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On the issue of college affordability — which arose in an earlier blog this week — there is mounting concern over proposed congressional cuts to Pell Grants, the nation's largest financial aid program for college students and the most costly. Pell Grants are expected to cost nearly $40 billion for next year.
Republicans in Congress want to slash the amount of the awards or the number of eligible recipients. The budget passed by the House cuts maximum grant by 45 percent and ousts about 1.5 million students from the eligibility rolls.
Advocates counter that Pell Grants are already failing to keep up with actual college costs. Thirty years ago, the maximum Pell award covered about three-fourths of the college costs. Now it covers only about one-third. The need-based grants — which are not repaid – help 10 million low-income students pay for college. The amount awarded to a student each year is based on need and school costs, but is never more than $5,550, the current cap.
Reading about the Pell debate, it's interesting to see how it resembles the Georgia debate on cutting the HOPE Scholarship. Except no one compared HOPE to welfare. (I think the term that posters preferred on Get Schooled was "entitlement.")
In a radio interview in the spring with Blog Talk Radio, U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, likened Pell Grants to "welfare."
He said: "So you can go to college on Pell Grants — maybe I should not be telling anybody this because it's turning out to be the welfare of the 21st century. You can go to school, collect your Pell Grants, get food stamps, low-income energy assistance, section 8 housing, and all of a sudden we find ourselves subsidizing people that don't have to graduate from college. And there ought to be some kind of commitment and endgame."
(As you might expect, Rehberg backpedaled later, saying, "I'm not suggesting that college students are welfare recipients.")
Under the proposed cuts and changes to Pell, the average Pell Grant award to Georgia students would fall from $3,853 to $2,018, and 42,722 (out of 321,596) students in the state would no longer be eligible for a grant at all, according to Education Trust.
In an effort to rouse support for protecting the grants, Ed Trust sent out an information packet on Pell Grants:
– According to the most recent available data, low-income families already spend approximately 72 percent of their family income to pay for college after all federal, state and institutional grant aid is counted. Cutting Pell Grants even further would significantly increase the burden for these families.
–A household earning $80,000 annually contributes $30.90 per year toward all forms of federal student financial aid for college. The same family contributes $1,015.97 for national defense.
–By age 24, the children of the wealthy are 10 times more likely to have a college degree than are the children of the poor. Our nation – built on the values of education, hard work and opportunity – cannot sustain this growing divide between the haves and the have-nots.
– Tuition and fees have grown at four-times the rate of inflation, and nearly twice as fast as health care expenses (college costs up 439 percent since 1982-84; medical expenses up 251 percent). There are a number of explanations for rising college prices, with declining state appropriations per student high on the list for public colleges and universities. But Pell Grants have been increased in recent years to try to KEEP UP with skyrocketing college costs – not the other way around.
– A recent study from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce projects that our economy will have a shortage of about 3 million workers with college degrees by 2018.
– Pell has already taken its fair share of hits: $4 billion was slashed from the Federal Pell Grant Program budget last year. And program growth is expected to slow down dramatically over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office projects less than 1 percent annual growth in Pell costs over the next two years, and just 2 percent annual growth over the next 10 – a minuscule trajectory compared with the program's growth since 2007.
For a good look at Pell Grants and what might be done to cut costs while improving student outcomes, please look at this Chronicle of Higher Education piece in which six different views are offered.
There are some good suggestions, including building in more incentives for Pell recipients to complete college and for colleges to work harder to help those students cross the finish line.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
July 19th, 2011
4:40 pm
When are we going to stop crying; feeling sorry for ourselves due to the fact that we happen to be in the line of fire when educational funding sources, of any flavor, get clipped? Nobody likes to be the guina pig when it comes to the inconvenience of doing without that to which we have become accostomed…but you know, "the good ship REALITY is in…it's docked and here to stay". Now we can either complain, complain, and complain (which, that and a buck just might get you a cup of coffee at the all-night dinner along with a sympathetic ear from the bored waitress with six pounds of makeup on her gum-snapping head) or you can accept the fact that the changes all about us are to impactus all in one way or another…NO ONE'S IMMUNE FROM THE HARSHNESS OF REALITY
July 19th, 2011
4:46 pm
Don't slash the amount of the grants. Make the eligibility requirements higher, so that only the most worthy can get them. Inclusiveness is a bad idea because it diverts money from the students in whom money is best invested to students who will not, in their lifetimes, return nearly so much value to the nation.
July 19th, 2011
4:53 pm
I'm not sure that anyone but the very wealthy can REALLY afford college. Most of us have to borrow a little or a lot. I work at a local college (that has a lot of lower middle class and poor students). I go to school with lots of young people who are too young to be emancipated, but receiving almost no financial support from their parents for school–because their parents are middle class and just can't afford it. These kids work multiple jobs and take out loans to make ends meet. They are always fretting with each other about how they will make it. But somehow they do and I see them semester after semester. These are the kids I feel sorry for.
There is another group of kids who are from very low income families. These kids get need based aid–enough for tuition and extras. They brag about how they don't have to pay for school. And on refund day, these are the kids who are celebrating their "refunds" as a financial windfall. They are also the kids I see at the beginning of the semester in class, a week or so later hanging out on campus, and then by mid semester, never see again.
Obviously, this is anecdotal evidence. But my own observation has been that need based financial aid is often squandered. Perhaps the kids feel no ownership? Certainly, they often suffer from a lot of other factors that make them otherwise not prepared for education. There is room–really great need–for reform. It sound harsh to say it because we are talking about poverty and education–its hard not be sentimental when we read those two words together. But as it is, I think we are spending a lot of money and not really doing as much good as we think.
July 19th, 2011
4:59 pm
How 'bout welfare("free" money for rent, food, etc. while enrolled in college v. purposeful matriculation)) and about a way to increase the number of people who possess college-level credentials(v. college-level academic skills), among other purposes?
July 19th, 2011
5:04 pm
How about if a student flunks out the grant becomes a loan that has to be paid back?
July 19th, 2011
5:13 pm
Gee, I worked and took out loans to pay for college; was I wrong to do so?
July 19th, 2011
5:14 pm
Pell grants are to help the intelligent gain a college education. Society ultimately is improved because of the higher education of its populace. However, if a student does not perform, then perhaps that grant should become a loan that has to be repaid, but please don't eliminate the Pell grant. It has helped far more than it has been abused.
July 19th, 2011
5:23 pm
Why do these kids receive the HOPE and Pell Grant????? Isn't this double dipping the system???? This should be the first thing to stop! If you qualify for Pell grant no HOPE!!!!! I am soooooooooooo sick of the entitlement mentality attitude in this state and country.
July 19th, 2011
5:25 pm
If it were not for Pell Grant, I would not have been able to return to school after high school. At the time, as a young, divorced mother of two, I had to find a way to care for my children. This grant provided me the opportunity to get a degree and a job in my profession. Young people need the grant so they can become productive members of society.
July 19th, 2011
5:26 pm
In 1978, when I went to college my father a small business owner had $5,200 in taxable income on his tax returns. We had a family of 6.
In, 1969, my father had gotten very ill, with the Honk Kong Flu, and after missing over 3 months of work the doctor told him he needed to quit one of his two jobs. So he quit his better paying job as a night Auto Mechanic for the Telephone Company repairing the bucket trucks from 4-12 every night that paid $10,000/yr. A solid middle class job in 1969.
My father never collected, any disability payments, we never received food stamps, welfare, free lunch or any entitlement programs.
However, when I and my 3 younger siblings applied to college we all knew that the only funds to go to college were Federal Finacial Aid, Loans, and Summer Jobs. I went out of state and to a Private college so I worked three jobs. My sisters went within the State we lived so they got State Grant Money. I received the Maximum Pell Grant in each of the 4 undergraduate years I spent in College from 1978-1982. I beleive it was only $1600 a year. My first year Private School tuition was only $3,200 yr. in 1978 in 1982 it was 6,400. That University is now $38,000 per year . I also had Federal Work Study and Student Loans. The room and board was about double the tuition payments. After the second year I did not have a meal plan, because I could not afford it and could eat on $20 a week or less. I earned a full tuition scholarship to for Graduate School for Engineering, for graduating 5th in my college class for my major. I was the first female teaching assistant at this top Engineering School in my discipline. I finished my Master's degree in two semesters, because I had taken 18-21 credit hours every semesters. I also took classes at the local community college during summers at cheaper rates. I was the President of a Chapter of a National Engineering Honor Society.
Throughout my career I quickly rose through the ranks. I became an engineering Manager in my mid twenties. I retired early making in the well over six figures. I paid taxes on all of the income I made during my career. I would not have been able to go to college without the Pell Grant. It is not a Welfare system. I have more than paid back the $1600 a year x 4 year investment in taxes. I paid back my $14,000 in student loans in less than 10 years.
My siblings also have paid back in taxes their Pell Back investment. They have paid back their student loans. 3 out of 4 of us have Graduated from College. My brother who did not works in New York as a Union Printer. His company sent him to Greenville, SC, when they tried to open a plant there. Unfortunately, they could not find enough skilled and educated labor in SC to run their high tech equipement and after a couple years gave up and went back to their Union shops in New York and California.
