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Some MLB Parks Seeking to Ban Peanuts [VIDEO]
With baseball season now in full swing, you'll probably hear, "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks," at some point this summer. But, what if you COULDN'T buy those peanuts?
Last year, Fenway Park banned peanuts from an entire 226-person section of the ballpark for the second time that season as part of a growing effort to accommodate fans with allergies, and with number of peanut allergies in the country doubling in the past 10 years, it looks like several other ballparks may follow suit.
Some fans are so sensitive they say the smell of the peanuts simply wafting through the air irritates their allergies. And with so many people allergic to peanuts, some schools and restaurants have banned peanuts already.
The solution seems to be designating some sections of the parks as "peanut free." I think this is a good thing for those with the allergies, although, they might miss out on this:


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Show SummaryAdam opens the show discussing a jogger her saw in Central Park who clearly hated jogging. The gang also talks with Bobby Moynihan about enjoying the ride of Saturday Night Live, and all the crazy improv comedy teams he was on. The guys then chat about body odor, fancy toilets, and play a round of Totally Topical Tivo Trivia. Alison begins the news with updates on the pair of lungs found in LA, and attempts to limit soda sizes in NY. Adam recalls a story with 'Teem,' and discusses his NY subway experience. Later they talk about when men and women hit their sexual peaks, and the phenomenon of Fifty Shades of Grey. Next up, Alison reads through a list of America's most spoiled cities, and Adam talks about his kids' bouncy castle. They also hear a story about Dave Grohl being a great tipper, and Adam recalls his party house across the street from Grohl's sister. As the show wraps up, Adam rants about ceiling fans, and why it's bad to not let your kid recognize their own gender.
LinksWatch Bobby weekly on Saturday Night Live at 11:30pm on NBC. Visit http://NBC.com/SNL for more info.
Show CreditsProducer: Mike Lynch Producer: Mike Dawson Audio/Voice Over/Post-Production: Mike Dawson Newsgirl: Alison Rosen Sound Effects: Bryan Bishop Associate Producer: Gary Smith Technical Director: Chris Laxamana Show Summary: Matt Fondiler
Image Gallery

subset: commoncrawl


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Before venturing into tick-infested territory, you used a topical repellent on exposed skin and outer clothing. When you returned, you did a body check and threw your clothes in the wash. But clean clothes may not be tick-free clothes. When he found a live lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) on the agitator of his washing machine, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist John Carroll decided to find out how tough ticks are. So he bagged up nymphs from two species—the lone star tick and the deer tick, (Ixodes scapularis), the creature that transmits Lyme disease—and put them in the washing machine. Carroll used a combination of water temperature settings and detergent types to wash the ticks. The majority of lone star ticks survived all the water-detergent combinations with no obvious side effects. Most of the deer ticks lived through the cold and warm water settings as well. But when one type of detergent was used with a hot water setting, only 25 percent of the deer ticks survived. When it came time to dry, all the ticks of both species died after an hour of tumbling around at high heat. But when the dryer was set to "no heat," about one-third of the deer ticks and more than half of the lone star ticks survived.
Carroll placed the ticks in mesh bags, which kept them from draining away during the rinse cycle and perhaps increased their odds for survival. However, ticks might also survive a sudsy interlude by sheltering in the folds and crevices of a typical load of laundry. Some tick species have been observed to survive hours of submersion in fresh water. Both adult ticks and nymphs can transmit disease. Carroll's research reinforces recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to wash and dry clothes at high temperatures after spending time in areas known to harbor ticks.
Science Daily
October 16, 2007
Original web page at Science Daily


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National Life Chain Sunday 2020 -
October 4
For more informationContact:
"The Life Chain People"
3209 Colusa Highway
Yuba City, California 95993
Phone: (530) 674-5068
Email: National Life Chain
For an Internet listing of 2019 LIFE CHAINs, visit LifeChain.org
Most Recent Article:
|What Is LIFE CHAIN?
Annually, on the first Sunday in October, LIFE CHAIN invites the churches in each city and town across North America to stand on a designated local sidewalk and pray for 90 minutes, while holding one of the following approved pro-life sign messages:
In 2019, 1598 cities and towns held Life Chains, and each Chain is posted at LifeChain.net. We are now focusing on National Life Chain Sunday 2020—to be held October 4, Lord willing, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm (or the time specified at LifeChain.net by the local Life Chain Committee) in each time zone across the U.S. and Canada. To include your city or town in 2020, notify National Life Chain of your interest via email National Life Chain or call (530) 674-5068 and download (from this web site) a copy of the Life Chain Manual and the other entries under "LIFE CHAIN Materials." Thereafter, inform your local pastors of your Life Chain plans as soon as possible, and ask them to schedule your Chain on their church calendar. The best way (by far) to promote your Chain each year is with the Pastoral Letter (under "LIFE CHAIN Materials"). Wise use of that essential letter may increase your Life Chain attendance by one-thousand percent (1000%) or even more.
The easy-to-hold 18" x 22" Life Chain signs are backprinted to feature Prayer Topics, Songs of Meditation, the Life Chain Code of Conduct, and a compelling statement on The Purpose of LIFE CHAIN. In addition to the prayer topics listed, local pastors are encouraged to add other prayer topics and to instruct their people in how to pray and meditate for a full hour.
During the Life Chain hour, idle chatter, frivolity, and both verbal and physical responses to motorists are strongly discouraged. LIFE CHAIN is a time for prayerful self-analysis, repentance, and serious commitment to helping end abortion in our nation.
Accordingly, LIFE CHAIN is not chiefly a demonstration, and its witness is not intended for the viewing public only. Instead, its first goal is to minister to its own participants—to those who call Christ their Lord and hold pro-life messages that declare abortion a grave evil that defames the name and holiness of God (Leviticus 18:21). Indeed the Church that Christ founded has drifted into cold indifference toward the sacredness of human life, and the result has been the mindless surgical killing and mutilation of over 45 million preborn Americans, plus untold millions who have fallen victim to abortive chemicals and medical neglect.
It is purposeful to note that LIFE CHAIN is church oriented and pastor focused and that the key to a successful Chain is for local pastors to educate their congregations about abortion and then lead them to the sidewalk where their Chain is to be held. Without firm pastoral support, a Life Chain will not fulfill its potential for saving lives and changing hearts.
Please Let Me Live provides a 56-page Life Chain Manual and 20-minute video for $25, but the Manual can be downloaded free of charge, and the video can be viewed at our sister web site LifeChain.net. In addition to those instructional aids, the National Life Chain office is available to assist new Coordinators upon their request, and in like manner experienced Coordinators across the U.S. and Canada welcome opportunities to help. The National Life Chain office does not solicit contributions or seek promotion from local Life Chain committees. We ask only for the privilege of serving local committees as best we can.
Please Let Me Live is a small pro-life ministry based 45 miles north of Sacramento, CA. God entrusted LIFE CHAIN to us in 1987, when we built America's first Chain through our small sister towns, Yuba City and Marysville. We call LIFE CHAIN "a serious first step to pro-life activism." It's a serious step in that it requires us to stand publicly for one hour, while holding a pro-life sign and praying through the prayer topics on the back of our sign. That brief experience has led thousands of Christians across North America to join local pro-life groups and work as volunteers throughout the year.
The first Life Chain, with over 2,000 participants, elevated prolife out of the "handful of fundamentalists" mindset at our daily newspaper to a level of high respectability in Yuba and Sutter counties. It enabled us to unite our local churches and to inform our local media, law enforcement, public officials, and area citizenry about the unmerciful killing of preborn boys and girls in our community and beyond. By 1990, after additional Life Chains, timely picketing, prayer vigils, full-page ads, billboard campaigns, and comprehensive door-to-door distribution of pro-life literature, surgical abortions ceased in our bi-county Yuba-Sutter area.
In 1989, Bakersfield took LIFE CHAIN into Southern, CA with 7,500 participants, and Riverside, CA followed with 6,000 in attendance. In 1990, Orange County, CA increased participation to 17,000, while Fresno, CA had 10,000, San Diego 20,000 (and a month later 28,000), and Sacramento 16,500.
National Life Chain Sunday '91 saw 373 Chains built in the U.S., with 771,000 participants. On National Life Chain Sunday '92, more than 800 U.S. cities and towns held Chains, with participation of 975,000, while Canada had 80,000 participants at 97 Chains. National Life Chain Sundays '93 saw over 900 Chains built in America and Canada, but attendance taking was discontinued due to our excessive preoccupation with numbers and a lack of emphasis on prayer.
From 1994 through 2002,
approximately 900 Life Chains were built annually in North
America; and while attendance declined significantly
during those years, prayer increased substantially. Year
2003 saw an increase in the number of Chains, which grew
to just over 1300 North American Chains in year 2007. For
that growth, LIFE
CHAIN is sincerely grateful, and we thank our
Lord and Savior for His provision, protection, and
enduring grace.
|Send us an email


