text:
Remember when President Obama inspired Americans with such tired bromides as, "There are no red states or blue states, just the United States"? Remember when Obama declared that Americans had to pull together, because what united us was stronger than what divided us?
Yeah, not so much.
President Obama's re-election campaign has been an exercise in fragmentation. Where the 2008 campaign was built thematically around the notion that a polarized electorate was bad for the country and that election of a third-way, multi-racial president could symbolically overcome our divisions once and for all, the 2012 campaign is built on precisely the opposite notion: Americans united in opposition to Obama's agenda must be divided again.
And so Obama has carved up the electorate into winnable chunks. And he's appeasing those chunks of the electorate, one by one.
Start with the black community. President Obama's record in the black community has been abysmal. Aside from appointing a record number of blacks to his administration, he's done nothing for the black population in America. They're worse off than ever in terms of employment and income. But Obama has a plan to exploit them. First, he raises the phony specter of white racism on a regular basis. Trayvon Martin? Hey, he got shot, and he looked just like Obama's son! Interrupt the president during a press conference? That's because white people: hate: Obama! Next, Obama makes the racial solidarity pitch to the black community with disgusting pandering — an Obama radio ad plays an R&B track underneath the sound as soul singers whisper, "We've got his back!"
It's sickeningly exploitative. But that's the new Obama way.
But Obama can't win the presidency simply by appealing to the black community. He needs money. That's why he decided to embrace gay marriage. Obama had been having trouble enthusing gay members of his support base about his candidacy, and his fundraising numbers had reflected that unease. So he swiveled on a dime. His newfound love for gay marriage didn't change a thing for gay Americans, except their checking account numbers — and those numbers went down, since many gay Americans fell for the ruse and began signing checks to the first gay president.
Another day, another pandering stratagem.
But gays and blacks are too small a percentage of the population to swing an election for Obama. So he decided to reach out to Hispanics by announcing last week that he would unilaterally ignore the law with regard to deportations of certain young illegal immigrants. Sure, the result would be a massive influx of illegal immigrants flooding across the border in search of the next amnesty package. Sure, the new program would create more competitors for low-wage jobs, hurting nonillegal immigrants. And sure, Congress was already in the process of trying to work out a long-term solution for illegal immigration, rather than a politically motivated Band-Aid. But this was about votes, not about helping America.
But it still wasn't enough.
And so Obama continues to push the war on women. It's the one constant in this campaign. Obama knows that if he loses women, he will lose the election in a landslide. And so he's portrayed Republicans as Neanderthals searching Rite Aids in a desperate hunt for condoms to burn. He's tried to argue that pro-life Americans wander the streets carrying rusty hangars. He's suggested that American men continue to gyp women on their weekly wages. He's even tried to claim that conservative opposition to Obamacare is driven by sexism.
And, to a certain extent, all this divisiveness has worked. Obama remains a competitive candidate.
But over the long haul, Obama is ignoring what brought him here: the capacity to inspire. His one advantage over Mitt Romney is that soaring language, that feel-good emotionality. And he's ignoring it in favor of petty personalization.
Obama now realizes that he can't win by uniting Americans. He can only win by dividing us. The question now turns to the American people: Are they willing to be divided once more along race, religion, sexuality and gender lines?
Ben Shapiro, 28, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, a radio host on KRLA 870 Los Angeles, and Editor-At-Large for Breitbart News. He is the four-time bestselling author of "Primetime Propaganda."


text:
Create descriptor state-space models
sys = dss(A,B,C,D,E)
sys = dss(A,B,C,D,E,Ts)
sys = dss(A,B,C,D,E,ltisys)
sys = dss(A,B,C,D,E) creates
the continuous-time descriptor state-space model
The output
sys is an SS model storing the
model data (see State-Space Models). Note that
ss produces
the same type of object. If the matrix D = 0,
you can simply set
d to the scalar
0 (zero).
sys = dss(A,B,C,D,E,Ts)
creates the discrete-time descriptor model
with sample time
Ts (in seconds).
sys = dss(A,B,C,D,E,ltisys)
creates a descriptor model with properties inherited from the LTI model
ltisys (including
the sample time).
Any of the previous syntaxes can be followed by property name/property value pairs
Each pair specifies a particular LTI property of the model,
for example, the input names or some notes on the model history. See
set and the example below for details.
The command
sys = dss(1,2,3,4,5,'inputdelay',0.1,'inputname','voltage',... 'notes','Just an example');
creates the model
with a 0.1 second input delay. The input is labeled
and a note is attached to tell you that this is just an example.
Version History
Introduced before R2006a

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Further Education for Apprentices and Trainees
Even an apprentice or trainee can benefit from further education. Whether you want to expand on the things you are learning or improve your chances on the job market when you finish. In either case, additional seminars demonstrate that you are motivated and willing to improve performance, and they round off your professional profile.
Our service portfolio includes everything from training to seminars and certified courses. Whether you want to gain concrete expertise or expand your social or methodological skills, our individual solutions can help. You could take evening courses and online seminars next to your apprenticeship or compact courses during your vacation.
We are an established provider of occupational educational services with many years of experience and considerable expertise. We are close to the labor market and offer practical knowledge as well as advice. Our flexible and large portfolio of seminars results from our broad range of topics, different teaching and learning methods, and numerous facilities.


text: More than 90 per cent of data centre operators are experiencing distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, according to Arbor Networks' 8th Annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report.A further 60 per cent of mobile providers have no visibility of traffic on their mobile evolved packet core, the framework for providing converged data and voice services on their 4G LTE networks, the report said.Cloud Storage - Comparison of 30 ServicesArbor surveyed 130 security professionals across different market segments globally, 20 per cent which are in the Asia-Pacific region, and found 83.3 per cent of respondents are experiencing between one and 50 DDoS attacks on their data centres every month. A further 88 per cent were experiencing operational expense as a result.Nick Race, Arbor's country manager for Australia and New Zealand, said the high number of DDoS attacks is particularly a concern in Australia as more and more organisations are moving their infrastructure to the cloud."It's a real concern for Australia because we're adopting the cloud in such great numbers and it's not clear which hosting providers offer that kind of protection, it's not something that they are heavily marketing at the moment. That, I guess, is an area of concern," he said."There were a number of hosting providers last year who went public on the fact that they were being attacked and their infrastructure was taken off air so it's definitely happening in Australia."The report also found 28.6 per cent of respondents are seeing attacks targeting mobile users, radio access network (RAN), back-haul or packet core connections."On average I think it's over 70 per cent of people experience between one and 10 attacks per month, and that includes the mobile operators as well. So the numbers of attacks are definitely on the rise," Race said.Race said although this is a growing concern, most Australian mobile operators offer broadband services and therefore have the relevant experience to better analyse their mobile networks."The skills [in broadband technology] that some of the operators have here in Australia [means] they can apply that to the mobile network. But other mobile operators just don't have the visibility, they don't have the tools to actually see what's going on in their network and therefore they don't know what levels of attacks are going on."I think it's just the maturity of the market. They are so busy rolling out coverage that maybe their security is not always front of mind, I guess."Political hacktivism is the strongest motivation behind DDoS attacks, the report found. Race recognised the importance of the Gillard government's cyber security initiative announced last week in fighting hacktivism and cyber warfare."12 months ago there were a number of attacks on some of our financial institutions, slightly different attacks to what we saw in September in October last year against the US banks."But it just goes to show that our institutions here in Australia are not immune to these types of attacks and they are certainly on the radar of the 'bad guys'."Follow Rebecca Merrett on Twitter: @Rebecca_MerrettFollow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook... Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia


text:
The security industry expects the number of cyber-espionage attacks to increase in 2012 and the malware used for this purpose to become increasingly sophisticated.
In the past two years there has been a surge in the number of malware-based attacks that resulted in sensitive data being stolen from government agencies, defense contractors, Fortune 500 companies, human rights organizations and other institutions.
"I absolutely expect this trend to continue through 2012 and beyond," said Rik Ferguson, director of security research and communication at security firm Trend Micro. "Espionage activities have, for hundreds of years, taken advantage of cutting-edge technologies to carry out covert operations; 2011 was not the beginning of Internet-facilitated espionage, nor will it be the end," he added.
Threats like Stuxnet, which is credited with setting back Iran's nuclear program by several years, or its successor, Duqu, have shocked the security industry with their level of sophistication. Experts believe that they are only the beginning and that more highly advanced malware will be launched in 2012.
"It is quite possible that we will see another of these threats in the near future," said Gerry Egan, director of security response at Symantec. Duqu was used to gather design documents from companies that manufacture industrial control systems and could be a precursor to future Stuxnet-like industrial sabotage attacks, Egan explained.
"It is likely that new Duqu variations will cause mayhem in early 2012," said Jeff Hudson, CEO of Venafi, a provider of enterprise key and certificate management solutions. "We have to be on a new state of alert to safeguard our assets and be better prepared to respond when the threat strikes."
However, despite the emergence of Stuxnet and Duqu, security experts don't believe that the world is actually watching a cyberwar in progress.
"To have any opposing action earn the title of 'War', there must be a declared state of conflict, and to my recollection, this has never happened in the case of CyberWar," said professor John Walker, a member of the Security Advisory Group at ISACA, an organization that certifies IT professionals, via email.
"However, if we were to frame the question relating to 'CyberConflict', then I would consider this to be a very different case, where regular aggressive deployment of such capabilities occurs in one form of another in support of either a political or military purpose," he added.
Countries like the U.S., U.K., Germany, China and India have established specialized teams and centers to defend government assets against cyberattacks and to even retaliate, if necessary. However, determining who is behind Internet-based hostile operations with certainty is impossible most of the time and that's just one of the problems.
"All countries are wrestling with the question of retaliation," Gerry Egan said via email. "If a blatant act of cyber war has occurred, how does one country retaliate and to what extent? What is a proportionate response?"
Threats like Stuxnet and Duqu could very well lead to major international cyber-conflicts in the future, but for now companies and governments should be more worried about cyber-espionage attacks that use simpler data exfiltration tools.
These unsophisticated, yet effective, pieces of malware are known in the security industry as Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and are usually distributed via social engineering. Operation Aurora, Shady RAT, GhostNet, Night Dragon and Nitro, are all examples of APT attacks reported during the last couple of years that have affected hundreds of organizations worldwide.
The number of APT attacks is likely to escalate in 2012 and defending against them requires frequent employee training and more aggressive protection technologies like those based on whitelisting, file reputation and application behavior.
"People still represent the weakest link in security for a large amount of enterprises and that is the reason they are targeted," Ferguson said. "Training still has an important place in an organisation's security planning but it needs to be ongoing training, not a one-time only event."
"So far we have been doing a much better job patching software than patching people," said Amichai Shulman, CTO at security firm Imperva. "I spent time in the military trying to educate people about information security. It didn't work there and it won't work anywhere else."
There should be a shift in protection paradigms and more control should be put around the data source. Restricting which applications can read certain information and detecting anomalous behavior, like sensitive data being accessed at strange hours of the day or being transferred in large quantity, is part of the solution, Shulman believes.
Technologies that can check a file's reputation, age and regional popularity, before allowing it to be executed on a system can also be used to block APTs that were designed to evade traditional anti-malware detection methods.
"There is no doubt that major organisations need to be far more aware of the potential effects of malware," said Jeff Hudson. "If this issue isn't on the agenda of your board right now then the board is negligent," he concluded.


text:
Katie King Crowley
Assigned to: Coach Mentor - NorwayTeam USA – 1997-2006 (Senior Team)Medals won: Olympic Winter Games (2006 Bronze, 2002 Silver, 1998 Gold)…IIHF World Women's Championship (2005 Gold, 2004 Silver, 2001 Silver, 1999 Silver, 1997 Silver)…IIHF World Women's U18 Championship (2010 Silver, 2009 Gold)Awards: USA Hockey Bob Allen Player of the Year Award 2006Other Hockey Experience: Assistant Coach Boston College 2003-07…Attended Brown University, Providence, RI (1993-97) and is current All-Time Leading Scorer in Brown History…Inducted into Brown University Hall of Fame for Hockey and Softball…Involved in Pro Ambitions Hockey Camp 2010-present, USA Hockey Development Camps 2003-present, and CHE Hockey Camps…Total of 32 years playingPersonal Information: Currently resides in Brighton, Massachusetts, United States with husband Ted Crowley (USA Hockey Olympian)…Hometown Salem, New Hampshire, United States…Head Coach at Boston College since 2007Why have you joined AMP? I'm really excited to help grow the sport of women's hockey at the international level. This opportunity to reach out to other federations to help them become more competitive is a great challenge, one that I truly look forward to.


text:
Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso
Steve Ince's arcade adventure now downloadable for £2.99/$3.99, with a free demo to try too.
EAST YORKSHIRE, UK (November 21, 2009):
Game developer, Juniper Games, is pleased to announce that the downloadable PC game, "Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso" is now available on special holiday offer at a new price!
Players can purchase the game for the bargain price of 2.99 GBP, 3.49 Euro, or 3.99 USD. Those wishing to try out the game can play the demo section for free.
The download and payment page can be found here:
About the game:
"Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso" is a fun arcade adventure, based upon the online comic strip, Mr. Smoozles. It boasts a cast of 50 characters spread through 60 exciting and varied locations and has an original soundtrack by talented young composer, Josh Winiberg. With an addictive mix of gameplay and humour, this game is a delight for gamers of all ages and tastes.
From press coverage of the game:
"Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is really something a bit different. It's also a lot of fun." - Gordon Aplin, Quandary review, 4/5
"Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is a genuinely lighthearted, entertaining arcade-adventure brimming with personality and easy to play without being a walkover." - Kim Wild, Adventure Gamers feature article.
"... we'll wager no publisher will come close to bettering our favourite game name of the year: Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso." - MCV magazine, UK
GAME OF THE MONTH "I almost forgot I was playing an adventure instead of an RPG at times - that's how involving Mr. Smoozles is." - Game Tunnel
About Juniper Games
Juniper Games was founded by Steve Ince, formerly of Revolution Software where, among many other things, he was writer and lead designer on the acclaimed game, "Broken Sword – The Sleeping Dragon".
Juniper Games website: www.juniper-games.com
Juniper Games can be contacted on firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
News Releases
(Vancouver) A new study that surveyed public school students raises concerns that BC's employment regulations are leaving children and youth without adequate protections in the workplace. "For many...September 20, 2005 | BC Office
OTTAWA — The federal government's current budgetary process is leaving women behind. A new report by Isabella Bakker, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and the...September 19, 2005 | National Office
OTTAWA -- After 15 years of repeated promises to reduce poverty at the national and international level, Canada is stalled on its mission – thanks to growing regionalism, says a new report. Divided...September 15, 2005 | National Office
(Vancouver) Recent developments in cruise ship tourism suggest that BC needs a coordinated strategy for developing the industry. Such an approach would ensure ports aren't played off against each...August 25, 2005 | BC Office
OTTAWA—The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, one of the independent forecasters commissioned by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, announced today that is once again...August 22, 2005 | National Office
(Vancouver) The BC government should spend a minimum of $118 million more per year for the next five years on research, reforestation and restoration efforts in pine beetle-attacked forests,...July 27, 2005 | BC Office
(HALIFAX) Nova Scotia needs to revise its energy strategy, according to a report released today the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA-NS). "Securing our energy future: A review of Nova...July 26, 2005 | Nova Scotia Office
(Ottawa) – Because the public health goal of reducing tobacco use directly conflicts with the tobacco industry's profit motive, the way to overcome the health, social and economic problems caused by...June 20, 2005 | National Office
OTTAWA—Each summer the Fraser Institute announces the arrival of "tax freedom day:" the day when Canadians allegedly stop "working for the government" and start "working for themselves." A study by...June 16, 2005 | National Office
A new study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says it is time there was a serious public debate in Saskatchewan about resource royalties. The report shows that resource...June 16, 2005 | Saskatchewan Office
OTTAWA—Tomorrow, May 27, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with a day-long conference and gala evening at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The...May 26, 2005 | National Office
HALIFAX: Nova Scotia has not had a real minimum wage increase in more than 20 years, according to a report release today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS). "Time...May 25, 2005 | Nova Scotia Office
OTTAWA – The revised federal budget is affordable and should be passed in the House of Commons, Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) economists said in an assessment released today. Saying that the...May 10, 2005 | National Office
TORONTO—"It's not often that a government facing fiscal problems leads into its budget by declaring proudly that it intends to ignore the fundamental cause of those problems, but that's exactly what...May 6, 2005 | Ontario Office
(Vancouver) Provincial taxation and spending policies have worsened the gap between BC's two economies — the diversified Lower Mainland and Victoria areas, and the more resource-dependent 'hinterland...May 4, 2005 | BC Office


text:
Home Hospitality Hosting
Share your home and build lifelong connections by inviting international visitors for an American home experience.
A selection of the International Visitor Programs offer community members the opportunity to host visitors overnight from three nights to five weeks, depending on the program. Overnight hosts provide a private bedroom, breakfast, most dinners, and an up-close view of daily life in an American home. Sign up to be a homestay host.


