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07 February 2012
How Did We Get Here (Part Two)
You are probably expecting me to say that the NPC voted through a set of propositions along the lines mentioned in part one above which the Bishops then ratified: in fact the story gets even more complicated. The activist laity voted through a set of propositions too radical even for the Bishops, but the Bishops used what the laity asked for to create a set of structures which kept the Vatican from interfering in the Church in England and Wales for the rest of the Pontificate of John Paul II and which reinforced and solidified the hold of the activists on the whole of Catholic life.
Delegates were chosen by a complicated process, based on each diocese sending one delegate per 1000 of its normal Sunday Mass attendance, along with representatives of Catholic national organisations, HM Forces, universities, seminaries, religious orders, the commissions (?), the Prison Service, ethnic groups, and "a limited number of Catholics chosen because of their expertise, but whose national secular duties would normally exclude them from being chosen as members of diocesan delegations". The main criterion, however, was people who were able to spend a period of Friday to Tuesday at the NPC: not the sort of thing your average Catholic would want to do, or would be able to do. The organisers prided themselves on choosing a bank holiday weekend, so those attending would only have to ask for two days off work: but how many people at that time had that degree of flexibility? And how many housewives (there were rather more of them then than now) would be able to leave husband and children for such an extended period? The activists, who would dominate anyway, would be predominantly middle class, articulate, and with agendas that reflected where they were in the world.
The Bishops were few in number, but the Council was not binding on them. They were being manoeuvred by Hume and Worlock (and their agents) into a position where the cost to them of rejecting the most extreme propositions the Congress would propose would be the acceptance of limitations to their autonomy by the creation of stronger structures within the Episcopal Conference and a greater role for lay activists within these structures.
The losers- the squeezed middle - were the priests. Both the Bishops and the lay members of the Congress treated them as though they were lay people with a special role something less than a Bishop's. The role of the priest was to be eclipsed by the role of the activist lay person, without the Bishops surrendering any of their authority and independence downward. The National Council of Priests, which would anyway be diminished by the shrinkage in the number of priests and the consequent need for more and more of them to have to be full time PPs rather than have the luxury of chaplaincies, special ministries and extended sabbaticals, gradually faded from the scene.
And so the Congress. Seven themes were chosen, and within each of those themes a series of topics.
The seven major themes for the agenda were: The People of God - Co-responsibility and Relationships; The People of God - Ministry, Vocation, Apostolate; Family and Society; Evangelisation; Christian Education and Formation; Christian Witness; Justice
Each theme was discussed in a separate sector of the Congress and in each sector there were approximately 300 delegates. But each item was itself divided into four or five topics or aspects: so for each topic group there were approximately 60 delegates. These 60 delegates were themselves to be divided into discussion groups of 12-15 delegates for preliminary work on each topic. The headings of the full agenda, with the topic titles, were as follows:
THEME A: PEOPLE OF GOD (i) Co -responsibility and Relationships
The Worshipping Community
The local Church: diocese, deanery, parish, basic communities, prayer groups
Co-responsibility and Consultation
Promotion of Christian Unity
Christian Stewardship and Church Finances
THEME B: PEOPLE OF GOD (ii) Ministry, Vocation, Apostolate
The Ordained Ministries: episcopate, priesthood, diaconate
The Community and Other Ministries
The Religious Life
The Apostolate of the Laity
The Role of Women
Christian Marriage and the Family
Single People
Old People
Young People
Special Groups: disabled, immigrants, seafarers, non-Christians
At Home: the work of conversion
Missionary Activity Overseas
Funding and Sharing in Mission
World Development
Parish Catechesis
Schools (including school liturgy)
Tertiary Education and Academic Life
Adult Education and Sacramental Living
World of Work
Urban and Rural Life
Public and Civic Life
Human Rights
Racial Justice
International Peace
The obvious problem was that the division of delegates into such small groups would lead to fragmentation, so members of the Congress committee were not boarded out with families, as the delegates were, but were housed separately in Christ College, specifically so that they could consult before and after each day's work. Delegates were kept informed by means of a Congress newspaper. A complex procedural system of voting, reporting back, drafting, considering drafts and reporting to Congress ensured that the final papers presented accurately reflected the way in which the activists present had been able to gather support for their vision of a new sort of Catholic Church in England and Wales, and in which the committee chose to present it.
This story is long enough already: I am not going to go through the reports on each of the subjects under discussion: they are depressingly predictable. Much more interesting is the manner in which the Hierarchy used the results of the Congress, and how this played against a changing Church in which John Paul II was getting control in the Vatican, and the "spirit of Vatican II" was beginning to be reined in.
Key to understanding the sleight of hand that was to follow the NPC is the Cardinal's Homily at the final Mass, which he preached at the Metropolitan Cathedral on 6 May 1980. I won't reproduce the whole thing, just some key sections:
"So the pilgrim Church of England and Wales has paused for a moment on its journey through history, and assembled here. Our purpose has been to see whether or not we are on the right way, to discover, that is, whether we are truly disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Saviour. We felt, too, the need to examine many aspects of our Christian lives to ensure that we are in fact living in accordance with the truth that comes from the Gospel.
Indeed this Congress has been the prototype of what should take place in each of our parishes - it is the building of true community witnessing to the risen Christ always in our midst. Our problem is to know how we can communicate to our families and parishes the spirit and atmosphere of these days, and how to awaken in the Catholic community a concern for the issues which have formed our Congress agenda. Time for reflection and prayer are needed, but action cannot be delayed.
The Church is community; it is the people of God, the Body of Christ, the living Temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. Within that community each one of us has a role to play and a contribution to make. Christ, our Lord, requires the laity to play an active and full part in the life of the Church under the leadership of their bishops, and this in virtue of the baptism they have received. You, the laity, must share your insights with us, your bishops and priests, and you must collaborate in the apostolate. And what riches you have brought to this Congress, and how much we, your pastors, need to listen to 'the Spirit of truth, who directs the hearts of the faithful', for this, the 'sensus fidelium', is necessary as we explore together the mystery of God and of his unfolding and developing plan for us, his sons and daughters.
We remind ourselves that we must all acknowledge the divine authority given by the Lord himself to him who is the successor of Peter. It was with joy that we received the messages from the Holy Father, and to know that he had welcomed and blessed our Congress. In loyalty and obedience we shall lay before him our hopes and anxieties."
In his homily, Hume has turned the NPC from being the work of a few self-selecting people representative, not of the Church in England and Wales, but of a group of core activists, into the sensus fidelium: they have become the voice of the whole Church. Not only that, but, under the leadership of the bishops, the role of the laity is to do more. The final paragraph quoted here is important: we shall see why presently.
It is interesting to note that for a period Archbishop Heim was ill, and while he had been very supportive of the NPC, his deputy at the Apostolic Delegation in Wimbledon, Monsignor Mario Oliveri, was deeply suspicious. While Heim was away ill, he allowed himself to become a channel through which Catholics outside of the NPC fold could denounce the Congress to the Vatican. One paper he for¬warded was headed "REASONS WHY THE NATIONAL PASTORAI. CONGRESS OUGHT TO BE STOPPED", and another complained that the Congress delegates "appeared to be drawn, on the whole, from either those holding progressive views or from amongst those who know little or nothing about the nature of the Church".
Heim's illness, though, was shortlived, and on his return to Wimbledon a process to reverse the damge began. Various Bishops organized a letter writing campaign in support of the Congress, asking the Nunciature to ensure that the letters were forwarded to the Holy See. By July 1980, Heim was apologizing to Worlock: "I am sorry about all this trouble which has arisen during my absence. I believe that Rome is now properly informed and that any damage has been undone."
Worlock had a dual role after the Congress: he was responsible for writing its official report, and was also responsible for arranging the drafting of the Bishops' response to it. (I write sentences, sometimes, and have to stop myself, reread what I have written, and confirm to myself that what I have written was really what happened.) It is probably no surprise that both the official report, and the draft response, which sailed through the Bishops' Conference, with barely an amendment, and was published as The Easter People, accorded so well with Worlock's vision.
5 comments:
- Ben Trovato said...
Fascinating stuff, Ttony! Well done. I hope there is more to come?...
- 7 February 2012 at 18:32
- A Catholic Comes Home said...
Go on
- 7 February 2012 at 20:26
- Patricius said...
Thank you very much for this very interesting account of events in England and Wales during a period which, although I lived through it, seemed somewhat opaque to me. It complements insights gained from "Turmoil and Truth" by Philip Trower.http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/trower/turmoil&truth.htm
- 7 February 2012 at 20:50
- Ttony said...
Patricius: I had forgotten Trower (blushes).
I'm now looking at the E&W reaction to Humanae Vitae and will of course draw on huim. Thanks
- 8 February 2012 at 18:51
- Shane said...
Ttony, fascinating series. Well done.
"I'm now looking at the E&W reaction to Humanae Vitae and will of course draw on huim."
It may or may not be of interest but I have their statement here at my blog on Humanae Vitae. (See also this earlier statement of theirs on contraception from 1964.)
- 9 February 2012 at 14:04


