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Archive for November 2017
The Dark Sides (Bottom Lines) of Web-based Donor-Advised Funding: Donor Disclaimers, Buyouts, Emigration (JustGive [US]–>JustGiving [UK]). And Interesting Related Ops (IronPlanet: ZOPB Highway ByPass J.V.) and Bank Bailouts. [A July 26, 2016 section repost].
This post, published Nov. 29, 2017, is: The Dark Sides (Bottom Lines) of Web-based Donor-Advised Funding: Donor Disclaimers, Buyouts, Emigration (JustGive [US]–>JustGiving [UK]). And Interesting Related Ops (IronPlanet: ZOPB Highway ByPass J.V.) and Bank Bailouts. [A July 26, 2016 section repost]. (shortlink ends "-83s" and length is just under 7,000 words).
This material isn't new, just the title, the introduction and for the reposted segment, aspects of its format (appearance). Some of the summaries are, however. The relationship between JustGive.org, JustGiving(™) the service, and JG USA are explored. At first glance, they are less than obvious, particularly when one is a service facilitating the other, which is listed as a sponsor of CFFPP in Wisconsin..
When writing this I was still unclear on the relationship between "JustGive" and "JustGiving" (with controlling entity based in London, UK "Selota" whatever that means).
I'd deduced that JustGiving's tax returns weren't showing up because it wasn't a tax-exempt entity, unlike JustGive, which WAS a tax-exempt entity — although one which had simply opted to make viewing, or getting an overview of its DAF-based grantees virtually impossible. First, by making the presentation "virtually invisible" (fine print), thereafter, by showing them 1 per page (!!), then, 3 per page (not much better) and those, sorted NOT by anything logical, but from smallest to largest by amount of grant (!!). … "Good effin' grief"… Then JustGive "gives it over" to a software company which it was already using for solicitations?
"JustGive" is still showing up as an active charity at the California state level, and despite how large it gets (i.e., the millions of dollars passing through it), I see not one audited financial statement uploaded to the state OAG (Office of Attorney General) RCT (Registry of Charitable Trusts) where they ought to show (and, for some organizations over a certain size, do show).
I found these after writing the post below, but felt they should be shown at the top here. Read the fine print at the bottom of 2nd image: (faces, logo, and pink background). Seeing this up front may help make more sense of the discussion of it below and on the earlier post on the same topic.
Let's review this again, from (part of) the "find out more HERE" link above (also at footer of the images in pink, in finer print):
JustGiving is a trading name of the local JustGiving entity as identified in the country specific terms of service. JustGiving operates http://www.justgiving.com (the "Website") and its associated services. These core terms of service (and the relevant country specific terms) (together the "Terms of Service") govern your use of the Website and its associated services. Please read these Terms of Service carefully. If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms of Service, you should not continue to use or access the Website or its associated services. … (another excerpt displayed in image form just below):
While the "progressive thinktank" Center for Family Policy and Practice (CFFPP.org) featured JustGive among its many famous donors, too)…
In fact, just below this paragraph are those screenprints, taken from the website. I started looking up some of them up recently, and apart from the more well-known ones (such as Open Society Foundations), and JustGive, some related to equalizing the digital divide (TechSoup) and if further explored, led to a circular maze nonprofits EACH of which had a list of "who's funding whom" — and who started as an initiative of whom before spinning off — all the while featuring digital, on-line solicitations, streamlined….
Various funders claimed by the (modestly sized) Center for Family and Public Policy. an Illinois legal domicile corporation with a longstanding Madison, Wisconsin address. In four images:
two several days after Thanksgiving, and, challenging myself to clear at least six of the ten posts I named as "in the pipeline" within six days,** I reviewed one from 2016, with its own predecessor post as far back as 2010, on SFFI, CFFPP and its named private foundation funders, including one large entity called JustGive, featuring "Donor-Advised Funding." Let me explain in three numbered post titles with their respective links. (As usual, I had some more comments between (1) and (2), though this time none between (2) and (3) below). **Six Posts (at least) in the Pipeline, Pre-Thanksgiving 2017 …[Published 11/21/2017].
There's (1) an immediate parent post, (2) THIS post, the full-grown offspring, and (3) the upcoming one I'm paving the way for,
now in the pipeline [just published, Tues. Nov. 28, 2017]. Complete with names, links, and a little background, that's:
(1) The Parent Post (July 26, 2016) is: SFFI – CFFPP – JustGive, Inc. – IronPlanet, Inc. – ZOPB – Texas DoT's $1B GrandParkway Project – US Gov'ts Big Banks Bailout|SunTrust (while Fixing Fragile Families?) [First Publ. July 26, 2016. See also my ~>March 3, 2010<~ post]. (blog-generated, case-sensitive short-link ends "-43Z") from which this, except the lead-in, is a basic, blanket re-post. It may display a little differently (background colors and fonts), but basically the same content. Now the nest is a little more empty over there as I've just removed about a third of its volume…
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Changing (the) World, Changing (the) Words: Sovereignty, Circumscribing Sovereignty versus Global 'Citizenship' (the Unmentionable: then who is the Global 'Sovereign'?). References. [Publ. Nov. 24, 2017]
This topic came up in my recent posts during discussions of the "Global Framework for Tobacco Control" and HiAP (Health in All Policies) cited as an example of how to get national (countries) and local (states or territories in the USA, or presumably provinces in Canada, Australia, or elsewhere, i.e., sub-national political divisions) to implement a policy and laws to go with it, at the lower (lower than planetary) levels.
This post, Changing (the) World, Changing (the) Words: Sovereignty, Circumscribing Sovereignty versus Global 'Citizenship' (the Unmentionable: then who is the Global 'Sovereign'?). References: (case-sensitive short-link ends "-7MB" started Oct. 14, 2017, published Nov. 24), came from HiAP (HEALTH, not LAW*, in All Policies) Coordinated from Afar, Applied Locally, including throughout the USA (case-sensitive shortlink ends "-7LY", published Oct. 24, 2017). That title added to tags as "Originating Post." This post in its concept also relates to a post published Oct. 26, ("Health as an Asset" "Thought Leadership" and the Chatham House Rule: ) and with extended "Foreword" section added later (but still pre-publication) and minor post-publication updates for clarity is about 8,500 words.
I am increasingly realizing how, for example, "tobacco cessation laws" and changes to the very health departments around the USA can be and have been initiated FIRST at the global level by NGOs and related organizations. This has been given a "health" focus for justification.
See also financial standardization at the global level: My recent "Happening Now" post also references the processes in place as I write, and fairly recently (since the 2008 economic crisis) to standardize the system of "Legal Entity Identifiers" and to better monitor if not control "shadow banking activity," meaning not necessarily illegal activity, but "bank-like activities" not under direct regulation by, for example, bodies like the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission). This is the economic, trading, finance, money sector with major implications for whether it will be completed and if so, how complete, and how well run.
The conversation (so to speak) below started on that HiAP ("HEALTH not LAW") post with a hypothetical question I posed, and having noticed my own breezing right past the question of "sovereignty" when it came to global citizenship, I put on the brakes, looked it up in my favorite etymological dictionary. ["A map of the wheel-ruts of the English language"] and started looking for historical usages of the word. ["sovereign" in OED also includes other definitions using the word; see next two images:]
And, under "hegemony," linked from the same "OE" search results for "sovereign," (emphases added):
hegemon (n.) 1897, originally with reference to the position of Great Britain in the world, from Greek hegemon "an authority, leader, sovereign" (see hegemony).
hegemony (n.)
1560s, "preponderance, dominance, leadership," originally of predominance of one city state or another in Greek history; [[Obviously, over the others..//LGH.]] from Greek hegemonia "leadership, a leading the way, a going first;" also "the authority or sovereignty of one city-state over a number of others," as Athens in Attica, Thebes in Boeotia; from hegemon "leader, an authority, commander, sovereign," from hegeisthai "to lead," perhaps originally "to track down," from PIE *sag-eyo-, from root *sag- "to seek out, track down, trace" (see seek). In reference to modern situations from 1850, at first of Prussia in relation to other German states.
Right away, you can see the usage is asserting "sovereignty" in opposition to something or some other authority. This is where the concept of global citizenship as a tactic to minimize and place on a lower level "national sovereignty" (the laws of nation to which their citizens are subject) to some other source falls short of the language of reason, i.e., it wishes to take the positive connotations of one term, and omit the negative ones of the corollary term, while apparently not getting caught at it, which on closer look seems more like force by subterfuge than, overall, concern for the common good.
The more momentum and force is obtained through subterfuge, the less effort it causes those obtaining it, and apparently the less necessary it becomes to even pretend to legitimacy. This increasing quality unchecked will simply continue to saturate the economy and public institutions. There are many parallels to mistakenly getting into a close or committed relationship with an abuser, batterer or in short, sociopath, from which exit is a serious and costly fight. The basic lesson is, don't enter into it by consent in the first place; know who one is dealing with. And, know the wider context in which he or she operates, including "with whom."
Without something sovereign, it seems there can be no "citizenship." In the language used exalting global citizenship — I've added just a taste and reminder of this within a "Foreword" section below — the silence, or attempt to substitute the global "we" "us" or even "the planet" "earth" (etc.) — leaves an major information not just gap, but a chasm where credibility of the terminology does not exist. Just exactly who do the leading advocates of "global is good, nationalism is bad per se, (by definition)," say is sovereign; and does that match who actions indicate some believe are already sovereign over the earth itself, and especially of its people? Is it WHO, the World Health Organization, or the UN, or a collection of NON-government organizations? And if these are NON-government, then how can they represent those global citizens being governed..
