text:
Mourning commute: Council asks if police fee takes fun from funerals
The Charlottesville Police Department sent an emissary to City Council Monday to explain something that's been festering since May, when the CPD decided to stop routinely providing free funeral processions and begin charging $150 when officers are asked to corral mourning traffic.
"It was time-consuming," Lt. Ronnie Roberts told the Council. "Resources were being pretty much depleted to meet this objective."
This objective is the time-honored practice of getting a body-filled hearse from church to graveyard. But in recent years, such trends as secular services, graveside funerals, cremations with exotic ash scatterings, and even motorist ennui have crashed these end-of-life parties.
"Society changed," Roberts said. "Most people don't pull over."
Councilor Kristin Szakos told the Council audience that she was the person who asked for the explanation from the Police Department after getting some feedback from constituents while walking her dog.
"I think it's really too bad," Szakos said. "It does seem to be a generational thing."
Mayor-Councilor Dave Norris seconded that emotion.
"I share Ms. Szakos' sadness because we don't honor the dead as we used to," said Norris. "It's part of the culture, and we're losing that."
One interesting sidelight to the October 4 discussion was a revelation about the productivity of parking ticket-writing. The officers pulled for an hour or two from their tire-chalking and ticket-writing duties when a funeral calls give up writing "approximately fifteen parking tickets per hour." In all, according to a report by the police chief, funeral escorts were costing the city $100,000 to $150,000 in lost parking fines.
From now on, according to the policy, procession requests that come from funeral homes with 24-hour notice would still be conducted for $150.
Before the policy change, Roberts said, the CPD would typically provide four to five escorts per day, but in the last two weeks, only one funeral opted to pay for the service. The Department began advising funeral homes of the policy change in May.
Lt. Roberts also shared with Council a tale of a colleague in another jurisdiction who was seriously injured when a car invaded a funeral procession. And Roberts noted that Charlottesville would join other localities who avoid legal liability for mishaps by limiting its offers of free processions.
"I defer to your professional judgment," Mayor Norris told Roberts who concluded of free funeral processions: "I think it's a policy that has outlived its time."
32 comments
Dan, it seems to me that if people in a funeral procession were creating a public hazard, they ought to be ticketed, not escorted.
It's not for "nothing". The hazard is on public roads and police are responsible for enforcing public safety on those roads. What pays for those roads and police officers? Taxes. When the government collects taxes they are supposed to use them for basic services like roads and protection. So what are we paying for?
All of the complainers must believe that they are "entitled" to something for nothing. What spoiled brats America has created in the last 2 generations. Amazing.
Sam, we don't need more employees in the city and county. We need for those that are currently employed to do what they are suppose to be doing (as in routine patrol). I had to take my daughter from one side of town to the other to catch a tour bus Wednesday morning, left home about 4:00 a.m.
The only police cars I saw (3) were all sitting in a 24 hour store chatting and drinking coffee. Forty minutes later the same three cars were all still sitting at this same store.
When I worked at the Greene County Sheriff's Office, the then Sheriff Morris went out all hours of the day and NIGHT supervising his troops. He didn't allow his troops to all congregate at a store in public view for 45 to 60+ minutes. He made them get out and perform their duties on midnight shift, namely PATROL the county and deter crime.
J.N. Bailey lived at Monticello while he was living now people live at his tombstone in Maplewood. I boxwoods hide a sleeping place. It would give someone an easy job, instead of a handout, if they would hire a night watchman at both cemeteries.
A free clue for this person they call Norris... the city needs to put a tall fence around Maplewood and Oakwood. And lock them both at dark. Tombstones are being vandalized and/or totally destroyed in both cemteries at an alarming rate!!!!
Sam, I think if we were all to put our heads together and try to come up with a list of things the city does manage well that it would be a pretty short list in the end.
Unlike in the world of private employment, mismanaging city owned assets doesn't get you replaced. Look at how badly the Downtown Mall was neglected for years and how poorly the extension projects on 3rd and 1st streets were managed.
The Mall is much more visible than a city owned cemetery and countless people watched and were negatively affected by what happened there right in the middle of things. Do you think Jim Tolbert or anyone else fears in any way for the loss of his job though?
The response to the snow removal problem this past year by the Department of Public Works was equally visible and equally badly managed with again no consequences being suffered by those in charge. That lack of accountability at the top is not lost on the guys lower on the totem pole.
If the city were to hire a tough city manager things might change, but they will most likely give a rubber stamp to the current acting city manager citing a need for "diversity" or some such and the good old boy network of mutual back-scratchers will stay put.
We can all expect the price we pay in taxes and new fees to keep going up and the quality of the service we get for it to keep going down until we fix the real problem here, which is a city council composed of members who at best seem barely qualified to hold public office. Szakos herself is a prime example of that.
In 1963 the old burial record book for Maplewood & Oakwood were sent to UVa for microfilming. Good thing since the City has lost/destroyed the Maplewood burial book since then and the only copy is the one made in 1963. It looks like the indigent burial book for Oakwood copied in 1963 has also been lost or destroyed since then. J.N. Bailey's grave in Maplewood was so covered up with boxwood I got them to cut it back. Now the stone is being weed wacked so it probably would have been better off hidden in the box wood. etc etc. So the City's record is not great with me concerning the deceased.
"we don't honor the dead as we used to," said Norris. I don't think the City treats/spends as much time/money on Maplewood Cemetery and Oakwood Cemetery as the the City did in the past either. So I'd be carefull of the City getting on a high horse.
Dan, have you ever sat down and figured out --EVERY-- tax you pay in a month's time? Do it one day, you would be quite surprised at the bottom line. And I'm talking about adding in even the taxes on all your utility bills each month. Gas, water, electric, home phone, cell phones, etc... for example. And when I say gas, I also mean gas coming into your home and the per gallon you pay on road fuel. All of this on top of the taxes you mentioned and income taxes.
At the end of the month you should consider yourself lucky if you have 45% to 50% of your net income left for your mortgage, food, automobile and clothing.
The Charlottesville Utility Tax on the electricity coming into my home was $15.00 this month. Dominion Power collects it from every customer and pays it into the city.
They should contract this duty out to private security 'officers'.
So let me get this straight. We pay real estate taxes, personal property taxes, income taxes, and sales taxes. There are more people than ever which translates to more taxpayers than ever.
And now it's gotten to the point that you have to pay for trash pickup, ambulance transport, fire protection (see news article about event in TN), and now funeral escorts?
It seems that only Charlottesville has slipped through the wrinkle in decency, and citizens know not what the proper respect means. Drive just 70 miles south, and attend a funeral in Lynchburg. One officer is all that is required. On two lane roads, people will pull over and wait. If you have your headlights on, no one tries to butt into line. So, it seems to be a geographical issue.
It seems to be true that they are charging for alarm activation as well. I guess we need to revert back to the old tried and true. Save your money and your life, buy a Smith and Wesson, and protect yourself. I think that the constitution still allows for that, at least for the moment.
They went from a low estimate of 56 processions to 1 in the first two weeks. While some people cannot afford $150, I highly doubt that was the reason the majority decided against it. To me that seems to point to the fact that people don't really value the service much, but will certainly take it if it is free. If you do the math, this is saving them ~44 hours a week. The way i see it, the citizens are no longer paying for a dedicated person to do processions for private religious services.
What about those Albemarle cops who direct traffic every Sunday (and sometimes other days) in front of the Covenant Church on Rio Road? I sure hope the church is being charged a fee for taking up those resources (and I hope the cops are getting overtime).
The cop shoppes charge for alarm activations now too. I wonder how much this has generated in revenue for the city and county?
Let's see.... they encourage people to file incident reports online, alarm activation fees, funeral escort fees, charges for traffic control at John Paul Jones arena, charge business owners for protection by off duty cops, etc... What services do they perform on the tax dollar that we and business owners are already paying?
I think it is rediculous! I think there will be more accidents with the new policy in place because due to traffic delays (stop lights, other drivers cutting in the middle of funeral processions because they know there is no police escort anymore, etc.) there are people who don't get to the funeral by time the graveside service starts. OR, they rush and drive recklessly to try to get to the grave site on time. As for the $150 fee, believe it or not there are many families who simply can't afford it. Frankly, I don't care if drivers pull over or not, but I do care that they recklessly cut in line.
the next time an active or former police officer dies, i guarantee there will be a police escort for that procession...and i also guarantee the family will not have to pay $150 for it.
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If we can give crack whores welfare then we can certainly give a policemans time for a funeral escort.
The fee should be waived for the poor if they are citizens of the city or any residnent who has lived here either their entire life or more than 50 years or is a veteran. The law should also state that Funeral homes cannot charge a seperate handling fee for collecting or setting it up.
Calling a funeral a "private religous service" is a stretch. Even atheists have funerals.
If people in the funeral procession are obeying traffic laws, then there is really no reason that traffic lights, or people cutting in line should be a problem at all. Obviously the police don't think so or they wouldn't have asked for that change in policy.
I have made it from the corner of First and Markets streets, the site of one funeral home, to the cemetery by the river in 5 to 10 minutes quite easily any number of times. No police escort needed. I have even encountered lights, stop signs, and other motorists along the way without incident.
Good to know Kristin Szakos can take a tough stance on a really pressing issue like this though.
"In all, according to a report by the police chief, funeral escorts were costing the city $100,000 to $150,000 in lost parking fines."
Will the free service resume after the traffic light camera(s) are installed? The camera(s) will generate *much* more revenue per hour than parking tickets...
And we all know the purpose of the PD is revenue generation. Recent events prove it is certainly not crime prevention.
I just noticed something quite interesting at lunch.
I saw the Charlottesville Police Department giving a police motorcycle escort to the UVa Men's Football Team (presumably on the way to the airport for their upcoming game with Georgia Tech). Please note that is was the Charlottesville Police Department and not the UVa Police Department.
Hmmm . . . my first thought was ââ?¬Å?Why does the UVa Men's Football Team need a Charlottesville Police escort to get to the airport?" Plenty of folks go to the airport everyday without a police escort. Why is the UVa Men's Football Team any different?
However, for the purpose of this posting, I think the more appropriate question is: ââ?¬Å?Does UVa pay the Charlottesville Police Department for this escort?"
If so, how much? And, does that amount equate effectively to the applicable ââ?¬Å?lost parking fines" connected to the timeframe of these escorts?
If not, then why not (especially in light of the funeral procession discussion)?
I think it is a worthwhile question to be addressed given the overall nature of the City's thought process in this case.
Also, a couple additional thoughts I have not seen mentioned previously.
What about the tax revenue generated by the funeral itself? Correct me if wrong, but don't funeral homes pay sales taxes? Don't funeral homes pay fees associated with business licenses? How about City tax revenue associated with wakes and other gatherings connected to the funeral?
Also, what's going to happen if, God forbid, a Charlottesville police officer is killed in the line of duty (or dies of natural causes for that matter)? Is the City actually going to charge the police officer's family for the funeral escort? What about the costs associated with other officers attending the funeral?
Are we really taking into account the bigger picture here or is the City simply being a bit ââ?¬Å?petty" with regards to a long standing tradition of respect to its citizenry?
I respectfully think that City government and the Charlottesville Police Department should really give this concept some additional thought. I don't think the best decision has been made.
Just my two cents.
I have been there and done that when it comes to funeral escorts. I think that the Police Department made a wise choice in charging for the service. What people don't understand about police departments are all the little things, like funaral escorts for example, that take up time for the police during the day. Put aside the city's excuse about loss of parking fine income. With the current economy, its an issue of a praticality. The Police Department is taking hits from the economy just as most others are. They have a limited number of officers (limited by city human resources) who respond to numerous calls for service each day during the same hours funerals are held. The main responsibility of the police is to protect and serve, and that means aswering calls for service from the citizens within jurisdiction. That takes priority over a funeral escort. I think that the city and its citizens have much bigger issues to deal with and discuss than the city police adding a charge for a funeral escort. Very agrivating. I want my tax dollars to go to better things.
As far as UVA football and the escort given to them by Charlottesville Police, the University pays them seperately for that luxury. Once again, complain, complain, complain. Leave the PO-PO alone, gosh.
Covenant Church on Rio Road does not need to pay for the police to do their job of preventing accidents in a high traffic area.
Interesting thought! But, using your argument, taxpayers (and Hill & Wood Funeral Home, Teague Funeral Home, J F Bell Funeral Home, and McClenney Funeral Home) should not have to pay for the police to do their job in preventing accidents in high traffic intersections within the city.
The taxpayers and funeral homes probably all pay more taxes then the Covenant Church! Come to think of it, aren't churches tax exempt?
Can't we get the Pagans to do the funral escort like they do in WV, PA and Kenntucky? They ride better and have more class.
I think the city should tell the family of a lifetime resident it is not entitled to anything after the family member served in a World Wa, paid property taxes for 60 years, volunteered and was an all around good guy. They should save that 150 bucks to give money to a crack head who dropped out of the free school system but still gets food stamps to compensate for the free lunch they gave up when they dropped out.
It is a dumb PR move. They could easily have cadets or even Crosswalk people do it in between their morning and afternoon shifts.
Some things should be included in your property taxes and this is one of them.
I think local funeral escort ought to be an elected (but unpaid) position. I nominate Bill Marshall.
If I were retired I would be honored to show respect for my fellow mans by doing just that.
Perhaps the city could look to retired officers to do it for a small stipend and pay for it by keeping the meter maids shafting the taxpayers for actually having the nerve to park on the street they paid for without paying again.
Right on Bill! We the People shouldn't have to pay to park any more than we should have to pay for gas. We've already paid for the car and it's outrageous that we have to pay again and again just to move it. You park you pay! You move you pay! It ain't right! It just ain't right!


