A. Roosevelt

100 Years of U.S. Navy Air Power
[Military] (Navy Reads)
Review by Bill Doughty“Where are our aircraft carriers?”It’s a question the Commander in Chief asks when facing crises, according to Kennedy, Kissinger and Clinton -- and personally attested to by former President George Herbert Walker Bush in his forward to One Hundred Years of U.S. Navy Air Power, edited by Douglas V. Smith, of the Naval War College.The ability to project power from the sea and the ability/flexibility of patrol planes, helicopters, jets and other Navy aircraft, past and ...

[details] [close] received 300 days ago published 300 days ago lang: en

Review by Bill Doughty

“Where are our aircraft carriers?”

It’s a question the Commander in Chief asks when facing crises, according to Kennedy, Kissinger and Clinton -- and personally attested to by former President George Herbert Walker Bush in his forward to One Hundred Years of U.S. Navy Air Power, edited by Douglas V. Smith, of the Naval War College.

The ability to project power from the sea and the ability/flexibility of patrol planes, helicopters, jets and other Navy aircraft, past and present, is celebrated in this book, published to coincide with the the Centennial of Naval Aviation.

With fifteen chapters, each written by a professors, historian or strategist, the book “tells a tale rife with courage and sacrifice, dangerous experimentation and awe-inspiring innovation, tenacity and dedication,” according to Bush, Sr.

Glenn Curtiss

The development of naval aviation is shown in the context of history by Dr. Stephen Stein, who teaches at the University of Memphis. Practical aviation started in 1783 with the first balloon flights. Ten years later, France’s Revolutionary Army used observation balloons, although Napoleon found little use for them in his war with Britain.
Civilians operated balloons for the Union Army in the American Civil War to sketch Confederate fortifications and artillery positions.

We see the fragile beginnings of carrier aviation with Eugene Ely’s flight in a Curtiss pusher airplane from USS Birmingham (CV-2) on Nov. 14, 1910.

When World War I began, the U.S. had less than one tenth the number of airplanes as Russia or Germany and about a fifth as many as Britain.

In Chapter 4, “Ships in the Sky,” Professor John E. Jackson writes about lighter-than-air craft and tells the story of Akron (ZRS-4), a Goodyear-Zeppelin fleet airship that demonstrated an unprecedented ability to gather intelligence. Akron was lost in 1933 in a violent storm, with a loss of 73 of the 76 crew, including Rear Adm. William A. Moffett.

The book introduces us to other proponents of naval aviation: Adm. Joseph Mason “Bull” Reeves, President (and former assistant secretary of the Navy) Franklin D. Roosevelt, Marine Corps 1st Lt. Alfred A. Cunningham, Coast Guard Cmdr. Frank Erickson, inventor Glenn Curtiss, Adm. Ernest J. King, Lt. John Towers, Lt. Cmdr. Henry C. Mustin and Capt. Mark Bristol and Adm. Charles Badger, among the pantheon introduced in Revolt of the Admirals.

How did leaders deal with geographic challenges in the Pacific in WWII? What did Adm. Reeves do to organize carrier flight deck operations? How did fighters and patrol aircraft evolve and how was rotary wing aviation born? How did naval aviation succeed in Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East? All good questions explored in One Hundred Years of U.S. Navy Air Power.

In Chapter 13, “Naval Aviation in the Korean and Vietnam Wars,” Professor Gary J. Ohls shows that strong weapons and skilled personnel are not enough to prevail in war:

“The most important lesson of Korea and of the history of warfare in general is that wars are won by adequate strategy and not tactical or operational excellence alone. this seems to have been completely lost on America’s leaders of the 1960s.”

Dr. Mike Pavelec, who teaches at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies at Maxwell Air Force Base, shows in Chapter 14 how the Navy developed the full perspective of Maritime Strategy when it introduced aircraft and submarines, giving the Navy a 3D aspect in integrated abilities above, below and on the surface of the oceans, helping advance a new naval and maritime strategy.

F-14 and F\A-18 aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65)

In “Conclusions” Douglas V. Smith returns to the question asked by U.S. presidents and advisors: “Where are our aircraft carriers?”

Smith says it’s no accident that nearly half of American presidents since WWII -- six of 13 -- have served in uniform in the U.S. Navy: Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Bush (41).

“All came to their office aware of the options afforded by, and comfortable with, the strategic and operational applications of Navy -- and particularly carrier air wing -- aviation as an instrument of national power.”

Smith concludes, “In the centennial year of U.S. Navy air power it is hoped that all Americans pause to salute those patriots who have ‘carried America’s flag into battle in pursuit of a just cause.’ They have shaped America’s history and will continue to do so in the second century of U.S. Navy air power.”

Speaking of a good cause, recently the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), along with various Navy patrol squadrons and helicopter squadrons and other assets, joined other U.S. military teams and the Japan Self-Defense Force to perform humanitarian relief missions in Operation Tomodachi, in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

This review only scratches the surface of what can be learned about the history, heroes and hardware in One Hundred Years of U.S. Navy Air Power, must reading for anyone interested in the topic. This book is published by the Naval Institute Press and is available at www.usni.org.
Robaina and Gimenez have resigned. Here is who has Qualified to run for Mayor. By Geniusofdespair
[Miami, Miami, FL] (EYE ON MIAMI)
Today is the last day, Here is who is qualified so far (note Robaina and Gimenez have not qualified yet): Roosevelt Bradley, Luther 'Luke' Campbell, Jose 'Pepe' Cancio, Farid A. Khavari, Jeffrey Lampert, Marcelo Llorente ...

[details] [close] received 305 days ago published 305 days ago lang: en

Today is the last day, Here is who is qualified so far (note Robaina and Gimenez have not qualified yet):

Roosevelt Bradley, Luther 'Luke' Campbell, Jose 'Pepe' Cancio, Farid A. Khavari, Jeffrey Lampert, Marcelo Llorente
CANGREJERAS DE ROOSEVELT CAMPEONES DEL BASEBALL SUPERIOR FEMENINO DE PUERTO RICO
[Citizen Journalism, News] (CNN iReport - Latest)
CANGREJERAS DE ROOSEVELT CAMPEONES DEL BASEBALL SUPERIOR FEMENINO DE PUERTO RICOCoamo, 11 de abril de 2011. Me informa el Deportista Alex Santiago que en la continuación de la Serie Final Torneo Superior femenino entre los equipos de las Atenienses de Manati y Cangrejeras de Roosevelt. Las Cangrejeras ganaron los dos partidos para proclamarse Campeones del Torneo Superior de Baseball Femenino.Los juegos celebrados en el Parque de Baseball de la Urbanización de Santiago Iglesias en Río Piedras ...

[details] [close] received 306 days ago published 306 days ago lang: en

CANGREJERAS DE ROOSEVELT CAMPEONES DEL BASEBALL SUPERIOR FEMENINO DE PUERTO RICO

Coamo, 11 de abril de 2011. Me informa el Deportista Alex Santiago que en la continuación de la Serie Final Torneo Superior femenino entre los equipos de las Atenienses de Manati y Cangrejeras de Roosevelt. Las Cangrejeras ganaron los dos partidos para proclamarse Campeones del Torneo Superior de Baseball Femenino.

Los juegos celebrados en el Parque de Baseball de la Urbanización de Santiago Iglesias en Río Piedras, hogar de las Cangrejeras, fue uno lleno de errores defensivos de ambos equipos, capitalizando mejor las locales quienes batearon oportunamente. Por las Cangrejeras el primer juego finalizo 7 -1, lanzo la derecha Johanna Ramos, que viene de una joya monticular hace unas semanas al lanzar un juego sin hits ni carreras. En esta ocasión trabajo por 7 entradas, 7 Ponches - 2 BB - 4 Hits. Las mejores bateadoras fueron Isabel Olivares 3-2 / 2 RBI: Brenda Colon 3-1 y Noemí Rosario 3-1. Perdió el partido Franchesca Figueroa: 5 entradas -5 Ponches - 4BB - 8 Hits por las Atenienses de Manatí.

El segundo juego lo lanzo Isabel Olivares, quien gano dos juegos en esta serie, lanzando 4 entradas - 4 Ponches - 5 BB - 2 Hits, guiando a Roosevelt al triunfo y así obtener el campeonato del torneo. En ese partido sobresalieron por Roosevelt, Isabel Olivares 3-3 / 4 RBI; Noemí Rosario 4-2 y Marleen Gómez 3-1.

El equipo de Roosevelt termino con record de 9 ganados y dos perdidos en la serie regular. Ganó la primera serie en dos juegos a las Bucaneras de Arroyo y en la Final de Sección eliminaron en tres juegos a las entonces Subcampeonas Samaritanas de San Lorenzo para pasar a la final de Puerto Rico.

Hay que destacar que Las Cangrejeras están en su primer año. Su apoderado lo es José A. Otero y dirigente Carlos Morales. Le recordamos que pueden visitar nuestra página electrónica WWW.NOTICIASILLESCANOS.COM para más información o videos de este torneo y otros temas.

Editado por Ramón Luis Vázquez de Noticiasillescanos.com
Today in Arizona History
[Washington, D.C.] (Examiner RSS)
The Associated Press Sunday, April 10 On this date in 1845, General George J. Roskruge, who served four terms as Pima County Surveyor, three terms as City Engineer of Tucson and was unanimously elected the first President of the Association of Civil Engineers of Arizona, was born. On this date in 1903, Mason Greenlee, pioneer from Kentucky for whom Greenlee County is named, died. On ...

[details] [close] received 308 days ago published 308 days ago lang: en

The Associated Press

Sunday, April 10

On this date in 1845, General George J. Roskruge, who served four terms as Pima County Surveyor, three terms as City Engineer of Tucson and was unanimously elected the first President of the Association of Civil Engineers of Arizona, was born.

On this date in 1903, Mason Greenlee, pioneer from Kentucky for whom Greenlee County is named, died.

On this date in 1904, Sister Euphrasia, one of five sisters who came to Tucson in 1871 from St. Louis to establish the academy of St. Joseph, died.

On this date in 1907, the Western Federation of Miners attempted to organize and strike the mines at Bisbee without success.

Monday, April 11

On this date in 1903, A.H. Reynolds visited Benson to look into establishing experimental tobacco farms in the San Pedro Valley.

On this date in 1910, it was announced that Phoenix contractor R. Toohey had been given the contract for construction of the Globe-Roosevelt Highway.

On this date in 1919, Dr. Merrill P. Freeman, pioneer Tucson banker, member of the Board of Regents and Arizona historian, died.

On this date in 1938, Dr. Andrew E. Douglass, noted developer of the tree-ring dating technique, retired as director of the Steward Observatory.

Tuesday, April 12

On this date in 1886, Gen. Nelson A. Miles arrived at Bowie Station to open a new campaign against the Apaches.

On this date in 1889, Flagstaff residents burned in effigy Gov. Lewis Wolfley to protest his veto of a bill that was to create Coconino County.

On this date in 1902, the Village of Yuma was incorporated as a town. It became a city in 1914.

On this date in 1910, A.W. Stewart, a Prescott electrician, built a new airship embodying the principals of the Wright Brothers machine, but with many new improvements of his own.

Wednesday, April 13

On this date in 1820, Thomas Gardner, one of the earliest pioneers in Santa Cruz County, was born.

On this date in 1877, the first Desert Land entry was made by William A. Hancock at Florence.

On this date in 1892, Charles D. Poston filed a claim on land which he called "Hole-in-the-Rock." The land was set aside as the Papago Saguaro National Monument in 1914 and in 1930, became Papago Park.

On this date in 1905, the Arizona Dam on the Salt River was washed out.

On this date in 1917, the town of Florence turned on its first electric street lights.

Thursday, April 14

On this date in 1919, 2nd Lt. Frank Luke Jr. of Phoenix was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry in action beyond the call of duty.

On this date in 1920, delegates to the district meeting of the State Women's Clubs in Phoenix exchanged heated words over the required medical examinations of students in public schools. Some called the requirements "un-American."

On this date in 1927, the first passenger train of the Southern Pacific of Mexico Railroad left Nogales for Guadalajara.

On this date in 1928, Mexican and American firefighters in Nogales joined efforts to save the famous Nogales Brewery, but the building was completely destroyed by the fire.

Friday, April 15

On this date in 1859, Camp Colorado was established on the Colorado River as a base for California bound immigrants. One week later the name was changed to Fort Mohave. It was abandoned in 1861 and re-garrisoned by troops from California on May 19, 1863.

On this date in 1893, an advertisement in the Mohave County Miner offered "loaded dice, perfect work and weight & cannot be detected by outsider. Guaranteed to win. Also the finest marked cards made."

On this date in 1911, President William Howard Taft announced he would veto the joint resolution of Congress providing statehood for Arizona because the proposed state constitution allowed for the recall of judges.

On this date in 1915, state offices were closed in the Salt River Valley as thousands gathered to witness the first spillage of water over Roosevelt Dam.

On this date in 1928, Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society and the Southern Pacific Railroad erected a stone shaft over the graves of Union soldiers who were killed in the skirmish with Confederate forces at Picacho Pass on April 15, 1862.

Saturday, April 16

On this date in 1915, melting snow in the White Mountains caused floods which took out two dams on the Little Colorado River near St. Johns. Eight people drowned and the reported property damage was $500,000.

END ADV
Illinois Daybook
[Washington, D.C.] (Examiner RSS)
The Associated Press Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication. Wednesday, April 6: GENERAL EVENTS-GOV. PAT QUINN: No public events scheduled. GENERAL EVENTS-MAYOR RICHARD DALEY: CHICAGO — Mayor Richard M. Daley holds press conference regarding "Concealed Carry" gun legislation. 9:55 a.m. ...

[details] [close] received 312 days ago published 312 days ago lang: en

The Associated Press

Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication.

Wednesday, April 6:

GENERAL EVENTS-GOV. PAT QUINN:

No public events scheduled.

GENERAL EVENTS-MAYOR RICHARD DALEY:

CHICAGO — Mayor Richard M. Daley holds press conference regarding "Concealed Carry" gun legislation. 9:55 a.m. Austin Town Hall cultural Center, 5610 West Lake. Contact: 312-744-3334.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Few dispute China's status as a major world player, but uncertainty reigns about the effect its distinct voice will have on the future of international law. A distinguished group of scholars debate this topic on at the University of Chicago Law School. 8:45 a.m.-4 p.m. Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom, 1111 E. 60th St. Contact: Sarah Galer, 773-702-8365.

CHICAGO — Discover the science behind spacesuit technology through unique photographs and X-ray images in Suited for Space — a temporary exhibit opening at the Museum of Science and Industry. 9:30 a.m.- 3p.m. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, 57th and Lake Shore Drive. Contact: Lauren Brush, 312-558-1770.

CHICAGO — Discover the science behind spacesuit technology through unique photographs and X-ray images in Suited for Space — a temporary exhibit opening at the Museum of Science and Industry. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Call in advance for spokesperson availability. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, 57th and Lake Shore Drive. Contact: Lauren Brush, 312-558-1770.

CHICAGO — The United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), Chicago's largest Hispanic organization and one of Chicago's major charter school managers, announce a new concept in public education: The UNO Soccer Academy. 2 p.m. 3434 W. 51st Street (Corner of 51st and Homan). Contact: Carlos Jaramillo, 312-432-6301 Ext. 223.

CHICAGO — The Chicagoland Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour. 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Illinois Institute of Technology. Contact: Sheena Lindahl, 800-930-8021 Ext. 703.

CHICAGO — The Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Chicago Area Food Studies Working Group present a discussion and screening of the documentary film "Lunch Line," which explores the history and current challenges of the National School Lunch Program. 3 p.m. UIC Institute for the Humanities, Stevenson Hall, lower level, 701 S. Morgan St. Contact: Brian Flood, 312-996-7681.

CHICAGO — Please Rally to End Nuclear Power. A demonstration led by the beat of a brass and drum band at the Swissotel Chicago call out and confront the nuclear industry at their own conference. A march down Michigan Avenue that will end at Navy Pier follows. 4:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Contact: David Kraft, 773-260-2321.

CHICAGO — Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis & WTTW-TV Chicago present a kick-off celebration and sneak peak at "Proclamation of Hope," a symphonic tribute to Abraham Lincoln, written and performed by jazz legend Ramsey Lewis and produced by WTTW Chicago. 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. The Craftsman Experience, 233 W. Huron. Contact: Jenny Topolosky, 217-390-2895. Swissôtel, 323 E. Wacker Drive. Contact: Angie Viands, 813-335-3504.

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities and the Illinois State Board of Education sponsor the 6th annual legislative breakfast to raise awareness about special education. 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Illinois State Advisory Council Legislative Breakfast, Capitol Rotunda. Contact: Matt Vanover, 217-782-4648.

FRANKFORT — Citizens Utility Board holds 5 phone clinics in 5 consecutive days — to help people do some spring cleaning on their phone bills. Also as part of "Spring Savings Week," we have a new video showing consumers how to cut their phone bills. It's called "60 Seconds to Phone Savings." FRANKFORT — 9 a.m. Frankfort Public Library District, 21119 Pfeiffer Rd. Contact: Jim Chilsen, 312-263-4282.

SPRINGFIELD — Landmarks Illinois, the state's leading advocate voice for historic preservation, announces an annual list of 10 historic sites in Illinois that are currently threatened. 10 a.m. Illinois State Capitol, Press Room. Contact: Lisa DiChiera, 312-922-1742 Ext. 229

NEW PALATINE — The Illinois Student Assistance Commission holds a College Fair. 1:30 p.m. Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road. Contact: 217-558-1548.

SPRINGFIELD — Ill. Secretary of State Jesse White visits Springfield to unveil the Secretary of State's new organ and tissue donation commercial. 10:30 a.m. Memorial Medical Center, 701 North 1st Street. Contact: Henry Haupt: 217-782-5984.

ELGIN — Students in Elgin Community College's Culinary Arts and Hospitality program create a Raspberry Mousse Bombe dessert, the final course of their 'savvy and suspenseful' Alfred Hitchcock-inspired meal to be served before the showing of the Tony award-winning stage hit "The 39 Steps" at the ECC Arts Center. 10:30 a.m.-11 a.m. 1700 Spartan Drive. Contact: 773-327-3830 Ext. 118.

TELECONFERENCE — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and corporate leaders hold press teleconference to encourage summer job commitments for young people. 2:30 p.m. Call-in-number: 800-988-0202. Passcode: 5520492. Contact: 202-693-4676.

EVANSTON — Beinen School of Music to hold Japan Benefit Concert. 6 p.m. -9 p.m. Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive. Contact: Judy Moore, 847-491-4819.

NAPERVILLE — The Naperville City Council meets. 7 p.m. Council Chambers of the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle St. Contact: Nadja P. Lalvani, 630-420-6034.

Thursday, April 7:

GENERAL EVENTS STATE:

SPRINGFIELD — The Alzheimer's Association Illinois Chapter Network releases important data about how Alzheimer's disease affects the caregiver. 8 a.m. State House Inn, Ballroom B, 101 East Adams. Contact: Marc Gentzler, 847-779-6948.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO - METRO:

CHICAGO — In solidarity with students who are up in arms over the new Chancellor of the City Colleges' demand that existing presidents re-apply for their jobs, a clergy group joins the student's protest scheduled for 8 a.m. outside of the Olive/Harvey College, 10001 S. Woodlawn. Contact: 773-261-0207.

CHICAGO — Alderman George A Cardenas in partnership with the National Latino Education Institute host this year's 2011 Career Fair. 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. 2011 W Pershing RD. Contact: Claudia Rodríguez, 773-523-8250.

NORTH CHICAGO — More than 40 potential employers participate in a Job Fair for Veterans, military members and their families at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 3001 Green Bay Rd. North (Bldg. 4; Bourke Hall; Media should park in small lot behind Bldg. 4). Contact: Jonathan Friedman, 224-610-1120.

CHICAGO — In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, a free public program is held to recognize the importance of workers safety. The program features a presentation by Jo Ann Argersinger, Professor of History at Southern Illinois University and author of The Triangle Fire, A Brief History with Documents. 3-5 p.m. Roosevelt University's Gage Gallery, 18 S. Michigan Avenue. Contact: Diane Hurns, 847- 768-3413.

CHICAGO — The Southern Poverty Law Center brings its national campaign to raise awareness of the sexual violence committed against immigrant women in the U.S. food industry to Chicago. The issue is the topic of a discussion for Mónica Ramírez, who leads the immigrant women's initiative at SPLC at Loyola University. 6:30 p.m. Loyola University, Piper Hall, 1032 W. Sheridan Road. Contact: Ashley Levett, 334-956-8459.

Friday, April 8:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — The Southern Poverty Law Center brings its national campaign to raise awareness of the sexual violence committed against immigrant women in the U.S. food industry to Chicago. The issue is the topic of a discussion for Mónica Ramírez, who leads the immigrant women's initiative at SPLC at Loyola University. 12 p.m. Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St, Sidney R. Yates Gallery. Contact: Ashley Levett, 334-956-8459.

Saturday, April 9:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Northeastern Illinois University to host Changing Worlds Oral History and Photography exhibit. No time listed. April 9-April 16. Student Union, Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N. St. Louis Ave. Contact: Susan Stall, 773-442-4777.

Monday, April 11:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Residents of Friedman Place, a non-profit community for adults with vision loss, paint colorful "umbrellas for peace" at the Dali-Lamb Museum in the River East Art Center. The Lamb Umbrellas for Peace Project is a world-wide endeavor to help children and adults promote change at a global level. 1 p.m. Dali-Lamb Museum, River East Art Center, 435 E. Illinois Street. Contact: 773-989-9800 Ext. 1108.

Wednesday, April 13:

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

EVANSTON — The City of Evanston co-sponsors the Evanston Distracted Driving Summit. Ill. Secretary of State Jesse White is invited as a speaker. 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Evanston Township High School, Room N112, 1600 Dodge Ave. Contact: Eric Palmer, 847-448-8085.

GALESBURG — Stephanie Rearick, executive director of Dane County TimeBank in Wisconsin, discusses how people can benefit by exchanging time, in addition to money, for needed services in this spring's EquiKnox Lecture. 7 p.m. Ferris Lounge, Seymour Union, Knox College. Contact: 309-341-7715.

Thursday, April 14:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Grammy Award-winning artists Dorinda Clark Cole and Regina Belle headline the Power To End Stroke Most Powerful Voices Gospel Tour event. 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. — Health Screenings. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. — Concert. Family Worship Center, 5758 W. Fillmore. Contact: John Jaramillo, 312-476-6602.

The AP-Chicago
Illinois Daybook
[Washington, D.C.] (Examiner RSS)
The Associated Press Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication. Tuesday, April 5: GENERAL EVENTS-STATE: EAST PEORIA — The Center for Emerging Technologies in Infrastructure and the Department of Civil Engineering & Construction ...

[details] [close] received 312 days ago published 312 days ago lang: en

The Associated Press

Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication.

Tuesday, April 5:

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

EAST PEORIA — The Center for Emerging Technologies in Infrastructure and the Department of Civil Engineering & Construction at Bradley University host the 2011 Innovations Conference on Asphalt and Transportation (ICAT). April 5-April 6. Par-A-Dice Hotel. Contact: 309-677-2242.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — 25th Ward Aldermanic Runoff Candidate Cuahutemoc Morfin to celebrate election night with supporters. 7 p.m.-11 p.m. Manjares Restaurant, 2230 S. Ashland Ave. Contact: Joanna Klonsky, 312-307-0840.

CHICAGO — Michael D. Chandler, candidate for alderman, hosts election night celebration. 7 p.m. Homan Square, 3333 W. Arthington, Murphy Hill Gallery. Tumia Romero, 773-726-4479.

Wednesday, April 6:

GENERAL EVENTS-GOV. PAT QUINN:

No public events scheduled.

GENERAL EVENTS-MAYOR RICHARD DALEY:

No public events scheduled.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Few dispute China's status as a major world player, but uncertainty reigns about the effect its distinct voice will have on the future of international law. A distinguished group of scholars debate this topic on at the University of Chicago Law School. 8:45 a.m.-4 p.m. Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom, 1111 E. 60th St. Contact: Sarah Galer, 773-702-8365.

CHICAGO — Discover the science behind spacesuit technology through unique photographs and X-ray images in Suited for Space — a temporary exhibit opening at the Museum of Science and Industry. 9:30 a.m.- 3p.m. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, 57th and Lake Shore Drive. Contact: Lauren Brush, 312-558-1770.

CHICAGO — Discover the science behind spacesuit technology through unique photographs and X-ray images in Suited for Space — a temporary exhibit opening at the Museum of Science and Industry. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Call in advance for spokesperson availability. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, 57th and Lake Shore Drive. Contact: Lauren Brush, 312-558-1770.

CHICAGO — The United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), Chicago's largest Hispanic organization and one of Chicago's major charter school managers, announce a new concept in public education: The UNO Soccer Academy. 2 p.m. 3434 W. 51st Street (Corner of 51st and Homan). Contact: Carlos Jaramillo, 312-432-6301 Ext. 223.

CHICAGO — The Chicagoland Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour. 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Illinois Institute of Technology. Contact: Sheena Lindahl, 800-930-8021 Ext. 703.

CHICAGO — The Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Chicago Area Food Studies Working Group present a discussion and screening of the documentary film "Lunch Line," which explores the history and current challenges of the National School Lunch Program. 3 p.m. UIC Institute for the Humanities, Stevenson Hall, lower level, 701 S. Morgan St. Contact: Brian Flood, 312-996-7681.

CHICAGO — Please Rally to End Nuclear Power. A demonstration led by the beat of a brass and drum band at the Swissotel Chicago call out and confront the nuclear industry at their own conference. A march down Michigan Avenue that will end at Navy Pier follows. 4:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Contact: David Kraft, 773-260-2321.

CHICAGO — Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis & WTTW-TV Chicago present a kick-off celebration and sneak peak at "Proclamation of Hope," a symphonic tribute to Abraham Lincoln, written and performed by jazz legend Ramsey Lewis and produced by WTTW Chicago. 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. The Craftsman Experience, 233 W. Huron. Contact: Jenny Topolosky, 217-390-2895. Swissôtel, 323 E. Wacker Drive. Contact: Angie Viands, 813-335-3504.

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities and the Illinois State Board of Education sponsor the 6th annual legislative breakfast to raise awareness about special education. 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Illinois State Advisory Council Legislative Breakfast, Capitol Rotunda. Contact: Matt Vanover, 217-782-4648.

FRANKFORT — Citizens Utility Board holds 5 phone clinics in 5 consecutive days — to help people do some spring cleaning on their phone bills. Also as part of "Spring Savings Week," we have a new video showing consumers how to cut their phone bills. It's called "60 Seconds to Phone Savings." FRANKFORT — 9 a.m. Frankfort Public Library District, 21119 Pfeiffer Rd. Contact: Jim Chilsen, 312-263-4282.

SPRINGFIELD — Landmarks Illinois, the state's leading advocate voice for historic preservation, announces an annual list of 10 historic sites in Illinois that are currently threatened. 10 a.m. Illinois State Capitol, Press Room. Contact: Lisa DiChiera, 312-922-1742 Ext. 229

NEW PALATINE — The Illinois Student Assistance Commission holds a College Fair. 1:30 p.m. Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road. Contact: 217-558-1548.

SPRINGFIELD — Ill. Secretary of State Jesse White visits Springfield to unveil the Secretary of State's new organ and tissue donation commercial. 10:30 a.m. Memorial Medical Center, 701 North 1st Street. Contact: Henry Haupt: 217-782-5984.

ELGIN — Students in Elgin Community College's Culinary Arts and Hospitality program create a Raspberry Mousse Bombe dessert, the final course of their 'savvy and suspenseful' Alfred Hitchcock-inspired meal to be served before the showing of the Tony award-winning stage hit "The 39 Steps" at the ECC Arts Center. 10:30 a.m.-11 a.m. 1700 Spartan Drive. Contact: 773-327-3830 Ext. 118.

TELECONFERENCE — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and corporate leaders hold press teleconference to encourage summer job commitments for young people. 2:30 p.m. Call-in-number: 800-988-0202. Passcode: 5520492. Contact: 202-693-4676.

EVANSTON — Beinen School of Music to hold Japan Benefit Concert. 6 p.m. -9 p.m. Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive. Contact: Judy Moore, 847-491-4819.

NAPERVILLE — The Naperville City Council meets. 7 p.m. Council Chambers of the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle St. Contact: Nadja P. Lalvani, 630-420-6034.

Thursday, April 7:

GENERAL EVENTS STATE:

SPRINGFIELD — The Alzheimer's Association Illinois Chapter Network releases important data about how Alzheimer's disease affects the caregiver. 8 a.m. State House Inn, Ballroom B, 101 East Adams. Contact: Marc Gentzler, 847-779-6948.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO - METRO:

CHICAGO — In solidarity with students who are up in arms over the new Chancellor of the City Colleges' demand that existing presidents re-apply for their jobs, a clergy group joins the student's protest scheduled for 8 a.m. outside of the Olive/Harvey College, 10001 S. Woodlawn. Contact: 773-261-0207.

CHICAGO — Alderman George A Cardenas in partnership with the National Latino Education Institute host this year's 2011 Career Fair. 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. 2011 W Pershing RD. Contact: Claudia Rodríguez, 773-523-8250.

NORTH CHICAGO — More than 40 potential employers participate in a Job Fair for Veterans, military members and their families at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 3001 Green Bay Rd. North (Bldg. 4; Bourke Hall; Media should park in small lot behind Bldg. 4). Contact: Jonathan Friedman, 224-610-1120.

CHICAGO — In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, a free public program is held to recognize the importance of workers safety. The program features a presentation by Jo Ann Argersinger, Professor of History at Southern Illinois University and author of The Triangle Fire, A Brief History with Documents. 3-5 p.m. Roosevelt University's Gage Gallery, 18 S. Michigan Avenue. Contact: Diane Hurns, 847- 768-3413.

CHICAGO — The Southern Poverty Law Center brings its national campaign to raise awareness of the sexual violence committed against immigrant women in the U.S. food industry to Chicago. The issue is the topic of a discussion for Mónica Ramírez, who leads the immigrant women's initiative at SPLC at Loyola University. 6:30 p.m. Loyola University, Piper Hall, 1032 W. Sheridan Road. Contact: Ashley Levett, 334-956-8459.

Friday, April 8:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — The Southern Poverty Law Center brings its national campaign to raise awareness of the sexual violence committed against immigrant women in the U.S. food industry to Chicago. The issue is the topic of a discussion for Mónica Ramírez, who leads the immigrant women's initiative at SPLC at Loyola University. 12 p.m. Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St, Sidney R. Yates Gallery. Contact: Ashley Levett, 334-956-8459.

Saturday, April 9:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Northeastern Illinois University to host Changing Worlds Oral History and Photography exhibit. No time listed. April 9-April 16. Student Union, Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N. St. Louis Ave. Contact: Susan Stall, 773-442-4777.

Monday, April 11:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Residents of Friedman Place, a non-profit community for adults with vision loss, paint colorful "umbrellas for peace" at the Dali-Lamb Museum in the River East Art Center. The Lamb Umbrellas for Peace Project is a world-wide endeavor to help children and adults promote change at a global level. 1 p.m. Dali-Lamb Museum, River East Art Center, 435 E. Illinois Street. Contact: 773-989-9800 Ext. 1108.

Wednesday, April 13:

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

EVANSTON — The City of Evanston co-sponsors the Evanston Distracted Driving Summit. Ill. Secretary of State Jesse White is invited as a speaker. 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Evanston Township High School, Room N112, 1600 Dodge Ave. Contact: Eric Palmer, 847-448-8085.

GALESBURG — Stephanie Rearick, executive director of Dane County TimeBank in Wisconsin, discusses how people can benefit by exchanging time, in addition to money, for needed services in this spring's EquiKnox Lecture. 7 p.m. Ferris Lounge, Seymour Union, Knox College. Contact: 309-341-7715.

Thursday, April 14:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Grammy Award-winning artists Dorinda Clark Cole and Regina Belle headline the Power To End Stroke Most Powerful Voices Gospel Tour event. 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. — Health Screenings. 7 p.m.-10 p.m. — Concert. Family Worship Center, 5758 W. Fillmore. Contact: John Jaramillo, 312-476-6602.

The AP-Chicago
Illinois Daybook
[Washington, D.C.] (Examiner RSS)
The Associated Press Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication. Monday, April 4: GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO: CHICAGO — Instituto Cervantes de Chicago sponsors conversation between Cuban writer Leonardo Paduro and Dain Borges and Agnes Lugo-Ortiz from University of Chicago, 6 p.m. 31 W. ...

[details] [close] received 313 days ago published 313 days ago lang: en

The Associated Press

Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication.

Monday, April 4:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Instituto Cervantes de Chicago sponsors conversation between Cuban writer Leonardo Paduro and Dain Borges and Agnes Lugo-Ortiz from University of Chicago, 6 p.m. 31 W. Ohio St. Contact: 312-335-1996.

Tuesday, April 5:

GENERAL EVENTS GOV. PAT QUINN:

EAST PEORIA — Gov. Pat Quinn and Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman conduct a brief media availability. 9:45 a.m. Par-A-Dice Hotel, 21 Blackjack Blvd. Contact: Grant Klinzman, 312-814-3158.

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

MOLINE — Several companies, organizations and individuals participate in a Green Expo. 1-4 p.m. on the WIU-Quad Cities, 60th Street Campus. Contact: 309-298-1993.

CHARLESTON — The governor's recent decision to discontinue the use of capital punishment within Illinois is the topic of an Eastern Illinois University forum. Panelists discuss the ethical and practical implications of the death penalty, and take questions from the audience, during this forum presented by EIU's Philosophy Club and Phi Sigma Tau 5:30 p.m. Lumpkin Hall Auditorium. Contact: 217-581-5000.

PEORIA — Illinois Chamber of Commerce President/CEO, Doug Whitley, addresses the issue of workers compensation with guests of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. 11:15 a.m. The Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, 801 W. Main Street. Contact: 309-495-5905.

NEWTON — State disaster officials have scheduled 13 briefings to help representatives from state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations in 60 Illinois counties apply for federal disaster assistance in the wake of the severe winter storm and snowstorm during the period of Jan. 31 to Feb. 3. 1 p.m., Knights of Columbus, 707 South Van Buren St. Contact: 217 -558-1548

EVANSTON — The Northwestern University Transportation Center host two aviation-related events: a special symposium honoring former center director Aaron J. Gellman, who turned 80 this past year, and a lecture by United Airlines CEO Jeffery A. Smisek. 1-5 p.m. McCormick Auditorium of the James L. Allen Center, 2169 Campus Drive. Contact: Megan Fellman, 847-491-3115.

EVANSTON — The City of Evanston's Economic Development Division hold a Façade Improvement Program Informational Session. 6 p.m. Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center. Contact: 847-448-8100.

EAST PEORIA — The Center for Emerging Technologies in Infrastructure and the Department of Civil Engineering & Construction at Bradley University host the 2011 Innovations Conference on Asphalt and Transportation (ICAT). April 5-April 6. Par-A-Dice Hotel. Contact: 309-677-2242.

PALATINE — The Illinois Student Assistance Commission participates in multiple events. PALATINE — 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. College Fair.

Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road. PALATINE — 6:30 p.m.- 8 p.m. College Fair, Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road. Contact: 217- 558-1548.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Alderman Willie B. Cochran votes 6:30 a.m. at Christ Way Church, 1210 E. 62nd Street. Contact: Marilyn Katz, 312-822-0505.

CHICAGO — Michele Smith, 43rd Ward Alderman Candidate makes several appearances. CHICAGO — 7 am- 9 a.m. Michele Smith greets voters. Alcott School, 2625 North Orchard Street. CHICAGO — 10 a.m. Michele Smith votes at her polling place. 2626 N. Lakeview Dr. CHICAGO — 7 p.m. Michele Smith hosts an election night party. Contact: Kevin Lampe, 312-617-7280.

CHICAGO — "Chef Lovely" Jackson, a 26-year-old Chicago-based chef, teaches healthy meal preparation to third graders. 9 a.m. Mark Sheridan Math & Science Academy, 533 West 27th Street. Contact: Lehia Franklin Acox, 773-960-1908.

CHICAGO — Crane to Lift Giant Whale Bones into Field Museum. The Field Museum is currently constructing Whales: Giants of the Deep, and portions of the exhibition are HUGE! In a rare move, the Museum will close its south entrance to the public in order to remove the doors and crane the whale bones inside. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive. Contact: 312-665-7100.

CHICAGO — Illinois government leaders, consumer advocates and financial representatives discuss the launch of this state-wide effort to encourage working families to use depository institutions to help manage their finances. 1 p.m. James R Thomson Center, 9th Floor Room 171. Contact: 217-558-1548.

CHICAGO — 25th Ward Aldermanic Runoff Candidate Cuahutemoc Morfin to celebrate election night with supporters. 7 p.m.-11 p.m. Manjares Restaurant, 2230 S. Ashland Ave. Contact: Joanna Klonsky, 312-307-0840.

CHICAGO — Service Abroad — Practicing Medicine in Asia. University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine faculty member discusses life as a physician practicing in Asia. 5-6 p.m. Room 4289, Science and Engineering Laboratory East, 950 S. Halsted St. Contact: 312-413-9569.

Wednesday, April 6:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Discover the science behind spacesuit technology through unique photographs and X-ray images in Suited for Space — a temporary exhibit opening at the Museum of Science and Industry. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Call in advance for spokesperson availability. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, 57th and Lake Shore Drive. Contact: Lauren Brush, 312-558-1770.

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

SPRINGFIELD — Landmarks Illinois, the state's leading advocate voice for historic preservation, announces an annual list of 10 historic sites in Illinois that are currently threatened. 10 a.m. Illinois State Capitol, Press Room. Contact: Lisa DiChiera, 312-922-1742 Ext. 229

Thursday, April 7:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO - METRO:

CHICAGO — In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, a free public program is held to recognize the importance of workers safety. The program features a presentation by Jo Ann Argersinger, Professor of History at Southern Illinois University and author of The Triangle Fire, A Brief History with Documents. 3-5 p.m. Roosevelt University's Gage Gallery, 18 S. Michigan Avenue. Contact: Diane Hurns, 847- 768-3413.

CHICAGO — Alderman George A Cardenas in partnership with the National Latino Education Institute host this year's 2011 Career Fair. 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. 2011 W Pershing RD. Contact: Claudia Rodríguez, 773-523-8250.

Saturday, April 9:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Northeastern Illinois University to host Changing Worlds Oral History and Photography exhibit. No time listed. April 9-April 16. Student Union, Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N. St. Louis Ave. Contact: Susan Stall, 773-442-4777.

Wednesday, April 13:

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

GALESBURG — Stephanie Rearick, executive director of Dane County TimeBank in Wisconsin, discusses how people can benefit by exchanging time, in addition to money, for needed services in this spring's EquiKnox Lecture.7 p.m. Ferris Lounge, Seymour Union, Knox College. Contact: 309-341-7715.

The AP-Chicago
This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism—April 4
[Right-Wing, Politics] (Bench Memos)
1939—Two weeks after President Roosevelt nominates SEC chairman (and former Yale law professor) William O. Douglas to the Supreme Court, the Senate confirms the nomination by a 62-4 vote. On the Court from 1939 until 1975, Douglas is the longest-serving justice in history. In his 2003 New Republic review of a biography of Douglas (Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas, by Bruce Allen Murphy), Seventh Circuit judge Richard A. Posner offers this succinct summary of Douglas ...

[details] [close] received 313 days ago published 313 days ago lang: en

1939—Two weeks after President Roosevelt nominates SEC chairman (and former Yale law professor) William O. Douglas to the Supreme Court, the Senate confirms the nomination by a 62-4 vote. On the Court from 1939 until 1975, Douglas is the longest-serving justice in history.

In his 2003 New Republic review of a biography of Douglas (Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas, by Bruce Allen Murphy), Seventh Circuit judge Richard A. Posner offers this succinct summary of Douglas’s judicial career: “For Douglas, law was merely politics.” Here’s Posner’s colorful fuller assessment: “Apart from being a flagrant liar, Douglas was a compulsive womanizer, a heavy drinker, a terrible husband to each of his four wives, a terrible father to his two children, and a bored, distracted, uncollegial, irresponsible, and at times unethical Supreme Court justice who regularly left the Court for his summer vacation weeks before the term ended. Rude, ice-cold, hot-tempered, ungrateful, foul-mouthed, self-absorbed, and devoured by ambition, he was also financially reckless—at once a big spender, a tightwad, and a sponge—who, while he was serving as a justice, received a substantial salary from a foundation established and controlled by a shady Las Vegas businessman.”

As Posner acknowledges, one can, of course, “be a bad person and a good judge, just as one can be a good person and a bad judge.” By the evidence, Douglas was both a terrible person and a terrible judge.

Ed Whelan
Listening ideas for 2 April 2011
[Podcasts] (Anne is a Man! - Podcast Reviews)
New Books In History Erik Jensen, “Body by Weimar: Athletes, Gender, and German Modernity” They’d lost a war, and they couldn’t understand why. They knew that German culture wasn’t the problem. They believed–and with some good reason–that it was the most advanced in the world. So perhaps, they thought, the problem was some failure in themselves. They had grown weak and ill. Yes, that was it. So something had to be done about it. As Jensen shows, it was. And here’s the really in ...

