text:
A lawsuit filed this week claims that the head coach of the U.S. women's basketball team successfully demanded that a female security director be removed from her assignment for the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London after she rebuffed his sexual advances.
Kelley Hardwick, 46, filed the employment discrimination lawsuit Monday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging that coach Geno Auriemma followed her to her hotel room, grabbed her arm and tried to kiss her during a 2009 tournament trip to Russia with the women's senior national team.
Auriemma called the allegations "beyond false," pledging to defend himself "to the fullest," ESPN reported. Neither Auriemma nor his attorney, Solomon Kerensky, responded to multiple phone calls and emails from CNN requesting comment.
Hardwick, a former New York City detective and law school graduate, said she pushed the coach away and reported the incident, but said nothing was done, according to the lawsuit.
"What are you doing?" the lawsuit says Hardwick yelled at Auriemma during the alleged encounter. "You better check yourself before you get hurt!"
"After being rebuffed (Auriemma) red-faced, turned and walked quickly back in the direction of the elevators," according to the lawsuit.
Later, she said Auriemma began to "act vindictively towards her" and demanded that the National Basketball Association relieve her of her travel assignments with the squad, according to the lawsuit.
She was ultimately told in March that she would not be overseeing security during this summer's Olympics, the lawsuit said.
"Having received no prior complaints regarding performance of her (USA Basketball) related duties, (Hardwick) was convinced ... Auriemma had exercised his influence through USAB and the NBA to retaliate against her for rejecting his prior sexual advance and causing him embarrassment and discomfort with her continued presence," the lawsuit said.
Auriemma, 58, told The New York Times that prior to reviewing media reports, he had been "unaware of this lawsuit."
Hardwick further alleges in the suit that she has been routinely discriminated against by the NBA, claiming she was denied promotions and raises because she is a woman, despite an extensive resume of experience, including working as a security official for the U.S. Olympic teams that competed in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008.
"It's baffling why she, a trained and experienced security director, would be removed from this assignment with two Olympics under her belt," said Hardwick's attorney, Randolph McLaughlin.
The NBA and USA Basketball, which are also named in the lawsuit, could not be immediately reached for comment on the allegations. Ron Howard, a spokesman for the Women's National Basketball Association, said his office does "not comment on pending legal matters."
Auriemma, who is also head coach of the University of Connecticut women's basketball team, is considered among the nation's top coaches, steering the Huskies to seven national titles over his 27 years with the team.
He was named coach of the U.S. national team in 2009, having been an assistant coach to the gold medalist 2000 team that competed in Sydney, Australia.
The University of Connecticut was not available for comment regarding the lawsuit.


text:
In one of my production environment, we have two instances running on a RedHat cluster, with one production instance associated with the cluster.
We have 125G main memory with 24G InnoDB buffer pool occupied by instance1 & 12G occupied by instance 2 which is not associated with the RedHat cluster. Both the data and transaction logs are located on the LVM disk partition with an ext3 file system.
For a performance boost and better I/O throughput I have decided to change
innodb_flush_method to
With reference to the MySQL documentation:
Where InnoDB data and log files are located on a SAN, it has been found that setting
O_DIRECTcan degrade performance of simple SELECT statements by a factor of three.
Referring to High performance MySQL Ver 2 and 3, it stated that InnoDB developers found bugs with using
innodb_flush_method=O_DSYNC.O_SYNC and O_DSYNC are
similar to fysnc() and fdatasync(): O_SYNC syncs both data and metadata, whereas
O_DSYNC syncs data only.If that all seemed like a lot of explanation with no advice, here's the advice: if you use a Unix-like operating system and your RAID controller has a battery-backed writecache, we recommend that you use O_DIRECT. If not, either the default or O_DIRECT will probably be the best choice, depending on your application
By googling,I got this benchmark report: on O_DSYNC vs O_DIRECT
Bench Mark Report :
1B Row Complex Transactional Test, 64 threads
* SAN O_DIRECT: read/write requests: 31560140 (8766.61 per sec.)
* SAN O_DSYNC: read/write requests: 5179457 (1438.52 per sec.)
* SAN fdatasync: read/write requests: 9445774 (2623.66 per sec.)
* Local-disk O_DIRECT: read/write requests: 3258595 (905.06 per sec.)
* Local-disk O_DSYNC: read/write requests: 3494632 (970.65 per sec.)
* Local-disk fdatasync: read/write requests: 4223757 (1173.04 per sec.
O_DIRECT disables the OS level cache, where double caching can be disabled which show some better I/O throughput.
Is it good to go with
O_DIRECT rather than
O_DSYNC? These two options are bit confusing. Which option can show some better I/O throughput and enhancement in the performance with out any impact on the data, reads/writes especially in production? Any better suggestions based on your personal experience?
I could see Rolando Update in the post : == Clarification on MySQL innodb_flush_method variable ==
Still there is slight confusion on both of these parametres. Where i could see most
of the production config templates using O_DIRECT, i havent seen any where recommonding

subset: commoncrawl


text:
At KCTCS, our vision is to be the nation's premier community and technical college system.
In everything we do, our mission is to improve the quality of life and employability of the citizens of the Commonwealth by serving as the primary provider of:
When we say "Higher Education Begins Here," we take it seriously. KCTCS has been given great responsibility for the prosperity and well-being of all Kentuckians. Our values reflect that, and include:


text:
I've just installed Steam for Linux on my machine and I am given a error message telling me that my NVIDIA drivers are outdated. They tell me that I need the 304.?? drivers to continue. These are shown when I open "External Drivers", but they are shown as Experimental BETA.
Is it safe to activate them anyway. I mean; I don't want my computer to stop working and I have to reinstall Ubuntu.
If there is any other way I could get my Steam client to work I would really like to know that to.


text:
Iran tests new missile in 'slap' to U.S., Israel
Not a subscriber? You can purchase a single-day subscription for only $0.75 to read this and access all of our content and our E-Edition. CLICK HERE purchase a single day subscription.
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text:
i Need Media
The Real World at my doorstep
By Matthew Singer 04/04/2013
Last week, civilization as we know it ended. It did in Portland, Ore., at least.
Full disclosure: Five years ago, I moved from my hometown of Oxnard to the City of Roses. I've never mentioned that fact in this column, mostly because I prefer to write about the universal experience of media consumption. Even if it's written from my personal point of view, the reader should be able to relate to this column in some form, regardless of where he or she happens to reside. But I tell you now where I live, in order to convey just how rattled this town is by being featured on the current season of The Real World.
As you may have heard — or, most likely, read in some New York Times trend piece — Portland is the new American epicenter of hipster hippiedom. You also may have learned this from watching Portlandia, which offers a narrow but not altogether inaccurate portrayal of the place I now call home. Portland does, indeed, take itself a bit too seriously at times. So, naturally, when we all found out last year that our free-range, small-batch, artisanal city would serve as the backdrop for a show as artificial and intellectually unhealthy as The Real World, residents were aghast. Response to the news on blogs and the local Twittersphere suggested the invasion of MTV and it's new cast of well-scrubbed twentysomethings would cause the metropolis lovingly nicknamed Stumptown — because our tallest buildings are mere stumps, you see — to crumble into the Willamette River.
Perhaps expectedly for someone who grew up an hour north of Los Angeles, I had no problem with this. I was an avid watcher of The Real World in its early days—back when it was a legitimately intriguing social experiment—and even after it devolved into little more than a season-long drunken orgy starring Abercrombie models, I'll still turn it on when in need of some junk. To have the show filming in a location I'm familiar with was actually sort of exciting.
To everybody else, though, this was nothing short of a disaster — something the state government should've stepped in to stop from happening. There are localized reasons for this — the phrase "douchification" gets tossed around a lot in regards to certain parts of town — but the broader explanation has to do with the notion that trashy reality TV in general is causing America to rot from the inside.
Hey, America, lighten up! I've written this before, but the shallow end of the pop-culture pool only takes on significance when we ascribe significance to it. It's meant to be absorbed and discarded. That's why it's so often compared to junk food: It fulfills an immediate need, so you can move on to better, more important things. Complaining about the existence of a stupid television show invests it with more weight than it deserves. The Real World can't destroy a city, much less the fabric of the country, any more than gay marriage or legalized marijuana.
I Need Media is a biweekly media column by Matthew Singer. Follow him on Twitter@mpsinger.
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text:
Possible Duplicate:
How do I set Gmail to use my default account?
I have several accounts attached to my gmail account. One of them is set up as a "default". I also have the flag "Always reply from default address."
Yet, when I compose a message, I get in the From field the gmail address!
This was never a problem before, I am not sure what changed. I tried deleting my email, and re-adding it as default, it did not help.
Any ideas?


