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Bigotry: The Dark Danger
The Microworld Miracle
One of Evolutionists' Gravest Dilemmas: Insects
The preceding chapters examined the extraordinary abilities of microorganisms, their complex structures too small to be seen with the naked eye, and the invalidity of evolutionist explanations. But insects are even more interesting than microorganisms, and present just as great a dilemma for the theory of evolution.
Insects occupy a very different niche than other species. As the fossil record shows, insects have been around for at least 400 million years. Over that time, various catastrophes have taken place, and large numbers of animal species have become extinct. Insects are among the few living things not to have been affected. With their superior creation, they have spread and multiplied in every kind of environment—deserts, forests, lakes, volcanoes, water, even icebergs, and in short, anywhere at all.
Some insects prevent their bodies from cold by producing a form of antifreeze. This lets them live on the high peaks of the Himalayas, while others endure temperatures above 47 °C in the Sahara Desert.
There are so many species of insects that scientists cannot come up with an exact figure. Insects constitute three-quarters of all the animal species known today. According to the latest research, the total number of insect species is between 2 and 30 million. Only 370,000 of these have been described so far. Also, moreover, up to 15.000 species of fossil insect have been found. Their total numbers are estimated to exceed 1 trillion and their total weight, 2.7 billion tons—a figure equivalent to 45 billion human beings. In other words, there are more than 170 million insects for every human being.113 As you can appreciate from these extraordinary figures, insects also constitute a major link in the food chain.
As we'll show in the sections that follow, evolutionists would dearly love to live in a world without insects. These creatures emerged suddenly in the fossil record, have no alleged ancestors behind them, possess exceedingly complex organs and, most important of all, exhibit an enormous variety—all of which creates problems that the theory of evolution cannot answer logically.
The Creation In Insects
Were you to examine each of the millions of species of insects one by one, you would see that each family possesses very different structures. In terms of their wings alone, many varieties of insects bear no resemblance to one another. Butterfly wings, for instance, have a completely different structure from those of flies. In the same way, the dragonfly has a totally different body structure than the locust, the cockroach than the ant, and the bee than o the flea. There's no room here to examine all the different features possessed by insects, though we can survey certain common structures.
The Carapace
Of the features that allow insects to live in all sorts of climatic conditions, heading the list is the chitin shell that forms the outer surface of their bodies. Insects have no skeletons, but rather, a so-called exoskeleton that surrounds them like armor. Its main component is chitin, which is exceedingly thin and light, which means that insects have no difficulty in bearing its weight. In addition to covering the insect's body, it is strong but very flexible. It can move as the muscles inside the insect's body expand and contract. This makes the insect very fast-moving, and also reduces the impact of any blows from the outside. This special substance also prevents water from entering; neither can fluids inside their bodies escape. They are less affected by heat and even by radiation. Their exoskeleton's color generally matches that of their surroundings, though. It may sometimes be shiny, to deter enemies.
Scientists and designers have dreamed of being able to produce chitin artificially. Since the First World War in particular, designs for vehicles produced using chitin have been made.
Flight Systems
According to the fossil record, insects have been flying for at least 350 million years, without any needing for feathers. Naturally, accounting for insect flight is even more difficult for evolutionists who cannot convincingly explain how birds came to fly. According to the fossil record, insects suddenly emerged in their present-day forms, some 350 to 400 million years ago. Another problem for the theory of evolution is how insects have come down to the present without undergoing any structural changes. In other words, there is no difference between a cockroach or dragonfly alive 400 million years ago and specimens alive today.
Insects' different flight systems are still other examples of creation. Many species have flying abilities superior to that of birds. The monarch butterfly is capable of flying from Canada in north America to Mexico. Flies and dragonflies can hover in the air. In addition, insects' wings also display wholly different structures.
Some species have only two wings, and others four—and grasshoppers have two wing casuings in addition! Some beetles' wings fold inwards and have a protective casing; others have membranous wings, and others, like butterflies, ones covered with microscopic scales. Every type of insect wing exhibits its own unique perfection. Their wing joints are made of a special protein called resilin, which has perfectly elastic properties. Chemical engineers are still trying to produce this substance, whose features are far superior to those of both natural and man-made rubber. By means of stretching and contracting, resilin stores and can give back as much as 96% of the energy loaded onto it. Thanks to this, some 85% of the energy an insect expends in raising its wing is used again when it lowers the wing. The insect's chest walls and muscles have also been created to permit such energy storage. This allows extraordinary energy to be released, making it possible for insect wings to beat between 200 (for honeybees) and even 1,000 times a second (in sand flies). 114
Evolutionists suggest that some of the chitin layers in the insect's thorax turned into wings. They must know how weak that claim is, because they also state that there is no fossil to verify this. Various scenarios have also been produced to explain how insect flight evolved. According to the so-called tracheal theory, when insects living in water emerged onto land, they developed wings from the trachea in their thoraxes. The invalidity of this theory was revealed the moment it was unveiled, because the same muscles found in aquatic insects' gills are not found in wings. Furthermore, there is no evidence of transitional fossils to show that insects went from a wingless phase to a winged one. On the contrary, fossils reveal no "primitive" insects. Even the oldest known insects had the same perfect flight systems as those living today.
The second scenario, the so-called paranotal theory, maintains that certain regions in the thorax expanded, flattened out and gradually assumed the form of wings. According to this claim—for reasons unknown to evolutionists—only two of the three sections in insects' thoraxic regions exhibited this alteration and thus gave rise to wings.
One can see a similarity in the way that evolutionists seek to account for bird flight. However, elements in both scenarios make them invalid and illogical. The most important of them is that the fossil record invalidates these claims. Secondly, wings possess irreducible complexity: they function only if they exist as an entire unit. The half-wing or newly emergent wing suggested by evolutionists would be worse than useless. Third, in genetic terms, no mutations that can add new beneficial features to a species or improve already existing ones. For that reason, if a flight system were not already determined in a creature's DNA, it is impossible to add new "flight-worthy" data to that DNA via random mutations.
In other words, blind coincidence can produce no new information in nature. In order for an organ like a wing or an eye to form, there needs to be a Supreme Creator. Yet there is no such consciousness in nature. In any case, evolutionary scenarios tend to cite the world view imagined by the person drawing up the scenario, rather than scientific details. Ideological obsessions weigh heavier than facts in the shaping of these conjectures. The well known French zoologist Pierre Paul Grassé admits the truth of this in the words, "We are in the dark concerning the origin of insects." 115
In fact, however, that the flawless creation in the fly wing invalidates all claims of chance. In an article published in the journal Scientific American, Robin J. Wootton from Exeter University comments on insects' flying abilities:
Insects include some of the most versatile and maneuverable of all flying machines. … some insects-through a combination of low mass, sophisticated neurosensory systems and complex musculature-display astonishing aerobatic feats. Houseflies, for example, can decelerate from fast flight, hover, turn in their own length, fly upside down, loop, roll and land on a ceiling-all in a fraction of a second… The better we understand the functioning of insect wings, the more subtle and beautiful their designs appear. Earlier comparisons with sails now seem quite inadequate. The wings emerge as a family of flexible airfoils that are in a sense intermediate between structures and mechanisms, as these terms are understood by engineers. Structures are traditionally designed to deform as little as possible; mechanisms are designed to move component parts in predictable ways. Insect wings combine both in one, using components with a wide range of elastic properties, elegantly assembled to allow appropriate deformations in response to appropriate forces and to make the best possible use of the air. They have few if any technological parallels-yet. 116
Look at the dragonfly, which evolutionists describe as "more primitive" compared to other insects, and it becomes apparent just how ideology-oriented such claims are. Dragonflies cannot fold their wings, the way their muscles cause the wings to move is different from that in other insects. Solely on account of these features, evolutionists claim that dragonflies are "primitive." Yet the dragonfly's flight system is actually a marvel of creation. Leading companies have produced helicopter models in imitation of this flight system. Photographer Gillian Martin undertook a two-year study aimed at investigating dragonflies, and the information he obtained showed that these insects possess very sophisticated flight systems.
The dragonfly abdomen gives the impression that it's covered in chain mail. Its two pairs of wings are located diagonally on top of its thorax, whose colors of which range from ice blue to burgundy. Thanks to this wing structure, the dragonfly has considerable maneuverability. No matter what its speed and direction of flight, it can suddenly halt and reverse course, or else hover in the air, waiting for an appropriate moment to attack its prey. It can also approach its prey by making a convoluted, curving approach. It can quickly reach a speed of 40 kilometers (24,85 miles) an hour— quite astonishing for an insect—at which rate it seizes its prey.117 The shock of the impact is very strong, but the dragonfly's exo-armor is both very strong and very flexible. Its flexibility absorbs the shock of the impact, even though the same cannot be said for its prey, which is either stunned or killed.
Following the moment of impact, the dragonfly's powerful rear legs enter the equation. During flight its legs are folded up, then quickly opened to seize the prey. Now the lower jaws quickly tear the prey apart and devour it.
The dragonfly's visual ability is also flawless. The dragonfly's eye is regarded as the best insect eye in existence. Its two eyes each possesses around 30.000 lenses.118 These hemispherical eyes cover most of its head, giving the insect a wide field of vision. Thanks to these eyes, a dragonfly can almost a good deal of what is going on behind it.
As you can see, the examples cited by the proponents of the theory of evolution are meaningless. Like every other insect, the dragonfly has been equipped with systems that are marvels of creation. To dismiss any one of them as "primitive" is the result of either lack of understanding, or else a deliberate distortion. There is no difference at all between the oldest dragonfly fossils yet discovered and specimens alive today. Neither is there any trace of any half-dragonfly or dragonfly just beginning to develop wings that have lived prior to these oldest fossils. Like other species, these species emerged suddenly and have survived unchanged to the present day. The perfect, complex flight systems encountered in various insects emerged from a superior creation, not from imaginary stage-by-stage scenarios. Allah created all these living things, and none underwent evolution.
Not only do insects possess perfect flight or exceedingly complex visual systems; when examined individually, insects also display organs and systems, each of which is a marvel of creation. Scientists who recently investigated the feet of the ant encountered not only a perfect creation that could inspire robot manufacturers. Massachusetts University biologist Elizabeth Brainerd and her team, in partnership with Harvard and Würzburg Universities, investigated the way ants and bees can walk upside down on ceilings, or vertically on walls, and arrived at interesting conclusions. They filmed ants and bees moving quickly along glass surfaces, and found that the sticky features on the feet of these insects were different from those of other animals. They cited the gecko, a species of lizard, as an example. With every step, Geckos scrape the sticky pads on their feet along the surface they are walking on, which leads to very slow, deliberate movement. The system possessed by insects, on the other hand, exhibits a much more dynamic structure. As Brainerd comments:
The feet of ants and bees are surprisingly complex structures, says Brainerd. Each foot, viewed through a microscope, has a pair of claws that resemble a bull's horns, with a sticky footpad called an arolium positioned between the claws. When the insects run along a surface, she explains, the claws try to grasp the surface. If the claws are unable to catch onto the surface, they retract and the footpad comes into action. The footpad quickly unfolds and inflates with blood, protruding between the claws and enabling the adhesive pad to stick to the surface. The footpad then deflates and folds back. The entire process takes just tens to hundredths of a second, and is repeated with each step, rapid-fire, as the insects skitter along. In addition, the footpad secretes a fluid that allows the insects to adhere to smooth surfaces, "the same way a wet piece of paper can stick to a window," says Brainerd. The dynamic nature of the arolium provides varying levels of stickiness, depending on the surface. 119
The researchers also discovered that the tendons controlling the claws are responsible not only for retracting them, but also for moving the feet pads. This system is a perfect combination of mechanical and hydraulic systems. By imitating these systems, manufacturers are working on the production of miniaturized robots to be used in medicine.
Insects' antennae, which also impart a pleasing aesthetic appearance. makes these invertebrates creatures aware of what is going on around them. Their antennae perceive and analyze the chemicals they use to communicate with one another by. Although antennae are sometimes regarded more as feelers to augment their sense of touch, their basic function is to provide the insect with a sensitive sense of smell. A large number of olfactory nerves are arranged along the antennae, and these detect the aromas of foodstuffs and identify the chemical messengers or scent-bearing molecules known as pheromones belonging to the opposite sex. Communal insects like ants and bees, also used their antennae to establish identity and for chemical communication. They analyze the chemical signals released by others by touching them with their antennae and determining whether they are friends or foes. Mosquitoes can perceive sounds through their antennae.
When one examines the countless features of insects, such as their sensitive antennae, the chemicals they use to communicate, their bodies created like robots, the resistant structures that permit them to live under all kinds of conditions, the poisons they use for attack and defense, the way they enter into shared lives with other living things, the exquisite tissues of some insects such as butterflies, metamorphosis, hunting and tactics like camouflage, a very broad, complicated picture emerges. These properties, the subject of whole libraries of books, yet they actually represent the very limited knowledge we have of insects. There are hundreds of thousands of insect species that have not yet been discovered or described, each has its own separate structures. Even the best-known and most studied insects possess amazing properties.
For instance, some of the most widely studied insects such as ants, bees and termites, possess exceedingly developed social systems, and releasing various chemical compounds to communicate. They organize themselves to establish division of labor in their colonies. They can construct nests like miniaturized skyscrapers and perfect honeycombs. Such species of ant engage in agriculture and sewing, and some solitary bees practice pottery. Communal bees produce honey and beeswax in their hives.
Some other classes of insects undergo metamorphosis. A caterpillar that eats leaves emerges from its chrysalis as a brightly colored butterfly. Silkworms produce threads used in clothing. Grasshoppers and fleas are prodigious jumpers. Fireflies produce their own cold light in the most economical manner. Some insects live symbiotic lives with plants or even with other insects. Insects display astonishing properties of speed, flight, leaping and running. When it comes to these special attributes, only a few of which have been listed here, evolutionists, who cannot even account for the origins of insects in general terms, can go no further than repeated their time-worn explanations creations.
Insects' Fascinating Behavior
Looked at from the point of view of evolutionary mechanisms, insect behavior assumes a whole new significance. These forms and properties of insect behavior refute the fundamental mechanisms of evolution. As touched on briefly earlier, the most advanced behaviors are seen in insects that live as one social organism. It is impossible for evolutionists to trace the specific development of these forms of behavior. For that reason, they examine each behavior individually, and then try to account for it within the framework of evolutionary logic . Efforts of this sort mean a new evolutionary tall tale for each different behavior.
Professor Ali Demirsoy, a well known Turkish evolutionist, makes the following comments:
In every phase of a living thing's life cycle, many forms of behavior unique to its own species regarding natural conditions, and the other living things in its habitat, can be seen ... All this behavior can be based on specific physical and biological laws. However, it is impossible to account for it all in the present state of our biological knowledge.120
The objective of biology is to study animal behavior, discover the neurological, chemical and biological factors that cause it, and to reveal the results with concrete evidence. However, seeking to fit behavior into the evolutionary scenario without any evidence is not science, but an application of ideology.
Yet in the examples just cited, you can easily see that, like the behavior of other animals, insects' habits did not emerge as a result of a gradual process of random evolution, but was created as an ideal whole.
We encounter the most fascinating behavior in insect colonies. A large ant colony functions as a single organism, with complete order and discipline. Ants communicate by means of pheromones, of which scientists believe there are two varieties. The first has general effects, and the second applies to immediate effects such as alarms. Members of one colony are distinguished from strangers by their unique scent.
Every ant has a specific duty in the colony. Right from the moment it hatches from its cocoon, each ant performs its duty to the letter. One most interesting feature of this superior organization is how an ant is ready to sacrifice its life without hesitation in the event of danger to the colony. Even ants that have been injured or lost a leg or antenna do not turn and run away. Some ants become living bombs, inflating their acid sacs and blowing themselves up in the midst of their enemies. In addition, some species of ants steal pupae from other colonies and use the ants that hatch as slaves. The engage in agriculture by growing fungi in particular chambers of their colonies, or by raising other aphids whose secretions fluids they drink. They enter into symbiotic relationships with plants or other animals, and even sew, stitching leaves together for their nests.
Bee and termite colonies also display unique forms of behavior. Honey bees construct perfect combs that display their architectural abilities. Besides using pheromones, they also communicate by means of the so-called bee dance. The self-sacrifice displayed by ants is also observed in bees. Whichever insect species we examine, you can encounter a different system of behavior. While ants take other insects prisoner, some insects live as parasites in the other insects' colonies by imitating their scent. Some insects even live by stealing food belonging to others.