[details] [close] received 315 days ago published 315 days ago lang: en

New Books In History
Erik Jensen, “Body by Weimar: Athletes, Gender, and German Modernity”
They’d lost a war, and they couldn’t understand why. They knew that German culture wasn’t the problem. They believed–and with some good reason–that it was the most advanced in the world. So perhaps, they thought, the problem was some failure in themselves. They had grown weak and ill. Yes, that was it. So something had to be done about it. As Jensen shows, it was. And here’s the really interesting part, at least by my lights: it wasn’t done by the state. The Weimar government itself, though hardly disinterested, did not lead the campaign to make the German body well. Rather, “ordinary Germans” did. They began to play and follow sports, and to form countless clubs that played and followed sports. Sports became, well, “progressive” among the “right thinking people.” Rich and poor. Men and women. Everyone played. For Germany.
(review, feed)

Kol Hadash
Holocaust Survivor: Marguerite Mishkin
Sunday School Guest Speaker Marguerite tells her story to the 7th/8th grade class of growing up in Nazi occupied Belgium. During WWII, Mishkin and her sister Annette were placed under the care of a Belgian Catholic family in 1943 following the death of her father in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. Her mother was able to bring the two girls to safety through the help of the Belgian Resistance. They remained under the Belgian family’s care until 1946, during which time Mishkin’s mother was brought to Auschwitz, where she also perished.
At the end of WWII, Mishkin and her sister moved to a Jewish orphanage in Brussels, Belgium. Then, in 1950, a Chicago rabbi and his wife adopted the girls and raised them in Chicago, where Mishkin was able to graduate from Roosevelt University and later become a teacher. She retired from teaching and now speaks about the Holocaust and her experiences to schools, colleges and community groups.
(review, feed)

Simek 's Nachts
W.A. Wagenaar
Martin Simek in gesprek met Professor W. A. Wagenaar. 29 Oktober 2006
(review, feed)
NB - dit is een onofficiele feed van Simek 's Nachts
Illinois Daybook
[Washington, D.C.] (Examiner RSS)
The Associated Press Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication. Saturday, April 2: GENERAL EVENTS-MAYOR RICHARD M. DALEY: CHICAGO — Mayor Richard Daley attends the God First Ministries faith-based community breakfast. 8:55 a.m. Chicago Hilton Hotel, 720 South Michigan Avenue. Contact: 312 ...

[details] [close] received 316 days ago published 316 days ago lang: en

The Associated Press

Assignment Desks, Editors: The following events are for planning purposes. Listing does not indicate AP coverage. Scheduled events are subject to change. Contact numbers are not for publication.

Saturday, April 2:

GENERAL EVENTS-MAYOR RICHARD M. DALEY:

CHICAGO — Mayor Richard Daley attends the God First Ministries faith-based community breakfast. 8:55 a.m. Chicago Hilton Hotel, 720 South Michigan Avenue. Contact: 312-744-3334.

GENERAL EVENTS-GOV. PAT QUINN:

No public events scheduled.

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

OAK BROOK — Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich delivers a speech to a student political convention sponsored by the Junior State of America, a nationwide student-run organization. 10 a.m. 10:10-10:30 a.m. — Blagojevich keynote address. 10:30-11:00 a.m. — Questions and answer session for the former governor. 11-11:20 a.m. — "JSA for Japan" Jeopardy! with Blagojevich. DoubleTree Chicago-Oakbrook Hotel, 1909 Spring Road. Contact: Alex Quinn JSA director of publicity, 616-916-2425.

EVEANSTON — The Honorable Thabo Mbeki, former president of the Republic of South Africa, speaks at the 2011 Kellogg Africa Business Conference. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He delivers the morning keynote address, "Africa at 50: Reflecting on the Past, Laying the Path for the Future." 8:35 a.m.-9:45 a.m. James L. Allen Center, 2169 Campus Drive. Contact: Aaron Mays, 847-491-2112.

SPRINGFIELD — Sen. Mark Kirk host two town hall meetings. SPRINGFIELD — 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Lincoln Land Community College, Trutter Center, 5250 Shepherd Rd. SULLIVAN — 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Sullivan Court House, Courtroom A, 10 S. Main St. Contact: Susan Kuczka, 312-886-3506.

FORT RIDGE — Opening Day of the 2011 spring trout fishing season. Season begins at dawn. Axehead Lake, southeast corner of Touhy Avenue and River Road in Park Ridge. Contact: Steve Mayberry, 708-906-1128.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — The Chicago Public Library, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Money Smart host the 10th Annual Money Smart Week, April 2-April 9. Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. Contact: Leland Elder, 312-747-4053.

CHICAGO — LifeSource and Chicagoland's Blood Center teams up with the Chicago Bulls and Be The Match for the inaugural Chicago Bulls Blood Drive and Marrow Registry. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren. Contact: Tammy Basile, 847-420-6094.

CHICAGO — 18 teams, as well as dozens of volunteers and staff come together from 7 a.m.- 2 p.m. for this year's MS Half Court Classic. United Center, 1901 W Madison St. Contact: Jocelyn Cheng, 312-423-1139.

CHICAGO — The Glass Slipper Project. Up to 500 high school girls choose their prom outfits for free from thousands of dresses, shoes and accessories donated to the Glass Slipper Project. Hosted at CPS's McCorkle Elementary, the boutique is open to junior or senior girls from any local school — public, private, Chicago or suburban. 9 a.m. — Boutique opens to girls. 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.— Open to Media. McCorkle School (Boutique location), 4421 S. State Street. Contact: Ana Vargas, 773-553-1620.

CHICAGO — Hundreds of Chicago Public Schools Cheer, Pompon and Hip-Hop Team Members. 9:30 a.m. — Cheerleading competition begins. 2 p.m. — Pompon and hip-hop competitions. Chicago State University, Jones Convocation Center, 9501 S. M.L. King Drive. Contact: Frank Shuftan, 773- 553-1620.

CHICAGO — Careers through Culinary Arts Program re-creates the intensity of a four-star restaurant kitchen for 22 Chicago public high school seniors to face off in the savory and sweet Final Competition. 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Washburne Culinary Institute, 740 W. 63rd St Building U. Contact: Joyce Appelman, 516-697-0319.

CHICAGO — University of Chicago Conference on American Indian Urban Families. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Photo and video opportunities from 11:40-1 p.m. School of social Service Administration, University of Chicago, 969 E. 60th Street. Contact: Julie Jung, 773-702-1168.

CHICAGO — Chicagoland Autism Connection's 12th annual Spring Fling — part of World Autism Day. 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Chicago HS for Agricultural Sciences, 3857 West 111th Street. Contact: 773-329-0375.

CHICAGO — Michele Smith 43rd Ward Alderman Candidate hosts two events. CHICAGO — 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Michele Smith hosts a meet and greet with voters. Marcello's, 645 W. North Ave. CHICAGO — 12:30 p.m.-1 p.m. Michele Smith conducts a precinct walk. Contact: Kevin Lampe, 312- 617-7280.

CHICAGO — Challenger Cuahutemoc Morfin Calls on Incumbent 25th Ward Alderman to Return Campaign Contributions from Top Lead Polluters. 10 a.m. Manuel Perez, Jr. Elementary School, Front entrance, 1241 W. 19th Street. Contact: Joanna Klonsky, 312-307-0840.

CHICAGO — The High HOPES coalition and Roosevelt University Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation hold a public meeting with Chicago Public Schools Board President Mary Richardson-Lowry to outline a four-point plan to reduce the suspension and expulsion of students in Chicago Public Schools by 40 percent by next school year. 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Roosevelt University Library, 430 S. Michigan Ave. Contact: Al Shaw, 312-673-3865.

CHICAGO — Witness to Innocence honors the Illinois Death Row exonerated Death Row survivors and the sacrificial burden that our society has forced on them. 4 p.m. South Side Community Art Center, 3831 South Michigan Avenue. Contact: Larry Yates, 703-963-8394.

CHICAGO — Hundreds of pro-lifers from all over the country gather to honor Pro-life Action League founder and president Joseph Scheidler. Evening of Tribute to Joe Scheidler is sponsored by Citizens for a Pro-life Society. 6 p.m. Holiday Inn Mart Plaza Hotel, 350 West Mart Center Drive. Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333.

CHICAGO — The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science honors Abbott at a fabulous gala event, "WOW - Working on Wonders." 6:45 p.m. — Cocktail Party (designed by Kehoe Events). 8 p.m. — Seated dinner with presentation by President of The Weizmann Institute of Science, Daniel Zajfman. 9:45 p.m. — Award presented to Abbott. Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park, 200 N. Columbus Dr. Contact: 217-390-2895.

CHICAGO — The University of Illinois at Chicago hosts "India Night." Dancing, singing and acting that combines traditional Indian culture with contemporary influences. 7-9:30 p.m. UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Road. Contact: 312-413-9569.

CHICAGO — April of this year marks the first anniversary of the tragic events at Smolensk that took the lives of Mr. Lech Kaczynski, President of the Republic of Poland, his wife Maria, and 94 other representatives of Poland's political, organizational and social life. First anniversary concert is held at 7:30 p.m. St. Mary of the Angels Church, 1850 North Hermitage Avenue. Contact: 312-534-8233.

Sunday, April 3:

GENERAL EVENTS-MAYOR RICHARD M. DALEY:

No public events scheduled.

GENERAL EVENTS-GOV. PAT QUINN:

No public events scheduled.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — April of this year marks the first anniversary of the tragic events at Smolensk that took the lives of Mr. Lech Kaczynski, President of the Republic of Poland, his wife Maria, and 94 other representatives of Poland's political, organizational and social life. First anniversary mass is held at 10 a.m. Holy Trinity Polish Mission, 1118 North Noble Street. Contact: 312-534-8233.

CHICAGO — Martin Luther King, III visits The faith Community of Saint Sabina church. 10 a.m. 78th Place and Throop. Contact: Vince A. Clark, 773-483-4300.

GENERAL EVENTS STATE:

RICHTON PARK — First Charter Public High School in Chicago Suburbs to Host Grand Opening for State, Local Officials, Community Leaders, Parents, Students. 2 p.m. 4601 Sauk Trail Road. Contact: 312-607-5888.

EVANSTON — Rep. Joe Walsh attend open forum on US-Israel Relationship. 7 p.m. Parkes Hall, 122 Northwestern University, 1881 Sheridan Rd. Contact: Justin Roth, 202-225-3711.

Monday, April 4:

GENERAL EVENTS STATE:

GLENVIEW — The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) holds a Chicago-area campaign, "Spring Savings Week," to "scrub" phone bills of hundreds of dollars a year in unnecessary services and bad deals using five consecutive days of phone clinics and a new how-to video. GLENVIEW — 2 p.m. Glenview Public Library, 1930 Glenview Rd. Contact: Jim Chilsen, 312-263-4282.

URBANA — A meeting of the Search Committee for the Secretary of the Board of Trustees and the University of Illinois convenes. 1 p.m. Room 414, Administrative Office Building, 1737 West Polk Street. Contact: 212-333-1920.

BROOKFIELD — West Aurora High School's Michael Perez and Jonathan Konduri won the Buddy Pair of the Year award for Best Buddies Illinois. Best Buddies is a non-profit organization designed to enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities by providing 1:1 friendships. They are honored at the Brookfield Zoo during the Best Buddies of Illinois Zoo Bash. Time is TBD. West Aurora High School will be at the Zoo Bash from 10-12:30pm. Contact: Mike Chapin, 630-301-5044.

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — The Financial Literacy and Education Summit brings together leading national and international experts to address the critical issue of improving financial literacy for people of all ages while exploring how government and the private sector can work together to equip consumers with the tools needed to make wise financial decisions. 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Illinois Room, Third Floor, 230 South LaSalle Street. Contact: Steve Burke, 703-683-5004, ext. 108.

CHICAGO — Organ donor awareness month kick-off press conference featuring Secretary of State Jesse White, Brittney Payton, daughter of Walter Payton, and children-recipients including an 11 year old girl awaiting second heart transplant. 10 a.m. Children's Memorial Hospital, Main Lobby, corners of Lincoln, Fullerton & Halsted. Contact: 312-771-8434.

CHICAGO — Sen. Dick Durbin speaks at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Dr. King Legacy Apartments. 10 a.m. 1550 S. Hamlin Ave. Contact: 312-848-4484.

CHICAGO — Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno attends a public policy luncheon hosted by the Chicago Club of Chicago. 11:30 a.m. reception; Noon luncheon. Maggiano's Banquets, 111 W. Grand Ave. Contact: 312-565-6500.

CHICAGO — The City Club of Chicago welcomes Hon. Christine Radogno on for a Public Policy Luncheon. 11:30 a.m. Reception. 12 p.m. Luncheon. Maggiano's Banquets, 111 W. Grand Avenue. Contact: City.Club.Chicago(at)cityclub-chicago.org.

CHICAGO — World Bank's highest U.S. official speaks in Chicago. The World Bank and the Global Midwest Alliance highlight trade and business opportunities available to Chicago companies through international development projects. 12-1:30 p.m. Media availability — 11:30 a.m.-noon and 1:30-2 p.m. Mid-America Club, 200 E. Randolph, 80th Floor, Frank Lloyd Wright Rooms. Contact: 773-865-5381.

CHICAGO — The University of Illinois at Chicago hosts Asian American Knowledge Bowl. Asian American history and culture quiz contest. 4-6 p.m. Room 613, Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted St. Contact: 312-413-9569.

Tuesday, April 5:

GENERAL EVENTS-STATE:

MOLINE — Several companies, organizations and individuals participate in a Green Expo. 1-4 p.m. on the WIU-Quad Cities, 60th Street Campus. Contact: 309-298-1993.

Wednesday, April 6:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO-METRO:

CHICAGO — Discover the science behind spacesuit technology through unique photographs and X-ray images in Suited for Space — a temporary exhibit opening at the Museum of Science and Industry. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Call in advance for spokesperson availability. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, 57th and Lake Shore Drive. Contact: Lauren Brush, 312-558-1770.

Thursday, April 7:

GENERAL EVENTS CHICAGO - METRO:

CHICAGO — In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, a free public program is held to recognize the importance of workers safety. The program features a presentation by Jo Ann Argersinger, Professor of History at Southern Illinois University and author of The Triangle Fire, A Brief History with Documents. 3-5 p.m. Roosevelt University's Gage Gallery, 18 S. Michigan Avenue. Contact: Diane Hurns, 847- 768-3413.

CHICAGO — Alderman George A Cardenas in partnership with the National Latino Education Institute host this year's 2011 Career Fair. 9 a.m.- 1 p.m. 2011 W Pershing RD. Contact: Claudia Rodríguez, 773-523-8250.

The AP-Chicago
The Miami Dade Mayor's Race: Roosevelt Bradley is in. By Geniusofdespair
[Miami, Miami, FL] (EYE ON MIAMI)
Here are the current candidates running for Miami Dade County Mayor: Juan Carlos Bermudez, Roosevelt Bradley, Luther 'Luke' Campbell, Jose 'Pepe' Cancio, Darrin G. Ellis, Carlos A. Gimenez, Lazaro R. Gonzalez, Farid A. Khavari, Joshua Larose, Marcelo Llorente, Darrin McGillis, Saturnino Polon, Santiago Portal, Julio A. Robaina. Roosevelt Bradley was fired from the Transit Department by Mayor Carlos Alvarez. I wrote about him March 24, 2007.

[details] [close] received 319 days ago published 319 days ago lang: en

Here are the current candidates running for Miami Dade County Mayor: Juan Carlos Bermudez, Roosevelt Bradley, Luther 'Luke' Campbell, Jose 'Pepe' Cancio, Darrin G. Ellis, Carlos A. Gimenez, Lazaro R. Gonzalez, Farid A. Khavari, Joshua Larose, Marcelo Llorente, Darrin McGillis, Saturnino Polon, Santiago Portal, Julio A. Robaina.

Roosevelt Bradley was fired from the Transit Department by Mayor Carlos Alvarez. I wrote about him March 24, 2007.
A World Upside Down? Deficit Fantasies in the Great Recession
[News] (current.com top stories)
Robert Johnson: Austerity and stagnation real risk to debt-to-GDP ratio. Bio Dr. Robert A. Johnson - Executive Director of The Institute New Economic Thinking (INET). Dr. Johnson served on the United Nations Commission of Experts on International Monetary Reform under the Chairmanship of Joseph Stiglitz. He is also the Director of Economic Policy for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI) in New York. Dr. Johnson was previously a managing director at Soros Fund Management where h ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
Robert Johnson: Austerity and stagnation real risk to debt-to-GDP ratio.

Bio

Dr. Robert A. Johnson - Executive Director of The Institute New Economic Thinking (INET). Dr. Johnson served on the United Nations Commission of Experts on International Monetary Reform under the Chairmanship of Joseph Stiglitz. He is also the Director of Economic Policy for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI) in New York. Dr. Johnson was previously a managing director at Soros Fund Management where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. Prior to that time, Johnson was a managing director of Bankers Trust Company managing a global currency fund. He also served as Chief Economist of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire (D. Wisconsin) and before that, he was Senior Economist of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici (R. New Mexico).
- added by: treewolf39
- 2 comments
THEATER: The Land Whale Murders
[Theatre] ('kül)
If Mad Magazine collided with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the result would be something like Jonathan A. Goldberg's The Land Whale Murders. With one foot in Nielsen-like parody and the other in sincere homage to old adventure serials, Goldberg's play is a sublimely shallow affair, snappily directed by Tom Ridgely (who is doing his best impersonation of Sherlock Holmes's Guy Ritchie). It's highly entertaining, but precariously so, especially if you don't find the idea of Teddy Roosevel ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

If Mad Magazine collided with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the result would be something like Jonathan A. Goldberg's The Land Whale Murders. With one foot in Nielsen-like parody and the other in sincere homage to old adventure serials, Goldberg's play is a sublimely shallow affair, snappily directed by Tom Ridgely (who is doing his best impersonation of Sherlock Holmes's Guy Ritchie). It's highly entertaining, but precariously so, especially if you don't find the idea of Teddy Roosevelt (Rich Hollman) dressing up as a superhero named The Big Stick to be funny. (Their last collaboration, The Luck of the IBIS, had more meat to it, but let's be honest: who doesn't find a super-heroic, super-egotistical T.R. hilarious? "Bully!")

The play opens by introducing a fellowship of scientists who identify themselves as The Four Elementals: serious Hiram Blud (Robert Michael McClure), a watery whale-enthusiast; his sister Maryanne (Jennifer Joan Thompson), a fiery poetess; his one-time love, Angus Troup (Amy Landon), who has been disfigured by her earthy love of plants; and Eugene Neddly (Carl Howell), an bird-brain who unrequitedly loves Maryanne every bit as much as he is foolish, foppish, and wealthy. But in an act of ichthyterrorism, Hiram is stabbed to death by a swordfish, and it's up to our surviving heroes to find the culprit: could it be whale oil magnate Henry B. Lubbins III (Nathaniel Kent), or is it perhaps the masked Pirate Penny and her Blowhole Gang? Say what you will: this fishy plot, which involves the abduction of a fifty-six-foot whale, comes up with some rather good, rather literal, red herrings, and Goldberg is clever enough to trawl the depths for every last laugh. (If anything, he floods the show with too much: jokes with little relevance -- like a window-repairman's jingle -- go on far past the point of humor, Family Guy-style.)

That The Land Whale Murders remains so ship-shape is a credit to Ridgely and his crew; Jason Simms's simple hand-painted curtains set the tone and Deanna R. Frieman's sleek and sexy 1896-ish costumes then enhance it, clearly defining the play as good-natured fantasy. In fact, M. L. Dogg's sound design goes so far as to borrow music from films (in addition to some nice squishy, squid-y effects), a clear reminder that the play is meant to operate on the pop-cultural level that's all the rage these days. Of course, without a steady cast aboard the vehicle, the thing would sail around in circles, so it's nice to so easily praise them, particularly Kent, who attacks the stereotypical accents of his three characters with exceptional gusto, and Howell, who succeeds in making Neddly more than just a fool -- without spoiling any of the jokes that rely so heavily on him being just that.

The Shelby Company is quickly making a name for itself with its professional, comic, and original material. So far as plays go, The Land Whale Murders is a bit fatty, but like fatty tuna, it's delicious nonetheless. Or as Goldberg puts it: "Ambergris That Ends Well."
Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Dangerous Giving
[Goodtweet (Twitter material), Fun, Do It Yourself, Lifehacks] (MAKE Magazine)
Wow, where does the time go? The book will soon close on the first decade of the millennium, so let's take a moment and contemplate life's pace and direction. If your first read of the 21st century seemed a little humdrum, fear not! "The secret of reaping the greatest enjoyment from life," Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote, "is to live life dangerously." True, and opportunities for doing so abound. 2011 might be the time to make a few interesting additions to your lifestyle, adding some thrills ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Wow, where does the time go? The book will soon close on the first decade of the millennium, so let's take a moment and contemplate life's pace and direction. If your first read of the 21st century seemed a little humdrum, fear not! "The secret of reaping the greatest enjoyment from life," Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote, "is to live life dangerously." True, and opportunities for doing so abound. 2011 might be the time to make a few interesting additions to your lifestyle, adding some thrills, and experiencing a few new sensations.

Here's a list of gift suggestions especially designed to provide a wide range of new and edgy (or over that edge) experiences to your more adventurous gift recipients. —William Gurstelle, Contributing Editor, MAKE magazine

Editor's Note: As the name of this guide implies, the items listed here are dangerous. All relevant cautions, required background expertise, safeties, and common sense should be applied here. The purpose of this guide is to give you some idea of what sorts of envelope-pushing products are available out there (and to have a little fun in the process), not to encourage thoughtless and reckless behavior.

Bring the Amazon home
Xingu River Black Piranha<!>, Aquascape Online, $200 each "They are the most ferocious fish in the world. The piranhas habitually attack things much larger than themselves. They will snap a finger off a hand incautiously trailed in the water; they mutilate swimmers and devour alive any wounded man or beast; for blood in the water excites them to madness. — Theodore Roosevelt,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914.
Teddy may have overstated things a bit, but there's little doubt that piranha can be some pretty ornery fishes. However, they are often bought and sold as pets after a fashion, and so, could make an exotic and interesting gift to aquarists who:

A. Have very large fish tanks
B. Live in northern states (piranha are illegal in states without cold winters lest they escape into local lakes and reproduce
C. Have a sense of high adventure or are simply unconcerned about retaining all ten fingers

Make a homemade rocket
Absinthe and Flamethrowers, Maker Shed, $15.95 In my book,
Absinthe and Flamethrowers, you can find a great number of maker-friendly projects with just the right mix of technology, DIY, and danger. While the eponymous flamethrower project may not be everyone's cup of tea, the section on making homemade rockets out of sugar and stump remover is so McGyver-like it's hard not to get excited. Who knew what potential for science and mayhem lurked at the hardware store? Dangerous? Yeah. Irresponsible? Nope.
Read the Full Story » | More on MAKE » | Comments » | Read more articles in Gift Guides | Digg this!
Capturing the Lives of Others: New Biographies for the Kindle (29 Nov 2010)
[Books] (The Kindle Reader)
One lives in the hope of becoming a memory - Antonio Porchia. Given the burgeoning popularity of social media on the Internet, it is not surprising that biographies and memoirs are among the most popular reading choices of Kindle readers. Whether you enjoy reading of exemplary lives or living vicariously through celebrity memoirs, now you can spend less time searching and more time reading, as I watch for new biographies and memoirs in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. My Reading Life ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

One lives in the hope of becoming a memory - Antonio Porchia.

Given the burgeoning popularity of social media on the Internet, it is not surprising that biographies and memoirs are among the most popular reading choices of Kindle readers. Whether you enjoy reading of exemplary lives or living vicariously through celebrity memoirs, now you can spend less time searching and more time reading, as I watch for new biographies and memoirs in the Kindle Store so you don't have to.

My Reading Life, by Pat Conroy. Nan A. Talese, 2010. Print Length: 192 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (13 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99 (Hardcover $12.81). Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Bestselling author Pat Conroy acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the profound effect reading has had on his life.He has for years kept a notebook in which he notes words or phrases, just from a love of language. But reading for him is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity. In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of passionate reading. He includes wonderful anecdotes from his school days, moving accounts of how reading pulled him through dark times, and even lists of books that particularly influenced him at various stages of his life, including grammar school, high school, and college." - from the hardcover edition.

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia<!>, by Michael Korda. Harper Collins, 2010. Print Length: 800 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $16.99 (Hardcover $19.64). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. "An Oxford scholar and archaeologist, one of five illegitimate sons of a British aristocrat who ran away with his daughters' governess, Lawrence was sent to Cairo as a young intelligence officer in 1916. He vanished into the desert in 1917 only to emerge later as one of the greatest - and certainly most colorful - figures of World War One. Though a foreigner, he played a leading and courageous part in uniting the Arab tribes to defeat the Turks, and eventually capture Damascus, transforming himself into a world-famous hero, hailed as 'the Uncrowned King of Arabia.' In illuminating Lawrence's achievements, Korda digs further than anyone before him to expose the flesh-and-blood man and his contradictory nature. Here was a born leader who was utterly fearless and seemingly impervious to pain, thirst, fatigue, and danger, yet who remained shy, sensitive, modest, and retiring; a hero who turned down every honor and decoration offered to him, and was racked by moral guilt and doubt; a scholar and an aesthete who was also a bold and ruthless warrior; a writer of genius - the author of
Seven Pillars of Wisdom, one of the greatest books ever written about war - who was the virtual inventor of modern insurgency and guerrilla warfare; a man who at the same time sought and fled the limelight, and who found in friendships, with everyone from Winston Churchill to George Bernard and Charlotte Shaw, from Nancy Astor to Noel Coward, a substitute for sexual feelings that he rigorously - even brutally and systematically - repressed in himself..." - Amazon.

Life, by Keith Richards. Little, Brown and Company, 2010. Print Length: 560 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (104 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99 (Hardcover $16.18). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. "As the legendary guitarist for the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards has done more, been more and seen more than you or I will ever dream of, and reading his autobiography, Life, should awaken (if you have a pulse and an I.Q. north of 100) a little bit of the rock star in you...Music is at the core of Life, as it is at the core of Keith... Believe me, you won't want to miss a thing. The most impressive part of
Life is the wealth of knowledge Keith shares, whether he's telling you how to layer an acoustic guitar until it sounds electric, as he did on the classic Stones track 'Street Fighting Man,' or how to win a knife fight. He delivers recipe after recipe for everything rock 'n' roll, and let me say it's quite an education...like getting to corner Keith Richards in a room and ask him everything you ever wanted to know about the Rolling Stones, and have him be completely honest with you." - Liz Phair for The New York Times Book Review.

You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness, by Julie Klam. Riverhead, 2010. Print Length: 240 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (13 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99 (Hardcover $14.99). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Julie Klam was thirty, single, and working as a part-time clerk in an insurance company, wondering if she would ever meet the man she could spend the rest of her life with. And then it happened. She met the irresistible Otto, her first in a long line of Boston terriers, and fell instantly in love. You Had Me at Woof is the often hilarious and always sincere story of how one woman discovered life's most important lessons from her relationships with her canine companions. From Otto, Julie realized what it might feel like to find 'the one.' She learned to share her home, her heart, and her limited resources with another, and she found an authentic friend in the process. But that was just the beginning. Over the years her brood has grown to one husband, one daughter, and several Boston terriers. And although she had much to learn about how to care for them - walks at 2 a.m., vet visits, behavior problems - she was surprised and delighted to find that her dogs had more wisdom to convey to her than she had ever dreamed." - Amazon.

Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff. Little, Brown and Company, 2010. Print Length: 384 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (49 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99 (Hardcover $16.49). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. "The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life." - Amazon.

Colonel Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris. Random House, 2010. Print Length: 800 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (18 reviews). Kindle edition $17.29 (Hardcover $19.25). Text-to-Speech: Disabled. "Of all our great presidents, Theodore Roosevelt is the only one whose greatness increased out of office. When he toured Europe in 1910 as plain 'Colonel Roosevelt,' he was hailed as the most famous man in the world. Crowned heads vied to put him up in their palaces. “If I see another king,” he joked, “I think I shall bite him.”
Had TR won his historic 'Bull Moose' campaign in 1912 (when he outpolled the sitting president, William Howard Taft), he might have averted World War I, so great was his international influence. Had he not died in 1919, at the early age of sixty, he would unquestionably have been reelected to a third term in the White House and completed the work he began in 1901 of establishing the United States as a model democracy, militarily strong and socially just. This biography by Edmund Morris, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex, is itself the completion of a trilogy sure to stand as definitive. Packed with more adventure, variety, drama, humor, and tragedy than a big novel, yet documented down to the smallest fact, it recounts the last decade of perhaps the most amazing life in American history. ." - from the hardcover edition.

Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage, by Hazel Rowley. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. Print Length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (9 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99 (Hardcover $16.61). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. "Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt’s marriage is one of the most celebrated and scrutinized partnerships in presidential history. It raised eyebrows in their lifetimes and has only become more controversial since their deaths. From FDR’s lifelong romance with Lucy Mercer to Eleanor’s purported lesbianism - and many scandals in between - the American public has never tired of speculating about the ties that bound these two headstrong individuals. Some claim that Eleanor sacrificed her personal happiness to accommodate FDR’s needs; others claim that the marriage was nothing more than a gracious façade for political convenience. No one has told the full story until now. In this dramatic and vivid narrative, set against the great upheavals of the Depression and World War II, Rowley paints a portrait of a tender lifelong companionship, born of mutual admiration and compassion. Most of all, she depicts an extraordinary evolution - from conventional Victorian marriage to the bold and radical partnership that has made Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt go down in history as one of the most inspiring and fascinating couples of all time." - Amazon.

The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love, by Kristin Kimball. Scribner, 2010. Print Length: 288 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (20 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99 (Hardcover $15.00). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Single, thirtysomething, working as a writer in New York City, Kristin Kimball was living life as an adventure. But she was beginning to feel a sense of longing for a family and for home. When she interviewed a dynamic young farmer, her world changed. Kristin knew nothing about growing vegetables, let alone raising pigs and cattle and driving horses. But on an impulse, smitten, if not yet in love, she shed her city self and moved to five hundred acres near Lake Champlain to start a new farm with him. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of their first year on Essex Farm, from the cold North Country winter through the following harvest season - complete with their wedding in the loft of the barn." - simonandschuster.com.
Letter of the Day: November 27
[Museums] (A Repository for Bottled Monsters)
27 November 1957 [To] Assistant Chief, Medical Illustration Service [From] Curator, Medical Museum [Subject] Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association Request that application be made for the presentation of the following exhibit at the Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association, to be held in the Hotel Roosevelt, New Orleans, Louisiana, 28 April – 1 May 1958: a. Exhibit title: Some Contributions of Dr. Hugh H. Young to Operative Urology. b. Exhibitor’s name: Arm ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

27 November 1957

[To] Assistant Chief, Medical Illustration Service

[From] Curator, Medical Museum

[Subject] Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association

Request that application be made for the presentation of the following exhibit at the Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association, to be held in the Hotel Roosevelt, New Orleans, Louisiana, 28 April – 1 May 1958:

a. Exhibit title: Some Contributions of Dr. Hugh H. Young to Operative Urology.

b. Exhibitor’s name: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Col. H. W. Coddington, Curator and Helen R. Purtle, and the Instrument Collection Committee of the American Urological Association, Dr. Edward E. Ferguson, Chairman, Washington, D.C.

c. Description: This exhibit shows some of the instruments devised by Dr. Young with a brief biographical introduction.

d. Space requirement: Four, 4’ x 5’ panels (already constructed).

H. W. Coddington
Colonel, MSC, USA<!>Curator, Medical Museum
Daniel Day Lewis as Abe Linoln ... Who's Next?
[Celebrities] (The Stir By CafeMom: Entertainment)
Post by Amy Keyishian Apparently Steven Spielberg has tapped Daniel Day-Lewis to play Honest Abe in a movie version of the 16th president’s life. I mean, now I have an image of a penny telling me it’s going to drink my milkshake, but okay. Of course, this got me wondering: What other Hollywood actors should play American presidents?Russell Crowe can play Ulyssess S. Grant, since both men have a bit of a boozy reputation. Bill Murray already voiced Garfield in a movie, so he’s a shoo-in ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Post by Amy Keyishian

Apparently Steven Spielberg has tapped Daniel Day-Lewis to play Honest Abe in a movie version of the 16th president’s life. I mean, now I have an image of a penny telling me it’s going to drink my milkshake, but okay.

Of course, this got me wondering: What other Hollywood actors should play American presidents?

Russell Crowe can play Ulyssess S. Grant, since both men have a bit of a boozy reputation.

Bill Murray already voiced Garfield in a movie, so he’s a shoo-in for James A. Garfield, our 20th president… right?

John Goodman can portray William Howard Taft, a president so fat he got stuck in his own bathtub.

Bruce Willis can play the famously chrome-domed Eisenhower. Hey, the guy didn’t look like much, but he was a five-star army general and a former football coach. Yippie-kai-yay, Mr. Kruschev.

A charming, handsome tom-cat who stepped out on his pleasant wife with a rowr-y movie star? Yep, Brad Pitt would make a fine John F. Kennedy.

Taped without his knowledge in villanous situations? Seems too mean to have Mel Gibson play Richard Nixon, but it does seem like a good match.

This one’s easy: Robert Downey Jr., the new voice of Mr. Peanut in TV commercials, as former peanut farmer Jimmy Carter.

Actor Ronald Reagan, of course, would be reanimated to play President Ronald Reagan, who always looked kinda reanimated already.

See what you learn on the Internet? Dennis Quaid was already tapped to play his old pal Bill Clinton, and he does a pretty good job!

What clumsy actor could play Gerald Ford? Is there a celebrity outdoorsman who’d be Teddy Roosevelt? Are you a history nerd?

Image via ChadH/Flickr

OryCon, Ho!

[SciFi & Fantasy Novels] (The voices in my head don't think they're imaginary)

This weekend is OryCon, my hometown con, the first con I ever attended so it occupies a very fond spot in my heart. I am very much looking forward to seeing some local & regional friends with whom I do not get sufficient hang-out time. My schedule is below should you wish to find me for any reason: First Novels: Paths to the Editor’s Desk Panelists: M.K. Hobson, Christina F. York; Christy Evans, Gail Carriger, Bruce Taylor Friday, Nov 12, 4 – 5 p.m. Jefferson/Adams Room A Polite Socie ...

[details] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

First Novels: Paths to the Editor’s Desk
Panelists: M.K. Hobson, Christina F. York; Christy Evans, Gail Carriger, Bruce Taylor
Friday, Nov 12, 4 – 5 p.m.
Jefferson/Adams Room

A Polite Society: Novels of Manners
Panelists: Petrea Mitchell, M.K. Hobson, Joan Gaustad, Gail Carriger
Saturday, Nov 13, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Roosevelt Room

Promotion in the Information Age
Panelists: Cat Rambo, M.K. Hobson, Sheri Gormley, J. Steven York
Saturday, Nov 13, 7 – 8 p.m.
Jefferson/Adams Room

Broad Universe Readings
Featuring Jessica Reisman, Jennifer Brozek, Camille Alexa,
A.M. Dellamonica, Cat Rambo, Mary E. Lowd, MeiLin Miranda, and M.K. Hobson
Saturday, Nov 13, 8 – 9 p.m.
Lincoln Room

I will also be participating in the Fourth Annual SciFi Authorfest out at Powell’s Books in Cedar Hills (3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.) This mass signing takes place on Sunday at 5 p.m. and features a whole galaxy of incredible authors, including:

You know the drill. Be there or be orthogonal, or however thatgoes.

Lilith Saintcrow
Devon Monk
Barb and J. C. Hendee
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Dean Wesley Smith
Steve Perry
Ilona<!> and Gordon Andrews
Brenda Cooper
Patrick Swenson
Ray Vukcevich
Louise Marley
Gail Carriger
Brent Weeks
Michael Martin
J. A. Pitts

Ru Emerson
Jay Lake
David Levine
M. K. Hobson
Mary Robinette Kowal
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Adrian Phoenix
Camille Alexa<!>
A. M. Dellamonica<!>
Irene Radford
Mike Moscoe
Andy Mangels
Timothy Zahn
Deborah J. Ross
Seanan McGuire

Mirrored from M.K. Hobson | Necrophilatelist

. Please leave

comments there.

‘A coup d’etat against the carbon cronies’: chatting with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
[Social Entrepreneurship] (Grist - the latest from Grist)
by David Roberts. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a lifelong environmentalist, a lawyer, an author, a cleantech backer, a falconer, a whitewater rafter, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a senior attorney and frequent spokesperson for NRDC, and a vigorous political campaigner. Other than that he’s kind of a layabout. Last week NRDC celebrated its 40th anniversary—alongside its influential partner Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), which was celebrating its 10th—in lovely San Fran ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

by David Roberts.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a lifelong environmentalist, a lawyer, an author, a cleantech backer, a falconer, a whitewater rafter, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a senior attorney and frequent spokesperson for NRDC, and a vigorous political campaigner. Other than that he’s kind of a layabout.

Last week NRDC celebrated its 40th anniversary—alongside its influential partner Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), which was celebrating its 10th—in lovely San Francisco, California. (Go Giants!) Kennedy was in town to speak at the summit and help celebrate. I caught up with him at the Fort Mason Center, where we chatted about ... well, mostly about how things are going to hell. But also other stuff!

Q. Given there’s no prospect of a comprehensive climate/energy bill for two, four, who knows how many years, what should climate and energy folks be doing? Where should their energies and attentions be focused?

A. There are a lot of things that the federal government can do without going through Congress. Those are the lessons Bush and Cheney taught us. The Supreme Court has given the EPA the authority to put a price on carbon. We ought to be doing that. The administration also ought to be putting a cost on mercury from coal plants. They should altogether ban mountaintop-removal mining. They should try to force the carbon industry to internalize their costs the same way that they internalize their profits.

Then the administration needs to help construct a national grid system that functions as a marketplace for renewable power. We need a marketplace that turns every American into an energy entrepreneur and every home into a power plant, that powers our country on what Franklin Roosevelt called “America’s industrial genius.” We need a national program like Eisenhower launched in the 1950s and 60s to reconstruct our highway system and have it reach every community in the country.

Right now we have a marketplace for energy in this country that is rigged by rules that were written by the incumbents to favor the dirtiest, filthiest, most poisonous, most destructive, most addictive fuels from hell, rather than the cheap, clean, green, abundant, and wholesome fuels from heaven. We need a marketplace that does what a market is supposed to do: reward good behavior, which is efficiency, and punish bad behavior, which is inefficiency and waste. If solar and wind and geothermal are allowed to compete, they will blow the competition out of the water—all they need is the infrastructure, which is the national marketplace that will allow them to sell that energy.

We have the technology. The problem is, we have a grid system that can’t carry these new currents about. Once that grid system is constructed, once we have rational rules that complement the public interest, you’re going to see a cascading transformation of the energy system in this country. We’ll see the same thing happening here that happened in Germany, where 85 percent of the farmers have solar panels on their roofs. In this country, farmland increases in value from about $400 an acre if you’re growing corn to about $3,000 an acre if you’re growing corn and harvesting wind from the same field. It’s good for everybody.

Not only that, it democratizes our energy system. If you have an economic system that’s owned by a few tycoons, the political system is also going to be a plutocracy. But if you have an energy system owned by hundreds of millions of Americans, it’s not only resilient, it’s not only more efficient, it also democratizes our society and keeps us out of foreign wars. If we can make this energy here, we don’t have to go to Saudi Arabia and genuflect to the sheiks—who despise democracy and are hated by their own people—and get in periodic wars that cost trillions of dollars. That three-quarters of a trillion dollars a year we’re now sending out of the country to pay for our oil addiction, if you just spent a fraction of that building a national grid in this country, we could be off of foreign oil overnight.

Q. What’s a citizen to do? The democratic process exhausted itself in failure.

A. Right now there are huge opportunities for citizens to participate in this by buying green energy, by getting involved in the new energy economy, by electing public officials who are going to support that economy. For the first time in history, environmentalists have industrialists and corporations on their side. They are big players, including some of the biggest corporations on the earth. GE, Vestas, Siemens, and many others are now manufacturing technologies that are competitive with oil and coal and nukes. We have the opportunity now to execute a coup d’etat against the carbon cronies, to displace them with much more efficient fuels and take away from them the $3 trillion we’re giving them every year.

Q. Since 2004, the last time you sat for an interview with Grist, we’ve had An Inconvenient Truth, “green” on the tip of everyone’s tongue, and two national sweep elections. Yet here we are with no more coherent national climate policy than we had in 2004. Did it all amount to nothing?

A. National climate policy is ultimately a victim of the national political calamity. What we’re looking at is the tragic collapse of American democracy.

A lot of it has to do with what’s happening in the media. George Bernard Shaw said that a journalist is somebody who can’t distinguish between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization. The Citizens United case was the collapse of civilization, but the media ended up covering the Ground Zero Islamic center and Juan Williams and Charlie Sheen and giving very little attention to the impacts of this momentous case. The focus the media has now is on entertaining rather than informing the public. You cannot have democracy very long without an informed public. Americans today are the best entertained and probably the least informed people on the face of the earth.

In terms of energy policy, our policy’s gotten a lot better than it was during the Bush administration, when you had a federal government, controlled by Republicans, whose primary concern was giving $100,000 tax breaks to people who purchase Hummers, getting us embroiled in two wars rooted in our addiction to foreign oil. We now have a president who’s trying to get us out of those wars, who’s facilitating—not as quickly as I’d like to see it—the construction of a national [electrical] grid system, which will allow renewables to compete on something of a level playing field with the incumbents.

Q. Obama didn’t exactly throw himself behind the climate bill. The administration undercut negotiations at a few key points. Do you share others’ disappointment on that score?

A. It’s easy to second-guess the Obama administration. There’s a lot of stuff that maybe I would be doing differently, but the real problem is Republicans in Congress, who for the first time in American history are completely unwilling to negotiate in good faith. It is a group of extreme right-wing ideologues and narcissistic hacks who are putting their personal ambitions, their party ambitions, and partisanship ahead of the interests of our country. They will not allow Obama to have anything that looks like a victory. Even if it’s a bill they wrote, they won’t let him pass it.

He’s done a pretty good job in two years, all things considered. He’s closed down one war Republicans got us in. I believe he will close down the other war in two years. He’s given us a health care bill that people in this country have been trying to pass for at least 50 years. He saved the country from a major depression, by the account of virtually every independent economist. He gave us bankruptcy reform.