July 19th, 2011
5:31 pm
This proposal to severely reduce the amount available for Pell Grants speaks to the Republicans true motives regarding access to education for all Americans. Combine this cut, which affects the poorest Americans and their access to a college education, with the cuts to public education and you quickly get the idea that they want access to education to be limited to the wealthy.
July 19th, 2011
5:32 pm
"(Pell Grant program) has helped far more than it has been abused." Well said! Very well said!
July 19th, 2011
5:39 pm
As a struggling middle class family we have to sacrifice our own retirement savings to put kids through a state college. I agree there should be some performance based critieria in award of the grants. Either make it SAT/ACT scores or HS GPA of core classes.
The other way they get you is the cost of software for each class. My daughter is going to Ga Southern and she is expected to pay about $250 for a book and software access code for one class. She found a place to get just the printed pages of the book (no binder) and the software code for $150. And this is just 1 semester of use for 1 class. There is no return value in the s/w code because it expires after the term. Money spent on nothing. This is getting all too typical and required in most of her classes. For example she has a PE class, specifically softball, where she is required to pay for an $60-$80 software access fee. Maureen, someone is getting rich off of my retirement dollars. I hope that someone starts looking in to these fees and to perhaps provide some sort of buffer for kids who are just trying to do something with their lives. For the kids its either eat or pay for vaporware. It looks like the whole wages of summer will just go to books and associated software fees. So how can students afford tuition increases and housing too? My daughter works year round and yet she couldn't make it if it weren't for us. We can't qualify for grants.
July 19th, 2011
5:50 pm
Get these for- profit colleges reined in and you will save a ton of federal money. They are the leaches on the system. However they have lots of influence in congress.
July 19th, 2011
5:55 pm
There is just no accountability. These funds are used as a form of income generation by large numbers who could not care less about education.
July 19th, 2011
5:56 pm
Why don't we write our congressmen to tell them our opinion on their decisions instead of wasting time pontificating here?
July 19th, 2011
5:59 pm
@ Really amazed
Hope, unless it has changed,only will cover what a student does not qualify for from Federal funds. If I remember right, you can't get Hope if you do not apply for Federal financial aid first. So "rich" kids, who would never qualify, will apply for Pell so they can get Hope.
Simplified example:
Tuition costs 1,000 a semester
Poor kid gets 700 from Pell and 300 from Hope
Wealthier kid gets 0 from Pell and 1,000 from Hope
July 19th, 2011
6:18 pm
I've got to agree with Tony. The Republicans number one concern is protecting the wealth of
the rich. Everything else is secondary. They will not be happy until there is no redistribution of wealth
at all except from the bottom up. Feudalism Rocks!
July 19th, 2011
6:20 pm
Get rid of Pell grants. Get rid of WIC/SNAP and all welfare programs. Get rid of tax breaks for all companies. Reduce salaries of all politicians by 90% (yep, serious, they don't earn their money) and go back to fending for one's self. Also, no more foreign aid and start closing bases around the world. Let the countries find a way to defend themselves. Last, but not least, any family making over 70K/yr should NOT be eligible for any free student money. They should find their own way to pay for education, if that's what you call the crap in our colleges today.
July 19th, 2011
6:29 pm
July 19th, 2011
6:30 pm
I received the Pell Grant as an undergraduate in addition to my other scholarships, but I never considered it "welfare". To me, it was the same as a scholarship, but instead of the scholarships I earned from high SAT scores and high ACT scores, or a special Engineering scholarship I received, it was like a scholarship for how poor my family was. haha
In Mississippi, we didn't have a HOPE program, but one thing they did have that was funded by the government was the MESG program (Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant). If you scored a 29 or above on the ACT and had a 3.5 GPA in high school, you qualified for a $10,000 scholarship over 4 years. However, if your college GPA fell under 3.5, you lost the Grant, and couldn't get it back. I think I kept it for three years, but finished school around a 3.3. This was around 2001.
Point being, if it weren't for Pell Grants, the MESG grant, and other scholarships, I would have been hardpressed to even go to college. I was a first generation college student, and my family was dirt poor. If they take these grants away, good kids would lose their ability to do what I did.
July 19th, 2011
6:47 pm
If you want services – you must pay for them, including education, fire/police/defense protection and various types of care. In many more prosperous countires, such as Germany, they have higher taxes and a higher standard of living, coupled with better education and a longer life span. Americans want and want and want, but they desire that someone else pays for it. You can continue to cry about tax increases while you are paying less than what your parents did in the 50's or you can say, "increase my Medicare taxes (they are nothing compared to what private insurance cost each month) and have better medical coverage. You can increase your educational taxes and have better schools. But you aren't going to continue to get these things for free or at the current level of taxes that we pay. Americans don't mind paying taxes – they mind paying someone else's taxes. Corporations who cheat on their taxes should have their busienss license pulled. Don't buy the line that more people will be unempoyed because under capitalism, more competition would emerge and hire those displaced workers. Close all the loopholes that corporations receive (tax subsidies to corporations is not capitalism) pass a flat tax of 10-15% on everything except food, medicine and housing and watch America grow again like it did after WWII. The good book tells us that the poor will always be with us and we are to take care of them. As soon as we get the poor educated, they start to pay taxes. Look at Pell recipients as small businesses – Every startup company needs seed money in order to build their brand and turn a profit later on.
July 19th, 2011
7:00 pm
I was a Pell Grant recipient. This is one area I will gladly pay more taxes to support. It is too important.
July 19th, 2011
7:06 pm
Don't end the Pell Grants!!!
July 19th, 2011
7:19 pm
Attention parents: instead of spending obscene amounts of money on your children's birthdays, extravagant Christmas presents and the obligatory car at 16– save up for their college fund. Just a thought.
July 19th, 2011
7:27 pm
I'd cut this, until we balance the federal budget, everything must be eliminated until we get to balance. However, it would probably NOT be on the top 5000 things I would cut.
July 19th, 2011
7:32 pm
peyton – agree predominantly. But of course, the stumbling block on comparative studies is the base: is Germany & the US comparable? No. We are far more diverse, and much, much larger – we also have our fingers in literally everyone's pies. BUT, I do agree on closing tax loop holes. Also, the good book asks us to take care of those worse off than we, but does it state to do it through the very ineffective federal government (to provided an equitable level of service, it is easy/cost effective to deliver in an urban center, but in Mississippi? Guam? Montana, etc? It is NOT cost effective – let the local government raise their taxes to take care of their poor). I would say no, it should be done through your church or local charity.
July 19th, 2011
7:33 pm
Mr. Rehberg might have benefited from a little research on the Dept. of Education before he made his unfortunate comments. The 'endgame' he calls for exists in the form of a Dept. of Education requirement for all postsecondary institutions getting Title IV federal funds to have academic progress policies that place limitations on eligibility for many types of federal aid, including Pell Grants, based on factors including academic progress, attempted credit hours, and time.
At Georgia State University, the "Time Frame Standard" under the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy literally limits the time a student can attend via Federal Aid until the expectation of graduation. Undergraduate students get a maximum of 180 attempted hours, including any transfers.
July 19th, 2011
7:53 pm
We need more snouts at the trough. Here piggy, piggy, piggy.
July 19th, 2011
8:05 pm
Everytime there is another government give-a-way program, a new constituency is created to demand more, more and more public money. This is why the country is bankrupt. The boat is sinking fast.
Pell grants go to all schools, public and private even religious based. In a sense these grants are welfare to the faculty members of these schools because they provide the students necessary to sustain their jobs. We have far too many colleges in the U.S. Without the federal welfare, many would have shut down long ago and many should shut down.
Look at who caused the housing crisis. Were not they college graduates? Are not most of Congress college graduates but look what they have done to the county? How about eliminating foreign aid, eliminating fancy retirement and health plans for Congress, etc.? How about eliminating these meaningless wars? Are not all these foolish programs and decisions made by college graduates? Evidently higher education is a total dismal failure. End Pell grants and many other welfare programs and let much of higher education die the death it deserves. Couldn't a good high school student make more intelligent decisions than Congress or the corrupt generals in the Pentagon?
July 19th, 2011
8:16 pm
@sarah balter, the maximum time frame to be eligible for federal aid is 1.5 times the number of credit hours attempted. Basically someone can attempt 50% more hours than a student who is passing all courses and still continue to receive student aid. That is very generous in my opinion.
July 19th, 2011
8:20 pm
Pell Grants are a way to help the common good of our society. Pell grant recepients who have higher education will pay far more taxes than those who work for minimum wage and pay fewer taxes because of a lack of education. It is important to think out of the box, i.e., unselfishly. Really, people. Think what would be lost if the Pell grant is eliminated. Learn to recognize a good investment when you see one.
July 19th, 2011
8:21 pm
Is the money voluntarily contributed by people who earned their money in the voluntary, private, productive sector of society?