All these features reveal one fact in total clarity: Insects, which have been living for hundreds of millions of years and come down unchanged to the present day, completely refute the theory of evolution. To understand this more clearly, simply compare insect behavior with the mechanisms proposed by the theory of evolution.
The Primitive Insect Fallacy
As with dragonfly, evolutionists tend to interpret very ancient fossils as "primitive." Their true aim is to insert insects, with their complex structures that fail to fit any evolutionary scenario, into an appropriate gap in the evolutionary framework. Cockroaches, interpreted from that evolutionist perspective, are just as primitive as are dragonflies.
In fact, close examination of the cockroach reveals the kind of complex structures seen in the dragonfly. It is true that the cockroach fossils dating back 350 million years have been found. But rather than proving that cockroaches allegedly evolved, these fossils actually demonstrate that cockroaches were created. There is absolutely no difference between fossils that lived in those times and present-day specimens: cockroaches have undergone no changes over the last 350 million years. Far from having a primitive structure, these insects have managed to survive conditions that most living things could not, down to the present day. In addition, cockroaches possess complex structures encountered in all insects: Highly developed antennae, the body-covering chitin, and the perfect wing structure are all present. They have eyes made up of some 2.000 lenses, a mouth and jaw structure ideal for consuming all kinds of food, rather resembling highly advanced scissors. Their feet enable them to walk on all surfaces, and they are sensitive to all types of external stimuli such as pheromones, heat, vibrations and light intensity. With these exceedingly complex structures, cockroaches are not a primitive species, but the product of an supreme creation.121 Each of a cockroach's features has been created and brought together for a specific purpose; and each possesses irreducible complexity. They can serve no purpose unless they have emerged all at once, and fully formed. A too-short antenna or a foot able to cling to surfaces only some of the time will lead to the death of the insect. For that reason, an animal's organs must either be entirely developed as a whole or not at all. This rule applies to all other living things.
There is no aim or plan in the mechanisms of evolution. The various natural minerals and compounds that comprise the soil, water and air cannot combine to produce an insect. They cannot install data banks like DNA (of which no earlier examples exist) inside that insect, and cannot plan the conditions that will allow such complex systems to develop. It is beyond the power of inanimate, unconscious materials that constitute nature to give life to inanimate things.
However, the evidence of creation makes a Creator inevitable. The creation of insects equipped their perfect mechanisms points to a Creator with infinite knowledge and intellect.
The same creation applies to the first known insect, Rhyniella praecursor. This fossil, belonging to the springtail class, is around 396 million years old.122 However, these insects—of which more than 3,500 species are alive today—are by no means simple, as evolutionists fondly suppose. On the contrary, this insect's advanced structure enables it to live everywhere in the world, at the Poles, on water and even in the depths of the earth. Springtails take their name from a special fork-shaped structure at the tip of their tails that normally curves forward over the body. The stem of the fork is fixed by another structure. When the muscles rapidly propel this fork backward, it strikes the ground and lets the insect make long leaps and escape danger. It can even jump on water. Springtails are of great use in breaking down and plowing the earth. They possess very complex mouth and jaw structures for tearing, masticating and sucking. On their body surfaces are structures known as pseudocels that squirt out fluids at moments of danger. In addition to the advanced antenna in other insects, they also have what's known as a "postantenal" organ, peculiar to this insect alone. Scientists believe it serves to perceive moisture. Air cushions between its hairs are used for breathing in aquatic environments. Some species can emit light from their bodies, and also perform a special mating dance.123
The springtail, which evolutionists describe as primitive, has perfect structures and highly developed organs and mechanisms. Far from being primitive, Rhyniella praecursor is a perfect insect that cannot be distinguished from present-day specimens. Like the other examples cited above and distorted by evolutionists in order to portray them as primitive, this insect emerged not as the result of imaginary coincidences but as the product of creation. In other words, these creatures too were created by Allah, Lord of the heavens and Earth and all that lies between.
Insects Argue Against Evolution
A major problem for the theory of evolution is that insects emerged suddenly in the Devonian and Upper Carboniferous periods, in their present-day forms. The primitive ancestor of all insects is nowhere to be seen. In other words, insects did not emerge by evolving from a more primitive entity, but emerged around 350 million years ago in their present-day forms and possessing the same complex organs, and never underwent evolution. Fossils have been found belonging to 69% of the 1.087 families of insects known today. All these fossilized insects have the same features today—one of the problems that evolutionists are unable to resolve. 124
Their second major problem is the sheer variety among insects. According to the evolutionary scenario, there should be a limited number of insect species, all descended from the same forerunner. However, the actual number of insect species is estimated to exceed 30 million. Such an enormous number of species represents another question that evolutionists are unable to answer. There is not enough time for an imaginary process such as mutation to give rise to such variety.
In their book An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America, Prof. R.W. Merrit and K.W. Cummins from California Berkeley University comment:
Interpretations of the fossil record must be made with great caution. For example fossils used in evaluating the terrestrial aquatic origin of insects were recently found to be not primitive insects at all, but merely fossilized segments of crustaceans!125
Despite the large number of evolutionist scenarios about the origin of insects, scientists who closely research the subject arrive at these same conclusions. But proponents of the theory of evolution do not base their arguments on concrete evidence. The comments by H.V. Daly and J.T. Doyen of Berkeley and Oxford universities make this clear:
Unfortunately, evidence of the crucial steps leading to the origin of insects have not yet been found in the fossil record. Wings have contributed more to the success of insects than any other anatomical structures, yet the historical origin of wings remains largely a mystery. The earliest insect fossils that have been discovered, from the Pennsylvanian Period, were already winged . . . Thus the body structures that developed into wings, the steps in the evolution, and the ecological circumstances that favored wings are debatable. 126
In a paper published in Nature magazine following long years of research, Ward Wheeler of the American Museum of Natural History also emphasizes the lack of evidence and states that the work failed to deliver Darwinists' desired results:
"You can never be sure that you have the right answer, because each group's origins are lost in the mists of time." 127
Another major problem is that insects' exceedingly developed structures—their wings, and abilities of chemical communication, social organization and architecture—cannot be accounted for in terms of gradual evolution. Such fictitious mechanisms as useful mutations do not exist in nature.
As these examples show, insects have been specially created and equipped with superior abilities to perform their duties on Earth.
The "Common Evolution" Scenario
The proponents of evolution have always experienced grave difficulty in explaining the close relationship between insects and plants, the vital links between their shared lives and the great range of plant-insect interactions.
As you know, insects suddenly appear in the fossil record, with no primitive forerunner behind them, and this applies to plants as well. In particular, fossils from 43 different families of flowering plants, which make the greatest use of insects, appear suddenly in the fossil record. There is no question of any intermediate form or primitive ancestor. Yet according to the mechanisms of evolution, such a wide variety of plants should have left behind millions of intermediate-form fossils of relatively primitive ancestors. However, even though fossils of most living species have been found, no such primitive or transitional fossils have ever been found.
Lack of evidence is a familiar dilemma for evolutionists. Since they are prepared for such situations, proponents of the theory have made a habit of speculations and scenarios. In employing this unscientific method, the existence of proof is irrelevant. Advocates take the mechanisms of evolution as a starting point, and describe events as they imagine they should have been, rather than as they were.. Then, even though all the evidence argues against them they seek to make a reality of that fairy tale. However, it is easy to ask just the right questions in order to understand the fraudulent nature of those defenseless scenarios. The insect species involved in the claim of joint evolution are the Coleoptera, or beetles—a very numerous group, constituting approximately one-third of the insect classes. They derive their name from their two pairs of wings. The front wings are hard and contain chitin, which makes them like protective shields. They also help maintain balance during diving and flight. The rear wings provide flight. After completing its flight, a Coleoptera insect closes its wings, with the hind wings beneath the front ones. The way the protective front wings cover the rear ones is a separate marvel of engineering. Thanks to their ability to fold their wings in this manner, they can enter even the smallest holes, without harming their flight wings in any way. And these insects emerged at least 350 years ago, suddenly and in full possession of this perfect creation!
Insects like bees and butterflies, which pollinate flowers, also appear suddenly in the fossil record and have come down to the present day with no changes since they were first created. Bees that lived 150 million years ago also constructed the same perfect combs and produced honey.
The theory of evolution claims that the first flowering plants emerged and multiplied some 150 million years ago, and certain insect species entered into a relationship with these plants and also emerged and multiplied.
At first glance, this scenario may seem to account for the origins of plants and insects. But the facts are not as simple as the evolutionist scenario would have you believe. The essential questions remain unanswered:
Flowering plans and their pollinating insects appear suddenly in the fossil record. According to the theory of evolution, there should be not only a common ancestor, but countless intermediate forms between that ancestor and the species' final form. In such a rich fossil record, why has not a single one ever been encountered?
The proponents of evolution tend to generalize when referring to plant and insect variety, as if they all had the same features. Yet every insect and every plant possesses unique structures that distinguish it from every other. For instance, bees, butterflies, ants, leaf mites, locusts, cockroaches, fireflies, mole crickets, and fleas are all insects, yet display totally different features that represent more unanswered questions for evolution. The proponents of the theory set about preparing a general scenario for each of these, even though they were still unable to account for the origin of any living things, their complex structures or their social behavior. Yet evolutionists really must be able to account for the origin of every separate species of insect, and of the every feature they possess. In doing so, they must act in the light of the scientific facts, rather than of outdated ideologies or conjecture.
Adherents of the theory of evolution often interpret variations within a given species as an entirely new species. That is one of the greatest distortions made in the name of evolution: the claim that mutations or environmental factors cause brand-new species to come into being. Another is that with the appearance of flowered plants, the suitable conditions they offered led to the emergence of new species of pollinators. This claim too is also full of internal discrepancies and distortions.
In order to better understand this problem, we first need to nail down the meaning of the concept species. The word tends to bring to mind unique types of plants and animals such as horses, camels, frogs, spiders, dolphins, palm trees and roses. The theory of evolution posits a common origin of these various organisms. Yet modern biologists describe the concept of species rather differently. They define a species as a group of plants or animals capable of mating and reproducing among themselves. For example, some 40.000 species of bees have been described.128 In other words, in essence these 40.000 different bees are all different sub-species within the species of Apis. Genetic information belonging to the species permits various changes to take place within this species, but a bee can never turn into a butterfly because there are insuperable genetic differences between the two species. In biology, this rule is generally referred to as genetic homeostasis, the principle that all attempts to improve a living species remain within defined boundaries, defined by the are insuperable barriers between species. Changes within a single species are known as variations or sub-species. The same rule applies to plants. Efforts over hundreds of years have never given rise to a new species of plant. All that has occurred is that by manipulating that plant's existing genetic information, a range of observable variations have been allowed to develop.
The Danish scientist W.L. Johansson summarizes the situation:
The variations upon which Darwin and Wallace placed their emphasis cannot be selectively pushed beyond a certain point, that such variability does not contain the secret of "indefinite departure." 129
Looked at from that perspective, evolutionists' distortion can be seen more clearly. Plants and insects have not given rise to any new species by interacting with one another. Furthermore, the diversity in the present day is not the result of this variation. There is no question of there being any such evolutionary mechanism. The real question that evolutionists must answer is how a species such as the honeybee or the rose came into being in the first place. How did mammals, birds, and mollusks and their various classes, orders, and families first come into existence? It is by no means easy for Darwinists to answer these questions.
The known families of plants and insects were clearly created as works of art by a superior intelligence, suddenly, each in its own particular form. Each species has its own genetic pool. In the framework of this existing pre-programmed information, great many variations within the same species with very different attributes have often emerged. However, no cockroach has ever turned into a bee, nor an apple tree into a pumpkin vine. No mechanism in nature can design new types or form new organs and bodily systems for a new species. Each plant and animal form has been created with its own unique structures, and since Allah has created many of them with a rich potential for variation, each type has emerged with a rich but bounded variation.
Accounting for the close interrelationships that appear between given plant and insect species has also become a problem for the theory of evolution. Very often, two entirely different species can survive only so long as they live together intimately, meshing their life cycles. As you saw in previous chapters, plants and insects emerged suddenly with their separate different structures. However, between some of them there exist relationships based on very sensitive interdependence. For example, the yucca moth pollinates the yucca's flowers and its larvae live only on the developing yucca seeds. These bees have been equipped with special structures that they may perform the pollination process. They have long mouth structures to sip nectar and hairs to which pollens adhere. Ants protect certain flowers, such as the acacia's, from harm and receive nectar in return. The butterfly species Xanthopan morgani praedicta assists in the pollination of the Madagascar orchid by extending its 28-centimeter (11.02-inch) long proboscis into the 28 to 30 centimeter (11.02- to 11.81-inch) spur of the flower.
Some plants possess special traps for insects, and many insects eat plants; flowers and leaves. The relationship between plant and insect that evolutionists place no further back than 150 to 200 million years ago has been totally altered by one recent discovery. The latest fossils of structures known as galls, and one of the most basic relationships, show that this relationship between plant and insect has been continuing for more than 300 million years.130 During their developmental stages some insects are protected and fed in these structures, which form on the leaves and stems of certain plants. Gall formation is a miraculous system all of its own. The plant produces a tissue that enfolds the insect's larva and in effect, imprisons the insect. In this way, plants are protected from further harm caused by insects, and the insects' young find a roomy shelter where they can feed in peace. The insect in this phase prevents another parasite that uses certain secretions (beta indolic acid) from occupying the site. Even if the plant dries up, the cells that form the gall remains alive for a short while longer.
These relationships established between plants and insects have emerged as the result of creation. No plant possesses any information about a pollinator like a bee, butterfly, or hawk moth. In addition, it cannot know when it releases a scent that insects can perceive. Furthermore, the plant, being unaware which of scents will attract flies, cannot know that bees will kill the parasites that are feeding on it. There is no possibility of these mutual systems of behavior developing with minute changes over time, via unconscious evolutionary processes. Parasites will not permit the plant to analyze the bee's sensory apparatus and construct a means to produce the relevant attractive chemicals, and the plant will soon die before going to seed.
This also applies to any systems affording mutual benefits. Unless a given system has been created as already complete and functioning, based on mutual behavioral and chemical balance, it will serve no purpose and have to evolutionary reason to survive. For example, in order for the eggs 28 centimeters (11.02 inches) down in the plant to be pollinated, the flower requires an insect with a proboscis 28 centimeters (11.02 inches) long, ever since that plant was first created. It has no time to wait for the long-tongued hawk moth, [Genus] predicta to evolve. The orchid would have died out unless both it and the hawk moth were created at the same moment. As with all the mechanisms and balances cited here, our omniscient Lord consciously and deliberately created these two species with a superior harmony and perfect features to enable each other.
There is no creature crawling on the Earth or flying creature, flying on its wings, who are not communities just like yourselves–We have not omitted anything from the Book—then they will be gathered to their Lord. (Surat al-An'am, 38)
113- Zuhal Özer, Böcekler, Bilim ve Teknik, ?ubat 2000, sf.92
114- Kanatlı Böceklerin Uçuş Becerileri, Bilim ve Teknik Görsel Bilim ve Teknik Ansiklopedisi, sf. 2678
115- Pierre Grasse, Evolution of Living Organisms, Academic Press, New York, 1977, sf.30
116- Robin J. Wootton , The Mechanical Design of Insect Wings, Scientific American, vol.263, Kasım 1990, sf.114-120
117- http://www.southwestgardening.com/bugs/dragonfly.htm
118- Gillian Martin, Helikopter Böceği Acımasız ve Yırtıcı, Hürriyet Star Eki, 16 Ağustos 1984. sf.32-33
119- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010928071138.htm
120- Ali Demirsoy, Yaşamın Temel Kuralları Omurgasızlar -Böcekler Entomoloji, Cilt 2 /Kısım 2, Meteksan Yayınları, Ankara, 1984, sf.217
121- http://roachcom.net/inside
122- Encyclopedia of Life Sciences , "Insecta (Insects)", http://www.els.net/?sessionid=1061953ed85edf71
123- Ali Demirsoy, Yaşamın Temel Kuralları Omurgasızlar -Böcekler Entomoloji, Cilt 2 /Kısım 2, s.323-24
124- http://www.icr.org/newsletters/impact/impactnov00.html
125- http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~idea/fossquotes.htm#insects
126- H.V.Daly, J.T. Doyen, and P.R. Ehrlich, Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, McGraw Hill, New York, 1978, sf. 274, 308
127- G..Giribet, G. D. Edgecombe & W. C. Wheeler, Arthropod Phylogeny Based on Eight Molecular Loci and Morphology. Nature, vol.413, 13 September 2001, sf.157 – 161
128- Zuhal Özer, Böcekler, Bilim ve Teknik, Şubat 2000, sf.95
129- Loren Eiseley, The Immense Journey, Vintage Books, 1958. sf. 227
130- Evolution, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 93, August 1996, sf.8470–8474