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Here you will find information concerning our church and its ministries. We hope you find your time spent here a blessing. Our church is a warm and loving church, and we want you to feel comfortable and at liberty to call on us for anything you need. Feel free to browse through the various areas of our website and learn about our fellowship. If you are considering relocating to our area, we would love to have you be our guest for Sunday School and worship.
In His Care,
Michael R. Seidenfaden, Pastor
Thank You For Visiting Our Website
Thank You For Visiting Our Website
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The symposium "One Health in Practice in Southeast Asia, What's Next?" was held at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology
From April 24 to 26, 2023, the restitution and capitalization colloquium of the Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects One Health in Southeast Asia, "One Health in Practice in Southeast Asia, What's Next?" was held at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (USTH).
The third phase of the PREZODE workshops will take place on November 23
On Tuesday November 23, the third phase of PREZODE workshops in East, Southeast and Pacific Asia will take place. These workshops will focus on PREZODE's activities and priority areas as well as potential barriers to change.
An Online Academic Conference Exploring the Human-Elephant Relationship
From 13th to 15th of December, IRD is co-organising the online academic conference "Composing Worlds with Elephants". This conference corrals together 24 scholars who are researching communities and environments at the interface of the human-elephant relationship in Asia and beyond.
New grant for a study on transboundary haze pollution and BRI in Southeast Asia
The Henry Luce Foundation Initiative for Southeast Asia, has awarded a four-year research grant to a team led by University of Hawai'i and IRD to study transboundary air pollution and the socio-ecological Impact of China's BeltRoad Initiative in the Mekong Sub-Region. This grant complements the...


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CBS Films has debuted the teaser trailer for Faster, opening November 24 and starring Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Moon Bloodgood.
A stint in prison usually has one of two effects on a man – it either breaks him down or makes him stronger. For Driver (Dwayne Johnson), a 10-year sentence proved the latter. His strength was not just fueled by time, but also by a hunger to avenge the murder of his brother during the botched bank robbery that led to his own imprisonment. Untouchable on the 'inside,' he made plenty of enemies in prison – men who were counting the days until his release so they could exact their own revenge on the outside. Now, on the day of his release, he is hell-bent on reaping vengeance upon the four men responsible for his brother's murder. With a list of names and addresses in hand, he sprints out of the prison gates and is immediately on his mission.
No regard for witnesses. No finesse to the acts. One down. Check. Within hours of Driver eliminating the first name on the list, two men are on his trail – Cop (Billy Bob Thornton), a veteran police officer just days from retirement, and Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a young egocentric hitman with a flair for the art of killing. The hunter is now also the hunted.
Without hesitation, Driver methodically continues down his list while the mystery deepens surrounding his brother's murder and who might have tipped off those responsible to their robbery plans. With each killing, Driver finds himself face to face with Cop or Killer and he evades them every time. Killer wants Driver now more than ever – he's finally met a worthy opponent. Thus begins a do or die race to the list's finish with new details in the decade old murder emerging along the way…hinting that Driver's list may be incomplete and his life in further danger.


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The Boston Retinal Implant Project (BRIP) was founded in the late 1980s and has been successfully funded since that time to develop medical devices to help blind patients. Bionic Eye Technologies, Inc. and Visus Technologies, Inc. are each developing state of the art devices to assist visually impaired patients. These technologies for these devices are outgrowths of the work of the BRIP.
Please see the Business Page for more information about this venture.
Video Credits: Stick Figure Productions and Focus Forward Films, Steven Cantor and Margaret McCombs
Blindness affects millions of people worldwide and has many causes. The BRIP and Visus Technology, Inc. are committed to developing advanced technologies to provide cosmetically-acceptable and easily portable devices to enhance visual input for the blind.
Our mission is to develop novel engineering solutions to improve the quality-of-life for visually-impaired patients.
The Boston Retinal Implant Team was:
The Boston Retinal Implant Project (BRIP) was established by Dr. Joseph F. Rizzo and Prof. John Wyatt in the late 1980s as a collaboration among Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The BRIP has grown into a multi-disciplinary team of biologists, engineers and physicians committed to developing novel solutions to help the blind by employing advanced biological and engineering sciences. Our senior research team of 10 scientists have each been with the BRIP for an average of over 13 1/2 years. The BRIP has raised over $36,500,000 in funding to advance the development of its devices. Our researchers have been recognized with numerous awards. Our integrated circuit design work was accepted for presentation at the prestigious IEEE Solid State Circuits Conference, and our work has been featured on the cover of two major scientific and clinical journals. The Department of Veterans Affairs selected our team to establish a Center of Excellence in Visual Rehabilitation at the Boston VA hospital from 2001-2012. Take a look at the Special Recognitions our team and our work have received from various prestigious organizations over the years.


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Everything isn't good in the land of the Hobbits. One of them is currier services from TNT New Zealand. Its been a while since I have experienced such poor service. Check out my troubles by following the link.
wpengine coupon code
The excellent and specialized WordPress hosting company wpengine has a nice campaign at the moment – 3 months free hosting (worth up to $747 USD). wpengine coupon code Use the coupon code: HEATWAVE Use this link and the wpengine coupon code to get 3 FREE MONTHS when you sign up for a year of hosting…… Continue reading wpengine coupon code
11 golden rules for WordPress developers
Mikkel has written an article about what to do and what not to do when developing WordPress sites. These are 11 personal «rules» for WordPress theme or plugin developers. They're based on my own experience developing for the platform and bad practices I frequently see in WordPress themes and plugins. In my opinion, adhering to…… Continue reading 11 golden rules for WordPress developers
Got to love Apple sometimes
So my wifes iPhone starts acting up with low sound when in calls. I call Apple and after going through the possible software problems that could have caused it (with a very friendly and patient support woman), we decide it needs to be sent in to see if its something wrong with it. A little…… Continue reading Got to love Apple sometimes
Trouble embedding videos from Youtube on WordPress?
If you have having trouble embedding videos from Youtube or Vimeo on WordPress, make sure to check that you use http in the url and not https. When I am writing this WordPress still does not support SSL (encrypted and secure communication), its a bug that has been reported a good while ago, and even…… Continue reading Trouble embedding videos from Youtube on WordPress?
How creativity is being strangled by the law
Good speech from Larry Lessig about the copyright vs creativity problem and a possible solution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q25-S7jzgs
Copyright math, or the 8 billion dollar iPod
Copyright math is not from this planet. That much is for sure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZadCj8O1-0
The Spaceshuttle flying again
Really cool video of a private launch of the Space Shuttle (Lego edition) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bluQ4eOeBwo
The illuminated snowboarder
Beautiful snowboard movie. Incredible effect of lighting the snowboarder with a led suit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIX3ntiTV-g
Snow art
If I say snow and art, you are probably thinking snow sculptures, snow men and the sort. But just walking in the snow can create great art too! http://vimeo.com/35890182