Then its welfare.
Charity would involve a voluntary contribution. This is theft and wealth redistribution. An investment is made by someone with their own hard-earned money. What government does is called vote-buying (oh, and did I say theft?).
So long Pell. Maybe now colleges and universities will feel some pressure to cut their costs since Uncle Sam and his money machine won't be around to line their pockets anymore.
July 19th, 2011
8:36 pm
There is a strong positive correlation between the amount of money the Federal government pumps into education and the rate at which the cost of education goes up. As long as society keeps paying the tab for college, schools are able to keep raising prices. I support the idea of cutting Federal dollars going to education, in the expectation that the costs of education will then decline. The same principle applies to health care, the more the government pumps into health care, the faster costs go up, so lets cut funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and all federal health programs by say 20% a year.
July 19th, 2011
8:58 pm
My problem with pell grants is when students qualify for Hope and PELL. I teach at a community college and many students have both. Hope pays first, then Pell. If there is money left over, they get checks. Most of the students live at home so there is a lot of money left over. I have students making $400 amonth from Pell. Any extra money should be put back in the program.
July 19th, 2011
9:16 pm
The funny thing about the term "welfare" is that it implies that one on it can fare well. In my experience, that is rarely the case. Therefore, I rarely pay attention when the word starts getting thrown around. It's one of those Right Wing, button-pushing pejorative words – like liberal. It just makes no sense logically to overgeneralize (from either Wing) like that, but it's easy to use and undersatnd as a curse word by the illogical when they have their hen parties.
A scholarship student going to an Ivy League school can barely pay for a year's worth of books and supplies with the current Pell Grant. It is at pathetic levels now and if they cut it, I will have proof that the American dream of education for all of those mentally capable of achieving it is over and specifically, officially and with no malice, it was killed with this legislation.
July 19th, 2011
9:20 pm
Pell Grants are a way to help the common good of our society.
Ah, spoken like a true socialist. Money lying in a pile for anyone to take does not help the common good. The free enterprise system, a system of varying educational institutions that must compete for funds, a strong private sector that fosters opportunities and advancement…these are the things that help the common good.
I have no problem with a private charity offering scholarships based on need. I think that many would voluntarily contribute. What about you Struggling Teacher???
Tar and Feathers is absolutely correct. There is absolutely a solid correllation between the rise in college costs and not just federal free money, but the Hope Scholarship, Federally guaranteed student loans and other subsidized giveaways.
There are no INVESTMENTS, and there is certainly no data to support their cost/benefit analysis. What their are are vote-buying schemes that socialists love to benefit from or assuage their collective guilt by supporting.
Yes, college is expensive, but it is not the only avenue for education – at least it shouldn't be. Further, if there is no real cost to attending, it loses its VALUE (yes teacher, there actually IS a meaning to the word). Just look at government run K-12. It is essentially "free" in that NO parent pays what the state spends on education of even one child let alone if they have multiple. The result – parents that don't care, parents that can't take their kid and leave, kids that are basically prisoners, and a failed system.
Socialism is a failure everywhere it has been tried. Scholarships are wonderful. I earned many myself to assist with the costs of my education – but they were private, not a product of government theft – and that made them all the more special.
July 19th, 2011
9:25 pm
Fair enough. Let's not call it welfare. Let's accurately describe it – stolen property. It is money that is stolen from productive, hard-working folks and handed to someone else because some politician believes that the recipient has either more need or a better use for the money than the person who actually earned it.
Does WELFARE sound better when ACURATELY described?? Certainly not a right-wing buzz word now. Now it is clearly an immoral act perpetrated by a group of people, who because they call themselves "the government" feel that it is no longer an immoral act. Not sure why? The act is the same as before – with political windowdressing.
July 19th, 2011
9:26 pm
I think Pell Grants are very important. I also think that if a student "drops out" PELL should become a loan. I really don't have a problem if students receive both Hope and PELL. However, I do think there should be a time/course limit on how long the awards can be received. I was horrified to hear that students can receive Pell for EIGHT years to attend technical colleges. Give me a break. Most tech school programs are two and a half year max. To me, that is completely different from students receiving Pell to attend medical or engineering schools. We need to keep Pell, but be smart about how it is used.
July 19th, 2011
9:44 pm
Pell Grants serve an important function and are worth the expenditure
of federal dollars considering the benefits and the risk. The debate
about whether to refer to the grant as an investment, or welfare does
not change the need for the grant's existence,or the function of the
grant in assisting college students to obtain their professional goals.
Out-of-State students attending universities in Georgia pay the actual
cost of attendance, but most out-of-state students do not refer to in-
state college students as welfare recipients,because they get the
same academic services for a subsidized (discount) rate. I don't
view the need for welfare, or grants as synonymous with fraud,even
though I know that a small percentage of individuals will take
advantage of the situation.
July 19th, 2011
10:01 pm
Maybe "socialism" would applly to a Pell grant. OK. Whatever. I have learned, however, there are no absolutes, no 100% guarantees, and no free lunches. There are many many many other government programs I would rather see eliminated than the Pell grant. I have seen it do so many wonderful things for my students who used the grant wisely. And, yes, I do and will continue to donate to private scholarship fundings. I go the extra mile (or dollar) to help those coming along behind me, because someone ahead of me made many things possible for me. I feel no remorse in attempting to "pay it forward" for the common good. Sorry, if this attitude offends anyone. It's just how I roll.
July 19th, 2011
10:04 pm
See. It pushed Mr. Liberty's button. Point proven.
July 19th, 2011
10:22 pm
It is called "Social Darwinism" and it is practiced by many in the Republican party today. The idea was very popular the last time we had such an imbalance in wealth during the Robber Baron days. When T.R. and the Progressive Movement are disparaged, you really have to wonder how many of these so called Christians really believe in what they profess to follow.
July 19th, 2011
11:29 pm
Mr. Liberty………..do you drive on roads? Do you like having fireman and a police force to protect your home? If not, too bad for you. You don't have a say in where your tax money goes. If so, then quit yer bitchin'………..you still don't have a say in where your tax money goes.
July 19th, 2011
11:38 pm
Mr. Liberty…………do you enjoy having police protection? How about fireman? Do you drive? Or take public transportation? If you do, thank your tax money. And if you don't, then thank your tax money. You don't get a say in how it's spent. Although by your train of thought, if young people wanting to attend college need to just "suck it up" and find a way to make it happen and not use your tax money, then maybe you need to just "suck it up" and put out your own home should it catch on fire. Or do your own investigative work should your home get burglarized. Or get a 4×4 so you can make your own paths, because you don't need to drive on roads paid for and maintained with tax money.
Bitter, party of one……………your table is ready.
July 20th, 2011
12:01 am
It is interesting how individuals can easily take on the task of bemoaning students who benefit from various financial aid program (i.e. HOPE and Pell Grants) yet fail to apply the same level of scrutiny to the vast "corporate welfare" provided in this country.
Let's not forget (or do we simply not know) that taxpayers bailed out many of the multi-national corporations (besides banks) that continue to send jobs overseas, assumes an effective tax rate that is less than the statutory corporate tax rate (that many are quick to complain is too high), and take advantage of many tax breaks (i.e. tax credits and tax expenditure programs) every single year to the tune of billions of dollars.
Thus, for those who are right to be concerned about whether various "entitlement" financial aid programs are effective or necessary, I urge you to apply the same level of scrutiny towards corporate welfare as well. Just because one makes money does not mean he/she/it "earned" that money. To often we give corporate america a free pass while simultaneously whaling on other constituencies who do have the same level of clout in the halls of Congress and under the Gold Dome.
July 20th, 2011
12:15 am
Way back when, some insurance guy promised a fire team if the payee paid money. It worked. Firemen were paid to put out fires for those who could pay. Eventually, (I don't know this part as fact) it probably seemed to be good for everyone else if the fire was extinguished. Public schools were created, in part, because children were working in factories, and there were few jobs for adults. Unions came along, and got the kids out of the factories, so the adults could work. Unions were needed then. People needed workman's compensation if hurt at work. I don't know the answer, but I don't want to go back to those days. "Weird" kids were shut into closets. Disabled workers had to beg from neighbors. Do we really want to see that again in America?
July 20th, 2011
12:31 am
I like this comment: "Don't slash the amount of the grants. Make the eligibility requirements higher, so that only the most worthy can get them. Inclusiveness is a bad idea because it diverts money from the students in whom money is best invested to students who will not, in their lifetimes, return nearly so much value to the nation."
If not for Pell Grants, my husband wouldn't been able to graduate from college…which he did, and now is very successful! Not everyone abuses the system.
July 20th, 2011
7:50 am
Do away with Pell Grants. Its just more money tossed into the toilet.
July 20th, 2011
8:28 am
I *see* a lot of kids who are obviously juking the system, using Pell grants and the like to fund a year or so of access to the college lifestyle without any serious interest in performing the work necessary to earn a college degree. What I don't *see* a lot of are the Pell recipients who are here to better themselves through education and who are committed to performing the work necessary to achieve their goals.