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The calendar is now sortable by category and by tag, both at the top of the calendar. You can use the button at the foot of the calendar to add this calendar to your own (Google, Apple, Timely etc). The print button at the top will print the page you're on. Clicking on the main calendar bar (top left) allows you to choose a date to jump to. PLEASE NOTE – where an event is marked as 'ALL DAY' it may be best to check with the organisers in case they have not submitted a start and/or end time to us …
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Filibuster
Since it's the start of the All-Star break, who's your All-Star so far this season?
Cicero, IL
First of all, major cap tip to ultimate All-Star, The Captain, Derek Jeter, a man who has been giving me goosebumps for 17 years and counting. Dude is a paragon of class, someone who always goes hard and who seems to have a natural knack for the dramatic.
Jeter is one of those duh, no kidding he's an All-Star sorta guys, the Pete Rose type, the kind of player you always expect to be an All-Star 'cuz that' s how he carries himself, on and off the field. But there's another type of All-Star, the kind who generally isn't included in the actual All-Star Game… they are the grinders, the 110% effort guys, the ones who find clean uniforms shameful.
When I was playing legion and high school ball, I was never the best on the team. I was short. I was skinny. I pretty much had zero tools… but I always went hard. Bruises, cuts, scrapes… I was tattooed with them. One day, after a particularly poor team performance, Coach said we needed to give more effort, to go harder. He said, "Lung has more energy in his pinky finger than the rest of you do as a team."
I never forgot that. And even though I didn't have the talent to be a starter, or to be successful at baseball at all, I did learn to walk pretty tall after that because everyone knew I gave it everything I had on every play.
Nyjer Morgan does that today.
Shocking, yes, I know, that I would praise the talents of a misfit who plays for a rival team. But have you ever watched Nyjer Morgan play baseball? That dude is fired up! And he plays helluh-hard! There is no let-up in his game and above all the homeruns, the no-hitters, the miraculous defensive plays in the field, I would rather watch nine Nyjer Morgans play against nine Nyjer Morgans than any of the aforementioned spectacles.
He may be odd, he may be hot headed and he may be just a few clicks shy of stupid, but Nyjer Morgan loves baseball like I love baseball, and he plays it in such a way that I can't ever take my eyes off him.
He's my undisputed off-the-radar All-Star.
Hate me, it's cool… just don't hate me 'cuz I'm right.
**Have a topic you want to see us Filibuster? Want a free pimp for your blog? Would you like to know if Mr. Krause's rumored affinity for little people is true? Send us your Filibuster questions by emailing email@example.com or by commenting below.


text: After diving into the disastrous effects having a toy collection can have on the love life of a grown man, I feel compelled to ask: are you an adult that still plays with toys? And, just to be clear, when I say "toys" I am referring to products normally reserved for children—like action figures and legos. If you do, make sure to list your favorites in the comments.


text:
The Arctic is a vast area covering more than a sixth of Earth's inland, covering all 24 time zones and over 30 million square kilometres. Most of the Arctic is a vast 14 million square kilometre ocean surrounded by treeless permafrost. The Arctic is a truly unique, yet vulnerable region.
There are now approximately 4 million people living permanently in the Arctic, including over 30 indigenous nations. The Arctic region includes the northern territories of the eight Arctic states- the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland (a territory of Denmark) and the Russian Federation. Five of the Arctic states are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), three of which are also Member States of the EU.
All eight states are members of an institution known as the Arctic Council (AC), founded in 1996. It is a high-level intergovernmental forum, and while not a law-making or resource-distributing body, the AC has produced important analyses and recommendations on environment protection, resource management and guidelines for shipping among others.
The Arctic region is still not regulated by multilateral agreements, because it was never considered that it would become a navigable waterway or that the region would be exploited for business purposes. However, today it can be said that the Arctic region's geopolitical and strategic importance is growing. This is symbolised by the planting of a Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole in August 2007.
Although scientists are still arguing over exactly how fast the Arctic's ice will melt, one thing is clear- the effects of climate change are impacting the region more than anywhere else in the world. Arctic average temperature has risen by twice the global average rise in the past 50 years. The old, thick, permanent ice cap is retreating. In 2007, for the first time in modern history, the deeper-water, northern, more direct route opened for navigation by non-icebreaking vessels.
Such impacts threaten to destroy the already rapidly changing and fragile ecosystem network. The situation with a retreating icecap is perhaps the most worrying, as it affects directly the natural habitat of the region, e.g. posing problems for polar bears' feeding habits.
Arctic is economically attractive for the AC member states in four main aspects:
- the exploitation of newly accessible oil and gas deposits (and maybe other minerals)
- Transit shipping
- Fisheries
- Tourism
In November 2008, the European Commission adopted a document ("The European Union and the Arctic Region"). In addition to setting out EU interests and policy objectives in the region, the text also proposes measures and suggestions for EU Member States and EU institutions to respond to the challenges. It is the first step towards an EU-Arctic policy. EU's main policy objectives are as follows:
- Protecting and preserving the Arctic in unison with its population;
- Promoting sustainable use of resources;
- Contributing to enhanced Arctic multilateral governance.
The Iceland's EU accession negotiations are currently on. As EU's presence in the AC would increase with Iceland becoming a Member State of the EU, it is a strategically great chance to play a more active and constructive role in the Arctic region, also contributing to the multilateral governance. It could also help to solve collective environmental problems and increase EU's interest for the Arctic and for its protection on both regional and international levels.
For more information, please read:
EU Maritime Affairs: "The EU and the Arctic region – Overview"
"European Parliament resolution of 9 October 2008 on Arctic governance" (PDF)
Europa: "The Arctic merits the European Union's attention – first step towards an EU Arctic Policy"
Arctic Council homepage