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Put sparkle into any kind of design with the Swarovski H2038 SS20 hotfix XILION rose flatback in Rose. The XILION cut of these Austrian crystal flatbacks is comprised of alternating large and small facets for brilliant shimmer and the H2038 flatbacks feature mirrored backs made from real silver for more intensity. This crystal flatback features a vivid pink color that sparkles at every turn. These components are terrific for adding hints of sparkle to jewelry, fabric and much more. Add this flatback to any design your heart desires!
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Obesity Prevention Initiative
The Obesity Prevention Initiative (OPI) is a diverse community collaboration that was established in 2005 through Cape Fear Healthy Carolinians. Our mission is to increase the healthy weights of Cape Fear residents. We are dedicated to the institution of comprehensive plans and enduring systematic changes that will result in increased physical activity levels and healthier eating patterns.
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text:
Saturday's letters: Founding principles
Published: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 28, 2012 at 8:00 p.m.
To the editor: Recently, a letter writer described the tea party as far right. I am not a tea party member. However, my research on the various groups under this name indicates they are for limited government and a return to constitutional principles as the basis for laws and governing constructs.
The writer suggested that such a group is a part of our problem. As a history teacher, I know for a fact that limited government and a constitutional republic were the basis of our founding. Therefore, if you do not support these two founding principles, I would contend that you are the problem, not the tea party.
I believe in competing in the arena of ideas; I believe you must be able to sell your ideas to the broader public. I also believe we have become intellectually soft. We would rather give in to ideas we do not believe in rather than work harder and explain them better. Politics is a struggle for power and control.
I will never support the governing philosophy of the so-called left; I will always support the principles of freedom. And I will never leave the arena of ideas.
Jim Griffin
Time to grow up
To the editor: On Dec. 7, John Fogle had a column headlined, And the winner is ... dirty campaigning. After reading his vile words, I must reply.
Lets turn the clocks back to a few days before April 14, 1865, and lets imagine listening to a conversation between John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators. They hated, also. They hated Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, that election, abolition ... and they were going to do something about it.
They were not able to handle living in a democracy. In politics, just as in life, you dont always win, but in a democracy you are supposed to live with it either way and go on working for the good of the nation. I am sure through the years of our nations history, there have been election results that were painful to the losing side. The losers went on in a grown-up manner.
It is time for Mr. Fogle to grow up. Your side lost. Your side was outworked. Why do losers have such a problem looking at themselves? It is always the other guys fault.
Your character assassination of Harry Reid is just an example. Mitt Romney had an easy way to refute Reids claims. He didnt!
Dennis P. Berman
The vile and venal
To the editor: This letter is written in response to Stephen Blacks recent column, Censors would kill Playhouse spirit. He laments the fact that local government plans to support the current operations of the Playhouse.
He mentions that future plays will forgo foul language, sex and tawdriness, and that is bad! He says that a theater is not supposed to represent life as theocrats and fundamental Christians see it. He further opines that a play should paint a picture of life warts and all. He is also concerned that religionists will take over any artistic endeavor.
As to his position, I take extreme exception. Case in point, I just finished reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy all 814 pages. In this magnificent novel, virtually every aspect of evil, sin, deceit, vile behavior and human failing is described and leaves nothing to interpretation. In addition, not one expletive is to be found! If an author or playwright has to resort to the vile and venal, then he lacks the ability to express himself in an artistic manner.
Mr. Black mentioned Franz Kafka, who also famously said, When one has once accepted and absorbed Evil, it no longer demands to be believed.
Ken Rash
Assault weapons
To the editor: Recently the Times-News greeted me with local poll results indicating that 49 percent of locals believe assault weapons should not be banned from U.S. citizens. I am appalled!
Ive read many reasons why people believe such weapons must be banned, but I have not heard from the other side. I would like to encourage those who believe our citizens have a right to own weapons designed to kill other citizens explain their reasons.
Please, if you choose to respond to this, limit your answers to those that apply to assault weapons only not other guns.
Cosette Goebel
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text: Yesterday I submitted a few characters from a new show that will be airing in October of this year some time on Cartoon Network. Today I will finish uploading the main characters of the series that is listed so far, and later I will upload a drawing that I was sketching while I was in Livestream. Next though you will learn "how to draw Secret Mountain Fort Awesome", step by step. I told you in one of the previous lessons that I would get back to what the series is about, so here I am making a tutorial and talking about the series plot. So the premise of the story takes place when a bunch of underground monsters step foot on Earth as they pass through a portal. These monsters are called Disgustoids, and as they try and settle in to their new environment, they also come across complexity as they try to find some sort of equal ground as they live their lives amongst humans. The character that I used for the tutorial is actually the leader of the group of Disgustoids and his name is Festro. This is going to be a simple task to follow so have no fears about that. I will meet you guys back here in a jiff so stay tuned in.


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Season 2013/14
Helan signs for Sheffield Wednesday
- 12 July 2013 11:01
- Posted by @dclayton_mcfc
Jeremy Helan has signed for Sheffield Wednesday after agreeing a permanent deal.
The 21-year-old wing-back spent much of last season on loan with the Owls where he became a popular figure among the Wednesday fans, playing 28 games in total and playing his part in the team's surge up the Championship table.
He also spent time with Carlisle and Shrewsbury Town and has represented France Under-19s on three occasions.
Everyone at City wishes Jeremy good luck with his future career.


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Up: Invoking cmp
Below is a summary of all of the options that GNU cmp accepts. Most options have two equivalent names, one of which is a single letter preceded by '-', and the other of which is a long name preceded by '--'. Multiple single letter options (unless they take an argument) can be combined into a single command line word: -bl is equivalent to -b -l.
In the above table, operands that are byte counts are normally decimal, but may be preceded by '0' for octal and '0x' for hexadecimal.
A byte count can be followed by a suffix to specify a multiple of that count; in this case an omitted integer is understood to be 1. A bare size letter, or one followed by 'iB', specifies a multiple using powers of 1024. A size letter followed by 'B' specifies powers of 1000 instead. For example, -n 4M and -n 4MiB are equivalent to -n 4194304, whereas -n 4MB is equivalent to -n 4000000. This notation is upward compatible with the SI prefixes for decimal multiples and with the IEC 60027-2 prefixes for binary multiples.
The following suffixes are defined. Large sizes like
1Y may be
rejected by your computer due to limitations of its arithmetic.


text:
WHEELING - Ohio County Magistrate Patty Murphy said she committed no wrongdoing earlier this month following the arrests of her cousin, John Marshall High School Principal Corey Murphy, and his co-worker, Marshall County Schools Special Education Director Shelbie Haines.
Haines, 38, of Wheeling has been charged with DUI. Corey Murphy, 34, of Wheeling was issued a citation for failure to produce a driver's license. Officers responded to a hit-and-run report at the Stifel Fine Arts Center on National Road at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 10. Witnesses told police that a woman driving a Jeep struck the building's sign and then drove away in the direction of Laurel Avenue. Officers observed the sign had been shattered, and there was also damage to a traffic sign, according to a police report.
They located the vehicle in front of Corey Murphy's home on Laurel Avenue. Corey Murphy was in the driver's seat and Haines was in the passenger seat, the report states. Corey Murphy and Haines reportedly smelled of alcohol.
Corey Murphy initially told officers he was driving the vehicle before changing his story and saying neither had been driving. He failed a field sobriety test at the scene, police said. Officers said they were unable to understand Haines due to her slurred speech. She held onto the frame of the vehicle's door to maintain her balance, the report states, and also failed a field sobriety test at the scene.
Both were transported o Wheeling police headquarters, where Haines allegedly admitted she was driving the vehicle. Police said Corey Murphy began to mention the names of former and current Ohio County officials, including his cousin.
"I know (former) Sheriff (Tom) Burgoyne and (current) Sheriff Pat Butler and I'm related to a magistrate," Corey Murphy told officers at headquarters, the report states.
Corey Murphy was cited and released to a sober individual, while officers began to transport Haines to the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville. While en route, however, Patty Murphy, the on-call magistrate that day, phoned officers and instructed them to return Haines to Wheeling for the arraignment process because "she didn't want her to go to jail," the report states.
Officers said Patty Murphy was reviewing documents with Haines at magistrate court when she stopped the arraignment process before it was complete. Patty Murphy then advised the officers that they had fulfilled their obligations and they could leave. The magistrate then instructed Haines to return the following day to complete the arraignment, the report states.
Patty Murphy on Monday contrasted officers' account, noting she completed the arraignment process the day of the arrest. She then released Haines on a personal recognizance bond to Kelly Murphy, she said, who is Corey Murphy's sister and Patty Murphy's cousin.
Deputy Police Chief Martin Kimball described the events following the arrest as "highly irregular."
Patty Murphy said Corey Murphy never called her while he was in police custody or after he was released that day. She also denied any impropriety in the incident and said she treated Haines the same way she would treat anyone who was arrested for first-offense DUI. She did say she requested officers not include her name in the police report.
"I feel I did nothing wrong," Patty Murphy said Monday.


text:
603 N. Lamar Blvd Austin, TX 78703 512-472-5050 Open 9AM - 11PM The largest independent bookstore in Texas!
Books On Our Site May Not Be Available In-Store
Is This Book In Stock? Be Savvy! Check availability details beneath the blue "Add to Cart" button.
The Southern Belle's Handbook: Sissy LeBlanc's Rules to Live By (Hardcover)
Learn how to navigate life with the effortless savior faire of a true daughter of the South with The Southern Belle's Handbook.
Sissy LeBlanc's rules to live by will teach you how to hook, hold on to, and handle any man as well as conquer any personal situation with the poise and confidence of a sophisticated southern stunner.
And because every woman possesses her own sassy instincts, you can also record your own rules for unstoppable fabulousness and success.
About the Author
Loraine Despres is the author of the bestselling novel The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc and its tie-in title, The Southern Belle's Handbook. Raised in Amite, Louisiana, Despres is a former television writer and international screenwriting consultant. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and continues to enjoy bad behavior.
Praise For…
"A humorous take on our land of cotton, good times ne'er forgotten."
-The Tennessean
"Pearls of wisdom."
-New Orleans Times-Picayune


text:
Some kind of jobs depend on the presence of customers to do their job. A few examples are inside salesmen, waiters, and so on. My current problem consists in trying to convince the directors against blocking social media usage when they're idle. My argument relies in how easy it is to find alternatives online and how it's not forcing anyone to use their time better.
You'll never finish a list of the things a salesman shouldn't do.
The decision was postponed and I'm now in charge of finding a viable solution to keep the salesmen busy when no customers are attending the store. Calling customers to speak of new products or promotions is something they already do and not enough to fill the idle time.
Activities I thought of so far:
- Context research. Regular challenges to find a solution to a specific problem related to sales in their idle time.
- Training. Printed or online sales training to read/watch.
- Internal Blog. Write something interesting about sales in an internal blog, be it commenting news or sharing a good experience.