But if I judge Pell only according to what I *see*, I am guilty of short-sightedness. Because the former group can't help but draw attention to themselves while the larger latter group does not. The honest and the committed simply do the work, and this is the way it has always been, and they don't broadcast their financial situations to me, their classroom instructor. Most of the students I see in my class are first-generation college students. Some are ready, some think they are, but are not, and some, a very few, are here just to spend some free time at the expense of others.
So many ask 'Why should the haves pay for the have nots?' Let me turn that around a bit: Why should the wills suffer because of some will nots?


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Posted November 23, 2012 on AP on Fox
TEAMS: Ohio State Buckeyes
A 67-year-old retired engineer has plans to watch Michigan's 19th-ranked football team play in person for the 500th straight time Saturday at Ohio State. Bob MacLean said he has attended every game the Wolverines have played from their 1971 game against rival Ohio State through their last one against Iowa. ''I missed the next-to-last game in 1971 for a wedding and haven't missed one since,'' he told The Associated Press. MacLean said he had dinner plans Friday night in Columbus, Ohio, before getting a night of rest for the milestone matchup. The dedicated fan said there's a standing joke that his friend, Mike Truax, would get him out of the hospital to keep the streak alive even if he was in a coma and had to be strapped to a board. ''I've been lucky, though, that I haven't had an illness that has kept me from a game,'' MacLean said. ''There were one or two games that I was sick enough that I wouldn't have gone to ...
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Greater Ventura News
Data shows double-digit increase for Ventura home sales in July30 Aug 2012
Located between Malibu and Santa Barbara, Ventura is a comfortable community for many residents. This city provides easy access to the Pacific Ocean and is one of the Golden State's truly pristine settings, and recent real estate data shows houses are selling at higher rates in Ventura. The Ventura County Star reports that real estate statisti Read More


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Diminishing Your Expectations - January 15
- Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Honoring Your Husband...
By diminishing your expectations--by not expecting your husband to provide a level of fulfillment that only God can give--you free your husband of a burden you otherwise force him to bear, and you free yourself from unnecessary disappointment. This doesn't mean ignoring your needs or wants, just getting rid of your time limit and preconceived ideas about when and how those expectations will be met.
From It Takes Two to Tango by Gary and Norma Smalley.
All excerpts from It Takes Two to Tango are copyright 1997, Gary and Norma Smalley, and are used with permission.
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The M.R.V.R. is an ideal place to stay and to make tours throughout the region. Even though some visits necessitate journeys of 2 hours or more, the scenery along all the routes is such that indeed the journey is half the pleasure.
Half Day
TR 1: Mae Mok Cham and Pom Phong / Ban Yapa TR 1A
Take a long-tailed boat for about 30 minutes to the Shan riverside village of Mae Mok Cham. Walk through the village, visiting a typical Burmese temple, and a women's weaving co-operative where the ladies produce lengths of cloth on foot-treadle looms. You can have a go yourself before buying a piece of cloth for an absolute bargain price (and so please no extra bargaining!) A vehicle will collect you and take you the Akha village of Pom Phong for a short visit to this very typical village and then return to the resort. Alternatively, you can go onto Ban Yapa (see above) before returning to the resort.
Half or Whole-Day
TR 2 / 2A: Ban Yapa and Mae Salong
Ban Yapa, a 20 minute drive to the east, is home the three different hilltribes including the famous Long-necked Karen. Some guests feel uncomfortable about visiting the village but in one stop you will get a chance to view the cultures of three groups of hilltribes.
From Ban Yapa, continue to climb to the small town of Mae Salong set high on a ridge at about 1100 metres asl. This is home to various generations of Chinese, the first of whom were the Nationalist Chinese (Kuomintang) who fled China in 1949 after the Communists took power. The KMT museum and mausoleum of General Tuan are worth a brief stop. There are also several hilltribes in the area and the various market stalls reveals this mix of cultures. The area is well known for growing tea, coffee and fruit which is usually sold in preserved form. Take your time wandering between the shops, sampling tea and fruit with no obligation to buy. A visit can be made to a tea plantation and to a temple located even higher than the town with magnificent views across the area. For those who want to make this a whole day excursion, you can have lunch in a Chinese restaurant and sample some typical Yunnanese food.
One Day
TR 3: Doi Ankhang
Doi Ankhang is a mountain area some 50 km to the south east. It is the location of one of several Royal Projects which are found across the region and which are aimed at assisting the minority groups. The project is located in a mountain bowl at an altitude of 1400 metres. The journey up is an experience in itself as vehicles manoeuvre around a number of steep hairpins. The views back across the valley you left behind are spectacular.
Even those with a vague and passing interest in horticulture cannot fail to be impressed by the project. Being so high, the temperate climate allows a whole range of fruit, vegetables and flowers to be grown in immaculately kept gardens. A very pleasant few hours can be spent walking around the project and in the winter it may even be necessary to have a sweater to keep out the chill.
After visiting the project, it is then possible to drive up to the Burmese-Thai border. In an army base and from a bunker or trenches - well-kept mainly for tourist purposes, it is possible to look across to Burma - and even get a friendly wave from the Burmese soldiers who are just a few hundred yards away. Many years ago this was the scene of some serious fighting, but now the two sides co-exist peacefully, sometimes sharing meals and of course, playing the occasional game of football.
TR 4: Mae Salong and Doi Tung
See TR 2. After Mae Salong drive for about 1 hour along a ridge top road with extensive views to valleys either side. Doi Tung is the home of a major development project which was carried out under the auspices of the mother of the King before her death in the mid 1990's. The gardens are particularly attractive and makes a delightful afternoon walk. There are various other sites can be visited depending on your interest and the time.
The journey back is more straightforward, descending to Mae Chan in the Chiang Rai valley and then to the resort which will be reached after a further hour.
TR 5: The Golden Triangle
Leave the resort early for the 1.5 hour journey to Mae Sai, the northern most point of Thailand where, if you wish, you can cross into Burma to the border town of Tachilek. Plenty of shopping opportunities - but mainly for fake goods! Travel onto Sob Ruak to the point where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet. Take a boat trip on the Mekong and step into Laos for a brief visit - no passport required! An optional extra is a visit to the impressive Hall of Opium museum which explores the history of this drug and its derivatives in very well-presented and interesting way. Travel back to the resort and an early evening arrival.
TR6: Mae Salong / Doi Tung / Golden Triangle (TWO DAYS)
To avoid too much travelling, guests might wish to combine tours TR4 and TR5 with an overnight stop in a hotel or guesthouse overlooking the Mekong river.


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This will sound like I'm switching subjects, but I'm not. I was at the library last week, browsing through the three aisles of cookbooks, when I happened upon what seemed to be an ethnic cookbook section. Well. I don't know how it hadn't occurred to me before then that the library would have lots of cookbooks detailing ethnic cuisine, but it hadn't. Even better, there was a Vietnamese cookbook! A few, actually. I've had a hell of a time finding reliable sources online for Vietnamese recipes. I grabbed one full of pretty pictures and ran home squealing with delight.
And this is how the idea of making a Vietnamese appetizer buffet for the big visit came to be. Aren't you glad that you know? Now! Let's see some crappy flash photography of the spread once it's all laid out:
All recipes from this buffet came from the cookbook "Quick & Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes" by, Nancie McDermott.
Lemongrass Shrimp - Tom Nuong Xa
-3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh lemongrass
-1 tablespoon chopped garlic
-2 tablespoons fish sauce
-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
-1 tablespoon soy sauce
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
-1 tablespoon brown sugar
-1 tablespoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
-About 30 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes (I only needed 8-10 large skewers)
1. In a food processor, combine the lemongrass, garlic, fish sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, vegetable oil, brown sugar, sugar, and salt. Blend until fairly smooth, adding water if necessary to move the blades. Transfer the marinade to a medium bowl, add the shrimp, and toss to coat well. Allow to marinade 20-30 minutes.
2. Build a hot charcoal fire, preheat a gas grill or broiler, preheat the oven to 425, or lightly oil a skillet or grill pan and heat until very hot. Thread the shrimp onto skewers, 2 or 3 per skewer, and cook on the hot grill, turning once, until the shrimp are pink and cooked through, 2-4 minutes. Or, place in a lightly greased pan and cook under the broiler for 2-4 minutes, or roast in the oven 3-5 minutes. Or, saute quickly in the skillet or grill pan for 2-4 minutes. Serve the shrimp, hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Grilled Leaf-Wrapped Beef Kebabs - Bo La Lot
-1/2 pound ground beef
-2 tablespoons minced fresh lemongrass
-1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots or onion
-1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
-1 tablespoon fish sauce
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
-1 teaspoon sugar
-1 teaspoon black pepper
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
-30-40 la lot leaves, grape leaves, flat spinach leaves, large basil or perilla leaves
-10 long bamboo skewers, soaked in water at least 30 minutes
-Everyday Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)
1. In a medium bowl, combine the ground beef with lemongrass, shallots, garlic, fish sauce, vegetable oil, sugar, black pepper, salt, and turmeric; mix well. Divide the mixture into generous tablespoons of meat. Shape each portion into a plump cylinder about 2 inches long. (**NOTE: In order to save counter space, I just formed the cylinders on each individual grape leaf.**)
2. Place a leaf vein-side down with the stemmed edge toward you. Place a meat portion at the edge nearest you. Roll it up in the leaf and place it, seam side down on a platter. Leave the ends open, unless you're using grape leaves, which need their sides tucked in due to width. Continue rolling until all the meat is wrapped in leaves.