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Next time you catch yourself yawning, look around: Did anyone close to you let out his or her own sleepy "ahhh"? Turns out, close friends and family are more likely than acquaintances or strangers to catch someone's yawns, a new study finds.
The researchers suggest this yawning contagion is, in part, the result of empathy, in which we can attempt to see things from another person's angle and respond to that person's emotions.
"I think what the study does is it supports the idea that empathy is the mechanism that underlies contagious yawns," said Matthew Campbell of Emory University, who wasn't involved in the study. "The idea is that it's the same mechanism by which we catch smiles or frowns or fearful expressions."
While yawns would not seem to have a connection with any particular emotion (unlike, say, smiles, which could indicate happiness), in some ways we are forming an emotional connection by mimicking a yawn or another expression, Campbell said. By mimicking the yawn we see, we become better able to understand how tired, perhaps, or bored the other person is.
In fact, past studies have shown stronger empathetic responses of all kinds toward kin and loved ones. Past research has also found kids with autism don't experience contagious yawning, also strengthening its ties with empathy since autism involves problems with social interaction and communication. On the other hand, canine pals can catch yawns from humans, suggested a study on various dog breeds.
How catchy are yawns?
"Yawning contagion" has been studied among various primate species, with most of the studies occurring in lab settings. In the new study, by contrast, Ivan Norscia and Elisabetta Palagi of the University of Pisa in Italy observed adults in various natural settings, including restaurants, workplaces, waiting rooms and their homes.
The 109 adults in the study were from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, and they were about evenly split by gender. The researchers were able to analyze 480 bouts of yawns. After considering for factors that could have affected the time between a person's yawn and an observer's imitation, they found social bond was key.
To avoid confusing a spontaneous yawn for one triggered by another person, the researchers limited their recording time to three minutes. In about two-thirds of the cases, relatives of the yawner responded with their own yawn within a minute, as did about half the friends of the yawner.
Most strangers and acquaintances took two or three minutes to respond, Norscia told LiveScience.
"Not only is contagion greater between familiar individuals, but it also follows an empathic gradient, increasing from strangers to kin-related individuals," Norscia and Palagi wrote online Dec. 7 for the journal PLoS ONE. [8 Humanlike Behaviors of Primates]
Thinking about using yawning as a way to determine your empathetic friends? Norscia told LiveScience in an email that during his and Palagi's study, she was "complaining because her husband had responded to a couple of yawns from one of her friends (a woman) – but that was just a joke." He noted that empathy is subjective and that yawning can be influenced by various factors, including boredom or fatigue.
Meaning of yawns
While the results suggest empathy causes one person to catch another's yawn, they don't tell us whether the phenomenon was specifically adaptive to our ancestors and passed down to modern humans. One idea supporting this adaptive theory is that coordinated behaviors would have been crucial for our primate relatives.
"If getting sleepy and climbing up into the trees as a refuge safe from predators" was practiced by our ancestors, and if yawning facilitated that behavior, it makes sense yawning would be evolutionarily selected for, said Euclid O. Smith of the anthropology department at Emory University. "He who yawns last might be dinner for a predator." Smith wasn't involved in the new study.
There's also a chance that catchy yawns were just a byproduct of other mimicked expressions, Campbell told LiveScience. Perhaps we copied others' smiles and frowns first, which led us to do the same for yawning even though that particular behavior wasn't selected for specifically over the course of human evolution.
Either way, researchers still seem mystified by yawning contagion.
"Very little is known about the function of contagious yawning," said Atsushi Senju of the Center for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck College in London. Senju, who was not involved in the study, told LiveScience: "It might be useful to coordinate the level of alertness within the group, but there is no evidence supporting it. Or it could be a byproduct of empathy — closely attending to family and friends and [feeling] for them, which would help maintain relationship."
- Top 10 Things that Make Humans Special
- 10 Things You Didn't Know About You
- Inside the Brain: A Journey Through Time
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75 Cards per Deck
Far from the strife of Dominaria lies Lorwyn, an idyllic world where races of fable thrive in perpetual midsummer. Lorwyn is covered with dense forests, meandering rivers, and gently rolling meadows. The sun never quite dips below the horizon, and winter is entirely unknown.
Lorwyn is the start of a new block for Magic: The Gathering.
Lorwyn is the start of a new setting, giving a unique twist to old favorites and introducing new places, creatures, and characters to the world of Magic. Lorwyn returns to a "distinct classic fantasy feel" for Magic. This set introduces new mechanics and a new card type.
Lorwyn is a verdant world preserved in eternal midsummer, where creatures of fable thrive in nature's pristine wilds. A heavily forested world of fantastical locales, epic quests and legendary places, figures and acts.
# Lorwyn is creatively part of a first mini-block together with only one small set ("Morningtide")
# Lorwyn has a tribal theme. Fewer wrath effects in this block vs. in Onslaught. Makes tribal matter more as creatures can't get wiped out as often.
# New card type: "Planeswalker". This isn't just for the block but will be a part of Magic for the foreseeable future. Planeswalker is a permanent. It's not a subtype. It'll play differently than any other card type and Wizards will be dedicating Tips & Tricks cards to explain what this new card type does. Planeswalkers will be strong enough to support non-tribal strategies.
# (Almost) new cardtype: Tribal. Each tribal card has another card type. Playing and resolving a tribal card follows the rules for playing and resolving a card of the other type. The set of tribal subtypes is the same as the set of creature subtypes. Instants, Sorceries and Enchantments all feature the Tribal type.
# New mechanic: Evoke: (You may play a spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it comes into play.)
# New keyword action: Champion. For example: Champion an elf (when this comes into play, sacrifice it unless you remove another elf you control from the game. When this leaves play, return that card to play.)
# The Lorwyn-set will contain Xth-like tokens and tips & tricks cards. The tokens will correspond to the tokens created by the cards in the block, and the Tips & Tricks will be an in-depth look into the new mechanics of the block. You'll get two tokens for every one Tips & Tricks card.


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June 20, 2007 [home] [contact] [links] [disclaimer]
This Week in History - June 22, 1913
Shortly after abandoning his floundering career as an artist, Adolf Hitler tried his hand at stand-up comedy. Though he enjoyed some popular success at his new craft, the relentless abuse he received from the mostly Jewish comedic press - who almost unanimously dismissed his material as stupefyingly trite and misogynistic - left Hitler severely embittered, and he soon stomped off the stage for good, leaving generations to wonder, "What if?"
Presented here is a rare excerpt from one of his live performances at the Glucksen Haus in Berlin -
German to English translation:
"My girlfriend asked me if her butt looked big in her new pants and I said yes, because I don't give a shit."
"How come women are always complaining that men leave the toilet seat up? As if they should never lift a finger?"
"I want to know what international body met to sanction the down position as the correct position for a toilet seat! Did I miss a meeting here?! I say quit bitching and go wipe my pee off the floor, go clean the kitchen, go polish my shoes, go make me a sandwich! I'm out of here!"


