The Democracy Manifesto (go to the manifesto) represents a significant moment as far as the global conversation on democracy is concerned. It is also a moment of new beginnings.  A good conversation is one that produces more of it. I hope this one snowballs into more debates and dialogues. Democracy is worldly, primarily an artifact. Like other human artifacts, it too needs care, continuous attention, ingenuity and passion. The ongoing conversation on democracy, as I can recall from my own experiences, never suffered from dearth of ambition. Yet it has always been an exercise in humility and deep engagement.

Imagine that you go into a ‘sleep mode’ today and are revived after a gap of several decades. What do think will have been the history of democracy while you slept? What narratives will emerge? Will experiences in different parts of the world, particularly in the global south, be a part of the larger story of democracy?

You only need to ask the question to sense the importance of an affirmative answer. If currently existing democracy in India has merely overcome corruption and ensured the rule of law, if China has moved towards democracy, if Brazil continues to have popular government and there are elections in South Africa that change the ruling party, if there is democracy in Egypt (who would have thought of writing that three months ago?) and Palestine… or if there are not any of these things…

It is clear that the dominant ways of thinking of democracy are and continue to be narrow. They tend to make the political clamour, experiments and mobilizations in different parts of the world invisible. But it is surely the case as our experiment shows that if we think of democracy and look forward then the still dominant view is quite inadequate. The future of democracy will be shaped and even decided in countries that are more experimental than its traditional homelands. The ‘frontier’ of democracy to borrow an image, is no longer found in the ‘west’ or the global north.

This is the starting point of our global conversation. It questions the dominant view, and shows that other ways of engaging with democratic experiences are possible. Not only possible but also necessary and now in the public domain. 

First, a bit of history. 

A few years ago a group of scholars and activists from South Asia wanted to reflect on democratic experiences in their countries in the region. They all agreed that knowledge about democracy must be produced in a democratic fashion and that this demands a methodology that does not devalue specificities of experiences. They initiated a conversation within the region and finally produced a report - State of Democracy in South Asia.  The impetus for a further, global conversation on democracy emerged from several regional conversations that followed especially this South Asian one. No doubt, in the past there were discussions on democracy. But this time round, the conversation delves deeply into the fundamental questions regarding the ways in which democracy has to be explained and evaluated.  It attempts to re-define what it means to be democratic.

The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), in Delhi, coordinated the initiative, and thanks to the intellectual energy of Professors Rajeev Bhargava and Yogendra Yadav, and a grant from the Ford Foundation, the global conversation took off to a good start three years ago.   During this period, three major international meetings, involving participants from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, were held (two in India and one in South Africa). Besides academics, a good number of participants came from the world of civil society and social movements.  The conversations thus far have been focused and productive.  

As I write this, activists and ordinary citizens have gathered in different parts of India to raise the issue of corruption in politics and public life. To them, fighting against corruption is a struggle for democracy. Like the continuing upsurge in the Arab World, the mobilization in India reflects the local concerns, dreams and aspirations. In some of these cases, practices on the ground seem to run way ahead of the dominant democratic thinking. However there are occasions when these events fall far short of the high normative standards of democracy. The lack of fit between theory and practice, in the above sense, is what grounds the substance of the ongoing conversation on democracy.

Being conversationalists we decided that we would produce only a draft of a Democracy Manifesto and ask for further thoughts, comments and even asides. Here it is. Let’s see what happens. We already have responses from Anthony Barnett, Laurence Whitehead, Jorge Heine and Melissa Williams. Hope more will join in.

The Democracy Manifesto: Re-imagining Democracy in Our Time 

To the introduction

The Arab democratic upsurge of 2011 inspires democrats all over the world. It has fired up the imagination of all those struggling for self-rule under authoritarianism. It also gives hopes to those engaged in deepening democratic practices everywhere. To all those who see democracy as a shared journey of humanity, it provides an occasion to reflect on what democracy means. This is a moment to re-imagine democratic ideals and practices in our time. 

1. Democracy as a political principle and as a form of government has expanded to nearly all corners of the world. It is recognized now that every human being must have an effective say in the decisions that affect their life. The notion that every government must respect this fundamental principle has greater acceptance than ever before. The ideal of self-rule has begun to fire up peoples’ imagination all over the world.  Democracy may not be a form of government that is experienced globally, but it has become an aspiration that is shared across the globe. This aspiration takes different forms. The ideal of popular self-rule has multiple readings.  Theses will depend on which people are being talked about, what understanding of self is being invoked and what  is accepted as self-rule.  “ The people” could mean all the citizens of a national state, the citizens at a region or locality, or the planet’s entire population. The self could be seen in terms of the individual citizen or in terms of a social community. Self-rule could be interpreted as voice, consultation, consent or consensus in any authoritative and binding decision-making process. A standard understanding is that democracy means free and fair elections, but it can also take other forms.
2. The globally dominant notion of what democracy means, however, does not reflect the journey of democracy. The prevailing orthodoxy about democracy  draws upon the limited experience of a small part of the globe. Selected facts of European and North American history have been turned into abstract principles. One of the many strands of western political thought has been assumed to be the sole repository of the normative imagination for democratic practices in different societies at different points of time.  An idealized notion of western liberal democracy hegemonizes the democratic imagination. It is assumed that capitalism and modernity have an intrinsic relationship with democracy. This hegemony of the western experience and imagination may not always affect popular struggles that are being waged in the name of democracy all over the world. Yet, it does constrain the translation of popular aspirations, practices and struggles into a set of norms, institutions and theories in the Global South. It also constrains the deepening of democracy within the global North.
3. Enriching our democratic imagination in line with the expansion of democracy would involve several things: widening our conceptual apparatus to accommodate diverse languages and idioms of democracy;  enriching our normative standards to reflect multiple histories and traditions of democratic thinking; and  correcting our explanations to account for radically different experiences and trajectories of democracy. Reimagining democracy along these lines is one of the most pressing ethical and political tasks of our times. It is imperative not just for democrats in the ‘aspiring’ and ‘new’ democracies, but equally in ‘established democracies’.
4. The prevailing orthodoxy on the democratic imagination assumes that democracy is strictly the gift of western civilization.  Yet, an honest genealogy of democratic ideas and practices must acknowledge that these are rooted in multiple trajectories. Ancient Greece was but one of the sources of democratic imagination. The ideas of democracy can be traced to Buddhist Sangha, Ganatantra traditions in ancient India, Islamic traditions in many societies and practices among the indigenous communities across the world. Much of the modern ideology and language of democracy has spread to most parts of the world from Western Europe and North America. Many of the well-established democratic institutions and practices in today's world were secured first in Europe through a series of popular struggles. The gains of these struggles are now part of our global human heritage.  Yet the western legacy is neither singular nor unambiguous.  For every advance in democracy, there is also the history of denial of democratic rights. Besides, the history of the expansion of self-rule for one's own citizens was inextricably woven with the history of denial of self-rule to larger subject populations outside and ethnic minorities inside the territory of a ‘democratic’ state. For most of the world, the contemporary practices of democracy are neither a direct off-shoot of the various ancient traditions nor an imitation of the modern west. The democratic aspiration spread to most of the world by way of anti-colonial struggles and the various movements for self-determination and self-rule in the last two centuries.
5. Enriching the democratic imagination requires questioning the simple-minded democracy/non-democracy binary canonized by the dominant orthodoxy. As democracy becomes the most sought after regime label, the quest for self-rule is reduced to a contestation about the latter. This promotes binary, either-or, thinking over a graded understanding of the spectrum from democracy to non-democracy. The dominant orthodoxy’s focus on classifying a country either as a democracy or a non-democracy encourages façade democracies. This binary distinction has resulted in an excessive focus on the threshold of when a non-democracy turns into a democracy.  This summative and static judgment performs the function of putting some ‘established democracies’ beyond reproach. This artificial binary construct must come to an end.  Democratic practices may exist in apparently non-democratic regimes. Established democratic states can embody a vast array of non-democratic practices. There is no "finished product democracy" and there never will be.  The aspiration for democracy is open-ended. Each fresh step opens new horizons.
6. The dominant orthodoxy espouses teleology. Democracy is the ultimate and inevitable destination. This often leads to thinking in terms of stages or pre-conditions to the ‘transition’ to and ‘consolidation’ of democracy. Yet, there are multiple sequences and routes by which different political regimes come to be democratic. The route taken by democracy in the west is but one sequence of many. In turn, there are multiple trajectories within the west itself. Material prosperity and cultural uniformity are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for democracy.  We also need to move away from an instrumental and determinist view of the outcomes of democracy.  Democracy leads to different outcomes in different historical settings.  Democrats need to be aware of the dysfunctions of democracy, and not just in 'new' or 'developing' democracies. The case for democracy cannot rest on dubious and instrumental grounds such as its purported usefulness for desired economic outcomes. Democracy must be cherished for its intrinsic value, for what it means to human dignity.
7. Reimagining democracy requires a fundamental shift. There is a tendency to assume that democracy is an attribute of political regimes rather than that of political practices. This leads to privileging form over substance, to making too much of formal political institutions and to reducing democracy to electoral democracy. An emphasis on practices would require a more careful and painstaking sifting of the substance of political action, its contextual meaning and its consequences.  This also enables us to think of democracy beyond the formal domain of politics. Practices within the domain of the family or the market, for example, need to be viewed in terms of the extent to which they enable or constrain self-rule. Democracy needs to be thought of as a way of life.
8. Questioning the dominant orthodoxy also leads us to the search for an appropriate level of analysis. There is a need to move beyond a fixation with the national state as the natural unit within which one thinks about self-rule. The locus of national power is no doubt the principal level of struggles for self-rule. But to focus exclusively on it side-steps the colossal inequalities among and within nation states. The latter deny vast numbers of people across the globe an effective voice over decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods. The quest for democracy must go wherever effective and binding decision-making occurs.  Shifting sites of sovereignty require that we begin to think of inter-national relations as an arena of democratic contestation. The same could be extended to the level of continents or other groupings of nations. At the same time, the unit of analysis needs to be extended downwards, to regional and local units, for this is the level at which most citizens experience self-rule or its absence.  
9.  The idea of democracy is becoming global, and it acquires multiple meanings. As democracy becomes a global aspiration, it attaches itself to different and often competing values.  This entails a conversation with pre-existing cultural values. Many of these values are contradictory to the democratic ideal; they must go. Some of the pre-existing values are not fully compatible with democracy; they must change. At the same time, the idea of democracy itself does and must undergo a change.  As the idea of democracy is interpreted and re-interpreted in different parts of the world, misunderstandings and misuses will arise. Therefore democracy is and will remain a contested concept.  This contest is resolved by entering on a case by case basis. It cannot be resolved a-priori by insisting upon an original, all-encompassing definition of democracy.  The demand that democracy all over the world must conform to a fixed definition first worked out in one part of the globe is inherently undemocratic. The ideal of democracy requires a respect for the democracy of knowledge. Knowledge production is not limited to some privileged sites, some societies or some period in history. The ideal of democracy has emerged from a dialogue of the various expressions of self-rule in human history. If democracy is anchored in reason, dialogue is the custodian of reason.

10. Current definitions of democracy threaten to reduce it to an institutional checklist derived from idealized notions of the experience of a small part of the globe.  The ideal of democracy is seen to be synonymous with the historical form of liberal democracy in advanced capitalist societies of Western Europe and North America.  Often this is further reduced down to a few key institutional features.  Yet, the historical experience of democracy in most of the world provides overwhelming evidence against this approach.  More often than not, imported institutions do not produce the same consequences that they did in their home context. Similarity of form is no guarantee of democratic substance.  In fact, a search for familiar form is an invitation to cynical and superficial copying for extraneous gains. On the one hand, the experience of ‘established democracies’ shows that the appearance of a democratic form of government can very well go hand in hand with the de facto rule by experts, the dominance of corporate power, social control by private networks and  the decline of citizen participation. On the other hand, the experience of democratic success outside the global North suggests that a departure from the mandated institutional form is often a pre-condition for success.  Mass democracies of post-colonial societies tend to acquire depth through practices that may not have a legitimate institutional expression in the conventional wisdom on democracy.  Institutions are crucial to the formation and strengthening of democracies, but what institutions do depends on the context in which these are located.  We need to shift the focus from the form of an institution to its real- life consequences in a given context. Democracy is an ever-evolving principle that can take different institutional expression at different points of time in different societies.

11. Thus, the principles and practices of democracy have to be open to multiple sources of learning. There are several living 'traditions' of consultation and consensus making all over the world. Such local practices need to be 'critically transformed' in order to make them relevant for democratic practices today. New power sharing arrangements are being worked out all over the world in different contexts, in response to different needs. Various monitoring tools are being invented in different democracies. So far only a few of these appear on the radar of  the democratic imagination. The search for a richer democratic imagination requires that we look for practices, institutions, intellectual traditions and thinkers everywhere to help us reshape democratic theory.

12.  The very notion of exporting democracy is inimical to the spirit of democracy. Democracy promotion can turn into democratic imperialism. Like all ideologies, democracy too can turn into a dogma. Strengthening democracy is about deepening the values which shape the principles of democracy within a society. The 'culture of democracy' of a given society is vital to building democracy. The idea that some people lack 'culture' and are not ready for democracy also goes against the principle of democracy.

13.  To deparochialize the idea of democracy is not to privilege an Eastern or Southern view of democracy over existing Western or Northern views. To the contrary: it means universalizing our understanding of democracy and democratic practices. The insistence on difference and divergence is designed to synthesize the multiple experiences of democracy. This is a necessary condition for reclaiming the global heritage of democracy and for reimagining a truly global future for it. FROM SOUTH TO NORTH.

Of the various values that the idea of democracy attaches itself to, four deserve a special mention.  First, democracy requires individual and collective freedom, for self-rule cannot exist in the absence of a basic guarantee of freedom.  Any kind of coercion or violence thus goes against the spirit of democracy. Second, the idea of self-rule requires that everyone have an equal say in matters that concern them.  Democratic deliberations require a level playing ground, free from widespread inter- and intra-group inequalities. Third, the ideal of self-rule requires a recognition of communities that often constitute the self. Thus democracy requires respect for deep diversity. In a world where most political units contain diverse communities, any attempt at cultural homogenization is not in keeping with the spirit of democracy. Fourth, given that democracy requires maintaining the conditions for democratic deliberations for future generations, it implies an ethic of responsibility towards nature.

Ocean View Montessori is looking for the right person to join our staff as a Head Teacher. We are looking for someone who has their Early Childhood Montessori certification or is presently enrolled in a Montessori training program. Prior experience with pre school aged children is preferred but not essential.

Our small school offers a bright, spacious, well equipped classroom that has been designed to stimulate the curiosity and interest of the children. In addition to our indoor Montessori classroom, we provide a beautiful outdoor playground space complete with a children’s garden. Ocean View Montessori also provides art, music, yoga and various field trips.

We are a year round school. Our goal for parents, children and teachers is to foster a loving, relaxed, nurturing environment with a friendly and supportive staff. We have intentionally kept our school small to create a family-like environment. The children range from ages 2 ½ to 5 ½ years.

Terms of Employment:

-Job is available beginning June, 2011.
-Hours are 8:30-3:00.
-Holidays are paid (including 2 weeks for both Winter and Spring Break).
-Job contract required.
-Salary is dependent upon experience.

Interested applicants may apply by submitting resume. We look forward to hearing from you!

• Compensation: Dependent Upon Experience
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

When Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) finished 9th overall in last year’s Giro d’Italia, a discerning minority regarded the performance, and not Ivan Basso’s victory, as the most significant of the Corsa Rosa for Italian cycling. For years an unheralded journeyman, Pinotti had slowly risen to prominence in the latter part of the noughties as contemporaries like Ivan Basso and Danilo Di Luca’s stock fell, their reputations and palmarès sullied by doping scandals.

Few, though, would have batted an eyelid at Pinotti’s five Italian national time trial titles, his four days in the pink jersey in 2007 or indeed his 2010 Giro campaign were it not for the anti-doping convictions he wore so forthrightly on his sleeve. A graduate engineer, he also spoke eloquently about the environment, the challenge of attracting kids to cycling and just about any topic on which his views were solicited. He was, in short, a worthy spokesperson for a cycling nation that for years had placed its trust in men of straw.

Last December, on the eve of the 2011 season, we sat down with Pinotti to retrace his career path up to this point. With just ten days to go to the start of the Giro in Turin, we’re about to discover whether cycling’s voice of reason – and Pinotti’s palmarès – will continue on the same heartening upward curve.

A shorter, adapted version of this interview appeared in the April issue of Procycling magazine.

Cyclingnews: Marco, let’s go right back to the start. How and why did you start cycling?

Marco Pinotti: I started riding when I was 16. I was Matteo Algeri’s teammate. One summer I went round to his house to do homework and we went for a bike ride together. He said I was quite good, that I should give it a go and so on. Then I went to watch an Under 23 race that October. I liked it so I started looking for a team. I found out there was one in my village. So I joined and the next season I started racing.

Did cycling run in the family?

No one rode bikes in my family but my granddad always liked cycling and wanted me to race. He died in January 1992 and that was the year I started racing. He never saw me on a bike but I know he’d have been my biggest fan. I was lucky to be from an area where there’s a lot of passion for cycling, which really developed after the war with Gimondi. He was winning in the sixties, then the oil industry was in crisis in the 1970s and people started using bikes as a mode of transport. So it really grew, then in the 1980s and 1990s you got the ripple effect of Gimondi and that generation. There were lots of clubs in the area then. In the second half of the 1990s, there were something like 27 professionals living in Bergamo, some born there, some from other regions or countries. They were all guys who had started riding in the late 1980s. Now it’s very different; now there are only a handful of pros in Bergamo. I think there are two reasons why it’s changed so much. One is that people just don’t ride bikes as much any more. The other is that the foreigners aren’t coming to Bergamo any more. There’s still Kanstantin Siutsou, Alexander Kuchinski, one of the Efimkin brothers, but that’s about it. That’s because it’s no longer a good place to train. If a young rider, someone like Tejay Van Garderen, asks me to recommend a place to stay and train in Italy, I’d like to say Bergamo but I tell them to go somewhere else.

Kids of your generation in Italy grew up very aware of cycling and the top riders, didn’t they? Do you think that’s changed now?

Italian kids are maybe as aware of cycling as they once were but it’s changed. There are a lot fewer races. There are a lot fewer kids too, when you think of it. Now families have one, two kids on average. There’s more traffic, so parents don’t want their kids on the road. And there’s a lot of competition from other sports. I don’t know…On one hand, the Federation will tell you that the numbers are going up but those statistics are “doped” slightly by the numbers doing mountain biking, which is safer. Granfondos have really taken off too – but those are generally over 30s who are doing it for health reasons. And again, Bergamo’s not at the forefront of that trend.

Did you follow the Giro, the Tour?

Even before I started racing, I followed cycling. I followed all sport. I loved the Tour – with LeMond, Bugno, the back end of Hinault’s career. But I didn’t have any idols as such. I can remember the Fignon and LeMond Tour really well. But I wasn’t a “fan” of any one rider.

You were more focused on your academic work? You went on to get a degree in engineering….

I was certainly more focused on my school work than cycling at that time. I started racing but I didn’t intend to turn pro. That idea only really entered my head the year before I turned pro. I always had to juggle academic work with cycling, so I was always a bit pressed for time. I thought I’d turn pro for two or three years and see how things went, whether my body could take the strain. But I would never have expected a career like I’ve had, so long and successful.

How successful were you as an amateur?

I won races but I was never up there with Basso and Di Luca, those guys. I was always in a small amateur team. Now, and even more so then, there was a massive difference between the big, very organized teams who went on training camps and were basically run like pro teams, with riders who were effectively pros because they’d left school and cycling was all they did. I never went to training camps. I just used to race on a Saturday then go back to my parents’. So, I won races but small ones. I was never really in the set-up for the national team. Time trials were the only way for me to get noticed on a national level. Without those, I would never have gone beyond a few good results in regional races. There was a bit of a dearth of good time triallists so that’s where I slotted in. That’s what got my name out there on a national level

They were rough, unpleasant times in Italian amateur cycling….

Yep. Absolutely. I don’t know what it’s like now but it certainly wasn’t easy then. History has taught us that a lot of victories in that era were the fruit of illegal short-cuts and not talent.

Pinotti in his element

You came into contact with professional cycling for the first time immediately after the Festina affair, when you joined Polti as a stagiaire in August 1998…

I guess I was conscious of what was happening…but the Festina affair was a good thing because it opened up the possibility for change. It gave cycling a big jolt. When I turned pro, I heard mentalities were already changing. Or at least there was that hope. So that was the first jolt, which made people finally take the war on doping seriously.

But did you know what you were getting into?

No, I had no idea.

And you hadn’t seen team-mates or opponents doping with your own eyes?

No.

So it wasn’t as though you were going to races and your team-mates were filling the minibar with EPO…

No. I think if that was ever the case, it probably changed in 1998. After Festina there probably wasn’t much organized doping. It was individual riders making their own choices then. Perhaps the teams were closing their eyes to it but there was no organized doping. I don’t know what it was like before Festina. But something definitely changed there.

Had you already asked yourself the question of whether you would dope or not?

I was lucky that I was turning pro just because I could. I also had an education behind me. I turned pro in 1999 and graduated in 2000. My main aim was to get my engineering degree, then I was going to evaluate whether I could still race my bike. If I could survive with my values and not do too badly…I like racing my bike, so why not continue? Then when I got my degree I felt even more secure because I had something to fall back on. I even went for interviews after I graduated just to see how attractive the offers were. But they weren’t so attractive that I wouldn’t rather carry on racing.

And in fact, in those first two years, you…

Did nothing [laughs].

Well, yeah, you didn’t get amazing results but you did OK.

Yes, yeah. I mean, I turned pro and rode and finished the Tour in my first year. It was one of my biggest achievements in the first part of my career. It was the first Tour that Armstrong won. I finished and the directeur sportifs were all happy with me. 

But it must have been tough.

Well, I didn’t do anything exceptional but, honestly, I finished without ever having been on my knees. I was OK. It was actually a really good thing to do the Tour in my first year because I said to myself that was as hard as it could get. The level was high but the others also had two legs, just like me, and there I was with them. It was a good first experience of the Tour.

Your friend Matteo Algeri had bit more trouble than you adapting to the pro scene.

He did two and a half years. He was passionate but he had lots of physical problems which maybe came from overextending himself to get up to scratch. He’d eventually had enough.

What were your sporting highlights in those first couple of years?

Finishing the Tour in 1999, coming second in a stage in 2001… I was in a break with Rik Verbrugghe. That was the first time I really became aware of Jonathan Vaughters because that was the day he had to quit the race because his eye was swollen from a bee sting and he couldn’t take cortisone. I saw the photos in the paper the next day. I was second in that stage and I was fifth or sixth in the young riders’ classification. I was 30 or 40 minutes behind on general classification but still one of the best Under 25s. That was good for me because I was coming off a few physical problems. Even then I realized that I recovered pretty well. I might have been 50th overall in that Tour but I was in the top five young riders and that was having lost a bit of time in the flat stages. In the mountains I was in the top 40 or 50. I can remember the Alpe d’Huez stage that Armstrong won, when he bluffed Ullrich. I was in the first group of around 40 at the bottom of Alpe d’Huez. I can remember Armstrong bluffing, the penultimate climb…

The Glandon.

That’s it. There were a few hard sections and I could see Armstrong dropping back behind me. He didn’t look too bad but it seemed strange that he was there at the back of the group. There was Livingston on the front, then Ullrich…I can remember Telekom working the whole day. Then we descended, got to the foot of Alpe d’Huez and I got dropped. I can remember being puzzled when I saw him on the Glandon.

With hindsight and everything that’s happening now, what are your impressions of Armstrong?

When I rode the Tour in 1999 he was a source of inspiration. I was like a lot of other people. Looking back now….when he gave up the first time and L’Equipe published the article about his 1999 urine samples, it was a bit of a kick in the stomach.

You believed in him before that?