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In the Community
In the Community to Serve
Cascade Natural Gas Corporation firmly believes in contributing to the support of the communities we serve. This takes the form of conservation education, employee volunteerism, corporate giving, and matching funds for employee donations made to local non-profit organizations.
Our employees support many civic and charitable organizations. They are volunteer firefighters, port executives, YMCA directors, and coaches of amateur sports organizations. When our employees volunteer, we support them by offering partial matching contributions to qualifying non-profit organizations.
As a company, we contribute to efforts in health and human services, education, arts and culture, environmental protection and conservation of natural resources, and civic and community development.
Environmental Community Opportunity (ECO) Fund
Environmental stewardship is a part of Cascade Natural Gas Corporation's mission and daily life, and our commitment to the communities we serve is taken seriously. As part of our continued environmental commitment, Cascade Natural Gas Corporation – along with its three sister companies – has established the ECO Fund to support projects that enhance environmental education and stewardship in the communities we serve.
Environmental education projects may include grants for teacher training, books or equipment for classroom use, field trips or special project support in the natural or physical sciences.
Community environmental stewardship projects may include such things as nature trail development, wildlife area enhancement, recycling and community cleanup promotion, or the development of 'living laboratories' for the use of students and the general public.
Some limitations apply. See the ECO Fund brochure for details of the program and the ECO Fund Grant Application Form to apply.
Cascade Fuels Education
Our contributions to the community include more than the comforts of natural gas. For example, the funding we provide to the Independent Colleges of Washington helps provide academic scholarships to students at Heritage College in Toppenish, and Walla Walla and Whitman colleges in Walla Walla.
Our corporate headquarters, MDU Resources Group, is committed to supporting the communities in which its businesses operate. The corporation believes its success is directly related to a healthy social and economic environment. Through the MDU Resources Foundation, the corporation can share its success and help its neighbors make the communities better places to live and work. The foundation was incorporated in 1983. MDU Resources is proud of its record of supporting qualified organizations and is hopeful the foundation's efforts will continue to have a positive impact.For more information regarding the MDU Resources Foundation, contact Rita O'Neill at MDU Resources.