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I spent yesterday at the Startup Empire conference, whose purpose was to provide people information, advice and contacts to people in the area who are either starting their own startups or considering taking the plunge.
One of the speakers at the event was Hugh MacLeod, who's best know for his comics drawn on the back of business cards and his blog, Gaping Void. Back in 2004, he wrote a long and rambling but excellent and enjoyable article titled How to be Creative. His presentation yesterday was a more distilled version of that essay, and while I'd already read it several times, I enjoyed hearing the live, aged-four-years version.
Although the presentation was given at a conference for techies starting their own startups, Hugh's advice applies to anyone who is creative, and if you asked him what that meant, I'm sure he'd say "everybody". Hence I present my notes on his presentation in this blog as well as in my tech blog, Global Nerdy.
- It's easy for an advertising career to tank, especially if you live in New York and drink too much
- I started drawing comics at bars, on the paper that just happened to conveniently be around: the backs of business cards
- I'm not in the VC business, nor am I in the tech business
- I'm greedy — who here's greedy? [Many hands go up]
- What really drives us? The "C" word: creativity
- The reason we work in this field is that we want to build stuff — fun stuff
- If it pays the bills, so much the better
- The "we're so fucked" thing is pretty long term
- What will get us out of the hole? Creativity. People like yourself, doing and building cool things
- I'm in my 40s — what motivates me now is seeing bright ambitious kids coming out of the colleges
- When I was a kid, there was no internet — not even computers! I had to write my term papers on typewriters
- I want to talk about creativity to the young
- I now present 12 little tips for you people just getting started
1. Ignore everybody.
- When you come up with a really great idea and show it, people won't get it
- You yourself might not even get it
- Imagine the early days of search: "Why would you want to do that?"
- "Good ideas have lonely childhoods"
- If you've had a good idea, you were probably called a fruitcake at the start
- Good ideas alter power balances in relationships, which is why many people resist them
- Your boss doesn't want you to have a good idea that makes you richer than him
- Good ideas will meet resistance – not because of the idea, but because of power and hierarchy
2. The idea you have doesn't have to be that big.
- Jewish proverb: "A rich man is one who can satisfy his wants"
- I grew up on TV, watching shows about people who had more than us
- Fast-forward 20 years later, I get to do what I want every day:
- Haven't had to set my alarm clock in years
- Just me and a couple of pens
- And yeah, I read Fast Company, BusinessWeek — "business porn magazines" – they feed greed
- Anyone seen No Country for Old Men? I live in that town!
- One of the locals is Harry, the master brewer, who moved out there and opened his own bar. He makes $500 a day and is the best businessman I know. He does what he wants and everything he does has some meaning to him.
- Meaning scales!
- We owe it to the generations to come to find meaning
3. Put the hours in.
- Nothing happens overnight
- People look at what I do "Aren't you worried about people ripping you off?" or taking my idea and doing the same thing
- My response: "I've already done 10000 cartoons and 7 years blogging"
- Inertia stops a lot of people. Know anyone in a dead-end job? Ever been in one? They say "One day, I'm going to open that cheese shop. But right now, I have to write a report…"
- I have a book coming up. Didn't quit my job to write it; just woke up an hour earlier every day to write it and posted it on my blog. Penguin eventually contacted me. All I did was put the hours in.
4. If your business plan relies on you being discovered by a big-shot, you will fail.
- I once got a book contract offer. The terms in the contract were terrible and I turned it down
- The publisher, it turned out, was in the business of finding people so desperate to have their moment in the spotlight that they would sign anything
- We now live in an era of cheap, easy, global media — we don't need middlemen
- I'm friends with Rick Segal…but probably because I don't need venture capital!
- Where I live in Texas, you can live really cheaply. Part of this is because you run out of things to spend on
- When I hear about people talking about VCs, I think of people looking to have their sorry asses saved
- Don't get me wrong: it's great to have VC, but it's even easier when you get one because you don't really need one
- "If you're looking for advice, ask for money; if you're looking for money, ask for advice."
5. Do it anyway.
- You don't know that your idea is the right one at the right time – no one does!
- Do it anyway — that's how great ideas start out
- Seco0nd-rate ideas are all about the immediate "yes!" response because it keeps them alive longer
6. Everybody is born creative.
- "Everybody gets a box of crayons when they're young ."
- We turn adolescent and for many of us, somehoe, "our colour gets turned off"
- Suddenly, it's not about coloring anymore, but concerns like "Got to get a 3.5 GPA, got to get that job…"
- Then you get an idea that you can't turn off
- It makes you start avoiding your poker buddies
- Most people get scared off by that idea. Doubt creeps in: "What if I get a bad publisher? What if nobody likes my idea?"
- That's not your idea, that's your grown up boring self fighting that idea
- Your idea came to you because your soul needs it
- If you don't nurture that idea, it dies. It also takes a lot of you with it.
7. The "Sex and Cash" theory.
- If you have a creative life and you make money doing it: you generally bounce between two kinds of jobs:
- The sexy creative job
- The one that pays the bills
8. Remain frugal.
- This particular lesson took me the longest to learn
- Living in New York City, I was in the top income bracket, for all the good it did. I had so much outgoing cash in rent and other expenses.
- You can live like a king where I do, in Alpine, Texas quite cheaply
- I now have "West Texas expenses, New York wages"
- This is hard to do if you want to be seen in "all the right places"
- Remember: we become creatives because we want freedom, and that includes freedom from avarice
9. I'm going to skip this one.
- It's too corny!
- [He capitulated later; see the end of this article.]
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need props.
- At any advertising agency, it's always the second-rate art director who's the first to get the newest model Mac
- If you go to any magazine office, it's the second-rate writer keeps an old Remington typewriter on display
- You see this at startups too: the loft office in the hip neighbourhood with the foosball table
- Remember: the Gettyburg address was written on borrowed stationery!
- We use props to hide behind or mask our inadequacies
- I know a woman who recently IPO'd — she didn't start in a fancy office, but on her dining room table
- It's not the props, it's the good idea and the effort
11. The best way is not to stand out from the crowd, but avoid the crowd altogether.
- Bartenders are the great social enablers of New York City
- No under-50 bartender is really a bartender: they're actors, musicians, whatever
- They have plan to become famous photographers, musicians, whatever
- The thing about the arts to me: what often drives people isn't just the money or business, but the prestige: "I want to be like that guy, because he's really privileged".
- Ever noticed how few really good writers have blogs? You don't see literature, you see shit like what I write
- A lot of authors are enamored of books and the prestige attached to them
- The worst thing you can do as a creative is fall in love with a privilege model
12. If you can accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
- When my sister was born and my mom was in labour, the pain was unbearable — "Why is this happening to me?" she asked
- The midwife replied: "You're giving birth to a baby. It's supposed to be painful."
- Mom accepted that and got on with the birth
- Trying to do something worthwhile and creative is really hard
- As you get older, you realize that pain is part of the process
9. Okay, here's point number 9, since you asked: We will fail, but we will be forgiven.
- Failure is part of the process
- The important thing really isn't about reaching the summit, but setting out for it.


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text:
That's right. Boxcar M-F'ing Pete. I need to see about getting him on the Podcast.
I toyed with the idea of unlocking my current iPhone and eBaying it to some far away land where they aren't actually available so I could afford an iPhone 3G. Then I started seeing reviews and articles saying, "The 3G data is pretty cool, but what you really want is the 2.0 firmware! It's like a robot with laser tits!" Since my iPhone can have said tit-bot firmware for free, I've opted to postpone any possible upgrade scenario for now.
I updated iTunes and downloaded the 2.0 firmware (a day early since I'm such a cheeky monkey), and got my App Store on. I grabbed some of the free apps that looked useful (Twitterific, AIM, a flashlight thing, and Remote). Remote is an app from Apple that let's you control your iTunes through your phone. I don't want to go into a long review, but it's freaking awesome. You can browse your entire lib(r)ary, view album art, etc from your phone. The communication was almost instant. I have bluetooth turned off, so I assume it uses WiFi or dark wizardry.
My advice: hold on to your original iPhone for now (or, if you never bought one in the first place, pick one up used from a jumpy upgrader sans contract). Wait for a significant update, like 32 or 64 gb's. The apps really do make this a new device with a lot more potential. I want to buy Band, but I'm waiting for Josh to be my guinea pig.


