text:
The Shock Doctrine: How disasters (natural and created) are used to promote capitalism and the "free market" economy.
The full video:
The Shock Doctrine: How disasters (natural and created) are used to promote capitalism and the "free market" economy.
The full video:
From the British Raj to today, the dictates of global markets still deny millions in India the opportunity to feed themselves.
What the starving countries shared was not absence of democracy, but dependence on imports – at least in part a consequence of economic imperialism. Take the first country on the list, Haiti, which until the 1980s was largely self-sufficient in its staple food, rice. Starting in 1986, however, the International Monetary Fund forced Haiti to reduce the tariffs that protected its domestic rice production from 35 to 3 percent, so as to qualify for a loan. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate and former chief economist of the World Bank, has described the extent to which the IMF is controlled by the United States, in particular by Wall Street financiers who use the institution to impose on debtor countries conditions that favour their own interests. Cheap rice imports from the US, where production is highly subsidised, flooded out Haitian rice so that farmers gave up on farming and moved to cities. Domestic rice production collapsed. By the middle of 2008, when international rice prices soared by more than three times since early 2007, Haiti was importing most of its staple. The Philippines, which also features in Ghosh's list, similarly turned from rice exporter to importer during the 1980s and 1990s, when it implemented 'structural adjustments' demanded by the World Bank which reduced support to farmers.
In other news, Princeton concludes what many people have known all along:
"…United States isn't a democracy any more. And they've found that in fact, America is basically an oligarchy.
An oligarchy is a system where power is effectively wielded by a small number ofindividuals defined by their status called oligarchs. Members of the oligarchy are the rich, the well connected and the politically powerful, as well as particularly well placed individuals in institutions like banking and finance or the military."
Transparency International recently published their latest annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), laid out in an eye-catching map of the world with the least corrupt nations coded in happy yellow and the most corrupt nations smeared in stigmatising red. The CPI defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private benefit", and draws its data from 12 different institutions including the World Bank, Freedom House, and the World Economic Forum.
When I first saw this map I was struck by the fact that most of the yellow areas happen to be rich Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, whereas red covers almost the entirety of the global South, with countries like South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Somalia daubed especially dark.
This geographical division fits squarely with mainstream views, which see corruption as the scourge of the developing world (cue cliche images of dictators in Africa and bribery in India). But is this storyline accurate?
Many international development organisations hold that persistent poverty in the Global South is caused largely by corruption among local public officials. In 2003 these concerns led to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which asserts that, while corruption exists in all countries, this "evil phenomenon" is "most destructive" in the global South, where it is a "key element in economic underperformance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development".
There's only one problem with this theory: It's just not true.
By Fredrik Dahl and Steve Gutterman VIENNA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A breakthrough agreement to end the standoff over Iran's nuclear program appeared to face its first major difficulty on Friday with Russia warning that expanding a U.S. sanctions blacklist could seriously complicate the deal's implementation. Russia, which, along with the United States, is among the six world powers that negotiated the November 24 interim accord with Tehran, echoed Iranian criticism that it violated the spirit of the deal and could "block things". The United States on Thursday blacklisted additional companies and people under existing sanctions intended to prevent Iran from obtaining the capability to make nuclear weapons.
Let history take note of which country broke the deal.
Terrorism is an act, not an ideology, nor a religion. It can be (and is) performed by people of all backgrounds. This is a broad question and it can be answered through historical, political, economical, religious, and even social backgrounds. I only give an incomplete insight into the political and historical reasons behind "Why are many terrorists identified as Muslims".
After the fall of the soviets (who were labelled terrorists of their time) a large part of the world came under the control of capitalist nations. The parts that remained somewhat rebellious were some nations in Latin America (such as Cuba, and now Venezuela, Bolivia etc) and some nations of the Muslim world (Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and even Libya). Dominion over the Muslim nations was necessary partly because they had oil, and partly because most of the Latin American nations at the time had puppet leaders. No one expected Cuba to survive through the embargo as it has, and no one expected them to inspire future revolutionaries like Chavez and Morales. So, Latin America was taken care of and there were plenty of U.S bases in East Asia (Japan, Korea, etc).
The lustful eyes of Imperialism turned towards the Muslim nations. One by one, they fell. After the assassination of Shah Faisal of KSA, the Gulf states fell in line. A few spheres of sovereignty remained in the Muslim world. Iran surprised everyone, the Baathists of Syria also won against the CIA backed insurrection of Muslim brotherhood, and Lebanon thwarted the Israeli invasion to the complete embezzlement of Lebanese themselves! It was understood that dominion over the Muslim world would take much longer than previously anticipated.
Hence the demonizing of Muslims began. The Heretical "jihadists" were created by the CIA, and then publicized as terrorists to the American citizens. So today, they can point to a Muslim nation on the map and say they are terrorists in order to justify invading them. Demonizing the enemy is an efficient cold war strategy. We used it to invade Vietnam, Korea, as well as to lead successful coups all over Latin America.
In short, i believe, the reason why Muslims are identified as terrorists is so that it will become easier to invade their countries and install puppet regimes there.
They want us to think that democracy and elections are the way to a new Pakistan. That just isn't true. Democracy and elections haven't even worked in U.S! what makes anyone think they'll work in Pakistan!? We need to look beyond the political process. We need to look towards the people, and look towards Islam to find the answer.
People are told that investment will bring progress. They are lies told by so called experts. They point to the success of scandinavian countries. But that progress relies on the blood and sweat of third world countries which their corporations exploit. Who are we going to exploit? we are the third world. I guess we will have to exploit our own people just to invite their corporations.
What is necessary is the hard way. Necessity means that we stop relying on foreign aide (which our politicians depend on so much). Necessity means we develop our own industry, using the tools and people we have, for our own people. Equating globalization to progress is a neo-colonial lie spread by the IMF and World Bank so the first world can keep the status quo.
Globalization is a sham. Globalization means that each country plays their position in the world to promote a harmonious "world order". The position is that the first world countries stick to being rulers and policing the world, while the third world sticks to supplying the people of the first world with resources so that the "responsible" first world countries can put them to good use. It is an exploitative lie designed and spread by experts in a way that makes third world people believe it is good for them. Much like how the arguments of slavery were that slavery is good for the slaves.
Pakistanis need to look beyond this lie, they need to see that true progress can only be achieved through breaking off ties from the "globalized economy" and focusing on bettering their own self. Examples of such successes would be in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Eriteria, Bolivia (which even kicked out Coca-Cola company), among others.
It is time we look past the sects and races, and claim Pakistan for Pakistanis. Not for politicians, not for the army, not for the ISI, but only for Pakistanis. Forget uniting over politicians like Imran Khan, Pakistanis need to unite against policies that hurt Pakistanis themselves.
How about Punjabis rising up and protesting against the massacres in Balochistan?
How about Sindhis protest in Karachi against the Drone strikes?
How about the Pakhtuns protest against Shia killings?
I won't ask anything of the Balochis because they've been going through massacres and assassinations by the Pakistani army for decades now. Before anything else, Pakistanis need to rise up for other Pakistanis.
A lot needs to be done. We need to take away our faith from Imran Khan or Nawaz Shareef. We need to put our faith in Islam. Islam compels us to rise against the oppressors. The Quran doesn't ask us to put our faith in politicians, the Quran asks us to put our faith in truth and fight against the oppressors. No matter who they are, no matter who they are oppressing.
Writing a name on a paper doesn't change the world, it never has. What changes the world is standing up for each other and claiming Pakistani resources and people for Pakistan, and not for any multinational corporation.
Historians can remember Mussolini's march on Rome in October 1922, and Hitler's seizure of power in January 1933. But we must also recall that the definitive seizure of power by fascism in these two countries was preceded by dress rehearsals and pilot projects of fascist rule on a more limited scale.
Mussolini's dictatorship had its precursor in the dictatorship of the fascist literary man Gabriele d'Annunzio in the city of Fiume, bordering Yugoslavia, in 1919-1920. Here many of the rituals, methods, slogans, and other paraphernalia of fascism originated. The stalking horse for Hitler was the coup d'état by Chancellor von Papen in the state of Prussia in July 1932, which ousted the Social Democratic government there, ending government by elected leaders and replacing them with Reichskommissars sent by von Papen from Berlin as Prussia went into receivership.
Von Papen's Prussian coup gets us uncomfortably close to what has just happened this past week in the great American city of Detroit, Michigan, well-known as the capital of the automobile industry but now especially hard hit by the world economic depression. The Republican governor, Rick Snyder, has just ousted the Mayor and City Council of Detroit, replacing them with a single outside overseer who will combine both executive and legislative functions to enforce austerity.