He did this in the face of Republicans in Congress who are simply unwilling to compromise or to give him any victories.

Q. Environmentalists weren’t able to muster much pressure on swing senators this year. Isn’t that somewhat damning toward the environmental movement?

A. That’s like blaming blacks for not getting civil rights, for Reconstruction and the Jim Crow laws. I’d say the real culprits here are all the members of the American press who aren’t exposing the shenanigans of big corporations, who are not doing what they ought to do to inform the American public about how they’re being ripped off.

What a farce the Tea Party is. It’s a farce that is based completely on ignorance. The American press is covering it like a horse race rather than exposing it as the charade it really is, rather than exposing all of the claims and suppositions and precepts and slogans as fraudulent. Journalists are supposed to tell the truth. They’re not just supposed to report on different points of view if those points of view have no legitimacy. If a journalist wants, he can report the outlandish opinions of every crank and nutcase out there. There are people out there still who believe the Earth is flat and the Apollo moon landing was a hoax. Why not have them on TV every night?

Q. But the Tea Party is getting people elected to office.

A. They’re getting elected because the press has allowed that to happen. The environmental community in this country does not have a bullhorn like Fox News. We don’t have talk radio. We don’t have the advertising revenues of the Exxon Corporation or Chevron. Koch Industries has 100 times more money than all the environmental groups in our country put together. They can put together phony public interest groups, plus directly funnel money to their indentured servants in the political process, plus buy advertising that supports the corporate toadies on Fox News and talk radio. The entire advertising budget for the entire environmental community is probably less than $15 million dollars a year. The oil industry spends that much money in a single day on advertising. We’re a little, tiny David facing a giant Goliath, and the only hope that we have of reason prevailing in the marketplace of ideas is if the press acts as an honest broker. It’s completely abdicated that responsibility.

Q. Do you think the ability for everyone to effectively be their own media, to broadcast their own thoughts, holds any hope for an end run around corporate media?

A. So far we haven’t figured out how to make that work for democracy—to actually improve the quality of information people are getting. People certainly have access to huge amounts of information, but the quality of that information, the capacity to discern what’s vital, what’s frivolous and superfluous, is not there. You need journalists. That’s the big problem online. You need to pay actual people to dig and investigate and do journalistic tasks. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of people airing their gripes and opinions. That’s not journalism.

Q. What are you spending your time on now?

A. I’m doing a lot of green-tech businesses. I’ve employed all the tools of advocacy during the past quarter-century; Martin Luther King said the tools of advocacy are agitation, legislation, litigation, and education. I would add to that innovation, which may turn out to be one of the most powerful tools of advocacy. We have an opportunity now, using new technologies, to displace the evildoers, the oil industry and the coal industry, and turn this country back into a democracy.

Related Links:

Opponents of California’s AB 32 rail against a law that doesn’t exist

A beautiful coalition against dirty energy

Key votes in California this November
Military Pic Of the day 27 Oct 10
[Diecast] (Joe's Diecast Shack)
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Oct. 18, 2010) Berthing spaces aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) are being upgraded to provide Sailors a higher standard of living. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Sandra A. Pimentel)

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Oct. 18, 2010) Berthing spaces aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) are being upgraded to provide Sailors a higher standard of living. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Sandra A. Pimentel)
Jason Spicer commented on Jeffrey A. Myers's blog post 'Conservatism's Bankrupt and Failed Ideology Must Be Stopped'
[Atheism] (Latest Activity on Atheist Nexus)
Jason Spicer commented on Jeffrey A. Myers's blog post 'Conservatism's Bankrupt and Failed Ideology Must Be Stopped' PRG, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were progressives by today's standards, though I'm not sure how they would have characterized themselves. The GOP has completely traded places with the Democratic Party at this point. It's astonishing that the Party… ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Jason Spicer commented on Jeffrey A. Myers's blog post 'Conservatism's Bankrupt and Failed Ideology Must Be Stopped'

PRG, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were progressives by today's standards, though I'm not sure how they would have characterized themselves. The GOP has completely traded places with the Democratic Party at this point. It's astonishing that the Party…
Ward 1 Residents Pack Gray Town Hall
[Washington, D.C.] (DCist)
So far, the town halls hosted by presumptive Mayor-elect Vince Gray have been held in wards where he cleaned up (5, 7) or where he got his clock cleaned (2,3). But yesterday's Ward 1 town hall was the first Gray convened in a ward that split about as close to even as the Democratic primary got: 60 to 40, in favor of Mayor Adrian Fenty. (Ward 6 is the other, having gone 55-45 for Fenty.) The audience was large, filling the auditorium of the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School a ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
So far, the town halls hosted by presumptive Mayor-elect Vince Gray have been held in wards where he cleaned up (5, 7) or where he got his clock cleaned (2,3).

But yesterday's Ward 1 town hall was the first Gray convened in a ward that split about as close to even as the Democratic primary got: 60 to 40, in favor of Mayor Adrian Fenty. (Ward 6 is the other, having gone 55-45 for Fenty.)

The audience was large, filling the auditorium of the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School and an overflow room. It also seemed more diverse than in past town halls, with a healthy mix of younger white residents, long-term African Americans and a large group of Hispanic voters.

Observations and thoughts, after the jump.
- Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) gave an opening speech that could well be considered too partisan for what was supposed to be an open town hall for everyone -- Fenty voters, Gray voters, Independents, Republicans and anyone else. "There are no write-ins in this room," Graham loudly declared, referring to a campaign to write-in Fenty for Mayor on November 2. Only Council member Harry Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) was more peppish, having led pro-Gray chants at the inaugural town hall in his ward two weeks ago.
- Gray delivered his usual stump speech, starting with education reform. And while he again pledged to fully maintain the progress that has been made and outlined his hopes for a comprehensive birth-through-24 education system, there has been one issue he hasn't touch in five town halls so far -- the new teacher contract and the IMPACT teacher evaluations. Maybe those are two details too many for a broad speech on his mayoral ambitions. Or maybe he's steering clear because those are two matters that the D.C. Teachers Union hasn't been particularly happy about.
- On the city's shrinking budget, Gray again reminded the crowd that not only will cuts be needed, but everyone has to be willing to have their pet program cut for the sake of the greater goal. He also stressed that while the homeless need to be provided shelters, city residents can't demand that those shelters be placed anywhere but in their neighborhoods.
- The biggest crowd-pleaser of the night was -- again -- Gray's bit on statehood and self-determination. His best line? "Why should we pay membership dues but never get a membership card?" (Might Gray refuse to send Congress our budget next year to make a point?)
- Hey, folks who really want Bruce Monroe Elementary re-built (it was closed in 2007) -- we get it. Thirty of you showed up, you held up your signs, you started a chant, you asked Gray a question and then you walked out. Everyone has their cause. But there's no need to use the town halls to make us all painfully aware of them.
- Former mayoral candidate Ernest Johnson (317 votes in September!) asked Gray to set aside "luxury programs" like the streetcars and Convention Center hotel, and direct funds to job creation instead. Gray wasn't buyin'. (I swear I heard urbanists across the city breath a sigh of relief.) The streetcars, Gray pointed out, are in the capital, not operating budget. Additionally, he cited development along Portland's streetcar lines as a justification for their economic potential. As for the convention center hotel, Gray argued it will increase the city's convention capacity, thus bringing in more business.
- Gray again brought up an idea from his campaign's jobs and economic development report -- turning the District into a Cayman Islands-like tax haven for disaster insurance reserves.
- A student from Roosevelt HS asked about bullying of LGBT students. Gray's solution? "Step to 'em." (No, really, he said this.) He then meandered through a response about there being no magic bullet to the problem, and victims needing someone to talk to about it. Not one of his brightetest moments.
- In response to a question on increased parking meter rates (which has come up at four of the five town halls so far), Gray advocated lowering them, but not until the city is in "better times." We called it -- with a massive budget deficit through 2012, it's unlikely that the D.C. Council will cut a few million from parking meters by lowering rates.
- Another consistent theme that has come up is contractors that do work for the city not giving jobs to residents. Gray again argued that if they're not going to comply with the District's First Source law, he'll make sure they never do business with the city again.
- One audience member asked about rising levels of crime in Ward 1, and advocated for the city hiring more cops. Gray honestly said that the money simply isn't there for more new cops, but that he'd like to see more community policing and more cops living in the city in which they serve. (According to stats he's rolled out over the last few town halls, fewer than 20 percent of D.C. cops and firefighters actually live here.)
- Another question on Hardy Middle School, this time from a parent. This make it three town halls where the dismissal of Principal Patrick Pope has been brought up. Every time Gray says the same -- he won't micro-manage the schools.
- Along with Graham and Thomas, Councilmember Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) made an appearance, making both him and Thomas five-for-five on town hall attendance. Former Ward 5 Councilmember and Council Chair candidate Vincent Orange also showed up, as did Virginia Williams, mother of former Mayor Anthony Williams.
Tomorrow, the town hall tour stops in Ward 8, and next week it hits Ward 4 before ending its run in Ward 6. Our handy map is here.

Other reports from last night: NBC4, WaPo.
Jean Craighead George's THE BUFFALO ARE BACK
[Children's Literature] (American Indians in Children's Literature)
I received an inquiry about Jean Craighead George's The Buffalo Are Back (Dutton, 2010) and will share my observations and analysis as I turn each page of the not-paginated picture book. The paintings are by Wendell Minor. I've included some of the illustrations. In this analysis, I am focusing primarily on the Native imagery/representations in the book. My descriptions and summary text are in regular font; my comments are in italics. I hope this analysis helps parents, teachers, librarians, ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

I received an inquiry about Jean Craighead George's The Buffalo Are Back (Dutton, 2010) and will share my observations and analysis as I turn each page of the not-paginated picture book. The paintings are by Wendell Minor. I've included some of the illustrations.

In this analysis, I am focusing primarily on the Native imagery/representations in the book. My descriptions and summary text are in regular font; my comments are in italics. I hope this analysis helps parents, teachers, librarians, book reviewers, writers, illustrators, and editors see books from the vantage point of a Native educator who is interested in books that accurately portray American Indians and Indigenous Nations and peoples in other places.

Among the criteria I have in mind when analyzing a book are the following:

Does the author/illustrator specify a tribal nation?
What is the time period?
Is the history accurate?
How does the author/illustrator present gender?
Does the author's word choice indicate bias against Native peoples?

The front cover (shown above)
On the left side of the page is a buffalo head in profile. In front of it is a buffalo calf. They're in some tall grass. Perched atop one of the tall blades of grass is a lark. All are looking to the right.

Title page
The calf is standing, alone, in the center of the page. Beneath it are two prairie dogs standing upright as prairie dogs often do.

First double-paged spread
(Note: A book's "gutter" is the space where the pages are bound together.)
Left of gutter: Acknowledgement from Wendell Minor

Right of gutter: Craighead George dedicates the book "To Cyd and Carol Ann, who praise the diversity of the earth and the return of the buffalo. Minor dedicates it "To Jean, in celebration of her fifty years of writing wonderful books that teach children the wonders of nature." The page includes a profile of the calf's head.

Second double-page spread
Left of gutter: same illustration as shown on the cover

Right of gutter: Three prairie dogs face left, looking toward the calf. The text reads:

In a time long ago, an orange buffalo calf was born. [...] On that day in the mid-1800s seventy-five million buffalo roamed in North America. In little more than fifty years, there would be almost none.

What happened? The answer is a story of the American Indians, the buffalo, and the grass.
Craighhead George tells us that the book is set in 1850 or thereabouts. She tells us there were millions of buffalo, but that there would soon be almost none. She poses a 'what happened' question. As I read her answer to that question, I think to myself "What? No mention of Americans or the U.S. government who were largely responsible for that dramatic change?"

Third double-page spread
Left of gutter:
The page is titled "The American Indians." In the first paragraph, Craighead George says that on the day the calf was born, the air was smoky because "The Indians who lived on the plains were setting the grasses ablaze, as they had for thousands of years." I like that she said they had been there for thousands of years. I would have liked her to specify a tribal nation instead of saying "Indians". She could have said "The Plains Indians were setting the grasses ablaze..." and that would have been ok, but, it would have been better if she had said "Northern Plains" or "Southern Plains" or even better if she'd specified a tribe.

Right of gutter:
Minor depicts the prairie on fire. The Indians Craighead George refers to are shown in the distance, some with a hand raised. In that hand is a flame. One Indian is on horseback. In the background is a structure that I take to be a grass lodge like those used by the Wichitas (Southern Plains tribe). His illustration of the grass lodge tells me that he's depicting the southern plains. The illustration, in this case, is tribally specific, but not the accompanying text.

Fourth double-page spread
Left of gutter:

A hunter, who I learn from the facing page, is a "white fur hunter." Though he is carrying a rifle on his shoulder, he doesn't look scary. He is looking out over a herd of buffalo (the illustration spills over to the right side of the gutter).

Right of gutter:
The page is titled "The Buffalo." The first paragraph reads:

In the mid 1800s, change came to the plains. First it was white fur hunters. They stacked the beautiful buffalo hides in pointed canoes and sold them east for profit. Then the American explorers came, who shot many animals for fun. Buffalo made good targets for the hunters because they are big and often stand still.
In fact, change came to the plains much earlier than the mid 1800s. Anthony Hendry of the Hudson's Bay Company, for example, was there in the 1750s.

I wonder why Craighead George uses "white" and "American" to distinguish between fur hunters and the explorers? Given her time period (mid 1800s) she can't be talking about Lewis and Clark, because their expedition began in 1804. They were definitely exploring and their expedition did bring change, but, it was change that happened prior to the 1850s.

Aside from the fur trade I alluded to above, there were lots of other changes. In The People: A History of Native America<!> by Edmunds, Hoxie, and Salisbury (published in 2007 by Houghton Mifflin, p. 198), the authors state that during the 1780s, the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikara's) were devastated by smallpox. Their population went from 16,000 to 6100. And in 1837, a steamboat of the American Fur Company that had several passengers aboard who had smallpox landed at a Mandan village. Another epidemic ensued, and the Three Affiliated Tribes population declined again, to 2300.

According to information on the website of the Three Affiliated Tribes, in 1825, the U.S. government negotiated treaties with the Teton, Yankton, and Yanktonai Dakota as well as the Cheyenne, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, treaties through which the tribes agreed not to trade with anyone but American citizens.

In short, the history is far more complicated than Craighead George suggests with her "In the mid-1800s, change came to the plains."

The second paragraph (still on the third double-page spread) of "The Buffalo" reads:

But it was settlers from the East and the American government that killed almost all of the buffalo herds. After the Civil War, the government bought huge tracts of land from the Indians. They forced many Indians to go to reservations and sold the land to settlers. Families from Europe and the East Coast rushed west to settle the rich black prairie land.Yes, it was settlers and the U.S. government that killed most of the herds. In her second sentence, Craighead George says the government bought huge tracts of land from the Indians. I don't know what she's talking about... The Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. She says "after" the Civil War, so I wonder if she's talking about the Dawes Act of 1887? Through that act, Native Nations lost land, but not due to the government buying the land from them. Rather, it was a legal move by the U.S. government to break up the integrity of the tribes as Nations by allotting them plots of land that they would own and hopefully farm and ranch.. The "surplus" land would be sold to settlers.

And "forced to go to reservations" is not quite right either---at least not at that time period. Native Nations were forcibly moved from their homelands in the East and South to what was then-called Indian Territory, but that happened in the early 1800s, not after the Civil War..

Returning again to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation website, there is information about the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which says that through the treaty, several tribes established boundaries for what became their reservations. That was in 1851, before the Civil War. Maybe that's what Craighead George is thinking about. I wish she'd been more specific.

This all might seem a bit picky to, perhaps, a mainstream reader, but it definitely matters to, say, someone in a tribal nation whose history includes close relationships with buffaloes. Craighead George's repeated use of "Indians" is confusing to me, a Pueblo Indian woman, trying to understand what she's talking about. When she uses the word "Indians," is she talking about specific individuals or does her "Indians" refer to Native Nations? And, her last sentence in the paragraph says "Families from Europe and the East Coast...." ---- She doesn't use "families" to talk about Indian people. She unintentionally repeats a pervasive representation of Indian men who are too-often shown without wives, children, mothers, fathers, etc.

Fifth double-page spread:Left of gutter:

The illustration is an Indian man in profile. He's facing towards the facing page, on which are shown tipis and a staff on which there is a buffalo skull. One half of the skull has red dots; the other half has blue dots. There are two feathers affixed to the pole, above the skull.

Here's the kicker, though.... Unlike the white fur hunter on the previous page, this Indian man is see-through. You can see through his torso to the prairie grasses behind him. Why did Minor do that?

Because his name is included in the text on the facing page, I think this is supposed to be Sitting Bull.
Right of gutter: The text reads:

But there was trouble on the plains. The government broke its treaties with the Indians. So the Indians fought back and won several battles against the United States Army. Then the government saw another way to defeat the Indians. Soldiers and settlers were encouraged to shoot every buffalo they saw, or drive whole herds over cliffs. Without the buffalo for food, shelter, and clothing, the Indians could not survive on the plains. Yes, there was trouble. I like that she uses "battles" and that she doesn't use "massacre" or "uprising". It was, in fact, war. But I wish she had said "The United States government broke its treaties with the Native Nations (or Native governments)." That small change would mean a lot and be far more accurate. Elizabeth Cook-Lynn has an insightful article in which she talks about words and what they mean, with respect to the wars between Native Nations and the the United States. It is called "The Lewis and Clark Story, the Captive Narrative, and the Pitfalls of Indian History." It is in Wicazo Sa Review, Volume 19.1. If you'd like a copy send me an email and I'll send it to you.

In Our Hearts Fell to the Ground: Plains Indian Views of how the West was Lost, Colin G. Calloway writes that the U.S. Army and professional hide hunters (sportsmen) worked together to kill buffalo. At this point, I'm not sure where Craighead George will go with her "Indians could not survive" sentence.
The next paragraph reads:

Said the great Sioux Chief Sitting Bull, who defeated General George A. Custer at the battle of Little Big Horn: "A cold wind blew across the prairie when the last buffalo fell--a death-wind for my people."

And, the settlers soon discovered, a death-wind for the prairie.

Finally! She names a specific tribal nation! I wish she had been even more specific, using "Hunkpapa Lakota" instead of "Sioux".... Seeing Sioux, though, makes me wonder if all along, the tribal nation she's thinking of when she says "Indians" is the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota (Sioux). And, I am guessing that it is Sitting Bull that Minor has portrayed on that page. Again, why did he present him as a see-through image? It reminds me of the illustrations in Susan Jeffers' Brother Eagle Sister Sky (see discussion of that book in "Pitfalls and Possibilities", an article Jean Mendoza and I did a few years ago).

Sixth Double-page SpreadLeft of the gutter: The page is titled "The Grass". The first paragraph reads:

With the death of the buffalo, the Indian Wars were over. The settlers faced a new fight--the battle of the grasses. Over the eons the prairie grasses had adapted to the Great Plains' frequent droughts by growing tough roots to hold in moisture. These roots were wide and deep and held the rich soil in place. The buffalo's sharp hooves, and the Indians' prairie firs, had helped keep the grasses healthy. But the new settlers did not understand the importance of the grass.
From there Craighead George moves on to talk about ranchers, cowboys, settlers, farmers, steel plows, steam tractors, wheat, corn, soybeans...

Seventh Double-page SpreadLeft of the gutter: Craighead George begins by talking about crops that flourish and railroads that take the harvest to market. She says "Now not one orange buffalo wobbled to its feet." She says the larks are gone, prairie dogs are silent, and that "Without the buffalo, without the grasses, and without the Indians to care for them, the prairie was in danger." She goes on to talk about drought and grasshoppers. On the right is a very cool painting of farmers using switches to beat the grasshoppers.
Without the Indians? What happened to them? Her last mention of them is that without the buffalo, the Indians "could not survive." Now she says "without the Indians" --- Does this mean that they did not survive?

Eighth Double-page SpreadA terrific Minor illustration spans the two pages, showing dust clouds billowing and a barren land. The text explains that buffalo hooves played a role in preventing the damage done by farming and planting of crops.

Ninth Double-page SpreadHere, Minor shows farmers and townspeople leaving the barren land. One line reads:

In just over fifty years, it [the "great plow up"] had destroyed the buffalo, the protective prairie grasses, and the Indians who had cared for both." Does she really meant to say that the "great plow up" destroyed the Indians? And what does "destroyed" Indians mean? I know they were elsewhere, but what does the child (the audience for her book) understand by what she says?

Tenth Double-page SpreadLeft of the gutter: The page is titled "The Prairie Comeback." The page is about President Roosevelt and that he wanted to save the buffalo. He sent scouts out to look for them. The scouts found nothing. Then, a naturalist named W. T. Hornaday, "looked and looked and would not give up." Following a tip from "a Crow Indian" Hornaday found three hundred buffalo in a meadow in Montana. There's a small illustration inset on the page that shows a man on a horse looking down a hill at a herd of buffalo.

Okay... With her reference to "a Crow Indian" she tells us that all the Indians were not destroyed. I think the man on the horse is Hornaday.
Right of gutter: Minor's illustration is of Roosevelt standing in front of a buffalo herd n a meadow behind him.

Eleventh Double-page Spread Left of gutter: A buffalo calf fills the page. Below and spilling across the gutter is a herd.

Right of gutter: The text above the herd is:

There had been seventy-five million buffalo on the plains. Now there were three hundred left in the wild. People who understood the land, led by Hornaday, knew the buffalo had to be saved. The president helped.

Roosevelt established the National Bison Range in Montana and made it illegal to shoot buffalo. Over the years, more land was set aside in western states for the great grazing herds, which were beginning to grow.

Curious to know more about the Hornaday and comeback of the buffalo, I checked out a couple of books. None of the ones I got are on the list of sources on the last page of the book. The note above the three listed says they are among the sources used by the artist. I wonder if Craighead George used them, too?

Anyway... one of the books I got is The Extermination of the Buffalo, by William T. Hornaday. It is a fascinating book. Reading it, I see that there is a lot more to Hornaday than Craighead George included on the ninth and tenth double-page spreads. In her text, he sounds like a heroic figure. Reading his own words, though, I see that he was among the last group of men who actively hunted buffalo. I didn't find, in his own book, anything that says he found "three hundred buffalo in a meadow in Montana" as Craighead George says on the previous page of her book...

In 1886, Hornaday was the "chief taxidermist of the National Museum." He determined that the museum did not have an acceptable buffalo "specimen" in its holdings, and he was afraid that the remaining buffaloes would be killed before the museum was able to get one. So, an expedition was put together, and on May 6th, off they went to the northwest, looking for buffaloes. Sometime after May 20 they found a calf. Ten days after finding the calf, they found two bulls. They killed one and the other got away. The one they killed was in "unkept and 'seedy' appearance. They decided that the "skin was not in condition to mount" so took "only the skeleton, entire, and the skin of the head and neck." They decided to stop looking until August when the buffaloes would be finished with the shedding of their hair that takes place in the spring. They returned to Washington with several hides and skulls, and, that baby calf they found.

They returned to the "hunt" in the northwest in September. He does say "hunt" again and again, and they do, in fact, kill many buffaloes to serve as specimens. He includes a map with dots to mark locations where they killed buffalo. Here's one of his accounts (p. 537):

McNaney killed a fine old bull and a beautiful two year old, or "spike" bull, out of this herd, while I managed to kill a cow and another large old bull, making four for that day, all told. This herd of fourteen head was the largest that we saw during the entire hunt.
At one point he writes (p. 540):

About 4 miles from our late camp we came suddenly upon a fine old solitary bull, feeding in a hollow between two high and precipitous ridges. After a short but sharp chase I succeeded in getting a fair shot at him, and killed him with a ball which broke his left humerus and passed into his lungs. He was the only large bull killed on the entire trip with a single shot. He proved to be a very fine specimen, measuring 5 feet 6 inches in height at the shoulders.
Language he uses to describe their hunting indicates he loved the hunting. When he kills another "truly magnificent specimen," he says (p. 542):

I was delighted with our remarkably good fortune in securing such a prize, for, owing to the rapidity with which we the large buffaloes are being found and killed off these days, I had not hoped to capture a really old individual.
The live calf the expedition took to Washington was kept in a pen. It became quite popular, and in 1887, Hornaday proposed a "Department of Living Animals" at the Smithsonian. As director of the department, he developed a captive herd.

Craighead George, correctly, gives credit to both, Roosevelt and Hornaday, for actions they took but she completely omits all the work that Native people were also doing in that same time period. Ken Zontek's Buffalo Nation: American Indian Efforts to Restore the Bison(2007, University of Nebraska Press) provides a great deal of information about their work. For example, Zontek writes of a herd of 300 developed and cared for in the 1890s by Michael Pablo whose mother was Blackfeet.

Twelfth Double-page SpreadLeft side of gutter: Craighead George describes government efforts to save the prairie by planting crops in curves instead of straight lines, planting trees with deep roots to break the wind, and, planting grass between corn to hold the soil in place.

Right side of gutter: Minor's illustration of a farmer on his tractor spreads across the double-page spread.

Thirteenth Double-page SpreadLeft of gutter: Craighead George writes that one day, a young girl walked into her Kansas house carrying a six-foot blade of grass. Her dad asks her where he got it, that it is buffalo grass that he thought was extinct. She tells him she got it in the schoolyard.

Right of gutter: Minor's illustration is of a school house on the prairie. The clothing on the children in the yard suggests a more recent time period.

I know very little about prairie grasses.

Fourteenth Double-page SpreadLeft of gutter: Craighead George describes the search for native grasses (bluestem, gamma, bunch, and buffalo grass). She says people raised the grasses and sowed the seeds on abandoned farms and grasslands. She says the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve was established in Kansas, and that 300 buffalo were released into that preserve.

Right of gutter: Minor's illustration is of a prairie and in the distance, a buffalo herd.

I think Craighead George made a mistake about the preserve. The one in Kansas does not have buffalo. There is one in Oklahoma with buffalo. On the Nature Conservancy website and on the Oklahoma Prairie Country website is information about the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. Both sites say that in 1993, the Nature Conservancy donated 300 bison for the preserve and that the herd is at its target herd of approximately 2500.

Fifteenth Double-page SpreadLeft of gutter: The text reads:

One morning not too long ago, a young man just out of graduate school galloped his horse across the Prairie Preserve, counting buffalo for the buffalo census. Suddenly he reined in his horse. An orange calf wobbled to his feet and blinked.

Welcome, little calf," the Wichita Indian youth called. "You are America's two hundred thousand and eighty-first buffalo."

A lark flew to the top of a six-foot blade of grass and sang as sweetly as a panpipe. The buffalo are back.

Craighead George tells us the man (youth?) is Wichita. (Note: I searched on "Wichita Nation" to see if they have a herd, and the first hits the search returned are to Indian Guides programs. The Indian Guides program, while admirable in the goal of having families do activities together, make a mess of things as they choose an Indian tribal name and engage in stereotypical activities.) I tried again, searching on "Wichita Tribe" and the first hit was, in fact, a link to the website of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, whose offices are in Anadarko, Oklahoma.They do not have a buffalo herd, but the Wichita guy may work for one of the tribes that does, or, he may work at the preserve.

By ending her book with the Wichita person, she kind of brings her book full-circle, but I wish she had done more with the work Native Nations are doing today. The Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative, established in 1990, includes over 50 different tribes who now maintain herds on their lands. Their website refers to Roosevelt and conservationists (they don't mention Hornaday) but like Craighead George, they don't refer to Native efforts in the 1890s. I will send them a quick note recommending they add that info.

Minor's website includes reviews of the book. School Library Journal says it is "a must have for most libraries" and Horn Book calls it compelling. I definitely see why it got positive reviews, but, it is one of the many books that---when the lens is focused on the way the book represents American Indians---it falls far short of being a book that I can recommend. I think Craighead George tried hard to approach the book with an interest in being unbiased. I say that because of some of her word choices (battle instead of massacre) and I think it is terrific to see that awareness in an author's work. In the end, though, authors have to do both: be fair, and, be accurate. I think her research---or the researcher who helped her---failed because the dates are off, which makes the related information problematic. I think Craighead George's editor failed her, too. He/she could have caught the problems with time periods.

I'll be thinking about the book for a while. I invite your thoughts, too, on what I've said here, and the book itself if you've got a copy.
Swizz Beatz Alicia Keys Welcome Son Egypt
[Hip Hop] (Hip-Hop Crunch)
It’s a boy for singing star Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz — who we affectionately like to call Toucan Sam! A. Keys and Swizzy welcomed the arrival of their son Egypt Dauode Dean at New York’s St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital late Thursday. “I’m so thankful for everything I been blessed with in my life ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

It’s a boy for singing star Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz — who we affectionately like to call Toucan Sam! A. Keys and Swizzy welcomed the arrival of their son Egypt Dauode Dean at New York’s St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital late Thursday. “I’m so thankful for everything I been blessed with in my life [...]
Letters from readers: More extremism
[Op-Ed (opinion editorial)] (Opinion)
TEA PARTY AND GOP More extremism I would not say that the tea party is made up of thinking Americans. Actually, the tea party is a renaming of the Moral Majority, which tried so hard to turn this country into a Christian theocracy. The Republican Party at one time was the liberal party, thus Abraham Lincoln, who stopped slavery. Teddy Roosevelt was a liberal Republican and created our vast national parks for the people. However, somewhere in the early part of the 20th century, the Republican Par ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

TEA PARTY AND GOP

More extremism

I would not say that the tea party is made up of thinking Americans. Actually, the tea party is a renaming of the Moral Majority, which tried so hard to turn this country into a Christian theocracy.

The Republican Party at one time was the liberal party, thus Abraham Lincoln, who stopped slavery. Teddy Roosevelt was a liberal Republican and created our vast national parks for the people.

However, somewhere in the early part of the 20th century, the Republican Party changed course from being progressive and pretended to want smaller government.

Let big business take over and be in charge of the people's welfare.

This created the corporate greed that brought on the Wall Street crash in 1929, which was repeated during the administration of President George W. Bush.

The Clinton administration tried too hard to get along with the Republican Congress and we got NAFTA. Jobs vanished. However, Clinton did leave us with a balanced budget. I think we all know the mess that came after him. We don't need that again.

HELEN PERRY

Jacksonville

PROPERTY INSURANCE

Myth and reality

The insurance debate reported in The Florida Times-Union shows the fiscal and philosophical difference between liberals and conservatives.

Alex Sink wants to keep the cost of property insurance down for all Floridians.

Rick Scott wants to allow the price individuals pay for insurance to match the cost of providing that insurance.

Sink wants all Floridians to share the cost of insuring the beach-front communities in high-risk insurance zones; Scott wants individuals in these communities to pay the actual insurance costs.

If you, a citizen of Florida, want to continue to pay for beachfront and other high-risk insurance premiums, then hold onto the myth of low insurance rates.

DON MACLEOD

Neptune Beach

LOUD COMMERCIALS

Retired, not deaf

From 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. each night, I am exposed to approximately 300 TV commercials.

I have contacted local television outlets on their loud commercials with no success.

My solution was to pay extra and rent a DVR from my cable provider. I record the shows that I like on those stations. Watching later, I zip through the commercials.

Local advertisers should encourage the local stations to even out the loudness to the average decibels of the program itself, not the maximum or higher.

I am not watching. I'm guessing that others have the mute button at the ready.

JON HAAS

Orange Park

DENISE LEE

Bad judgment

When are our elected officials going to learn that they have to avoid even the appearance of impropriety?

Councilwoman Denise Lee's interference at a recent meeting to evaluate applicants for a new government contract appears to be a blatant case of a government official lobbying for a specific applicant.

If she truly wanted to evaluate the process, she could have quietly attended the meeting taking notes, then raised her concerns at a later date and used her position on City Council to change the way things are done. Instead she had to inject herself into the process which members of the committee have said made them feel uncomfortable.

We are left with a lose-lose situation. If the mayor decides to accept the recommendation of the committee and award the contract to Lee's perceived favorite, then the other two companies may sue the city and end up costing the taxpayers even more in legal fees.

If the mayor goes against the committee recommendation and awards to one of the other companies, then the city may still get sued. Even if the mayor decides to scrap the whole process and start fresh, it will cost the taxpayers more money to start from the beginning.

GARY A. GARLOCK

Jacksonville

DEMOCRATS

Just don't get it

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured us that once the health care bill passed, Americans would find out what was in it and would like it. They did, and they like it even less.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., blamed the voters for the Democrats' plunging poll numbers saying they "just don't get it."

However, Americans are disgusted with the level of spending, the record debt and a bloated federal government. They want leaders who will listen to them rather than lecture them; who will curb out-of-control spending and concentrate on the issues that will get our country back on track.

This administration will not admit that it has made a mistake.

This is pure arrogance.

FLORENCE BISCHOF

Ponte Vedra Beach

COMING OUT DAY

Kudos for coverage

Bravo to The Times-Union for presenting the profiles commemorating National Coming Out Day.

While it is unfortunate that bias is still so prevalent that "coming out" is an act of bravery, the courage and candor displayed by these individuals is inspirational. I hope that they know that there are many allies who stand with members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in their struggle for equal rights.

RANDY KAMMER

Jacksonville
Paul Hellyer -- List of Other Respected Officials on UFOs
[CNN] (CNN iReport - Latest)
"There's a Government..Inside the Government" The Time is now. No more nonsense. These distractions are only going so far. War, poverty, health care, republican, democrat. These are all distractions. The real truth is harder to believe or deal with. More so than your own religion. Religion was based on these entities. We worship the sky. We have always looked up for a God. We think we know "Demons". We think we know Revelations. Most assume these "Demons" are just spiri ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

"There's a Government..Inside the Government" The Time is now. No more nonsense. These distractions are only going so far. War, poverty, health care, republican, democrat. These are all distractions. The real truth is harder to believe or deal with. More so than your own religion. Religion was based on these entities. We worship the sky. We have always looked up for a God. We think we know "Demons". We think we know Revelations. Most assume these "Demons" are just spiritual. They are much more real than you can imagine. We associate reptiles with Satan.

These extra-terrestrials are believed by many to be the real demons. Known as the "Reptilians". A race of E.T.'s that are malevolent. Believed to be from the constellation Draco. This is documented in many ancient kingdoms. These signs are all carved in our past on stone walls. The ancients (Egyptions, Myans, Native Americans etc) were all aware and documented these events themselves. Over thousands of years books were written and King after King manipulated these books. Eventually we were a society of slaves and lived among forced beliefs. God had nothing to do with the outcome of our own demise and ignorance. We have now become a "only believe what you see" society. UnGodly. Unworthy. Unfaithful. Even the E.T. civilization realizes there is a God. We are conceded with what little we have accomplished in comparison to the extra terrestrials.

It takes decades and even centuries to study an E.T. society. If we were to encounter a civilization such as ours we would be very cautious. If we found out the planet we discovered was constantly at war and progressing in technology we would be even more cautious. Right now we are being observed by drones (unoccupied craft). We also have a continuous rotation of occupied craft circulating. Sort of like the U.S.A. did during WWII over the Atlantic when Russia was a threat. Once they crack our languages and computer codes they will feel more comfortable about confronting us. We're still trying to crack the hieroglyphics of the ancients. Things take time.

The "Pyramid" system will eventually destroy us. The truth is out there and for ages we have surrendered to this ideology that the pyramid system works. "Royalty" we adore and for ages the same families have been ruling our system and our land. When will we learn that the pyramid system doesn't work. This is not a pro-communist report either. It is rather a pro-truth report.

Many military officers are coming out of the UFO closet to share what they truely believe is a phenomena that is worth disclosing and investigating further. These testimony's from our astronauts and ex-military are the most important issues in our time. They will affect your children's future and their children's.

Let's not be the ignorant one's. This is real and more important than any war going on right now. Reagan once stated "would it take an attack from an alien race to bring us all together?" He himself had UFO experiences and even ordered a plane to follow one while onboard a flight once. Here is a list of credible and respectable people who affirm the existence of ET's. Including Presidents, astronauts, CIA Directors, and ect.

Many have gone on record and have sworn under oath to testify that they have seen evidence of UFO intelligence first hand.

