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An excerpt from "I'm Not the Boss, I Just Work Here" by Howard Jonas.
Until second grade I lived in a near perfect world. Everyone in our middle-class neighborhood was prospering and moving up. America was at peace. President Kennedy was always frolicking on one beach or another with his wife and young kids. Mickey Mantle and the Yankees had just won another World Series. Then, one November day, it all started to come apart.
Miss Salvatico, my second grade teacher, told the class that we must all be strong and pray for the country and remain quiet while Dr. Hayes, our principal, made a special announcement over the P.A. system to the school. Dr. Hayes got on and said, "Students of P.S. 32, I have a very sad announcement to make. We have just been informed by the Board of Education that President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas. Please remain with your teachers and let us all say the Pledge of Allegiance and hope for the best." Miss Salvatico led us in the Pledge, then asked us to open our workbooks and work silently on that night's homework assignment. I looked up and saw her begin to cry before running into the hallway to embrace an older, matronly teacher who was also collapsing in tears. My innocence (and the whole country's, as well) was over.
Returning from school, I saw people huddled together, some gathering around policemen and others sitting in their cars with their radios on. The word not spoken in school was whispered over and over again on the streets. Dead. The President is dead. Kennedy is dead. But I wouldn't listen. I wouldn't allow myself to hear. "If I don't listen," I told myself, "if I don't hear, he'll get better." I believed that the same way I believed that I'd be protected from appendicitis if I didn't know which side my appendix was on.
When I arrived home and found my mother collapsed, weeping on the floor in front of the black and white TV, I knew it was over. "They killed him," she wailed again and again. "They killed him. Why is it always the good ones who get it? They killed him. They killed our President."
I needed an answer. I wanted an answer. But I had no answer. There was no escape. For days there was nothing but the funeral. The President's horse. John John saluting. The unbelievable televised assassination of the murdered Oswald. And then Arlington. Twenty-one guns. Later, the cartoons returned and we all tried to get back to normal, to pretend it was just the weather. A freak lightning strike in an otherwise peaceful day.
But the storm did not abate. The next year, the Yankees lost to the Cards in the seventh game of the World Series. Five years later, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and the country erupted into race riots. Then Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down. Then the Yankees fell to ninth place. Then Vietnam. Mantle's ailing knees finally gave out for good and he retired from the game. Soon, not just the ghetto but the campus, the parks, the whole country seemed to be coming apart. Tear gas, unemployment, drugs everywhere. White flight, black rage. Body bags. Love it or leave it. Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh.
Chuck Wallace, a black friend in seventh grade, told me he'd see I was treated well after the Black Panthers seized control of the country. I told him our society wasn't going over just yet. But, honestly, who knew?
The search for answers was on. People started looking for the answers everywhere. San Francisco, India, Tibet. Pot, acid, LSD.
Me, I wasn't much for travel or drugs. I was by then in my teens, thoughtful and grasping for answers. So I started to read.
I wasn't much for travel or drugs. So I started to read.
Most of my teachers (many of whom had gone into education to avoid the draft) were left wing politically. Under their guidance I began reading the tracts of the left: Das Kapital, The Manifesto, The Little Red Book. Guess what? It was all nonsense. Kill all the rich guys. Then set up a dictatorship of the proletariat. Now all the little guys slave for you, while you live in the rich guy's house and tell the starving peasants about social justice.
Then I read the stuff from the right: Nietzsche, Smith, Rand. This was a little better, but flawed as well. Sure, it was great if you were a superman like Howard Roark or John Galt. I mean, who could be against building skyscrapers and partying all night? But what if you were crippled, retarded or sick? What kind of value system could it be if it had no place for those who really needed help? No wonder everyone was going to India. A lot of people thought they would find a better alternative in Eastern thought.
Not that I wasn't coming onto some authentic truths, one that resonated with my innate values. The deepest one was probably the Jeffersonian idea of Natural Rights -- that we are all born with a certain inalienable natural freedom. That it was wrong to take this freedom from us, and that the only excuse for limiting this freedom is protecting others' rights. Thus, you should be free to do whatever you'd like with your own life, provided your actions don't end up hurting, killing or stealing from others. What a great idea! We're not just objects or vassals. Each human being is something holy -- almost God-like, with his or her own natural rights.
The notion first put forth by the 18th century economist Adam Smith, that if people are allowed to act economically in their own self-interest, the most goods would be produced and the largest number of people's needs satisfied, was also a tremendous idea. It fit wonderfully with the concept of natural rights. If people were not only politically free, but economically free as well, everyone would be better off. Now here was a set of ideas I could really identify with.
Could such an ideal work in practice? Was it possible to set up a society where eventually someone wouldn't seize control of the central power and take away everyone else's freedom? John Locke, the 17th century British philosopher, proposed the idea of the balance of powers, which seemed to answer this problem. What if from the outset a government were set up separating the power to levy taxes from the power to spend? What if an independent judiciary existed which could judge disputes between the legislative and the executive powers? What if all this could be done within a framework that guaranteed the political and economic rights of everyone in that society, using an unshackled press to monitor any abuse of these rights? Well, that libertarian ideal would be an almost perfect society. Almost – except for the orphans, the disabled, the helpless and those without any hope or prospects. What about them?
If a social system built on principle inexorably results in abuse and misery, is humanity just destined for misery?
The problem with libertarian dogma was the problem with all dogma, whether of the left or the right. If you try to build your whole value system around a single principle, be it equality, ethnic unity or even freedom, that system eventually demands that reason and decency be sacrificed in the name of the higher principle. Examples of this abound. The liberty of the Roman republic gave rise to debauchery, corruption and trading in human beings, as the elite went about satisfying their own desires without consideration for the less fortunate. The fraternity of the French revolution quickly led even its most fervent stalwarts to the guillotine. And the equality promised by Communists like Stalin and Mao led tens of millions to death, imprisonment or, for the lucky, near starvation.
If a social system built on principle, just like systems based on arbitrary power, inexorably results in abuse and misery, is humanity just destined for misery? Was the Camelot ideal -- which seemed to die with John F. Kennedy -- really impossible after all? For my own part, I decided I'd just be a nice libertarian, one who worked hard but gave charity. No one, I thought, was ever going to come up with a perfect system.
Then one day I picked up a Bible (when I say "Bible," I'm generally referring to the first major chunk of it, also known as the Five Books of Moses, the Pentateuch [in Greek], or the Torah [in Hebrew], and for simplicity's sake, I'll just call it the Bible) and started reading. I was amazed. There it all was – the libertarian ideal. Abraham refused to bury his wife Sarah until he was allowed to purchase a burial place that would belong to his family eternally -- an example of property rights.
There are more examples of property rights -- thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not even covet thy neighbor's property (with the hope of stealing it). Neither thou nor the king. Thy vineyard is thy vineyard and thy house is thy house. And nobody better abuse thy person either. Thou shalt not murder. Thou best not assault because thou shalt surely pay – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (but not literally). (Jewish law always understood these verses to refer to monetary compensation.) No kidnapping either. Death for that. So much for the crime problem.
And just because you're rich or in the government doesn't mean that you have the right to step on anyone else. The king isn't even allowed to have too many horses or too many wives. And the courts are expressly forbidden to give any special treatment to the rich. Don't try the sympathy angle, though; they're forbidden to give special consideration to the poor as well. Justice, justice shall you pursue. Now that's really neat, I thought.
Even the separation of powers was built in. You had the king, the High Priest, and the courts. There was sometimes a prophet, as well, to unmask wrongdoing and keep everyone on his toes. Later came the Sanhedrin (the Supreme Court), which served as a rule-making body and the court of final appeal.