text:
How to Fix "Task Manager has been Disabled by Your Administrator"?
I can't access Folder Options in Windows Explorer. Task Manager and Registry Editing is also disabled. I get an error dialog box which says that they are disabled by the administrator. How do you solve this hell?
This is a common problem in Windows. When you open the Task Manager, it doesn't open and the option is grayed out. Sometimes, only the Task Manager is disabled, but many times the registry editing and folder options are also disabled.
Trying to run the Task Manager using the RUN dialog box shows the following error:
Running it with the Windows shortcut Ctrl-Alt-Del or Ctrl-Shift-Esc keys has no effect.
If your computer is part of a local network or if you are not a computer administrator, it's possible that the administrator has disabled or restricted it using the registry editor or the group policy.
In case you are the sole user of your computer, it's most likely that your system is infected with a virus, which has disabled the Task Manager. Many times, the registry editor and the folder options in Windows Explorer are also disabled.
Once you've removed the virus, follow the simple step given below to restore the Task Manager again.
Copy and paste the following into the RUN dialog box and press the Enter key (or click OK):
REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
If the above command doesn't work or gives an error saying that the registry has been disabled by the administrator, download and run the small utility to enable the Task Manager from here.
Here's a VB script which also enables the Task Manager. Download it from here, then unzip and run it by double-clicking on it.
If Registry editor is also disabled, then download, unzip and run the VB script to enable it.
For enabling Folder Options, download, unzip and run this VB script.


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Description:2 x HP MSA/MSA2 750GB 3.5-inch LFF SATA 3Gb/s 7.2K
Dual Port (DP) MidLine (MDL) Hot-Plug Hard Drive
In HP Hot-Plug MSA/MSA2 Hard Drive tray (as pictured)
For HP MSA1040 MSA2040 MSA2050 MSA2000 MSA2000i and
P2000 SAN Storage Arrays
Genuine HP serial number and MSA/MSA2 firmware
Genuine HP manufactured Hard DrivePart Number(s)
Option Part# AJ739A
Spare Part# 480941-001
For use in HP StorageWorks MSA/MSA2 Systems only.
Modular Smart Array (MSA) 2000/2000i Systems.
Modular Smart Array 2 (MSA2) 1040/2040/P2000 Systems.
Complete HDD compatibility table listed below.
Overview:HP MSA2 / MSA2000 controller enclosures and large form factor expansion enclosures accept unique HP SATA disk drive modules with different firmware and different trays than other HP storage arrays and Proliant servers. The disk drives have SATA interposers attached to the back. The SATA interposers have active logic on them that will convert a single-ported SATA disk module into a dual-ported disk module. If you look closely, you will see a MULTIPLEXER chip on the interposer which is responsible for this function. Even though the SCA-40 connector is reminiscent of a connector on a Fibre Channel disk drive, no SATA-FC bridge chip exists on this interposer.


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Ogden to Provo, Utah: Car, Bus, Train, and Bikes!
Posted by Sarah McGregor | Tags: Rail-Trails , Routes & Rides , U.S. - Utah
Antsy to get out and tour one last time before the snow flew, we were looking for someplace within reasonable driving distance of home in Denver with dry weather and plenty of amenities. When Pete first suggested Utah, I was skeptical, thinking it was all about mountain biking. Sure looks that way when you Google "bicycling and Utah." But after some map-studying and conversations with bike/ped coordinators, we settled on the Salt Lake Valley, from Ogden to Provo.
There are almost 100 miles of bike paths completed or nearly completed along the Ogden/Salt Lake/Provo corridor. The Denver & Rio Grande Western Rail Trail runs about 23 miles from Ogden to Farmington, following an old railroad grade. According to Wikipedia, when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway (D&RG) was chartered in 1870, the goal of organizers was connecting Denver with El Paso, Texas. But when its narrow-gauge line reached Raton Pass on the Colorado-New Mexico border in 1878, the company learned that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad had already claimed the best route across arid New Mexico. After a prolonged and expensive battle, in 1880 the companies came to a compromise, and — under the direction of Gen. William J. Palmer, a Union veteran of the Civil War — the D&RG took aim at Salt Lake City instead of El Paso.
In Farmington, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Rail Trail connects seamlessly to the Legacy Parkway Trail, 14 miles long, which took us into downtown Salt Lake. The ride from Ogden to Salt Lake is great, just one short gap on a road and a very strange railroad crossing (marked by no trespassing signs, but easily negotiated). The pavement looks to be brand new, at least on the DRGW Trail, and it's also in terrific shape on the Legacy Parkway Trail. In Salt Lake, we hooked up with the Jordan River Parkway Trail, which still had some poorly marked gaps and detours, but is slated for completion soon. The Jordan River trail took us to Utah Lake, about 15 miles out of downtown Provo. We cycled into Provo on State Street (Highway 89), which was not exactly scenic, but nice and wide and adequate for cycling.
The Jordan River corridor is quite scenic, following the river with its wild areas yet not far from city amenities. It sorely needed signing when we were there, so take a few maps of the trail and the cities — Lehi, Orem, American Fork, Pleasant Grove. They all run into each other and seem like one city, but they can be difficult to navigate due to Utah's unusual address numbering system. Each town has its own system, based on distance north-south and east-west of the city's Mormon temple — e.g., 2000 North 4000 East — and, consequently, you'll find a lot of similarly named streets from town to town.
Tip for this adventure: A real bonus for this trip is the terrific public transportation on the corridor via the Utah Transit Authority. We left our car in Provo and took a bus to the light rail line in Sandy, which took us to the downtown Salt Lake station, where we boarded the commuter train to Ogden to start our tour.
Favorite local bike shop: Back home, my favorite is Cycleton Denver.
3 responses so far ↓
Sarah - Feb 18, 2014 at 1:21 PMThe trail is completely finished now, as is the rail line between Ogden and Provo.
Jamie - Feb 18, 2014 at 9:51 PMI have visited that area many, many times. On one of our recent trips we took the Frontrunner from Ogden to Downtown SLC to see the lights on the grounds of the Mormon Temple. The train is wonderful, and they have a dedicated car just for people with bikes. Love knowing that there is a trail that connects the entire Wasatch Front. I will definitely be doing this trip in the very near future. Thanks for your post!
Roo - Mar 2, 2014 at 9:37 AMFor a local bike shop along the route (as opposed to back in Denver), your best bet for a touring shop is Saturday Cycles, mid-way along the trip in the northern portion of Salt Lake City - SaturdayCycles.com


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NEW YORK, June 11 (UPI) -- The Dublin-set romance "Once" won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in New York Sunday night.
"Clybourne Park" was declared Best Play, "Porgy and Bess" Best Revival of a Musical and "Death of a Salesman" Best Revival of a Play.
In addition to the top musical prize, "Once" also scooped up the awards for Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Orchestrations, Best Sound Design of a Musical, Best Lighting Design of a Musical and Best Scenic Design of a Musical.
The show's leading man, Steve Kazee, snagged the trophy for Best Actor in a Musical and dedicated it to his mother, who died of cancer in April. He offered his heartfelt thanks to his fellow cast members for helping him through his grief, as well.
"My mother always told me before shows to 'stand up there and show them whose little boy you are.' And I'm showing you today that I am the son of Kathy Withrow Kazee, who lost her fight with cancer on Easter Sunday this year and I miss you every day and I feel you here with me here tonight and I love you all so much and thank you for this award," Kazee said.
James Corden also gave an emotional acceptance speech as he collected the Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his work in the British slap-stick comedy "One Man, Two Guvnors."
"I am overwhelmed," Corden said. "The audiences here have embraced our show like we never, ever imagined they could. Every night is a joy."
At a ceremony dominated by first-time winners such as Kazee and Corden, Audra McDonald scored her fifth Tony Award for her moving performance in the tragic love story "Porgy and Bess."
"I was a little girl with a pot belly and Afro puffs, hyperactive, and I found the theater and I found my home and a place to express myself and I was so grateful, even at the age of 9, and, to think the theater would be so good to me, is mind-blowing. I'm so grateful to be a part of this company," said McDonald, winner of the Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award.
"Peter and the Starcatcher," a Peter Pan inspired story, was also a big winner Sunday night. Christian Borle won the Tony for Best Supporting Actor in a Play for his portrayal of the outrageous pirate Black Stache, while the show earned the awards for Best Scenic Design of a Play, Best Sound Design of a Play, Best Lighting Design of a Play and Best Costume Design of Play.
The Tony for Best Direction of a Play went to Mike Nichols for "Death of a Salesman."
"This was my neighborhood movie theater when I was a kid. I once -- at a Saturday kids' matinee -- won a pie-eating contest. It was nice, but this is nicer. You see before you a happy man," Nichols, a six-time Tony Award winner for directing, said of this year's Tonys venue, the Beacon Theatre. "I have to thank Rebecca Miller because she trusted us to do Arthur Miller's greatest play and I got to do his play and I got to do it with a cast straight from heaven. ... I can't talk about them. I love them too much."
"Other Desert Cities" star Judith Light won the prize for Best Supporting Actress in a Play, while "Nice Work if You Can Get It" co-stars Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye went home with matching statuettes for Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Musical. Nina Arianda earned the Best Actress in a Play title for her work in "Venus in Fur," and "Newsies" won Best Choreography and Best Original Score honors.
Neil Patrick Harris served as the host of the 3-hour-long Tony Awards show, which aired on CBS.