Captain A D Yates - United Airlines

Adolph Wagner - Deputy Coordinator, Civil Defence

Lieutenant General Akira Hirano - Chief of Staff of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Al Worden - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 15

Reverend Albert Baller - Pastor, German Congregational Church, Clinton, Mass & NICAP Board Member

Alan C Holt - Experimental Specialist, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston and NICAP Special Advisor

Albert M Chop - Deputy Public Relations Director of NASA & Former US Air Force Spokesman for Project Bluebook

Sergeant Alberto Covas - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base

Allen Dulles - Former CIA Director

Dr Anthony O Mirarchi - Air Force Geophysical Laboratory

Brigadier General Arthur E Exon - Former Commander, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Arthur H Sorensen - Research Geologist, Wallace, Idaho and NICAP Special Advisor

Captain Art Shutts - Trans-world Airlines

Air Marshal Azim Daudpota - Zimbabwe Air Force

Senator Barry Goldwater - Retired Air Force Brigadier General

General Benjamin Chidlaw - Commanding General of Air Defence Command

Benjamin (Ben) R Rich - Director, Lockheed Skunk Works

Bill Gates - American Airlines First Officer

Dr Brian O'Leary - NASA Astronaut

Bruce Foster - Bell Aircraft Company Engineer

Dr Bruce Maccabee - Physicist US Navy & Head of the Fund for UFO Research

Buzz Aldrin - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 11, First man to land on the moon (along with Neil Armstrong)

Captain C S Chiles - Eastern Airlines Pilot and NICAP Special Advisor

C W Sonner - Chief of Interstate Airways Communication Station

Cady Coleman - NASA Astronaut, Shuttle Mission STS-73

Carl J Henry - Chairman, Industrial Commission of Missouri, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations

Dr Carl Jung - Swiss Psychologist

Colonel Carl Sanderson - US Air Force

Dr Carol Rosin - Aerospace Executive, Fairchild Industries

Captain Casey Pierman - Capitol Airlines Pilot

Charles A. Carson - California State Policeman

Professor Charles A. Maney - Head of the Defiance

College Physics Department and NICAP Board Member

Charles B Moore - Aerologist, General Mills Balloon Technicians

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Brown - US Air Force

Charles Fisher - Civil Engineer

Dr Charles Gaston - Space & Atmospheric Sciences, IBM, Wheaton, Maryland and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Charles H. Otis, Professor Emeritus of Biology, Bowling Green State University

Charles J Camarda - NASA Astronaut

Pilot Charles Kratovil - Trans World Airlines

Major General Charles P Cabell - Director of Intelligence, US Air Force, Director of the Joint Chief of Staff (1951)

Charles W James - Photographer, Philadelphia Enquirer

Captain Charles Zammett - Pan American Airways

Chuck Sorrels - Air Traffic Controller, Edwards Air Force Base

Clark C. McClelland, Former ScO (Spaceraft Operator), Space Shuttle Fleet, Kennedy Space Centre Florida<!>
Sergeant Clifford Stone - Sergeant 1st Class, US Army Clyde Clark McClelland - US Space Program Pioneer Dr Clyde Tombaugh - Astronomer, Discovered planet Pluto, Optical Scientist, White Sands Missile Range Monsignor Corrado Balducci - Vatican Theologian Insider close to the Pope D Shenkel - Former Air Force Pilot Lieutenant D A Swimley - US Air Force Daniel Salter - US Air Force, Chief Master Sergeant, NRO Dan Willis - US Navy Dr Darell B Harmon Jnr - Deputy Program Manager., McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co, Santa Monica<!>

Dave Richey - Canal Fulton Patrolman, Northeast Ohio

David McCurry - Northeast Ohio State Police

Air Commodore David Thorne - Director of General Operations for the Zimbabwe Air Force in 1985

Delbert C Newhouse - US Navy, Chief Photographer of Aviation and NICAP Special Advisor

Rear Admiral Delmar S Fahrney - US Navy Missile Chief and former NICAP Board Member

Delmus Early - Carroll County Police Officer, Northeast Ohio

Captain Dermott - Capitol Airlines Pilot

Major Dewey J Fournet - US Air Force, Former US Air Force HQ Monitor to Blue Book

Dick Beemer - Aviation Photographer, North American Aviation

Don Newman - Former Air Force pilot

Don P Hollister - Goodyear Aircraft Corporation Technical Writer

Don Phillips - Lockheed Skunkworks, CIA Contractor

Deputy Sheriff Donald E. Corey - Mahoning County, Northeast Ohio

Major Donald E Keyhoe - United States Marines

Captain Donald Slayton - Mercury Astronaut

Donna Hare - NASA (Airbrushing) Department Houston

General Douglas MacArthur

Doyle Kline - Scripps, Howard Staff Writer

Lieutenant Colonel Dwynne Arnesson - US Air Force, SAC Control Officer

Dr Earl Douglas - Religious Writer & Columnist

Ed Nugent - Radar Controller

Ed White - NASA Astronaut

Marshal Ed Marah - Cedaredge Marshal, Rocky Mountains

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker - Commander of the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron in WWI

Astronaut Captain Edgar Mitchell - Sixth Man on the Moon (Apollo 14)

Edison F Carpenter - Research Technician, North American Aviation

Captain Edward J Ruppelt - US Air Force

Dr Edward Teller - Creator of the Hydrogen Bomb

Elizabeth Helen McClelland - Pioneer of the US Space Program

Sir Eric Gairy - Prime Minister of Grenada<!>
Ernest Stadvec - Former World War II Bomber Pilot (now owns a flying service in Akron, Ohio) Commander Eugene Cernan - Commander Apollo 17 Mission Dr Eugene Mallove - Director New Energy Research Labs, Aeronautical Engineer Sir Francis Chichester - Famous aviator, sailor, and author Dr Frank B Salisbury - Department Head, Plant Sciences, Utah State Univ and NICAP Special Advisor Frank Borman - NASA Astronaut, Gemini 7 Mission Frank Edwards - Radio and TV Commentator and NICAP Board Member Frank H Schofield - Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific fleet in the 1930s Frank Halstead - Former Curator, University of Minnesota's Darling Observatory and NICAP Special Advisor Frank G Rawlinson - Physicist, NASA Space Flight Center and NICAP Special Advisor Franklin Carter - United States Navy, Radar Specialist Fred C Fair, Ph D - Former Professor of Engineering, New York University and NICAP Special Advisor Fred Porcello - State Police Officer, Portville, NY Frederick Clark Durant III - Advisor, Robertson Scientific Advisory Committee on UFOs, Pentagon/NASA<!>

Frederick Fox - US Navy Pilot, Top Secret Nuclear Clearance

Dr Fulton Koehler - Institute of Technology, Dept of Mathematics, Univ of Minnesota and NICAP Special Advisor

Deputy Fry - Tehama County Sheriff's Office, California<!>
Colonel Fuijo Hayashi - Commander of the Air Transport Wing of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force Galen Anderson - Police Officer, Sunnyvale Police Department, San Francisco Bay Gene Miller - Former Air Force Flight Instructor, member of NICAP Major George A Filer - US Air Force, Deputy Director of Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel George Edwards - US Air Force Captain George Robertson - Former Air Force Pilot George Todt - Columnist, Public Relations Council and NICAP Special Advisor Former President Gerald Ford Lieutenant George Gorman, North Dakota Air National Guard George Jacobson - Pan American Airlines Co-Pilot George Morales - FAA Supervisor George W Earley - Administrative Engineer, Connecticut Aerospace Firm and NICAP Special Advisor Major Gerald Smith - US Air Force Dr Garry Henderson - NASA<!>

Gordon Creighton - Military Intelligence, Ministry of Defence

Gordon Higgins - US Air Force Control Tower Operator and Flight Controller

Captain H Dunker - Pan American Airways

Dr H Percy Wilkins - British Lunar Astronomer

Dr Harold Puthoff - Director, Institute of Advanced Studies, Austin, Creator of Remote Viewing (ESP) Project, CIA & DIA for a decade

Harry Allen Jordan - US Navy, Radar Operator, USS Roosevelt

Harry G Barnes - Senior Air Traffic Controller for the CAA

Lieutenant Harry L Roe - Air National Guard pilot

Harry O Barnes - Senior Air Route Traffic Controller

Harry S Truman - Former US President

Hartland Bentley - US Army

Helen G. Mitchell - Police Dispatcher, Delta County Court House

Henry C. Kawecki - Physical Analyst, Fleetwood, Pennsylvania and NICAP Special Advisor

Professor Henry Carlock - Physics Department, Mississippi College

Dr Herman Oberth - The Father of Modern Rocketry

Captain Raymond Ryan - American Airlines Pilot

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Headrick - Radar Bombing Expert

Richard Kuta - Rocky Mountains State Police

Senator Richard Russell - Head of the Armed Services Committee

Captain Robert Adickes -Trans World Airways DC-3 Pilot

Robert Arnholt - American Airlines Flight Engineer

Colonel Robert B Emerson - US Air Force, NICAP Board Member

Robert Dickerson - Police Officer, Oregon

Captain Robert F Manning - Trans World Airways DC-3

Robert Fisher - Pilot

Dr Robert H Williams - Radiation Chemistry, Mobil Research & Dev. Corp., Princeton, N.J and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Richard Haines - Aerospace Researcher, NASA (Retired)

Captain Robert Harris - Pan American Airways

Professor Robert Jacobs - USAF, Vandenberg Air Force Base

Dr Robert L Hall - Social Psychologist & Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, NICAP Special Advisor

Robert (Bob) Lazar - US Air Force (worked at Area 51 and S-4 area)

Sergeant Major Robert O Dean, former NATO intelligence analyst for SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Salas - US Air Force, SAC Launch Officer

Dr Robert Sarbacher - Physicist

Dr Robert Spencer Carr - Aztec UFO Crash Expert

Major Robert White - US Air Force

Colonel Robert Willingham - US Air Force

Roger A Stinard - State Police, Northeast Ohio

Roger L Guay, M.S., Physics - Infrared Technician, The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Roger W Wescott - Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew University, N.J and NICAP Special Advisor

Ronald Reagan - Former US President

Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter - Former Director of the CIA<!>
Rubens S Villela - Brazilian Meteorologist employed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Sergeant Salvador Oliviera - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base Dr Samuel A Goudsmit - Advisor, Robertson Scientific Advisory Committee on UFOs, Pentagon / NASA<!>

Samuel Freeman - Former President, National Aviations Trades Association and NICAP Special Advisor

Sarah McClendon - White House Correspondent, and Dean of the White House Press Corps

Scott Carpenter - NASA Astronaut, Mercury 7

Dr Seymour L Hess - Department Head of Meteorology, Florida State University

Major Shiro Kubuta - Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Stanley Scott - California State Policeman

Stanton Friedman - Defence Contractor, Nuclear Physicist

Dr Stefan T Possony - Acting Chief of the Directorate of Intelligence Special Studies Group, US Air Force

Brigadier General Stephen Lovekin - National Guard, JAG, Eisenhower White House

Steve Lewis - Former Air Force Intelligence Officer who spent years investigating the UFO phenomenon for the US military

Dr Steven Greer - Director, The Disclosure Project

Dr Story Musgrave - NASA Astronaut and Scientist

Professor Ted Loder - University of New Hampshire

Texas J Rodriguez Jr - Pan American Airways Flight Radio Officer

Colonel Thomas Jefferson Dubose - US Air Force (adjutant to Brig. General Roger Ramey)

Captain Thomas Mantell - US Air Force

Thomas Townsend Brown, US Navy, 1956 founder of NICAP

Dr Thornton Page - Astronomer, John Hopkin's Operations Research Office and former board member on the CIA's Robertson Panel in Washington D.C

Tom Christensen - Wisconsin Central Airlines Representative

Tom Rush - Private Pilot

Lieutenant Colonel Toshio Nakamura - Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Victor Afanasyev - USSR Cosmonaut

Victor G Didelot - B.S. Physics Research Engineer in Aircraft Instrumentation and Magnetics

Victor Marchetti - Former Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the CIA<!>
Major General Vladimir Kovalyonok - USSR Aviation Captain W.B. Nash - Pan American Airways and NICAP Special Advisor W K Rutledge - Private Pilot W R Peters - Former Pan American Airways Pilot, Coral Gables, Florida<!>

Walter N Webb - Chief Lecturer on Astronomy, Charles Hayden Planetarium, Boston, Mass

Walter Schirra - NASA Astronaut Sigma 7

Dr Walther Reidel - Chief Designer and Research Director, German Rocket Centre, Peenemunde

Colonel Weldon H Smith - US Air Force

Wells Alan Webb - Chemical Engineer & Research Chemist, University of California<!>
Wilbert B Smith - Former Chief of the Canadian Government's UFO Project Magnet and NICAP Special Advisor Colonel Wilfred De Brouwer - Chief of Operations, Belgian Air Force Colonel William A Adams - US Air Force Chief, Topical Intelligence Division Brigadier General William A Matheny - 34th Air Defence Division in Albuquerque William B Hiller - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Aircraft Communicator Captain William B. Nash - Pan American Airways William J Besler - President of Besler Corporation, Oakland, California<!>

William H Ayres - US Congressman

William Fortenberry - Pan American Airways Second Officer

William Hodges - US Air Force, Goodfellows NSA Facility

Captain William Hutchins - Pan American Airways

Brigadier General William M Garland - US Air Force Assistant for Production at the Pentagon (The Number 2 man in Air Force Intelligence, 1952)

William Neff - American Airlines First Officer

Dr William S Bickel - Physicist, University of Arizona and NICAP Special Advisor

Colonel William T Coleman - Former Air Force Pilot, former Public Information Officer for Project Blue Book and Air Force's Chief Public Relations Officer during the 70s

William Van Horn - Civil Defence Director, Hillside, Michigan

Dr Willie Ley - Rocket Scientist, NASA Rocketry Division

First Officer W R Peters - Pan American World Airways and NICAP Special Advisor

Captain Willis T Sperry - American Airlines

Yevegni Khrunov - USSR Spacecraft Pilot, Soyuz-5

Lord Hill-Norton - Chief of Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence

Dr Hugh S. Brown, MD - Spokane, Washington and NICAP Special Advisor

Idi Amin - Former President of Uganda<!>
Dr J Allen Hynek - Director, US Air Force Project Bluebook J B Bradley - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Traffic Controller J B Hartranft Jr - President of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, NICAP Board Member J B Whitted - Eastern Airlines Pilot J Edgar Hoover - Former FBI Director J J Kaliszewski - Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Supervisor of Balloon Manufacture, General Mills Air Commodore J Salutun - National Aerospace Council of Indonesia & Indonesian Parliament Member Jack Brotzman - Physicist, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC and NICAP Special Advisor Reverend Jack L Sanford - First Congregational Church, Longpoint, Illinois Colonel Jack Morrow - Deputy Director for Estimates, US Air Force Intelligence Captain Jack Puckett - US Air Force Military Pilot Dr James C Bartlett Jnr - Astronomer and NICAP Special Advisor James C. Beatty - Civil Defence & Ground Observer Corps, California and NICAP Special Advisor James Chapman - in charge of UFO Photos for US Air Force Project Bluebook at Wright Air Development Center James Dee - American Airlines First Officer James F Bachmeier - Mid-Continent Airlines Co-Pilot James Irwin - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 15 James Lovell - NASA Astronaut, Gemini 7 Mission James Nelson - Carroll County Police Officer, Northeast Ohio Lieutenant Colonel James McAshan - US Air Force Brigadier General James McDivitt - Commanding Pilot Gemini Space Craft Dr James E McDonald - Senior Physicist at the Institute for Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona<!>

Dr Jamison R. Harrison - Engineering Physics, Bedford, Massachusetts and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Jerry Linenger - NASA Astronaut

Major Jesse Marcel - US Army Intelligence Officer

Jim Copeland - Radar Controller

Jim Ritchey - Radar Controller

Jimmy Carter - Former US President

Major General Joe W Kelly - US Air Force

Lieutenant Colonel Joe Wojtecki - US Air Force, Strategic Air Command

Brigadier General John B Ackerman - Deputy Director for Collection & Dissemination of US Air Force Intelligence

John B. Bean - Pilot

Captain John Baldwin - Former Air Force Pilot

John Callaghan - Senior FAA Official, Head of Accidents and Investigations

John F Kennedy - Former US President

Major John F McLeod - Former US Air Force Pilot, Civil Air Patrol, Jacksonville, Florida and NICAP Special Advisor

Colonel John G Ericksen - Former Head of Policy and Management Group of the Directorate of Intelligence

Dr John P Guarino - Physical Chemistry, Mobil Research & Dev., Princeton, N.J and NICAP Special Advisor

John Maynard - Defence Intelligence Agency

John R. Cooke - Radar Technician, US Air Force Strategic Air Command

Lance Corporal John Weygandt - US Marine Corps

John W McCormack - Speaker at the House of Representatives

John Wilbur - Pan American Airlines Engineer

John Williams - Mid-Continent Airlines Chief Controller

John Zimmerman - Geologist

Captain Jose Lemos Ferreira - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base

Joseph A Walker - NASA Astronaut/Pilot

Colonel Joseph J. Bryan III - Founder of the CIA's psychological warfare staff, special assistant to the secretary of the Air Force, advisor to NATO, and board of NICAP

Joseph J Greiner - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Radio Operator and Traffic Controller

Joseph J Kaliszewski - Aeronautical Engineer, General Mills

Captain Joseph L. Flynn - Pan American Airways

Commander Juan Barrera - Commander in charge, Aquirre Cerda Airbase

Julius L Benton Jr (M.S Biology) - Armstrong State College, Savannah and NICAP Special Advisor

General Kanshi Ishikawa - Chief of Staff of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Sergeant Karl Wolfe - Langley Air Force Base, Tactical Air Command

Kenneth B Steinmetz - Amateur Astronomer, Head of Denver Moonwatch and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Kenneth E. Bryan - Meteorology, Memphis, Tennessee and NICAP Special Advisor

Captain Kenneth G Brosdal - Pan American Airlines

Reverend Kenneth R. Hoffman - Pastor of the Grace Lutheran Church, Cleveland, Ohio

Captain Kervendal - French Gendarmerie

L D Sheridan Jnr - Former Marine Corps Pilot, Ponte Vedra, Florida and NICAP Special Advisor

L F Baney - United Airlines Pilot

Colonel L Gordon Cooper - Mercury Nine, Gemini Five Astronaut

Larry Warren - US Air Force, Security Specialist

Laverne Werta - Flight Service Specialist, FAA Office

Captain Lawrence W Vinther - Mid-Continent Airlines Pilot

Lee Katchen - Former Atmospheric Physicist for NASA<!>
Sergeant Leonard Pretko - US Air Force Leonard H. Stringfield - Public Relations, Ground Observer Corps, Cincinnati and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Leslie K Kaeburn - Biophysicist, University of Southern California and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Leslie Ward - Redlands Physician General Lionel M Chassin - Commanding General of the French Air Forces and General Air Defence Coordinator, Allied Air Forces, Central Europe (NATO) Lloyd V Berkner - Advisor, Robertson Scientific Advisory Committee on UFOs, Pentagon/NASA. Lieutenant Colonel Lou Corbin - Former Army Intelligence and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Luis Alvarez - Nuclear Physicist, Robertson Panel Member and Nobel Peace Prize Winner 1968 Luther H O'Banian - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Air Traffic Controller Rear Admiral M Herbert B Knowles - US Navy Dr Magoroh Maruyama - Consultant in Anthropology & Social Psychology, Berkeley, California and NICAP Special Advisor Sergeant Manuel Marcilino - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base Marie H Matthews - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Tower Controller Dr Marcus Bach - State University of Iowa<!>

Mark McCandlish - US Air Force

Martyn Stubbs - Secret NASA Transmission Department, NASA<!>
Marvin W Skipworth - Judge, District Court of Oregon Dr Maurice Biot - Leading Aerodynamicist and mathematical physicist Maurice Chatelain - Former NASA Apollo Director of Communications Captain Max M Jacoby - Chief Pilot, Pioneer Airlines Merle Shane McDow - US Navy (Top Secret SCI Clearance Zebra Badge) Michael Smith - US Air Force, Aircraft Control/Early Warning Operation Professor Michio Kaku - Author of Theoretical Physics Mikhail Gorbachev - Former Soviet President Deputy Montgomery - Tehama County Sheriff's Office, California<!>

Morton Gerla - Aviation Ordnance, Past Director N.Y.Chapter, American Rocket Society, NICAP Special Advisor

General Nathan Twinning - Chief of Staff US Air Force, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Newell Schneider - Sherriff's Office, Hillside, Michigan

Dr Nicholas E. Wagman - Director, Allegheny Observatory

Nick Pope - British Ministry of Defence Official, Head of the "UFO desk" at Air Secretariat 2-A<!>
Neil Armstrong - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 11 Mission Commander and first man to land on the moon Professor N N Kohanowski - Geologist & Mining Engineer, University of North Dakota, NICAP Special Advisor Norman S Bean - Director of Engineering Development and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Norman S Wolf - Radiation Biologist, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash and NICAP Special Advisor Air Marshall Nurjadin Roesmin - Former Commander in Chief of the Indonesian Air Force Patrick McAley - Deputy Inspector, City of Chicago Paul R Hill - Aeronautical Research Engineer Pavel Popovich - Pioneer USSR Cosmonaut Captain Peter W. Killian - American Airlines Colonel Philip J Corso - Former Head of Foreign Technology, The Pentagon. Director of Intelligence on Eisenhower's National Security Staff. Army Intelligence Officer Captain R B McLaughlin - US Navy Missile Expert, Naval Ordnance Laboratory and NICAP Special Advisor R C Munroe - Engineering Standards Section Head of Raytheon Manufacturing Company R L Messmore - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Airways Operations Specialist Ralph D Mayher - News Photographer, Station KYW, Cleveland, OH, NICAP Special Advisor
Canadian Defense Minister Speaks Out on UFOs / List of Other Respected Officials
[Citizen Journalism, News] (CNN iReport - Latest)
Former Canadian defence minister Paul Hellyer The "Pyramid" system will eventually destroy us. The truth is out there and for ages we have surrendered to this ideology that the pyramid system works. "Royalty" we adore and for ages the same families have been ruling our system and our land. When will we learn that the pyramid system doesn't work. This is not a pro-communist report either. It is rather a pro-truth report. Many military officers are coming out of the UFO closet to share w ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Former Canadian defence minister Paul Hellyer

The "Pyramid" system will eventually destroy us. The truth is out there and for ages we have surrendered to this ideology that the pyramid system works. "Royalty" we adore and for ages the same families have been ruling our system and our land. When will we learn that the pyramid system doesn't work. This is not a pro-communist report either. It is rather a pro-truth report.

Many military officers are coming out of the UFO closet to share what they truely believe is a phenomena that is worth disclosing and investigating further. These testimony's from our astronauts and ex-military are the most important issues in our time. They will affect your children's future and their children's.

Let's not be the ignorant one's. This is real and more important than any war going on right now. Reagan once stated "would it take an attack from an alien race to bring us all together?" He himself had UFO experiences and even ordered a plane to follow one while onboard a flight once. Here is a list of credible and respectable people who affirm the existence of ET's. Including Presidents, astronauts, CIA Directors, and ect.

Many have gone on record and have sworn under oath to testify that they have seen evidence of UFO intelligence first hand.

Captain A D Yates - United Airlines

Adolph Wagner - Deputy Coordinator, Civil Defence

Lieutenant General Akira Hirano - Chief of Staff of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Al Worden - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 15

Reverend Albert Baller - Pastor, German Congregational Church, Clinton, Mass & NICAP Board Member

Alan C Holt - Experimental Specialist, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston and NICAP Special Advisor

Albert M Chop - Deputy Public Relations Director of NASA & Former US Air Force Spokesman for Project Bluebook

Sergeant Alberto Covas - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base

Allen Dulles - Former CIA Director

Dr Anthony O Mirarchi - Air Force Geophysical Laboratory

Brigadier General Arthur E Exon - Former Commander, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

Arthur H Sorensen - Research Geologist, Wallace, Idaho and NICAP Special Advisor

Captain Art Shutts - Trans-world Airlines

Air Marshal Azim Daudpota - Zimbabwe Air Force

Senator Barry Goldwater - Retired Air Force Brigadier General

General Benjamin Chidlaw - Commanding General of Air Defence Command

Benjamin (Ben) R Rich - Director, Lockheed Skunk Works

Bill Gates - American Airlines First Officer

Dr Brian O'Leary - NASA Astronaut

Bruce Foster - Bell Aircraft Company Engineer

Dr Bruce Maccabee - Physicist US Navy & Head of the Fund for UFO Research

Buzz Aldrin - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 11, First man to land on the moon (along with Neil Armstrong)

Captain C S Chiles - Eastern Airlines Pilot and NICAP Special Advisor

C W Sonner - Chief of Interstate Airways Communication Station

Cady Coleman - NASA Astronaut, Shuttle Mission STS-73

Carl J Henry - Chairman, Industrial Commission of Missouri, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations

Dr Carl Jung - Swiss Psychologist

Colonel Carl Sanderson - US Air Force

Dr Carol Rosin - Aerospace Executive, Fairchild Industries

Captain Casey Pierman - Capitol Airlines Pilot

Charles A. Carson - California State Policeman

Professor Charles A. Maney - Head of the Defiance

College Physics Department and NICAP Board Member

Charles B Moore - Aerologist, General Mills Balloon Technicians

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Brown - US Air Force

Charles Fisher - Civil Engineer

Dr Charles Gaston - Space & Atmospheric Sciences, IBM, Wheaton, Maryland and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Charles H. Otis, Professor Emeritus of Biology, Bowling Green State University

Charles J Camarda - NASA Astronaut

Pilot Charles Kratovil - Trans World Airlines

Major General Charles P Cabell - Director of Intelligence, US Air Force, Director of the Joint Chief of Staff (1951)

Charles W James - Photographer, Philadelphia Enquirer

Captain Charles Zammett - Pan American Airways

Chuck Sorrels - Air Traffic Controller, Edwards Air Force Base

Clark C. McClelland, Former ScO (Spaceraft Operator), Space Shuttle Fleet, Kennedy Space Centre Florida<!>
Sergeant Clifford Stone - Sergeant 1st Class, US Army Clyde Clark McClelland - US Space Program Pioneer Dr Clyde Tombaugh - Astronomer, Discovered planet Pluto, Optical Scientist, White Sands Missile Range Monsignor Corrado Balducci - Vatican Theologian Insider close to the Pope D Shenkel - Former Air Force Pilot Lieutenant D A Swimley - US Air Force Daniel Salter - US Air Force, Chief Master Sergeant, NRO Dan Willis - US Navy Dr Darell B Harmon Jnr - Deputy Program Manager., McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co, Santa Monica<!>

Dave Richey - Canal Fulton Patrolman, Northeast Ohio

David McCurry - Northeast Ohio State Police

Air Commodore David Thorne - Director of General Operations for the Zimbabwe Air Force in 1985

Delbert C Newhouse - US Navy, Chief Photographer of Aviation and NICAP Special Advisor

Rear Admiral Delmar S Fahrney - US Navy Missile Chief and former NICAP Board Member

Delmus Early - Carroll County Police Officer, Northeast Ohio

Captain Dermott - Capitol Airlines Pilot

Major Dewey J Fournet - US Air Force, Former US Air Force HQ Monitor to Blue Book

Dick Beemer - Aviation Photographer, North American Aviation

Don Newman - Former Air Force pilot

Don P Hollister - Goodyear Aircraft Corporation Technical Writer

Don Phillips - Lockheed Skunkworks, CIA Contractor

Deputy Sheriff Donald E. Corey - Mahoning County, Northeast Ohio

Major Donald E Keyhoe - United States Marines

Captain Donald Slayton - Mercury Astronaut

Donna Hare - NASA (Airbrushing) Department Houston

General Douglas MacArthur

Doyle Kline - Scripps, Howard Staff Writer

Lieutenant Colonel Dwynne Arnesson - US Air Force, SAC Control Officer

Dr Earl Douglas - Religious Writer & Columnist

Ed Nugent - Radar Controller

Ed White - NASA Astronaut

Marshal Ed Marah - Cedaredge Marshal, Rocky Mountains

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker - Commander of the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron in WWI

Astronaut Captain Edgar Mitchell - Sixth Man on the Moon (Apollo 14)

Edison F Carpenter - Research Technician, North American Aviation

Captain Edward J Ruppelt - US Air Force

Dr Edward Teller - Creator of the Hydrogen Bomb

Elizabeth Helen McClelland - Pioneer of the US Space Program

Sir Eric Gairy - Prime Minister of Grenada<!>
Ernest Stadvec - Former World War II Bomber Pilot (now owns a flying service in Akron, Ohio) Commander Eugene Cernan - Commander Apollo 17 Mission Dr Eugene Mallove - Director New Energy Research Labs, Aeronautical Engineer Sir Francis Chichester - Famous aviator, sailor, and author Dr Frank B Salisbury - Department Head, Plant Sciences, Utah State Univ and NICAP Special Advisor Frank Borman - NASA Astronaut, Gemini 7 Mission Frank Edwards - Radio and TV Commentator and NICAP Board Member Frank H Schofield - Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific fleet in the 1930s Frank Halstead - Former Curator, University of Minnesota's Darling Observatory and NICAP Special Advisor Frank G Rawlinson - Physicist, NASA Space Flight Center and NICAP Special Advisor Franklin Carter - United States Navy, Radar Specialist Fred C Fair, Ph D - Former Professor of Engineering, New York University and NICAP Special Advisor Fred Porcello - State Police Officer, Portville, NY Frederick Clark Durant III - Advisor, Robertson Scientific Advisory Committee on UFOs, Pentagon/NASA<!>

Frederick Fox - US Navy Pilot, Top Secret Nuclear Clearance

Dr Fulton Koehler - Institute of Technology, Dept of Mathematics, Univ of Minnesota and NICAP Special Advisor

Deputy Fry - Tehama County Sheriff's Office, California<!>
Colonel Fuijo Hayashi - Commander of the Air Transport Wing of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force Galen Anderson - Police Officer, Sunnyvale Police Department, San Francisco Bay Gene Miller - Former Air Force Flight Instructor, member of NICAP Major George A Filer - US Air Force, Deputy Director of Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel George Edwards - US Air Force Captain George Robertson - Former Air Force Pilot George Todt - Columnist, Public Relations Council and NICAP Special Advisor Former President Gerald Ford Lieutenant George Gorman, North Dakota Air National Guard George Jacobson - Pan American Airlines Co-Pilot George Morales - FAA Supervisor George W Earley - Administrative Engineer, Connecticut Aerospace Firm and NICAP Special Advisor Major Gerald Smith - US Air Force Dr Garry Henderson - NASA<!>

Gordon Creighton - Military Intelligence, Ministry of Defence

Gordon Higgins - US Air Force Control Tower Operator and Flight Controller

Captain H Dunker - Pan American Airways

Dr H Percy Wilkins - British Lunar Astronomer

Dr Harold Puthoff - Director, Institute of Advanced Studies, Austin, Creator of Remote Viewing (ESP) Project, CIA & DIA for a decade

Harry Allen Jordan - US Navy, Radar Operator, USS Roosevelt

Harry G Barnes - Senior Air Traffic Controller for the CAA

Lieutenant Harry L Roe - Air National Guard pilot

Harry O Barnes - Senior Air Route Traffic Controller

Harry S Truman - Former US President

Hartland Bentley - US Army

Helen G. Mitchell - Police Dispatcher, Delta County Court House

Henry C. Kawecki - Physical Analyst, Fleetwood, Pennsylvania and NICAP Special Advisor

Professor Henry Carlock - Physics Department, Mississippi College

Dr Herman Oberth - The Father of Modern Rocketry

Captain Raymond Ryan - American Airlines Pilot

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Headrick - Radar Bombing Expert

Richard Kuta - Rocky Mountains State Police

Senator Richard Russell - Head of the Armed Services Committee

Captain Robert Adickes -Trans World Airways DC-3 Pilot

Robert Arnholt - American Airlines Flight Engineer

Colonel Robert B Emerson - US Air Force, NICAP Board Member

Robert Dickerson - Police Officer, Oregon

Captain Robert F Manning - Trans World Airways DC-3

Robert Fisher - Pilot

Dr Robert H Williams - Radiation Chemistry, Mobil Research & Dev. Corp., Princeton, N.J and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Richard Haines - Aerospace Researcher, NASA (Retired)

Captain Robert Harris - Pan American Airways

Professor Robert Jacobs - USAF, Vandenberg Air Force Base

Dr Robert L Hall - Social Psychologist & Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, NICAP Special Advisor

Robert (Bob) Lazar - US Air Force (worked at Area 51 and S-4 area)

Sergeant Major Robert O Dean, former NATO intelligence analyst for SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Salas - US Air Force, SAC Launch Officer

Dr Robert Sarbacher - Physicist

Dr Robert Spencer Carr - Aztec UFO Crash Expert

Major Robert White - US Air Force

Colonel Robert Willingham - US Air Force

Roger A Stinard - State Police, Northeast Ohio

Roger L Guay, M.S., Physics - Infrared Technician, The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Roger W Wescott - Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Drew University, N.J and NICAP Special Advisor

Ronald Reagan - Former US President

Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter - Former Director of the CIA<!>
Rubens S Villela - Brazilian Meteorologist employed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Sergeant Salvador Oliviera - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base Dr Samuel A Goudsmit - Advisor, Robertson Scientific Advisory Committee on UFOs, Pentagon / NASA<!>

Samuel Freeman - Former President, National Aviations Trades Association and NICAP Special Advisor

Sarah McClendon - White House Correspondent, and Dean of the White House Press Corps

Scott Carpenter - NASA Astronaut, Mercury 7

Dr Seymour L Hess - Department Head of Meteorology, Florida State University

Major Shiro Kubuta - Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Stanley Scott - California State Policeman

Stanton Friedman - Defence Contractor, Nuclear Physicist

Dr Stefan T Possony - Acting Chief of the Directorate of Intelligence Special Studies Group, US Air Force

Brigadier General Stephen Lovekin - National Guard, JAG, Eisenhower White House

Steve Lewis - Former Air Force Intelligence Officer who spent years investigating the UFO phenomenon for the US military

Dr Steven Greer - Director, The Disclosure Project

Dr Story Musgrave - NASA Astronaut and Scientist

Professor Ted Loder - University of New Hampshire

Texas J Rodriguez Jr - Pan American Airways Flight Radio Officer

Colonel Thomas Jefferson Dubose - US Air Force (adjutant to Brig. General Roger Ramey)

Captain Thomas Mantell - US Air Force

Thomas Townsend Brown, US Navy, 1956 founder of NICAP

Dr Thornton Page - Astronomer, John Hopkin's Operations Research Office and former board member on the CIA's Robertson Panel in Washington D.C

Tom Christensen - Wisconsin Central Airlines Representative

Tom Rush - Private Pilot

Lieutenant Colonel Toshio Nakamura - Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Victor Afanasyev - USSR Cosmonaut

Victor G Didelot - B.S. Physics Research Engineer in Aircraft Instrumentation and Magnetics

Victor Marchetti - Former Special Assistant to the Executive Director of the CIA<!>
Major General Vladimir Kovalyonok - USSR Aviation Captain W.B. Nash - Pan American Airways and NICAP Special Advisor W K Rutledge - Private Pilot W R Peters - Former Pan American Airways Pilot, Coral Gables, Florida<!>

Walter N Webb - Chief Lecturer on Astronomy, Charles Hayden Planetarium, Boston, Mass

Walter Schirra - NASA Astronaut Sigma 7

Dr Walther Reidel - Chief Designer and Research Director, German Rocket Centre, Peenemunde

Colonel Weldon H Smith - US Air Force

Wells Alan Webb - Chemical Engineer & Research Chemist, University of California<!>
Wilbert B Smith - Former Chief of the Canadian Government's UFO Project Magnet and NICAP Special Advisor Colonel Wilfred De Brouwer - Chief of Operations, Belgian Air Force Colonel William A Adams - US Air Force Chief, Topical Intelligence Division Brigadier General William A Matheny - 34th Air Defence Division in Albuquerque William B Hiller - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Aircraft Communicator Captain William B. Nash - Pan American Airways William J Besler - President of Besler Corporation, Oakland, California<!>

William H Ayres - US Congressman

William Fortenberry - Pan American Airways Second Officer

William Hodges - US Air Force, Goodfellows NSA Facility

Captain William Hutchins - Pan American Airways

Brigadier General William M Garland - US Air Force Assistant for Production at the Pentagon (The Number 2 man in Air Force Intelligence, 1952)

William Neff - American Airlines First Officer

Dr William S Bickel - Physicist, University of Arizona and NICAP Special Advisor

Colonel William T Coleman - Former Air Force Pilot, former Public Information Officer for Project Blue Book and Air Force's Chief Public Relations Officer during the 70s

William Van Horn - Civil Defence Director, Hillside, Michigan

Dr Willie Ley - Rocket Scientist, NASA Rocketry Division

First Officer W R Peters - Pan American World Airways and NICAP Special Advisor

Captain Willis T Sperry - American Airlines

Yevegni Khrunov - USSR Spacecraft Pilot, Soyuz-5

Lord Hill-Norton - Chief of Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence

Dr Hugh S. Brown, MD - Spokane, Washington and NICAP Special Advisor

Idi Amin - Former President of Uganda<!>
Dr J Allen Hynek - Director, US Air Force Project Bluebook J B Bradley - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Traffic Controller J B Hartranft Jr - President of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, NICAP Board Member J B Whitted - Eastern Airlines Pilot J Edgar Hoover - Former FBI Director J J Kaliszewski - Aeronautical Research Laboratories, Supervisor of Balloon Manufacture, General Mills Air Commodore J Salutun - National Aerospace Council of Indonesia & Indonesian Parliament Member Jack Brotzman - Physicist, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC and NICAP Special Advisor Reverend Jack L Sanford - First Congregational Church, Longpoint, Illinois Colonel Jack Morrow - Deputy Director for Estimates, US Air Force Intelligence Captain Jack Puckett - US Air Force Military Pilot Dr James C Bartlett Jnr - Astronomer and NICAP Special Advisor James C. Beatty - Civil Defence & Ground Observer Corps, California and NICAP Special Advisor James Chapman - in charge of UFO Photos for US Air Force Project Bluebook at Wright Air Development Center James Dee - American Airlines First Officer James F Bachmeier - Mid-Continent Airlines Co-Pilot James Irwin - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 15 James Lovell - NASA Astronaut, Gemini 7 Mission James Nelson - Carroll County Police Officer, Northeast Ohio Lieutenant Colonel James McAshan - US Air Force Brigadier General James McDivitt - Commanding Pilot Gemini Space Craft Dr James E McDonald - Senior Physicist at the Institute for Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona<!>

Dr Jamison R. Harrison - Engineering Physics, Bedford, Massachusetts and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Jerry Linenger - NASA Astronaut

Major Jesse Marcel - US Army Intelligence Officer

Jim Copeland - Radar Controller

Jim Ritchey - Radar Controller

Jimmy Carter - Former US President

Major General Joe W Kelly - US Air Force

Lieutenant Colonel Joe Wojtecki - US Air Force, Strategic Air Command

Brigadier General John B Ackerman - Deputy Director for Collection & Dissemination of US Air Force Intelligence

John B. Bean - Pilot

Captain John Baldwin - Former Air Force Pilot

John Callaghan - Senior FAA Official, Head of Accidents and Investigations

John F Kennedy - Former US President

Major John F McLeod - Former US Air Force Pilot, Civil Air Patrol, Jacksonville, Florida and NICAP Special Advisor

Colonel John G Ericksen - Former Head of Policy and Management Group of the Directorate of Intelligence

Dr John P Guarino - Physical Chemistry, Mobil Research & Dev., Princeton, N.J and NICAP Special Advisor

John Maynard - Defence Intelligence Agency

John R. Cooke - Radar Technician, US Air Force Strategic Air Command

Lance Corporal John Weygandt - US Marine Corps

John W McCormack - Speaker at the House of Representatives

John Wilbur - Pan American Airlines Engineer

John Williams - Mid-Continent Airlines Chief Controller

John Zimmerman - Geologist

Captain Jose Lemos Ferreira - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base

Joseph A Walker - NASA Astronaut/Pilot

Colonel Joseph J. Bryan III - Founder of the CIA's psychological warfare staff, special assistant to the secretary of the Air Force, advisor to NATO, and board of NICAP

Joseph J Greiner - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Radio Operator and Traffic Controller

Joseph J Kaliszewski - Aeronautical Engineer, General Mills

Captain Joseph L. Flynn - Pan American Airways

Commander Juan Barrera - Commander in charge, Aquirre Cerda Airbase

Julius L Benton Jr (M.S Biology) - Armstrong State College, Savannah and NICAP Special Advisor

General Kanshi Ishikawa - Chief of Staff of Japan's Air Self-Defence Force

Sergeant Karl Wolfe - Langley Air Force Base, Tactical Air Command

Kenneth B Steinmetz - Amateur Astronomer, Head of Denver Moonwatch and NICAP Special Advisor

Dr Kenneth E. Bryan - Meteorology, Memphis, Tennessee and NICAP Special Advisor

Captain Kenneth G Brosdal - Pan American Airlines

Reverend Kenneth R. Hoffman - Pastor of the Grace Lutheran Church, Cleveland, Ohio

Captain Kervendal - French Gendarmerie

L D Sheridan Jnr - Former Marine Corps Pilot, Ponte Vedra, Florida and NICAP Special Advisor

L F Baney - United Airlines Pilot

Colonel L Gordon Cooper - Mercury Nine, Gemini Five Astronaut

Larry Warren - US Air Force, Security Specialist

Laverne Werta - Flight Service Specialist, FAA Office

Captain Lawrence W Vinther - Mid-Continent Airlines Pilot

Lee Katchen - Former Atmospheric Physicist for NASA<!>
Sergeant Leonard Pretko - US Air Force Leonard H. Stringfield - Public Relations, Ground Observer Corps, Cincinnati and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Leslie K Kaeburn - Biophysicist, University of Southern California and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Leslie Ward - Redlands Physician General Lionel M Chassin - Commanding General of the French Air Forces and General Air Defence Coordinator, Allied Air Forces, Central Europe (NATO) Lloyd V Berkner - Advisor, Robertson Scientific Advisory Committee on UFOs, Pentagon/NASA. Lieutenant Colonel Lou Corbin - Former Army Intelligence and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Luis Alvarez - Nuclear Physicist, Robertson Panel Member and Nobel Peace Prize Winner 1968 Luther H O'Banian - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Air Traffic Controller Rear Admiral M Herbert B Knowles - US Navy Dr Magoroh Maruyama - Consultant in Anthropology & Social Psychology, Berkeley, California and NICAP Special Advisor Sergeant Manuel Marcilino - Portuguese Air Force, Ota Air Base Marie H Matthews - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Tower Controller Dr Marcus Bach - State University of Iowa<!>

Mark McCandlish - US Air Force

Martyn Stubbs - Secret NASA Transmission Department, NASA<!>
Marvin W Skipworth - Judge, District Court of Oregon Dr Maurice Biot - Leading Aerodynamicist and mathematical physicist Maurice Chatelain - Former NASA Apollo Director of Communications Captain Max M Jacoby - Chief Pilot, Pioneer Airlines Merle Shane McDow - US Navy (Top Secret SCI Clearance Zebra Badge) Michael Smith - US Air Force, Aircraft Control/Early Warning Operation Professor Michio Kaku - Author of Theoretical Physics Mikhail Gorbachev - Former Soviet President Deputy Montgomery - Tehama County Sheriff's Office, California<!>

Morton Gerla - Aviation Ordnance, Past Director N.Y.Chapter, American Rocket Society, NICAP Special Advisor

General Nathan Twinning - Chief of Staff US Air Force, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Newell Schneider - Sherriff's Office, Hillside, Michigan

Dr Nicholas E. Wagman - Director, Allegheny Observatory

Nick Pope - British Ministry of Defence Official, Head of the "UFO desk" at Air Secretariat 2-A<!>
Neil Armstrong - NASA Astronaut, Apollo 11 Mission Commander and first man to land on the moon Professor N N Kohanowski - Geologist & Mining Engineer, University of North Dakota, NICAP Special Advisor Norman S Bean - Director of Engineering Development and NICAP Special Advisor Dr Norman S Wolf - Radiation Biologist, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash and NICAP Special Advisor Air Marshall Nurjadin Roesmin - Former Commander in Chief of the Indonesian Air Force Patrick McAley - Deputy Inspector, City of Chicago Paul R Hill - Aeronautical Research Engineer Pavel Popovich - Pioneer USSR Cosmonaut Captain Peter W. Killian - American Airlines Colonel Philip J Corso - Former Head of Foreign Technology, The Pentagon. Director of Intelligence on Eisenhower's National Security Staff. Army Intelligence Officer Captain R B McLaughlin - US Navy Missile Expert, Naval Ordnance Laboratory and NICAP Special Advisor R C Munroe - Engineering Standards Section Head of Raytheon Manufacturing Company R L Messmore - US Civil Aeronautics Administration Airways Operations Specialist Ralph D Mayher - News Photographer, Station KYW, Cleveland, OH, NICAP Special Advisor
Proud Progressive Endorsements in Houston, Texas
[Politics, Blacks] (culturekitchen - fresh dissent served daily)
I posted some endorsements of some particularly good, experienced and smart candidates in the Houston area, and interestingly a right wing candidate picked up my endorsement as a NEGATIVE. Of course I had endorsed his opponent, but the key thing is that he attacked my endorsement because: a. I was progressive and b. I highlighted endorsements by groups like: The Houston Chronicle African American News & Issues Jewish Herald-Voice Harris County AFL-CIO Council Latino Labor Leadership Coun ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

I posted some endorsements of some particularly good, experienced and smart candidates in the Houston area, and interestingly a right wing candidate picked up my endorsement as a NEGATIVE. Of course I had endorsed his opponent, but the key thing is that he attacked my endorsement because:

a. I was progressive and

b. I highlighted endorsements by groups like:

The Houston Chronicle
African American News & Issues
Jewish Herald-Voice
Harris County AFL-CIO Council
Latino Labor Leadership Council
Teamsters Local 968
HOPE, SEIU/ASFCME Local 123
National Nurses United
GLBT Political Caucus
Democracy for Houston
Houston Area Stonewall Democrats
Houston Stonewall Young Democrats
Humane Society Legislative Fund
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Asian-American Democrats of Texas
Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas Action Fund, Inc.
Sierra Club

His comment was that all these groups were, I quote:

everybody else who loves large intrusive government and has their hand held out for bail out and stimulus money at the taxpayers' expense.

AS IF, Teamsters, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, AFL-CIO, National Nurses United, Jewish Herald-Voice, Latino Labor Leadership Council, Humane Society, and Stonewall Democrats are somehow bad. You see, the Republicans are saying EXPLICITLY that unions, the environment, Nurses, Jews, Latinos, and Gays are somehow bad. So you know what...if this fool thinks unions, the environment, Nurses, Jews, Latinos, and Gays are some how "bad," then I think I am personally on the right track.