The king had some obligations I found especially interesting. First, he had to copy by hand an entire Bible using a quill on heavy parchment, a lengthy and difficult task. Then he had to carry this spiritual document of liberty with him wherever he went. And, periodically, he had to assemble the citizenry and read to them from the Bible so everyone would know just what their rights and obligations were.
What an incredible way to see the king internalize these values! Isn't the internal value system of the executive the only ultimate check against the most extreme abuses of the balance of power? Wouldn't it have been anathema even for a president like Nixon, raised on the doctrines of the Bill of Rights and the rest of the American Constitution, to have fomented a crisis and seize emergency military authority to hold onto power during Watergate? Isn't this the reason that an American president swears to protect, honor and defend the Constitution of the United States at his inauguration?
Yeah, the Bible was certainly the libertarian ideal. No wonder the Founding Fathers of the United States nearly decided to make Hebrew rather than English the national language of this nation of liberty.
But it was the Bible's exceptions to libertarian principle that struck me even more forcefully than the Bible's adoption of libertarian principle itself. Farmers were commanded to leave a corner of their field unharvested for the poor. Every Jew was ethically obligated to donate at least 10 percent of his income. Lenders were not permitted to charge interest on their loans. Even the largest debts were discharged every seven years.
There was one law that blew me away and made me into an observant Jew.
But there was one law that blew me away and made me into an observant Jew. At the age of 17, this one law literally made me change my life, simply because, once I discovered it, I had to concede that the Bible was the work of Divine genius.
Once every 50 years, in what is known as the Yovel (jubilee) year, all farmland (that is, the means of production in an agrarian society) must revert to its original owner's family. This meant that no matter how destitute or without hope a person might be, once every 50 years -- at least once in the average lifetime -- that person would have the means of production, the opportunity to rise to any level, placed back in his own hands. It took over 3,000 years for ideas like that to resurface in the form of the Homestead Act (which, in 1862, allowed anyone to claim land as theirs if they had worked it or lived there for at least five years), the GI Bill (which, beginning in 1944, provided education and training for millions of veterans) and, of course, public education (which provides free education to all children).
But this biblical law of the jubilee year guaranteed opportunity to every member of society. It wasn't just a redistribution of wealth, because gold, art, houses, even palatial residences in walled cities didn't revert. It was the opportunity that the land represented for independence, self-sufficiency and self-betterment that was redistributed. Prices of such land were always calculated taking this 50-year cycle into account.
In this jubilee year, the ram's horn would be sounded and liberty would be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of the land therein. Do you know where there these inspiring words are inscribed today? On the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Makes you think, huh?
It sure made me think. When I discovered these biblical laws, I was simply astonished. What a perfect compromise between pure laissez faire economics and wealth redistribution strategies, which just lead to a welfare-state cycle of dependence.
But who was it who had thought of all this? Could it be Divine wisdom? Or maybe, to be more precise, a Divine decree?
The Bible, I discovered, is not a book of advice. It's a book of laws. The ancient Israelites were governed by and had to obey the dictums of the Bible (as is true for Jews today). So how did these laws originate? Who wrote them and put them into force? There were only two possibilities -- God or man.
The problem with the human explanation is that people only do things that are in their own self-interest. The laws that people write are always created to serve the particular interest of the person or party with the power to institute the laws.
Take me, for example. I'm the founder and chairman of a large telecommunications company called IDT. We're a public company and my stock is worth a substantial amount of money. But guess what? I don't own a majority of the stock. Long ago I had to sell my majority stake to thousands of individual investors and large mutual funds, who now own the majority of our equity. But guess what else? At every annual shareholder's meeting, I personally control the majority of the votes and decide all-important matters of policy. True, in the last several years our revenue, stock price and profits have consistently increased, so currently almost all the investors happily give me their proxies each year.
But even were I to totally mismanage things and drive us to the brink of bankruptcy, I'd still control the majority of the votes. Know why? Because I have super-voting stock. Every one of my shares gets three votes and everyone else gets only one. Is this fair? No. But that's how it is. Know why? Because the person who had the power, when the bylaws were written, set it up that way. That person let the prospective investors know in advance that if they wanted to buy shares in IDT, they'd have to do it accepting their condition, otherwise they could invest in some other company. Naturally, no one liked the condition, but they had no choice. The guy who wrote the bylaws had all the power. Now let me ask you a question. Who do you think that guy was?
Mea culpa. I admit it. I had the power and I intended to keep it. And I'm not sorry. Come what may, I don't have to worry. The market can go up or down. This book may sell or die on the shelves. I'm not worried. I know I'll have a job next year. I've got a lifetime contract. I wrote it myself. In this regard, I am like the railroad barons who controlled the state legislatures in order to secure rights of way through public lands, like the ancient conquerors who had themselves crowned kings, like the revolutionary Russian Communists who put their party in charge of everything they took over, or like the independent farmers and tradesmen who threw the British out and vested power in the hands of the people of America.
The rule is simple -- laws are put into force by those in power and are enacted for their own benefit. Who, then, came up with the idea that for 50 years the wealthy could pile up as much wealth and power as they desired, but at the end of 50 years they had to return any land they had acquired? Was it the wealthy? Obviously not. The poor, then? Why only the farmland? Who, then could possibly have come up with this stuff?
More questions come to mind. Who invented the idea of leaving the corner of one's field unharvested and giving away 10 percent of what is harvested? The rich? Now way, they'd want to keep it all. The poor? Why only 10 percent then?
What about the law that prohibits judges from showing favoritism to either the rich or the poor? Which side, I ask you, pressed for that? In fact, the more I looked into these questions, the more I was mystified.
The priestly clan was a possible suspect, since "taxes" supporting them were institutionalized. But if this group "wrote" the Bible, then why did they exclude themselves from the distribution of land or deny themselves the ability to marry whomever they wished?
If the king "wrote" the Bible, why would he forbid himself from having too many wives or horses? Why would he agree to submit to the law in so many cases? Where was the Divine Right of kings?
If neither the rich nor the poor were the beneficiaries, then who came up with all these laws, which were so just yet favored no one?
Which tribal society more than 3,000 years ago would have ever come up on their own with a law that affords full legal protection and rights to any foreigner who wandered onto their territory?
Foreigners at that (and in many parts of the world even now) were subject to enslavement, robbing, raping or killing. Who came up with the idea of respecting the rights of the sojourner and doing him or her no harm because you and your ancestors were sojourners in Egypt? Wouldn't exacting revenge on Egyptians and other foreigners have had a lot more popular appeal? (It sure seems so today!) The Hutu, the Tutsi, Blacks who've wandered into a Ku Klux Klan neighborhood. These groups can all attest to whole heaps of abuse. And yet, here it was. This was the Bible. The Law. God's law.
And then it hit me. The undeniable reality. The Bible really was God's revealed law. It was the source of all morality in the world. God planted the seed and gave us this Tree of Life, this source of morality. And then humanity spent most of its history ignoring it and doing what came naturally. But I decided then and there, while still a teenager, that I could no longer ignore it, and I became religiously observant.
Eventually I came to see that the seed of morality never really died. Carried by the Jews and partially transplanted into other world religions, it kept sprouting and asserting itself again and again, like the stalk that grows through concrete. It kept coming back, refusing to die, again and again confronting power with morality.
Click here to order a copy of "I'm Not the Boss, I Just Work Here."


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subset: commoncrawl


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Mixtape Me, by our friend Adam Pash (yeah that Adam Pash), is a way to make playlists and share playlists with your friends quickly and easily. And it just got improved.
Here's Lifehacker's post about what it is. In short, it hooks up with lyrics sites and music services, and makes it easy to whip together a playlist of songs you like without actually having to buy them (or torrent them).
The improvements in the latest edition are the new ability to add custom album art, improved social networking features and an improved music search engine. [Mixtape.me]


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Early forensics scientists in 1919 used this image of opium and smuggling containers to help them identify the drug when it came up in their investigations.
You can see opium poppies and a brick of opium, as well as several boxes and little containers for holding the stuff. According to Shorpy, the retro photo blog, the photograph is labeled, "Treasury, Internal Revenue Department; methods of smuggling opium." It's like a CSI moment from almost a century ago.
This is via the excellent Shorpy, where you can see this photo in an even bigger size!


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No One is Serious About Debt
Obama argues that having a cap on debt, rather than unlimited debt, is a "bad strategy" for the nation.
The "fiscal cliff" deal House Republicans and President Barack Obama are debating can be called many things—the "avoiding a political nightmare" deal or a "Yes, Mr. Obama, may I have another" deal—but please let's stop referring to it as a "deficit reduction" deal. We've yet to see a serious proposal on debt.
Actually, by proposing a tax increase for spending with no real corresponding cuts, the president has been arguing for growing deficits. And with a priority on "fairness" over prosperity, any chance of easing the $16 trillion national debt through an economic boom in the near future is improbable.
When you cut through the coverage, in fact, you'll also find that the second most pressing item on the president's agenda—after tax hikes on the wealthy and small businesses—is winning the unlimited authority to raise the country's debt limit. Obama—who personally sat down with CEOs at the Business Roundtable to press his case—argues that having a cap on debt, rather than unlimited debt, is a "bad strategy" for the nation.
After that, much of the deceptive "savings" or "cuts" offered by Obama were already coming from the winding down of campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan—this itself supposedly temporary spending that is now baked into the baseline. You will remember that for Democrats, including the president, funding these wars by borrowing was unconscionable. Turns out, only the wars were the problem, not the trillions.
Similarly, Americans may also remember our "one time only" stimulus bill. That dramatic bump in spending is also now a forever spending baseline. The imagined "savings" from that kind of accounting is very much like the "savings" a person might realize after someone steals their car but is nice enough to throw them a couple of dollars for bus fare home. Thank you, Mr. President!
But all of Obama's pro-debt expansion policies don't excuse Republicans for calling their own proposal a "credible" $2.2 trillion plan on "deficit reduction." Even if we were to concede for a moment that the plan would cut the debt, by the time we realized $2.2 trillion in savings, the Congressional Budget Office projects that debt as a share of GDP will have reached 100 percent. By 2035, we're looking at 200 percent.
Or put it this way: The entire Republican plan would only pay down the $220 billion in net interest the United States owes on its debt every year. Well, if by some miracle that interest stayed at $220 billion. Which it won't.
The Republicans' offer also contains $800 billion in new "revenue" garnered from tax reform—partially from closing loopholes on the wealthy—which surrenders to the notion that "revenue" rather than "spending" drives the deficit.
The Republicans' offer has $300 billion in cuts to discretionary spending over 10 years. Well, the U.S. government's outlays in October alone were $304 billion.
The GOP offered $600 billion in 10-year health care cuts through Medicare and Medicaid, which is less than Obama was willing to risk as seed money for Obamacare. Then again, the president's new budget only reduces Medicare and Medicaid spending by $340 billion over a decade. Democrats have no interest in reform.
Our potential unfunded liabilities, what our government has promised to spend on entitlement programs in the future and won't have money to pay, are estimated to total anywhere from $87 trillion to $100 trillion. That doesn't even include Obamacare's unseen costs.
Fiscal cliff? We've already taken that dive.


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A Conversation with the Rev. Holly Haile Davis and her mother, Elizabeth Haile, two prominent members of the Shinnecock Nation who recently took part in "The Accidental and Intentional Neighborness of our Communities" a discussion with Rev. Alison Cornish held at the meetinghouse of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork.
You led this discussion at the UU Meeting House last week. How did it go?
Holly: I'd like to define discussion. Alison and I decided to begin a conversation last year at this time. It took the form of a dialogue sermon at the meeting house. A conversation between us in a public arena. It was very tentative, opening a door that in my mind has never been opened. What I mean by that is outsiders wanting to have more than a one-way conversation with the Shinnecock. It's been very one-sided for 370 years. To have a conversation where more than one side's will was being considered was represented in our dialogue sermon last November. And so this was then part two of that continuing conversation. The second installment was this past Sunday. We wanted to expand that conversation to include what I might offer in terms of the conversation, but also what my family elders and younger people in our family would have to say if asked by our long time neighbors what we had on our mind.
Alison: Both of our roles shifted this year — we've committed to having this conversation privately as well as publicly. Holly and I meet regularly not just as colleagues and friends, although we are that, but to continue the conversation of 'what does this mean to be these communities on the East End?' My charge to my congregation was to bear witness, to hold space in as nonjudgmental and as open minded a way as possible to allow representatives of Holly's family and the Shinnecock people to speak their truth. From my perspective, I could have heard a pin drop for a long time in that sanctuary (Elizabeth nods). It took a long time for the young people to feel moved to speak, but they got there. Some of the things they said revealed deep feelings of hurt and pride and love and worry. For my part, we were on the edges of our seats. It was empowering. We closed the service both years with a seminal handshake, which our friends have introduced us to — standing in a circle around the perimeter of the sanctuary, and people shake hands in chain, and each person in the room gets to shake hands with everyone else in the room. Holly and her family were all in one area of the circle. As members of the congregation arrived in that area, things slowed down. People didn't want to move on from that spot. I was really touched by that. Whatever was being handed, whether it was gratitude or questions, clearly it was being communicated.
Holly, do you have any recollection of what was being conveyed as things began to slow down?
Holly: It illustrates like few other events can illustrate, the distance between our communities. If I have lived next door to you for 370 years, why doesn't a passing greeting represent all that we share? That part hasn't even happened yet. So if I haven't spoken to you in 370 years and I finally get a chance to speak to you, it's gonna be more than a passing handshake — those opportunities are not created. That's why last year when Alison invited me into a conversation with her, I thought it was a wonderful, unique invitation. Because that doesn't happen.
We tease and call November Indian season — there will be lectures at schools, before Thanksgiving there's a moment for Native American singing or dancing. Local people don't often go to the powwow. The only people who say "I've never been" are people who live right here. That's because of the atmosphere of what Eastern Long Island has become so far. So someone inviting the Shinnecock to speak and attend and create a space where that could happen was valuable and rare. I hope our neighbors will be willing to hear what we have to say.
Elizabeth: I looked at it as an opportunity to express Native American awareness. I use that term because it represents the willingness of our people to put into a nutshell our way of life, our being, our very presence, that has been here and of which our immediate neighbors are not aware. (Laughs). They really don't know us. It's easier to make a category than to know individuals. I would like to remind Southampton township that there's an office of liaison between Southampton and the Shinnecock Nation. It was established in June of 2009 and I was appointed to be the person to fill that desk and represent my nation but they have never found a place for my desk yet. I was invited last June to go and look at a space that had been vacated and would be appropriate for the Native American liaison office and that was the last I ever heard from them.
So you went and approved of the office…
Elizabeth: Oh yes. I said that would be fine, and then I never heard from them again. Is that awareness or what? How about unawareness? It's because we have a wonderful sense of humor that we've survived all of this. And I think our young people who have told of the hurts they have experienced in middle school and high school in Southampton public, that they came out with a very positive comment on the whole situation, I thought they were beautiful in their understanding of what happened to them, and how, as my granddaughter said, they thought she would never make it into private boarding school, that she wouldn't be accepted and she couldn't afford it anyway, from which she graduated and then went on to college, from which she graduated, and now she is teaching in the schools, public and private. So what happened to all those predictions?
Alison: She was so magnanimous in saying that the doubt made her stronger. Holly and I joked about having started this dialogue last year at Indian season, in November. It's more than true — it's metaphorically true. I've lived here for 21 years and my understanding of the greater community's relationship with the Shinnecock Nation is to make the Shinnecock Nation into something two dimensional rather than three-dimensional. Fortunately we have people like Holly and Elizabeth who go to schools and at least get past the cardboard cutouts that are stuck in the windows and past the mythologies we were all raised with. But I also feel like a part of the two dimensionalizing is to turn the Shinnecock Nation business into headlines. As soon as it becomes a media story, it has all of those things you need for a newspaper story: conflict, colorful characters, language. People begin to walk around the East End thinking they know who the Shinnecock are and what they're doing. And they have lined themselves up on one side or the other without any relationship. And what it all boils down to for me is relationship. I wanted a relationship with Holly. I wanted to know Holly and her interests and passions and struggles. Not the way she presents them on a pulpit or in a press release, but as a person. The only way to do that is to sit and to talk and to laugh together and to cry together and to know each other's lives a little bit.
Holly: I am very grateful to Alison for having so much courage. It was courageous to ask the question: would you like to start this dialogue?
I see this conversation is a great step in the direction of creating a relationship between our neighboring communities. What else do you see as a step for us to take to make a relationship so people can see you as three dimensional?
Elizabeth hands me an official document signed by the president.
Alison: This was an amazing proclamation issued by President Obama and one of the young women read this as part of Sunday's service, and she became choked up. She teared up in reading an official government proclamation. As she said, she saw herself as a real person in his words… The relationship is a new beginning. This is spiritual work first and foremost. The political process has been dominant in pursuing nationhood with all their vigor and all resources and all their time. Things have to be legislated. We all know that, for example, the civil rights movement changed laws, but we don't have equality. The only way that's going to happen is person by person. My hope is that after somebody comes to a service like we had, they'll read the newspaper differently, maybe they'll go to a powwow, not just as a consumer but as a participant, that when kids come home from school and talk about what happens on the playground they might hear those stories more fully, more compassionately, with more advocacy. One thing Holly's sister [Rebecca] spoke about that moved me deeply was about the most difficult thing she's ever done in her life — to go to the Southampton town board and ask them to protect Native American burial sites. Can you imagine as a white privileged person to have to go and plead with government officials to not unearth the remains of ancestors? What would it be to walk with Becky across that line as you would walk with a pregnant woman to a clinic — I see the relationship and the conversation being one and the same. But ultimately it's about changing one heart at a time. It's slow work and you have to be committed to it. We like each other, are committed to the work, but it's still hard to find the time to go deep enough.
Elizabeth: I am going to be teaching people that the president has indeed established a proclamation of Native American Month and Native American Day (November 26) as an annual event; it gives a place in the curriculum. We can say this is the national day of celebration in honor of our ancestors. How about that?
Holly: Don't judge a sister or brother until you've walked three moons in their moccasins. That human to human thing — I laugh when I'm walking down the street and I wave my arm — I don't even know who the person is. On the outside I walk down the street and people walk right by you. No good morning, no hello. The human to human thing is often the element that we're missing. That's why we can't get to step two, because we haven't gotten to step one. We haven't decided — what is it like to get up on a November morning with no heat? What is it like to go to a food pantry the day after Thanksgiving and get spoken to in such a manner that you leave there crying? Where is the human to human? That's what Alison's invitation represents to me.
Alison: A place is shaped by the people who inhabit it. When we think about the East End, it has not been shaped by the values and experiences of the Shinnecock people. It's been shaped by the values of people who have come from away. There's a disjunction between the people and the land. What I said on Sunday is this is a very small stab at giving equal time but we have a lot of time to make up.


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Chris Nelis
Senior Programmer
Chris Nelis, senior programmer and co-founder of Stardm Ltd, has been working with astrology for over 15 years. His innovative programming and design techniques mean the astrology store he has created, successfully produces and delivers thousands of astrological profiles, forecasts and relationship reports worldwide.
Jeff Prince
Relationship Forecast
Jeff Prince is originally from Canada he has in the UK for over 30 years and studied astrology for over 40 years, He has pursued astrology professionally since 2005 and his horoscopes have featured in a wide range of printed and online media predominantly in the UK and North America.
Lyn Birkbeck
Soul Mates - Soul Profile - Predictor - Relationship Reality - Relationship Success
One of our longest standing astrology authors, Lyn Birkbeck has been a professional astrological consultant since 1979, Lyn is the author of eight books, including the best-selling Do-It-Yourself Astrology now in its third 'incarnation' as The Watkins Astrological Handbook.
John Hayes
Star Lovers
John Hayes is a consultant with the British Astrological and Psychic Society (BAPS) and a registered Healer. He's studied at the Faculty of Astrological Studies gives talks on astrology and teaches astrology to beginners.
Tom Brosnan
Life Planner - Career Analysis
Tom Brosnan is consultant and author Tom comes from New Zealand and has been a past President of the Christchurch School of Astrological Studies. Tom has written a series of astrological texts for individuals and couples with forecasts about the future.
Graham Boston
Personal Outlook
Graham Boston the author of 'Astrology, A Beginner's Guide', published by Hodder Headline. He teaches astrology and helps run the Aquarius Severn Astrology Society, based in Cheltenham (UK).
Check out our astrology authors readings.


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Fire fans get ready to beat the Crew not only on the pitch this weekend but via Twitter!
This week, we're encouraging fans to use the hashtag #VoteFIRE to help spread the word and get out and vote for the Men in Red for MLS All-Star on July 25th in Philadelphia. The Columbus Crew will be using the hashtag #VoteCREW during the same time and just before kickoff on Saturday, June 23rd we will calculate the results between the two teams to see who's the winner.
FACT: Brian McBride likes Chicago better.
FACT: Yellow is a cowardly color.
FACT: Chris Rolfe and Austin Berry hated Ohio so much they had to leave.
Vote for Fire #MLSAllStar nominees Marco PAPPA, Pavel PARDO, Dominic ODURO, Sean JOHNSON, Gonzalo SEGARES and Sebastian GRAZZINI by logging onto MLSsoccer.com/AllStar or text the player's last name only to 22442. Twitter voting begins this Thursday, June 21 at 11am CT and runs through Friday, June 22 at 11:00pm CT.
FINE PRINT: The tweet doesn't actually count as a vote, but the hope is that other fans will be encouraged to participate, vote and help us beat the Yellow Team.
Use the button below to Tweet your support!
Use the button below to Tweet your support!


text: Attractive, heavy-duty polypropylene runner mat has a waterproof backing and "water dam" edge to keep moisture, mud, and grit contained. Raised design scrapes boots clean; grippers on bottom keep mat in place and prevent slipping. Low profile for easy door clearance. Just vacuum clean when dry, or hose off and air dry for deep cleaning. Made of tough anti-static polypropylene that holds up to 1-1/2 gallons of liquid per square yard, yet dries quickly and won't fade or rot. Rubber backing.


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They're probably going there anyway.
Many school districts have policies that students can't be held back. In Spokane Public Schools, Procedure 4425, written in 1988, says, "No student shall be retained more than once during K-8 grades except in special cases" ("Policies," 1988). The Procedure says it's because "research demonstrates that retention does not help students who do not succeed because they have low potential; have social, emotional, or behavioral problems; or lack motivation." The actual research is not cited.
I'll cite a research report, then. A 2006 study (Greene & Winter, 2006) assessed the effects of a "test-based promotion policy." The study found that two years after Florida students had been retained, they had "made significant reading gains relative to the control group of socially promoted students." The socially promoted students, meanwhile, continued to fall farther behind.
In a January 2007 meeting, I asked (then Spokane Superintendent) Brian Benzel about the district's policy. He said, "The research around retention shows a very negative correlation between retention and subsequent difficulties." I asked him in what way, and he said:
It went on like that. He didn't cite the actual research.
Being held back probably isn't good for a child's self-esteem at that moment, but that doesn't mean the better thing to do is socially promote the child. Failing at something is a normal, natural part of life. It doesn't feel good at the time, but it can be instructive – to the student, the family and the school's accountability system.
I'm not advocating that schools hold back every child who doesn't meet a standard. I'm pointing out a truth: If students don't have the skills for the next grade, then some sort of intervention must take place. Procedure 4425 only makes sense if struggling students have a tutor and/or mandatory remedial work so they can get caught up before the next grade. (And this work should probably come with a different approach than it did the first time.)
For most students, there are no tutors. No spring or summer remedial work. Unless parents or teachers make a special effort to find out what's missing and to get that information into the child's head, the child is passed to the next grade without the skills needed to be successful there.
Robert Archer, a high-school teacher, said he's frustrated that students are coming to his class unprepared:
Those students make it to ninth grade in that condition because they weren't failed and they weren't sufficiently helped.
I don't want students to feel badly or stand out because they're taller and older than everyone else. But things are what they are. How good can it be for their self-esteem to struggle all year and then be promoted to the next grade where they'll continue to struggle and where the gap in skills is even wider? Do you suppose they'll eventually get the idea that no one's ever going to fail them, that maybe they don't ever have to learn, that maybe there aren't any real consequences for not trying?
"What are they going to do about it? Fail me? They can't fail me," one 4th-grader said to me. What that 4th grader doesn't realize is that the district is failing him – not in the legitimate, honest way he's imagining, but in a dishonest, illegitimate way, by passing him through and then blaming him for failing to learn, which it will continue to do until he either graduates or drops out, in either case totally unprepared for the workforce. Meanwhile, teachers wind up with evermore challenging classrooms that are stuffed with 28-30 students of widely varying degrees of ability. As everyone laments the situation, many of the students sadly (and falsely) come to believe they're incapable of learning. How can such a policy possibly be about self-esteem?
(Pass them through, mind you, and the district doesn't have to pay to educate them twice.)
Don't you feel angry when you think about how the children are passed through, like so many defective toys, while the plant managers stand around, nodding their heads, saying how wonderful the production lines are, refusing to pluck any toys off, passing out plaques, winning awards and congratulating each other? The toys get to the end of the line, and there they are – not ready for the marketplace. Doesn't it make you angry?
If I were a teacher, I'd be angry as I surveyed my students, knowing that half of them don't have the skills to do the work I'm about to assign. I'd be angry knowing I might get into trouble for telling parents how it is. I'd be angry knowing administrators called it a sign of progress that last year's WASL pass rate stood at 60% or less and that many of them say nothing at all is wrong. I'm not a teacher, but I'm angry. Doing my research, I spent more than a year angry. Then, I turned that anger into resolve.
I resolve to no longer accept the things that don't make sense. I resolve to speak up, to advocate for change, to vote with my feet. I resolve to either make the public-school system work for my child – or find a different program that will. I resolve that – regardless of what happens in public school – my child will always be ready for the next grade. She will also become ready for postsecondary life, whatever she wants that to look like.
I'm asking parents to join me. Turn your anger into resolve. Attend board meetings. Contact the district. Ask questions. Find out where your children are in skill. Make sure your children have the skills they need to move forward. If you can, work for systemic change. Together, perhaps we can turn this thing around.
Please note: The information in this post is copyrighted. The proper citation is:
Rogers, L. (November, 2008). "Social-promotion policy fails students." Retrieved (date) from the Betrayed Web site: http://betrayed-whyeducationisfailing.blogspot.com/
This article was published Dec. 2, 2008 at EducationNews.org at http://ednews.org/articles/31337/1/Social-promotion-Policies-Fail-Students/Page1.html


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Applicable model years: 2017, 2018 and 2019 BMW X4
|BMW Maintenance Schedule
|BMW Ultimate Care
|BMW Ultimate Care+
|BMW Ultimate Care+1
|BMW Ultimate Care+2
|BMW Ultimate Care+3
|BMW Ultimate Care+4
*See Disclaimer
Here are the BMW X4 models covered under the BMW maintenance schedule per the Condition Based Service or CBS system (we will talk about CBS in detail later).
BMW's maintenance schedule for model years 2017 and later BMWs sold or leased by authorized dealerships is defined by the new BMW Ultimate Care. The BMW Ultimate Care is the latest, complimentary plan that covers factory-recommended maintenance of eligible vehicles for the first 3 years or 36,000 miles whichever comes first.
BMW Ultimate Care covers the following service items under the BMW maintenance schedule per the BMW Service and Warranty Information booklet:
In an alternative to the complimentary maintenance coverage, BMW offers a fee-based, maintenance package called the BMW Ultimate Care+. It covers factory-recommended maintenance of eligible vehicles for the first 3 years or 36,000 miles whichever comes first.
What is the difference between the complementary and the fee-based maintenance programs? BMW Ultimate Care+ includes everything that the complimentary BMW Ultimate Care covers, PLUS the inclusion of brakes, wipers, and clutch.
BMW Ultimate Care+ covers the following maintenance items per the BMW Service and Warranty Information booklet. It includes everything in the BMW Ultimate Care, plus brakes, wipers, and clutch. Here's the complete list of items under the "+" coverage:
BMW refers to its new, extended maintenance program as the BMW Ultimate Care+1,2,3,4. Please note, BMW Ultimate Care+ must be purchased first in order to be eligible to buy the BMW Ultimate Care+1,2,3 or 4.
BMW uses the +1, +2, +3, and +4 to denote the number of years the BMW Ultimate Care+ extended maintenance coverage runs. For example, "+1" means "plus one more year" in addition to the original 3-year BMW Ultimate Care+ maintenance program, and so on.
The BMW Ultimate Care+1,2,3,4 program covers extended maintenance of eligible BMWs for up to an additional 4 years or 89,000 miles after the original maintenance of 3 years or 36,000 miles expires. This is up to a total of 7 years or 125,000 miles of maintenance coverage provided by the BMW Ultimate Care+.
Note, the following "Total Years Covered" and "Total Mileage Covered" are IN ADDITION to the original BMW Ultimate Care of 3 years or 36,000 miles.
|BMW Ultimate Care+ Coverage
|BMW Ultimate Care+1
|BMW Ultimate Care+2
|BMW Ultimate Care+3
|BMW Ultimate Care+4
All BMW maintenance schedules are strictly determined by the Condition Based Service or CBS system. The maintenance items are dynamically computed by the CBS at specified intervals based on accumulated mileage, high or low engine speeds, and short or long trip driving.
The CBS will provide an alert, referred to as the Service Interval Indicator System, via the iDrive and instrument cluster when a BMW vehicle's maintenance is due.
The BMW "Service Required" screen shows the following five maintenance categories with the detailed information on the left half of the central display screen.
Under "Service Required" look for the following symbols to identify if maintenance is due on your BMW.
On the right half of the "Service Required" screen, a display also shows part(s) of the vehicle with different colors of highlights which identify if service is needed.
The due date of the required maintenance in the month and year along with the mileage mark are also displayed on the screen. You should bring in their vehicles for maintenance on or before the due date or the mileage mark, whichever comes first.
BMW maintenance programs (BMW Ultimate Care, BMW Ultimate Care+, and BMW Ultimate Care+1,2,3,4) cover all factory-recommended, scheduled maintenance services as determined by the Service Interval Indicator per the BMW Service and Warranty Information booklet for all eligible 2017 and later BMW vehicles.
The BMW maintenance covers explicitly parts of the vehicle which need to be regularly maintained over the specified period per the BMW Owner's Manual. The BMW Ultimate Care (complimentary), BMW Ultimate Care+ and BMW Ultimate Care+1,2,3,4 (fee-based) are all maintenance plans which provide coverage to the engine oil, front brakes, rear brakes, vehicle check, and brake fluids. These items need to be maintained over time for the better performance of the car.
BMW warranty programs (BMW Limited Warranty and BMW Extended Service Contracts) cover items that are not covered by the maintenance programs.
The BMW Limited Warranty offers coverage for the major vehicle components that are not typically included in the maintenance plans. These components can include the engine, transmission, and fuel system. The BMW Extended Service Contracts, on the other hand, is an extended warranty program. BMW offers this comprehensive, fee-based coverage plan to extend the limited warranty for the repair of major components that the BMW maintenance plans do not cover.
BMW X4 maintenance program price, detail, and eligibility are based on the specific BMW vehicle. The BMW Ultimate Care and the BMW Ultimate Care+ coverage apply only to the U.S.-specification BMWs imported and distributed by BMW of North America, LLC and sold or leased through authorized BMW Centers or its European Delivery Program or the BMW Military Sales Program. Vehicles purchased or leased from BMW Centers in any other country do not qualify for the BMW Ultimate Care or the BMW Ultimate Care+. Please check with your local authorized BMW Center for maintenance programs eligibility of your BMW.
|Maintenance List
|BMW X4 Models
|Model Type
|X4 xDrive28i, X4 M40i
|Engine Oil
|Engine Filter
|Brake Fluid
|Cabin Micro Filter(s)
|Engine Air Filter(s)
|Spark Plugs
|Remote Control/Key Battery
|Vehicle Check
|Fuel Filter (Diesel Engines Only)
|Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) Replacement (Only During Performance of Oil Service)
|Oxygen Sensor Service (Diesel Only)
|Gasoline Additives
|Windshield Washer Fluid
|Fluid Top-Offs
|Wheel Alignment
|Tire Balancing
|Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) Top-Offs Between Oil Services
Disclaimer: Please note that BMW's maintenance and warranty plan details, including schedule, condition, cost, and eligibility may vary depending on the vehicle's model, year, status, and location. All price and specification quoted on BMWUX are estimates based on the information provided by the BMW USA's website. While we do our best to keep this information accurate and up-to-date, we do not guarantee that the information provided on our website is exact, as BMW may change the plan details at any time. Please visit your local BMW dealerships for detail.


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German electronic music producer Faderhead clearly has a taste for video games. His latest track, "Fistful of F*ck You," couldn't be more suited to this video game style music video.
In the most heroic of quests—aka searching for a club to make his scheduled on-stage performance—Faderhead fights through bouncers, horrific-looking club-goers and homeless people. There's actually an impressive array of enemies, and they're dealt with in creative ways.
The pseudo arcade game even comes complete with cheesy one-liners, a boss battle and a bonus round. You'll feel right at home all the way up to—and including—the credits screen.
Thanks to tipster einsam!
- WATCH: Music video turned arcade game in the video above.
- WATCH: Cliff Bleszinski attempts a tribute to Warren Spector.
- PLAY: TrafficWonder is our Gaming App of the Day.
- WATCH: An early look at EA's upcoming Sim City title.
Did you see a particularly interesting video on the Internet? Know a friend who puts together awesome video game movies? If you have suggestions for Watch This, Play This, drop me a line at firstname.lastname@example.com and you may just see it featured here the next day.


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Posted by Joe R on January 13, 1998 at 19:04:13:
In Reply to: Re: 2 IRS Agents Expose it all posted by Joe R. on January 09, 1998 at 22:12:04:
: : I am also in this battle. I recently terminated my W-4
: : but, upon reflection, saw that there was a strong possibility
: : that I could be incarcerated. With my tail between my legs,
: : I resubmitted my W-4. I am now legal/illegal. My reasoning
: : is that I must remain as the central support for my famiy, otherwise,
: : I must depend upon my government to support those that I love. I am
: : not out of this battle, I just have to find a safer way. Protesting
: : the "law" by asking for declarations regarding the Constitutionality
: : of swearing, under the penalty of perjury, to a law that is, by far,
: : un-understandable seems to be a start. Is there no way to marshal our
: : forces to cause this issue to become a media event? Seriously, you doing
: : this, and me doing that, does not get much press interest. The Supreme
: : Court picks and chooses it's battles. Can't we get a little more force behind
: : this idea? I am a relatively intelligent person but I cannot battle the Courts
: : because I don't understand their game. Even if I did, I have read some
: : unbelievable results from cases that were not too hard to decide but the
: : "jurisdiction" card was played and therefore, Justice was not served.
: : In addition to my personal battle, I will participate in any action that
: : serves to involve the media in as far as it is non-violent. I am interested
: : in any event that supports a return to our Constitution of(and for) the United
: : States of America.
: : email@example.com
: I fear, only a million man march on Washington, with all the patriots assembled, could maybe, just maybe, send a signal to America.
: :
see my other Joe R message for info
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text: EFFECTIVE 3-23-2020 - As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation progresses, the Wise County Appraisal District (WCAD) is committed to serving the public. Some of the latest developments have heightened concerns for everyone's health and well-being. WCAD has made the decision to close the doors to public access temporarily in an effort to aid in the 'flattening of the curve' in response to this pandemic. WCAD will not be able to provide face to face customer service between property owners and staff members in our main lobby area, but will instead encourage all individuals to conduct business using WCAD's drop slot located on the front of our building or using WCAD's on-line system (email@example.com). It is important to note that effectively all WCAD business practices with the general public and property owners can be done remotely without having to visit our office. WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS. During this health alert time, WCAD would encourage the general public and property owners to work remotely with WCAD staff. This closing of our lobby Monday, March 23, 2020 and our doors will remain closed until further notice. We will take calls at our Support Service number, 940-627-3081, where your call will be directed to the proper staff. Through technology, we are confident that we can still offer a high level of service while protecting you and our employees by helping to increase social distancing and slow the spread of the virus. We want to thank you for your patience during this time and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please monitor WCAD's website (www.isouthwestdata.com) for any breaking news concerning WCAD's day to day operations. Working together, we are confident we will be able to return to our normal routine and practice.


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Rizwanullah Bilal
Article Images
GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Local security officials on Sunday said an eight-member gang of criminals has been arrested in southern Ghazni province. Provincial police chief, Brig. Gen. Aminullah Amarkhel, told Pajhwok Afghan News that three of the... read more
GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Police in southern Ghazni province on Thursday banned buying and selling goods in the Pakistani currency and movement of cars without registration documents. Police chief Brig. Gen. Aminullah Amarkhel told Pajhwok Afghan... read more
LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Fourteen Taliban militants were killed and seven others wounded during clashes with security forces in different parts of the southern Helmand province, an official said on Wednesday. Governor's spokesman Omar Zwak told... read more
GHAZNI (Pajhwok): The residents of southern Ghazni province on Sunday said members of the provincial council (PC) did not attend their office and interfere in affairs of some government departments. According to the relevant law, no government... read more
JALALABAD (Pajhwok): A dozen individuals have been arrested over their alleged involvement in robberies and kidnappings in Nangarhar and Ghazni provinces, officials said on Saturday. Police rescued an 8-year-old kidnapped boy and detained two... read more
GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Hundreds of Taliban militants launched a coordinated attack on the Waghaz district of southern Ghazni province, officials said on Saturday. Provincial police spokesman, Fahim Amarkhel, told Pajhwok Afghan News the militants... read more
GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Some businessmen say they could not make investments due to insecurity in southern Ghazni province, but officials say they are ready to provide them security. Trader Abdul Rahman told Pajhwok Afghan News on Wednesday that... read more
GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Hundreds of war-displaced families in southern Ghazni province are faced with multiple problems, a local public representative said on Tuesday. Provincial council head Hamidullah Nawroz told Pajhwok Afghan News a large... read more
GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Most residents avoid eating meat, yogurt and milk after seeing signs of Congo virus spread in different areas of southern Ghazni province. Six people affected by the virus recently died in Ghazni. Two persons from the... read more
GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): At least 11 Taliban insurgents have been killed and four others wounded during an attack in southern Ghazni province, an official said Saturday. Ghazni Police Chief, Brig. Gen. Aminullah Amarkhel, told a press conference... read more
- 16442 reads


text: DUBAI - Novak Djokovic trounced fellow Serb Viktor Troicki 6-1 6-4 in the Dubai Championships first round on Tuesday as the world number one extended his unbeaten run to 14 matches.Djokovic, whose winning streak stretches back to October and includes claiming a third straight Australian Open title, was broken once in the second set but was otherwise untroubled in his first match since Davis Cup duty in early February. "I had three or four weeks of no tennis, so I was extremely focused to start well and I did really well in the first set," Djokovic, 25, said in a courtside interview."I was right behind his serve and I'm very satisfied with my performance and hopefully I can continue." Few would bet against the top seed meeting Roger Federer in Saturday's final, with the pair having won eight of the past 10 Dubai titles, although the Swiss did need three sets to get past wild card Malek Jaziri on Monday. Also into the second round is former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, who saved three match points on his way to beating Marcos Baghdatis 4-6, 6-4, 7-6. Fourth seed Del Potro recovered from 4-1 down in the deciding set, the Argentine's superior ground strokes ultimately wearing down his Cypriot opponent as dusk fell."Marcos also deserved to win but the luck was behind me and I played better in the big moments," Del Potro said in a courtside interview. "In the tiebreak I was solid." The opening two sets were decided by a service break as both players opted for a serve and volley approach, Del Potro losing the first with a double-fault.In the deciding set, Del Potro misjudged a Baghdatis lob that drifted in after the 24-year-old pulled his racket away at the last moment to allow the Cypriot to break. The 2006 Australian Open finalist then held for a 4-1 lead, but Del Potro was not finished, storming back to level at 4-4 with Baghdatis unable to live with the precision and venom of the world number seven's ground strokes.Del Potro had been guilty of making too many unforced errors but was nerveless in saving successive match points, then a third, to hold for 5-5 as some brutal serving helped him survive. In the tiebreak, Baghdatis wilted by clubbing shots wide and long. Earlier, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko routed world number nine Janko Tipsarevic 6-0, 7-5 in sweltering conditions.The first two games took 31 minutes to complete, with Tipsarevic going through three rackets in the opening three games. The Serb, wearing his trademark dark glasses, came out fighting in the second set and broke twice for a 4-1 lead only for 31-year-old Davydenko to win six of the last seven games."Maybe he lost concentration," Davydenko, the world number 46, told reporters. "I was also waiting for him to make some mistakes because it's really difficult to do winners here." Third seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic strolled past wild card Rajeev Ram 6-1, 6-3.


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Did Writers Fall for a Hate-Crime Hoax in the Murder of Iraqi-American Shaimi Alawadi? - Tablet Magazine
Did Writers Fall for a Hate-Crime Hoax in the Murder of Iraqi-American Shaimi Alawadi? - Tablet Magazine
Less than a month after the controversial killing of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old immigrant who fled her native Iraq in 1993, was found in her California home bludgeoned with a tire iron, breathing but barely alive. Next to her brutalized body was a terrifying letter: "Go back to your country you terrorist." According to Alawadi's 17-year-old daughter, Fatima, this wasn't the first racist threat made against the family. A few weeks before the assault, a note left on the family's car was blunt: "This is my country, go back to yours, terrorist."
The Washington Post noted the parallels between the Martin and Alawadi cases: "Martin was wearing a hoodie when he was shot, and Alawadi wore a traditional hijab." This precipitated "hoodies and hijab" rallies on a number of college campuses across the country. At Columbia University, for example, an event sponsored by the Columbia Democrats, the Columbia-Barnard International Socialist Organization, and the Columbia Queer Alliance drew over 100 protesters, many wearing hooded sweatshirts and Islamic headscarves.
Three days after the attack, Alawadi was taken off life support, her body returned to Iraq for burial. The story provoked a torrent of outrage: It was, the New York Times reported, the "most-discussed topic worldwide" on Twitter; it spidered through Facebook; and online petitions protesting growing American Islamophobia proliferated. The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Alawadis' hometown newspaper, marveled at how "social media exploded" in the wake of her killing.
….Last week, Kassim Al-Himidi, Alawadi's husband, was arrested and charged with her murder. (He is pleading innocence.) Court documents obtained by local media outlets reveal a family in turmoil, where traditional religious values often collided with those of their adopted country. They disclosed that Alawadi, who was married at age 15, was in the process of filing for divorce from her husband. And the couple's own daughter was said to be bristling at an arranged marriage, having recently jumped out of her mother's speeding car after being discovered with an older, unapproved boyfriend.


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If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, nonrefundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours and hotels.**
Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.**
If you run into a problem away from home, call the Benefit Administrator for legal and medical referrals or other travel and emergency assistance. (You will be responsible for the cost of any goods or services obtained.)**
When you pay for your air, bus, train or cruise transportation with your card, you are eligible to receive accidental death or dismemberment coverage of up to $500,000.**
If your common carrier is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket.**
Reimburses you for essential purchases like toiletries and clothing for baggage delays over 6 hours by passenger carrier up to $100 a day for 5 days.**
If you or an immediate family member check or carry on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, you're covered up to $3,000 per passenger.**
Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.**
Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer's warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.**
** These benefits are available when you use your card. Restrictions, limitations and exclusions apply. Most benefits are underwritten by unaffiliated insurance companies who are solely responsible for the administration and claims. There are specific time limits and documentation requirements. Once your account is opened we will send you a Guide to Benefits, which includes a full explanation of coverages.
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Chase Sapphire Preferred®
The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months. If you are an existing Sapphire customer and would like this product, please call the number on the back of your card to see if you are eligible for a product change. You will not receive the new cardmember bonus if you change products. To qualify and receive your bonus, you must make Purchases totaling $4,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. ("Purchases" do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) After qualifying, please allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your account. To be eligible for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.
Rewards Program Agreement: For more information about the Chase Sapphire Preferred rewards program, view the latest
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Small acute social point-and-click adventure. The main character of the game is Masha, a resident of a regular town in 90th. She is a loving mother and careful wife, but her husband, full of different problems, falls down to the alcoholism and domestic abuse. Masha agrees to tolerate, but not when it is about life and health of her child, she is ready to do anything... The game is not recommended for pregnant women and very impressionable people.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


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For the third year running, the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival is taking over the area surrounding the Vancouver Art Gallery for two days of live music and good times. Here is a rundown of key facts and figures for the opening weekend and beyond.
29: This is the 29th edition of the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
35: Free performances for two days in the downtown core, including Dal Richards and his Orchestra, The High Bar Gang, Laila Biali with Phil Dwyer, and more.
4: Stages peppered around the Vancouver Art Gallery — the Georgia Stage (at Georgia and Hornby), the Robson Stage (at Robson and Hornby), the Sounds of Youth Stage (at the Robson Plaza), and the Robson Ice Rink Stage.
12: Food trucks serving up tasty treats to festivalgoers on Howe Street.
10: Artisans participating in the artisan market, located on Howe Street.
100: Crew members hired to set up and tear down the site.
1,000: Number of headphones distributed over the course of two days to participants of the Silent Dance Party, sponsored by Sennheiser, which manufactures the headphones.
100,000+: Music fans expected on site with sunny skies. Last year, an estimated 118,000 people attended the opening weekend of the jazz festival.
300: Concerts presented beyond the opening jazz weekend, half of which are entirely free.
500,000: Expected attendance at the festival from June 20 to July 1. This year, the festival is capped off with a full weekend at David Lam Park June 28-29 featuring performances by The Belle Game and Delhi 2 Dublin, among others.


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It's famed for its goulash, but there is far more to Hungarian cuisine than this dish alone. The speciality of southern Hungary is halaszlé, a blisteringly hot crimson-coloured soup with huge chunks of carp, catfish and zander floating around in it. With the Danube, Drava and Tisza rivers yielding the fish, and the paprika produced on the surrounding plains, halaszlé is something of a regional cultural trademark, cropping up in bus-station buffets and village pubs as well as the finest restaurants.
The unofficial capital of halaszlé is the Danube-hugging town of Baja, a popular staging post on the way to the fish-teeming wetlands of the Forest of Gemenc. Soup cauldrons are bubbling away throughout the year in the restaurants of Petöfi Island, a popular recreation spot reached by bridge from Baja's main square.
Each establishment keeps the details of its halaszlé recipe a closely guarded secret, but the results are broadly the same: huge bowls of rich red liquid served with belly-expanding portions of pasta – the latter frequently smeared with liberal portions of cream cheese. The roughly hewn lumps of fish will probably have bones, skin and fins still attached; picking out the succulent white meat only adds to the sense of epicurean ritual. All in all it's a messy business. You may well laugh at the kiddie-style bib offered to you by waiting staff, but refusing it could have fatal consequences for your favourite shirt.
Southern Hungary's consumable riches don't just stop with the fish: incendiary brandies from the local cherry, apricot and pear orchards make for an irresistible range of aperitifs. And Unicum, the coal-black herbal concoction distilled in regional capital Kecskemet, is guaranteed to settle your stomach no matter how much of the stew you've managed to get through.
The best time to be in Baja is for the halaszlé festival on the second weekend of July, when the town square is filled with locals cooking up a storm in big iron pots over open fires. For more information on Baja contact the local tourist information centre (+36 7942 0792).
For hundreds more ultimate travel experiences, get Rough Guides' Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth
Top image: Halaszlé © Vladimira Pufflerova/Shutterstock


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Let's not forget the legendary Nile Rodgers, the funky glue that held it all together. This mashup — which includes Pharrell's "Get Lucky," Chic's "Freak Out," and Stevie Wonder's "Another Star" — got the whole crowd standing up. Beyoncé was dancing, Yoko Ono was getting down, Steven Tyler busted out some disco moves. It was, in a word, EPIC.
Be sure and pay attention At 2:33 when Stevie Wonder raises his arms triumphantly as if to say, "YES, ROBOTS!"


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MetaProducts Portable Offline Browser is an offline browser / web sites downloader. It can be installed to a Flash/USB drive and run directly from it. You can plug the drive with the installed Portable Offline Browser into any Windows system and use it with no need to adjust settings. All your Projects and downloaded files will be there! And when you unplug, none of your personal data is left behind. Portable Offline Browser lets you take the web site with you when you travel with your laptop computer.
When the flight attendants ask everybody to disconnect from the Internet, you still have your web sites on your hard drive. Even if the online content moves or changes, your files are still intact. You can even save streaming audio and video files to your hard disk, and play them back at the highest quality. And its powerful export feature allows you to share and transfer files, or burn them to CD in normal or Autorun mode. Best of all, the downloaded web sites can be viewed on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers.
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Since Portable Offline Browser uses relative path translation, downloaded files can be easily relocated
Supports Drag-and-Drop links from Browsers
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Fully configurable user interface (including toolbar) with a handy New Project Wizard
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Provides support and extracts links from Java and VB Scripts, Java Classes, Cascading Style Sheets (.CSS), Macromedia Flash (.SFW), XML/XSL/DTD, Table Of Contents (.TOC), MPEG 3 Play List (.M3U), Authorware (.AAM) and Acrobat (.PDF) files
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Download MetaProducts Portable Offline Browser 7.8.4660


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I purchased the 10 foot clear lit tree and it is STUNNING. ...it looks absolutely beautiful in our living room. The ornaments look so bright and cheery against it and it is so nice to be able to see each of them in detail at night.
—Tinkerbelltwinkles from Ontario, Canada
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There is a new twist in an increasingly bizarre case involving an encounter between a prominent investment banker and the LAPD.
Brian Mulligan, a Deutsche Bank executive with ties to the television and movie industries, says he was the victim of an unprovoked attack by LAPD officers in May. He claims to have sustained a broken shoulder blade, 15 nasal fractures and facial lacerations from the beating.
The arrest report says that Mulligan admitted to using marijuana and ingesting bath salts four days before the encounter. Mulligan's lawyer said the allegations were made up by the LAPD to excuse what he called an "unmerciful beating." The charges against Mulligan have been dropped, but he pursued a lawsuit against the LAPD. The LAPD has launched a force investigation into Mulligan's charges and their defense may now hinge on the evidence found in an audiotape obtained by "CBS This Morning."
According to CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, the tape reveals an encounter between Mulligan and Glendale Police just two days before the LAPD scuffle. In the tape, Mulligan admits to being "a little paranoid" and later told the officers, "I will tell you what ... my lawyer will kill me ... I went to a head shop and I bought some of that white lightning stuff." He then admitted to snorting the "white lightning" up to 20 times.
White lightning is another name for bath salts, a commercial name for a synthetic drug that is similar to methamphetamine. The symptoms of methamphetamine use include paranoia, panic attacks and delusions, which, Miller says, could explain Mulligan's alleged behavior on the night of his run-in with the LAPD.
Miller also reported that the LAPD has received the tape and interviewed the Glendale police officer involved and are satisfied that the man in the tape is indeed Mulligan. Mulligan's lawyer had no comment on the tape. Miller added that Mulligan's case against the LAPD will go forward but that the audiotape evidence presents "a real credibility issue" for the LA-based banker.
Listen to the full audiotape from the Glendale police department below:


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Talk:Main Page
From nine inch nails wiki
This talk page is for the main page of the wiki, not for the wiki itself. For discussion about the wiki itself, check out the ETS thread for it, or talk to me if you need to.
-Prolly be a good idea to wait for the Act Patriotic site to become active because it means there will be others.Kickemwhentheyredown 18:27, 24 May 2007 (PDT)
Can someone put up in recent news the new multitracks? thanks Jgrizzy89 18:40, 13 June 2007 (PDT)
nothing new since june?
I wouldn't mind seeing this main page be formatted more like the Wikipedia Main Page, with a featured article, the latest NIN News, and a little "On this day" feature.--leo3375 19:33, 18 March 2008 (PDT)
Either way you want to set up the main page, something needs to be done about it... The timeline doesn't fit with what's new in the NINworld (could cover his leaving Interscope up until Discipline) instead of catagorize year zero... Also i was thinking about some sort of poll on the front page for users (IE: which is your favorite album? what year did you become a fan... blah blah) and have them up for a month or something just to take up space on the main page, but also becauses polls are pretty cool... (Can we cange 'Pre-order' to order ghosts, and mention discipline in the what's new section as well?) thanks and tell me what you think Jgrizzy89 12:02, 24 April 2008 (PDT)
Temp Page
Well, I threw up a temporary main page because the old one was so horrible. QueenFUBAR has been doing some awesome work with Main Page/Temp, and that'll probably turn into the real main page real soon. --Tonyconverse! 19:24, 15 June 2008 (PDT)


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It's been four months since the Dynamo U-16s, presented by Statoil, were on the wrong end of the result in a league game. Since a 2-1 home loss to Solar Chelsea on December 15, the Eddie Robinson-coached squad has gone unbeaten in 12 consecutive games, culminating with last weekend's 1-0 win over Classics Elite in San Antonio.
Despite playing a Classics squad that is winless in 2013 and that played with only ten men for the second half, the Dynamo squeaked through with a 1-0 win to keep their streak alive. Striker Elo Ozumba (pictured, above) scored the game's lone goal in the 25th minute to give the Dynamo the win. Ozumba's 17th goal of the season puts him in a tie for second in the overall USSDA U-16 scoring race. Ozumba and midfielder Christian Lucatero are also the highest scoring duo (27 goals combined) in the USSDA U-16 Central Conference.
Prior to the U-16 victory over Classics, the Dynamo U-18s drew with the home side 2-2. Playing without an injured Bryan Salazar, the Dynamo took a 1-0 deficit into the halftime break. Houston responded in the second half, leveling the match in the 55th minute when Jorge Contreras sent a ball into the middle of the penalty box that deflected off a Classics' defender and past the goalkeeper. The home side responded minutes later, as Reis Wooley's 58th-minute blast put Classics ahead 2-1. The Dynamo pushed for the equalizer, though, and found it in the 72nd minute.
The play began in the Dynamo's defensive half, as the squad moved the ball around and found Irvin Ramirez on the left flank. Ramirez spun a defender and worked the ball back to the right side of the field. After consecutive one-touch passes, the ball found its way to Michael Odenigwe at the top of the penalty box. Odenigwe layed the ball off to Ramirez who beat goalkeeper Ismael Ortiz to the right side.
After two straight weeks on the road, the Dynamo Academy will head home this week to take on the Colorado Rapids Academy, Sunday at the Houston Amateur Sports Park. The U-18s will kick off at 10 a.m. with the U-16s to follow at 12:30 p.m.
With four games to go in the regular season, the Dynamo U-18s are in a fight for one of the top three spots in the division. Following last weekend's draw, the U-18s sit in fourth place with a 13-4-6 record and 1.96 points per game average. The team closest to the Dynamo in the standings is Solar Chelsea, who have a 1.95 points per game average and have two games in hand on Houston.
The Dynamo U-16 are sitting comfortably toward the top of their table with a 17-3-3 record and a 2.35 points per game average, tied for third best in the country. The Dynamo trail the FC Dallas U-16s by .02 in the race for the division title, but have played two more games than their MLS Academy rival. The two teams will meet in the regular season finale on June 1 at FC Dallas Sports Park.
In Pre-Academy league action, the Dynamo went 2-0-1 on the weekend. The U-15s won 2-0 behind goals from Andrew Giraldo and Edwin Gomez. The U-14s won 4-0 with Alejandro Dominguez scoring two goals and Giandemir Jean and Gianluca Natera scoring one each. The U-13s drew 1-1 with Johan Benitez scoring Houston's goal.
U-18: Houston Dynamo (13-4-6) at Classics Elite (4-17-2)
April 20, 2013 -- STAR Soccer Complex
USSF Development Academy League
Scoring Summary:
CLA -- Fernando Mercado 35
HOU -- Jorge Contreras 55
CLA -- Reis Woolley 58
HOU -- Irvin Ramirez 72
U-16: Houston Dynamo (17-3-3) at Classics Elite (0-23-0)
April 20, 2013 -- STAR Soccer Complex
USSF Development Academy League
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Elochukwu Ozumba 25
U-15: Houston Dynamo (14-2-5) at Classics Elite (1-18-0)
April 21, 2013
Texas Pre-Academy Leage
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Edwin Gomez
HOU -- Andrew Giraldo
U-14: Houston Dynamo (13-8-0) at Classics Elite (2-18-0)
April 21, 2013
Texas Pre-Academy League
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Giandemir Jaen
HOU -- Alejandro Dominguez
HOU -- Alejandro Dominguez
HOU -- Gianluca Natera
U-13: Houston Dynamo (9-4-7) at Classics Elite (4-11-4)
April 21, 2013
Texas Pre-Academy League
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Johan Benitez
CLA -- goal
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.


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Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Mtbr.
We like recyclers and we have a particular appreciation for bike product recyclers. Tires is an area that needs attention because if we all combined our pile of used bike tires together, we may have a pretty good sized mountain. It's so cool to try new bike tires since they're affordable and can significantly impact the way our bikes climb and descend. But what do we do with our old tires? We think we are going to use them again, especially the ones with good tread but most probably, we're not.
And is there a worse feeling that stacking a bunch of tires and tubes in the garbage can? It feels so wrong as they're useful products and they occupy so much space in the bin.
And what about these new wheel sizes? What are we going to do with the old tires as we move from one wheel size to another? Any guesses on how many 'old wheel size' tires are about to get thrown in the landfill?
So Rottua is here making handmade sandals in California from old tires and tubes. It's a valiant cause worth supporting. They're active in many events like Sea Otter, Downieville Classic and Tour of California as they collect old tires from any of the event participants.
They're also taking the recycling and reuse mantra to heart in all their company materials. Shipping boxes, display stands, product tags and holders are creatively made from scrap materials. Through all this, they still maintain a clean and attractive branding image, punching holes instead of printing logos for example.
We've been using the MTB Headlands model for a month now and it has awesome build quality. The sole has nice grip and the straps are snug yet comfortable. And of course, the hallmark is it looks awesome and is a great conversation starter at the trail head. Each sandal is unique as they use whatever tire is available for materials. Riding buddies are envious and the bike nerds are able to quickly identify the brand/model of tires used in the sandal.
It is expensive at $80 but it is not far off from high quality sandals. The sizing is a hair small compared to the industry and there are no half sizes available. The MTB Headlands that we tried has a hard sole and we really wish for more cushioning as our sore and sensitive feet need all the TLC they can get.
So on your next sandal purchase, consider Rottua. At the very least, don't dump your old tires and tubes in the trash bin.
MTB Headlands Product Details
- Treads for sandal straps and print on toe bridges will vary per order***
- Color scheme of sandal will match as shown**
- Vegan friendly, performance Ultrasuede for upper lining and footbed
- Arch support
- "Snug Fit" design
- Natural rubber in each sole for added flexibility and comfort
- Dual density, foot molding, EVA footbed
- 100% handmade in California
What They Do
Rottua represents reusing, recycling, and repurposing. We created a network with local bike stores throughout the Bay Area and beyond who believe in the mission of keeping tubes and tires above ground.
We collect, sort, and grade each tire from local bike stores and donate reusable tires to local charities.
We recycle and extract rubber from old bicycle tires. Every Rottua Sandal sole is made in California using recycled rubber and a special blend to perform and endure longer mileage.
We repurpose and hand-select the best quality tires and tubes for sandal straps and toe bridges which makes each pair unique.
For more information visit www.rottua.com.