The lawyer Kevyn Orr took power as dictator of Detroit on Monday, March 25, 2013. He is expected to begin voiding labor contracts, imposing unilateral sacrifices on city workers, autocratically cutting the Detroit city budget, selling off city assets to Governor Snyder's cronies and backers at bargain basement prices, and privatizing or simply terminating city services. Orr has signaled that one of his priorities will be to renege on Detroit's pension and healthcare commitments to retired policemen, firemen, teachers, and other municipal workers. He does not rule out a haircut for the bondholders, but this must be considered window dressing unless and until it occurs.
Orr has boasted: "I'm prepared to be the most hated man for a period of time." Here is one promise on which he can be expected to deliver. Orr has announced that, although Detroit Mayor David Bing and the City Council have no more authority to decide anything, he will keep paying their salaries in an attempt to buy the passivity of the local Democratic Party machine. Snyder's goal is to maintain debt service payments on Detroit's $8.6 billion in bonded debt. A year ago, Moody's Investors Service, one of the notoriously mendacious ratings agencies, reduced its rating for Detroit's general obligation bonds to B2, which is five notches below investment grade. In November 2012, Moody's downgraded Detroit by two notches to Caa1, meaning junk bonds with a significant risk of default.
During 2012, the city utility agency for water and sewage borrowed money to pay off $300 million in toxic derivative swaps on which it wanted to cut its losses. This came at the same time that Mayor Bing and the Detroit Water Board (sic) announced a plan to cut 81% of city workers in this sector, reducing jobs from 1,978 to 374 over the next five years. Bing and the city council were attempting to implement austerity cuts so brutal that they could convince Snyder that an outside commissar was not necessary, thus hoping to keep their jobs. It was during this phase that Bing first hired Jones Day as a restructuring consultant.
Detroit the victim of toxic derivatives
Detroit is also facing a payment of between $350 million and $400 million on toxic derivatives contracts which were sold to the city over recent years as the mayor and council struggled to avoid bankruptcy. Detroit had issued floating-rate bonds, but then with great folly decided to swap these for fixed rate instruments. When interest rates declined, the city did not reap the benefit of having to pay less debt service. Many US municipalities, ranging from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts have had to pay billions of dollars to zombie banks to get out of interest rate swaps gone sour.
It is estimated that Wall Street firms including UBS, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and J.P. Morgan Chase have since 2005 (when Detroit began running large yearly deficits) collected more than $474 million from Detroit in fees for floating $3.7 billion of bonds. One of those backing these deals was the former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was just convicted on corruption charges. The banks told Detroit that these interest rate swaps would offer protection against higher interest rates which failed to materialize. (Darrell Preston and Chris Christoff, "Only Wall Street Wins in Detroit Crisis Reaping $474 Million Fee," Bloomberg, March 13, 2013)
Snyder's emergency manager law also poses the problem of conflicts of interest. The city of Detroit is presently saddled with a toxic credit swap arrangement in which Bank of America/Merrill Lynch is a counterparty. Bank of America is a former client of Jones Day. This derivatives trap could force the city to pay $400 million to the zombie banks under certain circumstances, one of which is the imposition of an emergency manager - which is what has just happened. Detroit's financial position is further complicated by the deliberate policy of the Snyder administration to delay and withhold tens of millions of dollars of payments owed to the city by the state.
Detroit, the capital of the US automobile industry, has been cynically driven into deep financial crisis. The 700,000 residents are currently suffering shortages of streetlights, buses, and street repairs, and many homes are now abandoned. In 2012, the Detroit Police Department was cut by almost 12% of its officers, leading to a 9% rise in the number of homicides in the city. The policy of Governor Snyder is to force Detroit to make debt service payments to the banks a top priority, even as he sends in a financial commissar to impose additional measures of savage austerity.
November 2012: Michigan voters reject dictators, but Snyder installs them anyway
In November 2012, a broad coalition of community forces with strong representation from the black community gathered almost a quarter of a million signatures to get the repeal of the existing emergency manager law (Public Act 4) onto the state's November election ballot in the form of Proposal 1. Incredibly, the United Auto Workers dragged its feet in this process, and preferred to focus its energies on efforts to get out the vote for Obama, who has never lifted a finger to defend the rights of Michigan citizens under attack. In the November 2012 election, Michigan voters nevertheless voted by 52% to 48% to strike down Snyder's Public Act Four of 2011. Unfortunately, an attempt to write collective bargaining into the state constitution failed, most likely due to union efforts siphoned off for the benefit of Obama.
At this point, the GOP State Attorney General invoked the older and weaker emergency manager law, Public Act 72 of 1990, to keep the existing commissars in power. Snyder's minions in the state legislature then quickly rubberstamped Public Act for 36 of 2012, a measure practically identical to the law which Michigan voters had just rejected. This new enabling legislation for city dictators has just gone into effect on March 28, 2013.
Who is governor rick Snyder?
What kind of governor imposes dictatorial rule on a large part of his state? Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder represents Schachtian economics in a business suit for the United States in the 21st century. His outward demeanor seems reasonable, measured, moderate, even affable. Snyder wears button-down oxfords, with no black shirt or brown shirt, no Roman salute, no screaming (at least in public), no speeches from balconies. He uses the direct apologetic, arguing that his oppressive measures are rational and practical responses to the problems of Michigan and its cities. This is known as Snyder's "positive" style - wildly ideological in content, muted in packaging.
Rick Snyder, like Bill Gates, Gianroberto Casaleggio, and Peter Thiel is a reactionary operative from the modern computer and information technology industry. Snyder was at various times chairman of the board (2005-2007), CEO, and cofounder of Gateway 2000, a computer hardware firm originally based in Iowa and South Dakota which later moved to California. Gateway's stock price averaged about four dollars per share in the mid-1990s, and peaked at $84 in 1999 thanks to the dotcom bubble. Gateway at one time had a network of hundreds of its own retail computer shops, but this fell apart in 2004 after the dotcom bubble burst. The brand was damaged by shoddy customer service due to the overseas outsourcing of call centers. In October 2007, Gateway was sold to Acer of Taiwan for about $1.90 per share. The Gateway name is now in the process of being phased out. Gateway appears as a company which was decimated by unwise acquisitions, the reckless quest for short-term profit, outsourcing, and the desire to cash in by selling out to a foreign buyer.
Trained as a certified public accountant, Snyder was also a venture capitalist. In 1997, he founded Avalon investments Inc. of Ann Arbor. In 2000, he was cofounder of Ardesta, an investment firm which reportedly put money into 20 startup companies over the subsequent years.
Hear a word of clarification is in order. It would be misleading to expect fascism in the United States in the second decade of the 21st century to imitate each and every feature of historical fascism as it existed in Europe between the two world wars. Fascism today means first of all a commitment to destroy all remaining forms of trade unionism and other labor organization. It includes efforts to impose brutal austerity policies, such as the lowering of real wages, and a shifting of the tax burden from the super rich to the middle class and the underclass - in other words, tax cuts for the rich and tax hikes for working people. Modern-day fascists seek to destroy the social safety net, including food stamps, unemployment benefits, and child nutrition programs. They demand the radical deregulation of the entire economy, including in such savage directions as abolishing the child labor laws. Modern fascist economics also includes the vehement refusal to use public funds for building vital infrastructure.
Snyder was elected governor in 2010, the year of the hysterical tea party revolt against Obama as the first black president and as a Wall Street puppet. He campaigned as pro-life, pro-gun, and pro-family while touting his business experience. Unlike many less clever reactionaries, Snyder supported the federal rescue of General Motors and Chrysler, which make up a huge part of the Michigan economy. Upon taking power in Lansing in early 2011, Snyder rammed through a policy of balancing the budget by cutting spending on vital services to the disadvantaged while lowering taxes on corporate profits and increasing the burden on the middle class and the poor. Snyder claimed to be asking for "shared sacrifice," but Democrats accused him of balancing his budget on the backs of children, working families, and seniors, brutally harming certain groups to get the result they wanted.
Snyder's push for austerity dictatorship went into high gear in March 2011, when he signed a law increasing the powers of "emergency managers" whom the governor could appoint to take over the government of cities and other entities declared in receivership because of alleged financial insolvency. The new law also made easier for Snyder to oust existing mayors and city council members, replacing them with local budget dictators. To make it easier to implement these takeovers under bipartisan cover, Snyder had appointed as State Treasurer Democrat Andy Dillon, a former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives who had lost the 2010 Democratic primary to choose an opponent for Snyder. Dillon had worked in Washington as an aide to the former right-wing Democratic Senator and basketball star Bill Bradley of New Jersey, who later went to work on Wall Street.