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36 S.Ct. 210
60 L.Ed. 402
SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,
No. 296.
Argued November 29, 1915.
Decided January 10, 1916.
Messrs. John M. Wilson, L. E. Jeffries, and H. O'B. Cooper for plaintiff in error.
Mr. Aubrey L. Brooks for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:
W. L. Lloyd, herein called the plaintiff, brought his action in the superior court of Guilford county, North Carolina, against the defendant, the Southern Railway Company, joined with its lessor, the North Carolina Railroad Company. The action was brought under the Federal employers' liability act of 1908, 35 Stat. at L. 65, chap. 149, as amended April 5th, 1910, 36 Stat. at L. 291, chap. 143, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8662.
The North Carolina Railroad Company is a corporation of the state of North Carolina, owning a railroad line extending from Goldsboro, North Carolina, to Charlotte, in the same state. The Southern Railway Company is organized under the laws of the state of Virginia, and is a common carrier engaged in interstate commerce, transporting freight and passengers from the city of Washington, District of Columbia, through Greensboro, and over the tracks of the North Carolina Railroad Company through Spencer, Salisbury, and Charlotte.
The petition charges that the Southern Railway Company was, at the time of the injuries complained of, operating as lessee of the North Carolina Railroad Company the roads and side tracks at Spencer; that on January 12th, 1911, plaintiff was employed as an engineer by the defendant, Southern Railway Company, upon its freight trains running over said line of road from Spencer, North Carolina, to Monroe, Virginia, and was engaged in interstate traffic; that upon said date he was directed as engineer to take charge of a certain engine at Spencer, to ascertain whether the same was in serviceable condition, as it had just come from the repair shops; that while he was operating the engine on one of the side tracks of the North Carolina Railroad Company's main line at Spencer, and was oiling and inspecting the same, in stooping over the engine to ascertain if the ash pan and other equipments were in proper condition, a lever about 2 feet long, located at the rear of the driving wheel and the lower side of the engine, used for the purpose of operating the damper to the ash pan, tripped and violently struck the plaintiff in the forehead, causing serious harm and injury; that the defective condition was known to the Southern Railway Company, and unknown to the plaintiff; that the plaintiff, at the time of the injury, was employed by the Southern Railway Company for the purpose of transporting interstate commerce running to and from Spencer, North Carolina, along the main line of the Southern Railway Company, part of which said line included the portion of said North Carolina Railroad Company's line leased by the Southern Railway Company from Greensboro, North Carolina, to Spencer, North Carolina; that the engine upon which the plaintiff was hurt was, and had been, exclusively used by the Southern Railway Company in the transportation of interstate commerce over the line of said road between Spencer and Monroe, Virginia, and that the plaintiff, at the time of his injury, was in charge of said engine. Negligence of the Southern Railway Company is charged in furnishing the plaintiff with an unsafe and dangerous engine, knowing the same to be such, and thereby rendering the plaintiff's employment hazardous and dangerous, and unnecessarily exposing him to peril.
The Southern Railway Company in due season filed its petition for removal of the case to the district court of the United States for the western district of North Carolina, because of its diversity of citizenship with the plaintiff, and alleging that the joinder of the North Carolina Railroad Company, the local defendant, was fraudulently made to avoid Federal jurisdiction; that the plaintiff was not engaged in interstate commerce at the time of the accident; that the engine upon which he was injured was not engaged in any kind of commerce at the time of the accident; and that these allegations in the petition were fraudulent and false, which the plaintiff knew, or could have ascertained by the exercise of the slightest diligence upon his part. The court refused to remove the case, to which refusal the Southern Railway Company excepted.
Upon issue joined, the case came on for trial at the February term, 1913, of the superior court of Guilford county. At the close of plaintiff's testimony, the court intimated that there was no cause of action against the North Carolina Railroad Company; upon this intimation a nonsuit was taken as to that company. Thereupon the Southern Railway Company filed a second petition for removal which the court, after argument, granted, and an order was made, removing the case to the district court of the United States for the western district of North Carolina. The plaintiff excepted to this order of removal, and to the nonsuit as to the North Carolina Railroad Company, and, upon appeal to the supreme court of North Carolina, that court held that the case should not have been removed, and remanded it to the superior court of Guilford county for trial. 162 N. C. 485, 78 S. E. 489.
The case coming on again for trial in the superior court, the Southern Railway Company renewed its objections to the jurisdiction by a plea, and set up that the case had been docketed in the district court of the United States for the western district of North Carolina, that no motion had been made to remand the same, that the order removing it had not been revoked, and that the case was then pending for trial in the district court as aforesaid. The North Carolina Railroad Company also filed a plea to the jurisdiction. These pleas were overruled, and upon trial a verdict and judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff. Upon appeal to the supreme court of North Carolina, that judgment was affirmed. 166 N. C. 24, 81 S. E. 1003, 7 N. C. C. A. 520.
From the statement of the case already made, it is apparent that the plaintiff sought to recover under the Federal employers' liability act, joining both railroad companies upon the theory that the lessor company remained liable under the law of North Carolina upon the cause of action asserted by the plaintiff. See North Carolina R. Co. v. Zachary, 232 U. S. 248, 58 L. ed. 591, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 305, Ann. Cas. 1914C, 159. On the face of the petition a case was made invoking the jurisdiction of the state court to recover under the Federal act, because of the negligence charged. That the state court had jurisdiction of such an action is expressly provided by the Federal statute. Act of April 5, 1910, 36 Stat. at L. 291, chap. 143, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8662.
In no case can the right of removal be established by a petition to remove which amounts simply to a traverse of the facts alleged in the plaintiff's petition, and in that way undertaking to try the merits of a cause of action, good upon its face. Chesapeake & O. R. Co. v. Cockrell, 232 U. S. 146, 58 L. ed. 544, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 278. It is only in cases wherein the facts alleged in the petition for removal are sufficient to fairly raise the issue of fraud that the state court is required to surrender its jurisdiction. The order of nonsuit in the trial court as to the North Carolina Railroad Company, appealed from by plaintiff, with the right of review in the supreme court of the state, did not make the case removable as to the Southern Railway Company. American Car & Foundry Co. v. Kettelhake, 236 U. S. 311, 59 L. ed. 594, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 357. Moreover, as we shall see later, under the employers' liability act, no case is removable merely because of diversity of citizenship.
The act of 1910, supra, expressly gives jurisdiction to the state court, and provides that no case arising under its provisions, brought in a state court of competent jurisdiction, shall be removed to any court of the United States. Section 28 of the Judicial Code, 36 Stat. at L. 1087, chap. 231, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 1010, contains a like provision, and expressly provides that no case arising under the employers' liability act or any amendment thereto, brought in a state court of competent jurisdiction, shall be removed to any court of the United States. The question of the effect of this provision upon the right to remove a case because of diversity of citizenship, since the passage of the act referred to, was before this court and passed upon in Kansas City Southern R. Co. v. Leslie, 238 U. S. 599, 59 L. ed. 1478, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 844. It was therein held that there was no authority to remove such action from the state court to the Federal court because of diversity of citizenship. Nor did the alleged fraudulent joinder of the local defendant in the state court give such right. North Carolina R. Co. v. Zachary, supra. And see Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co. v. Whiteaker, decided in this court, December 20, 1915 [239 U. S. 421, 60 L. ed. ——, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 152]. Such right did not arise from the allegation of the removal petition that the injury did not happen in interstate commerce. Chesapeake & O. R. Co. v. Cockrell, supra. It follows that the state court did not err in its judgment as to the right of removal upon the facts presented in this case.
As to other questions of a Federal character, they may be briefly disposed of. It is insisted that the trial court should have given the instruction requested by the railroad company to the effect that, upon the facts shown, the plaintiff was not engaged in interstate commerce at the time of his injury. Upon this subject there is testimony in the record to support the allegations of plaintiff's petition and the charge to the jury as given. The trial court charged that, in order to recover, the burden was upon the plaintiff to show that at the time he received his injury he was engaged in interstate commerce. In refusing the request asked, and leaving the issue to the jury, the trial court committed no error, and the supreme court of the state rightly affirmed the judgment in that respect. North Carolina R. Co. v. Zachary, supra; Pedersen v. Delaware, L. & W. R. Co. 229 U. S. 146, 57 L. ed. 1125, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 648, Ann. Cas. 1914C, 153, 3 N. C. C. A. 779; New York C. & H. R. R. Co. v. Carr, 238 U. S. 260, 59 L. ed. 1298, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 780; Pennsylvania Co. v. Donat, decided by this court November 1st, 1915 [239 U. S. 50, 60 L. ed. ——, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 4.]
The court properly refused the request as to contributory negligence and gave the rule laid down in the employers' liability act. As to assumption of risk, the supreme court held that no such issue was made or submitted to the trial court (a conclusion fully supported by the record), and therefore under the state practice no question concerning that subject was presented on appeal. This conclusion denied no right of a Federal character.
Judgment affirmed.


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This section will not tolerate any begging for restricted usergroup exclusive codes(ex. VIP). Please no flaming if a code is already released you can...
I saw in this site that it is possible to create codes from the files SLES and SLUS using PS2DIS. I need help for the game The Warriors, yours have...
Does anybody have nitepr codes? All I can find are Cwcheats....
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:M:anybody have any syphon filter logan shadow hacks?
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I wanna make an invicible cell and Colorfull, but i need a Keyboard without symbols from the demonsa keyboard. Thank you for your attention
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#set inf mines
;credit sdrawkcab
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John Leguizamo, film & TV star, signs copies of Ghetto Klown on Saturday, March 26, 2011 at noon.
Be one of the first 300 people to buy the Ghetto Klown: Music From My Hood CD starting on Tuesday, March 22nd at 12:01am at the Union Square Best Buy and you will receive a wristband which guarantees admittance to this special event. Join us for an onstage interview with John Leguizamo & X96.3 on-air personality Luis Jimenez as they discuss John's new Broadway show, Ghetto Klown. Following the interview, John will be signing copies of the CD to fans with event wristbands only. Arrive early, time and space are limited.
Best Buy
1 Union Square South (Corner of 14th Street and 4th Avenue), New York, NY