3. Build a hot charcoal fire, preheat a gas grill, or preheat the oven to 400. To grill the kebabs, thread 3-4 rolls onto each skewer, bunching them up near the pointed end and taking care to pierce each roll through the seam. Place the skewers on the oiled rack of the hot grill and cook until done 2-3 minutes per side, turning once or twice. To bake them, place the rolls (without skewers) seam side down in a 13x9" baking pan. Bake until done 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature, with dipping sauce.
Pork Meatballs with Fresh Herbs and Rice Noodles in Lettuce Cups - Nem Nuong
-1 pound ground pork
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
-1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
-1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
-2 tablespoons fish sauce
-1 tablespoon soy sauce
-1 teaspoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon black pepper
-1/2 pound thin dried rice noodles, softened in warm water for 15 minutes
-About 36 small, cup-shaped lettuce leaves (**I used green Boston lettuce**)
-1 1/2 cups fresh chopped cilantro, mint, or basil leaves--or a mix of all three
-1 cup thinly sliced green onion or chives cut into 1" lengths
-Everyday Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)
-12-15 bamboo skewers, soaked in water at least 30 minutes
1. To begin the meatballs, combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well with your hands. Cover and chill for a few minutes while you prepare the accompaniments.
2. to cook the soaked rice noodles, drain them, drop them into boiling water, and immediately remove from the heat. Let stand 10 minutes, and then drain well. Pile the noodles on a large serving platter, and place the lettuce leaves beside them. Put the herbs and green onion in small bowls and arrange them on the platter. Place a bowl of dipping sauce in the center of the platter, leaving room for the meatballs.
3. Shape the meat mixture into meatballs, using about 1 tablespoon each for large, walnut-sized meatballs.
4. If grilling, build a hot charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill. Thread 3-5 meatballs on each skewer, and place them on a plate. Cook on the hot grill, turning now and then, until nicely browned and cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. To pan-fry the meatballs, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the pain is hot, add the meatballs and cook, shaking the pan now and then to brown them evenly and cook through, 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and thread onto skewers if you'd like, 3-4 per skewer.
5. Transfer the grilled or pan-fried meatballs to the prepared serving platter and serve hot or warm. Make little packets by tucking a meatball, a small tangle of noodles, and a pinch of herbs and green onions into a lettuce leaf and rolling it up. Dip the bundle into the sauce as you eat.
Everyday Dipping Sauce - Nuoc Cham
-1 tablespoon chopped garlic
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1/2 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce, finely chopped fresh hot chiles, or 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
-3 tablespoons fish sauce
-3 tablespoons water
-2 tablespoons freshly squeeze lime juice
1. Combine the garlic, sugar, and chili-garlic sauce in the bowl of a mortar and mash to a paste. If you don't have a mortar, combine them on your cutting board and mash to a coarse paste with a fork and the back of a spoon.
2. Scrape the paste into a small bowl and stir in the fish sauce, water, and lime juice . Stir well to dissolve the sugar. Transfer to small serving bowls for dipping. Or transfer to a jar, cover, and refrigerate up to 1 week.
Verdict: This was one satisfying and yummy buffet. Everyone oohed and aahed over its prettiness and deliciousness, myself included. I think the winner may have been the Grilled Leaf-Wrapped Beef Kebabs. They were SO GOOD. I would totally make them again for dinner (perhaps with some lemony rice). Ultimately, I don't know why I underestimated the amount of work that would go into this dinner. Everything looked so quick and easy (like the book's title promised)...and while it was technically easy, there was a lot of chopping, mixing, wrapping, washing, grilling, baking, and boiling to do. Live and learn (and eat noms).


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- Sean Gourley
- San Francisco, CA
- United States
Co-Founder and CTO, Quid
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LIVE CHAT With Sean Gourley: What are some of the lessons from war we can apply to other human endeavors? June 17, 2PM EDT
Live TED Conversation: Join TED Fellow Sean Gourley
Sean is a physicist and military theorist who is using data, maths and visualizations to help us understand the nature of modern war. He asks," What are some of the lessons from war we can apply to other human endeavors?"
This conversation will open at 2:00PM EDT, June 17th, 2011
Topics: Afghanistan Live Conversation innovation iraq war
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Jun 17 2011: It seems an easy analogy is that of the evolution of the mammalian immune system. Mammals evolved a particularly adaptive immune system that may have helped them thrive after the last major extinction event (the Yucatan asteroid impact). If you look at the fall of the Iraqi government as an "extinction event", i.e. a sudden change in the environment that opens niches for lower organisms to fill, then it is easy to think of the subsequent events as exerting selective pressure on the organisms in the system, driving them toward new equilibrium. For instance, mammals have evolved special cell types that flexibly recognize and attack non-self molecules to protect the organism. The US military has adapted it's equipment and tactics in radical ways to account for unconventional opponents, although within the structure that previously existed. Perhaps looking at the evolutionary response of organisms immediately after major extinctions would provide some more insight into the dynamics of predator:prey relationships in Army:insurgent warfare.
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Categories > Anime/Manga > Prince of Tennis
Variations on a Tilting Theme2 Reviews
Niou and Yagyuu are partners.
1. variation the first: those things will kill you if you don't watch out
When Sanada catches Niou smoking behind a tree during practice, he backhands him crisply, once on each cheek. The rest of the team stands by, silent; Kirihara twitches, Jackal looks away, but no one makes a sound of protest.
Yagyuu pushes up the straw of his thermos and takes a drink of water. It slides in a cool stream down his throat.
"I don't care if you keel over with shriveled lungs the day after we take the trophy home," says Sanada. There is no fury in his voice, which merely burns, the way a doctor's stethoscope burns against skin. "I don't care if you jump in a river at midnight. But before that day, your body belongs to us -- it belongs to the Rikkaidai tennis club, and you know the punishment for damaging school property."
Niou's head is still angled slightly to the left from the force of the second blow. His cheeks are beginning to swell, red handprints like a clown's make-up, but when he slants a glance up at Sanada, his lips look like they're trying to twitch up. "As a matter of fact, I don't," he says, and there is a collective indrawn breath from the audience. "I threw out the rulebook the day before I entered school."
Sanada looks almost pleased by this reply.
Marui screws his eyes shut.
Yagyuu twists back the cap of his thermos, returns it to his schoolbag, and waits.
They live in opposite directions from school. Yagyuu has visited Niou's home only once, a high-class apartment in the Ginza district that looks like something out of a home improvement magazine -- all glass and abstract metal sculptures, an occasional watercolor of sparrows and a sprig of plum blossom. The echoing space is sectioned off by hand-painted screens of delicate court ladies in their traditional robes while dominated by sleek black miracles of technology that Yagyuu has never seen anywhere else. He wonders what it must be like to live in such dichotomy, and is glad he doesn't know.
In contrast, Niou crashes at his own modest two-story townhouse so often that Yagyuu's mother tells him to inform her of 'that rascally Niou-kun's' visits in advance, so she can prepare an extra place for dinner. She's fond of Niou; Yagyuu gets the impression that she thinks Niou looks after him at school, safeguards her strait-laced son from the bad boys. His father is more discerning, recognizing Niou as one of the bad boys himself, and maintains a curtain of silence at the dinner table when they eat that is broken only by his mother's chatter and Niou's flattering replies. Kyoko-chan adores Niou, plain and simple. He hears wedding bells in her voice every time she speaks of him, and is always quick to hustle Niou away from her and off to his room, where Niou browses manga or plays the video games he brings himself while Yagyuu reads, and they don't speak to each other until Niou decides it's time to leave.
"You should go to the hospital," he says now, stranded at the school gates. Nearly all of Niou's weight is pressing against his shoulders, a burden almost too much to bear.
"But I want to go to Yagyuu's house," chants Niou in childish singsong, though the words are slightly slurred by his broken lip, the dried blood pulling tightly at skin. "Should and want can never be compared."
Niou wants too many things.
Yagyuu is willing, occasionally, to humor him. They hail a taxi, which takes a while, because cabbies don't like trouble and nothing looks more like trouble than Niou at this moment. He's dabbed away most of the blood with a damp handkerchief, but there is nothing to be done about the bruises, which are purpling splendidly.
Niou hums softly to himself in the cab, and Yagyuu catches the cabbie's eyes in the front mirror, trying to reassure him -- no, he's not crazy; no, he's not drunk; no need to worry about the upholstery. He doesn't think it works, because the cabbie doesn't draw out the trip, doesn't even try to stall at red lights, and they reach Yagyuu's house in record time. Yagyuu carefully counts out a massive tip in worn bills. The car zooms away the moment he slams the door shut.
"Hold still," he says, and continues to dab at the numerous abrasions dotting Niou's skin. The smell of iodine fills the air, drowning out the original pinewood scent of his room, and he tries not to breathe too deeply.
Niou submits to his ministrations with a roll of eyes. If left to himself, he would probably allow the wounds to fester until they begin to rot, then point them out proudly as marks of distinction.
Yagyuu presses down with unnecessary force.
The rest of the team -- the rest of the school -- believes that Yagyuu hauls Niou off to scold him after each successive transgression; he's such a model student himself, surely it must trouble him that his partner shares none of his own sense of ethics. Even Yanagi tells him to take it easy, and looks at him with something resembling sympathy.
The truth of the matter is that Yagyuu doesn't waste his breath; if Niou were the type to listen to lectures, there wouldn't be a problem in the first place. Yagyuu takes him home, patches him up, then sends him out to get hurt again. That is as far as his selflessness extends.
"There," he says, sitting back on his heels. "I'd give that at least a week to heal before asking for another beating." He packs scissors, gauze, cotton and iodine back into the medicine kit and snaps it shut.
"Yes, Doctor," Niou gives him a mock salute. "I'll play nice until the skin closes up."
"It's up to you," he shrugs and stands. They're in the center of his room, Niou still lounging in his favorite armchair, elbows akimbo over the armrests. "Just don't expect gentle treatment when I sew the cuts back up."
"You're a sadist, Yagyuu." Niou paws at the pocket of his uniform jacket, comes out with a lighter and pack of cigarettes. Yagyuu doesn't stop him when he taps one out, just walks over to slide the window open; a breeze carrying the scent of earth and fresh air wafts in, diluting some of the hospital smell within. "Can't see why everyone's afraid of /me/."
"Only because you're the greater menace to society," he says, knowing that Niou will take this as a compliment. Outside, the leaves of the banyan trees rustle, the clouds migrate, the grass bows down in a rippling wave. Inside, everything is still except for the smoke spiralling from Niou's fingers and lips.
This is a place where nothing changes.
Niou pushes himself up and walks over, bare feet utterly silent on carpet and wooden planks alike. "Care to share?" he says, offering the cigarette between his fingers.
Yagyuu turns his face away. "You smoke enough for both of us."
"Very true," Niou concedes, and doesn't ask again. He smokes quietly for about half an hour before announcing that time's up, he's ready to leave; there's no question of allowing Yagyuu's family to see him looking like someone out of a Quentin Tarantino movie.
"Keep the cigarettes out of school," he says before Niou leaves through the window.
2. variation the second: seven with one blow
Niou rings his cell from some nameless bar down in Shinjuku while he's concentrating on population and main exports.
He presses the disconnect button. Two seconds later, the tinny beeps of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, digital version, sound again. He considers turning off the phone completely, but consideration of the havoc an unsupervised Niou can wreak stays his hand.
"I don't mind hanging up a second time," he says immediately upon picking up.
"You're no fun at all." Niou sounds blithe and buoyant, which usually just means that he's done something he's particularly proud of and gotten drunk in celebration. "Come out and play; the water's fiine."
"Do I even want to know why you're calling?"
"I just sent five college boys on a trip to the hospital. Being the generous guy I am, I decided I'd give you a chance to come over and bask in the light of reflected glory -- touching, isn't it?"
Glancing down at the geography workbook in front of him, he pens in another answer. "Go home, Niou."
"Can't," says Niou with some satisfaction. "The old woman doesn't let the smell of alcohol past the front door. She'd make me sleep on the doorstep."
"One night on the floor won't kill you."
"You are a cruel and cold-hearted man, my friend. Bet the girls won't be so fond of genteel, well-mannered Yagyuu-kun when word of that gets around."
"They seem to like you just fine," he says, then gives in, rubbing at the creases trying to form in his forehead. "Are you sober enough to call a taxi and give directions without making fun of the driver?"
"Don't know," says Niou, sounding intrigued by this idea. "Never tried."
"Try," he says, and disconnects again.
His parents were the ones that decided the layout of his room, and he's conformed so far to the original intended design. Built around it, adding touches and accents of his own, but never straying from the ground rules laid down in the beginning, because that simply isn't his style.
There isn't much to it, when all is said and done. Bed, desk, wardrobe, all the usual staples of a student's bedroom. A poster on one wall of the human body, acupuncture meridians listed in detail, the world map decorating another, the third given entirely over to books. (Niou's room, he remembers, is twice again the size of his, and cluttered over with so many clothes and pieces of litter that the floor space is approximately half.) Everything is in shades of green or gray, except for the armchair in the center of the carpet, which is a crazy electric blue and arrived one afternoon with Niou behind it.
'I want a place to sit,' he'd said, 'and you don't want me messing up your bedsheets.'
Niou wants, wants, wants, and Yagyuu remembers something he read once, that you only desire what you lack. His wants are so numerous and overpowering that he seldom shows concern over those of others; it is something he does only occasionally for Yagyuu, rarely if ever at all for anyone else.
Yagyuu thinks sometimes that it's the switch that lies at the bottom of everything, bolstering their unlabelled and unclassifiable relationship. Niou doesn't care for the opinions of others, but he seems to see Yagyuu as something less than other, more an extension of self.
Yagyuu thinks sometimes that Niou is right. They were cut from the same cloth, constructed of the same pattern, except Yagyuu knows how to control himself and Niou knows how to enjoy himself. This is why he says things like "Keep the cigarettes out of school" and has a reasonable expectation of being obeyed; this is why he doesn't say things like "Don't smoke."
He rises at the sound of tapping on his windowpane, pushes it open to meet Niou's devilish and intoxicated grin. It's only slightly marred by the blood pouring down his face.
"Please tell me you at least had the sense to protect your wrists," he says as Niou climbs the sill. He's wearing his clubbing clothes -- vest, dogtags, leather pants, which look to be in danger of splitting apart at the seams -- that always add an immediate five years to his age. Yagyuu's tried them on himself as part of the switch, and found them the most diabolically uncomfortable devices of torture known to man.
Anyone who wears them to bar fights is either crazy or stupid, and Niou, for all his extreme distate for schoolwork, isn't stupid.
"Is that the kind of thing to say to a friend who's just narrowly escaped the jaws of death?"
Niou's cheeks are flushed, from drink or excitement or both. There's always something untamed lurking just beyond sight in his demeanor, but occasionally it comes to the forefront like it has now, like one nudge will send him hurtling off the edge into violence.
Yagyuu reflects at times that Niou was born at the wrong place, in the wrong age. He can picture Niou garbed head to foot in safari khakis, a big game hunter in the African wilds, answerable to no law but that of survival. Rifle raised to shoot. He thinks Niou would be happy to go one on one with a tiger.
It is only because he lives behind these modern bars of man-made justice that he needs someone to hold him back and diminish him.
"I'm more worried about the alcohol poisoning." He wrinkles his forehead at the smell, wondering for a brief moment if he can steal a leaf from the book of Niou's mother, then resigns himself to fetching out the medicine kit from its niche beneath the folders of past exams. "Three," he says firmly, extracting bottles and cotton. "One against three in the future. Four, and you run." He fishes out a few Disney character band-aids, then adds, "Sanada's going to blow a fuse when he sees you tomorrow."
"Sanada," says Niou, heading immediately towards his armchair where he sprawls like a life-size rag doll that mothers do their best to dispose of, "is a bloody old hypocrite. He's done worse himself."
"He's looking out for the best interests of the team. You won't be at the top of your form with one arm in a sling."
Niou glances up at him, eyes glinting with a light that belongs in the tangled vines and thickets of the jungle and not a city townhouse. "And when have we ever lost?"
Yagyuu is silent for a moment, disinfecting a cut with careful precision. "We will," he says finally. "No lucky streak lasts forever."
3. variation the third: la petite mort
It happens during the switch, after they step out of the washroom and just before they wander off to take over each other's schedules, which is why Niou, hair impeccably combed and eyes concealed behind lenses, is there to see the girl snake an arm around Yagyuu's waist and try to pull him down for a kiss.
It's reflex to push away. He doesn't even think when he's doing it, just steps backwards and out of the way before remembering that he's Niou now and Niou never retreats in the face of adversity.
He pastes on Niou's grin #3, the one that Yagyuu privately thinks is an invitation to a good hard slap, and says "I know I'm irresistable, but do control yourself in public, won't you? You're shocking my friend," slanting a glance over to Niou, who is struggling manfully not to burst into snickers -- nothing obvious, just the way his lips are pressed together disapprovingly and he turns his face away.
It looks the very image of offended gentility. It means he doesn't trust himself not to give the show away.
"You didn't seem so concerned with propriety in the lab yesterday," she whispers, running one finger down his arm. Now that he's had a chance to look her over, he sees that the girl is pretty, buxom, nothing special; they've both been propositioned before by superior specimens. The full softness of her breasts presses against his ribs.
Around them, students are goggling, trying to feign disinterest as they walk past and failing miserably. It's only a matter of time before a teacher happens by.
Niou coughs, and Yagyuu knows that he's on the verge of losing it.
"I wasn't aware yesterday of your spectacular lack of skill in giving head," he says, and before she can catch her breath or start hitting him, he's moving down the hallway towards his -- Niou's -- classroom, leaving Niou to dole out insincere apologies in a sober tone.
After sliding into his seat, alert for any surprises that might have been left behind, he digs out his cell and sends a message.
'You owe me dinner.'
He stops by a drugstore on the way home that day and, upon reaching his room, stashes the purchases inside Niou's medicine kit. Then he starts combing his shelves for sex ed texts.
Yagyuu arranges his books by subject, and the subjects by the English alphabet: astronomy is on the highest shelves -- he finds that particularly apt -- as well as anthropology, architecture, biology, running through literature and paleontology all the way up to zoology.
The medical books are somewhere in the middle. Psychology is on the third to last shelf, and makes up an entire row.
His father has visited his room only once during his three years in junior high, an occasion that neither has reason to remember with fondness. He recalls lowering his eyes to conceal his astonishment, his father standing so stiffly in the doorway that he might as well just have given up and fidgeted.
"Your friend," he'd said -- never one to beat around the bush, and what would he think, if Yagyuu told him that he shared that in common with the 'friend' he tried to pretend didn't exist? Yagyuu doesn't know. He isn't one to make his parents uneasy if it can be helped. "I'm a little worried about him."
His father is a doctor, of internal medicine rather than psychiatry, but with enough knowledge of the subject absorbed during his med school years to sense something awry. He'd hemmed and hawwed, then suggested psychiatric diagnosis, specialized institutions, all in a roundabout manner suitable to the treatment of a distasteful matter.
Yagyuu is his son, though; Yagyuu is Niou's partner, and he knows how to deflect inquiry and tell convincing lies. He'd spoken politely and dismissively for fifteen minutes straight, all the while thinking of the things Niou wants, and the things Yagyuu can give him.
His father left with a warning and hasn't troubled him on the subject again.
He wonders occasionally if he's doing the right thing. The books have very specific instructions for this kind of situation, but the chance of successful treatment is low, while the percentage of losing Niou's trust if he interferes is 100%; Yagyuu doesn't have to ask Yanagi for the statistics.
You desire only what you lack. Yagyuu is willing to give him the switch, a small taste of discipline, self-control, the ability to care about people other than himself. His gift to Niou is a fragment of his life, and Yagyuu thinks, surely this is enough.
Yagyuu is fifteen, and brilliant, and thinks he knows best.
Niou arrives long after conventional dinnertime with a carton of fried chicken which Yagyuu dislikes for the dripping oil, but he is a fifteen-year-old boy and the sight of all that food disappearing into Niou's stomach is enough to make him snag a few pieces for himself.
Before digging in, he roots out his earlier purchase and tosses it over to Niou, who holds it, nonplussed, for a second, then explodes with all the mirth he hadn't been allowed to release back in the hallway. Tears squeeze out under his eyelids, and breathing appears to be a difficulty.
"P-please, please tell me you bought these yourself."
"I did." He concedes this frankly if only because he knows it'll kill Niou that he hadn't captured the entire process on film. "Use them next time."
Niou tosses the box into the air, catches it on the downward fall. It takes him a while to recover his composure, and when he straightens, his lips are still twitching. "How do you know I didn't use them the last time?"
Yagyuu merely levels a look at him, and he starts chuckling again, proffering the carton with a shaking hand.
The chicken is drippy and it is oily, and Yagyuu nearly wears out a box of tissues trying to get rid of the persistent stickiness. It is not an unqualified success.
"Oi, hand that over," says Niou finally, patience wearing thin, and when Yagyuu ignores him, he reaches out to tug Yagyuu's fingers over unceremoniously and lick them clean, one at a time.
The room is filled with the scent of chicken oil, a brief stink of sweat underneath; for various reasons, Yagyuu's room never smells like himself when Niou is in it.
Turning away, Yagyuu closes his eyes. He can feel his lashes tremble.
When Niou finishes, he looks up and says "I'm much better at it than that girl, you know," in a tone that cannot be described as anything but provocative.
"That," snaps Yagyuu, tugging himself free with a jerk, "was unsanitary." He can sense Niou's gaze on him, sharp and appraising like he's measuring Yagyuu for a collar, and deliberately raises an eyebrow instead of backing up against the wall despite the prompting of instinct.
Niou maintains eye contact for what feels like hours, then shrugs and notes "The chicken's getting cold," with surprising gentleness. He doesn't ask, and Yagyuu doesn't say no. They finish the rest of the carton together in silence; Niou takes the trash with him when he leaves, and Yagyuu keeps the window open to air the room.
Because he doesn't say no, he knows that one day Niou will ask.
He knows that next time he will say yes.
4. variation the fourth: know no difference 'tween mine and thine
Niou drapes a winter scarf around Yagyuu's neck before practice, says it brings out the color of his eyes. His fingers are ice cold and send up goosebumps on Yagyuu's skin.
Yagyuu, caught by surprise, lets him tie a loose knot in it before stepping back. "My eyes are black," he says with quiet amusement, "just like everyone else's."
"But you're not like everyone else," is Niou's response, and Yagyuu doesn't know what to answer to that.
The scarf is soft, thick, has that fresh-out-of-the-shop smell, and comes from Burberry. The price tag makes Yagyuu's lips tighten. "You could have bought me a dozen pairs of colored contacts instead."
"You should know better than to worry about that," says Niou, shrugging with genuine indifference. "It's not like I paid for it."
For a moment, Yagyuu wonders if he's misinterpreting the statement. Then he hopes that he is. "It was a gift?"
"You could say that."
"Would I be telling the truth if I did?"
Niou doesn't lie to Yagyuu, because there isn't any need. He grins now, stretching out like a cat, the very picture of feline unrepentance. "Come on, now; everyone knows that you're the brains of the operation."
The wind is chill despite the scarf; Yagyuu wraps his arms around himself and tries not to shiver. He never tugs on the leash outside. If Niou ever decides to slip it one day, all he has to do is stop visiting, and Yagyuu won't push; they are both aware of this.
"Come over to my place tonight," Yagyuu says.
Yagyuu is a brilliant student at every subject, but his best subject is the one that doesn't come up during exams, the one called human nature.
Man is an animal and society is a cage. Yagyuu has nothing against being caged as long as it means frequent grooming and regular meals, and he is allowed to keep his cage clean, free of filth. He is the kind of animal that zookeepers like best, the kind that rates superior treatment.
Niou doesn't take kindly to cages; he breaks the locks, sneaks through the bars, slips away like there's some fundamental inability in him to remain confined. He prowls the streets of the zoo in perfect freedom and will until the day he is caught.
In this world, wild animals on the loose are shot if proven intractable.
What Yagyuu does is set up a lure on those occasions when Niou is in danger of brushing with authority, and sooner or later Niou comes slipping through the bars, curling around him with a lazy yawn and sharing his cage until growing restless once more. The zookeepers can spot no discrepancy; they are, after all, of the same species. Yagyuu ties a leash around Niou's neck, and shortens it slightly with each transgression so that he will never commit that transgression again.
The leash is becoming very short; one day, Yagyuu thinks, it will break.
They enter together through the front door for once, allowing Yagyuu's mother to fuss over Niou and reprimand Yagyuu for not preparing her. They exchange anecdotes about him over dinner, while his father's gaze is hard and cold as they move from his son to his son's friend; Yagyuu pretends not to notice, Niou doesn't care. The meal is a feast of culinary marvel, and it all tastes the same going down.
After dinner, Kyoko is eager to show off her new ballet routine to Niou. Yagyuu puts a stop to it before his father can. He ignores his sister's pout to lead Niou away, up the stairs and into his room. Niou doesn't head immediately for his chair this time, which is unusual; instead, he walks over to the window and presses both palms against the glass, his breath fogging up the clear panes.
"Do I finally get a scolding this time, Dad?"
Yagyuu shuts the door behind them. He takes in the proud, slouching line of Niou's back, his unruly hair, his absolute disdain for regulation showing in every bony angle, and he wonders how Niou will survive once they outgrow childhood.
This isn't the tale of Robin Hood and his merry men. In this day and age, no quarter is given to outlaws.
"Niou." He speaks abruptly, not wanting to have this conversation but yielding to inevitability as he always has, "Next time, just -- " there is no other way to say it, so he uses the only words he can, "don't steal."
There can be no compromise this time.
Niou's reaction is both minute and intense, a volcano still dormant yet sending signals of impending eruption. He stiffens without turning around, but Yagyuu fears suddenly for the window, and for Niou's hands if they should push through.
"Don't," and Niou's voice is low, sweet, dangerous like a slender tongue of flame, "think that you can order me around."
He keeps his posture relaxed, fights to keep his own voice free of bitterness. "And here I was thinking you had at least some respect for my intelligence."
At that, Niou turns, an efficient swivelling of the hip, all the promise of his physical prowess in that leashed movement, and the look he fixes upon Yagyuu is both brilliant and brutal.
"But I don't want to be a good boy," he says, "so what are you prepared to offer in exchange?" He takes one step forward, two, closing in at a deliberate and implacable pace, and his eyes as they light up are the yellow-gold of a tiger's. It sends the visceral thrill of being stalked by danger tingling up Yagyuu's spine, evoking an answering surge of adrenaline, but he stands his ground even when Niou's hands close around his shoulders and doesn't back away. They are partners for a reason. "What will you give me?"
Yagyuu knows Niou's flaws, his whimsies, his pleasures and dislikes. He's tended him when hurt and watched him as he slept, impersonated him in school and in his own home; he's studied every facet of his partner's personality, desirable and not, and he realized one day between one moment and the next that this partner with whom he shares his life is a giant hole, that nothing that goes in will ever be enough.
He tilts his head, flicks Niou lightly on the forehead, pushes him back. "Don't be a fool," he says, and moves away.
For a moment, Niou just stands there, expressionless. Then he tosses back his head and laughs, loud and clear and boyish, and the sound dispels all the building tension in the room.
"You'll have whiter hair than mine if you keep this up, Yagyuu," and there is endless affection in his words, his crooked smile, danger averted. He throws himself into the armchair, fishes out the Gameboy from his schoolbag and proceeds to ignore Yagyuu completely.
Yagyuu seats himself at his desk. His textbooks are organized in one neat pile, ready to be opened. It's just another typical night for Niou and Yagyuu, in this room which he's sealed in amber, one fragile moment in time that he's trying to stretch as far as it will go.
The high school entrance exams are looming on the horizon, and after high school there will be college, graduate school, work. The tennis team will go their separate ways. He doesn't see Sanada or Yanagi giving up tennis, but then he hadn't foreseen it of Yukimura, either, who is proof positive that life is neither kind nor forgiving, nor does it take into account the plans of men. Jackal struggles each semester just to pull tuition together, Marui has two younger brothers to care for, while Kirihara is spiralling downwards in a pattern he finds very familiar, except Kirihara has no one to pull him back.
Niou may scorn schoolwork, but he has a brilliant mind and with Yagyuu pushing from behind, surely he can pass any academic hurdle the institutions choose to throw at him; if not, cheating is always an option. Having no pet subjects of his own, surely he'll consent to join Yagyuu in Yagyuu's choice of study. Keeping in touch won't be that difficult. And as for the rest of it...
Yagyuu wonders what he'll do the day Niou comes to him covered in blood that isn't his own, when Niou steps off the edge of the precipice into a chasm of unforgivable sins. Will he merely take him in, wash away the blood and the evidence, tell him not to kill again? Will Niou listen?
He thinks he will. He hopes that Niou will.
Everything else lies in the future.


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Al-Qaeda And 'The Office' Have More In Common Than You Think
- World
The Al-Qaeda offices are probably more similar to your daily grind than you might expect. The AP has a letter showing that a disgruntled
terrorist employee, by the name of Moktar Belmoktar, was admonished for not filing expense reports on time, missing meetings and avoiding phone calls from his superiors. Sounds more like corporate America than a terrorist cell.
And just like many of those sick of their current work environment, Belmoktar quit his position at the North African branch and created his own start-up. In this line of work, that means organizing an operation that took more than 30 people hostage in Algeria in January.


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Scores of new jobs are helping people in the Quad Cities. Some would argue it's a risky time to jump into a new business, but others believe the economy here is sound. Now, a vacant building in Rock Island is turning into an opportunity.
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Subscribe to HELLO! and save up to 40%Subscribe
Nine months after his untimely death, Michael Jackson has secured the biggest record deal in history.
The singer's estate has signed a £132 million, seven-year contract with Sony Music for ten projects, including an album of never-before-heard songs, a video game and the re-release of his hugely successful album Off The Wall.
The deal may also include a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas based on the king of pop's hits.
Since he passed away last June, 31,000,000 of his albums have been sold, earning more than £165 million.
This Is It, a feature film of rehearsal footage from his London concert, has also taken £160million at the box office.
Michael Jackson - a tribute
Wednesday March 17, 2010
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I wish to beg a favour: For someone to ask during the lore panel (If there is one) one of the following questions:
1) "Why is it that Fandral Staghelm, the only druid with a personality that wasn't just 'derp nature', had to get corrupted just to big up Malfurion?"
2) "The mandate of the Bronze Dragonflight is to prevent and correct alterations to the timeline, whether for good or ill, yet with our aid Chromie changed the events of the battle of Darrowshire. Why was this allowed?"
I think there's a lot of potential with the Infinites that's probably just going to get ignored in favour of making them just another group of bad guys to mug. I mean, Blizzard could have played up the "good vs order" struggle between them and the Bronzes more. Instead, all we've had so far is Bronze NPCs declaring the Infinites' plans to cause problems instead of cure them, and Infinite members behaving like moustache-twirling Dick Dastardlies.
If I'm wrong, though--if they're attempting to mess with the War of the Ancients to take down Deathwing and hopefully save the Blue Dragonflight in the process--my grin will probably tear my face in twain, especially if the Bronzes actively say "We're wrong to stop them, but we can't rebel against our mandate," causing many of them to seek to defy fate and causing the creation of the Infinite Dragonflight in the first place.


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Hello Kitty� Cancer Custom Stamp
- June and July birthday girls, share your zodiac spirit with a Hello Kitty� stamp.
A custom Hello Kitty� zodiac stamp makes a great birthday gift. This Hello Kitty� Cancer design is for birthdays from June 21 - July 22. The Cancer stamp features Hello Kitty� holding a sweet little crab, with a sprinkling of stars around her. Don't forget to see our other Hello Kitty� zodiac stamps - we have an exclusive design for every sign!
� 1976, 2010 SANRIO CO., LTD. Used Under License.
- Stamp includes a black ink cartridge for thousands of impressions
- Stamp will be made in the typestyle and layout shown
- Imprint measures approximately 1-5/8"
- Stamp will ship 1-5 days after you place your order


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|Monday, September 15th, 2014
|7:00 pm until the last beekeeper walks out the door! Our main program will be preceded at 6:00 pm by our Beekeeping Q&A session. Bring your questions … nothing is too dumb to ask!
|University of Missouri Extension Center, 260 Brown Road, St. Peters, Missouri
|Varroa Testing & Fall Feeding
NOTE: All meetings are held the third Monday of every month.
Map to:
University of Missouri Extension Center
260 Brown Road
St. Peters, Missouri


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Are you cold? We seem stuck in an unseasonably deep freeze. And I'm writing from Canada. Embrace the season, I'm told, and its wonderland potential.
No bigger or better a winter wonderland than an Ice Hotel. These generally seasonal structures are part art installation, part vacation resort and a sight to behold.
The first and most famous of these structures is built annually in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden 200km north of the Arctic Circle. Opening in December and running till spring, visitors are urged to enjoy a mix of cold and warm accommodations and a plethora of wintery activities. The ICEHOTEL is constructed each year from frozen water from the the Torne River. Artists from all over the world gather to create an exclusive hotel and art exhibition, only to have it melt away under the sun come springtime. By summer each year all that remains are the impressions from visitors. Oh, and happily for me, photographs.
Visit one of the artist designed cold suites, where the temperature hovers between -5 and -8 degrees Celsius (keep in mind this is an advertising point, as the temp is much colder outside). Sleeping on a special bed of snow and ice, topped with reindeer skins and thermal sleeping bags, these spectacular rooms, of which there are 7, are full of ice sculpture and art, with a designer/artist designated to each room.
This sensual art suite, entitled Twilight Night, from the 2010 ICEHOTEL was designed by Benny Ekman and Hanna Tonek Bonnett of Sweden. Ekman a painter, sculptor and illustrator has designed 5 suites over the years. He teamed up with Bonnett, a ceramic artist, to create this ethereal space. Image courtesy of ICEHOTEL.
Jenny Ackemar of Sweden and Salvador López Polo of Mexico teamed up to create "The Magical Life in the Far North", a suite depicting the iconic howling dogs in the Arctic Circle. Image courtesy of ICEHOTEL.
Dennis Rolland and Andre Landeros Michel, from New York City designed "Gotham on Ice", inspired by the Art Deco era of their native city. Image courtesy of ICEHOTEL.
In addition to the spectacular art suites, The ICEHOTEL offers ice and snow rooms, as well as heated accommodations in onsite chalets. Their range of activities and excursions include dog sledding, skiing, and ice sculpting, and if you're lucky, you can take in the Nothern Lights.
From everything I've heard, a night in an ice hotel makes for a magical once in a life night, a surreal experience that will stay with you a lifetime. They'll be releasing images of this year's suites shortly. Can't wait! For booking information, swing on by to ICEHOTEL's website.