Snyder uses "right to work" law to bust unions
In December 2012, Snyder - ignoring vehement protests by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and other unions who have large memberships and deep historical roots in Michigan - ordered his rubberstamp state legislature to ram through a bill making Michigan a "Right to Work" state. This bill outlawed the union shop by forbidding employers to collect dues on behalf of the labor union representing a bargaining unit. Henceforth only the open shop is allowed, with workers free to enjoy the benefits of union bargaining without paying any of the costs. Such an arrangement usually leads to the collapse of the union, which is Snyder's goal. Snyder's cited motivation was to make Michigan more business friendly. Michigan is thus walking in the footsteps of Mussolini's fascism and Hitler's Nazi regime, both of which had the total destruction of labor unions as the leading point on their agenda. This Michigan union-busting offensive came at the same time that other Midwestern Republican governors, including Walker of Wisconsin, Kasich of Ohio, and Daniels of Indiana, were pushing programs to wipe out public sector unions and/or all labor organizations.
Democrats and republicans serve the bondholders
The installation of local dictators tasked with defending the interests of the bondholders and derivatives mongers at the expense of the people was already gathering momentum under Snyder's predecessor, former two-term Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm, whose brief attempt to host a cable television news program on Current TV ended in failure in February 2013 after a year's run. Granholm imposed dictatorial rule on Ecorse in October 2009, Highland Park from 2005 to 2009, Benton Harbor in April 2010, Pontiac in August 2010, and on the Detroit public schools. Snyder kept most of these dictators in place, increased their powers, and appointed new ones for the Highland Park schools in January 2012 and for Flint in August of 2012.
Emergency manager Kevyn Orr now rules Detroit
Kevyn Orr, Snyder's choice as resident enforcer for the bondholders in Detroit, is a professional bankruptcy administrator. Representing Chrysler for $700 an hour during its 2009 bankruptcy and reorganization, Orr was instrumental in the asset-stripping of the number three automaker even as he further weakened the UAW to the point where Snyder could attempt to destroy this union with a frontal attack a few years later. One of Orr's bright ideas was convincing a federal judge to allow Chrysler to suddenly close 800 dealerships — one quarter its US total — almost all of which represented not just showrooms but also repair and maintenance capabilities and skilled jobs important for local communities. Orr was a backer of John Kerry in 2004 and of Obama in 2008. He was therefore a logical choice for the Obama policy of forcing General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy, eliminating scores of factories and tens of thousands of jobs, cutting retirement and health benefits, and lowering the pay of new hires to the level of non-union Mississippi sweatshops. At his current assignment, Orr will be getting $270,000 per year.
Orr lives in a $1 million mansion in tony Chevy Chase, Maryland. Between 2009 and 2012, the state of Maryland's Office of Unemployment Insurance filed four separate tax liens on the Orr residence seeking to recover unpaid taxes Orr owed the state from hiring childcare providers to look after his two children and then not paying state taxes related to this household help. At the time that Orr was named Detroit commissar by Snyder, two tax liens totaling almost $16,000 were still pending back in Maryland. Orr described in this situation as "remarkably embarrassing" and "something that fell through the cracks." (Matt Helms and John Gallagher, "Kevyn Orr Pays On Two Maryland Liens: Snyder Says He Overlooked Taxes, Detroit Free Press, March 18, 2013)
This looks like a typical nannygate problem. One of the surest ways to identify an oligarch from the top 1% in the United States today is that the individual in question can afford domestic servants, something the vast majority of the population cannot even dream of. These elitists, who are lawyers, often hire undocumented foreign workers as domestic help, or else fail to pay state or federal taxes for the servants they employ. Nanny problems have terminated a number of elitist careers, but Orr is likely to remain in power regardless.
Federal lawsuit, constitutional challenge, and protest march against emergency rule
There have been numerous political protests and legal actions against Snyder's oppressive law. On March 27, 2013, a group of lawyers and civil rights leaders filed suit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, naming Snyder and Dillon as defendants. The lawsuit seeks to establish the unconstitutionality of Snyder's emergency manager procedures as applied under the current Public Act 436. The suit argues that Snyder's emergency manager law violates the voting rights of Michigan citizens by depriving them of the chance to elect local officials for the purpose of self-government. Supporters of the lawsuit point out is that Snyder's methods violate the equal protection of the laws which the XIV Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires every state to provide. The vote of the Detroit resident is worth less than the vote of an inhabitant of the nearby upscale Grosse Pointe because the Detroit resident no longer can elect a mayor and city council. The fact that majority black communities totaling over 50% of Michigan's Afro-Americans are being singled out for finance dictators also means that civil rights laws are being violated. Public employees in the cities now under dictatorship are having their collective bargaining rights eroded even more than workers in the rest of Michigan.
On the day after this lawsuit was filed, a group of protesters featuring the Reverend Al Sharpton of the National Action Network and MSNBC staged a protest march in downtown Detroit from the headquarters of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) - which is the largest public employee union in the city - to the federal courthouse. Sharpton correctly noted that "There will be a threat to everyone in this nation if the emergency management in Detroit stands." Sharpton's intervention is of course welcome, but it should not be forgotten that he and his associates had contributed relatively little to the struggle against Snyder's program over the previous two years, and remain subordinated to Obama. Snyder blandly commented that lawsuits like this are "part of democracy" and boasted of his high success rate in getting judges to reject legal challenges to his dictatorial measures.
In effect, Public Act 436 creates a new form of dictatorial government under which cities and municipal corporations are subjected to the arbitrary rule of one unelected and unaccountable official who combines executive and legislative powers, and whose decisions, decrees, appointments, expenditures, and sales cannot be influenced by local voters. (Matt Helms and Joe Guillen,"Lawsuit Challenges Michigan Emergency Manager Law," Detroit Free Press, March 28, 2013) There is a strong prima facie case that this new form of government is in blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Article IV of the U.S. Constitution guarantees to every state a "republican form of government." When mayors and city councils in so much of a state are ousted from power and replaced by dictatorial rule, it is clear that republican government has ended.
The XIV Amendment of this same Constitution orders that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." Each state is further forbidden to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." As noted, if you live in Ann Arbor you can elect your own local government, but if you live in Benton Harbor or Detroit you cannot, meaning that Snyder has thrown the U.S. Constitution out the window. Obama is charged by the Constitution to "take care" that the laws be faithfully enforced, but so far he and his Attorney General Eric Holder have done nothing in favor of Michigan.
Secrecy and graft under the emergency manager law
The local organization Citizens United against Government Corruption has filed suit in state court claiming that the Michigan Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board violated the Michigan Open Meetings Law because of excessive secrecy in the way Orr was appointed. This group is also suing Snyder for usurping the authority of the Loan Board by picking out Orr by himself.
One of the perks of being a Michigan emergency management commissar is that you can pay yourself large sums of money without any check or balance. The Michigan Court of Appeals has just upheld a judgment of $333,000 against the former dictator of Highland Park, who had paid himself a handsome $264,000 on his own authority — something the courts have found illegal. This particular commissar is also under federal indictment for stealing money from the Highland Park school system when he served on their board - indicating that kind of person who gets appointed as emergency manager.
In Detroit, a major focus of resistance to Snyder's dictatorship policy is the group For a Moratorium on Detroit's Public Debt: Make the Banks Pay! There is also the Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions, and Utility Shutoffs, where David Sole is one spokesman. This organization demands that Wayne County and other Michigan counties immediately stop all foreclosures due to unpaid back real estate taxes. This includes a demand that Fannie Mae, a privatized agency which was seized by the federal government in September 2008, stop participating in these foreclosures. These actions are key to maintaining the Detroit real estate tax base.
One of the mass leaders of the resistance to Snyder's commissars in Benton Harbor, on the western edge of the mitten, is the Reverend Edward Pinckney. Pinckney is a leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO). This past week, Pinckney organized protest motorcades on the I-94 Interstate near Benton Harbor.
Program to save Detroit and other cities
The most immediate remedy necessary for Detroit and other cash-strapped cities is to declare an immediate and unilateral debt moratorium freezing all payments of interest and principal for at least five years or for the duration of the world economic depression, which ever lasts longer. The survival needs of the Michigan population and economy must take precedence over the demands of the bondholders, which can be sorted out later on. The debt freeze is all the more justified since in large part of Detroit's debt is represented by toxic credit derivatives which were sold to city officials through fraud, misrepresentation, and other corruption, with the investment bankers blatantly lying about future prospects. This hemorrhaging of cash must come to an end now.
Debt freeze
As the website For a Moratorium on Detroit's Public Debt sums up the case: "Why should the same banks who destroyed the tax base of our city, who drove over 200,000 people out of the city of Detroit with their criminal, fraudulent foreclosures and evictions, who were bailed out by taxpayers and the Federal Reserve with trillions of our dollars, get paid first? The banks owe Detroit billions in reparations for the destruction they have caused. A suspension in debt service payments would immediately resolve the city's fiscal crisis and allow for the restoration of city services and the recall of laid-off workers."