See also, published just days before "HiAP (Health Not LAW)"…
"Health as an Asset" "Thought Leadership" and the Chatham House Rule:** A Section Unearthed from My "Smoking Control/Tobacco Litigation" Post and Reposted Here, in light of Current Congressional Events, and in light of Senator Flake's (2014) Commentary Before the CFR citing to 9/11 and the Iraq War Commended (?) for Unifying the United States. [case-sensitive short-link ending "-7QH." Re-posted (bottom half) and written (top half) Oct. 25-26, 2017].[Published Oct. 26, 2017] (**the Chatham House Rule is basically anonymity of speaker within group conferences whose results may be published. See post for more.) About half that title added to tags as "Originating Concept Post."
Examples of the language "global citizenship" language entrenched in institutions but without the corresponding discussion of the related concept, "sovereignty" alongside it.
When citizenship is to be re-imagined (it comes up below) and that citizenship is to be global, this entails a change of sovereign entity to which the citizens subscribe, and under whose laws they are to exist, and whose infrastructures they will be supporting with life energies and using, likely, that nation's central banks currency, too, as well as its registration standards for corporations, for-profit and not-for-profit, and so forth.
I'm including a substantial "Foreword" with two "for example" sections to make the point that we are constantly being primed institutionally and business wise for "globalization + global citizenships" as a great, a "21st Century," value" (1) Common Core and Globalization, (2) Rutgers and Globalization or even the (as previously published) Tobacco Framework also in that context, but the related concept rarely discussed in the "Global Citizenship as a Positive Value" promotions and publications. But this point was neither the inspiration for the post, nor its main point. They are there for examples, and added information, but they are not the "why" for this post.
Also, in talking about Rutgers example below (which was not part of the original spin-off post, just an introduction to it), I'm in no way against "study abroad" programs or bringing international students here to study either. That can and should continue happening.
But does it require going nuts over the "global citizenship" and "integrating it into the curriculum across 30 colleges and a biomedical research center" and granting awards for doing this — as Rutgers has? [Documented below]Not really. And IF one is going to talk "global citizenship," then the question comes up, and should be handled in the same circles and on the same publications: "So, who's "sovereign" (who's on top?) of the whole "let us now globalize all" culture? It isn't, so I gather those behind the globalization are MUCH more interested in achieving it (their business and transformational goals) and not a fair or balanced presentation of the rationale behind them.
If we're going global from cradle-to-career, where's the corresponding discussion on switching allegiances and sovereignties? You won't find it in the examples given below. The process is incremental and designed (so it seems) to alleviate violent protests over the erosion of the national, political jurisdictions. Among the countries that I say has the most to lose in that situation is the United States. We're large, we're a developed country, we already support WHO and so forth. Smaller countries, less developed countries, and those without constitutions that protect the public, and at least on paper, could handle major corruption, have a lot to gain. (See Thanksgiving-Day published post referencing the G20 and standardizing economic systems and business identifiers for better trade…).
Foreword — Other (than "HiAP") Examples:
The common phrase "global citizenship" apparently is now to be engrained into the US Education system, it seems at PreK-12 and university levels both. The Dean of Global Education at University of Oregon's College of Education explains how in a global economy, business really does follow the lowest wages, so the least likely to profit from this are American students. And other references.
(1) Globalizing a US PreK-12 Public Education (some Common Core debates, and featuring another Opportunist 501©3 Org. promoting the Transformation Tools)
Washington Post, 2013, The Answer Sheet posted by Valerie Strauss, Article by Yang Zhao, "Five Key Questions About Common Core." The Q&A makes sense on its own, but take a look at the author's affiliations:
…Yong Zhao, presidential chair and associate dean for global education at the University of Oregon's College of Education, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Advanced Technology in Education. He is a fellow of the International Academy for Education. Until December 2010, he was director of both the Center for Teaching and Technology and the U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence at Michigan State University, as well as the executive director of the Confucius Institute/Institute for Chinese Teacher Education.
Happening NOW: Locally and Within the USA, Matching Nonprofits to Legal Entities and Tracking Them Remains at Best (for Most) a Messy, Expensive and Unreliable Process, But Internationally — More Streamlined, Monitored, and Standardized for Faster, Easier, and More Profitable Trade. See FSF, FSB (G20-formed, 2009), LEI Legal Entity Identifier [global database + system], GLEIF (Swiss Foundation), LOUs (who issue LEIs) and 'KYC' (Know Your Customer) [Publ. Nov. 23, 2017].
Post Title with Shortlink…
Happening NOW: Locally and within the USA, Matching Nonprofits to Legal Entities and Tracking Them Remains at Best (for Most) a Messy, Expensive and Unreliable Process, but Internationally — More Streamlined, Monitored, and Standardized for Faster, Easier, and More Profitable Trade. See FSF, FSB (G20-formed, 2009), LEI Legal Entity Identifier [global database + system], GLEIF (Swiss Foundation), LOUs (who issue LEIs) and 'KYC' (Know Your Customer) [Publ. Nov. 23, 2017]. (case-sensitive short-link ending "-7To"; moved here Nov. 3, 2017, publ. Thanksgiving Day). (About 8,000 words with some post-publication revisions).
…and Geneaology." Where it was moved from (which post also has its own "Footnote Post" published 11/22/17):
Before WHO's HiAP there was UN's Agenda 21; As Usual, Internationally-Networked Nonprofits such as ~ ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA, Inc.** ~ (1991ff, MA legal domicile; first HQ in Boston, then Berkeley, then Oakland, and lately Denver) Help Spread the Latest Version of the Global Gospel. (with case-sensitive short-link ending "-7N2," post started 10/14/2017 as one of two spin-off posts from my "HiAP" one; being published ca. Nov. 3)
Miscellaneous (blog-related) FYI: Images here (and as a rule) are clickable to enlarge unless otherwise noted that clicking on them will lead to the website quoted. Sometimes quotes and images may display similarly; one indicator is that the images usually have borders and a caption. And are more likely to have logos, photos, etc. I'm about to stop saying this on each caption, to simplify image captions and save space on them. "CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE (if needed) is the default…. Why: One drawback of linking directly to the website is that websites change so often, links later end up broken. A saved image, however, is a saved image (Printed from the website, saved as "png" or "Pdf" files on my computer, then uploaded and stored on this blog domain; not the Internet-at-large. I've been blogging for over nine years; "change happens" in those URLs meanwhile!!).
As detailed as my post titles are, they typically don't name all topics covered in the post. The next two numbered paragraphs summarize what didn't make it into the title but did into the post. Between numbered paragraphs (1) and (2) I added a quote and images reviewing the background and timeline of the HHS and its previous incarnations as it relates to these topics.
Para. (1) is just below this Foreword, and starts:
(1) This post also contains a section reviewing the greatest ad agency of the 20th century (Lord & Thomas) and the philanthropist Lasker family's (who controlled it since the early 1900s) political and HHS-expanding* influences…
For reference and because of the sizeable explanatory gap between them, Paragraph (2) starts:
(2) Oh yes, "Choose Chicago" is the name of aI 2012-formed 501©3, with a board of just about three individuals, but it's related to and was formed by a different 501©6 dating to 1970.
The TOP "HALF" OF THE POST deals with FIRST HALF OF ITS TITLE, demonstrating how messy it can get following LOCAL nonprofits (Prime example: Paragraphs (1) and (2) as mentioned above).
The BOTTOM "HALF" (not including a "experiential footnote" section at the bottom) CONTRASTS BY SHOWING EFFORTS TO STANDARDIZE AND ORGANIZE INTERNATIONAL ENTITY TRACKING AND IDENTIFICATION. This section has less explanation and more and larger images in a series numbered "#1/11" through "#11/11."
TWO MAIN TOPICS, but in "A-B-A" format: The post has basically two subjects, but as previously written, then expanded to add the HHS background and "Choose Chicago" IRS Form 990 tables (in interactive format), I see there are actually three major sections, making for an "A-B-A" format: the third section (after the 11 images and International section with all those acronyms: LEI, LOU, GLEIF, KYC etc.) returns to the subject matter of both ad agency and Choose Chicago. Then there's a minor commentary footnote at the very bottom. Switching it back to "A-B" format I feel would push the International Section too far down on the page, also some of the third section may be review for people who have been regularly reading the blog or followed my posts on Tobacco Cessation and Big Tobacco Litigation, Settlements, etc.
Different sections are shown by large subtitles. The first two are easily seen, and here's the third (the return to original subject):
Two Famous Ad Agencies, one succeeding the other, and a client, "Choose Chicago" and related philanthropy
In General. What concerns me is where nationally-based errors (which are built-in and at times, "beyond belief" for how large, and how many they are, based on what I've seen so far as just a single blogger, though I say a consistent and diligent one) will be uploaded to the global level, let alone who will control it. If you amplify corruption, you get more corruption concealed, potentially, and harder to fix.
Consistently dishonest reporting on nonprofit entities is corruption. I'm not sure the international level of business identifiers referred to here is directed at the nonprofit sector, but it comes along with the corporate sector; they are interlaced and "joined at the hip" through funding and asset investments. We are dealing at the G20 levels in this topic. (See "G20.org" for more info.)
A few reminders of who are the G20, the G7, and its purposes:
Quote July 2017 from "theBalance.com" should be taken "as-is" (website uses independent contractors as contributors):
What does the G-20 Do? | World Leaders Address Terrorism, Climate Change, and Economic Crises, by Kimberly Amadeo in "The Balance" (Updated July 18, 2017)
The G-20 is the G-7 plus developing nations such as Brazil, China, India and Russia. The G-20's members represent two-thirds of the world's people and 85 percent of its economy. Since 2007, the media has covered each G-20 summit. That recognizes the members' role as significant drivers of the world economy.
