standing down, European central bankers signaled last week that they would provide more cash to help banks deal with the ongoing sovereign debt crisis. Even Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the U.S. central bank is leaving all options on the table, including the extension of Operation Twist, its program to swap short-term bonds for longer-term U.S. Treasuries, as well as a third round of asset purchases, known as QE3.
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Tech's Appeal
This story appears in the November 2002 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
The 20 employees at San Francisco's 4charity Inc. are on their computers eight hours or more a day, handling charitable-giving transactions online for nonprofits and corporate donors. "We're a totally virtual office," says Tracey Pettengill, 31, CEO of the 3-year-old company, whose sales will reach $1 million this year. "No one could come in to the office, and we'd be just as efficient."
But efficiency can lead to isolation and frustration. Pettengill finds herself telling her employees to solve problems face to face instead of hiding behind e-mail and instant messaging. Boredom from technology use has reared its ugly head, too: An employee who handles online sales was burning out last spring and asked for more variety and excitement in her job. "There's absolutely zero human interaction," Pettengill says. "It's a rote process over and over again." To solve the problem, Pettengill gave the employee some outbound sales calls and other projects other than filling out the same online form all day. It's helped the employee stay motivated.
Pettengill's dilemma is common. With employees instant messaging and e-mailing each other instead of hoofing it across the cube farm-and customers doing business online-it's getting harder to find "that happy balance between using technology and having personal interaction," Pettengill says. "It's a communication challenge."
Teched Off
While the efficient workplace promised by technology is very seductive, it comes with all kinds of trade-offs for employees. Besides a sense of isolation and frustration, they can feel distracted and pressured to keep up. Many employees are reacting negatively to technology, says Larry Rosen, a psychologist in Carlsbad, California, and author of the book Technostress (John Wiley). "We're in a continual state of overload," he says. The eventual result: stress and burnout.
At the same time, employees are expected to manage more of their work experience in cyberspace, says Nicole Kelly, a principal and communication consultant in Pittsburgh for HR consulting firm Buck Consultants. Areas that used to be the domain of highly trained experts-health care and 401(k) programs, for example-can be controlled by employees at their desktops.
Employers, meanwhile, are struggling to implement technology in a way that works for employees. Too often, small businesses approach technology purely from an IT point of view, Kelly says, expecting employees to adapt to technology rather than the other way around. But there's a point at which technology becomes counterproductive when you throw human nature into the mix. "Employers have gotten over the excitement of having [technology]," Kelly says. "Now we've got to make it work for us."
That starts by looking beyond the benefits of technology. Anticipating the negative effects on your staff in four key areas-stress, frustration, boredom and isolation-will help you tackle problems before they become issues. For example, if you want employees to manage their own 401(k)s online, how will you deal with the stress and frustration that comes with mastering the process? What will it take for employees to adapt? How will you fill the communication void some employees feel? Implement technology without answering these questions, and you could be creating more problems than solutions.
The easiest way to relieve the burden of technology is to make employees a part of the process. Start a technology committee that includes employees who would use new technology, from entry-level to top-level, tech-savvy to tech-impaired. This a good way to discover whether a new technology will cause isolation or boredom, and what you can do about it.
"You'll be surprised how well employees can articulate their needs when you give them a forum," Kelly says. "Some good ideas can spring up."
Does This Compute?
Technology is changing much faster than we are, and like Pettengill, you may have some employees who are burning out from repetitive computer tasks that don't let them solve problems or have meaningful interactions with customers.
Los Angeles psychologist Lilli Friedland suggests giving employees in these types of jobs at least one project every day that isn't computer-based. Like Pettengill, you can update a job description to include new offline tasks. Weekly brainstorming sessions, opportunities for collaboration with co-workers and in-person feedback can do wonders, too. In today's tech-driven workplaces, you'll have to work hard to provide a strong social support system, Friedland says. But in return, you'll get increased productivity and a lower turnover rate.
The challenge for employers over this decade will be striking a balance between technology and human nature. Pettengill still makes a point of having in-person meetings that could just as easily be done by e-mail. "It's important to get together to discuss what's going on," she says. "People need diversity and excitement to stay motivated."


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Lounge & Pajamas
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Take a look at our top styles like Boxercraft's C11, J. America's 8915, Fruit of the Loom's SF72R, and Burnside's 8800 and stock up on these quality finds.