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Julian Flores Garcia
Director de seguridad,Segurpricat Siseguridad
Dirección:Pau Claris 97 Barcelona
El terrorismo que hace uso de materiales QBRNE ( químicos, biológicos , radiológicos , nucleares y explosivos ) plantea una clara amenaza a la salud pública y la seguridad , la seguridad nacional y la estabilidad económica y política a nivel mundial . Por consiguiente , la prevención de este tipo de incidentes es de la más alta prioridad
Terrorism that makes use of CBRNE materials (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives) poses a clear threat to public health and safety, national security and economic and political stability on a global level. Accordingly, the prevention of such incidents is of the highest priority.
The threat of CBRNE terrorism is evolving and, with it, the risk of incidents intended to maximize the number of victims on a global scale. We know that terrorist groups are working hard to acquire CBRNE materials and the expertise to use them in their operations.
Chemical and explosives terrorism
The use of chemical and explosive materials by criminals and terrorist groups poses a significant threat in every country. As well as endangering public safety on a large-scale, such attacks can severely impact economic and political stability.
High-profile incidents have affected all regions of the world – such as bombings in Abuja, Boston, London, Madrid, Moscow, Mumbai and Oklahoma, and chemical attacks on the Tokyo subway and in Syria.
At INTERPOL, we support the efforts of member countries to deter, detect and disrupt the use of chemicals in terrorist incidents. We work to prevent criminals from diverting, smuggling and using chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals and explosive precursor chemicals.
Sharing and analysing information
INTERPOL carries out the following activities related to information and intelligence:
- Collecting and sharing information on terrorist attacks involving the use of chemical and explosive materials;
- Analysing the methodologies of terrorist groups;
- Identifying emerging threats;
- Contributing details of chemical and explosive incidents to the INTERPOL CBRNE Monthly Digest, along with analysts' commentaries;
- Producing analytical reports at the request of member countries or international organizations.
Capacity building
No single government or organization is able to address alone the problem of chemical and explosive terrorism. Education and awareness programmes targeting government authorities, police services and the chemical industry form the cornerstone of INTERPOL's chemical and explosives terrorism prevention efforts.
INTERPOL's capacity building programmes promote countermeasure activities designed to identify, interdict and investigate the illicit diversion of chemicals. The training courses are designed to improve member countries' chemical security both within their national borders and in cooperation with neighbouring countries in order to prevent the smuggling of chemicals across international borders. Other training courses develop the knowledge and leadership skills of senior law enforcement officials based in border and chemical security agencies.
Chemical Anti-Smuggling Enforcement (CHASE) Programme
The INTERPOL CHASE Programme is a global effort to counter the international smuggling of chemicals used to manufacture chemical and explosive devices. It increases the capacity of police, customs, border forces, immigration and security agencies to work collaboratively, and builds on the strengths of individual organizations to expand their information exchange networks.
Programme CHASE uses a multi-agency and multinational approach to deliver advanced chemical, explosive and investigative training to member countries. In a practical application of the skills developed through the CHASE training initiatives, INTERPOL coordinates operations in the field and provides practical support with range of databases, tools and services. The ultimate goal is to identify, interdict and investigate the movement of criminals and the chemical materials they smuggle.
International cooperation
INTERPOL represents the interests of the worldwide law enforcement community and cooperates with a range of partners in the fight against chemical and explosive terrorism. INTERPOL cooperates on a regular basis with other international organizations including:
- Europol
- World Customs Organization (WCO)
- Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 Committee
- Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
- United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
- EU CBRN Centers of Excellence
- International Centre for Chemical Safety and Security (ICCSS).
World Customs Organization – Programme Global Shield
Programme Global Shield is a joint initiative of INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It targets the illicit diversion and trafficking of 14 chemical precursors used by terrorist and other non-state actors in manufacturing improvised explosive devices.
INTERPOL Chemical and Explosives Countermeasure Programme
This Programme is aimed at key law enforcement authorities, government bodies and chemical industry partners. It provides them with the knowledge and tools to implement a national chemical security programme.
By engaging directly with all sections of the chemical industry – including manufacturing, distribution, transportation and retail – the law enforcement community can play a pivotal role in the prevention and early detection of criminals and terrorists seeking to obtain materials to undertake an attack.


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I've been making a bunch of these 2x18650 waterproof holders for headlamps and they work really nicely. The downside is that they were really hard, time-consuming, and expensive to make (something like $50 per case).
So I'm looking into getting some more professionally made in a bulk batch (more like $20 per case). Before I drop the money, I thought I should tweak the design so that it can be easily mounted on a bike frame.
As you can see, it's made up of two parts:
1. A piston carrying the cells, contacts, and sealing oring,
2. An oval-shaped box with mounting lugs.
On the headlamp, the mounting lugs are screwed to a head-shaped bracket (through which the elastic is fed).
At first I thought I could replace the head-shaped bracket with two C-shaped clamps which would bind to a bike's frame. Then I thought that it probably shouldn't be held too rigidly because the impacts will eventually crack the plastic.
So now I'm leaning towards:
- a single C-shaped mount (to match the round tube of the bike's frame),
- rigidly screwed to the box,
- possibly rubber-lined on the frame-side,
- and then wrap some double-sided Velcro (One-Wrap) around everything
- (holding the box and the bike frame together).
Velcro is already used to hold the piston in the box, so it's no hassle to just wrap an extra piece around a bike frame. I initially chose Velcro because I wanted a design that:
- had very few parts to break when bashed around the bush,
- was easy to use with heavily gloved hands (no screws or fiddly latches),
- was very lightweight,
- and was easy to manufacture.
Any thoughts? Is there a better way to safely attach a small box (approx 100 x 45 x 25mm) to a bike frame?
- Home