The G-20's primary mandate is to prevent future international financial crises. It seeks to shape the global economic agenda.
It lends the perspective of Asian and Latin American growing economies. That "broadens the scope of international economic and financial cooperation." (Source: "The Group of Twenty: A History," G-20 Study Group, 2007.)
The finance ministers and central bank governors of the G-20 countries meet twice a year. They meet at the same time as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. (Source: "G-20 Information Centre," G-20.)
In 1999, these ministers and governors created the G-20. They needed dialogue between developing and developed countries. They were responding to the 2007 Asian currency crisis. The meetings started as an informal get-together of finance ministers and central bankers.
2017 Summit Meeting
July 7-8, 2017: Hamburg, Germany. The meeting focused on climate change and global trade. It made little progress. U.S. President Donald Trump opposed the views of the other 19 countries.
From the G20.org website (Germany was President in 2017, and the meeting in Hamburg in July 2017). Some general facts: (I replaced "bold" with "underline" here):
Partners – key international institutions
At the invitation of each Presidency, international organisations also regularly attend the G20 meetings. These organisations include the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the World Bank (WB), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN). The German G20 Presidency has also invited the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017.
Participation – the most important guests
Spain attends the G20 Summits as a permanent guest. The Presidency can also invite representatives of regional organisations and guests to the G20 Summit. The German Presidency has invited Norway, the Netherlands and Singapore as partner countries to the G20 process, as well as the African Union (AU), represented by Guinea, the Asia‑Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), represented by Vietnam, and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), represented by Senegal.
And in case there is any question whether the 2008 financial crises led to the formation of the G20, and from there, a Financial Stability Forum and "FSB" (Financial Stability Board) now resulting in the global LEI system, second decade of the 21st century, with (see the 11 images below) intent to better control "Shadow Banking", next image also from G20.org says this:
Also interesting is how recently this level of business identifier was developed. It's still evolving and registration I'm sure so far is incomplete.. [End "Foreword"//LGH.]
Identifying Underlying Realities* Domestically and Keeping Track of them over Time: "How Messy It is!"
See first ½ of post title:
Locally and within the USA, Matching Nonprofits to Legal Entities and Tracking Them* Remains (for Most) a Messy and Expensive and Unreliable Process at Best….
(1) This post also contains a section reviewing the greatest ad agency of the 20th century (Lord & Thomas) and the philanthropist Lasker family's (who controlled it since the early 1900s)political and HHS-expanding* influences, then checking back in with current successor ad agency Foote Cone & Belding("FCB")'s new CEO (German, in the process of becoming an American citizen) and according to some descriptions (incl. "Wiki") one of FCB's key Chicago clients, "Choose Chicago," promoting international (especially from mainland China!) tourism to this Great Lakes City.
*(so to speak; HHS was only formed in 1980, predecessor HEW in 1953, before that see "FSA" (Federal Security Agency) (Suggested review includes at ALLGov.com, or @ HHS.gov (Highlights)
(This, and next image, from "ALLGov.com")
One of the largest civilian departments in the federal government, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the implementation of numerous health and welfare-related programs. HHS' budget accounts for almost one out of every four federal dollars, and it administers more grant dollars than all other federal agencies combined. HHS' Medicare program is the nation's largest health insurer, handling more than 1 billion claims per year. Medicare and Medicaid together provide health care insurance for 25% of Americans. Many HHS-funded services are provided at the local level by state or county agencies or through private sector grantees. With its large size also has come a large number of troubles and controversies involving birth control, prescription drugs, food safety and more. …
[[See next annotated image for Public Health Service (1902) with Food and Drug Act, NIH (1930), up through Carter Administration's 1980 HEW becoming in part, the HHS + (separated from "HEW") the DOE (Dept. of Education). Not referenced, but generally known — a few World Wars, Korean War, Viet Nam War meanwhile, and (less well-known but still relevant) Congressionally-granted (to the U.S. President) the authority to reorganize the executive branch, particularly relevant and utilized by FDR in 1939 (on the eve of WWII) and not rescinded until 1980. Basically, it seems the drastic expansion of what is now HHS occurred during the years this Reorganization Authority was in force.
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Post Footnotes for "Before WHO's HiAP… A Closer Look at ICLEI-Local Gov'ts for Sustainability…" post, starting with "NYT Activists Fight Green Projects" [Published Nov. 22, 2017]
Ideally, this blog format should be upgraded to a more structured website with options besides Posts, Pages, and Sidebar Widgets (with more links and some accompanying text) so I may leave "supplemental" and more detailed texts or backup facts with clickable links to other parts of the website.
But until then, what I have now is either: Omit It, Post It, Page It, or (less space, less viable option), "Sidebar-it." Or footnote it on the same post. If I knew how to insert a navigation link (as many websites do — for example, Wikipedia, or academic writings posted on-line often have this) TO a specific place lower in the page, and from there "Back" or "To Top" — I would. Presently, I don't.
THIS POST IS: Post Footnotes for "Before WHO's HiAP… A Closer Look at ICLEI-Local Gov'ts for Sustainability…" post, starting with "NYT Activists Fight Green Projects" (case-sensitive short-link ending "-7T1" started Nov. 2, 2017, published Nov. 22.)
For now, consider this post as although it'll be published separately (and later) as its own post, as "Footnotes" to:
Before WHO's HiAP there was UN's Agenda 21; As Usual, Internationally-Networked Nonprofits such as ~ ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA, Inc.** ~ (1991ff, MA legal domicile; first HQ in Boston, then Berkeley, then Oakland, and lately Denver) Help Spread the Latest Version of the Global Gospel. (with case-sensitive short-link ending "-7N2," post started 10/14/2017 as one of two spin-off posts from my "HiAP" one; being published ca. Nov. 1)
Footnotes, they may be interesting if long or detailed enough, but are still "footnotes" not headlines, and not designed for reading separately to, or before, reading the main points in the body of the text. So here, if you read what's below before reading the post referenced above (its main body), you may find it intriguing, but incomplete. For example in the first section (commentary on a NYT article), the images are back on the main post. The paragraphs here would add too much vertical space between title and the first image, and so were moved to another place, as important as I consider the points made.
Visual Style: Each footnote is long — or it'd have been left in place on its parent post. A new Footnote will be distinguished by Title starting with the word 'FOOTNOTE' and separated from each other also by different background-colors. They are somewhat shorter than normal width to alert readers to the fact this is not attempting to be a normal post with a continuous narrative, but exists as a supplement to a normal one, written in continuous prose (although typically in different sections).
Perhaps I could make a continuous "Footnote page" separated by Post names (like "chapters" as in a book). Hmm. But for now, you have these "footnotes" for just a single post. I also added a "Post as Footnote" tag. Publishing this knocks of one of ten "in the pipeline." Enjoy: it's under 2,500 words!
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Six Posts (at least) in the Pipeline Pre-Thanksgiving 2017, Yet I See I'd Outlined the Same Basics One Year Ago (Nov. 2016) [Published 11/21/2017].
Title:Six Posts (at least) in the Pipeline, Pre-Thanksgiving 2017 (looking back, looking forward…), Yet I See I'd Outlined Nearly the Same Basics One Year Ago (Nov. 2016) [Published 11/21/2017]. (case-sensitive short-link ends "-7ZH"). Published initially with tags; about 9,500 words including the "navigation" section with its outline of subtitles near the top, which I felt would help process the many images and references found in the middle. And an extended section on previously-blogged JPA (multi-state, i.e., "regional" government entity) WestEd, which now has a revamped website (which still neglects to post its financials and mis-states its date of origin by 30 years…).
On the bottom of this post I've been updating the status of the referenced posts while publishing them, one by one over the past ten days (Nov. 22 – Dec. 1: see post archives for November 2017 for dates). Once published each post is then re-viewed, clarified, sometimes extending it, sometimes just correcting layout. I'm posting more frequently now, but it's still an intense process which ALWAYS uncovers more information to blog, OFTEN further illuminates my own understanding of some situations (typically, organizations placed in the intersection between public and private — and the board members' ownership of, or investment in, subcontracting organizations) I may have been aware of for years, which I look forward to explaining as I can. Maintaining the anchor (mental commitment) to those already in draft, shown below, sometimes provides conflicting currents as a writer. I write best typically while most focused on the present research in the overarching context of my own learning curve and desire to communicate clearly what I am seeing and hearing, and watching continue to evolve over the years. //LGH, Dec. 1, 2017.
Just in case, Title Terminology: "In the Pipeline" is a common phrase (school-to-prison pipeline, cradle-to-career-pipeline), but here's how I use it referring instead just to posts.
Posts in the pipeline or "spin-off posts" are portions of some writing in process* with a blog "street address" but still in draft status, felt to be significant enough for more attention under their own titles. *Typically they come up as I am writing some post, and are related but I feel they may seem extraneous to a reader covering the subject matter for the first time. Other times, less often, I start them from scratch on their own post when I realize the topic should be handled before it almost writes itself on some other project I want published sooner.
Sometimes these off-ramped finds, like my more consistently noticing the presence of independent subcontractors as major part of some charities, are a key which puts the larger picture together, i.e., opens double-wide doors to understanding. Examples: Bridgespan as a subcontractor (and its relationship to "Bain"); or, further back in its corporate existence (and in my blog's history), NCCD (National Council on Crime & Delinquency) as an Oakland, California-based subcontractor taking government grants from around the world, or I should say, around the "Commonwealth Nations" and around the USA, on a "Children's Rights, Inc." charity based in New York.