text:
When Jesus was baptized by John, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove, was the Holy Spirit not with Him up until then?
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I'll refer you to Summa Theologica 3.39.6,
Furthermore, consider that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are fully present in every place once can be said to be present. Thus, Christ is never without the presence of the Father and the Spirit. It is only for the purpose of sanctifying the human institution of baptism (John's baptism) that Jesus "receives" the Holy Spirit which is already with Him.
And as addressed in Question 6 of the same chapter of Summa Theologica, Christ is not so much receiving the Spirit for Himself, since the Spirit is already fully with Him; He is receiving the Holy Spirit into the sacrament of baptism.
Short answer: No. Not as an empowerment for ministry. Up until that moment Jesus had done no miracles, preached no sermons, etc.
This is consistent with the depiction in the synoptic gospels.
Longer answer: Define "with"!
The Spirit descended and stayed upon Jesus. The accounts about Jesus baptism do not give us much information about what one might call the "metaphysics" of God, i.e. how the persons in the trinity relate to each other eternally.
(The only major thinkers that thought this was the case in early Christendom were the adoptionists.)
All 4 gospels seem to see Jesus' baptism as the transitional event into public ministry. But since there also is an affirmation of Jesus' sonship, one can safely assume that it also was an expression of how the love the Father has for His Son is expressed, through the spirit.
Traditional theology - for God reasons - say that this continual expression of love within God, did not begin with Jesus' baptism, but is in fact eternal.
The empowerment for "Kingdom of God service" in the power of the Spirit, given to the incarnated Christ, began at this moment, however.


text:
Does the word 'hour' have 1 or 2 syllables?
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From what I understand, hour, fire, hire, layer, rhythm, etc., are all examples of words which are not easily classifiable. But, according to this linguist,
Wikipedia further confirms this in a couple of its articles.
(British) Received Pronunciation:
All that said, I suspect that the most accurate answer ultimately depends on how you pronounce it yourself. Nice question :)
Not that everything I learned in school was true, but I remember being taught that most dictionaries – at least print dictionaries – broke words into syllables, and this was one of those things that dictionaries were useful for.
So, one could always count the number of •'s, and add one, and get the number of syllables in a word:
One dictionary's own definition of syllable mentions there are three in inferno, and two in water; as could be expected, the entries for those words show them being broken up that way. By the same token, the word word has one:
However, this method for counting syllables creates a few anomalies, whereby some one- and two-syllable words are pronounced very much alike (in other words, hearing the two words would lead someone to think they have the same number of syllables, but the dictionary would indicate otherwise):
(The oddest of all might be hire and higher, which I would pronounce as true heterographs, but the dictionary would break into one and two syllables, respectively.)
I found it interesting that the word syllabification was defined as the division of words into syllables, either in speech or in writing. That "either in speech or in writing" part made me wonder if one could accurately say that the word hour has one syllable in writing, and two in speech – that is, if hour was pronounced as rhyming with tower or power, and not as a heterograph with are, as some drawlers might be inclined to do.
In the end, I sup•pose it all de•pends on how you de•fine syl•la•ble, and how you de•cide to come up with an of•fi•cial an•swer in ca•ses where the ex•act num•ber of syl•la•bles is not im•me•di•ate•ly ev•i•dent or ap•par•ent.
IPA isn't that difficult to decipher, is it?
Since those lines of trochaic tetrameter all rhyme with each other on the last foot, hour needs must contain two syllables. The stanza is 8/8/8/8 by syllables, with rhyme scheme AAAA.
Here is a different illustration of the same thing:
That one has an 8/5/8/5 syllable pattern and an ABAB rhyme scheme. Unless power and hour rhyme, and are each two syllables, that doesn't work.
I would pronounce this with two syllables:
Ow - Err
As long as "ou" is a diphthong, this word has one syllable.
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Pedro G. Rodrigues
PhD in Economics, currently Assistant Professor at ISCSP, the School of Social and Political Sciences of the Technical University of Lisbon in Portugal.
Has done research on tax reform, pension reform, budgetary impact of population ageing, and dynamic general equilibrium modelling of the Portuguese economy.
Dedicated almost 12 years to Government as an economist and later an economic adviser at the Portuguese Ministry of Finance. Was a summer intern at the IMF.
Research interests: Public finance; Macroeconomics; International economics; Demography; Economic and financial literacy.
My blog dedicated to improving economic and financial literacy: http://10envolver.wordpress.com
My personal website with links to my latest research: http://www.ikonumia.tk
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Given any CAT(0) space $X$, we can define a map $s:X\times X\times [0;1]\rightarrow X$, such that $s(x,y,-)$ is the constant speed geodesic from $x$ to $y$ . Any isometry $f$ of $X$ is compatible with that map in the sense, that $s(f(x),f(y),t)=f(s(x,y,t))$. Then one can ask, whether any self-homeomorphism of $X$, which is compatible with $s$ in the upper sense is already a isometry.
This is clearly wrong for $X=\mathbb{R}^n$, as all affine maps are compatible with $s$. So the question is, whether these are the only examples.
For example I think I can show, that the $n$-dimensional hyperbolic space ($n\ge 2$) is rigid in that sense.
EDIT: Due to the big amout of counterexamples one could better ask the following question:
Are the spaces $\mathbb{R}^n$ the only spaces, which have self homeomorphisms compatible with $s$ (in the upper sense), that are not self-similarities ?


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Mother-daughter team publishes 11th design book
San Antonio, Texas
Mother-daughter team Patricia McMillan ('56) and Katharine McMillan ('79) have published their 11th interior design book, Old Places, New Spaces, and will see a new edition of their classic Christmas at Historic Houses hit the shelves next fall.
Currently, Patricia and Katharine live in San Antonio where their partnership is flourishing.
Before settling in San Antonio, Patricia McMillan worked coast-to-coast and abroad as an interior designer and writer, authoring 15 books along the way. She is now partner in San Antonio-based DS Architecture and Interior Design and is working on a number of projects, including a home on the prestigious River Walk.
Katharine McMillan started her writing career in Manhattan, but later relocated to Florida where she earned her doctorate in psychology from Florida Atlantic University.
It was while in Florida that her partnership with her mother began.
"Kat had moved back home to complete her graduate education," Patricia said. "Her friend was an editor at a New York City publishing firm, so when the idea of writing House Comfortable occurred to us, it was Kat who suggested it to her friend." Her friend accepted the proposal, and published their first joint effort.
The experience was comfortable and easy because Katharine had worked for her mother as a senior editor previously, Patricia said.
Exchanging ideas and the criticisms necessary for refining an idea and polishing a manuscript was a professional undertaking, despite the mother-daughter relationship, Patricia said. "I know how smart she is," Patricia said of her daughter.
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Cheat Sheet
Living Paleo For Dummies
Living Paleo means eating all-natural, real foods that support steady blood sugar levels and eliminate inflammation inside the body. Living Paleo also means knowing how to estimate the right amount of food for your needs, stocking your kitchen with Paleo-friendly foods, and cooking healthful meals at home. Not sure how to make the switch to living Paleo? Use these tips to get started.
The Paleo Diet: Eating Like a Cave Man
The Paleo diet — sometimes called the cave man diet — is based on the idea that eating foods similar to those consumed by our hunter-gatherer ancestors is the healthiest, most successful path to sustainable weight loss and optimal health. These guidelines will get you started on making the transition to eating Paleo:
Build your meals around animal protein sources, vegetables, fruits, and naturally occurring, high-quality fat sources.
As much as possible, eat grass-fed, organic, pasture-raised meat and poultry and wild-caught fish and seafood.
Eat a wide variety of vegetables (including starchy vegetables, like sweet potatoes and winter squash) and fruits (especially berries).
Enjoy a wide range of naturally occurring fats, including coconut products (milk, flakes, butter, and oil), avocados, olives, and olive oil.
Avoid all gluten and grains, including wheat, rice, corn, quinoa, buckwheat, barley, spelt, and oats.
Avoid all seed and industrial oils, including canola, soy, and corn.
Avoid dairy, including milk, cream, half-and-half, cheese, and yogurt.
Avoid all processed and packaged foods.
Avoid all added sugars and artificial sweeteners. (The naturally occurring sugar in fruit is okay.)
Eat protein, vegetables, fruits, and fats to satisfaction, rather than to the state of being "full" or "stuffed."
The Advantages of Living Paleo
By removing foods from your diet that cause inflammation inside your body — foods that weren't part of our hunter-gatherer ancestors' daily meals — you'll enjoy a wealth of health and lifestyle benefits. Here are some of the benefits of living Paleo:
Weight loss and increased fat burning
Increased immunity to better fight colds
Increased ability to manage both emotional and physical stress
Reduction in both food and environmental allergy symptoms
Increased energy that lasts throughout the day
Deeper, more restful sleep
Clear, glowing skin
Strong, healthy nails and hair
Alleviation from depression
Elimination of joint aches and pains
Reduced blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels
Reduced risk for "diseases of civilization," including heart disease, diabetes, and cancers
Improvements in skin disorders, like acne, alopecia, eczema, and psoriasis
Alleviation of symptoms of autoimmune disorders, including Hashimoto's thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, and Crohn's disease
Freedom from bloating, gas, and other intestinal distress


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When we are told not to go in the ways of the Amorites (Shabbat 67a, Yerushalmi Shabbat 6:9), However the practices enumerated there do not seem to be specific to the Amorite people. Were there other practices that were specific to them? If not, why were they singled out for association with superstition?
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The Rambam (Avodah Zarah ch. 11) writes:
It has nothing to do with gods, only superstition. It has nothing to do with the Emorim specifically; it is a "code name" (according to Wikipedia).