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Justin Drew Bieber ( /ˈbiËbÉ™r/ bee-bÉ™r, born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer–songwriter, musician, and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by American talent manager Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with entertainer Usher Raymond in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), and then to an Island Records recording contract offered by record executive L.A. Reid.His debut extended play, the seven-track My World, was released in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Bieber's first full-length studio album, My World 2.0, was released in March 2010. It debuted at or near number-one in several countries and was certified platinum in the United States. It was preceded by the worldwide top-ten single, "Baby". Bieber followed up the release of his debut album with his first headlining tour, the My World Tour, the remix albums My Worlds Acoustic and Never Say Never – The Remixes, and the 3D biopic-concert film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which nearly tied the record for the biggest opening-weekend gross for a concert-film. Bieber released his second studio album, Under the Mistletoe, in November 2011, when it debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200. Bieber released his third studio album, Believe, in June 2012, it became his fourth chart topper in the United States, debuting at number-one on the Billboard 200. Intent on developing a more mature sound, the album is regarded as a musical departure from his previous teen pop sound.Bieber has received numerous awards, including Artist of the Year at the 2010 American Music Awards, and was nominated for such accolades as Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards. With a global fan base, termed as "Beliebers", and over 20 million followers on Twitter, Bieber was named by Forbes in 2012 as the third-most-powerful celebrity in the world; he had earned an estimated US$55 million in the previous 12 months. As of May 2012, Bieber has sold 15 million albums. Justin Bieber along with Taylor Swift won top honours at Sunday's Teen Choice Awards.
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At age 34, Philip M. Isaacson commissioned architect F. Frederick Bruck to design a home for him and his wife. That was 1959. Five decades later, he still lives in his ideal home—and very little has changed.
Philip M. Isaacson believes in architects. The 86-year-old resident of Lewiston, Maine, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1950, but throughout his studies, his eye was keenly trained on the Harvard Univer-sity Graduate School of Design. That was when the GSD building was known as the "Harvard Box"—a pejorative meant to demean the Bauhaus peda-gogy of Walter Gropius and his protégé, Marcel Breuer. But Isaacson was enamored. A few years later, he approached the dean of the school, Josep Lluís Sert, with a bold proposition: Design a tiny house in Maine that no one who's anyone will ever see—and do it for $25,000. Though Sert did Isaacson the courtesy of entertaining the offer, he ultimately declined, and Isaacson continued his search for the right architect.
"You have to educate yourself when you select an architect," Isaacson says. "You have to find one that has the right approach, an attitude that you can feel throughout his or her work. You have to appreciate that attitude and admire it enough to want them to carry it into the house." Although his budget was modest, being an architectural autodidact in the most serious sense of the word made Isaacson the ideal client. "When you find your architect you have to stay out of the way until the day he shows up with plans and says, 'Well, this is the house,'" Isaacson says. "And then you reply, 'It looks like a wonderful house.' And that's it."
Isaacson's own assiduous search and particular attitude paid off. He commissioned a young German-American architect, F. Frederick Bruck, who trained at Harvard and lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "He told me he could build the house for $25,000," Isaacson remembers, "but they all lie. It cost $32,000. I asked him where I'd get the $7,000 and he just said, 'Oh, you'll find it.'" And Isaacson did.
In return, Bruck delivered a house for all the seasons of Isaacson's life and the changing moods of Maine. The house is oriented inward, in the classic grid proportions of capes and colonials, and centered around a large white fireplace in the living room. Any outward similarities to New England vernacular end there. "Service people miss it. Someone always thinks it's a wall shielding a swimming pool," Isaacson says about the flat roof and blank street facade nestled among traditional Maine homes. "But it's an urban courtyard house in an area that isn't densely urban. It's very formal and it's very Cambridge." And it suited Isaacson and his wife, Deborah (who passed away in 1993), before, during, and after they raised three children.
Isaacson continued his personal study of architecture after the house was complete. Throughout his life, he has taken architectural pilgrimages—disguised as vacations—to photograph iconic buildings like Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye and even this year traveled to Russia to see the Kizhi Pogost. In addition to running his own law firm, he became an arts activist and writer. In 1988, Alfred A. Knopf published his Round Buildings, Square Buildings & Buildings that Wiggle Like a Fish, an aesthetic primer for children in which he pays homage to his light-filled home with a photo of the wall of windows that looks out onto the back courtyard.
Walking into the house today, 50 years after it was built, Isaacson pauses to affectionately rub a storm-door handle, and he says he often pats his home when he enters. He's proud of how much New England craftsmanship went into its construction and furnishings. "Maine has exceptional resources that are adaptable to a classic modernist aesthetic. Machinists in Lewiston turned these doorknobs out of blocks of stainless steel," he says, staring at his thumb on the metal. "Mies van der Rohe would have admired that."
Almost nothing in the house is standard, and that is part of why it hasn't changed—both for the impracticality of replacing something that was never factory-specified (removing the slender, original Thermador oven would require entirely new cabinets, for example, since ovens are no longer made in the same narrow dimensions, and fitting in a new one would destroy the surrounding drawers) and because it was built to last a lifetime (and longer). Bruck designed "every inch of the house, including the towel racks," Isaacson recalls. "Everything had to be made. The cabinetry was built on-site. The molding was milled right inside as they were building it. There was a certain supposition about quality."
The custom features called out to Isaacson and his wife daily. "When I built the house, I thought I was a pioneer and that everybody would build houses like this," he remembers. "Why wouldn't they? It's so wonderful. The satisfaction that we got from the house insulated us from the urge to ever build a new one, and had I gone looking for this house elsewhere, I never would have found it."
Isaacson remains fiercely loyal to Bruck's design and that affects his decisions about how to maintain the integrity of the home, down to the light fixtures and linen curtains (which Isaacson has had replicated three times). "There's a communion between me and Fred—even though Fred died a long time ago. I feel an emotional attachment to him via the house," Isaacson says. "Living in a work of art makes demands on you. It anticipates that what you put in it will be relevant to its standard. It's my obligation to see that the house is maintained as Fred designed it."
Despite the home's familiarity, it never fails to make Isaacson think. "Living in a modernist house is an aesthetic adventure and it's an intellectual experience," he says. "This house is still revealing itself to me."


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I don't think anybody else in automotive journalism can make this claim: I've put in nearly 37,000 miles behind the wheel of a Bentley Continental GT, in places as disparate as New York City's West 48th Street (home of Rudy's Music), the rural roads of northern Kentucky, and the Climbing Esses at Virginia International Raceway. Forget a lead-follow press event or the rich-for-a-week-wannabe experience of a loaner car: every mile I spent behind the Bentley's wheel was at my own expense.
Of course, I'm speaking literally here: I'd actually purchased the piano-black-wood-rimmed steering wheel from a Continental GT and installed it, along with a set of Bentley paddle shifters, into my 2006 VW Phaeton V8. When I finally got around to driving the real thing, I couldn't believe how close the driving experience of the $190,000-plus Bentley was to that of the $68,000 Volkswagen. "This car," I thought at the time, "is a Phaeton for idiots, which is really saying something."
Five years later, the Continental GT is still a Phaeton for idiots, except now it's an old Phaeton for idiots. Old, tired, and showing no signs of life despite a twin-turbo-V-8 heart transplant. It's time to pull the plug on a car that never even deserved to be called a Bentley in the first place.


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Bots are complicated. They're made to process repetitive actions autonomously and can be fairly easy to build, but they aren't always working on the side of good. Here's what you need to know.
Each year, EContent magazine compiles a list of the 100 companies that matter most in the digital content industry.
Voting is now closed. We'll announce the results of the first-ever EContent 100 list chosen by the people!
Mike Thompson
Oct 01, 2012
America loves its Facebook. According to comScore, Inc., the social network had 158.01 million unique visitors in the U.S. in May 2012. Believe it or not, that represented a slight decline in the number of visitors. Despite its popularity, Facebook has some competitors out there, and they may just be stealing a bit of attention from the leader in social networking.
What if you want a social network that caters more to your specific interests? Facebook may be a great place to connect with friends on a more general level. But for athletes looking to connect with other athletes, or Game of Thrones fans looking for a network of compatriots they can discuss the latest episodes with, a more niche social network may be more up their alley. And some sites are finding success catering to smaller groups of people.
The list of social networks is ever-expanding, with a community for just about everyone, although the general interest social networks may never reach the ubiquity of Facebook. A February infographic from VentureBeat.com, for instance, says that the much-hyped Google+ has just 18 million unique visitors per month, less than the long-forgotten Myspace, and its visitors spend just 6 minutes per month on the site. Still, some less ambitious networks appear to be growing. Some analysts say these just might be a better place for companies to spend their ad dollars.
Ammon Brown, vice president of operations at the web-based media management platform TRAFFIQ, believes that, while the audience won't be on nearly the same scale, advertisers may find they get more value from ads placed on smaller, more niche social networks as the users are more likely to be there for a specific reason and may even be more open to engagement.
"It's nice to have those sorts of affinity-related communities, where you're there because other people with the same interest are still there," he says. And because these smaller, niche networks are more affinity-based, "people are going to be a little more open to discovery," Brown says, and, therefore, "advertisers are willing to pay more."
Of course, to attract advertisers, people first need to know about the network--which is something that may pose a bit of a problem for these up-and-coming networks that aren't exactly household names yet. That's why Brown says he feels the smaller, more niche social networks would be better served entering into an ad exchange.
Referencing the struggles of Google+, which he calls "a bit of a flop," Brown says, "If Google can't usurp Facebook as the next great social network, I don't think anyone can."
One just-launched social network that hopes to stick around is Chicisimo, which launched July 11. It describes itself as a "social website and worldwide community where fashionistas and fashion brands come together to share their personal style, inspire one another, and discover new styles, brands, and products." At Chicisimo, people can upload photos of their favorite outfits, provide and receive feedback from the community, and earn virtual "flower" awards, while interacting with their favorite fashion brands, the company says.
Chicisimo's co-founder, Gabriel Aldamiz-echevarría, says the site's target audience is "women interested in fashion." He says he doesn't feel his audience is being neglected by other social networking sites. Rather, he says, "It's just that social networking sites can't be everything to everyone. It would not make sense for a site to build functionalities, for example, for both fashion enthusiasts and music enthusiasts."
Nor is it expected. "You just don't want to go to Facebook for a fashion journey," he adds.
As Brown says, it doesn't look like any new social networking site is going to take Facebook down. But, Aldamiz-echevarría stresses that his intention is not to compete with Facebook; rather, he says he feels "large social networking sites are great complements to niche sites.
"There is room for social-based networks, such as Facebook, and there is room for interest-based communities, such as Chicisimo," Aldamiz-echevarría says. "People will join and be active on the interest-based communities of their choice.
"Of course, everything can be shared on a general social-based community, but there is no depth about a personal interest there," he adds. "If you are in the mood to discover fashion ideas, you don't go to Facebook, you come to Chicisimo."