There is a recent example also on these blogs, too, although it's not as a subcontractor of some charity, but a listed partner among others in on certain website offering multi-state filings for charities. One of the listed partners was bought out within six years of its creation, leading to my better understanding of a (different) company historically significant to the practice of corporate law in the United States (!), and as we have (already) turned the century into the digital age and the professionalization of services to and "software AS a service" companies to the philanthropic / nonprofit sector.
Typically also posts in the pipeline were nearly complete before I moved them under their own titles, with "nearly" still meaning "not yet.." in blog administrator terms. Parallels to baking bread, or, (to borrow from my more familiar, experiential points of reference), preparing and rehearsing a musical ensemble for a concert, may help explain a sense when 90% "done" isn't good enough. It's not about complete perfection, it's about having enough vital components to complete the course and "deliver the goods" for better understanding of the evolving"playing field" in which this blog became necessary.
About This Post:
This post is shorter than most. It serves a review and blog administrative function for my use, but I'm publishing it in the belief it will also help readers see the FamilyCourtMatters blog continuity and understand that while it may seem like widely disparate groups I'm investigating and reporting on, in fact the investigations and reports together circle around some core, basic themes. [This thought continued below the next "Navigation" section]
Navigation: Blog sections, by Subtitle. It seems there are six main sections. Any section may contain text in a variety of formats, and/or images. I only posted one table of Forms 990 (for a change!). The longer Sections 2 and 5, especially, set up the Posts in the Pipeline as being along the same concepts but just applied to different organizations. There is overlap of type, and (future posts will show) also overlap of entities and personnel involved — hardly surprising because I'm looking at some of the more powerful foundations around, and major causes with public policy in transition…There is also some overlap of material below between some of the sections.
I don't want us to lose sight of what some of these influential groups have themselves lost sight of — the requirement of holding to some real ethics, reason, and at least an attempt to keep their collaborating colleagues honest, instead of just "going for the jugular" on some groups which might be in competition for the same audiences. Which I say happened in the recent prosecution of a sham (fake) cancer charities. Not that they weren't sham (I read — seems like they certainly were) — but they ALSO were in competition with the tobacco mega-fund money coursing triumphantly through government and the philanthropic sectors both, and often in partnership.
That last comment will make more sense in the context of reading up on "NAAG" and "NASCO" (see Outline here):
- About This Post (you're in it…)
- Concentric Circles of Investigation, Common Themes – To Review
- WestEd (MIA financials on both old and new websites; see prior posts on this).
- AISR at Brown and Annenberg Foundation-Related
- NAAG, NASCO (current project and research themes)
- Multi-million-dollar MIA grants (overlaps with some of the above and below groups)
- Multi-million-dollar Grants not MIA, but it sure seems the projects are, and don't look remotely that classy when parts of them show up, either…
- NCALP at Capital University (Columbus, Ohio) (transformed into) Family & Youth Law Center / and its IPV Collaborative personally assisting David Mandel's career path through curricula marketing.
- Basic conclusion to the "Concentric Circles / Review" section: "The more you look, the more of such situations surface. How much is acceptable? It is really something which is subject to being controlled and monitored — or not?"
- "The Same Basics One Year Ago, " (brief, only one image)
- More Recent Discoveries (contents include BizFilings, Guidestar, short section — but Guidestar info cont'd in another section)
- Brief Recap of the recent Nov. 18 post and Nov. 11 page significance, and more images from "Guidestar, Inc." (formerly "Philanthropic Research, Inc.") and a bit on (Paul) Newman's Own Foundation, Inc. (versions 1 & 2, based in Connecticut), also referenced as involved, or to be involved, in the MRFP and Single Portal Initiative…
- Contains narrative and many images, plus a Form 990 table for GuideStar USA, Inc.
- Summarizes the most recent post and page, obviously.
- IN GENERAL (barely a section, but it is a heading)
- Six Posts (at least) in the Pipeline, Pre-Thanksgiving 2017 (looking back, looking forward…)
- In image format (not interactive)
- In texts (bulleted, with titles, links and some surrounding descriptions from the context where they were first referenced).
As you can see above, the actual list of posts is on the bottom in two formats: Images (from my WordPress Admin site showing titles of post started in November and still in draft) and, for later convenience, text & titles with active links. And some surrounding abstracts or reminders of the context. And it's at the bottom of the post. FYI there were
nine ten (10) in all, not six (6). One more showed up which hadn't been imaged (on the historic basis of "Sovereignty" concept, from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).*
*That is, after all, a big question (despite it having become a "dirty word" and negative- or positive-only values-laden descriptor for certain people with certain beliefs in the USA — the question in any form of government is "Who's the boss?" (legally, and effectively/administratively which will often show up economically). So, national "sovereignty" as a concept has origins in contrast to, it seems the Holy Roman Empire. Worth thinking about in the historic sense. This post just provides some resources (links) for further reading.
An image looks like this (the example only has one title showing, though).
A title with link looks just like what you see at the top, or will see if you scroll to the bottom of this post, below the images, to see those in the pipeline listed in bullet format, with some nearby fine-print summaries for most of them. Why? Because with enough memory pegs for the months or even possibly years of writing ahead (further down the FamilyCourtMatters road), I expect my head may be buried either deeper into this theme, or into a related one. I sometimes even dream about material I am currently working; it gets under one's skin…Once it's published, a previous multi-post project is buried less deeply in my psyche (so to speak), but is better available for mental recall when there's enough surrounding context. As with advertising, to a degree also with teaching (and learning): repetition helps comprehension, but better that the repetition is also tied to context.
…These concentric or overlapping circles are just getting wider and further back in time, and the drill-downs on the available financials (or searches when they are not available) deeper. I am also considering more parts of a typical Form 990 when I do look, and more internal comparisons and looking more consistently at change over time (i.e., looking for earlier filings). So while some may wonder what "Education" or "Big Tobacco" have to do, really, with "Family Courts" or "Domestic Violence Prevention," as a whole, they are dealing with and justified on the basis of financial matters, and involve similar vehicles and organizing tactics (networking) over time in pursuit if any national or international cause.
Developing overwhelming weight and influence (to stack the odds towards success) in pursuit of a privately chosen cause (public policy, message, results or outcomes) also regularly shows ongoing symptoms, often showing up after the fact or after the infrastructure is already entrenched with matters of control, secrecy, of sequestering of total government entity (collective) AND total corporate (collective, when it comes to the networks) size of assets and investments (income producing, whether through dividends and interest as held, or when sold) from public awareness, and on this basis, demanding more and more compliance, conformity, and personal concessions from the population as a whole.
Many aspects of this resemble tactics of batterers and coercive control when at the individual level which we might now simply call "abuse" or "domestic violence." It's the behavior of terrorist mentality, not of a personal subjection to law, and deep respect for others of differing economic, social, racial/ethnic, citizenship OR status. Or of a different gender. Talk to women or, I'll bet also men, who have been held captive to this kind of intimate or family control, coercion, and long-term intimidation, not to commonly-accepted laws, standards, or with regard to rights — but to simply what the abusers want. The difference is just of scale and primary venue, and the bystander audiences addressed. What I'm talking about here is when the bystander audiences are the entire country not "in on it," and international participants, too.
Concentric Circles of Investigation, Common Themes – To Review
… … …To review, remember the "where's your tax return?" status of certain major-cause-collaborating, well-financed (and public, private, or public-private in concert) groups I've blogged on? such as (just a few examples…):
- WestEd (I notice the website has been, it seems, completely reformatted since I reported on this. A horizontal timeline slideshow now exists. While this probably relates to a 50th Anniversary (since 1966), I note there are STILL no Financials (CAFRs — it being a JPA, a government, not private, entity which crosses state borders, though domiciled in California), despite posting an impressive list by type of "Our Clients and Funders" (no amounts or years, and not distinguishing "clients" from "funders." It's just a single page which links to nothing else). So are the pages within the timeline, that I saw so far.
- I posted on it Nov. 18, 2016, as "ConnectED + MPR Associates Inc. + Gary Hoachlander, WestEd, and the US Dept. of Ed, with help from James Irvine Foundation, shortlink ends in "-4LK") (It is currently 16,000 words long, and a bit complex! Then again, so are the networks I am discussing and exposing…)"
- I posted again on this situation the following May, under the theme "Disconnected," which too many of us certainly have been from following our own government agency operations and financials, even those running school systems as massive human behavioral modification and teaching laboratories: "DISCONNECTED!" — More on ConnectEd (2006ff nonprofit) and WestEd (1995ff JPA claiming to be since 1966). Can YOU Follow the Connections, Find and Correlate the Financial Statements, and Name the EndGame(s)? [Publ. May 2017, updated twice since]. {short-link ending "-6k7".} This post proves that WestEd is government in part by looking up its designation on some of its various trademarks (which also, helpfully, provides years too).
- See more below on this one, including images from its updated website, and key points from the above two posts…
- AISR (The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown) + CES (Coalition of Essential Schools) network, the Ted & Nancy Sizer et al. Plenty posted before, enough said for now!
- Except I recall some MIA grants involving a Chicago Entity, and later CPS Schools Chief being ousted for fraud in grants administration. (See posts in below images)
- Nearby "Broad Institute | Academy | Center | Foundation (versions 1 versions 2) possibly related. Had to do with training for urban school system supervisors.