Here’s the thing [long hesitation]. As long as you don’t have proof, you always hope. I hoped. But there I thought, blimey, everything people said, the rumours…it was all confirmed, albeit not from a legal point of view. Now all I know, I read in the newspapers, and when I read about this investigation in the United States, I just think there’s no point now – the time to act was years ago.

Would context be any excuse? If one were to say, if he’s proven guilty, that plenty of other people were doping?

No, it’s not.

There’s an argument that he also dictated, created the context. He was the standard bearer for the sport. If he had sent out strong signals, would the context have changed?

OK, but it’s not the riders’ responsibility to send out signals. His job is to race his bike and win. Armstrong never tested positive. OK, there are those tests from 1999 but he was never convicted. What annoys me is the role the authorities played or didn’t play. A few months ago I read Paul Kimmage’s book, Rough Ride. As I read it, I was thinking, blimey, this was 1990! And if my memory serves me, Kimmage said that one of the reasons he was writing it was so that the UCI would finally see what was happening. He talked about how the riders all knew there would be no dope tests in the last stage of a major tour, so they took amphetamines. And this gave him a dilemma: he didn’t want to take amphetamines but he did want to help his team leader. So what could he do? In the book, he was effectively asking why the UCI let this kind of thing happen. He wrote it as an invitation to the authorities to open their eyes. They didn’t and so they’re maybe the guiltiest ones.

OK, but there wasn’t always the technology to detect certain substances. The riders also had to take responsibility, let their own ethics govern the sport.

Agreed, but for years these people underestimated the problem. In 1997 it was the riders who applied pressure to introduce a haematocrit limit. Maybe it did more harm than good – I don’t know – but it was the people at the base of the pyramid, the riders, who demanded action before the authorities. I wasn’t there at the time but…I’m more angry with the people who facilitated all this or who didn’t do enough. But then yeah, you’re also right about riders and their ethics. Now there are people trying to undermine the credibility of the biological passport, which is a positive thing that the UCI have introduced. A lot has changed but when Landis says there are riders who the UCI has protected, if that’s true, it’s very serious.

Allegations don’t come much more serious that that.

Yeah, because there is this conflict of interests between promotion and organization. If I was in the UCI’s shoes, it’s clear that I would want to create heroes, drama. The two roles, promotion and legislation, should be separated. There ought to be collaboration with the UCI but they shouldn’t be in control of both areas.

Doping is a completely selfish act, isn’t it? Would you agree that these riders have no concern for the wellbeing of the sport?  

I agree.

For example, Danilo Di Luca gave an interview this winter explaining why he collaborated with the Italian Olympic Committee’s (CONI) anti-doping commission. He said he’d done it “because he couldn’t stand being away from races”. There was no notion of him doing it to serve the sport.

This is hypocrisy at its worst. Don’t get me started on Di Luca because if you do we’ll still be here tomorrow morning. I don’t want to talk about him.

But it’s obvious that you’d like to…

[long sigh] You can’t say what he said. I don’t know what he told the investigators – he must have said something if they reduced his ban – but compare Di Luca and Tom Zirbel. Zirbel was banned for two years by USADA having tested positive for DHEA. He didn’t know how it got into his body and he definitely didn’t take it intentionally. Nonetheless, he admitted that what enters an athlete’s body was his responsibility and he wasn’t able to prove that it was contamination, perhaps because he didn’t have the money and the lawyers. Anyway, he couldn’t prove it and he got banned for two years. There was another case - Zirbel heard about it - of an athlete who did manage to prove that he’d taken a contaminated supplement and the company got sued – but the athlete still only got a three-month reduction to his ban. Then along comes Di Luca, who’s already been charged twice -  once for consulting a doctor who’s banned from cycling for life and now for this. Di Luca tests positive, admits he did it and then he provides the investigators with information, which he can do because he’s an expert in the field, and they give him a nine-month reduction. Then what? He throws his hands up in the air and says, “I didn’t name any names. I didn’t spit in the soup. I just explained my doping methods.” So as an expert in the field, he’s told the investigators how you go about doping. At this point Zirbel says, “Ah, it’s a shame that I’m not an expert in doping. I should have pretended to be one then I’d be able to start racing again next year. Because I’m an idiot, though, and I let this substance get into my system without knowing how, I’ve got two years and I’m stuck with it.” You see these are the inconsistencies of the system. I read what Zirbel wrote and I thought, yeah, he’s right.  I respect him. I mean, they are two different bodies making the decisions, USADA and CONI, but the lack of uniformity is still unacceptable. It’s things like this that undermine cycling’s credibility.

And yet it’s a lot better than it was.

I say that if things remain as they are, it’s at least a big improvement on fifteen years ago. There’s been some progress. Everyone whinges about McQuaid but ever since he took over at the UCI – I don’t know, maybe under another president there would have been even greater strides – but things have improved. Maybe it’s because he’s come under pressure from WADA, the riders, the media, but efforts have been made. Cycling must be one of the cleanest sports now. I mean, I don’t know anything about other sports, but I know what happens in cycling. Sure, if you read WADA’s report on the Tour de France, you think to yourself that they’re still not doing enough, that the holes in the net are still too wide, but what do you do?

Is one of the reasons you still “hope” Armstrong was clean his charisma, his presence?

He definitely has that. I rode the 2009 Giro alongside him and you could see his charisma. Cycling has benefited from that. Do I hate him? No, because I’m more upset with the authorities. I never said a word to Armstrong all those years when he was winning the Tour. He was a lot more accessible at the Giro in 2009. Someone from the hospital in Bergamo called me during that race to ask whether Armstrong might agree to have his photo taken with the oncology department, since there was a stage finishing in Bergamo. I thought to myself there was no way, he’d have people asking him for stuff every two minutes…but I’d told this person that I’d try anyway. So at the first opportunity, in the middle of a stage one day, I found him in the bunch and asked him whether he might be able to help. He was really gracious, actually. He said they should look in the roadbook, find out where his team were staying at the end of the stage to Bergamo and meet him there in the evening. He even asked for their name, so he knew who it was. Sure enough, the day after the Bergamo stage, he found me in the bunch and told that the people had come and got the photos they wanted. Apparently the people from the hospital had invited him to some kind of conference in October but he couldn’t go because his girlfriend was due to give birth then. He was very approachable, really, which is not what you’d expect of someone that famous and in demand.

Another charismatic rider whose career overlapped with yours was Gilberto Simoni, your team-mate at Lampre and then again at Saunier Duval.

His was a different kind of charisma. He came to Lampre in 2000 and rode with us until the end of 2001, when he went to Saeco. Then in 2006 I rode with him again at Saunier Duval. I have good memories of him. He’s not someone who brings a team together, not that kind of leader…

Really?

Not in my experience. He was always a bit in his own world. He was very methodical [pauses] but in his own way. In winter, he hardly rode his bike. I can remember the first year that I was at Lampre, he started his training in January. Then he went and finished third in the Giro. Let’s say that he did things his way. Then, by the time we rode for Saunier Duval, he had become much more of a leader, which he needed to be because we had a lot of young riders. The directeur sportif would often give his briefing in the morning and Gibo would interject with his own ideas. He started to have a big influence on the directeurs sportifs, probably as a result of having won the Giro twice and grown in confidence. He didn’t shout but he didn’t have to; when he talked, you listened.

With the media, he was very enigmatic. Sometimes it could be quite comical.

He was like that with us too. You thought he wasn’t paying attention but he noticed everything, then he’d deliver these killer one-liners. If you messed up in a race he wasn’t one to bang his fists the table and if you did something right he’d always remember it. You’d finish stages happy with the work you’d done for the team but thinking Gibo probably hadn’t even noticed certain things, yet he always did. He was always brutally frank as well – a typical mountain man. He didn’t care about public relations.

Which other riders have particularly influenced you in your career?

I learned a lot from Chris Horner.

Tell us more.

Yeah. I raced with him at Saunier Duval. He had real race craft, really good tactical sense, but all of his own, very American. I can remember in the 2005 Tour of Switzerland, he, Leonardo Piepoli and Fabian Jeker were our strongest riders on the climbs and in the transitional stages rest of us had to cover the breaks. I can remember this puzzling him. He said that all team leaders seemed to do in Europe was sit on for the whole race and see how far they could get on the summit finishes. He couldn’t understand why the leaders didn’t also pull on the flat stages, or why they weren’t covering the breaks too. So he had pretty different perspective from the rest of us. He’d been in Europe in the late 1990s, it hadn’t really worked, then he’d come over for the second time in 2005. He was 34 at the time yet, to listen to him, you’d have thought that he still had six, seven years as a pro ahead of him. I couldn’t work it out: he’d been at La Française des Jeux, broken his scaphoid or something, then won everything in America and come back over here. And here he was now sounding like a kid at the start of his career. I said to myself, blimey, never mind six or seven, the way he’s talking he’s going to ride for another ten years. He was 34 then and now I’ve just had my best season at 34 years of age… and he’s just had his best year at 39.

So it was the power of positive thinking, youth as a self-fulfilling prophesy?

That’s it. I was 29 at the time and I was thinking I didn’t have that long left. I looked at him and thought he’d have one, two years at best. But then you heard him, and five years on you can see now that it wasn’t just wishful thinking on his part. There he is at 39 winning at the Tour of the Basque Country.

In your own career, moving to T-Mobile, which soon became Highroad, was a massive turning point.

Yeah. I’d always wanted to ride in a foreign team and the culture of an American team suited me perfectly. The constant striving to improve, the innovation…it lit a fire under the passion I already had.  It’s the main reason why I’ve improved so much. The old way that still prevailed in Italian teams had its advantages but you only have to look at what this team’s for done me to see that this is the way forward. Liquigas is still a big team but Italy’s still a very traditionalist country because its cycling culture has such deep roots. For example, in this team we spend hours if not days getting our bikes properly fitted. In Italian teams, if they do it, it’s just for show, for the press. I’m not even sure they’re convinced that these things have an effect on performance. For example, at Lampre, Compex supplied us with electro-stimulators, like they do here. But there the directeurs gave us the Compex and that was it, whereas here, last year, we had a two-hour seminar on how to use it. See what I mean? There I seem to remember half of the team got a Compex at the start of the season, they took some photos, then the rest of us got ours later in the year, but no one ever told us how to use it. The same thing with nutritional supplements and equipment. You might already know the stuff that they tell you but you might not. Maybe in Italy the amateurs are more advanced in terms of what they know but then they stop learning.

Somehow it’s hard to imagine you becoming a directeur sportif when you retire, whether it’s in Italy or anywhere else.

You never know. I can’t really see myself driving a team car but you never know. At the moment I’m thinking about racing and nothing else. I’m better off being like Chris Horner and living for the moment. That’s where my focus is now.

...

How much progress is Britain making on gay rights under a Tory-led coalition? Comedian Rhona Cameron, one of the first out lesbians on TV, takes on gay Tory MP Nigel Evans

Over the past few weeks, doubts have been raised about how far gay equality has really come: a male couple were thrown out of a Soho pub for kissing, it was revealed that no data had been collected on the Conservative election promise not to deport gay asylum seekers, and the ban on gay men donating blood may be lifted only if they haven't had sex for 10 years. Emine Saner brought together comedian and author Rhona Cameron and Nigel Evans, Tory MP and deputy speaker, who came out in December, to discuss. First, they talked about reports this week that kissing between same-sex couples on television could be banned before the watershed following a review.

Rhona Cameron: I know the review is about any sexual scenes before the watershed, but when it gets this "gay" focus in reports, it's very worrying.

Nigel Evans: It's sad that it was portrayed in that way. I don't think David Cameron would agree to only banning gay kissing before 9pm, but not heterosexual kissing. On equality legislation alone, it would simply not happen.

RC: The Conservative party does, as it stands, have more out gay people than other parties. It must have been difficult for you, or anyone who had to live a life that wasn't true to their heart, and I'm very pleased for you that you came out and are able to be free in what you are.

NE: I get asked what impact it's had on me, and I would say none, really.

RC: No, there will have been in your inner world …

NE: Yes, definitely.

RC: You couldn't have come out 20 or 30 years ago.

NE: It would have been a lot more difficult. I asked Gareth Thomas, the rugby player who came out, to give me some advice. Chris Smith [the former Labour MP], in coming out when he did was groundbreaking. Or someone like Peter Tatchell. I have huge respect for him the more I've read about him, and about how he has been pilloried for the battles he has fought. For me, being something like the 22nd or 23rd openly gay MP is not brave at all. I helped only a small number. Look at the fact that [cricketer] Steven Davies came out the other day, and Anton Hysén, the Swedish footballer. Sport remains a problem.

RC: There are no out lesbians in major league sport.

NE: If only we could get some gay footballers to come forward, that would help. It's daft to say there are no gay footballers in the premier league – of course there are. Every one of them who could possibly find the courage to come out would help so many people.

RC: I was one of the first out lesbians on British television, and I've often been the one who has had to represent the lesbian thing. It must be nice not having to mention it.

NE: I'm not a poster boy for gays, either.

RC: That's a title, isn't it!

NE: I'm too bloody old.

RC: When did you join the Conservatives?

NE: At 16, in the mid-70s.

RC: It does stun me that you can be gay and be in the Conservative party. How did you feel as a young person knowing you were gay, being involved in a party that put into force draconian measures like section 28, and the legacy of that? The reason people like me were bullied at a young age, which affected me for the rest of my life, was because we grew up in a climate of persecution and oppression. Are you telling me that when you heard the beginnings of section 28, you didn't take a hit for that, you didn't feel something in your heart?

NE: No, because I was going through denial, and what I would describe as my Neanderthal phase. It was just stupid, I clearly wasn't thinking. I probably thought, wrongly, that this is what the public want and we should concede it [Evans backed section 28, and once voted against lowering the age of consent]. Of course, I was completely wrong. I said it when I came out, I showed absolutely no leadership, whereas David Cameron has. When you say you can't work out how there are so many gays in the Tory party – David is hugely instrumental in that, because of his approach to gay issues and equality.

RC: There was some embarrassment around his interview with Martin Popplewell [Cameron made several gaffes when interviewed by the Gay Times in the run-up to the election]. He didn't look too comfortable then, did he?

NE: No. There was a hiccup there.

RC: Sometimes what they say isn't really what they feel, and when they're caught out, they say what they feel. To be fair, Chris Grayling [the Tory MP who said before the general election that B&B; owners should be allowed to bar homosexual guests] was dealt with, and I have to applaud that.

NE: He's been rewired.

RC: How do you feel about the news that the ban on gay men giving blood may end? Even though it only applies to men who haven't had sex for 10 years.

NE: Because of my position as deputy speaker, I'm not allowed to express an opinion, but what I can say is that a lot of my gay friends feel very unhappy. Equality is basically the rule of thumb, and that's what it should be irrespective of what the issue happens to be. If you have distinguishing elements between gay and not gay, you have a problem.

RC: It's ludicrous. There are so many heterosexual men who have unprotected sex and give blood. The Anthony Nolan Trust takes bone marrow from gay men. Do you feel your party are sticking to their promises on equality?

NE: As far as I can see, yes. Irrespective of what you're saying about the Martin Popplewell interview, David is very much at the forefront of opening doors, and there being so many openly gay members of parliament has helped the issue. There are still some people in all parties who are gay and haven't come out yet for whatever reason, and I suspect there are homophobic people in all parties. But things have moved on to a fundamental degree.

RC: Homophobic bullying is still one of the major reasons for suicide and self-harm among young people. I acknowlege and congratulate certain steps forward. But on the other hand, we can't sit here and make out it's all OK and easy to be gay.

NE: We're still getting gay people being beaten up in the streets of London, which I find incredible.

RC: I got an email recently from a 15-year-old girl struggling enormously – in this day and age. Something like 90% of teachers have said there is homophobic bullying. Seven out of 10 teachers have said they received no support when they reported it. What the Tories did was swore a pledge to help tackle homophobic bullying in schools, and yet those percentages have not come down. And there has been an increase in homophobic attacks. There are people who are demoted at work, and those who are still living sad lives of lies, who can't be themselves. If a party goes into power promising things – equality, tackling homophobic bullying, more support for gay asylum seekers – they should stick to that.

First off, I just want to say Thank You to those who joined us both in person and virtually last week at our Impact 2011: Building the Borderless Workplace conference. Personally, I always get energized by these events, especially when I have the opportunity to participate in real-time conversations with the amazing people who make up the leaders, practitioners, solution providers, media market, and researchers of the HR industry. What a passionate and vocal industry we work in!

I wanted to wrap up this week by sharing some insights on what I saw, heard, and personally felt at the conference last week for those who were unable to attend in person: 

What I Saw:

Although we were in the middle of beautiful St. Petersburg, with a view of the water just outside our windows and at a venue that often feels like you've stepped into a 1940’s vintage Hollywood movie set, the conference rooms were packed with passionate HR professionals taking copious notes on topics that ranged from Leadership development, HR Strategy, to What Learning will look like in 2021 (free streamed sessions). The questions and conversations following the sessions, made it into hallway discussions, and often ended up bleeding into lunch conversations. Participants were focused on learning as much as they could from everyone at the conference, especially from each other.

The networking events were lively and provided an opportunity for informal connections that hopefully everyone found positive. For example Laura Ann Preston from Kelly Services was in demand for introductions at every event based on her discussions on talent segmentation and changing the performance management dialogue in her Talent Initiatives panel. I think her exact words were “I was being chased”, but it was said with a smile. HR analytics and workforce planning was another hot topic. I’m sure I personally introduced Akil Walton, from Eaton Corporation to over 30 different people looking to learn more about Eaton’s great experience in building an HR Analytics function.  Everyone was looking to either increase their own knowledge or bring back information that their colleagues could use. 

What I Heard:

Theses discussions started during the pre-conference executive roundtables on Tuesday, which included companies that ranged from the University of Michigan to Darden Restaurants, and continued till Friday afternoon when I had the pleasure of finally sitting down to grab lunch with Starwood’s head of Talent Management and we finished our conversations over a fantastic Turkey Club.

How to implement successful HR Shared Service functions and COE’s; and differentiate this model from centralized HR functions

Restructuring and rethinking HR was a theme echoed throughout the conference. Those attending the HR sessions were interested in learning more about talent integrator roles, optimal HR structures, and the changing makeup of talent acquisition functions.

One of our international solution providers commented that this was the first conference they had heard the term Chief HR Officer used so often. He specifically asked if this role was on the increase and where was the CLO role heading? Well, that was a tough question that I’ll leave for a later blog, but I did share that in our research we are seeing an increase in the use of the titles Chief HR Officer or Chief People Officer.

Practical development of HR, particularly increasing the skills and capabilities of HR Business Partners and Center of Excellence leads

I saw and heard this theme throughout the conference. Comments centered on the fact that the current certification and higher-education programs offered important initial HR development – but they weren’t getting at the heart of what was missing in the HR community, real life experience and on the ground support.

When Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) presented their case study on Developing an Integrated People Services Organization for Strategic Talent Management; they had several audience questions about how they selected key HR roles and expectations for growth and development of their HR department. Their new HR structure has a heavy focus on the value of each area of HR, which promotes job mobility and breaks down traditional unspoken stigmas that often rise up between shared services functions, COE’s, and field HR roles. Sarah St. Clair, VP of HR for BAH even mentioned that her 80 + direct reports are expected to move and change roles on average every 2 years, emphasized by our speaker Kathy Nichols, an HR Director in her organization. 

In our Practitioner Panel: HR Challenges for the Coming Decade: Building Flexibility for the Future all four of our HR panelist's discussed the need to develop business acumen, solid planning, and advisory skills throughout HR.   Ellen Austin, a Senior Business Partner for Human Resources, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDBC) shared that her organization required all HR leadership roles to participate in 6 to 9 month job rotations in business roles throughout the organization. Once they had the experience of being on the front lines and working directly with clients or in other support roles, they became much more aware of the value of their work and its impact on their clients.  

We also found a lot of excitement in the Solution Provider discussions on this topic.  During the small group break outs in Benchmarking HR: Do You Dare to Compare? session we asked about where HR was seeing their budgets increase or decrease. The 15 or so vendors in my group had a great discussion about the increase in hiring and development needs, even for their own internal HR functions. As companies that sell sophisticated learning and HR offerings, they needed to find HR professionals who understand their business and can help them grow. Companies like Allen Communications said that their internal HR capabilities were critical to continuing their current growth rate. Additionally, almost everyone mentioned that they were spending a lot of time educating clients as part of the sales process or the support process in their particular offering areas. Those who had developed this capability felt it was increasing their sales dramatically.

We also saw announcements at the conference from MindLeaders/ThirdForce who launched their new TalentGuides, performance support modules based off of Bersin & Associates research content for HR professionals. (I’ll admit that this is a shameless plug in the middle of the blog, but I had the pleasure of working with the MindLeader’s team in supporting the development of these modules for the last year, and have a soft spot for their efforts). Conference participants who saw demos of the TalentGuides were excited about the simple idea of providing HR professionals performance support on critical talent areas when it was needed most, in front of clients and at decision making points, rather than in a separate classroom.

Our research found that 92% of High Impact HR organizations had formal internal development programs for their HR functions, and that the most effective HR development tools were coaching and mentoring programs and regular job rotations. These are all examples, of how organizations are accomplishing these best practices. 

The role of HR in managing or supporting organizational cultural changes 

Andy Mackay, from SunTrust Banks said it best, “My business is focused on changing our culture, so I need to be focused on our culture”. In Wednesday’s session on Developing a Comprehensive HR and Talent Strategy, I asked how many organizations were working on cultural change initiatives – over half the room raised their hand. As leaders we just know that Organizational Culture trumps HR initiatives – so changing the culture becomes a real focus when it is counter-productive to the company’s success. Several people came up to me after the session and asked, can HR actually change an organizations culture – and I’d have to honestly say “No, not alone”. They can support leadership efforts to change culture, they can ensure that they are nurturing and supporting a culture that has been set by their leadership, and they can coach leaders on the difference between talking about a culture and actually creating a culture. These are all important roles for an HR function – but they can’t set or change culture without leadership. Feel free to let me know if you disagree.

HR measurement and metrics

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the focus on HR measurement, metrics, and analytics throughout the conference. Almost every solution provider we spoke with shared the fact that HR analytic capabilities was a major part of their upcoming product road-map; even service providers were discussing how they were going to integrate analytics with their offerings. We saw unique, and potentially game changing tools like Zapoint's which has taken data collection methods from social sites and brought analysis of that data  to the next level, and Reward Platforms like  I Love Rewards and  Globoforce, talking about analyzing their data to not only connect it to annual engagement scores and turn-over rates, but start to connect it to the flow of recognition in a company, real time engagement notifications, and tracking organizational culture changes.  Everyone is talking about it, but few organizations and solution providers are doing it well.

We offered a small post session workshop on Building HR Analytics Capabilities which originally had 21 people signed up for the session, by the end of the conference we had an additional 12 people extend their stays to participate in the workshop, when they could have been sitting by the pool. This audience was a mix of solution providers and practitioners, and everyone was there to learn. We spent a considerable amount of time in the workshop, talking about how to prepare and develop HR professionals who could appropriately use the data coming out of these efforts. My co-presenter Akil Walton from Eaton Corporation summed it up by saying “None of the technology, or analytics skills, or even dashboard tools matter if your HR department and line managers don’t understand how to use the data to help the business make good decisions”. 

What I Felt:

Proud to be part of an industry that has so much passion and openness. Frustrated that as an industry we were still struggling with some of the basics. Exhilarated at seeing all the opportunities we, as an industry, have to help not only our companies but every person who interacts with our companies at some level.

Finally, I felt like I personally heard a battle cry – it is easy to overlook when learning about new technology implementations or yet another awe inspiring story about HR restructuring and transformation. Without development of the HR function, these initiatives simply don’t succeed. Today’s HR leaders are serious about developing their HR departments. Development that goes beyond a few business acumen courses and focuses on providing “on the job” programs that include experiences, special projects, job rotations, and extensive business knowledge and data interpretation skills.  Without these efforts, can HR actually fulfill on their goals and strategies?