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Available at the End of August 2005 HPI Racing is proud to announce a new member of the successful Savage monster truck family - the RTR Savage 25 Limited Edition! The 25 Limited Edition is the new top of the range RTR Savage. It is an addition to the Savage range and will not replace any other of the popular Savages. Therefore the new Savage line up is: RTR Versions: #882 Savage 3.5 RTR #835 Savage 25 RTR #853 Savage 25 RTR Limited Edition Kit Versions: #874 Savage SS 4.6 The Savage 25 RTR Limited Edition comes with several of the most popular upgrade parts pre-installedmaking it the new premium RTR Savage. The big news is that the popular 3-speed transmission comes pre-installed for more punch and more top speed. The 3-speed tranny not only shifts 2 times for improved power and efficiency, but it also is beefed up internally for improved durability and longer maintenance intervals. Plus, there's the added "cool factor" of hearing the truck shift an extra time.
To extract the most out of the S-25 engine we added a polished aluminium dual chamber tuned pipe, delivering a smooth and wide power band for excellent drivability. The polished aluminium body dissipates heat more efficiently than the stock plastic pipe, and also gives the truck a custom look with its shiny surface and laser-etched HPI Racing logo. For extra tuning choices, the truck comes standard with 15T/49T gearing and we include optional 19T and 49T gears that give 4 different gear ratio combinations to choose from so that owners can dial in the gearing for optimum performance.
|#87197 - Cam Type Servo Saver
|#87150 - Dual Disk Brake Set (Stainless Steel)
|#86138 - Aluminium Tuned Pipe (Polished)
To help stop the truck from high speeds, dual stainless steel drilled disc brakes are standard equipment. With twice the surface area of the stock brakes, the dual discs give the truck the ability to stop time after time with no brake fade. And, peak braking is now high enough to do stunts like "brakies" on command. The cross-drilled stainless rotors are also more durable and provide improved braking in extreme driving conditions like mud, sand and water.
|#1406 Nitro Star S-25 Engine with #87117 Rotostart conversion
|#87218 - 3 Speed Transmission For Savage
To make the Savage Limited Edition look great we added shiny chrome 6 spoke wheels and a special metallic blue/silver/graphite paint job for the GT-1 body. Standard rubber is our grippy Dirt Bonz tyres that not only look great, but also give the truck incredible handling and performance for off-road driving. At nearly 40% lighter than the stock tyres, the Dirt Bonz deliver quicker acceleration, more grip and faster lap times on the race track. All of the latest Savage upgrades are pre-installed: Cam-type servo saver for more accurate and responsive steering, 4-gear diffs for extra durability, improved throttle and brake linkage, rear tie-rod washers, 3 shoe clutch for quick acceleration, and our new high performance air filter to help protect the engine from dirt and dust.
And the legendary Savage "Proven Tough" parts are standard equipment: Aluminium alloy TVP chassis plates, tough reinforced nylon suspension arms, front and rear impact bumpers, alloy roll hoop, 8 long stroke oil-filled shocks, stainless steel hinge pins, and full-time four wheel drive make the Savage one of the toughest Monster Trucks ever. Power comes from the proven S-25 engine that features a billet aluminium heat sink head for extra cooling, dual bushing aluminium connecting rod, true ABC chrome sleeve construction for long engine life, a composite body for better performance at higher temperatures, and a simplified dual needle 7mm slide carburettor for easier tuning. The electronic Roto Start engine starting system is included, making starting the engine as simple as pressing a button. The combination of the S-25 engine, 3-speed tranny and tuned pipe give this Limited Edition truck plenty of power for hours and hours exciting off-road driving.
The Savage 25 comes completely factory assembled; everything is done for the customer - even the tyres are glued to the wheels. The body is completely ready to go right out of the box. It's painted, trimmed and decaled to look exactly like the truck on the front of the Savage Limited Edition box. In less than 15 minutes customers can be driving their Savage 25 trucks! As always, this Savage is compatible with a huge amount of tuning and hop-up options from HPI and a wide variety of aftermarket manufacturers, making it infinitely adjustable for owners who like to customize their trucks.
- Adjustable 3 speed transmission with heavy-duty metal internal
- Polished aluminium dual chamber tuned pipe
- Dual stainless steel drilled disc brakes
- Chrome 6 spoke wheels
- Dirt Bonz tyres (with inner foam)
- Cam type servo saver
- Optional gearing (15T, 19T, 47T, 49T gears included)
- 4-gear differentials (front and rear)
- Pre-painted trimmed GT-1 truck body in all-new colours with Savage 25 decals applied
- Rear tie-rod washers
- Nitro Star S-25 engine (ABC) with slide carburettor
- Purple anodized, billet aluminium heat sink engine head
- Roto Start System installed!
- Aluminium high flow tube rear exhaust header
- Stiff black shock springs
- Rear pick-up 160cc fuel tank with no primer
- Three-shoe clutch
- Revised wheel hex hubs
- Giant 1/8th scale (16.8" x 21")
- Factory assembled
- Full-time shaft driven four wheel drive
- Complete set of rubber sealed ball bearings
- TF-4 radio system with high torque steering servo
- Cast aluminium heavy-duty engine mount
- Heavy-duty drive train and suspension optimized for big-block engines
- Hardened metal differential gears
- Adjustable slipper clutch
- Adjustable disc brake
- Wide-track suspension (nearly 17 inches wide!)
- Stainless steel inboard hinge pins with anodized aluminium braces
- 8 long stroke oil-filled coil over shock absorbers
- Rigid aluminium TVP chassis (Twin Vertical Plates)
- Enclosed radio box for protection of electronics
- Front and rear skid plate bumpers
- Adjustable body posts (with extra mount for SUV bodies)
* Compatible with T-Maxx bodies * Compatible with T-Maxx wheels * Compatible with T-Maxx tyres
--Optional reverse module (#87032) for transmission (using the 3rd channel of the TF-4 radio system)
Specification may be subject to change


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Story highlights
An Afghan man and his family flee to a refugee camp amid fighting
He borrows money to pay for his wife's medical bills
When he can't repay the debt he marries off his daughter to the money lender's son
A lawyer helps get them out of the deal and offers the family another chance
Her big brown eyes, framed by long soft lashes, are wide open as she takes in the unfamiliar surroundings. She's never stepped foot into a place like this, with books, computers, classrooms and musical instruments. In fact Naghma has never been to school, let alone one that looked like this.
The seven-year old dressed in a blue headscarf and a tattered, red dress, is at Afghanistan's National Institute of Music with her father, Taj Mohammad. He's a big man with kind eyes and wears a grey shalwar kameez, Afghanistan's traditional dress. Naghma's older brother, nine-year-old Wakhil, is also with them, popping in and out of every nook and cranny, exploring this new and foreign world.
But as they walk along the hallway, Naghma refuses to leave her father's side. She is his shadow – a daddy's girl. It's right beside him, holding his hand that she feels most comfortable.
Fleeing conflict
But last year Taj Mohammad betrayed his little daughter's trust.
It began when the family fled the fighting in the country's southern Helmand Province. Taj Mohammad moved his wife and nine children to a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul thinking this would be a better life. But unable to make a living, the family suffered, especially when the brutal winter arrived. His wife had to be hospitalized when she fell ill and then his three-year-old son froze to death.
Taj Mohammad borrowed $2,500 to pay for his wife's medical bills and other family expenses. But when he couldn't repay the debt he decided the only solution was to marry off Naghma, then only six, to the money lender's 19-year-old son.
"It was a difficult decision," Taj Mohammad tells me in a remorseful tone. "Everyone gives away their child but to give Naghma away like that was just so hard."
When human rights groups found out they were outraged and contacted a U.S. lawyer Kimberley Motley. The former beauty queen and mother of three who lives between Kabul and Milwaukee, Wisconsin where her family is based, has been working in Afghanistan for the past five years. She arrived in 2008 as part of a U.S. State Department program to train and mentor Afghan defense attorneys.
Anonymous donor
While it was only supposed to be a short-term stay, Motley realized there was a serious shortage of lawyers and decided to set up a practice. While her main clients are foreigners, embassies and corporations, she has made a name for herself with her pro bono work representing victimized Afghan women.
When this case came across her desk, Motley jumped at it. Through her contacts and experience in the country, she arranged an assembly of Afghan elders known as a Jirga, and managed to get Naghma out of the marriage and back to her family. An anonymous donor then paid off Taj Mohammad's debt.
"I'm certainly very happy that Naghma did not have to be married off at the age of 6, so I'm pleased with that," explains Motley. "But I'd like to make sure she gets an education and becomes successful."
Which is the reason why they're visiting Afghanistan's National Institute of Music – a school that takes orphans and underprivileged children and is offering placements for both Naghma and her brother.
Motley who walks through the school with Taj Mohammad and the two children asks them what they think. Through an interpreter, Taj Mohammad says he likes it very much and would like his children to attend. He knows he and his children have been given another a chance.
"When I couldn't pay my debt I felt like I'd been thrown into the fire and then someone rescued me – that was Kim. She has been so kind to me I'm ready to do whatever Kim says."
READ: Women could make the difference in Afghan vote