- And, one post title with active link, and all those posts (in image form with dates published dates):
Challenging the Annenbergs' Public Education Challenge Grants, Still Searching for AISR@Brown as a Form 990 filer, Still Scrutinizing Why We Accept that Privately Controlled, Synched, Billion-Dollar, Tax-Exempt Foundations Care about the Public as Much as About Controlling Their Collective Assets (and the Public, Lest We Start Demanding a Better Look at the Books!) with case-sensitive short-link ending "-6yC"
The first several paragraphs here overlap from the originating post, before I "get into it," scrutinizing some of the Forms 990PF and relationships between various Annenberg projects and their main foundation. *** [see below next para. and link]
As previously explained (on the last post, above), this is a large family foundation (well, at least one) whose primary wealth came from ownership of publications/media field — the sale of "Triangle Publications," by a second-generation business success, Walter H. Annenberg.
- The NGA (National Governors' Association) which controls its foundation (501©3) thereby allowing direct corporate "Fellows" concentration, with privileged access, to its conferences that normal citizens cannot attend (i.e., Pay-Us-To-Play in the "major leagues," but for which no financials are shown, that I can see (view tax returns of the supporting "NGA Center for Best Practices" for more details). The 'NGA" is one of the "Big Seven" associations coordinating efforts before the Congress on their own behalf. [no reminder text or images provided here; it's more distant blog history…]
- …and now, more recently, I see the NAAG (National Association of Attorneys General) and NASCO (National Association of State Charity Officials), the NAAG's "Mission Foundation" (formed in 2002? with funds from MSA Tobacco Settlement), and I haven't yet explored in depth, but there are plenty of visuals showing a "NAGTRI" (Training and Research Institute) said to have been created in 2007 (logo below, accessible through main NAAG.org website). Then again, it's hard to explore what one can't even access yet.
About MRFP, Inc. (NAAG/NASCO's "Single Portal Initiative" for MultiState Registration and Filing by Charities — except, apparently, for MRFP, Inc, NAAG, and NASCO). Also See my New Page (publ. 11/11/17) on SimpleCharityRegistration.com [This post publ. 11/18/2017].
Post Title: About MRFP, Inc. (NAAG/NASCO's "Single Portal Initiative" for MultiState Registration and Filing by Charities — except, apparently, for MRFP, Inc, NAAG, and NASCO). Also See my New Page (publ. 11/11/17) on SimpleCharityRegistration.com [This post Publ. 11/18/2017](case-sensitive shortlink here ends "-7X8").
Subtitle: Who's Regulating the Regulators? Why are they exempt from the rules they exist to enforce? Wake Up, People!!
Those Acronyms in the Title: "MRFP" = (see post title).* "NAAG" = National Association of Attorneys General. And "NASCO," it's said, is "National Association of State Charity Officials."**
- *Technically speaking, "MRFP, Inc." is a business name, not an acronym, but it does seem to represent the phrase"MultiState Registration and Filing Portal."
- **"Proof of Life" or business entity personhood is just not found so far, despite other similar or interested entities, even the IRS.gov itself, publicizing, positively, the name in full and as an acronym as if a creditable point of reference and a legitimate entity with a legal domicile somewhere in the USA or one of its territories.
- **If so, if NASCO exists, where is its incorporation or charitable registration; does it even have an EIN#? If yes, then where are its tax returns or even a single Form 990-N? Or where is it on someone else's tax return as its fiscal agent?
- **…Speaking of which, I'd ask NAAG (i.e., a NAAG Tax return/Form 990) which seems to be acting as a fiscal agent for some NASCO functions — but where are NAAG's returns (even though NAAG's EIN#, no thanks to NAAG's own website, was eventually found)??
For an example of references to NASCO (as well as apparent confusion, as ever, between the puppet and the puppeteers, that is, the creation and the creators — specifically a business with a product, and the product itself), these next two links to a single document written as if responding to the "RFI" (Request for Information) on the Single Portal Initiative, showing the logos for "GUIDESTAR" on the left and "SimpleCharityRegistration.com" on the right, and the found document was actually posted at MRFP, Inc. …
By the time you get through my page on this, you'll see that SimpleCharityRegistration.com also adds fully FOUR logos labeled "in partnership with" of which one is Guidestar, and another one (BizFilings.com) provides us clues to the whole mess that predates the federal income tax, and how corporate law was adjusted (and by whom) to get around anti-trust laws of the same era. It's fascinating information and definitely turned on some of my own lights as to the phenomenon I'd already observed of effective monopolies (or "oligarchies") within the nonprofit sector and intersecting with government itself.
I also discuss several aspects of that situation here, adding some new links.
Annotated: RFI response to MRFP by GuideStar and Simple Charity Registration (4pp, p1 only shown) My many annotations highlight the troubled verbiage found at a RFI posted at MRFP, Inc. What's more, that pdf seems immune to being displayed as an image other than directly from the website (meaning, if the link changes, "too bad.").. Please do click that link and read my annotations … The annotations make for a visually cluttered page but still raise ongoing and important questions about the language. I question whether anyone who could produce and would even think it appropriate to post a mess like this should be taken seriously when the topic is organizing and monitoring charitable entities (!!). Apparently some corners (lots of them) have been cut in putting up a show of fair usage of the funds involved for such a project.
Plain: Link to a clean copy, all 4 pages, posted at MRFPinc.org under "Request for Information" and apparently from this and other context dated sometime after 2015 or 2016, although it's not actually dated (or signed) within those four pages, at all. One of the companies mentioned on it, I still haven't found.
On 11/11/2017, after some days of rapt attention to this new area of learning about how many different ways (and how many red flags along the ways) government employees of high rank and authority over and responsibility to regulate major parts of the private sector can and so often do form private-sector corporations, boasting among each other and on the private-sector corporate websites (which many of the public may never stumble across, ever…) about the public benefits for the project — and doing this all while withholding/concealing identifiable registration of the same private-sector (tax-exempt of course), or failing-to-file, and/or failing-to-file-IRS Forms 990 even when they may have registered,* and in general thus distracting the public from one of the most critical things that public deserves to know,** I published a new page containing a helpful list, alpha by state, of where charities have to register…unless they don't because for some reason they're exempt.
Page Title: State-by-State Charity Lookup Links (from SimpleCharityRegistration.com's March 2017 WordPress post) Started Nov. 8, 2017, Published Nov. 11; intended for my "Vital Links" sidebar menu. Case-sensitive, generated short-link ends "-7Vm" Recommended — read that Page before this Post for better statement of context.
Without a glossary of organizations and sense of who they are and how they interact, and some examples of how they speak and act (for "act," I'm talking filing accountability and transparency issues, absence or presence of double-talk, or promoting what may (and sometimes sure seem to be acting like) fake-name persona (repetition of reference among the community substituting for actual registration and production of tax returns, or a declaration why there are none), this gets complicated. [The complication on the part of above-named organizations seems intentional.] I've been studying this situation for about two weeks (with the new page, which unfortunately doesn't show automatically on blog "Archives" calendar, published Nov. 11, mid-way), processing information and considering whether it fits with or contrasts/challenges my existing understanding (skepticism) about the field as a whole.
Showing this with exhibits, typically each exhibit becomes its own section, takes some time. I repeat some of the above paragraphs (this post title + acronyms; the paragraph introducing new page title /yellow background) below to help with continuity. //LGH.
This topic takes precedence over follow-up posts which I'd promised recently because it is so current and the issues it signifies so weighty. I also gather this project is probably not reported much outside the government and philanthropic circles (with mutual self-interests on both parts), and on their respective journals, newsletters or "Gazettes" posted on websites.
This post also generated its own follow-up list of three. In order of writing:
- Upcoming, based on my recent check-in with The Urban Institute Form 990:
- Then, on another mega (well, large and prominent) foundation in New York, I wrote: Verrry interesting. It's a whole other category of "out-there" "You've GOT to be kidding!" information and presentations, again, demonstrating how those already IN nonprofit board (or even major program — as in involving decisions on grant-making) power circles manage to spread their roots, quickly transplant operations if deemed a good idea, and seeking to standardize nonprofit measurement globally — while at home, leaving BIG gaps in accountability and transparency on their various organizations… And, I off-ramped it, except just two images to support a reference in the title. See next five-line post title:
- and, from RHF, above, tracking just two nonprofits associated with just one of its prominent ("star-studded" might be a better word) board of directors, and one of the nonprofits' recent contractor, "Blessing White," where "Blessing White Courses" generated $766K revenue in a single year (FY2015) for the entity, and obviously some certification/ replication / global consultancy with on-line deliverables was involved.
Looks like [Jeffrey] Immelt went straight from Harvard MBA (after a BA/BS from Dartmouth in Applied Math) to GE and hasn't left yet. Meanwhile he sits on a variety of foundations, a seat at a White House Admin table (this quote is as of Oct. 2016, obviously before changeover of White House Administration to President Trump), and the Business Roundtable.
[See off-ramped post currently called]: Catalyst Inc, Blessing White Courses, GP Strategies (Global PIC*), GSE Systems, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. (*PIC = "Performance Improvement Company") (shortlink ends "-7YU," moved here Nov. 17, 2017, cf. Jeffrey Immelt, director of Robin Hood Foundation, a single drill-down on just two nonprofits mentioned from his Bloomberg.com profile….).
Those are the three posts that this one inspired (sections already written in the process of writing it) but for which length restrictions and focus considerations got them bounced off. The process for each is similar and basic but always time-consuming: I look at the financials (typically mostly the 990s but sometimes also a financial statement, if one is available) and talk about them, comparing sources of revenue, expenses, assets accumulation over time, and sometimes in what they are declaring investments. …. I look at related entities if shown, and connect with other available information on either the directors, or corporations mentioned in them, I compare.