In closing I’ll quote Ellen Austin, from BBDC when she was asked on her panel how she ensured her HR Strategy and Business Plan were solid, she stated  “I simply ask myself, when looking at my plan; if this was a business… would I lend them the money for this plan?”  Can you look at your own HR organization, strategy, and plan and feel confident that you would lend yourself the money?

If you attended Impact this year we’d love to hear about your own experiences, and we look forward to the next chance we can all get together and learn from each other.

Stacey Harris

Principal Analyst

The 2011 World Conference of Science Journalists is coming up next month (recently moved from Egypt to Doha because of exceptional circumstances...yes, the small historical matter of a people's revolution intervened). The conference program is powering forward and I'm getting...

Just arrived in Massachusetts after two days in the mountains of Vermont. I'd never been to the state before. What a beautiful place.

DALLAS (AP) -- Lamar Odom filled in for the suspended Ron Artest as the starting small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers for Game 3 of their second-round series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

The culture-enrichers keep pouring into Lampedusa. Depending on which news story you read, 500, 800, 831, or 1,400 new arrivals landed on the island overnight.

First, two boats with 500 people:

500 Refugees From Libya Make Landfall in Lampedusa

(AGI) Palermo — Two boats that sailed from Libya with 500 refugees made landfall on the island of Lampedusa this evening.

The boats were sighted this afternoon by an aircraft of the Coast Guard. The disembarkment operations were concluded slightly before 10 pm this evening at the Favaloro dock, where a total of 500 migrants came on shore, including approximately thirty women and children, all of who originated from Sub-Saharan Countries.

Next, a total of five boats with 800:

More Than 800 Arrived Last Night in Lampedusa

(ANSAmed) — Lampedusa (agrigento), May 6 — Immigrants are arriving on Lampedusa in high numbers again: more than 800 in a single day. Another boat, the fifth in a few hours time, arrived last night just before midnight after it was intercepted by a patrol boat of the Italian Finance Police, 19 miles west of the island. The barge had 60 non-EU citizens on board, including one woman, almost certainly departed from Tunisia.

Seven more immigrants were detained last night by the police in Linosa, the smallest of the Pelagie islands, immediately after they landed. Most migrants who arrived yesterday in Lampedusa, and have been taken to the first reception centre, are refugees from countries in the sub-Saharan area, who had departed from Libya.

The number was later revised to 831:

Lampedusa Witnesses Arrival of 831 Migrants in 12 Hours

(AGI) Palermo — Last night, Lampedusa witnessed the arrival of a 5th migrant boat in just over 12 hours. Last night’s’ landings raised the arrivals total to 831. A bout of bad weather had put a temporary halt to migrant flows from Libya, now in full swing. Docking at Favaloro quay, of yesterday’s 5 landings, two boats alone accounted for some 500 migrants; two other boats accounted for 216 Libyans and 50 Tunisians. Nine other Tunisians are reported to have landed on the island of Linosa.

Steen sent an Italian TV news report about Lampedusa. I’m hoping for a translation later, maybe tomorrow, but the title of the clip refers to a total of 1,400 migrants.

Let’s pause for a moment and consider these numbers. We’ll use the median published figure of 800 migrants during the previous 24-hour period. The MSM reports (see below) are stuck on 25,000 as the total number of refugees that have arrived in Italy since January. However, three weeks ago the Italian government put the figure at 27,000, and I have seen more than 3,000 additional immigrants reported since then. So the correct number is at least 30,000, which is what I have been using for a while.

By agreement with Tunisia, Italy is allowed to repatriate up to sixty migrants a day. The most recent reports indicate that the Italians are not heaving out the Tunisians as fast as that; the average has been about thirty repatriations per day since they began in early April.

About five hundred Tunisians have managed to sneak across the border into France, and various other European countries have willingly accepted small groups of the North African migrants — the reported numbers seem to indicate that about six hundred have been shipped out so far.

So we start with 30,000, subtract 1,000 repatriations, and 1,100 relocations (official or otherwise), leaving roughly 28,000 recently arrived culture-enrichers in Italy.

And Italy just acquired 800 more over a single 24-hour period.

Let’s assume that those 800 arrive only sporadically, maybe once every four days. That would mean that an average of 200 refugees are being added every day. While that’s going on, an average of thirty per day are repatriated, and three per day are being sent to other European countries.

Which means Italy is gaining 167 culture enrichers per day, or roughly 5,000 per month.

Obviously, the current situation cannot continue indefinitely.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
In other “Camp of the Saints” news, Italy is now conferring with Malta over their common plight:

Frattini Speaks of Common Interest With Malta Over Migrants

(AGI) Palermo — Franco Frattini said that Italy and Malta have a common interest in the EU taking strong action over immigration. The foreign minister was speaking to journalists in Palermo. Following last Monday’s formal protest to Malta over a boat with 416 migrants on board that the Maltese didn’t assist after it sent an SOS when in Maltese waters, he assured, “It is an interest on which we will never be divided.”

Meanwhile, the head of the European Commission concedes that there may have to be some adjustments made to the Schengen Agreement:

Barroso Wants Schengen Rules Assessed Case by Case

(AGI) Palermo — At a press conference that followed the final day of the PPE study conference in Palermo, the president of the European Commission, Jose’ Barroso, has said “We will not abolish the Schengen Treaty” but apply the rules on a case by case basis as happened recently between Italy and France.

Barroso said he would immediately return to Brussels and had no plans to visit Lampedusa.

SwissInfo has more details on the proposed Schengen changes. Some excerpts are below; the full text will be included in the news feed.

Notice the article uses the 25,000 figure, as do virtually all the major MSM outlets. This shows that the media — and presumably the bureaucrats in Brussels — are not being honest about the extent of the crisis in Italy:

EU Moots New Schengen Rules

The European Commission has put forward new proposals to ensure the “better management of migration” in the wake of an influx of immigrants from North Africa.

The Commission has been pressed by Italy and France, who say reform is needed to “restore the faith of citizens in free movement”.

The proposals, outlined on Wednesday, are being submitted to European Union interior ministers and to the three non-EU Schengen member states, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.

The 25-member Schengen area has scrapped systematic border controls between its members, allowing for passport free travel within the zone.

The Commission has now said the “temporary reintroduction” of limited border controls could sometimes be necessary “under very exceptional circumstances, such as where a part of the external border comes under heavy unexpected pressure”.

But the EU commissioner for home affairs, Cecilia Malmström, has stressed that any such measures must be temporary and geographically limited.

Switzerland, which has been a full member of the Schengen area since March 2009, will take part in the discussions of the new measures, but not have a vote.

The Swiss government will decide whether to apply any new rules on immigration and border controls.

Rethink

Many of the proposals are in fact updates of previous ideas which had been somewhat coolly received in EU capitals. But the row between France and Italy over the arrival of 25,000 migrants from Tunisia in the Schengen area has led to a rethink in many countries.

For example, France is currently exercising strict border controls at Ventimiglia (on its border with Italy) because of the influx of North Africans via the Italian island of Lampedusa, many of whom have said they want to go to France.

Until now, the only situation in which border controls can be reintroduced is when there is a serious threat to public order.

Any requests for the reestablishment of controls are assessed by the Commission. So far – about a dozen cases – it has always agreed.

[…]

“The answer to migration flows should not be a reintroduction of border controls or a change in the Schengen rules,” wrote former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt on the website of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, which he chairs.

“What we need is transparency and accountability: The Commission and parliament should be involved in the evaluation of the concepts of ‘public order’ inside the Schengen area to prevent unilateral decisions of re-introducing border controls.”

Both France and the European Union say that they do not intend to put these measures into action, but that they are regarded as a “deterrent weapon to force states to respect their obligations”.

But this is no easy matter for those who have large maritime frontiers. Greece, for example, has a problem controlling its long sea border with Turkey. The Commission says it should be given more help, in particular by increasing the funding for Frontex, the EU agency for external border security.

[…]

Malmström is clear that there should be no going back on Schengen.

“The free movement of people across European borders is a major achievement which must not be reversed, but rather strengthened,” says a press release from the European Commission.

The proposals will be now be discussed by the Schengen interior ministers. A decision will be taken by EU leaders at the end of June.

That’s today’s news from the Camp of the Saints. I’m sure there will be more tomorrow — in fact, I already have in hand a translation from the German.

Stay tuned.


Hat tips: C. Cantoni and Insubria.

Lamar Odom will be the starter at small forward (or perhaps shooting guard) in place of the suspended Ron Artest. The lineups were just released and Odom was with the...

UConn forward Jamal Coombs-McDaniel will reportedly transfer from the school according to basketball coach Jim Calhoun. This comes after the Huskies cut down the nets in early April when they were crownd national champions. This also came after Jamal was arrested for possession of marijuana. Coombs-McDaniel was arrested on April 21st and has not known his punishment yet. Basketball wise, Jamal is a 6 foot 7 small forward who was a McDonal's All American when he was a senior in high school. He hasn't lived up to his hype at UConn but when he's given the chance he will definitely perform at a high level. He averaged 5.6 points per game and 2.7 rebounds as he backed up both freshmen Jeremy Lamb and Roscoe Smith. Lamb is a stud so there was no way Coombs-McDaniel was seeing any playing time over him soon. It is not known where Coombs-McDaniel will transfer to but I'm expecting it to be at a school in the Big 6 conference.I bet a lot of you are wondering why in the hell y...

Being a mother is certainly a challenge. But being a mom to a child with autism makes that challenge exponentially difficult. Often, these moms have to sacrifice a career to stay home and be available for their child's needs - all the way through adulthood and beyond. Given that strain, the frequency of sleep deprivation, the extended toilet training years, tantrums, and many marriages do not survive.

We're live blogging from the green room at Chick-fil-A Leadercast 2011 and it's been a revolving door of world changers today.  Dave Ramsey was watching Seth Godin's presentation, Frans Johannson was making small talk with Sir Ken Robinson and Muhtar Kent was talking "shop" with Truett and Dan Cathy. John Maxwell and Mack Brown were discussing football over a glass of Chick-fil-A sweet tea.  Then there was Erin Gruwell, Alison Levine and Suzy Welch doing last minute prep and sharing laughs.  It is incredible how these world leaders inspire millions across the globe and are inspired by each other.  

As we wrap up this year's Chick-fil-A Leadercast, we look forward to "unpacking" today's inspiring messages in the weeks to come and hear how you are becoming a "Voice of Change."  Don't forget to check out our "After the Event" site for digital resources from today's event.   

Also, did you know #cfaleadercast was trending #1 in Atlanta and #2 in the USA?!  Here are some of our favorite Tweets from this afternoon's session:

Session 6: Frans Johannson

“All innovation seems obvious after the fact, the trick is to come up with ideas before the fact.”

"People who change the world try far more ideas."

"Diversity drives innovation."

"The best ideas emerge when very different perspectives meet."

“Education is standardizing when it should be diversifying.”


Session 7: Suzy Welch

“None of us are the people we were, and none of us are the people we will become.”

“Your values are like your fingerprint. They are the legacy you want to leave.”

“What do you want people to say about you when you are not in the room?”

“10-10-10 is a decision-making process. It's about taking the decisions you have and thinking about their future impact.”


Session 8: Alison Levine

“It is not what you do but the lessons you learn moving forward. It's about the journey.”

“Fear is okay, complacency is what will kill you.”

“You don't always need total clarity to keep moving forward & putting one foot in front of the other.”


Session 9: Dan Cathy, Muhtar Kent

“A brand is a promise. A good brand is a promise kept.” -Muhtar Kent

“Online marketing is no longer about impressions but about expressions.” -Muhtar Kent. 

“Fun fosters creativity. Make fun a priority.” -Dan Cathy 

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” -Dan Cathy


Session 10: Dave Ramsey

“Have a generous heart in your organization, your team, your community and your customer.”

“Leadership is service and a privilege. I'm not the boss of people, but a servant of people.”

“Every organization has to know its why. Most of us just talk about the what.”

“What are you going to do  with the dash between the dates on your tombstone? It matters deeply what you do with your dash.”

"When you play for something bigger than you, you will play harder."

 

Comment on this Blog Post...

Saturday morning I was supposed to get to sleep in. Since I didn't have a class until the afternoon session and the people I was stabling with were there to feed in the morning, I figured there was no reason to keep my alarm set for the 5:30 am time I'd used the previous day, something more like 8 was in my game plan.

Murphy, of course, saw things differently and I awoke with a start at 4. A nightmare got my adrenaline pumping as I awoke before being blown to smithereens in whatever weird world I had visited. There was no getting back to sleep after that, just too much fear and too much adrenaline for any kind of rest. I was wide awake and finally gave up all hope of sleeping in so I figured I might just as well rise and do something productive.

I got up and putsed around here. Took a shower, washed my hair and dried it more thoroughly than is my normal routine so I wouldn't freeze my *ss off in the barn. If I couldn't sleep, I figured I might just as well go to the horse show, get my horse's stall cleaned and watch some classes.

When I arrived at the horse show, Legs had his hay all spread out around him and was leisurely eating while laying down. I didn't have the heart to disturb him, the stall cleaning could wait until the horse was on his feet. I did go into his stall and smooch him a little. He responded with little sighs of contentment and, of course, he nuzzled me looking for a handout.

By this time, the nightmare's rush had worn off and I seriously considered napping with my horse. If those portable stalls weren't so darn small, I probably would have tried a little power nap but there just was no place for Legs to go if he decided he wanted to rise. I knew he wouldn't step on me but I hate to keep him down if he feels the need to rise especially when he's worked hard at a horse show.

Instead I sat in a chair outside his stall listening with one ear for the horse to get to his feet. Before long Legs rose and I could feel him nuzzling my hair through the bars of the stall door. "Whatca doin' Mom?" curious because he doesn't see me sitting often.

I got up and cleaned his stall. Then headed off to then arena to get information about the break and schooling times. The afternoon class we were showing in was the western pleasure open. I knew it wouldn't be a big class but I would probably be the only amateur in it so I wanted my horse to be as good as he could be.

Many trainers think that amateurs don't belong riding in the open classes. I'm not really sure why that is but I started off in a barn with that kind of thinking so I've pretty much stuck to it. I don't really know what got into me that I entered this open class. Maybe because it is a sweepstakes class or maybe I've just decided "open" means open to everyone so why not.

Now as the class got closer I was thinking maybe I shouldn't have. I found myself making all kinds of excuses so I could scratch this class. If I did, I wouldn't be riding again until Sunday. Since the weather has not been my friend this year, I couldn't justify not taking advantage of any opportunity to ride. That thinking is what won out in the end but believe me, I was a reluctant participant.

I schooled my horse at the break. I pushed for that little bit more of collection and a little less speed as in each previous session. Legs was responsive. His transitions were good and he seemed to be ok with traffic. It was a fairly short ride and I was heading out of the arena when I remembered the hand gallop.

Any open class includes a hand gallop as part of the class requirements. I have not practiced this with Legs since last year. With his reluctance to go into the curb bit, I figured I better do a little bit of work with him on speeding up when asked. Even if we didn't get quite to what I would consider to be a hand gallop, that would be ok. What I needed was enough difference is speed to be noticeable. I knew a true hand gallop would not likely be seen in this open class anyway. I just wanted enough to fit in with the rest.

I'm not really sure how others go about cueing their horse to hand gallop in western pleasure. For me, I move my hand up the horse's neck a couple of inches, lean forward slightly, add some leg and do repetitive kissing until I get the desired speed. The leaning has to do with my balance. I find I can't keep my seat firmly in the saddle without this little bit of lean. With it, I sit nice and snug with no bouncing........and I sure don't want to do any bouncing on any of my horses.

I've been working on exercises for my core specifically because of galloping.....well, that and being stronger for when young horses do any unexpected sideways stuff. Those are the two areas that I have trouble with my balance and core exercises are a must. While I still have a long way to go, I can see that my core strength is improving.

When I remembered that I must hand gallop for this afternoon class, I turned my horse back around to the direction the other horses schooling in the arena were travelling. I asked him to lope and once he got into that, I cued him for the hand gallop.

As I expected Legs was reluctant to move forward into this curb bit so I continued kissing to him and bumping him every so slightly with my legs. I wasn't looking to "kick" the horse into more speed. I just wanted to gently encourage him.

It took three or four strides before Legs began to increase his rate. It was a gradual increase and we probably travelled a quarter of the way around the arena before I quit cueing the horse for more speed. We had not achieved what I would call a true hand gallop but there was definitely enough difference between it and the lope to be discernible.

I let Legs continue at this rate for about another quarter of the arena before asking him to return to the lope. The transition down was smooth and easy. We continued on at the lope for a little longer before cueing for the hand gallop again.

This time Legs moved up easily into the faster rate without needing all the extra encouragement of the first time. That kind of response was good enough for me. Legs has always loved to gallop. All I needed was for him to know it was ok to move out like that and it looked like he had gotten that message pretty clearly. I figured if he would do it the one direction, I would have no problems getting it the other way of going.

I brought my horse down to the walk. We headed back out of the arena and back to our stalls. We were as ready for this open class as we were going to be as far as I was concerned. I didn't want to wear my horse out with three more classes to ride. I'd just have to wait and see if I knew my horse as well as I thought............. would we hand gallop? or wouldn't we? Despite our good schooling, I was still dreading riding in the open western pleasure class.

To be continued.....................

I think this picture is Vee at about 3 hours old. She was such a princess right from the start.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

According to the league-mandated pregame information released by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant would replace the suspended Ron Artest at small forward, with Shannon Brown starting at shooting guard for Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Summary:

In 1995, after both the Rams and Raiders exited L.A., former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley was the first to come forward with a viable idea to build a football stadium in Chavez Ravine. O’Malley wanted to build it next to the baseball facility, but then-Mayor Richard Riordan asked O’Malley to back off the plan because the city wanted to focus on bringing a team to the Coliseum.

Riordan’s decision was costly on two fronts because the Coliseum idea was too difficult to get off the ground and because O’Malley, whose family had owned the team for 45 years, put the Dodgers up for sale shortly thereafter. That sent one of the most important teams in baseball into a vortex that saw it end up in the McCourt morass.

In the years since, McCourt tried to keep the football stadium idea alive, but the NFL wasn’t buying it, particularly when McCourt told the league he wanted to own any team the league moved there.

Now, someone else such as Burkle, Gilbert, Anschutz, Ed Roski or Eli Broad could change not only the future of the Dodgers, but make it possible for the return of the NFL.

I'm not sure I'm psychologically cut out to be a passagemaker. I love to plan, and look forward to the next day or the next month or the next event. But on a long ocean passage, each day is more or less the same as the day before and the day after. To truly enjoy this succession of similar days, you have to focus on being in the present. You have to be satisfied to not look back and not look forward. Our first focus seems to be getting enough sleep. The three of us have a rotating three hour watch schedule - three hours on and six hours off, for each person. That means the maximum sleep time is about 5 and a half hours. If you're lucky, your 5 and a half hour period is in the middle of the night. In any case, we're always looking for horizontal time in the middle of the day, to make up for nighttime sleep deficits. As for sleep deficits, they're not always a result of the watch schedule. Sometimes the conditions are so bouncy and jerky that it seems impossible to sleep. If you get tired enough you do sleep, and then you have dreams like mine of the other night: The sailboat had become a spaceship, and the bouncy, crashy conditions were explained by the fact that we had just engaged the warp drive (a la Star Trek). On the plus side, we were going to get to Hilo sooner. The second focus is sailing conditions. The wind is always changing a little bit, so we're always going too fast or too slow, upwind or downwind of where we should be. The set of the sails has to be adjusted periodically. Maybe we need more sail, maybe less. Sometimes the sail conditions become so wrong that two or three of us have to be on deck, taking in a reef, shaking out a reef, putting out the spinnaker pole, stowing it, and many more minor, but sometimes critical adjustments. Next, there's food. Major planning went into food, on my part, making sure we had as many fresh, long-lived veggies, fruits, dairy products and meats as could possibly fit in the available storage space, packed to optimize a long storage life. So that project satisfied my planning urge, but once we're on passage, we're very much working in the present. What fruit will go bad if we don't use it? What's close at hand? What's possible to assemble and cook, given the rolly, bouncy sea conditions? Craig has another specialized focus: he's always the engineer, keeping track of the boat systems, and inventing fixes on the fly. (I think he calls it "field expedients.") The most creative (and essential) was the fix for the refrigeration system. A small electric pump supplies cooling water to the compressor, and the pump has quit doing its job. So the compressor runs about 3 minutes, then everything shuts off. This happened only a day or two out of Cabo, jeopardizing our supply of fresh food (see above). Craig was thinking about modifying a spare pump we had acquired for the watermaker, but decided to sleep on it. In the middle of the night (see sleep, above) the inspiration came: use an existing pump - the "wash rown." The "wash rown" pump (mislabeled by a non-English speaking yard worker when the boat was built), is located at the bow of the boat, and is intended to have a hose hooked to it, so you can wash off a muddy anchor. Or you can hook a hose to it to "wash down" the boat. Or, as Craig was now inspired, you can hook a long hose to it, run it back along the side deck, snake it down a protected hatch, and connect it to the refrigeration pump. We held our breaths, and it works. A new pump awaits us in Hilo (thank you, Ian!) This is not the only thing that has malfunctioned, but Craig keeps things humming. I sometimes wonder how cruisers get along if they don't have an engineer on board. I've also observed that a high percentage of cruising couples include an engineer. What has really made the crew situation tolerable is the presence of our crew Jamie from Nova Scotia. He has uncomplainingly handled his end of the watch schedule, washing up the dishes, and providing new conversational alternatives. Craig asked him today how the reality of the passage was in comparison to his expectations, and he replied that the waves were bigger and it was colder. Indeed, we have been down to shorts only in the middle of the day, wearing fleece and long pants at night. I remember from our previous long passage (from San Francisco to the Marquesas in 2003) that the last few days are the hardest, in terms of staying in the present, and not becoming impatient for the sight of land. We expect to reach Hilo in 4 days unless conditions change dramatically. We're edging back into planning mode, looking at the cruising guides, books about Hawaii reef fish, the recreational atlas? This will be helpful when we get there, but may be counterproductive to peace of mind in the meantime.

Bellator's 2011 welterweight tournament concludes in Saturday's captivating headliner, which pits undefeated Judoka Rick Hawn versus Xtreme Couture hitman Jay Hieron.

The remaining match-ups on the card will be previewed briefly tomorrow, but this collision should be a doozy and called for a more detailed analysis.

It's rare to witness Olympic caliber Judo in the cage, and even more unusual to see it whittled into such a functional kickboxing package in such a short span of time.

Rick Hawn (11-0) has taken to MMA like Tank Abbott to cocktails, avoiding the aches and pains that normally plague singularly proficient fighters early in their career. The Dellagrotte product enters the welterweight finals with a perfect record after narrowly escaping the dangerous Lyman Good by split decision, propelled by his ever improving stand-up, strong top control in the 2nd, and a key takedown to close the fight.

Jay Hieron (21-4) has always been one of the highly respected 170-pounders outside of the Octagon, even though he went 0-2 inside it. He was once headed for a shot at Nick Diaz's Strikeforce belt, but some shenanigans involving medicinal Mary Jane, Armando Garcia and CSAC licensing unhinged the bout.

Hieron took out Jesse Taylor and Joe Riggs instead, then set up shop with Bellator for the welterweight tournament. The bracket favorite had a tough journey to the finish line courtesy of Brent Weedman, who had previously upset Dan Hornbuckle and almost pulled off a repeat. Their semifinal contest went to Hieron by unanimous decision, though the fans did not unanimously agree with the judges.

An in-depth look at how the main event fighters stack up follows in the full entry. 

SBN coverage of Bellator 43

Variables

Judging: There is a list of attributes that judges tend to favor in a fighter, and Rick Hawn has many of them. He's aggressive, he moves forward constantly, he throws big punches, and even one substantial throw or takedown often outweighs any number of unsuccessful attempts. This is like handing your teachers a shiny red apple with a twinkling smile right before they grade your paper.

The Unknown: Each fighter will threaten the other with some unknown elements. Hawn has yet to face a top-shelf wrestler, let alone a wrestler with the submission and striking abilities of Hieron. Conversely, Hawn's unparalleled Judo and Sityodtong striking is a tough union for anyone to accommodate.