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- aerospace [3]
- construction [9]
- consumer products [4]
- customer service [1]
- energy systems [10]
- finance [2]
- healthcare [31]
- industrial products [7]
- IT & telecom [1]
- logistics [21]
- military, defense, safety [5]
- science and education [25]
- social research [16]
- technology [24]
- asset management [3]
- business processes [15]
- communication networks [2]
- epidemiology [9]
- freight traffic modeling [8]
- labour market [2]
- management [21]
- manufacturing processes [14]
- market modeling [7]
- marketing [8]
- personnel [3]
- strategic management [11]
- supply chain management [9]
- agent based modeling [73]
- discrete event modeling [45]
- multimethod modeling [28]
- system dynamics modeling [39]
Logistics Simulation and Optimization for Managing Disaster Responses F. Barahona, M. Ettl, M. Petrik, P.M. Rimshnick, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Proceedings of the 2013 Winter Simulation Conference
Catastrophic events such as hurricanes, earthquakes or floods require emergency responders to rapidly distribute emergency relief supplies to protect the health and lives of victims. In this paper we develop a simulation and optimization framework for managing the logistics of distributing relief supplies in a multi-tier supply network. The simulation model captures optimized stocking of relief supplies, distribution operations at federal or state-operated staging facilities, demand uncertainty, and the dynamic progression of disaster response operations. We apply robust optimization techniques to develop optimized stocking policies and dispatch of relief supplies between staging facilities and points of distribution. The simulation framework accommodates a wide range of disaster scenarios and stressors, and helps assess the efficacy of response plans and policies for better disaster response.» 続きを読む
Agent-Based Simulation for Dual Toll Pricing of Hazardous Material Transportation Sojung Kim, Santosh Mungle, Young-Jun Son, Proceedings of the 2013 Winter Simulation Conference
A dual toll pricing is a conceptual policy in which policy maker imposes toll on both hazardous materials (hazmat) vehicles as well as regular vehicles for using populated road segments to mitigate a risk of hazmat transportation. It intends to separate the hazmat traffic flow from the regular traffic flow via controlling the dual toll. In order to design the dual toll pricing policy on a highly realistic road network environment and detailed human behaviors, an extended Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) framework is employed to mimic human decision behaviors in great detail. The proposed approach is implemented in AnyLogic agent based simulation software with using a traffic data of Albany, NY. Also, search algorithms in OptQuest are used to determine the optimum dual toll pricing policy which results in the minimum risk and travel cost based on the simulation results. The result reveals the effectiveness of the proposed approach in devising a reli-able policy under the realistic road network conditions.» 続きを読む
RoPax/RoRo: Exploring the Use of Simulation as Decision Support System Mariusz Balaban and Tom Mastaglio
Several challenges of port/terminal and/or ferry company managers pertain to decisions for the justification of investments and concurrent operational tasks of roll-on/roll-off passenger (RoPax) and roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) systems. This paper explores the possible uses of Modeling and Simulation (M&S) techniques as a decision-support aid for a RoPax/RoRo system managers.» 続きを読む
Modeling and simulation of container terminal logistics systems using Harvard architecture and agent-based computing Bin Li (Department of Economics and Management); Wen-feng Li (School of Logistics Engineering). Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference.
As the highly complex logistics system, container terminal logistics systems play an increasingly important role in modern international logistics, and therefore their scheduling and decision-making process of much significance to the operation and competitiveness of harbors. In this paper, the handling, stacking and transportation in CTLS are regarded as a kind of generalized computing and compared with the working in general computer systems, whereupon the Harvard architecture and AnyLogic agent-based computing paradigm are fused to model the operational processing of CTLS, and the kernel thoughts in computer organization, architecture and operating system are introduced into CTLS to support and evaluate container terminal planning, scheduling and decision-making.» 続きを読む
Supply chain and hybrid modeling: the Panama Canal operations and it's salinity diffusion Mario Marin, Yanshen Zhu (American Technologika); Luz Alba Andrade, Erwin Atencio, Carlos Boya (Universidad La Latina); Carlos Mendizabal (Universidad Tecnologica de Panama). Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference.
This paper deals with the simulation modeling of the service supply chain and the salinity and its diffusion in the Panama Canal. An operational supply chain model was created using discrete-event simulation. Once complete, a component based on differential equations was added to the model to investigate the intrusion of salt and the resulting salinity diffusion into the lakes of the canal. This component was implemented in the AnyLogic simulation modeling environment by taking advantage of the concept of hybrid modeling that is embedded in AnyLogic.» 続きを読む
Business is a field for experiments. But it's best to run them on simulation models Timofey Popkov.
Modeling allows you to decrease implementation costs and risks while still in the planning stage. It can also be the best way to optimize existing processes.» 続きを読む
Modelling and Analysing Cargo Screening Processes: a Project Outline Peer-Olaf Siebers, Uwe Aickelin, David Menachof, Galina Sherman, Peter Zimmerman. 2009 INFORMS at University of Warwick, June 25-27, Coventry, U.K.
The efficiency of current cargo screening processes at sea and air ports is unknown as no benchmarks exists against which they could be measured. Some manufacturer benchmarks exist for individual sensors but we have not found any benchmarks that take a holistic view of the screening procedures assessing a combination of sensors and also taking operator variability into account. Just adding up resources and manpower used is not an effective way for assessing systems where human decision-making and operator compliance to rules play a vital role.» 続きを読む
Optimizing Freight Transportation Policies for Sustainability - A Simulation-Based Investigation of Freight Transportation Policy Planning and Supply Chains Christopher Glazner and Sgouris Sgouridis, MIT Sloan School of Management
Regional freight transportation policy planning is a difficult task, as few policy-planners have adequate tools to aid their understanding of how various policy formulations affect this complex, socio-technical system. In this paper, we develop a proof-of-concept model to simulate the impacts of public policies on freight transportation in a simulated region. We use the techniques of multi-disciplinary system design and optimization to analyze the formulation of regional freight transportation policies and examine the relative effects of policies and exogenous forces on the region in order to provide insight into the policy-planning process. Both single objective and multi-objective analysis is performed to provide policy-planners with a clear understanding of the trade-offs made in policy formulation.» 続きを読む
A multi-structural framework for adaptive supply chain planning Ivanov D.A., Sokolov B., Kaeschel J., European Journal of Operational Research, 2009
A trend in up-to-date developments in supply chain management (SCM) is to make supply chains more agile, flexible, and responsive. In supply chains, different structures (functional, organizational, informational, financial etc.) are (re)formed. These structures interrelate with each other and change in dynamics. The paper introduces a new conceptual framework for multistructural planning and operations of adaptive supply chains with structure dynamics considerations. We elaborate a vision of adaptive supply chain management (A-SCM), a new dynamic model and tools for the planning and control of adaptive supply chains. SCM is addressed from perspectives of execution dynamics under uncertainty. Supply chains are modelled in terms of dynamic multi-structural macro-states, based on simultaneous consideration of the management as a function of both states and structures. The research approach is theoretically based on the combined application of control theory, operations research, and agent-based modelling. The findings suggest constructive ways to implement multi-structural supply chain management and to transit from a "one-way" partial optimization to the feedbackbased, closed-loop adaptive supply chain optimization and execution management for value chain adaptability, stability and crisis-resistance. The proposed methodology enhances managerial insight into advanced supply chain management» 続きを読む
Supply chain multi-structural (re)-design Ivanov D.A., International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, No. 5(1), 19-37, 2009
In the framework of supply chain (re)- design (SCD), different structures (functional, organizational, informational, etc.) are (re)- formed. These structures are interrelated and change in their dynamics. How is it possible to avoid structural incoherency and consistency and to achieve comprehensiveness by (re)- designing supply chains? This paper introduces a new approach to simultaneous multi-structural SCD with structure dynamics considerations. We elaborate a new conceptual model and propose new tools for multi-structural SCD – multi-structural macro-states and dynamical alternative multi-graphs. The research approach is theoretically based on the combined application of operations research, agent-based modelling, and control theory. The results show the multi-structural and interdisciplinary treatment allows comprehensive and realistic SCD problem formulation and solution. We emphasize the flexibility of the proposed approach and optimization-supported simulation. The proposed methodology enhances managerial insight into supply chains at the strategic and tactical levels and serves to assist decision-makers in SCD» 続きを読む