I do not subscribe to Nonprofit Quarterly, Circle of Philanthropy or similar journals (I do to "Institutional Investor" magazine and I also read the paper versions of The Wall Street Journal regularly, and The New York Times, some), but it's my impression that what I talk about here, in "lay terms" for the general public, they do not. They (such publications targeting the philanthropic sector, whether seeking grantees or grants, or both) also don't even seem much concerned about the discrepancies regularly found on Forms 990 within and between organizations except as it might discredit the sector and impact: jobs, social status, and the status quo.
Significant elements of the philanthropic and government (private/public) sectors say they have been collaborating on the "Single Portal Initiative" to better streamline, establish and facilitate the rapid increase in filings by the nonprofit sector, already a significant "player" in (influence on) the national and international economic landscapes. Allegedly this is "the better to monitor them with" also…
And for those who happen to subscribe to philanthropic journals, either looking for grants, grantees, or seeking to align policies for outcomes, and in competition for donation dollars, there have been some articles also. These journals seem to feed off each others' energy and optimism, regardless of poor results for some project being promoted, synchronously, among them.
Here's an article in such a journal commenting on how hard the project must be, since after receiving Department of Commerce Funds for it in 2003, a follow-up "Request for Information" didn't surface from one of the recipients until 2016! The article provides more clues to in what direction the credibility crisis on tax-exempt organizations for those who do pay attention, will be, and is being as we speak, leveraged. Please click annotated text image below to read some of the terms in context I will be bringing up repeatedly in this post (and also do on the page):
Only after I did discover the "Single Portal Initiative" looking for the charitable registry of a single state and discovering a list of on-line registration links alpha by state (in states where registration is required, that is), did my more targeted search phrase bring up more material on it and patterns start surfacing; not always the patterns which were being reported on, however.
Did you know that Columbia University's Law School had a National Attorneys General Program, or than an entity called NASCO is alleged to exist (and whether it does or not? I'm still looking!). Is it not a little odd that those reporting on the above information using the FTC's and unified state attorneys' general (probably unified via NASCO / NAAG meetings) recent victory over two sham cancer charities becomes a "clarion call" to change the IRS oversight of tax-exempt charities, possibly privatizing it? Another article — footnoted above — by Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer (also in 2016) proposes this, and makes little mention of why thirteen years of not even an "RFI" after government funding to a NASCO/ Guidestar collaboration is evidence of competency?
Do you feel that the privatization should involve private associations named after public state-level offices which such as NASCO, NAAG (National Association of Attorneys General) who do not post their tax returns (although they seem to be private) on their websites, even in response to their own "FAQ" labeled "Where does it get its funding?"….
I found it odd but relevant (when size and scope of operations is considered) that the top of this article starts out mentioning the cancer charity sham (so does the website NASCOnetSupport.org, apparently the result of the collaboration mentioned above) and the first two footnotes are to that victory.
The third footnote is another article (recommended read!) by the same author, but this time in a Columbia Journal of Tax Law, and apparently part of a Univ. of Minnesota symposium. It raises the question, and proposes possible answers, to how should the poor (lacking the resources for oversight), reputation-recently-battered-by Congress and the media, IRS reign in the bad charities and preserve the domain for the good guys? I don't agree, but it's well-written and informative. I suggest reading it, and noting the timeline of even requiring charities to register, and how very recent (2006) the practice of even revoking those who refuse to file three years in a row, are good to know (and that information should also be validated; I haven't…).
The introduction sets the stage for saying, the IRS just isn't up to regulation, and I've posted links to the concluding sections (a radical alternative) IV and V. Note: this is copyrighted material which can be read on-line and there is as you can see a downloadable link for full text:


text:
Relating to Opera Lecture Series: Our stories - Opera topics from the past 50 years
Tuesday, March 12
Wednesday, March 13
Lincoln Hall 225
Free and open to the public
In this provocative session we look at some recent (in operatic terms!) operas that have attempted to reflect contemporary life. Willie Stark, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, The Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic, The Handmaid's Tale, Powder Her Face, Dead Man Walking, Dog Days, Fellow Travelers, Breaking the Waves, The Force of Things, Sky on Swings, and Angel's Bone, to name only a few, have put to music true stories grabbed from headlines and fictional retellings of all-to-real events. The featured performance is As One, an opera about the transgender experience by Laura Kaminsky, presented by Portland Opera, March 22-30.
Relating to Opera is a series of talks designed to engage those who are curious about opera and want to learn more, as well as passionate operalovers. We will explore the rich history of the art form, while attempting to answer the question, "What makes opera relevant today?" The series features plenty of music spanning over 500 years, including definitive recordings and live performances by PSU students and faculty and guest artists. Each session will offer background and insight on current local presentations and productions.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Seattle Center – Fisher Pavilion
Bring light to the darkness of cancer! Join The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and more than 3,000 Washingtonians at the Seattle Center for an experience you, your friends and colleagues will not forget!
- Survivors carry white lanterns and participate in an inspiring ceremony within the survivor circle while the white beam of hope illuminates the darkness.
- Supporters Light The Night in celebration of survivors and the strides we are making to find cures.
- Those we have lost are honored at the remembrance Pavilion where family, friends and co-workers can leave tributes to their loved ones.
The Mission of LLS: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. The light and warmth we generate delivers hope in time of despair, community in place of loneliness and life-saving RESEARCH & SUPPORT for cancer patients and their families.
Visit Lightthenight.org/wa for more details.


text: The term Penny Farthing comes from the size of the British coins, a Penny, and a smaller sized coin the Farthing. These bikes were also known as ordinary…..yeah, ordinary…haha, but since they came after the bicycle called the Boneshaker (sounds painful with it's iron tires) and preluded the Safety Bicycle (thank you, thank you), ordinary doesn't sound too outlandish. I think you will hear this mostly referred to as the hi-wheel….which sounds too ordinary for me. I will stick with the Penny Farthing!! Watercolor


text:
Pushilin – Integration with Russia entered into an intensive phase
The head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, announced the transition to the intensive phase of the process of integration of the DPR with the Russian Federation.
"The integration of Donbass with Russia has moved into an intensive phase. But to say that it will end tomorrow, still (too early. – Ed.)," Pushilin told reporters.
He explained that a number of events are planned, including participation in exhibitions of DPR enterprises. The head of the republic also stressed that the integration process will be very intensive and in many respects it is connected with "Kiev's aggressive rhetoric."
"Judging by the aggressive and negative rhetoric from the Kiev side, the Donbass will move away from Kiev, respectively, closer to where we are going (towards integration with Russia. – Ed.)," explained Pushilin.
Source : RIA NOVOSTI
Translation by Donbass Insider


text:
Focus on Four: Target these outcomes to reduce metritis riskDecember 18, 2018
Pay close attention to your fresh pen and look for every opportunity to help reduce the risk of diseases, including metritis. More >
Reduce Your Dairy's Risk for Violative ResiduesNovember 27, 2018
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Dairy Vaccines 101: Storage and handlingMay 12, 2016
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Make your veterinarian part of your teamOctober 27, 2015
Dairies are best served by having a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR) More >
Carefully Follow and Understand Label DirectionsOctober 29, 2015
Misreading product labels plays a large role in residue violations More >
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Dairies benefit when employees follow protocols in reproduction synchronization programs. More >
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Producers can confidently rely on FACTREL® Injection to improve pregnancy efficiency. More >
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Don't let violation damage your operation's reputation. More >
Take responsible care of market dairy cowsAugust 11, 2015
Our actions impact the industry and Dairy Wellness. More >
Avoid rejections with proper injectionsJune 10, 2015
When a cow is sick, protocol compliance and proper administration are keys to safe and effective treatment. More >
Follow these residue avoidance best practicesApril 01, 2015
Tom Strause, DVM, Stateline Veterinary Service in Darien, Wisconsin, explains how he is just as responsible as the producer for avoiding residue violations. More >
Seven tips for proper treatmentsFebruary 25, 2015
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We're all just a little obsessed with our heat tools. How else would we be able to achieve va-va-voom curls one day and sleek, straight hair the next? Of course, there are downsides of heat styling: weakened strands, split ends, breakage, and yes, dry, fried hair.
Instead of giving up our beloved blow dryers and flat irons, we turned to Bumble and bumble's new Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Cleansing Oil-Crème Duo, accompanied by the Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Primer and Hairdresser's Invisible Oil to accomplish a smooth, bouncy blow out without over drying. To find out how each product played a part in achieving this #HairdressersInvisibleOil transformation, read on.
Bumble and bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Cleansing Oil-Crème Duo, $38
A good blow-out starts with one thing: clean hair. A run-of-the-mill shampoo can include sulfates, alcohol, and other harsh ingredients that strip hair of important moisture, which puts hair in a dry state even before you start applying heat. This new Cleansing Cream Oil Duo combines a moisturizing cream and a gentle low-foam cleanser in a unique dual-chamber bottle to give you a nourishing wash in one step. This way your hair is well taken care of from the start.
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Bumble and bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Primer, $28
Just like you need primer for your foundation, you need a primer to help your hair when working with heat tools. Spray this multi-tasking primer on damp hair to help detangle, smooth, and protect from heat and UV damage. You'll be left with a blow out that's silky and frizz-free.
♦ What is Hairdresser's Invisible Oil: Every product in the Hairdresser's Invisible Oil line includes a signature blend of six oils: Argan Oil, Coconut Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Safflower Seed Oil, and Grapeseed Oil. Together, these oils help nourish and protect hair without weighing it down.
Bumble and bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil, $40
This product is holy grail status—seriously. You can apply to damp hair pre-blow out or onto dry hair to finish, but the results are always the same: soft, smooth, shiny hair that smells amazing. We used this light oil to tame flyaways and smooth dry ends for bouncy curls with a polished finish.