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Edward White's elegant, incisive new account of Alger Hiss's tale of betrayal and espionage takes us into - and then far beyond -- the perennial issue of Hiss's guilt or innocence.
White reviews the evidence on this issue, and finds it compelling - White is convinced of Hiss's guilt. Indeed, he contends that neither Hiss nor his partisans offered any plausible evidence to sustain his innocence.
But White also goes further. In the book's most original contribution, White thoughtfully considers Hiss's insistence on his own innocence, asking and answering questions such as, Why was Hiss so determined to maintain his innocence in the face of the strongest evidence of guilt? How did Hiss effectively convince faithful audiences for more than fifty years that he was indeed innocent?
Hiss's Basic Story: His Background, and His Crimes
Alger Hiss came from a comfortable, but hardly rich, Baltimore family, one freighted with numerous personal tragedies. From his boyhood, he affected an air of authority, whether over his own life or over those who surrounded him.
From Johns Hopkins, Hiss went on to the Harvard Law School -- particularly impressing Professor Felix Frankfurter, who arranged for him a coveted secretaryship with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1929. Hiss also secretly married that year, and with his new wife, Priscilla, soon dabbled in commonplace, Depression-era leftist political activities.
In 1933, Hiss joined the new Roosevelt Administration in the Counsel's Office of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. There, he worked with an extraordinary group, including the later-prominent jurist Jerome Frank, and Lee Pressman, a committed communist. The members of the group knew little about agriculture, but were bound by an unabashed faith in the efficacy of law as a solution to social and economic ills. Hiss also joined a "discussion group" of Communist lawyers and economists, which in turn led to Hiss's secret intelligence work for the Soviet Union.
In 1935, Hiss became Counsel for the Nye Committee's investigation of the munitions industry's role in bringing the nation to war in 1917. His value to the Russians rose substantially with his enhanced access to potentially important information there.
Soon, Hiss moved to the State Department, where he steadily rose in the ranks -- eventually accompanying Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference and later serving in the delegation to the San Francisco Conference for the founding of the United Nations. Secretly, Hiss removed classified files, which he and his wife copied and then delivered to various Soviet couriers.
White carefully takes us through the course of Hiss's eventual exposure. Allegations against Hiss began in 1938, when Whittaker Chambers, a onetime Soviet underground courier, told the State Department that Hiss was a Communist, but made no spy accusations. Hiss came under suspicion, yet nothing happened.
Postwar revelations of Soviet spying by Elizabeth Bentley, and the defection of Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet code clerk in Ottawa, raised further alarms. Increasingly pointed accusations forced Hiss to leave the State Department, and he became head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In 1948, Chambers testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which for the first time had publicly charged Hiss with being a Communist. Within two days, Hiss appeared before the Committee at his own request. There, Hiss testified he had never been a Communist Party member, and that he had never heard of Chambers until FBI agents raised his name.
Hiss vs. Chambers: The Joint Appearance, the Subsequent Suit, and the Perjury Charges
At this point, as White notes, Hiss embarked on a life and career narrative that he maintained until he died. He portrayed himself as an idealistic New Deal lawyer, who had come to Washington to combat the Depression and to serve the cause of international peace. By his own account, Hiss was not a Communist; rather, he was a scapegoat and victim for a pack of liars.
Hiss retained a corps of distinguished lawyers, but his "reputational defense" was the core of his strategy. It was not enough.
Eventually, Hiss and Chambers squared off in a joint appearance, which famously boosted Richard Nixon to public prominence. Until this point, Chambers had not charged Hiss with spying. Hiss challenged Chambers to make his accusations outside the committee room, and Chambers accommodated him.
After that, Hiss sued for libel. When Hiss's attorney deposed Chambers, Chambers produced documents he had hidden for more than a decade, including the famous "Pumpkin Papers." The upshot was that two counts of perjury were brought against Hiss -- one for denying he knew Chambers after 1936, and the other for passing stolen documents to him.
Hiss's first trial resulted in a hung jury. But in the second trial, the government introduced the typewriter used to copy the stolen documents, and proved it had belonged to the Hisses. The defendant's legal team countered, however, that the typewriter itself was a forgery, and this, too, became part of the ongoing Hiss defense.
Hiss nevertheless was convicted, and he served three years of a five-year sentence.
Hiss's Attempts to Vindicate Himself
White offers a fascinating account of Hiss's prison time, and his development of an agenda for vindication.
White describes Hiss's careful attempt, while in prison, to accommodate, subordinate, and ingratiate himself. This was necessary, in part, for survival purposes; after all, he was a "commie traitor," and easy prey for a convict eager to make a patriotic name for himself. But Hiss blended in well, offering no complaints, despite what White acknowledges as more than his share of deprivations and injustices. In prison parlance he was a "knockabout guy." Years later, reflecting on the possibility of prison for Nixon and his associates, Hiss said: "Don't ever send anybody to jail, it's a terrible place."
After his release, Priscilla resisted Hiss's plans for public vindication, preferring for them to disappear and change their names. Not Alger; he insisted on being Alger Hiss, A Man Wronged. He was adamant that he would vindicate his reputation and convince the public he was innocent. His large measure of success in doing so, until his death in November 1996, testified to his fortitude and determination.
Despite Strong Evidence of Guilt, Hiss Convinced Many of His Innocence
Following his release in the mid-50s, at the peak of Cold War hysteria, Hiss's following appeared limited to aging New Dealers and old-line progressives. But a decade later, Vietnam and Watergate provided a new context for Hiss's restoration, as both events underscored the possibility of governmental deceit.
Younger audiences on college campuses came to hear Hiss, not as a Cold War relic, but as a man wronged by an unjust, corrupt government. Hiss confidently asserted that the pendulum had swung again to a "liberal-progressive trend in politics." His government pension was restored; J. Edgar Hoover was dead, and under increasing critical scrutiny; President Nixon resigned in disgrace, lost his law license, and Hiss regained his.
Hiss's cup, by then, appeared full. Still, in an interview with his son for Rolling Stone, he called for more public assistance, hoping "those who may know [would] come forward" because he still followed "every lead , ... working for the vindication I'm eventually going to get." O. J. Simpson could not have said it better.
Allen Weinstein's landmark study, Perjury, published in 1977, should have dispelled any lingering doubts about Hiss's guilt. Based on government files and his extensive research into Communist spying, Weinstein concluded that Hiss indeed had lied. Weinstein, then a liberal history professor, began by assuming Hiss's innocence, and gained access to Hiss's files. But, in the end, the weight of evidence convinced Weinstein that Chambers had told the truth. Weinstein's book was impressive history, in its sweep and its scope.
Yet Hiss and his legion of supporters seemed remarkably unruffled by Weinstein's findings. "He can't hurt me," Hiss confidently asserted with grand bravado. But he had, and irrevocably. When even the prominent Democratic Socialist Irving Howe declared Hiss guilty, Hiss summarily dismissed him: "I don't consider him on the left."
Hiss's Legal and Archival Gambits for Vindication
Hiss eventually filed a coram nobis petition to vacate the guilty verdict -- his most dramatic effort at vindication. (A coram nobis petition, unlike a habeas corpus petition, attempts to vacate a conviction but not to free the convicted person from prison - here, Hiss had already served his time.)
The court, however, totally rejected it, dismissing his forgery-by-typewriter argument and any notion that the FBI had conspired against him. "The most depressing experience of my life," he remarked.
Hiss found a new opportunity to attempt to vindicate himself, when the fall of Communism led to a gradual opening of Soviet-era archives. After a cursory search of KGB files, a prominent Russian researcher announced that Hiss "had never and nowhere been recruited as an agent" and "never was a spy for the Soviet Union."
The American media widely reported this moment of Hiss's "absolution." But after some pointed criticism, the Russians quickly backtracked, conceding that the search had been quite limited. White aptly argues that Hiss welcomed the search because he well knew that -- with the Russians eager for rapprochement -- they never would admit to spying.
When Hiss died four years later, however, ABC World News Tonight still only reported the first announcement - not the Russians' subsequent concession. In the end, the publication of the Venona intercepts of wartime Soviet espionage referring to "Ales" settled the matter -- to all but the truest of believers, "Ales" only could mean Alger Hiss.
What White's Excellent Account Adds: Analysis of Hiss's Attempt to Clear His Name
White definitively summarizes the evidence and facts relating to the Hiss case. But his original contribution is his consideration of Hiss's persistent public campaign for vindication.
To help explain Hiss's actions, White invokes John le Carre's notion of a "Looking-Glass War" -- in which spies maintain a secret existence behind their purported likenesses. No one is quite what he seems, but spies are practiced professionals at hiding their true selves.
Hiss, White writes, "practiced his version of duplicity for more than 60 years, ... with unfailing graciousness and self-composure.... That image of Hiss was his public likeness." He succeeded all too well in fooling too many.
Old faiths die hard. Twenty years after Weinstein's book, his fellow historian, George McGovern, still maintained that "I've always believed that Hiss was a victim of the 'Red Scare' and of Nixon's political rapacity. It is a national outrage that this essentially decent and patriotic American went to prison as a consequence of the demagoguery of Nixon and the ignominious House Committee on Un-American Activities." In fact, while Nixon had a good deal to answer for, he did not put Alger Hiss in jail - Hiss's own guilt did that.
Another historian found that the case "remains unresolved," and yet another insisted that Hiss had been "cleared of conspiracy charges in 1992." White's father-in-law, a onetime Hiss attorney, also persisted in believing him innocent.
The mystery White adeptly explores is why some liberals persisted in reacting so defensively and for so long - especially when the result was to hand a victory to the opportunistic characters who went beyond Hiss's particular guilt to indict and convict a generation of New Dealers and liberals. A rotten apple did not spoil the barrel; liberals and leftists could and should have conceded Hiss's guilt; instead, they harmed their own credibility by maintaining his innocence.