text:
Thank you.
Thanks for accepting my friend request.
I have been well thanks
That's probably why it's calling me!
Ooh thank you! I will check it out soon. Yeah it sounds very up my alley!
Teeeeeeeny where do you watch Carole and Tuesday? I wanna watch it but don't know where :3
Babe! (Not the pig kind)
Be proud of yourself for coming out with such a great idea
Oh, yes! You and Kat posted so many good gif. It's my favourite GD thread.
Yeah, the gifcussion is quite expecting place, where everything can happen. But we need to kindly harass Mike a bit to do something about the gifs size limit. There are fabulous gifs I can't post, because they are over 1mb
Yeessss, I'm trying so hard to find ones with perfectly fitting words, but it's also hard! Maybe I should get a gif editor or something like that...
You are the queen of gifcussion
Thanks. I haven't done much today, but I am hoping to do a few things soon.
Great choice!!! That's one sexy beast!
GD Head Neperator
The Kawaii Kitten
The Original Mors
Sugarless GiRL
EZ & EH Moderator
Rabbit With A Shotgun


text:
By Marc H. Morial, NNPA Columnist
"We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rarely have the divisions in American politics been more clear – or more onerous. In less than a month, on August 2nd, if Congress refuses to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, the United States economy could be thrown into a fiscal tailspin that would eviscerate America's credit rating, lead to sky-high interest rates, rip a giant hole in the social safety net, jeopardize the well-being and savings of millions of working and middle class citizens and result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Majority leaders in the House and minority leaders in the Senate have taken the unprecedented step of linking a raise in the debt ceiling to the debate about deficit reduction and spending cuts. In effect, they are attempting to extort big cuts in programs benefiting working and middle class citizens while protecting exorbitant tax breaks for oil companies, corporate jet owners, and hedge fund managers. They say this is the only way they will agree to increase the debt limit. If they get their way, fiscal experts from Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke warn severe disruptions will occur. Beginning August 2nd, Social Security checks may be halted. Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment benefits may stop. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may not get paid. And, hundreds of thousands of government workers may be laid off. This is no way to run the most trustworthy and powerful government in the world. And, it is no way to honor the hard work and sacrifices of its people.
It should be noted, that prior to this current showdown, the debt ceiling has routinely been raised almost 100 times since its establishment in 1917. Former President George W. Bush raised it seven times without objection while racking up trillions of dollars of new debt for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and big tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
The Obama administration is not oblivious to the need for spending cuts. For months, Vice President Joe Biden has led bipartisan negotiations aimed at agreeing on a sensible deficit reduction plan. Progress has been made. But, recently several members of the so-called "Gang of Six," walked out of the negotiations because of ideological resistance to balancing spending cuts for the middle class with ending some tax breaks for the wealthy.
As they defend the rights of working-class Americans, I would urge them also to consider the recommendations included in the National Urban League's 12-Point Jobs Plan, "Putting Urban American Back To Work." The creation of Urban Jobs Academies to train the critically unemployed, or Green Empowerment Zones to locate manufacturing jobs in urban areas, could ease the transition to spending cuts.
So far, the President and sensible members of Congress have stood firm in their refusal to give in to ideological extortion. As the President said in last week's press conference, "Any agreement to reduce our deficit is going to require tough decisions and balanced solutions. And, before we ask our seniors to pay more for health care, before we cut our children's education, before we sacrifice our commitment to the research and innovation that will help create more jobs in the economy, I think it's only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that has done so well to give up a tax break that no other business enjoys." We agree. Raise the debt ceiling, but not on the backs of working and middle class Americans.
Marc H. Morial is President and CEO of the National Urban League.