Experience: At the elite level, Hieron has a lot. Hawn does not, and "The Thoroughbred" is easily Hawn's steepest test.

Free Movement / Striking Phase

I can't commend Hawn enough for the considerable advancements he's made with his stand-up game. He's displayed a strong grasp of overall fundamentals in a short amount of time; a tribute to his athleticism and malleability.

Against savvy striker Lyman Good, his most capable opponent to date, Hawn was understandably a bit gun-shy and fell back on his takedowns to even things out. In his early fights, Hawn was able to corner and contain his opponents, mashing them into the fence or to the mat where his ground-and-pound followed. Leading up to the Good fight, he showed unnerving comfort in his stand-up and waited for his adversaries to press before enforcing his clinch (shown to the right vs. LeVon Maynard), or more impressively, just beat them standing (see Hawn vs. Rough House scrapper "Judo" Jim Wallhead).

Happy to clinch at anytime, Hawn is somewhat immune to some of the striking tendencies that leave the average guy vulnerable (also depicted in the animation). Hawn's been broadsided with singles and doubles in the middle of throwing a combo, but was still able to recover and fend off the attempt. Whether intentional or not, his uncanny balance and ungodly powerful base have allowed him to get caught out of position and emerge unscathed, or even turn the situation to his advantage.

Lyman Good was the first solid striker that threw Hawn's rhythm off and stung with stiff counters while resisting the clinch, and Jay Hieron should do the same. Though he mixes in low, mid, and straight kicks, Hieron is mostly a proficient boxer with sharp counters and substantial power. Good might be the stronger specimen physically, but Hieron's experience, wrestling background, and tight boxing will yield the same problems that Good presented.

I don't think it's coincidental that Hawn's inexperience in other aspects became more apparent against Good. Forming a dual-pronged attack by adding efficient kickboxing to his Judo foundation was what carried him up to the big leagues, and though he's advanced at an alarming rate, I don't think it's been enough to catch up with Hieron. Jay has also settled nicely into the role of the counter-puncher, and should be able to drill some holes through Hawn's adequate but embryonic striking.

Advantage: Hieron

Clinch Phase

It's fascinating to watch a Judoka of Hawn's status adapt his background to MMA's environment. Where a freestyle or Greco-Roman wrestler has a smaller list of adjustments to make to implement their strengths, the lack of a gi and the preference to close distance and tie up makes the transition more difficult for Judo players.

Along with more intense acclimation comes a smaller range of techniques, as that jacket that was specifically designed for clenching and gripping is no longer there, now replaced by slippery skin.

That's why range and distance is a critical tool for Hawn. In close, his hips are still as deadly as ever, and a subtle ballet of footwork, balance, and momentum unfold in his fierce clinch game. There's a good chance the man could hip-bump the Eiffel Tower crooked.

Hieron was a high school state and JuCo national wrestling champion, but -- just as I feel it's unlikely for Hawn to match his experience standing -- I don't see Hieron matching Hawn's skill in the clinch, especially if Hawn can use the cage to restrict his movement. Hieron can survive if he's very escape-minded, stays away from Hawn's waist and doesn't get trapped against the fence.

However, when directly immersed in the clinch and tangling with Hawn, the Olympic-level Judoka gets the nod. With a gi, without a gi, or even in a clown costume, Hawn has spent more time training techniques in this position than fighters like Rory MacDonald have been alive. The disclaimer is that it's even harder to force a clinch when your opponent knows it's coming and doesn't want to play the game (see Machida vs. Couture), and it's no secret that this is where Hawn excels. Hieron is adept with infighting and can survive in the position for short periods of time, but unless avoided at all costs, it's only playing with fire.

Advantage: Hawn

Grappling Phase

If you re-examine the beautiful throw by Hawn above, but this time, replace LeVon Maynard's clumsy forward-lurch with a fine-tuned double leg, and we have an example of the different kind of threat Hieron brings to the table. I'm not sure Hawn can get away with some of his lackadaisical habits against Hieron and simply make up for it with his strength and skill, especially in a three rounder.

To my knowledge, we've yet to see Hawn on his back in MMA, and Hieron's tenacious top game might be overwhelming if he can impose it.

Hieron wreaks havoc with a litany of catches that are conducive to active wrestlers when shooting, sprawling, scrambling, and clinching. The attempts are usually low risk and maintain or improve position rather than sacrifice it.  Backed by Hieron's agile but hefty base:  D'arce, anaconda, and north-south chokes, arm-triangles, americanas and kimuras all punctuate his arsenal. Jumping for the guillotine is the one maneuver he's pursued in the past that will be ill-advised versus Hawn.

Hieron is also a great scrambler, so normally he's able to break loose and recover if he ends up on the bottom. Hieron clearly has the composure to hold his own in the guard, but as we saw against Lyman Good, one mistake against a potent control-and-pound fighter can cost exactly one-third of the fight on the score cards.

There's a little too much mystery for me to make a strong pick here. Weedman was able to take Hieron down, and I can picture Hawn flagging down the popcorn vendor while a small army of wrestlers attempting double-legs bounce off his legs completely unbeknownst to him. Hieron is much more proven with freestyle wrestling, but if Hawn can stuff the shot and wrap him up, it becomes his world.

With the right timing, Hieron could also nail a shot and test Hawn's guard, but in most scenarios, I see Hawn on top. Even though this is a close one with many unknowns and Hawn might be the favorite in a straight takedown war, Hieron's experience and comprehensive style should put him slightly ahead here, even though I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Hawn can muffle him and ride out the round.

Advantage: Hieron (slight)

Summary

Becoming a well-rounded martial artist is imperative, and Hawn's frightening assimilation in only two short years of pro competition is what carried him to the top so quickly. Being a "complete fighter" is a means to an end, and that end is having the ability to implement a system of tactics to exploit your biggest strength or your opponent's biggest weakness.

This is why I see Hieron negating Hawn's strength by staying elusive and peppering him with precise counters. If Hawn does get him in the clinch, Hieron should be able to escape and punish him on the way in and on the way out, stuffing underhooks and circling away with an array of tight hooks and uppercuts.

As with any MMA bout, Hawn could connect on the feet, score some takedowns or maintain top control, but Hieron has the more expansive inventory and should be smart enough to assemble and adhere to a poignant strategy.

My prediction:  Hieron by TKO

Hawn gif courtesy of Caposa

Hieron gif from Smoogy

Poll

Who wins the Bellator 2011 Welterweight Tournament?

• Rick Hawn
• Jay Hieron

  103 votes | Results

Readers' favourite photographs, songs and recipes

Snapshot: A summer's day with Mum

A wide suburban London street swings round to the right, the name of the street ending in NFIELD GARDENS NW6 just disappears off the edge of the little square-format photograph. The picture has been touched, held, looked at a thousand times over the years and the left-hand corner has been creased and then flattened out again.

This is a quiet street and it is high summer. Hedges and shrubs running along the gardens of the large brick houses have been carefully clipped. Even from this tiny black and white image, I can feel a summer day in London. The dry, warm air, the smell of concrete and lilac on a breeze; sharp shadows cast on the gables of houses; the melancholy of the afternoon.

In the very middle of the picture, a young, slender woman hunkers down, almost sitting on the backs of her open-toed high-heeled shoes. Her pencil skirt covers her knees and her bare arms emerge from a white cap-sleeved blouse. Her hair hangs in thick ringlets from a side parting and she is gazing, smiling into the face of a baby girl who stands gazing back. The woman is my mother and her left hand completely covers my tummy. My mother may have caught me as I ran from the footpath, certainly I seem to have been turned around swiftly into my mother's arms.

I am wearing a soft cotton bathing costume, ruched at the front where my mother's hand holds me tenderly and my small hand covers hers. My fat little sturdy legs end in T-bar leather sandals; again revealing the warmth of this day in 1952.

My hair hangs almost in ringlets like Mum's and is held with a ribbon at the side. I am holding something in the crook of my arm – maybe a little bag. I must be about one and a half.

There is something about the intimacy of this picture – my mother and me caught in a mutual gaze, rapt in the biscuit smell of our summer skin that makes me return to it again and again.

Since my mother's death last year, I have surrounded myself with images of her at every stage of her life, and there are many photographs taken of the two of us together.

Today, I search the fine black printed names and etched lines of an old A-Z of London; the streets and avenues and gardens of west Hampstead, south Hampstead ... like branches of a tree, arteries of the heart, determined to find exactly where my mother and I shared that moment all those years ago. At last I find it, my eyes straining from the intricate journey along Fairhazel, Greencroft, Woodchurch ... to the corner of Canfield Gardens and Priory Road.

There is a comforting satisfaction in searching a map and finding the place where we stood. Marie McCullough

Playlist: Dad's dreams of another world

You Are My Heart's Delight sung by Richard Tauber

"You are my heart's delight / And where you are, I long to be"

Dein ist mein Ganzes Herz was my dad's favourite. The warbly first line has the power to catapult me to another world, to dark Saturday winter teatimes, our kitchen, dull yellow light, football scores droning from the front room and my dad singing this as he made his signature – his only – dish: cowboy's breakfast. He'd put on the scratchy shellac record and sing as the bacon burned.

The yellowed sleeve shows Dad's musical hero: an over-stuffed Teutonic teddy. Richard Tauber, the Austrian tenor, had a pronounced squint in his right eye, which he disguised by wearing a monocle – accompanied by a top hat, it had a singular effect. To me he looked like a fat bank manager in amateur dramatics. But for Dad – and I guess many from his background in grey interwar London – he must have seemed the epitome of Mitteleuropean elegance. The operettas that made his name – Blossom Time, The Land of Smiles – were as sugary as Sachertorte, deliberately distanced from the political and financial turmoil of the time.

My dad's early life was some distance from The Land of Smiles. His own dad was a fading boxer, losing his fights and his wits; Nana sold flowers at the old Covent Garden market. Every week they spent precisely all their wages on a boozy party that lasted until the last friends left on Monday morning and the market reopened. No wonder he dreamed of another world, the one Tauber conjured up.

But Tauber had something to escape too. Born outside of marriage and part-Jewish, he was abandoned by his actor mother. At the height of his fame he was banned in Nazi Germany and fled to England. He carried on performing until, twisted with arthritis, he had to be wheeled to the stage. He died in 1948, and is buried in London.

When I started searching the internet for recordings, what struck me wasn't the critic's praise but the comments – pages and pages of them. Most of them spoke of fathers, often lost in the war. "Dad loved this", "My dad used to sing this till the fags ruined his voice", "How many men who died in the war had this song in their heads and hearts?" they wrote. I was faintly surprised. I had assumed that it was just my dad's little eccentricity.

He made a good living, my dad, but no one could describe his work in a factory as romantic, let alone fragrant. He wasn't high-brow but he loved music for what it told us about life. Now when I hear those scratchy recordings, I hear longing too: for temperamentvoll operettas, literary cafes, a creative life, another life. Tauber escaped into a world of song. How typical of Dad to aspire to that gilded world. How typical that he laughed at himself for it. Fiona Salter

We love to eat: Mum's Monday ratatouille

Ingredients

1 red pepper

1 small aubergine

2 courgettes

A handful of chestnut mushrooms

1 onion

A clove of garlic

A pinch of mixed herbs

A pinch of sugar

Salt and pepper

Fry the garlic and onions, chop the aubergine and courgettes into rough cubes and add the sliced pepper. Allow it to sweat for five minutes and then add the remaining ingredients. Finally, cook on a low heat or in a slow cooker for at least 40 minutes.

Every Monday, my mother would take my sisters and me to swimming lessons, and when we returned home the evening meal would always be a steaming pile of ratatouille with a leathery baked potato each. Initially, we hated this but grew to like it very much – it was great fun to concoct the dish with ratatouille and things in the fridge, the highlight being ratatouille with cheese and a hardboiled egg.

The reason we had ratatouille every Monday was that Mum had a new slow cooker and the only thing we knew how to make in it was ratatouille. Since then I have stopped going swimming and my sister's lessons have moved forward, so we now have time for a larger variety of meals. The slow cooker sits alone now, wedged between the wall and the bread-maker, its services only called on to make the odd beef casserole and – shudders – turkey curry. Louis Allen, 13

Asma Khan grew up in Britain in a traditional Muslim family. She was excited about visiting Pakistan for the first time, aged 11, for a cousin's wedding. But her experience was horrific, and made her wary of family and faith

If you ask any Pakistani what holds us together, they will say family and faith, but what they won't tell you is that family and faith can also tear you apart. That's what crossed my mind as I sat, holding a photo of a dark-skinned, dark-eyed little girl. I have the photo turned over; I cannot bear to look in her eyes, even though she's done nothing wrong. It's because if I do, I will see the eyes of her father, my Uncle. The last time I saw Uncle, I was 11 and it was my first visit to Pakistan.

I was small and skinny and had yet to show any signs of turning into a woman, either physically or emotionally. I had little knowledge or interest in adult relationships, and things like that are rarely discussed in Asian families.

Although we knew nothing about sex, we all knew about shame, purity and family honour. We have just one word for it in our language, izzat. While there are dozens of words in English to describe its different facets, there isn't an equivalent. Ultimately, it means the worst sin is for a girl not to be pure – in other words, a virgin – before marriage.

Like most of my friends in the UK, our parents were, ironically, much stricter than those of our cousins in Pakistan. They were paranoid about us becoming too westernised, so they kept us cocooned at home. Culture became our religion, and most of our parents were fundamentalists.

Some days I'd be watching TV, and a romantic scene would come, and it would trigger a lecture from my mum. "It's OK for English people, but in our culture we don't have boyfriends, and you are having an arranged marriage, OK?" Sometimes I felt guilty of something before I had done anything.

One day I came home from school and my mum was talking excitedly on the phone in Punjabi. Her youngest sister's marriage had been arranged, and we would be going.

My parents hadn't been able to afford to return home for years, so my mum was excited about seeing her family, and I was looking forward to seeing the place where she had grown up. I was drawn by her wistful expression as she talked about stealing sugar cane from the fields, and holidays near the mountains. I was a misfit at school, and dreamed that I, too, would find somewhere I could belong. My mum's fantasy had become my fantasy also.

There is no more exciting place for a girl to be than Karachi in the run-up to a wedding. I was excited about wearing traditional wedding clothes for the first time, and my mum glowed with happiness as the sister of the bride.

The first ceremony, the mehndi – or henna party – was what we were most excited about, because that is when everyone dances, and the bride's sisters compete with those of the groom to see who can sing the loudest.

To prepare for the mehndi, we had parties called dholkis – after the dholki drum – which the girls played as the rest of us sang wedding songs from the latest Bollywood films. We used henna paste to decorate our palms, the muddy trails leaving pretty, spider-web patterns on our hands the next day.

A week before the wedding, Uncle arrived. On the death of my grandfather, Uncle had taken responsibility for the family and never married. He worked in the Middle East, successfully educated his brothers, and married off his sisters in respectable homes.

He was a large man, dark skinned, with a small beard. Always in white traditional clothes, with prayer beads in hand, he was able to quote lines from the Qu'ran on any subject.

He often cornered me to talk about religion, and how girls growing up in the west were already halfway down the road to sin.

My family was not particularly religious, and Uncle spoke with such authority that I thought Allah was hanging around waiting for me to mess up and prove what everyone suspected all along.

On the night of the mehndi, I fell ill. My cousins were upset that I wouldn't be able to join in and my mother said she'd take me home, but we could tell she was disappointed. "Don't worry," said Uncle. "Mehndis are for women. I will take her home."

It felt strange being at the house alone with Uncle. It had been so full of people and activity, but now it was silent. Uncle told me to undress for bed and he would check on me later.

I was half asleep and barely noticed him come in. He sat on my bed and placed his hand on my forehead to check my temperature, then began stroking my hair.

As he did so, he talked softly, his voice caring, yet menacing, like honey on a serpent's tongue, and his breath smelled sour, of old cigarettes. I felt scared, but didn't know why. My heart was beating swiftly and I couldn't breathe. He began to caress my back, then his hands slipped under my clothes ...

When the call to prayer echoed from the mosques at dawn, he said it was my fault for tempting him, and I would go to hell. Then he left to perform his morning prayers.

I spent the following day in a daze. I kept thinking I could feel Uncle's touch, like insects crawling over me, and showered over and over again, but no matter how hard I scrubbed, the feeling wouldn't go away.

During the day, he always seemed to be angry with me and I felt like I was walking on eggshells when he was around. Every time I looked up, his eyes were following me. As everyone excitedly dressed up in their sparkly outfits and shared jokes, I was at the edge of the happy picture, not quite a part of it. It was hard to pretend to smile when I knew, as each hour passed, it would be night again and he would return to my room.

Eventually, two days before the final ceremony, I told my cousin Nadia everything. Though I swore her to secrecy, she told her mum. Nadia's mum dragged me downstairs, hissing angrily that I was a wicked girl, and I burst into tears, partly of fear and partly of relief.

My mum couldn't process what had happened and began wailing loudly as her sisters held her. Another aunt asked me if I was a virgin because if not, they would have to marry me off straight away, so I lied and said he had only touched me. Although my aunts were sympathetic, I could tell by their eyes that they were relieved that it wasn't their daughters. I think my mum could tell too.

That night, the elders talked about what to do, but everyone seemed more worried about protecting the family's honour than what was best for me. They worried that any scandal could ruin Nadia's chances for marriage. Everyone decided the best thing would be to pretend it never happened and never to talk about it.

When we returned, my dad hugged us at the airport, thinking we'd had the time of our lives. Looking back, I wonder if he sensed my mum's unhappiness. But I couldn't get the memories out of my head. I couldn't tell anyone because I was ashamed. I stopped writing my diary because the words felt too dirty to be put on the diary's clean pages. My school work suffered and my friends thought I was moody. There was a guy in my class who liked me, but I was horrible to him. Once he touched my shoulder in the canteen and I shouted at him in front of everyone.

At university I became friends with a girl who wore a hijab, who told me she had been abused. I told her what had happened to me and asked how she could stay devoted to her faith after a thing like that. She told me it was her faith that had got her through. I discovered I'd got it all wrong, that in the Qu'ran it says people like Uncle are the sinners, and in Allah's eyes I was as chaste as a virgin. But nobody ever tells you that. All that time, Uncle had used religion against me and I had let him. My mum became less strict too. What had happened to me had unlocked a repressed memory she had of an uncle abusing her too. She also said she believed me from the start, and regretted not confronting her brother.

I heard rumours about Uncle over the years, that he had reluctantly had an arranged marriage to a woman much younger than him. My aunts and cousins all knew what he had done, but they all still danced at his wedding and painted their hands with henna.

After I graduated, my parents also arranged a marriage for me. Though it was a traditional setup, my husband was brought up here, and he's kind and gentle so we get on well. I am certain he suspects, and has for a long time, but he doesn't ask and I will never tell.

Asma Khan is a pseudonym

Lukasz Kulaga's team had to deep-clean the wedding route and give it a final polish. Then came the big clean-up. Jill Insley helps wield the broom

In pictures: the royal wedding clean-up

There are 154 horses in the Captain's and Sovereign's Escorts in the royal wedding parade, and I swear every single one of them has pooed on the way to Westminster Abbey.

I can say this with some assurance as I am helping to clean the roads with Lukasz Kulaga, a foreman with Veolia Environmental Services, leading a 15-strong team of cleaners following in hot pursuit of the procession. Most of the wedding route is within the City of Westminster, for which Veolia holds the contract for cleaning.

By the day of the wedding, preparations on the streets have already been going on for several weeks, starting with a "deep cleansing" of the route. This has involved sweepers pulling out every scrap of paper, tin and cardboard they could find and running the Johnston C40 – a small mechanical sweeper – along the sides of the roads and pavements, followed by a bigger Johnston 600. Some of the bins have been removed and the roads have been given a final polish with a flushing machine, a lorry with several high-pressure jets squirting water from the front.

The cleaners have also had a practice run to make sure they know who is going where and when. Even so, their working day, which starts at 2am on the day of the wedding, begins with another staff briefing, "just to make sure every one knows what they are doing," says Kulaga. They then do another sweep through, put sand down on the metal manhole covers to prevent the horses' hooves from slipping, and hand out bin bags to members of the public already waiting along the route.

I meet the team on the corner of Victoria Street and Artillery Row. There are cleaners with barrows, dust lorries, mechanical sweepers and flushers all lined up. The cleaners are waiting with an air of eager anticipation, cracking jokes and asking Kulaga questions: although special events such as this result in very long days, the atmosphere is tingling and everyone is happy.

There is the noise of clopping hooves approaching from around the corner and the carriages come in sight along Buckingham Gate. Although this is not part of the official route, Victoria Street leads directly to Westminster Abbey, where all the horse-drawn vehicles and escorts will stop to pick up the royal party. While the public go mad, snapping photos and taking videos, the cleaners look on resignedly as the horses do what comes naturally in stressful circumstances.

As soon as the procession has passed through the barriers to the second half of Victoria Street, the cleaners spring into action. Within seconds, the first section of the street has been cleared of muck and sand and everyone moves up to the barriers, waiting for the police to let them through to work on the next section.

The men are in for a long wait. Bags of crisps come out, passers-by ask directions, the horses, which are parked about 50m ahead of us, continue producing fertiliser. I have a conversation with a woman who has just come up to London for the day from Anglesey, and whose daughter lives next door to the royal couple. Sadly, she turns into a clam when I ask if Kate and William are good neighbours.

Suddenly a cheer goes up from the crowd along the road, the bells start ringing and the horses move forward. "We still have to wait," says Kulaga. "Guests are coming back this way in cars and coaches, and we can't have our men on the road – it's not safe." Health and safety forms a big part of the training Veolia employees go through, and staff are given regular reminders and updates if problems occur within the industry.

The day before, I had been put through the hour-long induction usually given to agency staff by contract trainer Ian Riddell. Although I have mucked out stables on and off for 35 years, Riddell pointed out that I tend to bend forward to push the broom, putting pressure on my lumbar region.

"There are lots of accidents in this industry, more than any other except perhaps farming," he says. "Stand up straight, hold the broom at the top with your hands about 18in apart and push. Try not to let the broom bounce."

I try out his method and on the laminated floor of Veolia's office, it works perfectly. On the road, however, particularly a sticky bit outside the Houses of Parliament, it's hard not to lean into the broom and I am told at least five times by the cleaners around me to stand up or else my back will hurt the next day.

Kulaga moved to the UK in 2004 from Poland, where he had been working as a cashier in a hypermarket and then in the marketing department of a debt collecting firm. "The amount I was earning there was barely enough for living, and I had to support my wife and son. I miss my extended family and would like to go back there." But the need to save more money keeps him in the UK, at least for the forseeable future.

He found a job with an agency within four days of arriving and spent a few weeks working as a cleaner in south-east London, before switching to Veolia and working in Westminster. The company, which prefers to employ people on a staff rather than contract basis if possible, offered him a full-time job, and within nine months he had been promoted to foreman.

Since joining Veolia, Kulaga has attained an HGV licence so he can drive the bigger sweepers and flushers, and has completed an NVQ in waste management. All Veolia's operatives have the opportunity to take such qualifications: the company runs its own dedicated training and development centre, Campus Veolia at Croydon, that offers 200 courses ranging from vocational ones right up to MBAs.

He has worked cleaning up for numerous premieres in Leicester Square (Denzel Washington once thanked him for the fantastic job he was doing), and several openings of parliament and lord mayor's shows, but his favourite occasion is Remembrance Sunday. "It's reflective and people are there to celebrate and remember," he says.

Finally the barriers go up and Kulaga signals to the cleaners to move forward. He runs to a mechanical sweeper, starts up and follows in their wake. I climb into the cab of one of the dust lorries and we roll forward, parking just in front of the entrance to Westminster Abbey, and underneath the specially built press area. While the guests pour out of the Abbey, the crowds stay glued behind the barriers and there is little the cleaners can do. But eventually they start to move off down Whitehall in the direction of Buckingham Palace and Kulaga asks the men to start work again.