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DETROIT – More than a dozen hotels in the metro Detroit area are sparkling a little brighter.
AAA has announced the winners of the prestigious Four-Diamond Rating for hospitality industry excellence.
A total of 15 hotels and five restaurants across Michigan have earned the distinction for 2013.
In Detroit, the Westin Book Cadillac, the Motorcity Casino Hotel and MGM all were given the honor.
Inside the Motorcity, the restaurant Iridescence, was also give the Four-Diamond Rating.
AAA Michigan will officially present the awards at a special luncheon in April during the 2013 Pure Michigan Governor's Conference on Tourism at the Marriott Renaissance Center Hotel in Downtown Detroit.
The other award-winning hotels include:
Birmingham - The Townsend Hotel
Dearborn - The Dearborn Inn and The Henry Hotel Autograph Collection
Grand Rapids - Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and JW Marriott Hotel Grand Rapids
Mackinac Island - Grand Hotel
Mount Pleasant - Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort
Plymouth - The Inn at St. John's
Rochester - Royal Park Hotel
Romulus - The Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Southfield - The Westin Southfield
The other AAA Four Diamond restaurants include:
Birmingham - Rugby Grill
Farmington Hills - Café Cortina
Grand Rapids - Cygnus 27
West Bloomfield - The Lark


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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What can I book with Come2Indonesia?
2. What do i have to make sure before i enter Indonesia?
3. How and where I get a visa for Indonesia and how long will it be valid?
4. Authorized Airports?
5. Authorized Seaports?
6. How easily can i communicate with the Indonesian people without speaking the languange myself?
7. Should I bring malaria pills?
8. What food do they mainly serve in Indonesia?
9. What is the cost of living in Indonesia?
10. Is Indonesia safe to travel around alone? And what about women?
11. Are they any areas that should be avoided?
12. Why should I choose for Come2Indonesia?
13. Are the flights included with the trips, or do I need to book them separately?
14. How can I book the trips?
15. What do I do when I discover a mistake in one of confirmation?
16. Help! I can't eat certain products! (due to allergies or vegetarianism)
17. Which payment methods can I use to pay for a trip?
18. How do I get to the place of destination?
19. Are the trips dangerous?
What can i book with Come2Indonesia?
At Come2Indonesia you can book fully organized trips. These can be booked along with flights and hotels if you wish to. At Come2Indonesia you can also book domestic flights, so if you are arriving with an international flight we can help you to get to the other islands if that's is where you're heading. The possibilities are endless, we can organize the real adventurous trips if that is what you like and if you prefer to be it more of a relaxing holiday with your family and kids this is also possible!
Our range goes from two/three-day trips to fully custom made holidays. You can enter the rainforest to see the most remotely living cultures or to see the most unique plants and animals. Or if you prefer to see the unique world under the surface of the ocean and see some of the most beautiful diving spots from around the world. If you are coming to Indonesia and want a bit less adventure because it is your honeymoon, a vacation with smaller kids or just prefer the relaxing kind of holiday with the beautiful sceneries and the sun going down behind the mountains you've still come to the right place!
What do i have to make sure before i enter Indonesia?
- Most importantly your passport, it has to be valid at least 6 months from the date of entry. If this is not the case you will not get a visa and you will have to return to the place you came from.
- Health and travel insurance, in case you need to see a doctor it is very wise to have everything you need for the hospital close by. Often times, If something happens with you and you cannot prove you have an insurance or don't have enough money to pay, the hospital will not even help you. Also travel insurance just in case your belongings get stolen or get damaged. This way you can often replace most of it, or at least get a part of the money back.
How and where can i get a visa for Indonesia and how long will it be valid?
When you enter the country you can buy a tourist visa for USD 35. This will remain valid for 30 days, if you want to stay longer you can extend it once by a maximum of another 30 days. To get one of these visa you can go to the Indonesian embassy in your own country, or buy one on arrival. You can buy one at either an airport or a seaport. When you buy the visa make sure you have the money available in cash, coins won't be accepted. If you can't pay the exact amount you will receive change, change will always be given to you in Rupiah.
The following air- and seaports will sell you a visa on arrival.
Authorized Airports:
Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta, NgurahRai airport in Bali, Sultan SyarifHasim airport in Pekanbaru, Tabing airport in Padang, Juanda airport of Surabaya and the Sam Ratulangi airport in Manado.
While authorized seaports are Batam, the Sekupang, Batuampar, Nongsa, Marina, TelukSenimba, Bandar Brintan, TalaniLagoi and Bandar Sri Udana Labon in the Riau archipelago, Sri BintanPura in Tanjung Pinang, Belawan port and Sibolga in North Sumatra, YosSudarsoTanjung Perak in Surabaya, TelukBayur of Padang, TanjungPriok at Jakarta, Padang Bai and Benoa in Bali, the port of Jayapura, Bitung, TanjungBalaiKarimun, Tanjung Mas in Central Java, Tenua and Maumere in East Nusa Tenggara, Pare-Pare and SoekarnoHatta port in South Sulawesi.
How easily can I communicate with the Indonesian people without speaking the language myself?
When you are in the more touristic places this will not be a problem. However when you head out to the smaller villages the amount of English speaking people will rapidly decrease. So it would definitely be a good idea to bring a phrasebook, also a good idea would be to learn some of the basic sentences. It is much easier than you think!!
Because Indonesia is in a tropical area there is a malaria risk. The only exceptions are Eastern and Western Java and Bali. All the other islands are certainly a malaria risk zone. If you are staying for just a few weeks we would definitely recommend using them, having the chance of ruining your lifetime trip by simply a few pills would not be worth it!
What food do they mainly serve in Indonesia?
The daily diet here exists mainly of rice, noodles, chicken and fish. These will be prepared in a great variety of ways, often either fried or boiled and served with a soup. You will often see Warungs (little restaurants at the side of the road) serving Nasi/Mie goreng (fried rice/noodles) with spices and vegetables. Westerners often rate the food as sweet or quite spicy. Having said this, the food can be really good at the more upmarket restaurants. The more upmarket restaurants can sometimes cost you up to 3/4 times as much as a Warung, this will often still be 30-50.000 Rupiah (USD 3-5). In the highly touristic parts of Bali and Java you can find loads of western restaurants, these are often more expensive.
Also you can find the known fast-food chains from Europe and America, like: McDonalds, Burger King and KFC.
What is the cost of living in Indonesia?
This totally depends on the way you want your holiday to look like. If you plan on travelling a lot by plane and want to see a lot the cost will of course go up real quick. But if you are just traveling over a much smaller piece of Indonesia and eat at the Warung or cheaper restaurants, go for the smaller hostels you can certainly manage with 20-25 USD per day. This can get cheaper when travelling as a couple or with friends, as you can split rooms and bills.
Is Indonesia safe to travel around alone? And what about woman?
Indonesia in general is a safe country, violent crime is a rare occurrence. Smaller crimes do happen a lot, but this will mainly happen in the more touristic spots where there is more money to be spent. But this happens all around the world in big cities. So keep your belongings on a safe spot, especially in crowds. When you just keep your eyes and ears open and pay attention around you, it is likely nothing will happen.
Often women travel around in Indonesia, they encounter few problems. Westerners do receive more attention, this can come in sincere compliments from waiters, tour guides etc to the less desirable car-honking or shouting. Good ways to avoid this is to dress conservatively or travel around with a male companion.
Are there any areas that should be avoided?
In all of Indonesia it is safe to travel. When you go check at the foreign office in your country they will probably tell you that there are political problems in areas like: the Aceh province of North Sumatra, Ambon in Maluku and parts of central Sulawesi. The advice these offices give is often old information and currently irrelevant. These areas are as safe as the rest of Indonesia; of course you should not be provoking the local people or go to places alone at night. But you just have to use your common sense, most people are even afraid to go to the worse areas in their hometown at night so why should you here ;)
Why should I choose for Come2Indonesia?
Every trip available to you has been experienced by certain members in our team. If you want to know details about them we can always help you and share the experience. We want you to love Indonesia just as much as we do, we will do this by offering you our best service and prices. Also we will keep you up to date for any changes in flight schedules and 6 days per week service from our team.
Are the flights included with the trips, or do I need to book them separately?
Sometimes, some trips require flying over certain parts of the location you're at. This is when the flights are included, only the flights to and from the start/end location are not included. This is because people are spread over Indonesia and we don't want to set a standardized price. By doing this we can get the cheapest possibilities for everyone depending on the city where you arrive or already staying.
How can I book one of the trips?
By simply sending an email to:
. From here on our team will try and respond to you as fast as possible and help you with any other questions you have.
What do I do when i discover a mistake in one of confirmations?
We always try to look for the small details. But if we do make a mistake, please contact as soon as possible. This way we can often fix our mistake. If you discover a mistake we make and we can't fix it, we will take full responsibility and look for a way so your trip can still go on.
Help! I can't eat certain products! (due to allergies or vegetarianism)
No problem! If you just tell us beforehand we can let the guides know. So you won't have to bother about getting sick or eating something you are not allowed, of course when you arrive you should always make sure with the guide he got the message. This only applies to our trips that include meal.
Which payment methods can I use to pay for a trip?
At Come2Indonesia you can use PayPal and Bank Transfer to pay for any of the bookings. With PayPal you have to pay an additional 4.95% administration fee. The additional fee for Bank Transfer depends on the bank you use.
When you book a trip with us you can pay 30% upfront, a month before the actual trip you have to pay the other 70%. This way you can even book if you're short this month but know you'll have more when the actual date comes!
How do I get to the place of destination?
When you stay at a hotel after your flight, the hotels often offer a transit, sometimes its included. But if you book one of the trips with Come2Indonesia it is very common that the organizer will arrange a transit from the airport or hotel you are staying at (in case you arrive a day early).
No, all of our trips are personally tested. As long you use your common sense and listen to the guides practically nothing will happen to you. So things like petting a shark during your dive trip, feeding a Komodo Dragon on Komodo or swimming in the crocodile filled Sekonyer river in Borneo are ways to improve your chance on getting hurt!