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text:
RENTON — With the passing weeks and months, residents of Darrington are slowly putting the tragedy of the Oso mudslide behind them.
And as members of the Darrington High School football team found out on Tuesday, plenty of good people in the Puget Sound area are still looking for ways to help that happen.
On the drive to this week's Central Washington University football camp in Ellensburg, the Loggers took a slight detour to attend a Seattle Seahawks minicamp at the NFL team's Renton practice facility. Darrington's players and coaches were invited guests of the Seahawks, and the visit included a chance to get autographs and pose for pictures with many of Seattle's top players.
"The kids are on Cloud 9 right now," said Darrington head coach Doug Lenker as he watched his players mingle with the Seahawks after the afternoon workout. "It is," he added, "a heck of a day."
This is the second time the Super Bowl champion Seahawks have reached out to the Darrington community. On March 31, and just nine days after the horrific mudslide, several Seattle players traveled to Darrington with members of the Seattle Sounders soccer team. That earlier visit started a conversation that led to the Loggers being invited to Tuesday's Seahawks practice, which was otherwise closed to the public.
"Just being around all these guys and getting (autographs), it's a crazy feeling," said Trent Green, a senior-to-be quarterback and defensive back. "I can't even explain it. But it's pretty cool to see all of them and be this close to them."
Making a great day even better for Green, he was able to say hi to his favorite Seattle player, quarterback Russell Wilson. "I got a hug," Green said with a grin.
At one point during the workout, wide receiver Sidney Rice wandered over to a cluster of Darrington players and coaches. "Where're you guys from?" he asked. "Darrington?" Told they were football players, he asked, "You guys going to win the championship?"
Then, seeing one of the players wearing a Seahawks Super Bowl cap, he gave the bill a playful flick with his fingertip and said, "I like the hat."
The practice lasted about 21/2 hours, and when it was over several Seattle players lingered with the Darrington kids. Among them, Super Bowl MVP linebacker Malcolm Smith and wide receiver Jermaine Kearse, who were both in the team contingent that visited Darrington back in March.
Linebacker Bobby Wagner, wide receivers Doug Baldwin and Percy Harvin, and offensive tackle Russell Okung were others who came by to chat and sign autographs.
Moments later, the team gathered around Wilson for a group photograph. At the last second, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, smiling broadly, ducked in to be part of the picture, too.
Green ended up with a football signed by Carroll, Wilson, Harvin, safety Earl Thomas and several other Seahawks. The football "is going into a (display) case in my bedroom," Green said.
Teammate Mason McKenzie, who will be a junior linebacker and offensive lineman/tight end, was carrying a Super Bowl hat signed by several Seahawks. The large signature right at the top belonged to Carroll.
The entire afternoon, McKenzie said, "has been awesome. Seeing all the drills, you can learn stuff from them."
To his players, Lenker said, the Seahawks "are their heroes. They watch these guys on TV, and now they have a chance to get their signatures and shake their hands and be close to them. It's a dream come true for most of them."
As it was for the Darrington coaching staff. "This is an experience for me, too," Lenker said. "It's awesome."
After several minutes of meeting and greeting, the Loggers headed for the parking lot and the journey on to Ellensburg, where they were to open their four-day football camp with a Tuesday evening scrimmage. In an act of real generosity, Central Washington is allowing the Loggers to participate in the camp without charge.
The school first had to get approval from the NCAA, said CWU athletic director Dr. Dennis Francois, "and they said yes, for this situation, they would allow the university to provide free camp for those individuals."
It was, Francois said, "the least we could do, and we were more than happy to do it. … (The mudslide) devastation changed a lot of lives and it's something that's not going to heal overnight, but hopefully this will help bring a little bit of normalcy back into the lives of these student-athletes."
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text:
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text:
(JTA) — A month ago, Michel Gugenheim seemed to have succeeded in helping France's rabbinate recover from the scandal that ended the tenure of its previous chief rabbi.
One of France's two interim chief rabbis and the president of the Paris rabbinic court, Gugenheim had helped advance an ambitious restructuring plan to address redundancies within French Orthodox institutions.
He also kept his office mostly out of the news — a reprieve much needed after the resignation last year of a former chief rabbi, Gilles Bernheim, amid revelations that he had committed plagiarism and used a false academic title.
The sense was that Gugenheim had paved the way for the smooth election of a successor.
But then a video emerged that reportedly shows Gugenheim ordering the family of a woman seeking a divorce to write a $120,000 check to a religious charity in exchange for securing a Jewish divorce certificate, or get, from her husband.
Dubbed by French media as "L'affaire du Guet," the scandal broke just weeks before the June 22 election for chief rabbi — a vote that many hoped would help salvage the rabbinate's reputation following the Bernheim debacle.
Now the rabbinate and its parent organization, the Consistoire — an Orthodox body established as the representative of French Jewry by Napoleon in 1808 — are mired again in controversy and facing emboldened critics demanding reforms.
"While Bernheim's plagiarisms exposed his own personal shortcomings and failures, the get affair undermines the credibility of the French rabbinate much more profoundly because it flags a systemic failure that touches the lives of ordinary French Jews," said Jean-Claude Lalou, who heads a group, Future of Judaism, that is pushing for reform of the Consistoire and knew in advance of the family's plan to record the divorce discussion.
The get affair comes amid a continuing erosion in the prestige of chief rabbis across the Jewish world.
In Israel, a former Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, was the subject of several fraud investigations while in office, while a former Sephardic chief rabbi, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, was indicted in 2012 for allegedly issuing fake rabbinical ordination certificates.
It's unclear how the latest scandal will affect the race for chief rabbi in France, home to Europe's largest Jewish community. Ten candidates are vying for the votes of the 300 Consistoire delegates charged with electing the chief rabbi.
Gugenheim is not among the candidates, but the man with whom he was sharing interim chief rabbi duties, Olivier Kaufmann, was considered a leading contender before the get affair exploded.
The current scandal concerns a 28-year-old woman named Anaelle whose family left a check for $120,000 made out to a French Jewish charity with Gugenheim's Paris beit din, or rabbinic court, on March 18.
Journalists who have seen the video reported that under an arrangement that the beit din helped broker, the money was to be funneled through the charity, with one-third going to the husband and the charity pocketing the difference. The family, in turn, would receive an $80,000 credit from the French government for making a charitable donation.
Annaelle's family secretly recorded the court proceedings on video and has threatened to file a complaint with police unless the check is returned. The video has not been made public, but journalists who have seen it reported that Gugenheim is heard saying, "This is the price of her liberty."
Another rabbinical judge, Betsalel Levy, is also heard on the recording saying, "I'm not giving a get until we have the check."
Gugenheim says the video creates a false impression that he and other rabbinical judges pocketed the money. The demand for funds came from the husband, he said, not the court.
"None of the rabbis received the money, but people read the headlines and think there is graft," Gugenheim told the news site JSS news.
The Consistoire's defenders accuse those behind the leaking of the video to the media of trying to damage the institution.
"I strongly deplore these unacceptable attempts to destabilize the Consistoire and discredit the rabbinate of France and its tribunal," said Sammy Ghozlan, the vice president of the Consistoire.
But Lalou says the next chief rabbi will have to carry out major reforms to both the Consistoire and the rabbinate if he is to salvage their reputations and regain French Jewry's trust.
"These centralist bodies know no oversight, no transparency and no accountability," Lalou said. "This is driving away Jews from institutional life precisely at a time of great external challenges."
Reform needs to happen on four major points, said Martine Cohen, a prominent researcher on French Jewry.
"We are talking about women's place in religious life; a policy of openness on conversions to Judaism; an overhaul of the rabbinical ordination process and, finally, last but not least, the opening of dialogue with other streams of religious Judaism," Cohen wrote in an article on the French-language version of The Huffington Post.
Some critics of the Consistoire doubt that it has the capacity to carry out such reforms.
Rabbi Yeshaya Dalsace, a well-known Masorti, or Conservative, rabbi from Paris, cites Bernheim — whom many hoped would bring new openness to the rabbinate and the Consistoire — as an example of French Orthodoxy's difficulty with change.
"Bernheim wanted change, but all he did was talk. He encountered too much resistance," Dalsace said.
The reason, according to Dalsace, is that "like the rabbinate in Israel, the Consistoire in France is hostage to radical forces and Hasidic courts whose rabbis make up the Consistoire electorate. It's like trying to lobby for change within the Communist Party during Bolshevism."


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Shoot - Use mouse to aim, left click to fire. Reload weapon - R key. Payload - W key. Pan camera left/right - A/W keys respectively. Throw grenade - Q key. Select weapon - 1-9 number keys. Pause - P key.
Frontline Defender is an action-packed strategy-shooter game! Your city is under siege from enemy troops and things look desperate as your soldiers have fallen back, with only a small barricade to protect them. Everything's on your shoulders now! Pick up the slack of your fellow soldiers and shoot any remaining enemies upon sight! It's time to shape up your soldiers, tighten up your defenses and sharpen your aim as you defend the ruins of your once glorious city!
Date Added: 2014-05-19
Category: Action
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Kostner Hen standing
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We do not stock all of their pieces but can obtain any that are in their Tyrolean shop within 3-4 weeks. We can also request custom pieces, made to order.