♦ Before Hairdresser's Invisible Oil
♦ After Hairdresser's Invisible Oil
Would you use these products? Did you get the Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Cleansing Oil-Crème Duo in our Bumble and bumble VoxBox? Let us know what you thought!


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"Festival of up-and-coming designers – MIM 2013" took place on 26th April. Final-year students of secondary specialized schools and senior class students of art and general aesthetic high schools took part in the festival. Professional orientation of the creative youth is the main purpose of the festival. 30 students from different cities of the Republic of Belarus: Minsk, Grodno, Mogilev, Pinsk, Maladzyechna, etc., participated in the festival. The festival was opened by Nikolay V. Susha, rector of Minsk Institute of Management. Addressing the participants, Nikolay Susha told about the institute, peculiarities of education and admission of future designers, and expressed confidence that all of the festival attendees will soon become students of Minsk Institute of Management.
Then all attendees were able to attend a competitive exhibition of creative works of the festival participants in the following nominations: "Fine Arts", "Photography", "Decorative and applied arts".
Then a "get-to-know" excursion around the institute was organized in order to give full and complete information about the infrastructure, potential of the professional and teaching staff as well as innovative educational technologies used in the institute. During the excursion the participants of the festival visited exhibition of graduate creative works made by students of the Department of Design.
In the framework of the festival creative meeting with Chernyshov O.V., PhD in Philosophical sciences, a well-known designer, author of numerous research works and teaching aids on design, took place.
At the end of the creative part of the festival a business lunch was held, during which all participants of the competitive exhibitions were awarded with diplomas of participants and the winners in the nominations were awarded with diplomas of winners of the "Festival of up-and-coming designers – MIM 2013", as well as with prizes from the rector.
Despite the fact that the festival was held for the first time, the participants noted the high level of organization and holding of the event. Organizers of the festival believe that such an event can become a good annual tradition.
Other news:


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The Chesterfield Canal Trust has appointed its first ever paid employee. Up to now the Trust has prided itself on being run entirely by volunteers, however the Trustees feel that this is the time to engage someone to work full-time on getting the remaining nine miles of the canal restored. The aim is to have the canal fully reopened by 2027, which will be the 250th Anniversary of its completion.
George Rogers will be taking up the post on May 13th. He will be working from an office in the beautifully converted stables at Staveley Hall. From his office window, he will be able to see Staveley Town Lock, which he helped to build.
Kath Auton, who convened the appointments panel said: "George is a very talented and inspirational young man with a passion and vision for the restoration of the Chesterfield Canal by 2027."
After earning a Masters degree in Engineering from Trinity College Cambridge, George's previous employment was as a Chartered Civil Engineer for a small engineering consultancy in Derby, specialising in the design of civil infrastructure works for National Grid substations.
George also has wide experience within the voluntary canal restoration sector.
He is a Trustee of the Friends of the Cromford Canal, and leads their Strategic Restoration Committee, focusing on restoration planning, strategic direction and transitioning the FCC to a major delivery organisation through structural and policy changes.
George is a Director of the Waterway Recovery Group, the national organisation which runs working holidays for volunteers on canal restoration projects across the country. He has been Site Leader or Cook on over 20 week-long canal camps, and a volunteer on over 30 further weeks, including multiple weeks on the Chesterfield Canal at Hall Lane, Staveley Town Lock, Hartington Harbour and Constitution Hill Bridge. He has been responsible for project planning and delivery, leading teams of 18 volunteers of mixed age and ability. He is a member of the Restoration Hub High Level Panel of the Inland Waterways Association. This group provides insight into strategic issues and common problems faced by canal restoration schemes that can be influenced at a national level.
George said: "The Chesterfield Canal restoration is a very exciting project, and one that I have become deeply passionate about since first volunteering on a Waterway Recovery Group work camp in 2010. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in and working with all of the highly dedicated volunteers, partners and communities to complete this ambitious project."
In November 2014, George received a Point of Light Award, which honours shining examples of volunteering across the UK. Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Through his work, George is helping to safeguard the heritage and culture of Britain's canals for future generations, which is of great importance. He truly deserves this Point of Light award."
The first job will be to pull together all the work that has been done in the past, not least by Dr Geraint Coles, who was employed as a Development Manager by the Chesterfield Canal Partnership between 2004 and 2013. George will then create a sequence of costed projects which will form the basis of a series of major funding bids.


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Rinpoche visited Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre in New Delhi, India, before traveling to the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa Retreat in Bendigo, Australia. On March 10-11, Rinpoche gave teachings, including oral transmissions of the Golden Light Sutra and of "The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment)," at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre. Center director Renuka Singh shared this report:
Initially, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of FPMT and Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, was expected to come and teach in November 2017. The Delhi pollution somehow conspired to keep Rinpoche away. Finally, the auspicious time of his arrival in Delhi was on International Women's Day, March 8, 2018.
The highlight of Rinpoche's visit was the two-day teaching at Tushita. Dharma nectar blessings came in the form of the oral transmission of the sublime Golden Light Sutra on day one. Subduing one's mind was greatly emphasized.
On day two, Rinpoche gave the oral transmission of "The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment)." This included the generation of a good motivation and mantras for blessing the speech, malas, and so forth.
Rinpoche also granted refuge to forty people. Ninety percent of whom were Indians. Rinpoche concluded the teachings with Guru Puja, which ended at 1 a.m.
The gompa was jam-packed for the teachings—around 100 to 150 attendees of all ages were present. However, there was numerical preponderance of young people. Prof. Robert Thurman attended the first day. Several current and former directors of other Indian centres were also present.
The hard work of center spiritual program coordinator Ven. Gyalten Samten, especially, as well as of Ven. Kabir Saxena and all the volunteers and sponsors was highly appreciated. Rinpoche praised the decoration and light offerings at the center emphatically. Ven. Kabir gave the longest entertaining vote of thanks ever. As director, I was extremely honored and happy to host Rinpoche. The wait for Rinpoche's next visit has already begun!
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche teach during the Bodhicaryavatara and Rinjung Gyatsa Retreat at The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia, March 30-May 12, 2018.
- Find links to watch teachings LIVE:
- Watch, read, and listen to all of Rinpoche's teachings from Bendigo at anytime:
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.


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- Description
No tools required. Great for mailboxes or any smooth surface. The super-strong adhesive firmly adheres to metal, plastic, or wood. Accepts staffs 5/16" of smaller. Measures 3/4" x 4". You can purchase the bracket only or with a 8"x12" or 12"x18" American flag on a stick to fit the bracket. 100% made in America


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Is there life after bodily death?
Near Death Experiences
Is there life after bodily death?
April 3, 2010
By Douglas Todd
Vancouver Sun
The story of the "death" of the 20th-century philosopher, Alfred Jules (A. J.) Ayer, is becoming legendary.
When the renowned atheist choked on a piece of salmon in 1988 in a British hospital, he went into cardiac arrest and technically died for four minutes.
As a leader of the dominant analytic school of philosophy, Ayer had been accused of "neutralizing" Western academic philosophers; encouraging them to focus on pure logic and avoid applying their big minds to the actual art of living. And dying.
But Ayer's near-death experience changed all that. After he was resuscitated in hospital, Ayer wrote a piece in the Telegraph newspaper describing wondrous images he had while "dead" -- of a beckoning red light and the collapse of space and time.
The atheist philosopher, known as "Freddie" to his friends, also quietly suggested his near-death experience (NDE) provided "rather strong evidence that death does not put an end to consciousness."
Just as importantly, Ayer's wife, Dee, told anyone who would listen, including journalists, that her husband had become much more pleasant company after his NDE.
As Dee quaintly put it: "Freddie has got so much nicer since he died."
In a Western culture that greatly fears death and distracts itself from thinking about it with endless entertainments, it's intriguing that scientific research into NDEs has expanded since Ayer enjoyed his profound out-of-body experience in 1988 (dying peacefully the following year at age 79).
The British and U.S. governments, for instance, are examining near-death studies in 1,500 heart attack patient-survivors at 25 hospitals.
Such groundbreaking exploration of near-death experiences is a long way from the arid and abstruse subjects that many university-based academics often end up studying.
Excitingly interdisciplinary research into NDEs and related phenomenon touches on the kind of crucial spiritual, scientific, psychological and philosophical questions humans have been asking for millennia.
One of the obvious questions it brings up is: Do near-death experiences offer evidence of human consciousness after death?
And: Do near-death, or related experiences of human mortality, turn people into better human beings, encouraging them to live more kindly?
The heart of Easter
These are existential questions that almost everyone -- regardless of whether they belong to a faith tradition or not -- could find value in exploring.
Questions of life and death form the heart of every great religion and every meaningful secular philosophy.
They are especially relevant as roughly two billion Christians around the world gather this weekend for Easter.
While practised in many different ways, Easter centres on a profound ritual in which followers are called upon to mystically enter the 2,000-year-old story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In many ways Christianity, and all great religions, are about coming to terms with death. And all religions teach, either literally or metaphorically, that death does not get the final word.
For instance, after committing to Christianity, which in its classic form contains the promise of "life everlasting," many followers of Jesus often use the language of being "reborn" to describe their renewed vigour for life and others.
The quest to overcome humans' fear of death also lies at the core of Judaism and Islam.
In somewhat different forms than Christianity, traditional schools of Islam and Judaism teach also about the immortality of the soul, and how essential it is to live a selfless life on this Earth.
Eastern religions tackle death in yet another way. Generally, Hinduism and Buddhism teach reincarnation. However, both call on followers to try to detach themselves from the endless cycle of death and rebirth by attaining Enlightenment and practising compassion.