text:
No, this isn't Elite Daily or Buzzfeed. I'm not going to tell you the 37 reasons why being a physical therapist is "THE BEST" while using completely opinionated rationales.
This blog post, however, is based off of my opinion as well as from my not-very-extensive-but-still-valid experience of how being a smaller person has affected how I treat patients, how I treat colleagues, and how I have overcome others' opinions of what smaller people CAN do in this field. Just FYI – I'm a 5'2″ petite girl.
To get you in the right mindset and to help you understand where I'm coming from (especially if you're a normal sized human being)… Let me first give you a few quotes that have stuck in my head and/or are repeated on a constant basis from either patients, patients' visitors, nursing staff, and/or other health professionals:
1) "You can't lift me, you're the size of my thigh."
2) "I don't trust you to lift me with those spindly arms."
3) "You didn't bring anyone else to help you?"
4) **calls over family member/any male nearby and says to them, "come help this little girl"**
5) "Oh, well my children are much bigger than you so even if you can't lift me, they will be able to. It will be different then."
6) "YOU are going to help me stand up?"
7) "There's no way you could catch me if I fall, I'd take you down too."
I think you get the idea..
So, we could go on a rant here about how "it's so much better to be a small person than a bigger person in life" or "you don't know how great it is to be tiny" yada yada yada. That would be another topic which I will not get into because frankly, every body type and size has their pros and cons. FACT. If you need more validation, I'm sure you can find a Buzzfeed article about whatever it is you need validation for. Again, I will not go further into that because I hope you all have an open mind and can appreciate what everyone, big, small, fat, skinny, etc. goes through.
As I am still a recent new grad of this year (May 2015), I realize I do not have a ton of experience. I do, however, hear quotes such as the above at least once a day. I'm not going to lie, it has been discouraging sometimes, but it is very important you don't get personally offended in this job (as we may all know).
Let's take it back.. As a young lass, a few years ago, entering PT school, I realized I was one of the smallest people in my class, as I have been my entire life. I didn't realize how this would affect how I treat people when I first entered, until labs began. Instead of being able to muscle my manual muscle tests or physically lift someone with my arms, I realized quickly I had to master my own body mechanics in order to get the proper leverage needed to lift my patient/classmate's leg to do an SLR or transfer them dependently from the mattress to the chair, etc. Here are some things I did in school/clinicals to help me adjust:
1) I worked with a variety of classmates (as I hope they would make you do in school to test different body types/sizes). A lot of the time I worked with males. Although I would generally end sweating, it was great practice for me to work with much larger legs/bodies in labs so that when it came time to see an actual patient with a larger mass, I would feel more comfortable. Would it have been easier to always be partners with other small people in my class? I'm sure it would. But, working with people bigger than me helped me to immediately figure out when I would need to use a stool (for example for mobilizations) or when I needed to stand up vs. sit down vs. kneel to get the proper angle and position my body so that I could utilize body weight.
2) Practice with high-low tables as well as without. Unfortunately, you may not always have an open high-low table pending where you work. In these times, you need to adjust and you need to be flexible, quick, and make sure you are effective with your treatment. There were times in school I would stand on two stools right next to each other because I was so short and needed to use my entire body weight to assist me.
3) If it hurts your back, STOP. Don't lean over people, raise yourself up. Kneel down on the ground (I do this all the time now) instead of bending over. SQUAT SQUAT SQUAT also. Raise or lower the bed if you're in an acute setting. If you are practicing something and you feel your back or neck or any sort of strain on any part of your body, STOP. Take a breath and take a step back. Look at what you are dealing with and re-adjust the environment. Remember you need to keep yourself safe in this profession as well, as we use our bodies A LOT to treat our patients.
4) Stop trying to muscle things, because most likely, pending the patient population you work with, you are going to end up hurting yourself. From my thoughts, the less I use my muscles and the more I use my body weight, the better off I am at preventing overuse injuries to myself. Because as much as I try to preach to my patients that they have muscular imbalances in their shoulders putting them at an increased risk for rotator cuff tear vs shoulder instability.. Am I really, honestly, out there making sure I don't have any imbalances? I try, sure. But I know I am still predisposed if I overuse my deltoids, pecs, latts, etc etc. I'm not doing therapy for myself everyday… Make sense? So just take this risk away (or decrease it)!
Now, to put these learned techniques into practice, I do a lot of the following:
- EDUCATION: Yes, I am small, thank you Mr. ___ for acknowledging that. Yes, you weigh 3x what I weigh, I get it. BUT GUESS WHAT? I am trained in this, I went to school for this, I came out with my DPT because I am competent in this area. I ALWAYS make it a point to educate to the patients and families what it is I do, what I plan on doing, why I am doing it, and how it will benefit them and help them progress towards their goals. Although I am sure they are still hesitant, it really helps to talk patients through what is going to happen so they have somewhat of an idea what is about to happen. Plus, then they know you know what you're doing..
- Build CONFIDENCE: Be confident in your ability, SHOW the patient that you can do whatever task it is so they become confident in you, SHOW the nursing staff that you are capable of doing a transfer alone so that they build confidence in you. It's all about confidence, people. When a patient sits up, stands up, does any sort of movement for the first time, I immediately start building confidence in them. Many times, patients feel that they are unable to do something because they have back pain or they just had surgery, etc. I acknowledge, "Hey, you did that and you didn't even need my help, GREAT JOB!" Because that is generally the goal, to get them to become independent once again. Many patients are fearful and can become very afraid their first few times doing any sort of new activity that may cause pain. When they do it, though, and we acknowledge it, it is a whole new game and they (generally) end up being proud of themselves, more confident in themselves, and more willing to work with you in the future. In addition, showing the nursing staff (in the acute setting) that you are capable of certain transfers gives them confidence that you can assist patients and can work with different patients of different functional levels.
- DON'T TRY TO BE A SUPERHERO: If you can't help someone and you feel one person isn't a safe option to treat, call for help. Use a rehab tech or do a co-treat. Once again, this is for the patient's safety as well as for yours. Don't risk yourself trying to be the *one and only* – use help.
As I initially began hearing some of these comments from patients, I did become discouraged (a few years ag0). I even started doing more weightlifting because I wanted my patients to trust me that I could lift them. Of course, I enjoy working out and this was probably eventually going to happen, but this "small-PT-syndrome" was very much a trigger for me to build up a little more muscle. Of course, that is not for everyone. The best recommendation I can give is to not get discouraged. You have your cranky patients and you have your sweethearts, that is life. Be confident in yourself and the patient will feel confident in you. And if not, get help from someone else to show that you respect the patient's views and want them to be safe.
I work in acute care currently, and I just had to share a side of really good news.. For the first time since I began PT school, last week a patient said, "You can't lift me." Her daughter then responded, "You can't be deceived by her size, mom, she is trained to do this." 🙂 #PTWIN. Obviously, that made my day. After treating this patient 2x/day for a week, the daughter and patient both told me, "You're the only one I trust to help her move." That was huge for me and helped me, as a new grad, build even more confidence in myself.
Again, I am very aware that I have limited experience compared to most people (besides my new grad friends), but I feel this is a topic that I have dealt with and had to manage from the beginning. If you are on the smaller size, I hope this helps you to become more confident in yourself as a "small PT" and helps you to not get discouraged, because there are plenty of us out here and we are very much capable of treating our patients effectively, too. WE GOT THIS!! 🙂
Jennifer Strack PT, DPT


text:
Opinions expressed below are for information only. Delegates are responsible for making their own travel and accommodation arrangements and may find provided links and information helpful in organising their journey. Any accommodation complaints/comments should be sent directly to your accommodation provider, and not to the conference.
Staying at St Hilda's College
St Hilda's College has a limited number of bed & breakfast student rooms, which can be booked directly by contacting the college accommodation office by email on: Miss Sarah Brett, email@example.com, or Mrs Elly Moore on elly.moore@@st-hildas.ox.ac.uk. If you are having difficulty in reaching the college by email, you can also contact the Conferences Office by telephone on +44(0)1865 276888. Please request your WiFi code for use at the college and any other information at the time of your accommodation booking. You can send your comments/suggestion about St Hilda's accommodation to the domestic bursar, Mrs Gerri Cane, on email@example.com.
Staying outside St Hilda's College
There are several hotels and B&Bs on a few minutes walking distance from St Hilda's College, for example, in Iffely Road, St Clement's Street and High Street. However, please note that September is a very busy time of the year and accommodation can be difficult to find and can also be expensive, if not booked early.
Based on poor feedback from past delegates we strongly advise that you avoid Nanford Guest House (137 Iffley Road) and Balkan Lodge Hotel (315 Iffley Road). ISIS Guest house (45-53 Iffley Road) generally receives positive comments.
Below is a selection of websites that give further information about places to stay in Oxford. Participants are responsible for making direct contact with the accommodation providers. Furthermore, this information is for the benefit of the participants only. We have no association with any of these organisations or websites.
- http://www.oxfordrooms.co.uk
- http://www.oxfordbedbreakfast.co.uk/
- http://www.toprooms.com
- http://www.laterooms.com
- http://www.oxfordcity.co.uk
- http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors
- http://www.oxford.gov.uk/tourism/where-to-stay.cf
- http://www.visitoxfordandoxfordshire.com/accommodation
Youth Hostel Oxford, 2a Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0AB
Other Nearby B&Bs and Hotels (nearest to the venue first)
- ISIS Guest House (plus there are several other B&Bs in Iffley Rd)
- Eastgate Hotel
- Old Bank Hotel
- Randolf Hotel
- Oxford Spire