And the Republicans are forgetting that the Progressive movement was started by Teddy Roosevelt, a REPUBLICAN. So these people are rejecting their own original ideology, leaving it to modern Democrats to fulfill the PROGRESSIVE agenda. And let's remember that that PROGRESSIVE AGENDA has brought us the weekend, the 40 hour week, laws prohibiting child labor, food safety laws, etc. Progressives have brought us more benefits for working and middle class Americans than ANYONE else. And it seems that right wing Republicans oppose these PROGRESSIVE gains like child labor laws, the 40 hour work week, Social Security, Medicare, the Weekend, etc.
more this way»
Eleanor Roosevelt Liveblogs World War II: October 1, 1940
[Decision Science, Economics] (Grasping Reality with Both Hands)
Eleanor Roosevelt: >My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 1, 1940: Though it is a gray day today, I have just come in from a ride through the woods, where the colors are becoming more and more beautiful every day. Across our brook there are some trees that have turned a brilliant scarlet, next to them are some deep green pines and a yellow tree. They all reflect in the smooth surface of the water and make a most beautiful picture from the window where I write. >It is curious to be able to s ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Eleanor Roosevelt: >My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 1, 1940: Though it is a gray day today, I have just come in from a ride through the woods, where the colors are becoming more and more beautiful every day. Across our brook there are some trees that have turned a brilliant scarlet, next to them are some deep green pines and a yellow tree. They all reflect in the smooth surface of the water and make a most beautiful picture from the window where I write. >It is curious to be able to sit here and write you about these quiet pleasures, and to have listened to the radio this morning with news of the nightly bombing in London with scarcely a respite before the morning raids began. The British seem to raid quite as often and as steadily, but their objectives do not seem to be entirely concentrated on a city like London, or, as reported this morning, such smaller cities as Aberdeen and Edinburgh. >There seems to be a difference in objectives. On the one hand, the Germans seem to be trying to break the morale of the people by attacking the places where humanity is concentrated. The R. A. F., on the other hand, seems to put more emphasis on attacking the oil supplies or factories and Channel ports where shipping and supplies may be massed for an effort to land in England. I suppose the Germans make an effort to do this too, but perhaps it is harder to find such scattered objectives. >The English are a curious people. They criticize each other and their government freely in times of peace. They are individualistic as any people in the world, from the duchess who dresses always as the fashions were in her youth, even though she may be eighty years old to the woman who will run a London flat for you and try to run your life as well. She will apparently know all about you and yet never intrude, and will do her job according to its traditions, never doing more nor less than she thinks they require. >Yes, they are an individualistic people, and I don't think anything could draw them together more solidly and make them act as a unit more surely than continued attack. They have whatever it takes to stand up under long drawn out pressure.
Walking in Roosevelt's Footsteps
[Blacks] (THEROOT.COM)
By: Sherrilyn A. IfillA good deal of the fun in reading Jeff Shesol's masterful work, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court, is contained in the first half of the book, when the author's description of the American political scene under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the early years of the Depression sounds so familiar. From the charges by Republicans that Roosevelt's New Deal policies represented a "socialist takeover," to the emotion-laden, worshipful fixation on the Cons ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

By: Sherrilyn A. Ifill

A good deal of the fun in reading Jeff Shesol's masterful work, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court, is contained in the first half of the book, when the author's description of the American political scene under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the early years of the Depression sounds so familiar. From the charges by Republicans that Roosevelt's New Deal policies represented a "socialist takeover," to the emotion-laden, worshipful fixation on the Constitution by opposition groups, the script and the cast of today's political opposition to President Obama's economic-recovery program look strikingly like those marshaled against Roosevelt.

Even the business sector has followed the same script as in 1934 when, as Shesol explains, as the worst of the Depression eased, business leaders began to gripe that the protective labor initiatives of the New Deal were promoting class warfare. Their list of complaints mirror almost exactly those lodged against Obama today: that his policies are "picking winners … and losers; running a deficit … and … creating uncertainty by changing the rules of the market."

One can almost hear CNBC's Rick Santelli's tirade against those who held subprime mortgages in the words of Bertrand Snell, a Republican congressman from New York, who declared that the New Deal was designed to "punish those who have earned and saved money, to redistribute wealth by taking it … and passing it to those who have been and still are shiftless." President Herbert Hoover's treasury secretary issued a charge that seems straight out of the Tea Party playbook: that the president was creating an "all-powerful central government … to control and direct the lives and destinies of all."

In fact, the rise of the Tea Party is eerily similar to the creation of the conservative American Liberty League (ALL) in 1934. Shesol cannily explores the origins and wealthy supporters of the organization whose members saw themselves as working to "save our form of government." This salvation took the form of protesting against Social Security and initiatives enacted to help agricultural workers, promoting the importance of maintaining the gold standard and decrying what they regarded as a wholesale redistribution of wealth in New Deal programs.

Shesol's description of the American Liberty League -- as made up of "Americans [who] felt increasingly like an embattled minority … outcasts and aliens in their own land" -- seems like a spot-on snapshot of the paranoia expressed by many elements within the contemporary Tea Party, although the league consisted primarily of wealthy industrialists rather than grass-roots activists.

Like Obama, Roosevelt also took his share of hits from the left, which regarded the president as insufficiently radical in his approach to relieving destitute Americans from financial disaster.

One hopes that Obama has read this important book, if only as an encouragement to stay the course. Because, as we now know, the naysayers and anti-New Dealers were wrong. History has credited Roosevelt with possessing the necessary courage and confidence to, as he said, "be the big, bad wolf" in order to save the country.

Supreme Power is also a cautionary tale. Roosevelt was overly confident and possessed of the kind of sense of his own rightness that could be impervious to the views or concerns of others. And so, when the Supreme Court began to issue a set of decisions striking down New Deal initiatives as unconstitutional, Roosevelt hatched the "court-packing plan."

The essence of the plan was to allow the president to add new justices to the court for each justice then serving who was over the age of 70. The reasons for the plan were fairly transparent. Legal challenges to New Deal programs were filed almost as quickly as the initiatives were enacted. Raising arguments that are similar to those in current legal challenges to the health care reform legislation winding through the federal courts, business interests and states opposed to New Deal legislation and programs argued that laws protecting workers and wages interfered with the private contractual rights of management.

Roosevelt's cabinet and circle of advisers paid close attention to the cases as they made their way up to the Supreme Court. In the early cases, the administration's programs fared well. But in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, a case that challenged the imposition of a national code that regulated wages and hours at live-poultry plants, a unanimous Supreme Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act. Roosevelt was furious. Deeming members of the court as too out of touch to recognize the consequences of striking down New Deal programs, Roosevelt conceived a plan that would enable him to appoint at least three more justices to the court.

Congressmen (including Democrats), some of the president's own advisers and many ordinary Americans were stunned and deeply opposed to the president's attempted power grab. His transparent effort to remake the court to obtain favorable rulings in New Deal litigation was a direct challenge to the independence and integrity of the court and to the separation of powers. Fortunately, Congress rejected the president's plan in 1937. But in the interim, the court had shifted its rulings -- upholding the Wagner Act and finding that Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce extended to industrial labor relations. And so, Roosevelt got what he wanted after all.

Not all of the comparisons between Roosevelt's world and Obama's hold up, of course. Roosevelt enjoyed enormous popularity before his Supreme Court power grab. In fact, Roosevelt benefited from the Democrats' landslide victory in the midterm elections of 1934, when, according to The New York Times, the Democrats "literally destroyed the right wing of the Republican Party." This year the Democrats may fare better than current prevailing predictions for the November elections. But no one imagines that the result will be a landslide for the Democrats or that the right wing of the Republican Party will be crushed.

And Roosevelt and our current president are not doppelgangers. Obama is by no means reckless. In fact, he's cautious by nature. But he does have a certain cool confidence that is reminiscent of Roosevelt. Obama also has the courage to be temporarily demonized in order to do what he thinks is best for the country. Obama's willingness to speak forcefully and directly to the Supreme Court (in fact, to the justices' faces at last year's State of the Union address) about the court's wrongheaded decision in the Citizens United campaign-finance case also brings to mind some of Roosevelt's public criticism of unfavorable Supreme Court decisions.

But it's hard to imagine Obama trying to go gangster on the Supreme Court. In fact, his nominees to the court have hardly been the stuff of radical takeover. Moreover, Obama's constitutional-law background is a powerful internal check that Roosevelt lacked, despite Roosevelt's having gone through the motions of an early law practice before jumping into politics.

Still, in Roosevelt's willingness and determination to save the U.S. economy and the people at the bottom of the economic ladder, there is much to encourage Obama. Despite his own patrician background, and pressure from Wall Street, Roosevelt understood what the moment called for. He determined that, no matter what, he would "not restore the ancient order." Obama should do no less.

Sherrilyn A. Ifill is a professor of law at the University of Maryland and a regular contributor to The Root.

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God's Bigmouths - Christopher Hitchens - Slate
[Rationality] (RichardDawkins.net - All Content)
Thanks to llegal9ball for the link Men like Bishop Eddie Long are fouling the legacy of the civil rights movement. Passing through Union Station in Washington, D.C., last week, I made my usual nod to the statue of A. Phillip Randolph. You can miss it if you are not looking for it, and it has been allowed to suffer defacement. (The sculpted pair of reading glasses held in the great man's hand was snapped off some years ago and was never replaced.) Randolph built a powerful trade union for black ...

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Thanks to llegal9ball for the link

Men like Bishop Eddie Long are fouling the legacy of the civil rights movement.

Passing through Union Station in Washington, D.C., last week, I made my usual nod to the statue of A. Phillip Randolph. You can miss it if you are not looking for it, and it has been allowed to suffer defacement. (The sculpted pair of reading glasses held in the great man's hand was snapped off some years ago and was never replaced.) Randolph built a powerful trade union for black railroad workers and proposed the first march on Washington when Franklin Roosevelt was president. His role in the later civil rights movement was germinal and dynamic. But you never hear his name anymore, and it is not taught to schoolchildren. Nor is the name of Bayard Rustin, a charismatic black intellectual and pioneer of gay rights, who organized the March on Washington in 1963. Along with many other secular democratic heroes, Randolph and Rustin have been airbrushed from history. The easiest way to gain instant acceptance as a black "leader" these days is to shove the word Reverend in front of your name.

Or, if you are really greedy and ambitious, the word Bishop. Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia preaches that Bayard Rustin was a vile sinner who suffered from the curable "disease" of homosexuality. I have a rule of thumb for such clerics and have never known it to fail: Set your watch and sit back, and pretty soon they will be found sprawling lustily on the floor of the men's room. It may be a bit early to claim the scalp of Eddie Long for this collection, but I doubt I shall have to withdraw. Here, after all, is what his friend the Rev. Timothy McDonald III, of the First Iconium Baptist Church (no less!), has to say: "This is the issue: how can you be against homosexuality and you are allegedly participating in it? That is the epitome of hypocrisy." Cynicism and naivete seem to coexist happily in this statement. The Rev. McDonald does not quite seem to believe the rather unimpressive denials issued by his richly draped brother in Christ. And he talks as if fevered denunciation of homosexuality has never before been an early warning of repressed desire.
...read on
Social Security FDR's 'greatest' feat praised
[Politics] (Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News)
Source: [b]Poughkeepsie Journal[/b] HYDE PARK About 200 people gathered Sunday at the Henry A. Wallace Center of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum to celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of the most pivotal pieces of legislation signed in American history the Social Sec ...

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Source: [b]Poughkeepsie Journal[/b]

HYDE PARK About 200 people gathered Sunday at the Henry A. Wallace Center of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum to celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of the most pivotal pieces of legislation signed in American history the Social Sec...
Men like Bishop Eddie Long are fouling the legacy of the civil rights movement.
[Tech, Slate] (Slate Magazine)
Passing through Union Station in Washington, D.C., last week, I made my usual nod to the statue of A. Phillip Randolph. You can miss it if you are not looking for it, and it has been allowed to suffer defacement. (The sculpted pair of reading glasses held in the great man's hand was snapped off some years ago and was never replaced.) Randolph built a powerful trade union for black railroad workers and proposed the first march on Washington when Franklin Roosevelt was president. His role in the l ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Passing through Union Station in Washington, D.C., last week, I made my usual nod to the statue of A. Phillip Randolph. You can miss it if you are not looking for it, and it has been allowed to suffer defacement. (The sculpted pair of reading glasses held in the great man's hand was snapped off some years ago and was never replaced.) Randolph built a powerful trade union for black railroad workers and proposed the first march on Washington when Franklin Roosevelt was president. His role in the later civil rights movement was germinal and dynamic. But you never hear his name anymore, and it is not taught to schoolchildren. Nor is the name of Bayard Rustin, a charismatic black intellectual and pioneer of gay rights, who organized the March on Washington in 1963. Along with many other secular democratic heroes, Randolph and Rustin have been airbrushed from history. The easiest way to gain instant acceptance as a black "leader" these days is to shove the word Reverend in front of your name.

[more ...]

Bayard Rustin - Civil rights movement - Civil and political rights - United States - A. Philip Randolph
Austin "Jack" DeCoster: The Salmonella King
[Green, Social Entrepreneurship] (Change.org's Sustainable Food Blog)
America recently saw the recall of more than 550 million salmonella-tainted eggs. And while this scandal garnered big media attention, it's hardly the first foodborne illness outbreak linked to contaminated eggs. Since the 1980s, the country's seen millions — if not billions — of eggs contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis. But as a New York Times story points out, behind a big portion of those bad eggs lies the baddest egg of all — Austin "Jack" DeCoster. You may remember DeCoster's ill ...

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America recently saw the recall of more than 550 million salmonella-tainted eggs. And while this scandal garnered big media attention, it's hardly the first foodborne illness outbreak linked to contaminated eggs. Since the 1980s, the country's seen millions — if not billions — of eggs contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis. But as a<!> New York Times story points out, behind a big portion of those bad eggs lies the baddest egg of all — Austin "Jack" DeCoster.
You may remember DeCoster's illustrious name from the most recent egg recall. DeCoster owns
Wright County Egg, one of two major egg producers responsible for producing the offending ovas. As Change.org highlighted, DeCoster's no stranger to scandal — his factory farms have been fingered for environmental, immigration, sexual assault, and health violations throughout the past 20 years. But what's perhaps even more shocking is that DeCoster's eggs have a decades-long history of sickening folks with salmonella poisoning.
Outbreaks of salmonella poisoning didn't really start appearing in the U.S. until the late 1970s/early 1980s. The first outbreak recognized by public health officials occurred in 1982, when almost 40 people got sick and one died in a New Hampshire nursing home. Runny eggs were the culprit, and guess whose farm those ovas came from. Yup, one of DeCoster's egg operations in Maine.From then on, it was just one salmonella outbreak after another for DeCoster. In 1987, 500 people got sick and nine died in Roosevelt Island's Coler Memorial Hospital after eating mayonnaise made from salmonella-tainted eggs that came from DeCoster's operations in Maryland. The next year brought two more outbreaks in the state that could be traced back to DeCoster, with New York eventually banning sales of DeCoster's eggs. In 1991, tests revealed more salmonella contamination at DeCoster's farms in Maryland. I could go on, but it's just more of the same, over and over until we get to the most recent outbreak this summer. "When we were in the thick of it, the name that came up again and again was DeCoster Egg Farms," Paul A. Blake, former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) enteric diseases division,
told the New York Times.
Of course, DeCoster's farms aren't the only operations that churned out salmonella-contaminated eggs throughout the past 30 years.
Factory farms in general create a host of health and environmental problems, with several of them pinpointed as salmonella distributors. But DeCoster proved over and over again that his farms weren't capable of ensuring consumers' safety, yet America's crippled food safety system with its lack of regulations and government oversight allowed ol' Jackie to keep pumping out eggs.
It's high time federal regulators started seeing foodborne illness as the serious threat that it is. The
FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to issue mandatory recalls and conduct more frequent inspections of operations like DeCoster's. The legislation would also take irresponsible producers to task for their offenses. However, S. 510 sits stalled in the Senate, partly because Sen. Tom Coburn refuses to support the bill. Tell Coburn that food safety reform is the only way we're going to finally get rid of bad eggs like DeCoster. Sign our petition asking Coburn to reverse his position and support S. 510.

Photo credit: Ethelred via Wikimedia Commons
Lessons in Manliness from Beowulf
[Men, Life, Lifehacks] (The Art of Manliness)
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Andrew Ratelle. “For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark… Endure your troubles today. Bear up and be the man I Related posts:Manvotional: The Man in The Arena by Theodore Roosevelt Lessons In Manliness: Benjamin Franklin’s Pursuit of the Virtuous Life Lessons In Manliness: Private Ross A. McGinnis & ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Andrew Ratelle. “For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark… Endure your troubles today. Bear up and be the man I [...] Related posts:
The Field Book Project: Uncovering Hidden Gems at the Smithsonian
[Photography] (The Bigger Picture)
Near the turn of the 20th century, ornithologist and naturalist Dr. Edgar A. Mearns set out on expeditions armed with paper and pen to record his findings. Within his field books, Mearns methodically captured details of specimens that were collected using descriptions, scientific classification and sketches. In 1909, Mearns joined President Theodore Roosevelt, who had recently ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Near the turn of the 20th century, ornithologist and naturalist Dr. Edgar A. Mearns set out on expeditions armed with paper and pen to record his findings. Within his field books, Mearns methodically captured details of specimens that were collected using descriptions, scientific classification and sketches. In 1909, Mearns joined President Theodore Roosevelt, who had recently [...]
Letters from readers: Obama's failure
[Op-Ed (opinion editorial)] (Opinion)
JOBLESS Obama’s failure How interesting. On the same page as an article about how the poverty rate has hit its 50-year high point in America is an article in which President Barack Obama states that his Recovery Act had kept “millions of Americans out of poverty last year.” KAREN WELLS Ponte Vedra Beach CRIME It pays I don’t know who said crime doesn’t pay. That person must not have lived today. An inmate in South Florida has a hospital bill of $400, paid for by the state. I need an ...

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JOBLESS

Obama’s failure

How interesting. On the same page as an article about how the poverty rate has hit its 50-year high point in America is an article in which President Barack Obama states that his Recovery Act had kept “millions of Americans out of poverty last year.”

KAREN WELLS

Ponte Vedra Beach

CRIME

It pays

I don’t know who said crime doesn’t pay. That person must not have lived today.

An inmate in South Florida has a hospital bill of $400, paid for by the state.

I need an operation, but I have to come up with $400. I have had a dental problem for years, but Medicare says I make too much money. The Veterans Administration says they don’t do teeth.

I have always been proud of myself in facing life, health and mental problems, but lately they have become a big challenge.

I think I speak for a lot of senior citizens when I say that we didn’t realize growing older would be so frightening, challenging and sometimes demeaning.

RICHARD LAW

Brunswick, Ga.

GOP VOTER

Not for Scott

Although I am a registered Democrat, I have not voted for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate since I started voting in 1969. Unfortunately, I cannot support the Republican candidate this year, Rick Scott.

Don’t get me wrong, both candidates are qualified for the job. However, after $50 million worth of negative attack ads against Bill McCollum brought Scott the Republican nomination, the first ad out of the box in the current campaign again followed the same pattern and denigrated his opponent.

This time it is Alex Sink. I favor a candidate who will tell me what they can do for me rather than a candidate who tells me nothing while painting the opponent as evil incarnate.

Sink is experienced, well spoken and has already told us how she plans to make Florida great again.

JOHN DERIN

Orange Park

CITY UNIONS

Who controls the city?

Are the mayor (CEO) and the City Council (board of directors) being controlled by the unions or by the stockholders (taxpayers)?

The stockholders are not in favor of deficit spending with higher taxes and fees.

There should be across-the- board pay cuts of 5 percent that the mayor asks for, pension reform and layoffs that are not negotiable until the city gets out of the red.

If this is not acceptable to the union members, they should seek employment elsewhere. There are a lot of unemployed highly qualified people who would be happy to take their place.

In fact, it might not be a bad idea for the city to reorganize under bankruptcy and start over with reasonable pensions and pay.

RODNEY HIGGINBOTHAM

Jacksonville

IMMIGRATION

In our blood

America is a land of immigrants. From the earlier settlers to modern day immigrants, this land has attracted immigrants from practically every country in the world who have melted into its fabric and became part of the landscape we call the United States of America.

Lately, immigration to America has slowed down or even reversed due to the financial crisis this country faces. That is not a good sign, because immigrants bring new skills, new ideas, new vitality and money.

America owes its growth to immigrants such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and more.

Immigrants take jobs at lower pay and in poor working conditions, yet they give this land more than they get in return.

RAGHAV N. BHATNAGAR

Jacksonville

TEA PARTY

Dems fool themselves

I’m amused at those Democrats who think their chances improve with tea party candidate victories.

Politicians have failed America.

Republicans and Democrats are unemployed, tired of taxes being wasted and of being lied to.

Maybe the voters don’t always understand the Washington ways, but we know how to vote when it is clear their agenda differs from the interests of the American people.

RON JONES

Jacksonville

GREAT DEPRESSION

FDR saved us

I must set one of the opinion writers straight on The Greatest Generation, since I happen to fall into that category.

My generation was far from conservative politically. We were in the Great Depression with little spending money, so we were forced to be conservative in spending. The president who was in power when the stock market crashed was just like nowadays, a Republican.

Please be advised that The Greatest Generation voted in a Democratic president from 1932 until 1952, and with all the spending that President Franklin Roosevelt did to haul us out of that depression and keep us out of it, it seemed to work.

Of course, it took a few years, so how about giving our present “liberal” president a chance, too.

HELEN PERRY

Jacksonville

NEW PARKS DOWNTOWN

Maintenance is an issue

I enjoyed reading about the plans for the “new” Friendship Park, with all the greenspace to replace the concrete, and now the Shipyards area, to be graded and planted with grass for an interim “passive” park space.

So where will the money come for maintenance?

Budget cutbacks have resulted in extended mowing/maintenance schedules for public grass areas, resulting in overgrown, jungle appearance.

These new areas will be just more green spaces that are not maintained properly.

Are we planting more problems?

PETER A. LESLEY

Jacksonville
Small nonprofits at risk of losing tax-exempt status
[Chicago, IL, Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Starter Kit] (Chicago Breaking News)
Struck by images of lives and homes washed away in flood-ravaged New Orleans, Bob Chodos wanted to do more than drop a check in the mail. A principal at a global real estate services firm in Chicago, he rallied more than a dozen of his colleagues and, seemingly overnight, founded Chicago's Turning the Tide. Within weeks, the nonprofit organization raised nearly $1 million -- donated to the American Red Cross -- for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005. But a change in federal law is now putting som ...

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Struck by images of lives and homes washed away in flood-ravaged New Orleans, Bob Chodos wanted to do more than drop a check in the mail.

A principal at a global real estate services firm in Chicago, he rallied more than a dozen of his colleagues and, seemingly overnight, founded Chicago's Turning the Tide. Within weeks, the nonprofit organization raised nearly $1 million -- donated to the American Red Cross -- for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005.

But a change in federal law is now putting some 325,000 of the smallest nonprofit groups, including Chodos', at risk of having their tax-exempt status revoked by the Internal Revenue Service.

The news shocked Chodos, who said that since the initial fundraisers five years ago, his organization has sat in relative dormancy but remains intact, ready for a call to arms during the next disaster.

"We would like to keep the organization alive in case it's needed again," Chodos said. "It worked extremely well the first time."

Before 2006, nonprofits with annual income of less than $25,000 didn't have to file returns. But the Pension Protection Act, which went into effect the following year, changed the rules, making this year the do-or-die deadline. The IRS gave organizations three years to comply, requiring them to file returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Across Illinois, roughly 15,000 nonprofits should have already lost their status, but the IRS issued a reprieve in July, granting them a one-time extension until Oct. 15. Officials warn the next wave of endangered nonprofits shouldn't count on extra time.

"These groups do great work in communities across the United States and are vital to the vibrancy of our nation," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. "The last thing we want to do here at the IRS is have these groups lose their tax-exempt status because they haven't filed a short, simple form."

Although the form is easy to complete, many nonprofits do not know they must fill it out to maintain their nonprofit status, experts said. The leaders of small nonprofits said they are intimidated about having to fill out a form about their finances, no matter how easy officials say it is to file.

Scores of these nonprofits are run by small groups -- sometimes as few as two people -- with grand causes. Save the whales. Walk for a cure. Stop the violence.

But they often operate more like noble mom-and-pop shops than efficient big-box stores. Turnover is often high, and being financially savvy isn't a prerequisite. Although the IRS sent out more than a million notices nationwide regarding the change in the law, many said they were oblivious to the new policy.

Aisha Ruther, founder and president of Academy of Early Scholars, longed to create an all-day preschool in the city's Roseland or Englewood communities to provide resources to low-income children "so they can compete with the rest of the world on an educational and economic level."

But like so many well-intended plans, Ruther's hasn't quite moved into the implementation phase.

Her board members, six excluding her, and volunteers, a handful of friends who believe in her vision, meet about once a year and subscribe to the approach "slow and steady wins the race." If they lose their status, it could crush them.

"It would mean we would have to start over," Ruther said.

When Ellen Clark, director of the Wilmette Public Library District, received a letter from the IRS in the spring, her initial reaction was that there had been some misunderstanding. Its small endowment fund, which qualifies the library for nonprofit status and enables it to apply for certain grants, was by no means earning more than $25,000.

Then she learned of the new rule.

"I picked up the phone and called our auditor saying, 'Help us. What do we do?'" she said. "He had just heard."

Even Psi Chi, the international psychology honors society that touts itself as one of the largest collegiate honors societies in existence, is grappling with all 1,100-plus chapters -- including the club at Schaumburg's Roosevelt University -- losing their tax-exempt status, said Psi Chi's Executive Officer Michele Rumpf.

"With the possibility of any of our chapters losing their status, it's really a concern," she said. "We're in the process for filing for all of our chapters. There's been a lot of distress from the chapters over the continued correspondence that they keep getting from the IRS."

Psi Chi brought in A. Michael Gellman, a CPA based in the Washington, D.C., area, to work on a program that would allow national organizations to gather the information from their affiliates and file on their behalf. Although the concept isn't new, many organizations never had the need for it.

The necessary tax form, an eight-question 990-N dubbed an "e-postcard" because it's filed online, shouldn't scare away any groups, Gellman said.

"It takes literally a couple minutes to do it," he said. "You do not need any accounting or financial background to do it. The process itself is as painless as you can get."

The key, just like renewing a driver's license, is remembering to file, Gellman said.

Still, some wonder if the hurdle is too much for their organization, especially one like Wilmette's library endowment, which is more of a reserve fund than anything else.

"We're going to take care of it one way or the other," Clark said. "But (the endowment is) such a small part of what we do, we really are debating whether it's worth keeping."

The fact that so many organizations are in jeopardy is not surprising, said Katie Roeger, assistant director of the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics. The new law is part of an effort to keep better track of nonprofit organizations.

"Besides the initial application, these small organizations were never required to interact with the IRS before," Roeger said.

GuideStar, a national organization that gathers information on nonprofits, estimates that the nonprofit sector could shrink by 25 percent as a result.

In Chicago, some of the organizations' contacts have long moved on or even died. When Mary Carter created Bridges to Permanent Housing in the late '80s, she was admittedly overly idealistic.

"We were trying to help homeless families, trying to start a shelter with supportive services," Carter said. "We thought we had an innovative, new idea. We were going to solve the problem. We didn't have enough know-how, enough people, enough time."

The group hasn't met in decades, she said, yet it remains in the IRS database as a nonprofit.

"It needs to be properly dissolved or whatever happens when you go out of business," she said.

By not filing this year, the organization will automatically lose its status. Carter says that's appropriate for the defunct group.

Despite the success in raising donations during Hurricane Katrina, Chodos -- who is in the process of filing the group's first return this year -- said the future of the organization is unclear.

"I'll talk to my attorney and team about what we ultimately need to do," he said. "We might choose to wind it up. I just don't know right now."

-- Duaa Eldeib
1904 Roosevelt Flip Coin
[Antiques] (Instappraisal)
Enter the information about the item that you wish to have appraised here: Category: Coins and Currency Medium - What is the item made out of (e.g. "silver")?: Bronze Distinguishing marks or signature (e.g. artist's name, silver hallmark): "Gardner, Chicago IL" Date Period (Es ...

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Enter the information about the item that you wish to have appraised here:

Category:

Coins and Currency

Medium - What is the item made out of (e.g. "silver")?:

Bronze

Distinguishing marks or signature (e.g. artist's name, silver hallmark):

"Gardner, Chicago IL"

Date Period (Estimated date of item if known):

1904

Price Paid (If known):

$17.50

Size and dimensions of this item:

1.25"

Weight:

unknown

Condition:

Good

History:

It's a 1904 presidential flip coin feature T. Roosevelt on one side and A. Parker on the other

Long Description and Pictures (jpg, gif, png):

This is a 1904 presidential flip coin featuring Teddy Roosevelt on one side and Alton B. Parker on the otherside. With the words "For President" on both sides above each presidential candidate. On the bottom of the Roosevelt side are the words "Made by Gardner, Chicago IL" 1904

Free Classifieds:

No, I don't want to sell it
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The Dime:
[Coin Collecting] (CoinPeople Main Numismatic Forums)
The dime is a truly American coin. For instance, although other nations such as Canada and Singapore have "dollars" only America has the dime. Futhermore, our other coins carry their denominations -- "Quarter Dollar" and "One Cent" and so on -- but what is a "dime"? The name is unique to our nation. (Facts here originally appeared in Building a U.S. Dime Type Set, The Numismatist, Vol 16. No. 5, May 2002.) If you start with the current issue Roosevelt dime, you can find examples c ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
The dime is a truly American coin. For instance, although other nations such as Canada and Singapore have "dollars" only America has the dime. Futhermore, our other coins carry their denominations -- "Quarter Dollar" and "One Cent" and so on -- but what is a "dime"? The name is unique to our nation.

(Facts here originally appeared in Building a U.S. Dime Type Set, The Numismatist, Vol 16. No. 5, May 2002.)
- If you start with the current issue Roosevelt dime, you can find examples certified Proof 70. One problem with such easy perfection is that it is impossible to complete a type set of dimes entirely in Proof-70. While a Proof-70 "Roosie" can be had for less than $20, a Mint State 60 uncirculated Draped Bust Dime from 1796 will cost at least $4,000 -- if one is on the market at all.
- The Mercury dime is properly called the "Winged Head Liberty" dime. The designer, Adolph A. Weinman based his coin on a bust he made of Elsie Kachel Stevens. Mercury dimes were struck in astronomical quantities. As a result of these populations, high grade examples are affordable. The collector with an eye for sharp detail in a Mint state coin will appreciate the fact that the 1916-P can be found certified in MS-63 or above for about $100.
- The dimes designed by Charles Barber carried a lot of commerce that wore these coins flat. Therefore, Barber coins in higher collector grades (Extemely Fine and About Uncirculated) are always in demand. Proof Barber dimes are available for under $500. It is technically possible, though practically difficult, to find a certified Mint State Barber dime for less than $100.
- Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht's Seated Liberty coins enjoyed an unparalled run of 56 years 1837-1891. The original design was the work of Thomas Sully. Miss Liberty herself bears a strong resemblence to Blanche Sully, the painter's daughter, looking over her right shoulder, in a work executed in 1834. The collector building a "complete" type set of dimes must make some choices. The reverse of the Seated Liberty from 1837 to 1859 featured olive branches. Starting in 1860, the reverse carried "Newlin's Wreath of Cereals." The first two years of issue, 1837 and 1838, are another major variety. The dimes of 1838-1853 are considered a single major type of Seated Liberty. In 1853, the weight of the dime was reduced from 2.67 grams to 2.49 grams. To mark this change, the Mint added arrows to the date for the years 1853-1855. Arrows again bracketed the date in 1873 and 1874 when the weight of the dime increased to 2.50 grams. Another choice is whether to include an 1860-S. The Mints at Philadelphia and New Orleans began striking dimes with "Newlin's cereal wreath" in 1860. However, the San Francisco Mint struck the older reverses in 1860. Proofs for the common dates 1875-1891 (no arrows) cost about $600. Certified Mint State coins from these years can be found near $150. Coins graded Extremely Fine are known at the $20 level, however finding a truly problem-free Seated Liberty dime in this grade can be a challenge.
- Pursuing Capped Bust Dimes 1809-1837 requires the same kinds of choices that come with the Seated Liberty series. On the one hand, production levels for common years make Mint State examples affordable for the average collector who is willing to use a savings account while learning about the series: for $1000 you can have your pick and get money back. There are two major varieties of Capped Bust Dime. In 1828, the Mint made several changes to the design of these coins. Hardly noticeable except to a numismatist, specialists in the series consider these changes significant.
- Numismatic legend says that the model for the Draped Bust coinage was Philadelphia socialite Ann Willing Bingham. Like the Seateds, the Draped Bust dimes 1796-1807 feature two different reverses. From 1798-1807, the "heraldic eagle" is a stylized symbol of the republic. The "small eagle" of 1796-1707 is a more natural image. In no sense are these coins "cheap" or "affordable." Only in grades near or below Very Fine do their prices drop below $1000. Even in Good, the Heraldic Eagles run about $200 and that will not open the bidding for a Small Eagle in Good.
'Third World America' Step 6: Hold Our Leaders Accountable
[The Huffington Post, Huffington Post, Obama] (The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com)
"It's a classic catch-22: The most effective way of fixing the multitude of problems facing America is through the democratic process, but the democratic process itself is badly broken," Arianna writes in Third World America. Only when business leaders and politicians are truly held accountable, she argues, can real social change come about: The 2008 election was all about "hope." But just hoping that our leaders in Washington will somehow miraculously start doing the right thing -- especial ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en-US
"It's a classic catch-22: The most effective way of fixing the multitude of problems facing America is through the democratic process, but the democratic process itself is badly broken," Arianna writes in Third World America. Only when business leaders and politicians are truly held accountable, she argues, can real social change come about:

The 2008 election was all about "hope." But just hoping that our leaders in Washington will somehow miraculously start doing the right thing -- especially when they are locked inside a system with overwhelmingly powerful incentives to do the wrong thing -- simply won't cut it.

What we need is Hope 2.0: the realization that our system is too broken to be fixed by politicians operating within the status quo, however well intentioned. Change is going to have to come from outside Washington. But no fundamental political change can be accomplished without a movement demanding it. As Frederick Douglass put it, "Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never did and it never will."

The perfect example of this came in March 1965. In an effort to push for voting rights legislation, Martin Luther King met with President Lyndon Johnson. But LBJ was convinced he didn't have the votes needed for passage. King left the meeting certain that the votes would never be found in Washington until he turned up the heat in the rest of the country. And that's what he set out to do: produce the votes in Washington by getting the people to demand it. Two days later, the "Bloody Sunday" confrontation in Selma -- in which marchers were met with tear gas and truncheons -- captured the conscience of the nation. Five months after that, on August 6, LBJ signed the National Voting Rights Act into law, with King and Rosa Parks by his side.

At that March meeting, LBJ didn't think the conditions for change were there. So King went out and changed the conditions.

Similarly, before the start of WWII, legendary labor leader A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, lobbied FDR to promote equal employment opportunities in the defense industry. Roosevelt was sympathetic but made no promises. Randolph responded by taking his cause to the American people, organizing a massive march on Washington. Concerned about the impact the march would have on the country's war time morale, Roosevelt got Randolph to call it off by issuing an executive order banning discrimination in defense industries and creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee to watch over hiring practices.

In recent decades the system has gotten only more rigged and the powers that be more entrenched. The ability of special interests to thwart meaningful change has never been stronger. And the reason we are given -- time after time after time -- for why we can't have fundamental reform? What else: The votes just aren't there!

That's where Hope 2.0 comes in. If the votes aren't there, the people need to create them. If politicians put their finger in the wind to see which way it's blowing before deciding what to do, well, let's change the direction of the wind.

In the early days of the financial crisis, as I looked at the tone-deaf response of Wall Street, including former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain and his now infamous $1.2 million office redecoration in the midst of the economic collapse, I thought of Thain and his Big Banking brethren as the Marie Antoinettes of the meltdown. They just didn't get it.

Little did I realize just how small-scale Thain's outrages would seem and how much worse things would get in the ensuing months. Goldman Sachs's Lloyd "Doing God's Work" Blankfein, BP's Tony "I'd Like My Life Back" Hayward, and their fellow too-big-to-fail CEOs--with their utter cluelessness about the public's anger over what they've done and continue to do--take "not getting it" to a whole other level.

Luckily for them, society has evolved, and we express our anger differently than we did in Marie Antoinette's day. "Off with their bonuses" is a lot less painful than "off with their heads." But the question is, can the American people's righteous -- and entirely justifiable -- rage be productively channeled to produce a real movement for reform, or will it be hijacked by dangerous demagogues, with whatever is left over co-opted by agents of the status quo in Washington?

In 2004, hope was ignited by an unknown state senator standing up and proclaiming that we are not blue states and red states, but one people who can only solve our problems together.

In 2008, hope was about crossing our fingers and electing leaders who we thought would enact the change we so desperately need.

Hope 2.0 is about creating the conditions that give them no other choice.

RESOURCES
- Fix Congress First!, a grassroots campaign founded by Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig and Joe Trippi, who ran Howard Dean's Internet-fueled 2004 presidential campaign, to pressure Congress to pass public financing legislation.
- Sunlight Foundation, an organization dedicated to harnessing the "the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency."
More on Third World America
Colts play by play 1st half offense, some D thrown in, have to do medical stuff & turn computer off
[Indianapolis Colts] ()
Colts get ball first penalties Ugoh 3 false starts & 2 defensive penatlie & extremely tight coverage on colt recivers HALFTIME STATS AT END of this Devin Moore great kickoff & punt retuns , all of them havent really reviewed as must take care of medicalk needs for mom soon so this as best I could basically thev first half of colts offense detailed , play by play as best I could keep up, I am closing computer foor 2nd half, Colt Line Ugoh, Lidenback LG, Richar ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Colts get ball first penalties Ugoh 3 false starts & 2 defensive penatlie & extremely tight coverage on colt recivers HALFTIME STATS AT END of this Devin Moore great kickoff & punt retuns , all of them havent really reviewed as must take care of medicalk needs for mom soon so this as best I could basically thev first half of colts offense detailed , play by play as best I could keep up, I am closing computer foor 2nd half, Colt Line Ugoh, Lidenback LG, Richard, Pollack, Diem Devin more 33 yard kickoff return but called back , penalty not near ball carrier 1st play Ugoh off side , , then pass blocked as released, pressured then deep to wayne defendered, then pocket collapse and peyton dumpsd to addai and is immediaelty hit, threw just so wont be sacked & has to punt, nice punt bills to easily move ball & at end spiller 31 yard TD and broke amny tackles including Mathis, Beathea for 7-0 lead 2nd series , Morre rutuns for 38 yards , 1st was 33 addai stuff on 1st play in backfield bymarcus stroud with no one on ol able to block him up middle 2nd& 14 pass to brody for 10 as breaks tackle for few more yards grt pass , catch to addai, manning running out of pocket under pressure , thows and addai falls backward to get catch & 1st down pass to wayne is obvious hoild , Peyton thriows into ground & yells at refs for no call, announcers say Waynes jersy was so strched was easy hold but not called thats why PM livid pass to gonzo & caught for for 5 + yards addai runs 27 yards up middle for td breaking tacles 7-7 d has great 3 & out stop but gets off from the 9 a 56 yard punt 3rd series after punt start at 37 , Moore only few yards on return miss to collie great juggling catch by brody for 22 yards , brown nice run using brody & Ugoh on left seal run lane at point of attack to bills 28 brown 1 yrd run up middle no where to go peyton to gonzo quick short pass low, gonzo tips it, and its IT just off ground and its a 78 nyard return fot TD on IT pick 6 14-7 bills Offensive 4th series more returnst liickoff 5 yards deep in enzone to making people miss brings out to 23 brown for 2 yards , no running room, bal l knocked down in front of gonzo , not best throw peyton tot hrows to brown to 32 , needed the 33 so punts , mcafee a 48 yard punt 5th series moore on punt return makes a 49 yard return from the 33 to the bills 17, again great decisive running , has been all day peyton throws into the #s of someone whoi couldnt hold onto it screen to gonzo no place to go , gets a tard, ugoh off sides again 3rd & 18 peyton throws over middle to e\wide opeb tamme over his head & with outstretched arms catches for td 14-14 punts deep, Bills 1st play nothing by bills then total blown coverage allows 70 yard td to lee evans 21-18 bills, Painter does well, Ugoh gets 3rd offsides 2 great passes to smith , one is a deep bomb and Taj Smith makes great catches and gets a very long td catch= 21-21 ( painter went 3 for 3 for 82 yards, Manning 8 for 15 for 91 yards Vs first team &n tight coveraage & IT wasnt his faault ) Chad smith makes descent kickoff return, betterb than did for us, stays in & makes some runs / catches Buffalo getting stopped but ball is forced fumbled by Ray Fisher goes aboutb 20 yards downfield and buills recover , get to the 6 , stopped and get FG, so at the half 24-21 bills INDIANAPOLIS COLTS Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT P. Manning 8/15 91 1 1 C. Painter 3/3 82 1 0 Rushing CAR YDS TD LG D. Brown 4 23 0 13 J. Addai 2 13 1 17 J. James 2 9 0 6 D. Moore 2 6 0 3 C. Painter 1 -1 0 -1 Receiving REC YDS TD LG T. Smith 2 81 1 43 B. Eldridge 2 32 0 22 J. Addai 2 23 0 26 J. Tamme 1 21 1 21 A. Gonzalez 2 8 0 7 D. Brown 1 7 0 7 S. Giguere 1 1 0 1 R. Fisher ? never saw Fisher ? 1 -3 0 -3 Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS - - - - Kicking FG LG XP PTS A. Vinatieri 0/0 0 3/3 3 Punting NO AVG I20 LG P. McAfee 3 42 1 51 Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG D. Moore 4 32 0 38 S. Giguere 1 20 0 20 Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG D. Moore 2 25 0 49 R. Fisher 1 11 0 11 Defense T-A SCK INT FF G. Brackett 3-0 0 0 0 D. Townsend 2-1 0 0 0 R. Fisher 2-1 0 0 1 B. Sanders 2-0 0 0 0 A. Bethea 2-0 0 0 0 K. Hayden 2-0 0 0 0 B. King 2-0 0 0 0 J. Lacey 1-2 0 0 0 R. Mathis 1-1 0 0 0 R. Humber 1-1 0 0 0 M. Bullitt 1-0 0 0 0 P. Wheeler 1-0 0 0 0 E. Foster 1-0 1 0 0 M. Newton 1-0 0 0 0 M. King 1-0 0 0 0 J. Hughes 1-0 0 0 0 K. Conner 0-1 0 0 0 P. Angerer 0-1 0 0 0 BUFFALO BILLS Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT T. Edwards 5/8 93 1 0 B. Brohm 6/9 65 0 0 Rushing CAR YDS TD LG C. Spiller 10 54 1 31 R. Parrish 1 6 0 6 T. Edwards 1 3 0 3 C. Simpson 2 2 0 2 Receiving REC YDS TD LG L. Evans 1 70 1 70 C. Jackson 2 34 0 26 R. Parrish 2 19 0 11 D. Jones 1 14 0 14 N. Roosevelt 2 13 0 9 J. Stupar 1 4 0 4 S. Johnson 1 2 0 2 C. Spiller 1 2 0 2 Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS D. Jones 1 0 0 0 C. Jackson 0 0 1 0 Kicking FG LG XP PTS R. Lindell 1/1 24 3/3 6 Punting NO AVG I20 LG B. Moorman 3 26 1 56 Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG L. McKelvin 2 17 0 22 C. Simpson 1 33 0 33 Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG R. Parrish 2 4 0 6 Defense T-A SCK INT FF D. Whitner 3-0 0 0 0 M. Stroud 2-1 0 0 0 D. Edwards 2-0 0 0 0 P. Posluszny 1-1 0 0 0 C. Ellis 1-1 0 0 0 K. Mitchell 1-1 0 0 0 K. Williams 1-0 0 0 0 C. Kelsay 1-0 0 0 0 T. McGee 1-0 0 1 0 G. Wilson 1-0 0 0 0 S. Johnson 1-0 0 0 0 B. Scott 1-0 0 0 0 L. McKelvin 1-0 0 0 0 E. Lankster 1-0 0 0 0 A. Coleman 0-1 0 0 0
The Discriminatory Firing of my Mother in the early 60s
[CNN] (CNN iReport - Latest)
Major incidents that shaped my views on race: The firing of my mother was my earliest memory of racial unfairness. According to Mr. Carter the owner of a tobacco farm in Quincy, Florida my mother was fired because she mentioned that nigger Dr. Martin Luther King’s name at work. I was six or seven years old when my grandmother informed my mother that Mr. Carter told her to tell my mother not to come back to work.When granny told my mother the reason that she was fired my mother replied, “no o ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Major incidents that shaped my views on race: The firing of my mother was my earliest memory of racial unfairness. According to Mr. Carter the owner of a tobacco farm in Quincy, Florida my mother was fired because she mentioned that nigger Dr. Martin Luther King’s name at work. I was six or seven years old when my grandmother informed my mother that Mr. Carter told her to tell my mother not to come back to work.