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Here is pano shot at top of Pic Blanc on April 14th to keep souvenir of exceptionnal year for snow ! Slight default I have seen just after publication, I have cut feet of someone
You'll find on my blog two versions of same pano: regular one and one with legend above the horizon so you can find easily name of major mountains all around
Technical details:
-> Pentax 645D in DNG with lens 55mm f/2.8 (settings: 1/500 à f/11), 78 shots with Nodal Ninja 5 head with R-D16 rotator on Benro tripod C-257. (one row at +75 degreess with 8 shots, one row at +45/+15/-15/-45 degrees with 15 shots, one row at -75 degrees with 8 shots, 2 shots handheld for nadir)
-> Raw processing in TIFF 16 bits with Lightroom 4
-> Stitching with PTGui and PSB output
-> Tiling with KRPano
Pic Blanc à la mi-avril 2013 par Vincèn PUJOL - SkiVR, sur Flickr
Interactive flash version: http://www.skivr.com/?p=1911


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The 22-year-old goalkeeper says that the Scot is "very paternalistic" toward his players and admits that he has been confused by the criticism directed towards him this seasonManchester United goalkeeper David de Gea says that Sir Alex Ferguson has acted "like a father" to him at Old Trafford.
The 22-year-old, who arrived from Atletico Madrid in June 2011, has faced criticism over some of his performances this season, while the Red Devils boss has consistently backed the Spaniard in the media.
|Man Utd are 3/1 with Bet365 to win both the Premier League and FA Cup
"I know Ferguson a little more and he is like a father, especially for young people."
De Gea admits that he is baffled by the criticism that he has faced this term but insists that he is happy to remain at Old Trafford.
"The truth is that many times the criticism does not make much sense but I prefer not to pay much attention and keep training and keep playing," he added.
"I have three years left on my contract and the truth is I'm very happy, it's a great club and when you're a part of it you realise how big it is."