text:
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Celebrates Twitter Milestone by Violating Instagram TOS with Fully Nude Pic (NSFW)
Instagram's infamous Terms of Service expressly forbid the posting of any "nude, partially nude...pornographic or sexually suggestive photos" by users.
But the threat of suspension wasn't enough to dissuade Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition's "Rookie of the Year 2010" Chrissy Teigen from posting her first fully nude pic to Instagram in celebration of surpassing 200,000 followers on Twitter.
In fact, Teigen out-and-out flouted the ban on Instagram nudes, captioning her photo, "If this doesn't get me suspended I dunno what will."
Well, at the time of writing, the post has been up for over 11 hours, and has managed to rack up over 6,500 likes without being removed, so perhaps Instagram only has a problem with unattractive nudes.
Teigen, meanwhile, appears to have not been entirely of sound mind and body when she decided to Instagram that image.
"Shit," she tweeted soon after. "I didn't think it was that bad but I'm on the wine."
[H/T: Guyism, tweet via @chrissyteigen, photo via Instagram]


text:
1-litre capacity padded organizer pack.
Tech Spec
Kriega Kube 1
Padded organiser pack. Perfect for PDAs, digital cameras or anything that requires extra protection.
Tech Spec
-130(H) x 190(W) x 50(D) mm
-1-litre capacity
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-Coated-mesh zip pocket
-1000D Dupont Cordura
-Oversize YKK coil zip
-3M Scotchlite reflective print
-10-year guarantee
Kriega Kube 1
Produced by Kriega of UK


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I am so excited!!!!
If you're looking for the latest and greatest from
Our Prairie Home...
We've Moved!
Today, we're revealing our new space!
To see our latest furniture makeovers and crafts, please go to
A new place.
A new look.
Same name.
Same great blog.
Hope to see you there soon!
Karin from Art is Beauty
helps me break in my new digs!
Come see what she's shared!
And while you're there...
And this is IMPORTANT!
PLEASE don't forget to follow me at my new space, so you don't miss the latest exciting things going on at
Please come see me, y'all!!
I can't wait to show you around!!


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10/10/2007. New Jersey Transit has been nice enough to start this new service for the Realtors in the area, with easy to use maps and time tables. The best thing is, New Jersey Transit wants us to share it with the General Public.


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The world's most ancient pile carpet was found in the largest of the Pazyryk burial mounds. Its decoration is rich and varied: the central field is occupied by 24 cross-shaped figures, each of which consists of 4 stylized lotus buds. This composition is framed by a border of griffins, followed by another one of 24 fallow deer. The widest border contains 28 figures of men on horseback and dismounted. The once bright yellows, blues and reds of the carpet are now faded, but must originally have provided a glowing range of colours. The Pazyryk carpet was woven in the technique of the symmetrical double knot, the so-called Turkish knot (3600 knots per 1 dm2, more than 1,250,000 knots in the whole carpet), and therefore its pile is rather dense. The exact origin of this unique carpet is unknown. There is a version of its Iranian provenance. But perhaps it was produced in Central Asia through which the contacts of ancient Altaians with Iran and the Near East took place. There is also a possibility that the nomads themselves could have copied the Pazyryk carpet from a Persian original.
Pile Carpet
Epoch. Period:
Archaeological site:
Pazyryk Barrow No. 5 (excavations by S.I. Rudenko, 1949)
knot technique
183x200 cm
Inventory Number:


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Preview the text
The first thing you should do when you open a new book is to preview the text. Look at the contents page and survey the topics covered in the text. Then ask yourself what you already know and what you think you will need to know about the topics that will be covered in the course. This process will give you a "big picture" of the course and will help you to start thinking about how the contents of the course will fit in with your educational goals.
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If the text looks like if might be difficult for you to read, speak with your instructor. He or she may be able to recommend a supplemental text that will help you to understand course concepts at your own level.
If you lack knowledge about a course topic and/or feel that the course will be covering it on a level that is too difficult for you, go to the library and choose a book on that subject. Read up on the topics covered in the chapter to help fill in the gaps of your knowledge.
Check to see if there is a glossary of terms or other study aides in your textbook. Keep a dictionary close by to look up words that are unfamiliar.
Preview each chapter
Before you read the chapter in detail, skim the entire chapter. Read the introduction, then skim each page, spending approximately 5 seconds per page. Notice headings, illustrations, tables, etc. Then read the summary at the end of the chapter. This process will give you an overview of the chapter and help you to plan how you will break it down into "meaningful chunks" for the next steps of detailed reading and study.
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Write down your questions.
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Develop flash cards or mnemonic devices for important terms, concepts, and information that you know you will need to memorize. Read over text annotations and the Cornell notes you developed from your reading. Summarize the information by saying it out loud into a tape recorder or by discussing the chapter with a study group. You may also "recite" the information by writing a summary or by using visual organizers to put the information into another cognitive frame.
If you marked any sections of your text for questions to ask your professor, be sure to ask them in class.
Compare your notes from your textbook reading with your class lecture notes. Continue to summarize your learning. You want to keep reducing the size of your study notes, each time you review the material. The object is to be able to "clue" yourself to remember more detailed information with a single word or phrase. This process will help to keep your memory fresh and will help you to solidify or "over-learn" the material so that it becomes part of your permanent "file" of knowledge.
Keep up with reading assignments so that you don't become overwhelmed or are tempted to cram or skip reading important assignments!
Developed by Meg Keeley
Bucks County Community College


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Small Resin Rock Hoop Earrings - Cream
Other Colors:
Small 24k gold-plated brass hoop with removable resin beads. This style allows the wearer to customise a multitude of looks with the addition of interchangeable beads sold separately. Stack the beads, wear alternating or simply remove for a classic hoop.
Approximate dimensions
Hoop: 2cm / 0.79in
Bead: 3cm / 1.18in
Dinosaur Designs resin products are hand made in Australia. Each piece is unique and we cannot guarantee you will receive an item exactly identical to what is that shown online. Colours and swirls shown are a guide only.


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Getting poster data...
Benjamin Leow (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia; University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia)Fluorescence in situ hybridisation slide analysis of a drug-resistant Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) cell line. CML leukaemic progression is driven by an oncogenic fusion gene; BCR/ABL1. Here, BCR (chr. 22q11) is labelled green, and ABL1 (chr. 9q34) is labelled red. Nuclear DAPI staining is coloured blue. Results are indicative of BCR/ABL1 gene amplification, which can lead to drug resistance via gene and protein overexpression, however the focus of the picture is what appears to be the UV autofluorescence of a fungal growth on my slide, which I thought looked cool.


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AOD Enigma
|This article needs to be wikified (formatted according to the Furry Book of Style).
For specifics, check the edit history and talk page. Consult the Furry Book of Style for editing help.
AOD Enigma (1981-2006) was a furry artist, webmaster and also administrator and founder of FurPleasure. FurPleasure began as the location of his dream for an open furry community in Second Life, where players from all "scenes" could mix freely and relax. He owned FurPleasure for only a small amount of time before its popularity warranted its own sim, this was initially shared with Iyeyasu Muromachi who based his Asian Delight community in the sim before acquiring a dedicated Asian Delight sim. He was also a builder, with some of his items being sold in such external SL sites as SL Boutique. He was also known for his anthro art which was seen at Hardcorefur.com.
Health complications[edit]AOD Enigma passed away on Saturday, October 14th, 2006, after a lifelong battle with a rare lung disease called Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 25 years old, giving him the record for time living with the disease at the time of his passing. He was a loving Husband and Father with many talents and interests as stated by his wife in her Obituary to him on VCL.
A memorial service was set up on AOD's former sim, FurPleasure, starting on October 20, 2006. Friends, well-wishers, and communities left an array of gifts, mementoes, memories, cards, personal notes around the displayed, and now empty, furry avatar of AOD.
Linden Lab helped with the formalities of transferring the ownership to Foxdie Ghia and other founding member Kit Keiko, while condolences were sent to his wife and children via several helpers online. He is sorely missed by many furs and nonfurs on and off Second Life.
External links[edit]
- AoD on Fur Affinity
- AoD on VCL
|This stub about a person could be expanded.


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Text and photos by Andre Vltchek
From Manila and Davao: When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ascended to power in 1999, almost no one in the West, in Asia and even in most of the Latin American countries knew much about his new militant revolutionary anti-imperialism. From the mass media outlets like CNN and the BBC, to local televisions and newspapers (influenced or directly sponsored by Western sources), the 'information' that was flowing was clearly biased, extremely critical, and even derogatory.
A few months into his rule, I came to Caracas and was told repeatedly by several local journalists: "Almost all of us are supporting President Chavez, but we'd be fired if we'd dare to write one single article in his support."
In New York City and Paris, in Buenos Aires and Hong Kong, the then consensus was almost unanimous: "Chavez was a vulgar populist, a demagogue, a military strongman, and potentially a 'dangerous dictator'".
In South Korea and the UK, in Qatar and Turkey, people who could hardly place Venezuela on the world map, were expressing their 'strong opinions', mocking and smearing the man who would later be revered as a Latin American hero. Even many of those who would usually 'distrust' mainstream media were then clearly convinced about the sinister nature of the Process and the 'Bolivarian Revolution'.
Now President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines is demonized and 'mistrusted', ridiculed and dismissed as a demagogue, condemned as a rough element, mocked as a buffoon.
In his own country he is enjoying the highest popularity rating of any president in its history: at least well over 70 percent, but often even over 80 percent.
Like in the days of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, in the Philippines, the press, which is mainly owned by right-wing business interests and by pro-Western collaborators, is now reaching a crescendo, barking and insulting the President, inventing stories and spreading unconfirmed rumors, something unimaginable even in a place like the U.K. with its draconian 'defamation' laws.
So what is securing the great support of the people for Duterte in his own country?
I visited some of the toughest slums of the nation; I worked in the middle of deadly cemeteries, just recently battered by crime and drugs, where people had been literally rotting alive, crying for help and mercy in absolute desperation. I also spoke to the top academics and historians of the country, to former colleagues of Duterte and to overseas workers in the U.A.E. and elsewhere.
The louder was the hate speech from abroad and from local mass media outlets, the stronger Duterte's nation stood by its leader.
Men and women who were just one year ago living in total desperation and anger were now looking forward with hope, straight towards the future. Suddenly, everything seemed to be possible!
In my first report this month I wrote: "There is a sense of change in those narrow and desperate alleys of the Baseco slum in the Philippines' capital Manila. For the first time in many years a beautiful, noble lady visited; against all odds she decided to stay. Her name is Hope."
I stand by my words, now more than ever.
However, I also feel that I have to explain in more detail what is really happening in the Philippines and why?
My only request, my appeal to all those people all over the planet who know nothing or very little about this part of the world in general and about the Philippines in particular, would be: 'Please do not pass judgments based only on what you read in your own language and especially in English, and from the sources that have been, on so many occasions,and so thoroughly discredited. Come by yourself, come and see and listen. Like Venezuela many years ago, what is taking place in the Philippines is 'an unknown territory', an absolutely new concept. Something different and unprecedented, is developing, taking shape. This is like no other revolution that took place before. Do not take part in ridiculing it, do not help to choke it, do not do anything damaging before you come and see for yourself, before you face those pleading eyes of the millions of people who were defenseless and abused for so long and who are all of a sudden standing tall,facing life with great hope and pride".
Do not participate in depriving them of their own country. For the first time, after centuries of brutal colonialism, it is truly theirs. I repeat: for the first time. Now!
Do not deprive them of hope: it is all that they have, and it is much more than anything they ever had in decades and centuries.
Fidel Castro used to say: "Revolution is not a bed of roses."
Revolution is a tough, often very hard job. It is never perfect; it could never be. To destroy any deeply rooted evil system takes guts, and inevitably, blood is spilled.
Duterte is not as 'poetic' as Fidel. He is a Visaya, a brilliant but rough, candid and an outspoken man. Often he is hyperbolic. He likes to shock his listeners, followers and foes.
But who is he, really? Who is this man who is threatening to close down all US military bases, to reach permanent peace with the Communists and Muslim insurgents, to realign his foreign policy and ideology with China and Russia, and to save the lives of tens of millions of poor people of the Philippines?
In search for the answers, let's listen to those who really matter – the people of the Philippines.
Let's silencethe toxic waterfall of insults and selected pieces of 'information', coming from defunct Western media outlets; let's silence it by adopting 'Duterte's outrageous but honest lexicon: "You propaganda media of the West, you animal, fuck you!"
Who Is President Duterte, Really? Why Does He Swear So Much, Why Does He Insult Everyone,From President Obama To Such Mighty Institutions Like the U.N., the EU, Even the Pope?
"He comes from the South", explains Ms. LuzvimindaIlagan, a former member of the Congress, and one of the country's leading feminists:
"He is a Visaya. In Luzon, they speak Tagalog, they are 'well-behaved', and they look down at us. Politically, here we say 'imperialist Manila'. Ironically, Mindanao contributes greatly to Manila's coffers: there is extensive mining here, there are fruit plantations, rice fields; but very little is shared with us, in terms of the budgets…. And suddenly, here comes a Mayor from Davao, from the South, and he is even speaking the language that they hate. He is angry at the situation in his country, and he is swearing and cursing. It is cultural; after all, he is Visaya! In Manila and abroad, it is all misinterpreted: here you don't swear at somebody; you just swear, period. Yes, he is different. He tells the truth, and he speaks our language."
Why should he not be angry? Once the richest country in Asia, the Philippines is now one of the poorest. Its appalling slums are housing millions, and further millions are caught in a vicious cycle of drug addiction and crime. Crime rate is one of the highest on the continent. There is a brutal civil war with both Muslim and Communist rebels.
And for centuries, the West is mistreating and plundering this country with no shame and no mercy. Whenever the people decide to rebel, as it was the case more than a century ago, they are massacred like cattle. The US butchered 1/6 of the population more than a century ago, some 1.5 million men, women and children.
'Dynasties' are ruling undemocratically, with an iron fist.
"In the Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, some 74% of the seats are taken by members of local dynasties", explains Prof. Roland Simbulan. "This is according to serious academic studies".
Before President Duterte came to power, most of the social indicators were nearing the regional bottom. The country lost its voice, fully collaborating with the West, particularly against China.
An angry man, a socialist, President Duterte is outraged by the present and the past, but especially by the ruthlessness of Western imperialism.
He talks but above all he acts. He takes one decisive step after another. He pushes reforms further and further, he retreats when an entire project gets endangered. He is steering his ship through terrible storms, through the waters that were never navigated before.
One error and his entire revolution will go to hell. In that case, tens of millions of the poor will remain where they were for decades – in the gutter. One wrong move and his country will never manage to rise from its knees.
So he swears. So he is moving forward, cursing.
Why Does The West Want To Overthrow Duterte?
First of all, how could the United States and Europe not hate someone who is so out-rightly rejecting imperialism and the horrid colonialist past to which the Philippines was subjected for the centuries? To the past, however, we will return later in this essay.
A legendary academic, Prof Roland Simbulan, from the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines, explained, during our daylong encounter in Manila:
"Duterte reads a lot, and he admires Hugo Chavez. He is actually holding very similar positions as Chavez. He is strongly critical of Western imperialism in such places as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. He cannot stand how the West is treating his own country.
He was always persistent in his anti-imperialist policy. Even as Mayor of Davao he banned all US-Philippine military exercises. The US negotiated; it offered plenty of money. It wanted to build a huge drone base in Mindanao, but Duterte refused."
As 'punishment', two bombs exploded in Davao: one at the pier, one at the international airport.
Lately, he ordered to stop all US-Philippine joined military exercises and he keeps threatening to close all US military facilities on the territory of his country.
A couple consisting of leading Philippine Academics, Eduardo and Teresa Tadem, have no doubts about direction of Duterte's foreign policy:
"The trend is clear: away from the West, towards China and Russia. We think that he will soon reach a territorial agreement with China. Plenty of goodwill is now coming from President Xi Jinping. Things are done quietly, but some great concessions are already visible: our fishermen are allowed to return to the disputed area. China is pledging foreign aid, investment, and it is promising to make our railways work again."
All this is a nightmare for the aggressively anti-Chinese foreign policy of the West, particularly that of the United States. Provoking still the militarily weak China, eventually even triggering a military conflict with it, appears to be the main goal of Western imperialism. If the Philippines reach a compromise with China, Vietnam will most likely follow. The aggressive Asian anti-Chinese 'coalition' hammered together by the West, would then most likely collapse, consisting only of Taiwan, Japan and possibly South Korea.
"Duterte is just being sensible. What China is doing is defensive. The West is behind the confrontation", explained a leading historian Dr. Rey Ileto:
"Just to put this into perspective: Gloria Arroyo – she visited China ahead of the US. She moved closer to China. They got her indicted for corruption! Only Duterte released her…"
To the West, Duterte's Philippines is like a new Asian contagious disease; a virus that has to be contained, liquidated as soon as possible. Countless independent (at least on the paper) but in reality controlled and humiliated nations of the region could get otherwise inspired, rebel, and begin to follow Duterte's example.
The West is in panic. Its propaganda machine is in full gear. Different strategieson how to unseat the 'unruly' president are being designed and tried. Local 'elites' and the NGOs are collaborating shamelessly.
Is Duterte Really A Socialist?
Yes and no, but definitely more yes than no. He is actually a self-proclaimed socialist, and for years, he has been forging extremely close links with the Marxists.
Prof. Roland Simbulan explains:
"When Duterte was a college student, he joined KM, the leftist student organization. He understands the ideology of the left. He also understands the roots of the insurgencies in his country, both Communist and Muslim. He keeps repeating: 'you cannot defeat the insurgency militarily: you have to address socio-economic problems that has led to it."
He invited Marxists into his administration, even before they asked him to join. He is gradually releasing political prisoners, who were captured and locked up during the previous administrations.
Professors Teresa and Eduardo Tadem agree:
"Social reforms are part of the peace talks. The fact that a Communist leader used to be Duterte's professor is also helping. Duterte introduced a moratorium on land conversions, so the land of the peasants could be preserved for agriculture. Labor is also enjoying many good things. He is bringing an end to short contracts, to so called contractualisation. Basically, the government is trying to make sure that after people get hired, they get benefits, immediately.
There are many positive changes taking place in such a short time: environment, social issues, social justice, education, health, housing, science…"
Duterte recently sent his Health Secretary to Havana, to study the Cuban model. The visit was so successful that he is now planning to fly an entire government delegation, including the ministers, to the revolutionary island.
However, while he is certainly putting great accent on social justice and independent anti-imperialist foreign policy, there are still finances, trade and economic policies firmly in the hands of the pro-market ministers.
"When Duterte was a mayor", explains Prof Simbulan, "he acted as a pragmatist, valuing harmony above all. However, one thing has to be remembered: whenever there arose some irreconcilable conflict between labor or indigenous people or the poor and big business or plantation owners, at the end he'd always take the side of the 'small people'.This is how he managed to convince the left that he is one of them."
In the brutal Baseco slum, built from rotting metal sheets and containers around the docks and shipyards, everyone seems to agree that the new President brought both hope and long overdue changes.
"Now people have free education here", explains Ms. Imelda Rodriguez, a physiotherapist employed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development:
"There are also free 'medical missions' in this settlement, where people can get all sorts of check-ups and consultations. We also get certain cash allowances. The government creates jobs. Of course much more still has to be done, but there is undeniably great progress, already."
Social progress is evident in the city of Davao, where Duterte served for 22 years as a mayor. Once a crime-ridden hellhole with collapsed social structure, Davao now is a modern and forward looking city, with relatively good social services and improving infrastructure, as well as new public parks and green areas.
"So many things got better for the poor people here", explains the driver, taking me from the Municipality to my hotel. "In just two decades, the city became unrecognizable. We are now proud to be living here."
At the City Government of Davao, Mr. Jefry M. Tupas showers me with the information and data I came to request: the resettlement areas for the poor and homeless people, the public housing for the rebels who recently surrendered, 'slum improvement resettlements'; the number of projects is endless.
Like in the revolutionary countries of Latin America, the enthusiasm of the people involved in the 'process' is contagious and pure. At the medical centers doctors and nurses speak proudly about new immunization plans, free medicine for diabetes and high blood pressure, treatment of tuberculosis and family planning centers.
"Now we also hope that things will improve economically as a whole, if we don't depend on the US, anymore", says Ms. LuzvimindaIlagan. "If we now open up to much friendlier countries like China and Russia, there is great hope for all of us! Before, in Mindanao, we only had Western mining companies: from places like Australia and Canada. As a result, all profits went abroad, and Mindanao people are still dirt poor. Under President Duterte, all this is dramatically changing!"
Is DuterteReally A Mass Murderer?
If you read (exclusively)the Western and local right-wing press, you could be excused if you start to believe that Duterte is 'personally responsible' for some 5.000+ 'murders'in what is now customarily labeled as his 'war on drugs'.
However, talk directly to the people of the Philippines, and you'll get an absolutely different picture.
The Philippines before Duterte were overwhelmed by crime rates unseen anywhere else in Asia Pacific. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in 2014 the homicide rate of the country stood at a staggering 9.9 per 100.000 inhabitants, compared to 2.3 in Malaysia, 3.9 in the United States, 5.9 in Kenya, 6.5 in Afghanistan, 7.5 in Zimbabwe and not much below war-torn countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (13.5).
Drug gangs used to control the streets of all major cities. Very often, the military and police generals and other top brass were actually controlling the gangs.
The situation was clearly getting out of control, entire communities living in desperation and fear. For many, the cities were turning into real battle grounds.
A driver taking me to the South Cemetery in Manila recalled: "In my neighborhood, we just had a horrid killing: a teenager got decapitated by a drug pusher…"
Profs Teresa and Eduardo Tadem explained:
"In Davao, the crime rate was horrible. Generally, in this country, people are so fed-up with crime that they'd support anything… Duterte encouraged the police to act. He is a lawyer, so he tries to stay within the legal limits. He says: 'If they surrender, bring them in, if they resist, shoot!' More than 5.000 died so far, but who is doing the killings? Often it is vigilantes, motorcycle gangs…"
Prof Roland Simbulan clarifies further:
"Many killings are taking place… We can never be sure who actually kills whom, whether for instance some rival drug lords do the killings in order to destroy their competition. In the Philippines we have terrible corruption, and even officers and generals are involved in the drug trade. Police periodically conducts raids, and then recycles captured drugs. Even the BBC interviewed gangs that confirmed the police gave them a list of whom to murder. What makes Duterteso vulnerable is his language, his strong words. What he says is very often misinterpreted."
In the slums and cemeteries inhabited by the poorest of the poor, an overwhelming majority of the people would support much tougher measures than those implemented now. As I am told by the South Cemetery dwellers:
"Here we hate those who are investigating so called extrajudicial killings. They only care about the rights of the suspects. But we, good citizens who have been suffering so much for decades, weren't protected at all, before this President got elected."
In Davao, Ms. LuzvimindaIlagan is standing by her President, determinately:
"It is totally understandable why the President is waging a war on corruption and drugs. And if the opposition talks about the extrajudicial killings, it should be obliged to prove that they are actually committed on the orders of the authorities… Could it be proved?
"The situation is complicated, of course people are getting killed. But look at the numbers: they are much lower now than those during Benigno Aquino: during his administration, farmers, indigenous people and the urban poor were constantly murdered – people who were fighting for their basic human rights… And under Gloria, mining companies were actually given permission to enter the country and to kill those who stood in their way… Under the previous administrations, things got even worse: the military received an exceptional permission to deliver 'security services' to the mining companies'. All this is now changing!"
Even the most vitriolic critics of President Duterte, who are claiming that 'his war on drugs' killed over 5.000 people, now have to admit that the 'itemization of the killings' is 'slightly' more complicated. As reported by Al-Jazeera on December 13, 2016:
"Police records show 5,882 people were killed across the country since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30. Of that number 2,041 drug suspects were killed during police operations from July 1 to December 6, while another 3,841 were killed by unknown gunmen from July 1 to November 30."
So around 2,000 people died during battles between police and drug gangs, which are the deadliest and the most heavily armed in the entire Asia Pacific. Fair enough. Who are those 'unknown gunmen' and why is the mainstream press immediately pointing fingers at the president, relying only on the statements coming from his archenemies like Senator de Lima?
Isn't the coverage of the Philippines by Western mainstream media becoming as ridiculous, propagandist and one-sided as that of Aleppo and Syria, as well as of the Russian involvement there?
Also, are Philippines local narcos being just mercilessly slaughtered, or should a little bit more be added to the story? Isn't there something being constantly left out?
Peter Lee writes on the 'rehabilitation' of drug addicts and on China's help:
"Another area of potential Philippine-PRC cooperation is PRC assistance in a crash program to rehabilitate the Philippine drug users who have turned themselves in to the police to avoid getting targeted by the death squads.
Though virtually unreported in the Western media, over 700,000 users have turned themselves in.
Let me repeat that. 700,000 drug users have turned themselves in.
And they presumably need to get a clean "rehab" chit to live safely in their communities, presenting a major challenge for the Philippines drug rehabilitation infrastructure. Duterte has called on the Philippine military to make base acreage available for additional rehab camps and the first one will apparently be at Camp Ramon Magsaysay.
Duterte has turned to the PRC to demand they fund construction of drug treatment facilities, and the PRC has obliged. According to Duterte and his spokesman, preparatory work for the Magsaysay facility has already begun.
There's an amusing wrinkle here.
Magsaysay is the largest military reservation in the Philippines. It is also the jewel in the diadem, I might say, of the five Philippine bases envisioned for US use under EDCA, the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement that officially returned US troops to Philippine bases. It looks like the US military might be sharing Magsaysay with thousands of drug users…and PRC construction workers."
Duterte And Marcos
What shocked many recently was Duterte's decision tore-bury former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the 'Heroes' Cemetery'.
"Has the President gone mad?" asked some. "Is he joining some right-wing cult?" exclaimed others.
None of the above! President Duterte is a left-wing revolutionary, but he is also perfectly well aware that in the morally debased society controlled by vicious political clans and corrupt military and police officers and generals, one has to be a great chess player in order to survive, while pushing essential reforms forward.
"The move was not at all ideological", clarifies Prof. RolanSimbulan:
"It was clearly a pragmatic move. He took some money, and he openly admitted that he took some money for his election campaign… Then, in exchange for some votes he promised the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the 'Heroes' Cemetery'. Marcos Junior wanted to run as his Vice-President, but he lost to Leni…"
Dr. Reynaldo Ileto, a leading historian, adds: "the Cemetery has bayani or the 'hero' name, but in fact it is a cemetery for almost all former presidents… The focus of the opposition on the Marcos burial is deliberate, it is to avoid real and important issues."
"Duterte is stubborn", Eduardo and Teresa Tadem told me:
"He made his promise to the Marcos family and he kept it… Does he admire Marcos? If he admires him for anything, it is only for being strong and uncompromising. Marcos brought the country to ruins, but after him, things never improved, and so he is judged positively by some sectors of society. But overall: Duterte's decision to burry him at Bayani Cemetery was a gross miscalculation."
"What is this never-ending obsession of so many people in the Philippines with Marcos?" I asked a leading left-wing journalist and thinker BenjieOliveros. "Could it be compared to Peron in Argentina?"
"Oh yes", he replied."That seems to be a good comparison."
"Duterte, a supporter of Marcos?" Luz Ilagan rolls her eyes:
"During the martial law, he was a prosecutor in Davao. He always protected the activists here. 'Release them to me!' he often ordered. He saved lives. His father served as a minor minister in Marcos' government, before the martial law, but his mother played a very important role in the protest movement. She was a vocal, a fearless woman… She had huge influence on her son."
Does Duterte Really Despise Women?
Again, it has to be remembered that Duterte is a Visaya man. He is outspoken, often graphic and definitely 'politically incorrect'.
Duterte made comments about the attractiveness of the knees and legs of his Vice-President LeniRobredo, and he accused his vocal critic Senator Leila de Lima of sleeping with her driver (it was later proven that the liaison really existed).
In this staunchly Catholic country, Duterte annulled the marriagewith his first wife (they parted amicably), had several affairs, and now lives with his common–law wife.
All this is too much for some, but surprisingly, he is actually admired by most of the women.
"When he makes jokes about women, in Manila they can't take it", laughs Luz Illagan, who is one of the leading feminists in the country:
"But we always compare his words to his deeds, to what he has done for our women. He always helped; he always protected us. His Davao got awards for being a women-sensitive city. He created the 'integrated gender development office', the first one in the Philippines, and other cities are now copying the concept. Every year, before the Women's Day celebration, women evaluate the performance of the office, and they submit a new agenda. Everything is very transparent."
In an international hotel in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, I spoke to a group of women workers from the Philippines. What do they think about their new president?
While answering (and they did not hesitate to answer for one second), I realized that two of them had tears in their eyes:
"For the first time in our lives, we feel proud to belong to our country. Duterte gave us our dignity back. He gave us hope. To say that we support him would be to say too little. We love him; we feel enormous gratitude. He is liberating us; he is liberating our country!"
Duterte And The Past Of The Philippines
President Duterte is not only outraged about the present, he is furious about the past.
"American scholarship in the Philippines – it created an entire mindset", explained Dr. Reynaldo Ileto to me in Manila. "The America-Philippine War is a non-event; people don't know about it. Everything was 'sanitized'".
"We still have not recovered from the hangover caused by US colonialism", sights a novelist Sionil Jose.
US colonialism was nothing less than genocide.
Alfonso Velázquez wrote:
"Between the years 1899 and 1913 the United States of America wrote the darkest pages of its history. The invasion of the Philippines, for no other reason than acquiring imperial possessions, prompted a fierce reaction of the Filipino people. 126000 American soldiers were brought in to quell the resistance. As a result, 400000 Filipino "insurrectos" died under American fire and one million Filipino civilians died because of the hardship, mass killings and scorched earth tactics carried out by the Americans. In total the American war against a peaceful people who fairly ignored the existence of the Americans until their arrival wiped out 1/6 of the population of the country. One hundred years have passed. Isn't it high time that the USA army, Congress and Government apologised for the horrendous crimes and monstruous sufferings that were inflicted upon the peoples of Filipinas?"
Gore Vidal confirmed:
"The comparison of this highly successful operation with our less successful adventure in Vietnam was made by, among others, Bernard Fall, who referred to our conquest of the Philippines as "the bloodiest colonial war (in proportion to population) ever fought by a white power in Asia; it cost the lives of 3,000,000 Filipinos." (cf. E. Ahmed's "The Theory and Fallacies of Counter-Insurgency," The Nation, August 2, 1971.) General Bell himself, the old sweetheart, estimated that we killed one-sixth of the population of the main island of Luzon—some 600,000 people.
Now a Mr. Creamer quotes a Mr. Hill ("who grew up in Manila," presumably counting skulls) who suggests that the bodycount for all the islands is 300,000 men, women, and children—or half what General Bell admitted to.
I am amused to learn that I have wandered "so far from easily verified fact." There are no easily verified facts when it comes to this particular experiment in genocide. At the time when I first made reference to the 3,000,000 (NYR, October 18, 1973), a Filipino wrote me to say she was writing her master's thesis on the subject. She was inclined to accept Fall's figures but she said that since few records were kept and entire villages were totally destroyed, there was no way to discover, exactly, those "facts" historians like to "verify." In any case, none of this is supposed to have happened and so, as far as those history books that we use to indoctrinate the young go, it did not happen."
It was reported that in September 2016, at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit which was also attended by President Obama, Duterte produced a picture of the killings done by American soldiers in the past and said: "This is my ancestor[s that] they killed."
I visited several bookstores in Manila, including National and Solidaridad. In both places the staff looked baffled when I asked about books dealing with the massacres committed by US troops on the territory of the Philippines.
All this may change now, soon. Duterte is openly speaking about US colonialist wars and invasions, about the massacres in Luzon and Mindanao Islands.
For decades, the US was portraying itself as the 'liberator' of the Philippines. Now, Dutertedepicts it as a country of mass murderers, rapists and thieves. According to him, the countries of the West have no moral mandate to criticize anybody for violations of human rights. He described President Obama as a son-of-a-bitch. He shouted 'Fuck you!' at the European Union. He has had enough of hypocrisy.
In this part of the world, such emotional outbursts could ignite rebellion. I have worked in Southeast Asia for many years, and I know what a thick blanket of lies covers the history of the region.
Southeast Asia lost tens of millions of people in the midst of outrageous, brutal European colonialism. It lost millions in Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) during the so-called 'Vietnam War' (or 'American War' as it is knownin Vietnam). Between 1 and 3 million Indonesians vanished during the US-sponsored coup in Jakarta in 1965/66, and the genocide in the Philippines took nearly 1.5 million fighters-patriots, but mostly civilians. The East Timorese lost around one third of its entire population, after Indonesia invaded, backed by the US, UK and Australia.
Such history is as explosive as dynamite. I have spoken to hundreds of people in this part of the world. They keep quiet, but they remember. They know who the real murderers are, who their real enemiesare.
President Duterte is not only playing with fire. He is also re-writing and changing the entire twisted Western narrative. The whole region is watching, breathless. Both horror and hope are detectable in the air, and so are the strong smells of blood and dynamite.
PH Not A Vassal State: Duterte
"I am anti-West. I do not like the Americans. It's simply a matter of principle for me." That's how President Duterte sees the world: it is simple, reduced to the essence. He further clarifies:
"The PH is not a vassal state, we have long ceased to be a colony of the US. Alammo, maramidiyangmgacolumnista they look upon Obama and the US as we are the lapdogs of this country. I do not respond to anybody but to the people of the Republic of the Philippines. Walaakongpakialamsakanya. Who is he to confront me, as a matter of fact, America has one too many to answer for the misdeeds in this country."
He said to Chinese officials, during his visit on October 20, 2016:
"I announce my separation from the United States, both in military but economics also. America has lost now. I've realigned myself in your ideological flow. And maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way."
A deafening applause followed.
Duterte actually talked to President Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, in November 2016.
The new era for the Philippines has begun: cooperation with China, Russia, Cuba, and Vietnam. A growing distance between this huge and important archipelago, and the West.
He calls Americans "sons of bitches" and "hypocrites", and he tells the superpower straight in the face:
"We can survive without American money. But you know, America, you might also be put to notice. Prepare to leave the Philippines, prepare for the eventual repeal or the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement… You know, tit for tat. It ain't a one-way traffic. Bye-bye America."
What About Trump?
These days, to be a friend of the West is a terrible liability. A leader from a colonized country could be easily discredited by just one friendly phrase, one friendly gesture towardssomeUS orUK official, towards the Western regime, or its corporation.
The Western mass media is well aware of it.
That is why, when President Duterte spoke on the phone with President elect Donald Trump, it immediately began reporting that the two men are on a similar wavelength.
Hardly. Once Mr. Trump begins his reign, President Duterte's close ties with China, Cuba and other socialist countries will soon reinstate his name on the extended hit list of the Empire's regime. He already is on it, under Obama's administration (even the coup attempts plotted from the US were already exposed and stopped). It would be a miracle ifthe racist and anti-Chinese/anti-Asian Donald Trump wouldactually decide to spare an anti-imperialist Southeast Asian leader.
Duterte and Trump are still talking politely. Duterte even offered a compliment to his US counterpart: ""I like your mouth, it's like mine". Well, hardly a proof of warming-up of the relationship between two countries.
My Filipino colleagues kept warning me: "Please do not read commentaries of the pro-Western media. If you want to judge, demand the full transcript of the conversation… Is there actually any transcript available?"
In the meantime, Washington is sugarcoatingthe obvious bitterness of the relationship between the US and the Philippines. The new US envoy, Ambassador Sung Kim, a Korean-American, is all smiles and 'respect':
"For me the most meaningful, the most fundamental is the deep and extraordinary warmth in the peoples of the two countries…"
What could President Duterte reply to this? Definitely not: Fuck you, son of a bitch!" In Asia, courtesy is met with courtesy. However, no matter what, each week, the Philippines are moving further away from the West, as planned and as foretold.
Who Hates Duterte And Who Is Afraid Of Him?
As we established earlier, the West hates him, and especially those there who are trying to trigger wars with China and Russia. Duterte admires both countries, saying that China has "the kindest soul of all", while openly admiring Russian President Vladimir Putin. "(Russians) they do not insult people, they do not interfere," Duterte declared.
Big multinational corporations hate him, particularly those huge mining conglomerates that were operating in the Philippines for years and decades, murdering thousands of defenseless Filipino people, plundering natural resources and devastating the environment. President Duterte is putting a full stop to such, feudal, fascist lawlessness.
He is hated by the mass media, at home and abroad, for 'understandable reasons'.
He is hated by many local and international NGOs, often because they are simply paid to hate him, or because they mean well but are badly informed about the situation "on the ground" (in his country), or simply because they are accustomed to using the Western perspectives to judge occurrences in all corners of the world.
Some victims of the Marcos dictatorship hate him, but definitely not all of them. Many present-day 'activists' have actually too close ties with the West, at least for my taste. Ms. Susan D. Macabuag, who is in charge of BantayogngmgaBayani(A Tribute To Martial Law Heroes and Martyrs)and a person whom I met on several previous occasions, is not hiding her antipathy towards the President:
"It is pity it is Duterte who is saying things that he says about the US… If another person would say it, it would go a long way."
She then made several statements illustrating her dislike of China. Later she added:
"My son lives in the US. Many of us have families in the United States. We are very concerned about the situation…"
For a while, I was trying to figure out what exactly she meant, butthen I decided to let it go.
At a small but iconic intellectual bookstore Solidaridad, I met the most respected living novelist of the Philippines, F. Sionil Jose, who was just celebrating his 92st birthday. For a while, we spoke about Russia, about Indonesia, about the modern literature. Then I asked him point blank: "Do you like President Duterte?"
"I like him, and I don't like him", replied an iconic author, evasively, while smiling. "But I have to say: he is a narcissist."
Ms. LeniRobredo, Duterte's vice-President (and former MP and HR lawyer), hates her boss. Constitutionally, he couldn't fire her as a Vice-President, so he at least blocked her from attendinghis regular cabinet meetings earlier in December. ('He doesn't trust her, anymore.' He believes that her party tries to depose him). Later she resigned from her position as a chairperson of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), and began gathering forces against Duterte's administration.
"There are so many of us against the policies of the president. I hope I will be able to portray the role of unifying all the discordant voices," Robredo told Reuters in an interview at her office in Manila's Quezon City.
Ms. Robredo is an important figure in the "yellow" Liberal Party. As early as on September 13, 2016, Inquirer reported:
"Without directly mentioning the LP, Duterte on Monday accused "yellow" forces of mounting moves to impeach him by highlighting the issue of human rights violations under his administration.
"Let's not fool ourselves. Do you know who's behind this? It's the yellow," the President said, referring to the LP's political color."
On December 5th, I met historian Dr. Reynaldo Ileto in Manila, who said:"Leni is tugging the same (Western) policy on the South China Sea…"
We discussed the "color revolutions" triggered by the West, and the pattern: Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, and Arroyo in the Philippines, after she dared to move closer to China. Will Robredo try to do to Duterte what Temer did to Dilma? Is there going to be yet another 'revolution' in the name of some 'anti-corruption drive' or'human rights'?
Dynasties, powerful political and business clans, also hate President Duterte. Of course they do! In the past, I got to know them, gained 'access' to some. I was shown how they operate: shamelessly, brutally and with total impunity.
The dynasties had been killing and raping those who stood in their way. They have been plundering the country for centuries. Like in Central America (the Spanish and US colonialist legacies) they never hesitated to sacrifice thousands, even millions of 'peons'.
The top military brass, educated in the United States and elsewhere in the West, hates him. It actually hates him passionately.
He is hated by millions of Filipinos living in the United States. He has to be careful while dealing with some of them. Recently, in the city of Davao, President Duterte declared:
"Better be careful with the word 'we separate or severed, severed our diplomatic relations'. (It) is not feasible. Why? Because the Filipinos in the United States will kill me."
In fact, he is hated by so many from the 'elites' and by so many in the West, that it appears to be a miracle that he is still alive and in charge.
The coup plots have been exposed. Entire Western mainstream propaganda apparatus has been employed in order to weaken and to discredit him.
He does not care. He is now 71. His is in poor health. He does not believe that he will make it till the end of his term. He is a warrior. He never kneels in front of the former or present colonizers. Recently, he said:
"I do not kneel down before anybody else, except the Filipino in Quiapo walking in misery and in extreme poverty and anger."
That is what Chavez, Morales or Fidel would say. That is what gets people murdered by the Empire, by the Western regime. As simple as that!
The Empire knows what is at stake. The Philippines is a nation with more than 100 million inhabitants, strategically located on some of the most important maritime routes. It used to be one of the most obedient, and resigned countries in Asia Pacific.
It is no more! Its people are suddenly waking up, defiant and angry. The West has been killing, plundering and humiliating them for centuries. The education had been twisted to glorify invaders. The culture was stripped of its essence, and injected with deadly doses of Western pop.
Again and again I was told that if President Duterteis killed or deposed, the country would explode. There would be a civil war. Once rebellion ignitesmillions of souls, no way back is possible.
Unless some people have failed to notice by now, this is a genuine revolution. It is an extremely slow and painful revolution. It is not a 'beautiful', or operatic revolution. But a revolution it is.
"If Duterte moves too fast, he will be overthrown by the military", uttered Prof Roland Simbulan.
Duterte says "Bye-bye America!" He is cancelling common military exercises, whilehe is also talking to Donald Trump, politely. The atmosphere is extremely tense. Anything could happen at any moment: an assassination, a coup… It is a minefield all around him, almost right there, under his feet.
He is aware of it. This is how history is written; with blood, with one's own blood.
What is taking place in Manila now is not a board meeting of some Western-sponsored human rights NGO. It is a striking, shocking image of a huge, scarred, tortured nation, getting up from its deathbed, still covered by blood and puss, but suddenly daring to hope for survival, angry and defiant but determined to live, to prevail.
In order to live, it will have to dare, to fight, perhaps against all odds.
In the middle of the horrid cemeteries inhabited by the wretched human beings, I witnessed hope. I testify that I did. Those who don't believe me, those who do not understand, should go and see with their own eyes. They should go to the horrendous Baseco slum, and to the city of Davao. Then they can speak. Otherwise, they should be quiet!
I testify that the Philippines is a country in rebellion, galvanized by one man and his tremendous determination and courage.
Is he a saint? No, he is not. He himself says that he is not. Anyway, I don't believe in saints, do you? Duterte cannot afford to be a saint. There is more than one hundred million men, women and children behind him, clinging to his back, right now… most of them very poor, most of them robbed of absolutely everything.
If he gets through the storm, most of them will survive, will benefit. Therefore, exhausted and injured, he is marching forward. His fists are clenched, he is cursing. He has no right to fail or to fall. He has to, he is obliged to get through: in the name of one hundred million of his people.
As he hears insults, feels punches, as he envisions assassins waiting for him all along the way, most likelyhe keeps repeatingin his mind what his great hero, Hugo Chavez used to shout until the very end: "Here No One Surrenders!"
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are revolutionary novel "Aurora" and two bestselling works of political non-fiction: "Exposing Lies Of The Empire" and "Fighting Against Western Imperialism". View his other books here. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen. After having lived in Latin America, Africa and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter.
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