text:
The Fire Box by Vincenzo Di Fatta
The magician shows an elegant box with two holes on its sides; he puts a silk inside the box, running it through the two holes. Suddenly the box bursts into flames, but the silk doesn't burn down... instead, it is pulled from one side to the other of the box, staying undamaged!
Finally, the fire ends and the silk is shown intact. The box is once more shown on its inside and it doesn't have any gimmick.
• Light and easy to carry.
• Suitable for any kind of audience.
• The silk is not supplied, but it can be purchased separately.


text:
A modern 100 bed hospital opened in 2008, located in Gurgaon, outside of New Delhi.The hospital is a part of the Columbia Asia Group, which has an international patients office able to assist foreign patients with all aspects of medical travel.
Ocular Prosthesis
upon request
Apollo Bangalore is a modern, JCI accredited, multi-specialty hospital, capable of treating the most complex medical cases, including neurosurgy, bone marrow transplants, oncology and cardiac surgery. Apollo provides a full range of services for foreign patients.
Oculoplastic Surgery
Ophthalmic Surgery, Pediatric Ophthalmology
This information is intended for general information only and should not be considered as medical advice on the part of Health-Tourism.com. Any decision on medical treatments, after-care or recovery should be done solely upon proper consultation and advice of a qualified physician.
An ocular prosthesis may be referred to using several other names such as prosthetic eye, artificial eye, or glass eye. It is a type of a craniofacial prosthesis that is used to replace a natural eye following an enucleation. The artificial eye is made of medical grade plastic acrylic.
Implanting an ocular prosthesis is usually recommended following the surgical removal of an eye as a result of damage or disease. An eye may be removed due to various reasons such as:
Two main surgical procedures may be used to remove a damaged eye. The type of surgery to be employed is usually decided by the doctor, due to the kind of eye condition you have, or the degree of damage to the eye. The two types of surgery are Evisceration and Enucleation.
Originally, just as the name suggested, a glass eye was made of glass. However, today, a prosthetic eye is made of medical grade plastic acrylic. It takes the shape of a convex shell.
The prosthetic eye fits over a separate ocular implant. The ocular implant is a solid rounded implant that is surgically embedded permanently into the eye socket. It is often wrapped with living tissue or synthetic cushioning material before placement.
Copyright © 2008 - 2023 Health-Tourism.com, All Rights Reserved


text:
Supportive Care Medicine is expert medical care dedicated to relieving the pain, distress and other symptoms that can accompany serious illness. It is specialized care and aims to treat the whole person. Serious illness affects patients and their families, including physical, emotional, social and spiritual challenges. Supportive Care Medicine is provided by team members who work together to support patients and families in all of these areas.
Supportive Care Medicine may be provided together with curative and life-prolonging treatment. While most medical treatments are aimed at treating the disease, Supportive Care Medicine directs its efforts at minimizing the overall impact that being seriously ill has on patients and families. Supportive care is about more care – not less. It is medical care that considers the whole person, not just the disease.
The focus of the care is on well-being; on ensuring that all reasonable treatment options are explored; on having patients and families make informed health care decisions; on maximizing comfort and minimizing unwanted hospitalizations or treatments; and on patients living the best life possible with a serious illness.
Involvement from the Supportive Care Medicine team is often helpful at the time of diagnosis, when symptoms are present. Patients with more advanced illness also benefit from supportive care and the benefits are even greater for those patients and their family members who seek help earlier.
Patients may be referred to the Moffitt Supportive Care Medicine Program for consultation at any stage of cancer, including at time of diagnosis. The program works collaboratively with other health care practitioners to provide the extra layer of support that patients often need while undergoing anti-cancer treatments. While others are working to treat the disease, Supportive Care Medicine focuses its efforts on relieving the physical and emotional distress caused by the disease and assisting with planning ahead.
Moffitt's Supportive Care Medicine Program includes four services that offer individualized care focused on the needs and goals of patients and their families throughout the course of illness and treatment:
- Integrative Medicine
Provides complementary therapies, such as mindfulness and meditation techniques, acupuncture, yoga and massage therapy for stress reduction, relaxation, added comfort and relief. Read more about our Healing and Wellness services.
- Behavioral Medicine
Medication management, therapy and counseling are provided by the Supportive Care Medicine Program psychiatrists and psychologists to help reduce and manage anxiety, depression, sleep problems and other stressors or coping challenges.
- Palliative Medicine
Specialists provide pain and symptom management throughout the course of illness to improve comfort, quality of life and daily function. This service also includes social workers and chaplains to provide emotional, spiritual and practical support for adjusting to living with a serious illness. The team members help with transitions of care and advance care planning.
- Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment
Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) is a gentle hands-on technique that helps relieve pain and improve function. The treatment targets muscles and bones to improve range of motion and support better quality of life. OMT is provided by our doctors of Osteopathic Medicine and is often used in combination with medication and/or procedures. OMT treatments can help improve: muscle and joint pain, nausea, constipation, hiccups, sinus congestion and headaches.
If you are a patient at Moffitt Cancer Center, your oncologist can refer you to our Behavioral and Supportive Care Medicine Clinics. For more information, please call 1-888-663-3488.


text: School Picture Day Our neighborhood restaurant in Bangkok was in an abandoned lot, underneath a huge tree choked with strangler fig vines. Bamboo picnic tables squatted under a multicolored roof of vinyl and plastic sheeting. It had a TV on a stump of wood, and Thai food so delicious that we'd gladly brave the hordes of geckos and mosquitoes. Serving that food was our soon-to-be lifelong friend, Nong Arm. Strings of agricultural villages lay along the mountain border between Myanmar and Thailand. Scattered between them are public boarding schools where village children come to find their education. In Arm's village school, about one-third of the students live in rural areas. Each semester, the kids walk for two days to reach the school where they'll both live and study during the semester. Arm was a kind of village Aunty. When students were out of school, they would come and spend afternoons on her porch. My wife and I drew pictures for them, and they shared their school lessons with us. Learning that the students had never had class photos taken, I volunteered to be the school's first-ever photographer. We decided to trade: I'd give them a picture, and the students would make us a picture in return. A teacher friend came along to facilitate and give drawing lessons while I shot school portraits. Armed with a pair of small canon photo printers, we spent the next day printing and handing out 4x6 portraits to each student. We also replicated the event in one of the more remote villages, whose students couldn't attend picture day. It's our hope that, seeing themselves as students, these children will take pride in their education and consider staying in school, even when most children quit young.


text:
I have been called a Cookie Monster by some of my blogging friends, but I believe I am not the only one – the lovely and dear Susan seems to love cookies as much as I do, because she's hosting the second season of Eat Christmas Cookies!
I took part in the first edition of the event last year and so did many of talented people. There were several delicious entries and I am sure this year will be the same. To make things even better, Susan will give away one copy of Anita's book. Yay! :D
My choice this time is snickerdoodles, but not the traditional ones - these are packed with a wonderful citrus touch. Yum!
Orange snickerdoodles
from here
110g unsalted butter, softened
215g sugar
1 egg
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
200g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar (215g) until light and fluffy. Add the egg and orange zest and beat for 30 seconds more. Finally add the flour and baking soda and beat until incorporated. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.
Make balls using 1 rounded teaspoon of dough and roll them in the sugar-cinnamon mixture and place on prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart.
Bake for 10 minutes, one sheet at a time, or until they swell then crack. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes then transfer cookies to a wire rack.
Makes 45