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Hey Lisa, You've given me a lot of good tips and recipes for making easy guilt-free cakes... with club soda, canned pumpkin, and MORE! But what should I use as icing or frosting? Frosted Kate
Hi Frosty,
Great question! I'm always sharing two-ingredient cake ideas, but you don't have to leave those cakes naked to keep the stats impressive. Check out my best icing/frosting tips, plus a mini recipe for my favorite frosting... Pudding Power - Let's face it -- real frosting is NOT guilt-free, but it tastes fantastic. That's why I like to mix sugar-free pudding with some REAL frosting -- you get a decadent, gooey topping that won't make a huge dent in your cake's nutritionals. All you need is one sugar-free pudding snack with 60 calories or less (like the kinds by Jell-O) and 1/3 cup frosting to top an entire cake. This works great for both vanilla and chocolate toppings. Need some inspiration? Check out my Chocolate-on-Chocolate Frosted Cake and this fudgy frosted brownie recipe! The Powdered Sugar Special - When it comes to guilt-free icing for cinnamon buns, Danishes, and other pastries, I turn to powdered sugar. It's super sweet, it dissolves well in liquid, and a little goes a long way. Just mix 2 tbsp. powdered sugar with 1 tsp. water and a drop of vanilla extract. Easy peasy! That'll top a bunch of cinnamon buns, a multi-serving Danish, or about a dozen pastries. Click here for a cran-apple Danish recipe featuring this icing! HG's Crazy-Amazing Cream-Cheese Frosting 1/8th of recipe (1 heaping tbsp.): 20 calories, <0.5g fat, 71mg sodium, 3g carbs, 0g fiber, 1g sugars, 1.5g protein -- PointsPlus® value 1* This creamy frosting tastes good on almost everything... Sweet stuff, anyway! Ingredients: 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. fat-free cream cheese, room temperature 2 tbsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated) 1/2 cup Cool Whip Free (thawed) Directions: In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix cream cheese with Splenda. Add Cool Whip, and stir well. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. Spread and enjoy! MAKES 8 SERVINGS By the way, that 2 tbsp. granulated Splenda is equal to about 3 no-calorie sweetener packets. You can also make this with 2 tbsp. granulated sugar in place of Splenda -- then each serving will have 30 calories, 5.5g carbs, and 4g sugars (PointsPlus® value 1*). Want even more frosted fun? This fluffy vanilla cake has a thick 'n indulgent topping, these three cupcake recipes each have completely different frostings (but they're equally delicious!), and this decadent iced Danish RULES. There you have it... So many frosting (and frosted!) options -- so few calories!
Hi Hungry Girl, I've heard so much conflicting info about organic food... Is it really better than nonorganic stuff? Will it help me lose weight? Organic Oblivious
Hi Organic Oblivious,
I get these types of questions a lot, and although I'm not a nutritionist or registered dietitian, I definitely have some info to share. You're right about all the conflicting information out there. The bottom line is that there isn't ONE be-all and end-all answer to your first question. A recent study out of Stanford University suggests that organic foods typically aren't any more nutritious than conventional varieties. The nonorganic fruits and veggies researchers evaluated did show more pesticide residue than the organic ones, but the levels were under the allowed limits. Certain types of produce, like celery, apples, strawberries, and peaches, are more likely than others to retain pesticides. So if that's a concern for you, it might be best to buy organic versions of those items. If you're concerned about the effects of growth hormones, then you may want to opt for organic meat.
As for your second question, eating organic food alone won't necessarily help you lose weight. Weight loss is mainly based on calories in versus calories out, so it really comes down to the nutrition facts for the individual food item, not whether it has the word "organic" splashed across the packaging. Don't fool yourself into thinking a giant organic brownie is a better choice for weight loss than a nonorganic, 100-calorie, portion-controlled treat! However there are plenty of organic foods that are good for dieters, in addition to the obvious organic fruits and veggies. Some HG-approved organic picks? Amy's Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque, Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt and Greek Frozen Yogurt, Nature's Path Organic Instant Oatmeal, and Applegate Organic turkey and chicken hot dogs. Click here for tons of other organic finds from past HG emails!
If you want to read more about this subject and other diet and health claims, definitely check out the book Coffee Is Good for You: From Vitamin C and Organic Foods to Low-Carb and Detox Diets, The Truth About Diet and Nutrition Claims. My pal Robert J. Davis, PhD, wrote it -- he really gets to the bottom of these hot-button topics, like whether high-fructose corn syrup is worse for you than sugar and if a low-carb diet helps you lose weight. Really GREAT info!
Today, October 10th, is National Angel Food Cake Day. Celebrate with this angelic Cloud Cake Sundae!
Have a question for Hungry Girl? Send it in! She answers new Qs each week (but cannot respond to emails personally).
SmartPoints® value not what you expected? Click here for more info on how the values are calculated, plus more FAQs about PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® values on our website.


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Story highlights
- Laura Moye: Supreme Court in 2002 barred death penalty for the "mentally retarded"
- Moye: Yet court stood aside as Texas executed man who has the mind of a 7-year-old
- States can set criteria for "mental retardation," and court doesn't call them on it, she says
- Moye: Texas set stereotypical standards, citing character from Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"
Texas slapped the U.S. Supreme Court in the face, and the justices just took it.
On Tuesday night, Texas executed Marvin Wilson, whose IQ score was 61 -- low enough that it should have met any standard for "diminished mental capacity." Shockingly, the court did not intervene to stop the execution despite its 2002 decision in Atkins v. Virginia barring the execution of the "mentally retarded" as "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Wilson played a role in the murder of Jerry Williams in 1992. He needed to be held accountable for his actions, even with diminished mental capacity. But he had the mental capacity of a first-grader, could barely match his socks and was fired from a car wash job for being too slow at drying cars. A clinical neuropsychologist with 22 years of experience concluded Wilson was intellectually disabled.
Texas got away with executing an intellectually disabled person because the Supreme Court allows states to determine their own standards of "mental retardation" and hasn't bothered to push back when states clearly ignore its ruling.
Flouting the heart of the Atkins decision, Texas decided that not all persons with "mental retardation" should be barred from execution, just those who "a consensus of Texas citizens would agree" whether they should live or die.
Unbelievably, Texas had cited the example of Lennie Small, the intellectually disabled ranch hand in John Steinbeck's famous novel written 75 years ago, "Of Mice and Men," to demonstrate this standard.
Steinbeck's son, Thomas Steinbeck, issued a statement before the execution: "I am certain that if my father, John Steinbeck, were here, he would be deeply angry and ashamed to see his work used in this way." He expressed shock that "Texas would use a fictional character ... as a benchmark to identify whether defendants with intellectual disability should live or die. I find the whole premise to be insulting, outrageous, ridiculous, and profoundly tragic."
The American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities was also disturbed by the lack of science and the reliance on "false stereotypes" in Texas' criteria.
In Georgia, prisoners are required to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that they are "mentally retarded." The state almost executed Warren Hill, a man clinically determined to be intellectually disabled. Fortunately, he received a stay of execution, though on other grounds. Clearly, some individuals who may not exhibit the most severe signs of disability will fall through the cracks.
Texas' standard leaves more than a crack through which the rare individual may slip. Wilson fell through a gaping hole because of the ridiculous criteria set by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Because the Texas Legislature failed to pass a law to catch up with the Atkins ruling, the state's high court stepped in.
The United States has not yet arrived at the position that governments should not have the irreversible God-like power to execute its citizens as the majority of countries in the world have. But 10 years ago, the Supreme Court at least recognized that there ought to be limits to this awful power.
The insane, children and those who are not mentally developed are more vulnerable than the rest of us. They are more easily manipulated, they are less capable of making sound judgments and they often need help carrying out basic daily functions. We treat them differently because we are humane and civilized, right?
The U.S. Supreme Court will receive more cases like the Wilson case until it stands up to the states and insists that they develop better scientific and reasonable criteria for judging a person's mental capacity that respect today's standards of decency.
The United States just sustained another black eye on the world stage when Texas was allowed to execute a man with the mind of 7-year-old. The egregiousness of this act is heightened for a country that claims the moral high ground and global leadership on human rights.
Executing a poor, African-American, intellectually disabled man shows once again the arbitrary nature of the death penalty. That was why the Supreme Court halted capital punishment 40 years ago in its Furman v. Georgia decision. In Gregg v. Georgia, the court allowed states to resume the death penalty after a four-year hiatus provided they reserve it for the "worst of the worst" offenders. Wilson hardly exemplifies this principle.
Amnesty International has documented several cases in recent years in which prisoners with compelling evidence of "mental retardation" were executed, and more than 100 cases where prisoners with severe mental illness were put to death. Again, the Supreme Court has failed to hold the states to a reasonable standard despite ruling that the "insane" (the legal term) must not be executed.
Capital punishment is an empty symbol and an outmoded practice. It is expensive, fails to keep us safe and diminishes us all.
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