I hope this is more of a reflection on those camping rather than the journalists above, but the dirtiest section by far is the pavement immediately below the press box. People have left popup tents, gas canisters, bottles and cans, and thousands of mini union jacks. Corporate litter offenders include Virgin Media for handing out cardboard periscopes so those at the back of the crowds could see what was going on: these all ended up on the pavement. Burger King and its cardboard crowns are just as bad.

The crowds traipse in cavalier fashion through carefully constructed piles of rubbish and sand. I brush into a few legs that dare to walk in front of me, but the men around me are tolerant, not batting an eyelid at the inconsiderate behaviour of those who have dumped the litter in the first place. They virtually run along the road, working efficiently as mini teams, with a couple of sweepers pushing litter towards every person with a shovel.

It's hard work: you soon work up a sweat, and yes, my back started aching. Not surprisingly, Riddell says that virtually all the cleaners employed by Veolia are men. "We have had a couple of women and we are happy to employ them, but virtually all who come from the agencies are men," he says.

In all, the team shifted 140 tonnes of wedding-day rubbish from the streets of Westminster, dropped by the public. Four mornings later it is dust bin day in my road. As I leave my house, the road sweepers are clearing up. I smile and say hello: I will never again ignore those who are working so hard to keep my environment clean.

Curriculum vitae

Pay According to DirectGov, street cleaners can expect to earn between £12,000 and £16,000 a year.

Hours Normally eight hours, with 15 minutes in the morning for a tea break and half an hour for lunch, but shifts are staggered throughout the day. Longer hours for special occasions such as the lord mayor's show or the Tour de France.

Work-life balance The cleaners can choose which shifts to work – if they want to do just Monday to Friday, that can be worked into the schedule. Likewise, if they want to do weekends and overtime, that can also be incorporated.

Best thing "This is the best thing about the job – events like this. It's hard work and there's a lot of preparation, but at the end of the day it is noticed and you are praised by the clients."

Worst thing "Leaves. You sweep them up and then look behind you and literally wonder if you've actually done that street. Cigarettes are bad too since the ban on smoking in offices and pubs."

Overtime

Lukasz doesn't get much spare time thanks to his two young children, Dominic and Patricia, but in the odd free hour he is learning how to use his digital SLR camera properly. Lukasz loves Polish food and his favourite dishes are bigos, a cabbage and meat stew traditionally served on the second day of Christmas, and pierogi, boiled dumplings with savoury fillings. Lukasz claims that even after a hard day sweeping the streets, he pulls his weight with the cleaning at home: we think we need to hear from his wife on this.

According to the league-mandated pregame information released by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant would replace the suspended Ron Artest at small forward, with Shannon Brown starting at shooting guard for Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

As I played through Darkspore, my opinion of the game kept changing. It's a dungeon crawler in the vein of Diablo or Torchlight, but in a futuristic setting. While many games in this genre essentially end up being Diablo with a pretty coat of paint, Darkspore introduces a number of fresh ideas and concepts that make it a whole lot more than a clone.

With unique concepts, however, come unique problems. None are great enough to ruin the game, but noticeable flaws certainly exist. People who are willing to invest some time with Darkspore, though, will find an enjoyable, though not perfect, experience.

Darkspore (PC) 
Developer: Maxis Software
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: April 26, 2011
MSRP: $49.99

Darkspore's most remarkable trait is the number of different heroes and the three-person squads you adventure with. Rather than build up a single character -- like most games in the genre -- there are 25 base heroes you can unlock. Each hero has four different "variants," -- alpha, beta, gamma, and delta, which cause some slight variations in appearance and base stats, and have a skill that no other variant of that specific hero has. The variants don't dramatically change the playstyle of an individual hero, but do allow for some stat customization.

Heroes can be one of three different "classes": sentinels, ravagers, and tempests. Generally speaking, sentinels are your high-health tanks, ravagers are your more DPS-oriented attackers, and tempests tend to be ranged attackers. It's difficult to lump all the characters into one single category, though, because the uniqueness of the heroes means that no one quite fits into a perfect mold -- the types are really just a guideline. Some ravagers have long range attacks; there are a few sentinels who do a lot of fighting through high-damage pets. Some characters across classes can heal, some specialize in area of effect attacks. No matter what your playstyle is, you can probably find at least one hero that you like.

There are also five genetic types -- bio, necro, quantum, plasma, and cyber. Genetic type primarily influences two things: the type of items that can be equipped -- Items are either available to all characters, or characters of a specific genetic type. Class does not matter. -- and the damage they take. All the monsters you encounter also have a genetic type, and any monster that is typed the same as your current hero will deal double damage to you (the reverse is not true -- you don't do double damage to them).

Darkspore is played with squads that are made up of three heroes each. From the main menu, you can alter the equipment of your squad at any time and swap heroes in and out of squads on the fly. Once you've set up the squad you want to use, you enter a level, where you can swap out the hero you're currently controlling for any other in your squad. While you might be able to get through the first few levels without having to swap, it quickly becomes a necessity.

There are six kinds of enemies in each level, and in the starting levels, they only consist of two genetic types. Their types aren't revealed to you until right before you launch into the level, but assuming you've built a balanced squad, you'll always have at least one hero that doesn't match any of the enemy types. As you progress, however, the number of types you face in a level increases up to four, and enemies start gaining resistances and immunities to specific genetic types. At this point, you'll have to be swapping your heroes in and out, or the double damage you'll take will destroy you.

As is typical of the genre, you'll find stat-boosting items to equip as you kill enemies and progress though the game. Unlike most other games, though, your heroes' abilities and stats are determined solely by the items they equip. There's no stat placement, no skill picking -- nothing other than equipping items. All heroes have one basic attack and three skills each, and these skills don't change for the entirety of the game. A hero's "level" is determined by the average level of the items they've equipped, and the levels really only serve as a rough guide to how powerful your hero is. A low "level" hero who has carefully selected and equipped gear will probably be better than a higher level hero who has randomly thrown on the highest level equipment he can find without regards to the stat bonuses.

Darkspore's stats aren't particularly complex, however. There's the standard health and power, which determine your hit points and "mana." Strength, dexterity, and mind are the "primary" stats, and each carries its own small benefit. Their main function is to increase the power of your heroes' skills -- sentinels get a damage boost from increased strength, ravagers get a boost from dexterity, and tempests get boosts from mind. Finally, there are three ancillary skills -- dodge rating, resist rating, and critical rating. As I said before, these stats are entirely determined by your equipment (aside from the base stats each character starts with, which are all reasonably similar), so your characters only get stronger as you find better equipment.

All this explanation leads into the main problems I have with the game: you are completely at the mercy of the random number generator as to which of your heroes grow and which ones stagnate. You may end up with a hero that's a clear favorite, but if you're not lucky enough to get equipment that he can use, or that's a good fit for his build, you may have to set him to the side for a while. While careful play counts for a lot, strategy can only take you so far if you're underleveled thanks to the limited number of skills each hero can learn. You're encouraged to try out a whole bunch of different heroes, but it can get rather frustrating to end up with a team you don't particularly like for a while, simply because the item drops you got best fit them.

You can, of course, grind for more gear. One aspect of Darkspore I really like is its chain system: at the end of each level, you get a rare item. You can either take the item right away, or risk it by going straight into the next level. If you succeed, you get one additional item, and the item level of both items increases. At the start of the game, you can only chain two levels, but the limit increases as you progress through the game: three, then four, and finally unlimited chains. If you're willing to sit down and plow through an entire difficulty from start to finish without stopping, you'll get some awesome rewards.

On the flip side, grinding, as in most games, can get tiresome. Every level is unique the first time you play it, and when you go back to replay a level you will randomly be assigned any of the previous maps you've already completed, with enemies that have been scaled up to an appropriate level. This helps break up monotony some, but you quickly learn the layouts of every level, and they can really start to feel repetitive. Some random generation in the actual level structure would have gone a long way in keeping things fresh.

Another issue is a result of there being so many different heroes to choose from. While I would argue that the wide hero choice is probably the strongest aspect of the game, and definitely what sets it apart, it also brings with it a significant negative: As you unlock more and more heroes, equipping them and managing your inventory becomes really tedious.

While you can see all the items you've collected in your inventory, you can't equip them from there. You must instead enter the character editor, which only shows one hero at a time, and you can only see the items that the currently selected hero can equip. This essentially means that every time you finish a long chain and have an inventory full of new items, you need to go through all of your characters one by one to distribute equipment. 

While you probably won't have to go through 100 characters, as you'll identify which variant of each of the 25 major characters you want to focus on pretty quickly, equipping 25 separate heroes, in a separate screen each time (and more if you do decide to build up variants of the same hero separately), becomes time-consuming and frustrating. I often found myself taken ten to fifteen minutes in the character editor after every completed chain, sorting through all the equipment I've found and equipping all of my heroes. It gets tiresome.The character editor uses a modified version of the Spore character creator, which means that each time you equip a new item, you actually get to physically place it on your hero's body. I would gladly trade that for an easy way to quickly equip all of my heroes from the main inventory screen.

As I played through the game, I would alternate between having a ton of fun, and becoming frustrated at the repetitive levels and time I was spending in the character editor. The catch-22 here is that the higher you get in difficulty, the more strategic the game becomes and the more fun it gets, but progressing further also means that the levels feel more repetitive and the editor and interface start bugging you more and more.

However, despite its flaws, I really do find Darkspore to be a worthwhile game, and I plan to continue playing it for some time to come. I don't think there's anything fundamentally broken or boring about Darkspore's gameplay itself -- most of the issues I have with it are really design decisions and interface issues. I've also ended up with a happy compromise that I think maximizes the fun of the game while minimizing the tedium -- I find I have the most fun when I run one or two big chains a night after work, and then call it quits.

Once you get past the beginning, easier levels, sitting down for a five hour session of Darkspore can be daunting -- after a weekend of playing Darkspore almost non-stop, I thought there was no way I'd want to keep going after the review was finished. I planned on exploring a few more levels, wrapping up the review, and moving on. And it was when I started playing less of the game that I really started seeing the appeal of it. Just an hour or two a night though, enough to progress, get some new equipment, and spend one long session in the character editor, felt like the perfect amount of time. I've gone from not thinking I would ever play the game again to actually looking forward to a few levels of Darkspore every night when I get home from work, even though I've finished the review.

Darkspore isn't perfect, but it's solid, and I'm really happy to see a game in this genre that takes some risks and introduces some new mechanics. I would love to see randomized maps, a less clunky inventory management system, and a way to progress through the game that isn't quite so entirely luck based. But even with these issues Darkspore manages to be entertaining. I expect to see a people playing Darkspore for a long time, as long as they pace their gameplay and don't burn themselves out with marathon sessions too early.

Score: 7 -- Good (7s are solid games that definitely have an audience. Might lack replay value, could be too short or there are some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.)

Lamar Odom will start for suspended forward Ron Artest as the Los Angeles Lakers face a must-win situation in Game 3 against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. The Lakers dropped the first two games of the series in L.A., giving Dallas a huge advantage. The Lakers need to win four of five games (three of which will be in Dallas) to win the series.

Artest was suspended for one game after clotheslining diminituive Mavericks guard J.J. Barea in the closing seconds of Game 2 on Wednesday. The Mavericks were ahead by double-digits, and there seemed to be no reason for Artest's blow.

Odom started 35 games this season, but none at small forward. Andrew Bynum spent the first two months of the season on ice after having offseason knee surgery, and Odom filled in at power forward, next to Pau Gasol. When Bynum returned, Odom returned to the bench. He won the Sixth Man of the Year award.

The frontline of Bynum, Gasol and Odom have hardly played together this season, with Artest, Matt Barnes and Kobe Bryant manning small forward and Odom rounding out the three-man big rotation. Odom at small forward should be a fairly normal match-up; Shawn Marion is Dallas' current starting small forward despite playing much of his career at power forward.

For more on the Lakers, visit Silver Screen And Roll.

The Lakers plan to start Shannon Brown at shooting guard and Kobe Bryant at small forward Friday in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinals series with the Dallas Mavericks, according to the Lakers' game notes. Lakers Coach Phil Jackson wouldn't divulge who would start in place of forward Ron Artest, who will serve a one-game suspension for his clothes-lining of Dallas guard J.J. Barea in the waning seconds of the Lakers' Game 2 loss. But by no means are the game notes binding. According to NBA Statscube, the lineup featuring Derek Fisher and Brown sharing backcourt duties, Bryant playing...

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson was coy at the team's shoot-around Friday about who would start at small forward in place of suspended Ron Artest for Game 3 of the playoffs against the Mavericks in Dallas. But Lamar Odom, who practiced with the Lakers starting unit Thursday and at shoot-around Friday, said: "As far as I know I am [starting]." Artest was suspended for one game by the NBA for his flagrant foul on Mavericks guard Jose Barea in Game 2 Wednesday. Before shoot-around, the Lakers issued some game notes saying that Shannon Brown would start Friday, but Jackson merely said...

Fluctuating in and out of the lineup, changing from reserve to starter and filling in whatever hole the Lakers currently have pretty much fills Lamar Odom's job description. Versatility and consistency made Odom the perfect winner for the NBA's sixth man of the year. His skillset made any Andrew Bynum absence, injury-related or otherwise, seamless. And Odom's personality made it a non-issue. But Odom's revelation to The Times' Broderick Turner that he will start in place of suspended Ron Artest for Game 3 of the playoffs against the Mavericks in Dallas brings a whole different dimension. There's really not a...

According to the league-mandated pregame information released by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant would replace the suspended Ron Artest at small forward, with Shannon Brown starting at shooting guard for Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

BODY { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #669966 } A:link { COLOR: #993300 } A:visited { COLOR: #993300 } BODY { FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif } TD { FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif } TH { FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif } BODY { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #669966; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TD.permission { PADDING-BOTTOM: 8px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 8px } TD.date { PADDING-BOTTOM: 4px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TD.permission P { TEXT-ALIGN: center; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #151515; FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal } TABLE.bgTop { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff } TABLE.bg { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff } TABLE.header TD { HEIGHT: 108px } TABLE.header TD H1 { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 6px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Futura', Arial; COLOR: #003333; FONT-SIZE: 24px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TABLE.header TD H3 { PADDING-BOTTOM: 6px; FONT-STYLE: italic; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #ffffff; FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TD.sidebar { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #f8f8f8; BORDER-RIGHT: #bdbcb8 1px solid } TD.sidebar H2 { BORDER-BOTTOM: #464646 3px solid; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #464646; FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal } TD.sidebar UL { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px 24px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #313131; FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TD.sidebar UL A { FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #44a0df; FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal } TD.sidebar P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 14px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #313131; FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TD.sidespace { PADDING-BOTTOM: 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 20px; PADDING-RIGHT: 20px; PADDING-TOP: 20px } TABLE.options { BORDER-BOTTOM: #9f9862 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #9f9862 1px solid } TABLE.options TD { PADDING-BOTTOM: 16px; PADDING-LEFT: 22px; PADDING-RIGHT: 22px; PADDING-TOP: 16px } TD.border { BORDER-BOTTOM: #9f9862 1px solid } TABLE.options H3 { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 4px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #9f9862; FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TABLE.options P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #313131; FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TABLE.options P A { BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TD.mainbar { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } TD.mainbar UL { LINE-HEIGHT: 20px; LIST-STYLE-TYPE: circle; FONT-VARIANT: normal; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; font-size-adjust: none } TD.mainbar OL { LINE-HEIGHT: 20px; FONT-VARIANT: normal; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; font-size-adjust: none } TD.mainbar LI { PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px } TD.mainbar H1 { MARGIN: 15px 0px 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; COLOR: #006666; FONT-SIZE: 24px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold } TD.mainbar H2 { PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; COLOR: #006666; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 21px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px } TD.mainbar H2 A { PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; COLOR: #006666; FONT-SIZE: 20px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none } TD.mainbar H3 { TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: geneva; COLOR: #900; FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal } TD.mainbar H4 { PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Geneva, Sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal } TD.mainbar P { LINE-HEIGHT: 20px; FONT-VARIANT: normal; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; COLOR: #222; FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; font-size-adjust: none } TD.mainbar P.bottomlink { TEXT-ALIGN: right; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; FONT-VARIANT: normal; PADDING-RIGHT: 30px; FONT-FAMILY: Geneva, sans-serif; COLOR: #222; FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-WEIGHT: 400 } TD.mainbar P.top { TEXT-ALIGN: right; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: #44a0df; FONT-SIZE: 10px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal } TABLE.footer { BORDER-BOTTOM: #575757 1px solid; TEXT-ALIGN: center; BORDER-LEFT: #575757 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffc; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; COLOR: #006666; FONT-SIZE: 11px; BORDER-TOP: #575757 1px solid; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; BORDER-RIGHT: #575757 1px solid } TABLE.footer H6 { MARGIN-TOP: 10px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; FONT-SIZE: 12px } TABLE.footer TD { HEIGHT: 88px } TABLE.footer SPAN { COLOR: #ffffff } TABLE.bgBottom { PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 10px } | SUBSCRIBE & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Dumping GMOs, Xtremes, and Carbon Nation #275, May 6, 2011 In this issue: Quote of the Week: Why Being a Foodie Isn't "Elitist" Essay of the Week: The Xtremes by Ronnie Cummins Alerts of the Week: Get Monsanto Out of Trader Joe's & Whole Foods Market! No Sewage Sludge In "Organic" School Gardens! Millions Against Monsanto: See You in Chicago, Seattle & New York! Get Ready for World Food Day Actions 10/16/11 Videos of the Week Via Organica Updates Little Bytes Quote of the Week Why Being a Foodie Isn't "Elitist" "America's current system of food production - overly centralized and industrialized, overly controlled by a handful of companies, overly reliant on monocultures, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, chemical additives, genetically modified organisms, factory farms, government subsidies and fossil fuels - is profoundly undemocratic. It is one more sign of how the few now rule the many. And it's inflicting tremendous harm on American farmers, workers and consumers." - Eric Schlosser, "Why Being a Foodie Isn't 'Elitist'," May 1, 2011, The Washington Post Read More Essay OF THE WEEK The Xtremes: Subversive Recipes for Catastrophic Times "Minor political reforms and corporate 'greenwashing' at this stage of history are too little, too late. The lesser of indentured evils in the White House is not going to save us. Increased market share for organic, green, and Fair Trade products will amount to little or nothing in the closing era of the Xtremes. What we need is a bold determination to carry out regime change and build a new green and egalitarian society, inside the deteriorating infrastructure of the old." Read More Alerts of the Week Get Monsanto Out of Trader Joe's & Whole Foods Market! Trader Joe's is 80% GMO-free. All of their store-brand products are sourced from non-genetically modified ingredients, and Trader-Joe's-brand products are 80% of what they carry. But Trader Joe's definitely sells foods that contain GMO ingredients. For example, Trader Joe's sells products by: * Morningstar Farms, which admits that all but one of their products (the Breakfast Patties Made with Organic Soy) contain genetically modified organisms. * Tofutti, which uses non-GMO soy protein, but admits that other ingredients, like the partially hydrogenated (trans fat) soybean oil in their Better Than Cream Cheese, are genetically modified. Ask Trader Joe's to go from 80% to 100% GMO-free. In the meantime, demand that they respect consumers' right to know what's in our food by labeling any food that may contain ingredients made with genetically engineered organisms, including ingredients from animals raised on genetically engineered feed. Take Action Likewise, Whole Foods Market claims to support mandatory GMO labels, but admits selling unlabeled foods made with genetically modified organisms. Whole Foods & Trader Joe's both have non-GMO policies for their store-brand products, but the policy doesn't apply to the rest of the food they sell. The Millions Against Monsanto campaign is stepping up our efforts to get Monsanto out of Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's. Click here for action ideas, including a video on GMO Food Dumps! Alerts of the Week No Sewage Sludge In "Organic" School Gardens! Some of Hollywood's "green" celebrities - Rosario Dawson, Ed Begley, Jr., and a bevy of starlets - thought they were promoting organic school gardens for inner-city kids. But the Environmental Media Association (EMA) teamed them up with a secretive corporation, Kellogg Garden Products, whose main business is selling Los Angeles sewage sludge! That company calls its Kellogg brand "quality organics" and deceptively labels bags sold at the garden store as "garden soil" made from "compost" - with no mention of which products are made from industrial and human waste that contains tens of thousands of contaminants. That's why federal law bars the use of sewage sludge-based products in organic gardens. So, when news broke that Kellogg Garden Products provided sewage sludge products to EMA's "organic" school gardens, and its spokesperson even posed with sewage sludge-derived products at the gardens, you'd think EMA and its stars would cut all ties to the sludge industry. But you'd be wrong. Instead of denouncing the contamination of the kids' gardens and the corporation's effort to "greenwash" its brand through associating with stars devoted to organic produce, EMA is sticking with its corporate donor. So far. Help OCA's ally, the Center for Media and Democracy, tell Hollywood it's not green to partner with a company that put sewage sludge on school gardens. Tell Hollywood to Stop Greenwashing Sewage Sludge! PLEASE DONATE Millions Against Monsanto Fundraising Appeal Three hundred thousand have already signed up as participants and supporters in our Millions Against Monsanto Truth-in-Labeling Campaign. But we need money to print leaflets, to buy educational videos, to print up T-shirts and bumper stickers, and to pay our campaign staff. As you know, GMOs, Factory Farms, and deceptively labeled consumer products pose a mortal threat to public health, climate stability, and all living things. As we speak, organic crops are being contaminated with Monsanto's GMOs. We need your financial contributions to educate and mobilize consumers, to protect and maintain strict organic standards, and to pressure the entire food industry, including natural food stores and co-ops, to adopt Truth-in-Labeling practices. Please Donate Millions Against Monsanto See You in Chicago, Seattle & New York! To gear up for the Millions Against Monsanto actions on World Food Day, October 16, 2011, we're hosting regional anti-GMO summits at each of the Green Festivals around the country: Chicago May 14-15, 2011 Seattle May 21-22, 2011 New York October 1-2, 2011 We need volunteers in each city to host gatherings at their homes or community centers, to put up OCA staff and volunteers in their homes and to work in the Millions Against Monsanto booths. To volunteer, please click here. If you've already volunteered, thank you! Campaign Director Alexis Baden-Mayer will be contacting you shortly. Millions Against Monsanto Get Ready for World Food Day Actions 10/16/11 On Sunday, October 16, 2011, the Organic Consumers Association's Millions Against Monsanto campaign is calling for World Food Day actions to get genetically engineered organisms out of our food. Get involved by joining your local Millions Against Monsanto chapter! The goal is to have 435 actions, one in each U.S. Congressional District, and for each action to represent 2300 Millions Against Monsanto supporters. 435 x 2300 = 1,000,000 Against Monsanto It would be great to have 2300 people participating in each event, but we can also demonstrate our numbers by delivering petitions signed by 2300 people in each Congressional District. Anyone who can't attend an action on 10/16/11, can join the virtual rally by signing the Millions Against Monsanto petition. Time to start planning! Here's how to get started. Videos of the Week Dumping GMOs: Guerrilla Theatre OCA's Thalia Kazakos offers another great video on how and why anti-GMO activists should organize local activists and dump GMO-tainted products in front of natural food stores, especially industry leaders such as Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's. Watch   Carbon Nation Carbon Nation is the logical next step after An Inconvenient Truth: We know there's a problem; now, how do we get everyone to do something about it? Watch this and more of OCA's favorite videos on our YouTube Channel! Via Organica Join Us In Mexico for a Spring Sustainability Conference Engineers without Borders, The Center for Appropriate Technology and Indigenous Sustainability- Mexico (CATIS-Mexico) and the Earth and Lime Institute are hosting a month-long spring workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  The OCA's sister organization Via Orgánica has been invited to teach during the Small Scale Sustainable Farming week, June 20-24th, 2011. A solution-based course, this program teaches skills in small-scale organic food production for both urban and rural dwellers. Participants will have the opportunity to link practical skills in variety of locales, as well as analyze how overarching global issues like climate change and food scarcity can be confronted.   We are inviting our members to participate in this exciting course.  Register by May 7th for the early bird special.  Combine your spring vacation with an enlightening and authentic educational experience in the outskirts of beautiful San Miguel.  Meet OCA Director Ronnie Cummins and the Vía Orgánica staff.  Learn More   Planet to Plate Tour Join Planet2Plate with a small group on a private 8-day tour of the foods and agricultural origins of the sustainable movement in San Miguel de Allende. Meet the people working with the OCA's sister organization, Vía Orgánica. On this tour you'll trace the region's agriculture from the pre-colonial milpa (considered the original perma-culture technique), to the colonial hacienda system. Then get a brief look at agribusiness for exports compared to rural organic cooperatives working together to support the livelihoods of many families. Celebrate the sustainable food movement, which is flourishing in the fertile,high-desert of Central Mexico by sampling the best organic food the region has to offer.   For more information please visit Planet2Plate's website. Little Bytes Will the Real Food Movement Please Stand Up? READ MORE A Closer Look at the USA Assassination of "Osama bin Laden" READ MORE Take the Pledge for Climate Protection READ MORE Some Developers are Starting to Incorporate a New Feature into Neighborhoods: A Food Supply READ MORE Coke, BPA, and the Limits of 'Green Capitalism' READ MORE Book of the Week Help Us Build a Sustainable Future!  Our friends at Chelsea Green offer the latest books on sustainability, democracy, new science, and pathways to peace. Thanks to our new Affiliate Program, your online purchase supports the OCA! This weeks featured book is: Food Not Lawns Gardening can be a political act. Creativity, fulfillment, connection, revolution-it all begins when we get our hands in the dirt. Food Not Lawns combines practical wisdom on ecological design and community-building with a fresh, green perspective on an age-old subject. Activist and urban gardener Heather Flores shares her nine-step permaculture design to help farmsteaders and city dwellers alike build fertile soil, promote biodiversity, and increase natural habitat in their own "paradise gardens." But Food Not Lawns doesn't begin and end in the seed bed. This joyful permaculture lifestyle manual inspires readers to apply the principles of the paradise garden-simplicity, resourcefulness, creativity, mindfulness, and community-to all aspects of life. Plant "guerilla gardens" in barren intersections and medians; organize community meals; start a street theater troupe or host a local art swap; free your kitchen from refrigeration and enjoy truly fresh, nourishing foods from your own plot of land; work with children to create garden play spaces. Flores cares passionately about the damaged state of our environment and the ills of our throwaway society. In Food Not Lawns, she shows us how to reclaim the earth one garden at a time. Learn More Message From Our Sponsors iSpaces Gives the World a Free Virtual Desktop! The Conscious Cloud At last there is a technology company focused on serving the highest good! iSpaces is working to reduce the digital divide by giving everyone access to a personal desktop, even if they can't afford to own the actual machine. What is iSpaces? iSpaces is a free virtual desktop you can access from any computer with an Internet connection. All of your open browser windows, tabs and files will be ready and waiting for you no matter what computer you login from. Get ready to leap into the cloud and visit www.ispaces.com to set-up your free account today - it's pure web ecstasy!  Become an OCA Sponsor! Every issue of Organic Bytes now goes to 265,000 organic consumers with a thousand new subscribers each week. Please help us and your business by letting our subscribers know who you are and that you support the work of the OCA. Please contact us if you want more information! Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on web sites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power! Organic Bytes is a publication of Organic Consumers Association 6771 South Silver Hill Drive - Finland, MN 55603 - Phone: 218-226-4164 - Fax: 218-353-7652 Subscribe & Read past issues and print- friendly PDF versions of Organic Bytes Connect with us:

According to the league-mandated pregame information released by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant would replace the suspended Ron Artest at small forward, with Shannon Brown starting at shooting guard for Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

One morning last week on the way home from the gym I was sitting at a stop light close to our house right next to a PT Cruiser that had a lightning bolt decal running out from the engine, up and across the door. An involuntary noise escaped my mouth, a "PAAAACKKKKOOOWWWW!" And I realized that the lightning bolt was using me as a medium to say hello.

When I got home I wrote this tweet:

Okay. So. Someone driving a PT Cruiser with a lightning bolt decal is exhibiting a certain kind of taste. I'm not saying that my taste is better (well, I guess that's exactly what I'm saying), but it says to me: I proudly own a denim couch. Or: a Native American dream catcher hangs above my toilet.

Anyway, it was just a joke. But as always, someone has to be upset by the joke, and while all of us were sitting around at lunch I brought this up. I was like, some people take their PT Cruisers very seriously, I did not know this, but going forward I will carry this revelation with me and not jump to conclusions when a PT Cruiser pulls up next to me and I can hear Creed on its stereo.

Right then Tyrant goes, "Wait. Stop. What color was it?"

"Maroon," I answered.

"Was the lightning bolt yellow?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "They got the color of the lightning bolt right! Credit where credit it due!"

"And you were at the stop light right over there?" He pointed toward the west side of the house.

"That exact one."

He smiled. "That car belongs to my friend Fernando."

"Shut up."

"I'm serious."

"Shut up."

"I'm totally serious."

"SHUT. UP."

"He lives in my building."

"SHUUUUUT. UUUUUP."

As he pulled out his phone to show me a picture of Fernando wearing giant sunglasses and a shirt unbuttoned to his belly button, he said "Honey, let me assure you that he gets more ass than everyone at this table combined."

MEA CULPA.

by dooce in Daily

© Armstrong Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Originally published by Heather B. Armstrong for dooce.com as Small world. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

Lamar Odom told reporters he would be the starting small forward in place of suspended Ron Artest against Dallas on Friday night.

According to the league-mandated pregame information released by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant would replace the suspended Ron Artest at small forward, with Shannon Brown starting at shooting guard for Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Russell Wilson is sleeping peacefully in his apartment when out of the usual hum of insect noises and street noise comes a singularly recognizable but muffled noise: the rhythmic chopping of helicopter blades.

Wilson: What the--

His door blows open. He is surrounded by armed men with masks. They hold AR-15s and M4s, and stare at him in the dim streetlight shining through his open window through night-vision goggles. A figure wearing a flak jacket steps forward.

Lt. WarDogEagle: Hello, Mr. Wilson. Be still. You are in no danger.

Wilson: WHAT THE HELL WHY ARE YOU TALKING---

Lt. WarDogEagle: That's not important right now. What is important is that I remind you that you have a choice coming up Russell, and I want you to make the right one.

You're not Jesus, are you? 

Lt. WarDogEagle: No, but I've been known to send men to see him, Russell. I am concerned with the promised land, though. Are you familiar with the Auburn Institute of Exploding Dogs?

Wilson: No. What the hell--

Lt. WarDogEagle: Understanding isn't important. What you do need to know is that they blow up some of the finest dogs in the world there, Russell. Big dogs. Small dogs. Fluffy dogs. Hairless dogs. I saw a Chinese Hairless blown into the hereafter by an anti-tank mine there. Do you know what that will do to your psyche, Russell? I did it for my country, but it's still does something to you? Can you understand that, Russell Wilson?

Um, I'm sorry, I--

Lt. WarDogEagle: Oh it's bad, Russell Wilson, but it's nothing compared to watching Chris Todd try to run the zone read. Are you a friend of horror? Then please, stay where you are and let Barrett Trotter run the most beautiful college offense this side of the Mississippi. You'll be an accomplice in an atrocity if you don't go to Auburn. I hope you're prepared for that.

Wait, are you trying to recruit me to Auburn?

Lt. WarDogEagle: Quiet, Russell Wilson. There is no me. I don't exist. Neither do Hambone, Oodles, and Little Seizure, or any of these men behind me.If they did, they'd just be doing me a favor they owed me for doing them a big favor a few days ago in a little mountain vacation home I recently helped acquire for my friend Uncle Sam. Had to kick the previous tenants out on some seriously overdue back rent. They weren't cooperative.

I'm terrified.

Lt. WarDogEagle: You shouldn't be, Russell Wilson. Your code name is now Cheese Toast.

I like cheese toast.

Lt. WarDogEagle: Of course you do, Cheese Toast.. You like all things of excellence. That is why I know you'll make the right choice. Your contact is known to you as Nite Towel. He will be waiting for your signal when you are ready to be part of the most elite unit in the world. When you awake, you will understand what we want you to use to signal.

You may even meet Colonel Gustav. His methods are unsound. His results are undeniable. I want you to see all these things, Cheese Toast. 

But now we must leave, and you must go back to sleep.

But you haven't even---

Lt. WarDogEagle: I don't bargain, Cheese Toast. I learned this the hard way with an untrustworthy operative you may now by the code name Preacher. I will not repeat that mistake. Good night, Cheese Toast.

Waaaiiiit---

A quick whooshing noise interrupts the silence of the apartment. A sharp pain flares in Wilson's neck, and he feels the dart's cold steel exterior for an instant before the world goes dark. 

Morning. A groggy Wilson awakes.

Man, that was a crazy-ass dream. Last time I eat that much pizza before I go to bed. Anyway, I---

He looks down on his comforter, and sees a white towel draped over his legs.

What the hell--

I---

He notices a plate sitting on his nightstand. On it sits a plate of cold but still edible cheese toast.

....

Well, shit. Cheese toast, motherfuckers.

 

He eats it, and considers his options.

 

FIN

By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist

On Friday May 6, former WEC fighter Dan Downes, currently under UFC contract, will be fighting outside of the UFC under the NAFC banner. Last week Downes took time out of his training schedule to talk to MMA Torch's Rich Hansen about his mindset going into this fight, the mentality of a fighter, Ben Askren and Anthony Pettis, and much more.

MMA TORCH: Last time I talked to you was before your fight against Zhang Tie Quan. The first round of that fight didn't go exactly how you wanted it to go. When you were sitting on the stool in between rounds, were you able to block out everything else and just focus on what you had to do in the next two rounds, or was your mind going all over the place thinking about the UFC contract that was on the line and other factors like that?

DAN DOWNES: During the Zhang fight, the first round I knew I was terrible. But I finished that first round feeling good, which sounds kind of weird but I remember that I survived. But near the end I got a small reversal and once I got that and I was on top of him briefly, I felt good. And then also when we got up and I could look at him, I could see in his eyes that he blew his load. I knew he was done for.

Obviously if I got up and he was calm and cool and everything I would have felt different, like, "Ah shoot, that didn't go well." And like I told people, if you go 0-2 to start [with Zuffa] you don't have to worry about going 0-3 because you don't really have that chance. So I saw him and I got that spring of hope and I felt pretty good, which seems pretty weird considering how bad that first round went.

I even watched [the fight] today and I swore I was going to lose, but then I was like, "Oh wait, I know how this ends." But yeah, I felt really good about it, and I thought I got [the rest of the fight]. And then the second and third rounds went smoother. But when I fight, I just concentrate on that one moment. You have to do that, focus on that once thing, or else you're going to get punched in the face.

MMA TORCH: As a result of that victory you're now under UFC contract, and you're going to be fighting for Duke Roufus' NAFC promotion on May 6 here in Milwaukee. It's pretty rare for the UFC to allow their fighters that are under contract to fight outside of the UFC, even for smaller organizations like the NAFC that aren't in direct competition with them. Were you given the chance to take a UFC fight in the aftermath of the Zhang fight, or were you told by them that they didn't have a fight for you and you should look outside the UFC for a fight? Essentially, was this their idea or your idea?

DOWNES: It was hard, because the lightweight division is so deep. Obviously if I wanted to sit around and things like that I could have. But I know I have a lot of improving to do so I'm really appreciative that they're giving me an opportunity to do this. It's a calculated risk. But it's a risk every time you get into a cage to fight another grown man. But yeah, it's real deep and I didn't want to stay on the shelf that long.

MMA TORCH: Originally Michael Johnson was scheduled to fight in the main event of this card. When did you find out that you were going to be on the card instead of Johnson?

DOWNES: I found out maybe a week or two ago. And I was in really good shape. I felt like if anything came up on short notice I would be ready to take it. So I'm in really good shape, not just not-fat shape. I was actually in shape for this since we weren't really sure when I would go. We were thinking maybe end of summer and I was like oh my gosh, I have to keep up my pace for three more months, it would be terrible. The timing was right the way things worked out.

MMA TORCH: When you take a fight against an opponent you don't know a whole lot about, how do you prepare for that? Do you try to figure out as much as you can about him and tailor your game to his skill set, or do you just work on what you do and whatever happens happens?

DOWNES: Whenever you first start out, you don't have a lot of information. You can try to... YouTube only goes so far. Watching a fight he had two years ago won't do me much good. At the end of the day, a fight's a fight, so I have to get out there and do what I do. A lot of these guys, you know, are pretty good at some things but not at other things. So you kind of have to do it by feel. Even the same thing happens in a fight. You know, I could have game planned and watch hours of film on this guy, but I go there and what I game plan for might not work. And then I've got to adjust. You have to have a broad skill set. If you're only good at one thing and they shut down the one thing you're in trouble.

MMA TORCH: Are there any similarities comparing this fight with the Horodecki fight (which Downes also took on short notice), or are they two totally separate things?

DOWNES: They're two totally separate events. Obviously other than the short notice thing, I mean. Other than that I'm in a lot better shape, I'm a lot stronger, and a better fighter. I mean if anything the one big thing would be my mindset. Going into Horodecki I was the underdog. I had everything to gain and he had everything to lose. But now the roles are kind of reversed. I have everything to lose; I'm the headliner now, I'm the favorite, so the pressure is more on me.

MMA TORCH: Are you feeling any pressure?

DOWNES: Just the normal pressure of every other fight. I'm actually kind of surprised how calm I've been, considering. But it's like, even Pat Barry says the same thing; "It's like man, I always want to fight until I find out I have a fight. Then oh man, I'm not ready…" That's the thing. Even before I was like, "I want to fight right now. I'm in such good shape. I want to show everyone what I've got." And then they're like, "So do you want to fight that guy," and I'm like, "Uh, yeah. I guess..." So there's always the normal nervousness of anything in the fight. But by the time you get your hands wrapped and all ready to go, that will all go out the window.

MMA TORCH: I want to change course a little bit and get into the mindset of being a fighter. Georges St. Pierre talks consistently about how he feels fear. Of course he's talking more about fear of losing than just primal fear, but what about yourself? Like you said, your job is to go into a cage to fight a grown man. Do you ever just feel fear.

DOWNES: Oh yeah. Definitely.

MMA TORCH: How do you get around it?

DOWNES: Um, I guess you know it's just a basic adrenaline, fight or flight. So you've got to pick one or the other and once you're locked in the cage that kind of eliminates [flight].

MMA TORCH: Fear of pain; fear of losing; fear of looking bad?? What is it you're feeling?

DOWNES: Yeah. There're all those things. Part of it is... this is a very ego-driven sport. That's what I tell people. Losing a fight is different than, say, losing a basketball game. If we go out there and we play a basketball game and lose, it's like oh well, big deal. Even in the NBA, you can say it's your livelihood and all that…

MMA TORCH: Unless you're Andrew Bogut, you're going to walk away in one piece.

DOWNES: Yeah. And at the end of the evening you have your teammates and everything else. If I go out there and have a bad basketball game and didn't shoot well or something, I have 81 more games in a regular season to go do it right. But with this, if I lose, not only did I get beat up, physically beat up in front of my friends and family, I might not be able to fight for another four months. So there's a blessing and a curse. If I look awesome, everyone loves me for four months. You're only as good as your last fight. And if you do bad, nobody will give you any credit. So there's that fear.

And then there's the physical. I guess you worry about the guy hitting you and stuff. But I don't have that fear of... I don't think I'm going to get hurt. That's why with sparring and stuff you get used to it. I don't want to get cut or my nose broken or my face bashed in or anything. But that's just vanity; that's not really a fear.

My last fight, you could say my career was on the line. And now with this [fight], you could say that it's the same kind of thing. So it's a lot of pressure. Try to think of another sport, there's never really one [where an athlete] gets [released] based on one bad game or anything like that, so that's always out there [in fighting].

MMA TORCH: One other mindset question here that I want to touch upon. Have you ever walked into the cage against someone you really didn't like and really wanted to beat them up for personal reasons, or have you not experienced real distaste for an opponent yet?

DOWNES: I've never had like a personal reason... The one thing I have noticed is that the more I have been fighting..... I remember my first few fights it was like, hatred. And a lot of that, it's good in some sense because you have to have some mindset. But it's bad because it's that aggression that is not focused... Unfocused aggression isn't any good in a fight. I'’s good when you're 0-0 or 1-0 or something. But as you get better, you can't just go mindlessly out there swinging. So as I've gotten better that aggression and dislike is still there... It's kind of how Nick Diaz does it. I'm just trying to hate you right now. But he respects a lot of the guys, but he fights the same fight every time. So sure you have to get in that mindset; you can't treat it like a sparring session.


MMA TORCH: If you were to fight someone that had an active dislike for that, would fight him differently than you would fight someone you had no feelings about?

DOWNES: I think that would be a hard fight because you'd want to... Obviously you always want to win, but you'd want to hurt them. But then you'd end up doing dumb things.

MMA TORCH: It would change your proper mindset.

DOWNES: Yeah, exactly. You know sometimes you get guys who come to spar and they don't know whatever etiquette or something. And they're kind of a jerk, or ignorant people who come in here visiting, thankfully not the regular guys. You try so hard to beat them up. And even like, you get some guy coming in trying to cock off, and I'll [want to] knock him down, but it doesn't work too well because it'll go worse than you want in the first place. So you've got to find that proper balance. I think it would be really hard to fight someone that I actually, like, personally dislike.

MMA TORCH: Which is why you're the nicest guy in the sport.

DOWNES: (laughs) Yeah.

MMA TORCH: Going back to the fear thing for a second here... What's scarier, sparring with Anthony Pettis, or actually fighting?

DOWNES: (long pause) Well, it's like (when sparring with Pettis), it's like, "What in the hell is he going to do now?" That's the thing. It's like fear of the unknown. After going with him, I can see it in his eyes. I don't get caught off guard as often as his [real] opponents because when you spar with someone enough you can learn their tendencies. But I can see it. I can see the way he'll just do something with his eyes or move his shoulders, and I'm like, "Ah shit! He's about to do something, and then he spins three times, backflip, and kick me in the head." And then I'll be like, "Damn it! I knew it (was coming), but I didn't know what to do!"

MMA TORCH: So he's Jaden Smith?

DOWNES: (laughs) Yeah, that's it. But that's the thing. When we go out there (to spar), he's just a cold blooded killer. But not me. You get the knots in your stomach and your heart elevates. The thing is, you've just got to harness it. You can let it take you over. Or you can try to harness that energy and kind of use it to your advantage. I guess it's like the ultimate adrenaline rush. Some people jump out of planes. Or maybe do coke. Whatever. Like this is just that feeling of, everything is heightened, you know. Everything just kind of slows down, and you're full aware of everything. It's a strange kind of, I don't know, physical response.

MMA TORCH: Since your last fight in December, Ben Askren has moved back up here and joined your team full time. Have you been able to roll with him yet? And if so, what has he brought to the team and to your individual game?

DOWNES: He's been busy setting up his new wrestling academy (in Hartland, WI), so I'll be training with him more soon. But it is the most frustrating thing I've ever done. Because he'll take me down and then he'll be twenty different places. You'll try to move and then he'll be all over you. To see that level of wrestling, it's kind of scary. If I could even get a tenth of what he's got, it will definitely open up things even more for me. And the same thing [for Askren] when he gets his striking up.

The nice thing about being well-rounded is that it lets you be more aggressive. If you get put on your back and you're dead on arrival, then you can't strike as aggressively, you can't open up. That's why Anthony [Pettis] can do so many creative things, because even if you get him on his back he'll submit you. I'm just trying to get to that point where no matter where I'm at, I can be more aggressive with my jiu-jitsu and stuff. I'm definitely looking forward to working more with Ben.

MMA TORCH: Where do you see yourself in your career two years from now? Five years from now? Or don't you have those kinds of goals yet?

DOWNES: I don't. The best laid plans go to waste. There's not a whole lot of security in this. Whether it be your own performance, you get cut, injuries, you know? Thankfully Alan Belcher (who is recovering from a near career-ending eye injury) is able to come back from his thing. But you never know what can happen. I hope that doesn't happen but who knows. I could take a fight and something really bad happens like I tear my Achilles [tendon] or something and you just never know. Look, I wouldn't be doing this, and I know Duke wouldn't let me be doing this if he didn't think I had a shot. This isn't like some pipe-dream or anything. It's still weird for me too. I'm just going to try to enjoy the ride as long as I can.

Efforts to ban halal slaughter are underway in most Western countries. The fact that unmarked halal meat has come to dominate the market in some Western European countries has provoked outrage among animal-rights activists who object to the treatment of animals slaughtered under halal rules. The result has been a “strange bedfellows” scenario, with anti-jihad activists and animal-rights people taking the same side of the issue.

Since halal slaughter and kosher slaughter bear some resemblance to each other — especially in the minds of Western Christians and secular people — most moves to ban halal would also place the same restrictions on kosher products. From a practical political standpoint, obtaining a ban on halal would be very difficult without also banning kosher.

Brian of London tackles this thorny topic in an article posted today at Israellycool. He looks at the issue of a halal food in the larger context of the Islamic push for domination in Western countries.


Halal: It’s Just Not Kosher
by Brian of London

Over the coming months we will see attempts to ban halal slaughter in Europe. But they won’t be worded in such a way to target only halal, they’ll probably go after something nebulous like “ritual slaughter” or “religious slaughter without stunning”. If that happens (as is ongoing in New Zealand) it will more likely than not deprive European Jews of kosher meat and make very little difference to the lives of farm animals.

This essay will be general but will draw specific examples from the UK.

As much as Muslims like to talk about halal, it is not a religious requirement in the same way as kosher has been to Jews for thousands of years. There is conclusive historical and archeological evidence across Israel and anywhere else Jews lived, that the rules of “Shechita” have been followed in an unaltered form for millennia. The mere fact that kosher food is perfectly acceptable to Muslims while halal is not acceptable to Jews shows the Muslim requirement has a certain inherent flexibility born of political expediency. The Jewish laws do not yield for convenience or to achieve other goals. Halal has also been flexible enough to include “light stunning” which has been enough to sidestep a ban in New Zealand. A very large proportion of the lamb consumed in the middle east is actually New Zealand lamb and in the UK this halal lamb is nearly always sold unmarked in big supermarkets.

The global counter Jihad movement is going to face a tough choice over this issue. On the one side is the long respected freedom to practice religion where that freedom doesn’t harm others. On the other will be those who feel the rights of animals need to be elevated to the level or even above the level of humans.

Here are some points to remember:

• Modern farming methods relating to animals, especially when one is considering mass produced meat at cheaper prices, are not pleasant. It is firmly in the interests of very big agro-businesses to obfuscate and conceal exactly what goes on to produce the mass produced chicken that can be sold at the very cheap prices we currently enjoy.
  
• In order to treat animals as if they were pets, prior to their slaughter for consumption, requires an investment in those animals that is only worthwhile if consumers will pay a hefty extra price for their meat. Some consumers will and people do choose free range or organic meat trusting that the various certification schemes do keep the farmers honest. In the end, however, unless you know the farmer or have some connection to the food production yourself, you’re trusting someone else to vouch that your meat is produced in a way you can accept.
  
• That is a similar act of trust that Jews place in the Kashrut Authorities who certify their kosher food has been produced in accordance with Jewish principles of animal welfare and cleanliness.
  
• There are a multitude of groups and movements working for better treatment of animals at many points of the spectrum from mildly reproachful to physical dangerous. Just because, on the issue of halal, you may agree with them, does not necessarily mean a movement to educate people about Islam needs to take up their causes.
  
• There have been real acts of terrorism, violence and even murder committed in the name of animal rights.

This is the big question: if the global counter Jihad movement wants to oppose the spread of Islam and Sharia into the lives of non Muslims, is it necessary to get involved in the details of animal treatment or is it enough to realise the drive for halal food and its encroachment into public life is the real problem?

