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[Note for TomDispatch Readers: As you undoubtedly have noticed, the TomDispatch website is in the process of being updated. We're aware that it's a work in progress. There will be glitches and we'll be correcting, adding, and filling in over the next couple of weeks. Please be patient.
Last Tuesday, this site ran an article by Pratap Chatterjee on the endemic nature of corruption and nepotism in Afghanistan, "Paying Off the Warlords." A related piece by Chatterjee — a fascinating case study of what a mess American reconstruction efforts are in that country — has just appeared at the Corpwatch website. Check it out, and while you're at it, take a look at a striking new Corpwatch feature, its "Spies for Hire" database on the private security firms that do for-profit dirty work for the U.S. Intelligence Community. Tom]
So here's the mystery. You have a country that only recently had upwards of 300 military bases, monster to micro, in a single war-torn land, Iraq. It probably now has something like 300 bases combined in Iraq and Afghanistan (where base-building is on the rise). Outside of those war zones, it has perhaps 800 more "facilities" (as they're called) around the globe and thousands more at home. Some of them are absolutely enormous, the equivalent of small American towns with all the amenities of home.
Without a doubt, this represents an accomplishment of some sort. Historically speaking, it's news of the first order. No other great power, from the Han Chinese and the Romans to the British Empire, has ever built so many military outposts in such far-flung places.
So is this empire of bases a matter of pride at home? Hardly. It's rarely thought about. It's not a matter for general discussion or mainstream debate, nor is it news, except on the rarest of occasions (usually when the government threatens to shut down domestic bases and job losses loom). Changes in Pentagon global basing policy are for Washington policy wonks, not ordinary Americans, and certainly not American reporters. From the mainstream media, you get at best a kind of shrug on the subject. Yes, from time to time, you can find a decent piece on an American military base abroad, but normally they are places where American TV reporters can safely set up their cameras and discuss other matters entirely. News about U.S. military bases being built or upgraded in distant lands is usually left to websites like TomDispatch to keep track of.
When it comes to the Middle East, the building of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem or the West Bank, or of secret nuclear facilities in Iran are major news subjects, but the building up of U.S. base infrastructure in the region? Not so much. If, for the first time in its history, the U.S. Navy sets up a permanent strike force based in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, Expeditionary Strike Group 5, remember to check the National, the English-language paper in the United Arab Emirates, for it, not your local rag or the Washington Post, New York Times, or Wall Street Journal. Mind you, we're talking about the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf, the unsettled oil and natural gas heartland of the planet, yet not a peep.
A basic principle taught to any young reporter is: "follow the money." A similar principle should apply to U.S. foreign policy reporting: follow the bases. As striking facts-on-the-ground, such bases tell us much about bedrock U.S. policy, whatever the policy debates in Washington. If the mainstream media ignores such bases, TomDispatch has long made it a policy of keeping an eye on them. Recently, Nick Turse, this site's associate editor and the award-winning author of The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, reported on a story only modestly and partially covered here: the way the Pentagon has been pouring money into building up its base infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Now, he turns to the Persian Gulf region where the news is focused on a future U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. It turns out, however, that we're withdrawing into something — that, in fact, there's been a massive, if hardly noticed, Pentagon build-up in this region, too. You'd think it might be news. Now, at TomDispatch, thanks to Turse, it is. Tom
The Pentagon Garrisons the Gulf
As Washington Talks Iraq Withdrawal, the Pentagon Builds Up Bases in the Region
By Nick Turse
Despite recent large-scale insurgent suicide bombings that have killed scores of civilians and the fact that well over 100,000 U.S. troops are still deployed in that country, coverage of the U.S. war in Iraq has been largely replaced in the mainstream press by the (previously) "forgotten war" in Afghanistan. A major reason for this is the plan, developed at the end of the Bush years and confirmed by President Obama, to draw down U.S. troops in Iraq to 50,000 by August 2010 and withdraw most of the remaining forces by December 2011.
Getting out of Iraq, however, doesn't mean getting out of the Middle East. For one thing, it's likely that a sizeable contingent of U.S. forces will remain garrisoned on several large and remotely situated U.S. bases in Iraq well past December 2011. Still others will be stationed close by — on bases throughout the region where, with little media attention since the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, construction to harden, expand, and upgrade U.S. and allied facilities has gone on to this day.
Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee early this year, General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), stated: "The Arabian Peninsula commands significant U.S. attention and focus because of its importance to our interests and the potential for insecurity." He continued:
"[T]he countries of the Arabian Peninsula are key partners… CENTCOM ground, air, maritime, and special operations forces participate in numerous operations and training events, bilateral and multilateral, with our partners from the Peninsula. We help develop indigenous capabilities for counter terrorism; border, maritime, and critical infrastructure security; and deterring Iranian aggression. As a part of all this, our FMS [Foreign Military Sales] and FMF [Foreign Military Financing] programs are helping to improve the capabilities and interoperability of our partners' forces. We are also working toward an integrated air and missile defense network for the Gulf. All of these cooperative efforts are facilitated by the critical base and port facilities that Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE [United Arab Emirates], and others provide for US forces."
In fact, since 2001 the Pentagon has been pouring significant sums of money into the "critical base and port facilities" mentioned by the general — both U.S. sites and those of its key regional partners. These are often ignored facts-on-the-ground, which signal just how enduring the U.S. military presence in the region is likely to be, no matter what happens in Iraq. Press coverage of this long-term infrastructural build-up has been remarkably minimal, given the implications for future conflicts in the oil heartlands of the planet. After all, Washington is sending tremendous amounts of military materiel into autocratic Middle Eastern nations and building-up bases in countries whose governments, due to domestic public opinion, often prefer that no publicity be given to the growing American military "footprint."
Given that the current conflict with al-Qaeda stemmed, in no small part, from the U.S. military presence in the region, the issue is obviously of importance. Nonetheless, coverage has been so poor that much about U.S. military efforts there remains unknown. A review of U.S. government documents, financial data, and other open-source material by TomDispatch, however, reveals that an American military building boom yet to be seriously scrutinized, analyzed, or assessed is underway in the Middle East.
Consider, then, what we can at present know now about this Pentagon build-up, country by country from Qatar to Jordan, and while you're reading, think about what we don't know — and why Washington has chosen this path.
Qatar: The Pentagon's Persian Gulf Pentagon
In 1996, although it had no air force of its own, the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar built Al Udeid Air Base at a cost of more than $1 billion. The goal: attracting the U.S. military. In September 2001, U.S. aircraft began to operate out of the facility. By 2002, tanks, armored vehicles, dozens of warehouses, communications and computing equipment, and thousands of troops were based at and around Al Udeid. In 2005, the Qatari government spent almost $400 million to build a cutting-edge regional air operations center.
Today, Qatar is all but indispensable to the U.S. military. Just recently, for example, Central Command redeployed 750 personnel from its Tampa, Florida headquarters to its new forward headquarters at Al Udeid to test its "staff's ability to seamlessly transition command and control of operations… in the event of a crisis in the CENTCOM area of responsibility or a natural disaster in Florida."
Qatar has not, however, picked up the whole tab for the expanding U.S. military infrastructure in the country. The Pentagon has also been investing large amounts of money in upgrading facilities there for the last decade. From 2001-2009, the U.S. Army, for example, awarded $209 million in contracts for construction in the energy-rich emirate. In August, Rizzani de Eccher, an Italian engineering and construction giant, signed a $44 million deal with the Pentagon to replace an unspecified facility at Al Udeid. In September, the Department of Defense (DoD) awarded Florida-based IAP Worldwide Services a $6 million contract for "construction of a pre-engineered warehouse building… warehouse bay and related site work and utilities" at the base.
Later in the month, American International Contractors, a global construction firm that specializes in "US-funded Middle East and African infrastructure projects," inked a deal for nearly $10 million to build a Special Operations Forces Training Range, complete with "a two-story shooting house, an indoor range, breach and storage facilities[,] a test fire bunker and bunker road" in Qatar. Just days after that, the Pentagon awarded a $52 million contract to Cosmopolitan–EMTA JV to upgrade the capacity of Al Udeid's airfield by building additional aircraft parking ramps and fuel storage facilities.
Bahrain Base's and Kuwait's Subways
In nearby Bahrain — a tiny kingdom of 750,000 people — the U.S. stations up to 3,000 personnel, in addition to regular visits by the crews of Navy ships that spend time there. Between 2001-2009, the Navy awarded $203 million in construction contracts for military projects in the country. One big winner over that span has been the engineering and construction firm Contrack International. It received more than $50 million in U.S. government funds for such projects as building two "multi-story facilities for the U.S. Navy" complete with state-of-the-art communication interfaces and exterior landscaping.
In September 2009, the company was awarded a new $27 million deal "for the design/bid/build construction of the waterfront development program, US Naval Support Activity, Bahrain." This facility will join the Navy's undisputed crown jewel in Bahrain — a 188,000 square-foot mega-facility known as "the Freedom Souq" that houses a PX or Navy Exchange (NEX). The NEX, in turn, offers "an ice cream shop, bicycle shop, cell phone shop, tailor shop, barber and beauty shops, self-serve laundry, dry cleaning service, rug Souq, nutrition shop, video rental, and a 24/7 mini-mart," while selling everything from cosmetics and cameras to beer and wine.
Work is also going on in nearby Oman where, in the 1930s, the British Royal Air Force utilized an airfield on Masirah Island for its ventures in the Middle East. Today, the U.S. Air Force and members of other service branches do much the same, operating out of the island's Camp Justice. From 2001-2009, the Army and Air Force each spent about $13 million on construction projects in the sultanate. Contractor Cosmopolitan-EMTA JV is now set to begin work there, too, after recently signing a $5 million contract with the Pentagon for an "Expeditionary Tent Beddown" (presumably an area meant to accommodate a potential future influx of forces). Meanwhile, in the neighboring United Arab Emirates, the U.S. Army alone spent $46 million between 2001-2009 on construction projects.
In 1991, the U.S. military helped to push Saddam Hussein's army out of Kuwait. After that, however, the country's leader, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, refused to return home "until crystal chandeliers and gold-plated bathroom fixtures could be reinstalled in Kuwait City's Bayan Palace." Today, about 30 miles south of the plush palace sits another pricey complex. Camp Arifjan grew exponentially as the Iraq War ramped up, gaining notoriety along the way as the epicenter of a massive graft and corruption scandal. Today, the base houses about 15,000 U.S. troops and features such fast-food favorites as Pizza Hut, Hardees, Subway, and Burger King.
Another facility in Kuwait that has become a major stopover point on the road to and from Baghdad is Camp Buehring. Located north of Kuwait City, near the town of Udairi, the installation is chock-a-block full of amenities, including three PXs, telephone centers, two internet cafes, Morale, Welfare and Recreation centers, a movie theater, chapel, gym, volley-ball court, basketball court, concert stage, gift shop, barber shop, jewelry store, and a number of popular eateries including Burger King, Subway, Baskin Robbins, and Starbucks.
Writing about the base recently, Captain Charles Barrett of the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team remarked, "There's a USO with computers and a Café. You know the café is good because it has that little mark over the letter 'e.' Soldiers are gaming on XBOX, Play Station and Wii. There are phone banks and board games and a place where parents can read to their kids and have the DVD mailed home."
The price tag for living the big-box-base lifestyle in Kuwait has, however, been steep. From 2003 to 2009, the U.S. Army spent in excess of $502 million on contracts for construction projects in the small, oil-rich nation, while the Air Force added almost $55 million and the Navy another $7 million. Total military spending there has been more massive still. Over the same span, according to U.S. government data, the Pentagon has spent nearly $20 billion in Kuwait, buying huge quantities of Kuwaiti oil and purchasing logistical support from various contractors for its facilities there (and elsewhere), among other expenditures.
In 2006, for example, the international construction firm Archirodon was awarded $10 million to upgrade airfield lighting at Al-Salem and Al-Jaber, two Kuwaiti air bases used by American forces. Recently, there has also been a major scaling up of work at Camp Arifjan. In September, for example, the Pentagon awarded CH2M Hill Contractors a nearly $26 million deal to build a new communications facility on the base. Just days later, defense contractor ITT received an almost $87 million contract for maintenance and support services there.
Saudi Base Building and Jordan's U.S. Army Training Complex
According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, "From 1950 through 2006, Saudi Arabia purchased and received from the United States weapons, military equipment, and related services through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) worth over $62.7 billion and foreign military construction services (FMCS) worth over $17.1 billion." Between 1946 and 2007, the Saudis also benefited from almost $295 million in foreign assistance funding from the U.S. military.
From the lead up to the First Gulf War in 1990 through the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. military stationed thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia. The American presence in the kingdom — the location of some of the holiest sites in Islam — was a major factor in touching off al-Qaeda's current war with the United States. In 2003, in response to fundamentalist pressure on the Saudi government, the U.S. military announced it was pulling all but a small number of trainers out of the country. Yet while many U.S. troops have left, Pentagon contracts haven't — a significant portion of them for construction projects for the Saudi Arabian military, which the U.S. trains and advises from sites like Eskan Village, a compound 20 kilometers south of Riyadh, where 800 U.S. personnel (500 of them advisors) are based.
Between 2003-2009, the U.S. Army awarded $559 million in contracts for Saudi construction projects. In 2009, for example, it gave a $160 million deal to construction firm Saudi Oger Limited for the construction of facilities for a Saudi mechanized brigade based at Al Hasa, a $127 million contract to Saudi Lebanese Modern Construction Co. to erect structures for the Prince Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Battalion, and an $82 million agreement to top Saudi construction firm Al-Latifia Trading and Contracting Company to build ammunition storage bunkers, possibly at the Saudi Arabian National Guard's Khashm Al An Training Area.
Additionally, military weaponry has continued to flow into Saudi Arabia by way of the Pentagon and so, too, have contracts to provide support services for that materiel. For example, earlier this year, under a U.S. Air Force contract extension, Cubic Corporation was awarded a $9.5 million deal "to continue to operate and maintain the air combat training system used to support F-15 fighter pilot training for the Royal Saudi Air Force."
Like the Saudis, Jordan's leader, King Abdullah II, has long had a complex relationship with the U.S. shaped by domestic concerns over U.S. military action in the region and support for Israel. As with Saudi Arabia, none of that has stopped the U.S. military from forging ever closer ties with the kingdom.
Recently, after testing and evaluating various training systems at multiple U.S. Army bases, the Jordanian Armed Forces selected Cubic's combat training center system and under the auspices of the U.S. Army, the company was "awarded an $18 million contract to supply mobile combat training center instrumentation and training services to the Kingdom of Jordan."
The Pentagon has also invested in Jordanian military infrastructure. Between 2001-2009, the Army awarded $86 million in contracts for Jordanian construction projects. One major beneficiary was again Archirodon which, between 2006-2008, worked on the construction of the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) — a state-of-the-art military and counter-terrorism training facility owned and operated by the Jordanian government but built, in part, under a $70 million U.S. Army contract. In 2009, Archirodon was awarded two additional contracts for $729,000 and $400,000, by the Air Force, for unspecified work in Jordan.
When that 1,235-acre $200 million Jordanian training center was unveiled earlier this year, King Abdullah II himself gave the inaugural address, speaking "of his vision for KASOTC as a world-class special forces training center." Not surprisingly, General Petraeus was also on hand to give a speech in which he lauded Jordan as "a key partner… [which] has placed itself at the forefront of police and military training for regional security forces."
Garrisoning the Gulf
Even as it lurches toward a quasi-withdrawal from Iraq, the U.S. military has been hunkering down and hardening its presence elsewhere in the Middle East with little fanfare or press coverage. There has been almost no discussion in this country of a host of possible repercussions that might come from this, ranging from local opposition to the U.S. military's presence to the arming of undemocratic and repressive regimes in the region. With the sole exception of Iran, the U.S. military has fully garrisoned the nations of the Persian Gulf with air bases, naval bases, desert posts, training centers, and a whole host of other facilities, while also building up the military capacity of nearby Jordan.
The CIA efforts to topple Iran's government in the 1950s, Washington's support for Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s, the Pentagon's troop presence in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s — all were considered canny geopolitical moves in their time; all had unforeseen and devastating consequences. The money the Pentagon has recently been pouring into the nations of the Persian Gulf to bulk up base infrastructure has only tied the U.S. ever more tightly to the region's autocratic, often unpopular regimes, while further arming and militarizing an area traditionally considered unstable. The Pentagon's Persian Gulf base build-up has already cost Americans billions in tax dollars. What the costs in "blowback" will be remains the unknown part of the equation.
Nick Turse is the associate editor of TomDispatch.com and the winner of a 2009 Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction as well as a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Nation, In These Times, and regularly at TomDispatch. Turse is currently a fellow at New York University's Center for the United States and the Cold War. A paperback edition of his book The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives (Metropolitan Books) was published earlier this year. His website is NickTurse.com.
Copyright 2009 Nick Turse


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Shoe polish
Treat stains as soon as possible after staining. The older the stain, the more difficult it will be to remove.
All stain removal methods should be applied prior to laundering washable garments. Stains that have been laundered and dried are almost impossible to remove.
Washable Fabrics
What you will need
- Pretreatment laundry stain remover
- Heavy-duty liquid detergent
- Chlorine bleach or oxygen bleach
- Dry cleaning solvent
- Absorbent paper towels
Steps to Clean
- Saturate area with pretreatment laundry stain remover (aerosol types work better on greasy stains) Wait one minute for product to penetrate the stain. For stubborn stains, rub with heavy-duty liquid detergent. Launder immediately.
- If color stain remains, soak/wash in chlorine bleach if safe for fabric, or in oxygen bleach.
- For extra heavy stains, apply dry cleaning solvent to back of the stain over absorbent paper towels. Let dry, rinse. Proceed as above.
What you will need
- Isopropyl rubbing alcohol
- Detergent
- Hydrogen peroxide
Steps to Clean
- Remove as much of the foreign material as possible by blotting with a white paper towel or scraping with a dull knife.
- Apply rubbing alcohol to a clean white cloth, white paper towel or cotton ball. If the spot extends deep into the pile use a blotting motion until the spot is removed or no color is transferred to the cloth. Do not allow the alcohol to penetrate into the backing as this will destroy the latex bond. If the spot is on the surface only, rub in one direction at a time. Never use a circular motion to remove the spot as this may destroy the texture. Stop if spot is removed. If not, continue with the next step.
- Apply a small quantity of detergent solution to the spot. (To make the detergent solution mix 1/4 teaspoon of a hand dishwashing detergent which does not contain lanolin or bleach with 1 quart of water) Use a blotting motion to work the detergent into the affected area. If spot is being removed continue applying detergent solution and blotting with a white paper towel until spot is removed.
- Rinse with tap water using a spray bottle, blot to remove excess moisture.
- Spray lightly with water, do not blot this time; apply pad of paper towels and brick and allow to dry.
- If there is still some stain on the carpet and blotting is not removing it, then moisten the tufts in the stained area with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Let stand for on (1) hour. Blot and repeat until carpet is stain free. Light will cause peroxide to change back to water so no rinsing is necessary.
- Apply pad of paper towels and weight down with brick.
What you will need
- Dry cleaning solvent
Steps to Clean
- Using a clean white cloth, sponge the stain with the dry cleaning solvent.
- Blot until the solvent is absorbed.
- Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until the stain disappears.

subset: commoncrawl


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[caption id="attachment_2432" align="alignright" width="225" caption="A front-window display at Majeki's, a stained-glass studio at 7212 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy. (Photo by Len Lear)"] …
[caption id="attachment_2432" align="alignright" width="225" caption="A front-window display at Majeki's, a stained-glass studio at 7212 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy. (Photo by Len Lear)"][/caption]
By Reginald Hall
Examine the glass designs decorating your nearest church or workplace. Perhaps you're staring at glasswork created by Mark Kidd, 53, owner of Majeki's, a stained-glass studio at 7212 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy. Majeki's sets itself apart from traditional stained-glass businesses by also carrying distinctive gift items from American artists.
"We have sculpture work from artists in Maine, pottery from artists in South Carolina, and I create glass handbags that are one-of-a-kind," Kidd said.
The majority of requests for Majeki's services come from people desiring home restorations and improvements in churches and synagogues. Majeki's created its largest window at Mt. Airy's Enon Church. Majeki's local success has also allowed for an expansion of its stained glass services to residential homes in New York and Washington, D.C.
Kidd is responsible for a large part of Majeki's success. Interestingly, the decision to create a stained-glass business originated from something that many people relate to — corporate burnout and a desire for self-expression.
"I was working for corporate America, and I wouldn't get off from work until 2 a.m., and all my friends were asleep," Kidd said. "I was walking in Center City one day and saw a store selling stained-glass supplies. I had an artistic background but could never make a living from wood sculpture, painting and living sculpture. After a while, I started just making things, and my friends would say, 'Hey you should make that for me to give as a gift', and it evolved."
Kidd's artistic talent gradually developed after being noticed by a teacher while in 4th grade at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Saturdays found Kidd spending his time learning at a free art school sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
"Upon graduating public school, I wanted to be an art teacher", Kidd said, "but I went to school and went to corporate America. I was able to get out of it and do what I love to do."
Majeki's hasn't escaped America's struggling economy. This has forced Kidd to evaluate his business and examine some new methods of sustaining business.
"In the last couple years it's hard with the economy, and business can take you south. You have to be creative to find new ways to generate business. But by the same token I'm right doing what I want to do."
The name Majeki comes from the first two letters in the first, middle and last names of Kidd. The style reflects the personal commitment Kidd has put into his business. In a perfect world, Kidd would open another Majeki's.
"I would love to have more than one Majeki's, but because it's such a personal, of-the-heart business, it's hard to find people who are willing to put their heart into it. I can bring helpers in all day long, but you have to feel it and have passion behind it."
For more information, call 215-242-1586.


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Cherokee Infinity CK200A Scrubs Pants Men's Fly Front Galaxy Blue
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Pleasant Hill Animal Hospital Offers A Full Service Veterinary Clinic
At Pleasant Hill Animal Hospital, we believe that your pet is a part of the family, yours and ours. That is why we have made it our mission to provide comprehensive and compassionate veterinary care and that is in the best interests of you and your furriest family member. If you are in the Duluth area, and are looking for a caring veterinary team to help make sure your pet remains in good health, we are nearby and ready to help.
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Contact Us Today To Schedule A Veterinary Appointment For Your Pet!


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During last year's protests, the CentralWorld mall on Rajdamri Road was nearly burned to the ground. Eleven months later, it's reopened, an air-conditioned symbol of Thais' ability to cope with the occasional insanity of Thai life. Elle Thailand fashion writer Chalisa Viravan offers five places to shop, eat, and be entertained within.
1. Vickteerut
Cutting-edge womenswear from designer Teerut Wongwatanasin. "He's very artistic. His stuff won't sell in the mass market."
2. 4x4 Man
A cool new men's line from local designer Platt Srilalittsoi.
3. Miyatake Sushi Bar
"It's really hard to find super-fresh sushi in Bangkok. Order the aburi engawa, lightly grilled flatfish."
4. Kinokuniya (in Isetan department store)
"Still the best bookshop around," with a great English-language section.
5. SF World Cinema
"One of the best theaters in Bangkok: great sound, good international film selection, yummy popcorn."


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Fox has placed a six-episode order for a comedy from "Ted" team Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, and given a pilot order to a project from "S#*! My Dad Says" co-creator Justin Halpern and three other comedy projects, the network said Tuesday.
The half-hour, multi-camera "Dads," which is written and executive-produced by Sulkin and Wild and executive-produced by MacFarlane, follows two successful guys in their '30s have their lives turned upside down when their nightmare dads unexpectedly move in with them.
20th Century Fox Television is producing "Dads."
Halpern, meanwhile, is teaming with Patrick Schumacker on an untitled pilot based on Halpern's book "I Suck at Girls." Written and executive-produced by Halpern and Schumacker, the half-hour, single-camera comedy is a "story about a boy becoming a man, and a man becoming a father, in a time before coming of age was something you could Google," according to a description of the project, which is being produced by Doozer, in association with Warner Bros. Television. Bill Lawrence ("Scrubs") and Jeff Ingold ("Like Father") are also executive-producing.
"Friends & Family," meanwhile, is based on the BBC hit "Gavin & Stacey," and will explore a scenario where friends and family "are the best support and the worst nightmare when two very different lovers meet and try to make a long distance relationship work." Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner are executive-producing for BBC Worldwide Productions, with James Corden, Ruth Jones and Henry Normal executive-producing for Baby Cow Productions. The half-hour, single-camera project hails from Sony Pictures Television.
Another comedy pilot, "House Rules," will focus on an introverted Wisconsin family living among a community of over-sharers. Justin Hurwitz ("The League") and Andrew Gurland ("The Last Exorcism") are writing and executive-producing the Principato — Young/20th Century Fox Television project, with David Dobkin, Paul Young and Peter Principato also executive-producing.
Finally, "To My Assistant," based on the blog and upcoming book of the same name by Lydia Whitlock, will center on assistants at a big New York law firm band together as a family to help each other cope with the obnoxious overbearing bosses who challenge their sanity on a daily basis. Sherry Bilsing-Graham and Ellen Kreamer are writing and executive-producing the project, which comes from Lin Pictures in association with Warner Bros. Television.


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He started looking late last year and landed a position this month. He will start on July 1 at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria in the central coast region of California. Allan Hancock serves about 11,500 students and has an amazingly large service area of 3,000 square miles. By contrast, the population is just 300,000 people.
Walters departure after two years is the second short-term presidency at Las Positas since Karen Halliday retired after seven years as president. The talented DeRionne Pollard led the college for two years before moving to a larger district on the East Coast. Sandwiched between the two presidents was Bob Kratochvil who served as the interim president for a year and now is president at Los Medanos College in Antioch.
Naming a new president of Las Positas likely will be among the first tasks for the new district chancellor once the trustees finish the recruitment process for that slot. Judy Walters has been interim chancellor since Joel Kinammon left for the College of the Desert last July. Presumably, Walters will appoint an interim president at Las Positas and leave the longer term appointment to the new chancellor.
Given the history of churning presidents at both Las Positas and Chabot College in Hayward, finding and keeping the right person will be the top challenge for the new chancellor.
State population estimates released this month reflect what a drive around the valley readily reveals.
In residential construction, Dublin leads the way. The city grew almost7 percent to a population of 49,890 following the plan that it established more than 15 years ago. The city revenues suffered when new construction hit the wall in 2008 to 2010, but now with demand soaring and a very, very low inventories of resale homes, the new home developers are sitting pretty.
With a variety of builders offering projects in East Dublin, it's back to the days of lotteries for new homes and multiple over-asking bids for the few resale homes on the market.
Builders in Dublin also have been constructing higher density projects near the BART station, something that Pleasanton likely will see this year with three apartment projects already approved in Hacienda Business Park.
Pleasanton grew 1 percent in the last year, slightly less than Livermore which added 1.3 percent to reach 83,325 in population. Looking north, Danville barely grew, while San Ramon added almost 2 percent and now has an estimated population of 76,154. That is being driven by new homes in the Dougherty Valley.
California, as whole, now has nearly 38 million people.
Record interest rates, kept artificially low by Federal Reserve policies, are benefitting homeowners, but are brutal on people trying to live on fixed incomes with conservative investments.
Bond market yields are so low that Apple Inc. jumped in with a $17 billion offering that got scooped up. The deal drew $52 billion in offers, but check out the yields: 10-year 2.415 percent; 3-year 0.511 percent; 5-year 1.076 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal. A five-year note for less than 1.1 percent return speaks to the cheap money that the Fed keeps printing.
There also is a tax implicationApple executives have said they will return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015 and much of that money is held off-shore and thus would be taxable at up to 35 percent if brought back to the United States. By issuing debt, the company avoids that tax hit.


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Let's Speak Plain English About Spending Cuts
A Commentary By Scott Rasmussen
To borrow a phrase, Mainstream America and Washington's Political Class have become two nations separated by a common language.
This gap was highlighted by a recent Pew Research Center poll showing that "for 18 of 19 programs tested, majorities want either to increase spending or maintain it at current levels."
On the surface, those results appear to support the Political Class conceit that voters like spending cuts in the abstract but not in specific programs. That's the way it was reported by most media outlets.
But the reality is quite different. The Pew results actually show support for what official Washington would consider massive spending cuts.
Just to be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Pew poll questions or results. The raw numbers are similar to what we find at Rasmussen Reports. The problem is with the way the numbers were reported.
The questions were asked using the language of America, but they were reported using the language of the Political Class.
To most Americans, maintaining spending at current levels would mean spending the same amount in 2013 as we spent in 2012. However, to those experienced in the mysterious ways of Washington, maintaining spending at current levels means spending $3.5 trillion this year and $4.5 trillion in five years. To most Americans, that's a trillion dollars in spending growth.
The Political Class, on the other hand, would consider holding spending unchanged at current levels to be a massive spending cut. Why? Because it wouldn't allow for the trillion dollar spending growth that is already built into the budget.
With this understanding, the numbers from Pew take on an entirely different tone. Consider the Pew numbers for roads and infrastructure projects: 38 percent want more spending, and only 17 percent favor a spending cut. But a plurality (43 percent) wants to hold infrastructure spending steady. Since the Political Class would consider holding spending steady to be a "cut" in spending, 60 percent in the Pew poll favors what official Washington calls cuts.
It's worth noting that when you get to specific spending cuts, public support is even higher than it is for cutting abstract categories like "infrastructure." Most voters, for example, want to stop subsidies for Amtrak and are ready to freeze highway spending until the economy is stronger.
Using this understanding, the Pew data shows that voters prefer what the politicians call budget cuts in 17 out of 19 programs.
Some in the Political Class may simply be confused themselves. Others, however, are being intentionally deceptive. They are more interested in protecting government spending than in representing the American people.
Clearly, it would be a challenge to hold federal spending constant when so much growth is already baked into the budget for future years. Fortunately, though, as highlighted in my book "The People's Money," the American people are willing to support specific cuts when reasonable alternatives are presented.
So when politicians claim that sound polling data like the Pew study shows a lack of public support for spending cuts, they're either wrong or deliberately trying to deceive us. Voters shouldn't need a translator to understand what the Political Class is saying. But those in the Political Class bubble just don't speak plain English anymore.
To find out more about Scott Rasmussen, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.
See Other Political Commentaries.
See Other Commentaries by Scott Rasmussen
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.
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Episode 7: Error Handling
Recording Venue:
Host(s): Markus Arno
Recording Venue:
Host(s): Markus Arno
This week, Arno and Markus take a look at error handling at the architectural level. They discuss the different kinds of errors, the groups of people who need to know about them and proven high-level approaches. Later episodes will investigate more technical aspects of error handling, such as idioms for using exceptions or a discussion of checked vs. unchecked exceptions.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Tags: error handling, Technology Talk


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There is a way of knowing that can take you beyond where all your learning has taken you. It can take you to the truth of who you are. It is the way of the heart.
A Course of Love is a course for the heart. Remarkably, it bypasses the mind. It uses thought to go beyond thought. Those yearning to access the heart's knowing will find help here. This is your invitation to live the purposeful, meaningful life of the new — the reality of Heaven on earth. A Course of Love and A Course in Miracles "work hand-in-hand." A Course of Love is, in its own words, "a continuation of A Course in Miracles." It was received telepathically, unexpectedly, from the same Source (Jesus). It builds upon the same thought system as ACIM. It came to Mari Perron over three years (1998-2000).
You are called to nothing short of creating a new Heaven and a new earth. This does not, however, entail specificity any more than the miracle does. It does not entail choice. It is a way of being. When you are fully aware of your oneness of being and begin to create in unity and relationship, you will do so by simply being who you are being, just as you have "created" during the time of your separation by being who you have thought yourself to be.Anyone yearning to access the heart's knowing will find help here — whether or not they are familiar with ACIM.
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1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2003
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2003
|Page tools: Print Page
Graph 18.1 shows that the total volume of production (measured in terms of industry gross value added) of the mining industry in chain volume terms (measuring 'real' output unaffected by price change) increased dramatically in 1987-88. Since then, production has continued to rise at an average rate of about 5% per year.
Over the period 1994-95 to 2000-01, mining production increased by 32% (table 18.2). Despite this significant increase, the mining industry's contribution to GDP in percentage terms stayed much the same over the period, at about 5%. This was because the GDP for all industries excluding mining also increased over the period, by 27%.
Production in the mining industry other than services to mining has been consistently high and increasing steadily over the years. It accounts for most of the increases in the production for the mining industry as a whole. Between 1994-95 and 2000-01, the production of mining other than services to mining increased by 34%, although its contribution to the mining industry remained around 93-95%.
The contribution of services to mining, by its nature, has been small and very volatile. During the period 1994-95 to 2000-01, the production of services to mining varied from a low of $1,325m in 1999-2000 to a high of $1,856m in 1997-98.


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Philippe de La Hire
Quick Info
Paris, France
Paris, France
BiographyPhilippe de la Hire's father was Laurent de La Hire (27 February 1606 - 28 December 1656). Laurent was born in Paris and became a painter of some distinction, getting commissions from the church, from politicians, and from wealthy Parisians who wished their portrait painted. He became a professor at the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Philippe's mother was Marguerite Coquin (died 1669) and the de la Hire home was a stimulating place for children to grow up in, for Laurent and Marguerite entertained artists, scientists and mathematicians. The most notable mathematician who was frequently in their home was Girard Desargues. Philippe was the oldest of his parents five children having a younger brother Barthélemy and three younger sisters; Marie (who was born between the two boys) and the two youngest members of the family Marguerite and Louise. The family had two homes in Paris, one in the rue Montmartre with four floors and a garden, and the other, a smaller dwelling, in the rue Gravilliers.
La Hire was educated as an artist and became skilled in drawing and painting. Although he received no formal education either in a school or in a university, nevertheless his father expected his son to follow his profession and trained him accordingly. La Hire was sixteen years old when his father died and at that time he was fully committed to a life as an artist. His health had been poor as he grew up so, three years after his father's death, he made plans to visit Italy. There were two reasons for the visit: he hoped that a stay in Italy would see his health improve, and also his father had given him a love of Italian art despite Laurent never having himself been to Italy. La Hire set off for Venice in 1660 and there spent four years developing his artistic skills and learning geometry. The interest in geometry arose from his study of perspective in art, but soon he was finding his mathematics classes more enjoyable than painting.
Returning to Paris in 1664, La Hire was a wealthy man and able to pursue his interests without the need to seek employment. Sturdy writes [8]:-
An intelligent young man from France who had spent the best part of four years [in Venice] could not fail to return home a more mature, self-confident, sophisticated, and worldly-wise person than when he left.He continued to paint but his serious studies were devoted to geometry. He had a friend, Abraham Bosse, with whom he could share both artistic and mathematical interests. Bosse was an artist who was much older than La Hire, but had attended classes on geometry by Girard Desargues from 1641. Desargues, who La Hire had known from childhood, had died in 1661. Bosse had published a series of works developing the geometric ideas that he had learnt from Desargues and had established his own school of art in 1661. Much influenced by the work of Desargues, both directly and through his friendship with Bosse, La Hire worked on conic sections which he treated projectively. He published his first work Observations sur les Points d'Attouchement de Trois Lignes Droites qui touchent la Section d'un Cone Ⓣ in 1672, followed by his famous treatise Nouvelle méthode en géometrie pour les sections des superficies coniques et cylindriques Ⓣ in 1673. Taton [1] writes that the Nouvelle méthode Ⓣ:-
... is a comprehensive study of conic sections by means of the projective approach, based on a homology which permits the deduction of the conic sections under examination from a particular circle. This treatise was completed shortly afterwards by a supplement entitled 'Les planiconiques' which presented this method in a more direct fashion. The 'Nouvelle méthode' clearly displayed Desargues' influence, even though La Hire, in a note written in 1679 ..., affirmed that he did not become aware of the latter's work until after publication of his own. Yet what we know about La Hire's training seems to contradict this assertion. Furthermore, the resemblance of their projective descriptions is too obvious for La Hire's not to appear to have been an adaption of Desargues'. Nevertheless, La Hire's presentation, which was in classical language and in terms of both space and the plane, was much simpler and clearer. Thus La Hire deserves to be considered, after Pascal, a direct disciple of Desargues in projective geometry.This assessment may be a little harsh on La Hire who was an extremely honest and meticulous person. It is possible that he knowledge these ideas of Desargues came through Bosse rather than directly from Desargues, so his statement that he did not know of Desargues' publications until after his own had been published could still be true. But we should understand a little more about the contents of the Nouvelle méthode Ⓣ [1] :-
La Hire provided an exposition of the properties of conic sections. He began with their focal definitions and applied Cartesian analytic geometry t the study of equations and the solution of indeterminate problems; he also displayed the Cartesian method for solving certain types of equations by intersections of curves. Although not a work of great originality, it summarises the progress achieved in analytical geometry during half a century and contained some interesting ideas, among them the possible extension of space to more than three dimensions.La Hire's mother died in 1669 and the two Paris homes were left jointly to the five children. La Hire bought out the shares of his brother and three sisters shortly after his mother's death. He married Cathérine le Sage in 1670 and they took up residence in their home in rue Montmartre. Their second home in rue Gravilliers was let out to rent. Philippe and Cathérine La Hire had four children; Cathérine-Geneviève (born 1671), Marie-Ann (born 1673), Gabriel-Philippe (born 1677) and Anne-Julie (born 1680).
On 26 January 1678 La Hire was elected to the Académie des Sciences. Rather surprisingly, his election was to the astronomy section. He had, at that time, made no contributions to astronomy but Fontenelle [3] suggests that his election was on the strength of his excellent publications in geometry. Of course, often someone deserving of admission to the Academy would enter the section in which a vacancy occurred rather than be forced to wait, perhaps for many years, for a vacancy in a more appropriate section. Election to the Academy was a great honour for La Hire, but it also meant a change in life style. The Academy was a working organisation so election meant that be was no longer a man of leisure. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French Minister of Finance, had been instrumental in founding the Academy in 1666 and he now assigned La Hire to assist Jean Picard in the surveying work he was undertaking with the ultimate aim of producing more accurate maps of France. Together La Hire and Picard undertook surveying work in Brittany in 1679 and in Guyenne in 1880. La Hire then went, without Picard, to survey around Calais and Dunkirk in 1681 and the coast of Provence in 1682. We note that La Hire's maps of the Earth were made with the centre of projection, not at the pole, but at along a radius produced through the pole (where is the radius of the Earth).
On 1 April 1681 La Hire's wife Cathérine died. He had little option than to remarry quickly, having four children the youngest being just over one year old. He married Cathérine Nonnet, the daughter of notary Jean Nonnet and his wife Marie, on 18 September 1681. By this time La Hire's work for the Academy was closely linked to the Paris Observatory which, like the Academy, had been founded largely due to Colbert. The director was Giovanni Cassini, and the Observatory had published the Connaissance des temps Ⓣ in 1679 which was the world's first nautical almanac. La Hire chose to live with his new wife at the Observatory rather than in his house on rue Montmartre. Sturdy writes [8]:-
Whatever the prestige attached to residence in the Observatory, from a domestic point of view it had many drawbacks. The accommodation was extremely cramped. The La Hires had only two bedrooms, a room where Philippe worked, a kitchen and the use of a cellar. Not only were there the children of Philippe's first marriage to be catered for: four more children were born to Philippe and Cathérine. The La Hire family by the late 1680s and early 1690s numbered ten and must have felt intense pressure from overcrowding ...To some extent the overcrowding was eased by the fact that, at least in the early years of their marriage, La Hire was often absent undertaking work for the Academy. He continued the surveying work for the French atlas, but after the death of Colbert in 1683, he was directed by his successor François Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois. The Royal Court had moved into the Palace of Versailles in 1682 and La Hire was given surveying projects relating to the supply of water to the new Palace. The following quote from Fontenelle [3] tells us a lot about La Hire's character:-
La Hire, scrupulously exact almost to the point of superstition, used to present to M de Louvois lists of expenses drawn up day by day, in which even fractions were not neglected. The minister habitually used to tear them up without looking at them, and have the sums sent in rounded up figures.In December 1682 he was appointed to the chair of mathematics at the Collège Royale which had remained vacant following the death of Gilles Roberval in October 1675. Courses he lectured included astronomy, mechanics, hydrostatics, dioptrics, and navigation. Four years after being named professor, he was appointed, in addition, to the chair of architecture at the Académie Royale d'Architecture [8]:-
La Hire took his duties in the Collège Royale and Académie d'Architecture seriously, preparing his courses conscientiously and lecturing as regularly as possible. If his other commitments stood in his way, his eldest son, Gabriel-Philippe, lectured on his behalf.In fact, in exactly the same way as La Hire's own father had trained him to follow in his profession as an artist, La Hire had trained his own eldest son to follow his own career. La Hire's aim was to have his son elected to the Academy and indeed Gabriel-Philippe La Hire assisted his father in a while range of scientific activities and was elected an 'élève' of the Academy in 1694 at the age of seventeen; in so doing he became the youngest member of the Academy in the seventeenth century.
Despite his interests across a whole range of scientific disciplines, La Hire remained fascinated by geometry. In 1685 he published a comprehensive work on conic sections Sectiones conicae Ⓣ which contained a description of Desargues' projective geometry. In 1708 he calculated the length of the cardioid. He also wrote memoirs on the cycloid, the epicycloid, the conchoid and quatratures. However he had other mathematical interests and also wrote on magic squares. He published Traité de méchanique Ⓣ in 1695. Taton writes [1]:-
Although passed over by the majority of the historians of mechanics, this work marks a significant step towards the elaboration of a modern manual of practical mechanics, suitable for engineers of various disciplines.Other topics to which he made important contributions included astronomy, physics and geodesy. In astronomy he installed the first transit instrument in the Paris Observatory. He also produced tables giving the movements of the Sun, Moon and the planets which he published in 1687, publishing further such tables in 1702.
La Hire became involved in experimental work in many different scientific areas. For example he did experiments on falling bodies (for example with Mariotte in 1683), on magnetism, on the heat reflected by the moon, on the transmission of sound, on the physical properties of water, on electrostatics, on respiration, and on physiological optics. He also studied the instruments involved in experimental work. For example for surveying, which one of his major tasks, he designed an instrument to find the level at a site and studied instruments to compute slopes and elevations. He also studied instruments to measure climatic conditions such as temperature, pressure and wind speed, making measurements with such instruments at the Paris Observatory. Other experiments involved accurate time keeping so he studied clocks as well as magnets and electrostatic machines used in other experimental work.
We should also mention La Hire's contributions in editing the works of Jean Picard, Edme Mariotte, Gilles Roberval, and Frenicle de Bessy.
Finally we quote Taton's evaluation of La Hire's contributions [1]:-
It is difficult to make an overall judgement on a body of work as varied as La Hire's. A precise and regular observer, he contributed to the smooth running of the Paris Observatory and to the success of the different geodesic undertakings. Yet he was not responsible for any important innovation. His diverse observations in physics, meteorology, and the natural sciences simply attest to the high level of his intellectual curiosity. Although his rejection of the infinitesimal calculus may have rendered a part of his mathematical work sterile, his early works in projective, analytic, and applied geometry place him among the best of the followers of Desargues and Descartes. Finally, his diverse knowledge and artistic, technical, and scientific experience were factors in the growth of technological thought, the advances of practical mechanics, and the perfecting of graphic techniques.
References (show)
- R Taton, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970-1990).
See THIS LINK.
- A Buti and M Corradi, The contributions of a 17th century mathematician to an architectural problem : Philippe de la Hire and the statics of arches (Italian), Atti Accad. Ligure Sci. Lett. 38 (1982), 303-323.
- B de Fontenelle, Oeuvres Complètes de Fontenelle 1 (Paris, 1818), 257-266.
- E R Kiely, Surveying Instruments (New York, 1947), 132.
- G Mingari Scarpello and A Scimone, The work of Tschirnhaus, La Hire and Leibniz on catacaustics and the birth of the envelopes of lines in the 17th century, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 59 (3) (2005), 223-250.
- D Pingree, Philippe de La Hire's planetary theories in Sanskrit, in From China to Paris: 2000 years transmission of mathematical ideas, Bellagio, 2000 (Steiner, Stuttgart, 2002), 429-453.
- V N Sherma, Astronomical tables of Zij-i Muhammad Sahih and their relation to Tabulae astronomicae of de La Hire, Indian J. Hist. Sci. 41 (2) (2006), 175-198.
- D J Sturdy, Dynasticism in the Académie: the La Hire Family, in Science and Social Status: The Members of the Academie Des Sciences 1666-1750 (Boydell & Brewer, 1995), 193-213.
- R Taton, La première oeuvre géométrique de Philippe de La Hire, Rev. Hist. Sci. Appl. 6 (1953), 93-111.
- R Taton, La première oeuvre geometrique de Philippe de la Hire, Revue d'histoire des sciences 6 (1953), 93-111.
- H Wieleitner, Über die 'Plani-Coniques' von de la Hire, Archiv für die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik 5 (1913), 49-55.
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Honours (show)
Honours awarded to Philippe de la Hire
Cross-references (show)
- History Topics: Longitude and the Académie Royale
- History Topics: Mathematics and Architecture
- History Topics: Mathematics and art - perspective
- Famous Curves: Cardioid
- Famous Curves: Epicycloid
- Famous Curves: Epitrochoid
- Famous Curves: Hypocycloid
- Famous Curves: Hypotrochoid
- Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (E)
- Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (H)
- Other: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics (O)
Written by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
Last Update December 2008
Last Update December 2008


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"If you are a law-abiding citizen of this country, going about your business and your personal life, you have nothing to fear." That's how William Hague, the [British] foreign secretary, responded to the revelations of mass surveillance in the US and the UK. Try telling that to Stephen Lawrence's family.
Four [London Metropolitan] police officers were deployed to spy on the family and friends of the black teenager murdered by white racists. The Lawrences and the people who supported their fight for justice were law-abiding citizens going about their business. Yet undercover police were used, one of the spies now tells us, to hunt for "disinformation" and "dirt". Their purpose? "We were trying to stop the campaign in its tracks."
The two unfolding spy stories resonate powerfully with each other. One, gathered by Paul Lewis and Rob Evans, shows how police surveillance has been comprehensively perverted. Instead of defending citizens and the public realm, it has been used to protect the police from democratic scrutiny and stifle attempts to engage in politics.
The other, arising from the documents exposed by Edward Snowden, shows that the US and the UK have been involved in the mass interception of our phone calls and use of the internet. William Hague insists that we should "have confidence in the work of our intelligence agencies, and in their adherence to the law and democratic values". Why?
Here are a few of the things we have learned about undercover policing in Britain. A unit led by a policeman called Bob Lambert deployed officers to spy on peaceful activists. They adopted the identities of dead children and then infiltrated protest groups. Nine of the 11 known spies formed long-term relationships with women in the groups, in some cases (including Lambert's) fathering children with them. Then they made excuses and vanished.
They left a trail of ruined lives, fatherless children and women whose confidence and trust have been wrecked beyond repair. They have also walked away from other kinds of mayhem. On Friday we discovered that Lambert co-wrote the leaflet for which two penniless activists spent three years in the high court defending a libel action brought by McDonald's. The police never saw fit to inform the court that one of their own had been one of the authors.
Bob Lambert has been accused of using a false identity during a criminal trial. And, using parliamentary privilege, the MP Caroline Lucas alleged that he planted an incendiary device in a branch of Debenhams while acting as an agent provocateur. The device exploded, causing £300,000 of damage. Lambert denies the allegation.
Police and prosecutors also failed to disclose, during two trials of climate-change activists, that an undercover cop called Mark Kennedy had secretly taped their meetings, and that his recordings exonerated the protesters. Twenty people were falsely convicted. Those convictions were later overturned.
If the state is prepared to abuse its powers and instruments so widely and gravely in cases such as this, where there is a high risk of detection, and if it is prepared to intrude so far into people's lives that its officers live with activists and father their children, what is it not prepared to do while spying undetectably on our private correspondence?
Already we know that electronic surveillance has been used in this country for purposes other than the perennial justifications of catching terrorists, foiling foreign spies and preventing military attacks. It was deployed, for example, to spy on countries attending the G20 meeting the UK hosted in 2009. If the government does this to other states, which might have the capacity to detect its spying and which certainly have the means to object to it, what is it doing to defenceless citizens?
It looks as if William Hague may have misled parliament a fortnight ago. He claimed that "to intercept the content of any individual's communications in the UK requires a warrant signed personally by me, the home secretary, or by another secretary of state".
We now discover that these ministers can also issue general certificates, renewed every six months, which permit mass interception of the kind that GCHQ has been conducting. Among the certificates issued to GCHQ is a "global" one authorising all its operations, including the trawling of up to 600m phone calls and 39m gigabytes of electronic information a day. A million ministers, signing all day, couldn't keep up with that.
The best test of the good faith of an institution is the way it deals with past abuses. Despite two years of revelations about abusive police spying, the British government has yet to launch a full public inquiry. Bob Lambert, who ran the team, fathered a child by an innocent activist he deceived, co-wrote the McDonald's leaflet, is alleged to have lied in court and has been accused by an MP of firebombing, was awarded an MBE in 2008. He now teaches at St Andrews University, where he claims to have a background in "counter-terrorism".
The home office minister Nick Herbert has stated in parliament that it's acceptable for police officers to have sex with activists, for the sake of their "plausibility". Does this sound to you like a state in which we should invest our trust?
Talking to Sunday's Observer, a senior intelligence source expressed his or her concerns about mass surveillance. "If there was the wrong political change, it could be very dangerous. All you need is to have the wrong government in place." But it seems to me that any government prepared to subject its citizens to mass surveillance is by definition the wrong one. No one can be trusted with powers as wide and inscrutable as these.
In various forms – Conservative, New Labour, the coalition – we have had the wrong government for 30 years. Across that period its undemocratic powers have been consolidated. It has begun to form an elective dictatorship, in which the three major parties are united in their desire to create a security state; to wage unprovoked wars; to defend corporate power against democracy; to act as a doormat for the United States; to fight political dissent all the way to the bedroom and the birthing pool. There's no need to wait for the "wrong" state to arise to conclude that mass surveillance endangers liberty, pluralism and democracy. We're there already.
A fully referenced version of this article can be found at Monbiot.com.
• This article was amended on 25 June and further amended on 26 June. George Monbiot said that former home office minister Nick Herbert stated in parliament that it was "acceptable for police officers to have sex with activists, for the sake of their 'plausibility'." He did not. That was an inference taken from his contribution to a debate about Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, in which he said: "In a very limited range of circumstances, an authorisation under RIPA part II may render lawful conduct that would otherwise be criminal, if it is incidental to any conduct falling with the Act that the source is authorised to take."
On the specific issue of sexual relations between undercover officers and members of groups they were attempting to infiltrate Herbert said: "The RIPA statutory guidance does not explicitly cover the matter of sexual relationships, but it does make it clear that close management and control should be exercised by the undercover officer's management team." On this issue he went on to say: "Moreover, to ban such actions would provide a ready-made test for the targeted criminal group to find out whether an undercover officer was deployed among them."
The word "plausibility" was not used in the debate.
Briefly, we wanted to update you on where Truthout stands this month.
To be brutally honest, Truthout is behind on our fundraising goals for the year. There are a lot of reasons why. We're dealing with broad trends in our industry, trends that have led publications like Vice, BuzzFeed, and National Geographic to make painful cuts. Everyone is feeling the squeeze of inflation. And despite its lasting importance, news readership is declining.
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1/4 tsp. allspice
3 whole cloves
1 c. corn kernels
1 diced green pepper
1 c. cooked lima beans
1 1/2 c. sliced okra
1 chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
2 c. diced tomatoes
4 c. vegetable stock
water for sautéing
"Sauté" onion, green pepper and cloves in a dry nonstick pan until soft(use medium heat). Add water as necessary to prevent sticking. Remove cloves.
Put onion mixture, tomatoes, vegetable stock, lima beans, corn, okra, salt and allspice in a Crock-Pot.
Cover and cook on high for 6 hours (or on low for 8 to 10 hours).
Add a little salt to the onions as they cook, to draw water out of them and make them less likely to stick.


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It's a bounty that almost does grow on trees.
A new study has rung in British Columbians' pot purchases at about half a billion dollars each year, leading its pro-legalization researchers to argue current laws mean the province is missing an opportunity to harvest tax revenues.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University have quantified the retail value of black market marijuana sold only to British Columbians for the first time, pegging its value at between $443 million and $564 million annually.
"What's important is to get a sense of how many people are using marijuana in B.C., and how much they're using, and how much that's worth," said Dan Werb, the study's lead author and co-founder of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. "That data drives policy."
The study comes as part of a growing campaign of health, legal and law experts to persuade politicians in B.C. to look at alternatives to the current system they argue fuels gang violence and does nothing to reduce drug use.
The campaign has gained momentum after Washington State and Colorado voted earlier this month to legalize, sell and tax marijuana, and the study's researchers are already watching lessons from the incoming implementation.
Using data from Health Canada and the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., the researchers found the population of marijuana users to be about 366,000 and the retail cost to be about $7.50 per gram.
They used data about how often and how much is used in conjunction with those figures to determine the size of the illegal provincial market.
The paper doesn't specifically estimate tax revenues.
"But what it does is lay the groundwork and points to a few ways policy-makers could start looking at tax revenues," Werb said.
He cited government data from Washington State, which lays out the fiscal impact of the marijuana ballot initiative, and noted the population of weed users in B.C.'s neighbour to the south is estimated at 363,000 — a very similar number to B.C.
Initiative 502 puts in place a 25 per cent tax on pot sales, and the government anticipates that starting two years from implementation, the state will bring in tax and licensing revenues nearing half a billion each year.
The coalition contends that B.C., too, could rake in $2.5 billion over five years.
In Washington, 55 per cent of taxes will go to health care, 25 per cent to drug abuse treatment and medication, one per cent for cannabis-related research and the remainder will be general revenue.
"It would allow revenues that are currently being used towards the enforcement of cannabis laws be diverted perhaps towards the organized crime unit or other enforcement interventions that would target higher-level traffickers," Werb suggested of B.C.
Two economists at the University of British Columbia agree that millions in tax revenues would likely be generated from regulated pot sales, though they suggested caution be taken in estimating the enormity of the windfall.
Prof. Werner Antweiler said economic principles suggest that taking weed off the black market and into a regulated system would lower the overall price of the product — though not its demand — and therefore generate less.
But he also noted the 25 per cent tax created by Washington seems to be at the low-end of what he might expect to see applied to marijuana.
He said that in Canada, taxes on tobacco account for 81 per cent of the retail price — largely to account for high health-care costs associated with lung cancer, and because governments are trying to dissuade its purchase.
Putting a larger, so-called sin tax on marijuana would not tread new ground, added Prof. Kevin Milligan.
He said the result of the tax would be similar to what happens with environmental taxation, which is called a "double dividend."
"The point of the tax is you get less illegal activity, and some revenue you can do something with," he said. "It could potentially benefit B.C. taxpayers."
—Tamsyn Burgmann


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LA BROSSE, JEAN-BAPTISTE DE, Jesuit, priest, missionary, and professor; b. 30 April 1724 at Magnac, a hamlet in the parish of Jauldes (dept of Charente), France, son of Jean de La Brosse, seigneur of La Chabrouillère and of Magnac, and Louise Dubois-Cuvier; d. 11 April 1782 at Tadoussac (Que.).
After studying at the Jesuit college in Angoulême, Jean-Baptiste de La Brosse began his noviciate with the Jesuits in Bordeaux on 9 Oct. 1740. He took his first vows on 10 Oct. 1742, studied philosophy for two years, and taught in various schools until 1749. He completed his training as a Jesuit by a third year of philosophy and four years of theology.
Ordained priest early in April 1753, La Brosse came to Canada with a number of other Jesuits the following year. He stayed at Quebec and then in the autumn of 1755 went to join Father Charles Germain in Acadia, where he ministered to the Abenakis, Malecites, and Acadians of the St John River region (N.B.). Since July 1755, when the deportation of their people had begun [see Charles Lawrence*], these Acadians had been pursued and had had to take refuge in the forests. As soon as he arrived Father La Brosse went along, helping them and encouraging them to flee. Early in March 1756 he narrowly escaped being taken by the British.
Returning to Quebec in the autumn, La Brosse lived in the Jesuit college until 1758, serving as procurator, adviser to the rector, confessor, and professor of philosophy. On 2 Feb. 1758 he pronounced his solemn vows in the presence of Father Claude-Godefroy Coquart* and then worked as chaplain in the Hôpital Général in Quebec until April. In the summer he went to assist Father Pierre-Joseph-Antoine Roubaud, who was with the Abenakis at Saint-François-de-Sales (Odanak), and at the same time he undertook regular duties in the parish of Saint-Michel-d'Yamaska. In July 1759 La Brosse went with a party of Abenakis to Quebec, which was under siege. He was taken prisoner at Pointeaux-Trembles (Neuville) but the next day was liberated as a military chaplain. On 4 October he and Father Roubaud escaped Major Robert Rogers' raid on the Abenakis at Saint-François. The following year he still claimed the title of "missionary to the Abenakis" and was ministering occasionally in the parish of Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne. During his years with these Indians he had improved his knowledge of their speech and in 1760 completed a basic dictionary of the Abenaki language.
From his earliest days in Canada, Father La Brosse had espoused the cause of the Acadians, Abenakis, and Malecites. In 1761, however, he was given the tranquil parish of Saint-Henri-de-Mascouche, and remained there until the middle of 1766 despite requests from the Indians of Saint-François for his return. He was then appointed missionary to the Montagnais, who inhabited an immense territory stretching from he aux Coudres to Sept-Îles and from Tadoussac to Chicoutimi, and he began the most significant work of his life, through which he would make an outstanding contribution and attain both historical fame and legendary renown. In 1770 Bishop Briand also made him responsible for ministering to the area from Cacouna to Rimouski on the south side of the St Lawrence, as well as to Acadia, St John's (Prince Edward) Island, and Cape Breton Island. In 1773, however, Joseph-Mathurin Bourg took over his responsibilities for the Acadians and Micmacs.
Annals containing his annual summaries of his activities from 1766 to 1776, two Tadoussac registers recording his official acts – the "Miscellaneorum Liber" and the "Magnus Liber" – his letters, and various other statements reveal the nature of his work. His chief concern was to establish a Montagnais Christian community on firm human foundations. As early as 1767 he had William Brown and Thomas Gilmore print 3,000 spellers and 2,000 prayer books in Montagnais, designed, as he noted, for "those who know how to read and for those who will learn." He devoted winters to the education of the Montagnais, showing them how to read and write, teaching them the catechism, liturgical rites, singing, and the rudiments of music, and training catechists to carry on his work in his absence and after his death. He also served the French on both sides of the St Lawrence and the Acadians of Baie des Chaleurs, since registers of at least 15 parishes record his ministrations. But his creative work was primarily with the Montagnais, among whom he established a church which was respectful of their language and which could sustain itself.
Employees and clerks of the trading posts made his task difficult because of their general conduct and their trade in spirits with the Indians. In his concern to save his Montagnais Christian community Father La Brosse did not hesitate to write in 1780 to the vicar general of Quebec, Henri-François Gravé* de La Rive, to censure the diocesan authorities for their spinelessness and indulgence towards the French living at the posts. Despite these obstacles his forceful personality enabled him to accomplish his purpose in large measure. We can form some idea of his achievement by the number of prayer books and spellers he had printed, the large quantity of Indian religious calendars he bought from Brown and Gilmore, and above all from the records he entered in the registers of Tadoussac. The "Catalogus generalis totius Montanensium gentis" kept by his successor, Abbé Jean-Joseph Roy, is also a valuable source of detailed information. Written around 1785 and now housed in the Archives de l'archidiocèse de Québec, this "Catalogus" is clearly a continuation of one which Brown and Gilmore printed for Father La Brosse in 200 copies in 1767. Virtually a census of the Montagnais Christians, it gives for each person a number, names of parents, date of birth, assessment of literacy and of religious performance, date of first communion, and date of death where applicable.
In spite of extensive travel every year, Father La Brosse successfully engaged in work which reveals his ability as a scholar and professor. Wherever he went he made use of his Jesuit predecessors' studies. He did further research, made comments and corrections on their work, and developed it in his own writings. He used the dictionary of Father Joseph Aubery* as a basis for his etymological dictionary of the Abenaki language, and for his book of Montagnais prayers he drew inspiration from one by Father Pierre-Michel Laure* on which he wrote numerous comments. The catechetical instructions written by Father Antoine Silvy* are covered with comments and notes by La Brosse from which he drew the materials for a Montagnais grammar and speller. He laboured for eight years compiling a Montagnais dictionary. He also translated selections from the Bible into that language and, since there was no money to get the translations printed, he had students make manuscript copies.
La Brosse's efforts to teach reading and writing were certainly not wasted. When James McKenzie* passed through Tadoussac in 1808, 26 years after La Brosse's death, he noted that the Montagnais could read and write their own language well enough to be able to correspond with one another, that they excelled in singing hymns, and that those who sang in church read music well enough to sing accurately.
La Brosse was no ordinary man and legends soon sprang up about him. His medical knowledge, his gifts of healing, and the admiration, sympathy, and deep respect he attracted were all magnified to make him the hero of many tales, two of which are particularly well known. According to the "legend of the bells" La Brosse had predicted the exact moment of his own death and when he died, at midnight, the bells in all the chapels and churches that he served began to toll spontaneously. In another legend, the missionary kept back a forest fire by tracing a line on the ground with a stick. The sculptor Alfred Laliberté* did a bronze statue illustrating this story early in the 20th century.
[Information about Jean-Baptiste de La Brosse's work as a teacher at the Jesuit college can be found in the notes of one of his students, André Couillard, in ASQ,
Father La Brosse frequently signed his work with the pseudonym Jan-Batist Nudenans. The Musée d'Odanak has a bound manuscript of an etymological dictionary of the Abenaki language which bears the title "Radicum Wabanakaerum Sylvae Collecta a J. B. Nudenaus Anno 1760." The Archives historiques oblates in Ottawa holds manuscripts of a Montagnais-Latin dictionary begun at Tadoussac in 1766 and completed at Île-Verte in 1774–75, a Montagnais grammar dated 1768, and a Latin-Montagnais dictionary dated 1772. Both this archives and AAQ hold a Montagnais alphabet entitled ABEGHJIKMNOPRSTU (Uabistiguiatsh [Québec], 1767), of which 3,000 copies were printed. The BNQ in Montreal holds an Abenaki alphabet, Akitami Kakikemesudi-Arenarag' Auikhigan . . . (Kebec-Dari [Quebec], 1770) signed Jan Batist Nudenans, of which 600 copies were printed. Nehiro-Iriniui Aiamihe Massinahigan . . . (Uabistiguiatsh [Quebec], 1767; 2nd ed., 1817; 3rd ed., 1844), containing a collection of prayers and a Montagnais catechism, had a run of 2,000 copies in its first edition; copies can be found at AAQ, the Archives historiques oblates, the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale, and the Bibliothèque de la ville de Montréal.
AAQ, 12 A, C, 250v, 308; 22A, IV, 83; 61 CD, Saint-Laurent, île d'Orléans, I, 6. Archives de l'archevêché de Rimouski (Rimouski, Qué.), 355.106, lettre du père J.-B. de La Brosse à Mgr Gravé, 21 avril 1780. Archives de l'évêché de Gaspé (Gaspé, Qué.), casier des paroisses, Bonaventure, lettre du père J.-B. de La Brosse à Mgr Briand, 28 déc. 1771. ASJCF, D-7, 1. PAC, MG 24, B1, 49–50, 52–53, 57, 59, 100–2. Les bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest (Masson), II, 405–54. JR (Thwaites). L'Oiseau-mouche (Chicoutimi, Qué.), I (1893), 15, 19, reproduces in Montagnais and in French Bishop Briand's pastoral letter to the Montagnais of 13 May 1769. This document does not appear in Mandements des évêques de Québec (Têtu et Gagnon). H.-R. Casgrain, Œuvres complètes (4v., Montréal, 1884–88), I. Alexandre Chambre, Un grand apôtre du Canada, originaire de l'Angoumois: le R. P. J.-B. de La Brosse, né à Jauldes (Charente), mort à Tadoussac (Saguenay) (Jauldes, France, [1904]). Antonio Dragon, Trente robes noires au Saguenay, Adrien Pouliot, édit. (Chicoutimi, 1971). Rochemonteix, Les jésuites et la N.-F. au XVIIIe siècle. A. E. Jones, "Quelques notes sur le P. Jean-Baptiste de La Brosse," L' Union libérale (Québec), 23 nov. 1888, 3; 26 avril 1889, 3. Yves Tremblay, "Le père de La Brosse, sa vie, son œuvre," SCHÉC Rapport, 35 (1968), 47–59.
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Léo-Paul Hébert, "LA BROSSE, JEAN-BAPTISTE DE," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed September 24, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/la_brosse_jean_baptiste_de_4E.html.
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