Dealing with death by holding onto the possibility of existence after it is also not unique to organized religion. Popular culture and so-called "alternative" spirituality often develop the idea of the soul surviving the collapse of the body.
The immortality of the soul is a central theme of the wildly popular 3-D film, Avatar, in which the world-weary disabled hero, Jake Sully, must go through a death experience to be reborn.
An age-old conundrum
Even though rare, there are some brave figures in contemporary science, psychology and philosophy who are trying to respond to humans' confusion and wonder about what happens after death.
It's a conundrum that has been challenging humankind since ancient times -- including the man many deem the greatest philosopher in Western history, Socrates.
After being condemned to death by Greek authorities in the fourth century BC, Socrates told them that death is not an evil thing, but on the contrary a good thing.
That said, Socrates did not presume to know what happened to humans after death. He was satisfied with being an agnostic about the afterlife.
As Socrates said, "Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change; a migration of the soul from this place to another."
The story of Socrates' lack of fear about death makes up the opening chapter of The Book of Dead Philosophers, by Simon Critchley, which explores what 190 famous philosophers thought about death and how they died.
Critchley argues compellingly that real philosophy, unlike that practised by Ayer until his near-death experience, should be "about learning how to die." Paradoxically, that is the goal of living.
Our ultimate purpose, as Critchley puts it, should be "cultivating the appropriate attitude to death."
Life's agent of change
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple computers, is another contemporary figure who has come to believe that death is life's greatest teacher.
"Death is very likely the single-best invention of life. It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new," Jobs told Stanford University graduates after a tumour was discovered on his pancreas.
"No one wants to die," Jobs said. "Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. ... Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."
The death-confronting stories of Jobs and scores of other major business leaders were recently recounted in articles based on the work of management consultant Grant Thornton, who surveyed 250 CEOs of companies with revenue of more than $50 million US.
Almost one in four of the CEOs told Thornton they had an experience where they thought they would die, including in plane, car crashes or as a result of a disease. Almost two-thirds of the CEOs said it changed their perspective on life, with most saying it made them more compassionate.
Three per cent of the CEOs acknowledged having a pure near-death experience, which is below the U.S. and Canadian average. However, another three per cent wouldn't answer the question.
Ned Dougherty, a multimillionaire in the real estate and entertainment industry, wrote Fast Lane to heaven after twice going into cardiac arrest. During his NDE, he said he met deceased loved ones and was enveloped by the light of God. He was also suddenly cured of his alcoholism.
Even though NDEs are only one unusually dramatic way to explore the experience and nature of death, the wider medical community is finally starting to take concerted interest in them, in part because they're becoming more common with advances in medical technology.
In addition to the study in 25 British and U.S. hospitals, some of the scientific and academic journals that have published on the subject of NDEs are the British Journal of Psychology, The Lancet and the Journal of Advanced Nursing.
As a former clinical psychologist at Vancouver General Hospital and currently a professor of psychology at Capilano University in North Vancouver, Leonard George has spent decades studying near-death experiences and other parapsychological phenomena.
Since he was a youngster in Ontario, George says he has himself had two "out-ofbody experiences," which is the generic name for perceiving oneself outside one's body, observing oneself.
Specializing in the history of psychology, George has come to admire one of the founders of modern-day psychology, the late Harvard University professor William James.
Even though it was not socially acceptable among many of his colleagues, James (1842-1910) devoted a great deal of energy to investigating paranormal activity such as telepathy and mediumship (now called "channelling").
Even now, when questions about life after death have become even more ridiculed in academia, George wants to follow the courageous lead of James and look for empirical evidence wherever it might be found.
George holds to the attitude of Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), one of the West's first scientists, who said:
"Let the mind be enlarged ... to the grandeur of the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the mind."
What have the few scientists who have explored out-of-body experiences and related phenomenon so far discovered?
For starters, researchers have concluded roughly one out of 10 people has had an out-ofbody experience, including an NDE. Many people take years to report them for fear of being labelled mentally imbalanced.
Out-of-body experiences are not considered hallucinations, nor the product of "misfiring brains," says George, author of Alternative Realities: The Paranormal, the Mystic and the Transcendent in Human Experience.
Most people experience NDEs as pleasant, even though that's not always the case. Like Ayer, the philosopher, many reported feeling deeply transformed afterwards, more altruistic and connected to friends and loved ones.
Beyond that, George said, it's so far been hard to determine for certain what NDEs prove about the actual nature of life. Or death.
Different theories abound. Like most research into parapsychological phenomenon such as telepathy, telekinesis and channelling, George said the conditions that are said to give rise to the phenomenon are extremely hard to control and replicate in a laboratory setting.
At the minimum, however, George agrees with those who believe out-of-body experiences point to the need for scientists and philosophers to conclude that the self, which some call the "soul," is not a substance, not a material thing.
Instead, philosophically speaking, the self is more like a series of experiences through time. George said the self is shaped by that which the self chooses to most strongly identify.
Some of those realities with which the self identifies could be transient, George said, like being successful. Or they could be eternal, like being loving.
The American philosopher of religion, David Ray Griffin, pushes further than George in his groundbreaking book, Parapsychology, Philosophy and Spirituality: A Postmodern Exploration.
Griffin takes a sweeping look at the history of research into parapsychological phenomena, including that which might provide evidence for life after death.
He examines the past 150 years of research into such phenomenon as messages from mediums, visual apparitions of dead people, reincarnation and out-of-body experiences.
Griffin's conclusion? Fakery is involved in many paranormal claims.
But, even after subterfuge is weeded out, Griffin maintains evidence remains so heavily in favour of the paranormal that at least some of it must be true.
As William James wrote not long ago, it takes only one white crow to prove not all crows are black. If even one parapsychological example of existence beyond death is accurate, Griffin says, mainstream science, which views the universe as a complex machine, has to undergo a paradigm shift.
Psychological benefits
Setting aside the question of whether there is evidence for consciousness beyond the grave, is it psychologically beneficial to believe in life after bodily death?
It depends, says George.
It's bad if belief in life after death leads to people "delaying action" about the things that need to be done in this life, George said.
Belief in an afterlife also becomes dangerous if leaders manipulate it to maintain the status quo, he said, by promising "an after-life payoff."
Alternatively, George said it's a good thing to be open to an afterlife. If humans only hold on to those things they know with absolute certainty, he said, it can lead to a "narrow, small life."
In Parapsychology, Philosophy and Spirituality, Griffin goes further in exploring the desirability of either rejecting or holding to a belief in personal existence after death.
Griffin agrees with Leonard that belief in life after death can be an "opiate," leading to passivity about the need for personal improvement or social change.
Griffin also joins those who argue it's unethical to teach that the main reason to live a good life is in anticipation of being eternally rewarded or punished in heaven.
Griffin also dislikes the idea that certain institutions can behave as if they control "the keys to the kingdom;" that they alone are the arbiters of who will live for eternity.
"Such views, besides being morally repellent, have often added an inordinate fear of death to the already difficult task of living," Griffin writes.
Setting aside such negative beliefs, Griffin goes on to cite positive psychological reasons for thinking the self can survive bodily death.
"The belief can help give people the courage to fight for freedom, social justice and ecologically sustainable policies," Griffin writes; because people who believe in life after death are not subject to any earthly power.
The conviction that there is a continuing journey after biological death can also help "people develop a greater love for the universe," Griffin says, "through the conviction that the great unfairness of the present life ... is not the final word."
As well, Griffin says the belief that we are on a spiritual "journey in which there will be sufficient travel time to reach our destination" can help humans think creatively about things we can do now to pursue utopian projects, including such dreams as a world without war.
A second birth
Even though followers of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religious traditions have different beliefs about surviving bodily death, they all tend to share at least one spiritual conviction:
That everyone needs to experience a "second birth."
Even though Easter is a time for many Christians to emphasize how belief in Jesus's death and resurrection includes the supernatural promise that one's own soul will experience eternal life, some practicing Christians do not put a great emphasis on whether there is life beyond the grave.
Instead, like many Jews and some Muslims, they emphasize the importance of dying to their old "self."
That means transcending everyday earthly concerns and being recreated with a more spiritual identity. Sometimes it's called being "born again."
Meanwhile, even though belief in literal reincarnation is widespread in Hinduism and Buddhism, some followers of those religions also put a more naturalistic emphasis on the need for humans to renounce their ego, their false "self," so that they can experience authentic life.
The world's non-religious philosophers are also increasingly feeling a necessity to find fresh ways to come to terms with death and immortality.
In his dense new book, Surviving Death, Princeton University philosopher Mark Johnson argues for a sophisticated non-supernatural understanding of life after death.
After criticizing many views about a supernatural heaven and hell, the Princeton thinker agrees with most religious teachers that a truly good people must undergo a death of the self, which will lead them to figure larger in the lives of others.
Through that transformation, Johnston believes, good people somehow survive death, as a side-effect of their actions.
Ever-evolving humans, Johnston writes, can "quite literally live on in the onward rush of humankind."
A deep mystery
As reluctant as I am to disappoint readers, I have to admit the riddle of whether humans can experience consciousness after death will not be solved in this 2,500-word article.
Despite intriguing evidence, I cannot point to the kind of incontrovertible scientific data that would convince everyone of personal immortality.
In a similar way, Capilano University's George has also concluded, after decades of researching evidence for personal consciousness after death, that he's not yet able to conclude.
"It remains murky. It's a very deep mystery. We may be stalled in that human position called humility."
Like Socrates, however, George believes it's more than okay to be curious and open-minded about what might happen after the body and brain cease to function.
"It might be the human lot to never know," George said. "What's important is that the quest keeps us going. It draws us forward into life."
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