text:
Car strikes group at white nationalist at rally
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Authorities are on the scene after a vehicle plowed into a group of people marching peacefully through downtown Charlottesville on Saturday.
App users: View full article here
An Associated Press reporter saw at least one person on the ground receiving medical treatment immediately afterward the incident, which occurred approximately two hours after violent clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters.
Rally supporters and counter-protesters screamed, chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday morning.
Men dressed in militia uniforms were carrying shields and openly carrying long guns. Right-wing blogger Jason Kessler planned what he called a "pro-white" rally to protest Charlottesville's decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Virginia's governor has declared a state of emergency in response to a white nationalist rally that is expected to draw up to 6,000 people.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe said via his Twitter account on Saturday morning that the declaration was made in order "to aid state response to violence" at the rally in Charlottesville, about 100 miles outside of Washington, D.C.
The city's manager also declared a local emergency and police ordered people to disperse from the area around the statue after several violent clashes broke out.
Colleen Cook, 26, stood on a curb shouting at the rally attendees to go home.
Cook, a teacher who attended the University of Virginia, said she sent her black son out of town for the weekend.
"This isn't how he should have to grow up," she said.
Cliff Erickson leaned against a fence and took in the scene. He said he thinks removing the statue amounts to erasing history and said the "counterprotesters are crazier than the alt-right."
"Both sides are hoping for a confrontation," he said.
It's the latest confrontation in Charlottesville since the city about 100 miles outside of Washington, D.C., voted earlier this year to remove a statue of Lee from a downtown park.
In May, a torch-wielding group that included prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer gathered around the statue for a nighttime protest, and in July, about 50 members of a North Carolina-based KKK group traveled there for a rally, where they were met by hundreds of counter-protesters.
Kessler said this week that the rally is partly about the removal of Confederate symbols but also about free speech and "advocating for white people."
"This is about an anti-white climate within the Western world and the need for white people to have advocacy like other groups do," he said in an interview.
Between rally attendees and counter-protesters, authorities were expecting as many as 6,000 people, Charlottesville police said this week.
Among those expected to attend are Confederate heritage groups, KKK members, militia groups and "alt-right" activists, who generally espouse a mix of racism, white nationalism and populism.
Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which track extremist groups, said the event has the potential to be the largest of its kind in at least a decade.
Officials have been preparing for the rally for months. Virginia State Police will be assisting local authorities, and a spokesman said the Virginia National Guard "will closely monitor the situation and will be able to rapidly respond and provide additional assistance if needed."
Police instituted road closures around downtown, and many businesses in the popular open-air shopping mall opted to close for the day.
Both local hospitals said they had taken precautions to prepare for an influx of patients and had extra staff on call.
There were also fights Friday night when hundreds of white nationalists marched through the University of Virginia campus carrying torches.
A university spokesman said one person was arrested and several people were injured.
Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer said he was disappointed that the white nationalists had come to his town and blamed President Donald Trump for inflaming racial prejudices with his campaign last year.
"I'm not going to make any bones about it. I place the blame for a lot of what you're seeing in American today right at the doorstep of the White House and the people around the president."
Charlottesville, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, is a liberal-leaning city that's home to the flagship University of Virginia and Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.
The statue's removal is part of a broader city effort to change the way Charlottesville's history of race is told in public spaces. The city has also renamed Lee Park, where the statue stands, and Jackson Park, named after Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. They're now called Emancipation Park and Justice Park, respectively.
For now, the Lee statue remains. A group called the Monument Fund filed a lawsuit arguing that removing the statue would violate a state law governing war memorials. A judge has agreed to a temporary injunction that blocks the city from removing the statue for six months.


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Rimsha Masih's Unending Nightmare
Frank Crimi in FrontPage
After being acquitted in January 2013 of blasphemy charges, Pakistan's Supreme Court has now reopened the case against Rimsha Masih, a 14-year-old Pakistani Christian girl believed to suffer from mental disabilities.
Rimsha's case had drawn international attention as well as corresponding outrage after the young girl was arrested at her home in August 2012 and charged with blasphemy upon being accused by a Muslim neighbor of allegedly burning pages from a Koran.
It should be noted that running afoul of Pakistan's notorious blasphemy laws can earn sentences of death or life in prison for those convicted of desecrating Islam's holy book or insulting its Prophet Muhammad.
For her part, Rimsha, who worked as a maid at the time, denied through her attorney any blasphemous wrongdoing, claiming she was simply burning garbage and "did not know a Koranic book was among the papers because she cannot read."
Moreover, Pakistan's Minister for National Harmony, Paul Bhatti, said that given Rimsha's mental disorder, it was unlikely the young girl had "purposefully desecrated the Koran."
Unfortunately, Rimsha's illiteracy and mental impairment were not persuasive enough arguments in which to prevent Pakistani police from incarcerating the young girl for the alleged heretical act.
Yet, in September 2012, Rimsha's case seemingly took a turn for the better when Pakistani police arrested a local Muslim cleric, Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, and charged him with planting the burned Koranic pages in an effort to frame Rimsha.
According to a police official Chishti "put pages into the ashes, showed them to the people of the area, and gathered them to attack the girl's house."
Those charges were corroborated by three officials from Chishti's mosque who told a judge that Chishti's attempt to incriminate Rimsha was part of a broader plan by the cleric to oust Christians living in the poor Mehrabad neighborhood of Islamabad where Rimsha and her family lived.
Of course, that revelation most likely raised few eyebrows given that Pakistan's blasphemy statutes are often used and abused to either settle personal scores or as weapons in which persecute religious minorities, such as Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis.
Still, the officials testified that they had urged Chishti to not go through with his plan, efforts which apparently had little effect on the Imam who reportedly replied, "You know, this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area."
Unfortunately, Chishti's plan almost worked to perfection. Soon after the accusations were levied against Rimsha, an angry Muslim mob numbering in the thousands gathered outside Rimsha's house, where they threatened to burn down Christian homes in the neighborhood if police did not arrest the young girl.
To that end, over a thousand Christians in the area were forced to flee their homes, seeking shelter in church compounds or sleeping outdoors, a move which at the time, according to the head of a Pakistan-based human rights group, was "the largest reallocation of Christians from any area of Pakistan."
To this day, many of those same Christian families have yet to return to their homes, fearful of Muslim reprisals. Included in that exiled group is Rimsha, her parents and relatives, all of whom have been in hiding since Rimsha was released on bail in September 2012.
Rimsha's flee to safer confines was certainly understandable given that in Pakistan, those accused of blasphemy, more often than not, never see their cases settled by a Pakistani court but instead are forced into hiding or killed by mobs before they even stand trial.
Since 1990 at least 60 Christians accused of blasphemy have been killed extra-judiciously by enraged Muslim mobs or individuals.
For his part, Chishti, who has been out on bail since October 2012, has denied the allegations levied against him. Moreover, the prospect of Chishti paying any judicial price for his misdeeds seem fairly remote given that the witnesses who testified against him have since recanted their statements.
Despite that, the case against Rimsha appeared to have been settled in November 2012 when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed the blasphemy charges against her, finding that there was no evidence that she had been seen burning the Koranic pages.
Rimsha, however, was still not out of the Pakistani judicial woods as shortly after the IHC ruling, the neighbor who had initially accused Rimsha of blasphemy, Malik Ammad, filed an appeal to Pakistan's Supreme Court, claiming that "the police had shown bias in investigating the charges against Rimsha."
Yet, in January 2013 Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld the IHC decision when it voted to acquit Rimsha of all charges of blasphemy, a decision which presumably ended all further legal challenges in her case. As Rimsha's attorney, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, said at the time, "The SC's decision has put an end to future contentions on the case."
As for the fate of Rimsha and her family, Chaudhry said "we will now seriously consider relocating them to some other city so that they can resume their normal lives now that the case has reached its logical end."
Unfortunately, that pronouncement has been proven woefully premature as the Pakistani Supreme Court voted at the end of March to reopen the case after receiving an appeal from a police investigator who claims he "was pressured by the government to drop charges against her after an international outcry."
So now Rimsha Masih once again faces the prospect of life in prison for a crime she clearly did not commit, a fate that perhaps only a deafening international outcry can prevent from happening.


text:
EEB GSA Minutes 6 September 2012
EEB GSA Meeting – 6 September 2012
Kasey, Jessie, Brigette, Holly, Nora, James, Bill (briefly), Shannon, Cera, Michael, Dustin, Veronica, Tim, Ursula, Jeff
1) T-Shirts
BZ designed t-shirts in 2010, wants to solicit ideas for tshirt designs as a fundraiser, can suggest design ideas to BZ, she will sketch. Want design ideas within the next few weeks. Please send abstract ideas or sketches to BZ. KP suggested re-using an older design. Submission deadline: 3 weeks from today. B&W designs only (for $ purposes). The simpler, the better. Once we have a design, can figure out logistics. Other ideas for fundraising? Customized glassware? Pintglasses. Raffles? 50/50 at the barn dance? Depending on theme, could come up with something else in terms of a prize.
2) Barn Dance – led by Jessie
DATE: Friday October 12th (rain date = Saturday the 13th)
THEME: Invasive Species? dress up, cook, decorate
FOOD: Chili – cook invasive species if you can!
INVITATIONS: Brigette
DECORATIONS: have tablecloths – Brigette, Cera, Nora
SETUP: Jessie, Jon, Kasey, Brigette, Cera, Nora, Tim, Veronica, Dustin
CLEANUP: Jessie, Jon, Bill, Karolina, Tim, Veronica, Ursula
GREENING EVENT: ceramic plates (Mona), green grad plates, silverware (?) Hayley
MUSIC (speaker system): Jon pick-up and drop-off
DJ: Jessie
KEG: Karolina & Kasey
VBALL: Reserve from rec services (talk to Karolina), Veronica
CHAIRS: Wags/Janine/Greg
PINATA: James, Brigette, Cera
FIREWORKS: Wags
CORNHOLE & LADDERBALL: Beth
3) Committees
-Treasurer: Brigette
-EEB Faculty Rep:
-Botanical: Defunct
-Invert: Defunct
-Vert: Defunct
-Grad Invited Seminar Liason: Jon and Tim
-Grad Symposium:
-Tuesday Ev. Seminar:
-Welcome Committee:
-CCB: Beth
-Cirriculum Rep: Defunct
4) Pre-Seminar Snack:
5) Other Concerns:
Start of meeting: 5:07
End of meeting: 6:05
Minutes by Jessie Rack