Looking for loungewear for the whole family as well? Take a look at our wide selection of women's and kid's lounge and pajamas here and get comfortable clothes for the whole family at great discount prices.


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Monday, December 6, 2010
last (i think) christmas crafternoon:advent rings and banner
anyway, you know how i wanted to have my act together before all the craziness of the season? not happening as much as i had hoped, but what can you do. i've been thinking a lot about advent though and i don't want to go through another christmas with out participating in teaching my chitlens about the importance and meaning of christmas. layne is 4 years old this year and i think he could really get the concept. lila, well...she can just sit there and look cute.
ok so first of all, i wanted a 12 day calendar instead of a 25. i've already missed a couple days...so i thought, surely there is a modified calendar out there. NO. at least not christian based.
kinda like this...so cute, but not what i want.
so there are many ways you could do the advent thing...i mean just google it. the problem is, when you google it, you get pretty non-Jesus centered calendars. basically 25 days of busyness. all fun activities, things you can do with your kids, and even action-based calendars(i.e. have a widow over for dinner, help your mom clean the kitchen). but i'll tell you, that's not what i'm going for here. i want to stay away from DOING. DOING. DOING. and honestly, i think an action-based calendar misses the mark a little bit on the spirit of advent: a thoughtful remembrance and thankfulness of the hope we have in Jesus who arrived to us as a tiny baby and saved us--apart from anything we could DO for ourselves. tangent? moving on...
for example, this calendar below. it's really not bad, it's just that i wanted more guide and less action.(if you want to print this, go here.)
so i looked and looked and looked...and found this cheesy looking, but super helpful online advent calendar. then i looked through each day and shortened it to 12 days, while modifying it for my younger kids. can you tell i majored in education?
you can view/print my shortened advent guide here
there will be many a misspelling i'm sure. this was just a quick write up!
each day has a a verse, a question or a "promise" about God, and then tells the kids where to look for a special treat.
of course, you can make your own...go for it. it'll be time consuming, but worth it. and i'll be using this guide for my kids for a couple years. so well worth it.
then i made book paper advent rings...like the kind you make in elementary school. layne could have totally helped me, except he was gone for the day.
all you need is:
then you cut strips:
you can write on the strips if you want, but all you need is the number that corresponds to your guide:
i stamped numbers on mine and then glued them interlocking with eachother. i hung this upside down. woopsie.
each day, you let the kids remove a ring and do the activities for that day. can't wait to see if layne will participate or think i'm nerdy.
now, if you aren't into advent and i bored you for 2 hours, you can make one of these:
it's self explanatory right?just stamp a phrase on your book paper. and instead of stringing twine through a hole-punch, clothespins would look adorable here.
well, i wrote too much in this post, i know. english majors do things like that(although i can't spell very well).
and i meant to post some baby bump pictures here but... i slept in my makeup and look like i had a "busy night on the streets" if you know what i mean. next time....next time...
32 comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
tis true, auj. a little. i'm still feeling sick though...i thought i'd be totally in the clear by now. damn.ReplyDelete
your comment thingy is pissing me off. it might post twice so forgive me for i have sinned. all i wanted to say is that i love your 'let it snow' banner and that i can tell you're getting better because your crafting more. PTL.PTLOH.ReplyDelete
Only you could talk about baby jesus and a busy night on the streets. Cute calendar! Need to see that bump!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMonday, December 06, 2010
Ha ha to Bethany's comment! I was thinking the SAME thing:) Super cute Advent calendar. Nice job! BTW, Arle and I are glittering up some pine cones today.ReplyDelete
cool! I was just thinking I should do an advent calendar. I know that I can't do it this year though I'm already 2 miles past overwhelmed. But I will definitely be using this next year. lolReplyDelete
you are amazing though I love your thoughts on all the doing. That is so how I feel right now. (as I sit next to an envelope full of tickets we are supposed to sell for different church things. This church is very focused on staying busy)
- AnonymousMonday, December 06, 2010
I just love love love how you decorate.ReplyDelete
I love all the christmas crafts you've been posting! Book paper is so simple, yet so pretty. And I really like the advent calendar! Christmas has become so materialistic and it's really nice to see bringing the true meaning of Christmas back into the holiday. Thanks for all the lovely ideas! :)ReplyDelete