When granny told my mother the reason that she was fired my mother replied, “no one can tell me who I can and can’t talk about”. “God made white people and colored people and no one is better than anyone else.” “We are all equal.” After being fired, my mother wasn’t able to find work in Quincy, Florida. She sought work and wasn’t able to get a job on any of the other local tobacco farms. At age 32 and the mother of seven children, she decided that she had to leave her birthplace, children, family, and home. My mother’s sister Vera lived and worked in Rochester, New York. My mother decided that she and her youngest child Glenn would move to Rochester with Aunt Vera. She planned on sending for Mary, Ruth and I after she got a job and her own place to live.

Incident #2

In 1967 at age 13 I volunteered to attend a “White” Jr. High School. I volunteered to attend the ninety- five percent white school two years before the mandatory integration of all Polk County Schools. I volunteered because of the injustice I felt at Roosevelt High School. In 1966 to 1967 I was in seventh grade and I attended Roosevelt High. The school was an all black segregated high school. I was placed in an instrumental music class at Roosevelt High. The students in the class were given the recorder to play in the music class. Once we mastered the recorder the music teacher would determine what musical instrument we would study and play.

I had always been a bright student and I loved attending school. I took pride in the fact that I was an excellent student. Although I made A’s and B’s in my other classes, I couldn’t learn and/or remember the musical notes on the recorder. For the first time in my life I had an “F” on my report card for a six weeks marking period. After I received the F I cried and demanded to get out of that class and to be placed in the chorus class. My request to transfer out of the music class was denied by the school’s administrators because too many students in my class had already transferred to the chorus class.

I received “Fs” for each of the six marking periods in music that year. I cried every time that I got my report card. I hated that class and Roosevelt High School. I couldn’t believe that someone could force me to remain in a class that I couldn’t possibly pass.

At the end of the school term, I informed my mother that I was transferring from Roosevelt and that I was going to a “white” school. The white school was Lake Wales Junior High School. I entered the eighth grade in August l967 when integration was a hot debate in the South. The white students and parents didn’t want us to attend their school. Many black students loved their colored schools and didn’t want to go to the “white” schools.

Incident #3

My introduction to the constitutional protection of the13^th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution at Lake Wales Jr. High School.

At the end of my eight grade school year my family and I went to South Carolina and New York State as migrant workers. We picked peaches in Carolina and apples, tomatoes, and cabbages in New York. After I returned to Lake Wales Junior High School two major events happened to me, in my 9^th grade Civic class. One of the events would change my life forever. During one of the six-week marking periods my teacher discovered that I cheated on a test. I cheated by taking and passing the test for another student because he wasn’t doing well in the class. The other student was a colored male. I scored 100 percent on the test with my name on it. I scored 80 percent on the other test for my friend. I printed the answers on his test and wrote my answers in cursive.

My teacher confronted me and told me that he was going to give me a zero for the test. He continued by informing me that I would have to work very hard in order to pass the class for that particular marking period. I accepted my fate I deserved the C or D that I made in the class instead of my usual A. (I can’t remember if I made a C or D).

Later that year I was introduced to the U.S. Constitution in the same Civics class. I listened intensely as the teacher explained the constitutional protection of the13^th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution. Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution - Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution –

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The fact that the Fourteenth Amendment contained the due process and equal protection clauses meant more to me than my teacher would ever know. The knowledge that all Americans are protected by “our” constitution changed my whole outlook on life.

My mother’s statement made years earlier that we are all equal because GOD made us all raced through my mind. I realized and accepted the fact that GOD really did make all people equal. The knowledge and acceptance of this fact coupled with my newfound understanding of the meaning of the 13th and 14th amendments guarantees would order and guide me for the rest of my life to my divine destiny and purpose. For the first time in my life I had hope. As an American these two amendments insured me that my future would be brighter and different than that of my mother. I would achieve my mother’s dream for me to graduate from high school. I would also accomplish my new dream for myself to graduate from college. My new dream now consisted of graduating from college, having a husband, having children that shared the same last name, and living in a beautiful house.

Vera Richardson
US Presidents Part I: 1789 - 1845
[Rationality] (skeptic cat)
George Washington 1789 - 1797, Nonpartisan from Virginia Americans know him as the "father of their country." Having been General and Chief of the Continental Armies durring the War of American Independence as well as the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 there seemed little doubt that he would be the first to occupy the office of the Presidency and he was elected unanimously to that office by the Electoral Collage in 1788 and reelected unanimously in 1792. This was the ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

George Washington 1789 - 1797, Nonpartisan from Virginia<!>Americans know him as the "father of their country." Having been General and Chief of the Continental Armies durring the
War of American Independence as well as the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 there seemed little doubt that he would be the first to occupy the office of the Presidency and he was elected unanimously to that office by the Electoral Collage in 1788 and reelected unanimously in 1792. This was the only time that a single candidate captured every singe electoral vote. James Monroe did not have an opponent listed in 1820 but fell one vote short of unanimousness, perhaps in hopes of keeping Washington's record in tact.
As President Washington faced the daunting challenge of fleshing out the bare-bones structure of the executive office articulated in the US Constitution. As such Washington was keenly aware that every move he made was to be precedent setting he stated: "
As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent, it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles."
The first of these precedents involved the selection of his
Cabinet. Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution states quite clearly that these appointments are to be made with the "advise and consent of Congress," however, the great reverence that the nation felt for Washington made these confirmation hearings a mere formality. None of his appointments were challenged setting the precedent that the President thereafter is generally permitted to appoint his own Cabinet officers without Congressional interference, even in cases where the President is: blatantly playing favorites, making appointments that are clearly underqualified or just plain weird.
He also, reluctently, set the precedent that the President accept a salary and initiated the practice of calling the President "Mr. President" as opposed to "your worshipfullness sir" or something equally appalling as was common in Europe.

Domestic affairs were dominated by the conflict of personalities within his Cabinet between liberal
Thomas Jefferson and conservative Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson was an admirer of the Free Market Capitalism articulated by Adam Smith while Hamilton preferred the tried and tested Mercantilism which had been practiced in England since the fifteenth century with some success. Washington eventually chose to side with Hamilton causing Jefferson to eventually resign from the Cabinet and join the burgeoning Anti-Federalist movement laying the ground-work for the two party system as we know it today, much to chagrin of Washington who had hoped to avoid the rise of political parties.
Early in his term Washington had to face down
Rebellion in the Western part of the country (now the East) over taxes and the enforcement of unpopular laws. Washington's swift and effective response both crushed the Rebellion and sent out the message that the Revolution was over.
Another rift between Washington and more progressive elements in his Cabinet arose over his pro-English foreign policy which many saw as a slap in the face of France who had been the American's most important allies during the Revolutionary War. The excesses of the
French Revolution combined with the military threat that England posed to the fledgling nation which Washington headed the government of caused Washington to pursue a policy of, at best, nutrality in the Anglo-Frankish Wars. Washington also foresaw England as a valuable trading partner and insisted that American Citizens continue to be held liable for debts incurred to the English prior to the Revolution.
Historians have generally vindicated Washington in regard to Anglo-French relations. Washington was revolutionary but he was no radical.

Americans have largely ignored the warnings issued by Washington in his famous
Farewell Address in regards to the evils of political parties and the dangers of "entangling alliances" with foreign powers. Washington died in 1799 at the age of sixty-seven. Polls of historians generally rank Washington second behind Abraham Lincoln as one of the greatest of all US President but he has ranked as low as fourth.

John Adams 1796 - 1801, Federalist from MassachusettsIn 1796 George Washington refused to seek election for a third terms as President of the United States setting the precedent, only overlooked by
Franklin D. Roosevelt, of Presidents, no matter how popular, being limited to two four-year terms. John Adams was clearly Washington's choice to succeed him but Adams faced a formidable electoral challenge from Thomas Jefferson in what was to become the first partisan election campaign much to the disappointment of Washington.
The election was a good deal closer than anyone could imagine as Adam's promise to continue the conservative policies of Washington and
Hamilton was very much against the growing trend toward making the United States the exemplar of egalitarianism. However, the nod from Washington was enough to put Adams over the top.
Although a very piteous and honorable individual on a personal level, Adams was a weak and ineffective President whose political skills just weren't up the challenge of the nation's highest office. At the same time, the Nation's Gross National Product more than doubled during his single term. This is the largest increase in wealth the US has ever experienced under a single administration, a record unlikely to be bested any time in the future.

Adams' term was doomed from the start due to an oversight by the drafters of the Constitution. Because the Electoral Collage was instructed to cast two ballots without distinguishing which was for President and which was for Vice President with the individual receiving the second highest number of electoral votes winning the office of Vice President, the appearance of a fringe candidate forced Adams to accept his old enemy Thomas Jefferson as Vice President. The US Constitution also provides that the Vice President be the deciding vote should a tie-vote occur in Congress. The Nation was so divided at that point politically that Jefferson's Vice Presidency essentially paralyzed Adams' administration.

In his own time Adams had the reputation for
always saying the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time, though this may only point to his unpopularity rather than to any inherent awkwardness on Adams' part. There were no new policy initiatives undertaken in Adams' administration and Adams himself put only minimal effort into executing the duties of the office the public had given him.
Adams continued the pro-English foreign policy initiated under Washington but was unable to continue the guise of neutrality which Washington had erected. Armed conflict with France appeared eminent and
Franco-American hostilities nearly reached the breaking point with the famous XYZ-Affair when the French Diplomatic Corps demanded an enormous bribe of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney before he would be received for negotiations. Pinckney is said to have responded "NO NO NOT A SIXPENCE!" The favorite jingo of the "Quasi-War" with France was "millions for defense and not a cent for tribute."
True war never came but taxes were levied at unprecedented rates to pay for a large Navy to protect American commercial interests and civil liberties were severely curtailed under the
Alien and Sedition Acts which made it a crime to criticize the President or Congress in print.
The final year of Adams' term was dominated by
Fries' Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania which he handled both swiftly and amicably. Blaming the Democratic-Republicans for stirring up the persons involved Adams used his pardon power to diffuse the situation. The taxes and curtailment of civil liberties which were the cause of the Rebellion were not, however, adressed.
Adams was defeated for reelection in what was, perhaps,
the nastiest Presidential Campaign in history. Adams had no knack for political campaigning and wildly accused his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, of being both an anarchist and an atheist, foretelling of "murder, rape and mayhem" being "openly taught and practiced" should Jefferson prevail. In the end Adams had a very ill-timed falling out with Alexander Hamilton whose home state of New York would cast the deciding votes in favor of Jefferson.
Adams' last act as President was to force through a slew of "midnight appointments" to the Federal Judiciary in hopes of derailing Jefferson's legislative agenda. This turned out to be a minor nuisance for Jefferson but remains as a stain on the memory of Adams who was otherwise not given to abuses of power of this magnitude.

The Federalist Party which had formed around his Presidential ambitions would flounder and die over the next few electoral cycles as Adams' ideal of a Republic governed by professionals and not subject to the "whims of the mob" as he called them became increasingly unpopular. In my view, although a founding father and an important figure in history, Adams was not a good President being both inattentive to the needs of his country's citizens and despotic in the suppression of his political opponents.

Adams died on July 4, 1826 (the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence) having been preceded in death by his old enemy Thomas Jefferson by only a few hours. His last words were purported to be "Thomas Jefferson still lives" indicating that he still saw himself in competition with his old adversary. Jefferson and Adams were the only two US Presidents to have signed the Decoration so the probability of their both dieing on that particular date must be astronomical. Historian polls generally rank him well above average often tied with John F. Kennedy for position number fourteen.

Thomas Jefferson 1801 - 1809, Democratic - Republican from Virginia<!>The inscription on Thomas Jefferson's tombstone reads: "[h]ere was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia<!>." Anyone notice something missing?
That Jefferson was not proud enough of his accomplishments in his two terms as President of the United States of America to mention his having held this office in the inscription on his tombstone may be indicative of the fact that Jefferson's best days were already behind him when he took the oath of office. Nevertheless, the eight years he held the Presidency was a revolutionary period as the young nation increased in both size and status to new heights of independence.
Early on Jefferson faced opposition within his own party from
Vice President Aaron Burr
who made a play for the Presidency on the grounds that he had received an equal number of electoral votes as Jefferson. Republican electors had been instructed to cast one vote for Jefferson and one vote for Burr but the Constitution provided that electors not distinguish which ballot was for Vice President and which was for President. At Burr's insistence the election was settled by a vote in the House of Representatives where Jefferson was forced to seek the support of his old enemy
Alexander Hamilton to secure the Presidency which he had won in a narrow defeat over his predecessor John Adams. Jefferson and his Republican Congress quickly pushed through the the 12th Amendment to the US Constitution requiring that Electors vote separately for President and Vice President so such a mess could never darken the hallowed halls of Washington again.Jefferson's first term was largely occupied with undoing the policies of his two predecessors. The huge military amassed in the wake of the Quasi-War with France was largely dismantled. Taxes were decreased significantly. And the Alien and Sedition Acts allowed to expire. Jefferson also discontinued many rituals surrounding the office of the President setting the stage for our modern, informal methodology by which presidential duties are fulfilled.
The most enduring act of Jefferson's first term was the
Louisiana Purchase
from the French Emperor
Napoleon nearly doubling the land area controlled by the United States at the piddly cost of $.08 an acre. Jefferson then commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition which explored the continent bringing back invaluable topographic and scientific information from which America would continue to benefit for generations to come.Jefferson's first term also saw the United States' first military success in the Barbary Wars
with Tripoli which was the first foreign war in which the United States had become involved.
Though not quite as stellar a record as one might expect from a "great man" like Jefferson, his successes in his first term were more than sufficient to win him a second term as he absolutely buried Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
putting the last rusty nail in the coffin of the short-lived Federalist Party.
Jefferson's second term was a good deal less successful, however. Jefferson faced rebellion from his former Vice President, Aaron Burr who, have shot Alexander Hamilton in duel in 1804, was caught sailing down the Mississippi River in a boat full of weapons hoping to incite an armed insurrection in the Louisiana Territories. Burr was tried for treason but the Supreme Court, wisely not wishing to make a martyr of such a man, acquitted him.
This failure to maintain order was followed by an ineffective foreign policy venture which led to the
Embargo Act of 1807
barring trade with England and France for the duration of the Anglo-Frankish conflict. This proved very unpopular as the US was not yet the industrial powerhouse it would one day become and her citizens were thus deprived of many consumer items causing a black market to arise further undermining the authority of the government. Historians have partially vindicated Jefferson on the issue of the unpopular embargo since the US' economic independence was largely secured at time planting the seeds of the industrial revolution in American which would grow into the greatest industrial powerhouse the World has ever known. Unfortunately, Jefferson misses getting the credit for this due to his shortsighted view of America's future as being agrarian in nature as opposed to promoting industrialization which Jefferson affiliated with the Mercantilist system. Jefferson refered to cities as "sores upon the body politic."
Of course, criticism of Jefferson's economic views seems, frankly, unimportant as he shows himself as being most short-sighted on the issue of race. An owner of an obscene number of slaves whom he treated quite cruelly he did, nevertheless, sign into law a bill banning the importation of any more slaves to the Republic.
Jefferson's system of government was to remain in effect for most of the next generation being suplanted by that of
Andrew Jackson
shortly after Jefferson's death in 1826, upon the very same day that his predecessor John Adams died. In polls Jefferson normally ranks in the top five but rarely breaches the top three ranking with other "near great" Presidents such as
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, however his impact on American history far exceeds the influence of his term as President.

James Madison 1809 - 1817, Democratic - Republican from Virginia<!>At only five feet tall, Madison was the shortest of all US Presidents but he is a giant intellectually being known as the "Father of the US Constitution." Madison has always been a personal hero of mine for the principled stance he took against Virgina Governor Patrick Henry's unsuccessful attempts to institutionalize the Christian Religion in Virginia, a move that cost him a seat in the newly formed United States Senate but did much to strengthen the tradition of separation of Church and State that the United States has enjoyed on and off ever since.
Madison was shoe-in as the Republican candidate in the 1808 Election as Federalism had essentially petered out by that point. Madison's first term was practically Jefferson's third term and the two men remained close friends throughout their lives.

Ron Paul supporters might like Madison's continued opposition to the first Bank of the United States, an issue that would consume the body politic for much of the next twenty years of American history. He did eventually relent forming a national bank in 1816 but his eloquent arguments against the institution continued to influence the debate for many years to come.

The War of 1812 was to dominate Madison's second term. The war initially broke out over the issue of
impressment
of American sailors into the British Navy, claiming, "once an Englishman always an Englishman."The war itself was something of a disaster inviting a destructive full-scale British invasion of the Americas. Complete disaster was averted by the magnanimous Treaty of Ghent in which neither the Americans or the British lost any territory but the issue of impressment was not resolved. The lost blood and treasure from that conflict was largely in vain, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, Madison played off Ghent as though it had constituted a great victory causing the final collapse of Federalism initiating the Era of Good Feelings in which partisan hostilities no longer dominated the political landscape. In his last two years in office Madison became the chief proponent of State's Rights vetoing spending measures he felt were not sufficiently national in nature. Madison also achieved military success over the
Barbary Pirates
which did much to expand American exporting abilities and raised America's status as a player on the international scene.Madison died in 1836, the last Founding Father to pass away, at the age of eighty-five. As the chief framer of the US Constitution, Madison's name continues to be associated with the birth of Democracy. In polls Madison ranks slightly above average usually keeping company with John Quincy Adams and
William Howard Taft
.
James Monroe
1817 - 1825, Democratic - Republican from Virginia<!>James Monre was not a great man like his predecessors, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, however, his namesake, the Monroe Doctrine, is one of the few initiatives left-over from the earliest period of US history which is still evoked today when examining policy.Monroe faced almost no opposition in his quest for the Presidency since the Federalist Party did not even proffer an opponent in either the 1816 or 1820 elections. For this reason his presidency is remembered as "The Era of Good Feelings" an attitude of nationalist cooperation that Monroe encouraged with lengthy tours of the country to see for himself how good the people were feeling.
Divisions did exist within the dominate Republican party as the issue of slavery reared its ugly head as one-by-one all of the Northern States of the Union, save Deleware, abolished the practice of involuntary servitude while the slave-based plantation-system began thriving in the American South due to an increased demand for cotton to fuel the European textile industry. Madison himself appears to have been opposed to the practice of slavery as evidenced by his founding of Liberia<!> in 1822 as a safe place for freed slaves to escape to. Today we wouldn't consider "put 'em on a boat and send 'em back to Africa" a very culturally sensitive solution but at the time it was.

Unfortunately Madison's personal beliefs on the issue ran up against his political beliefs in re State's Rights. Madison had hoped to confine slavery to the American South with the
Missouri Compromise
of 1824 which barred slavery North of Missouri's southern border at the same time admitting Missouri as a slave slave state along with Maine as a free state setting the precedent that all new slave state admissions be paired with a free state not allowing either abolitionists or ardent defenders of slavery to ever gain an upper hand in the US Senate. Like most compromises, it settled absolutely nothing brining to an end the Era of Good Feelings and causing the nation to become more divided than it had ever been or has ever become since.As I said, Monroe is mostly remembered for the Monroe Doctrine in which the United States takes the position that attempts by European powers to further colonize other nations in North and South America would be construed as an act of War and be responded to in kind. Sadly, Monroe was not farsighted enough to prohibit American intervention in the affairs of the various free-states of the Americas but the Monroe Doctrine became an integral part of American foreign policy in the Early Twentieth Century and remains so to this day.

Monroe died in 1831, he was the third President in a row to have died on July 4 defying many odds. Polls rank Monroe as quite average to slightly above average along with presidents Grover Cleveland and
the Elder George Bush
.

John Quincy Adams
1825 - 1829, National Republican from Massachusetts
A former Federalist, the younger Adams might seem an unlikely choice to succeed Monroe who had banished Federalism to the back-pages of history during the "Era of Good Feelings." Adams, however, had distinguished himself as Secretary of State throughout the Monroe administration and was clearly the most talented person seeking the Presidency at the time.Adams, however, did not win the popular vote nor a plurality of the Electoral Collage in the election which placed him in the White House (which his Father John Adams had been the first President to occupy). A four-way race for the office which had largely split according to regional loyalties had prevented the front-runner Andrew Jackson from achieving the required majority of Electoral Votes to win the office forcing the election to be decided by a vote of the House of Representatives. Jackson's lead over the other three candidates was substantial but only three candidates were to be voted upon under the house rule and Henry Clay
, who had been excluded from the house vote, threw his support behind Adams giving Adams the requisite number of votes in the House to defeat Jackson. Clay was then appointed Secretary of State, then seen as the top stepping-stone to the Presidency. Jackson pronounced this robbery a "corrupt bargain" and he and his supporters would be a misery to Adams and his administration during Adams' single term as a result.

Immediately upon acceding to the Chief Executive Adams endeared himself to me due to the, possibly apocryphal, story of his having taken his oath of office on a stack of law books rather than the Bible either due to his Unitarian religious beliefs or his staunch support of separation of Church and State. Adams is not remembered as a great president like Jefferson before him and Jackson after but he certainly is one of the "great men" in American history.In many ways Adams was decades ahead of his time calling for Civil Service reform which would exclude mere office seekers from filling government jobs and a wide array of internal improvements and protective tariffs to encourage America's fledgling manufacturing sector which Adams was farsighted enough to see as the true wave of the future. On the debit side he was not much more astute in politics than his father had been and tended to look down on those farmers and agrarian interests which had been the bedrock of Jefferson's popularity.Already unpopular due to the "corrupt bargain" that had brought him into the Presidency, Adams was completely unsuccessful in getting any of his farsighted initiatives enacted due to his complete and utter incompetence in the art of swaying public opinion.

Adams was the first President to seriously undertake promotion of the arts and sciences at the Federal level and the
Smithsonian Institution
that he founded remains America's premier educational facility to this day largely though Adam's efforts.

The only legislation passed during Adam's single term was the ill-fated
tariff of abominations
which would later cause his successor to have to threaten to invade the state of South Carolina due to its' unpopularity.Defeated overwhelmingly for
reelection in 1828
Adams became the only former President to serve in the US House of Representatives where, in his dotage, Adams was the leading voice of opposition to the Mexican–American War and a constant foe of the expansion of Slavery. In 1997 Adams was immortalized by actor
Anthony Hopkins
in the film Amistad dramatizing his successful arguing before the Supreme Court in the case of United States v. The Amistad Africans which won the freedom of African Slaves who had mutinied on a Spanish Slave vessel which had been illegally transporting them through American waters.Adams was an abolitionist but died before he could see any more slaves freed, in 1848 at the age of eighty-one shortly following his having cast a very loud and impassioned NO vote on a proposal to decorate certain officers from the Mexican War. In polls he tends to rank average to slightly below average, usually coming in around number eighteen along with Presidents Lyndon Johnson and William McKinley both of whom did manage to win a second term.

Andrew Jackson
1829 - 1837, Democrat from Tennessee
The only President to have both an era and a brand of democracy named for him, at first sight Jackson appears an unlikely candidate to revolutionize the Presidency in the way that he did. Jackson was: cantankerous, vindictive, crudely educated and could be quoted on both sides of every major political issue of his day with absolute assurance. Jackson also had a disturbing history of violence having killed at least a dozen men in duals and summarily executed deserters in his role as a general in the War of 1812 and the First Seminole War
where he also received a sanction from Congress for having undertaken the conquest of Florida of his own initiative.All that said, Andrew Jackson was the first modern President, vetoing dozens of bills and really controlling the tone in Washington through the force of his own character. Widely viewed in his own time as corrupt and despotic for his less than eloquent defense of the spoils system, filling most civil service positions with political appointments, his opponents labeled him "King Andrew I" and formed a new political party, the Whigs whose only unifying theme was opposition to Jackson's person. Because political figures were largely influential on a regional level this brought together an unlikely coalition of Federalist leaning Republicans enraged by Jackson's vetoing of internal improvement bills and radical state's rights Democrats who saw Jackson's strong style of executive leadership as running roughshod over the rights of states as outlined in the
Tenth Amendment
.Jackson's first term was, unfortunately, dominated by the Peggy Eaton affair. During the 1828 Presidential Election his opponent, John Quincy Adams, had taken to "hitting below the belt," attacking his relationship with his wife,
Rachel
, whom Jackson had married before her divorce from her first husband had been finalized, technically bigamy. Rachel died shortly after Jackson's election in 1828 but before his inauguration 1829, an event Jackson blamed on the attacks on her honor she sustained during the Presidential Campaign.Thus it was quite natural that when the wives of many of Jackson's Cabinet members began snubbing his friend and Secretary of War John Eaton's wife Peggy, a widow of a Naval Officer who had died at sea, some said under "mysterious circumstances," over unfounded rumors about the death of her first husband that Jackson would step in ordering that the wives of his Cabinet members pay Mrs. Eaton "courtesy calls" setting off a feud with fellow Southerner
Vice President John C. Calhoun
and prompting the resignation of most of Jackson's Cabinet.The feud with Calhoun, naturally, went a good deal deeper than the simple case of Jackson's disapproval of Calhoun's snooty wife. While the Eaton Affair was going on Jackson faced a more tangible threat to the Union of States in the form of the Nullification Crisis whereby Calhoun's home state of South Carolina began insisting it had the right to "nullify" the infamous "Tariff of Abominations" which Calhoun also claimed was Unconstitutional because it constituted a protective tariff and some ambiguous wording in the Constitution led him to believe that the Federal Government was authorized to issue tariffs "for revenue only."

The lines were drawn in 1830 when Jackson raised a toast "our federal Union: It must be preserved" to which Calhoun replied "The Union: Next to our Liberty, the most dear!" Calhoun was dumped from the Democratic ticket shortly thereafter prompting him to resign the Vice Presidency and take up the Senate Seat from South Carolina a position from which he would rabble-rouse the cause of Southern succession and the expansion of slavery until his long-overdue death in 1850.

In Jackson's day, however, Calhoun very nearly began the Civil War three decades before time as Jackson had to actually get authorization for the use of force from Congress before South Carolina would back down from its' claim to be able to nullify Federal laws. The state continued to pursue their right of succession, however until 1864 and it is not unheard of for succession language to be heard from politicians in the deep south to this very day.Jackson's legacy as an egalitarian figure is severely damaged by his
Indian Policy
in which an estimated 45,000 Indians were relocated to the Western Territories along the infamous Trail of Tears. Though popular in the Southern States where most of the removal was taking place the move was widely condemned in the Northern States and historians generally see this as a dark stain on American history.

Jackson's economic policy was something of a mixed bag. In his second term as President Jackson managed to pay off the entire National Debt through spending cuts alone and without raising taxes. No other President can make a claim to have even tried such a thing. While this shows a level of efficiency in his administration for which he deserves much credit, his handling of the dissolution of the Second National Bank by withdrawing all Federal funds from the institution to insure its' quick demise and placing those funds in State Banks of his own choosing was to prove disastrous economically. As is often the case when large amounts of funds are transfered in an economy the funds deposited in those state banks were confused for investable funds setting off a flurry of speculation and irresponsible lending practices which culminated in the Panic of 1837 causing the next three Presidential Administrations to govern the nation in the midst of an unprecedented economic depression. It must have felt good for Jackson to take all that money away from those greedy bankers who he hated so much, though.

Like many of the Founding Fathers, Jackson was also a slave-owner, but, whereas the founders showed great discomfort with the institution of involuntary servitude Jackson appears to have reveled in the Plantation culture. Any hope of history depicting the President, who really was the first "man of the people" to hold that high office, as a force for justice or egalitarianism dies upon examination of his Indian policy and the steps he took to expand the institution of slavery.Jackson died in 1845 at his plantation The Hermitage in Nashville, TN. Historian polls had traditionally ranked him at the top of the "near-great" category coming in at around number six, however, in recent years he has fallen out of the top-ten into the "above-average" category alongside much less talented individuals such as President
Dwight Eisenhower
.

Martin Van Buren
1837 - 1841, Democrat from New York
By far the most homely of US Presidents, in contrast to the rugged frontiersman Jackson, Van Buren cultivated a very dainty and almost effeminate appearance and was known to adorn himself with ruffles and perfumes causing Congressman Davy Crockett of Tennessee to remark that he was unable to tell if Van Buren were a man, a women or "something else altogether."In spite of their differences in opinion on wardrobe issues, Van Buren was very much Jackson's man and had been hand-picked by Jackson to succeed him as President. A wily political operator, Van Buren is traditionally credited with the founding of the Political Operation we now know as the Democratic Party of the United States through his association with the corupt Tammany Hall Machine
.Van Buren's ridiculous attire and association with the "fat cats" of Tammany Hall caused his political opponents to cast him as a politician of the "silk-stocking-set." This is more than unfair, as Van Buren was very much a self-made man, being the son of a tavern-keeper and having never attended college.

In spite of his political astuteness and the endorcement of Jackson (for which he owed his winning of the 1836 Presidential Election) Van Buren was a weak and ineffective President and his single term is remembered for: financial hard times, cruel treatment of American Indians and the ballooning of the slavery issue that would come to tear the Nation apart in the next generation. A Northerner elected on a Southern platform Van Buren only manged to inflame the passions of both side of every issue he put his hand to.

In the 1997 film
Amistad
Van Buren was ably portrayed by actor Nigel Hawthorne and was very accurately cast something of a villain due to his overtly political nature and disregard for the rights of anyone who might stand in the way of his winning a given state or district in his upcoming reelection campaign. None of this was ahistoric, however Van Buren did have a history of anti-Slavery sentiments both before and after his term as President having voted against the admission of Missouri as a slave state as a Senator before and having run as the candidate of the anti-Slavery
Free Soil Party
after.Van Buren also had distinguished himself in New York politics as the chief proponent of abolishing the practice of Imprisonment for Debt in that state. Sadly, he did not pursue that agenda nationally as that would have gone a long way to exonerate him for his short-sightedness in the areas of slavery and Indian Relocation. Ultimately it was Van Buren who would oversea the Trail of Tears fiasco which continues to darken American History to this day.

Van Buren died in 1862 at his traditional family residence in Kinderhook, NY. Polls consistently rank Van Buren's Presidency as consistently well-below average to poor usually placing him around number thirty along with President Chester A. Arthur who, like Van Buren, is often remembered as much for the homliness of his physical appearance as much as for the failings of his administration.

William Henry Harrison
1841, Whig from Ohio
Harrison rode to victory in the 1840 Presidential Election on a populist "log cabin and hard cider" platform portraying himself as a poor man of the people and depicting his opponent as the candidate of the silk-stocking-set. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Harrison and his running mate John Tyler were well-established members of the Virgina Gentry and descended from the Landed and Armored classes dating at least back to
Magna Carta<!>.The success of this ruse was often chalked up to the lack of accurate information available to voters in the period until the early twentieth century a graduate of Harvard and Yale, the son of a former President and member of the most elite aristocratic social circles in the world managed to portray himself as a Texas rancher, unable to pronounce the word "nuclear" by clearing brush for a few photo ops smack dab in the middle of the age of the internet. Not important, Harrison came to office with high expectations that the newly formed Whig Party would serve as a more liberal and credible alternative to the widespread corruption and financial ruin which abounded in the wake of the Jacksonian era.This new era of progress to be marked by: protective tariffs, expenditures on internal improvements and a harder-line on constraining the expansion of slavery was to be initiated by the longest Inaugural Address in American History which the tough old hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe insisted upon giving outdoors during a rainstorm in March catching Pneumonia and dieing only thirty days into his term as President. By far the shortest term of any US President.
Harrison's brief tenure as chief executive was occupied primarily by a barrage of office-seekers harassing the poor, sick, old man so that his pockets were known to bulge with petitions. There was every indication that Harrison had planned to undertake Civil Service Reform as a result of the cruelty and corruption he had witnessed. His last words were "these office seekers, will they ever cease?"

Because of the brevity of his term in office it is customary not to rank Harrison in Historian Polls however he did manage to outrank
George W. Bush in a 2010 Poll of historians conducted by Siena College
.

John Tyler 1841 - 1845, Whig from Virginia<!>Perhaps the most unpopular President in history owing to his choice to join the
Confederate Congress
at the end of his life it really cannot be said that Tyler did not accomplish anything during his single, unelected term. Tyler was a staunch conservative and states-rights advocate who had fallen out with the Democratic Party due to Andrew Jackson's handling of the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina. The Whigs had placed Tyler on the ticket to provide geographical and philosophical balance with the more Liberal Harrison but had never wanted him to President, after all he was more Jacksonian than Jackson in nearly every respect.Once again some vague wording in the US Constitution came back to haunt the nation as many began referring to Tyler as "acting-President" inferring that only the duties of President and not the title had passed to Tyler upon the unexpected death of Harrison. For his part Tyler was indignant at such legal wrangling returning, unopened, all mail addressed to the acting-President. This set the stage for a massive feud within the Whig party as more liberal Whigs such as Henry Clay soon found themselves on the outside with the new President ensuring that the great Whig platform for responsible and responsive government would never see the light of day if Tyler had anything to do with it. Tyler vetoed nearly the entire platform once it has passed through congress, most alarmingly a banking reform act which would have reestablished the National Bank.
Tyler's entire cabinet apart from Secretary of State Daniel Webster (who was in the midst of negotiating the very important
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
assuring a permanent state of peace with Great Britain) resigned in protest.On the positive side Tyler's administration was the scene of many successful measures in the area of foreign policy. In addition to the above stated Treaty with Great Britain, Tyler also oversaw America's first diplomatic success in the East signing the
Treaty of Wanghia<!> in addition to making necessary preparations for the annexation of Texas and Hawaii into the United States.
The Texas question was settled when Tyler shifted parties to support Democrat James K. Polk, who was in favor of annexing Texas, over his fellow Whig Henry Clay who was opposed. Polk won the 1844 election which was largely seen as a referendum on annexation. Though increasing the land mass of the United States' territory significantly, Texas was largely south of Missouri's southern Border making it slave territory under the Missouri Compromise causing even deeper divisions in the country on issues surrounding slavery and state's rights.
Tyler died in 1862 at the age of seventy-one shortly before he was to take his seat in the newly formed Congress of the Confederate States of America. Because of his support of the Confederacy his name is often associated with treason and Historian Polls almost always list him as one of the worst Presidents in history averaging out at about number thirty-six somewhere in-between Presidents George W. Bush and Tyler's own predecessor, William Henry Harrison who only served 28 days in the office.
US Presidents Part II: 1845 - 1881
[Rationality] (skeptic cat)
James Knox Polk 1845 - 1849, Democrat from Tennessee Having been a "dark horse" compromise choice for the Democratic nomination and having scored a razor thin upset victory over the far more well established politician Henry Clay in the 1844 Presidential Election James K. Polk was forced to promise to only serve a single term as President before he ever entered office. However, in contrast to his three predecessors in the office of the Presidency: Van Buren, Harrison and Tyler, Polk was a force ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

James Knox Polk 1845 - 1849, Democrat from Tennessee
Having been a "dark horse" compromise choice for the Democratic nomination and having scored a razor thin upset victory over the far more well established politician Henry Clay in the 1844 Presidential Election James K. Polk was forced to promise to only serve a single term as President before he ever entered office. However, in contrast to his three predecessors in the office of the Presidency: Van Buren, Harrison and Tyler, Polk was a force to be reckoned with.

It is difficult to exaggerate the impact of Polk's single term had on American history and yet he is often overlooked with considerable attention going to the great "Lions of Senate:" Clay, Webster and Calhoun. Polk was, however, the first man to govern most or all of what we now recognize as the Continental United States having conquered huge tracks of western territory for the Republic in the Oregon boundary dispute and the Mexican–American War.

The question of if this land was to be slave or free would, of course, lead the nation into Civil War and near dissolution fifteen years later and this was foreseen by many in Polk's own time leading to much unrest in Congress and throughout the nation. At this point it appeared that, largely southern, pro-slavery forces had the upper hand but the industrialized north was very much a sleeping giant and a light sleeper at that.

Of course, Democrats at the time did not propose war with Mexico et..al by saying "we need to expand slavery give us more land" but rather promoted their expansionist ideology under the umbrella of the pseudo-religious auspices of Manifest Destiny. Perhaps it was a sign that the Age of Enlightenment had truly come to an end in the 1840s that powerful leaders of industrialized nations could say with a straight face and with absolute certainty that the creator of the Universe which we now know to be dozens of billions of light-year across, if not infinite, gave a flying crap over whether Mexico or the United States governed the Western territories.

Driven by "destiny" Polk proceeded to expand the borders of the United States first completing the Annexation of Texas which had largely been negotiated by his predecessor, John Tyler. Having only been President for six days he could already brag to have increased the US' landmass by a third.

Realizing that Northerners would not be happy seeing the south expanded so drastically Polk then undertook negotiations with Great Britain to annex the Oregon Country (the present day states of: Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming). Less than one year on the job and Polk had already nearly doubled the size of the nation.

Polk was less successful in his attempt to purchase California from Mexico a slight which Polk repaid by sending in troops to disputed territory between the Nueces River (which Mexico claimed as its' northern border) and the Rio Grande (which the US claimed as its's southern border). Clearly, Polk was attempting to provoke armed conflict with Mexico so as to have an excuse to declare war and eventually eleven American soldiers were killed in an ambush (albeit on the wrong side of the Rio Grande) allowing Polk to goto congress claiming that "American blood had been spilled on American soil" ... I know, as if we were being invaded by Mexico or something.

Even John C. Calhoun voted against the war resolution seeing it for the crock that it was but it passed nevertheless and the next year, following severe ass-beatings inflicted upon the smaller and weaker Mexican armies by American troops led by legendary generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848 adding 1.2 million square miles of new territory to the United States finally fulfilling the Manifest Destiny. God must have been so relieved.

Polk was indeed the hardest working President, ever up to that part and possibly the hardest working President before Lincoln. Polk was not known to have any hobbies or interests outside of politics and naturally this took a great toll on his health and he died only three months after leaving office at the age of fifty-four. Historian Polls rank Polk in the well above average to near-great range frequently coming in at number ten along with President James Madison whom I also believe to be underrated.

Zachary Taylor 1849 - 1850, Whig from Louisiana<!>Prior to Taylor's victory over the infinitely more qualified
Lewis Cass of Michigan in the 1848 Presidential Election "Old Rough and Ready," as he had been known to his troops throughout his lengthy military career, had never held public office or even voted. As such his views on the issues of the day: tariffs, internal improvements, expansion of slavery, the national bank, et..al had not really been articulated when he entered the Oval Office in 1849.
Taylor was the last President before Jimmie Carter to have been elected from the deep south and was the last President to have owned slaves while holding the office of President. Nevertheless, Taylor took a hard line against the expansion of slavery and roundelay condemned the secessionist rhetoric of such pro-slavery southern firebrands as his son-in-law
Jefferson Davis during his brief but energetic term in office.
To be clear, Taylor does not appear to have in any way opposed the institution of slavery but rather saw it as his duty to keep the peace between radical pro-Southern interests on the one hand and increasingly agitated abolitionist forces on the other. Taylor's career had not been in politics but in the Military and he had seen first hand what happens when politicians failed to keep the peace and was going to be responsible for no such thing in his own political career.