Jewish respect for animals

I would put forward that Judaism, as a religion, has done more for the good treatment of animals than any before or since. The militant atheists will argue that all religion is evil but, without being particularly observant myself, I know enough about Jewish philosophy to know they are wrong. I know Islam too and that is where the problem comes in. For example, Judaism has always prohibited hunting for fun which is certainly not something Islam copied. Indeed, the only sports acceptable to the most observant or extreme Muslims all derive from hunting: archery and horsemanship are specifically mandated for good Muslims in the stories about Muhammad! By contrast, Judaism specifically prohibits cruelty (causing pain for pleasure) and it’s clear from many things done in the name of Islam, this is not observed in Islam.

Why do kosher and halal rules appear similar?

What Muhammad stole from the Jews who resided in the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century (aside from their wives, daughters, property and lives) were scattered snatches of their stories and oral law. These were mangled and mis-represented to form the Koran. That Muhammad (and don’t get me started on whether he was a single real person or an amalgamated construct) knew to place the Arabs as illegitimate descendants of the slave girl in the Hebrew bible story of Abraham was a stroke of pure genius. In all probability, the Jews had already worked this out as a separation of the Semitic people into Jews and others (who would always be more numerous).

Almost every aspect of Islam has its roots in Judaism but every time you study the detail, superficial surface similarities hide a complete inversion of right and wrong, and a complete perversion of the reasons for the activity in question. Halal represents an attempt to take over and dominate the food of the infidel. By contrast, kosher is an introverted wish by Jews to honour their creator by following His laws (and some other internal philosophical reasons more observant Jews than myself can explain to you).

If we do not discriminate and recognise that Islam as a belief system has a dark, supremacist element that is unique to it, we are liable to destroy important parts of the foundations that have made our civilisation the greatest and kindest that has ever been. No civilisation has ever considered the rights of animals to the extent that we do now and this is not an accident. Islam has rarely been kind to people, let alone animals.

What is the purpose of Halal in the Non-Muslim world?

There is another issue here about the real purpose of halal outside of Muslim countries. As a general rule Jews and other groups with special dietary rules have not asked for their food to be served in public places outside their home countries. Jews outside of Israel adapt themselves to the food available in public institutions such as hospitals and schools often by eating vegetarian options. Even in neighbourhoods where Jews form a very high proportion of the population, there are hardly any demands to change the catering in public institutions.

By contrast, halal has made serious inroads into institutional mass catering in the UK. There are now numerous examples where non-Muslims looking for meat are given no other choice but to eat halal food in public institutions such as schools and hospitals. This has never happened with kosher food and nobody has ever seriously forced, for example, a vegan option on an un-willing population.

It’s all about control

There is a significant point of view that says halal food is all about a bid to take over and control the food supply. Animals must have an Arabic prayer said as they are killed and this must be performed by a Muslim. In effect halal mandates that Muslims perform most of the tasks involved in the production of the food.

What would strict labelling mean?

One of the ways that people are calling for some introduction of control on the spread of halal meat is by calling for strict labelling of meat that is not stunned before slaughter. There is a particular issue with halal today because there is a large amount of halal meat in the normal food chain that is not labeled as such. This is not such an issue with kosher meat except in one respect. Fully kosher meat is always much more expensive than non kosher and this reflects the small nature of its market and the care with which it has to be produced. Halal is generally cheaper than non halal. Some parts of kosher slaughtered animals do end up in the non-kosher meat supply, however, because this does help keep kosher meat affordable.

So strict labelling would be a problem for Jews if it meant that producers of meat pies and sausages were reluctant to accept some meat because it would force them to label their end product as containing some parts from non-stunned animals.

When was the last time a major nation banned kosher slaughter in Europe?

Today there are some bans on kosher slaughter already in Europe, especially in Scandinavian countries. The last major European nation to completely ban kosher slaughter was, of course, Nazi Germany. The following passage from Melanie Phillips’ excellent book The World Turned Upside Down develops this even further into what some may find a surprising reverence for animal life among Nazis.

Such ecological fixations were further developed in German Nazism. According to Ernst Lehmann, a leading Nazi biologist, “separating humanity from nature, from the whole of life, leads to humankind’s own destruction and to the death of nations.”^[i] The Nazis thus fixated on organic food, personal health and animal welfare. Heinrich Himmler was a certified animal rights activist and an aggressive promoter of “natural healing”; Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, championed homeopathy and herbal remedies; Hitler wanted to turn the entire nation vegetarian as a response to the unhealthiness promoted by capitalism.^[ii]

There was top-level Nazi support for ecological ideas at both ministerial and administrative levels. Alwin Seifert, for example, was a motorway architect who specialized in “embedding motorways organically into the landscape.” Following Rudolf Steiner, he argued against land reclamation and drainage; said that “classical scientific farming” was a nineteenth-century practice unsuited to the new era and that artificial fertilizers, fodder and insecticides were poisonous; and called for an agricultural revolution towards “a more peasant-like, natural, simple” method of farming “independent of capital.” Himmler established experimental organic farms including one at Dachau that grew herbs for SS medicines; a complete list of homeopathic doctors in Germany was compiled for him; and antivivisection laws were passed on his insistence. As Anna Bramwell observes, “SS training included a respect for animal life of near Buddhist proportions.”^[iii]

They did not show such respect, of course, for the human race. Neither does the ecological movement, for which, echoing Malthus, the planet’s biggest problem is the people living on it. Even though our contemporary era has been forged in a determination that fascism must never rise again, certain völkish ideas that were central to fascism—about the organic harmony of the earth, the elevation of animal “rights” and the denigration of humans as enemies of nature—are today presented as the acme of progressive thinking.

[i]		Staudenmaier, “Fascist Ecology.”
[ii]		Goldberg, Liberal Fascism, pp, 385—87.
[iii]		Bramwell, Ecology in the 20th Century, p. 204.

What does this mean for the Counter Jihad?

We need to decide if fighting a battle for what some believe is better treatment of animals has any place in resisting the spread of Islam and Sharia. Just as with the issue of immigration we ask is the counter Jihad about immigration in general or only about Islamic immigration with a goal of eventual domination?

It’s my belief that people interested in taking up the cause of animal rights should do this distinctly from the cause of resisting Islam and Sharia. However, for the counter Jihad, halal slaughter is not an issue of animal treatment. It is an issue of an attempt to take over and dominate the food of infidels and impose on them, against their will, submission to the laws of Islam. That is unacceptable and should be resisted without infringing the legitimate rights of real religious practice.

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow today held a press conference with local residents and business owners at the Northwestern Marathon gas station in Southfield to discuss efforts to combat rising gas prices. With gas prices at a new record-high across the state, Michigan families and small businesses are struggling while oil companies are making the largest corporate profits in history. As Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Stabenow held a hearing earlier this year to investigate how much market manipulators are driving up prices and to explore ways to strengthen American made biofuel industries and other alternatives to foreign oil. Senator Debbie Stabenow said: 'Michigan families are now spending as much on gas as they are on health care and almost as much as on groceries to feed their families. Meanwhile, oil companies are making the largest corporate profits in history and to add insult to injury, are taking billions in taxpayer subsidies. We need to stop oil companies from padding their profits with taxpayer dollars, increase domestic drilling, get tough on market manipulators, and continue to promote clean energy that reduces our dependence on foreign oil and creates jobs in Michigan.'Jim Hamade, Northwestern Marathon station owner said: 'High gas prices impact every part of our economy, and I think it is horrendous that we are subsidizing oil companies when they are hurting families. I'm very glad to have Senator Stabenow speak on our behalf.'Sharon McRill, Owner of the Betty Brigade said: 'It's troubling to me as a small business owner to see oil companies making record profits and also being eligible for taxpayer subsidies.  Just when small businesses in Michigan are starting to get in position to create new jobs, gas prices, especially for those who have mobile companies, are debilitating.  I'm pleased that Senator Stabenow is in touch with what's going on and fighting for Michigan small businesses.'Don Adiska, Owner of Ovation Photographics said: 'The majority of my work is done on location, which requires me to do a lot of driving and skyrocketing gas prices cut deeply into my take home pay. I appreciate Senator Stabenow's diligence in holding oil companies accountable and helping us transition away from foreign oil.'Ilene Orlanski, Royal Oak resident said: 'The cost of rising prices has really impacted my pocketbook. I agree with Senator Stabenow that we must be investing in clean energy and ending giveaways to oil companies.'At the press conference, Senator Stabenow called for an end to taxpayer giveaways to oil companies.  Major oil companies are making profits of over $60 billion dollars a year by taking advantage of Americans who are paying for their gas twice-first paying record high prices at the pump and then paying oil companies again on tax day.  Instead of giving away $4 billion a year in oil subsidies, Stabenow proposed that those dollars be used to reduce the deficit and fund new clean energy technologies.She also discussed the need for more domestic drilling. Earlier this year, Stabenow cosponsored 'Use-it-or-lose-it' legislation to get oil companies to develop the 60 million acres of land they're currently holding but not using, in some cases just to keep their competitors from drilling there. Oil companies are drilling on less than 25% of federal lands they have leased. Finally, as a long-time advocate for new clean energy technologies, Senator Stabenow emphasized the need for a fundamental change in America's energy policy to give consumers more choices beyond foreign oil.  She is the author of the Charging America Forward Act to help put more advanced technology, highly fuel efficient vehicles on the road.  Her bill provides a $7,500 consumer rebate for purchasing electric vehicles.  It also extends medium and heavy-duty truck tax credits, and reauthorizes the advanced battery manufacturing program-a program that has already dramatically increased advanced battery production in the U.S., creating jobs here in Michigan.    

Being Being a professional photographer isn’t easy. 

Living with one is far more difficult. 

As Mother’s Day approaches I think it’s important to take a look at the people behind the scenes- The wives and mothers that put up with professional photographers.  Namely, my wife.

Even though I began my photography journey almost twenty years ago when I got my degree in the subject, it wasn’t until about five years ago that I finally decided to ‘go for it’ and put my whole self into becoming successful at what was previously more of a hobby.  When I made this decision, I don’t think my wife anticipated where that road was heading.

In the beginning it was an occassional hike on the weekends.   I would wake long before the rest of the family and drive out to my location.  There would be a small hike and some photos taken, and then I would be back at home early enough that in most cases my wife was still asleep.   During this period I was relearning what brought me to photography in the first place.   I had rediscovered why I fell in love with photography.   I felt the need and desire to be creative that I had had during college before life and severe laziness caught up with me.

My trips out went from once a week to two sometimes three in a week.  Still never gone more than a couple hours, I was driven to learn and to continue to perfect my craft, making up for those down years where the camera set on a shelf for all but a few times a year.

My wife put up with hikes, and the little times away. To her, it was a good hobby (at this point), and a healthy way for me to get out and exercise.  This process usually allowed the kids to come as well…so it was also considered family time. 

Then I needed a new camera.   When I set out to be good at something, I don’t quit.  It wasn’t long before my knowledge and aspirations outgrew the entry level DSLR I had purchased just six months before.  I needed a bigger more professional model camera that was capable of taking my photography to the level I envisioned in my head.     This required a good chunk of financial money.  My wife handled it beautifully, and with minimal grumbles we spent the money and I bought my new camera set up....and all the subsequent gear that I found I "needed" after the new camera.

With the new camera came an even bigger drive to learn and grow as a photographer.  The morning and evening trips became full day events that saw me leave from before the sun rose, and return well after it had gone down.    This eventually led to a full on road trip taking off for 10 days through the southwest.   The goal of this trip was to continue to push my comfort zone, as well as add new images to my growing portfolio.  My wife "got it" and let me take the time away to photograph.

While away I pushed myself to become better, learn more, and get better in every aspect of my craft.   The trip was a success for numerous reasons.   I came away with several new images for my portfolio.  I pushed myself mentally and physically to become better at what I did.  I saw beautiful areas of the country I hadn’t even considered visiting before.  It was a great experience all around, but what really set this trip apart was a being in the right place at the right time. 

Through this trip I ended up meeting Stephen Oachs.   Stephen, like me was getting into landscape and wildlife photography pretty seriously.  Through a chance run in at Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona we started exchanging emails and going out to shoot together.   This of course, required more time away from my wife and family.    What my wife didn’t know at the time is that the chance meeting with Stephen and the shoots that followed all laid the ground work for what has now become The Aperture Academy.

Stephen and I began by teaching a few workshops a year.  There was a demand, and it made sense to teach some of what I’d learned throughout my then fifteen years of photography.  We taught four or five workshops that first year.  The workshops required me being out of town for two or three days at a time.   When I’m away all the parenting falls on my wife.  She’s in charge of getting the kids fed and taken care of.   With our boys this means sports practices or games (sometimes 2 a day), birthday parties, family functions, errands, or just a trip to the lake to get out of the house. It’s a hard enough gig to tackle as a team, but alone it can get overwhelming very quickly.  Add to it that our boys are three years apart in age, and both the same size and you can't imagine the squabbling and fighting that occurs.

The workshop schedule expanded some the second year.  We went from four or five to nine.   This was in addition to the various other side trips I made for personal shooting.  Building a business isn’t easy, and often times the days I am home I’m spent at the computer processing images, writing articles, or setting to the various social networking aspect of my business.   When I’m home, I’m not technically home.

In 2009 The Aperture Academy was opened and business increased dramatically.  The nine workshops we were doing each year multiplied and between the workshops and other events at the gallery I spent at least fifteen different weekends away.    This was also the time I got the wild idea of going to Iceland for an entire summer. 

“How does your wife put up with you?”  I get asked that question ALL of the time.  The honest answer is I have no idea.   I’m probably not the easiest person on the planet to live with when I am home.  I work in public education Monday-Friday.  Then I leave for a weekend or two each month to work more.  Then in the summer, which is normally a time reserved for family I get the genius idea to spend it all in a foreign country- Which my wife allowed me to do.    This took a herculean effort on her part to keep the house and kids in check for that time.  We also have three dogs…that adds three more children to the mix.  While in Iceland my wife made a lifesized photo-cut out me and drug it to family dinners, sporting events, and even our anniversary.  I know nobody else who could handle this with a sense of humor.  Cardboard me was probably less of a pain in the ass in some regards. 

This year the Aperture Academy has grown by leaps and bounds.  Stephen’s wife has coined the phrase “photography widow” to describe the situation she and my wife face.  There are months where I am gone every single weekend to help teach and grow the business.   Then I still need time to shoot personal projects in order to continue my own creative growth.   I figure this year I’ll miss 30 weekends teaching.   When you’re business is growing and you feel personal responsibility to see it succeed there is always something that can be done, always another day you can work.  I'm a work-a-holic when it comes to my photography.

There are times when I’m able to bring the family on a workshop, and treat them to a bit of a vacation from their normal life at home.  Those times aren’t as often as I’d like at this point and there’s never a really good way to tell them how much I appreciate the hard work and effort they put into being related to me.  Riding side-saddle with me on a photo shoot is probably nobodies idea of fun.  I took them to Florida on a cruise ship for 5 days.  The family time and relaxation was really the first break any of us had in almost two years.  It was amazing, yet I still managed to throw in some photography as well.  They endured the evening drives all ove the Florida Keys as part of "vacation".  It’s really incredible that they put up with me given that I’m working two full time jobs right now.    I’m honestly always a little surprised their home when I return from being away.

“Wow…they’re still here.”

It’s hard enough to build a portfolio and work to improve one’s craft given the competiveness and conditions that exist in photography today.  It’s even harder when you have a family.    Everything I am in photography is because of my family.  If it weren’t for them I would have no reason to push to be great.  If it weren’t for my wife’s unwavering love, support, and patience I wouldn’t be able to do what I do and continue to move forward.   It’s definitely a team effort in the Rueb house.  

I guess what I’m trying to say is that when you see the pretty images in magazines, and on the websites, and you take the class or workshop from the professional.  You should know that behind every good photographer is an even better woman...and a couple kids throwing rocks in your foreground.

Happy Mother’s Day to my wife and the other photography widows of the world.

DALLAS (AP) -- According to the league-mandated pregame information released by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant will replace the suspended Ron Artest at small forward, with Shannon Brown starting at shooting guard for Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

The successful U.S. SEAL strike against Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, just blocks from the Pakistan's West Point, raises questions about whether the Pakistani military and intelligence are part of the solution or part of the problem of international terrorism.  Not only does the U.S. need to learn what the Pakistani military high command and ISI knew and when they knew it, but the U.S. also has to ask a series of questions about bin Laden's heavily fortified compound, such as:

• How long was Osama bin Laden there?
• Who knew and protected him?
• Who owned the land, how was it acquired, and from whom? Who designed the compound?
• Who installed the security systems? Are they commercially available or specialized?
• Given the multitude of military checkpoints in this military town, who did they stop and who did they allow to continue on their way into the compound?

To answer these questions and others, Pakistan's government needs to convene a special independent civilian parliamentary public inquiry, like the Watergate hearings or the 9/11 Commission. The commission's representation should reflect the parliament's party makeup, including both opposition and government parties, and ideally be chaired by a member of the opposition. It should have subpoena powers for the appearance of military and civilian government officials, and well as all bin Laden-related government documents from the military and ISI. Its findings should be made public. This is the only way to enable greater civilian authority over the country's counterterrorism efforts, drive more effective and transparent programs, and keep spoilers from undermining the cause.[[BREAK]]

The United States also needs to demand accountability from Pakistan's military. Pakistani action against national and international terrorist groups is vital to U.S. and Pakistan security, but it also is clear that the Pakistani military has seen action or inaction against those groups through an anti-India lens rather than through a counterterrorism commitment.

Contrast that with Pakistan's civilian government, which, despite getting little credit, has been making some progress. For example, after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the civilian government investigated, issued indictments and made several arrests which, had the military had its way, wouldn't have happened at all. Putting more eggs into the civilian law enforcement and civilian police intelligence basket, as called for under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman law, is even more important now.

Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari has also fought to extend constitutional rights to the citizens of Pakistan's tribal areas, and provide them both the full rights and civilian law enforcement protection of the Pakistani Constitution. The military has stymied these efforts, but the civilian government has countered by establishing a joint commission with all the political parties to find a way to move forward in the country's most dangerous region. The parliament also adopted the novel idea of having oversight accountability committees chaired by the opposition so that investigations into Administration conduct are free of conflict of interest.

Even though the civilian government has been criticized, the truth is, it has stumbled when the military has stood it its way. The U.S. should build upon the Pakistani government's successes by strengthening its civilian institutions. It should offer a more significant assistance package to strengthen law enforcement, policy, civil services, and the judiciary's capabilities. It should also form a more collaborative partnership with civilian leaders at the provincial and district levels to help target U.S. economic assistance.

This strengthening starts with conditioning military support on demonstrable steps to combat violent extremists and ending its longstanding policy of support and sanctuary to such elements, Pakistan or foreign. The U.S. should continue to require, but also provide additional oversight of, on the State Department certification of Pakistani cooperation on a variety of security issues.

The U.S. should also continue to insist that the "security agencies of Pakistan are not materially or substantively subverting the political and judicial processes of Pakistan" and provide stronger support for civilian law enforcement agencies in combating jihadi groups, including prosecuting the small percentage of madrassas that engage in jihadi terrorist training.

The answers to the myriad questions about the Abbottabad compound will eventually emerge. But regardless of what we learn about the Pakistan military's role in the operation -- from incompetence to complicity -- the details surrounding Osama bin Laden's death further illustrate the need to hold that military accountable and to work with and empower Pakistan's civilian government.

Mark Schneider is Senior Vice President at the International Crisis Group.

According to the league-mandated pregame information released by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant will replace the suspended Ron Artest at small forward, with Shannon Brown starting at shooting guard for Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Last week, Representative Leonard Boswell (IA-03) brought up the need to end oil subsidies repeatedly during an Iowa Public Television appearance. This week, Boswell and other House Democrats requested "a full House Agriculture Committee hearing and investigation into the relationship between rising oil prices and Wall Street speculators." So I was surprised to see Boswell vote for an offshore drilling bill the House approved on May 5.

Details on yesterday's votes and Boswell's recent statements on oil policy are after the jump.
The Republican-backed "Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act" passed by 266 votes to 149. The roll call shows that Boswell was among 33 House Democrats to support the bill. Iowans Bruce Braley (IA-01) and Dave Loebsack (IA-02) voted no, along with most of the Democratic caucus. The Hill's Andrew Restuccia summarized key provisions:

The legislation, authored by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), would set a deadline for holding delayed Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales. It would also mandate the sale of leases off the Virginia coast, a plan the administration nixed after last year's Gulf oil spill. [...]

Republicans also argued that the legislation would help to lower gas prices. But energy analysts say expanded U.S. oil and gas drilling would have no significant near-term impacts on gas prices.

Democrats blasted the bill Thursday and sought to tie Republicans to the oil industry ahead of the 2012 elections and amid growing public concern about gas prices.

"This is about big oil handouts, pure and simple," Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) said.

A White House statement criticized the bill on different grounds:

The White House said the bill would "undercut" new offshore drilling safety reforms imposed after the massive oil spill last year.

"These reforms strengthen requirements for issues ranging from well design to workplace safety to corporate accountability, and they require operators to show that they can contain a subsea oil spill like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill," the White House said.

The May 5 press release from Boswell's office puts an entirely different spin on this bill:

Boswell Fights to Keep American Oil for American Families

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Leonard Boswell voted to keep oil and natural gas that is produced in the United States solely for American consumption.

"Domestic oil production is currently at a 10-year high, increasing by one-third in the last two years, yet gas prices are still rising as Big Oil and Wall Street are taking advantage of consumers at the pump," Boswell said. "I voted today to make sure that domestic oil stays in-country and solely benefits American communities and workers. I understand that Iowans cannot afford to pay $4 for a gallon of gas and cannot stomach doing so when oil and gas companies receive billions in government subsidies. While in my gut I feel a supply shortage is not the driver behind outrageous gas prices, I will employ every solution to bring down the cost to consumers - from safe and responsible domestic drilling to holding Wall Street accountable for excessive speculation."

Boswell sent a letter this week to House Agriculture Committee leadership requesting a hearing and investigation into the role of Wall Street in driving up the price of oil through excessive speculation and profiteering.

I'll get back to Boswell's request for an investigation in a moment, but first, I want to highlight this remarkable statement: "While in my gut I feel a supply shortage is not the driver behind outrageous gas prices, I will employ every solution to bring down the cost to consumers [...]" Boswell knows more offshore drilling won't reduce the cost of gas, but he doesn't want to be accused of voting against efforts to increase domestic energy supply. It's not a profile in courage, that's for sure.

In fairness to Boswell, before supporting final passage of the offshore drilling bill he did join the majority of House Democrats in opposing a motion to proceed with consideration of the bill. Democrats were trying to defeat the motion in order to force a vote on separate legislation to repeal tax subsidies for the oil industry.

Boswell also voted for both Democratic amendments offered yesterday when the offshore drilling bill reached the House floor. One offered by Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey would "allow lease sales to go forward, but require new environmental and safety reviews, following the BP spill." The other offered by Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia would "ensure that a lease sale off the coast of Virginia does not interfere with offshore operations by the Defense Department and the Navy." Both amendments failed on mostly party-line votes.

Republicans Tom Latham (IA-04) and Steve King (IA-05) voted for the offshore drilling bill yesterday and against the Democratic amendments. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee quickly sent out nearly-identical press releases criticizing Latham and King. Notably, the DCCC didn't slam the Republicans for supporting more offshore drilling (the central aspect of the bill that passed).

Instead, the DCCC put the spotlight on the earlier procedural vote, which prevented consideration of the separate oil subsidies repeal measure. Here's an excerpt from the DCCC's blast against Latham, who will be Boswell's opponent in the new IA-03 next year:

Representative Latham Votes to Keep Taxpayer Giveaways to Big Oil Companies

Today, Representative Tom Latham (IA-04) voted to protect billions of dollars in taxpayer giveaways for Big Oil companies.  Last week, the big five oil companies reported that their profits increased by 38 percent since this time last year, while middle income families are feeling the squeeze at the gas pump.  Two weeks ago, Latham voted to end Medicare and raise health care costs for seniors in order to protect these taxpayer giveaways for Big Oil.

ExxonMobil reported profits of nearly $11 billion in the first quarter of 2011, a 69 percent increase. Shell reported profits of $7 billion, ConocoPhillips reported profits of $3 billion, Chevron reported $6.2 billion, and BP reported $5.5 billion.