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Expert's Rating
- Easy-to-use, one-click VPN service
- Virtually no configuration required
- Limited to one location
- Free version's speed throttled to 300 kbps
Our Verdict
Through the ProXPN virtual private network, you can maintain your privacy and identity.
Your privacy, safety, and anonymity on the Internet are increasingly under threat. Governments want more power to monitor people's Web usage, and businesses want to keep records of every website you visit and every item you purchase online. And let's not forget the shady-looking individual sitting in the corner of the coffee shop, monitoring your wireless signal in an attempt to steal your online banking details and passwords.
Fortunately, you don't have to disconnect your computer and hide under the blankets. Using a VPN (virtual private network), you can encrypt your signal and hide your location to stop bad guys from snooping and to keep your private information safe. One good VPN that helps you do both is ProXPN, which offers free and paid plans.
Like all free plans, a ProXPN Basic account comes with significant restrictions. Before I get into that, though, I want to point out that this is perhaps one of the easiest VPNs (if not the easiest) I have ever encountered when it comes to setup. You simply install the application, create your account, and log in. That's it—no awkward fiddling around in configuration panels, no indispensable-yet-indecipherable user manual. The tool is an absolute pleasure to use. Previously I reviewed TunnelBear, and at the time I thought that utility was the simplest to set up, but ProXPN is a new contender.
The problem with the ProXPN free service lies in those restrictions. If you go for the freebie, your speed is throttled to 300 kilobits per second, and you are restricted to only one geographical location (Miami). You also miss out on some really great paid-only features, such as iOS and Android access, port selection, and geographical location alternatives such as Amsterdam, London, and Singapore. One particularly neat feature of the paid account is VPN Guard, which allows you to specify which applications on your computer should immediately shut down if you lose the ProXPN connection. For instance, if you're downloading torrents, you can have ProXPN shut down your torrent client when the ProXPN VPN signal disappears along with your anonymity.
The pricing structure of the paid plan is $10 a month, $50 for six months, and $75 for one year. It's rather expensive compared with TunnelBear, which costs only $5 per month and $50 per year.
If you're looking for some peace of mind, along with privacy and security, this small and lightweight VPN client will do the trick. You can browse anonymously, making it appear as if you are on a completely different continent. And eventually you'll forget that ProXPN is even on your computer.
Note: Click the Download Now button to download the Windows version of the installer. For the Mac OS X version, visit the ProXPN website.
—Mark O'Neill


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|The Naturalization Process
In the United States, before 1952, the naturalization process began with a Declaration of Intent to become a citizen. This declaration is also referred to as "First Papers." Three years after this declaration was filed, and five years after arriving in the country, a Petition for Naturalization ("Second Papers") could be filed in the same or a different court. A Certificate of Citizenship could then be issued.
Until 1922, a foreign-born woman married to a naturalized citizen was automatically made a citizen. Until 1940, a child under the age of 21 was granted citizenship based on the status of his father. After 22 Sept 1922 an alien woman who married a US citizen could skip the Declaration of Intention and file for a Naturalization Petition. But if an alien woman married an alien man she would have to start her naturalization proceedings at the beginning with a Declaration of Intention.
Jill Cruse provided the images of indexes to original Declarations of Intent from 20 Dec 1855 to 2 Mar 1880. They were transcribed by Don Kelly (A-K) and edited and formatted by Richard Harrison. Original images are included when available. Volunteers are needed to transcribe the remaining documents.
Copies of Naturalization papers or Declaration of Intent can be obtained from the Des Moines County Genealogical Society, PO Box 493, Burlington, Iowa, 52601, for a modest fee, or from the Des Moines County Courthouse.
|Copyright © 2009–2014, The IAGenWeb Project


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Charice4.85294(68 votes)
Release Date: May 11, 2010Tracks: 12404
Why is there no news after
Why is there no news after 2012? Your voice is fantastic - hope you still is singing. Looking forward to hear you again. Where are you today?
Charice, I have never heard
Charice, I have never heard of you before...
Yesterday I saw the video, you performing All By Myself, with David Foster at Mandalay Bay in Vegas. Tears were running over my face, I was so impressed! I love your voice, it is really astonishing, unbelievable... You can compare with Celine.
I hope to get the opportunity to see you at least once in my life in a live performance!
charice!!!! hahhahha you're
charice!!!! hahhahha you're my idols and my inspiration ... never 4 ever and ever ...
ur voice is exploding hanep
ur voice is exploding hanep ang voice mo idol kita,more power sa concert this sept 28 2013..wait na lang ako sa dvd or cd sa usa..
Pow seria um belo dia se
Pow seria um belo dia se charice vinhe-se ao brasil KKk Dia que nunca chega O_o
But anyway good luck to her
But anyway good luck to her that God help her with her dreams and then more and more in a singer vida.E Wonderful!
I think this personal Charice
I think this personal Charice busy with this work never saw her answering questions on twiter and not put anything on Facebook.
Charice! I've heard your
Charice! I've heard your songs and i just can say, you're awesome...
I'm from Chile, and... Oh my god! Your voice!
Your voice it's beautiful, really beautiful.
When i first heard one of your songs, Pyramid in this case, was like "Oh, who is she? I love her voice!"
Good Luck in everything, please... if you can, come to Chile!
You inspired me... not kidding :)
hi Charice! I hope you will
hi Charice! I hope you will release a new album soon here in the U.S.!!! I love you no matter what... take good care! :)
i love you
i love you
Charice, amo a sua voz...
Charice, amo a sua voz... suas músicas... Quero vê-la brilhar ainda mais... Venha para o Brasil !!!!!!!!!!
The package at KaZantip was
The package at KaZantip was luxurious, the rooms were affordable and the connection to internet, TV, servicing and food were amazing. The infrastructure is so good and they have planned so well.http://www.thecrimea.org.ua/content/view/123
I Love you Charice, i love
I Love you Charice, i love your personality, i love your voice, cause your voice is amazing to me.
Hello Charice ... promise me
Hello Charice ... promise me one thing ... never stop singing ever ... your voice is touching.
I watch your videos on youtube several times a day, every time I get goosebumps .. there are not many artists that can touch me so easily when you see the same video all the time.
hai charice,,,what the great
hai charice,,,what the great voice of asia,,,i'm from indonesia,,,good luck,,,
love dis song " fan from
love dis song " fan from india
When do we have the pleasure
When do we have the pleasure of seeing Charise in London ? xx
i like this song ... :)
i like this song ... :)
when did you perform in
when did you perform in Indonesia, especially in Manado????
waw .... you are very
waw .... you are very beautiful high voice and make all your fans to chill
Luv this song! (:
Luv this song! (:
I'm no big fan before.... Now
I'm no big fan before.... Now, I'm soooooooo addicted to your videos!!!
I'm hungry for more of your performances Charice because your sooooo GOOD!
God bless and more songs please! :)
I love your songs. God bless
I love your songs. God bless u in your future life!!
Beautiful voice, hold to your
Beautiful voice, hold to your dreams and don't let them ever change your heart. Sing the music that deserves and challenges "YOUR" gift and talent. This is where you shine...
I recently started watching
I recently started watching Glee on Netlfix. I am almost through season 2 and I was blown away by your talent. I was looking up Celine Dion's Because You Loved Me and found your performance with Celine at Madison Square garden and I knew I wanted to be a fan of yours. I was in tears watching that performance and the segment of My Heart Will Go On. I am jealous that you exude so much power and emotion in ever piece you sing. You are now an idol of mine!!! :D
Good luck for tomorrow!!!!!!!
Good luck for tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please, come in Italy as soon as you can, 'cause I can't wait to hear you singing!!!!
I really like your voice
I really like your voice charice....mwah
I love your song charice
I love your song charice