Taylor's brief term was dominated by debate over the
Compromise of 1850 which Taylor derided as the "omnibus bill" with its' concentration upon Popular Sovereignty allowing individual citizens of the territories to decide for themselves whether slavery was to be permitted within their borders. It is agreed that Taylor had every intention of vetoing the bill but was denied the opportunity due his unexpected death in July of 1850 ostensibly from food poisoning but latter sources indicate medical malpractice to be the cause.
In Historian Polls, Taylor, the third shortest serving President in history, generally ranks near the top of the below-average quartile along with Presidents
Benjamin Harrison and Calvin Coolidge both of whom had the benefit of serving at least one full term in office.

Millard Fillmore 1850 - 1853, Whig from New YorkMillard Fillmore was not a very good President. So weak and ineffective was his administration that his name is practically a byword for forgettable events, eg: "that regional-semi-quarter-final match was the 'Millard Fillmore' of lacrosse matches."

It almost goes without saying that Fillmore signed the
1850 Compromise in an half-hearted attempt to settle the brewing issue of whether the new territories acquired in the War with Mexico were to be slave or free. This was in stark contrast to the hard line taken by his predecessor.
Of all the provisions of the Compromise the one that most dramatically opens Fillmore up to charges of archvillainy was the
Fugitive Slave Act which severely impacted the civil liberties of northerners allowing slave-catchers to run amok in search of runaway slaves from the south to insure that no free-state would be a safe-haven. To make matters worse, southern slaveholders had the nerve to complain that their own liberties were violated by state laws requiring that captured slaves be allowed a trial before they were returned to captivity. States' rights my ass.
There had been hope of another bill called the
Wilmot Proviso banning slavery in any of the western territories but it had not passed the Senate and the final Compromise that Fillmore signed contained precious little compromise (California was to be admitted as a free-state big whop) on the part of pro-Slavery southerners and a lot of new restrictions on abolitionist northerners and yet talk of succession continued among the southern politicians. What more did they want?
Furthermore when Civil War finally did break out a decade later the agrarian south proved no match for the industrialized north ... I could easily exceed my monthly bandwidth allowance describing the inanity of the 1850 Compromise so I suppose its' time to move on.

Needless to say, Filmore did not stand for reelection in 1852 but ran as the candidate of the
Know Nothing Party in 1856 which was sort of a clownish anti-Catholic secret society which surprised everyone by taking over 20% of the vote. Fillmore died in 1874 at the age of seventy-four. Historian Polls consistently rank Fillmore very close to last as one of the five or six worst Presidents at around number thirty-seven along with Presidents William Henry Harrison who only served thirty days and James Garfield who served only six months.

Franklin Pierce 1853 - 1857, Democrat from New HampshirePeirce may very well be the most handsome President and he was clearly the most cultivated having attended college alongside and been a lifelong associate of literary giants of his day such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I say this because Franklin Peirce was a horrible President and not a very nice man either and I wanted to soften the blow a little bit.
Having been, yet another dark-horse/compromise candidate for the Democrats, Pierce somehow defeated a great man in the
Election of 1852 in the person of Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott who would be the last Whig Party Candidate for President. Those elegant speeches that propelled Peirce to victory over, arguably, the greatest war hero since the Revolution (and the polling was not close) were undoubtedly the handy-work of author Nathaniel Hawthorne who was Peirce's closest friend and constant companion.
As President however, Peirce would prove a pitifully indecisive Chief Executive as he was already deeply in the throws of the alcoholism that would eventually take his life and was in a horrible state emotionally having witnessed the death of his son in a train crash only two months before taking the oath of office. Peirce also appears to have been heavily under the influence of his Secretary of War
Jefferson Davis whose loyalty to the cause of preserving the Union really does have to be questioned at that point.
It has been said that Peirce's policies could not have been more disastrous to the Union cause if the future Confederate President had designed them himself, which may very well be true. Davis also was known for introducing some strangely ineffective policies for the War Department such as his attempt to
introduce the use of camels in the cavalry.
That's all speculation however, history shows that no conspiracy is needed to account for a wide assortment of weak and ineffective leaders and early on there were hints that the Peirce administration was being conducted in a disorganized fashion. All this came to a head with publication of the
Ostend Manifesto which tied Peirce to a secret plan to annex Cuba by force adding countless slaves to the already overflowing southern states. That combined with the Gadsden Purchase finishing off President Polk's conquest of the southwestern territories from Mexico, convinced many Northerners that Peirce was in the pocket of the Slaveocracy. In my opinion they were correct but this is not the majority view of historians on the subject.
A frequent consequence of corrupted and/or incompetent administrations throughout the history of civilization has been destructive and bloody guerrilla warfare breaking out in the outlying regions of a given government's lands and that is exactly what happened in 1854 in what has become known as
Bleeding Kansas. In an attempt to create a transcontinental railroad Senator Stephen A. Douglas pushed through the Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively nullifying the Missouri Compromise leaving the question of slavery open for "popular sovereignty" in the teritories of Nebraska and Kansas. Nebraska was at no risk of legalizing involuntary servitude, however, Kansas bordered the slave state of Missouri and the possibility of Kansas entering the Union as a slave prompted pro-Slavery Missourians, known as "Border Ruffians" to cross into Kansas to influence formation of a pro-slavery constitution.
In the violence that broke out it appears that the pro-slavery faction were largely the aggressors but it is difficult to tell as there were atrocities on both sides including the infamous
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre led by abolitionist John Brown who would be executed in 1859 following an unsuccessful Raid on Harper's Fairy, Virginia<!>.As an interesting side note, the original title of
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
was John Brown's Body. Historians today treat him as some sort of fringe nut, but he was taken quite seriously in his own time ... But I digress.There appeared to be little doubt as to Peirce's sympathies for the "Slavocracy" when he recognized a clearly illegal pro-Slavery Constitution which had been voted in by the so-called Ruffians. Furthermore, the pro-Slavery contingent seemed to have gone mad with power and were now using violence and trickery to force the institution of slavery upon persons who clearly did not want it within their borders.

The violence in Kansas soon spilled over on the floors of Congress when Congressman
Preston Brooks
beat Senator Charles Sumner into unconsciousness with his walking stick permanently disabling Sen. Sumner, the title of the speech that had provoked Rep. Brooks to this extreme "The Crime Against Kansas."Fully three-quarters of the
Republican Party Platform of 1856
consisted of an indictment of Peirce's outrageous behavior in Kansas. And as we shall see, it was about to get worse.Peirce died of Cirrhosis of the Liver in 1869 at the age of sixty-four. Historian Polls consistently rank Peirce near the very bottom as one of the worst Presidents ever to hold the office typically ranking him at around number forty out of forty-three somewhere between his successor
James Buchanan
and his predicessor Millard Fillmore.

James Buchanan 1857 - 1861, Democrat from Pennsylvania<!>There used to be a joke asking who was the smartest President. Persons would then suggest such intellectual luminaries as Woodrow Wilson who had a PhD only to be disappointed when the asker announced they were wrong. James Buchanan, the prankster would announce was the smartest US President, "because he never got married."
As we shall see, not only is this joke not funny it bears very little resemblance to the truth as Buchanan is widely viewed as the WORST, full-term President whose administration had not been touched by major scandal.
If, the
Bleeding Kansas
situation were already not enough to convince northerners of the sinister plans of the wicked
"Slavocracy" to impose the brutal institution of involuntary servitude upon the rest of the nation irregardless of the wish of the residents of the various states then, the Dred Scott Decision declaring that Congress lacked Constitutional Authority to prohibit slavery in any of the territories, including those bordering Canada, should at least convince one that this "Slaveocracy" business was not a crackpot conspiracy theory cooked up by some tin-foil-hat wearing pothead in his mother's basement.Needless to say, the Dred Scott Decision was very bad law under any standard of justice one cares to name. The decision begins by claiming that the defendant, Dred Scott
had no rights whatever under the US Constitution and thus could not sue in court but then went on for several pages finding the facts of the case against him. Those who claim, still today, that State's Rights and not slavery was the overriding cause of the Civil War have some explaining to do in re Bleeding Kansas and Dred Scott which blatantly usurped State and territorial autonomy in addition to severely restricting the civil liberties of their citizens. And, by the way, the tariff hadn't been a major issue on the national stage in forty years so those making that claim are, at best, misinformed but more likely just lying.
Buchanan cannot be held responsible for the entirety of the Bleeding Kansas affair but his behavior was not much better than his predecessor's in that regard appointing a bellicose pro-slavery partisan Robert Walker
as Territorial Governor and endorsed the ill-fated
Lecompton Constitution which Congress overwhelmingly rejected. In addition to doing a disservice to the citizens of Kansas this act Slavocracy-boot-lickery caused a severe rift in his own, Democratic, party as northern Democrats, following the lead of Stephen A. Douglas joined Republicans in opposing the measure on the grounds that it violated the cherished principle of "popular sovereignty" which, truth to be told was the principle at the heart of the violence in Kansas in the first place, but let us not look a gift horse in the mouth.In the Spring of 1860 a House committee
chaired by
John Covode launched an investigation of Buchanan's behavior in the wake of the Kansas situation in hopes of finding grounds for impeachment. Among other things the committee found that Buchanan had freely used the "power of the patronage" to promote the pro-slavery constitution upon Kansas and that he sought to prevent the reelection of Sen. Douglas. The Kansas situation eventually petered out and Kansas would be admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861 in one of Buchanan's final acts as President.In the hotly contested Election of 1860
former Congressman
Abraham Lincoln, an outspoken opponent of slavery of any kind being permitted in any of the territories topped a very crowded field becoming the President-Elect of the United States and those perpetual troublemakers, South Carolina, almost immediately called for a convention to discuss secession from the Union. Buchanan, while stating unequivocally that secession was illegal, claimed that he was Constitutionally prohibited from using force to prevent secession. An ineffectual attempt at avoiding rebellion was attempted in the form of the Crittenden Compromise which would have extended the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific but Lincoln and his supporters were adamant that slavery not be permitted in any of the territories.South Carolina declared their secession from the union on December 24, 1860 and by the time Buchanan left office on March 4, 1861 fully seven southern states had left the Union and had established a government known as the Confederate States of America<!>. Upon leaving Washington DC Buchanan left a note for Lincoln "
if, you are as happy about taking this position as I am to leave it then, you are a happy man indeed.
"Buchanan died at his home near Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1868 having been the fist President to have authored memoir. In Historian Polls Buchanan nearly always ranks close to dead last at anywhere from number forty to number forty-three, though occasionally the financial scandals of
Warren G. Harding
and Ulysses S. Grant have pushed him as high as number thirty-seven.
Abraham Lincoln
1861 - 1865, Republican from IllinoisThe 1860 Republican Platform that excelled Lincoln to victory in the 1860 Presidential Election
contained many useful items such as: securing fair wages for industrial workers, protective tariffs, the construction of a Transcontinental Railroad and the founding of Land-Grant Colleges but those things come a long way down toward the bottom of the page. Of eighteen planks in the platform fully fourteen are simple restatements of the single principle of opposition to the extension of slavery.Furthermore, Lincoln's first Inaugural Address doesn't mention colleges, tariffs or railroads at all. Things had changed a little bit since the nominating convention.

Lincoln's predecessor had done nothing to prevent the Confederate States of America from seceding from the Union and done very little to protect the military forts that Confederate armies were besieging all across the South. Within six weeks of his accession to the Oval Office Confederate Forces won their first major victory in the Battle of Fort Sumter forever banishing any hope of a peaceful reconciliation, with or without slavery.

Four more states joined the Confederacy shortly after the fall of Sumter who racked up another victory in July at the First Battle of Bull Run. The nation was now in a state of full on Civil War complete with: suspension of civil liberties, conscription and all the "unAmerican" thrills that accompany it.

Lincoln was very active in the planning of war strategy which was largely planned out by Gen. Winfield Scott in his last act as an active duty military commander. Scott's plans were for a quick and decisive overwhelming of the enemy which it would take Lincoln nearly four years to find a General willing to implement fully. In the end, however, it would be Gen. Scott's initial strategy that would win the day for the North.

In the meanwhile, Republicans found themselves with an overwhelming majority in Congress due to the conservative democratic Southern constituency having all resigned their seats to serve in the Confederate Government. This meant that the long-awaited progressive Whig/Republican agenda that southern interest had derailed at least since the death of William Henry Harrison could be passed.

Historian Shelby Foote once noted that he thought that the North was fighting the war with "one hand tied behind their back" for the first three years of the conflict at any rate. But it should be noted that the Land-Grant Colleges, railroads, harbors and other expenditures authorized by Lincoln and the Republican Congress were truly national in nature and did not exclude the Southern States they very much behaved as if the Union were still in tact.

What Lincoln is undoubtedly most famous for is the Emancipation Proclamation delivered on September 22, 1862 only five days after Union Forces scored a major victor at the
Battle of Antietam
. In truth this was actually quite toothless as it only applied to slaves in states that were still in rebellion as of Jan 1, 1863. Lincoln clearly had no law enforcement powers he could reasonably exercise in those areas at that time. The Proclamation freed slaves in areas conquered by the invading Northern Armies as a confiscation measure taken under War Powers but did not outlaw the practice of slavery.However earlier in 1862 slaves were freed in Washington DC (with compensation made to their owners) and congress did pass a "resolution" agreeing to undertake the gradual abolishment of Slavery in the Republic, again with compensation to owners.Following a sea-saw of Union and Confederate victories and defeats under a succession of unsatisfactory generals, culminating the
Battle of Gettysburg
where Gen.
George Meade
"snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory" having defeated Robert E. Lee but then allowed Lee's army to escape back to Virginia, Lincoln appears to have stepped up the war effort a notch appointing Ulysses S. Grant commander of the Union Armies. There would be no more hands tied behind anyone's back as Grant's specialty was "total war." The Confederates were remarkable fighters but they had no where near the number of troops at their disposal as the North did and, now, they were going to see what a General in charge who did not to care about his own losses (provided that replacements were available) could do to them.In 1864 Lincoln faced a tough reelection campaign against his former General and Chief George McClellan. The timing of what came next seems awfully convenient to me but coincidence can happen. As I go though the events of the
1864 Presidential Election
keep in mind Shelby Foote's comment about the North having one hand tied behind its' back.To try and minimize the partisan nature of the conflict Lincoln changed the name of his party from the Republican Party to the National Union Party and chose as his running mate Andrew Johnson a Democrat from Tennessee. The Democratic Party then held
its' convention
nominating McClellan but choosing as his running mate George Pendleton an outspoken advocate of ending the war and allowing the South to succeed, an error compounded by adding a plank to the party's platform declaring the war a "failure."Between the Democratic Convention and the General Election: New Orleans and Atlanta fell, Richmond was under siege and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman had begun his devistating
March to the Sea<!> setting most of the States of Georgia and South Carolina on fire as he went. The South had been essentially defeated leaving poor old Gen. McClellan with a peace platform and a hippy peacenic running mate ... Really, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
The war was not officially over but it was over enough for Lincoln to win reelection.Richmond fell and Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House
only six days before
Lincoln's Assassination
at the hands of actor
John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater, April 14, 1865. In his Second Inaugural Adress Lincoln had promised to treat the vanquished South "charitably" but the murder of their beloved President caused Northern politicians to make the Reconstruction era<!> as brutal and humiliating as the law would allow. Only the Disputed Presidential Election of 1876 saved the South from, perhaps, becoming a permanently occupied territory of the North.Historian Polls almost without exception rank Lincoln at the very top of the list of great Presidents, though he has occasionally been pushed out by Presidents George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt.

Andrew Johnson
1865 - 1869, Democrat from Tennessee
Remembered mostly for being impeached (and acquitted) in addition to his consistent drunkenness and liberal use of racial epitaphs in official state speaches Johnson would appear to be the worst person who could have possibly succeeded Lincoln and in particular under the tragic circumstances in which the succession took place. However, it was during his administration that the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the US Constitution were either introduced or adopted: outlawing slavery, guaranteeing equal protection under the law and granting voting rights to all adult male citizens regardless of race (Johnson held out on this one and it was adopted under Grant), and the more lenient reconstruction policy
he pursued was very much in keeping with Lincoln's stated opinions on the matter.Johnson's problems with the Republican Congress began with his veto of a measures to reauthorize the Freedman's Bureau and the very first piece of Civil Rights legislation both of which they passed over his veto. Johnson was clearly hostile to inferring all the rights of citizenship upon the former slaves and immediately broke with Republicans and reunited with his previous Democratic Party who had declared themselves to be "a white man's party."Another act passed over the President's veto was the (possibly unconstitutional)
Tenure of Office Act
forbidding the President from dismissing any of his Cabinet members without Congressional consent. Ignoring this act of congress Johnson dismissed Edwin Stanton leading to his impeachment by Congress beginning in March of 1868 and ending in May of that year.

The charges were trivial and the evidence was thin and a two-thirds majority was needed to remove Johnson from office 35 yea to 19 nay. The rest of his term was uneventful save the Amnesty Proclamations of Christmas Day 1868 granting unconditional amnesty to all Confederates.Johnson was elected to the US Senate from Tennessee in 1875 less than five months before he died at his home in Carter's Station, TN. Historians Polls fluctuate wildly as racism becomes more or less acceptable but he almost always ranks in the worst category occasionally finishing as low as forty-three along with Presidents
James Buchanan
and Warren G. Harding

Ulysses S. Grant
1869 - 1877, Republican from Ohio
The Election of 1868 in which Grant trounced Horatio Seymour was largely seen as a referendum on the more agressive reconstruction measures Radical Republicans
(who then stood for everything they now stand against and vice versa) had been pushing for. The Grant administration was marked by many civil rights breakthroughs for African Americans as well as Native American Indians and in particular by the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting the government from from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." However, his two terms were also stained by a number of scandals some of which directly impugn the President's credibility and competence.In addition to the Fifteenth Amendment, Grant also sign a bill targeting Ku Klux Klan activity in the south as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibiting racial discrimination in jury selection.

Other successful measures included the Treaty of Washington settling damage claims with Great Britain who had built ships for the Confederacy that had inflicted much damage upon American commercial vessels during the Civil War, the creation of the first of its' kind Civil Service commission and in restoring civil liberties to citizens of the former Confederacy (save 300 to 500 high ranking Confederate office-holders).

Grant was less successful in his drive to annex the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government had requested annexation to which Grant was amenable but the resulting treaty failed to get the two-thirds majority required in the Senate.In spite of a wave of coruption and very damaging
scandals
, which we shall get to in a moment, that had overtaken Washington DC and which Grant was clearly not up to the job of mitigating, Grant won reelection handily over
New York Tribune
editor Horace Greeley, a Liberal Republican also endorsed by the Democrats. Greeley was, frankly, a bit of a kook, so while there was a good deal of sentiment for their platform of clean government and ending Reconstruction Greeley only took six states and died shortly after the election.Grant's second term was generally uneventful aside from his veto of the 1874 Inflation Bill, an unpopular move in light of the Panic of 1873 which Grant himself had helped to cause, and the subsequent passage of the
Resumption Act of 1875
returning to the gold standard. Grant's name would continue to be associated with "sound money" policies long after he left the White House.As I said, Grant's two terms were marked by unprecedented financial scandals involving: members of his Cabinet, close friends, family members and even Grant himself. Many of these scandals wreaked devastation upon the American Economy:Black Friday (1869)

Emma Silver Mine (1871)

Star Route Postal Ring (1872)

Crédit Mobilier (1872)

Salary Grab Act (1872)

Sanborn Incident (1874)

Delano Affair (1875)

Pratt & Boyd (1875)

Trading Post Ring (1876)

Cattellism (1876)

Safe Burglary Conspiracy (1876)
It should be noted that Grant's administration is not considered the most corrupt in history. Rather, no not Harding
or
Nixon, that kewpie-doll remains firmly in the grasp of the Regan Administration
.An extremely heavy smoker, Grant died of throat cancer in 1885 at the age of sixty-three. Because of the enormous number of scandals that plagued his two terms, Historian Polls traditionally to rank Grant fairly close to the bottom as one of the worst Presidents ever, however his ranking has seen remarkable improvement over the past few years. Even with these more recent higher scores he still averages out to rank at number thirty out of forty-three, slighly higher than President Warren G. Harding who is also remembered primarily for the major scandals of his administration.

Rutherford B. Hayes
1877 - 1881, Republican from Ohio
Were there any justice in the mixed up world I would, right now, be writing a summary of the no-nonsense, corruption-free administration of President Samuel J. Tilden who won the 1876 US Presidential Election by a fairly comfortable margin. But Republicans were thieves even then so I shall now share the tale of Rutherford B. Hayes.
The 1876 Election results showed a clear victory for Samuel Tilden, whose reputation as the nation's foremost reformer was earned by the breaking up of New York City's infamous Tammany Hall Political Machine that had blighted Democratic Party politics for nearly a century, but Republicans had managed to challenge the electoral votes of: Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina on the grounds that African-American voters had illegally been kept from the polls. Even with these challenged states in play, Tilden only needed a single electoral vote to claim the White House and Hayes needed them all. An Electoral Commission was established to settle the matter (though the US Constitution clearly mandated that it be settled by a vote of the House of Representatives) which was anything but nonpartisan and in a strict party line vote the commission awarded all the disputed electoral votes, and the Presidency, to Hayes.

It seems likely that Hayes engaged in some sort of informal compromise with Democratic Party leaders agreeing to end the military occupation of the former Confederate States in exchange for their agreeing not to further challenge the 1876 election results. In consequence of this, the Era of Reconstruction came to an abrupt end and Jim Crow laws were soon erected all over the former Confederate states reducing the legal status African American populations who were severely deprived of the full rights of citizenship promised under the
Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the US Constitution
.On the positive side many of the "carpet-bag governments" that had sprung up in the South under the auspices of Northern occupation had become quite corrupt. And Hayes does appear to have been genuine in his desire to enact civil service reform (excluding political operatives from holding nonpolitical Government jobs) for the nation as a whole.In this he was not entirely successful coming in conflict with Senator
Roscoe Conkling
, whose power and influence had helped Hayes gain the White House in the wake of the disputed election results, over the removal of Chester A. Arthur and other Conkling lieutenants from prominent patronage posts in the custom-house and the post-office of Conkling's home state of New York. Hayes did manage to implement some minor reforms to the Civil Service but was dogged every step of the way by the
Stalwarts
in his own party who had become quite powerful in the lackadaisical Grant years.Apart from: the repeal of Civil Rights legislation, minimal civil service reform and his use of Federal troops to break up the Railroad Strike of 1877 Hayes' term was largely uneventful and having pledged not to seek a second term during the settlement of the disputed election Hayes' only notable intrusion into politics after leaving office 1881 was to speak out against woman's suffrage shortly before his death in 1893 at the age of seventy. Historian Polls generally are unkind to Hayes placing him firmly in the below-average quatril at or around number twenty-four along side unelected Presidents such as Gerald R. Ford and
Chester Arthur
.James Garfield
1881, Republican from Ohio
The razor thin margin of victory for Garfield in the 1880 Presidential Election over Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock seems to have been mainly due to gaff on the part of Hancock who, when asked about his party's "tariff for revenue only" plank where he said he thought the tariff "was a local issue." By contrast Garfield was a polished and skilled politician with many years of experience in government. Nevertheless, only 2,100 votes separated the two Candidates on election night though Garfield's majority in the Electoral collage was much more impressive.
Nerds the world over know Garfield as the author of a very unique Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. However, as President his administration was brief due to his having been assassinated by Charles Guiteau following a dispute Garfield had had with Guiteau's political boss Roscoe Conkling over the distribution of patronage in New York State, only six-and-a-half months into his administration.

Conkling was never implicated in the murder personally but the assassination did draw attention to the rampant corruption of the political machine that Sen. Conkling was at the center of and did much to inspire the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act restricting the political activities of most Federal Employees which remains in force to this day.Because of the brevity of his term in office it is traditional not to include Garfield in Historian Polls however the last three such polls have included him in the well-below-average to poor range but he has consistently beaten President
George W. Bush
Shirley Sherrod and the Decline of Decency
[Mental Health, Goodtweet (Twitter material), Psychology, Health] (World of Psychology)
The airwaves, newspapers and blogosphere were abuzz this week with the fiasco involving Shirley Sherrod, the USDA worker forced to resign over a fabricated racial controversy. The original slur was initiated by a blogger who posted a misleading video clip of a speech by Ms. Sherrod. Ultimately, Sherrod was cleared of any racist leanings, and we must now hope for some genuine soul-searching among all those who failed the most elementary tests of fairness, accuracy and decency in responding to the ...

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The airwaves, newspapers and blogosphere were abuzz this week with the fiasco involving Shirley Sherrod, the USDA worker forced to resign over a fabricated racial controversy. The original slur was initiated by a blogger who posted a misleading video clip of a speech by Ms. Sherrod. Ultimately, Sherrod was cleared of any racist leanings, and we must now hope for some genuine soul-searching among all those who failed the most elementary tests of fairness, accuracy and decency in responding to the original charges.

But the other day, amidst all the commentary on Shirley Sherrod, a short article buried inside the Sunday New York Times caught my eye. Innocuously entitled, “No Air-Conditioning, and Happy,”¹ the article concerned a certain agricultural scientist and his wife who “…do not use air-conditioning as a matter of personal preference and principle — even on the most hostile days.” The scientist, Stan Cox, recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post, in which he questioned the excessive use of air conditioning in modern society.

And what does this have to do with the Sherrod debacle?

Well, according to the Times report, Mr. Cox has “faced death threats” since publishing his op-ed, which was followed by “…sixty-seven pages of cringe-inducing email messages”, one of which “threatened to shoot Mr. Cox.” Shoot someone? Over an opinion piece questioning the use of air conditioners? Mr. Cox’s response was a blandly good-natured shrug: “Maybe enjoyment of thermal variety isn’t for everybody,” he opined. But Mr. Cox may not have appreciated that, like Shirley Sherrod, he had been the target of what I call our “Gotcha-Pounce Culture”.

The gotcha-pounce ritual begins when a particular individual is “caught” in some alleged crime, scandal, or indiscretion (“Gotcha!”). Then, long before the facts are fully known, the unfortunate person is pounced upon by various bloggers and pundits, often to the lasting detriment of his or her reputation. And whereas most commentaries on Ms. Sherrod depicted such character assassination as an “inside the Beltway” blood-sport, I believe the problem is far more pervasive in this country. The gotcha-pounce maneuver has become the default mode for much of our internet and broadcast communication, and for what nowadays passes as journalism.

The anonymity of the internet is no doubt a major catalyst for our growing tendency to “flame first, ask questions later.” What could be easier–and more satisfying–than hurling a blazing, nameless email out into the blogosphere, verbally incinerating one’s enemy? I suspect (but can’t prove) that this anonymous, gotcha-pounce messaging is accompanied by a massive flood of dopamine in the “reward circuits” of the sender’s brain—the same circuits that are activated by cocaine, alcohol, and other substances of abuse. A recent article by Neil Swidey in the Boston Globe Magazine² highlighted the problem of “…people who are allowed to name-call without any obligation to reveal their own names.” To be sure, there are pros and cons to such anonymity, as Swidey points out: “On one side, anonymous comments give users the freedom to be completely candid in a public forum. On the other, that freedom can be abused and manipulated to spread lies or mask hidden agendas.”²

But the underlying problem can’t be reduced to one of internet anonymity. After all, the “attack video” that caused so much pain for Ms. Sherrod was released by a well-known blogger, Andrew Breitbart, who did nothing to conceal his identity. Rather, in my view, there are forces at work in our culture that go well beyond the internet, and have to do with fundamental shifts in the way Americans relate to one another in the past few decades.

By now, it is a truism to claim that there has been a “breakdown in civility” in this country — my Google search using that phrase turned up 44,800 results. Much of the commentary on this trend has focused on the abysmal level of political “discourse” in recent years, particularly since the beginning of the Obama administration — for example, the infamous “You lie!” outburst by Rep. Joe Wilson. But “civility” has to do mainly with courteous and considerate social behavior. The profusion of venomous personal attacks — and the “gotcha-pounce” phenomenon I have described — goes well beyond incivility. We need an explanation of why decency itself seems to be in decline.

But is this impression well-founded? To be sure, there are still millions of decent and caring people out there. And, in casting stones against our own times, we risk sounding a bit like Miniver Cheevy, the embittered character in the E. A. Robinson poem who longs for “the days of old/when swords were bright and steeds were prancing.” True: there has always been hatred, libel and slander—but there is evidence that certain kinds of hateful behavior have been on the increase in recent years.

For example, between 2002 and 2008, reports of “cyber-bullying” — defined as the “willfull and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” — have increased from about 15% to more than 30% of respondents, according to research by criminologists Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin.3 Even more disturbing, Human Rights First (HRF) — a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization — reports that in the U.S. and in many other countries, violent “hate crimes” are on the rise. In a recent survey of 56 European and North American countries, HRF found that “…violent hate crime — individuals or property targeted with violence on account of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or similar status — is occurring at historically high levels in many [surveyed] countries.”⁴ More specifically,

People of African origin, regardless of their citizenship status, were subjected to some of the most persistent and serious attacks, and were among the principal victims of racist and xenophobic violence in Europe and North America…African Americans continue to be the largest group targeted for hate crime violence in the United States… In the United States, recent debates on immigration have polarized society and provided the backdrop for a surge in reported violent assaults against people of Hispanic origin, both citizens and immigrants, in the last several years…⁴

Perhaps there is no unifying theory that can explain why hate crimes world-wide are on the increase, or why people as diverse as Shirley Sherrod and Stan Cox should be subjected to vilification and abuse. As a psychiatrist, I am trained to look primarily at individuals, not whole cultures and societies. So it is merely informed speculation when I suggest that, in the U.S., the decline of decency may be driven by at least three confluent forces:
1. Increased rates of cultural narcissism, with an accompanying sense of overweening personal entitlement⁵;
2. Increased strain and fragmentation within the American family, with a consequent loss of basic trust in other people; and
3. Increased religious, political and economic upheaval, with its attendant pitting of one interest group or extremist faction against another, all competing for scarce resources.
These factors are certainly not meant to be exhaustive. But we as a people must begin our self-examination somewhere, lest we wind up in a Hobbesian society where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Indeed, as Franklin D. Roosevelt reminded us, “If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.”

References

1. Saulnay S: No air conditioning and happy.
2. Swidey, N: Inside the mind of the anonymous online poster
3. Hinduja S, Patchin JW: Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying. Corwin Press, 2008.
4. Hate Crime Survey: Overview.
5. Pies R: Have we become a nation of narcissists?
Near-record deluge soaks Chicago area
[Chicago, IL, Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Starter Kit] (Chicago Breaking News)
After a near-record deluge that shut down Chicago-area train lines and expressways--overwhelming streets and sewers as far away as DeKalb County--thousands of residents spent Saturday bailing out flooded basements and poring over damage that officials estimated to be in the millions. The rainfall, reaching as high as 7.89 inches in Oak Park in less than 24 hours, created gridlock on normally quiet suburban streets, prompted the evacuation of a nursing home and caused several public safety scares ...

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After a near-record deluge that shut down Chicago-area train lines and expressways--overwhelming streets and sewers as far away as DeKalb County--thousands of residents spent Saturday bailing out flooded basements and poring over damage that officials estimated to be in the millions.

The rainfall, reaching as high as 7.89 inches in Oak Park in less than 24 hours, created gridlock on normally quiet suburban streets, prompted the evacuation of a nursing home and caused several public safety scares, though no fatalities, officials said.

Areas of Westchester and Hillside along Roosevelt Road appeared to suffer the most damage. Westchester officials declared a state of emergency Saturday while rescue workers waded door-to-door and traveled the streets by boat to rescue nearly 60 people from stranded cars and waterlogged homes.

"There's an ocean of water," said Westchester Village President Sam Pulia. "There's just nowhere to go with it."

Seniors rest inside a warehouse after they were evacuated from Oakridge Convalescent Home Saturday in Hillside. Severe flooding occurred all over the Chicago area after a storm swept through overnight. (Abel Uribe/ Chicago Tribune)
The village's entire northeast corner saw its streets swamped, vehicles submerged in water, and scores of homes damaged. By early evening, about 45 people were using an emergency shelter in Franklin Park set up for residents of Westchester and neighboring suburbs.

Across the town of 15,000 residents, hoses pumping water from basements into front yards were a common sight.

Mike and Kathy White tried to pump 4 feet of water out of their finished basement where a rug was afloat amid couches and chairs.

"I don't know what to do. I've never been through this before," Mike White said.

The official rainfall for the Chicago area was recorded at 6.43 inches, the third largest total for a two-day period in Chicago history, according to the WGN Weather Center. In 2008, a September rainstorm brought 8.08 inches, and in August 1987 the highest rainfall was recorded -- 9.35 inches over a two-day period.

But Saturday's damage nonetheless reached surreal proportions across the Midwest.

In northeast Iowa, the entire town of Hopkinton was evacuated after 10 inches of rain swelled the Maquoketa River, causing the Lake Delhi dam to fail.

Commonwealth Edison reported that across the Chicago region, there were 13,600 customers without power by about 9 p.m. In the Chicago region, there were 6,300 without power, 4,500 of those in the city itself; in its Northern region, up to the Wisconsin state line, 5,400; in its Southern region, 1,200 were without power; and in its Far West, region, extending to Dixon, 150 outages.

In Chicago's west suburbs, cars that earlier had been floating along Roosevelt Road came to rest in a cluster five blocks away, just east of Wolf Road.

Geese were navigating a pond that had formed over graves in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Hillside, while ducks calmly swam on the flooded soccer and baseball fields at Emerson Elementary School in Wheaton.

"I've never seen anything like this," said Hillside village administrator Russell Wajda, who has been in that post for 23 years and lived in the near west suburb for more than 45 years. He said his basement had more than 4 feet of water.

About 65 residents of Oak Ridge Convalescent Center and 45 residents of an apartment building next door were evacuated due to the flooding, Wajda said.

About nine miles away in McCook, water flowing through the grounds of the Ortek Chemical Co. swamped scrubbers the company uses in the recycling of motor oil and lubricants, creating fumes that reached hazardous levels, said village Fire Chief Joseph Myrick, who closed off the area.

Several areas of Chicago also suffered damage.

The flooding caused temporary closures to portions of the Eisenhower and Kennedy expressways. On Saturday, some CTA train lines were also affected.

At the River City apartment complex along the Chicago River, the garage flooded, covering more than 100 cars and cutting power to the building, police said. More than 700 residents were evacuated. Will Knight, a spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said there would be no new information about when the complex might be reopened until 10 a.m. Sunday.

Tracey Irving spent the night watching the water rise in her West Town basement apartment, hoping it wouldn't reach the kitchen table where she made an impromptu bed for her 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter.

"I just sat there and watched the water come up. It got above the level of the electrical sockets and blew out all the lights," Irving said.

Calls to the city of Chicago and the Red Cross to try to find a place for her family to sleep Saturday night met with little success, said Irving, 35.

Some west suburban officials were anticipating their own crisis as river levels continued to rise from the runoff. In Naperville, sandbag materials were made available and residents warned that they may see flooding from the DuPage River in the next few days.

In the thick of the damage, public officials were hoping the worst was over.

"Our primary concern today was just getting the water level down and getting people taken care of," said Wajda. "On Monday, we'll start totaling up the damage."

-- Ted Gregory, Jeremy Gorner, Mick Swasko; David Heinzmann, Deanese A. Williams, Steve Schmadeke, Serena Maria Daniels, John Byrne, Caroline Smith, Jennifer Delgado, Joel Hood, Heather MacDonald and Victoria Pierce contributed.
US Presidents Part II: 1845 - 1881
[Rationality] (skeptic cat)
James Knox Polk 1845 - 1849, Democrat from Tennessee Having been a "dark horse" compromise choice for the Democratic nomination and having scored a razor thin upset victory over the far more well established politician Henry_Clay in the 1844 Presidential Election James K. Polk was forced to promise to only serve a single term as President before he ever entered office. However, in contrast to his three predecessors in the office of the Presidency: Van Buren, Harrison and Tyler, Polk was a force ...

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James Knox Polk 1845 - 1849, Democrat from Tennessee
Having been a "dark horse" compromise choice for the Democratic nomination and having scored a razor thin upset victory over the far more well established politician Henry_Clay in the 1844 Presidential Election James K. Polk was forced to promise to only serve a single term as President before he ever entered office. However, in contrast to his three predecessors in the office of the Presidency: Van Buren, Harrison and Tyler, Polk was a force to be reckoned with.

It is difficult to exaggerate the impact of Polk's single term had on American history and yet he is often overlooked with considerable attention going to the great "Lions of Senate:" Clay, Webster and Calhoun. Polk was, however, the first man to govern most or all of what we now recognize as the Continental United States having conquered huge tracks of western territory for the Republic in the Oregon boundary dispute and the Mexican–American War.

The question of if this land was to be slave or free would, of course, lead the nation into Civil War and near dissolution fifteen years later and this was foreseen by many in Polk's own time leading to much unrest in Congress and throughout the nation. At this point it appeared that, largely southern, pro-slavery forces had the upper hand but the industrialized north was very much a sleeping giant and a light sleeper at that.

Of course, Democrats at the time did not propose war with Mexico et..al by saying "we need to expand slavery give us more land" but rather promoted their expansionist ideology under the umbrella of the pseudo-religious auspices of Manifest Destiny. Perhaps it was a sign that the Age of Enlightenment had truly come to an end in the 1840s that powerful leaders of industrialized nations could say with a straight face and with absolute certainty that the creator of the Universe which we now know to be dozens of billions of light-year across, if not infinite, gave a flying crap over whether Mexico or the United States governed the Western territories.

Driven by "destiny" Polk proceeded to expand the borders of the United States first complete the Annexation of Texas which had largely been negotiated by his predecessor, John Tyler. Having only been President for six days he could already brag to have increased the US' landmass by a third.

Realizing that Northerners would not be happy seeing the south expanded so drastically Polk then undertook negotiations with Great Britain to annex the Oregon Country (the present day states of: Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming). Less than one year on the job and Polk had already nearly doubled the size of the nation.

Polk was less successful in his attempt to purchase California from Mexico a slight which Polk repaid by sending in troops to disputed territory between the Nueces River (which Mexico claimed as its' northern border) and the Rio Grande (which the US claimed as its's southern border). Clearly, Polk was attempting to provoke armed conflict with Mexico so as to have an excuse to declare war and eventually eleven American soldiers were killed in an ambush (albeit on the wrong side of the Rio Grande) allowing Polk to goto congress claiming that "American blood had been spilled on American soil" ... I know, as if we were being invaded by Mexico or something.

Even John C. Calhoun voted against the war resolution seeing it for the crock that it was but it passed nevertheless and the next year, following severe ass-beatings inflicted upon the smaller and weaker Mexican armies by American troops led by legendary generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848 adding 1.2 million square miles of new territory to the United States finally fulfilling the Manifest Destiny. God must have been so relieved.

Polk was indeed the hardest working President, ever up to that part and possibly the hardest working President before Lincoln. Polk was not known to have any hobbies or interests outside of politics and naturally this took a great toll on his health and he died only three months after leaving office at the age of fifty-four. Historian Polls rank Polk in the well above average to near-great range frequently coming in at number ten along with President James Madison whom I also believe to be underrated.

Zachary Taylor 1849 - 1850, Whig from Louisiana<!>Prior to Taylor's victory over the infinitely more qualified
Lewis Cass of Michigan in the 1848 Presidential Election "Old Rough and Ready," as he had been known to his troops throughout his lengthy military career, had never held public office or even voted. As such his views on the issues of the day: tariffs, internal improvements, expansion of slavery, the national bank, et..al had not really been articulated when he entered the Oval Office in 1849.
Taylor was the last President before Jimmie Carter to have been elected from the deep south and was the last President to have owned slaves while holding the office of President. Nevertheless, Taylor took a hard line against the expansion of slavery and roundelay condemned the secessionist rhetoric of such pro-slavery southern firebrands as his son-in-law
Jefferson Davis during his brief but energetic term in office.
To be clear, Taylor does not appear to have in any way opposed the institution of slavery but rather saw it as his duty to keep the peace between radical pro-Southern interests on the one hand and increasingly agitated abolitionist forces on the other. Taylor's career had not been in politics but in the Military and he had seen first hand what happens when politicians failed to keep the peace and was going to be responsible for no such thing in his own political career.

Taylor's brief term was dominated by debate over the
Compromise of 1850 which Taylor derided as the "omnibus bill" with its' concentration upon Popular Sovereignty allowing individual citizens of the territories to decide for themselves whether slavery was to be permitted within their borders. It is agreed that Taylor had every intention of vetoing the bill but was denied the opportunity due his unexpected death in July of 1850 ostensibly from food poisoning but latter sources indicate medical malpractice to be the cause.
In Historian Polls, Taylor, the third shortest serving President in history, generally ranks near the top of the below-average quartile along with Presidents
Benjamin Harrison and Calvin Coolidge both of whom had the benefit of serving at least one full term in office.

Millard Fillmore 1850 - 1853, Whig from New YorkMillard Fillmore was not a very good President. So weak and ineffective was his administration that his name is practically a byword for forgettable events, eg: "that regional-semi-quarter-final match was the 'Millard Fillmore' of lacrosse matches."