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Difference between revisions of "GEPS 015: Repository Research Support"
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= Related Work =
= Related Work =
[[RepositoriesReport]] is an example what can be done at the moment. This GEP seeks to develop this idea further.
=See also=
=See also=
Revision as of 08:12, 26 February 2014
This is a work in progress, I hope to develop the content over the next couple of weeks - rjt
User Stories
1. Plan a research visit to a Repository
Aunt Martha (AM) is planning a visit to the UK National Archives at Kew, London. She wants to produce a report from GRAMPS that tells her all of the Sources that are held in the National Archives that might be of interest to her. She also wants the report to give her a list of all the people in her database that could potentially appear in those sources, without showing those that she already has the source attached to. She would also like the report to include a table with a row for each person and a column for each piece of information that the Source should contain so that she can print it out and fill it while she is at Kew.
2. Import Sources for a Repository
AM has discovered the Ancestry is a great Repository that she knows is a good place to find genealogy sources relevant to her database. She wants to import the information about the sources that are held by Ancestry so that she can start her research. She clicks on the 'Import Repository' button and gets a list of all of the Repositories that are in the online GRAMPS Repository database and imports Ancestry. This populates the Sources that are contained in Ancestry and add Ancestry to her list of Repositories.
3. Create Research Plan for a Person
AM sits down at her computer. she has an hour to spare and what to progress her research. She selects her Grandfather, Frank in the Person View. GRAMPS shows her a research plan for Frank that shows all the Sources that Frank might be found in and the type of information that can be found in each Source. It also shows her the Repositories that contain those sources so that she can immediately start to look for the information.
The first report is a research plan for a Repository. I shows all the sources that are held in that repository, if there are people that might appear in them. For each source if shows the candidate people and provides a template for recording the information found in the source.
The second report is an individual research plan. I shows all the sources that the person might be listed in, these would be filtered so that those that are already listed for the individual are excluded (or may listed at the end).
Implementation Issues
Supporting queries
There are two primary queries:
* get_all_people_that_might_appear_in_source(source) * get_all_sources_that_a_person_might_appear_in(person)
Both of these queries require some way of matching a Person to a Source. There are two types of source meta-data that could be used for doing this matching:
- dates - if a Source had a start and end date we could match this against the result of probably_alive
- places - places are trickier, what we want to ask is is this person likely to have lived somewhere in the region covered by this source. An initial implementation might associate a Place object with a Source and match if the Person has any Place or Address references that match all of the fields that are set in the Sources Place. So for a Census the Source's Place would say England and if any of the Addresses on the Person also had England it would be a match. Source might need to have multiple Places and the matching algorithm might need to be rather fuzzy. A 'default place' might be needed to cover all the People that have no Address or Place references.
I think that the date matching is clearly simpler than the place matching and should be the initial target.
The aspect of meta-data is record what information a Source contains. This could be as simple as a list of titles (e.g. Birthday, Name, Sex etc.) or it could be more sophisticated. It could be a list of Event templates. The Event templates could then be used to check against the Person, so the Source only matches against the Person if they do not have an Event of that type references to that Source. It might even be possible to right-click the Source on a Probable Sources tab on the Person and select Populate Events to create the empty events on the Person, already setup to reference the Source.
To be able to produce these reports it is going to be necessary to record additional information in the database. Most of this additional information is recorded against Sources but some will also be needed against people and possibly against Repositories.
Important issues
- It must be possible to exclude Sources altogether. Many Sources are not related to documentary evidence and you would not want them cluttering up the reports.
- It must be possible to exclude Sources on an Person. If you know that you have checked a Source for an Individual you want to exclude that Source from showing up next time you run the reports.
Implementation Plan
It should be possible to make a start on this by storing the Source meta-data in the key/value data of the Source. This will allow an initial proof-of-concept of the reports without touching the database schema.
For instance:
key value _r_:start_date 1841-06-06 _r_:end_date 1841-06-07 _r_:include True
A more general version of probably_alive would be needed that can take a range and decide if the Person might be alive during that period.
Future Possibilities
- Extract some informations from archives to Gramps[1]
Related Work
RepositoriesReport is an example what can be done at the moment. This GEP seeks to develop this idea further.


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LONDON (Reuters) – The schism dividing the euro zone's strong and weak economies deepened to include its core pairing in February as French firms suffered their worst month in four years in stark contrast to prospering Germany.
The gap between the two biggest economies in the euro zone is now at its widest since purchasing manager surveys (PMIs) started in 1998, the latest sounding showed.
It dealt a blow to hopes the euro zone might emerge from recession soon, showing the downturn across the region's businesses worsened unexpectedly this month.
The latest PMIs also suggest that the "positive contagion" across financial markets noted by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in January may take a long time to filter through to the real economy.
"The improvement in the financial markets will not be enough on its own to kick start an economic recovery," said Ben May at Capital Economics.
While businesses in Germany sustained a healthy rate of growth, French services companies fell into their worst slump since the nadir of the Great Recession in early 2009.
The PMIs poll thousands of companies each month and are firmly at odds with the upbeat mood on financial markets and improving investor confidence, suggesting the real economy is failing to improve behind a sheen of optimism.
Survey compiler Markit said the French data were more befitting of a struggling peripheral euro zone economy such as Spain or Italy, rather than a key growth engine with Germany.
"There are issues in the French economy which are being unmasked by the depth and severity of this crisis," said Peter Dixon, global equities economist at Commerzbank.
He said France has major structural problems, and also said business activity may have been crimped by confusion over the government's economic policies.
"That may well have been frightening the horses when it comes to businesses."
Markit's Eurozone Services PMI fell in February to 47.3 from 48.6, marking a year below the 50 threshold for growth and confounding expectations for a rise to 49.0 from more than 30 analysts polled by Reuters.
None of them forecast such a poor reading.
Markit said the latest PMIs pointed to the euro zone economy shrinking 0.2-0.3 percent in the first quarter, following an estimated 0.4 percent contraction at the end of last year.
That's gloomier than last week's Reuters poll of economists, which suggested the economy will merely stagnate this quarter. <-ECILT/EU>-
In the Netherlands, consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since records began, unemployment reached its highest in around 16 years, and house prices showed the strongest annual drop since 1995.
In contrast to neighbors France and the Netherlands, Germany has enjoyed a good start to the year.
German investor morale soared to its highest level in nearly three years this month, while the statistics office said on Tuesday that employment rose to a high since reunification in the fourth quarter.
"Germany's in a far better place. In terms of its exports, it probably has more exposure to the emerging markets of Asia than many other major European economies, said Commerzbank's Dixon.
"For that reason, I think it's likely to benefit from the pick-up in demand in Asia in particular."
Still, there are limits to what German prosperity can do for the rest of the region, blighted by harsh budget austerity and rising joblessness.
"Today's figures are a reality check: The improvement in Europe has until now been a financial markets story, while the real economy remains in the doldrums," said Peter vanden Houte, chief euro zone economist at ING.
"The positive backdrop is that now that the markets will realize that the euro zone recovery remains a long and winding road, some of the upward pressure on the euro exchange rate is likely to disappear."
The euro sank to a six-week low of $1.32 against the dollar after the data, while European shares fell sharply. <-MKTS/GLOB>-
New orders at euro zone service sector firms – which include banks, IT companies, hotels and restaurants – declined at a faster rate this month, with the index sinking sharply to 46.0 from 48.4 in January.
That bodes poorly for next month's services PMI.
Thursday's PMIs also dashed optimism that the slump in euro zone factories would ease further in February, as the manufacturing index barely moved, to 47.8 from 47.9 in January.
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt. Graphics by Vincent Flasseur)