1% federal wall street sales tax with revenue sharing for states and cities
Detroit and other Michigan cities would also benefit from the enactment of a 1% Wall Street Sales Tax on speculative turnover in financial markets. As of now, most Wall Street banks and hedge funds pay little to nothing in the way of federal corporate income taxes, and not a dime on their quadrillions of trading. A 1% Wall Street Sales Tax might produce as much as $1 trillion of revenue for the United States. Half of this should go to the federal government, but the other half should be apportioned to the states and localities through revenue sharing. This is where of Michigan and Detroit could find more needed liquidity to maintain police, fire, health, highway, education, and other vital services during the process of economic reconstruction and recovery.
Outlaw credit swaps and other derivatives
The role of toxic credit derivatives in destroying Detroit's financial position reminds us of the need for outright bans -bright line prohibitions backed up by criminal penalties - on the sale of Credit Default Swaps, Collateralized Debt Obligations, and other types of derivatives. The CDS and CDOs just mentioned played the central role in the 2008 collapse of the US banking system, and outlawing them is long overdue. The US economy did much better when these instruments were unheard of. Credit default swaps are inherently illegal. If they are gambling, that violates the law. If they are insurance, those who issue them are not properly registered an issue policies. All payments on credit derivatives must cease.
Fed must provide $3.6 trillion credit stimulus to build infrastructure
Finally, Detroit is now a city in urgent need of having its entire infrastructure rebuilt. The pressures on the federal and state budget to maintain the social safety net are already considerable, so it is not advisable to attempt to finance an infrastructure program through on-budget spending. At the same time, the principal money center banks have earned their title of zombie banks because of their inability to engage in normal commercial banking through their insolvency due to derivatives. The only available source of large-scale liquidity to finance the economic reconstruction and recovery of the US economy is therefore the Federal Reserve. Political forces must now force Bernanke to open an infrastructure window empowered to purchase $3.6 trillion of 0% century bonds issued by US states, municipalities, and regional authorities for modern superhighways, bridges, high speed rail, water and canal projects, modern energy production and distribution, public housing, schools, hospitals, public buildings, and telecommunications. (The $3.6 trillion corresponds to the most recent estimate by the American Society of Civil Engineers of the expenditures necessary to restore an adequate infrastructure in this country over the next few years.) This credit stimulus is indispensable to restart the US economy. Detroit would benefit from such a program by receiving a 21st-century infrastructure. At the same time, much of the construction equipment and transportation rolling stock would be produced in Detroit's factories. The target is full employment, which will require at least 30 million new productive jobs over the years ahead.
SyrianGirl debates FSA on Australian show "insight"
Dropping truths
Leila Khaled, member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was in Turkey to speak in a forum titled "The Dynamics of Transformation in the Middle East" organized by the Socialist Refoundation Party. Khaled talked about imperialist plans in Middle East and the resistance against these plans to the Turkish publication YURT (Liberation translation by Taylor Goel).
What do you think of the latest developments in the Middle East?
The Middle East has been a region of conflicts for centuries. The peoples in the region are waging liberation wars. European colonialists have come and gone from the Palestinian land, Ottomans, the same. Now Israel has come. Lying to the whole world and using religion, they came. They claimed they were given this land by God. We reject this. Why? Is God in the real estate business? Promising land for some and exiling others. We absolutely reject such a thing.
There are imperialist forces in the region that support and defend Israel. There are Arab leaderships in the region that pay homage to Israel. USA has been pushing a carrot-and-stick policy in the region. Reactionary Arab forces went to the White House and prostrated themselves one by one and apologized. "We will do whatever you say, our oil is yours", they said. But the Arab people refuse to succumb.
Where does Turkey stand at this point?
Turkey leads the group that protects Israel. Israel has brought Turkey to her knees. Nine people from Turkey were murdered on the Mavi Marmara. Later, the Turkish consul was insulted. The Turkish government said that Israel was going to issue an apology but Israel never did. They even explicitly said "We will not apologize". Despite all this, the Turkish government has further increased economic and military cooperation with Israel. The real defense of Israel is accomplished via Turkey. The biggest military base that belongs to the U.S.A. in the region is the Incirlik Base. My call to you: Get rid of that base. Expand the boycott against Israel.
Simon Peres has a new book "The new Middle East". Check it out, it exactly follows the "Greater Middle East Initiative" of the U.S. As they will, they draw us like a picture and tear us into pieces. They determine how we shall live. You and us, all of us are in the same trench, targeted by these.
Turkey is an unconditional supporter of imperialism. In Turkey, the Kurds do not have the same rights as the Turks. More than ten thousand Kurds are piled in jail. Like the Palestinian inmates. Whatever Israel is doing to the Palestinians, Turkey is doing the same to the Kurds.
You will now ask why does Turkey draw so much of my attention? Of course it does because Turkey pokes her nose into everything in the region.
Would you explain the position of PFLP on the imperialist aggression in Syria?
Now, they want to establish the "Greater Middle East Initiative" using religious and sectarian conflict. This is what is going on in Syria. According to the last census, there are 11 million, 800 thousand Palestinians. But only a quarter of this population is living on Palestinian land. A huge population is exiled and the only country that has received that population with open arms is Syria. What was done to us is now being done to Syria.
I am screaming with the top of my voice: We stand by the Syrian Army and the people of Syria. We are confident in the people of Syria, who have taken us, Palestinians, under their wings and hosted us on their land for over sixty years. We are confident that they will prevail over this problem.
Is the revolutionary claim of PFLP still on?
Yes. After the death of George Habas, Abu Ali Mustafa was chosen as the General Secretary, to be killed by Israel shortly after. Our third President Ahmad Sa'adat was elected. He is now being held hostage in an Israeli prison. Despite all these hard times, as PFLP, we are still standing strong, continuing our struggle. Our biggest priority is the unity among Palestinians. As the PFLP, we are trying really hard to achieve this unity. I can say that PFLP is in good shape. And we played an important role in the last Gaza war.
What do you say about the cooperation of Hamas with Turkey?
Hamas has accepted cease-fire with Israel. As PFLP, we do not accept this and view this as the wrong attitude. As far as the relation Hamas has established with Turkey, we see it as one between political Islamists. Hamas does not represent all of Palestine.
Do you have any message for the revolutionary women in Turkey?
Continue your struggle, unite, act in unity. Do not believe in lies. It is not the "Greater Middle East Initiative" of the U.S. that will shape the Middle East but only us. All the peoples of the Middle East will rebuild it. together.
There's something uncomfortably neocolonial about the way the Delhi gang-rape and subsequent death of the woman now known as Damini is being handled in the UK and US media. While India's civil and political spheres are alight with protest and demands for changes to the country's culture of sexual violence, commentators here are using the event to simultaneously demonise Indian society, lionise our own, and minimise the enormity of western rape culture.
A particularly blatant example of this is Libby Purves's piece for the Times. She says the Delhi bus rape should "shatter our Bollywood fantasies". For Purves, westerners enjoy a romanticised view of India, all heady spirituality and Marigold Hotels; and especially romantic in their views, for reasons Purves neglects to address, are the British. Thus, upright Europeans have sentimentally ignored the "murderous, hyena-like male contempt" that Purves says is an Indian cultural norm. Neatly excised from her account however is the relationship between poverty, lack of education and repressive attitudes towards women, and, by extension, the role of Europe in creating and sustaining poverty in its former colonies. Attitudes towards women in the east were once used by colonialists to, first, prop up the logic of cultural superiority that justified unequal power relations (the "white man's burden") and second, silence feminists working back in the west by telling them that, comparatively, they had nothing to complain about.
When it finishes calling Indian men hyenas, Purves's article states that westerners "have the luxury of fretting about frillier feminist issues such as magazine images, rude remarks and men not doing housework". Does anyone else see an unattractive historical pattern here?
Her article is not, by any means, the only one to report on this issue as if rape is something that only happens "over there" – something we civilised folk in the west have somehow put behind us. Elsewhere, the message is subtler, but a misplaced sense of cultural superiority shines through. For example, this BBC article states, as if shocking, the statistic that a woman is raped in Delhi every 14 hours. That equates to 625 a year. Yet in England and Wales, which has a population about 3.5 times that of Delhi, we find a figure for recorded rapes of women that is proportionately four times larger: 9,509. Similarly, the Wall Street Journaldecries the fact that in India just over a quarter of alleged rapists are convicted; in the US only 24% of alleged rapes even result in an arrest, never mind a conviction. This is the strange kind of reportage you tend to get on the issue.
Owen Jones's excellent piece in the Independent is a breath of fresh air, asking people to acknowledge that rape, as well as gang rapes, happen in the west too. Similarly, Laura Bates's recent article on victim blaming should act as sufficient retort to anyone who thinks police chief KP Raghuvanshi's advice that women should carry chilli powder to prevent rape is symptomatic of a specifically Indian brand of misogyny.
The coverage of Damini's death strikes a particularly ironic note following recent media controversy over a rape, in Steubenville, Ohio, of a 16-year-old girl – allegedly by members of the high-school football team. The case is that the young woman was dragged, drunk and unresponsive, from party to party, where she was sexually abused. The brutal death of Damini has spurred Indian civil society to its feet, causing protest and unrest, bringing women and men into the streets, vocal in their demands for change. Sonia Gandhi has met the woman's parents. The army and the states of Punjab and Haryana have cancelled new year's celebrations. What happened in the US? In Steubenville, football-crazy townsfolk blamed the victim and it took a blogger – Alexandria Goddard, who is now being sued – and a follow-up article from the New York Times four months after the incident to get nationwide attention for the story.
Purves's article claims that we in the west are "looking eastward in disgust". I believe that disgusted parties would do well to turn their judgmental gazes on their own societies. Let's look east in solidarity and support for India's urgently necessary women's rights movement; let's keep talking about the social discrimination Indian women face, which affluent westerners do not. However, it is both prejudiced and completely fantastical to talk as though sexual violence is some kind of Indian preserve. We might have comparatively better women's rights in the UK, but this is due, in large part, to the social services that our wealth allows. Colonial history helped to create and global capital continues to sustain low standards of living in India. We would do well to be cognisant of our historically inscribed privilege before complaining that this horrific event has destroyed our pretty colonial fantasies.


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hey guys
my girlfriend is wanting a range rover, not sure of the budget but she justs wants a reliable rangieto commute around brizzy
anyway i'm sure i seen a thread that laid out the years for each model and what engine were fitted
can somebody point me in the right direction.....
when were the first factory diesel fitted
are p38's really that bad
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Reliability has never been Land Rover's strongest point, as I'm sure you know. Forewarned is forearmed so they say...
In all honestly, if she only wants an around-town commuter I'd suggest a Freelander over any other Landie. If what she really wants is something to intimidate other drivers and drive over gutters 'coz she can, then she might as well do it in some style... go the Rangie
Don't think Diesel RR's were available in Oz until the L322 in 2003. UK had diesel RRC in late 80's I think, and all P38A years (1995-2002).
Would I have a RR Sport as my daily driver? You betcha, as long as it was still under warranty.
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Paul Krugman responds to readers' comments on his Jan. 29 column, "The Sum of All Ears."
Derin McLeod, Chicago, Ill.: You often post the sources for the figures you use in your articles. Would it be possible to post links to the relevant reports from the Congressional Budget Office and Department of Energy you mention in your Jan. 29 article on ethanol and conservation? Thank you for your time.
Paul Krugman: Your wish is my command. Here are some of the sources:
- Department of Energy analyses
- Congressional Budget Office report (but it's easier to get the essentials from this briefer analysis from Purdue.
- University of Minnesota on corn
And check out the White House fact sheet on energy, which makes it clear that fuel-economy stuff is maybe if it seems like a good idea but maybe not, and anyway not until we're out of office.
Sanford Levinson, Austin, Tex.: There are a number of good explanations for Congress's overcommitment to ethanol subsidies for corn growers. One of them, of course, is the role played by the Iowa caucuses in the presidential selection process, which explains why both Obama and Clinton have taken the equivalent of the pledge. But one shouldn't ignore the Constitution and its terrible allocation of equal voting power in the Senate to the states. This means that the five percent of the population that live in the upper Midwest and Rocky Mountain States have approximately 25 percent of the voting power in the Senate. Unlike urban-state senators, who have multiple constituencies that sometimes conflict with one another, small-state senators tend to have only one or two major constituencies, and corn farmers certainly rank high on the list.
We prefer to explain defects in our public policies by reference to failures of leadership, corruption, and the like which may often be true. What we should do, though, is to recognize that it is the Constitution itself that accounts for some of the current dysfunctional behavior. Most important, of course, is our inability to evict George Bush from the White House via a vote of no confidence. Ethanol subsidies are less important, but they can also be traced to bad even if politically understandable decisions made in Philadelphia in 1787.
Paul Krugman: Agreed. The farm population is substantially smaller than the population of New York City, not including suburbs, yet it's catered to. But you should also be aware that the big winners from ethanol are the processors; it's only a slight exaggeration to say that the whole thing was conjured up by A.D.M., price-fixer to the world.
Rich Rosen, Tempe, Ariz.: You completely neglected switch grass as a source of ethanol. It converts more efficiently than corn and can grow in hostile environments.
Paul Krugman: Switch-grass may be coming; the story will change once cellulosic ethanol becomes a major share, if it ever does; but for now and for a while we're still talking about corn.
Greg Kuperberg, Davis, Calif.: At least for the problems of global warming and other pollution rather than oil imports, surely wind power could be a big part of the solution. It seems more reasonable than many alternatives even at the level of politics. It seems like the biggest setback to wind power at the moment is political indifference rather than serious political opposition.
Paul Krugman: Wind is a good thing, definitely, though it's not quite right to say there's no opposition. Proposals for wind farms in, say, Long Island Sound have generated some significant NIMBY-ism.
Carter Headrick, Lone Tree, Colo.: I grew up in southwest Minnesota, in corn country. I worked as a staffer on campaigns for politicians who based their economic development policies on the building of ethanol plants.
You are right to criticize corn-based ethanol, and the U.S. has horrible policies that encourage the building of more and more ethanol plants. You are right to call for more conservation.
But you are wrong about the future of ethanol and alternative fuels. The future isn't in Brazilian sugar cane. The future is in grass. If you want to see a good strong future for alternative fuels, look to grass and what they are doing with it in South America.
Paul Krugman: If and when there are serious cost and environmental estimates for alternatives to corn, by all means let's look into them. But that's not where the current ethanol lobby is coming from.
Randall Ehrlich, Seattle: In addition to the drawbacks you mentioned about the production of ethanol from corn in this country, there is the little issue of ethanol fuel economy. From what I have read, a gallon of ethanol only gives a vehicle 75 percent of the mileage as would standard gasoline. If then you factored that into the equation on how much gasoline must be used to produce ethanol, you may actually come up with it being a wash or even a loss on the ethanol to gasoline ratio. How come nobody has taken that into account and seen the absurdity of pursuing that path?
Paul Krugman: Actually, that's all worked into the calculations I described. Everything is done on a BTU equivalent.
Barry Gumbiner, Charlottesville, Va.: You did not make it clear, nor does anyone else — what is the purpose of using ethanol in fuel? Is it cleaner? Perhaps in some ways, but it still has to produce carbon dioxide when burned. Is it cheaper? If so, it may encourage fuel burning rather than discourage it. Is it for energy independence? Sounds like a nice goal, but not terribly reachable from growing more corn. Is it because we need a substitute once the oil runs out? That could be quite valuable, if we're still needing to burn carbon fuels to make things work.
Paul Krugman: The main argument is that ethanol comes from home-grown stuff, not oil where the marginal supplier is in the Middle East. Also, because the carbon in corn is pulled out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis, ethanol-burning would be good for global warming — IF we weren't burning coal and oil to run the farms and make the fertilizer that grows the corn that get turns into ethanol. Unfortunately, we are.
Lester Goldstein, Seattle: I am most pleased to see you take up the matter of fuel conservation. To conservation measures mentioned in today's column, please consider adding such readily adopted ones as: lowering highway speed limits; discouraging urban car use by eliminating most free parking; setting public building thermostats no higher than 68 degrees in winter and no lower than 74 degrees in summer; and mandating that all new building roofs be heat-reflecting light colors etc.
Of course, all of this requires spoiled Americans suffer minor sacrifices.
Paul Krugman: Ideally, we'd have really broad incentives — a higher price for gasoline, returned to consumers in some other way, to give people an incentive to save gas in all ways. In terms of regulations, it's always important to make it clear that conservation doesn't actually mean a lot of discomfort; otherwise, you play into the hands of people who make it sound as if doing anything about oil dependence and the environment means that everyone has to live in a yurt and eat nothing but tofu.
Roy Ford, Danville, Va.: You failed to mention what converting ethanol does to the price of beef or of corn to the farmer. One cattle farmer has been complaining about the cost of feed caused by the use of corn in ethanol.
Paul Krugman: Yep, lots of knock-on effects. Not just higher feed prices; the extra land to grow the corn will probably come mostly at the expense of soybeans, which leads to another set of problems.
Lou Lombardo, Bethesda, Md.: You were right to call attention to the limitations of current energy policies, but wrong to single out Gore as praiseworthy. An inconvenient truth: during eight years as vice president, Gore did virtually nothing to improve CAFE standards. His movie is regarded as the height of hypocrisy by people in the public-interest movement who have worked hard for improved fuel economy standards for decades.
I recommend you see "An Unreasonable Man" and start giving Ralph Nader some credit for the sum of his real contributions to energy conservation and safety over the past 40 years.
Paul Krugman: The Clinton administration did try to promote a carbon tax at the beginning. And I think you have to cut Gore some slack, seeing as how (a) he was only the V.P. (and not in a Cheneyesque position) and (b) virulently hostile Republicans controlled Congress after 1994.
David Heemsbergen, Saint Paul, Minn.: I agree with Mr. Krugman's column as far as it goes. What he left out is the most important piece of the ethanol boondoggle: It requires between 3-5 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol produced. Several ethanol projects have already been turned down and a couple of Minnesota ethanol plants are already pumping water from neighboring towns to keep their plants in operation.
When the groundwater is gone it is gone and will not recharge as rapidly as it is needed. We are going to face a multifaceted catastrophe in a few years from the over production of corn ethanol. In addition to the degradation of water resources, there will be extensive soil erosion, ground water pollution and river and lake pollution from putting soils into production that should remain in perennial grasses.
Paul Krugman: I learn something every day. I didn't know about the water issue.
Gerald Stein, Forest Hills, N.Y.: My suggestion for energy conservation is to mandate automobile companies to manufacture only four-cylinder passenger cars. My four-cylinder Honda Accord gets over 20 miles per gallon, can reach speeds of 90 mph and has adequate acceleration for any highway. Why does anyone need a monstrous vehicle like a Hummer or Lincoln Navigator? Six-cylinder vehicles should only be used in trucks for industrial needs. In most other places in the world, you do not see many S.U.V.'s or large passenger sedans.
Paul Krugman: I hate absolute prohibitions; someone may have a real need. But CAFE standards, or better yet price incentives, would make monster S.U.V.'s rare.
Mike Ruskai, Montague, N.J.: It's a bit unfair to assume that everyone supporting increased usage of ethanol in place of gasoline is comfortable with the bulk of that ethanol continuing to be produced from corn.
Cellulosic ethanol production, though very much in its infancy, will be a much more efficient process. The most common go-to plant for cellulosic production is switch grass, which grows all by itself without the help of pre-harvest farm machinery and fertilizer.
That removes a large percentage of the fossil fuel input of corn-based ethanol production.
On a different note, it's disappointing that I've heard little about methanol in the press. Apparently it's just as good as ethanol for combustion purposes, can power fuel cells, and can be produced through electrolysis taking carbon dioxide out of the air in the process. So it can benefit from the transportation infrastructure in place for gasoline, and be produced from water and electricity that's generated using greenhouse-gas-free methods such as wind, solar, tidal, etc.
Paul Krugman: Yep. We don't have enough information about cellulosic ethanol to know how it stacks up. But again, for now it's all about corn.
I haven't done my homework on methanol, so I'll pass.


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Dad Captures His Son's First Year, One Second Per Day, and It's Lovely
Sam Cornwell, a photographer from England, took a second of video a day and stitched into a video of his son Indigo's first year on planet earth. It's neato — and he's got that song in the background that's used in lots of movies lately to make you cry. When Indigo takes his first steps, I totally said "yes!" out loud. Well played, Cornwell.
It's cool to watch Indigo's transition from a high needs pet to a little boy. That's not to knock on any part of a child's development, but they get a lot more fun as time goes on, right? Well, at least cuter and more capable of staying alive. Good job, kiddo.
This is the cutest thing in the entire world. Worth watching the whole thing, for sure.
This is precious
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I think I have a new favorite meme!
I know how this guy feels. lol.
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The Walt Disney project.
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If you have Instagram, go follow @equippedclothing and repost this picture with #equippedgiveaway for a chance to win a free shirt from their Honor Collection!
What the fck I'm squeaking
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Rape Escape
- Easy and very effective
- Requires nothing but your body
- Includes attack
Very useful to know, pass and share please.
Worth watching
I don't mean to impose a personal favour on you guys, but I really would like to ask that everyone who follows me reblog this.
I don't think I made it very clear but last month I was sexually assaulted by someone who I thought was my friend (I don't want to talk about it don't ask), and it's… really fucked with my head.
Had I known this a month ago I would have been able to get away.
So, essentially, I'm really pleading with you to reblog this so everyone who follows you doesn't get stuck in the same position I was with no way out.
I mean again I don't want the point of this to be my sob story or whatever but if you could reblog this it would seriously mean a lot
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they're so cute , I love it
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Come out & support @equippedclothing today at 2TWENTY5 in Japan Town from 11-7PM! First 20 to buy a shirt from the Honor Collection will receive a free exclusive shirt. See ya'll there! 💀👕
aw the photographer's girlfriend leading him around the world is back
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Mar 19, 2014 11:16 AM by Press Release
Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site invites visitors to an afternoon of music, dancing, graceful ladies in beautiful gowns, and handsome gentlemen in formal evening dress.
On Saturday, April 12, love is in the air when two historic plantation houses and families are united, as costumed re-enactors present the wedding of Sarah Turnbull of Rosedown to James Pirrie Bowman of Oakley. Dressed in 19th century-style costume, Interpretive Ranger Sasha Traña will depict the young bride, Sarah Turnbull. Curator Polly Luttrull and Horticultural Attendant Dan Rainwater will portray Martha and Daniel Turnbull, the bride's parents, and Manager Patricia Aleshire will serve as Maid of Honor, Rosina Benoist, the bride's cousin. Other site staff members and living history presenters will round out the cast as additional family and friends. The wedding service will be performed at 1 p.m. in the Carriage Court in front of the Main House, and will be followed by a reception.
Rosedown Plantation SHS is located on LA Highway 10 in St. Francisville, 30 minutes north of Baton Rouge, off US Highway 61. The site is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Guided tours of the main house are provided on the hour, beginning at 10 a.m. and concluding with the final tour of the day at 4 p.m. Admission prices are $10 for adults (ages 18-61), $8 for seniors (ages 62 and over) and $4 for students (ages 6-17). Children 5 and under are admitted free. Garden only is $5 (ages 18 and over).
For more information call 888.376.1867 or 225.635.3110, or visit www.LaStateParks.com.
Photo Courtesy: www.LaStateParks.com
1 hour ago


text:
History of the Federal Judiciary
Biographical Directory of Federal Judges
Wollenberg, Albert Charles
Born June 13, 1900, in San Francisco, CA
Died April 19, 1981, in San Francisco, CA
Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Nominated by Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 24, 1958, to a seat vacated by Michael J. Roche. Confirmed by the Senate on May 15, 1958, and received commission on May 19, 1958. Assumed senior status on April 30, 1975. Service terminated on April 19, 1981, due to death.
University of California, Berkeley, A.B., 1922
University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Jurisprudence, J.D., 1924
Professional Career:
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1924-1927, 1934-1947
Assistant U.S. attorney, Northern District of California, 1927-1934
State assemblyman, California, 1939-1947
Judge, Superior Court of California, City and County of San Francisco, 1947-1958
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Tattoo Page 1; Tattoo Page 2; Tattoo Page 3; Racist Acronyms; Skinhead Braces Code ... White Aryan Resistance Skinheads/ AKA WAR Skins This symbol is use by member of the WAR Skins ...Test this site now
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One tattoo especially would have stood out had there been more light: Taking ... white-supremacist skinhead gang with ties to the Ku Klux Klan and the White Aryan Resistance ...Test this site now
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Who: Director, White Aryan Resistance Likes: White people, karaoke, environmentalists Dislikes: Race-mixing, Jews, the federal government, capitalismTest this site now
Many Brotherhood members sport an identifying tattoo consisting of a swastika ... links with active white nationalist groups, such as the Aryan Nations, White Aryan Resistance ...Test this site now
Samuel, a White Aryan Resistance devotee, describes an experience that is typical ... Aryans often respond by passively displaying Aryan symbols (e.g., tattoos, clothing ...Test this site now


text:
When the mustard flowers didn't bloom at the end of January or even in the beginning February weeks I started to get nervous. Our lack of rain in the winter months was the culprit behind all of this. The mustard flowers, sure, are beautiful to see but for me, have been an indicator of health and growth in the vineyards. But as soon as we got a few good rainy days, sure enough those beautiful bright yellow flowers began to emerge and my nerves were put to rest. Below are a few photos I've taken in the past few weeks in the valley. For more updates on what's happening in wine country, check out our DEAN & DELUCA Wine facebook page. Also follow me on my f&w adventures through instagram. Enjoy! – Kerrin Laz / Wine Director
first sign of mustard flowers - St. Helena - February 19, 2014
view from Yount Mill Road - Yountville - February 26, 2014
view from Scarecrow Vineyard - Rutherford - March 2, 2014
Ramsey in front of Scarecrow Vineyard - Rutherford - March 2, 2014
view from Sulphur Springs Ave - St. Helena - March 12, 2014
in the vineyard looking east - St. Helena - March 13, 2014


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Happy Wednesday, Stars fans! It's another great day to be a Stars fan! And it's another day closer to the NHL entry draft as well as the free agent market opening! That could be a good or bad thing.
I've got two more including this one! So here's the second-to-last report card on #72, Erik Cole:
Erik Cole came to Dallas in a trade with Montreal during the lockout season and performed well. This past season was a pretty good one for someone his age.
Season recap:
Erik Cole had a very respectable shortened season with Dallas last year after being traded by the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Michael Ryder. Cole ended the lockout season with 6 goals and 1 assist during 28 games in a Stars jersey.
This season he played the hot-and-cold game. He started out in the season opener on the front lines playing RW with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. After around 5 games, Lindy Ruff noticed that Cole wasn't producing like he could. So he moved him to the second line at the LW spot, where he soon started to thrive. Cole was a very reliable guy when they needed a LW, and ended up playing 75 of 82 games, with only 1 injury holding him back from a complete season in March. He ended his regular season with 16 goals, which tied for 4th on the team behind Seguin, Benn, and Garbutt, and 13 assists, which on the other hand is nothing to smile about. But on the upside, Cole is not known to be an assister, he is known to be a scorer. His stats, however, found themselves turning on and off throughout the year. His was a year of ups and downs. He was either struggling to even buy a goal or assist, or he was scoring 1 or 2 goals and grabbing 1 or 2 assists a game on a consistent basis. Cole, at the age of 35, still found a way to be helpful throughout the regular season.
Playoff recap:
Cole's playoff appearance has nothing to mention. He appeared in Games 1 & 2 and had nothing to show except a turnover to Getzlaf that handed over a goal in Anaheim's 1 GOAL DIFFERENCE win. Lindy Ruff proceeded to scratch Cole for Games 3-5 where he could possibly stay for the rest of the Stars glim playoff chances. But luckily, Ray Whitney began to perform uselessly, to which Ruff pulled him and filled his spot with Cole. Cole played the epitome that was Game 6 and ended his 4th playoff appearance with 0 goals and 0 assists. Not high quality to say the least.
Contract situation:
When he came from Montreal, Erik Cole brought along a 4-year, big dollar deal. Cole's contract is set to expire after the 2014-2015 season, which means he currently has 1 year left on his deal. His salary is going to be $4,000,000 for the upcoming season, along with a cap hit of $4,500,000. This puts Cole's career into perspective, being a 35 year old with one year left, he'll need to perform outstanding this year to escape a forced early retirement.
In my opinion:
Throughout the year, especially around December and January, I saw a lot of Stars' fans sending Cole "hate tweets" and praying he gets traded, even on night's he was on the top of his game and ended up being the first star (you know who you are). I don't understand why first of all people are hating on a member of their FAVORITE team, and second of all why Cole would be the guy to single out.
Cole had a very good year for a more than middle-aged NHL starter and has done nothing to deserve such disrespectfulness. He has served the Stars very well in the last year and a half and the Stars could really use his veteran presence on the ice. He is still a valuable threat for the second or third line LW and can at least be used for the last year of his contract for a team that could be shooting for the Cup this coming year. He is a force when it comes to being the screener, and he seems to be the only one on the team who can still fight in front of the net. He makes his presence known at the tip of the crease and knows how to be physical when need be. Cole is still an intimidating factor on the scoring front and knows how to take the puck in all by himself. The Stars need to keep him, simple as that.
The bottom line on Erik Cole:
Erik Cole came to Dallas off of a simple trade in which Stars fans lost their hockey sweetheart. But through 2 years the 35 year old found a way to prove himself on the ice.
There are two ways the Stars can go:
They could keep him on the roster. Cole proved this past year that he is still a notable hockey player and can play the physical part in front of the net that the Stars so desperately need. He still knows how to score some of the dirtiest goals you'll EVER see an old man score, and he can single-handedly turn a 1-on-3 into his favor. He protects the puck very well and can help set up a play when he needs to, especially from behind the net. If the Stars do end up keeping him, they could put him simply where they need him to play in order to help the team succeed, and he could truly contribute to the team's quest for the Cup come next year.
They could also choose to trade him. With 1 year left on his contract, they could send him to a team looking for veteran leadership and be able to pull something valuable out of it. They could end up sending him to Ottawa who is looking for depth talent on the wings in exchange for Jason Spezza, who the Stars are pursuing in earnest at the moment but will require a trade in order to come to Big D, or anywhere else for that matter, and Cole could be that trade requirement.
But I just don't know how this is going to pan out. But I do know that Cole, despite the constant neglecting from "fans", is a key to the Stars' success come next year and they need to use him to their advantage.
We'll have to wait and see how Nill works this situation out. Though he will ultimately help us for the better in the end, my gut is telling me that Erik Cole won't be wearing green come October. But who knows?
The Stars are on the rise. Who's going to carry them all the way there? We don't know yet.
But please hit me up with your comments below, and GO STARS.


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Men's Health
Q&A With True Blood's Stephen Moyer
You just married co-star Anna Paquin last November. Is it difficult to negotiate matrimony while working together?
We've only ever known each other in this scenario, where we work together and see each other, every day. When we're not on set together, that's been the thing that we've had to get used to. You know, "Hey, what are you doing at work today?" "Well, I'm [expletive]-ing a vampire, what are you doing?" Or when there's stuff going on with her and another character, or me and another character. We're a team, we're husband and wife, and we support each other in the stuff we're doing, but sometimes it's like, "So, let's get this straight: You're doing a scene with one of my best friends in bed today!" And you just have to deal with it -- I was going to say like everybody else does. But the situation doesn't come up with most people, does it? [Laughs.]
You're also a father, with two children from a previous relationship. Is it tough to integrate the families?
I'll be honest: My kids are incredibly outstanding. The key with this stuff is that you don't force the kids do anything. You let the kids come through it at the pace they'll come through it. When I started this job I was single, and had been for a year and half. So they met Anna as my girlfriend. There was no reason not to be warm to her. My daughter lives here, and my son lives in London. We get together every holiday we have.
Do you have a parenting philosophy?
It might be: Deal with stuff as it comes up. I don't want them to think they can't be honest about stuff. As kids, the default setting seems to be to hide the truth. My job is: "Tell the truth." Because someday, something really big is going to happen and you're going to hope they tell you the truth and don't try to cover it up.
Do you encourage your children to go into acting or are you actively campaigning against it?
[Laughs.] I'm from a very normal, blue-collar background. Nobody from my family ever was an actor. It wasn't something that you could do without falling on your face somehow. But my parents completely backed me, 100%. I want my kids to do what makes them happy. I'm not campaigning for them to go into acting, but if that's where their hearts lie, I won't stop them from doing what their passion is.
You and your fellow vampires are forever taking off your shirts. How does a bloodsucker stay in such fine form? You've got some pretty impressive abs.
[Laughs harder.] I actually don't, but it's awfully sweet of you to say! I don't think many of the men on the show naturally have washboard stomachs. But we've got Ryan Kwanten [the actor who plays Jason Stackhouse] on the show and he has the most insane body on the planet. He eats burgers and everything that I would love to eat and is still able to keep it, but he just says: "I'll run for an extra 30 minutes in the morning!" But see, I don't want to do an extra half an hour in the morning! I go to the gym. I've got a trainer. I train three times a week. I do a little running. I had a knee operation a few months ago, so I also have a recumbent bike in the garage, which I try to go on most days.
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WordPress Plugin Development from Scratch, Part 1/4: Basic Structure
I assume that you are a freelance designer or someone who work full time as a designer for a web design agency. Most of web designers are used work with static website design.
Now the question is: do you have a future as a static website designer?
The answer would probably be no since most clients and companies are planning to convert their websites to work with a CMS like WordPress, Joomla or Drupal.
WordPress is becoming the new static web site.
WordPress integration is simple enough that almost anyone can setup a WordPress site with an auto installer program. Unless you are familiar in working with a CMS like WordPress, you will definitely face issues moving further as a freelance designer.Read More
How to Backup WordPress Sites to Dropbox
What would happen if all of the hard work you put into your website was all wiped away by a hacker or malicious virus of some kind? It would be difficult to find the motivation to start all over unless you have a backup of some kind. Using your already established Dropbox account, several options are available to Backup WordPress Sites to Dropbox.
To take out some of the work out of backing up your site, below we will show some ways to automate the process and save the backup to Dropbox. The easier and more hands off the process is, the better, right? Below are some WordPress plugins and other options to help you easily backup your WordPress site.Read More
Create a Professional Restaurant Website in Minutes Using WP Plugins and PHP Scripts
Creating a restaurant website can be very challenging for a developer because there is not a single product to sell or show and they have to promote the real feeling of the restaurant's environment as well. Also, the responsiveness and flexibility of restaurant websites have become the most distinguishing factor in getting reservations, as customers tend to book only if the process hassle-free. Are you in the process of developing a restaurant site and in need of some valuable recommendations from us? Read on and discover the convenience WordPress plugins and PHP scripts can provide you in developing a professional-looking restaurant site.
So, are you drooling to create a restaurant website right now? It only takes a few minutes!Read More
Extensive Roundup of the Best WordPress Plugins You'll Ever Need: Year 2012 Edition
Besides being a beautiful, easy to use and powerful platform by itself, WordPress is also loved because of it's high level of customization and optimization. Plugins are the best way to optimize and enrich your WordPress blog. And it's not limited to performance only. The plugins WordPress offers range from page speed optimization, user engagement, advanced backup, full theme modification to social sharing and search engine optimization.Read More
WP-Powered Job Boards – All The Tools You'll Ever Need!
There is hardly any niche website that cannot be powered using WordPress. Of late, WordPress is being employed to power different sorts of websites — video galleries, online portfolios, information directories and, more importantly, job boards! Job boards have become one of the most popular info-commerce centric websites. In this article, we take a look at the WP resources that are required to run a job board — plugins and themes.
Manage All Your WordPress Sites From One Place: Meet ManageWP
For a kickoff we've prepared a review of a really neat and useful service some of you guys will be keen on. Those of you who manage more than one WordPress blog will be more or less familiar with the management problems multiple blogs can create. Installing new plugins, updating platforms, keeping an eye on the posts – it's getting pretty inconvenient if you've got couple of active blogs.
Yes, some of you might have already figured out what kind of service we're writing about here. ManageWP is a service that allows you to manage all your WordPress websites from one single dashboard. What does it mean?Read More


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Eugenia Poustyreva
Violin. B.M., M.M., Special Music School for Gifted Children, Leningrad Conservatory, Russia. Awarded Honor Scholarship. Degrees as concert violinists, soloist of orchestra, chamber music artist and violin teacher. Has performed in the former USSR and in Europe. Taught at the Special Music School for Gifted Children, Leningrad Conservatory. Numerous master classes in USSR, Germany and Czechoslovakia. Her students have been winners in many local, state, and international competitions. You can see her students in the New York Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra under V. Gergiev,St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Y. Temirkanov and other orchestra of Russia nand Germany. Many of her students have been concertmasters of various youth orchestras. Listed in 'Who's Who Among America's Teachers'. Appointed to faculty, 1991.
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Upcoming Events
New Music Series Symposium
November 1, 2014, 1:30 pm
Studio 113
James Mobberley, guest composer
Preparatory: Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony Concert
November 2, 2014, 3:00 pm
Severance Hall
Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony I
Dr. Gary M. Ciepluch, conductor
Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony II – Symphonic Winds
Melissa Lichtler, conductor
Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony II – Concert Winds
Daniel Crain, conductor
New Music Series Recital: Celebrating CIM Alumni Composers
November 2, 2014, 4:00 pm
Mixon Hall
CIM New Music Ensemble
Keith Fitch, director
James Mobberley, guest composer


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TODAY THE ELECTRIC UTILITY INDUSTRY HURTLES TOWARD massive restructuring. This fervor is not surprising as it appears society has become convinced that market forces can work better than a...
Business & Money
In the event of a bankruptcy filing, the inter-company lender would get in line with outside creditors to pursue its claim against the bankrupt affiliate, which is most often ranked as a general unsecured claim. Fitch does believe it is possible to have some benefits of cash management centralization while avoiding the potential pitfalls. "With effective limits on the participants, shared money pools can reduce the group's costs and outside borrowing levels but still preserve distinctions in the credit of participants for ratings purposes."
Moody's: LDCs All Over The Map
Many credit ratings agencies have pointed out that, to date, many utility cash management pools are as diverse as their ratings. Some experts believe that the new FERC order, in bringing more transparency to utility cash operations, may lead to a standardization and greater clarity of the risks inherent in certain utility cash pools. This may be necessary as Moody's credit analyst Edward Tan, in a report, finds that while natural gas local distribution companies, "perform the same purchasing, storage, and distribution business throughout the country, they differ as to their methods of cash management.
"The practices vary as widely as their credit ratings, reflecting both the degree of regulatory supervision and operating guidelines as well as individual company policies and philosophies with respect to whether to separate the cash of their regulated utilities from the non-regulated affiliates and if so, the degree of their cash operation," he writes.
According to Moody's, in a group of 32 LDCs, 13 used cash money pools while 19 did not. Of these 13, seven were in a combined money pool containing utility and non-utility companies and six in separate utility and non-utility money pools. The three "A"-rated companies having one combined money pool are Washington Gas Co., National Fuel Gas Co., and Laclede Gas Co. Tan believes these companies have different mitigants in place that appear to limit the credit risk of their utilities. He notes that many state regulators do not require a strict separation of cash operating systems between the utilities and non-utility affiliates.
Most "A"-rated companies, however, appear to have taken a more pro-active approach toward ensuring the protection and separation of funds belonging to the different legal entities. Moody's, S&P, and Fitch all agree that how companies deal with their internal systems is also indicative of their operating philosophy. In fact, the approach taken by FERC-regulated utilities toward handling their cash is a factor in credit and investors' evaluation, they say.
Reference: Cash Management Programs
Cash management programs include all agreements under which funds in excess of the daily needs of the FERC-regulated entity, along with the excess funds of the entity's parent, affiliated and subsidiary companies, are concentrated, consolidated or otherwise made available for use by other entities within the corporate group. Such programs concentrate affiliates' cash assets in joint accounts for the purpose of providing financial flexibility and lowering the cost of borrowing.
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Commited to the Great Commission
We consider it a privilege to participate in your ministry. These are the best missionary prayer cards available. Custom design, great variety of products, professional quality - and all offered to fit a missionary budget! Spend 10 minutes describing your mission, choosing a style, and uploading your photo. In 2 days, we'll send you a custom design to review - it's that easy.
Missionary Prayer Cards are an economical and effective tool to keep you connected with your prayer and financial partners. We would love to be your first resource for building your support team, keeping them informed and committed to your mission, and telling others about what you are doing and how they can be part of it. Few may be called to full time missions, however, every believer should participate in the goal of reaching out to others and meeting their physical and spiritual needs. We consider it a privilege to be part of this work - and are committed to creating the best Missionary Prayer Cards in print!


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Kirsten Dunst falls from heaven in a film not quite as radiant
Forget Joan: A new version of the noir classic stays close to the text
Review of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Plus, The Brave One, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Imitation of Life: Special Edition
We recommend: After the Wedding, Away From Her, The Ex, The Hi
What comes after the nuptials in Danish melodrama After the Wedding? A hell of a lot more than the reception
Familiar immigrant melodrama Wondrous Oblivion buoyed by good intentions and moral heft
Orange Coast College's Visiting Scholars Series
Movie of the Week:
Winter non-recommendation edition
Movie of the Week:
The King of Masks
An enigmatic independent auteur may have made the world's next great midnight movie
John Waters and the art of sleaze
Todd Haynes postmodern tearjerker
Ang Lees Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon


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Book Description:
Hardbound. Written by international experts, this outstanding collection of papers is based on the First International Symposium on the Biological Roles of Reactive Oxygen Species in Skin, held in Kyoto, Japan in May 1986. One of the more fascinating topics in biology and medicine today, reactive oxygen species are believed to play an important role in skin inflammation, carcinogenesis, and ageing. THE BIOLOGICAL ROLE OF REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES IN SKIN presents recent research findings on a broad range of topics related to the pathogenesis and biological aspects of skin-related diseases. Physicians, dermatologists, pharmacologists, biochemists, hematologists, immunologists, pediatricians, and all others interested in the study and care of skin disorders will find that THE BIOLOGICAL ROLE OF REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES IN SKIN is a useful and valuable source of pertinent information.
Tags: Science-Math, Biological-Sciences, Biology,