It almost goes without saying that Fillmore signed the
1850 Compromise in an half-hearted attempt to settle the brewing issue of whether the new territories acquired in the War with Mexico were to be slave or free. This was in stark contrast to the hard line taken by his predecessor.
Of all the provisions of the Compromise the one that most dramatically opens Fillmore up to charges of archvillainy was the
Fugitive Slave Act which severely impacted the civil liberties of northerners allowing slave-catchers to run amok in search of runaway slaves from the south to insure that no free-state would be a safe-haven. To make matters worse, southern slaveholders had the nerve to complain that their own liberties were violated by state laws requiring that captured slaves be allowed a trial before they were returned to captivity. States' rights my ass.
There had been hope of another bill called the
Wilmot Proviso banning slavery in any of the western territories but it had not passed the Senate and the final Compromise that Fillmore signed contained precious little compromise (California was to be admitted as a free-state big whop) on the part of pro-Slavery southerners and a lot of new restrictions on abolitionist northerners and yet talk of succession continued among the southern politicians. What more did they want?
Furthermore when Civil War finally did break out a decade later the agrarian south proved no match for the industrialized north ... I could easily exceed my monthly bandwidth allowance describing the inanity of the 1850 Compromise so I suppose its' time to move on.

Needless to say, Filmore did not stand for reelection in 1852 but ran as the candidate of the
Know Nothing Party in 1856 which was sort of a clownish anti-Catholic secret society which surprised everyone by taking over 20% of the vote. Fillmore died in 1874 at the age of seventy-four. Historian Polls consistently rank Fillmore very close to last as one of the five or six worst Presidents at around number thirty-seven along with Presidents William Henry Harrison who only served thirty days and James Garfield who served only six months.

Franklin Pierce 1853 - 1857, Democrat from New HampshirePeirce may very well be the most handsome President and he was clearly the most cultivated having attended college and been a lifelong associate of literary giants of his day such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I say this because Franklin Peirce was a horrible President and not a very nice man either and I wanted to soften the blow a little bit.
Having been, yet another dark-horse/compromise candidate for the Democrats, Pierce somehow defeated a great man in the
Election of 1852 in the person of Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott who would be the last Whig Party Candidate for President. Those elegant speeches that propelled Peirce to victory over, arguably, the greatest war hero since the Revolution (and the polling was not close) were undoubtedly the handy-work of author Nathaniel Hawthorne who was Peirce's closest friend and constant companion.
As President however, Peirce would prove a pitifully indecisive Chief Executive as he was already deeply in the throws of the alcoholism that would eventually take his life and was in a horrible state emotionally having witnessed the death of his son in a train crash only two months before taking the oath of office. Peirce also appears to have been heavily under the influence of his Secretary of War
Jefferson Davis whose loyalty to the cause of preserving the Union really do have to be questioned at that point.
It has been said that Peirce's policies could not have been more disastrous to the Union cause if the future Confederate President had designed them himself, which may very well be true. Davis also was known for introducing some strangely ineffective policies for the War Department such as his attempt to
introduce the use of camels in the cavalry.
That's all speculation however, history shows that no conspiracy is needed to account for a wide assortment of weak and ineffective leaders and early on there were hints that the Peirce administration was being conducted in a disorganized fashion. All this came to a head with publication of the
Ostend Manifesto which tied Peirce to a secret plan to annex Cuba by force adding countless slaves to the already overflowing southern states. That combined with the Gadsden Purchase finishing off President Polk's conquest of the southwestern territories from Mexico, convinced many Northerners that Peirce was in the pocket of the Slaveocracy. In my opinion they were correct but this is not the majority view of historians on the subject.
A frequent consequence of corrupted and/or incompetent administrations throughout the history of civilization has been destructive and bloody guerrilla warfare breaking out in the outlying regions of a given government's lands and that is exactly what happened in 1854 in what has become known as
Bleeding Kansas. In an attempt to create a transcontinental railroad Senator Stephen A. Douglas pushed through the Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively nullifying the Missouri Compromise leaving the question of slavery open for "popular sovereignty" in the teritories of Nebraska and Kansas. Nebraska was at no risk of legalizing involuntary servitude, however, Kansas bordered the slave state of Missouri and the possibility of Kansas entering the Union as a slave prompted pro-Slavery Missourians, known as "Border Ruffians" to cross into Kansas to influence formation of a pro-slavery constitution.
In the violence that broke out it appears that the pro-slavery faction were largely the aggressors but it is difficult to tell as there were atrocities on both sides including the infamous
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre led by abolitionist John Brown who would be executed in 1859 following an unsuccessful Raid on Harper's Fairy, Virginia<!>.As an interesting side note, the original title of
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown's_Body. Historians today treat him as some sort of fringe nut, but he was taken quite seriously in his own time ... But I digress.There appeared to be little doubt as to Peirce's sympathies for the "Slavocracy" when he recognized a clearly illegal pro-Slavery Constitution which had been voted in by the so-called Ruffians. Furthermore, the pro-Slavery contingent seemed to have gone mad with power and were now using violence and trickery to force the institution of slavery upon persons who clearly did not want it within their borders.

The violence in Kansas soon spilled over on the floors of Congress when Congressman
Preston Brooks
beat Senator Charles Sumner into unconsciousness with his walking stick permanently disabling Sen. Sumner, the title of the speech that had provoked Rep. Brooks to this extreme "The Crime Against Kansas."Fully three-quarters of the
Republican Party Platform of 1856
consisted of an indictment of Peirce's outrageous behavior in Kansas. And as we shall see, it was about to get worse.Peirce died of Cirrhosis of the Liver in 1869 at the age of sixty-four. Historian Polls consistently rank Peirce near the very bottom as one of the worst Presidents ever to hold the office typically ranking him at around number forty out of forty-three somewhere between his successor
James Buchanan
and his predicessor Millard Fillmore.

James Buchanan 1857 - 1861, Democrat from Pennsylvania<!>There used to be a joke asking who was the smartest President. Persons would then suggest such intellectual luminaries as Woodrow Wilson who had a PhD only to be disappointed when the asker announced they were wrong. James Buchanan, the prankster would announce was the smartest US President, "because he never got married."
As we shall see, not only is this joke not funny it bears very little resemblance to the truth as Buchanan is widely viewed as the WORST, full-term President whose administration had not been touched by major scandal.
If, the
Bleeding Kansas
situation were already not enough to convince northerners of the sinister plans of the wicked
"Slavocracy" to impose the brutal institution of involuntary servitude upon the rest of the nation irregardless of the wish of the residents of the various states then, the Dred Scott Decision declaring that Congress lacked Constitutional Authority to prohibit slavery in any of the territories, including those bordering Canada, should at least convince one that this "Slaveocracy" business was not a crackpot conspiracy theory cooked up by some tin-foil-hat wearing pothead in his mother's basement.Needless to say, the Dred Scott Decision was very bad law under any standard of justice one cares to name. The decision begins by claiming that the defendant, Dred Scott
had no rights whatever under the US Constitution and thus could not sue in court but then went on for several pages finding the facts of the case against him. Those who claim, still today, that State's Rights and not slavery was the overriding cause of the Civil War have some explaining to do in re Bleeding Kansas and Dred Scott which blatantly usurped State and territorial autonomy in addition to severely restricting the civil liberties of their citizens. And, by the way, the tariff hadn't been a major issue on the national stage in forty years so those making that claim are, at best, misinformed but more likely just lying.
Buchanan cannot be held responsible for the entirety of the Bleeding Kansas affair but his behavior was not much better than his predecessor's in that regard appointing a bellicose pro-slavery partisan Robert Walker
as Territorial Governor and endorsed the ill-fated
Lecompton Constitution which Congress overwhelmingly rejected. In addition to doing a disservice to the citizens of Kansas this act Slavocracy-boot-lickery caused a severe rift in his own, Democratic, party as northern Democrats, following the lead of Stephen A. Douglas joined Republicans in opposing the measure on the grounds that it violated the cherished principle of "popular sovereignty" which, truth to be told was the principle at the heart of the violence in Kansas in the first place, but let us not look a gift horse in the mouth.In the Spring of 1860 a House committee
chaired by
John Covode launched an investigation of Buchanan's behavior in the wake of the Kansas situation in hopes of finding grounds for impeachment. Among other things the committee found that Buchanan had freely used the "power of the patronage" to promote the pro-slavery constitution upon Kansas and that he sought to prevent the reelection of Sen. Douglas. The Kansas situation eventually petered out and Kansas would be admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861 in one of Buchanan's final acts as President.In the hotly contested Election of 1860
former Congressman
Abraham Lincoln, an outspoken opponent of slavery of any kind being permitted in any of the territories topped a very crowded field becoming the President-Elect of the United States and those perpetual troublemakers, South Carolina, almost immediately called for a convention to discuss secession from the Union. Buchanan, while stating unequivocally that secession was illegal, claimed that he was Constitutionally prohibited from using force to prevent secession. An ineffectual attempt at avoiding rebellion was attempted in the form of the Crittenden Compromise which would have extended the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific but Lincoln and his supporters were adamant that slavery not be permitted in any of the territories.South Carolina declared their secession from the union on December 24, 1860 and by the time Buchanan left office on March 4, 1861 fully seven southern states had left the Union and had established a government known as the Confederate States of America<!>. Upon leaving Washington DC Buchanan left a note for Lincoln "
if, you are as happy about taking this position as I am to leave it then, you are a happy man indeed.
"Buchanan died at his home near Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1868 having been the fist President to have authored memoir. In Historian Polls Buchanan nearly always ranks close to dead last at anywhere from number forty to number forty-three, though occasionally the financial scandals of
Warren G. Harding
and Ulysses S. Grant have pushed him as high as number thirty-seven.
Abraham Lincoln
1861 - 1865, Republican from IllinoisThe 1860 Republican Platform that excelled Lincoln to victory in the 1860 Presidential Election
contained many useful items such as: securing fair wages for industrial workers, protective tariffs, the construction of a Transcontinental Railroad and the founding of Land-Grant Colleges but those things come a long way down toward the bottom of the page. Of eighteen planks in the platform fully fourteen are simple restatements of the single principle of opposition to the extension of slavery.Furthermore, Lincoln's first Inaugural Address doesn't mention colleges, tariffs or railroads at all. Things had changed a little bit since the nominating convention.

Lincoln's predecessor had done nothing to prevent the Confederate State of America from seceding from the Union and done very little to protect the military forts that Confederate armies were besieging all across the South. Within six weeks of his accession to the Oval Office Confederate Forces won their first major victory in the Battle of Fort Sumter forever banishing any hope of a peaceful reconciliation, with or without slavery.

Four more states joined the Confederacy shortly after the fall of Sumter who racked up another victory in July at the First Battle of Bull Run. The nation was now in a state of full on Civil War complete with: suspension of civil liberties, conscription and all the "unAmerican" thrills that accompany it.

Lincoln was very active in the planning of war strategy which was largely planned out by Gen. Winfield Scott in his last act as an active duty military commander. Scott's plans were for a quick and decisive overwhelming of the enemy which it would take Lincoln nearly four years to find a General willing to implement fully. In the end, however, it would be Gen. Scott's initial strategy that would win the day for the North.

In the meanwhile, Republicans found themselves with an overwhelming majority in Congress due to the conservative democratic Southern constituency having all resigned their seats to serve in the Confederate Government. This meant that the long-awaited progressive Whig/Republican agenda that southern interest had derailed at least since the death of William Henry Harrison
could be passed.
Historian Shelby Foote
once noted that he thought that the North was fighting the war with "one hand tied behind their back" for the first three years of the conflict at any rate. But it should be noted that the Land-Grant Colleges, railroads, harbors and other expenditures authorized by Lincoln and the Republican Congress were truly national in nature and did not exclude the Southern States they very much behaved as if the Union were still in tact.

What Lincoln is undoubtedly most famous for is the Emancipation Proclamation delivered on September 22, 1862 only five days after Union Forces scored a major victor at the
Battle of Antietam
. In truth this was actually quite toothless as it only applied to slaves in states that were still in rebellion as of Jan 1, 1863. Lincoln clearly had no law enforcement powers he could reasonably exercise in those areas at that time. The Proclamation freed slaves in areas conquered by the invading Northern Armies as a confiscation measure taken under War Powers but did not outlaw the practice of slavery.However earlier in 1862 slaves were freed in Washington DC (with compensation made to their owners) and congress did pass a "resolution" agreeing to undertake the gradual abolishment of Slavery in the Republic, again with compensation to owners.
Following a sea-saw of Union and Confederate victories and defeats under a succession of unsatisfactory generals, culminating the
Battle_of_Gettysburg
where Gen.
George Meade
"snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory" having defeated Robert E. Lee but then allowed Lee's army to escape back to Virginia, Lincoln appears to have stepped up the war effort a notch appointing Ulysses S. Grant commander of the Union Armies. There would be no more hands tied behind anyone's back as Grant's specialty was "total war." The Confederates were remarkable fighters but they had no where near the number of troops at their disposal as the North did and, now, with a General in charge who seemed not to care about his own losses provided that replacements were available.In 1864 Lincoln faced a tough reelection campaign against his former General and Chief George McClellan. The timing of what came next seems awfully convenient to me but coincidence can happen. As I go though the events of the
1864 Presidential Election
keep in mind Shelby Foote's comment about the North having one hand tied behind its' back.To try and minimize the partisan nature of the conflict Lincoln changed the name of his party from the Republican Party to the National Union Party and chose as his running mate Andrew Johnson a Democrat from Tennessee. The Democratic Party then held
its' convention
nominating McClellan but choosing as his running mate George Pendleton an outspoken advocate of ending the war and allowing the South to succeed, an error compounded by adding a plank to the party's platform declaring the war a "failure."Between the Democratic Convention and the General Election: New Orleans and Atlanta fell, Richmond was under siege and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman had begun his devistating
March to the Sea<!> setting most of the States of Georgia and South Carolina on fire as he went. The South had been essentially defeated leaving poor old Gen. McClellan with a peace platform and a hippy peacenic running mate ... Really, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
The war was not officially over but it was over enough for Lincoln to win reelection.Richmond fell and Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House
only six days before
Lincoln's Assassination
at the hands of actor
John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater, April 14, 1865. In his Second Inaugural Adress Lincoln had promised to treat the vanquished South "charitably" but the murder of their beloved President caused Northern politicians to make the Reconstruction era<!> as brutal and humiliating as the law would allow. Only the Disputed Presidential Election of 1876 saved the South from, perhaps, becoming a permanently occupied territory of the North.Historian Polls almost without exception rank Lincoln at the very top of the list of great Presidents, though he has occasionally been pushed out by Presidents George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt.

Andrew Johnson
1865 - 1869, Democrat from Tennessee
Remembered mostly for being impeached (and acquitted) in addition to his consistent drunkenness and liberal use of racial epitaphs in official state speaches Johnson would appear to be the worst person who could have possibly succeeded Lincoln and in particular under the tragic circumstances in which the succession took place. However, it was during his administration that the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the US Constitution were either introduced or adopted: outlawing slavery, guaranteeing equal protection under the law and granting voting rights to all adult male citizens regardless of race (Johnson held out on this one and it was adopted under Grant), and the more lenient reconstruction policy
he pursued was very much in keeping with Lincoln's stated opinions on the matter.Johnson's problems with the Republican Congress began with his veto of a measures to reauthorize the Freedman's Bureau and the very first piece of Civil Rights legislation both of which they passed over his veto. Johnson was clearly hostile to inferring all the rights of citizenship upon the former slaves and immediately broke with Republicans and reunited with his previous Democratic Party who had declared themselves to be "a white man's party."Another act passed over the President's veto was the (possibly unconstitutional)
Tenure of Office Act
forbidding the President from dismissing any of his Cabinet members without Congressional consent. Ignoring this act of congress Johnson dismissed Edwin Stanton leading to his impeachment by Congress beginning in March of 1868 and ending in May of that year.

The charges were trivial and the evidence was thin and a two-thirds majority was needed to remove Johnson from office 35 yea to 19 nay. The rest of his term was uneventful save the Amnesty Proclamations of Christmas Day 1868 granting unconditional amnesty to all Confederates.Johnson was elected to the US Senate from Tennessee in 1875 less than five months before he died at his home in Carter's Station, TN. Historians Polls fluctuate wildly as racism becomes more or less acceptable but he almost always ranks in the worst category occasionally finishing as low as forty-three along with Presidents
James Buchanan
and Warren G. Harding

Ulysses S. Grant
1869 - 1877, Republican from Ohio
The Election of 1868 in which Grant trounced Horatio Seymour was largely seen as a referendum on the more agressive reconstruction measures Radical Republicans
(who then stood for everything they now stand against and vice versa) had been pushing for. The Grant administration was marked by many civil rights breakthroughs for African Americans as well as Native American Indians and in particular by the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting the government from from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." However, his two terms were also stained by a number of scandals some of which directly impugn the President's credibility and competence.In addition to the Fifteenth Amendment, Grant also sign a bill targeting Ku Klux Klan activity in the south as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibiting racial discrimination in jury selection.

Other successful measure included the Treaty of Washington settling damage claims with Great Britain who had built ships for the Confederacy that had inflicted much damage upon American commercial vessels during the Civil War, the creation of the first of its' kind Civil Service commission and in restoring civil liberties to citizens of the former Confederacy (save 300 to 500 high ranking Confederate office-holders).

Grant was less successful in his drive to annex the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government had requested annexation to which Grant was amenable but the resulting treaty failed to get the two-thirds majority required in the Senate.In spite of a wave of coruption and very damaging
scandals
, which we shall get to in a moment, that had overtaken Washington DC and which Grant was clearly not up to the job of mitigating, Grant won reelection handily over
New York Tribune
editor Horace Greeley, a Liberal Republican also endorsed by the Democrats. Greeley was, frankly, a bit of a kook, so while there was a good deal of sentiment for their platform of clean government and ending Reconstruction Greeley only took six states and died shortly after the election.Grant's second term was generally uneventful aside from his veto of the 1874 Inflation Bill, an unpopular move in light of the Panic of 1873 which Grant himself had helped to cause, and the subsequent passage of the
Resumption Act of 1875
returning to the gold standard. Grant's name would continue to be associated with "sound money" policies long after he left the White House.As I said, Grant's two terms were marked by unprecedented financial scandals involving: members of his Cabinet, close friends, family members and even Grant himself. Many of these scandals wreaked devastation upon the American Economy:Black Friday (1869)

Emma Silver Mine (1871)

Star Route Postal Ring (1872)

Crédit Mobilier (1872)

Salary Grab Act (1872)

Sanborn Incident (1874)

Delano Affair (1875)

Pratt & Boyd (1875)

Trading Post Ring (1876)

Cattellism (1876)

Safe Burglary Conspiracy (1876)
It should be noted that Grant's administration is not considered the most corrupt in history. Rather, no not Harding
or
Nixon, that kewpie-doll remains firmly in the grasp of the Regan Administration
.An extremely heavy smoker, Grant died of throat cancer in 1885 at the age of sixty-three. Because of the enormous number of scandals that plagued his two terms, Historian Polls traditionally to rank Grant fairly close to the bottom as one of the worst Presidents ever, however his ranking has seen remarkable improvement over the past few years. Even with these more recent higher scores he still averages out to rank at number thirty out of forty-three, slighly higher than President Warren G. Harding who is also remembered primarily for the major scandals of his administration.

Rutherford B. Hayes
1877 - 1881, Republican from Ohio
Were there any justice in the mixed up world I would, right now, be writing a summary of the no-nonsense, corruption-free administration of President Samuel J. Tilden who won the 1876 US Presidential Election by a fairly comfortable margin. But Republicans were thieves even then so I shall now share the tale of Rutherford B. Hayes.
The 1876 Election results showed a clear victory for Samuel Tilden, whose reputation as the nation's foremost reformer was earned by the breaking up of New York City's infamous Tammany Hall Political Machine that had blighted Democratic Party politics for nearly a century, but Republicans had managed to challenge the electoral votes of: Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina on the grounds that African-American voters had illegally been kept from the polls. Even with these challenged states in play, Tilden only needed a single electoral vote to claim the White House and Hayes needed them all. An Electoral Commission was established to settle the matter (though the US Constitution clearly mandated that it be settled by a vote of the House of Representatives) which was anything but nonpartisan and in a strict party line vote the commission awarded all the disputed electoral votes, and the Presidency, to Hayes.

It seems likely that Hayes engaged in some sort of informal compromise with Democratic Party leaders agreeing to end the military occupation of the former Confederate States in exchange for their agreeing not to further challenge the 1876 election results. In consequence of this, the Era of Reconstruction came to an abrupt end and Jim Crow laws were soon erected all over the former Confederate states reducing the legal status African American populations who were severely deprived of the full rights of citizenship promised under the
Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the US Constitution
.On the positive side many of the "carpet-bag governments" that had sprung up in the South under the auspices of Northern occupation had become quite corrupt. And Hayes does appear to have been genuine in his desire to enact civil service reform (excluding political operatives from holding nonpolitical Government jobs) for the nation as a whole.In this he was not entirely successful coming in conflict with Senator
Roscoe Conkling
, whose power and influence had helped Hayes gain the White House in the wake of the disputed election results, over the removal of Chester A. Arthur and other Conkling lieutenants from prominent patronage posts in the custom-house and the post-office of Conkling's home state of New York. Hayes did manage to implement some minor reforms to the Civil Service but was dogged every step of the way by the
Stalwarts
in his own party who had become quite powerful in the lackadaisical Grant years.Apart from: the repeal of Civil Rights legislation, minimal civil service reform and his use of Federal troops to break up the Railroad Strike of 1877 Hayes' term was largely uneventful and having pledged not to seek a second term during the settlement of the disputed election Hayes' only notable intrusion into politics after leaving office 1881 was to speak out against woman's suffrage shortly before his death in 1893 at the age of seventy. Historian Polls generally are unkind to Hayes placing him firmly in the bellow-average quatril at or around number twenty-four along side unelected Presidents such as Gerald R. Ford and
Chester Arthur
.James Garfield
1881, Republican from Ohio
The razor thin margin of victory for Garfield in the 1880 Presidential Election over Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock seems to have been mainly due to gaff on the part of Hancock who, when asked about his party's "tariff for revenue only" plank where he said he thought the tariff "was a local issue." By contrast Garfield was a polished and skilled politician with many years of experience in government. Nevertheless, only 2,100 votes separated the two Candidates on election night though Garfield's majority in the Electoral collage was much more impressive.
Nerds the world over know Garfield as the author of a very unique Proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. However, as President his administration was brief due to his having been assassinated by Charles Guiteau following a dispute Garfield had had with Guiteau's political boss Roscoe Conkling over the distribution of patronage in New York State, only six-and-a-half months into his administration.

Conkling was never implicated in the murder personally but the assassination did draw attention to the rampant corruption of the political machine that Sen. Conkling was at the center of and did much to inspire the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act restricting the political activities of most Federal Employees which remains in force to this day.Because of the brevity of his term in office it is traditional not to include Garfield in Historian Polls however the last three such polls have included him in the well-below-average to poor range but he has consistently beaten President
George W. Bush
Fire by Kristin Cashore Named Winner of the Inaugural Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction
[Horror Novels] (CYNSATIONS)
The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has announced the winner of the inaugural Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has announced the winner of the inaugural Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.

The winner of the 2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award is:

Fire by Kristin Cashore (Dial).

The 2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists are:

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Arthur A. Levine);

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (Simon & Schuster);

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley (Little, Brown);

The Sweetheart of Prosper County by Jill S. Alexander (Feiwel and Friends).

All Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award titles will be identified by an award sticker—gold for the winner and silver for the four finalists. This year’s winning title and finalists will be honored at an open reception on Nov. 22, immediately following the 2010 ALAN Workshop in Orlando.

The 2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee would like to thank: the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Foundation; the ALAN Executive Council; the ALAN Board of Directors; past AEWA chair Dr. Wendy Glenn; NCTE; and last, but not least, the more than twenty publishers who submitted titles for consideration.

The 2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered 202 young adult titles throughout the process. The committee was comprised of ten members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities.

They are: Daria Plumb, Committee Chair, classroom teacher, Riverside Academy, Dundee, Michigan; Erica Berg, classroom teacher, Rockville High School, Vernon, Connecticut; Jean Boreen, professor, Northern Arizona University, Department of English, Flagstaff, Arizona; C.J. Bott, retired classroom teacher and consultant, Solon, Ohio; Lois Buckman, librarian, Caney Creek High School, Conroe, Texas; Jeff Harr, classroom teacher, Theodore Roosevelt High School, Kent, Ohio; Jeff Kaplan, professor, University of Central Florida, College of Education, Orlando; Bonnie Kunzel, youth services and aolescent literacy consultant, Germantown, Tennessee; Teri Lesesne, professor, Sam Houston State University, Department of Library Science, Huntsville, Texas; and Barbara Ward, assistant professor, Washington State University, Department of Teaching and Learning, Richland, Washington.

For more information on the award, please visit ALAN Online: The Official Site of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents.
Here Comes The Imminent Flight of U.S. Capital
[Real Estate] (Business Insider)
The productive elements of the US economy are caught between powerful financial interests, e.g., banks seeking speculative gains, political constituencies seeking entitlements and government entities at all levels whose budgets and deficits are too large compared to their revenues. All three factions are competing for the same economic resources and all three are net consumers of wealth. The triumph of any one faction or of any combination thereof, promises to erode capital and to encumber prod ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

The productive elements of the US economy are caught between powerful financial interests, e.g., banks seeking speculative gains, political constituencies seeking entitlements and government entities at all levels whose budgets and deficits are too large compared to their revenues.

All three factions are competing for the same economic resources and all three are net consumers of wealth. The triumph of any one faction or of any combination thereof, promises to erode capital and to encumber production and economic growth in the future. As a consequence, capital can be expected to flow away from the United States to other parts of the world.

If banks dominate over government, for example, ever larger shares of tax revenues will likely flow to banks as a consequence of interest payments and taxes will certainly rise despite inevitable austerity measures. If government triumphs at the expense of banks, setting aside questions related to bank failures, bailouts or sovereign defaults, there is no reason to believe that government entities will become fiscally responsible or that the pattern of government expansion, as a percent of GDP, will reverse in the foreseeable future.

The banking and financial services industries also represent a disproportionate share of US GDP. Political constituencies seeking entitlements are, in part, a reaction against and a consequence of disproportionate growth of government and of the banking and financial services industries. In advocating for or against any of the above factions, what seems to be ignored is where sustainable economic growth will come from in the future.

Surrounded on all sides are entrepreneurs and private capital, which are the historical engines of US economic growth. As the nation struggles to recover from the unprecedented global recession and the financial crisis that began in 2008, the competition between banks, government entities and political constituencies seeking entitlements represents a diversion of wealth and future production into economically unsustainable pursuits, such as bank profits, government stimulus or social welfare programs. In economic terms, the relationship of banks, government entities and political constituencies seeking entitlements to the productive elements of the economy can be described as one of rent seeking.

Rent seeking is a relationship where an individual, company or other organization seeks income by capturing the production of others through manipulation or exploitation of the financial, legal or political environment, rather than through ordinary market participation or the production of wealth. Analogous to parasitism in biology, rent seeking means obtaining an economic gain at the expense of others without any reciprocal benefit. Common examples of rent seeking include tariffs sought by industries for no purpose other than to boost profit margins and efforts by special interest groups to redistribute wealth in their favor by shifting tax burdens or government spending where there is no reciprocal benefit to any other group in society.

Businesses that produce physical goods, i.e., real production, along with labor and existing capital derived from past production surpluses are the targets of rent seeking strategies. The central question for economists is whether rent seeking is sustainable as an economic paradigm, i.e., as the dominant form of economic relationship in an economy. If so, spending by those who successfully gain control of wealth will stimulate economic activity in a sustainable way and the economy will return to genuine growth.

For example, economic growth might return as bank profits trickle down through the economy; or as government borrowing and spending or expansion stimulate the economy and create jobs, e.g., government jobs; or as social entitlements, such as guaranteed retirement incomes or medical care, prove to be more efficient and less costly to society when provided by government and funded by tax revenues rather than by private industry. If it turns out, however, that rent seeking is not a sustainable economic paradigm, then the future of the US economy will be characterized by an erosion of capital and an absence of sustainable economic growth. One question that might arise in the latter scenario is whether capital will stay in the US or migrate to other parts of the world. The answer to this question lies in the nature of capitalism, as well as in the historical origins of American capitalism.

Property and Liberty

In terms of both economics and political philosophy, there are links between rent seeking where government is involved, the fundamental relation of individual citizens to the institution of the state, and macroeconomic developments in the US particularly since 1971. These links became increasingly clear since the start of the global financial crisis that began in 2008.

History bears out that capitalism, compared to other economic systems, has created more wealth, raised the living standards of more people, and has increased individual liberty to a greater extent. The reasons for the success of capitalism lie not only in economics but also in philosophy. The historical innovation and entrepreneurship and the immense industrial production of the United States in the past occurred both in the context of capitalism and in a social and legal framework established by the US Constitution. Going back to the American Revolution and before, the ownership of an individual person of their own body and of the labor that it can produce literally distinguished a free person from a slave. This concept is the common root of private property and of capitalism. The natural right of a person to the fruits of their labor, i.e., to own property, is, therefore prerequisite to other rights. In his seminal book, The Road to Serfdom, F. A. Hayek explained the interdependence of private property, the division of labor and freedom.

“... [T]he system of private property is the most important guaranty of freedom. It is only because the control of the means of production is divided among many people acting independently that we as individuals can decide what to do with ourselves. When all the means of production are vested in a single hand, whether it be nominally that of "society" as a whole or that of a dictator, whoever exercises this control has complete power over us. In the hands of private individuals, what is called economic power can be an instrument of coercion, but it is never control over the whole life of a person. But when economic power is centralized as an instrument of political power it creates a degree of dependence scarcely distinguishable from slavery. It has been well said that, in a country where the sole employer is the state, opposition means death by slow starvation.” – F. A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (1944)

Of course, a human being is much more than an economic unit and the natural rights of individuals do not end with the absence of slavery, thus private property can be viewed as the keystone of all human rights. In fact, provisions of the American Bill of Rights, such as the prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure are an elaboration and enumeration of private property rights vis-à-vis the rights of government. Interestingly, the American Bill of Rights contains broad prohibitions against actions by government, rather than positive rights, such as the right of an individual to a particular social benefit. In the modern world, private property and, therefore, other rights are not threatened directly by violence and coercion as they were prior to the American Revolution, but they are threatened today by excessive growth of government, by private concerns pursuing rent seeking profit strategies and by political constituencies seeking entitlements.

Taxes levied on privately owned businesses or on private individuals for the purposes of social welfare programs function as a proxy for rent seeking in that they affirm a positive right to an economic benefit for one group at the expense of another group that receives no reciprocal benefit. For example, the establishment of a legal right of a person with no means to pay for it, to obtain medical care, takes precedence over the property rights of individuals who have the means to pay for medical care on their own behalf. In the example of medical care, it is likely that those upon whom the financial burden falls have little or no objection to the arrangement because a majority of individuals probably believe that their contribution is for a worthy cause, but the precedent of government intervention over volunteerism is a dangerous one from the standpoint of individual rights.

While one group bears the economic cost, even if the only cost is reduced access to medical care or reduced quality of care, there is a more broad cost to society in terms of the erosion of individual rights. In a rent seeking economic relationship where government is the agent of wealth transfers, it is not only exploited groups that loose rights but, in fact, all citizens. When wealth is transferred or redistributed by government, rights removed from exploited groups are not transferred to groups that receive the resultant economic benefits but rather accrue to the government itself, thus diminishing the rights of all and expanding the power of government, i.e., the power to claim the wealth of it’s citizens for whatever purposes are deemed worthy.

“The preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power. But there is also a constructive reason. The great advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science or in literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.” – Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

While wealth transfers may be undertaken with the best intentions, over time, the eventual consequence is an aggregation and concentration of power in government at the expense of individuals. Among other things, a precedent is established whereby rights are granted by government to citizens and not the reverse. Wealth transfers by government, therefore, result in the expansion and centralization of economic and legal power in the government at the expense of the rights of individual citizens.

In the extreme, the flow of rights from individuals to government may eventually result in a totalitarian state structure where rights per se no longer exist, or exist in name only, replaced, in practice, by privileges granted by government at its sole discretion. In terms of political philosophy, a constitutional republic aims to prevent totalitarianism (historically referred to as tyranny) by establishing that the people are sovereign and that the limited rights of government are granted to it at the sole discretion of the people. In contrast, an economic system, based on government redistribution of wealth, is ultimately incompatible with a structure where the people are sovereign, i.e., a constitutional republic, simply because wealth redistribution requires that the rights of government take precedence over the property rights of individuals.

There’s been one underlying basic fallacy in this whole set of social security and welfare measures, and that is the fallacy - this is at the bottom of it - the fallacy that it is feasible and possible to do good with other people’s money. That view has two flaws. If I want to do good with other people’s money, I first have to take it away from them. That means that the welfare state philosophy of doing good with other people’s money, at its very bottom, is a philosophy of violence and coercion. It’s against freedom, because I have to use force to get the money. In the second place, very few people spend other people’s money as carefully as they spend their own. The real problem with government is not the deficit. The real problem with government is the amount of our money that it spends.
– Milton Friedman

If the basic economic rights of individuals are undermined and government power expands, becoming more centralized, then controlling government spending may be problematic, particularly if doling out entitlements is central to the political goals of the regime in power, e.g., remaining in power. As has been seen in Europe, government spending for the purposes of expanding entitlements is constrained only by the capacity to borrow and to service debt, which is a pattern that can lead to economic collapse.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.” – Scottish historian Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee (1747-1813), unverified attribution

Totalitarianism: Public or Private?

Wealth redistribution is not the exclusive domain of government. Inflationary policies by the US Federal Reserve erode the value of money and dilute the share of wealth held by those who depend on the monetary system while transferring wealth either to banks or to those who first receive newly created money. The institution of central banking is itself a form of rent seeking where governments borrow their own currencies into existence from private banks passing the burden of repayment with interest on to taxpayers, e.g., as a value added or income tax, rather than maintaining the national currency as a public facility. Central banking is associated both with economic rent seeking insofar as private interests successfully influence the central bank in their favor, and with political philosophy where the rights of individuals are concerned, e.g., monetary inflation deprives savers of the right to spend tomorrow money obtained in exchange for labor today at a value consistent with the terms of the exchange. In the latter case, the central bank produces a de facto breach of contract that is technically legal. As John Maynard Keynes famously said, “By a continuing process of inflation, government [or private interests that control the central bank] can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.” In this regard, one can see the extent of the powers abdicated by governments to central banks. Central banks have the power to redistribute wealth and can do so either at the behest of government or, more importantly, in the service of private concerns.

The advent of bank bailouts, amounting to roughly $4 trillion in the US officially, but perhaps as much as $23.7 trillion, during the global financial crisis that began in 2008 was remarkable for two reasons other than the danger of systemic collapse thus averted and the amounts of money involved. First, it became apparent that large banks, and central banks, had more influence over governments than their own citizens. In fact, a majority of Americans opposed bank bailouts. Second, the power of central banks to transfer wealth was laid bare by the Federal Reserve’s purchase of mortgage backed securities which traded newly created money for what most observers agree was little more than worthless paper in an attempt to render otherwise bankrupt financial institutions solvent again.

The independent actions of the US federal government and Federal Reserve produced record profits and bonuses in the banking sector while, at the same time, household wealth in America fell significantly, creating the popular impression that Wall Street was somehow looting Main Street. The mechanism of wealth transfer, however, was actually the Federal Reserve, which had then been in place for 94 years prior to the crisis and during which, arguably, a similar process of wealth transfer had taken place gradually on a smaller scale. The arbitrary and sweeping nature of the emergency actions taken by the federal government and Federal Reserve in response to the financial crisis revealed the extent to which the powers of both the federal government and Federal Reserve had quietly expanded and become more centralized over a period of less than 100 years to a point of near absolute control over the wealth, i.e., the property, of US citizens. The roots of these developments, however, lay not in the economic bubbles leading up to the financial crisis that began in 2008 but in the 1913 Federal Reserve Act and in the New Deal that followed the resulting Great Depression.

“Legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways; hence, there are an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, bonuses, subsidies, incentives, the progressive income tax, free education, the right to employment, the right to profit, the right to wages, the right to relief, the right to the tools of production, interest free credit, etc., etc. And it is the aggregate of all these plans, in respect to what they have in common, legal plunder, that goes under the name of socialism.” – Frederic Bastiat, The Law (1848)

After World War II, the United States had embraced labor unions and social programs partly in response to the ideological struggle between the US and the Soviet Union, which was a totalitarian state, but the US, while fighting totalitarianism, planted the seeds of totalitarianism in its own backyard. Following decades during which social welfare programs expanded, and during which both the federal government and the financial sector grew dramatically as percentages of US GDP, the centralization of power revealed in 2008 indicated a largely unrecognized shift in political philosophy toward a totalitarian state structure.

A Monetary Empire in Decline

Perhaps every empire in decline witnesses a transition from surplus production to excess consumption and that is precisely what happened in the United States in the 1970s, marked first (after the establishment of the US Federal Reserve and then of a welfare state by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt) by the final abandonment of the gold standard in 1971 then by the 1975 shift from trade surplus to trade deficit. Both events were a consequence of spending in excess of real wealth production. These events ushered in the era of offshoring in the 1980s and of outsourcing to foreign firms in the 1990s. The idea was simple: exchange higher domestic costs for lower costs abroad and sell virtually the same products to the same domestic customers at higher margins, lower prices to gain market share, or simply hold prices at competitive levels by cutting costs. Under the banner of free trade, and later of globalization, the US government did virtually nothing to curtail these trends and the US economy appeared to expand as US dollars flooded the world in an unprecedented period of monetary expansion. As the accompanying deindustrialization of the United States progressed, two developments, in addition to the then accumulated capital in the US, mitigated the impact of declining US industrial production: (1) growth in service industries and (2) a combination of asset appreciation and increased consumer borrowing and spending (eventually reaching an unsustainable 70% of GDP), but both were fundamentally linked to monetary expansion and neither proved to be sustainable.

Replacing industrial production with a service economy was a flawed concept because as domestic production fell, it was, in fact, debt expansion that replaced the creation of real wealth, thus the US trade deficit soared. As factories closed and as jobs departed US shores for Taiwan, China, India and elsewhere, the selling of equivalent foreign-made goods and offshore services to Americans into a domestic market that included a growing number of displaced workers, became less and less plausible. The idea that displaced American workers would eventually embark upon new, service industry careers and, therefore, maintain their spending levels, in retrospect, was plainly wrong. While perhaps viable in a perfectly balanced global economy, it is difficult to imagine a sustainable domestic economy, in itself, comprising a majority of services since it would have to rely on material goods from abroad, i.e., it would suffer a chronic trade deficit. The answer for American businesses was to expand into global markets but this did little for the domestic economy, thus the US service economy failed to replace declining industrial production. What happened, in reality, was that the percentage of the total US population in the work force simply declined, flooding welfare roles and producing a growing political constituency favoring wealth redistribution.

Chart courtesy of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

One way to characterize the sequence of events in the US is to say that a paradigm shift took place where the US economy moved from production to consumption; from an industrial economy to a (so-called) service economy; from wealth creation to wealth extraction; from increasing living standards to wealth redistribution; from a nation of citizens and workers to a nation of “consumers,” all the while transitioning from the largest lender in the world to the largest debtor nation in the entire history of the world. In terms of US government spending, unsustainable growth in entitlements and pork barrel politics became business as usual in Washington D.C., while Wall Street shifted from investing, in order to participate in dividends and capital gains resulting from production and value creation, to trading based on technical indicators; a competition where participants seek to extract wealth from investors and other traders in what amounts to a casino game, i.e., a rent seeking structure. Flash trading using automated trading systems and high-frequency trading algorithms, for example, is pure rent seeking in the garb of high technology.

Other advanced economies, in varying degrees, have followed the American example, resulting in the emergence of rent seeking as the dominant economic paradigm of Western countries. To make matters worse, rent seeking by private concerns has become confused with capitalism.

The Flight of Capital

In the past, capital and individual entrepreneurs flowed into the United States from around the world because it represented two related things: freedom and economic opportunity. The post bailout world is one where large banks have, to some degree, hijacked the emergent totalitarian powers of governments in a model where perpetual sovereign debt represents a virtually unlimited flow of wealth from the subjects of totalitarian states to the banks that, through the institution of central banking, exert considerable influence over each nation’s government. The post bailout economy seems to be a veritable frenzy of rent seeking activity by banks, governments and political constituencies seeking entitlements. In all three cases, individual liberty, e.g., the right to own property is an impediment and the success of any of the three factions promises to encumber or to prevent entirely future economic growth. It makes little difference to individuals if the fruits of their labor are confiscated by inflation, by taxes to fund unsustainable government expansion, or by taxes to fund social welfare programs. In all three cases, the impetus toward entrepreneurship and the incentives for putting private capital, i.e., private property, at risk in new business ventures are reduced or eliminated. Regardless of which rent seeking faction wins, capitalism, which has created more wealth, raised the living standards of more people and which, because of its intrinsic compatibility with private property, has increased individual liberty more than any other economic system in the history of the world, is set to lose.

Capitalism, rather than ceasing to exist, will obviously adapt, thus capital will migrate away from economies characterized by rent seeking, i.e., by the consumption of wealth, to parts of the world characterized by the production of wealth. Capital may also be driven into black markets as seen under the former Soviet Union. All other things being equal, the next decade is likely to see a massive flight of capital from the United States to countries where property rights are respected (or where government is simply smaller) and where the values of investments are less vulnerable to the ravages of excess monetary expansion, counterproductive taxation and sovereign debt risk or redistribution by government in the service of political constituencies seeking entitlements. Within the latter constraints, China and emerging economies that are rich in natural resources and that produce commodities or physical goods will surely become the new bastions of capitalism.

(This guest post comes courtesy of Hera Research)

Hera Research, LLC, provides deeply researched analysis to help investors profit from changing economic and market conditions. Hera Research focuses on relationships between macroeconomics, government, banking, and financial markets in order to identify and analyze investment opportunities with extraordinary upside potential. The Hera Research Newsletter covers key economic data, trends and analysis including reviews of companies with extraordinary value and upside potential.

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A. Roosevelt

The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution –