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Just in case you don't already know which way the political winds blow in your neighborhood, a Gallup poll shows what states have the most conservatives and the most liberals. And it seems the conservatives are either populating the U.S. at a higher rate, or fewer people are identifying with the left, as even in the most liberal states, the numbers of liberals are nowhere close to the percentages of conservatives in the blue states.
Still, there are few surprises here -- Mississippi has always leaned conservative. Except perhaps the exclusion of California as one of the most liberal states. Apparently the red areas make up for that bastion of blue surrounding Hollywood and my house. Which means I probably won't be traveling outside my neighborhood unless it's straight up the coast to the true blue San Francisco Bay area.
Yep, I'm a liberal who's afraid to be surrounded by red. So I won't be moving to any of these 10 most conservative states:
I grew up in the very red state of Oklahoma. But times were so different then, and the vitriol was saved for people from Texas, rather than the Democrats in the neighborhood. In fact, common ground was easy to find with my Republican neighbors. Those days are over now, as civility takes a back seat and Oklahoma legislators continue to attack the rights of women, and pretend that sharia law is a threat in the Great Plains. I simply could not live in a state that chooses to elect a majority of people who believe this way. It's against my self-interest, and that of my children.
While these top 10 liberal states have their own problems, I'd much rather find myself surrounded by like-minded people.
I used to believe that an interesting mix of views and values made for a lively discussion and a colorful neighborhood. While I still like to think this is an ideal way to live and learn, the hate-filled threats and bi-partisan nastiness make me want to retreat into my own, and never have to even talk to someone who thinks I'm lesser than him because of my gender. Or my children are, because they are half-Jewish. I don't need hate in my life, and would much rather live in a racial and religious mix than a political mix. Sadly, that's what's happening around the world as views get more and more narrow, and violent rhetoric becomes acceptable.
I realize a lot of red state folks would be appalled at the medicinal marijuana store front a few blocks from my house, just as I would be appalled at the lack of reproductive choice options or mosques in their neighborhood. While it makes me sad that the middle ground seems to be rapidly disappearing, I'm happy to be living in an area that embraces diversity, immigrants, women, and choice. So I'll stay here. And you can stay where you are.
Do you live in a liberal or a conservative state?
Image via Calsidyrose/Flickr
Glad to be moving back to Colorado soon! We're in Washington right now. The 2-1/2 years we spent in Georgia were nuts... like when the school district wanted to put "Evolution is just a theory" stickers in the science textbooks...
I live in a conservative state, NC. I am a conservative as well, and I love it here, just as you love where you are. Neither view is necessarily wrong, they are just different.
We just moved to Colorado a few weeks ago! Lovin' it. :) We're from Missouri. I would have thought it shown on the top 10 red too but I guess not!
RanaAurora - Holy buckets, I agree with you about GA. We were stationed at Fort Benning but we lived across the state line in Alabama. We hated it there. We were only there for 18 months. My hubby reenlisted for Fort Carson as soon as his window opened. LOL
You know, I'm getting really tired of you "open minded" and "peace-loving" liberals calling me a racist, bigot, and whatever else, just because I happen to have a different view on the world than you do. I'm sure you don't see the world the same as those immigrants in your neighborhood, do you call them racist? I'm sure you don't share the same religious outlook as those who attend the mosque in your neighborhood, do you call them bigots?
Then why do you call me, a conservative-leaning AMERICAN, a racist and a bigot? Bit close-minded of you, isn't it?
Does this sound too harsh? :
No one in a red state gives a crap.
"hate filled nastiness comes mostly from liberals" LMAO ohhh...that's fantastic...thanks for the laugh!


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Obliphica Curler
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Home dry cleaning products have completely revolutionized my closet.
I've heard women swear by them for years, but it took me a while to finally try them. When I did, I was hooked. I hardly ever use a dry cleaner now, and I'm able to buy far more 'dry clean only' pieces, because I don't have to factor outrageous dry cleaning prices into my decision.
If you've never used a home dry cleaning product before, it's super easy. They come with a spot treating fluid that you use first to eliminate spots and stains. Next, you put your clothes in the dryer- Dryel provides a dryer bag, Woolite's Dry Cleaner's Secret is a bagless system. Both include a damp cloth that you put in with your clothes in order to "steam clean" them.
But in my experience, one of these products works and the other one totally doesn't.
Want to find out which one I recommend?
Read on!
I tried Dryel first and was very surprised to find that 1) the spot treating liquid got stains and grease spots right out of my dry clean only clothes and 2) they came out pill-free and looking dry cleaned. The only down side to Dryel is that the scent reminds me of Swiffer's scent- and frankly, I don't like to smell like a cleaning product. But I'm saving so much money on dry cleaning bills that I'm sticking with it.
I tried Woolite's Dry Cleaners Secret, which has much the same home dry cleaning steps as Dryel, except that it doesn't come with a bag for your clothes. I found that the spot treater didn't get out a single spot on any item of clothing I used it on -- and the spots were very ordinary, run of the mill spots! Also, I don't really like putting my dry clean only clothes in the dryer without a protective bag.
So for me, Dryel it is! Hands down.
I'd love to know what your thoughts are on home dry cleaning, and if you love it as much as I do. If I have a really nice piece or something that needs pressing, I still take it into the dry cleaners, but all my knit and silk dry clean pieces now get the home treatment!
Images via Dryel.com and DryCleanersSecret.com
I have tried the Dryel as well and the scent turned me off. I wish they had a fragrance free one or at least something like lavender.
i didn't even know they had at home dry cleaning products. thanks!
I love the dryel too! I'm not crazy about the smell either but it does fade, so its not too bad!! Really just an awesome, awesome product!
Well, the spot cleaning fluid gets the stains out of my dry clean only pieces and the steam dryer gets out the wrinkles, so that's good enough for me! If I have serious smell or stain issues, I send pieces on to the dry cleaner, but now it's once every few months instead of once a week. TOTAL WIN.
But yes, ladies! Let's hope Dryel reads this and adds some SCENT OPTIONS. PLEASEEEEE.
i havent used either
Haven't tried either of these.