text:
The National Forum of India | The National Forum of India | The National Forum of India | => => 01. http://Andhra.ozg.in => => 02. http://Arunachal.ozg.in => => 03. http://Assam.ozg.in => => 04. http://Bengal.ozg.in => => 05. http://Bihar.ozg.in => => 06. http://Chhattisgarh.ozg.in => => 07. http://Goa.ozg.in => => 08. http://Gujarat.ozg.in => => 09. http://Haryana.ozg.in => => 10. http://Himachal.ozg.in => => 11. http://Kashmir.ozg.in => => 12. http://Jharkhand.ozg.in => => 13. http://Karnataka.ozg.in => => 14. http://Kerala.ozg.in => => 15. http://Madhya-Pradesh.ozg.in => => 16. http://Maharashtra.ozg.in => => 17. http://Manipur.ozg.in => => 18. http://Meghalaya.ozg.in => => 19. http://Mizoram.ozg.in => => 20. http://Nagaland.ozg.in => => 21. http://Orissa.ozg.in => => 22. http://Punjab.ozg.in => => 23. http://Rajasthan.ozg.in => => 24. http://Sikkim.ozg.in => => 25. http://Tamilnadu.ozg.in => => 26. http://Tripura.ozg.in => => 27. http://Uttarakhand.ozg.in => => 28. http://Uttar-Pradesh.ozg.in => a. http://Delhi.ozg.in =>b. http://Bombay.ozg.in =>c. http://Kolkata.ozg.in =>d. http://Chennai.ozg.in =>e. http://Bangalore.ozg.in The National Forum of India | The National Forum of India | The National Forum of India
A Pretext to Impose Brutal Repression: the Government's "Offensive" Is a Formula for Bloodshed and Injustice - The Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a national platform of adivasi and forest dwellers' mass organisations from ten States, unequivocally condemns the reported plans for a military "offensive" by the government in the country's major forest and tribal areas. This offensive, ostensibly targeted against the CPI (Maoist), is a smoke screen for an assault against the people, especially adivasis, aimed at suppressing all dissent, all resistance and engineering the takeover of their resources. Certain facts make this clear: The government tells us that this offensive will make it possible for the "state to function" in these areas and fill the "vacuum of governance." This is grossly misleading. The Indian state is very, very active in these areas, often in its most brutal and violent form. A vivid example is the illegal eviction of more than 3,00,000 families by the Forest Departments a few years ago. Laws have been totally disregarded; Constitutional protections for adivasi rights blatantly ignored and their rights over water, forest and land (jal, jangal, jamin) glaringly violated. Every month an increasing number of people are jailed, beaten and killed by the police. If this is the picture of what "absence" of the state means, people are terrified of what the "presence" of the state will mean. It can only mean converting brutalized governance into militarized rule, a total negation of democracy. This is not a war over "development." People's struggles in India today are over democracy and dignity - Meaningful development must contribute to strengthening the right of all people to their resources and their production, and thereby to control over their own destiny. For generations, adivasis have fought for their Constitutional rights and entitlements. More recently, mass democratic movements have fought for new laws and policies, such as the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), the Forest Rights Act, the right to work and the right to food, in addition to earlier laws like the Minimum Wages Act, the Restoration of Alienated Lands Acts, and land reform and moneylending laws. These laws make it possible for people to fight for greater control over their lives, their livelihoods, their lands and their forests. However these laws are respected more in the breach; if the government wants "development", let it first stop the blatant disregard of its own laws. Let people determine the path of their own development, in accordance with their rights over their resources and the type of infrastructure they desire. The Constitution itself requires this kind of planning. The claim that "development" can be provided through military force is both absurd and ridiculous. This war is not about "national security"; it is about `securing' the interests of global and Indian capital and big business. Any government worried about security would send its troops against mining mafias, the forest mafias, violent vigilante groups like the salwa judum and others. Rather than being curbed, these killers are in fact supported by the police. Have the security forces ever been deployed to defend the people struggling to protect themselves, their forests, their livelihoods and their futures? The answer is no. The notion of "security" being advanced by the government clearly has nothing to do with the people. Rather, it is to enable big business to engage in robbery and expropriation of resources, which they have decided will be one of their main sources of accumulation. Hence, mining, "infrastructure", real estate, land grabbing, all aimed at super-profits, are being projected as "development" needed by the people. Huge amounts of international and government money are being pumped into so-called "forestry projects" which displace people from their lands and destroy biodiversity (even while they are trumpeted as a strategy for climate change). The UPA is rushing into agreements with the US and other imperial countries to throw open mining and land to international exploitation. But where do the forests, land, water and minerals lie? They are found in the forest and tribal areas, where people - some organised under the CPI (Maoist), some organized under democratic movements, some in spontaneous local struggles, some simply fighting in whatever manner they can are resisting the destruction of their homes, resources and their lives. The "offensive against the Maoists" is only a subterfuge to crush this citizens' resistance and to provide an excuse for more abuse of power, more brutality and more injustice. The government knows perfectly well that it cannot destroy the CPI (Maoist), or any people's struggle, through military action. How can the armed forces identify who is a "Maoist" and who is not? The use of brute military force will result in the slaughter of thousands of people in prolonged, bloody and brutal guerrilla warfare. This has been the result of every "security offensive" in India's history from Kashmir to Nagaland. So why do this? And why now? Unless the goal has nothing to do with "wiping out the Maoists" and everything to do with having an excuse for the permanent presence of lakhs of troops, arms and equipment in these areas. To protect and serve whom? Hence the need for fear mongering and hysteria about Maoist "sympathisers" and their "infiltration" into "civil society." The government has a very long history of labeling any form of dissent as "Naxalite" or "Maoist." The Maoists' politics are known; their positions are public; the only secret aspect of their work is their personal identities and military tactics. We who work in these areas do not fear this bogey of "infiltration" in our groups by Maoists, for the different stands taken by our organizations and theirs are clear, and in some areas there are open disputes. This scaremongering is just an excuse to justify a crackdown on all forms of dissent and democratic protest in these areas, a crushing of all people's resistance, and the branding of any questioning, any demand for justice, as "Maoist." In the final analysis, peace and justice will only come to India's workers, peasants, adivasis, dalits and other oppressed sections through the mass democratic struggle of the people. A democratic struggle requires democratic space. The conversion of a region into a war zone, by anyone, is unacceptable. In the forest areas in particular, there is now a need for a new peace, one that can only be achieved through a genuine democratic dialogue between the political forces involved. For this to happen, this horrific "offensive" must first be called off. If the government really wishes to claim that it is committed to protecting people and their rights, let its actions comply with the requirements of law, justice and democracy.Bharat Jan Andolan, National Front for Tribal Self Rule, Jangal Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti (Mah), Adivasi Mahasabha (Guj), Adivasi Jangal Janjeevan Andolan (D&NH), Jangal Jameen Jan Andolan (Raj), Madhya Pradesh Jangal Jeevan Adhikar Bachao Andolan, Jan Shakti Sanghatan (Chat), Peoples Alliance for Livelihood Rights, Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha, Orissa Jan Sangharsh Morcha, Campaign for Survival & Dignity (Ori), Orissa Jan Adhikar Morcha, Adivasi Aikya Vedike (AP), Campaign for Survival and Dignity TN, Bharat Jan Andolan (Jhar).


text: Character Analysis Mrs. Joe Abusive and self-important, Mrs. Joe appears to be total evil; however, some of her behavior is understandable. When she was twenty, before this story begins, she was left alone with a helpless infant brother who was not even weaned. By the time the reader is introduced to her, she has already buried two parents and five brothers and has no husband, and hence, no means to support herself. Joe solves that by marrying her. However, because of all the loss in her life early on, she fears abandonment and wants security, so her focus is survival. She seeks it through power and wealth and unconsciously communicates these values to Pip. Joe alludes to her fear of abandonment when he notes that she does not want Joe to better himself. That would take away her power in handling the business end of things in their relationship, and may even give Joe the opportunity to leave her.


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NFPA Members save an additional 10%.
Promote the health and safety of fire department members on the job with the Spanish edition of NFPA 1582!
Consistent with current medical research and knowledge, the 2007 Spanish NFPA 1582: Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Program for Fire Departments presents updated provisions and requirements for the medical evaluation of candidates and occupational medical and fitness evaluations for incumbent fire fighters. Requirements are equated against the essential job tasks based on several NFPA® Professional Qualification Standards.
Significant changes in the 2007 Spanish edition include:
(Print, 66 pp., 2007 Spanish Edition)


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Chief Illiniwek danced his official last dance at the University of Illinois on Feb. 21, 2007.
But that hasn't stopped U. of I. alumni and other Chief supporters from working to keep the controversial mascot around, leading the state's flagship public university and Illiniwek fans to clash from time to time.
In a recent development, U. of I. officials and organizers of the Honor the Chief Society have drafted an agreement that would end a trademark dispute and spell out specifically how the name and image can be used, according to a copy obtained by The News-Gazette of Champaign.
Roger Huddleston, co-founder of the Honor the Chief Society, said he expects the university to sign the agreement by the end of the week. The group filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2009 to register the Chief Illiniwek symbol, arguing that the university no longer had rights to it because it wasn't using it. The university opposed the group's application, and by signing the agreement, the group agrees to end that fight.
"It allows us to do all the things we have been doing. We feel like we have more freedom than not because we at least know where the fences are," Huddleston said. "We can promote the history of the Chief Illiniwek tradition. We can talk about it. We can be an advocate for it."
What the group can't do is call anyone "Chief Illiniwek" or "the Next Chief Illiniwek," or use the Chief logo. It also has to include the following disclaimer on its website and any promotional materials: "The Honor the Chief Society is not sponsored, licensed, approved or endorsed by the University of Illinois."
The group, however, can use the phrase "Honor the Chief" on merchandise, and can sponsor events about the mascot's history and symbolism.
Robin Kaler, a spokeswoman for the U. of I. at Urbana-Champaign campus, said the agreement is in the "review process."
"Basically, the agreement puts in writing the things we have been saying all along: You can't choose another person and say he is the next Chief Illiniwek," Kaler said. "They can say 'we like Chief Illiniwek and wish he could come back.'"
The agreement states that the group can organize an event that includes the Chief's traditional dance performance, though the university will not "approve, sponsor or endorse" such an event.
"There is no copyright on the dance," Kaler said. "But if someone dresses in a costume that looks like Chief Illiniwek and advertises it as Chief Illiniwek, you can't do that. It really is on a case-by-case basis."
The 81-year tradition ended after years of threats, lawsuits and NCAA sanctions against the university's athletic teams. Chief opponents said the mascot was culturally insensitive to Native Americans, while supporters said it was an honorable tradition.
The chief, a barefoot student dressed in a feather headdress and buckskin regalia, performed a three-minute dance during halftime at basketball, football and volleyball games.