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Sarah Palin and Class Bias in the Media
Sarah Palin, the first candidate for national office with a journalism degree, continues to stoke the easily heated embers of resentment against the news media. In an interview on YouTube, she was asked to compare the way the news media covered her with the treatment Caroline Kennedy has gotten in her bid to enter the Senate [at about 6 minutes into the clip, below]. "As we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there was a class issue that was a factor in scrutiny of my candidacy," she said.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-95wkCMeUkk[/youtube]Of all the charges of bias leveled against the news media (including anti-Catholic bias), I think class bias may be the one most worth taking seriously. Blue-collar workers, poor people living in neighborhoods journalists are gentrifying and political candidates from the wrong side of town are among the many affected by this bias. Since there is no Al Sharpton (or Bill Donohue) to organize the disaffected against this bias, it tends to go unnoticed.But I don't think it was a factor in the way Sarah Palin was covered. The initial reaction to her "hockey mom" persona was positive. Her candidacy failed when she couldn't demonstrate to the public that she was qualified for the vice-presidency. It's not the news media's fault.
About the Author
Paul Moses, a professor of journalism at Brooklyn College/CUNY, is the author of The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace (Doubleday, 2009) and An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York's Irish and Italians (NYU Press, 2015).
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Paul, the conventional conservative story line is that, when the Palin story broke, incredulous and gleeful laughter could be heard in newsrooms across the country. Within a few days, the press allegedly had concluded that Palin hadn't been properly vetted by the McCain campaign, and the "feeding frenzy" ensued, with hundreds of reporters supposedly descending on Wasilla to harass neighbors and peer under rocks. To what extent that impression is exaggerated, I don't know, but she did dominate media conversation for weeks. The Obama campaign was quite irritated because she was crowding out their message. I don't recall a vice presidential candidate having that kind of media impact, ever.I'm sure you're right that much of the electorate doesn't see her ias vice-presidential timber. But surely the media was a prime player in the phenomenon. What do you think, though?
Also - I think the class story is more complicated. Barack Obama wasn't born into privilege. If they are of different classes now, it would seem that the separation started occurring in the teenage and young adult years, when he was able to propel himself into elite schools, while she was floundering among three sorta-okay colleges. In terms of achievement, she's a late bloomer. You'd think the media would like that sort of pluck - and in fact she did get a lot of favorable coverage.Also - President Bush comes from the rarefied heights of class, but the media has never kowtowed to him because of it, in fact it seems to have been something of an albatross for him.
At this point addressing Palin's illogical claims is more effort than it's worth. But I think it's revealing that she seems at least as underqualified, and is at least as difficult to take seriously -- maybe even more so -- in conversation with a "friendly" questioner as in those supposedly manipulative Q&As with Gibson and Couric.Anyway: Yes, there were juvenile pokes at her supposedly low-class background coming from left-wing blogs and such, but it's delusional to suggest that attitude colored mainstream coverage. Especially when Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton were going out of their way to emphasize their supposed blue-collar roots. And when right-wingers were throwing around "elitist" as an insult aimed at Obama! Further, it's embarrassing that she believes Caroline Kennedy has been or might be treated with kid gloves ("What news sources do you read?" is hardly an unfair question in the face of that suggestion). And it's embarrassing that she thinks "class" is the salient difference between her candidacy for the vice presidency and Kennedy's being considered for a senate appointment.
What's the difference between a soccer mom and a pitbull? Well, this soccer mom whines.Seriously, agree with both of you that there probably is some class distinctions that impact reporting but IMHO would be hard pressed to say that it applies here.
I agree with both Mollie and Bill. If one is preparing to run for any political office, he/she had better be prepared to have the media look into every closet, under every rug, and ask all types of questions of friends, neighbors, enemies, etc., because "all is fair in love and war"(and a political campaign is a type of war).I believe that Sarah lost it when she was not able to articulate her statements or answer questions in a manner that would make people take her seriously. I do not believe class has anything to do with it. One can be educated at elite schools, or in so-so universities, but understanding, research, concern and the ability to articulate---are crucial. In other words, no matter what school one attended, or what social class one is from---a candidate must have done her/his "homework" and have it ready for scrutiny.
There may or may not be something to the class bias allegations, but IMO this is more about what a very politically ambitious governor from a remote state must try to do to stay on the media and political radar screens for another four years after losing a presidential election: she throws out a variety of assertions and allegations and comments in an effort to see which, if any, issues will resonate with the American people, or, at a minimum, the Republican base. It must be very difficult to be tucked away in Juneau or Anchorage or Wasilla thinking and strategizing about what might strike a chord among the residents of the Lower 48. (Sorry, Hawaii.)
Call me delusional. I would not say that all the coverage of Palin was driven by class bias, but it was clearly colored by it, and the comparison with Caroline Kennedy is apt to an extent. Face it, Palin sounds like Winston Churchill compared Kennedy, and while Kennedy hasn't gotten a pass, she has not been subject to ridicule and personal attacks in the same way Palin was. Why? She has the name, she lives in Manhattan, and went to the right schools.Don't get me wrong - even as a conservative, I am no Palin fan. At least not to the extent that I want to see her continue in national politics anytime soon. That being said, the continued denial of the coastal elites that that don't have a coastal elite bias is almost funny. Yeah, they'll give some positive press to the "plucky characters" from flyover countrty, but when push comes to shove they don't respect them and it shows in the press.I do agree that Palion should stop whining about it.
Face it, Palin sounds like Winston Churchill compared Kennedy...I just think that's ridiculous on its face. Maybe eloquence is in the eye of the beholder, but Palin is certainly not any better than Kennedy at articulating ideas.
The NYT's Clyde Haberman is one of my favorite columnists, and has a gimlet eye for bias wherever it comes from or tilts toward. His column today does a good job of dissecting Palin's whining, methinks:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/nyregion/13nyc.html?ref=nyregionWhat is interesting about the column is how Haberman totes up the media treatment of Caroline Kennedy. It hasn't exactly been gentle, and I think it has also been largely deserved, as was Palin's. But that doesn't disprove the class bias argument--in fact, I think such a bias goes both ways, against the uppercrust folk and against the working class folk. It's "good" middle-class people who are the "norm," I'd say. And I think Palin qualifies there--trying to depict herself as an average working class Jane is a stretch. Whatever the media bias on Palin, her inadequacy/inexperience and the McCain camp's ineptitude trumped all else. I think this interview of hers simply proves the point that she was not a qualified national figure.
To what extent that impression is exaggerated, I dont know, but she did dominate media conversation for weeks. Jim,Wasn't it McCain's intention for that to happen when he selected her? It's absolutely preposterous to suggest that McCain sincerely believed she was the best person to step in as president should they be elected and should something happen to him. He chose her to do exactly what she did, but clearly he didn't vet her properly, so in addition to being a huge success with the conservative Republican rank and file, she was deservedly controversial. Based on her first speech, I thought McCain had made a brilliant pick. Based on almost everything that came after, I thought it was one of the most foolish choices anyone could possibly have made.
Putting 'heavy breathing' Al Sharton and Bill Donahue together as champions of the oppressed is the ticket for me. Add in Palin for the 'evans' and FOX news is in business for the bored.
The media is not fair period. You may have some rare fair journalist. But in general everyone writes according to their bias. That said if you will say things that Russis has to fly over Alaska or you can see Russian from Alaska as a credit to your foreign policy experience, then you really invite a feeding frenzy. The mildest people have gotten upset with Palin.
More trenchant Palin-style media criticism here. (The "say it ain't so!" lead-off line makes me hope this is a hoax.)
I think Palin needed to have more room to move unencumbered by excessive handling and controlling by the McCain folks. The fact that they felt they had to do that, is itself a testament to THEIR class paranoia of the media.There is something to be said for going through the primary process and all those small towns and states. EVerybody makes mistakes, missteps and miscues but generally they are absorbed in the long haul provided you have a vision, mission and can keep returning to key themes and core issues.While I do believe there was some class issues, I think the people (media included) were genuinely willing to sit down and listen to her. The McCain people knew that and didn"t want her to be just herself because they were afraid of a gaffe. The result was a stilted, over-cautious, contrived first couple interviews.If Palin has any beef, it should be with the McCain folks and herself. She simply lacked the confidence to say this is who I am - this is why you selected me. Give me room. They didn't and she didn't press the point hard enough. I think she had the potential to be a good candidate but the fit wasn't good from the get go. Speaking of elitist John McCain son of an Admiral married to an heiress. Give me a break.You would have seen a much different and better performance if it was Biden-Palin. (not Obama-Palin)
I don't know about the "Let Palin be Palin" strategy. I used to think there was something to it, but he subsequent Lone Ranger interviews have shown her to be WAY out of her depth. Like, WAY. The piece Mollie linked to was especially disturbing. She could give Blago a run for his money. Except for the hair. Oh, and the money of course.
I was born into the working class and I consider myself as still belonging to it, though my educational credentials may disqualify me. I am a registered nurse with a B.S. in Psychology and an M.S. in Computer Science. I took more issue with Sarah Palin's presentation of working class America than with the media's representation of her. The working class comprises a very diverse group of people, urban and rural. I think that my father would have railed at being represented by the Joes, Sixpack and Plumber. He fought in World War II, worked his way from office boy to middle management on a DeWitt Clinton High School (NYC)education and read biography and history avidly throughout his life. He maintained contact with boyhood friends and hung out at his VFW post where the guys were more individual than the average data miner might suspect. He had many historical facts at his command and could be consulted on points of Latin, part of the DeWitt Clinton curriculum. The real working class is much more complex than the Republican committee would have had us believe and is not adequately symbolized by a beverage, a lounge chair and a tool belt.
Ms Palin's response to the questions about what you read is not as damning as her explanation of it. She took it as a 'gotcha' question, and took offense at the idea that someone might be interested in knowing something about her. Someone with such a chip on her shoulder is not qualified to be president; she needs to learn how not to take offense and to turn aside improper inquiries in a more uplifting way.The class question is interesting because it is built into our government. The senate is supposed to be the elite of the country, while the House represents more the common man. While that distinction is not as vibrant as in England, with its houses of Lords and Commons, it still functions that way to some extent here. Caroline Kennedy will be an exemplar of our upper class if she becomes a senator, as would Ms Palin if she goes that route. The Presidency wobbles in that respect, as populists try to make the President exemplar of the commoner and other try to make him into a 'quiet' royalty. (W tried to have it both ways, being someone with whom you would like to have a beer while he bombs your house and holds you captive without redress.) Anyway, CK has to show herself as one of our classiest in order to be a Senator, something that was not asked of Ms Palin.
"Jim,Wasnt it McCains intention for that to happen when he selected her?" Yes, I'm sure it was. Didn't he announce the choice the morning after Obama's convention speech? I.e. it was part McCain-as-rogue, part media stunt. But I believe his campaign neither predicted nor was able to handle the ensuing media cyclone. They rightly predicted that she would appeal to the conservative, Religious Right base; but I think they underestimated the visceral loathing from the Left. I believe they thought that her being a woman would douse their heat. Instead, it seemed to inflame it."Based on her first speech, I thought McCain had made a brilliant pick. Based on almost everything that came after, I thought it was one of the most foolish choices anyone could possibly have made."Yes, I agree.But she certainly will try to reinvent herself. Palin vs. Huckabee in the '12 primaries?
Ive been a registered Democrat all of my working life. I was born into a working class family and was able to advance into upper middle management in my work before retiring. I think that I have retained the values (for the most part, excluding Tridentine Catholicism, of course) that I learned from my parents and surroundings. I remain a Democrat, but freely admit that the Democratic party has been so enamored of attracting and retaining swimming pool liberals that they have willingly divorced themselves from the ranks that supported them during the 1940s and 1950s, i.e., the working class. Most registered Democrats seem to forget that the background from which most of us came is the background of rural, Regan Democrats, religious and traditional-value people. There is nothing smarmier than a professional who rhapsodizes about how (s)he rose from a humble working class background and rejects all of that narrow-mindedness. The narrow-mindedness seems to have found a fertile home in the suburbs, academia, management, professional and cocktail circuits of today. Well see how these groups survive the rather rude economic and political awakenings that are happening today and most likely will continue into the next few years. Maybe a little chance to reconsider their rejected backgrounds will come in handy. White collar unions, anyone?