Representative Latham has raked in $42,500 in campaign contributions from Big Oil and gas, and is a consistent vote for Republicans' Big Oil agenda.

"Representative Tom Latham today chose taxpayer funded giveaways for Big Oil companies making record profits rather than doing what's right for folks squeezed by high prices at the pump," said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Tom Latham's priorities are clear: protecting Big Oil comes at the expense of seniors and working families. No wonder Big Oil rewards Representative Tom Latham with generous campaign contributions."

The measure Latham opposed would bring the Big Oil Welfare Repeal Act of 2011 (H.R. 1689) to the floor for consideration. H.R. 1689 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit major oil companies (the Big 5) from receiving a tax deduction for domestic oil and natural gas production activities.

Background

?         Representative Tom Latham opposed a measure that would allow the House of Representatives to approve the Big Oil Welfare Repeal Act of 2011 (H.R. 1689) which would repeal key taxpayer funded subsidies for oil and gas companies. As reported by The Hill newspaper, "House Democrats intend to force a vote on a measure that would eliminate a key oil industry tax break when Republicans bring a bill to expand domestic oil and-gas drilling to the floor Thursday." [H Res 245, Vote #293, 5/5/11; The Hill, 5/4/11; CBS News, 5/4/11]

?         In March, Latham opposed a Motion to Recommit that would ensure no "tax benefit" could go to a "major integrated oil company." [HJ Res 44, Vote #153, 3/01/11]

?         Big Oil Profits Up 38 Percent. "Americans spent 28 percent more for gasoline during the first three months of 2011 than the same period in 2010. Meanwhile, the big five oil companies-BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell-made 38 percent more profit." [Center for American Progress, 5/3/11]

?         ExxonMobil reported profits of nearly $11 billion in the first quarter of 2011, a 69 percent increase. Shell reported profits of $7 billion, ConocoPhillips reported profits of $3 billion, Chevron reported $6.2 billion, and BP reported $5.5 billion. [Center for American Progress, 5/3/11; ABC News, 4/28/11]

?         In March, the Democratic Steering & Policy Committee held a hearing noting that from 2005 to 2009, the largest oil companies have made $485 billion in profits. [climateprogress.org, 3/01/11]

?         Latham has taken $42,500 from the oil and gas industry while in Congress. [opensecrets.org, accessed 5/05/11]

Comparing the lifetime voting records of Latham and Boswell, there's no doubt who has been more loyal to the oil and gas industry. According to the Progressive Punch database, Latham has voted the "progressive" way on oil and gas subsidies only about 4 percent of the time. Boswell's votes on legislation related to oil and gas industry subsidies are a mixed bag, but he has a 75 percent "progressive" record in this area.

Still, it's a stretch for Boswell to position himself as a crusader against "taxpayer-funded giveaways to Big Oil" and then vote for more offshore drilling less than a week later. Sorry, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act isn't about keeping "American oil for American families."

Before ending this post, a quick look at Boswell's request for "a hearing and investigation into the role of Wall Street in driving up the price of oil through excessive speculation and profiteering." Here's more from his press release of May 4:

"As Ranking Member of the Agriculture Subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, I have a responsibility to ensure speculators are not exploiting oil supply fears to make big profits," Boswell said. "The CFTC determined in 2008 that Wall Street speculators were increasing their positions in energy markets to capitalize off of political unrest in heavy oil-producing nations. Energy prices drive up the cost of goods across the board, from input costs on the farm to the food on the kitchen table.  I am calling for a hearing to make sure that Wall Street and Big Oil are not purposely driving up prices once again to make a quick buck on the backs of the middle class and small business owners who are hit the hardest when the price of gas skyrockets." [...]

Boswell added, "The Agriculture Committee has a history of investigating oil speculation when gas prices reach record levels, regardless of what party is in charge. It is my hope that Committee leadership will take the issue of rising gas prices seriously, as well as our hearing request, and allow daylight to be shed on this important issue."

Regardless of whether the House Agriculture Committee holds hearings on this matter, voters in IA-03 are sure to hear next year that Boswell tried to protect consumers against Wall Street manipulation of the price of oil.

Share any relevant thoughts in this thread.

Not quite as long as I had envisaged - I wanted to swim to the Ritz and back, which I think of as an hour each way, but in fact the first half-hour out was incredibly slow. I was swimming straight into current, much more bobbing up and down than forward movement, and a wall of salt water in the face whichever side I breathed on! It seemed like I was going nowhere, although periodic looks at the shore showed me that I was indeed making some forward progress...

(I swim parallel to the shore, which means there's always a bailout option.)

At the one-hour mark, I was still a bit short of the Ritz; thought about continuing, on grounds that I was fairly certain that the swim back would be quite a bit quicker, but slight queasiness made me feel it was sensible to hew to the original one-hour turnaround plan. It does not quite have the same ring to say I swam to the Cayman Club and back, but that is the fact of the matter!

As soon as I turned around, it was the most blissful swimming - still water, with perhaps a slight assist from current - all of the body rotation and glide that had been missing from my initial buffetted swim were back in spades, and it was near-magical - right down to the fact (unprecedented in my experience) that I was accompanied all the way home by a small fish that swam along by my side! This sounds cute, but in fact it was more annoying; I kept on seeing it out of the corner of my eye and having an urge to brush it away! (Not sure exactly what it was, but it could have been a glassy sweeper? Hmmm, maybe not - at any rate it was diminutive and yellow-and-salmon-colored...)

Total swim time: 1:37. Did not have the vim to extend swim past home, given ongoing queasiness; water and Clif bar have now mostly settled my stomach. So: well short of two hours, but this is actually a good length of swim for me to do regardless, as it is about what I am looking at for my IM swim (2.4 miles) - hard to tally exactly, since it depends on positioning and sighting as well as fitness on the day, but I think the time range I can reasonably expect for that swim is 1:35-1:50, probably at the slower end of the range.

Posted by France Lamy, Program Manager, Google.org

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.)

Last Thursday, the Google Map Maker team, along with the World Bank and UNITAR/UNOSAT, held a unique event at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and a satellite event in Nairobi at the same time. More than 70 members of the Sudanese diaspora, along with regional experts from the World Bank, Sudan Institute, Voices for Sudan, The Enough Project and other organizations gathered together to map what is expected to become the world’s newest country later this year: the Republic of South Sudan. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the international community “to assist all Sudanese towards greater stability and development” during and beyond this period of transition.

South Sudan is a large but under-mapped region, and there are very few high-quality maps that display essential features like roads, hospitals and schools. Up-to-date maps are particularly important to humanitarian aid groups, as they help responders target their efforts and mobilize their resources of equipment, personnel and supplies. More generally, maps are an important foundation for the development of the infrastructure and economy of the country and region.

The Map Maker community—a wide-ranging group of volunteers that help build more comprehensive maps of the world using our online mapping tool, Google Map Maker—has been contributing to the mapping effort for Sudan since the referendum on January 9. To aid their work, we’ve published updated satellite imagery of the region, covering 125,000 square kilometers and 40 percent of the U.N.’s priority areas, to Google Earth and Maps.
The goal of last week’s event was to engage and train members of the Sudanese diaspora in the United States, and others who have lived and worked in the region, to use Google Map Maker so they could contribute their local knowledge of the region to the ongoing mapping effort, particularly in the area of social infrastructure. Our hope is that this event and others like it will help build a self-sufficient mapping community that will contribute their local expertise and remain engaged in Sudan over time.

We were inspired by the group’s enthusiasm. One attendee told us: “I used to live in this small village that before today did not exist on any maps that I know of...a place unknown to the world. Now I can show to my kids, my friends, my community, where I used to live and better tell the story of my people.”

The group worked together to make several hundred edits to the map of Sudan in four hours. As those edits are approved, they’ll appear live in Google Maps, available for all the world to see. But this wasn’t just a one-day undertaking—attendees will now return to their home communities armed with new tools and ready to teach their friends and family how to join the effort. We look forward to seeing the Southern Sudanese mapping community grow and flourish.

Artest suspended
for Game 3 of Lakers-Mavs series

DALLAS -- Lakers forward Ron Artest has been suspended from Game 3 of a second-round series against the Mavericks on Friday night for hitting Dallas guard J.J. Barea in the face with a forearm.

Los Angeles, already down 0-2, now will be playing a pivotal game without its starting small forward.

I've been wanting to find a way to share with you books worth reading. Finally, I've settled on doing an interview. I've asked Pam Fox Rollin, a coach and leadership expert, & the new author of 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role: The Manual They Didn't Hand You When You Made VP, Director, or Manage...to start us off. 

If there was one thing (from your book) you'd want to have every person do to exponentially fuel innovation inside their firms, what would that be (and why):

See leaders everywhere. Be like the kid who sees dead people everywhere, only you see leaders. The junior guy who's so quiet at meetings... and writes a brilliant twitter stream you don't even know about? Leader. The skeptic who shoots holes in your ideas... and knows her stuff? Leader. The new hire 8 time zones away who you struggle to understand on conference calls? Leader.

If you don't do this, if you're the only person in your group moving things forward, your group's trajectory will be limited to your ideas, and your tiny prefrontal cortex will tire very soon. You're also unlikely to be promoted again, because you're so indispensable to your leader-free team.

Collaboration -- that art of co-creating or co-laboring to creating something bigger -- isn't the focus of your book, but many of the things you talked of would lead to good collaboration. What would you want us to take away?

First, clarify -- yes, collaboratively! -- to what extent you're actually a team. Are you a real team with shared results, interdependent processes, and mutual learning? Or, are you a group reporting to the same person? Or, something in between. OK this is basic, yet on most teams I get different answers from different people about whether they are a team and what makes them a team. When and why you collaborate flows from this perspective.

Through this conversation, co-workers typically discover more opportunities to collaborate. Then, you all have to decide if the "headaches" of collaboration -- having to coordinate tasks and timing, having to listen to someone else's POV, having your views open to question -- are worth the benefits. I've seen new leaders be especially skillful at guiding these conversations because they have a built-in hall pass to ask fundamental questions. Now if we can get existing leaders to give themselves permission to ask fundamental questions and be willing to deal with the crap that comes up, they could be good at this, too.Finally, new leaders are often hell-bent for quick wins. At their most unskillful/stressed/clueless, they choose targets that sound impressive then ride their team to deliver on this one metric, often out of proportion to its value. The result? A grumpy team and neglected core business. Instead, start with wins that build the capability of your team to coordinate, converse, and deliver.

A lot of people at big companies spend time seeking permission (Do I fit in, am I allowed to say something now, etc). What tool or idea do you have to share that helps you be kick-ass (see definition: http://blog.nilofermerchant.com/kick-ass-ness)

Anyone who hasn't seen that video of the 3-year-old conductor, go see it now on your "kick-ass" page. He makes Beethoven completely his own and doesn't give a damn about permission to lead -- all while honoring the score.

Either extreme is wasteful... sitting around waiting for permission or pushing everyone to enact your own plan without respecting what the music sounds like when you all play together.If you catch yourself erring toward the first extreme... keeping clear of the podium even though you have insights and skills... find a courage-keeper in your organization, someone close enough to kick your shins when you could be stepping up and who will also have your back. (Remember that dance video? Every leader-to-be needs a first and second follower. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ) [Nilofer's note: Derek Sivers does a great talk around this on TED.com]

If you err toward the other extreme... damn everyone else's insights, do it my way... well, you better be right. Unfortunately for you, this is easy in your first management role, but hard to sustain. Smart, hardworking people are often right when their team is tiny, and the stakes are small. They implode a couple promotions later, when they can't possibly have the breadth of insight to make wise decisions on their own, and they've trained their teams not to bother thinking. Turn this pattern around as early as you catch it.

Learning is so central in innovation and in life -- what are you learning about right now

Right now I'm learning how to market a book.
I'm also at another twist in the spiral of learning to rest. Just rest.

Pam's been one of my 3 coaches in my career, and I greatly admire her gifts of insight, empathy and always able to offer a practical tool or two.

42 Rules launches TODAY (Friday, May 6th) on Amazon. (So if you are moved, help a first-time author out by buying a copy & perhaps one for a friend. It makes a big difference to have good first week sales.) Buy it here:  http://amzn.to/eccOR9.

And do let me know what you think of this format or if you have suggestions for questions you want me to ask the next author?

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Read more posts on ...Yes, And Know... »

For the latest career news, visit War Room. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

The great John Lennon once said, “It’s a fear of the unknown. The unknown is what is.”

May 28th, 2011. The UEFA Champions League final. The unknown demon of FC Barcelona’s fears will manifest itself into human form, codename Little Pea.

As a United fan myself, I am not deluded, Barcelona go to the match as favourites. The best midfield in the world, probably the best strike force in the world, the best player in the world, the second best defence in the world (after United); it makes for harrowing reading.

Yet what really irks me is the wild assertions from fans of teams that are, surprise suprise, not actually in the final, of how United will get “hammered.”

“There’s not even any point turning up,” a particularly bitter Chelsea fan claimed.

I can see their logic. A demolition of the great Real Madrid, of Jose Mourinho, the demi-god and heir apparent for a place at the summit of mount Olympus. Yet if you think about it, the second leg was the fifth El Clasico of the season, such is the totalitarian dominance these two sides exhibit over the rest of their La Liga minions.

Five matches to weigh up the opposition, in a ground you are by now familiar with, against players whose game you have ample opportunity to analyse at close quarters. As opposed to one match in a foreign country, against players who you may play once in a while.

Manchester United vs. Barcelona is a whole different ball game.

Of all the players at United’s disposal, I think it is Javier Hernandez that Barcelona will be most worried about. The man that came out of nowhere to become a revelation. I will make the claim that 90 percent of Barcelona’s players will never have faced Hernandez as a cautious estimate as a few might well have faced him on international duty.

Yet even this was a year ago. Since he arrived at OT and was schooled into the United psyche, Hernandez’s game has blossomed, and he is a different prospect now than he was nine months ago. Video tapes can only teach you so much, especially with a player as unpredictable as Chicharito.

He is the archetypal goal poacher, kicking balls off his own face, heading it in with intentional back-headers. It is basic instinct at it’s most refined level. Hernandez possesses pace in abundance too, with stats at the World Cup citing him as its fastest player.

With the exception of Gerard Pique, who still isn’t as fast as Hernandez, Barcelona’s defence contains a 33-year-old Carles Puyol, who despite still being one of the world’s best defenders with his back to goal. When turned, he no longer has the legs for a footrace with Hernandez.

At right back Barcelona have Dani Alves, a precocious talent, but one inclined to make long forays up the pitch, leaving gaps behind that United’s patented counter-attacking play can exploit.

Finally, in the absence of the brilliant Eric Abidal, after his inspirational victory over the cancer that looked to curtail him (article to come), the defence will quite possibly be completed by Javier Mascherano, a small, slow, defensive midfielder. A player, who despite portraying a great defensive instinct and holding prowess, has an inclination to allow his fiery temperament to influence his play, and as a central defender the stakes are all the higher.

Then there is Hernandez’s movement. In my recollection, I have never seen a player so adept at finding himself in the right place at the right time.

It shows resonance to the play of a young Michael Owen, but in my opinion he was more technical and had worse movement than Hernandez. Chicarito finds space where their shouldn’t be any. His lighting pace, pulls the defenders this way and that, exploiting gaps where he finds them or drawing defenders away, to allow Wayne Rooney or one of the midfielders to fill the void.

Puyol et al will have never faced a player like Hernandez, watched him maybe, but when the whistle sounds, he will become a different proposition. The Rooney, Hernandez double-act, when working effectively, like they were against an admittedly abysmal Schalke in the first leg, are almost unplayable.

Such is the manner in which they complement each other's play. Hernandez pushes and finds the gap, leaving Rooney space to bring out his repertoire and play in a winger or a midfielder or go on himself, where any defensive errors are inevitable punished by the pea green reaper.

Barcelona’s defenders while have to adjust to the unconventional style of Hernandez’s play as the game is going on, but will 90 minutes really be enough?

In my opinion, where the game will be won and lost is in the midfield. Barcelona will inevitably set the tempo, but it is what Manchester United do with the ball when they have it that will be the defining factor in the game.

Sir Alex will, in all likelihood, adopt a defensive formation, at least to start. For this reason, with the premium placed on tracking back to defend, I can see Nani being dropped, with Valencia and Giggs preferred. Park Ji Sung also is a shoe-in to start, such is his stoic stipulation to his defensive duties when the need is at its greatest, probably as a partner to Michael Carrick.

Where, therefore, does this leave Chicharito?

Rooney’s inclusion is inevitable, so, depending on how cautious Sir Alex is, there will, in all likelihood, be another striking birth. Berbatov, a player low on form and panache, for whom his goals earlier in the season seem like a distant memory, or Hernandez, unleashed from the start to tear the weakest part of this impregnable Barcelona unit asunder?

I know who I would choose. Whatever strategy Fergie cooks up though, the brilliant thing about Hernandez, as opposed to, to give an example Berbatov, is that his impact is not diluted by starting from the bench.

In his short time at the Theatre of Dreams, Chicharito has conjured up fond memory’s of another slightly built forward who was plucked from obscurity to weave his mark on super-sub folklore. And we all know how the Champions League final of '99 ended for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

With three weeks to go until the showpiece event, the tension is palpable. Barcelona will enter the match as favourites, justifiable trumpeted as the "best club side in history," yet football has an uncanny knack of delivering a surprise or two.

In my humble opinion, the way that Sir Alex chooses to utilise Javier Hernandez could be key to the destination of the trophy at ninety minutes end.

Barcelona may well win, that I am not arguing with. Just don’t claim that the result is a foregone conclusion.

“It will be as easy as shelling peas for Barcelona,” another friend said. He, like Barcelona, clearly didn’t know too much about the littlest pea of them all.

 

The first ITU Triathlon World Cup event of the 2011 season takes place in Mooloolaba along the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia this weekend. Stuart Hayes, who finished in second place last year, is amongst the small team of Britons taking part. Whilst ITU Triathlon World Cup events have less of a focus than the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series, the event in Mooloolaba marks a high profile opportunity for athletes to measure how their winter preparations have gone. World Champion, Javier Gomez, will line up against a men’s field that includes five of the world’s current top ten athletes, including number three, Brad Kahlefeldt, who won this event last year. Hayes is currently ranked 11th in the world and won the Kitzbuhel stage of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series last August. Britain’s former world under 23 champion, Will Clarke, who has been training with Hayes and Jodie Stimpson in Australia over the winter, will also be amongst the favourites. Hayes said: “I’m looking forward to getting the season going and testing myself over the Mooloolaba course this weekend. Australia has been my base over the winter, so this feels like a home event on a familiar course. “This event is always really well supported and there’s plenty of excitement around Javier Gomez battling with Australian stars Brad Kahlefeldt and Courtney Atkinson – it’s going to be a great race I think.” Adam Bowden, who graduated from the trigold scheme to the World Class Programme last October, completes the British men’s line up for the event taking place on Saturday. Sunday’s women’s event will feature Australian women’s world champion, Emma Moffatt, but Emma Snowsill has had to withdraw. Liz Blatchford, Kerry Lang and Jodie Stimpson will start their 2011 campaigns, which sees the major focus being on Olympic qualification at either the Hyde Park or Beijing rounds of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series. Other members of the GE Great Britain Team, including former world champions Helen Jenkins and Alistair Brownlee, are currently training in Australia ahead of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series event in Sydney on 9/10 April. The elite women start on Sunday, March 27 at 12:45pm (UTC/GMT + 10) and the men start on Saturday, March 26 at 3:00pm (UTC/GMT + 10). You can get more details on the ITU website or the event website.

The 7Oaks Triathlon, first held in July 1985, is looking to find the athletes who have completed the race more than five times over the last 25+ years. The 'Evergreens', as they will be known, who are confirmed as being 'five time finishers' or more, will always be given priority registration for future events. The Evergreens who have completed the event more than 15 times since 1985, will be invited to join the small but special group of regulars that will be guaranteed a space at the race in perpetuity. Jean-Pierre Darque and Edward Oatley, both local athletes are the first two Evergreens.  Jean-Pierre took part in the first race in July 1985 and to date has completed the 7Oaks Triathlon 17 times whereas Edward Oatley has a record that will surely not be beaten for years.  Competing for the first time in May 1986 he has completed the race 29 times. Edward Oatley commented "The last 25 years have seen evolution take place in so many positive ways but the 7Oaks Triathlon has remained the same.  Self competition – yes but within a great team spirit of encouragement, real enjoyment in each others’ performances and a desire to see people taking part for the first time.  All this has seen it become one of the major sporting events in the Sevenoaks calendar held in the greatest respect in the area.  When the Sevenoaks Triathlon started in 1985 the competitors swam in swim suits, came out of the pool, changed into shorts and a top in the changing rooms and even stopped to comb their hair!  At the finish there was a chance to relax with a Mars Bar and an apple.  The present day sponsorship was unheard of.  For me after 25 years of taking part, although some aspects of the race are different it is still the same challenge, the same nerves the night before and in the morning, the adrenalin rush when one has started and the great feeling of real achievement at the end surrounded by so many other tired by happy faces." Jean-Pierre Darque added " For my part it all started in 1985 (just over one year in this country) when my (English) wife came home with a leaflet saying to me someone is arranging a "swim, run and cycle" event - are you interested?  Being a youngish man (just 30) and not wanting to disappoint my wife I said I would give it a go.  I had a Jean-Pierre Danguillaume bike bought in Paris 5 years earlier, a rather heavy metal piece but it was enough to enter the competition which I did for Dorton House (a local charity).  This was the first time in my life I was entering a proper competition and certainly the first time in Britain.  25 years on it is really hard to remember precisely the route but the swim has not changed (except quite a few of us took our time to dry properly in the changing room!), then 3 laps around Knole Park and a run in the park which has remained unaltered for a good many years. I missed the 1986 race as my twins were born that year but I went on to compete the following years with a gap in the mid 90's; in all I have completed 7Oaks Triathlon 17 times.  What is nice is that I got several of my friends interested.  All of them had practically stopped doing any sport but the idea of a tri challenge appealed to them and came out competing. I am glad to say that most of them have continued with sport in one shape or another, so late converts but now much healthier for it.  My preference is clearly for the 7Oaks event as it gives me a very good benchmark every year of my fitness and I am glad to say that 25 years on (now 55) my performance has remained stable if anything marginally improved to the point where I did my best time in September 2010." Howard Jones, winner of the first race in July 1985 wrote from California "The early years of this great sport and a friend organized this new event locally - I was living in Dunton Green so obviously wanted to be part of it and pulled Sarah Coope into the loop also." "As I recall it was a pool swim, nice bike loop around 7Oaks & an even better run loop in the local park, Sarah & I both won the event and enjoyed the race very much, she rode her bike home to Eastbourne later that day and I rode 1/2 way and back with her.  We both plus others represented the BTA at several International races in 85 and 86 but I moved to San Diego California and never left the west coast, currently living in the San Francisco bay area.  Congratulations on the success of your events and supporting a great sport & healthy lifestyle." Martin Brown, 7Oaks Triathlon Race Director continued "an Evergreen is a plant that has leaves in all seasons.  The dictionary also gives an additional definition "remaining fresh and vital".  Metaphorically, Evergreen can refer to something that is constantly renewed.  We think that this describes these people perfectly and we are pleased to welcome them to the Evergreens.  The April 2011 race sold out in three days showing that the popularity of the 7Oaks Triathlon continues unabated.  We know that there are many people who have raced with us on many occasions over the years and we thought it was time to recognise these loyal athletes.  Not only will their names and number of finishes for the Evergreens be recorded on our website but they will all be given priority entry going forward.  The two individuals who we already know to have competed over fifteen times is a testament not only to their physical stamina but also their loyalty to the 7Oaks Triathlon". The results archive back to 1985 is now complete showing results for 33 triathlons, three aquathlons and one team relay.  If anyone has any more information or memorabilia for the races we would like to hear from you by emailing us evergreens@7oakstriclub.co.uk. To register as an Evergreen, please click here.