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Natural Approaches to Fatigue
This blog does not intend to provide diagnosis...
In this article:
- Supporting the Adrenal Gland
- Nutritional Adrenal Support
- Take a High Potency Multiple Vitamin and Mineral Formula
- Fish Oil Supplementation Reduces the Effects of Mental Stress
- Herbs for Adrenal Support
- Ginseng
- Caution with Caffeine
Have you ever been extremely tired and then all of a sudden felt a burst of energy? More than likely the sudden burst was due to the release of adrenaline and cortisol from your adrenal glands, a pair of glands that lie on top of each kidney. If you have ever been suddenly frightened, you know what it feels like to have adrenaline surge through your body. Adrenaline was designed to give the body that extra energy boost to escape from danger.
Some basic control mechanisms are geared toward counteracting the everyday stresses of life. However, if stress is extreme, unusual, or long-lasting, these control mechanisms can be quite harmful. Stress triggers a number of biological changes controlled and regulated by the adrenal glands.
An abnormal adrenal response, either deficient or excessive hormone release, significantly alters an individual's response to stress. Often the adrenals become "exhausted" as a result of constant demands placed upon it. Adrenal fatigue is a common side effect of continual stress and corticosteroid administration (e.g., the use of prednisone). An individual with adrenal fatigue or exhaustion will suffer from chronic fatigue and may complain of feeling "stressed out." They will typically also have a reduced resistance to allergies and infection.
Supporting the Adrenal Gland
One of the best ways to support the adrenal glands is by dealing with stress effectively. Dealing with stress involves the use of techniques designed to reduce the amount of stress. Exercise and relaxation techniques such as meditation, prayer, biofeedback, and self-hypnosis are vital components of a stress management program. Exercise is itself a physical stressor, however, it is the beneficial way to incorporate the fight or flight response as part of the daily routine. In regards to stress, regular exercise leads to an increased ability to cope with stress and reduces the risk of stress-related diseases.
Relaxation techniques seek to counteract the results of stress by inducing its opposite reaction - relaxation. Although an individual may relax by simply sleeping, watching television, or reading a book, relaxation techniques are designed specifically to produce the "relaxation response."
The physiological effects of the relaxation response are opposite to those seen with stress. The relaxation response is designed for repair, maintenance, and restoration of the body.
To achieve the relaxation response a variety of techniques may be employed, e.g., meditation, prayer, progressive relaxation, self-hypnosis, and biofeedback. The type of relaxation technique best for each person is totally individual. The important thing is that at least 5 to 10 minutes be set aside each day for the performance of a relaxation technique. These sessions will also remind you to breathe in a relaxed effective manner.
Nutritional Adrenal Support
Foremost in the nutritional support of proper adrenal function is to eat a low glycemic diet. Avoid refined sugars, especially sucrose and high fructose corn syrup; pastries; doughnuts; beverages packed full of sugars (soft drinks, sports drinks, and many coffee beverages); and other high sugar foods. The sugars in these foods are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, causing a rapid rise in blood sugar and severely stressing blood sugar control. It is also important to limit starches, pasta, bread, and other carbohydrates to very small portion sizes.
Fluctuations in blood sugar severely stress adrenal function and are a common cause of excess cortisol. Elevated cortisol levels are not only associated with increased feelings of stress, but also loss of appetite control, cravings for sugar, and weight gain. Too much cortisol is also linked to weakening of the immune system, depression, loss of muscle mass, osteoporosis, and brain atrophy.
Another dietary goal is to consume foods rich in potassium and avoiding foods high in sodium. Most Americans have a potassium-to-sodium (K:Na) ratio of less than 1:2. This means most people ingest twice as much sodium as potassium. Researchers recommend a dietary potassium-to-sodium ratio of greater than 5:1 to maintain health. This ratio is ten times higher than the average intake. However, even this may not be optimal. A natural diet rich in fruits and vegetables can produce a K:Na ratio greater than 50:1, as most fruits and vegetables have a K:Na ratio of at least 100:1. For example, here are the average K:Na ratios for several common fresh fruits and vegetables:
- carrots 75:1
- potatoes 110:1
- apples 90:1
- bananas 440:1
- oranges 260:1.
To support the adrenals, the daily intake of potassium should be at least 3 to 5 grams per day and the level of sodium should be no more than 1,500 mg daily.
Take a High Potency Multiple Vitamin and Mineral Formula
All essential nutrients are critical in supporting adrenal function. In particular, vitamin C, vitamin B, zinc, magnesium, and pantothenic acid are necessary nutrients for the manufacture of hormones by the adrenal glands. Supplementation of all of these nutrients at higher than RDI levels in the form of a high-potency multiple vitamin-mineral formula may be appropriate during high periods of stress or in individuals needing adrenal support.
Particularly important for optimal adrenal function is pantothenic acid. Pantothenic acid deficiency results in adrenal atrophy characterized by fatigue, headache, sleep disturbances, nausea, and abdominal discomfort. Pantothenic acid is found in whole grains, legumes, cauliflower, broccoli, salmon, liver, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. In addition, it is a good idea to take at least an additional 100 mg of pantothenic acid daily.
Fish Oil Supplementation Reduces the Effects of Mental Stress
Fish oils concentrated for EPA and DHA have been shown to have positive effects for patients with many different types of psychological disorders associated with stress including depression, bipolar disorder (manic depression), borderline personality disorder, and attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD).
Positive results in clinical trials in these psychological disorders indicate that EPA and DHA may exert an effect in blunting the stress response.
In an elaborate double-blind study conducted at Michigan Technological University, blood pressure, heart rate, muscle sympathetic nerve activity, and blood flow through the calf were recorded during a 5-minute experiment involving exposing 67 non-hypertensive subjects to mental stress. The assessment was made before and after 8 weeks of fish oil or placebo supplementation. The dosage of fish oil provided 1.6 g EPA and 1.1 g DHA for total EPA+DHA of 2.7 g.
Results showed that fish oil reduced the increase in heart rate and muscle sympathetic nerve activity produced by mental stress. These results indicate that fish oils reduced the effects of the sympathetic nervous system on the cardiovascular system indicating that some of its beneficial effects in both psychological and cardiovascular disorders are due to this central effect.
The takeaway message is that it is important to take roughly 3,000 mg EPA+DHA if a person is exposed to significant mental stress on a daily basis as it is good for your brain and heart as well as your ability to deal with stress.
Herbs for Adrenal Support
Several botanical medicines support adrenal function. Most notable are Chinese ginseng (Panax ginseng), Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus), rhodiola (Rhodiola rosacea), and ashwagandha (Withania somnifera). All of these plants exert beneficial effects on adrenal function and enhance resistance to stress, and are often referred to as "adaptogens" because they help us adapt to (cope with) stress. These plants have historically been used to:
- Restore vitality in debilitated and feeble individuals.
- Increase feelings of energy.
- Improve mental and physical performance.
- Prevent the negative effects of stress and enhance the body's response to stress.
These herbs can be used individually or in combination.
Both Siberian and Chinese ginseng enhance our ability to cope with various stressors, both physical and mental. Presumably, this anti-stress action is mediated by mechanisms that control the adrenal glands. Ginseng delays the onset and reduces the severity of the "alarm phase" of the body's short and long-term response to stress (the general adaptation syndrome).
People taking either of the ginsengs typically report an increased sense of wellbeing. Clinical studies have confirmed that both Siberian and Chinese ginsengs significantly reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. For example, in one double-blind clinical study, nurses who had switched from day to night duty rated themselves for competence, mood, and general well-being, and were given a test for mental and physical performance along with blood cell counts and blood chemistry evaluation. The group who were given Chinese ginseng demonstrated higher scores in competence, mood parameters, and mental and physical performance compared with those receiving placebos. The nurses taking the ginseng felt more alert, yet more tranquil, and were able to perform better than the nurses who were not taking the ginseng.
In addition to these human studies, animal studies have shown the ginsengs to exert significant anti-anxiety effects. In several of these studies, the stress-relieving effects were comparable to those of diazepam (Valium); however, diazepam causes behavioral changes, sedative effects, and impaired motor activity, while ginseng has none of these negative effects.
On the basis of the clinical and animal studies, ginseng appears to offer significant benefit to people suffering from stress and anxiety. Chinese ginseng is generally regarded as being more potent than Siberian ginseng, and is probably better for the person who has experienced a great deal of stress, is recovering from a long-standing illness, or has taken corticosteroids such as prednisone for a long time. For the person who is under mild to moderate stress and is experiencing less obvious impairment of adrenal function, Siberian ginseng may be the better choice. Dosages are as follows:
Chinese or Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng):
- High-quality crude ginseng root: 1.5–2 g, 1–3 times daily
- Fluid extract: (containing a minimum of 10.5 mg/mL ginsenosides with Rg1:Rb1 greater than or equal to 0.5 by HPLC): 2–4 ml (1/2–1 tsp) 1–3 times daily
- Dried powdered extract standardized to contain 5% ginsenosides with an Rb1/Rg1 ratio of 2:1: 250–500 mg, 1–3 times daily
Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus):
- Dried root: 2–4 g, 1–3 times daily
- Fluid extract (1:1): 2–4 mL (1/2–1 tsp) 1–3 times daily
- Solid (dry powdered) extract (20:1 or standardized to contain more than 1% eleutheroside E): 100–200 mg 1–3 times daily
Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea)
Another useful botanical medicine to support stress management is Rhodiola rosea (arctic root), a popular plant in traditional medical systems in Eastern Europe and Asia, where it has traditionally been recommended to help combat fatigue and restore energy. Modern research has confirmed these effects and its adaptogenic qualities. However, the adaptogenic actions of Rhodiola are different from those of the Chinese and Siberian ginseng, which act primarily on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. Rhodiola seems to exert its adaptogenic effects by working on neurotransmitters and endorphins. It appears to offer an advantage over other adaptogens in circumstances of acute stress because it produces a greater feeling of relaxation and greater anti-anxiety effects. A single dose of Rhodiola extract prior to acute stressful events has been shown to prevent stress-induced disruptions in function and performance, but like the ginseng, it has also shown positive results with long-term use. In one randomized, placebo-controlled trial of 60 patients with stress-related fatigue, Rhodiola was found to have an anti-fatigue effect that increased mental performance, particularly the ability to concentrate, as well as decreasing the cortisol response to stress.
On the basis of results of clinical trials with a standardized Rhodiola extract, the therapeutic dose varies according to the rosavin content. For a dosage target of 3.6–7.2 mg of rosavin, the daily dose would be 360–600 mg for an extract standardized for 1% rosavin; 180–300 mg for 2% rosavin; and 100–200 mg for 3.6% rosavin.
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera)
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) has shown impressive clinical results in dealing with stress. It works with the body's natural biological systems to help restore balance to the body and normalize body functions. It helps to increase the body's resistance to stress and reduce physiological responses to stress events. Ashwagandha delivers a variety of benefits that help maintain good health. Among other things:
- Helps counteract the negative effects of stress.
- Increases resistance to fatigue.
- Promotes mental clarity and concentration.
- Supports healthy weight management by inhibiting stress responses that can lead to overeating.
- Improves resistance to stress and tension.
- Helps protect against the effects of aging by protecting against free radical damage to cells.
Two Ashwagandha extracts have exceptional scientific support. KSM-66 and Sensoril. Follow dosage instructions for either of these two high-quality extracts.
Caution with Caffeine
There is no question that caffeine is a stimulant that can increase both physical and mental activity, but that increase often comes at the price of poor sleep quality and overstimulation of the adrenal gland. While many Americans definitely ingest way too much caffeine, cultures all around the globe have safely and enthusiastically utilized traditional beverages containing moderate amounts of caffeine to help them make it through the day with higher energy levels. Coffee, green tea, guarana, cola nut, and cocoa are good examples.
In its natural form, the caffeine is provided along with plant compounds that tend to lessen some of the negative effects of caffeine such as anxiety and nervousness. For example, in addition to containing caffeine, green tea also provides the compound L-theanine that counteracts some of the effects of caffeine on the brain that can lead to nervousness and interference with sleep.
There are a few situations where I do not recommend consuming any significant amount of caffeine (e.g., daily intakes in excess of 30-50 mg) including people very sensitive to caffeine or those with insomnia, depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, fibrocystic breast disease, or high blood pressure. If you suffer from one of these conditions and seek to increase your energy levels, I would recommend herbal approaches to support adrenal functions described above.


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Create a Rusty and Worn Metallic Textured Skull Using 3D Renders
Tutorial Assets
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.
Step 1: Composing the image in Zbrush
For the first few steps, I'll give you an explanation of what I did in ZBrush. I won't get too in-depth as that isn't the focus of this tutorial. I sculpted the models and placed them on the viewport in the position I wanted them to be rendered. In this case, I composed the image using the 2.5D capability of ZBrush. Then, I dropped the different tools on a 2.5D canvas, moving, scaling and placing them into the right position. I don't usually like to make preliminary sketches. I do most of my work directly on the canvas.
Make sure to set your canvas size in ZBrush as twice the size as you want your final image. Then, you can use the AA button before exporting the image for good anti-aliasing results.
Step 2: Settings materials and light in Zbrush
For this image I set two different lights, global and rim, and three materials, two for the metal, one for the textured worn finishing, and other chromed, and one more material for the bone part. I also used a flat material render for use it as a mask to isolate the background, which we use later.
Step 3: Start composing in Photoshop
Zbrush exports documents as PSD files by default, then I open one of the materials renders and start adding more layers.
My idea is for the skull to have a worn metal effect but over a polished surface, as if the passage of time has added layers of dirt and rust. So I added a new layer with the image of textured metal on top of the "chrome" later, after that I copy the same layer, right click > duplicate layer, and set the blending mode to Hue and adjust the opacity to 50%.
Step 4: Adding some destruction
In this step we are going to make the "tricky" part of this image, add a Layer mask to the "Texture" layer and use a textured brush (no300, no400, or no250 brushes from the assets) and black color to paint on it, thus create the scratches needed to reveal the chrome surface and give the effect of worn metal layer.
After that, we are going to add the shadows to highlight even more stains and create more surface realism, for that we will add a Layer Style to the "Texture" layer as a Drop Shadow as shown in the picture.
Step 5: Adding the bone part
For this part we need the bone material render from ZBrush. Put it on top of the rest of the layers and name it "Bone," then we have to make a mask to reveal just the part that we want, add a Layer mask to the "Bone" layer and paint it with black. I used the Brush Tool (soft round brush) because it is a small and regular area that is easy to define.
Step 6: Adding some texture and shadows to the bone part
To add texture to your surface, use overlapping layers set to soft light. You can vary the opacity depending on how much you want to emphasize the effect. In this step, I used texture brushes with a layer mask. You can also use the burn tool using a textured brush to apply the desired effect.
Then, I added a new soft light layer set to 35% opacity and painted in some black using a textured brush to add some irregularities to the surface.
I then created the "bone shadows" layer and set it to multiply at 100% opacity to paint in some shadows into the eyes.
To avoid painting on undesired metal parts Copy and Paste the same Layer Mask that we used to isolate the bone part.
Step 7: Adding the secondary light
I usually like to add a secondary color source light to add some atmosphere to my images, it enhances the feeling of location and add strength to the image impact.
Then I add the rim light render from Zbrush as a new Lighten layer "Rim Light"; when I am building the image, I usually don't have very clear idea of which kind of scene I want to render, then I play with the color of that light, Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation > Colorize, and I see how it works with different color schemes, the result will influence on the final mood of the image.
In this case I set the color to a red light which is coming from below, then I add a Layer Mask and paint a gradient from top to down to turn off the light on the upper part, I set the opacity of the layer to 75% to integrate it a bit more.
Step 8: Adding the background
Add the background that we included in the assets above and apply a layer mask as shown below using the ZBrush mask render.
Step 9: Integrating the background
To integrate the background we are going to need to add some layers and adjust their blending modes. Add 3 news layers as shown in the layer stack in the screenshot and apply a layer mask as shown. You can then paint highlights and shadows using white and black colors using the layer's opacity to adjust the lightness/darkness of the layer.
Next, we are going to integrate the cables with the background. Create a new layer, name it "Background shadows" and change the blending mode to Multiply, 100% opacity, then do as before with the Mask layer, copy it and apply it to this new layer, and with a soft round brush paint some curved strokes to achieve the cables shadows.
Step 10: Adding some steam effect
The brushes found in the tutorial assets above includes some very interesting smoke, cloud, and fog brushes which we are going to use to add some toxic steam.
Create a new layer and name it "Ambient steam." Se the blending mode to normal at 100% opacity and paint some strokes with brush number 566 onto the lower part.
Step 11: Toxic juice
Here we add the toxic liquid that drips down from valves, add a new layer, name "Toxic liquid", blending mode Overlay 100% opacity, we need a soft round brush, adjust size to fit stroke to the valve exit, pick a bright green color and paint from there to down, keep pressed the Shift key to have a straight line while you trace, after that, use the Erase tool, with the same soft round brush, to remove a bit of the lower part, use this tool adjusting opacity less than 100% to fade it down.
Now we are going to add some toxic vapors and add some brightness to the toxic liquid, create a new layer, name "Toxic vapor", blending mode Normal, 100% opacity, pick brush number 300 Rising smoke, and with the same green we used before paint some vapor clouds coming out from the valves, then we repeat same process as before, soft round brush, pressing Shift key and paint a straight line, in this case decrease a bit the brush size and pick a lighter green.
Step 12: Merge Layers
When I have a considerable number of layers I like to "restart", merging them and have a new base to work with, but I keep original layers for future changes or corrections if necessary, keeping them organized in a group folder.
Then select all the layers, duplicate them, and merge the duplicates together. Name the new layer "Toxicskull." Now place all the unmerged layers into a group as shown below.
Step 13: Levels and color corrections
Let's add some adjustments to this piece by adding adjustment layers. You can use your own judgment here in terms of settings.
Step 14: Start adding light sources
To add some atmosphere, create a new layer and name it "red light." Set its blending mode to normal with 80% opacity. Use brush number 300 rising smoke-1 and paint some fog in the bottom left corner.
Step 15: Adding more light sources
In this step we are going to add another light source. Add a new layer, name it "top light." Set blending mode to Lighten with 55% opacity and apply a white to black gradient as shown.
Step 16: Adding metallic highlights
Use the Dodge tool to lighten up areas that you want to add highlights. Then, on a new layer use the number 500 Flare brush to paint in some flares. Use different brush sizes depending on how big the reflecting surface is.
Step 17: Adding extra shadows
In this step we're going to add some extra shadows to give some parts more depth and detail. Here, for example, I see that screws need some shadows, then I add a new layer, named "Extra shadows." Set to Multiply blending mode, at 40% opacity, pick the Brush Tool and with a soft round one and black color paint shadows where necessary.
Step 18: Add impurities to air
To add some impurities into the air, use brush number 200, the Ash brush, it works very well and I use it a lot. Add a new layer, named "Impurities," Normal blending mode, 100% opacity, pick pure white color and paint in those areas where the light has more intensity, light illuminates those small particles floating on the air, paint using different brush sizes.
But this is not enough. We will add an extra effect to our atmosphere, create a new layer "Impurities copy", paint a bit more with same brush, but now try to choose areas where light is visible, then apply a Gaussian Blur to the layer, Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur, a small amount 1.2 pixels is ok, with this extra step we will add a sense of depth to the image blurring air particles which are closer to our point of view. One tip is, if you want to remove some of this particles erasing them, pick a kind of brush with a shape of cloud, fog, smoke, etc.
Step 19: Vignette
I usually add a vignette to my images; I think that it adds an extra of bit of attention and strength. To do this, make a selection of the entire image using "Backgroundl" layer, Command/Ctrl + left click on the layer, then add a new layer, name "Vignette" Normal blending mode, 100% opacity, and stroke that selection, Edit > Stroke, use black color, 6 pixels wide inside, then blur it, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and apply a big amount, over 30 pixels is fine.
Step 20: Refine jagged edges
To refine the ant- aliasing, grab the Smudge tool and adjust it in two ways, set the Strength to low values, between 1 and 5, and adjust brush size very small, between 5 or 9 pixels. A soft round brush will work well, and smudge the edge doing several passes always following the direction.
Step 21: Add depth of field
There are different ways to add depth of field to an image, in this case we are going to apply it manually, because the only part I just want to blur are the background wires, grab the Blur Tool, adjust Strength to 30%, and blur them softly.
I like to finish my images with one last layer, the noise layer, I add it for two reasons, one, I like the noisy surface, and it helps to homogenize the entire image, integrating the background with the extra painting layers added during process.
Create a new layer named "Noise." Set blending mode to Multiply at 100% opacity, fill it with white and go to Filters > Noise > Add Noise. Set noise to 12% or whatever looks best.


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Louis, or Luis Cazeneuve was an Argentinian artist that worked in the US comic book field during the 1940s. In his native Argentina, Cazeneuve was the artist of 'Quique, el Niño Pirata', one of the country's first adventure comic strips. The comic appeared as a daily strip as well as a Sunday page in El Mundo from 1931. Before emigrating to the United States in 1939, Cazeneuve produced 'Aventuras de Caza del Pibe Palito' and 'Aventuras de dos Argentinos en un País Salvaje'.
In the States, he worked for the Iger studios, doing features for several companies. He worked on Fox Comics' 'Blue Beetle' and 'Banshee', and did art on among others 'Doctor Miracle', Duke O'Dowd' and 'Phantom Sphinx' for Harvey Comics. He worked for National/DC throughout most of the 1940s, drawing 'Aquaman', 'Boy Commandos', 'Crimson Avenger', 'Seven Soldiers of Victory', 'Shining Knight', 'Star Spangled Kid and Stripesey', 'Three Aces' and 'The Vigilante'. In 1940, he also worked on the syndicated 'Blue Beetle' comic for Fox Feature Syndicate. His brother Arturo Cazeneuve also worked for US comic books.


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Teaching Islam to Children is Child Abuse Hate Crime
Naming Your Child Muhammad, Mohammad, Mohammed or any other variation is Child Abuse and Child Should Be Taken From Parent.
There was a US father who named his child Hitler and Social Services took his children from him. For a video of this despicable creature go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ7KP3yrXDw
Read why parents who name their child after their evil Muhammad and teach the child - Islam should lose ALL custody of their child.
To truly understand the immoral depravity of Islam, let us view Islamic teachings from the view point of Children. A child is Moral Perfection having yet no concept of evil. To take a child and turn this innocent just forming human mind into a vessel of hate, and their bodies into instruments of mass murder is such evil depravity as to be unspeakable - unprintable.
From Australia to Europe and beyond, Muslims are trying to introduce Islam in school curricula (of course a watered-down and lofty version) with significant success. But how can Western schools teach Islam, which will be the worst form of child abuse?
Yet the Muslim Brotherhood's chief supporters in the U.S., such as Hamas-linked CAIR's Hussam Ayloush and DHS official Mohamed Elibiary, continue to insist that the Muslim Brotherhood represents "freedom" for Egyptians. Not for these victimized children.
"Children Used on the Front-line of Islamist Demonstrations," from Egyptian Streets, July 30 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
Shocking footage has emerged of Egyptian children being dressed in white death shrouds in preparation for their martyrdom by pro-Morsi families in a large demonstration at Rabaa al-Adaweya.
The children were heard chanting pre-rehearsed lines and were seen carrying posters that say I am ready to die! during a short march.
This is not the first time that such images have emerged, however media and government attention over the issue remains spotty, as debates over politics have quickly overshadowed social problems plaguing Egypt.
Under both international and local law, using children under 18 years as a tool for politics and placing these children at severe risk of death or injury is illegal.
With an impending dispersion by the government of the pro-Morsi demonstration at Rabaa al-Adaweya, it is evident that the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of children will be put at severe risk....
Shame on all who are not fighting this evil in our midst.
The most important duty of any species is the care and protection of its young. The prime duty of mankind is to raise children in a safe environment and properly care and educate them, so that they can progress into responsible adults. There is no worse crime than the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. By sexually abusing a child, you totally destroy the childs self-esteem, and mentally condemn the child to a life of psychological torment. Their innocence thus spoiled, they become part of the living dead.
Seeking to please the sexual desires of His male Muslims, the Islamic God Allah has revealed verse 65.4 that allows Muslim men to molest baby girls sexually, thus, condemning them to a life of sexual abuse and mental anguish. Quran 65:4:
And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed divorce period), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and for those who have no courses (i.e. they are still immature) their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death]. And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they deliver (their burdens) (give birth) and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him.
This verse sets the prescribed period for divorced women to wait (iddah) before they can remarry. And amongst those divorced women are little girls, who have not yet reached the age of menstruation (see bold section). Since Allah also command Muslims to attack non-Muslims and enslave their women and children, who would be used as sex-slaves, so not only little Muslim girls, but also small girls of infidels are also at risk of sexual abuse at the hands of Muslim Jihadis. Since Muslims believe the teachings and commandments of the Quran are for eternal application, its plain and simple to conclude that Islamic God Allah is a patronizer of pedophilia for eternity.
Quoting Ayatollah Khomeini
It is better for a girl to marry in such a time when she would begin menstruation at her husband's house rather than her father's home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven. (Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth volume, Darol Elm, Qom.)
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iranian Islamic revolution and the Shia Grand Ayatollah (1979-89) said in an official statement:
"A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, other sexual acts such as foreplay, rubbing, kissing and sodomy is allowed. Sodomizing the baby is halal (allowed by sharia). A man having intercourse with a girl younger than nine years of age has not committed a crime, but only an infraction, if the girl is not permanently damaged. If the girl, however, is permanently damaged, the man must provide for her all her life. But this girl will not count as one of the man's four permanent wives. He also is not permitted to marry the girl's sister."
On thighing upon little girls to satiate sexual lust and enjoyment, Khomeinis "Tahrirolvasyleh" (Vol. 4, Darol Elm, Qom, Iran, 1990) says:
"It is not illegal for an adult male to 'thigh' or enjoy a young girl who is still in the age of weaning; meaning to place his penis between her thighs, and to kiss her."
What you are reading is a well-reasoned Islamic edict from the greatest Shia scholar of our time. Islam is a bottomless well of moral depravity.
We, in the West, make maximum efforts at raising our children with the innocence of mind and free of any kind of abuse. And we recognize and condemn pedophilia as the worst form of child abuse. So, teaching Islam, which overtly sanctions the practice of pedophilia with divine commandments, to our children in schools will be horrible things to do. Its not Islams sanction of pedophilia alone that makes Islam abusive to the innocent mind of children, but there are whole host of other reasons that makes teaching Islam to children abusive to their innocence. Let me list them one by one.
1. How can we teach our children an ideology that sanctions owning of slaves as eternal law of God?
Sura 2 (The Cow), Verse 178:
O you who believe! retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the slain, the free for the free, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female, but if any remission is made to any one by his (aggrieved) brother, then prosecution (for the bloodwit) should be made according to usage, and payment should be made to him in a good manner; this is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy; so whoever exceeds the limit after this he shall have a painful chastisement.
2. How can we teach our children an ideology that sanctions raping of slaves as eternal law of God
Verses of raping slave girls:
"Not so the worshippers, who are steadfast in prayer, who set aside a due portion of their wealth for the beggar and for the deprived, who truly believe in the Day of Reckoning and dread the punishment of their Lord (for none is secure from the punishment of their Lord); who restrain their carnal desire (save with their wives and their slave girls, for these are lawful to them: he that lusts after other than these is a transgressor..." This verse shows that Muslim men were allowed to have sex with their wives (of course) and their slave girls. [Quran 70:22-30]
"...who restrain their carnal desires (except with their wives and slave girls, for these are lawful to them..." Again, Muslim men were allowed to have sexual relations with their wives and slave girls. [Quran 23:5, 6]
"And all married women are forbidden unto you save those captives whom your right hand possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. You can't have sex with married women, unless they are slaves obtained in war (with whom you may rape or do whatever you like). [Quran 4:24]
"Prophet, We have made lawful to you the wives whom you have granted dowries and the slave girls whom God has given you as booty;..." [Quran 33:50]
For 7 more pages go to http://www.islamreform.net/new-page-150.htm
3. How can we teach our children an ideology that allows Muslims to loot and pillage the property of kafirs as Gods eternal commandments?
Quranic verses sanctioning Muslims to plunder the wealth of non-Muslims:
They ask thee concerning (things taken as) spoils of war (booty). Say: "(such) spoils are at the disposal of Allah and the Messenger: So fear Allah, and keep straight the relations between yourselves: Obey Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe." [Quran 8:1]
And know that out of all the booty that ye may acquire (in war), a fifth share is assigned to Allah, and to the Messenger, and to near relatives, orphans, the needy, and the wayfarer if ye do believe in Allah and in the revelation We sent down to Our servant on the Day of Testing, - the Day of the meeting of the two forces. For Allah hath power over all things. [Quran 8:41]
And He made you heirs of their lands, their houses, and their goods, and of a land which ye had not frequented (before). And Allah has power over all things. [Merciful Allah asked Prophet Muhammad to confiscate entire properties of the surrendered Jews] [Quran 33:27]
4. How we teach our children an ideology that sanctions attacking of infidels in order to force them convert to Islam, or pay jizya (submission) tax, or be exterminated as eternal law of god?
We in the West teach our children complete freedom of religious practice and equality of all people. How can we teach them Islam that sanctions attacking people of different religion for converting them, imposing discriminatory taxes or murdering people of particular belief (e.g., polytheism)? Such verses exhorting Muslim aggression and terrorism against non-Muslims are 2:63, 3:151, 8:12, 8:60, 8:59, 9:55, 11:102, and 17:59.
It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land. Ye desire the lure of this world and Allah desireth (for you) the Hereafter, and Allah is Mighty, Wise. (Allah insisting Prophet to kill all the prisoners, and should not keep any surrendered prisoners alive until He (Prophet) occupied entire Arabia. [Quran-8:67]
Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens. Thus (are ye commanded): but if it had been God's Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of God, - He will never let their deeds be lost. [Quran 47:4]
5. How we teach our children an ideology that sanctions subjugation of all religions to Islam?
It is He Who has sent His Apostle with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion: and enough is God for a Witness. Muhammad is the apostle of God; and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other. [Quran 48:28-29]
God has decreed: "It is I and My apostles who must prevail": For God is One full of strength, able to enforce His Will. [Quran 58:21]
6. How can we teach our children an ideology with a sexually depraved Islamic Paradise?
Ask yourself: How is it possible that German, British, US, Canadian etc. schools teaches the children after if they die while trying to kill the infidels in Jihad, they will go to paradise as martyr (Shaheed), where they will engage in depraved sexual orgy with 72 divine virgins?
Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods for theirs in return is the garden of Paradise they fight in his cause and slay and are slain a promise binding on him as truth. [Quran 9:111]
As already demonstrated, 9:111 is the teaching that has been used by Muhammad and his lieutenants to mobilize the suicidal Jihadis to kill and slaughter millions. An estimated 270 million people have been murdered by Islam over the past 1400 years because of commandments of verse 9:111. On 9/11 (2001), the 19 Muslims on those planes that smashed into the World Trade Center were simply executing the command of verse 9:111, so they could, right away, ascend to the highest levels of Paradise to be with their 72 virgins for sexual orgy for eternity. The same motivation applies to Jihadis taking part in violence and terrorism around the world: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Palestine.
"As for the righteous (Muslims)...We (Allah) shall wed them to beautiful virgins with lustrous eyes" [Q 44:51-54]
7. How can we teach our children an ideology created by an evil terrorist mass-murderer?
In our analysis, Muhammad has shown himself as the perfect follower of Allahs commandments of the Quran, from engaging in pedophilia to terrorism and mass-murder, and Muslims duly regard him as the perfect man and role model. In his life-time, Muhammad waged war, killed his enemies and critics. Muhammads own words:
Allahs Apostle said, I have been made victorious with terror. [Bukhari 4:52:220]
Muhammad was a pedophile, who had sex with 9-year-old Aisha and had sexually abused her such as by thighing from the age of six. As a child molester, among the earliest duties of Aisha as Muhammad's 9 year old wife was the task of washing semen stains off his clothes:
"Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: I used to wash the semen off the clothes of the prophet (the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) and even then I used to notice one or more spots on them."
Enough citation of Quranic verses has been given above that makes Islam an unconditional doctrine of violence, terror, murder and plunder. And duly following those commandments, Muhammad had organized 72 to 100 raids and wars of mass-murder, plunder and enslavement. Muhammad ordered the assassination of at least 10 people, who mocked him. Muslim tradition also recounts that upon taking Mecca, Muhammad ordered the death of a poetess of the city, Asma daughter of Marwan, who had ridiculed him and who had pointed out that some of the material in the Quran had actually been stolen from her father, also a poet, and used by Muhammad. The traditions relate this story as follows,
The Apostle of Allah said, 'Who will rid me of the daughter of Marwan?' Upon hearing this, the Companion Umair ibn Udaj went to her house and killed her, reporting back to Mohammed of the deed the next day. It is then recorded,
Then in the morning he was with the Apostle of Allah and said to him, 'O Apostle of Allah, verily I have killed her.' Then (Mohammed) said, 'Thou hast helped Allah and His Apostle, O Umair!'
Thus, this "prophet" ordered the death of a woman because of personal vendetta and to protect himself from charges of plagiarism!
Muhammad one time ordered the death of an old man who mocked the Muslim pride in their dirty foreheads. Muslims in Muhammad's day were proud of their method of prayer, placing their foreheads directly in the dirt. The elderly man, mockingly suggesting that there was more to prayer than mere outward form (having a dirty forehead), took some dirt, spread it on his own forehead, and stated that this was good enough for him. Muhammad ordered his Muslim followers to murder the old man, which they did. (For a description of Muhammads assassinations go to http://www.islamreform.net/new-page-37.htm)
Muhammads beheading of 600-900 men of Banu Qurayza is now well-known. The women and children were sold into slavery, and the town looted.
8. How can we teach our children, including young girls, an ideology that preaches the oppression and subjugation of women to men?
Women Are Sex Objects. Go and use them for sex whenever, however you want.
Likens a woman to a field (tilth), to be used by a man as he wills: "Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will" (Quran 2:223)
This teaching permits anal sex of Muslim women by their husbands.
Women Are Inferior to Men
Men are "a degree above women. [Quran 2:228]
A woman is worth one-half a man. [Quran 2:282]
Men are allowed to marry two, or three, or four women, but non vice-versa. [Quran 4:3]
Males are to inherit twice that of females. [Quran 4:11]
Women Are Deficient In Intelligence
"[Muhammad] said, Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?' They replied in the affirmative. He said, 'This is the deficiency in her intelligence.'" [Bukhari 6:301]
Husbands Can Beat Their Disobedient Wives, not vice-versa
Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. [Quran 4:34]
Women Are Dirty
When it's time to pray and you have just used the toilet or touched a woman, be sure to wash up. If you can't find any water, just rub some dirt on yourself. [Quran 5:6]
Most Women will go to Hell
And it is said unto the angels): Assemble those who did wrong, together with their wives (no matter how they behaved), and what they used to worship. [Quran 37:22-23]
Among the inmates of Heaven women will be the minority" (Sahih Muslim 36: 6600)
"I (Mohammed) have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-Fire were women... [because] they are ungrateful to their husbands and they are deficient in intelligence" (Sahih Bukhari: 2:18:161; 7:62:125, 1:6:301).
9. How can we teach our children an ideology that teaches brutality as eternal laws of God?
Lewd" women should be punished with life imprisonment
If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, Take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or God ordain for them some (other) way. [Quran 4:15]
Stealing should be punished by amputation of hands
As to the thief, Male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from God for their crime: and God is Exalted in power. [Quran 5:41]
Adultery and fornication must be punished by flogging with a hundred stripes
The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment. [Quran 24:2]
10. How can we teach our children an ideology that proclaims the following family values
Don't make be friends with your disbelieving family members. Those who do so are wrong-doers. [Quran 9:23]
Those who refuse to fight for Allah will be treated (along with their children) as unbelievers. [Quran 9:85]
Don't pray for idolaters (not even for your family) after it is clear they are people of hell-fire. [Quran 9:113]
On the Last Day good Muslims will not love their non-Muslim friends and family members, not even their fathers, sons, or brothers (or their mothers, daughters, or sisters). [Quran 58:22]
Don't let your children distract you from your duty to Allah. [Quran 63:9]
Your wives and children are your enemies. They are to you only a temptation. [Quran 64:14-15]
11. How can we teach our children an ideology that teaches hate and intolerance toward Jews, Christians and all other kafirs
Anti-Jewish Hatred in the Quran
Wretchedness and baseness were stamped on the Jews and they were visited with wrath from Allah. [Quran 2.61]
Jews are the greediest of all humankind. They'd like to live 4,000 years. But they are going to hell. [Quran 2:96]
For the wrongdoing Jews, Allah has prepared a painful doom. [Quran 4:160]
God has cursed the Jews, transforming them into apes and swine and those who serve the devil. [Quran 5.60]
For learning about Islamic Intolerance of And Incitement of Violence against Non-Muslims, go to pages 15256 of my book.
In finishing, let me say that any school in the West that allows teaching of Islam to children will be guilty of child abuse hate crimes and due charges should be brought against them.


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1. Objectives:
b. remind students of the rudiments of verse anlaysis
c. assign students a group of songs to independently anlayze (approx. 5 songs/day) according to specific criteria listed on a sample notebook entry
d. following independent lyric anlaysis, play the song and discuss answers and reactions
b. complete recordings of Robert Johnson (Columbia, 1990)
c. copies of complete lyrics for each student
d. journal or notebook for each student
Do the students think that the blues is a current medium?
What makes a song?


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Alexandria, VA | Boca Raton, FL | Chandler, AZ | Phoenix, AZ | San Luis Obispo, CA | Sterling, VA
Designed after the CARD home-based therapy programs for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), CARD has developed an institution focused on teaching excellence.
CARD Academy and its parent company the Center for Autism and Related Disorders have over 20 years of experience working with children and families affected by ASDs. Our goal is to give children a top-quality education provided by the most experienced and trained teachers in the field, in a safe, fun and nurturing environment.
To further the "whole" child's development from academic and social to cognition and self-help, through results- oriented teaching
To support and educate families so that classroom teachings are enhanced and maintained at home
To work with community agencies to advocate for children and families dealing with the challenges of autism
To conduct and support rigorous scientific research of educational teaching methods and curriculum
This is accomplished through:
Each student receives a personalized curriculum based on their performance on several assessments. The initial and on-going assessments ensure that the academic program is focused on the student's strengths and weaknesses. Once the assessment is completed, teachers and administrators work to create a dynamic Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
The IEP provides a roadmap on which teachers will focus. Lessons will include 1:1, 1:2 and small group instruction. Teachers are highly trained in teaching techniques rooted in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a scientifically-proven method for teaching skills to children with ASDs. The programs are results-oriented to help children develop new skills and knowledge at a pace that is challenging, but appropriate.
Stay Up to date with all of the latest CARD Academy news including new school openings, Center for Autism research and much more by Joining Our Mailing List!
For more information about this location, please contact Mary Ann Cassell at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For more information about this location, please contact Marcy Mitchell at firstname.lastname@example.com.
As a core value of the CA mission, CARD is always looking to grow our family. If you are interested in CARD acquiring, developing and/or partnering with your agency, simply send an e-mail to email@example.com


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Editor's Note: In his 2012 State of The Union address, President Obama spoke of American homeownersabused by unscrupulous banks and financial institutions.Have they gotten justice? What follows is the first in a new series examining foreclosure settlements and the disturbing patterns of incomptency, malfeasance, and conflicts of interest which have marked their execution.Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism takes a deep dive into the mireof America's mortage industry and investigates the continued suffering of the public at the hands of greedy predators.
On January 7, 2013, ten servicers entered into an $8.5 billion settlement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, terminating a foreclosure review process which was set forth in consent orders issued in April 2010. Borrowers who had had foreclosures that were pending or had completed foreclosure sales in 2009 and 2010 could request an investigation by independent reviewers, selected and paid for by the servicers but subject to approval by the OCC.
Some experts argued that the 2009 and 2010 time range was too narrow and excluded many borrowers who had been treated improperly. These professionals also questioned whether the investigators would operate independently and fairly. Nevertheless, the reviews were touted as delivering a measure of justice to abused homeowners, since any found to be have suffered wrongful foreclosures were to receive sizable monetary awards, and smaller payments would be made to those who experienced other forms of abuse. As HUD Secretary Shuan Donovan proclaimed:
For families who suffered much deeper harm — who may have been improperly foreclosed on and lost their homes and could therefore be owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages — the settlement preserves their ability to get justice in two key ways.
First, it recognizes that the federal banking regulators have established a process through which these families can receive help by requesting a review of their file. If a borrower can document that they were improperly foreclosed on, they can receive every cent of the compensation they are entitled to through that process.
Second, the agreement preserves the right of homeowners to take their servicer to court. Indeed, if banks or other financial institutions broke the law or treated the families they served unfairly, they should pay the price — and with this settlement they will.
Yet the foreclosure investigation was halted abruptly, with the OCC and the Fed failing to identify any methodology for how the portion of the settlement allotted to cash awards, $3.3 billion, would be distributed to homeowners who might have been harmed in 2009 to 2010, an astonishing lapse that will almost certainly result in small payments being made to large numbers of borrowers, irrespective of whether they deserved vasty more or nothing at all.*
But except from its hamhandedness, this outcome was no surprise to astute observers. The OCC consent orders had been launched in an unsuccessful effort to render the ongoing 50 state attorney general/Federal negotiations moot. Critics described how these orders were regulatory theater, with Georgetown law professor Adam Levitin comparing them to promising in public to spank a child, then taking him indoors and giving him a snuggle. Leaks during the course of the reviews confirmed these concerns, revealing deep-seated conflicts, limited competence among the review firms, half-hearted efforts to reach eligible homeowners, and aggressive efforts by the banks to suppress any findings of harm.
As grim as this sounds, the conduct was worse than the leaks suggested. After extensive debriefing of Bank of America whistleblowers, we found overwhelming evidence that the bank engaged in certain abuses frequently, in some cases pervasively, in its servicing of delinquent mortgages. This is particularly important because Bank of America has been identified in previous settlements as far and away the biggest mortgage miscreant, paying over 40% of last year's state/federal mortgage settlement among the five biggest servicers.
This settlement, as intended, was yet another significant bailout to predatory servicers. As we will demonstrate over our upcoming series of posts, conservative estimates of damages due to borrowers under the consent order who suffered improper foreclosures from Bank of America exceed $10 billion. That contrasts with the cash portion of the settlement amount for Bank of America of $1.2 billion.** The amount owing for other abusive practices would have increased this total further.
The OCC gave two rationales for shutting down the reviews. The first was that they were costly to Bank of America and other serivcers, potentially diverting funds from borrowers. This argument is spurious. Those expenses were always contemplated as being in addition to compensating borrowers for the considerable damage they suffered. Moreover, as we will demonstrate, the high price tag for undertaking the reviews was due not only to fragmented and poorly documented borrower records and the servicers' long-standing disregard for legal requirements, but significantly to an inefficient, poorly designed review process. The fees to the major firms engaged to conduct the reviews are so patently out of line that Caroline Maloney, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, has launched an inquiry.
Professional service firm clients, particularly ones as powerful as major banks, when faced with such egregious levels of cost overruns, would normally demand significant reductions in the bills from their vendors. Instead, the Fed and the OCC let Bank of America make its cost problem their cost problem.
The second reason given for shutting down the reviews is that the regulators claim few borrowers were harmed by impermissible foreclosure practices. A recent American Banker article quoted Morris Morgan of the OCC, who was overseeing the reviews from the regulators' side:
"Do I think there were a significant number of people who were foreclosed on where the banks did not have a legal right to foreclose on them? At this point in time I don't think that was a significant number," he said. "But I would go further to say a very few number, and you could even argue one of those, is too many."
This is both disingenuous and as we will demonstrate over our series, patently false. Borrowers could suffer wrongful foreclosures due to predatory or negligent foreclosure practices for reasons well beyond the servicer not having the "legal right to foreclose". Moreover, the servicers were ordered to look well beyond that issue. The whistleblowers saw ample evidence of abuses of that could and typically did result in the loss of home within the scope of the reviews they performed. Moreover, they also presented evidence of persistent, sometimes pervasive, impermissible conduct at Bank of America which was simply not addressed in the tests or captured in related information gathering, yet clearly fell within the scope of the consent orders. As we will discuss, some of these abuses would likely result in an impermissible foreclosure or serious borrower harm.
Turn the issue around: why would the banks be willing to down the reviews if indeed they were finding so little in the way of damage to borrowers? They would be well served to spend a few billion dollars to be able to say that with a fair and exhaustive process, hardly any borrowers were harmed. If this claim was true, the costs of finishing the reviews still would have been lower than the cost of the settlement plus the expenses of the reviews to date.
The settlement is also a bailout for the "independent" foreclosure reviewer, Promontory Financial Group, which also played this role for Wells Fargo and PNC. Promontory occupies a unique role in Washington, DC. The firm, headed by former Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig, is heavily staffed with former senior and middle level banking and securities regulators. For instance, former OCC chief counsel Julie Williams (who Ludwig hired when he was at the OCC) has just joined Promontory, and her replacement, Amy Friend, came directly from Promontory.
As we will demonstrate in later posts in this series, even making the most generous interpretation possible of the role played by Promontory, Promontory's review at Bank of America completely omitted significant categories of borrower harm that were explicitly discussed both in the OCC consent order and Promontory's engagement letter with Bank of America.
Scope of Our Investigation
We interviewed five contract workers at the largest Bank of America site where the foreclosure review work took place, Tampa Bay, Florida. All had worked on the project from relatively early on, and all had considerable knowledge of mortgage and foreclosure processes and documentation, with the least experienced having worked five years as a paralegal in small real estate-focused law firm. The majority had over ten years of relevant experience. Together they performed significant tests on over 1600 borrowers in a "live" mode, and ran preliminary versions of the tests on hundreds of additional borrower files (actual customer records from Bank of America systems, not dummied-up data) in the attenuated start-up phase.
The reviewers also provided comprehensive documentation from some of the major tests designed by Promontory and operated on its CaseTracker software program as well as other documents provided by Bank of America. We provide a brief overview of the various roles in the Tampa Bay and other Bank of America locations at the end of this post, in Appendix I, and a description of the major tests in Appendix II. We have reviewed the information and documents presented by the whistleblowers with recognized legal experts in foreclosures and securitizations, and have also reviewed relevant OCC materials and Bank of America disclosures.
Overview of Findings
The foreclosure reviews showed persistent, widespread efforts by Bank of America to avoid any finding of borrower harm. These efforts were supported and enabled by Promontory. The whistleblowers, all told their role would be to act as investigators and help borrower get compensation they deserved, described the review process as seriously flawed. Yet even with those obstacles, they saw abundant evidence of serious damage to borrowers.
We asked our five whistleblowers to estimate the amount of borrower harm they saw for the borrowers whose cases they reviewed, and what portion of that was serious harm (all reviewers will be described as male irrespective of gender):
Reviewer A: 90% harmed, with 30% to 40% suffering serious harm
Reviewer B: 30% harmed, including instances of serious harm; described multiple instances of serious harm on other tests performed on his borrowers but could not readily quantify
Reviewer C: 67% harmed on his test; like B, saw multiple instances of serious harm in the borrower history not captured on his test as harm; could not readily quantify but specific examples cited during interviews alone exceed 10%
Reviewer D: 95% harmed, with 30% to 40% suffering serious harm
Reviewer E: 100% harmed, with 80% suffering serious harm
This level is consistent with the findings of a never-published GAO report on the foreclosure reviews that the rushed settlement appeared intended to terminate. The GAO review selected a random sample of foreclosure files and found an 11% error rate. The files the reviewers saw came (depending on the reviewer) at least 80% and in most cases 100% from borrower requests for review through the IFR process or an executive request for review. One would expect to see a markedly higher level of serious problems in these files.
As we will describe in detail, these estimates considerably understate the actual harm suffered due to defects in the test design, active efforts to suppress findings of harm, and major gaps in Bank of America records. As one reviewer stated:
I really kind of went into it very naively, I guess, as a lot of us did, that we were actually there to do good and were being welcomed there to do good for people….I mean, I had gone from pretty gung ho to, "Hey, you guys need to knock this crap off. You guys are just – you're, just, you're turning this into a sham."
Note that Bank of America and Promontory are likely to claim, as they did late last year when ProPublica published an article questioning the independence of the foreclosure reviews, that Promontory was doing the reviews and the contractors employed in Tampa Bay and other locations were simply doing document retrieval. In later posts, we will discuss in depth why this claim is ludicrous in light of how the organization was structured, how Bank of America managers interacted with the reviewers, and how the tests were designed and the reviewers were trained.
Overwhelming evidence of widespread, systematic abuses . No interviewee estimated harm as occurring in less than 30% of the files they reviewed; one put serious harm at 80%. The interviewees did not simply describe individual borrower suffering in graphic terms (as one put it, "I saw files that would make your stomach turn.") Multiple interviewees would describe widespread, sometimes pervasive patterns of impermissible conduct.
The reviews confirm what both servicing experts and foreclosure defense attorneys have seen since the crisis: Bank of America's servicing standards were poorly designed and thus unable to handle the deluge of troubled borrowers (suspense accounts, modifications, bankruptcy, etc.). In addition, BofA had a low level of competence in their servicing area and, as a result, the problems with their servicing was made worse. For instance, reviewers gave examples of types of behavior where Bank of America practices were clearly contrary to the law, yet the banks' personnel confidently maintained that they were proper
OCC's badly flawed review structure compounded by complex, chaotic, and undermanaged implementation by Promontory. By delegating so much of the review process to "independent" firms (many of whom had little or no experience with servicing and foreclosure), the OCC doubled down on the same incompetence and poor standards that Bank of America and the other servicers already had in their servicing departments. Many of the flaws in the review process (compartmentalized reviews, conflicted supervisors, poor senior review for issues or disputes) were mirror images of the problems at the servicer. These problems were made worse by a bizarre management structure and frequent changes to test content and directives.
Concerted efforts to suppress finding of harm. The organizational design, the way the reviewers were managed, the elimination of areas of inquiry, and evidence of records tampering with Bank of America records all point to a multifacted, if not necessarily well orchestrated, program to make sure as much damaging information as possible was not considered or minimized. To give one example: state law issues were eliminated from the in G test, which covered loan modifications (see Appendix II below), reducing it over time from 2200 questions to 500.
Dubious role of Promontory. Promontory was a poor choice to perform the review. It had virtually no internal expertise in serivcing, provided little or no supervision, and, either by design or incompetence, managed to politicize the review process rather than make it independent.
Promontory's recent accomplishments include telling MF Global's board that it had "robust enterprise-wide risk management" five months before it failed and finding only $14 million of Standard Chartered wire transfers in a money laundering investigation to be out of compliance, when the bank eventually admitted the amount was $250 billion. That is no typo, that is an over four order of magnitude difference.
Why does Promontory prosper despite such implausible, indeed, embarrassing performances? It's because financial firms are eager buyers of extreme management-flattering positions that are seldom subjected to scrutiny thanks to Promontory's roster of former regulators. Indeed, Promontory occupies a position no firm holds in any other heavily regulated space, that of being the dominant shadow regulator. As we will demonstrate in later posts, the claims made by Promotory about the review process as to its independence and completeness are at odds with considerable evidence on the ground.
We will present the evidence supporting each of the findings in successive posts in this series.
Bank of America Foreclosure Review Appendix I by
Bank of America Foreclosure Reviews Appendix II by
* While the OCC maintains that some borrowers may still receive the maximum payment under the foreclosure reviews, $125,000, the abrupt termination of the foreclosure reviews at Bank of America and other banks and the dismissal of trained staff indicate that not further investigation will be made. That, in combination with the efforts we will describe to show how evidence of harm was not considered, minimized, or suppressed, suggest that the only people who might receive that level of payout will be ones that suffered not just egregious but easily identified harm and were also fortunate enough to get through the review process before the settlement was finalized.
** We attribute very little value to the "required other amount of assistance" of $1.6 billion, which Bank of America can satisfy by extremely low cost actions, such as writing off deficiency judgments on foreclosed borrowers. A deficiency judgment occurs when, after a foreclosure, the borrower is still liable for the difference between the amount owed on the mortgage when it exceeds the amount recovered in the foreclosure sale. People who undergo foreclosures are almost always under severe financial stress (we have discussed elsewhere that the incidence of "strategic defaults", ex on second homes, is greatly exaggerated). Banks historically have not pursued deficiency judgments; the cost of going after the borrower greatly exceeds what they might collect. At best, Bank of America might be able to sell them to debt collectors for a few cents on the dollar.


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Denver – President Barack Obama's speech on the ongoing popular uprisings in the Middle East, followed by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's recent visit to Washington, was intended to kick off a renewed effort to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Things are not turning out as planned.
Instead, Netanyahu took the opportunity of Obama's address to emphasize his own well-documented opposition to a two-state solution based on a return to the pre-1967 borders. He chose not to address either the issue of using those borders as a starting point for negotiations, or Obama's idea of land swaps (a very common element of international peace negotiations) as the means to get from that starting point to the end game.
Netanyahu's response to Obama's initiative signaled what has been apparent for some time: the complex regional process known as the Arab Spring, and the eve of a US presidential election year, are difficult circumstances in which to try to re-start the peace process. As Netanyahu's statements suggested, the Israelis have some serious concerns: if the basic equation remains after all "land for peace," just who will their interlocutors be after the dust has settled in the Arab world?
This troubled moment is an appropriate occasion to ask some fundamental questions about the peace effort itself, a process whose length in years is beginning to span the lifetimes of some of the people engaged in it.
The elements of an eventual settlement have been known for years: the creation of a viable Palestinian state – a goal endorsed by the last two US presidents – together with secure borders for Israel, some arrangement on Jerusalem, and an economic package. If these components were boxed and sold as a parlor game, those playing it would not find creating Middle East peace especially challenging. Yet, for decades, neither the parties nor any of the many peace mediators have been able to claim the prize.
Now that a raucous regional situation is being joined to a raucous American election season (where no issue is excluded from the political arena), the task of assembling these components will be even more difficult.
It is too early to assess the historical effect of the Arab Spring, but if there is one conclusion that can be drawn today, it is that Israel and its Palestinian neighbors had little to do with it. For Americans (and others) who believe that the Arab world thinks about nothing but the Palestinian cause, events this spring in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and even the Levant should have convinced them otherwise.
In the months ahead, we can expect the region's countries to remain focused on issues of governance and capacity building, human rights, and how to create economies that respond to their restive citizens' demands for a better life. New Arab leaders will struggle mightily with the public's rising expectations, and their willingness to get behind a peace process will take a backseat to that struggle.
Thus, an argument could be made that during this delicate time of transition, and in the complete absence of any indication of progress, the peace process might well benefit – at least for the time being – from stalemate, if not benign neglect. When nothing is moving in the right direction, the most appropriate step might be to press the pause button.
Here, everyone needs to tread with care. There has been considerable discussion about how regional developments could eventually affect the peace process. For example, any leadership in Egypt must deal with more democratic internal structures (such as parliamentary committees) in the future. But the absence of a peace process could also eventually influence internal developments in Middle East countries undergoing reform. We should not ignore how the absence of a peace process could ultimately erode the fragile (and by no means universal) gains in the rest of the Arab world.
If the peace process does not exist, the resulting vacuum might tempt some in the Arab world to deal with the problem of rising economic expectations – and, alas, dashed political expectations – through old-fashioned anti-Israel demagoguery. One of the most hopeful and refreshing aspects of the Arab Spring has been the retreat of Arab radicalism in the face of real people anxious to address real problems. But the absence of a peace process could encourage its return.
So policymakers are facing difficult challenges. It is critical to respond to the Arab Spring with assistance that is commensurate to the movement's historical possibilities. The Obama administration's efforts in Egypt, as well as the G-8's proposals for what needs to be done for the region as a whole, signals that international leaders understand that this is a defining moment.


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Graduation is on the horizon! We can't wait to come together and celebrate this momentous occasion as you receive your well-earned academic degree. This is an exciting event, but we understand that you might be a little confused about how to get your hands on that fancy robe and mortarboard we're sure you've always longed to wear.
Without the correct attire, you'll not be allowed to attend the ceremony, and we definitely don't want that!
You have to place your order online from J. Wippell & Co Ltd. This is our official – and ONLY – supplier, and you … Read the rest


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Free Arkansas CDL School Bus Practice Test 2023
Do you want to become a bus driver? You are looking for good source material for your coming CDL test? You are in the right place. Our Arkansas CDL practice tests are a great resource for beginners. The test is designed for you to have exactly the experience of the exam as you will be more familiar with both the test format and the subject. Each question is based on the official Arkansas CDL manual so you can be sure that the information in our test is accurate and relevant to your examination. In addition, each question has a detailed explanation so that it is very useful for you to learn from your mistakes. Preparing well before test day with questions and content that we cover. Start with our Free Arkansas CDL School Bus Practice Test today and pass your CDL endorsement exam!


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Howard takes down Maryland-Eastern Shore 63-44
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mike Phillips scored a season-high 21 points and Tre Lee added 18 to lead Howard to a 63-44 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore on Saturday.
Howard (6-18, 3-7 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) has won two in a row for the first time this season, beating South Carolina State 57-45 on Sunday, but had lost six of seven before beating the Hawks. Phillips also had six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Olatunji Kosile had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Kevin Mays chipped in nine points and seven rebounds for Maryland-Eastern Shore (1-18, 1-7), which has lost five in a row.
The Bison shot 41.2 percent from the field (21 of 51) to the Hawks' 26.7 percent (16 of 60), and 50 percent on 3-pointers (6 of 12) against 25 percent (3 of 12) for the Hawks. Howard made 15 of 23 from the line, Maryland-Eastern Shore 9 of 16.


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|Come for the quick hacks, stay for the epiphanies.
reputer replyby epoptai (Curate)
|on Apr 04, 2001 at 12:37 UTC ( #69583=CUFP: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
reputer is a perl/cgi that analyzes and displays node reputation and xp data from perlmonks (html screenshots).
Because it's larger than 50k reputer has two nodes on Perlmonks.
Also includes proxy support, restricted public access mode,
Inspired by and designed to (optionally) integrate programs like luke repwalker and statswhore. Thanks to jcwren and ybiC for beta testing.
Let me know if you have any problems.
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