Mollie"s right!The conservatives are already pushing Palin in 2012 and this is another ploy to minpulate te media. And don't forget to say happy birthday to Rush while you're at it.
Mr. McK writes "The senate is supposed to be the elite of the country,..". I fear my reaction was "Howzat? Come again?". Jimmy Mac writes:"There is nothing smarmier than a professional who rhapsodizes about how (s)he rose from a humble working class background and rejects all of that narrow-mindedness. The narrow-mindedness seems to have found a fertile home in the suburbs, academia, management, professional and cocktail circuits of today".He forgot to include journalists and commentators. That the Kennedys are meant to be upper-crust displays an astonishing ignorance of Irish Boston.
OK, you all have parsed the working vs upperclass. But what class is 'pageant walking'?
Here is a posting relevant to the subject: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_01/016421.php
Jim wrote: "the conventional conservative story line is that, when the Palin story broke, incredulous and gleeful laughter could be heard in newsrooms across the country."I'm glad there is still some laughter in newsrooms, given the hard times newspapers face. I assume, from the link Mollie posted from the Anchorage paper, that there are still plenty of laughs at Gov. Palin's expense in Alaskan newsrooms. More seriously, I would expect a skeptical response to the choice of someone who had little experience as a national political figure. That's textbook journalism. I don't think class bias had anything to do with the initial newsroom reaction, whatever it was.
"Speaking of elitist John McCain son of an Admiral married to an heiress. Give me a break."I can see your argument about marrying into money, but being the son of an admiral may have given one a higher class status forty years ago, but I think beginning with the savaging of Admiral Stockdale in 1992 we were dispelled of any notions that the non-veteran public honor our flag and field grade officers - or Medal of Honor recipients for that matter - with some sort of special class status. I guess one could argue that this is not true South of the Mason-Dixon, but I would counter that is only because such a huge portion of our veterans and current volunteers and their families are there.
The premise is correct that Palin was not qualified, and it is just as simple as that. There was no media bias. The more she spoke, the more apparent it was that having her near the White House was not an asset. On the other hand, I do think there was some media bias against Hillary, who was indeed qualified for the job. Obama recognized it and is using her talents in his administration.
On the point of qualifications and the whole debate around is she or is she not qualified. It is a subtle but I think important point. The qualifications for Presidency are listed in the US Constitution.US Constitution, Article II, Section 1No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.Strictly speaking then she, or anyone else who meets that criteria is in fact qualified as far as the Constitution is concerned. Suitable? That is another question. That criteria is always shifting and changing but I think it is important to critically examine that point. I do agree that there is mostly a quiet royalty that Americans have evolved into. The Kennedys and the Bushs are that for the US. But the populist mythology looms large which is why you have people who run for high office touting their humble origins. The point is that they cannot actually still be LIVING in those humble origins to make it to the highoffice. Hence, governors mansions are good stepping stones to that tier. Palin needs to focus on her state, and energy. The election is over. Maybe 2012. She will have gained more experience as governor. The populist thing doesn"t work unless you can translate it somehow into policy.
Gabriel, I think the idea of an elite is expressed in the choice of Senate for the name of the second legislative house. While the rationale has drifted, some of that has remained, such that the Senate is still more "elder statesmen" than the House.John Jay, in Federalist Paper #64, discusses his idea of what a Senator will be:"there is reason to presume that their attention and their votes will be directed to those men only who have become the most distinguished by their abilities and virtue, and in whom the people perceive just grounds for confidence. The Constitution manifests very particular attention to this object.... The inference which naturally results from these considerations is this, that the President and senators so chosen will always be of the number of those who best understand our national interests, whether considered in relation to the several States or to foreign nations, who are best able to promote those interests, and whose reputation for integrity inspires and merits confidence."
More fodder for the politics of resentment.Perhaps McCain should have selected, say, Paris Hilton instead.The issue with Caroline Kennedy has nothing to do with class and everything to do with the mystique of lineage.
On the point of qualifications and the whole debate around is she or is she not qualified. It is a subtle but I think important point. The qualifications for Presidency are listed in the US Constitution.Speaking of subtlety, note the use of the word "eligible" in the constitutional text you cite.
The way I was taught it, Senators are to provide some continuity to the Convress, while Representatives' short terms provide for quick change as circumstances require it. Amd as the Jay quotation ssys Senators should provide men of proven ability amd integrity. He says nothing about being born into an upper class orr old family or family with money It was to escape the sort of privilege found in European countries that this one was founded.It seems to me that notions of "class" are not terribly relevant in this country, though there are privileged persons in some matters, for instance getting into certain schools and clubs. As I see it it is money which pretty much establishes privilege these days (who h school would turn down Bill Gates' pchild?), though we seem to be developing a new sort of status-bepari g group, the cels rities.p
That should be "status-bearing group , the celebrities" .Sorry
The way I see the Caroline Kennedy phenomenon is the power of celebrity and a good means to attract financing. That is lgitimate from a certain point of view.In parliamentary systems you have 'back benchers' meaning MP's who are elected but are not in cabinet positions. Their role is to vote yes. Trudeau referred to them as nobody's (half-jokingly).In the senate, the power lies with committee chairs and even there, while there is some decision making it is nowhere near as powerful as a governor or President but it is close.In the senate Caroline Kennedy really doesn"t have to get to deeply into policy. She can just read the summary and bullet points. Her function can be the marketing person (goes only and papers to sell). You can't hide that way or exercise the same function when you have an executive position because you have to actually lead and move groups around an objective. That is very difficult.
Ann:It would be interesting to unpack that whole class issue. I think that class, even more than race, does play a role in advancement, perception and leadership.There is something to the wearing the 'power suit', titles, personnas.I think equality is/was an ideal but people do want their leaders to have a certain class.Bush could get away with his malaproisms, and have it attributed to a certain charm because of his patrician pedigree.
PSI am not saying that this is entirely the csse with Palin but there was probably at least some of that.At any rate, the solution is that she feels she has to work twice as hard which only makes it worse as she gets into over-explaining and on and on. Best to let the whole thing go and run again. Learn from your mistakes - and many/most of them were HER mistakes nobody else's. she has to own those. She will get more respect that way.
George D: The Senate is full of senators with bullet point mentalities. That's one reason among others that almost everything important dies there. What the Senate needs is someone without a bullet point mentality, someone willing to invest their time and energy into learning the intricacies of a subject, transcribing it into legislation, and building the kind of credibility among colleagues that turns into a willingness to cooperate and perhaps even change positions to get something passed. And if I lived in New York, this would be my biggest question about Kennedy: does she want the position or the actual responsibility? Is she going to do the work herself or does she expect her name to get things done for her? I have no idea, but unlike Andrew Cuomo (or Edward Kennedy), I don't think she has ever really addressed these issues either by evidence or implication. (Cuomo is a workhorse -- there is no doubt.) On this, her uncle, Senatory Edward Kennedy gets a platinum star. If she genuinely followed his model, I think the state and the nation would be lucky to have her. Regarding class based issues and the press: In my experience, class bias starts at the middle and radiates outward in every direction, except when it focuses on those in the boring middle who are too jejune to lead anything remotely close to an interesting or joyful existence. Journalism survives on controversy and criticism. A skillful politician internalizes that fact and learns to ignore it most of the time, capitalize on it when possible, and joke about it when its sting can't be avoided.
Classist, indeed: "... those in the boring middle who are too jejune to lead anything remotely close to an interesting or joyful existence. "Would you like your jejune with white wine, brie ... or both?
Jimmy, I am not sure whether it is you or me that lacks a sense of humor or irony. (That's my way of wondering whether it's you who didn't get my joke or it's me who can't discern whether you are taking that statement as having been made seriously when it was meant in jest.) I am incapable of using the word jejune other than ironically. But lacking as I might be, I do know one thing for sure: the majority of working class people have been living in the suburbs for more than 30 years now, and the majority of people living in the suburbs belong squarely in the working class. So the narrow mindedness of "academia, management, professional and cocktail circuits (!!!!) of today" is decidedly more urban than the national average. It's time to stop beating up on the suburbs on social elitism grounds.
Barbara:"A skillful politician internalizes that fact and learns to ignore it most of the time, capitalize on it when possible, and joke about it when its sting cant be avoided."Yes. I have had extensive experience with grass roots women's group, poverty groups environmental activists, ecoglogical groups. Almost to a person, they have despaired of big "P" (i.e. parliaments, senates, congress) doing anything substantive about the actual issue. Maybe I should get a life and not be such a social activist although I think it is pretty intersting and meaningful. But I can tell you this, it is very tiring when political groups use progressive language to cover regressive or ineffective policies.They have, by and large, dropped out of the politcal (big "P" that is) political process and politics has been, as a result impoverished. Skillful politicians know how to perpetuate the institutions they are a part of. It is the very, very, very rare politician who can move the system, and lead a movement in a particular direction. Very, very, very rare.Obama has that potential. But is is a potential that needs to be exercised. So far he is playing it safe which i understand. I really do hope and pray for the best because he has been handed a historica and golden opportunity. I sincerely hope he can inspire because, where I sit there is a lot of cynicism and it is a rational, reasonable response based on experience.Any politician who minimizes that or jokes about it isn"t worthy the honour of elected office - and it is an honour.Character counts!!!!
A small factoid from a party I went to on Saturday full of NYC voters. Conversation suggested to me that many thought Carolyn Kennedy was as big a joke as Sarah Palin. Somewhat to my suprise, Tom Suozzi was touted, though he seems to be the dark horse among the choices Governor Patterson will have to make pretty soon.
In my observation, the media reactions to Palin's nomination were almost exclusively negative right from the announcement -- although they became more muted following demonstration of her initial popularity. When she stumbled in her first on-camera interviews, the piling-on resumed with an even greater intensity.I have seen many comments by reporters and pundits that smack of class bias against her (and not just I -- Camille Paglia is a notable progressive who has written about this); but also many others that focus on her inexperience and her steep learning curve on some public-policy issues. The one constant, however, is an abiding antipathy against her presence on the national political stage. This animus, in my judgment, can't be attributable wholly to any combination of the ostensible reasons given for it. I think these are proxy issues -- culturally acceptable premises to justify an attitude that is based rather on other grounds that journalists are less willling to admit publicly, or maybe even to themselves.(I do find it interesting, even as commonplace as it is, that class-based prejudice is considered socially acceptable enough to serve the purpose of such rationalization. Gov. Palin -- although I think she's mistaken in attributing media scorn against her primarily to this phenomenon -- probably joins millions of working-class Americans whose voices are not often heard on the media stage in being more sensitive to this reality than those who are not the object of such scorn.)My personal opinion is that the strong feelings of so many opinion leaders against Palin are the opposite side to my own of the same coin. As a Democrat, I hold many policy differences with Ms. Palin. However, as a Catholic, I was touched to learn of her family's openness to the gift of life, even to the point of welcoming a Down's Syndrome child -- a child, the studies show us, who would have been aborted if conceived in the overwhelming majority of American families. Her apparent genuine appreciation for the Culture of Life, even to the point of obvious self-sacrifice, warmed my heart to a politician who otherwise would not have been a strong candidate for my affection.On the other hand, the abiding values of the media elite -- absolute personal autonomy and the culture of sexual liberty -- make Palin's personal choices and their potential implications for public policy horrifying. I occasionally do a thought experiment that demonstrates to me the significance of these values in determining media opprobrium. I give myself 10 minutes to write down as many well-known public figures as I can, from entertainers to religious leaders to politicians, and then I draw one column and mark whether I perceive each figure to be portrayed mostly positively or mostly negatively in media citations. Afterwards, I draw a second column and mark whether each is known to be pro-life or pro-choice. Then I correlate the responses for those public figures for whom there is a mark in both columns. There is always an extremely high correlation between positive media and pro-choice views, and negative media and pro-life views. I have done follow-up studies using partisan affiliation, religion, and race (though not class -- I'll try that one next time), and while there is some correlation apparent using other variables, it's never as strong as the correlation using abortion views.What John McCain and his handlers failed to appreciate when the vetted Sarah Palin is this prejudice that drives the media perception-builders. You can be from the wrong side of the tracks and become a media darling (cf. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton); your resume can even be a bit thin for the job to which you aspire (Barack Obama). But don't have a mess of kids, welcoming even a child with a "poor quality of life" who will also wreak havoc on your own, and talk about your pro-life convictions backed up by actions that prove you really mean it.
Barbara: I would appreciate your basis for declaring that "the majority of working class people have been living in the suburbs for more than 30 years now ". The Midwest, Southwest, Northwest, Far West and deep South are not overloaded with suburbs. Maybe this is a definition issue. I use "working class" synonymously with "blue collar." The secular magisterial source, Wikipedia, has this definition: When used non-academically, it typically refers to a section of society dependent on physical labor, especially when remunerated with an hourly wage (Furthermore), in popular American political discourse, medium-income skilled workers and tradespeople are termed middle class, despite having minimal investment income, as are college-educated white-collar workers. I really don't think that most white collar workers, no matter how low-paying or menial their jobs may be, consider themselves to be anything other than middle class.
Chris, very interesting thoughts. How would you account for this, though: in that late '90's, George W. Bush was a Bible belt governor, openly pro-life, whose media appearances were carefully handled/controlled. Yet I don't hav the perception that the media singled him out for destruction as it (allegedly) did for Palin. Is it that she is a woman? Or that Barack Obama was the Chosen One?
Oh boy.Sara Palin does not speak for the working class.The Joe Sixpack thing isn't an image of the working class, it's a slander of the working class.The Know Nothing "salt of the earth" identity doesn't come from the working class to be supported by the GOP, it's a populist and nationalist advertising technique developed by the GOP.Palin made a fool of herself all by herself. Or to put it another way, why would the GOP claim that the public is so naieve about what the "media" tells them (since this is the only way her charges make any sense) unless they themselves operate with this mindset? This is what we are really seeing here.
Excellent question, Jim. While I certainly wouldn't have labeled W a media darling, even before Iraq, he was not savaged during either of his campaigns to the extent that Palin was. Which is interesting because of the similarities you note between the two, to which I would also add that Bush was commonly portrayed as dim-witted and unknowledgeable, much like Palin. As it happens, this illustrates another of my observations about media behavior. If you're a pro-life politician, you deserve to lose; but if you're a pro-life politician and a member of one of the constituencies that is considered part of the pro-choice political coalition, then you must be damaged so badly that there is no chance you'll ever be considered a serious candidate for office again. You'll be as Carthage was to the Romans, and your media enemies will not only seek to destroy your campaign, but to salt the rubble so that no future ambition will ever germinate in you again.Anyone knows that to be a female political leader means that you zealously promote "women's issues" -- the right to a safe, legal abortion primary among them. At least that's the image that our news media carefully nurtures and protects. Sarah Palin, by being a young, telegenic, glass-ceiling-busting, powerful woman, explodes the media stereotype that such qualities naturally associate with pro-choice views. That helps to explain, I think, the near tone of desperation that I detected in much of the media onslaught, at least up until the polls started showing that the re-branding of her (part of which she abetted by her own mistakes) took root in the popular imagination.In my home state of Maryland, we witnessed a similar spectacle when Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a staunchly pro-life, African American Catholic, ran as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate a couple years ago. Young, handsome, charismatic, articulate, having grown up poor in a single-parent household and risen dramatically to vie to become the first African American Maryland Senator, Steele was the GOP analogue to Barack Obama. Yet, throughout the entire campaign, I found no instances of the mainstream media calling his campaign "historic." (In fact, just to confirm that I wasn't missing anything, I just Googled the terms "Michael Steele" "historic" "first" "senator" and after scanning several pages of returns, found no hits from the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, or any other local media (although plenty from right-wing Web sites, conservative publications, and some foreign press). And it couldn't be explained merely by partisan politics -- after all, I live in a county that provided the 7th largest margin for Barack Obama in the whole nation (a plurality of more than 250,000) and a majority of my county's councilmen -- all Democrats -- endorsed Steele. And Steele is no hardcore right-winger, either -- his Catholicism and his racial cultural heritage lend his politics more of a communitarian cast than many other Republicans. Instead, it was his fervent belief in the sanctity of human life that made him so anathema, particularly as a racial minority who might have encouraged other African Americans to bring their latent pro-life views into their political decision-making.I've had my own experience of media hostility, which began when I ran in the Democratic primary for County Council and the local media got wind of my membership in Democrats for Life of Maryland. Even a couple years after I lost, the Washington Post still had it in their heart to publish an utterly superfluous hatchet job on me, twisting and editing my words to make it appear I was saying something I wasn't -- and at that point, I was only a lowly City Councilman. But, thankfully, I'm mostly Caucasian, male, and not much of a threat to Roe v Wade, so I haven't had to put up with the media equivalent of Total War.Sorry for unloading the personal baggage, but I think my case stands on its own merits ...Chris
Michael Steele was not the first African-American candidate to run for the United States Senate from Maryland. Alan Keyes ran in 1988 and 1992, against Paul Sarbanes and then Barbara Mikulski. Maybe that's why Steele's race wasn't associated with the words "first" or "historic" by the Washington Post.
Historically, the poor are really unknown as history is written by the rich and the middle class who feel they have to protect the rich. Even today we only know the poor by looking at criminal records. Jimmy, you might have grown up poor but do you have any idea of the poor today? Do any of us?Is there one person here who understands the poor today?
Well, aside from the fact that Alan Keyes was never considered a serious contender for the seat, the period I was referring to was not Steele's campaign for the Republican nomination, but from the time after he had already achieved that milestone and was campaigning to be Maryland's first African American U.S. Senator. At that point, it was the latter achievement that would have been termed "historic," much as it was hard to read any daily newspaper during the last several weeks of the 2008 Presidential campaign without seing that adjective applied to Obama's run for the White House, which, certainly, was legitimately termed "historic." Of course, the slight against the signficance of Steele's run was among the mildest examples of the local media's campaign against him. It was just an easily quantified and objective benchmark that allows a comparison and contrast with another well-known and analogous campaign.I will concede that the media didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for Kweisi Mfume, the former Mayor of Baltimore, who was a pro-choice candidate vying to be the first African American Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate during the same cycle (and the candidate I supported in the primary). There seemed to be a concerted campaign both by the Maryland Democratic establishment and the Baltimore and Washington media to sink Mfume's campaign before it could get traction -- provoking charges of racism by some Democratic Party activists. But those even on the outskirts of the state Democratic Party machinery (as I am) understood that Schmoke was being blackballed because it was perceived that he was potentially a weaker candidate against Steele, the presumptive Republican nominee. (He was, incidentally, a less militant abortion-rights advocate than his opponent, Rep. Ben Cardin.)I suppose the media picked sides in the Democratic primary for the same reason the party kingpins did. But I found it unusual for them to become so heavily invested in a primary battle, and attributed it at least partially to their morbid fear of Steele.
Bill Mazzella wrote:"Is there one person here who understands the poor today?"Point well taken, Bill. Speaking for myself, even though I grew up in a working-class neighborhood and attended public school with kids who nearly all lived in the nearby public housing projects, I, like so many others in our upwardly mobile society, assumed a middle-class worldview as our family moved to the suburbs and I was educated at Jesuit high school and university. I didn't have any meaningful contact with the poor again until I became the City Council representative of a ward gerrymandered (under threat of ACLU lawsuit) to create a majority-minority district but really ended up a majority working-poor district since so many aging garden apartment complexes were strung together to create the targeted racial demographics. I also spoke personally with thousands of low-income voters when I ran for County Council in the Washington suburbs' poorest district. During my campaigning and during eight years on the City Council, though, I was definitely an outsider looking in on the lives and perspectives of my community's under-privileged residents. I consider myself no expert on their experiences or worldviews. However, what I *did* learn was the sometimes jaw-dropping differences between their self-expressed wants and needs and the perception of same by many in our community's middle-class.To take one of many examples, I co-sponsored a bill to require owner-occupied rental properties to get health and safety inspections annually. Until that point, landlords could engage in the rental business without any public oversight as long as they lived in the property themselves. In my Ward, with its large population of low-income renters, I discovered some horrific abuses -- for example, a house where several young children of renters were kept in an unheated garage, with only a pail for toilet facilities. My wife, who directed our parish's Gabriel Project for assistance to pregnant low-income women, put me onto another property where one of her clients, a single pregnant mom, was living in a basement with no egress, where she tried to care for her severaly handicapped quadruplets. If a fire would have occurred in that house, all of them would surely have perished. Although, following inspections, most of these properties could and would be remediated, dramatically improving the quality of life for our CIty's poorest residents, many of our communities most "progressive" middle-class residents cried foul when this bill was introduced. We cosponsors were called racist, anti-immigrant, and classist for daring to close this loophole. What they didn't comprehend is that their opposition to the bill actually favored the mostly middle-class homeowners of these problem properties, while the mostly poor, minority and often immigrant tenants were being left to live in squalor. The ignorance was easier to understand than the subtle bigotry of some of those claiming to be champions of the under-priveleged. Code enforcement measures were often opposed because they supposedly discriminated against poor and minority residents. Yet I found time and again that most of these residents were among the strongest supporters of strong code enforcement. While their support may not have always been on the conventional middle-class grounds of aestheticism, concern about property values, and status-consciousness (yet sometimes these also figured into the equation for lower-income residents), even graver concerns like fear of crime and encroachments of the drug culture were frequent motivators of poorer residents for tough code enforcement.Once, I was so enraged by comments at a public meeting, where one yuppie resident of our city's most affluent neighborhood got up and said, to much applause from his neighbors, that "if you don't like cars up on blocks, littered front porches, peeling paint, and unmowed lawns, then you should just move to another town!" He and his neighbors, who lived on blocks where none of those things could be observed, clearly thought that low-income people loved that environment and for white, middle-class residents to fail to countenance any of those things was racist and classist. On my street of small bungalows and Victorian duplexes, next to a melange of unlicensed junkyards and small auto repair shops which routinely poured engine fluids into our storm drains and dumped old tires and other debris alongside the railroad tracks across the street, the working-class and working-poor black, Hispanic and Appalachian residents would be surprised and upset to hear these bigoted assumptions. They were among the loudest and most persistent reporters of the various code infractions committed by absentee owners who thought our type of neighborhood was a safe target to dump on. They were fighting for the survival of their modest ideal of the American dream -- one that some of their more affluent and well-educated deconstructionist neighbors had long abandoned in favor of a stultifying race and class based consciousness that is based on erroneous and patronizing views of poor and working-class people.To bring this off-topic discussion full circle, my reaction to the comments I heard at that public meeting -- a sarcastic parody that I posted on a local list-serve -- became the vehicle for some of the same folks who alerted the local media to my scandalous pro-life views during the recent County Council campaign to entice a Washington Post Metro reporter who covered that campaign and was similarly unfond of my retrograde views to craft a hatchet job on me, attempting to paint me as being the opposite of who I was.It's a lonely life trying to take all of the Catholic Church's social teachings seriously. Sorry for unloading again and going so far off-topic, but I feel that perhaps in this forum there might be some tolerance, if not sympathy/empathy, for people like us. Good night and God bless --Chris
I never grew up poor. My parents were (very) small town Midwestern working class. The two are not synonymous. There were poor in my town.Do I know poor today? I live surrounded by Oakland, CA, so have seen more poverty than I care to. But do I know it? Nope.
She is almost touchingly pathetic, and more articulate as she voices her own grievances than when she talks on public affairs. A sad woman, who has been launched on what looks to be a lifetime career of whining by the ill-advised McCain.