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Business in America's corn belt hasn't looked this good in a long while. Demand is booming, and so are the farmers' incomes — at $4 a bushel, the price of corn recently hit a ten-year high, double the price of just a few years ago. It's not surprising that researchers at the University of Iowa just announced that American farmers planted some 4m more hectares of corn this spring than the previous year. And the good times are set to continue. Helped by President George Bush's recent proposal for a fourfold increase in alternative fuels — including bioethanol fuel made from corn — prices are expected to stay above $3 a bushel for the next three to five years. But even with prices at historical highs, there are questions over whether supply will be able to meet demand.
This is where a CFO thousands of kilometres away, in Basel, comes in. Swiss agricultural-chemicals company Syngenta generates annual sales of $8 billion by selling not only the seeds, but also the fungicides, pesticides and other products that help farmers grow even more corn, as well as wheat, soybean, rice and other field crops. (See "Cream of the Crop," below.)
And with the booming demand, "the 'agchem' theme is getting picked up by a number of investors," says a clearly pleased Domenico Scala, Syngenta's 42-year-old CFO. Shares in the number one crop-protection company (according to global sales) have been rising steadily, and lately comfortably outperforming its peers in the chemicals sector. As the US corn market booms, business has also been boosted by divisional restructurings, an expanding product portfolio, strong cash flows and a string of cost-reduction programmes.
But in an industry whose fortunes are ruled by unpredictable weather, global politics, billion-dollar subsidy packages and fickle consumers, Scala can't rest easy. He needs to make sure those good times last well after today's corn bubble bursts. After all, he says, isn't that every CFO's mission?
Indeed it is. In preliminary results from a survey of more than 350 senior executives conducted last month by CFO Research Services, 60% of respondents felt that CFOs need to spend more time and attention on group-wide strategy development. At the moment, there are few better examples of a CFO diving head-first into a strategy overhaul than Scala at Syngenta.
The View from Outside
Ever since Scala left his job as treasurer at Swiss pharma Roche to become Syngenta's finance chief in 2003, the hallmark of his work has been a wholehearted embrace of value-based management. First and foremost, this has meant overhauling how strategy is developed across the group, making it much more shareholder-focused while also directly addressing how Syngenta competes against Monsanto, DuPont, BASF, Bayer and other rivals.
It's a tall order. According to Richard Kibble, a managing partner at strategy consultant Marakon Associates in London, companies that have succeeded in value-based-management programmes such as Syngenta's are few and far between. "Only an extremely small group of high-performing companies have delivered the unusual combination of simultaneous returns and growth," he says. BMW, Heineken and Tesco are among the handful of companies cited by Kibble's fellow Marakon consultants, Ken Favaro and Dominic Dodd, in their book The Three Tensions (Wiley, 2007). These companies, they write, are among the elite which balance profitability and growth, long-term and short-term performance, and business unit performance and group performance, all of which leads to better decision-making.
One of the biggest decisions in Syngenta's history was taken well before Scala's arrival, when pharma firms Novartis and AstraZeneca spun off and then merged their agchem businesses in 1999, followed by a flotation the next year. But with falling sales and margins and debates raging around the world about genetically modified crops, the Basel-based firm was not in an enviable position as it made debuts in late 2000 on exchanges in London, New York, Stockholm and Zurich. On the first day of trading in Zurich on November 13th, shares in Syngenta fell below their offering price of SFr85 (€55.5), and struggled to gain momentum for months afterwards. Revenues fell by 4% in 2001.
The new company clearly had its work cut out. Not only was it racing against the clock to deliver on the synergies and cost savings it had promised, there were some parts of the business that had to be built from scratch, including many back-office functions such as treasury.
In 2003, with market prospects looking "a bit better," Scala arrived as CFO and surveyed the effects of the company's rocky launch, or "the crisis events" of the past few years, as he describes it. In particular, there were two issues — one internal, the other external — that needed urgent addressing, in his opinion.
The first was Syngenta's share price. Scala felt that the markets weren't valuing the company's shares fairly. That in itself isn't unusual. In a survey published earlier this year, accounting firm RSM International found that more than three-quarters of European finance executives polled said that their companies' financial performance wasn't fully reflected by the share price. But nearly 60% felt it was out of their boards' control. Scala would beg to differ, and so he got to work.
Scala's hunch about the valuation "mismatch" was borne out by an internal exercise. Running calculations based on their own financial projections, future discounted free cash flows and net debt, Syngenta's managers came up with a net worth far different from what was out in the market.
Scala reckons that the misvaluation could be partly explained by the positioning of the company around the time of the IPO, when "expectations were too high, so there was bound to be disappointment." With the disappointment still lingering, he says, "the analysts were also reacting to the decreasing revenue that had resulted from a rationalisation of production [following the merger], but overlooked the cash flow that the company was generating despite tough market conditions, and the synergies we were achieving."
Syngenta's solution was simple, yet bold: Scala, along with the other seven executive-committee members, announced publicly their intention to hit a three-year EPS target of double-digit annual growth. "It was unusual but we wanted to say that our development is better than our revenue growth or the market conditions would suggest," says Scala, noting that in 2006, EPS was up 14% (excluding restructuring and impairment) and that the company is aiming for growth of between 10% and 15% this year and next.
So are Syngenta's shares fairly valued today? Scala won't say — "that's the market's and the analyst's job." His job, he asserts, is to address the other issue that he identified back in 2003: the gap between Syngenta's strategic planning and the market's expectations.
In an internal presentation made shortly after his arrival — entitled "Enhancing shareholder value: Linking internal aspirations with external expectations" — Scala set out his vision for change. First of all, he announced how five-year planning — and by extension, budgeting — "would be turned on its head" and become a highly focused, top-down process, based much more on external market data while "putting the strategy at the centre of the discussions."
It would be a big change. Planning at Syngenta had been largely bottom-up and was driven by the business units. The process was time-consuming and inefficient. In addition, "one planned only what one could deliver, and for the most part it was never very aggressive and almost always incremental," Scala explains. He also questioned whether managers had learned to game the system in order to hit targets. "I really started to wonder when a five-year plan from one of our business unit heads landed on my desk that said, 'Next year, my sales are going to be 5%, and the next 4.9% and the next 5.1%.' I know the world doesn't work like that…you can't attack the future in increments."
Having focus from the top is important, says Marakon's Kibble. He cites research by the consultancy that analysed more than 1,000 companies between 1983 and 2003, which found that managers had a good understanding of the key issues facing their companies; they struggled, however, when it came to prioritising those issues and acting accordingly. To address that at Syngenta, Scala pushed back on managers preparing their plans: "Now you know what the goal is, tell me how you're going to reach it. Cost reduction? More effective use of capital? Each business unit should find its own answer."
Along with the top-down process, Scala also said in his 2003 presentation that markets-centric performance metrics would be introduced — the main one a comparison with rivals on a total shareholder return basis (share price appreciation plus dividends divided by a daily average of share prices). At the same time, the company would begin using what Scala refers to as an internal value model, "a variation on the models used by shareholders and sell-side analysts when making their investment decisions" for assessing the economic value (that is, the amount of invested capital that is delivering returns exceeding its cost) generated by individual plans or investments, which would be given prominence equal to traditional metrics such as Ebitda.
The project is still a work in progress and "we're learning as we go," Scala concedes. Still, he's pleased with the early results. "The focus on the actual content of the strategy has grown," he says. And that's cascaded down into various parts of the organisation, including its product portfolio, which is now more aligned to group strategy. Revenue from new products — those launched since 2000 — has been increasing, growing by $200m last year to nearly $1 billion.
What's more, internal feedback has been positive. Although Scala's programme has reduced the overall annual planning process by a few weeks he has tightened up the planning process with a range of small measures, such as cutting down on the amount of data required to draw up plans, observes Hermann Stern, the CEO of Zurich-based consultancy Obermatt, who profiled Scala's work in his recent book Market-oriented Value Management (Wiley VCH, 2007). More important, however, is the "outside in" perspective Scala has brought to planning, quantifying the strategy and defining what the market expects. "And now the aim is to beat competitors, not the budget," he says. "Most companies I know don't do that."
As Stern sees it, resistance from the lower ranks often derails attempts to set top-down targets in the way that Scala has at Syngenta. But as a former treasurer, Scala's experience in competing against external benchmarks is where he "derives his authority," notes Stern. "Managers might protest, but have little choice when he points out that the competition is able to achieve those results."
On the Horizon
One thing that Scala is hoping that the planning revamp will do is downgrade the role of the annual budget in developing strategy — "it really should just be the numeric expression of the strategy," he says. That, he hopes, ought to help managers plan over longer-term horizons, "five, ten, 15 years ahead."
At the moment, however, many of Syngenta's managers — and investors — can't help but focus on the short term. As a Citigroup report notes, 2006 sales were flat across the group, and "with a bit of artistic licence on the financing line [of its accounts]" — it chides — "Syngenta hit consensus EPS numbers for a very challenging year."
Why challenging? One reason was a disastrous attempt in the early part of 2006 to integrate IT for three of its main seed brands in the US, leaving orders coming in from farmers unfilled. As there is a window of opportunity of just a few weeks when farmers order their seeds, Syngenta missed out on a lot of business, as much as $50m, according to Citigroup's estimates. It also watched its market share in the US drop from 14% to 12%. Syngenta managers "turned it around, but they lost a lot of market share — and credibility," says Andrew Benson, a Citigroup analyst. "They've had to fight back for it."
So far this year, the planting season in the US has gone more smoothly. Now what's needed, says Syngenta's investor community, is a big ramp up in topline growth. More new products and business lines, joint ventures, acquisitions and perhaps even a merger with one of its rivals are all in play — and all, no doubt, being run through Scala's new value model. "It involves making tough choices so that we really focus on the value propositions of the future, not just the value propositions today," Scala concludes. After all, investors expect nothing less.
Cream of the Crop: What's All the Fuss About Corn?
The turning point in the history of zea mays, the tropical grass native to Central America that we now know as corn, "can be dated with some precision" to a day in 1947 when a huge munitions plant in Alabama switched over to making chemical fertiliser, writes Michael Pollan in The Omnivore's Dilemma (Bloomsbury, 2006). It was just after the second world war, he notes, that the US government found itself with a surplus of ammonium nitrate, the principal ingredient for making bombs, which also happens to be a good source of nitrogen for plants. Thanks to that, and the bioengeering developed over recent years by companies such as Syngenta, we owe the rise of corn, and it's colonisation — as Pollan puts it — of the modern daily diet.
Nowhere is the mass production of corn more evident than in the US, which grows more than half of the world's output. Thanks to new, more robust types of corn seed, farms there are producing at least 20% more corn on 25% fewer acres than some 80 years ago, when hybrid, or inbred, corn was introduced.
It's this market — "our most important crop in our largest country," as Syngenta COO John Atkin calls it — that will be getting a lot of attention at the $8 billion agchem company over the next few years.
The Swiss company currently trails seed giant Monsanto in the US, but by replenishing its portfolio of proprietary genetically engineered corn "traits," it's aiming to capture a bigger piece of the market, increasing proprietary corn traits' contribution to gross profit to more than 50% in 2011, from 5% in 2006. One of its most widely anticipated product launches is scheduled for 2008, when it unveils a genetically modified corn that will increase ethanol yields.


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I am interested to understand more from the National Geographic app you made for Samsung.
Kind regards,
Mattijs de Valk
Business development SmartTV
National Geographic
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 07 July 2012 10:10
- Last Updated on Sunday, 13 December 2015 13:18
- Hits: 37902
I was involved in development of National Geographic Smart TV application in 2010 and 2011. Application has been available in Samsung App Store from May 2012. The main functionality of the application is the possibility watch Full HD photos provided by National Geographic. User is able to select pictures and define transition effect between images.
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