i really don't craft, but the simpleness of this book paper business is breaking me down a little every time. i just might give in. poor Ron Suskind, tho. (PTLOH? Praise the Lord on High?)ReplyDelete
So, I love the book paper projects you have done some great things with books. Thanks for stopping by "In His Grip". I am following you, will you follow me?ReplyDelete
Thanks for the reminder :). I'm guilty of getting caught up with the busyness of this season. I will be doing your advent ring :). Planning on sitting down together as a family either after dinner or before bedtime to read these verses.ReplyDelete
erin....you got it! PTLOH!!! Blahahahaha. no one ever gets that joke. auj and i thought we made that little phrase up on a road trip but maybe there are other old school christians who use this? L to the O to the L. let's be friends!ReplyDelete
fun stuff there, Jami!! :)ReplyDelete
love it like always.. think i'll try this one too. also elementary ed major... right up my alleyReplyDelete
Totally so excited because I am trying to celebrate advent this year by reading a passage of scripture for each week of December to meditate on. The problem is, I already forgot yesterday. But I made up for it by emailing it from to my hubby at work. Hey, it works. Maybe it was better that way! Plus, I have been stockpiling fun things for each day for someone in my little family, Chris, Ellie, Pippy and baby to be. Someone gets a little something each day in December. I've actually made it on that one - even packed them away in Chris's suitcase for his business trip! So...I'm on my way to being a good mom.ReplyDelete
i love that u r striving to keep christmas about jesus!ReplyDelete
Everything you do is so stinking cute. Jealous.ReplyDelete
oh geez. you're so ridiculously creative. i've been dying to go to the dollar store to buy a stupid book for, I don't know, weeks now. all so I ran rip it up and craft with it. who knew?!ReplyDelete
p.s. bump pictures, yes please!
i love this advent idea, using it!ReplyDelete
also PTLOH bahahah i knew i liked you, erin and your sister a lot and now i know why!
baby bump pictures! whatchu waitin' for girl.
ps: why is your house so wonderful? AND i just stumbled upon book page SHOES and was going to tell you about them but saw that you, the queen of bookpage, have already seen them and are probably wearing them right now!ReplyDelete
Now that's a new idea a 12 day advent. Google that. Hmm. I might have to copy, because. Thanks for the idea!ReplyDelete
You & I seem to be in the same boat. And our boat may be a little behind schedule but who cares really, right? I went through the same exact advent stuff. I wanted something Scripture based that goes back to what Advent really is. I finally found what I wanted and made up my calendar and finished it last night. :) We've been reading the right parts each night, we were just a little behind on the other part. But it's done and we'll have it for a long time to come. I hope. I like all your book crafties. I didn't comment on the last post (or one before that) but I like the place card idea. I'm stealing that one.ReplyDelete
So this weekend, I had two friends over, and we completely destroyed/repurposed an old French/English dictionary. We made wreaths. We thought about making ornaments and were too lazy. I now have a pile of dictionary paper, many great things to make with it and several hot glue burned fingers. I am so excited!ReplyDelete
Very cute as always, you are just too cool for school girly!ReplyDelete
This is the cutest idea, love how it looks!ReplyDelete
thanks for this...my bible study was just wondering about advent. this was helpful:)ReplyDelete
So creative and easy to do! Thank you for linking up to "Amaze Me Monday" blog party. I hope to see you next week!ReplyDelete
So creative and easy to do! Thank you for linking up to "Amaze Me Monday" blog party. I hope to see you next week!ReplyDelete
shut the front door!ReplyDelete
book pages. advent. and a banner.
you are speaking my language!!
i love every little bit of this.
love! like crazy. so glad you linked up. must make one of each.
i love to look at crafts, but hate to make them. can i just pay you a fee to make me one of everything you make for yourself?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousThursday, December 09, 2010
just stumbled upon your blog and OH MY GOSH I LOVE IT. i'm totally going to get out some craft supplies, put on christmas music and open up your blog. :) yessss.ReplyDelete
Love it! What a great idea. Having a great time checking out your blog. It's lovely!ReplyDelete


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XVII ISSA World Championships
August 12-14, 2011
Manassas, Virginia USA
Tournament Entry Form |Roster Form | Addresses of Venues | Registered Teams | Preliminary Schedule | Championship Brackets
The 17th ISSA World Championships (www.seniorsoftball.org)
August 12th - 14th , 2011 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
Northern Virginia Area Complexes
It is estimated that 80 to 100 teams from throughout the United States will be attending to compete for the World Championships in their division.
|Ticket Prices:
|Admission to all venues is FREE.