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In June 1954, American evangelist Billy Graham came to the Federal Republic of Germany for his first revival meetings. In Frankfurt, he preached at the American Christ Chapel, in Düsseldorf at the Rheinstadium, and two days later he closed his first German campaign with a service at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Thousands came to see him and hundreds stepped forward at the end of the service to publicly accept Christ as their Savior. Another campaign fol-lowed in 1955. The American preacher then returned to Germany again during the 1960s, and his work there peaked in 1970 with his EURO 70 campaign.1
Graham's campaigns in Germany were not foreign spectacles, but rites of passage in German Protestantism. For many actors in the religious field, Graham evoked and catalyzed fear of secularization and hopes for rechristianization. Being an icon of religious modernization and a return to the traditional at the same time, he became a focal point of self-reflection for German Protestants in the 1950s and 1960s. Church leaders, theologians, and laymen used Graham's campaigns to discuss secular and political challenges and deep social transformations in the religious and secular sphere. Therefore, leading Protestant bishops such as Otto Dibelius and Hanns Lilje supported Graham's campaigns. They published circulars advertising the so-called crusades and said closing prayers at the events. Influential theologians like Karl Barth, Helmut Thielicke, and Helmut Gollwitzer met Graham and published thoughts on his evangelism, theology, and mission. Their points of view varied between sharp intellectual criticism and well-meaning curiosity. Especially the German free churches gave the transnational, evangelical hero an enthusiastic welcome with publications and local organizational support.
Graham's mission was characterized on one side by a highly traditional message combining conservative values and a fundamentalist theology and, on the other side, by his modern revival techniques, his use of mass media, and his appearance as an American, suburban, middle-class consumer. When Graham first came to Germany, he was only thirty-six years old and the German press described his good looks, his love for playing golf and walking the dog, and his fashionable and casual style.2 His mission was characterized by air miles, spotlights, and microphones. Yet the preacher's message stood in sharp contrast to his modern appearance. Graham was a self-defined fundamentalist. He emphasized the literal accuracy of the Bible, he expected the Second Coming of Christ, and he preached the actual existence of heaven and hell. With these themes and particularly with his call to personal conversion at the end of his services, he stood at the fringe of mainstream Protestantism in Germany. Still, Germans came to hear him by the thousands, and they did so for reasons that I will explore in this article.3
Graham's mission could neither stop declining church membership in Germany nor the process of secularization. His revival meetings, however, trig-gered and influenced German debates on rechristianization as a political process and the modernization and democratization of Protestantism. Hence, they offer an important lens through which to explore politicization and westernization processes in German Protestantism generated by both the Cold War and the rise of consumerism. This approach broadens the perspective of contemporary religious history, which has so far focused closely on church structures and debates in intellectual and theological circles, and traces instead changes in the public discourse on religion and in ordinary West German Protestants' beliefs and rituals.4 By these means, it complements research on Catholic popular religiosity in the 1950s that has shown the influence of Cold War fears on West German Catholicism.5 It also offers a way to integrate religious history into the historiography of Cold War culture6 and consumption in West Germany,7 hence highlighting the persistent and formative importance of religion in modern societies.
1. The West German Protestant Landscape
Graham and German Protestants met at a watershed in the history of German Protestantism. The experience of having failed during the Third Reich that found expression in the 1945 Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt led to a new commitment to democracy and the ideology of the West in Protestant circles.8 This change was accompanied by a stronger engagement with the public and active involvement in political debates, which found its expression in the new Protestant academies and the organization of a regular mass lay meeting called the German Protestant Kirchentag. The new Protestant outreach to laypeople and the deeply felt need to engage in a dialogue with the German public indicated the beginnings of a democratization and politicization process in German Protestantism.9
Inevitably, German Protestantism was drawn into public and intellectual debates about the rechristianization of Germany to fight and hopefully reverse secularization tendencies. Rechristianization described the rearrangement of the European value system based on the imagined framework of the Christian Occident. Religious belief was supposed to immunize the German public against the atheist, communist threat, in particular, and secular, totalitarian cravings in general. Church historian Martin Greschat has pointed out that rechristianization was not just a religious campaign, but had a deeper political meaning in spreading traditional, conservative civic values.10 That is one of the reasons why the American occupying forces had stimulated and supported the rechristianization discourses in West Germany after the war. From their perspective, rechristianization was part of their reeducation campaign that aimed at the westernization and democratization of the country.11
The campaign to lead German society back to its religious roots triggered discussion in Protestant circles about how to reach out to the public at large. At the beginning of the 1950s, this debate focused on the search for new methods to communicate faith. A Protestant pamphlet pointed out that such methods could include the use of broadcasts, movies, theaters, and journals. The publication stated that missionary work in Germany was in need of a 'new look'.12 Leading Protestant figures like the Hanoveranian State Bishop Hanns Lilje called in particular for a new relationship between the churches and media. In the long run, the call for the churches' stronger engagement with the public fundamentally transformed and modernized them.13
The outreach for new church members was not just motivated by the political atmosphere of rechristianization, however, but also by the receding religious revival that had swept over Germany after the Second World War. The numbers spoke for themselves: in 1949, 43,000 people joined the Protestant church, yet the number of Germans leaving the organized church at the same time was twice as high.14 These facts indicated as much a need for religion as they showed disappointment with the traditional church structures on hand to fill this need. That is why leading German Protestants began to search not just for new ways to gain members, but also for a transformation of church life to retain them. Volksmission, the mission among the German people, became the catchword of these days.
This was the religious landscape that Graham entered when he first came to Germany in 1954. His campaigns there were successful, because they provided a space in which to display and experience abstract hopes for modernization in the religious realm and subtle fears of secularization. The American preacher seemed to fulfill the promise of rechristianization in Europe, and he used the modern revival techniques that German Protestantism so desperately needed. Moreover, Germans embraced the political subtext of Graham's campaigns, which mixed religious emotions and anti-communist manifestations produced by U.S. Cold War culture. Participation in the crusades helped many Germans find their place in the imagined community of the Free World. Finally, Graham's mission helped German Protestants come to terms with the Americanization of their lifestyle. Graham's obvious middle-class lifestyle and his open glorification of communications and sales techniques bridged the gap between the traditional ascetic Protestant milieu and the alluring consumer and popular culture of the 1950s.
2. Challenging German Protestantism
In 1953, the president of the German Conference of Evangelists (Deutsche Evangelistenkonferenz), Wilhelm Brauer, had become aware of Billy Graham's worldwide mission at a conference in Clarens, Switzerland. In cooperation with the German Evangelical Alliance, the leading German federation of evangelical Christianity, Brauer invited Graham to come to Germany.15 After first visiting American troops and holding a service at Christ Chapel in Frankfurt on 23 June, the American evangelist arranged two revival meetings for German Christians, one in Düsseldorf on 25 June and another in Berlin on 27 June. Both crusades followed the same course and were no different from the revival meetings that Graham had held before in cities such as London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Albuquerque. A choir of 1,300 voices, all members of the West German Young Men's Christian Association, opened the event singing traditional German Protestant hymns. Afterwards, 200 young German Christians played trombones. Wilhelm Brauer officially opened the event emphasizing that the Gospel is the same in the United States, Europe, and Germany. After that, Beverley Shea, Graham's musical manager, and his wife, Ruth, performed evangelical hymns and added some American flavor to the event. Finally, Billy Graham appeared and preached for 40 minutes on the story of the rich young man in the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10. A German theology student translated the sermon sentence for sentence, and Graham ended with a call to the audience to come forward and accept Christ as their Savior.16
Graham was enthusiastically welcomed by German Christians. When he first preached at the Christ Chapel, 2,000 Germans listened to the service that was transmitted via speakers to a nearby parking lot. The organizing committee for his Düsseldorf campaign, headed by the German evangelical Paul Deitenbeck, had to change the venue from the ice rink to the significantly larger Rheinstadium, where 25,000 people attended Graham's service. In the audience, one could find students and professors from prestigious theological departments at the Universities of Münster, Bonn, and Marburg; members of evangelical schools, missionary seminars, and church colleges (Kirchliche Hochschulen); as well as ministers, evangelists, and laymen. Interested people travelled in busses from places as far away as Flensburg and Hannover. Two days later, another 80,000 Germans gathered at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
It was one of Graham's campaign rules that he preach only on invitation and with the backing of local churches and congregations. Protestant church officials demonstrated their support by attending the revival meetings and tak-ing their seats on the stage next to the American guest. Church Superintendent Heinrich Held, the head of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, said the closing prayer in Düsseldorf before the audience jointly said the Lord's Prayer. When Graham returned to the area for a one-day campaign in Dortmund in 1955, Superintendent Bachmann from the Evangelical Church of Westphalia emphasized at a press conference the church's support for Graham. More importantly, the American preacher enjoyed the support of two influential fig-ures in German Protestantism, Bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg Otto Dibelius and Bishop of Hanover Hanns Lilje. The reasons for their support provide insight into the hopes and fears with which the German Protestant churches struggled in the mid-1950s.
Dibelius shared a deep concern with Graham about secularization, a process that he understood as the final triumph of materialism, scientism, and state politics over Christian ethics. Graham's preaching at the Olympic Stadium on the failure of materialism and rationalism was music to the bishop's ears. He also shared Graham's conviction that the atomic bomb and its use was the genuine expression of the secular age that had already found its cruelest manifestation in National Socialism.17 Apart from that, Dibelius was driven by a deep commitment to mission within German society. He constantly aired his grievances about the rigid and stifled nature of Protestant church life in Berlin. Instead he dreamed of a new, dynamic community life, for which he saw the American religious landscape as a shining example. The bishop's openness to other religious forms and missionary approaches was a byproduct of his engagement in the global ecumenical movement. He made this insistently clear when he published a circular to the ministers of the Protestant churches in Berlin to encourage their support for Graham's campaign there in 1960. In the age of ecumenism, he stated, Berliners' hearts had to be open to approaches coming from other countries and churches.18
Like Dibelius, Lilje also supported Graham out of a deep concern about secularization, an earnest desire for popular conversion, and an admiration for ecumenism in general and the American religious landscape in particular.19 Even though the bishop was a church modernizer when it came to the use of media and public engagement, he also had a soft spot for the German pietistic tradition. From his point of view, pietism stood for deep knowledge of the Bible, the ability of laypeople to understand and interpret the word of God, and the commitment to a personal decision for Christ. He especially admired the honesty of a pietistic Christian lifestyle and the liveliness of pietistic commu-nities. These aspects of Christian life he found under threat by an overly mod-ernized version of theology and faith, a concern entirely shared by Graham.20
Taking up contemporary notions of a Western European community of values, Lilje was especially committed to the ideal of the Christian Occident and the vision of a European community based on the principles of Christian traditions and Christian citizenship. This vision was influenced not only by his deep admiration for the American Christian landscape, but also by his unconditional trust in rechristianization. Therefore, the Hanoveranian bishop supported Graham in several ways. From the 1950s on, he publicly praised the campaigns. In 1960, he joined the organizing committee for Graham's German campaign and took a seat next to him on stage during the Berlin crusade that same year.21
The church's support was an important gain for Graham; however, he owed his public breakthrough to the German press. Many journalists attended the crusades and were remarkably welcoming towards the American preacher, even though his modern methods and preaching techniques seemed as foreign to them as his message and the call to conversion at the end of each service. But prevailing fears of secularization and hopes for rechristianization strongly influenced the press coverage of Graham's events.
Even the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung joined the choir of Graham's disciples. Its reporter, Heddy Neumeister, praised the quietness and sobriety of the crusade held in Frankfurt in 1955. She observed a deep longing in the modern masses to familiarize themselves with the Christian faith in ways that exceeded the traditional Sunday service. Stating that a process of spiritual decline had taken place over the last two centuries, leaving many people unable to relate to traditional religious forms, she now assigned Graham a leading part in the reawakening of spiritual life in Germany.22
Günter Matthes, who commented on the 1954 crusade in Berlin for the daily Tagesspiegel, also gave a mainly favorably account of the event. He was struck by Graham's preaching style, which combined commitment and sincerity with a refreshing simplicity. Here he saw a possible new way to communicate faith, as was discussed in Protestant circles at the same time. Nevertheless, he was more skeptical about Graham's ability to reach out to those who stood outside the church. He pointed out that the audience that had gathered at the stadium already came from a Christian background.23
Rolf Buttler, sent to Graham's 1955 campaign in Dortmund by the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, was also taken by Graham's sincerity. In his article, he reached the conclusion that Graham's mission was not entertainment but a powerful demonstration of faithful people no different from the Protestant Kirchentage.24 Indeed, the German Protestant Kirchentag, masterminded by Reinhold von Thadden-Trieglaff, also provided a forum for thousands of German Christians to discuss their spiritual needs and political concerns. More than 200,000 Germans had attended the Kirchentag's closing service at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin in July 1951.25 Buttler's comparison of the Graham campaign and the Kirchentag showed that the public saw both events as integral aspects of the same process of giving Protestant life in Germany a new look and increased visibility. Protestant Christians shared this opinion, and many who attended Graham's 1954 crusade in Berlin wore buttons advertising the Kirchentag.
The newspaper coverage of Graham's crusades was significantly influenced by a general public desire for a more dynamic, modern, and lively approach to religion, which traditional institutions apparently could not offer. Public secularization fears and modernization hopes merged in a call for rechristianiza-tion that Graham's campaigns appeared to fulfill.
In the 1950s, criticizing Graham was not the rule, but the exception. When critical voices arose, they tended to evoke the German fascist past. In 1955, the general secretary of the Kirchentag, Heinrich Giesen, published a critique of Graham that did not leave any room for interpretation: 'Wir haben zweimal in Massen ja gesagt, einmal in Langemarck und nach Stalingrad im Sportpalast. Ein so verwundetes Volk wie das deutsche darf nicht der Gefahr des Rausches ausgesetzt werden und muß Zeit finden, damit seine Wunden heilen können.'26 Giesen was strongly influenced by his engagement in the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) during the Third Reich, and Graham's mission reminded him of the worst possible relationship between the masses and their seducer.
In similar fashion in a church newspaper in 1960, the Hamburg minister Hartmut Sierig criticized the mass character of Graham's events. Noting that the young American evangelist appeared to display admiration for the German nation and its poets, philosophers, and theologians, Sierig warned that Graham's events could easily be transformed into nationalistic celebrations. To Sierig, Graham had the potential to stir up the kind of nationalism that he wished the Germans had overcome.27 When the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reprinted parts of Sierig's critique, it caused a storm of protest. Several people who had attended the crusades wrote to the editors defending Graham's work and praising his clear and sincere message as well as his unique methods.28
Another group of voices that were quite concerned about Graham's mission came from Protestant theologians. Considering the intellectual simplicity of Graham's fundamentalist faith, it is not surprising that he never established serious contact with the leading German Protestant theologians. Still, many of them attended his press conferences and crusades. For example, a professor of theology at the University of Bonn, Helmut Gollwitzer, attended Graham's first public meeting in Düsseldorf, even though he missed the crusade later that day. As Gollwitzer later described in a letter to Giesen, his impression of Graham was much more positive than he had initially expected. At the same time, he expressed serious doubts about Graham's evangelizing efforts really reaching those who stood outside the churches.29
Even though a strong supporter of an engaged mission himself, theologian Helmut Thielicke also initially had strong reservations about Graham. As he later recalled in his memoirs, he had thought for a long time that essential parts of Christian teaching were missing from Graham's campaigns. His criticism focused particularly on Graham's individual-centered doctrine of salvation. Nonetheless, Thielicke joined Graham on stage during a crusade in Los Angeles in 1963. Now he was impressed by Graham's sincerity and modesty, even at the moment when thousands came forward to accept Christ as their Savior. After the event, he asked Graham for his personal opinion on his crusades' messages and methods. The young preacher answered that he himself had deep concerns about the look and especially the methods of his campaigns, and that he only proceeded as usual because of the obvious need for his methods to spread the Gospel. The critical German theologian was at least impressed by the American fundamentalist's honesty.30
Karl Barth, one of the leading Protestant theologians of the twentieth century, was also personally acquainted with Graham. He emphasized again and again that he liked him as a person, but he nevertheless expressed strong criticism concerning not just Graham's methods but above all his message. In an interview given in San Francisco in 1962, the seventy-six-year-old theologian accused the younger preacher of turning the gospel of hope into a message of fear. Barth rejected the idea that existing political or social threats would bring people back to religion. With this critique, he attacked Graham's constant mis-sionary use of apocalyptic scenarios such as the outbreak of a nuclear war or the worldwide victory of communism. In particular, Barth rejected Graham's simplistic condemnation of communism. He also resented Graham's military preaching style, which had earned Graham the nickname 'God's machine gun'. The theologian compared Graham's evangelical style to military command and gun fighting.31 In so doing, he publicly attacked Graham's dual religious and political role in the Cold War culture of the United States and West Germany.
3. Protestant Cold War Culture
Karl Barth's implicit political critique of Billy Graham's mission was not plucked out of thin air. Graham's success in the United States following his first crusade in Los Angeles in 1949 was clearly a byproduct of the Cold War. In times when fears of communist infiltration and the outbreak of the Third World War ran high, religion brought comfort and hope into American households. Like in Germany, church membership climbed to previously unknown highs in the United States following the end of the Second World War.32 At the same time, the boundaries between religious conviction and patriotism blurred. Evangelical preachers defined atheistic communism as a godless religion and called for a rechristianization of the United States to fight the Soviet enemy on spiritual ground. Thus Graham instructed his fellow citizens, 'If you would be a true patriot, then become a Christian', and 'if you would be a loyal American, then become a loyal Christian'.33
The spiritual reawakening that American society experienced in the 1950s was marked by a new political engagement of churches and the transformation of religious commitment into a civic duty. Graham spearheaded this transformation process. During his crusades, he mixed his evangelical message with anti-communist statements and patriotic convictions. Again and again, he evoked the image of the chosen nation, preached to his flock the national mantra 'In God We Trust', and celebrated freedom as a spiritual and political value. He involved evangelicals in the political discourse and chose symbols and rituals that transformed his revival meetings into sites of patriotic celebration. In 1952, for example, he preached in Washington, D.C. on the steps of the Capitol, staking out a position at the political center of the United States. The decoration of Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he held a several-months-long crusade in 1957, spread a similar message. The Garden was shrouded in red, white, and blue. American flags hung from the ceiling.34 Among traditional hymns, the hymnal included 'America the Beautiful', the country's unofficial national anthem.
Naturally, Graham did not directly translate these rituals, symbols, and rhetorical patterns to the German context. Nevertheless, Germans also perceived him as a political figure and particularly as a cold warrior. Graham's first appearance on German soil gave this impression. After a several-weeks-long crusade in London and other European cities, Graham's plane touched ground at Frankfurt Airport on 23 June 1954. American military personal welcomed the evangelist there and took him to Christ Chapel, where he preached in front of a predominantly American audience. The words that Graham spoke in Frankfurt set the tone for his first German campaign. In his sermon, he called the Germans 'brothers in arms' and called for the rearmament of the country, which he saw as the United States' ally in defending the Free World. The evangelist praised Germany's reconstruction and its road to economic success; however, he urged West Germans to return to Christian beliefs as a shield against the atheist Bolshevism on the other side of the Iron Curtain. With this message, he translated the intellectual and theological debates about the Christian West for ordinary Germans and helped them to connect to the nebulous image of the Free World. The German press gladly picked up on his rhetoric and the widely circulated Bild-Zeitung came up with a headline that focused on the country's rearmament as an American ally: 'Billy Graham predigt Waffenbrüderschaft!'35
When Graham continued his campaign in Germany, first in Düsseldorf and later in Berlin, it was already clear that he was not just on a religious mission in Germany. Even though the organizing committees and the preacher himself constantly emphasized the religious core of his work, the German press embedded his crusades into the discourse on the Cold War. This tendency was especially evident when he preached in Berlin. On the day before his revival meeting in the Olympic Stadium, the Berlin tabloid B.Z. explained why Graham was coming to the city: 'Weil in Berlin das Herz der Welt schlägt, weil von hier aus – mehr als von jedem anderen Platz der Welt – der Angst die Stirn geboten wird, deshalb spricht Billy Graham in Berlin.'36 With these words, the paper placed the American preacher and his campaign in the middle of a political discourse that declared Berlin the center of the Free World. The organizing committee of the campaign joined in. Presiding church official Theodor Wenzel published an article in a special issue of the church paper Sonntagsblatt that started with a description of Berlin's difficult situation. He declared the city a symbol of the divided world. In expressing his hope that Graham would erect the cross in a divided world, he linked political and religious discourses.37 When Graham preached at the Olympic Stadium, he opened his sermon with these words: 'Millionen von Christen in der ganzen Welt wissen um die besondere Lage Berlins. Für Berlin wird in der Welt mehr gebetet als für jede andere Stadt, und die Berliner sind nicht vergessen.'38
Leading political and cultural figures took their seats on the dignitary grandstand. The mayor of Berlin, Walther Schreiber, sat next to the president of the Berlin police, Johannes Stumm, and a federal minister, Robert Tillmanns, who was also the chairman of the Protestant study group in the Christian Democratic Party. Bishop Dibelius represented the official Protestant church and said the closing prayer before 80,000 joined to sing the final hymn, 'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott'.39 With this Lutheran battle cry, they all closed ranks with the prophet who had come to Berlin to rechristianize Germany in defense of the Free World.
Graham's next Berlin crusade, in 1960, was transformed even further into a political event. Many different people played their part. The organizing committee of Graham's campaign, represented by Paul Schmidt and Max Kludas, approached the mayor of Berlin asking for financial support. They pointed out that the special situation of the divided city made additional fundraising necessary. To accommodate visitors from the eastern part of the city, the organizing committee had decided to construct a tent on the Platz der Republik with 20,000 seats. Since the visitors of the East could not contribute to the increased financial burden, the organizing committee asked the Bureau for the Affairs of Greater Berlin to step in.40 This bureau indeed sponsored the campaign with 10,000 DM; even the Federal Ministry for inner-German Affairs contributed another 20,000 DM.41 These amounts highlight the political importance that was assigned to Graham's campaign in Berlin.
The organizing committee emphasized that only the special local circumstances in the divided city had made the construction of the tent necessary. The tent was supposed to be in easy reach for the thousands of visitors who had to cross the sector border into the western part of the city. Apart from that, the tent was undeniably a strong political symbol with its location right behind the Brandenburg Gate. That became evident when the East Berlin propaganda offensive against the tent set in. In an internal memorandum, the East German secretary for church affairs lamented that the tent was an attempt to infiltrate the East German population with 'politischem Klerikalismus'.42 The mayor of East Berlin Waldemar Schmidt officially requested that West Berlin mayor Willy Brandt tear it down. The speaker of the Berlin Senate rejected this interference in the internal affairs of West Berlin and shot back that Billy Graham could preach in Berlin as often and as long as he wished.43
Obviously, Graham's campaign in Berlin enjoyed the public support of several political institutions. The West German press fueled the explosive political atmosphere by reprinting several propaganda articles from the East German press. This attempt to expose and ridicule the communists' fear of the American preacher increased Graham's credentials as a cold warrior. The fact that American TV channels covered parts of the crusade for their audiences back home emphasized as well that Graham's second Berlin crusade was special. It was Graham's visit to the most important outpost of the Free World.
Still, it was not just the German press that bridged the religious and political realms. Even voices from the evangelical organizing committee joined the political sirens surrounding Graham. Peter Schneider, Graham's interpreter and general secretary of the organizing committee, sent out a press release after the Berlin crusade in which he called the East German propaganda against Graham an expression of the atheistic emptiness of the East. In addition, he implored the political leaders of the Western world to take the Christian faith seriously when addressing the prevailing problems of the world.44 Now the evangelical organizers had closed ranks with the advocates and intellectual pioneers of the rechristianization debate.
The fact that the German audiences had perceived Graham not just as a religious, but also as a political figure, backfired when he returned to Berlin in 1966. By then, the Vietnam War was challenging the transnational consensus of the Free World. Former crusades had not left any doubt about which side Graham had picked in the worldwide struggle between communism and capitalism. His anti-communism was well known, and his support for the American military had been obvious since he had preached to the troops in Korea on Christmas Day in 1951. In 1966, he would repeat this gesture with a visit to Vietnam.45
German Protestants and the German public in general had a significantly more critical attitude towards the American military action in Southeast Asia. Therefore, as early as 1965, when General Superintendent Hans-Martin Helbich invited all members of the Protestant church in West Berlin and members of the German free churches to an initial informational meeting about Graham's next campaign in Germany, he outlined his awareness that Graham's political activities had stirred concerns in German churches.46 The German press had also changed its attitude towards the American preacher. When Graham finally arrived in Berlin in 1966 and repeated his conviction that Berlin was the most important strategic point of the world, the German press reacted less enthusiastically than it had a decade earlier.
Graham's political rhetoric and aura of military precision, which had comforted Germans in the 1950s, now stirred protest. The one who had been welcomed in Germany as another American savior was now perceived as a threat. The left-leaning Frankfurter Rundschau described Graham's 1966 campaign in Berlin in military terms. One article, headlined 'Graham "befeuert" Berlin' pointed out that his campaign was organized with military accuracy. The author declared Graham's problematic stance on the Vietnam War to be the reason behind the limited turnout at his recent campaign in London.47
Graham's Berlin campaign in 1966 marked the end of a particular interaction between American evangelism and German Protestantism at a time when discrepancies in theology and methods of evangelism had been obscured by an overshadowing political consensus. Graham came not just as a religious missionary to Germany, but as an ambassador of the Free World. His crusades were as much orchestrations of the imagined community of the West as they were revival meetings. While church officials, theologians, and politicians discussed the importance and meaning of Christian faith in the Free World, it was during Graham's campaigns that ordinary Germans came to know and experience the political meaning of Christian faith in the Cold War order. Their religious and political needs were fulfilled at the same time.
4. Engaging with Protestant Consumers
The westernization of German Protestants was not limited to their political attitudes and values, including the development of a stern commitment to the Free World.48 It was also reflected in their embrace of the consumerism that bound them to the United States just as much as it set them apart from the socialist countermodel practiced in the GDR. The culture of consumption, however, significantly altered how people expressed their beliefs and searched for spiritual fulfillment. With an increasing number of consumer goods, with advertising and marketing on the rise, personal choice also became more important in the religious field. At the same time, religious rituals and beliefs became consumable; they were stripped of hard-to-follow traditions and dogmatic burdens and turned into a spiritual commodity that was easy to purchase.49 The reconciliation of consumerism and religious life is a significant example of how religion adapted to its changing societal surroundings in the 1950s. It is one of the consequences of the process that sociologist Helmut Schelsky described as the adaptation of faith to modernity's form of consciousness.50
In times of increasing economic prosperity in Germany, and with the breakthrough of consumerism on the horizon, Billy Graham's crusades provided the first opportunity for popular interaction with a new form of Protestantism that used modern marketing and media techniques and had exactly the 'new look' that German Protestantism desperately sought. The reactions towards his campaigns therefore indicated whether or not German Christians were indeed ready for a modernized version of Protestantism.
Graham challenged German Protestants from the beginning by openly using modern sales techniques. In a world of increasing consumer choices, Graham knew how to promote and sell his product. His biographer, William Martin, has given several examples of the expressions and gestures that Graham – a former Fuller brushes' salesman – used to sell his religion.51 Indeed, Graham's language transformed religious belief into a commodity. The preacher himself famously stated in a Time magazine interview in 1954, 'I am selling […] the greatest product in the world; why shouldn't it be promoted as well as soap?'52 When Graham gave his first press conference in Düsseldorf on the day of his crusade there, he used the same image. Therefore, from the beginning, the German press described Graham's religious mission in terms of production, marketing, and sales. Graham was dubbed 'Kreuzritter im flotten Zweireiher', 'Werbefachmann Gottes', and 'Fließband-Evangelist'.53
Many articles pointed out that Graham's mission revolved around the production and categorization of believers, a process that went even further in westernizing German faith. The press approved of Graham's methods, its coverage replete with positive images of mobility and technical progress. A reporter from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described Graham as the modern evangelist who made use of spotlights and microphones and travelled by plane between cities, countries, and continents.54 The German press described his lifestyle, including his passion for golf, and printed pictures of his fashionable wife, Ruth. The preacher was portrayed as the 'modern apostle', good looking, tall, slender, and well-dressed. Fashion, style, and religion blended together in the German press coverage of the crusades. This trend was even supported by church officials. When a journalist asked Hanns Lilje about Graham's stylish appearance, the bishop countered with a question, asking why those who preached the Gospel should not wear decent clothes?55
Graham embodied the idea that religiosity and a generous 1950s consumer lifestyle were compatible. At a time when German Christians' kitchen appliances were changing as quickly as their travel culture, Graham reconciled their faith with the new world of consumption. His commitment to consumerism, however, reflected strongly on his message and the core of his Christian beliefs. Even though he superficially condemned the failings of materialistic culture time and again, he never sincerely called for social change, as many of his critics have pointed out.56 More than that, with his open commitment to the so-called American way of life, he legitimized the existing capitalist order and Cold War divide. West Germans' embrace of American consumerism undeniably formed a part of their identification with the West. In this sense, consumption had important political and cultural connotations. Graham's commitment to consumption reinforced the political dimension of his campaign.57
The consumerist aspects of Graham's modern mission were not just criticized in conservative church circles, but also by left-wing intellectuals. Their criticism blended anti-American stereotypes, a Frankfurt School-inspired social critique, and a quite conservative view on the look and feel of Christian faith and mission. The journalist Barbara Klie, for example, published a sharp critique on Graham in the Süddeutsche Zeitung after she attended Graham's campaign meeting in Stuttgart in 1955. Klie described Graham's preaching style and particularly his language in terms of sales and accounting. In addition, she complained that Graham's language transformed a holy object into a commodity, forcing religion into the straitjacket of modern man's everyday business concerns. For Klie, the evangelist was a broker and promoter. She complained that his preaching transformed the relationship between God and the human being into a mere business relationship: 'Die Gnadenverheißung wird als einfacher Geschäftsakt erklärt: "Gott sagt: Ich habe meinen Sohn her-gegeben, gib du deine Sünden her. Dann werde ich dir vergeben."'58 The journalist stated that the simplicity of Graham's language depleted the message. Indeed, she averred that Graham's methods ultimately had detached themselves from their original missionary purpose, developing their own meanings instead. She asked whether the individual participants really came to the events to create a religious community or if they were just in search of general social bonding.
The weekly news magazine Der Spiegel placed Graham on its cover in 1954 with the headline 'Religion für den Massenkonsum'. The accompanying article took Graham's sales metaphor to its logical extreme. It compared the moment when the preacher called on his audience members to leave their seats to come forward and accept Christ as their Savior with the culmination of a sales event. The same article compared accepting Christ to purchasing a kitchen knife and signing the sales agreement for a washing machine.59 Without a doubt, the Spiegel's sharp words had a blasphemous subtext, and the heat of the argument revealed a strong current of anti-Americanism as well as a general critique of consumerism. Yet between the lines, the secular journal defended its own vision of pure, traditional faith against American influence. In so doing, the magazine had joined forces with the most conservative voices in German Protestantism, who indeed saw Graham's mission as the final abandonment of genuine religious values.
While these critiques undoubtedly had some justification, they only told part of the story. Many people who went to the crusades experienced them as religious services, in some cases even as personally transformative moments. For German Christians, the crusades were the training ground for a Protestantism that combined traditional and modern rituals as well as religious values and consumerism. Some of the crusade participants grabbed their pens afterwards and wrote to newspapers, church papers, and their ministers to defend Graham's work. These letters characterized the crusades as rites of passage. Their authors often began by expressing an initial uneasiness with the secular staging of the campaign. They displayed bewilderment at the commercial aspects of the event, which resembled the sale of Coca Cola and sausages. Unfamiliar faces in the audience, including giggling girls in miniskirts, also seemed out of place. Nonetheless, many of these letters closed with the observation that 'the Holy Ghost was in attendance'.60 This trend showed that Graham was able to bridge the secular and sacred for many. He might have arrived as a cold warrior and salesman, but he was still an effective preacher.
5. Conclusion
Billy Graham's German crusades offer insight into the multilayered interplay of religion and politics in West Germany in the 1950s and 1960s. Moreover, they highlight the transnational dimension of the transformation of religion in the second half of the twentieth century. Fearing secularization, Protestantism in both Europe and the United States adapted to modernization processes as it confronted the challenges of Cold War culture, consumerism, and the rise of television. Therefore, Graham did not provoke a cultural clash in Germany, but was welcomed as a knight in shining armor in a shared battle against secularization. His campaigns were expressions of a common Western religious culture that bridged the Atlantic in the field of religion in the second half of the twentieth century.
Graham's crusades offer access to West German religious life outside formal church structures. His audiences expressed a unique longing for a more modern spirituality. They lived a dynamic religiosity that has long gone unrecognized in the meta-narrative of secularization in Europe. Graham helped West German Protestants find their place in a transforming society and a new world order. By bridging the gap between the secular and the sacred in his rhetoric and performances, he offered a brand of spirituality that fulfilled religious, political, and consumer needs at the same time.
Furthermore, Graham familiarized West Germans with continuous innovations in media-based revival techniques, thereby helping a modern, media-friendly worship culture to take root in the European religious landscape. That became most obvious when he returned to Germany in 1970 for a week-long revival campaign that transmitted his evening services in Dortmund live via satellite to screens in thirty-six European cities. Again, Germans came in the tens of thousands to see the preacher who for two decades had been showing them that religiosity and modernity were indeed compatible.
List of Archives
Uta Andrea Balbier, Billy Graham in West Germany: German Protestantism between Americanization and Rechristianization, 1954–70, in: Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History, Online-Ausgabe, 7 (2010), H. 3,
URL: http://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/16126041-Balbier-3-2010
Beim Zitieren einer bestimmten Passage aus dem Aufsatz bitte zusätzlich die Nummer des Textabschnitts angeben, z.B. 12 oder 14-16.


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Welcome to Park at Steele Creek
Our community features one, two and three bedroom floor plans that can provide you every comfort and convenience in your apartment. Each home offers washer/dryer connections, spacious walk-in closets, your own private patio or balcony, 9 foot ceilings, extra storage, and double crown molding. In select homes you can find a built-in microwave, a cozy fireplace and ceiling fans. We offer our residents the best community amenities available in apartment living! Our beautiful community offers a business center with high speed internet access, a playground, tennis courts, fitness center and a sparkling swimming pool. For your convenience we also offer on-site maintenance, disability access, parking and storage spaces, package acceptance, a clothes care center and a car care center. Tour our photo gallery or call us to schedule a personal tour and let us show you why Park at Steele Creek is the perfect place to call home.
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Recent articles
General news
Canaan History Center to open July 13
CANAAN >> The Canaan History Center will open its doors for the first time to the public on July 13, providing an opportunity for researchers to delve into the history of the area.
General news
New Milford woman honored by Danbury newspaper
NEW MILFORD >> An Ecuadoran mother who, prompted by mounting desperation, left all she knew behind her 17 years ago in a bold, brave effort to find a better life for herself and her family was honored with Tribuna's American Dream Person of the Year Award last weekend.
General news
Nature journaling series offered in Norfolk
NORFOLK >> Journaling is an old tradition, a way of documenting and processing one's interior life and everyday world. The scribbles generate excitement when the words or art touch upon meaningful truths.
General news
Torrington native Orelup directs TV's 'American Pickers'
TORRINGTON >> When a new episode of "American Pickers" airs this week, it'll be visual proof that Elias Orelup's dream of becoming a director has come true.
Government and politics
Proposed Connecticut act would block local planning boards from holding subdivision hearings
A proposed act prohibiting municipal planning commissions from holding any public hearings on subdivision applications is raising concerns about public participation rights, environmental protection and "basic principles of fairness and due process."
General news
New Milfrod business seeking zone change
NEW MILFORD >> Scott's Rentals, LLC, is seeking a zone change from residential to industrial for more than 22 acres on Kent Road (Route 7).
General news
Craft center in Brookfield ready for rebirth
BROOKFIELD >> Spring is about new beginnings and regrowth, and Brookfield Craft Center's (BCC) leadership, with funding, class and special event plans at the forefront, is focusing on both as the center prepares to resume its programming this spring and considers the establishment of its campus as a historic district.
General news
After 18 years, George Buckbee to retire as New Milford town clerk
NEW MILFORD >> George Buckbee, who has been the town clerk for 18 years, is packing up his nameplate as of Jan. 3, the second time in his life he will be heading into retirement.
General news
Public responds to school closure option
NEW MILFORD >> Leave sixth-graders where they are — that was the message parents and others delivered Tuesday night to the Board of Education, which held the first public hearing about a recommendation it will be considering to close one of the town's public schools as a cost-saving measure due to declining enrollment.The hearing was held at Sarah Noble Intermediate School and drew a crowd of about 80, including parents, educators and other concerned...
General news
State closes file on Burnham Fund
BRIDGEWATER >> Following an investigation of the Burnham Fund's use, the state has determined that some distributions, "while well-intentioned, failed to serve the charitable purposes intended" when it was created, "there is insufficient evidence to conclude that any were made for personal gain or private purposes."Updates RequiredThe state advised the town that it will seek updates on adherence to a revised policy regarding...


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Quad State Quad Buster
Run Date: October 26, 2013
Read this entire page before entering.
Entry is open for VHTRC members only and per qualifications/experience listed below: Register here
The concept is simple. The run itself certainly is not: Start in PA, just north of the MD line, and run south in four states along, except for the end, the Appalachian Trail (PA->MD->WVa->VA). Total distance: long. Seems longer than it is. Your time/effort will be similar to that of a tough 50 miler.
This is a training run, not an event. There is no entry fee. We will support you and keep track of you in the name of safety but there is no keeping score; just friends supporting friends enjoying some trails and the outdoors.
Volunteers are needed!
- Transport to start: Need 3(maybe more?) (Approx time needed - 5am-8am) May need more or less depending on field size and sizes of vehicles available.
- AS #1 and #3: Need 2 (8:30am-3pm) Will work aid station #1 and then pack up and move and oversee aid station #3.
- AS #2 and #5: Need 2 (10am-6pm) Will work aid station #2 and then pack up and move and oversee aid station #5.
- Finish: Need 1 (3pm-9pm)
The above is an ideal breakdown of the work but may not suit your schedule/plans -- no worry, any help at all would be appreciated, just let me know.
If you can help, contact Bur.
2013 volunteers: Mike Bur, Caren Jew, Tom Simonds, Caroline Williams, <your name here!>
Run description/background:
This is not a beginner level run. Re-read that first sentence again, it's important. Experience running on tough trails for 50+ miles is required.
If I don't know you or you don't have some sort of verifiable resume/CV on athlinks.com or realendurance.com, this run just isn't going to be a good fit for you this year - but we could always use more volunteers. Email me if you have any questions about these requirements. Participants will also be limited based on the number of volunteers I can get to commit for that day.
You will be allowed one reasonable sized drop bag that you will see twice: at Aid Station #2 and again at #5. BAGS only, no boxes or anything else solid, they just don't pack well. There will be aid at four locations, plus self serve water at one (see below). You will also be assigned an item to bring to contribute to the community aid.
It's the AT, it's blazed white, how hard could it be to follow?
That notwithstanding, PATC maps 5&6 [that's only one piece of paper] is required gear. The last couple of miles leave the AT and are on a blue-blazed side trail. This map is available from the PATC store.
A working cell phone with a fully charged battery is also required gear. When you register, list your cell phone number - you may need to contact me or I may need to contact you during the event.
You will also need a light in your drop bag -- except for the very fast, many will finish in the dark. Be prepared.
We will try our best to support everyone on this run. However, be prepared -- mentally, physically and with your gear. If you are fast, you could very well out run the aid and/or your drop bag. Ask Keith Knipling. If you are moving slow, having a bad day and/or get lost, you may arrive at and aid location to find the station has already packed up and moved forward. Ask Joe Hanle. Neither of these guys whined about their situations. If you find yourself as an outlier at either of these ends, be prepared to solve your own problems. A working phone and an extra layer(if it's cold/rainy) can go a long way here.
In the morning, we will meet at the Weverton parking lot. We will then cram as many people into as few cars as possible and shuttle everyone to the start at Pen Mar. Get to the Weverton parking lot by 5:45 a.m. at the latest as we will be leaving at 6 a.m. sharp and shoot for an 7 am start -- the days are getting shorter and we will want to maximize the amount of usable daylight available.
The run starts at Pen Mar(actually at the road crossing just north, in PA) at 7ish a.m. Aid will be at five locations:
- Wolfsville Rd (9 mi) - map
- Rt70/Rt40 (17 mi) - map [cutoff: 11:45]
- Rt 40alt (22 mi) - map [cutoff: 1:30 those arriving after 1:00 must have light when they leave]
- Crampton Gap/Gapland Rd.(self serve water only) (29 mi) - map
- Weverton (36 mi) - map (this is where we will also be meeting for the car pool in the morning)
There will be two cutoffs. AS2 (17 mi) at 11:45 a.m. and AS3 (22 mi) at 1:30 p.m. Times based on a 7 a.m. start; adjusted accordingly if we start slightly later. Any runner not making these cutoffs will be shuttled ahead to another aid location and will be allowed to continue on at that point if he or she desires.
At the bottom of this page is a general map that has the road crossings for both the AT and the Catoctin in Maryland. The green dots are for the AT.
Questions: Contact Bur, who is in charge of this run.
2010 starters
See also: The Quad State From Long Ago
The Course
U.S. Naval Observatory
Astronomical Applications Department
Sun and Moon Data for One Day
The following information is provided for Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia (longitude W77.7, latitude N39.3):
Saturday 26 October 2013 Eastern Daylight Time SUN
Begin civil twilight 7:05 a.m. Sunrise 7:33 a.m. Sun transit 12:55 p.m. Sunset 6:17 p.m. End civil twilight 6:44 p.m. MOON Moonrise 11:36 p.m. on preceding day Moon transit 6:44 a.m. Moonset 1:47 p.m. Moonrise 12:32 a.m. on following day
Last quarter Moon on 26 October 2013 at 7:42 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Course profile with Aid Stations Marked
Course Map


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Spiro Zavos
Super Rugby should make Brian O'Driscoll an offer he can't refuse
Spiro Zavos Let us praise the rugby career of Brian O'Driscoll, on and off the field, and make a modest proposal about his future.
Spiro Zavos
Deans cops backlash of Jekyll and Hyde season
Spiro Zavos THE tendency of the Wallabies to lose Tests after some convincing performances is driving fans mad. A poll this week on Rugby Heaven showed that 75 per cent of 12,000 voters supported David Campese's...
Campese out of order but Robbie still rankles
Spiro Zavos YOU KNOW when you've put both your rugby boots in your mouth when Wendell Sailor tweets this to you: "Well good morning to u Campo & I have to say u are on your own with this comment it's 2012 champ.
When the music stops, McKenzie may go Irish
Spiro Zavos THERE is no doubt that by announcing the end of his association with the Queensland Reds at the end of the Super Rugby season, Ewen McKenzie is stating he wants to coach the Wallabies.
Winning on the road is Lions' biggest challenge
Spiro Zavos HERE is a recent news flash: ''South Wales police have asked for witnesses to come forward regarding the brutal crime against 15 Englishmen on a visit to Cardiff who were robbed of a Grand Slam they...
Lions to kick against their revered heritage
Spiro Zavos Not long after the 2013 British and Irish Lions squad was announced, I received this email from a well-informed England supporter: ''The two best players in their position left behind [Andrew...
Rugby union
Myopic Deans bashers reveal the ugly head of xenophobia
Spiro Zavos THIS week a xenophobic antagonism towards Robbie Deans has emerged in mainstream media. It is being asserted publicly that a New Zealander - and an All Black to boot - can't be trusted to coach the...
Spiro Zavos
In form Tahs getting a kick out of their game
Spiro Zavos WE start with a sad confession. For the first time since 1996, the year the Super Rugby tournament began, I have failed to make my annual fearless prediction that this season would be The Year, the...
Spiro Zavos
Waratahs must drop work-to-rule attitude if they want to win
Spiro Zavos IT was a dispirited and sullen crowd that shuffled from Allianz Stadium after the Waratahs' depressing loss to the Western Force last weekend.
Spiro Zavos
Hot air over depth of Australian conference neglects cold hard facts
Spiro Zavos PHIL KEARNS talked about it on the Rugby Club. John Plumtree, the New Zealand-born coach of the Sharks, says the same thing.
Spiro Zavos
Mr Carlton, please note: the Wallabies are not the Waratahs
Spiro Zavos READERS of last Saturday's Herald might have been surprised to find in the news section of the paper a self-described ''traitorous'' rugby opinion piece by Mike Carlton.


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For their Fall/Winter 2013 collaboration, Porter and Pointer Footwear have designed and produced a set of light luggage perfect for your traveling needs this holiday season. Constructed using heavy-duty canvas, the durable travel offerings consist of a duffle bag, rucksack and toiletries pouch. The Porter x Pointer Fall/Winter 2013 capsule collection will be available soon at Pointer.
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Central Kitchen Rolls Out New Products
By Kristie Snyder,
GreenLeaf Editor
The first thing you notice when you walk into GreenStar's new central kitchen and bakery facility is its size. The place is cavernous. The second thing you notice — it smells amazing. It seems odd that barbecue sauce and baked goods could combine into one tantalizing aroma, but that's exactly what was happening the day I visited. (If I had to list the third thing, it would be the floor. It's a delightful shade of bright blue.)
The new facility, designed by GreenStar's architect Pam Wooster with input from Deli and Bakery staff, is about 2760 square feet. Prepared Foods Manager Erik Lucas gave me a tour, showing off the new walk-in cooler and freezer, a loading area, sushi station, dishroom (itself about the size of the old Deli space), and the expansive kitchen and bakery area, loaded with gleaming stainless steel appliances (over 60 pieces of new equipment were installed), and humming with busy staff members cooking up old favorites and new recipes.
"It's certainly like nothing GreenStar has ever seen," said General Manager Brandon Kane. "It's gorgeous, efficient, and state-of-the-art. Outside of the colleges, I'm unaware of a production kitchen on this scale in this town."
That increased scale will allow GreenStar to do several things. The Co-op's catering program will be greatly expanded. New Deli and Bakery products are already in both stores, and will continue to appear. If a third store location is added in years to come, "that would just be added to the delivery route, as we've consolidated all of our production into one hub," Brandon said. The possibility of wholesaling GreenStar-made food to other area retailers is also being explored.
The Delicatessen @ GreenStar-Tradition with a Twist
By Kristie Snyder,
GreenLeaf Editor
GreenStar's deli is far from traditional, but with a new focus on local, fresh and handmade interpretations of classic dishes from around the globe, the Delicatessen @ GreenStar joins a long line of eateries that feel like home to their patrons.
The American deli was born out of the simple longing of a people for their comfort food. As Eastern European Jewish immigrants settled in the cities of the Northeast in the late 1800s, they brought with them their homemade recipes and created an institution — the deli. Some of these ancestral delis, such as the famous Katz's, which opened on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1888, are still here today, and the idea of "the deli" has thoroughly permeated American cuisine.
The GreenStar deli's new menu does include some of those traditional Jewish deli foods — knishes, corned beef – while encompassing simple, seasonal and handmade food from many traditions. Whatever culinary background you hail from, whatever the cuisine you crave, whether you're a hardcore vegan or dedicated carnivore, you'll find something to love in GreenStar's deli.
Read more: The Delicatessen @ GreenStar-Tradition with a Twist
More Articles...
New in the Deli
|Quick Meals Care of Your Friends in the Deli
Erik Lucas,
Let the Deli help with too-busy-to-cook fall schedules —grab a pre-made meal, a side, soup, or sandwich!
Summer sure went by quickly, and now it's time for back-to-school, back-to-practice, back-to-extra-curricular-activity, back-to-not-enough-time-to-make-dinner! If you are crunched for time, swing by the Delicatessen @ GreenStar and pick up a protein dish to build a meal around or a side dish to round out a meal. We've got a ton of great options prepackaged and ready to go, or available in just the amount you want from the Deli counter. Also, with the coming of the cooler weather we are gearing up for soup season! We've been developing and testing new recipes and have some that we're really excited about. As local fall produce starts rolling in, we'll have those soups ready for you! Remember, it's never too early to book The Space for your holiday party. Our new catering menu will be out this month — keep your eyes open for it and email us to request catering or book your event!


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Credits & Info
- Uploaded
- May 14, 2005 | 6:14 PM EDT
If you liked this, check these out!
Plenty more like this here!
Author Comments
Fixed: 50 day limit. At day 51 you should see Shika appear in your room. Choose the first option for the hentai scene.
NOTE: To get the hentai scenes for the 3 main char, make sure that you do the following to get to date level 4 with that char.
1: Level out that char's fav. attrib. to 99 (Naruto-chakra, Lee-strength, Sasuke-intell.)
2. Then go to the new area that opens up and buy their item for $300 (Naruto-Outskirts, Lee-Plains, Sasuke-River)
3. Raise their heart counter to full BEFORE the date.
4. Give them the $300 item during the date, and make sure you kiss at the end. If you do not kiss, you will have to buy another of the $300 item and try the date again.
5. You only have to do 4 once for that char. Afterwards, just make sure you raise his exp to 4000 and he has full heart counters. Then he should level.
6. After he levels, visit his room and select "other".
This is my first submission to Newgrounds. I was influenced by my g/f and all of the other Sasuke/Sakura fangirls out there. (All Naruto-related material in the US is now copyrighted by the series' new owner, Toonami on Cartoon Network.)
Rated 0.5 / 5 stars June 11, 2014
wow this isn't a good game
Rated 2 / 5 stars May 14, 2014
This game is too much work for the "Prize" given
Rated 5 / 5 stars April 16, 2014
Naruto Fan Forever
Rated 5 / 5 stars April 1, 2014
So much. Time. Effort.
Just for some hentai sex.
Worth it.
Rated 2 / 5 stars February 17, 2014
I just encounter a glitch I think, I went to the training grounds on day one and went to train my chakra and naruto appeared, I couldn't read what he said so I just clicked something and he said it was day 51 o.o and it went to the credits.


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Soul Fjord for Android
70's funk and soul meet Norse mythology – complete with lounge Dragons and Disco Wizards
Soul Fjord is a randomly-generated dungeon crawler with rhythm-based combat set in a fantasy universe where the genres of 70's funk and soul mix with Norse mythology. In the game you play as Magnus Jones, a legendary warrior slain in battle. Brought to Valhalla, the hottest club in Yggdrasil, Magnus discovers he has been left off the guest list to Ragnarok, the party that will end the world. Magnus must fight his way up the World Tree to salvage his reputation as the baddest Viking in town, and gain access to Valhalla.
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Kim Swift's rhythm roguelike Soul Fjord launches soon
Airtight Games is launching its randomly generated rhythm-based dungeon crawler Soul Fjord on Jan. 28, the developer...
Soul Fjord is Kim Swift's funky dungeon crawler, exclusively for the OUYA
Kim Swift (Portal, Quantum Conundrum) has lifted the curtain on the new OUYA-exclusive game she and the team at Airtight...


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June 25th, 2012
Frugal DIY – Use Bleach to Create a Custom T-Shirt!!
I just love this idea – Head on over HERE to learn how easy it is to make your own custom t-shirt with bleach.
These are adorable. Every year, we make birthday shirts for my kids. I am thinking about doing this for my son – he turns 7 on Friday.
These could also make very inexpensive gift ideas – you can get plain shirts for cheap at Target and Hobby Lobby.
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Travel Accidental Death and Dismemberment Benefits
- Plan Highlights
- Eligibility
- Benefit Amount
- Coverage starts and ends
- Continuation of benefits
- Beneficiary form
Plan Highlights
Please refer to the Insurance Information Booklet for complete details
- State paid group term accidental death insurance
- Provides coverage while traveling on State business
- Pays $100,000 to your beneficiary if you die accidentally
- Increases to $200,000 for Supervisory, Confidential and General Government employees only
- Provides coverage for accidental injury in varying amount, not exceeding $200,000
Who is eligible?
All State employees while in authorized travel status.
Benefit Amount
$100,000 payable if death is accidental while traveling on State business. $200,000 for Supervisory, Confidential, Partially Exempt, Exempt and General Government employees only
Coverage Starts and Ends
Starts at date of hire and ends on the last day of employment.
None available.
Beneficiary Form
Designation of Beneficiary for Unpaid Compensation Form DBUNCP
- Download this form on the Life Insurance forms page


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URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/answer/222260Based on your description of the nature and arrangement of the offsite work, I believe that you can do this. You must be careful that the employee is not working more than 40 hours a week doing both "jobs" since the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that workers be paid time and one-half of their aggregated average hourly rate for hours worked over 40 in any single work week.
Penny is a seasoned human resources executive and consultant with over 25 years of diverse business experience in advising enterprise leaders on employment-related matters.


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Additions and/or corrections to the database are encouraged! Simple Add/Edit Procedure.
|BIG Map |
|Driving Directions |
|Data Source - USGS GNIS FID: 345523
Quitman, GA
(< 0.1 mile)
Shiver, GA (3.4 miles NNE)
Emerson, GA (4.3 miles W)
Baden, GA (4.5 miles S)
Fodie, GA (4.7 miles NNE)
Durden, GA
(5.3 miles E)
Spain, GA (5.8 miles NNE)
Dixie, GA (6.1 miles W)
Blue Springs, GA (6.3 miles E)
Empress, GA (7.7 miles S)
Westwood Estates, GA
(13.5 miles E)
Lawton, GA (14.1 miles E)
Wood Valley, GA (14.9 miles ENE)
Sand Hill, GA (14.9 miles NNW)
Lakeview Heights, GA (15.1 miles E)
Old Clyattville, GA
(15.2 miles ESE)
Provident, GA (15.5 miles ENE)
Old Rock Hill, GA (15.7 miles N)
Dellwood, GA (15.7 miles ENE)
Hallmark Heights, GA (15.8 miles ENE)


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2012 BET Awards: Lala Anthony Sparkling Up The Red Carpet! (PHOTOS)
http://ioneglobalgrind.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/147537431.jpg?w=180&h=180&crop=1 http://ioneglobalgrind.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/147537909.jpg?w=180&h=180&crop=1 http://ioneglobalgrind.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/147537962.jpg?w=180&h=180&crop=1 http://ioneglobalgrind.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/147537921.jpg?w=180&h=180&crop=1
La La Anthony is looking fierce!
PHOTOS: GIRLS DAY OUT! LaLa Anthony & Ciara Spend Q.T. In Hollywood
Even though the real basketball wife arrived to the 2012 BET Awards without her man, Carmelo Anthony, we have to say that she is still looking amazing!
She took a simplistic approach wearing a glitter jumper, silver belt and pumps, and a side fishbraid. The jumper showed all the curves that we love to see! How do you think she looks?
PHOTOS: Could La La Be The Next Vogue "It" Girl?
Flip through the pictures of the beautiful reality star.


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Welcome to my first Wedding Wednesday post! This is going to be a weekly feature now that the holidays are over – Tim and I "only" have about 78 weeks of wedding planning, so I want to make it count!
I got Tim A Gentleman Walks Down the Aisle as a stocking stuffer for Christmas. I had read about it in one of my bridal magazines, but thought of it as a fun stocking stuffer instead of something that would actually be useful. It turns out that it is an amazing guide! Tim has poured over it every evening, which is really saying something because he has already been a best man two times and has been involved in even more weddings.
A Gentleman Walks Down the Aisle: A Complete Guide to the Perfect Wedding Day has everything that every man in the wedding party needs to know – in fact, it would make a great groomsmen gift too (to be given when you ask them, not at the rehearsal dinner!). It details the roles for Grooms, of course, but also the Father of the Bride and Groom, the Groomsmen, the Ushers, and even A Gentleman Guest at a Wedding.
The book is broken down into easy-to-digest tidbits, and details what to wear, traditional duties, tips on toasts, who pays for what, and more. One of the tips that we both liked is that the groom traditionally purchases the bride's bouquet, as well as flowers for the mother of the bride and his own mother – who knew?
It was written in 2011, so it is full of relevant information for the modern groom (as compared to a stodgy, old-fashioned etiquette guide). I have taken peeks here and there – it is very well-written and perfectly gentlemanly, of course. I'm so bummed there's not a "Lady" version!
A Gentleman Walks Down the Aisle is less than $12 on Amazon, and it is a must for any Gentleman who is attending a wedding, especially a groom-to-be!


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New day. New Daily Deals. Get them before they are gone!
New Customer ? Start Here.
Can't find what you're looking for? Shop all ink and toner cartridges by brand
New day. New Daily Deals. Get them before they are gone!
Item: 130029 Model: H8369FBLK
Catch the attention of your peers or employees as you roll happily down the office aisle in this Flash Furniture midback office chair. Offering both luxury and good looks, this stylish chair features adjustable arms and built-in lumbar support for a back-straightening, wrist-comforting experience, and its jet-black color and chrome base lend a touch of professionalism to workstation.
|Chair Upholstery
|Arm Style
|Fixed Arms
This Web site is intended for use by US residents only. See International Sites. See our delivery policy for full details. Copyright 1998-2014, Staples, Inc., All Rights Reserved.


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Dallas Search Engine Optimization
People are always looking for the secret to search engine optimization and the 'miracle' technique that would help them in achieving their SEO goals. What they don't realize is that there are no secrets to search engines. The only reason why websites rank among the top ten is because they match the requirements to the underlying algorithm followed by robots pertaining to the search engines. Search engine robots are responsible for fetching data which would determine the position or rank of a website in the search engine results page.
People go online for the purpose of validating a service or a product before they take any crucial decision. Therefore the keyword phrases are nothing but tools used by a vast majority of people for the purpose of obtaining specific results.
It is possible to find out or discover the most effective keywords whose use can result in successful sales. Yes, this is very much possible through the solutions offered by Green Light SEO in Dallas, TX. Your company or website can land in the first page of Google's search results pages and there would be keywords representing the targeted customer, the correct stage of the buying cycle that they are in and whether they are ready to make the purchase or not. All this and more pertaining to Dallas search engine optimization can be made possible by Green Light SEO. Of course it wouldn't be possible to provide a guarantee because it something based on theory like SEO cannot come with a guarantee. There are lots of theories existing that relates to strategies having a strong base, i.e. consisting of statistical profiling, advanced math and on the other hand, theories that call for the use of complete ignorance also exists. As a customer, you can rest assured knowing the fact that in case our company is not able to carry out the project successfully and provide desired results then there would be a refund. So, in case your SEO goals aren't achieved by the company then you will get a complete refund, SEO. Thus, it is more like a contractual guarantee rather than us making high promises and not being able to deliver them.
We have the potential to match supply with demand or demand interception and hence our online marketing services are a cut above the rest. As pointed out in the video by Jan Fromant, a client of Green light SEO for the last seven years and also a Fortune 100 Executive in the past, our company can transform your local business and give it a national or even international scope.
Ever since the company started its operation in the year 2004 it has managed to propel and boost the business of every client and provide them with a place in the first page of the Google search results via keyword phrases that have been chosen strategically. We make it possible for our prospective clients to contact each and every one of our existing clientele for testimonials.
The top forte of Green Light SEO company is Dallas search engine optimization, we provide our clients with custom tailor-made proprietary strategies, online marketing services and online business consulting for the in order to help them accomplish their strategic business goals. We help our clients in reaching their goals and performing beyond their expectations by ensuring that a carefully created plan is used. Our plans are individually formulated after thorough research about the competitive environment of the relevant niche market or industry.
Measured data connection and organic Dallas search engine optimization:
At Green Light SEO, our methodology is based on data, which is something that is quite different from conventional or traditional SEO techniques. Thus, our clients are provided with well-researched and formulated strategies because all our decisions are made by taking into consideration the quantification, interpretation and implementation of the concerned data.
Our protocol is unparalled and used basically in case of organic search, therefore the results produced are exceptional too in the sense that they boost the search engine rankings of the website in popular search engines like Google. You can click on the image above for the purpose of viewing an info-graphic which would depict the quantified or factual data. To put it in simple words, our focus is solely on facts which make it possible for our clients to have the best results, i.e. being in the first page of Google search results page and being ranked better than the competitors or rivals in the market.
Competence — what we strive for primarily:
It is a well known fact that hiring the services of a company that has a good reputation is a wise move. Therefore, people who have encountered unfruitful results and undesirable outcomes should definitely rely on us to experience fruitful results. Our company has been in the business for three years and we are proud to say that we have been recognized as one of the top companies helping local, national and international businesses that offer products or services.
Our method is driven by data:
In the end, what matters the most is the performance, or the figure of funds that have accumulated in the bank account because of the method implemented. While it may appear as just a number, the truth is that this figure is the fact. At our company, our staff members are high trained and super efficient and they concentrate on providing those 'facts' to the customers. In case you can't get your facts straight then you don't have to worry because we will be getting them straight. In case you are of the opinion that flash slideshows are better than facts and of higher priority for you then our services aren't right for you. We try to make improve our clients' businesses through 'demand interception', which is a phenomenon that have proved to be the best as far as organic Dallas search engine optimization is concerned. Our proprietary strategy is the best and unparalleled as far as search engine visibility and online marketing is concerned. You can ask our clients about this — they are just a click away!
We engage in a lot of research so that our clientele can be treated to quality service and detailed work ethic. Thus, our unparalleled protocol is believed to be the Tao of SEO by us because it comprises of the following three factors:
- painstaking data mining for discovering and exploiting new market opportunities
- Rigorous analysis of the market environment pertaining to our client's specific industry or niche
- Testing of economic viability and demand quantification to make sure that the outcomes and ROIs obtained from investing in Green Light SEO services are positive.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks began higher Wednesday as lawmakers prepared to vote on the nation's borrowing ceiling and as Wall Street monitored corporate earnings. "The market is in a remarkably resilient mood to go higher," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. The market's moves depend "on some of these big earnings reports, but honestly, with them making a little progress on the debt-ceiling issue, or at least kicking it out [until May], that removes one speed bump here," Frederick said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.40% rose 50 points, or 0.4%, to 13,763.7. The S&P 500 index SPX, -1.32% climbed a fraction to 1,492.75. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -1.59% added 9.5 points, or 0.3%, to 3,152.67.
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Stocks begin higher; S&P 500 nears 1,500
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