No charge for parking, adequate parking is available at the parks.
|Managers Meeting:
|A manager's meeting will be held on Thursday night, August 11, 2011 at 7:00PM at the Host Hotel, Four Points Sheraton.
|Team Check-in:
Friday during preliminary play at the ball park, the senior men's teams check-in together. Master's teams check in one hour before first game on Saturday.
|Tournament Seeding:
The tournament staff will place the teams in brackets and prepare the preliminary schedule which will be posted on the website approximately three days prior to the tournament. The preliminary game record will be used to seed your team into the double elimination finals. The exact format will depend on the number of teams in each division.
|First Game:
|August 12th , the games will begin at 8:00AM on Friday at each venue. Most divisions will end on Sunday afternoon and the Awards Ceremony will immediately follow the final game. (Some smaller divisions could conclude on Saturday)
|Tournament Director:
RB Thomas, Jr., 9401 East Street, Manassas, VA 20110 (703-368-1188 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 703-368-1188 end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
Online Entry completed and mail Entry Fee by July 20, 2011
|Rosters Due:
|The ISSA Roster Form must be submitted by July 12 (player signatures can be added at the check-in).
|Divisions of Play:
Teams will be placed in skill level divisions based on their ISSA Rating and verified by the tournament staff. Divisions are planned for AA, AAA, Major and Major Plus in each age classification for men. Divisions could be combined for preliminary play but ALL teams will be given the opportunity to play for their rated division championship against similar rated teams. Competition will be included for senior Women's teams beginning at 40 and over and Men's Masters beginning at 35 and over. Women and Masters will begin play on Saturday, August 13.
The entry fee for men's senior teams is $525.00. Fee includes one dozen ISSA .44/375 softballs (teams hit their own ISSA ball.)
T-shirts and other apparel will be for sale at each venue. Other merchandise and equipment will also be available at the tournament.


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In advance of next week's Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne symposium in San Francisco, the company appears to have enough news percolating upward through its many divisions to announce a group of Java Micro Edition (Java ME) platform updates.
Newly arrived is the Java ME Embedded 3.2 client Java runtime optimized for microcontrollers and other "resource-constrained" devices. Also in the release pile is Oracle Java Wireless Client 3.2 and Oracle Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.2.
NOTE: In terms of form factor, "resource-constrained" devices are typically small embedded, low-power devices such as microcontrollers and other hardware often built without screens or user interfaces.
With memories of Sun's stewardship of the platform and language fast fading, the firm defines Java Embedded technologies as a component of the Oracle "device to datacenter" platform, which targets implementation relating to Machine to Machine (M2M) solutions.
"The rapid growth in the 'Internet of Things' is driving demand for open and cross-industry platforms that can help decrease time to market and deliver increased capabilities in embedded devices, while retaining tight control on development, production, and support costs," said Nandini Ramani, vice president of engineering, Java client, and mobile platforms at Oracle.
"Java's uniquely flexible architecture supports these requirements through a highly secure virtual machine designed to support remote application updates and downloads. With the release of the new Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2, Oracle now enables the connection of data and processes for small embedded M2M devices," she added.
Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 supports on-the-fly application downloads and updates, remote operation (often in challenging environments), and supports hardware with as little as 130 k RAM and 350 k ROM.
This release brings a commercial implementation of Java for small footprint devices based on the ARM architecture, including Cortex-M and Cortex-A. The implementation can be licensed from Oracle as source or binary.
A standard binary of Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 for ARM KEIL development boards based on ARM Cortex M-3/4 will be available for download from the Java Embedded section on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).
Support for additional off-the-shelf binaries is planned for future update releases.
"Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 allows customers to extend the lifetime, flexibility, and value of embedded solutions by enabling application upgrades in the field, without compromising the integrity and security of the system. This provides for after-market updates to many industry-certified devices, without requiring whole device recertification," said the company.
This new release also leverages standard JSRs, Oracle optimizations/APIs, and a flexible porting layer for device-specific customizations, which are tuned to device/chipset requirements. There is also support for advanced tooling functions, such as memory and network monitoring and on-device tooling.